November 8, 2009

Small Things, Big Things Dedication

This month P&R Publishing will release Small Things, Big Things: Inspiring Stories of God’s Everyday Grace. The stories are varied. But each story is really a message in itself that seeks to tug at your heart, tap on your head, and awaken you to the possibility that God is in it all. Each message is aimed to lead you to see deeper, to look under the presenting issues of life to discover the glory of God’s grace at work in your midst, which was always there. The chapters are really letters that I wrote to my beloved congregation and to our cherished seminary community. My prayer is that this book helps you locate God amidst the often cluttered realities of life, which are really overflowing with spiritual possibilities. At least, I think, they are signposts to another world; and not just the world beyond, but the world here, a world that could be. I hope that those of you who choose to purchase this book will know of my profound honor and appreciation that you would even take the time to read. But as you do, I ask God now, by His Spirit and because of His promises, that He will bless this book to His honor and glory and to your good. I pray that Christ will be glorified, souls saved, lives transformed and that the Lord will use this, in His redemptive plan, to place many safe in the arms of Jesus when He comes again.

And now may the reality of the risen Christ, who came to disciples locked down on that first evening of His resurrection, move through the locked doors of our lives that we too may hear Him say to us, “Peace be unto you.”

P&R has produced a promotional video for this book which may be found here on this YouTube site.

One may also view an interview with yours truly on the book at this location.

Some Early Reviews:

“A pleasure to read: warm, encouraging, inspiring and uplifting.” – Sally Lloyd Jones, author of The Jesus Storybook Bible

“We will never learn to find God in the ordinariness of life until we are taught by someone who has. Mike Milton has been finding God in the ordinary from his first childhood day of poverty in Louisiana. With a pastors heart, he obviously longs for us to find Him as well.” – Michael Card

“Who says that ‘theology’ is dull and too other worldly? They must not be referring to this book… each pithy vignette in the most down to earth manner teaches deep theology that will bless your heart… as he writes about grief, trials, joys, and all other aspects of life and reality. Amidst your smiles, memories of home, and bygone days, you will see the truth in each reading.” – Dr. Charles Dunahoo

“Somehow Michael Milton has managed to pack the weight of glory into the nutshell of everyday life. The ‘big things’ of eschatology and theology and doxology and cosmology, bare their souls before us in the ‘small things’ that we can touch and smell and remember so well. A warm-hearted credit to the reformed tradition!” – John Guest

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October 27, 2009

Distracted

paper plane “Both (pilots) stated there was a distraction in the cockpit” reported Alan Levin in a USA Today article (October 27, 2009, 3A). What was the distraction? We have all been waiting for a conclusive answer since the story broke a few days ago. Most Americans who fly regularly have been interested in the story for, well, let’s say for reasons related to their own lives and the lives of their loved ones. And because we still freeze when we hear about plane crashes killing hundreds of human beings.

Learning that repeated calls from controllers to the cockpit of an Airbus A320 operated by a reputable airline, flying at 37,000 feet and moving at 450 miles per hour or so tends to grab your attention. It also leaves you feeling very vulnerable. But now, at least in this case, we know the truth. What is it? Well, the answer doesn’t exactly put us at ease, and we kind of figured that it would be that way. Planes just don’t keep flying past Minneapolis when they are supposed to land there. Pilots don’t just ignore radio contact from controllers. Usually we get a joke or two from the co-pilot, or a captain’s update (I always picture the captain looking like Jimmy Stewart who flew B-17s over Europe in World War II and I am comforted; it is problematic on many levels, but this self-medication works).

Here is the truth, finally. According to the story entitled, “‘Distraction led pilots to fly too far,” the answer is embedded in the title of the story: the whole thing was about distraction. The distraction led the NTSB authorities to describe the situation by saying “there was a concentrated period of discussion where they did not monitor the airplane or calls from (controllers).” I hate it when that happens on giant tubes of steel and electrical wires hurling through crowded skies at 37,000 feet, don’t you?

Well, here is the scoop: this was a long flight from San Diego to Minneapolis. There was an argument between the pilot and the co-pilot. If you want to look deeper, there was (is) a corporate merger providing an intriguing background for the whole near-catastrophic affair, if you like that sort of thing in your mysteries. And then, and this is the real culprit that came out of the pilots’ confession and this article, there was this really nifty, new computer program that caused them to become “engrossed” in their laptop screens. We expect that from 13-year-old boys with their Gameboys, but not from professionals with a combined 31,000 hours of flying time. Thus, it was only when a flight attendant called on the intercom that these experienced professionals realized they had missed their destination and were headed for, well, maybe a really cool view of Lambeau Field: really cool except that a few hundred folks trusted their lives to go to the Mall of America instead.

Due to other problems with the black-box, that likely needs fixing too, we just don’t have the reaction of the pilots to the flight attendant’s little question at that point. We can just imagine what they said. O.K., let’s not imagine that. Well, thank God, the plane turns around, lands, and all is well. All is well? Kind of.

Neil Postman’s work is helpful to us at this point. In Technopoly and in Amusing Ourselves to Death, the late, famous author and professor from NYU prophetically warned that we are perilously distracted by the technology that always comes at a Faustian price. But the issue goes even deeper than the distractions of a new computer program.

The truth is that even when we punish little boys and seasoned airline pilots for spending too much time on their computer programs and not paying attention, we still have this problem of human beings getting distracted. Theologically, this is a result of the fall. That is the epic but very real rebellion of mankind as taught in Genesis (and in Paul’s Epistle to the Romans and in so many other places and is, in fact, the second great point of a Christian worldview: Creation, Fall, Redemption) in which all humankind and creation itself is subjected to a deep, humanly incurable condition that mars the original product.

We are sinners. That is the problem. And sinners, among other things, get distracted. You see, even when the matter at hand, the lives of hundreds of people, demands our utmost attention, training, experience and dedication we can just look away. We fiddle with our iPhones as our automobiles move at high speeds amidst others at high speeds who are also fiddling with their iPhones. And, of course, one mistake, one look away, one distraction and you end up on the front page of newspapers all over the world. Or you end up with a broken home. Or a lost career. Or an eternal destiny unsettled, or a rejection of the God who made you, whose creation speaks of His presence, and whose law is even written on your heart. But you get distracted. You miss His Gospel. You overshoot your destination. You fly too high, too long, and disregard every voice that comes at you. Other things just have your attention.

And the truth is, whether we are flying planes, or running seminaries, or leading a congregation, or arguing cases in court, or raising a family, being a friend or a son or a daughter, we can all get distracted. We get distracted by the most inane things, things like computer programs. Or other women (maybe even soul mates in Argentina). Or pornography. Or new boats. Or buying houses that we can’t afford. Or really nifty, new religions that promise everything. Or sweet-talking spiritual gurus who tell us to go meditate in sweat houses in the heat of Arizona until we die. Or, well, you get the picture. I hope. The answer is not just to say, “Oh, now I will focus on my job! I will focus on my family!” The idea is to listen to the voice. The flight attendant that asks, “By the way, where are we?” comes to us in all sorts of ways.

Thank God she asked the question. And thank God that the Word of God comes to us in all sorts of voices, through pastors and Sunday School teachers and tracts left on trains and books given at Christmas, and sometimes in the gift of a child who asks, “Dad, is there a God? And why are we here? Where are we going?” It is in listening to the voice, the voice that is really the voice of God speaking through His Word, the Bible, attested to by the voice of His Son, Jesus. For we are all hurling through time and space, flying high, with so much at stake. We can all get distracted. But thank God that there is a divine interruption that has now come, if only we will hear:

This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him (Matthew 17:5 ESV).

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Tags: Air travel, Amusing Ourselves to Death, Biblical Worldview, Delta, Distracted pilots, Matthew 17.5, Michael A. Milton, Mike Milton, Missed Minneapolis, Neil Postman, Northwest plane, Reformed Theological Seminary, Reformed Worldview, RTS-Charlotte, Technopoly, The Fall, theological reflections on airline that missed minneapolis, USA Today article on Northwest Airlines flight that missed Minneapolis, worldview

October 21, 2009

Why I Will Always be Thankful for the Defense Language Institute

seven mile drive They were the Cold War years of the mid 1970s. The California folk sounds of Neil Young and Dan Fogelberg wafted through the nightspots in Monterey. Progressive rock sounds from bands like Kansas were heard blaring from certain rooms in the Navy barracks. The music reflected the questions of the age: were we in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s or were we in a new day?

To those of us in our formidable years it seemed that we were caught and hanging in time between two eras. The Vietnam War years were giving way, haltingly, to a new kind of tension on the world stage. Korea and China seemed destined to explode into war. Many in the language departments were nervous with that possibility. The East European language departments and the Russian departments continued to study with a sense of urgency as if at any moment the Balkans or the Berlin Wall would collapse into conflict and Soviet tanks would face off with American and British armies.

Into that history, a teenage Navy Cryptological Technician (Interpretive) began a journey in a place that would change his life. I was that lad, that 18-year-old boy from South Louisiana. That place was of course, our place, our DLI. I studied Albanian under Professors Zef Logoreci and Zef Nekai, two of the finest men I have ever known. While I had passed the entrance examination for this great institution, I had skidded effortlessly through high school with good grades and little studying. But not even the ablest “skidding student” could pull that same stunt off at the prestigious Defense Language Institute. And so, predictably, I found myself scrambling to keep up with the intense, regimental demands of DLI in my early days there. The ubiquitous, mysterious blue-grey fog of Monterey seemed to have settled over my study desk at the Navy detachment barracks. Thus, with few study skills in place, I began to flounder in class. It could have all ended for me as it did with others in my class and in other classes. There were hauntingly real stories of young men studying Mandarin one week and painting ships at Subic Bay the next week. No one was ever given a grade, or especially a coveted diploma from that institution. It had to be earned.

In spite of my struggles, my professors saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself. Both men took time to help me learn how to study. And they gave me something even more valuable: they gave me a love of learning. I began to devour their lectures like one would devour the hot sourdough bread made on Cannery Row. Many times I found myself walking down the Presidio to get that bread with my Albanian paradigms in one hand. It was worth the heart-pounding walk back up to the DLI with hands dripping with butter from the hot bread.

But whether we were learning how to conjugate Albanian verbs in the northern dialect or decline nouns in the southern dialect, or studying the tumultuous history of the region, or the intriguing culture of the people, I began to grasp the glory of intellectual exploration. Indeed, as I graduated, and was leaving DLI, I asked Professor Nekai what I should do next. “What can I do with Albanian outside of the military?” He looked somewhere far away in his mind’s eye, maybe to the beautiful Adriatic seashore of his Albanian home. He was still peering wherever his mind had taken him when he told me words that I shall never forget: “Many people see the sand on the seashore. But you have seen one grain. Cherish that one grain. Tell others about it. Love the people you have studied. DLI has been a gift to you, Mr. Milton.”

Few words have ever proved to be truer.

Years later as a young Presbyterian minister, I was one of the first Americans to enter Albania as “the wall” fell and a fledgling democracy began to emerge. I stood on top of the tumbled statue of Joseph Stalin, recently pushed over by freedom-seeking students in revolt against despotism and Communism. I stood on the crumbled head of Stalin that had been dislocated from the broken body of that statue, that symbol of a horrible history now also crumbling. I stood on Stalin’s head and I preached. I preached a Gospel of a future and a hope. Over 500 people gathered in Skanderbeg Square that night. As I preached, I spoke in the Albanian language. And the legacy of DLI was with me.

My debt to the Defense Language Institute is far greater than being taught a language and the accompanying remarkable experiences. My deeper debt is that I was given an appreciation for the intellectual life that led me through undergraduate education in Kansas, to a Masters of Divinity degree, and finally to a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Wales. But a love of learning cannot be confined to formal degrees. And the pursuit continues in many ways as I am now the president of a graduate school of theology in North Carolina where I get to write, teach, and speak all over the nation and the world.

But the first diploma on my wall is the one I cherish the most. It is the diploma from DLI. For behind that piece of paper lies a story, a story of how an institution changed my life. It is a gift. I will always be thankful for that gift, for that place, for that faculty, and for the God-given opportunity to be just a small part of the remarkable story of the Defense Language Institute.

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Tags: 1970s, Albanian language, CA, chaplain, Dan Fogelberg, Defense Language Institute, DLI, Graduate School of Theology, Kansas, Mike Milton, Monterey, Navy, Neil Young, PCA Ministers, Presidio of Monterey, Reformed Theological Seminary, RTS-Charlotte, Seminary President, Zef Logoreci, Zef Nekaij

October 9, 2009

Bible Women

indian bible women When I was in India teaching I encountered many strange and exotic things. It is said that India assaults all of your senses at once. This was, in a way, true for me. Yet in the company of God’s people, as my family and I went to great, expansive megalopolis like Madras (now called Chennai) and then from there on to New Delhi. Our next stop was up to the beautiful northern area where Dehradun sits near the Ganges River that flows majestically, mysteriously down from the misty, green distant bu visible Himalayan Mountains. There we found something, I should say someone who I recognized. I want to talk to you about her. I found her coming to me in several persons.

In one place I found her as an elderly, toothless woman, her body wrapped in traditional Southern Indian costume, and her face etched with years of hard labor. My interpreters told me that she was uneducated and from a remote place. She went from tribe to tribe, from village to village. In another place, she was younger, with children still at her side, not as revered, but she seemed just as wise, just as authoritative in the community. And yet in another case, I found her to be a middle age woman roaming through the sprawling ghettos of the Indian capital, through the neon, down the boulevards of piled up rubbish, past the lowing of the ghoulish-grey Brahma cattle. Who were they? They were “Bible women.”

This is what the Indian Christians called them. The Bible woman is so called because she knows the Word of God, and though not ordained to “preach” or to be a “Minister of the Gospel” by a congregation of any particular Christian church, she goes about, evangelist-like, telling Bible stories to the communities. She is revered by all, ordained and lay alike, men and women, boys and girls, and even believer and unbeliever. But back to why I recognized her amidst this strange land with its strange customs. I recognized her because I was reared by a Bible woman.

I was orphaned as a little child. I was adopted by my Aunt Eva. She was about 65 when I was 9 months old and placed in her arms. I never knew a day when my Aunt Eva did not read the Bible to me, pray for me, and lay her hands on my head. But that is not why she reminds me of the Bible women of India. It is this: she was a teacher of the Word of God to the people in our little backwards area of Louisiana. She never held a class, or lectured. She was not educated at a seminary or a Bible college. She had been taught by her father and mother and through, what would end up being, almost 99 years of faithful Gospel preaching and teaching. She took the Word she had been given in those ways and ministered to others.

She ministered to the poor. She ministered to the merchants. Many times I have seen Aunt Eva opening her Bible to counsel, or to teach a child, or in some cases to lay her hands on the heads of grown men who came to her, weeping, in the midst of business failures or marriage failures. And she taught me. She taught me, and she modeled ministry for me in ways that I aspire to even today. She was a Bible woman.

Whatever your understanding is of the ordination of women, I can tell you that I believe God set apart my Aunt Eva to teach me and many others the Word of God. She would never have set foot in a pulpit herself and felt that to do so would be unbiblical. She was outspokenly complimentarian, a word that she would never have known, but a concept that she always affirmed. Yet within the Biblical role relationships that she sought to live out from her convictions in the Word of God, she likely influenced more souls for salvation than many (male) pastors I know. But that was her calling, her gift, her open door, and her role.

There were many Bible women in the Word of God. In fact, I am always amazed at how God used women in the history of God’s people: to stand in the gap to lead Israel to war, as in Deborah’s case, or to save God’s covenant people from annihilation, as in Esther’s case, or the greatest example of all time, to raise the Lord Jesus Christ from infancy to manhood, as in Mary’s case. In times of great trial, often in times of apostasy, the Lord chose a Hannah, or a Ruth, to bridge the gap between corrupt judges and faithful prophets. And maybe today is such a time. Maybe in days of great trial God will raise up Bible women to roam the land, to teach the poor, to counsel the wealthy, to help all of us to see the glory of Christ in our midst. How we need these Mothers in Israel today.

My views on women in ministry match those of my Aunt Eva’s. I am a complimentarian because I believe the Bible teaches a role relationship of men and women in the Body of Christ that matches the role relationship God established in the created order (e.g., 1 Timothy 2.12-15). But let it not be said that this view, the unassailable position of the majority in the Church for two millenia, precludes effective ministry for women in the Body of Christ. Indeed, we need godly, strong Bible women in our churches, in our families, in our world. Let them lay hands on our heads and soothe our weary brows. Let them teach us to pray by their untiring example. Let them tell us the stories of the Bible. Like me, some of our ministers might want to pause and sit at the feet of these Bible women and listen to the stories of God’s faithfulness. I have done so many times as a pastor in nursing homes or hospitals or in a home listening to the profession of faith of a child, taught by her mother. How I wish I could leave even this very moment and sit at “my” Bible woman’s feet. But my Aunt Eva is with the One she proclaimed, the One she taught me to love.

Sometimes when I hear someone wonder about my commitment to the ministries our young women and dear ladies studying in seminary (because of my own denominational affirmation [I am a minister in the Presbyterian Church in America] or our seminary affirmations), I listen with the secret I can’t wait to tell them. But I listen and I have to be patient. I want to hear of their strong convictions on the issue (for we want to cooperate with each other without compromise). Sometimes, though, when I listen, I seem to detect an assumption that since I hold to a complimentarian view of the role relationships of men and women, I somehow cannot genuinely comprehend the place of a strong, gifted woman exercising gifts in the Body of Christ, that maybe I even have a hang up about “strong women” in general. But eventually I tell them that I was not only raised by a single female head of household, a woman who threw the football with me in the backyard at 75, and who worked harder in the fields than any man I have ever known, but I was taught the Word of life by this strong woman, and I watched her minister Christ to others as well. I have to tell them that a woman, this strong woman, influenced my life more for Christ than anyone else. I have to tell them that my first seminary class was in her lap, learning the truth of God as she read the Bible to me and I heard the Scriptures spoken in one ear and her heartbeat in the other, as I lay my head against her, cementing the Word to life forever within me in a most incarnational way. I have to tell them that I grew up with only this strong woman, with no man in the home or in my life. I have to tell them about my wife, a person with deeper spirituality than my own, I think, and a sense of God’s presence that is indescribably but demonstrably greater than my own.

Amidst the clamor and contentious spirit of this age, which seeks cultural relevance at the expense of provoking the saints with theological and ecclesiastical novelty on the one hand, and disdain for the “old paths” on the other, there are many women, uneducated, educated, homemakers, lawyers, Sunday School teachers, pastor’s wives, missionaries, college professors and homeschooler moms, Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Anglican and many others, happily, productively, fulfilling the purposes of God, teaching the Word of the Lord, spreading the Gospel, with many of us rising to call them blessed as the Kingdom goes forth through their faithful messages. While some scramble to see who can be more “egalitarian,” armies of Christian women are carrying Jesus Christ to the world.

And all of this leads me to this closing prayer for our generation: I long to see in our seminary, in our nation, in our world, what I saw in India, what I saw in my home: more Bible women.

“Oh God, raise them up this day and let them know of our joy in their presence among us. May they increase to the glory of Thy name and the good of Thy church. Help us to return to the old paths that lead to submissive spirits beneath Thy Word, more satisfying to our souls, more effective for Thy Kingdom, and more pleasant in our churches. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

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Tags: Bible, Bible woman, Christ, Christian, Christianity, Churches, Complimentarian, Dehradun, God, India, Indian Bible women, Jesus Christ, Madras, Mike Milton, New Delhi, Old Paths, ordination of women controversy, Pastoral Theology, PCA, Preaching, Reformed Theological Seminary, RTS-Charlotte, Women in ministry

September 25, 2009

The Monuments Men and the Idea of the Beautiful in Christianity

The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History by Robert M. Edsel is yet another fine addition to the growing body of literature, really a genre unto itself, about the “Greatest Generation.” These are the men who did nothing short of save the world in World War II.

But this book has a bit of a twist: the greatest generation verses Nazi thieves who were stealing Europe’s greatest monuments and works of art. A group of American and British “middle-aged family men, [who] walked away from successful careers into the epicenter of the war, risking and some losing their lives.”

They left it all to join the Army’s special unit called, The Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives section (MFAA). This unit was made up of “museum directors, curators, art scholars and educators artists, architects, and archivists” (page 2). These men risked their lives under the orders of Roosevelt and Eisenhower who ordered them to retrieve what was taken for the Führer’s booty.

But one might ask: why spend lives and time and money for art? This book is important because it is a reminder that in Western Civilization, Rembrandt and Di Vinci, Van Gogh and Degas mean something to us. These are artifacts of our humanity, reflections of our time on this earth, and images that seek to imitate the works of God. The idea behind this, behind forming such a unit as the MFAA, is nothing short of an example of the spiritual capital of generations that have gone before.

In Western Civilization, the valuing of art, of valuing the beautiful, is just so because of a Biblical and Reformed worldview. This is a worldview which holds that there is goodness in creativity, because God is the Creator. It means that we value beauty such as art and music and architecture because God is a God of transcendent beauty, of personal order.

The Monuments Men reads like a mystery and tells a story that needed to be told. It reminds us again that this generation fought for something greater than themselves. That power that made them risk their lives to recover stolen art is nothing less than the glorious theological vision of the glory of God in our midst.

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Tags: Biblical Worldview, Christ, Gospel, Gospel of Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, Michael A. Milton, Michael Milton, Mike Milton, Reformed Theological Seminary, Reformed Theological Seminary Charlotte, Reformed Worldview, RTS-Charlotte, The Idea of the Beautiful, The Monuments Men

September 25, 2009

Empathy, Netanyahu, Despots and Chimps

chimps This morning (Friday, September 25, 2009) after reading the Wall Street Journal I couldn’t help but go back and link three articles about “empathy.” One article (“Israel’s Premier Fires Back in Speech” by Christopher Rhoads and Joe Lauria, A7) had to do with the speech given yesterday by Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. He gave a “blistering attack” on Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The Prime Minister mounted a massive collection of evidences concerning the Holocaust, which the Iranian president has denied ever happened.

But he did more. His rhetorical device was to name a horror and then ask, “Was this a lie?” But his greatest question came as he turned to those who had displayed what I would call a twisted sort of “empathy” for such dictators and despots like Ahmadinejad and asked them, “Have you no shame? Have you no decency?”

I had heard part of the speech yesterday on Fox News radio and I was shaken to my core by it. The nations of the earth, gathered at the United Nations, were on trial by the Prime Minister. Those who put up with and cheer on such criminals, such as the Iranian President and Moammar Gadhafi (said now to “comprehend the anger” of those relatives of the victims of the 1988 Lockerbie massacre that his government oversaw or at least allowed), are guilty of empathy for the inhuman and monstrous dictators. These men and their ungodly regimes are infecting the world with a virus deadlier than any Swine Flu (see “Ghadafi Says He ‘Comprehends’ Lockerbie Anger” by Jay Solomon, A7).

Indeed, the dark and twisted representatives of the UN who applaud such neo-Hitlers and their diabolical generals, were tried and found guilty of showing empathy in the most sinister, unimaginable way. Empathy in the sense of feeling another’s pain and desiring to help and bring healing to them was denied to the people of the earth that it should have been given to. And the UN is left, once again, tried and found wanting, not only of empathy, but also of sanity and of purpose.

The mission of the United Nations is, as Coach Lou Holtz reminded us on Shawn Hannity’s program on September 23, 2009, to prevent wars. Period. It takes an old ball coach to get to the bottom of things. And Coach Holtz’ locker room talk to us is exactly right. But the Wilsonian vision of a league of nations, a place of peace, a “united nations” as FDR named it, has evolved into a bizarre collection, almost a side show, of despots, dictators, and madmen, held together by the money of America and Britain who, in doing so, seem to also be showing empathy in the wrong way. Despite the good that has been done in humanity efforts around the world, the UN can be counted on not to be counted on when it comes to doing what it was designed to do: prevent wars like the one that engulfed the earth in World War II. Indeed, today, there is an array of despotic clowns, lethal clowns who are developing 21st Century weaponry with 9th Century ideologies as Netanyahu reminded us. Because of the opportunist nations such as Russia, who chide the despots publicly but endure them if not encouraging them privately, to advance their own nefarious and mostly unknown designs, the world is suffering a massive war tumor.

This tumor, with blood vessel like tentacles now stretching over the earth, from Eastern Europe, which lies unprotected and once again abandoned by the nation they look to for help (our own nation), to South America, and our own Hemisphere’s loons, like Chavez, is metastasizing. If it is not removed, it will lead to global conflict like we have not seen before. In other words it is leading to this century’s world war. And in the midst of it all, this administration wants to talk. Talk about what?

One thing I have learned as a pastor is that one cannot reason with madness, but only treat it with Truth. If that were the proposed aim of our desire to show empathy to dictators and those who deny the rights of Israel, who call the president of the United States, “Satan” (though now they call our new president, “our son”), then I could understand. But I see nothing that demonstrates such Reagan-like resolve in dealing with these thugs and killers. The question is: why are we not showing empathy to Israel or to Poland or the Czech Republic? We read about empathy everywhere, but the empathy is misplaced, it is empathy distorted.

This brings me to the third article that I read which allowed me to see, at length, what this is all about. I turned the page to read, “Tracing the Origins of Human Empathy” (by Robert Lee Hotz, A11) and there was pictured a chimpanzee mother and her baby. The article described the scientific inquiries of Dr. Frans de Waal and his conclusions about the evolution of human empathy based on the display of empathy by apes. Empathy, he says, is “the ability to imagine how others are feeling, especially people who are not the same as you.” After reading that article, I was able to tie it all together. I believe that this empathy, shown in chimps, is simply a beautiful instinct placed there by the Creator. Not related by DNA, or by a supposed Darwinian delusion, but by a divine design, human beings can also show such deeply embedded feelings towards each other. This is our humanity.

But sin, the horrible consequences of an unredeemed spirit, and the dark disease of a malevolent spirit, can overtake such instincts and cause chimps to attack and brutally murder their masters. You don’t make friends with such apes. You keep them on chains, or you remove them. You don’t cuddle or coddle them. Instead you empathize with the innocent who are under attack by the mad chimps.

This is where we are today. And it is time to show empathy to the right people and do the only humane thing: isolate and remove the insane creatures whose unredeemed, demonic spirits have created mad monkeys out of men roaming the earth and threatening innocent men, women and children. Unless we do so, these unchained monsters will unleash their deathly darkness on others without the slightest evidence of any human empathy whatsoever.

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Tags: Article on United Nations, Christ, Christianity, Christopher Rhoads, evolution, Fox News, Frans de Waal, Gospel of Jesus Christ, Joe Lauria, Locherbie, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Michael A. Milton, Michael Milton, Mike Milton, Moammar Gadhafi, Netanyahu, Pastoral Theology, Reformed Theological Seminary, Reformed Theological Seminary Charlotte, Robert Lee Hotz, RTS, RTS-Charlotte, Sean Hannity, theological reflection on united nations, UN, Wall Street Journal

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 from his hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O LORD, are God.”

1 Chronicles 16:23-24
23 “Sing to the LORD, all the earth; proclaim his salvation day after day. 24 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.”

2 Chronicles 6:33
“then hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you…”

Nehemiah 9:6
“You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.”

Psalm 86:9
“All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord; they will bring glory to your name.”

Isaiah 49:6
“… I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”

Jeremiah 3:17
17 “At that time they will call Jerusalem The Throne of the LORD, and all nations will gather in Jerusalem to honor the name of the LORD. ”

Ezekiel 36:23
“I will show the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Sovereign LORD, when I show myself holy through you before their eyes.”

Daniel 7:13-14
13 “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him…”

Amos 9:11-12
11 “In that day I will restore David’s fallen tent. I will repair its broken places, restore its ruins, and build it as it used to be, 12 so that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that bear my name,” declares the LORD, who will do these things.”

Nahum 1:5
“The mountains quake before him and the hills melt away. The earth trembles at his presence, the world and all who live in it.”

Habakkuk 2:14
“For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.”

Zephaniah 3:8-9
8, 9 “…for the day I will stand up to testify. I have decided to assemble the nations, to gather the kingdoms and to pour out my wrath on them—all my fierce anger. The whole world will be consumed by the fire of my jealous anger. Then will I purify the lips of the peoples, that all of them may call on the name of the LORD and serve him shoulder to shoulder.”

Haggai 2:7
“I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the LORD Almighty. ”

Zechariah 14:9

“The LORD will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one LORD, and his name the only name.”

Malachi 1:11

“My name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name, because my name will be great among the nations,” says the LORD Almighty.”

Matthew 28:19

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”

Mark 13:10

“And the gospel must first be preached to all nations.”

John 3:16-17

16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

Acts 1:8

“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.”

Romans 15:12

“And again, Isaiah says, “The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; the Gentiles will hope in him.”

1 Corinthians 10:26

“…”The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.”

2 Corinthians 5:19

“that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ…”

Galatians 3:8

“The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.”

Ephesians 1:10

“…to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.”

Philippians 2:10

“that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth”

Colossians 1:6

“… All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing…”

1Thessalonians 1:8

“The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere…”

1 Timothy 3:16

“Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory.”

2 Timothy 4:17

“But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it…”

Titus 2:11

“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.”

Hebrews 10:10

“… we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

James 1:18

“He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.”

1 Peter 3:18

“For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God…”

I John 4:14

“And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.”

Jude 1:25

“to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.”

Revelation 5:9-10

9 “And they sang a new song: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. 10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.”

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Tags: advent sermons, Christ, Christianity, Mark Baxter, Mike Milton, Missions, Prayer, Presbyterian Church in America, Reformed Theological Seminary, Reformed Theological Seminary Charlotte, second coming of Jesus Christ, World Missions, YWAM

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 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).

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 7, 2009

The Field of Music: Cultivating Hearts for the Implanting of the Word of God

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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Tags: Bible, Cedar Falls Bible Conference, Christ, Christian, Christianity, Corn fields, cornfields, Diane Susek, Gospel, Iowa, Jesus Christ, Liturgy, Liturgy and Music, Michael A. Milton, Mike Milton, music, music in worship, organ music, PCA, Presbyterian Church in America, Reformed Theological Seminary, worship services

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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Tags: Truths that Transform, When You Pray

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

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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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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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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Tags: Easter, Gospel of John, If I should die, Matthew, Michael Milton, Mike Milton, PCA, PCA Ministers, PCA sermons, Prayer, Praying child, Presbyterian, Reformed Theological Seminary, resurrection of Jesus Christ, Resurrection Sunday, RTS, RTS-Charlotte, Sermons

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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Tags: Bible, Michael Milton, Mike Milton, Pastor, Pastoral Theology, Preacher, Presbyterian, Presbyterian Church in America, Reformed faith, Reformed Theological Seminary, Reformed Theology, RTS, RTS-Charlotte, Scripture, Seminary

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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Filed under African Anglicans, Asian Presbyterians, Global Christianity, Latin Catholics, Mike Milton, Missions, Philip Jenkins, RTS-Charlotte, Reformed Theological Seminary, World Missions

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