107 Days with the Westminster Divines

Posted on October 21, 2016 Written by Mark McIntyre Leave a Comment

As part of ongoing training for the elders at my church, we have been reviewing the Westminster Confession of Faith along with the larger and shorter catechisms produced by the Westminster Divines. I have found the shorter catechism, in particular, very helpful as I study through (and try to memorize) the answers to the 107 questions.

This morning a thought came to me. What if I did a post on each of the questions which provides the question, the answer and some observations on how the answers speak to us today? This would require 107 posts (108 if you count this introduction).

Since the language of the original catechism is somewhat archaic, I have chosen to use a modern English version that I found at learnscripture.net. The catechism dates from the 17th Century and the English language has changed quite a bit over the last 350 years.

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My posts are not going to be primarily explanatory. Neither will they provide a lot of history or other background material on the questions. What I intend is to pursue a devotional approach to the questions. I want to answer the question, what do I do with this knowledge? How should the answers provided by these questions affect me in my day-to-day life?

We all need to keep in mind that our interaction with Scripture should be first and foremost transformational. In other words, I should be changed as I allow the knowledge to penetrate my heart and mind.

So if you are up for it, read along and add your own comment regarding your application of the answers in the catechism.

I look forward to hearing from you.

The reason for our existence

Posted on March 11, 2016 Written by Mark McIntyre 1 Comment

“The greatest danger of any organization is to lose sight of its reason for existence. This is especially true for the church. A number of years ago someone posted on the front door of a Washington, DC area church a sign that read, ‘Going out of business.’ Not long after the sign was posted someone added these words, ‘We never really knew what our business was.’”

I discovered this paragraph while reading Mark Howell’s commentary on 1 & 2 Thessalonians.

Howell goes on to give statistics about how many churches close every year despite the plethora of church growth books and strategies, some churches fail to grow and eventually close.

The saddest part of this for me is a growing realization that we have over complicated what should be a rather simple directive. Jesus gave us one task, that is to make disciples.

But to make disciples presupposes that one knows what a disciple looks like and also presupposes knowledge of how to become one.

This is where much of Christendom seems to fail. We add programs, doctrinal distinctives and rules (implied and implicit) which turn church into a complicated social game that leaves the players exhausted.

The literal meaning of the word disciple is a learner. Therefore, a disciple of Jesus Christ, is by definition one who learns from Jesus and seeks to live in accordance with his principles.

The problem is that on our own we are incapable of doing this. We are by nature fallen and everything we do carries the taint of sin.

It follows then that one who is truly a disciple of Jesus must have his sin issue remedied, and the only remedy available for this is the Cross.

This is why the Apostle Paul told the Corinthians,

“For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” (1 Corinthians 2:2, ESV)

The point is that we cannot be making true disciples of Jesus if we are not preaching and teaching Jesus Christ and him crucified.

The business of the church is to make disciples and we cannot do it without the message of the Cross being central to our teaching.

This is the reason for our existence as an organization.

What Nehemiah can tell us about apologetics in the church

Posted on May 31, 2013 Written by Mark McIntyre 7 Comments

I have heard that there are those in the church who do not feel that apologetics should be part of the discipleship process for believers. While I find it hard to believe that anyone would articulate such a position, I must admit that for a large part of my Christian experience, there was very little content that taught me how to answer the questions that arise from those who do not believe.

This statement in the book of Nehemiah got me thinking about defending our faith and the need for such defense.

“Those who were rebuilding the wall and those who carried burdens took their load with one hand doing the work and the other holding a weapon. As for the builders, each wore his sword girded at his side as he built, while the trumpeter stood near me.” (Nehemiah 4:17–18, NASB)

The fact that they could be under attack at any moment did not deter Nehemiah and the Israelites from completing the work that they had begun. They kept focused on building the wall, but were ready to defend themselves if attacked.

I believe this is a fitting challenge to those who do not think that being able to defend our beliefs is an important part of Christian discipleship. The truth will always have enemies. There will be those who refuse to submit to God and His Word. They will not be content to allow us to continue on without a battle. They will try to win the hearts and minds of those who attend our churches.

This is especially true of the young people that are raised in the church. In high school and university, they will encounter those who seek to undermine or destroy their faith. In some colleges that are considered “Christian” this is also a danger. What should be a safe environment may not be so. We must be on our guard.

It is not enough to just be on guard, we must know how to respond to the attack. It is one thing to have the weapons available, but they do no good if we do not know how to use them.

Let us learn from Nehemiah that we should be able to wield our weapons in defense, but we should not get distracted from our main objective which is to build up the body of Christ. Nehemiah and his crew continued to build while being vigilant to dispel any attack that might come at them.

The ability to defend our faith helps in accomplishing our mission. But keep in mind that apologetics is not the goal, it is a tool to be used in achieving the goal of making disciples.

5 Tests to assess disciple making in the Church

Posted on June 23, 2012 Written by Mark McIntyre 4 Comments

The church is called by Jesus Christ to make disciples. How does one assess how well a local church is doing at making disciples?

Quality versus Quantity

Quantity is easy to assess by counting heads on a Sunday morning, but how about quality? How do we assess the quality of the disciples that are being made?

Numbers tell part of the story, but cannot be the only means of assessment. A good preacher and a good worship band will pack the house on Sunday mornings. But there needs to more than 20 to 60 minutes of instruction on a Sunday morning or Wednesday night. Discipleship and growth have to happen in one-on-one meetings, small groups or perhaps even classroom instruction.

No church is doing this perfectly and the point of this exercise is to provide food for thought as to how to identify good discipleship. Toward that end, I thought of 5 ways of assessing how well your church is doing.

1 – Are disciples grounded and ready to give an answer for their hope?

In an increasingly ill-informed and possibly hostile cultural environment, disciples need to be able to explain what they believe and why they believe it (1 Peter 3:15).

Recently there have been some really scary statistics as to the high percentage of teens who leave the church, many of them never returning. I wonder how many of those who leave do so because they have not been properly trained to understand and defend their faith. With proper training, would these teens succumb to attacks from their peers and teachers? If parents have been trained to explain their faith, would the numbers of children who walk away be lowered?

2 – Are disciples growing in their display of the fruit of the spirit?

Even the most mature believer among us will look at Galatians 5:22-23 and reflect on how much improvement is still possible in displaying the fruit of the Spirit. One never arrives, but we should see progress. Do visitors to the church feel loved, see joy, experience patience, etc.? Do the members of the church experience these things from each other? Can you look at people that have come to Christ in your church and see progress in Spiritual fruit being displayed? Is this the norm for people in the body?

3 – Are disciples growing in their ability to understand and explain Scripture ?

Have the disciples been taught the skills they need to rightly understand Scripture (2 Timothy 2:15)? Have they been instructed in using Bible study tools? Have they been given an overview of Scripture so that in reading they can place what they are reading in a proper historical context? Have the disciples been given grounding in the fundamental beliefs of Christianity? Can the disciples explain what they’ve learned and bring others along in the disciple making process?

4 – Are disciples equipped for the work of ministry?

Do disciples have a handle on how they are gifted and how they fit into the body of Christ? Has the leadership of the church helped them with this understanding? Has the leadership equipped them and empowered them to exercise that gift (Ephesians 4:12)? Is spontaneous ministry happening or does the leadership of the church need to coordinate everything that is taking place?

5 – Are disciples turned loose to be lead by the Holy Spirit to build up the church?

If the pastor or the elder board feels the need to approve every Bible study or prayer group that is formed within the body, people are not free to minister. Either God is in control or the church leadership is, there is no middle ground. 1 Corinthians 12:7 tells us that the Holy Spirit gives gifts as He sees fit to be used to build the church.

It is a well used phrase, but it applies here: you can’t steer a parked car. If you turn people loose to begin Bible Studies, prayer groups and practical ministries then God can use those people for his glory in a way that the church leadership never could have dreamed.

Leaders, remember that if you reprimand someone (no matter how gently) for doing something without checking with leadership, you are diminishing their initiative. After several thwarted attempts at taking initiative, they will either become passive and wait to be told what to do, or they will leave and find another church. Neither of these results is good for you or the Body of Christ.

These are five that I’ve been thinking about. Can you add to the list? What else can be used to assess the disciple making process? Please comment below.