Hi xxxx,
Thanks for your thoughts and your concern. Whatever God is up to, I am sure it will bring Him glory!
Your comment, "I'm afraid that it gets missed and we end up cleaning people up but not doing anything for their eternal destiny" resonated deeply within my convictions. It is not only a Kenya church problem as you most certainly realize.
The younger churches around the world struggle with it greatly, true, but even some American churches can't resist the opportunity to base salvation on external components rather than on an internal reliance. No, I don't think you are cynical at all.
However, the human problem of sin causes the pendulum to swing too far when we begin to apply truth to our daily lives. For example, as protestants we staunchly criticize (and rightly so) the deification of Mary. But our strong reaction to Catholic theology has caused us to denigrate her. The Gospels tell us she is blessed among women.
Thanks for your thoughts and your concern. Whatever God is up to, I am sure it will bring Him glory!
Your comment, "I'm afraid that it gets missed and we end up cleaning people up but not doing anything for their eternal destiny" resonated deeply within my convictions. It is not only a Kenya church problem as you most certainly realize.
The younger churches around the world struggle with it greatly, true, but even some American churches can't resist the opportunity to base salvation on external components rather than on an internal reliance. No, I don't think you are cynical at all.
However, the human problem of sin causes the pendulum to swing too far when we begin to apply truth to our daily lives. For example, as protestants we staunchly criticize (and rightly so) the deification of Mary. But our strong reaction to Catholic theology has caused us to denigrate her. The Gospels tell us she is blessed among women.
Somehow we forgot that when the Catholics went too far with her.
Wednesday, December 27 ‘06
The same for good works (in my humble opinion) among the "free-grace camp" - of which I am a member. They have rightly defined “saving faith” but have forgotten taking care of the poor, needy, and downtrodden (book of James) which has a central role in progressive sanctification (after salvation) let alone that it is clearly commanded and demonstrated throughout the Bible as being close to God's heart.
Another example would be the doctrine of election, predestination, and eternal security. Because of them, most of the churches still teaching these truths have forgotten about missions; across the street let alone around the world. We are told by Paul to do the work of an evangelist even though they will not respond unless He calls His sheep to Him. But we are still called to the work.
I think the component that has enabled you and I to see the simplicity of the Gospel (by grace through faith) is a verse-by-verse expository teaching of the bible that has made schools like DTS famous. That is my goal or drive here in Kenya; to lock 20 pastors per class in an incubator for 20 weeks over a 2-3 three year period to try to change their world view to a biblical one through bible exposition and biblical theology.
Another example would be the doctrine of election, predestination, and eternal security. Because of them, most of the churches still teaching these truths have forgotten about missions; across the street let alone around the world. We are told by Paul to do the work of an evangelist even though they will not respond unless He calls His sheep to Him. But we are still called to the work.
I think the component that has enabled you and I to see the simplicity of the Gospel (by grace through faith) is a verse-by-verse expository teaching of the bible that has made schools like DTS famous. That is my goal or drive here in Kenya; to lock 20 pastors per class in an incubator for 20 weeks over a 2-3 three year period to try to change their world view to a biblical one through bible exposition and biblical theology.
The problem is that if it isn't the weather stopping us - it is tribal clashes, and if not tribal clashes then it is church politics. It is a much longer process than in the west because of the difficulty in the environment.
Because of the length of time it takes to see results, missionaries have often taken shortcuts of attempting to make a list of rules (don't drink local brew, don't wear traditional jewelry, only marry one wife) to define what it means to be a Christian and ultimately what it means to be saved. It seems to me, and I would like to hear your thoughts as well, Jesus was far less interested in the externals of an individual than He was interested in the heart. As a matter of fact, he was down-right critical of those who made the externals a sign of righteousness. I am not arguing for a license to sin in a believer, but I am arguing for an emphasis on living by declared righteousness rather than on a righteousness based upon our good works or lack of bad ones.
That was probably more than you wanted but your thoughts stirred up a few things in me!!! Email is terrible for communicating theology clearly so if I said something that alarmed you, please let me know so I can
explain more fully. I tried to connect the dots between saving faith, good works, and its impact on missions.
Because of the length of time it takes to see results, missionaries have often taken shortcuts of attempting to make a list of rules (don't drink local brew, don't wear traditional jewelry, only marry one wife) to define what it means to be a Christian and ultimately what it means to be saved. It seems to me, and I would like to hear your thoughts as well, Jesus was far less interested in the externals of an individual than He was interested in the heart. As a matter of fact, he was down-right critical of those who made the externals a sign of righteousness. I am not arguing for a license to sin in a believer, but I am arguing for an emphasis on living by declared righteousness rather than on a righteousness based upon our good works or lack of bad ones.
That was probably more than you wanted but your thoughts stirred up a few things in me!!! Email is terrible for communicating theology clearly so if I said something that alarmed you, please let me know so I can
explain more fully. I tried to connect the dots between saving faith, good works, and its impact on missions.
Hard to do in 300 words!
We greatly appreciate you guys and we look forward to getting together soon.
Blessings,
Brian
We greatly appreciate you guys and we look forward to getting together soon.
Blessings,
Brian
Here is a copy of an email from Brian in response to a letter he got about saving faith & sanctification. I enjoyed reading it and was, as always, encouraged by what he had to say. I hope you are, too.
