Who You Gonna Call?

I’m sorry, but there’s not much in the way of theology pouring forth from my keyboard. It’s been a visual (and audio) kind of week here at VOTS (except for my post earlier in the week on the transfiguration of Christ) .

Anyway, this is bound to be another classic, and I just couldn’t pass it up.

(HT: girltalk) …they always have great video clips!

Picture Time

Here’s a few pics from our annual Daytona vacation:

It’s the Fab Four at the Marine Science Center at Ponce Inlet. There’s Rachel, always with a smile, and the boys looking thrilled, as usual.

Caleb showing off his in-ground pool for all the little fish he caught with his net.

We always take a trip to the go-cart park. That’s Rachel leading Joshua ( I just noticed she’s driving the Jack Daniel’s car…I’ll have to talk to her about that)…and that’s my dad in the background. Nice shot, Pam!

That’s me and Caleb in the Caterpillar #22 leading my dad and Nikolas. Wait a minute…what car is Dad driving???

Why, it’s the hot-pink Barbie Car!!! What a stud! He’s secure in his manhood. Nikolas, on the other hand, did not want to get in that pink car…yuk!

This is us – Joshua, Caleb, Pam, myself, Nikolas and Rachel – about to embark on some mosquito-infested mini-golf. Isn’t my wife beautiful!!! What I ever did to deserve her, I’ll never know.

The Bedtime Song

I couldn’t resist. This song had to be meant for our household!

(HT: Girltalk)

Talking With Jesus

I had the privilege of teaching this past Sunday on the topic of the transfiguration of Christ, and one of the things I focused in on is an often overlooked portion of Luke’s account of this incredible event. Anyone familiar with the story knows that Moses and Elijah appeared along with Jesus, and many may also be aware that Luke says they talked with Jesus. But, I wonder how many can recall both how they appeared and the subject of their conversation. Here is what took place according to Luke:

Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

FIRST -

• Luke says that Moses and Elijah appeared in glory. I believe this is a reference to the fact that they were present with Jesus in their glorified, incorruptable, imperishable bodies. Both Moses and Elijah are very unique in the circumstances of their departures from this earth. Here is what John Gill says:

Luke says, they appeared “in glory”: in glorious bodies, in a glory upon their bodies; like, though inferior, to the glorious body of Christ, now transfigured: that they appeared in their own real bodies, no doubt need be made; about the body of Elijah, or Elias, there is no difficulty; since he was carried soul and body to heaven, he died not, but was changed; and has ever since remained in a glorious body, in which he doubtless now appeared: and why this should not be the case of Moses, or why he should appear in another body, and not his own, I see not; for though he died, yet he was buried by the Lord, and no man ever knew the place of his sepulchre; and there was a dispute about his body, between Michael and the devil, all which are uncommon circumstances: so that it might be, that his body was, quickly after his death, raised and restored to him; or at this time, as a pledge of the resurrection of the dead, as Christ’s transfiguration was of his glory.

SECOND -

• Luke also says that they spoke with Jesus about His departure. The literal word is ‘exodus’, which means decease, death, exit from this world. Some think they were talking to Jesus about His ascension, but I think it is clear from Luke’s account that they were talking to Jesus about the work which He was about to finish on the cross. Luke says they were talking to Him about His departure, which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. I think this is a clear reference to Jesus’ death on the cross.

• I love what the Jamieson/Fausset/Brown Commentary has to say about this talk between Jesus, Moses and Elijah.

Mark the historical character and local features which Christ’s death assumed to these glorified men–as important as it is charming–and from this statement.

(1) That a dying Messiah is the great article of the true Jewish theology. For a long time the Church had fallen clean away from the faith of this article, and even from a preparedness to receive it. But here we have that jewel raked out of the dunghill of Jewish traditions, and by the true representatives of the Church of old made the one subject of talk with Christ Himself.

(2) The adoring gratitude of glorified men for His undertaking to accomplish such a decease; their felt dependence upon it for the glory in which they appeared; their profound interest in the progress of it, their humble solaces and encouragements to go through with it; and their sense of its peerless and overwhelming glory.

“Go, matchless, adored One, a Lamb to the slaughter! rejected of men, but chosen of God and precious; dishonored, abhorred, and soon to be slain by men, but worshiped by cherubim, ready to be greeted by all heaven. In virtue of that decease we are here; our all is suspended on it and wrapped up in it. Thine every step is watched by us with ineffable interest; and though it were too high an honor to us to be permitted to drop a word of cheer into that precious but now clouded spirit, yet, as the first-fruits of harvest; the very joy set before Him, we cannot choose but tell Him that what is the depth of shame to Him is covered with glory in the eyes of Heaven, that the Cross to Him is the Crown to us, that that ‘decease’ is all our salvation and all our desire.”

How long has it been since you meditated on Christ’s departure, and expressed your gratitude to Him for the work that He did on your behalf?

Alas! and did my Savior bleed, and did my Sovereign die!
Would He devote that sacred head for such a worm as I!

Thus might I hide my blushing face while his dear cross appears;
dissolve my heart in thankfulness, and melt my eyes to tears.

Tithing Food Establishments

We are back from vacation. As usual, it flew by and was over before it really started. It may take my brain a little while to get going again…not that it ever was in the first place. I will probably post some pictures of our annual Daytona trip soon.

In the meantime…

On the way back home Friday, I heard a radio ad for a restaurant in a neighboring county promoting itself as a great place for “worshipers” to come and eat on Sundays. The voice on the ad then said that, if you bring your bulletin in, they would make a donation to your church!

My question is this, would it be appropriate for a church to accept money from a secular establishment like that? Right or wrong, I think the restaurant hit on a pretty clever way of getting people “of faith” to come eat there. But I don’t know that I agree with churches accepting money from such a program.

Something to Ponder

I often hear of Jesus being in His glorified body after He arose from the dead…you may have heard the same thing.

I have a question, though.

If Jesus was, in fact, walking around in His 100% glorified body post resurrection, then what was it that Peter, James and John witnessed at the transfiguration, where Jesus’ face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light?

Just something to consider.

A Question for Church-Hopping Pastors

I ask this question with the utmost respect to those of you who are pastors, and who have left one church for another. While I am asking this question of pastors, I am aware of the low probability of any responding…so allow me to also open this up for others to ponder and perhaps share some insight.

What valid  reason(s) can you give me for a pastor who is serving at one church to leave that church and go to another church. Let me go ahead and eliminate some of the obvious reasons, such as excommunication, being fired, leaving to start a new sister church with the support of the current one, a change in theological beliefs which run counter to your current denomination (either a change on your part or the church’s), and the dissolution of your present church (notice how only one of the reasons I came up with is positive?). Beyond these, can anyone offer any viable explanations for a pastor leaving one flock for another? And merely saying, “being called by God to another church”, is not going to satisfy my question. I am sola Scriptura all the way, so there will have to be some biblical basis for any other reasons that I am willing to accept.

I am not saying there are no other reasons, just that I can’t think of any (biblical ones, that is).

Beachside Ramblings

Not only are we beachside here in Daytona, but our hotel is also called the Beachside Plaza Resort. Nothing fancy at all. Just clean rooms on the ground floor with the pool right outside our door and the ocean just a stone’s throw beyond that.

All I have to offer right now are a few random thoughts about some things.

• You are officially old(er) when a movie that originally came out in your lifetime comes out again as a remake. That is what I just realized as I saw a preview for the new movie Halloween. It was originally released in ‘78 ( I remember it well), and all I have to say is, how in the world could enough time have already passed for someone to decide to make it again?!?! I believe that may have been Jamie Lee Curtis’ first big film (but I may be wrong about that).

• Dad and I were sitting on the beach today talking about the use of wine in the Lord’s Supper. I raised the question of whether or not it is wrong to use grape juice instead of wine, since Jesus used wine. I remember hearing Sproul talk about it one time, and he said at St. Andrews they were either thinking about doing this or had actually implemented providing wine on the tray that was passed around along with grape juice around the edge for those with weak consciences. I have a PCA pastor friend who is/was also considering changing to wine. I can’t decide if that is something that is really significant or not. If it is, should we also try to figure out exactly what type of bread was used as well so that we can use the same type? Or is this bordering on legalism? Truthfully, I haven’t pondered it enough to have an educated opinion.

• If church A is considering calling pastor X from church B, and pastor X is scheduled to come and do his primo trial sermon in front of church A before church A takes a congregational vote on whether or not to accept pastor X (which will result in him leaving church B high and dry and having to look for another pastor – but that’s another topic for another post), is it presumptuous for pastor X to have already secured new living arrangements and to have moved from the city where church B is located to where church A is located, before he has even preached his trial sermon in front of church A…before they have even taken a vote?!?! Secondly, what does it say about pastor X (and church A) concerning what has apparently gone on behind closed doors even prior to the congregational vote? Thirdly, how would you feel if you were a member of church B (from where pastor X is leaving), and you came to church one Sunday night only be blindsided when you sit down and hear pastor X read his resignation from the pulpit? And no… I’m not making this up.

Does Sincerity Release You From Guilt

I think many Christians today are willing to overlook all kinds of unbiblical practices, doctrinal heresy, and outright blasphemy if the person/church/organization in question seems sincere in his/their/its motives and intent. No doubt you have seen/heard negative feedback when someone attempts to hold someone like Mother Teresa, or Rick Warren, or even (gulp) Billy Graham to the truth as contained in God’s Word, over and above their sincerity of heart.

I’m going to ask a question(s)…one that is basically a rhetorical question. But I am going to ask it anyway. What puts us in a right standing before a just and holy God? Is it the intentions of our heart, or whether or not we are known by Christ? Is it our motives, or whether or not we have been given the gift of faith? Is it our sincerity, or whether or not we have been given to Christ by the Father? Is it our niceness, or whether we have God or Satan as our father?

According to Christ Himself, good intentions and sincere motives will not get you off the hook for your depravity.

Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name? And then will I declare to them, I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. – Matt. 7:21-23

R.C. Sproul says this is perhaps the most frightening thing Jesus ever said, because the individuals he commands to depart from Him in this passage seem to be people who genuinely and sincerely thought that they were true believers in the risen Christ. These will not be people who are trying to pull a fast one over on the Son of Man (who knew good and well they never belonged to Christ), but these are instead those who considered themselves children of promise, and not because of ethnicity.

Consider these words from Michael Horton:

Idolatry always has good intentions…well-meaning Christians establish new patterns of worship without finding it necessary to conform such practices to the theology of worship found in Scripture…such practices as the altar call, unknown to the church until the last century, are innovations in worship that are not only not commanded in Scripture but are actually prohibited…by the Christ-centered character of mediation in worship…Regardless of what is intended by the preacher… – Law of Perfect Freedom, p.85

As I have always heard my mom say while quoting her mom…

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

What would you rather be: truly sincere…or sincerely true?

Sincerity Often Equals Sin

Without his Word all is idolatry and lies, however devout it may seem and however beautiful it may appear…For here you learn that it is not enough to say and think: I am doing this for the glory of God; I intend it for the true God; I want to serve the only God. All idolaters say and intend just that. – Luther