19 September 2008

Goin' to a Wedding

I'm getting a sister. I am the last of "the Wessler boys" to get a sister, as I was the first one married. But now, I get a sister. And Tiffany gets a sister. And that sister's name is Heidi....though I've never seen her in pig tails.

Not that a single person reading this blog (of the four of you I know who have read it) cares that I'm getting a sister, this is a big deal in my life. At my wedding, all of my brothers (except Zach...he doesn't say much) commented on how great it was to get a sister, and how happy they were that it is Tiffany. Growing up, we were five brothers without any sisters, and everybody knew it. When Zach was born, people would say that we made a basketball team. We actually did make a basketball team one summer for the Gus Macker 3-on-3 tournament in Peoria, which was really interesting because it was the 3 oldest boys plus Dad, making us play against all these old people when I was in Jr. High. And if you've ever seen me play basketball, you can only guess how intimidating that was for me. All that to say we've always looked forward to getting a sister. So, at my wedding, my brothers were all excited because they finally got a sister.

And I got a wife. :)

But, I still don't have a sister. But all that's going to change. We are packed and ready to fly up to St. Louis, then drive to Peoria because Nate is getting married tomorrow. Granted, they should have gotten married before I did, but they took their time. And we can't change the past. So now they're getting married. And we're excited.

I'm finally getting sister.

09 September 2008

Salvation by…works?

Okay, so I don't want to step on any toes here, but this entry is based off a conversation I had with James while talking outside the bathroom on the second floor of the library. If you were in the library at the time, you probably heard us as neither one of us is particularly quiet. Anyway, somehow we got around to talking about evangelism and the way it is taught in many (most?) evangelical churches today. This goes along with a previous entry, as we agreed that we should not go out and evangelize because we are told to do so by others. We brought up the fact that, at DTS, we have to share the gospel with at least 5 people during the semester in which we are taking evangelism. Granted, we should be doing this anyway, but our emphasis was on the requirement aspect of it. But it's not just at DTS. James said he had looked at other seminaries but decided not to go there because the students were required to share the gospel with at least 2 people every week while a student at that seminary. Again, sharing the gospel is a good thing. Requiring it as part of a grade or even as part of being eligible to remain a student places the emphasis in the wrong place. Evangelism should flow from our worship of the King. If we truly love Him, our life will reflect this love and we can do little but share the gospel with others (though this need not be done by reciting the "4 Spiritual Laws" or, if at DTS, the "Bad News, Good News").

This conversation led into a discussion of the methods used to reach the lost. Being raised Lutheran, the concept of an altar call was completely foreign to me until I started visiting Baptist and Assemblies of God churches. Though I have no problem with the concept of an altar call – I believe that making a physical expression of one's faith is great – I take issue at those who believe that altar calls are necessary for Christians to participate in, or, even worse, necessary for salvation. Last I checked salvation is given by God as a gift. A gift granted by grace, through faith, but a gift nonetheless. And this is not by works. That means that no altar call is necessary for salvation, no matter how many preaches may make it seem otherwise.

And these altar calls may not be merely those found at the end of many church services. They are the common means by which many Western evangelists finish their presentations. Think about it. How many times have we heard somebody share the gospel and finish by saying, "If you believe what I said just now, then pray this simple prayer and you will be saved." The requirement of "praying the prayer" takes the place of the altar call, placing the emphasis not on the One who saves but on man's ability to do something to get salvation.

I'll let the sit for a second.


 


 

Just think about it. By saying that they must "pray this prayer" we are adding a requirement to salvation that was not put there by God. Yes, it makes sense to our finite, human minds to add something to the gospel presentation so that we may be assured that somebody is saved, but this does not make it a requirement for salvation. If somebody does not "pray the prayer," they may still be saved…we just might not know it. And that's okay. We don't need to know. If we require the prayer, or even present it as a requirement, we are adding a condition to salvation and, all of a sudden, salvation is by works. No matter how often we preach otherwise, as long as we make the altar call or the prayer a necessary component of our gospel presentations, we are preaching a works-based salvation in practice. And that, my brothers and sisters, is not the gospel.

I could keep going, but I need to get to class. I'm thinking I am long overdue for an entry on baptism…and since that ties in very nicely with this one, I very well may hit on that topic next time.

05 September 2008

A Simple Question.

"If the Missio Dei is the central story of Scripture, why is it missing from our theology?"

This is another sound bite from class. No, it's not really a "simple" question. But still, it's one that every Christian should consider. Now, I guess I can't assume everybody would know what it is I'm talking about, so I'll give a little background. I mean, y'all aren't in class with me everyday.

Basically, the "Missio Dei" is, literally, the mission of God.

It is not merely something He does – it is the very nature of God. It is His interaction with humanity. It exudes from His being. It is the extension of His love to all people everywhere.

It is found in every page of the Bible. From beginning to end, God seeks to be glorified by making Himself known to all humanity.

And He has made Himself known. Every human who has ever lived has been given evidence of God's very existence through their surroundings. The other people, the animals, the plants, the stars, the sun, even the air we breathe show evidence of God's existence. We are all therefore without excuse. We cannot deny His existence. Yet that is not enough. General revelation (God's revealing Himself to all mankind through nature, etc.) makes every person, regardless of location or background, accountable to God. But just because we have all been given evidence of God does not mean that we have all been given the revelation necessary for salvation – the revelation of God's mercy and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for our sins.

The responsibility of those who have been given this revelation, then, is to share with anybody and everybody. But this isn't a duty in the sense of the drudgery associated with work. Rather, it's an opportunity to respond in love and praise to the God who has called us to Him. Just as the Missio Dei is the nature of God and therefore it exudes from Him, so too we, as people seeking after the heart of God, should exude His love in all that we do. To participate in mission is to participate in God's love toward all people, everywhere. What a great opportunity! Yet so often we make missions an activity of the church, not the central pole on which all the aspects of ministry base. If missions is the central theme of who God is and how He has interacted with mankind throughout history, we, as the representatives of Christ on earth, should likewise make missions the central theme of who we are and what we do, both as individuals and as the church.

Hopefully I will be able to further develop this idea in future entries….so stay tuned.

01 September 2008

The Church and the Ice Cream Cone



"The bigger a church gets, the more prone it is to becoming a self-licking ice cream cone"

My "Theology of Missions" professor made this comment during class this past week, and the entire class – all twelve of us – laughed pretty heartily before we considered the gravity of what was said. Although it doesn't necessarily summarize my first week of my last semester of Seminary, it does provide a good topic for consideration. I'll start with a little bit of the context in which the comment was made.

Our class discussion for this particular session was on the nature and extent of sin. It's a topic that pretty much all of my professors have addressed at some point, but most of them do it using the theological language of the seminary classroom. This professor insisted that we not use any seminary language, but talk as though we were explaining sin to a ten-year-old. As we continued in the discussion, we began to consider how our perspective on sin will affect those to whom we are ministering. If we have a lax view of sin – portraying sin as a simple error that can be fixed and forgotten – we will never show it for what it really is – a constant rejection of the dominion of the Divine. As sin continues in our lives, it shows those to whom we minister that it is okay to reject God's authority. It's like leading them directly into the ground without them even realizing it. Dr. Bradley used the illustration of performance fighter plane fliers who followed each other so closely in formation that when the leader performed a loop too close to the ground, all the others followed suit and all of the men ended up crashing into the ground. Likewise, a view of sin that is too light will not only lead us into further rebellion, but it will also lead all those who follow us.

And that's when the quote came out. We got onto the topic of how some churches avoid teaching about the truth of sin, preferring instead to emphasize God's love. I'm not going to name any names, but some of the largest churches in the country avoid talking honestly about sin so that the members can feel good about themselves. The message they hear appeals to them, but it doesn't convict them. These churches begin to grow without addressing the real issue at hand. And, as these churches continue to grow, the avoidance of the sin issue is reinforced because the numbers are increasing, and, according to the Western mentality, the more members a church has, the more successful it must be. They truly become a self-licking ice cream cone.

Sin is not always an easy issue to talk about. Most people don't like to hear how bad we are. Yet we must be willing to address this issue if we are going to be honest about God's Truth. Just remember, we will never fully appreciate what God has done for us if we do not rightly understand what God has saved us from. Sin is utterly, absolutely hideous every time it occurs, and we should never sugar coat this truth. But we can add hope to this message as we remember the hope we have in Christ.