“What in the world is Reformed theology?”

Steve Brown: Thank you, Matthew. Hi, Pete.
Pete Alwinson: Hey, how you doing?
Steve Brown: I'm doing really good, as a matter of fact.
Pete Alwinson: Good. You look good. You're swimming, you're exercising, right? It's warm weather again, so you're back at it.
Steve Brown: Yes, it is, and I do. I missed the last few days because they're resurfacing the pool area. But I will get back to it. I don't want to. Do you like to exercise?
Pete Alwinson: I love to exercise.
Steve Brown: Well, see, that's the difference between us.
Pete Alwinson: I don't like to swim, though. I like to swim, but I don't like doing laps.
Steve Brown: I don't like doing whatever you do. I don't do weights. I don't do any... In fact, I'd rather eat bonbons and watch soap operas, okay? That's Pete Alwinson. Check out forgetruth.com. There's a wonderful podcast on forgetruth.com, and you ought to check it out. Pete comes in and we answer questions on Fridays, and we love your questions and we take them seriously. 1-800-KEY-LIFE (539-5433). You can call that number and follow instructions, and sometimes we put your voice on the air. Or you can send your question to Key Life Network, Post Office Box 5000, Maitland, Florida 32794. If you're in Canada, it's Key Life Canada, Post Office Box 28060, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 6J8. Or you can send your question to [email protected]. All of those places are places where you could help us financially. And if you help us, we help others. I promise. So if you can, be generous. If you can't, be kind and say a prayer for this ministry. Pete, lead us in prayer and we'll get to these questions.
Pete Alwinson: Let's do it. Our Holy God, we come into Your presence today on this Friday, and what a privilege it is to pray, to connect with the One who is high and holy and lifted up, and yet is nearby. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Lord, we come to You and we recognize that no temple in Jerusalem ever could contain You, and yet that was the center of where You met with Your people in that time. Now, Your temple is Your people. What a privilege that You would dwell in us. Lord, we ask that You would continue to do Your work in us. Lord, You know where the temple needs to be cleaned out. So we come to You with our anger, our frustration, our demandingness, our insecurities, our fears. Lord, we do ask that You would continue to transform us into the image of Your dear Son. We thank You, Holy Spirit, that You are in us. How amazing is that? We pray: continue to do Your work of grace in our hearts. Lord, as we think of this weekend with the church gathered, we ask that You would build us as a people into Your holy temple as well. We pray that You would lift up Your holy name among us and that You would bind us together. Help us to love each other and serve together and worship together. Be with our leaders that are called to lead us in that direction to praise and honor and glorify You. So we ask for Your power for this weekend, for this time of worship, for building Your church into the holy temple. We honor You, we praise You, we lift You up now and ask that You would take this time of Q&A and bring us one step closer to where You want us to be as Your followers. We pray these things in Jesus' holy name. Amen.
Steve Brown: Amen. An email: "What in the world is Reformed theology?"
Pete Alwinson: Yeah. Did you go to Reformed school?
Steve Brown: Yes. Well, I taught at Reformed Seminary. There are those who suggested there were similarities between Reformed... When we start doing this, we're not doing it in a proselytizing sense, because if you're not Reformed, you're not a real Christian and you don't understand. The Christian faith is made up of many views. Now, there are essentials that we all believe, and if you don't believe those, you're probably not a Christian—historic doctrines of the faith and their verities that have been there forever. But there are some ways of looking at that, and you and I are Reformed. What does that mean?
Pete Alwinson: The best way to look at this is in terms of church history and realize that as the church developed, it always took the Scriptures as the basis. But over time, church councils and Christian organizations made decisions and there were many splinter groups that happened over time. By the 1500s, there were many times when the church sought to come back to the Scriptures. One of those times was in the 16th century, in the 1500s, precipitated by Martin Luther but then picked up in next generations by Luther, Calvin, Melanchthon—a bunch of people.
Steve Brown: And there were people before that were calling for that: Wycliffe and others.
Pete Alwinson: Hus, a bunch of good people. So, a lot of reform movements to come back to the Scriptures and to the basic teaching of the Bible. Generally speaking, when we say we're Reformed today, that usually brings people back to that time in the 16th century. Certain principles came out at the Reformation time, like, for instance, Sola Scriptura, the sole authority of the Bible. It was good to get back to that.
Steve Brown: And that's what Reformed means, partially. What else?
Pete Alwinson: One of the other things was just the important role of individual believers. So the priesthood of believers was one of those teachings that came out in the 16th century, that actual Christians matter and they can have ministry. Clarity around the Lord's Supper—there are differences that came out, but what does that mean and how does that play into our spiritual development?
Steve Brown: And so Reformed people would believe in the real presence of Christ in the heart of His people. And then there is God's sovereignty. Now, there are some people that say they believe in God's sovereignty, but He's confused. Reformed people would wince when people say that. Essentially, and you might want to Google "Five points of Calvinism" to see what Reformed... But you're right, it goes back to the Reformation.
Pete Alwinson: Generally speaking, that. And I like this principle: even if you differ with some of the principles of the Reformation, this is an important principle. I can't say it in Latin, but we are reformed, reforming, and always to be reformed according to the Word of God. If all of us kept that in mind, we could preserve that unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace around God's revealed Word.
Steve Brown: Good stuff. "Why are we to pray? God knows everything anyway." That's an email. Well, why do I talk to my wife? She knows me perfectly.
Pete Alwinson: Yeah. She knows what you want for dinner.
Steve Brown: Exactly. I don't have to tell her, but I'm not going to quit talking to her. Why is that?
Pete Alwinson: Because you love her. People who love each other communicate.
Steve Brown: And we're both early morning people, so Jesus gets me up. That's the most... Well, coffee helps. But between Jesus and coffee, that's why I get up in the morning. And that's not a burden. Now, my prayer list is a burden. I tell the Lord, "This is hard work, so I'm going to do that first and then we can talk and I can hardly wait." And so I do that.
Pete Alwinson: And I'm always at the top of your prayer list, right?
Steve Brown: As a matter of fact, you've been on that prayer list almost since you were a small child.
Pete Alwinson: Thank you for praying.
Steve Brown: What should we do when there's a problem in the church or with a pastor?
Pete Alwinson: Leave. Run away, run away! Number one, what we just talked about: number one, pray for your church. We often want to fix things or criticize, but prayer is really the first thing.
Steve Brown: And remember, church is messy. It really is. You and I both have gone through the process of looking for a church, and I couldn't find a perfect one. A friend said, "If you do, don't join it, because with your presence it certainly isn't going to be perfect anymore." But it is. Like somebody said, porcupines in a storm trying to hug each other. So before you do anything about a problem with the church or the pastor, make sure that it's real and it's not you, and you're not being self-righteous. What if you have a pastor who's speaking heresy, who doesn't believe the Bible? What should you do then?
Pete Alwinson: Then you should bring this up to the leaders and to the pastor. Matthew 18 is a good pathway process. Go to the person first. But do it respectfully when you go to your pastor if he's the issue or the person. Matthew 18 is the process. Don't just run away, don't just leave, but be respectful as you communicate. Say things like, "I could be wrong, but it seems to me as you dealt with that passage that you missed this," or, "It seems to me..." Take some responsibility for not having a perfect perspective on it.
Steve Brown: And then sometimes you have to leave, and that's hard. But because God has a big thing about the peace and the unity and the purity of the church, if you're outside of that box that God has taught us and ordained, sometimes you've got to say, "I do it with tears, but I've got to go somewhere else." I hate that.
Pete Alwinson: I know. It's rough. As pastors, we all take it personally if we're the point that somebody's leaving.
Steve Brown: I took it personally when they died. And when they left, I was almost suicidal, but they never knew. Never let them see you sweat. Guys, we're out of here and we appreciate you taking your time to join us. Key Life is a listener-supported production of Key Life Network.