UCLA Football Pays Tribute to Former Teammate Nick Pasquale

On their first offensive play from scrimmage in their first home game of the year, the UCLA Bruins football team paid a final tribute to former WR Nick Pasquale, who died on September 8th of this year, by only playing 10 players (on both offense and defense a maximum of 11 players are allowed to be in play). The 20 year-old was walking in the San Clemente area and was struck and killed by a car. This was a touching moment as the Bruin football team expressed their love for a teammate who is no longer with them, but definitely not forgotten. They then followed up this touching gesture with a fumble. Nice going. Still yet, this was a genuinely kind expression of love and care, qualities that are always nice to see in college and professional sports.

Gnosticism, the Early Church, and Us (Part 2)

In part one, we looked at the second century heresy called Gnosticism and its pollution of the early church. We defined it while discussing its deadly features. As we close out this short two-part series on Gnosticism in the early church, here I wish to present some practical implications to take away from that discussion. In other words, I seek to answer here, “Why is it important for us to know about Gnosticism and the early church?” This is where the “us” part of the title comes into play.

The second century heresy of Gnosticism presented the early church with a dilemma that was necessary to be addressed. Cairns correctly observes, “A critique of Gnosticism from a scriptural standpoint will soon make it clear that the church was wise to fight this doctrine” (Earle Cairns, Christianity Through the Centuries, 97). Despite all of Gnosticism’s obvious negative effects on the church, indirectly its arrival contributed to the development of the church. The church grows substantially under persecution and attack. However, I wonder if the church today would respond to heresies like Gnosticism and contend for the faith in the spirit of Jude. I am often encouraged by leaders such as Al Mohler, Russell Moore, John Piper, David Platt, Mark Dever, John Frame, Ligon Duncan, Wayne Grudem, and many others as they contend for the faith and fight false teachings through sermons, lectures, conferences, books, and blog posts whenever they rear their ugly heads within both the church and culture. However, I also see many examples in the local church of hesitance, ignorance, and silence when heretical and unbiblical thoughts, teachings, and lifestyles persist among believers. I see the local church being content with theological illiteracy. And when the local church refuses to care about her theology, she will fall when the darts of heretics shoot from TV programs and the Internet. I think we can learn a great deal from both the Gnostics and the early Christians who combated them as we seek to keep the Bride of Christ pure through a commitment to sound theology and biblical doctrine as we root out the false teachings of our day.

5 Lessons from the Gnostics

1. Marvel at the glory of God’s complexity. We must submit our minds and hearts in humility to the majesty that is God’s wisdom over and against ours. We are finite in all things. God is infinite in all things. When we struggle to come up with an answer to how God is sovereign and we are responsible or how evil persists in a world created by a loving and powerful God, we must submit our minds and hearts to the inerrant truth of Scripture, just like the early church.
2. Trust God at his word when we cannot make sense of things in his Word and our lives. He is sovereign. We are not.
3. Pride roots out the gospel. The Gnostics were proud of their wisdom and this pride ultimately led to their denial of the personhood of Christ as well as the gospel itself.
4. Heresy can creep in through good intentions. By seeking to understand how evil can exist in a world created by a good God, the Gnostics flew to heresy as they fitted Scripture to their philosophical liking. Be careful. Do not allow personal philosophies or finite desires to dictate our theology and interpretation of Scripture.
5. Deep theological discussion and study in the local church is of high importance. Heresies are deadly, dangerous, and deceiving. Joel Osteen can sound pretty convincing and the crumbs of truth that he throws out are enough to keep his audience waiting for more. Yet crumbs are all he has as he abandons the Bread of Life through his prosperity “gospel” teachings. The more honest theological discussions and teachings that take place in the local church, the better-equipped believers and whole congregations will be to combat these heresies. Pastors that ignore theology are probably unaware of how many within his own congregation embrace poisonous heresies.

3 Lessons from the Early Church

1. Be loud, not silent. Countless pages were written by Irenaeus and others to combat the heresy of Gnosticism. We should imitate these early brothers in their zeal and passion to interact with these false teachings and expose them with the light of the glory of God as he has revealed himself in Christ and in his Word.
2. Be courageous, not cowardly. The early church courageously fought Gnosticism. These teachings were rooted out of the early church and as I mentioned earlier, the church blossomed as a result of a renewed commitment to the Word of God as the church’s authority. May we risk jobs, popularity, and comfort for the truth.
3. Be aware, not ignorant. As Christians, we must be aware of the many heresies that are afloat in our pluralistic American church culture. Ignoring them does not negate their presence or danger, it only fuels it. Increased interaction through small groups should bring many heresies and adherence to them to light.

Contend for the Faith

If Gnosticism had not been addressed by men like Irenaeus, it would have succeeded and “Christianity would have been simply another philosophical religion of the ancient world” (Ibid. 97). A lot is at stake when it comes to heresies for the local church. Be encouraged by the diligence of the early church to fight heresies in the tradition of the apostles. At the same time, take the example of the Gnostics as a warning against allowing outside or inside philosophies to trump the supremacy of Christ and the sufficiency of Scripture. May it be a mark of the church to fight for the glory of God in all doctrinal matters as we seek to glorify Christ in all biblical truth. And may we ever present a gospel to a world lost and dead in sin that is according to the true, infallible, inerrant, and inspired revelation of God in his Word.

Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. –Jude 3

Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. –1 Timothy 6:12

Recommended Resources

Christianity Through the Centuries: A History of the Christian Church by Earle Cairns

Historical Theology: An Introduction to Christian Doctrine by Gregg Allison

 

Morning Mashup 9/21

Strange Puritan Names – From Praise-God to If-Christ-had-not-died-for-thee-thou-hadst-been-damned (no, I am not joking) here are multiple lists of some wacky names some Puritans named their children. Now, the Puritans are worthy of admiration in many spheres of life. Naming children is not one of them.

Southeastern Seminary: A Dangerous Place – A word from Southeastern Seminary President Danny Akin on why SEBTS is a dangerous place to attend…for the glory of God!

The Uncomfortable Truth of the Unborn’s Humanity – Randy Alcorn: “…acknowledging the humanity of the unborn does require [pro-choicers] to shift their language and tactics when defending abortion.”

What is Truth? – Jeremy Walker writes: “Christian friend, do you long to see God shake the secure, rattle the carnal, convict the careless and terrify the ungodly, to give them a present and pressing sense of their need in order that the gospel of Christ in all its sweet simplicity and saving security may become precious to them?”

Six Benefits of Ordinary Daily Devotions – Jon Bloom gives six purposes for daily devotions. That they are a form of super spiritualism is not one of them: “Private devotions aren’t magic. We know that (for the most part). But still, we can be tempted to think that if we just figure out the secret formula — the right mixture of Bible meditation and prayer — we will experience euphoric moments of rapturous communion with the Lord. And if that doesn’t happen, our formula must be wrong.”

KHSAA Football Scoreboard – All your latest Kentucky high school football scores from last night. In local action, North Laurel had an open week, while South Laurel was manhandled by a talented Corbin Redhounds team 53-0. Rooting for Coach Rhymer to get things lined out. He is a coach of impeccable character and an example we should all want our kids to follow.

The first thing, and in one sense the only thing, we need to know about God is that he is Lord. Surely no name, no description of God, is more central to Scripture than this. –John Frame