Proclaim the Forgiveness of Sins

Posted by on

I am increasingly mindful of the struggle Christians have to really believe that God loves them and forgives their sin. Part of our task as pastors in proclaiming the gospel is to remind the people of God that God does truly forgive sin. This is a crucial aspect of the gospel. But for some of our people it will be easy to believe that God hates sin, that God judges sin, and even that God forgives the sins of other people but not that he really & truly forgives their own sin.

Honestly, I am more accustomed to dealing with the error of minimizing God’s holiness and the horribleness of sin. This is a real problem in the church, but we must be wary of the error on both sides of the road here.

Eric Smith has a wonderful recent post on the task of proclaiming forgiveness individually to our people. He uses a great quote from Calvin on the fact that while we reject the Catholic practice of priestly pardon we do still as ministers of Christ, speaking as his heralds, proclaim the pardon of Christ to believers.

Eric then closes with these four searching questions which do truly get to the heart of pastoral ministry.

1) Am I striving to know my people in such a way that I can tell when they are burdened, and when they are rejoicing? Or am I content to prepare my sermons without thought to their needs and shake their hands on their way in and out of church on Sunday mornings?
2) Do I present myself as a knowable pastor, himself conscious of his sin and carried away by mercy? When my people think of someone who is approachable and sympathetic, do they think of me? Or do I come off as high-handed, demanding, and scolding?
3) Do I preach the Gospel beautifully, as the best news any sinner has ever heard, as sufficient to cleanse the deepest stains upon the conscience and heart? I personally find it much easier to preach legalistically about what we should do and not do, than to preach the Gospel of glorious free grace. My default mode is to try and modify our sinful behavior, rather than to exalt a merciful, life-giving Savior.
4) Am I able to personally apply the Gospel to the lives of my people when sitting across the table from them and listening to their stories as Calvin described? Or would I bungle this, able only to talk in generalities before a crowd? Have I thought through the sorts of sicknesses from which my people will suffer that will require tonic of the Gospel?

May we be the sort of faithful shepherds in view here.

Christ’s Atoning Wounds

Posted by on

If you do not already read Justin Wainscott’s blog, Theology in Verse, I encourage you to do so. He often posts theologically rich and powerfully emotive poems, some of his own and some from others. Today he posted the following poem which I particularly appreciated. The meter is 8.6.8.6 I believe, so it could be sung to “O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing,” “There is a Fountain,” or any other tune in that meter.

Christ’s Atoning Wounds
M. Justin Wainscott, © 2009

That sacred stream which ever flows,
Flows from the Savior’s wounds,
Does in the souls of saints compose
Sweet, Christ-exalting tunes.

So let the saints in chorus flood
This place with songs of praise;
And sing of Christ’s redeeming blood,
And marvel at his grace.

The precious wounds of Christ above –
His hands, his feet, his side –
Stand as a witness to his love
For us, his ransomed bride.

Those wounds which paid our sinful debt
Remove all grounds for pride;
For God’s requirements all were met
When Christ our Savior died.

So let us boast in him alone,
And in the wounds he bears;
Since he who sits on heaven’s throne
Those sacred scars still wears.

And when before that throne we stand,
And on our Savior gaze;
We’ll truly come to understand,
His wounds deserve our praise.

Southern Baptists, Evangelicals and the Future of Denominationalism

Posted by on

This Fall, October 6-9, Union University will host a major conference on the theme, “Southern Baptists, Evangelicals and the Future of Denominationalism.” I referred to this conference in passing previously, but now the conference website is up with details and registration.

The conference is timed to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the Baptist movement and intends to examine some of the most vital issues facing Southern Baptists and Evangelicals as we prepare to move into the second decade of the 21st Century.

I have pasted in the schedule below so you can see who is speaking and what their topics are.

My address will focus on the renewal needed in our vision of pastoral ministry- the need to reclaim the centrality of the oversight of souls. I hope to see you here.

Schedule
Tuesday, October 6
5:00 p.m. Ed Stetzer: Denominationalism: Is There a Future?
6:00 p.m. Dinner
7:00 p.m. Jim Patterson: Reflections on 400 Years of the Baptist Movement: Who We Are. What We Believe.

Wednesday, October 7
Continental Breakfast
8:30 a.m. Harry L. Poe: The Gospel and Its Meaning: Implications for Southern Baptists and Evangelicals
10:00 a.m. Timothy George: Baptists and Their Relations with Other Christians (G. M. Savage Chapel)
Noon Luncheon Address – Duane Litfin: The Future of American Evangelicalism
2:00 p.m. Ray Van Neste: The Oversight of Souls: Pastoral Ministry in Southern Baptist and Evangelical Life
Afternoon and dinner on your own
7:00 p.m. Corporate Worship: Robert Smith, preaching, (G. M. Savage Chapel)

Thursday, October 8
Continental Breakfast
10:00 a.m. Daniel Akin: The Future of the Southern Baptist Convention
Noon Luncheon Address – Michael Lindsay: Denominationalism and the Changing Religious Landscape in North America
2:00 p.m. Jerry Tidwell: Missions and Evangelism: Awakenings and Their Influence on Southern Baptists and Evangelicals
6:00 p.m. Banquet
7:00 p.m. David S. Dockery: Denominationalism and a Global Evangelical Future
8:00 p.m. Mark DeVine: Emergent or Emerging: Questions for Southern Baptists and North American Evangelicals

Friday, October 9
Continental Breakfast
8:30 a.m. Nathan Finn: Southern Baptists and Evangelicals: Passing on the Faith to the Next Generation
10:00 a.m. R. Albert Mohler, Jr.: Southern Baptists, Evangelicals, and the Future of Denominationalism (G. M. Savage Chapel)

Ministry in Zimbabwe

Posted by on

One of the young men at our church, Mike Evans, is serving as an intern this summer at Central Baptist Church in Harare, Zimbabwe and is chronicling his experience at a blog, “Entrusted With the Gospel.” I am finding his reflections encouraging and challenging so I wanted to pass it along. The following is from a recent report about his labors in pastoral work:

Day by day, the Lord provides me with the graces I need to go on, but I will be honest that I am tired. As I write this, my eyes are filled with tears by the things that I have seen and the pain that I am surrounded by. HIV/AIDS is rampant, and the needs are great, even among our church family here. My eyes are being opened to what it means to oversee the flock, to meet one another’s needs (even as I have sat here, a family has come in to give me some money as a gift), to care for widows and orphans and the fatherless, to see each of these to maturity in Christ, to teach and admonish one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, to read the Bible together and to eagerly long for the return of Christ. More and more, my heart is being turned toward the needs of God’s people as they cry out for relief, and they gather as a church body to lean on one another, hoping that they will have the faith to persevere tomorrow.

Bond on Calvin Tour

Posted by on

Douglas Bond, whose books my family particularly enjoys, is leading a tour of key places in the life of John Calvin in honor of the 500th anniversary of his birth. Bond is journaling the tour at his blog complete with photos and video. He has recently written a fascinating historical novel on the life of Calvin (The Betrayal: A Novel on John Calvin) so he knows the history well and is able to point out significant places along the way. For example in this video Bond points out the place where Calvin had to escape, most likely by lowering himself from an apartment window as the authorities closed in on him for his part in the reformation work in Paris. This sort of things makes history come alive.

A Shepherd’s Prayer

Posted by on

I have mentioned previously here the new church start, Grace Community Church. After their first official meeting as a church, Chad Davis, one of their pastors, sent this prayer to the congregation. I asked permission to post it here as an example of praying Scripture for your people. Scripture (especially Paul’s prayers) provide us great material for praying specifically for our people. I hope this is an encouragement to you as it was to me.

Heavenly Father,

I thank you today for loving this world enough to send your only begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life (Jn. 3:16). Thank you for choosing us in Christ before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4). Thank you that, in Christ, we have redemption through his blood (Eph. 1:7). And thank you that, in Christ, we have obtained an inheritance (Eph. 1:11) that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading and is waiting in heaven for us (1 Pet. 1:4).

I thank you as well for the people of Grace Community Church. Thank you for shining into our hearts the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4:6). Thank you for delivering us from the domain of darkness and transferring us to the kingdom of your Son (Col.1:13). Thank you for arranging the members of this body as you have chosen (1 Cor. 12:18), for your glory.

I pray for us today that we would have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth of the love of Christ so what we would be filled with all of your fullness (Eph. 4:18-19). And as we begin to comprehend that incomprehensible love, I pray that we would walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us (Eph. 5:2). I pray that we would love one another because we have been loved (1 John 4:11,19). Fill our hearts with the glory and beauty of the gospel and of our Savior so that such joy and love will overflow into our relationships with each other.

Help us to glorify you by exalting Christ through the power of the Spirit today. Amen.

Tolkien’s Roverandom

Posted by on

Roverandom, J. R. R. Tolkien
(Houghton Mifflin, 1998), hb.., 106 pp.
[various editions available]
Ages 7+

This is a fun story to share with your children. It is not a grand epic like Lord of the Rings but a light-hearted story Tolkien spun for his own children. The introduction in this edition is nice because it explains the setting from which this story arose. One of Tolkien’s sons lost a beloved toy dog and to help comfort him Tolkien began telling a story of a real dog who had been turned into a toy by a spell, was found by a boy and then was lost by the boy and went on adventures to the moon, the bottom of the ocean and elsewhere. It is fanciful and fun.

One of the most endearing parts of this story to me was the opportunity to see Tolkien, the father, in action. This story was not originally prepared for publication. Rather it was simply a story told to entertain and comfort his children. You can see Tolkien’s own delight in playing with words, his fascinations with old tales, his wit, critiques of issues in his day and his love for his children.

My boys enjoyed the story with me, and we commend it to you. Perhaps it will encourage you to make up stories for your family as well!

A Minister’s Confession

Posted by on

From Valley of Vision: A collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions:

God,
I know that I often do thy work
without thy power,
and sin by my dead, heartless, blind service,
my lack of inward light, love, delight,
my mind, heart, tongue moving
without thy help.
I see sin in my heart in seeking the approbation
of others;
This is my vileness, to make men’s opinion
my rule, whereas
I should see what good I have done,
and give thee glory,
consider what sin I have committed
and mourn for that.
It is my deceit to preach, and pray,
and to stir up others’ spiritual affections
in order to beget commendations,
whereas my rule should be daily
to consider myself more vile than any man
in my own eyes.
But thou dost show thy power by my frailty,
so that the more feeble I am,
the more fit to be used,
for thou dost pitch a tent of grace
in my weakness.
Help me to rejoice in my infirmities
and give thee praise,
to acknowledge my deficiencies before others
and not be discouraged by them,
that they may see thy glory more clearly.
Teach me that I must act by a power supernatural,
whereby I can attempt things above my strength,
and bear evils beyond my strength,
acting for Christ in all,
and have his superior power to help me.
Let me learn of Paul
whose presence was mean,
his weakness great,
his utterance contemptible,
yet thou didst account him faithful and blessed.
Lord, let me lean on thee as he did,
and find my ministry thine.

(posted Thurs at http://www.banneroftruth.org/pages/dailydevotion_detail.php?2399)

Wilson on Authoritative Preaching

Posted by on

Here is another excerpt from Wilson’s A Serrated Edge: A Brief Defense of Biblical Satire and Trinitarian Skylarking. Here he is critiquing our current culture’s view of humility and arrogance.

“We see the same thing in the conflict between biblical and modern theories of preaching. The biblical preacher is a herald, a steward. He has been entrusted to declare something that would have been true if he had never been born. He is to preach it with a strong view of his own ultimate irrelevance. He is to get into the pulpit and say, ‘Thus says the Lord.’ And to the modern world, this is insufferable arrogance.

In stark contrast with this, a modern pretty boy preacher – excuse me, a pretty boy communicator – gets up front and can talk about himself the entire time he is there. He is open, transparent, honest, and emotionally approachable. He is humble, or so it is thought. The evidence? He is humble because he talked about himself a lot. And the other one, the insufferable one, he must think he has a personal pipeline to God. He must think that God wrote a book or something . . . wait.” (p. 23)

We do see too much pride in the pulpit. We must fight the selfish pride that wells up within us. But we must also realize that certainty about what God has said is not arrogance. As Wilson rightly notes later “Arrogance is the sin of assuming yourself to be in the right without warrant from the Word of God” (p. 25). Let us be humble about ourselves, by talking most about Christ and holding fast to his authority unconcerned about the praise of man.

Doug Wilson on the Wisdom Needed for Giving Sharp Critique

Posted by on

I have my disagreements with Doug Wilson (baptism for example). But I have my agreements as well and they are many. I really like reading his material because he will at least give you something worth disagreeing with! You will not be bored and where he sees truth he will press it with fervor.

I have just recently read his book on satire, A Serrated Edge: A Brief Defense of Biblical Satire and Trinitarian Skylarking (Moscow, ID: Canon Press, 2003). There are still significant questions about when and how satire can be profitably used, but I enjoyed his book.

My point here though is to cite a passage which contains significant wisdom for the internet discussions taking place currently. As an advocate of satire, Wilson comments here on who is and is not qualified to wield such a sharp sword.

“Of course, in saying all this, there are a few caveats of the ‘don’t try this at home’ variety. I believe that true biblical balance in such things is the fruit of wisdom, and that such balance is not usually found in hot-headed young men who do not know what spirit they are of (Lk. 9:55). Consequently, prophetic rebukes should come from seasoned prophets, from men called to the ministry of guarding those people who belong to the Lord. The work should be done by men of some age and wisdom, and not by novices, firebrands, and zealots. The work should most certainly not be done by the kind of man who practices on his mom, wife, or kids. Satire is a weapon to be employed in the warfare of the kingdom, not an opportunity for personal venting. A man who has a need to cut others is a man who ought to be silent.” (p. 105)

This is a good word.