Commending Yourself as a Servant

Sam Storms takes a look at Paul's statement in 2 Corinthians 6:4, "As servants of God we commend ourselves in every way," and gets us to see that the issue is this: When People See You, Does God Look Good?

I want to suggest that commending oneself as a minister of God consists of living and acting and speaking in such a way that others think not of you but of him. They don't so much look to you as through you, and in the light of your life see him. Again, to use the words of the title above, it means conducting yourself in such a manner that when others see you, God looks good! Let me explain this by asking a series of pointed (and painful) questions.

At the end of his list of questions is this conclusion:

To use Paul's word, when I "minister" among you, are you captivated by my credentials or energized to find satisfaction in God's merciful sufficiency?

Paul couldn't have cared less about his own reputation, unless by seeing him they savored God. If his weakness magnified God's power, then by all means, watch. So long as his life was a window through which others might behold the goodness and grace of Christ, he was more than happy to commend himself to their scrutiny.

"Don't look at or to me," said Paul, "but through me, as a minister of God, to the fountain of all goodness and grace."

So again, when others see you, does God look good?

Imperfect, Beautiful Human Beings

Ray Ortlund has a quote from Francis Schaeffer on The Ultimate Apologetic. Ortlund then offers a summary of what Schaeffer says:

The ultimate apologetic is churches where (1) falsehood is exposed, (2) the truth is set forth, and (3) we together, though imperfect, are living proof that the gospel makes beautiful human beings.

The Lord's Supper Is a Command

Since the Lord's Supper is a command ("do this in remembrance of me"), it is disobedience not to take part. That means we should not stay away just because we have some sin our lives. Instead we should take part with repentance, being reminded by the bread and the cup that Christ died for sinners like us. I suspect many think that they have to be "worthy" to take part in the Lord's Supper. Actually it means the opposite: At the Table we are confessing again our spiritual bankruptcy and the sufficiency of Christ’s work.

Along this line, Rob Wilkerson has a quote from A Passion for Christ: The Vision that Ignites Ministry by T. F. Torrance et al.

There at the Holy Table I know that I cannot rely on my own faith but only on the vicarious faith of the Lord Jesus in the total substitution of his atoning sacrifice on the Cross. Salvation and justification are by the grace of God alone. Faith, as John Calvin taught, is an empty vessel, so that when you approach the Table of the Lord, it is not upon your faith that you rely, but upon Christ and his Cross alone. That is what the Covenant in his body and blood which the Saviour has forged for us actually, practically, and really means. It is of the very essence of the Gospel that salvation and justification are by the grace of Christ alone, in which he takes your place, that you may have his place.

Are We Failing at Discipleship?

In his book Transforming Discipleship, Greg Ogden outlines eight reasons why we are failing at discipleship. Which of these are true of your experience?

1. Diversion from our primary calling to make disciples.
2. Discipling through programs.
3. Reducing the Christian life to the benefits we get from Jesus.
4. A two-tiered understanding of discipleship (super Christians vs. ordinary believers).
5. An unwillingness to call people to discipleship.
6. An inadequate view of the church as a discipleship community.
7. No clear pathway to maturity.
8. A lack of personal discipling.

Teaching New Believers

Michael Patton has posted an important paper On Educating New Christians by Clinton Arnold. The paper is "Early Church Catechesis and New Christians' Classes in Contemporary Evangelicalism," and was an address given to the Evangelical Theological Society in 2003. Here are a couple of quotes; the first is an exhortation to provide extended teaching to new believers:

Many evangelical churches today place a minimal emphasis on the training of new believers, especially when compared to the prominence and importance of the catechumenate in the ancient church. Some churches find it adequate to have a four-week members’ class prior to baptism and the acquisition of church membership. Others may have a six or eight-week new Christians’ class. How many contemporary evangelical churches, however, have a plan for training new believers over a two or three-year span?

And an exhortation to pastors and other leaders/teachers:

If the training of new believers was such an important ministry in the estimation of the well-known leaders and teachers of the ancient church, it is natural to ask whether it is equally a priority among the scholars and Bible teachers of our time. How many seminary professors are teaching in the functional equivalent of a catechumenate? How many evangelical pastors value the importance of this ministry so highly that they relinquish other commitments to free up adequate time to teach new believers? Time and busyness are certainly the key issues. But should the teaching of new believers be placed at a higher level of priority necessitating a few other things to be cut from our schedules?

Faith in the Workplace

Sometimes churches seem to measure commitment by "commitment to the church's programs." It minimizes the importance of everyday work and career. How we do our work each day is a significant part of our commitment to follow Christ for God's glory. Jim Martin addresses this issue, What Is Your Vocation?:

One can go to work, do quality work for others, and be in service to other men and women every day. That is ministry. That kind of ministry is every bit as legitimate as what might be done in the confines of a church building. Now I don’t want to minimize the value of what good men and women do every day in church buildings all over the world as they seek to do good for others. Yet, neither do I want to minimize the value of one’s calling lived out in service to God.

Mark Roberts' review of God at Work addresses this same issue. His Appendix for the Laity (more here) is directed at helping disciples help their churches to help them live out their faith at work.

Caring for the Hurting

Jon Smith "provides some pastoral reflections on being great comforters to the suffering." His story:

I will never forget those grief-stricken 4 hours – sorrowful, painful, tragic. My wife and I embraced our infant son Chase, singing to him, praying for him, and could do nothing but helplessly watch his life wither away.

Six months earlier we discovered our son Chase had a fatal birth defect. We knew, barring a significant miracle, that he was going to die, but we did not know of the unimaginable pain and suffering that his death would bring to our door – we had never really suffered the loss of anything. We were able to spend four precious but painful hours with our little boy and our last act as his earthly parents was to hold him in our arms as we sang, “It is Well With My Soul.” Chase breathed his last right before we concluded the last line of this never to be forgotten song.

My wife and I never imagined that we would lay any of our children in the grave, let alone watch them suffer and die in our arms. But, neither did we imagine the band of close friends and comforters that God would send to us in our greatest hour of need. We weren’t the only ones that held him, sang to him, and prayed for him that day in the hospital, nor were we the only one’s weeping at his departure - they were too. They walked with us, cried with us, prayed with us, and carried us for months. They were great comforters to us. They were Christ to us.

A summary of the lessons he shares:

• Weep with those who weep.
• Help them run to where their supreme comfort can be found.
• Help them speak with honest emotion.
• Choose your words carefully.
• Let them initiate the doctrinal questions.
• Don’t ignore them or the death.
• Pray for those who are suffering.

Why the Church Is Here

John MacArthur on the purpose of the church, Inward, Upward, or Outward?:

There is only one reason the Lord allows His church to remain on earth: to seek and to save the lost, just as Christ’s only reason for coming to earth was to seek and to save the lost. “As the Father has sent Me,” He declared, “I also send you” (John 20:21). Therefore, believers who are not committed to winning the lost for Jesus Christ should reexamine their relationship to the Lord and certainly their divine reason for existence.

Fellowship, teaching, and praise are not the mission of the church but are rather the preparation of the church to fulfill its mission of winning the lost. And just as in athletics, training should never be confused with or substituted for actually competing in the game, which is the reason for all the training.

Jesse Johnson writes along the same lines about The Church's Mission Statement:

So at the end of all four Gospels, as well as at the beginning of Acts, the church is given it’s mission. To reach the lost with the saving power of the Gospel. And with this commission, Jesus makes evangelism an issue of obedience to our mission statement.

Christians are then called to live, think and act in light of our mission statement. We make decisions and choices based on how they will affect our purpose, the reaching and saving of the lost.

Survey of U.S. Adults Who Don't Go to Church

We all know that statistics and surveys can be used to say almost anything, but we still love them. Ed Stetzer posts on New Research on the Unchurched. One of Stetzer's comments on the research:

Even though the unchurched have a confused view of God and a negative view of the church, they are overwhelmingly open to someone sharing about their Christian faith. We think religion is a topic that is off-limits in polite conversation, but unchurched people say they would enjoy conversations about spiritual matters.

Resources for the World

We really have an abundance of everything in North America, including Christian resources. I've recently become aware of two more efforts to translate our wealth of materials for the benefit of others.

Open Source Mission

Open Source Mission is a new ministry that aims to apply the collaboration tools of the 21st-century to the challenges currently facing the global church.

Our first project is a wiki called GospelTranslations.org, which is our humble contribution toward the theological equipping of Christians around the world.

(Gospel Translations is "a project to make biblical books and articles freely accessible in as many languages as possible.")

Apologetics on the Mission Field
Roger Overton highlights the influence that cults are having around the world. He quotes Paul Carden who writes:

Around the world, cults and controversial new religions are multiplying as they gain cross-cultural sophistication, increase their missionary forces, and step up their translation capabilities. They appear at disaster sites to distribute relief supplies and counsel refugees, and they're going toe-to-toe with evangelical missionaries in the most unexpected places. Their proliferation points to the need for greater awareness among missions strategists and a wider, more effective response on the field."

Roger highlights the Africa Center for Apologetics Research as one attempt to address this need.

Church Planting Essentials

David Watson is posting a series on "Church Planting Essentials":

1. The Group Process
2. Simple Inductive Bible Study
3. Prayer
4. Family Evangelism
5. Make Disciples, Not Converts
6. Ministry, part 1 and part 2
7. Appropriate Evangelism
8. Find the Person of Peace

Does God Hear Our Prayers?

Do you think many of us assume that God hears our prayers simply because we've prayed? Glenn Penner writes about Hindrances to Prayer:

This morning, my study focused on hindrances to prayer. How often we approach the Throne of the Almighty and not realize that His ear is deaf to us? I wonder if we are likely even to notice that He is not listening, being caught up in our own and many words? So what is it that turns God's face from us? I have identified five things....

You'll have to jump over to his blog to read the five things.

House Churches In North America

Geoff Baggett asks a very good question: "House Churches - Will They Really Work in North America?" (HT: Guy Muse)

What do you think? Are house churches here to stay? Are you involved in a house church? What are the positives of house church? What are the negatives? Would you “give up” your full-service congregation for the simplicity of a house church?

The responses to Baggett's article are interesting to read. I think some of the concerns are legitimate issues to raise. But I don't think they are legitimate reasons not to have a house church.

Prayer (God-Dependence), Not Self-Dependence

Darryl Dash has blogged a few times about Jack Miller's book The Heart of a Servant Leader. In one post he quotes Miller on "Self-dependence is our biggest blind spot":

I guess my prevailing thought is that God's work begins when ours comes to its end. Sometimes His presence is not felt with power through our methods however useful they may be, especially when we are confident we have the right approach and insights. God has a way of wanting to be God and refusing to get too involved where we have our own wisdom and strength. Then when we run out of wisdom and strength, He is suddenly present, a lesson I find myself relearning practically every day that I am in my right mind...

In another post he quotes Miller on prayer:

Make the whole ministry center on private and corporate prayer. Do not expect bigger victories in tough areas until corporate praying becomes the complete center of the ministry. The reason? It is in prayer together that we find grace to give up control to the Father, rely exclusively on the Spirit, and see the demons subdued. It is here we get our life, vigor, zest, and authority for the battle...Without constant adoration, thanksgiving, intercession, and confession together, we are going to teach people to rely on our traditions, plans, technologies, and methods rather than on grace. Such converts will simply be switching their idols from the witchcraft stuff to the tools of modernism.

My Other Blog

I've started blogging again at my other blog. Over there I'm now posting verse-by-verse through Ephesians. And I link to articles that have to do with exegesis of specific Bible verses, as well as material on Bible interpretation.

One Person at a Time

There used to be an investment firm that had this ad: "We measure success one investor at a time." I like that "measurement" for the church - each person should matter to us. Along that line, this quote (HT: Steve Addison) resonates with me: "Don’t start with a movement of churches, but rather start with one life at a time. A church planting movement will come out of this" (Ralph Moore).

A Bit More on Mormonism

I've been away for the past week - in Halifax to celebrate my parent's 50th anniversary.

About a month ago, Fox News published some questions and answers about the Mormon Church. Rob Bowman followed up with his Straight Answers to Fox’s 21 Questions about the Mormon Church. A sample (Fox’s questions appear first, followed by the Mormon Church’s responses in italics, and then followed by Bowman's answers):

Q: Does the Mormon Church believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God?
Q: Does the Church believe in the divinity of Jesus?
Q: Does the Church believe that God is a physical being?

A: Mormons believe Jesus Christ is literally the Son of God, the Savior and Redeemer, who died for the sins of humankind and rose from the dead on the third day with an immortal body. God, the Father, also has an immortal body.

What this answer—which is accurate as far as it goes—neglects to make explicit is that Mormons understand what it means for Jesus to be “the Son of God” in a way that differs radically from orthodox Christianity. When they say they believe he is “literally” the Son of God, the significance of this qualification will be lost on most people. Mormons believe that God the Father is an immortal Man and that he is the literal father of Jesus Christ “in the flesh,” just as Mary is his literal mother (see below). This is not what orthodox Christianity means when it affirms that Jesus is the Son of God. To us, Christ has existed eternally as the Son of God, personally distinct from the Father yet one and the same God. For us, to affirm that Jesus is the Son of God means to affirm that he is eternally of the same absolute, infinite divine nature as the Father.

It is peculiar that the LDS Church did not directly address the question of the divinity of Jesus. In their view, Jesus is Jehovah, the God of the Old Testament, and yet he is a different God than Elohim, the Father, and will always be subordinate to him. Mormons do not pray to Jesus. In their view, Jesus, and all other human beings, and all angels, existed in the distant past as the spirit offspring of our heavenly parents (God the Father and his wife); Jesus is simply our Elder Brother and the first of God’s children to become a God himself.

Who Do You Hang Out With?

I really like this New Year's Resolution by Stephen Altrogge:

Okay, I think I've figured out my New Year's resolution. Actually, 'resolution' isn't the right word. It's more like, my 2008 spiritual goal. My goal for the year 2008 is (cue drum roll and semi-angelic sounding choir in the background): hang out with Christians less!

Read the rest of his post to see what he means. And although I've already linked to it a few times on my blog, I'm going to send you one more time to Jim Elliff's great article on The Value of Hanging Out.

Persistent Prayer

It used to be, when I was preaching regularly, I would preach on prayer on the first Sunday of the year. I preached this morning at Halifax Chinese Christian Church, but not on prayer. So, on this first Sunday of 2008, I'll post a link to the topic of prayer. Mark Altrogge presents one reason Why We Shouldn't Quit Praying:

Puritan preacher John Flavel says that it is exceedingly pleasant to see God's providential answers to prayer that come long after we have given up any hope or expectation of an answer (though we should never give up). Job had given up any expectation of better days. Jacob had given up any expectation of ever seeing Joseph again, yet God providentially answered their prayers which they had given up hoping for.

"Cast your bread on the waters, for you shall find it after many days." Ecclesiastes 11:1.

It may be many days before our bread comes back to us - it may be many days before our prayers are answered. But God encourages us to keeping casting our bread on the waters. The promise is that we SHALL FIND IT. And we shall find it AFTER MANY DAYS. So keep casting your prayers upon God. Don't' quit hoping for an answer. It may take a long time, but God will be faithful.

Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor

Several years ago, a church member gave me a copy of the notes that Don Carson wrote in memoriam of his father (I think for his father's funeral). It was a great encouragement to read. Now I see that Carson has a book coming out about his father, called Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor (see the review at the Desiring God blog). OK, that's another Carson book added to my wish-list.

New Year, Resolutions and Self-Examination

David Powlison has a guest post at Between Two Worlds on the subject of New Year's Resolutions. One of the points he makes:

Whether petty or profound, New Year’s resolutions as such merely express good intentions. They describe self-referential problems – “I find abc displeasing about myself.” They make no reckoning with the power of our passions, fears, habits . . . inner sinfulness, sin directly against God Himself . . . and with the power of outer evils (including enculturation) that allure and constrain us. They propose self-dependent solutions – “I resolve to do xyz to change myself.” Change depends on fickle will-power and on common-sense strategies for self-management (e.g., “set achievable goals that are personally meaningful, and take small steps”). So they fail in large measure. Or, even when they succeed, they create absolutely no reasons to “rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances.” They make no reckoning with either the chief end of man, or the madness in our hearts while we live, or the inexpressible gift of God to sinful, dying people. Self-referential resolutions function within a self-salvation project, however noble and desirable the proximate ends in view.

In connection with making resolutions, I was thinking this week about self-examination, and turned to Paul's statement in 2 Corinthians 13:5: "Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?" It prompted this thought: For a believer, self-examination (and any resulting resolutions?) should be based on the realization that Christ is in us. Self-examination should not be "self-referential" but referenced to the treasure that we have, namely Christ in us, informing, motivating, directing, and empowering our lives.

Life on Earth Matters

I've finally finished Randy Alcorn's book Heaven. One of the ways this book has affected me is it has reinforced the truth of C. S. Lewis' statement: "The Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next." It's also pointed me in the direction of seeing that every ordinary, daily activity is important - not just the so-called "spiritual activities."

A quote from one of the final chapters in Alcorn's book (p. 443):

Life on Earth matters not because it's the only life we have, but precisely because it isn't - it's the beginning of a life that will continue without end. It's the precursor of life on the New Earth.... Informed by the doctrines of creation, redemption, resurrection, and the New Earth, our present lives take on greater importance, infusing us with purpose. Understanding Heaven doesn't just tell us what to do, but why. What God tells us about our future lives enables us to interpret our past and serve him in our present.