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Archive for the ‘Apologetics’ Category

Why we use the Apostles’ Creed at Grace Church of Philly

18 Aug

Why we use the Apostles’ Creed at Grace Church of Philly

                From time to time I hear concerns from well-meaning people questioning our use of the Apostles’ Creed. Most often it has to do not so much with the content, but with their personal history of having recited it in the Roman Catholic Church or a liberal denominational church.  Part of their conversion story is that in understanding the gospel of salvation by faith alone in Jesus Christ, they left a religious system that had corrupted and confused the gospel. We rejoice with them in their conversion and their choice to leave a faulty religious system.

However, in our use of the Apostles’ Creed and other ancient creeds we are reclaiming from corrupt religious systems what belongs to historic Christianity. Read the rest of this entry »

 
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Posted in Apologetics, Biblical Theology, Gospel, Ministry, Worship

 

The Politics of Jesus and Peter (1 Peter 2:13-25)

11 Jul

 


The Politics of Jesus and Peter (1 Peter 2:13-25)

A Christian living in the first century faced the challenge, as we do, of how to live as a Christian in a non-Christian world.  Those whom Peter addressed in Asia Minor were mindful that they were aliens of the dispersion, i.e. their loyalties belonged to the kingdom of Jesus, yet they were temporality dwelling in this foreign world as His people.

The Roman government was not a model of justice and increasingly it became oppressive toward Christians. The institution of slavery, though having a legitimate legal purpose for the payment of debts owed to society, had also become exploitative and oppressive. Even the husband-led structure of marriages had degenerated to the abuse and oppression of women.

Christians found themselves in situations where the natural response of the heart would be to either overthrow the institutions of society which had become corrupt or escape from these institutions to a safer place.

Strikingly, Peter offers direction to believers that overturns human expectations, opening up a new way of thinking and acting. Read the rest of this entry »

 
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Posted in Apologetics, Evangelism, Gospel

 

A Community of Witness

06 Jul

A Community of Witness

1 Peter 2:9-12

1 Peter 2:9-12   9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.  10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.  11 Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.  12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

1 Peter 2:1-12 offers insight to the kind of new community that God forms as believers live as exiles and strangers in this world. Verses 1-3 describe a community of the word; verses 4-8 a community of worship; and verses 9-12 a community of witness.

There are two statements in 2:9-12 that remind us of the two-fold practice of a witnessing community

  • … that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
  • … that they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

Our witness must be the harmony of lip and life, of word and of action.

Good deeds without a verbal declaration of the gospel leave people interested but ignorant of the truth.

Great talking about the gospel without a credible life leaves people with information but confusion because of the hypocrisy.

Peter encourages us to become a credible witnessing community by first reminding us of whom we are in Christ (Vs. 9-10).

In Christ, God creates a new humanity, a chosen race identified by the gospel. This new people have a royal standing in which everyone has priestly access to God. Their nationhood is marked out not by geography but holiness. They are a people belonging to God.

Knowing that God in His mercy has granted us this status of being His people, we are compelled by gratitude to proclaim the excellence of the One who called us out of darkness into the light.

However, that proclamation must be more than words. It proceeds from a life which is experiencing inner grace and is expressing outward grace.

Because we are His newly created people, we seek by His grace to have a godly interior life in which our passions are governed by the Lordship of Christ instead of our former self-centered and idolatrous pursuit (v.11).

As our inner passions are governed by the Lordship of Christ, we then can enjoy the freedom to pursue exemplary living among those who do not confess Jesus as Lord (v.12)

Consequently, as a result of a consistent witness of word and deed, those who resist will experience His grace and one day will glorify Him.

May we all experience God’s grace in such a way that our lives shine brightly for His glory and our lips speak readily of His grace.

 

 
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Posted in Apologetics, Evangelism

 

By what process does man acquire the knowledge of God?

15 Jun

By what process does man acquire the knowledge of God?

For an accurate knowledge of God we are dependent upon God’s self-revelation. Revelation implies a difference between God’s knowledge and man’s knowledge. Let me explain by asking and answering a few questions regarding knowledge:

  1. What does God know? His knowledge is comprehensive and self-contained. (God never learned anything.)
  2. How does God reveal what He knows? God’s revelation is both natural and special. Natural revelation is the disclosure of His power and glory in the created universe. Special revelation is the disclosure of His redemptive purposes, primarily through Scripture. In the past special revelation included appearances of God and the incarnation of Jesus Christ.
  3. What do men, as creatures, know? Generally, all of his knowledge is limited and derived. He is dependent upon God for knowledge.
  4. What can a lost man know? Read the rest of this entry »

 
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Posted in Apologetics, Biblical Theology, Evangelism, Gospel

 

Implications of Being Gospel-Centered

10 Jun

IMPLICATIONS OF BEING GOSPEL-CENTERED

Keeping the gospel central was Paul’s concern, as he wrote the book of Galatians. The gospel foundation of the Galatian churches was being undermined as others intermingled human effort with grace. Paul’s message to the church and false teachers is that a non-grace gospel is a non-gospel.  The good news of the gospel is that Christ faithfully lived the life that I have failed to live and died the death that I deserve to die and that sinners stand in God’s favor always and solely on the merits of the righteous life and substitutionary death of Christ. Human effort neither brings a sinner into a relationship with the Holy Triune God nor does it enhance or maintain one’s relationship with God.

As we continue to read through the book of Galatians, we see clearly some of the implications of getting the gospel wrong. Let me briefly suggest some of those implications.

  • GETTING THE GOSPEL WRONG AFFECTS HOW YOU SEE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY

When something other than the gospel is elevated among Christians, unity in Christ is threatened. In Galatians 2:14-16 we see how Peter failed to live out the implications of the gospel of grace. Even though he knew that the gospel of Christ removed the barrier between Jew and Gentile and that the ceremonial practices of the Old Covenant were abolished in Christ, he broke fellowship with Gentile believers because of the influence of those who set forth law-keeping as a measure of one’s standing with God.

In the gospel we dance in celebration together over the victory accomplished in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, not over our preference for theological systems or denominational labels or ethnocentricities or idiosyncratic church expectations. Read the rest of this entry »

 
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Posted in Apologetics, Evangelism, Gospel

 
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