Mark Scholten

Ethics are Absolute

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“That may be true for you, but it is not my truth.” “There are absolutely no absolutes.” How can otherwise intelligent people say such contradictory things?  Where did this perversion of thinking originate?  Today, mankind knows more facts than ever before, but he cannot, apparently, tell right from wrong. We have access to vast knowledge on the internet and yet have no settled standard for ethics.  Mankind has conquered the natural world, untangling its secrets, and utilizes that knowledge to improve physical life for so many, and yet we corrode spiritual life by denying any meaning, purpose, or fulfillment in life.  Science has taught us many things but science cannot lead us into all truth. Science cannot tell right from wrong.  The white lab coat crowd can teach us what is, but not what ought to be. Science is ethically ignorant.

Once upon a time, there was a general consensus in the Western World.  Christianity provided a whole, integrated view of life. Man is body and soul; a physical and spiritual being made in the image of God. We believed, in sum, that God was the creator; that he provided an owner’s manual to human life, and His law provided our ethics. His order gave us meaning, purpose, and direction; that man was made in his image to rule over the created order and to unpack its secrets. Early scientists worked within this framework and were pursuing the wisdom of their creator in all their scientific pursuits.  This is known to Christians as the Creation Mandate. (Genesis 1:26-28) Commitment to these basic biblical principles fueled the Scientific and Industrial Revolutions and which has ushered in the Modern world. While early scientist sought after their creator the modern scientists assume an order, structure and purpose that they cannot explain.  They borrow from a Christian Worldview, without attribution, in order to do science at all. The daughter has despised her mother.  The Western World has rejected the Christian foundation that has given her all of her victories and successes.

Secular culture has become so enamored with reason and science that they expected unaided human wisdom to teach us everything, even create a rational foundation for ethics and religion.  Modern man is so committed to human reason they even assume that if an idea does not have a scientific basis, or if it could not be defended by reason alone, then it wasn’t true.  We had moved from a world at liberty within the bounds of revelation to a much narrower world caged within the bounds of reason.  But reason and science cannot explain human life nor even construct a comprehensive, satisfying worldview. Our contemporaries don’t know who they are (male? female?), why they were created, or what is the right thing to do? They have no meaning or purpose.  ““Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.”” (Ecclesiastes 1:2) Unaided human reason cannot offer us what is right and what is wrong; but only what is – what is testable, repeatable within the lab.  Ethics, however, requires a transcendent foundation that reason and science cannot provide.

The Romantic reaction to the Enlightenment caused a disconnect in our thinking.  Meaning, value, religion, and ethics were real and necessary to the human condition, but they were not true; they were not scientific. They were not based on reason. Ethics were considered subjective, optional, alterable and for many, unnecessary.  Anyone could choose what they wanted to believe in these areas because they were not really true.  We divided our minds into two halves; we separated sacred and secular, value and fact, public and private life. Many philosophers and artists accepted and even promoted the compromise in exchange for the continuing existence of religion, ethics, beauty, and love.  They just had to concede that religion, meaning, purpose, were not really true.  Beauty, virtue, faith were comforting crutches for weak-willed men who could not face the truth that only science could provide.  Christianity, although she fueled the victories of the modern world, has become the barely tolerated, woefully misguided, mentally challenged, younger brother and the black sheep of the family.

Too many Christians have accepted this divided thinking. (Science is true fact, faith is believing what you think isn’t real).  Science is based on truth and is applicable to all, but the Christian faith is based on subjective feelings and is only helpful to some. Yet, Christian truth and its Biblical foundation is true Truth. It is a fact, like taxes!  Right will always be right and wrong, wrong, even if many deny it.  Ethics do not change because God never changes. What is true, is true for everyone.  There are absolutely, absolutes.  Therefore let us defend the true truth of Christianity and our creator God as the source of all truth and not be content with the Enlightenment-Romantic compromise.

 

Snatching Victory from the Jaws of Defeat

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If ever death appeared to be triumphant, it was when Jesus of Nazareth, disowned by His nation, abandoned by His disciples, executed by the might of imperial Rome, breathed His last on the cross. Why, some had actually recognized in His cry of pain and desolation the complaint that even God had forsaken Him. His faithful followers had confidently expected that He was the destined liberator of Israel; but He had died – not, like Judas of Galilee or Judas Maccabaeus, in the forefront of the struggle against the Gentile oppressors of Israel, but in evident weakness and disgrace – and their hopes died with Him. If ever a cause was lost, it was His; if ever the power of evil were victorious, it was then. 

And yet – within a generation His followers were exultingly proclaiming the crucified Jesus to be the conquerer of death and  asserting … that by dying He had reduced the erstwhile lord of death to impotence. The keys of death and Hades were henceforth held firmly in Jesus’ powerful hand, for He, in the language of His own parable, had invaded the strongman’s fortress, disarmed him, bound him fast and robbed him of his spoil  This is the unanimous witness of the New Testament writers; this was the assurance which nerved martyrs to face death boldly in His name. This sudden change from disillusionment to triumph can only be explained by the account which the apostles gave – that the Master rose from the dead and imparted to them the power of His risen life.  FF Bruce. NICOT, Hebrews, p. 49.

Session Summary March 2021

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Session Summary

March 2021

Ed Payne walked us through the Kingdom of God in 5 minutes ending with 2 Corinthians 15:23-26 for our opening devotion. April 13 at 5:30PM is our next session meeting.  We approved Ted Kuhn and Bryan McReynolds to stand for a three year term at elders.  A Congregational meeting has been called for March 28 after the morning service to received the Budget and to vote on these two men as elders. Roy Smith and Gary Mullen were thanked for their service as they are rotating out of active office. We approved a Budget that is $28,000 less than year, but still about $16,000 more than we will collect this year.  Year to Date our expenses are $8,000 more than our receipts. We have many reasons to thank God for faithful giving during the year of Covid. 

We will continue to offer a livestream service in the old Sunday School room with extra Covid precautions.  We will revisit this each session meeting.  Communion will return to twice a month beginning in May.  We will celebrate communion on March 21, April 18, May 9 and 23.  A new Shepherd Watch-care list is available and will be published soon. We are looking into the possibility of hosting two Walk Thru the Bible seminars; one this year and one next year. An “Awakened, not Woke,” conference is also being explored.  Lakemont PCA, in the absence of have their own facilities, will be having their VBS at our facility from June 21-24.  Columbia County as also requested the use of our facility for Election Day.  Our deacons will look into this possibility. Special events around Easter are also being prepared.

Perpetual Springtime!

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“We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing” (2 Thessalonians 1:3).

Springtime is so inspiring.  New life is breaking the soil and everything grows so fast. The vibrancy of young life with its fresh bright colors assault us on every side and it is glorious.  Plants thrive with the Sun’s energy.  They soak up water, drink in nutrients and soon will bear fresh fruit.

The healthy Christian lives in perpetual springtime.  The ‘Son’ rises upon them daily. They are planted by the river of God’s delights and regularly drink in the vital, life-giving power of the Word of God.

A healthy plant is known by the sweet fruit that it produces.  What does the healthy Christian produce?  Paul, in 2 Thessalonians 1:3, mentions two evident fruits of the mature Christian life – growing faith and increasing love.  Faith is how we relate to God and love is how we relate to others. 

Faith is taking God’s Word as both true and wise and then acting on it in fruit-bearing hope. God speaks, we listen and heed his words.  The maturing Christian grows in his ability to apply the life-giving Word of God to every moment, every relationship, every issue of his life. And that growth is evident. Paul can see it and praise it.

But, how is it evident? Increasing love for one another reveals it. Knowing God and applying His Word makes us great lovers of all mankind.  At least it should.  Here, Paul talks about the increasing love that Christians have for one another. Because we know God, we also know ourselves. The fall, and sin’s deception, are not merely abstract theological concepts, but a daily experienced reality. A sad reality that God is healing in us through grace. Because of this healing we can be brutally honest with ourselves, warts and all, and patiently gracious towards our fellow strugglers. If we learn God’s love through the gospel, it is easy (easier?) to patiently love others.

Just as the Hospital is the place where Doctors practice medicine, the church fellowship is where we practice love. This mutual love is the low-hanging fruit in the congregation that all produce and we all enjoy.  God’s grace working in us nurtures the faith and love that produce hope of new life. Springtime is so encouraging.

The Good Shepherd cares for the Sheep – Communion Meditation

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Psalm 23:1, 6 “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.” “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”

To have the Lord as your shepherd means that you are one of his sheep. Who are the sheep? What defines them? (John 10:27-28).  My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 

We learn three things about God’s sheep from this verse.

  1. The great shepherd knows the sheep, 
  2. they recognize his voice 
  3. and they follow him.

If you are not known by God, if you do not follow at the sound of his voice, you are not one of his sheep. Earlier Jesus said, “I told you and you do not believe… but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep.” (John 10:25-26) “Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.” Matthew 7:21

If you do not believe in, nor obey Jesus as the great shepherd, do not come to this table.  This is food, real spiritual food and nourishment, for the sheep – for believers.

What does the great shepherd do for his sheep?  At least, this. From John 10:28 “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”

The sheep will be his forever. Permanent guardianship. “Goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”

Goodness and mercy are the two sheepdogs of the great shepherd.  God’s goodness and mercy surround the sheep, guides them, and protects the sheep all through this life until we arrive at home.

That is the confidence that the sheep can have, should have.  My shepherd knows me, provides for me and protects me.  None shall take us out of his hand.

Goodness and mercy led Christ to the Cross, and goodness and mercy led you to this table.  

So we come in faith: for assurance, for confidence, for rest in the great shepherd.

Come to the green pastures, rest beside the quiet waters – your great shepherd leads you and cares for you.

Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”

“I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.”

Session Summary Feb 2021

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Roy Smith shared some devotional thoughts from John 11:45-47. Gary Mullen was absent with notice as he was following a Covid protocol isolation.  Scott Duffin reported on a refinancing offer from Queensborough Bank.  The Administration Team will vet the offer and make a recommendation to the session.  Ben and Hannah Field were joyfully received into membership.  They are transferring from Faith Presbyterian in Long Beach, CA.  We received a report from the Web Site Team and their desire to launch a new website in March.  Also, we approved a proposal to update our wireless equipment so as to provide reliable internet throughout both buildings. The McKnight shoe donation for adoption expenses has been started with reception bins in the foyer and the fellowship hall. A class for the children of the church who may be ready to make a profession of faith will begin in March. Several ideas for evangelism and discipleship were shared included a bus ministry to Fort Gordon, passion week events, Home groups and Men’s breakfast restarting, a possible podcast, Sunday Evening schedule (Home Groups, worship service, prayer meeting?), and a possible outreach to the Veritas Academy and Classical Conversations. A Jews for Jesus Christ in the Passover event will be hosted by Westminster on March 25 at 7:30pm.  Your shepherds are updating our Elder Watch Care lists. The prayer ministry of the church was a source of great encouragement to the elders as well as the peace and unity that has prevailed in our congregation through the unique and pressing challenges that Covid-19 has presented.  Many of those isolating in our congregation and beyond may soon receive a thoughtful gift – the brainchild of Karrie Harmer.  God is good and He is doing good.  Our labor in the Lord is not in vain. May he be glorified in both in our ministry and life together as the body of Christ. 

Broken Things and God’s Lessons

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“What we are all going through right here, right now is a massive, progressive process of values clarification and heart protection. God is daily employing the brokenness of this present world to clarify your values. Why do you need this? You need it because you struggle in this life to remember what is truly important, that is, what God says is important. You and I place much more importance on things than they truly possess, and when we do so, these things begin to claim our heart allegiance. So God ordains for us to experience that physical things get old and break. The people in our lives fail us. Relationships sour and become painful. Our physical bodies weaken. Flowers die and food spoils. All of this is meant to teach us that these things are beautiful and enjoyable, but they cannot give us what we all long for – life.

In this world that is groaning, God is protecting our hearts. He is protecting us from us. Our hearts can be so fickle. We can worship God one day, only to turn and give the worship of our hearts to something else the next. So, in love, God lets pieces of the creation die in our hands so that increasingly we are freed from asking earth to give us what only he can give. He works through loss to protect us from giving our allegiance to things that will never, ever deliver what our hearts seek. This is all designed to deepen our love and worship of him. It is all crafted to propel the joy that we have in him And in so doing, he is preparing us for that moment when we will be freed from this present travail and give all of our being to the worship of him forever and ever.

Your Lord knows that even as his child your heart is still prone to wander, so in tender, patient grace he keeps you in a world that teaches you that he alone is worthy of the deepest, most worshipful allegiance of your heart.”

Paul Tripp

Delivered from the Paralyzing Fear of Death

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Hebrews 2:14-15  Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

Jesus was made like his brothers in all things, except sin. Messiah, our elder brother, fully identifies with His children so that He might conquer the devil, overcome our fear of death and restore us to true life. He has succeeded. The obedience and suffering of Christ is our salvation.

The accuser is silenced, “Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies” (Romans 8:33), death is befriended, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21), and life is freely given, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).

What is this “lifelong slavery” that the fear of death subjects us to? Satan forms our sin into a stick to mercilessly flay our consciences. We are guilty and we know it. Our life is forfeit due to our transgressions. Satan, our accuser, has a legitimate case and we know it. That cripples our walk through life. We live in the fear of a death that we so richly deserve.

Jesus has taken the stick out of the devil’s hands. Our sin is paid for. The accusations are answered in full. Life can now be lived without the ball and chain of guilt and shame.

Death is now a friend. How is that again? We are now delivered from the guilt and shame of sin but not from sin itself. Sin, our disobedience to the law of God, is a life sapper. Sin brings death; always. While we are still subject to sin and temptation, fullness of life is just out of reach. Death changes that. Death is a promotion. When we die, sin dies and we are beyond the reach of temptation. Death ushers us into life; real life; eternal life.

Actually, Jesus ushers us into life and he does so the moment we first believe. As his children we are no longer walking zombies living in the fear of death. We have life now. Life will become fuller, richer, in glory; but we walk in newness of life today. “We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4).

Yet, even Christians continue to be afraid of what comes next. Contributing to our fear of death is the unknown. Will I still be me? Does our conscious self continue after death? Yes. “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). Will we recognize and relate to other saints? Yes. “For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at His coming? Is it not you? For you are our glory and joy” (1 Thessalonians 2:19-20). “And He (Jesus) was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with Him (Matthew 17:2-4). What will we be doing there? Working, resting, hearing, praising, reigning in the presence of Christ – seeing him as he is.

What will we be waiting for? The completion of salvation, the full restoration of life. We shall be body and soul on the new heavens and the new earth in the presence of God and the absence of sin forever.

Death need not be feared while we walk in newness of life. Death is conquered, life is freely given. We have passed from darkness into light, from death into life. “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins (Colossians 1:13-14). “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life” (John 5:24).

So, we have “Death in Adam, life in Christ” (Romans 5:12). “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in Him” (Colossians 2:14-15).

I have quoted the Scriptures profusely. Nearly half of this article is the Word of God. Why? First, because I am a divine plagiarist. I have no new wisdom or experience that did not come to me by the Word of God. Second, only God can answer the questions of sin and death. And he does answer them. Let us rest in them and rejoice. And live, now, the life of the world to come.

Death is Defeated!

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It calls for an exceptional effort of mind on our part to appreciate how paradoxical was the attitude of those early Christians to the death of Christ. If ever death had appeared to be triumphant, it was when Jesus of Nazareth, disowned by His nation, abandoned by His disciples, executed by the might of imperial Rome, breathed His last on the cross. Why, some had actually recognized in His cry of pain and desolation the complaint that even God had forsaken Him. His faithful followers had confidently expected that He was the destined liberator of Israel; but He had died – not, like Judas of Galille or Judas Maccabaeus, in the forefront of the struggle agains the Genitle oppressors of Israel, but in evident weakness and disgrace – and their hopes died with Him. If ever a case was lost, it was His; if ever the power of evil were victorious, it was then.

And yet – within a generation His followers were exultingly proclaiming the crucified Jesus to be the conqueror of death and asserting … that by dying He had reduced the erstwhile lord of death to impotence. The keys of death and Hades were henceforth held firmly Jesus’ powerful hand, for He, in the language of His own parable, had invaded the song man’s fortress, disarmed him, bound him fast and robbed him of his spoil (Luke 11:21f). This is the unanimous witness of the New Testament writers; this was the assurance which nerved martyrs to face death boldly in His name. This sudden change from disillusionment to triumph can only be explained by the account which the apostles gave – that their Master rose from the dead and imparted to them the power of His risen life.

FF Bruce, The Epistle to the Hebrews, NICOT, p. 49.

The Gentle Shepherd

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“Those who live by God’s forgiveness must imitate it; one whose only hope is that God will not hold his faults against him forfeits his right to hold others’ faults against them.” – J.I. Packer

I need God’s grace.  I am still weak, misguided, headstrong and unbelieving.  I need His wisdom, patience, and mercy applied to me daily.  I have always conceived of the pastoral ministry as one hungry beggar showing other hungry beggars where to find bread.  I depend on the free grace that I preach to you. Thomas Manton wrote, “there is none so tender to others as they which have received mercy themselves; that know how gently God hath dealt with them.” Grace must be needed, received, and enjoyed, before it can be effectively proclaimed.

I think this is one reason why men are called to preach and not angels.  The faithful angels do not need the same grace that I do.  One of the qualifications for preaching Christ is being humbled and exalted by that sweet grace of the gospel. We must taste that sustaining and transforming grace before we can joyfully and powerfully proclaim it to others. I can at times grow weary at the weakness and ignorance of God’s sheep.  Until I remember my own.  Depression grows when I see the hard-heartedness of God’s children; until I remember my own.  You get the picture.  We all need the same thing; the humility to receive and remain dependent on the sure grace of God.

We must shepherd others as Christ has shepherded us. Paul speaks of his pastoral ministry in this way, “but we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children” (1 Thessalonians 2:7).  Early on in my ministry I summarized this conviction in a way that I would remember. “Be as patient, gracious, and gentle with others as Christ was with you.” That thought has served me well as I walk among the weak, the wounded, and the weary. I am the hungry beggar that has found the bread!  Join me and let us celebrate the grace of God together!  Pray that we would be a gentle, gracious presence in the midst of God’s flock at Westminster.