Monthly Archives: March 2014

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The Twilight of Youth

Another Decade

On Sunday I began the fourth decade of my existence. In other words, I turned 30.

Such an occasion provides the opportunity for focused introspection, so allow me to take a diversionary dive in this post.

HERE’S TO THE SUNSET OF FOOLISHNESS . . .

Unsurprisingly, many people have asked if I feel “old” now that I can no longer lay claim to being a vicenarian.1 I actually feel little difference between being 29 or 30 because there is still “youth” in the 30s. But there isn’t any youth in the 40s, thus my youth is in its twilight. And I intend to make the most of that sun setting beyond the horizon.

Among the many different things associated with youth we can probably all agree that “foolishness” would lie close to the fore. If the 30s are in fact the twilight of youth, they ought to also be the twilight of foolishness. My hope, should God be kind enough to give me another ten years, is to labor to find foolishness fading and wisdom flourishing.

I often think about going back in time and counseling various versions of my early self. And I have found that my counsel always centers on slaying the various parts of my soul that loved to play the fool. Why not then, in this fourth decade of life, declare war on foolishness and strive for its sunset?

. . . AND THE SUNRISE OF WISDOM

A plodding perspective is needed however. As long as sin remains it will find a faithful friend in folly, so this declaration of war is means D-Day more than the Battle of Berlin. The foe will be vanquished, but the fight will be longer than I’d like with defeats and distractions – maybe even disasters like Market Garden – along the way. (Let the WWII readers understand.)

I think it took me a full three decades to understand two things, the first of which is truly seeing the value of wisdom. I have seen the world, tasted of fame, filled a bank account, added to my quiver, wanted for nothing, and yet found all these things to be wanting in and of themselves. Wisdom is better. God said so. Gold, silver, rubies, and precious jewels have nothing on this beauty named Wisdom (Prov. 8:11; 16:16).

The second thing I now see after climbing God’s mountain for 29 years are the two inseparable fountains from which wisdom flows: the fear of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Fear-filled awe of God is after all the “beginning of wisdom” (Prov. 1:7) and Christ is the treasure chest of “wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:3).

Beholding God’s glory in Christ then is the ultimate weapon to carry as I storm the shores of folly on the way to wisdom. Therefore, I must gird the spiritual loins with the Word of God. May this be a decade of biblical advance through meditation, study, and application. May my love for the things in this world darken as I look unto the Sun of Righteousness who is seated at the right hand of God on high. Why should my days be occupied with anything else?

A BURNING LIGHT

It seems like advancing into a new decade is commonly a cause of lamentation and not celebration. I propose to buck the trend. Increased age is not regress, but progress. A pilgrim-like progress unto the celestial city.

May I, light the Baptizer, be a burning light whose life cries out, “Behold the Lamb!” Wisdom shines and burns. So God, help me get a heart of wisdom.

  1. A silly, but fun way to say “twenty-something.” ↩
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Watson on Praying for Sermons

WatsonBeatitudesMondays are sermon prep days, at least for me. Rarely is the day occupied with anything else.

When Spurgeon, the “Prince of Preachers”, was asked why his ministry was so effective, he responded, “My people pray for me.”

It is my hope that congregations everywhere pray consistently for their preachers. I have told my congregation which days of the week I devote to sermon preparation in hopes they offer supplication and intercession on my behalf (Eph. 6:19). Consider these words from Thomas Watson:

God’s Spirit must fill the sails of our ministry. It is not that scatters the seed which makes it spring up, but the dews and influences of heaven. So it is not our preaching, but the divine influence of the Spirit that makes grace grow in men’s hearts. We are but pipes and organs. It is God’s Spirit blowing in us that makes the preaching of the Word by a divine enchantment allure souls to Christ. Ministers are but stars to light you to Christ. The Spirit is the lodestone to draw you.

Oh, then pray for us, that God will make his work prosper in our hands. This may be one reason why the Word preached does not profit more, because people do not pray more. Perhaps you complain the tool is dull, the minister is dead and cold. You should have whetted and sharpened him by your prayer. If would have the door of a blessing opened to you through our ministry, you must unlock it through the key of prayer. (Thomas Watson, The Beatitudes, 23)

May our people be praying people and our preachers “prayed for” preachers.

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Spring Break in Africa

Starting tomorrow the blog will be silent as I am on my way to Uganda with a team from IDC.

Sixteen of us are off to serve at Restoration Gateway over spring break. We will be doing everything from teaching the Bible, to construction, to soccer camps, to dental and medical clinics, to kids programs and caring for orphans. I’d appreciate any prayer!

Somewhat regular blogging will resume, Lord willing, on March 17th.

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Recent Reads

I love to read. By God’s grace I am a pretty fast reader; I usually read a couple books each week. I find it helpful to summarize my thoughts on each book and I offer those thoughts in the hope that you will be encouraged to either read or pass over the given title.

91sphgCz8KL._SL1500_The Works of George Swinnock Vol: 1. I first came across Swinnock when I purchased Trading and Thriving in Godliness: The Piety of George Swinnock in Reformation Heritage’s “Profiles in Reformed Spirituality Series.” I loved his work enough to use Christmas money that year to purchase his five-volume collected works published by Banner of Truth. The first two and half volumes are occupied with The Christian Man’s Calling, an exhaustive application of 1 Timothy 4:7-8. Swinnock is clear, if somewhat monotonous, and Spurgeon was spot on when he said, “George Swinnock had the gift of illustration largely developed, as his works prove…they served his purpose, and made his teaching attractive…there remains “a rare amount of sanctified wit and wisdom.'”

41oOtHzHvaL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_The Ascension: Humanity in the Presence of God by Tim Chester & Jonny Woodrow. There seems to be, in spite of the gospel-centered resurgence, a gap in publications on the ascension of Christ. Enter this splendid little work by Chester and Woodrow, of Porterbrook Network fame. The book consists of three chapters on Christ as: 1) Ascended Priest, 2) Ascended King, and 3) Ascended Man. With careful attention to biblical and systematic theology the authors eloquently display the undervalued significance of the truth that Christ has ascended on high. This is a vital read.

519X39H72KL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_Putting Truth to Work by Dan Doriani. DA Carson rightly says of this book, “There is not much written that deals thoughtfully and creatively with the theory and practice of applying Scripture” in preaching. Doriani’s book is an exhaustive treatment (coming in at over 300 pages) of the what, why, and how of application. He argues that there are four aspects to sound application: duty (what the text calls us to do), character (who the text calls us to be), goal (what goals the text calls us to pursue), and discernment (how the text tells us to distinguish between character and error). The four aspects can be put through a seven avenues for application, thus Doriani argues – compellingly so – that you could legitimately have 28 different applications to a given pericope. While I do wish the book was shorter, it is a sound and sensitive treatment of a timeless issue. Well done!

51LDVgSggBL._SY344_PJlook-inside-v2,TopRight,1,0_SH20_BO1,204,203,200_Paradigms in Conflict by David Hesselgrave. Paradigms in Conflict addresses ten pressing issues in missiology today. The pressing issues are better understood to be the common dichotomies that divide missionaries and missionary organizations. Things like “Free Will vs. Divine Sovereignty”, “Power Encounters vs. Truth Encounter”, and “Exclusivism vs. Inclusivism.” I don’t agree with all of Hesselgrave’s conclusions, but I think the book proves to be a valuable resource for discipling people entering the mission field. The author is extremely well-verse on the literature and, for the most part, fairly represents the various views treated in the book. I also appreciated his tone of humility in tackling such thorny issues.

41ewEXQFTeL._SY344_PJlook-inside-v2,TopRight,1,0_SH20_BO1,204,203,200_Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow. Someone told me once that Turow’s book created the “courtroom thriller” genre in publishing. Now that I’ve finally gotten around to reading it I can see why. Presumed Innocent employs many devices in structure and style that have made millionaires out of men like John Grisham and Richard North Patterson. The book is narrated in first-person, making the tone intensely personal and compellingly introspective. A thriller wouldn’t be a thriller without a surprise ending, and although my suspicion was proved true at the end, the twist was nevertheless enjoyable.

513KDYGPssL._SY344_PJlook-inside-v2,TopRight,1,0_SH20_BO1,204,203,200_The Innocent by David Baldacci. For years I’ve had people tell me I should read David Baldacci. The Innocent was my first dive in the Baldacci catalog and I was satisfied with the outcome. This book is the first in a series that follows Will Robie, a “stone cold hitman” with – go figure – a conscience. Whether or not such a thing is really possible is a debate for another day. The plot line is engrossing, the characters are enjoyable textured, and the outcome is unexpected. Not surprising enough to shock with me with who actually was the villain, but how the villain went about its evil scheme. A quick, fun read.

51ib4txWMvL._SY344_PJlook-inside-v2,TopRight,1,0_SH20_BO1,204,203,200_Zero Day by David Baldacci. The Innocent was good enough for me to pick up another Baldacci book and Zero Day is first entry in a separate Baldacie series. This one recounts the exploits of John Puller, “the best military investigator in the U.S. Army’s Criminal Investigation Division.” Now this Puller character I like! He really has a conscience (at least in this first book) and cannot be stopped or hindered in his pursuit of truth. Zero Day finds Puller stumbling across a vicious tragedy that opens up the possibility of a grave assault on our nation’s defense. While the plot stretches the realms of realism, it was the first in a long time that actually surprised me. I look forward to the other books already published in this series.

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A Catalyst for the Pastor’s Prayer

Praying Pastors 2

I doubt any pastor would argue with this statement: “Faithful pastors are praying pastors.” I also doubt that any pastor wouldn’t simultaneously say, “I wish I was more faithful in private prayer.” The great Bishop Ryle knew this struggle well as he said, “Let us pray more heartily in private, and throw our whole souls more into our prayers.”

There are many things a pastor can do to see the consistency of private prayer grow in his ministry, but let me encourage you to one specific resource that you may “pray more heartily in private.”

A church directory.

AN UNDERRATED CATALYST FOR PRIVATE PRAYER

A directory can come in many different forms these days, but I personally prefer an old school paper directory complete with essential contact info and pictures. My goal is to pray through one page of the directory, sixteen people on average, each day. This simple commitment has done wonders for my prayer life and pastoral ministry.

First, praying through a church directory encourages specific prayer. In my experience and observation, most pastors seem to spend most of their prayer time hovering way up in the sky with their requests. We offer broad, and biblical, petitions like: “Help us to be faithful in disciple-making,” “give us teachable hearts,”  and “mold us into the likeness of Christ.” All good and necessary prayers for sure! But faithful pastoring means getting down into the trenches, even with our prayer requests. A church directory helps with this. Praying through individual names means I am, necessarily, offering specific intercessions that I wouldn’t otherwise probably be making. Intercessions for their children, jobs,

Second, praying through a church directory encourages consistent prayer. I block off time in the middle of each afternoon to pray for our church. Having the goal of praying through one page per day gives that time not only structure, but consistency. Even if nothing else pops into my mind for church-centric prayer, having the directory on hand gives me at least sixteen different people to pray for.

Third, praying through a church directory encourages public prayer. In his timeless little work on prayer JC Ryle said, “You may be vary sure people fall in private long before they fall in public.” If we are falling in private prayer we are undoing our public prayer. A maxim we pastors ought to live by in this area is, “He who fails in private prayer will fail in public prayer.” I know this to be true on a week by week basis. Those weeks where private prayer is lax, I feel my public prayer cold. Those weeks where private prayer is vibrant, I feel my public prayer has more heat. If a church directory indeed encourages specific and consistent private prayer, we can be sure that it is also fueling our public prayer in profound ways.

Fourth, praying through a church directory encourages peaceful unity. Ephesians 4:3 calls us to be “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Colossians 3:15 commands the church to “let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body.” Just the other day one of our elder candidates said, “You know I looked around the room during gathered worship and I felt such joy that I get to worship with this body. And I think it is because of your encouragement to pray through the directory.” Why might he say that? I believe it’s because intercessory prayer helps build chords of unity within the body in ways nothing else can. We all know, intuitively, the power prayer has to overcome the pettiness and prejudice we can have towards our brothers and sisters in Christ. Prayer kills the weeds that quench peaceful unity. Simply put, it’s hard to remain frustrated with people you consistently pray for.

So then, praying through a church directory is, probably, much more than a catalyst for private prayer. It might just be a catalyst toward church health. You might want to give it a try.

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A Blueprint for Preaching

A Blueprint for Preaching

In Colossians 1:28 the apostle Paul gives us a surprisingly exhaustive blueprint for preaching when he says, “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.”

In the short span of this one verse we find the center, means, and aim of faithful sermons.

THE CENTER OF OUR MESSAGE

In verse twenty-five we find Paul telling the Colossians that God gave him a stewardship in the church to make the word of God fully known, which Paul is going to define further on two different levels.  First, in verse twenty-six we see him call the word of God the mystery.  If Paul had a favorite word, μυστήριον might just be it.  In Ephesians and Colossians alone he uses the word some twenty times.  And its use is intended to communicate to us that the Word of God has been progressively unveiled throughout redemptive history.  He has in mind that specific truth about God and His plan of salvation that had previously remained hidden, but has now been revealed.  So the word of God is the mystery, and verse twenty-seven gives us the second level definition when it says to them God chose to make . . . the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim . . . The word of God is the mystery and the mystery is Christ. Christ Jesus is the center of our message.

I want to then ask a question here, “Why must Jesus be the center of the church’s message?” We should not blithely pass by this truth or take it for granted. Why must Christ be the center of our message?

The Word must be all about Christ because only Christ can reveal the Father unto us. The Father created us for His own glory, He created us to have an intimate relationship with Him, and of course that relationship is marred by sin.  Sinful people seek there own glory, not the glory of God.  Because of this we are subject to the righteous wrath of God.  But in His love God sent His Son – the radiance of His glory – to remedy that broken relationship. Jesus is God Himself, and He comes, not only to share the love of the Father with us, but also to share His knowledge of the Father with us. He comes that we might grow to know the Father as He know the Father. Through His perfect life, death, and resurrection Jesus reveals the Father unto us so that, through faith, the relationship might be restored.  Christ therefore must be the center of our message.

And what a glorious center it is, as Paul says, “how great are the riches of the glory of [Christ]!”  To say that Christ is the center of the church’s messages is to say that our message centers on a treasure of unsearchable riches.  We call people to come and drink from the fount of Christ for we know that He satisfies.  We call people to place their faith in the blood of Christ because it can cover any sin. We call people to open up the Word of God and stand astonished and breathless at the majesty of God revealed to us.  We say with John Owen, “On Christ’s glory I would fix all my thoughts and desires.”

THE MEANS OF OUR MESSAGE

“Proclaim” a general term not restricted solely to preaching, yet is summarily comprehends the entire preaching ministry. The message of the church is rooted in the preaching ministry. Paul tells us that his proclamation includes two aspects, one negative and one positive.  The negative aspect is warning everyone; which speaks of encouraging counsel in view of sin and coming punishment.  Faithful preaching and ministering of the Word always has an eye towards loving admonishment and warning of sin and its consequences.

Faithful ministering of the Word means that we care enough to lovingly warn and admonish our brothers and sisters from the inherent danger that comes from a perpetual practice of sin.  The positive aspect of our proclamation is that we are also teaching everyone. Our message must also build up and instruct Christians in the truths of Scripture and the way of life found in Christ. Paul tells us that rightly proclaiming, warning, and teaching the message to the church requires that one do so with all wisdom.  Proclamation saturated with wisdom means choosing the right times and likeliest means, the different circumstances and capacities to those who are listening, and instructing accordingly.

Christ is the center, proclamation is the means, and now we look at the aim of our message.

THE AIM OF OUR MESSAGE

Paul has clearly articulated the center and means of the church’s message and just in case someone might ask “why?” he says that we do this so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. The aim is maturity. This word maturity actually may not capture the fullest sense of what is happening in the Greek.  The Greek word in view here is τέλειον, which more literally means “perfect.”  The problem is that “perfect” is too strong and “mature” is too weak. The sense that I want you to grasp this morning is that the aim of our message is wholehearted devotion in mind, heart, and spirit to the Lord.  The aim is wholehearted devotion.  Preaching Christ is unto the end of conforming one to the image of Christ.

This then is the blueprint for faithful sermons: Christ is the center, proclamation is the means, and wholehearted devotion and conformity to Christ is the aim. Preach on!

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Jesus Shall Reign

Old Made New

Here’s a great arrangement of Watt’s “Jesus Shall Reign” by The Silver Pages.


LYRICS

Jesus shall reign where’er the sun
Does its successive journeys run
His kingdom spread from shore to shore
Till moons shall wax and wane no more

People and realms of every tongue
Dwell on his love with sweetest song
and infant voices shall proclaim
Their early blessings on his name

Blessings abound where’er he reigns
The prisoners leap and loose their chains
The weary find eternal rest
and all who suffer want are blessed

Let every creature rise and bring
The highest honors to our King
Angels descend with songs again
And earth repeat the loud amen!

Download the song for free on NoiseTrade.