1 Thess 5:12-13 on Pastoral Ministry

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This passage is an important one for understanding pastoral ministry biblically. It is addressed to the congregation and calls for them to respect and “esteem highly in love” their pastors. These pastors in turn are expected to do three things:

– labor among them- work hard in their midst
– to “be over them in the Lord”- the idea here is to exercise authority over the flock, to lead them appropriately
– to admonish, or teach them

The idea of authority is sometimes difficult to understand in our setting. It is not to be domineering (1 Pet 5:3), but it is to involve authority (cf. Heb 13:17). Much could be said here, be let me provide a paragraph from a great commentary on this passage:

One of the reasons for this predicament is that we too often view church leaders as CEOs of the church “corporation,” whose purpose is to meet our needs. If the church does not meet our needs in the way we think it should, we find another “church store” to attend. Another reason for this situation is that the American church has been so permeated with democracy and individualism that these two great American ideals have been taken to an extreme. Too often churches proclaim that their goal is that every believer become a “minister.” The implication is that every believer is to be equal with every other believer and that, ideally, there should be no one in an authoritative position over anyone else. Of course, it is true that everyone in the church is equal in the sense of being in the image of God. Accordingly, all should grow in their recognition and exercise of the diverse gifts that they have received from God. But Christians are not equal in the sense that they have functional equality in the church. Rather, they have different gifts that entail different kinds of functions. Leadership is among these gifts (Eph 4:11).
We need to be instructed about the important role leaders play in the church and how others who have not been called to be leaders should look upon those in authority over them. (158-159)

Beale, G.K. 1-2 Thessalonians The IVP New Testament Commentary Series. Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 2003

Outside Activity Books

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How to Build Treehouses, Huts, & Forts, David Stiles (The Lyons Press, 2003), pb. 96 pp.Backyard Ballistics: Build cannons, paper match rockets, Cincinnati fire kites, tennis ball mortars, and more dynamite devices, William Gurstelle (Chicago Review Press, 2001), pb., 169 pp.

The Art of the Catapult: Build Greek Ballistae, Roman onagers, English trebuchets, and more ancient artillery, William Gurstelle (Chicago Review Press, 2004), pb., 171 pp.

My oldest son bought these three books with some of his birthday money a couple of years ago- much to my delight! We have actually spent more time reading and looking at these books than building anything in them; but, we are finally in the midst of building a treehouse using the Stiles book. We have had a lot of fun looking through the book deciding which design would work best for us and roaming the yard looking for the best site for the treehouse. The plans given in this book are well done and easy to follow. They are even written to the boy rather than to the parent (a good touch). We are having a good time working on the project even though it is taking a while to get it done due largely to my needing to learn on the go- which is another benefit to me.

Another project we hope to take on this summer is to build a tennis ball mortar. We have been planning this since Christmas playing with an idea from a friend as well as the plans given in Backyard Ballistics. We may also attempt a sort of mini-catapult for water balloons! The Gurstelle books are great for explaining the science behind things as well as giving historical accounts where these contraptions were used.

These have been a lot of fun for us and we commend them to you.

A. Alexander on the Lord’s Supper

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Archibald Alexander (1772-1851) was the first professor of Princeton Theological Seminary and one a key figure in early American theology. I am currently working on a review of a reprint of his A Brief Compendium of Bible Truth, which was designed to be a brief treatment of Christian doctrine for laypeople. This weekend I read his treatment of the Lord’s Supper and really appreciated it. The following quotes fit well with the argument I put forward here renewal of our practice.

“As the Lord’s Supper is a memorial of the death of Christ, it should be celebrated often, so that this great sacrifice on which our salvation depends may not be forgotten, but kept in lively remembrance in the Christian church.
…
The value of the Lord’s Supper is incalculable. It is admirably adapted to our nature. It is simple, its meaning is easily apprehended by the weakest minds. It is strongly significant and impressive. It has been called an epitome of the whole gospel, as the central truths of the system, in which all the rest are implied, are here clearly exhibited. And it ever has been signally blessed to the spiritual edification and comfort of the children of God. They, therefore, who neglect this ordinance, do at the same time disobey a positive command of Christ and deprive themselves of one of the richest privileges which can be enjoyed on this side of heaven.”

A Brief Compendium of Bible Truth(1846; reprint 2005, Reformation Heritage Books), p. 188-89.

Carson’s Review of Wright’s Evil and the Justice of God

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As I am catching up on some projects and reading, I just read Don Carson’s 10 page review of N. T. Wright’s Evil and the Justice of God. I recommend the review to you. It is good reading for pastors. Dealing with the reality of suffering and evil in the world is a perennial pastoral task (I would recommend Carson’s own book How Long O Lord on this). Carson summarizes the book chapter by chapter noting strengths. Then he turns to critique. The critiques get to the heart of many troublesome issues arising today.

For example Carson challenges Wright’s portrayal of God as “having” to work in certain ways to “fix” the world, and the emerging overly psychologized picture of God needing to “release himself from the burden of always having to be angry with a world gone wrong” (Wright’s words). Carson also challenges the regular description of God’s plan as “daring and risky” involving “so much ambiguity.”

There is much here- more than I can summarize now- so I encourage you to print off the review and take time to read it. It is helpful discussion for keeping our thinking rooted biblically in an age of increasing theological confusion.

Dorothy Sayers on Doctrine

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Kairos Journal has posted several quotes from Dorothy Sayers on the importance and value of doctrine. Her words are as pertinent and valuable today as they were 60 or so years ago. Here are a couple of the quotes:

Official Christianity, of late years, has been having what is known as a bad press. We are constantly assured that the churches are empty because preachers insist too much upon doctrine – dull dogma as people call it. The fact is the precise opposite. It is the neglect of dogma that makes for dullness. The Christian faith is the most exciting drama that ever staggered the imagination of man – and the dogma is the drama.

. . . . for the cry today is: “Away with the tedious complexities of dogma – let us have the simple spirit of worship; just worship, no matter of what!” The only drawback to this demand for a generalized and undirected worship is the practical difficulty of arousing any sort of enthusiasm for the worship of nothing in particular.

Dorothy Sayers, Letters to a Diminished Church: Passionate Arguments for the Relevance of Christian Doctrine (Nashville: W. Publishing Group, 2004), 1, 15.

My Dad’s Stroke

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It has been a while since I have posted so I thought I should just give folks an update on things. We had a great vacation, but on the way back I got word that my Dad had had a stroke. Eventually we found out it was a major stroke in the brain stem. However, he has made great progress. He was working on making his left arm work before the physical therapist got there to encourage him to do just that. His spirit has been great! His speech has improved greatly, and before leaving the hospital he walked down the hall and back with assistance. This week he moved from the hospital to the rehab facility.
I have been encouraged just watching my Dad’s spirit and perseverance.

The Dangerous Book for Boys

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The Dangerous Book for Boys, Hal Iggulden
(Harper Collins, 2007), hb, 270 pp.

A couple of weeks ago a good friend of mine, Joey Jenkins, sent me the Amazon link for this book suggesting it sounded like something my boys and I would enjoy. I was really intrigued- and the video at Amazon is fun. That same night we went to Sam’s to prepare for our trip and as the boys and I went to the book section (our typical hangout in Sam’s!) we found copies of this book! We spent a good bit of the time looking through the book and purchased it. I liked the book so much I wanted to write something about it before leaving town but did not have time. In the meantime I was scooped by Dr. Mohler and others! J

We took this book with us on our trip and have thoroughly enjoyed it. I am particularly taken with the overall vision of boyhood implied in the book. The call to active, outdoor play, activity and building is great and has been talked about in some of the other reviews. This is of course the heart of the book, but I was fascinated to see how this was integrated into a whole view of boyhood. Amongst instructions for fishing, making paper airplanes, tripwires, skipping stones, fireproofing cloth, etc. are also the stories of famous battles, identifying leaves, insects and stars, Latin phrases every boy should know, poems every boy should know, a sampling of Shakespeare, a list of recommended books for reading and several installments of grammar lessons, and the Ten Commandments. This is obvious the result of an intentional view of developing boys into men who can work with their hands and take risks while being articulate and thoughtful.

This comment from the introduction communicates the vision well:
“The stories of courage can be read as simple adventures- or perhaps as inspiration, examples of extraordinary acts by ordinary people….  They’re not just cracking stories, they’re part of a culture, a part we really don’t want to see vanish.”

We have enjoyed looking through various portions of the book (like the list of all the baseball MVP’s to the present), and have found the book to be useful in various pursuits of ours. While working on our treehouse this past weekend, we used this book to see how to tie the required knots in our rope. Earlier the section on identifying insects was really helpful. My oldest son amused himself during part of our traveling by making his own secret code.

We highly recommend this book. In my next post I will plan to mention a few books similar to this one (at least in parts) that have not received as much attention but we have enjoyed.

Colonial Vacation

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My family & I left for vacation today so I may not post much the next week or so (though I have a few books waiting to be commented on). In keeping with the books we’ve been reading on the colonial era of American history we are going to visit Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown. We also plan to see the Navy yard at Norfolk. We have just started reading a historical novel set in Williamsburg- Independence, by Peter Reese Doyle, part of the Drums of War series. So far it is really good. We hope to finish it while on this trip, and I’ll plan to review it shortly thereafter.

M’Kethe Saga Continues in America

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Guns of Thunder, Douglas Bond
Faith & Freedom Series
(P&R Publishing, 2007), pb., 260 pp.
Age 10 & up

This is the first volume in Bond’s new series which continues to follow the M’Kethe family, who were introduced in the Crown & Covenant Series. The previous series closed with Duncan and Angus leading their family to America. This story opens with the family settled in Connecticut just before the French & Indian War. Malcom, Duncan’s son, is now a grandfather, helping to raise his grandson, Ian, who is the main character. Ian’s father has died, so Father Malcolm, as he is called, lives with his family. Ian’s cousin and best friend, Roland, is also a key character.

The story follows the family through the rising tensions with the French into the War itself. Also, they must deal with the rise of rationalism and its skepticism about the Bible. Along the way they even have an opportunity to hear Jonathan Edwards preach. Ian wrestles with his doubts and fears, and must face his prejudice and fear towards Indians, particularly Watookoog, a mysterious acting Indian who knew his father.

This story is not quite as compelling as the previous three. It starts a bit slower and the early discussion of Rationalism and Calvinism was slower going for my boys (ages 10, 9, 7 & 5). However, it did provide a good opportunity for me to discuss with them how people began to doubt the supernatural. The chapter relating the family’s listening to Edwards preach “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” was particularly good. I really appreciated the opportunity to read that to my boys. That chapter alone makes this book worth reading (though there is much else good about the book). Eventually Ian is drawn into battle and the adventure level increases.

Bond once again presents a strong father figure (grandfather this time), leading his family and applying the Bible naturally to all of life. This one key reason for reading these books.

We eagerly await the next volume, and commend this one.