A Week On Preaching

Last spring, I was faced with some serious challenges from within the church I pastor that forced me to evaluate my understanding of the role and power of preaching. I was told by the pastoral relations committee of my church that the sermons were to be no more than 20 minutes long, and it was made clear that I could toe the line, or else. I agreed to hold that line (for awhile), but I made clear that we needed to revisit the subject once and for all. At first it wasn’t dealt with. The agreed upon date to revisit the subject came and went, and to my shame I didn’t force us all back to the table. After speaking to someone with legal training and being told that there was breach of contract on the pastoral relations committee side for not reconvening as agreed, I just blew off the agreement. It was sinful of me, I should have made us all come back to the table to finish the process properly (yes, pastors can sin too- I confessed this and repented of it to the pastoral relations committee last fall, and I continue to admit it now). However, last fall, the subject was re-opened, dealt with properly, and put to bed with the pastoral relationship committee. I believe we are past it forever. 

Here on the anniversary of that ugliness, I would like to reflect on some of the things that I learned as a result, because while it was a rough time, it really forced me to think about preaching carefully and critically and it made my understanding of the importance of preaching grow. I came to realize that preaching is a live or die issue for me. It's an issue that would limit my tenure if unresolved (at First Baptist Medfield or any other church I serve).

Why? Why is this a hill I was ready to die on, and would still be ready to die on?

Because I believe that preaching shapes how effective a pastor is, because it is through the preaching of the word that God speaks. The ministry of the Word, preaching and teaching of the Gospel, is the apex of the service, if we minimize the preaching of the Gospel, if we make it something we tolerate rather than love and elevate, we tell something to the church, and the world around about what we think of what God has to say. The more I thought about it and read last summer and fall, the firmer my convictions became that church that grow and thrive, not just in size, but also in depth and vibrancy, are churches that take time to really examine the Word of God, feast on it, and are shaped by it.

With this said, I would like to structure what I have to say on preaching in this way. Tuesday I will lay out the theology of preaching that under-girds my approach to the pulpit. Wednesday, I will speak to some of the general arguments that I have heard about why we need the sermon to be no more than 20 minutes (both in and out of my church). Thursday, I will speak about some practical considerations in regards to preaching in a postmodern world. Friday, I will walk through what I will call closing considerations. I hope that this is helpful to all. 

Preaching: How Biblical Preaching Brings True Revival

Preaching is the key to revival, both in a local church, or in the Church, Capitol C, Universal church made up of every tongue tribe and nation.

This week, I will post some sections from a document that I put together on preaching last summer and fall that lay out the theology of preaching that under-girds how I view preaching, and an answer to some of the common objections to preaching. For today, enjoy!

Today, please ponder this timely reminder by Dr. Steve Lawson.

Every season of reformation and every hour of spiritual awakening have been ushered in by a recovery of biblical preaching. This cause and effect is timeless and inseparable. J.H. Merle D’Aubigné, noted Reformation historian, writes, “The only true reformation is that which emanates from the Word of God.” That is to say, as the pulpit goes, so goes the church.

Such was the case in the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century. Martin Luther, John Calvin, and other reformers were raised up by God to lead this era. At the forefront, it was their recovery of expository preaching that helped launch this religious movement that turned Europe and, eventually, Western civilization upside down. With sola Scriptura as their battle cry, a new generation of biblical preachers restored the pulpit to its former glory and revived apostolic Christianity.

The same was true in the golden era of the puritans in the seventeenth century. A recovery of biblical preaching spread like wildfire through the dry religion of Scotland and England. A resurgence of authentic Christianity came as an army of biblical expositors—John Owen, Jeremiah Burroughs, Samuel Rutherford, and others—marched upon the British Empire with an open Bible and uplifted voice. In its wake, the monarchy was shaken and history was altered.

The eighteenth century witnessed exactly the same. The Bible-saturated preaching of Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, and the Tennents thundered through the early colonies. The Atlantic seaboard was electrified with the proclamation of the gospel, and New England was taken by storm. The Word was preached, souls were saved, and the kingdom expanded.

The fact is, the restoration of biblical preaching has always been the leading factor in any revival of genuine Christianity. Philip Schaff writes, “Every true progress in church history is conditioned by a new and deeper study of the Scriptures.” That is to say, every great revival in the church has been ushered in by a return to expository preaching.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, preacher of Westminster Chapel London, stated, “The most urgent need in the Christian Church today is true preaching; and as it is the greatest and the most urgent need in the Church, it is the greatest need of the world also.” If the doctor’s diagnosis is correct, and this writer believes it is, then a return to true preaching—biblical preaching, expository preaching—is the greatest need in this critical hour. If a reformation is to come to the church, it must begin in the pulpit.

In his day, the prophet Amos warned of an approaching famine, a deadly drought that would cover the land. But not an absence of mere food or water, for this scarcity would be far more fatal. It would be a famine for hearing God’s Word (Amos 8:11). Surely, the church today finds itself in such similar days of shortage. Tragically, exposition is being replaced with entertainment, doctrine with drama, theology with theatrics, and preaching with performances. What is so desperately needed today is for pastors to return to their highest calling—the divine summons to “preach the word” (2 Tim. 4:1–2).

What is expository preaching? The Genevan reformer John Calvin explained, “Preaching is the public exposition of Scripture by the man sent from God, in which God Himself is present in judgment and in grace.” In other words, God is unusually present, by His Spirit, in the preaching of His Word. Such preaching starts in a biblical text, stays in it, and shows its God-intended meaning in a life-changing fashion.

This was the final charge of Paul to young Timothy: “Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching” (2 Tim. 4:2). Such preaching necessitates declaring the full counsel of God in Scripture. The entire written Word must be expounded. No truth should be left untaught, no sin unexposed, no grace unoffered, no promise undelivered

A heaven-sent revival will only come when Scripture is enthroned once again in the pulpit. There must be the clarion declaration of the Bible, the kind of preaching that gives a clear explanation of a biblical text with compelling application, exhortation, and appeal.
Every preacher must confine himself to the truths of Scripture. When the Bible speaks, God speaks. The man of God has nothing to say apart from the Bible. He must not parade his personal opinions in the pulpit. Nor may he expound worldly philosophies. The preacher is limited to one task—preach the Word.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon said, “I would rather speak five words out of this book than 50,000 words of the philosophers. If we want revivals, we must revive our reverence for the Word of God. If we want conversions, we must put more of God’s Word into our sermons.” This remains the crying need of the hour.

May a new generation of strong men step forward and speak up, and may they do so loud and clear. As the pulpit goes, so goes the church.

 Amen and Amen!

Repentance

When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said “Repent,” he intended that the entire life of believers should be repentance”, wrote Martin Luther as he began the 95 Thesis. Stop and think about that for a moment. All of the Christian life is repentance. Ouch.

Why is repentance so important? Because it’s only when we see “the ugliness of our sin that we can glimpse the beauty of God’s grace”. Dennis Johnson observed that “Repentance is intrinsic to "the gospel of God's grace", for only those who see the ugliness of their sin can glimpse the beauty of God's grace. Repentance is not only a turning from sin and misplaced worship, but also a turning towards God. While repentance is appropriately shown in heartfelt grief for past evil we should not overlook it's positive dimension; turning in humble dependence to the living God who saves. Paul speaks of a worldly sorrow that leads to death. Such was Judas remorse when he saw his own treachery lead to Jesus condemnation. Whereas Judas turned from God towards self-destruction, God's gift for repentance turns us back to him. Despite the folly and evil of past attitudes and actions, we turn to Him in the hope that his mercy can overpower our guilt, and that His spirit can overpower proneness to rebellion. People who have repented in response to the Gospels call will "practice deeds worthy of repentance". Because repentance is a turning towards God, it is inextricably bound to faith (The Message of Acts, page 153).

Ultimately, repentance is more than a onetime thing. Repentance is the way we make as followers of Christ in the gospels. The clearest sign that we are growing and developing Christ-like character is that we hate our sin and are repenting of it. Repentance should permeate all of life, like salt permeates your dinner and makes it tastier. Every area of your life should be marked by repentance. All of your life should be marked by an intentional turning away from sin and towards God, as you trust in the good news that Jesus saves sinners. The gospel is for each and every day, it’s something that should shape you each and every moment, and seeing it should lead to a continual posture of repentance.

Luther got this. Almost 30 years later, on February 16, 1546, Luther’s last words, written on a piece of scrap paper, echoed the theme of his first thesis: “We are beggars! This is true”. From opening thesis to dying breath, Luther understood this and lived with it at the foot of the cross, in that place where our rebellious sin condition meets with the beauty of God’s incredible grace in the gospel of His Son Jesus Christ—a gospel that is deep enough to cover each and every flaw us “beggars”. As you move through Lent and towards Easter, as you move through this time that has historically been marked by thinking of the suffering of Christ, and as you think about the gospel; see your sin, see the cross and the grace of God, and make repentance your continual approach to life.

Abortion Got Personal

Last week I saw two stories that broke my heart. The first on is about 6 years old, but the second one was in the news last week.

Story one was of a botched abortion. A young mother accused a Florida clinic of botching her abortion, allowing her child to be born alive - then putting the baby into a plastic bag and throwing her out with the trash. Here is the core of the story, you can read the whole story here.

 Aged 18, Ms Williams went to an abortion clinic outside Miami and paid $1,200 for Dr Renelique to terminate her 23-week pregnancy...Three days later, she sat in a reclining chair, medicated and ready for the procedure.But Dr Renelique did not arrive in time - and, according to Williams and the Florida Department of Health, she went into labour and delivered a live baby girl. Then, Ms Williams and the Department of Health claim, one of the clinic's owners - who has no medical licence - cut the infant's umbilical cord. Ms Williams says the woman placed the baby in a plastic bio-hazard bag and threw it out. Police recovered the decomposing remains in a cardboard box a week later after getting anonymous tips. An autopsy revealed air in the baby girl's lungs - proving that she was born alive and breathing.

The Second one was in the news last week, and was all the rage on Facebook. Here is the essence of the story. You can read the whole story here.

The parents of a four-year-old Oregon girl with Down syndrome were awarded $2.9 million after doctors misdiagnosed their daughter as not having the condition during a prenatal screening.

Ariel and Deborah Levy of Portland, Ore., filed a “wrongful birth” lawsuit against Legacy Health System, claiming that they would have terminated the pregnancy had they known they would have a special-needs child.

The Levys said the doctors were “negligent in their performance, analysis and reporting” of test results after their child was born as well.“It’s been difficult for them,” said David K. Miller, the Levy’s lawyer, “There’s been a lot of misinformation out there. “These are parents who love this little girl very, very much,” Miller said. “Their mission since the beginning was to provide for her and that’s what this is all about.

The $2.9 million will cover the estimated extra lifetime costs of caring for someone with Down syndrome.

Here's the thought that struck me with both stories. Life is cheap. We throw it in a garbage can. We dispose of it because it might have a genetic defect. We ponder after birth abortion (aka infanticide), and euthanasia, like it's no big deal

Now, you may have notice that I have talked about abortion allot lately. It got real and personal a couple months ago. I have always been pro-life. My mom volunteered at a crisis pregnancy center, and my sister in Law is the director of one right now. But it came home in a new way a few months ago when Veronique and I where told that our daughter might, might (less than one percent chance) be Down's Syndrome.

Now, come what may, we're keeping her. She's made in the image of God. She's our daughter. We stopped the inquiry, it doesn't matter. But what has broken my heart was the statement by the doctor that while 1 in every 600 pregnancies are Downs syndrome babies, 97 percent are aborted. the words from the doctors mouth have left me heartbroken. 1 in every 600, but only 3 percent of those children live. Now the stats I saw when I searched the internet where a little bit different, but they reflected the general trend she cited. When parents find out their kids are Downs syndrome babies, they abort them. They kill their child. What are we doing? How can we stand numbly by?

Atheist and Reason: They don’t own it

Today, the leading atheists are holding a "Reason Rally" on the National Mall in Washington. They will  hold up Reason as the banner that they believe people should rally, and claim that it will lead thinking persons away from belief in God.

This is an assertion that doesn't stand up to the weight of Reason. Today I would like to point out two articles that are worthy of your consideration.

First, from the Washington Post, an article every Christian should contemplate. Atheists don’t own reason by Tom Gilson, a writer and missions strategist blogging at www.thinkingchristian.net, and the managing editor of the collaborative e-book “True Reason: Christian Responses to the Challenge of Atheism.” Here are some excerpts from his article. Read it all here.

The new atheists--participants in the contemporary anti-religion movement led by Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, the late Christopher Hitchens, among others--are working overtime to tell the world that reason favors atheism, and atheism alone...For years, though, knowledgeable critics have been calling attention to new atheist’ rational fallacies, emotionally loaded rhetoric, and illegitimate, selective use of evidence. It’s time now to add that up together and recognize what it means: the new atheists have no business proclaiming themselves the defenders of reason, simply because they don’t practice it competently....Of course that’s not what the new atheists want us to believe. It is religion, they say, that is the antithesis of reason... What happens, though, when we examine the new atheists’ own “reasonableness” and “internal coherence”?

Sam Harris debated William Lane Craig last April on whether atheism or theism (roughly defined as the belief in one God) provides a better explanation for the existence of moral truths (transcript here). Opinions may differ as to which of them held the more defensible position. What can hardly be disputed, though, is that Craig showed up with logical arguments, at least one of which, if sound, would completely destroy Harris’s atheistic explanation for morality. Harris conspicuously ignored this, and indeed virtually all of Craig’s logic. He devoted one 12-minute segment to rhetoric depicting Christianity in the most negative light possible, and suggesting that we should therefore conclude that Christianity is wrong. It was what logicians would describe as a fallacious appeal to emotion with respect to the question being debated and to the points Craig had raised.

In his best-selling “The God Delusion,” Richard Dawkins devotes an entire chapter to unscientific anecdotes supporting his belief that a religious upbringing is abusive to children. (See also “Religion’s Real Child Abuse.”) Actual science shows exactly the opposite: spiritually engaged teens are healthier than others on multiple dimensions. Such abandonment of science is surprisingly irrational for the man who was formerly Oxford University’s Professor for the Public Understanding of Science. But rational and logical errors are pervasive throughout “The God Delusion,” so much so that University of Florida philosopher Michael Ruse, an atheist, would endorse Alister and Joanna Collicutt McGrath’s “The Dawkins Delusion?” by saying, “‘The God Delusion’ makes me embarrassed to be an atheist, and the McGraths show why.”

These are, unfortunately, not isolated examples.The American Atheists, for example, co-sponsored a billboard in Harrisburg, PA juxtaposing half of a sentence from the Bible with an inflammatory, racially charged image of slavery. In doing so they combined at least two rational errors: the fallacious appeal to emotion and imagery, and the “straw man” fallacy of misrepresenting their opponents’ position; for although the quoted phrase, “Slaves, obey your masters,” is troubling on the surface, the Bible’s supposed endorsement of slavery is not what atheists allege it to be. As Glenn Sunshine shows in his chapter in “True Reason: Christian Responses to the Challenge of Atheism,” Christianity has in fact been history’s major force for the freeing of slaves. Immediate abolition was realistically impossible in New Testament times: The Romans would have treated it as insurrection, and the inevitable bloodshed to follow it would have produced greater evil than would have been alleviated by abolition. The injunction to “obey” was thus temporary and contextual. It was also tempered with instructions to masters to treat slaves reasonably, as fellow human beings. Eventually slavery “virtually disappeared” from Europe under Christianity’s influence, as social historian Rodney Stark stated in “For the Glory of God: How Monotheism Led to Reformations, Science, Witch-Hunts, and the End of Slavery” (p. 299).

Failures in the practice of rational reasoning such as these are all too common among the New Atheists. They charge Christianity with being unreasoning or unreasonable, but too often they do so as they have done with slavery: use incomplete evidence or demonstrably invalid reasoning. From my observations, it adds up to this: the new atheists’ difficulty with valid, responsible reasoning is widespread and systemic. Far from being the defenders of reason, they are among the chief offenders against it. It’s time we called them on that.

Second, an excerpt from True Reason: Christian Responses to the Challenge of Atheism, entitled The Irony Of Atheism that can be found at Gospel Coalition. Read it all here.

One of the great ironies of the contemporary atheistic movement comes from its ubiquitous use of rhetoric, branding, and emotional triggers to advocate for reason. The leading atheists trumpet their devotion to reason in all their public communications, typically featuring the word in bold type across the names of their books, websites, organizations, and events...Throughout their books, talks, and websites, the New Atheists consistently promote their allegiance to the glory of reason. This is not a novel development; the "new" atheists are hardly the first atheists to claim the brand of reason for themselves. In Aristophanes's play The Knights, written in 424 B.C., Demosthenes asks Nicias, "Do you then believe there are gods? . . . What proof have you?" There is a well-established tradition that connects the skepticism of religion with a love for reason. But some of these connections are more dubious than others. For instance, during the French Revolution, a "Cult of Reason" ransacked churches for their silver and gold and "converted" these churches into Temples of Reason. In the government-sanctioned "Festival of Reason" that accompanied this movement, a young woman was presented as the Goddess of Reason. At other times the connection has been presented hyperbolically, without reference to serious historical or sociological research.

How Atheists Unwittingly Honor God

For the New Atheists, as for some of the old, ardent love for reason apparently motivates visceral disgust of religion...Despite such attacks, as Christians we are delighted that those who consider themselves our opponents are such ardent appreciators of reason. After all, Jesus famously proclaimed that the most important commandment includes loving God "with all of your mind" (Mk. 12:30). So, ironically, we believe that atheists honor God unawares when they reason well. Because we desire to honor God, we want to demonstrate why Christianity provides the most reasonable framework for the existence and use of reason.

The contrasts are clear: atheists claim that religion is the main barrier to reason. Christians believe our capacity to reason comes from being created in the image of an all-knowing God, and the active use of reason is an important way to honor him. Atheists brand themselves as a community united by reason. Christians marvel at how this group rallies together even as their most prominent leader, Richard Dawkins, argues that evolution favors the selfish gene, not the reasonable group. Atheists work hard to eradicate religion for the sake of a brighter future. Christians are amazed that atheists so blissfully ignore the scientific fact that, if religion is a false consolation, the future always ends in death.

Atheism Is a Thought Stopper

Leading atheist Sam Harris says "faith is a conversation stopper." Christians reply that Harris has also said that none of us is "the author of your thoughts and actions in the way that people generally suppose." The reductionistic, deterministic, and materialistic worldview of many atheists seems, to reasonable Christians, to exclude the existence of transcendent, immaterial things like propositions, the rules of logic, and, most important of all, the very existence of minds.

These aren't straw men, but rather, a description of how many atheists see the stakes as well. Consider the famous Madalyn Murray O'Hair's speech on atheism from 1962:

We must look to materialistic philosophy which alone enables men to understand reality and to know how to deal with it . . . Atheism is based upon a materialist philosophy, which holds that nothing exists but natural phenomena. There are no supernatural forces or entities, nor can there be any. Nature simply exists. But there are those who deny this, who assert that only mind or idea or spirit is primary. This question of the relation of the human mind to material being is one of the fundamental questions dealt with by all philosophers, however satisfactorily. The Atheist must slice through all obfuscation to bedrock, to the basic idea that those who regard nature as primary and thought as a property (or function) of matter belong to the camp of materialism, and that those who maintain that spirit or idea or mind existed before nature or created nature or uphold nature belong to the camp of idealism. All conventional religions are based on idealism.

That is the question: do we have minds, or are we neurological processors akin to robots? And which worldview can better account for the existence and use of reason?

In short, [True Reason] directly challenges the goals of organized atheist communities. Our hope is their fear: a revitalization of faith and thinking Christianity. Their identity as reasoning individuals depends upon the truth of our worldview. Their communal ideals of honesty, freedom, love, and justice are borrowed from the Bible. The very existence of reasoning Christians responding to atheist rhetoric undermines their fallacious, straw man depiction of religious people.

Read them both in full, and as you do, remember that as Christians, we should be driven, not to be a-reason, but driven to be more reasonable, more rational, more thoughtful than those who look to reason with hope, because we believe, with all of our heart that we should be, as Romans says, transformed through the renewing our of mind.

A Higher Moral Law

Call it a sign of the times, something unbelievably outrageous. The bible tells us that there will be a day when people who call evil good and good evil. Read, then pray!

An Ontario Court of Justice judge erupted in a lengthy, angry tirade against pro-life activist Mary Wagner – and ejected a spectator from the public gallery – in a downtown Toronto courtroom Wednesday...You don’t get it, do you? What’s the rule of law? You’re required to abide by it … You’ve lost the right as a citizen to be anywhere near an abortion clinic or to speak to an employee,” he said. “You’re wrong and your God’s wrong,” he continued. “You have complete contempt … There is a right to (abortion) in this country … You don’t have a right to cause (abortion-seeking women) extra pain and grief the way you do. “[Abortion] is legal,” he continued, “that’s all you have to understand … You start causing people emotional pain and harm, you think that’s okay?”

Earlier, one of Wagner’s supporters in the public gallery spoke up and was addressed by Clements. “These (life issues) are deeply held beliefs. We respect the rule of law. There are ways to change the law. The rule of law is absolutely fundamental. We see what happens in the streets when the rule of law is ignored,” he said. “You wouldn’t like someone in your vestibule every night. People who can’t deal with that, we lock them up.”

Asked whether she had anything to say prior to sentencing, Wagner said she saw the rule of law as a guidepost, not an absolute. “The letter of the law does not always maintain justice … abortion is a short-term solution but causes long-term pain,” she said. She added she never acts out of a lack of sensitivity, but rather attempts to love the women to whom she speaks. She also pointed to examples from history where people who were initially regarded as criminals were later found to be in the right.

Clements was unmoved. “You have, in some measure, displayed utter contempt for the courts and the rights of others,” he said. “You appear to be governed by a higher moral order than the laws of our country.” “Your determination to break the law is a potential threat to the well-being of society and plants the seeds of lawlessness, perhaps even anarchy … You are unable to accord some civility and respect to others. Your view in law is wrong.”

Wow. You can read it all here.

Changed: Billy Graham's America No Longer

The World has changed greatly, no one doubts that. I was struck by Wes Moore's insights this week about how this is "Billy Graham's America No Longer", critiquing the way that many churches emphasize marketing and how it has some ugly unintended consequences in this changed and increasingly changing environment. You can read the whole thing here.

Here are the main things.

The Issue:

Why do so many churches and church leaders believe marketing is the answer? The move towards marketing is based on a single premise—a false premise, actually—that for people to be saved, they must come into the church building to do it!

In the church in America, when we think of evangelism, we think of a Billy Graham Crusade. A high-powered speaker comes in, a thousand lost people show up, and hundreds get saved. But it’s not Billy Graham’s America anymore.

America has changed.

This “big tent” idea of revival just doesn’t work today.

The underlying Problem: 

 Let me give you some reasons this idea is flawed:

1.    In the NT, it wasn’t just the evangelists that preached the Word to the lost; it was also the average pew-sitter. Look at Acts 8:1 and 4. While the apostles (the big named preachers and evangelists) were stuck in Jerusalem, “those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went” (v. 4). That’s the rest of us.

2.    This approach (come to us and hear the Word) is not fundamentally in line with the Great Commission. The first words of it as written in Matthew 28:18-20 are, “Therefore, go…” Jesus expected us to go out to them and take the gospel, not just wait for them to come to us.

3.    The American culture no longer responds to this approach. America has changed. People today don’t know the Bible, doubt its every teaching, and think all Christians are hypocrites. The culture of the Christian church and the culture of the average American, while once more closely aligned, are now polar opposites.

The bottom line is this: People rarely come when you invite them. I don’t care what the supposed studies say. I’ve done it for nearly fifteen years. To help you understand how the average lost person feels when they think about going to a Christian worship service, imagine how you would feel as a biblical Christian if you were invited to a Mormon sacrament meeting (that’s their Sunday service). You’d feel very uncomfortable, and, no matter how many times you were invited, you’d probably never go.

That same kind of uncomfortable feeling, born of various causes, keeps the lost out of our churches on Sunday morning.

What will further the the kingdom of God, and bring people into contact with the gospel in a healthy way:

Growing Today
Sadly, most Christians, Christian churches, and even most pastors today don’t evangelize at all. They have no strategy to reach the lost, and no problem sitting in their seats while the lost and their entire community go to hell around them (literally and figuratively).But, for those who do care, what should they do? Let me suggest two things:

1.    We must go out to the people and share the gospel with them. That doesn’t always mean in a confrontational way with a stranger, though that certainly is biblical. You can also share with those with whom you have an existing relationship: neighbors, school mates, colleagues, coworkers, and friends. I recommend The Way of the Master for a more confrontational approach, and my book, Forcefully Advancing, for a more relational one.

2.    Prepare yourself to answer questions and overcome objections. The average lost person can give you four or five Bible difficulties without taking a breath. You can learn to answer them, however. It will just take some work. My book, The Spiritual Top 50, was written just for this purpose.

One final thing. In today’s culture, you must understand that numerical growth will be slow. We’re not in a season of reaping, but of hard work (John 4:35-38), so get the idea that you’ll have fantastic growth overnight out of your head.

A sharp critique and a final words of wisdom:

Our fascination with drawing crowds has had a negative unintended consequence. The marketing approach has driven us to focus our preaching and teaching on that which draws and meets the “needs” of the lost around us (heavy on temporal problems, happiness, and fulfillment; low on eternal concerns, doctrine, righteousness, sacrifice, and suffering).

The content of that kind of preaching does not constitute meat for the saved. Quite to the contrary, the steady diet of what is at best milk (and, in many cases, spiritual cyanide) has left our people immature, sinful, and vulnerable to every kind of deception.

The best thing we can do for the lost—and the saved—is to train our people to go out into the world and evangelize, and rigorously and continually feed the sheep the rich, full, and God-centered meat of the Word whenever the church meets, whether on Sunday or any other day of the week. If we approach growth this way, we’ll not only see a greater number truly saved, we’ll also see the Kingdom itself return to health and strength.

Need of Grace- Valley of Vision

Prayer from Valley of Vision: A collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions.

O Lord,

Thou knowest my great unfitness for service,

my present deadness,

my inability to do anything for thy glory,

my distressing coldness of heart.

I am weak, ignorant, unprofitable,

and loathe and abhor myself.

I am at a loss to know what thou wouldest

have me do,

for I feel amazingly deserted by thee,

and sense thy presence so little;

Thou makest me possess the sins of my youth,

and the dreadful sin of my nature,

so that I feel all sin,

I cannot think or act but every motion is sin.

Return again with showers of converting grace

to a poor gospel-abusing sinner.

Help my soul to breathe after holiness,

after a constant devotedness to thee,

after growth in grace more abundantly every day.

O Lord, I am lost in the pursuit of this blessedness,

And am ready to sink because I fall short

of my desire;

Help me to hold out a little longer,

until the happy hour of deliverance comes,

for I cannot lift my soul to thee

if thou of thy goodness bring me not nigh.

Help me to be diffident, watchful, tender,

lest I offend my blessed Friend

in thought and behaviour;

I confide in thee and lean upon thee,

and need thee at all times to assist and lead me.

O that all my distresses and apprehensions

might prove but Christ’s school

to make me fit for greater service

by teaching me the great lesson of humility.

Satan’s A-Game

I keep re-reading sections of J.D. Greear’s book Gospel: Recovering the Power that Made Christianity Revolutionary. Its loaded with great stuff, and I recommend it to everyone. It’s awesome.

This statement on how Satan tempts us is worth reflecting on. Greear looks at Satan’s attempt to tempt Jesus; coming and trying to get Jesus to think about not having food, even though He (Jesus) is the son of God, and in essence Satan asks, “what are you doing out here Jesus?” Greear then draws out some implications, which I commend to you.

Don't you think it's significant that Satan began his "A-game " by trying to get Jesus to take His eyes off the identity the Father had declared over him and to seek validation in another way? Satan's approach to us is the same. Satan's most effective weapon is to take our eyes off of what God has declared over us in the gospel.

 A lot of times when we think about spiritual warfare we think of it in terms of strange, paranormal phenomena – people levitating 6 feet above their beds, their eyes rolling in the back of their heads and foaming at the mouth, singing back-masked heavy metal music.... Does Satan do stuff like that? I wouldn't put it beneath him. But I'm pretty confident that it's not his main strategy. He attacks our identity in the Gospel. Satan's one direct shot at Jesus didn't include levitation or Ouija boards; nor did he show Jesus pornographic pictures out in the wilderness. He redirected Jesus mind away from God's declaration over Him.

He goes on to look at the fact that Satan’s lies always have the ring of truth to them, and then continues,

Our enemy for example, will points correctly point out our failures. Sometimes he helps us see how badly we're doing at being a Christian by showing as someone who is much better Christian than we are…. Other times he puffs us up with pride. Either strategy is effective, because in either case we take our focus off of Christ’s gift-righteousness and put it onto ourselves. And comparison with others leads us to two of Satan's favorite sins: pride and despair. Pride leads us leads to hardness of heart towards God and hatred of others. Despair leads us to depression, fear, and indulgence in the last of the flesh. This is the cycle he loves to have a sense. Both start with unbelief of the Gospel.

When Satan takes our eyes off of the declaration spoken over us at the Gospel, we lose the security and satisfaction we have in the love and approval of our heavenly Father. The gateway is then opened up for all that the gateway is then open for all the other temptations.

Some of you they will Kill

A person at the church sent this to me Sunday morning. "Some of you they will kill." Luke 21:16. "The victim was spreading Christianity to the Yemeni people. 

Sanaa, Yemen (CNN) -- Gunmen fatally shot an American teacher in the Yemeni province of Taiz on Sunday, two defense ministry officials said.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the terror network's affiliate in Yemen, claimed responsibility for the killing. In a text message sent to Yemeni media outlets, the group said the victim was spreading Christianity, calling him one of the biggest missionaries in the country.

But the International Training and Development Center said the victim, whom it identified as "Joel S.," was not a missionary. "He was an American development worker who had been working in Yemen with his wife and two children since 2010," when he began working for the education center, it said. "Unfortunately Joel S. has been accused of being a part of a proselytizing campaign, but the staff of ITDC, which consists of Muslims, Christians and other religions working together, has continually focused on human development, skill transfer and community development," the center said. "Joel S. was a very professional employee who highly respected the Islamic religion." Authorities have not said who killed the teacher. The head of security in the province, Mohamed Saidi, identified him as Joel Shrum.

The U.S. Embassy in the capital, Sanaa, said it had heard reports of an American death and was investigating. It did not confirm that an American had been killed. On Thursday, tribesmen demanding the release of prisoners kidnapped a female Swiss teacher in Hodeida on the Red Sea coast, officials said.

A couple of thoughts. First, I have no doubt that he was doing missionary work. You cant go to the Middle East as a missionary, at least not out in the open. You always go under some other avenue. Second. Of course the Agency says that, they would not want to damage the ability to work, and yes, maybe proclaim the gospel. 

But Third, while you weep for his family. But at the same time, rejoice, because, as so many saints before him (Act 5:42), He has been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. 

Some of you they will put to death. You will be hated by all for my name's sake (Luke 21:16-17). Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you (Matthew 5:11-13).

Passover Seder Encounter

Saturday, First Baptist will be hosting a  Passover Seder Encoutner. It should be awesome. I am looking forward to getting a better understanding of the Passover and the Gospel, as a result.

Here is a teaser for the Event from Nathan, the Rabbi who will be leading us. 

The scene for God's redemptive plan for our world is set when the Lord parts the Red Sea and Moses leads the Israelites into the promise land. For thousands of years the Jewish people have come together each year to remember God's salvific work in our world and in our lives. During the Passover Seder we enter into the Exodus experience and through taste, song and prayer remember the history of our salvation.

It was during this time, a small Passover Seder in Jerusalem, where Jesus sat with His disciples for His last meal before His impending death. And it was here that He took the third cup, the "Cup of Redemption" symbolizing the redemption of the Jewish people and infused it with new meaning— "This cup is the new covenant in my blood which is poured out for you." (Luke 22:20) Just as the blood of the slain lamb smeared on the doorposts of the ancient Israelite homes covered them from the death of the firstborn, so too the blood of the slain lamb, Jesus, covers us all from death and brings us into Jesus' resurrection and life.

Passover Encounter is a traditional Passover Seder that is specifically oriented toward the Christian Church. Passover is a celebrated memorial to the book of Exodus and God's faithfulness to the Jewish people. It is an opportunity for Christians to come alongside the Jewish people while entering deeply into the "Lord's Supper" and experience their own personal Exodus.

The night leaves people with a deeper appreciation and understanding for the Jewish people, renewed and encouraged faith as they see the powerful and historical background of our Faith in Jesus, and a deeper appreciation for the Church's own Easter and communion celebrations.

If you haven't already decided to come, I would encourage you to. It's not to late to sign up to come. I know some of you have already signed up, but for those of you who haven’t, you still can (we need a hard count by tomorrow). And as you sign up, remember to invite your friends! Also, remember that children are not only welcome, but will be encouraged to participate. This should be a lot of fun as we gather to share fellowship, and learn more about the Passover and the Gospel.  

If you have not signed up yet and are planning to come, please contact Linda Dougherty (lindad27581@ yahoo.com),  Debbie Ericson (ddericson@ comcast.net), or myself by Wednesday, so that we can know how much food to make. Also, I would like to encourage you to plan on helping out by making something. Most of these recipes are not hard to make. The food is different from what you might usually make, but the recipes aren’t hard. If you would like to make something, but are unsure about making something unfamiliar, I would encourage you to give it a whirl. Linda or Debbie can email you recipes if you would like to bring food or help out in any other way.

Hope to see you there First Baptist!

J.D. Greer on 5 Tests to Determine If You Church Is Truly Gospel Centered

In light of God's desire is to see gospel movements around the world, J.D. Greer, a Pastor, Blogger, and Author of  Gospel: Recovering the Power that Made Christianity Revolutionary put up a great article recently entitled 5 Tests to Determine If You Church Is Truly Gospel Centered. It's absolutely worth checking out. Also, since it was a talk before it became a Blog posting, here is the link to the full talk. Enjoy!

Acts 2:41–47 gives us 5 “tests” of gospel-centrality. If we are preaching the Spirit-anointed gospel, these 5 things will be the result in our churches, just as they were in the very first one:

1. Evangelistic effectiveness AND doctrinal depth (Acts 2:41-42, 47)

Acts 2:41 tells us that in one day 3,000 people were saved and baptized, and verse 47  reports that God added daily to their number those who were being saved. The first church grew in a hurry. At the same time, the people were “devoted to the teaching of the Apostles” and were possessed by a great sense of awe over God’s glory.

I often hear church depth place at odds with church width. The early church clearly did both. In reality, the one is impossible without the other. Churches that grow wide without growing deep are not creating “sustainable” width, only generating a little temporary excitement. Churches that don’t grow wide are probably not nearly as deep as they may think. Gospel depth almost always produces gospel fruitfulness (Mark 4:16-17). Understanding the gospel gives you a sense of people’s lostness. You understand the wrath of God against their sin, how imminent His judgment is, how great His grace is towards them. Understanding the gospel gives you humility, because you realize how lost you were before God saved you. Understanding the gospel gives you the faith to believe God for great things, because the gospel reveals how willing and able God is to save. You show me someone characterized by a sense of urgency, humility, love and the boldness that comes from great faith, and I’ll show you someone who will be an effective evangelist!

Healthy churches do both (Col 1:5-6). Certain churches within the gospel-centered movement are suprisingly unconcerned with, or ineffective at, evangelism.  They talk a lot about “mission” and “planting churches” but somehow that never translates into evangelism. Some wear smallness as a badge of honor. They love to critique everyone else’s evangelism, but do very little of their own. Charles Spurgeon—no theological lightweight—said, “I would sooner bring one sinner to Jesus Christ than unpack all the mysteries of the divine Word, for salvation is the thing we are to live for.”

A lot of the criticisms directed at rapidly-growing churches seem (to me) to be motivated by about 30% theological concern and 70% jealousy, fear and laziness. This is not to say that there is no validity to the theological concerns, just that those making them should pay attention to their motives. Our arrogance may keep us from receiving the grace God works even in the midst of theological shortcomings. We ought to be humbled by the zeal for souls present in movements that do not achieve, in our view, a full gospel-centrality. As D. L. Moody said to one Reformed critic of his, “It is clear you don’t like my way of doing evangelism. You raise some good points. Frankly, I sometimes do not like my way of doing evangelism. But I like my way of doing it better than your way of not doing it.”

2. Gospel-centered churches are characterized by the presence of God. (Acts 2:43)

This first church was full of the Spirit. There are a few things in that chapter that we will not likely experience in our congregations, but verse 43 gives you a classic description of the effect of the fullness of the Spirit—it says the people were “filled with awe.” D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said (and I paraphrase), “The presence of God is a felt-sense of the attributes of God as revealed in the gospel.” Their sense of the “presence of God” was not the result of a musical crescendo or an emotive preacher. It came simply from the preaching of the gospel by ones who really believed it and felt its passions within their souls. Another of my favorite theologians, Jonathan Edwards, described his sense of the presence of God like this:

“Sometimes only mentioning the name of Christ or an attribute of God will cause my heart to burn within me. . . . Suddenly God appears glorious to me. When I enjoy this sweetness it seems to carry me outside of myself. I cannot bring myself even to take my eye from this Glorious Object.”

Note that this sort of experience is not at odds with doctrine, or even beyond doctrine, but flows out of good doctrine. It’s not less than doctrine, it is more. God’s beauty and majesty are not just to be perceived with the mind, they are to be felt in the soul.

Where this happens, there is the joy you see in Acts 2:46-47. It is hard for me to believe that a church can really “get” the gospel when its services are not characterized by joy. Yes, there are times for somberness and mourning and repentance in worship, but the predominant motif of biblical worship is joy. Multiple places in Scripture command us to clap our hands, shout with joy, and to sing and delight in God. They tell us that in God’s presence is “fullness of joy” (Psalm 16:11). So how can we claim to have gospel-centered churches if our services are not characterized by exuberant joy? 

3. Gospel-centered churches are characterized by fervent, faith-filled prayer (Acts 2:42)

The gospel produces a faith in the church that  makes bold requests of Jesus. You see that referred to here in Acts 2, and fleshed out later in Acts 4:24-31. They expected great things from God, and then attempted great things for God.

The early church was born from prayer. After Jesus ascended to heaven, Acts 1:14 reports that the disciples “were devoting themselves to prayer.” This went on for ten days before the arrival of the Spirit on Pentecost. These believers prayed for 10 days, Peter preached for 10 minutes, and 3,000 people were saved. Today we’re more likely to pray for 10 minutes, preach for 10 days, and see 3 people saved.

Acts shows us a profound connection between corporate prayer and our community getting a sense of the glory of God. When we pray, our eyes are opened to the glory of God. When our eyes are opened to His glory, we preach with boldness, passion and power (Acts 4:24-31). In Acts 7:55-56, we see Stephen lift his eyes to heaven in prayer, catch a glimpse of Jesus’ glory, and in awe begin to proclaim it to those around him. When this happens on a city-wide scale, what you get is a spiritual awakening. Tim Keller gives a glimpse of what this looks like:

In New York, in 1857, a man named Jeremiah Lanphier was hired to witness to a local neighborhood. He was frustrated by utter ineffectiveness, and so in desperation he turned to prayer. One day he invited people to pray with him—six people showed up. The following week, 20 people came. The next week, 40. Two months later, hundreds were gathering to pray. Soon the entire downtown area was filled with men and women praying. Evangelistic meetings sprang up all over the city, and in 9 months, 50,000 people came to Christ at a time when the population of NYC was 800,000. This was known as the great prayer revival of Manhattan.

I really want to see that happen in Raleigh-Durham. If you scaled the proportions, that would be like 100,000 people coming to Christ in a 9-month period!

4. Gospel-centered churches are characterized by empowered members. (Acts 8:1, 28:15)

A stubborn theme throughout the book of Acts is that God’s most effective vehicles are “regular” people. Consider these facts from Acts: Thirty-nine of the 40 miracles in the book of Acts occur outside the walls of the “church,” in the workplace. The longest sermon in Acts is by Stephen, a layman. That sermon led to the most significant spiritual moment in Acts, the conversion of Saul (Paul). Acts 8:1 notes that when persecution rose up against the church, the church was scattered around the world preaching the gospel. But note that Luke tells you this worldwide fulfillment of Acts 1:8 did not include the Apostles. These anonymous Christians were so effective in ministry that when Paul showed up in Rome to preach the gospel “where Christ had never been named,” he was greeted by “the brothers” (Acts 28:15). Early church historian Stephen Neill notes that the anonymity of the major gospel movements in the ancient world is breathtaking: “But in point of fact few, if any, of the great Churches were really founded by apostles. Nothing is more notable than the anonymity of these early missionaries… Luke does not turn aside to mention the name of a single one of those pioneers who laid the foundation. Peter and Paul may have organized the Church in Rome. They certainly did not found it…” (History of Christian Missions, 22)

This flows from the very nature of the gospel. The gospel is not about recognizing the gifted, but about gifting the unrecognized. Church leaders who understand that gospel won’t try to build their church around a handful of mega-talented superstars, but rather dedicate themselves to empowering and releasing the church for ministry (Eph 4:11-13). They become committed to raising up other leaders. They judge their success not so much by seating capacity but sending capacity.

5. Gospel-centered churches are characterized by extravagant generosity. (Acts 2:45)

The gospel is that Jesus “became poor for our sake so that through his poverty we might become rich” (2 Cor 8:9). When a church gets this, they become extravagantly generous toward others. The first Christians didn’t just give out of their excess. They voluntarily sold their stuff so that their were no needs among them. 

Eventually this sort of gospel generosity overflowed into the streets, but it started in the church. As the apostle Paul says in Galatians, “Let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10). Ultimately, the love that Christians show to one another is a profound statement to an unbelieving world. It is by our love for one another, Jesus said, that the world will know that we are His disciples (John 13:35; cf. 1 Peter 4:9). As Francis Schaeffer said, “the final apologetic that Jesus gives is the observable love of true Christians for true Christians.”

Evangelistic effectiveness and doctrinal depth; fervent, faith-filled prayer; a sense of the presence of God; empowered members and extravagant generosity are 5 things that the gospel produced in the early church. How present are they in your church? If one of these characteristics are missing, is it possible that we don’t understand the gospel as much as we claim to? These are the indelible marks of a gospel movement.

If these are missing from your church, the answer is not to “go and try harder.” We need to ask ourselves, “Why is the gospel I am preaching not producing these things?”

Soooo... how are we doing? What's your take? Looks to me like we've got a long road ahead.

The Painful Reality that is Abortion

Abortion is a heartbreaking evil. After witnessing the abortion of two of his children, one anonymous father writes:

My soul carries a new scar.  The pain is fresh and keen, and I know that while time might see the pain fade, I will never fully recover from what I've seen, and done.  For I have failed, intentionally and knowingly, in the first duty of a parent: protecting the lives of two of my children.

I pray to G-d every day to take those two innocents to Him, to welcome them, and I ask them every day for forgiveness. As I will every day for the rest of my life. I don't know what accommodation my wife will make mentally and spiritually. That is her business, and a burden her conscience must bear.

But let nobody fool you. It is not painless for the child, and anyone who says otherwise is a liar. Abortion is not an excision of a featureless bunch of cells; it is infanticide. We have revived the practice of child sacrifice to the new deities of casual sex and convenience. We rationalize the reality of murder by altering our perspective of the nascent life through euphemisms like "fetus" or descriptions of "a clump of cells"...just like the Nazis convinced themselves that the people screaming as they were shot or gassed were "Untermenchen," subhuman, and therefore guiltlessly exterminated. This is how every perpetrator of genocide has always rationalized his or her actions. By doing likewise, we condemn our own souls.

I wept in joy, a few years ago, when I saw my first child's heartbeat on the screen. And I weep in agony now at the memory of two of my children's heartbeats being stilled. "Save one, or save none" has been eclipsed by "Out, out, damned spot!" as I wonder how I can redeem myself.

If, by baring this scar for others to see, I can prevent an abortion, perhaps that will help to balance the scales for when I face G-d's justice and I finally meet those two children -- who I hope will forgive me for my failure.

Please read the whole article at The American Thinker.

Questions to ponder

The Deacons and I are working on the church mission and vision statement, and working to put together a reshaped mission and vision statement, as well as a process for discipleship (how does "connecting, growing, serving, sharing, changing" strike you). Bylaws and church governance comes as the next step.

In this process, I have been reading Going Deep: Becoming A Person of Influence, by Gordon MacDonald (He also wrote, Who Stole My Church: What to Do When the Church You Love Tries to Enter the 21st Century)

These questions stuck out to me, and I've been pondering them for some time now. They are questions I think every Christian should be pondering.

What are you learning?

Who are you teaching?

What are the Results?

So, What are you learning? Who are you teaching? What are the Results? Are you being a student of the word? Are you studying to show yourself approved? Who are you teaching? Are you only taking in, or are you pouring out? Knowledge is great. But what are you doing with it? Are you teaching others, and are you bearing fruit for the Kingdom of God?

The stars fall

As I was preparing to preach on Mark 13:24-27, I was struck by this thought. As intense as this storm is, the Return of Christ will be beyond our wildest imagination. Think 10 million times more crazy and intense than this.

 "But in those days, following that distress, " 'the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.' "At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens (Mar 13:24-27).