"Do Not Forsake Assembling Together: Hebrews 10:25

The Lord Commands Church Attendance and Worship

By Anugrah Kumar
Christian Post Contributor


Holding indoor services once again in defiance of California’s COVID-19 lockdown orders, Pastor John MacArthur of Grace Community Church on Sunday told his congregation, “We are holding church … because our Lord commands it.” The megachurch met hours after an appeals court blocked a ruling that had allowed it to meet for worship.

“They don’t want us to meet, that’s obvious,” MacArthur said after Los Angeles County secured a stay of the trial court ruling that would have allowed the congregation to meet indoors with masks and social distancing.  “They’re not willing to work with us. They just want to shut us down. But we’re here to bring honor to the Lord,” the pastor continued.

The California Court of Appeal said in its ruling late Saturday, “As between the harm that flows from the heightened risk of transmitting COVID-19 (namely “serious illness and death”) and the harm that flows from having to conduct religious services outdoors instead of indoors, the balance at this early stage favors issuance of a stay.”

MacArthur said he doesn’t know “exactly what the city is trying to do with us and to us,” and clarified that the indoor service was not aimed at being “rebellious.” “We’re meeting because our Lord has commanded us to come together and worship Him.”

The Sun Valley church has been holding in-person worship services despite Gov. Gavin Newsom's recent lockdown orders prohibiting indoor church gatherings. Grace Community filed a lawsuit last week against state restrictions, accusing government officials of selectively restricting gatherings amid the pandemic.

“When many went to the streets to engage in ‘political’ or ‘peaceful’ protests purportedly against racism and police brutality, these protesters refused to comply with the pandemic restrictions. Instead of enforcing the public health orders, public officials were all too eager to grant a de facto exception for these favored protestors,” the lawsuit says.

On Friday, Judge James Chalfant of Los Angeles Superior Court agreed with MacArthur and his church that it is the county’s burden to show why they should be permitted to infringe on the constitutionally protected rights of churches to freely exercise religion. The appeals court, however, issued an emergency order on Saturday in favor of LA County.

It’s About Time

Thousands Of Churches Are About To Defy Lockdown Orders. 

Churchgoers across the country are reasserting their fundamental rights of conscience—rights that too many political leaders have forgotten or denied.

John Daniel Davidson
The Federalist

On Friday, President Trump said churches and houses of worship are “essential” and called on governors nationwide to allow them to open this weekend. If they don’t, Trump said he would “override” governors, citing forthcoming guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In remarks Thursday, the president criticized some governors who have “deemed liquor stores and abortion clinics as essential” but not churches. “It’s not right. So I’m correcting this injustice and calling houses of worship essential.”

Trump is right, but churches are already taking action on their own. This week in Minnesota, thousands of Catholics and Lutherans will gather in their churches in defiance of the governor, whose plan for reopening the state relegates churches and houses of worship to the status of tattoo parlors and hair salons.

It’s about time.

The Spirit of Timothy Lives On . . .

The World is Not my Parish

Matt Scheffer


We quote our heroes for inspiration. Or we sometimes mis-quote them, but nevertheless, still feel inspired. Sometimes the quote of a well-known Christian helps add clarity or meaning to a sermon or Bible study. Maybe it gives us a sense of inspiration so we stick it on our wall, or on a mug, or on Facebook.

“The world is my parish” is one of these quotes. Depending on which biographer you read, the quote either comes from the 18th century evangelist, John Wesley, or from Wesley’s friend and colleague George Whitefield. Either way, the quote is intended to inspire us to see the whole world as needing to hear the proclamation of the gospel, not just our parochial ‘patch’.

For Whitefield and Wesley, this quote meant outdoor preaching, since they were not allowed to preach in established church pulpits (not only because of the chaotic emotional effects displayed by those converted in their gatherings, but because they were not licensed to other churches). So Whitefield (or Wesley’s) response was, I will preach outdoors, since the whole world is my parish.

The quote appears on memes, mugs and inspirational posters. Sometimes it’s hung on church office walls, alongside quotes from the likes of Jim Elliot, or Corrie Ten Boom, etc.

Yet, as inspiring as it sounds, I think it’s wrong. “The world is not my parish”. By all means, yes, let us be passionate for the Great Commission. By all means, let us plant new churches and ‘re-pot’ or revive established churches and ‘do the work of an evangelist’ (2 Tim. 4:5). By all means, yes! But at the same time, the world is not my parish.

As inspiring as it sounds, I think it’s wrong. ‘The world is not my parish’ … my job is to be faithful to the Lord Jesus in the place he has put me, with the gifts he has given me: to serve the people he’s given me to love.

For most of us, the part we have to play in the Great Commission is to be faithful in the place where God has placed us; either in the church or fellowship group we happen to belong to (whether that’s a church or AFES group, etc).

What Goes Around . . .

Twitter Outrage at the Church of England’s Views on Sex

By Madeleine Kearns
National Review Online


Look who’s being intolerant and humorless now.

The three main Abrahamic world religions have all taught for thousands of years that sex is for marriage and that marriage is the union of one man and one woman. (For most of human history society did not define people by their dominant sexual desires, and the word “heterosexual” did not appear in print until 1892.) Unpopular though these and other ancient religious doctrines often are, they’ve never been easier to ignore. Until this week, that is, when the Guardian delivered the news straight from the mouth of Moses that the Church of England considers sex to be “for married heterosexual couples only.” Then, lo! The bowls of Twitter erupted and there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth. But why?

Since British values are now overwhelmingly progressive, institutional Christianity has never been less of a cultural threat. According to recent statistics from the pollsters at YouGov, just 4 percent of Britons believe that sex is acceptable only within marriage, and just 5 percent of those who identify as Church of England do. Meanwhile, YouGov reports, 66 percent of Britons support same-sex marriage, as do 57 percent of those who identify as Church of England. This might suggest that the Church of England is out of step with its flock. Except, isn’t the point of a flock that they follow? So why don’t those unhappy with the direction of their leaders follow a different church, perhaps one with a rainbow flag, instead? Or, they might even do what the Church of England’s founder Henry VIII did and start their own.

What’s even stranger about the overreaction to the Church of England’s fairly standard reassertion of Judeo-Christian sexual morality is that the same people often appear to be less exercised by what are — objectively— more consequential clashes between their code of ethics and that of an established religion. Islam, for instance. A 2009 Gallup survey of 500 participants found that zero percent of British Muslims thought that homosexuality was morally acceptable, while another survey conducted in 2016 discovered that 52 percent of British Muslims thought that homosexuality ought to be illegal.

Daily Meditation

Accepting Nurturing from the Church

Ligonier Ministries

“Holy mother church”—historians are not certain who first said it. The statement has been attributed by some to Cyprian, by others to Augustine. The assertion has survived since the early centuries of Christian history—“Who does not have the church as his mother does not have God as his Father.” From its earliest days, the church was given the appellation “mother.”

The use of paternal and maternal language is an intriguing phenomenon in religion. We cannot deny the virtual universal tendency to seek ultimate consolation in some sort of divine maternity. We have all experienced the piercing poignancy that attends the plaintiff cry of a child who, in the midst of sobs, says, “I want my mommy.” Who of us, when we were children, did not utter these words? Among those who are parents, which of us has not heard these words?

The nurturing function of the church most clearly links it to the maternal image. It is in the church that we are given our spiritual food. We gain strength from the sacraments ministered to us. Through the Word we receive our consolation and the tears of broken hearts are wiped clean. When we are wounded, we go to the church for healing.

Coram Deo

Spend some time reflecting on the nurturing function of the church. Is this evident in your church fellowship?

Passages for Further Study

Ephesians 2:19-21
Hebrews 10:24-25
Matthew 18:20

Daily Meditation

Finding Your Identity

Ligonier Ministries

Several images are used in the Bible to describe the church: the body of Christ, the elect, the house of God, the saints. One of the most meaningful expressions the Bible uses is “the people of God,” the laos theon.

The church, then, is people. The Roman Catholic Church once declared, “Where the bishop is, there is the church.” The Reformation declared, “Where the people of God are, there is the church—the church under the Lordship of Christ and indwelt by the Holy Spirit.”

The church is neither a building nor the clergy nor an abstract institution—it is the people of God. When Martin Luther articulated his vision of the priesthood of all believers, he did not denigrate the legitimate role of the clergy. He understood that Christ has given pastors and teachers to His church, along with other offices, with specified tasks. What Luther was getting at, however, is that the priestly ministry of Christ is passed on in some measure to every believer. 

Coram Deo

Give thanks that you are part of the body of Christ, the elect, the people of God.

Passages for Further Study

Ephesians 4:11–15

The Mega-Church Dystopia

False Claims, Enervated Hopes

The mega-church dystopia is finally dying off.  Not before time.  The unlikely marriage of secular doctrines of management and the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ was never going to last.  The only question was how much damage would be done before the charlatans were exposed.

Mega-church ideology called for a syncretistic marriage between doctrines of management of a secular business, on the one hand, and the Church, on the other.  Since such a "marriage" is not found in the Scriptures, the only possible outcome would be a compromise of faith with worldly-wisdom.

Imagine what would have happened to the post-apostolic Church if an Empire wide synod concluded that the most successful organizational model was the Roman Legion.  The Church could really power ahead and overtake the Empire itself if it married the disciplines of the Legion to the teaching of the Lord Jesus.

If you think such a prescription bizarre and would be  doomed to failure from the outset, how much more the present mega-church mania has been doomed to failure.  It too will be inevitably consigned to the dust-bins of church history.

Daily Meditation

On Church

C. S. Lewis

No Christian and, indeed, no historian could accept the epigram which defines religion as “what a man does with his solitude.” It was one of the Wesleys, I think, who said that the New Testament knows nothing of solitary religion. We are forbidden to neglect the assembling of ourselves together. Christianity is already institutional in the earliest of its documents. The Church is the Bride of Christ. We are members of one another.

From The Weight of Glory
Compiled in Words to Live By The Weight of Glory: And Other Addresses. Copyright © 1949, C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. Copyright renewed © 1976, revised 1980 C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers. Words to Live By: A Guide for the Merely Christian. Copyright © 2007 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers.

Comforting the Afflicted and Afflicting the Comfortable

It’s Not the Church’s Job to Make Us Feel Comfortable

Matt Walsh
TheBlaze

I received this message from a self-described pastor a few days ago:

Hi Matt, I’m a pastor and I have to say I’ve read your work for a while and I find it very troubling. There is no tolerance, inclusiveness, or love in your writings. It’s hateful towards the LGBTQ community and others who don’t share your views about gay rights, reproductive rights or many other issues. Matt churches should be focusing on how to welcome people in, whether they happen to be gay, trans, feminist or any other group you denigrate. “Christians” like you and all the rest on the far right have pushed these people away for so long. Matt no matter what you or your ilk say in your backwardness and bigotry, Christians in a committed same-sex relationship and others in the LGBTQ community are following God’s design for their lives. That’s the message the church needs to spread. God is love. Love is love! Your message of hatred and exclusion should be left in the dark ages where it belongs. You should be ashamed. I will pray for you.

Hi, pastor. Three things:

One: These aren’t “my views” about gay rights and “reproductive rights,” as you refer to them. I am merely agreeing with the One who has already made His position on these subjects known.

Two: It’s not the church’s job to make us comfortable, pastor.  Its job is to help to make us holy.

Yes, it should welcome all. In fact it should not only welcome but actively seek those who are lost. It should venture into the world, find the wandering sheep, and guide them back into the fold. But what it cannot do, pastor, is welcome our sin.

It should welcome the penitent thief, as Christ did, but it should not and cannot welcome his thievery. Remember, only one of the thieves crucified next to Christ was invited into paradise. The one who renounced his crimes was promised Heaven. The other, who clung to his wickedness even up until the moment of death, was not offered an invitation. I wonder, if you were there on Calvary that day, would you have lectured Christ for not being sufficiently inclusive?

Via Dolorosa

Inheriting All of Christ

The Bible is clear and unambiguous on the issue of Christian suffering.  From the very beginning our Lord declared that He would place enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent (Genesis 3:15).  The serpent is after all the Serpent.  The Satan, although a creature, is implacably hateful of all men, for men bear the image of God.  Thus, those who remain under his hegemony are ruled by one who despises them, even as he deploys them as "useful idiots" in his unwinnable war against the Living God. 

But God's magic is deeper.  It was the Satan's implacable hatred of Christ that resulted in His tyrannical execution;  the deeper magic was that He was thereby made a sin offering for the transgressions of all His people (past, present, and future) so that all whom the Father had given Him might be cleansed and all guilt removed from them.  In striking the heel of the Christ, the Liar from the beginning was himself fatally struck upon the head.

In this world, Christ suffered and was persecuted.  Upon His resurrection and Ascension, the fury turned upon His followers, the people left as His servants in the world.  The Church has, therefore, forever been a suffering church.  Jesus was forthrightly candid about the reality of Satanic hatred being unleashed upon His own.

Daily Devotional

Institutional From the Beginning

On Church

C. S. Lewis

No Christian and, indeed, no historian could accept the epigram which defines religion as “what a man does with his solitude.” It was one of the Wesleys, I think, who said that the New Testament knows nothing of solitary religion. We are forbidden to neglect the assembling of ourselves together. Christianity is already institutional in the earliest of its documents. The Church is the Bride of Christ. We are members of one another.

From The Weight of Glory
Compiled in Words to Live By
The Weight of Glory: And Other Addresses. Copyright © 1949, C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. Copyright renewed © 1976, revised 1980 C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers. Words to Live By: A Guide for the Merely Christian. Copyright © 2007 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers. Sourced from BibleGateway.

Currying Favour

The Curse of Popular Favour

7 Responses to the Strategy of Church Silence during Ethical Confusion

Oct 08, 2014

Justin Taylor

Andrew Wilson:

I’ve heard rumours of a silent trend beginning to take hold in some city churches in the UK and the US. I don’t just mean a trend that takes hold silently; presumably most trends do that. I mean a trend towards silence: a decision not to speak out on issues that are considered too sticky, controversial, divisive, culturally loaded, entangled, ethically complex, personally upsetting, emotive, likely to be reported on by the Guardian or the New York Times, uncharted, inflammatory, difficult, or containing traces of gluten.

Since I do not attend a city church, but am a proud member of the backward bungalow bumpkin brigade, this is coming to me second hand, and it may turn out to be a storm in the proverbial teacup, or even (for all I know) entirely fictional. But let’s imagine that there were such things as well-written booklets which had been discontinued simply because they were about sexuality, and leaders who were avoiding making any public comments at all on controversial ethical issues, or churches whose lectionaries or sermon "serieses" were systematically avoiding passages which addressed pressing contemporary questions, presumably in the name of being winsome or wise or likeable or culturally sensitive, because of the number of Influencers and Powerful People in the area.

Without knowing any of the behind-the-scenes discussions that had taken place – all well-intentioned, I’m sure—what would I say then?

Wilson outlines his response in seven steps:

1. Winsomeness is a good servant and a terrible master.


2. Likeability stops at the water’s edge.


3. Pastors are to proclaim the whole counsel of God, not just the parts that won’t cause any fluttering in the Fleet Street dovecotes.


4. Ducking difficult ethical questions leaves churches in confusion when they most need clarity.


5. Ethical confusion makes church discipline much, much harder.


6. Silence unwittingly reinforces the dominant cultural narrative.


7. Those of us who instinctively cheer when we read the previous six points are probably in the greatest need of hearing what the advocates of silence have to say.

You can read his explanation of each point here.

Douglas Wilson's Letter From Moscow

Sanctuary and Parish

Blog and Mablog

Posted on Tuesday, March 18, 2014 

By Douglas Wilson

I have written before on the ideal relationship of church and kingdom, comparing it to the church at the center of town, and life in the kingdom fanning out into the parish from that center. Word and sacrament are at the center, and they shape and form the lives of believers outside the sanctuary, but without ruling and dictating what goes on out there. I am using the words sanctuary and parish in a figure. The elders of the church do not rule over auto mechanics, or garbage collection, or interior design. First, it is none of their business, and secondly, they would do a bad job.

Family government and civil government and church government are the three governments ordained and established directly by God. Our task is therefore to make sure they are in a right relationship with each other, and to take care that one of them doesn’t try to swallow up the others. In our day, it is the state that is swollen with this particular conceit, but other eras have seen the other two governments try it.

After the Great Commission is fulfilled it would be appropriate, in a figure of speech, to say that “the Church” has filled the earth, as the waters cover the sea, but this is not talking about the church in the strict sense — gathered worship, the preached Word, the bread and wine, etc. A great deal of what will have been done by that point will have been done by nations and by families. These nations and families will have been baptized, and they will return to the sanctuary every Lord’s Day to be instructed and strengthened, but they will do what they do as Christians — not as officers of the sanctuary.

The Church in a Dehumanized Desert

The Prophetic John Stott

John Stott, writing over 30 years ago (in 1982):

It is difficult to imagine the world in the year A.D. 2000, by which time versatile micro-processors are likely to be as common as simple calculators are today.

We should certainly welcome the fact that the silicon chip will transcend human brain-power, as the machine has transcended human muscle-power.

Much less welcome will be the probable reduction of human contact as the new electronic network renders personal relationships ever less necessary.

In such a dehumanized society the fellowship of the local church will become increasingly important, whose members meet one another, and talk and listen to one another in person rather than on screen.

In this human context of mutual love the speaking and hearing of the Word of God is also likely to become more necessary for the preservation of our humanness, not less.

—John R.W. Stott, I Believe in Preaching (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1982), p. 69.
Hat Tip: Justin Taylor,
February 28, 2014

Ave, United Nations

The World's Windbag

Our view of the UN is that it is not a pretty place.  It is hopelessly compromised, riddled with corruption, and not in any position to show moral leadership to anyone.  So, when the even more compromised UN committee on human rights slams the Roman Catholic Church for its "record" on homosexuality (which it opposes and rejects as unChristian, immoral and condemned by God), abortion (an act of murder, to be opposed by all Christians and likewise condemned by God Himself) we could not repress a cynical laugh. 

Really.  So, maybe the great and glorious and oh-so-authoritative UN committee on human rights would disclose by what authority it asserts that the unborn child is inhuman or non-human.  By what standard does the UN asserts that homosexuality is moral, and a human right.  The only possible response the committee could make to such interrogation would be to claim that somewhere along the line, some UN body (possibly the committee itself) took a vote on the matter and decided by some sort of majority that "a" was ethical and "b" was not.  To which we retort, any morality grounded on votes is not morality at all.  It is mere relativist bumpkinism.  It is nothing more than standover tactics by a majority against a minority.

For Shame

Ecclesiastical Paddling Poolers

There are parts of the church--far too many for comfort--which crave acceptance from outsiders--otherwise known as Unbelievers.  Some speak of churches needing to be "seeker friendly"; others appeal for relevance, clarity, plain speaking. 

What might clarity and plain speaking look like where we live?  To make people feel at home in a church service one would need to use "f . . .k" every third or fourth word, because that's how folk speak at home around here.  Mind you, then folk would say, "Why f . . . bother going to f. . .  church--it's just like f. . . . home anyf....ingway."  Point well taken.  We think this stuff risks becoming so loopy it belongs in the asylum.  That's what a craven lust for acceptance will do to you. 

The Church of England risks becoming a poster boy for this kind of inane worldliness.

Douglas Wilson's Letter From Moscow

Empty Pulpits or Full Churches?

Posted on Wednesday, October 16, 2013  

By Douglas Wilson 

Blog and Mablog

 

I would like to draw your attention to Brad Littlejohn’s rejoinder to my post here. That rejoinder is down in the comments. This was my post on how an Obama vote disqualifies a man from ministry. Thanks to Brad for the comments, and for the opportunity for me to follow up on my initial post.

First, I happily grant that being a practitioner of abortion and presiding over a nation in which it is legal to be such a practitioner are two very different things. But while they are very different, depending on the stance and outlook of the president, the morality of the two positions can overlap completely. There is a distinction between the man who does mischief himself (Ps. 10:7) and the man who frames mischief with a law (Ps. 94:20), but not a moral distinction.

The Hindu practice of suttee and the laws that allowed it to continue were very different, but equally wicked.

The Lord of Heaven and Earth

The Days of our Service

The Bible makes clear that when Christ ascended, all power and authority was given to Him in the heavens and the earth.  When Christ sat down at the right hand of God, He sat down upon the Throne of heaven not to rest, but to rule over all things. 

On earth there are two kinds of human beings: those who know that Christ rules everything, and those who refuse to know it.  Those who don't acknowledge nor believe that Christ is their Lord nevertheless remain subject to His command and do His bidding--as Unbelievers--even whilst they remain ignorant of His dominion over them. 

Oscar Cullmann puts it this way:

Douglas Wilson's Letter From America

Hey, This Knife Cuts in Two Directions! 

Political Dualism - Mere Christendom
Written by Douglas Wilson
Friday, 07 September 2012

Suppose the point were to be made -- and it is a worthy point to make -- that being a Christian trumps being an American. This is a point with which I am in whole-hearted agreement, and which I have made in this place numerous times. A conservative Republican believer in Jesus has far more in common with a Palestinian Christian than he does with a secular representative of the state of Israel. A thousand amens. Jesus makes all the difference.

But there is a way of agreeing with this that shows one is growing up into the fundamental tenets of "mere Christendom," and there is another way of agreeing with it that shows one is just becoming a liberal. There is a way of appealing to Jesus because you find Jesus appealing, and there is a way of appealing to Jesus because you find American hegemony unappealing.

Muddy Waters

Are Theologians Necessary

Canadianchristianity Magazine interviewed J I Packer--and asked him, amongst other things, whether theologians are necessary to the Church.

Distinguished theologian J.I. Packer is the author of more than 40 books -- including Knowing God, which has sold nearly two million copies and has been translated into 25 languages. He is the Board of Governors Professor of Theology at Regent College.
 
Meg Johnstone: You've been quoted as saying: "In all my teaching and writing, I am trying to show that theology is extremely practical." So, are theologians really necessary?

J.I. Packer: (chuckling) I think the answer is yes, but you have to define what a theologian is. His business is to make sure that the church has what I will call a pure water system -- thinking of the word of God as the water of life. You could describe him, therefore, as a kind of ecclesiastical plumber, or sewage engineer. In the church, there's always going to be muddy water, there's always going to be mistaken ideas going around; theologians are the people whose business is to keep the flow clear and pure. In order to do that, they have to understand the faith as a whole, and that usually means that they have to do something like specialist work in the exposition of Bible truth -- because the people who are stirring up the mud are also doing specialist work. . . . Any section of the church which doesn't have theologians -- as point people and whistle blowers and plumbers and water engineers -- is, sooner or later, going to be bogged down in muddy water.

Hat Tip: Justin Taylor