What's Your Priority?

The "Veritas Fellowship" is all about "proclaiming the true truth of Christ."  This is an extremely important ministry in our postmodern world.  So much of our culture is wrapped up in the personal perspectives of each individual or group of people.  But we are called to know God and to live for him.

The priority therefore must always be upon the Lord who has created us and redeemed us.  The great commandment is to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.  And the second is like it, to love your neighbor as yourself."  We are called to love God with all our being, and then to be filled with the Holy Spirit so as to serve others.  This is a theocentric priority and focus.  But the tendency is to reverse this and become man-centered.

The true-truth of Christ is that we are called to him first and foremost in all our lives.  This is what we all need, even those who are in different stations in life.  When we are God-centered, we are lifted up and we trust Christ in his teachings, and we take on new faith and character.  We reject the philosophies of the world and accept the truth of Scripture.  Our priority must be God and his Word, to discover and live out the system that redeems and restores us to him.

It was discouraging today to see a high-profile civil rights leader come to Memphis and give the same politically orientated and racially charged message that we've heard for the last fifty years.  It would be so much better to hear the truth of Scripture that describes that Christ alone can transform us and give us an upward calling.

The inner city poverty comes from a poverty of spirit and hope.  People live out what they believe.  But the message of Christ is the gospel, where we trust in Christ, then repent, and follow his teachings.  Our faith in Christ makes us new people who are eager to become like Christ and to leave the brokenness and ghettos of socialism behind.  It takes the truth of Scripture and faith in Christ to learn a new priority to live by.  

A Truth Based Faith

Our contemporary culture runs after many pragmatic endeavors to gain the things of the world.  We run after finances, sports, fashion, power, possessions, status, and pleasure.  With the abundance of freedom in our country we are able to pursue the things of the world with abandon.  More often we pursue the desires of our hearts without too much aforethought to our actions.  We simply follow the ways of the world and our natural inclinations.

The freedom we have most often leads us to pursue self-centered goals.  This comes from a faith that we are basically good people and that pursuing our interests is a good activity.  But as we do the analysis on our freedom and our essential nature, we have to admit that we are not fundamentally good people.  We do not have a good nature in our natural selves.  But many people believe we are essentially good because we seem to be good on average, as we compare ourselves to vile offenders and see that basically, most people are good.  But how can we explain it when we sin?  How can we understand ourselves when we really blow it, when we make obvious mistakes?

It's clear that our faith can be biased and distorted to ourselves.  We don't see ourselves for the most part as being sinners.  But when we turn to the Bible we must read it as it is, for it indeed declares that all people are not good and that the truth of the matter is that we are sinful.  We do not just make mistakes sometimes, we are sinners by nature.  This is what it means to be full of sin, to be sinful.  And it is clear that we do not want to admit that we are sinners.  We prefer to be good people and to be accepted by each other, even to be esteemed by each other.  Even more, we seek to be loved and respected, and admired by each other.

From a biased view of being basically good people, we have a biased view of the Bible.  Beginning with an assumption of our goodness we see the doctrine of sin from a distorted view.  We can either believe that it doesn't mean we are really all that bad and therefore it doesn't really teach that we are totally depraved.  Or we believe that no matter how sinful we are, for the sake of grace, we should emphasize the positive and focus on the love of God instead of the condemnation of sin.  Our faith becomes biased upon the belief that the more gracious we are the more gracious we will become.  And before long the central teaching of the Bible becomes the gospel of grace without an affirmation of needing grace.  We lose the gospel however if we forget our need for grace is due to our sinfulness, or we choose however deliberately to overlook our sinfulness.

The Bible to the contrary needs to be understood from a truth basis instead of a faith foundation.  We need to acknowledge the truth of our sinful condition to understand the truth of Scripture.  We must confess that we are sinful and that our every natural inclination is to deny or reinterpret ourselves and thus the Bible.  Our natural faith is that we are not sinful.  The truth of our sinfulness needs to be proclaimed however and this is not a bias or a deception, it is reality, and it is the truth we see in everyday life.  And this is what we also see in Rom. 3:10-12 as it states, “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.  All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”  When we accept this foundational truth we then can begin to acknowledge all other truths in Scripture.

As we study the Bible from the truth that we are sinful, (that I am a sinful person and God is not sinful, that indeed God is holy and without sin), then we can begin to see the importance of truth in the Word.  We can see the priority of a truth-based faith instead of a faith-based truth.  We can recognize more and more our subjective perspectives and distortions and that we naturally seek to twist the Bible to a sinful man-centered basis.  With a commitment to the truth of the holiness of God, and thus the sinfulness of man, we can change and grow Spiritually by truth.  This sanctification in truth is our calling, and it is necessary to grow in the image of Christ to be a follower of Christ.

If we are left to ourselves we will not believe that we are all that bad, or that we are sinful.  But we must humbly accept our total depravity and see it is true that we need Christ completely.  The manifestation of our own sinfulness is just one way that we can see the truth of God in the world.  We need this objective truth to understand the truth of Scripture and to understand the grace of Christ.  Amen, it is true.

R.C. Sproul

Last week on 12/14/17, we received the news that R.C. Sproul died from a long illness and passed into glory.  It was heartbreaking to me even though I knew it was coming.  I loved R.C. in many ways because he was such a good teacher, and because I had the chance to work for him personally between Mar '89 to Sept '90.  My memories of R.C. will be an encouragement to me for all my life.  R.C. lived in faith, he taught the faith and he died in faith.  He is one of my Christian heroes for many reasons.

When most people think of R.C. they think of him as a Teacher.  He had a great combination of gifts of being an excellent scholar and a great communicator of truth.  This was the first thing that connected me to R.C.  He could explain the complicated doctrines of the faith in a way that even I could understand.  More importantly, he could do it with grace knowing that most of us have never heard of the doctrines of grace in this way before.  This also came across in all of his writings.  He wrote and taught in straightforward language and thought.  He was clear and compelling in his teaching.

In the same way, R.C. was a gifted Philosopher.  If there was one thing I would highlight as R.C.'s greatest strength it would be that "he could do the philosophy."  This may be a surprise to some because he was known to be a champion of theology, but it is also because he understood the undermining philosophical foundations of all the major world views that he could analyze an argument for its truth validity.  Often R.C. would describe making a distinction on some point of theology and this was his ability to see the philosophical aspect.  In teaching the necessity of making truth statements, to make valid statements, he one time bewildered his audience by describing the chalk he was using to write on the chalkboard saying, "This piece of chalk is not a piece of chalk."  After several minutes of confused responses over what R.C. was talking about, he finally explained that he was deliberately making a contradictory statement, so that it would be clear that contradictions were false, and therefore invalid and deadly for both philosophy and theology.  Life itself falls apart with contradictions.  This realization verifies the truth of Scripture and that all true faith is built upon the truth of God.

Most of us will think of R.C. Sproul as a Theologian first and foremost.  This is because he was such a titan of theology.  His primary ministry was launched by the overwhelming transformation he experienced from the Holiness of God.  Early in his ministry, he wrote his classic book, The Holiness of God, and from this theology of knowing who God is, he developed all of his other theologies.  All of Christianity needs to be predicated on the knowledge of the Holy One, as we can see from his teachings.  Not only do we learn so much from the character of God, we saw R.C. make a huge commitment to the inerrancy of Scripture or the truth of Scripture.  These two proclamations and commitments launched R.C. into a position of being a serious theologian in the Evangelical community.  But it continued abundantly with his equally vibrant defense of and proclamation of the doctrine of Justification By Faith Alone, which he attributes much credit for to the Protestant Reformers of the sixteenth century.  In particular, R.C. had an affiliation with Martin Luther as being unwavering in his teaching of Salvation By Grace Alone, or Faith Alone, from which all of our salvation is developed.

In a huge way, all of this made R.C. a Statesman for Reformed Theology in America.  R.C. had no personal desire to be involved in the secularistic banter of politics.  He knew this was not his calling in many ways because it had no room for theology.  R.C. did however interpret all of life theologically and had a great commitment to teaching about the Kingdom of God.  His position was that he would not compromise his position in politics but describe all of the civil realms through the truth of Scripture.  He saw Reformed Theology transforming not only the hearts and minds of people, the "Renewing Our Minds", but also that each of us has a ministry in life.  There was a priesthood of all believers and our vocations are our ministries, to be done for the glory of God.  R.C. rose above the tyranny of secularistic politics and spoke as a Statesman for the Kingdom of God.

R.C. was also a Minister in the Church for Christ.  He truly cared for and prayed for the welfare of people.  His whole ministry was for the salvation and sanctification of the saints.  He believed strongly that the best ministry we can offer for all Christians was to help them become more like Christ and to grow Spiritually in their faith.  We are called to mature in Christ, and although that is not a popular message sometimes, it is exactly what we need all the time.  R.C. was extremely gracious as well, as I know personally from working with him.  On one occasion when I had been struggling mightily with confidence and an embarrassing situation, he comforted me personally with all comfort knowing clearly the human condition we all face.  He knew my weaknesses and accepted me completely.  That spoke volumes and strengthened me forever.

R.C. was also a Brother in Christ.  That is to say, he was all too human, he was just like us in every way, except for the fact that he was also so abundantly gifted.  But he had his scruples, he certainly did not like all the frustrations in life that we all don't like.  In his humanity, however, he was authentic and honest.  In the same way, he had his human attributes as well.  His sense of humor was a catalyst for his teaching, and a bond with us as a real person.  He just really loved to have fun sometimes, and it was so welcomed not only for comic relief but to assure us that we too were normal.  We loved his laugh, and his ability to make us laugh.  We will never forget his "Detective Columbo" routines.  He "just needed to ask us one more question ..."  And when he would ask the audience if anyone didn't understand a particular aspect of theology, and no one would dare raise their hand, he then felt comfortable to ask everyone who didn't raise their hand questions about the subject.  Yikes, he was always a couple steps ahead of us.  His Dr. Gerstner stories were also like this, such as when Dr. Gerstner asked his seminary class why we should pray, when in fact God was sovereign over all things.  After going around the room, and everyone was stumped, he came to R.C., who sheepishly, as a new theology student, humbly suggested that maybe it was because "Jesus commanded us to pray."  At this response, Dr. Gerstner let out a huge laugh and a satirical response that, 'possibly, because the King of heaven and earth, the Sovereign Lord of all things, had commanded that we should pray, that then it was a good reason for us to pray.'  Ha!  R.C. still 'shivered' when he told that story.  Gerstner awoke R.C., and thus a generation to our humanness in that we often can't see the theology right before our eyes, but then to our need to seek after God with all our hearts.

Lastly, as this could go on for a very long time, R.C. Sproul was my Mentor and my friend.  His life is now complete, he has finished his race, he has fought the good fight, and he has upheld the faith to the end.  He has taught me what an abundance of blessing God gives to a person who responds in faith in all of life.  This is a great example of a life well lived.  Although not perfect, he was faithful, and this is what Jesus counts as being a friend.  R.C. didn't compromise on the big issues of faith or the distinctions of truth.  He knew that small compromises were still compromises and that they lead to other compromises.  He developed Ligonier Ministries into a multifaceted, and now world-reaching C.E. ministry that proclaims the Holiness of God in all his glory and for our sanctification.  Because he was faithful to God he, in turn, ministered to me and befriended me, and countless others.  He made the truth of God the central issue in all his ministry and demonstrated that the truth of Christ shines gloriously to give light to all the darkness of the world.

R.C. declared the glories of the Holiness of God and the Truth of Christ in such a way that it has awakened a whole generation of people.  This glory and truth is what I now live for.  Soli Deo Gloria, to God alone be the glory, SDG.

Retirement or Redeployment?

Just about a year ago on December 28, 2016, I submitted an email to the company I work for (FedEx) to notify them of my intent to retire this December 31, 2017.  This policy of notifying the company a year in advance allows them to plan ahead and hire new pilots to keep pace with the number of retirements each year.  And so, I'm closing in on the end of the year and the retirement that I've requested and planned for.  But it seems almost unreal after twenty-seven-plus years as this company has become a big part of my life.

But retirement is not necessarily my primary motive as I'm actually hoping to do other things in my newfound time and open schedule.  A Christian teaching ministry is actually what I'd like to tackle next, and this isn't a Plan B for me.  On the contrary, soon after I became a Christian in 1976 I had the desire to do something along this line.  This is more in line with being Plan A for me for all these years, having started seminary before but needing to raise and support a family had to come first.  And now I have a chance to get back to Plan A.

A new redeployment is a much more accurate idea to describe what I hope to do.  Even beginning a Bible study or a local study center would be exciting I believe.  There are many Bible studies and even para-church ministries that are already doing this kind of ministry.  But a "Veritas Study Center" would be a somewhat rare Christian Education ministry in that it would seek to tackle the many worldly philosophies that distract people from the truth of the Bible.  Focusing on the truth of Scripture would be a challenge in our culture and a key catalyst for Spiritual growth.

We all need a vision of divine truth to understand the Bible.  We also all need an inspiration to live by and a purpose to live for.  Knowing that redeployment is coming and not just the rocking chair for retirement is a great encouragement to me to know that the next several years can be meaningful.  I certainly hope so, and I certainly believe they could be a Spiritual blessing for me and even my family.  It is God who holds our future in his hands, and we should run into his fellowship to enjoy it with him.  Amen, it is true!

Five New Bible Studies

At The Veritas Fellowship, I'm seeking to proclaim the true-truth of Christ to family and friends as we live in our contemporary culture.  To develop this outreach even more I'm promoting a new series of five Bible studies also called, The Veritas Fellowship, for growing in our faith and understanding of Scripture.  This will be a truth-focused ministry to discuss key areas of living in the Christian faith in our postmodern world. 

These five studies are -

1)  The Bible Truth - A survey of Scripture asking, "What Truth Is In The Bible?"

2)  The Gospel of John - An evangelistic survey asking, "Who Is Jesus?"

3)  The Book of Genesis - An introduction to humanity asking, "How Important Are People?"

4)  The Book of Ephesians - A doctrinal survey asking, "What is the Church?"

5)  The Prophets - An introduction to cultural analysis asking, "How Shall We Then Live?"

This is the initial Veritas Fellowship Bible study structure, each presented at an introduction or survey level, meeting only once a week and lasting approximately six months in length.  It is called a Fellowship because it will be informal in nature seeking to promote both study and fellowship with other Christians.

The theme verse for The Veritas Fellowship will be - John 1:14, "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth."  We see that Jesus was filled with the grace and truth of God, and this is my goal as well.  With a truth focus, we will be dedicated to seeking both the grace and truth of Christ in all of life. 

Hopefully, in the future, these Bible studies will be developed in more detail to make five different group seminars comprise, "The Veritas Study Center".  This will be a para-church ministry seeking to assist the church in Christian Education and to address the issues of our contemporary culture. 

Stand by for further details!

Take The High Road

The current fiasco in dis-honoring the flag and the national anthem in the NFL is an emotionally charged issue.  Even though we have a right to protest in our country, is it always necessary, or is it the best choice?  The 'Left' clearly sees bias and racism in certain cases with minorities and police.  No argument.  And the 'Right' clearly sees insubordination and unrest in dealing with those who disrespect the law.  This is unsustainable.  Both have legitimate complaints and concerns that can only be resolved through the rule of law. 

Normally the Right promotes the rule of law and order as a matter of principle to maintain peace in our communities.  But the Left needs to do the same, for the Constitution and Bill of Rights is the rule of law, without bias or prejudice.  Instead of making an emotional response to the real issues of prejudice, taking the high road of respect to the rule of law is the best answer for this law also protects them.  The rule of law is for the protection of all Americans, and this shows respect for the principles of freedom that our country was founded upon.  Both sides need freedom and respect.

Often we forget the principles of freedom and pursue either the Left or the Right.  But I submit that in addition to the rule of law, the only way out is UP, the spiritual high road is the solution.  Men will hate and fight against each other if there is no spiritual answer, for it is in our nature.  Consider the teachings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount in Luke 6:27ff, “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.”  And with many other examples, Jesus teaches us a spiritual rule of law, the law of loving our neighbors as ourselves.  With the love of Christ, we are able to love our fellow man and respect the civil authorities.  This is the spiritual high road that changes our hearts and our minds.

PS - published in Letters to the Editor, CA, 10/1/17.

The Doctrine of Grace

Perhaps the greatest truth or teaching that every Christian would acknowledge is the doctrine of grace.  We love this doctrine because it means that God forgives us, he does not hold our sins against us, he blots out our transgressions from our records, and he restores us to fellowship with him.  This is all because Jesus lived a perfect life and then died in our place on the cross.  He has done what we could not do and lived a sinless life, and then died as a sacrifice and substitute in our place, so that his righteousness could be imputed to us.  The grace of Christ is what guarantees our ability of going to heaven if we receive it.  All we have to do is confess our sins, accept this grace, and live in faith for Christ.

The doctrine of anything is the "teaching" of any particular subject.  We can learn the doctrines of the United States Navy, or of Zen Buddhism, the Communist Manifesto, and even of the Royal and Ancient (R&A), rules of golf.  Every organization and institution has teachings, guidelines, doctrines, requirements, and standards to live by.  This is necessary for an organization to function and thrive.  There must be teachings on the purpose, instruction, description, and correction to live by for any organization.  And so it is of course with the Christian faith.

Even more than simple teachings however, when some teaching is elevated to the level of doctrine it is considered an authoritative teaching.  This is a teaching that is in agreement with principles that are considered unchanging, foundational, and necessary.  The doctrine then is the official teachings that are aligned with truth and in principle above the opinions and preferences of man.  We may believe that 'it's just not fair to call a penalty stroke on ourselves' when we address a golf ball in the fairway, and by doing so it causes the ball to move a half inch.  But, those are the rules.  These rules have stood the test of time and have been reviewed by countless people and they have concluded that for the good of the game, it is necessary to draw the line at this point.  Any movement of the golf ball that is associated with the player's activity counts for a stroke in competition golf.  This is doctrine in golf.

As we study the Christian faith we see that grace is certainly one of the highest doctrines, because it is so central to everything.  We cannot come into the faith without the substitutionary atonement of Christ, we just cannot meet the requirements of a holy God in our sinful condition.  This is true.  And so we see the doctrine of truth is even more of a central teaching and requirement than the doctrine of grace.  For if somebody were to assert that salvation is not "by grace alone through faith alone," we would protest.  We know the truth of Scripture teaches otherwise.  And this places truth at the top.  Truth is the highest priority in all the doctrines of the Christian faith because all the other doctrines depend upon it.  Without truth we could not know if any other teachings were authoritative.

The doctrine of grace is dependent upon the doctrine of truth, or the authoritative teaching and existence of truth.  The only reason that any teaching can become a doctrine then is because it has truth that is independent of man's perspectives and preferences.  This is true no matter what we believe.  But our contemporary culture doesn't value truth or ultimate truth because it realizes that it then would have authority over them.  On the other hand, the truth provides tremendously wonderful doctrines such as grace, forgiveness, reconciliation, restoration, healing, sanctification, and hope.  It is true that grace is real, that we can truly or really be forgiven in Christ.  But we must receive it and trust God, and also that we need forgiveness and grace.

The doctrine of grace is not the most important doctrine therefore in Christianity.  The doctrine of truth is at the top, for there could be no other doctrines if there were no truth and authority.  There could be no other truth in the Bible if there was no true God that holds all truth together.  We need both, for it is by grace that we receive the truth, and it is by truth that we can understand grace.  It's important to remember that grace and truth always go together, as Jesus was described as being "full of grace and truth," (Jn 1:14).  Grace and truth are both necessary, but truth is at the top, it is the doctrine that holds all other doctrines together.  Even more, from the truth of Scripture, we also discover that truth is a Person, that Jesus is the Truth, and He is the truth of grace.