Burma Bound Again

Just making last minute preparations for my next trip to Asia. This time I’ll be ministering in Cambodia too. Usual stuff: bible colleges and local churches. Making disciples through teaching believers all that Jesus commanded is the greatest privilege. You don’t have to travel to do that, of course, but I feel particularly called to help those in the poorer and persecuted regions of the world. My travel companion this time is a friend of many years standing, Pastor Simon Robinson (my son-in-law’s boss!). “And much grace was upon them all” is my fervent prayer.

Back in a couple of weeks.

Saying What You Believe Is Clearer Than Saying “Calvinist”

From John Piper:

We are Christians. Radical, full-blooded, Bible-saturated, Christ-exalting, God-centered, mission-advancing, soul-winning, church-loving, holiness-pursing, sovereignty-savoring, grace-besotted, broken-hearted, happy followers of the omnipotent, crucified Christ. At least that’s our imperfect commitment.

In other words, we are Calvinists. But that label is not nearly as useful as telling people what you actually believe! So forget the label, if it helps, and tell them clearly, without evasion or ambiguity, what you believe about salvation.

If they say, “Are you a Calvinist?” say, “You decide. Here is what I believe . . .”

I believe I am so spiritually corrupt and prideful and rebellious that I would never have come to faith in Jesus without God’s merciful, sovereign victory over the last vestiges of my rebellion. (1 Corinthians 2:14; Ephesians 3:1–4; Romans 8:7).

I believe that God chose me to be his child before the foundation of the world, on the basis of nothing in me, foreknown or otherwise. (Ephesians 1:4–6; Acts 13:48;Romans 8:29–30; 11:5–7)

I believe Christ died as a substitute for sinners to provide a bona fide offer of salvation to all people, and that he had an invincible design in his death to obtain his chosen bride, namely, the assembly of all believers, whose names were eternally written in the book of life of the Lamb that was slain. (John 3:16; John 10:15; Ephesians 5:25;Revelation 13:8)

When I was dead in my trespasses, and blind to the beauty of Christ, God made me alive, opened the eyes of my heart, granted me to believe, and united me to Jesus, with all the benefits of forgiveness and justification and eternal life. (Ephesians 2:4–5; 2 Corinthians 4:6; Philippians 2:29; Ephesians 2:8–9; Acts 16:14; Ephesians 1:7;Philippians 3:9)

I am eternally secure not mainly because of anything I did in the past, but decisively because God is faithful to complete the work he began—to sustain my faith, and to keep me from apostasy, and to hold me back from sin that leads to death. (1 Corinthians 1:8–9; 1 Thessalonians 5:23–24; Philippians 1:6; 1 Peter 1:5; Jude 1:25;John 10:28–29; 1 John 5:16)

Call it what you will, this is my life. I believe it because I see it in the Bible. And because I have experienced it. Everlasting praise to the greatness of the glory of the grace of God!

What Is “Gospel-Centered”?

In his recent post “Living Gospel-Centered,” Tim Challies answers a question from a reader about the concept of being “Gospel-centered.”  Since that’s what we hope to be the central theme of this blog, I thought it would be important to pass this on to our readers.  Here’s an excerpt:

Gospel

The first thing we’ll need to do is define gospel. In our church we’ve got a handy little short-hand way of doing this, one that all the kids understand. I’m pretty sure you could go to just about any child in the church, ask “what is the gospel?” and hear this response: “Christ died for our sins and was raised.” When we talk about this during services, we accompany it with a little action. We begin with a closed fist held out in front of us and with each of the first five words we open one finger. “Christ…died…for…our…sins.” And then, with the open hand, we raise it up and say “and was raised.” And that’s the gospel. Of course the gospel can be as simple as those eight words or as complex as many volumes of theological text. But the essential gospel is right there—that Jesus Christ was put to death as an atoning sacrifice for our sins and was then raised back to life.

Gospel-Centered

Living a gospel-centered life is really simply living in such a way that this gospel is central. Thus when any kind of a situation arises we can say, “How does the gospel apply to this situation?” When I am dealing with a particular sin or temptation I can ask, “How can I apply the gospel to this sin?” When I am confused about parenting, how I am to raise my children, I can ask, “What does the gospel tell me about my task in parenting?” The primary reality of the Christian life is this one: Christ died for our sins and was raised. Thus everything else flows out of that gospel and every question is answered in reference to it.

I like how Joe Thorn phrases it: “The gospel-centered life is a life where a Christian experiences a growing personal reliance on the gospel that protects him from depending on his own religious performance and being seduced and overwhelmed by idols.”

(HT: Jimmy Davis)

God is at Work in the Ordinary

Encouraging words from John Frame:

It is important for us to recognize that God’s sovereign, controlling power appears, not only in spectacular displays like the miracles of Jesus, but also in events in which people perceive him as weak…Spectacular things are typically preparation for the ordinary things. But God is at work in the ordinary, as much as in the extraordinary. He often works behind the scenes, and he often does his most wonderful work through apparent defeats. (The Doctrine of God)

(HT: Daryll Dash)

The Real Scandal of the Evangelical Mind

A couple of important quotes (via Todd Pruitt) from Carl Truman’s forth coming book: The Real Scandal of the Evangelical Mind:

A movement that cannot or will not draw boundaries, or that allows the modern cultural fear of exclusion to set its theological agenda, is doomed to lose its doctrinal identity.

[When] conversation rather than content becomes what is truly important, something critical is lost. Thus, as theology becomes a “conversation,” traditional notions of truth face the danger of assuming less importance than mere aesthetics or modes of discourse. Indeed, doctrinal indifferentism can creep forward in a way that ends only with the sidelining or even repudiation of orthodoxy in any meaningful sense.

Jesus now defines us

“One of the most important things to remember in the Christian life is that we must always live in light of who God is, what Jesus has done, and what has happened to us as a result. Usually we tend to define ourselves by our successes or failures, our reputation, our sin, our intelligence, beauty, and abilities (or lack of them). Moreover, we often define other people by their weaknesses, failures, and sins. Hence we are quick to gossip and condemn others. The good news calls us to view ourselves and other Christians very differently. Jesus now defines who we are. Through Jesus’ work on the cross we have been declared perfect, blameless, and without fault. We have been forgiven and made right with God. We have become the dearly loved children of the living God, and nothing can separate us from his love.”

— Neil H. Williams
Living in Light of the Gospel Story
(Jenkintown, Pa.: World Harvest Mission, 2004), 25

(HT: Of First Importance)

Can we see Jesus better than the saints in the bible?

John Piper:

Jesus speaks of three ways of seeing himself, each better than the one before.

1. There were the people who saw him, the incarnate Son of God, and did not see the self-authenticating reality of his divine glory. They only saw a teacher or a prophet. “Seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand” (Matthew 13:13).
2. Then there were the prophets and righteous people in the Old Testament who did not see the incarnate form of the Son of God, but did see his divine glory. “Truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it” (Matthew 13:17).

   That is, they did not see the physical form of God’s glory in the incarnate Son. But they did see his glory. Some saw it only with the eyes of their hearts through the revelation of God in his word (1 Samuel 3:21). But others were granted to see his glory in a more direct way. “Isaiah he saw [Christ’s] glory and spoke of him” (John 12:41), referring to the vision of Isaiah 6:1–4.

3. Finally, there were those who saw both the incarnate physical body of the Son of God and, in him, the reality of the divine glory. “But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear” (Matthew 13:16). “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 16:17).

Where do we fit in? We fit between 2 and 3. We have the advantage over the “righteous people” in the Old Testament because we have the divinely inspired portrayal of the incarnate Son of God—his teaching and life and glorious work of redemption on the earth. This portrayal of his divine glory is something the saints of old longed to see but did not. But now we have it in our New Testament (1 Peter 1:10–12).

In this written portrayal of the incarnate Christ, we do see the divine glory of the Son of God. We see it in “the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4).

But we do not see the incarnate form of Jesus in the flesh, as the apostles did. We would like to. And Paul says that, in the absence of Christ physically, there is a seeing and a fellowship yet to come that will be better than the fellowship and the seeing we have now: “My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better” (Philippians 1:23).

Therefore, let us pray with Paul that “the eyes of our hearts be enlightened” (Ephesians 1:18), to see the self-authenticating divine glory of Christ in the biblical portrayal of his incarnate life and work. God forbid that Jesus’ words would be spoken over us: “Seeing they do not see.”

The Son substitues, the Spirit empowers

Obviously the Spirit did not die for our sins, but there are less obvious implications of this fact. The work that Jesus Christ does for us is a vicarious, substitutionary work: he steps into the place that we occupy and offers himself to God in our place. As a propitiation for sin, the incarnate Son replaces us and bears the wrath of God on our behalf.

The Spirit, on the other hand, does not substitute for us but empowers us. He does not take our place but puts us in our place. And in carrying out the great work of atonement, the Son completes the work once and for all in his death and resurrection, but the Holy Spirit takes that completed work and applies it to individual people.

— Fred Sanders The Deep Things of God: How the Trinity Changes Everything (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010), 140

(HT: Of First Importance)

God wants content discontent leaders

From Justin Buzzard:

God wants content discontent leaders.

God wants content leaders, leaders who are deeply happy in God. It’s hard to follow someone who is perpetually unhappy and pessimistic.

And, God wants discontent leaders, leaders who are deeply unhappy with the status quo and whose veins course with a passion to make things different.

Don’t overplay contentment. Every great leader is a content discontent leader.

How Responsible Are We When the World Rejects Our Message?

From John Piper:

It is a humble impulse to feel that our weak effect on people is our own fault. And it may often be true. There are character traits in speakers that God uses to overcome resistance in hearers (Acts 11:24; Matthew 5:16).

But we must not bear more than we should. Not all rejection of us and our message is our fault. The apostle John writes,

The reason why the world does not know us
is that it did not know him. (1 John 3:1)

John does not say: The reason the world does not know us is that we are hypocrites, or that our contextualization is inadequate.

He says: If the world rejected Jesus, the perfect manifestation of love, then there are times it will reject us, precisely because our message and manner are getting close to Christ’s.

Keep the humble reaction. But balance it with this truth, lest you despair and give up speaking.

Training in godliness vs. irreverent, silly myths

(HT: Justin Taylor)

Judgmentalism

My thanks to Andy Naselli for posting this excellent excerpt:

Judgmentalism

That’s the title of chapter 17 in Jerry Bridges. Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate. Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2007. 185 pp.

Introduction

The sin of judgmentalism is one of the most subtle of our “respectable” sins because it is often practiced under the guise of being zealous for what is right. It’s obvious that within our conservative evangelical circles there are myriads of opinions on everything from theology to conduct to lifestyle and politics. Not only are there multiple opinions but we usually assume our opinion is correct. That’s where our trouble with judgmentalism begins. We equate our opinions with truth. (p. 141)

Example 1: Dress

I grew up in the mid-twentieth century, when people dressed up to go to church. Men wore jackets and ties (usually suits and ties) and women wore dresses. Sometime in the 1970s, men began to show up at church wearing casual pants and open-collar shirts. Many women began to wear pants. For several years, I was judgmental toward them.Didn’t they have any reverence for God? Would they dress so casually if they were going to an audience with the president? That sounded pretty convincing to me.

Only I was wrong. There is nothing in the Bible that tells us what we ought to wear to church. And as for dressing up to meet the president, that’s a cultural thing centered in Washington, DC. If you were invited to meet the president while he is vacationing at his ranch, you would probably show up in blue jeans. Reverence for God, I finally concluded, is not a matter of dress; it’s a matter of the heart. Jesus said that true worshipers are those who worship the Father in spirit and truth (see John 4:23). Now, it’s true that casual dress may reflect a casual attitude toward God, but I cannot discern that. Therefore, I should avoid ascribing an attitude of irreverence based purely on a person’s dress. (pp. 141–42)

Example 2: Music

I also grew up in the era of the grand old hymns sung to the accompaniment of piano and organ. It was majestic. To me, it was reverent worship of God. Today, in many churches, the grand old hymns have been replaced by contemporary music, and the piano and organ with guitars and drums. Again, I was judgmental. How could people worship God with those instruments? But the New Testament churches had neither pianos nor organs, yet they managed to worship God in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs (see Colossians 3:16). I still have a preference for church music sung as we did when I was younger, but it’s just that—a preference—not a Bible-based conviction. It’s true that a lot of contemporary music is shallow and human-centered. But there is much that is as God-honoring and worshipful as our traditional hymns. So let’s avoid being judgmental. (p. 142)

Example 3: Alcohol

We have convictions that we elevate to biblical truth on a number of issues. I wrote somewhere that I had finally come to the conclusion that in most instances, the Bible teaches temperance not abstinence. I had to work through that issue also because again I found myself being judgmental when I would see Christians having a glass of wine at a restaurant. However, after I wrote what I did about temperance, I received a polite but firm letter from a dear lady who really took me to task. She was convinced I was selling out a foundation stone of Christian morals. I understand her concern, but she did not give me any evidence from Scripture. It was her personal conviction.

Please don’t get me wrong. I think because of the widespread abuse of alcohol in our society today there are some good reasons for practicing abstinence. And in another context I could make a strong argument for abstinence based on those concerns. But this chapter is about judgmentalism, and I’m just giving some first-person examples of how easy it is to become judgmental over issues the Bible does not address or address with the clarity we would like. (pp. 142—43)

Judgmentalism in Reverse

The apostle Paul faced this problem head-on in Romans 14. Apparently, there were two specific issues calculated to spawn judgmentalism in the church at Rome. One was vegetarianism versus an “eat whatever you want” mentality. The second issue was a matter of observing certain days as holy days. . . .

There are similar attitudes today. Contemporary music advocates may disdain those who prefer traditional music as simply old-fashioned and out of touch with the times. . . . They can be as judgmental in a reverse sort of way as those who hold out for the traditional hymns. The same is true with the issue of temperance versus abstinence. I have known of instances where those who regard the use of alcohol as a matter of Christian liberty, are contemptuous toward those who practice abstinence.

My point here is that it doesn’t matter which side of an issue we are on. It is easy to become judgmental toward anyone whose opinions are different from ours. And then we hide our judgmentalism under the cloak of Christian convictions.

Paul’s response to the situation in Rome was, “Stop judging one another regardless of which position you take.” . . .

What I’ve written to this point does not mean that we should never pass judgment on the practices and beliefs of others. When someone’s lifestyle or conduct is clearly out of line with the Scriptures, then we are right to say that the person is sinning. (pp. 144–46)

Holding Convictions with Humility

I suspect that some of my dearest friends may disagree with some things I’ve said in this chapter. Some do not see the manner of dress in church or the type of music we sing as matters of preference. For them, it is a conviction. I respect their thinking and wouldn’t want to change their convictions at all.

I’d like to be like Paul, who took a similar position regarding the divisive issues in Rome. He did not try to change anyone’s convictions regarding what they ate or the special days they observed. Instead, he said, “Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind” (Romans 14:5). Such a statement makes many of us uncomfortable. We don’t like ambiguity in issues of Christian practice. It’s difficult for us to accept that one person’s opinion can be different from ours and both of us be accepted by God. But that is what Paul says in Romans 14. And if we will take Paul seriously and hold our convictions with humility, it will help us avoid the sins of judgmentalism. (pp. 147–48)

Should the Church Work on Social and Political Problems?

John Piper:

Yes . . .

If you mean: Should ten million Christians take 10 hours a week spent watching TV, and give that time to worthy social and political engagement.

No . . .

If you mean: The pastors should leave their Bible study and pulpits and counseling and evangelism, and put that time into politics and social ministries.

Life in the Spirit – 2011

For my UK readers a quick reminder about the forthcoming Life in the Spirit leaders conference. There are still a few places left. If you are interested in the faithful and inspiring exposition of Scripture, and value the powerful dynamic of the Holy Spirit, plus the rich fellowship of others in Church leadership, then this is a conference not to be missed. Click here for details and booking information.

What are some of the most important things for a pastor-in-training to learn?

From 9Marks:

1. The Bible. A pastor’s first priority is to preach the Word (2 Tim. 4:2). A pastor-in-training’s first priority should be to study the Word.
2. Holiness. The primary qualifications for an elder are moral and spiritual (1 Tim. 3:2-7). A pastor is to shepherd his people by his own example (1 Pet. 5:3). Therefore a man pursuing the ministry must diligently seek after consistent, hard-fought holiness.
3. Humility. To shepherd God’s flock you must follow Jesus’ example in serving, rather than being served (Mk. 10:45). Humility must be a distinguishing mark of an under-shepherd of God’s sheep.
4. How to preach. Since preaching is the main work of a pastor, a pastor-in-training should seek every possible opportunity to preach. He should also solicit the criticism and advice of experienced pastors.
5. How to disciple. In order to be a pastor, a man should know how to personally instruct, encourage, counsel, comfort, and rebuke his fellow Christians. Not only that, but in order to even consider being a pastor he should have a track record of personally doing people spiritual good in these ways.
6. What the Bible says about the church. The apostle Paul says that when he came to Corinth, he laid a foundation like a skilled master builder (1 Cor. 3:10). In order to build wisely, a pastor must know what he’s building. Therefore a pastor-in-training must diligently study God’s own blueprints for the church which he’s given in his Word.
7. How to handle criticism, encouragement, and flattery. A pastor will receive all three. He needs to know how to humbly receive and profit from criticism, gratefully receive and profit from encouragement, and wisely deflect flattery.
8. Patience. Young men who are training for ministry don’t usually have an overabundance of patience. That’s a problem, because pastoral ministry requires it in spades. Pastors-in-training should pray for patience, cultivate patience, and learn from experienced pastors how to serve the same people day in and day out for decades.

Enthroned!

From Sam Storms’ - To the One Who Conquers: 50 Daily Meditations on the Seven Letters of Revelation 2-3 (Crossway)

(used with permission)

Chapter 50 – Enthroned!

(Revelation 3:21-22)

“The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne,

as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches”

No matter how many times I read this promise, I struggle to believe it. That’s not because I doubt its inspiration or accuracy. Jesus meant what he said and I embrace it. But to think of myself enthroned with Christ is simply more than I can fathom. Others of you may have a better grip on this than I do, but it strikes me as so utterly outlandish, not to mention presumptuous and prideful, that I blink at the words and have to pause simply to catch my breath.

This may be one of the reasons why Jesus concludes this letter, as he does each of the other six, with the exhortation to “hear” what he is saying to us through the Spirit. In other words, knowing the effect that such statements would have, as well as knowing our tendency toward incredulity, he had to go out of his way in every letter to reinforce the urgency of what he commands as well as the reality of what he promises.

It’s as if he takes hold of my shoulders, shaking me firmly but lovingly, and says, “Sam, did you hear what I just said? Read it again. Hear it again. Turn it over in your mind, again. Don’t resist the Spirit’s work of imprinting this indelibly on your soul. If you overcome the temptation to capitulate to the world’s invitation, if you resist the allure of lukewarm religiosity and invite me in to that spiritual room of greatest intimacy (Rev. 3:20), you will sit down with me on my throne!”

Perhaps this promise would rest more easily in my heart if it weren’t for the fact that Revelation 4-5 follow immediately on this concluding letter to the church at Laodicea. You see, when I pause to reflect on what Christ meant when he referred to his “throne”, a throne on which his people, together with him, will sit, I can’t help but be drawn into the majestic scene that follows in the subsequent two chapters.

What we see and hear and feel in Revelation 4-5 is the pinnacle of biblical revelation. There simply is no greater, more majestic, or breathtaking scene than that of the risen Lamb sitting on the throne, surrounded by adoring angels and odd creatures, with ear-popping peals of thunder and blinding bolts of lightning.

If my earlier discomfort was due to the seeming impropriety of sinners sitting on that throne, nothing is more proper or fitting or apropos than that Jesus should be there. Nothing makes more sense than that he should be the focus of all creation, whether of Elders falling down, mesmerized by his beauty, or strange animals singing endlessly of his holiness. He belongs on the throne! He alone is God! He has died and redeemed men and women from every tribe and tongue and people and nation!

By all means, let us sing:

“Crown Him with many crowns, the Lamb upon His throne.

Hark! How the heavenly anthem drowns all music but its own.

Awake, my soul, and sing, of Him who died for thee,

And hail Him as thy matchless King through all eternity.”

Were ever more fitting words found on human lips? Yet again, we sing:

“Crown Him the Lord of Heaven, enthroned in worlds above,

Crown Him the King to Whom is given the wondrous name of Love.

Crown Him with many crowns, as thrones before Him fall;

Crown Him, ye kings, with many crowns, for He is King of all.”

Yes, he is the Lord of Heaven (and earth) and is rightly “enthroned in worlds above.” But what, for heaven’s sake (if I may be permitted to use such words), are we doing there? There’s more!

“Crown Him the Lord of lords, who over all doth reign,

Who once on earth, the incarnate Word, for ransomed sinners slain,

Now lives in realms of light, where saints with angels sing,

Their songs before Him day and night, their God, Redeemer, King.”

And what, for heaven’s sake(!), will the twenty-four Elders think? What will be the reaction of the four living creatures, not to mention the myriads of angelic beings who surround the throne, pouring forth wave upon wave of endless praise? Will they not be shocked and scandalized to see sinners there? I would be! One more time, we rightly sing:

“Crown Him the Lord of years, the Potentate of time,

Creator of the rolling spheres, ineffably sublime.

All hail, Redeemer, hail! For Thou has died for me;

Thy praise and glory shall not fail throughout eternity.”[1]

We must be very careful and theologically fastidious on this point. We are not enthroned with Christ because we are Christ, as if salvation entails the merging of our being with his in such a way that he is less than the Creator or that we are more than creatures. Our union with him is vital and glorious but he is always the one and only living Lord and we are redeemed sinners who depend on him not only now but for all eternity.

We are not enthroned with him because we will have been deified, as if we will have left behind our humanity and been transformed into divinity. We will forever be monotheists, affirming and worshiping only One God who lives eternally as Father, Son, and Spirit. We are not enthroned because we are God but because he is! Although we will be “made like him” (1 John 3:2; Phil. 3:21), gloriously devoid of all sinful impulses, our presence on his throne is a gift, not a right. We are there not by nature or deed but by grace alone, having been made co-heirs by him who alone is worthy of worship.

Having said all that, I’m still a bit incredulous when it comes to this promise in Revelation 3:21-22 (cf. Rev. 2:26-27). But at least I know why I’m enthroned with him, and why not. I’m there because he died for me and poured out the love of God into my heart through Spirit who was given to me (Romans 5:5). I’m there because of mercy, not merit. I’m there to share his rule, not usurp it. I’m there to exercise an authority that is rightfully his and derivatively mine.

I don’t expect ever fully to understand what this promise means or entails. Its shape is still uncertain to me. What it will feel like is yet foreign. Its plausibility confronts me like an insurmountable mountain peak. That Christ Jesus should ever make room within his reign for a scurrilous sinner like me is no doubt a theme that will occupy my thoughts and inquiries for all eternity. As for now, I don’t know what else to say but, “Thank you, Lord!”

---

[1] George J. Elvey, “Crown Him with many Crowns.”

Perhaps the Most Staggering Promise in the Bible

John Piper:

What does Jesus mean when he says to the church in Laodicea, “The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne” (Revelation 3:21)?

Sit with Jesus on his throne? Really?

This is a promise to everyone who conquers, that is, who presses on in faith to the end (1 John 5:4), in spite of every threatening pain and luring pleasure. So, if you are a believer in Jesus, you will sit on the throne of the Son of God who sits on the throne of God the Father.

I take “throne of God” to signify the right and authority to rule the universe. So Jesus promises us a share in the rule of all things.

Is this what Paul has in mind in Ephesians 1:22–23? “And he put all things under Christ’s feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”

We, the church, are the “fullness of him who fills all.” I take this to mean that the universe will be filled with the glory of the Lord (Number 14:21). And one dimension of that glory will be the complete and unopposed extension of his rule everywhere.

Therefore, Ephesians 1:23 would mean: Jesus fills the universe with his own glorious rulethrough us. We are the fullness of his rule. We rule on his behalf. In that sense, we sit with him on his throne.

None of us feels this as we should. It is too much. That is why Paul prays for God’s help: “I pray that the Father of glory enlighten the eyes of your heart, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you” (Ephesians 1:18).

Without omnipotent help now, we cannot feel the wonder of what we are to become. But if we are granted to feel it as it is, all our emotional reactions to this world will change.

Pastoral Ministry is a Life, Not a Technology

From Jared Wilson:

Evangelicalism suffers under the leadership of those who treat ministry like a technology and church like a business.

The Church does not need brilliant personalities but faithful servants of Jesus and the brethren . . . Pastoral authority can be attained only by the servant of Jesus who seeks no power of his own, who himself is a brother among brothers to the authority of the Word.

– Dietrich Bonhoeffer

I discovered the spending a day reading thrity pages of Karl Barth’sDogmatics helped me more in my pastoral work than a hundred of pages of how-to literature.

In my church history reading I ran into a biography of a pastor, The Life of Alexander Whyte; a personal narrative of a pastor, The Letters of Samuel Rutherford; and a fictional account of a pastor, Father Zossima in Feodor Dostyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov . . .

These books helped me a lot. But I didn’t know why stories about pastors who lived centuries ago could help me so much. I thought I was supposed to be a modern pastor, relevant to the world around me; and these books were from different worlds. But as I read these stories I felt myself caught up in the protagonists’ struggles to follow Jesus Christ in their daily lives.

These narratives pointed me to the fact that pastoral ministry is a life, not a technology. How-to books treat pastoral ministry like a technology. That’s fine on one level — pastoral ministry does require certain skills, and I need all the advice I can get. But my life as a pastor is far more than the sum of the tasks I carry out. It is a call from God that involves my whole life. The stories I read helped me to understand my life comprehensively. My life, too, is a story, and it is the narrative quality of my life that makes my ministry happen. Others see and participate in the story as it is told. I have discovered that when I follow Jesus in my everyday life as a pastor, people meet Jesus through my life.

– David Hansen, The Art of Pastoring

Most churches make the mistake of selecting as leaders the confident, the competent, and the successful. But what you most need in a leader is someone who has been broken by the knowledge of his or her sin, and even greater knowledge of Jesus’ costly grace. The number one leaders in every church ought to be the people who repent the most fully without excuses, because you don’t need any now; the most easily without bitterness; the most publicly and the most joyfully. They know their standing isn’t based on their performance.

– Tim Keller

In that place and on that day

Even as we slog through the trials, persecutions, irritations, temptations, distractions, apathy, and just plain weariness of this world, the gospel points us to heaven where our King Jesus — the Lamb of God who was crucified in our place and raised gloriously from the dead — now sits interceding for us. Not only so, but it calls us forward to that final day when heaven will be filled with the roaring noise of millions upon millions of forgiven voices hailing him as crucified Savior and risenKing.

— Greg Gilbert What is the Gospel? (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 2010), 121

(HT: Of First Importance)

Moses – a model for pastoral authority?

Jeramie Rinne on “The Moses Model” of Pastoral Authority:

I call it the “Moses Model.” It’s a view of church governance that grants complete authority to a church’s pastor. A Christian brother explained it to me this way: “The pastor is supposed to be like Moses. He goes into the tent to hear from God. He then comes out and proclaims what God told him. The elders say ‘Amen’ and the people follow.”

Though they might not appeal to Moses directly, many pastors follow a similar model of pastoral authority. They sometimes point out the efficiencies of the pastor as singular, decision-making executive, or the horror stories of churches where radical congregationalism and a rebellious spirit against any leadership has produced numerous divisions and years of unfruitfulness.

Despite such pragmatic considerations and tragic anecdotes, the Moses model faces several major biblical obstacles. Most glaringly, the New Testament (NT) simply does not portray Moses and his relationship to Israel as the paradigm for pastors and church organization. Moses’ name occurs over 80 times in the NT, primarily in reference to his role in giving the Law, though in other contexts as well (like his appearance at the transfiguration). In none of these texts is he put forward as the pattern of church government or pastoral authority.

Although the NT doesn’t compare pastors to Moses, it does compare Jesus to Moses. Jesus repeatedly claimed that Moses wrote about him (for example, Luke 24:27,44; John 5:46; see also Acts 28:23). Furthermore, the NT writers portrayed Jesus as superior to Moses (for example John 1:45; 6:32; Acts 13:39; 2 Corinthians 3:7f; Hebrews 3:2-5; 8:5f; 9:19f). Moses’ writings and role as mediator of the Old Covenant foreshadowed the coming of Jesus as the mediator of a better covenant.

Jesus is the one who comes forth from God’s presence to speak authoritatively to the church. A pastor’s job is not to stand in the place Jesus, but to faithfully proclaim the message and gospel of Jesus. Interestingly, when Paul warned Timothy about rebellious false teachers, he compared them to the rebellious Israelites opposing Moses. But in the comparison, Moses doesn’t represent the pastors; Moses represents the truth of the gospel itself: “Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth” (2 Timothy 3:8). Pastors only bear biblical authority insofar as they stick to the truth of the gospel and urge the church to follow God’s Word.

But there are other problems for the Moses Model. The terms “pastor/shepherd,” “elder” and “bishop” are used interchangeably in the NT to refer to the same office (for example Acts 20:17,28 and 1 Peter 5:1-4; compare 1 Timothy 3:1 and Titus 1:5). The idea of a pastor speaking and the elders saying “Amen” doesn’t work because the pastor is an elder and the elders are pastors.

Furthermore, the texts above depict a plurality of pastors/elders in a local church. The pastor can’t be Moses, because there shouldn’t be one leader ruling the others. God intends church leadership to be shared and communal in nature.

Finally, the Moses Model cannot account for the numerous texts that speak of the congregation’s authority and the accountability of leaders to them (for example Matthew 18:15-20; Acts 6:1-6; 1 Corinthians 5; 1 Timothy 5:19-22). Jesus gave the keys of the kingdom both to the church’s leader, Peter, as well as to the whole congregation (compare Matthew 16:17-20 with 18:18). Ultimately the whole church stands accountable before God for its actions, as is clear from Jesus’ letters to the seven churches in Revelation.

Can congregationalism be abused? Of course it can. But so can pastoral authority! Experiences of sinful abuses on either side should not keep us from seeking God’s good plan for church order, which appears to be a kind of pastor/elder-led congregationalism, marked by mutual accountability. But even before working out the details of this sort of polity, the church must begin with all its members and leaders submitting themselves and saying “Amen” to the only Moses of the church: the Lord Jesus Christ.