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CTT | Abominable Practices Still…

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CTTSo, last Friday’s post was a departure from my usual anti-halloween posting. With most of what I post here on Faithful Stewardship, there is a battle of sorts, a grappling with the text and with my opinions and biases that rarely makes it into a post. The episode of IssuesETC shared last Friday was good for those seeking to refute the notion that October 31st somehow belonged to pagans and that the Church tried to baptize the date to make it holy. The post points out that the Church already had a holiday on that date (well, the eve of OCT 31 and the day of NOV 01). So, if the goal is to rightly understand the history of the observances of men, then I recommend treating the Church’s observances as separate from whatever pagan/occult customs happen to be at play. However, once we step out of our academic bubble, we have to deal with a real and fallen world that HATES Christ.

Halloween in American Culture

The historicity of All Saint’s Day (or Feast of the Martyrs) is completely foreign to the majority of American Evangelicals. I was clueless, and by evangelical standards, I grew up in the church. We don’t go to Church on Halloween, we go to haunted houses, costume parties, or door-to-door asking for treats (for our kids, naturally). Sadly, our culture is one that doesn’t go door-to-door for anything other than halloween and/or fundraisers. Despite the sizable representation of American adherents to the Roman Catholic Church, very few venerate the saints of old, much less of recent times past. Airborne troops may wear a medallion of the patron saint of Paratroopers, but for the most part we in the US are completely removed from a Christian observance of Oct 31/Nov 1. I think there is plenty of room to discuss the merits of observing All Saint’s Day or Reformation Day as a holiday, that is a conversation that must take place completely separate from Halloween as it is observed in American Culture.

Things that don’t matter. Seriously.

The day. Whatever day is showing on the calendar is irrelevant in the big picture. God is still in charge, Christ still died for our sins, the Holy Spirit still draws us to Him, and Enemy is still defeated. There is no point on any calendar that is any more or less holy than the next. Demons and unclean spirits are no more or less troublesome on any day of any calendar. What matters is whether or not we walk according to the flesh or according to the Spirit by Faith.

Romans 14:5-9 (ESV)

5 One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. 8 For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. 9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

The Food. Again, from the same chapter in Romans, whatever we eat on whichever day is irrelevant in light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Whether candy, pumpkin-spice whatever, or cookies, apples, bacon… chocolate, or bacon (worth mentioning twice), what we eat or abstain from isn’t nearly as important as how we eat or abstain from it.

Romans 14:17 (ESV)

17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

The Party. As Christians, we don’t mourn like the world does, nor do we “party” like the world does. That doesn’t mean we do nothing. We observe funerals and memorial services and we enjoy a wedding reception and feasts. I know it must seem odd that I include funerals in this, but I wanted to cover the whole experience… having a party is fine. NOT having a party is fine. In this sense, the issue of having a party or not having a party is irrelevant as far as the Faith is concerned. Bridal showers, baby showers, bachelor parties, funerals, wakes, birthday’s, harvest, planting, mortgage burning,… if there is a cause for celebration, then have the party… or don’t… totally up to you. Now, having said that, how the party is conducted is still a matter of Law and Gospel. A bachelor party done in celebration of lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, sexual immorality, and debauchery is an abomination.

Costumes. I love a good costume party. I love seeing my kids play “make believe” around the house… but there’s something really cool that happens when you give them a costume that sparks their imagination. That’s why we give them toy weapons, tea party kits, play kitchens, and jungle gyms. Watch and listen to them play… you think that’s a slide? No, it’s a mountain. Costumes are also a great way for adults to set aside the anxieties and frustrations of “everyday life” and just enjoy some good fun. We  wear uniforms when we engage in team sports, some fans go a bit crazy with costumes to cheer on their favorite teams. Even at home sometimes we have set “work clothes” for disconnecting and just doing some gardening/lawn care to forget the weekly 9-to-5. Or maybe it’s our favorite bath robe and fuzzy bunny slippers to let everyone else know “I’m chillin’ for a bit today”. It can be good fun, it can be great for breaking the ice between professionals so they can just be themselves for a bit. But, these can be abused, and generally are abused during Mardi Gras and Halloween. It should come as no surprise that the spirit of Halloween (and Mardi Gras) in America is Lust of the flesh. Recently there was a story on a mom who was upset by the sexualized costumes at Party City… for her 3 year old (NBC’s Today Show). We’ll address this more in a bit. As a fan of costumes and costume parties, I’d like to see more costume parties throughout the year so that it can be further divorced from halloween. My kids don’t need halloween to look forward to a costume party.

What Really Matters… Seriously.

The god of Halloween in America is Self-Gratification. Lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. Our culture seeks to pleasure itself in whichever way it wills in the moment, and demands that everyone not only allow it, but celebrate it with them. Everything is about sex and pleasure. Halloween (and Mardi Gras) are the pinnacle of the self-indulgence when it comes to the spirit of Lust. Gluttony has largely been normalized in our culture, so the diabetic nightmare that is Halloween is generally limited to children and their parents. Once the kids are tweens, they are encouraged to explore every imaginable sexual immorality and blood lust imaginable in the name of “harmless fun”. I’ve known many who look to Halloween to play out their cross-dressing fantasies long before “coming out” as homosexual, or suffering from gender dysphoria. Vampires and even zombies have become sexualized in our culture. Mysticism has taken on a very sensual and even sexual nature in stuff we sell year-round in so-called Christian book stores (Theological Erotica).

Even if we manage to strip away the eroticism and sexual immorality, there is the issue of practices that were Abominable to God in the Old Testament… and remain so today (yes, even in 2015).

Deuteronomy 18:9-12 (ESV) | Abominable Practices

9 “When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer 11 or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, 12 for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you.

Acts 19:11-20 (ESV) | The Sons of Sceva

11 And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them.13 Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” 14 Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. 15 But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” 16 And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. 17 And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. 18 Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. 19 And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. 20 So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.

I decided to include the reference to the Sons of Sceva to indicate that the practice of magic arts is something to be repented from and gotten rid of. What these believers turned in and burned was valued at 50,000 pieces of silver. If the reference to “piece of silver” is a denarius, we know from the New Testament that a denarius was a day’s wage for laborers. That should help approximate the monetary value of what was collected, repented of, and burned. My point here is that whatever Scripture declares to be an abomination, doesn’t stop being an abomination simply because we are under a New Covenant. Throughout the Scriptures sexual immorality and idolatry are tied together. So, when we have modern-day evangelicals participating in a unholiday that is rife with both idolatry (witchcraft, spiritism, sorcery, divination, etc.) and sexual immorality intertwined there is much cause for concern and a need for repentance. I don’t care about what day any of this activity falls on a calendar (whether Halloween, Mardi Gras, or April 25th), where there is sin it must be rebuked and the sinner called to repentance.

Conclusion

If you choose to celebrate All Hallow’s Eve, or Reformation Day, or even American Halloween, be very careful about what it is you are honoring and for what reasons. The concern isn’t a day on the calendar, nor is it some over-realized sense of “spiritual warfare”; rather, it is about how we are living out our lives as Christians. We are encouraged to walk according to the Spirit, no matter the day, or the hour, or the social environment.

Galatians 5:13-26 (ESV) | Keep in Step with the Spirit

13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. 16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

I highlighted those works of the flesh that reign over American observances of Halloween. In the Spiritual, these things are no more or less destructive on Halloween or Mardi Gras , but in the natural, they tend to take more Christian casualties because the worldly society actively seeks out the pure and innocent to engage in these activities on these days.

Therefore, let us encourage one another in Christ to walk in a manner worthy of Him and His Gospel. Let us build each other up in the faith and inspire one another to keep step with the Spirit.

Jude 24-25 (ESV) | Doxology

24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

In Christ Jesus,
Jorge

Church History | Missional Church Movement

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churchhistoryWhat does it mean when a church declares itself a “Missional Church”? This is a fairly recent movement found mostly within Reformed and Baptist circles, though it is embraced by many non-denominational churches. It is a movement that seeks to redefine or re-envision the Church and its mission.  Today, I’d like to take address the topic of the “Missional Church Movement”. This is the result of my personal research on the topic, because I just needed to know what this whole thing was about. I have done my best to cite sources friendly to the movement and provide links to those sources for your own reading. Your feedback is most appreciated on this one, it’s a little bit outside of my wheelhouse.

Recent History of Missional Church Movement

Let’s begin with an excerpt from an article from GotQuestions.org that is supportive of the Missional Church Movement.

“Missional” or “missional living” is a Christian term that in essence describes a missionary lifestyle. Being missional includes embracing the posture, the thinking, behaviors, and practices of a missionary in order to reach others with the message of the gospel. The term “missional” gained its popularity towards the end of the 20th century with the influence of Tim Keller, Alan Hirsch, and others, as well as the Gospel and Our Culture Network. Their basic premise is that all Christians should be involved in the Great Commission of Jesus (Matthew 28:19-20).

Essentially, the idea of being missional teaches that the church has a mission because Jesus had a mission. There is one mission which says that the “missional church is a community of God’s people that defines itself, and organizes its life around, its real purpose of being an agent of God’s mission to the world. In other words, the church’s true and authentic organizing principle is mission. When the church is in mission, it is the true church.” Yet there has been some confusion regarding the term “missional.”

Alan Hirsch, one its proponents, says that “missional” is not synonymous with “emerging.” The emerging church is primarily a renewal movement attempting to contextualize Christianity for a postmodern generation. “Missional” is also not the same as “evangelistic” or “seeker-sensitive.” These terms generally apply to what he calls the “attractional” model of church that has dominated our understanding for many years. Missional is not a new way to talk about church growth. Although God clearly desires the church to grow numerically, it is only one part of the larger missional agenda. Finally, missional is more than social justice. Engaging the poor and correcting inequalities is part of being God’s agent in the world, but should not be confused with the whole.

Hirsch also says that a proper understanding of missional living begins with recovering a missionary understanding of God. By His very nature God is a “sending God” who takes the initiative to redeem His creation. This doctrine, known as missio Dei is causing many to redefine their understanding of the church. Because the church is comprised of the “sent” people of God, the church is the instrument of God’s mission in the world. However, most people believe that missions is an instrument of the church, a means by which the church is grown. Although Christians frequently say, “The church has a mission,” according to missional theology a more correct statement would be “the mission has a church.”

Though many churches have mission statements or talk about the importance of having a mission, where missional churches differ is in their attitude toward the world. A missional church sees the mission as both its originating impulse and its organizing principle. It is patterned after what God has done in Jesus Christ, that is, to be missional means to be sent into the world; not to expect people to come to us. This idea differentiates a missional church from an “attractional” church.

The attractional church seeks to reach out to the culture and draw people into the church. But this practice only works where no significant cultural shift is required when moving from outside to inside the church. And as Western culture has become increasingly post-Christian, the attractional church has lost its effectiveness. The West looks more like a cross-cultural missionary context in which attractional churches are self-defeating. The process of extracting people from the culture and assimilating them into the church diminishes their ability to speak to those outside. As a result, people cease to be missional and instead leave that work to the clergy.

Missional represents a significant shift in the way one thinks about the church. Being missional means we should engage the world the same way Jesus did—by going out rather than just reaching out. Missional means that when a church is in mission, it is then the true church. [Continue Reading…]

A couple of thoughts that jump out at me when reading through this article. First, it seems to be a very current write-up focused on distinguishing “Missional” from “emergent” and “seeker-sensitive”. It also highlights the “attractional” model of implementing church activities and campaigns designed to make the church attractive to potential church-goers. I think is important for any modern-day church movement to recognize the blatant errors of the seeker-mergent movements and to properly distinguish themselves from those movements. However, defining a movement by how it isn’t one of the bad movements, falls short for me. The biggest problem with this article is that it seems to define a man-made term “Missional” like a slogan or a vision statement for an organization. That’s fine for a parachurch organization or even a church small group or group activity, but if we are talking about defining the Church, the argument needs to be exegeted from Scripture.

Older History of the Missional Church Movement

The document formed by Tim Keller, Alan Hirsch, et al, was not created out of nothing. They gave the movement a name, but much of the theological and ecclesial groundwork for their Missional Church is grounded in the 1950s inspired largely by the work of Leslie Newbigin. To get a better handle on the history of what would become the Missional Church Movement, I recommend reading Historical Perspectives on the Missional Church Movement: Probing Lesslie Newbigin’s Formative Influence  by Michael W. Goheen (pdf). It is a lengthy document, but well worth reading if you are in a Reformed Church who defines itself as Missional. It does a good job of describing the differing paradigms of “emergent” (Johannes Hoekendijk) vice “missional” (Leslie Newbigin).

There are two important years in the development of a missional ecclesiology that provide a structure for our reflection – 1952 and 1998. 1952 was the year of the Willingen meeting of the International Missionary Council (IMC). It was then that the theological framework (although not the term) of the missio Dei was clearly articulated. An important part of this formulation was the recognition that mission was central to the church’s being. The church’s identity was to be found in the role it played in God’s mission. The next stage, theologically speaking, should have been to articulate what this missional identity looks like in the ecclesial structures of the local congregation, ecumenical church, and cross-cultural missions. Unfortunately, this next stage was blown off course by the powerful secular winds of the 1960s that can be associated, within the church itself, with the name Johannes Hoekendijk.
…
[Leslie Newbigin] authored the Willingen statement; he was a significant voice in opposition to the Hoekendijkian vision of the church and mission; he was the inspiration behind the 1998 publication of Missional Church; and he remains the recognized father and, for many, the tacit authority in much missional and emergent church literature. A fruitful question might be to ask how faithful the missional church conversation has been to Newbigin’s original vision.
…
The final statement adopted by the Willingen assembly was primarily the work of Newbigin.  It was entitled “The Missionary Calling of the Church.” It begins: “The missionary movement of which we are a part has its source in the Triune God Himself.” The most important legacy of Willingen is the concept of God’s mission found in this statement. This provided a framework for gathering and relating many theological and missiological insights that had developed over the first half of the 20th century into a consistent missional ecclesiology. Mission has its source in the love of the Father who sent His Son to reconcile all things to himself. The Son has sent the Spirit to gather his church together and empower it for mission. This church is sent by Jesus to continue his mission and this defines its very nature: “There is no participation in Christ without participation in his mission to the world. That by which the Church receives its existence is that by which it is also given its world-mission. ‘As the Father has sent Me, so send I you.’”
…
Hoekendijk and others believed that the reigning ecumenical view of mission was too Christocentric and needed to be Trinitarian, and was too church-centric and needed to find its center in the world instead. The contrast can be made in this way: the traditional paradigm of mission that developed from Tambaram to Willingen found its primary focus in the ecclesial community that had its origin in the work of Jesus Christ and continued his mission in the world; the new paradigm featured a shift in missional focus from God’s work through Christ in the church to His providential and salvific work by His Spirit in the world. The traditional paradigm is Christocentric and ecclesiocentric; the new paradigm is pneumocentric and cosmocentric.
[Read the full document here]

Okay, so I’ve tried to include snippets of the document that summarize the split between emergent and missional thinking. The article presents the Missional Church Movement as one that started in 1952 but was hijacked by what we know see as emergent theology of the secular waves of the 60s. The article then catches up with the book written by Tim Keller, Alan Hirsch, et al in 1998, citing that moment as an attempt to reach back to the Newbigin’s foundational work. Despite the author’s detailed efforts to distinguish between the good of Newbigin’s theology from the hijacking of his work, in the end we have “Missional” appearing in churches that are indeed seeker-mergent.

Concerns with the Movement

The glaring issue I have with this movement is its attempt to define the mission of the Church by trimming back what it is now or what it has become and reshaping it by examining our modern context. While it seems Newbigin’s writing was grounded in Scripture, there seems to be little work currently being done to ground it in the New Testament prescriptives of what the Body of Christ, the Church, is to be about. If the movement were truly confined to Reformed churches, one might consider the theological underpinnings to be covered in by their Confessions. However, the emergent church is clearly outside of Reformed theology, thus in order to rightly define the Missional Church Movement it needs to be rightly exegeted from scripture outright.

Michael Horton wrote a thoughtful and engaging critique of the Missional Movement in an article for Modern Reformation Magazine. In his article, his primary concern is with the practical implications of a Church that defines itself by what it does in the world, and how such a redefinition might lean heavily toward monasticism.

Some of us remember the Tears for Fears song, “Everybody Wants to Rule the World.” Yet the mantra today is more about changing the world than ruling it. Lots of younger Christians are tired of spiritual consumerism and evangelism pitches about inviting Jesus into your heart so you can go to heaven when you die. There has to be more to Christianity than “soul-saving.” Isn’t there something in there about “the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting”? About a new creation? Don’t we sing “Joy to the World,” anticipating the blessings of Christ’s kingdom extending “far as the curse is found”?

Nevertheless, a legitimate question can be raised as to whether this newfound interest in creation redeemed is still guided by a paradigm that owes more to monasticism than to the world-affirming piety of the Reformation. [Continue Reading]

Conclusion

Personally, I’m tired of “evangelical movements”. Growing up under NAR thinking, I’ve had my fill of being tossed about by every wind of doctrine… jabez prayer, spiritual warfare, purpose drivenness, triumphalism, dominionism, radical christianity, promise keepers, etc. I’m not the least bit interested in creating a new word for Church, or some marketing campaign for why people should join my church as opposed to their church… none of that. I don’t care what you call your church. What I do care about is what is preached from the pulpit, what is studied in your home groups, and what whether your congregation behaves as one body of believers. For me, the word “Missional” has become as unreliable as “Evangelical”.

Ephesians 4:1-7 (ESV) | Unity in the Body of Christ

1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith,one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. 7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.

In Christ Jesus,
Jorge

DiM | lex orandi, lex credendi

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trebleclefToday’s post will be a Discernment in Music (DiM) post from a Church History perspective. As my appreciation for Latin phrases grows, I feel it necessary to share what I’ve learned. Today’s Latin phrase comes from one of last week’s episodes of Fighting for the Faith (30SEP15).

lex orandi, lex credendi
(the law of prayer is the law of belief)

The idea being conveyed here is that what one confesses, prays, and sings becomes what one believes. This is why historically the church has followed liturgical practices of reciting creeds/confessions/prayers, sang liturgical hymns, and practiced expository preaching following a lectionary. Here in the West, we’ve become quite enamored with ourselves and our own opinions and “new ideas” to the point of near-total disdain for orthodoxy. Despite all of our so-called wisdom and creativity, and rejection of “religions of men”, we still follow man-made religion… only now we do so without the bible as the standard, but our emotions/feelings.

2 Timothy 4:3-4 (ESV) For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

Despite our narcissistic clamoring for innovation, we still fall headlong into the rule of lex orandi, lex credendi. It is no accident that Hillsong and Bethel push their musical giants so hard to capture the hearts of our youth. While the technology employed is new, the strategy is ancient.  Let’s take a walk into some church history, shall we?

Athanasius versus Arius

You may have heard of the Athanasian Creed. A while back we took a look at the 3 creeds (Apostle’s, Nicene, Athanasian). Today, we are going to take a look at Athanasius and his struggles against Arius and his followers, the Arians.

Athanasius (A.D. 295–373) lived in a time much closer to the Apostles than I realized before studying for this post. If you’ll remember yesterday’s post, we mentioned the Temple that Jesus and the Apostles knew was utterly destroyed in AD 70. So Athanasius lived within 300 years of this event. That might seem like quite a long time by our self aggrandizing modern culture, but when one considers that Christianity is alive and well today (AD 2015), Athanasius was there near the beginning. He suffered physical persecution (under Emperors Diocletian and Galerius) and political persecution (under Emperor Julian the Apostate). 1 Arius (AD 250 or 256–336) took objection to the doctrine of the trinity, particularly of the preaching of Alexander, the Bishop of Alexandria, on philosophical grounds. Arius contended that since Jesus was the only-begotten of God, there must have been a time when Jesus didn’t exist, thus Jesus was a created being not equal to God. Now Arius was gifted in persuasive speech and followed a lot of Origen’s philosophy. Arianism spread very quickly. Athanasius contended strongly against Arius in the city of Alexandria holding firmly the position that if Jesus was not God then the atonement was insufficient and Jesus could not be our Savior. A lesser being cannot bear the full brunt of God’s Wrath on our behalf. So the debates grew very heated. This lead to the first Council of the Bishop of Alexandria, where Arius was condemned. However, the Arian sect had grown in number and influence such that they were able to persist and challenge Athanasius, even falsely accusing him of murder. The Arians sent word to Emperor Constantine who then held the first Council of Nicaea. One of the major outcomes of this Council was the affirmation of the Person of the Son in the Trinity, and the first part of the Nicene Creed.

1 “I, Athanasius” by Rev. Gordon A. Beck. on September 7, 2008 in CLASSIC WITNESS, LUTHERAN WITNESS https://blogs.lcms.org/2008/i-athanasius-9-2008

Despite this defeat, Arianism persisted for some time and Athanasius dedicated most of his time and energy resisting this false teaching. But How did Arius manage to get so many followers in his false teaching? Well, for one, mankind is sinful and our flesh is constantly seeking to reject sound doctrine. But beyond this common ailment, Arius took advantage of another weakness of our flesh… music.

From the Epitome of Philostorgius regarding Arius:

CHAP. 2.—He says that Arius, after his secession from the church, composed several songs to be sung by sailors, and by millers, and by travellers along the high road, and others of the same kind, which he adapted to certain tunes, as he thought suitable in each separate case, and thus by degrees seduced the minds of the unlearned by the attractiveness of his songs to the adoption of his own impiety.

Now the compilations of Arius’ songs is known as Thalia. Nearly all of the writings of Arius was destroyed as a result of being declared heresy, but we do have a couple of summaries of his writings.

Thalia literally means “abundance,” “good cheer,” or “banquet”. It was written in verse, in order to aid memorization and popular distribution of Arius’s ideas. Fragments of this work survive in two writings of his opponent Athanasius. The first is in a report of Arius’ teaching in Orations Against the Arians, 1.5-6. This paraphrase has negative comments interspersed, so it is difficult to decide what are Arius’s words and what are comments of Athanasius (Williams 99). The second is a more direct quotation in On the Councils of Arminum and Seleucia, 15. [Read More]

Getting back to Athanasius’ writing against the Arian heresy, specifically focusing on the use of song, let us look to a portion from his Discourse 1:

How then can they be Christians, who for Christians are Ario-maniacs1833? or how are they of the Catholic Church, who have shaken off the Apostolical faith, and become authors of fresh evils? who, after abandoning the oracles of divine Scripture, call Arius’s Thaliæ a new wisdom? and with reason too, for they are announcing a new heresy. And hence a man may marvel, that, whereas many have written many treatises and abundant homilies upon the Old Testament and the New, yet in none of them is a Thalia found; nay nor among the more respectable of the Gentiles, but among those only who sing such strains over their cups, amid cheers and jokes, when men are merry, that the rest may laugh; till this marvellous Arius, taking no grave pattern, and ignorant even of what is respectable, while he stole largely from other heresies, would be original in the ludicrous, with none but Sotades for his rival. For what beseemed him more, when he would dance forth against the Saviour, than to throw his wretched words of irreligion into dissolute and loose metres? that, while ‘a man,’ as Wisdom says, ‘is known from the utterance of his word1834,’ so from those numbers should be seen the writer’s effeminate soul and corruption of thought1835. In truth, that crafty one did not escape detection; but, for all his many writhings to and fro, like the serpent, he did but fall into the error of the Pharisees. They, that they might transgress the Law, pretended to be anxious for the words of the Law, and that they might deny the expected and then present Lord, were hypocritical with God’s name, and were convicted of blaspheming when they said, ‘Why dost Thou, being a man, make Thyself God,’ and sayest, ‘I and the Father are one1836?’ And so too, this counterfeit and Sotadean Arius, feigns to speak of God, introducing Scripture language1837, but is on all sides recognised as godless1838 Arius, denying the Son, and reckoning Him among the creatures. [Christian Classics Ethereal Library]

So, we see here that Athanasius regarded Arianism as a full departure from scripture, maintained by seductive use of songs of merriment, amid cheers and jokes among merry men that the rest may laugh… entertainment. What we sing regularly will become what we believe.

Closing Comments

Dear Christian… is this not precisely what we see with the intentional shift away from the view of Church as the gathering of the saints for preaching of the Word for the edification and equipping of the saints into a place where “unchurched” can be entertained, engaged, and feel welcomed? Where dangerous Hillsong and Bethel heresies are pumped into the arena (formerly known as Sanctuaries) by a rock show performed by a house band. We are here, again, and this is nothing new. This is why it is so important to do the work of a Berean… to take what we hear and search the Scriptures to make sure it is true. We hold to what is Truth, and we reject and abstain from all falsehood. It is important that we do this with our sermons, our prayers, and our music. It isn’t “just music”, nor can it be dismissed as “harmless entertainment”. You know, there is a speck of truth to the humanist philosophy of self-affirmation… that speck is that we will believe what we constantly affirm. That doesn’t make what we come to believe “true”, it merely means that we can beat ourselves into believing lies. That is why it is vitally important that we take every thought captive to obey Christ, the Word of God (2 Cor 10:4-6). In closing, we will look to how the Apostle Paul exhorted the Thessalonians and to Jude’s closing of his letter.

1 Thessalonians 5:12-24 (ESV) | Final Instructions and Benediction

12 We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, 13 and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. 14 And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. 15 See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies,21 but test everything; hold fast what is good. 22 Abstain from every form of evil. 23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

Jude 24-25 (ESV) 

24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Amen, Indeed.
In Christ Jesus,
Jorge

DiM | Worship Leader or Worship Pastor?

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trebleclefOn twitter we recently confessed that my wife and I enjoy watching the reality show The Voice on NBC. So far this season, there were two groan-worthy moments we shared that, sadly, ties directly into the modern-day church and its reckless approach to corporate worship, particularly in our selection of “Worship Leaders” and the bad habit of calling them “Worship Pastors”.

Disclaimer: Yes, we do watch some TV

When it comes to television shows, I enjoy watching skilled competition, particularly in musical and culinary arts. As a fan of music in general, I find this particular show to have the best format for selecting talented voices for competition. The various formats for competition are interesting and the coaches are engaging, funny, and do a great job of conveying genuine concern for the prospective careers of the contestants and for each other. The show is not without its problems, particularly for the testimony of Jesus Christ being marred by the conduct of those professing to be Christian yet chasing after their selfish dreams and indulgences. Not a single episode passes by without one of us groaning over something that is said in a back story montage or over the lyrics of a song chosen, or of the zen Buddhism being passed of as “gospel” advice by a coach. We take care in what we watch, but we do watch TV together. That might be a good topic to discuss at a later time, how we should approach Television and guarding ourselves from its lies/influence.

When “Worship Pastor” is thrown into a Resume

The first major moment of groaning for us happened during the back story montage for contestant Chris Crump from the Blind Auditions part 3 (Air Date: 09/28/15). His montage begins at roughly 1:03 mark. In the montage, there is the typical hit on Christian-based home-schooling with the reference to “my first secular album was a Creed Album…” The part that really caught my ire was when he talked about how in the south, we believe the man needs to support the family, and then he goes on say he’s accepted horrible gigs just so I could support us: carpenter, grocery stores, mortgage company, worship pastor, women’s shoe store, and sold TVs. Now, his list was very clearly clipped together by the producers of the show. It is not my intent to hold Chris Crump directly accountable for this statement, because it is clear we are missing parts of the interview. My point is that the producers of the show clipped together a list that demoted “Worship Pastor” to a resume filler on par with grocery stores and selling women’s shoes.  I groaned at the thought and then mentioned it to my wife, who then said, “sadly, most christians who hear that won’t even catch it, or see a problem with it.” I think she’s right, which is why we are going to discuss this now. For the record, He did a great job in his audition, singing a secular love song dedicated to his wife. All of the coaches wanted him, and he picked Blake Shelton for his coach. I want him to do well for his family’s sake, and I hope he demonstrates the fruit of the Spirit in his conduct on the show.

Worship Pastor

The Pastoral office is one of an Overseer, which is clearly defined in the New Testament. Just last week we looked at the Apostle Paul’s instructions to Timothy when we looked at the concept of being Dressed for Worship, so today let’s look to his instructions to Titus.

Titus 1:5-16 (ESV) | Qualifications for Elders

5 This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you— 6 if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. 7 For an overseer, as God’s steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, 8 but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. 9 He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.

10 For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. 11 They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach. 12 One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” 13 This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, 14 not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth. 15 To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. 16 They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.

Now, I included v10-16 because they expand on the need for pastors to rebuke those who contradict sound doctrine. This is a vital role of the office of the Pastor that doesn’t get much recognition in the modern-day church. In fact, this role is often avoided by Pastors and Elders, and  shunned by congregants. In fact, there is a subculture of professional “church-hoppers” who join a church, climb the social ladder within that church as quickly as possible and bail as soon as someone calls out their false doctrine, usually causing as much division as humanly possible. It is these who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers. Yes, Paul mentions those of the circumcision party (Judaizers). In our day we have many such groups… including modern-day Judaizers (Hebrew-roots movement, Theonomists, Dominionists, etc.).

When the Church identifies someone as a “Worship Pastor” we are saying that this Pastor/Elder/Overseer is in charge of the Corporate Worship. As such, he is expected to hold firm to the trustworthy Word as taught, sot hat he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it. We should expect the him to be that Pastor/Elder/Overseer shepherding those involved in the worship team (the band, singers, readers, technicians, etc). We should expect them to hold the members accountable to sound doctrine, and we should also expect them to exercise Church discipline. They are to be held accountable by their fellow Pastors/Elders/Overseers for the content of Worship and the conduct of their worship team. The admonition of James to teachers of God’s Word also applies to any who bear the title “Worship Pastor”.

James 3 (ESV) | Taming the Tongue

3 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. 2 For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. 3 If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. 4 Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. 5 So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.

How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. 11 Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? 12 Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.

Wisdom from Above

13 Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.15 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

Now the standard being taught here is for everyone who names the Name of Jesus, but for those who want to teach there is an even higher standard. It is my sincere desire, that every congregation have a Worship Pastor in place; not in name only, but in keeping with the Biblical Office of Pastor/Elder/Overseer.

Worship Leader

The truth is that what the vast majority of modern-day churches has is a “Worship Leader” who is either unqualified or untested as a Pastor or a Deacon (1 Timothy 3). Is this sin in every case? I won’t commit to an answer of “yes/no”; rather, I will urge the reader to recognize that it is a real possibility that must be judged Spiritually (1 Cor 2:14-16). There is a growing number of churches who are unashamed of their Worship Leaders who are living in open, unrepentant, sexual immorality. Getting back to #TheVoice, every season has had a token LGBT contestant that promotes their particular sexual immorality in an ever-present attempt to normalize sin and portray Biblical standards of sexual purity as bigoted. With each passing season, we are seeing more and more of these spokespersons of immorality/depravity claiming to have the backing of their respective church bodies. The normalizing of homosexuality and gender rebellion is the current great wave of Apostasy here in the West. The world is living out its Romans 1 judgement… I’m not writing to judge the lost, but to warn the Church. This sin has been ignored and even covered over for far too long. Having a “great sounding band” is simply not worth the price we’ve been paying for it these past several decades. We need Pastors/Elders/Overseers to fulfill the charge of their office to rebuke those who contradict sound doctrine… and no church should have anyone in open, unrepentant sin serving in any sort of leadership role within the Church.

Conclusion

There are many Church-plants throughout the United States. Many of them planted in rebellion rather than Providence. Many planted in hopes of riding the “church-growth” movement’s wave as a means of gathering unrighteous gain. Still many were planted out of a sincere heart to be faithful stewards of the Gospel of Grace, ministers of reconciliation, and to the building and equipping of the saints. To the latter group of churches, I encourage you to remain firmly planted in the Word of God, and to pray for your Pastors/Elders/Overseers. We pray for grace in the lives of your Worship leaders, that those who are eligible for the offices of Deacon and Elder might grow, be tested, and show themselves approved for the office of Pastor by the grace of God. That those who are unqualified, be humble enough to continue serving when God the Holy Spirit calls another to lead. I pray that every church body, that lifts up Holy Hands in worship of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, will seek to maintain biblical, pastoral oversight of the Worship Service, whether they use the title of Worship Pastor or simply Pastor.

Jude 24-25 (ESV) 

24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

In Christ Jesus,
Jorge

DiM | Dressed for Worship Inside and Out

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closetWhen Christians gather together… how should we be dressed for Worship? While working on this week’s Gospel Wednesday post, my mind kept working on the parable of the wedding feast, particularly focused on the issue of being dressed for the wedding. This past summer we saw a lot of blogs raising the call for modesty (a particular issue for summer frivolities) in dress for women and a couple for men. I wanted to address this topic in a less seasonal sense.

For those who haven’t read our weekly devotional, let’s review the parable.

Matthew 22:1-14 (ESV) | The Parable of the Wedding Feast

22 And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, 2 “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, 3 and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. 4 Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.”’ 5 But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business,6 while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them.7 The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. 8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. 9 Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ 10 And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11 “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. 12 And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.”

Now, the primary focus of this parable is one of faith in Jesus as the Christ, Son of the Living God. The Pharisees lacked faith and rejected the Son of the King, despite having been given their invitation through the Law of Moses (for they were teachers of the Law and overseers over God’s chosen people). To close out this thought, before moving to today’s slightly related topic, let us look to Revelation 7.

Revelation 7:9-14 (ESV) | A Great Multitude from Every Nation

9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” 13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” 14 I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

How Should We Dress for Corporate Worship?

The ceremonial law within the Mosaic covenant had detailed prescriptions for the priests serving God in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple. There were also some guidelines for the children of Israel. In the New Testament, we see much more emphasis on how we are adorned in our inner-being. Let’s look at those passages, beginning in 1 Timothy, since Paul is giving clear instruction to Timothy in how he is to oversee the churches that have been established.

1 Timothy 2:8-15 (ESV)

8 I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling; 9 likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, 10 but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works. 11 Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve; 14 and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. 15 Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.

Okay, so let’s address the obvious right away… Paul is clear in establishing distinct roles for men and women within the Church. His rationale is based in the Creation, not in society or misogyny. I’d also like to point out that Paul isn’t saying that braided hair, gold, pearls, or even costly attire are sinful in themselves. He is saying that they are not the means of establishing what is respectable apparel., nor do these things truly adorn women who profess godliness. What matters is faith, love, holiness, with self-control. Ladies, adorn yourselves with modesty, self-control, and good works.

It might be tempting to cry foul of the disproportionate level of instruction given to men and to women here. I mean, so far men are told to life holy hands without anger or quarreling, while women were given a long list and told they could not hold authority over men, what gives? Well, that temptation would seem valid if we failed to continue reading on into the next chapter.

1 Timothy 3:1-13 (ESV) | Qualifications for Overseers

3 The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. 2 Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, 5 for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? 6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. 7 Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.

Qualifications for Deacons

8 Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain. 9 They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. 10 And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless. 11 Their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things. 12 Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well. 13 For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

So, Paul lays out the qualifications of holding a position of authority in the church. Notice that in the qualifications of a deacon, the character of his wife is also included. Wives, while you are not eligible for positions of authority over men within the church, your character as a wife is a contributing factor in the consideration of your husband for the office of deacon.

More on “Costly Attire” and “First-World Problems”

Now, sometimes there is a form of legalism that creeps in and tries to “adjust for inflation” so to speak and condemn Christians dealing with first-world problems here in the US for not realizing how rich they are compared to poor people in Somalia. These are seeking to engage in an empty piety contest of words and should be silenced. What is costly attire to one person may not be costly to another; therefore, it does not serve as a flat-rate measurement of adornment, regardless of whatever calculation man wishes to place on it. God looks on the heart, and He placed each of us on this Earth, in this moment, and in our circumstances for His Glory Alone. That is not to say that the rich get a pass by virtue of being rich. Skipping ahead a bit in 1 Timothy, I’d like to look at how Paul specifically addresses the rich.

1 Timothy 6:17-19 (ESV)

17 As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. 18 They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, 19 thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

And those who are not rich must guard their hearts from desiring to be rich:

1 Timothy 6:3-10 (ESV)

3 If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness,4 he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, 5 and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain. 6 But godliness with contentment is great gain, 7 for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. 8 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. 9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

The focus is still on godliness in the inner-being. We skipped over it, but Paul gives a quick statement in chapter 5 that bears this out.

1 Timothy 5:24-25 (ESV)

24 The sins of some people are conspicuous, going before them to judgment, but the sins of others appear later. 25 So also good works are conspicuous, and even those that are not cannot remain hidden.

What fruit are we producing, fruit of the Spirit or corruption of the flesh?

Okay, But What Practical Applications?

I’m glad you asked. Let’s begin first with the leaders of the church and work toward the congregation.

Firstly, let’s talk a bit about what the Pastor is wearing as he preaches/teaches God’s Word to the congregation of the saints. I confess that growing up in NAR/Pentecostal churches, I disqualified any Pastor who was wearing a robe or other priestly garments because clearly they were copying the Pope. The liturgical vestments were haughty, gaudy, and self-serving and falsely separated them from the rest of the body of Christ. Mind you, this was while I was in a church that had a “prophetic dance team” with uniforms, banners, and ribbons… woefully inconsistent… I have repented, but it still stings. Does the New Testament prescribe specific priestly garments for pastors? No. Is there anything inherently wrong with wearing a robe, sash, clerical collar, or cope? No. Is there anything inherently holy about such garments? Nope.

Matthew 23:16-19 (ESV)

16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ 17 You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? 18 And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ 19 You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred?

I hope I didn’t lose you with that quote. We’ll be looking at this passage next week, so please forgive me for having it freshly in my mind right now. The reason I bring this up now is look at the logic Jesus is using in His rebuke against the Pharisees. We’ve been reading Paul’s instruction to Timothy focusing on character of the worshiper. The Temple was the center of Jewish worship, yet the Pharisees concocted backwards regulations because they were blind to the truth, that it wasn’t the adornments that made the Temple, it was the Temple that made the adornments. Similarly, it isn’t the clothing that makes (or unmakes) the Pastor, but his character, what he preaches, and how he handles the Word of God.

So how should one physically dress for the assembling together with the saints for corporate worship? The first thing is to put on the armor of God (I know, that’s inside, we dress from the inside out).

Ephesians 6:14-20 (ESV)

14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, 19 and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.

Church is for the gathering of the saints. We invite our friends to hear the gospel and to meet our brothers and sisters in Christ, sure… but until the Lord opens their ears and eyes to the Gospel of Jesus Christ church isn’t FOR them… they are not yet dressed for Worship, for in their unbelief they only worship gods of their own making.

How we are dressed on the inward being will reflect in the outward. Sometimes it is conspicuous, other times it develops slowly. We should dress in a manner that will not draw undue attention away from the Worship service. We should consider the cultural norms and do our very best not to be a stumbling block to our neighbors and to be thought well of by unbelievers. There is a great deal of Christian Liberty here which involves a great deal of individual responsibility and accountability to the Body of Christ.

Regarding ceremonial/liturgical attire, those garments are not for the ones not wearing them; they are for the ones wearing them to be cognizant of their duties and responsibilities. Can they become a distraction and a point of boasting for their wearers? Yes… in the same way that being the cool hipster on a stage with his iPad can be. We might dedicate a later post to the topic of pastoral attire at a later date. For now, I think this gives us some good groundwork for how we are to come dressed for Worship.

Romans 14:17-23 (ESV)

17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. 19 So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. 20 Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats.21 It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble. 22 The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. 23 But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

In Christ Jesus,
Jorge