Why We Don’t Need a Second-Blessing Theology (But We Do Need a Third- and Fouth- and Fifth-)

Luke Geraty —  September 20, 2012 — Leave a comment

D. A. Carson writes,

“In short, I see biblical support for the thesis that although all true believers have received the Holy Spirit and have been baptized in the Holy Spirit, nevertheless the Holy Spirit is not necessarily poured out on each individual Christian in precisely equivalent quantities (if I may use the language of quantity inherent in the metaphor of “filling”). How else can we explain the peculiar unction that characterizes the service of some relatively unprepossessing ministers?

Although I find no biblical support for a second-blessing theology, I do find support for a second-, third-, fourth-, or fifth-blessing theology.

Although I find no charisma biblically established as the criterion of a second enduement of the Spirit, I do find that there are degrees of unction, blessing, service, and holy joy, along with some more currently celebrated gifts, associated with those whose hearts have been specially touched by the sovereign God.

Although I think it extremely dangerous to pursue a second blessing attested by tongues, I think it no less dangerous not to pant after God at all, and to be satisfied with a merely creedal Christianity that is kosher but complacent, orthodox but ossified, sound but soundly asleep. (Showing the Spirit, 160).”

HT: Kevin DeYoung

In Charismatic Theology, Christian Living, Pneumatology , , , ,
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“Where are all these People Coming from?” or, Ethnic Diversity in the Rural Church

Luke Geraty —  September 19, 2012 — 2 Comments

I’m excited that our small rural church that has historically been full of lots of white people is becoming more diverse. A few months ago I spent a Sunday morning casting vision to the congregation I serve about the need to be a community that is not only open to ethnically diverse groups, but intentional in trying to reach them. This is largely because I have been greatly shaped by my reading of Scripture and that the ultimate goal is that the nations will come to know Jesus (cf. Matt. 24:14; Rev. 5:9).

But I’m also a pretty cultured person. More so than many of the people that I’ve been called to love and serve. That, of course, doesn’t make me better than anyone, but certainly has some influence on why I desire to work towards being a community that sees ethnic reconciliation as a serious ministry of the church. I want to be surrounded by different colored people from different cultures who are all united in Christ! It’s such a beautiful picture!

In the past two weeks I’ve heard several people in the congregation ask the following question:

“Where are all these people coming from?”

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In Ethnic Reconciliation, Missional, Small Town Church, The Kingdom of God
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The Incarnation is the Kingdom Bomb Your Church & Community Needs

Able Baker —  September 19, 2012 — Leave a comment

“The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish” (John 1:14, The Message)

Anthropocentrism is one of those hundred point words in scrabble that you just can’t wait to use and finally beat your mother in law at the game she has owned you on since you first married her daughter. It basically means Human beings are the central fact of the universe. As a worldview it assumes that human beings are the final aim and end of the universe and this world view seems to view and interpret everything in terms of human experience and values. Because of the reality of our fallen nature people are more susceptible to an anthropomorphic theology that can actually destroy the work of God in our communities and churches. I am concerned that what we call church among conservative evangelicalism is more like an attempt to incarnate heaven from earth through a moral asceticism than the messy and explosive result of God incarnating earth from heaven.
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In Messy Church
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The “What” and “Why” of Small Groups (8 of 10)

Luke Geraty —  September 18, 2012 — Leave a comment

An important part of koinonia is that of sharing. Sharing is integral to the Trinity and extremely important within the context of the church. Or, as Icenogle writes,

Wherever the person of Jesus calls together two or more other persons, male or female, young or old, Jew or Gentile, there is the divine-human community in microcosm, the ecclesia, a Christian small group. The Spirit of God as the community of God in Christ is shared wherever two or more are gathered together. The Spirit shares the ministry of Jesus with the ecclesia, those called together by Jesus. The ongoing ministry of Jesus through the Spirit is the ministry of building divine-human community, of reconciling men and women to God and to one another. Small groups who meet in the nature and name of Jesus are communities of reconciliation. Small groups are communities where persons can experience forgiveness, healing and maturity. They are spaces where human relationships can take on the character of Jesus with Abba God, like Jesus with the Twelve. It is in this small group community of love and trust that broken persons and relationships experience the freedom to share failure, pain, hurt and addiction. They have the freedom to self-disclose, to confess and to listen and respond with truth and love.” (Biblical Foundations for Small Group Ministry: An Integrative Approach)

One of my favorite parts of getting together in small groups is that of self-disclosure. It isn’t easy, but it feels great… most of the time!

In Ecclesiology, Small Groups , , , ,
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Dispensational, Covenant, & New Covenant Theology

Luke Geraty —  September 17, 2012 — 2 Comments

For anyone involved in the theological schools known as Dispensationalism, Covenant Theology, or New Covenant Theology, you may be interested in reading several reviews of Kingdom through Covenant: A Biblical-Theological Understanding of the Covenants, written by Peter J. Gentry and Stephen J. Wellum. Kingdom through Covenant is a proposed third option when considering the strengths (and weaknesses) of Dispensationalism and Covenant Theology. Both “systems” of reading the Bible have a large number of advocates and have been represented well within academia. Thus, Gentry and Wellum provide a somewhat controversial work in that they are going to challenge some pretty strong opinions in the world of evangelical theology.

The Gospel Coalition asked several scholars to review this new work, which I think may be helpful for those interested in evaluating it’s ideas. The reviews are as follows:
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In Baptism, Biblical Theology, Books, Ecclesiology, Reformed Theology, Reviews, The Kingdom of God , , , , , , , ,
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Messy Church: No Perfect People Allowed

Luke Geraty —  September 17, 2012 — 5 Comments

When we envision the kind of church that we want to attend, we often envision clean bathrooms, plush seating, and incredibly sophisticated music performances. We often see the church of our dreams as being made up of people that look like us, talk like us, and have our same economic and social background. When it comes down to it, our vision for the perfect church is to have a church that looks like us and talks like us. The more comfortable, the better.

When we stop and consider the kind of church that Jesus would lead, we see something different. If we’re honest, we might even admit that we don’t want to be a part of the church that Jesus would lead because the kind of church that Jesus would lead is, well, messy. Jesus’ church is messy. The bathrooms are dirty. The seats are broken or non-existent. The people that are a part of Jesus’ community are diverse and from a wide variety of walks of life. Some of them are prostitutes. Some of them are former prostitutes. Some of them are drug addicts or constantly drunk. Others sold drugs and are now loving the lives of those whom they used to destroy. There are sick people who have diseases that are “gross” and “dirty.” There are children running around everywhere. Tears abound where grace abounds. And there is a lot of anger and frustration, but Jesus keeps making all things new.

It’s enough to inspire the dirtiest and worst of sinners and enough to enrage the most self-righteous in any church.
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In Messy Church , ,
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5 Reasons Why Rural Pastors Need to Get Out the Church Office!

Luke Geraty —  September 15, 2012 — 12 Comments

I’m fortunate to pastor in a rural church that has a really great building (and it’s paid off baby!!!) Okay, sorry. I was getting a little excited there. But along with a nice building, there is a really nice sized office with the title “Pastor” hanging on the door. My “office” has a full bathroom too, shower and all. The square footage of that office actually allows for me to fit all of my books too. Seriously, it’s really big. I’ve had a ton of visiting guest speakers walk into it and attempt to call it home. Heck, I have a French press, excellent coffee, and candles. The room is ridiculously nice.

And I’m no longer using it as my office. Here are five reasons why I believe rural pastors need to get out the church office:
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In Church Planting, Ecclesiology, Small Town Church , , ,
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Grace, Love, & Fellowship: Trinitarian Qualities

Luke Geraty —  September 12, 2012 — 3 Comments

The first year I began pastoring in our community, I had lunch with a guy in the church I was serving. After walking into a restaurant, my friend introduced me to a young man who attended another church in our community. After making some small talk, I remember asking, “What type of church do you attend?” because I was interested in learning more about the other churches. I had recently started attending the local clergy meetings and was excited to work together with other churches.

The young man told me his church was “Pentecostal.” Having spent a number of years being trained in the Assemblies of God and having an equal commitment to the continuation of all the spiritual gifts, I remember saying, “Cool!” Well, that’s when the conversation got weird. The guy started quizzing me about my beliefs, asking me questions that were very abnormal. What did I believe about speaking in tongues? What did I believe about baptism and had I been baptized in “Jesus name”? What kind of Bible did I use? The questions were coming so fast I didn’t have a chance to start answering them!
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In Charismatic Theology, The Trinity , , , , ,
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A Personal Reflection on 9-11

Able Baker —  September 11, 2012 — 1 Comment

As a Christian who has grown in his understanding of The Gospel and the world we live in over the last 11 years I can honestly say that September 11th was more about the reality of the human condition than it was about terrorism or government conspiracies. It’s easy to say it’s us vs. them, it’s easy to blame and feel better about ourselves… it’s much more difficult to take ownership of brokenness that we all have in common as people and grieve for our enemies as well as our country. It’s easier for me to imagine a God who would give his life for the victims in the tower but much harder to imagine that he would do the same for the pilots of the plane. Honestly though I see this same war of good and evil going on my heart everyday and wonder why God would ever love me. He does though and today I think my hope is directed more toward the Middle East than ever. God loves them.
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In Devotionals
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“Give Up My Expectation for Jesus’ Literal Return? No, Sir!”

Luke Geraty —  September 6, 2012 — 5 Comments

This morning I was reading through a chapter of The Return of Jesus in Early Christianity and came upon one of the most ridiculous statements I have read in awhile. I know, I know… I need to read more. But just read how ridiculous this statement is:

 ”The central New Testament image of the triumphant return of Christ need not be interpreted literally, as if Jesus would actually ride the clouds back to earth in a show of glory and power visible to all.” (p.197)

I am well aware that a statement like this is not really as ridiculous as I’m suggesting in certain circles, but if we have any sense that Scripture functions as some sort of authority for the church and if our hermeneutical process includes taking the biblical author’s seriously on some level, how can a statement like this not come across as slightly ridiculous? Here are three reasons why I find a statement like this to be problematic, from both an exegetical, theological, and logical perspective:
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In Eschatology, Hermeneutics ,
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4 Ways to Facilitate, Not Program, Growth in a Rural Church Context

Able Baker —  September 5, 2012 — 2 Comments

Among the comments from a recent blog article I wrote (11 Mental, Emotional & Spiritual Challenges Unique to Rural Pastors) a guy named Joe asked “what advice would you give someone leaving suburbia to do ministry in a rural context?” There is so much I could talk about here and like a little kid overwhelmed with the task of cleaning up his messy room I am having a hard time even knowing where to start. So I will pick one topic and the let two other rural pastors (Luke Geraty and Judd Rumley) pick some personal advice that resonates with them.

Rural ministry, for several reasons, puts the demand on the pastor to facilitate the growth of the church not program it. Facilitating a church vision and helping it grow into a fruit bearing state requires some deliberate habits that might not be so easy for pastors who have cut their teeth in a suburban program driven church context. I have learned over the last 7 years of rural ministry to proclaim and model Christ to our people in a way that will not remake community but continually establish the person and work of Christ at the core of our community. Before I get into the topic of facilitating growth rather than programming it allow me to qualify what I mean by growth.
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In Church Planting, Leadership, Small Town Church
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Culver on the Purpose of Election

Luke Geraty —  September 5, 2012 — Leave a comment

One of my favorite systematician writes:

“An examination of some of the relevant passages reaps the following fruit of teaching. Believers have been chosen by God ‘to the praise of his glory’ (Eph. 1:11, 12); to ‘show forth the praises’ of the One who called them (1 Peter 2:9 KJV); to live holy blameless lives (Eph. 1:4); to be fully sanctified, i.e. ‘conformed to the image of his [God’s] Son’ (Rom. 8:28, 29); to ‘go and bear fruit’ (John 15:16). It is hence, an error to think of election apart from the high and holy ends which God had in mind when He did it.

The success of the plan of redemption could not be guaranteed—as all God’s eternal counsels are—apart from divine initiative at every stage of the plan (ordo salutis). On account of sovereign election, God knew from the beginning who would populate heaven and a renewed earth. ‘[T]he Lamb’ was ‘slain’ from ‘the foundation of the world’ (Rev. 13:8) and the inhabitants are ‘those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life’ (Rev. 21:27). These facts of Scripture in no wise encourage any one to presume on God’s grace in this regard, because divine sovereignty and human responsibility are juxtaposed in many a biblical declaration, perhaps never more starkly than in this verse: ‘But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his”, and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity” ’ (2 Tim. 2:19).” (Robert Duncan Culver, Systematic Theology: Biblical and Historical, 677).

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In Gospel, Reformed Theology , , , ,
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Egalitarians Embrace Exegetical Gymnastics?

Luke Geraty —  August 30, 2012 — 12 Comments

Denny Burk points out a quote from Lig Duncan:

“The denial of complementarianism undermines the church’s practical embrace of the authority of Scripture (thus eventually and inevitably harming the church’s witness to the Gospel). The gymnastics required to get from “I do not allow a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man,” in the Bible, to “I do allow a woman to teach and to exercise authority over a man” in the actual practice of the local church, are devastating to the functional authority of the Scripture in the life of the people of God.”

I don’t even know where to begin with thinking about the ramifications of such a statement. On one hand, I want to engage in a discussion as to why this type of statement seems far more simplistic and hermeneutically shallow than some may realize and on the other hand try and figure out why many Complementarians and Egalitarians are so focused on demonizing the other’s position (in this case, from the writing of a Complementarian… but don’t kid yourself Egals… you do the same thing).
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In Baptism, Eucharist, Gender Issues , , , , , ,
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10 Things to Ask Yourself before You Give

Able Baker —  August 30, 2012 — 6 Comments

Yesterday I was talking with a friend about giving. While talking with him I realized there is a lot to consider when you feel you are ready to give something to someone. Here is a list of things to ask yourself before making the decision to give something to someone. I am interested in what you think and what you might add to this list.

  1. Avoid giving in order to make yourself feel better.
  2. Don’t give with strings attached.
  3. In most cases giving should cost you something. What will this cost you?
  4. Make sure you can give in a way that restores or maintains a person’s dignity.
  5. Don’t give people who need something that works, something that needs work.
  6. Don’t give someone something they can’t afford to keep.
  7. If you can’t let go of ownership don’t give it away.
  8. Give locally before you give globally.
  9. If you cannot receive a gift well you probably can’t give a gift well.
  10. Many times we can give our enemies what they will not give us.
In Christian Living, Money , ,
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Small Town Pastor: No Feedback IS Feedback!

Luke Geraty —  August 29, 2012 — 2 Comments

Being a leader can be really disheartening. The amount of slander and criticism that pastors go through has caused thousands of early retirements, I’m sure. Bearing the brunt of people’s focused aggression when you are doing your best to serve God and love people has caused more than one relapse into a former life of substance abuse and crime, I’m convinced.

Leaders can get an overload of “feedback” that is often just plain mean-spirited criticism. When the sound is “to loud” or the preaching is “to long” or the message doesn’t promote someone’s pet doctrines, or, even worse, when the sermon does address someone’s pet doctrines (in a negative light), people often feel absolutely zero reservation in letting leaders know their displeasure. Yes, the comment box is FULL! I, of course, experience none of these tendencies and can only pretend to relate to you pastors who are so stressed out and discouraged. *note to readers, please have your sarcasm detectors fully engaged*

But there’s a flip side to being a leader. Sometimes we don’t receive any feedback and we spend a lot of our time wondering what people think. Was that sermon helpful? Were those phone calls deemed unimportant? Did God use the ministry event in a positive way? Has all of the counseling and time invested bone unnoticed? At the end of the day, a lot of leaders are extremely frustrated because no one says anything or has any opinions or provides any feedback on anything! 

It’s really frustrating. I’m not sure what’s worse, mean-spirited criticism or no feedback. Feel free to share your thoughts on that one.

Anyway, a few months ago I was meeting with some leaders and they were giving me updates on how their ministry teams were going. One of the leaders started to express their frustration at the “no feedback” situation. After explaining the feelings involved with not having any clue about which way was up or down, they ended their update by saying:

“I guess no feedback is good though. No one is complaining so everyone must be happy.”

That’s when I, and several others, all about fell over in our chairs. Here’s why…
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In Christian Living, Church Planting, Conflict Resolution, Leadership, Small Town Church , ,
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“And it seems some people finished their tests in Seminary.”

Able Baker —  August 28, 2012 — 5 Comments

I recently received a letter from a pastor friend who warned me that I was being too critical of the Church lately on my blog.  The person said “I guess my big concern is that much of your criticism is leveled at Christians and the church, and while this may be deserved at certain points it will inevitably breed mistrust of you and your ministry, and ultimately breed antagonism toward Christ’s dear bride.”

Just a theory…
I wonder why the word theory is not used more among evangelicals. A theory is defined by one source as…

a coherent group of tested general propositions, commonly regarded as correct, that can be used as principles of explanation and prediction for a class of phenomena: Einstein’s theory of relativity.

All one needs to do is pick up a solid book on Christian history and one will clearly see that we the church are beautifully pluralistic in our faith and practice because we are figuring it out as we go. Every major doctrine we hold to as biblical usually has more than three solid ways of seeing it and they have all been arrived at through divinely ordained conversation or argumentation.  I have had the all-to-naive assumption that Christian leaders, for the most part, believe that subjects like Atonement, Trinity, bibliology, etc. are all theories from our human end.  I have learned the hard way that this is not the case… to many theologians, theory is the enemy of faith.
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In Christian Living, Leadership , , , ,
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11 Mental, Emotional & Spiritual Challenges Unique to Rural Pastors

Able Baker —  August 25, 2012 — 28 Comments

Eleven mental, emotional and spiritual challenges unique to the rural pastor:

11. Multi-denominational non-denominationalism. The rural pastor can often be stretched when they are the only church for 20 miles and they are ministering to Charismatic’s, fundamentalists, liberals, Lutherans, Catholics, or any one of the many evangelical sects in attendance any given Sunday.

10. “Can you…?” This question is asked so many times. It is usually connected to things like…

  • …Mow the church lawn
  • …help fix the septic tank
  • …clean the church gutters
  • …lead worship-communion –give a sermon-baptize all on the same day
  • …take Ms. Thompsons 3 truckloads of garbage to the dump,
  • …make youth come back to church so it doesn’t die while not bothering the retired people.
  • …drive me to town for my dialysis and take me home again.

9. Money. ”He doesn’t farm, log, or do any kind of “real” work so his pay is sufficient” or “Why doesn’t your wife have a Job?” Many pastors in the US have no or very poor insurance. Many rural pastors are crippled by debt.

8. Vehicle. “We want to give you this car.” AKA… “Our daughter didn’t want it because it’s ugly, unsafe and doesn’t run well o yeah and it’s a tax right off if we do it right…and don’t ever sell it or our feelings will get hurt.” The rural pastor will go into debt to buy a brand new car with a warranty so the mechanic in your church who spends more time in his shop than with his family doesn’t have to fix it when it breaks all the time. After the purchase of the new car some people in the congregation question if you spend your money wisely and maybe they are paying you too much. One of my favorites is when they see that you are driving your car on bald tires and we hear things like “hey it’s not safe to drive on those things” or “you need to get some new tires those are illegal”
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In Ecclesiology, Leadership, Small Town Church
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Striking the Balance Between Comfort & False Conversion

Luke Geraty —  August 19, 2012 — 6 Comments


As an advocate of what is essentially a Reformed perspective regarding issues related to soteriology, I fully subscribe to the idea that those whom God has chosen for salvation shall, in the end, be saved. I would gladly affirm what the Westminster Confessional describes concerning the Perseverance and Preservation of the Saints.

“They, whom God hath accepted in His Beloved, effectually called, and sanctified by His Spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved. (Phil. 1:6, 2 Pet. 1:10, 1 John 3:9, 1 Pet. 1:5,9)” (Westminster Confession of Faith, XVII)

But I’m not a fan of the title “eternal security” because I don’t believe it rightly emphasizes the importance of both God’s sovereign work in carrying us to completion along with the fact that people are responsible to respond to God’s grace. And I absolutely deplore the term “once saved, always saved” because it has been used to undermine the biblical concept of sanctification and has polluted the water around the issue of salvation. Frankly, there have been innumerable people who have walked around believing that they can live however the want while doing whatever they want because they “made a decision” at some point and were “saved.” This is where I find a lot to commend with Scot McKnight’s recent book, The King Jesus Gospel. Yes, you can be a “Calvinist” and still love much of McKnight’s work and even say, “Amen” to his Jesus-centered theological constructs… especially when the kingdom of God is so prevalent in his writings!
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In Biblical Counseling, Christian Living, Gospel, Missional, Reformed Theology, Soteriology , , , , , , ,
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How Long, Oh Lord, Until You Return?

Luke Geraty —  August 17, 2012 — Leave a comment

In preparation for this coming Sunday’s message on the four parables of the Olivet Discourse, I read a fantastic statement by Michael Wilkins:

“The way one thinks about the Lord’s return will eventually influence what one says and how one acts. Perhaps the servant thinks that the master will never return or that he can get away with his wickedness before he is caught. This may be a subtle hint here that Jesus’ return will be delayed, which will act as a test to the heart of each person.” (The NIV Application Commentary: Matthew, 804)

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In Christology, Eschatology
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Church Planting Soap Box: Plant a Church Somewhere that Needs One

Luke Geraty —  August 16, 2012 — 11 Comments


A few days ago I found out another church had been planted in the local “big city.” Yes, I say another in mild sarcasm. But in this city of approximately 66,000 people, there are churches everywhere. I just typed in the name of the city and “churches” and google showed a map that had dots all over the place. I can’t drive into this city without seeing Baptist churches, Lutheran churches, non-denominational churches, Roman Catholic churches, Methodist churches, and more. There are churches everywhere. It almost feels like we’re in the Bible belt… even though it’s the good state of Wisconsin, a cheese lovers paradise.

Yes, I’m standing on a soap box today. If you dislike soap boxes, forgive me… but I think this soap box is necessary.

Why, oh why, do people plant churches in locations that are over-populated with churches? Here are some quick thoughts:
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In Church Planting, Ecclesiology, Missional, The Vineyard Movement , , ,
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Heinrich Bullinger on Justification

Luke Geraty —  August 13, 2012 — 6 Comments

Heinrich Bullinger, the 16th century Swiss Reformer, wrote a book with a typically long title:

“The grace of God that justifies us for the sake of Christ through faith alone, without good works, while faith meanwhile abounds in good works.”

Would you agree or disagree with this definition of Justification?

In Christian Living, Gospel, Reformed Theology, Systematic Theology , ,
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For the Calvinists Too Reformed for Church

Luke Geraty —  August 9, 2012 — Leave a comment

James K. A. Smith writes a letter to a “young Calvinist” named Jess and touches upon a real issue:

“That’s a common enough temptation, Jess. I understand it. I’ve been there. But step back and think about what you’re saying: it’s as if you’re saying you’re “too Reformed” for any church! How un-Reformed is that?! It seems to me that the Reformed tradition makes us all the more aware of our own personal faults and shortcomings – the myriad ways we fall short of God’s holiness – as well as our utter dependence on the unmerited grace of God. How odd would it be to conclude, then, in the name of being “Reformed,” that no church is “good enough” for us? In the name of Calvinism, you end up spurning the gritty particularity of what John Calvin cared about the most: the church – and not the church as some abstract, ethereal, pure ideal, but the church in Geneva, the congregations he knew and loved.” - Letters to a Young Calvinist: An Invitation to the Reformed Tradition

Ha ha! Yeah, if you are so Calvinistic that you have become too Reformed for every church that exists, you need to… *drum roll*… slap yourself.

In Ecclesiology, Reformed Theology
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