Episode 109: The Third Way Fallacy: How Compromise is Killing the Church

https://youtu.be/k50mKiyvNFU

"If you don't stand for something, that shows that you don't really love anything. In order for you to truly love something-to really, really love something-that means, by necessity, that you also hate anything that will hinder or attack or hurt this thing that you love. So if you're going to be wishy-washy in the middle and stand for nothing, that means you actually aren't loving." - Jason Ruis

Summary of this Episode

In this episode of "The Messy Reformation," we discuss the idea that reformation is always messy and not an easy process. We talk about our recent reading material, which includes Cornelius Van Til and John Calvin's "The Christian Life." We highlight the importance of denying oneself, bearing one's cross, and meditating on the future life. We also discuss the concept of living with one foot raised and seeking heavenly reward, which is not emphasized enough in the Christian Reformed Church, which tends to focus more on transforming the culture in the present.

We stress the importance of keeping one's focus on the end goal of God's plan and how it can help in dealing with frustration and discontentment about the world. While we acknowledge the need to continue to use gifts to build and edify God's church, we emphasize that believers must also look beyond the battles and chaos of life and see the ultimate goal of new heavens, new earth, and the final resurrection. We discuss a sermon by John Piper that talks about how keeping the end in sight fuels the fire to keep going, and we encourage believers to keep their eyes on the heavenly reward and the purpose of their work in the Christian Reformed Church.

The conversation shifts to the concept of pre-suppositional apologetics, which seeks to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, even those of non-believers. We discuss the battle between sin and righteousness within each individual and the importance of killing sin rather than negotiating with it. We also talk about the idea of being a good shepherd, which includes protecting one's flock from ideologies that may attack them. The importance of standing firm in the face of compromise and protecting the gospel is emphasized.

We then discuss the issue of being lukewarm and not taking a stance on important matters within the Christian Reformed Church. We argue that not taking a stance shows a lack of love and passion for anything, as true love means standing up for what you believe in and fighting against anything that would hurt it. We criticize the church for being wishy-washy in the middle and trying to take a third way on every issue, which is unbiblical. We believe that the church should take a stand for what it believes in. The church's love for God and His word should motivate us to stand up for what is right and fight against anything that is dishonoring God and hurting people.