Two things...one small, one big

CF family,

First, the small thing.  A small encouragement to connect to something really great.  Tonight and next Wednesday will be our last two Wednesday night studies of the year.  We'll be looking at the book of Psalms.  As I'm looking over Scott's notes for tonight I'm burdened to encourage you to make an effort to attend these two studies.  The book of Psalms is an AMAZING book full of emotions and imagery that will not leave you the same if studied.

Second, and this will require some time and attention to consider......an important follow up from Sunday's message.  I was hoping to fit these thoughts into the message itself, but thought it better to follow up this way.  You may remember at one point in the message the comments regarding Christ’s cross prayer of Luke 23:34 “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”  I didn’t in the message want to encourage you to doubt this passage……maybe what I hoped for and could have communicated better is that we would take care with this passage.  We should, as a practice, use caution in building an entire ethic out of any one passage…..period…….for while one passage is completely true, one passage cannot reveal the truth completely.  Regarding this passage, though, I’m using extra caution (not doubt) since it’s only recounted in one of the four gospels and some ancient, highly regarded manuscripts omit this passage altogether.  Again, I’m not wanting you to doubt your bibles, for we have some VERY robust and hearty translations.  What I do want to encourage is that you don’t build an entire ethic on this one verse.  You must know this passage is not the way God has worked with us in the gospel.  He has not forgiven the ignorant who “know not what we do.”  We are saved by grace through faith in His Son…….WHEN we have consciously confessed our sinful state and repented of our sins.  If ignorance were the express ticket to blanket forgiveness then we’d never send another missionary anywhere in hopes the folks in places without the gospel could stay ignorant and forgiven.  We would not and will not ever look toward the far corners of the earth and say “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”  Rather we endeavor to go and say “repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins….” (Acts 2:38)

Here’s where my concern about this passage connects to application.  I have sensed that contemporary Christianity maybe thinks too much of this cross prayer and too little of the MANY vindication Psalms and the NT teachings on resolving conflict.  Like maybe we discount biblical appeals for justice (I’ve NEVER in my 40 years of being a Christian heard a sermon on vindication though our psalmists appeal for it over and over and over).  And maybe we over-count this particular appeal for forgiveness for the ignorant and unrepentant.   If it’s true we’ve given too much space to forgiving the ignorant and unrepentant, then it potentially becomes an expectation that true and good Christians don’t need justice or vindication or frankly even an apology when wronged.  We might look at this one isolated statement and decide that mistakenly.  So if we’re to be like Christ, we think, then we better just overlook everything.  If we’re truly to reflect Him then we’ll consistently “forgive those who know not what they do.”  Let me remind you, Christ didn’t and hasn’t overlooked everything.  He had some very pointed conversations/rebukes of the Pharisees.  He called countless to repentance.  And there’s no real pattern of Him ever forgiving the unrepentant.  He’s also the One who said “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault……if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you…..if he refuses to listen…..tell it to the Church….if he refuses to listen……let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.”  (Matt 18:15-17 with omissions)

So, putting things back in their proper space (if indeed they were out of sorts)…..with vindication and appeals for justice not only acceptable but maybe even good……..and with a prayer for forgiveness for unrepentant and ignorant murderers as a pretty unique blip on the radar (that deserves much context and study)…….and with a good healthy view of both grace AND justice at the cross.  Thenmaybe we can bring both justice and grace to bear in a conflict between a husband and wife, between two friends, between siblings or workmates.

Here’s how it might play out……….if you see God as JUST and understand justice yourself, it should lead you, if you’ve hurt or wronged another, to give a wholehearted robust confession to the one you’ve hurt and a thoughtful request for forgiveness NOT EXPECTING anything in return, except maybe consequences.  Hear what I said there…..you’re NOT EXPECTING anything in return.  You’re not expecting a return-apology as is often the case (“Hey, I’m sorry”……”ok, well I’m sorry too”) and you’re not feeling like you’re owed forgiveness either (“Hey man, you’re supposed to forgive if you’re a Christian”).  If you consider the person you’ve wronged owes you nothing……then honestly you have a better view of justice.

Now……..this is a great place for grace to wash in…….as the wronged person in their time then responds to a request for forgiveness with “I forgive you……I forgive you as I’ve been forgiven.” What takes place here is a BEAUTIFUL picture of the gospel where justice and grace meet. Justice comes in a convicted and repentant wrongdoer and grace embraces the wrongdoer with showers of forgiveness seventy times seven because of Christ’s cross!!  And it’s not somehow subverted or abbreviated by an overinflated view of forgiving the unrepentant and ignorant.   What takes place here is beautiful because the person wronged doesn’t have to feel like they must be the most wicked sinner in the world because they want to be vindicated.

There’s certainly a place for overlooking sin……for all of us.  We could all do well to consider which sins are really not worth mentioning…..and are well worth just forgetting.  But some sin isn’t overlookable and it’s not wrong to want the crooked to be straightened.  This kind of sin is best dealt with where justice and grace meet…..in a cross-bathed moment where two people put the gospel on display.

This whole thing is as wildly inefficient as shepherding your child’s heart when they’ve wronged you or God.  It’s a lot easier to just avoid someone who’s hurt you.  I’m great at that……the cold shoulder is wonderful payback.  But that doesn’t put the gospel on display and it doesn’t bring the gospel to bear in the daily issues of life.  It takes time and heart and energy to go to someone who’s hurt or wronged you and share with them that hurt in hopes that they will ask for forgiveness and you can be reconciled.  It takes tremendous energy to go to another and confess a wrong against them and to ask for forgiveness.  It takes tremendous energy to work through matters of real forgiveness when you can really separate the wrong done to you as far as the east is from the west.  When this happens though, there’s showers of blessings for all involved.  It won’t always go well.  But it will always be better than the cold shoulder and a broken relationship.

I STRONGLY encourage you to read the book The Peacemaker.  If I could only have three books in my library, it would be the Bible, Living by the Book by Howard Hendricks and The Peacemaker by Ken Sande.   This book has some wonderful insight into when to overlook an offense and when to seek reconciliation.

I love y’all and am thankful for our journey together with a Just God. 


Ben McGraw

Why we don't do altar calls...

CF family,

Sending out an old "ask the elder" post from a few years ago for your contemplation today.  Have a great day!

I realize a relatively young church in this community that says “we’re not doing it” may seem like we’re being rebellious and trendy.  Actually, what few who fight for the practice realize is that it’s not good ole fashioned evangelism but rather new-fangled man-centered gospel-diminishing malarky.  Here are a few thoughts to explain.

  1.  There are NO pictures of altar calls in our bibles....the practice has ZERO scriptural reference. 

  2.  There are NO pictures of altar calls in the Christian faith until the last 170 years.  Charles Finney didn’t start the practice, but he is largely responsible for perfecting it during the 2nd great awakening in the 1800’s.  Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Wesley, George Whitfield and Jonathon Edwards would have no idea what you were talking about were you to ask them about altar calls.  Nor would Peter or Paul or any of the other apostles. 

  3.  It has contributed to a new vocabulary of belief and faith that is also unbiblical.....like “making a decision for Christ” or “asking Jesus into your heart” or “giving your heart to Jesus.” 

  4.  It’s manipulative, especially toward the hurting or the young.  This is why we’re so cautious about camps for children.  We don’t want to send our children or youth to a camp where altar calls are practiced for fear that they may leave thinking they squared-up with God because they walked an aisle when in fact all they may have done is had an emotional experience.  

  5.  It leads to people mistaking a walk down an aisle for “walking in a manner worthily” or “walking in good works prepared in advance” or “abiding in Christ”.

  6.  It’s associated with a VERY high rate of apostasy......for people who simply had an emotional experience will not bear the fruit of one who has over time recognized their wretchedness before a Holy God and repented, placing faith/trust/hope in the finished work of Christ alone.  THIS understanding takes time to develop in the garden of the heart. 

  7.  It’s associated with a numerical emphasis that counts “decisions” in an effort to quantify “soul-winning” results.

  8.  The altar call IS NOT the mark of an evangelistic church as some might suggest.  In addition, the absence of this practice in a church IS NOT the mark of a church that is unburdened for the lost and uncaring about the souls of men.  Burden and engagement are born and lived out in relationships.  The evangelistic church seeks relationships and ultimately disciples....not simply “decisions.” 

  9.  The appeal to “come forward” supersedes or completely replaces an appeal to repent and believe. 

  10.  It redefines the mark of an evangelist as one who can best get ‘em down the aisle rather than one who is gifted by the Holy Spirit to expose the truth of the gospel in a life-altering way. 

  11.  Most of those professing to be Christians in our community, when asked how they know they’re Christians, will point back to a time when they walked an aisle and made a “decision.”  Biblically, assurance does not come from a “decision” or a trip down an aisle.  Looking back to recent sermons, consider John 8:31 where Jesus tells those who have “believed” if they’re true, then they’ll “abide in my word.”  Or even more recent, Romans 8:13 “if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”  These are just a couple of recent samples from the gobs of scripture that point to an engaging dailyness of faith and mortification of sin that are characteristic of true believers......THAT’S where assurance comes from. 

  12.  It confuses people regarding sacred space......the front of a worship center where the altar call leads is no more holy than your living room where you read your bible with your family or your bedroom where you snooze.  Our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit now........not some special area in our church buildings.

  13.  It inappropriately takes the place of baptism as the public profession of faith. BAPTISM is the biblical public expression of our faith and is how we are identified with the people of God.

  14.  It limits evangelistic calls to the 11:50-12:05 holy minutes on Sunday mornings....at the lips of the beckoning preacher.....with the backdrop of verse after verse of Just as I Am........rather than the beckoning, witnessing work of the people of God EVERY day in EVERY place as a sweet aroma enjoying Christ out loud. 

  15.  It’s filled the membership roles of churches with unregenerate who think they’re reconciled with the Living God because they walked an aisle. 

I must confess, I’m pretty disgusted with the practice.......even as one....maybe especially as one who once called for “decisions” myself.  I repent from that man-centered effort to harvest new believers and I trust that God will be glorified and His sheep will be found in the daily and weekly outloud enjoyment of Christ by the People of God.

Ben McGraw