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Christ in the Front, Not in the Footnotes

We Preach Christ

Preachers are covenant heralds of The King of King. “Him we proclaim.” We know “nothing except Christ and him crucified.” We declare “Jesus Christ as Lord.” “We preach Christ crucified.”

Or do we?

The Glory of Christ Front and Center

I’m not yet done with it, but Sinclair Ferguson’s The Whole Christ: Legalism, Antinomianism, & Gospel Assurance—Why the Marrow Controversy Still Matters is routinely magnificent in its meditations on ministry.

For example, in chapter two Ferguson drives home the danger of separating the benefits of Christ from the person of Christ in preaching. He writes,

Wherever the benefits of Christ are seen as abstractable from Christ himself, there is a decreasing stress on his person and work in preaching and in the books that are published to feed that preaching. That is accompanied by a stress on our experience of salvation rather than on the grace, majesty, and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Is it possible that most preachers reading these pages own more books on preaching (and even on preaching Christ!) than they own on Christ himself?

If that is true (a survey would certainly be illuminating), we should probably ask a further question: Is it obvious to me, and of engrossing concern, that the chief focus, the dominant note in the sermon I preach (or hear), is ‘Jesus Christ and him crucified’? Or is the dominant emphasis (and perhaps the greatest energies of the preacher) focused somewhere else, perhaps on how to overcome sin, or how to live the Christian life, or on the benefits to be received from the gospel? All are legitimate emphases in their place, but that pace is never center stage.

When I read that, I write in the margin, “Most convicting, Dr. Ferguson. Bless you.”

Don’t Put Him in the Footnotes of Your Sermon

In that paragraph quoted above Ferguson offers, in a footnote, an illustration for how we commonly let Christ’s benefits supersede a focus on Christ himself. He says,

This [separation] might be illustrated by the way in which, for example, John Owen’s work Of the Mortification of Sin has undoubtedly been read by many more younger ministers than either his Glory of Christ or Communion with God. That may be understandable because of the deep pastoral insight in Owen’s short work; but it may also put the practical cart before the theological horse. Owen himself would not have been satisfied with hearers who learned mortification without learning Christ. A larger paradigmatic shift needs to take place than only exchanging a superficial subjectivism for Owen’s rigorous subjectivism. What is required is a radical recentering in a richer and deeper knowledge of Christ, understood in terms of his person and work. There can be little doubt that Owen himself viewed things this way.

Christ the Center

Dear brother preacher, the Lord’s Day is right around the corner, and we must ask afresh, “Whom will we preach?” That’s the most important question, even more than, “What will we preach?” We preach Christ because Christ is the gospel. Let our preaching lift the chin of our congregation to consider Christ dead, buried, risen, and ascended to heaven. Let our preaching call for sinners to get into Christ. Let our preaching sound forth the sweetness of a Savior crushed in our place.

Let us not tear asunder Christ from His benefits. Let us preach the Benefactor who graciously gives His benefits to all who believe.

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Hearing the Word Preached

On The Battleground of Preaching

At IDC, we provide an “Upcoming Sermons Card” each week that lists the scheduled sermon titles, texts, and preacher for the next six weeks. I’m increasingly convinced this little card may be one of the most underrated spiritual weapons we have in the IDC arsenal—for preaching (me speaking clearly and the church hearing faithfully) is the God-ordained means of tearing down hell’s gates.

So, like any good soldier of Christ, we want to prepare for the battle, and this card can do just that. You can place it in your Bible and make a point to read through the passage we will study a few times during the week. You can pray for the person scheduled to preach. You can read over the passage during dinner with your kids so they might be ready to receive God’s word. Kids, if you can read, you too can take the card, and read the passage on your own, writing down any questions you might have. We don’t want underestimate how much good and power floods into a church prepared for the battleground of worship.

What then are some practical and concrete encouragements for church members who want to prepare for this sermonic battleground? We turn, as we so often should, to the Puritans.

It’s Quite Elementary According to Watson

Earlier today I read Joel Beeke’s little booklet, Piety: The Heartbeat of Reformed Theology. At the end he offers a series of exhortations for growing in piety and—as it should be (Rom. 10:14-16)—faithfulness to hearing God’s word preached comes first. Beeke says, “The Puritans in particular relished good sermons. They attended church faithfully, took careful notes, and often talked and prayer their way through the sermon afterward with their children. These practices were the fruit of Puritan pastors teaching their people how to listen to sermons.”

Beeke then turns to the most excellent Thomas Watson and offers the following “Watsonian” encouragements for diligence in hearing God’s word preached:

  1. Prepare to hear the Word by bathing your soul in prayer.
  2. Come to the Word with a holy appetite and a tender, teachable heart.
  3. Be attentive to the preached Word.
  4. Receive with meekness the engrafted Word (James 1:21).
  5. Mingle the preached Word with faith.
  6. Strive to retain what has been preached and pray about the Word proclaimed.
  7. Put the word into practice; be doers of it.
  8. Beg the Spirit to accompany the Word with effectual blessing.
  9. Familiarize yourself with the Word by sharing it with others.

Thriving on the Battlefield

Faith comes by hearing; life comes from God’s word. Satan is prowling around at all times looking to eat up the seed or snatch it away from a light grip. Preaching is the cosmic battlefield of the ages. How are you helping your people to prepare for the battle?

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He’s Got it Right

“It is our calling [as pastors] to woo and win souls to Christ, to set him forth to the people as crucified among them, to present him in all his attractive excellencies, that all hearts may be ravished with his beauty, and charmed into his arms by love.” — John Flavel

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Shepherding the Children

Let the Children Come to Me

For the last six months or so I’ve been tinkering away at constructing a theology of children. One of the many practical implications of such a study bears down on ordinary shepherding. I’ve come to realize that a fair amount of my eldering over the past few years has been more truncated than it ought to be.

Simply put: it’s easy to focus on the adults of a family and neglect the kids. Part of this is because many parents don’t bring their kids into gathered worship, so I don’t have that supernaturally precious time to shepherd them from the sacred desk. But even in pastoral visitation, I realize how much time I spend speaking with adults and how little time I spend with the children.

I think the Savior would say, “Dear brother, this should not be so.”

I know for sure that the revered Samuel Miller would say so.

Letters to a Young Pastor

In 1827, Samuel Miller published Letters on Clerical Manners, a collection of fourteen different letters he wrote to a student recently graduated from seminary and about to enter gospel ministry. The book is a fascinating glimpse into antebellum Presbyterian ministry and all the idiosyncrasies of the time (for instance, Miller regularly admonishes the student not to spit in public or when in the pulpit). The contextual hilarity, however, belies an astonishing amount of convicting wisdom.

Pay Particular Attention to Children

Miller’s sixth letter is all about pastoral visitation and the third point exhorts pastors to “be particularly attentive to children and young people.” Miller writes, “I have often wondered that a duty so obvious, and recommended by so many considerations, should be so much overlooked by discerning members.”

Here are a few statements that stand out on the subject I would invite you to prayerfully consider how to apply in your pastoral context:

  • Can any thinking man fail to remember, that children are the hope of the church?
  • Impressions made in the morning of life, are generally among the most permanent and ultimately beneficial?
  • Instructions given, and sentiments then imbibed, though they may long lie dormant in the mind, often rise into life and fruitfulness, when he who gave them has gone to his eternal rest?
  • Can it be forgotten, also, that all experience testifies the importance to a minister himself, of paying particular attention to the youth of his charge? It forms a bond of union between him and them which time, instead of severing, will rather strengthen.
  • O, if ministers could fully anticipate the sweetness of children growing up to honor you as a father in Christ, a regard to their own happiness would unite with the purest benevolence, in impelling them to unwearied care in watching over the children of their charge, and in embracing every opportunity to enlighten their minds, and to win their hearts in favor of all that is good.
  • Assiduous attention to children, are among the most direct and sure avenues to the hearts of parents. It often happens, indeed, that parents are more deeply gratified, by kind efforts to promote the welfare of their children, and are more lastingly thankful for them, than for the same kindness bestowed on themselves.

Endeavor in Every Place

What then, my dear ordinary pastor friend, are you doing to shepherd the little lambs in your fold? Never forget that Christ called for the little children to come to Him. Let us do the same. May you take Miller’s exhortation to “endeavor to gain their attention, to win their hearts [for Christ]” to your heart this coming Lord’s Day.

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The Puritans & Preaching

Perhaps no individual has influenced me so profoundly as that modern-day Puritan Joel Beeke. He first introduced me to experiential preaching, the necessity of personal piety, the glory of prayer, and the vitality of the Holy Spirit.

A few months ago Beeke delivered the keynote messages at Westminster Theological Seminary’s 2015 Preaching Conference. The following two messages will edify any preacher and, I trust, stir him up the renewed earnestness in gospel ministry. The panel discussion at the end with The Mortification of Spin team (70,000 listeners every week!?!) is also quite useful. If you only listen to part of it make sure to listen to the first section where the brothers each share their call into ministry—most encouraging!

“The Priority of Preaching for the Puritans”

“Preaching Like the Puritans—or Not?”

Panel Discussion with Joel Beeke and Mortification of Spin

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A Gospel Worship Revolution

Gospel Worship

Last week Christianity Today virtually declared an end to the worship wars. According to the authors, “the waning of the worship wars” is part of a “decades-long trend in American religion away from an emphasis on belief and doctrine and toward an emphasis on experience, emotion, and the search for a least-common-denominator kind of worship in a time of ever-less salient denominationally specific liturgical and theological content.”

I think their conclusion is right. The worship wars are over. Now, in this post, I raise my theological glass to the hope of “worship revolution.”

A Waking Gospel Revolution

Since the turn of the century, the resurgence of gospel-centrality in the larger evangelical is well documented and undeniable. What we’ve seen is a re-centering of the gospel for the Christian life and some congregational life—particularly preaching. But new horizons of gospel centrality must be explored: How does the gospel shape church polity? How does the gospel change church staffing? How does the gospel transform the tone, not just the topic, of preaching? And, how does the gospel inform worship?

More specifically, “how should the gospel inform the design, implementation, and leadership of a gathered worship service?”

When Doctoral Studies Get Quite Practical

That was the question recently posed to me in a doctoral seminar on “Planning and Leading Christian Worship.” My research and subsequent writing revealed something of a gap in the conversation. It revealed an ordinary way most scholars (and thus many pastors) articulate the liturgical practices of the church that I fear can quickly go the way of obscuring the gospel.

Building on the work of James Smith on human beings as “liturgical animals,” I submit that we “a liturgical gospel rhythm” in our worship.

There are, to be sure, many books that have sought to answer how the gospel shapes worship (see here, here, and here). What’s missing, however, is a deeper reflection on the matter and manner of true gospel worship. In other words, what elements must be present for the liturgy to deserve the modifier of “gospel”? What tone must be present if it’s truly gospel-centered?

Revelation-Reception-Response

I’m still ruminating on all these things, but the paper below reflects my initial conclusions. After spending some time asking if the gospel actually should shape our worship gatherings I move on to propose (only points two and four are somewhat unique):

  1. Scripture is the rule of gathered worship.
  2. Revelation-Reception-Response is the rhythm of gathered worship.
  3. Covenant renewal is the form of gathered worship.
  4. Celebratory reverence is the tone of gathered worship.

Those four points represent what I’m calling a “liturgical gospel rhythm” for ordinary churches.

So, if you’re interested and have some time, download the paper below and let me know what you think.

Download “Revelation, Reception, & Response:
A Liturgical Gospel Rhythm.”

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The Purposes of Gospel Ministry

The “grand aims [of gospel ministry] are to exalt Jehovah, the Creator, Redeemer and Judge of the world; to overthrow the power of Satan, the prince of all evil; to save mankind from sin and hell; to banish vice and all other evil from the earth; to bring true happiness to the lost children of Adam; to build up a glorious Church amidst the ruins which sin has wrought; to prepare citizens for the heavenly world who shall behold and share the infinite blessedness of the Son of God. Surely it must be a calling of no ordinary importance which God has appointed for such ends.” – Thomas Murphy, Pastoral Theology, 7.

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Personal Reformation In 2016

M'Cheyne

It’s customary on this first day of a new year for many Christians to find fresh challenge from Jonathan Edwards’ famous Resolutions. If you’ve never read them before, go ahead and read them now. You may just find your heart strangely warmed.

There is another model of resolve I think pastors, in particular, should attend to on this day of beginnings: Robert Murray M’Cheyne’s Personal Reformation.

Pursuing Him Until The End

In the last year of his life (M’Cheyne died at 29) M’Cheyne, as Bonar says, “wrote down, for his own use, an examination into things that ought to be amended or changed” in his life and ministry. M’Cheyne introduces his document in this way,

It is the duty of ministers in this day to begin the reformation of religion and manners with themselves, families, etc. with confession of past sin, earnest prayer for direction, grace and full purpose of heart.

I am persuaded that I shall obtain the highest amount of present happiness, I shall do most for God’s glory and the good of man, and I shall have the fullest reward in eternity, by maintaining a conscience always washed in Christ’s blood, by being filled with the Holy Spirit at all times, and by attaining the most entire likeness to Christ in mind, will, and heart, that is possible for a redeemed sinner to attain in this world.

The document has two parts: 1) Personal Reformation, and 2) Reformation in Secret Prayer. The whole thing is only nine pages and worth reading often. On the small chance you can’t get to the original whole, I’ve reproduced his main points below along with some delectable nuggets of counsel and conviction.

Personal Reformation

1. To maintain a conscience void of offense. I am persuaded that I ought to confess my sins more. I think I ought to confess sin the moment I see it to be sin; whether I am in company, or in study, or even preaching, the soul ought to cast a glance of abhorrence at the sin. If I go on with the duty, leaving the sin unconfessed, I go on with a burdened conscience, and add sin to sin.

I ought to confess the sins of my confessions—their imperfections, sinful aims, self-righteous tendency, etc.—and to look to Christ as having confessed my sins perfectly over His own sacrifice.

  • I ought to go to Christ for the forgiveness of each sin.
  • I ought never think a sin too small to need immediate application to the blood of Christ.
  • I must not only wash in Christ’s blood, but clothe me in Christ’s obedience.

2. To be filled with the Holy Spirit. I am persuaded that I ought to study more my own weakness. I ought to have a number of Scriptures ready to be meditated on to convince me that I am a helpless worm. I am tempted to think that I am now an established Christian—that I have overcome this or that lust so long—that I have got into the habit of the opposite grace—so that there is no fear; I may venture very near temptation—nearer than other men. This is a lie of Satan. I might as well speak of gunpowder getting by habit a power of resisting fire, so as not to catch the spark.

  • I ought to labor for the deepest sense of my utter weakness and helplessness that ever a sinner was brought to feel.

It is right to tremble, and to make every sin of every professor a lesson of my own helplessness; but it should lead me the more to Christ. . . . If I were more deeply convinced of my utter helplessness, I think I would not be so alarmed when I hear of the falls of other men.

  • I ought to study Christ as a living Savior more.
  • I ought to study Christ as an Intercessor.
  • I ought to study the Comforter more.
  • I ought never to forget that sin grieves the Holy Spirit—vexes and quenches Him. If I would be filled with the Spirit, I feel I must read the Bible more, pray more, and watch more.

3. To gain entire likeness to Christ. I ought to get a high esteem of the happiness of it. I am persuaded that God’s happiness is inseparably linked in with His holiness. Holiness and happiness are like light and heat.

  • I ought not to delay in parting with sins.
  • Whatever I see to be sin, I ought from this hour to set my whole soul against it, using all scriptural methods to mortify it—as the Scriptures, special prayer for the Spirit, fasting, and watching.
  • I ought to mark strictly the occasions when I have fallen, and avoid the occasion as much as the sin itself.
  • I ought to flee all temptation.
  • I ought constantly to pour out my heart to God, praying for entire conformity to Christ.
  • I ought statedly and solemnly to give my heart to God.
  • I ought to meditate often on heaven as a world of holiness.

Reformation in Secret Prayer

I ought not to omit any of the parts of prayer—confession, adoration, thanksgiving, petition, and intercession.

I ought to pray before seeing any one. I feel it is far better to begin with God—to see His face first—to get my soul near Him before it is near another. . . . In general, it is best to have at least on hour alone with God, before engaging in anything else.

I ought daily to intercede for my own family, connections, relatives, and friends.

I ought to daily intercede briefly for the whole town.

I ought to have a scheme of prayer, also the names of missionaries marked on the map.

I ought to intercede at large for the above on Saturday morning and evening from seven to eight.

I ought to pray in everything.

I ought to pray far more for our Church, for our leading ministers by name, and for my own clear guidance in the right way, that I may not be led aside, or driven aside, from following Christ.

I ought to spend the best hours of the day in communion with God. It is my noblest and most fruitful employment, and is not to be thrust into any corner.

I ought not to give up the good old habit of prayer before going to bed.

I ought to read three chapters of the Bible in secret every day, at least.

I ought on Sabbath morning to look over all the chapters read through the week, and especially the verses marked.

A Life Being Completed

M’Cheyne apparently didn’t complete his rumination on piety and prayer. I’ve often thought, “How true this is of all God’s people!” Is it not true that our pursuit of communion with God and conformity to His Son is always in progress this side of heaven?

May you grow this year in appreciation of the M’Cheyne School mantra: “It’s not great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to Christ.”

 

 

 

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365 Days and 207 Books Later

A Banner Year

As I stand on the precipice of another year gone and look back on the last year, I’m convinced 2015 will hence be remembered as a “banner year” in my life.

Our fourth son was born. We moved into our second home. I began Ph.D. studies. I started losing my hair (I’m still trying to discern what, if any, relation it has to doctoral work). After three years of slow, steady growth on Saturday nights, God opened the door for our church to meet on His Day. Theological questions of critical nature popped up, possibly forever altering certain convictions and ministerial trajectory. Suffering struck our church in a new way and brought a taste—not just a sense—of God’s sweet sovereignty.

It was a banner year indeed.

It was also a banner year for book reading. For the first time in my life, I crossed the two-century mark in reading, completing 207 books over the last 365 days.

When the Truth is Terrifying

In 2013, I read 156 books and last year I read 160. How, I’m asking myself, did I add some 47 books to this year’s “Completed Books List?” The simple answer would be to blame the increase on Ph.D. work, for over 50 of the books I read came from some Ph.D. seminar syllabus. As I’ve considered this landmark of sorts in the last week I’ve come to realize the real answer lies within my heart; I love reading books.

Such a statement begs for a derisive, “Duh!” “Of course, a person who reads 207 books in one year loves reading books,” you might say. To which I’d respond, “Did you see where I put the accent? It’s not that I love reading books, but that I love reading books.”

And for the first time in my life that truth terrifies me.

On Books and The Book

What clear and concerning to me is that 2015 revealed a trajectory in my soul, one that proves I tend to reach for man’s book than God’s book. By my calculations, I finished, at least, one book every forty-two hours this year. That means I read tens of thousands of man’s words every two days or so while only reading a few hundred of God’s words.

In years past I’ve been able to say with a clean conscience that my persistent reading of books catalyzed even higher reading of The Book. But this year was different (I’m still trying to discern exactly why this is so). I was too quick to put down The Book to read another book. I thus stand rebuked, first by my words.

In December 31, 2014’s post recounting 160 books read I wrote at the end:

Here’s what I do know: books build my soul in myriads of ways, but not as powerfully as The Book does. I think I held that perspective well this year, and I want to do so even more next year. My conviction then going into 2015 is going to be different than in years past. I really don’t care how many books I read as long as The Book receives my most ardent love and attention.

Tears well up when I reread those words, for The Book didn’t receive my most ardent attention.

Henry Martyn’s example also rebukes me this year. His practice of reading is surely most pious and wise. Do you know it?

Archibald Alexander recounts it in the middle of some sage counsel to the pastor’s study habits:

It has been said that everything a minister studies should have a reference to the word of God. Through whatever fields of science or of literature he may rove, he should come back with superior relish to the Bible. In the varied regions of philosophy and taste he is permitted to rove, but the Bible should be his richest banquet. Make it a rule always to prefer it. If at the hours of devotion you are strongly drawn toward some new and interesting publication, if you are tempted for this to omit the regular study of the Scriptures, regard it as a temptation, and resist it accordingly. You may recollect the resolution of the pious Henry Martyn. He would never allow himself to peruse a book one moment after he felt it gaining preference to the Bible. As long as he could turn to his Bible with a superior relish, so long he would continue reading, and no longer. Go thou and do likewise.

Relish for The Book decreased this year and preference for books increased.

A Fresh Resolve

I thus enter 2016 with fresh resolve and zeal to situate my soul in Scripture. I want holy Martyn’s model to be real in my life next year. Should the Lord tarry and grant me another 365 days, I hope to write a post on December 31, 2016, that announces something different than this one did.

Over 200 books in one year is a banner I thought I’d be proud to wave. But instead, I find myself eager to let the banner fall—and raise a more inspired one in its place.

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24 Points on Piety

Piety in the Ministry

“Piety,” is one of those words I’d love to recover and restore to a prominent place in gospel ministry.

I love how it rolls rhetorically, but my affection for it is ultimately biblical. Paul told Timothy, “Train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” Pastors must be practitioners of piety.

Old Princeton to the Rescue

The founders of Princeton Theological Seminary established the school with the ambition that it be “a nursery of vital piety.” Archibald Alexander embodied this dream in the seminary’s earliest years. He insisted, “Eminent piety should be earnestly sought after and assiduously cultivated.” To help his ministerial students see the treasure of piety, Alexander—in a lecture entitled “Qualifications for Pastoral Office—offered the following advantages of pursuing piety and helps to maintaining piety.

14 Advantages of Pursuing Piety

  1. Some degree of eminence in piety is requisite for our own satisfaction.
  2. The work is so great and sacred, and the consequences so awful, that none will duly feel and act under the responsibilities of the office, but one whose heart is warmed with the fervent love to Christ and the souls of men.
  3. The duties of the ministry will never be faithfully performed by any one but he who is deeply under the influence of divine truth. He will become indolent and careless or will sink into discouragement—or will become entangled with worldly engagements.
  4. He will not be able to converse with edification to the people without this.
  5. It is necessary to preserve the minister from ambition and vain glory.
  6. Necessary to make him speak with confidence of the excellency and comforts of true piety.
  7. Eminent piety is requisite to enable a minister to compose sermons induced with the right spirit. To feed the devotions of the people, etc.
  8. Without a good degree of eminence in piety, the minsters example will not be savory and consistent. it is necessary to preserve him from sin. He should be higher than all the people in spiritual attainments.
  9. It will greatly increase his influence.
  10. Will enable him to bear with patience the persecution of enemies.
  11. It will be better than all rules of rhetoric in the delivery of sermons.
  12. It will make the work of the ministry delightful.
  13. Will prepare for sickness and death.
  14. Eminent piety will diffuse a solemn seriousness, over the manners. Gravity, composure of countenance—dignity of demeanor—propriety in every word, look and gesture.

10 Helps to Maintaining Piety

  1. You should set yourselves to correct your own faults and imperfections.
  2. You should set before you a high standard of moral excellence.
  3. There must be no procrastination of this business.
  4. You must live under the habitual influence of eternal things.
  5. You must be deeply sensible of your own inability to attain this excellence by your own efforts alone.
  6. You must not despond, or despair of success if you seem for a long time to make no progress.
  7. Avail yourself of your imperfections & faults to measure your humility & caution.
  8. Let the good example and spirit of other ministers enrich you but beware of catching from them a worldly spirit.
  9. Read frequently the memoirs of the most devoted & pious servants of Jesus Christ.
  10. Pray without ceasing for aid from above.

In the Spiritual Gym

I say, “Let the recovery and restoration of piety to its place of necessity continue.” Of particular encouragement, for me at least, is Alexander’s realism about the whole endeavor: “You must not despond, or despair of success if you seem for a long time to make no progress.” I often despair, especially at the end of another year, of my small growth in holiness. I find myself in these days freshly stirred to pray fervently for greater holiness in 2016.

Will you join me?