April, 2006
It may be so
Dear friends, what a wonderful time the Lord gave us this past week at Together for the Gospel. As I prepare for our assembly here this Lord’s Day morning (thank God, Ray Ortlund, Jr. is here to preach for us!) I am humbled by how many of you came, how kind and responsive and excited and enjoyable you were. Lig, Al, CJ & I were so thankful that John M, John P & RC agreed to join us. We were served very well by all of these men. Highlights were, of course, the messages. For me a highlight was hearing Al thank Matt Schmucker publicly. He (and others with him) put an unbelievable amount of time into every detail. Another highlight was seeing one brother put his arm around a pastor from another church who was struggling with special challenges. I’m sure this was repeated many times during the few days the Lord gave us together.
The response about the panels, too, has been overwhelming. We knew that since we had so many of them, this aspect of the conference would be crucial. I don’t know if the discussions themselves were always so good, but I think that seeing the preacher more 3-dimensionally relate to others is a great way to highlight the message, and gives weight to it, as you realize that you’ve listened not to a cardboard cut-out, but to a real man like yourself, someone who prays, breathes, sins, eats, confesses and preaches.
Hearing your singing was wonderful. I’m sorry that in the rush of events I couldn’t meet more of you. Pray for us as we consider a 2008 conference. And know that we have, did, and will pray for your ministries. We were all honored by the Lord once again so faithfully feeding us, the undershepherds of His flock. We now return with renewed energy, vision, encouragement and direction to the task He’s set before us–to care for His flock, until He comes.
People keep asking me what will come of all this. Brothers and sisters, we don’t know. Only the Lord does. I remember when John Bunyan was arrested for having an illegal meeting to preach the Gospel, the judge said to this uneducated tinker before him, that he [the judge] "would break the neck of all such meetings." Bunyan replied quietly "It may be so." Man proposes; God disposes.
Pray that we would have wisdom about many discussions that are being encouraged, cooperations that are being proposed. I don’t desire to see a new organization. I do desire to see the Lord’s work cross-fertilized–let’s drink together from the riches of Calvary. Let’s observe each other doing that as well, and so undermine our prejudices. Let’s learn from each other and pray for each other. And let’s see if God will not once again own the ordinary means–the preaching of His gospel, the life of our churches, prayer–in extraordinary measure. Will God give us revival? Will He give us great ingatherings? We cannot say. But, we can pray and labor and preach. And we can know that it may be so.
Thanks for coming
To all of you whom came to Together for the Gospel, from as far away as India and Australia, from a dazzling variety of churches and backgrounds, almost 3000 of you, young and old (though half or more were in your 20s and 30s) – thank you. What a privilege it was to serve you, to sing with you, to weep with you, to talk with you, to laugh with you, to praise God with you, to recommit ourselves to the blazing center of Christian ministry, with you.
I’ll have more to say soon, but my heart is too full and the rest of me is too tired! On behalf of Mark, Al and CJ – thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
Welcome to Louisville
Greetings all, and welcome to Louisville. For those of you who are here, welcome in person. For those unable to attend "Together for the Gospel," we hope you will be with us in prayer. We are so encouraged to see so many pastors arriving here.
Here’s a personal request from the Louisvillian among the T4TG Band of Brothers: Please leave a good impression for the Gospel by your presence here. Be kind to all, including the waiters and waitresses, hotel staff, and others. We should be ashamed, brothers, to know that service personnel often cringe to see pastors arrive. Thank you in advance for your good witness through kindness.
Our hope is that you will all be fed, strengthened, challenged, and encouraged by your time at T4TG. We are expecting great days together.
A couple of short notes:
[1] Mark, what did you get, the world’s dinkiest iPod? You have listed a paltry selection of (very fine) classical music. Get with it. Where is Bach’s "St. Matthew Passion," Mozart’s ‘Requiem" and "Jupiter," Gorecki’s Third Symphony ("Sorrowful Songs") or anything by Biber or Gabrielli? Where is Haydn’s "Creation," Handel’s "Judas Maccabaeus" or Bach’s magnificent organ music? Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony? Handel’s "Saul?" That poor iPod cries out for these and so much more. Feed it, lest it die of embarrassment.
[2] CJ, at my Weblog today I posted a series of links to maps detailing the concentration of Christian denominations (and other groups) across the United States. Here is the link to my posting. Here, for example, is the map of Baptists in the U.S., who have congregated together in a clump, and here are the Presbyterians, who were predestined to be more evenly dispersed. Where are the Sovereign Grace churches? I want a map. Get your people right on this.
Classical Music, and Killing People
I’m in Louisville now and people are arriving from all over. How kind is God to give any of His servants encouragement from meeting those we’re co-laboring with in the gospel!
2 short notes:
In preparing an IPOD to bring with me on this trip (IPOD gift of CJ) I loaded my favorite classical music:
Bach’s Cello Suites
Beethoven’s "Emperor" Piano Concerto
Beethoven’s Late String Quartets
Mendelssohn’s 5th Symphony
Brahm’s 1st Symphony
Ives’ "Holiday" Symphony
Short note #2
CJ, is it true that you preached a sermon series on all the Biblical accounts of God killing people? Can you tell us a little about this?
Fruit that will last
My pastor friend, how much of what we’ve done will continue to impact our town 50 years after our ministry is completed?
How much of what we’ve done will continue to impact our CHURCH 50 years after our ministry is completed?
How much of what we’ve done continues to impact individuals in our church 50 days after our ministry is completed?
Of course, these questions can only be answered by God. He gives the growth. However, we can be careful not to build with wood, hay and stubble, but with those things that remain–the Word of God, prayer, evangelism. Here’s what George Whitefield wrote in his diary one day: "I went to Kidderminster where I was kindly received. I was greatly refreshed to find what a sweet savour of good Mr. Baxter’s doctrine, works, and discipline remained to this day." That was written on Dec. 31 of 1743, over 80 years after Baxter’s ministry in Kidderminster was completed.
Jesus said to His disciples, "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit– fruit that will last" (John 15:16). By God’s grace, true gospel fruit will last eternally in Heaven. Wouldn’t it be wonderful, if we gave ourselves to the means of ministry that God has ordained, and that in His overflowing grace to us, He would allow continuing fruit even in the field of our earthly ministry? Let’s labor and pray that it would be so, to the good of His people, and to the glory of God Himself.
"A little of what they saw"
“I have come down many times from the sick chamber of those members of this church who are now in the upper house, and I have done so with faith confirmed and joy increased. Those beloved ones have given me more strength and assurance than I ever derived from the study of the ablest works in my library. They were sometimes very poor, but I remember well the glories of the little room wherein they were disrobing for the beatific vision. Their heavenly serenity, varied with bursts of triumphant joy, has driven all my fears away. Some have been wasted with disease and racked with pain till it seemed impossible that an original thought could have come from them, and yet their speech has been fresh and new, an inspired utterance far excelling poetry. They only spoke what they were seeing, what they were enjoying, for the jewelled gates were set open to them, and they peered within and then turned round and told us a little of what they saw. It has been a glorious thing to find none of them trembling, none confounded, none wavering. No dying man has looked me in the face and said, ‘Sir, you did not preach a religion which a man can die with; you taught me doctrines which are not substantial enough for the dying hour.’ No, I feel even now their death grips, as they have clasped my hand and told me of their overflowing joy. They have said to me, ‘Bless the Lord that ever I stepped into the Tabernacle to hear of justification by faith, of the divine substitution, of atonement, made by blood, and of a faithful God who casts not away his people!’ Such expressions I have heard from those upon the borders of Immanuel’s land. These are our seals and the tokens that Christ has spoken by us.” CH Spurgeon, “The Proof of our Ministry” (Met Tab, vol. 30 [1884], pp. 369-370).
Baxter as Beethoven
When Brahms was asked why it took him so long to publish his first symphony (he had been working on it for years), I believe he said something about hearing the footsteps of Beethoven behind him. Beethoven was such a titanic figure, founder of the "modern" symphony, revered by Brahms, that he could hardly be persuaded to publish his own first symphony. When he was 43, he finally did.
I’m almost 46 and have still not published my first symphony, and don’t plan to anytime soon. But for those of us who are pastors, Richard Baxter is the Beethoven-like figure of pastoral visitation. His great reputation, rumors of his practices, pieces of his plans haunt our memories. So, can we learn anything from his practices? What did he do?
Richard Baxter had a specific area (the parish of St.Mary’s in the town of Kidderminster) which he was responsible for. He mapped out the whole parish with the plan to interview and catechize every member of every household. He hired an assistant pastor to help him with this work. 2 of his 5 weekdays, Baxter would try to see 7 families, and his assistant would try to see 7. The assistant would go to their homes, those to see Baxter would come to him. He carefully examined their knowledge of the catechism. Then he would talk to each individual personally. The results, by God’s grace, were stunning.
Now, a question for YOU LIG: Would you call such pastoral visitation part of the "ordinary means" that are set out for us as pastors to use with the members of our congregations? Maybe Paul’s practice mentioned in Acts 20:20? Al, CJ, any thoughts?
Is Baxter’s practice here the incarnation of the pastor’s conscience? It is, I think, for this pastor. And my practice for 12 years here so far has shown that I’m neither a Beethoven nor a Brahms. Still, God has been so faithful.
Looking forward to seeing you all in Louisville!
F.F. Bruce on the Gospel
I still haven’t answered CJ’s questions, but I’m working my way towards a post. Menawhile, I thought these seminal summarizing thoughts from F.F. Bruce, on the Gospel, were worthwhile as a starting point of reflection (though certainly not beyond improvement) regarding the shape of the NT teaching on the Gospel. Bruce says:
The NT use of Gk. euangelion, “joyful tidings,” “good news,” has an OT background in Is. 40-66, where the LXX verb euangelizomai, “bring good news,” is used of the declaration of Jerusalem’s deliverance from bondage (Is. 4:9; 52:7) and also of a wider announcement of liberation for the oppressed (Is. 61:1, 2). This last passage provided the text of Jesus’ inaugural preaching at Nazareth: he gave notice that it had been fulfilled as he spoke (Lk. 4:17-21). Jesus’ message was otherwise described as the gospel of the kingdom of God. Its contents are set out in his parables, where the Father’s loving bestowal of mercy and free forgiveness on the undeserving and the outcasts is presented with vividness and warmth.
With Jesus’ death and resurrection a new phase of the gospel begins. The preacher becomes the preached one: his followers, whom he commissioned to preach the gospel after his departure, proclaimed him as the one in whom the Father’s pardoning grace had drawn near. “The gospel of God. . . concerning his Son” (Rom. 1:1-3) tells how, in the coming and redemptive work of Christ, God has fulfilled his ancient promise of blessing for all nations.
For the first generation after Christ’s ascension the gospel was exclusively a spoken message; the earliest written record of the gospel appeared in the 60s.
Only one saving message is attested by the NT. The “gospel to the circumcision” preached by Peter and his colleagues did not differ in content from the “gospel to the uncircumcised” entrusted to Paul (Gal. 2:7), though the form of presentation might vary according to the audience. Paul’s testimony is, “Whether therefore it was I or they [Peter and his colleagues], so we preach, and so you believed” (1 Cor. 15:11).
The basic elements in the message were these: 1. the prophecies have been fulfilled and the new age inaugurated by the coming of Christ; 2. he was born into the family of David; 3. he died according to the Scriptures, to deliver his people from this evil age; 4. he was buried, and raised again the third day, according to the Scriptures; 5. he is exalted at God’s right hand as Son of God, Lord of living and dead; 6. he will come again, to judge the world and consummate his saving work.
Two things strike me immediately: (1) first, the observation that "wwith Jesus’ death and resurrection a new phase of the gospel begins" is important, and perhaps overlooked in some current discussions; (2) the influence of C.H. Dodd on Bruce’s summary has perhaps contributed to an underplaying of the Gospel’s relation to the forgiveness of sin (unless you read the euphemistic "to deliver his people from this evil age" as sufficiently expressive of this emphatic NT point). Leon Morris supplies the corrective to this in "The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross."
Packer on Reading and Study
"I think that the priority for every pastoral leader must be his own personal time with God over the Scriptures, and anything he does by way of preparation must flow out of that. The first requirement for authoritative, perceptive communication of the word of God is that you yourself should be experiencing the power of it. The Puritan John Owen said, ‘A man only preaches that sermon well which first preaches itself in his own soul.’ He was profoundly right." J.I. Packer
A Plan for Reading and Study
A while back I promised a post on how to develop a plan for reading and study. We’ve been covering a variety of topics on this blog, but I didn’t forget my promise. I hope this brief post proves helpful.
If you haven’t already read all the great posts on this topic–provided by Lig (his series might still be going), Mark and Al–please make time to peruse this material. And if you’ve already read it, let me encourage you to review it again. You will be freshly inspired by the content and discouraged by all you’ve forgotten.
It’s important to read these posts again, because if you don’t have a conviction about the importance of study, talking about a plan would be premature. Let the following words by Charles Bridges create a renewed conviction about the importance of studying Scripture–not simply because we are pastors, but because we are Christians:
“For if we should study the Bible more as ministers than as Christians, more to find matter for the instruction of our people than food for the nourishment of our own souls, we neglect to place ourselves at the feet of our divine teacher, our communion with him is cut off and we become mere formalists in our sacred profession.”
May God protect us from becoming “mere formalists in our sacred profession.”
So, do you have a plan for reading and study? Do you have a plan for each week, each month and each year? If not, your good intentions will be hijacked by the urgent and issues of secondary importance. You will look busy and maybe even feel productive, but eventually there will be a withering effect on your soul and in your preaching. But this doesn’t have to happen. It’s not inevitable, unless, of course, you don’t have a plan.
Here is what I recommend. Before your week attacks you (and each week will do this), attack your week. Spend time at the beginning of each week determining when and how long you need to read and study in order to cultivate passion for the Savior and prepare the sermon for Sunday. This simple practice can make all the difference. It has for me.
This practice protects my time of study from the many requests that come up each week. Because I have already determined what is most important, it is easier to decline or reschedule a request if it interferes with reading and study. Obviously, however, there will be emergencies and exceptions.
I would also recommend informing the church of your divinely prescribed mandate to study. This will help your people to understand this is a biblical priority for you as their pastor, and not simply a personal preference. Explain why you devote yourself to this task and how they will ultimately benefit. And ask them to pray for you as you devote yourself to the study of Scripture in service of the church.
So how much time should you devote to reading and studying each week, month or year? Lots! Actually, I can’t answer that question for you. You must work hard and seek counsel to come up with your own custom-designed plan. If you don’t know how or where to start, check out John Stott’s time allotments for study (apart from sermon preparation), which he has followed for many years:
One hour a day
One 3 hour period a week
One day every month
One week every year
This plan sure seems to have worked well for Mr. Stott.
Now, let me conclude with one personal recommendation. I encourage pastors to take two 3-day retreats each year for the purpose of reading, study, praying and planning. Put these dates on the calendar before the year begins. I have found that this unhurried time away from the daily routine of ministry refreshes my soul and makes all the difference in my leadership. I believe it will have the same affect on you. I would however, not recommend taking a retreat in March. The temptation to watch college basketball is too distracting. So take your retreat in a month where there is no Madness!
