iMonk Classic: Real Apologetics

This weekend, as we mourn Michael Spencer’s passing, thank God for the hope of eternal life, and comfort one another in our time of loss, IM will feature classic posts from the Internet Monk.

Mike’s Final Post on Internet Monk
February 10, 2010

The ultimate apologetic is to a dying man.

That is what all those “Where is God?” statements in the Psalms are all about. They are, at least partially, invitations to Christians to speak up for the dying.

All the affirmations to God as creator and designer are fine, but it is as the God of the dying that the Christian has a testimony to give that absolutely no one else can give.

We need to remember that each day dying people are waiting for the word of death and RESURRECTION.

The are a lot of different kinds of Good News, but there is little good news in “My argument scored more points than you argument.” But the news that “Christ is risen!” really is Good News for one kind of person: The person who is dying.

If Christianity is not a dying word to dying men, it is not the message of the Bible that gives hope now.

What is your apologetic? Make it the full and complete announcement of the Life Giving news about Jesus.

iMonk Classic: Our Problem with Grace

This weekend, as we mourn Michael Spencer’s passing, thank God for the hope of eternal life, and comfort one another in our time of loss, IM will feature classic posts from the Internet Monk.

Our Problem with Grace
Sweat. Hand-wringing. “Yes, but…”

Q. 1. What is your only comfort, in life and in death?

A. That I belong–body and soul, in life and in death–not to myself but to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ, who at the cost of his own blood has fully paid for all my sins and has completely freed me from the dominion of the devil; that he protects me so well that without the will of my Father in heaven not a hair can fall from my head; indeed, that everything must fit his purpose for my salvation. Therefore, by his Holy Spirit, he also assures me of eternal life, and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.

Q. 2. How many things must you know that you may live and die in the blessedness of this comfort?

A. Three. First, the greatness of my sin and wretchedness. Second, how I am freed from all my sins and their wretched consequences. Third, what gratitude I owe to God for such redemption.

The Heidelberg Catechism

Grace. It’s dangerous stuff.

“Amazing Grace” may be the church’s favorite hymn, but I’m not the first person to notice that the subject of God’s actual grace seems to give many Christians a case of hives. Singing about it is way cool. After that we need a team of lawyers to interpret all the codicils and footnotes we’ve written for the new covenant.

I don’t really care whether we all agree on how to reconcile Paul’s justification by faith and James’s justification by works. I don’t care whether we agree on the application of the threat of Bonhoeffer’s sermons on “cheap grace.” I don’t care all that much about Catholic grace vs. Protestant grace or conservative grace vs. liberal grace, though I have my convictions. Grace as merely a point or a subpoint in theology seems rather bizarre to me. Grace is an all or nothing gig, not some percentage of the take. Get with it, or get out of the kitchen.Continue reading “iMonk Classic: Our Problem with Grace”

iMonk Classic: Dr. StrangeLiturgy

This weekend, as we mourn Michael Spencer’s passing, thank God for the hope of eternal life, and comfort one another in our time of loss, IM will feature classic posts from the Internet Monk.

Dr. StrangeLiturgy
I’ve got friends in high-church places.

The humor of me standing in front of a Presbyterian Church, wearing a robe, saying the Apostle’s Creed and leading congregational confessions, is still not lost on me. If only Hall Street Baptist Church could see me now. They wouldn’t be laughing. (That’s Cranmer over there grinning. Isn’t he?)

I grew up fearing any church that didn’t resemble a tent revival. The first time I went to a Roman Catholic worship service, I was so scared and confused that I walked out. When everyone headed up front for the mass, I thought it was the invitation, and it seemed a good time to duck out. The stress of trying to figure out kneelers was too much for me.

Even Methodist churches frightened me. I simply didn’t understand what was going on in the simplest liturgies, and I assumed it was bad for real Christians to be around it. “Good” was evangelistic revivalism, and all the efforts expended to get people down to the altar, or even better, up there “testifying'” of how they got saved. (My Episcopal friend was just as confused by our Baptist services, but he handled it far better than me. I never found the courage to even visit his church.)

Today, revivalism scares me to death, and the comfortable predictability of the common liturgy is home for me and my family. When ministers start “winging it” and talking about what has God laid on their hearts, I want to go out the back door. The 1928 Book of Common Prayer ought to be the law of the land as far as I am concerned.

My friends often talk about liturgical churches as if they were dens of open Satanism. There dead, phony Christians, bound in Papist chains of tradition and quenching the Spirit at every opportunity, sit frozen, worshiping God in a box and considering themselves the only real Christians. Meanwhile, down at the Free Pentecostal Last-Days Assembly and Revival Center, real Christians, free in the Spirit, get high on Jesus, get saved every Sunday and see God working miracles at every service. Shambala-shingi.

I’ve quit trying to explain myself to these people. Having “been there, done that” as a naive Charismatic during my high school years, I know how convinced these folks are that liturgical churches are wrong, and that anything genuine must be extemporaneous. But I think I need to go on the record with what I’ve found in the liturgical tradition, and why I’ve taken my children away from revivalism and helped them find their way into a church that purposely avoids the very things I valued most for years as a Baptist.Continue reading “iMonk Classic: Dr. StrangeLiturgy”

iMonk Classic: Death — the Road that Must Be Traveled

This weekend, as we mourn Michael Spencer’s passing, thank God for the hope of eternal life, and comfort one another in our time of loss, IM will feature classic posts from the Internet Monk.

Death: The Road that Must Be Traveled
For this boy, coming to terms with death ain’t no easy thing.

Perhaps passing through the gates of death is like passing through the gate in a pasture fence. On the other side, you keep walking, without the need to look back. No shock, no drama, just the lifting of a plank or two in a simple wooden gate in a clearing. Neither pain, nor floods of light, nor great voices, but just the silent crossing of a meadow.

Mark Helprin, “A Soldier In The Great War”

I’ll make it simple: I don’t want to die. I, a Christian, a minister and a person of faith, do not want to die. The thought fills me with fear, and I am ashamed at how little faith I have in the face of what is a universal and uncontrollable human experience.

I’ll die, no matter how I feel about dying, but I’m not at peace with the reality of death right now, and my fear of death is becoming a more frequent visitor to the dark side of my soul. I’ve never been a brave person, but bravery isn’t the issue anymore. It’s acceptance and faith that rests in God, rather than denial, avoidance and the terror of my fears.

Near number one on my list of things I don’t like about Christians is the suggestion I should have a happy and excited attitude about dying. “Uncle Joe got cancer and died in a month. Glory hallelujah. He’s in a better place and if you love the Lord that’s where you want to be right now. When the doctor says your time has come, you ought to shout praises to the Lord.” Or this one. “I’d rather be in heaven. Wouldn’t you? This earth is not my home. I’d rather be with Jesus and Mama and Peter and Abraham than spend one more day in this world of woe.”

Not me. Not by a long shot. I like this world of woe, and I really don’t want to leave it.Continue reading “iMonk Classic: Death — the Road that Must Be Traveled”

For All the Saints

For all the saints, who from their labors rest,
Who Thee by faith before the world confessed,
Thy Name, O Jesus, be forever blessed.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

Thou wast their Rock, their Fortress and their Might;
Thou, Lord, their Captain in the well fought fight;
Thou, in the darkness drear, their one true Light.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

O blest communion, fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
All are one in Thee, for all are Thine.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

The golden evening brightens in the west;
Soon, soon to faithful warriors comes their rest;
Sweet is the calm of paradise the blessed.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

But lo! there breaks a yet more glorious day;
The saints triumphant rise in bright array;
The King of glory passes on His way.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

From earth’s wide bounds, from ocean’s farthest coast,
Through gates of pearl streams in the countless host,
And singing to Father, Son and Holy Ghost:
Alleluia, Alleluia!

William W. How, 1864

iMonk Classic: Why I Am a Christian (10 Reasons)

This weekend, as we mourn Michael Spencer’s passing, thank God for the hope of eternal life, and comfort one another in our time of loss, IM will feature classic posts from the Internet Monk.

Why I Am a Christian—Ten Reasons

Why am I a Christian? How about a quick survey of the more popular possible answers.

  • Spencer is a Christian because its the dominant religion in his culture. It enforces the value system he has grown up in, and if you are going to have some foundation for what it means to be a “good person” in North America, Christianity is still the majority game in town, especially if you’re a white male conservative Republican.
  • Spencer is a Christian because he is too cowardly to face the fact that God just isn’t there and the harder truth that death is it. Back to atoms and molecules. No reward or punishment. No heaven or life after death. He can’t swallow that so he’s leaning on the crutch of religion, and Christianity is a great crutch.
  • Spencer is a Christian because he wants Christianity to be true. It gives his life meaning and allows him to say he is right and others are wrong. He needs it to be true, especially the part about the Bible being true, because he gets paid the big bucks to talk about the Bible all the time.

And on we go. So now that I have given the alternative explanations a fair hearing, I want to make my case. Since most everything we write around here stands on some portion of our various understandings of the Christian worldview, I think it’s just fair to say, as plainly as possible, why we are coming from this point of view.Continue reading “iMonk Classic: Why I Am a Christian (10 Reasons)”

iMonk Classic: On Christless Preaching

This weekend, as we mourn Michael Spencer’s passing, thank God for the hope of eternal life, and comfort one another in our time of loss, IM will feature classic posts from the Internet Monk.

On Christless Preaching: The Arrival of Preaching that Doesn’t Mention Jesus at All

Is this a joke?

I’ve just heard yet another sermon that never mentioned Jesus anywhere or in any way. No, no, it’s not an oddity or anywhere close to the first time. I’ll estimate that in the last five years I’ve heard at least fifty sermons that totally omitted any mention of Jesus, and many more where there was no real reason for Jesus to be included. Sermons that could have been preached by Jews, Mormons, even Muslims in some cases, without any real changes. Sermons preached by ordained, and often, educated, Baptist ministers.

What’s up with this? Is this another “Internet Monk Straw Man Award”, or is this really happening, right in front of us?

Continue reading “iMonk Classic: On Christless Preaching”

iMonk Classic: Wretched Urgency — The Grace of God or Hamsters on a Wheel?

hamsterThis weekend, as we mourn Michael Spencer’s passing, thank God for the hope of eternal life, and comfort one another in our time of loss, IM will feature classic posts from the Internet Monk.

Wretched Urgency: The Grace of God, or Hamsters on a Wheel?

My friend and prayer partner just looked across the lunch table and said I didn’t look good. In fact, he said I hadn’t looked happy all week.

He’s right. I am troubled. I want to preach and I can’t for almost two more weeks. The war is occupying my time and my mind. I’ve had some discipline problems with my students, who are tired of being in school and caught up in the spring that has finally chased winter from their minds. I’m thinking about where to find college money for my daughter and how to buy her a car and why I can’t stop gaining weight. Don’t ask me how I am. I might tell you.

OK. Don’t bail out. I’m not usually a whiner about life. Since you, my reading public, really want to know, I’ll tell you what is bumming me out: I harbor unspeakable thoughts about my Christianity. Things you can’t say in most churches. Things that are disturbing to many evangelicals, especially my particular kind of Fundamentalistic Southern Baptist Arminian revivalists. Dare I say these things? It’s too late!

Well, if I do, someone is going to say I am just a narrow, anti-evangelism, anti-missionary, five point “aggressive” Calvinist. And you already know how I feel about that. Someone else will say, like Job’s friends, that I’m living in sin and making excuses for myself. Others will mail me a book or tape that will make it all better. I will run the gauntlet if I start typing.

None of this intimidation will work on me. I’ve been thinking these things for years, and they aren’t shadows. What I am going to to say is real, and I am going to bet that once I let the cat out of the bag, a lot of readers will write me and say they thought it too, but were afraid to say anything because they didn’t want to get in trouble or get preached at. So here we go.

I don’t think Christianity is about converting people.Continue reading “iMonk Classic: Wretched Urgency — The Grace of God or Hamsters on a Wheel?”

iMonk Classic: What Is Jesus-Shaped Spirituality?

This weekend, as we mourn Michael Spencer’s passing, thank God for the hope of eternal life, and comfort one another in our time of loss, IM will feature classic posts from the Internet Monk.

What Is Jesus-Shaped Spirituality? (2/24/09)

The past year and a half has been the most personally tumultuous time I’ve ever experienced as a Christian believer. At one time or another in this past year, I have re-evaluated every area of my Christianity, often with many tears, prayers and hours of reading. Much of this has been in response to the questions raised by my recent encounters with Roman Catholicism.

I entitled this adventure Jesus Shaped Spirituality. It’s a catchy and provocative label, but I’m not sure I could have come to your church and given a talk on what I meant by the phrase.

Today, I’m at a different place on that journey. I’ve now come to the place that Jesus shaped spirituality has some feel, form and substance for me. I have some confidence and comfort in expressing what I’ve discovered, reaffirmed and began to express to others.Continue reading “iMonk Classic: What Is Jesus-Shaped Spirituality?”

And Now For Something Completely … The Same

Most words simply convey information or one’s feeling at the moment.

Then there are words that change one’s life.

I spoke with Denise Spencer a couple of months before her husband, Michael–the Internet Monk himself–died. I shared with Denise my idea for keeping this web site going in a way that would hopefully provide some income, however limited, for Denise.

“I really don’t care about the money,” said Denise. “I just don’t want to let what Michael has spent more than ten years building die when he dies.”

Those words have changed my life.Continue reading “And Now For Something Completely … The Same”