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Attempts at Honesty

Reflections on the interplay of the Bible and Culture

  • Westminster Shorter Catechism Series
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What I’ve been doing instead of blogging

Posted on February 25, 2017 Written by Mark McIntyre 1 Comment

PCA LogoThose who regularly read this blog have probably realized that over the last year, posts have been rather sporadic. I took a long break between Memorial Day and Labor Day and haven’t posted very regularly since coming back to it in September.

I thought I would take a few minutes to tell you what has been consuming my time.

A couple of years ago, I became convinced that I should pursue licensure to preach in the Presbyterian Church of America (PCA), the domination to which I currently belong. The reasons for pursuing this were two. First, it was an opportunity to sharpen both my knowledge of the Bible and my theological understanding. And secondly, it would qualify me to be “on the bench” for the PCA churches in our area, some of which are small church plants that do not have multiple elders who are qualified to fill the pulpit.

The PCA has adopted the Westminster Confession of Faith along with the two Westminster Catechisms as the definitive statements of their belief. These were documents to which I had no exposure prior to moving forward toward licensure. And, while I have a graduate degree in Biblical Studies, that degree was obtained more than 25 years ago, so I was more than a little rusty in my knowledge and it took a lot of time and effort to gain the required familiarity with these documents to pass the licensure examinations. This preparation consumed the time that I would otherwise have invested in posting to this blog.

I am happy to say that last Saturday, February 18, the final step in the process was completed. I am now officially licensed by the Eastern Pennsylvania Presbytery to preach in the churches of the PCA. I am relieved that the process is over and am excited to see what opportunities present themselves to preach. I am also happy to be able to spend some time writing for Attempts at Honesty.

Before starting this process, I would have told you that I am really bad at memorization. I envy those who can read something a couple of times and regurgitate it word for word with little effort. My brain is not like that. But, I did find out that even though it requires a lot of effort on my part, I can indeed memorize and have memorized about half of the Westminster Shorter Catechism.

If you are convinced that you cannot memorize Bible verses or anything else, I encourage you to not give up. The effort will be rewarded by the quick recall of what you have memorized.

Filed Under: Commentary Tagged With: licensure, PCA, preach

It is necessary

Posted on December 11, 2015 Written by Mark McIntyre 2 Comments

NecessaryThe following is attributed to St. Francis of Assisi:

“Preach the gospel always, if necessary, use words.”

There are some who think that St. Francis never said this, but the popularity of the quote and the persistence in attribution to St. Francis remain.

St. Francis (or the mystery writer) rightly reminds us that our actions are important. The Apostle John provides a similar thought:

“Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18).

The point is that our actions should lay a foundation so that when we do preach the gospel, we are credible. We cannot ask anyone to believe a gospel that has little or no positive effect on the preacher.

I borrow the following illustration from Howard Hendricks.

If you have seen my profile picture anywhere, you would know that I shave my head. I do so because if my hair grew out, my hairstyle would be in the style of an inverse mohawk. In other words, I would have nothing on the top and a little on the sides.

With that background in mind, would you buy hair restoration oil from me? Would you not rightly ask why it did not work for me? The lack of hair on my head belies the claims of efficacy of the product.

The danger is that we can carry this thought too far and assume that our actions alone are capable of conveying the gospel. They are not.

It is necessary to use words. While we may, by our actions, lead someone into being different on the outside, it is only the gospel that can change someone on the inside. The gospel that changes people on the inside must be conveyed in words.

Peter tells us that we should be “prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15). This is an indication that displaying hope is not enough, words are required to explain the hope.

Words must be matched with appropriate action, but the words are indeed necessary (Tweet This).

 

Filed Under: Bible Reflection Tagged With: Gospel, necessary, preach, words

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