A Church's Misplaced Confidence

From Francis Chan's latest book, The Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit :

"But instead of living this way, we've created a whole brand of churches that do not depend on the Spirit, a whole culture of Christians who are not disciples, a new group of "followers" who do not follow. If all God asked for were faceless numbers to fill the churches, then we would be doing alright. Most of us would feel pretty confident. But simply having a good speaker, a service that is short and engaging, a good venue, and whatever else we add to the mix does not make for a "good" or "successful" church. God intended for His bride, those who claim His name, to be much more than this."

When Is Seeing Jesus As "Useful" a Sin?

Prosperity Gospel: Accept It or Abominate It

Piper explains why we should abominate the Prosperity Gospel.

Racism & The Great Commission Resurgence

In his original message Axioms of a Great Commission Resurgence, which A Great Commission Resurgence Declaration is based, Dr. Danny Akin listed as Axiom #6 "We Must Dedicate Ourselves to a Passionate Pursuit of the Great Commission of the Lord Jesus Across Our Nation and To All Nations, Answering the Call to Go, Disciple, Baptize, and Teach All That the Lord Commanded."

Under that axiom Dr. Akin writes concerning racism within our convention as a whole and its connectedness to the accomplishment of the Great Commission:

Southern Baptists were born, in part, out of a racist context and have a racist heritage. That will forever be to our shame. By God’s grace and the Spirit’s conviction, we publically repented of this in 1995 on our 150^th anniversary, but there is still much work to be done. The Southern Baptist Convention remains a mostly middle-class, mostly white network of mostly declining churches. If you doubt what I am saying look around today, visit a State Convention, attend an annual Southern Baptist Convention meeting, or drop in on 99% of our churches on any given Sunday. We can integrate the military, athletics and the workplace, but we can’t integrate the body of Christ! Shame on us!

Until we get right about race I am convinced God will not visit us with revival. The call for a Great Commission Resurgence will not move heaven, and it will be scoffed at by the world for the sham that it is! “We will love you and welcome you if you look like us and act like us!” What kind of gospel madness is this?

Starting at home we must pursue a vision for our churches that looks like heaven. Yes, we must go around the world to reach Asians and Europeans, the Africans and the South Americans. But we must also go across the street, down the road, and into every corner of our local mission field where God in grace has brought the nations here.

Dr. Akin is definitely not the first to point out the inconsistency between a desire for the accomplishment of the Great Commission to the nations and a failure to have real and widespread racial reconciliation within our local churches at home. I am about to finish reading Thabiti Anyabwile's excellent book The Faithful Preacher: Recapturing the Vision of Three Pioneering African-American Pastors.

Part Three of the book deals with the life of Francis J. Grimke. In an address given in 1910, entitled "Christianity and Race Prejudice" Grimke points out the race prejudice that existed within white churches across America, the inconsistency that reality has with being a Christian, and what was needed to change the sad state of those churches.

He concludes his address with these words:

As I look over this land of ours everywhere I see churches, and these churches in full operation, on weekdays and on the Sabbath. There seems to be no end to religious activities of one kind and another--meetings by day and meetings by night, preaching services, prayer meetings, revival meetings, religious conventions, men's gatherings, great missionary meetings for the conversion of the world, for carrying the gospel to the ends of the earth. And yet right here in America, in the midst of all this missionary activity, this religious zeal, this seeming devotion to Jesus Christ, race prejudice stalks on unhindered. Race prejudice flaunts itself everywhere, unrebuked, as if the Kingdom of Christ has nothing whatever to do with it, as if it were a thing entirely apart from it. The church is anxious to bring the world to Christ, overflowing with enthusiasm for the conversion of the heathen, and yet indifferent to battle this giant of evil right here in Christian America!

On the top of the Central Union Mission Building in this city, near Seventh Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, is a great sign. It consists of a star, and under the star in large letters are the words, "Jesus is the light of the world." It is illuminated by electricity and night after night it flashes out its message to passers-by. It may be all right to put up such signs, but that is not the way to teach men that Jesus is the Light of the World. The way to do it is not through colored electric lights but through life--by living the religion that we profess, by showing our daily walk that He is our light, that we are walking in the light, are being transformed through His influence into likeness to Him. Thousands of such electric signs scattered everywhere , piled up to heaven, are not worth as much as one life that is being saved by Christ, commending Him to a sinful world.

Grimke states that in light of the race prejudice that exists in local church, and predominantly the white local church, the church has to options. Either she can stop associating herself with Christianity completely because her practice is completely inconsistent with the beliefs of Christianity and the reality of the Gospel or she should repent and live differently--bringing into harmony her life with the principles of the Gospel itself.

Grimke points out that the church has done little, if anything, in fighting this evil because while the white church has grown steadily, the growth in race prejudice has grown steadily as well. The latter is not what you would expect given the reality of the former.

Grimke states that this reality should cause the church to ask the question, "What must be the quality of the Christianity presented in their character and lives if such be the case?" He gives three possibilities: 1.)Christianity is no match for race prejudice, is powerless before it; 2.)the Christianity represented in the white churches of America is an inferior Christianity, is not genuine, is not what it purports to be; 3.) the church has not been doing its duty, has been putting its light under a bushel, has not been faithful to its divine commission.

Which of the tree choices did Grimke think was the cause of this? The third, which I think is somewhat accurate, but I would argue that choice number two is actually the cause of choice number three. It is a lack of a genuine understanding and embracing of the Gospel that has led to a lack of genuinely changed lives that overcome race prejudice through the power of that Gospel.

But, I close with Grimke's assessment:

That real Christianity is powerless in the presence of race prejudice is not true; back of it is the mighty power of God. The gates of hell cannot prevail against it. That the Christianity represented in white America is spurious, I am not prepared to say. [I think Grimke might be more prepared to say this today if he could see the state of the church] That the church has failed to do its duty, in this matter, I am prepared, however, to say. Had it been true to its great commission, had it lived up to its opportunities, had it stood squarely and uncompromisingly for Christian principles, the sad, the humiliating, the disgraceful fact of which we are speaking never would have been possible. That fact that in Christian America, in this land that is adding church members by the millions, race prejudice has gone on steadily increasing is a standing indictment of the white Christianity of this land--an indictment that ought to bring the blush of shame to the faces of the men and women who are responsible for it, whose silence, whose quiet acquiescence, whose cowardice, or, worse, whose active cooperation have made it possible. The first thing for the church to do, I say, is to wake up to the fact that it can do something. Its present attitude is a disgrace to it and is utterly unworthy of the name it bears.

Now, I will admit, gladly that by the grace of God this race prejudice has improved since 1910. However, we must admit, sadly, that is has not improved near enough and its very existence on any level is to our shame and points to a lack of understanding of and appreciation for the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And as Dr. Akin and Mr. Grimke so rightly point out, our hope and desire for a Great Commission resurgence will fail until, by God's grace and God's Gospel, we get this issue right.

May it be so to the glory of God!

Wise Words On Reaching the Next Generation & Ours

Kevin DeYoung, over at The Gospel Coalition Blog, has been sharing an excellent series on how we reach the next generation. In this post, "Hold Them With Holiness," Kevin uses 2 Peter 1:5-8, to stress the importance of a pastor and other believer's personal holiness in reaching the next generation.

Kevin writes,

I love the line from Robert Murray M’Cheyne: “What your people need from you most is your own personal holiness.” I’ve given that advice to others dozens of times, and I’ve repeated it to myself a hundred times. Almost my whole philosophy of ministry is summed up in M’Cheyne’s words. My congregation needs me to be humble before they need me to be smart. They need me to be honest more than they need me to be a dynamic leader. They need me to be teachable more than they need me teach at conferences. If your walk matches your talk, if your faith costs you something, if being a Christian is more than a cultural garb, they will listen to you.

Paul told young Timothy to keep a close watch on his life and his doctrine (1 Tim. 4:16). “Persist in this,” he said, “for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.” Far too much ministry today is undertaken without any concern for holiness. We’ve found that changing the way we do church is easier than changing the way we are. We’ve found that we are not sufficiently unlike anyone else to garner notice, so we’ve attempted to become just like everyone else instead. Today’s young people do not want a cultural Christianity that fits in like a Baptist church in Texas. They want a conspicuous Christianity that changes lives and transforms communities. Maybe we would make more progress in reaching the next generation, if we were making more progress in holiness (1 Tim. 4:15).

Great Quotes/Truths From Matt Chandler

Here are some great quotes and truths from a recent article Matt Chandler did with Christianity Today.

On how authority factors into sanctification:

An authoritative church is very attractive, as long as that authority is used to shepherd and not to bruise. Sometimes I have to talk to people very honestly, and that can be painful. But first I have to make sure they know I love them. Leaders shouldn't wield authority; they should shepherd toward truth.

I tell other pastors that our authority is a lot like our authority as husbands. That means if you have to talk about your authority, you've probably already lost it. I don't tell my wife, "You know the Scriptures say I make the decision; you follow me." If I have to say that to my wife, I'm already in a lot of trouble. The same is true in the church. We are to shepherd with authority but not become tyrants. That is a mistake some guys make.

On what warring against sin looks like:

Sanctification here at The Village begins by answering two questions. What stirs your affections for Jesus Christ? And what robs you of those affections? Many of the things that stifle growth are morally neutral. They're not bad things. Facebook is not bad. Television and movies are not bad. I enjoy TV, but it doesn't take long for me to begin to find humorous on TV what the Lord finds heartbreaking.

The same goes for following sports. It's not wrong, but if I start watching sports, I begin to care too much. I get stupid. If 19-year-old boys are ruining your day because of what they do with a ball, that's a problem. These things rob my affections for Christ. I want to fill my life with things that stir my affections for him.

On what this generation is looking for that has been missing in church:

Transcendence. My generation was raised on a religion of moral control. Do this. Don't do that. And a lot of self-help religion. Feel better. Get out of debt. Six ways to overcome your fears. Seven ways not to lust. Ultimately that message didn't work. It was empty. There was no transcendence. The omniscient, omnipresent, all-powerful God of the universe wasn't the focus. I think that's why we are seeing the resurgence of Reformed theology.

On the belligerent nature of the New Reformed Movement:

New Calvinism is a young movement, and young people are often arrogant. Life hasn't had a chance to beat the trash out of them yet. I'll tell the young people in my sermons, "You can't get into theological battles while you still live with your mom." Or, "You can nail your 95 theses to the door once you own one." Before these 20 year olds begin passionately defending their view of Scripture, I want to see that they are being obedient to it.

On the concern of focusing inward:

Some people think it would be cool if we had a coffee shop. But I don't want people getting their lattes here. I want them getting their lattes at the four Starbucks in our area so they can get to know the baristas and invite them into our body. I don't want our church doing basketball tournaments for lost people. Lifetime and LA Fitness already have basketball tournaments filled with lost people. I want our guys playing in those games. We are trying hard to keep the church lean, stripped down, very program-light. There are no frills.

Church buildings teach people. I don't think you can proclaim a great mission about being in the world, and then create a building that keeps people out of the world all week. I'm not against the attractional model, it's just not what we've been called to.

When Laughing Isn't Funny

A few weeks ago, John Piper spoke at a national meeting of counselors here in Nashville. He opened his sermon with a very honest and open look at the sins he deals with in his own life. The crowd, amazingly, finds great humor in his confession.

Listen to the first four minutes or so here.

Very awkward to say the least.

Greg Gilbert gives an interesting analysis and startling application to the local church:

Do you see, at root, what had happened at that conference? Over the course of a couple of days, those conferees had been trained to expect humor from the speakers and therefore to react to the speakers with laughter---all the way to the point that they were incapable of seeing that John Piper was being serious in his confession of sin to them. You can quibble with whether the first couple of Piper's statements were (unintentionally, it seems) kind of funny. I happen to think they were. By the time he gets to about the 3-minute mark, though, there's nothing funny left, and he's moved into very serious stuff. Yet the atmosphere of humor and levity at that conference was so thick---the training so complete---that the people were incapable of seeing it. So they laughed at Piper's confession of his sin.

Apparently the conditioning of that audience to think everything is funny took no more than a couple of days.

How deep do you think that conditioning would be for a church who sat under a funny-man pastor every Sunday for fifteen years?

Something to think about as pastors in relation to the responsibility we have each week to the people God has given us to shepherd.

"Ok, But What Do I Do?"

That's the question that is running through the mind of most church members at the end of each weekly sermon. It's also the question that most pastors feel the need to make sure they answer at the end of each sermon.

Kevin DeYoung reminds us though that while application is very important, not every text is focused on us doing something. Some texts call from us not some action, but rather an affection. Some sermons need to end with "Now, let us glory in this truth about Christ" rather than, "Now let's go out and do such and such."

Kevin concludes the post with these words:

Maybe we just aren’t as passionate about the person and work of Christ as we are about getting in people's faces (which, trust me, I also do). Or maybe we think people will be bored if they don’t get some good practical advice on their way out the door (and it’s possible they are more eager to hear three points of application than ponder the glory of Christ). Again, I’m not saying no text can end with imperatives. "Repent," "believe," "obey" are all biblical injunctions. But we must let the text determine the mood of the sermon and not tack on honey-do lists at the end of every message. Preachers ought to rebuke when necessary, when the text calls for it. But it makes for bad preaching and beat-up congregations when every sermon concludes with exhortation. Sometimes it’s ok to end the sermon by simply telling the people about Jesus.

Jesus' Kingdom Or Our Own?

J.D. Greear commented today on Luke 14:12-14.

12 He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. 13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.

J.D. concludes with these true thoughts:

I would think, however, that our passion for Jesus' Kingdom rather than our own would also seen in how much our church does for people "who can't pay it back." If a church spends almost all of its money on things that attract people who can come, increase audience size, and give, and not ministering to the poor of the city, or not sending people out, then that's probably a good indicator that that church only throws parties for those "who can pay it back." Obviously, most people that we reach will come and give (this is, of course, part of their discipleship!), but it seems to me that if all our money is strategically allocated for self-growth, and not for reaching the poor and sending out church planters, then we might consider if our work is really done for Jesus' Kingdom and not for ourselves.

God's Word Building God's Church

Aaron Menikoff writes over at Common Grounds:

Nonetheless, as a pastor I don’t want to spend my time looking for a new gospel that better reaches the culture. Nor do I want to look for the latest innovation to make the church I serve more relevant to the culture. I want to crisply, freshly, truthfully, spiritually, and powerfully apply God’s Word to the church and the culture. My prayer the first day of my ministry here in Atlanta and my prayer over a year into it remains the same: “Lord, help me trust that your Word will build your church.”

Trusting in God's Word to build God's Church.

Thoughts From Two Months Without a Church Home

It has been two months since we left the church in TN where I was pastor. That means it has been two months in which we have been going from Sunday to Sunday to different churches. I don't see how church shoppers/hoppers do it. It is not fun going from church to church each Sunday. Don't get me wrong, it is the same Holy Spirit that unites us as believers in the Gospel in whatever church we are in on Sunday morning and that is an amazing thing, being a part of the universal Church.

However, one of the two prominent thoughts that have become evident to us over these last two months is also amazing and missed. That is the importance and preciousness of the local church. While it is true that wherever we have been on Sunday mornings these past two months there has undoubtedly been a sense of the common bond of the Holy Spirit that unites the Church together through the Gospel, there has also been a realization of the preciousness of being a part of a local church together in Christ. The imagery used by Paul in 1 Corinthians 12 of the Body of Christ, no doubt, has a universal dimension to it. However, it seems best applied and intended in a local setting. I am not sure what part of the Body Holly and I are, but we at times feel like an arm or leg or toe or pinkie just laying somewhere on the ground, apart from the Body.

God is teaching us the preciousness of the local church--of being a part of a body of believers who have covenanted together for the cause of the Gospel locally and globally for the glory of God. Oh, how we miss the living out of the "one another's" of life in the local church. And so if you are a member of a local church somewhere, don't take it for granted. Cherish it and be amazed at the preciousness of it. At the other end of the spectrum, if you are one of those "believers" who thinks you can do just fine without being a member of a local church and being involved, Oh, how deceived and deprived you are. Join a sound local church of the Lord Jesus and be amazed at the preciousness of a local expression of the Body of Christ.

The other observation we have made in our two months of going from church to church is how little of the Gospel is preached in the pulpits of our churches. Now, don't get me wrong, we have heard good, solid exposition of the Scriptures each Sunday, wherever we have been. But for the most part, each Sunday, wherever we have been, we have left thinking, "That was a good exposition of the text, but something was missing. There was little to no Gospel."

Now, that is not to say that words such as "cross," "saved," "faith," and reference to Jesus' death and resurrection were not mentioned. They were. However, even when those words were mentioned they were not explained and very rarely was the Gospel skeleton of God, Sin, Christ, Response articulated in a way that a sinner could understand the holiness of God, the sinfulness of man, the remedy provided in the person and work of Christ, and the needed response of repentance from sin and faith towards Jesus Christ that leads to genuine conversion.

And I don't believe there has been one occasion of the application of the Gospel to the believer's life in any of those Sunday morning sermons. As C.J. Mahaney stresses over and over again in The Cross-Centered Life we never get over the Gospel and we never move on from the Gospel. As quoted in that book,

"The Gospel isn't one class among many that you'll attend during your life as a Christian, the Gospel is the whole building that all the classes take place in."

When was the last time, you heard a pastor apply the Gospel to your life and how you and I live day to day? Think about the passage your pastor preached from this past Sunday. Did your pastor make the Gospel clear from that passage? Did your pastor help both you and the unbeliever there see how to get to Calvary from that passage?

As J.I. Packer writes,

"The preacher's commission is to declare the whole counsel of God; but the cross is at the center of that counsel, and the puritans knew that the traveler through the biblical landscape misses his way as soon as he loses sight of the hill called Calvary."

In C.J. Mahaney's chapter in Preaching the Cross, he writes,

"In all our preaching, we must never lose sight of the hill called Calvary, where the Son of Man was killed in our place. Regardless of the text or topic at hand, there must be some view of Calvary in every sermon. Your congregation should experience the amazing and comforting sight of the crucified Savior each and every time you preach. They should anticipate the sight of Calvary in every sermon and rejoice when it comes into view, and all the more when the cross is not immediately obvious in the text. 'Where is the hill?' they should be asking. 'Where is that blessed hill on which our precious Savior died?' We should exalt Christ's finished work in our sermons so as to comfort the converted and convict the unbeliever."

I think that is the question we have been asking every Sunday after every sermon over these past two months, "Where is the hill?" "Where is Christ and the Cross?" "Where is the Gospel?" For instance, this past Sunday we heard a very good exposition of the passage in Luke 7 where Jesus visits the house of Simon and the sinful woman comes in and kisses Jesus' feet and washes his feet with her tears. The pastor made the point that Simon didn't notice this woman like he should have. He was too busy looking at the outward things in her life. He then went on to make the application that we too fail to see people around us and what God is doing in their lives.

Those were good points to make from the text, but they were made absent of the Gospel when it is the Gospel that is the foundation of those points. This woman's actions flowed from the Gospel--a realization of God's holiness, her sinfulness, Christ's person and work, and then the needed response of repentance from sin and faith in Jesus Christ. That's why she was acting the way she was acting. And the reason that Simon was acting the way he was acting, failing to see what the woman was doing, was because he failed to understand the Gospel--the holiness of God, his own sinfulness, Christ's person and work, and his needed response of repentance from sin and faith in Christ.

The application to the unbeliever is obvious. He/she is sinful and dirty just like this woman was in the eyes of a holy God. Their only hope is the same as hers--the person and work of Christ on the cross, dying for their sins, satisfying God's wrath agains their sin, and then repentance from sin and faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The application to the believer is just as centered on the Gospel as well. It is a true understanding of and appreciation for the Gospel that leads to the kind of response that we see in the life of this sinful woman towards Jesus. And it is a drifting away from the Gospel that leads to seeing this sinful woman and her actions as Simon saw them.

Now, I am sure that pastor would affirm everything I just mentioned concerning the Gospel in relation to this passage in Luke 7. But the point is that it is not enough to just affirm it and it is dangerous to assume those connections to the Gospel. The pastor must make the Gospel and its application to the unbeliever and believer clear. In our pulpits, the Gospel is at best assumed, rather than asserted with clarity and explanation and at worse, ignored rather than investigated with conviction and exultation.

We are praying everyday that we will soon be where God wants us to serve in ministry. And we pray that in the mean time, and each Sunday until then we will not leave another Sunday service asking the question, "Where was Calvary?" And I pray for forgiveness for all the times that church members may have walked away from a sermon I preached and asked, "Where was Calvary?" I pray that that question is asked less and less of me and of the pastors of our churches altogether.

Adoption: More Than You Think It Is

Even as we are anticipating our third child, I still look forward to the day where, Lord willing, we can adopt a fourth child. I just began reading through Russell Moore's Adopted For Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families & Churches.

Just wanted to share a couple of excerpts.

On why there is such an attack on babies throughout history, Moore writes:

"The demonic powers hate these babies because they hate Jesus. When they destroy 'the least of these', the most vulnerable among us, they're destroying a picture of Jesus himself, of the child delivered by the woman who crushes their head (Gen. 3:15). They know the human race is saved--and they've vanquished--by a woman giving birth (Gal. 4:4; 1 Tim. 2:15). They are grinding apart Jesus' brothers and sisters (Matt. 25:40). They are also destroying the very picture of newness of life and of dependent trust that characterizes life in the kingdom of Christ. (Matt. 18:14). Children also mean blessing---a perfect target of those who seek only to kill and destroy (John 10:10)"

The protection of children isn't charity. It isn't part of a political program fitting somewhere between tax cuts and gun rights or between carbon emission caps and a national service corps. It's spiritual warfare."

Possibly the most powerful paragraph or two I have ever read on adoption and orphan care:

"Think of the plight of the orphan somewhere right now out there in the world. It's not just that she's lonely. It's that she has no inheritance, no future. With every passing year, she's less 'cute,' less adoptable. In just a few years, on her eighteenth birthday, she'll be expelled from the orphanage or from the 'system.' What will happen to her then? Maybe she'll join the military or find some job training. Maybe she'll stare at a tile on the ceiling above her as her body is violated by a man who's willing to pay her enough to eat for a day, alone in a back alley or in front of a camera crew of strangers. Maybe she'll place a revolver in her mouth or tie a rope around her neck, knowing no one will have to deal with her except, once again, the bureaucratic 'authorities' who can clean up the mess she leaves behind. Can you feel the force of such desperation? Jesus can. She's his little sister.

What if a mighty battalion of Christian parents would open their hearts and their homes to unwanted infants--infants some so-called 'clinics' would like to see carried out with the medical waste? It might mean that the next Christmas there'll be one more stocking at the chimney at your house--a new son or daughter who escaped the abortionist's knife or the orphanage's grip to find at your knee the grace of a carpenter's Son.

Planned Parenthood thinks 'Choice on Earth' is the message of Christmas, and perhaps it is in a Christmas culture more identified with shopping malls than with churches. But we know better, or at least we should. Let's follow in the footsteps of the other man at the manger, the quiet one. And as we read the proclamation of the shepherds, exploding in the sky as a declaration of war, let's remind a miserable generation there are some things more joyous than choice--things like peace and life and love."

This need and this command to care for orphans is a part of the Great Commission Christ has given the Church. Let us think about these words and this need the next time we are tempted to purchase a car that is nicer than what we need or live in a house that is bigger and more beautiful than we need.

The Privilege of Being a Pastor

John Murray, while giving an ordination sermon for Wayne F. Brauning, stated that the two main functions of pastoral ministry are first, the preaching of the Word, and secondly, pastoral care.

Under the primary responsibility of preaching/teaching the Scripture, Murray warns against allowing other responsibilities to keep the pastor from his time studying and also encourages the pastor to rely upon the Holy Spirit for a proper understanding and proclamation of the Word.

Finally, he mentions the privilege of preaching and teaching the Word of God.

"It is yours to be a fellow of the Gospel - of the glorious, the blessed Gospel. It is yours to proclaim the unsearchable riches of Christ. It is yours to be the ambassador of the King eternal, immortal, invincible. It is yours to be the ambassador of him who is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, of whom you have heard already that He walks among the candlesticks. There is no greater vocation on earth. There is no greater vocation that God has given to any than the vocation of proclaiming the whole counsel of God - proclaiming the gospel of the glory of the blessed God, and proclaiming the unsearchable riches of the Redeemer. Think much of your privilege."

Under the second main responsibility, pastoral care, Murray stresses the importance of shepherding the church of God, giving the audience to your people, and remembering that you are a servant of Christ in the exercise of pastoral care.

Speaking of shepherding the church, Murray writes,

"You do not get your sermons from your people, but you get your sermons with your people. You get your sermons from the Word of God, but you must remember that the sermons which you deliver from the Word of God must be relevant. They must be practical in the particular situation in which you are. It is when you move among your people and become acquainted with their needs, become acquainted with the situation in which they are, become acquainted· with their thoughts, become acquainted with their philosophy, become acquainted with their temptations, that the Word of God which you bring forth from this inexhaustible treasure of wisdom and truth will be relevant and will not be abstract and unrelated. "

Startling Stats & the Need For a Great Commission Resurgence

If you have not visited the Great Commission Resurgence website and signed up to be a prayer partner, I would encourage you to do so.

I used these stats this morning in my sermon that dealt with us as churches and as a convention loosing our focus of making disciples of all nations. I mentioned that loss of focus is clearly seen by our giving towards the accomplishment of the Great Commission.

These stats are startling and seem to speak for themselves. Here they are along with a quote from Daniel Palmer. You can read the entire article here where these stats were taken.

• 17% of Cooperative Progam giving goes to reach the nations with the Gospel.
• As Southern Baptists, we sepnd annually $1.31/person to reach every person living in the US and Canada.
• We spend only $.04/person annually to reach every person living in the rest of the world, especially the unreached peoples of the world.
• We spend $447 million a year to reach the 340 million people who live in the US and Canada.
• We spend $243 million annually to reach the 6.4 billion people in the rest of the world.
• We spend on average thirty-three times more money annually to reach an American than we do an African.

"Southern Baptists affirm that every soul is equal before God, but we spend missions dollars like we value the American soul above all others--the Southern, American soul in particular."

Oh how we need to pray for a Great Commission Resurgence among our Convention and may it begin in each of our hearts!

Historically a Christian Nation? Yes & No

I recently finished reading George M. Marsden's excellent book A Short Life of Jonathan Edwards. It's a quick read and a very good summary of Jonathan Edward's life and ministry. The last chapter deals with things we should learn from Edwards.

One of those had to do with the understanding America's paradoxical heritage--at the same time both secular and religious. Marsden addresses what we can understand concerning the popular idea of America's Christian origins from Edwards' life and ministry, whether or not that idea is accurate.

Marsden writes,

"Knowing the story of Jonathan Edwards also helps provide an answer to the much-debated question of the extent to which the United States had Christian origins...Nontheless that observation[a significant Christian presence in 18th century colonial America] needs to be balanced by the fact that ardently revivalist Christians of the revolutionary era were never close to being a majority. They did not think that the new nation or its immediate colonial predecessors were nearly Christian enough--that was why they believed there was such an urgent need for awakenings. They considered their era, despite its many public expressions of Christianity, to be unusually profane and far too influenced by sub-Christian philosophies growing out of the Enlightenment. Even though most of them endorsed the break with Great Britain because they thought the mother country was even more corrupt, the ardent revivalist Christians of the revolutionary era considered themselves to be a beleaguered minority in a nation that was far from being truly Christian."