"What If We..."

Well, our family is packing up and about to head back to NC for Christmas. It will be such a blessing to see family and spend time with them. It will be difficult, to say the least, with this being our first Christmas without my Granddaddy. I'm really not looking forward to this "first." However, I know that God's grace is sufficient and in our weakness His strength is shown to be perfect. Please pray for our family and pray for us as we travel A LOT over this next week.

Well, to the point of this post. With a new year comes the usual end of year preparation for a pastor. I've hammered out most of my preaching schedule for the upcoming year. But also, one of the end of year New Year preparations for most pastors is brainstorming as to what the church can do "different" this year to serve the community and engage more lost people with the Gospel.

Now, before I make this point please do not interpret this to mean that I think we shouldn't work to adapt to the changing times in regards to finding new and appropriate ways to communicate the Gospel. But with that being said, I have wondered recently that if in the midst of all the "What if we..." thoughts that run through pastors heads as we approach a new year, if God doesn't look at our brainstorming with the response, "What's wrong with My plan?"

I mean is there really anything better than "By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, that you love one another?" Is there really anything more effective than the Church simply being the Church in its community. I just tend to believe that if a church in any community would get serious about being the Church in that community, reaching people with the Gospel will be a natural outflow of that. What can be more of a witness in a community of lost people who are dead in their sins and trespasses before God and who continually supress the truth they clearly see about God than a group of people in their same community who are distinctly different than them. What an impact a Church could have on a community if it simply treasured Christ above all things and let that treasuring of Christ affect every aspect of their life: how they raise their children, how they love their spouse, how they spend their money, how they spend their time, how they serve their community, what they talk about to each other and to their lost neighbors, how they have a yearning for a people half-way around the world to know Christ and they are sacrificing immensely to see that take place.

Do you know what will happen as a church like that lives a radically agressive and distinct life as the Body of Christ in their community? Well, not only will they naturally be talking to people about the Gospel "as they are going," but those around them (family, neighbors, co-workers) will begin to ask "for the reason for the hope that lies within them." And as the Church begins to answer that question, the Gospel finds a natural path to travel down and hearts will begin to be changed by that Gospel and communities will begin to be changed by that Gospel.

You see, it's not that God's plan of the Church being the Church in its community has failed at reaching that community with the Gospel and changing it, but rather that God's plan of the Church being the Church in it's community just simply has not been attempted.

So, "what if we" just started being the Church this New Year!

"Don't Waste Your Church Involvement"

Joshua Harris on why what we do on Sunday morning as the Church is different than just getting up and going to church.

Where In the World...

Where in the world did this church get this from?

Oh, the Bible.

I'm sure it maybe could have been handled better at some places along the way, but at least the elders of this church are attempting to handle it biblically.

Yay for biblical faithfulness!

What's Wrong With the Church Today?

Watch this and find out. It's just over one hour long, but I promise you it will bring more fruit and benefit in your life than anything else you could spend an hour doing.

Great!

Meet the Christmas Linebacker:

On Preaching

Both Al Mohler and J.D. Greear recently posted helpful remarks on preaching and relevance.

Al Mohler:

The crowds were astonished when they heard Jesus, "for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes." Congregations are starving for the astonishment of hearing the preacher teach and preach on the authority of the Word of God. If there is a crisis in preaching, it is a crisis of confidence in the Word. If there is a road to recovery, it will be mapped by a return to biblical preaching.

Our hope and prayer is that you will go forth from here to fulfill a ministry of astonishment. To preach and teach and minister so that commas as turned back to periods, and question marks into exclamation points. Congregations long to have the thunderbolts brought down from the attic and loosed in their midst. They are starving for a word from God.

Go and astonish a church. Go and astonish the nations. Go and astonish sinners and saints alike. Go and astonish your generation. Go and astonish those who no longer even believe that they can be astonished.

Go and preach as one who has authority. Just remember always that the only true authority for ministry is biblical authority. May we always be mindful that the only authority that matters is God's authority, and that God's thunderbolts are what we must fear . . . and what we must seek.

If you go out and preach as one who has authority, you will be constantly amazed by what God does through the preaching of his Word. You will see those who hear you astonished -- and no one will be more astonished than yourself.

J.D. Greear:

But the need for newness is not the primary need of the hour. The problem is not that most people need a new way of hearing the Gospel, but that most people have never heard it all. My goal each week is not to give what the people in front of me will perceive as a "new approach" to the Gospel, but simply to explain the really old Gospel in as clear a way as possible to them.

The desire to be new can also keep you from the one task God has given the church... not the discovery of something new, but the revelation of something old. Sticking to clear explication of the old will make you relevant. As G. K. Chesterton said, "If you marry the times, you'll soon become a widower." Or, H. D. Thoreau, "Read not the times, read the eternities."

Pastoral Ministry: Joy and Grief

The writer of Hebrews remarks in Hebrews 13:17 of church member's responsibility before God to the pastors/elders that God has placed over them,

"Obey your leaders adn submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning. For that would be of no advantage to you."

In that admonition, the writer of Hebrews lays out to emotional environments in which a pastor continually finds himself in--joy and grief. The life of pastoral ministry is always to be a ministry of joy even in the midst of grief because our joy is always to be in Christ and his worthiness of being enjoyed is never diminished or changes. And so even in the midst of grief in pastoral ministry, there should always be an abiding joy in Christ.

However, there are undoubtedly experiences within the life of a pastor that illicit great joy and great grief. There is nothing like the joy that a pastor experiences when he sees evidences of God's grace in the life of God's people, a biblical understanding of the Gospel which naturally produces a biblical living out that understanding of the Gospel.

On the other side of the spectrum though, there are times of great grief. There is grief that is do to the death of church members or the loved ones of church members, sickness, and other tragedies that come our way in a fallen world. However, the grief that the writer of Hebrews has in mind is, like the joy mentioned above, directly connected to the church members' response (obedience/submission) to those who have been given charge to care for their souls. It is indeed a time of great grief for a pastor when he sees division or rebellion or outright disobedience to the Scripture in the Body of Christ.

There is something very important implied by the reality of this joy and grief in the pastor's life. And it is a reality that should humble the pastor before God in the face of God's amazing grace to him. That reality is that the presence of joy and grief in the pastor's life over what is happening in the church and among the people of God is evidence that the pastor takes his calling from God seriously. He is serious about equipping the saints for the work of ministry until we all attain to a unity of the faith and a knowledge of the Son of God. He is serious in his calling to exhort in sound doctrine and refute those who contradict. He is serious about his calling to keep watch over the souls of these sheep that have been entrusted to his care.

Why should this reality produce humility in the pastor and awe before God? Because it is evidence of God's amazing grace that has been lavished upon him. The pastor knows better than anyone his own sinfulness and the change that Christ has made in his life, bringing him from darkness to light, exchanging his heart of stone for a heart of flesh, and creating this new creature in Christ. And with that knowledge of who he once was, who Christ has made him, and the ongoing struggle to become in practice what he already is in position, the pastor is reminded that a seriousness and a caring that produces joy and grief over the spiritual state of those within the church is only a reality in his life because of God's grace to him in Christ that has produced such a change and that continually is changing him more and more into the likeness of Jesus Christ.

And so welcome not only the joy in pastoral ministry, but also see the evidence of God's grace to you even in the grief of pastoral ministry because it indicates that by God's grace, and only by God's grace, do you take your calling from God as a pastor with life and death seriousness.

Thank you Jesus.

"There's Never Been A Night Like This On Planet Earth?"

Oprah, commenting on the upcoming inauguration of Barack Obama:

“There are not even words to talk about what this night means,” Oprah said of Obama's inauguration. “Everybody keeps using the word historic — there’s never been a night like this on the planet earth… Nothing can compare to this.”

Huh.

I'm thinking the day God said, "Light, be" and light was was a little more historic.

I'm thinking the day that God formed Adam from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into him was a little more historic.

I'm thinking the day that God took a rib from Adam and fashioned it into a woman was a little more historic.

I'm thinking the day that all the first born in Egypt were killed by the Angel of the Lord was a little more historic.

I'm thinking the day that God parted the Red Sea was a little more historic.

I'm thinking the virgin birth of the Son of God, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Root of David, and the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world was a little more historic.

I'm thinking the day that the Son of God, the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ was crucified on a cross for sin He had not committed on behalf of those who did committ it was a little more historic.

I'm thinking that three days later when the Son of God, Jesus Christ, rose from the dead for thejustification of sinners was a little more historic.

I'm thinking that forty days later when the Son of God ascended back to Heaven was a little more historic.

I'm thinking that the day He returns in clouds of glory and every knee bows and every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father will be a little more historic.

Maybe Oprah should be a little more careful with her history.

Unexpected and Unfortunately an Underappreciated Blessing

I had the privilege today to spend a couple of hours with some senior citizens in our community. It was their annual Thanksgiving/Christmas lunch that our Women on Mission host for them. They asked me to come and eat and share a short devotional with them.

As always, the food was wonderful and I had a great time sharing God's Word with them and celebrating God's triumph in the coming of His Son Jesus Christ. But the greatest blessing was just being there and being with them. There were a couple of moments where I just about had to get up and walk outside and have a good cry.

Being around that many elderly people is in a way difficult for me. It just reminds me of my Granddaddy and not being able to just "be around" with him anymore. But while it was sad in some ways, it was also a blessing. It reminded me of how precious our granddaddys and grandmas are and how important they are to our lives and the lives of our children.

And so next week during Thanksgiving and a month later with Christmas will be very difficult for me and my family. In some way it has been an advantage being away from "home" and so not having to face my granddaddy's absence everyday. But I imagine that once we go back for Christmas I will see how much of a disadvantage it has been not having to face his absence every day.

But in the midst of the sorrow, I will be thankful to God for all the years He allowed me to "be around" my Granddaddy. He will be appreciated and I will be thankful and appreciative for the time He has still given me with my Grandma.

If you have Grandparents who are still alive, appreciate them because in them you will find the most unexpected blessings. And if you don't have grandparents who are living, then find an elderly person nearby and just find a way to show them the appreciation they deserve.

Is the Gospel The Same As Toothpaste?

Mark Dever gives a clear answer to this question and how it relates to what we do as the church and how we do it.

Many church leaders today think that with the right poll-tested methods, just about anyone can grow a church. If ambience sells coffee, why not use it to sell...Jesus? If music sells clothing, why not use it to market the church?

But think about this: What does it say about God if we need to market his glory and gospel using the same tools we use to sell toothpaste and laundry detergent?

God is so much more glorious. His Son came with a mighty gospel and now his Spirit is backing up the Son's work and words by actually changing a group of
people.

There's the church's appeal--the wisdom of God, the might of God, the love of God on display in the lives of a gospel-created people for all the world to see!

Join as we pray and labor for a supernaturally attractive church, a worshipping church, a church that is distinct like salt and bright like light.

Does This Make Sense?

Something's not right in this equation. In both California and Florida, voters voted "yes" to an amendment to ban gay marriage. However, the voters in both California and Florida both voted "yes" for a president who opposes a ban on gay marriage.

Could it be that in the most important election in the history of our nation, that the citizens of this country just elected a man president based more on his personality and less upon his policies, which they either do not care about or of which they haven't got a clue?

The Day After Reflections

If you are like me, as a follower of Christ there are so many mixed emotions going on within you on this day after the most important election in recent memory. There are things that you want to be excited and thankful for, as we should, but that excitement and gratitude is being drowned out by the potential of what an Obama presidency could mean to so many issues of righteousness which we hold dear.

I cannot commend to you enough Justin Taylor's series of guest posts today. Justin's blog is about the best that is out there for the believer, but it is exceptionally helpful today in working through the issues we are facing as followers of Christ and keeping things in the right perspective.

You can go here to read a great series of posts.

Also, Ligon Duncan has written a great post as well here. Here's how he ends his reflections:

Without doubt and whatever our particular views may be, we face hard days ahead. Realistically, we must all expect to be frustrated and disappointed. Some now may feel defeated and discouraged. While others may all-too-soon find their audacious hopes unfounded and unrealized. We must all keep ever in mind that it is God who raises up leaders and nations, and it is God who pulls them down, and who judges both nations and rulers. We must not act or think like unbelievers, or as those who do not trust God.

Hope We Can Believe In

We have a new president elect. November 4th was a historic moment for our nation. We should be thankful to God that we as a nation have come to the point where we can elect an African-American as President. Unfortunately, my excitement over that moment was crushed by my grief for what Senator Obama's presidency may mean for the cause of the unborn. Abortion is to the 21st century what slavery was to the 19th century, but worse. I am saddened for what it might mean for half of all African-American babies whose lives end in abortion, according to recent statistics. Since 1974, 12 million African-American babies have been aborted.

But, as a follower of Christ I have hope and it is as hopeful as it was on November 3rd and as hopeful as it would have been on Nov. 4th if the election had gone differently. Psalm 146:3-5 says,

"Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God.”

Or as the hymn writer wrote,

"My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand."

Happy Birthday Granddaddy!

Tomorrow, November 2nd, is my Granddaddy's 76th birthday. It will undoubtedly be the most splendid and beautiful birthday of his life. There will be a lot of family there with him, family he has not seen in years! But there will be no cake or ice cream. There will be no presents. There won't even be "Happy Birthday" sung to him. He won't be the guest of honor. As a matter of fact, no one will probably even acknowledge that it is his birthday.

But nonetheless, it will undoubtedly be the most splendid and beautiful birthday of his life. Why? Because for the first time in 76 years, my Granddaddy will experience his birthday with his Savior, Jesus Christ. His birthday will not be any different than any other day in heaven. Because each day in heaven is splendid and beautiful because each day is spent beholding more and more of the glory of the Lamb of God, slain from before the foundation of the world.

And so while we as his family--wife, brothers and sisters, sons, daughters, and grandchildren--will remember his birthday with sadness and longing because this is the first of his birthdays we will not get to celebrate with him, it will be the best and most beautiful birthday of his life. And for that, there is great cause for rejoicing, even in the midst of sorrow.

I love you Granddaddy! Happy Birthday! I'll see you again one day.

Our Hope on Nov. 4th

I am praying that on November 4th the cause of the unborn will be championed and we will have a candidate who will at all costs champion that cause. However, the reality is that things may go the other way on November 4th. If they do, what do we do as followers of Christ.

Psalm 146:3-5 says,

Put not your trust in princes,
in a son of man, in whom there is no
salvation.
When his breath departs, he returns to
the earth;
on that very day his plans perish.

Blessed is he whose help is the God of
Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord his God,
who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them,
who keeps faith forever;
who executes justice for the oppressed,
who gives food to the hungry.

No matter what happens on November 4th, God will still be God and His Son will still be King of all the nations and He will still be our certain hope.

Remember these words of John Piper from a recent article as we approach election day and its outcome:

So it is with voting. We should do it. But only as if we were not doing it. Its outcomes do not give us the greatest joy when they go our way, and they do not demoralize us when they don’t. Political life is for making much of Christ whether the world falls apart or holds together.

So it is with voting. There are losses. We mourn. But not as those who have no hope. We vote and we lose, or we vote and we win. In either case, we win or lose as if we were not winning or losing. Our expectations and frustrations are modest. The best this world can offer is short and small. The worst it can offer has been predicted in the book of Revelation. And no vote will hold it back. In the short run, Christians lose (Revelation 13:7). In the long run, we win (21:4).

So it is with voting. We deal with the system. We deal with the news. We deal with the candidates. We deal with the issues. But we deal with it all as if not dealing with it. It does not have our fullest attention. It is not the great thing in our lives. Christ
is. And Christ will be ruling over his people with perfect supremacy no matter who is elected and no matter what government stands or falls. So we vote as though not voting.