A Prayer for Ministry, from Thomas Chalmers

Amen C.J.!

Thomas Chalmers was one of the leading lights of the Scottish evangelical awakening in the nineteenth century. From October of 1841 to September 20, 1846, on Sunday afternoons, Chalmers wrote a series of devotional-expositional-supplicational thoughts on each chapter of the New Testament, starting with Matthew 1 and going to Revelation 22. He wrote them, apparently, simply for his own edification, but they have become a source of edification to many a Gospel minister. I am happy to say that Solid Grounds Christian Books is producing a new edition of them! Get it.

Meanwhile, I’ll share with you a taste of the riches contained therein. Having begun his notes (written in long hand with no erasures, strikeouts or corrections in any of the volumes!) with the arresting words "All history is subservient to the great work of Redemption," Chalmers is meditating on Matthew 1, on a Lord’s Day afternoon (in October of 1841), and journaling—as was his habit over the last six or so years of his life and as described above—and he observes: "And under what an endearing and comforting title is it that he is first announced to us—Jesus the Saviour—and from what? He saves us from our sins—not the guilt of them only, but also the power of them." Then Chalmers records his personal prayer in light of this truth: "—Realize upon me, O God, the whole of this salvation. Give me a part, both in the justifying righteousness which this Jesus hath brought in, and in the sanctifying Grace which He sheds forth on all who believe in him, that I may be regenerated as well as reconciled; and that admitted to the pardon which has been sealed by His blood, I may furthermore be purified—and, meet for the Master’s use, may become one of His peculiar people, zealous of good works." May that be our prayer too.

Thomas Chalmers, Sabbath Scripture Readings (Matthew I), in The Posthumous Works of Thomas Chalmers, Vol. IV, edited by William Hanna (Sutherland and Knox: Edinburgh, 1848), 1-2.

T4G Hopes

Mark, you are so right – who knows what will come from T4G, but we all long for God to be glorified and his people helped as a result. And you are certainly right that we all want to see the Lord’s work cross-fertilized.

Two things are for sure. 1. We long to see a renewal of the old evangelical alliances, around the Gospel, and a strong coalition of Bible-saturated, truth-driven, God-entranced, prayer-soaked, aggressively evangelistic, Christ-treasuring, Christ-exalting, Spirit-filled, sovereign grace-loving, missions-advancing, hell-robbing, strong-thinking, real-need-exposing, soul-winning, mind-engaging, vagueness-rejecting, wartime-life-style-pursuing, self-denying, self-giving, risk-taking, justice-advancing, Scripture-expounding, cross-cherishing, homosexuality-opposing, abortion-denouncing, racism-resisting, heaven-desiring, imputation-of-an-alien righteousness-proclaiming, justification-by-faith-alone-apart-from-doing preaching, error-exposing, complementarian, joyful, humble, loving, courageous, happy pastors working together for the Gospel. (Thanks to John Piper for so many of these words and thoughts).

2. And we want to see them leading strong evangelical churches who, while they hold as faithfully and biblically as they know how to certain doctrinal distinctives not shared by all other biblical evangelical churches, band together for the Gospel on a basis that is robustly doctrinal, historic, orthodox, reformational, world-opposing-while-at-the-same-time-world-loving, Bible-preaching, Scriptural-theology-inculcating, real-conversion-prizing, deep biblical evangelism-practicing, New Testament church-membership-implementing, church-discipline-applying, healthy and growing Disciple-making, biblical church leadership teaching-obeying – for the display of God’s glory in the churches.

May the Lord raise up such a ministerial fraternity – not on the basis of doctrinal minimalism but rather on the basis of shared conviction of the truth and Gospel forbearance in the areas where we differ; not to the detriment of our convictions regarding our distinctives in faith and practice in the local churches and families of churches we serve, but to their enhancement. And may the Lord raise up churches that are truly a witness to grace in this passing age, a display of the glory and power of God’s saving grace, outposts of heaven, suburbs of eternity. For the church is God’s strategy, and there is no plan B.

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.

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!