Author: fundyreformed

Why Go to Church?

~ fundyreformed ~ 13 Comments

I’m back. We returned from a grueling 3000 mile road trip last week. It was fun, but left me worn out. I need a vacation from my vacation!

I realize I haven’t been keeping up with the blog all that much in the past few weeks. I hope to pick the plow back up this week. Unfortunately, when I returned I found out that my sidebars had vanished. Just the WordPress default sidebars are showing, all my customizations just disappeared. Hopefully I’ll be able to restore them soon.

On our trip (we drove to Pensacola, FL to see my sister-in-law graduate, and then to North Canton, OH to visit my brother’s family and my mom), we couldn’t help but notice this unusual sign on Interstate 65 a few miles north of Montgomery, AL.

This sign raises a question: why do we go to church? I, for one, don’t think the answer given on the sign is theologically correct. Before I explain my thoughts, perhaps some of my readers (assuming I still have any…) would like to weigh in on what is wrong with this sign. Or maybe you agree with its basic premise. Please, join the conversation. I’ll be posting my thoughts on this later today or else tomorrow.

Update: Here are my thoughts concerning the sign above:

My beef against the sign is that it seems to imply that one earns brownie points for going to church. If you don’t get those points, you become vulnerable to the Devil. Now it is highly probable that if one is not going to church they also are vulnerable to the devil’s attack, but such is not a direct cause and effect relationship.

Salvation from the devil comes by grace. It is only because of Jesus and His work on the cross that we have a hope of standing against the devil. Going to church and living obediently does not earn us anything. It can provide for greater assurance, and it witnesses to the genuineness of our salvation. If obedience is lacking we should have cause to doubt the legitimacy of our salvation. But in all of this we are to trust in Christ more.

Trusting and believing in Jesus is how we overcome the devil. It is true that he is seeking to devour us and is very real. The way to fight him, however, is not to grit our teeth and determine to go to church more often. Instead it is to find our hope and faith in Jesus and fly to Him for refuge.

Going to church should be something us believers LOVE to do. We should want to meet God and find more grace in the assembly of believers. We go to church because God wants us to (Heb. 10:25), and we want to obey and please Him.

Our hope should not be that we are religious people who go to church. It should not be that we have DONE anything, not good works, baptism, church membership, or even doing the “sinner’s prayer”. Our hope should be that Jesus DID it all for us, and he has caused us to love and trust Jesus alone for our only hope of salvation.

I am sure the people responsible for the sign have every good intention. I have nothing against them. I just think such a sign obscures the gospel message. If you are unsure of what the Biblical gospel is, or if you have been trusting in your own efforts to ward off Satan, please take time to follow the links near the top of my right sidebar, under the title “Good News”.

Thanks to all for the excellent interaction in the comments concerning the question “Why Go to Church?”

A Letter from the Church of Smyrna

~ fundyreformed ~ 1 Comment

I want to briefly encourage you all to read a letter from the modern-day Church of Smyrna. The letter speaks of recent persecution: a German missionary, a local Turkish  pastor and another Turkish Christian were martyred for Christ.  

Read the letter. Be challenged to pray for the persecuted church around the world. Be encouraged to see that God is presently at work redeeming a people for His name from every tongue and tribe. Be convicted of the importance of the gospel. And be shamed for your lack of dedication and committment to the cause of Christ.

May God turn our rightful shame into a determination to risk all for Jesus Christ and for the spreading of the Gospel to all peoples.

Hiatus

~ fundyreformed ~ 4 Comments

As you can see, friends, I’ve been on a brief hiatus from my blog. I don’t get paid much for doing this, so every once in a while, I give myself some time off.

I plan on finally posting my review of O. Palmer Robertson’s book The Christ of the Covenants next week. I won’t promise I will return to the KJV Only Debate series until mid-May, as we will be going on a week and a half-long trip starting next Sunday.

Sorry for the news, I know you all hang on my every word…. Not likely!! If you’re starved for reading material, however, feel free to follow what I’ve been reading in the blog-o-sphere by keeping close attention to the “My Blog Finds” section on the left near the top of my sidebar. You can also go to this link, to see more of the blog-posts I’ve enjoyed lately.

Blessings from the Cross of Jesus be on all of you.

Bob

Gone for the Weekend

~ fundyreformed ~ 3 Comments

Hi! Thanks for reading my blog, even when I am slow to post. I went fishing today, and will leave for a wedding this weekend. I won’t get back to posting in earnest until Tuesday, probably.

Until then, you might want to check out this site that I’ve been meaning to promote for some time now. IFBReformation.Org. Check out his Origins of Independent Fundamental Baptists. It is quite interesting. Spend some time on his site, and check back here Tuesday.

Blessings because of Jesus’ Cross,

Bob Hayton