Thoughts On Christian Maturity From Hebrews

This entry was originally published at Imperishable Inheritance

I've had many conversations that have gone something like this:

Me: So you enjoy studying theology?
Joe Nominal: I don't need to study theology as long as I have Jesus. That stuff just divides.

I used to get frustrated to the point of acting in an un-humble, and un-Christ like way.  I decided instead to point them to a verse that has stood out to me from Hebrews 6.

Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. And this we will do, if God permits. (Heb 6:1-3)

This is on the heels of the previous chapter where the author admonishes the Hebrew believers to move from milk to solid food (Heb 5:12).  It always seemed to be a perfect admonishment to give to believers who seemingly love to stay satisfied with milk and not move onto solid food.

Recently, a deacon at my church named Paul DeHart gave a lesson on this very passage.  It was a perfect opportunity to ensure that my application was in fact correct and not a misuse of the text.  In an e-mail he shared the following application that deserves to be heard by others.

"[W]hen talking to someone, saying something like: 'I understand that you believe that Jesus is enough, but God has given his children a relationship with Christ, and this involves growing in our knowledge of Him. A good example of this call is found in the epistle of Hebrews where the author challenges the Jews to whom he is writing that they need to move beyond their immature views of Christ which are being twisted by not understanding how He fulfilled many of their Old Covenant practices. In the same way, we today need to grow in our knowledge of Christ so that we don't start conforming Christ to the patterns and understandings that we have in this world. To understand a proper view of Christ, we need to understand Scripture, and see how Christ relates to us, to the world, and understand salvation, sanctification, etc. The study of these things is theology and it is important to our growth in Christ.'"

What great wisdom and application—I have nothing more to add!

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The Next Five Years

This entry was originally published at Imperishable Inheritance

I have been thinking intently about what my life will look like after June 10th. That day is the day of my graduation from The Wright State University. I am certainly excited to embark on a new time in my life. My time in college has been such a life changing experience that I am completely different from the start. I came in a recovering drug addict, anorexic, lost, uncontent soul. I'm leaving over three years sober, recovering every daily from my eating struggles, found, and completely joyful in Christ. My idea of what this time would look like has also changed drastically since I started due to all of the intense changes.

I thought starting that I would leave a MIS major going into a good full-time job, married, and getting ready to have children (I'm not kidding, I thought I would be married by 22). My ministry is surely at the top of my list, and before I make any kind of professional decision I will be decided spiritually. Thinking of being married at 22 makes me laugh. I promised Trinh we would marry each other if we weren't married by 32; so I have to get going (just kidding Trinh)!

I have met and starting meeting with a man by the name of Andy Miller who I am excited about. He has a serious heart for international ministry, and he also has the ability to dream big. Trinh and I met with Ben Thomas who is our unofficial advisor (he leads the ministry for Athletes in Action for all of Southeast Asia), and we discussed about the future of the ministry. We talked most about a partnership with Apex Community Church. While none of us go there, we realize how strategic of a partnership it can be, but I have theological concerns over their house church movement and how they see Bridges fitting into that. We are in discussion now over what this will look like. I am writing a strategic plan for Bridges, and I will post it soon. We have decided to become an organization at WSU however.

The next five years tentatively look like this. Before I start I know not to worry about tomorrow (Mat 6:33-34), but I also want to be diligent and strategic in how I approach my ministry. Matt Martin talked to me about living together after graduation, and I think that I will excercise that option for a year for a few reasons. First, I don't want to leave Bridges as it is right now. It is right on the pinnacle of being an extremely powerful force in the Dayton area for reaching international students, and I just can't simply leave at this crucial time. Secondly, I don't want to just drop my job at the base, and I will explain why.

In five years, I have established that I want to be overseas in an unreached people group. I put a map of the Middle East on my wall so I have to look at it everytime I leave my room. I have started to pray for Sudan, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia.

While I work all that out, I would like to work with The Traveling Team mobilizing college students. I e-mailed the leader Claude Hickman, and hopefully we can work out a situation where I can speak but not have to drop the job. I don't want to drop the job, because I know I'll need it to get into a country such as Saudi Arabia. I hope I can work with them in some regard.

Well, I feel lazy for not posting an intense theological essay on this blog in a while. I need to get on that.

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Reformed Baptist Churches in Dayton, Ohio

This entry was originally published at Imperishable Inheritance

I've heard of some individuals searching for reformed baptist churches in the Dayton area, but unfortunately both web searches and others knowledge of these congregations is limited.  I will talk about what I believe to be the three RB churches I know about in the area, but if I've missed on please let me know.

I have visited all three, and I am familiar with differing levels of each congregation.  I will highlight some major differing points between the three, but most of the differences are primarily ecclessiastical and not soteriological.  They will also range from the most "traditional" to more "contemporary" in how they hold their services.

Kemp Road Baptist Church

Kemp is the church I am a member of and frequent.  It comes out of an association called the Association of Reformed Baptist Churches of America or ARBCA.  They are creedalistic, in particular the 1689 2nd London Baptist Confession of Faith.  They are fairly strict cessationists and sabbatarians, and the congregation numbers between 100-150 each Sunday morning.

www.kemproadbaptist.com

Grace Covenant

Grace Covenant is right down the road from Kemp, and there are very similar in their theological adherence to a confession although they choose the Westminster Confession of Faith although they are baptistic.  You will find more theological liberty amongst their leadership with some being Presbyterian, Dispensationalists, etc.  They also employ a slightly more contemporary form of music then Kemp would.  The teaching pastor also is a member of the Fellowship of Independent Reformed Evangelicals or FIRE.  They also share a similar congregation size to Kemp.

www.gracecovenant.info

Clearcreek Chapel

Clearcreek Chapel is unfortunately the one I know the least about, but I have visited as well as conversed with some congregants.  Their services would be more contemporary then the previous two, and the congregation size is also larger then both Grace and Kemp.  Of the three, they probably wear the RB title the least on their sleeve making it more inviting to those who don't understand the Doctrines of Grace.

www.clearcreekchapel.org

If I Forgot Something

If I forgot a congregation and/or someone more familiar with the congregations above would like me to alter the descriptions then please let me know in the comments.  This should be a good resource, however, for individuals looking for reformed and baptistic churches in the Dayton, Ohio (OH) area.

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Dangers of Relational Evangelism: A Rejoinder

This entry was originally published at Imperishable Inheritance

Recently, Doug Pollock stopped by to comment on a post a did a while back on some of the dangers in over-emphasizing the relational aspect of evangelism in lieu of actually sharing the Gospel.  In that post, I use an example from a book entitled Irresistible Evangelism to which Doug is one of the authors.  He commented that I had misused his golf course analogy.  Here are my original comments.

I once flipped through a book that caught my eye entitled Irresistible Evangelism by the former pastor of the Cincinnati Vineyard. I was flipping through and found a horrific graphic that summarized their philosophy of evangelism.1 Basically, the analogy is between golf hole and evangelism. When you golf you don't just shoot it straight into the hole (unless you're insanely good), but instead you take one shot into the fairway, then up to the green, then finally in the hole. And each of these steps correlates to the relational process you move through in their method of evangelism. You don't start off with the Gospel, because you need to first "get it up to the green." This methodology clearly shows their Arminian/decisional regeneration theology.

This analogy, I think, most clearly shows what relational evangelism can go to taken to an extreme. We must first ask: Did anyone in the whole Bible present the truth of God only after the tee and fairway shots? Jesus calls his disciples from the very beginning to repentance, and Peter and Paul both giving stirring Gospel presentations to the masses. I would imagine that if there was a model to clone it would be these gentlemen, but each of these men also contextualized the Gospel to their audience.

I of course don't want to misuse something, and if I have done so I want to be corrected; so I asked Doug to write a short rejoinder.

I would share your concerns about too much friendship and not enough evangelism as well. The bigger idea of the golf course analogy was simply to help Christians see that God's word clearly presents the idea of evangelism from a holistic perspective. Way to many Christ followers find a club (a method) that they feel comfortable with and then take it to their golf course everyday. Effective evangelism starts where people are in relationship to God not where we would like them to be. My admonition to Christ followers is to go to their golf course everyday with a full bag of clubs. You will never see Jesus do the exact same thing with the different people He encounters along the way. Sometimes He did a good deed, sometimes He raised questions, sometimes He shared Good news. Apparently He understood that different folks need different strokes. The golf course analogy is just a metaphor intended to encourage people to bring the whole gospel to the whole person. Some days that means we will sow, some days water, and some days we will harvest. If you would like to better understand my take on the whole thing go to my website at GodsGPS.com. There is one article I wrote for Outreach Magazine that might best articulate what in particular the way we should be intentional in our efforts to move the ball ahead on the golf course.

I am curious as to the thoughts my readers have.  Did I take it out of context?  Does Doug's explanation ease your mind on this?

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A Temporary Hiatus

This entry was originally published at Imperishable Inheritance

I love this blog and all the great people who have stopped by to share their thoughts and insights.  However, it's a lot of work to write these essays on a regular basis.  With my new job I have been limited in my time to write on the theological topics I love.

I will be taking a temporary hiatus from writing full articles, but I will continue to feature content from my sideblog and the forums.  While I will write the occasional article it will be an aberration for a short time. But fear not friends as I will return in full force soon enough!  You can still access all the archives.

I always wanted this to be a place where we can think through the social, political, and theological topics of the day as informed and intelligent Christians, but I want to make sure that I do it out of love for it and the glory of God.  I just need some time to re-focus to return the posting regularity to what it once was.

-Chris

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