Don't Let Your Denomination Become An Idol

I recently came across an old sermon preached by C.D. Mallary at the Georgia Baptist Convention in 1859. The title of the message was "Denominational Idolotry Reproved". Though I dearly love my church and the family of churches we have in Sovereign Grace Ministries, I am aware of the dangerous temptation to identify myself more with my church, ministry or denomination than with Christ himself. This message, though preached to Baptists almost 150 years ago, gives insight and thought to this problem no matter what church, denomination or ministry you associate yourself with. There are good reproofs on overconfidence in success, in letting the truths your group focuses on outweight the core truths of the gospel and of worshipping successful leaders. I've included a bunch of quotes that were convicting and brought this issue to light. It's a great reminder that all the glory belongs to God. While I may rightly rejoice at what God might be doing in my church and in Sovereign Grace, I pray that would not produce pride but rather humility, amazement and joy at the undeserved mercy of God.

Regarding the temptation to a few minor issues outshine the whole of God's truth...

Whenever our denominational peculiarities so absorb our affections and our zeal as to crowd from their due position other portions of the divine testimony, they are made to assume in our hearts, as it were, the character of idols; and in this perverted shape, by being forced to break the due proportion and boundaries of divine truth, they invade unwittingly the just rights of God, and are the occasion of dishonor to his cause. All this is wrong.

On the tendency to forget that the truth came from God and not ourselves...

There is another way in which our denominational sentiments may be made the occasion of nourishing the idolatrous tendency of our deceitful hearts. In contending for them, we may be, to a greater or less extent, sinfully forgetful that they are God's truth. We may somewhat lose sight of the precious, golden link, which binds them to the throne of Jehovah. We may fight for them as our truth, our dogmas, rather than as the teachings of the Saviour. We may contend for personal victory. We may become, through the deceitfulness of the heart, intensely sectarian.

Being aware of glorifying our leaders instead of God...

Opposite to narrow-minded complaining jealousy, is another evil which the gospel equally condemns; a glorying in men - a disposition to call men our masters - a blind partisan zeal for bold-spirited leaders - a cringing subserviency to the authority of great names - an idolatrous reverence for those who, from whatever cause, may have risen to some peculiar denominational distinction.

Not becoming prideful when we see success...

In these things it is our privilege, our duty, to rejoice. But, beloved brethren, let our rejoicing be in the Lord. When we listen to the rehearsal of our denominational successes, our carnal pride is perhaps sometimes awakened, and we think to ourselves, what a great people we Baptists are getting to be! All this is wrong; it is grieving to the Spirit of God; it is making an idol of our denominational prosperity. And it may be that God allows many humiliating things to befall us as a people, that our pride may be humbled, and we may learn more profoundly the great lesson of inspiration "Not by might, nor by power; but by my Spirit, saith the Lord."

Being overconfident in future success...

We may hope with strong assurance for the future triumphs of truth; and we may bless God that this bright and holy day shall assuredly come. But it will be God's work, and not ours. We should be humbled to the dust that God should condescend to use us as instruments for hasting on this glorious period. But for his sovereign, almighty grace, which will accomplish its purposes in spite of all our follies and sins, we might well despair.

HT: Nathan Finn

Caution and Encouragement for the "New Calvinists"

There is a very helpful article on Justin Taylor's blog today. It's a reaction to the growing movement of Reformed theology in the younger generation by Thomas McCall from an Arminian perspective.

This article embodies the interaction I think that both sides of the Calvinist/Arminian issue should display. I clearly fall into the Reformed camp and I was blessed by Dr. McCall's rejoicing at the way this movement displays an interest in theology and a pursuit of holiness in people my age.

Even more so, I was blessed by the challenges and cautions that he brings. Here are two that I drew out.

1. We need to know our theological tradition better as well as understand the broader traditions of the historical church. In other words, we should expand our reading and knowledge outside the Puritans and beware not to ultimately rely on and deify those famous contemporary teachers that are highly regarded in Reformed circles. Personally, I know I want to spend more time learning about the early church fathers and learning more about church history in general.

2. We need to guard against arrogance and cultivate humility. With the low accountability Internet as a main medium of communication added to the youthful tendency towards arrogance, I can appreciate his concern in this area. I know my own tendency towards pride. Even if we do believe that the tenets of Reformed theology are clearly taught in the Bible, we have to remember that we didn't come up with them, God did. And we didn't figure it out of our own accord without his help, so we can't take pride in that either. We need to receive the Scriptures with humility and we need to speak with humility.

Overall, I this post challenges me to interact with differing brothers and sisters with charity and love. It's not that we shouldn't value our doctrine strongly, but we need to evaluate our attitudes and our hearts. We should be marked by a desire to know and understand God more rather than a desire to be right. We need to realize that God still has a lot for us to learn. Abraham Piper had a blog post a while ago with a title that sums it up well, "When arguing, it's better to be convincible than invincible."

A Heart Humbled By Reading

There is a struggle I've often dealt with in reading and studying. The sinful tendency in my heart is to become prideful because of books I've read or knowledge accumulated through reading (even though there are so many others who have read more and know more than I do). It becomes very easy in conversation to toss out a names of authors and books or to use some obscure theology term in a way that seems far more concerned with directing attention to myself instead of encouraging others in their faith. It's also easy not to correct how other people view my reading and knowledge. If I seem excited about reading and talking about books, buy good books and try to read a lot of books that still doesn't mean I am actually smarter, more motivated or more godly, but that tends to be something I rarely point out to people.

Thankfully, the Holy Spirit is merciful to bring conviction and encourage growth of humility because of my reading. As I read books by men who love and know God in far greater degrees than myself, my spirit is humbled. While I work through Grudem's Systematic Theology, I am humbled by a God whose vastness and greatness defies the power of my intellect and understanding. I can clearly recall a prideful reaction several years ago when I heard others describing the difficulty of reading The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment by Jeremiah Burroughs. In my head I thought that I would be able to easily understand it and it could not possibly be so hard. I have recently started reading it as part of the Puritan Challenge and have realized that I clearly overestimated my own abilities and underestimated the focus and concentration it would take to read the book. My struggle to understand and work through a tough book to gain a better view of God is another area where my pride is brought low as I realize that in and of myself these things are difficult or impossible to comprehend. Not to mention how I am often humbled by how easily I forget what I have read and how difficult it can be to apply these things to my daily life.

Whatever knowledge and understanding (and it's not as much as I sometimes want think it is) God has given me is a gift. I am called to be a steward of these things just as I am called to wisely use my finances. In both cases, the gifts of God should be used to glorify, enjoy and serve him and not to glorify myself. When God humbles me in my learning and my weakness is revealed, it helps me to depend on him more. Ultimately, he is the one who will reveal himself to me through his word. I pray that God would help me to be humble in my reading, guide me to use what he is showing me to edify others and help me to apply his word to my own life and know him more.

A Lesson In Humility

When it comes to reading, books and discussing what I am learning, I tend to get a little excited. I'm always interested in trying to read and learn more and I find it helpful to read along with others. Perhaps it might be better to describe it as a "foolish overzealousness", particularly when it comes to determining how many books I am trying to read at a time, trying to take notes while doing so, seeking to discuss with others and, now, to write a blog post about it.

Is wanting to read a lot of books a bad thing? Certainly not. And to take notes, retain and apply the material? These are definitely good desires. Part of the problem comes when I start to think that I can read and grow in a knowledge of God without God's help. I wouldn't ever say that, but sometimes I think that's how I approach reading. I need to have a heart that depends on God and pray that as I seek to study and learn more, that he will provide grace to help me understand and apply.

Why do we need this grace? Well, I don't know about you, but sometimes I lack the desire to read. God's definitely grown me in this, but there are definitely times when I can get easily distracted or choose to do something less valuable with my time. Here's another reason. CJ Mahaney quoted David Powlison in his closing message for New Attitude last year. He said that we were "simple people". This weekend I was trying to catch up on the Systematic Theology reading plan that some people at church are using. The section I was in was discussion the attributes of God. As it began to get later, my eyes started getting heavy and I was having trouble remembering what I had just read. The next day, I was reading some more and I began to realize that I didn't remember much about what I had read. I began to think about God's omniscience and of our dependence and difference from God. He knows all and our finite minds have trouble comprehending and are apt to forget. We are "simple people" and we need the help of God and those around us to understand and apply.

So, what do we do in light of this? We pray and ask God for help. We lean on his promises to continue to conform us to Christ. And in humility, we take steps to read and retain the best we can. That means accountability, having others ask us about what we read. It means studying and taking notes. It means asking questions when we don't understand. It means having the humility sometimes to admit our forgetfulness and reread a great book that affected us in the past instead of pressing on to something new.

It also means seeing evidence of God's grace in the small steps we take. I can often dream big and set my goals very high. And there is nothing wrong with that. It may be that I desire to read a ton of books. Or that I want to take comprehensive notes on each chapter. Or that I want to write a blog post with a thought on every chapter I read.

And that's good, I want to strive hard for those kinds of things. But, I'm not there yet and it's bad when I get discouraged because I read and didn't take notes or haven't got the "perfect" blog post prepared for a chapter. My own ideas of what growth looks like and the areas where I can be tempted to perfectionism can get in the way. I need to walk in faith and trust God for the growth in my life. Then I can see his grace in the way I attempt to take notes in just one of the books I am reading or read one more book than I did last year or write a blog post that honors him even if it doesn't contain the complete annotated outline of a chapter I read.

God I pray that I would trust you for my growth in godliness and wisdom. Would I strive hard to know you more, but not trust ultimately in my plans or expectations. I pray for a patience that rests secure in your promises for my life. Would I give thanks and glorify you for every evidence of grace in my life, whether large or small, because of all it is undeserved and outside my power to obtain. In Jesus name, Amen.