Tom with kids in Kuwait

Tom with kids in Kuwait
Tom with kids in Kuwait

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Dirtouflage



The next generation of digital camouflage has come to western Oklahoma.  We will call it dirtouflage.


Old timers in these parts like to spot a newbie—that’s a newcomer in your old timer vocabulary—and then they ask the same question.

“Do you remember the Great Flood in the Bible?”

You don’t have to be a biblical scholar to know the answer.  All say, “Yes.”  Even the occasional atheist knows about the flood.  They may or may not believe it, but they answer in the affirmative as well.

One of the old timers will then reply, “Yup, we got 2 inches of that.”

Dry is the new normal in western Oklahoma.  It has been 2 consecutive years of very dry.  Wells are going dry.  Farm ponds are dried up.  Lakes and rivers are all low.  Pasture land is scarce.

But into every life a little rain must fall.  Much would be welcomed, but only a little fell yesterday evening.  In fact, so little rain fell that it was just enough to make mud but just not enough to wash the mud off of the local vehicles.

The result was dirtouflage.

Dirtouflage resembles modern digital camouflage but it is much more transient for the dirtouflage will blow away if it doesn’t get washed off first.

It is still dry in western Oklahoma.  Folks understand drought and dust bowl more than they like, but they are still able to laugh when the sky gives up just enough moisture to make droplets of mud.


Thursday, December 6, 2012

Advent of the King

Advent of the King



Silent Night
Holy Night
I think I may
I think I might
Wonder if we've gone so wrong
Do we even know what is right?

The days are filled again with ads
Of 3D games and new IPads
Of things that surely we must have
To ease life’s pain and be our salve
So we may just keep going on
The road so wide instead of the narrow path.

But as we live so lukewarm day to day
Will we hear the one who says, prepare the way
Or just go about our lives in dismay
Blinded to the arrival of our hope and stay
With the victory already won
Will the words Jesus is Lord be what we pray?

But one will be taken and another left
Joy and sorrow in such glorious theft
Some shouting for joy and some bereft
Where do you stand in this judgment cleft
Without the Lamb of God, who is his Son
Or washed in his blood with steps both blessed and deft.

And one day we will see him coming on the clouds
The trump will sound much louder than loud
And heaven will celebrate with such renown
That every soul will in joy abound
When Christ the Kings comes and rules as the Son
Love has won the victory and all will astound.

We do so wish that this day would come soon
Even if trouble must first come to the sun and the moon.
For we know what to do in the words of a familiar tune
Let every heart prepare him room
And heaven and nature will sing on and on
And every trouble and tear will be long gone.


Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Is the end coming quickly or a thousand years away?



Is the end coming quickly or a thousand years away?

The sky is dark
The sky is light
The Day of the Lord comes
Like a thief in the night.

So much to understand
So much to learn
Is prophecy fulfilled in our time
Can these events we discern?

For disturbances in the sky
And events upon the ground
Seem to say the end is near
Where is there refuge to be found?

Will you take me before the trial that is to come upon the earth
While we sing of a Savior and the humble estate of his birth
So we can eternally proclaim his glory
And sing to the Lamb of God of his immeasurable worth?

Or will we endure the days ahead as witnesses to the end
Surely that is not too much to ask from One who called us friend
To see with our own eyes and even suffer now and then
Until the day the world proclaims him Lord and every knee does bend?

But this day I am troubled
Wrapped in the things of worldly struggle
Praying, Lord reveal to me this day
My part in this cosmic puzzle.

And so my Bible reveals words that seem to stand alone
Yet my fingers scrolls without my guide to the same words on my phone
And then the wisdom of the ancients
Is now clearly seen and fully known.

That we are to trust him
Not just in our mind but with our hearts
Even when his direction
Conflicts with what our knowledge does impart.

And we show this trust in earnest
When all we do we do for him
And give him praise and thanksgiving, so that
He sets our sails and rudder on the wisest course time and time again.

For it matters not the hour
Or the weather, day, or time
Such transient things do pass away
But his words are forever mine.

No storm or human calamity
Can snatch away my life
For I have all my trust in him
I trust fully in God and in his Christ.


Trust in the Lord with all your heart
    and lean not on your own understanding;
 in all your ways submit to him,
    and he will make your paths straight.

Thursday, November 22, 2012

An Homiletic journey through the Cumberland Presbyterian Confession of Faith



The Cumberland Presbyterian Confession of Faith (COF) begins with the gospel in miniature, that is, with John 3:16.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

The Confession of Faith is a statement of what Cumberland Presbyterians believe.  Most people that attend Cumberland Presbyterian worship have probably not read the Confession of Faith—at least not start to finish.  Classes on the COF seldom draw a crowd.

What to do?

How about a homiletic rendering of the Confession of Faith? 

Without a line for line review of the COF, this sermon series hits the essence of each topical section of the basic theology of Cumberland Presbyterians.    Each article offers a chance for comments and discussion.

FIRST THINGS FIRST!  The first thing that you will want to do is bookmark this page so you may come back to whenever you want to.

1.00 GOD SPEAKS TO THE HUMAN FAMILY

2.00 THE HUMAN FAMILY BREAKS RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD

3.00  GOD ACTS THROUGH JESUS CHRIST TO RECONCILE THE WORLD

4.00  GOD ACTS THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT

5.00  GOD CREATES THE CHURCH FOR MISSION

6.00 CHRISTIANS LIVE AND WITNESS IN THE WORLD

7.00  GOD CONSUMMATES ALL LIFE AND HISTORY
For further consideration:  Res Judicata


Read the entire Confession of Faith.

COF FAQs

What is the purpose of the Confession of Faith?
It has a stated two-fold purpose.  First, it is to provide a means whereby those who have been saved, redeemed, and reconciled by God through Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit understand and affirm their faith.
Next, it is to bear witness to God’s saving activity in such a way that those who have not been saved, redeemed, and reconciled might believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and experience salvation.

That’s mighty fancy language.  Can you put it another way?
The Confession of Faith is an affirmation of ancient truth in contemporary language.

Does the COF have an organizing principle?
Yes.  It is to testify to what God has done and is doing in the world to accomplish the redemption of his children by telling the story that the Bible tells the way the Bible tells it.

Does the COF have any impact on God’s people or the church?
There is a direct relationship between the church’s confession of faith and her life and witness as a people in covenant with God and each other.  The faith of the church orders and shapes the life of the people of God—their mission, their government, their worship, and the orderly conduct of the church’s affairs.

Do Cumberland Presbyterians worship the COF?
No.  We worship God.

Does the COF replace the Bible?
No.  The COF should clarify many biblical accounts and make the reader hungry to read and understand more of God’s word.

Do all denominations have a Confession of Faith?
No.  Different denominations observe different traditions in professing what they believe.





A stop along the way


We share a common commission.  We are sent into the world to proclaim the gospel.  We are messengers of good news.

Our eyes are fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.  We are to cast off anything that burdens us.

We are challenged to live as Paul did.  We are to run the good race and fight the good fight and keep the faith.

Our commission does not expire.  We have no excuse for not staying the course.  No issue or person or cause or calamity must get us off course.  We have a race to run.  Other Christians shouldn’t be asking us, “ Who cut you off?”

If we stop running our race, there is usually a common culprit—judging.  We should not be distracted by the speck in the eye of others when we have plenty of woodwork to do on our own.  We should not be judging another man’s servant. 

We are not placed on this earth to be a Christian Think Tank.  We are to put the words of Jesus into practice.  We are to be doers of the word.

And so it seems that we are to love God mostly by loving each other, and that includes our enemies; and from this perspective, having a grasp on theology doesn’t seem that important.  We will read our Bible and love one another.  That should cover it.  Right?

But then we sing, Holy, Holy, Holy and end up with God in three persons, blessed trinity.  OK, where did we get this trinity stuff?  Neither Isaiah nor Paul wrote a chapter on that subject, but we believe in a Holy Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Each of these godly entities is encountered many times in our biblical reading.  We say we believe that in the Apostle’s Creed, but Jesus didn’t write this creed.  How did we come up with it?

Even when we piece together 3 members of the God-head, we ask, “How can they really be 3 in 1?”  A Greek theologian named John of Damascus came up with a widely held understanding of the trinity called perichoresis.  This is essentially the community of God—a community of love for each other.  It is a community of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit dancing in harmony.

But not everyone buys into this explanation.  The trinity is just plain hard to explain.  There are many metaphors, all of which have one thing in common, they are incomplete.  The Confession of faith just says there is a Holy Trinity.  It doesn’t attempt to explain it.

We like to put up nativity scenes at Christmas.  They have Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus and they are normally surrounded by animals, wise men, and sometimes angels.  Usually they are in a manger, barnyard, or some other rustic setting.

But the magi probably did not arrive for the birth.  They may have arrived weeks or months, or as is the common thinking now, a couple years later.  Mary and Joseph were in a house by then.  And while there were 3 gifts, the whole idea of 3 wise men or kings once again is attributed to the Christmas or Epiphanal hymn, We Three Kings of Orient Are.

Not knowing the exact number of wise and royal emissaries from the east doesn’t make or break a theology.  In fact, this discussion is not even a part of the confession.  But what about some of the other things that we say we believe that we can’t find in verbatim form in our Bibles.  What about once saved, always saved?  The Confession of Faith doesn't used these words but does talk about the preservation of believers.

How can those in the reformed tradition differ so much for other Christians that believe you can fall in and out of salvation?  Was our salvation all from God or did we earn enough of it that we can lose it as well?  If God did it all, then can we undo what he did?

These are tough questions and Christians will give you different answers.  

Those in the reformed tradition will focus more on our response to God’s grace, to God’s favor, to God’s unmerited forgiveness.  Others prefer to focus on maintaining the “saved” status.

And since we are discussing salvation, how about the fact that only John’s gospel mentions being saved by believing in the Son of God?  What happened to those people who heard Matthew’s gospel and repented from their sin, loved the Lord with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength, and even loved their neighbor as they loved themselves?  What about them?  Did they not hear the gospel because they didn’t hear John 3:16 or Romans 10:9-10?

What about all of those things that people like to say God can’t do.  God can’t do anything bad; therefore, God is not responsible for hurricanes and tornadoes.  God will not cause anyone to harm another.  Yet we read that God hardened the Pharaoh’s heart.  He sent Joshua into the Promised Land with some very violent marching orders.  He used the Babylonians to lay waste to Jerusalem and deport the Hebrew people.

We really end up on a slippery slope when we start defining what God can and can’t do.  We face questions that we can’t answer well.  God’s thoughts are not our thoughts and his ways are not our ways.  If God is subject to his own law, is he still a sovereign God?  If he is above his own law, is he a just God.  If he punished an innocent man—even his own Son—is he still a holy God?

We sing, “Jesus love me, this I know for the Bible tells me so,” but there is some stuff in the Bible that is hard to explain, difficult to reconcile with other parts of the Bible, and some of it just doesn’t make a lot of sense to us today.
It is no wonder that sometimes we either throw up our hands and give up on understanding theology or cherry pick some of the parts of the Bible that we like and ignore the rest.  Most people just want to know the truth without having to decipher it themselves.  They want to know that there are people to trust who will make sense of it all.

And so we come to the Confession of Faith for Cumberland Presbyterians.  But why should we accept this theology?  Do we need to understand Calvin’s TULIP and where we as a denomination are on it?

How did people fare long ago that had the gospel read aloud to them?  What’s wrong with hearing God’s word and listening to preaching and teaching by the clergy?  Do I really need to read the Confession of Faith?  Shouldn't I be able to reach my own conclusions about things so important?  Shouldn't I be able to just read the Bible to get my answers?

The answer is yes, but will you give it the time and study required to understand God’s message in time to put it to use in this lifetime?

How will you segregate God’s truth from the flavor of the month wisdom in your own mind?  The mind likes to use patterns to organize its thoughts and knowledge.  How does it not put the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom right next to I do not like green eggs and ham.  I do not like them Sam I Am?

Maybe we should take notes in life.  Many of you write notes in the margins of your Bible and you end up with notes all over your Bible, but how do you find the notes on what you believe about a certain topic.  Concordances help, but sometimes our notes don’t match up with the original text and so the concordance is only partially helpful.

Wouldn't it be great if we had something that would incorporate much of what the Bible reveals to us, but would do it topically?

The Confession of Faith is such a document.    It addresses what we believe topically yet maintains great fidelity to telling the story of the Bible in the way that the Bible tells it.

The Confession of Faith relies upon the scriptures and previous confessions, but it is presented in the context of the church universal so as not to be presented in a narrow or sectarian manner.  The Confession of Faith does not attempt to claim a proprietary faith or discount other traditions and beliefs of those who call Jesus Lord and Savior.

The Confession of Faith does not replace the Bible.  It helps us to understand the Bible.  It helps us to understand and affirm our faith more effectively.  It helps us to bear witness to God’s saving activity in such a way that those who have not be saved, redeemed, or reconciled might believe in Jesus Christ and experience salvation.

The Confession of Faith is an affirmation of ancient truth in contemporary language.

The Confession of Faith is an affirmation of ancient truth in contemporary language.

But somebody had to stop running their race and write it down.

Somebody had to put into words what they had put into practice.

Someone had to comprehend the entirety of God’s message to us and put it into words that we could understand subject by subject.  Actually, there were many that fall under the category of somebody.

Imagine if you went to school and just had school.  Your day began at 8:00 a.m. but you didn’t go to any particular classroom.  You just went to school.  There were no divisions in the day to study English or Spanish.  There were no set times to study algebra or geometry.  There was no art class.  There was no science class.  There was no lab set aside to dissect frogs.  If you needed to dissect a frog, you could do it while studying math or science, during basketball practice—which by the way would be a come whenever you want sort of affair, or during lunch which would also be at whatever time the cooks decided to prepare it and you decided to come eat.

We might enjoy this sort of school for a while, but eventually we might prefer a classroom with a teacher that was a subject matter expert.  We might want a class schedule so everyone in a classroom at one time would be studying the same subject.  We might call these math class, and English class, and science class.  Now every once in a while, we might want to go back to just studying whatever, whenever we wanted to, but mostly we like the class and classroom system.

So too we gain advantage by studying God’s word topically.  What does that translate to?  Let’s try these topics.

1.00 God Speaks to the Human Family
2.00
 The Human Family Breaks Relationship with God
3.00
 God Acts Through Jesus Christ to Reconcile the World
4.00 God Acts Through the Holy Spirit
5.00 God Creates the Church for Mission
6.00 Christians Live and Witness in the World
7.00 God Consummates All Life and History

Those are the topic headings for the Confession of Faith.

Have you ever studied a topic or theme or promise or other thread from the Bible.  I mean have you really studied one of these?

If you have then you know that for a time everything else in the world is tuned out.  Your entire lifetime of experience is brought into the study but the day to day issues are sometimes left unattended.  If you are blessed with a supportive family and good neighbors, someone may cut your grass, feed the dog, and occasionally bring you a meal while you are immersed in study.

And at the end of a month, or year, or decade, you might just have a handle on salvation or justification or atonement and be confident that you have read and internalized and synthesized and evaluated and assembled a coherent understanding of a single topic or theme or thread contained in God’s word.

But to do this, you had to stop along the way.  You had to stop running your race and focus on this piece of theology.

When we run the race of faith, our theology might be a bit blurry.

Imagine interviewing Usain Bolt, arguably the fastest man in world, and asking him, “Did you notice the people waving at you as your ran your race?  Did you see how nicely the crowd was dressed as you were sprinting to yet another victory?  Wasn’t it a great day to grill some burgers and dogs?”

But the sprinter sees none of that.  The runner sees the point in the distance that is his goal.  The man or woman in the race doesn’t know too much about what is going on in the world.  If you need to trade stocks while you are running, you better do it the treadmill.  If you need to update that report while you workout, get a Stairmaster.  The runner is fixed on the goal.

And we for the most part are runners.  We trust that we know what we need to know about our faith and we put it into practice.  We become doers of the word.  We become God’s love in action.

And we might not be great theologians.  We might not be able to keep up in a conversation with Calvin or Luther or Zwingli.  But we can run our race.
And we can run it knowing that from time to time in the history of God’s relationship with humankind; our Creator has put some of theological leanings into a person or persons, at a place and during a time to manifest their unique understanding with the rest of us.

And from time to time, those thoughts have been compiled in what we as Cumberland Presbyterians call a Confession of Faith.

Can we be saved without having such a document?
Can we love God without such topical organization?
Can we love our neighbor without such a written prescription?

Yes.  Absolutely, yes!

But there comes a time in the life of a Christian when they want to know more than you are saved, now love God and love each other.  There comes a time when people just want to know, well how does that work?  Do we grow in grace?  Is there a judgment?  Is there a hell?  What are sacraments and why do we have them?

Some of these inquisitive men and women will be called to stop along the way and ascertain these things for themselves.  Some will walk away saying, “That’s too much of an investment for me to make.”  Most will be thankful that the Confession of Faith provides exceptional insight into what God has revealed to us and it is packaged for our understanding.  And some will be called to write and refine these doctrinal beliefs.

For while God is constant; the word of God is living and active.  God’s word lives.  God’s message is timeless but ever timely.  It speaks to us of ancient truth in contemporary language.

Most of us are called to run the race of faith.  We are running with our eyes fixed on Jesus and are seldom wrapped up in theology.  We have learned to just trust God, resist the urge to figure out every detail of every matter, obey God, and know that he will put us on the path that we need to be on.

My guidance to those that have entered the world of biblical teaching—mostly our Sunday school leaders—is to teach from the center. God is love, God loves us and will keep on loving us, God loved us so much that he became flesh and dwelt among us, and in so becoming man he took the sin of humankind upon himself.  God desires an eternal relationship with us.  We are to love God and love others.  Jesus is Lord.  There’s a decade’s worth of curriculum in just teaching and learning from the center without too much focus on disputable matters.

Let’s put it another way.  When we played football, we were usually content just to memorize and run the plays.  Every once in a while we might dream up a special play, but mostly we just wanted knock somebody on their back side, score the touchdown, or kick that 43 yard field goal.  Most of the time, we didn’t have the desire to write the playbook, then refine it for the next season, then work in a whole new system for the offense a few years down the road.   We just wanted to be in the game playing our position as best we could.

And so too with our faith, most of the time we just want to live a life of love.  We want to love God and love one another.  For most of us are not called to an extended stop in our race to refine what we have discerned for the benefit of others.

But some have been.  And we should be thankful for ready access to this theology enables us to understand our holy, righteous, merciful, and loving God even more.  It helps us to understand who God made us to be.

When Jesus sent his disciples into the world, he said go, make disciples, baptize, and teach.  He didn't add, and don’t forget your Confession of Faith.  But as the church came to life in the world, people had questions.  Much of the New Testament is filled with Paul, Peter, and James trying to answer questions and explain this new faith.

And the church would prevail for a millennia and a half without what today we would call a confession of faith

When people come to profess their faith, we ask them simple questions.
1. Do you repent of your sin and believe Jesus Christ to be your Savior and the Lord of your life?
2. Do you believe the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the inspired word of God, the source of authority for faith and practice, and will you read and study them for guidance in living the Christian life?
3. Do you promise to be a faithful member of this church by participating in worship, sharing in its ministry of witness and service, supporting the government of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church/Cumberland Presbyterian Church in America, and loving your brothers and sisters in Christ?
4. Will you strive to overcome temptation and weakness, grow in knowledge and grace, and practice love in all relationships, being strengthened in your personal discipleship by your life in the community of faith?
5. Do you promise to be a good steward of the life, talents, time, and money which God has entrusted to you, giving of these gifts to the church?


And when people answer in the affirmative to all of these we welcome them to the Body of Christ.  We welcome them to the family of faith.  We welcome them to the Covenant Community.

But some of these who profess their faith will be hungry for more.  Prayer and biblical study sometimes satisfy that hunger, but some will hunger for even more.

The Cumberland Presbyterian Confession of Faith describes John 3:16 as the gospel in miniature. 

For some, this gospel in miniature is enough.  For some, the Confession of Faith is enough.

Some, however, will be called to stop along the way as they run the race of faith.  They will be called to bring ancient truth into modern language once again.  They will be called to take the living and active word of God and present it in such a way as to bring life to the church in today’s world.

For the words that we confess and profess speak directly to our witness as a people in covenant with God and with each other.

May God bless these words that we have confessed to him and to each other that we may be a blessing to the world.

INTRODUCTION TO THE 1984 CONFESSION
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3: 16). This is "the gospel in miniature." It is true testimony to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of the world. It has been the testimony of Cumberland Presbyterians from the outset of their origin. It is the statement of the purpose of this confession of faith and its organizing principle.
The purpose of a confession of faith is two-fold: (1) to provide a means whereby those who have been saved, redeemed, and reconciled by God through Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit understand and affirm their faith; and (2) to bear witness to God's saving activity in such a way that those who have not been saved, redeemed, and reconciled might believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and experience salvation. To this end a confession of faith is an affirmation of ancient truth in contemporary language. Hence, it should begin with that which is ancient and proceed to speak in language which is natural for those who seek to make witness to God's mighty acts of judgment and redemption in their own time.
The ancient truth which guides this confession of faith is of two sources: (1) the scriptures; and (2) the previous confessions of both Cumberland Presbyterian churches and the previous confessions of the church in its universal expression. All testimony to Jesus Christ must be tested by the scriptures which are the only unfailing and authoritative word for Christian faith, growth, and practice. All testimony to Jesus Christ is made within the context of the church universal and therefore must not be made in a narrow, sectarian manner or spirit.
A confession of faith which is evangelical in purpose and spirit seeks to testify to what God has done and is doing in the world to accomplish the redemption of his children. The scriptures themselves are the best example of how to do this in an organized way. Therefore, the organizing principle of this confession of faith is to tell the story the Bible tells in the way the Bible tells it. We are greatly indebted to the Confession of Faith of 1883, the Confession of Faith of 1814, and the Westminster Confession of Faith out of which the other two arose. We revere these confessions and have drawn from them in writing this confession. The outline of this confession, however, is drawn from the scriptures and is roughly that of the biblical outline found in John 3:16, the topics being as follows: (1) God Speaks to the Human Family; (2) The Human Family Breaks Relationship with God; (3) God Acts Through Jesus Christ to Reconcile the World; (4) God Acts Through The Holy Spirit; (5) God Creates the Church for Mission; (6) Christians Live and Witness in the World, and (7) God Consummates All Life and History.
There is a direct relationship between the church's confession of faith and her life and witness as a people in covenant with God and with each other. The faith of the church orders and shapes the life of the people of God--their mission, their government, their worship, and the orderly conduct of the church's affairs. Believing this, the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in America adopt the following as their testimony to Jesus Christ and as their system of internal government, consisting of: (1) the Confession of Faith; (2) the Constitution; (3) Rules of Discipline; (4) the Directory for Worship, and (5) the Rules of Order.

For more information, please follow this link.


The Cumberland Presbyterian Confession of Faith (COF) begins with the gospel in miniature, that is, with John 3:16.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

The Confession of Faith is a statement of what Cumberland Presbyterians believe.  Most people that attend Cumberland Presbyterian worship have probably not read the Confession of Faith—at least not start to finish.  Classes on the COF seldom draw a crowd.

What to do?

How about a homiletic rendering of the Confession of Faith? 

Without a line for line review of the COF, this sermon series hits the essence of each topical section of the basic theology of Cumberland Presbyterians.    Each article offers a chance for comments and discussion.

FIRST THINGS FIRST!  The first thing that you will want to do is bookmark this page so you may come back to whenever you want to.

1.00 GOD SPEAKS TO THE HUMAN FAMILY

2.00 THE HUMAN FAMILY BREAKS RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD

3.00  GOD ACTS THROUGH JESUS CHRIST TO RECONCILE THE WORLD

4.00  GOD ACTS THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT

5.00  GOD CREATES THE CHURCH FOR MISSION

6.00 CHRISTIANS LIVE AND WITNESS IN THE WORLD

7.00  GOD CONSUMMATES ALL LIFE AND HISTORY
A stop along the way


Read the entire Confession of Faith.

COF FAQs

What is the purpose of the Confession of Faith?
It has a stated two-fold purpose.  First, it is to provide a means whereby those who have been saved, redeemed, and reconciled by God through Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit understand and affirm their faith.
Next, it is to bear witness to God’s saving activity in such a way that those who have not been saved, redeemed, and reconciled might believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and experience salvation.
That’s mighty fancy language.  Can you put it another way?
The Confession of Faith is an affirmation of ancient truth in contemporary language.
Does the COF have an organizing principle?
Yes.  It is to testify to what God has done and is doing in the world to accomplish the redemption of his children by telling the story that the Bible tells the way the Bible tells it.
Does the COF have any impact on God’s people or the church?
There is a direct relationship between the church’s confession of faith and her life and witness as a people in covenant with God and each other.  The faith of the church orders and shapes the life of the people of God—their mission, their government, their worship, and the orderly conduct of the church’s affairs.
Do Cumberland Presbyterians worship the COF?
No.  We worship God.
Does the COF replace the Bible?
No.  The COF should clarify many biblical accounts and make the reader hungry to read and understand more of God’s word.
Do all denominations have a Confession of Faith?
No.  Different denominations observe different traditions in professing what they believe.

Res judicata




We know that there is a judgment.  God will bring every deed into judgment.  Nothing will be hidden from him.

Each of us will give an account to God.

There will be a separation at the end of the age.  One will be taken and one left.

But we are told that the one who seeks to please himself and mocks God will reap destruction.

And yet we are told and believe that Jesus took away our sin.  When we die we do not fear being punished for our sins.  When Jesus returns, it is not to bear sin once again.  It is to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
But the Apostle Peter warns us about being carried off by lawlessness and falling from our secure position.

And so we wonder, is it once saved, always saved or not?

It would have been a whole lot easier if Jesus would have just added this little bit in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount.
Blessed are the poor in spirit,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
    for they will be comforted.
 Blessed are the meek,
    for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
For they will be saved once and for all time.  Once saved, always saved—but that’s not what was said.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
    for they will be shown mercy.
 Blessed are the pure in heart,
    for they will see God.
Once saved, always saved comes from our theologies, and our confessions, and our discernment.

Many literalists contend that the once saved, always saved doctrine is not consistent with biblical teaching.  But the one thing we find about literalists is that they are pretty much all selective literalists or perhaps they have never sinned since birth.

Jesus taught us that if our eye offends us—causes us to sin—then we should pluck it out.  Surely all those who interpret the Bible in literal fashion would also have self induced blindness or they have never sinned.  If their righteousness is greater than the Pharisees, then maybe they don’t need Jesus.
But we know that the Bible is presented mainly in story form.  It tells the story of God’s people.  It tells the story of Jesus.  It tells the story of the early Apostles as they spread the good news of life in Jesus Christ to the world.

It does contain some commands and commandments.  It does contain some law.  But if the law and commandments were sufficient, we would not need the greatest story ever told.

And we do need the greatest story ever told.  We do need Jesus.  Our life comes from Jesus.

This is the Jesus that John the Baptist recognized and said, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

This is the Jesus who hanging on the cross said to forgive those who were killing him because they did not know what they were doing.
This is the Jesus who with his last breath said, “It is finished.”
That simple statement didn’t mean that his life was finished.  He would rise.  He chose to lay down his life and take it up again.

That simple statement didn’t mean that he was through with this body for the disciples would see the wounds given him at his crucifixion in his resurrected body.

This statement was that the atoning sacrifice had been made.  The blood of the Lamb of God had atoned for the sin of man.

The death sentence that hung over humankind for sin had been executed.  The law had been satisfied.

This was a matter adjudged.  The legal term is Res judicata.  It is a term most often used in civil and common law, but it means that there has been a final judgment and the matter is not subject to appeal.

The matter is not subject to appeal!

The Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world took away the sin of the world.  It is finished.  That work cannot be undone.

God even gave us the measure of faith needed to respond and receive this grace.  It is all from God.  We have nothing to boast about in our own salvation.  It’s not 50% God and 50% us.  It isn't even a 90/10 split.  It isn't even a 1% factor from us that gives us salvation.

We sing, Jesus paid it allAll to him I owe.  We seem to garner a lot of our theology from our music, but do we embrace this?  Jesus paid our price in full.  We are saved.  The matter is settled.  Sin does not rule over us.  The work of the devil is destroyed.

We are indeed a new creation.
The matter is settled!
It cannot be undone.
We cannot undo what God has done through Christ Jesus.
We have blessed assurance of our salvation.

It is a matter adjudged that will not be reversed and is not subject to appeal.
It is Res judicata.

But that finality in the certainly of our salvation is not the end of the matter.  In fact, it is the very beginning.  Knowing that sin has no impact upon our salvation, how will we live?

How will we live as a new creation?
How will we live as free men and free women?
How will we live as brothers and sisters in Christ?
How will we live not as slaves to sin but as a friend of God?

Before grace, sin controlled our future.  There was a price to pay for sin.  That price was death.  Under the old covenant, people made temporary atonement for sin.  They accounted for the sin of the previous year.  But in the year to come, they had to account for that sin in another sacrifice.  Year after year and sacrifice after sacrifice, sin ruled.  The law was broken.  People transgressed.  A price had to be paid every year.

Sin ruled.

But today, love rules.  The royal law of love is in effect.  We live in the grace of God that we know through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

We are free.
We are a new creation.

But we look in the mirror and say that the new creation looks a whole lot like the old one did.

No it doesn’t.
No it doesn’t.  The new creation does not have to pay a price for sin year after year.  The man in the mirror is a free man.  She is a free woman.
Sin has nothing to say about life eternal.

Now there is still a wrestling match with sin.  It impacts the quality of our life.  It impacts the fullness of our relationship with God.  It impacts the abundance that we know.

But it has no say in our eternal destiny.  It cannot come between us and the love that God has for us in Christ Jesus.

We confess our sin knowing that it is forgiven.  There is no litmus test.  It is forgiven.  The price has been paid.  We are indeed a new creation.

So how are we to live?
How are we to live?
How do we respond to a God who liberated us from sin?
How do we respond to a God who has preserved us for all eternity?
How do we respond to a God that says he will never stop loving us?
How do we respond to a God that gives us a second birth and makes us a new creature?

How do we respond to a God who loved us so much that he would take upon himself the justly delivered punishment for our sin by becoming flesh and blood and dying on a cross?


We proclaim good news—freedom for the captives.

And we do all of this without the burden of sin upon us.

It is the difference in working as a slave and living as a free man.

Consider the experiences that you may know either in person or from television.  Do you remember the invasion of Grenada by U.S. Forces?  Do you remember the students that were rescued who kissed the ground once they were back on United States soil?

We should awaken every morning with the joy of being rescued from sin and death.  Over the past few decades there have been many accounts of Marines and SEALS rescuing Americans from those who would do them harm. 

We need to have the same joy and exhilaration of those Americans who were rescued from evil men.

We have been rescued from sin and death.  It’s a done deal.  They can’t come and get us again.  We are free.

Now, there will come an accounting before God, but we will not account for our sins for the justice and sacrifice required for them has been completed.
We will account for how we have lived this life as a new creation.

So everything we think, say, do, as well as those things we don’t do will come before God in our accounting.  But the power of sin will not.  Its power has been destroyed.


Paul challenged those who had been liberated from sin to work out their salvation with fear and trembling.  This is not to work for salvation—that just won’t work—but live out our salvation as the most important thing we will ever do.

Paul says to do it with fear and trembling.  We know that the fear of the Lord is the foundation laid for wisdom but Christ is our foundation for salvation.  We know that perfect love drives out fear.  So what is Paul saying?

He is saying that how we respond to God’s grace must be given the gravity it deserves.  This is new lifeWill we live it with reverence to the One who gave it to us?  We have been born of the Spirit.  Will our spirit reflect God’s own Spirit in this new life?

As the product of divine love, will we bear close resemblance to our divine family?  Will we bear the image and likeness of Christ Jesus?

Having been freed from sin and death, we live a life of love.  We live looking forward to the day that the Lord will receive our account.  We will face that day and sin and death will not be part of our accounting. We live seeking the greatest reward we can think of—hearing our Lord say, “Well done good and faithful servant.”

We are saved from sin and death.
Will we live fully for God in response to his extraordinary mercy, grace, and love?
How will we live as people who know God’s favor?