The Sovereignty of God and the Possible

I don’t know how people pray who don’t believe in the sovereignty of God to do the impossible. Because all the things I want to happen are impossible. If they’re possible I’ll do them.

Pastor John Piper

http://jamsco.wordpress.com/2013/12/18/john-piper-good-quotes-part-6/

Creeds and Confessions - Quotations

At the New England Reformed Fellowship’s annual Bolton Conference (held Oct. 25-26, 2013) Carl Trueman spoke on the topic the role of creeds and confessions in the church.  Here is some of what he had to say:

“Scripture is the norming norm, creeds are the normed norm.” Scripture is always our ultimate authority – but we can still say that creeds are a church’s normative doctrines and practices, because they were created from Scripture. In that sense, creeds have authority.

“If you don’t write your creeds, no one can critique them. Creeds strip us of magisterial authority.” Despite common misconceptions, creeds actually dis-empower pastors from a form of papal authority. Creeds lay out the church’s stances on scripture and a.) Let everyone search the scriptures and evaluate the pastor’s stance and b.) Keep the pastor from imposing personal preferences (Don’t smoke, or chew, or run with those who do, etc.) Saying “No creed but the Bible” makes the pastor king of interpretation.

“Notice – no creed has the words ‘we just’” Trueman was taking a jab at the lack of thought we often put into our prayers – the words “we just” don’t make their way into a thought through confession, nor someone who is praying with depth of belief based on rich tradition.

“We all operate from a tradition, whether we acknowledge it or not. Some write it down, others don’t.” Every pastor I’ve ever known who is against creeds uses an English Bible – which means their beliefs are founded on a lexical, textual tradition. They would also take issue with other faiths who claim the Bible as creed, like Mormons or Muslims. The difference is, some of us make this tradition clear by writing it out, and others don’t.

Carl R Trueman is Departmental Chair of Church History at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. He has an MA in Classics from the University of Cambridge and a PhD in Church History from the University of Aberdeen. He is editor of the IFES journal, Themelios, and has taught on the faculties of theology at both the University of Nottingham and the University of Aberdeen.

Excerpted from http://scribblepreach.com/2013/10/29/carl-truemans-top-10-quotes-on-creeds-and-confessions/

The Importance of Expositional Preaching.

Subtitle: Why Are Some Churches Spiritually Ill?  Maybe it’s the Food….

By food, I mean the analogy used in scripture indicating the Word of God.   Perhaps some spiritual illness we see today can be traced to the pulpit or to the congregational ambivalence towards the preached Word.  An antidote to spiritual illness in a church is most always connected to worship and the faithful exposition of the Word of God.

However, there seems to be a tendency in some churches to avoid expositional preaching.  By expositional preaching I mean that preaching which begins with the preachers determination to present, explain, and apply the text of the Bible to his congregation. 

As Dr. Al Mohler has stated, “expository preaching begins with the text and works from the text to apply its truth to the lives of believers. If this determination and this commitment are not clear at the outset, something other than expository preaching will result. The preacher rises in the pulpit to accomplish one central purpose: to set forth the message and meaning of the biblical text….Once the meaning of the text is set forth, the preacher moves to application. Application of biblical truth is a necessary task of expository preaching.”

T. H. L. Parker (Professor Emeritus at Oxford, U.K.) describes preaching like this: “Expository preaching consists in the explanation and application of a passage of Scripture. Without explanation it is not expository; without application it is not preaching.”

The Q & A portion of the 9Marks website outlines expositional preaching this way:

An expositional sermon is a sermon that takes the main point of a passage of Scripture, makes it the main point of the sermon, and applies it to life today.

In other words, an expositional sermon exposes the meaning of a passage of Scripture and shows its relevance to the lives of one’s hearers. That’s it.

This means that an expositional sermon does NOT

1.     Need to focus on just a verse or two.

2.     Need to present complex exegetical arguments or endless historical background.

3.     Need to be dry, lifeless, or removed from people’s lives.

4.     Confuse the primary point of a passage with any legitimate application of that passage (that is, use a verse to say what you want to say).

Dr. Mohler again writes, “….in many churches there is very little reading of the Bible in worship, and sermons are marked by attention to the congregation’s concerns, not by an adequate attention to the biblical text. The exposition of the Bible has given way to the concerns, real or perceived, of the listeners  The authority of the Bible is swallowed up in the imposed authority of congregational concerns.

In many churches, there is almost no public reading of the Word of God. Worship is filled with music, but congregations seem disinterested in listening to the reading of the Bible. We are called to sing in worship, but the congregation cannot live only on the portions of Scripture that are woven into songs and hymns. Christians need the ministry of the Word as the Bible is read before the congregation such that God’s people—young and old, rich and poor, married and unmarried, sick and well—hear it together. The sermon is to consist of the exposition of the Word of God, powerfully and faithfully read, explained, and applied. It is not enough that the sermon take a biblical text as its starting point.

How can so many of today’s churches demonstrate what can only be described as an impatience with the Word of God? The biblical formula is clear: the neglect of the Word can only lead to disaster, disobedience, and death. God rescues his church from error, preserves his church in truth, and propels his church in witness only by his Word—not by congregational self-study.”

This may explain why some Christians and some churches struggle in worship and are therefore spiritually malnourished.

 

http://www.albertmohler.com/2013/10/14/falling-on-deaf-ears-why-so-many-churches-hear-so-little-of-the-bible-2/

http://www.albertmohler.com/2013/08/21/the-sheer-weightlessness-of-so-many-sermons-why-expository-preaching-matters/

http://www.9marks.org/answers/what-%E2%80%9Cexpositional%E2%80%9D-sermon

Evangelism....what it is and isn't

The Christian call to evangelism is a call not simply to persuade people to make decisions but rather to proclaim to them the good news of salvation in Christ, to call them to repentance, and to give God the glory for regeneration and conversion. We don’t fail in our evangelism if we faithfully tell the gospel to someone who is not converted; we fail only if we don’t faithfully tell the gospel at all. Evangelism itself isn’t converting people; it’s telling them that they need to be converted and telling them how they can be.

Mark Dever is Senior Pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, DC, and founder of 9Marks Ministries.

A Short History Lesson

The Protestant Reformation was inseparable from a new and heightened commitment to the Word of God. The Bible in the people’s common tongue was the key to the growth and the influence of Protestant theology. In 1525 William Tyndale produced his great English translation of the New Testament and once it got into the hands of the general population, England would never be the same. In the decades that followed, many other translations would appear, none so prominent and none so important as the King James Bible of 1611.

In 1603 Queen Elizabeth died without an heir and Scotland’s James VI acceded to the throne of England where he was crowned James I. The following year he convened the Hampton Court Conference to enter into discussions with leaders of the Church of England, including several Puritans. Not surprisingly, the conference turned out to be something of a farce. James had a lofty view of his own intellect and was dismissive of others, especially the Puritans. However, he did give in on one crucial matter important: the commissioning of a new, authorized translation of the Bible.

The early English translations of the Bible had been the work of individuals. However, this new translation was to be the work of committees. Fifty four eminent scholars were chosen to take up the work and they were divided into six teams, each of which would translate a selection of books. Though guided by the original Hebrew and Greek text, the translators worked primarily from existing English translations. The Bishops’ Bible of 1568 would be the foundational text, but, when the translators lacked clarity, they were authorized to consult the Tyndale Bible, the Coverdale Bible, Matthew’s Bible, the Great Bible, and the Geneva Bible. Before their work began, Richard Bancroft, Bishop of London, drafted fifteen translations principles that would govern their work.

It was not until 1607 that the labor began in earnest. Work continued until 1611 when the first editions were finally published by Robert Barker, a printer officially licensed by the king.

The King James Bible would be known as the Authorized Bible because it was authorized for public reading in worship services. It would be revised many times with the most enduring version finalized in the early 19th century. Year after year it would be the world’s bestselling book. For almost 250 years this text would be the dominant translation in the English language and its impact on theology, language, and the formation of the mind, is incalculable. It has rightly been described as “the most influential version of the most influential book in the world, in what is now its most influential language.”

It should be noted that many people, including Tyndale who first translated the Scriptures into the English language, died horrific deaths to make the English bible available to us.  How many today would do so?

View the complete story at: http://www.challies.com/articles/the-history-of-christianity-in-25-objects-king-james-bible#more

Ten Questions for Better Bible Study

I ran across this item the other day and copied the same and placed it in my Bible as a reminder and help to be more focused in my study.  I hope you can profit by it as well.  My apologies to the author as I forgot who originated it.

1.  What does this passage tell me about God? (Theology)

2.  What does this passage telll me about myself/humanity (Anthropology)

3.  How does this passage fit into the story of the Bible/the story of God redeeming His people (Redemption History)

4.  How does this passage lead me to Jesus? (Christocentric reading)

5.  Based on this passage are there things I need to repent of?

6.  Based on this passage are there things I ought to do/change?

7. How does this passage reveal the beauty of God and His gospel, and lead me into worship and adoration?

8.  Are there things I don't understand in this passage that I need to ask about/research further?

9.  What can I do today to apply this passage?

10. How can I share the attractiveness of Christ in this passage to people in my life?

Are You Seeking After God?

We have all heard evangelists quote from Revelation: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me” (Rev. 3:20). Usually the evangelist applies this text as an appeal to the unconverted, saying: “Jesus is knocking at the door of your heart. If you open the door, then He will come in.” In the original saying, however, Jesus directed His remarks to the church. It was not an evangelistic appeal.

So what? The point is that seeking is something that unbelievers do not do on their own. The unbeliever will not seek. The unbeliever will not knock. Seeking is the business of believers. Jonathan Edwards said, “The seeking of the Kingdom of God is the chief business of the Christian life.” Seeking is the result of faith, not the cause of it.

When we are converted to Christ, we use language of discovery to express our conversion. We speak of finding Christ. We may have bumper stickers that read, “I Found It.” These statements are indeed true. The irony is this: Once we have found Christ it is not the end of our seeking but the beginning. Usually, when we find what we are looking for, it signals the end of our searching. But when we “find” Christ, it is the beginning of our search.

The Christian life begins at conversion; it does not end where it begins. It grows; it moves from faith to faith, from grace to grace, from life to life. This movement of growth is prodded by continual seeking after God.

In your spiritual walk, are you moving from faith to faith, from grace to grace, from life to life? Are you continually seeking after God?

R.C. Sproul - September 18, 2013

http://www.ligonier.org/blog/are-you-seeking-after-god

Preaching the Word to the Pagans

Pastor Todd Pruitt comments on minimizing theological and biblical terminology and preaching to the unsaved so they will understand and believe the Gospel is confusing the congregation with preaching what he calls “gobbledygook” under the guise of evangelical preaching.

He states, “Unbelief cannot be fixed with providing someone with more information.  The refusal to believe is a moral issue – an issue of hard heartedness that apart from God’s intervention is not going to be fixed. Romans 3 states, 'no one seeks for God.'

The privilege of the preacher is that he gets to bring God’s living Word to a congregation and know, and have full confidence, that the Spirit of God is going to use His inspired Word to birth faith where there was no faith.”

Excerpt from The Mortification of Spin – The Bully Pulpit podcast dated September 25, 2013.

Todd Pruitt is a speaker on the Mortification of Spin podcast. He is a graduate of Southwest Baptist University and Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. In November 2008 Todd became the teaching pastor of Church of the Saviour in Wayne, Pennsylvania.

http://info.alliancenet.org/mos/podcast/bully-pulpit-gobbledygook

Children and Obedience

The following is taken from an article by John Piper titled Parents, Require Obedience of Your Children.

I am writing this to plead with Christian parents to require obedience of their children. I am moved to write this by watching young children pay no attention to their parents’ requests, with no consequences. Parents tell a child two or three times to sit or stop and come or go, and after the third disobedience, they laughingly bribe the child. This may or may not get the behavior desired.

Last week, I saw two things that prompted this article. One was the killing of 13-year-old Andy Lopez in Santa Rosa, California, by police who thought he was about to shoot them with an assault rifle. It was a toy gun. What made this relevant was that the police said they told the boy two times to drop the gun. Instead he turned it on them. They fired.

I do not know the details of that situation or if Andy even heard the commands. So I can’t say for sure he was insubordinate. So my point here is not about young Lopez himself. It’s about a “what if.” What if he heard the police, and simply defied what they said? If that is true, it cost him his life. Such would be the price of disobeying proper authority.

A Tragedy in the Making

I witnessed such a scenario in the making on a plane last week. I watched a mother preparing her son to be shot.

I was sitting behind her and her son, who may have been seven years old. He was playing on his digital tablet. The flight attendant announced that all electronic devices should be turned off for take off. He didn’t turn it off. The mother didn’t require it. As the flight attendant walked by, she said he needed to turn it off and kept moving. He didn’t do it. The mother didn’t require it.

One last time, the flight attendant stood over them and said that the boy would need to give the device to his mother. He turned it off. When the flight attendant took her seat, the boy turned his device back on, and kept it on through the take off. The mother did nothing. I thought to myself, she is training him to be shot by police.

Rescue from Foolish Parenting

The defiance and laziness of unbelieving parents I can understand. I have biblical categories of the behavior of the spiritually blind. But the neglect of Christian parents perplexes me. What is behind the failure to require and receive obedience? I’m not sure. But it may be that these nine observations will help rescue some parents from the folly of laissez-faire parenting.

Read the Nine Observations HERE

An Important but Neglected Distinction

There is an important distinction which is absolutely vital to good theology and to a healthy Christian life. It is also a distinction which seems to have been missed by large numbers of people on both the left and the right of the theological spectrum. It is the distinction between childish and childlike. Christians are called to have a faith with the latter quality; not so the former.

I suspect that future generations may well look back on the present day as an era of unsurpassed childishness in the history of mankind. The vast amounts of money paid to grown men to play playground games for the entertainment of the rest of us simply beggars belief.   The cultural influence ascribed to young pop stars is quite bizarre. I mean, whatever one's opinion of government health care, surely we can all agree that Justin Bieber's opinions on the matter can be safely ignored? And the compulsive need of otherwise apparently intelligent people to tweet the most mind-boggling banalities of their lives into the public domain is startling. To these relatively trivial acts of childishness we might also add the more sinister: the development of a political and legal culture which refuses to recognize any shades of grey. As to morality, the spoiled infants really have taken over the universe of moral discourse when a man who deserts his wife for another man is more likely to be hailed as a cultural hero because of his courageous honesty than decried as a sleazy cretin for his cowardly capitulation to his hormones.

Sadly, this pervades the church as well. Many megachurches have grown prosperous through the strange, unexpected but undoubtedly successful marriage of a broadly orthodox theology with childish idioms. Further, many Christians in churches that are not so 'mega' have their childish ways and their childish people. It is not simply those pastors who dress like slovenly thirteen year olds when they preach that exhibit such qualities. All of us can be tempted in this direction when we are not given what we want and proceed immediately thereafter to throw out of our little prams whatever toys we happen to have. And what can one say about the consistent failure of the Christian twitterati, from the least to the greatest, to understand that some things are for public consumption and that some things are to be kept private? Knowing when to speak in public and when to keep discreetly and modestly quiet (especially about one's own successes) used to be a basic part of what it meant to grow up.  

Perhaps at the very heart of childishness lies the inability to acknowledge any kind of external authority. The toddler screaming for the confiscated teddy bear is expressing outrage that his world has been changed against his will, in much the same way as the teenager whose life has (and I quote) 'been like totally ruined' because her cell phone has been taken away from her for the evening by an irate parent. So much of what we think of as childish behavior, such as  tantrums, petty rule breaking, and insolence, contains a significant dose of the repudiation of external authority.

Some years ago I remember engaging someone on the issue of biblical authority. This individual, at the time a professing Christian, simply could not accept the claims that the Bible made on his life. Gradually, I noticed a pattern emerging: this person also hated the fact that his employer held him accountable, that there were elders in the church who wanted to hold him accountable, and that his father had held him accountable. It became clear to me that this person was not struggling with biblical authority in particular; he was struggling with external authority in general. Ironically, the West has tended to hold up such individualism and independence as a sign of maturity. As we see the latest stage of that project unfolding before us and the Western world becoming a place where law courts are needed to decide where five year olds can use the bathroom, I think the childishness of the trajectory becomes all too clear.  And, by the way, in the case to which I allude, it is the five year olds, not the adults, who have won. That should tell you something.

Childlikeness, however, is the very antithesis of childishness. If childishness involves the refusal to acknowledge external authority, and thus a refusal to acknowledge one's own limits and one's own lack of uniqueness in this world, childlikeness is very different. To be childlike is to accept that one is not the measure of all things. Children at their best are those who look to others, especially adults, that they might learn things of which they are as yet ignorant. Being childlike involves trusting the parent or the older sibling for protection, drawing on their wisdom, knowing that the grown-ups have competences and abilities which are there to help. 

In the Christian world, one might add that it involves an acceptance of the power and authority of God, of the sufficiency of his revelation, and of the full adequacy of the salvation he has wrought in Christ. It also involves being involved in the local church, looking to the elders and the deacons for support and for nurture. It involves realising that one does not stand apart from, or above, the body of Christ: one is part of it and under his authority as the head.

To return to the example of the man I mentioned above. I recall a comment by Karl Barth concerning scripture. Now, while I do not endorse Barth's view of scripture, this saying has stayed with me since I read it. It went something like this: I know that scripture is the word of God in the way that I know my mother is my mother. Now, I confess that I have never asked my mother to take a DNA test. I do have a copy of my birth certificate, on which her name appears, but I have never used this as a basis for my relationship with her, nor have I ever tried to find out if the certificate had been somehow forged as part of a wider conspiracy to confuse me. I have always simply known that my mother is mother and I do not regard my conviction in this matter as remotely irrational, embarrassing, ill-founded or ridiculous. I confess that I do recall in one particularly unpleasant row in my teenage years yelling 'You're not my mother!' but the cry was a calculatedly cruel insult, not a statement of biological fact or of personal belief. I would also argue that, ironically, the statement marked the high watermark of my teenage stupidity and childishness.

Herman Bavinck says that the Christian accepts God's special revelation in Christ in childlike faith. That is an implausible claim in a world where childlikeness is so despised and childishness so exalted. But it captures nicely the thought expressed by Christ himself who pointed to children as paradigmatic for the manner in which his words should be received.  

Growth in Christian maturity should manifest itself in numerous ways. One of them is that we should become less and less enamoured  with the myths we tell ourselves of how unique we are as individuals, of how we have limitless potential, of how we really do have the last word on everything. In short, we should become less childish. Instead, we should become more conscious of how we are really just like everyone else - limited, dependent, finite, fallen. We should also learn more and more to find our fulfillment in resting in the simple biblical, catechetical faith which describes who we are, what we need, and how we can find it in submitting in humble and reverent faith to Christ. In other words, we should become less childish and more childlike.

Article by Dr. Carl R. Trueman is Paul Woolley Professor of Church History at Westminster Theological Seminary. His latest book is The Creedal Imperative (Crossway, 2012).

Pastoral Visitation: The God-Given Responsibility to Shepherd

God has given to the elders of His Church the responsibility to shepherd His flock. Paul says in Acts 20:28, "Pay attention to yourselves and to all of the flock among which the Holy Spirit has set you to be overseers to shepherd God's church, that He acquired with His own blood." Similarly, Peter wrote in 1 Peter 5:1-3, "Therefore, I urge the elders among you, as a fellow elder and witness of Christ's sufferings and as a sharer of the glory that is going to be revealed, to shepherd God's flock among you, exercising shepherdly care over it, not out of obligation but willingly, as God would have you do it; not out of eagerness to make a personal profit, but out of eagerness to serve; not lording it over those allotted to your charge, but by becoming models for the flock."

This is no small task. Church officers will give an answer to God for the discharge of their office.  In fact, Hebrews 13:17 says, "Obey your leaders and submit to them. They are keeping watch over your lives as men who will have to give an account." One of the principle ways this oversight is exercised is in pastoral visitation.  

Yet, sad to say, pastoral visits are not always used in a manner that allows the parties involved to reap the greatest spiritual benefits. One thing you may do to increase the profit of a pastoral visit is to prepare for it. If families prepared for pastoral visits, then the time spent would be extremely more profitable. How then does one prepare?   

Taking a Spiritual Inventory

In the first place, use the occasion of a pastoral visit to take a spiritual inventory of your life.  Examine yourself, your relationship to God, and others (your family, neighbors, co-workers, the world, etc.) to determine how you are doing spiritually. Seek an answer to such questions as:  How do I know for sure that I am a Christian? Am I engaged in regular Bible Study and prayer?  Can I say with certainty that on a daily basis I am dying to sin, and living more righteously?  What sins am I struggling with? Can I point to areas in my life where I have grown? If you have a family, then ask yourself these questions: How is my family doing spiritually? What am I doing regarding family devotions? Do I see any evidence of grace in the lives of my children? Are my children showing an increased interest in the things of the Lord? Do they like prayer, Bible reading, attending worship, and singing hymns and psalms? If you prepare in this way, then you will be able to give a substantive answer when asked about your spiritual growth. Furthermore, you will benefit spiritually from the period of self-examination.   

Being Honest About Your Problems

Out of this spiritual inventory should flow a second area of preparation. Are there any areas in your Christian experience with which you are having problems? In James 5:16 we are called to confess our sins to one another. The pastoral visit is the perfect time to be honest and open about your problems. Are you having trouble with consistently studying the Bible or family devotions? Is there a particular sin that continues to get the upper hand in your life? Do not wait until the problem is insurmountable. Be prepared to share your problems and to seek counsel and prayer concerning them.     

Seeking the Advice of Your Elders

   

A third area of preparation deals with the direct solicitation of advice. Be prepared to ask those visiting you if they see any problem areas in your life (or in the lives of your family members) that need to be addressed. Do not be afraid to ask these kinds of questions. We have all had spiritual blinders on at one time or another. Seeking the advice of others who have gone through similar difficulties will provide you with helpful insights to deal with your problems. In the same manner, ask your elders if there are things that you could be doing to serve the Lord. We all have promised to support the work of the church with our time, talents and treasures. Finding out where we can be of use not only blesses us, but will also give us an opportunity to be a blessing to our brothers and sisters in the Lord.   

Your Spiritual Doctors Are Here to Serve You

When an individual goes to his doctor for a check-up, he usually gives some thought to how he is feeling. The individual evaluates his various aches and pains, seeking to determine which are important and which are not. The tragedy is that sometimes a person may fail to tell the doctor about a particular symptom because he deems it unimportant, or worse, because he is afraid of what it might mean. Yet, that symptom might be the early warning sign of some serious disease that could be remedied more easily in its present state. If the problem is ignored, then the disease worsens, until finally measures that are more serious need to be taken, or as it happens, it is too late to act. Your elders are physicians of your soul. Their task will be much easier and more effective if you will examine yourself and speak openly and frankly to them about your spiritual condition and needs. Remember that an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure. This maxim is true for our spiritual life as well. Let us practice spiritual preventative medicine! 

Below is a list of questions for both congregants and elders to review before a pastoral visit:

Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves.  2 Cor. 13:5 

I.      YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF YOURSELF 

* Do you know for sure that you are a Christian? 

* Are you engaged in regular Bible Study? Alternatively, are you having difficulty with consistent Bible Study and family devotions? 

* How is your prayer life? Do you pray regularly? 

* Can you point to areas of your life where you have grown recently? 

* Are there any areas in your Christian experience in which you are having problems? 

* Is there a particular temptation or sin that continues to defeat you spiritually? 

* Where would you like to see yourself be spiritually in 1 year, 5 years, 10 years? 

II.     YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF GOD 

* What has God been teaching you about Himself lately? Or, what Attribute of God has meant the most to you recently? 

* Are there any theological truths/doctrines that you are wrestling with, confused about, or need clarification on? Have any of your theological beliefs changed? 

* What Christian books have you read lately? 

* Are you able to share your faith with others? If not, would you be interested in learning how to share your faith?  Would you like to be discipled? 

III.    YOUR RELATIONSHIP TO THE WORLD 

* If you have a family, how is your family doing spiritually? What are you doing with respect to family devotions (Bible reading, prayer, catechism, etc.)? 

* Do you see any evidence of grace in the lives of your children? Are they showing an increased interest in the things of the Lord? Do they like to pray and read the Bible? Are they baptized?   Are they ready to make a profession of faith?   

* How is your relationship with your Spouse? Children? Others? 

* How do others see your walk as a Christian (home, neighbors, work, church, etc.)? 

* How are you seeking to affect the world around you with your Christian faith? 

IV.     YOUR RELATIONSHIP TO THE CHURCH 

* What would you like to see improved at our Church? 

* What do you especially like about our Church? 

* What kind of advice/counsel can we provide you with at this time?

Article by Joseph A. Pipa, Jr. published August 2013

Dr. Joseph A. Pipa, Jr. is President and Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Greenville, South Carolina. He has pastored churches is Mississippi, Texas, and California and is the author of numerous books, the latest of which is Galatians: God's Proclamation of Liberty (Christian Focus, 2011).

Keeping Church Un-cool

I like to read the ‘Comments’ section of a blog site.  It gives me a feeling for what people are thinking (or not thinking) about a particular topic.  This morning I read an online article from the Washington Post “On Faith” section  titled “How to keep Millennials in the church? Let’s keep church un-cool.”by Brett McCracken. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-faith/wp/2013/07/31/how-to-keep-millennials-in-the-church-lets-keep-church-un-cool

Mr. McCracken was responding to an opinion piece written by Rachel Held Evans regarding “Millennials” (i.e. the youth of this generation) leaving the church because the church does not respond to their needs. (See her article at http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/07/27/why-millennials-are-leaving-the-church/) She stated in her article “I would encourage church leaders eager to win Millennials back to sit down and really talk with them about what they’re looking for and what they would like to contribute to a faith community.”

McCracken mostly opposes this thinking and states, “How about the opposite? Millennials: why don’t we take our pastors, parents, and older Christian brothers and sisters out to coffee and listen to them? Perhaps instead of perpetuating our sense of entitlement and Twitter/blog/Instagram-fueled obsession with hearing ourselves speak, we could just shut up for a minute and listen to the wisdom of those who have gone before?”

He further writes, “And for pastors, church leaders, and others so concerned with the survival of the church amidst the glut of “adapt or die!” hype, is asking Millennials what they want church to be and adjusting accordingly really your best bet? Are we really to believe that today’s #hashtagging, YOLO-oriented, selfie-obsessed generation of Millennials has more wisdom to offer about the church than those who have thought about and faithfully served the church decade after decade, amidst all its warts, challenges and ups and down?

Part of the problem is the hubris of every generation, which thinks it has discovered, once and for all, the right way of doing things. C.S. Lewis called it “chronological snobbery,” defining it as “the uncritical acceptance of the intellectual climate common to our own age and the assumption that whatever has gone out of date is on that account discredited.”

But a deeper problem is that Christianity has become too obsessed with how it is perceived. Just like the Photoshop-savvy Millennials she is so desperate to retain, the church is ever more meticulously concerned with her image, monitoring what people are saying about her and taking cues from that.”

He continues, “But at the end of the day, the Christian gospel is defined outside of and with little regard to whatever itch people think Christianity should scratch. Consumerism asserts that people want what they want and get what they want, for a price. It’s all about me. But to position the gospel within this consumerist, give-them-what-they-want framework is to open the door to all sorts of distortions, mutations, and “to each his own” cockamamy variations. If Christianity aims to sell a message that scratches a pluralism of itches, how in the world will a cohesive, orthodox, unified gospel survive?”

McCracken summarizes his article with this, “As a Millennial, if I’m truly honest with myself, what I really need from the church is not another yes-man entity enabling my hubris and giving me what I want. Rather, what I need is something bigger than me, older than me, bound by a truth that transcends me and a story that will outlast me; basically, something that doesn’t change to fit me and my whims, but changes me to be the Christ-like person I was created to be.”

Now to the comments.  Here is a sample of the 70 plus comments by the readers.

SuburbanRabbi

I think the issue here is far more complex than having a cool church or a real church, etc. Our culture has changed dramatically in the past 25 years. America has switched hips to rest on since the Beatles, the killings of JKF, RFK and MLK along with Viet Nam, Woodstock and finally the resignation of Nixon. After that decade of change everything has been up for grabs, including church. Then we had the decade of "Friends" and the public sex drama of President Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. Our newscasters don't report news anymore. They make it. Language and culture are important. Music and technology have shaped our hearts. The church in America is now at the edge of our culture. That's where we were in the 1st century. We did OK. We had too. We will still. Keep being authentic and keep learning about the early church. What they believed is what they did! So what do we really believe by the evidence of the things that we do?

 AmyEdits

I wandered around in church life for 40 years--mostly Protestant. Then I found a home in the Orthodox Church. It is deep, rich, challenging, and incredibly worshipful. Why settle for fragments of the church when you can have the fullness?

geoffrobinson

I am now Reformed, but I grew up Roman Catholic. And although I have major disagreements now with Roman Catholic theology, I'll explain really easily why I hated going to church until I was 16. I was an unregenerate sinner. I would offer for consideration that many of the issues here is that many of the young hate God and the things of God.

 

Bookwyrm

I have been saying some of these very things, although not as eloquently and clearly. But the reason I stayed in the church while growing up is that I saw Jesus in the lives of the saints who worshipped at my church. They were very unhip - some poor, very old-fashioned, some uneducated (although others were highly educated and well-off), but they were the genuine article. They lived up to what they believed and their lives had a grace and peace that I thought was miraculous and I attributed it to God. They loved me, were interested in me, cared for me through some awkward years...and they lived lives of generosity.

 

DrivenB4U

I would offer that you could seek professional help to repair the damage religious delusion has done to you.  Also the young don't hate god. They've just figured out it's a trick.

Is it just a trick?  Is the church to change with the time to be significant or relevant?  Should the church import the latest music, dress, lifestyle, etc.?   If the church in America is currently “on the edge of our culture” where is the drop off point?  Ask yourself, “Is my church providing worship in a “deep, rich, challenging” way?  Or is worship not the point anymore?   Are members of the church living up to what they believe and emulating Jesus in their lives and making an impact on others?  What are your thoughts?

Listening: Nothing Is More Godlike

A counselor friend recently received this email from a couple that he and his wife had counseled:

“It was great to be with you yesterday and I want to thank you. You guys were great listeners. Allowing my wife to share the depths of her pain and express a brief picture of the extent of suffering we have experienced over these past two years was healing. She really felt heard and not overly diagnosed or analyzed. Before coming, she was afraid of having all her phrases picked apart for their rightness and wrongness. Instead, you really hurt for her. Your sympathy and expression over the severity of the trials were a great comfort. Thanks for being the body of Christ to us.”
Two sentences particularly struck me: “You guys were great listeners.” “She really felt heard.”

May I suggest that no ministry action we take is more Godlike than good listening?

 

God Listens to God

Just how Godlike is listening? It’s what God does toward God. The Persons in the Godhead listen to each other.

The Father listens to his Son: “Then Jesus looked up and said, ‘Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.” (John 11:41-42). The Son listens to his Father: “I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is reliable, and what I have heard from him I tell the world” (John 8:26). “These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me” (John 14:24). And the Holy Spirit listens to both the Father and the Son: “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come” (John 16:13).

God Listens to Us

But God not only listens to Himself. He also listens to us. As biblical counselor Wayne Mack put it, “The fact that our Triune God is a good listener should powerfully motivate us to improve in this area. The three persons of the Trinity listen carefully to each other and, amazingly, to us!”
Consider the moving story of the Egyptian slave woman Hagar in Genesis 16. Mistreated by Abram and Sarai, and pregnant and alone as a single mom, she fled and began her journey back to her homeland. But God’s eyes and ears of grace were open toward her. As she headed home, the angel of the Lord (an appearance of God himself) found her in the desert. He spoke to her, counseled her to return, and promised great blessing to her and her son. The angel then told her to name her son Ishmael. Why? “For the Lord has heard of your misery” (v. 11). (In Hebrew, the name Ishmael means God hears.) God’s love and care for this distressed woman began when God heard her cries. And it continued in an equally stirring scene in Genesis 21:17, when the angel of God assures her, “Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying. . . .”

God Our Listener-Redeemer

When did God’s deliverance of Israel out of Egypt begin? While we might look to his burning bush appearance to Moses in Exodus 3, the previous chapter highlights something that was prior to and causative of all of the Exodus actions: “During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God.
God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them” (Exodus 2:23-25). The Lord later repeats the same point to Moses when he appears in the burning bush (3:7-8): God’s hearing initiated the Exodus sequence. Israel’s salvation began with the eyes and ears of a Redeemer who sees, hears, feels concern, and then acts.
Do you ever delight in the saving ears of God? “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer. . . . The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles” (Psalm 34:15, 17; cf. 1 Peter 3:12). “I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry” (Psalm 40:1). “I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live” (Psalm 116:1–2).

Listening to Others with the Ears of God

One takeaway for counselors seems obvious: Listen to others as God has listened to us. Here Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s rich insights remain unsurpassed:
“The first service that one owes to others in the fellowship consists in listening to them. . . . It is God’s love for us that he not only gives us His Word but also lends us His ear. . . . But Christians have forgotten that the ministry of listening has been committed to them by Him who is Himself the great listener and whose work they should share. We should listen with the ears of God that we may speak the Word of God” (Life Together, chapter 4).
Thank you, God, for being the Great Listener and for savingly listening to us. Help us to be like you in this way, knowing that there is nothing that we do that is more like you.

Join the Conversation

How much do you value listening in your friendships and ministries? What biblical truths motivate you to listen well? How have you seen God bless your efforts to listen well to others? Who are the top listeners in your life—friends, spouses, pastors, counselors? In what specific ways has God used them to help you or encourage you?

From an article by Robert Jones -  published July 17, 2013

http://biblicalcounselingcoalition.org

One More Thing (maybe)…On Public Prayer

Historically, spiritual revival most often begins with intensive, focused prayer. I believe all Christians (especially me) can improve in their prayer life  (particularly in the area of public or corporate prayer) so in addition to practicing praying I often seek advice to improve my prayer.  I found the following very informative regarding public prayer and want to share it with you.

Prepare Your Public Prayers: Helpful Advice from D. A. Carson

"If you are in any form of spiritual leadership, work at your public prayers. It does not matter whether the form of spiritual leadership you exercise is the teaching of a Sunday school class, pastoral ministry, small-group evangelism, or anything else: if at any point you pray in public as a leader, then work at your public prayers.

Some people think this advice distinctly corrupt.  It smells too much of public relations, of concern for public image.  After all, whether we are praying in private or in public, we are praying to God: Surely he is the one we should be thinking about, no one else.

This objection misses the point.  Certainly if we must choose between trying to please God in prayer, and trying to please our fellow creatures, we must unhesitatingly opt for the former.  But that is not the issue.  It is not a question of pleasing our human hearers, but of instructing them and edifying them.

The ultimate sanction for this approach is none less than Jesus himself.  At the tomb of Lazarus, after the stone has been removed, Jesus looks to heaven and prays, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.  I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me” (John 11:41-42).  Here, then, is a prayer of Jesus himself that is shaped in part by his awareness of what his human hearers need to hear.

The point is that although public prayer is addressed to God, it is addressed to God while others are overhearing it.  Of course, if the one who is praying is more concerned to impress these human hearers than to pray to God, then rank hypocrisy takes over.  That is why Jesus so roundly condemns much of the public praying of his day and insists on the primacy of private prayer (Matt. 6:5-8).  But that does not mean that there is no place at all for public prayer.  Rather, it means that public prayer ought to be the overflow of one’s private praying.  And then, judging by the example of Jesus at the tomb of Lazarus, there is ample reason to reflect on just what my prayer, rightly directed to God, is saying to the people who hear me.

In  brief, public praying is a pedagogical opportunity.  It provides the one who is praying with an opportunity to instruct or encourage or edify all who hear the prayer.  In liturgical churches, many of the prayers are well-crafted, but to some ears they lack spontaneity.  In nonliturgical churches, many of the prayers are so predictable that they are scarcely any more spontaneous than written prayers, and most of them are not nearly as well-crafted.  The answer to both situations is to provide more prayers that are carefully and freshly prepared.  That does not necessarily mean writing them out verbatim (though that can be a good thing to do).  At the least, it means thinking through in advance and in some detail just where the prayer is going, preparing, perhaps, some notes, and memorizing them.

Public praying is a responsibility as well as a privilege.  In the last century, the great English preacher Charles Spurgeon did not mind sharing his pulpit: others sometimes preached in his home church even when he was present.  But when he came to the “pastoral prayer,” if he was present, he reserved that part of the service for himself.  This decision did not arise out of any priestly conviction that his prayers were more efficacious than those of others.  Rather, it arose from his love for his people, his high view of prayer, his conviction that public praying should not only intercede with God but also instruct and edify and encourage the saints.

Many facets of Christian discipleship, not least prayer, are rather more effectively passed on by modeling than by formal teaching.  Good praying is more easily caught than taught.  If it is right to say that we should choose models from whom we can learn, then the obverse truth is that we ourselves become responsible to become models for others.  So whether you are leading a service or family prayers, whether you are praying in a small-group Bible study or at a convention, work at your public prayers."

D.A. Carson, “A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and His Prayers (Baker, 1992), 34-35.

Originally posted by Brian Hedges on Wednesday, September 25, 2013.