Jared Longshore's Blog, page 16

Calvary Proves the Sacrament

Every week at this table you hear the truth that as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. In that phrase, we have a particular consummation of this supper. We eat and drink at this table for a time, up and to a point. That point will be the day of visibility. Having walked by faith and not by sight, we will then see Him as He is. We certainly are witnesses of Christ’s at this meal, but being witnesses to something is different than being the thing itself.

This table is a testimony to Christ but it is not an unveiling of Christ. We proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes and that proclamation must be received by faith. We trust in the Word made flesh and at the last supper of all last suppers, we will see the Word made flesh when He comes in like manner as He went into heaven.

Notice then the limitations of our witness. We can and do testify to the Lord’s death. But we can never be the ground or cause of Christ’s death. We can never prove Christ’s death by getting underneath it and supporting it as if we were the chief cornerstone. If you are looking for the final word on the matter, then you must go to the Word Himself. If you are looking for the solid bottom upon which you can stand then you must go to the Rock of Ages. In this sense, we are not proving His death at this table but His death is the proof of this table. Where did this table come from? Well, it came from the Lord of the table. So come in faith and welcome to Jesus Christ.

The post Calvary Proves the Sacrament appeared first on REFORMATION & REVIVAL.

Did God Really Say?

Baptism is a sign and seal of God’s covenant promise. Consider the love of God. Not only has He promised to save us. But He has sworn an oath. Not only has He sworn and oath, but He has given us a visible word to underscore His oath. The deceiver first led us astray with the question, “Did God really say?” And he attempts to run this same play on us regarding our salvation, “Did God really say you are His?” And in our baptism, God replies, “Oh yes, I have said. These are mine.”

The post Did God Really Say? appeared first on REFORMATION & REVIVAL.

A Sit-Down in Escondido

At a very kind invitation from Pastor Chris Gordon, Doug Wilson and I flew down to California for a sit-down in Escondido. Any and all topics were up for debate and we covered several over the course of three hours including postmillennialism, Christian nationalism, and federal vision. Pastor Gordon has released a statement here regarding the debate. Pastor Wilson has also released a note on the meeting.

It was Pastor Gordon’s hope that we exhibited, in love and with a good example for others, how Christians should treat one another with whom we disagree. Not only do Doug and I have that same hope, but we think that Pastor Gordon demonstrated that very well throughout our time in Escondido. We had a delightful time, a good and rigorous discussion, and are very grateful.

Here’s a link to the debate:

The post A Sit-Down in Escondido appeared first on REFORMATION & REVIVAL.

Man Does Not Live by Logic Alone

Chesterton once said that the madman is not the man who has lost his reason but the man who has lost everything but his reason. While a mind is a beautiful thing, it is not food. Jesus said that man does not live by bread alone and neither does he live by logic alone. He lives by the Word of God. We live in a world in which God has spoken. We are surrounded by nouns and verbs, they radiate from the prophets and they radiate from the roses and bumble bees. These words are from God and they are our meat and drink.

The ants tell you to work. The moon and the stars tell you to humble yourself. These divine heralds don’t require that you do high level logical deduction. But they do require you to obey. They do not require comprehensive knowledge on your part. But they do require faith. It has been well said that our method of operation is faith seeking understanding and you will spin your wheels into oblivion if you reverse this and make your method understanding seeking faith.

Jesus said that His teaching was not His own but the Father’s. And He added that “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine” (John 7:14-18).

You will find a man that says, “I think for myself.” And this is to be commended. God has spoken and most certainly given you a mind. But there is a world of difference between thinking for yourself and thinking from yourself. The man who would think from himself has rejected the bread from heaven in an attempt to bake his own bread. He attempts to be the true bread which has come down from heaven rather than simply eating that true bread. That is madness, indeed.

The post Man Does Not Live by Logic Alone appeared first on REFORMATION & REVIVAL.

Poor Earth, Poor Stars

Things, therefore, as things, are inseparable from God, as God. Separate the secular from the sacred, and the world becomes an idol shrouded in interpretations; creation becomes too meaningful to make love to . . . Poor earth, poor stars, poor flesh. Without a Giver, they never become themselves

Robert Capon, The Supper of the Lamb

The post Poor Earth, Poor Stars appeared first on REFORMATION & REVIVAL.

This Is My Body Given for You

One of the striking things about the Lord’s Supper is that Jesus said this bread is his body. The bread not only reminds us of Jesus Christ. It reminds us of his flesh, which he still has. This bread comes after the incarnation. And it could not be otherwise because this bread is the body of the Son of God incarnate.

When the Son of God took a body he did so in order to give it. Man likes to play it safe. Self-preservation is the name of the game for many. But that was manifestly not the way Jesus played it. At the institution of this meal he said, “This is my body, given for you.” He laid down his life. He offered himself up to God as a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice. And in giving his body for us, his body was resurrected. Christ stated the truth plainly with words before illustrating it with his actions when he said, “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.” 

That is a Bible verse that many of us have heard so many times we may miss the point. The only way to get the resurrection is to die. The only way to find your life is to genuiely lose it, not like you misplace your car keys. You must lose your life the way a pitcher loses its water to satisfy the thirsty. Come to this table remembering the one who took a body in order to give it for you. Come in faith and welcome to Jesus Christ.

The post This Is My Body Given for You appeared first on REFORMATION & REVIVAL.

Maneuvers for Dealing with Manipulative People: How to Be an ERLC Board Member

One of the things that you must be on the lookout for when the shakable things are shaken is manipulative people. Manipulators manipulate in all seasons but they really go to pulling the strings when things begin to rumble. Since we have more than our fair share of societal tremors at the moment, you can bet that there is a whole lot of steering going on in unhealthy organizations. 

Megan Basham’s recent book Pastors for Sale demonstrates that Christian organizations are susceptible to manipulation. The recent happenings over at the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission underscore the point. While I have not seen any explanation of why Brent Leatherwood, the president of the ERLC was fired and then rehired, I do have eyes in my head. We do not need insider information to observe the observable. 

The ERLC announced that Leatherwood was fired only to come out the next day and announce that he was not fired and the chairman of the ERLC executive board, Kevin Smith, had resigned. Smith released a statement saying that he believed there was a consensus to remove Leatherwood, and “in an effort to deal with it expeditiously, I acted in good faith but without a formal vote of the Executive Committee.” In response to the news that the ERLC had rehired Leatherwood and railroaded Smith, my friend Toby Sumpter tweeted, “We apologize again for the fault in the subtitles. Those responsible for sacking the people who have just been sacked, have been sacked.” Basham has documented on her X feed how Russell Moore stirred up major left media along with other major players to pressure the ERLC board after they fired Leatherwood. The peculiar thing was why they fired him in the first place. The chairman of the ERLC and the makeup of the entire board itself is not a bastion of MAGA republicanism. So what happened? 

In short, the ERLC board responds to pressure. When that pressure comes from the right, they respond by agreeing with Smith and firing Leatherwood. When that pressure comes from the left, they respond by rehiring Leatherwood and ousting Smith. What will the board do next? The answer is quite simple: they will do whatever the loudest voice in the room is saying to do. The ERLC is an example of an organization that has cultivated a culture of manipulation. Principle is gone. Genuine leadership is gone. The ERLC is Joe Biden, listening very closely to the Nancy Pelosis of the world who assure them that we can do this the easy way or the hard way.

The only way to rectify an organization that is riddled with manipulative people and manipulated people is for the individuals in that organization to grow up. Manipulated people are infantilized people and it really does take a work of renewal to change things. To that end, if you find yourself in a culture of manipulation, here are some maneuvers for dealing with manipulators.

The first thing to do is buckle up because you’re going to have a bumpy ride. Can you imagine what would have happened if one of the ERLC board members grew a spine amid the back and forth? Imagine that some regular Johnny on the board gets news, after they agreed to fire Leatherwood, that they would now be rehiring Leatherwood. He gets a call from a fellow board member, “Johnny, while we agreed to fire Leatherwood, Russell Moore made a phone call, and it dawned on us that we did not take a formal vote in session. Johnny, there were no yeas and there were no nays, and in addition to this Smith did not even ask if there were any abstentions and it is most certain that he did not use a gavel to close session.” But this Johnny decides to speak the truth amid the shenanigans and says something like, “You know, we knew what we were doing and we should follow through on principle rather than let CNN dictate the decisions of the ERLC.” If Johnny went that way, he would be inviting a good deal of trouble upon himself. And he would come out on the other side being a better man. But note, there is no way of breaking out of manipulative systems without fireworks.

Amid such systems, you must rise above the standard operating procedure. You must expand your view. Manipulative leadership squelches creativity within the organization. Contrary views are ridiculed without being answered. Within a suffocating system, remember that it is one thing to disprove an interlocutor and another thing to slander or ridicule him. If it is becoming clear to you that the leaders within your organization are cutting you off from other opinions without actually understanding them and answering them, then you my friend might be a puppet.

You can test such a hypothesis by stating your convictions, by disagreeing without being disagreeable. Do not be fussy about it. But explain why you think it would be good and wise to go a particular direction if you indeed think that is the best way to go. If the response is that you are simply trying to flex or getting too big for your britches, or if the response is that you have an inordinate interest in others who hold the position you’re advocating, explain that those are wonderful ad hominem fallacies, but illegitimate replies to your proposition. 

As you work these maneuvers on manipulators, bless those who are trying to pull your strings. Make sure that this does not turn into scratching the back of the one who is scratching yours. Manipulators will gladly welcome that kind of thing. What you are after is genuine blessing not back-scratching. You will find yourself in a sea of back-scratching. So the task before you is to think through what will be an actual blessing to the manipulators in the system. Depending on how deep the rot goes, the biggest blessing you may be able to render them is to depart the organization graciously. At other times, you should do a kindness within the system. But one that is going to stand out amid all of the gladhanding and shmoozing. 

Within manipulative institutions, men evade responsibility. This is one reason you have to go through seventeen rounds of pre-recorded selections before speaking with a genuine human at the IRS. Healthy organizations draw leaders who are looking for the freedom of making decisions and standing by them. If you have to check with your superiors before you blow your nose, then you know where you are. You can test this hypothesis as well. If you suspect that you are being micro-managed, then take a reasonable shot without asking. Do not steal the launch codes and fire a missile at Iran. But when the opportunity presents itself to make a decision and there is no clear standard saying that you can’t, take the shot and see if this puts the manipulator’s knickers in a knot.

I recently tweeted the following:

Biden was old enough to steer. Kamala is dumb enough to steer. The ERLC is anxious enough to steer. Russell Moore is shrewd enough to drive.

This is a subject worth expanding on so perhaps more later. For now, we have a real problem. There are steering wheels on many backs and revival will not come through the right learning how to steer. A sign that revival has come will be all of the steering wheels being removed.

The post Maneuvers for Dealing with Manipulative People: How to Be an ERLC Board Member appeared first on REFORMATION & REVIVAL.

The New Has Come

Baptism is a testimony that the old has gone and the new has come for if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. As Israel passed through the waters with their children, leaving behind the furnace of Egypt and pressing on toward what lied ahead, so we pass through waters with our children, leaving behind death and judgment to walk in the light of God’s covenant faithfulness. This good news is received by faith and sealed in baptism. All of this is upheld by the God who can be trusted for He is light and in Him is no darkness, none at all.

The post The New Has Come appeared first on REFORMATION & REVIVAL.

Friendship When Your Fields Increase

Proverbs 17:17 says that a friend loves at all times. But, love does different things at different times. You might think it is a good thing to bless your friend with a loud voice. But not early in the morning (Proverbs 27:14).

Now God is clearly increasing our fields. This is a fulfillment of God’s promise through Ezekiel. When he puts a new heart and new spirit in his people, he adds, “I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field.” With these blessings comes the need to work the increased fields and tend to the multiplying fruit. 

Real friendship at a time like this will require a good deal of diligent work with a heavy helping of cheerful patience. You’re a part of a growing church, growing community, growing schools, growing businesses, and growing families. With increased fruit and fields, and increased laborers, somebody is bound to get frantic, some else is going to get elbowed by accident, some fruit will be plucked a week later than it should have been. And you may start to feel a longing for calmer days, saying, “Back then my stalls may not have had oxen in them, but at least they were clean!”

There’s a mistaken vision of friendship that terminates on the friends, does not require faith or work, and begins to silo itself off both from real needs and from what God is doing in the world. After a big night of hospitality, one of the most friendly things a husband can do is the dishes. As a husband comes home after a long day’s work, one of friendliest things a wife can do is feed him a tasty meal at a good price.

It is through these steady, cheerful, and sacrificial blessings that true friendships are built. And here is the abiding principle of friendship, no matter the season of life: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).

The post Friendship When Your Fields Increase appeared first on REFORMATION & REVIVAL.

The Church as It Now Is, and Will Be

We must understand the kingdom of heaven in one sense as a kingdom in which both are included, the man who breaks what he teaches, and the man who practises it, though one is the least and the other is great in the kingdom, while in another sense it is a kingdom into which there enters only the man who practises what he teaches. Thus where both are to be found we have the Church as it now is; but where only the one kind will be found, there is the Church as it will be, when no evil person will be included. It follows that the Church even now is the kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of heaven.

Augustine, City of God

The post The Church as It Now Is, and Will Be appeared first on REFORMATION & REVIVAL.