"(add to your faith)…and to knowledge, self-control..." (2 Peter 1:6)

In 2 Peter 1:6 the Apostle Peter uses an important Greek word that had a long and important history in Greco-Roman society. It is the word egkrateia, which means "self-strength." Commentator Adam Clarke defines this word as the "proper and limited use of all earthly enjoyments, keeping every sense under proper restraints, and never permitting the animal part to subjugate the rational." The King James translation renders this word as "temperance." In the ancient world, temperance was understood to be that quality which allows one to refuse to overdo anything which may be a good thing in and of itself.

Unfortunately, in our culture the word temperance is associated with the Temperance Movement which strove to prohibit the sale of alcoholic beverages. The Temperance Movement culminated with the passing of the 18th Amendment in 1920... and that began the era of Prohibition. However, temperance has a much richer and longer history than this.

Since the time of the early church, temperance has been understood to be one of the four moral virtues. The four moral virtues also include fortitude, justice and prudence. Augustine defined virtue as "a good quality of the mind by which we live righteously, of which no one can make bad use." From this perspective, then, temperance is the virtue (quality of mind) that orders and directs man’s ability to act appropriately in relationship to his own desires. Furthermore, temperance is primarily concerned with controlling one's desire for the greatest pleasures. The greatest pleasures are those that are connected with the preservation of human life both individually and collectively. Consequently, these great pleasures can be found in the consumption of food and drink and human sexuality. The bottom line is that temperance is focused primarily on the proper use of the pleasures associated with food, drink and sex.

It is, though, important to remember that pleasure itself is not evil. It is the immoderate or unbiblical use of pleasure that is evil. This means that it is not wrong to desire pleasant things... as long as they are in accord with God's will. Since antiquity, Christians have believed that the simple rejection of pleasure for its own sake is unreasonable and immoderate. In other words, it can be just as much a sin to forsake the pleasantries of food and drink to the point of jeopardizing one's health as it is to overindulge.

To get a better understanding of self-control (temperance), it is sometimes helpful to look at its opposite. The opposite of temperance is intemperance. Anyone who has raised a child knows that it is very unwise to let a child parent himself. You can discover just how intemperate a child can be by taking him to a department store. There is virtually no end to what a child thinks he needs.

In fact, the more a child is left to himself, the more self-centered he will become. Likewise, when we don’t learn how to be self-controlled, we become less and less able to subject our desires to God’s will. We become like a spoiled child. The remedy for adult intemperance is the same remedy for human childishness. A child is corrected by being restrained. So too, by restraining our desire for inappropriate pleasures we learn how to moderate those desires and grow to maturity in Christ.

Amazingly, self-control (temperance) has the added benefit of bringing about moral and spiritual beauty in a person. Peter says this:

Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. 4 Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight. (1 Peter 3:3-4)

Something is beautiful when there is harmony and proper proportion. Temperance promotes moral harmony and proper proportion. Consequently, the spiritual beauty of an inner self that is under the Lordship of Christ spills out onto the body, particularly the human face. Conversely, there is something unattractive about a physically beautiful person who has a selfish and self-centered heart.

What do you think? You may leave a comment by clicking on the thought bubble below. See you on Sunday!


tags: Adam Clarke | Temperance Movement | 18t Admendment | Prohibition | Augustine
Image courtesy of Getty Images. Photographer: Karl Weatherly. Image #: 200366370-001

I was asked on Sunday by one of our staff members about Rob Bell and his influence on Christians. Because of the relevance of this topic, I’ve chosen to submit this as an addition to our weekly deeper teaching.

First, some background. Here's some biographical information about Rob Bell from Wikipedia:

Robert "Rob" Bell (born August 23, 1970) is an author, Christian speaker, and the founding pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church located in Grandville, Michigan. He has authored two books: SEX GOD: Exploring the Endless Connections between Sexuality and Spirituality (Zondervan, 2007) and Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith (Zondervan, 2005). Rob Bell is also a frequent speaker at youth ministry conferences.

In a 2004 Christianity Today article titled "Emergent Mystique," Bell said:

We're rediscovering Christianity as an Eastern religion, as a way of life... The Bible is still in the center for us, but it's a different kind of center. We want to embrace mystery, rather than conquer it.

Around the same time the time that Rob Bell made this comment I was engaged in an email debate with Leonard Sweet (one of the leading lights of the Emerging Church movement) that was published by Fresno Pacific University. I had challenged Dr. Sweet’s conception of Christianity as an "eastern religion" and the idea of "embracing mystery" in an irrational way. My point with Dr. Sweet was that the essential doctrinal truths of Christianity - while they may be beyond our full comprehension - remain fundamentally coherent and rational. They are not irrational and riddled with paradox as Dr. Sweet had suggested at a conference at FPU.

Therefore, the key issue comes back to the propagation and reception of truth. With this in mind, here are some things that trouble me about Rob Bell’s thinking:


PROBLEMATIC THEOLOGICAL IDEAS FROM ROB BELL:
Quote #1:

The philosopher Arthur Holmes is known for saying, "All truth is God's truth." It is such a great statement, because what other kind of truth could there be... So as a Christian, I am free to claim the good, the true, the holy, wherever and whenever I find it. I live with the understanding that truth is bigger than any religion and the world is God's and everything in it...

Pastor Jan's response:
Actually, it was St. Augustine that first propagated the concept that "all truth is from God." He did this in his powerful book On Christian Doctrine. Augustine’s main thesis was that since all truth is from God, Christians have the right to affirm and use all philosophical, scientific and sociological insights that have truth-value even if they are first discovered by non-Christians. This insight has given Christianity a huge advantage over Islam which struggles with the issue of what to do with insights engendered by so-called infidels.

Where Bell’s position goes off the tracks is when he says "truth is bigger than any religion." This, it seems to me, is part and parcel of the multicultural (and postmodernist) agenda which posits that no world religion or philosophic system has a corner on the truth. This, however, is essentially a straw-man argument.

Christians have never claimed that its doctrinal truths contain all the truth that can be known. What orthodox Christians believe is that its essential doctrinal truths are revealed by God and are supernatural in origin. Furthermore, Christians hold that these truths would have never been found if God had not revealed them. These truths include the Triune nature of God, the Incarnation of Christ, salvation as through Christ’s atoning death, the resurrection, the Second Coming and other important doctrinal truths. Therefore, none of these are found in any other religion or philosophic system. So, while all truth is from God and vast amounts of it can be found in nature and non-Christian sources; none of the essential truths that secure eternal life can be found in other religions.

Quote #2:

I don't follow Jesus because I think Christianity is the best religion. I follow Jesus because he leads me into ultimate reality. He teaches me to live in tune with how reality is. When Jesus said, "No one comes to the Father except through me," he was saying that his way, his words, his life is our connection to how things truly are at the deepest levels of existence. For Jesus then, the point of religion is to help us connect with ultimate reality, God. I love the way Paul puts it in the book of Colossians: These religious acts and rituals are shadows of the reality. "The reality... is found in Christ."

Pastor Jan's response:
Here, again, Bell is mixing and matching ideas in order to submit Christianity to a multiculturalist and postmodernist agenda. The multicultural idea that he is furthering is that "all religious roads lead to God." This, of course, is diametrically opposed to the orthodox Christian belief that without God’s supernatural intervention into human history to reveal His truth, man would be lost.

The key theological mistake that Bell is making is his denigration of the incarnation. Jesus doesn’t lead "me into ultimate reality." Jesus is the ultimate reality. Jesus is God. Notice that Bell subtly moves the reader off the bedrock of the deity of Christ with this statement:

When Jesus said, "No one comes to the Father except through me," he was saying that his way, his words, his life is our connection to how things true are at the deepest levels of existence.

In other words, in Bell’s view, Jesus connects us to "the deepest levels of existence" much like an electrical cord connects us to a power source. However, the biblical and Christian view is that Jesus is the power source - He and the Father are one. Once we move away from this incarnationist view of Jesus, then He merely becomes one of many possible "connections" that we can find in the world that lead us to "ultimate reality."

According to Rob Bell himself, he believes that of all the possible sources of connection, Jesus is the best one. Muslims, of course, believe something very similar to Bell. However, they prefer Muhammad as the best connection to the source.


ROB BELL'S VIEWS CONCERNING HOMOSEXUALITY:
In February, 2007 Bell spoke in Lexington, KY to a sold-out crowd. During the Q & A he made these points when asked about his view of homosexuality:

Rob Bell:

We have no right to speak about homosexuality unless we have homosexual friends and know of their struggles.

Pastor Jan's response:
First, this view This would immediately eliminate the Apostle Paul. Secondly, this is a self-denying position from the perspective that Bell makes a big point about how we, as Christians, need to be sensitive and listen to all different and contrary points of view.

In my opinion, this is the typical neo-liberal view of freedom of speech and conscience which fosters all kinds of aberrant viewpoints but disallows certain speech or views (usually conservative and traditional) as "insensitive" or even "hate speech." This is simply a way of silencing the opposition.

Rob Bell:

Jesus didn’t say anything about homosexuality.

Pastor Jan's response:
This is an argument from silence. However, Jesus had plenty to say about sex outside of the legitimate bounds of marriage. Jesus recognized only two God-honoring ways to use human sexuality: in marriage or as celibate for the sake "of the kingdom." This, obviously, does not leave room for homosexual acts to be legitimate. Jesus was also very clear that marriage is a God-ordained institution between a man and a woman (Matthew 19). A "gay marriage" is not a lawful marriage in God’s eyes and all sexual contact in such a relationship is evil.

Rob Bell:

Christians should not single out homosexuality because we have a bad record with marital fidelity.

Pastor Jan's response:
This is another straw-man argument coupled with a wrong-headed notion. Because I have been cited for speeding does not mean that I cannot say that burglary is wrong. Additionally, the Bible gives special attention to certain sexual sins as particularly abhorrent to God. Homosexuality is one of those. Thomas Aquinas termed it a "double" violation of God’s law. It violates both God’s divine statutes and the natural purpose of human sexuality.

Again, Bell is simply trying to silence the opposition and he fails to recognize the extreme stigma that the Bible and traditional Christianity place upon homosexuality as a threat to the God-ordained institution of the family.

Rob Bell:

The Bible says nothing about sexual orientation.

Pastor Jan's response:
This is another straw-man argument. The Bible has plenty to say about homosexual acts and the purity of our thought-lives. Whatever my orientation, I must bring it - by God’s grace - into conformity with God’s will.

I'd also love to get your comments and questions about this topic. You can leave a comment or question by clicking on the thought bubble below. See you on Sunday!

Blessings...






tags: Rob Bell | Mars Hill Church | SEX GOD | Velvet Elvis | Christianity Today | Leonard Sweet | Fresno Pacific University | FPU | Augustine | On Christian Doctrine | homosexuality | Thomas Aquinas
Image courtesy of Getty Images. Photographer: Chris Cheadle. Image #: 200383696-001

We have all felt pinned down by the challenges of life or the enemy. We seem to be under attack from every angle and unable to gather enough strength to face the battle. This is magnified by newspaper headlines that scream about a clash of warring camps in a culture war. It is easy to develop a bunker mentality. In the face of all of this, how do you keep your faith vibrant and growing? How can you have real success in this life without becoming a casualty? Pastor Jan will walk us through an in-depth encounter with 2 Peter 1:3-11 where we will hear God's voice through the disciple-fisherman, Peter.

In this thought-provoking message, Pastor Jan van Oosten shows us that everything you need for a happy, God-honoring, productive and eternally rewarding life is attained though a full knowledge of God and a life-long commitment to excellence.

To listen now, click on the podcast icon below.



If you have iTunes 7, click the link below to subscribe to our podcast. Within forty-eight hours after Pastor Jan delivers his weekend message at NewCov, it will be downloaded to your computer automatically. You can listen at your computer or take the MP3 with you on your iPod or other MP3 player.





If you don't have iTunes, you can get it here free for Mac or Windows. You can also subscribe to the podcast using other podcasting tools and RSS newsreaders. The feed address is: http://feeds.feedburner.com/newcovpodcast

You may leave a comment by clicking on the thought bubble below. Thanks for listening!
War of the Worlds image © 2007, New Covenant Community Church. Artist: Pat Callahan (based on an iStockPhoto image. Artist: cyrop. Image #1802666)

NOTE: This is the Enhanced Edition of the NewCov Podcast. The enhanced edition includes images and links from the message. This version can only be viewed with Apple's Quicktime viewer or through iTunes. Both can be downloaded from Apple (Quicktime | iTunes). For the Standard Version of this podcast, go here.

To listen now, you will need to either download the Enhanced Version to your computer, or subscribe via iTunes... it will not play through your browser.

To download the file, right-click (PC) or option-click (Mac) the "Podcast" icon below and choose "Save". To subscribe via iTunes, click the "Subscribe with iTunes" button below.



If you have iTunes 7, click the link below to subscribe to our podcast. Within forty-eight hours after Pastor Jan delivers his weekend message at NewCov, it will be downloaded to your computer automatically. You can listen at your computer or take the MP3 with you on your iPod or other MP3 player.





If you don't have iTunes, you can get it here free for Mac or Windows. You can also subscribe to the podcast using other podcasting tools and RSS newsreaders. The feed address is: http://feeds.feedburner.com/newcovpodcast

You may leave a comment by clicking on the thought bubble below. Thanks for listening!
War of the Worlds image © 2007, New Covenant Community Church. Artist: Pat Callahan (based on an iStockPhoto image. Artist: cyrop. Image #1802666)

…make every effort to add to your faith… and to knowledge, self-control… 2 Peter 1:5

In 2 Peter 1, the Apostle admonishes us that if we are going to be "grown-up" Christians that are mature and fruitful, then we are going to have to make it a life-long project to add seven qualities to our walk with the Lord. In this verse he couples two of them together which are knowledge and self-control.

Why? Well, first of all we need to understand what he means by "knowledge." Peter is not referring to esoteric religious information or cheap Christian "God-talk" that we have gleaned from years of Bible studies. The knowledge he is writing about is the practical application of God’s will in your world. The old fashioned word for this is prudence. By prudence we do the right things in the daily circumstances of life. This, of course, is where the "rubber meets the road." It is easy to spout Christian clichés but it is much more difficult to do the right thing when the pressure is on. That is why we need self-control.

In the original language of the NT (Greek) the word translated as self-control literally means "self-strength." It is the virtue that makes it possible for us to restrain our passions and desires so that we can do God’s will rather than flying off the handle or impulsively giving into a temptation. Without self-control we cannot consistently do the right things in the right way for God’s glory.

It is important to realize, though, that self-control is not gained by just suppressing, but by controlling what the Bible calls "the lusts of the flesh." The Apostle Paul tells us that the best way to do this is by being "led by the Spirit" (Galatians 5:18). Paul says that those who "live in the Spirit" and "also walk in the Spirit" (Gal. 5:24-25) attain self-control and are on their way to fruitful growth in God's character.

The bottom line is this: the more I give myself over to God and allow His Spirit to work in me, the more I gain self-mastery over my life. The opposite is also true. The more I try to run my own life the way "I" want to, the less control I have over my life.

PRAYER
Lord, I really want to do your will in my life today. Yet, often it is very hard because I sometimes impulsively do things that I know are wrong. Help me gain self-control in the areas where I am weak. Today, please fill my heart and life with your Spirit. Allow me to be led by your Spirit even when the going gets tough. May I be your servant of mercy and love in my world today.

ONE MORE THING...
Please join us this Sunday, October 28, 2007 at 9:00 am 10:30 am as I continue our series, "War of the Worlds". We will be taking an in depth look at 2 Peter 1:3-11 with this week's focus being on the "winning the war of ACTION."

Blessings...





P.S. I'd also love to get your comments and questions. You can leave a comment or question by clicking on the thought bubble below. See you on Sunday!


tags: knowledge | self-control | devotion
Image courtesy of Getty Images. Photographer: Tamara Reynolds. Image #: 993275-001

In my sermon for War of the Worlds: winning the war of TRUTH I believe the big idea came out of St. Peter’s central concept in 2 Peter 1:3 when he states that all things that we need for "life and godliness" are found in our "knowledge of him" (God). This concept - that there is a full knowledge of God - implies that there is an ultimate truth, which, of course, is God Himself. This is not only a profound concept, it is also one of the most hotly debated notions on the international scene.

I would like to set aside the issue of relativism and focus on the international (i.e. Islam vs. Christianity) aspect of Peter’s big idea. The idea that there is an ultimate truth, certainly, puts a spear in the heart of relativism; however, despite the importance of the debate over relativism, I would like to reflect on another aspect the Christian understanding of truth.

In my sermon, I mentioned Pope Benedict XVI’s philosophical speech given September 15, 2006 at the University of Regensburg in Germany. As you may know, there was an immediate worldwide Muslim reaction to the Pope’s speech which included riots and church burnings. However, for most Americans - including committed Christians - the reasons for the negative Islamic reaction seemed vague at best. For most, it seemed that Muslims were showing themselves to be hypersensitive to any perceived criticism. In reality, the reaction was over a specific understanding of faith and human reason as they relate to truth. Wikipedia, the Internet encyclopedia, gets to the heart of the controversy with the following statement:

His larger point here was that, generally speaking, in Christianity, God is understood to act in accordance with reason, while in Islam, God's absolute transcendence means that "God is not bound even by his own word", and can act in ways contrary to reason, including self-contradiction. At the end of his lecture, the Pope said, "It is to the great logos, to this breadth of reason, that we invite our partners in the dialogue of cultures."

What Pope Benedict was referring to is the Muslim belief that God is so absolutely transcendent that He is not bound by anything including His own word or law. This, unfortunately, means that God could be capricious. One day He could declare that people should love their neighbors and the next day that the same people should kill infidels. Additionally, as noted by the Pope, if God is absolutely transcendent, then there is absolutely no way that humans can discover anything about Him from nature or life.

The Christian view of these matters is very different. First, Christians hold that God is not capricious for this reason: because the morality, uniformity and order of His law and even creation are reflections of His divine nature. In other words, in Christian teaching, truth is a person: God. Because God is in Himself, true, good, righteous and just. Therefore, His law reflects these things. Consequently, a person can discover some things about God from both nature and revelation.

Paul puts it this way:

...since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. Romans 1: 19-20

If, as Muslims believe, God is absolutely transcendent, then Romans 1:19-20 could not be true. Ultimately, there would be nothing in creation that would give us any clue as to what God is like. Additionally, none of God’s revelation in His word would be a reliable indicator about His person. All we could know for sure is that God has stated certain things to us which we are to obey but, in fact, He might declare these things null and void tomorrow.

It was Pope Benedict’s view that for Muslims and Christians to have a productive dialogue, Muslims must examine their flawed view of God. Otherwise, Muslims will be trapped in an unreasonable and, potentially, dangerous understanding of God which will inhibit relations between the world’s two largest religions. Muslims responded by rioting and burning churches to the ground. Jesus said, "But wisdom is proved right [or wrong] by her actions" (Matthew 11:19b).

GOING EVEN DEEPER...
You might be thinking, "Isn’t God transcendent?" Yes, He is. However, note that Pope Benedict was referring to the Muslim belief that God is absolutely transcendent. They believe that God is so transcendent that there is nothing in creation that in any way reflects the true nature of God. Clearly, Christians do not believe this.

"OK," you ask, "how do we properly understand things about God if He is transcendent and above creation but not absolutely transcendent?" There are three theological words that help us understand God’s transcendence.

First, God is neither univocal nor equivocal to the creation. These are two important words. Univocal—in regard to God—means that He would be absolutely separate and having no correlation with His creation. This is the error that Muslims believe. Unfortunately, some Christians have pushed their view of God’s sovereignty and transcendence so far that they have fallen prey to this error. On the other hand, the word equivocal in regard to God would mean that God and His creation would virtually be inseparable. The word equivocal has a definition of "being of uncertain nature." So, if God was equivocal with His creation then He and what He has created would be essentially the same. This view is a form of pantheism (a doctrine that equates God with the forces and laws of the universe) or monism (the view that reality is one unitary organic whole with no independent parts). Neither of these views is correct.

The correct way to understand God’s relationship to His creation is found in the word analogous. To understand God analogically is to recognize that man cannot fathom the ultimate vastness, power and glory of an infinite being. However, God has revealed Himself through nature and His word in the sense that they reflect His divine being. Therefore, as it relates to God, an analogical understanding of Him means that there is a certain similarity in created things with God’s nature that is also mixed with differences. For instance, we say that there is an analogy between the light of the sun and the light of God and His truth. Yet, at the same time we know that God is not a created thing like the sun or light waves. What we mean is that as the sun brings light to our physical eyes so that we can see, the light of God enlightens our minds with truth.

The analogous understanding of God makes it possible for us to protect the transcendence of God without disconnecting Him from that which He has created. This, then, allows us to use human reason - building upon divine revelation - to broaden and deepen our understanding of God.

This we call theology.

What do you think? You may leave a comment by clicking on the thought bubble below. See you on Sunday!


tags: theology | Christianity | Islam | Pope Benedict XVI | univocal | equivocal
Image courtesy of Getty Images. Photographer: Karl Weatherly. Image #: 200366370-001

We have all felt pinned down by the challenges of life or the enemy. We seem to be under attack from every angle and unable to gather enough strength to face the battle. This is magnified by newspaper headlines that scream about a clash of warring camps in a culture war. It is easy to develop a bunker mentality. In the face of all of this, how do you keep your faith vibrant and growing? How can you have real success in this life without becoming a casualty? Pastor Jan will walk us through an in-depth encounter with 2 Peter 1:3-11 where we will hear God's voice through the disciple-fisherman, Peter.

In this thought-provoking message, Pastor Jan van Oosten shows us that everything you need for a happy, God-honoring, productive and eternally rewarding life is attained though a full knowledge of God and a life-long commitment to excellence.

To listen now, click on the podcast icon below.



If you have iTunes 7, click the link below to subscribe to our podcast. Within forty-eight hours after Pastor Jan delivers his weekend message at NewCov, it will be downloaded to your computer automatically. You can listen at your computer or take the MP3 with you on your iPod or other MP3 player.





If you don't have iTunes, you can get it here free for Mac or Windows. You can also subscribe to the podcast using other podcasting tools and RSS newsreaders. The feed address is: http://feeds.feedburner.com/newcovpodcast

You may leave a comment by clicking on the thought bubble below. Thanks for listening!
War of the Worlds image © 2007, New Covenant Community Church. Artist: Pat Callahan (based on an iStockPhoto image. Artist: cyrop. Image #1802666)

NOTE: This is the Enhanced Edition of the NewCov Podcast. The enhanced edition includes images and links from the message. This version can only be viewed with Apple's Quicktime viewer or through iTunes. Both can be downloaded from Apple (Quicktime | iTunes). For the Standard Version of this podcast, go here.

To listen now, you will need to either download the Enhanced Version to your computer, or subscribe via iTunes... it will not play through your browser.

To download the file, right-click (PC) or option-click (Mac) the "Podcast" icon below and choose "Save". To subscribe via iTunes, click the "Subscribe with iTunes" button below.



If you have iTunes 7, click the link below to subscribe to our podcast. Within forty-eight hours after Pastor Jan delivers his weekend message at NewCov, it will be downloaded to your computer automatically. You can listen at your computer or take the MP3 with you on your iPod or other MP3 player.





If you don't have iTunes, you can get it here free for Mac or Windows. You can also subscribe to the podcast using other podcasting tools and RSS newsreaders. The feed address is: http://feeds.feedburner.com/newcovpodcast

You may leave a comment by clicking on the thought bubble below. Thanks for listening!
War of the Worlds image © 2007, New Covenant Community Church. Artist: Pat Callahan (based on an iStockPhoto image. Artist: cyrop. Image #1802666)