April 2011 Newsletter Now Aviailable Online

Another month, another newsletter.  Here is this month's newsletter for April 2011 which can be viewed online for free.  As always, a permanent link is available at the left.


April 2011 Newsletter 

This is Who We Are: What a Baptist Is and Believes - The Lord's Supper

Last month we discussed the first of two ordinances – Baptism.  The second & equally important ordinance is the Lord’s Supper also known (in other traditions) as Communion (Protestantism) or the Eucharists (Catholicism).  As Baptists we understand that baptism is the public symbol of salvation while the Lord’s Supper follows & serves as a reminder of the work of Christ.  In other words, the Lord’s Supper reminds us of the grace & restoration baptism symbolizes.

Regarding the Lord’s Supper, the Baptist Faith & Message 2000 says:

The Lord's Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the bread & the fruit of the vine, memorialize the death of the Redeemer & anticipate His 2nd coming.*

There are two main aspects of the confession highlighted.  The first regards the memorial aspect of the Lord’s Supper.  Throughout Scripture, God’s people are commanded to remember.  The Jewish Passover was given as a means to remember the Exodus. Jews  repeatedly laid out 12 stones to remember great works of God.  And in the New Testament we are given the Lord’s Supper to be constantly reminded of what Christ accomplished on the cross. 

Like the Passover lamb whose shed blood redeemed the Israelites, so too the shed blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, redeems those who believe.  Communion forces us to recall not just what Christ did but why He did it.  He is the Divine Passover Lamb who took away the sins of the world – our sins.  His body was broken (the bread) & His blood was shed (the fruit of the vine) on our behalf.  Without His death (& resurrection) we would not be redeemed.  We would not have hope.  We would not be restored.  We would not be reconciled.  We would not be saved.  The cross is central to everything Christians believe & affirm.  The Lord’s Supper forces us to turn back to the cross & look at the One in whom stands in our place.

The second aspect mentioned by the confession regards anticipation.  The Apostle Paul commands believers to continue to remember Jesus’ death & resurrection through this ordinance until Christ’s certain return.  At that point, we will not need to remember for we will stand before the Trinity for eternity.

Believe it or not, this issue was the mostly hotly debated among the Reformers in the 16th Century.  They all agreed on the gospel, on Christ, on Scripture, & the salvific doctrines of the faith, but when it came to the Lord’s Supper, they were deeply divided.  One of the issues that remain with us today (& still divides denominations) is the substance of the bread & juice/wine.  Catholicism teaches that upon the blessing of the priest, they become the literal body & blood of Jesus (transubstantiation).  Lutherans modify this some (consubstantiation).  Baptists & others hold that the bread & the juice are just that: bread & juice.  There is no miraculous blessing or special presence within the bread/juice.  They are just bread & juice.  Baptist have understood that the debate need not be over such things.  What they are is not as important as the purpose the serve & the symbol they represent.  In all of this we have forgotten the cross.

At the end of the day, however, let us see in the Lord’s Supper, not a religious ritual we just do, but an opportunity to reflect, to remember, & to rejoice in what Christ has done.  The Lord’s Supper will not save you & it will not keep you in the Father’s arms.  Christ accomplished that at the cross.  Let us never forget that. So as we participate in the Lord’s Supper moving forward, let us not complain that the service may go long or that the crackers taste bad.  Instead, let us rejoice that though we were lost, we were found.  Though we were blind, we now see.  Let us then share with one another, as a redeemed community, at the Lord’s table & rejoice in His work on the cross by which we have been saved.


*  The BF&M 2000 cite the following verses:  Matt 26:26-30; Mk 14:22-26; Lk 22:19-20; Jn Acts 2:41-42; 20:7; 1 Cor 10:16,21; 11:23-29.
**  The above picture is one of the most famous in history painted by Leonardo Da Vinci.  And for all of you Da Vinci Code fans, no I don't think that is Mary Magdalene in there.



This is Who We Are:  What a Baptist Is and Believes - Introduction
This is Who We Are:  What a Baptist Is and Believes - Scripture
This is Who We Are:  What a Baptist Is and Believes - God
This is Who We Are  What a Baptist Is and Believes - God the Father
This is Who We Are:  What a Baptist Is and Believes - God the Son
This is Who We Are:  What a Baptist Is and Believes - God the Spirit
This is Who We Are:  What a Baptist Is and Believes - Man
This is Who We Are:  What a Baptist Is and Believes - Salvation
This is Who We Are:  What a Baptist Is and Believes -  God's Purpose of Grace
This is Who We Are:  What a Baptist Is and Believes - Church  
This is Who We Are:  What a Baptist Is and Believes - Baptism  

LOVE WINS - Rob Bell

We discussed this last night during Bible study. I clearly disagree with Bell here. It Rob Bell that woke me up to the Emergent Church/Postmodern theology. And it seems that the fear I had of his message all those years ago was legitimate.


For more:

Blogizomai - Will This Sort of Love Win?: Reflections on the Bell Controversy - Part 1

Blogizomai - Will This Sort of Love Win?: Reflections on the Bell Controversy - Part 2
Blogizomai - Sifting Through the Cybermuck: Links to the Bell Hell Controversy
Blogizomai - Sifting Through More of the Cybermuck: Links to the Bell Hell Controversy

Blogizomai - Some Final Cyber-Thoughts: Links to the Bell Hell Controversy

Blogizomai - Let's Talk About Hell Baby . . . And a Little More on Rob Bell

Blogizomai - Love Promoted: The First Bell Interviews
Theology - The Emergent Gospel In 140 Characters or Less
Theology - Bell and the Meaning of Evangelical
Theology - Rob Bell and the Resurrection
Theology - A Theological Critique of Rob Bell's "She" Video
Reviews - "Jesus Wants To Save Christians"
Reviews - "Velvet Elvis"
Reviews - Jesus Wants to Save Christians (a different review than above)
Theology - The Wrongs of the Rights: A Response to the 5 Rights Presented By Emergent Village - Charity
Theology - The Wrongs of the Rights: A Response to the 5 Rights Presented By Emergent Village - Conversation

March 6, 2011 | Matthew 9:18-10:5a - Be Ye Restored: The Gospel of Jesus & the Gift of Restoration - Audio

Here is the audio and notes from a few weeks ago taken from Matthew 9:18-10:5.

Audio 
Notes


For more:
January 2, 2011 | Matthew 8:1-17 - "Be Cleansed":  The Great Healer & His Great Gospel
January 16, 2011 | Matthew 8:18-27 - The High Worth of Discipleship   
January 23, 2011 | Matthew 8:23-34 - Knowing is Only Half the Battle:  The Authority & Power of King Jesus
January 30, 2011 | Matthew 8:1-9:8 - Chasing a Tail Named Idolatrous:  Our Enslaved Idolatry and How Jesus Sets Us Free 
February 6, 2011 | Matthew 9:1-8 - Anything You Can Do . . .:  Why Forgiveness Is Greater Than All Our Sin 
February 13, 2011 | Matthew 9:9-13 - "Its Just a Flesh Wound:  Jesus, the Liberating and Transforming Gospel, and Why We Need It 
February 27, 2011 | Matthew 9:14-17 
The Sermon on the Mount Series
Matthew Thus Far:  Matthew 1-5
The Last Week of Jesus: From Triumphal Entry to Triumphal Grave Series   

February 27, 2011 - Matthew 9:14-17

I know I'm really behind, but here is the sermon audio and notes from February 27, 2011 on Matthew 9:14-17.

Audio
Notes 





For more:
January 2, 2011 | Matthew 8:1-17 - "Be Cleansed":  The Great Healer & His Great Gospel
January 16, 2011 | Matthew 8:18-27 - The High Worth of Discipleship   
January 23, 2011 | Matthew 8:23-34 - Knowing is Only Half the Battle:  The Authority & Power of King Jesus
January 30, 2011 | Matthew 8:1-9:8 - Chasing a Tail Named Idolatrous:  Our Enslaved Idolatry and How Jesus Sets Us Free 
February 6, 2011 | Matthew 9:1-8 - Anything You Can Do . . .:  Why Forgiveness Is Greater Than All Our Sin 
February 13, 2011 | Matthew 9-13 - "Its Just a Flesh Wound:  Jesus, the Liberating and Transforming Gospel, and Why We Need It 
The Sermon on the Mount Series
Matthew Thus Far:  Matthew 1-5
The Last Week of Jesus: From Triumphal Entry to Triumphal Grave Series    

Mark Driscoll - Jesus Manifesto

Some Doctrine of Scripture Resources

Last week we discussed the Doctrine of Scripture and what we as Christians believe about it.  Obviously, we barely scratched the surface.  We weren't able to go into much detail regarding inerrancy, inspiration, or clarity (fancy word is perspicuity), among other things.  We discussed these some, but not in the detail they deserve.  Over the years I have written a good bit on these issues and want to pass some of them along to you.  What follows can be rather technical and academic as most of them were in the context of seminary work.  Forgive me for that, but I do want to make them available in one place.


The Clarity of Ambiguity: The Erosion of the Perspicuity of Scripture in the Emergent Church - the Complete Series | Click this link and it will take you to a series of links taken from a paper I wrote discussing the Emergent Church's understanding of the doctrine of the clarity of Scripture.  In short, they reject it and it is to their own shame.


The Real Divide: Luther, the Reformation, and the Fight Over Perspicuity - The Entire Series | Here is another series of links taken from a paper I wrote on the issue of the clarity of Scripture only this one is more historical.  Here I explore Martin Luther's understanding of perspicuity and argue that it was the central issue of the Reformation.



"God's Word in Human Words": Full Series | This is a series of links taken from a book critique I wrote on the book God's Word in Human Words: An Evangelical Appropriation of Critical Biblical Scholarship.  In the book, Kenton L. Sparks denies the inerrancy of Scripture arguing that it is unbiblical, unnecessary, and unbelievable.


This is Who We Are: What a Baptist Is and Believes - The Scriptures | This is taken from our series in the newsletter.

And here is the link I mentioned regarding what scholars have said is the message of Jesus in one sentence. I have offered two answers to the question of the Bible in one sentence:

The Bible is God's message of the good news of Jesus Christ from Creation to Consummation. 


Below are a couple of helpful videos on the message of the Bible.  Something we discussed in some detail.

Brandon Heath - Give Me Your Eyes

Bibledex on Hosea

Its been a while since we've been able to post one of these videos, but here is the Bibledex video for the book of Hosea.  As always, I don't necessarily agree with everything said in the video, but I do find these overviews helpful.





This will conclude our study of the Minor Prophets and starting in two weeks, we will change course and discuss something else.  Perhaps in the future (near or far) we will return to our study of the Bible overview backwards.  So far we've done all 27 books of the New Testament and the 12 Minor Prophets.  It has been a fascinating study and it is fitting to conclude with a book which emphasizes love, restoration, reconciliation, and redemption.


For more:
Bibledex on Joel 
Bibledex on Amos 
Bibledex on Jonah  
Bibledex on Michah 
Bibledex on Nahum  
Bibledex on Habbakuk 
Bibledex on Zephaniah
Bibledex on Zechariah
Bibledex on Malachi  
Bibledex on Matthew 
Bibledex on Mark  
Bibledex on Luke 
Bibledex on John 
Bibledex on Romans
Bibledex on 2 Corinthians
Bibledex on Ephesians 
Bibledex on Philippians
Bibledex on Colossians 
Bibledex on 2 Thessalonians