Reformation Reflections: Faith, Doctrine, and Christian Witness
Devotional
Sermon Summary
Sermon Clips
"We recognize that the great tectonic plates of our civilization are shifting right under our feet. And not only that, but the acceleration of these changes is now coming in such a way that we really do not know what tomorrow's headlines will bring. And we're losing even the ability to be surprised. There's certainly the ability to be shocked. One boundary after another transgressed. One institution after another torn down." [00:02:27]
"We are watching, right before our eyes, the death of the great liberal dream. What was that dream? It was the dream of a humanity come of age. Of a humanity that could sever itself from its Christian past, and establish itself in a new secular present, and point itself to a new secularized future. The great liberal dream was that somehow you could have human rights and human dignity without Christianity." [00:03:15]
"The great liberal dream was that you could have the fruits of Christianity in a civilization while denying Christianity and subverting it in virtually every point. And what we're now noticing as this age is truly becoming more and more secular, is that the end of this secularization is despair. We've reached one of those most interesting points in my observation of the times around us." [00:03:52]
"One of the signs of the moral exhaustion of our age is the debate over assisted suicide, and by the way, they don't want to call that assisted suicide anymore. They now want to call it, you know, 'aid in dying.' You know, we die by our euphemisms. The way you create a moral change is first renaming something. So it's no longer adultery, it's an affair. You rename it." [00:06:02]
"When you look at a society that embraces euthanasia and assisted suicide, and we need to call these what they are. They are physician-assisted murder. State-sanctioned murder. When you see this, it's the ultimate sign of the exhaustion of a worldview. They've got nowhere to turn. It is a worldview that ends in death." [00:06:39]
"The modern age promised that we would be rescued by modern science, produced the worldview of scientism, and so, you have to understand that many modern people actually believe that if salvation comes, it will by means of science. That's one of reasons why I brought up the cryogenics and the whole transhumanism debate. It's not an accident that that's taking place in Silicon Valley." [00:10:14]
"We were told that therapy would save us. What we really need is therapy. If we can just get to the right therapist. If we can just find the right pop psychology. If we can just -- if we can just get to the right therapeutic source, we can be made whole. But have you noticed, have you noticed when you look at the book sections, and you start to look at the titles, they're running out of therapeutic answers to give." [00:11:40]
"The Reformation understanding of the human individual was not of the human individual as autonomous. Rather, it was of the human being as sinner, desperately in need of redemption. Never an autonomous individual. All that began to change in the aftermath of the Reformation. And, of course, almost simultaneous with the Reformation, you had the rise of what we would call 'the Renaissance.'" [00:15:03]
"The impulse of liberal theology is to say Christianity can't survive in the modern age, in its biblical form, so we're going to have to accommodate. We're going to redefine the doctrines. We're going to have to reconstruct the dogmas so that we don't have the offense of supernatural truth claims, of implausible supernatural truth claims in a world in which those claims are overruled by reason." [00:26:09]
"Doctrine is nothing more than the expression, the formal expression of what is revealed in Scripture. The Christian life cannot live without it, the Christian life can't begin without it. Because even in telling someone how they can come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, you've got to do doctrine. You've got to teach." [00:44:44]
"The transmission of doctrine is crucial from one generation to the next. The Apostle Paul was clearly concerned about that in this text, as he calls for the building upon the foundation that he has laid, and he clearly is warning, lest, it be a structure of wood, and hay, and stubble, instead. Notice, how he mentions this. It's a beautiful metaphor for right doctrine." [00:45:32]
"Doctrine has consequences. We need to remember that always. For the consequences of our doctrinal responsibility will show up right before our eyes. And will show up in our children and in their children, as well. The apostle Paul said, 'According to the grace of God, given to me like a skilled master builder, I laid a foundation and someone else is building upon it.'" [00:47:53]
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"We are watching, right before our eyes, the death of the great liberal dream. What was that dream? It was the dream of a humanity come of age. Of a humanity that could sever itself from its Christian past, and establish itself in a new secular present, and point itself to a new secularized future. The great liberal dream was that somehow you could have human rights and human dignity without Christianity." [00:03:15]
"The great liberal dream was that you could have the fruits of Christianity in a civilization while denying Christianity and subverting it in virtually every point. And what we're now noticing as this age is truly becoming more and more secular, is that the end of this secularization is despair. We've reached one of those most interesting points in my observation of the times around us." [00:03:52]
"One of the signs of the moral exhaustion of our age is the debate over assisted suicide, and by the way, they don't want to call that assisted suicide anymore. They now want to call it, you know, 'aid in dying.' You know, we die by our euphemisms. The way you create a moral change is first renaming something. So it's no longer adultery, it's an affair. You rename it." [00:06:02]
"When you look at a society that embraces euthanasia and assisted suicide, and we need to call these what they are. They are physician-assisted murder. State-sanctioned murder. When you see this, it's the ultimate sign of the exhaustion of a worldview. They've got nowhere to turn. It is a worldview that ends in death." [00:06:39]
"The modern age promised that we would be rescued by modern science, produced the worldview of scientism, and so, you have to understand that many modern people actually believe that if salvation comes, it will by means of science. That's one of reasons why I brought up the cryogenics and the whole transhumanism debate. It's not an accident that that's taking place in Silicon Valley." [00:10:14]
"We were told that therapy would save us. What we really need is therapy. If we can just get to the right therapist. If we can just find the right pop psychology. If we can just -- if we can just get to the right therapeutic source, we can be made whole. But have you noticed, have you noticed when you look at the book sections, and you start to look at the titles, they're running out of therapeutic answers to give." [00:11:40]
"The Reformation understanding of the human individual was not of the human individual as autonomous. Rather, it was of the human being as sinner, desperately in need of redemption. Never an autonomous individual. All that began to change in the aftermath of the Reformation. And, of course, almost simultaneous with the Reformation, you had the rise of what we would call 'the Renaissance.'" [00:15:03]
"The impulse of liberal theology is to say Christianity can't survive in the modern age, in its biblical form, so we're going to have to accommodate. We're going to redefine the doctrines. We're going to have to reconstruct the dogmas so that we don't have the offense of supernatural truth claims, of implausible supernatural truth claims in a world in which those claims are overruled by reason." [00:26:09]
"Doctrine is nothing more than the expression, the formal expression of what is revealed in Scripture. The Christian life cannot live without it, the Christian life can't begin without it. Because even in telling someone how they can come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, you've got to do doctrine. You've got to teach." [00:44:44]
"The transmission of doctrine is crucial from one generation to the next. The Apostle Paul was clearly concerned about that in this text, as he calls for the building upon the foundation that he has laid, and he clearly is warning, lest, it be a structure of wood, and hay, and stubble, instead. Notice, how he mentions this. It's a beautiful metaphor for right doctrine." [00:45:32]
"Doctrine has consequences. We need to remember that always. For the consequences of our doctrinal responsibility will show up right before our eyes. And will show up in our children and in their children, as well. The apostle Paul said, 'According to the grace of God, given to me like a skilled master builder, I laid a foundation and someone else is building upon it.'" [00:47:53]
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