The Church is weak in the area of communication. If there's one thing we need to keep sin at bay and to deal with sin properly it is communication (along with repentance, of course). A pat on the back, a gift, or any other thing is not patching things up between Christian brothers and sisters. God says to use our mouths. To speak the thing. In fact, we are told in James 5.16a: "confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed." Confession requires saying the thing. Not "I'm sorry." We don't see in the Bible that God says to just say "sorry" and move on. He talks about confessing. When we confess our sins to a priest we mention the very sin that we have committed and are maybe even continuing to struggle with. We don't say, "Father I have sinned..." and then not mention what it is. God is into particulars. Because when we do that we are owning up to our weaknesses and when that happens God can work. A stubborn heart that refuses to do so will fall into all sorts of dangers. And our enemy loves that, of course. We are told if a brother sins against us we are to go to that brother (or sister) and what? What did Jesus Christ Himself say? "If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother." Here we see communication is essential. Not talking behind a person's back. Not holding it in, hoping the person will figure it out. Not being afraid to talk. Not just taking it up with God in prayer. No, Jesus said to "tell him his (or her) fault." Because God is all about communication. This is what prayer is. It's communicating with God. So we should do what Jesus says. And, hopefully, the person will say something because sin is staring him or her in the face. This requires humility. Unfortunately, we are not very humble, are we? We don't like being told we've done wrong. We don't like it like a child in preschool doesn't like it when the teacher says, "Sammy, we need to talk about you throwing that toy at Suzie. This was wrong behaviour toward her." Sammy doesn't like it just as much as an adult doesn't like it. But it doesn't matter. When we are confronted with our misdeeds the very best and healthiest thing we can do is agree with God that we did that thing (or did not do the thing we were supposed to do). We need to pray for more humble hearts. Jesus goes, on, though: "But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses." Why would Jesus do this? This sounds like we are to gang up on our brother or sister in Christ. Far be it from us to ever do such a thing! This prescription from Christ is to keep that dialogue open because God is very serious about sin. So much so He sent His only Son to die a horrible, bloody death for our sins. Because He loves us enough to not want sin (trespassing against His laws) to reign in our hearts. Not even a tiny, little bit. Oh, that we never get to this step because it is showing a hardened heart. So, we move on. We take another person or two with us because that person's sin needs to be dealt with if the person is unrepentant. It is a bring back a person who is self-deceived, who may be thinking they are on the right path, may be living the Christian life, but doesn't even see what he (or she) is doing wrong. At this point, of course if the person is unrepentant, he or she is going to feel the heavy weight of the law of God and may get angry at the persons coming to him or her. But we are called to do this for his or her good, not to harm, but to reconcile. God is all about reconciliation. However, not all will take that step toward the person who has been lamenting about whatever the person did. And that's the saddest thing. It breaks fellowship, it tears down relationships, it can even destroy a church. Ultimately, if the person never repents, he will be destroyed by going his (or her) own way. The good news is if he or she repents we welcome this person and rejoice like the angels rejoice when one sinner repents. We do not withhold anything from this person, but with open arms receive him and say that the Lord is well pleased. There is, unfortunately, a third step Jesus says if the person still will not communicate in a way that shows Christian love has been restored: "If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector." This here is the worst thing but the best thing, too. We should grieve if we ever get here because we are telling the person they have rejected the faith they were in. How very fearful. But it is most necessary because we cannot allow sin to spread through our churches and infect others. We must allow now for only God to work for this person's salvation. And He will fight for that person He died for. But the difficulties the Lord will allow to get this person to repent may be pretty horrendous. Reading a commentary in the Orthodox Study Bible I came across a quote by John Chrysostom: "... seeing that he is not only cast out of the Church, but that the bond of his sin will remain in Heaven, he may turn and become gentle." (Chrysostom is known for condemning pride and arrogance, chiefly when it came to the arrogance of the rich and the mistreatment of the poor.) Do you see why communication is an imperative from our Lord from the start? It doesn't ever have to get to the third step of the discipline set forth in the Matthew 18 passages above. I really do believe if we push aside our pride or our fear, whatever is holding us back from being open to the Spirit and dying to our sins, and just communicate, we would be a much healthier Church. We would be doing what the Lord wants, which is the very thing Christians are to strive for anyway. Forgiven much, Tamara Jack Check out my 90 lb. Weight Loss Journey with Weight Watchers HERE! To contact me, email: [email protected] (You can contact me for prayer, too.) Where to find me: Facebook: AssisiRosaries Page HERE YouTube: AssisiRosaries Channel HERE YouTube: Tamara Wigs Out Channel HERE Instagram: AssisiRosaries HERE Instagram: TamaraWigsOut HERE
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This was originally published on an online magazine I was writing for in 2014. The site no longer exists. But I though it important to save this and share it here. Quite a bit of controversy was stirred up by a Baptist pastor who actually did a whole SermonAudio about me and how horrible I am, that my theology is wrong. There's libel about me on his site (which I will provide in a different blog post as I write about the topic of slandering people) and went after me on Twitter. Many, many people came to my defense and called him out for being mean-spirited. He never did repent. He kept saying I'm stupid because there is no creed that even mentions Baptism (he's wrong - the Nicene Creed does). Also, a note that when I wrote this I was a Lutheran, and so I held to monergism. I am working through all of that and would now say I'm a synergist, but not in the way a Calvinist who is arguing with an Arminian about their soteriology. I do believe salvation is the work of God (per Ephesians 2.8,9, and would add Romans 4.1-4). I believe He must make the move to, how shall I say? Enlighten us? We are unable to "make a decision for Christ" without the working of the Holy Spirit. So, when we see in Acts 2 that St. Peter's audience was cut to the heart and asked "what shall we do?" to be saved. The answer, recorded in Acts 2.38,39 are is: "And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”" They were cut to the heart because God did something to make them feel that way in their spirits and then were commanded to repent (they could choose to repent and be saved or not to repent and not be saved). I will go much further into this another time. I'm just noting it here due to my monergistic stance back when I wrtote this article. Here is the original article about Re-Baptism: January 13, 2014 The controversy over whether a Christian should be rebaptized if the person has already been baptized in one church or another denomination is cleared up using Christian creeds and confessions. They help explain the Bible about this doctrine of Baptism. The question only comes to us from Baptists because of their belief about what baptism is. The Lutherans, Presbyterians, and other paedobaptist Christian bodies believe that baptism is the work of God and should only be done once in a lifetime. The Baptist (or the word credobaptist may be used), however, believes it is a confession of faith on the believer’s part, a baptism with water because of the inner working of the Holy Spirit already done to them. They consider baptism a command of God to be obeyed instead of the promise of God to His Creation to bring people into the Body of Christ. It is considered by the Southern Baptist Convention to only be applicable for those who understand the Gospel. Rather than a fully monergistic stance, the credobaptist position requires the person to respond to the Gospel proclamation to be considered a believer in Jesus Christ. The Southern Baptist Convention website article, How to Become a Christian, states: “As soon as you have decided to receive Christ into your life, you can and should be baptized.” This statement explains the position: you decide to become a Christian (not monergistic) and you then are allowed to be baptized. To be baptized before the decision from understanding the Gospel would be unbiblical to the credobaptist but orthodox to all other Christians worldwide. The credobaptist sees rebaptism as biblical because the person needs to obey the command to be baptized only after receiving Christ. A Lutheran or Reformed pastor, on the other hand, if asked by a new person at their church, “I was baptized in the Roman Catholic Church as an infant, but I no longer believe what the Roman Catholic Church teaches. Do I need to be rebaptized?” The pastor would answer, “Your baptism was valid as long as it was in the Trinitarian formula, which the Roman Catholic Church does, so you do not need to be rebaptized. Baptism is the work of God, not of man, so since He already worked that into your life even though it was by man’s hand, we would not say that God did not work, and we have to redo what He already did.” Here are a few quotes from leading theologians and Christian confessions which prove the Church teaches that re-baptism is un-biblical: “Against these absurdities we shall be sufficiently fortified if we reflect that by baptism we were initiated not into the name of any man, but into the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and, therefore, that baptism is not of man, but of God, by whomsoever it may have been administered. Be it that those who baptised us were most ignorant of God and all piety, or were despisers, still they did not baptize us into a fellowship with their ignorance or sacrilege, but into the faith of Jesus Christ, because the name which they invoked was not their own but God’s, nor did they baptize into any other name. But if baptism was of God, it certainly included in it the promise of forgiveness of sin, mortification of the flesh, quickening of the spirit, and communion with Christ. Thus it did not harm the Jews that they were circumcised by impure and apostate priests. It did not nullify the symbol so as to make it necessary to repeat it.” – John Calvin “The sacrament of Baptism is but once to be administered unto any person.” – The Westminster Confession of Faith, 28.7 “Therefore he has commanded all those, who are his, to be baptized with pure water, “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost”: thereby signifying to us, that as water washes away the filth of the body, when poured upon it, and is seen on the body of the baptized, when sprinkled upon him; so does the blood of Christ, by the power of the Holy Ghost, internally sprinkle the soul, cleanse it from its sins, and regenerate us from children of wrath, unto children of God. Therefore we believe, that every man, who is earnestly studious of obtaining life eternal, ought to be but once baptized with this only baptism, without ever repeating the same: since we cannot be born twice.” – Belgic Confession, Article 34 “Water baptism does not guarantee that the person baptized has true faith in the Messiah, but it is so closely tied to the baptism of the Spirit we receive at conversion that people should not be rebaptized even if they come to faith in the triune God after experiencing the sacrament. Those who have been baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit need not ever be rebaptized...” – R.C. Sproul “For here is the water together with the Word of God, even though he does not receive it as he should, just as those who unworthily go to the Sacrament receive the true Sacrament, even though they do not believe. Thus you see that the objection of the sectarians is vain. For (as we have said) even though infants did not believe, which, however, is not the case, yet their baptism as now shown would be valid, and no one should rebaptize them; just as nothing is detracted from the Sacrament though someone approach it with evil purpose, and he could not be allowed on account of his abuse to take it a second time the selfsame hour, as though he had not received the true Sacrament at first; for that would mean to blaspheme and profane the Sacrament in the worst manner. How dare we think that God’s Word and ordinance should be wrong and invalid because we make a wrong use of it? Therefore I say, if you did not believe then believe now and say this: The baptism indeed was right, but I, alas! did not receive it aright.” – Martin Luther, The Large Catechism “And I believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.” – The Nicene Creed Due to the different understanding of what baptism is and does, only the Baptists rebaptize a person. If a person comes out of a cult where the person was not baptized in the Trinitarian formula, a person must be rebaptized because the first baptism was not valid according to the Bible verse Matthew 28:19, which states, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (English Standard Version) There is no recorded instance in the Bible where someone was rebaptized in the Trinitarian formula: in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Baptist must form the conclusion that rebaptism is biblical from a source other than the Bible or from the misunderstanding that a person must be saved by Jesus Christ first and that if they realize later that they were not truly saved, they should be rebaptized to obey what they consider to be a work to be done after regeneration. Their argument that infants ought not to be baptized usually goes like this: “I don’t see infant baptism in the New Testament anywhere.” To remain consistent, the credobaptist needs to also say the same of rebaptism, “I don’t see rebaptism in the New Testament anywhere.” The other problem with rebaptism is that since credobaptists believe a person coming out of the Roman Catholic Church into a Protestant church, they ought to be rebaptized because the priest is not a believer in Jesus Christ and has false doctrine. The question is, though, what if your Baptist pastor who baptized you ten years ago becomes a false teacher – do you need to be rebaptized? Often the credobaptist will affirm that a person should be baptized again, but the answer is no. If the Baptist pastor becomes apostate, everyone in that church does not need rebaptism. The man in the pulpit does not make the baptism valid. It is God who makes baptism valid. “There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” (Eph. 4.4-6) “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” (Mark 16.16, ESV) “And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2.38, ESV) “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.” (Col. 2 8-12, ESV) Citations SBC (n.d). How to Become a Christian. Official Website of the Southern Baptist Convention. Retrieved January 13, 2014, from http://www.sbc.net/knowjesus/baptism.asp Sproul, R.C. (n.d.) One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism. Ligonier Ministries, the Teaching Fellowship of R.C. Sproul. Retrieved January 13, 2014, from http://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/one-lord-one-faith-one-baptism Calvin, John (1536) Institutes of the Christian Religion: of Baptism. The Spurgeon Archive. Retrieved January 13, 2014, from http://www.spurgeon.org/~phil/calvin/bk4ch15.html#one.htm Knox, John, et al. (1646) The Westminster Confession of Faith 28.7. Daily Westminster. Retrieved January 13, 2014, from https://dailywestminster.wordpress.com/2012/11/27/wcf28_7-5 de Brès, Guido (1561) The Belgic Confession of Faith, Article 34 of Holy Baptism. Creeds of Christendom. Retrieved January 13, 2014, from http://www.creeds.net/belgic Luther, Martin (1530) The Large Catechism. The Book of Concord. Retrieved January 13, 2014, from http://bookofconcord.org/lc-6-baptism.php The Council of Nicaea (325) The Nicene Creed. Christian Classics Ethereal Library. Retrieved January 13, 2014, from https://www.ccel.org/creeds/nicene.creed.html Forgiven much, Tamara Jack Check out my 90 lb. Weight Loss Journey with Weight Watchers HERE! To contact me, email: [email protected] (You can contact me for prayer, too.) Where to find me: Facebook: AssisiRosaries Page HERE YouTube: AssisiRosaries Channel HERE YouTube: Tamara Wigs Out Channel HERE Instagram: AssisiRosaries HERE Instagram: TamaraWigsOut HERE "Of making many books there is no end, and much study is wearisome to the flesh." - Ecclesiastes 12.12b
"knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up." - 1 Corinthians 8.1b There is a great temptation for people who are on the search to know more, and more, and more. And that is to use their knowledge for purposes other than to increase faith and love for God and for people. Learning just to learn is okay, yes, but God warns us that it can puff us up. It can tend to make us conceited. "I know all this stuff and you don't." It's a slippery thing, isn't it? It doesn't feel like there is sin involved. Often, it just feels like: "this is a gift from the Lord. To know more so that I can fulfill God's calling in my life." Problem is when we use that knowledge and get into debating for the sake of debating, not to try to win someone over to the faith, not to help a person who is struggling with tearing down false beliefs of the Christian faith. To puff out our chests and show "I was right!" is not fulfilling the will of God. "When pride comes, then comes shame; But with the humble is wisdom." - Proverbs 11.2 This "puffing up" of which Scripture speaks is the very opposite of what the Lord desires. He wants us to have wisdom, not just knowledge. This requires humility. My "Life Verse" is actually two verses that I chose October 31, 2012. I believe it sums up the law and gospel nicely in the Old Testament: "Thus says the Lord: “Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me. And where is the place of My rest? For all those things My hand has made, And all those things exist,” says the Lord. "But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word." We absolutely must have humble spirits. For this is the the person on whom God will look. Going back to all of this knowledge one attains, we must learn how and when to apply that knowledge that was graciously bestowed upon the person. It requires discernment. "Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy." - James 3.13,17 How can I speak with such "knowledge" and authority on this subject? Well, I was this person who had so much knowledge I could debate theology while half awake and half asleep. And I did it for years. Do I believe debating theology is wrong? No! Of course not. We would not have the ecumenical councils if that were true. One's heart really does need to be in the right place, though. Love God and love people - that's what Jesus said: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” - Mark 12.30,31 So, if we are throwing our knowledge out there and feel "good" about it, patting ourselves on the backs, yeah, that's sin. And it will get worse if we do not keep that in check. We are to have self-discipline even in this area and live a repentant life if we struggle with it, going to God with our confession to Him that we've misused His gift of the ability to know more, to study more. Read books. Read blogs. Listen to podcasts. Watch documentaries. Learn historical facts. Do what you want to attain knowledge, but remember to use that knowledge for the greater good - to help people while your faith in God and your love for God is increasing. And not forsaking other duties in our lives. I felt prompted to write this post for a few reasons. One is due to a female friend who said of me about a year or two ago something about how she likes seeing how God has softened me and that I'm nicer or something like that. I remember reading her comment and it was like a dagger into my heart. I hadn't realized I was coming off not as nice as I thought I was. I was not that approachable. It took some time, but I searched my heart and repented. God did a work in me I was unable to do myself. Forgiven much, Tamara Jack Check out my 90 lb. Weight Loss Journey with Weight Watchers HERE! To contact me, email: [email protected] (You can contact me for prayer, too.) Where to find me: Facebook: AssisiRosaries Page HERE YouTube: AssisiRosaries Channel HERE YouTube: Tamara Wigs Out Channel HERE Instagram: AssisiRosaries HERE Instagram: TamaraWigsOut HERE St. Paul wrote to young Timothy, as recorded in 1 Timothy 2.1-4: "First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." As I was praying the Litany today (found under Friday's Litany) when I came across praying for the President of the United States I was struck at the thought that it's a probability that most Christians do not pray for the President. That may be due to their vote for someone else, therefore, they have such disdain for President Biden, or that they just don't know we are to pray for him. This is the part of the Litany to which I am referring: "That it may please thee so to rule the heart of thy servant, The President of the United States, Joseph Biden, that he may above all things seek thy honour and glory. We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord." Readers, friends, I ask you to pray for him, no matter how you stand politically. God desires such prayer. Let us pray as St. Paul urged Timothy. Forgiven much, Tamara Jack Check out my 90 lb. Weight Loss Journey with Weight Watchers HERE! To contact me, email: [email protected] (You can contact me for prayer, too.) Where to find me: Facebook: AssisiRosaries Page HERE YouTube: AssisiRosaries Channel HERE YouTube: Tamara Wigs Out Channel HERE Instagram: AssisiRosaries HERE Instagram: TamaraWigsOut HERE I've been disabled for years now. Wanted to tell you all a story about that. Picture is me from a few months ago when a former caregiver asked if she could take me fishing. I was ecstatic! No one ever wants to take me places like that. So, she threw me and my wheelchair in her car and she cast out a line for me since I was unable, but I was able to pull it back in... with a fish on the hook within five minutes! I'd not been fishing for twenty years, folks. It's important to take disabled people out to do such things. I had a blast and hope more people will take me out like this. Okay, on with the story... I was being driven back from a doctor's appointment about four years ago by a woman who was helping me at the time for rides and picking up groceries. She worked for a company that did that sort of thing - this was not a friend. Though I had an in-home caregiver at the time (and still do) since 2014, she did some extra stuff for me. So, moving on. We were in the car and talking about my wheelchair, which was in her trunk. The conversation went something like this: Me: "Yeah, it's been an ordeal trying to get my wheelchair into some places. Not every business or restaurant makes space for a disabled person." Her: "Oh! Don't call yourself that!" Me: "What?" Her: "That's such a derogatory term. Don't say you are disabled. That's negative talk." Me: (My head is spinning at this point) "Well, I am disabled. I mean I have a disability placard for people's cars when they take me somewhere, the State of Missouri has considered me disabled since the end of 2014, so I have caregivers. Saying disabled is not a bad term. It's just what it is." Her: (Absolutely beside herself) "I just don't agree. You can say something that is more uplifting." Me: "Okay, how about you tell me what would make you comfortable." (Enter my eyerolling) Her: "You can say something like, "I'm unable to perform some tasks. My body is just not like it used to be, but I'm okay with that."" Me: (ARE YOU KIDDING ME?) "Ummm, how is that not negative? All that you said? Plus, I'm not going to go into this litany of what I can and cannot do in order to please other people who are uncomfortable with the word disabled." Her: "Okay, but you'll have to live with the negativity." Folks, this is just a portion of the weirdness a disabled person has to go through. It's totally okay to say the word disabled. It's not stating a negative thing. It's just identifying ability vs. inability to do stuff. So, to all those out there who are in wheelchairs, use walkers, can't get up and around much, maybe homebound, sick, whatever it is that makes it so that you are disabled, know that you are fine just how you are and you don't have to please people with the words you want to use. Everyone is at a different place in their lives. You are not less than nor more than another person. And you should be valued, respected, and loved just how you are. Forgiven much, Tamara Jack Check out my 90 lb. Weight Loss Journey with Weight Watchers HERE! To contact me, email: [email protected] (You can contact me for prayer, too.) Where to find me: Facebook: AssisiRosaries Page HERE YouTube: AssisiRosaries Channel HERE YouTube: Tamara Wigs Out Channel HERE Instagram: AssisiRosaries HERE Instagram: TamaraWigsOut HERE The Collect (1928 Book of Common Prayer) GRANT to us, Lord, we beseech thee, the spirit to think and do always such things as are right; that we, who cannot do any thing that is good without thee, may by thee be enabled to live according to thy will; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Find the collects for every Sunday at All Hallows Hermitage. |
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