I spent Friday evening and Saturday at Grace Bible Fellowship Church attending the Regional Conference on Reformed Theology. The best way to describe the conference is amazing. I was impacted by the teachings, each one of them getting me to think more in depth on the topic of Our Great God. Each speaker had their own unique preaching style, which all conveyed a clearcut message about God and how we are to think, act, and respond. I will do my best to highlight what I absorbed during each teaching by paraphrasing the notes I took during the conference. *None of the following ideas or concepts were formulated by me, but by the conference speakers.*
The first speaker on Friday was Bryan Chapell who discussed the topic of The Greatness of God. The main point was the fact that God is a counter-distinction to humanity, which means that He is set apart. This was important to what was conveyed in the description of the verse, Romans 4:18, which begins, "In hope he believed against hope..." This was referring to Abraham when God revealed that he would be the father of many nations, even though he was an elderly man and his wife, Sarah, was barren. Chapell asked us what it meant to, "hope against hope." He said that it was the pitting of divine hope against human hope. In every instance of this situation, divine hope will prevail because it comes from God, who is set apart and greater than humanity. To apply this concept in your own life, you must believe that you will prevail in the long run without hiding from the brutal reality of your present circumstances. The hope we have in God will keep us from wavering in our faith because we can trust God to provide because He sent us Jesus and He can bring dead things back to life.
Another concept that Chapell said we must grasp about God's greatness is the fact that He blesses us out of His own faithfulness and not our own faithfulness. We are saved by grace alone and God's promises are eternal. We must also learn from the situations that God places us in because He sometimes puts us in particular circumstances in order to strip away our self confidence so that all that remains is our faith in God. You need to decide if you are relying on yourself or on God and then realize that you bring nothing to the equation. God is the only one who can provide and that proof can be found in Jesus being raised from the dead as justification for our trespasses. This act of love was proof of God's mercy, which is the only thing that can provide us with hope in life.
The second speaker on Friday was Richard Phillips who discussed The Holiness of God. He spoke about how we cannot actually discuss what holiness is because being holy means to be set apart to be used for God. God is above and beyond us and has an all consuming majesty. We can only discuss what holiness is not because that is the perspective we have as a sinful society. The spiritual essence of God is beyond our comprehension.
In 2 Samuel 6, David was trying to comprehend God's holiness. This passage discusses bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. David wanted to honor God by bringing the Ark to Jerusalem, but he became angry when Uzzah was struck down in God's wrath. This occurred when Uzzah tried to prevent the Ark from falling into the mud and he touched it, which is forbidden. In truth, God was justified to kill Uzzah because he was disobedient. As Richard Phillips stated, "Uzzah was arrogant enough to think that his hand was cleaner than the earth. This just isn't so because humans are sinful creatures while the earth is at least obedient, making Uzzah more filthy than the mud." God's holiness gives Him this right, and it is because of God's holiness that we must gather in church and worship is glory. We must not shy away from what is holy, but instead accept the great mercy that abounds from God through Christ's death on the cross. In the end, what we must do is humble ourselves, confess our sins, and place them on the cross of the Holy One.
Kevin DeYoung was the first speaker on Saturday morning. His topic was The Truth of God. He started by mentioning how religion is a process of discovery, not revelation, and our knowledge of God can't escape our culture. Truth is necessary within Christianity because the gospel is the only absolute truth in this world. This truth needs to be preserved and not reinvented to suit our own needs. DeYoung taught that there are three misconceptions on truth that are held, which include sincerity is a measure of truth, humility is inconsistent with certainty (assurance is misconstrued as arrogance and confidence is seen as cockiness), and the notion that all we have is interpretations of truth, but no clear concept. I was greatly intrigued by the fact that sincerity is not a measure of truth. DeYoung illustrated this misconception using Philippians 1:15-18, which states, "It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice." This scripture mentioned that some only preach out of selfish ambition and only appear sincere, but the importance is in the fact that the gospel is being shared with people. Those who attacked on 9/11 sincerely believed in what they were doing, but that didn't mean it was true.
DeYoung also taught that when we share the truth of the gospel, we must not burden individuals with difficult concepts. Instead, slipping a small idea into their mind for them to mull over is best. This is much like "putting a pebble in someone's shoe." Along with this, DeYoung stated the one vital truth that we all must hold on to is the fact that our God speaks to us. The Bible is God's Word. Any questions that we might have should be directed towards this text in order to find the answers. Those who refuse to listen to the Word of God are refusing to obey the truth. Everybody wants to discover who God is, but He already revealed Himself through Jesus and in the scriptures. We must never forget this most important truth, but we also must not be like the ignorant and unstable who twist scripture to say what they want it to say.
The next topic was The Wrath of God, which was taught by Richard Phillips. The scripture he focused on was Hebrews 10:26-31, which states, "If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, 'It is mine to avenge; I will repay,' and again, 'The Lord will judge his people.' It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." Many people recoil at the idea of a loving God sending some His people to hell for eternity. What they seem to forget is that God is not only loving, but just, and He has the right to bring down judgement on those who reject Him. Phillips used the analogy of the college professor who has his students turn in three papers during the semester. The professor clearly states that any late papers will result in an automatic failure of the course. When the first paper is due, a quarter of the students bring their papers late, but the professor shows mercy and does not fail them. The students recognize this and are thankful, so when the next paper is due, half the students are late turning them in, but the professor again shows mercy, which the students are thankful for. When the last paper is due, three quarters of the class turn in their papers late and the professor fails all of them, which causes an outrage among his students, but they forget to realize that the professor reserves the right to do this, even though he showed mercy in the past.
Phillips says that even though it is hard for us to stomach everlasting torment, we need to remember that God hates all that is evil and wicked and He cannot live in harmony with it, which is why God brings wrath against that which is evil. Phillips also said that we must avoid embracing a sinful lifestyle and that the only way for us to know if we are true followers of Christ is by having fruit apparent in our life (referring to the fruits of the Spirit, which include love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control ~ Galatians 5:22-23). Phillips said we cannot trust mere emotional responses as marks of salvation. Otherwise, we are like those mentioned in the passage from Hebrews who mentally grasp the Gospel, but still spurn Jesus in their hearts by continuing to flagrantly sin. The worst thing one can do is tell such people that they are Christians just because they know the Word of God. Unless they are living it out and there is a definite change, the best thing that someone can do is force these people to confront teachings on the wrath of God so that they understand the horrible consequences of trampling on the name of Jesus. Phillips' closing remarks were that God is not terrible; sin is terrible. Also, the wrath of God on the cross was also a measure of God's love for us.
The workshop that I chose to attend in the afternoon was led by Kevin DeYoung and was entitled: Just Do Something. DeYoung spent much of the time discussing how people use "waiting to hear God's plan" as an excuse to be lazy, not take initiative, and place responsibility on somebody other than themselves. DeYoung said that, instead, we should capitalize on our skills and talents and take risks, as opposed to wasting our time "tinkering" and refusing to grow up into adulthood. Many are just sitting and waiting for a word from God when instead they should be going and getting jobs and trusting that it is all a part of God's plan. It is sheer ignorance to think that God would actually reveal is plan for your future to you before you discovered it by living day by day. DeYoung said that we are too preoccupied with the future and wanting to know now, rather than being patient and trusting that everything will work out. DeYoung said that the three reasons we are so desperate to figure out God's will is because we want to please God, many are timid and hesitant, many are searching for perfect fulfillment, we have too many choices, and we are cowardly. We need to focus on building in faithfulness instead of fulfillment and get away from this concept that everyday of our lives is supposed to be spectacular and full of adventure. We also need to focus on making decisions. Too many can't be decisive because formulating a decision means rejecting other options.
DeYoung also taught that the conventional approach to life is bad because it focuses on nonmoral decisions, implies we have a sneaky God who refuses to reveal things He knows to us, encourages preoccupation with the future, undermines personal responsibility, accountability, and initiative, and we become slaves to subjectiveness and hopelessly seek feelings. The preoccupation with the future truly betrays our lack of trust in God, which creates anxiety. DeYoung says that anxiety is really living out the future before it gets here, which involves worrying about future troubles without acknowledging future graces. DeYoung also says that nobody should ever cloak talk of their personal decisions in religious words or concepts. They should say that they chose a particular job, place to live, relationship, travel plans etc. based on the fact that they feel it is best, not because "this is God's plan" or "God directed me down this path." DeYoung stresses that this strips away accountability and responsibility for the action because those phrases create barriers that rebuff arguments.
DeYoung closed by saying that anybody who is searching for the will of God should turn to the Bible. Within the text, one will find that God wants us all to be transformed to be more like Christ. That is His true desire and hope for our future; to grow in Christlikeness. The first part of I Thessalonians 4:3 states, "It is God's will that you should be sanctified." Through sanctification, we will become more loving, humble, and pure, which are all attributes of Jesus.
Brian Chapell taught the last topic, which was The Love of God. He began his discussion by clarifying the words, "But where sin increased, grace increased all the more," which are found within Romans 5:20. Chapell said that this was not a license to sin. The gospel does not wish for people to indulge in sin. Because we are united with Christ, we share in His death and resurrection. To explain all of this, Chapell referenced Romans 6:1-14 ~ "What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace."
Chapell continued by saying that God's love for us is based on your faith in Jesus and that we are all made right before God for what Christ has done. Once we are committed to Christ, we die to sin and are transformed to be more like Christ. Dying to sin means that we should no longer indulge in it. We are instead united to Christ, who was pure and loving. Our goal is to become more like Christ and to run from the slavery of sin. Also, once we are united in Christ, we are free from the condemnation and guilt of past sin. We must not dwell on what we have down, but instead strive to improve and always look forward. Chapell closed by saying that we all must remember and realize that we live before the face of God, that sin at its core is lack of love and should not have power over your life, focus on the passion of Christ, which will fill us with the love of Christ, and to live for Jesus because it's your calling and your identity. In Chapell's words, "Your calling is to remember how much you are loved and you are to live for Him who gives you power to do so."
I was very grateful for all I learned during the conference and very empowered and refreshed by each and every teaching. I am really looking forward to going again next year and would encourage you all to join me.
This Christmas weekend has been busier than usual for me, which wasn't a bad thing. I love driving, so it was kind of exciting to do so much traveling to visit with people. My fun started on Friday with a trip to Honesdale, PA, for a surprise going away party for my friend, Mark. He is moving to Chicago to live with a friend and work as a computer programmer. I came to town a bit early to run errands with Beth before venturing over to Mark's. It was great to see many old friends from high school again. I hadn't seen most of them since June or July, so I enjoyed catching up with everybody, including Cara, Mark, Shaun, Joe, Beth, Heather, and Allaina.
Following this little get together, I ventured back to East Burg to meet up with my friend, Teresa. I hadn't seen her since May, so I was really excited to spend time catching up. This visit to her house of course involved being poked and prodded by her mother who was wondering if "Flaca" has been eating enough. I also got scolded for not coming to visit, even though Teresa hasn't been home. Most of this discussion was of course in Spanish because her mom is convinced that I am fluent...the funniest part is that she'll talk to Teresa in English, who is actually fluent in Spanish. Makes me laugh every time. We relaxed watching a movie and talking about what we've been up to lately. Teresa also showed me all of the food that her mom had stocked up for her two day stay, which included a large leg of lamb that I was tempted to use as a club.
I got up around 8am to venture down to Hellertown, PA, in order to attend the Christmas service at Saucon Bible Fellowship Church. Pastor taught about how Jesus is our healing servant and that His birth and ministry fulfilled prophecy from Isaiah 53. After the service, I picked out two poinsettias to give to my mom before driving back to East Stroudsburg for a quick nap and to chat with Rhi and Seamus. Apparently they devoured all but three of the Christmas cookies I brought down from my parents, so I promised to steal some more for them. I finally made my way back to Galilee, with two brief detours in Honesdale. I decided to go up to Irving Cliff to get some pictures of town and I also stopped in Central Park to get some pictures. For those of you who don't know, the man who wrote the lyrics to the song Winter Wonderland, Dick Smith, was from Honesdale and it is said that his inspiration for the song was snow-covered Central Park.
I reached Galilee around 3:45pm and was greeted by my parents. We chatted a bit before opening presents. I was pretty excited for the toaster oven/rotisserie that my dad got me. I'm pretty stoked to try and cook a chicken now! About an hour later Nick arrived in his usual pre-zombie state. Being a nurse, sleep isn't always on the top of the list of activities. He opened his gifts and my dad tested out the RC helicopter he got. I was amused that he flew it right into the tree. Soon Anita joined us for a delicious dinner of turkey, stuffing, potatoes, and broccoli, which was followed by cookies and chocolate. We topped off the evening by watching the Packers game. All in all, a very busy Christmas weekend, but probably the most content I've felt in years, which is promising for me. Now it's off to rest my eyes and see what tomorrow brings. Possibly some indoor soccer, but maybe just a bum day on the couch.
