Keeping watch...

Al Mohler posted an article on church planting a while back. While I am generally interested in the movement, he said something else that, as usual, caught my attention.

As a seminary president I am very aware of the fact that an unprecedented number of students currently preparing for ministry are interested in planting a church. There is great gain and potential in this resurgence of interest. This is an intrepid generation driven by a bold vision and grounded in deep biblical convictions.

But, even as the church planting movement is a sign of such great promise, we cannot forget the multiple thousands of existing congregations that desperately need the leadership and influence of these young pastors. We need a generation committed to both church planting and church recovery -- a generation that sees the glory of God in planting new congregations and in leading existing congregations into deeper conviction, bolder vision, and greater faithfulness.

I don’t believe that call is extended just to young seminarians. That is pastoral ministry in a nutshell: lovingly shepherding the people of God into deeper awareness of their own need of grace, a greater desire to live holy lives and bold leadership to take right risks to make much of Christ in this world. (My apologies to John Piper)

Look afresh at these verses in Hebrews.

Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. (Hebrews 13:7-8)

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. (Hebrews 13:17)

I have heard some pretty bad sermons on v.17 in my time. The focus is usually on the “Obey your leaders and submit to them” portion, but what is too often neglected are the two other clauses in that sentence that define the kind of leaders to which those in Christ are to submit and obey.

What does “keeping watch over your souls” mean?

The image of a watchman over the people of God was not a new concept for the writer of Hebrews. Many times the Holy Spirit described leaders as watchmen. (Ez 3:17; Ez. 33:7; Is. 52:8; Jer. 6:17) At one passage, the Spirit of God castigates the leaders of Israel as blind watchmen while predators circle the flock.

All you beasts of the field, come to devour— all you beasts in the forest. His [Israel’s] watchmen are blind; they are all without knowledge; they are all silent dogs; they cannot bark, dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber. The dogs have a mighty appetite; they never have enough. But they are shepherds who have no understanding; they have all turned to their own way, each to his own gain, one and all. “Come,” they say, “let me get wine; let us fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow will be like this day, great beyond measure.” (Isaiah 56:9-12)

I was talking with someone recently who was lamenting that 90% of those in pastoral ministry were little more than church administrators rather than ministers of reconciliation. (2 Cor. 5:16-21) I am not as sure of the percentage, but as I survey the landscape, it does seem that the pastorate has become a profession rather than a calling.  

One of the most intense things discussed in all of Scripture is how Christ is so closely identified with His Church. In Ephesians 1, there are at least 6 references to the riches we have been given “in Him” or “in the Beloved” or “through Jesus Christ” giving the clear implication of a very intimate identity with Christ.

Compare the similarity of language used between Eph. 1:19-23 and Eph. 2:4-7. In chapter 1, starting at v. 15, Paul gives insight into how he prays for the Church. He wants them to know their hope, the riches of God’s inheritance in the saints...

and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. (Ephesians 1:19-23)

What an incredible picture of Christ: risen, triumphant, exalted to the right hand of God. However, look at the language Paul uses in the very next chapter describing God’ mercy on those He chose out of fallen humanity.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:4-7)

How large and grandiose not only of God’s grace toward the Church, but also of His unmerited identification of His chosen people with Christ Himself. While Scripture never teaches that we will become deity, in Christ we have been exalted as high as any creature can be by being identified with Him Who is holy, blameless and undefiled. (Heb. 7:26) It is indeed a great mystery. (Eph. 5:25-32)

Even stronger is the identification taught by Jesus Himself.

“Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, 6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” (Matthew 18:5-6; see also 1 Cor. 8:12)

Another very clear identification is seen where Jesus tells of judgment of the sheep and the goats based upon their service to “my brothers.” He says very clearly,

And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ (Matthew 25:40)

Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ (Matthew 25:45)

I cannot think of a more terrifying thing to hear than that last verse. Christ is protective of His Church.

Given this background, it is unconscionable to me why any person would voluntarily step in to the office of under-shepherd if they do not have the same self-sacrificing love for those who should be as Christ Himself.  This recognition of identity applies to all believers in their treatment of one another. How much more does it apply to those who lead and “who are to give an account” to Christ for the “keeping” of souls?  What does that look like?

I am convinced that the success of a pastor, teacher or other overseer is not measured by how much the congregation swoons at every word, idea, or command of that leader. It is not measured by the throngs of people who attend on a given Sunday morning. It is not measured by clever stories or jokes. It is not measured by the number of programs. It is measured by how effectively a pastor/teacher displays the heart of Christ toward His people. Paul modeled the heart of a true leader in the Church.

For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:2)

This is a father’s jealousy for his daughter. It is a patient, loving, faithful proclamation of the Word of Christ in the pulpit or the lectern. It is an impassioned pleading with individual members to live holy and godly lives before Christ.  It is knowing the people.  It is seeking to love those people, rather than clamouring for their adoration, money, or unquestioning obedience.

God forbid any pastor/teacher from using that sacred trust to stroke his ego or manipulate the Text to secure more control or money for himself. There must be a jealous guarding of both practice and doctrine of those over whom he is given charge not out of a sense of performing a job to keep the paycheck coming, but flowing out of a love for the Body of Christ and, more supremely, a love for Christ to Whom he will give an account.

If a pastor or teacher or leader takes on such a position in the Church out of a need to feel special and adored or because they see it as a lucrative job opportunity, that person should get out of the ministry for their own sakes, but especially for the sake of the Body.  As a member in the pew, obedience and submission to such a one would be false, unbiblical, and ultimately harmful for the individual and the Body as a whole.

John Calvin on the accusation that a denial of “free will” removes human accountability

The goodness of God is so connected with his Godhead that it is not more necessary to be God than to be good; whereas the devil, by his fall, was so estranged from goodness that he can do nothing but evil.

Should anyone give utterance to the profane jeer that little praise is due to God for a goodness to which he is forced, is it not obvious to every man to reply, “It is owing not to violent impulse, but to his boundless goodness, that he cannot do evil?”

Therefore, if the free will of God in doing good is not impeded, because he necessarily must do good; if the devil, who can do nothing but evil, nevertheless sins voluntarily; can it be said that man sins less voluntarily because he is under a necessity of sinning? (Institutes, II.3.5)

HT: Desiring God

A quote from Calvin on the eve of his birthday...

“When God giveth us any token of His goodness, it is to the end we should hope for the like at His hands again; and wait till He bring to pass what He hath begun. Therefore, if God hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, do we think that He will leave us at midway? When He hath showed us our salvation, and given us His gospel whereby He calleth us to His kingdom, and openeth the gates unto us; when He hath done all this, do we think He will leave us here, and mock us, and deprive us of His grace, or make it unprofitable? No, no; but let us hope that He will bring his work to a perfect end.”

From A Call to Witness

Remember sacrifice?

[Originally posted on August 22, 2006...seemed applicable to current events.]

Today’s editorial in the Chicago Tribune pays tribute to Joe Rosenthal who passed away this weekend. Mr. Rosenthal is the photographer responsible for capturing the image of five Marines and a Navy corpman preparing to raise a second, bigger, flag at the island of Iwo Jima in the closing stages of World War II. With the click of a button, Mr. Rosenthal captured more than an image of a flag raising, he memorialized the longing of a nation for victory and the sacrifice they made to obtain it.

“The action he captured -- a fleeting one-400th of a second -- became the best-known, most enduring photograph of World War II. The image of muscles straining, of hands letting go as the 100-pound pole rose, of a breeze filling Old Glory, inspired an America eager for World War II to conclude. The photo drew power from its composition--its triangles project strength and stability--but especially from its faceless Marines: To their countrymen they were the unknown, individually undistinguished soldiers who were triumphing over tyranny.”

“The fight for Iwo Jima cost nearly 7,000 Americans--and most of the Japanese defenders--their lives. Joe Rosenthal, who died Sunday outside San Francisco at age 94, never confused his role as chronicler with that of the American heroes who captured one of their enemy’s best-fortified strongholds. ‘What I see behind the photo is what it took to get up to those heights--the kind of devotion to their country that those young men had, and the sacrifices they made,’ Rosenthal once said. ‘I take some gratification in being a little part of what the U.S. stands for.’”

If someone were to take a snapshot of the Church today, would it capture the endurance, the sacrifice, the wisdom and zeal of the great saints before us? There is no picture to memorialize the deaths of the apostles. All of them were martyred except for John.

No one captured on film the violent deaths of Ignatius, Polycarp, Justin, and the many forgotten faces of those whose lives consisted of “persecution above ground and prayer below ground.” We have no video documentary of the toil, anxiety, and tears of Athanasius and Augustine fighting to defend the faith once delivered to all the saints.

There is no footage of the persecutions of John Wycliffe, the burning of John Huss, or the cry to Heaven by William Tyndale, “Lord! Open the King of England’s eyes,” as the flames consumed him. Nothing on the sufferings of Martin Luther or John Calvin as they worked to fan the flames of Reformation fueled by the illuminating power of the Holy Spirit, jealous for the glory of the one Mediator between God and man and the free grace bought by His single sacrifice on the cross.

What of the great missionaries of the 18th and 19th centuries: William Carey, Adoniram Judson, John G. Paton, and the myriad of nameless soldiers who carried the gospel of Christ from Europe and America to India, Burma, the South Pacific, and launched the exponential growth in the universal Church? There is precious little video or photographic documentation of work going on today across the globe by those hearts sing with Martin Luther, “Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also. The body they may kill. God’s truth abideth still.”

It continues today. Christians sacrificing at home and on foreign soil, for what?

And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. Mt 24:14

However, I fear that the vast majority of the visible Church is failing to proclaim the “gospel of the kingdom.”

We quickly proclaim the gospel of our traditions. We zealously fight for the gospel of our feelings, the gospel of the heart’s imaginations. If we sever our lives from the root of Scripture and attack others based upon our own sense of right and wrong, we will wither and die.

None of the saints mentioned above fought for their feelings. They knew the testimony of Scripture concerning a person’s trust in their heart.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? Jer 17:9

This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all. Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. Eccl 9:3

For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Ro 8:7-8

They fought for the truth of the Word of God, this gospel of the kingdom. Against the Church that clings to and preaches that revealed gospel, even the gates of Hell will not prevail, and that is worth remembering.

Pray for the Persecuted Church

From Voice of the Martyrs.

On June 12, 13 Christians were arrested by plain clothes police, after visiting Christian villages in Laos, according to The Voice of the Martyrs contacts. The visiting believers met the police when they were in the village for their routine daily work. The police questioned them about what they were doing in the village. The police have not disclosed why they arrested the believers and at last report the Christians are still being held at a provincial police station. The Voice of the Martyrs supports persecuted believers in Laos. VOM provides money to translate Bibles into multiple Laotian languages. Through this project, thousands of Christians will have access to the full Bible for the first time. VOM encourages you to pray for the release of these believers. Ask God to protect and encourage the believers in the villages. Pray God to bless Christians in Laos.

On June 9, several dozen Chinese officials from the Domestic Security Protection Squad barged into Pastor Li Ming’s home in Langzhong city, Sichuan province, where more than 30 house church leaders were gathered, according China Aid Association. Pastor Li’s home was searched and all of the believers arrested. Thirteen leaders were sentenced to 15 days of administrative detention. Five other leaders, including Pastor Li, were placed under criminal detention and are likely to face formal criminal indictment or up to three years of “re-education through labor.” The remaining leaders have been released. Ask God to give wisdom and guidance to the imprisoned leaders and their families. Pray for an end to crackdowns against believers in China.

When you learn something you learn it...

This reminds me of Emma helping me with my memorization of Ephesians. It has been a while and we are just to chapter 4...It is amazing how it all comes back...really...

Olansky on Calvin’s influence in government

I found this to be an interesting article by Marvin Olasky on John Calvin. Here’s an excerpt.

Calvin also opposed doctrines that deprive us of political liberty. His understandings—that God-given laws are superior to those of the state, the king, and any other institution, and that individuals have direct access to the Bible, without dependence on pope or priest—are common now, but compare them to the political and theological theories fashionable before his time. In ancient times, pagan states revered leaders as semi-divine. Those who argued with such bosses were seen as deserving death. In medieval times, the interpretations of church officials often trumped the words of the Bible itself (which few people could read). They identified God’s kingdom on earth with a church monopoly, and hanged, burned, or decapitated some with other ideas.

Calvin and other Reformation leaders, though, separated church and state while emphasizing the importance of believers working to lead the state. Calvin contended that, since God reigns everywhere, His followers should be entrepreneurs in every strategic institution, including government, civil society, commerce, media, law, education, the church, and the arts. This emphasis led directly to what has become known as the “Protestant ethic,” with its unleashing of individual initiative and its emphasis on hard work in purportedly secular areas. Many kinds of labor are equally worthy, Calvin argued, and those in charge of one activity should not dictate to others.

Blessed Assurance (2)

Martin Luther, in the Bondage of the Will (p. 268), explains that Christ is the Author of our Salvation from start to finish. Our perseverance rests in His preservation.

I say that man, before he is renewed into the new creation of the Spirit’s kingdom, does and endeavours nothing to prepare himself for that new creation and kingdom, and when he is re-created has does and endeavors nothing towards his perseverance in that kingdom; but the Spirit alone works both blessings in us, regenerating us, and preserving us when regenerate, without ourselves..."

3...2...1...500!

Get the John Calvin birthday clock at Calvin 500

Blessed Assurance (1)

Tuesday is for TULIP. Over the next few weeks, I want to look at the doctrine of the Perseverance of the Saints. How do you know you will hear “Well done, good and faithful servant” rather than “Depart from me, I never knew you?” Let’s start with A.W. Pink.

How may I know I have understood the gospel and that I am elect? First, by the Word of God having come in divine power to the soul so that my self-complacency is shattered and my self-righteousness is renounced. Second, by the Holy Spirit convicting me of my woeful, guilty, and lost condition. Third, by having had revealed to me the suitability and sufficiency of Christ to meet my desperate case and by a divinely given faith causing me to lay hold of and rest upon Him as my only hope. Fourth, by the marks of the new nature within me - a love for God; an appetite for spiritual things; a longing for holiness; a seeking after conformity to Christ. Fifth, by the resistance which the new nature makes to the old, causing me to hate sin and loathe myself for it. Sixth, by avoiding everything which is condemned by God’s Word and by sincerely repenting of and humbly confessing every transgression. Failure at this point will surely bring a dark cloud over our assurance causing the Spirit to withhold His witness. Seventh, by giving all diligence to cultivate the Christian graces and using all diligence to this end. Thus the knowledge of election is cumulative.

'Cause it's funny, that's why...

Evangelizing Your Kids

Pulpit Magazine did a two part series this week on Evangelizing Children. You can find it here: Part 1; Part 2. Here is an excerpt dealing with the necessity of setting a consistent example.

Evangelizing children consists not simply of verbalizing the gospel with one’s mouth, but also of exemplifying it in one’s life. As parents explain the truths of God’s Word, children have the unique opportunity to observe their lives up close and to see whether they seriously believe what they are teaching. When parents are faithful not only to proclaim, but also to live out the gospel, the impact is profound.

Because marriage is a picture of Christ’s relationship with the church (Eph. 5:22–33), the relationship between the parents as husband and wife is particularly significant. In fact, aside from the parents’ fundamental commitment to Christ, the single most important foundation for successful parenting is a healthy, Christ-centered marriage. Setting a consistent example of godliness is indispensable.

Once again, notice the premium importance placed upon marriage as a model of Christ and the Church ordained by God for unbelievers to observe, including your kids. Maybe this can help us with that great privilege and challenge.

Shuffling toward extinction...

Malcom Muggeridge:

. . . [I]t has become abundantly clear in the second half of the twentieth century that Western Man has decided to abolish himself. Having wearied of the struggle to be himself, he has created

his own boredom out of his own affluence,

his own impotence out of his own erotomania,

his own vulnerability out of his own strength;

himself blowing the trumpet that brings the walls of his own city tumbling down, and, in a process of auto-genocide, convincing himself that he is too numerous, and labouring accordingly with pill and scalpel and syringe to make himself fewer in order to be an easier prey for his enemies; until at last, having educated himself into imbecility, and polluted and drugged himself into stupefaction, he keels over a weary, battered old brontosaurus and becomes extinct.

Malcome Muggeride, from his essay “Jesus: The Man Who Lives,” in Seeing Through the Eye: Malcolm Muggeridge on Faith, ed. Cecil Kuhne (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2005), 16.

HT: Justin

Free Will (16)

Tuesday is for TULIP. R.L. Dabney on Adam’s will and ours.

How a holy will could come to have an unholy volition at first, is a most difficult inquiry. And it is much harder as to the first sin of Satan, than of Adam, because the angel, created perfect, had no tempter to mislead him and had not even the bodily appetites for natural good which in Adam were so easily perverted into concupiscence. Concupiscence cannot be supposed to have been the cause, pre-existing before sin; because concupiscence is sin, and needs itself to be accounted for in a holy heart. Man’s, or Satan’s, mutability cannot be the efficient cause, being only a condition sine qua non. Nor is it any solution to say with Turrettin, the proper cause was a free will perverted voluntarily. Truly; but how came a right will to pervert itself while yet right? And here, let me say, is far the most plausible objection against the certainty of the will, which Arminians, &c., might urge far more cunningly than (to my surprise) they do. If the evil dispositions of a fallen sinner so determine his volitions as to ensure that he will not choose spiritual good, why did not the holy dispositions of Adam and Satan ensure that they would never have a volition spiritually evil? And if they somehow chose sin, contrary to their prevalent bent, why may not depraved man sometime choose good?

The mystery cannot be fully solved how the first evil choice could voluntarily arise in a holy soul; but we can clearly prove that it is no sound reasoning from the certainty of a depraved will to that of a holy finite will. First: a finite creature can only be indefectible through the perpetual indwelling and superintendence of infinite wisdom and grace, guarding the finite and fallible attention of the soul against sin. This was righteously withheld from Satan and Adam. Second: while righteousness is a positive attribute, incipient sin is a privative trait of human conduct. The mere absence of an element of active regard for God’s will, constitutes a disposition or volition wrong. Now, while the positive requires a positive cause, it is not therefore inferable that the negative equally demands a positive cause. To make a candle burn, it must be lighted; to make it go out, it need only be let alone. The most probable account of the way sin entered a holy breast first, is this: An object was apprehended as in its mere nature desirable; not yet as unlawful. So far there is no sin. But as the soul, finite and fallible in its attention, permitted an overweening apprehension and desire of its natural adaptation to confer pleasure, to override the feeling of its unlawfulness, concupiscence was developed. And the element which first caused the mere innocent sense of the natural goodness of the object to pass into evil concupiscence, was privative, viz., the failure to consider and prefer God’s will as the superior good to mere natural good. Thus natural desire passed into sinful selfishness, which is the root of all evil. So that we have only the privative element to account for. When we assert the certainty of ungodly choice in an evil will, we only assert that a state of volition whose moral quality is a defect, a negation, cannot become the cause of a positive righteousness. When we assert the mutability of a holy will in a finite creature, we only say that the positive element of righteousness of disposition may, in the shape of defect, admit the negative, not being infinite. So that the cases are not parallel: and the result, though mysterious, is not impossible. To make a candle positively give light, it must be lighted; to cause it to sink into darkness, it is only necessary to let it alone: its length being limited, it burns out.

Why principled conflict is good for a church.

“When Christians avoid principled conflict on things that matter because of fear of disunity and division, they cripple the church in three ways. First, Scripture commands that we guard the truth within our ranks; where arguments are few, error abounds. Second, believers are denied the opportunity to learn how to argue among themselves in a fair, reasonable, and gracious way. Third, the outcome for fight-phobic churches is not genuine oneness, but a contrived unanimity, a shallow and artificial peace.” Greg Koukl, Tactics (pp.40-41)

Question: what matters? Doctrine? Which ones? Doctrine lived out? What matters?