December 25, 2009

The Manger, the Cross, an Empty Tomb and a Kingdom Come

And so it is Christmas morning 2009: truly the Feast of Christ’s Nativity. And as we, in our family, read the Scriptures this morning from Luke (very, very early this morning due to a 15-year-old boy who is still in wonder at this Day, as his mother and father are too!), we read the Magnificat and the Benedictus. And we remembered our spiritual forefathers and mothers in a Babylonian-like empire who took a stand and refused to bow the knee to Caesar, but instead transformed some ancient European mythology and pagan religious devotion into a day to mark our Savior’s birth. How very much like the Gospel, to transform mangers from rough-hewn rocks for cattle feed into a cradle for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, or to turn a Roman cross from an instrument of uttermost shame, human degradation, and cruelest torture of criminals into the “old rugged cross” that symbolizes life, hope, salvation, and a God-blessed humanity. Thank God, too, that in His resurrection, Jesus Christ has robbed death of its sting for all of those who have found His grace and mercy. Have you? Oh why would you not join the chorus through history who now sings, on this New Day, December 25th, of a Savior and a Lord who will transform your life too. This is the Gospel. And the song of salvation sung in all of our carols, celebrated in all of the lights and gifts and songs and warmth of family, whether discerned rightly or not, is tethered, eternally, to the greatest event in history: the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And thus Milton wrote an ode to Christ’s birth which is a hopeful sermon for our lives this morning:

“Yea Truth and Justice then Will down return to men…And Heav’n as at some festival, Will open wide the gates of her high palace hall. But wisest Fate says no, This must not yet be so, The babe lies yet in smiling infancy, That on the bitter cross Must redeem our loss; So both himself and us to glorify” - John Milton (On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity, lines 141–142, 147–154).

Be glorifed Jesus Christ on this morn! Christian, be assured that His glory is the firstfruits your own!

I am so glad that believers of old took that stand, made that decision to worship Christ and remember His incarnation in a new rhythm of time, a rhythm that revolves, not around the sun and the seasons, but the life of our Lord. Arne’t you?

And so it is Christmas. Praise be to Thee Lord Christ. Welcome all to this happy morn.

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December 23, 2009

A Theology of Mincemeat Pie: A Christmas Parable for Prodigals

I grew up eating mincemeat pie. Aunt Eva made them every Christmas, and as a child, I loved those pies. They were made of a finely chopped, cooked mixture that included raisins, currants, apples, suet, sugar, spice, candied peel, and often meat, brandy or cider, and other ingredients. Mincemeat pies were as much a part of my Christmas sensory experience as the scent of a Christmas tree freshly cut from our pasture and the sight of cheap, festive lights just purchased from Live Oak Hardware in Watson, Louisiana.

But later I grew tired of mincemeat. I am not sure if it was the spices that got to me or if it was the coating that clung to my palate several hours after having eaten one. Mae remembers my informing her soon after we were married, “Aunt Eva still thinks I like mincemeat pies for Christmas; but the truth is, I do not like them at all. I am tired of them.” In fact, until one night recently, just outside the village of Tobermorey on the Isle of Mull in Scotland, I do not think I had tasted mincemeat pie since my grace awakening in Jesus Christ in 1985.

We had eaten our dinner that evening in the beautiful little fishing village with the strange name. The night was velvet black as we were winding our way back to our hotel. There was a trace of moonlight squeezing through the low-pitched Hebridean clouds. The seemingly ancient roads were narrowed to one lane. The endless flocks of sheep were grazing nonchalantly on roadside grass. Suddenly my wife yelled, “Stop!” I slammed on the brakes!

You probably think that I was about to hit a sheep, but that was not it at all. A craft store had suddenly appeared just to our right. My wife had a woman’s intuition that this out-of-the-way little shop could just be the chosen spot where she would find a certain craft item she had been looking for. I threw the car into a slide across some gravel and turned in. No sooner had we parked our borrowed Volvo, the tires still smoking from the abrupt stop and the sheep unmoved but safe, than my wife found her prize!

As she and John Michael continued to look over the crafts, I noticed that the upstairs part of the shop had been turned into a little café. Wanting to satisfy my sweet tooth after dinner, I decided to climb the stairs and look around. It was there, as I gazed through the glass case of assorted pastries, that I spotted the little sign: Mincemeat Pies Freshly Prepared. I had not thought about mincemeat in a long time, but deep inside I knew that this one certain piece was going to be mine. I wanted to learn why I had loved mincemeat as a child and why I had turned against it as a young adult. The cost was only a pound, so even if I still hated it, it would have been worth it to say that I had eaten a piece of mincemeat pie.

I did eat the pie, and I loved it. Like a child who had found a long lost friend, I ran down and told Mae, “It’s mincemeat.” She glanced over and said, “But you don’t like mincemeat.” It was then that I announced, “But something has happened. I do like mincemeat pie. I love it. It is wonderful. Just look at those apples and raisins and orange peel and those chopped nuts and all of that other unidentifiable stuff in there!”

Then I said it, and as I said it, I knew something deeper than that pie was going on. “Honey, it reminds me of something…something good…something warm…let’s see, how can I say it?” I paused, pondering the connection between my heart and my palate. “I know. Mincemeat pie reminds me of Christmas.”

Since then I have thought more and more about mincemeat pie and the meaning of that moment. Perhaps my dislike of mincemeat pie was due to the ordinary shifts in tastes that happen to all of us as we move from one stage of life to another. Or perhaps my prodigal journey away from the things of God and, thus, away from the Christ of Christmas, caused me to loose my taste for mincemeat. In the same way some people say that you cannot eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and be depressed or chew bubble gum and be serious, I could not eat mincemeat pie—so associated in my mind with Christmas and the wonder of faith—without the guilt associated with my distance from Jesus.

Sin sears the taste for beauty. What we once cherished when we walked with God, we casually chuck when we walk with the world. Gifts we once held as sacred under the umbrella of Christian influence, we throw away as worthless under the sinister power of sin’s sway. What we once held close to our breast as treasure in innocent days, we uncaringly discard as rubbish in wicked times.

Sin had taken much from me on my wayfaring journey into the far country. Lives, relationships, years, potential, prospects, happiness, and so much more were left with the hogs and the pods in that far away land of wasted living. By the grace of God, I came home, and God granted me a new life—a new taste for living. Jesus does that. The Lord told the sinning people of God, “So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten” (Joel 2:25a, NKJV). God used that mincemeat pie as a small reminder of the warmth of home and the serenity of mind and spirit that had been given back to me by His grace.

I went back up the stairs to the little café and stood in line to get the last piece of mincemeat pie in the glass case! But others were ahead of me, and my family—the real testimony to His goodness in restoring what the locust had eaten—waited for me downstairs. I did not have to cling to the last piece of mincemeat pie after all. I could leave it. I had found something that had been lost. I had been reminded of the promises of God. It was enough now to remember the words of the Psalmist and believe them and rejoice in them:

The poor will eat and be satisfied; they who seek the Lord will praise him— may your hearts live forever! (Psalm 22:26, NIV)

How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! (Psalm 119:103, NIV)

Used by permission, P & R Publications, 2009, Small Things, Big Things, Inspiring Stories of Everyday Grace.

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December 20, 2009

Elizabeth’s Song: An Advent Sermon

The next movement in the Symphony of Christmas after Mary’s opening happens as Mary travels from Nazareth to the hill country of Judea. One commentator has written that: “[Mary] probably traveled fifty to seventy miles from Nazareth to Zechariah’s home in Judea, a major trip for Mary.”

Rushing to tell her relative Elizabeth, Mary finds another surprise: old Elizabeth is expecting a child of her own! God was up to something big! When Elizabeth meets little Mary and hears what God has done, the unborn child in her womb leaps for joy. This is the first instance of the ministry of John the Baptist! In responding to the news of the coming of Messiah, the unborn John the Baptist testifies to his own mother and the Holy Spirit comes upon her!

Elizabeth then breaks out in joyful exclamation! How muted Zechariah must have wished he, too, could sing with his wife over the news!

This is a “blessed” Song—a happy song that speaks of the absolute fulfillment in the magical appearance of Jesus Christ to people aware of their need for a Savior.

In Elizabeth’s Song, we are given a Spirit-filled reply to Mary which focuses on the blessed consequences of God’s grace in sending Jesus for every believer.

I. The First Consequence of Christ’s Coming: A Blessing on Womankind—v. 42

In learning that her relative Mary was carrying the Messiah of God, Elizabeth, and it says with a loud voice, cries out:

“Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!”

Now, this one verse has been used by some—erroneously, I think—to substantiate a view that Mary herself is without sin. Nothing even remotely suggests this in the text.

What is being taught here is the truth that in Mary, womankind, previously under condemnation for her role in being the first to fall and bringing her husband into her sin with her, will be liberated. There are a couple of passages that need examination at this point:

One passage surely under consideration is from Genesis 3.15, in which God speaks to Satan, who had led woman astray, and tells that fallen angel that there will be great enmity between woman and thee. And there is coming a day when the seed of the woman (and note that there is no man mentioned in connection with this event) shall bruise the head of Satan.

So, here, we see God’s Word providing an early warning to Satan and a happy Word of hope for woman: from woman will come the Messiah.

Now, the Lord also spoke to woman in the next verse (v. 16) and tells her that “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”

Now, in verse 15 we have a Word of hope for woman, but in verse 16, we are given the reason for the hope: that woman, in her fallen estate, will endure sorrow and pain and oppression.

Now, we don’t have the time for an essay on the whole matter, but it is enough to reiterate that woman prior to the coming of Jesus Christ led an ignoble existence at best and absolute degradation at worst. The tales of the mistreatment of women are myriad and their description is horrible. Women were dehumanized and treated like property. This has been the case of women without Messiah and remains that way in many parts of the world today. But, in Mary bearing the Son of God, we have a fulfillment to the prophecy and the beginning of the reversal of the fallen condition. I say the beginning because until the Second Coming of Christ, we will continue, in this present evil age, to see the sinful consequences of the fall in some measure. But, thank God, in the coming of Christ, through a woman, we see a signaled departure from the old order to the degree that Elizabeth sings this first verse:

“Blessed are you among women!”

The other verse that bears mentioning is 1 Timothy 2.15 where Paul says of woman’s role: “She shall be saved in childbearing.” The context of Paul’s statement is the role of women in the worship of the Church. Paul disallows the role of pastoral leadership, and grounds his ruling in the creation ordinance (v. 13) and in the fall of woman (v. 14). In using the word teknogoni÷aß—which means the bearing of a child—the Holy Spirit, in Paul’s words, agrees with Himself when He causes Elizabeth to make this declaration.

So, far from exalting Mary to co-redemptrix position with Jesus, which is a “classic example of the bad development of doctrine, of the way in which unscriptural if not pagan devotional practices can become dogma” —this first stanzas of the Song of Elizabeth accents her God ordained role as the fulfillment of divine prophecy concerning women.

Now, I want to say something as your pastor. If you are a woman here today and you have struggled with oppression in your life—and I have come to believe though experience that whenever I speak to any group with women there are at least some who have had endured some sort of pain simply because they were born a woman—I want to point you, this morning, to a loving heavenly Father. He does not condone the mistreatment of women and His heart is toward His own creation. He chose a little lass named Mary to bear Emmanuel in part to begin the healing of the soul of His cherished creation. The greatest single thing you can do for the healing of your own soul is to simply come to Jesus Christ right now; to open up your heart to Jesus who came to set you free, to bring liberty and freedom that the world offers but can never really deliver.

Elizabeth’s Song beings with the first consequence of Christ’s coming: a blessing to women because of the fruit of Mary’s womb, the Lord Jesus.

II. The Second Consequence of Christ’s Coming: A Blessing on Humble Servants—v. 43

You can observe her humble spirit as she moves from blessing Mary to being humbled by Mary’s presence.

Now, let us say that this humility before Mary is notable for us Protestants. Under the first point, I had to say that there have been wrong views of Mary propagated—and I certainly meant the Marian cults within the Roman Church—but, Elizabeth now calls some others to repent of haughtiness towards the Virgin Mary. She was not, is not, and can never be received as a Co-Redemptix with Christ, or as the Queen of Heaven, but neither is she just another woman. She was chosen of the Lord to bear the Son of God and as Elizabeth regards her with honor, so must we.

But, I think it would miss the Scriptures if we thought that Elizabeth was simply giving honor to Mary alone. The situation is that humble Elizabeth is blessed that such news of the Messiah should come to her. She is a type of person envisioned by Isaiah when he wrote:

Once more the humble will rejoice in the LORD; the needy will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. Is. 29.19

Now, this is a powerful blessing for you and me and all who see themselves as unworthy, as poor in spirit, as needy people. The Humble are blessed by the coming of the Lord.

The Psalmist wrote:

You save the humble but bring low those whose eyes are haughty. Psa. 18.27

The Lord Jesus taught the disciples this truth. We read in Luke 18:

Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men — robbers, evildoers, adulterers — or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Luke 18.10-14

Now there is something else here that is worthy of our interest. Not only in Elizabeth humbled by the coming of Mary with all that means, but note that she understands that she was chosen to receive this news:

“But why is this granted to me…?”

Clearly, Elizabeth understood that the Almighty had discriminated in bringing the news to her and not to another. Her humility is all the more underscored by her understanding of this truth.

God sent Mary to her. God sent John the Baptist to her. God sent His Son to the lost sheep of Israel. God sent the elect sheep of Israel to Asia Minor, to Europe and ultimately to every corner of the globe. God has sent His message of salvation to you, as well.

Now, we are Presbyterians and known to revel in the doctrine of election: the undeniable Biblical doctrine that our of His own good pleasure the Lord has chosen a number from the foundation of the earth to be His elect people. So, what is the response to this? Pride? God forbid! The response of election should be the same as Elizabeth’s response: why me? O God what a sinner I am! Why did you sent the Gospel to me?

When you understand the depravity of your own sin and the depth and riches of the mercy of God on your soul, you should fall down before Him and worship Him.

III. The Third Consequence of Christ’s Coming: A Blessing that Defines a Family—v. 44

In verse 44 Elizabeth sings forth the truth that as soon as Mary announced the Good News, the unborn John the Baptist leaped in her womb.

The Good News of the Messiah shaped the household of Elizabeth and Zechariah and their little boy. One heard and rejoiced and the Holy Spirit came upon the other.

Here is a glorious consequence of Christ’s coming: every member of the family is impact by the announcement of the Lord’s salvation.

When Jesus came he impacted families with the Gospel. It is true, as the Lord would say, that when one member of the family believes, there are times when others will not and the reception of Jesus Christ ends up dividing homes.

But, I thank God that in His providence, when one believes, we also see that whole families come to Christ. When one receives the Good News, he or she rejoices and the rest begin to rejoice. I thank God that like the Philippians jailer who brought Paul home to preach to his household, and they believed and were baptized, we can bring the Gospel to our families and claim that Scripture for them.

Now not only is this family defined by the Gospel in terms of salvation, note the character of their family life:

“the babe leaped for joy!”

When Jesus comes into a home, Jesus brings joy. When families yield to the Savior, and follow Him, and embrace Him as Lord of their homes, Christ sends rivers of joy through their families.

For some time, now, since coming to Christ as committing my life to His Gospel, I have had the opportunity to visit in people’s homes. I have gone door to door in some cases, sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ and I have noted that the news of the Gospel was unwanted in some homes and greatly desired in others. I noted, also, that the homes where Christ was Head had a quality of peace and joy, and the homes where Christ was unwanted may have been houses of fun, but there seems to be little peace and inner joy.

There is nothing more beautiful that a home where the Gospel is embraced, where mothers and fathers love the Lord, where children love Christ, and where one encourages the other in the Lord.

What a great consequence of hearing the Good News of Jesus: that He should bring joy into our families.

As we move on to verse 45, Elizabeth’s Song, comes to its final verse. Here we learn that there is a condition to all of these happy consequences:

IV. The Only Condition to the Consequences: The Blessings begin with Faith—v. 45

Elizabeth adds her final “Blessed” to the Song. Blessed is she who believed.

Clearly, Elizabeth is blessing Mary, but for what? For faith. What if Mary had not believed? She would not have been used. But, God Himself had worked faith in that little lass, and faith brought all of the joyful consequences which we have mentioned.

The Bible teaches us that we are saved by faith. We grow by faith. The eyes of faith look to the Lord for His mercy. The hands of faith reach out and claim the promises of Scripture.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon said,

“a little faith will bring your soul to heave: a great faith will bring heaven to your soul.”

That is a good charge to this congregation today: there are some of you who need to exercise faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. You need to turn to Him and cry out to Him and say, “O Lord, I want to be like Elizabeth, humbled before Thee that I should hear the Gospel now, but I plead that by the finished work of Jesus Christ and by faith in Him alone, you will save me!”

Others of you desperately need to reach out the hand of faith and look to Christ to completely take hold of your life, to have a greater faith that will follow Jesus no matter what, that will cause you to step out for Him, stand up for Him, reach out to others in His Name, begin to practice radical obedience to Him, trust Him with your finances, with your relationships, with your career, and begin to enjoy the Elizabethan excitement and joy of being a child of God!

“The Jesus Who Is”

The Song of Elizabeth shows us what happens when Christ comes into our lives—when the Good News of the Gospel crosses our paths.

I recall reading that Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones remarked that he enjoyed his holidays because they afforded him time to read without interruption. I feel sure that he didn’t have little children when he wrote that. But, the Christmas season is a bit slower and I found some time this week to enjoy more reading time. As I was pouring over some authors in my own library and spending time reminiscing through previously read volumes, I picked up Frederick Buechner’s The Longing for Home. Buechner’s deeply moving book of reflection and recollection on his own life and his own longing for home ended with some thoughts about what he called The Jesus Who Was and the Jesus Who Is. He wrote that the Jesus Who Was is a largely historical figure who came, who lived, who died, and yes, we might add with confessional accuracy, the One who rose again from the dead. But, the Jesus Who Is is the Lord who brings vision not only to blind eyes in the Gospels, but to our own narrow and blurred vision. He is not only the Jesus who opens the ears of the deaf, but the One who speaks to our deafened world—as Buechner put it, “a voice unlike all other voices.” Buechner said:

“The Jesus Who Is is the one whom we search for even when we do not know that we are searching and hide from even when we do not know that we are hiding.”

This morning, we have read Elizabeth’s testimony: her Song of Blessings which come to those who welcome the Good News of Jesus Christ. The only thing remaining for each of us is to make certain that we welcome not the “Jesus Who Was,” but the “Jesus Who Is:” The Son of God, the Dayspring from on high, the Promised One for humble servants, who came, who lived, who died, who rose again, who ascended, and who—right now—by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, stands in our midst; bidding needy people to open the doors of the secret places of your life that He may come in.

Let us pray.

Lord Jesus, I pray for all who read these words. May the Holy Spirit open their hearts to sing a new song to You. And in doing so, send them off into life and eternal life with the song of joy, the song of salvation, the carols of Christ. For Your sake I pray. Amen.

NIV Commentary, Luke 1.39.

New Dictionary of Theology, 416.

Frederick Buechner The Longing for Home, (Harper Collins, 1996), 180.

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December 20, 2009

The ‘Fifth Turning,’ The Eighth Day of the Week, and Grace in Winter

Re-thinking Howe and Strauss from a Biblical Worldview—a Fifth Turning

The Fourth Turning, by Neil Howe and the late William Strauss is a book for our time[1] Though published in 1997, this amazing volume by the authors of Generations,[2] arguably one of the most influential sociological-demographic books to have appeared in the late twentieth century, is as popular today as when it was written. Indeed, as the West, and particularly “Anglo-America” grapples with the seemingly sudden descent into a frigid winter of unimaginable national debt, unrising unemployment, encroaching socialism and governmental oversight of our once proud industrial giants, as well as the moral and even theological quandaries that are providing little guidance to a way out, the book offers insight and predictions.[3]

The Fourth Turning proposed that since history is cyclical, not linear, time moves in 80 to 100 year periods. Those periods are broken into the ordinary four seasons, about 20 years per season, that constitute a normal year, or cycle of history, and propel a society (the Anglo-American society is the one featured, and there are questions about whether this model is or isn’t transportable to other cultures and nations) through growth, maturation, entropy, and destruction.[4] The book’s subtitle is that it is a prophecy. Thus, using the simple theory, borrowed from the Romans, i.e., the Saeculum, and then updated with their characteristic genius and ability to connect the dots of data to arrive at their often startling and insightfully on-target conclusions, they predicted that in about ten years, that is the time we are living in today, a new season would begin, a season of winter.

A friend mentioned this book to me recently in a conversation about “where we are in history.” I had not thought about The Fourth Turning since 1997. Then, this morning, I read Gerald F. Seib’s article in the Wall Street Journal about America’s spirit.[5] He said that Americans, rich and poor, working class and professional class, indeed Americans across the board, are sinking into a spirit of recession. He wrote that a “stunning 39% said they expected China would be the world’s leading nation in 20 years.”[6]

And so The Fourth Turning is here. We are entering a season of winter: a season of economic uncertainty if not catastrophe, of increasing world tension leading to a great war, of moral collapse and social unrest. As we do, other nations will take advantage of this Fourth Turning in our history. A new nation, a new kind of leader of the world will appear. Right: think China, or India (or if you prefer “a new U.S.”); think Obama (or if you prefer Palin). The four archetypes, or generations, born into each of the four seasons, play enormous roles in determining how we as generations in community live through the seasons, and live through this season.[7]

I like the book by Howe and Strauss for more reasons than just the fact that it grabs you like a nightmare that turns out to be real. And I don’t disbelieve the polls about the increasing despair of Americans by Seib though I would like to. But I categorically reject certain premises of The Fourth Turning and I intuitively reject a spirit of pessimism about America and about our future.

No, I don’t have better data. I have a word made more sure and thus a premise that is as old as a promise[8] made in the presence of a serpent, diabolically coiled to strike or to run, and our first mother and father, fruit still on the lips of their mouths.

First, it is important as Christians to think critically, Biblically, and Christianly about what we are hearing and seeing. We must filter the ideas, even the brilliant ideas[9], through the Biblical sieve that must be continually developed in our minds and connected to our hearts. Thus, as we look at The Fourth Turning, we can appreciate their grasp of the data but we need to challenge their grasp of historical theories. Is history “chaotic, cyclical or linear”? These are the categories of historical theory set forth by Howe and Strauss. In a theory that says that history is chaotic, the primitive view observed in the tooth and claw world of harsh nature, we join Howell and Strauss in repudiating such a view. While history may seem to be that way, and I am not sure but that some souls today are reverting to this pre-civilized way of thinking about our lives, history, which is the record of the world and our lives lived in the world, is not chaotic. It cannot even be documented to be chaotic. If you do not believe, as I do, that history is under the sovereign control of the God of history, then at least you would say that it repeats itself.

Most people would say that some things may be observed in history even if you cannot find meaning in it. Much could be said about that, but let’s move on to answer our question. How about the proposal that history is cyclical? It is true that God set the world in order according to seasons.[10] The theory of history can find Scriptural support when you consider, for example, the Book of Judges. Here you find the pattern of the rejecting of God, the judgment by God, repentance of the people, forgiveness of God, and the renewal of life in the community of God’s covenant people. This pattern is clearly laid before us as a warning and as an invitation to turn to God. So, too, we can hear Jesus speak of the future and speak of “wars and rumors of wars”[11] but the end is not yet. Jesus taught a cyclical history, one might say. If there is any one undeniable proof text for the cyclical nature of history it is that “there is nothing new under the sun.”[12] So, one might say, history is cyclical. We can view history, learn from it and thus not repeat its mistakes. But are we nevertheless locked into a pattern of time that is outside of our own ability?

While the Bible teaches a cyclical pattern of history that in fact God set in order, the Bible also teaches a linear history. It is here where Howell and Strauss are wrong, in my opinion. They point to the emergence of Christianity in Europe as the watermark of the rise of linearism. Christianity espoused a Pauline understanding that “the old things are no more, behold all things have become new.” Christian clergy preached that a Kingdom had come, that nothing could be the same again. Christianity held that the old order of things was yielding to a new order, a spiritual order in which Jesus Christ was Lord. This time would finally give way to the cataclysmic in-breaking of the fullest expression of the Kingdom of God when Jesus Christ returned and ushered in a new heaven and a new earth. This way of thinking about history broke the mold of the older cyclical view.

The authors of The Fourth Turning even quote Augustine as saying that those who walk in circles are of the devil. Well, Augustine certainly repudiated any cyclical view of history, which could not save a wretch like him. Augustine rejected any understanding of history, which was gained through a philosophy of pagan determinism. Howe and Strauss go on to cite Martin Luther and the Reformation as the greatest surge of linear thinking there ever has been. For they utterly rejected the older order and taught, again, that all things are new. And the authors are right.

Indeed the Puritans spoke of a new age, a new way of thinking about history.They called the resurrection of Jesus Christ, “the eighth day.” Thornton Wilder is quoted in the book Lincoln Konkle wrote about him, Thornton Wilder and the Puritan Narrative Tradition,[13]

“The final major Puritan tenet that Wilder resurrected in the Eighth Day is the faith in progress on multiple levels of existence: the macrocosmic or metaphysical, the anthropological or social, and the microcosmic or personal. Indeed, Wilder understood and created works of literature that reflected his New England Puritan idea that ‘God’s plot is marching forward.’”[14]

And this is a key: any understanding of Biblical history is not only cyclical, but also linear: “God’s plot is marching forward.” Jesus spoke of the impossibility of putting new wine into an old wineskin.[15] This was not just a new season that had come, but also a radical departure from the old. Thus I part with the premise of a historical theory that says that what has happened before is bound to happen again.

Progress and newness and Bradford’s (and Reagan’) “city on a hill” is the Christian view of life and history. I would say that not only is this a Biblical way of thinking, but, in faith because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, all things are made new. Lost causes may be recovered. Broken societies may be put back together. Hope springs eternal because Jesus Christ is alive. This is what the Puritans believed and this is the bedrock historical understanding of America, and I would say, of every believer in Christ who thinks Biblically about the world and about life.

The poet of the 20th Century, Czeslaw Milosz, opened the lines to his “Lecture V” and spoke out of the rubble and ruin of the wars of his century, when he announced,

“Christ has risen. Whoever believes that should not behave as we do.”[16]

But He is risen. And the answer to Milosz’ understandable questioning is that while sin abounds, grace abounds more.

The bottom line to all of this is what as my son told me, “History is like the planets [and the universe]. The planets revolve, and the planets move. History revolves in patterns, but it is also moving, it is going somewhere.” And the universe is divinely predictable in that planets are moving in a certain order, but at the same time, the universe seems to be expanding. Time is cyclical. Time is linear.

And the outcome of that kind of thinking is to take The Fourth Turning: A Prophecy, and announce that there is a Fifth Turning: A Gospel Kingdom that forms the “wild card” within each season. The Fifth Turning is that while we are “caught” in historical patterns that are in some way reflective of a fallen world as well as a God ordained life of seasons, the resurrection of Jesus Christ has ushered in a new way of life that is leading us onward and forward to a new day. In short, with Augustine and Luther and with our American Puritan forefathers, we say that there is hope, there is always a new day. And if we are, in this time of uncertainty, of political and social chaos, of wars and rumors of wars, entering a time of historical winter, let us also affirm the truth of the Eighth Day. Let us confess the Gospel truth that there is always grace in winter.

And so I want to challenge those who read to join me in prayerfully, joyfully announcing the Gospel in the midst of this season of history. Let us reject any determinism, which would lock us into believing that, as Peter says,

“Knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.’ For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the Word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Peter 3:3-8 ESV).

Circular history, which denies linear advancement, must be rejected. Thus, we may be going into winter, but I still believe that there will be twigs with new green growth sprouting forth. I believe that under the frozen ground there are seeds that will germinate in winter and produce unimagined discoveries in medicine, technology, and, yes, in economics and government. I believe that sin will continue and get worse and more perverse. And I believe that grace will abound all the more. I believe that “God’s plot” is going somewhere, and that there is a new heaven and a new earth on its way. I believe in the basic and essential Christian truth that the Gospel of Jesus Christ obliterates the syllogisms of Man.

While I take exception with his theoloyg of the Word, I do believe that Barth was right in his understanding of a theology of the Nevertheless and a theology of the Therefore.[17] My take-a-way from reading Barth on the therefore and the nevertheless is this: The “therefore of Man” says that since (A) is so, therefore (B) is so, and therefore (C) must naturally be thus and so. But this human, natural syllogism, a determinism, a “circle” that has no ending, is now given a new trajectory, indeed it is interrupted and even broken, by the presence of the God-Man who has entered time and history and transformed it by His glorious resurrection. Yes, He has restored the seasons that God created. We thus live not in the cronos of life, a Greek word for the ordinary time cycles of history, but we are blessed to live in the kairos of history, the “right time” of history, for:

“In addition to chronos, however, the Greeks also spoke of time as a moment, time as occasion, time as qualitative rather than quantitative, time as significant rather than dimensional…kairos.”[18]

In this kairos Jesus Christ has come and interrupted the human syllogistic therefore of Man with the Nevertheless of God. For if (A) is so, therefore (B) is so, but in this kairos of Christ, this new time, this new age, this new opportunity for a new start over and over again, the Never-the-less explodes the (C) of the syllogism of Man. The Nevertheless of God has given us “a living hope.”[19]

“’And He who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.’ Also he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true’” (Revelation 21:5 ESV).

Our Puritan and Pilgrim forefathers and mothers believed that, held to that newness. And their grandchildren codified at least the seminal truth of their belief. So I believe that America is based on an idea. Indeed, from a private in the US Army to the President of the United States, our leaders vow to defend, not a king or a man or even a piece of ground, but “the constitution of the United States”—an idea! This is why George Santayana, the great Harvard philosopher, poet and literary critic wrote:

“American life is a powerful solvent. It seems to neutralize every intellectual element, however tough and alien it may be, and to fuse it in the native good will, complacency, thoughtlessness, and optimism.”[20]

So as I have been thinking through where we are as a nation, thinking about the ideas in The Fourth Turning, and thinking about the truths of the implications of the Kingdom of God and how it has impacted out nation, I want to say that I believe in a Fifth Turning, a new day coming, a new spring on its way, a theological truth that will be sparked, as it has time and again, by the spiritual dynamic embedded in the idea of our nation.

I believe that freedom is that idea. I believe that freedom is in the heart of every man and woman and is placed there undeniably by Almighty God. Freedom makes the heart longs for spring. I believe that may be dormant now, in our national conscience, but it cannot stay that way for long. The greatest trigger that sends us into any cyclical winter is to deny that freedom, and the greatest trigger to thaw the icy grip of such a season is to embrace that freedom, through a spiritual renewal of God’s people, and from there, a genuine revival from on high that will come to others. I believe that a new spring is coming, and though it comes through prayer and brokenness and contriteness, and a calling out for God, that spirit that leads to the new spring is ultimately under the sovereign hand of the God of history. In short, I am optimistic. I am an American. I am a Christian. I am not saying they are one in the same. But I am saying that one idea springs from the other.

I rejoice in all of the seasons of life, and of history, and even am grateful to be alive during the one we are in. I want to learn from the seasons of history. But I am not locked down into them pre determined, as in some pagan religion, to never escape. The ancient circle has been broken. Christ is risen. And nothing can ever be the same again. Every turn, every cycle, every season, is a season of His grace available to us to start again, until He comes. And thus Isaac Watts wrote and we sing, through the winter, until by faith we see a green sprig of new life coming up through the frozen ground:

Mighty Redeemer! Set me free

From my old state of sin;

O make my soul alive to thee,

Create new powers within.[21]

References

Barth, Karl, Geoffrey William Bromiley, and Thomas Forsyth Torrance. Church Dogmatics. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1957.

Konkle, Lincoln. Thornton Wilder and the Puritan Narrative Tradition. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2006.

Milosz, Czeslaw. The Collected Poems, 1931-1987. 1st ed. New York: Ecco Press, 1988.

Reardon, Fr. Patrick. “Chronos and Kairos.” Orthodoxy Today.org (2005).

Santayana, George. Character & Opinion in the United States, with Reminiscences of William James and Josiah Royce and Academic Life in America. New York,: C. Scribner’s Sons, 1920.

Seib, Gerald F. “Us Hurting in Wallet and in Spirit.” The Wall Street Journal2009.

Strauss, William, and Neil Howe. Generations : The History of America’s Future, 1584-2069. New York: Morrow, 1990.

________. The Fourth Turning : An American Prophecy. 1st ed. New York: Broadway Books, 1997.

Endnotes

[1] William Strauss and Neil Howe, The Fourth Turning : An American Prophecy, 1st ed. (New York: Broadway Books, 1997).

[2] William Strauss and Neil Howe, Generations : The History of America’s Future, 1584-2069 (New York: Morrow, 1990).

[3] Simply typing in “The Fourth Turning” with quotations, into Google, returned 308,000 pages as of this date (December 19, 2009). http://www.fourthturning.com/ has provided not only a home page for the authors of the book, but a way for readers to also interact with the claims of the book.

[4] The four “turnings” of the seasons

[5] Gerald F. Seib, “Us Hurting in Wallet and in Spirit,” The Wall Street Journal 2009.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Heroes are born as crisis emerges. Artists are the children of the crisis. Prophets grow up in post-crisis days and mature into a time of social upheaval. The Nomads, Howe and Strauss, described as those who grow up under the influence of the Prophets, and seek to find normalcy in the mist of the storms. Again, the theories are expounded in greater detail concerning the generations in Generations.

[8] “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, you shall bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15 English Standard Version, ESV).

[9] I tend to believe in the quote attributed to Einstein: “the levels of intelligence are ‘smart, intelligent, brilliant, genius, simple!’” See http://alberteinstein.worldhistoryblogs.com/2007/03/25/ipod-iphone-i-crash-multitaskers-stop-reading-in-traffic/

[10] “And God said, ‘Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years’” (Genesis 1:14 ESV).

[11] “And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet” (Matthew 24:6, King James Version).

[12] A generation goes, and a generation comes,

but the earth remains forever.

The sun rises, and the sun goes down,

and hastens to the place where it rises.

The wind blows to the south

and goes around to the north;

around and around goes the wind,

and on its circuits the wind returns.

All streams run to the sea,

but the sea is not full;

to the place where the streams flow,

there they flow again.

All things are full of weariness;

a man cannot utter it;

the eye is not satisfied with seeing,

nor the ear filled with hearing.

What has been is what will be,

and what has been done is what will be done,

and there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:4-9 ESV).

[13] Lincoln Konkle, Thornton Wilder and the Puritan Narrative Tradition (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2006).

[14] Ibid.

[15] “Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved” (Matthew 9:17 ESV).

[16] Czeslaw Milosz, The Collected Poems, 1931-1987, 1st ed. (New York: Ecco Press, 1988).

[17] See Karl Barth, Geoffrey William Bromiley, and Thomas Forsyth Torrance, Church Dogmatics (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1957), Volume 3, Part 3, 44.

[18] See Fr. Patrick Reardon, “Chronos and Kairos,” Orthodoxy Today.org (2005).

[19] “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3 ESV).

[20] George Santayana, Character & Opinion in the United States, with Reminiscences of William James and Josiah Royce and Academic Life in America (New York,: C. Scribner’s Sons, 1920).

[21] Isaac Watts, “Hymn Number 130,” The Psalms and Hymns of Isaac Watts

with all the additional hymns and complete indexes (located at http://www.ccel.org/ccel/watts/psalmshymns.i.html).

Michael A. Milton, Ph.D., President and The James M. Baird, Jr. Chair of Pastoral Theology, Reformed Theological Seminary, Charlotte, North Carolina.

Hear the music of Mike Milton at FollowYourCall.com.
More pastoral resources and theological reflections, written and audio-visual, are located at:

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December 17, 2009

Tiger Woods and the Only Vote that Counts

So Tiger Woods is now the Athlete of the Decade. Great. How did Doug Ferguson put it in his AP article?

“Even as a sex scandal changed the way people look at Woods, the records he set could not be ignored.”[1]

Well, Mike Strain, senior editor of the Tulsa World could not ignore them. He said,

“The only reason I wouldn’t vote for Tiger Woods is because of the events of the last three weeks.”[2]

Yes, being exposed as a world-class adulterer and then being voted Athlete of the Year is not exactly what makes for greatness. I was relieved to see some glimmer of moral sanity in Mike Strain’s comments, amidst the apparently mindless, compartmentalized thinking of those who voted for him.

What the AP writers did in making that vote was to tell every kid out there, and you and I both know that they are watching and hearing the news about Woods, that you can live a life of Hell and still be the “best.” It is a lie. The man’s life is in shambles. That his wife reportedly teed off on his head with a golf club after learning of his adulterous life, was not only a perfect and perfectly sad irony which rose to the level of a Shakespearean tragedy, but also a painfully sick and sordid portrait of what his “accomplishments” really meant. Nothing.

You can be the most successful man in the world and if you are not a godly husband and father, you are a failure. On the other hand, you can be bankrupt, be the biggest loser in sports or business or any other profession, and yet if you are a man of integrity with your wife and family, then you are a success. In the end, that is what counts. Nothing else.

Woods was and is a great golfer. So what? He is a failure as a man. And I know failures. I was one (not like Tiger as the details matter little for how one gets to the “hog pen,” just that you are there) I just didn’t have the Entertainment Tonight paparazzi camping out next to my digs. And my heart breaks for the thought of Tiger’s father, now passed away, and how he invested his life in making Tiger a great golfer. His death has spared him from seeing that Tiger hit that mark but missed the green altogether in the game of life, which is the real game, the only game that counts.

Jesus Christ is in the business of redeeming failures. I know. And the Bible declares that the same Christ who saved Saul of Tarsus, can save a Tiger Woods. It was St. Paul who said of himself, “I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent (for as Saul, he was a religious hit man who made a living out of persecuting believers in Jesus). But I received mercy…and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost” (from 1 Timothy 1:13-15).

Tiger must see that it is not the vote of the AP that counts, but the vote of God for eternity that counts. It is the ultimate Mulligan. And when that happens, then you will finally get the vote of your family. Combine both of those together and you have a role model for our children. Divorce them and you have a monstrosity that should be shown to be what it is: a tragic situation desperately reflecting this fallen world. And a situation that cries out for a new title, not “AP Athlete of the Decade,” which is a mockery and a ridiculous accolade that I am sure impresses his wife very little, but rather another title, “Sinner saved by Grace.”

For the sake of his family, and the millions of people watching, and for his true legacy, the legacy he will leave for his children, I pray he gains that title. I want to cast my vote for him now in prayer.

[1] Doug Ferguson, “AP Votes Woods the Decade’s Top Athlete,” The Charlotte Observer 2009, 3A.

[2] Ibid.

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December 12, 2009

Advent Quotes for Reflection on the Nativity of Jesus Christ

I always seek to place a “reflections” in the bulletin. I believe that for most people the Church, and in particular the liturgy of the Church, is the primary way that the sacred words and the familiar words and the poetry and literature of Western Civilization, of the best writers and thinkers of our day and days past, make their way into their lives. Thus, from L’Engle to Donne, from Augustine to Calvin to Sproul, from Gurnall to Weber, the Church is the repository of so many good things. And the minister of the Gospel is the stewad of these “mysteries.”Here are a few quotes that we have used recently (by the way, is there a more wondrous thought than the Donne line, “Immensity cloistered in Thy dear womb?”):

Immensity cloistered in thy dear womb,Now leaves His well-belov’d imprisonment,There He hath made Himself to His intentWeak enough, now into the world to come;But O, for thee, for Him, hath the inn no room?Yet lay Him in this stall, and from the Orient,Stars and wise men will travel to preventThe effect of Herod’s jealous general doom.Seest thou, my soul, with thy faith’s eyes, how HeWhich fills all place, yet none holds Him, doth lie?Was not His pity towards thee wondrous high,That would have need to be pitied by thee?Kiss Him, and with Him into Egypt go,With His kind mother, who partakes thy woe.—John Donne, Nativity

On the Morning of Christ’s NativityThis is the month, and this the happy mornWherein the Son of Heav’n’s eternal King,Of wedded Maid, and Virgin Mother born,Our great redemption from above did bring;For so the holy sages once did sing,That he our deadly forfeit should release,And with his Father work us a perpetual peace.–John Milton, On the Morning Of Christ’s Nativity

ADVENT—the four-week period that leads up to Christmas—is a series of events designed not to delay the celebration of Christmas, but to enhance it. It’s a kind of delayed gratification that culminates in a … satisfaction that is all the richer for the waiting.—Joan Chittister, Listen with the Heart

Advent spirituality is not a time to meditate on the actual birth of Christ. According to tradition, we ought not to sing Christmas carols until Christmas itself, for Advent is not a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus in the manger but a time to long for the coming of the Savior. The appropriate sense of this season is captured in the pleading of “O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel.”—Robert Weber

“The authentically hopeful Christmas spirit has not looked away from the darkness, but straight into it. The true and victorious Christmas spirit does not look away from death, but directly at it. Otherwise, the message is cheap and false. Instead of pointing to someone else’s sin, we confess our own. ‘In our sins we have been a long time’ [Isaiah 64]. Advent begins in the dark.” – Fleming Rutledge, “Advent Begins in the Dark,” from The Bible and the New York Times

YOU keep us waiting. You, the God of all time, Want us to wait For the right time in which to discover Who we are, where we are to go, Who will be with us, and what we must do.So thank you … for the waiting time.—John Bell, quoted in The Westminster Collection of Christian Prayers, compiled by Dorothy M. Stewart

The spirituality of Advent calls us to start our journey in expectation of the second coming of Christ. The end time is the period in history when the work of Christ will be consummated, when the powers of evil will be put away forever, when the earth will be restored to the golden age described by Isaiah and St. John (see Isa. 65; Rev. 20-22).—Robert Weber

IT WAS NOT suddenly and unannounced that Jesus came into the world. He came into a world that had been prepared for him. The whole Old Testament is the story of a special preparation … . Only when all was ready, only in the fullness of his time, did Jesus come.–Phillips Brooks, The Consolations of God: Great Sermons of Phillips Brooks

CHRISTMAS is fast approaching. And now that Christ has aroused our seasonal expectations, he’ll soon fulfill them all!–Augustine, Sermon 51, translated by William Griffin in Sermons to the People

Next, the second coming says that the ultimate word in history is the triumph of God, the reign of God’s kingdom, the eternal and lasting rule of the good. Here is where our Advent meditation rests. By faith we are promised that evil will be judged and done away with and all will be made whole. This is the vision we want to carry with us as we view the news and visit the hospitals, psychiatric wards, and prisons of our world. Christian hope is an optimism about life that is grounded in Christ and celebrated again and again in the liturgy of the church.—Robert Weber

There is nothing so secular that it cannot be sacred, and that is one of the deepest messages of the incarnation.—Madeleine L’Engle, Walking on Water

The Theotokos has been revealed on the earth in truth,Proclaimed of old by the words of the prophets,Foretold by the wise patriarchsand the company of the righteous.She will exchange glad tidings with the honor of women:Sarah, Rebecca, and glorious Hanna,And Miriam, the sister of Moses.All the ends of the earth shall rejoice with them,Together with all of creation.For God shall come to be born in the flesh,Granting the world great mercy.–from the Orthodox liturgy, in Thomas Hopko, The Winter Pascha (St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1984)

In Advent spirituality we are also called on to meditate on the birthing of Christ in our hearts. In this matter we are dealing with the conversion of life, the movement away from the old life lived under the power of evil to the new life lived in the power of the Holy Spirit. True conversion is a turning from one way of life to another. Christ calls us to be converted to him, to make him the pattern of our lives, to make our living and dying a living and dying in him.—Robert Weber

“How can God stoop lower than to come and dwell with a poor humble soul? Which is more than if he had said, such a one should dwell with him; for a beggar to live at court is not so much as the king to dwell with him in his cottage.”—William Gurnall

Get the new book on theology and life, which includes stories, ideas, and reflections by Mike Milton:Small Things, Big Things: Inspiring Stories of God’s Grace (P&R Publishing, December 2009).

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December 6, 2009

Creeds Cracking, Codes Crumbling, and Romans Chapter 1 now ‘Kicking In’

They have done it again.

This morning we read in an Associated Press article by Christopher Weber and Rachel Zoll that the Episcopal Church USA, the Diocese of Los Angeles has elected an avowed lesbian to the episcopacy. The news appears, almost without notice at this point, under the heading in the Miami Herald, “2nd Gay Bishop for Episcopal Church, Anglicans.” Of course, the Archbishop of Canterbury had warned this body (I shall not call the organization a “church” though there are true sons in her pale who have not yet left) to refrain from any more ordinations of homosexuals. Of course, thousands have left to unite with Bible believing continuing Anglican churches which are more in line with what even the AP recognizes, namely, that “Most overseas Anglicans are Bible conservatives.” Of course, while the Mrs. Katherine Jefferts Schori, the Presiding Bishop of the ECUSA, presides over fewer and fewer congregants and churches, she will consecrate this latest heretical Episcopalian cleric, Miss Mary Glasspool of Baltimore, and plow through the ecclesiastical rubbish and worldwide relationship debris still left over from the ordination of openly homosexual Gene Robinson. The Rev. Kendall Harmon, of South Carolina, a believer in Christ, and a faithful Anglican, wrote, in the article by Weber and Zoll:

“This decision represents an intransigent embrace of a pattern of life Christians throughout history and the world have rejected as against biblical teaching.”

Indeed. And I am reminded, as all who read their Bibles are, that this act of blasphemous proportions will lead to their demise as a movement blessed of God. They shall be called a church but they shall be outside of the Kingdom of God, according to the Scriptures,

“They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us” (1 John 2.19 ESV).

That is not to say, again, that there are not godly, faithful and true congregations within this wayward organization (even Calvin admitted there were true believers among the corrupt church he was seeking to reform in his day), who choose not to comply with or bow the knee to such openly wicked acts against God and His Church. How I pray, this morning, as I read this article, for those believers and those holy pastors who wrestle, now, with the challenges before them.

Yet there is a place of refuge, a church that is on fire with the Gospel, that is going forth in our day. Indeed, God’s blessing is resting on this group and they are helping us all to see the primacy of church planting, and personal evangelism, and allegiance to the Scriptures and our historic Reformational confessions. The Anglican Church in North America, a Christ-centered, Bible-believing movement, started through the missionary efforts of godly archbishops like Henry Luke Orombi of Uganda, and others from Africa and Latin America, and courageously led forth by godly ministers and laymen of Spirit-formed conviction here in the United States and Canada, is building up the Kingdom of God, even as the EPCUSA is falling away. It is at times like these that we all need to reflect how any of our Christian denominations end up in such a mess. I do not claim to have a final answer on every cacse, but I do have a Biblical one that applies to all of them in some way. Some time ago, I delivered a Bible message which I called “When Your Creed Cracks, Your Code Crumbles.” And I share portions of that here again, as we are the grieved witnesses, once more, of a most sad report of yet more apostocy.

The other night we went to a Braves game. John Smoltz was pitching which was great. He is a strong Christian and we heard him speak here not too long ago. But my problem was with the x rated mouth behind me pitching the worst kind of language. I promptly told him to be quiet. And he did, thankfully, without your pastor being beat up!

Has it always been that bad in public places? Or is it just your old prudish preacher? I can’t help but believe that there is a downgrade of courtesy and manners and decency because there is a denial of God in the public square.

And that is what we will study today from Romans. This passage is Romans is explicit. I will do my best to preach the principles without making families uncomfortable. But, my beloved, this is the very Word of God from Romans 1.24-32.

Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, Romans 1.24 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. 25

For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; Romans 1.26 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. 27

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. Romans 1.28 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 29 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 30 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 31 Though they know God’s decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. 32

From this passage, I want to bring you a message called, “When Your Creed Cracks, Your Code Crumbles.”

But first let us pray.

Lord of life, we so often ignore you to our own hurt. Please show us, in these passages, not only how to analyze a culture, but to see our hearts in the mirror of your word, to repent, and to find new life in Jesus Christ. In Your name I pray. Amen.

Introduction to the Reading

Edward Gibbon was no friend of the Church. But this gifted enlightenment era historian, whose life work, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire wrote of the

“Vicissitudes of fortune, which spares neither man nor the proudest of his works, which buries empires and cities in a common grave” (LXXI, par. 1).

When I was in Albania, I witnessed the vicissitudes of fortune in one place. I had visited museum of Roman antiquities, in Durres. As I walked out, I looked into the yard next to the museum, and there were piles of ancient Roman “stuff”-statues, and pieces of temples, mixed together with the head of a Communist dictator, or the remnants of the Ottoman Empire. It was a veritable graveyard of empires.

Here lies the crypt of Babylonia, next to her lies the tomb of Sennacherib. But he and his Assyrian kingdom were destroyed by the mighty Egyptians. And so Hezekiah’s prayer in Isaiah 37:

“It is true, O LORD, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste all these peoples and their lands. Isaiah 37.18

They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. Isaiah 37.19

Now, O LORD our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O LORD, are God.” Isaiah 37.20 NIV

Egypt was great, but now the sands blow across the ruins of the empire and their leaders are but mummies for school children to view. Cleopatra’s beauty is only an image in stone. She and the vestiges of a world empire were trampled over by the mighty Rome.

But on August 24th, 410 someone opened the gate from within and the Visigoths sacked the once seemingly invincible empire. And Augustine, the first great historical theologian sought to help Christians make sense of the fall and wrote “The City of God and the City of Man.” And he would lament the moral decline of that once great “city of man”:

“…Why were the gods so negligent as to allow the morals of their worshippers to sink to so low a depth?…why did not those gods…lay down moral precepts that would help their devotees to lead a decent life?”

But decency and greatness, indecency and decline all go together. And the Bible tells us so.

Paul gives an explanation of this to his Roman and Gentile auditors. He explains the condition of the Gentile world apart from God. He gives what I would call a downward spiral of life, from glory to the grave. And how did they do it? When your creed cracks, your code crumbles.

How the Creed Can Crack

The word “creed” comes from “credo” or “I believe.” The Creed we are talking about in Romans is the belief in God Himself.

The Creed was the knowledge of God. We have studied that this knowledge of God is known internally, as God has placed eternity in our hearts, and externally, as God has placed knowledge of Him in the heavens and in all of creation.

“For although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking, an their foolish hearts were darkened” (v. 21).

One time I heard of a fellow who was drunk and saw a sign that said, “Danger, Bridge Out Ahead.” But he went on anyway. Of course what happened? He ran off into the river at night and was killed.

God shows us here that to deny Him, to deny his truth, is like running through a barricade and driving towards certain destruction.

Now Paul is explaining the condition of the Gentile world in his day, but I say again, we remember that Creeds, what we believe about God and about ourselves from His Word, keep our lives on the right road.

Jesus said that you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. But here we see that truth is set aside for personal pleasure in sin.

Whenever I counsel people who are going through a tough time, I remind them to stay in the Word, stay in church, stay in fellowship, stay close to God through the ordinary means of grace.

And now more than ever in our generation, we who live in a world that looks so much like Romans 1.26-32, must stay in the Word, stay close to Christ and to his Bride, the Church.

I think it is a time to rediscover the blessings of Bible reading and Bible teaching and to seek Jesus Christ on every page.

It is a time to teach our children the creeds of our faith beginning with the Bible, but also giving them explanations of the Word of God that apply to our lives, like the Confession of Faith and the Catechisms of our church.

There is a passage I often think of at this point:

To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn. Isaiah 8.20

To turn from the truths of God is turn from light and to retreat into darkness. In such times, we need watchmen on the walls crying to return to the light, Jesus Christ! In His light we shall see light.

May God keep our hearts faithful to the Word of God in this church and in our families.

And May God forgive our nation, and send revival. And in every revival, there is a revival of creeds, a revival in the things we believe about God and about ourselves as found in his Word.

How the Code can Crumble

The Creed is what we believe. The Code is how we live. The two are linked together and cannot be separated. If you creed goes, then anything is possible.

Romans one shows us what can happen.

First, God judicially allows the rebellion as a form of punishment.

You have heard it said that the worst thing that could ever happen is that God gives us what we want. Well, Romans one say this is exactly what happened in Gentile Rome and happens every time a people forget God. Step by step they descend the staircase into Hell.

But what does this say to believers: The Bible says:

Do not quench the Spirit. 1Thessalonians 5.19

We can quench the Spirit by ignoring the leading of the Lord, disobeying His clear commands, or by withdrawing ourselves from Word, Sacrament and Prayer.

I once had a friend who would not listen to the truth of God. She had grown up with me in the same Sunday School class. She began to walk away from the Lord, though she knew the truth. Ultimately, she seemed so hardened to the things of God that is appeared that she got what she wanted: she wanted away from God and His people. And as far as I know she died in this condition. How horrible.
What a warning to each of us to be quick to turn to Christ, to be quick to repent, to keep our hearts supple and soft before the Lord Jesus and to seek him daily in our hearts lest we should fall into the downward spiral of sin by denying Him.

Second Men begin to sink into a moral cesspool.

Paul mentions immorality of several kinds: carnal sensuality that defies nature itself (and you know what I am talking about), gutter minds, violent hearts, wicked mouths, and inhumane treatment of others who don’t like them.

I remember when I was in the Navy. I lived with a very unkept fellow in the barracks where we were in training. One day the old Chief Petty Officer came in while we were gone and unlocked our room, walked through and began to throw things all over the place. He then left a sign that said, “Filthy Rodents Live Here. See Me Immediately.”

That was a very bad memory. And he made his point as only crusty old Navy chiefs can do. But the point for us is that if you give up on God, God will allow you to pursue the base part of your life which will lead you to live like a rodent.

We can point to culture today and see it. But I am a pastor, and the place of my work today is in your heart and mind. How much of the world’s lustful, godless language and thinking has made its way into your very being?

My Aunt used to say that we may be poor and live among the poor, but we don’t have to live without honor and dignity. Aunt Eva had little food in the pantry, but plenty of manners in the public. She had little money, but a lot of generosity. She had an old home, but you can bet your bottom dollar that you eat off of the floor it was so clean!

Well, what am I saying? I am saying that God is calling to say, “We may be living in a culture that has abandoned the Creed, and its Code of living is cracking, there may be rodents all around us, but they will not be on us! We may be in a spiritually barren era, but we need not be famished if we have God’s Word in our hearts. The world may be seeking to cross the sacred boundaries of God ordained decency, in language and relationships, but we need not cross it with them.

And more than this, we are here, to reach out as Fanny Crosby wrote:

Rescue the perishing, care for the dying, Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave; Weep o’er the erring one, lift up the fallen, Tell them of Jesus, the mighty to save. Rescue the perishing, care for the dying, Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save.

Third, the Society that they create eventually codifies the immorality.

This is one of the most tragic and damning effects of this downward spiral of sin: verse 32:

“Thought they know God’s decree that those who practices such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.”

I have read, with you, of states like New Hampshire who are saying, “Immorality in marriage will be recognized in our state.” And there are others coming on board. We are in a mixed audience and I need not go further. Those who do these things begin to approve them.

The codification or at least the normalization of such godless immorality will meet with the most severe judgments of God.

Now all of this is the condition of Rome. Paul, who said that whoever trusts in the Gospel will be saved, the Jew first and then the Greek, also says in Romans 2.9:

“there will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek.”

Paul is making plain that all are sinners, all have sinned in a wicked way, we are all capable of even greater sin, if the restrains of God are lifted, and that we are all in need of a Savior.

Someone came to me recently to say that the cry of the hour ought to be forgiveness in Christ. And I fully agree. I do not need to list all of the heinous sins that are so like what we see here. It is upon us. This is not theory. We see all of it coming true.

But where do we go from here?

Cry out to the Christ

In my times of counseling I often point people to Joel 2.25. There, after God has severely judged the people of God for their forgetting of God, he promises that when they return certain things will begin to happen:

“I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army which I sent among you.”

We have studied this before. But in this one verse God says, “I am the One who sent the judgment that set in because of your sin of unbelief. But as there was a downward spiral of devastation, so there will be a restoring of life through my grace.”

This is a wonderful promise to a world like ours. If we forget God and our Creed cracks, then our Code will crumble. Our lives, our nation, our world falls into tremendous judgment. But if we will turn to God, then there will be a supernatural time of refreshing and blessing and renewals of life.

The reversal of judgment came to us in Jesus Christ. The cross of shame became a thing of hope. The death of Jesus brought life. The tomb brought resurrection.

And thus Isaiah gives hope to a nation facing doom for their sin:

“Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. Isaiah 1.18

One time when I was a boy I went deep into the woods. I was in search of a supposed lost civilization. But my journey kept getting me deeper and deeper into the thicket and the swamps. I was lost. The sun was setting. I tried re tracing my steps but I could not get out. I was a the point of desperation, when I heard the voice of Aunt Eva calling me. And then I looked and saw a light, a flashlight in her hand. I followed her voice. I followed her light. And I got out.

My beloved there is no human way out of the downward spiral of sin. You cannot humanly get yourself out of sin. And we are all sinners. Some of us have gone deeper into the woods than others, but we are all there. And there is only one way for us to get out:

“Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’” John 8.12

Listen to His voice. Follow His light. There is a way out for our culture; there is a way out for you.

Augustine, The City of God and the City of Man, as quoted from Christian History (see http://chi.gospelcom.net/DAILYF/2002/08/daily-08-24-2002.shtml) [June 23, 2007].

Bartlett, John, comp. Familiar Quotations, 10th ed, rev. and enl. by Nathan Haskell Dole. Boston: Little, Brown, 1919; Bartleby.com, 2000.www.bartleby.com/100/. [June 23, 2007].

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December 5, 2009

A Company of Heroes and the Hope We Have in Winning the War

This morning’s Wall Street Journal article, “Hasan’s Army Unit Ships Out” proves what many of us have known: When you are in the presence of the overwhelming majority of men and women in the US military, it is most fitting, to use the words that formed the title of Michael Durrant’s book, for you are among “A Company of Heroes.” And events in recent days prove that a large part of that company is made up of Army Reservists.

Ana Campoy’s story on A3 of the Wall Street Journal, December 5-6, showed the courage, the tenacity, the deep-down, spirit, and even God-honoring vision of the 467^th Medical Detachment, who left for Afghanistan yesterday (December 4^th, 2009). What caught my eye was this line:

”Several reservists volunteered to replace their dead and wounded comrades, so the unit, the first reservist mental-health workers to deploy to Afghanistan, left at full strength.”

What a credit to their nation! What an honor they have brought upon themselves and the US Army Reserves! Yes, I am a part of the larger Army Reserve community that is applauding Kara and Dick Hurtig, husband and wife who both volunteered to fill the gap. I am screaming “Hu-ah!” deep in my heart as I read about First Lt. Susan Nieman, a “44 year-old psychiatric nurse from Vancouver” who received a call from the unit and responded, “I fell like it’s an honor to serve.”

As she leaves her job, and others with her, and heads for the theater of operation in a rugged, lawless, mountainous, nests of terrorists, murderers and criminals, to serve God and Country, to protect our freedoms, and to stop a treacherous and diabolical enemy bent on our destruction, every American owes this one particular unit a debt of gratitude and prayers of thanksgiving.

The madman who masqueraded as an American, an Army officer and as a medical doctor, seething with a demonic-like, radical Islamic hate, the ancient hatred of the ages now revived, and in some sense a tragic if not dangerously accurate living metaphor to describe our often invisible Hell-bent opponent, could not stop the human spirit of those who survived his savage rage. He only stirred up the nobility and passion of good Americans. And that is, in my view, the hope we have in winning this war.

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October 1, 2007

Trusting God in the Wilderness

Exodus 3.1; Mark 1.12
A Sermon by Dr. Michael A. Milton

Perhaps you have read J.I. Packer’s wonderful book, Knowing God. I believe that this book surely ranks as one of those books that people say, “It made a lasting impact upon my life.” We need to know the God of the Scripture to be saved, not the God of our imagination or the God we want. Then there was Experiencing God . This book sought to go beyond Packer’s knowledge and emphasized a more personal relationship with this God. But beyond Knowledge and beyond Experience is something else: TRUST. One way to think of TRUST is to say it is “Confidence well placed.” Trusting God means that you not only know this God, have experienced Him, but you are now ready to place your life and your future, and perhaps as important, your past, in the hands of this God.

The picture I used in the graphic design for this series is a picture of an older woman with her hands on the Bible. When I saw it it evoked the image I remember so well: the hands of my Aunt Eva. Her hands were wrinkled from time. But her trust was strengthened through time. And her stories to me were stories of living often on the far side of the wilderness: in her childhood at when she had to care for the family for her mother was ill; in the hardships of World War One and how that affected our family, and the Depression as a farmer’s wife, then again in World War Two when her other brother was killed, in the days of caring for her sick husband, of becoming a widow and trying to make ends meet, of being a widow and being 65 years old and taking in the 9 month old baby having never had children herself, of the years of that child’s heartbreaking prodigal experience, and so many other things. I thought of her hands when I saw that picture.

I also thought that as I look in the mirror and see some lines in my face, I think of some things that likely brought those lines. But I also think, “Those experiences were the testing places where I really learned to trust God the most.” And maybe you think of how God has really helped you to trust Him through trials.

When I saw that picture of the elderly woman’s hands on that old Bible, I also thought of how trusting God is what we all have to do. There is no better place to learn about trusting God than through Biblical biography. And in Exodus chapter three we have one of the most amazing turning points in the Word of God. We have the call of Moses. But the call of Moses happens in the wilderness. It is there, “beyond the wilderness,” or as the NIV puts it “on the far side of the desert” that the future leader of Israel learns to trust God.

This morning look at just verse one of chapter three:

Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. Exodus 3.1

Look at this passage as a clue to how God builds trust in His people. Look particularly at the poignant paradoxes that end up working to help us build trust in God in the wilderness.

The First Clue and the First Truth

Look at this: Moses was “tending” or “keeping the flock.” Now that is different. “Moses, I thought you were a prince? I thought you ruled in Egypt. You said go here and men went here. You organized, you built, and you led an empire of men. But now you tend a flock of sheep.” We know what happened of course. Moses, born to a Hebrew family, hid in the bull rushes of the Nile, was found and kept and raised by the princes of Egypt. But Moses discovered his Hebrew roots. And he saw the oppression of the Hebrew people. Moses wanted to change things. So Moses encountered an Egyptian taskmaster beating a Hebrew. And Moses killed that man. He ran. He ran far across the wilderness. The royal fugitive ended up in Midian, in the eastern Sinai, and he was tending sheep.

Here is the truth of how God builds trust in His people in the wilderness (and pardon the rhyme, but it helped me to remember it):

God may take you to a hard location to forge in you a new vocation.

Maybe you were a vice president of a bank, but now you could use a loan yourself. And you wonder, “How in the world did I end up here?” Or maybe you are a mom who always looked forward to staying home with your children, but your family’s financial crises has caused you to have to work outside of the home. And you are wondering, “How did I get here? This is not what I planned.”
God often takes us to hard places to create new people who learn to trust Him like never before.

This happened with all of the great men and women of the Bible. Think of how Paul was in prison. What good could come of that? But in prison Paul wrote Philippians, the book of joy. And while there, Paul was used to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the household of Caesar! He was in a hard location, to learn a new vocation.

Here is another clue to seeing how God works trust in the wilderness.

The Second Clue and the Second Truth

Now this is odd. Moses was tending the sheep of “Jethro his father-in-law.” Now Jethro is not an Egyptian name. It would be as odd in their ears as it may be in yours. You think of Jethro Bodine and they might have thought about someone just as backwoods as that Jethro. How interesting that this Prince of Egypt is now married to a backwoods Midianite girl and working for her father! But Jethro is not a Hebrew name! The prejudice against Gentiles that developed later in rabbinical Judaism was not as pronounced at that time, but it was still an assault of the identity of a Hebrew. In fact, it just raised the question, “Who are you Moses? And where you do come from?”

Questions of identity can haunt a man. But what Moses had to learn was that his identity was not in anyone but God. And God caused this man of royalty, this Egyptian-Hebrew married to a Midianite girl and working for a Midianite chieftain, to learn the truth we all need to know:

The Lord uses people who may seem odd to help us place our faith in God.

Moses was proud. But his pride was bruised severely, I believe, when he had to associate with those Midianites. But they took him in. And he even got his wife from that backwoods tribe. And he got a job from them. But more than that: that Midianite wife of his would be used of God to cause Moses to live up to God’s commandments. In what some think of as a strange part of Scripture, Zipporah, the Midianite wife of Moses, circumcises her son and throws the remains at Moses’ feet! Why? Because this man of God failed to take care of his own family and bring his baby to God for the sign of the Covenant (and that is one reason I encourage parents to bring their babies for baptism!). She scolded the man of God and made him look to God. And when Moses was overworked it would be his father-in-law, Jethro, who would drop in to see about his baby girl married to this man who hears God’s voice. And he would see that Moses was overworked, and in Exodus chapter 18, God uses the Midianite chieftain and shepherd to tell Moses how to govern the people using elders. Wow.

Maybe God is using a person or people in your life to shake up your world today. Maybe it is an ungodly boss. Maybe a scolding mother in law! Maybe you wonder how someone as high and smart as you are ever ended up married to someone like you are! But I know that God sanctifies us through our wives and through our husbands. Maybe the people in your life today, the last people in the world you would have used to bring God to you, are God’s instruments to help you trust in Him.

Clue number Three and Truth number Three

Let’s look at this:

“and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.”

Now Horeb is another name for Sinai. It means dry and barren. And if you have ever seen pictures of the eastern Sinai Peninsula you would agree that this is a pretty good name for it. But I am drawn to these words “the far side of the desert. And the Hebrew “Midbar” means desolated placed. “Midbar” is the barren wilderness We got that, but there is something else going on here. For Moses was tending sheep on the “West side of the wilderness.” What does that mean? The answer is an important clue.
I think the translators did that because the Hebrew word “ah_ar” speaks of “the disoriented side” of a place. East is the direction of orientation. Thus they translated this word as “west.” That “ah_ar” side of the wilderness is the side opposite the sunrise. It is, as the New Revised Standard translates it, “Beyond the wilderness.” But my personal preference here is how the NIV puts it (perhaps less precise but more expositional): “And he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.”

Moses was in control, he thought, when he used his power and position to try and set his people free his way. But his way was not God’s way. God had another plan. And Moses had to go to the far side of the wilderness to learn to know God, to experience God, and finally to trust God.

This is the third truth:

You learn to trust God best on the far side of the wilderness.

Have you ever found yourself on the far side of the wilderness? My beloved the far side of the wilderness is a hard place. Mount Horeb is a hard place. But let me show you the Gospel in this story.

Our Lord Jesus went to the far side. Our Savior went to the wilderness and was tempted by Satan but Jesus did not sin. And angels ministered to Him in the desert. But our Lord went to a dry, barren hill called Calvary to die for our sins.

And you will meet Jesus when you have come to the far side of the wilderness in your soul. For Jesus said that you must die to yourself to live for Him. You may have to suffer for His name. You may have to be forced into the far side of the wilderness to come to know Him and trust Him like never before.

One day those old hands on the Bible will not be able to hold that Bible any longer. One day they will slip. One day the far side of the wilderness, the other side of sunrise, the west side of life, the sunset of life will come and the hands will slip. But Jesus will never let you go. And Jesus Himself will lead you to a new place, not to a barren mountain Horeb, but to Mount Zion, the city of God, the place of peace, the place where you have always wanted to be.

Conclusion

You may be living today in a hard location, but God is preparing you for a new vocation. And Jesus has been there and is with you now.

You may be having to deal with people in a situation that seems really odd, but they are going to be the ones to help you trust in God. And Jesus has been there and is with you now.

You may be traveling a road that feels rocky, in a place that feels far away from God. But that is where God is. God is in the far away places of life. He is there when you see Him and when you don’t. He is sometimes seen most clearly in the darkness of life. And is thus true: you learn to trust God best on the far side of the wilderness. And Jesus has been there and is with you now.
These are the lessons that Nina Bergman learned. Nina Bergman is a woman who has struggled with MS and who wrote her reflections on her sufferings in a book she entitled Comfort from the Cross. She wrote on how God has used her suffering, her far side of the wilderness, if you will, to bring her close to Jesus. In once place she writes about the road she lives on. It is a gravel road. It is hard and bumpy in places, and the county always has to come with road machines to try and fix it. The rocky, troublesome, old gravel road is just a mess. But that road leads home.

Nina’ suffering leads her home every day. And it is true: the way of the Cross leads home. The way of the wilderness leads to a knowledge of God, a fresh experience of God and to trusting God.

You see this is what you must remember: Moses had to find God in the wilderness to lead a people to a land that would bring forth a Savior Jesus Christ. And Jesus went back to that wilderness to defeat the devil, to bring not just a small band of people out of slavery, but to bring the human race out of sin and into the family of God.

He has brought you to the wilderness because that is where we can best find Him. But he does not lead you there to leave you there. But to get your attention and to call your name. Will you follow Him?

If you will. You too will see that your “far side of the wilderness” is really the road home.

References

Bergman, Nina Mason. Comfort from the Cross : Help for the Hurting from the Seven Last Words of Christ. Colorado Springs, Colo.: NavPress, 1990.

Blackaby, Henry T., and Claude V. King. Experiencing God : How to Live the Full Adventure of Knowing and Doing the Will of God. Nashville, Tenn.: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1998.

Packer, J. I. Knowing God. 20th anniversary ed. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1993.

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October 26, 2007

Which is it? Communion or Eucharist or the Last Supper? Yes.

1 Cor. 10.16-17;20; 11.23-31; John 6.11; 23, 35-42; 48-59

Like a foolish husband arguing with his wife over the true meaning of the word “love,” but failing to embrace his bride, sometimes the Church has got tangled up on words and missed the pure reality. Can we fully explain “love?” I will show you love. But it is hard to explain. The Church of our Lord Jesus has sought to come to terms with the deeper meaning of the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. We have and continue to debate the meaning of the sign of love which our Lord left us, the Lord’s Supper. As we come to the Lord’s Supper tonight, we are reminded that this, along with Baptism, represents the central act of communicating the Gospel, apart from preaching. Indeed, it is the preached word pictured. Important things, and this is most important, can create disagreements. You would expect such from important matters. On the Lord’s Supper, there are several ways to look at it:There is the Roman Catholic View which is called Transubstantiation. In this, the operation of the priest mystically transformed the bread and the fruit of the vine into the literal body and blood of Jesus. To eat His flesh and drink His blood carries a literal meaning. It was good to go back to the Law and to the Testimonies during the Reformation to discuss this matter. With all regard for my Roman Catholic friends, I agree with the consensus of those who were called the Protestants, that this view simply cannot square with the Word of God. Yet, within Protestantism, there are three main views:The Memorial View, held by Ulrich Zwingli, a fine preacher and pastor of Gross Munster in Zurich, Switzerland. The memorial view holds that the Lord’s Supper is only a memorial and nothing more. More could be said of this and all of the views, but this is the essence. The Lutheran View. Martin Luther held to a view called consubstantiation (a term that is actually used by Reformed theologians to describe the Lutheran understanding of Real Presence), that is, that the body and blood of Christ, though in heaven, are also physically in, with and under the elements of the Lord’s Supper. Zwingli and Luther got together and locked theological horns at the Marburg Colloquy in 1529. Luther would quote John 66.53:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourself.”

And he would repeatedly quote 1 Cor. 11.24: “This is my body.” He even wrote it with chalk on the big conference table. But Zwingli wouldn’t budge and pointed to John 6.63 which says, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing’ the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” And so it went. The Reformed View. Calvin represents what is often called, “dynamic presence” or “Spiritual presence.” Calvin taught that the Bible clearly shows us that Christ’s physical body is in heaven and therefore the bread and the Cup cannot become that. Yet, His Spirit is here and can be throughout the world at once, and the force of the Scriptures drew Calvin to surmise that the Sacrament is a memorial but much more. He wrote:“It is a mystery of Christ’s secret union with the devout which is by nature incomprehensible. If anybody should ask me how this communion takes place, I am not ashamed to confess that that is a secret too lofty for either my mind to comprehend or my words to declare. And to speak more plainly, I rather experience than understand it” (Robert Godfrey in his Calvin on the Eucharist, www.modernreformation.org, quoting John Calvin in Institutes, IV, 17, 32).We often think of Calvin as the cold logician, but here in the Sacraments, one may even think of him as mystical. So, rather than entering the debate let us take a fresh, if not brief look, at the matter first hand. I want us to go to the Scriptures and consider the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper as it is named or practiced in the Word of God. The question is often put: It it Communion? Or the Lord’s Supper? Or the Eucharist? I want to go ahead and show my cards, from this study and say that the Biblical answer is simply, “yes.”

First, we say that this Sacrament is Communion.

Indeed, Paul refers to it as Communion in 1 Cor. 10. Again, with the backdrop being idolatry and regrettable practices in the Corinthian church, Paul shows us that to take part in pagan rituals is to become part of it, just like Communion. The Sacrament of Communion means that we are communing with Christ and that we are communing with each other. Look in 1 Cor. 10.16:

“Is the bread that we bless not a communion (koinonea) in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a communion in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.”

In Ephesians 5, Paul describes marriage according to the relationship of Christ and His Bride, the Church and there we also see that we are “members o

f His body.” Paul uses a favorite phrase of Calvin’s for the Communion, the word “mystery.” “This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.” What we do tonight is a Communion with Jesus Christ. By faith, we are feeding on His body and blood. We are nourished, mysteriously yes, but nourished, by faith, on Christ. He is the Bread of life and to commune on this bread and this cup is, with a heart of faith that perceives it, to enter into one of the most mystical and rewarding moments in life. If we think of this only as a memorial, then, once a year will do. We have Christmas once a year and that is fine. But more than that would be too much to stop and think about those things. But this is not just thinking about those things. It is, according to Paul, a Communion with Jesus. It is a mystery. But mysteries abound in the Christian life. Let us tonight dive into the mystery and experience Christ in Communion. Now that leads us to say another thing:

This Sacrament is, most certainly, the Lord’s Supper.

Paul calls it that in verse 20 such:“When you come together, is it not the Lord’s Supper that you eat?”The Lord’s Supper, as Paul teaches it here, brings to mind several truths about this Sacrament:1. It is the Lord’s Supper not ours. He instituted it and He regulates it and He is the Lord of the Banquet, not anyone else. 2. The Lord and His atoning work on Calvary are memorialized. The Bible teaches us this is a memorial when Christ says, “This do in remembrance of me.” While we see in Scripture that it is more than a memorial, it is yet a memorial. And we are brought again to the centrality of our faith: the atoning death of Jesus Christ on the cross for our sins. 3. The Lord’s Supper should then, according to the context here, eliminate factions, heal wounds, and drive us all back to the core element of our faith: The love of God in sending His Son to die for our sins. “You shall call His name Jesus for He shall save His people from their sins.”

Finally, this Sacrament may rightly be called The Eucharist.

Eucharisteo;, is the Greek word that appears in the Bible, for instance, in Matthew 26.27, “And He took a cup and when he had given thanks (eucharisteo,) He gave it to them…” Paul also uses this word. Paul calls it, in 1 Cor. 10.16, while using another word for thanksgiving (eulogia) the Cup of Thanksgiving, as the NIV renders it. So Eucharist is a significant part of the four-fold movement of the Lord’s Supper:The Four fold action:1. Took bread 2. Gave thanks over it 3. Broke it 4. Distributed it(It may actually be thought of in a seven-fold action, when the Cup is included: [1] Took the Cup; Eucharisteo[2] Gave thanks over it[3] Passed it). Let me digress for a bit here. This morning we looked at the feeding of the five thousand. I told you that this was clearly intentional in calling our attention backward to the Old Covenant feeding of the children of Israel in the desert. But it is also clearly forward-looking to the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. The same four-fold feature of the Lord’s Supper is used there. He took bread, he gave thanks, he broke it (John alone fails to mention this part) and he distributed it. Matthew, Mark and Luke use the word Eulogia for giving thanks, but John, in Chapter 6.11, uses the word eucharisteo. John then moves to unveil an enigmatic teaching of Jesus that caused a tremendous disturbance. Jesus goes on to teach that He is the bread that one must eat. The miracle of the feeding of the five thousand was a foretaste of the sacramental meal which believers will see. “I am the bread of life” provokes the Jewish leaders, but Jesus doesn’t budge. In fact, he goes further and says, “I am the living bread.” And he says “Truly, truly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day.” Now the Lord’s Supper had not yet been instituted, of course. But the message is clear by the time it is given: Jesus is our life. He is the One who takes the bread, breaks it, gives euchariseo for it, and passes it to us to eat. But we are feasting on Jesus Himself by faith. This is the doctrine of the union of the believer with Christ. And every time we commune, we follow the four-fold action of Jesus in what is faithfully called the Eucharist, the Thanksgiving. One last thing: What about frequency?Jesus says, “As often…” which means what it says. John Calvin believed that since the Lord’s Supper is a meal that conveys the grace of God by faith, and is the most powerful experience of Jesus and our union in Him this side of heaven, “as often” should mean at a minimum, weekly. The Council of Geneva said no and stayed quarterly. Many of our Reformed churches followed and that became the predominate tradition of Protestantism, though not all. What we are seeking to do is to recover a Biblical appreciation for the Communion being our union with Christ and increasing our times before the Lord, using a combination of both morning and evening communions. We should not judge others on this and this seems good to us and to the Holy Spirit for now. There are questions that I sometimes get in the matter of more frequent Communion which I want to address here:But is more frequent Communion needed? As Robert Godfrey reminds us, Memorialism could easily live with once a year and many of our Scottish forefathers did just that. But an understanding that begins with memorial and recognizes the other things we have seen in the Word of God desires, naturally, to move us to more frequent observance. Will it become rote and dry? I pray not. For our preaching and singing of hymns and baptisms could also become this. It is by faith that we commune. Is this more catholic? It is, if by catholic we mean a part of the greater Body of Christ. If one means Roman Catholic, I hope the answer is self-evident. The Roman view does not depend on frequency but on understanding of what happens in the Lord’s Supper. The Reformed view, that of “Real Spiritual Presence,” rejects the Roman view as flawed at best and simply unbiblical at worse. Our response to the Scriptures was summed up by the great Princetonian, Charles Hodge:

“To summarize the Reformed position: The Lord’s Supper is a holy ordinance instituted by Christ as a memorial of His death wherein, under the symbols of bread and wine, His body as broken and His blood as shed for the remission of sins are signified and, by the power of the Holy Ghost. Sealed and applied to believers. Thereby their union with Christ and their mutual fellowship are set forth and confirmed, their faith strengthened, and their souls nourished unto eternal life.” In this sacrament Christ is present not bodily, but spiritually – not in the sense of local nearness, but of efficacious operation. His people receive Him not with the mouth, but by faith; they do not receive His flesh and blood as material particles, but His body as broken and His blood as shed. The union thus signified and effected is not a corporeal union, not a mixture of substances, but a spiritual and mystical union due to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The efficacy of this sacrament as a means of grace is not in the signs, nor in the service, nor in the minister, nor in the word, but in the attending influence of the Holy Ghost.”

The Inexplicable Power of Love

I was once a part of a presbytery in Kansas where there was a church in trouble. A committee was formed of elders and ministers to come in and seek to help the church. One of the wisest recommendations made was that the church move to more frequent communion, to a clearer understanding of the union in Christ in Communion, of the Lord’s Supper being a means of grace, a faithful way to experience Jesus. This was received well by the local church’s session and the pastor began to preach it and the congregation emphasized the Lord’s Table as priority in their community life. The results were astonishing. Where there was division, Christ brought healing. Where there was an over emphasis on intellectualism, Christ brought a fresh experience of His grace. One couldn’t explain it. You just watched it and loved it. And that is the way with Jesus and His people at His table. Tonight, let us come together, broken and needy to the Cross of Jesus, let us taste and see that the Lord is good. Let us, by faith, commune with Jesus and with each other for this is Communion. Let us remember His love at Calvary for this is the Lord’s Supper. Let us give thanks for this is the Eucharist, the “Cup of Thanksgiving.” I can’t explain such love. He just tells us to receive it.

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August 27, 2009

On Spiritual Gifts in the Church Today (1 Cor. 12)

I heard that the librarian of one of the greatest libraries in the world remarked:

“We’re drowning in information and starving for knowledge.”

I have come to learn in my life that it is not that I need more information, but greater insight on what I have already been shown; or greater stewardship over what I have already been given.

Seminary taught me information. Seminary gave me time to study the Word of God and the mighty acts of God under the teaching of godly pastor-scholars. As great as that time was in my life, it could not give me everything I needed for ministry. And my pastoral internships, which were so valuable to me, did not give me everything I needed. Being a business-man has helped me in pastoral ministry, to know something about strategic planning and so forth, but that is incomplete. I needed the first hand experience of God’s hand on my life as I turned to Him for help to be given the necessary spiritual insights and wisdom that is needed.

I am sure that is so with mothers and fathers and homemakers and accountants and lawyers and plumbers and policemen. Information alone cannot help meet the challenges of our vocations. And even experience can’t always suffice. We need more.

Well the title of this message is “Spiritual Gifts in the Church Today” but it is not about giving you information only about spiritual gifts. For in Romans 12 it is not that more information is needed on Spiritual Gifts. It is rather that the Corinthians needed to know how those gifts relate to each other for the glory of God and the good of His Church.

Paul’s letter to Corinth dealt with the matter of spiritual gifts in order to build church health and spiritual vitality for every believer. And today it is no different:

God gives gifts to people in the Church in order to promote church health and fulfill His purposes in the world today.

In 1 Corinthians 12 we get answers.

1. Spiritual gifts are given by God but can be misused by Men (vv. 7, 1-3)

This section appears in 1 Corinthians not because Paul wanted to teach on spiritual gifts, but because he did not want them uninformed about them in the midst of a contentious church split that was about to happen. But in God’s good providence, once again, wrong living or wring teaching becomes the opportunity to teach truth. For even with permanent or ordinary gifts, if you prefer, there is misunderstanding.

The Chapters of 1 Corinthians 12-14 are a single unit in this letter. From Paul’s instructions and admonition on spiritual gifts in the Corinthian Church we can most clearly identify the problem. Spiritual gifts seems to have been used in Corinth out of pride, not love, for selfish gain, not selfless service, in a competitive, rather than complimentary way. The miraculous gifts were given special treatment over against the ordinary gifts of service. Spiritual pride followed and infected the congregation. The whole issue in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 dealt with factions created as a result of following one gift or another in the ministers who were bringing them the Word. And we will notice that they have been uninformed here about gifts. Obviously Paul’s point in linking spiritual gifts with talking about affirming of denying Jesus Christ as Lord had to do with some who were gifted by not godly.

The Spiritual gifts given by God are given for a purpose. The phrase “Spiritual gifts” simply means manifestations of the Holy Spirit, which result in service, through members, to the entire Body of Christ. But the gift of tongues, an apparently extraordinary gift given as Scripture was being written, and according to the Bible as a sign of the Spirit in those days, became prominent. And thus even today we can have misunderstandings about spiritual gifts:

(1) Spiritual gifts are not concerned with self-promotion.

This is what was happening then and can happen now. If spiritual gifts produce spiritual pride, as they can with sinfully prone people, then it is time to go back to this letter and this teaching. We do not seek spiritual gifts for ourselves. They are given by God to believers for the Church to His glory.

(2) Spiritual gifts are not concerned with institutional aggrandizement.

The gifts given are not just for the blessing of a congregation unto itself, but connected to the whole, we are being blessed to bless the rest of the Body of Christ and thus evangelize the world.

(3) Spiritual gifts are not simply personality profiles, but God wrought empowerment for God’s glory and His specific purposes.

Paul says that they are “manifestations of the Spirit” in 7. These are not fleshly gifts, but Holy Spirit endowed and empowered gifts for the Church.

I once talked to a man who looked back on his ministry and he said, “So much of what I have done has been in the flesh.”

In other words, the people had seen gifts at work, his gifts, for his own purposes or for some other thing than the glory of God. These can look like spiritual gifts. But in time, even decades may pass; they will be seen to be fleshly derived. For God’s Holy Spirit will bring spiritual fruit that brings honor and glory to God.

This morning I want R__ and R____ to remember that. Remember that you can get by, in your new ministries, on your strength and innate giftedness for a while (note: we were sending out two ministers to a new Gospel work on this day). But if eternal fruit is what you desire, if heavenly gain is what you seek, then pray earnestly for His empowerment. Pray for the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And pray for the power of God to fall upon you lest you do ministry in your own power.

And this is something I say to each and every one of you. I would rather serve a small church that is on fire for God and His glory than lead a great army of missionaries who are trying to build an earthly empire. For that fleshly empire, built on the personalities of men, will crumble like Persia or Macedonia or Rome. But the work of God in Jesus Christ, grounded in His Word and watered by His Spirit, will endure forever.

Now we want to look at these, for this is where Paul takes us.

2. Spiritual gifts are diverse but complimentary.

It is interesting to see what Paul addressed first. In verse 4, having talked about the misuse of spiritual gifts, Paul begins to correct and set them in right perspective. So Paul spoke of various gifts but the same Spirit, various kinds of service, but the same God. Wesley wrote of this passage, that is teaches the gifts are “Divers streams, but all from one fountain” (Wesley’s Comments on 1 Corinthians). Paul mentions a host of what appear to be both ordinary and extraordinary manifestations of the Holy Spirit. Some are easily understood by us and some are not (For instance, we must admit with Bruce Metzger that we simply do not know exactly what Paul is talking about in some of these gifts, i.e., “Paul presumably intends some distinction between sophia and gnosis, but the distinction is not clear to us.” See the study at this link). And Paul writes, in verses 12-31, about the Body and members. In fact, the concept of church membership comes from Paul’s use of the word members. We are all members of One Body. And One in not more important than the other. There is unity and diversity in the same body. Public gifts are not holier than private gifts. In fact, the lesser gifts are given special honor by the Lord. I have always felt, and I mean this, that as preacher here I sacrifice an honor in heaven, which shall be afforded to the one who taught me the Bible, my Aunt.

So John Donne preached:

No man is an island, entire of itself

every man is a piece of the continent,

a part of the main;

if a clod be washed away by the sea,

Europe is the less…

We all need each other in the Body of Christ. One member, thus the use of one gift in one person, is not more important than the other.

Think about that even in the world. In March of 19981 President Reagan was shot. But the government went on. But after that there was a garbage strike in a great city and the whole city was almost shut down! There is a difference between the President of the United States and a garbage man, but in that case who was more important? Or at least who affected daily life the more? The garbage man!

No. All of the gifts that God gives are important. But we must live in concert with each other. And this is the other thing that needs to be said.

God’s gifts are given to compliment each other. The gifts of wisdom and knowledge, and the gifts of faith, and healing and all of the rest are to be lived out in concert with each other. And this is not a comprehensive but a representative list. There were and are more gifts of God. He is not limited, but gives gifts to men according to what He desires to do.

There is a chemical in the roots of trees that allows these roots, in thick forests, to inhibit competition for water. God has put it into these trees to allow for others to get close to them, to drink from the same water source, so that all can be built up.

And so too there are many gifts in the church today. But my gifts exist in concert with yours. And we are all seeking the same source, the Holy Spirit, for growth. And we are all growing towards the sky, towards our goal! May God make some great red woods here! May God establish your tree next to mine and mine next to another’s. May God build a great forest of faith in our world today!

3. Spiritual gifts are given for the Sake of Others

Paul says that the gifts of God are given to men for the common good. And the common good was to build up the church in order to go out and reach the world for Jesus Christ, for the glory of God. There are no other purposes shown in the Bible except for those. But thank God, as Augustine prayed, what He commands, He provides for.

This passage mentions offices that were at work in the Church then and now. And in Ephesians 4, we read that God gave certain offices of the church, extraordinary one time offices like apostles and prophets, as well as the ordinary, continuing offices of evangelist and pastor-teacher, for the building up of the Church so that the Church can reach towards maturity in Christ and fulfill her calling, the Great Commission, until Jesus comes again. That is why we have pastors. That is why we are sending Ron to Covenant College and Rankin to do church planting in LA: to build up the people of God so that they can do the work of ministry. Our gifts are to be given to others. So that others may be equipped to go and give their gifts to others. It is an unending circle of service to God for His kingdom until He comes again.

4. Spiritual gifts must be expressed in love.

Now maybe the big question in the room is this: well how do I know what my spiritual gift is? And that is a good question. It is a good question but is not a question that Paul deals with. Nor is it addressed in Romans 12 or Ephesians 4. It is assumed that we will all know it when we see it. God will give us what we need.

There have been a lot of good instruments for understanding your spiritual gifts. Sometimes I am concerned that these test actually foster exactly what Paul is trying to get out of the church: self-centeredness. Calvin helps us greatly at this point. No expositor cast a wider net on the whole counsel of God’s Word than the Genevan Reformer. And he speaks of “inner calling” and “outer calling” and how the two must meet. The inner calling is that “woe unto me if I preach not the Gospel.” The outer calling is the voice of the Macedonian saying, “Come help us!” The two must work together and one calling without the other invalidates the whole. For instance, if someone says they have a gift of teaching, and says in his heart, “this is what I am called and gifted to do, to understand and publicly teach the Scriptures.” But your wife tells you, “Honey, I am going to be going to the other Sunday School class” you may have an inner calling, but not an outer calling! In other words, your passion and the Body of Christ’s need and response must match.

So, No. That is not the biggest question in this passage. The biggest ques-tion here is, “What does love have do with it?” Because love is the power that must be at work within the gifted person.

Look at Paul’s last words:

“But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.”

I like the way Eugene Peterson paraphrases this verse in his The Message:

And yet some of you keep competing for so-called ‘important’ parts. But now I want to lay out a far better way for you. 1Corinthians 12.31

And that way was and is love. Chapter 13, the great “love” chapter is not only appropriate for weddings, but for sending out ministers to do a new work. Or for teaching a class here at First Presbyterian. Or pre-paring a meal, or visiting the sick, or preaching a sermon, or bringing flowers to the shut in, or singing in the choir, or giving money. God has given great gifts to His people, but how will we use them?

The human body is miraculously complex,

With 60 million cells,
With 36 million heart beats every year,
With 300 billion red cells produced every day,
With 60,000 miles of blood vessels in each body.

But the miraculous complexity is bound together with a single, simple yet infinitely profound power: life. A power beyond this world wills the heart to beat and life to be sustained.

The Church is also miraculously complex. There are many gifts working at once. But when the heart is beating right and life is flowing, you can be sure the singular, simple yet infinitely profound power that is making it happen is love. The love of God in Jesus Christ embedded in the heart of one Christian, ten Christians, a hundred Christians, 50 million Christians.

There is an old spiritual that has this line:

I may not preach like John or Peter
I may not pray like Paul
But I can tell how love can heal us
How love can heal us one and all

The issue is not your gift but God’s gift through you to others in Christ’s love.

Conclusion

I want to end with a story I once read. The story is about a gentleman from New York who went down the Mississippi on a business trip. Now he went in style. He had a big, fine Cadillac. It was in the days where those things were like yachts floating down the road! And he was riding through the country at a high rate of speed, enjoying the views of the rolling hills and farmhouses when all of a sudden a rain storm came. And that big old Cadillac got out of control and he went in the ditch. Well, he tried to get that thing out that ditch, but the tires were spinning and mud a flying and it was just sinking deeper. So he got out and realized that he needed help. So he started walking down the road. Pretty soon, he spotted a farmhouse. This man walked down the gravel road and walked right up on the front porch. He knocked on the door and a farmer came to the door. “How can I hep you?” The farmer asked. The New Yorker told him the story and then asked, “Do you have a tractor that can pull me out of there?” The farmer smiled. “No, ain’t got no tractor round here. But I got Warrior.” “Who is Warrior?” He old farmer pointed, with his head, toward the pasture by the house. And there stood an old mule eating grass. Well, the farmer walked out there and put the harness on old Warrior and off he went down the lane, down the road to where that Cadillac was in the ditch. He hooked her up to the big fine car and then the farmer began to shout, “Go Warrior, Go Willie, God Red, Go Nellie!” Sure enough, old Warrior pulled and that big old heavy automobile just came up out of that ditch as easy as pie. The New Yorker thanked the old Mississippi farmer. He was about to leave and he turned around: “Say, how come you called out those other names, Willie and Red and Nellie? There are no other mules but that one.” The old farmer smiled, “Warrior is blind. She doesn’t know that the others stopped pulling their part a long time ago. So I don’t tell her. And she thinks they are with her. And so she still thinks she is pulling together with the others.”

Beloved, are we pulling together? We pull stronger when we know others are with us.

Edmund Clowney wrote:”Christians in community must again show the world…the bond of love in Christ.”

We are bound together. We are gifted by God for building up the Body of Christ and fulfilling the Great Commission.

Let’s pull…together.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

This sermon was originally given on Sunday, August 6th, 2006, at First Presbyterian Church, Chattanooga, TN, on a day when our church sent two of our assistant pastors out to answer calls to new ministries.

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December 6, 2007

An Advent Series with Order of Worship, Readings, Lighting, sermon series, and Quotes

The Once and Future Christmas: An Advent Worship and Sermon Series

I have found that, for many pastors and worship leaders, preparation for Advent and Christmas begins during this time. I trust the following could be of some help.

This Advent series came, in 2007, as I had accepted the call to become President and Professor of Practical Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte, NC. My farewell sermon came on Sunday Two in Advent. Thus, there is a break in the series for that day. But I do trust that pastors and other worship planners might find this helpful. To God be the glory.

Some Notes on the Series:

· The Advent Candle readings for the weekly lighting of the Advent candles has been included, with prayers written. We have found that some of our people prefer having written prayers and some don’t. It is here for those who desire it.
· The Advent Candle lighting is an important part of this time. And having classes or families or singles or senior saints allows for the entire congregation to be recognized and appreciated.
· The first Sunday in Advent begins the season with a processional with the choir and ministers from the rear of the church. Thus when the minister has given his announcements, and as the candle lighting begins, he makes his way, around the side, to the rear. The ministers come in at the end of the processional on either aisle.
· For Christmas Eve we have followed a variation of the traditional Lessons and Carols format with Holy Communion, and a candle lighting following, during the singing of Silent Night.

Order of Worship for Sundays in Advent

Prelude
Welcome and Announcements
Lighting of the Advent Candle with Readings and Prayer
Chiming of the Hour
Introit
Call to Worship
Hymns of Praise
Invocation, Prayer of Repentance and Words of Assurance
Affirmation of Faith
Gloria Patri
Greeting in Christ
Reading of the Scriptures
Prayer of Illumination
Sermon
Prayer of Commitment
Pastoral Prayer and Dedication of Offerings
Offertory
Doxology
Benediction and Response
Postlude

December 2

Readings and Prayer

Reader: Jesus said, “I am the light of the world; the one who follows me will not walk in darkness but have the light of life.” We light this candle as a sign of the coming light of Jesus Christ.

Hear the Word of the Lord: (Read Is. 9.2)

Prayer: Lord, we welcome you each and every time we come into this place. But we pray that today, more than every before, our hearts will be open to your coming into our homes, our places of work, our relationships, to illumine every area of life with the light of Your presence. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Call to Worship

Minister: Rejoice in the Lord always.

People: I will say it again, Rejoice!

Minister: Let your gentleness be evident to all.

People: The Lord is near.

Minister: We rejoice in the hope of Christ’s coming. Let us worship God! (Based on Philippians 4.4-5)

Affirmation

All: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.

Scripture and sermon and synopsis

“Behind Every Cloud…” (Gen. 9.12-15; Luke 2.8-14; Acts 1.6-9; Rev. 1.7)

Behind every cloud in Scripture, there is…a golden lining of the story of Christ and His Gospel. In the OT God gave a covenant in the clouds; angels sang of His birth in the sky, if not the clouds; Jesus ascended into a cloud in the sky; and he shall return with the clouds.

The clouds thus tell the story of Advent. From the clouds, in Scripture, we learn that…

(1) Advent is a promise made (Gen. 9.12-15)

(2) Advent is a promise kept (Luke 2.8-14)

(3) Advent is a life to be lived (Acts 1.6-9)

(4) Advent is a future not to be missed (Rev. 1.7)

And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: Genesis 9.12 I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 13 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 14 I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 15

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. Luke 2.8 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. 9 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. 10 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 11 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 12 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 13

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”* 14

So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” Acts 1.6

He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. Acts 1.7

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1.8

After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. Acts 1.9

Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail* on account of him. Even so. Amen. Revelation 1.7

Reflections

ADVENT—the four-week period that leads up to Christmas—is a series of events designed not to delay the celebration of Christmas, but to enhance it. It’s a kind of delayed gratification that culminates in a … satisfaction that is all the richer for the waiting.—Joan Chittister

Advent spirituality is not a time to meditate on the actual birth of Christ. According to tradition, we ought not to sing Christmas carols until Christmas itself, for Advent is not a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus in the manger but a time to long for the coming of the Savior. The appropriate sense of this season is captured in the pleading of “O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel.”—Robert Weber

December 9

Readings and Prayer

Reader: In 1 John 1.5 we read: “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.” We read from Isaiah today and remember that Christ is the light that leads us into a new way of life.

Hear the Word of the Lord: (Read Is. 42.16)

Prayer: Lord, open our hearts today to your light. We need you to guide us, to lead us, and to open our lives to your power. We pray for our congregation. We pray for our pastor and all of our pastors, that in Christ, we are always one, wherever we are sent. For wherever we are sent, you are already there. We pray in Jesus’ name.

Call to Worship

Minister: The Lord has done great things for us!

People: And we are filled with joy!

Minister: Our God has turned our weeping into singing.

People: And our tears into songs of joy!

Minister: O Christ of God, come anew in our hearts this day,

People: And remain in us forever. (Based on Psalm 126)

Affirmation

Q. What is your only comfort in life and death?

A. That I am not my own,but belong with body and soul, both in life and in death, to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with His precious blood,⁴ and has set me free from all the power of the devil. He also preserves me in such a way⁶ that without the will of my heavenly Father not a hair can fall from my head; indeed, all things must work together for my salvation. Therefore, by His Holy Spirit He also assures me of eternal life and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live for Him.

Scripture and sermon and synopsis

Farewell Message

Joshua 1.1-2; 6-9; Acts 20.13-38

Reflections

YOU keep us waiting.

You, the God of all time,

Want us to wait

For the right time in which to

discover

Who we are, where we are to go,

Who will be with us, and what we

must do.

So thank you … for the waiting time.—John Bell

The spirituality of Advent calls us to start our journey in expectation of the second coming of Christ. The end time is the period in history when the work of Christ will be consummated, when the powers of evil will be put away forever, when the earth will be restored to the golden age described by Isaiah and St. John (see Isa. 65; Rev. 20-22).—Robert Weber

December 16

Readings and Prayer

Reader: In 1 John 1.7 we read: “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”

We read how God from all time had planned for a great fellowship of people to walk in the light of Christ, not just Jew, not just Gentile, but all people throughout all time gathered under Christ Jesus as one.

Hear the Word of the Lord: (Read Is. 49.6)

Prayer: Lord, help us in our church to follow your Great Commission, especially during this time of year. Grant us your courage and power to shine the light of Jesus Christ to others. In Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

Call to Worship

Minister: Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy hill.

People: Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming.

Minister: It is close at hand.

People: Come, let us worship God.

Affirmation

The Apostles’ Creed

Scripture and sermon and synopsis

The Prophets’ Dream

The third Sunday continues the focus on John’s preaching, this time with the emphasis on the Messiah as the One who will baptize “with the Holy Spirit and with fire” (Luke 3:7-18). We will see how the ancient prophet’s vision for justice is attached to Jesus’ Second Coming (Is. 30.18; Acts 17.31)

Reflections

Next, the second coming says that the ultimate word in history is the triumph of God, the reign of God’s kingdom, the eternal and lasting rule of the good. Here is where our Advent meditation rests. By faith we are promised that evil will be judged and done away with and all will be made whole. This is the vision we want to carry with us as we view the news and visit the hospitals, psychiatric wards, and prisons of our world. Christian hope is an optimism about life that is grounded in Christ and celebrated again and again in the liturgy of the church.—Robert Weber

December 23

Readings and Prayer

Reader: In 1 John 2.8 we read: “Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.” Today we read from Isaiah about how the light of Jesus is a light that brings healing.

Hear the Word of the Lord: (Read Is. 58.8)

Prayer: Lord, we need your healing in our lives this day. And we want to be healed in order to bring your light to others in our lives, in our nation, and in our world who are also heavy with burdens, troubled by sorrows, oppressed by sin, and in desperate need of a light that will disperse their darkness. And we know, Lord, you are the only light that can bring ultimate and final healing. Come O Light of Christ and heal us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Call to Worship

Minister: Our souls magnify the Lord!

People: Our spirits rejoice in God our Savior!

Minister: The mighty One has done great things for us!

People: Holy is God’s name!

Minister: Let us worship God.

People: For God is our Maker and our Redeemer; from generation to generation God gives mercy.

Affirmation

Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

Scripture and sermon and synopsis

Born in Me

The final Sunday in Advent is the bridge to Christmas with the its attention to the miracle of Christ’s conception in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:18-25 and Luke 1:26-38). We will focus on the conception of Christ in a believer’s soul, and the unveiling of King Jesus in the sky (Matth. 24.30)

Reflections

There is nothing so secular that it cannot be sacred, and that is one of the deepest messages of the incarnation. —Madeleine L’Engle, Walking on Water

In Advent spirituality we are also called on to meditate on the birthing of Christ in our hearts. In this matter we are dealing with the conversion of life, the movement away from the old life lived under the power of evil to the new life lived in the power of the Holy Spirit. True conversion is a turning from one way of life to another. Christ calls us to be converted to him, to make him the pattern of our lives, to make our living and dying a living and dying in him. —Robert Weber

December 24—Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve Order with Advent readings and prayer

Reader: In the Gospel of Matthew we read of the Magi “When they saw the star, they were overjoyed” (Matthew 2.10). And so it was foretold in Isaiah of a light that would arise.

Hear God’s Word. (Read Is. 60.1-3).

Prayer: Father, on this blessed night as we are gathered in your presence, make that light shine in our hearts that we too may come to the brightness of Your dawn. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

Scripture and sermon and synopsis

We are Bound to Worship

On Christmas Eve we shall consider the worship of angels (2.13-14) and of shepherds (Luke 2.20) in the Christmas story. And we look forward to the singing of the heavenly hosts with all of us together, forever, on that Day when He comes again (Rev. 5.13)

Reflections (for back cover)

“How can God stoop lower than to come and dwell with a poor humble soul? Which is more than if he had said, such a one should dwell with him; for a beggar to live at court is not so much as the king to dwell with him in his cottage.”—William Gurnall

Order of Worship for Christmas Eve Communion

The following service is adapted for worship in the Presbyterian Church in America from the Lessons and Carols of King’s College, Cambridge

The Ministry of the Word

Prelude

The Welcome

The Advent Candle Lighting

The Readings and Prayer

The Chiming of the Hour

The Voluntary for Silent Prayer

* The congregation stands.

*The Call to Worship

*The Processional Hymn of Praise “Once in Royal David’s City” (verse 1 solo, congregation and choir on verses 2-5)

*The Invocation

The congregation is seated.

The Confession of Sin and Words of Assurance

The Lord’s Prayer

The Lessons and Carols

Reader One: The Fall and the Promise, Selections from Genesis 3, “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear”

Reader Two: The Covenant with Abraham, Selections from Genesis 22, “Angels from the Realms of Glory”

Reader Three: The Prophet foretells of a coming Savior, Selections from Isaiah 9, “I Wonder as I Wonder” (by Choir)

Reader Four: The Visitation of Mary, Selections from St. Luke 1, “What Child is This?”

Reader Five: The Angelic Visitation to Shepherds, Selections from St. Luke 2, Medley of “While Shepherds Watched their Flock by Night,” and “Away in a Manger”

Reader Six: The Wise Men Find Jesus, Selections from Matthew 2, “We Three Kings of Orient Are”

*The congregation stands.
*Reader Seven: St. John unfolds the Great Mystery of the Incarnation, St. John 1.1-14, selected verses from “O Come All Ye Faithful” and “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” and “Noel”

Minister: The Lord be with you!

People: And also with you.

Minister: Let us give the greeting of peace in the name of Jesus Christ.

The Greeting

The Christmas Eve Meditation

The Offertory

The Ministry of the Table

The Instructions

The Reading of the Institution

The Pastoral Prayers

Sursum Corda

The Dedications

The Bread

The Cup

The Communion Prayer

*The Hymn “Silent Night” with candles

*The Benediction and Dismissal

Postlude

A New Book by Mike Milton

Get the new book on theology and life, which includes stories, ideas, and reflections by Mike Milton:Small Things, Big Things: Inspiring Stories of God’s Grace (P&R Publishing, December 2009).

More pastoral resources and theological reflections, written and audio-visual, are located at:

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July 25, 2009

Guffaw the Goat and “The Prodigal Son” for Children

images I wrote this story for Vacation Bible School at First Presbyterian Church of Chattanooga. I loved telling it as much as writing it. I have enjoyed writing Gospel stories where I use animals to draw the children into the story. I pray it might be of some good to someone.

Remember it must be delivered with the joy of one who, himself or herself, has been reclaimed by Christ!

How much are you worth to God? If someone doesn’t know God or has stopped obeying Him and not wanting His love, Jesus shows us, in three stories, about how much the Father loves you and wants you to love Him.

Jesus tells three stories: a story about a lost sheep, a story about a lost coin, and then finally a story about a lost son. Which do you think is most important? A lost sheep? A lost coin? Or a lost child? Right! Jesus told the story like that to really get our attention and to show how much He loves you.

Now before I get to the Bible story, I want to tell you about a little goat named Guffaw.

Guffaw was a little boy goat. Goats are called kid, so this was a kid named Guffaw. Well, Guffaw lived on a farm with a nice family and a nice owner named Danny who loved him and took care of him. Guffaw also ate very well. He loved the tasty oats his owner gave him each day (laced with black strap molasses) and every now and then he could reach his head through the gate to the garden and bite into some wonderful azalea bushes. Oh, that was a treat! But Guffaw was always looking over the fence to the outside of the farm. And do you know what he saw? Guffaw saw some crafty cats. Oh, these weren’t ordinary crafty cats, but very crafty cats, bad crafty cats, mysterious crafty cats. These crafty cats had a bad attitude! The crafty cats, one black and one grey, were named Grimy and Grumbler. They had escaped from their homes and just rambling about the way crafty cats do. They looked so free, so happy. “If only I could be like those crafty cats,” thought Guffaw. “I could be a free and happy crafty kid!”Now I tell you again: Guffaw had it all: nice parents, nice owner, nice shed to sleep in and all of the oats he could eat with an occasion Azalea bush. But he kept thinking: if only I could be like Grimy and Grumbler the bad crafty cat. Well, one-day curiosity killed the kid, so to speak, and Guffaw jumped the fence! His father, Randolph, and his mother, Rhonda, saw him, but couldn’t stop him. They wept as he jumped that fence. His mother cried, “Oh, my little kid! We may never see him!” But Randolph his father help his mother in his arms and told her, “I will always wait and be here for little Guffaw. I will wait here by the gate for my kid.” Danny, the little farmer’s boy who was Guffaw’s owner didn’t find out until that afternoon when he came with his oats and black strap molasses. He, too, cried.Well, the day his parents wept and Danny wept was the day that was the day that Guffaw’s crafty adventure began. He followed the bad crafty cats around. He tried to keep up with them as they climbed trees, but a goat cannot climb a tree. He tried to keep up with them as they slept in the windowsill of the farmer’s house, but a goat just can’t get up into a windowsill. Pretty soon, all of the fun wasn’t so fun anymore. He just wanted to go back home. But following the crafty cats got him lost. They went way off into the woods where other crafty cats would gather under the moon and they would all scream and make wild cat sounds. That scared Guffaw. Then they gathered around and ate fried vulture feathers. Have you ever eaten a fried vulture feather? Crafty cats love them. And they ate them right out there in the moonlight in the woods making those screaming noises that wild crafty cats make. Not only did all of that scare Guffaw, but also he could not bring himself to eat fried vulture feathers. He preferred the tasty oats, sometimes laced with black strap molasses and the occasional rose bush, when he could stretch his neck that far. So Guffaw got terribly hungry. So he ate…fried vultures feathers. Yuk! Well, that it for him. The life of a crafty cat was not the life for a good little goat and he wanted nothing more than to just go home. But how could he ever do that? His owner, little Danny, would not take him back. His mother, Rhonda, surely would whip him severely. And his father, Randolph—well, he just couldn’t bear to see his father again. He would be so angry with him. No. His life was over. Ahah! He thought! I will be like a donkey to my owner! I will volunteer to pull his wagon! I will plow his field! I will be his donkey. And my father…well, I will just act like I am not his son.Well, he began his long trip out of the woods and back to the farm. He could still hear the sounds of the crafty cats screaming in the woods, but soon their screams were replaced by another sound…could it be? Yes! It was Danny’s voice! Danny his owner was calling for him: “He-e-re Guffaw! He-e-re little goat!” Guffaw let out a kid yell. How do you think he sounded? What did he holler out? (Bah—–). Right! Well, Danny started out after Guffaw, following the sound of his voice. And Guffaw heard him running and started running towards Danny. But just then: an amazing thing happened: he saw that Danny was holding his father, Randolph. And Randolph broke the leash that Danny had on him and ran at his son! Would he whip Guffaw? No-o-o-o-o-o—o-o-! He licked Guffaw all over and told him, “O my little kid, I love you and I have been waiting for you to come home. I am glad you are my kid.”Guffaw went back to the farm and his mother also licked him all over and nuzzled him and Danny fed him some oats.And the Azaleas were just beginning to bloom.

I hoped you liked that story about Guffaw. You know Jesus told a story too. He told a story about—not a goat—but a boy. And that boy wanted to leave and go to a far country. He took his allowance and left home. He blew all of his allowance with bad, crafty people in that far away land. But then bad times came. And Jesus said that he had to take care of some pigs and for a Jewish boy taking care of pigs was about as bad as it gets. But it got worse. He had to eat pig food because he got so poor. So, he thought: even the servants have it better than I do. I will return and be a servant. As he went back home, though, he saw a beautiful sight. He saw his father. And his father was running to meet him. He had been waiting for him. He would not even listen to him talk about being a servant. Instead, he called him, “My son.”

Now Jesus told this story to show us how God loves us even when we go away from Him. And He also wanted us to see that He wants us to come to Him, not as servants, but as sons and daughters, something much better than we could ever hope for.

Have you come home to Jesus in your heart? Turn from staying away from him, turn from sin, and turn towards Jesus and trust Him by faith. Jesus will always forgive you. But even more than that, like the good father, Jesus will come searching for you. Maybe He is doing that right now. Come home.

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October 29, 2008

Follow Your Call: A New Musical Release

After three years of off and on recording, Follow Your Call is set for national release on December 15th, 2008. For the second time I work with Eric Parker and Music for the Missions label. The album focuses on a theme of following the call as we seek to make sense of and trust in the grace of God in a troubled world. Michael Card wrote that the music is like a shepherd leading his flock with song. And so that is really the heart of this album. Personal, reflective, and yet universal in its appeal. That is the hope.

We give thanks to the Lord and entrust the work to the Lord and to the Word of His grace. A portion of proceeds will go to the ministry of preparing the next generation of pastors and missionaries at Reformed Theological Seminary. For that reason alone it is worth the price.

Producers: Steve Babb and Fred Schendel

Executive Producer: Michael Anthony Milton

Label: Music for Missions

Publicity and Management: Rhonda Kelley and Rainmaker Publicity

Distribution Management: Music for Missions

Design: Breakaway Design Group

Retail: Amazon (effective October 28th), and all other major online marketers (including iTunes) and Barnes and Noble (national release on December 15th)

Special Arrangments: Orders through Mindandheart.com, the online bookstore of Reformed Theological Seminary, helps the ministry of students at RTS

An album insert booklet with linear notes is available here.

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October 31, 2008

An Election Day Sermon 2008

An Election Day Sermon 2008

There is a tradition in our nation of preaching Election Day Sermons, and this American tradition is one that is based upon the teachings of Christ and should not be abandoned. Yes, we have learned that putting your trust in politics will lead to disaster. Equally disastrous would be ignoring God’s clear warnings concerning the responsibilities of God’s people in this world.

I want to share these thoughts especially with pastors who will stand in the pulpits of our land in these days when our people will elect their leaders.

Historian Joel Headly wrote,

“These [Election] sermons were as much a part of the stately and imposing ceremonies as the election itself. The clergy were not a whit behind the ablest statesman of the day in their knowledge of the great science of human government. The publication of these sermons in a pamphlet form was a part of the regular proceedings of the assembly, and being scattered abroad over the land, clothed with the double sanction of their high authors and the endorsement of the legislature, became the text books of human rights in every parish.” (As quoted from an article by Tim Ewing)

Forgetting the works of God is a very dangerous business. Impatience with God brings disaster. As our nation faces an election, those of us who preach the unsearchable riches of Jesus would do well to join in that great American Puritan and Reformed tradition of Election Day Sermons. In it we are called, as we read about in Psalm 106, to recall the mighty deeds of the Lord and declare His praise (v. 2) from the pulpit. If we who are shepherds do not guide our flock to remember God in the founding of this nation and in the covenant our forefathers made with God for this land, then our grandchildren’s children will rise up and say of our generation, But they soon forgot His works; they did not wait for His counsel”(v. 13).

Yes, and it will be said of us: He gave them what they asked (v. 15). Shepherds guide. Shepherds lead. Shepherds point out the way. In Psalm 106 shepherds recall, before the people, how God saved them for His name’s sake, that He might make known His mighty power (v. 8). Why do we not recall John Winthrop on the Arbella recounting his City on a Hill sermon (1630)?

Why do we not recall that first winter and the provision of God to our forefathers? Or should we not point out the sins of our fathers that led them to wander from God’s way? They in turn received “what they asked” and were led into a “wasting disease” as when our forefathers abandoned the system of every man working to feed his own family, rather than working for a collective. Yet this happened and this failed! This short-lived experiment in socialism failed and the people almost starved. Today people play with the ideas of wealth re-distribution and deny the Biblical injunctions that a man ought to work to eat.

Freedom, the essential character of man, is done away with as we surrender our own good ambitions to feed an inhuman governmental structure. Our forefathers learned from their sins. A government by the people and for the people was formed. This is not meddling in things outside of the church, my Beloved, it is preaching the truth to a generation who has forgotten. Shall we dare gloss over the matter of character in those whom we elect to govern us?

Were the saints in Acts 6 told by the holy apostles to pick out from among you seven men of good repute (Acts 6:3)? In this very passage, Acts 6:3 and the matter of picking our leaders, we find the Biblical injunction of not only representation (which we must cherish as a God given right that governments have taken from the people when the people have abrogated that right of electing their own leaders), but also responsibility in choosing those who will lead us!

Quite clearly we find the Biblical view that our leaders should be men of godly character. “But,” I hear someone saying, “Paul is talking about the church! This is not about civic leaders.” Do you think, then, that in our relationship with God as a people that we should elect ungodly leaders? The Word of God, in Proverbs 29 tells us: When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan (Proverbs 29:2). If a king faithfully judges the poor, his throne will be established forever. When the wicked increase, transgression increases (Proverbs 29:14,16).

Did not Israel suffer under Saul’s oppressive rule? Did not the very kingdom of David, under whose governance Israel enjoyed her golden years all the way through his son Solomon (who prayed for wisdom and did receive it, though he sinned in many ways), split in two when Rehoboam disdained godly counsel to become a “servant” to the people (1 Kings 12:6-7)? Instead of listening to this from the “old men” (v. 6), the king gathered his cronies around him who told him to lay a heavy yoke on the people (v. 11). Over and over again, we see the outcome of ungodly leadership.

Yes, in answer to a popular rhetorical question that arose a few years ago, character does matter!

It matters whether a man supports laws that promote abortion. Concerning the questions before us in this election, it does matter where we go to church, who we associate with, what our marriage is like, how we have reared our children, and who we gather around us as advisors and how we listen to those advisors. All of these things and more should be laid out before our people. We must guide the precious flock of Christ and we must speak as prophets to the nation, not just through how to rear their children and how to get along with their wives, but also how to come into the voting booth.

Or we will, as shepherds, in the name of supposed “separation of church and state” halt on the matter of preaching this part of the whole counsel of God. God forbid! For what is at stake, not only now in this presidential election, but in every election? What is at stake, among other things, is our faithfulness to the covenant that our fathers made with God that this nation should be a light, a Gospel light, to the world. What is at stake is also the ability of the Church to go forward with the Gospel without the unwanted element of governmental intrusion into the Church, or, in the last and most heinous case: martyrdom.

“But don’t we fare better when the Church is up against the wall? Isn’t it true that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church?” Yes on both counts. But that is not what you really want for your children, is it? Indeed, we are told to pray for a peaceful government that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:2,3).

This is our calling, dear pastors! This is our calling, seminarians. This is our calling, lay leaders, elders, and vestrymen. Our calling is, contrary to the ideas of some who prefer peace over truth, to advise the flock on the Biblical injunctions concerning our responsibilities in self-government. But after we have done all, and the lot is cast, the matter is in the hands of the Lord. We pray for our president no matter his party or our choices.

That is another Biblical injunction, to pray for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions (1 Timothy 2:1, 2) because these leaders are “God’s servant for [our] good” (Romans 13:4). Indeed we must be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God (Romans 13:1). Then, on November 5th, however the lot was cast, God will be on the throne. The Gospel mandate of the Church will not depend on this man or that man in Washington, but on the sovereign Lord who is building His kingdom and will not be stopped until the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ (Revelation 11:15).

Thus, as we do what we are called to do, in our relationship with God and with man, in worshipping Him on the Lord’s Day in the sanctuary, as well as serving Him on election day in the voting booth, Christ Jesus reigns forever and ever.

Thou Great I AM, Fill my mind with elevation and grandeur at the thought of a Being with whom one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day,

Let me live a life of dependence onThyself, mortification, crucifixion, prayer.

Almighty God, who, amidst the lapse of worlds, and the revolutions of empires, feels no variableness, but is glorious in immortality.

Turn my heart from vanity, from dissatisfactions, from uncertainties of the present state, to an eternal interest in Christ.

Give me a holy avarice to redeem the time, as I pray for all of our candidates and their families study the issues, the character, the principles of Your Word and the principles that they embrace, and exercise the gift of self government as a gift from Thee.

The let me do my duty and leave the matter to Thee.

(A prayer based on and adapted to this message from the Valley of Vision “The Infinite and the Finite” [pp. 190-191])

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November 5, 2008

Portrait of a Minister Approved by Christ Jesus: 1 Timothy 4.6-16

In seminary we talk about “outcomes.” We mean to say that we have a portrait in our minds of the graduate, the minister of the Gospel, that we want to see at the end of theological seminary. Indeed, our work then begins with that end in mind. And so too did Paul have a end in mind, a portrait, a learning “outcome” if you will, when he wrote to Pastor Timothy, engaged in a tremendous struggle for truth at Ephesus. And so, we have before us, today, God’s very own Word for us, for our time, for our lives.

A reading from 1 Timothy 4:6-16:

If you put these things before the brothers, [1] you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. 9 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. For to this end we toil and strive, [2] because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.

Command and teach these things. Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, [3] so that all may see your progress. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.

Getting it Right

It is important to get the right portrait of the right person.

Once upon another life, before I was a minister, I did a lot of other things. Once I was a caricature artist. One day, as I was pursuing my work amidst a gaggle of people all gathered around me at a fall festival, I was commissioned by a father to draw his child. I began to draw the person in front of me. It was a tremendous portrait, if I do say so myself. There was only one small problem: when I handed the portrait to the father he said, “This is not my daughter.” I had drawn the wrong kid. The portrait was a perfect rendition of the child in front of me, but it was not the man’s daughter! It is important to get the picture right!

We know that as fathers. And so we look to the model of fatherhood in the Bible to draw a portrait of the man we should be. We look to the Bible to get the right portrait of a godly mother and wife and everything else in life.

It is important to get the portrait of a pastor. We may all sorts of ideas about what a pastor should do or shouldn’t do, what he should or shouldn’t look like.

Once I was getting my haircut and I discerned that the barber was not a Christian, indeed had little or no background in the faith. As we were talking, I felt I had finally broken through, when he said, “May I ask you a question?” “Yes, of course,” I said with some hope for a breakthrough! “Do all priests and monks and ministers like you have this little round place that cut out in the back of their heads?” Well, he had the wrong picture of a minister to be sure!

It is important that we get the right picture, the right portrait of what God is calling us to be. This is important for a seminary. This is important for a local church. It is important for your own walk with the Lord.

Now before you check out and say, “This is a good sermon for preachers, but since I am not a preacher this is not for me,” remember that God’s Word has something to say to every man and woman and boy and girl here today. For as the Lord give us a portrait of a minister approved by God, we also see features of the believer approved by God.

Context and depth and perception are important in painting. It is so here. You see, in 1 Timothy 4.1-5 Paul painted a portrait of apostasy. So he turns to Timothy in 4.6-16 and paints the portrait of faithfulness to resist the apostasy and even to save himself and others from the deadly consequences of such teaching.

And so it is in this context that St. Paul the Apostle instructs Pastor Timothy: “If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine.”

Because we live in a world of distorted images drawn by men, it is important to focus on the portrait of a pastor approved by God.

Paul speaks of Christ Jesus and calls him, in this passage, “the living God.” He emphasizes the divinity of our Lord Jesus by calling Him this. So let us follow Paul’s language and speak of a minister approved by Christ Jesus. Exactly, what are the features of this portrait of the Christ-approved pastor (and remember, we can take the same features and apply them to a “Disciple approved by Christ Jesus”)?

The first feature is this:

1. A Minister Approved by Christ Jesus is a Disciplined Minister (6-8)

The training that Paul speaks of in verse 9 is in fact “discipline.” One of the best books I have read on discipleship is based on this very verse and is called “Spiritual Disciplines of the Christian Life.” Paul is calling for Timothy to be practiced, disciplined, trained as he goes out.

The minister is not naturally given to the life of servanthood and sacrifice and trial that is going on at Ephesus. He must be “trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine.” Moreover we read in verse 7 that he should be “trained in godliness.”

At RTS we call this training outcome “a mind for truth and a heart for God.” This is the Pauline combination of faith, doctrine as well as godliness. But what is clear is that God expects training to be in place for ministers and in fact for all of God’s people, but especially for Ministers of the Gospel.

I once had a young deacon, naive about the ministry and sadly ignorant about the Word of God, tell me, “I see you give a speech a couple a times per week and then get all this vacation time. This sounds like a pretty good gig to me! Where do I sign up?”

Well. In the training of Timothy, Paul trained him in order to bring about God’s kingdom to a most unruly situation. Just look in 1 Timothy and see what this man faced:

Timothy faced false teachers in 1.3-11
Timothy faced the need to be transparent, like Paul, in laying his life bare before enemies in order that they might become, like Paul, a trophy of God’s grace, in 1.12-17; and he would have to learn that the power of Jesus to plant churches and revitalize churches lies not in his strength, but in the power of Jesus moving through a broken man before the cross;
Timothy must hold to the faith with a good conscience in spite of hardship and in the presence of others who are slipping away (1.18-20);
Timothy must deal with controversies in worship (2);
Timothy must address the issue of how to integrate faith and politics, in praying for kings and all in authority (2.1-2);
Timothy must untangle the messy problem of women in teaching positions in the Church and he had to address the issue of the role relationships of men and women in ordained ministry (2.8-15);
Timothy had to make sure that the people knew the qualifications for elders and deacons as well as the deacons’ wives (3); and just to go up to our text and not go any further…Timothy had to face off with demon possessed false teachers who were deceiving the flock and imposing ungodly rules about marriage and diet!

Now. Who wants to apply to be a minister? We can see why James says, “Let not many of you become teachers…(James 3.1).

The Bible is clear. The work of the Gospel is opposed by Satan, not naturally accepted by the flesh, and resisted by the minister himself, once he comes into contact with the demonic and the anti Christian attitudes of not just the world, but those who bring the world into the Church!

In order to face these perils, we must encourage men who are called to be ministers to submit their lives to other pastor-scholars for an extended period. During this time there will be Pauline-like oversight, instruction, and spiritual formation in order to produce the soldier of the Lord for the battles we face in our own day. For in the training up of ministers, we build up the Church.

But let me ask you: How do you approach your life as a believer? No, you may not be called, but you are a soldier in the army of the Lord as well. The answer drawn from this and many other places in the Word of God is that you too need training. For some of you that may even mean coming to a seminary like RTS Charlotte. But for most it means sitting regularly under the preaching of the Word of God right here. It means involvement in a small group or Sunday School class. It means daily Bible study and time with God in His Word. It means seasons of prayer, formulated from the Word itself.

Someone asked me not too long ago, as they were facing a remarkably difficult time in their church, “How can we find discernment and wisdom to make the right decision?” I replied that the answer was not just prayer, but the answer is, “The man who can rise to the occasion to lead in times of trial is the man who has been trained to do so, through time spent with God.”

That is what we are trying to produce at RTS Charlotte. But, my beloved, that is what you are to be as well.

How are you doing in your training in godliness?

So this is the first feature: Discipline. Now look at the second feature of this Scriptural portrait:

2. A Minister Approved by Christ Jesus is a Diligent Minister (10)

For we read in verse 10, “For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.”

The minister approved by Christ Jesus is one who is not just diligent in keeping busy. He is not diligent in becoming a veritable ringmaster of programs and executive oversight of a religious store. No. This man is diligent in preaching Jesus Christ as the Savior of all people.

It was Lesslie Newbigin who said that if the Church does not exist to fulfill God’s purposes on earth then it ceases to be the Church. And we must say that this passage would lead us to affirm that and to add that if a minister is not toiling and striving to preach Jesus as Savior to the whole world, if a minister is not looking to preach Jesus as Savior to his flock, to his community, and also to the whole world, if he is not a global-minded minister concerned about the purposes of Jesus Christ in the earth, then he ceases to be a minister of Christ.

I am a reserve Army chaplain. Recently I did my duty at my new duty station at the Pentagon. While there I talked to a number of our military leaders. And I heard over and over again that one thing they are concerned about is that our nation seems to forget that we are at war. Things look peaceful because there are no firefights in the streets of New York. And many in the media seem to focus on other things. But the truth is we are at war. Our troops are holding the peace we won in Iraq and battling with Islamic fundamentalists in Afghanistan, and in other parts of the world. They were telling me that we are acting like we are at peace. But we are at war. And thus we must work and pray and support our troops in the battle.

And one of the greatest devices of the devil is to make us believe that we are at peace. But the Bible tells us that we are in a spiritual warfare. And we are all soldiers in the Army of the Lord. Our work is spiritual, not physical. And our weapons are supernatural. And the work of the minister is to toil and strive to preach Jesus as Savior to the world. This is a ministry and a minister and a believer’s work that is approved by God.

The first feature was disciple and the second diligence. A third feature of the portrait is this:

3. A Minister Approved by Christ Jesus is a Godly Minister (12)

Nothing could be more plain when we read these words:

“Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.”

Before Paul gets to doctrine, Paul focuses on life. Because if you can recite the Shorter Catechism backwards or for that matter recite the whole book of Psalms perfectly but you have not love, have not godliness in your speech and in your faith in Jesus and in purity of life, what good is it? Indeed, all of the doctrine in the world is useless without godliness. And so Paul begins with a heart for God.

At RTS we like to say that we want to produce men who indeed have a mind for truth, but also pastors who have a heart for God. And if we have a heart for God we will want to please Him with our very lives.

Recently I spoke to a young woman who is at our seminary to be trained to become a missionary. She wants to minister to Muslims in the middle east. She has come here to get her doctrine, to be trained in the things of God, to learn the Bible’s teachings, to sit under godly pastor-scholars in order to be filled with the truth of Christ’s teachings so that she can bring that teaching to others. But before she did that, she first had a love of Islamic peoples. Love drove her to learning. Love drove her to minister.

And this, my beloved, is the pattern in the Word of God.

“For God so loved the world, that He sent His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but will have eternal life.”

Love led Jesus to come to us. Love of Christ leads us to love others. And love leads us to minister.

And whether you are old or young, eloquent or plain, people will not despise those who come to them in love.

And we must produce pastors who love.

But you also must love Christ and love others in order for them to receive your message.

Here is a fourth and final feature I would draw your attention to in Paul’s portrait:

4. A Minister Approved by Christ Jesus is a Devoted Minister (13-16)

In the last 3 verses of this passage, Paul calls Timothy to “devote yourself,” to “not neglect the gift you have,” to “Practice these things, devote yourself to them,” and to “Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching,” and finally to “Persist in this” for in doing so you will save yourself and your hearers.

To be called to the ministry is to be called to a life of devotion. Indeed, to be called to be a Christian is to be called to a life of devotion.

We must all be devoted to the Word of God. For the minister he is to devote himself, as we see here, to the public ministry of the Word, to reading it as well as preaching it. I believe that the minister of the Gospel is to be so involved with the public ministry of the Word in worship that nothing in the service goes outside of his purview.

I was the 12^th pastor since 1838 when I served at First Presbyterian Church of Chattanooga. One of my predecessors was Dr. James Fowle. And I have heard, by those who sat under his ministry during the late 40s all the way through 1968, that he apparently spent as much time working on the pastoral prayer as he did the sermon. And some said he spent as much time on practicing the reading of the Scriptures as he did in preaching them!

But this is an example of what the Bible is saying. We aim to produce ministers who hear this message. In an age where so many want to be entertained by pastors who have become more talk show host that pastor, we believe that pastors ought to spend time in the Word and lead worship according to the Word of God. And for all of us, as the people of God, where is our focus in worship? Where is our focus in discipleship? It must be in the Bible. Too often preachers give the people what they want. And some of the bizarre things that have come into the church have come because preachers have given in to the strange, television-influenced cravings of our people. Oh that God would raise up a generation of Christians who demand the Word of God in worship. Then would our pastors become all the more encouraged in doing what God has called them to do: to be devoted to the public reading of the Word of God.

We must also be devoted to watching over our own lives. The devil goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. And lions like weak prey. And a minister who has lost his way, stopped devoting himself to the Word and to prayer, lost his love of Gospel of grace in his own life, lost the love of his flock, and lost a love of the lost and of seeing the Kingdom of Jesus going to the ends of the earth, is like a wounded gazelle who has strayed from the herd. He is a prime target for the crouched lion to spring at him and rip him to shreds. And the percentage of ministers who are falling is astounding. It is in fact epidemic. A study was revealed by the Schaeffer Institute study:

“…30 % [of pastors they interviewed] said they had either been in an ongoing affair or a one-time sexual encounter with a parishioner.”

We must devote ourselves to Jesus each and every day. Oh that Christ would take me home to be with Himself rather than let me fall into sin and hurt my wife and son and our children and our seminary and our Church and the Body of Christ. But it doesn’t have to be that way¾for me or for you¾if we devote ourselves to the faith personally and privately each and every day and all through the day. The prayed up preacher, the prayed over believer, is safe from the fiery darts of the devil.

Keep watch over yourselves.

But we must also surely devote ourselves to the teaching of Jesus Christ. It is so easy to preach a “do this and do that” religion rather than the Gospel of God’s grace. Remember that this is what is before Timothy and what has precipitated this charge. There were those who were teaching that holiness came from doing certain religious things. Refrain from this and follow this rule. But the Gospel is that nothing can provide the righteousness we need but the life of Jesus. Nothing can take away our guilt before a holy God but the blood atonement of Jesus Christ at Calvary, where He died as a sacrificial lamb on the Cross. Nothing but faith in Him, this Savior of the World, this Christ Jesus, this divine God-Man, this carpenter from Nazareth who is God, can save us from our sins.

This we preach to others. This we preach to ourselves. And if we persist in doing this¾that is if we continue in this doctrine of salvation by faith alone in Christ alone through grace alone to God’s glory alone¾we shall save ourselves and those who hear us.

Conclusion

The portrait of a minister approved by God is clearly shown to us. But is this not, I say again, a picture of a passionate believer? Is this not what Christ is calling all of us to be?

- Disciplined in our training for the field of ministry?

-Diligent in our laboring in the field of ministry?

-Godly in our example before the flock?

-Devoted to the Great Commission?

But let me leave you with a portrait of a young man in our seminary who came to me. He said that he had made a trip after he graduated college right here in South Carolina. He said that he and a buddy flew to California and drove back, just to see the country. And they stopped in Salt Lake City. They took the tour of the Mormon Tabernacle. While there, as he listened to the young lady give the tour and speak of a faith that seemed so far from the grace of Jesus, it overwhelmed him and he had to leave. And he told me that he wept. He wept that so much was being given for a lie. And he wept for the people who were not hearing the beautiful grace of Jesus Christ offered to all who would simply receive this free gift. He told me, “I think that God wants me to plant a church. I hurt for these people. There are more Bible believing, grace centered Christians in Egypt than in Utah. That breaks my heart.” I could see the pain but also the passion in this young man as he spoke. Then he said, “Is it just boastful and wrong to think this way? You see I think that the Gospel guarantees success. I am not saying that I am going to be the greatest church planter, wherever the Lord sends me, but I am saying that the Gospel is more powerful and more compelling to hurting people than all of this?”

No, son. It is not wrong to boast in Jesus’ power to transform human beings and to build His Church in the midst of false teaching and even apathy. It is not naïve to believe that the Gospel of God’s grace will save human beings. And it is not wrong to weep for the lost, and to be bold in Jesus to save them. It is not wrong. It is, in fact, the portrait in 1 Timothy 4/6-16: it is the portrait of a pastor with a heart for God’s word, a passion for God’s world, and a commitment to God’s grace¾all wrapped in a love for the Savior who lived the life you could never live and who died an atoning death for your sins. What a picture. That is what we want to draw with the pen of God’s Word and God’s Spirit at our seminary. That is the portrait of a minister approved by God. And let us be sure we understand this: this is also the portrait of a disciple of Jesus whatever your role is in the Body of Christ. This is a portrait of a true believer approved by Christ Jesus.

But my beloved, is this a portrait of your life?

Richard J. Krejcir, “What is Going on with Pastors in America?” (Schaeffer Institute, http://www.intothyword.org/apps/articles/default.asp?articleid=36562&columnid=3958), accessed on November 3, 2008.

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November 20, 2008

A Thanksgiving Thought

One of my favorite preachers is the 19^th century Scottish preacher-boy, Robert Murray M’Cheyne, who ministered at St. Peter’s, Dundee. M’Cheyne once wrote:

“Unfathomable oceans of grace are in Christ for you. Dive and dive again, you will never come to the bottom of these depths. How many millions of dazzling pearls and gems are at this moment hid in the deep recesses of he ocean caves” (See Gracegems.org for the fragment from M’Cheyne’s sermon on Hebrews 12.2).

To me, Thanksgiving is a time to dive for the “dazzling pearls” of blessing in the “deep recesses of the ocean caves” of circumstance.

I have seen much of this here. I have seen students sacrificing careers and homes to follow Jesus to this place of preparation. I have shared in your tears of wanting to know God’s will for your lives and laughed with you over God’s good providences, and dreamed with you about how your life in God’s hand could be used to bring the grace you know to others. I have, in short, witnessed so many of you diving for “dazzling pearls” in the “ocean caves” of circumstance.

Paul told us to “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5.18 ESV).

This Thanksgiving is not only a national holiday, not only a day to feast on Turkey and dressing, not only a lazy day to watch the Detroit Lions play, or a day to endure that cousin you only (have to) see this time of year. It is a special time for believers in Jesus Christ to do what we are called to do: to give thanks. It is a day to dive into the “unfathomable oceans of grace” and discover the meaning of God’s grace in the sometimes-murky, unfathomable underwater caverns of life. And to give thanks. Giving thanks in those places is a sign of the Spirit at work. And when I see it in your lives, I give thanks. And I see it often.

God bless you. And Happy Thanksgiving.

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November 23, 2008

A Theology of God’s Love: The Blessings of Justification in Romans 5.1-11

We come to the fifth chapter of Romans and in this magnificent chapter we will take away truths that will transform life and culture and I would say that the very idea of government and democracy and literature and all of Western Civilization could rest on this one chapter. For in it we find the unconditional love that has shaped our understanding of common commitment, of sacrifice for one’s family and country, of representative government and federal headship, and of a grace that has produced the very gentility and civility, which must mark a free people. All of this and more I could link to Romans chapter five.

And all of these are based upon doctrines derived from the Word of God. But we have heard it said that doctrine divides (and it does divide between truth and error). Dorothy Sayers (1893-1957), one of my favorite of the 20^th century essayist and authors, like her friends CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien, had quite a bit to say about doctrine. In fact, she wrote a book about the importance of the centrality of it and called it Creed or Chaos. It was a rallying cry for her own Church of England ministers to stand up and speak the truth to the world. She wrote these very robust words about doctrines:

Let us, in Heaven’s name, drag out the Divine Drama from under the dreadful accumulation of slipshod thinking and trashy sentiment heaped upon it, and set it on an open stage to startle the world into some sort of vigorous reaction. If the pious are the first to be shocked, so much the worse for the pious — others will enter the Kingdom of Heaven before them. If all men are offended because of Christ, let them be offended; but where is the sense of their being offended at something that is not Christ and is nothing like Him? We do Him singularly little honor by watering down till it could not offend a fly. Surely it is not the business of the Church to adapt Christ to men, but to adapt men to Christ.[1]

And so we must never be ashamed of the doctrines of the Word of God. There are areas where men of good will disagree, but on the whole most Christians can agree on most of the doctrines of the Bible. And Romans chapter five is a veritable tree loaded with precious life giving doctrinal fruit.

But I have only a short while with you and so let us look at one aspect of this chapter and it may be one that we often overlook: love.

One can hardly talk about love without thinking about Hollywood. I like the old Irene Dunne and Cary Grant movies like Penny Serenade (my favorite), My Favorite Wife, and The Awful Truth. But the Hollywood love of those movies finally went the way of the movie code of conduct. And in its place came something else. Love was no longer leading to assumed life long commitment in marriage, but love that was undefined, and often disconnected to marriage, and thus lacks meaning other than the most fleshly and base emotions. Thinking of CS Lewis’s Four Loves[2] in which he compares and contrasts the Greek words for love (3 of them in the Bible, and 1 in Greek literature)[3], Hollywood love went from Eros love (romantic love) connected to agape love (covenant love) to Eros without agape.

And theology can be like that. Doctrine and can become disconnected from what we think of as God’s love or God’s blessings. But true divine love is grounded in God’s revelation of Himself and His plan of salvation.

What we are going to learn today is a theology of love in Romans Chapter Five. The love of God comes from a commitment He made to us and fulfilled in Jesus Christ. He said that He would do what we could not and that he would give us a heart of flesh instead of hearts of stone. And so we let us look at Romans chapter 5. You will notice that there are three “therefores” in the text. One if at verse one, another at verse 12, and yet another at verse 18. These serve as divisions in the movement of the passage each referring to a previously put thought and working it out further. So the whole passage, and indeed, the first “therefore” builds on Romans 4.23-25:

“But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Romans 4.23-25 ESV).

So from this anchor verse we move into Romans 5. There I would draw your attention to what I believe is the active bonding agent that is holding these three major divisions of thought all together and it is as I have said, “love.”

- Romans 5.5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

- Romans 5.8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

What I want us to see this morning is that God’s love is active, moving, breathing forth blessing to those who have believed and thus been justified. You might also call this whole chapter “The blessings of Being Put Right with God.” But I will stick to “A Theology of God’s Love.”

- Read Romans 5.1-11

- Prayer of Illumination

Gracious God, we do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from your mouth. Make us hungry for this heavenly food, that it may nourish us today in ways of eternal life; through Jesus Christ,  the bread of heaven. Amen.[4]

Introduction to the Message

I believe that Dr. John Guest (who preached at my inauguration and is the Rector of Christ Church at Grove Farm in Sewickley, PA) was absolutely right when he wrote that the greatest thing that people still need to hear in our world is that God loves them.[5]

I believe this is so because religion teaches that God is austere and hard to please and unapproachable. Thus if have sinned, we are in the situation of a child who has a severe parent and it becomes easier to lie or to deny sin than to admit it. But God’s love will break through such religion and break through such wrong notions if this Romans 5 is set loose.

I believe that this is so because there are those who have been so hurt by someone that they have transferred this to God and believe that He doesn’t love them.

I believe that this is so because there are those who have been trapped by the devil and deny the very spirit in them and the stars in the heavens and deny that there is a God. They therefore cannot know of any such love as the God we have in Jesus Christ.

And so let us see and experience (can we just study this without being moved?) Romans chapter 5.1-11 as a theology of God’s love which flows from the doctrine of justification by faith alone in Christ alone, that everyone needs to hear, to believe, and to receive.

To be justified by God is then to joyfully affirm the blessings of this unfathomable mine of God’s agape love. And I believe that this could be called An Affirmation of God’s Love. Note five articles of this great affirmation of doctrinal love in Romans 5.1-11:

1. First in a theology of God’s love (in verses 1-11) I now affirm that God is on my side

This is an all-encompassing article of the affirmation of God’s love but could anything be more clear? Here we come to see that being justified with God through Jesus Christ places us in a position where the wrath of God is removed. This one thought is repeated in each of the other articles. And let us move quickly to see them. And as we do we come to the second affirmation of God’s love:

2. I have peace with God (1, 6-11)

No writer in the New Testament deals with reconciliation (11) like St. Paul. It is the breaking down of the wall of separation between God and Man through Jesus Christ.

- Romans 5.11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

- Romans 11.15 For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?

- 2Corinthians 5.18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;

- 2Corinthians 5.19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

But exactly what is going on in this? I once saw this depicted through a drawing of a canyon between a mountain called man and a mountain called God. The bridge dawn over the pit, was called Christ. Christ had reconciled the two. But in the Bible the theology is more precise that this. It is that man’s fall has offended God and it is not that a bridge exists between two equally distant parties. The truth is that one of those entities, Man, is essentially unconcerned about it. It is not until God builds a bridge to Man and crosses it Himself and comes and leads Man across the bridge to God. For left to ourselves we would just make up a religion on our own little island.

It is not popular preaching but today all over the world the wrath of God is poured out over a human race that is against God. But in Christ God has come to those who have despised him. In fact, while we were still in our sins, God sent His Son to die for our sins.

You know I once had a quarrel with my wife. It was all my fault and it always is. But I felt terrible. But when I came to her she had already forgiven me. I was accepted by her before I ever came to her.

And God is not an angry sulking Deity hoping you will make up with Him and demanding justice. He is your Heavenly Father who created you, and who sent His Son to take your sins, to atone for your sins with His own blood. And He comes to you. When you finally say “Yes” to Him, you see that He had made up with you before you ever came. Strange theology I know. It is literally out of this world.

That you can affirm today. You have peace with God.

But there is more here:

3. I have access to God (2)

This love of God has come into my life and I can come to him through faith and through the condition of grace in which we now stand. Hearkening back to the explanation of justification in Chapter four Paul now says that this established a way for all of us to God (for he says “we” and surely he is meaning here that access is not through Jewish ritual or through Gentile superstitious works but only through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ).

In the Old Testament there were types and shadows given in order to show how we could approach God. But no man could see God and live. No man could approach God except Moses and the High Priests through the sacrificial system. Certainly common man could. But Jesus is our High Priest and thus we are told in Hebrews to come:

“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10.19-22).

I will never forget a friend of mine who is now 80 years old who is an heir to a food giant in our country. He used his inheritance in wicked and unwise ways. And he was known in Chattanooga as a partying man. But just the other day his wife reminded me that he came to me in tears, which she said that she had never seen over anything to do with God, and told of how he never thought he could come to God because he could never do enough to make up for the sin he had committed. But I didn’t have to say a thing because he told me that he had now heard of God’s covenant of grace and that he believed and that his sins were forgiven. He wanted to go and tell the session and he said I not only want to take vows to join the church I want to say something. Well he came to the session and what he said was something like this,

“You all know me. You know my sin. You know my horrible reputation in this town. I am ashamed. But I did not know about God’s plan of saving me through Jesus taking my sin and giving me his life. Well I have received that. I now am a child of God. He accepts me. I guess I have come to ask, ‘Will you accept me too?” There wasn’t a dry eye in the session room. Well after he was received as a member, he went before the congregation and said to them, “You don’t know me, but I have lived my whole life in rebellion against God. I am a sinner. But I now know the way to God. He loved me. Jesus took my sins. I just wanted you to know that if he could save a filthy sinner like me he can do it for anyone. Thank you.”

And he sat down. Some did not know that this man was listed as one of the wealthiest man in the state. But his wealth did not buy him access to God. Only grace could bring Him to God and free him from his guilt.

And that is a story for all of us and any of us who feel far from God. It is not what we do. It is quite simply what God has done for us that gives us access to Him.

But here is a third affirmation:

Still in verse two, the Apostle Paul says that we not only have access to God through faith but

4. I have a hope because of God (3-4)

“We rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” What does that mean? How do we rejoice in the glory of God?” Because as we see from the sentences that follow, the glory of God comes down, and God’s power goes to work in your life working all things together for good. You can hope because God will now take everything and, as Dr. Kennedy put it in a book, Turn it to Gold! [6]

In God’s glory suffering cannot stop God’s plans. Look at Jesus. He endured and so will we. The cross became the grave and the grave gave way to resurrection! Thus all of our sufferings from now on must be subjected to the glory of God that is at work in our lives as believers. The new motif for living in our lives is resurrection. That is why I believe that we ought to be the most optimistic of people! Nothing can stop the Gospel and nothing can ultimately stop the Gospel in your life!

Now there is a hope that says, “I hope the Detroit Lions win on Thanksgiving Day and I don’t fall asleep” but the truth is they will likely lose. They tend to do so each year. Not much hope there. But when I talked this week to three families who lost, in two cases their mothers and in another their father, I talked to them as people of hope. They hurt but they hoped. For in Christ thought we die yet shall we live. Even the grave cannot stop our hope. And it is a certain hope, not a groundless hope. Our hope is grounded in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

5. I have God’s love in my heart (5)

What a beautiful picture here. The theology of justification leads to God’s love being poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. But consider His love in you!

I was at the bank this week and doing some business. There was a new lady there I had not seen before. We were introduced and she helped me and suddenly she stopped me and said, “I sense the love of God here.” And I said that it was not me but Jesus who lived in me. And I told her that I bet she said that because she too was a follower of Jesus. And she said she was. What had happened was this: The Holy Spirit inside of her had recognized His own life in me. And in turn the Lord who lives in me attested to His life in her. We were suddenly aware that we were brother and sister in the Lord. Then she made a mistake in my account and had to call me to fix it! But she is still my sister in Christ.

Wherever you go on earth, you may not be able to speak the language of the person you meet, but if they have the love of God in them through Jesus Christ, you will know.

God’s love is in the world today. It is in the world through His Body, the Church. We are the incarnation of His love as through faith in Jesus, His love has been poured into us.

How filled are you with His love? Perhaps the answer is in admitting how empty you are of self. That is why we are to die to self so that God’s love can begin to live inside of us.

6. I have the gift of the Holy Spirit (5)

As we have just seen, we have something more: We have the Holy Spirit. Paul is saying that God is alive inside of us when we receive Jesus. Therefore, Paul will say later, we must walk in the Spirit. John says that we are sealed by the Spirit. Jesus says that the Spirit is our comforter. In short, the life of a believer is life in the Spirit.

And the means of grace, whereby we encourage His life in us is through devotion to Jesus. The more you focus on Jesus the more the Holy Spirit is awakened in you.

God is on my side. This will be stated very clearly by Paul in chapter 8 when he says “If God is for us who can be against us” but I am already seeing here that if you are justified by faith alone in Jesus’ finished work alone, something happens. God’s agape love, which is the word used here, is the love that knows no limits, a love that is has no conditions, and a love that will last forever.

Billy Graham said in his book on the Holy Spirit[7] that the absence of an assurance of salvation was one of the greatest problems he had seen in the lives of believers.

Calvin connected the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives with our adoption and with our assurance of salvation:

“The Spirit of God gives us such testimony that when he is our guide and teacher our spirit is made sure of the adoption of God; for our mind, of itself, without the preceding testimony of the Spirit, could not convey to us this assurance.” Comm. Rom. 8:16[8]

May I share something with you about this one article of our affirmation from Romans 5? You can live your life as a believer and miss this truth. Now He is still with you. But you can, as we now, quench the Spirit, and I am afraid one may ignore the power of His life in you. Whenever I accepted this call to come and lead this seminary, my whole weekly cycle of life and ministry was disrupted. My life centered around not only preaching but living in hospitals and nursing homes, with families in joyful times and sorrowful times. And I know that this is the man God has made me. I had to learn how to transition into a new pastoral role. But in that disruption, I began to spend more time with God. I began to understand the work of the Holy Spirit more in my life. I sought to listen more to Him than just to tell others about Him. I began to recognize Him.

Maybe you have had that in your life. Maybe it has come through illness, or the loss of a loved one, or a move. But you find yourself in a place where the busyness has ceased for a moment and you learn that Someone was always there.

The Holy Spirit is a gift that God has sent into your life.

Galatians 5.25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

Conclusion

I hope this hasn’t been a fire hose of truth. But I do hope we leave seeing that doctrine matters. And that doctrine brings blessing. And that justification by faith alone in Christ alone bring enormous blessings:

1. Knowing that God is for you

2. Peace with God

3. Access to God

4. Hope in God

5. God’s love in your heart

6. The gift of the Holy Spirit.

This past week I had three different people die from my former congregation. While I was delivering a message in Providence Rhode Island on textual criticism and expository preaching, I was on the phone off and on with several family members. And one of them had lost their mother, Miss Helen, as I called her. I last saw Miss Helen on New Year’s Day when I had heard that she had been sent to a rehabilitation center in Chattanooga. I sat with her and we talked. She hated to see me go but said she could see God’s work in this. 40 years previous, the congregation had called their pastor and he had declined. But Miss Helen was a woman in whom the doctrines of God came alive in a real way. She prayed and believed that this man was to come and be their pastor. So the minister, who was at another famous church, had prayed that he would only go if the Lord showed Him clearly in a letter that he should leave. And Miss Helen, who didn’t know that, wrote him that letter. And so he came. But then again she (and he) were people who kept in step with the Spirit. She was always smiling. And so she smiled as I walked out the door. “You are in God’s will Mike but I will never forget you. I loved your preaching Mike. You were such a blessing to me. Thank you. I love you.” And I walked out. As I talked to one of her sons this week I told him about that. He said that the children gathered around her. There were no tears from her. She said she was ready to see her Lord. And she seemed to know that He was there to take her hand. And she was smiling when He came. The blessings of God’s love follow us all the way home. And Justification has its benefits. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Bibliography

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November 27, 2008

The Refrain of Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving comes into our lives each year like a comfortable old friend. There is refrain to it all. But what are the words to that refrain in your life?

In Psalm 136 the refrain is the refrain of God’s grace: “Give thanks…for his steadfast love endures forever.”

I offer this sermon published by Preaching.com as a Thanksgiving resource for you with a prayer that the joyful refrain of your life is now and always, “Thank you Lord Jesus Christ for your grace!”

From yours truly and all of us here at RTS Charlotte: Happy Thanksgiving.

Remember that more pastoral resources and theological reflections, written, audio-visual, are located at:

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December 15, 2008

Follow Your Call Released Today and Dedicated to Christ

followyourcallcover By grace, God has allowed me to express ministry for His glory and, hopefully, others’ good through a variety of ways. One of those has been through music. Today, I give thanks to God, that a second album of reflections in music is released. Follow Your Call, on the label Music for Missions (where a portion of the profits are given, in my case, to Reformed Theological Seminary [RTS]), is now available through iTunes, Napster , Rhapsody, emusic and the rest, as well as in hard copies at Amazon (ordering through the Amazon portal, MindandHeart.com provides an added bonus to student needs by providing a portion of the sale to RTS).

Linear notes for Follow Your Call may be found here.

I know that some have a launch party. I missed that one. My wife hosted about 70 folks from our seminary community at our home and the idea of asking her to host another party seemed cruel! So, I launch this album today with a prayer. In this case, the prayer is taken from The Valley of Vision. The prayer is entitled “God’s Cause.” And so I borrow these words and my them, I trust, my own heart’s prayer about the Follow Your Call ministry project:

“Sovereign God,

Thy cause, not my own, engages my heart, and I appeal to thee with great freedom to set up thy kingdom in every place where Satan reigns;

Glorify thyself and I shall rejoice, for to bring honour to thy name is my sole desire.

O that all men might love and praise thee, that thou mightest have all glory…

Let sinners be brought to thee for thy dear name!

Lord, use me as thou wilt, do with me what thou wilt;

But, O, promote thy cause, let thy Kingdom come, let thy blessed interest be advanced in this world!

O do thou bring in great numbers to Jesus! Let me see that glorious day, and give me to grasp for multitudes of souls; let me be wiling to die to that end; and while I live let me labour for thee to the utmost of my strength, spending time profitably in this work, both in health and in weakness.

It is thy cause and kingdom I long for, not my own.

O, answer thou my request!”

And so I dedicate Follow Your Call to the interests of the Lord Jesus Christ on this day, December 15, 2008.

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December 19, 2008

Reformation Heritage Tour July 1-11, 2009

My wife and I, on behalf of Reformed Theological Seminary, are hosting a Reformation Heritage Tour. This wonderful travel and learning opportunity is scheduled for July 1-11, 2009. This once in a lifetime trip will begin in “Luther Land” in the shining renewed capital of Berlin, Germany. We will visit Luther’s famous seminary where I am hoping to lecture on “Justification by Faith Alone.” We will see the church door at Wittenburg and the Wartburg Castle where he wrote the anthem of the Reformation: A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.

After pausing to ponder the beauty of Heidelberg and worshipping there on the Lord’s Day, we will travel to Strasbourg where Martin Bucer taught and pastored. This relatively little known reformer, who was John Calvin’s teacher and pastor, is one of my favorites. We will tour the great cathedral before traveling on to Geneva. There we will join with believers from all over the world to participate in the Calvin 500 birthday celebrations of this great Reformer.

We will enjoy the Reformation monument, worship at St. Pierre’s (Calvin’s church), and hear a lecture on John Knox at the church where he pastored to an English exiled congregation after he fled for his life from his native Scotland. Then we will depart from beautiful Geneva for an overnight train ride through the Alps and arrive in Rome.

Why Rome on a Reformation Heritage tour? Well, Rome is the perfect place to get a context for the Reformation. We will enjoy the Vatican’s repository of Western Civilization’s greatest art and treasures. You will be able to visit some of the great sites of ancient and modern Rome.

All along the way we will enjoy devotionals, singing, and fellowship and there will be plenty of free time for shopping and sight-seeing on your own. Mr. Luther Bigby will serve as the official tour administrator, on-site at all times for your convenience. Combine all of this with top-of-the-line accommodations and plenty of elbow-room on the touring coach, and we promise you the trip of a lifetime.

I hope you will consider this tour of Germany, Switzerland and Rome as an investment in life long learning. Perhaps someone will even sponsor a student to go along!

A WORD OF APPRECIATION:

RTS hosted a tour this fall to Greece. Here are some sentences from a “thank you” note that one of the guests wrote us:

December 2008

Dear Friends - I have realized I have told just about everyone I know what a wonderful trip our October adventure was – and that I would never read the Bible the same way after having been in the places where Paul traveled/lived/ministered… I have not told YOU how much I enjoyed sharing the days with each of you! Wasn’t it just a great trip! So, THANK YOU! Luther – for all your planning and pre-arrangements. Lewis and Melissa – for your sharing of your many gifts with us, thus the smoothing over of any bumps in our international travels, anticipating and meeting our needs before we even knew we would have them!

John and Dennis for presenting fascinating studies about Paul and his letters and the necessary background info – and for being so patient in answering the myriad of questions from your students! To Charlie and Connie for being the go-to folks, who made it happen! And, to the rest of you brothers and sisters in Christ – thanks for sharing the adventure! Because of our spending this time together, we have been embedded in each other’s spiritual journey!

As we enter the Advent season and as I prepare to welcome the Christ child, I find myself marveling once again at the Christmas story – HIS story. I marvel at the way the Lord prepared hearts to receive the Good News and I am thankful, in a more experiential way now, for Paul – in a way I never really appreciated him before! Something about standing on the Via Egnatia or before the bema in Corinth or on the Areopagus in Athens or looking at the remains of all the pagan temples where he was declaring Christ! I know you know what I mean!

To those of you whom we will never see again – Au Ciel ( until heaven!) To you others – I look forward to hugging your neck and tripping over each other’s words with “Do you remember…” and “Wasn’t that just …”

And have a wonderful holiday! May the Spirit of the Christ child be with you as you celebrate His birth this year!

In Christ’s love,
Marty and Larry Grimes

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December 25, 2008

Some thoughts on a New Years Sermon Planner

saint-paul-preaching-in-athens-3511-mid 1. Preach, ordinarily, sequentially through books, or least chapters of larger sections. This should form your extended series with others series brought in to add variety and different sorts of Biblical vitamins to the spiritual diet of the saints.

2. Recognizing Church Year turning points, through the year, will give your people a more varied diet of Scripture on their spiritual plate, as you pause from your sequential-through-the-book preaching to recognize, say, Pentecost.

3. Do also collate in a New Years sermon (a single sermon on trusting God, heaven, honoring the past and building for the future, etc). Consider the Masters as you do.

4. Do include a Lenten (you may call it something else if that is preferable) sermon series (e.g., John Chapter 17). This series, actually another expositional series for the spiritual nourishment of the saints, would last until Palm Sunday (or quite possibly even Maundy Thursday).

5. Do plan for special national days where the Gospel can apply to the very things on your congregation’s mind. For example, I advocate preaching a Mother’s Day message. It can be expository. It can be focused on the redeeming work of Jesus, but recognize what is on the mind of the flock and yet direct them to Jesus. Skip a few Mothers’ Day references, at least, in your sermon, and you will be viewed as insensitive to the family. Don’t like it? Well, your people are “marking time” each year, and most of that, thankfully, is through the Church Year, but there are also some “common grace days” (perhaps one way to think about it) that are shaping their lives. Remember them; inform them with the Word of God, and you both will be the healthier for your thoughtful efforts.

6. Do begin the fall with a doctrinal series that will move your flock, over a period of time, through the essentials of the Christian Faith. For me, I begin with the Westminster Confession of Faith. For instance, on Scripture, which is the first heading in our Confession, I have preached a six-week series on Psalm 119. That Psalm, as you know, is all about the Word of God. Certainly not an exhaustive study, but nevertheless, our people could be grounded in the truth that all other revelation about God and Man begins with the Bible itself. Because it would take 30 years to move through all of this (in my own plans, I sought to do the Lenten study and the fall study in this way and thus have two major doctrinal sections each year; having said that, obviously, if you are preaching in an expositional approach, and I trust you are, and sequentially you will deal with all of the doctrines of your confession over a much shorter period, but these series which I suggest are concentrated and similar to the old Book of Common Prayer homilies or the Dutch tradition of preaching through the Heidelberg Catechism each Lord’s Day).

7. Do include an Advent series on some aspect of the Incarnation. Take Christmas back!

8. Do use your bulletins to communicate to your people about the worship service, the confessions, and your own prayers over the message and the service. We should, if at all possible, include a veritable Guide to Worship Today in our bulletins.

9. Do take good study leave apart from your family vacation. You need time alone with God in prayer to move through the year, and to plan even further out than that.

10. Do communicate your sermon planning to your musical staff, your elders or deacons, the Director of Christian Education, and anyone else that is impacted by your planning. Coordinating teaching of the Word is a great blessing in a local church. And remember: The teaching of the Word of God to your people is not the responsibility of others. It is your responsibility as the God-ordained pastor of that flock. And to get that flock home to the Master you have only the ordinary means of grace at your disposal, Word, Sacrament and Prayer. But my beloved pastoral brother, that is all you need.

Enjoy your New Year sermon planning. And may that free you up to then enjoy your week-to-week sermon preparation.

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December 25, 2008

Follow Your Call Dedication

By grace, God has allowed me to express ministry for His glory and, hopefully, others’ good through a variety of ways. One of those has been through music. As this year ends, I give thanks to God, that a second album of reflections in music is released. Follow Your Call, on the label Music for Missions (where a portion of the profits are given, in my case, to Reformed Theological Seminary [RTS]), is now available through iTunes, Napster ,Rhapsody, Aime Street Music, emusic and the rest, as well as in hard copies at Amazon (ordering through the Amazon portal, www.MindandHeart.com provides an added bonus to student needs by providing a portion of the sale to RTS).

Linear notes for Follow Your Call may be found here.

I know that some have a launch party. I missed that one. My wife hosted about 70 folks from our seminary community at our home before Christmas and the idea of asking her to host another party seemed cruel! So, I launch this album this month with a prayer. In this case, the prayer is taken from The Valley of Vision. The prayer is entitled “God’s Cause.” And so I borrow these words and my them, I trust, my own heart’s prayer about the Follow Your Call ministry project:

“Sovereign God,

Thy cause, not my own, engages my heart, and I appeal to thee with great freedom to set up thy kingdom in every place where Satan reigns;

Glorify thyself and I shall rejoice, for to bring honour to thy name is my sole desire.

O that all men might love and praise thee, that thou mightest have all glory…

Let sinners be brought to thee for thy dear name!

Lord, use me as thou wilt, do with me what thou wilt;

But, O, promote thy cause, let thy Kingdom come, let thy blessed interest be advanced in this world!

O do thou bring in great numbers to Jesus! Let me see that glorious day, and give me to grasp for multitudes of souls; let me be wiling to die to that end; and while I live let me labour for thee to the utmost of my strength, spending time profitably in this work, both in health and in weakness.

It is thy cause and kingdom I long for, not my own.

O, answer thou my request!”

And so I dedicated Follow Your Call to the interests of the Lord Jesus Christ and the converting powers of His Spirit upon the hearts of men.

Reviews:

I share the bad with the good! For a really tough review, not only on my music but Christian music, in general, read the scathing review at Acoustic Review.

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Tags: Christian music, Dan Fogelberg, Eagles, Follow Your Call, Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Michael A. Milton, Michael Anthony Milton, music by mike milton, Neil Young, Reverbnation

January 7, 2009

Letters to Our Students: The Ground of Your Ministry

This is a series of occassional “Letters to Our Students” to further equip them for ministry through theological refleciton on the pastoral ministry. You can subscribe to these and other ministry resources from Mike Milton and RTS by going to The Call with Mike Milton web site and signing up. We would love to have you with us.

shepherd Our Dear Students,

I want to write to you about ways of approaching your ministry. Here’s a question for you: Is it a “practical theology” that is primarily aimed at “how to” or is it a “pastoral theology” grounded in the Biblical-theological truths of the Reformation? I want to caution you to think about this carefully. Your perspective will determine the character and lasting impact (or temporary impression) of your whole ministerial career. I would say that the answer to this question will also determine whether you are a candidate for burn out in the ministry, whether you have the strength to run the race of faith in the ministry, and how you deal with both success and disappointment in the pastoral ministry. In short, the answer to the question will provide the over-arching and all encompassing way you conduct your ministry.

Martin Bucer (1491-1551) is helpful in answering this question. This pastor-scholar, a “reformer in the wings” as Andres Purves refers to him, said that all pastoral ministries must be “rooted directly in biblical and Reformational faith and …oriented to the practical care of souls.” Bucer was a great churchman, pastor at Strasbourg, a teacher of Calvin, a framer of Reformed worship, a contributor to the Book of Common Prayer (1552) and an esteemed professor of theology at Cambridge. (His body was exhumed by Queen Mary four years after his death to be burned in public only later to be “restored to full honor” five years after that by Elizabeth I.) Bucer teaches us that the warrant, the calling and the work of the pastor, must be grounded in the Word of God and in the theological commitments of the Reformation and must be embraced personally by the pastor. In other words, the pastoral ministry is not just a Biblical idea, though it must be that, it is also a Spirit-shaped reality in the soul of the one called to be a pastor.

After I came to the end of my wrestling, or so I thought, to follow the call to the ordained ministry, I visited my dear Aunt Eva who had reared me. While in Kansas the chaplain of her nursing home came up to me. Dr. Eckley was a man of about 90-years-old himself. But he ministered to the residents there with the energy and seriousness and pastoral care that had marked his long career as a Nazarene pastor, district superintendant, and missionary. “Mike,” he began with a kindly smile, “I heard you are going to seminary.” I told him that I was. He drew closer to me, eyeball to eyeball. “Son, I have one question for you: Are you really called by God to shepherd His flock?” I paused. I drew back a little and gathered myself together before I answered. I was careful in my words. “Well, Dr. Eckley, I think so.” His eyes became like flames at my answer. “Well, Son, then you are not ready to follow the Lord.” I was dumbstruck. “Boy, if you only think that you are called, then you will fall. You’d better know that God has laid His hand upon you. You’d better know His holy call in your soul. You need to know what God says about pastors in His Word and the great burden of souls that a minister will bear all of the days of his life. I tell you this, Son, because when the winds of hardship blow your way you only have one thing. Do you know what that is?”

I hesitated to break up this private sermon he was giving me but I felt I better answer. “The call?” “Yes! You only have your call from God! When they give you a Christmas raise and then run you out on a rumor, when the devil stirs up opposition against you for the sake of Jesus, and when you are hurt like our Lord was hurt, you will only have one thing to help you pick up your things and move on to the next field of service. Do you know what that is?” I decided not to answer. “You know what it is? It is your calling from God.” We both stood there looking at each other without talking. This eternity lasted for about a minute. Then he laid down the hammer for the final time. “Son, are you called by God to be a pastor according to the Word of God?” I whispered that I thought I should go home and pray about that. Brothers, that is just what I did.

I reviewed again what God’s Word said. I came face to face with the weight of the ministry as well as the unbelievable joy that must also be in it. I believed that God was calling even me to preach the unsearchable riches of Jesus Christ our Lord. That calling has never left me to this day. I went back and told Dr. Eckley that I could answer his question. “By God’s grace, I am called and am ready to take up the cross if He will help me.” “Good,” the old Wesleyan said to this Calvinist. “Good, Mike. Go and preach the Gospel. Go to seminary and learn what it is that will ground you in the ministry of the Gospel for the rest of your life.”

I write to encourage you to see that in every class you take at this seminary you are tethering your life to the Biblical and theological rock that will guide you in every area of ministry for the rest of your life. Do not neglect your Greek. You will have to exegete and exposit the words of Paul and Luke and Peter for the blood-bought lambs of Jesus. Do not learn your Hebrew verb forms just to pass a test, but to stand the test, the test of pastoral ministry. You have been called to stand between God and men and women and boys and girls with God’s Word. From the prophets give the Gospel bread of life to your people living in your city in your generation.

Don’t skim over the readings of your church history. Identify your life with Bucer and Luther and Baxter and Machen. Prayerfully study the providential ways of God in the Patristic period as well as the Reformational period. How will that shape your leadership of God’s people today? As you listen to Dr. Kelly teach on perichoresis and Holy Trinity and God’s immanence and His transcendence, do not think that this is far from how you will minister God’s love in the midst of the community of God’s people. In short, my dearest ones in Christ, you must embrace every opportunity here to prepare your heart and mind to minster the glorious Gospel of God’s Son to a dying world and to shepherd the saints of Christ.

The “how to” of ministry must begin with the God of Scripture. The pastoral ministry finds its warrant and its vocational vision from God’s Word. You will never truly be vocationally and spiritually satisfied with anything short of a Christ-centered ministry because it is God who calls you. Burnout and pride and apostasy will lurk in the shadows of your ministry like hungry wolves, or more Scripturally put, like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. But a pastoral theology grounded in the Word and the ordinary means of grace¾Word, Sacrament, and Prayer¾will surround you and protect you and lead you forward to the crown that God has prepared for those who serve Him to the end.

I am thinking on these things this morning. I am asking God to give you a ministry of the Word that will endure and bring about transformation of hearts and minds, of cultures and entire generations so that a multitude will be “safe in the arms of Jesus” when He comes again (1 Thess. 2:29-20). And so I write these words to encourage you.
Yours in Christ,

Mike Milton

Andrew Purves, Pastoral Theology in the Classical Tradition, 1st ed. (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001), 76.

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January 13, 2009

Quiet Strength in Winter: Tony Dungy Retires

After 31 years of gridiron battles, one of the greatest coaches of our generation is hanging up his cleats. On Monday, January 12, 2009, Tony Dungy, with his wife Lauren at his side, announced his retirement.

We remember the triumphant Super Bowl victory and how he was carried through the field of battle with his great quarterback, Peyton Manning, shouldering him, signaling that the real leader was not the iconoclastic QB from powerhouse Tennessee but the small, thin African-American man from Jackson, Michigan and the QB from not so powerhouse Minnesota. We also remember the tragic headline news of the loss of his son to suicide. As much as we remember his grace in victories, I think I will always remember him for his grace in this loss.

Here is a man who told his team that if they wanted to use foul language they needed to find another team. I know. I heard him say that at a Fellowship of Christian Athletes gathering. I was there with my son to see the Coach. He is a Christian man who doesn’t wear his faith on his sleeve, but follows his Savior in and out of the spotlight. He was and is a true role model.

In a day of whining, cursing, bragging, and bad-boy-behavior that is glamorized and laughed at, Tony Dungy here stands out. And stands apart. But he stands out in the greatest ages of sportsmanship as one of the most noble. Tony Dungy would have shined next to Lombardi or Landry or Stram or Shula. I am sure he will be in a Hall of Fame one day. But more importantly for me is this: here is a man who shined with the grace of Christ in triumph and in tragedy. And that is the greatest lesson he could teach his players, the public, and my son.

I saw his picture in USA Today (January 13, 2009) with his youngest son in his arms. He looked calm and content, with emotions held in by the levy of a life well-lived, a man who knows that losses are always possible. Such is the humility and the faith of a great man. In the picture, his son smiles as his biggest fan, adoring and happy in his father’s arms. What a great picture as we remember the coaching ministry of Tony Dungy.

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Tags: Christian leaders, Christianity, Football coaches, heros of the faith, Peyton Manning, sports, Tony Dungy, Tony Dungy retires, Tony Dungy; sports; heros of the faith;

January 17, 2009

Trusting in the Lord as a New Semester Begins

The following was written to our student and seminary community as a new semester begins in Spring semester 2009.

We are called to trust the Lord as do the lilies of the field and the birds of the air. These days test our responses to Jesus’ invitation to the life of freedom found in Matthew 6:25-34. Yet which is really riskier? Do we put our trust in the world of stocks and bonds and sure things like punting on seminary to go to business school where we think security is guaranteed? Or do we trust the One whose joy has overflowed into Creation and as Chesterton put it, “…says with delight to the rising sun in the morning: Do it again!” At least in these days we have seen the unmasking of the charade of trusting in this world. For now. Soon you and I will be tempted again, maybe even later today, to forego the promises of God for the sure bets of this age. Just remember that under the cold ground of this wintry campus lie daffodils and azaleas preparing for a spring blaze of blooming. Within the stark limbs of the redbud and the dogwood trees is life in the waiting. We know that because we know of God’s faithfulness. It is no risk to trust our souls, our careers, our years, our lives, our eternity to the God who makes daffodils and dogwoods. Or raises His Son from the dead. Welcome, with trust in God, to a new semester of preparing for a life of ministry.

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April 1, 2009

How to Wake Before You Die: An Easter Sermon

It is that time. Holy Week is upon on us. For me that meant focusing our entire congregation on a small group Bible study and accompanying that with a sermon series that went with it. For me it was always expository, and always focused on a chapter or even a section in a chapter (like the Lord’s Prayer). But by Palm Sunday I turned my focus to the event that must be addressed: the Passion of our Lord and His death on the Cross, burial, and His glorious resurrection. Thus, our Lenten study led me to a Palm Sunday message, a Maundy Thursday message (and in one of my pastorates, a Good Friday devotional), and the Easter sermon. This message is a little early, but I offer it for those who have not yet considered their direction for that blessed day. May the Lord use this to encourage you in your own preaching.

Matthew 28.1-10; John 11.1,17-45; John 20.1,11-18; 30-31

Lloyd Ogilvie, the recently retired Chaplain of the United States Senate tells the story of a young father who had been working long hours and spending far too much time away from home. He came home late one night, just in time to peek in and see his little son on his knees before his bed. It was one of those tender moments you don’t interrupt. He listened to the child’s prayer:

“Now I lay me down to sleep; I pray the Lord my soul to keep; If I should wake before I die…”

The little boy, not recognizing his mistake, kept praying. As the child got up, the father felt the freedom to come in and tuck his son into bed. That night, as the father lay in bed, he couldn’t stop thinking about the way things were, and his son’s prayer kept repeating over and over again in his head:

“If I should wake before I die…”

How is it that you could wake before you die?

There once was a man who woke before he died. His name was Lazarus. For you see, Lazarus lived and then died. Then he awoke, and of course, though it is not in this part of the Bible, he died. So Lazarus awoke before he died.

There are some here today who desperately need to awake before you die. People who are believers in Jesus Christ, but whose lives are moving at such speeds, you are missing life itself. Or you may be like Martha and Mary, the mourning sisters of Lazarus, who are laden with fear, anxiety, confusion, bitterness, and you need to wake up and live before you die! There are others who do not believe. Easter is a reason to put on new Spring clothes, or to make an annual pilgrimage to a church. We are glad you did. Because if you are not a follower of the risen and reigning Jesus Christ, you too need to awaken before you die!

How do we wake before we die? Well, to put a profound truth simply, we are awakened through Christ, for Christ, and in Christ.

Let me explain the Scriptures this way.

1. We are awakened to new life through Christ’s Coming.

There was only death and mourning and hopelessness before Jesus came to raise Lazarus from the dead.

After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him” (John 11.11-15 ESV).

This scene is similar to several other events in the Bible. Once, as we learn in the Old Testament book, 2 Kings Chapter Four, there was a woman and her husband who wanted a child but had none. So the prophet Elisha prayed and they were given a boy. What a treasure he was to them. But one day their little boy went out into the field to help his father. And this miracle child had sunstroke and died. And Elisha the prophet was called for. He went into the dead child and we read:

“He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to the LORD. Then he got on the bed and lay upon the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out upon him, the boy’s body grew warm. Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room and then got on the bed and stretched out upon him once more. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.” (2 Kings 4.33-35 NIV).

This amazing story of new life pointed to the hope of the ages, that One would come who would actually do this for all of us forever! And Jesus Christ is that One. He is the one that Job hoped for when Job said in the pit of suffering and even condemnation by so-called friends,

“I know that my Redeemer lives and in the last day he shall stand upon the earth!”

Jesus is that Redeemer of Job and of all who, like Job, call upon Him.

In John Eleven, Jesus spoke to the fear of a grieving sister, in the presence of a mourning community, and in the face of death itself,

“I am the resurrection and the Life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies, and whoever believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”

There can be no awakening, no new life, no eternal hope until Jesus comes. And here is what this means: We cannot awaken ourselves. We cannot transform ourselves. Only God Himself, who breathed life into Adam, who brought order from chaos, when He moved across the face of the deep, in Creation, can make a new person. Oprah cannot do it. Dr. Phil cannot do it. We need what Martin Luther called an “Alien” force to come in to our dead existence and awaken us to life. The Lord Jesus Christ who came to awaken Martha and Mary to His divinity, who declared Himself to be the resurrection and the life personified, did in fact go to the Cross for your sins and He did rise again from the dead! And whoever receives Him will be awakened unto new life forever!

When Jesus said, “I AM the resurrection and the life…” He defined how we must come to Him to be saved from our sins and the punishment for them. We come to Jesus, the unique God-Man who is the Promised One of God who died for our sins and rose again from the dead. Peter put it like this in his preaching in the Book of Acts:

“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4.12 NIV).

Now the temptation before most of us is not that we believe Buddha is an alternative way, Confucius is another way, but we think we are another way. And by that I mean that we feel that we must contribute something to our own transformation. If we want to lose weight, we get on a program and do it. If we want to straighten our finances, we go to a financial counselor, or we load all of our data into Quicken. We feel we must do something. But the Gospel of Jesus Christ is that He has done it for you. God required a perfect keeping of His law. And we have all broken it. None of us can keep it. But Jesus kept it for us. The Bible says that God will in no way clear the guilty. The Bible says that we sin because we are sinners. We are born with a predisposition towards breaking God’s law and we do. And the punishment for that sin was taken by Jesus Christ on the cross. So, we often say around here that Jesus lived the life we could never live and died the death that should have been ours.

He IS the Resurrection and THE LIFE. There is no other way. Jesus Himself said:

“I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father but through Me.”

And Paul wrote:

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2.8, 9 ESV).

Grace is the key theological word of the Bible. Grace is God doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Grace is God’s riches at Christ’s expense. And grace is something more. Someone has said rightly:

“The essence of the doctrine of grace is that God is for us.”

If you have not received Him as the resurrected and living Lord, I would invite you to receive Him this very moment. Whoever calls upon Him will be saved. And God comes to you just as you are. You don’t clean up and then come to Christ; you come the way you are. Any further work will be done by the Lord Himself.

Thank God. Jesus came. We are awakened through Christ.

2. We are also awakened to new life by Christ’s Word.

Jesus spoke into the gloom of Martha’s sadness and Mary’s great grief and disappointment with the Word of resurrection. My beloved the Word of God is needed not just for those who have not heard, but is needed over and over again by those who have. The burdens and heartaches of this life can eat away like acid rain on the faith of the believer. Our faith is encouraged by the Word of Christ. It is for this reason that we are told not to forsake the assembling of ourselves. We need Christ’s Word to enter our world. This day, it is good to hear again that our Lord Jesus is new life personified. He is life. To have Him is to have everything. To miss Him is to miss everything. And yet so many of even those who believe miss Him. A.W. Tozer said that if we will know God, we must spend time with him. Robert Murray M’Cheyne said:

“I ought to spend the best hours of the day in communion with God. It is my noblest and most fruitful employment, and is not to be thrust into any corner.”

But beloved the great Word of this passage is Jesus’ Word to the man who had been dead for four days:

“Lazarus, Come forth!”

The great Word we long for in this world is the Word Jesus brings. And the Word of Jesus is in His Word. We do not separate our Lord Jesus from His Word, the Bible. From these pages this morning comes the truth that will set you free from death’s domain:

“Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.”

And this leads us to our final consideration of this thought:

3. This passage teaches us that we can be awakened to new life in Christ’s own life.

Jesus’ coming to us leads to His Word coming to us and that leads to a flowering of new life. In fact, John wrote His Gospel that:

“…You may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name” (John 20.31).

And here is what I mean. This message is, again, about being awakened to true life in Christ, that we too may not only live now to the fullest, but to live when we die. For Jesus said that if we believe IN HIM we will live even though we die. Now Lazarus was raised. In John chapter twelve, there is a dinner party at Mary and Martha’s house and Lazarus is there reclining with Jesus at the Table. What a party! But the truth is, of course, Lazarus died again. But because he was in Christ he woke up to eternal life.

“En Christos”-in Christ-was one of the Apostle Paul’s favorite expressions. He used the words “in Christ” over eighty times in his epistles! And what comfort to know:

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, Romans 8.1

And what resurrection hope is ours when we know:

For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 1Corinthians 15.22

To be in Christ is to be redeemed by Him completely.

I love the first question and answer to the Heidelberg Catechism. It asks the question:

What is your only comfort in life and death?

And it gives this Answer based on Scripture:

That I am not my own, but belong body and soul, in life and in death to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. Christ has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from all the power of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven; in fact, all things must work together for my salvation. Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.

What a magnificent affirmation of faith for a Resurrection Sunday! If you are in Christ you have been saved, and are completely identified with Him-in life, in death, and in resurrection. So if you are awaken today, you will be awakened by Jesus Himself when you die. For when you die your soul will go immediately to heaven to be with Christ. Your body, though it may return to the elements here, is not forgotten by Jesus. He will come again, in triumphant glory, and give you a new body just like His. A body that will live forever.

You have been redeemed forever if you are in Christ. Have you? Have you received Jesus Christ as Lord? Is He your savior?

Some of you don’t know but my first car was an old white Ford that had a bad exhaust pipe that kept coming undone. About time I would hit second gear, it would hit the pavement and make a horrible noise, with sparks flying everywhere. I would have to stop and re connect the pipes. I burned my hands several times doing it. So, I kept a baseball glove in the back floorboard of that old car and whenever it fell apart, I would just grab that glove and get out of the car as I was parked at a red light, and use it to protect my hand against the red hot pipe, and put it back on. One time I had to go to a football banquet and a girl went with me. I will never forget the look on this poor girl’s face when I stopped at a red light. First, the thing made this awful noise. She got pretty embarrassed. Then, in a tuxedo, no less, I reached back got my glove, opened the door, popped out and went to my stomach, and reached under and re connected the exhaust pipe. I got back in and gave one of those looks like, “What…?” My old car and I got quite a reputation at school. But funny, no girls ever wanted to ride in that car. But one day Aunt Eva had someone who wanted to buy that car “as is.” And do you know what? He bought that old white Ford and made something new out of it and drove it all over town for years afterwards.

Beloved, to be in Christ, is to have been redeemed by Jesus “as is.” And He makes something new out of your life. And He will never let you go. Even though you die, because He is the resurrection and the life and because you have been redeemed by Him and are in Him, as one of His own, you will live forever.

This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Conclusion

So we have learned that spiritually dead unbelievers and spiritually broken believers can be awaken by Jesus through His coming, By His Word, and in His life.

The question of the day, my beloved, is not “Is the resurrection true?” No. The question of the day is posed by Jesus:

“Do you believe this?”

Once I heard a prominent attorney say that he had investigate the whole matter and he believed that Jesus rose again from the dead. He believed it in his head, but not in his heart. The question Jesus is asking is a question that would lead to a complete surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in your life. Have you yielded to Him in this way?

Let me put it this way: How many Marthas and Marys will need to hear again that Jesus is the resurrection and the life and that lost causes, broken dreams, and crushed spirits can be redeemed in this risen Lord? And how many dead men, dead in sin and guilt, need to hear the voice of the Lord of Life to come forward and live?

I once knew a man who was alive but dead-a man who seemed to be a follower of the Lord, but whose life had not been redeemed. He was entombed with his doubts, with his anguish, with his heartaches, and even with his own religion. I know that Lazarus well. For I am that man. And I was like some of you. I had heard the Gospel. But I had missed it. In so many areas of my life, I had not yet started to live. But in Jesus Christ, I was awakened before I died. And now I will live after I die.

If you wake before you die-through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, you will wake after you die-through the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Let us go to Him now.

I want to give credit for my title and this story, which I have adapted here, to The Rev. Dr. Lloyd John Ogilvie, If I Should Wake before I Die: A Message of Hope (Ventura, CA: Regal, 1974).

T.H.L. Parker as quoted on Goodtheology.com (http://www.goodtheology.com/inventory.php?target=quote&quoteformat=all#Grace), accessed on April 15, 2006.

Quotes, Goodtheology.com.

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February 2, 2009

New Seminary Semester Starts and I am Glad

rtsc-image-walking1 I just read the latest issue of the Economist. What sad news. I have learned editorial opinions about how we all got into this financial mess that we are in. But I could discern no real answers. So I am shifting my heart and mind now to a place where there is a fortune to be made. Where is that? Well, a new semester begins on Tuesday for Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte. New students are moving in. Other students already in the program are now getting ready to come back. Professors are re looking at syllabus, praying about their presentations, and remembering why we do what we do. Staff are preparing for our pastoral and missionary students to return in numerous ways seen and unseen, all of which deserve our gratitude. A new professor, Dr. James Anderson, now joins our faculty and begins to teach apologetics. A new adjunct faculty member, Dr. Harry Reeder, now helps to lead a Doctoral of Ministry program in Church Revitalization, through his influential ministry, Embers to Flames in Birmingham. Interest in our chaplain and Reformed campus ministry institutes continues to grow. Our admissions numbers are higher than last year (at this point; there is always some last minute shifting, so we say that humbly as unto the Lord and not to boast). But we are thankful for the continued growth of our Master of Divinity core program but also the other programs. So despite the recession and the hard times, there is great refreshment in seeing this work of the Gospel go forward in these and many other ways.

But where is the fortune? Our greatest fortune of our nation is not found in another bail out package. It is not found in the latest tip of a bond fund or a blue light special stock that is just “bound to go up.” No. Our fortune, according to God’s Word is found in God Himself and in a hope for His Word getting into our communities. The Psalmist, thus, wrote:

Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
When the Lord restores the fortunes of his people,
let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad (Psalm 14.7 ESV).

And so in the midst of so much bad news, there is a great “fortune” to be made as God’s servants are being prepared in the Gospel ministry. And you who now sit under the mentor-ship of godly pastor-scholars will take this Gospel to the ends of the earth. And some of you will take that Gospel into the pulpits and campuses and church ministries of our own desperate nation. And the truths you learn here you will administer there. And healing will come. Maybe revival will come. And so, my beloved, we will be glad.

I can’t wait for this semester to get started.

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Tags: Psalm 14, Reformed Theological Seminary, RTS-Charlotte, Seminary

February 4, 2009

Only the Word: Letters to Our Students

bible Our Dear Students

“Modern pastoral theology is characterized largely by the study of what Anton T. Boisen, founder of the Clinical Pastoral Education movement in the Unites States, called ‘living human documents’ – that is, the study of people, especially in their distress – rather than the study of biblical texts (85).”This statement by Andrew Purves in his essential guide to Biblical pastoral theology, as demonstrated by such men as Martin Bucer and Richard Baxter, is one of the most important insights you will ever read. My dearly beloved students in Christ, the work of the minster of the Gospel in the diagnosing and treating of the human soul (and dare we allow other professions to hijack what God has called us to do) must find its beginning and ending in the inerrant and infallible Word of God. This is where you must go for the private ministry of the Word, for your pastoral counseling. If you go elsewhere, then every area of your ministry will be infected by the rotting and untethered umbilical cord to the mind of Man. I mean to say that if your ministry focus is centered on the person rather than on Christ’s Word, your anthropology will be completely out of whack. You must begin with what the Bible says about man and then you move to do ministry.

Read on in this Letter to Our Students by signing up for it at THECALL.RTS.edu

To hear the song “Only the Word” I humbly direct you to iTunes.

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February 10, 2009

Mrs. in Ministry: “The Pastor’s Wife”

What a great blessing it was to enjoy the company of seminary women into our home last night. Our focus was, and shall be for two more session, “The Pastor’s Wife.” I share the notes, here, from the handout. As I post this, I pray for our future pastor wives, missionary wives and wives in ministry. May the Lord Jesus Christ speak His peace into their souls, grant them wisdom far beyond their years, and anoint them with the Holy Spirit for the work of building up the pastor for the goal of building up the Body of Christ. Truly she is a beautiful and precious jewel in the Ministry of the Gospel and she is a treasure to her husband and children, and to the Kingdom of God.

RTS Charlotte Mrs. In Ministry

Evenings with the Miltons:

“Reflecting on the Life and Ministry the Pastor’s Wife”

Evening One: Her Family

Evening Two: Her Role in the Church

Evening Three: Her Burdens and Blessings

Evening One: The Pastor’s Wife and Her Family

Monday, February 9, 2009

Introduction

- Presentation, discussion, dialogue, questions and reflections at any point in our time together

Proverbs 31 for the Pastors Wife “The Guilt Free Guide to Being a Pastor’s Wife”

Proverbs 31 has sometimes been used inappropriately in such a way as women leave and say, “There is no way!” And rather than becoming a blessing to the Body of Christ, the teaching becomes a burden. Too bad. The saying by the King’s mother (don’t blame the husband for writing, but the mother-in-law!) is a picture of a godly woman that she desires, rightly, for her son. It also is a beautiful picture of the powerful role of women in our lives. Tonight, I want to apply this to pastors’ wives, to you.

Here are some truths that I want to talk about with you from God’s Word.

The pastor’s wife is the pastor’s greatest treasure in life and in his ministry (vv 10-12)
The pastor’s wife oversees the pastoral home (v 27 as encompassing vv 13-22, 24)
The pastor’s wife uses her feminine wisdom and insight to encourage the ministry of the pastor (v 23)
The pastor’s wife is first and foremost a wife and mother, whose greatest praise is not from a congregation, but from her husband and children: Look first unto them! (v 28)
The pastor’s wife is at her core a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ (vv 29-31)

Common Misconceptions about the Pastoral Family

The pastoral family is perfect
The pastoral family is always available
The pastoral family cannot have friends in the ministry
The pastoral couple is basically a “two for one” deal for the church
The pastoral family is like any other family in any other vocation

Critical Areas of Concern that Pastoral Families Face

Time together away from the church
Freedom to be yourself
Adjusting to the role relationships in the church (which we will talk about next time)
Friendships for the wife
“Making your vocation your sanctification” (1 Timothy 4.16)
Counting the costs and being realistic about the calling itself

Key Points of Help for Your Husband and the Pastoral Ministry

Listening without judging
Giving your wisdom and insight to him, you are his chief counselor

Key Points of Help for You

A life of prayer
Finding your place like anyone else, but not forgetting “your place” which is unlike anyone else
Finding your friends but not forgetting the flock
Being there at “the front door” of the church with your husband without being the “other” pastor
Protecting your children from the Church while teaching your children to love the Church
Guarding the sanctity of your home and yet practicing hospitality in your home

My wife’s remark to the question by the pulpit committee is, to me, the classic answer to the question, “What is your view of the role of the pastor’s wife?”
- “I take care of the pastor. If that doesn’t happen, he cannot take care of you.”

Song: Pastor’s Wife (below)

Season of Prayer

Thank God for the Pastor’s Wife

You didn’t know

The places you’d go

On the day when you said “I do”

And you’ve traveled far

To be the person you are

But leaving is so hard to do

Yes leaving is so hard to do

But with grace and with poise

You’ve withstood the noise

Of the wounded

who cry at your door

Seeking your husband

To help them find God

It seems like there’s always one more

(Chorus)

If there’s crowns on that day

And I have my say

I’ll plead that the Lord gives you mine

For when people heard me

What they couldn’t see

Was the deepest part of my life

“Thank God for the pastor’s wife”

When I heard the call

You caught it all

The moving, the setting up new

And when your husband

hears voices

There’re few other choices

But to pray that He’s hearing aright

But you walked by faith and not sight

(Bridge)

So many times you’ve

suffered in silence

When some use

your husband in vain

And few know the costs

of following God

In the desert, in the night, in the rain

Covered dishes and circles and smiling through pain

For others see a pastor,

a prophet, a priest

But you see a husband, a dad

But the Lord heals you secretly and gives you the grace

And I’ve seen you laugh in the night at the bad

So I wrote this song

And I won’t be long

Though you deserve so much more

‘Cause people can talk but you’ve walked the walk

You faithfully stood by the door

And nudged me to preach once more

(Chorus)

If there’s crowns on that day and I have my say

I’ll plead that the Lord gives you mine

When people heard me

What they couldn’t see

Was the deepest part of my life

Thank God for the pastor’s wife

No, honey, let me say this, I’ll Thank God that you were my wife

(This song appears on the compact disc, Follow Your Call [Music For Missions, 2008).

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February 13, 2009

Released: What is the Doctrine of the Perseverance of the Saints?

This week, P & R Publishing released a booklet they asked me to write, What is the Doctrine of the Perseverance of the Saints? This is part of their “Basics of the Reformed Faith” series. P and R Publishing introduced its series this way: “Basics of the Reformed Faith booklets introduce lay readers to Reformed distinctive. These resources are designed especially for use by Presbyterian and Reformed churches.” I was honored to be asked and enjoyed the writing of this little book. I sought to write it as if I were sitting with someone, maybe at coffee house or over a meal. I pray it reflects a pastoral warmth, as I present the doctrine, rather than a haughty condescending tone, which we can often fall into. No friends are made that way, and little truth is advanced when the other person is having to defend himself.

As a pastor, nothing was more wonderful than watching as believers began to “get it!” I meant to say that they began to grasp the Gospel of God’s grace and see its implications for all of life. There is a birthing process that goes with that. And as pastor, one must be patient during the gestation period of this growing faith. The best way to introduce the truth of God’s grace is simply and profoundly through the Scriptures, without labels. The Holy Spirit will apply His Word to their hearts. But these little books do, indeed, help in that work as these books are grounded in the Bible and are simply expositions and explanations of the major doctrines of the Bible, which are also, refreshingly, simply the doctrines of the Reformed faith.

As this new book is launched, I pray for God’s blessings on those who will take and read; that many will also inwardly digest the Gospel truth that is there.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be. World without end. Amen. Amen.

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Tags: Bible, Charlotte, Christ, Christianity, Churches, eternal security, God, Gospel, Jesus Christ, Michael A. Milton, Michael Milton, Mike Milton, new theological books 2009, p&r publishing, Pastoral Theology, Pastorate, PCA, perseverance of the saints, Presbyterian, Reformed, Reformed Theological Seminary, Reformed Theological Seminary Charlotte, RTS-Charlotte

February 14, 2009

The Next Christendom: A Hopeful Message from Philip Jenkins

global-anglicans Philip Jenkins’ writing is exciting, but his research and findings are even more so. As I read the The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity (in one sitting), I put the book down and prayed a prayer of thanksgiving and I rose again with a new hope for our generation. Let me explain.

Jenkins not only documents the robust condition of the Church in Africa and Asia and Latin America, which was hopeful enough, but shows something else: that the much prayed-for renewal of the Western Church may just be in the immigration of Third World peoples who bring their faithful (conservative) Christianity (Latin Catholics, African Anglicans and Asian Presbyterians) into the weak, Postmodern remnants of what we all have come to see as a dying West. I believe that Jenkin’s work is some of the most important writing in Christianity today. This book (and indeed the other two in this trilogy) is an essential read for pastors, theologians, seminary students, as well as lay leaders who are concerned about the future of world missions and home missions alike. Indeed, it is a book for all of us who feel as though we are captives in Babylon. Jenkin’s book makes me think that a post captivity is on its way. But our future hope is coming in ways we could have never imagined. And isn’t that just like the Kingdom of God? Isn’t that just like Jesus?

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Tags: African Christianity, Asian Christianity, Christ, Christian, Christianity, Church, Churches, Future of Christianity, God, Jesus Christ, Latin American Christians, Michael A. Milton, Michael Milton, PCA, Presbyterian, Reformed Theological Seminary Charlotte, RTS-Charlotte, Seminary

February 16, 2009

On Darwin’s Obituary and Some Wanting to Invite Him Back to Church

darwin1

Churches around the nation, as we learned in an AP story this past weekend, were going to mark off a Sunday to celebrate the life and work of Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution and how we can get Darwin and the Church to come together. I am marking the 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birth by carefully reading about his death. More specifically, I am reading his obituary. I think you can learn more about the mark of a man by the end of his life rather than by his beginning. My concern is not whether we should invite Darwin back to church but whether he would come? It seems to me that we may be fooling ourselves in this unless we are prepared for some wholesale changes in what we state in our creeds and what we read in our Bibles. But I say again, let us learn from what was said by those who lived when he lived.

For instance, the passing of Charles Darwin was noted in the famous obituary pages of the London Times with these words:

“One must seek back to Newton or even Copernicus to find a man whose influence on human thought and methods of looking at the universe has been as radical (19 April 1882).”

No one can deny the truth of that. The editors of Great Victorian Lives: An Era in Obituaries (London: Times Books, 2007) added, “…Darwin’s On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection has shaken the scriptural foundations of nineteenth-century Christianity.” I cannot disagree with that either. Darwin’s inquiries and conclusions, some of which may be found in the works of Kant and even his own grandfather, Erasmus Darwin, challenged the creation teaching of the Church. This was simply the teaching of the Bible, namely, that Mankind was created by God in His own image (p. 245).

Perhaps no work of Darwin’s is more disturbing than The Descent of Man (1871). In this book the reader learns that man is, according to Darwin, descended from an ape, at least in some stage of his evolution. It was one thing to consider the evolution (subtle changes of appearances that occur within breeding, given mutations and selection and so forth, over several generations) of a species “according to their kind.” This certainly is not outside of Biblical truth. But to suppose that Man was not created by God as a Man but rather evolved from apes caused Mr. Darwin to have to defend himself. And so Darwin wrote,

“For my own part I would as soon be descended from that heroic little monkey who braved his dreaded enemy to save the life of his keeper, or from that old baboon who, descending from the mountains, carried away in triumph his young comrade from a crowd of astonished dogs—as from a savage who delights to torture his enemies, offers up bloody sacrifices, practices infanticide without remorse, treats his wives like slaves, knows no decency, and is haunted by the grossest superstition.”

Darwin sounds more like a philosopher than a scientist at this point. But let us take these words as they are. Darwin’s heroic little monkey does seem much more civilized than ancient Man. Christianity never said that Man was civilized. Indeed, St. Paul, in Romans chapter one, says just the opposite. We read in chapter three, “There are none who seek after God.” The truth of the matter is that a truly Biblical anthropology asserts that not only did God create Man, but also that Man fell into sin and that fall was so pervasive the whole order on the earth was affected. Into this ruin, Man rejected the very conscience God had given him in order to sin. That sin, that mindset, that predisposition to sinning, led to Mr. Darwin’s dark view of his ancestry. We cannot choose our relatives, as they say. But Mr. Darwin wanted to. And I can’t blame him.

A rose is still a rose by any other name. And a monkey is still a monkey, though Mr. Darwin doesn’t think so. We understand the situation as Jesus taught it and as St. Paul taught it and as the Old Testament prophets taught it. We know that there has been a Creation and a Fall. This is where Darwin and the Church part ways. His famous voyage to Galápagos led him to worship the creation rather than the Creator. His much heralded laboratory work missed the evidences of the fall. And we know that there has been a need for redemption from this fall. This is the longing inside of us, the existential ache that burdens everyman. Now Redemption has come and is at work in the world (through the perfect life and sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross and then His rising by the power of God) and so we are no longer bound to look at life or even our own species with embarrassment. If we could get Darwin back to church this is what we must say to him. Nothing less. But we could say more.

Through Jesus (and not through faith in a system which started out well enough but went amuck when Mr. Darwin and his followers began to project their theories of genes and adaptation and the like upon Man and worse, upon God) old superstitions can be done away with. We are left to marvel at those who embrace Jesus Christ. For they leave old ways, and follow a new path of peace and joy with a nobility which even the old baboon and the courageous monkey could not imitate. We see that in individuals which Mr. Darwin would have known in Down, Kent, and we see that in entire cultures, including his own.

Britain was a most embarrassing place to live prior to its transformation by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In each of its kingdoms: Mercia, Northumberland, East Anglican, Essex, (Mr. Darwin’s own) Kent, Sussex and Wessex one could witness the very inhuman, ungodly things that Mr. Darwin so, rightfully, detested. St. Aiden established Lindisfarne and preached the Gospel to the English sometime in the 500s. He was followed by the more decisive work of the missionary Augustine, whose Gospel preaching converted the King of Kent and established Christian leadership at Canterbury and Rochester around 597. The detestable in Man did not evolve into something better, but was suddenly, quite amazingly and most wonderfully, created then and there. It was observable, measurable, and recorded (as Beda Venerabilis did thereafter), which is something that I think scientists prefer in a study.

All of this simply reveals the fact that Darwin (and his supporters) and believers in the supremacy of the Scriptures are talking about the same thing, but that thing is not science. As Mr. Darwin sticks to observing creation, we applaud him. As he applies that philosophically, for which he is remembered, we distance ourselves from him. At least we say,

“No, you are wrong. The monkey is not nobler than the Man, despite Man’s sin. We believe not only that God created the world, but also that a terrible thing happened in the world, which explains the things you detest in Man. But even more gloriously, we believe that a Man, Christ Jesus, has come. He is at once God and Man, born of a Virgin, suffered under Pontius Pilot (observable history), was crucified, dead and buried, descended to the place of the dead, and this Man rose again from the dead. He was seen by over 500, many who remained alive as the witnesses began to propagate their observations all across the Roman Empire, even to the highest places in that culture. We believe that this God-Man offers new life, eternal life to all who will trust in Him and repent of trust in self or in old superstitions. We believe that whoever calls upon Him will be saved. We believe that this Christ who ascended into the heavens, seen by men, will return again, to be witnessed by all. We believe that there will be a resurrection from the dead and a gathering up of His eternal flock in the sky, in order to come with Him, as a wedding party, to see both the old order pass away and a new heavens and a new earth.”

Now. What is nobler than this faith? It has produced the greatest humanitarian movements in the history of the world. It has produced the art of Albrecht Dürer and the music of Bach. It has produced the most glorious architecture and it has produced benevolent kings and happy subjects who are free to explore and discover, even as Mr. Darwin did.

I finished reading the obituary of Charles Darwin thinking on these things. And as the Church is supposed to be bringing Darwin and the Church together this weekend I think that Mr. Darwin might be amused to think that we bothered. He probably would be content to stay in his study and work on the heredity of, say, the bees of southern England. Perhaps he would give an interview to say that he found bees much more interesting than people. And the church bells would ring in Down, the Gospel would be read, and those who respond to the reading with “Praise be to Thee, Lord Christ!” would be as far from Darwin’s laboratory then as they and as we are from his radical philosophies today.

Sometimes it is best to leave the distance as it is, and rather than chasing after the approval of a science which is at odds with itself over evolution, after all of these years, just let the dead bury the dead.

I put the obituary of Darwin down and tried to imagine what in the world could we add to what was said. And after all of these years I couldn’t imagine a thing, except to say that Darwin’s devolved body remains undoubtedly dead while Christ’s gloriously resurrected body remains verifiably alive. And because of that I would advise, in the future, to just go ahead and have church without Darwin.

Find more resources at http://thecall.rts.edu and sign up for “Letters to Our Students.”

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February 24, 2009

Mrs in Ministry Session Two

Last night we enjoyed our second Mrs. in Ministry session on “The Pastor’s Wife and her Role with the Church.” An outline of our evening is given below.

After beginning with the song, Follow Your Call, and calling us to our gathering with 1 Corinthians 9.16 and Paul’s “burden” to preach, we prayed and launched into Biblical truths from the Song of Hannah for the pastor’s wife.

The Pastor’s Wife and her Role Relationship with the Local Church

Session Two at the Milton’s

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

I. Hannah’s Song for the Pastor’s Wife and the Local Church

“Though she would become the ‘pastor’s mother’ she never the less demonstrated how trusting in God’s power, the Gospel, to establish His will, while she languished in seeming weakness, was a pattern of godliness for the pastor’s wife.”

Concerning a pastor’s wife and her relationship to the Church, we can look at Hannah’s song and discover God’s will:

1. Your relationship to the church is first and always a ministry of prayer. (2.1-10)

2. Your relationship to the church will always be to lean hard on God’s strength to accomplish what you cannot. (2.1,2)

3. Your relationship to the church will sometimes require you to bring your frustration to the Lord for His disposal. (2.3-8)

4. Your relationship to the church is grounded in the firm confidence that God will take care of His own (the pastoral family) (9)

5. Your relationship to the church is grounded in the vision of the Father to glorify His Son, whose ministry is at work in your family. (v. 10)

II. Some Practical Thoughts on the Pastor’s Wife and the Local Church

• Her role in the call (encouraging his best for God’s glory and the Church’s good and your family’s good)

• Her role in establishing relationships in the church (how to land safely on the runway of a new church or ministry)

• Her role with the elders or other lay leadership in the church (when to pray, and when to…pray)

• Her role as a gifted member of the Body of Christ (leading from the Manse not from the committees; and enjoying the community while not directing it)

• Her role as counselor to the Pastor of the church (when to nudge and when to let it go)

III. Q & A and Reflections

IV. Prayer and Close

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Tags: Hannah, Michael Milton, Miltons, Pastor's Wife, pastoral ministry, Pastoral Theology, Reformed Theological Seminary, RTS-Charlotte, Ruth, The Church

February 24, 2009

Never Silent: A Story of Hope for a Nation in Crisis

never-silent We are facing a crisis in American Christianity:

•    The breakdown of creedal Christianity has most of our older mainline denominations teetering on the brink with heresy;
•    The almost wholesale amalgamation of the evangelical churches with the culture has left the Church in North America without prophetic voices (but only therapeutic ones);
•    The unmitigated propagation of “tolerance” teaching and hatred of Biblical Christianity in our secularized culture is staggering.

As you think about these things I’d like to suggest three books for you to consider. I would begin with two of Philip Jenkins’ books: The Lost History of Christianity and The Next Christendom. I would also add the one that I want to highlight today: Never Silent: How Third World Missionaries are Now Bringing the Gospel to the US written by Thaddeus Barnum. The Right Reverend Barnum is a bishop in Connecticut, in the Anglican Mission in America, consecrated by the Church of England’s Province of Rwanda.

never-silentI commend the first two books so you can read about some encouraging signs of how the Holy Spirit is in fact moving in nations to bring the Gospel of Jesus to the world through transformed lives. In Africa, Latin America, Asia and India God is at work in great ways that ought to excite the hearts of those living in Old Christendom. But in Thad Barnum’s book, which chronicles the story of the coming of the African Anglicans to America, we are not only excited for other nations but also given hope for our own.

One of the most exciting movements in America today is with the Anglican Mission in America and other Anglican groups who are planting churches, revitalizing churches, and sending out home missionaries to prisons and schools and universities. Who would have figured that God would hit the American church in the heart to revive us through Episcopalians? And who would have thought that the jumpstart would come from African Anglicans in Rwanda, the poorest, most war-devastated country in Africa. But isn’t this just like God who, in the middle of the story of national spiritual collapse in Judges and the continuing story of Israel in 1 Samuel, places the story of Ruth and of Hannah. Here a Moabite woman and a childless woman (and may I add, an abused lass) whose heart longs for redemption, lead us to see that God can do great things. Here He worked underneath the larger and more visible “higher history” of nations and kings and queens. In our time, we must be encouraged that He is at it again. He is doing great things as a new Christendom emerges, but He is sending missionaries from those places back to our “Babylon” to bring revival.

Barnum concludes his book with these words on how we in old Christendom must now respond to our own people in sin:

“It is hard enough to face the pain of my own sin, but to face the people who have bound my heart in anger and bitterness? To go to them while the pain is still fresh, the wound deep and exposed, and forgive them as the Lord Jesus Christ has forgiven me? But this is what the global South missionaries are demanding from us. They’ve come to mentor us in Christ to shake us from our sins of arrogance and prosperity that have lulled us to sleep and rendered us passionless…They want us in the mission field with those who are lost without Jesus” (p. 279).

I put down Never Silent after having read Jenkins’ books and turned again to Christ. I asked Him to give me courage, like the global South missionaries who are now coming to us, to never be quiet in the face of sin, to always act on behalf of those in trouble, and to never bargain or make deals with blatant devils.

And I think if you read this book you too will go to God in prayer. Maybe something will happen to you that happened to me, something that is becoming quite rare in these days: you will have hope.

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Tags: African Christianity, Anglican, Hope, Michael Milton, never silent, Reformed Theological Seminary, renewal, revival, RTS-Charlotte, thad barnum

February 25, 2009

Perfect Hatred: An Ash Wednesday Response to Those Not on My Side (Or God’s for that matter)

ash-wednesday The Psalmist, David, wrote, in one of the several so-called imprecatory Psalms these words:

“Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? And am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies” (Psalm 139.21, 22).

And these words are on my heart this Ash Wednesday morning; in particular that one phrase in verse 22: “perfect hatred;” or better yet, “complete hatred” as the English Standard Version puts the Hebrew. And I will tell you why I am thinking about “perfect hatred.”

It seems to me that we who love the Lord are in danger today; a different kind of danger. The danger that I speak of is not the danger of compromise with the all-too obvious sinfully sensate culture in North America though such danger exists. I speak of the danger of a deep, personal bitterness, a hatred if you will, towards those “who are not on my side.” I came face to face with that bitterness in my devotions this morning. On a day when I am thinking, in my own heart, of my concern for our government, seemingly sinking into socialism, which is against the very founding principles of our nation, and most certainly far from the representative, self governing principles of the Bible on which, I for one believe, that our nation was sought to be founded; and in a season when, on this Ash Wednesday, I am thinking of the dark bloody stain of abortion and the sad, soul-chilling consequences of approving (that and other behaviors) that which God condemns, I read E.J. Young’s commentary on Psalm 139 (The Way Everlasting: A Study in Psalm 139 [Banner of Truth, 1965]). And there I came upon the words of David that “I hate them with perfect hatred.” I felt at once that the Psalmist was experiencing something of what I was feeling. The Psalmist had contemplated the glorious omniscient and omnipresent God who knew David better than David knew himself. David extolled the God who was always there and from whose presence no man can escape. And in exploring this theme David bursts into this enigmatic statement concerning a “perfect hatred.” I felt at once that my heart needed checking at this statement. David of course was so overwhelmed with the awesomeness of God that he, as a man, cannot but say, with the most vehement expressions, that he “hates” those who hate God. God’s enemies are David’s enemies. We understand this. We too could use a word such as “hate” in terms of those, even today, who stand against the Lord and His people. And yet we know the Bible is one. We know that Jesus told us to love our enemies. And so we are left with a crisis. One one hand we feel what David feels but we desire to follow Jesus as well. The caution of E.J. Young is well worth repeating here:

“Unless we walk with God, depending upon Him for all things, our hatred will be the wrong kind of hatred, and the wrong kind of hatred is sin” (111).

And this is where the Holy Spirit deposits this phrase, “perfect hatred.” A perfect hatred is an expression that is only uttered when one’s own life is presented to God for His inspection. Thus David begins and ends this Psalm with “Search me.” A perfect hatred is one in which the believer draws close to God in prayer and is lost in love and awe and wonder. This hatred is not a hatred which is vicious and seeks retribution on account of one’s personal losses. It is a “hatred” that desires earnestly that the entire earth should bow down and join in worship of this gracious God. It is a perfect hatred that so detests the opposition of God by Man that either Man will be consumed in righteous judgment or converted in gracious pardon. And as we look to our Lord Jesus who was the Lamb of God stapled with Roman iron nails to a cross of execution do we not hate! Do we not hate the sin that put him there? But as we hate we hear; we hear His words, “Father, forgive them they know not what they do.” And we come to see that our deepest expression of hatred has been surpassed in an incalculable way by God’s own hatred. Indeed, it is impossible to “hate” as perfectly as God hates. But God’s hate comes, in love and grace, against His own Son rather than against Man. And we, like Rembrandt who placed himself in his own painting as one who stood and took part in the mob’s crucifixion of Jesus, sink down to see our own image in the mob that we so hate. And our hatred is perfected by our own admission of sin. The boiling water of emotion subsides and though still steeping in our defense of God’s honor, we come to see ourselves not at one with this holy God but still yet apart from Him and so we say, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139.23,24).

This is what Calvin said of this “perfect hatred” passage:

“We are to observe, however, that the hatred of which the Psalmist speaks is directed to the sins rather than the persons of the wicked. We are, so far as lies in us, to study peace with all men; we are to seek the good of all, and, if possible, they are to be reclaimed by kindness and good offices: only so far as they are enemies to God we must strenuously confront their resentment” (Calvin’s Commentary on the Book of Psalms, Psalm 139.22, Accordance Software).

Good words for us today. What did our mothers tell us, “Hate the sin, son, but love the sinner.” It sounds so simplistic until we see that our mothers simply got it from Calvin.

And so I look upon those who hate my Lord and know that I have been among them. My “perfect hatred” is altogether a response to gazing upon the perfect beauty of God’s Person, not a personal resentment against those who stand against me and mine. Just the opposite. As I hated my own sin and its consequences, and I now cannot imagine even knowing that man who once openly blasphemed Jesus Christ, and yet stand amazed at the love of God who forgave me and made me his son and put me into the ministry of the Gospel, so this morning I would hate with a perfect hatred those who oppose Christ, and yet seeing Christ crucified, seeing Christ risen, the sinless made sin for those in sin that they might become the righteousness of God, and knowing that in the Gospel there is hope that those who curse Jesus today shall preach Him tomorrow. Thus perfect hatred leads to perfect love and perfect hope. And do we not need this now more than ever?

I did not attend any early service and receive a sign of ashes. But I did find in myself a seething hatred that needed to be burned in the love of Jesus to perfect it. If I can wear that today, and not wash it off tomorrow, then this will have been a good Ash Wednesday.

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Tags: Ash Wednesday, Gospel of Jesus Christ, Hatred, Lent, Lenten message, Mike Milton, Psalm 139, Reformed Theological Seminary, RTS-Charlotte, Sermons

March 2, 2009

Ever-Growing-Ever-Green: A Message on Aging from Psalms 92.14

I was to preach a message to our congregation on the subject of aging. It was to be a senior saint’s Sunday. But for me it turned out to be a Sunday of vigil, over my mother-in-law, who was preparing to leave this world, and as I had learned that my Aunt Georgia, in Baton Rouge, had died. I had been reared by her sister, my Aunt Eva, who had gone to be with the Lord in 1997. Aunt Georgia was only one left from that family where I had come from. So as I prepared this message for our congregaiton, I did so with the a heavy heart, but, I must say, with a heart that rejoiced that God loved his saints and cares for us at every stage of life, even the final one. I also sang a song, Little Child, at the conclusion of my message and that song is now produced and available on the album Follow Your Call.

I do pray that this message will be of blessing to families, to pastors preparing to preach on this subject, and to all of us who can trust in the Lord who loves us. May we truly be “ever growing, ever green.”

The Bible and Aging

Leon Trotsky, the Russian revolutionary, wrote in his diary that “Old age is the most unexpected of all things that happen to a man.” Obviously he didn’t know his Bible very well. For not only does the Bible address the matter of aging, but speaks honestly about its troubles, and even celebrates the aging of a believer.

And that is what we are doing today. This message came to me, providentially, as the Lord took my Aunt Georgia home to be with him at the ripe age of 97, and as my wife has kept vigil with her mother, who is seriously ill. God’s timing is perfect.

We have, as a congregation read the 92^nd Psalm. Let me only read, now, from verses 14-15. And then I would add to that Isaiah 46.4.

“They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, ‘The LORD is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.’” Psalms 92.14-15

“Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.” Isaiah 46.4

Prayer

Lord of life, by whom the old have led nations and through whom strength has been given that Sarah in old age bore Isaac and Elizabeth in later years bore John the Baptist, speak new life today, though your unchanging Word, to our hearts, and let Your old and young, together, so receive, understand and inwardly digest this Word that we would live forever. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Introduction to the Message

I medicated my soul this week in the work of Willa Cather, the great novelist of the early twentieth century who wrote among other things My Antonia, which memorialized her childhoold friend, Annie Pavelka, who grew to be a strong prairie woman and who was the prototype for the heroine Antonia. But here is why I even mention this and why I read her this week: because Willa Cather gloried in bringing out the lives of those otherwise forgotton. To the eastern establishment, there wasn’t much going on in Red Cloud, Nebraska. They were not important to many because they were out of sight, out of mind. But Willa Cather was the advocate for the forgotton pioneers. Though her writing, she brought them dignity and value and relevance.

Today, the Church must be the advocate for the aging. We must do all we can to focus the light on the elderly and the needs of people who are older. Through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we must give them the dignity and value and relevance that God gives them.

I read almost every week, somewhere, that the Church is doing everything she can to attract young people. But rarely do you read about how the Church is seeking to attract older people! I thank God for C____ Brown and all of those who lead our ministry to seniors called, “It’s a Wonderful Life!” My own heart is for older people and younger people to be gathered together, encouraging each other and blessing each other, before the Lord in worship and in this church. Psalm 148. 12,13 gives us this vision for the Church when David writes:

“Young men and maidens together, old men and children! Let them praise the name of the LORD, for his name alone is exalted; his majesty is above earth and heaven” (Psalms 148.12, 13 ESV).

But why must we be intentional about lifting up the place in the Church of those of riper years? In a word: Sin. We live in a world that denies Jesus as Lord. Jesus Christ is life and gives life. To deny Him is to enter a pathway that leads to a culture that devalues human life. We have seen this with the unborn and the destruction of life. And we see it also with devaluing the lives of those who are older. And why? Because without Christ, life becomes utilitarian. What use is a baby to someone who is not interested in giving themselves to that little human being? And what use is a person in a nursing home, when there are corporate ladders to climb and families to raise and bills to pay?

But Jesus brings not only eternal life but true life. In God’s Word, the Lord tells us we are to honor those who are older. Indeed, we read in Leviticus 19:32:

“You shall rise before the aged, and defer to the old; and you shall fear your God: I am the Lord.”

Our church is and will always be as long as I am pastor here a place where the senior adults among us are not only cared for, but honored as cherished people of God. Even down to your last breath at 110 years old, we will seek to show you the dignity that God gives you. For your life is sacred and is a gift of God and your life is a gift to us. God values life. Christ gives dignity to the aged. And His people must do the same.

Now God’s Word tells us that not only values the lives of those who are older, but, indeed, older people have led the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In the Old Testament, God called Abraham to follow Him when that man was seventy five. Moses was eighty years old when he was called to speak to Pharaoh. And when He died, we read:

De 34:7 Moses was one hundred twenty years old when he died; his sight was unimpaired and his vigor had not abated.

Joshua led Israel from the wilderness to the Promised Land when he was eighty five and continued his leadership until he died at one hundred and ten.

We think of Abraham and Sarah and Moses and Joshua as great leaders in old age. But how about in the New Testament? Both Paul and Peter led the Church in advanced years. We read Paul’s own assessment in Philemon:

Philemon 1:9 yet I would rather appeal to you on the basis of love-and I, Paul, do this as an old man, and now also as a prisoner of Christ Jesus.

And Jesus told Peter:

Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” John 21.18

We know from Church history that Peter did, indeed, die such a death, after leading the Church well into old age, just as Jesus said he would.

I recall that a few years ago, while I was the administrator at Knox Seminary, a few well meaning but poorly advised men corned Dr. Kennedy in the hall of the Church and told him that they thought he ought to give attention to retiring. They should not have done that. According to the report that I heard, he told them, “I see. And did the session send you to tell me this?” No, they admitted. They were just concerned. “I see. Well, I want you to get this loud and clear. Don’t you ever bring this up to me again. When God gets ready to retire me He will let me know and then I will let you know. Is that clear?” No one has ever raised that subject again to him as far as I know.

Why waste years of experience and insights and courage gained through prayer. I thank God that we have wise, godly elders who are truly elders in our midst. We need them. They give us the perspective of having seen God at work in the challenges we face. They tend to be greater prayer warriors, for they know the importance of prayer. They tend to be better at facing sorrows, for they have known sorrows in their years. They tend to be more forgiving, more even-keeled and less likely to fall into the traps of extremism, and more likely to major on the majors and minor on the minors. In a word, they are seasoned saints.

A member of our family, here to be with my mother in law, had the opportunity to meet one of our elders, Dr. David M_____, the other day in the hospital. And when she told me that I told her that she had met a man who was a hero to me. I told her that I cannot imagine coming to be the pastor of this church without Dr. M______ in my office, guiding me, praying with me and for me and giving me the wisdom that I lacked. And I could go down the line and name the others who have prayed with me, counseled me and encouraged me. Our elder elders are, in fact, heroes of the faith to me. And I thank God for them. And for godly women and men who have prayed for us, encouraged us, and most of all modeled the faith for us.

So, God’s Word teaches us to honor the senior saints in our midst as well as recognize their usefulness to the Body of Christ.

But I want to now turn to the passage that God has put on my heart. It is an important promise to faithful older saints and since all of us desire to be in that situation one day ourselves, it is a Scripture that is important to everyone here. It is Psalm 92.12-15. I believe with Spurgeon:

“No one acquainted with David’s style will hesitate to ascribe to him the authorship of this divine hymn.”

This Psalm is, as we are told in the divine inscription above, a Psalm for the Sabbath. We are that we should give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to His name, to declare His steadfast love, which is His grace shown in Jesus Christ, in the morning and His faithfulness in the evening. And so, in this church, we gather in the morning and the evening, as the ancient church did to honor passages such as these. And the morning and evening worship of God is the key for understanding verses 12-15, the end of the Psalm. For God’s faithfulness, acknowledged both in the early hours of the Sabbath and the late hours of the Sabbath, are also known early in our years, and do last throughout all of our lives, even to the evening of our days. And so the Psalm speaks of the goodness of God to His saints in their later years. And there are two things I want to say to you, from just the 14^th verse of this wonderful Psalm.

The first is this: God’s faithfulness causes us to be ever-growing.

For we read that “They still-and emphasize still-bear fruit in old age. Someone has written:

“The fullness of Christ is manifested by the fruitfulness of a Christian.”

And His fullness and thus our fruitfulness does not stop in our later years, but according to Psalm 92.14 continues. Several things need to be noted about this passage.

First, this passage is about older saints who persevere in faith in Jesus. It is not about unbelievers. This Psalm does speak of unbelieves as those who “flourish” in this life, but who will be doomed to destruction forever” without God (v. 7). Let all, no matter their age, repent and turn to Jesus Christ today. For the promises of God are all Yes in Jesus Christ and if you are not in Him you are outside of the will of God and subject to His judgment and not His grace.

Second, those who still bear means that they were already bearing. This is a call to younger Christians to make use of the means of grace-Word, Sacrament, and Prayer-that your soul may be conditioned today, for the trials you may experience tomorrow. Let us not say, “Well, when I am older I shall be faithful.” No. The faithfulness you see in our saints here today is a result of years of following the Lord Jesus Christ.

Third, what is this that is budding forth and producing fruit into advanced years? What is happening in this passage? Jesus taught us that what goes into a man is what comes out of him. And here, the fruit, is the cultivated godly virtures that burst forth as a result of all that has gone into the believer through the years. Fruit bearing does not stop in old age, but continues.

One of our members, Mr. Ted ____, had his birthday last week. He told that if I had dyslexia, I would read it 38. But I won’t tell how old he is. Well, Mr. _____, who is one of the nation’s top experts on roses, makes a concoction called “Mill’s Magic” and “Mill’s Easy Feed.” I use it on my roses, which he planted for me. And I have seen, first hand, in his own yard, that even an older bush can still produce beautiful roses, as long as you pour on that Mills Magic and Mills Easy Feed. I have read that the oldest rose in the world was planted in the 9^th century in Hanover, Germany and is still blooming. I don’t know if they used Mills Magic back then, but they used some sort of rose food to keep that plant growing.

My beloved, are you pouring on the magic of God’s grace and feeding your soul with God’s love in Christ? If so, then the fruit of the Spirit-love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control-will keep flowering throughout all of your life. What a lovely fragrance in our congregation today through the continual blooming of God’s grace in older saints.

The second teaching in this 14^th verse of Psalm 92 is this: God’s faithfulness causes us to be not only ever-growing, but also ever-green.

For we read, “they are ever full of sap and green.”

Now I can hear someone saying that he knew so and so was full of something, but just didn’t know what it was. Well, the Christian senior saint is filled with the sap of God’s grace. If Christ comes into your life He comes to live forever. He will not go away. But we also must remain in Him by seeking Him. Jesus said:

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. John 15.5

The sap is the very life of Jesus in the believer. Christ is in us in the morning of our walk with Him and He is with us in the evening as well. He does not leave us.

When we go to England, I try to attend St. Paul’s for I love the service of evensong at St. Paul’s. The whole service is sung and there is something about the beauty of prayers sung to God while the sun is setting, and the shadows are falling.

And Christ is all the more glorified when the life of Jesus is flowing through a body that may be frail or weakened by age. I found that my attention to Christ was sharpened through the recent surgeries that I went through. And as we age, our bodies may fail us, but the life of Jesus inside of us will grow more and more. This is what Paul meant when he wrote-and I read from the King James Version:

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. 2Corinthians 4.7

For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. 2Corinthians 4.16 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; 17 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. 18

My Aunt Georgia went home to be with the Lord this week. She was a part of a family of women who all lived to be in their upper 90s. Aunt Georgia was the person who went down to New Orleans when I was just a baby, and had been abandoned by a mother. My father put me in her arms and she took me to Aunt Eva. Together they made sure I had food and clothing. I cannot overestimate how much I owe to her. She loved my wife and Mae, in many, many ways reminds me of Aunt Georgia. Aunt Georgia was a single mom years ago when there was no such thing as single mothers, except through early widowhood. And she was running a boarding house, when a young salesman from Tennessee boarded there. That man, John Taylor, married her and took her three children to raise. He joined the Army and went to the Pacific to fight. He returned and ran his business and helped Aunt Georgia raise her children and then helped with me. I named our John Michael after Uncle John. And I cherished my Aunt Georgia and sought to honor her. I preached Uncle John’s funeral. And I leave today to preach Aunt Georgia’s funeral. I will always cherish the time I spent last year when I took John Michael to spend time with Aunt Georgia. We went to the old places where our family came from in Louisiana. And I took her to eat at the Dinner Bell in McComb, Mississippi, her favorite place to eat. And she told me, “Mike, do you know that I am 96? And one day the Lord will call me home. And I want you to preach at my funeral. But don’t talk about me. Tell about the One who was always faithful to me.”

I will, Aunt Georgia.

But at And at that moment, as I held her steady, and we looked down on a tombstone that stood next to Uncle John’s, I felt that Christ was standing next to me. For though her body was weakened, her spirit was more alive than ever.

My beloved, the Lord is faithful in the morning. And He is faithful in the evening. He is faithful when we are twenty. And He is faithful when we are one hundred. For the life our Lord is eternal. And if He is inside of us, then we too are ever-growing, and ever green.

I was writing a song for this service, based on Isaiah 46.4:

“even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save” (Isaiah 46.4 ESV).

That is a tremendous promise to all of us that God will always be with us. He seeks to reassure us of His love. As I wrote that song, my mother in law, who is also in the evening of her life, began to draw closer to her eternal home. So I dedicated this song to her. And I dedicate it to Aunt Georgia. And I dedicate it to all of us. For morning does not last forever. Evening comes for all of us. But God’s love in Jesus Christ is always evergreen for those who are His. And those who are His are those who call out to Him as Lord.

So, I call this song, “Little Child.”

A flower tucked in the pages

Of a Bible from long ago

Here’s a picture of a young woman

Holding a child so close

But that child is a now a grandmother

And the flower has faded away

But the words in that old Bible

Will speak to her and say

[Refrain]

Even down to your gray hairs

I am the One who always cares

I am the One who saved your soul

And you can never grow so old

That my love will not hold you

You are still my little child

A young soldier posing proudly

For a snapshot to give his bride

Too quickly the years have gone

And she’s no longer by his side

They say men don’t make this adjustment

And you’re starting to agree

For there was nothing like your lady

But your Lord says, listen to me:

[Refrain]

There’s a beauty in winter, when the once full trees are bare

You can see a whole lot farther than when springtime once was there

And the fire glows, and your heart knows, there’s life beyond this world

A flower tucked in the pages

Of a Bible from long ago

Here’s a picture of a young woman

Holding a child so close

But that child is a now a grandmother

And the flower has faded away

But the words in that old Bible

Will speak to her and say

Even down to your gray hairs

I am the One who always cares

I am the One who saved your soul

And you can never grow so old

That my love cannot hold you

And my life will enfold you

And my grace will uphold you

You’re still my little child

The Columbia World of Quotations, entry 61689, 1996 (see www.bartleby.com), accessed on April 29, 2006.

The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. Genesis 12.1

¶ So Abram left, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran. Genesis 12.4

Jos 13:1 Now Joshua was old and advanced in years; and the Lord said to him, “You are old and advanced in years, and very much of the land still remains to be possessed.

Jos 14:7 I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land; and I brought him an honest report.

Jos 14:10 And now, as you see, the Lord has kept me alive, as he said, these forty-five years since the time that the Lord spoke this word to Moses, while Israel was journeying through the wilderness; and here I am today, eighty-five years old.

Jos 23:2 Joshua summoned all Israel, their elders and heads, their judges and officers, and said to them, “I am now old and well advanced in years;

Jos 24:29 After these things Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being one hundred ten years old.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon, The Treasury of David (http://www.spurgeon.org/treasury/ps092.htm ), accessed on April 29, 2006.

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Tags: Aging, Bible, Charlotte, Christ, Christian, Christianity, Church, God, Jesus Christ, Michael Milton, Mike Milton, Old age, Pastoral Theology, Pastorate, PCA, Preach, Presbyterian Church in America, Reformed Theological Seminary, Reformed Theological Seminary Charlotte, RTS-Charlotte, Sermons

March 6, 2009

Jesus’ Tax Policy

According to the New York Times, President Obama’s administration is considering a chilling prospect to charitable groups in the United States: slashing the amount of income tax deductions that people making over $250,000 can take. According to John Colombo, Professor of Law at the University of Illinois College of Law,

“Many academic studies have concluded that there is considerable elasticity of demand for charitable contributions by the wealthy – or in English, that means that the wealthy in fact respond to tax incentives for donations.”

And so the Wall Street Journal reported, “Charitable organizations are…worried.” Nevada Democratic Representative Shelly Berkley, speaking in the House Ways and Means Committee hearing, cut to the chase of the matter:

“I’d like to think that people give out of the goodness of their heart, but that tax deduction helps to loosen up the heart-strings.”

And we all understand that she is right.

As a president of a seminary, training up the next generation of pastors and missionaries, this whole conversation has, naturally, gripped by attention. Our seminary, like other non-profits, depends on the financial stewardship and vision of our “major donors” as we all like to call them (“or in English” that means mostly those with incomes over $250,000). Taking away any incentive to give cannot help us. But I ask, with all due respect to the common sense observations of Representative Berkley (and with thanks to her for speaking up for us!): “Does it really hurt us? Can this really impact the overall work of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ in our generation?”

Jesus did have a tax policy. In fact, with a tilt towards Karl Barth’s admonition to read the Bible in one hand and the New York Times in the other, I did read from Matthew’s Gospel this morning before I read the papers. I happened to read from Matthew 17.24-27, the account of the temple tax and the amazing way that Jesus paid it, with a shekel in a fish’s mouth. It was the perfect Providentially appointed, spirit encouraging reading to go with the depressingly pessimistic articles I was reading on tax deductions and the ominous threat to charitable organizations. Indeed I think the Gospel account is a perfect place for churches, charitable groups, and especially all Christian organizations to rest in light of all of this talk about taking away out tax deductions and threatening our donor base. Here is what the Bible teaches:

“When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax went up to Peter and said, ‘Does your teacher not pay the tax?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, ‘What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tax? From their sons or from others?’ And when he said, “From others,” Jesus said to him, ‘Then the sons are free. However, not to give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for me and for yourself (Matthew 17.24-27 ESV).’”

The text is not without some difficulty in interpretation. But several things are clear and should be noted:

This was, of course, a temple tax not a state tax but hang tight, there is some application here. The collectors who came to Peter to text him to see if Jesus would pay were not from the Roman “IRS” but from the Jewish Temple, but there is an authority issue at work here anyway so stay with me. Their question was, no doubt, yet another trap being set for Jesus, yet the question does have parallels to our own questions today. Peter answers the contemptible query about whether Jesus will “pay up,” without actually consulting Jesus about the matter, but he assures them that “Yes” Jesus would pay the temple tax. When the matter is brought to Christ, He instructs Peter about his response to the Temple tax by presenting a traditional, albeit remarkably ingenious (I believe “divine”), Rabbinical response. He answers the question with a question. Jesus asks whether the kings of this earth get their tax revenue from “sons” or “others.” Peter knows the lay of the land as well as we do. Politicians were the same then as now because human nature has not changed since the fall of Adam and Eve. So the fisherman-disciple answers correctly, that rulers get their money from those who are not their loved ones, their allies, their closest constituencies, if you will; they get their revenue from “others” (translation, “the rest of us poor folk who have no connections”). Apparently, Jesus believes that Peter got the right answer. So Jesus says, “Then the sons are free.” Peter is a son of God because of his faith in Jesus. He is exempt from any older Levitical law concerning taxes and so, of course, is Jesus because He is the King! But Jesus in humility condescends to existing authorities, so “as not to give offense,” and agrees to pay the tax. But he pays in a most unusual way. He orders Peter to do what Peter knows how to do so well: go fishing. Jesus tells him to cast a hook into the sea and the first fish that comes up will be a fish that has a shekel in his mouth. Peter, who will receive the tax portion for himself and for Jesus, is this miraculous fashion, is then to present the tax to the authorities.

Now that is the story. And here is the policy of Jesus that we need to remember:

Because we yet live under these policies, for the sake of righteousness, we humbly oblige and submit to them. Yet, we acknowledge, Christ’s Kingdom is not sustained by the policies of men but by the promises of God.

Thus the tax policies of the current President of the United States may not be favorable to those churches and organizations that labor under the banner of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. However Christ Himself will support our mission. This is because He said that He would build His Church. If the government sees fit to make tax policy favorable to the Church and other non profits because they see the benefit of these organizations to the State, as they surely did when the present favorable tax policies were written, then that this a blessing to us all who give. But if not, then we will support the work of Christ anyway. Our giving is not tied to policies of men but to the grace of Christ in our hearts. “Ah,” someone says. “But what about the raw data that Professor Colombo and others present, as well as the common sense statement by Representative Berkley, that the wealthy do of course respond to tax incentives? You will be affected, you fool! You will be impacted and some of us will not be sustained.” True enough. But there is the matter of the shekel in the fish’s mouth. God Himself will provide. He will provide for the giver and He will provide for those who put their hooks in the sea to cast vision for their ministries. We have to believe in this if our ministries are serving the cause of the Kingdom of God.

This is what the old English Presbyterian pastor, Matthew Henry, thought about this passage when he wrote:

“If called by providence to be poor, like our Lord, let us trust in his power, and our God shall supply all our need, according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. In the way of obedience, in the course, perhaps, of our usual calling, as he helped Peter, so he will help us. And if any sudden call should occur, which we are not prepared to meet, let us not apply to others, till we first seek Christ.”

I would thus say to our supporters and to others who are called to give to the work of the Lord: rest in the shekel in the fish’s mouth. If the U.S. tax policy will not support you by giving you the deductions we all enjoyed heretofore, then do not worry. God will provide. And to the pastors and missionaries and seminaries and inner city food kitchens I say, “Do not fear. But go out again and cast your vision, like Peter and his hook in the sea, and God’s school of fish will come, and they will bring what you need in this world.”

Oh sure, I would prefer that this government leave the old policies alone. In fact, I would prefer that the government stop spending money, which they (we) don’t really have and they wouldn’t have to hurt those who support ministries that help so many people in our country. I would prefer that the charitable organizations help the people, not the government. But that is my political opinion. My faith, in the midst of all of this, must be at rest in all of this in the Christ who owns not only the cattle on a thousand hills, but the single little fish whose fins push him through the water, under the command of that his Creator to find a shekel on the bottom of the sea, to suck it up in his mouth, and then intuitively swim, again by divine fiat, to a faithful vision cast by humble, if not always completely understanding, followers of the Master.

Obama may have his tax policy. But Jesus has His. And in God we trust.

Endnotes

Jackie Calmes, “Obama Plans Major Shifts in Spending,” in The New York Times online edition (2009).

John D. Colombo, “Could Obama’s Tax Plan Hurt Charitable Contributions?,” in Nonprofit Law Prof Blog (2009).

John D. McKinnon and Martin Vaughn, “White House Rethinks Tax Hikes,” The Wall Street Journal, Thursday, March 5, 2009.

Ibid.

Matthew Henry, “Commentary on the Whole Bible,” (Accordance, 2008).

References

Jackie Calmes. “Obama Plans Major Shifts in Spending.” In The New York Times online edition, 2009.

John D. Colombo. “Could Obama’s Tax Plan Hurt Charitable Contributions?” InNonprofit Law Prof Blog, 2009.

Matthew Henry. “Commentary on the Whole Bible.” Matthew 17.24-27: Accordance, 2008.

John D. McKinnon and Martin Vaughn. “White House Rethinks Tax Hikes.” The Wall Street Journal, Thursday, March 5, 2009, 3.

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Tags: Jesus Christ, Matthew 14:24-27, Michael A. Milton, Mike Milton, Money and Faith, Non Profit contributions, Obama's tax policy, Reformed Theological Seminary Charlotte, RTS-Charlotte, Tax deductions for contributions

March 7, 2009

Ministering to Our Chaplains in Germany

sustained1 I am very excited and deeply honored to go and preach the unsearchable riches of Jesus to our chaplains serving in Europe. At a special retreat next weekend in Garmish, Germany, I will join chaplains and families in a time of focus, refreshment and renewal in the essentials of ministry as divinely described in the Pastoral Epistles. I do pause now to ask God to bless this and to invite others to pray for those who minister Christ to the soldiers, sailors, airmen and guardsmen who fight over there so we don’t have to fight here.

“Lord, who sent Your Son to win the battle that we could not, send forth Your Spirit, to bless the Word of the Pastoral Epistles to the chaplains and their families gathered together next weekend. Grant safe travel for all. Grant good fellowship in the Gospel of Your Son. And send us all out from that place encouraged by You, and able to say ‘He came amongst us. He visited with us. I have known His presence and I am filled with His power. I go back now to my appointed station with a renewed commitment to the work of the Gospel, to an optimistic and confident understanding of the forward-moving Kingdom of Jesus Christ in our generation, and to a firm reliance on the God of grace to sustain me and my family, and to advance the work You have given me to do.’ These things I pray O Christ for Your sake and in Your Name. Amen.”

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Tags: Chaplain retreat, Chaplains, Christ, Christianity, Garmish Germany, God, Grace, Jesus, Michael A. Milton, OPC, PCA, Presbyterian and Reformed Chaplains, RPCNA

March 16, 2009

Sustained by Your Divine Calling

Amidst the awesome beauty of God’s creation at Garmisch, Germany, I gathered with some chaplains and wives from Europe to reflect upon the essentials of ministry from the Pastoral Epistles. During our time in God’s Word, we discovered four essentials for ministry and mission:

A Sacred Encounter with God

A Divine Calling from God

A Confident Hope in God; and

Doctrinal Convictions from God’s Word.

What a glorious time and a high and holy honor and priviledge to serve those who serve God and Country so very well. What follows is a combination of manuscript and outline from one of those sessions: Divine Calling. I offer it here for other pastors, seminary students and those being called, to reflect upon, pray over, and improve.

1 Timothy 1.12, 18-20; 4; 6.20; 2 Timothy 1.6-14; 2.1-2, 10, 14-15; 4.1-5

“Romancing our Calls”

As I taught some years ago at a seminary, and taught from the passages we are going to read today, a young lady in the class, who was not from a Reformed denomination, told me, “What you are doing is ‘Romancing our Calls.” That is a good phrase for what we are going to do today.

As Paul writes the pastorals, towards the end of this life, perhaps in 62-68, he is able to help Timothy and Titus to address the trials of ministry through their vocations. He thus not only stirs them up to memory of their calls to Christ but their calls to serve him as a minister of the Gospel.

As I read this Word of the Lord I unveil my agenda right now: I want to romance your call in order to fulfill your ministry. But I don’t have to motivate you or manipulate you with rhetorical flourish. I just have to be faithful to show you the Word of the Lord. The Spirit in you, who called you, will resonate with Himself in His Word. It is as easy as bringing you and your wife together and saying, “Now, love each other.” You will because you do. And that relationship is here as well.

This is the inerrant and infallible Word of the Lord.

I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, 1Timothy 1.12

This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, 1Timothy 1.18 holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, 19 among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme. 20

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, 1Timothy 4.1 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, 2 who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 3 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 4 for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer. 5

If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. 1Timothy 4.6 Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; 7 for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. 8 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. 9 For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe. 10

Command and teach these things. 1Timothy 4.11 Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. 12 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. 13 Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. 14 Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. 15 Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers. 16

O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge,” 1Timothy 6.20

For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, 2Timothy 1.6 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. 7

Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, 2Timothy 1.8 who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, 9 and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, 10 for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, 11 which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me. 12 Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 13 By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you. 14

You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, 2Timothy 2.1 and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. 2

Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. 2Timothy 2.10

Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. 2Timothy 2.14 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. 15

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2Timothy 4.1 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 2 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 3 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 4 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. 5

Prayer of Illumination

O Christ, who did give gifts to me for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, do send Your Spirit upon this message from Your Word, that from this time, this encounter with Thee, we may all leave with a renewed sense of Your mission in the world and our commitment to that mission through the Divine calling that has come upon us, so graciously, so amazingly, and so wonderfully. In Your Name, Jesus, we pray. Amen.

Introduction to the Message

How do you approach your ministry. Is it a “practical” theology” that is primarily aimed at “how to” or is it a “pastoral theology” grounded in the Biblical-theological truths of the Reformation? We need to think about this carefully. It will determine the character and lasting impact (or temporary impression) of your whole ministerial career. I would say that the answer to this question will also determine whether you are a candidate for burn out in the ministry, whether you have the strength to run the race of faith in the ministry, and how you deal with both success and disappointment in the pastoral ministry. In short, the answer to the question will provide the over arching and all encompassing way you conduct your ministry.

Martin Bucer (1491-1551) is helpful to us in this question. For this, sadly, little studied pastor-scholar who remains, “a reformer in the wings” as Andres Purves refers to him, all pastoral ministries must be “rooted directly in biblical and Reformational faith and …oriented to the practical care of souls.” Bucer, a great churchman, pastor at Strasbourg, a teacher of Calvin, a framer of Reformed worship, a contributor to the Book of Common Prayer (1552) and an esteemed professor of theology at Cambridge (his body buried in English soil, and then exhumed by Queen Mary four years after his death to be burned in public [only later to be “restored to full honor” five years after that by Elizabeth I). Bucer teaches us that the warrant, calling and work of the pastor is not only grounded in the Word of God and in the theological commitments of the Reformation but must be embraced personally by the pastor. In other words, the pastoral ministry is not just a Biblical idea, though it must be that, it is a Spirit-shaped reality in the soul of the one called to be a pastor.

I will never forget that after I came to the end of my wrestling to follow the call to ordained ministry and to go to seminary, I visited my dear Aunt Eva who had reared this orphan boy as my mother. As I visited her, in Kansas, the chaplain of the nursing home came up to me. “Dr. Eckley” was a man of about Ninety years old himself. But he ministered to the residents there with the energy and seriousness and pastoral care that must have marked his long career as a Nazarene pastor, district superintendant, and missionary. “Mike, “he began with a kindly smile, “I heard you are going to seminary.” I told him that I was. He drew closer to me, eyeball to eyeball and I could smell the eggs on his breath that he had eaten for breakfast. “Son, I have one serous question for you: are you really called by God to shepherd His flock?” I paused. I drew back a little and gathered myself before I answered. I was careful in my words. “Well, Dr. Eckley, I think so.” His eyes became like flames at my answer. “Well, Son, then you are not ready to follow the Lord.” I was dumbstruck. “Boy if you only ‘think’ that you are called, then you will fall. You better ‘know’ that God has laid His hand upon you. You better have known His holy call in your soul. You need to know what God says about pastors in His Word and the great burden of souls that a minister will bear all of the days of his life. I tell you this, son, because when the winds of hardship blow your way you only have one thing. Do you know what that is” I hesitated to break up his private sermon he was giving me but I felt I better answer. “The call?” “Yes! You only have your call from God! When they give you a Christmas raise and then run you out on a rumor, when the devil stirs up opposition against you for the sake of Jesus, and when you are hurt like our Lord was hurt, you will only have one thing to help you pick up your things and move on to the next field of service. Do you know what that is?” I decided not to answer. “You know what it is? It is your calling from God.” We both stood there looking at each other without talking. This eternity lasted for about a minute I guess. And then he laid down the hammer for the final time. “Son, are you called by God to be a pastor according to the Word of God?” I whispered that I thought I should go home and pray about that. And brothers, I did. And I reviewed again what God’s Word said. I came face to face again with the weight of the ministry as well as the unbelievable joys, which must also be in it. And I believed that God was calling even me to preach the unsearchable riches of Jesus Christ our Lord. And that calling has never left me to this day. I went back and told Dr. Eckley that I could answer his question. “By God’s grace, I am called and am ready to take up the cross if He will help me.” “Good,” the old Wesleyan said to this Calvinist. “Good, Mike. Go and preach the Gospel. Go to seminary and learn what it is that will ground you in the ministry of the Gospel for the rest of your life.”

In the field of battle that Timothy was facing, the old pastor-apostle, Paul, knew that if Timothy was going to confront the devil, face off with his willing and unwitting agents who sought to destroy the good work which Paul himself had laid down in life and teaching, then Timothy was going to have to be grounded in his calling to be a preacher of the Gospel of grace.

It is what you need. It is what I need. It is the thing that will stand us in good stead. It will see us through the storms. And that is not some old Nazarene preacher opining. That is the Word of the Lord for our lives today. And this “Divine Calling” is an essential tool that each of us need to put in our rucksack as we head back to the ministry.

In all of these passages in which Paul deals with this matter, let us learn the facets of the calling which will be of encouragement and sustainment to us in the challenges of ministry. And let me list them out for us as a sort of affirmation of ministry according my divine calling as a minister of Jesus Christ.

1. I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, 1Timothy 1.12

a. Affirmation: I am a minister of Jesus Christ not because I chose to serve Him but because He summoned me to serve Him.

2. This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, 1Timothy 1.18

a. Affirmation: I am a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and have been covered by the prayers and blessings of other faithful men and women who believed in me.

3. This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, 1Timothy 1.18 holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, 19 among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme. 20

a. Affirmation: I am a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ but through the neglect of the means of grace and by giving entrance to the devil can abuse my calling and bring hurt and disgrace upon myself and my family and dishonor upon the name of Christ and His Church.

4. Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, 1Timothy 4.1 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, 2 who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 3 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 4 for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer. 5

a. Affirmation: I am a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and I labor not in a field of dreams where I can build it and they will come, but in a field of thorns where if I preach it they might leave!

5. If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. 1Timothy 4.6 Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; 7 for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. 8 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. 9 For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe. 10 Command and teach these things. 1Timothy 4.11 Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. 12 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. 13 Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. 14 Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. 15 Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers. 16

a. Affirmation: I am a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and must exercise my ministry by being constantly trained in the vital areas of my ministry.

i.     Faith

ii.     Doctrine

iii.     Spiritual discernment and pastoral wisdom

iv.     Presenting Jesus as the Living God and Savior of all peoples

v.     Exhortation and teaching

vi.     Holiness of life

vii.     Public Reading of the Scriptures

viii.     Unique spiritual gift for the ministry

ix.     “Sanctification by Vocation”

6. O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. 1Timothy 6.20a

a. Affirmation: I am a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and I am the living repository of the Gospel ministry handed down in an “apostolic succession of faith.”

7. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge,” 1Timothy 6.20b

a. Affirmation: I am a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and am a Man of One Book and One Message who avoids the contamination of that Book and that Message by other competing messages

8. For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, 2Timothy 1.6

a. Affirmation: I am a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ who did not take this honor unto myself but was welcomed into the college of preachers by other preachers and therefore can stand firm.

9. for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. 2Timothy 1.7

a. Affirmation: I am a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and my Lord has given me the gifts I need and will need, in my spirit, cultivated through the means of grace, to stand firm and conduct the ministry of the Gospel.

10. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, 2Timothy 1.8

a. Affirmation: I am a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and if I suffer because of my message or my Master then my suffering will be empowered by God to supernaturally enroll me into the League of Suffering Saints throughout all of the ages and identified with the Passion of my Lord Jesus Christ.

11. who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, 9 and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, 10 for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, 11 which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me. 12

a. Affirmation: I am a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and my calling is grounded in the immutable, unsearchable purposes of God in eternity past and eternity future and therefore I can commit my life, my family and my ministry to Him who called me and to Him who will sustain me and to Him who will keep me. My ministry is eschatological. My ministry is teleological.

12. Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 13 By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you. 14

a. Affirmation: I am a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ marked by and entrusted with sacred story and holy words that are derived from Jesus Himself and sealed by the Holy Spirit who lives within me.

13. You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, 2Timothy 2.1

a. Affirmation: I am a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and my ministry is tethered to and can never be more or less than the simple, profound, glorious, humbling Gospel of grace that is a grace that is not always incarnational for it is always in Christ Jesus.

14. You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, 2Timothy 2.1 and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. 2

a. Affirmation: I am a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and God calls me to reproduce my ministry in the lives of others so that ministry is maximized and multiplied for the advance of the Gospel and the Gospel ministry.

15. Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. 2Timothy 2.10

a. Affirmation: I am a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and I am called and I am thus willing, by God’s empowering grace, to suffer not only for Jesus but His elect children.

16. Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. 2Timothy 2.14

a. Affirmation: I am a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and will be a peacemaker, but will make peace by urging godliness in the words we teach.

17. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. 15

a. Affirmation: I am a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and will seek to bring honor to Jesus Christ by being diligent in knowing and being able to teach the right Word at the right Time.

18. I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2Timothy 4.1 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 2

a. Affirmation: I am a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and will one day stand before Him and give account for the ministry He has called me to. By grace then I labor in His name to conduct the ministry of the Word with utmost care to His message in my life.

19. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 3 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 4

a. Affirmation: I am a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and my success is not measured by men’s approval but by God’s standard in His Word.

20. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. 5

a. Affirmation: I am a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and I will seek the lost and seek to cast the net of the Gospel in all that I do as a minister.

Conclusion

We all have heroes in the faith. For me, Dr. D. James Kennedy was one of those. He led me to the Lord through Evangelism Explosion, mentored me as I was a part of the first class at Knox Seminary, and helped me as I was one of his interns at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, but even more than that, I got to see Christ in his life. He was in private the very same man as he was in public. Stiff? Ok. Yes. A bit regal? Maybe. Passionate about souls being won to Christ? Absolutely. Unashamed of the old Reformed faith and willing to be criticized by others as he unflinchingly preached the old doctrines of grace and proved that the Reformed faith and world evangelization are not mutually exclusive. But I shall never forget when I saw him for the last time. Usually Dr. Kennedy was not a “hugger.” But on that day he reached out and embraced me. And as I held his thinning body against my own, felt the body of an old man, older than his years because he has literally been poured out for Christ, body and soul, I knew not only that life was leaving him, but that life must be filling in me: the life of ministry; the apostolic succession of faith. In tough times I would remember that moment, hold it, reflect upon it, and even thank God for it.

And this is the apostolic succession of faith which we share in. In tough times we will remember that, hold it, reflect upon it, thank God for it. For we have a “divine calling.” And that will sustain us. For the One who calls us is faithful and true.

Andrew Purves, Pastoral Theology in the Classical Tradition, 1st ed. (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001), 76.

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Tags: Chaplains, Divine calling, Michael A. Milton, Mike Milton, Pastoral Theology, PCA, Presbyterian and Reformed, Presbyterian Church in America, Reformed Theological Seminary, RTS, RTS-Charlotte, sermons on calling, sermons on pastoral ministry

March 22, 2009

Redeemed in Christ: Ephesians 1.7-10

iona-cross A Sermon in the Fourth Sunday in Lent by Michael A. Milton, Ph.D., President and Professor of Practical Theology. Reformed Theological Seminary, Charlotte, North Carolina

This sermon was delivered at Christ Covenant Presbyterian Church, Matthews, NC on Sunday, March 22nd, 2009.

Introduction to the Reading

The glorious introduction of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians continues from speaking of heavenly blessings (v. 3) choosing us in love (v. 4), to our adoption through His “glorious grace” to, in this morning’s reading, a magnificent doctrine that Paul says is sealed through the Sangre de Cristo, the blood of Christ.

It is said that the great evangelist George Whitefield was preaching a series of messages on the blood of Jesus. He was approached by a woman of great means and consequently of great influence in this given community. She said, “Mr. Whitefield, you are making too much of blood in your sermons.” The great evangelist replied, “Madam, one cannot make too much of the blood.” Indeed. And this morning, the blood of Jesus is magnified by the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Ephesians, and given to us by the Holy Spirit, as the very Word of God for our lives today, to show that by it, we are “Redeemed in Christ.”

“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.”

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. Isaiah 40.8

This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

Let us pray.

Lord, may the Words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be always acceptable in Thy sight O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.

Introduction to the Sermon

Sometimes we miss the most extraordinary things in life even when they are right in front of our eyes.

When I was in high school, I did not like math. I liked reading and history and especially did I like art. No, not just art, I liked comic book art and I lived for drawing super heroes. Marvel, DC and my own creations. I could draw for hours, creating intricate stories about Captain America and Spiderman and the Green Lantern and the Daredevil; ehem…and I did all of this in math class. Not a good thing, kids. Don’t follow Pastor Mike in that. It’s not right. And you see this became a problem. But I had a teacher who saw that I was missing what she saw was the magnificence of mathematics! So this extraordinarily gifted young teacher and her husband called my Aunt Eva, who reared me, and asked if they could take me out for a Saturday. They wanted to take me to the art gallery. I had never been to an art gallery, especially with my high school math teacher and her husband, which frankly didn’t sound anywhere near as good as staying at home reading comic books, or even cleaning out the barn for that matter. But I went. And boy am I glad I did! We drove all the way into Baton Rouge, which for me was like going to another planet; it was so big and far away. And they took me to an art gallery. They showed me not just the art, but my teacher showed me how lines connected with shapes and with angles and amazingly I was able to see that the pictures, which did indeed fascinate me, were in actuality a series of geometrical principles all gathered in one portrait, in one landscape, and yes, she would have me to see, even in comic book art! I had thought I was just a drawing of Spidey knocking out the Green Goblin high above Gotham, but it was so much more! There on the comic book page was math, glorious math, and all right in front of me!

I won’t tell you what grade I earned, but it was better than it could have been, because I began to look through the presenting images to see the amazing things I had previously missed.

We miss the most extraordinary things in life even when they are right in front of our eyes.

There are many of us Christians who miss the glory of the Church. We see the new believer struggling in and out of old sinful ways. We hear of the harshest critique of the preacher’s sermons, and they know the pain of division. One cynic that I know of even said, “Christians are an acquired taste.” This is the Church to many here today. Amidst all of the talk of the Bride of Christ, what they see, is a brawling bride, with a dirty wedding gown and a black eye. And so to talk of the “power that is at work within us” and the “glory of the Church” seems out of touch if not even unbelievable. And such leads to apathy.

That “Ambiguity of the Church” as John Stott called it, seems to be the concern for Paul in this tremendous epistle. So St. Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, calls the Church at Ephesus, and the others on the circuit of churches, to look beyond the hardships, the trials, and even the human frailty of those who are in the Church, to see the magnificent glory of their faith. And how does he do this? He explodes the dreariness of their world with doctrinal fireworks.

On New Years Eve back at our home place on Signal Mountain, Tennessee, my son and I would go off on the backside of the mountain, at midnight, to shoot firecrackers out into the silent, darkened cattle pastures adjacent to the fire station and community center. And one of our greatest thrills of those magical evenings was setting off an entire pack of firecrackers at once! We lit up the sky and enlivened the dead night with one blast! We were delighted to no end as the great strand of firecrackers went off all at once, sounding like a great invading army had arrived on New Years on Signal Mountain! In a similarly way, in chapter one of Ephesians, Paul shoots off this veritable fireworks of doctrine. The great doctrinal burst goes off in the skies of Ephesus in colorful, superlative language that awakens the sleeping believer to listen to the sounds of life in Christ, to see that the most glorious things are sometimes right in front of our eyes. And one of the “bursts” in chapter one is the brilliant burst of redemption, which the believer has through the blood of Jesus Christ on Calvary’s cross.

In the silent, darkened pastures of our lives, when we sometimes are so focused on this world’s problems that we cannot see with the eyes of our souls the realities beyond today, we need to experience again the brilliant glory of our redemption in Christ.

In Ephesians 1.7-10 Paul addresses two sparkling features of our redemption through Jesus Christ.

The first feature is this:

1.Through faith in Jesus Christ, the believer has a personal redemption

We come to understand our personal redemption through three words:

First the Word: Blood

The very word redemption means an agreement in which there is a purchasing, or better yet a ransom. Clearly, in this case the ransom involves Jesus’ blood. Paul is speaking of course of the Cross of Lord Jesus. Paul would tell the Corinthians that he preached not with signs, not with wisdom, but Paul preached the unadorned Cross of Christ. The blood of Jesus Christ speaks of the sacrificial lamb given for the sins of Israel. And the blood of Jesus speaks of the sacrificial life giving fluid that ran through the sinless veins of the Son of God that was let by sinful men who crucified Jesus. But they only played into the hands of a holy God who allowed this sacrifice so that we who believe could go free. His blood saved us, Paul says in Romans. His blood redeemed us. His blood became the covenantal ransom. This was the scarlet signature of God through all of the ages saying that with my own blood I have fulfilled the terms of the covenant whereby I would provide the righteousness that you needed, and I would provide the death, the agonizing death in which the heinous sins of the world would be laid upon my son.

If you have ever come face to face with your own degrading sin then you know that you could never come face to face with a holy God. I once was chaplain to Fort Leavenworth and my duty was to be chaplain to the death row inmates there. It was a duty that I got because I was low on the totem pole. It was not a glamorous job. But it was one that I will never forget. There was a movie made called, “Dean Man Walking” and that of course was the condition of these men. Seven men, at the time, who were guilty of first-degree murder. And as I read the case report on each man, I literally put down the folder and went to the bathroom to wash my hands. I could not begin to tell in polite company the details of these most gruesome crimes. But my job was to preach Christ to them. No doubt, I thought, other chaplains had done this many times before. But what else did I have to say? Cell after cell I moved and preached about the plight of man and the power of God,” which was the blood of Jesus. Only one man, as far as I could humanly tell, received this message. He seemed genuinely repentant, ready for his sentence of death, but now clinging on the death of another, Jesus Christ. But the rest seemed unmoved.

In my ministry, I have sometimes felt that preaching the blood of Jesus to evangelical and Reformed congregation is somewhat like preaching to death row inmates. First, we are all going to die. Second, most of us have heard the message before. And the truth is that this morning, I have nothing more or less to tell you than the message that Jesus Christ died for you, He shed His precious blood, as a ransom for your soul. How many, like those prisoners, will receive that message this morning, as if our lives depended on it?

Maybe you are here and have heard it with your ears but never with your heart. Christ’s blood is available for you. You must have it to be saved. And how? By faith. Just like the Children of Israel who by faith smeared the blood of the unblemished lamb on the doorposts of their dwellings, so too you must trust in the blood of Jesus shed for you, and then His blood is smeared across the doorpost of your hearts. What screams were heard on the night of the Passover, when those who would have chosen to ignore or disobey the Word of the Lord to be saved His Way! And oh what shuttering screams there are for those who today go their own way, and ignore or disobey the voice of this Word. Gather yourself man! Go quickly woman! Hurry children, to trust in Jesus and in His blood! Do not risk your soul to the vicissitudes of life. Turn while you can, while you are able, to the voice of the Holy Spirit who is calling you to surrender your life to Jesus Christ and be saved. We must not ever hold back this message! There is no other way to be saved but through His name, and through His blood shed for you on the cross.

Now, I have said there are three words which must attract our attention, concerning our personal redemption. The first word, blood, is the reason for the second word:

The Second Word: Forgiveness

The passage says that in this redemption the believer receives a blessing: the forgiveness of our trespasses. The blood of Jesus not only redeems you from the sentence of eternal death, but gives you something that blesses you right here in this present life: forgiveness. And the forgiveness is a specific forgiveness of your trespasses, your sins, which Scripture teaches us, arises from a very sinful nature. For David says that He was conceived in sin, and Jesus says that the condition of the world today is that the world is in sin and under the wrath of God. But to turn from this world and to receive the free offer of eternal life through Jesus Christ is to receive forgiveness.

Many of you know that I was orphaned as a little fellow and reared by my Aunt Eva out in the country. Aunt Eva never drove. And we lived so far out in the country that you could run a good half-day and still not get to a local church. So we depended on the goodness and the wheels of others to get to church. Mostly the Baptists picked us up but the Methodist were in there if the Baptist’s vehicle ever broke down. There were no other churches than those two. Well one Easter Sunday morning, we were waiting for the car to come and pick us up. I can see in my mind’s eye Aunt Eva sitting on the front porch in a rocker, in her Easter Sunday dress, white gloves, white purse, her new hat and best shoes. Now on Easter, I always had a new white jacket to wear. I don’t know why that is so, but I wore a white sports jacket and often a new bow tie. Aunt Eva gave me strict instructions, “Son, whatever you do, do not go underneath that porch and play. You will get dirty and that white jacket is too new, too expensive and too white for you to be getting it dirty. And any way, the Baptist people are going to be here any minute to pick us up and they don’t like to be kept waiting, especially on Easter.” Well, you know what I was led by the devil and the flesh to do. I did have enough manipulation in me though to justify my sin and I took the white jacket off first before I went under the house. But she called my name and I came out and was a mess. And I regret it. I regret it not only because I was caught, I was whipped, and the whipping was witnessed by the Baptist couple who showed up at just the wrong time; I regret it because of the obvious hurt, tears and pain that it caused my dear Aunt Eva. And that sin dirtied my soul far more than that white jacket could ever be sullied. I needed cleansing.

My beloved, the Bible teaches us that we are born with a nature that is like that little boy I remember. Our hearts are not pure. Indeed, Jeremiah says that our hearts are deceitful. We learn, through our deceitful hearts, how to try and get under the house and yet leave the white jacket off. We justify our sins and say, “Well, I go to church. I give to the poor. I am a good husband. I am a loving daughter. I am a good student.” But when we come to the Word of God we see the truth: we are muddy sinners in need of cleansing. When Jesus redeems us, He redeems us totally. He cleanses our consciences. He forgives so deeply and so completely that we are given a new nature that wants to serve God and wants to please God because of His love for us.

This morning, I cannot in good conscience as a Christian minister, leave this passage unless I plead with you to come and have your trespasses forgiven by faith in Jesus Christ our Lord. No one who comes to Him is turned away. All are welcomed to come in just as you are and be forgiven so that you don’t have to remain the way you are.

This personal redemption comes to you through this passage:

“According to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 8 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ.”

And this leads to the third word in this passage which helps us to receive our personal redemption. The first word, Blood, was the reason for the second word, Forgiveness, which is the result of this glorious and well-known word:

The Third Word: Grace

For Paul it was not just “grace” but the “riches of grace.” As if grace produced so much. And it does! Grace is a word I used to think was mystical, effervescent and kind of like Jell-O, hard to nail down. But at its core, we ought to be reminded that grace simply means that your ransom in the blood of Jesus, which leads to the washing of your life, the forgiveness of your sins, is all a free gift that you did not earn, that you did not deserve, and that you cannot buy yourself. It is, to use the language of Ephesians 2, the “gift of God.” And this free gift, which is available to all of us here today, is a gift that God is now making known to the world as the central message of Jesus Christ. This is the purpose of God: to ransom His children from all over the world through the blood of His son, which brings forgiveness and new life and eternal life.

That leads us to think on something very important this morning: as evangelical churches we have sometimes reacted against a church life that gives only the call to conversion. We have reacted against this and demanded deeper teaching, more mercy ministry and greater impact on culture. But what we must see is that there is no deeper teaching than the blood of Almighty God in the Flesh, no more merciful ministry than preaching that a guilty man can be forgiven by trusting in Christ and having this blood pay for his trespasses and have them removed as far as the east is from the west, and that there is no greater impact we can have on the culture of our nation than to preach the blood of Jesus to a culture that has disobeyed God and is living not under the porch, but in the sewage of their own sin!

I love the old 19^th century Gospel hymn that says,

“What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus! What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus! Oh precious is the flow that makes me white as snow, no other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus.”

I love it because I was not only the bad little boy under the porch; I was the wretched sinner under the wrath of God. But the blood of Jesus that stained the cross of Christ with the life of God Himself, has, in the very sight of my Creator, ransomed me from a destiny of Hell and delivered me into the very purpose of God: to know His grace which He lavished upon me.

And I pray that each one here knows the truth for the first time or for the most recent time: You do not have to stay guilty, there is a Redeemer.

My beloved that is the star burst doctrine of Paul: Through faith in Jesus, the believer has a personal redemption.

But he shows us more. And we need this desperately to give context to our own personal salvation.

The second dazzling feature of this doctrine of redemption in Christ is this:

2. Through faith in Jesus Christ, the believer is given a glimpse into a cosmic redemption

Paul says in the second part of this passage that God has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ,

“as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.”

This is some of the most exciting and thrilling language in all of the Bible. If you are bored with your day-to-day life of faith, my beloved, you are missing some extraordinary realities that right in front of you!

The First Reality

The first extraordinary reality is this: the believer has been let in on a “cosmic secret” and that is that the world, which was created, which fell into sin, is experiencing redemption through Jesus Christ. But this redemption is going far beyond my salvation and yours. It is much greater than a personal redemption. What Jesus Christ did on the cross has cosmic proportions. Sometimes youth and young adults search to find out how their parent’s faith can become theirs. And one thing that they may miss from home is that the Church is really bigger than mom and dad and your youth group. The Church reaches across mankind, through the ages, across the corridors of time, and into the very mind of God Himself hidden in His loving heart before He ever created the world. When we get that, our salvation takes on a new meaning. It’s not just about me, it’s about how God’s grace allowed my life to intersect with what God was doing in His universe. In this sense, then, the Church is the glorious organic movement of God in universal history. Indeed, our understanding of the Communion of Saints tells us that today in worship angels and archangels and the whole company of heaven surround us and that we worship Christ with those who have gone before. As we used to say back in the old days, ‘that can rock your world.” It did mine. And I ask you: if this is the reality of the Church, how does that effect how I live my life? Well, it gives life something greater than self. And all because the blood of Jesus activated a universal action plan of God to redeem all things unto Himself.

The Second Reality

The second extraordinary reality is this: we learn from this passage that Almighty God, in the Gospel of Jesus, is working all things together according to His purposes.

How many of you have ever had a huge puzzle that took months to put together. You worked so hard on it, but you could never find the last piece to complete the picture? For so many human beings life is like that. And if it is annoying in the illustration, it can be self destructive in the real life. So many are looking for the missing piece. To discover the doctrine of God’s sovereignty, and to leave the missing pieces of the puzzle of life to a God who is in control brings joy to life and allows us to rest in God’s purposes, even when we can’t find the piece. That is not a “cop out;” that is the Gospel peace that comes from trusting in Christ and His Word.

The Third Reality

The third extraordinary reality is this: these purposes are being fulfilled in the centrality of the life and death of Jesus Christ. The death and burial and resurrection of Jesus is the centering point of world history and even more than that of universal history. If the PBS program wanted to really get it right on their program “The Universe” they would plant a Rembrandt painting of the crucifixion right in the middle of their deep dark starry universe. For in Christ God is up to something. He is up to transforming the world according to His own purposes. This is what Paul wrote about in Romans chapter eight when he talked about all creation groaning for redemption. There is a purpose at work in the world and that purpose is even planted into the very molecules of life on earth itself. The creation believes in God’s purposes in Christ even if you or I do not. And this tells us that our work as believers must be centered in Jesus. The Church can do many things, but if we are not proclaiming the unsearchable riches of Christ and calling men to repent and believe in Him we are missing God’s purposes and if we are doing that we are missing everything.

There is a fourth extraordinary reality that we can embrace about this cosmic redemption and it is this:

The Fourth Reality

It is this: All things in heaven and all things on earth are going to be united in Christ. For Paul, our redemption in Christ has inaugurated the ticking of the Cosmic Clock that is leading us somewhere. There is something called the Doomsday Clock. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists publishes a report that tells us that the world is five minutes until Midnight: that is, due to what they see are the threats of nuclear war, global climate change among other ghostly if not questionable factors, the world is nearing its end. But Paul is saying that the Cosmic Clock has started in the act of redemption by Jesus Christ on the cross, and is moving to what Paul calls “the fullness of time.” Then it will not simply be man blowing up everything, but God Himself bringing His glorious plan to fruition in Christ Jesus. Not just a new earth, but also a new universe is on its way. For Paul this is not a scary truth, but a happy one. The entire universe, created by and for Christ, fragmented by sin, is now moving to a time of reuniting in Him.

So what? So, if we are just thinking in terms of Jesus dying for me that is too small. If we are just thinking in terms of Jesus brings a new life here and now, that is good, but that is too small. If we are just thinking about Christianity as Jesus saving us when we die, that is good, but that is too small. If we are thinking about Christianity as Jesus saving us from the end of the world that will be burned up with fire, that is surely a great salvation, but that is too small. If we thinking about Christianity as Jesus saving us on the Day of Judgment, that is good, but that is too small. Paul is stretching our minds and our hearts to embrace the truth that everything will be united in Jesus Christ: the stars that burned out will burn again with beauty for Jesus Christ, the universe which seems so cold and remote will be united in some mysterious way to our lives, the lamb and the lion will lie together, a saved race of humanity will be on display as a testimony to God’s grace:

Broken relationships that couldn’t mend will be united in Christ
Broken bodies that couldn’t be healed on this earth will be healed, united in Christ
Broken dreams for peace will be healed and united in the final rule and reign of Christ.
All things in heaven and things on earth will be united in Christ.

I once heard an old Pentecostal preacher down in Louisiana preaching in a sawdust chapel about a day when Christ would come again and he said in that day there will be eye glasses flying in the air, and wheel chairs being thrown across the sky and artificial limbs and hearing aids and false teeth falling down from the sky, because in Christ all things would be healed. And this is the glorious truth that Paul is revealing.

How could we not but shout for joy! This is the hope of Christ because in His redemption, the very cosmos is headed for a glorious future. My beloved, if this is Gospel truth, then I can live through losing about half of my retirement plan, because you and I have, as they say, ”a retirement plan that is out of this world.” This is not hokey pie in the sky by and by. This is the Gospel of Redemption in Christ: A Cosmic Redemption is underway.

Conclusion

So we have learned that the act of Jesus dying on the cross for our sins, and in His rising from the dead, and ascending into heaven something glorious is going on that is greater than we could ever imagine: first, we have personal redemption that is bringing an incredible joy and second, we are part of a cosmic redemption that is bringing an incredible future.

If only we could see the glories right in front of us. If only we could hear that the deep, longing questions of our souls are in reality hints leading us to a reality that can await us.

I believe our best writers have tried to reflect this, if not answer it. The great Ashville, North Carolina writer Thomas Wolfe reflected this searching heart of human beings when he wrote Look Homeward, Angel. This autobiographical book is about a young man searching for meaning in rural North Carolina in 1929; but it could just as easily be the existential questions of postmodern man in the 21^st century, or any other age for that matter. Listen for the longing of the human heart in these words:

“Which of us has known his brother? Which of us has looked into his father’s heart? Which of us has not remained forever prison-pent? Which of us is not forever a stranger and alone? …Remembering speechlessly we seek the great forgotten language, the lost lane-end into heaven, a stone, a leaf, an unfound door.”

If only we could stand in the midst of our generation to say that Jesus is the unfound door that our hearts long for. If only I could say that to a lost young pastor’s daughter that the faith of her childhood is the “great forgotten language” that longs to speak into her own heart. If only she knew that Jesus is the “lost lane,” now revealed (He is the Way, Truth and the Life) that will lead her back to her loving parents and to her loving Lord. If only the broken businessman, whose dreams of building bigger and bigger markets could see that in the midst of this crash, the “stone” of stability in an unstable world is the Rock of our salvation, Jesus Christ. To build your life on Him is to build your life on eternal security. If only he knew. If only the disillusioned agnostic young man at Chapel Hill who is searching for the meaning of life and death, knew that Jesus is, as the old New England song put it, “The Apple Tree.” Is the evergreen leaf budding in this wintry scene of our lives. In Him is life; life abundant and life eternal. And to each of these and more, Jesus is Wolfe’s “unfound door” now disclosed.

I pray for each of these I have met in my life. But I am here. And so I am praying for you. I offer this Christ to you this morning as the One who is the lane into heaven, the stone of faith, the beautiful evergreen leaf of eternal life, and the unfound door, now located, into a life you never imagined could be possible.

Oh that I could try to be like my math teacher and take you on a tour of the gallery of the Church so that you begin to see and touch and hear anew; listening to the music of the Gospel in the midst of it all, looking for the beauty of Christ’s redemption that is changing lives and changing the world.

That is the mystery unveiled by Paul for an ancient people so many years ago. That is the mystery revealed to you this very day.

May a glorious display of His truth now burst before the eyes of your soul and may you believe. May you worship in wonder at your Redemption in Christ.

I am thinking of a wonderful parable in Karen Mains, The Key to a Loving Heart (Colorado Springs, CO: Cook Communications Ministries International, 1979).

Eph. 3.20 and 21.

John R. W. Stott, Basic Christian Leadership : Biblical Models of Church, Gospel and Ministry (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2002).

Tim Robbins, “Dead Man Walking,” (United States of America: 1995).

I am thinking here of David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Plight of Man and the Power of God (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1942).

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it” (Jeremiah 19.9 English Standard Version of the Holy Bible)?

“For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now” (Romans 8.22 ESV).

See http://www.thebulletin.org.

Thomas Wolfe, Robert Morgan, and Maxwell E. Perkins, Look Homeward, Angel : A Story of the Buried Life, 1st Scribner trade paperback ed. (New York: Scribner, 2006).

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Tags: Cosmic redemption, Easter sermons, Forgiveness, Jesus Christ, Lent Sermon, PCA, Personal redemption, Presbyterian sermons, Redeem, Redemption, RTS-Charlotte, Sermons, Thomas Wolfe sermon illustration

March 28, 2009

Missions Conference in Atlanta Area on the Book of Jonah: “Deep and Wide”

douglasville_missions_conference Through all of my recent travels, meetings, and even other preaching times, I have had Jonah on my mind. And so I leave now to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ from the Book of Jonah at the wonderful Grace Presbyterian Church, Douglasville, Georgia, where one of our fine alumni ministers,The Rev. Dr. Jon Payne, is now pastor. I pray that the Lord will supply what I lack, strengthen where I am weak, give boldness where I am timid, renew what is tired, enliven what is lethargic, sanctify what is sensate, and use His Word and His Spirit to reach hearts and expand vision of the saints and sincerely seeking God feareres to commit, in Jonah, to follow the Christ who leads forth the growing Kingdom of God, whose future members will not only surprise us, but who wait, in God’s sovereign design, for us to come to them. Here in this book of Jonah, which is historical, reliable, infallable and inerrant, filled with miracles and resplendant with the glory of Christ Jesus our Lord, all paltry paraochialism and wrong-headed, theological tribalism is crushed under the weight of the marvelous, expansive love of the resurrected Jesus Christ in this glorous testimony. May the preacher himself come to know, again, the mercy of Christ that redeems, cleanses, gives hope, and brings new life eternal; a mercy that is so wondrously “deep and wide.”

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Tags: God's Word, Gospel of Jesus Christ, Homiletics, Jesus Christ, Jonah, mercy, Michael A. Milton, Missions, Preaching, Reformed Theological Seminary, Reformed Theology, resurrection of Jesus Christ, RTS-Charlotte, Seminary, seminary presidents, World Missions

April 4, 2009

Fallow Ground: The G20 and a Humble Plan Submitted for Worldwide Economic Recovery

The fallow ground of the poor would yield much food, but is swept away through injustice (Proverbs 13:23 ESV).

My Aunt Eva’s lessons in economics from years gone by are still fresh in my mind today. She didn’t have a degree in that subject. She didn’t even have a high school diploma. She had to care for her father and her siblings when her mother grew ill. But through that experience, and through her love and study of the Bible, she knew economics. Today as I am reading about the woes of the world’s economy I am thinking of her lessons to me.

One day I watched Inez as she walked towards our little house in the woods. This woman was the picture of poverty: hair mangled, face downcast, and looking much older than my Aunt Eva, who was 30 years her senior. Inez was, to put it simply: haggard and worn. And she came to our home, as it seems she always did, with her hands out. She had stopped being embarrassed about her position or her plight. “Miss Eva,” she would say, “Vernon ain’t had no work, and he’s out huntin’. You know deer season started yesterday. You know Vernon. He was there at the break of dawn with them dogs of his.”

And I thought, “Yeah and he loves those Blue Tic hounds more than he loves you and that bunch of kids of his.” But Aunt Eva never said a word. She just nodded to let Inez know that she was listening. “Well, Miss Eva, me and the kids ain’t got no more money for groceries. Could you help us until Vernon gets his unemployment check? I filed for him as soon as he got the layoff from the gravel pit. I think it should be coming any time soon in the mail, if they ever get it straight, you know how they are down there at the government office.” Aunt Eva nodded again. And Aunt Eva did not lecture the poor woman. I wanted to say, as I grew older and watched this happen again and again, that “if your husband would care more for you and the children than deer hunting, then you wouldn’t have to come begging to a widow woman trying to raise an orphan boy!”

But Aunt Eva would not allow that. She told me once, “Mike, it is not that woman’s fault that she has no food for her and the children. It is not her fault that her children are running around half clothed and never get to go to school. It is her husband’s sin that is creating her poverty. Let us pray for Vernon to come to Christ. If the Lord gets hold of that man, then blessings will come to Inez and the children. But until then we will help the family and pray for Junior. It is not her fault. It is his.” And so she would give the woman an abundance of eggs and flour and money. It was not the woman’s fault. Her poverty was the result of the injustice of a selfish and lazy husband.

What I didn’t know then is that my Aunt Eva was simply reflecting what the Scriptures teach:

The fallow ground of the poor would yield much food, but is swept away through injustice.

As world markets teeter on the brink of economic disaster, and leaders have gathered at the G20 in London, the world is coming, poor and haggard-like, and even Western nations so blessed in years past, with outstretched hands and pleading for help. The leaders of our nation, the fathers of our communities, the captains of our industries would do well to remember this simple but basic principle of life: God has provided an earth that will yield an abundance, enough to feed the world many times over. God has provided mankind with creativity, the desire to be free (one of the attributes that makes us the very image of God), and a world of opportunities for bringing about blessing. But the “fallow ground is swept away through injustice.” The horrid sight of African people starving, while God has provided a great continent filled with natural resources is proof of the veracity of God’s Word concerning His provision and how foolish leaders can squander those provisions.

But let us look at ourselves to see the sight. The Western nations, gathered in London, are becoming a picture of much food “swept away” through foolishness. The fallow ground of the West is the amazing, light-filled treasury of Biblical wisdom, which allows for that creative force in mankind to flourish. The result has been, for almost two thousand years, a rich vein of blessing not only for the West, but also for the world. The economic systems of the West, like the fallow ground of Proverbs 13, produced rich, verdant fields of unprecedented wealth and consequent philanthropy, produced the largest middle and upper middle class in the history of the world, and produced magnificent achievements in art, music and literature. But injustice will take its toll. And that is happening in our day. The golden grain is rotting in the silos. The fields are turning to deserts. People have lost their retirements. And some have lost all hope.

“No, Mike,” I can hear my Aunt Eva saying, “It is not the poor woman’s fault. It is her husband’s fault. He is not doing what is right. And he is not doing what is right because he is not walking with the Lord.”

We are in a dangerous situation. C.S. Lewis said that is far more dangerous to be post Christian than pre Christian. In one instance, the people have not heard, and “the times of ignorance God has overlooked” (Acts 17:30). But to have had that light and to have rejected the light is another matter. There can only now be a return to God in repentance and a plea for the presence of Christ in our lives, who once brought wisdom and good ground. When and if that happens, the gracious Lord who sent His Son Jesus Christ to redeem us from our souls’ poverty will certainly receive us. He always has. And then, as we worship Him with the first fruits, the poor will be blessed, and the nations will thrive again. Many nations will know the joy of Christ and His Word for the first time.

We all read how anarchists angrily stormed the Bank of England. Perhaps no one noticed, but inscribed in the stone at the very top of that venerable old building, that symbol of the wealth of one of the greatest empires the world has ever known, are these words from Psalm 24:1:

The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.

What a sight: hoodlums storming the Bank of England while God’s Word, forgotten, yet still accessible to those who would look up, extends a constant invitation to blessings that have swept away from our hands.

The fallow ground, plowed earth ready to receive the seeds which produce a harvest, will return to our economy when we recover that truth from the Bible and embedded in a favorite hymn: “This is My Father’s World.” Then, when we do look up to recover that truth, the markets will recover, not for a week, but for a generation. Then shall the poor woman’s husband come home from his selfish and foolish pleasures. He shall work and bring the fruit of his labors home that his wife may multiply those gifts for the good of her household. Then shall the poverty stricken peoples of the Third World be fed, not by a United Nations hand out, but by the ground, the markets, the creativity in their souls set free, and good government which allows for free enterprise to flourish for a lifetime.

Jesus said, “You shall know the Truth and the Truth shall set you free” (John 8:32). How we need to pray that the truth of Jesus Christ would open the hearts of our leaders today.

We would do well to study the economics of faith in God’s Word, truths which an uneducated widow woman once taught to a little orphan boy, truths which are so simple and yet so profound, truths which will transform our souls and restore the ground.

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Tags: Bible, Biblical economics, Christianity, Economic recovery, Fallow Ground, G20, Mike Milton, North Carolina, PCA, Presbyterian, Proverbs 13, Psalm 24:1, Reformed, Reformed Theological Seminary Charlotte, RTS-Charlotte

April 9, 2009

Giving Worship: Philippians 4.10-20; Psalm 50.5-15

The following is an excerpt from a booklet on generous giving published by Wipf and Stock.

Under which category in the Church would you place the act of giving? Under financial stewardship? Maybe. Perhaps filed under “Things I know we have to do, but hate to talk about”? What would you say if I told you that the Bible teaches us that giving is simply on a par with singing hymns and praying and offering thanks?

Let us give attention to God’s Word, first from Philippians 4.10-20.

10 But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again; though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity.11 Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content:12 I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. 14 Nevertheless you have done well that you shared in my distress.15 Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving but you only.16 For even in Thessalonica you sent aid once and again for my necessities.17 Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account.18 Indeed I have all and abound. I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the things sent from you, a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God.19 And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.20 Now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.

[All Scripture is from the New King James Version, unless otherwise noted.]

Introduction

Remember going to the fair as a child? Remember the color and the strangeness of it all? And remember the “Carnies” trying to prod you to come spend your money at their amusement? These cartoon-looking characters would say, “Step right up,” and then promise you one of those big, cuddly stuffed bears if you would only plop down your quarters and dollars. Then you would give in and lose it all, feeling like a complete sucker. But as you watched the Carnie spinning his pitch for the next unsuspecting victim, you just felt like yelling, “Watch out! This isn’t all it’s cracked up to be!”

May I make a confession to you? I have felt like that when I watch certain religious television shows trying to get my money. They promise prayer cloths and special blessings, if you will just “step right up.” So, you send a check and you know what happens. The blessing is all…theirs. And you? You become just another pretty name on a mailing list. The whole business of fund raising in churches can get out of hand.

From the position of a pastor, I hate it. I detest seeing the Church act like a carnival side show, enticing people into the booth with promises of special blessings, if you will “just give.” But my concern-and maybe yours-should not cause us to miss an important truth: the Church has the obligation to look to her people for tithes and offerings to advance the Kingdom of God. And each of us is obliged to give. But giving in the Bible is not just an annual appeal; giving in the Bible is an act of worship.

This truth is taught in several places in Scripture, but one of the clearest examples is found in Philippians 4.18. In one statement, Paul brings together all of the teaching of giving in the Bible and tells the congregation at Philippi, who had supported Paul, that giving is, in fact, an act of worship. Speaking of their giving, Paul writes, “It is an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God.” (v.18)

Giving is an act of worship to God. It may be supporting the work of the local church, it may be sending out missionaries, it may be planting churches, it may be helping to support seminarians who are preparing for the Gospel ministry, it may be cutting on the lights of the sanctuary week in and week out so the Gospel may be proclaimed, but we must see that it is something more than this: it is first and foremost an act of worship.

The full message is available as Giving as an Act of Worship and available through major online bookstore distributors or through your local bookstore. This message has been used in stewardship awareness Sundays and in small group studies.

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April 11, 2009

On the Death of Something Called Christian in America

church-in-america We have come to a new time in our nation, a time when Christianity is being widely announced as on life support in America. But I do not believe it. Oh I believe in the falling numbers of true believers, of the closing of churches every week in America, of the fog of immorality, as Peter Marshall described the America of his day which sounds like the America of our day, and the rampant ungodliness that has us calling right wrong and wrong right. I believe that the watery, insipid religion called liberal Christianity is deathly anemic, and the feckless fundamentalism of moralism and justification by good reputation may indeed be dying, as sure as the seeker-sensitive, dogma-denying cults of consumerism and entertainment may be sick unto death, but I, for one, encourage their deaths. I would rather the playing field be leveled between pagans and bold, Christ-Believing, grace-embracing, Cross-Magnifying disciples of the sinless Lamb of God, the Man, Christ Jesus, than to have players like that representing, or seeming to represent, the Christ of the Scriptures. I still believe that Almighty God reigns. I believe that the sinless life of Jesus Christ saves, the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ atones, and the bodily resurrection of Jesus from the dead seals it all as absolutely true. I believe that the Holy Spirit moves over the dead soul of the most vile sinner and transforms him into a saint. I believe that the Lord is building HIs Church, His Body of assembled saints, from all over the world, and I expect that more and more people of our generation will be gloriously swept into this kingdom of Christ. And if C.S. Lewis was right, that in the end there will only be Hinduism and Christianity, for Hinduism swallows up all other religions, and Christianity rejects all other ways to God but through Jesus Christ, then I am confident that Christianity will be victorious in the history of men. For God made man. And Man fell from God in his choice to sin. But the rest of our history is the story of the unrelenting love of God to redeem that sinful Man. And Christ is God’s Son, and God’s provision for Man’s sin. Jesus is God in the flesh who came to identify with Man and save us through an unmerited grace offered to all who will call upon His name, the name of Jesus, and that is the underlying power of Christianity. As Augustine said, what God has required, to repair this damaged relationship between Creator and Creature, God has provided. That message, which is nothing but the Gospel, when left to stand as it is, will always come out on top. It did in the first century world, with that age’s veritable cafeteria of religions available to the consumer of faith, and it shall do the same today. And because God is God, and Jesus Christ remains the most compelling figure in human history, and because the soul of Man longs for restoration with God and with each other, I am most optimistic. Something called Christianity may be dying in America. But I believe America is dying for a true Christianity. It is our happy cause to see to it that we not let America down; no, that we not let our Savior down who calls us to the noble work of proclaiming the plight of Man and the power of God in Christ to this generation. So let the Church, then, be the Church. Let Christ be Christ. And may this bold, gracious and supernatural Christ of the Bible be unleashed with all of His glory upon the sin sick souls of Americans. And let the fires of revival come down from on high and devour the false gods of this age, including every pretender to the faith of the apostles, the saints, the martyrs, and the billions of humans who have found new life through Jesus Christ, the resurrected and reigning Lord of life.

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Tags: Churches, Churches in America, death of Christianity in America, faith in America, Future of Christianity, Mike Milton, Post Christian America, presbyterian minister, Reformed Theological Seminary Charlotte, RTS-Charlotte

August 17, 2009

RTS Charlotte and Embers to a Flame Doctor of Ministry

university-church-steeple RTS Charlotte is pleased to announce the Doctor of Ministry degree program with an Emphasis in Church Revitalization. I hope you will watch the video here to learn more about this ministry.

At RTS Charlotte, we aim to equip pastors to equip the saints and to focus on vocational renewal and congregations health in all we do in the D.Min. program. This Doctor of Ministry is in cooperation with Dr. Harry Reeder and Embers to a Flame (and we believe no other ministry partnership could help us achieve this vision like Embers) seeks to fulfill that vision.

A word on the doctor of ministry degree: while there may have been a “D.Mininization” (Os Guinness) of the Church in years past, the D.Min. at RTS Charlotte is in no way of “professionalization” (Piper) of the ministry. Indeed, this is a mentoring ministry to strengthen pastors for renewal of their own vocations and their congregations through the ordinary means of grace. In other words, the same way that we bring spiritual health to our congregations is the way we must bring about spiritual health to our pastors. That is what this Doctoral ministry is all about. I hope you will share this with a pastor, or an elder, who longs for renewal of ministry.

May God use this to bring about revitalization of pastors and churches. And may God send revival, which is something that only He can do. Lord come down!

The online brochure is locate here.
The press release on this ministry initiative of RTS Charlotte is located here.

To God alone be glory.

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May 9, 2009

Embers to a Flame and RTS Charlotte Forging New Partnership

blacksmith-6-blog Through a memorandum of agreement with Dr. Harry Reeder, Briarwood Presbyterian Church and Embers to a Flame, Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte, NC is introducing a Doctor of Ministry with an Emphasis in Church Revitalization. The first group of pastors will begin studies in January 2010 at the Embers to a Flame Conference in Birmingham, AL. New groups for church revitalization will begin every other year.

The vision of Embers to a Flame and the vision of RTS Charlotte is the same: to see revival in our land. We know that only God can send revival. In a nation where churches are struggling to stay alive in communities where they are greatly needed, or in churches losing their vision for faithful Gospel witness, or with pastors discouraged over their vocations, we want to stand in the gap and ask that the Lord will use our efforts to bless His Bride. We want to be encouragers of pastors and their churches as we work with Embers to a Flame to bring about revitalized pastors for a revitalizing ministry in our land.

Dr. Harry Reeder, Adjunct Professor of RTS Charlotte, Senior Pastor of Briarwood Presbyterian Church, Birmingham, Alabama, and the faculty overseer for the D.Min. with an emphasis in Church Revitalization said, “I am so grateful for the marvelous blessing of this unique D.Min. emphasis and how it came together. I am praying that our Lord will use this new partnership for His glory.”

In partnership with the Embers to a Flame ministry at Briarwood, this D.Min. emphasis is designed to promote vocational renewal for pastors who will become God’s agents for renewal in their local churches. It is a rigorous course of practical study and church-based application that involves both core curriculum courses at RTS/Charlotte as well as Embers to a Flame classes in Birmingham, AL.

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May 15, 2009

I Thought I Had Seen It All: A Presidential Vision for RTS Charlotte

Mark 8.22-25

“I thought I had seen it all…”

I used to hear my Aunt Eva say that all of the time. And then she would fill in the remaining part: “I thought I had seen it all..a man on the moon” as I watched that surreal picture on our Zenith black and white on that unforgettable day; “ I thought I had seen it all…a dozen eggs for 75 cents! (that was some years ago and we also raised our own chickens).

Well sometimes you don’t see it all; sometimes you can’t. And that is what happened to a blind man at Bethsaida. The poor creature begged Jesus to touch him. And Jesus did not heal him where he was. He lead away, outside of the place where he had been, out from the familiar, out from the place where he thought he might find healing to be alone with Jesus. Jesus spit on his eyes and touched this man and then he asked him, “Do you see anything?” And the man did see. Sort of.

In my year and a half here as president of RTS Charlotte I had seen a lot.

I had asked God to touch me. I was a happy pastor, but a pastor who felt a deep need to ask Jesus for His touch. And to get it, he led me out of town, to here at RTS Charlotte. And over this past year, I have seen some things. They are the things I would want you to know about:

I have seen godly professors. One student told me recently about going to Dr. Douglas Kelly for counseling. The student told that Dr. Kelly talked a little, but prayed even more. And when he prayed, the young man say (with awe), I felt like I was being carried up to heaven in a chariot of fire. He then “When I was with him, I felt like I was in the presence of a man who had been with God.” Our professors are pastors and scholars. They plumb the depths of the Scriptures, and they plumb the depths of souls to apply those Scriptures. And those people just happen to be the men who will pastor your children and grandchildren.

I have seen sound doctrine. Our faculty includes men who each year must vow to a Confession that is radically Biblical. Recently at a senior banquet, a student reflected on why he had come to RTS. He said that he heard Ric Cannada say that “at RTS we don’t believe every word of the Bible is true…We believe EVERY SYLLABLE of the Bible is true!” Coming out of a seminary where that was not held, this Baptist minister said, “When I heard Dr. Cannada say that, I knew I was home.”

I saw these things as God led me to this place. And I saw more.

I saw a great vision of the Gospel going to the ends of the earth. One time, I came across a student who was walking down the hall and looked rather dumbfounded. I thought he had seen a snake. He told me that he had just come out of Dr. John Oliver’s class on world missions. And He had seen Jesus lifted up in a way he never had before.

I have seen visions of great ministry. The Institute for Reformed Campus Ministry here at RTS Charlotte is opening this fall (2009) to prepare campus ministers to send all over the world and to help your children give an answer for the hope that is within them, and to bring the mind of Christ in the Scriptures to bear on our culture through that most influential of places, the university. We will do that this year. In this very graduating class (2009) we will send out a campus minister to UNC Charlotte, Appalachian State University, and the University of South Florida (and more). And that vision for that ministry came from the heart of Dr. Michael Kruger. What a vision. And there is the Institute for Chaplain Ministry that is coming next year (Fall 2010). That vision is for reaching men like the ones who this very year are studying here at RTS Charlotte and who have been commissioned as chaplain candidates. I am proud to announce that Vice Admiral Scott Redd, Sr., has accepted our invitation to serve on the Council for that Institute. We will also have Chaplain (Brigadier General) Douglas Lee, the head of our Presbyterian and Reformed chaplains in all branches of the service, as well as institutional chaplains in hospitals and prisons. This will not be a place where a young man can study in a Master of Divinity program, with an emphasis in chaplain ministries, but a place of theological reflection and research on the work of chaplaincy. What a vision. And the Lord has put a burning zeal in my heart to see our Doctor of Ministry to become more than just a degree that credentials ministers in their careers (though that is not bad), but a ministry that equips pastors in America to bring renewed blessing to the Body of Christ through revitalization and renewal. Our Doctor of Ministry with an Emphasis in Church Revitalization will be led by The Reverend Dr. Harry Reeder, a graduate of this seminary and now an adjunct professor at this seminary. Through his national ministry of extraordinary influence, Embers to a Flame, and through study in cohort groups here at this seminary, we want this ministry to be for pastors what the “Army War College” or “Naval War College,” is for officers in our military! They are in their battles and we are in ours. We are in a spiritual warfare. And we want this ministry to bring victory in Jesus.

Jesus has led me out here to see. And I have seen much.

But I thought I had seen it all…

…Until, I began to see clearly what God has doing at this place called RTS Charlotte and seeing my own life related to it.

You see, I was just seeing men, like trees walking…” For in my transition from my last ministry to this one, I was missing so much of my pastorate, so much of the people I loved and care for. And though I was seeing much, my emotions had left my vision blurry.

I know about “blurry.” My wife often says that “your glasses are filthy, how can you see?” So she cleans my glasses as I drive (Now that is a scary thought if you are coming towards me in your car!) But she has a way of really getting them clean.

And so does our Lord. Christ Jesus is so compassionate, so patient, so loving. He laid his hands on the eyes of he Bethsaida man a second time, and his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. He really gets our eyes clean.

For me it happened in Germany this past year. I was teaching chaplains and their families in a spiritual retreat. At the end of it, they came around me and laid hands on me. They began praying, “Lord, this man has a privilege of being part of that great ministry of RTS, where millions are going to be reached for Jesus Christ, entire cultures transformed, and a world impacted with the Gospel. Lord help him to see this ministry as a gift from you! Father, use him to equip pastors in order to equip your people.” I went to ministry to them and they ministered to me. They laid their hands on my “eyes.”

In my tears, I thought I had seen everything. But that day I saw more. And when I came home, I told my wife: I was seeing what Dr. Simon Kistemaker had told me that I must see (when he wrote me after I accepted the call to come here): “hundreds, thousands of people, in the eyes of the students before me.”

The blind man of Bethsaida thought he had seen everything. But there was more. Total healing. Total vision.

What do you see at 2101 Camel Road (at RTS Charlotte)? A seminary? Or the place where God is preparing your grandchildren’s’ pastors? A graduate school of theology? Or a sacred ground for spiritual and vocation formation of pastors who will lead men and women and boys and girls to Jesus Christ, and bring them “safe in the arms of Jesus?” Do you see a classroom? Or can you see a “sanctuary;” a dwelling place of God where Jesus Christ is ministering and raising up shepherds to bring about new vision and healing for a world of lost sinners in shame?

Come on out. Receive your touch. Or receive it again. Can you see it clearly?

So you thought you had seen it all.

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May 17, 2009

Romans 13: The Christian and Civil Government

faith-and-politics Without argument, one of the greatest trials in our nation’s history was the American Civil War. It is true that Jefferson Davies, in his last years of life at Beauvoir, did not approve of the phrase, but preferred something closer to descriptions of the American Revolution. But for most Americans then and now, it became the phrase to describe brother against brother on the bloodiest field of battle we have known as a country. Davis was the son of an American Revolutionary War soldier, an American war hero himself having distinguished himself in the Mexican American War at the Battle for Monterrey. He later became Secretary of War under Franklin Pierce, and eventually one of the most popular senators in that venerable chamber. His final speech on the floor has been tagged by William Safire as one of the greatest orations in American history. For those reasons William J. Cooper entitled his magisterial work on the Confederate president, Jefferson Davis: American.[1] The title reveals the deep, sense of internal struggle and strife in his subject’s own life about the role relationships of duty, honor and country. But for many, most, in our beleaguered nation, his arguments, even appealing as they did to the founding fathers of our country, could not convince the majority in the United States of America that the line had been crossed between tyranny and liberty. And so his cause became lost, and his name tarnished, and even his faith questioned.[2]

There is a relationship between faith and human government. And we risk great sorrow when we cross that line.

“Rebellion is a grievous sin, since it is disobedience to God, and since it necessarily works such permanent physical ruin and social demoralization among our fellow-men”[3]

wrote A.A. Hodge (1823-1886), the “eminent son and successor to Charles Hodges”[4] of Princeton. His words were all the more poignant as he penned those words as the Civil War had ended and Reconstruction, a brutal time in itself, had begun.

The struggles of Jefferson Davis and AA Hodge over faith and government are struggles each successive generation must face. For most of our lives the question has been mute. Some, in the 1930s and 40s, like Dietrich Bonheoffer had to face those questions in a most personal and tragic way. But for many, now, the continual slide of Western nations towards Gomorrah, renewed questions among Christians about the founding principles of our nation and the present departure from those principles. American Christians of late have had to question the relationship of God and Government in a new way[5]. And that leads us to our Scripture today, which I pray brings answers.

As we come to Romans 13 we come to a section on civil government. But as John Murray reminds us, in his fine commentary on Romans, St. Paul is not departing from his logical argument but rather (and I read):

“This section is not a parenthesis in this part o the epistle extending from 12.1 through 15.13. The obligations incident to our subjection to civil authorities belong to ‘the good and acceptable and perfect will of God (12.1).’”[6]

Judaism was a problem for Rome. There were many seditious parties in the Jewish camp and since Christianity was associated with Judaism, this could be charged to Christians. Moreover, grace and the liberty and freedom that came from Christ did not give them license. We live free within spheres of authority, and the State is one of those.

Wherever Christianity has flourished there has followed patriotism; not patriotism without a voice, or without protest, or without necessary resistance if it became tyrannical, but a reverence for the Government. Why?

We get to Romans 13.1-7.

Romans 13.1-7

The overall theme of Romans 13.1-7 is that “every person [should] be subject to governing authorities” (verse 1).

What Paul did not say

Paul was not writing a theological treatise on the relationship of the Church and the State. Paul was providing rock solid yet simple spiritual principles (which again surely will have caveats for the magistrate may err) concerning the believer and the government.
Paul did not deal with the matter of resisting a tyrannical power that forced believers to violate God’s law.

We know that Peter, upon being told to not preach, asked rhetorical questions, “Shall we obey God or Man?”

Acts 4.27 And when they had brought them, they set them before the council: and the high priest asked them, 28 Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us. 29 Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

Acts 5:40 And to him they agreed: and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. 41 And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. 42 And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.

Paul did not deal with representative government and grievances of the people. His focus was on the response of believers to governments whose power in the passage is made clear.
Yet a question emerges (as it has been put by Seyoon Kim in his new book, Christ and Caesar):

“Did Paul and other preachers of the gospel in the first century A.D. formulate their message in conscious reaction to the imperial cult and ideology of Rome? Did they present Christ as an antithesis to Caesar?”[7]

Or did they call for submission to the Roman government?

I. This is what Romans 13.1-7 teaches about Government in relationship to Believers

1. God instituted Human government and therefore it possesses a derived authority.

“Civil government is a divine institution, and hence the duty of obedience to our legitimate rulers is a duty owed to God as well as to our fellow-man.”[8]

No government is a power unto itself. It exists, as A.A. Hodges commented, not only for the public good, but also for the “promotion of [God’s] own glory.”[9]

The principles of government of our country are derived from the representative government shown in the Bible. For instance in Acts 6 and the election of the deacons, or the representative government shown even in the Theocracy, where Moses chose men of every tribe to help him govern the people (see Exodus 18 for instance). My British friends loyal to their sovereign, may add that there is but one final government in the Word of God and that is monarchy. Indeed, they might argue that at least mixing the two, representation and monarchy, bring about a constitutional monarchy, might come closest to the divine revelation, but then we are in a discussion as much about church government, Presbyterian or hierarchical, as we are about human government.

The church, for instance, is based upon this. It is said that King George called the American Revolution a “Presbyterian parsons’ war” because they aimed to set up government by representation rather than monarchy.

But all of this would miss the point of Paul. Paul was teaching that government existed because God exists. Government is God’s institution and thus has its power, not first and finally from the people but from God.

2. God instituted Human government and therefore it has a derived power.

Their authority has power and that power is to use the sword. When used appropriately (see Augustine’s just war theory still used), and used evenly (through police agencies and courts that are under the accountability and authority of Law) the government exercises the wrath of God against evil doers. This would provide protection for the people as well as prosecution of the guilty.

In Genesis, Noah receives a directive from God (Genesis 9.3-6), and this of course pre dates the Mosaic Law:

“Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image” (Genesis 9.6).

Now of course this is interpreted with other Scriptures. When we take this into account with the principles of Leviticus and with this teaching in Romans 13, one sees the justification for the use of the sword against evil doers who plot and commit murder, which is murder in the first degree. But vigilantism is forbidden by the Word of God. For a single man does not have the moral authority from God to carry the mantle of civil government, with its various laws, punishments and penalties. This is the role alone of human government, with its derived authority and its derived power.

II. This is what Romans 13.1-7 teaches about Believers in relationship to Government

Again, he dealt with bottom line principles that apply the new life in Christ (chapter 12) to our relationship with the government.

1. All believers (Jew and Gentile) should be subject to the governing authorities because we should be subject to God. (1, 5)

The idea is here again that behind the authority and power of human government, instituted by God (1) is the authority and power of God himself. Therefore to withstand government is to withstand God.

Therefore, in the text we are subject to human government as unto God and we

Do not resist human government (that is not tyrannical) (2)
Support human government in its role (3 “do what is good…for he is God’s servant for your good” 4)
Pay taxes (7)
Show honor (7)

I will never forget getting my degree from the University of Wales. When we were in the ceremony we were asked to stand for the playing of the British national anthem, “God Save the Queen.” As the people stood and began to sing:

God save our gracious Queen, Long live our noble Queen, God save the Queen: Send her victorious, Happy and glorious, Long to reign over us: God save the Queen.

Several members of the faculty refused to stand. Later I learned that they were a part of a Welsh Nationalist group who refused to recognize the authority of the British monarch. Since the Queen and the British government are hardly agents, these days, of tyranny (although Her Majesties Parliamentary members could back off a bit on their expense accounts, and the taxes are approaching extraordinary rates), not only did I find their behavior offensive, but also I prayed that God would indeed saved the Queen. And I stood and prayed as my British friends sang their anthem.

We are subject to the governing authorities because we are subject to God.

2. But also all believers should be subject to the governing authorities for our good and the good of the Gospel.

The Westminster Larger Catechism is an amazing document. Not only do we read a very careful statement about Civil Government in 23[i], but also when you read the fifth commandment (the first commandment dealing with our relationship to each other)[ii], we see that to honor and obey our parents is similar to every other form of authority in our lives. And let us say that a parent is an alcoholic. Let us say that both parents are alcoholics. Should the child then rebel against the parents?

I am reminded of the story of Ronald Reagan as a child, who came home, when he was but a lad, to find his alcoholic father passed out on the front porch of their rented house. The snow had gathered over him making his a ghastly and pathetic figure indeed. Reagan drugs his father, much larger than himself, into the house, got him into bed, and covered him up. And the boy never said another word. His life was lived, as a boy, under the authority of a most undesirable man. And yet, he submitted to his father. Later he bought the first house his father would ever own, in Hollywood near their son, who had become a movie star.

How shall we then live, to use Schaeffer’s famous question? In relationship with our greater authorities, we are to be subjected to them for the glory of God.

We should not fear those rulers of government (when they are doing their God given job) because they are a terror to criminality. (3)

Government is God’s servant (God’s minister in verse 6) for

The Sword
God’s vicar for carrying our God’s wrath against the wrongdoer

Therefore since government is given by God for order and justice, we ought to recognize them for this and show the government and its leaders honor.

This, in Romans 13.7, is indicative of how we show honor to others.

III. Practical Application

God is a God of order and this should permeate our lives and our institutions
1. And thus we seek out authority and accountability rather than independency and isolation from others; and
2. To form societies, organizations, ecclesiastical oversight, and civil oversight to govern our lives.
Believers are to seek the good of the civil government
1. And thus we should seek to become better citizens in order to promote good government;
2. And to pray for our leaders (1 Tim. 2.1f);
3. And to speak out, lobby, protest if necessary, in order to bring about government that is increasingly reflective of God’s desires for humanity.
Believers must not obey tyrannical laws that require direct disobedience to the Law of God.
1. And thus cannot obey an unlawful order that brings us into conflict with God’s Word;
2. And have, not only the Biblical prerogative, but the Biblical duty to resist such magisterial interference with the work of the Lord, and to do so peaceably if possible;
3. But the people reserve the right to reform tyrannical government through other means available.
  1. And this led about the Magna Carta as well as the American Revolution.
Believers pay taxes and show honor and submission to the civil government unless it becomes tyrannical (disobeying God);
1. Again it must be stressed, that tyranny exists, not just when there are bad laws, but when the government directs the believers to personally violate God’s revealed Word.
A Christian has no authority but Jesus Christ. But Christ has allowed the powers to be in order to fulfill His kingdom work. This is why Paul charged Timothy to bring order to the community at Ephesus:

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 1Timothy 2.1 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 1Timothy 2.2 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 1Timothy 2.3 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 1Timothy 2.4

The Church honors God and thus honors God’s human government, and therefore may speak prophetically into their governance.
1. Thus did John the Baptist speak to Herod and his adulterous relationship with his brother’s wife.
2. Thus did Jesus speak (and act) in relationship to governmental structures. The Bible says that Jesus Christ grew in favor with God and man. He was obedient unto death in his relations with all men, including human government. He did not mind resisting human government or religious government. He turned over tables in His father’s house. And he when he heard that Herod wanted to kill him[iii], the Lord called Herod into account and said:

And he said to them,

“Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course. Luke 13.32

Conclusion

As a US Army Reserve chaplain, I have had some commanders that didn’t understand the regulations of the Geneva Convention concerning chaplains as non-combatants and how US laws apply those regulations. One time a commander ordered a senior chaplain to dismantle and clean guns. This is a violation of the principle of chaplains and guns. I don’t think this was like Sir Alec Guinness in The Bridge over the River Kwai, but he was not going to obey this commander’s unlawful order. The chaplain told us that if we carried out the command he would write us up as well as writing up the commander! The commander reacted and there was a showdown. The commander took the situation to the Judge Advocate General section. The JAG officer commander told the Commander that he was out of line. The Geneva Convention and US military law required that chaplains NOT be involved with weapons whatsoever. And the commander backed off. He even apologized. And we sought to help in every way that we could, short of handling the weapons ourselves.

That is probably a good way to think about it. We want to help the government to follow God and be obedient to the Lord. Yet we remember Jefferson who said that “when the people fear government that is tyranny, but when government fears the people, that is freedom.” So until and unless civil government becomes so “radically and incurably corrupt,” and thus fails to meet its divine goals, and must be reformed, then believers must advocate Biblical submission to human government. We do this for the cause of Christ and for the honor of Christ, even when the government, like the Roman Caesar at the time of Paul’s writing, may not be a friend to the Faith. Within only a few years the very Praetorian Guard were naming Christ as Lord. Within decades this faith of Paul’s would spread throughout all of the Empire and finally the Empire would declare itself Christian. For good or bad, that act symbolized how Christ’s Kingdom will finally overwhelm all opposition.

Even the human heart that today resists God. Tomorrow that heart may beat for God. And this is the Gospel of Romans 13.

All government exists for the glory of God, the good of man, until the Day when the one is called “the Ruler of nations” appears. Who is this Ruler? “He hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.” (Revelation 14.16). He is our supreme Monarch, but because of His rule through earthly powers, we willingly subject ourselves to government. And thus it is said that Christians make the best citizens. May it continue to be so.

God save our nation. God send revival.

References

William J. Cooper, Jefferson Davis, American. 1st ed (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000), p. xv, 757 p.

Archibald Alexander Hodge, The Confession of Faith: A Handbook of Christian Doctrine Expounding the Westminster Confession (London; Fort Washington, Pa.: Banner of Truth Trust ; distributed by Christian Literature Crusade, 1958), p. 404 p.

Seyoon Kim, Christ and Caesar (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008).

John Murray, The Epistle to the Romans: New International Commentary on the New Testament. (Grand Rapids,: Eerdmans, 1959), p. 2 v. in 1.

[1] William J. Cooper, Jefferson Davis, American, 1st ed. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000).

[2] In my own opinion, Davis was a man of his time. He was wrong in some areas, right in others. In other words he was like most of us. That is not to condone his racial views (which I find reprehensible, yet which were, sadly, the views of many, both Northern and Southern, in his lifetime), nor is it to approve of his decision to support succeesion given that his grounds, in my own opinion, lacked the moral high ground of the Republican anti slavery movement (as in the views of Joshua Chamberlain of Maine).

[3] Archibald Alexander Hodge, The Confession of Faith: A Handbook of Christian Doctrine Expounding the Westminster Confession (London; Fort Washington, Pa.: Banner of Truth Trust ; distributed by Christian Literature Crusade, 1958).

[4] Ibid.

[5] This is not just a political view, but also a realistic assessment of the present crisis in the role relationship of believers and government. For instance, the Obama administration’s new executive order concerning the providing of abortions in federally funded health care facilities is presenting ethical quandaries for many Christian doctors and nurses and pharmacists who refuse, by faith, to be engaged in the promotion of the sin of abortion or to in any way deviate from the sacred, historic (unrevised) Hippocratic oath.

[6] John Murray, The Epistle to the Romans, New International Commentary on the New Testament. (Grand Rapids,: Eerdmans, 1959).

[7] Seyoon Kim, Christ and Caesar (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008), .

[8] Hodge, The Confession of Faith: A Handbook of Christian Doctrine Expounding the Westminster Confession.

[9] Ibid.

[i] CHAPTER 23 – Of the Civil Magistrate

I. God, the Supreme Lord and King of all the world, hath ordained civil magistrates to be under him over the people, for his own glory and the public good; and to this end, hath armed them with the power of the sword, for the defense and encouragement of them that are good, and for the punishment of evil-doers.

II. It is lawful for Christians to accept and execute the office of a magistrate when called thereunto; in the managing whereof, as they ought especially to maintain piety, justice, and peace, according to the wholesome laws of each commonwealth, so, for that end, they may lawfully, now under the New Testament, wage war upon just and necessary occasions.

III. Civil magistrates may not assume to themselves the administration of the Word and Sacraments; or the power of the keys of the kingdom of heaven; or, in the least, interfere in matters of faith. Yet, as nursing fathers, it is the duty of civil magistrates to protect the Church of our common Lord, without giving the preference to any denomination of Christians above the rest, in such a manner that all ecclesiastical persons whatever shall enjoy the full, free, and unquestioned liberty of discharging every part of their sacred functions, without violence or danger. And, as Jesus Christ hath appointed a regular government and discipline in his Church, no law of any commonwealth should interfere with, let, or hinder, the due exercise thereof, among the voluntary members of any denomination of Christians, according to their own profession of belief. It is the duty of civil magistrates to protect the person and good name of all their people, in such an effectual manner as that no person be suffered, either upon pretense of religion or infidelity, to offer any indignity, violence, abuse, or injury to any other person whatsoever: and to take order, that all religious and ecclesiastical assemblies be held without molestation or disturbance.

IV. It is the duty of the people to pray for magistrates, to honor their persons, to pay them tribute and other dues, to obey their lawful commands, and to be subject to their authority, for conscience’ sake. Infidelity, or difference in religion, doth not make boid the magistrate’s just and legal authority, nor free the people from their obedience to him: from which ecclesiastical persons are not exempted; much less hath the Pope any power or jurisdiction over them in their dominions, or over any of their people; and least of all to deprive them of their dominions or lives, if he shall judge them to be heretics, or upon any other pretense whatsoever.

[ii] Question 123: Which is the fifth commandment?

Answer: The fifth commandment is, Honor thy father and thy mother; that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God gives thee.

Question 124: Who are meant by father and mother in the fifth commandment

Answer: By father and mother, in the fifth commandment, are meant, not only natural parents, but all superiors in age and gifts; and especially such as, by God’s ordinance, are over us in place of authority, whether in family, church, or commonwealth.

Question 125: Why are superiors styled father and mother?

Answer: Superiors are styled father and mother, both to teach them in all duties toward their inferiors, like natural parents, to express love and tenderness to them, according to their several relations; and to work inferiors to a greater willingness and cheerfulness in performing their duties to their superiors, as to their parents.

Question 126: What is the general scope of the fifth commandment?

Answer: The general scope of the fifth commandment is, the performance of those duties which we mutually owe in our several relations, as inferiors, superiors, or equals.

Question 127: What is the honor that inferiors owe to their superiors.?

Answer: The honor which inferiors owe to their superiors is, all due reverence in heart, word, and behavior; prayer and thanksgiving for them; imitation of their virtues and graces; willing obedience to their lawful commands and counsels; due submission to their corrections; fidelity to, defense and maintenance of their persons and authority, according to their several ranks, and the nature of their places; bearing with their infirmities, and covering them in love, that so they may be an honor to them and to their government.

Question 128: What are the sins of inferiors against their superiors?

Answer: The sins of inferiors against their superiors are, all neglect of the duties required toward them; envying at, contempt of, and rebellion against, their persons and places, in their lawful counsels, commands, and corrections; cursing, mocking, and all such refractory and scandalous carriage, as proves a shame and dishonor to them and their government.

Question 129: What is required of superiors towards their inferiors?

Answer: It is required of superiors, according to that power they receive from God, and that relation wherein they stand, to love, pray for, and bless their inferiors; to instruct, counsel, and admonish them; countenancing, commending, and rewarding such as do well; and discountenancing, reproving, and chastising such as do ill; protecting, and providing for them all things necessary for soul and body: and by grave, wise, holy, and exemplary carriage, to procure glory to God, honor to themselves, and so to preserve that authority which God has put upon them.

Question 130: What are the sins of superiors?

Answer: The sins of superiors are, besides the neglect of the duties required of them, an inordinate seeking of themselves, their own glory, ease, profit, or pleasure; commanding things unlawful, or not in the power of inferiors to perform; counseling, encouraging, or favoring them in that which is evil; dissuading, discouraging, or discountenancing them in that which is good; correcting them unduly; careless exposing, or leaving them to wrong, temptation, and danger; provoking them to wrath; or any way dishonoring themselves, or lessening their authority, by an unjust, indiscreet, rigorous, or remiss behavior.

Question 131: What are the duties of equals?

Answer: The duties of equals are, to regard the dignity and worth of each other, in giving honor to go one before another; and to rejoice in each other’s gifts and advancement, as their own.

Question 132: What are the sins of equals?

Answer: The sins of equals are, besides the neglect of the duties required, the undervaluing of the worth, envying the gifts, grieving at the advancement of prosperity one of another; and usurping preeminence one over another.

Question 133: What is the reason annexed to the fifth commandment, the more to enforce it?

Answer: The reason annexed to the fifth commandment, in these words, That thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God gives thee, is an express promise of long life and prosperity, as far as it shall serve for God’s glory and their own good, to all such as keep this commandment.

[iii] At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” Luke 13.31

And he said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course. Luke 13.32

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May 21, 2009

Remembering the Coronation of our Lord

Rembrandt-Ascension-1 Today is Ascension Thursday. There will be few who will remember it, sadly. I personally believe that this Day is one of the most glorious in the Church calendar. Our Savior not only lived a life we could not live, and died a death that should have been ours, and rose again from the dead, a seal of God on the divinity of Christ if there ever was any doubt, and a first fruits of all of us who will fall asleep in the Lord ourselves (1 Corinthians 15.20); but also Christ ascended. His ascension into the heavens was witnessed by men and angels (Acts 1.9). His ascension into heaven marked the triumph of His mission on earth, to come and die for our sins, and to secure a righteousness of His people that we could not secure ourselves. The One who created all things, and for whom all things were created (Colossians 1.16-17), sat down at the right hand of His Father (Hebrews 1.3, 10.12). In our language, in the language of kings, Jesus Christ was crowned in heaven on that day. This was the holy coronation of our Lord Jesus Christ. To think that this very day (and this very moment as you read these words and contemplate this vision), our Head, our Savior, our Lord, is present in heaven, with a real body, a resurrected body but also let us remember, a human body that was dead and is now alive forevermore, is the news of cosmic history and makes this day a day of unsurpassed festivity! He is alive and He is reigning with the power of the Almighty over all creation. He will come again. And what a glorious day that shall be. For some of us, we shall see Him in His glory before that day, as we are called home to heaven, to wait in glorious splendor for the end of all things and for His great cataclysmic climactic return, judgment of men and angels, and the devil, and His gathering of His children, and His Word which will establish a new heaven and a new earth. Then shall Christ hand over the kingdom to the Father that God might become all in all (1 Corinthians 15.28). What glory! What grand images and ethereal thoughts to now possess the human mind! But for now, for now my beloved, we live within the boundaries of time and space, to follow Him, to fulfil His commandments and to be His people in the world. And one way to do that today is to stir up our faith and love (Hebrews 10.24) as we remember what we learned as little children,

He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

May I commend to you the Collect and Scripture for Ascension Thursday from the Book of Common Prayer for our devotions on this day? Be filled with the Spirit and read and let your reading lead you into the unsearchable riches of Christ in prayer and praise.

The Book of Common Prayer

The Ascension-Day.

The Collect.

GRANT, we beseech thee, Almighty God, that like as we do believe thy only-begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ to have ascended into the heavens; so we may also in heart and mind thither ascend, and with him continually dwell, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.

For the Epistle. Acts 1. 1.

THE former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God: And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

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May 28, 2009

A Presidential Charge to RTS Charlotte Graduates 2009

Faculty Graduates, fellow servants of Christ Jesus and of His Gospel, I want you to go forth from here with a vision of the glorious Kingdom of Christ, and with the power of the ordinary means of grace: Word, Sacrament and Prayer. These are the supernatural means to accomplish a supernatural goal, the transformation of the human soul and even the transformation of man and his world. Graduates, fellow servants of Christ Jesus and of His Gospel, I want you to go forth from here with a vision of the glorious Kingdom of Christ, and with the power of the ordinary means of grace: Word, Sacrament and Prayer. These are the supernatural means to accomplish a supernatural goal, the transformation of the human soul and even the transformation of man and his world. There are men and women and boys and girls all over this nation and all over this world who need what you have been given. There are men and women and boys and girls all over this nation and all over this world who need what you have been given.

I charge you from God’s Word to do so with your very lives. For in 1 Thessalonians 2:8 we read:I charge you from God’s Word to do so with your very lives. For in 1 Thessalonians 2:8 we read:

So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.

From this passage I charge you to remember that we shared ministry with you, so that you will share ministry with others. From this passage I charge you to remember that we shared ministry with you, so that you will share ministry with others.

Here are three mandates for you to take away from this passage in order to share ministry:Here are three mandates for you to take away from this passage in order to share ministry:

Minister to People

“So, being affectionately desirous of you”⎯ “of you…”“So, being affectionately desirous of you”⎯ “of you…”

Paul’s ministry was not conducted in isolation. It was public. His theology was not esoteric. It was practical. It was lively. And it was for the people. Some might think it is ridiculous to hear me say that you, as ministers, must minister to people. But, take it from a guy who can get this simple truth confused himself, you can do otherwise.Paul’s ministry was not conducted in isolation. It was public. His theology was not esoteric. It was practical. It was lively. And it was for the people. Some might think it is ridiculous to hear me say that you, as ministers, must minister to people. But, take it from a guy who can get this simple truth confused myself you can do otherwise.

Sharing ministry means being people-centered. Christ came to die for human beings. He ministered to humans. Your studies, your ministries must be focused on God, on His Word, but finally upon people. Preach to broken hearted people and you will never lack for a congregation.Sharing ministry means being people-centered. Christ came to die for human beings. He ministered to humans. Your studies, your ministries must be focused on God, on His Word, but finally upon people. Preach to broken hearted people and you will never lack for a congregation.

Minister in Love

“We were ready to share with you…because you had become very dear to us.”“We were ready to share with you…because you had become very dear to us.”

As you minister to those given to you by God, your heart will be filled with affection. As Christ loved you, so you now minister in love to others. Your theology must now be transformed into a theology of Calvary love for those in need. When you distill the essence of what you have received here at RTS Charlotte it will always smell sweet with the love of God in Christ for poor sinners. Always, always, minister theology in the love of Christ. As you minister to those given to you by God, your heart will be filled with affection. As Christ loved you, so you now minister in love to others. Your theology must now be transformed into a theology of Calvary love for those in need. When you distill the essence of what you have received here at RTS Charlotte it will always smell sweet with the love of God in Christ for poor sinners. Always, always, minister theology in the love of Christ.

Minister Your Life

Paul wanted to

“Share…not only the gospel of God but also our own selves”⎯”our own lives.”

Paul wanted to “Share…not only the gospel of God but also our own selves”⎯”our own lives.”

For Paul all theology was personal. For Paul all theology was personal.

What does that mean? Every preacher only has one sermon. It is what God has done in your life. Today as you graduate from seminary, remember, right now, how Christ saved you, how He placed you in a Christian home, how He led you to your wife, how He led you to the place where you first heard the call. Remember His grace to you. That is your sermon. What does that mean? Every preacher only has one sermon. It is what God has done in your life. Today as you graduate from seminary, remember, right now, how Christ saved you, how He placed you in a Christian home, how He led you to your wife, how He led you to the place where you first heard the call. Remember His grace to you. That is your sermon.

Like Paul, whose one sermon of God’s grace shown to a violent persecutor of the Church, shows up in everything he does, so you must preach out of the sacred encounter you have had with the living Christ. That is your sermon, the message of your life, the Gospel coming to broken people from a one of God’s own ministers who has received His touch. There is nothing more powerful.Like Paul, whose one sermon of God’s grace shown to a violent persecutor of the Church, shows up in everything he does, so you must preach out of the sacred encounter you have had with the living Christ. That is your sermon, the message of your life, the Gospel coming to broken people from a one of God’s own ministers who has received His touch. There is nothing more powerful

I have mentioned many times about how Dr. Simon Kistemaker had charged me personally, when I accepted this call, to see and believe that when I look into the eyes of seminary students, I must see beyond to the 100, 1000, 10,000 souls who will receive what I share with just one. This is the glory of our ministry that God has given us.I have mentioned many times about how Dr. Simon Kistemaker had charged me personally, when I accepted this call, to see and believe that when I look into the eyes of seminary students, I must see beyond to the 100, 1000, 10,000 souls who will receive what I share with just one. This is the glory of our ministry that God has given us.

And so it is today as I look at you. You have a gift, a rare gift, and the gift of sitting under godly pastor-scholars for an extended period of time as they shared the Word with you, and their very lives.And so it is today as I look at you. You have a gift, a rare gift, and the gift of sitting under godly pastor-scholars for an extended period of time as they shared the Word with you, and their very lives.

Now you go to those 100 and 1000 and 10,000 souls⎯to the little girl on the front row, the adolescent on the back row, the middle age couple caring for their aging parents, the first year college student struggling with the great existential questions of life, the judge and the homemaker. Go and share with those men and women, boys and girls the doctrines that you have learned here, doctrines that bring life, doctrines that are summarized by having a mind for truth and a heart for God.Now you go to those 100 and 1000 and 10,000 souls⎯to the little girl on the front row, the adolescent on the back row, the middle age couple caring for their aging parents, the first year college student struggling with the great existential questions of life, the judge and the homemaker. Go and share with those men and women, boys and girls the doctrines that you have learned here, doctrines that bring life, doctrines that are summarized by having a mind for truth and a heart for God.

Minister to people. Minister in love. Minister your lifeMinister to people. Minister in love. Minister your life. And in doing so, like Paul, your theology will become your biography. . And in doing so, like Paul, your theology will become your biography.

And isn’t that the Gospel? That the Word become flesh.And isn’t that the Gospel? That the Word become flesh.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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June 1, 2009

An Occassional Letter on A.N. Wilson, Worldview,Etc

I share this recent letter, a simple occasional letter.

Friends and Colleagues in the Gospel of God’s Grace:

Good morning! You are in my prayers as this day begins.

If you did not see last Friday’s Wall Street Journal Article about AN Wilson’s (long time atheist and antagonist of the Church, as you all know) conversion, this is an encouraging article indeed.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124355313058264477.html

I really liked his concluding statement about what we are seeing when he endure an atheists. It makes me think of Paul’s theology of “love believes all things.”

Also, the Statesman has a piece by AN Wilson himself which he calls “Why I Believe Again,”

http://newstatesman.com/religion/2009/04/conversion-experience-atheism

I leave it to you to make your call on this. Theism or Christianity? But stranger conversions have happened, including Saul’s and mine. Next: Christopher Hitchens!

On another note, let me say that it is my joy to serve Christ and to see how the Lord is multiplying the ministry of His Son through you. Though travel is heavy for the ministry this summer (and I am editing this email for our Orlando faculty from the airport now, the happy genesis of a summer of preaching, teaching, and appearing on behalf of RTS and today the Army Reserve chaplaincy) I am always available to you one way or another.

May Christ Jesus be lifted up, His Gospel proclaimed and many souls come to know Christ and others built up in Him through our summer labors of preaching and teaching. And may we all known the refreshment of a change of pace, and being able to spend time with our loved ones.

AN Wilson’s conversion, traveling to minister the Gospel, enjoying our families, and my prayers for you and your influence in the world of ideas are not unrelated. Connecting the dots with a Reformed worldview makes life exciting and meaningful. How joyful I am to see the fruitful ministry of the mind and heart go forward from our seminary to the world of people in need of Christ.

Commending you all to Christ, now, and to the Word of His grace, I am

Yours Faithfully

Mike

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June 2, 2009

Bride Saves Family from Fire

I had just worked out, and was preparing for a time of prayer, here at a conference at beautiful Branson, Missouri. I was having a first cup of coffee and reading through the paper. And it was there I saw a striking illustration of what we should be as the Church. Here is the scoop. In the Tuesday, June 2, 2009 edition of the USA Today, on page 3A, I read about a bride from Bridgeport, Conn., who was leaving her own wedding reception when she spotted “thick smoke pouring from a home. ‘Stop the care, stop the car!’” She yelled. Then, she bounces out, and still clad in her wedding gown, she dashed into the burning house and helped to save a family from perishing.

I put down my coffee, went up to my room, and still in some pretty sweaty clothes, I began to think about the Bride of Christ, the Church, in the Word of God.

Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” Revelation 21.9

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. Ephesians 5.31-32

The Bride of the Lamb exists in the context of raging fire, plagues and the heartache and sorrows of this life. She does not exist for herself but for Her Husband, Christ Jesus. And here is the thing: some of those in burning houses, needing to be saved, are also His people, not yet brought to the altar of faith. To see a bride running into the burning buildings of this life to save others is a picture of what we really ought to be doing.

Lord use me this day. Let me not focus so much on my own role as your Bride that I fail to fulfill your purposes. Lord, I would pray that you lead me to burning buildings, but they are all around. So I will pray that you will give me the selflessness and courage to go to those are trapped in those places. Give me a heart for the world like yours. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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June 5, 2009

Why I Got Bumped by the Airline Tonight

suitcase I should have known it.

After I completed some chaplain training, and a hard week of work, I was anxious to get back home for one night before I was to fly off again to preach in California for the weekend. But at the voice of the dear gentleman at the airline check-in counter, announcing that they were overbooked, I knew, intuitively, that I would not make it home that night. I was right. So I got an airline coupon that would amount for part of a flight on some future adventure, and a free room for the night at an airport hotel. Oh yeah, I forgot. I had no clothes for the preaching trip! So rather than preach in my Army battle uniform, I decided to catch a ride to the local mall and cruise for deals. I found a pretty good deal on underwear. But here is the real deal.

I got to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with Ashley, a very nice young African-American lady, who was trying to help me get shaving cream (and toothpaste and a toothbrush, etc.). During that time she asked me a number of questions to make small talk. But the small talk turned to not only what I did for a living, but after hearing me respond, it turned to this questions: “what is a Presbyterian?” I told her that was a great question. I began to explain how most denominations originated in either a movement in history, like a revival, or from a national or ethnic church. Presbyterians came out of both: the Reformation in Europe, in Britain, and in particular within what became the Church of Scotland. Then she stopped me to ask, “So, it has something to do with Christianity?” I knew then that I was assuming way too much. I paused and I backed up. Way back. And I began to talk to her about Jesus Christ, who is the One I should have talked about to start with. I gave her my testimony. When I used the word, “prodigal,” which is what I was when I ran from the faith of my Aunt Eva and squandered my spiritual inheritance only to be received again by the God who never stopped loving me, she didn’t know what that meant. I told her that Jesus is the one who told the story of the prodigal son. She had never heard the story. I was dumbfounded on the inside. Here I was in the heart of America, in Springfield, Missouri, and this young lady, a senior at a great state university, had no idea about the parables of Jesus. Well, the story had power for her. I asked her if she would follow Him too, just like I did way back when. She told me that it was hard because she still “messed up a lot.” I obviously had missed something. I told her that Jesus came to save us for that very reason. I explained the great exchange, how on the cross He got the punishment for our sins, and we got His perfect life. All of this happens by faith. And then, as I saw the tears forming in her eyes, I asked her, “Would you like me to pray that God would give you that faith?” Yes nodded her head. And right here at an airport hotel in Springfield, Missouri, we prayed for Ashley to come to Christ. When we were finished, she was wiping her eyes, and smiling. I told her that I knew why God had allowed me to get bumped from the plane. She smiled and agreed.

All of this reminded me: it is for this reason, Mike, that I saved you. It is for this reason that I called you. This is why you got bumped from that career in management so many years ago. This is why; so Ashley, and so many others like her, could hear the Gospel and be saved. What I learned tonight was also this: Ashley wants the Good News that she has never heard. This gives me hope. And as always, it brings unimaginable fulfillment and purpose to pray with just one person to receive Jesus Christ.

Tomorrow morning, at “O’Dark Thirty” I will head out of this hotel and catch that new flight to L.A. But I won’t forget the day that I got bumped so a young lady could get saved; and an graying seminary president could remember the joy and wonder praying for someone to come to Jesus Christ.

Lord, please interrupt me again and again that my joy may be complete in You and Your will. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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June 11, 2009

Transforming Fatherhood

While listening to a Mother’s Day sermon in 1909, Sonora Louise Smart Dodd was thinking of her father: a Civil War veteran and a farmer, he was also a single dad to 6 children. She began to work to get a day to honor fathers. The Lion’s Club helped to popularize it, President Coolidge gave the first presidential proclamation for Father’s Day and it was not until 1966 that President Johnson made the third Sunday in June the official holiday called Father’s Day.

While Father’s Day is not on the official church calendar, we are glad to recognize the role of fatherhood in the Bible because so much is written about it.

While in Charlotte this past week, I heard on the local radio that the police found a child abandoned in a downtown park. The little week old baby was carefully wrapped in a blanket and placed on a piece of plastic. A note was pinned to the blanket. It read, “Please give me a home and care for me.”

Every one of us comes with a note pinned to our souls: “Please give me a home and care for me.” One of the ways the Lord does that is to provide a family and a father.

Today, I want to read from Psalm 103.13-18; Ephesians 6.1-4 and I will be referring in the sermon to several other selected passages.

Introduction to the Sermon

Sofia Scicolone was born in a charity ward of a hospital in Rome in 1934. Her mother had been abandoned and had to play piano in seedy cafes of Naples to earn money to take care of Sophia and her sister. Later Sophia would use her beauty and her talent to escape the ghettos of her childhood. You knew her as Sophia Loren, an academy award-winning actress. But she could never escape the loss she felt of being fatherless. She only saw the man six times in her life but this is what she said of him:

“He shaped me as a person more than any other man. It was the dream of my life to have a father. And that is why I sought him everywhere. I spent most of my life looking for substitutes for him. I still wonder what he was thinking as he saw me up there on the movie screen. With all the grandiose gifts I have received in my life, my most treasured possession is the only toy my father ever gave to me¾a little blue car with my name on it.”[1]

The story is moving to us because everyone here can relate to the need for a father. God has placed within each of us a need for a man who will come alongside of us and care for us and be a father to us. T. Berry Brazelton, a former chief of child development at Children’s Hospital in Boston had it right, I think, when he wrote these words:

“Of all human relationships, the bond between father and child is one of the most powerful and complex. We may look to our mothers for unconditional love. But be we men or women, we often seek to validate our existence through the approval of our fathers. If our father dies or in some way is absent before we earn that approval, we live the rest of our lives feeling cheated.”[2]

It is God, of course, who created this need and in the Word of God we come to see that God has created fatherhood to be a transforming power in the lives of human beings. Our primary passage of the day is Ephesians 6.1-4, where Paul back in Ephesians 5 tells us to be imitators of God as dear children. He goes on to show how this must work in marriage and then he gets to the family. And he says of fathers,

“Do not provoke your children to wrath but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.”

In Colossians 3.21, Paul teaches this in another context. There Paul is calling the Church to seek Christ in all of life and, once more, he talks about fatherhood:

“Fathers do not provoke your children, let they become discouraged.”

Both passages give us the command “do not provoke your children” but Ephesians gives us a positive, “bring them up” and Colossians gives us a negative, “lest they become discouraged.” So fatherhood is a transforming power for the good or the bad¾positively or negatively.

I. Transforming Fatherhood for the Bad: David’s fatherhood is an example of provoking children to discouragement

In the Bible there are plenty of bad examples: Abraham, who disobeyed God and had to eventually let his son, Ishmael and that boy’s mother, leave him. Can you imagine the pain in his heart? Ishmael, too, was transformed forever by that sad and sinful situation. Think of Jacob, who showed partiality to Joseph and had to deal with strife with his boys as they sought to kill their own brother. They were transformed by their father’s insensitivity as a father. Think of Eli, who worked very hard as being a priest, but not hard enough at being a dad and his sons went into public scandal. They were transformed by their father’s lack of attention. But of all of the examples of failed fathers in the Bible, the winner of that dubious distinction as most negatively transforming might be David.

David provoked, embittered, his children through his sin, his lack of attention, and his bad example.

1. David provoked his children by compartmentalizing his faith in God (2 Samuel 12.10: “the sword shall not depart from your house”).

Here was the greatest Psalmist in the world, one of the bravest men in the world, a man of great intellect whose soul was a poet and a warrior, a priest and a king. He would compose some of the most beautiful words the world has ever known, but his sin with Bathsheba spoke louder and more poignant that anything else with his children who witnessed it. And his many wives were a sin against God, which caused his children great pain. As a result, his family would be cast into not only dysfunction, but also violence.

Compartmentalizing your faith is going to church and speaking words of Scripture and then going home and talking about others as you go.
Compartmentalizing your faith is talking about how important the work of the Lord is and then prioritizing other things and people and eve entertainment before the Lord. And you children watch and they are provoked, They are embittered.

I have a friend in Wichita, Kansas who was a Nazarene pastor, and he was forever competing, he felt, with people not coming to church in order to go to the lake all day on Sundays. He preached a message entitled, “Sending your Children to Hell in a Speedboat.” It got some folks upset, but I think he was being a prophet to fathers who thought they were helping their children but who were actually provoking their children.

2. David provoked his children by failing to take the time to understand them (2 Samuel 13 and 18.31-33)

Chapter 13 of 2 Samuel is one of the saddest narratives in the Bible. It is about one son, Amnon, burning in lust for his half-sister, Tamar, who was the full sister of Absalom. Following a rape, Absalom murders Amnon and then leaves the country in apparent disgust with his seemingly clueless father. Of course, eventually, Absalom’s own pain turns to sin and he rebels against his father. In the final climactic scene, at a battle in the fields of Ephraim (18.6) Absalom gallops on his mule through the woods. I read from verse 9:

“Then Absalom met the servants of David. Absalom rode on a mule. The mule went under the thick boughs of a great terebinth tree, and his head caught in the terebinth; so he was left handing between heaven and earth. And the mule which was under him went on.”

“Left hanging between heaven and earth” not only described his precarious position, but speaks also to his hanging between life and death. But it is also a sad commentary on what happened to Absalom. He was left hanging by his father. He is the son who is misunderstood, who had to live with his father’s sins, and then became everything he hated in his father. So many are left hanging.

David’s military leader, Joab, then finishes off Absalom, as one might shoot a fatally wounded horse. Walter Bruggermann reminds us that earlier in 2 Samuel 11.25, David was cavalier with Joab about the sword in war, when he wanted Urriah dead. But here he had said to deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom” (18.5). I guess Joab was also confused about what David wanted out of him as a warrior, for he ran his sword through him.

Verse 18 is a tragic ending for Absalom, the boy who rode to his death seeking his father’s understanding:

“Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and set up a pillar for himself, which is in the King’s Valley. For he said, ‘I have no son to keep my name in remembrance.’ He called the pillar after his own name. And to this day it is called Absalom’s monument.”

There are Absalom monuments all over our world: broken sons and daughters whose pain became their own sin and their own ruin in search of a father’s understanding.

Verse 9 might be the Absalom’s monument, but verse 33 is David’s mourning of regret:

“O my son Absalom¾my son, my son Absalom¾if only I had died in your place! O Absalom my son, my son!”

Before David refers to Absalom only by his name. But now, too late, he calls him what he has not called him before¾not once but five times¾he calls him, “my son.” But Absalom never heard it. Had he heard his dad say those words earlier it might have been a different ending. How many today are longing to hear their fathers call them, “My son; My little girl.”

“O Absalom my son, my son!” Those words have become a part of our language and our narrative. They are the words used by the 17^th century poet, John Dryden ((1631-1700) in his classic poem of political satire.[3] The story also inspired Williams Faulkner’s “Absalom, Absalom!,” a dark Southern tale set in antebellum Mississippi, about a mysterious man, Thomas Sutpen, who, as Faulkner wrote, “wanted sons and the sons destroyed him.”

It is the setting for a modern poet, Lucile Clifton:

“Oh Absalom my son my son”

Even as I turned myself from you

I longed to hold you oh

My wild haired son

Running in the wilderness away

From me from us

Into a thicket you could not foresee…”[4]

“Oh Absalom, Absalom!” is the lament of many a father today. I wonder if there are any of these stories going to happen here? Is there a man here thinking that being flirtatious with the woman at the office doesn’t have a price? Is there a woman here who thinks that her unbridled fantasies aren’t slowly debasing her heart and preparing her for a fall? Is there a father here who really thinks that quality time really is more important than quantity time?

“Oh, Absalom, Absalom. My son, Absalom” is the sad end of every sin and every sin you commit against your own children.

David’s cry came too late but it is a warning for us to do something NOW. “Fathers do not provoke your children lest you discourage them” in Colossians teaches us the consequences of such fathering, and David is a bad example of provoking your children, but we thankfully are also told what to do: I read from Eugene Peterson’s translation:

“Fathers, don’t exasperate your children by coming down hard on them. Take them by the hand and lead them in the way of the Master.”[5]

This mandate as given in Ephesians calls us to see how we should be:

II. Transforming Fatherhood for the Good: The Lord’s Fatherhood is an example of promoting healthy sons and daughters

I want to not only deal with the passage that says “train them up in the way they should go” or as Peterson says, “lead them in the Way of the Master” but look back at verse 1 of chapter 5:

“Be imitators of God…”

I think this is the way we can transform fatherhood for the good: by imitating the fatherhood of God. For this thought, I ask you to look at Psalm 103.13-18.

1. Promoting healthy sons and daughters by compassion (v. 13)

Here is the NIV translation:

“As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;” Psalms 103.13

The word is “RaHam” and God shows “RaHam” to his own children. This is one of the marks of God: we know that He has compassion on us.

We lead them to God by showing them God’s compassion.

2. Promoting healthy sons and daughters by condescension (v. 14-18)

In these verses God shows us the weakness of Man but shows that He knows our frame, our weakness.

God identified with His creation in a manger in Bethlehem, in a life among common people, and on a cross. And His love to these weak people we are told is ‘from everlasting to everlasting.”

Jesus said: “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” The God who is our Father is a God who loves us by being with us, identifying with us, and loving us to the end.

Some time ago, I saw an ad for a book called “How to Dad.” It was a whimsical book and promised to teach every man the fundamentals of being a father: How to skip a rock, throw a fastball, tell a joke, flip a coin and find it in your ear, how to make hand shadows, French toast and cootie catchers, how to fly a kite, build a campfire, row a boat, dig a sand tunnel…and, of course, how to change a diaper!

But the real way to “Dad” is to be an imitator of God. Now how is that practically worked out? Not having had a father to grow up with and looking at how God fathers us, I came up with some important things that I would want. Here is the Dad I would have loved to have had:

(1) A Dad who would have cut off Hannity and Combs and would have read to me before I went to bed;

(2) A Dad who would have put down the briefcase for a while and picked up the football for a while;

(3) A Dad who would have not only shown me how to win, but how to fail;

(4) A Dad who would have shown me how to cry when bad things happen;

(5) A Dad who would have knelt beside my bed, put his hands on me and who would have prayed for me;

(6) A Dad who would have taken me out for a snow cone even when I was the worst player at the game;

(7) A Dad who would have loved my mother and showed her tenderness in front of me and always talked highly of her;

(8) A Dad who would have sung songs to Jesus even when he was not in church;

(9) A Dad who commanded my love through the switch and the tear; who disciplined me, but then held me tight.

I didn’t have a Daddy like that, but I did have an Aunt Eva who showed me those things. And I rise to call her blessed.

You know someone once said something to someone else and I overheard him. They said, “Mike Milton’s problems all come from the fact that he didn’t have a dad.” It hurt. And maybe it used to be true. Like many here today, I was like Sophia Loren. Maybe I was like Absalom and running like a rebel.

But I have a father. And you can have a father.

We have seen the bad example of David and how to provoke your children. We have seen the good example from Psalm 103 of fathering like God the Father and how to promote your children. I want to finally show you…

III. Transforming Fatherhood to Create the Confident Child (Romans 8.15)

“For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’”

Well, whatever your family, whatever your failings, whatever your condition, God invites you to see that His Fatherhood gives you what you need as a person. He created you, He loves you. This passage is about our sonship through

(1) Identity: Verse 14 says that as “many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” God wants you to be Absalom no more. You have a Father.

(2) Assurance: Verse 15 says that “as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.” You do not have to have a father to be a person. You do not have to have assurance to be a Christian. You are saved by repentance and faith in Jesus Christ by the grace of God. Period. But the Bible makes it clear that God wants you to know His love, His power, His Fatherhood, so that you have assurance. Assurance brings a release from the bondage of fear. This is saying, “Absalom no more!”

(3) Intimacy: Verse 16 says that the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirits that we are His sons. God loves you and will come to you. Jesus said, “I will not leave you as orphans” and His Spirit will indwell you and empower you and He will be with you. If you don’t know Christ like that, then I invite you to ask Him into your heart right now.

(4) Optimism: Finally, in verse 17, the Apostle Paul talks about the future. Join heirs who will be glorified with Christ. You have a future and a hope.

This is the confident child and you can have this no matter what you have been dealt in life. It is the sonship which I have found, and which millions of others have found.

IV. Transforming Fatherhood Redeemed: Now finally I want to deal with fathers who say, “I have blown it.”

In another town, in another pastorate, a man was found out by his own children to have been an adulterer and a liar. He had been one of my officers. I never knew a hint of the life he had been living. He came to see me when he was found out. When he arrived, he went over the details of the admission, but I sensed he was missing the damage he had done. I put my arm around him and asked him to take a walk with me. He said, “Where do you want to go?” I said, “Let’s walk to the cemetery.” We didn’t have a cemetery at this church. He looked at me with a puzzled face. I said, “Let’s walk into the future and go to a cemetery. Look over there. What do you see.” He looked. “That is YOUR gravestone.” By now he was crying. “Do you know what it says?” Through heaving tears he told me, “Adulterer. Failure. Liar.” I agreed. Then I said, “David, if you will repent, if you will turn to the Lord of life and follow the Master, not in word only now, but in truth, He will heal you. He will forgive you. Your decisions have been made and damage has been done and I can’t promise what will happen with your wife. But I can say that God will forgive you and make you a new man in Christ. He will call you His Son.” We were on our knees. After a while of weeping, I told him that if he was truly repentant, if he was truly looking to Christ on the cross to take his sin, if he was trusting finally in the righteousness of Christ and not his own works, then a miracle would have happened. He said, “What?” I said, “The inscription has been erased. There is a new inscription: David Jones. A Sinner Saved by Grace.”

That is good news for fathers who have messed up; for mothers who have not been what God calls them to be; for men and women and boys and girls.

Through faith in a God who gave up His only Son, who became a broken father Himself, we may have life in His Son.

And that is the most transforming fatherhood of all.

Amen.

[1] Illustration came in part from Roger Thompson, manuscript from Preaching Today, Tape Number 140, “Becoming a Man” (1995), 2.

[2] Ibid., 2.

[3] Absalom and Achitophel.

[4] “Oh Absalom my son my son” by Lucile Clifton (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/foolingwithwords/Pclifton_poem3.html), accessed on June 14, 2003.

[5] Eugene Peterson, The Message (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 1993), 409.

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June 23, 2009

Simple, Not Complex: Remaining Faithful to Our Vision

I shared these thoughts this morning in a letter to our faculty and staff. I share them with you.

Dear Friends in Christ at RTS Charlotte and RTS Orlando:

I read a great quote in the WSJ today that I had to share with you as I am praying for you all. It is “spot on” as our British friends say. It is given by Tim Cook, the second in command at Apple, who has been running things quite well while the iconic Steve Jobs has been recovering from his illness (and who returns to work today amidst much press coverage). The stock is up 60% since mid January (no, I didn’t get in on it, as usual). A new iPhone is released and millions are sold in just a couple of days. Sales in all categories are up. And just look: our students are veritable walking ads for Apple as they carry Macbooks, iPhones and iPods around everywhere. And the company has turned from a niche personal computer company to a multi media and entertainment giant and a cultural phenomenon. But there is a focus that links it all together. Here is the quote and no doubt the secret:

“We believe in the simple, not the complex…we believe in saying no to thousands of projects so that we can focus on the few that are meaningful to us. Regardless of who is in what job, those values are so embedded in this company that Apple will do extremely well” (Wall Street Journal, Tuesday, June 23, 2009, B2).

“Not bad,” I thought. This didn’t come from Jobs, who co founded Apple, it came from one who came later, one who caught the vision. Not bad. And “not bad” for me to remember. Simple, not complex. I didn’t found this seminary and didn’t go to seminary here (though I tried…long story). But I got here as fast as I could! And I pray I am catching the vision. Saying no to things outside of my lane, in order to say yes to the mission God has given me. We at RTS are a Gospel mission that exists to prepare pastors to effectively take the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Our values are the inerrancy of the Word of God, the primacy and urgency of the Great Commission, and a commitment to the time tested interpretive lens of the good old Reformed faith. And everything we do flows from that singular mission, those cherished values. And our vision is not complex: one soul saved, a thousand saved, a nation transformed, because God used RTS to train a pastor to faithfully preach the Gospel. Simple. Not complex. Thus David focused on the simple, the “one thing” of his life:

“One thing [my emphasis] have I asked of the LORD,
        that will I seek after:
     that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
        all the days of my life,
     to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
        and to inquire in his temple” (Psalms 27.4 ESV).

And so too did St. Paul possess that simple focus, the “one thing” of his life:

“But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead” (Philippians 3.13).

These were my reflections this morning. Every time I read something like this, and go back to the vision and mission of RTS and our founding, as Steve (Wallace, not Jobs) often reads it to us at our meetings, I get pumped. And I remember why I accepted this call.

Just some thoughts. I pray that God grants you a great day in the Lord as you focus on our one thing.

Your fellow laborer in the Gospel

Mike

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June 29, 2009

Preaching to the Next Christendom

Philip Jenkins has written some outstanding books on the emergence of the new Global South and East; what he calls “The Next Christendom.” Well this weekend I encountered it firsthand. And I like it. A lot.

I was called to preach at a retreat for the Reformed Church of Newtown, Queens, New York. The retreat was held at DeSales University in the beautiful Lehigh Valley area of Pennsylvania. Amidst the green cornfields and Pennsylvania stone farmhouses, Chinese Christians were preparing to bring the Gospel to this land. Indeed, there were three different congregations present: Taiwanese, Cantonese, and English speaking Asians (mostly East Asians). These were young professionals, very polished and bright, enthusiastically conservative and unashamedly evangelistic, whose questions, at the conclusion of my messages, revealed a great hunger for growing deeper in the Word of God.

I was tired, from my time at the PCA General Assembly and the EPC General Assembly, but that fatigue was soon put on the shelf for a few more days as I grew excited and humbled and honored to be among these fine young first and second generation Asian Christians. To see them, in three languages, with their children, all gathered in worship, at this retreat center, was extraordinarily moving to me. I consequently felt great freedom in preaching and believe that the Lord visited us in a unique way. Well, I preached until 9:30 at night and then I and their pastor, Rev. Jim Long, drove back to the New York. I wearily pulled in to the hotel in Manhattan, checked in, read over my sermon for the next day (ditched it and believed that the Lord had called me to preach another one), put my Bible and papers down and fumbled for the light. I looked at the neon radio clock next to the bed. It was one o’ clock in the morning. I fell asleep praising the Lord for what I saw: godly, young Christians coming into our nation, bringing the Gospel, bringing vision for the kingdom of God, zealous to share Christ with others, and committed to the inerrancy of Scripture and the priority of the Great Commission and deeply appreciative of the Reformed faith.

The next day I joined the pastor for the noon service. I was surprised, pleasantly so, at how very liturgical the service was. But it was so rich in Scripture that by the time I was to preach, I was soaked to my soul in the Spirit-breathed Word from another world. Two other services were held that morning, ministering to other language groups. I preached, in this church founded in 1731 (the present building, which is the second building that was erected over the first in the early 1800s), and sought to encourage them, from Philippians 1.6 and 1 Peter 4.10 to see that God, who gifts us for service in the Church, also “qualifies” us by his grace, and that God will use what He starts in our lives “until the Day of Jesus Christ.”

The Lord blessed this service, I think. But more than anything I began to see the future vibrant faith of our nation, and of the Western Church. And what might that future be? Those who were converted in earlier centuries by missionaries from America (and Britain and the Netherlands and France and German) are now returning to convert us. That is not the future. That is today.

At the end of the service, a lady expressed her heart’s comfort and hope, from the Bible’s message, and she embraced me in Christian love. A young person caught it on digital film. And that is the lead-in picture on this essay. An older Western Christian, bringing the heritage of two thousand years of mission, to a young person from Taiwan, moved by the Holy Spirit, to use her God-bestowed gifts, to share Christ with others. That is the real picture.

I don’t want to naively paint a picture of Eden restored in Asian Christian communities. There are challenges that are big. And those who minister in this community, like Pastor Jim, need our prayers not just our awe. But all in all, I believe that I saw the Next Christendom in this community.

One postscript: at the end of the day, I was in my hotel room taking a call from a seminary student from RTS Charlotte. We were discussing sermon planning versus sermon preparation, and how that relates to the “preaching the whole counsel of God.” As I was talking the housekeeper came in to clean my room; a middle aged black woman. I invited her in and continued talking as I conversed with the student. As she spoke I could discern, by that distinctive Creole accent, that she was Haitian. After I got off of the phone I told her, “I apologize for talking while you were working!” She replied, “Well, Sir, it is your room!” I smiled. She then paused and addressed me, “Sir, from listening to you talk on the phone it sounds like you are a pastor. You were talking about the Word of the Lord. I love God’s Word. I too am a Christian.” We talked, about her church, her son, her service to Christ, and finally to her gifts of music. I asked her if she knew the hymn that had been on my heart of recent days, “There is a Fountain Filled with Blood”? She did. I asked her if we could sign. And so we did. She sang in French and I sang in English:

“There is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Emmanuel’s veins;

And sinners plunged beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains.

Lose all their guilt stains, lose all their guilty stains.

And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.”

We finished and laughed. And then she left (yes, I tipped her!).

And so ended a day of multi cultural ministry. I think I am, indeed, witnessing, first here in New York, what may well (I pray) spread around the nation: the next Christendom, right here in America.

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Filed under 22221060, Asian Christians, Christian, Christianity, Dr. Michael A. Milton, Jesus Christ, Michael Milton, Mike Milton, New York, PCA, Philip Jenkins, Presbyterian, Queens, Reformed, Reformed Church of Newtown

Tags: Christianity, Evangelism, Lehigh Valley, Mike Milton, NY, Philip Jenkins, Preacher, Preaching, Queens, Reformed Church of Queens, Reformed faith, Reformed Theological Seminary, Religion, RTS Orlando, RTS-Charlotte, Spiritual retreat, The Next Christendom

July 2, 2009

Tips for a truly “free” market life

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Expository thoughts on faith and the free market were published this week in Preaching.com, in a sermon brief called “The Economics of Faith:” http://htxt.it/Ig5t

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Tags: Churches, faith and freedom, God, Gospel, Jesus Christ, Michael A. Milton, Mike Milton, ministry, Pastors, Preach, Preaching, Reformed Theological Seminary, Reformed Theological Seminary Charlotte, RTS-Charlotte, Sermons

July 8, 2009

Michael Jackson, Fallen Heroes, and Our Days of Trouble

“But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God [my emphasis]” (2 Timothy 3.1-4 ESV).

This passage was all I could think of as the Michael Jackson funeral saga unfolded on this day, July 8^th, 2009. I thought that we, as a nation and even as a civilization (because news about the entertainer’s death is arguably as “popular” in the UK and Eastern Europe as it is here), have so loved “pleasure,” or to use another word, “entertainment,” that we forgot that four Americans lost their lives defending our nation in the rugged mountains of Afghanistan yesterday as well as two brave British soldiers who were killed the day before. And while their families have given the ultimate sacrifice and must mourn their incalculable loss in the background of the strains of the “king of pop” and the ubiquitous talking-head pundits on all of the radio and television networks opining about Michael Jackson’s influence on “the world,’ we as a people pretty much ignored them. We were transfixed, not by news of brave military men, mostly boys, really, cut down in their youth on the field of righteous battle, but by the pop culture stars assembling at the Staples Center in Los Angeles for the funeral of an eccentric and pathetic dancer and singer. I do not mean to disparage Mr. Jackson at all, or to diminish his talent, or to speak ill of anyone else, for that matter, in the entertainment business, but is there not a distressingly rude and horribly self-destructive mix-up in all of this? It is as if the flag-draped bodies of the soldiers were driven right past us, and we kept right on racing our engines down the road of life to the beat of the music that is enchanting us. “Disrespectful” is the word that comes to mind. In fact, let us be clear about the enemy among us, called “lovers of pleasure:” Michael Jackson’s tragic, if not criminal, death itself seems to be linked, in a dark, sad irony, to the very cult of entertainment that created his image and his wealth, and then tormented him as if to seek repayment for the success it bestowed. If only we could see this enemy in our midst and name it for what it is. But that would require confession. And repentance.

It is not as though when Paul wrote to Timothy that he was necessarily thinking prophetically, that is predicting, our own time, for the Greco-Roman world of his own time, those “last days” that had ensued since the resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ, were filled with garish examples of an entertainment cult not that dissimilar to our own. But Paul says that such times create “difficulty” (verse one) for Christians, and, specifically, for pastors. Paul was, we must remember, writing to a pastor, Timothy, who was serving the congregation at Ephesus. Being a pastor and a seminary president and professor to future pastors, I thought about how a sensate culture that produces people described as “lovers of…pleasure” can create “times of difficulty” for ministers. I thought about the difficulty as I listened to and later saw film of the “funeral.” While I thank God that a pastor was called upon to pray, and that in fact he closed with words about “the king of pop having to kneel before the King of Kings” and he prayed in Jesus’ name (and may the Lord bring about good through this act which was seen around the world), I cringed at thinking that some in the Church, infected by the love of pleasure and entertainment, would want to somehow imitate the production they saw, for their own loved ones. I have been around long enough to know that what the world does today, some in the Church try to do tomorrow (and by that time the world has already moved on to something else and leaves churches trying to imitate the world being anachronistic if not downright silly, but that is another essay). But, even if there were no religious values at stake (and there are), there is the matter that while Los Angeles music and concert producers can pull off entertainment-based “services,” a small town pastor and a volunteer choir with a pull down screen and a computer (even if it is a Mac) cannot. Moreover, are we to believe that Scripture-saturated, Christ-centered, services of witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ are somehow inferior to the music-centered, image-focused, eulogy-loaded services that the cult of entertainment offers? I don’t believe so. But this is a time of trouble for the pastor that such lovers of entertainment bring on. And a culture that loves entertainment more than God and the things of God (including the sacred honor of her defenders) is a culture that cannot find healing when there is heartbreak. The sacred words of the Bible, or of the traditional services based upon that Bible, such as the Book of Common Prayer, possess the Holy Spirit-breathed “Word from another world” that can bring healing and meaning and hope to those standing before coffins, whether they are coffins of soldiers or dancers.

I thank the Lord that though they were not seen except by God and the families that gathered with them, Army chaplains and civilian ministers spoke effective words of transcendent peace and soul-healing to those military families who lost their loved ones to enemies who seek to destroy our people. And I mourn today with those families. And yes I mourn for our country that is straining for a good seat at the tube to watch the service of a man who died of an apparent drug-involved reaction to a toxic culture tearing at his “tortured” soul like a Pit Bull that has turned on its owner. Yet there is a link between the deaths of Michael Jackson and the soldiers of the past few day, and it is this: The soldiers were true heroes who laid down their lives fighting enemies of the freedoms, and yes the pleasures, which we can enjoy or misuse. Michael Jackson’s death is an example of that misuse.

May God save us from such confusion, from such misuse, and such consequential sorrow. May God send revival, a great movement of His own hand, and heal our land, and heal our souls, delivering us from a love of self-pleasure that is killing ourselves and those we crown kings of our entertainment lust.

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Filed under British army in Afghanistan, Entertainment, Michael Jackson, Michael Jackson's funeral, Mike Milton, Reformed Theological Seminary, Soldiers deaths in Afghanistan

Tags: 2 Timothy 3:1-4, British army in Afghanistan, Christ, Christianity, Entertainment, Gospel of Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, Michael A. Milton, Michael Jackson, Michael Jackson's funeral, Pastoral Theology, Pastors, Reformed Theological Seminary, Soldier's deaths in Iraq, Soldiers death in Afghanistan, Theology

July 10, 2009

John Calvin’s 500th Birthday

Calvin Perhaps no figure since St. Paul has influenced Western civilization like the man born 500 years ago this date, Jean Cauvin (10 July 1509 – 27 May 1564), the pastor-scholar of Geneva. Through the ordinary means of God’s grace in Word, Sacrament and Prayer, Pastor John Calvin impacted law, economics, government, social welfare, family life, civic life, education, and of course the Church. At the Taste of Calvin 500 conference (sponsored by Reformed Theological Seminary) at the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America, I presented this paper about The Once and Future Calvin (Published on Monergism.com). I offer it today in honor of this truth: God uses human beings who are surrendered to Him to accomplish great things. You may not be a Calvin, but you will most assuredly influence your family for Jesus Christ. And through them, and through the people you touch with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, you will reach deep into the centuries with the power of His life.

May God raise up courageous men and women of God who will heed the call of the Gospel to bring Christ to every area of life and to do so through the preaching and teaching of the inerrant and infallible Word of the living God. And though no one may celebrate your birth 500 years from now, should Christ tarry, many, as a result of your faith today, will be safe in the arms of Jesus Christ when He comes again. And that will be even more remarkable.

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Tags: Birth of John Calvin, Calvin's 500th Anniversary, Christ, Christianity, Church, Jesus Christ, John Calvin, Mike Milton, Reformation, Reformed faith, Reformed Theological Seminary, Reformed Theological Seminary Charlotte, The Once and Future Calvin

July 12, 2009

Thinking about the Cedar Falls Bible Conference, Willa Cather and Ha Erets

Kansas afternoon in Graham County, KS This summer I’m preaching at the annual Cedar Falls Bible Conference in Cedar Falls, Iowa. They hold it at a campground just like they’ve been doing since the turn of the last century. Some of the same families who were there when these hearty, godly Midwesterners gathered to hear the early evangelists and guest pastors are still there today. I am honored and humbled to be there.

I like preaching there because I like Midwesterners. I have been married to one for a quarter of a century, my son spent his first years on the Midwestern landscape, and I found a new life there. Just like pioneers before me, I journeyed there to start a new life. The old one hadn’t worked out very well. Now, I didn’t choose to become a Midwesterner (you can become one, though it is generally thought that one cannot become a Southerner or a New Englander). I chose something else.

The earlier settlers on the land probably didn’t say, “Living in Minnesota would be really neat.” No. You go to the prairie because there is the promise of a new life there. It is the new life that you are seeking. That is what Willa Cather wrote about, I believe, in all of her stories about pioneering families. Life and land become so intertwined that they become symbols for each other. Well, our story is no My Antonia or Neighbor Rosicky or O Pioneers!, but God sent us to the Midwest (for my wife, God sent her back to the Midwest) and there is a story there.

I will never forget arriving there. I was 27 years old and it was in the fall. I was staying in a hotel my company had arranged for me located on the edge of a suburban sprawl. I didn’t know what suburban sprawl was, but I liked it. I had never seen houses so nicely arranged as those in Overland Park, Kansas where the green, groomed corporate business parks touched the vast, cultivated rows in fields. I felt, on that first morning there, like the land was drawing me in, across the business parks, away from the route to my new office, to witness this land firsthand.

I drove until I couldn’t see anything but fields to the north, south, east and west. I parked my car, got out, and felt the Midwest prairie wind as it chilled me to the bone. And I liked it. It was not like the pneumonia-wet 32-degree air of New Orleans. It felt cleaner, crisper, and it even gave me a slight ache to the lungs, almost a laceration, when I sucked it in. I carefully crossed a ditch and stood next to a fence line. I just stood there. I was now part of this new land. My soul was still newly born from an encounter with God’s grace. And I thought about it: “Here I am: a poor kid from Louisiana, my life broken and battered by my own sins and the sins of others, on my way up the corporate ladder of success, married to the greatest gal in the world, and now led by God to be a part of this land. This land.”

I stood beneath a November Kansas sky that seemed bigger than any sky I had ever seen in my whole life. Standing in wonder on the fence line of the most magnificent field I had ever seen, I felt like I was home. I had a drawing pad in the car, and some colored pencils, and lacking a camera, I drew the field, including the Hereford cattle grazing in the distance. And it began to snow. But I was undeterred and even rather encouraged by the scene. I was drawing the land and the sky (sky being the predominant feature of the land there), with one pencil clinched in my chattering teeth, and my car running with its blue exhaust swirling all around me. That drawing is some where in our home. But I have the scene of the fields and the sky forever etched into my soul. The Midwest. My Midwest. My prairie. No, I guess not. God’s land, God’s prairie.

Since that time, I have moved around, answering calls, serving the church sort of like a soldier serves the Army and goes from assignment to assignment. I live in North Carolina now. But my soul is forever shaped by that gray November Kansas sky and by that vast frozen field I took into my soul that first day when I stepped onto the Midwest prairie. I am, and I think I always will be a Midwesterner.

In the Hebrew, there is a word, ha erets, the land. The land is where we were meant to be:

In the beginning, God created the heavens and ha erets, the land (Genesis 1:1). Ha erets, the land, brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good (Genesis 1:12).

In our sin, the land is what we lost:

When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on ha erets, the land (Genesis 4:12).

In His goodness and grace, God promised a return to the land:

Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to ha erets, the land, that I will show you” (Genesis 12:1).

And so the covenant-bearer, Abram, heard the divine command of promise:

Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of ha erets, the land, for I will give it to you (Genesis 13:17).

Of course the land was lost, in sin. It always is lost here. What I learned was that in God’s grace, ha erets, the land, there is a living sign of the redemption we have in Jesus Christ. Ha erets, the land, is where we are going in Him. It is not just heaven; it is heaven in our souls. And it is a real promise of a new heaven and a new earth. For we were meant to tend the garden in ha erets, the land.

When I go to preach at the Cedar Falls Bible Conference in Iowa, that most Midwestern of Midwestern places in the American landscape, I will taste the bratwurst, the flesh of ha erets, and the boiled corn, the grain of ha erets, and watch the children chasing fireflies in the dusk of the day, glimpses of future glory-days in ha erets. I will look past the white clapboard houses of the old Bible campgrounds, to the golden August fields that lie just beyond the fence lines, as they always must in this life. I will look out and taste ha erets with my eyes, and drink in its truth like a thirsty child lapping at the cold water trickling from a green garden hose on a hot summer day.

I am ready for ha erets. The older I get the more I want to be there, and I speak now of “a better place” than even the Midwest. I know it sounds funny to some, but Ha erets is now a place in my soul, a Midwestern place, a holy place.

It will be good to go back, and to preach the Gospel of the One who is leading us home and to be reminded of the ha erets I am really longing for.

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Tags: Bible, campground preaching, Cedar Falls, Cedar Falls Bible Conference, Christ, Christian, Christianity, Gospel, ha erets, Iowa, Jesus Christ, Kansas, Michael A. Milton, Michael Milton, Midwest, Mike Milton, North Carolina, Pastoral Theology, Pastors, Preacher, Preaching, Presbyterian, Reformed Theological Seminary, Reformed Theological Seminary Charlotte, Reformed Theology, RTS-Charlotte, Theology, Willa Cather

July 16, 2009

Music Gifts for the Day

Sometimes we just need to listen to the sound of music. I offer several songs for you from the album Follow Your Call. All glory be to the Lord above who is the giver of all things good.

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July 21, 2009

Moody Appearance

open bible I appreciate prayer for upcoming appearances on “Prime Time America” on Moody Radio Network stations across N. America at the following times:

Part 1: Wed, 7/22 @ 4:30 PM CST
Part 2: Thu, 7/23 @ 4:30 PM CST

Listeners can tune in on any Moody radio station, or at www.moodyradio.org <http://www.moodyradio.org> .

The topic will be Biblical doctrine. I pray for the Lord’s anointing. Thank you for your prayers.

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Tags: Bible, Charlotte, Christ, Christianity, Gospel of Jesus Christ, Michael A. Milton, Mike Milton, Moody Radio Network, PCA, perseverance of the saints, Prayer, Presbyterian, Presbyterian Church in America, Reformed Theological Seminary, RTS-Charlotte, Seminary, Theology

July 26, 2009

“I Will Remember…”

Kansas in the early morning on the Lord’s Day is nothing short of beautiful (image: “Sunlight Sonata” Copyright 2009 by Daniel W. Coburn, all rights reserved: see http://kansaslandscapephotos.com/). It was here in this place outside of Kansas City that I first began to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ (having known God’s grace myself, for I have, to my everlasting shame, stood as an impostor as a teenage boy) . It is good to return and to see how the Lord’s has richly blessed this Gospel seed at Redeemer Presbyterian Church and Westminster Academy. There is a passage that comes to mind:

“I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your wonders of old” (Psalms 77.11 ESV).

This morning I remember. And in remembering, like the Psalmist, I pray, I do seek to lift up the glory of the Lord.

I remember it was here that I was ordained as an evangelist. It was here that I announced that the Lord has guided me “home” to plant a new church and a school. And I remember gathering for the first time in an apartment to worship Christ and to pray that He would establish a Golden Lampstand that would be in place when He came again, with souls safe in the arms of Jesus. I remember when we moved to our home in Olathe, Kansas. I remember serving Communion from a Table which was really an old console Zenith TV which my wife transformed with a beautiful white linen. I remember the sight of 45 people crowded into our living room, dining room and entrance, on their knees in prayer. I remember moving to the Overland Trails Elementary School, and our first service. I remember baptizing my son, along with a whole lot of other little ones, in that place: a Middle School gymnasium transformed by the Holy Spirit into a “Sanctuary” as one of our members once reminded me. It was there that some were saved, some were built up, and many babies were held and prayed over in our make-shift nursery! I remember. I remember the days when we moved out of there, difficult days when the vision was tested. We moved to a Seventh Day Adventist Church. But even there, in a place that was further removed from the area I felt the Lord was leading us to, God met with us. I remember receving members, ordaining deacons, and I remember, specifically, a “Confession of Faith” by one of our elders, a dramatic reading of Psalm 51. It gripped my soul then and now as I meditate upon the words and the way he read it. The Lord was surely in that place. And in many ways that was a hard place for us. But on a Sunday afternoon, Mae and I took a drive out in the country, and saw a beautiful field, a windmill, and a home, sitting far back on that property. And we both said, “This is the place.” I asked others about it and all felt that this would be a beautiful location for our band of beleivers. And so the Lord provided the means and within weeks, as I recall, we were there. Our men tore out the interior to make a place of worship. Our women cleaned, and served us food. I remember the day the I-beam was put into place. There was something powerful about that moment. In the meantime, we gathered under a tent, next to our new chapel, and worshipped the living Christ in tents, like Israel in the wilderness. Yet we were perched on the banks of the Jordan, we felt. And as we moved in, I remember preaching, “What Mean Ye by These Stones?” as we crossed over into a new era of our church. I remember. No more Christmas Eve services in the Benedictine chapel (which were marvelous times), or “Vespers on the Green” (soft Sunday afternoon worship times in a park). A new day had come.

I remember how the Lord blessed our times there and how the Lord brought about the first day of our school, Westminster Academy. I stood on the doorsteps of our church and school for that first day, and I welcomed each little child and I prayed that the Lord would encourage them in the Gospel and that they would form the foundation of a Gospel work to bring a Biblical worldview to this generation. I ran off into a hiding place and cried. I cried for joy. I remember. I remember seeing deer out of the window of our “chapel” as I preached. I remember watching our little boy, with the other children, picking grapes that had been planted years before, and laughing as they skipped in the meadow behind the church. And I remember a Christmas Eve service where my son, four years old, fell down the stairs before the service and hurt his foot. After the service, which was happily crowded with families and the children were all playing as children play with such excitement on Christmas Eve, our little lad couldn’t move and he sat on the floor. I picked him up and saw that he was hurt worse than we thought. The next day, Christmas morning, we were in the emergency room and learned that he had indeed broken his foot! And that was to be our last Christmas Eve service there. My Aunt Eva died in the autumn before. I went into a dark night of the soul in my life, even as I rejoiced over what the Lord was doing. I had never wanted to leave that place. But I remember that I felt weak, conflicted, and dry. A call came during that time and I accepted it. We lived in Overland Park even while I served an interim presidential position at a seminary. And eventually that had to turn into something more permanent. Through some ups and downs and miscalculations, and prayer and recovery, we moved to plant Kirk O’ the Isles in Savannah. We enjoyed planting that church and enjoyed the fresh time of ministry, of helping people to discover the grace of Christ that had changed our lives. We saw many conversions there, many re-commitments to Christ, and much fruit in the lives of the good folk we grew to love. From there the Lord surprised us by calling us to First Presbyterian Church of Chattanooga. I joyfully served in this challenging but enormously fulfilling position and felt that the congregation there, at least a great majority of them, taught us the art of pastoring. Congregations do that I think. They teach preachers how to pastor as much as seminary professors do. All I know is this: I was an evangelist until I went there. I “became” a pastor at Chattanooga. That was their gift to me. And now I serve the Church by preparing young men to preach and men and women to go to the ends of the earth to declare Christ Jesus as Lord. In my work I travel a great deal, preaching and teaching. This week, for example, I taught preaching in a military context to new chaplain candidates at Fort Jackson. But this morning, I am in Kansas en route to Iowa to preach five times at the Cedar Falls Bible Conference. But Kansas always feels like home. That is what I meant when I wrote the song about it. This morning I will join in prayer at the church that God showed me before ever the first people met. I saw it in my heart by faith. I will lead in the pastoral prayer there. I will greet old parishioners, old friends, and new ones. I will breath in the fresh air of this place, look across her soft rising slopes and valleys, take in the beauty of Christ Jesus in worship, and I will remember. I will remember. I will remember.

I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your wonders of old. Psalms 77.11

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Tags: church planting, Dr. Michael A. Milton, Kansas, Kansas City, Kansas City history, memories of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Overland Park, Mike Milton, Overland Park, Overland Park history, PCA, PCA history, Presbyterian history in Kansas, Presbyterian history in Kansas City, Redeemer Presbyterian Church Overland Park, Reformed Theological Seminary, RTS-Charlotte, Westminster Academy

September 7, 2009

The Field of Music: Cultivating Hearts for the Implanting of the Word of God

The following essay will appear in © 2009 Small Things, Big Things: Inspiring Stories of God’s Grace (P&R Publishing, to be released November 1, 2009: a preview page and pre orders are available on the publisher’s page here).

And David assembled all Israel at Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the LORD to its place, which he had prepared for it. 1 Chronicles 15.3

Chenaniah, leader of the Levites in music, should direct the music, for he understood it. 1 Chronicles 15.22

I stood in the “green room” and prepared to walk up to the pulpit of the Cedar Falls Bible Conference. I had prepared the text, prayed over it, asked God to anoint the message. But as I stood there and listened to Diane Susek sing “Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring,” I realized all over again just how important the role of music is in preparing hearts for the Word. In that place, where so many of our congregation of 1,200 or so that night were Iowa farmers, I thought about how the fields just outside of the “campgrounds” were metaphors for what her music was doing with their hearts. The Iowa summer fields that night were lush green fields of tall, healthy corn, standing stalk to stalk, row by row, and growing with visible vitality, soon to be harvested to feed the world. And as Diane sang the congregation was stilled by her voice. That human voice together with the ethereal strains of the organ, played with such skill, caused the powerful words and theology to be, not spoken, but sung into their minds and hearts. Someone said that if your theology doesn’t make you sing it is missing something. Her theology sang that night. And all of us there sang with her in our hearts. By the time I came up to open the Scriptures, pray and preach the unsearchable riches of Christ, the Holy Spirit had done some plowing in that place. And the plowing was accomplished through Diane’s music. Indeed, I felt that night that rows upon rows of human hearts were opened up by the spade of the Spirit’s anointing on the lyrics; souls were deeply plowed by the implement of a consecrated voice; and minds were cultivated by the holy tools of the organ and piano so that we were prepared to receive the implanted Word of the living God.

This is why David called for Chenaniah, the leader of the Levites in music, to come when the Ark was being placed in its holy destination. Chenaniah not only could “do” music. The Bible says that “he understood it.” The Ark was being brought back to its highest place in the community of Israel. The Ark was that divinely ornate chest containing the tablets containing the Ten Commandments written by the very finger of God, and Aaron’s rod budding: The Divine Word of God and the Divine activity of God among them. Music needed to reflect those two great themes: The Word of God come to us by His own hand, and the miraculous promises of God among us by His own presence. Some have put it like this: We sing hymns to God, using His very Word, or versifying His Word. The Psalms and Isaac Watts’ wonderful hymnody based on a Gospel expositional reading of the Psalms comes to mind as examples of this. But the budding rod of Aaron in that Ark reminds us of God’s never-failing promises and wondrous work among His people. And so we sing hymns and spiritual songs that encourage us and build us up in the faith based on the faithfulness of God among us, His promises, and the hope we have in the Gospel.

We need more musicians who understand that music in worship is deeply connected to the Word and to the presence and power of the Gospel. Music gives lyrical and melodic expression to “God with us.” It is not entertainment. It is not “warm up” for the rest of the service. It is not an emotionally manipulative instrument, as if in some primitive ceremony in which music is wrongly used to do that. Indeed, music in worship is not a replacement for the rest of worship. It is a part, an important part of the liturgical re enactment of the Gospel story, week to week, in the service of divine worship. And back to my point, it really is the accompanying act of worship in which hearts are prepared to receive the implanted Word of God.

David knew that Chenaniah understood it. Come to think of it, more pastors need to “understand it” too. For “the field of music,” rightly cultivated, can produce an unimaginable harvest of good grain in the Kingdom of God.

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August 22, 2009

New Song on iTunes Released: The Miracle of Marriage

A new single was released today on iTunes: “The Miracle of Marriage:” http://bit.ly/3vzTuq

The song came as a result of preparing to speak at a Strong Bonds retreat, which is a marriage retreat for soldiers and their spouses. I was so moved by the event, and by the fact that I would be conducting marriage renewal vows, that I wrote and recorded this song.

The Miracle of Marriage is released by Bethesda Words and Music, produced by my friend Steve Babb, with vocals by Miss Cindy Gibbs, and piano and string arrangement, and percussion by Fred Schendel. Steve Babb played bass, and I prayed acoustic guitars and provided the vocal. We cut it in Charlotte (at Concentrix Studios) and at Sound Resources in Chattanooga. It is the first installment on the next collection of songs. I am working on them now and am ready to go back into the studio for some more.

My prayer is that this song will be a blessing to your marriage. And maybe even a “miracle.”

The Miracle of Marriage

In the beginning when time began

God took a rib from a sleeping man

And fashioned a woman to make humanity

This is how it came to be

And He called for the man to love his wife

With all of his power for all of his life

And He called for the woman to honor her man

This much we understand

But there’s more to the song

Because something went wrong

And the good that God made became flawed

But the miracle of marriage is God

When a man and a woman fall in love

No Cupid shoots arrows from Hollywood

But when love becomes commitment

And commitment turns to vows

The angels begin to applaud

For the miracle of marriage is God

Don’t tell me that a marriage that began with such power

Must be thrown overboard for the sea to devour

When there’s grace from the One

Who speaks stillness to the sea

And who welcomed a sinner like me

Say, Honey, I’m beginning to see

That the elderly couple in the nursing home

Holding hands in a world that seems all their own

Must have come through times of struggle and

Must have come through times of pain

And yet this special love remains

Because a long time ago

Each of them had to let go

Of their own lives to find this love

And the miracle of marriage is from above

Yes the miracle of marriage is His love

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August 25, 2009

Sheepdogs for Christ: An Orientation Devotion from Psalm 40.1-3

This Orientation Devotional was originally given on August 24, 2009, as “The Two Things to Remember in Seminary from Psalm 40.1-3″ by Michael A. Milton, Ph.D., President and Professor of Practical Theology, Reformed Theological Seminary, Charlotte, North Carolina (Interim President, Reformed Theological Seminary, Orlando, Florida).

Welcome to Reformed Theological Seminary, Charlotte! We have been waiting for you! And you have been coming here, haven’t you? There are so many stories of how God has been working in your hearts, opening and closing doors, making His presence plain to you, His hand of guidance personable, and His ministry to you palpable. And why? Because God is calling you to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ! He is calling others to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth with a mission agency! And for some of you, you still wait on the Lord for further word!

This morning I want to help you start your journey with what we do here: we read and explain the inerrant and infallible Word of the living God. Whether you are taking Hebrew or Greek or Old or New Testament or Pastoral Theology or Systematic or Missions or Church Polity: one thing will remain absolutely resolute: you will be taught from the Word of God. For it is the Word of God, the old Reformed faith, and a commitment to the Great Commission that forms our very nucleus here at RTS. Everything else flows out from that Biblical core. So this morning I want to read from that Word, from Psalm 40.1-3:

I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry. Psalms 40.1 He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.

He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD. Psalms 40.3

Now here are the two things that I want you to remember, from this passage, about your seminary experience:

1. Welcome to seminary and don’t forget to bring your testimony!

David began this marvelous ascription of praise to his deliverer by recalling how God saved him,

“He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of miry bog.”

There may not be any miry bogs around here like I knew as a boy growing up in Louisiana, and like David obviously knew from the sheep fields of his boyhood. But there are miry bogs of family pain, sinful choices, hard hearts that led us to seek out answers in ungodly places, boggy places that sucked us down into the life-suffocating mire of life without God . But Jesus Christ saved you out of that. He saved you in the same by grace, through faith but he saved you in different ways: through the witness of a dorm roommate, or a professor, or a pastor, or maybe your parents. That is your testimony. St. Paul, likewise, when he was addressing Timothy, began with speaking of his testimony and how God was so rich in mercy and saved him and made his life to be a “pattern” for others who would believe. Gospel ministry always begins with what God has done in our lives personally. And this place, this seminary, should be a place where sacred stories of God’s grace are told and re told to the glory of His name and to the encouragement of us all. And for the rest of your ministry, you should be telling that old, old story of Jesus and His love.

The other thing I would say to you from this passage is this:

2. Welcome to seminary and don’t think that ministry starts later! It starts NOW!

No, ministry starts now! Indeed, to live your life out what God has done for you is to naturally, supernaturally, flow into living witness for Christ to others. Listen to David:

“He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God, Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD” (verse 3).

Do you see how the testimony of what God has done for David flows into witness for what God will do for others? For “many?”

And so don’t be fooled into thinking that once you walk across that platform and get that degree, THEN you can start ministry! No! You are in the ministry now! You are not ordained, perhaps, and you don’t have the credentials of your church to pastor a church, perhaps, but you are in the ministry! We all are! But even more so, you who are studying the Word of God, who have dedicated a “tithe” of your lives to sit under the pastor-scholar-mentors here at RTS, are here to minister the Word of Christ to others. I pray that while you are here, many people will come to “see and fear and put their trust” in the LORD Jesus Christ. From this sacred ground, we pray that many will go forth and preach Christ to the ends of the earth. But I ask God that many will know Him RIGHT HERE because of you. This place ought to be a live wire of testimony and witness. May it be so.

I conclude with the insightful theological reflections on the pastoral ministry by one of my favorites, Evelyn Underhill. Many have said that the pastorate has gone to the dogs. But Miss Underhill believed that the dogs “the sheepdogs” were actually a wonderful metaphor for what we are called to do, and be:

“They [the sheepdogs] were helping the shepherd deal with a lot of very active sheep and lambs, persuading them to go into the right pastures, keeping them from running down the wrong paths. They did it, interestingly, not by barking, fuss, ostentatious authority, or any kind of busy behavior. The best dog she saw never barked once; but he spent an astonishing amount of time sitting perfectly still, looking at the shepherd…The dog was the agent of the shepherd, working for a scheme that was the shepherds and the whole of which the dog could not grasp; and it was just that which was the source of the delightedness, the eagerness, and also the discipline with which the dog worked.”[1]

There is a lot of wisdom in that dog story. Indeed, I want to use it to summarize what we have learned from the Psalmist (who also knew something about shepherding).

Let this time in your life be a time of discipline, “patiently” waiting, as David put it, to be that kind of “agent of the Shepherd.” But keep your eyes on Him. Remember how He picked you up, a whipped pup out of the miry bogs of life, and set you on a course of caring for others, finding wayward sheep and obediently shepherding them to the Master’s way. But always, always, keep your eye on Him.

[1] John H. Westerhoff, Spiritual Life : The Foundation for Preaching and Teaching, 1st ed. (Louisville, Ky.: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1994), as quoted from http://www.ethicsdaily.com/news.php?viewStory=13946 .

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September 3, 2009

When You Pray

praying angel B&W What is the secret that unlocks the power of prayer?

Truths that Transform broadcast this message on “Our Father” from a series on The Lord’s Prayer on 9/2/09. The MP3 archive is here.

May the Lord bless you with His Word through this Bible message. And may many in these days find the unveiled secret in our midst.

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September 9, 2009

Will Snooper Be in Heaven? St. Francis, Eschatology, and a Theology of Creation

St Francis preaching to birds What is a Biblical theology of “animals in heaven?”

The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. —Isaiah 11:6

As you read through the newspaper in the spring or fall, you might come upon photographs of the blessing of the pets. If you are not familiar with it, this is a service usually performed in Anglican and Roman Catholic parishes. The service comes either in the spring during Rogation days (the days following Easter and before Ascension Thursday) or in the fall (the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi). The members are encouraged to bring their kitties and puppies (in places like rural Wales they even bring their lambs) for a blessing by the priest or vicar. Some of us shun this for several reasons. One, is there really spiritual blessing or benefit conveyed by any act outside of faith? Two, do dogs and cats (and sheep and canaries) really need it? The practice came about due to certain emphasis in the church calendar and has developed over many years. It has roots in rural Britain where vicars made their way through lambing season or harvest time to ask God’s blessing on animals and crops. In the Roman tradition, it is associated more with St. Francis who is said to have spent much time in the woods “preaching” to the birds and, in general, giving thanks for creation. The rite of the blessing of pets is growing in American Episcopal and Roman Catholic circles. However, most won’t tell you, “I am bringing Rover to church because of Rogation Day” or “Because I, too, want to be associated with St. Francis’ emphasis on thanking God for all of his creation, I bring my Tweety Bird.” I suspect that most bring their pets to be blessed for other more sentimental reasons. I not only understand those reasons, I admit to the same sentiment.

Where am I going with this? The photos in the paper of the blessing of the pets coincided with a lengthy conversation I had in the car with my son while my wife was shopping (great theological discussions often happen while my wife is shopping). This conversation had to do with Snooper, and with Shadow, and with Tabby, and with eschatology, and with the hope in the heart of a little boy.

My son asked me a question that I bet most of you either asked as a child or have been asked by a child: will there be animals in heaven? My son wanted to know whether Shadow and Tabby will be in heaven. I think the conversation started because we talked about how our Welsh Corgi was getting older. This triggered not only a sadness in our midst at the thought of losing the little creature that had brought so much joy, but an opportunity to teach the Bible to my son.

“Well,” I replied, looking for the words that would blend the truth of Scripture with the pastoral need in my son’s life, “let me tell you about Snooper.” Then I told the following story.

“Snooper was my childhood dog. A mongrel that looked like his ancestry could have included Welsh Corgis, Border Collies, German Shepherds and Blue Tick hounds, Snooper was given to me on a cold winter morning when I was five years old. He came in a little cardboard box. Aunt Eva had told Osborn Turner, the famed school bus driver and hog farmer of Watson, Louisiana, that I sure could use a dog. I was an only child and coming out of some tough times as a little fellow, so Aunt Eva figured a puppy would help. This was long before psychology studies showed that pets help hurting kids and old folks. And Osborn found this pup.

“Aunt Eva would never allow a dog or cat or any other animal in the house, but she relented on this occasion because of the severe winter that year and the helplessness of that pup—or maybe because he was just downright cute! That little black and white pup began to grow, and he got into everything in sight. He spent most of his time snooping in the lower kitchen cabinets, and that was the reason Aunt Eva named him Snooper. “Snooper and I grew up together. We ran through fields, chased lambs, got chased by bulls, got lost in cypress swamps, and he even went to school with me a few times. But eventually that little pup, who came to be my best friend, became very, very sick. I will never forget Dr. Smith, our veterinarian, coming out and pronouncing words that shook my world: Son, Snooper is about to go to dog heaven. That last night of Snooper’s life I slept with the old dog out in a shed in the back of the yard. I was about fifteen. When it was all over, I cried like anyone would. Like you probably will, son, when old Shadow finally goes. But I have a hope.”

“You will see Snooper again?” My son asked.

“Well, I don’t know how it all works, son, but God’s Word says that creation—and that includes Snooper and Shadow and Tabby and all of the animals everywhere—is waiting for Jesus to come again. All of creation is waiting for a new heaven and a new earth.”

I began to quote from Romans.

The created world itself can hardly wait for what’s coming next. Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead. Meanwhile, the joyful anticipation deepens. (Romans 8:19-21, MSG)

“So this is not all there is, for us or for creation,” I told him. “And I know that the Bible tells us what that new day will be like for the world of animals. The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. (Isaiah 11:6)

“God is on the move. Eden was lost through sin. But Jesus has redeemed us, and what he has done in our lives is now spreading through all the universe. One day everything will be brought fully under the Lordship of Jesus—including creation. There is going to be a new heaven and a new earth, and it seems quite clear that since God originally made animals to provide companionship, even amusement, then they too will be redeemed.” “

So I will see Shadow again?” he wanted my Bible lesson to answer his deepest longing.

“Son, I know how you feel. I want to see Snooper again. All I know is that God made the animals, our pets, and God is going to renew all things. This is not the end. There is mystery, but there is great hope in the mystery of God’s goodness.”

About that time my wife came back to the car, we drove home and talked some more. As we walked through the door, grocery bags in arm, we were greeted by wagging tails and contented purrs.

We will not have any blessing of the pets per se, but we will stand with St. Francis of Assisi to say, “Thank you, Lord, for your gift of creation. It is wonderful. It is so like you to create a Welsh Corgi.” We will, in a sense, go with the English vicars to the fields and say, “Lord, unless you bring the rain and the sun, there will be no crops. Unless you, O Lord, give protection to this ewe, there will be no lambs.” We will acknowledge God’s sovereign goodness in creation and our dependence upon him. Little girls and boys and parents struggling for answers, come to the Lord and leave your hopes with him who made puppies and kittens and lambs and lions.

Yes, I sure would like to see old Snooper again. Who knows?

You know who.

This essay will appear in © 2009 Small Things, Big Things: Inspiring Stories of God’s Grace(P&R Publishing, to be released November 1, 2009: a preview page and pre orders are available on the publisher’s page here).

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September 19, 2009

World Missions Strategy, Mark Baxter and Scriptures to Pray

universe Christ will win. A new heavens and a new earth is on its way. The resurrection of Jesus Christ has inaugurated a glorious rule and reign that will end with the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, the judgment, the acquittal of the elect and Christ making all things new and then handing over the Kingdom to the Father that God may be “all in all.” That is not only the message of Scripture (see missions passages below) but the glorious teleological vision of redemptive history. It also is the mind expanding, soul stirring motivation for you to become involved in something greater than yourself.

Mark Baxter, one of the best servant-leaders I know in world missions, leader of the YWAM Reformed missions movement out of Jacksonville, Florida, outlines the present situation in missions, strategic changes that are needed to bring balance in missions, and other good thoughts at his YouTube video here.

As Mark says, “Today is a day of optimism…because of our sovereign God!” Mark’s optimism comes naturally because he is the son of The Reverend Robert “Pastor Bob” Baxter, now Executive Pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Dothan, Alabama and formerly my pastor at Olathe (now New Hope) Presbyterian Church in Olathe, Kansas. I know of no one more optimistic about mankind’s future than Pastor Bob, my pastor and my mentor, who lifted my head to see the undeniable Biblical vision of total universal victory in Jesus Christ. But Mark comes about it also supernaturally as I witnessed, first hand, how Mark’s own life was transformed by the mission vision of the Bible and how he gave his life to the work of the Lord in missions, along with his wife and family.

So I say, “Amen Mark!” And may the message and work of Mark Baxter and his wife and that good work coming out of Jacksonville bring many sons and daughters into the kingdom of God, and many into the work of reaching those who have never heard.

“For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea” (Habakkuk 2.14).

Some Missions Scriptures

May I suggest praying these passages back to God in your seasons of focused prayer for nations, for missionaries, for cities and for individuals who need the Lord. Please also remember to pray that prayer that we are to pray, for laboers to be raised up for the Lord’s harvest:

“When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matthew 9.36-38).

In this, we at RTS Charlotte join with Mark Baxter and his vision for missionaries to go where others have not gone.

Genesis 12:3
“I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

Exodus 19:5
“…Although the whole earth is mine”

Deuteronomy 28:9-10
9 “The LORD will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the LORD your God and walk in his ways. 10 Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they will fear you.”

Joshua 4:23-24
23 “For the LORD your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. 24 He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the LORD is powerful and so that you might always fear the LORD your God.”

1 Samuel 17:46
“This day the LORD will hand you over to me…and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.”

2 Samuel 22:50
“Therefore I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations; I will sing praises to your name.”

II Kings 19:19
“Now, O LORD our God, deliver us fro

December 25, 2009

December 23, 2009

December 20, 2009

I. The First Consequence of Christ’s Coming: A Blessing on Womankind—v. 42

II. The Second Consequence of Christ’s Coming: A Blessing on Humble Servants—v. 43

III. The Third Consequence of Christ’s Coming: A Blessing that Defines a Family—v. 44

IV. The Only Condition to the Consequences: The Blessings begin with Faith—v. 45

“The Jesus Who Is”

December 20, 2009

Re-thinking Howe and Strauss from a Biblical Worldview—a Fifth Turning

References

Endnotes

December 17, 2009

December 12, 2009

December 6, 2009

Introduction to the Reading

How the Creed Can Crack

How the Code can Crumble

First, God judicially allows the rebellion as a form of punishment.

Second Men begin to sink into a moral cesspool.

Third, the Society that they create eventually codifies the immorality.

Cry out to the Christ

December 5, 2009

October 1, 2007

October 26, 2007

August 27, 2009

1. Spiritual gifts are given by God but can be misused by Men (vv. 7, 1-3)

2. Spiritual gifts are diverse but complimentary.

3. Spiritual gifts are given for the Sake of Others

4. Spiritual gifts must be expressed in love.

Conclusion

December 6, 2007

The Once and Future Christmas: An Advent Worship and Sermon Series

Readings and Prayer

Call to Worship

Affirmation

Scripture and sermon and synopsis

Reflections

December 9

Readings and Prayer

Call to Worship

Affirmation

Scripture and sermon and synopsis

Reflections

December 16

Readings and Prayer

Call to Worship

Affirmation

Scripture and sermon and synopsis

Reflections

December 23

Readings and Prayer

Call to Worship

Affirmation

Scripture and sermon and synopsis

Reflections

December 24 —Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve Order with Advent readings and prayer

Scripture and sermon and synopsis

Reflections (for back cover)

Order of Worship for Christmas Eve Communion

The Ministry of the Word

The Ministry of the Table

A New Book by Mike Milton

Get the new book on theology and life, which includes stories, ideas, and reflections by Mike Milton:Small Things, Big Things: Inspiring Stories of God’s Grace (P&R Publishing, December 2009).

July 25, 2009

October 29, 2008

October 31, 2008

November 5, 2008

Getting it Right

1. A Minister Approved by Christ Jesus is a Disciplined Minister (6-8)

2. A Minister Approved by Christ Jesus is a Diligent Minister (10)

3. A Minister Approved by Christ Jesus is a Godly Minister (12)

4. A Minister Approved by Christ Jesus is a Devoted Minister (13-16)

Conclusion

November 20, 2008

November 23, 2008

Introduction to the Message

1. First in a theology of God’s love (in verses 1-11) I now affirm that God is on my side

2. I have peace with God (1, 6-11)

December 24—Christmas Eve