What does apostasy look like?

Apostasy looks like Satan, envying God’s position and rallying angels in rebellion.

It looks like the Hebrews in the wilderness, challenged to go in and take the Land of Promise but shrinking back in fear — and dying in the desert.

It looks like Judas, betraying his friend and teacher in an effort to force the conflict he believed would bring in the reign of the Messiah.

It would look like the Prodigal Son, if he had been welcomed home, showered with wonderful gifts, treated to a magnificent feast – and then decided to go back to the pig trough.
 
God’s gift of grace covers all sin. Apostasy is throwing away the gift.

The importance of obedience in salvation

What does your church teach about the importance of obedience in salvation?

Listen to what Jesus says in John 3:36 about the disobedient: “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” (NAS)

And the NLT: “And all who believe in God’s Son have eternal life. Those who don’t obey the Son will never experience eternal life, but the wrath of God remains upon them.”

If you wonder why they translated ‘believe’ in the first part and ‘disobey’ in the second, it’s because they are two different words. The first is pisteuô, and we do a bad enough job of explaining what that means. The idea of obedience is inextricably bound up in the notion of trusting.

But if that isn’t enough, the second word is apeitheô, a compound that means “to disobey” and whose root is translated variously: confident, convinced,  listen, obey, persuaded, relied, and trust.

If you claim to be believing but aren’t obeying, you aren’t believing.

Failing to finish the race

A person does not fail to finish the race just because he falls down. The one who fails to finish is the one who falls down and chooses to stay down.  http://tinyurl.com/djl5q4

The danger in ‘Calvinism’

The danger in “Calvinism” is precisely the same as that in “Arminianism” — acknowledging only half the truth.

Disowning Christ

“Whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 10:33 NIV)

A person may disown Christ actively, by what he does, repudiating the One who died to save him.

Can one also disown Christ passively, by what he does not do? Is it apostasy when we fail to bear witness, to be fruitful, to make disciples? Or is that active disobedience, our refusal to obey a direct command?

Who died on the cross for us?

Anyone who affirms election but not freedom — or freedom but not election — has got only half the truth.

I’m deeply saddened to see a spirit abroad in the Church like the one in the Corinthian congregation: “I follow Paul … I follow Apollos … I follow Peter.” The body of Christ is being divided into factions. Wouldn’t Paul ask us: “Was it Calvin who died on the cross for us? Were we baptized as Wesley’s disciples?”

A comment from the weekend

“Someone who affirms the doctrine of election, yet denies our freedom and responsibility to choose the Lord’s way over our own, has yet to understand the doctrine of election.”

if Calvinism is so resurgent …

… why has CBD got the 22-volume commentary series knocked down to $100?

Two notes about becoming a disbeliever

A brief interaction with two “former Christians” reminds me how many people who grew up in church really have no clue what a faith relationship with Jesus is all about. I’ve posted these notes on my Facebook page. Thought I’d add them here as well.

You can’t walk away from Jesus

You can quit “believing in God.” You can quit “being a Christian.” That’s not so hard. It’s just religion. But “believing in God” and “being a Christian” aren’t the same thing as being reborn in a faith relationship with Jesus. You can’t walk away from Jesus if you were never walking with him in the first place. And if you are walking with him, no skeptic’s disbelief can shake your faith, built as it is on love for and gratitude toward the one who died to set you free.

Nothing more than a concept or legend

When God is nothing more to you than a concept, when Jesus is merely a legend, becoming a disbeliever is no more difficult than giving up your childhood belief in the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus. But when you have personally encountered the reality of the Living God, when the Risen Lord has transformed your heart and mind, when you have experienced the comfort and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, you can no more quit “believing” in their existence than you can question the reality of your family and closest friends.

Disowned

“Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns (arneomai) me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.”  (Matthew 10:32-33 NIV)

A father may disown his child, and a child may disown the father, but how does that happen except that first they are family? Can a stranger disown someone he never even knew?