 I'm leaving after this election!
I decided that if the Republicans win - I'm leaving. I decided that If the Democrats win - I'm leaving. I'm leaving the world where it's me against them. I'm leaving the world where it's OK to slander those who disagree with my view - rather than maybe, I don't know, maybe talk with them and try to grow in understanding one another. I'm leaving the world where I think the worst about those who don't share my views. I'm leaving the world where there are lines drawn that cannot be crossed - not lines of what I believe or what moral or ethical standards I live by - but lines that we can't cross to talk to each other. I'm leaving the world where we think an election is what will change things - that new laws - new executive orders - even new Supreme Court Justices will actually change things in our country and in our lives. I'm leaving the world where I myself, as well as all others around me, have their identity described by two labels - the "good one" I call myself - and the "bad one" the other side calls me. I'm leaving the world where I can be manipulated by a political party to the point where I immediately characterize people (without ever getting to know them) by which party they associate with at the time. I'm leaving because I want to rediscover Someone Who commanded me to prove I am His disciple by the way I love my brothers and sisters in Christ. I'm leaving because I want to rediscover Someone Who said that His kingdom was not of this world. I'm leaving because I want to rediscover Someone Who put a Zealot and a Tax Collector in His group - and they didn't wind up killing each other - or at least protesting one another. I'm leaving because I want to rediscover how to lose my life so that I can gain it - to give my life and my rights away so others can be blessed - to consider others better than myself. I'm leaving because I want to rediscover the One Who gave His life away - who laid down His rights as God (even though He WAS God) - Who took my sin and my sorrows - Who even paid the price of my sin - Who was despised and forsaken - misunderstood - mischaracterized - mistreated - and yet considered it all joy when He considered all those who would be blessed as a result. I don't want Trump or Pelosi - Democrat or Republican - Conservative or Liberal - Socialist or Capitalist - or any other label or leader to be associated with my name any longer. I'm leaving to follow Jesus. I'm leaving to live for His kingdom and His righteousness. I'm leaving because the world's mindset - the Republican's mindset - the Democrat's mindset - honestly - even my own mindset - are not the mindset by which I need to live and make my decisions. I hope to have the mind of Christ. So . . . I'm gone. I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live - yet not I, Christ lives within me. The life I want to live, I live by faith in the Son of God - Who loved me and delivered Himself up for me. As I leave I have a prayer - May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable to You, my Rock and My Redeemer.
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 A Lot to learn in 2016 part 2 - Decisions
Lot looked around and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan toward Zoar was well watered, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) 11 So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company: 12 Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom. 13 Now the people of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord. Genesis 13:10-13 Lot had a problem. He did not have his own walk with the Lord. Abraham interacted with God - both hearing and speaking to Him - and Lot just followed Abraham. There is a problem with this kind of living. Eventually you will have to walk on your own. What will happen then? How will you know, follow, and experience an interactive relationship with God? What will counteract your heart - which according to Scripture is deceitful and wicked. This was Lot’s problem - and as we will see in this part of, “A Lot to Learn in 2016,” it does not go well for those who follow in Lot’s steps. Abraham and his nephew Lot were both in the business of raising livestock. When you prosper in this endeavor you will eventually have problems - and they did. Their herdsmen began go quarrel over pasture land. Rather than have a growing enmity between their servants, Abraham proposed that they separate from each other so that enough pasture land would be available for their herds. This was the moment where Lot would have to make his own decisions - and the first one is indicative of a man who does not know how to follow God himself - but who relies on other people to hear God for him. Abram offers him any of the land that was before them. Lot got first choice. What he chose was the land near Sodom and Gomorrah. He chooses a place where the people were wicked and sinning greatly against the Lord. He chose on the basis of what "he" saw. Scripture says that he looked and saw that this land was “like the land of Egypt” and therefore he chose it. In Scripture, Egypt is not considered a good place to be. In addition to this - we also learn from the passage that the place Lot chooses is “near” Sodom. The problem here is that we also learn that the men of Sodom were considered “wicked exceedingly and sinners against Jehovah.” Lot’s first choice was to live by what his eyes saw and what his selfish desires wanted. He didn’t consider that by doing this he was moving closer and closer to sin. He did not consider that he would be taking his family into a place where there would no longer be Abraham’s godly influence - but the influence of exceedingly wicked sinners. Lot moved his tents as far as Sodom. The phrase used here in Hebrew means he moved “near” Sodom. There was enough in Lot to know he shouldn’t go into Sodom - so he did the next best thing - he moved near it. Here is a lesson we need to learn from Lot. What you move toward in your life - is likely what you are going to become. Having followed a godly man (Abraham) Lot now was going to have as his strongest influence, ungodly, exceedingly wicked men. If Lot had his own relationship with God he may have done this to influence those men - but we know that what he saw was their prosperity - and the “good life” and place they lived. There is going to be more - much more to this in our next installment. But . . . before we go there let’s consider something in our journey together. There is a “Lot” to learn even at this point. What drives your decisions in life? If our decisions are made with what we see with our eyes as our primary information - we will wind up in a mess. If we are seeking “the good life” as defined by the world around us - we will once again wind up in a mess. If we joyfully grab first choice in things (and don’t consider others better than ourselves - Philippians 2:1-3) and want first place - we will surely wind up in a mess. Lot’s decisions were driven by the (1) Lust of his eyes; (2) the lust of his flesh; and (3) the boastful pride of life. By the way, these three things are all defined as sin and worldliness in 1 John 2:15-17. Lot made a choice that increased the worldliness in his life - and then deceived himself by thinking that only by moving “near” sin he would be fine. These kind of choices don’t bring blessing - except in the immediate gratification of our fleshly lusts. The long-term results of these kind of decisions - are disastrous in our lives. Let me state this positively though - so you will have something to do on when making decisions. First - make decisions by wisdom, which is defined as seeing life from God’s perspective. We look at things through His Word, His Spirit, and the wisdom that comes from spiritual sight. Don’t just seek an answer - seek Him and ask Him to give you His eternal perspective on your choices. Second - make decisions in light of long-term (honestly - eternal) joy and delight. Ask yourself, what is going to last? What is going to be an eternal blessing? What will benefit me spiritually - so that I can take it with me when I leave this world? Lastly, make decisions that move away from sin - not toward it. Consider the sins of your past - and the sins God wants to deliver you from in life. Don’t move toward those things - and especially don’t think you can get nearer to them without them influencing you. If God wants you to minister to someone or minister somewhere that is one thing - because that doesn’t move you closer to sin - it moves you closer to sinners - but only for God’s purposes of leading them to Christ and influencing them for godliness and the gospel. A parallel question to this might be, “Am I moving toward influencing others - or being influenced by them?” You can move toward sinners or sinful situations if the first is true - your seeking TO influence them. But if you are going to BE INFLUENCED - you need to move toward godliness and be sure that their influence brings you closer to God. May God help us to make good, godly decisions. May we be wise and seek and desire His perspective in all things. May we be seeking eternal benefit in life rather than a quick fix high. And may we truly learn from Lot in this situation (as well as in any we face this year) that there are much better ways of decision making than the ones he chose.  Calvary Core Values
Core Value #4 – Worship As we continue to look at the core values at Calvary Chapel we now want to address worship. First off I want to acknowledge that the public worship of the church and the music and style of it is quickly becoming a flash point for many churches. What is sad about this statement is that there is no universal music style that can be claimed by anyone as more “biblical” than another. Worship is solely about giving glory, honor, worth, and praise to God Himself for Who He is and what He has done. Worship is about singing to God out of love and obedience as we give Him the glory that He is due. Worship is singing about God to each other and the world around us so that their thoughts can be lifted to worship Him as well. But worship is about so much more than just music and singing. A Biblical view of worship recognizes an understanding of Romans 12:1-2 as absolutely essential. This passages reads as follows: “Therefore I urge you brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good, acceptable, and perfect.” (Romans 12:1-2, NASB) What we learn from these verses is that worship – a true spiritual service of worship to God goes way beyond what you sing on any given Sunday. It goes way beyond singing altogether. What we read here is that worship involves our entire way of living. Our entire bodies should be presented to God every day as living, holy sacrifices. When we live like that – giving all of ourselves to God daily – then we are doing what we should logically do. The word for “spiritual” in Romans 12:1 is the Greek word “logikos,” from which we get our word logic. The only logical way to live when we understand the gospel – is as a 24/7/365 sacrifice of worship to God. This is in everything we do – everything we say – even everything we eat, drink, or anything we ever do. We learn this in 1 Corinthians 10:31 – whatever we do is to be done to the glory of God. Therefore worship goes far beyond the 15-30 minutes we spend singing in a service. It is something we do with our entire lives as we live for the glory of God. Having addressed that worship is a way of life, I also want to address how worship is viewed when we gather together on a typical Sunday morning to worship God corporately. First off, our corporate worship should not exceed our private worship. Some come and worship on a Sunday morning nothing like how they are worshiping God during the week. What I mean when I reference private worship is what we are doing as we seek God during our time alone with Him each day. There is an inherent danger that comes with times of corporate singing. We sing songs that are celebratory – and that in themselves can incite us to excitement. But are we ever excited about God, about the work of Christ, about the gospel, about the work of the Holy Spirit, or about God’s faithfulness? I know this is a difficult question to answer – but do we even think about such things much during the week? Can we go a week with little or no thought to God, His greatness, and His glory – and then come into a worship service and find ourselves singing with great excitement and passion? There is something very wrong with that kind of picture and practice. God warned His people about public worship that does not match private devotion. In Isaiah 1 He asks Israel why they needlessly trample into His temple for “their” sacrifices and worship. He found it offensive that they were one thing in public worship – and yet quite another in private life. If we truly worship God – it should be that our public worship is little more than the overflow of our private devotion to God. If things regularly go beyond this – it is honestly not worship – it is hypocrisy. That is why at times I grieve over my own heart and its readiness to get all excited in a public venue – when my private devotion has severely been lacking. What should we do when this is the case? In Joshua, when Achan had sinned and grieved God, Joshua called upon him to “give glory to God” in a confession of his sin. You see, God was most glorified in Achan’s life, not in some public display that did not match his private life, God was most glorified when Achan stopped everything else and took the time to confess and repent of his sin. Saints, there may be times when the best worship service ever – would be little more than us stopping our usual routine – and gathering to a time of getting on our knees or faces and confessing sin in our lives. Let me make a few comments on music in worship. Unfortunately there are often as many tastes in music as there are people in a congregation. That is because what style of music you enjoy has far more to do with your personal tastes than it does any particular command of God. What I find is the following kinds of scriptural commands when it comes to worshipping God in song. - Sing to the Lord - Sing to Him, Sing praises to Him; Speak of all His wonders - Sing to the Lord all the earth - I will sing praises to Your name - We will sing and praise Your power - Sing to Him with a harp of ten strings - Sing to Him a new song; play skillfully with a shout of joy - I shall sing of your strength - I shall joyfully sing of your lovingkindness in the morning - Sing the glory of His name; make His praise glorious - Sing for joy to God our strength; Shout joyfully to the God of Jacob - My heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God - I will sing for joy at the work of Your hands - O come let us sing for joy to the Lord, Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. - I will sing of lovingkindness and justice - I will sings praises to You among the nations - Let my tongue sing of Your Word There are 88 different times when we are called, actually many times commanded to sing to the Lord. Therefore, regardless of what style you may prefer, it is a given that we need to – no – actually we are commanded to sing to God. Often that singing is connected with joy – in fact more often than not it is connected with joy of God Himself or some work He has done that should be stimulating us to joy. And – how important this is – God absolutely is to be the focus of our singing. Just about every command that involves singing – calls us to sing TO Him. Therefore, we are absolutely, unequivocally committed to singing to God in our worship services. We want to work hard to make sure that we do not distract from this fundamental focus of worship as we sing. That is why we also make certain choices to make the vast majority of our singing – congregational in nature. It is also why we shun any kind of performance in our music. We want our worship teams and any individual who leads in worship – to focus themselves on God as they sing to Him. Their leadership is first by example as they themselves are worshipping God. Then we ask them to lead us as we join together with them to worship God. This is also why we want to be very careful about anything that might begin to turn our corporate worship into more of a concert than an opportunity for the body of Christ to give God the glory, honor, and praise that He is due. Some have made their stages very elaborate – using light shows and having different kinds of moving backgrounds behind the words that are projected on the screen. This, in itself, is not evil – but we avoid it because we do not want to distract from God being the focus. As your pastor I personally think that the more ostentatious we become in our staging, the more likely we are going to get away from worship being simply singing to God and telling Him how utterly magnificent, beautiful, majestic, holy . . . and the list can go on forever and ever! There is another reason why I ask our worship teams to remain low key as they worship God and lead us to join them in it. Jesus said in John chapter 4 that God seeks worshippers who worship Him in Spirit and in truth. Worship is something that is inherently spiritual. God forbade men making images of Him in the Old Testament. Any picture we try to make of God is going to fall infinitely short of Who He is. He is Spirit, He is everywhere at once, and He is infinitely present and powerful in the everywhere He is all at once. The more we make our worship something physical, the more danger there is in us falling into idolatry by making God less than He is. Thus the focus needs to be on the truth of Who He is – not on the show going on around the singing. Worship in Spirit and truth focuses on Who God has revealed Himself to be in Scripture. That is the greatest and most trustworthy revelation we have. That is why we put such a great focus on the Word of God in our worship service. Worship, true worship incites us to greater, grander, more glorious thoughts of God. These thoughts are driven by what God has said about Himself in the Word. This is also why we try very hard to sing what is Scriptural about God. That is hard to do – because too often we get more excited about the music than we do the lyrics. The danger that is once again inherent due to this is that we sing “really cool songs” or “very reverent songs” or “very moving songs” whose lyrics actually do not accurately represent Who God is scripturally. Worship that is not singing “truth” about God – is actually idolatry – since it is singing about who we would like God to be rather than Who He actually is according to His revelation of Himself in the Word of God. Too be perfectly honest with you as your pastor, I am concerned more and more that the songs of today are so theologically light – and more “this is how I feel.” The other concern I have is that too many of our songs are turning to how God is making much of us – rather than true worship which is us making as much of God as we possibly can. Worship is about God – living for Him – singing to Him – and as I just said at the end of the last paragraph – making as much of Him as we possibly can. We cannot overdo true worship – because we can never give God all the glory that He is due. But it is my desire as your pastor to encourage you first by example and then by precept to give everything you have, every day God allows you to live, and in everything you do to glorify God. Just as God says to us in His Word, “Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 10:31)  Calvary Core Values – #3 – God’s Word, The Final Moral Authority
Our world is currently in a moral revolution. We’ve watched as our society has radically redefined morals in the past 50 years. It has been something to watch, and I admit that often I have watched more in horror than in approval of where our world is headed. In the 1960’s this revolution began with the sexual revolution. This is when mindsets changed concerning the sexual activity outside of marriage. Before this time it was generally held that sex outside of marriage was wrong. It is not that immorality did not exist before this time – because it did. What changed was the public attitude toward it. Before the sexual revolution this kind of choice was frowned upon by the majority of society and heterosexual immorality was seen as sinful. This was not the mindset after the 1960’s. In the 1970’s we were confronted by abortion. It was made legal in the 1973 Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision. Soon, this too, was generally accepted by society. The 80’s brought us the selfish “me” generation where greed became good. The 90’s introduced us to public officials like President Bill Clinton telling us that it did not matter that he was an adulterer, having sex in his office. That was his private life – and our leaders could be godless in private – but still be good leaders in public life. That divorced any discussion about a leader’s lifestyle and whether he was fit to lead or not. Toward the close of the 90’s the issue of homosexual marriage arose – first to be banned by a vote of the people – but eventually to be by courts that legislated it from the bench. Now, whether we are aware of it or not, the revolution continues as even the issue of our gender is open to debate. To say someone is male or female is now offensive as confused men call themselves female, even without a sex change operation. We are not even to critique someone who is male one month, female the next two, only to return to be male before the end of a year’s time. This is what happens when morals become unmoored from God’s revelation of Himself and His will and purpose in the Bible. Moral truth, when relative and made subjective to the individual, sets society adrift into a moral morass. So where do we go to get clarity on these issues and hundreds of others? For the biblical Christian that question is very easy to answer. We go to God’s Word. Our third Core Value here at Calvary Chapel of Jonesboro is that we believe the Bible is the final authority when it comes to all matters of faith, morals, and practice as we walk with God in this world. The Bible is very clear on moral matters. The 10 commandments have given a moral clarity to societies ever since they were first given to Moses on Mount Sinai. There really is no mistaking what God considers moral and immoral – godly or ungodly. That is something we hold as a core value. The morality of the Bible is not something that is up for public debate. It is not something that ebbs and flows with the general moral stance of society itself. It is something fixed by God. We can either surrender to Him and submit to His moral truth – or pay a very high price by rebelling against Him. This means that regardless of what the Supreme Court or any other human court says, God’s Word is more authoritative in our lives. The morality of the Bible is not up for a vote – and neither does it need to be made “more relevant” to 21st century mankind. Murder is murder – whether in the 3rd century before Christ or the 2nd one after. Adultery is adultery regardless of whether you are King David over all Israel – or you are just a relatively unknown person living outside God’s will in 2014 in Northeast Arkansas. Let me refer to the Word of God so that you get an idea of why this is a Core Value at this fellowship. I’ll begin by quoting 1 Peter in his letter to the churches. For, "All flesh is like grass, and all its blory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls off, but the Word of the Lord endures forever." 1 Peter 1:24 (NASB) We are reminded by Peter (as he quotes from Isaiah 40) that the world around us and all its beauty will fade and be gone, but God’s Word will endure forever. His Word does not change and will stand for all time as the authority in all matters on which God speaks through it. David said this about God’s Word too as He was inspired to write, Forever, O LORD, Your word is settled in heaven. Psalm 119:89 (NASB) Follow my reasoning for a moment here. God tells us that His Word is forever settled in heaven. There is no debate – no opposing arguments that are of any value. He has spoken and it is settled on all issues on which He has spoken. Now grasp that judgment will not ultimately be that which is done in earthly courts by fallible human judges. The ultimate judgment will be before the throne of God. What He has stated we believe is clear and not debatable. Sin is sin – no matter whether God is speaking to issues of sexual immorality, the words we speak, the attitudes that are in our hearts, the motives with which we do things, or even the way that we do business with others. These are all things about which God has spoken – and when He has spoken – it is final. Some might wonder why we hold this as a “core value” at our fellowship? It is because the Bible teaches us in Romans 3:23 that, “. . . all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” If what is sin is debatable according to the current standards of society, how do we know whether anyone has sinned? If we are on the shifting sands of public opinion, how can we have any clarity on ANY matter of moral significance? We believe that the Bible speaks very clearly in regard to these matters. And where it speaks – it is authoritative – regardless of who questions it or what any human court, either governmental or societal, has to say about it. That may eventually get us in trouble in the courts of public opinion and even one day in the courts of our nation. But like the apostles before us, our stand will have to be that we choose to obey God rather than man. Last week I began a series of articles dealing with the core values that we hold here at Calvary Chapel. This week I want to address how we believe that we can know God. This is truly one of the very central of these core values, because it addresses not just that we believe we can know God, but addresses how we believe we can know Him.
At Calvary Chapel we believe that we can know God only because God has made Himself known to us, revealing Himself to us through His Word as well as through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. This core value has to do with the biblical doctrine of revelation. When I say this I am not referring to the book of Revelation, but more importantly of the whole idea and concept of revelation itself. Let me explain. If God did not choose to reveal himself to us – to make Himself known – there would be no way that we could know Him. There is such an infinite gulf between God and man that the only way it can be bridged is by God crossing it and mercifully making Himself known to us. This is true even without sin in the picture. God, being an eternal, infinite being is beyond what our minds can understand or grasp. It is only because God has graciously condescended to communicate with us that we can grasp Who He is. God put it this way to Isaiah, "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9, NASB) God is gracious enough to make Himself known to us. He has made Himself known through His creation. Romans 1:19-20 says this to us, “. . . because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” (Romans 1:19-20, NASB) In nature we should see the invisible attributes of God’s eternal power and divine nature. Creation declares the glory of God to us – letting us know that the One Who made all this is infinitely greater than that which He has made. The vastness of the universe, and indeed the fact that in spite of all that we’ve come to know we still have vastly more to know, should shout to us of God’s majesty, glory, might, power, and infinitude. But our problem is that man has rejected this witness. Man does not even acknowledge God in nature choosing one of two horrific errors. Either, as Romans 1 says, man makes a god for himself out of birds, four-footed animals, and crawling creatures or, as man rejects God entirely. Rather than believe in God, man chooses to believe himself an utterly astounding accident without a cause – that exists for no purpose. Sin has led men to reject God – not even giving Him thanks or honoring Him. So, not only do we have a God too vast to be known without His gracious revelation of Himself, but our sin and rebellion have blinded us – darkened our understanding – hardened our hearts – and closed our eyes to His glory. We reject both God and His revelation of Himself, embracing instead ourselves as the only authorities in our lives. Truly we hold that we can be a better god than God – the result of which is the devastation of His image in us – darkness, destruction, and death. God, Who had every right to absolutely reject us for such infinitely rebellious foolishness, instead chose to reveal Himself further to those who rebel against Him. He did this through His Word – and eventually through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He moved upon men through His Holy Spirit to give us an accurate, authoritative revelation of Who He is. He did this first in the Old Testament as He chose a man, Abraham, and a nation, Israel. He promised a Savior, though, as His ultimate revelation of Himself and His great love for us. That Savior is Jesus Christ, Who was revealed in history, which is also recorded for us through God’s Word, the Scriptures. God provided salvation through the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He then gave us the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament, so that we could also know the way He perfectly revealed His love and purpose through His Son. Now, the fundamental way that we know God is through how He has revealed Himself in His Word. As we read and study His Word we come to know Who He is – His heart – His ways – His thoughts – His purposes, plans, and will. We are warned in the Scripture itself about those who do not speak according to and in agreement with His Word. We are told that such men and women do not even have the light of day. Paul even writes a curse upon those who do not preach the Gospel as it is revealed in the Bible. This leads us to some very important truths and principles by which we live at Calvary Chapel. We place greatest importance on what God’s Word says when it comes to all matters of doctrine and practice in our lives and in the church. That is why Bible teaching and Bible study are vitally important to us. We go by what the text of the Scripture says – not about how we feel about it. We go by a careful study of the whole of the Bible, not just pulling verses out of their context to create some teaching of our own making. We do not hold to revelation outside the Bible. There are some who want to make their own words that they speak equal with and at times more authoritative than Scripture. This is what theologicans call “extra-biblical” revelation. It says that some current day revelation from a prophet, preacher, or teacher is of equal authority (usually greater) than what has been given to us in the Old and New Testaments. We do not believe that a current revelation by a teacher or even someone who proposes to be a prophet has any authority in itself – and certainly does not constitute new Biblical revelation. God closed the canon or books of the Bible after the book of Revelation was given by the Holy Spirit to John. Therefore anything someone says that they have from or about God MUST conform to what we already have in Scripture. If it does not – we reject the teaching and the teacher of such things. What is our practice as a result of this second core value? The result is that we seek to know God on the basis of what He has revealed of Himself in the Scriptures. We study them diligently to grasp what they say. We seek to understand the context in which they were given, as well as comparing passage with passage, to guard against misinterpreting them or making them say what we want instead of what God intended. We do not want to add to the Scriptures or take away from them. As Paul says through the Holy Spirit in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17, NASB) We do not look to current day prophets – or anyone who has a special word that they assert is equal to the Biblical revelation. We do not look to church councils or any special group or individual to speak new Scripture – or to speak anything that is more authoritative than what we already have in the Old and New Testaments. We do not give special place to creeds or statements made outside the Bible. The primary importance – and the only authoritative word for us is the Word of God. The Word of God is how we believe God has revealed Himself to us. That is why we place primary importance on teaching it from cover to cover, book by book, chapter by chapter, and verse by verse. We believe it is only as we know God’s revelation of Himself in the Bible that we can know God.  For the next couple of weeks I want to take a few moments to reiterate some very important principles by which we want to live and minister at Calvary Chapel. One might even call these things core principles and values that we hold.
This first of these core values we have is that we believe that there is only one way for sin to be forgiven - and that is through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Scriptures state this fact numerous times. Jesus *said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. John 14:6 (NASB) "And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12 (NASB) "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." John 3:36 (NASB) For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time. 1 Timothy 2:5-6 (NASB) Therefore we hold as one of our core values that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the only means by which anyone can have their sins forgiven and be made righteous in the sight of God. We also hold that this salvation is through Jesus Christ alone, through faith alone, by grace alone. It is not Jesus Christ and baptism (which is the error of baptismal regeneration). It is not Jesus Christ and the church (and by that I mean ANY church - even ours). Permit me to unpack the rest of that previous statement. We believe that salvation is by faith alone. There are no works that we can do to merit or earn our salvation. Salvation is by faith alone - faith in what Jesus did through His perfect, sinless life - His substitutionary death (meaning He was our substitute on the cross - we deserved what happened there - yet He paid it for us) - and His glorious resurrection, by which God declared that He accepted what Jesus did to pay for sin and make sinners righteous in His sight. Faith is not just mental assent to these facts, but rather is a total commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. It is a surrender on our part, where we lay down our own works as dead works - and our righteousness as filthy rags. We no longer trust in anything from ourselves - no religious standing or good works can make us righteous in God’s sight. The only thing God will accept for that work is what Jesus Christ did for us. Finally, let me explain what we mean when we use the phrase, “by grace alone.” This phrase has to do with whether we ourselves can do anything for our salvation. The answer to that is a resounding NO! We cannot do anything for our salvation. It was God alone who chose to save us - we had nothing to do with our salvation. Romans 5 describes God’s grace this way, For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. “ Romans 5:6-8 (NASB) The Word of God makes it clear that our state before God was that we were, “helpless.” There was nothing we could ever do - no amount of obedience to the Law - no amount of religious works - no amount of religious payments we could make that would ever bring us one millimeter closer to God. We had not just “messed up a little” with our sin. We had, “. . . fallen short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23 (NASB) Therefore as Ephesians chapter 2 puts it, after painting the bleakest picture possible in verses 1-3 about our condition before God, “but God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions - made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved). We believe that we are saved solely because of the grace and infinite mercy of God. Therefore no one may boast of having done anything whatsoever to deserve their salvation. We are infinite debtors to God for His indescribable gift - His marvelous, matchless, incredible grace. This core value also comes with a core responsibility. We believe because there is salvation in no one else by Jesus Christ, we are responsible to take the gospel of His salvation to the ends of the earth. Our amazing salvation comes with a very real responsibility. If there is only one way of salvation - then all other religious views that do not come to God through Jesus Christ alone, by faith alone, through grace alone - are false. In the end all their religious fervor will amount to nothing - and they will face the wrath and judgment of God. This places on us a very serious task of proclaiming the gospel to every nation, tribe, people, and tongue (which by the way is Scripture). If our core value of belief in the gospel of Jesus Christ for salvation, does not lead to a core practice of taking the gospel across the street, across the city, across the state, nation, and world - then we are being very disobedient to the gospel, as well as very selfish toward the rest of the world who desperately need to hear of it. Saints - we at Calvary Chapel of Jonesboro are very, very serious about the gospel of Jesus Christ and its implications. We know that this Core Value is at the heart of all that we do - and indeed is at the heart of who we are as a church. I urge you to consider what has been said here. Think about it and meditate on what is means - for you - for our fellowship - and for the world around us. If we will not just adopt such a Core Value as a statement of faith - but rather as the “reactor core” of our faith - I believe that God will revive us and begin to move among us in powerful ways. I believe those ways will include a reviving of our own hearts as we embrace the truths of the gospel - and a reviving of our passion for the world around us as we grasp the ramifications of the gospel. |
Biblical ArticlesMost of these articles are taken from the Calvary Courier, a weekly newsletter that is sent to the folks who attend Calvary Chapel Jonesboro. Due to the response to these articles, we've decided to print some of them which proved to be very helpful to God's people at the fellowship. 
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