Some recent events in the “world of Christianity” have provoked some thoughts in my mind. I will get to those thoughts in a moment, but first allow me to give some background.
Growing up I always felt that there was way too much division in the church. Now by “division” I mean both in local churches and the universal Church. I grew up with a very interesting “religious” background. Growing up I was shifted through vatrious denominations as I had parents who were really trying to figure things out for themselves. Experiencing so many “flavors” of Christianity (besides making me very discerning) made me very anti-denominationalistic. Further, my senior year of high school the church I was attended, a church my family was heavily involved in, had a split, a breakup, or whatever else you’d like to call it. This was a devastating time for me but also a time that God used for extreme spiritual growth in my life. I was very upset at the adults of that church for acting so unbiblical and immature (especially since the split wasn’t even over some doctrinal issue). But this frustration sparked in me a desire to search the scriptures to discover for myself what the church was really all about and what the church should look like biblically. I’ll stop there, because this is not intended to be a biography in anyway; but those two factors, my encounters with various denominations and beliefs growing up as well as the church split, had an extreme effect on my view of unity.
What I would like to do with this article is present to you some popular Gospel clichés, as I like to call them, and provide some rather brief thoughts on each—-nothing exhaustive or too in depth, but just some thoughts to make you think about them, their use, what they seem to be saying, their accuracies and inaccuracies, etc.
In this article, Andy Naselli discusses the beginning of John 15 and Jesus’ command, “Abide in Me, and I in you” (v.4). The article seeks to answer two questions many have posed regarding this passage. First, who are those represented by first type of branch that abide in Christ and therefore bear much fruit? Does this speak of some or all believers? Are these spiritual Christians or is abiding in Christ a characteristic of every true believer? Second, who are those represented by the second type of branch that never bears fruit and is therefore cut off? Is this a once saved believer who loses his salvation? Is this a saved yet unfruitful believer whom God is chastising? Or might this simply be a professing believer is not truly saved? Obviously, such questions have immense soteriological implications.
This was a topical sermon I preached at Lake Drive Baptist Church, Milwaukee, WI in the spring of 2011 on the issue of what true saving faith is. Although more could certainly be said about the nature of true saving faith, in this sermon I addressed three vital characteristics of faith that saves: drastic, visible, and persevering.
Kirk E. Miller 