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Leading in Worship

Leading in Worship

In For the Glory of God: A Biblical Theology of Worship Daniel Block defines true worship as “reverential human acts of submission and homage before the divine Sovereign in response to his gracious revelation of himself and in accord with his will.”

In light of this definition he concludes, “Therefore, promoting worshipers’ awe and reverence before God must be a primary goal of those who lead worship.” And so he concludes the book with a series of exhortations for anyone that would lead God’s people in worship. These exhortations are brilliant and well worth pastoral meditation.

8 EXHORTATIONS FOR THOSE WHO LEAD WORSHIP

  1. Worship leaders must first offer their entire person as a sacrifice of worship to God and maintain purity of life worthy of acceptance with God.
  2. Worship leaders must conduct themselves before God and in the company of the saints in keeping with the glory and majesty of the One they serve.
  3. Worship leaders’ conduct, their performance of duties, and their entire bearing as representatives of God must enhance worshipers’ awe and reverence before God.
  4. Worship leaders must aim above all to ensure that divine revelation is transmitted to worshipers. Whether through reading and expounding Scripture, musical performance, or other cultic acts, leaders must ensure that everything in the service contributes to the clear, unequivocal, and truthful communication of divine truth.
  5. Worship leaders must make every effort to deflect attention away from themselves to God. Whether through dress or public demeanor, drawing attention to those leading worship borders on idolatry.
  6. Worship leaders must promote the engagement of the congregation in worship. In communal worship, people should instruct and exhort one another, sing to one another, and intercede on behalf of one another. The role of worship leaders is to develop this kind of community and to promote the genuine participation of all believers in corporate expressions of homage and submission.
  7. Worship leaders must identify with the worshipers, not only by leading them in confessing sin and praising God for forgiveness and acceptance, but also by walking with them through the week and feeling their pains and joys.
  8. Worship leaders must recognize that access to God is made possible only through the work of Christ himself. Worship must be focused on Christ rather than on the preacher of musicians and the performance of liturgy. When people assemble for worship, they gather for a meeting with God, not for a meeting with the preacher or other leaders.
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A Series Worth Serious Investment: Vol. 5

For several years Reformation Trust has quietly been publishing a brilliant series entitled The Long Line of Godly Men.

The series’ editor Steve Lawson writes,

This Long Line of Godly Men Profile series highlights key figures in the agelong procession of sovereign-grace men. The purpose of this series is to explore how these figures used their God-given gifts and abilities to impact their times and further the kingdom of heaven. Because they were courageous followers of Christ, their examples are worthy of emulation today.

Each volume is compact and contains a delightful harmony of biography, theology, and practicality. I find them accessible in presentation and challenging in application. With each read you will want to rise up and say, “We want again such giants of the faith! Lord, help me to be such a servant of God!” Here are the current titles in the series, every one is well worth your investment in money and time.

HER06BH_200x1000The Heroic Boldness of Martin Luther by Steve Lawson. During the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century, the Reformers’ most effective tool was the pulpit, and all of the Reformers were gifted preachers. This was especially true of Martin Luther, the man regarded as the father of the Reformation.

Luther used every legitimate means to make known the truths of Scripture. His strategies included writing books, tracts, pamphlets, and letters, as well as classroom lectures, public debates, and heated disputations in churches and universities. But his chief means of producing reform was the pulpit, where he proclaimed the truths of God’s Word with great courage. In a day when the church greatly needed to hear the truth, Luther’s pulpit became one of the most clarion sounding boards for God’s Word this world has ever witnessed.

In The Heroic Boldness of Martin Luther, Dr. Steven J. Lawson shows the convictions and practices that fed Luther’s pulpit boldness, providing an example for all preachers in a day when truth once more is in decline.

TRI06BH_2_200x1000The Trinitarian Devotion of John Owen by Sinclair Ferguson. The writing and teaching of John Owen, a 17th century pastor and theologian, continues to serve the church. Daily communion with God characterized his life and equipped him for both ministry and persecution.

In The Trinitarian Devotion of John Owen, the latest addition to the Long Line of Godly Men series, Dr. Sinclair Ferguson offers careful reflection and insight for Christians today as he highlights Owen’s faith in the triune God of Scripture. We’re reminded that regardless of our circumstances we can know God, enjoy Him, and encourage others.

UNW01BH_200x1000The Unwavering Resolve of Jonathan Edwards by Steve Lawson. Jonathan Edwards is well known as perhaps the greatest theologian the United States has ever produced. He is equally noted for his preaching and writing. But in this Long Line Profile, Dr. Steven J. Lawson considers the unique focus and commitment with which Edwards sought to live out the Christian faith.

Lawson examines Edwards’ life through the lens of the seventy resolutions he penned in his late teens, shortly after his conversion, which cover everything from glorifying God to repenting of sin to managing time. Drawing on Edwards’ writings, as well as scholarly accounts of Edwards’ life and thought, Lawson shows how Edwards sought to live out these lofty goals he set for the management of his walk with Christ. In Edwards’ example, he finds helpful instruction for all believers.

EXP03BH_200x1000The Expository Genius of John Calvin by Steve Lawson. Looking to the past for outstanding Bible-based, Christ-centered, and life-changing preaching, Dr. Steven J. Lawson focuses on sixteenth-century Geneva, Switzerland. It was there that John Calvin ministered for decades as a faithful shepherd to a flock of believers.

Here is an intimate portrait of Calvin the preacher-the core beliefs that determined his preaching style, the steps he took to prepare to preach, and the techniques he used in handling the Word of God, interpreting it, and applying it to his congregation. In the pulpit ministry of the great Reformer, Dr. Lawson finds inspiration and guidance for today’s church and calls on modern pastors to follow the Reformer’s example of strong expository preaching.

MIG01BH_200x1000The Mighty Weakness of John Knox by Douglas Bond. John Knox, the great Reformer of Scotland, is often remembered as something akin to a biblical prophet born out of time—strong and brash, thundering in righteous might. In truth, he was “low in stature, and of a weakly constitution,” a small man who was often sickly and afflicted with doubts and fears. In The Mighty Weakness of John Knox, a new Long Line Profile from Reformation Trust Publishing, author Douglas Bond shows that Knox did indeed accomplish herculean tasks, but not because he was strong and resolute in himself. Rather, he was greatly used because he was submissive to God; therefore, God strengthened him. That strength was displayed as Knox endured persecution and exile, faced down the wrath of mighty monarchs, and prayed, preached, and wrote with no fear of man, but only a desire to manifest the glory of God and to please Him.

For those who see themselves as too weak, too small, too timid, or simply too ordinary for service in God’s kingdom, Knox’s life offers a powerful message of hope—the biblical truth that God often delights to work most powerfully through people who are most weak in themselves but most strong in Him.

GOS23BH_200x1000The Gospel Focus of Charles Spurgeon by Steve Lawson. Charles Spurgeon, the great Baptist preacher of nineteenth-century London, is remembered today as “the prince of preachers.” However, the strength of Spurgeon’s ministry went far beyond simple rhetorical skill. In The Gospel Focus of Charles Spurgeon, Steven J. Lawson shows that Spurgeon fearlessly taught the doctrines of grace and simultaneously held forth the free offer of salvation in Jesus Christ.

In thirty-eight years as pastor of the congregation meeting at the New Park Street Chapel and later the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Spurgeon propounded Calvinistic theology with precision and clarity. Yet he always accompanied it with a passionate plea for sinners to come to Christ and be saved. Lawson traces these twin points of emphasis throughout Spurgeon’s long, fruitful ministry.

The Gospel Focus of Charles Spurgeon is a passionate call for all Christians to follow Spurgeon in maintaining the proper balance between divine sovereignty in salvation and fiery passion in spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ.

EVA06BH_200x1000The Evangelistic Zeal of George Whitefield by Steve Lawson. England in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries was in the midst of spiritual decline, marked by lifeless sermons, strife, persecution, and malaise. Into this dark time, George Whitefield burst forth as one of the greatest preachers the church had seen since the time of the Apostles.

Called the “Grand Itinerant” for his unprecedented preaching ministry, Whitefield crossed the Atlantic Ocean numerous times and lit fires of revival on two continents. Yet, as Dr. Steven J. Lawson illustrates in this latest entry in the Long Line of Godly Men Profiles series, we must note that Whitefield was a man whose extraordinary evangelistic fervor was marked by remarkable piety and deep theology, and whose unswerving devotion to his God led him to risk all that he had to preach the name of Christ.

POE01BH_200x1000The Poetic Wonder of Isaac Watts by Douglas Bond. In an age of simplistic and repetitive choruses, many churches are rediscovering the blessing of theologically rich and biblically informed songs. In the latest addition to our A Long Line of Godly Men Profile series, Douglas Bond introduces us to Isaac Watts, “the father of English hymnody.” Douglas Bond urges Christians to delight in the grandeur, beauty, and joy of Watts’ poetry. We pray that you would regain a sense of God’s majesty as we celebrate the God-given poetic wonder of Isaac Watts.

Click here to see previous entries in the “A Series Worth Serious Investment” series.

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The Ablest Man

“Appoint the ablest man to pray, and let the sermon be slurred sooner than the approach to heaven. Let the Infinite Jehovah be served with our best; let prayer addressed to the Divine Majesty be carefully weighed, and presented with all the powers of an awakened heart and a spiritual understanding. He who has been by communion with God prepared to minister to the people, is usually of all men present the most fit to engage in prayer.” (Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, 59).

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Meeting for Unity

Church Unity

The joy of congregational unity just might be the most important lesson I’ve learned since planting Imago Dei Church in January of last year. The difficult joy of unity is probably a better way to put it.

I think we have it, but oh! how we must continually fight for it.

David’s exclamation in Psalm 133:1 captures the happiness of harmony when he says, “Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!” Paul seems to know this delight well for he encourages the Ephesians, and churches everywhere, to be “eager to maintain the spirit of unity in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:3). Unity in the church is glorious!

THE PURSUIT OF UNITY

We need only to look to the High Priestly Prayer in John 17 to see how much our Lord values unity among His people. Notice these petitions for unity Jesus’ prayer:

  • “Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one” (17:11).
  • “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you” (17:20-21).
  • “The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. ” (17:22-23).

Jesus’ requests for His people be one not only underscore the necessity of unity, but also how hard it is to achieve. What fights against unity in the church? According to John 17:15-17 it is Satan and sin. That’s why the Savior prays for the Father to “keep [His people] from the evil one” (17:15) and to “sanctify them in truth” (17:17).

Unity is a difficult pursuit, but a vital one.

THE EXPERIENCE OF UNITY

If you have been in a local church for any length of time you likely know how effect Satan and sin are at overthrowing congregational unity. Satan’s tempting of church members to exalt personal preferences are nearly pandemic. The sin of pride, when left alive, will always entice Christians to make more of themselves than their brothers and sisters in Christ. The world pressing in as well in all manner of sundry ways.

So what is a pastor to do? A Spirit-wrought, Biblically-informed advance for congregational unity must necessarily begin with the ordinary means: word, sacrament, and prayer. It’s in the faithful preaching of the word that matters of first importance are heralded and cherished as immanently more valuable than side matters of individual taste. It’s through regular feasting at the Lord’s Table that the entire church announces its allegiance to Christ and through sharing the same bread and cup. It’s in the ordinary prayers of the church that saints are encouraged to lift their eyes off themselves and lift holy hands making prayers for all the saints.

If you’re a pastor, see how the ordinary means are non-negotiable realities for the experience of unity. If you are a church member, faithful attendance to your congregation’s gathered worship is essential to the promotion of unity your heart and the souls of your fellow members.

There are, of course, other opportunities of wisdom one might seize in order to increase his church’s harmony. One of them is what we at IDC call “The Family Meeting.”

THE CELEBRATION OF UNITY

Depending on which denominational background you come from this meeting might be known as “The Business Meeting” or “The Members’ Meeting,” we like the name “Family Meeting” because it seems to connote less formality and rigidity.

We have six Family Meetings a year at IDC; they happen on the second Saturday (we currently meet on Saturday nights) of the even months (February, April, June, etc.). I like to tell our church a couple things about the significance of our Family Meetings. First, “If you miss a Family Meeting you are bound to miss something important.” Because they only happen every other month something important is bound to be discussed. It may be the affirmation of new members, nomination of church officers, affirmation of the church budget, or – like last year – the excommunication of a member. The second thing I like to say is, “Outside of the ordinary gathered worship service, nothing is more integral for our pursuit of unity than the Family Meeting.” It’s here we deal with all the “family” business.

What does a Family Meeting look like? Ours happen for about an hour after our gathered worship service and a common agenda would look like this:

  • Corporate reading of the first half of our church covenant.
  • Give away some books. I always give away a couple free books. This is a great way to not only promote doctrinal literacy in the congregation, but also endorse sound authors.
  • Affirmation of new members.  Our polity calls for all new members to be formally and vocally affirmed by the congregation.
  • Quick update on church budget. It’s always good to let the church know where the budget stands. This usually means sharing year-to-date budget/expenses, year-to-date income, and then celebrating the sacrificial giving of our members.
  • Share helpful information about a specific church ministry. Here we might announce an upcoming mission trip, share about a new direction in kids’ ministry curriculum, or celebrate the volunteer involvement of our members.
  • Discussion about church officers. Our system of elder and deacon installation happens over the course of at least six months. It has thus so far been normal to discuss something about the candidacy, nomination, and installation of church officers.
  • Share stories of disciple-making. The elders at IDC select a few people in the congregation who are creatively and faithfully trying to make disciples in the workplace, neighborhood, or community. This is a wonderful opportunity for other members to hear about how much disciple-making is going on throughout the church and provides them more fodder for intercessory prayer.
  • Personal pastoral updates. I generally close the meeting with any pertinent updates about my family or specific ways the church can pray for me.
  • Corporate reading of the second half of our church covenant. It end with the doxology from 2 Corinthians 13:14 and is a perfect way to conclude the meeting.

Unity’s depth is dependent on awareness. How easy it is for members to sow seeds of doubt and division when they aren’t aware of the what and why behind the church’s mission. Our Family Meeting is a time where the body gets to find out what’s been going on and where we are headed. In other words, these meetings increase congregational knowledge and help squelch those divisive seeds. Our elders value these meetings so much they want have them every month! We aren’t there right now, but we do hope to eventually get to monthly meetings. They really are that vital for our church’s unity.

Do you have something like a Family Meeting? If so, great! If not, consider how you might patiently and wisely shepherd your church to have regular members’ meetings. You might be surprised how catalytic they can be for unity. And what a good and blessed thing unity is.

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5 Ways to Promote Unity in Worship

9780801026980mYesterday I finished Daniel Block’s magnificent volume For the Glory of God: A Biblical Theology of Worship. We need more books like this: rigorously exegetical and thoroughly pastoral.

“True worship involves reverential human acts of submission and homage before the divine Sovereign in response to his gracious revelation of himself and in accord with his will,” says Block. With that definition in place he proceeds to helpfully treat a topic of worship in each chapter, tracing its development across redemptive history. For example, he takes on things like, “The Object of Worship,” “The Subject of Worship,” “The Ordinances as Worship,” “Prayer as Worship,” and “The Drama of Worship.” At the end of each chapter he offers contemporary reflections on how to apply the truth just studied.

A TOPIC WORTH EXTRA ATTENTION

When I scanned the chapter on “Music as Worship” I noticed that Block’s practical reflections were almost three times as long as those on any other topic. And for good reason. He writes,

I devote more space to application here than in preceding chapters because music has become arguably the most divisive factor in North American evangelicalism. Too often in worship wars, pragmatism (‘What do people want?’) and personal taste (‘What do people like?’), rather than biblical perspectives or theology, drive the discussion, and music in worship is often designed to satisfy those whose worship is unacceptable to God. To achieve the highest administrative goal, that people will return next Sunday, the music must create a certain mood, and the service must engage attendees like a theatrical performance or concert.

Delighted – if not intoxicated – by the crowds, we may be oblivious to the reality that a packed house may be proof of disingenuous (calculated) worship rather than worship acceptable to God. (236)

I trust that whets your appetite enough to purchase the book, but on the outside chance it doesn’t, let me show just how useful Block can be.

IN THE PURSUIT OF UNITY

After surveying the biblical landscape on music as worship one of Block’s main applications is, “Evangelicals must rediscover that truly worshipful music is primarily congregational and unites the body of Christ.” He’s absolutely right. How can we increase the unity of our church’s worship through song? The Wheaton professor gives five considerations.

  1. If true worship involves reverential acts of homage and submission, then music should be selected and presented to glorify God and promote reverence and awe. This commitment will naturally result in excluding certain kinds of music (narcissistic and subjective lyrics, jarring and raucous tunes).
  2. The music of worship should be subordinate to the Word of worship, and planning should involve all the staff, particularly persons responsible for reading and proclaiming God’s word.
  3. Songs chosen for congregational singing should be singable, with tunes and lyrics that are readily grasped by worshipers. Worship is not enhanced by improvisation or unexpected rhythms that confuse and inhibit participation.
  4. Assuming commitment to music that has theological and melodic integrity, corporate worship should regularly have something for everyone. Some speak of “blended worship,” which connotes a centripetal approach, the emphasis being on satisfying various tastes. Perhaps we should rather speak of “distributed worship,” which suggests a healthier centrifugal picture of reaching out and ministering to each other. Instead of asking, “What kind of music will you sing for me?” we might ask, “What kind of music may I sing for you?” In a healthy local manifestation of the body of Christ, people are not preoccupied with self-serving satisfaction of their own tastes.
  5. Over time, worshipers’ musical tastes should mature. While mature Christians celebrate the faith and enthusiasm of younger believers, something is wrong if people who have been believers for ten or twenty years still crave the elementary lyrics and simple tunes they sang when they first came to faith. Just as we need to progress from milk to meat in our understanding of the Scriptures (Heb. 5:12-13; 1 Pet. 2:2), so in musical appreciation and taste the goal should be growth and maturation – the development of appetites for songs that are weightier theologically and more sophisticated musically.

Amen. Do yourself a favor and grab a copy of For the Glory of God. It will be of immense benefit for your church and ministry.

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Perpetual Prayers

Pray Constantly

A healthy pastor’s prayer life is one that is faithful to the “New Testament Adverbs of Devoted Prayer”: he prays constantly (Rom. 12:12), persistently (Eph. 6:18), steadfastly (Col. 4:2), and unceasingly (1 Thess. 5:17).

If you are anything like me it’s easy to consume your prayer time with immediate needs. These are things for which you depend on God alone, but are also somewhat passing in nature. Maybe it’s the health of a church member, an upcoming decision in leadership, or the lifting up of requests you’ve received. There is a danger, I think, in letting the temporal matters dominate your prayer life. It makes it all the more harder to exhaust the soul in the kind of prayer Jesus advocates for in the Parable of the Persistent Widow.

We would do well to have a list of things to “always to pray and not lose heart.” Every pastor would benefit from making his own list, but to help you along the way, here are seven items that make up the “Perpetual Prayer” category in my prayer list.

7 PERPETUAL PRAYERS

Love. It all begins here doesn’t it? “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27) Furthermore, above all the individual parts of godliness we are to “put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony” (Col. 3:14). I pray for God to increase my love for His glory more than my own, for the sacrificial love for my wife to which I am called, the tender love of a Daddy for his children, and that our church would make good on John 13:15, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Faith. We live by faith and not by sight, but oh how I desperately want to often see. It’s therefore quite normal for me to channel my inner Peter and cry, “Lord, help my unbelief!” I pray that He would give me faith to move mountains, that our church would be a community vibrant and in faith, and that God would bring many people faith through our ministry of preaching the word. “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? . . . So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:14-15, 17).

Sound Doctrine. The truth of Scripture, illuminated by the Spirit, is the ordinary way in which God sanctifies His people (John 17:17). I want to always be “increasing in the knowledge of God” (Col. 1:11) and thus enabled more and more to wield the “sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph. 6:17). I long to be a pastor who is faithful to “teach what accords with sound doctrine” (Tit. 2:1) and that our church would not perish because we have so deeply loved the truth (2 Thess. 2:10). I also pray for my wife and young boys to cherish the words of God and to feast daily upon them for nourishment and life.

Wisdom. To be honest, I’m not sure I prayed much for wisdom before we planted IDC. But every since the church began my immediate response when members ask how they can pray for me is, “For God to give me wisdom.” Everyday I feel like Solomon in 1 King 3:8-9 when he says to God, “Your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people, too many to be numbered or counted for multitude. Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?” Left to my own designs I will make a wreck of my home and church. But if God would increase my fear of Him, that would would be the beginning on immovable wisdom (Prov. 1:7, 9:10).

Holiness. I want to be holy as He is holy (1 Pet. 1:16), and I must be. I need to strive for that “holiness without which no one will see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14). I echo so many towering pastors of old in the belief I have no reason to expect my family’s and church’s holiness to rise above my own. May the Lord conform me increasingly and supernaturally to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29)! I long for a growing distaste of the word and a sweeter savor of Christlikeness. I pray that God would make our church into the “holy nation” that it is (1 Pet. 2:9). May the Spirit move in my family to help us love nothing more than to please God and so experience His happiness through holiness.

Unity. Aside from the prayers for wisdom, few items more dominate my petitions for our congregation as this one. “Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!” (Psa. 133:1) I pray our church would reflect to glorious unity of the Triune God as we “maintain the spirit of unity in the bonds of peace” (Eph. 4:3). I hope we would increasingly lay aside secondary and tertiary preferences for the sake of unity in the gospel. May we be one even as the Godhead is one (John 17:20-22). I want this unity to permeate my “little church” as well, that our home would be one of joyful harmony in the Spirit.

Evangelism. I must do this work (2 Tim. 4:5) and we – as a home and church – must do this work as well (Matt. 28:18-20). I pray he gives us all confidence and courage in the gospel, “for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16). I want to be ready in season and out of season (2 Tim. 4:2) with the words of life. I pray He would make me – and us – not only faithful in evangelism, but fruitful in evangelism as well. He “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4) and so want the faith to expect Him to fulfill this desire through our collective faithfulness in evangelism. There is always an familial accent on this point as our children are all young and, as best we can tell, unconverted. May God give me winsome boldness and may He raise their dead hearts.

UNTIL DEATH OR GLORY

I love these seven prayer categories. Until I die or Jesus returns these prayers will necessarily need to occupy a perpetual place in my ministry.

What other ones would you add?

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10 Special Helps Against Satan

Armor of God

On weeks when I don’t preach, like this one, I aim to place myself on unusual watch against Satan’s schemes. He rages at all times, but in my own experience it’s weeks like these that he bears his lion-teeth with uncommon fervor.

In addition to the word, prayer, and fellowship I have found Thomas Brooks’ classic Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices to be of great help. His final chapter on “10 Special Helps and Rules Against Satan’s Devices” worth revisiting whenever you feel the Worm is raging. Consider these helps and rules this week as you strive against Satan.

10 WAYS TO FIGHT AGAINST THE ENEMY

Walk by rule of the Word of God. (Prov. 12:24; Gal. 6:16) He who walks by rule, walks most safely; he who walks by rule, walks most honorably; he who walks by rule, walks most sweetly. When men throw off the Word, then God throws them off, and then Satan takes them by the hand, and leads them into snares at his pleasure.

Take heed of vexing and grieving of the Holy Spirit of God. Ah! if you set that sweet and blessed Spirit a-mourning, who alone can secure you from Satan’s depths—by whom will you be preserved? Man is a weak creature, and no way able to discover Satan’s snares, nor to avoid them—unless the Spirit of the Lord gives skill and power.

Labor for more heavenly wisdom. It is not the most knowing Christian—but the most wise Christian, who sees, avoids, and escapes Satan’s snares. ‘The way of life leads upward for the wise,’ says Solomon, ‘that he may depart from hell beneath’ (Prov. 15:24). Heavenly wisdom makes a man delight to fly high; and the higher any man flies, the more he is out of the reach of Satan’s snares.

Make immediate resistance against Satan’s first motions. He who will play with Satan’s bait, will quickly be taken with Satan’s hook! The promise of conquest is given to resisting, not to disputing: ‘Resist the devil, and he will flee from you’ (James 4:7).

Labor to be filled with the Spirit. He who thinks he has enough of the Holy Spirit, will quickly find himself vanquished by the evil spirit. Therefore labor more to have your hearts filled with the Spirit than to have your heads filled with notions, your shops with wares, your chests with silver, or your bags with gold; so shall you escape the snares of this fowler, and triumph over all his plots.

Keep humble. An humble heart will rather lie in the dust than rise by wickedness, and sooner part with all than the peace of a good conscience. Humility keeps the soul free from many darts of Satan’s casting, and snares of his spreading; as the low shrubs are free from many violent gusts and blasts of wind, which shake and rend the taller trees. He who has a gracious measure of humility, is neither affected with Satan’s offers nor terrified with his threatenings.

Keep a strong, close, and constant watch (1 Thess. 5:6). A sleepy soul is already an ensnared soul. That soul that will not watch against temptations, will certainly fall before the power of temptations. Shall Satan keep a crafty watch, and shall not Christians keep a holy spiritual watch? Watchfulness is nothing else but the soul running up and down, to and fro, busy everywhere. Watchfulness is the heart busied and employed with diligent observation of what comes from within us, and of what comes from without us and into us.

Keep up your communion with God. Your strength to stand and withstand Satan’s fiery darts is from your communion with God. A soul high in communion with God may be tempted—but will not easily be conquered. Such a soul will fight it out to the death. Communion with God furnishes the soul with the greatest and the choicest arguments to withstand Satan’s temptations.

Do not engage Satan in your own strength—but be every day drawing new virtue and strength from the Lord Jesus. Ah, souls! when the snare is spread, look up to Jesus Christ, who is lifted up in the gospel, as the brazen serpent was in the wilderness, and say to him, “Dear Lord! here is a new snare laid to catch my soul, and grace formerly received, without fresh supplies from your blessed bosom, will not deliver me from this snare. Oh! give me new strength, new power, new influences, new measures of grace, that so I may escape the snares!”

Be much in prayer. Prayer is a shelter to the soul, a sacrifice to God and a scourge to the devil. There is nothing that renders Satan’s plots fruitless like prayer; therefore says Christ: ‘Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation’ (Matt. 26:41). You must watch and pray, and pray and watch, if you would not enter into temptation.’

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Terrifying and Trustworthy

Job Podcast

Over the summer my wife Emily and our oldest son Hudson went up to Colorado for a wedding.

One day they stopped at a place where Hudson could look at the mountainous sights through a coin-operated set of binoculars. He came home with a childlike obsession with binoculars. Ever since he received a set of toy binoculars for his birthday he can often be found observing life in the Stone home through those two lenses. There is unique power and joy in having far off sights being brought near to his experience.

HOPING IN GOD DURING LONESOME SUFFERING

If we take the binoculars of Job 11-14 and point them up to heaven we’ll see two primary truths about God, on which we must set our gaze and hope in lonesome suffering.

In chapter 11 Job’s third friend Zophar comes along and says, “Job, you deserve worse. You have secret sin and nothing is hidden from God. So you must repent if you are to be restored to wealth and health.” Job responds in 12:1-13:19 with a sarcastic rebuke of his friends’ counseling system, a system that is a failure in four ways: it’s cruel (12:1-6), it’s shallow (12:7-12), it’s safe (12:13-25), and it’s wrong (13:1-12). In 13:20 we find Job turning from his friends to speak with God and although the prospect of a miserable death haunts his minds, he nevertheless expresses hope in the possibility of resurrection (14:14).

As so often happens in this wonderful book, Job’s honest and eloquent ruminations his affliction reveal a grand vision of a God who is sovereign over suffering.

STARING AT GOD

A stunning verse in chapter 13 encapsulates the God Job proclaims. Job is speaking to Zophar about his desire to plead his case with God and look at what he says in 13:15, “Though he slay me, I will hope in him.”

Do you notice the truth permeating truths about God?

First, God is terrifying. Job knows he is not perfect and that no imperfect man can stand in God’s presence and live. It is right to have terror before God. Mr. Beaver gets it so right in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe when little Lacy asks if the great lion king Aslan is safe. Beaver reponds, “Safe? . . . Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.” I am going to plead my case with God and He may kill, but still “I will hope in him.” Which leads to the second thing we must see . . .

Second, God is trustworthy. Job believes he is all alone before God, there is no one with him, but he reaches down the depths of his soul, to what he knows about God, and says, “I must have hope.” Terror before God doesn’t remove Job’s trust in God.

Is God terrifyingly trustworthy to you?

This post is adapted from my recent sermon, “Suffering with Zophar“, on Job 11-14.

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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.

0851517730mEvangelical Eloquence: A Course of Lectures on Preaching by R.L. Dabney. For years my Presbyterian friends have said, “You’ve got to read Dabney’s Evangelical Eloquence!” The poor Southern Presbyterian’s lectures have been collecting dust in my study for some time, but a few weeks ago I finally pulled it out . . . and I may have just discovered my personal authorized text on preaching. If I ever taught a class on preaching, this would be the primary text. Here we find the preaching ministry treated with gravity, scripturalness, and simplicity (which, incidentally enough are Dabney’s “3 Special Qualities of Biblical Preaching”). Originally published in 1879 as Sacred Rhetoric, these lectures have more than passed the test of time; over and over I found myself convicted, challenged, and led to write, “Amen!” in the margin. Dabney’s introductory lecture on “The Preacher’s Commission” will fan aflame a love for the sacred desk, and his lectures on the “Cardinal Requisites of the Sermon” should be requisite reading for preachers young and old. The old man gets extra credit for concluding the work with a lecture on public prayer. A fantastic volume!

0851519318mThe Ministry by Charles Brown. An old seminary friend used to always be reading some book on pastoral ministry. The titles were often obscure and many stretched back to the church fathers. Several years ago he was reading Charles Brown’s The Ministry and it looked helpful enough, so I bought a copy. It proved to be medicine for my soul during a trying time in ministry. I reread it last week and was freshly encouraged. Brown was a 19th century Scottish pastor who was said to possess “a rare combination of intellectual power and spiritual earnestness, proceeding from a mind and heart full of the treasure of the Word.” His book on ministry consists of four chapters covering the essentials of pastoring: godliness, prayer, and preaching. Brown’s little volume will help pastors return to the apostolic rule of Acts 6:4.

9781892777751mThe Path of True Godliness by Willem Teellinck. Teellinck has been called “The Father of the Dutch Nadere Reformatie“, a movement among the Dutch Reformed that generally paralleled the Puritan movement in England and Scotland. The Path of True Godliness, first published in 1621, is Teellinck’s major work on sanctification. In true Puritan fashion the work is exhaustive and covers everything from what true godliness is, to how the kingdom of darkness wars against the kingdom of grace, and the means by which we grow in true godliness. The book can, and probably should, be much shorter as Teelinck’s discussion gets quite redundant at points. If basketball was around in the 17th century this Dutchman would have been deadly from behind the arc: he organizes almost everything in triads. It’s rather amazing how many sections begin with something like, “Notice that this activity begins in three parts,” or, “As the Holy Spirit leads believers into truth, he offers three distinct works of grace.”

DGGA Display of God’s Glory: Basics of Church Structure by Mark Dever. Dever’s little discussed manual on church polity is an absolute gem. We use it in our church officer training at Imago Dei and I had the chance to reread it again as we just finished our first round of deacon training. In the short compass of four chapters Dever covers the essentials of congregational polity: deacons, elders, congregationalism, and membership. Not only is this a an excellent resource for training prospective officers it would also serve as an excellent discipling tool for any member who needs to understand basics of Baptist polity. I’d love to see a publishing house pick up this title and make it more widely available.

1581348525mGrowing in Christ by J.I. Packer. For Packer, Growing in Christ is the logical companion to his classic Knowing God. This book is his work of catechesis; his commentary on “the three formulae which have always been central in Christian teaching – the Apostle’s Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Ten Commandments, plus Christian baptism.” But don’t let the word “commentary” give you pause, Packer sprints through the content. Each chapter is 2-3 pages in length and includes useful discussion questions. Thoroughly evangelical and warmly ecumenical, I could see this book being a great resource for small groups or discipling relationships.

9781433501999mMemoirs of an Ordinary Pastor: The Life and Reflections of Tom Carson by D.A. Carson. I’m not sure why it’s taken me so long to read this book, I am something of a sucker for pastoral memoirs. Carson is to be greatly commended, along with Crossway, for giving us a glimpse into the trials and joys of ordinary ministry through the life and memoirs of his father. After reading the work, Carson’s administrative assistant said, ““I used to aspire to be the next Henry Martyn [heroic British Bible translator and missionary to the Muslim peoples of India and Persia]. However, after reading your dad’s diaries, the Lord has given my heart a far loftier goal: simply to be faithful. I know we as men are but dust, but what dust the man I read about in these diaries was!” No higher praise could be given.

GFThe Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. The Goldfinch won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for fiction and my first response upon completing it was, “How did this win the Pulitzer?” I’m not one who generally enjoys the “art” of literature, so it’s possible my distaste is simply the product of unrefined artistic taste buds. So I decided to do some research to see if my sentiments were completely unfounded. Little did I know that Tartt is something of a cult hero and her latest book has created something of a impenetrable divide among literary critics: you love it or you hate it. Although I didn’t loathe the book, I definitely didn’t love it. The narrative seamlessly moves from the rivetingly sensational to boringly bloated. I find most of the prose to fall in the latter category.

Click here to find other entries in the Recent Reads series.

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Let the PhD Studies Begin

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Every once in a while something comes along in life that you immediately know will change your life forever. That happened to me yesterday.

I received a letter from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary accepting me into their PhD program.

In ways I don’t fully yet know, my life will never bet the same.

A SURPRISING JOURNEY

From elementary school through high school my parents would normally ask upon my return home from each day of school, “How was school today?” My answer was almost invariably, “Boring.” I rarely felt challenged in class and, anyways, my mind was always completely occupied with my real passion: soccer. I looked forward to the days when soccer would replace school as the primary occupier of each day.

When I signed a contract with Major League Soccer at the age of 17 there was some terror among my extended family. The general thought was, “Jordan will never go to college!” Education has always been paramount, particularly on my dad’s side. From the moment I started playing with the Dallas Burn (what is now F.C. Dallas) one of my dad’s brothers started the full-court press of getting me to retire the soccer dream and venture into the halls of his beloved alma mater, Baylor University. He even said he’d pay for the tuition!

I was grateful, but uninterested.

ONE AND DONE

Little did I know how persistent he would be. For three years we discussed these matters and at the end of the 2004 season I announced my retirement from professional soccer. I was twenty years old. Six months later I was a Student Ministry Associate at FBC Prosper who was rapidly trying to finish a bachelor’s degree via extension studies at Texas Tech University. It was at good ‘ol FBCP that the question of seminary first popped up. And then it kept popping up. The general tenor among the Baptist church powers was, “Jordan, if you want to be a pastor you must go to seminary!”

Well, I’ve always had a struggle with pride. And in my early twenties pride was a dragon-like behemoth. The surest way to get me not to do something was tell me I had to do something. I always wanted to pave my own way. The plan was to finish my undergrad degree and be done with schooling. “One and done,” was my thought.

God had another plan.

EVERYTHING CHANGES

In 2008 I joined the staff of Providence Church as an Associate Pastor. I was a bright-eyed twenty-four year old pastor set on changing the ministerial world. Looking back on it now I can see just how silly that notion was, but how God used it to do something in my unexpected.

In May of 2009 two Presbyterian brothers reached out and invited me to lunch. David Rea and Carlton Wynne were old friends and current ministers at Providence Presbyterian Church in Dallas. “D-Rea” had been the college pastor at Park Cities Presbyterian Church, and Carlton his intern, when I attended PCPC for a few years in my soccer playing days. When they heard I was an associate pastor at an Acts 29 church they wanted to see how my ministry was going and what on earth this church planting network was all about. Some of you might remember how those were the boisterous days of A29.

Not long after that meeting I reached out to good Rev. Wynne and asked him if he would disciple me in ministry. I was rapidly realizing how ill-prepared I was for various aspects of pastoral ministry and wanted to grow. Carlton was, and remains, the smartest and humblest pastor I know (he’s currently finishing his PhD dissertation in Systematic Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary). In short, I wanted to be like him. I still hope to be like him.

Carlton graciously agreed to regularly meet with me and our bi-weekly lunches remain one of the fondest memories of my young ministry. He was a graduate of RTS-Charlotte and so, not surprisingly, our conversation often came around to that age-old question of seminary. Overtime he convinced me to go. Five years after –almost to the day! – of saying I wouldn’t go to seminary I submitted an application to RTS.

A REKINDLED LOVE

The next three years were full of ministry, church planting, and seminary. Throughout my time at RTS I rediscovered the joy of learning. I think it was because, unlike much of my previous schooling, the subjects I studied in seminary were so thoroughly interesting and practical. Reading and writing were like old friends I used to spend time with, but life had taken us down separate paths. Now we were reunited. And what fun it was.

When I finished the M.A.R. at RTS I thought, “What about a PhD?”

WHERE TO STUDY

I thus began to research possible schools to which I could apply and I settled on one institution: SBTS. It had everything I was looking for: rigorous scholarship, expert faculty, options for modular study, and a rich tradition in the SBC – our church’s denomination.

After some dialogue with the admissions people I realized I needed to take some classes to get my M.A.R. up to M.Div. equivalency. So over the course of last fall and this spring I slammed out 18 hours worth of seminary classes. In God’s kind providence He used those two semesters to change my direction in which department I would potentially do doctoral research.

WHAT TO STUDY

My original plan was to apply for a PhD in Christian Preaching, but the more I studied at SBTS and got to know the various options and professors I decided to switch my application to the Biblical Spirituality department.

I’m increasingly convinced, along with old saints like M’Cheyne and Bonar, that it is not great talents God blesses as much as great likeness to Christ. I long to be a pastor that sets an example for his people in speech, life, love, faith, and purity, and in so doing save myself and my hearers (1 Tim. 4:12, 16). Additionally, I hope to be a man who trains and exhorts potential pastors in what a spiritual ministry through ordinary means can look like. Further and specific study on these matters can only serve in these areas. Plus, growing in my understanding of the history and theology of piety is right up my alley of interest.

DREADFUL DELIGHT

Earlier this summer I sent in my application and at the beginning of August I received an invitation to come to SBTS to take the entrance exam and go through a faculty interview. And so it was five weeks ago today that I flew out to Louisville with dreadful delight. I guess the exam and interview went well enough, but now that I’ve been officially admitted into the program I once again have that sense of dreadful delight.

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The dread part of that paradox is wrapped up in the commitment of intellect, time, and cash money we are adding to an already full plate: pastoring a young church with a fourth son on the way in January (our four boys will be four years old and under when Knox, Lord willing, appears). But we are simultaneously delighted in God’s opening of this door for doctoral study.

We know life will never be the same. And that is always dreadfully delightful.