Theological Roundtable Scribblings

Every Wednesday and Saturday morning, my fellow intern Cody Winton, and I head over to the Serven home for our weekly Theological Roundtables.   At these meetings, Pastor Serven leads us in our theological studies and has us present our homework assignments.

Today, we were learning about the Covenant of Grace.  Here is what the whiteboard looked like after we were finished.  As you can see, Pastor Serven kinda ran out of room :)

I don't blame him though.  I didn't realize just how vast and deep a topic the Covenant of Grace was until I started reading Dabney's Systematic Theology and Louis Berkhof's Manual of Christian Doctrine.  My head started to swim as I wrangled with a host of new terms and ideas.  As an example, Berkhof introduced the distinction of the legal agreement by faith in the covenant of grace, and the communion of life in the covenant of grace.  We also went over the promises of the covenant, the requirements of the covenant, the characteristics of the covenant, and the members of the covenant.  After all that, we had still only scratched the surface!

But at the end of the day, it is most important to keep this fact in the forefront of my mind...

"The covenant of grace is a covenant of friendship with man which represents the way in which the blessings of redemption are mediated to the sinner" -Louis Berkhof

Praise God for the gracious and marvelous covenant and His eternal faithfulness to it!

"Know therefore that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments." -Deuteronomy 7:9

And so, with renewed vigor, determination, and optimism, I'm eagerly looking forward to the future Theological Rountables of 2013!

A Christian's Thoughts about Black Friday

In 4 days, stores all over America will open very early as American consumers will come pouring in to spend their money on all sorts of toys, electronics, clothes, furniture, Christmas decorations, books, magazines, music, movies, and games. 

This is the first time I have ever worked for a retail store (Target) right before and (eventually) during Black Friday.  The whole thing is starting to disgust me.  For the past week, I have been unpacking, handling, stocking, shelving, and processing cheap, mass-produced plastic from China, books, movies and CD's that would embarrass almost anyone with an ounce of biblical morality, Christmas decorations which will probably be thrown in the garbage on January 1st, 2013 or get stuffed back into a box and put in a dark corner of an attic for the next 11 months, and a menagerie of other things which usually leave me thinking, "Will someone in their right mind actually buy this?!?!?" 

To top it all off, as I work at Target, I get a glimpse into the daily lives of the people who come to shop and sadly, I see more and more the effects of the breakdown of Christian culture, the loss of a biblical worldview, and the fragmenting of relationships.  I see moms getting very angry and sharp with their unruly children.  I observe teenagers with their iPods and iPhones, just checked out from reality and wishing they were anywhere but here with their parents.  Dads on cell phones rush past me, hoping that an action figure from a movie will make up for all the time they neglect to spend with their sons.  Little kids whine and cry when they don't get what they want and stressed out parents and grandparents pace up and down the store aisles, running their eyes over a wide variety of toys, games, and clothing.

With all of these thoughts and emotions running through my mind over the past couple of days, I came across a passage of Scripture which speaks with blazing conviction about the materialism and selfishness that is promoted on Black Friday, all in the name of "holiday spirit and celebration".

"Then He [Christ] said to them, 'Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.' And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man was very productive. And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’ So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."
-Luke 12:15-21

I hope I don't come across as saying that shopping for Christmas, managing your money prudently by taking advantage of sales, or owning goods and possessions is wrong.  I'll be the first to decry that position. God gives us possessions on this earth for us to enjoy and, more importantly, to use to bring Him glory and advance His Kingdom.  But I hope that all of us, myself included, will obey Christ's command in Luke 12:15, "Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions."  We know that the unbeliever seeks eagerly after worldly belongings (Matt. 6:32) to the hurt of his own soul.  So, in conclusion, I hope that my experience at Target during this Black Friday will motivate me to be praying for the victory of the Gospel over the lives of the Americans who are trapped, oftentimes unknowingly, in the bog of materialism.  And I hope that all of you, my readers, will join me in searching our own hearts about any materialism that is lurking within us, and in having a desire to witness to those around us, telling them that this life does not consist of owning the biggest HD TV, the newest gaming system, the most fashionable clothes, the snazziest house decorations, or the latest bestseller from the New York Times. 

We exist to glorify God, enjoy Him forever, and to love our neighbors.  We are to buy and use our belongings to serve God and to bless our brothers and sisters.  That is what the Christian should be doing on Black Friday and that is what I hope to learn and practice both this year and the years to come. 

For Christ's Crown, Church, and Covenant...
Joel Stanton

An Astounding Statement!

A friend e-mailed me this excerpt from a speech that the Prime Minister of Great Britain gave at a public event which blew me away. If nothing else, this highlight's our country's shame for abandoning it's Christian foundation.

Will we be bold enough to proclaim what the Prime Minister of Great Britain was unashamed to admit?


Great Britain’s Prime Minister has declared of his country what President Obama has notably denied of his own. Speaking to an audience of Church of England clergy at Christ Church, Oxford during one of the many official events celebrating the 400th anniversary of the King James Version of Scripture, Prime Minister David Cameron (left) unashamedly declared of Britain: “ … we are a Christian country,” adding that “we should not be afraid to say so.”

While he quickly emphasized that he was “not in any way saying that to have another faith — or no faith — is somehow wrong,” Cameron nonetheless acknowledged that “the Bible has helped to give Britain a set of values and morals which make Britain what it is today".

"He challenged his audience that biblical morals and values were something “we should actively stand up and defend,” warning that the “alternative of moral neutrality should not be an option. You can’t fight something with nothing — because if we don’t stand for something, we can’t stand against anything.”


Challenging the moral neutrality that has infected British — as well as American — society over the past few decades, Cameron declared that “for too long we have been unwilling to distinguish right from wrong. ‘Live and let live’ has too often become ‘do what you please.’ Bad choices have too often been defended as just different lifestyles.” But, he added, “To be confident in saying something is wrong is not a sign of weakness; it’s a strength.”


Cameron challenged that it is time for Britain to return to the Christian values which made it a strong nation in the first place, to “have the confidence to say to people — this is what defines us as a society, and that to belong here is to believe in these things.”