This past Sunday the appointed gospel reading was the parable of the pharisee and the tax collector from Luke chapter 18.

During the sermon the pastor asked a brilliant clarifying question.

“What was the purpose of the Church in the Old Testament?  What was the purpose of the tabernacle, then later the temple?”

The answer:  atonement.

The tabernacle and the temple, the Levitical laws and regulations, the sacrifices, all are about providing atonement for sins through the shedding of blood. The basis and means for Israel’s relationship with God was centered on the forgiveness of sins provided through the sacrifices. Leviticus and Deuteronomy hammer this theme over and over, sometimes in mind-numbing detail.

I suppose I knew this on some level for awhile, but hearing it clearly stated brought  this fact into particularly clear focus.

It’s the same in the New Testament- the basis and means of our relationship with God is centered on the forgiveness of sins provided through Christ’s once for all sacrifice on the cross.  It’s about the atonement and the washing away of our sins through Christ’s shed blood.

The tabernacle and temple with all their sacrifices were pictures of God’s own Lamb who would take away the sins of the world.They pointed to a greater offering and sacrifice that would do away with our sins for good.

Why do we forget this?

I have read in certain quarters of the internet arguments over the place of the atonement in theology and the church, with some parties decrying the idea of Christ’s atoning work  and substituting a “Christus Victor” or some other model for what Jesus did. While some of these “theories of the atonement” may highlight facets of Christ’s work that are true, in light of the Scriptures these are secondary or tertiary to the substitutionary  atonement of Christ for us.

To believe differently requires that one deal with the massive amount of scripture devoted to the subject of the Levitical priesthood, the tabernacle, the temple, the required sacrifices, and the passages in the New Testament loaded with allusions to the OT,  not to mention the outright language of sacrifice and atonement concerning Christ. All of this points to atonement for and forgiveness of sins as central to our life and worship.

What does this say about why we come to church?

What does this mean for how we worship?

What would a church service look like that has as it’s focus Christ and His atonement?

In some traditions these matters have been carefully considered, in others,  not nearly as much.  Evangelicals often touch on this subject in sermons or books, but is the contemporary worship style prevalent in these circles capable of doing the heavy theological lifting needed to convey these truths?

I guess my question is even more basic.  If the atonement and forgiveness of sins is central to the church and her worship, why don’t they permeate  the  worship and preaching of  modern evangelicalism, and  some quarters of the LCMS for that matter?  I know that there are exceptions to this, but I am addressing the larger picture.

Though my own tradition (Lutheran) has, until recently, done a fairly decent job with this,  I think it is  something that we should  deeply ponder.

** UPDATE: Pastor McCain has re-edited and rewritten the post in question, getting rid of the worst innuendo and stripping it of sensitive details concerning  personal information and pastoral situations that were supposed to be confidential. While we are glad to see this, we think an apology to all targeted by the original post is still due.

We have come to expect it.  About twice a year, someone gets up some good ole’ righteous indignation  concerning our Weak on Sanctification T-shirt. The last several times it has been at Rev. Paul McCain’s blog.  Usually we let it slide without much commentary and let the product description speak for itself.   This time we would like our friends and other interested parties to weigh it for themselves.

Here is our product description for the offending shirt.

Here is Rev. McCain’s blog post.

Check it out for yourselves.

Now technically, Mr. McCain said nothing directly about the shirt, but placing a picture of  it in a post about adulterers, pornographers, inappropriate music, and some guy who ended up in an ELCA congregation, its pretty clear  what he thinks.

McCain says, “It is a very dangerous thing when we start “joking” about being “weak on sanctification.” which is a veiled reference to the shirt.

Neither myself, nor my partner, have advocated any of the things mentioned in his post.  NRP does not encourage, condone, aid, or abet antinomianism, leaving spouses, slasher porn, or violent and sexually explicit rap music. We do not sell products or materials that encourage such behavior.  Look at our site, read our blog, judge for yourself.

We have explained this several times, but there seems to be a willful refusal to hear what we are saying and the point we are trying to make.  The repeated association of  NRP or the particular shirt in question with the promotion of false teaching, or sinful practice has started to enter the realm of the 8th commandment.

On a lighter note, there really is no such thing as bad press.  Traffic to the site and sales of the shirt have spiked, and I suppose we should thank the good Reverend for the exposure.

Thanks, and feel free to criticize NRP or our products any time, just try to steer clear of breaking the 8th commandment.

In a Bible class,  in Ft.Worth, Texas, an old lady in Wade Butler’s Sunday school class asked him, “Pastor, what is the Bible all about? We only ever hear this part or that part, bur never what the whole thing is about.”  This faithful saint had attended church for most of her life.  Wade thought that was a pretty good question, and himself had never really  heard anyone address the Bible in it’s entirety.  Instead of giving her a “blow off’ answer, he told her that he would look into it and  try to find an answer.

At the time he was attending Southwestern Theological Seminary and had access to one of the best theological libraries on the planet.  He didn’t find anything there that quite answered the question in the spirit it was asked.

Having an undergraduate degree in English, he decided he would read the Bible cover to cover and treat it like a novel, then write a book report outlining the main plot and the key players and incidents that drove this plot.  After he did this he went back and looked at each book of the Bible and it’s place in the narrative, and created some rudimentary charts that would help visualize the flow of the story and how the pieces fit together.

A few weeks later he went back and presented his findings to his class. They were stunned.  They had never heard anything like this.  Some told him they had never understood the Bible until then.  This was the beginning of Bible in an Hour.

Wade showed me his presentation, and frankly, I had never heard anything like it.  After listening to it  a couple times, all the pieces parts that I had heard in church, Sunday school, and Bible College suddenly gelled into a coherent picture, and the Bible finally made sense.

Since that time he has improved the presentation and finalized the charts that go with it.

The feed back we get from those who hear the presentation is amazing. One family friend uses it on church retreats and told me he gets something new from it every time he goes through it.

I think that next to the ‘Gospel for Those Broken by the Church’ this is  one of our most important resources.  Knowledge of the Scriptures is waning in our culture and the church.  To say that many Christians are ignorant of even basic texts of Scripture is an unfortunately sad truth.

The Bible can be a daunting book, and I personally know the feeling of  trying to read it from cover to cover, or even trying to read an entire book or section of it and being alternately overwhelmed, confused, and to be honest, bored.

Bible in an Hour can give you a leg up on it, and by giving you an understanding of the flow of the story, can help you connect the part you are reading to the entirety of the Scriptures.

It is available as both a CD and an Mp3 download.  The charts are on the CD and in the Mp3 and can be downloaded and printed as many times as you like.

In the Freebies section of our site you can get the companion e-books that go with the presentation, and Pastor Butler has put together a reading plan that allows you to read the Bible in chronological order. You can find that stuff here.

We just got our shipment of the Simul justus et peccator Lions shirts. We are now fully in stock for one of our most popular shirts.  Stop by and check them out, as well as our other great shirt designs.  There is nothing else like them out there.

Just a quick note to our friends. If you have noticed a recent lag in our response time and comment moderation, we apologize. Both Ted and I just returned to the office from ten days of vacation, and were greeted with some loose ends that got away from us while we were away having fun.  We’re  back at the office now and things are running smoothly.

We hope you had some time this summer to relax and are able to return to your vocations rested and renewed.

In July I put up a post discussing Martin Luther’s take on house churches. In light of Luther’s words on the subject, and after several years of seriously thinking about what it would take to plant liturgical Lutheran congregations,  I want to lay out some ideas for planting congregations with an eye towards cultivating liturgical worship.

A couple friends are involved in planting Lutheran churches right now, and I have been following their progress closely.

The friend who is furthest along in the process told me that he thinks the liturgy is a hindrance to planting new churches.  His efforts so far reflect that ideology in spades.  We visited his inaugural service recently.  This friend has done an excellent job in publicizing the new church in his community, and the new congregation is  involved in a number of high profile community volunteer and service efforts. He has put in a lot of good work, and has established a strong launch team.

However, while technically well done, the worship service was very contemporary, and probably indistinguishable from any of the three other church plants by other denominations going on in the same area. There were a few nods to our theology at a couple places in the service, but nothing really distinctive.

It seems that most church planting efforts in our denomination fall along similar lines.  Does it have to be that way?  Catholic and Orthodox church planters would scoff at the idea that the liturgy is a hindrance to starting new congregations.

After reading Luther’s words several years ago, I have given a lot of thought about how you would plant a church that would be liturgical in practice. I read some of the church planting stuff making the rounds, and have looked at the beginnings of some prominent  new and growing congregations. I have discussed this with a number of pastors, and a theology professor to see if the following methodology is unscriptural or violates the Lutheran Confessions in any way. As far as they can see, I haven’t gone off the reservation in regard to the Scriptures or the Confessions.

I am not a Pastor or a theologian. The following outline is meant to be a starting place, a discussion starter.  We would really like to hear feedback from our readers, especially those involved in planting churches.

• I. Start Bible study / worship in homes
  • A. Well Publicized
    • 1. In the local press, on the net, radio etc.
    • 2. Be involved in your community before/during launch.
      • a. Volunteer for community projects.
      • b. Free sports clinics for kids.
      • c. Booth at fair or community functions.
      • d. VBS
      • e. Some form of mercy ministry.
    • 3. Meet in the evening.
  • B. Start with short pertinent studies
    • 1. Bible In An Hour
    • 2. Four Concentric Circles (Cwirla’s presentation)
    • 3. Church history in an hour.
    • 4. Worship study.
  • C. Short time of Worship after each one
    • 1. Start with evening sufferages.
    • 2. Solicit prayer requests from attendees.
    • 3. Let others pray if they wish.
    • 4. Wear your alb or other vestments every time.
    • 5. Explain what your vestments mean.
    • 6. Have service printed in one folder for ease of use.
    • 7. End with meal or pot luck.
    • 8. Don’t be afraid to use candles or incense.
• II. Transition to Full Worship
  • A. Be open and honest about your intent
    • 1. Talk about it a lot beforehand.
  • B. Change to evening prayer after 5 or 6 weeks
    • 1. Shorten study to small homily.
    • 2. Music can be simple but must be good.
    • 3. Explain and teach the liturgy as you go.
    • 4.  Wear vestments.
    • 5. Solicit prayer requests and pray with people at one point in the service.
  • C. Use the Lectionary and follow the Church Year
• III. Incorporate Lord’s Supper
  • A. Teach on it for a few weeks.
  • B. Add it to the end of the service, but incorporate the liturgy of the Lord’s Supper into the beginning of your meal after service.
  • C. Segue into fellowship meal from Lord’s Supper. (even at the same table)
• IV. Multiple Locations
  • A. Run by Elders or Deacons.
    • 1. Meet each week with Pastor for briefing and use the same sermon and Lectionary readings in every group.
  • B. Ordained Pastor visits one or more each week and conducts Lord’s Supper.
  • C. Keep groups involved in some kind of outside mercy ministry or service to the community, eg. Feeding the local homeless.
• V. Sunday Services
  • A. After you have several groups with a combined membership of 75 to 100 people, start a weekend service.
  • B. If you are starting groups to revitalize an existing congregation, incorporate them into the congregation as you are able.
    • 1. Or start a separate service (Sunday afternoon) for those coming in from the groups.

A couple notes.  The bible studies used to start the groups should provide a good overview of the scriptures or some facet of them, or an historical survey. This gives the people valuable knowledge, but prevents the study from becoming “biblical principles to make your life better.” The ones I have listed are ones I know of and that would fit the bill, but aren’t intended to be an exclusive list.

One Pastor suggested using this plan to rejuvenate aging congregations by forming another congregation using these techniques that would meet in the same building but on a Sunday afternoon or evening. Kind of like a sister congregation.

Anyway, your mileage may vary.  What do you think?

Steve Martin over at The Old Adam Lives is a friend of ours and a faithful Lutheran brother.  He also attends a great congregation in Corona Del Mar Ca. That town is about as close to a slice of heaven on Earth as you can get.( Unless you are in San Clemente, which is a tad closer to Heaven.)

Check out one of his recent posts, concerning progress in sanctification, we think you will really like it

Well, arguably, anyway.

For those of you who ignored the instruction in our tweet regarding Dr. Rosenbladt’s sermon in which we told you not to read it, I figured the least I could do is offer an outlet for discussion here on the blog.

Just in case there’s any confusion, the location of the sermon I’m talking about is here:

http://www.newreformationpress.com/blog/nrp-freebies/gift/

Again, don’t read it!

(Of course, I hope you can discern my tongue-in-my-cheek when making that statement.)

Update: Apparently the comments on the post in question are still up. However they no longer show up on my browser. Read them and come to your own conclusion.

Well, I suppose it was a matter of time before something like this came up.  Usually we like to focus on the Gospel, put the best construction on things, and avoid inflammatory issues and controversy.  I knew eventually something would come up that would demand that we speak out. This is one of those times.

Let me preface my remarks, by saying that I am not Reformed (as in Calvinist) and though I have many friends in that camp, I have some vehement disagreements with certain strains of that doctrine. There are a number of reasons I am not Reformed, but one of the foremost is crap like this.

http://www.challies.com/archives/christian-living/the-religious-hell-hole-1.php

For those who won’t bother to follow the link, well known and respected Reformed blogger Tim Challies, replies to a  young Christian  woman who, in her past, had a couple abortions, and now is involved in ministry to women who have had abortions.  The occasion of her email revolves around having read Tim’s posts on original sin and how babies go to hell. At one time she was confident in God’s grace in dealing with her two aborted children, and the aborted children of those she reaches out to.  After reading Mr. Challies’s thoughts, her confidence and comfort were deeply shaken and for the most part stripped away.  Challies reply, was to put it succinctly, harsh, and completely lacking in any kind of grace.  The comment thread that followed(100+ comments) has been deleted. I don’t know if it is because those who disagreed with Challies made his position look really bad, or because those who supported him made it look even worse. Imagine Christians going to bat against this poor woman, exulting in God’s sovereignty being glorified by Him sending infants to hell.

Yeah, it was that bad.

Mr. Challies is considered mainstream Reformed.  Many of the commenters are ardently on his side.  It is an ugly display.

A few points worth considering:

First,  Challies answer was cold and graceless. Read his tone and phrasing. I suppose some will call it” hard love” because he is telling the “truth.” (more about that in a moment) I would call it religious sociopathy, gladly using systems and doctrine to trample underfoot bruised reeds and smoldering wicks, without a single pang of conscience.

Even if he believes what he said, he could have handled the matter a little more pastorally. He makes no effort at any kind of pastoral discernment, and this from a guy who wrote a book on the “spiritual discipline” of discernment.

To make matters worse, he holds this woman and her situation up to the derision of like minded readers by using her as a pathetic example of someone doctrinally ill-informed.  Her comfort in Christ concerning her aborted children is held up as a form of idolatry.  He says;

” What’s even more sad is the fact that her hope has ultimately been placed in her babies being in heaven. For her to be thrown back into this “hell hole” means that she’d been finding peace in spite of her sin, not because of the finished work of Christ on her behalf.”

Unless her correspondence with him was more extensive, detailing exactly where her faith is placed, Mr. Challies presumes to know her heart,and judges her according to his own apparent omniscience.

Ugly.

Hateful.

Devoid of Christian charity.

What is with this virulent strain of the Reformed?  Why is the glass always half empty?  Sure, the biblical evidence on the eternal state of infants or the unborn is incomplete, but we are not left without clues.

One of the few times scripture says that the second person of the Trinity was very angry (indignant is a good translation) was when the disciples were shooing away mothers who were bringing their infants for Jesus to bless.

Jesus says that their(the infant’s)angels always behold His Father’s face in heaven.

Jesus had terrifying warnings to those who would cause children to stumble.

Sounds to me that He likes children.

As Lutherans we always fall on the side of grace, and we trust Christ’s character and mercy, even with our dead children. For us the cup of God’s grace in Christ is always filled to overflowing.

We also entirely reject the execrable doctrine of limited atonement. (No, we are not universalists, I am not going to answer that old cannard. If you suffer under the delusion we believe that,  go do the reading yourself.) We really believe God actively wants to redeem His entire creation, and have seen the damage limited atonement does to the Church and individual Christians.  Between reliance on God’s Word, Jesus’ person and work, and the doctrine that Christ died for every last person who has or ever will live, there is more than enough hope for our infants and unborn that die.

Tim’s post is the kind of thing that gives unbelievers ammunition against Christianity, pushes the doubting and faltering into unbelief,  and frankly, embarrasses the rest of us. Sadly, it is not the only example of its kind on the internet, courtesy of those I call the ‘Caustically Reformed.’  That is some ugly doctrine wielded by some spiteful people.  It is of a different spirit.

I am not going to engage in endless doctrinal debate.  The Lutheran Confessions and the writings of our theologians that debunk this kind BS are available publicly and/or online, and they can speak for me.

People need to know that there is a biblically solid, orthodox, and well thought out theology that totally refutes that junk.

To my Reformed friends, I am sorry for the offense, but I could not let this one pass.  To those others who are offended, at least you will never be in doubt about where we draw the lines.

To the commenters: Keep it sane. I will moderate with extreme prejudice.

Due to popular demand, we’re extending our 10% off special! This time, though, we’ve made it a little easier for you to take advantage of it. Instead of using a coupon code to get the discount, you don’t need one, you can simply place your order.

Browse our catalog from now to next Monday and you will see all products discounted 10% across the board.

Thank you for your business and we look forward to hearing from you.

Under the completely sufficient imputed righteousness…