Monthly Archives: December 2014

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A Hymn for the Pilgrim Life

Truth-filled and gospel-saturated hymns have power to sustain and strengthen.

Our congregations need songs that speak to the fullness of human experience – songs of adoration, celebration, lamentation, confession, and supplication. You can discern much from the songs a church sings. Not just their theology, but their understanding of the Christian life. The Christian life is a pilgrim life (Heb. 10:11; 1 Pet. 2:11), full of pains and sorrows on our journey toward heaven. And we need songs to carry us on the way.

One old hymn that preaches truth into our pilgrimage with moving clarity is Henry Francis Lyte’s “Jesus I My Cross Have Taken.” Originally set to a Mozart melody, the men of Indelible Grace reworked back in 2001 and it’s what a hymn should be.

Check out IG’s hymn-sing recording below and the different arrangements at the bottom.

LYRICS

1. Jesus, I my cross have taken,
All to leave and follow Thee.
Destitute, despised, forsaken,
Thou from hence my all shall be.
Perish every fond ambition,
All I’ve sought or hoped or known.
Yet how rich is my condition!
God and heaven are still my own.

2. Let the world despise and leave me,
They have left my Savior, too.
Human hearts and looks deceive me;
Thou art not, like them, untrue.
O while Thou dost smile upon me,
God of wisdom, love, and might,
Foes may hate and friends disown me,
Show Thy face and all is bright.

3. Man may trouble and distress me,
’Twill but drive me to Thy breast.
Life with trials hard may press me;
Heaven will bring me sweeter rest.
Oh, ’tis not in grief to harm me
While Thy love is left to me;
Oh, ’twere not in joy to charm me,
Were that joy unmixed with Thee.

4. Go, then, earthly fame and treasure,
Come disaster, scorn and pain
In Thy service, pain is pleasure,
With Thy favor, loss is gain
I have called Thee Abba Father,
I have stayed my heart on Thee
Storms may howl, and clouds may gather;
All must work for good to me.

5. Soul, then know thy full salvation
Rise o’er sin and fear and care
Joy to find in every station,
Something still to do or bear.
Think what Spirit dwells within thee,
Think what Father’s smiles are thine,
Think that Jesus died to win thee,
Child of heaven, canst thou repine.

6. Haste thee on from grace to glory,
Armed by faith, and winged by prayer.
Heaven’s eternal days before thee,
God’s own hand shall guide us there.
Soon shall close thy earthly mission,
Soon shall pass thy pilgrim days,
Hope shall change to glad fruition,
Faith to sight, and prayer to praise.

 

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Congregational Camaraderie

Worship God

One of the most common shepherding issues ordinary pastors face today is the matter of nominal attendance. What percentage of your congregation is absent on an average week?

Chances are it’s higher than it should be and greater than you want it to be.

PUT IT IN THE RIGHT LIGHT

The worst thing we can do in attempting to address the matter is minimize it. Some might say, “Faithful attendance is just a relic of days gone by.” “There are just too many competing activities and events today. I’m just happy if my flock is there half the time,” another might say. In the last decade or so I’ve heard an increasing number of people posit a “small groups are where church really happens” doctrine. This subtle shift sounds pious enough, but it only serves to perpetuate what is the common Christian view of our time: attendance at corporate worship as optional. “It’s great if you can make it, but it’s really not a big deal if you do something else.”

If we cater to this kind of a culture we are putting the souls of our people in danger. For congregational attendance is not a matter of personal convenience or preference, but one of obedience. God commands His people to “not [neglect] to meet together, as is the habit of some” (Heb. 10:25). It’s not possible to truly love God and not also love His people (1 John 4:20-21). Just like any relationship, gathering together is a clear evidence of love.

Faithfully gathering with the church is a way we show our love for the church. Loving Jesus means loving His body by gathering with His body.

What can we pastors do to shepherd our nominal attendees to greater faithfulness and obedience in this joining the body for the corporate worship of God? The following three things would be a good place to begin.

3 SHEPHERDING STRATEGIES

Teach. It all starts here. I should mention it doesn’t seem wise, once you’ve noticed there’s a problem in this area, to go preach a sermon on Hebrews 10:25. You could probably do worse, but you can also do better. You must teach your people to treasure the Lord Jesus Christ and show them in the matchless love He has for His church. Teach them how blessed it is when God’s people dwell together in unity and how faithful attendance is a boon to congregational unity. Help them see that God has deposited His ordinary means of grace in His church and that these means are regularly (some exclusively) offered in gathered worship. Let them gain a biblical understanding of the joys of communion with Christ and how the corporate meeting is communion with Christ. Teach them that a local church is a colony of heaven and that every time she gathers to hear the Word preached and sacraments administered, heaven comes down to earth.

Let the thrust of our teaching on this issue not be, “You must gather for worship!” but rather, “See the satisfying joy of corporate worship! What delight awaits the people of God in their meeting with God. Why would you want to miss this heavenly assembly?” Aim for raising their affections, not mere or rote obedience.

Track. You will never be able to effectively shepherd your people who are regularly absent if you don’t know they are regularly absent. For smaller churches this will be pretty easy, but for larger churches you will likely have to get more creative. I know a church that has all their members pick up name tags when they arrive, so they know who missed the gathering based on what name tags are left on the shelf. Another church simply has an elder in the sound booth who marks down attendance at the beginning of each service. Another church I know of leans heavily on their child check-in system to see which families were present (this doesn’t, of course, account for singles or families without kids).

Once you track the attendance then you must prayerfully decide as elders at what point non-attendance becomes a concern. We must banish rigidity from our minds on this matter. There is no hard line number the Bible gives us in defining what “not neglect” consists of; we simply want our people to continually grow in their devotion to gathered worship.

Train. Throughout my time at IDC I’ve had quite a few members come up to me and say, “Have you seen So-And-So? I haven’t seen them in quite some time?” A training moments awaits if we seize it. What I like to do is respond with something like, “I’m sure they’d appreciate it if you’d reach out to them. Give ’em a call or shoot ’em an email to let them know they’re missed. Maybe invite them over to dinner to hang out and see how they’re doing.” It will mean something altogether different when pastors and church members are concerned about a member’s pattern of absence.

Another thing you can do is train your small group leaders to always be on the lookout if a particular church member from their group is gone for several weeks in a row. Part of the training needs to include matters of wisdom and warmth. We don’t want our members to feel as though the rest of the congregation is breathing down their neck like a hawkish teacher taking the class roll. Rather, we want our small group leaders to be able to clearly and humbly exhort their group to greater faithfulness in this area.

HAVE PATIENCE

As we’ve put these things into practice at IDC I’ve noticed a couple things. First, God seems to bless patient labor. I rejoice even now thinking about certain members who have increased their devotion to gathered worship and how the Spirit has brought forth clear fruit from the ordinary means. Second, don’t be surprised if things ebb and flow. Just when we seem to gather momentum things unexpectedly slow down or taper off. Part of me, or maybe a lot of me, thinks this is God reminding us that He is sovereign over His sheep. Our shepherding system doesn’t guarantee anything.

Put your own wise creativity to work in how you shepherd your sheep. Be faithful in your exhortation and trust God will use it to edify His people.

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Books to Look For From DeYoung

Every once in a while an author comes along with that rare, and envious, mixture of authorial mastery: wisdom, wit, and warmth. Were those “W’s of Writing” are present you can almost assuredly count on the work being useful.

One of the few authors in our evangelical landscape who has those attributes in spades is Kevin DeYoung.

I have follow his publishing career from he and Ted Kluck’s timely addressing of “The Theological/Philosophical Fad of the Moment” in Why We’re Not Emergent By Two Guys Who Should Be to the recent masterpiece on Scripture, Taking God at His Word.

If DeYoung writes it, I will read it. And [much] more often than not I find myself writing things like “amen,” “good point,” or “challenging” in the margin of his works.

From what I can see, he’s slated to publish two books next year well worth our attention, for drastically different reasons. The first seeks to offer clarity on the cultural issue most pressing on the church at the moment, while the second looks like it will be a fun family read around the dinner table. And we always need wisdom, wit, and warmth in both those categories. Here are the respective titles, both from the good folks at Crossway.

9781433549373What Does the Bible Really Say About Homosexuality? In just a few short years, massive shifts in public opinion have radically reshaped society’s views on homosexuality. Feeling the pressure to forsake long-held beliefs about sex and marriage, some argue that Christians have historically misunderstood the Bible’s teaching on this issue. But does this approach do justice to what the Bible really teaches about homosexuality? In this timely book, award-winning author Kevin DeYoung challenges each of us—the skeptic, the seeker, the certain, and the confused—to take a humble look at God’s Word. Examining key biblical passages in both the Old and New Testaments and the Bible’s overarching teaching regarding sexuality, DeYoung responds to popular objections raised by Christians and non-Christians alike—offering readers an indispensable resource for thinking through one of the most pressing issues of our day. Publication Date: April 30, 2015.

9781433542442The Biggest Story: How the Snake Crusher Brings Us Back to the Garden. The burning bush. David and Goliath. Joseph and the coat of many colors. The Bible is full of classic stories that fill children with awe and wonder. But kids need to know how all those beloved stories connect to Scripture’s overarching message about God’s love for the world. In The Biggest Story, best-selling author and father of six, Kevin DeYoung, leads readers on an exciting journey through the Bible, connecting the dots from the garden of Eden to the return of Christ. Short and extremely readable, this imaginative retelling of the biblical narrative can be read in one sitting and features action-packed illustrations that will bring the message of the Bible to life for the whole family. Publication Date: August 31, 2015.

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Man’s Limit

Job Podcast

Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind,
Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?

As he sat among the ash heap with his friends a fierce storm blows across the landscape and out of it pours forth the voice of God. Job has repeatedly said he wants to come to God’s courtroom to speak with the Lord, but the arrival of the whirlwind reminds us that God meets and speaks with man on his own terms.

Job has spoken confident words as if he knows the fullness of God’s governance with the world. He’s said in 12:22 that God brings “deep darkness to light” and in 9:5-6 that God brings disorder where there ought to be order. And so God challenges Job to a confrontation over words and knowledge, look at 38:3,

Dress for action like a man;
I will question you, and you make it known to me.

The language here is taken from the world of wrestling. My boys are in the stage where they like to wrestle with daddy and it’s not uncommon for one of the to cry if the wrestling match doesn’t go their way. I often will say something like, “If you want to wrestle you’ve got to tough it up.” And in many ways that’s what God is saying here to Job, “You want an answer from me? You want to teach me? Well then, man up, for here I come.”

BEHOLD THE MYSTERIOUS KNOWLEDGE OF GOD

Look at what God says in 38:4-5,

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.
Who determined its measurements—surely you know!

 Let’s not miss how stunning God’s answer is. He doesn’t offer an explanation for why Job suffers, he doesn’t give some justification for His sovereign dealings in Job’s life, instead He summons Job to an interrogation. In chapters 38-39 God asks Job a series of 43 rhetorical questions. The barrage of questions that come now in chapters 38-39 function as something like a jackhammer to Job’s soul. A spiritual jackhammer was not what Job expected to hear; God is often mysterious in speech towards men. The words from the whirlwind are not what Job wanted to hear, but what he needed to hear. Might something similar be true of your life? Could God even be speaking to you now on what you need to hear, but you are missing it because it’s not what you want to hear?

God’s 43 questions can be broken down into something like seventeen short subsections. Because we don’t have time to look at all seventeen I’m just going to break up God’s speech into it’s two basic and more general parts. The two main points Job needs to hear: 1) God is sovereign over the inanimate world (in other words, the parts of creation that don’t breathe). Notice what he says in 38:8-11,

“Or who shut in the sea with doors
when it burst out from the womb,
when I made clouds its garment
and thick darkness its swaddling band,
and prescribed limits for it
and set bars and doors,
and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther,
and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?

Did you notice the stunning word picture of how God controls the sea and darkness, two common ANE symbols of evil and chaos? He controls it like a mother controls a baby. He lets the sea burst from the womb, He wraps up the darkness in swaddling clothes, and “prescribed limits for it.” God is saying, “If I order evil in this way, do you not think I do the same with your suffering Job?” As one commentator says, “In some mysterious way even darkness is necessary to show forth the light of God’s goodness.” I wonder if you will trust God sovereignty even when evil and suffering seem to rule on this earth. Will you condemn him as impotent? Decry him as cruel? Or cling to His mysterious goodness?

God goes on to talk about his control of the morning, seas, and recesses of the deep. And notice now the questions of 38:18-21,

Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth?
Declare, if you know all this.

Where is the way to the dwelling of light,
and where is the place of darkness,
that you may take it to its territory
and that you may discern the paths to its home?
You know, for you were born then,
and the number of your days is great!

Here then is a key implication from the first part of God’s interrogation of Job: Man’s knowledge is limited. It’s a dangerous thing to presume to know what God is doing in any given situation, our knowledge is so limited, yet God knows the expanses of all the inanimate world. There is incredible mystery in this speech. And it is not cowardly to get to a point when thinking about God and say, “I’m not sure how that all works out.” The great Dutch theologian Herman Bavinck said, “Mystery is the lifeblood of dogmatics.” An infinite, incomprehensible God cannot be fully comprehended by finite minds. And that is what Job is discovering.

He goes on to say He reigns sovereign over the snow (38:22-23), rain and lightning (38:24-28), ice (38:29-30), planets and constellations (38:31-33), clouds (38:34), and then look at the amazing question of 38:35,

Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go
and say to you, ‘Here we are’?

What an incredible picture! God is saying, “Do the lightning bolts report to you each day and say, ‘Here we are, where will you send us today Job?’ No, but I give every bolt its intending destination.” There is no one like our God.

Several years ago the BBC and Discovery Channel spent five years on the most expensive nature documentary ever commissioned: Planet Earth. I’m sure many of you have seen it. The series comprises eleven episodes, each of which features a global overview of a different biome or habitat on Earth. And the images and videos are simply stunning? The animal world is more majestic and wild than anything we can imagine.

And that is exactly the point God makes in the remainder of his interrogation.

BEHOLD GOD’S MAJESTIC POWER

 

For God is not only sovereign over the inanimate world, but 2) God is sovereign over the animate world. And this world is wild.

In 38:39-41 God says the wild is full of predators and prey, and notice now what he says in 39:5-6,

 

“Who has let the wild donkey go free?
Who has loosed the bonds of the swift donkey,
to whom I have given the arid plain for his home
and the salt land for his dwelling place?

 

Skip down to 39:9-10,

 

“Is the wild ox willing to serve you?
Will he spend the night at your manger?
Can you bind him in the furrow with ropes,
or will he harrow the valleys after you?

 

Now look at 39:19-20,

 

“Do you give the horse his might?
Do you clothe his neck with a mane?
Do you make him leap like the locust?
His majestic snorting is terrifying.

 

Finally, see 38:26-27,

 

“Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars
and spreads his wings toward the south?
Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up
and makes his nest on high?

 

The animal world is wildly majestic and who controls all of it? The sovereign God who speaks to Job in the whirlwind. Which leads to a couple other implications for Job and us: Man’s power is limited. When compared to God’s power over all creation our power is just a drop of water in the ocean of God’s omnipotence. John Calvin wrote at the beginning of his Institutes that true knowledge of who we are only comes when we have a true knowledge of who God is. “We are led to acknowledge our frailty only when we have measured ourselves against the majesty of God,” he wrote. The question for Job, and for us, is which power will you cling to? The power that struggles to even climb a small mountain, or the power made the mountain with a word?

We also need to see from God’s interrogation that man’s wisdom is limited. Look back at 38:36-37,

 

Who has put wisdom in the inward parts
or given understanding to the mind?
Who can number the clouds by wisdom?

 

The wisdom of God is matchless compared to the wisdom of men. So, there is another question God means to storm forward in our minds: Whose wisdom will you follow?