Shaping an Understanding of the Church

A Church That Inflates

Beyond ‘one, holy, catholic and apostolic,’ what can be said about the Church?  Will a defining proposition contain enough expression to encompass all that the Church is?  What about the revelatory biblical explanations of the church in Scripture–shouldn’t we just be comfortable with those?  How can we be sure we will get it right?  While these are pertinent questions, they may be misdirected.  With everything we have been discovering in our investigation of the Church, the one theme I hope you have picked up on is the diversity of shape the Church has taken throughout the ages.  At Pentecost (Acts 2) it was a whole lot easier to point to a specific group and say, “look, there’s the Church!” than it is today.  Because of the 2000 years of history we have between Pentecost and today, a rock-solid definition that includes a locus and genetic group is very difficult to accurately express.  I would like to express a non-propositional, fluid understanding of the Christian Church today.

If we authentically trust God as Christians, then we must trust that through the person of the Holy Spirit, God has been forming and guiding the Church for the last 2000+ years.  This gives us the confidence as believers to assert that the Church today is exactly what and where it should be.

What

The church is comprised of two encompassing elements: transcendent and experiential.  These two groups are different and distinct from Israel (both current and historical Israel) and all other groups God has chosen and/or ordained throughout the known history of humanity.  The transcendent church represents all who have authentically been born from above (or regenerated) by the Spirit of God (John 3) throughout the whole of time.  These people are said to have been justified by God’s grace through faith in Christ Jesus alone.  The experiential church represents these Christians (real Jesus followers) who are alive today and publically gather together (manifesto) to devote themselves to the apostles’ teaching (and the whole of the Holy Scriptures), to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayers (Acts 2:42).

These Christians are united in community (common-unity) by the Holy Spirit to the entire body of Christ through their geographic church expression.  To be authentic, these Christians must truly believe in the second person of the Trinity—Jesus Christ—and seek to observe His commands (Matt. 28:20).  Within their geographic church expression, they must practice both ordinances that the Lord Jesus mandated: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.  This devotion to Jesus as Lord should yield to an ever increasing growth in holiness (sanctification). 

Where

Today, the church is observable in geographic gatherings of people.  Most often, but not always, these gatherings occur in predefined buildings or spaces suited for the gathering of people.  Most, but not all churches are part of larger networks of other like-minded churches.  These networks (denominations) are normatively united around theological expressions that encompass the convictions of the leadership and people who adhere to that expression.  Usually, these theological expression statements can be traced back to an historical offshoot of the main East/West church split in 1054 AD.  As long as the fundamental ‘roots’ of any given church align to the historically orthodox one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church, then that local gathering can be said to be an authentic Christian church.   

The ‘Whatabouts’

In Conclusion

To conclude, we can see there are definitely some things that the church is not.  Of course there are some terms and word-pictures in the Bible that describe the church.  Also, the church has a history which lead to the discovery of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church.  Lastly, we can trust that through the person of the Holy Spirit, God has been forming and guiding the Church for the last 2000 plus years.  This gives us the confidence as believers to assert that the Church, both now and in the future, is exactly what and where it should be.

Grace and peace to you,

Sean~~

...open the doors and see all the people...

This is part 3 of a 4 part blog series that is wrestling with the big question, “What is the church?”

In part 1 I dealt with what the church is not. In part 2, I discussed the words and word pictures that we see in the Scriptures that can help us describe the church. Here in part 3, I will walk through a brief and selected history of the Christian church with the end goal of discovering this one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church.

For the purposes of this series, I will be dissecting my brief and selected church history into five time periods—although this could be done many other ways. These time chunks are not meant to be an exhaustive representation of the church during this time period, merely a selection to give us guidance in our study here. I have also decided to briefly highlight historical figures during these time blocks that I hope will give our historical viewpoint some aspect of personality.

After his messianic confession, Jesus told Peter, “on this rock I will build My church, and the forces of Hades will not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth is already bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth is already loosed in heaven (Matt 16:18-19).” Jesus here was appointing Peter to a special office within the Church that 10 of his other disciples would take part in along with Matthias in Acts 1:26 and Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:8-11. This was an exclusive office that would be closed upon their earthly death. This was the apostolic office of the New Testament Church. This leads us to our first time chunk: The Apostolic Period.

The Apostolic Period was a short time period within church history. It begins at Pentecost in AD 4 when the church began (Acts 1:7-8; 2). During this period the foundations of the Church were being laid. Authoritative doctrines were being set forth and early converts were being instructed in the ways of the faith. This time period would close with the deaths of the original apostles. If the apostle John did indeed die in AD 95 than with him, so did the Apostolic Period.

The Apostle Paul

For this time period I would like to highlight the apostle Paul. Most of us know the story of the Jewish Pharisee Saul of Tarsus and his amazing conversion to Christianity, how Jesus changed his name to Paul and appointed him to an apostolic ministry—if you aren’t familiar with the story, check out Acts 22:1-21 and Galatians 1:11-24. Paul was instrumental during this time period of the church. Inspired and superintended by the Holy Spirit, Paul wrote much of the New Testament that would set forth the doctrines of the church for years to come. Paul had great sin (1 Tim 1:15), but God used him in great ways to grow the church.

We can see the early creedal character of the church during the Apostolic Period through the statements the church professed during this time. Fantastically, these statements have been faithfully preserved for us in the Scriptures and we can find them in: John 1; Romans 1:1-4; 1 Corinthians 15:1-5; Philippians 2:5-11; Colossians 1:15-20; 1 Timothy 3:16.

After the apostles became absent from their bodies and were present with the Lord, the church moved into the Antique Period. In this period, the church had to adopt a process for confirming second and third generation leadership. Of utmost importance to the leaders of the church during this time was the preservation of the apostolic teaching. Passing on the faith and entrusting it to faithful men who would be able to continue this cycle (2 Tim 2:2) was the main focus of this expanding early church. During the Antique Period (approx. AD 100-300) the church underwent much persecution. This had the effect of strengthening the church. Now tested and hardened by fire, the church could continue strong and bold into its next transition period.

Polycarp was burned at the stake for his faith in Christ Jesus.

During the Antique Period I find it appropriate to highlight the life of Polycarp. As the bishop of Smyrna, Polycarp had great influence in the early church. He was also a quasi celebrity having sat at the feet of the apostle John learning from him. Eventually, about AD 155, Polycarp would be burned alive at the stake for his un-renouncing faith in Jesus Christ. His death only helped the Christian cause in this era.

Continuing with the creedal theme, out of this period we get the Apostle’s Creed. We also begin to see the same collection of New Testament letters being read in the churches throughout this period. The first church worship manual would appear at Antioch (Didache) and the antique church experienced enormous growth during intense persecution.

The Antediluvian Period of the church would be primarily influenced through an onslaught of developing epistemologies. Looking into this period we see a development of: ascetic monasticism (monks and monasteries), institutionalism (within the Roman church), scholasticism (with the rise of the universities), humanism (in the renaissance), and mysticism (individual spirituality as a reaction to other ways of thinking). These alternative ideologies would have a divisive affect on the church. And so we see in AD 1054 the eastern (Greek) church splitting from the western (Roman) church.

One could argue that the church shifted its focus from being Christian (following Jesus) to being right (following epistemologies that are seeking truth) during this period. While truth seeking inherently is not a bad endeavor (John 8:32), we can see an extreme paradigm shift that led to many problems in the church during this time. The church was aching and groaning for the Reformation by the time we would get there in the 1500’s.

John Cassian and his awesome blue monk garb.

There are many key figures that one could highlight during this time period. To keep things on a positive note, I would like to highlight two ‘John’ figure heads which represent the opening and closing of the Antediluvian period.

John Cassian was a cenobium desert monk in Egypt who lived at the beginning of the Antediluvian Period around AD 400. John’s life could be classified as one who was seeking to balance the Egyptian monastic order with biblical methods. Primary of John’s works are: The Institutes (1100 years before Calvin’s institutes—and much more helpful I might add) and The Conferences. The importance of John’s work cannot be underestimated.

Yes, John Calvin is a bobblehead doll.

Our second figure brings us to the close of this time period with the ‘Institutes’ work of John Calvin. When John Calvin published his Institutio Christianae Religionis (Institutes of the Christian Religion) in 1536 the Protestant Reformation was in full swing. There is arguably no other figure that has influenced Protestant British and therefore British North American Christianity than John Calvin. Charles Haddon Spurgeon said of John Calvin, “Among all those who have been born of women, there has not risen a greater than John Calvin; no age before him ever produced his equal, and no age afterwards has seen his rival. In theology, he stands alone, shining like a bright fixed star, while other leaders and teachers can only circle round him, at a great distance — as comets go streaming through space — with nothing like his glory or his permanence.” While this is quite a statement about anybody, it reflects the prominence that Calvin’s theology had coming out of this period. While the 5 points of Calvinism (T: total depravity, U: unconditional election, L: limited atonement, I: irresistible grace, P: perseverance of the saints) don’t faithfully represent John’s holistic view, but, were written by his students later, they do show to us the historic tenets of this theological position.

The reformation birthed the Modern period of the church which gave rise to rationalistic epistemology. While positively rationalism gave us the sense that what we know to be true can be trusted, ideologically, I am reflecting the position that it had a negative impact on people of faith.

Rationalism replaces biblical truths with rationalistic truths and has the tendency to be reductionistic. Let me also point out that following the reformation, the authority of church tradition, as it was understood at that time, was tossed to the side. Martin Luther’s reforming words dug in deeply and became a resounding cry of the modern period, “Unless I am convinced by proofs from Scriptures or by plain and clear reasons and arguments, I can and will not retract, for it is neither safe nor wise to do anything against conscience. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me.” Rationalistic thinkers have the tendency to focus on proofs from plain and clear reasons and forget to consult the true authorities which are: the Scriptures and God’s help. This convincing via sheer reason would unfortunately become a stumbling block for people of faith.

"I AM" renee descartes

Also affecting this period and connected to rationalism would be the beginning of the enlightenment. As French philosopher Renee Descartes so confidently spoke during this era, “I think, therefore I am.” Many of the scientific disciplines were birthed during the modern period and knowing things through empiricism and the organization of ideas through categories became the accepted epistemology of this time.

Kan you? No you Kant!

In the west, a great example of the product of modernism would be the theology of Immanuel Kant. Categorical Imperatives as Kantianism expresses them, would eventually mature and give rise to the ultimate expressions of modernism: the quest for the historical Jesus, the Jesus seminar, and the “Mega-church” among other products of this way of thinking.

The rejection of Modernity gave rise to the Postmodern era which started in North America about the 1960’s and continues to today. Postmodernism influences every new wave of Christian thought in the church today and manifests itself in a passive rather than active sense.

Because of its freshness on the scene of the timeline, Post-modernity is widely misunderstood and often attacked by modernists. This polemic is understandable as differing epistemologies often create friction. The list of modernists that have made the claim that, “Postmodernism is a rejection of truth!” is too long to even begin to list here. This claim is blatantly false and Postmodernism is not a rejection of any kind of truth whatsoever. If you need proof of this just ask anyone who is under the age of 50 if they believe that there are things that are true and things that are false. You will most often receive a affirmative answer. John Franke, a fantastic theologian and postmodern thinker, says that postmodernism can affect general philosophical beliefs, attitudes and intellectual tendencies related to such matters as epistemology, language, and the nature of reality. Ultimately, these thoughts will express themselves in truths, they probably will not land in the categorical ‘boxes’ that modernists have adopted and therefore create misunderstanding and disagreement among modernists—hence the polemic.

Whether you like it or not, we are all affected in some way, shape, or form by both modernity and post-modernity—this is simply where we find ourselves in the timeline. Therefore, YOU represent a great example of personality in this era. Right now, you are helping to shape the ideals of the church in this age. Might I suggest that we orient ourselves to the historic, confessional Christian faith that was passed on by the apostles. A historic expression is found in the profession of the Christian community as the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church.

Let’s break this church down—
One: Authentic Christians are meant to be baptized by water and the Holy Spirit into the community (common-unity) of the faith which rests in Christ Jesus alone and can be tangibly experienced through the practice of the Lord’s Supper. Simply, we’re all in this together.

Holy: As God’s elect people, the Church is to be distinct from the operative functions of the world. Simply, set apart to God.

Catholic: A participation of all Christian churches in the transcending belief ideals which unify us. Simply, that which has been believed everywhere, always and by all.

Apostolic: An adoption of the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints through the teachings of the apostles as seen in the Scriptures. Simply, the Bible tells me so.

So far, in part 1, we looked at what the church is not. Then, in part 2, we made some etymological discoveries about terms and word-pictures that describe the church. Next, in part 3, we walked through a selected history of the church and broke down the historical discovery of this one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church.

Next, in part 4 I will come to a conclusion on the question, “What is the Church?” I  hope you will find my conclusion to be biblically sound, theologically accurate, historically consistent and reasonably viable.

Grace and peace to you,
Sean~~

–
Resources:

Franke, John R., The Character of Theology: An Introduction to its Nature, Task, and Purpose, Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2005.

Revell, Fleming H., The Autobiography of Charles H. Spurgeon, Compiled from His Diaries, Letters, and Records by His Wife and His Private Secretary, London: Passmore and Alabaster, Paternoster Buildings, E.C. 1898.

St. Vincent of Lerins, Commonitorium (AD 434)

Svigel, Michael J. “Unpublished class notes for ST105: Sanctification and Ecclesiology.” Dallas, Texas: Dallas Theological Seminary, Fall 2010.

Wikipedia contributors, “Immanuel Kant”, Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immanuel_Kant (accessed March 14, 2011).

I wanted to make sure you received a chance to hear Afshin’s powerful testimony.  Be sure to spend some time watching this video–it will move you.  After you hear his story, you may want to catch Afshin’ s entire message series on the DTS chapel site located here.

Please know that God’s desire is to reach the world by the gospel of His Son and we are CAREtakers and PARtakers in this ministry.  Where might God use you for the sake of His kingdom?

Enjoy Afshin’s message-

This makes me think of my friends Dave and Josh and their families.  These are people who are responding RIGHT NOW to God’s global call.  I love the Afshin quote I took away from this week, “I do not believe that God uses the most talented, articulate or best looking people.  I believe that God uses the most available in mighty ways.”

Grace and peace to you,

Sean~~

Dallas Theological Seminary’s (DTS) World Evangelization Conference (WEC) this year features keynote speaker Afshin Ziafat.  This years annual missions conference promises to be a fantastic week of missional commitment and renewal on campus.  Here is an excerpt from the DTS website which includes the conference schedule:

WEC Week Conference Schedule - Public is Welcome Please Join Us!

The World Evangelization Conference (WEC) is DTS’ annual missions conference which exists to bring glory to God by spurring students on toward the mission of God through the Gospel of Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is a week-long campus-wide event entirely designed and coordinated by students for students and guests – it is open to the public!

This year’s WEC (March 7-11) is excited to welcome Afshin Ziafat as our Plenary Speaker. Other conference presenters include pastors, professors, missionaries, and field experts who will speak in Chapels, Breakout Seminars, Workshops, and Special Events. Additionally, students will have the chance to learn about short term, long term, and career ministry opportunities from over 40 global organizations who will join us as conference exhibitors. At the end of the day, our hope is that students will be more exposed to global realities, be more equipped to minister globally, and ultimately, more compelled to participate in God’s world-wide redemptive mission.

If you have any interest in world missions, missiology, global outreach or evangelism in general, this is a conference that you will not want to miss!  Please join us as all are welcome to attend.  Conference questions can be directed to wec@dts.edu

You can see my posts reviewing last year’s WEC conference with keynote speaker Dr. Michael Frost here…

Grace and peace to you and I hope to see you there,

Sean~~

What is the church--do you know?

This is part 2 of a 4 part blog series that is asking and answering the question, “What is the church?” In part 1, I dealt with what the church is not.  Make sure to read What is the Church part one.  Here in part 2, I will discuss the words that we see in the Scriptures that can help us describe the church.

Merriam-Webster says that the etymological origin of the word church is, “Middle English chirche, from Old English cirice, ultimately from Late Greek kyriakon, from Greek, neuter of kyriakos of the lord, from kyrios lord, master; akin to Sanskrit śūra hero, warrior.”  The neuter form, kyriakos we see in 1^st Corinthians 11:20 and Revelation 1:10.  In Hebrew culture, we see the term qahal, which is the act of assembling (Deut 9:10; 1 Kings 12:3).  We also see ‘edah, which talks about the assembly of the entire community of people (Exodus 12:3).

While etymology in and of itself cannot tell us what any given word means out of a proposed usage, it can give us a semantic range of meaning.  This range of meaning helps us determine the usage and meaning of a word in a particular context—like the Scriptures.

In the Septuagint—the Greek translation of the Old Testament that was used in Jesus’ day—as well as in the New Testament, we frequently find the term ekklesia.  In general, this was a social or political assembling of people together (Acts 19:32, 41).  The apostle Paul likes to use the term ekklesia in the New Testament to refer to distinct communities of Christians.  From this Greek word we get our word ecclesiology, that is, the study of or doctrine of the church.

The most normative use in the New Testament for this assembly of believers, is in the context of a local, geographically identifiable community of Christians.  Today we would call this, the local church.  This helps us see that the church does indeed have a particular geography associated with a community of people.  This helps us rule out a mystical or spiritual only church idea.  This also helps us specifically locate the church with New Testament believers as opposed to Israel or any other group.

Word-pictures we see in the New Testament for the church:

• A faithful fellowship (Acts 4:32; 2^nd Corinthians 4:5).
• Specific people that can be gathered together in a local place (Acts 14:27).
• The church is ‘of God’ and was purchased by His own blood (Acts 20:28).
• Churches are ‘of Christ’ (Romans 16:16).
• Churches contain saints (1^st Corinthians 14:33).
• The people of God in Christ (1^st Corinthians 1:2).
• A new creation (2^nd Corinthians 5:17).
• Jesus is the head of the church (Ephesians 1:22; 5:23).
• In the heavenly realms, the church proves God’s wisdom (Ephesians 3:10).
• The church submits to the authority of Christ (Ephesians 5:24).
• The church will be presented in holiness and splendor to Christ (Ephesians 5:27).
• Jesus cares for His Church (Ephesians 5:29).
• The church is a body (the body of Christ) and Christ is the head (Colossians 1:18, 24).

From these biblical word-pictures we can see that the church might be best expressed through imagery, in the Hebraic sense, rather than, in the Greek sense, through propositional truth statements.  These word-pics give our minds freedom to visualize what the church is—or is to become.

To be fair, we should give the Greek method a shot, and now look at some propositions:

“The church is a body of people called out from among the world for the distinct and unique purpose of glorifying their Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

–Charles R. Swindoll

“From an incarnational perspective, the church is not a human organization, but a divine creation that, in a mystical yet real way, coinheres with the Son who is made present in and through it.”

–Robert E. Webber

“The church that is to be one in the Spirit, united to Jesus Christ, and one in the faith, holding to the purity of the apostolic gospel, must also be God’s holy people on earth, growing in likeness to Christ, and transcending worldly divisions as beginning of a new humanity in Christ.”

—Edmund P. Clowney

“The true Church is the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church, called by God the Father, united in Christ, and preserved by the Spirit. A true church community is centered on Christ’s person and work, governed by the Holy Scriptures, conformed to the ancient tradition, identified by particular apostolic marks and works, and free from gross heresy.”

—Michael J. Svigel

So far, in part 1, we looked at what the church is not.  Then, in part 2, we made some etymological discoveries about terms and word-pictures that describe the church.  Next, in part 3, we will walk through a selected history of the church and attempt to discover this one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church.  Watch for part 3.

Grace and peace,

Sean~~

–  –  –

Resources:

Clowney, Edmund P. The Church: Sacraments, Worship, Ministry, Mission.  Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 1995.

Merriam-Webster dictionary online at http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/church accessed 2/8/2011.

Svigel, Michael J. “Unpublished class notes for ST105: Sanctification and Ecclesiology.” Dallas, Texas: Dallas Theological Seminary, Fall 2010.

Swindoll, Charles R. The Church Awakening: An Urgent Call for Renewal. New York: FaithWords, 2010.

Webber, Robert E. Common Roots: The Original Call to an Ancient-Future Faith, Revised. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009.

So, what is the church anyway??

I am starting a 4 part blog post series to express some of my learning about the important question, “What is the church?” My hope is to address several key points that this question perpetuates.  I also hope to give you my personal convictions surrounding these points.  As a future church planter, I am sure you can imagine that this is a crucial question that I think about often.  In fact, I think beyond meeting the risen savior personally and swearing your full allegiance to Him, this is the most important question any Christian leader can ask.

Before we can understand any type of operative question (What does it mean to BE the church?;  What is the church supposed to DO? etc.) about the church, we must understand the fundamental question about what the church is. I hope to illustrate a biblically sound, theologically accurate, historically consistent and reasonably viable position. I also understand that many of you may hold a certain view about what the church is and that my position may vary from yours.  Ultimately, the goal of a study like this is NOT to say, “My church is right and yours is wrong.”  But, hopefully, the goal will be to explore this vital question so that we may treat Christ’s bride—the Church—correctly.

In part one here, I will be dealing mainly with antithetical observations, namely, what the church is not.  The logic here is if we can understand what the church is not, we will be a step closer to understanding what the church is.  What the church is determines what the church does.  This is plainly seen in the enormous variety of churches and church activities in America today.  Because of this fact, understanding the nature of the church is essential.

The church is NOT:

• Merely a physical building on a street corner.
• A religious segment of a local or state government.
• Simply a mark of national or ethnic identity.
• A single denomination that holds claim to the true faith.
• A human organization like a social club, business or other formal entity.
• Merely a group of several believers that happen to be gathering because of Jesus.
• A mystical, spiritual, non-corporeal entity that cannot be known.
• Merely the universal, worldwide, regenerate people of Christ.

All of these elements might in some way impact the overall nature of the church, but, divorced from the whole or singly emphasized they are not the church.

Holy Scripture attests to the essential existence of the church for the believer—because of this, I would confirm that church is NOT an option for Christians.  The church is not a mailing list that you can opt-out of.

Scripture attests:

• Meeting together is essential – Hebrews 10:25
• Essential for missions work – Acts 14:21-27
• Essential for problem solving – Acts 15
• Essential for submission to Christ – Ephesians 1:22
• Essential for proclamation – Ephesians 3:10
• Essential for healing – James 5:14

So, because church is not an option for the believer, and we can see the essential nature of its existence, believers must concern themselves with answering this question.  To find the church is to find the New Testament people of God (2 Corinthians 6:16) and the bride of Christ Jesus (Revelation 21:9).

Most believers that I talk to come up way short when attempting to answer the, “What is the church?” question.  What do you think?  How would you answer this crucial question?  Think through it.  It would be a great exercise for you to write a brief, 30 word definition of the church before reading part two.

In part 2 I will discuss etymological discoveries that will help us to discover the true nature of the church.

Until then, grace and peace be with you.

Sean~~

–  –  –

Resources:

Michael J. Svigel, “Unpublished class notes for ST105: Sanctification and Ecclesiology.” Dallas, Texas: Dallas Theological Seminary, Fall 2010.

From the campus parking lot students watched all week while the big at&t building plastered a billboard on the side of their building that says, “Welcome to our Hometown.” Needless to say, next week will be interesting! My friend Russ was going down to the Southern Methodist University (SMU) football field to see if he could get a glimpse of the Packers practicing for the game.

In light of the game, I thought it was a good idea to help everyone get in the spirit of the game by watching Aaron Kampman’s story. As you know, Aaron is a former GBP defensive end. He was traded in 2010 to the Jacksonville Jaguars. He is also an on line student at DTS. Please enjoy Aaron’s story:

And enjoy the big game Packers fans!!!
Grace and peace,
Sean~~

Jesus died in your place and my place. This should be you and it should be me.

Do you ever stop and reflect upon your salvation in Christ? Do you ever consider why He saved you or what you are saved from? These are key thoughts for me this semester as I take one of the most important classes in the systematic theology department this semester: Soteriology.
Soteriology simply means, the doctrine (teaching or study of) of salvation. I am studying all of the primary sources: Augustine, Pelagius and Cassian as well as Luther, Erasmus, Calvin, Arminius, and Molina. I am very excited to come to a theological conclusion around the topic of salvation. Feel free to call, email or comment your questions about the doctrine of salvation and I will try to answer them as I go along this semester.

Here is my class lineup this semester:
ST104 – Soteriology with Dr. Svigel
HT102 – American Church History in the Modern Era with Dr. Hannah
NT104 – Greek Exegesis with Dr. William Johnston
BC101 – Pastoral Counseling with Dr. Gary Barnes
BE104 – The Gospels with Dr. Elliott Johnson

I look forward to sharing the amazing things that our great God is teaching me.  Thank you for your love and support.

Grace and peace,

Sean~~

Extra Grace Required

Have you heard the term Extra Grace Required (EGR)?  It is a term that encompasses the idea of someone needing an extra measure of God’s grace while going through a tough situation.  That was this semester for me—an EGR semester.

It started with a heavy school load.  I took one of the toughest courses (based upon workload) in the DTS curriculum this semester NT103: Greek Syntax.  This, my third semester of Greek, was a doozy.  Route grammatical analyses, syntactical categories, and textual criticism made this a really tough course.  I also had one of my key theology courses this semester ST105: Ecclesiology and Sanctification.  Getting The Church figured out is one of those ‘big rocks’ you come to seminary for. 

The course load was definitely heavy, yet, all of the work I did this semester was amazingly rewarding.  God’s grace is enough for me.

The O’Brien Crew as a whole dealt with some other incredible challenges this semester.  As I announced in my last correspondence, the Crew is looking to net add 1 member.  This pregnancy however, has been wrought with its share of challenges.  Krysta began hemorrhaging during a Wisconsin visit in November which caused her and the Crew (minus me) to be stuck back home for several weeks.  The doctor eventually placed her on bed rest which has created some logistic nightmares in the O’Brien home.  God’s grace is again enough as he has provided through Krysta’s Mom flying and getting us through finals week—Mom you’re amazing, thank you!  By God’s continuing grace, our church family has also stepped up to the plate by helping with meals and house work.  God is so good!

Liam had an unfortunate incident during this EGR time as well.  He had his right index finger pinched (below the fingernail) in a closet door.  The outcome was his finger tip being three quarters of the way severed off.  We spent an entire afternoon in the emergency room with him getting his finger tip sewn back on.  As you can imagine, this was quite an incident for the little guy.  But yet again, by God’s grace, he was swinging around a play sword with his one good hand and laughing when we returned home.  The healing process has gone very well and his finger had reattached itself.  Doc says he will probably only have a scar to remember this time by (if he even remembers it at all).

As you can see, this semester has been EGR.  God never fails though.  Somehow, in ways that don’t make sense to us, He pulled us through.  His grace is definitely enough.  Thank you Lord for pulling us through a tough semester—we praise you!  And thank you to all of you for your thoughts, prayers and gifts during this EGR time.  We love you all and are so fortunate to have you walk through this journey with us—may God’s richest blessings of grace wash over you!

Grace and peace,
Sean~~

Common Roots: The Original Call to an Ancient-Future Faith

Please allow me to commend the book, Common Roots: The Original Call to an Ancient-Future Faith by Robert E. Webber¹ to you.  This book has made a significant impact on my thinking this year.  Many of the issues I have had with the modern evangelical ‘Mega-Church’ model are finely articulated and worked through in this book.  This book provides a gracious wake up call to evangelical Christianity and may be more relevant today than when Dr. Webber first wrote it in 1978.

I have said many times before that the church today is addicted to the newest, freshest, most contemporary thinking it can find.  This is a result of American consumerism and is at the expense of understanding the lessons from the rich heritage of our faith.  Dr. Webber says it best, “My concern about evangelical Christianity is directed toward its ahistorical character.  Ignoring God’s work in the history of the church, it leaps from the New Testament to the present.  Certainly the substance of Christian teaching is found in the New Testament, but to ignore the development of Christian truth in history is a grave mistake.”²

We need Christian community, yes, but that community must not only include those people in our life groups and Bible studies now, but, must also include the historic lessons from those folks who have walked this faith before us.  I have found a wealth of deep lessons in the writings of the second and third century church fathers.  Many of these you can read online at: http://www.EarlyChristianWritings.com/ a great place to start is with the earliest Gentile church manual known to us as the Didache (see: http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/didache-roberts.html ) from the church at Antioch.³  Like me, you might find that the lasting, ‘top shelf’ writings of the church fathers hold far more value than any ‘here-today-gone-tomorrow’ purposely-simple⁴ resource.  

A bit about Robert Webber from a Christianity Today article:

“Robert E. Webber, a theologian well-known for his work on worship and the early church . . .  was the William R. and Geraldyn B. Myers professor of ministry at Northern Seminary in Lombard, Ill. He was also the president of the Institute for Worship Studies in Jacksonville, Florida, and professor of theology emeritus at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois.   

Webber, the son of a Baptist minister, received his bachelor’s degree from Bob Jones University in 1956 and went on to earn a divinity degree from the Reformed Episcopal Seminary in 1959 and a masters degree in theology from Covenant Theological Seminary in 1960. Eight years later, he received his doctoral degree in theology from Concordia Theological Seminary.  Webber began teaching theology at Wheaton College in 1968.

Dr. Robert Webber went to be with the Lord on April 27, 2007 at 6:10 PM while in his wife Joanne’s arms.”⁵

Get the book, read the book, wrestle with the book—be blessed by God in the process.

Grace and peace to you,

Sean~~

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1.  Webber, Robert E. Common Roots: The Original Call to an Ancient-Future Faith. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009.

2. Ibid., 44.

3. Acts 11

4. The contemporary works I have in mind here are, Warren, Rick. The Purpose Driven Life: What On Earth Am I Here For?  Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002.  And, Rainer, Thom S. and Eric Geiger. Simple Church: Returning to God’s Process for Making Disciples.  Nashville: B&H Publishing Group. 2006.  I liken contemporary resources like these to a greasy bag of potato chips that are quickly devoured; the only lasting memory of them is the belch that comes an hour after eating them.

5. This article appeared online posted 4/30/2007 at ChristianityToday.com. Used by permission of Christianity Today International, Carol Stream, IL 60188. http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/aprilweb-only/118-12.0.html?start=1 (accessed 12/20/10).