Dear friends and family at our beloved seminary:

On September 2, 2010, the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees voted unanimously, graciously so, to call me to become the next Chancellor of Reformed Theological Seminary. With gratitude to the chairman, Dr. Cannada, the Executive Committee and the Board, I have accepted.

“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” (1 Timothy 4.16 ESV).

“May God be gracious to us and bless us, and make His face shine upon us, that Your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations” (Psalm 67.1-2 ESV).

A Prayer in Acceptance of a Call

“O loving heavenly Father, whose blessed Son did suffer for the whole world, grant that we may know you better, love you more, and serve you with a more perfect will. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.” [1]

The Humbling Experience of Calling

I tell our students that “your vocation is your sanctification,” that is, that in the ordinary/extraordinary life of following our Master, the Lord Jesus Christ, we continually discover that we are not our own, that we are being led by His Spirit to places we would never have imagined to have gone on our own:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go” (John 21.18).

In this process of following Him, we are so often driven to our knees in desperate prayer, “Lord, I didn’t expect to go this way! I had plans to follow Thee in this way!” Yet in the perpetual response to His loving, but often, strong arm on our shoulder to go this way and not that way, as St. Paul was forbidden to go to Asia but to turn to Europe (Acts 16.6), we are gently and sometimes severely reminded that our Savior Himself modeled perfect Sonship in His obedience to the Father:”

“So Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise’” (John 5.19).

So, too, we, the little preachers of Jesus, particularly those ordained as evangelists, as I was so long ago now, [2] go as we are led by His Spirit, waiting on Him, seeking Him, listening out for Him, watching providential doors opening and shutting, and being reminded that we are not our own but have been bought with a price; [3] that we are but itinerants dispatched under the command of Christ as He fulfills His purposes in the world. Then as we conduct our ministries, as we “persist” in our personal devotional life with Jesus Christ and our “teaching,” we shall “save” our “hearers” and ourselves Vocation becomes sanctification.

So, as I would never have imagined a “career trajectory” that would have led me to be called as president of a seminary. I would have never dreamed, when I was called to preach, that I would be one day called to become the Chancellor of Reformed Theological Seminary. Yet there remains no doubt in our minds or apparently the minds of our current esteemed Chancellor, my friend Dr. Ric Cannada, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Mr. Jim Moore, and the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees, that, in fact, a door has been opened by the Lord and a call has been extended to me to walk through that door as the Chancellor-elect. This action, on September 2^nd, witnessed by my wife, who was at my side during the initial interview, is now received in much astonishment, earnest humility, prayerful pleas for strength and wisdom, and awareness of the costs (at least those we know about and those who can only imagine) of following Christ in this way. Yet in joy, in love of the vision and mission of this movement of Christ in our generation called RTS, we do accept this call as from the Lord. We do accept this assignment as the place where He has placed us. We claim no other credentials for this assignment other than His call. I pray that we shall recall His hand on our shoulders, moving us in this direction, and the series of undeniable open doors of ministry, as we move forward. The details of our transition are before the world in the Chancellor Transition Plan and the Press Release (both available at the RTS website). Our goal in the transition is to glorify God and to model a healthy transition before the Church, not for the self-aggrandizing purpose of showing our adroitness in such ecclesiastical maneuvers, but to pastorally seek God’s help to encourage others in their own transitions of ministry and senior leadership/servanthood to Gospel ministries.

Thus in all of this my vocation has become my sanctification. And in all of this I would, as ministers must do, desire to open my life as continuing story, “warts and all,” to the world. In my walk with Christ through the prayerful times of dialogue leading up this call, I have become increasingly aware of His ownership of my life, and my simple guiding principles for ministry and my plain vision for our work:

• A God induced burden that our seminary and I must remain unswervingly committed to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and His burden for total redemption of His Creation through His Son Jesus Christ—in short, since we are on our way to a new heaven and a new earth; and we must fulfill God’s purposes in the world and thus we must remain grounded by…
• The unchanging values of the Great Commission, the inerrant and infallible Word of the living God, and the Biblical doctrines of grace recovered and articulated so well in the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms, that is, the Reformed Faith, as the very doctrines of Christ Jesus Himself;
• My own heart beats with a vision for two great things in life: to glorify God and lift up Jesus Christ and send our laborers into His harvest to (1) revitalize the ‘things that remain” in the old Christendom—in North America as well as in Britain and Western Europe—and to (2) equip pastors and other Christian leaders in the revival-rich nations—the urban areas as well as the remote villages— of the South and the East, the “next Christendom.”
• Thus, through issuing the call for more laborers for God’s harvest, and equipping the saints for ministry, and through the ordinary means of grace—Word, Sacrament and Prayer—we aim, as our sacred mission, to raise up a new generation of pastors and missionaries and other servants of Christ to fulfill this glorious vision through a seminary that goes to where the people are.

In all of this, then, God is shaping my life, conforming it to His. I am learning, still, that when he does that it touches others—my family, our faculty and staff, our students, our alumni, our wonderful sister seminaries who share our identical burden, value, vision and mission (and who often do better than we do at so many of these goals and from whom I would hope to learn, in order to join them, shoulder to shoulder in the “battle”). I am reminded that we must honor the past before we build for the future. And so through our joint leadership I aim to encourage the honoring of my friends Dr. Ric and Mrs. Rachel Cannada, and to recall the ministry of Dr. Luder Whitlock, and the founding evangelistic work of The Reverend Sam Patterson, our first president. I would desire to lift up the laymen who gave their years and lives and resources to build up this seminary. I want to spend my transition time in honoring the outstanding presidents and their campuses, our faculty of over fifty pastor-scholars, our staff, our 3,000 students, and our 8,000 plus (and growing) alumni, and the millions of “students” who are now being ministered to through iTunes U and our Virtual Campus. There are village pastors in India, housewives in Maine, and homeschooled missionary children in Bulgaria, who are listening to Dr. Doug Kelly, or Dr. Howard Griffith or Dr. John Frame or Dr. Derek Thomas or Dr. John Yeo, or another one of our many gifted, beloved pastor-scholars. All of you are on my heart on this day.

I desire to serve you all in the spirit of our Lord who served us with His life. I plead for your prayers to do so. My heart is full as I write these words, that they may be fulfilled in personal, pastoral ways.

“Grant me that open door, too, Lord. Let them know of my prayers, let them know of my desire to build them up in Christ, through my support, so that they can do their work well.”

So, then, my heart and mind are set on a transition program of “listening, learning and loving”—the “3 ‘L’s that I instruct my students to follow in transition themselves. In doing this, Mae and John Michael and I are learning, again, our dependence on God as we pray the Psalm:

“Have mercy on me O Lord, for I call to you all day long; Bring joy to Your servant, for to you, O LORD, I lift up my soul” (Psalm 86.3,4).

I thank Dr. Cannada for his confidence in me, hopefully justified as God establishes this transition, and I thank Mr. Moore, our beloved Chairman and my father in Christ, as well as each member of the Executive Committee and the Board of Trustees of RTS. I thank my colleagues, faculty and staff, who stand with me on the precipice of this new day of ministry for this great seminary. I thank my wife and my son and our family who stood with me in praying through this call.

Thus, I accept the call. I realize that God is at work in using a filthy sinner saved by grace, called to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ that he once blasphemed, to serve a great ministry movement in the larger redemptive movement of God in our generation: Reformed Theological Seminary.

I can think of no greater prayer to close this little acceptance epistle than the prayer of David:

“May God be gracious to us and bless us, and make His face shine upon us, that Your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations” (Psalm 67.1-2 ESV).

So let this seminary with “a mind for truth and a heart for God” go onward and forward into the future with the same vision and mission that was received from God in prayer on the first day it was founded.

Dr. Simon Kistemaker, our most preeminent New Testament theologian and beloved professor, wrote me to charge me that “if you labor for God’s glory and Christ’s kingdom, you will know His favor…” Oh how I would plead for that seasoned and godly wisdom to become a practical reality, not only for myself, but also for all of RTS.

Endnotes

[1] The Paraclete Psalter: A Book of Daily Prayer,  (Brewster, Mass.: Paraclete Press, 2009).

[2] In the Heartland Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in America.

[3] 1 Corinthians 6.20; 7.23.

“The church is Catholic, universal, so are all her actions; all that she does belongs to all. When she baptizes a child, that action concerns me; for that child is thereby connected to that body which is my head too, and ingrafted into that body whereof I am a member.  And when she buries a man, that action concerns me: all mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language…”

Thus, in hearing about the home-going of one of those lambs, I am moved to prayer. I am a part of her life and she is a part of mine. We are, together, the Body of Christ. And all the more when you have fed the Word to that lamb, when you have served the emblems of the Body and Blood of Jesus to that lamb.

Today, my prayers are with my friend, mentor and trusted elder, Dr. David McCallie, and his family, as they receive friends for the visitation tonight and the services tomorrow for his bride, now with Christ Jesus in heaven. Mrs. Maddin McCallie, his good wife of so many years, so many trials, so many good times and bad times, births and deaths, joys and sorrows, was the perfect picture of Christian service, graciousness and faithfulness. Her works to her family, church and community are well-known to those of us who knew her and loved her and were recorded beautifully in the reflections on her life. When I think of such a woman, though, I think of this passage:

“But let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious” (1 Peter 3.4).

The beauty of Jesus Christ alive in her was what I shall always recall in Maddin Lupton McCallie.

I shall always cherish the times of prayer with her, and her quiet, behind the scene guidance of me as a pastor. She was the “pastor’s friend.” Did you not know that seminaries only begin the process of training a pastor? The flock , a good flock, also trains their shepherd to love them, to lead them like Jesus and thus to realize their calling. Maddin did that so well with me. Thank you. Thank you Maddin and thank you Dr. McCallie for leading me and teaching me to be a pastor.

My wife, Mae, represents us there as, alas, I am on annual training for the US Army chaplaincy this week. Mae’s  presence represents not only our desire to honor the life and memory of our beloved friend, who was for all practical purposes an unpaid but valued staff member of my pastorate there (and that is verified for she and Dr. McCallie always came to our Christmas parties for our staff) but to mark the years of our stay with that flock. May the Lord anoint this time to His glory.

Just make sure, all, that there is a clean, pressed white table-cloth on any reception table. Maddin would have wanted that. “Mike, aren’t we doing this for the Lord? Then He deserves the best,” I hear her saying. “Yes, Ma’am. We are doing this for the Lord.”

Maddin Lupton McCallie (1926-2010):

“Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints” (Psalms 116.15).

This is the Convocation Sermon, Fall 2010 for Reformed Theological Seminary, Charlotte, NC.

Michael A. Milton, Ph.D., President, Reformed Theological Seminary, Charlotte, NC; James M. Baird Jr. Professor Of Pastoral Theology

Acts 13:1-3, 44-52

The theological lens through which we observe and interpret life has powerful implications for our lives. For example, when we see the stories of the Bible standing alone, disjointed, and unrelated to each other, the Bible can seem like a confusing collection of historical accounts, ancient stories with imaginative characters, and perhaps even as a book that provides inspiration.

If on the other hand, we view Scripture the way that Jesus did, (according to Luke 24:27[1]) as being connected through what has sometimes, I think correctly, been called the “scarlet thread” of the redemptive plan of God in Christ that brings about the restoration of His Creation, then we view the Bible, our faith, the Church, our seminaries, our personal and corporate missions, and, of course, our families and our lives in a new and exciting way. We see the Bible as a cohesive framework that brings a dynamism to living by which we understand life and the purposes of God.

I have been thinking about these things lately as I have been praying about the open door the Lord has given to me in this ministry called RTS. I believe that my thinking about this larger, cohesive picture of the covenant of grace, this plan of God has been shaped in large part because of the following Scriptures. These Scriptures have spoken to my heart and I pray they will to yours as well.

This is the inerrant and infallible Word of the Living God:

Acts 1:8

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth (Acts 1:8).

ACTS 5:34-39

“But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in honor by all the people, stood up and gave orders to put the men outside for a little while. And he said to them, ‘Men of Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men. For before these days Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. After him Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him. He too perished, and all who followed him were scattered. So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!’ So they took his advice” (Acts 5:34-39).

Acts 13:1-3

“Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a member of the court of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.  While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”  Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off” (Acts 13:1-3).

Acts 13:44-52

“The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him.  And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, ‘It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, saying,

‘”I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”

And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region.  But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district.  But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 13.44-52).

Power to Get You Through

There are times when forces conspire to bring you down unless there is a power to get you through.

I fly a lot. I have experienced times when in take off, particularly in a “puddle-hopper,” I could almost feel the cross winds against my cheek, and through my prayers, I was also talking, under my breath, to the pilot, “Giver her some power, son, give her some power!”

In the ministry—in life—there are forces that conspire to bring us down—and would—except for a power that is greater than the force, greater than ourselves.

I saw this in church planting as we were taking off and suddenly, almost imperceptibly at first, then building to an obvious threat to our work, we experienced the crosswinds of opposition. The opposition we felt was apathy in the congregation, a lack of commitment in the culture around us, and a general lackadaisical attitude among others. Like any good pilot I wrote up my encounter and it made its way to the desk of a denominational overseer for church planters. He flew to Kansas City to pay me a visit. He took Mae and me out to dinner near the airport. He told me that he had read about the problems. But he said, the problem, was not in the culture, or in others. The problem was with me. I was lacking power to get through the headwinds because pride, like a flock of Canadian geese, had been sucked into the life of the work.

“Mike (he seemed to be telling me) you are clogging up the work of the Lord in this place with your pride, your sense of entitlement from God and others. You have to get out of the way. You are taking the safe route, but not the prayerful, trusting route. You are turning into an intuition. What you need to have is a true movement of the Lord in this place. Then others will also be set free. Then you will know the blessing of God.”

Well, I responded by asking him if he was ready to go to the airport! And I took him, dropped him off and was delighted to say “Good-bye!” On the ride home, I told my wife how wrong he was. But over the next few weeks I committed myself to prayer and learned how wrong I was. I asked God to forgive me. I sought to get out of the way of His work and to rely on the ordinary means of grace—Word, Sacrament and Prayer—to advance His Kingdom work.

I gave the church, rightfully, to the Lord of the church. It was at that point that I believe our church left the physical dynamics of this world and entered into another World, another Kingdom. At that moment our congregation stopped being an institution and became a movement.

I have been thinking and praying about “movements” and “institutions” of late as I have been praying about our seminary. I was happy when my friend, Tim Keller, revealed that he, too, has been thinking on such things. He recently wrote:

“A movement is marked by an attractive, clear, unifying vision for the future together with a strong set of values or beliefs. The content of the vision must be compelling and clear so that others can grasp it readily. It must not be so esoteric or difficult that only a handful of people can articulate it. Instead, it must be something that all members of the movement can understand and pass along to others. By contrast, “institutionalized” organizations are held together by rules, regulations, and procedures, not by a shared vision.”[2]

I would add that institutions are often held together by the power of the personality and gifts of the founder or leader. These often look like movements, until the leader moves on. Then, if there is no power from on high, the pseudo-movement is revealed to be nothing more than a human institution. It is at this point that one thinks of the words of Gamaliel when the religious leaders were considering what to do with Peter and the courageous band of believers who would not stop preaching:

And now I say unto you, refrain from these men, and let them alone, for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to naught: but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it, lest haply ye be found even to fight against God (Acts 5:34).

Gamaliel, even in his unbelief, recognized a truth of God at work in the world: movements are bigger than one man. The Pharisee was half right: you cannot stop what is of God. But he wrong in sitting still. He should have repented rather than let the movement pass him by. But in his own life, he was bound by an institution. And that institution of first century rabbinical Judaism was powerless before the movement of God displayed even in poor apostles and preachers.

Jesus Christ did not found an institution, but was the crucified Mediator of God’s plan—God’s movement—to save mankind. And those whose lives were miraculously transformed by Him were not just following a man, they were following God, or better put, were being led by God, inspired and sustained by God.

Today, sometimes we think if only we can have a vision statement then we will have a future. There is nothing the matter with them and much right if they are reflective of the Bible’s vision and mission. But the early Church went forth in a vision and mission that came down to them from on high. They had been swept up into the glorious cloud of witnesses stretching back to Genesis and stretching forward to an Eden-restored under the sovereign Lordship of Jesus Christ. They were part of the movement of the Holy Spirit in the world.

Thus, the Church of Jesus Christ is an organic movement of the Lord. The true Church is not and can never be an institution. Those local churches and ministries that have been swept into the glorious forward moving Pentecostal thrust of the Holy Spirit in history are part of this Movement. Indeed, like little whirlpools within the larger great river of God, these local churches and ministries are movements within this Movement. The Movement and the subsidiary movements born out of it are true eschatological movements in that they are bringing about transformation in human souls, one at a time, as well as in nations and cultures where revival is burning with fire from the very altar of God. These movements are also eschatological because they are moving all of the smaller movements together into one, so that the great river of God’s Covenant Promises are moving, like the mighty Mississippi River, to finally spill out into the glorious gulf of a New Heaven and a New Earth.

Such was the case in the Book of Acts as Jesus promised a power from on high that would propel the Church of God to the ends of the earth. And so looking in Chapter 13, I would draw forward three marks of a true movement of God that provides the power we need to move through the challenges of our lives and the challenges of ministry.

1.  The first mark of a true movement of God is seeking God in prayer (13:2)

Paul had gone to minister at Antioch. He joined a college of preachers there, even as we have here today at this convocation. And what marked the power of their teaching and ministry? It was prayer. And from that life of prayer came the voice of the Holy Spirit saying, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul…”  The movement of God that would “turn the world upside down” started as it did in the Upper Room, as it always does in the Kingdom of God, with prayer. In fact, that is why the founders of this institution called for us to seek God each semester that we may know His blessing and His power and presence on this place, in a Convocation that seeks Almighty God in prayer.

Before Israel took Jericho there was prayer when the successor to Moses, Joshua,  “fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to Him, ‘What does my lord say to his servant?’”[3] Before the conversion of Lydia, often referred to as the first European to be baptized[4], there was prayer by Paul as the Holy Spirit forbid the apostle from going to Asia and redirected him to Europe[5] and gave him a prayer-soaked vision of a Macedonian man calling him to come and “help us.”[6] Such visions, such callings, such conversions come to us in prayer. Before I went to preach each Sunday at First Presbyterian Church of Chattanooga—from the first day—the officers of that church met me and led me to a place, a small room, and we sought God in prayer, for the Spirit to come down, for sinners to be saved and souls to be transformed. Before the performance of duties there was prayer. Before Jesus went to the Cross there was  John 17—there was prayer: “Father, I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word.”[7]

I thank God for the opportunities of prayer that are before us here: in chapels, in prayer meetings, in the offices of our professors. But I implore you: if your life at seminary is to be swept into the grand narrative of what God is doing in the world, then you will need to become a man or woman of prayer while you are here to study. To study without prayer, that “intimate conversation of the pious with God”[8] as Calvin called it, is to miss the dynamic center of the movement of God in your life and will be to institutionalize your calling. If our professors ever fall into teaching without asking first for a power from on high, then we too will institutionalize.

I read the stories of our seminarians that do their internship here at Presbyterian Hospital. Every M.Div. student will. One paper was brutally honest. He was in the presence of a lady who was dying. He didn’t know what to say. But she led him, knowing he was nervous, and even though she lay dying, she sought to instruct the seminarian. “Son, why don’t you just pray?”

A true movement of God is marked by seeking God in prayer.  Will you commit on this Convocation day to seek him in prayer? Then will you and I both be swept up in the forward movement of God’s glorious design for the world. Then will we know His favor and His blessing on our lives, if we will seek Him with all of our heart.

The first mark of a true movement of God is seeking God in prayer (13.2).

2. The second mark of a true movement of God is being sent in power (13:3).

You will notice that after the voice speaks, they begin to pray again! At the conclusion of their prayers they laid their hands on them—to signify the apostolic setting apart for sacred service to God—and then they were sent. I would say that they were thus sent in a transfer—symbolic and yet very real—of power, a power from on high.

This is a perfect picture of what happened to you! You were in prayer, and the Lord called you to ministry. And what did you do? You came to seminary, you came to a life of prayer and study and focus on the Word of God, and entered into a community of spiritual and vocational formation with these pastor-scholars. Prayer—calling—Prayer—Power. Then you will be sent forth. Thus the movement begins in prayer and then returns to prayer to know the power to be sent forth. This is the power that will overcome all crosswinds, all Bar-Jesus figures in your ministry and your life. You will know many. But the movement is greater and the movement is inside of you. The movement is the Kingdom of God empowered by the Holy Spirit. And nothing, not even “the gates of hell” can prevail against it, said Jesus in Matthew 16:18.

I grew up on a chicken farm. One of the things I remember so well on our humble little farm was putting the eggs about to hatch under a lamp. There they lamp would provide the warmth that the hen would provide if it were possible for her to do so. But there were often too many eggs for one hen to set on! And so the iridescent light and all-encompassing warmth of the single light bulb, dangling on an old gray electric cord, suspended from the top of the rough-hewn “bittie-coop” would bring forth glorious new life. Is there anything as exciting as watching a little chick tapping its way out of the protective shell and coming into the world? What a memory.

And my beloved there is nothing more beautiful to me than seeing a new minister or missionary coming to the conclusion of his or her study, tapping their way out of the protective covering seminary, excitedly taking their place in this movement called the ministry of the Gospel. What a joy.

What are your dreams and visions of ministry? What has God called you to do? The seminary, which simply means “seed-bed” is a  place to bring the light of heaven down on you and your family, to soak you in the iridescent light of Jesus Christ as He is hidden in the hearts of our pastor-scholars. This means that seminary is a place of prayer, and thus a place of power, from which you shall be sent forth to do God’s work. It may be another body that lays their hands on you—though when invited we get to do that too as some of us did just two Sundays ago—but we will lay our hands and our hearts on you in prayer, that you may be sent. If you are sent in such power, you can be sure that you will be a part of the very movement of God at work in the world today.

3. The third mark of a true movement of God is being sustained in the Spirit (13:3).

No sooner than Barnabas and Saul enter upon their missionary work, they are opposed by a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus, who was a magician. But Saul was filled with the Holy Spirit (9) and spoke out of the center of Spiritual activity in his life and said that Bar-Jesus was not a “son” of Jesus, but he called him “You son of the devil…” and identified him as an agent of the devil to be used to stop the work of Lord.  And God sent a blindness upon this demonic opponent of Christ’s kingdom work.

At the end of this section we read in verses 49-52 that the “word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region. But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and drove them out of the district” (49-50). Yet the close of this portion of Scripture tells us that it could not stop the movement of God. Indeed, we read that despite the persecution, the disciples, those who believed in the Gospel preaching of Paul, were “filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit” (52).

To enter into the service of Jesus Christ is to enter into a field of conflict. The Evil One and his demons and the unwitting persons doing his bidding will seek to stop the work of God. You can be sure of that. If you do nothing, hide, turn away and go home, quit and give up, then you have nothing to worry about! He goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour and at that point he will have you. There will be no more opposition for you for you will be vaporized on the field of spiritual battle. But should you in your heart say “God has called me here” and “God has called me to be prepared to preach” or “I am not sure why I am here or where I am going but I want to be a part of the movement of God” then there will be attack! My beloved brothers on faculty, as you do God’s work, you must remember that you too will be attacked. To open up God’s Word to these students, year after year, decade after decade, and to multiply the Gospel a million times over as you reach people you will never see cannot be ignored by the arch enemy of our Savior. But you will be sustained as you are filled with the Spirit of God.

Thus, all the more, my beloved in Christ, must we be a people of consecration here. Thus must we seek God that He would send down His Spirit for this great work, but also to stir us up to revival.

My prayer is that people do not walk onto this campus, but they perceive somehow that they are walking into a community of prayer and worship and that our seminarians and our faculty are united in this: We are seeking His Spirit to do his work.

If a revival broke out here—a genuine movement of the Holy Spirit bringing about repentance and forgiveness and evangelism in this city—what a glory that would be! Stranger things have happened. Let us leave that with God. But let us seek to do His work filled with His Spirit. And He promises that if we draw near to Him He will draw near to us.

Conclusion

Gamaliel was right: you can’t stop the movement of God. He should have joined it though rather than sitting and doing nothing!

Recently I had a conversation with our Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Reformed Theological Seminary, Mr. Jim Moore. Mr. Moore told me to remember that I have been given a torch. But it is not my torch. It is God’s. It was given to others before me who sought it in prayer. It was handed to leaders and faculty and students before us. It is like an Olympic torch, he said. He generation is running the race of faith, seeking to fulfill the Great Commission of Jesus Christ. And each generation, each man and each woman of God who will reach out, who will join the race by faith, receives the torch until we hand it off to another in evangelism and missions.

“Mike,” he told me, “it is your time to carry this torch. Just be sure to pass it on!”

Jim was saying to me that our seminary is a movement of God in our generation. It started in prayer, it has sent out others in power, and will be sustained by His Spirit.

This kind of encouragement to carry the torch in faithfulness was given in this note, which a friend from the Chief of Chaplains office gave me last night:

“…it is our business to pray. We preach its importance. We urge its practice. But the time is now to intensify our faith in prayer…Urge all of your men to pray, not alone in church, but everywhere. Pray when driving. Pray when fighting. Pray alone. Pray with others. Pray by night and pray by day…Now is not the time to follow God from ‘afar off.’ The Army needs the assurance and faith that God is with us. With prayer, we cannot fail.” —from a Training Letter on Prayer written by Chaplain (COL) James O’Neill to the 486 Chaplains of the Third United States Army under the command of George S. Patton during the Battle of the Bulge.[9]

I love that instruction for prayer on the battlefield. I thanked my friend for the note and told him just how timely it was for me, for us. For this is our battle. This is our day. This is our Antioch. For it is a new semester in giving Biblical light and pastoral warmth to pastors and missionaries and teachers and counselors in training. We are called to carry the torch as students in the Lord and as teachers of the Word. We are called to pray at all times and in all places that Christ may secure His victory.

Thus, let the movement of God go forward in power in this place. May God by His Spirit capture our hearts in prayer and sweep us all into it; and may there be much joy in the souls of millions upon millions who will hear of Jesus Christ and His grace as a result of our prayers, his Sustainment and His power at work here at RTS Charlotte.

Never an institution. Always a movement. May it always be so!

Students and faculty and friends: The lines of the faithful are putting on the full armor of God. They are marching forward in our generation. Let’s join them again. Let’s get going in God’s work. Let’s move out.

[2] Timothy Keller, “Ministry Movements,” redeemer city to city (2010).

[3] Joshua 5.14

[4] Acts 16.14

[5] Acts 16.6

[6] Acts 16.9

[7] John 17.20

[8] John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1960) 3.20.16.

[9] As related by Chaplain (BG) James H. O’Neil on 06 October 1971 in The Review of the News (http://pattonhq.com/prayer.html). I received this prayer for my own spiritual encouragement on 29 August 2010 from my friend, CH (LTC) Pete Sniffin in the Chief of Chaplains office, Washington DC.

Exodus 18:13-27; 1 Samuel 16:1-7; Titus 1:1-11

Dr Michael Milton, President and James M. Baird Jr. Professor of Pastoral Theology

Reformed Theological Seminary, Charlotte, North Carolina

Mark Dever, the pastor of a great congregation, Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, DC, also leads a ministry that focuses on church health. Mark Dever says,

We believe God designed the church to be fundamentally a display of His own glory and wisdom (Eph 3:10). And we think He has deliberately structured that display in the shape of a loving community that illustrates for a watching world the close fellowship of the Trinity and the redemption that He has accomplished for us in Christ Jesus (John 13:34-35).[1]

I believe that too. The local church embodies the gospel and reflects the shepherding heart of God for His people. That is why this is such an important day in the life of this church. You are preparing to vote on potential ruling elders.

In the Bible there are two offices we find in the local church: 1) deacons, ministers of mercy who assist the ministers and elders in the shepherding task by taking care of the physical needs of the congregation, and 2) ruling elders, who join with the pastor (who are also elders: teaching elders) in overseeing the shepherding of the flock and the advancement of the gospel in the world.

Today we will look at what the Bible says about the important role of an elder. And in seeing what God says about elders, we will learn more about the heart of God for His people.

The next day Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning till evening. When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand around you from morning till evening?” And Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God; when they have a dispute, they come to me and I decide between one person and another, and I make them know the statutes of God and his laws.” Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “What you are doing is not good. You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone. Now obey my voice; I will give you advice, and God be with you! You shall represent the people before God and bring their cases to God, and you shall warn them about the statutes and the laws, and make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do. Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. And let them judge the people at all times. Every great matter they shall bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide themselves. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. If you do this, God will direct you, you will be able to endure, and all this people also will go to their place in peace.” So Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said. Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. And they judged the people at all times. Any hard case they brought to Moses, but any small matter they decided themselves. Then Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went away to his own country (Exodus 18:13-27).

The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.” And Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.” And the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ And invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do. And you shall anoint for me him whom I declare to you.” Samuel did what the Lord commanded and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling and said, “Do you come peaceably?” And he said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice.” And he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him.” But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:1-7).

Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior; To Titus, my true child in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior. This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you– if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. For an overseer, as God’s steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it. For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach (Titus 1:1-11).

Finding God’s Man

You remember Bonanza, don’t you? Well, when I read about how the prophet Samuel was called by God to sanctify himself and go out to find the man that God had chosen to be king, I think of Bonanza. I imagine Samuel going out to a place like the Ponderosa to locate the next leader of Israel. I think of Jesse as a sort of Ben Cartwright. As Samuel looked at Jesse’s boys, to me they might have been like Ben Cartwright’s boys. Maybe Eliab was like Adam: tall, dark, and handsome; confident; articulate; a real man of culture. Samuel thought that Eliab was God’s portrait of a leader, but God said, “No.” So the prophet moved on to Abinadab. I wonder if Abinadab was like Hoss Cartwright. He might have been¾well, let’s say¾a well-rounded sort of fellow who was quick with a smile and had a heart as big as his hat. People are drawn to fellows like him, and he would have made a great king. But God said, “No, that is not the portrait of the man I want to lead my people.” So Samuel moved on to a fellow who might have been like Little Joe. His name was Shammah. He might have been a good-looking lad, a fine horseman, a noble but feisty spirit, and like Little Joe, maybe he had a little bit of playfulness about him. But God said, “No.” There were other sons that Samuel considered as well. Seven in all. Now, we come to the part that only the most die-hard Bonanza fans know about. Pa Cartwright had another boy named Jamie. He was the fourth son, but not many people know about him. You see, in the twelfth season of the series, Dusty Rhodes, a ranch hand, brought an orphan boy to Ben Cartwright. Ben took the boy in and, eventually, lovingly adopted him. The boy’s name became Jamie Cartwright. Now Jamie might be like Jesse’s other boy¾his other boy named David. You would never think of him. He simply wasn’t on anyone’s radar. No one ever thought of him as being a king. No one, that is, except the Lord. And here we learn one of the most important lessons in the Bible:

“…For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1Samuel 16:7, NKJV).

The truth of this Scripture should ring in our hearts as we as we think about the nomination of elders, and it should ring in the heart of every believer as we consider what it is to be a leader. We need to see as God sees, to look for the elder, not of our choice, but as Samuel learned, a leader approved by God.

I can think of no more important time in the life of a church than the nomination of leaders, particularly elders, to work as a team with the pastor to provide spiritual oversight of the flock of God, to encourage and strengthen them so that they may fulfill their role as believers in the world.

This morning we are going to see what the Bible teaches about God’s plan for leadership in the local church, God’s purpose for leadership in the local church, and finally, the portrait of an elder approved by God.

I.  God’s Plan for Church Leaders

We think evangelism is important, we think missions are important, but church government? But as we see in the Word, it is important to God because the Lord Jesus Christ has purchased a people with his own blood. And He has separated out men of God to shepherd those people, to equip them for the work of ministry, to promote the work of the gospel in the lives of people in a setting that is healthy and rich with the gospel of grace and the teaching of the Word of God, equipping and empowering people to do the work of ministry.

In many places in His Word, God tells us about His plan. From just the Scriptures we read this morning, and there are many more that speak to the matter, we learn several things about God’s plan for leadership.

1. Leadership reflects God’s will to God’s people.

The work of Moses in leading Israel in the wilderness, or the work of David in leading a nation under God, or the work of Titus in remaining to plant the church in Crete was to share God’s Word with God’s people. That is why church government exists: to carry on the work of instructing the people of God in the direction they should go so that they may reach the place God wants them to dwell.

Leadership exists in order to reflect the will of God, to reflect God’s precepts, to reflect God’s principles as they are found in His Word. Leadership reflects God’s heart to God’s people. Titus 1:7 refers to elders as God’s stewards. Elders, pastors, deacons, Sunday school teachers, parents—those who lead the Church, those who lead the family—are to reflect the heart of God, the love of God for His people. This is done through shepherding.

In Ezekiel, God speaks through the prophet to Israel’s shepherds to tell them that they had not shepherded the flock and that they were guilty before Him for not caring for them.[2] The shepherds were not reflecting the love of the Lord to the people. In Acts 20 as Paul was on his way to Jerusalem, he reminded the elders at Ephesus that they should

“…shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood” (Acts 20:28, NKJV).

2.  Leadership reflects God’s fatherhood to God’s people

In the passage before us, Titus is told that to appoint elders was the last thing he needed to do to complete that which was started. The word “elder” is used for older men, but it is also clearly used for an office. In the Bible, the word “elder” is used to reflect God’s fatherhood, and this is why we understand that we are to nominate and elect men to this position. In 1 Timothy 2 Paul talks about how he would not have a woman to rule or govern in the church, to teach or have authority over men. The context is clearly the church, but the context is also teaching that the mantle of doctrinal authority must rest on male leadership. He then rests this strong statement, not in society or the way things are done in this or that social structure, but he marshals forward the creation ordinance that males should reflect loving, caring headship over the family, and thus it is to be so in the House of God. So God’s plan is for men—not all men, but certain men who are anointed of God—to reflect His fatherhood and governance in the local churches. That is what church leaders are to be.

3.  Leadership is to be collegial

Biblical leadership needs to be collegial because it is a heavy burden to bear. That is why Moses was told to bring others with him. This did not mean that Moses was not the leader of Israel, or that James was not the head of the church at Jerusalem, or that Timothy was not pastor of Ephesus. But we do see in the Exodus passage, as well as in the Titus passage, that God wants his church to be led by a company of anointed men of God, someone to help carry the burden.

In Acts 6 when a burden arose in the early congregation, the Apostles told the people to choose from among themselves seven men (the beginning of the deacons), and they too, were to govern and to rule and to carry out their ministry in a college, in a collegial fashion. Here in the Titus passage they are to appoint elders (plural of elder). Why? Because there is only one leader, one ultimate voice in the church of Jesus Christ and that is Jesus Himself. In every level of church government there should not be just one man (or woman) who governs and rules. Our forefathers had it right when their rallying cry was, “No king but Christ.” So God’s will for biblical leadership is a leadership that is shared without blurring the offices.

4.  Leadership is recognized by God’s people

In the Bible, the principle of headship is the norm. As Adam fell, all mankind fell. That sounds pretty unfair until you also hear that in Christ, man is redeemed—one man representing many. Likewise, in the Bible the people of God choose their own leaders. God could have chosen David directly, except that is not how God works. In Acts 6 the Apostles could have appointed the deacons, but they told the people to choose from among themselves seven men of God. And even in the Titus passage, the Greek word used when Paul tells Titus to appoint elders in every city does not rule out the ultimate election of pastors and elders.

So the plan of God is for the church to have leaders: pastors, ruling elders (both of whom are elders), and deacons. They are to be men of God chosen by God, recognized by the people, set apart for the work, for the purpose of reflecting God’s Word and God’s care.

II.  God’s Purpose for Church Leaders

Let’s also consider God’s purpose for church leaders. There were problems in Crete: insubordination in the church, idle talkers, deceivers, teachers who teach only for financial gain, people in need of rebuke, people given to wanton living; in short, a congregation in need of being redeemed through sound oversight, sound teaching, and pastoral care. This was a church that needed tending. Titus was to appoint elders so that he would have help in the work of teaching, so that he would have help in the work of tending. Church leaders exist in order to provide a safe haven, a loving community which reflects Christ and from which people can carry on ministry in their own lives. They are there to be a reflection of God’s will so that men and women and boys and girls will come to know the life that God intends for them to have.

When I was growing up in South Louisiana there were so many potholes in the roads that you could not avoid hitting them. The experience of going down a road was somewhat like driving across an unending field of speed bumps! I asked my Aunt Eva why they couldn’t fix the holes. She said that she feared that there were problems in the political machinery of our parish that was keeping us from getting things fixed. But then we elected this certain sheriff, Odom Graves, who was a straight-up kind of guy. Aunt Eva had raised Odom most of his life, like she had kept so many other boys who were now running the parish for either good or ill. But Aunt Eva said, “Son, you watch, when that ‘boy’ comes into office he will bring stability. And I suspect we will get some potholes fixed.” Odom Graves was elected. And while there were still potholes in some roads, there were fewer of them. And when Odom Graves walked into the café or the hardware, people looked up with respect. A man of integrity was in the room. And my little old raggedy Ford didn’t have to have as many front end alignments as before! Sheriff Odom Graves brought stability!

An elder brings stability. He fixes the potholes. That is what Paul was saying to Titus. Appoint elders—and that was done in a certain Apostolic way since there was no congregation established—and when you do they can take on the theological and practical “potholes” that are before them. Officers in Christ’s Church are there to bring Biblical, Spirit-filled stability to the Church and ease the way for the preaching of the Gospel and the evangelism and discipleship of human beings.

But how do we choose them?

III.  God’s Portrait of a Church Leader

In the Book of Titus Paul instructs Titus to appoint elders in every town. Then in Titus 1:6-9 he describes what that person must look like.

Not too long ago I saw a show about a man who was to meet his long lost father. His only point of reference was an old photograph. As he made his way through the crowds at the train station, he held that photograph in his hand, first looking down at the photo, then looking up to examine the face of this man and that man until, finally, he saw a man who fit the portrait.

This is how we nominate ruling elders to represent us at this church. God has given us a portrait of an elder approved by God. How foolish it would be if we disregarded the photo and went in search of just any man. We want the man whom God has already laid hands on, and you are integral in the process. God has called you to pray, to search His Word, and to discover those already called of God, and offer your life to be a conduit through which the Holy Spirit will separate out the man He wants to serve.

The photograph is simply the faithful, ancient Word of the Living God. In Titus 1:6-9 we will find a portrait of an elder approved by God.

Let’s consider three features of the portrait: his life, his faith, and his willingness to serve.

1. His Life

The first feature of the portrait is the man’s life. Notice that Paul doesn’t immediately move down to verse 9, which is his doctrine. He begins with the man’s life because a man can have all of his doctrine right and his life can still be in shambles. What we know about a man and his relationship with his wife, with his children, with those who are on the outside, tells us the kind of man he will be with us. So the first part of the portrait we look for is his life.

As you read the words “if anyone is above reproach,” remember that this was being written by the man who stood by while Stephen was murdered, who persecuted believers, who was guilty of at least being an accomplice in the persecution of Christians, if not directly involved. In other places he hid his own past with words because it seemed to be too painful for him to talk about, but clearly he was guilty—the chief of sinners. But now something had happened in Paul’s life and the overarching sustained character in his life was that of being above reproach. Above reproach from unbelievers who wanted to attack him? No, he would be attacked. Above reproach in that he didn’t have a past? No, this man had a past, as did Peter, as did the others. But now the sustained overarching character of his life had been shown within the Christian community.

And that is what the man’s life should be. No one is perfect, but his life should now be reflecting the characteristics of Jesus Christ. His family life, his relationships with women, must show him to be, as the literal Greek says, a one-woman man. His stewardship, his character traits, the critical first features of this man are laid out in verses 6-9.

2.  His Faith

The second feature of the portrait of a leader is his faith. Paul spends a considerable amount of time describing the life of this man, describing his family and his home, describing the interior parts of the man. But then he moves to verse 9.

He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it (Titus 1:9).

So this man must be grounded in the Word of God. If he is a pastor, surely he must be acquainted with the Word so that he can preach the Word. If he is a ruling elder, he must be acquainted with the Word so that he can recognize error when it happens in the life of the church, for he is being given guardianship in the place of Jesus Christ over the things of Christ in His flock.

In order for a church to effectively feed the sheep, guard the sheep, reflect the heart of God, there must be strong agreement in the things of the Word of God.

The portrait of an elder approved by God begins with life, moves to faith, but must come together in the next feature.

3.   His Willingness to Serve

The third feature of this portrait is the picture of servant hood. As we look at the text, we see that being an officer in the Church is a tough job. According to this passage, the elder that Titus was to appoint had to rebuke people whom he called insubordinate, empty talkers, deceivers. And he says that they must be silenced. They are upsetting whole families. They are teaching what they ought not to teach. So this third feature is critical. Incidentally, if any one of these three features is missing (his life, his faith, his willingness to serve), it invalidates the whole.

I have been both a teaching elder, that is, a minister, as well as a ruling elder. When serving as a ruling elder, I had a family at home, an aging relative living with us, and worked as a manager of sales and operations in the Midwest for a Fortune 500 organization. Supporting my pastor, encouraging the flock, dealing with tough issues on the Session, representing my church to the Presbytery and the General Assembly took time, energy, and sometimes tears. To go to General Assembly each year took vacation time. I took my wife with me and that took money. What I am saying is that to be a leader in the church is not to just get your name on a roll. There is gospel work to be done in evangelism, in discipleship, and in missions. There is work to be done in administration of the church. There is work to be done in prayer and in spending time before Christ for His Bride.

But let me say this clearly: The work of a ruling elder is a work of joy. It may not always be fun, but it is a joy. Is it fun to discuss budgets and plans? Sometimes, but not often. Is it fun to hear a disciplinary case and be called upon to provide care for a woman and her children whose husband has left her? Of course not. It is not fun to make tough decisions that the congregation may not like but which the Session feels is the best for the spiritual health of the body. It is not fun for a ruling elder to have the burden of encouraging and caring for a hurting pastor. But all of these things are a joy to the man who is approved by God. It is a joy because deep in his heart he knows that God has called him to the work. He knows that he doesn’t represent just a congregation; he first and foremost represents God. This is his calling, and living out his calling gives him joy.

A Hand on my Shoulder

That is the plan, the purpose, and the portrait—indeed, the Plan for Church Leaders—approved by God.

This week, as I thought about God’s plan for church leaders, I thought about the men with whom I have served. I can’t tell you what it is like to serve with men whom I consider to be heroes. It is a high and holy honor. But let me reach down into my church experiences and pull out a portrait of an officer whom I believe is approved of God

He met me the first day I was ever at First Presbyterian Church of Chattanooga. His name is Lewis. At almost 90 years of age, he could out-walk, out-run and out-work men half his age. He could also out pray most preachers. He met me and asked me if he could pray with me before every service. And for six years, he did. When he prayed, he put his hand on my shoulder and his grip was so strong he would often pinch a nerve! But he wanted to impress upon me the seriousness of the Day and of our going before the Father for the work of prayer. He prayed that the Holy Spirit would come down, that people would be saved, that I would be overwhelmed by the presence of God in my preaching so that my preaching and ministry to the people would be supernatural and that my words came from a personal encounter of God’s grace. He then always prayed for the Church of Jesus Christ scattered around the world and he prayed for missionaries and pastors who would preach that day. But his hand on my shoulder was so strong that I always entered into the sanctuary of our church with the feeling of his hand still on my shoulder and his prayer still in my ears.

Pastors need elders and deacons who will lay their hands on their shoulders and pray for them. Indeed, the ministry of an officer of the Church of Jesus Christ could be summed up in the impression of faith and prayer that he leaves with the pastor, so that ministry is done God’s way.

The truth is that we all need a strong hand on our shoulder. We all need prayer. We are all weak, and we all need to be encouraged in the faith. Each and every one of us ought to think not only about church leadership, but also about our response to Christ and to recognize that we are prone to wonder, that we need our Shepherd.

You see, the portrait of an elder approved of God is the portrait of a man who looks like Jesus, who lovingly comes to us and invites us into the presence of God.

When we all look to Jesus Christ, we will fulfill our vows as officers and will enjoy the blessing of the strong hand of Jesus Christ on our church.

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

[1] Mark Dever, (http://www.9marks.org).

[2] Ezekiel 34

The steps of a man are established by the LORD, when he delights in his way; though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the LORD upholds his hand (Psalm 37:23-24 ESV).

I am walking into the world again this morning. There are many afflictions, temptations, and stumbling stones that would keep me from walking after Thee, O Christ. I desire to obediently follow Thee, but how?

I thank Thee for the promise of Psalm 37:23-24 and I do now apply this to my life, and through these words, to others who listen and read. May Your name be glorified and Your people blessed, as we see how the Law of God, here shown in its “third use,” to follow the Law out of love and enjoy the blessings of God, is given in such comfort to our souls.

I read these words and affirm these truths as it relates to how I should follow Thee and what tremendous blessings follow.

1. My daily, ordinary journey in life is governed to my good and God’s glory, when I follow the Lord’s will, His revealed commandments and laws in Christ.

2. My heart should be set on the ways of the Lord, in all of my life, that I may, indeed, enjoy the success of God in my life.

3. My obedience in the Lord will not guarantee my success in the ordinary things of life. I may fall. Thus my obedience is tied to delight in Him whatever the consequence.

4. When I do fall in life, it is not a final fall, but a temporary one. The fall itself is governed by God.

5. When I do fall in life, I am steadied by the covenant name of God, my Lord Jesus Christ, who promises to uphold me. He shall uphold me in life. He shall uphold me, in that last great fall in this earthly journey, the fall of death. He shall bring me into His presence. He shall uphold even my decayed remains and resurrect them as He did His only Son.

6. In all of this, I take note that this Psalm describes the life of my Lord Jesus. His life was established so that even when He was crucified and ascended, His ways continued and were multiplied to the ends of the earth through others. He delighted in His Father through prayer, praise, and even regular enjoinment with the faithful in synagogue worship. I note that He did “fall” even as Genesis 3:15 prophesied that He would. Yet His fall was not one in which He was “cast headlong,” that is ultimately destructive and towards annihilation, but He was wounded for our transgressions and then dead, buried and rose again. He was upheld by the Covenant of His Father that many might enjoy the blessings of the heavenly Covenant and be with His people forever.

7. May I be so satisfied and confident in this Covenant of Grace that as my life is hidden in Christ, the benefits of this passage are activated in my life. Let me therefore remain in Him, using all of the ordinary means of grace that He has given me in the Church:

Word: in preaching, Bible study, family and secret devotions, a life of prayer and meditation, fellowship with others around the Word in the congregation of the faithful called the Church

Sacrament: both in contemplating the words of Institution, the teaching of the spiritual presence of Christ at His table and through His elements, and then feeding upon Him with thanksgiving by faith, that in remembering Him, I am healed over and over again in my life, and reminded of how I am saved: by grace alone, through faith alone, in the blood of Jesus Christ alone

Prayer: that is, that I take full advantage of the invitation of Jesus to come to Him in prayer, expecting His presence and power will be give to me, work through me to fulfill His will in the world and in my life, and that this drawing near may be both in public, private, family and smaller circles of prayer with other believers.

Through these means, then, my steps are established by the covenant God of Israel, the LORD, for I would delight in His way. May I live in the light of this promise that though I fall, and I have before and surely will again, yet it will not be unto desperate unbelief. God shall improve every misstep and cover my sins with the blood of His Son. Through Christ Jesus, communicated to me through Word, Sacrament and Prayer, I shall be safe, now and unto eternity.

In this promise I do go forward this day. I thank you Lord for this glorious revelation of Your grace in Psalm 37:23-24. I do cling to this as I take my first steps of the day, and forevermore. Amen.

The following message was delivered at New Student Orientation, on August 23, at Reformed Theological Seminary, Charlotte, NC

Seminary: A Ministry of Preparation

Recently I participated in the ordination of a young man to the Gospel ministry, to pastor a congregation in small town in South Carolina. It was an awe-inspiring moment. And beneath the prayers and petitions, with laying on of hands, I watched his wife, smiling with tears, holding their babies and looking up to heaven. You see, their dreams were coming true. Hard work and commitment to follow a Savior had now led to this worship service.

And yet three years ago he sat where you sit today: excited, perhaps with some slight, good anxiety, wondering about the new start that will lead not to an end, but to the beginning of a ministry. This is your ministry of preparation for the journey of a lifetime, of following the Lord all of the days of your lives, as pastors, missionaries, teachers, counselors, or other servants of God.

As you begin at RTS, let me draw your attention to the Scriptures for some thoughts on the blessings of seminary. I turn to David’s Psalm 25, selected verses:

Psalm 25: 1, 4-14
To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul.
Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths.
Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the    daylong.
Remember your mercy, O LORD, and your steadfast love, for they have been from of old.
Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions;
According to your steadfast love remember me, for the sake of your goodness, O LORD!
Good and upright is the LORD;
Therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way.
All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness,
For those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.
For your name’s sake, O LORD, pardon my guilt, for it is great.
Who is the man who fears the LORD?
Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose.
His soul shall abide in well being, and his offspring shall inherit the land.
The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear him,
And he makes known to them his covenant.

This Psalm of David focuses on a plea that God would teach the Psalmist the ways of God. There is no higher pursuit than the pursuit of the thoughts and ways of God. We may pursue the ways of God in nature, but His ways can never be apprehended and applied to our lives and families and our culture outside of pursuing God in His Word. For those who are called to be ministers of the Gospel, to go to the ends of the earth as missionaries, to teach others in institutions, or to serve in the work of telling others about God and His ways, one must first be a learner. The disciples sat under the teaching of Jesus before they were sent. St. Paul was sent into the desert for three years and there, we learn in later texts, this tremendous teacher to the Gentiles was taught by God Himself. All ministry begins with a call and then moves directly to the ministry of preparation.

Seminary literally means “a seedbed.” This is a “seedbed” of pastors and other servants of the Lord. You have come to learn. You are like David crying, “To You, O LORD, I lift up my soul” for in coming here to this place, you have shown your submission to God in learning. You are a true disciple: one who sits at the feet of the Master. Our pastors here, who serve as teachers of the Word, are but ambassadors of Christ. And through the ordination and authorization of the Church, they are servants to you in the ministry of answering your plea to know more of God. As you cry with David, “Lead me in Your path and teach me” we are here to respond, in Christ’s name, humbly, prayerfully, dependently, but intentionally and to answer that plea. We answer, in every class and in every thing we do, by giving you the Word of God. We are committed to the inerrant and infallible Word of the Living God as the only way you can have what you need to fulfill the ministry to which God has or will call you.

The context for all of this growth that David desires is summed up in a phrase that is repeated in verses 6, 7 and 10: the steadfast love of God. This phrase is interpreting one Hebrew word: hesed. This is the covenant love of God that never ends. It is the love that is personified in Jesus Christ. Jesus said that to know Him is to know life. Jesus said that to know the truth is to be set free. David wants knowledge of God and His grace, He wants to know the freedom—may we say the blessing—that comes from knowing God and His ways in the context of His grace. Your time in seminary is a time to follow like David, in the context of the covenant of grace, to pursue truth and be free. Therefore there are unique blessings to being in seminary and to be pursuing the ways of God.

First, to pursue the ways of God in seminary is to know a blessing for yourself.

We mark that David cried for God to “make me know” and to “teach me.” This is very personal. David desires the teaching of God in his own life.

One thing I want to say to you this morning is that “your vocation has now become your sanctification.” I will say that to you in the pastoral theology class, but I want to say it to you on this first day in seminary.

Seminary, as it is shaped and formed on the ordinary means of grace in the Bible, will bring about growth in you. You should, as Francis Schaeffer put it, leave loving God more at the conclusion of your years in seminary than at the beginning.

As I remember my time in seminary, there were many nights when I used to go home, after long classes through the day and evening, with absolutely jaw-dropping awe of the God I thought I knew. But as I studied more and more of Him in His Word, led by capable pastor-teachers, in an intensive time of study that you will likely never repeat, I found that I did not know Him like I could. I was being led in His truth. I was beginning to know His ways.

Secondly, to pursue the ways of God is to know a blessing for others.

We read in verse 13 that the one who fears the Lord will indeed be instructed by God. The result will be that he will not only be blessed (abide in well-being) but “his offspring shall inherit the land.”

My beloved, as I welcome you to seminary this morning I know that what you are about to embark upon, if you apply yourself to the teaching of the Lord, will be blessed of God to your posterity. Your families will be blessed.

How well I recall going home at night and telling my wife, who was waiting for me with excitement to hear all that I had learned, about this glorious God of grace! My wife was thus blessed by God. Through seminary and my time of pursuing God, however faithful I might have been, that was blessed of God to transform my home into a seminary. I have been able to teach my children the Word of God, to instruct them in the ways of God that I learned from my time of sitting under godly pastor-teachers in that intensive time of learning called seminary. The offspring of David includes Gentiles as well as the household of Jacob. And so too will your offspring include those who hear you preach in your pulpit, whether that pulpit is in a small local congregation in South Carolina, or a hidden place in a mountain in China, or in a classroom in a university, or as an itinerant evangelist.

My prayer this morning is that you will commit in your heart to pursue the ways of God in order to bless the world with the knowledge of Jesus Christ. I pray that you will not be a container, holding the Gospel to yourself, but a channel through which the knowledge of God flows to the lost, to the needy, to the entire earth. May God bring revival through this class this morning!

Finally, to pursue the ways of God is to bring blessing to God Himself.

King David says in Psalm 25:
To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul,
You are the God of my salvation,
Good and upright is the Lord,
For your name’s sake, O LORD

Throughout the psalm He magnifies the God of the covenant of grace, the hesed love of God.

To pursue the ways of God:

In the end to pursue the ways of God will lead you to knowing Him, loving Him, and glorifying Him in heaven.

That is what the blessing of the pursuit of God will bring. That is what I pray seminary will be for you—the beginning of a journey of blessing for yourself, for others, and for God Himself.

On Sunday, August 22 the following messaage was presented as part of the Christian Heritage Conference at Christ Covenant Church, Matthews, NC

The Richness of Biblical Liturgy and a Humble Appeal for ‘Living Worship’[i]

John 4.20-26, Psalm 84.1-4

Michael A. Milton, Ph.D., President and James M. Baird Jr. Professor of Pastoral Theology,

Reformed Theological Seminary, Charlotte, North Carolina

Introduction to the Gospel Reading, Psalm 84.1-4; John 4.20-26

C.S. Lewis said,

“As long as you notice, and have to count the steps, you are not yet dancing but only learning to dance. A good shoe is a shoe you don’t notice. Good reading becomes possible when you need not consciously think about eyes, or light, or print, or spelling. The perfect church service would be the one we were almost unaware of; our attention would have been on God.”[ii]

And the now very familiar and enduring quote from John Piper:

“Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t.”[iii]

How shall we worship God? This is the great question of man in the religious world. It remains a question, also, in the Church. Well, how shall we worship? This morning, we read about a woman who put this question to Jesus, and we hear His answer in the Psalms and in the fourth chapter of John:

Psalm 84.1-4

How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God. Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O LORD of hosts, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise! Selah

John 4.20-26

Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.  But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.  God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”

Introduction to the Sermon

A family was on a European vacation. They were to go to a great cathedral on a given day. The parents told their son that they were going to “the house of God” and that he should be very quiet. They went in and found a seat near the rear of the cathedral. Most of the people there seemed to be like them—tourists. The mother whispered to their son, “See the chancel with the decorative sacramental screen. It is absolutely beautiful.” Then, in another moment, the father said to the mother, “Did you see those magnificent stain glass windows? Tiffany, I believe.” She nodded her head. They went on like this for some time. Then the clergy entered, and the choir and the organ piped out a tremendous note, and the service began. It was about then that the little boy appeared quite confused. “Mom, Dad, I see the preacher, I see the choir, I hear the organ…but exactly where is God?”

Good question. It is possible to focus on worship and never really come to truly worship God. Perhaps, like the little boy, you have been in churches where there are prayers and singing and nice buildings and lots of music, but you missed the presence of God in your life. You couldn’t explain it, but you just knew. Something was missing, and you left thinking to yourself, “Where is God in the worship service?”

Today we come to a passage about worship. The context for Jesus’ teaching on worship is a Samaritan woman who has met the Lord at the well. In that meeting, Jesus shows her sin. So, like any squirming sinner under the conviction of God, she changes the subject. And she begins to talk about the “worship wars” of her day. Today, people argue about traditional versus contemporary worship style, or liturgy versus spontaneous form, about instruments or no instruments, and so forth. I have read and studied and listened to many people talk to me about worship. But, I must say that much of it sounds like this woman at the well. Much of it misses the point of the worship Jesus was talking about.

In fact, Jesus here teaches on a vibrant, “spirit and truth” worship, and he even uses the phrase “true worshipers,” indicating that there is a true worship and a false worship.

A great Puritan named Jeremiah Burroughs wrote a great book called Gospel Worship,[iv] and that is certainly a name for the worship Jesus was describing. In the last century, A.W. Tozer wrote about this kind of worship being the “Missing Jewel” of the Evangelical church.[v] A worship service that focuses on the presence of Jesus Christ is most definitely a Missing Jewel in many of our churches. But, some years ago I came across a quote of John Stott’s in which he referred to this sort of worship as “Living Worship.”[vi] Living Worship is genuine heart-felt posture of the soul, which moves beyond questions of mere form to expecting an encounter with the Living God.

In John 4, Jesus teaches about “Living Worship.” Living worship incorporates not only the living story of the richness of Biblical liturgy, but finds its meaning and its goals in the living Christ.

I find here five defining features of Living Worship and will also seek to discuss the development of a liturgy that would lead us to see the rich tapestry of liturgy, both its good and bad, and seek to develop of Biblical liturgical model that will focus on the living worship we need in Jesus Christ.

1. Living Worship is not about a prop, but a Person.

In verse 20 we read:

“Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”  – John 4.20

Jesus then responds to her by telling her that a day is coming, and now is, when true worshipers will not worry about locating a mountain, but locating a Person. And I think we may say that our first point on Living Worship could be that “Living Worship is not about a prop, but a Person.”

The Samaritan woman seems to be using worship as a diversion in order to avoid the person of Jesus. Arguing about worship is nothing new. In Jesus’ day, it went on as well. The Samaritans believed that true worship had to happen on Mount Gerizim, which is where Abraham and Jacob had built altars (see Genesis 12.7; 33.20; Deuteronomy 27.4-6). The Jews didn’t like that restriction, and so when the Samaritans built a temple on Mount Gerizim in 400 BC, the Jews destroyed it in 128 BC. Today we hope that a guitarist won’t go over and sabotage the organist, but you can see that worship wars are nothing new. And neither is the tactic of arguing about worship rather than worshiping in spirit and in truth.

The writer to the Hebrews wrote of living worship when he wrote:

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels. – Hebrews 12.22

Living worship is not concerned with mountains or cities. Mount Zion is the place of God wherever God’s people are gathered. The City of God is no longer just Jerusalem, it is the place of God’s habitation, and He inhabits the praises of His people.

Campbell Morgan preached,

Worship…is not a question of locality…It is not a question of intellect merely. To worship, men must get down to the deepest thing in their personality, spirit and truth. There must be honesty; there must be reality-by tearing off the mask and compelling you to face your own life. (G. Campbell Morgan, The Gospel According to John [Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell, n.d.], 76)

This is the Gospel principle of worship. Worship is not about a prop, but the Person of Christ.

Worship has principles and elements and expressions. Most of the time, like this woman, we don’t talk about the principles and elements, we talk about the expression. A key principle is that our worship is centered in the Person of Jesus, not in some prop or lack thereof. It is not on a mountain, not in Jerusalem, but in the hearts of people who confess Jesus as Lord. Jesus didn’t let this woman off of the hook by getting bogged down into this or that way of worship. He led her to the principle of worship. Jesus will not let you off of the hook by talking about worship expressions only. He is always pointing us to the principle of worship: the Lord Himself. Jesus Christ is our Worship.

2.   Living Worship is set in Living History.

We can locate a second definition of Living Worship when we read:

You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. – John 4.22

Here we see that “Living Worship is set in Living History.”

Now when I say “Living History,” I mean to say that Jesus is teaching that worship happens in the context of real life events, which happen under the direction of God. We cannot worship outside the Story of what God is doing in history.

Jesus was telling her that true worship is not accepted just because it is motivational, or makes the worshipper feel religious, or anything of the sort. Jesus is telling her that true worship, a living worship, is set in the history of God’s redemption. There must be clear, objective truths tied to worship. God is sovereign. God created us. Man fell into sin and rebellion and misery and is on his way to eternal punishment and separation from God, unless something is done. Something was done, and God Himself initiated it. God came down and took upon Himself flesh and became Man in order to save Man. Jesus will reveal Himself as that God-Man.

Now, we cannot worship unless our worship is set in that historical-redemptive context. It doesn’t matter how good it makes you feel, how motivated you are, Living Worship is tied to a Living History of God’s Plan of Salvation, centered in Christ.

Let me digress for a moment to talk about the tapestry of worship that has led to where we are today and I would call this time a significant time of liturgical renewal in the Reformed churches. The word, “Liturgy” is from the Greek Biblical word meaning the “service of the people.” Thus our worship is liturgical. As JI Packer once remarked, “It is not a question of whether you have liturgy or not it is whether your liturgy is Biblical.” He is right. But how did we arrive at a liturgy in the Christian church? And what must we think of the variances? I would first point to the threads in the tapestry and then consider a way to look at it:

1) Old Testament Foundations in Liturgical Practice[vii] [viii]

a)   There were Old Testament influences that included God-ordained forms of worship from Abraham to Moses to David and Solomon and Ezra and the prophets down to the desecration of the second Temple (2000 BC to 586 BC [Captivity of Babylon]; 586-515 [Dedication of the Second Temple] and 515-164 [re dedication by Maccabaeus in 164 BC after desecration by Antiochus Epiphanes]:

b)    Sacred assembly

c)    Elder oversight

d)   Clerical leadership appointed by god and not man

e)    Prayer

f)    Confession

g)    Redemptive acts

h)   Assurances from god

i)     Vows

j)     Holy place

k)   Holy time

l)    Holy leadership

m)  Participation by the people

n)   Word centered, not image  centered

• o)   Rituals that form entrance into the community and mark salvation remembrances

p)    Expository preaching (as in Nehemiah 8 [a study of which is worth to review, in the ordering of public worship])

q)   Poetic response and other literary devices in the presentation of the word (use of psalms as common prayer in worship)

2) Inter Testimental development (164-33 AD)[ix]

a)   The wide spread use of the synagogue (place of teaching or assembly of learning)

b)    Word centered and teaching centered

c)    Lectionary based

d)   Holy Days continue

e)    Rabbinical Judaism emerges of the kind we see in the life of Jesus

3) New Testament (c. 50-95 AD)[x]

a)   Reforms of the Sabbath

b)    Christ-centered interpretations of synagogue worship

c)    Greek influences

d)   Reforms and regulations by Paul concerning dealing with order, holy days, and the lord’s supper

4) Early Church (95-476 AD [sack of Rome in 410 is followed in 476 by rule of Gothic king)[xi]

a)   The Didache (AD 100?) And early letters

b)    Development of a clear liturgy of the word and liturgy of the table

c)    § preaching and sacramental balance

d)   Ad 70 and the destruction of the temple solidifies synagogue worship: elements, principles and expressions now governed by the gospel interpretation of the old and new testament writings and liturgical traditions

e)    Christian missions in the early church

f)    Eastern worship begins to form its own traditions of a more heavenly focus in liturgy

g)    Coptic and Indian liturgies adopt both western and eastern liturgies

h)   Celtic liturgies focus on holy time and holy space and a missional, outward, “doxological” tradition of worship

i)     Syncretism begins to emerge, uniting biblical and Greek and other pagan practices in order to “accommodate” to the culture

j)     Emergence of a special class of “saints” equal to the indigenous deities, making worship more comfortable

k)   Emergence of a clericalism in liturgy

5) Medieval Excesses (476-1384, the death of John Wycliffe)[xii]

a)   Clericalism

b)    Elite language of the clerics and the educated

c)    Iconoclasm

d)   Unbiblical attachments and the emergence of the cult of the mass

e)    Elaborate liturgical practices that overwhelmed the simple elements, principles and expressions of worship

6) Pre Reformation (1384-1415, from the death of Wycliffe to the death of John Hus)[xiii]

a)   Wycliffe in England John Hus in Bohemia

i)     Reform of the Bible in the common language of the people

ii)   Rejection of Roman excesses in ecclesiology, theology and practices

iii) Advance of expositional preaching

iv)  Sending of preachers to bring the Gospel to the people

v)    Liturgy returns to the people

7) Reformational (1415-1643 [June, 1643 marked the opening of the Westminster Assembly])[xiv]

a)   Zwingli, Luther, Calvin, Knox, Cranmer: all reject transubstantiation

b)    All adopt biblical reforms in re focusing at least a balance of preaching with the Eucharist

c)    All reject clericalism

d)   All restore worship to the language of the people

e)    Luther and his reforms: “only that which is strictly forbidden” otherwise the mass is amend only in certain points; the lord’s supper is “in, with and under”

f)    Hymnody emerges in a new way under Luther, vestments remain, the liturgical order is switched from mass to ministry of the word and table, with little change in the western liturgy developed under Rome

g)    The printing press begins to impact public worship

h)   Zwingli and his reforms: “radical overturning of the mass and the lord’s supper as remembrance only”; created a radical rejection of singing by the people, and a once per year remembrance of the lord’s supper, and it is a “memorial only;” simple, black robe replaces the vestments; the word centered liturgy removes involvement of the people

i)     Calvin:: a “middle way” of retaining the forms of the western liturgy; placing preaching at the center, liturgical responses and singing to the people (although with psalms and without instrumentation) in his  Form of Prayers and Administration of the Sacrament According to the Custom of the Ancient Church (under the influence of Martin Bucer in Strasbourg); the lord’s supper is “spiritual presence” and he prefers weekly communion (which he never gets from the Geneva consistory); Calvin rejects roman vestments for an academic robe and the minister as a “teaching elder;”

j)     Knox and his Geneva service book, book of common order bring reforms to Scotland and participates in the formation of the book of common prayer; Zwingli influences emerge because of a lack of clergy to administer the lord’s supper

k)   Cranmer, a genius of organization of liturgical material, with the aid of Bucer and Calvin and Knox, creates a unifying liturgy of time, space, doctrine and ministerial and laity balance with the book of common prayer, which has influenced all English-speaking Christian churches since then:

l)    Faithful to the early church’s balances

m)  Adaptable but unified

n)   Reverent but joyful

• o)   Suspect by some (Scots)

i)     “The Bible became the norm, and according to its spirit our worship would always be judged; the Word of God read and preached became the indispensable and initiatory thrust of the act of worship and the dynamic principle of the Church’s life; and the congregation’s response to this declaration of the word-in prayer, praise, sacraments, in short, in faith-completes the dialogue of the sanctuary in which the whole Christian community rises to its new status as the body of Christ…” (Donald Macleod, Presbyterian Worship: its meaning and method [John Knox Press, 1952], 20).

17th Century Puritanism (1643-1735 [the conversion of George Whitefield at Oxford])[xv]

a)   Prayer book becomes a focus of contention over roman influences of archbishop laud and the protestants’ desire for deeper reform in the English church (Scottish, welsh and Irish liturgies are affected in the English civil war; excesses abound on both sides)

b)    The Westminster Directory for worship

c)    Provides elements, principles and expressions are guides by the two but adaptable

d)   “regulative principle of worship” to worship according to the scriptures and to reform and be always reforming on biblical study

e)    Worship emerges in Protestantism, affecting the Book of Common Prayer as well, as reverent, simple, biblical, preaching centered, table, because of abuses, is not as balanced as Calvin’s desires and the early church’s model

9) 18^th Century Revivals in America and England (1735-1800)[xvi]

a)   Whitefield and the first great awakening

b)    18th century British and continental revival

c)    Wesleys, watts

d)   Asbury and the Methodists, the Baptists and the western movement of the Church to the new American frontier and impacts on church life and liturgy

e)    The “Big Three” (Episcopalians, Congregationalists and Presbyterians) “huddle” on the east-coast and continue to adapt their own models of liturgy to the new American democratic way of life

f)    New Light and Old Light controversies impact liturgy

i)     Positively infusing new life into old forms

ii)   Negatively, perhaps, in that, according to Edwards himself, the movement brought theological and practical innovation to sacred services

10) 19th Century Revivalism (1800 [Rev. James McGready, a Presbyterian minister and the first camp meeting at Red River PC in Logan County, KY]-1945)[xvii]

a)   “Gospel hymnody” and fanny Crosby

b)    Charles Finney and his Lectures on Revival of Religion (1835)

i)     Invitation system

ii)   Use of emotionalism to seek to influence decisions for Christ

iii) Zwinglian reforms to liturgy

iv)  Overwhelming Baptistic influences in view of Sacraments in worship

c)    The Oxford Movement In England (1833-1841)

i)     Rise Of Sacerdotalism In The Church Of England

11) 20th Century American Influences Over Western Christianity (1945-2001 [the 9/11/2001 attacks and the convergence of disparate liturgical directions over loss of modernity])[xviii]

a)   Democratization of worship

b)    Mass media influences

c)    Entertainment

d)   Image based influences

e)    American popular music

f)    “accommodation” as worship becomes focused as “revivalist” rather than “worship for the people of god” that is also doxological for the “god fearers”

g)    Post WWII stagnation in liturgy and “traditionalism” over tradition

h)   Vatican II (1962-65) modernization of the Western Liturgy in the Roman Catholic Church impacts mainline Protestants as well

i)     “The Charismatic movement” begins in an Episcopal church in California (Rev. Dennis Bennett in Van Nuys, CA in 1960)

j)     Rejection of traditionalism with the Jesus movement; western liturgy deconstruction

k)   Popularization of “contemporary forms” and “egalitarianism” with Christian media influences

l)    Postmodernity influences emerge

m)  “Worship wars” create divided congregations, styles, conferences for clergy to deal with consumer-based desire for privatized worship styles

n)   Post denominational churches arise (Willow creek)

• o)   The age of the Mega Church

p)    Technological inn vocation and liturgy

12) “Ancient-Modern” Liturgical Renewal (2001- )[xix]

a)   Emergence of conservative Anglicans; renewed awareness by younger generation of the need to connect to church history in worship and hymnody; vestments, or at least pastoral robes and stoles make a return, use of holy space and holy time (the church year) returns to many churches

b)    Crisis over modernity’s inability to meet the deeper needs drive a new study of liturgical studies in seminaries

c)    Despair over loss of continuity in “liturgical tapestry”

d)   Leads to “roads to Canterbury” and Rome and Constantinople

e)    Settling of some of the “worship wars” in north American Christianity through liturgical insights, desire to “blend,” strengthening of reformed worship in books, conferences, and new church plants

f)    Abuses always

i)     Postmodernity syncretism with liturgical renewal

ii)   Liturgy pushes out expository preaching

iii) Reformed worship rejects Zwingli, but ignores insights of Puritans and Scots and American frontier contributions

iv)  Spiritual pride in all camps

13) A Modest Proposal For Understanding The Tapestry Of The Richness Of The Liturgy

a)   Principles: simple, reverent, biblical, intentional tension between order and spontaneity, liturgically shaped to emphasize the gospel story

b)    Elements: regulated by scripture, orders informed by the church over time (basically the western liturgy of the early church)

c)    Expressions: Regulated by the Word and informed by and governed by the principles and elements of Scripture (joy and awe, transcendent and immanent, order and spontaneity, liturgical and free, culturally connected but not accommodating, retaining the sense of the “great other” that is attractive, already and not yet, eschatological, doxological) yet varied and adaptable according to custom, giftedness of the minister and director of music and people, and other factors, yet never accommodating to the sensate culture of the age.

Dr. Bryan Chapell, the President of Covenant Seminary, says that worship must be a week-to-week re-telling of the Gospel story.[xx] I think his statement is reflective of what the Bible is teaching us:

Remember His covenant forever,

The word which He commanded, for a thousand generations,

The covenant which He made with Abraham,

And His oath to Isaac,

And confirmed it to Jacob for a statute,

To Israel for an everlasting covenant. – 1 Chronicles 16.15-17

Beloved, our worship should be a week-to-week renewal of the covenant in our lives. Each Lord’s Day, we should come before the Lord and not leave until we have thanked Him and praised Him for His salvation wrought in Jesus Christ.

3. Living Worship requires a Living Faith.

Now, note a third defining feature of living worship.

In verses 23 and 24, Jesus speaks of true worship as being in “spirit and truth.” Focus on spiritual worship, first. This tells us that “Living Worship requires a Living Faith.”

Not only does spirit speak of the fact that our worship is not bound by props and buildings and such, but it shows that only those who are filled with God’s Spirit can relate to God in Worship, for God is a Spirit. To have this Spiritual Worship, this Living Worship, you need a Living Faith.

Paul would write in 1 Corinthians 2 an important passage for this consideration:

But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.– 1 Corinthians 2.14

You cannot worship aright unless the Spirit of God has moved upon you and you have repented and received Jesus Christ by faith. Only then can you relate to God in worship.

Today, there may be some of you who are going through worship and doing it quite nicely. You sing nicely and know the words and so forth, but if your spirit is not transformed by Christ, then your worship is not Living Worship, but dead. God will not accept worship from a person who is not coming to Him in the Name of Christ.

Today is the day for some of you to move from pretentious worship to Living Worship by yielding your life to Christ.

4. Living Worship must be based on the Living Word.

Now in verse 23, the Lord teaches us to worship not only in spirit, but also in truth. This leads us to see the fourth feature of a true worship, a living worship, that “Living Worship must be based on the Living Word.”

Our worship should be grounded in the Word of God. There is much talk about worship today, about preferences and what I like and what you like and so forth. But, we err if we do not begin by asking—not “What do I like?”—but “What does God require?” Now again, expressions vary, and we have seen that the argument need not rest there—but, we should move to ask, “How Biblical is our worship?” Is it filled with Scripture? God’s Word is Truth, and this must be the basis for worship.

I mentioned in a previous message that I hope that our worship is healing. I hope that some are saved, some are encouraged, and the Spirit of God convicts some, before we ever get to a sermon. Why? Because there should be sufficient Scripture in our Worship services to bring about healing. God’s Word is Truth and the Truth will set you free, so we should expect healing to come from every part of our worship services.

5.   Living Worship leads to a Living Lord.

In verses 25 and 26,

The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”

Here, we note the fifth and final feature of Living Worship: “Living Worship leads to a Living Lord.”

Jesus’ teaching on worship leads to His revelation of Himself as the Son of God. Worship that is alive always does. This revelation, which comes after teaching on worship, leads not only to this woman’s salvation, but also to revival and reformation in Sychar. Living Worship is all about a Living Lord.

I was once at a church, National Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C., where the pastor is Dr. Craig Barnes. Mae and I were touched as he related his philosophy of ministry concerning their children’s worship ministry. Parents who want their children to attend the “Children in Worship” ministry are assured that each child will begin to learn about the worship service, preparing each child to participate with understanding in public worship. But, at the end of each Children in Worship service, the children’s director and volunteers invite the children to gather their belongings and sit in a leader’s lap. The leader then whispers to each child, “The Lord loves you.” Dr. Barnes said that it was his dream that every child would grow to be a worshiper who heard the whisper of God’s love in each service.

That is my vision, not only for our children, but also for you. That is my vision because that is God’s idea. Either our worship is dry and dead, and you leave without the whisper of God’s love—or it is a Living Worship, which invites you to come to Your Lord and to hear His whisper: “I who speak to you am He.”

Oh, may you be led to know Him this day! Oh, may this message and these hymns and our prayers and confessions all lead you to see that Jesus is Lord and invites you to know Him. May you hear His whisper this day.

Conclusion

In God’s Word, nothing is more important than worship, and in the Bible, worship is not a noun. Worship is a verb. In Jesus’ teaching, God will not allow us merely to talk about worship, or think about worship, or study about worship, or argue about worship styles or props. He is calling us to worship Him in spirit and in truth. He is calling us to a Living Worship, an invitation to be transformed by His grace. From this passage, we have seen that Living Worship:

1. Is not about a prop but about a Person,
2. Is set in Living History,
3. Requires a Living Faith,
4. Is based on the Living Word,

and

1. Leads to a Living Lord.

We have noted the development of the “tapestry” of liturgy that brings a Biblical richness to our public worship.

But the question remains: Where does worship fit in our lives?

Evelyn Underhill, a brilliant professor and writer on worship at Oxford earlier in the twentieth century, wrote in her book Worship:

There is a sense in which we may think of the whole life of the universe, seen and unseen, conscious and unconscious, as an act of worship, glorifying its Origin, Sustainer and End. (Worship, p.1)

I think she is right. The Bible says that the very heavens declare the glory of God. Isaiah wrote of that day when the earth and its inhabitants will break out in worship in a Paradise Regained:

For you shall go out with joy,

And be led out with peace;

The mountains and the hills

Shall break forth into singing before you,

And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. – Isaiah 55.12

The Shorter Catechism states, “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”

Clearly, the worship of God is a priority for each of us. But we will never prioritize worship, or for that matter truly come to love worship, until our hearts are changed, until we come to experience His love and see that worship is the response of love.

This is what happened to a young woman who was sent away from her mother at a very young age. The little girl’s mother had been burned severely and had to give up the child as an infant. The little girl was placed in the home of the mother’s sister who lived in another part of the country. The mother had to go through operation after operation and was finally placed in a home. The girl grew up and one day found where her mother was. She went to her. Her aunt who had reared her had shown her pictures of her mother as a beautiful young woman. The girl so looked forward to seeing her mother. She was so nervous the day she entered the convalescent home and was led to the room. The nurse tried to warn her, but the girl was so excited, she couldn’t get through to her. She walked in, and the woman in the room was in a wheelchair with her back to her. Then, she turned around. The girl screamed. She had never seen such a face. Distorted and scarred, barely recognizable as a human face, much less the portrait she had seen, the young woman ran from the room in tears. A nurse followed her and found her in a lounge weeping. The nurse told her the story of how when the young woman was an infant, there was a fire and the girl had been trapped in her room sleeping. But the mother risked her own life, going through the flames and the smoke to rescue the baby. She got the baby to safety, but was herself trapped by a fallen, burning piece of the roof. The burns were so terrible that even after so many surgeries, there was little more to do. The nurse told the girl, “Those wounds are wounds of love for you.” The young woman recognized her hard heart, repented of it, and ran to embrace this woman who had saved her.

This story is a picture of Christ’s love for you. You may have a picture of worship in your mind. That picture may be of stained glass windows and Prayer Book language flowing forth with rich choral anthems. Or the picture you are holding may be of a projector screen with cool, contemporary strains pulsating from a praise and worship band. “Do we worship on this mountain or in Jerusalem?” Both of those are expressions of worship, not the principle of worship. And the pictures of worship we often carry around with us cannot tell the story of worship. The true image of worship is a Man of Sorrows, acquainted with grief, bearing your sins on a Roman cross, on a forsaken hill where criminals go to die.

Until you come to see Jesus Christ as Your Savior, who died for you and who rose again from the dead, and until you believe that the One who loved you to death and back again is here today, you will not worship in spirit and in truth. Until you come to worship and say with Evelyn Underhill, “I come to seek God because I need Him. I come to adore His splendor and fling myself and all that I have at His feet” (Worship), you have not truly come to worship.

But, when hardened hearts are broken by His wounds of love, they are free to worship in spirit and in truth.

This is Living Worship. It is connected to the fullness of the Church of Jesus Christ through years of Biblical, liturgical richness—a living heritage. It is alive with expectancy through the presence of a Christ—a living Savior. It is moving towards us towards heaven—a living hope.

Do you attend worship? Or do you worship?

This manuscript may be quoted or reproduced with proper citation.

References

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Brueggemann, Walter. Israel’s Praise : Doxology against Idolatry and Ideology. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, c1988.

________. Worship in Ancient Israel : An Essential Guide. Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, c2005.

Burroughs, Jeremiah, and Don Kistler. Gospel Worship, or, the Right Manner of Sanctifying the Name of God : In General, and Particularly in These 3 Great Ordinances: 1. Hearing the Word, 2. Receiving the Lord’s Supper, 3. Prayer. Morgan, Pa.: Soli Deo Gloria Publications, 1990.

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________. A Royal Waste of Time : The Splendor of Worshiping God and Being Church for the World. Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans Pub., 1999.

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Jones, Cheslyn, Geoffrey Wainwright, and Edward Yarnold. The Study of Liturgy. New York: Oxford University Press, 1978.

Kidd, Reggie M. With One Voice : Discovering Christ’s Song in Our Worship. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, c2005.

Klauser, Theodor. A Short History of the Western Liturgy ; an Account and Some Reflections. 2d ed. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press, 1979.

Kuyper, Abraham, and Harry Boonstra. Our Worship The Calvin Institute of Christian Worship Liturgical Studies Series. Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 2009.

Lewis, C.S. Letters to Malcom: Chiefly on Prayer. New York: Harcourt, 1992.

Maag, Karin, and John D. Witvliet. Worship in Medieval and Early Modern Europe : Change and Continuity in Religious Practice. Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, c2004.

MacLeod, Donald. Presbyterian Worship: Its Meaning and Method. Richmond, VA: John Knox Press, 1952.

McFarlane, K. B. John Wycliffe and the Beginnings of English Nonconformity. New ed. London: English Universities Press, 1972.

Mitman, F. Russell. Worship in the Shape of Scripture. Cleveland, Ohio: Pilgrim Press, 2001.

Molnar, Enrico C.S. “The Liturgical Reforms of John Hus.” Speculum 41, no. 2 (1966): 297-303.

Old, Hughes Oliphant. The Patristic Roots of Reformed Worship Zürcher Beiträge Zur Reformationsgeschichte. Zürich: Theologischer Verlag, 1975.

________. Worship That Is Reformed According to Scripture Guides to the Reformed Tradition. Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1984.

________. The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures in the Worship of the Christian Church. Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans, 1998.

Olst, E. H. van. The Bible and Liturgy. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, c1991.

Piper, John. Let the Nations Be Glad! : The Supremacy of God in Missions. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 1993.

Rayburn, Robert Gibson. O Come, Let Us Worship : Corporate Worship in the Evangelical Church. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1980.

Robertson, Edwin Hanton. John Wycliffe : Morning Star of the Reformation. Basingstoke: Marshall, 1984.

Ross, Allen P. Recalling the Hope of Glory : Biblical Worship from the Garden to the New Creation. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, c2006.

Scotland free church publ. worship assoc. A New Directory for the Public Worship of God, Founded on the Book of Common Order and the Westminster Directory. 2nd ed. Edinb., 1898.

Sell, Alan P. F., and Anthony R. Cross. Protestant Nonconformity in the Twentieth Century. Carlisle: Paternoster Press, 2003.

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________. Luther and Melanchthon in the History and Theology of the Reformation. Philadelphia,: Muhlenberg Press, [1961].

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Wainwright, Geoffrey. Doxology : The Praise of God in Worship, Doctrine, and Life : A Systematic Theology. New York: Oxford University Press, 1980.

Webber, Robert. Worship Is a Verb : Eight Principles Transforming Worship. 2nd ed. Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 1996.

________. Ancient-Future Faith : Rethinking Evangelicalism for a Postmodern World [Ancient-Future Faith Series]. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 1999.

________. Ancient-Future Time : Forming Spirituality through the Christian Year Ancient-Future Faith Series. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 2004.

________. Ancient-Future Worship : Proclaiming and Enacting God’s Narrative Ancient-Future Series. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 2008.

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________. Worship Old & New : A Biblical, Historical, and Practical Introduction. Rev. ed. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, c1994.

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________. Journey to Jesus : The Worship, Evangelism, and Nurture Mission of the Church. Nashville: Abingdon Press, c2001.

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[ii] C.S. Lewis, Letters to Malcom: Chiefly on Prayer (New York: Harcourt, 1992), 4.

[iii] John Piper, Let the Nations Be Glad! : The Supremacy of God in Missions (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 1993).

[iv] Jeremiah Burroughs and Don Kistler, Gospel Worship, or, the Right Manner of Sanctifying the Name of God : In General, and Particularly in These 3 Great Ordinances: 1. Hearing the Word, 2. Receiving the Lord’s Supper, 3. Prayer (Morgan, Pa.: Soli Deo Gloria Publications, 1990).

[v] A. W. Tozer, Worship: The Missing Jewel in the Evangelical Church (Harrisburg, PA: Christian Publications).

[vi] In John R. W. Stott and Timothy Dudley-Smith, Authentic Christianity : From the Writings of John Stott (Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 1995).

[vii] See especially Carol M. Bechtel, Touching the Altar : The Old Testament for Christian Worship, The Calvin Institute of Christian Worship Liturgical Studies Series (Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Pub., 2008); Walter Brueggemann, Israel’s Praise : Doxology against Idolatry and Ideology (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, c1988); Walter Brueggemann, Worship in Ancient Israel : An Essential Guide (Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, c2005); Andrew E. Hill, Enter His Courts with Praise : Old Testament Worship for the New Testament Church, [2nd paperback ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1996); Allen P. Ross, Recalling the Hope of Glory : Biblical Worship from the Garden to the New Creation (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, c2006).

[viii] For an overview of liturgical studies see the thorough bibliography online by the Institute for Worship Studies: http://www.iws.edu/IWS/Pdfs/Bibliography.pdf; see also Raymond Abba, Principles of Christian Worship (New York,: Oxford University Press, 1957); Paul F. Bradshaw, The New Westminster Dictionary of Liturgy and Worship, 1st American ed. (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, c2002); D. A. Carson, Worship by the Book (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2002); Horton Davies, Christian Worship : Its Making and Meaning (Wallington, Surrey: Religious Education Press, 1946); Marva J. Dawn, Reaching out without Dumbing Down : A Theology of Worship for the Turn-of-the-Century Culture (Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans, 1995); Marva J. Dawn, A Royal Waste of Time : The Splendor of Worshiping God and Being Church for the World (Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans Pub., 1999); Gregory Dix, The Shape of the Liturgy, [New ed. (London ; New York: Continuum, 2005); Cheslyn Jones, Geoffrey Wainwright, and Edward Yarnold, The Study of Liturgy (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978); Donald MacLeod, Presbyterian Worship: Its Meaning and Method (Richmond, VA: John Knox Press, 1952); F. Russell Mitman, Worship in the Shape of Scripture (Cleveland, Ohio: Pilgrim Press, 2001); Hughes Oliphant Old, Worship That Is Reformed According to Scripture, Guides to the Reformed Tradition (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1984); Hughes Oliphant Old, The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures in the Worship of the Christian Church (Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans, 1998); E. H. van Olst, The Bible and Liturgy (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, c1991); Bard Thompson, A Bibliography of Christian Worship, Atla Bibliography Series (Philadelphia

Metuchen, N.J.: American Theological Library Association ;

Scarecrow Press, 1989); Evelyn Underhill, Worship (Cambridge England: James Clarke & Co., 2010); Geoffrey Wainwright, Doxology : The Praise of God in Worship, Doctrine, and Life : A Systematic Theology (New York: Oxford University Press, 1980); William H. Willimon, A Guide to Preaching and Leading Worship, 1st. ed. (Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008).

[ix] See Paul F. Bradshaw, The Search for the Origins of Christian Worship : Sources and Methods for the Study of Early Liturgy, 2nd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002).

[x] See Gerald L. Borchert, Worship in the New Testament : Divine Mystery and Human Response (St. Louis, Mo.: Chalice Press, 2008).

[xi] See Ferdinand Hahn, The Worship of the Early Church (Philadelphia,: Fortress Press, [1973]); Lawrence J. Johnson, Worship in the Early Church : An Anthology of Historical Sources (Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 2009); Hughes Oliphant Old, The Patristic Roots of Reformed Worship, Zürcher Beiträge Zur Reformationsgeschichte (Zürich: Theologischer Verlag, 1975).

[xii] See Karin Maag and John D. Witvliet, Worship in Medieval and Early Modern Europe : Change and Continuity in Religious Practice (Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, c2004); Cyrille Vogel and others, Medieval Liturgy : An Introduction to the Sources, Npm Studies in Church Music and Liturgy (Washington, D.C.: Pastoral Press, c1986).

[xiii] See Henry John Cowell, The Coming of the English Bible; Biographical Notes Concerning John Wycliffe, William Tindale, Miles Coverdale, John Rogers, William Whittingham, and Others (London: The Epworth Press, 1944); David G. Fountain, John Wycliffe : The Dawn of the Reformation (Southampton: Mayflower Christian, 1984); Dyson Hague, The Life and Work of John Wycliffe, [2d and enl. ed. (London: Church Book Room, 1935); Jan Hus, De Causa Boemica. (Tractatus I. Hus De Ecclesia) ([Hagenau: 1520); Jan Hus and Samuel Harrison Thomson, Magistri Johannis Hus Tractatus De Ecclesia : E Fontibus Manu Scriptis in Lucem, Studies and Texts in Medieval Thought ([Boulder]

Cambridge [Eng.]: University of Colorado Press ;

W. Heffer & Sons Ltd., 1956); K. B. McFarlane, John Wycliffe and the Beginnings of English Nonconformity, New ed. (London: English Universities Press, 1972); Enrico C.S. Molnar, “The Liturgical Reforms of John Hus,” Speculum 41, no. 2 (1966); Edwin Hanton Robertson, John Wycliffe : Morning Star of the Reformation (Basingstoke: Marshall, 1984).

[xiv] See especially Jean Calvin, Ford Lewis Battles, and John T. McNeill, Calvin : Institutes of the Christian Religion, 2 vols., Library of Christian Classics (London: S.C.M. Press, 1961); John H. Gerstner, Douglas F. Kelly, and Philip B. Rollinson, A Guide : The Westminster Confession of Faith : Commentary, 1st ed. (Signal Mountain, Tenn.: Summertown Texts, 1992); Ronald Claud Dudley Jasper, The Development of the Anglican Liturgy, 1662-1980 (London: SPCK, 1989); Abraham Kuyper and Harry Boonstra, Our Worship, The Calvin Institute of Christian Worship Liturgical Studies Series (Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 2009); Old, Worship That Is Reformed According to Scripture; Old, The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures in the Worship of the Christian Church; Scotland free church publ. worship assoc., A New Directory for the Public Worship of God, Founded on the Book of Common Order and the Westminster Directory, 2nd ed. (Edinb.: 1898); Vilmos Vajta, Die Theologie Des Gottesdienstes Bei Luther (Stockholm,: Svenska kyrkans diakonistyrelses bokförlag, [1952]); Vilmos Vajta, Luther on Worship, an Interpretation (Philadelphia,: Muhlenberg Press, [1958]); Vilmos Vajta, Luther and Melanchthon in the History and Theology of the Reformation (Philadelphia,: Muhlenberg Press, [1961]); Westminster Directory of the World,  (London,: Tamar Publishing Co. Ltd., 1968).

[xv] See Horton Davies, “The Worship of the English Puritans” (“Produced as a historical thesis for the degree of doctor of philosophy in the University of Oxford “, Dacre Press,, 1948); Horton Davies and University of Oxford. Faculty of Theology., “The Worship of the English Puritans During the Sixteenth, Seventeenth and Early Eighteenth Centuries” (Thesis (D Phil ), University of Oxford, 1944., 1944).

[xvi] See Doug Adams, Meeting House to Camp Meeting: Toward a History of American Free Church Worship from 1620-1835 (Saratoga: Modern Liturgy Resource Publications, 1981).

[xvii] See Andrew Redman Bonar and others, Presbyterian Liturgies, with Specimens of Forms of Prayer for Public Worship as Used in the Continental, Reformed, & American Churches, Ed. By a Minister of the Church of Scotland [A.R. Bonar]. With the Directory for the Public Worship of God Agreed Upon by the Assembly of Divines at Westminster; and Forms of Prayer for Ordinary and Communion Sabbaths, and for Other Services of the Church (Edinb. &c.: 1858).

[xviii] See Alan P. F. Sell and Anthony R. Cross, Protestant Nonconformity in the Twentieth Century (Carlisle: Paternoster Press, 2003).

[xix] While the standard on this period remains the works of Webber, as in Robert Webber, Ancient-Future Faith : Rethinking Evangelicalism for a Postmodern World, [Ancient-Future Faith Series] (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 1999); Robert Webber, Ancient-Future Time : Forming Spirituality through the Christian Year, Ancient-Future Faith Series (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 2004); Robert Webber, Ancient-Future Worship : Proclaiming and Enacting God’s Narrative, Ancient-Future Series (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 2008). see also the classic work by Robert Gibson Rayburn, O Come, Let Us Worship : Corporate Worship in the Evangelical Church (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1980).

[xx] Herbert W. Bateman, Authentic Worship : Hearing Scripture’s Voice, Applying Its Truth (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, c2002); Bryan Chapell, Christ-Centered Worship : Letting the Gospel Shape Our Practice (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2009); Tim Dearborn and Scott Coil, Worship at the Next Level : Insight from Contemporary Voices (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, c2004); Reggie M. Kidd, With One Voice : Discovering Christ’s Song in Our Worship (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, c2005); Theodor Klauser, A Short History of the Western Liturgy ; an Account and Some Reflections, 2d ed. (Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press, 1979); Bard Thompson, Liturgies of the Western Church, 1st Fortress Press ed. (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1980, c1961); Robert Webber, Worship Is a Verb : Eight Principles Transforming Worship, 2nd ed. (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 1996); Robert Webber, The New Worship Awakening : What’s Old Is New Again (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, [2007]); Robert Webber, In Heart and Home : A Woman’s Workshop on Worship, with Helps for Leaders (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Lamplighter Books, c1985); Robert Webber, Worship Is a Verb (Waco, Tex.: Word Books, c1985); Robert Webber, Celebrating Our Faith : Evangelism through Worship, 1st ed. (San Francisco: Harper & Row, c1986); Robert Webber, The Biblical Foundations of Christian Worship, Hendrickson Publishers’ ed., The Complete Library of Christian Worship (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, c1993); Robert Webber, The Ministries of Christian Worship, Hendrickson Publishers’ ed., The Complete Library of Christian Worship (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, c1993); Robert Webber, The Renewal of Sunday Worship, Hendrickson Publishers’ ed., The Complete Library of Christian Worship (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, c1993); Robert Webber, The Sacred Actions of Christian Worship, Hendrickson Publishers’ ed., The Complete Library of Christian Worship (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, c1993); Robert Webber, The Services of the Christian Year, Hendrickson Publishers’ ed., The Complete Library of Christian Worship (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, c1993); Robert Webber, Music and the Arts in Christian Worship, Hendrickson Publishers ed., 2 vols., The Complete Library of Christian Worship (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, c1994); Robert Webber, Twenty Centuries of Christian Worship, Hendrickson Publishers’ ed., The Complete Library of Christian Worship (Nashville, Tenn.: Star Song Pub. Group, c1994); Robert Webber, Worship Old & New : A Biblical, Historical, and Practical Introduction, Rev. ed. (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, c1994); Robert Webber, Planning Blended Worship : The Creative Mixture of Old and New (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, c1998); Robert Webber, Journey to Jesus : The Worship, Evangelism, and Nurture Mission of the Church (Nashville: Abingdon Press, c2001); Robert Webber, Ancient-Future Worship : Proclaiming and Enacting God’s Narrative, Ancient-Future Series (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, c2008); James F. White, Introduction to Christian Worship, 3rd ed. (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, c2000).

I had planted a nice row of azaleas, the Southern beauties, six white ones, on the side of our drive way, under two dogwoods and two magnolias. As I surveyed my front lawn, my would-be-arboretum, my eyes fell upon the dastardly villains. Though I had just cleared the area, by hand, of several different varieties of weeds, there they were. I repeat: they do not grow indiscriminately, but intentionally next to that which is good. They seek to find that which is healthy and growing, that which is green and filled with life, with potential for greater glory, and with inherent beauty. And they live like a lousy leech off of them. I pull the weeds, but they come back.

Before I continue further, let me say that my son has recently caught me in my apparently delirious, perhaps even maniacal, state of mind, actually speaking curses (in a pastoral way, mind you) against these weeds as I bent over (with my bad back, mind you) and pulled the weeds away from my bushes. “Dad, why are you talking to the weeds?” he asks, as if he is witnessing the the final mental breakdown of his father. “Because, Son, the weeds are a sign of the devil!” I seethe and spit as I speak, not even looking at him, still pulling a deep-rooted weed that won’t come up. He observes me for a few seconds before asking, “Dad, are you OK?” “No!” I respond, throwing down the trowel and rising half-way up with my hand on my back. “No I am not OK! I hate weeds! They are signs of the fall, attacking my roses and my azaleas and my dogwoods and my Crepe Myrtles and my vegetables!” “Why can’t they grow out in a field somewhere?” he asks! I tell my son:”These things are like sin itself that grabs on to human beings at the prime of their lives and sucks away life and potential and beauty. I am a pastor, Son. I see these things every day when I see broken marriages due to selfish desires attached to an otherwise godly man, or a ‘root of bitterness’ for a husband attached to a woman who is also capable of extraordinary acts of kindness to strangers. I see it, Son, every day. I am, indeed, fearful of the weeds in my own life. I look at your life and I know that the weeds will attack you in the prime of your life! They will come upon you unaware and unless you are vigilant in tending the garden of your soul, the weeds of hell, growing up from the world, the devil or your old sin nature, will begin to slowly but purposively wrap its ugly tentacles around your life. I have seen what weeds do to azaleas and I have seen what sin does to good men and women who have such potential for greatness.” By this time, well into my sermonic response, I can actually stand up straight, the kinks and pain in my lower back finally surrendering to my movements. I look my son in the eye: “That, my boy, is why I hate weeds! And that is why I shall toil for so said the Bard:

“O, my lord, You said that idle weeds are fast in growth…”[1]

The sixteen-year-old son looks at me. “Gotcha Dad.” He turns, pauses, looks away into the sky as if to ask God to help his poor, suffering father, and walks down the pathway to the front door. I watch him, praying that our family devotions, our times of prayer, and, hopefully, the sincerity of his mother and father in private and public worship will help keep the weeds away. My racing heart slows as I see him pause, look down, and then bend over to grab a weed. He looks back at me. I am still standing and watching him. I smile.

Yes, I hate weeds. I see them not only in my pastoral work, but I read of them in our culture today. For instance, this morning, I was confronted with a news item that has been on my mind in recent days. Anne Rice, the extraordinarily gifted authoress, resident of my native New Orleans, who publicly announced her fidelity to her childhood Catholic faith has now renounced it. The renouncing of faith is fodder for news, even more so than the acceptance of Christ. And sure enough the papers are running with it repeatedly. Yet the story does not shock those of us who have seen this happen in our own congregations, and sadly among our own friends and family. We know that there are complications of the human soul due to the weeds of sin, that can smother potential, strangle away good intentions, and kill human desire to do good. We also know the passage from 1 John:

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

If Anne Rice has left the faith then you can be sure that she was never in the faith. She may have been in a visible church, but her heart had never surrendered to the Prince of Peace. If this were the case, she was never a member of the invisible Church known to God. Her soul had never undergone a genuine, supernatural conversion. This sort of genuine, radical transformation of her very nature would have had nothing to do with her desires and everything to do with the sovereign grace of a gloriously untamable Spirit. He roams across the lives of our generation, calling out transgressors to confess their sin and look up to their Savior, Jesus Christ. These repentant ones looked to Jesus Christ, not as the leader of a great tradition, but they looked to Him as dying Israelites in the desert looked at the brazen serpent on the pole to be healed of the original sin that was killing them over and over again.  Such people look to Jesus the righteous, Jesus the Atoning One, and Jesus the “friend of sinners.”

On the cross, God pulled up the first deep-rooted weed of original sin and destroyed all weeds in His garden by crucifying His only begotten Son on our behalf. If Anne Rice had seen her own condition and looked upon Jesus as her only life, her only hope, her eternal security, you can be sure that while she might fall away for a season, she would never, could never, depart fully from this Savior. She could not renounce Jesus. It is impossible to do so and even continue to live. Thus, it may be that Anne Rice was not converted. Maybe she was and this is but a momentary stumble in her longer journey of faith. But the weeds of hell found a most choice plant in this gifted woman with this announcement. I do pray, if she reads this, that she might realize that she, like all of us, is in desperate need of soul-healing through Jesus Christ. I pray that she recognizes, through the power of the Holy Spirit, that she is entangled in weeds that are sucking away the life and purpose for living that God would have for her, if only she would turn to Him in truth. She has departed either for a season, if she is a true believer, or she has departed because she was never an authentic, God-drawn, disciple of Jesus.

William Lobdell’s article^[2] in the paper, this morning, is revealing. This former religion writer for the Los Angeles Times has written a book that is gaining some attention, particularly with the Rice announcement. The title of his book is  Losing my Religion: How I Lost My Faith Reporting on Religion in America—and Found Unexpected Peace. It all sounds rather nice and assuring to those who believe that we can live in a world without weeds. Lobdell asserts that, like Ann Rice, having shed the remnants of religion he has found a new peace. He demonstrates how America, too, is losing her faith. He says this almost with hopefulness. While he calls America a Christian nation, still, he quotes George Barna to prove what we all see: that many who talk the talk are not walking the walk. He writes,

“American Christianity is not well and there is evidence that its condition is more critical than most realize or at least want to admit.” Pollsters most notably evangelical George Barna have reported repeatedly that they can find little measurable difference between the moral behavior of church goers and the rest of American society.”^[3]

There is not one genuine believer in Jesus who would argue with his premise that America is sick, “sin-sick,” we would say. But we would deny that the answer is that America should just walk away from Christ. Some may need to walk away from tradition, from religion that is apart from the radical, Spirit-born faith that is preached by the Prophets, by St. Paul, St. Peter, and all of the New Testament writers, and by Jesus Christ Himself. You may need to renounce that. But the way to “peace” will not be through denial of Jesus. For the weeds will come. They will creep unannounced into your life. They will, for Anne Rice and William Lobdell (for whom I dedicate this article with ardent prayer for their souls’ true conversion to the Lord Jesus Christ) and for all of us, come and seek to strangle life and potential and hope. In sorrow, and finally in death, they and all of us will be like the death of a fine oak, that at length, and after great struggle for life, gives way to the weeds of this world.

Just the other day I shared the news of sin, but also the glory of grace through Jesus Christ, as my wife and I stood in a Starbucks and prayed for the salvation of a lawyer from Lincoln in Banff, the great Canadian National Park. He was on vacation like we were. But God led us together in a “divine appointment” that yielded to a time of conversation and possibly conversion. So while many turn from religion, many are turning to Christ. The backdrop of the weedy condition in America is also providing a clear demarkation between those who follow Jesus Christ as Lord and those who have followed an idea about Him, but not truly left all to embrace the Lord of life.

I read the article, thought about my experiences with the weeds, but also about our recent experience of praying with a vacationing lawyer for new faith in Jesus Christ, and then strolled past my roses. They are in a stone surrounded, raised bed, right in front of our porch, where I can enjoy them in the early mornings and late evenings. Just a few weeks ago, deadly, sinister Japanese beetles (the arch enemy of every American rose) had buried themselves, diabolically, in every single bud. The beetles from Eden-lost seemed to be killing our lovely, deep red “Mr. Lincoln” roses and our cheerful scarlet “Let Freedom Ring” bushes and our fragrant “John Paul II” specimens. But this morning, after doing great battle through the summer to save them, the wretched beetles are gone. Our rose plants are now radiant and are putting on a great end-of-the-summer speculator show! My favorite rose is “Barbara Bush.” This morning, “Mrs. Bush” is in full glory! She is displaying the most delightful pink petals set against the perfect backdrop of her deep green foliage. I beheld the glorious sight, and with hope rising like a new season, I told my wife, “Heaven is on its way.”

Anne Rice renounces her faith. William Lobdell finds peace away from religion. And yet a lawyer from Lincoln prays to receive Christ in Banff, and “Mrs. Bush” blooms in all of her glory. There are weeds. There are pests aplenty. But there is a movement of the Holy Spirit that is calling out to men and women, boys and girls, lawyers and students and writers to come and follow, not religion or tradition, but the life-giving, weed-killing Christ of the Scriptures.

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life (John 5:24 ESV).

© 2010 Michael A. Milton, Ph.D.

^[2] William Lobdell, Losing My Religion : How I Lost My Faith Reporting on Religion in America–and Found Unexpected Peace, 1st ed. (New York, NY: Collins, 2009).Charlotte Observer, August 11, 2010, 13A.

^[3] Ibid.

A Letter Written to Students Preparing for the Pastorate: On the Preparation of the Pastoral Prayer

My Dear Students,

I know that one of your primary concerns as you consider your calling to the pastorate is sermon preparation. And this is right. But you must not relegate the preparation of the pastoral prayer to a lesser place.

Dr. James Fowle, one of my predecessors at the historic First Presbyterian Church of Chattanooga, was “accused” of having spent more time on the pastoral writing and Biblical research of the “long prayer” than he did on his sermon! But those older folks who told me that also told me that with a smile and a fondness for that pastor. He loved them. He must have known and believed what I have also found to be true: that the preparation of the pastoral prayer is in some ways the culmination of your weekly pastoral work.

The rhythms of ministry bring you in and out of the joys of weddings and births, the good news of business successes, and the joyful sight of new friendships springing up. These are things that would make any father smile (as you are the pastoral “father” of the Father’s flock). Yet you will also walk the cancer wards, and sit beside families going through death vigils. In the same week that you counsel a happy young couple with their bright future ahead of them you will also be present at that most dismal and horrid place of our generation: the family court. Here is where the past years of marriage are undone. Property and children and rights are divided up with one lawyer on one side of the court lobby and another lawyer on the other and you are in-between them with tears and pleas for reconciliation. You will bring the comforts of Christ to that which will not be mended on earth.

You will be there for the child’s first birthday party of the family for whom you prayed through their adoption process, and you will be there with the couple mourning yet another miscarriage. All of these things come to the one who has heard deep in his soul, “Feed My lambs. Tend My lambs. Feed My sheep. Follow Me (John 21:15,16, 17, and 19). And so you must. But remember, my beloved in Christ, you go with the means that Christ has appointed unto you: Word, Sacrament and Prayer.

It is prayer that I want to speak to you about now. You must, as a core and essential Biblical job description of being, give yourself to prayer as well as to the ministry of the Word (Acts 6:4), as ποιμαν poimēn, pastors of the Lord’s chosen. Through these “ordinary” (quite extraordinary) means given by the Lord Himself, you will discharge the duties of your office and you will also see the blessings of God. The growth of the congregation in grace and knowledge of God as well as in fulfilling the purposes of God in the world are all linked organically, Scripturally and supernaturally to these means.

Thus, your pastoral prayer in the service is of primary use for the blessing of the people of God as you come to the Lord on their behalf. We think immediately of the best models of this in the Word of God with Moses, with Christ Jesus in John 17, or with Paul’s tender reminder to his congregations of his prayers for them. So considering that you would agree that this prayer, the “long prayer” as our fathers often called it, this “pastoral prayer” as we are more likely to call it, ought to be shaped by the following rubrics:

1. The pastoral prayer should come out of the pastor’s heart for the people and his calling as a pastor. No pastor can truly pray with unction of the Spirit who is not called to pastor, nor called to pastor a certain people, nor has tasted of the divine fire of the altar of God in his own devotional life. Therefore, the pastoral prayer emerges out of the pastor’s devotional life that is spiritually connected to the people of God.

Such a pastor has been at the bedside and has interceded there first before ascending to the pulpit to pray on the Lord’s Day. As a pastor you stand with your face to the Lord and your back to the people at one place in the pastoral prayer, and yet you turn to face the people with God’s promises and assurances in another place in the prayer. You are the pastor who has wept in the secret of your car on the way home from a visit with a man who has refused God. You are broken by the sin of mankind in general and your people in particular, broken by the suffering of mankind in general and your people in particular, and broken in your own heart and life over your inability to grasp the incomprehensibility of the Lord, the mysteries of God in salvation, in healing, in saving, and in His timing of all of these things. You may thus turn to the Lord in your prayer, and cry out with the heart of Jesus beating in you, “My God, My God!” The people know that their pastor is with them in the fields and is thus for them in the pulpit.

2.  The pastoral prayer should come out of the meditation of the Word of God. I ordinarily would never enter the pulpit to pray unless that prayer in my heart is symbiotically connected to some passage in the Bible. I may or may not carry notes on the prayer into the pulpit, although my files are replete with pastoral prayers written over the years. As I am preparing even now to offer a pastoral prayer at a church, I am studying John 17. I am concerned that when Jesus says that He is praying not only for Himself (the first part of the high priestly prayer), and for the disciples (the second part), but also for those who will believe through their testimony, I am focused on how to pray this to the Lord in such as way as blessing is also rained down upon the quenched souls of those who feel alone and distant from God, or feel as if no one could reach their prodigal children. I am praying, as it were, with my back to the Lord and my face to the people, and my prayer is structured upon Jesus’ prayer in this blessed passage. Yet, I turn to the Lord and remember that the unity that Jesus prayed for, through the witness of His disciples, needs to be in the life of the congregation. This unity needs to be visible between husbands and wives, and children and parents, in the relationship of the elders and the pastors, and in the deacons and the elders. It needs to be in the heart and mind of the one who feels alone and abandoned by God and man, perhaps the widow in the nursing home, but also in the twelve year old girl who, that morning, may feel betrayed by another girl seated two rows behind her.

In other words, having exegetes the passage, I now offer expository, intercessory pastoral prayer to the Lord in the power of the Spirit who breathed out the Scripture. I am concerned as I move through these intercessions, that the Lord who prayed that through the unity of the people, in unity with the apostles and prophets and martyrs and saints who have gone before and who worship across the face of the earth, is also the Lord who prayed that through their unity the world would believe that the Father had sent the Son (John 17.21); that the world would know of the glory of the Son in the glory of the Church, that others not yet in the congregation would come to be saved and placed by God in the Assembly of the faithful.

Thus, my meditation upon this text has led me in my intercessions from considering Christ and His disciples, to those who sit before me, to considering a plea for unity in the families and individual lives of people who need to be reconciled to each other. But now I am disturbed in my spirit, and thus praying out of that divine discontentment, that more would come to know Christ, that more would come to share in the glory of being a son or daughter of God! My prayers, started in Scriptural meditation, have climbed the stairs of Biblical truth to seek divine remedy for the people with a crescendo of: “Oh God, save Thy people!”

I have prepared notes, written out full manuscripts, and prayed not only without any rubrics to help me, but prayed out of my soul moved just by looking upon the flock before me. I have sometimes prepared a prayer and then let my eyes move across the congregation before the services began or perhaps during a hymn, and the Holy Spirit has convicted me that I must pray in a different fashion, from a different passage of Scripture, or with a different focus. This is of the Lord and I am not seeking to be mysterious or super spiritual, but acknowledging that if you are saturated with the Word of God and with prayer in your life for your people, coming from having actually been with them, then such phenomena will happen. And I know this will happen to you.

Don’t be concerned about the prayer that you prepared, but the prayer that the Spirit prepared in you to pray for His people. Remember we shepherd His people. We feed them on Word and Sacrament and Prayer. But among the ways that we pray, none is more precious to the people than when their pastor prays for them, out of love, out of personal experience of their trials and joys, and out of the abundance of the pastor’s time with God and His Word. In this way, then, the pastoral prayer cultivates the hearts of the people to receive the balm of Heaven in the sermon, and opens up the heart of the pastor to receive the Spirit of God in His Word.

I could not preach if I had not prayed. More specifically, I could not have preached God’s Word to them unless I had prayed God’s Word for them.I am thinking of you, students in the study of the pastoral ministry whether it be on the mission field or in the local church or as an evangelist planting a church, and I am, on this Lord’s Day, praying for you.

Yours Faithfully,

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

My wife and son are at the Junior Classical League of North Carolina, held each year at Wake Forest. John Michael is having a blast. He is in his element at writing Latin-related plays, then performing them, and today doing sight reading (I just learned that he won a Gold Medal last night for writing “modern myth.” I am so very proud of him). So I am praying for him and all of the others, that they may do their best and as unto the Lord. But, alone here, I am thinking of many other things. As I went to bed last night, I decided to read poetry. I am reading through Poems for Patriarchs: The Verse and Prose of Christian Manhood^[1]. I was so moved as I came across a quaint old poem, early 20^th century, “The Land of Beginning Again.” Coming upon this particular poem was like a pleasant, serendipidous encounter at a book store (but in my bed!) with an old friend (careful with quoting this, please!). I have used this poem in several sermons across the years. It was good to settle down and read it for itself, not for homiletic employment necessarily, but pure personal soul enrichment, which is what a poem should do in my way of thinking. How wonderful my time was with this verse by Mrs. Connely.

Not all poems make it to the movies, but this one did. The poem started in a magazine, Harpers, and then made it to print in a collection of her works, with this most famous poem being the title of her 1921 book^[2] (that I now happily own) When Bing Crosby sang the lyrical-musical version of this poem in “The Bells of St. Mary” (if you have never heard it, you owe yourself this listen) as Father Charles “Chuck” O’Malley, well, it was just the thing to quiet the hearts, if not for three minutes, of worried mothers and fathers, and young wives, over their men across the sea, mopping up a world war. The song (1945) with words and music by Grant Clarke and George Meyer^[3] is based quite unmistably, if not unashamedly, on the poem. And it is as wonderfully heart-warming to listen to as it is to read, though some words have been changed and other lines added. But one can appreciate the heartbeat of the poem even in the adapted lyrics. And having “Father O’Malley” croon it out doesn’t hurt a bit. But here is the thing that got me: another poet had taken liberty with Louisa Fletcher’s little verse, just like the songwriters, and had added a few lines. I normally don’t appreciate such unpermitted collaaberation, but, again like the old Bing Crosby song, I didn’t mind at all. Irena Arnold added five new stanzas to adapt the poem to her own reflection on its beautiful message. I quote from one of them:

“There’s a wonderful place for the whole human race

Called “The Land of Beginning Again;”

Where the acts of the past, in forgiveness cast,

Rise no more, for God’s pardon we gain!

And the Savior we fine, who will always be kind

As the King of our hearts, He shall reign.

And though sin-sick and sad, we will always be glad,

In “The Land of Beginning Again.”^[4]

The poem that started so long ago as a sentiment for the hope in the heart of every human being for a new life, a new beginning, became the hope of a nation in World War Two, and adpated to the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ became an illustration in sermons, and finally, for me, alone in my bed, the sweet, quiet presence of Jesus Christ.

“I will restore Israel to his pasture, and  he shall feed on  Carmel and in  Bashan, and his desire shall be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and in  Gilead” (Jeremiah 50.19).

“Therefore, if anyone is  in Christ, he is  a new creation.   The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5.17).

And those promises are truly leading us on to “The Land of Beginning Again.” Thank you Mrs. Connely. Thank you Irena Arnold. Thank you Lord. I know, in my life, that embedded in this poem is the power of the Gospel, a new heavens and a new earth, a “Land of Beginning Again.” It is a “land” that we can, though Christ, begin to claim even now. Again.

^[2] Louisa Fletcher, The Land of Beginning Again (Boston,: Small, [c1921]).

^[3] Grant and Meyer Clarke, George W., In the Land of Beginning Again, Film, “The Bells of St. Mary’s”.

^[4] Poems for Patriarchs: The Verse and Prose of Christian Manhood, 52.

Bibliography

Clarke, Grant and Meyer, George W. In the Land of Beginning Again. Film, “The Bells of St. Mary’s”. 1946.

Fletcher, Louisa. The Land of Beginning Again. Boston,: Small, [c1921].

Poems for Patriarchs: The Verse and Prose of Christian Manhood. Edited by Douglas W. Phillips. San Antonio, TX: The Vision Forum, Inc., 2005.