Tonight's Academy Lecture -- "Christianity's Dangerous Ideas," Part Three

When:  Join us tonight at 7:30 p.m. when Professor Kenneth Samples  continues his Academy series entitled "Historic Christianity’s Seven Dangerous Ideas”.  The lecture for this evening will be The Cosmos Had a Beginning: The Creation Ex Nihilo.

What:  “Dangerous Ideas” in such disciplines as philosophy and science are ideas that challenge the standard paradigm (accepted model) of the day. These ideas go against what most people naturally think to be true and real. Such revolutionary ideas tend to threaten accepted beliefs and often contain explosive world-and-life view implications for all humanity. Historic Christianity contains numerous beliefs that are theologically and philosophically volatile in the best sense of the term. The Christian faith contains powerful truth-claims that have succeeded in transforming the church and turning the world upside down. This series of lectures will explore seven such provocative beliefs proclaimed by historic Christianity.

Textbook: This is the topic and content of a new book that Kenneth Samples is presently working on to be published by Baker Books (2012).

General Info:  The Academy meets at Christ Reformed Church in Anaheim.  The lectures begin at 7:30 p.m., are free of charge, and are followed by a time for questions and answers, as well as a time for fellowship and refreshments.

Who:  Kenneth Samples is a senior research scholar at Reasons To Believe (RTB) and teaches at the Academy and Adult bible study classes at Christ Reformed Church.  Kenneth encourages believers to develop a logically defensible faith and challenges skeptics to engage Christianity at a philosophical level. He is the author of Without a Doubt and A World of Difference.  He has also written articles for Christianity Today and The Christian Research Journal.



"Let There Be Thanksgiving" -- Ephesians 5:1-14

The Eleventh in a Series of Sermons on Ephesians

If we were to ask Paul what the Christian life should look like, I am convinced that the Apostle would direct us to the life of Jesus.  I say this because Paul does this very thing in 1 Corinthians 11:1, when he tells the Corinthians to be imitators of Christ.  But Paul also does this in Ephesians 5.  Now, in saying that Paul would point us to the life of Jesus as an example for Christians to follow, I don’t mean that Paul expects us to cast out demons, walk on water, or heal the sick with but a single command.  But from what Paul does say about Jesus–who is the very embodiment of the holiness and righteousness of God–it is clear that Jesus’ life is the model for us in terms of love, humility and forgiveness.  In the first three chapters of Ephesians, Paul tells us that the Christian life is much more than merely “doing what Jesus did.”  “Doing what Jesus did” only makes sense after we believe those things Jesus and the apostles taught us about the depths of our sin and the grace of God in Jesus Christ.  Once we understand that we were chosen by God in Christ before the foundation of the world, and once we understand that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, on account of Christ alone, only then can we understand how the life of Jesus can serve as an example to us which we are to imitate.  What does the Christian life look like?  It should look a great deal like that life which Jesus lived.

We are in the midst of a series on Paul’s letter to the Ephesians.  We now make our way into Ephesians 5.  While I divided chapter 4 into three sections (so that we could spend sufficient time on Paul’s discussion of the Christian life), it immediately becomes clear in chapter five that Paul is continuing to flesh out a number of the points made in chapter four.  It is important to recall that Ephesians was a circular letter which Paul intended to be read aloud in its entirety in the churches.  So there is a sense in which we do this letter a great injustice when we preach through it such short snippets (as we have been doing).  The alternative would be an eight hour sermon–something which neither you nor I would be able to endure.  So please keep in mind that as we go through this series that all of the points Paul is making are very closely interconnected, which is why I ask that you read through the entire book several times during this series, so that we don’t lose sight of the forest for the trees.

As we saw last time, Paul uses the metaphor of a change in clothing to make his point that a fundamental change in our thinking and doing occurs when we come to faith in Christ.  When God makes us alive with Christ, the old self is made new.  Because the old self is now the new self, the Christian is to make a concerted effort to “take off the old self” with its sinful desires (indwelling sin), and “put on the new self” which is created in the image of Christ.  While in one sense our sanctification is already complete (Christ’s perfect righteousness is imputed to us through faith, so that God already regards us as “holy”), in another sense our sanctification is a life-long process.  This life-long process of sanctification (which results from our justification) is what Paul is discussing in this section of Ephesians.  

Paul has told us that the old self is characterized by falsehood, anger, theft, laziness and corrupting speech.  The new self is characterized by truth-telling, a desire to resolve conflict and live in peace, hard work, and will speak words of grace and blessing.  Jesus’ death and resurrection is the pattern for this.  Just as Jesus died for our sins and was raised from the dead (that event into which we are baptized) so too, we are to die to sin and be raised to newness of life.  Just as we strip off our dirty clothing, take a shower and put on clean clothes, so too, the Christian life is one of continuously striping off the old self and putting on the new–a theme which Paul continues to unpack in Ephesians 5.

To read the rest of this sermon, Click here

"Do Not Becomes Slaves of Men" -- 1 Corinthians 7:17-40

Here's the audio from this morning's sermon, the thirteenth in a series of sermons on 1 Corinthians.

Click here

Academy Audio Posted

Here's the latest audio from Ken Samples' Academy series Christianity's Seven Dangerous Ideas (04/23/2010), "God Walked the Earth: The Incarnation of Jesus."

Click here

This Week's White Horse Inn

Inspiration & Inerrancy

Some who believe that the Bible is an inspired book go on to reject the idea that it is inerrant. But what does it mean to believe in the inerrancy of Scripture? How can sinful men produce a holy text without errors? What are we to do with some of the alleged contradictions in Scripture? Joining the panel for this discussion is Dr. R.C. Sproul, one of the founding leaders of the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy. The White Horse Inn: know what you believe and why you believe it.

http://www.whitehorseinn.org/



Who Said That?

“God applies his law to the family, to the church, and to the state in different ways.  The church should extend forgiveness and reconciliation to a repentant sinner . . . . [Paul] tells the Corinthian church not to act like the state and administer punishment, because it is not the state.  Instead, the church is the arena of redemption where reconciliation is extended to those who are repentant.” 

Please leave your guess in the comments section below.  Please, no google searches, or cheating.  Answer to follow, next week.

Update on Saturday, April 24, 2010 at 11:32AM by Kim Riddlebarger

Believe it or not, this is a quote from Greg Bahnsen in the “Questions and Answers” section in Gary Scott Smith, ed., God and Politics, (Phillipsburg: P & R Publishing, 1989), 266.

Tonight's Academy Lecture -- "Christianity's Dangerous Ideas," Part Two

When:  You are invited to join us tonight at 7:30 p.m., when Professor Kenneth Samples will continue the new Academy series entitled "Historic Christianity’s Seven Dangerous Ideas”.  The lecture for this evening will be "God Walked the Earth: The Incarnation of Jesus."

What:  “Dangerous Ideas” in such disciplines as philosophy and science are ideas that challenge the standard paradigm (accepted model) of the day. These ideas go against what most people naturally think to be true and real. Such revolutionary ideas tend to threaten accepted beliefs and often contain explosive world-and-life view implications for all humanity. Historic Christianity contains numerous beliefs that are theologically and philosophically volatile in the best sense of the term. The Christian faith contains powerful truth-claims that have succeeded in transforming the church and turning the world upside down. This series of lectures will explore seven such provocative beliefs proclaimed by historic Christianity.

Textbook: This is the topic and content of a new book that Kenneth Samples is presently working on to be published by Baker Books (2012).

General Info:  The Academy meets at Christ Reformed Church in Anaheim.  The lectures begin at 7:30 p.m., are free of charge, and are followed by a time for questions and answers, as well as a time for fellowship and refreshments.

Who:  Kenneth Samples is a senior research scholar at Reasons To Believe (RTB) and teaches at the Academy and Adult bible study classes at Christ Reformed Church.  Kenneth encourages believers to develop a logically defensible faith and challenges skeptics to engage Christianity at a philosophical level. He is the author of Without a Doubt and A World of Difference.  He has also written articles for Christianity Today and The Christian Research Journal.

Horton Nails It!

If I were as brilliant as Mike Horton, and could write with the same eloquence he does, here is what I would have said regarding being "Reformed" in relationship to being "young and restless."

But since I am not and since I can't, here's what Horton says about the YRR movement.  Great stuff.  A must read.  The Hallway and the Rooms

"Put On the New Self" -- Ephesians 4:17-32

The Tenth in a Series of Sermons on Ephesians

Have you ever been camping or hiking for a week or so in the woods?  What do you look forward to the most when you return to civilization?  How about a shower and change of clothing?  According to the Apostle Paul, the desire to wash off the crud and to be clean is exactly how we as Christians ought to feel as we go through the process of sanctification.  Those who have been made alive by Christ, by grace through faith, should be as disgusted by the guilt of our sins as we are with the stench of dirt and sweat on our bodies.  In fact, in Ephesians 4:17-32, Paul discusses the Christian life in terms of a change in clothing.  Paul instructs us to take off the old self with its sinful desires, and to put on the new self which is formed in the image of God.

As we continue our series on Paul’s letter to Ephesians, we are working our way through Ephesians 4, as Paul sets out the practical application of those same doctrines he set out in the first three chapters of this Epistle.  I have divided this chapter into three sections so as not to rush through this very important discussion of the Christian life.  In verses 1-6, Paul discusses the importance of Christian unity–a unity which is grounded in our common confession of faith.  “One Lord, one Faith, one baptism, one God and Father over all, in all and through all.”  In verses 7-16, Paul discusses Christ’s ascent into heaven and the gifts given to Christ’s church in the form of those who preach, teach, evangelize and shepherd God’s people, so as to bring the saints (as individual members of the one body of Christ) to maturity.  Because Christ’s body is one, when it works together as it should, the members of that body are built up in love.  As individual Christians mature, they grow together and the body functions properly.  But there is a paradox here as well.  When the body functions properly, the individual Christians mature more quickly.

In verses 17-32, Paul describes what amounts to a theological change of clothing.  In verses 17-19, Paul begins by discussing the effects of sin upon the human race through the fall of Adam.  Adam’s fall is the source of that which Paul calls the “old self”–which is that sinful human nature (or the “flesh”) into which we are were all born.  In verses 20-24, Paul exhorts us to take off this old self and to put on a new self, which is being renewed in the image of God.  Then, in verses 25-32, Paul describes the specific conduct which should result from putting on the new self.  This includes things such as speaking the truth, doing honest work, guarding our speech, and loving our brothers and sisters in Christ, all the while remembering that since Jesus has forgiven us despite our many sins, so too, we are to forgive others with kindness and tenderheartedness.  This is the goal (maturity) of that body of believers which is functioning well and which has been built up in love.  Throughout this chapter (indeed, throughout this epistle), Paul places priority on sound doctrine as the basis for proper practice.  In order to grow to maturity, we need to believe the right things about God and the human predicament.

To read the rest of this sermon, Click here

"Each Has His Own Gift from God" -- 1 Corinthians 7:1-16

Here's the audio from this morning's sermon:

Click here