Mark Scholten

Moralistic Therapeutic Deism

by

Christian social philosophers …  surveyed about three thousand teenagers asking what they believed about God. What they found is that teenagers were basically believing that there is a God and all he wants for us is to be happy and nice. You don’t need God unless anything infringes on one of those two goals. As long as you’re pursuing happiness and niceness, you’re going to go to heaven. Other than that, you don’t really need the Lord.

That philosophy of moralistic therapeutic deism evolved into this sort of believe-in-yourself-ism. The message became: You’re all you need. You don’t need the Lord for anything else as long as he’s helping you to be happy and nice. Everyone can conjure up some happiness and some niceness, so we sort of shelve God and decide we don’t really need him. We just need to believe in ourselves, to invent who we are and what we want to do, and we need to just go for it.

They are looking to God as a “pie in the sky,” thinking he exists just to make us healthy and wealthy. We may think, Because I’m a Christian, things are going to go well for me. I shouldn’t expect too much hardship or to endure too much suffering because God wants me to be happy, to believe in myself, to be nice, and to be good.

A False Gospel

This kind of gospel is not the gospel at all. This is actually a false gospel and it has really infiltrated our churches. It tells
you to believe in yourself rather than to turn your gaze upon our almighty God.

We’re looking inward, constantly self-reflecting about our gifts, skills, and abilities and thinking, What can I do? What can I make? What impact can I have? Instead, we should be asking, Who is God? Who is our good, true, and beautiful God? What is his character like?We are constantly looking at our own behavior in a legalistic way thinking, I’m going to act one way and do this so that I can produce that, rather than beholding the Lord our God.

The almighty God of the universe created you and me, and he made us for a purpose. When we neglect that just to be happy, nice Christians, we ignore the greatest truth of all time—the most beautiful, the biggest, and most profound truth that’s available to you and me as (the people) of God.

Jen Oshman

Communion Meditation: Is happiness a goal, or a by-product?

by

December 26, 2021

Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, (1 Peter 1:8).

Knowing God is not a means to a higher-end; He is the end, the goal, the true satisfaction.  But. We all have a notion of the good life.

If only I had: 

a better job

a better marriage

better kids

More money

Bigger house

More friends

Then I would be happy. If God gives these things, great.

That is the goal, isn’t it; my personal happiness.  All the people that I know, those that love me, they all want me to be happy. So whatever makes me happy, is good.

The role and function of God are to give me what I think will make me happy.  If he does, I will walk with him.  If he doesn’t, what good is he?  If God doesn’t give me happiness, then He is hindering me, keeping me from the good life, and from human flourishing.

This is a major reason why so many do not follow God. God doesn’t give them what they want.  God is a lousy friend – he doesn’t make me happy.

But, God is not a means to a higher, more fulfilling end – he is the most fulfilling end.  To know God is to know life; true joy, and yes, happiness – rightly understood. There is nothing higher, or better than God!

God’s goal for us is not temporary happiness, but eternal bliss.  God’s plan is not to make us happy, but holy. And being holy, we will know joy, and yes, happiness.

That is why He invites us to know him, trust him, follow him. He knows what we need, and he offers what is best.  

There is no greater joy than walking with God, by His wisdom, and through His Son, through that veil of tears.  He is the guide through this waste howling wilderness of a fallen, sinful world. His paths lead to ultimate joy and peace.

He offers joy unspeakable and full of Glory. He offers grace and peace. He offers light and life.

It is all found in Christ; in knowing him and following him.

If you are a member of a bible-believing, evangelical church

If you see Christ as the end, the goal, the guide to true human life, and ultimate fulfillment – then come to this table.

If you are seeking to use Jesus as a means to another, higher-end – you don’t know Christ, and you don’t belong at this table.

Dear Child of God, come, in faith, to commune with Christ, to receive his grace, and to rest in his presence and provision.

Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, (1 Peter 1:8).

How We Display the Grace of God (Using our Spiritual Gifts)

by

How We Display the Grace of God

1 Peter 4:10

1 Peter 4:10, “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace:”

Every Christian has been gifted by God. This is spectacular news! We received spiritual gifts from God through the Spirit. We are redeemed from sin and renewed in the image of God in true knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. We are saved to serve. We are equipped by God to serve one another in love.

When we receive the Spirit, we receive gifts. Our gifts are not an attachment to us; they are us. We are our gifts. Our gift is us. Or, better, the Spirit in us; united to us. When we exercise our spiritual gifts we are being ourselves for the glory of God.

We, through the exercise of our spiritual gifts, are the conduit through which the Spirit of God is redeeming and sanctifying the world. Together we are stewards of the grace of God.

But our gifts are received not merited. They are donated to us by God. You do not campaign for certain gifts or talents. They are given. They are part of how you are uniquely made in the image of God. Your gift is your divine fingerprint. You should not weep because you don’t have a different gift. Rather, you should rejoice in the gift that you have been given – recognize and develop your gift.

If you have the Spirit, you have a gift or a talent.  “As each has received a gift…” (1 Peter 4:10). “Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us…” (Romans 12:6). We are our gift!

As you walk in the Spirit, your gifts will become evident and you will increase your capacity to use them. Growing in grace, is in some sense, growing in usefulness. You are uniquely gifted by God, and you have a unique service to fulfill for his glory.

That is good news! We can respond to the grace of God, we can make a return to Him in loving others with our spiritual gifts. We are like a water balloon. We receive the boundless grace of God and we become bloated, burgeoning with blessing. Using our spiritual gifts is like throwing a tightly stretched water balloon at your brothers and sisters in Christ.  We shower them with the blessings we have received! The blessing that comes to us through Spiritual gifts is passed on to others by our exercising those gifts.

Our gifts must be known and then joyfully employed. “As each has received a gift, use it…” (1 Peter 4:10). To know ourselves is to know our gifts. How do I discern my spiritual gift? Here are four methods to find your spiritual gift.

    1. Self-assessment –What am I like?  What do I like? 
    2. Past Experience – What ministries have you done well?
    3. The counsel of others – What do others see in you?  How are they encouraging you to serve?
    4. Try something – You really do not know until you try.

Our gifts are given so that we can serve others.  (“use it to serve one another,” 1 Peter 4:10). Your gift comes from God and belongs to others in the body of Christ. They need you to exercise your gift. The health of the church requires that you exercise your gifts.“To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” (1 Cor. 12:7).

Our gifts, faithfully used, display the Grace of God. It is in the exercise of these gifts that we see Christ in others. We can see the hands of Christ working. We can serve as channels of God’s grace to others. The New English Translation says this, “Like good stewards dispensing the grace of God in its varied forms.” In a healthy, growing, serving the church, the members are healthy, and growing, and serving; they are using their gifts in service to others. You should be feeding on and fulfilling some ministry in the church. You should be blessed by the gifts of others, and you should be a blessing to others in the church.

What are some reasons that we do not exercise our gifts in the church?

1) I don’t know what they are. (Well, find out!).

2) I don’t have time. (Or, I don’t take the time).

3) I don’t want to fail. (You are failing now if your gifts lie dormant).

4) I don’t want to. (Well then, you are selfish and a poor steward who refuses to distribute his master’s wealth).

5) I don’t know what I could do. No one has asked me to do anything. (Well, I am asking today).

6) I am young, I don’t have to serve in the church, do I?  (Yes you do).

So, Rejoice that you have received the Spirit of God. Rejoice that you are gifted for service in the kingdom of God. Rejoice that you can serve God and your brothers and sisters in Christ.

Communion Meditation November 28, 2021

by

For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known (1 Corinthians 13:9-12).

The best is yet to come. Our knowledge of God, while true, is incomplete. While we grow in knowing God, bit by bit, sermon by sermon, scripture by scripture; we do not know perfectly.  But one day our partial limitation will pass away.

Our maturing in Christ admits of degrees. We are to grow in our knowledge and fear of God. 2 Peter 3:18, “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”  We grow from an infant to a child, to a young adult, to a mature adult – but we never reach perfection in this life.

Now we see in a glass, darkly.  Picture a wavy, uneven piece of sheet metal, and use that as a mirror.  Unclear, distorted – a true image, but a less than perfect image.  That is how we see God, that is how we know Him here.  But then, we shall see face to face.  We shall see him clearly, as He is.  This is called the Beatific Vision; seeing God as He really is; knowing Him even as we are known – in perfection.

One theologian put it this way, “To become one with God in face-to-face encounter is to receive a drenching in the diving toe that nurtures unqualified loving reciprocity.” Anthony Thiselton, p. 233. Or as the Apostle John puts it, “We know that when Christ appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is (1 John 3:3).

When this perfect knowledge comes, when the revelation of our God shall be complete; partial knowledge and incomplete prophecy shall pass away in the full experience of who God is – we shall be awash in the being and character of God, deluged in the love of God.  That is what v 8 and 13 proclaims “Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away…. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

This table points us to that reality. The love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. If you know the love of God, truly, but only partially, come to this table for greater knowledge and experience of his love and grace – knowing that the best is yet to come. Knowledge of the full depth of the Love and character of God.

If you do not know the love of God, even in part; if you do not trust him, nor have faith in God; do not come to this table.

If you come, come to experience more of the love of God, knowing full well, that the best is yet to come, when you see God face to face.

Communion Meditation November 14, 2021

by

“Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.” 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

The Christians of Thessalonica were growing in grace and in love, but bad theology was holding them back. It was bad eschatology, wrong views of the end times.  Many thought that the Day of the Lord had already passed, and that may have led to idleness among Christians.

Paul, in our context, is encouraging them to stand firm, to grow in grace. and in service, and to have hope for the future. What Paul says to minister grace to fellow believers can equally be said of the Lord’s Supper.

What is the basis of this hope for the future?

God the Father and God the Son have loved us. The Love of God is always on display among the people of God. We have been loved from before the foundation of the earth.  Jesus has given us the full and final demonstration of his love on the cross.  “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21

I love the personal pronouns in the text.  Our Lord Jesus Christ, God our Father. Jesus and God are not distant abstract concerts, they are personal realities, they are family.  They belong to us.

And they have given us eternal comfort and good hope.  I have needed comfort from others in the past and received it. But it soon fades.  But here is eternal comfort, a good hope that need not diminish. It comes to us by grace, unmerited favor.  It is the self-generated love of God that will never change.

That love now comforts us, and establishes us – strengthens us in every good work and word. We can speak and do good. Grace relieves, comforts, accepts, and motivates. His love transforms us from sinners to saints, from idle to active, from forlorn to hope-filled. From sad to eternally happy.

How does this happen? By revisiting the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord at the Communion table.  This unshakable love of God fully demonstrated on the cross, fills us with joy and peace in believing.

If that is your hope, come to the table. If you have no faith, no love from God or for God, do not come to this table. Instead, Come to Christ, by faith and repentance.

Prayer

We ask, O Lord our God, that others would know, that all would know, the blessings of this table.  That they would know Christ and the power of his resurrection.  May even your people be renewed in the marvelous love of God in Christ Jesus. Speak to us through this meal. Speak peace and hope to us.  Comfort our hearts and strengthen us in every good word and work.  We ask it in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Remember this as we come to the table together.

“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us – for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree” – so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles.” Galatians 3:13-14

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Come for all things are now ready.

Session Summary December 2021

by

Teacher Ed Payne led us in a discussion of the many implications of the Cross Work of Jesus Christ.  Our next meeting will be on January 24, 2022.  We discussed our method of serving communion both at the church also bringing a communion service to elderly members.  Changes may be coming in the next year.  We began to discuss next year’s budget which will begin in April of 2022. We did approve refiling our complaint against an action of our presbytery requiring our session to rescind a prior decision to the Standing Judicial Commission. Our previous complaint, it was ruled, was filed too soon. It was shared that all nine ministry teams have leaders and that a training session was completed. We received a summary of the work of the Deacons, the Trellis, and the Fellowship Teams.  Next month the session will meet with the leaders of the Missions Team.  Our church has successfully changed banks from Fifth Third to Queensborough.  The Trellis Team will oversee a review of all past church policy positions in the next year. We prayed for several needs in the congregation.  We left encouraged by the fellowship at the last fellowship meal and the attendance and joy at the Christmas Cantata.  We also discussed officer nominations for the coming year.

Session Summary November 2, 2021

by

Pastor Mark shared a reading from a biography of RC Sproul for our devotional.  

  • We established a committee to look into our giving to denominational causes and their ‘askings’ request for next year’s budget.  
  • We shelved until next year a proposal to add two bookshelves and a closet to our current library.  We will be placing some books in the narthex to highlight our collection with an honor system check-out policy.  
  • Laura Dekle, from Engaging Disability with the Gospel, will begin to receive our support of $200 per month. 
  • Our sound guys are continuing to work with other sound guys to approve the sound in the sanctuary.  A professional evaluation is taking place and a proposal will soon follow.  
  • We will be having family Advent Readings before worship beginning at the end of this month. Kris Finlay will be organizing the schedule. Plans are afoot for a Walk Thru the Bible event next June; this time running through the New Testament. More information will follow. 
  • An extra communion service after our morning worship will be held on November 14th at Thrive.  Space is limited. See Pastor Mark if you want to attend.  
  • An updated Ministry Team Structure and Ministry Team Leaders was approved.  Leaders will be trained soon.  
  • We have scheduled a Church-wide Fellowship meal for December 5 after the morning service. Training on how to get the most out of your devotions will be given. 
  • We will begin to receive nominations for new elders and deacons in the month of December.  Nomination forms will be available in the narthex soon. 
  • We also discussed the need for additional equipping for ministry.  We have many who serve well and we want them to pass on their knowledge by mentoring others into ministry.  
  • We decided to call the congregation to persistent prayer over the next two months asking God to show us at Westminster what we should do to grow spiritually and numerically.  This will be emphasized at our Sunday Evening Prayer meetings.  All are encouraged to attend. 

The brotherly spirit and camaraderie at our meetings are such an encouragement. Our next meeting is scheduled for December 13 at 5:30 pm.

Spiritual Friendship and Growing in Grace

by

I hated the dating scene.  I once knew the unutterable anguish of considering the terrifying possibility of asking someone on a date.  Will she reject me? Perhaps she will laugh? Will she break my heart? After the first few dates, while some of the initial painful questions are answered, other queries arise and the stakes are increased.  Can this joy continue? What if she really knew me, the real me? Would she still like me, accept me? Is she the one?  We tend to put our best foot forward and strive to be on our best behavior in a courting relationship.  Establishing an intimate relationship with a potential spouse is a process of peeling away the lies, false pretenses, and half-truths, all the while trying to manage our expectations, calm our desires, and modify our dreams.  Many prefer not to face their fears and so never enter the dating arena. Others can keep up a relational farce well into marriage and true intimacy is never really achieved.

We face some of the same obstacles when seeking to establish a deepening spiritual relationship with a brother or sister in Christ. We tend to have many spiritual acquaintances and few if any, real spiritual friends.  Establishing spiritual intimacy confronts similar questions to building relational intimacy. Can I trust my brother with my weaknesses? If they knew the real me and my dark struggles, would they receive me with the sharp edge of the law or with the healing balm of the gospel? Can I trust this one with my heart? Can I step out from my false fronts and posturing? Can I take the mask off and reveal the real me, warts and all?  It can be a terrifying thing to be completely honest with another Christian.

Many years into my Christian walk I sought a spiritual friend but was horrified that I might find one.  I preferred to do my spiritual wrestling with old, dead theologians and not a real, live friend.  Most prefer spiritual melee in the dark to fighting in the light.  We are ashamed of our sins and prefer to deal with them quietly, in the dark, alone, rather than come into the light, remove the mask in public, and expose ourselves to possible rejection, condemnation, and ridicule.

But sin thrives and strengthens in the dark. We cannot overcome sin on our own.  True, God’s help is required and it is enough.  But God has given us our brothers and sisters in Christ as part of his help.  

“If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). 

“Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” (James 5:16).

Deepening fellowship in Christ requires that we are open and honest about our ongoing struggle with sin.  One spur to sanctification is to bring the darkness of sin into the light of fellowship with a grace-wielding believer.

How should we receive a brother or sister who approaches us in honest brokenness and with deep wounds?  We must meet them in their openness and honesty with the warm embrace of grace and truth, forgiveness and acceptance.

“Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:1-2

“Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.” Luke 17:3-4

“so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him.” 2 Corinthians 2:7-8

We must receive our struggling but still confessing and repenting brothers and sisters as Christ has received us, in gospel love. 

“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

I hated the dating scene but I love the marriage. Building true, spiritual friendships are worth the risk. 

“A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother” Proverbs 18:24. 

“Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another” Proverbs 27:17

So, find a friend. Develop a deepening spiritual friendship. Be honest, be gracious.  Let us fight sin, and overcome it, together.

 

The Enigma of Man

by
The conclusion, therefore, is that of Augustine, who said that the heart of man was created for God and that it cannot find rest until it rests in his Father’s heart. Hence all men are really seeking after God, as Augustine also declared, but they do not seek Him in the right way, nor at the right place. They seek Him down below, and He is up above. They seek Him on the earth, and He is in heaven. They seek Him afar, and He is nearby. The seek Him in money, in property, in fame, in power, and in passion; and He is to be found in the high and the holy places, and with him that is of a contrite spirit (Isa. 57:15). But they do seek Him if haply they might feel after Him and find Him (Acts 17:27). They seek Him and at the same time, they flee Him. They feel themselves attracted to God and at the same time repelled by Him…
He longs for truth and is false by nature. He yearns for rest and throws himself from one diversion upon another. He pants for a permanent and eternal bliss and seizes on the pleasures of a moment. He seeks for God and loses himself in the creature. He is born a son of the house and he feeds on the husks of the swine in a strange land. He forsakes the fountain of living waters and hews out broken cisterns that can hold no water (Jer. 2:13)… Man is an enigma whose solution can be found only in God.
Herman Bavinck, The Wonderful Works of God, p. 6-7.

Searching for Another Womb

by

Communion Meditation 

I have heard it said; that from the time we exit the womb, we are searching for another one.

The womb; a place of safety, shelter.  A place of belonging, security.  The womb, a place of unity and community – mother and child are physically united.

In a fallen world we are looking for that place of security, community, belonging.

We are looking to return to Eden.  The place where we belong. We are looking for home.  The place where we can walk with God in the cool of the day.  But because of our sin, the way home has been barred to us by the flaming sword of the angels.

The blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ has opened the way home.  We can return to Eden, the place where we belong.  We can know security, community, belonging, safety. 

We can return home; home to the family dinner table.

Communion means many things; but it at least means this.  We, as prodigal sons and daughters, are welcomed home. 

We are washed, we are cleansed, we are forgiven.  But also, we are united to Christ and so we are united to one another.  We are all one in Christ Jesus.  We belong and are accepted.  We have found our community; our people; our friends and companions in Christ.

We come to this table in faith, and we come together as the people of God.

If these are not your people if you do not see Jesus and love him.  If you do not believe in the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ, this table is not for you.  I warn you to stay away. Do not despise holy things for there will be a heavy price to pay.

If these are your people, and Jesus is your savior and friend.  Come to the table. Find the womb that you have been looking for. Come, and welcome to Jesus Christ.