Reformed Theology: A Practical Guide for Life

Calvin writes his Institutes in order to enable the reader to grow in piety. And you look at the issues that are dealt with in every Reformed confession, and they are practical issues dealt with. I think the reason why people could imagine it is not practical or that some Reformed folk could make it less than practical is because Reformed theology is known for being clear and precise in its doctrinal statements, and that is meant for the sake of faithful clarity to God's revelation. [00:03:28]

I think at the very heart, and this is where Calvin starts his Institutes, the very heart of the practical difference Reformed theology makes, is the knowledge of God and the knowledge of self, and without a clear knowledge of God, which Reformed theology gives you, your knowledge of God will be small, it will be indistinct, it will be inaccurate in a number of ways. [00:08:21]

And, therefore, you will think that God is less holy, less beautiful, less adorable, less majestic than He truly is. And as a result, your own sinfulness won't stink as it should when you have a right view of who God is, and so, therefore, your self-righteousness will be high. And because your self-righteousness is high, your assurance of salvation will be low and your sensitivity to the views of others will be very high. [00:08:50]

Well, one thing Reformed theology does that I think the Arminian tradition, at least in my lifetime, has failed to do is to recognize it is actually possible to be a Christian and not to have full assurance of salvation. I remember when I became a Christian the counsel that was given to the counselors was "Here, 1 John says this. You agree with that, you have assurance of salvation," that did not take account of what one might call the psychology of spiritual life, the psychology of responding to the gospel. [00:11:32]

And so, part of the whole thrust of Reformed theology was the way in which it turns people, what Mike was saying here: How do you discover the truth about yourself? Not by turning into yourself, but by turning out to the knowledge of God. And, I think, for many of us because of the kind of influences that we've had in the last fifty years, we may not have the appreciation we should have of the extent to which certain individuals, books, and ministries have really transformed the landscape. [00:12:42]

And the really arresting statement he makes there is that the bitterest afflictions will become sweet to us if we know they proceed from the hand of our heavenly Father. And at every point there Calvin shows the practicality of Reformed theology, but also shows his pastoral heart. If we know that the sufferings of this life come from a loving heavenly Father, not from chance, not despite the impotent work of a less than sovereign God, that God has a loving purpose for us in the worst of our afflictions. [00:15:58]

And when these afflictions are sanctified, when we react faithfully in our afflictions, we very rarely understand them at the time, but we can even through them and maybe even see it, we can begin to grow in our Christlikeness and even grow in our joy at the care of our Father in the midst of our afflictions. But I would recommend reading some of the great works, like Flavel, for someone who is in a situation like that. [00:19:36]

We discover the will of God where He has revealed His will to us and the one place we are sure He has revealed His will to us is in the pages of Scripture. And there we find God's will revealed to us in a variety of dimensions, some crystal-clear, commandments, for example, "Should I commit adultery or should I not commit adultery? How do I discover God's will in that?" Crystal clear? [00:20:45]

And if it doesn't at that point lead you to the decision, what do you do? You do the thing that none of us wants to do. You learn what it means to wait on God and to wait for God, and in this way, God's will will be disclosed to you." And think for these men, for ourselves, you know, there is a selection of female names in Scripture that you might accidentally land on a text of Scripture and think, "I need to marry Mary" or "I need to marry Ruth," or "I need to marry Elizabeth." [00:22:28]

And if I can put it this way: It is classical music with depth and quality, but It don't mean a thing, if it ain't got that swing. And I think that is a beautiful thing when you see it and you can see that in young people as well as old people just the way their lives stand out from the general mishmash crowd of Christians because of this dignity, this poise, this character, this stability, the music that attracts you. You want to be with such people. That's practical. [00:28:11]

The liberals in Machen's day said, "We love Jesus. That's all we need, and don't come with all of your doctrine." And Dr. Machen said, "You can only love the Jesus truly whom the Bible teaches," and that remains just as true today, that Jesus must not be our invention, the Jesus whom we love must be the Jesus that the Bible reveals, and we have to change our attitudes about Jesus and about life and about everything in conformity to what He says." [00:29:46]

That claim "I don't need theology" misses the fact that you've already got theology, you're always doing theology; the problem is, naturally, your theology is messed up. And so, your theology needs to be reformed. It needs to be corrected by the Word of God. [00:31:12]