Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Rejoice in the Gospel

[15] Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. [16] The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. [17] The former proclaim Christ out of rivalry, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. [18] What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.
Yes, and I will rejoice,
Christ is proclaimed and in that I rejoice, yes and I will rejoice. I take people to task for false doctrine, as did Paul. One thing I always hear is but you are being judgmental. Or people mistake that because I am adamant about the importance of one doctrine or another I figure that there are no Christians in that other church, or that you can’t be saved in that church that teaches the opposite. That is not the point though. No I rejoice that Christ is preached, and I have the utmost confidence that the Gospel works despite our best efforts to obscure it. And I rejoice that Christ is preached, same as Paul rejoices.
I rejoice when a Baptist family is fortunate enough to see the baptism of their 8 year old son or daughter. That doesn’t mean I am going to let them off the hook for not having baptized their child much sooner, like the first Sunday after the child was born. It is sinful to deny your children the grace of God, and shameful. I am just thankful that the child managed to live long enough to experience that grace in baptism. Of course I will also take that Baptist family to task for blaspheming the name of Christ with their false teachings regarding the Baptism he gave us, teachings that rob baptism of the comfort to be found in the gospel. I still rejoice when despite everything they have been taught and teach, they hold on to the gospel they heard 50 years ago when their pastor gave a sermon series on the cross.
The funny thing is, is that wherever Christ is preached the Gospel does break through. And in that we can rejoice. It doesn’t mean though that we should stop being vigilant about the gospel and its purity. False doctrine still has its ill effects on people. It robs them of comfort, undermines the gospel and drives people away from Christ. So may I rejoice in your salvation, don’t expect me to condone false doctrine.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bror,

What do you really think?

You know, you really ought to break out of your shell. You have a lot of great things to say.
Don't hold back!

I agree with you. Good doctrine is very important. And we ought reprove with love whenever we have the chance. If they don't respond to that...then put the hammer down!

Anonymous said...

Speaking of that...I guess I didn't show much tact over at Confessing Evangelical with Bryan.

You guys had a pretty good dialogue going and I think I ran him off.

Sorry about that.

Bror Erickson said...

I don't know Steve. I wouldn't say you were to hard on him. I think he just realized he wasn't going to get any where.
I have been out of power for the last 4 hours. Rocky Mountain Power has got to be the worst power company operating in the U.S. Some days I think I could get more reliable power in Zimbabwe. These guys are a joke. The whole town was out of power! The whole town! And the weather isn't even bad.

Anonymous said...

Hang on, Bror!

Obama has probably drained it (the power) just by his magnetism.

You will get it back (minus 40%).

Yeah, those Roman Catholics just don't get it do they.

I think they are scared to death.