Book Review: Rediscovering the Church Fathers by Michael A. G. Haykin

Rediscovering the Church Fathers: Who They Were and How They Shaped the Church by Michael A. G. Haykin. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2011, 172pp., softcover, $16.99

Rediscovering the Church Fathers is the most recent work of Michael A. G. Haykin who serves as professor of church history and biblical spirituality at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has authored more than twenty-five books, including The Emergence of Evangelicalism: Exploring Historical Continuities.

Haykin writes this book to address the question: “Why should evangelical Christians engage the thought and experience of these early Christian witnesses [the church fathers]?” (p.17). In his assessment, “far too many modern-day evangelicals are either ignorant of or quite uncomfortable with the church fathers” (p. 13). The reasoning he puts forth to study the church fathers is logically sound. These reasons include: “to aid [the church] in her liberation from the Zeitgeist of the twenty-first century; to provide a guide in her walk with Christ; to help her understand the basic witness to her faith, the New Testament; to refute bad histories of the ancient church; and to be a vehicle of spiritual nurture” (pp. 28-29). The manner in which he seeks to promote his assertion is through selected case studies of the men themselves. He dedicates a chapter to each of the following:

            Dying for Christ: The Thought of Ignatius of Antioch

            Sharing the Truth: The Letter to Diognetus

            Interpreting the Scriptures: The Exegesis of Origen

            Being Kissed: The Eucharistic Piety of Cyprian and Ambrose

            Being Holy and Renouncing the World: The Experience of Basil of Caesarea

            Saving the Irish: The Mission of Patrick

One of the main strengths of Rediscovering the Church Fathers is Dr. Haykin’s ability to take us into the church fathers’ world. When we enter their world, we can see life through their eyes. We see the Christian faith through the lens of their era as opposed to the 20^th and 21^st centuries. They battled many of the same issues we face. They were dedicated to defending the Christian faith against false teachings and beliefs; and they were committed to live out their faith in a practical way during a hostile time. 

A second strength of the book arises from Dr. Haykin’s ability to bring us into the church father’s world. Once we see through their perspective, we learn that many of the issues and concerns we might have with them are misplaced. They were not power-hungry men seeking a way to control the church. They were men who tried to legitimately defend the faith and live out the Christian life in a context that constantly challenged solid biblical doctrine. We begin to understand why they reached many of the decisions they made regarding their beliefs and practices, when we see these decisions were brought about as a means to stand against the challenges from their culture. While we learn that they took some of these issues they dealt with to the extreme, we can also see (if we are honest) how evangelicals took many of these same issues to the opposite extreme in the Protestant Reformation. 

With all the strengths of the book, I would have preferred for Dr. Haykin to interact more with how each of these issues they dealt with applies to our culture today. This interaction would strengthen his argument that modern evangelicals should spend more time reading the church fathers’ writings. This interaction could involve spending more time wrestling with the questions: How does Ignatius’ willingness to die for Christ overlap with our selfish, prosperity mindset? How does Basil’s piety stand in stark contrast to our worldly-Christian culture? How does the Eucharistic piety of Cyprian and Ambrose directly challenge the often too-low view many evangelicals have of the Lord’s Supper? There is an insinuation throughout the book that perhaps evangelicals overreacted to many of the themes and issues in the Protestant reformation and discarded a wealth of knowledge along with the rejection of the entire Roman Catholic Church. There is a measure of truth to this insinuation which needs to be articulated more clearly. It is my fear that too many people will miss the subtle hint implied throughout the histories of these great men.

I would definitely recommend the book to anyone who is familiar or unfamiliar with the church fathers because it is an easy to read and understand introduction to some of the first men who contended for the Christian faith.

Mission: Nicaragua - Itinerary - August 2011

For those of you who are interested in our upcoming mission trip to Nicaragua, here is our itinerary. It is designed to serve as a strategic prayer guide for those who will commit to pray for our work there. Thank you for all the support you have given through prayer and donations and will continue to give through prayer.

Nicaragua Mission Trip August 4th- 15th

Thursday, August 4^th- Friday, August 5^th

• Travel to Nicaragua

 Saturday, August 6^th

• Purchase School Uniforms/Book bags
• Sort Donated Items from Shipping Container

 Sunday, August 7^th 

• Visit Village of Nuevo Jicarito – Approx 25 Families with 60 children
• Visit Village of Las Mesitas – Approx 150 Children

 Monday, August 8^th

• Visit Village of Flor de Azalia – Approx 110 Children; Distribute Book bags and School Supplies to Teachers
• Visit Village of  Becerro – Approx 40 Families with 100 children

 Tuesday, August 9th

• Visit Village of San Manglito – Approx 155 Children; Take Pictures Village & Land where church will be
• Visit Village of Los Laredos – Approx 150 Children

 Wednesday, August 10^th

• Wedding

 Thursday, August 11^th

• Pastors Conference/Training in Somotillo (8am-3pm) – Distribute Pastor Resources (Books, bags, pens, notebooks
• Lunch with Pastors/Wives
• Movie night at the Church in Somotillo 5:00pm

  Friday, August 12^th

• Visit Village of Cinco Pinos
• 9am meeting with Ladies in Village for Basket program
• Visit church in Cinco Pinos Approx 150 Children

Saturday, August 13^th – Sunday, August 14^th

• Travel

 Along with the activities listed above, in each village we will also be:

• Sharing the gospel
• Distributing school supplies to the children
• Updating the children’s profiles and pictures for their sponsors
• Feeding the people
• Playing games
• Bible story/VBS
• Distributing clothes and shoes
• Distributing hygiene packs

 Your prayers are much needed and greatly appreciated. This trip will touch the lives of over 1,000 children and their families in 8 villages. Please pray for the village will be serving in each day that God would move and souls would be won for the kingdom. Pray for healing in a hurting country. Pray for the time we will be training the pastors while we are there because their influence and work for God can reap an unimaginable harvest over the course of their lives. We also ask that you please pray for Phil Shouse who will be preaching both Sundays in my absence on the mission trip.

Nicaragua Fast Facts (compared with U.S.)- info from Operation World

§  Area- 127,849 sq km. The largest of the Central American republics, Nicaragua is about the size of Mississippi

§  Nicaragua is a secular state with complete religious freedom since 1990.

§  Population- 5,822,265 (U.S. 317,641,087)

§  Official language- Spanish (U.S. English)

§  Literacy- 76.7% (U.S. 99%)

§  Income per person- $1,028 (U.S. $47,440). $2.81 per day (U.S. $129.97 per day)

§  Protestants- 21.25% (U.S. 27.51%)

The Church is not God's Temple- part 2

In part one, we began looking at an erroneous teaching which has become very popular in much of America: the church is God’s house or the church is the temple of God. We established that the likely reason this misconception arose is due to confusion over the Old Testament teachings regarding the Temple of Israel. We also established some strange beliefs, and rules, that religious people create for church buildings when the temple teachings are imposed on the church buildings. To clarify terms in this note, my use of the phrase “religious people” is not synonymous with a biblical Christian. “Religious people” more closely resemble the Pharisees in the New Testament, in that they impose man made rules and traditions on others as a requirement for salvation, church membership, and fellowship.

In the New Testament, the word “temple” still refers to a dwelling place for God. Further, the New Testament teaches that God still lives in a temple. So, why is the church building not this temple? I spoke of a wonderful reality in the last paragraph of part 1. The wonderful reality is this: in the New Testament there is a radical change in where God lives. 1Corinthians 3:16 explains this change; “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” 1Corinthians 3:17 teaches that God’s temple is still to be a holy dwelling place, but now the temple is no longer a building. God’s temple is you. 1Corinthians 6:19 says, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?”

God no longer lives in a building. He lives in believers. Meditate on that. It’s huge! This has implications for both the buildings and the people. As far as the buildings go, they are bricks and mortar. There is nothing special about them. There is nothing holy about the inside of the buildings, nor do any of the objects inside have any special significance. God does not live in churches. In fact, God does not set foot in the buildings unless a believer walks inside. The altar is not holy ground which only certain people can step on because an altar is a place to make sacrifices. Hopefully, we don’t still have altars. Hebrews 9:24-28 teaches that Jesus has offered himself up, once and for all as the final perfect sacrifice. We do not need to sacrifice animals any longer; therefore there is no need for an altar. Dress codes are a tradition born out of preference. God doesn’t care about the way a person looks on the outside. God cares about our heart. Jesus addressed this very same issue in Matthew 23:25-33. Silence is reverent in some traditions (Psalm 46:10), in others loud, joyous praise is in order (2Samuel 6:14-15; Psalm 150). Sadly, the first point we often miss is this: silence is rotten if the heart is rotten. Loud, joyous praise is rotten if the heart is rotten. Suits and ties are rotten if the heart is rotten. Cut off jeans and tank-top shirts are rotten if the heart is rotten. The second point we miss is this: anything—yes, this includes every tradition we’ve ever had or will ever have—that we worship other than God is idolatry (Ex. 20:3-6; Deut. 5:7-9). The subtle trap behind this is: religious people worship buildings and man-made traditions and rules; Christians worship Jesus. 

God does not live in buildings any longer. He lives in believers. The implications of this for people are enormous. Missing this point could very well mean the difference between heaven and hell, and we will look at that in part 3. And because not every tradition is bad, we will look at how Christians should handle traditions in part 4.

The Church is not God's Temple- part 1

First, to clarify terms, the word “church” in this note refers to a building. Second, I am fully aware that the word “church” in the Bible never once refers to a building. The problem is that somewhere along the line, people began wrongly believing that the church buildings we see on the side of the road are what the Bible is talking about when it uses the word “church.” Because of this widespread misconception, many people began to believe that the church building is some sort of holy place. A popular false teaching, still somewhat prevalent in our day, is that the church is God’s house, or that the church is the temple of God. It may not seem like a big deal but the implications of believing this error can mean the difference between heaven and hell.

First, it helps to understand what the Bible means when it uses the word temple. Throughout the Old and the New Testament, there are basically two different meanings behind the word “temple.” The first meaning refers to something (or someone) that is sacred, consecrated, or set apart. Examples of this usage are: temple servants (1Chr. 9:2), vessels for temple service (Jer. 52:18), and officers of the temple (Luke 22:52). The second meaning, which is far more common, refers to a dwelling place for God or a god. The main example of this throughout the Bible is the temple of Jerusalem which is likely where the confusion about church buildings begins.

In the Old Testament, the Jewish people had a magnificent temple which started as a traveling tabernacle during the Exodus out of Egypt. God gave Moses very detailed instructions as to how he was to construct this tabernacle along with all of the holy instruments to be used for worship in the temple. When it was completed, God came down from heaven and took up residence there. Because God lived inside this temple, the entire structure was a very holy place. People were restricted access to certain areas, sacrifices were brought there daily because it was where God lived, and there was a great reverence which surrounded the place.

Many people mistake our modern church buildings with the Old Testament temple and wrongly transfer Old Testament teachings regarding the temple onto the church. When a person does this, any number of strange beliefs can result. Some believe that the church is God’s house and that God actually lives there. Some believe that it is a holy place which must be held in great reverence. Some believe the objects inside have some magical, sacred property and must be handled in a certain manner. Some believe that people should be restricted access to certain parts of the building (i.e. the area called the “altar.”) Some believe that people should conduct themselves in a certain manner (i.e. no hats, no drinks, no talking, get dressed up, etc.) The list of rules, developed by religious people (not Christians) goes on and on.

The fact of the matter is: all of these rules would still apply to a church building if it really was still a holy place where God lived. Thankfully, the Bible is very clear that the church building is not God’s house and we will look at that wonderful reality in part 2.

The Other Gospel

As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be cursed—Galatians 1:9

Chances are pretty good that you heard this contrary gospel preached in some way, shape, or form last Sunday.

Fair warning: this post may be offensive. If you do not wish to be offended, please stop reading here. I have come to the conclusion that Jesus is extremely offensive. He is offensive because His teachings convict us of our sin. Yet, while He is offensive, He is also God so He has every right to offend. 

We don’t like to be offended. When we are convicted by something Jesus says, we basically do one of three things: (1) confess and repent of our sin or of our religion, (2) slightly change the interpretation of the passage so that it does not apply to us, or (3) just ignore Jesus.

The first option is obviously the correct biblical response to God. The third one is obviously the incorrect biblical response to God. The second choice is obviously wrong but at the same time it is subtly dangerous. It is my contention that this second choice is how most Christians in America approach the Bible.

Here are some examples. See if any sound familiar:

Does Matthew 28:19-20 apply to you? “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Does Jesus expect you to take the gospel to all nations?

Does Luke 6:38 apply to you? “Give and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you use it will be measured back to you.” Do you believe that you can’t out-give God?

Does Acts 1:8 apply to you? “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Does Jesus expect you to be his witness to the end of the earth?

Does John 14:14 apply to you? “If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it?” Do you believe that you can ask Jesus for anything and He will do it?

Does Luke 14:33 apply to you? “Anyone who does not give up all that have cannot be my disciple.” Does Jesus expect you to give up everything to be His disciple?

Does Matthew 11:28 apply to you? “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Do you believe that you can come to Jesus for rest?

So, the question is: Do all of those examples apply directly to your life? I’d be willing to bet that you answered “No. They don’t all apply directly to my life.” Naturally, you would argue, a person needs to have a specific missionary call for the 1^st or 3^rd example to apply. And if you’ve ever heard Luke 14:33 preached, or read it for yourself, it has always come with the attached phrase, “But Jesus doesn’t expect everyone to do this.” And I’d take my money to the bank on the fact that you definitely claimed the promises of the 2^nd, 4^th, and 6^th example for yourself.

If this sounds like you, then please realize that you may be guilty of responding to Jesus the second way mentioned above—that of slightly changing the interpretation of the passage so that it doesn’t apply to you. I would leave you with one question to consider as you think about this: By what authority do you have the right to pick and choose which passages apply to you and which ones don't?

Best Comprehensive Book on Marriage, Family, & Other Relevant Issues: A Book Review of God, Family, and Marriage by Andreas J. Kostenberger with David W. Jones

God, Marriage, and Family: Rebuilding the Biblical Foundation by Andreas J. Kostenberger and David W. Jones (Crossway, 2010) is, to date, the best book that I have read on God’s design for marriage, the family and the various other issues it addresses. The biblical exegesis is solid and faithful to the biblical authors original intent in the covered the texts. The issues tackled in the book are very much alive and relevant to our modern culture. Kostenberger does a wonderful job of bringing God’s meaning from the biblical world to bear on the modern day dilemmas we face while not being afraid to admit to certain issues that are not specifically addressed in the Bible. In the instances where a problem is not specifically touched upon in the Bible, the author shows the reader how to apply overarching biblical principles in order to reach a biblical worldview regarding the issue.

Throughout the book, Kostenberger’s goal is to determine God’s original intention and purpose for marriages and families. What makes the book a must have resource is the broad range of issues addressed. These include looking at marriage and the family in the Old and New Testaments along with God’s purpose for making humans male and female. This latter chapter includes a discussion of the biblical role of sex in a couple’s marriage which is often a taboo area in evangelical Christianity. Further, the book also addresses many special issues which tend to get overlooked until they arise in a marriage or family and create their own problems due to lack of biblical education. These issues include: to have or not have children including the use of birth control methods and artificial reproductive technologies; parental methods; single parenting; to use or not to use physical discipline; cultivating masculinity and femininity in children; parenting teens; and even spiritual warfare in the family (I was pleasantly surprised by this inclusion). An unexpected, but very relevant, chapter is also included on singleness. The book then turns to handle some of the more controversial issues at stake in our society: homosexuality; divorce and remarriage; and qualifications for church leadership. The revised second addition also includes the addition of a chapter on how the church and the family are to relate to one another specifically addressing the “family-integrated church approach.” The appendix includes another chapter on the exception clause from Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 19:9 and the Pauline Privilege in 1 Corinthians 7:15. If you are one of us who enjoy reading the footnotes and endnotes, this book will worth it to you just for these 89 pages at the back packed with many other sources to study.

The book is wonderful. I have officially made it the primary source in my pre-marriage and marriage counseling classes. I would recommend it to all marriage counselors and pastors. I also believe that it is an excellent resource for every couple to have on their bedside table even though a few of the areas might be considered semi-technical.