Can We Do Better?

As Christians in this world we must live in the very presence of sin all around us. We must also live with the reality that sin dwells in us. I wish I would never sin now that I am in Christ, but Christ and the apostles teach us that we do. This is why the doctrine of justification is so vital, and Luther called it the article by which the Church rises or falls. Without justification, Christians are left to attempt to earn our salvation. This is impossible. Without justification, all will go to hell. Thank God that by the merits of Christ all believers are justified.

In light of this, I'm referring to the day-to-day struggle with indwelling sin, two psalms come to my mind immediately. As I have stated over and over again, the psalms are for singing not only for reading. Psalm 51 and Psalm 32 come to my mind. Since I began to sing psalms in my devotional life, I've sung Psalm 51 the most. The gospel is there; forgiveness through the gospel is there. The assurance of a sinner's salvation is there.

As I ruminated on this today, I said to myself: "Can we do better?" What I meant is that we can write nothing better that gets at the heart of our sinful condition and the remedy provided by God through Christ. Psalm 51 is sufficient if read, and it is sufficient when sung and prayed. This is why I love to sing the psalms, and this is why I believe we should sing the psalms to the exclusion of all humanly written and devised compositions. We can do no better; it is no contest. The Holy Spirit is God Almighty, and he inspired David, Asaph, Moses, and other psalmists and prophets to write spiritual songs. God has given us these to praise him with, to pray, and to learn of our conditions. If we believe in the sufficiency of Scripture we must believe that the psalms are sufficient for our praise of God. Oh, would the words of the Holy Spirit rest upon our lips as we praise our God! Think about it: is Charles Tindlay greater than the Spirit? Is Thomas Dorsey? Alex Bradford, Andre Crouch, Donald Lawrence, etc.? These gospel song writers are fallible and subject to error. What the Spirit has written is inerrant. Every word is pure; the doctrine is perfect. Perfect praise available to the imperfect.

Pray and sing with me: "God, be merciful to me, On Thy grace I rest my plea; Plenteous in compassion Thou, Blot out my transgression now; Wash me, make me pure within, Cleanse, O cleanse me from my sin."

Calvin, Singing, and African American Praise Service

Very few African American Baptists realize how indebted we are to Calvin and the Protestant Reformation for many of our cherished beliefs. Those who know a little about Calvin have a narrow view of him, and see him as overly cerebral, stuffy, cold, and too intellectual. On the surface Calvin's Institutes, seems to be monstrous and too heady for the average Joe or Jane Christian. Not so. It is full of sharp intellect, yes; but also Calvin's personal winsomeness shines.

One aspect of Calvin's theology that is often overlooked is his theology of worship. Obviously Calvin is consumed with the doctrine of God in the Institutes, and his theology of worship emanates from this. Two things are important to consider regarding Calvin's theology of worship: first, God is sovereign and must be worshiped; and second, God commands how he is to be worshiped. Within this, reverence and humility in worship is a necessity and commanded as I wrote of last week.

With this stated, Calvin's remarks on singing reflect the above mentioned emphases. In Book 3 Chapter 20, Section 32, Calvin states that singing must "be tempered to that gravity which is fitting in the sight of God and the angels" because singing helps us to pray. Elsewhere, Calvin would assert that singing is a second type of prayer. Anyone would say that there is a humility and reverence inherent in prayer; therefore, Calvin recognizes that such should mark singing since it is a type of prayer.

If such would be applied in African American church circles, a great reform would occur. This reform would dismantle much of the performances characteristic of singing in African American churches. Some may argue that it is our culture to sing with such bravado and passion, but is it biblical? No Christian would argue that zeal and emotion should be left out of our corporate praises, but it is wrapped up in reverence and humility. Paul commands Christians to sing with the spirit and the mind. This assumes a type of sobreity in praise, and also a type of moderation. That's the key. Moderation. Calvin states, "when this moderation is maintained, it is without any doubt a most holy and salutary practice." Is this cultural? No, it is biblical. It is worthy of following and applying in African American worship.

Return to Reverence

On the Lord's Day I attended a United Reformed Church in the Grand Rapids area, and the pastor preached on the second commandment articulated in the Heidelberg Catechism. For those unfamiliar with Reformed confessions, the Heidelberg Catechism is confessed by churches of the Dutch Reformed family---Reformed Church in America, Christian Reformed Church, and the United Reformed Church among others. The biblical passage used by the pastor was Hebrews 12:25-29. Verse 28 has struck me since I became Reformed. It reads: "Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear."

I know I've commented on this issue before, but I feel the need to re-iterate one thing. First, when discussion of worship in an African American context takes place there lacks discussion of what pleases God in our worship and what God requires. This verse clearly teaches the how of our worship, and this regardless of what ethnicity we are. Reverence and godly fear must pervade every aspect of our worship. Reverence refers to a sense of awe---an awe that results in a type of humility before God. Our praying should have this quality, our singing, our reading of the Scriptures, and our preaching. The music should be reverent, not upbeat but not sorrowful. We can rejoice while remaining reverent. We should do as the psalmist sings in Psalm 2 "rejoice with trembling."

I'm sorry to say that worhip in African American churches have little reverence. Often what I see is that man is the audience, not God. The emotionalism, the histrionics, the performances, etc. Are these reverent? Oh, God; give thy people a fresh sense of thy holiness when they gather to worship thee.

Why Reformed Theology is Particularly Suited for African Americans

This is big title, but I have only a few moments to write. Why do I believe this? First, let me state that I believe that Reformed theology is Biblical theology. So many people, especially professing African American Christians, are ignorant of Reformed theology and scoff at what they are ignorant of. I believe Reformed theology answers the question of why African Americans are here. God's sovereign purpose and his gracious and merciful purpose. We are the descendants of slaves. European slave traders were implicit in the kidnapping of millions of Africans. The vast majority had done nothing to deserve enslavement. At the same time, millions of African slaves would turn to Christ in true faith. Look at this: European slave traders had a bad intention, but God had a good and glorious intention. On Reformed theology keeps these contrasts in tension believing that man is sinful and all of his ways are sinful, but that God has ordained whatsoever comes to pass while maintaing second causes such as human sinful actions.

Nothing happens by chance. God is sovereign. To argue against this is to lend oneself to atheism.

Happy Reformation Day

As the world (and many Christians) celebrated Halloween, Oct 31 marks the anniversary of Martin Luther's nailing of his 95 Theses to the door of the Church at Wittenberg. This is the official beginning of the Protestant Reformation.

For African American Baptists and all Protestants, do we realize how connected we are to the Reformation? Those of us who are Baptists, we are very much Protestant. Our confessions and declarations are steeped in Reformation theology.

We are to make sure that we are continuing to preach the gospel recovered during the Reformation: the gospel of grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Are we telling this old Story?

Let us remember the true gospel this Reformation Day.

Psalm-singing particuarly suited for African Americans

Yesterday, I sang the middle portion of Psalm 22 during my private devotion. After my devotion ended, I realized how suited this psalm is for African Americans to sing. Most of the psalm is a lament in which David believes that the Lord has forsaken him during a dark period in his life. This psalm points to God's abandonment of his Son on the cross and the suffering the Lord endured at the hands of sinful men. The Spirit sung with clarity even denoting that Christ's hands and feet would be pierced.

Why do I believe this psalm is particularly suited for African Americans? First, when African Americans sing this psalm they sing with their Savior. There is a communion with the suffering of Christ in singing this psalm. Second, as a lament primarily it speaks to the historic existence of African Americans. Having endured slavery, legal segregation, and even now as African Americans face racism of all sorts we have warrant for singing laments.

The Church in general has moved away from singing laments. The assumption is that we must sing all joyful songs under the New Covenant. Wrong; everything in the Christian life is not joy even though we must count it all joy. There are times when we feel abandoned by God and everyone else. This is the time to take up Psalm 22; it's commanded even for New Covenant believers.

Historic African American Baptist Calvinism

Yesterday, I began to do some serious work on a conference paper on Calvinism's influence on 18th and 19th century Af-Am Baptists. I read a letter from George Liele, who was a slave in VA and SC. He heard the gospel from a white New Light Baptist preacher, and the Lord opened his heart to repent from his sin and trust in Christ. He would become a slave preacher, and then his master manumitted him in order to pursue full-time ministry. Eventually, Liele would help to establish three independent Af-Am Baptist churches before fleeing the colonies in 1787 to settle in Jamaica. He is considered the father of American missions period. He is the first American Baptist to establish a church overseas.

In a letter he wrote to a white Baptist preacher in SC sometime after he settled in Jamaica, Liele mentioned that he believes in election among other biblical doctrines. He also believed in the final perserverance of the saints.

Here is a man born into slavery, fled the colonies as a loyalist to the British Crown, and founded the first Baptist church in Jamaica. He was a Calvinist. People have criticized Calvinism for being too heady and too cold. If this is so, how could this be attractive for a former slave? My point is that Calvinism makes sense of the Bible; it makes sense of the way of salvation, and the person and work of Christ. This is why a former slave was a Calvinist.

Law and Gospel Confusion

Last Lord's Day I listened to a sermon by a National Baptist pastor with a few African American Calvinistic Baptists (all friends of mine). After the sermon, one of my friends made an astute and biblical ctiticism of the sermon. He said that the pastor never made a distinction between the Law and the Gospel. The pastor gave many imperatives in the course of the sermon assuming that everyone in his audience were Christians. (This is interesting because after the sermon he "opened the doors of the church"). Also during the course of the sermon the pastor never shared that only true Christians have the spiritual wherewithal to carry out these imperatives he issued based upon his reading of the biblical text. He never preached the gospel.

The gospel used to be at the heart of African American Baptist preaching, but since the rise of the Full Gospel Baptist movement within the National Baptist Convention especially, African American Baptist churches have lost the gospel largely. I remember something Luther once said, "You have to preach the gospel to the baptized." We all need the gospel. I need to and I want to hear the gospel every Lord's Day. I need to be reminded of my native inability to carry out the Law's demand; I need to be reminded that only through faith in Christ am I justified; and I need to know that only through and by the power of Christ's Spirit can I obey the Law in a feeble way.

Without hearing the gospel but only hearing the Law I would become presumptuous. Hearing the gospel without the Law, I would become profligate. I need the gospel and the Law to trust in Christ's person and work, and to live holy in the power of the Spirit.

One more thing to note about that sermon: it really isn't in accord with Baptist preaching according to the New Hampshire Declaration of Faith, Article XII. I've summarized above the gist of this article. Here it is verbatim:

12. Of the Harmony of the Law and the Gospel
We believe that the Law of God is the eternal and unchangeable rule of his moral government;62 that it is holy, just, and good;63 and that the inability which the Scriptures ascribe to fallen men to fulfill its precepts arises entirely from their love of sin;64 to deliver them from which, and to restore them through a Mediator to unfeigned obedience to the holy Law, is one great end of the Gospel, and of the means of grace connected with the establishment of the visible Church.65

Pastors must keep this emphasis every Lord's Day in their preaching.

Silly and Sad

This evening I heard something out of the mouth of a well-known African American Baptist pastor (actually, he's a bishop!). He said that Eve did not eat a fruit, but a thought! Immediately, I laughed in ridicule. It was (and is) a ridiculous statement. As I thought about the statement, I saw all of the people sitting under this ministry. This is the sad part. The stuff this man preaches is supposed to be profound, cutting edge knowlegde, but it misinterprets and misapplies the Holy Word of God. What are these folk learning? How are they living?

Let us pray that God will raise up more and more men in the ministry to teach the truth rightly divided.

The Simplicity of Gospel Worship

In recent Lord's Day afternoons, I've spent some of my time listening and watching live worship services on the Internet. I watch one particular church, which is a progressive-like African American Baptist church in a large metropolitan area. I am struck by the lack of simplicity in the worship services. There is a plethora of things that take place in the two hour worship services. There are long announcements and recognitions of people, singing by a choir, singing by a Praise Team, Invitation to Discipleship besides prayer and preaching. Sometimes there is a handbell choir, and Praise dancers. Such a church has left the simple order of New Testament worship to something different.

Now, I've written blogs about the elements of worship so I will refrain from re-stating what I've already stated. This area is an area where African American Baptists primarily have neglected the simplicity of Spirit-revealed and apostolic sanctioned worship.

Why do African American Baptists do what they do in worship? I don't know. Why don't they turn to the Holy Scriptures to regulate their corporate worship? Blindness, ignorance, and neglect. In general, the average Evangelical has no thought that the Scriptures should regulate our worship. If African American Baptists used the Scriptures to regulate worship, things would be simple and terribly different. Yet it would be to God's glory! What are the elements of simple NT worship: prayers, praise (psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs rendered by the congregation), reading of the Word of God, preaching, and the sacraments. Simple, yet transcendant.

Getting back to the Moorings

This is convention season for National Baptists. The three major National Baptist conventions will meet this month. When I think of these conventions, I think of the major reason why the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. came into existence. According to history, foreign missions, specifically African missions was the primary reason for the formation of the convention in 1895. The NBC USA, the NBC-A, and the NMBC all claim 1880 as their founding year. This is because in 1880 the Baptist Foreign Mission Convention organized. This convention was an attempt by African American Baptist primarily in the Southeast to consolidate their effort in sending missionaries to Africa.

Now the conventions are involved in all sorts of things, but foreign missions is relatively weak. Let us pray for God to raise more men and women to enter the mission field, especially in Africa. Though Christianity is experiencing tremendous growth in Africa, the type of Christianity is more Charismatic and even heterodox. Africa needs a true Evangelical witness. May African American Baptists help to provide this through the conventions.

What is Deformed about African American Baptist Worship

Today is a beautiful Lord's Day where I am. It is a crisp 64 degrees! I cannot help but to write a bit regarding a large problem in Evangelicalism, and in African American Baptist circles. Worship is largely irreverent. Listen to what the inspired writer who wrote to the Hebrews wrote to Jewish Christians in the Roman world:
"Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire (12:28-29)." Bible students know that the writer refers back to Exodus 19 and also Deuteronomy 4:24, which is the portion of Holy Scripture the writer quotes. What does this mean? The same God that spoke with such power to Israel at Sinai comes among his people as they gather every Lord's Day. God is awesome striking real, honest godly fear among his people; he is no trifling God, but full of glory, majesty, and power.

The worship I witness among African American Baptist lack this fear and sense of awe and reverence for the most part. The singing that takes places in these churches have little reverence; is it solemn to dance and move and shake? Preaching that winks at sin, and jokes about sin---is this demonstrating reverence and godly fear? Yes, I know that joy is part of our worship; but it is tempered by reverence.

Let these churches take this passage from Hebrews and apply it correctly.

Assessment of National Baptist preaching

This is a post to ask for some help and insight. It has been over six years since I've been a member of a traditional Missionary Baptist church. I left that particular church only after a few months of joining because it was a faulty church without good pastoral leadership and good, solid gospel preaching. Before this church, I spent just short of ten years at a National Baptist church where I served as an associate minister, Sunday school teacher, Youth worker, and chairman of the Young Adult Ministry. I loved that church, but becoming a Calvinist paved my way out of the door.

After I became a Calvinist, my whole perspective changed regarding the Church, especially preaching. I realized that my pastor preached little of the gospel. He was no whooper; he tried to "tune up" at the end. He failed to give biblical texts their justice. At the end, I was disappointed and grieved over this.

I often wonder what did I think preaching was before becoming Reformed? I enjoyed good explanation of the text, but I especially enjoyed the "gravy!" For most of my ministerial life, that was my style. I was (still am)an expository preacher, but I could tune up and whoop. After embracing the Reformed faith as an African American Baptist, I stopped tuning and whooping. I focused much more on exposition and then clear applications. One sister said my preaching had become "lectures." I still possessed the passion for the word of God; in fact, I had more passion, but I left out the relish African American Baptists associate with preaching.

Since being a Reformed Baptist, I've heard some great preaching. Cultural aspects aside, most National Baptist pastors come nowhere near the substance and richness of preaching I heard in Reformed Baptist circles. There are a couple of African American Reformed Baptist pastors here in the US; I am a part of three African American men who fill pulpits. We all preach expositional with pointed applications, but with passion.

I pray that National Baptist pastors focus more on the text and applications and less on style; this is not to say that they should come from without the African American Baptist tradition. This tradition at its best elevates eloquence, wonderful tonality of voice with clear textual exposition and stirring applications.

Oh, let us return to strong, clear gospel preaching without the taglines of "purpose" and "destiny."

How'd I get to be so Conservative?

Let me preface what I am about to write with this obvious point: I am a sinner whom God has (and still) showered mercy upon. I approach the topic of my theological conservativism without an attitude of high-mindedness, but from one of firm conviction based on the word of God.

I am conservative based on two streams: first, my upbringing in church has been toward the conservative side. In both churches I was a member of while growing up, my pastors preached a simple gospel and were men who stood in the truth. Second, embracing the Reformed tradition has influenced me greatly. Being a "Reformed Baptist" has caused me to take the whole of Scripture seriously. For example, I've written extensively on the issue of biblical worship. I've attempted to leave behind my cultural strings as it comes to shaping the elements of worship. I have found that NT worship is simple: praise (I believe in psalm-singing exclusively with maybe some "bible songs"), prayer, preaching, and the sacraments. We can argue whether or not alms-giving was part of the NT elements of worship. Nevertheless, the elements are few and simple. They come to us from the revealed word of God---all of it. All of these elements are contained in OT worship in both Tabernacle/Temple and in Synagogue.

One thing that glares off of the pages of Scripture in OT as it pertains to the "how" and "what" of worship is that God's OT people were prohibited from innovation or bringing in elements of worship from the nations surrounding them. These are moral laws, not ceremonial. What does this mean for African American Baptists? We must destroy the "images" of some of our African-based worship practices. (Maybe I may get some naysayers on this point since I wonder if there is anyone out there reading).

How are we to apply passages such as Deut 7:5-6 and Jeremiah 19:4-5? These passage relate directly to idolatry in worshipping in the ways of other nations. The Jeremiah passage gets to the heart of what Reformed theologians call the "regulative principle of worship:" "And they have built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it unto my mind)." Some argue well it's not idolatry if God has not commanded against it. Wrong. This passage smacks against it.

African American Christians please take these particular verses to heart with prayer: the dancings, shoutings, and other demonstrative practices outside of biblically-revealed elements of worship are idolatrous. Let us be careful.

May God help us all.

How did you cherish your gift today?

Today, for the next ten minutes, is the Sabbath, or the Lord's Day. It is gift from God to his people, yes; but it is a Sabbath for all. Did you cherish this wonderful, gracious, loving expression of God's gift to all of humanity? Did you sanctify it from the other six days? Did you hear the word of God preached? Did you worship the Triune God in spirit and truth today? Did you respect other's Sabbath today by refraining from shopping, going to restaurants, etc.?

I pray that you had a blessed Sabbath!

Communion with Christ in Singing the Psalms

I had no thought of writing an entry to my blog now the early morning after the Lord's Day. Yet I was having a private psalm-singing service before reading the Scriptures and praying. I was struck as I sang aloud from Psalm 39 that I was in actual communion with Christ as I sang these words: "Yes, I was dumb; I opened not my mouth, Because this work was done at Thy command." This is verse 9 of Psalm 39. With clarity, I sang with Christ regarding his sufferings and his trial before Pilate. In John 19:10, it reads: "Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?" Of course, this verse fulfills Isaiah's prophecy in chapter 53 that speaks of the Servant of the Lord become like a lamb dumb to the slaughter.

Jesus did say after his resurrection that the Psalms speak of him. They do. Psalm-singing offers the Christian a marvelous opportunity to praise our God and the Christ in manifold ways. Throughout the Psalms, we can praise Christ for his incarnation (Psalm 8), his suffering on the cross (Psalm 22), his resurrection (Psalm 16), his prophetic office (Psalm 78), his High Priesthood (Psalm 110), and his kingship (Psalm 2). What can a man whoever so godly compose better than the Holy Spirit?

Not only do African American Baptists need to incorporate psalm-singing in the public worship, but also in private and family worship. We can truly magnify the Christ by singing the inspired songs that spoke about him.

Baptists and Prelacy

Every since the early to mid 1990s I've scoffed at African American Baptist pastors assuming the title of "bishop" with real jurisdictional powers. The case in point is the Full Gospel Baptist Fellowship, with a college of bishops including its only presiding bishop, Paul S. Morton, Sr. I remember being in my former church in Lansing, Michigan and some of the members talking about how "Baptists don't have bishops." Do they? Yes, and no.

Confessionaly, and most importantly, biblically, every Baptist church has at least one bishop. Note what the New Hampshire Declaration (confessed on paper by African American Baptists in general) states about church officers: the "only Scriptural officers are bishops, or pastors and deacons." Let's get one thing straight: there is an "or" in that statement, which indicates that the terms are interchangeable. Bishops are pastors, and pastors and bishops. We can also include the biblical term of elder in this equation. All refer to the same office. We come to this conclusion by reading 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. The 1689 London Confession states that the officers of a church are "bishops (otherwise called elders) and deacons." It confesses the same as the New Hampshire. So yes, there are bishops in Baptist churches. In my church, we had three; but now only two.

There is the "no" answer. No, Baptists do not believe in bishops in the sense of prelacy. This is a little big word because most Christians aren't familiar with it. However, I received an email from Mt. Ararat Baptist Church announcing an upcoming conference hosted by an association this church is a member of. As I read this advertisement, I noticed that the association has a "presiding prelate." By definition, a prelate is a high-ranking church official. It assumes an episcopal government since only higher-ranking officials can bestow such on another. Can this occur in a Baptist church? No. Why not? Each Baptist church is independent. There can be no prelacy in independent and autonomous churches.

What we have here is what Jesus condemned: men going after the higher seats at gatherings. It sounds good to have the title of "bishop," or even "apostle." All of this type of posturing is unbiblical, and un-Baptist. For a reformation to occur within African American Baptist ranks we must pray that God will raise up men who seek the true office of a bishop in the spirit of 1 Timothy 3, Titus 1, and 1 Peter 5. Until then, we will continue to see men and women calling themselves into prelactic offices to the detriment of Christ's church.

Have a Blessed Lord's Day

We as Baptists, especially National Baptists, have weakened the holiness and sanctity of the Lord's Day-Sabbath. Dispensationalist teaching, antinomianism, and minimalism have all anchored themselves in African American Baptist churches. Dispensationalism teaches against the New Covenant relevance of the 4th commandment, antinomianism teaches we are no longer under Law as a template of our sanctification, and minimalism teaches that keeping the Sabbath holy is inconsequential to salvation; therefore, it is only an option (a lesser one at that).

Oh, how our forebears differ. African American Baptists in days past kept this day holy. They wrote about it, they preached about it, and the sang about it. Also the confessed it. Check out the Articles of Faith, article XV; it is a clear declaration of faith regarding what a Baptist should believe about this day.

Often times, when this subject is broached Christians get hung up on "do's and don't's." Christians should always remember that this is the Day that Christ emerged from the grave by the power of the Spirit to complete the work of redemption. Easter celebrations are foreign to the Scriptures, but the Lord's Day is not.

Have a blessed Lord's Day.

Interesting Story

I'm getting serious about my next research project, which will be studying the development of hymnals among African American Baptists in the 20th century. While doing some casual research today on the internet, I ran across this interesting story. Please, give it a listen.

Here's the link: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4632964

Unthinking about the Sabbath

I just read through a pretty good article on Sabbath-keeping that is informative, fresh, and provocative. Written by Pastor Terry Johnson, pastor of Independent Presbyterian Church in Savannah, Georgia, the article is irenic yet clearly biblical and well articulated. The thesis of the article is that Christians are to keep the fourth commandment, and he illustrates reasons why and how we are to keep it.

What draws my attention on a weekly basis is that so called bible-believing Christians have unthought the Sabbath right out of their Bibles. As I mentioned previously, Dispensational teaching has aided in this; but I cannot blame it all on Dispensationalism. The big problem is that for years, especially in Baptist circles, pastors have taught that there are non-essential elements of the faith. Yes, keeping the Fourth Commandment falls within the non-essential elements. Is this correct? I believe it is not.

It is essential to know that God has commanded his people and all of humanity to rest one day in seven. It is essential to know that God has commanded his people to gather together to worship him one day in seven. It is also important to know that Jesus Christ declared himself to be Lord of the Sabbath. Our sinful tendencies has robbed God of his glory and ourselves from blessings that come from observing the Sabbath.

Jesus said if you love me keep my commandments. He also said to teach disciples all things whatsoever I have commanded you. Jesus also said that he came to fulfill the Law, not abrogate it. We are left with no excuses under the New Covenant to neglect the Fourth Commandment.

Let us make a concerted effort to keep the Sabbath holy by attending all of the stated services of our local churches, by engaging in devotional exercises in our homes both privately and with the family, try keeping the television off, and try to read some good Christian literature. Do these, and anticipate greater blessings from God, who rested on the seventh day and sanctified it.

A Christian Sabbath

I've been thinking about blogging on this issue for a few weeks now. I'm just about finished with other issues of worship. This issue, I believe, is very important when considering what is true worship.

For many, the day of worship is merely a circumstance of worship. Roman Catholics have opportunity to attend Mass every day; Evangelicals in recent years may attend a weekly service on a Wednesday, a Saturday, or a Sunday. Within Evangelical circles, especially, Sunday has some significance, but it's traditional.

I believed this. I grew up under Dispensational teaching that taught that the Fourth Commandment had no significance under the New Testament. Attending worship on Sunday was more of an obligation not based on a direct commandment from Jesus Christ. Regarding the sanctity of the day, attending one church service and Sunday school made it semi-holy. I played outside with my friends on Sundays, went to City Park with my family, and did all sorts of things. There was really no sanctification of the day in household based upon the Dispensational teaching.

This is not to say that non-Dispensationalist traditions observed the day any better. I knew no family that really treated Sunday as a holy day. The city I grew up in is primarily Roman Catholic. I knew that Catholics flocked to High Mass on Sundays, but I also knew that bingo was held on Sunday afternoons, and people did whatever they wanted to do.

It wasn't until I was converted that I began to think about how I observe Sunday, which I began to refer to as the "Lord's Day." I happened to read through the New Hampshire Declaration of Faith, which African American Baptist churches subscribe to that I found a very clear teaching on the "Christian Sabbath." Article XV begins by stating that the first day of the week is the "Lord's Day," or "Christian Sabbath." It further teaches that the Lord's Day should be "kept sacred for religious purposes." In the negative, no Christian is to work, and no Christian is to engaged in "sinful recreations." Judging from the proof texts, the writers thought of any type of leisure recreations based on Isaiah 58:13-14. In the positive, Christians are to observe public worship and private worship.

This is a clear Protestant Reformed position. What happened? Let's talk about it.

Where is the Protestant Spirit?

I remember in college I had a friend, a fraternity brother even who was a life-long Baptist, but refused to be called Protestant. We were at a Roman Catholic university, and we had to place our religious affiliation on the application. I put down Protestant because I believed then as I do now that Baptists are part of the Protestant family. I've come across others through their writings that argue that Baptists are not Protestants because Baptists represent the true Church. This is the classic Landmark position. I am no Landmark. I consider myself first and foremost a Reformed Catholic Christian. What do I mean by this? I hold to the historic and orthodox expression of Reformed Christianity, which holds to supreme biblical authority in all matters of faith and practice. I'm Catholic in that I confess the teachings of the Ecumenical Creeds---the Apostle's Creed, the Nicean Creed, and the Athanasian Creed. As a Christian, of course, I have repented from sin and placed saving faith in Jesus Christ as the one who has paid the penalty for my sin and merited heaven for me.

Having stated all of this, why am I writing on this Lord's Day? I argue that Protestants including Baptists have forgotten the Protestant spirit. I see this in a number of ways. First, the gospel has lost ground in African American Baptist circles. The gospel of Jesus Christ crucified, dead, and buried has been replaced by the gospel of expecting the miraculous, and this-worldly success. This has a great impact on biblical holiness; there is little emphasis on it. Second, African American Baptist pastors are heavy into the Romish pomp and circumstance. Have you seen the way African American pastors are dressing? They look like priests and prelates rather than servants of God who preach the word of God. Third, the worship reflects human tradition rather than the commandments of God. In a Baptist churches, I've witnessed sensual, culture-driven, and emotional "worship" as well as elements from Rome such as lighting candles, processions, and the aformentioned vestment wearing. Lost is the simplicity of New Covenant worship seen on the pages of Holy Scripture.

We are losing the gospel, we have returned to Old Testament types and shadows, and we command how we shall worship. No wonder we've lost that Protestant spirit that stood against all of this in its best expression.

Conference Report

This is about three weeks too late, but I decided to give my readers (the real remnant) a brief report on the Magnifying God Conference held at University Reformed Church in East Lansing, Michigan on Feb 25-26. It was a good time; I met other young Reformed folk some with national renown. There were Reformed folk, Presbyterian folk, and Baptist folk in good numbers.

To no surprise, I was one of maybe three or free African Americans in attendance. While no surprise, it is still a telling fact. I engaged one of the speakers on this issue, and talked with others about during the conference. The big question was: how do we get Reformed theology in the Black community? This is a legitimate question, and maybe it's the wrong question. I believe the gospel is slowing losing ground among African Americans, especially those who come from a Baptist heritage. There is a strange type of ecumenism taking place among African American Church circles---clear denominational distinctions have been replaced with a broad acceptance of Word of Faith teaching and worship. To combat this, Reformed theology is unnecesary. The gospel is necessary. Once the true gospel re-takes territory then Reformed theology will follow.

Meet the Puritans

If I have written this before, please excuse me; but African American Baptists have a Puritan heritage. African American slaves and free men and women joined Baptist churches in large numbers during the First Great Awakening, which was a Reformed Puritan revival. African American Baptists believed the same doctrines as their white brethren, especially the necessity of the new birth if anyone is to be saved.

For the second week, I'm preparing a Sunday school lesson on the English Puritans and I'm struck at the penetrating preaching and the true conversions that the Spirit was pleased to work in the people's hearts during this time.

Where is that type of preaching today,especially among African American Baptists? How many church members are geniunely converted? From my view point, there are few giving evidence of true conversion.

Rather than being slaves to fads and human innovation, African American Baptists need to meet the Puritans and emulate them: their preaching, their worship, their home piety.

I pray for a Puritan-like revival in African American Baptist churches.

Calvin 500

Friends,

There are plenty of Calvin events this year commemorating the 500th year of Calvin's birth. In my neck of the woods University Reformed Church in conjunction with Providence PCA is hosting a conference from Feb 20-21 on Calvin. Also Princeton Seminary has daily readings from the Institutes, which is quite profitable. I've begun to read the daily readings and I've been struck by the clarity and simplicity of Calvin's writing. I've read different sections of the Institutes, but reading the daily readings has been wonderful. If you are interested go to http://www.ptsem.edu, and find the Calvin link on the homepage.

It's Been a Year!

I failed to write on Jan 1 to mark the one year anniversary of this blog. I was busy and tired; but I enjoyed a one day trip to New York City on New Year's Day. I was good to be back in my favorite city.

I want to take the opportunity to express my gratitude to all who have read this blog during the past year. I have been pleasantly surprised at how many are reading.

For the New Year, I pray that God will use this blog for his glory and for the reformation of Christ's Church among African Americans.

I pray that all of you have a blessed and prosperous New Year.