Full Circle

I had blogged on June 21 about a lesson that I was learning. It came full circle this week, as the man I had written about has trusted Christ as his Savior. We've had good discussions about the Gospel, justification by faith compared to his previous catholic checklist system, and other biblical themes. He's been devouring Romans (with some help from Douglas Moo's excellent Encountering the Book of Romans . I actually shared with him yesterday what God had taught me about trusting in Him through the last month in regard to this issue.

I had a great time preaching through Romans 9 last week. It is a hard chapter, and the fact that we are an independent (non-denominational) church means that we have no "party line" in the area of Reformed theology. Some agree, some disagree, hopefully all found themselves appreciative of God's immeasurable goodness to us in Christ.

I had linked to a couple of sites a few months ago that provided good quality, free pictures for use in Powerpoint. Here's another one that I found. I thought it was pretty impressive and seems to have a good store of photos.

I finished what I felt was a helpful series on The Da Vinci code challenges. While the impact of the movie was overhyped, I was glad for the opportunity to discuss some theology and church history with our adults.

Among the many superb giveaways at the Together for the Gospel conference was a DVD by John Piper on William Tyndale. Available for $7, this 80 minute lecture was superb. We showed it over two weeks to our adults in Sunday School to a good response. In the last 9 months I've tried to expose our people to some significant areas of church history (a series on the Reformation themes, etc.) and as one older saint told me, "We've never heard some of this before." That is both tragic and encouraging! I'd highly recommend the DVD. The printed copy of the lecture (apparently abridged in some ways) is available free.

A Minister's Preaching

From The Valley of Vision, Banner of Truth, page 191:

A Minister’s Preaching

My Master God,
I am desired to preach today,
but go weak and needy to my task;
Yet I long that people might be edified with divine truth,
that an honest testimony might be borne for thee;
Give me assistance in preaching and prayer,
with heart uplifted for grace and unction.
Present to my view things pertaining to my subject,
with fullness of matter and clarity of thought,
proper expressions, fluency, fervency,
a feeling sense of the things I preach,
and grace to apply them to men’s consciences.
Keep me conscious all the while of my defects,
and let me not gloat in pride over my performance.
Help me to offer a testimony for thyself,
and to leave sinners inexcusable in neglecting thy mercy.
Give me freedom to open the sorrows of thy people,
and set before them comforting considerations.
Attend with power the truth preached.
and awaken the attention of my slothful audience.
May thy people be refreshed, melted, convicted, comforted,
and help me to use the strongest arguments
drawn from Christ’s incarnation and sufferings,
that men might be made holy.

I myself need thy support, comfort, strength, holiness,
that I might be a pure channel of thy grace,
and be able to do something for thee;
Give me then refreshment among thy people,
and help me not to treat excellent matter in a defective way,
or bear a broken testimony to so worthy a redeemer,
or be harsh in treating of Christ’s death, its design and end,
from lack of warmth and fervency.
And keep me in tune with thee as I do this work.

A Minister's Prayer

I read this yesterday in The Valley of Vision, published by the Banner of Truth Trust. I hope it will encourage you.

A Minister’s Prayer

O my Lord,
Let not my ministry be approved only by men,
or merely win the esteem and affections of people;
But do the work of grace in their hearts,
call in thy elect,
seal and edify the regenerate ones,
and command eternal blessings on their souls.
Save me from self-opinion and self-seeking;
Water the hearts of those who hear thy Word.
that seed sown in weakness may be raised in power;
Cause me and those that hear me
to behold thee here in the light of special faith,
and hereafter in the blaze of endless glory;
Make every sermon a means of grace to myself,
and help me to experience the power of thy dying love,
for thy blood is balm,
thy presence bliss,
thy smile heaven,
thy cross the place where truth and mercy meet.
Look upon the doubts and discouragement of my ministry
and keep me from self-importance;
I beg pardon for my man sins, omissions, infirmities,
as a man, as a minister;
Command thy blessing on my weak, unworthy labors,
and on the message of salvation given;
Stay with thy people,
and may thy presence be their portion and mine.
When I preach to others, let not my words be merely elegant and
masterly,
my reasoning polished and refined,
my performance powerless and tasteless,
but may I exalt thee and humble sinners.
O Lord of power and grace,
all hearts are in thy hands, all events at thy disposal,
set the seal of thy almighty will upon my ministry.

I Stand Rebuked - Gratefully

I've done enough funeral services and weddings over the years to know that the Gospel is most often met with a yawn and polite indifference than glad acceptance. Being told that you are sinful, that you stand in a place of impending judgment before a holy God, and that nothing you can do in-and-of yourself makes a bit of difference does not go down well. I'm sure that is what has led to the efforts by some to repackage the message in less offensive ways. But the reality is that even when the cold, hard facts are presented with sweetness (and they should always be presented with love and grace) they are still cold, hard facts. And most of the world ain't buying.

Praying for the sermon I am going to be delivering is a regular part of my prayer life. I regularly remind myself that no matter how gripping my introduction, no matter how insightful my thoughts, and no matter how convincing my argument, it all falls apart without the work of the Spirit. And I gladly admit that - I don't want to be responsible for trying to change the hearts and minds of people. Certainly I play a part - as is true of any pastor and teacher - but God's work through His Word is what ultimately makes the difference.

Typically on Sunday mornings I take some moments before the service and again before the sermon to confess my own inadequacy and ask God for His empowering. But this past week I found myself being a bit faithless, and the lesson learned is worth sharing.

A younger couple visited us on Sunday morning for the first time. I was on my way to the front of the auditorium immediately before the service began and greeted them. The husband told me that they were looking for a church and had heard good things about ours. Afterwards, I saw them talking to a family in our church and came to find out that one of our teenage girls had extended an invitation to attend to this man, who was one of her high school teachers. (Bravo for her, by the way!)

I preached from Romans 8:18-25 on Sunday: Future Glory and Present Pain. I explained the Gospel, talked about our future resurrection, spoke about heaven, and felt that from my standpoint I had done a decent job of explaining and applying the text. But as I saw this couple leaving, I thought to myself that they probably wouldn't be coming back. I saw nothing in our service or in my sermon that would be attractive to people who, if they typical middle-class unchurched folks, were probably looking for more than biblical exposition.

For some reason this stayed with me and on Monday morning I felt a sense of rebuke. I was making an assumption not only about these people, but about the power of God to minister to them. We do have people who visit us and it is clear sometimes from their reactions that we're "not for them" (by their standards). But that's not a guarantee. While the road is narrow and there are few that find it, there are still those few, and in my quick response I had dismissed the very thing for which I pray each week.

It was a good reminder to me, and I determined that no matter what the outward response was, I still needed to trust in God's power. But my lesson-learning was not complete.

On Tuesday morning the man who had visited called our office and asked if he could stop by and pick up a copy of the book we had given out for Father's Day (Jerry Bridges' Transforming Grace). Marilyn, our secretary, told me about the call. I was somewhat surprised, as I had offered him a book at the end of the service and he had declined. He would be coming by at a time when I was out for a lunch appointment, but I was grateful that he was coming by.

When I returned from lunch, Marilyn told me that not only had he stopped by to get the book, but he was extremely positive and almost excited about the service, and in particular the fact that I taught from the Bible for 35 minutes. He gave Marilyn his name and address (I wrote him a letter thanking him for his visit and sharing some information about our church) and made it quite clear that he intended to come back.

So take that, Peter.

The passage I'll preach from this week includes that great chain of salvation's process, beginning with being foreknown and ending with being glorified. I'm praying that this couple comes to know Christ as their Savior. If God should have us be a part in that, I hope I get to baptize them. I might tell them - and our church - the lesson I learned about a sovereign God who, without telling me first, works in the hearts of people.

The application goes beyond just visitors and lost people, though. The same thing is true as we minister to our flock. Change and growth are invisible in the short-term. Only God knows what is going on inside the hearts of people when we preach. So let's continue to do our job of study and preparation, and let's continue to confess our own inability to change people. But let's remember that God has promised to honor His word. That came home very vividly to me despite my unbelief.

Monday Discoveries on Friday

Except it is Friday. Grrr to Blogger. I had a post with a pile of links and tried to "publish post" the other day and was given an error message. Nothing could be recovered. Oh well.

Do you use Powerpoint in your preaching and/or teaching? Indezine will give you about 300 free templates for your use, and Stock.xchng will give you free pictures to use as backgrounds. I use and recommend both. If you want to pay $99 per year, there are some excellent powerpoint templates at PresentationPro. Imagebank is another free photo source.

Monergism.com has links to a series of Adobe pdf sermons on Romans by Presbyterian pastor Tom Browning. You can also find mp3's of the sermons there too.

Check out the New Testament Hyperconcordance.

Recommended books for pastors? Check here. Make sure you read the article "Why Pastors Need Church History."

I love my iPod (a gracious gift from my brother). In addition to a multitude of music and an avalanche of audiobooks, I have a plethora of preaching. Old Truth has a post on How to Buy and Reform your MP3 Player. 9Marks interviews are all availablef for free download.

Speaking of 9Marks, founder Mark Dever had a superb post on the importance of gender roles at the TogetherfortheGospel blog.

Superblogger Tim Challies has a good post on reading that would be worth looking at. So many books and so little time. Tim's article will be helpful.

Love the guys at Fide-O. Here's one about expository preaching and the contention that it is harmful. Hello? Thanks for barking, guys!

Here's a problem that is becoming more and more prevalent. I was joking with our Associate Pastor, Ron Smith, the other day about going back to the old legalistic approach that if you don't come to church, you can't go to heaven.

Brad Hightower at 21st Century Reformation has a nice article on Discipleship.

Want to be encouraged? Read the article, Backdraft Preaching. I emailed this to the author: If I read nothing but "I feel like charred wood on cold ashes. But I don't worry about it. I know God will open the doors again, let the wind rush in", I would have been encouraged. I hope the same is true for you. Thanks to my friend Pastor Glenn Jago for the recommendation.

Wednesday Stuff: T4G

I would like to say I am somewhat amazed at the controversy this statement has caused. I was particularly struck by the words of David Warnock in his post in which he takes issue with the statement:

But it reinforces my views about how inappropriate the whole statement is. You cannot redefine the gospel to be the things that four friends agree on, ignoring the areas where you disagree and then tell everyone else that these things are now foundational requirements to be faithful to the gospel. This starts to move in the direction of the heresy of changing the canon, of deciding that the Bible should not include certain books because you can't agree on them.

I doubt seriously if the T4G folks seriously intended to write a new doctrinal statement for Christians. What it seems to be instead is to do what the conference itself did - issue a call back to the foundations on which historical, orthodox Christianity has stood for centuries. Personally, I rejoiced to read it. Reading my posts of two weeks ago will indicate why. The T4G statement focuses largely on doctrinal and practical issues that have been attacked or compromised in our day. By the response at the conference, there were 2800 church leaders who were glad to see it, and I suspect thousands more who are weary of the shifting doctrinal sands that exist within "evangelicalism" today.

I agree wholeheartedly with Adrian Warnock (no relation to David, if I am not mistaken), who wrote:

What keeps the gospel safe? I would argue two things predominantly- firstly an appropriate humble attitude to the bible itself, and secondly the presence within the church of men like Mahaney, Dever, Mohler and Duncan and many others today who preserve the apostolic foundation of doctrine through their teaching and direction of their own churches and those in relationship with them.

It would be of value to note Mark Dever's posting on today's T4G blog on the issue of complementarianism. While taking on a tough issue, he nevertheless (and I think correctly) identifies the problems that this generation faces.

- - -

Why address the DaVinci Code? It appears that once again the Christian media has jumped all over the bandwagon. Books, videos, study materials are appearing almost daily. But this time I think there is good reason.

I'm not so much interested in countering the claims of a novel. That serves no good purpose. Rather I feel it is an opportunity to teach our people some things that they might not know. I saw a video clip by Josh McDowell in which he said that the issues of the DaVinci Code are not answerable by Scripture, but by Church history. I am sure he did not mean that in the absolute sense. But I think he is right in the main. So taking the time to teach our people about things such as the formation of the canon, the Council of Nicea and Gnosticism can have a productive, faith-building/affirming result.

I was thinking of doing a parody called the Kinkade Code, but someone beat me to it (thanks to Tim Challies for the heads up).

- - -

One of the benefits I received from the T4G conference was being introduced to some wonderful cross-centered hymns. I had not heard The Gospel Song, I Will Glory in My Redeemer, or How Deep the Father's Love for Us. We've already introduced one of them to our people, and will introduce I Will Glory in My Redeemer this week, Lord willing.

The Evangelical Identity, Part 4

I would assert that there is a new liberalism that has invaded the traditional, historic, orthodox Christian faith. Like its predecessor a century go, it wants to be considered Christian even while denying or redefining the very essentials of that faith. And that cannot be allowed to happen.

There is no question that the split between theological liberals and conservatives in the early 1900’s led to some excess. We’re all familiar with those who have taken separation – and the basis for it – to excessive extremes. But the church I am part of – and I suspect the churches that many are a part of – were birthed out of a desire to remain faithful to orthodoxy and have done so without being, well, nutty. So it can be done. How it can be done, I’m not sure. But I look back eight years ago and see that men from diverse backgrounds drew their lines in the sand and God prospered the movement. Like the true Church, without a visible hierarchy, evangelicalism was able to be self-policing.

There are no doubt those who want to keep the evangelical pool very broad. It is evident that those who have denied belief in the essentials of the Christian faith, either explicitly or by redefinition, still consider themselves to be evangelicals. But they are not. Those men and women who fought the influx of liberalism in their denominations, churches and schools would not consider that departures from what the church has commonly regarded as orthodoxy should be tolerated. So why should I?

How judgmental! And how can one obscure pastor with a Bible college education dare to decide who is and is not evangelical? What give me the “right” to do that? Who do I think I am?

I am a shepherd charged with guarding my sheep. So I’ll do that in my own little corner. And my prayer is that there will be many, many, many more pastors who will recognize the problem and be willing to say, “This is an error. It is outside of the bounds of historic, orthodox Christian faith.” Brother pastors, we must do this, for the sake of the Gospel.

I began writing this because of some negative remarks I read about the Together for the Gospel Statement. Personally, I applaud it. I hope that it is a rallying point for those who want to be faithful to the Scriptures and to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I like what Ligon Duncan wrote shortly after the conference had concluded:

What do we want to see come out of this extraordinary international gathering of (predominantly young) pastors and churchmen?

We want to see a strong coalition of Bible-saturated, truth-driven, God-entranced, prayer-soaked, aggressively evangelistic, Christ-treasuring, Christ-exalting, Spirit-filled, sovereign grace-loving, missions-advancing, hell-robbing, strong-thinking, real-need-exposing, soul-winning, mind-engaging, vagueness-rejecting, wartime-life-style-pursuing, risk-taking, justice-advancing, Scripture-expounding, cross-cherishing, homosexuality-opposing, abortion-denouncing, racism-resisting, heaven-desiring, imputation-of-an-alien righteousness-proclaiming, justification-by-faith-alone-apart-from-doing preaching, error-exposing, complementarian, joyful, humble, courageous, happy pastors working together for the Gospel. (thanks to John Piper for much of this language)

And we want to see them leading a strong coalition of evangelical churches who, while they hold as faithfully and biblically as they know how to certain doctrinal distinctives not shared by all other biblical evangelical churches, band together for the Gospel on a robustly doctrinal, historic, orthodox, reformational, world-opposing-while-at-the-same-time-world-loving, Bible-preaching, Scriptural-theology-inculcating, real-conversion-prizing, deep biblical evangelism-practicing, New Testament church-membership-implementing, church-discipline-applying, healthy and growing Disciple-making, biblically led basis – for the display of God’s glory in the churches.