It is Reformation Day again, and we should be reminded of God’s graciousness in reviving His church in the past so that we might be encouraged to pray for Him to do it again! 488 years ago on this day a typical act by an obscure German monk was used by God to stir into motion the Protestant Reformation, in my opinion the greatest revival since Pentecost. This reformation centered on the rediscovery of the Gospel. Of course it resulted in a renewed understanding of the church, Christian living, etc. but it all started with a renewed grasp of the biblical gospel.

We need such a renewal today. There is much confusion in the church today over what the gospel truly is. This can be seen even in our language. Rather than “gospel” we more regularly hear of “the plan of salvation.” Surely the phrase can be used appropriately, but why has it largely replaced “gospel.” It too easily suggests a mechanistic approach which is really only directed at the unconverted. In contrast the Gospel is not simply a plan but a proclamation of news- what God has done in Christ- and is both the power of God unto salvation and the basis for living the new life which is to be found in Christ.

I hope to write more on the language we use for the gospel, but my point here is that we need to make sure we (and our people) grasp well the basic truths of the gospel. We need to see that we must understand the bad news of our condition in sin before we will ever see the gospel as good news. We need to understand what problem the gospel claims to address- is it the need for self-esteem, the answer for loneliness, the answer for family trouble, or is it something deeper? And we need to understand how the cross stands at the center of this proclamation. How does the crucifixion of Jesus make the forgiveness of sins possible? Far too many evangelistic presentations around today “work” without any reference to the cross.

Romans 3 addresses all these issues. Perhaps this is why Luther himself referred to this passage as “the chief point, and the very central place of the Epistle, and of the whole Bible.” Here is a link to my attempt to preach this passage on a previous Reformation Sunday with these concerns in mind (scroll down to the sermon on Romans 3).

(Picture: Courtesy Wartburg Foundation, Eisenach / Gotha Druck, Wechmar)

Vodie Baucham has been here at Union the last few days for our annual Faith in Practice Conference. With all that has been going on in my family I was only able to attend the last session (today), and it was excellent. Though I have never had a personal conversation with Vodie I feel like he is a kindred spirit from the things I hear him address. He stressed in these messages the place of the family in the church, describing the church as a family of families rather than the typical model of church as a corporation- singing my song!

You can find all three messages on Union’s website. This link will take you to the main page of the audio messages and you can just look for the three messages by Vodie. At the moment they are on the top of the list since they are the most recent. I encourage you to check them out.

I am thankful to have Vodie Baucham speaking out so strongly and eloquently on the necessity of seeing the church as family and for the importance of our families, discipling our own children, etc.

I want to direct your attention to some writings from my friend and fellow pastor Barry Maxwell. Barry is an especially gifted writer, who also thinks deeply, has a pastor’s heart and has walked through some of the tough valleys of pastoral ministry. All of this shows up in the short pieces of his which his wife, Amy, has posted on their website . I am edified by reading Barry’s stuff and I think you will be, too.

As a starter, let me recommend the one entitled, “On Loving Ministry.” Here is an excerpt:

Loving ministry is more than loving the act of preaching, teaching or counseling. Loving the idea of preaching is a love for words. That’s a love for having folks listen to you. Truly loving ministry means loving preaching so much that you invite hell to the ring to meet God’s power. And the fight is not waged with mere words, but with power. There is no diplomacy in Christian ministry – only artillery. And loving ministry means fighting a real enemy with sticks and bats, spikes and knives, not negotiating with it with clever speeches. Loving ministry is not merely loving the fruits of ministry, but getting our hands dirty in the soil to plant the seeds.

Loving ministry means devotion to see God’s power transform lives and overcome ultimate evil ultimately. Loving ministry is to welcome the worst in people because that is where God is at work. Loving ministry is fighting in the ring with hardened husbands and broken wives, cheating spouses and damaged children, abusive families and oppressive regimes. Christian ministry is not being impressed by tri-color, glossy brochures but being compelled by war-torn, blood-stained letters crying for reinforcements. It is a life spent behind enemy lines in shallow trenches.

As pastors, our lives are devoted preach words, teach words, arrange words, counsel words and write words. Yet, Christ’s church is not led by clever wordsmiths, but by men abandoned to swim in the deep with bloodthirsty sharks. If not careful, pastoral ministry can become a mere lifelong accumulation of words. And when the words fail we fail. At that point our effectiveness is only as strong as our vocabulary.

Thanks for being willing to share your ponderings with all of us, Barry. May the Lord continue to bless and use you for His church.

As I mentioned in the previous post, we are dealing with two recent deaths of family members. Another truth that has been reinforced for us in this time has been the importance of the local body, the community of faith. People from our church, Cornerstone Community Church, as well as some other Christian friends, have ministered to us in so many different ways. Different people kept our boys, brought food, helped out around our house, filled in gaps while I was gone, encouraged, prayed etc. People in my wife’s family began to comment on how special our church family must be simply by watching and hearing what people had done. Even in the visitation line when I would be introduced to someone, fairly often the person doing the introducing would say, “And they really have a special church family back home.” What a testimony to a watching world!

The importance of our corporate worship also came up. With two sisters dying unexpectedly, fear can set in, for the other sisters especially. Then with many people, well intentioned, saying, “I just don’t know how you are going to be able to make it through this!”, my wife had a difficult evening after the visitation. As she wrestled with this, words from a hymn we sing came back to her mind:

“From life’s first cry to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny”

This reminder that her life rests in God’s good and sovereign hands bolstered her and gave her peace. While these other deaths caught us by surprise, God was not surprised. And whatever is to come tomorrow will also be mediated by this God. She knew these truths but being reminded by the words of a song she regularly sings with her church, gave her strength. Oh the value of our corporate worship in helping us to persevere- and the value of songs with substance!

I wrote this a few days before I was able to post it:

I am back in my wife’s hometown for the second time in three weeks. My wife is one of four daughters. Three weeks ago I was here with my wife for the funeral of her sister closest to her in age. Here we are now for the funeral of her oldest sister. Two entirely unexpected deaths, ages 38 and 54. Many thoughts and emotions arise in such a situation, but one that certainly comes to mind is the brevity and uncertainty of life- no man knows his time. This truth leads directly to another: the desperate importance of clear, faithful preaching of the gospel. Having death interrupt you so unexpectedly so often in such a short period of time reminds me that this is for keeps. The week in, week out teaching and preaching matters desperately. We all know that, but it is easy to lose sight of that fact, to lose intensity. If we love souls we must labor for the purity of the church and for the faithful proclamation of the Gospel. Who knows who is listening today who might not be here to listen tomorrow.

I will have the opportunity to preach at this funeral and my primary objective will be to preach the gospel. Though situations differ, I think we should seek to preach the gospel at every funeral. Of course a word of comfort is needed, but real comfort is anchored in the gospel. At these times people are confronted with eternity even if they typically hide from it. We must lay out the claims of the gospel and clearly call people to repent and believe.

Fairly recently I received this in an email from a friend:

I have just recently found out that another friend of mine in the ministry has had an affair. How frustrating and scary! I really never would have thought that it would be this guy. This is the second friend in the past two years.

If only this was an unusual thing to hear. If you have been in ministry or training very long you have probably seen and heard this same sort of occurrence yourself. In addition to being heart rending as you consider the one who has fallen and his family, church, etc., it is also personally sobering- especially when it is someone you respected and never expected to do something like this. It scares you because you think, “Could I do this?” Of course the answer to any question about whether you could, possibly do any sin is “Yes.” As Calvin said, “The seed of every sin lies dormant in the human heart.” Or to quote Spurgeon:

“There is tender enough in the saint who is nearest to heaven to kindle another hell if God should permit a spark to fall upon it. In the best of men, there is an infernal and well-nigh infinite depth of depravity. Some Christians never seem to find this out. I almost wish they might not do so, for it is a very painful discovery for anyone to make: but it has the beneficial effect of making us cease trusting in ourselves”

We should take note of these things and see that they scare us well, that we might be delivered from self-assuredness and that we might be painfully aware of our desperate need for grace and the accountability of godly men- in short that we might be reminded of our desperate need for the oversight of our souls.

Richard Baxter referred to this as the oversight of ourselves. Pastors often do not have anyone else overseeing them. This is one of the benefits of plurality in leadership. Brother, if you are out there without any real accountability (read: people who will ask you hard questions and follow up on you) get some quick! For the sake of your own soul, for the sake of your family and the church you serve, for the sake of the name of God, find some accountability.

Brett Maragni, a pastor and friend of mine from college days, has written 3 insightful posts on the franchising of the church. The link will take you to the most recent post which has links to the previous two. I encourage you to check them out. His basic point is to examine a new trend of popular pastors creating new branches of their church in places as far away as in other states! Even while these “branches” would have local leadership, surely something is lost when the “preaching pastor” is someone from an entirely different community whom you will never see in daily life, and he does not live in and experience the same community the people do. This is another trend towards the “impersonalization” of the church.

With this being the 60th anniversary year of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s execution, Union University held a special chapel panel today to discuss and contemplate Bonhoeffer’s life and legacy. It was a great chapel and I assume the audio will soon be available from Union’s Audio Webpage .

One thing that stood out to me concerning pastoral ministry occurred when one speaker described Adolf Hitler’s charisma, how he captivated crowds with his mesmerizing speeches and how efficient he was with government. I began to think of the things most often listed as key requirements that people have for their pastor. Here is a list of things that show up most often in such discussions:
– Great public speaker
– Makes us feel better
– Charisma, powerful persona
– Great leadership skills- meaning he can run an efficient organization
– Vision for where we are going
– Ability to attract new members, especially young people
– Patriotic

If these are the characteristics we want, then Hire Hitler! Hitler was all of these things! He excelled in each of these categories as historians agree. Being a “leader” is all the rage, and Hitler’s typical title, “Fuhrer,” simply means “Leader.” Is not something drastically wrong when such a man fulfills the typical expectations of a pastor! How desperately we need to return to the Scriptures to gain the right perspective of the pastorate! In fact not one of these characteristics is a biblical requirement for the pastorate. They are more akin to the ideas of Paul’s opponents in 2 Corinthians than anything else.