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Changed By Glory

"And we all… beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another." II Cor. 3:18

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Christian Ministry & The Deadness of Sarah’s Womb

The LORD said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” The LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” (Genesis 18:10-14 ESV)

He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the deadness of Sarah’s womb. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. (Romans 4:19-21 ESV)

For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise…. So brothers, we are not children of the slave, but of the free woman. (Galatians 4:22-23,31 ESV)

        Against all odds the child of promise, Isaac, was born to Abraham and Sarah. The Scriptures make it clear that Sarah’s pregnancy was not a medical anomaly, but a miracle. Sarah had long ceased being “in the way of women”. In fact, it was so long since then that there was no natural hope of child bearing. Therefore, when God kept his promises he got all of the credit. It was the working of God alone which brought this baby about. This miracle was such that Paul even refers to the child of promise as being born “according to the Spirit”.

The way Isaac was born, through the promise and by the Spirit, is exactly the same way that every child of promise is born. We see in Isaac’s generation a picture of the way God works in bringing into life every child of promise. There is only deadness and hopelessness in our sin, but the sure decrees of God, his promises, through the agency of the Spirit bring about the impossible, the birth of children of promise by faith in Jesus Christ.

In John 6:63, Jesus said, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all.” In the flesh, in a way reasonable to man, Abraham and Sarah at first attempted to do what only the Spirit can do – Abraham took a bond woman, Hagar, as a wife and had a son with her, Ishmael. They did not believe in the immutability of God’s promises and the power of his working, but allowed their mind to follow the patterns of the world – going after what made sense to them. They felt that because God had not kept his promise yet that perhaps it was because they needed to do their part. They allowed themselves to be duped by a theology of cooperation rather than of trust.

We also need to realize that if we are children of promise, the offspring of Abraham by faith, we were born out of deadness exclusively as a result of the unchanging promises of God being worked out by the power of the Spirit. God declared that you would be born into the family of freedom and it was so. “It is the Spirit who gives life, the flesh is no help at all.” Abraham and Sarah found this to be true after the incident with Hagar. The promise of God was sufficient. The deadness of Sarah’s womb highlighted the necessity of a miracle, not 90% plus 10% man, but 100% the working of God – doing the impossible through human vessels.

As a pastor I can’t help but see how this connects to the way we do ministry. So often we see the promises of God and we claim to believe them, but we want a shortcut. Nothing seems to be happening so rather than trusting and pursuing faithful rest, we find a Hagar, whether it be some pragmatic construct, method, or adaptation of God’s message. We scheme, in a well-meaning fashion, to help God fulfill his promises. We assume because nothing has happened yet, because no children have “been born” that maybe we understood the promise wrong, maybe our methods need tweaking. As a result of this well-intentioned tampering we may see results in our ministry, we may seem to have success and feel that God is indeed working, but the fruit of our effort is actually a bunch of Ishmael’s running around – the results of us using our own means to reach God’s promised end.

God is calling us in ministry to simple trust. To speak of that which we have seen and heard in the Gospel. God brings children of promise into being through the means of his Word being spoken. We are to proclaim it. Clearly and consistently. That may seem weak. Foolish. Like the thought of two elderly people having a baby. But this is what he has called us to. The years may roll and we may see little results, if any, yet we must not resort to using a Hagar, but must trust in God’s promise and power, knowing that from the deadness of Sarah’s womb, God brings forth children of promise.

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Your Grandfather Was Wrong

“When I was a kid, my grandfather was a preacher
He’d talk about God, yeah he was something like a teacher
He said God only helps those
Who learn to help themselves
He was a million miles from a million dollars
But you can never spend his wealth”

“Preacher” OneRepublic

 

It has happened more than once that a well-meaning friend or preacher has said to me, usually in the context of fighting sin, “God helps those who help themselves.” It is an all too common saying. The other day when listening to the song “Preacher” by OneRepublic, I was struck by the sad experience of the person speaking in the lyrics. He is reflecting on his preacher grandfather who was never rich in money but was rich in many other ways. He reminisces on the essence of his grandfather’s message and sadly, as well meaning and sweet as its sounds like he was, his message was not the good news of the Bible, instead it could be the tag line of almost any other religion in the world. It is the subtle Pelagianism that has infiltrated the church over and over again as long as it has existed. Paul, Augustine, and Luther were not the first to battle such teaching and they won’t be the last. There is a reason for that, a reason that is an echo of that horrific day in Eden when man fell, the day Adam decided that God’s perfect provision was insufficient – that he wasn’t entirely dependent on his Creator. The idea that “God helps those who learn to help themselves” is not just inconsistent with the message of Scripture, it is the opposite of it.

The glorious message of Scripture is that “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8 ESV) and God “even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— (Ephesians 2:5 ESV).

The entirety of Scripture stands as a testament that God doesn’t help only those “who learn to help themselves”, but he helps only those who have come to learn that they can’t help themselves. (Mark 2:17, Luke 8:13-14). In OneRepublic’s defense, from a business standpoint, I will acknowledge that a song about a preacher who preached that wouldn’t have been very popular, because oddly in our sin we don’t want to hear that we can’t help ourselves. But I am saddened that the character in this song, representative of many real-life preachers, settled for something so sinfully pedestrian while discarding the glorious gospel of God’s overwhelming grace because it casts man in such a weak and helpless light. But the Bible teaches, and experience shows, that we are weak and we are helpless and I pray that the world will come to sing not of sweet old preachers who preach a false Gospel, but will sing of a God who doesn’t wait for our token effort to act, but comes to us and saves us while we are dead in sin, enemies of him, and utterly unable to help ourselves.

 

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“Here is the su…

“Here is the supreme power with which pastors of the church should be invested – namely, to dare all boldly for the word of God, compelling all the virtue, glory, wisdom, and rank of the world to yield and obey its majesty; to command all from the highest to the lowest, trusting to its power to build up the house of Christ and overthrow the house of Satan; to feed the sheep and chase away the wolves; to instruct and exhort the docile, to accuse, rebuke, and subdue the rebellious and petulant, to bind and loose; in fine, if need be, to fire and fuliminate, but all in the word of God.” – John Calvin “The Institutes of the Christian Religion”

Pastors, read this every morning. 

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Defending the Flock in the Age of Information

Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert…. (Acts 20:28-31)

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Nearly every New Testament letter can be found with portions directed at refuting contemporary false teaching. It is likely that when Paul and John wrote their epistles that they had specific false teachers and false apostles in mind. For instance, many believe that John wrote his first epistle with the proto-gnostic Cerinthus in mind. Whatever the individual cases may have been in Corinth, Crete, or Ephesus, Paul was clear on one thing when he spoke to the elders at Ephesus in Acts 20 – this problem of false teachers was not going away and before the end it would only get worse.

Moving to the present day we can see that there are plenty of wolves and the damage they do is devastating. Prosperity Gospel, cheap grace, attacks on the authority of Scripture, distortions of doctrine of all kind abound. Now as much as ever church leaders need to be called to “follow the pattern of sound words” delivered by the apostles and to “guard the deposit” that has been entrusted to the church (2 Tim. 1:13-14). But this task is becoming more and more difficult, perhaps more so than Paul or John could have imagined in their time. And the task is becoming more difficult not because the heresies we face are really that new, but because we live in the age of information.

On a good note ease of access to information is not entirely detrimental. The Reformation spread across Europe like it did because the invention of the printing press and the increase in literacy stemming from the rise of humanism allowed the pamphlets of Luther and other reformers to flood the market. But as a result of this technological development, the print medium also became a channel for the counter-reformation and later works of the Enlightenment which would begin to erode the authority of Scripture.

In the last half century with various television preachers and now with the widespread access to the internet, new challenges have arisen for defending the flock from wolves. Challenges that I believe are unprecedented. Between God TV, YouTube, and numberless other access points people can have their “itching ears” scratched without their pastor knowing exactly what they are getting exposed to. Under-shepherds of Christ’s church might be able to call out the teachings of well-known teachers, but now there are blogs, memes, Facebook, and Twitter where many people –well-meaning but deceived – post things that sound so good but are laden with poison. Young believers surf the web where they are exposed to all sorts of teaching that they lack the discernment and the knowledge to refute.

Pastors can no longer be content to be reactionary when it comes to sound doctrine. Shepherds cannot afford to wait until a person becomes indoctrinated by online false-teachers, at which point they are no longer protecting but rescuing.

As I have contemplated the defense of sound doctrine and the protection of the flock in the age of information I have become convinced that I cannot afford to be reactive and I cannot be so naïve as to think that my flock is only listening to my sermons and reading the books I promote. In fact, I am reminded constantly that they are often exposed to stuff that sounds so right and is just so wrong! What then is the answer? I don’t think turning every sermon into a rant is the answer. Rather, now more than ever, we need to defend the sheep by arming the sheep. I know that invokes funny images of sheep wearing bandoliers with their hooves sharpened to shanks, but I think that arming the sheep is the best way you can protect the sheep.

How do we arm the sheep?

  1. We can do this by first of all making the sheep aware of the danger. Make sure that the flock knows that spiritual warfare is primarily an issue of truth and lies. They need to know that the favorite weapon of the enemy is delicious cake laced with a slow-acting poison. The people should be nearly paranoid of false teaching (hyperbole for emphasis).
  2. Then we must equip them with a robust understanding of biblical theology. The great themes that tie Scripture together should run through our sermons. This will help the sheep identify teaching that does not fit into that narrative.
  3. Encourage dialogue between people and elders about what they are hearing, and when something alarming comes up don’t just brush it off, but elevate the authority of Scripture and take them to it, showing them where the problem really lies with the teaching in question. Make it clear that the problem is not that it disagrees with you, but with God. We owe the flock careful, biblical answers to their questions.
  4. Pastors should model humble confidence in God’s word. We need to show people that we don’t feel threatened personally by the teaching of others, but that we ourselves are teachable, but still unwavering in our confidence of the truth that we proclaim. This means that when we find our doctrine in need of being corrected we don’t hang onto a viewpoint that we can’t biblically defend.
  5. Finally, by repetition drive home the foundational doctrines of the Gospel. Help people see that ideas, true and untrue, have consequences and that they need to filter what they hear and read through these founding doctrines of Scripture. Help them see that everyone is a theologian – good or bad. Guide the flock in thinking carefully about the domino effect of certain ideas. Remind them again of why this is so important – because wolves wear sheep’s clothing and devils dress as angels.

The answer to defending the flock in the age of information is to equip the flock to identify and refute harmful teaching. Heighten their senses to warning signs – the taste, smell, and feel of heresy. In doing this you will be able to know that when you are gone the sheep will be safe. And at the end of the day, defend knowing that the battle is the Lord’s and that he preserves his own from being overcome by lies. But know he has ordained that shepherds be a means for protecting the flock. My prayer is that we would be alert and confident, that we would not fear “for God hath willed his truth to triumph through us.”

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A baby does not…

A baby does nothing to assist in its conception, but when it is born it bears the marks of its parents. So also this great new life in Christ begins with the loving grace and power of God which always results in a life which reflects his character.

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Panhandlers & Common Grace

This post is dedicated to my friend Quinn Smith, who has loved and served homeless and panhandlers with a devotion and compassion consistent with the Gospel.

      Yesterday as I was walking down Pennsylvania Ave in Washington D.C. I encountered homeless person after homeless person. Partly to my relief I found myself to be without any cash or change to give to them. One woman in particular was in a sad state, smoking, dirty, in some sort of altered mental state. She saw me coming and called out, “I’ve been waiting for you all week! Do you have my money?” I apologized and told her I didn’t have any money, she continued to act like she knew me and as I walked on she said, “Alright, well bring me a new pair of pants. You know my size.”

Soon the awkwardness of that moment had faded, as it always does. When pulling up to a stoplight where someone disheveled, likely drunken, stands there asking for money it is awkward. We immediately shift into defense mode. We either try and pretend that we see it all the time and just ignore it, or we tell ourselves we can’t help them all, or more often than that we actually consider our disregard as virtuous, keeping them from being able to go and buy one more bottle of booze that will push their organs closer to failure or one more pornographic magazine that will twist their already ill mind. When faced with the grim social realities of sin in its most pitiful forms we often don’t know exactly how to respond.

How should we respond to panhandlers? How should we respond when we do have a little change in our pocket? As I considered those extremely poor, homeless, and in bondage I began to consider how my response to their plea might be informed by the grace that God shows to all every single day, even those that reject him. You see, as Christians, we act according to certain absolute truths, theology informs practice. Living life as a Christian is a profoundly theological task as we seek to reflect the image of the God who made us and redeemed us through the death and resurrection of His Son.

In Matthew 5:45 Jesus sets forth the truth that God “…makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” Paul affirms this in Acts 17:25 “...[God] himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.” Everything that we have, even the breath we breath is given to us by God. As I consider that I immediately become uncomfortable with the realization of how often I take the things I am given, raw material to be used to magnify the grace and glory of my Creator, and I use it not only for myself but in twisted, sinful ways that are an affront to the very one who has given me everything. I draw in a breath, a gift from God, and I speak profanely, and yet God gives me another. I open my eyes to behold the glory of God in creation and in his word, but with that same sight I lust and covet after that which is not lawful to have. Let us not even begin to speak of those who openly blaspheme God, taking the good gifts he bestows upon them each day and use them to not only serve self but to defecate on the glory of their Benefactor. If God can give generously to all people, then who I am to judge whether or not I should give on the basis of fear that what I give may be misused?

What I want to clarify is that I am not suggesting that we should give when it is certain that our assistance will lead to their harm. But the question I am raising is if perhaps the reformation doctrine of “Common Grace” should inform our acts of charity. We should give to those that ask of us, freely and without suspicion (Matt. 5:42), because God gives to people many good things though he knows they will not give him thanks and they will often use what has been given them perversely. We are commanded to give to him who asks of us, it is up to God to render judgment on that person for the stewardship of what has been given.

Theology is deeply practical. The reality that God in his grace gives to all men good things, even when they turn and use those good things for evil, should lead us who are called to be imitators and image bearers of God (Eph 5:1) to reflect his grace to even the undeserving, giving though that giving may be abused. For those who are in Christ we realize that not only does God give us life and many other good things to enjoy, but we have received salvation from sin and its judgment. Yet we so often abuse God’s grace and live as if we were under the old regime of sin. This reality should lead us into lives of humble generosity.

I know right now the objections that might be raised to this, but we must submit ourselves to God’s word and orient our lives to his Gospel, even if it seems crazy at times. So next time I see a panhandler my prayer is that I will react in away that is consistent with the character of God and his working in the world.

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God is Sovereign Over All or Not at All

I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the LORD, who does all these things.
Isaiah 45:7
I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.
Isaiah 46:9b-10
Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
Ephesians 1:4-6

The other day a person said something which I have often heard over the years. I probably would have said it at one point. That is I heard someone denounce the idea of God being sovereign over salvation, by that I mean they denied that the only way a person is saved is if God predestines, calls, and draws that person to himself, making them alive by the power of his Spirit while they are still dead in their sin. And then the person who denied this idea turned around ten minutes later and said that they were so glad they didn’t have to worry about the future because God is in control of the future. Do you see the problem with this?

The reality is that God is either sovereign over all or not at all. The impact of a regenerated soul leads to a changed life which leads to decisions that otherwise would not have been made. If I had chosen not to follow Christ then I shudder to think what kind of person I would be. As it is, daily I am shocked by the creativity of my abiding corruption! The moment a person is made alive in Christ there are butterfly effects set in motion, in fact a culture with a strong Christian presence enjoys the benefits of the redeemed living among them because changed hearts lead to changed lives. When God made me alive by his Spirit as a twelve year old boy on a farm, my life was set on a path different than if I had not been saved. Therefore you cannot disconnect the sovereignty of God over salvation from his sovereignty over everything else.

There is a great idolatry revealed in those that accept the sovereignty of God in certain spheres of life but not in others. Most common among Christians I find a belief that God is sovereign over the future, that God is sovereign even to the extent that he can guarantee my eternal security. But they refuse to believe that this God would also be sovereign over salvation. They don’t like a God that exercises the right to redeem and condemn on the basis of his sovereign good pleasure. They fail to see the depth of their sin that should leave them staggering that he would show mercy to anyone at all. They refuse to submit their hearts to the reality of who God has revealed himself to be. They want God to be sovereign in the areas that give them peace of mind and that is it.

 The reality is he is sovereign over all or not at all. If he isn’t sovereign over the salvation of sinners then he cannot know your future and we are awash in a world of infinite possibilities outside of God’s control. If he isn’t sovereign over the beginning of your salvation then you cannot begin to hope that he is sovereign over the end of it.

History is weaved together so intricately that if God is not sovereign over all, including salvation, then the cross was a shot of luck and our future remains uncertain. If God is not sovereign over salvation then he is not sovereign over your future. You can’t have it both ways. Thankfully, the God of the Bible is good, just, and he is absolutely sovereign over literally everything.

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“Facebook” Church

As I was running today, I was listening to a podcast that was talking about internet and Facebook addiction. This led me to ponder on the phenomena that is Facebook. And what I realized is that people approach Facebook in two ways.

1. They parade the best side of their lives onto the web for all to see.

2. They freely share every sordid detail of their lives behind a cyber shield.

In my time in the church, and even more so now as a pastor, I have come to see that people approach the local church in much the same way as they do Facebook. They want the social interaction, they want the community, but they want it one of two ways:

1. They parade the best side of their lives on Sunday (Friday here in the UAE) morning and on Wednesday night for everyone to see. Glossing over the realities of the week. Stub your toe at church and you grin and bear it. Stub it at home and out comes the four-letter words. Yell at your wife in the car, smile and be a saint in the sanctuary. When they gather with their family in Christ they are on their best behavior. They show what they want to show because they don’t believe people would ‘like’ the real them.

2. They do whatever they want and are never challenged because they walk into church with a sign on their forehead which says, “Don’t judge me.” They gather with others, but actually they are distant, encapsulated in a bubble of individualism. They makes sure and block comments from certain people and they never get real close to anyone, because of the comfort and lack of accountability that is found in anonymity. If they do get challenged they are quick to unfriend that person and might even rant about them to other people in the church,

A lack of Gospel is the problem in both of these situations. The first person fails to see that because Christ died for their ugliness, they don’t have to keep it hidden in the shadows. In fact, Friday (Sunday) morning and Wednesday night should be the one place where they can be for real, because everyone else should be equally vulnerable. They gather because they have the same problems and Jesus is the common solution. We are accepted by God because of Jesus’ perfection 7 days a week for around 33 years and because he has already seen and borne the guilt and shame of our ugliness.

The second person fails to see (and believe) that Christ was held account for sin that he had never done. They don’t see that he bore judgment for the sin that they protect. He was humiliated because of their pride and self-justification. They may not care what people think of them, Jesus didn’t either, but he cared what the Father thought and as the guilt of our arrogance and self-sufficiency came onto his shoulders, the one Person whose opinion mattered turned His back. They close themselves off from judgment, Jesus opened himself up to judgment.

We likely fall often into one of these categories, I think the first one is the most common and two are often mixed. We can fight against this by first of all being vulnerable when the body of Christ gathers. We can fight against this by allowing ourselves to be challenged by others in the church, putting down our defenses. But the Gospel must be the catalyst. Always trying to be on our best behavior at church shows that we misunderstand church and Gospel -we want others to justify us. Brazen indifference to accountability shows that we don’t see our need for the Gospel and church – we want to justify ourselves. Don’t be a Facebook Christian. Don’t parade your good side. Don’t flaunt your failures. Go to church this week humble and open as the worst version of yourself.

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Don’t Try To Be The Holy Spirit… or do?

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I have heard it said dozens of times “You can’t be the Holy Spirit in their life” or “Stop playing Holy Spirit with them.” I understand what could be meant by this. It would be blasphemous for any of us to pretend to take the Spirit’s place in penetrating to the heart of a person. Sadly, however, the attitude that is more often behind this rebuke is one of individualism and a resistance to accountability. Let me explain.

The truth is, while we are not supposed to try to be the Holy Spirit to other people we are commanded to “speak the truth in love” (Eph 4:15). And this truth comes from none other than “the Spirit of truth” through the Word of God (John 16:3). The difference is when we try to speak on our own authority. But when we resist a Word spoken in love by another person, we actually risk ignoring the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not my own personal almanac for life, but is the very glue which binds us together with other believers (Eph. 4:3). The Spirit uses each of us to speak into one another’s lives with the Word of God, which is from the Spirit. We deceive ourselves if we think we just need ourselves and our own personal Holy Spirit. God did not design us as believers to function this way. We need to have the humility to recognize that the Spirit works through all the means of grace that God has given and that includes the communion of saints.

We are not supposed to try to be the Holy Spirit to each other, but we are to be the mouthpiece of God, lovingly speaking the truth through which the Spirit works. Your brothers and sisters are not the Paraclete but they are a tool in His hand.

Next time someone says something to you and you begin to think, “You can’t be the Holy Spirit to me!” Check your heart. You might be shutting the Spirit out.

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