Tulip for Beginners

Where have all the flowers gone – or whatever happened to TULIP?

‘Where have all the flowers gone?’ has nothing whatever to do with the song of that name! It simply introduces this short series of articles explaining central teachings of the Reformed Faith. TULIP is an acronym or short way of saying something and stands for the Five Points of Calvinism: Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace and the Perseverance of the Saints.

The Synod of Dort, a council of the Reformed Church of the Netherlands, published the Five Points of Calvinism in 1619. These points or ‘canons’ answered the five points of the Arminian Remonstrance (Protest) of 1610. Arminius and his supporters presented a watered-down version of the reformed teachings but the reformed churches saw the danger and published the Five Points. Since then there have been two camps, the Calvinists and the Arminians.

Total Depravity

When somebody says ‘I’m as good as the next person’, without even realising it, they are saying the exact opposite because the next man is not good at all. The Bible teaches that we are sinful from the inside out. In Romans 6:16, Paul talks about us being ‘slaves to sin’. In Romans 7:18 he makes the remarkable assertion that “in [our] flesh nothing good dwells: for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good, I do not find.”

The problem is that our entire constitution is so affected by sin that we cannot please God. Calvin put it like this; “According to the constitution of our nature, oil might be extracted from a stone sooner than we could perform a good work.’ (Institutes III. 14.5) How different from the utopian optimism of evolutionary thought! So deep-seated and so comprehensive is our depravity that Jeremiah said ‘the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?’ (17:9).

Don’t get it wrong, we all have a moral consciousness but that’s not the point. As Paul said, ‘to will is present with me’ but he concludes ‘the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice’ (Romans 7:19). Total Depravity is the inability of the mind, will and affections to please God. Our Confession of Faith says “By this sin they fell from their original righteousness and communion with God and so became dead in sin, and wholly defiled in all the parts and faculties of soul and body.” (Westminster Confession of Faith. VI.II).

It’s pretty miserable isn’t it? Total Depravity puts us in our place and the important thing is that it is only when we know that we are real sinners that we will come before God in reverence, godly fear and penitence of heart. It isn’t bad to feel bad. How can we ever appreciate God’s sovereign grace in our Lord, Jesus Christ, if we do not understand our abject poverty and absolute need?

But where has Total Depravity gone? Is it in the preaching, prayers and worship of the church? Rick Warren, senior pastor of Saddleback Church, San Jose, California the eighth largest congregation in the USA, has a simple answer to the question “What shall I preach this Sunday?” Preachers, he thinks, should be asking, “To whom will I be preaching?” and adds “simply thinking through the needs of the audience will help determine God’s will for the message . . . People’s immediate needs are a key to where God would have you begin speaking on that particular occasion’ (Purpose Driven Church 227).

Total Depravity helps us approach God in the right way; remove it and something else happens. On worship Warren writes “Figure out what mood you want your service to project, and then create it” (264) and again he writes, “start positive and end positive’ (271). Again he writes “we use humour in our services ... it is not a sin to help people feel good” (272) and ‘[we made] a strategic decision to stop singing hymns in [our] seeker services with the result that ‘we have attracted thousands more because of our music … Saddleback now has a complete pop/rock orchestra.’ (285). The aim, as Warren puts it, is to make “members feel special ... they need to feel special” (320,323). Well we all want to feel special, don’t we - but according to Calvin, “man’s nature … is a perpetual factory of idols” (Institutes, 1.11.8). In the words of Ecclesiastes 7:29 “Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.” That’s the trouble, when depraved people start inventing worship, anything can happen! Let’s get back to the Bible and the reality of what we know when we are most honest with ourselves. It is not that we all do the same number of bad things but that the same number of bad things is wrong with us. We are totally depraved or “wholly defiled in all the parts and faculties of soul and body.”

Allegorizing

I recently read Tim Keller's book The Prodigal God, an exposition and application of the parable of the Good Samaritan. It is hardly possible to read anything of Keller's without being impressed by his zeal for reaching people. But it was also impossible to come away without wondering whether, in this case, the chosen text is able to bear the weight of the book and the book the weight of the text.

In search of the sensus plenior it seems, he ignores Blomberg's moderate-allegorical approach (each parable makes one main point per main character) to find significance that goes way beyond meaning. In addition to the Father, the sinners and the Pharisees we have outreach - 'the father has to go out and invite each of them to come into the feast', the messianic banquet, the cost - atonement, 'home' and other extensions like exile, alienation &, brokenness. Is that all?

Silva makes the point that much allegorical exposition arises from the need for rhetorical effect. (Has the Church Misread the Bible? TOWARDS A DEFINITION OF ALLEGORY,56 )

A Strange Providence

Since the formal beginning of The Evangelical Presbyterian Church in England & Wales in 1996, the number of congregations has grown from five to fifteen, of which four are currently church-plants, all but two having a full-time worker in charge.

Over the same period we have seen a steady supply of men committing themselves to the gospel ministry, I can think of twelve but there might be more. Of these five were lost to other churches, not because they wanted to go but because we could offer them no opening at the time. We have to accept God's sovereignty and work with the conviction that whatever he ordains is right. Nevertheless I have pondered this seepage long and hard to the point where I now wonder if specialist church-planters (which is the way we have gone up to the present) ought to give way to putting our young enthusiasts in the front line (as if the regular ministry is not front line!!). At least they would not have to get through all the cross-cultural stuff our American friends have to deal with when they come here.

I'm sure that training for church planting is valuable but I wonder if it is always necessary, that is beyond a sound general training for ministry. We would have to choose our candidates well of course and also find money to pay them - something we haven't had from the beginning, which raises the question of a tent-making ministry. I have been dead against it for years forgetting all the while that for the first eight years of my ministry I did exactly that, teaching school and doing the work of the ministry - full time teaching and three occasions of ministry every week.

It's just a thought but if we could go down that route, even a little, it would ease our dependence on 'foreign aid' and create a more indigenous approach. The expertise gained could be passed on. Another dimension, which some of our folk habitually avoid, is that in order to attempt such things we need to formulate a collective view of the ways church planting might be done and accumulate collective resources, including money in order to do it - basic, not top-heavy, Presbyterianism; but that's another story.

Context

According to Wilhelmus a Brakel (The Christian's Reasonable Service, vol.1), 'an awareness of context is not always essential ... to the correct understanding of a text or a passage. There are thousands of expressions in God’s Word which, when heard or read individually, have a precise meaning, give full expression to their doctrinal content, and are sufficiently penetrating to stimulate faith, render comfort, and be exhortive in nature.' On the whole we agree, especially as regards the more aphoristic books like Proverbs. However, context is very important, indeed indispensable and much wider in meaning than simply the part of a book in which a text occurs. In fact, beside the analogy of faith, the Westminster Confession details the proper and necessary use of inference ('good and necessary consequence') and this is possible only on the basis of a reasonable grasp of context. a Brakel agrees!

The eloquence of a quiet man

Some who read this will remember Roy John. He began his working life as a stone mason, graduated to working in the Christian Bookshop in Cardiff city centre and ended his working life as a hospital porter. A quiet man of no particular distinction, he read the puritans and studied reformed theology, loved classical music and enjoyed watching rugby and cricket. His wife Tessa died suddenly about 18 months ago. He handled it with great serenity. Soon afterwards he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. He died as he had lived, with unquestioning trust in Christ and believing that whatever God ordains is right. We buried his mortal remains today. It was a good service and the gospel went forth just as he would have wished. The eloquence of his life as a disciple of the Lord Jesus makes so many sermons, my own included, seem like a mumbled whisper.

More bias

This came from the Barnabas Fund:

Pakistan: As flood crisis worsens, church leaders warn of danger of Christians missing out on aid.

A senior church leader in Pakistan has warned that "hardly anything" from international aid packages will reach marginalised Christians affected by the worst floods to hit the country in 80 years. The statement to Barnabas Fund from the Bishop of Peshawar comes as the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), which comprises 13 aid agencies, launched a radio and TV appeal for the escalating crisis in Pakistan yesterday (5 August).

Barnabas Fund was quick to respond to the humanitarian disaster, immediately sending an initial grant of £10,000 on Monday to begin helping the thousands of Christians affected by flooding in the worst-hit Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province and Punjab Province.

Devastation

Bishop Humphrey Peters of the Church of Pakistan's Diocese of Peshawar (in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province) thanked Barnabas Fund for its support and said the minority Christian population would otherwise receive "hardly anything" from international aid packages.

He said: "We are indebted to Barnabas Fund who are always the first ones to extend practical support.I am personally visiting the affected areas. Our Christians, who are already deprived and marginalized, are in pathetic conditions. They have lost almost everything in their houses; they could only save their lives."

"Soon after the emergency phase that might last for a couple of months, the most important will be the rehabilitation. We are sure that some countries will come forward with aid packages, but hardly anything will reach the minority Christians. Do keep us in your special prayers."

Yunis Lal Din, leader of the Fellowship of Brethren Churches in Pakistan, told Barnabas Fund yesterday:

"The situation is desperate with many families having lost their homes and possessions. Many Christians were already in poor circumstances and are now doubly affected and do not know where to find help. Barnabas Fund is the first and only organisation so far that has sent funds and provided help for their needs. . .

"It is great to know that brothers and sisters care so much in this time of national crisis. Thank you."
Discrimination

Christians comprise around 2.5-3 per cent (4-5 million people) of the population in Pakistan. They face widespread discrimination, are despised by their Muslim neighbours, and the majority of Christians live in extreme poverty. Islamisation is gathering strength in Pakistan and sharia law has been partially implemented. Last year saw an unprecedented number of violent incidents against Christian communities. In such a context, Christians are likely to be neglected when general aid is distributed.

Dr Patrick Sookhdeo, International Director of Barnabas Fund, said: "We greatly welcome the appeal by the DEC to help those affected by the devastating flooding in Pakistan but we would urge Christians to particularly bear in mind their marginalised brothers and sisters when considering their own giving. Barnabas Fund channels money exclusively from Christians through Christians to Christians who desperately need our help.

"They urgently need our assistance now and, looking to the future, will require long-term help to rebuild their homes and shattered lives."

They shall renew their strength - growing old in the ministry

Two summers ago I attended the OPC General Assembly at Calvin College. One agenda item was the church-planting work of their home missions committee - there had been some 28 new works in the preceding year. Church-plant pastors attending the assembly were invited to stand and be identified. I was startled by the number of men in their late middle age or even past retirement age.

A week ago we had the pleasure of the company of a delightful couple from Lancaster County, PA. We treated them to some home-cooked stir-fry and other delights (it's subjective, I know) and then sat down to chat, mainly about them. He is almost 60, a former Lutheran pastor now estranged from that denomination after embracing Reformed Theology and standing up for the sanctity of life. He and his wife, a Maths teacher, are in fellowship with the PCA.

It was just humbling to hear about their spiritual journey, how he was 'fired' for making his pro-life stand, and how they intend to use their remaining years to work as missionaries in the UK. How personally challenging and encouraging to meet up with Christians from one's own age-group who continue to bear fruit into old age (sorry about that Tom)! Who said that missions work is only for the young?