Lessons from a "failed church plant"

This article was originally posted by Mike Edwards on his blog partofthestory: I am interested to hear some of your thoughts...

In August of 2006, I opened up to the Gospel of John 12:24-26 in front of a small group of believers in my home. I read the following words: Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

Little did I know I wasn’t just explaining a text, but I was foretelling the future of the group. I described how we could make all of the plans we wanted, but if God had in it for our small group at the time to die in order to give birth to something else we hadn’t even imagined yet, that must be ok. Less than 2 years later, after several changes and adaptations, we indeed had to come to the conclusion that a death had occurred, but hopefully not without giving the hope of life.

I won’t go into great detail, but what I will offer here is a brief list of some of the key reasons I believe our ‘church plant’ failed (emphasis on the ‘our’ and ‘church plant’). I do this to both warn potential church planters who may read this and to share what we’ve (and by we, I mean ME) learned in the process that will strengthen us for kingdom work now and in the future. These are very brief and I’m happy to talk more via email or the comments.

• Plant GOSPEL identities, not programs or services: The reason I put ‘failed church plant’ in quotes is because I do not believe we actually set out to plant a church ( and as if the work of God ever fails). We set out, like most church planters, to actually plant a service or some type of program that we hope one day will help us to graduate to being or launching a real church. Nothing could be further from the truth. All we can do is plant the gospel AS the church (and embody the identities it gives us as learners, family and missionaries) and only God can grow that church.

• Plant TOGETHER, not alone: Jesus led his ministry with others. Paul was always accompanied and helped in ministry by other faithful men. Setting out to plant or lead an apostolic ministry by yourself is suicidal. Outside of making sure we understand and apply the gospel faithfully, this is the greatest practical lesson I have learned and the mistake I want to avoid in the future. Planter–you need a committed team; even if it’s a small one. Further, you should have a solid group of believers that can encourage and commission you to the work.

• Be faithful, not cool–It is popular in many church planting circles today to plant a cool, hip church in the name of relevance. You get extra bonus points for being uber-sexy if you plant “in the city” as well. While we most certainly must embody the truth of the gospel in every context, we must remember that faithfulness is to be prized and the truth is always relevant.

• Be humbled, not overconfident: You can have the best laid plans and the best looking proposals, but without true gospel humility, you are destined for a fall. It’s just that simple. By all means, we should make responsible plans to shepherd people and do the work we’re called to, but structure must always submit to the Spirit.

• Live it as a family FIRST, don’t use your church as a crutch: If the church, as God’s people, are to be learners, family of God, and missionaries, your family should be able to demonstrate how they are growing more in the Word, how your marriage and parenting is grace centered and how you are loving your neighbor as yourself in word and deed. You can’t hide behind your church plant for long.

• Don’t go after people, pursue the God who will raise them up: By this I mean that there is a great temptation to recruit ‘the right people’ to your church plant or to re-arrange vision and values based on wanting to keep the people we like rather than to trust that God will bring the right people into your community, even if they’re not the people you would choose first. Remember that he chooses the simple and foolish things to confound the wise and glorify Himself. Christian community is not synonymous with Christian affinity.

Listen up

Church isn't boring because we're not showing enough film clips, or because we play an organ instead of guitar. It's boring because we neuter it of its importance. Too often we treat our spiritual lives like the round of golf used to open George Barna's Revolution. At the end of my life, I want my friends and family to remember me as someone who battled for the Gospel, who tried to mortify sin in my life, who found hard for life, and who contended earnestly for the faith. Not just a nice guy who occasionally noticed the splendor of the mountains God created, while otherwise just trying to enjoy myself, manage my schedule, and work on my short game.


from "Why We Love the Church" by DeYoung and Kluck

Satan gets us to focus on charitable works?

From a sermon by Steven Cole:

I just read K. P. Yohannan’s powerful book, Revolution in
World Missions [gfa books]. He grew up in India and didn’t wear
shoes before he was 17 (p. 55). He has preached the gospel all
across India. He is not oblivious to India’s oppressive poverty. But
he strongly contends against getting distracted with meeting physical
needs, but ignoring the spiritual needs. He says that India has
seen 150 years of schools and hospitals brought to them by British
missionaries, but it has not had any noticeable effect on either their
churches or society (p. 103, 110).

Yohannan says that it is one of Satan’s lies that people will not
listen to the gospel unless we offer them something else first (p.2
109). He has sat on the streets of Bombay with beggars who are
about to die. He has told them that he does not have material
goods to give them, but he has come to offer them eternal life, and
he has seen many respond.

He says (p. 111), There is nothing wrong with charitable acts—but they are not
to be confused with preaching the Gospel. Feeding programs
can save a man dying from hunger. Medical aid can prolong
life and fight disease. Housing projects can make this temporary
life more comfortable—but only the Gospel of Jesus
Christ can save a soul from a life of sin and an eternity in hell!

Thus our emphasis should always be first and foremost on
evangelism and discipleship. Social concern is a result of the gospel.
We must not put the cart before the horse (pp. 106, 99).

What in the World is the Missional Church?

Wow, wow, wow, wow.

That is all I can say in response to this lecture by Jonathan Leeman (Capital Hill Baptist and Nine Marks Ministries) on the missional church. Go here and click on Jonathan Leeman's talk "What in the World is the Missional Church."

In this talk Leeman critiques the "missional movement" calling to task such evangelical leaders as Tim Keller, Mark Driscoll, and, yes, even Ed Stetzer. He acknowledges his respect for them and how much he has learned from them, yet, as he says, they are not Jesus and so are able to receive some criticism. He also talks of what we can learn from missional leaders and here is where I found myself in need of repenting.

Good, good stuff.

If you find that the history stuff at the beginning bogs you down, skip to about a third of the way through where he begins his response. But then go back, the whole thing is worth listening to.

As I listened I found myself, at times, reflecting on the minutes of past Baptist Associational meetings that I have read and how when pastors got together back in the 17 and 1800's in America, they did it to wrestle with theological issues and to support each other in rightly dividing the word of truth. I found myself lamenting the fact that we don't do that today.

Talks such Jonathan's by Southern Baptists such as him are much needed. May there be more in the future.

BTW- It would do my heart good to know that somebody is actually reading these posts-even better yet, if someone else would post some things. If this website has proven to be of no help, let me know, and we'll just shut her down.

-Doug

Church Planter's Library

"Between the Times" a blog run by several profs. at Southeastern Seminary is beginning a brief series on The Church Planter's Library. Check it out.

Multi-site campuses redux

From today's 9 Marks Blog comes this post from Jonathan Leeman. As I've noted before, I'm not a big fan of multi-site campuses and Leeman gives yet another reason why we should pause before jumping in. Good stuff.
-Doug


You won't believe it, but I found a page torn out of a church history book written one hundred years from now--in the year 2109. It comments on the present multi-campus "church" phenomenon. Here's what the page reads:

...the principle difference being caused by developments in technology. In the first millennium of the church’s existence, a heterodox bishop could corrupt the churches within his ambit in decades, maybe years. Even then his influence over other congregations was indirect, occurring through its leaders. In the twenty-first century, however, the bishops of so-called multi-campus churches could exert greater influence over entire congregations instantaneously via video-feed. No longer did the multi-campus pastor have to persuade the leaders of other congregations over years. He could project his own face before numerous assemblies week after week, and do untold damage in seconds.

Few anticipated how quickly these pragmatic, seemingly inconsequential shifts of polity would corrupt the churches throughout an entire nation. Ninety-six percent of evangelical Christians in America belonged to approximately one hundred multi-campus “churches” by 2030—the franchises swallowing up the mom-and-pop shops. Some of these franchises were originally orthodox. Yet many of them were not, which meant that the wolves now had a mechanism for multiplying their influence exponentially. Furthermore, the orthodox bishops were often replaced within a generation or two by less orthodox successors, in a way that unorthodox bishops are seldom, if ever, replaced by faithful men, simply by virtue of the kinds of trees the unorthodox pastor plants. The cumulative trajectory was downward, then, away from orthodoxy.

Gone were the days of the “ordinary pastor,” the man whose skills were not extraordinary, but sufficient to guide a ship with a hundred eternal souls safely through stormy waters to the distant shores. His sermons weren’t made for television. His music wasn’t good enough for the recording studio. Therefore, churches, feeling themselves entitled to professional excellence in all things, politely dismissed him, tore down the old buildings, built high-tech stadiums, and gave the league all-stars seven-year, multi-million dollar contracts.

Unawares, the leaders of the orthodoxy were all too happy to heed the siren call of pragmatism, believing the new mediums simply enlarged the reach of their orthodox pulpits. They failed to see how the medium would affect their message. Their congregations—plural—could no longer know them, and they could no longer know their congregations. Life and doctrine became separated, thus distorting the doctrine. Not only that, bigness was no longer the exception, but the norm, meaning that everyone became oblivious to the dangers peculiar to size.

A century which began with several bright stars—a proliferation of good literature, biblical preachers of the first order, even what some called a Reformed Revolution—ended darkly. Indeed, some of the century's best preachers, driven by the very desire to propagate the good message in their day, helped to undermine that message for the next generation by following the strategies of the marketplace. No one expected the devil to once more usher in the corruptions of the ancient Roman church through such a peripheral matter like church polity, even though he had done it before. (He always does his best work in the places where people forget to look.) Only now he did in decades what earlier he had taken centuries to accomplish. By the middle of the twenty-first century, the devastation was…

Are Preachers Glorified Satanists Rather Than Crucified Followers?

Russell Moore delivered a very convicting chapel address at Southern Seminary entitled: "The Devil Votes Christian Values, Why We Are Tempted to Be Glorified Satanists Rather Than Crucified Followers." A student and I listened to it together tonight and he shouted out "Amen!" more than once and we both agreed it was a very much needed message. It led to my own self-reflection and we talked for quite awhile about the pitfalls of ministry and how temptations to pride and envy are the water we swim in. Anyway, this would make for a great conversation starter among your leaders or among ourselves. Even if you do it on your own, you ought to give it a listen.

Listen here.

Keller's Planting Manual- $35

I had mentioned Tim Keller's church planting manual in a previous post. Here is a link to where you can get it. It has gone up in price since when I bought it a few years back, but it is good and would be worth the money especially if you know someone doing urban work.

2009 Next Conference church planting talk mp3

Just in case you are a church planting nerd and are interested in how different groups approach the church planting process, at this year's Next Conference (a conference targeting college students put on by Sovereign Grace Ministries which usually attracts some big name speakers)the Sovereign Grace church planting team explained what is going on with them and share some insight into their process.

You can hear it here.

Ed Stetzer Talks

Two talks of interest by Ed Stetzer available through the Acts 2 Network:

Missional and Biblical Church Planting here

Kingdom Focused Church Planting here

Who Goes to Mega-Churches?

Interesting report in the Christian Post.

Yes plant, but don't forget the others either...

Al Mohler wrote an article some time back that I found thought provoking. I came across it again today and figured I'd go ahead and share it with you. In it he cheers on the church planting movement while at the same time wanting to encourage young pastors not to give up on established churches. He writes:


There can be no doubt that the planting of new congregations is a New Testament model. This approach comes with apostolic encouragement, as any reading of the Book of Acts and Paul's letters will reveal. Many of these new congregations will be fueled with great passion for the Gospel and for reaching unreached communities, people groups, and sectors of our society. This is indeed good news.

At the same time, we also need this generation of young pastors to go into established churches and revitalize a Gospel ministry through expository preaching and energetic leadership. Giving up on the established church is not an option. Some young pastors see church planting as a way of avoiding the challenge of dealing with the people and pathologies of older congregations. This is an abdication of responsibility.

Part of the reason I found this article thought provoking is because that second to last line describes many of us planters. I know it described me when I was graduating from seminary. I didn't have a mission mentality as much as I had an "avoidance" mentality (i.e. avoid all the grumpy stick-in-the-mud church members who are in established churches). Once I hit the field, my mindset shifted and I became very missions minded- but, nevertheless, my initial motivation was not so much missions as it was efficiency. Granted, I was encouraged to think this way by church growth classes and fellow seminary students who had more horror stories than I could shake a stick at. I had very little ministry experience at this point (I had only been a volunteer youth leader) and their stories scared me silly. Any way of avoiding that was a no brainer to me.

Would I do it differently this time? I don't think that is a question I can ask- God as put me on the path I'm on and I believe wholeheartedly that I have been used where He desired me to be. I do think that I would have thought differently this time- and I'm very glad to be able to say that.

Read the full article here.

Planting Resources from Sovereign Grace

I just came across this and haven't had a chance to peruse the materials, but Sovereign Grace Ministries (C.J. Mahaney, Joshua Harris, etc.) has a section on church plating on their website. The intro reads:

In Sovereign Grace Ministries, starting new churches is the natural overflow of our passion for the gospel. Indeed, the message of Christ crucified provides the ultimate reason for church planting and is itself the power of God behind all our church-planting efforts.
This section is designed to familiarize you with our church-planting model, answer some common questions about church planting in Sovereign Grace, and offer resources that we hope will prove helpful.

Looks like it could be helpful. Check it out and let us know what you find:

Click here for Sovereign Grace church planting resources.

-Doug

Evangelicalism's Biggest Problem

From an interview with Dan Phillips (pyromaniacs blog):

Question: What is the biggest problem facing evangelicalism today and how should we respond?

DP: Here's exactly what I think it is: failure truly to understand, believe, embrace, and live out a robust conviction of the authority and sufficiency of Scripture. I see that as the common theme behind the various church-growth fads, the Emerg*** movement, crippling forms of mysticism and charismaticism, and pulpit ills in general. We don't really believe Scripture is enough. It must be supplemented with techniques, programs, experiences, exercises, entertainment. The Reformation put the pulpit (for the preaching of the Word) at the center, and we're working hard to move it aside and replace it with a thousand and one distractions. "Preach the word!" Paul cried to Timothy as he finished his own course. God grant us ears to hear, greater hearts to grasp, bolder lips to proclaim, and stiffer spines to stand on the Word alone.

Theology of the City

Over at the Nine Marks Blog, Greg Gilbert gives some responses to a book that he has read concerning the "theology of the city."

This seems to me to be something that planters in more urbanized areas ought to be considering and Tim Keller has really majored on this topic. You can go to his church's website (Redeemer Presbyterian in New York City) and go to the church planting section. From there you can order a church planting manual that he has crafted for planters in New York.

I purchased it before moving here and found it to be very helpful- more so than many church planting helps I've encountered over the years even though it focused on the city- and it only cost about $14.

Anyhow, check out Gilbert's take on what he's read so far (here) - it is a few good reminders to us all.

CPN Date Changes

More filling, less calories, we have two changes to our CPN schedule:

The June 25th meeting has been moved to Friday, June 26th. Larry Black will be joining us and desires to get to know everyone- so please make sure you make it. 12:00 Noon at Acts 2 in Roanoke.

Also, the August meeting has been switched from a Statewide meeting to a regional. So, it will also be in Roanoke.

Don't You Worry?

An excerpt from John MacArthur's sermon on 2 John 1:4. I find this very convicting.
-Doug

At this point, I told you this morning I want to just say a personal word. This is John MacArthur, not the Apostle John. But I...people ask me often, "Do you ever worry about what people think about what you say?" And I can honestly say I don't. Actually the thought doesn't enter my mind. I'm not trying to be harsh, I'm not trying to be unloving, I'm not trying to be unkind, I'm not trying to ride roughshod over people either their understanding or their feelings. But, you see, what men think bears very little weight to me. It is not a heavy burden for me. There is a far greater weight that I feel and it's the weight of the revelation of God. That is a heavy thing to me. The truth of God is very heavy upon me. It is the greatest weight that I feel in my life by far. The glory of God, the Old Testament word for glory is the word in Hebrew weight. I have a rather heavy view of God and His Word. It weighs heavy on me and nothing equals the weight of that. Human opinion, popularity, whatever, bears very little weight. It is as a feature compared to the weight of the revelation of God that I feel.

God has exalted His Word to the level of His name, Psalm 138. It is as heavy as God is weighty. And I feel the weight of that and that is why for me study and preaching is so intense because this is my responsibility to feel the weight of the truth of God and then to dispense it to you.

This is my calling. This is not unusual. I 'm not alone in this. This is the calling of every man of God, of every teacher of the Bible, of every leader in the church, every pastor, elder. At least this is what the church is about. We are the pillar and foundation of the truth. And it is a weighty matter to me. Nothing is as important to me as divine truth, for it is in divine truth that I know God, it is in divine truth that I know Christ, the Holy Spirit, salvation, that I understand everything I need to understand that matters.

Why is My Self-Therapy Needed?

This morning I felt like a failure.

We had a good Sunday service, a first-timer attended and a group of us took him out to lunch. Afterwards we did our monthly volunteer work at the local nursing home singing hymns with them and they sang like birds (more like geese than nightinggales - but birds nonetheless). So what was my problem?

My problem was that the group I was preaching to was much smaller than I had hoped it would be at this point.

My problem was that, though we have baptized two during my tenure here, they were both family members of church members. We have done outreaches- both servant and door to door evangelism; we have done community events; conducted several Backyard Bible Clubs; the members of my church are doing personal evangelism and we have joined together to pray for those we are reaching out to; I have shared the Gospel at Starbucks with co-workers and invited customers to come to church. And yet, the baptistry is empty.

Epic Fail.

At least that is the way I felt for a few fleeting moments today until I, gratefully, snapped out of it through some self-therapy.

The question that I am now wrestling with is "Why?"

"Why is it that these feelings of failure creep in in the first place?"

There are times when these feelings are legit. I realize that.

For example, I have really been convicted about how I did not devote enough time to visiting my folks (particularly the college students) this past spring. I had a group of them over our home each week, but there were some that I spent very little time with. Fail? Yes, fail. I intend on fixing that.

But this is not one of those times.

There is only so much control we have over the number of people who show up on Sunday and who get saved (did I say "so much control"? Maybe more acurately "no control?").

Last CPN, you may recall that Tom shared his own feelings of failure although he has seen two women saved out of Mormonism here recently.

How is that a failure?

How is it possible that we label ourselves as such?

Some thoughts on this would be helpful. Maybe if we diagnose the problem, we could be on the way to the cure.

-Doug

Worldliness

I had posted a link to this extract a number of weeks back. After having posted the last Spurgeon quote (below) I found myself returning to this and re-reading it and, again, saying "wow."

So, in case you did not have the energy to click on the link I provided last time, I have copied it in its entirety below. This is from the Banner of Truth website.

Read it for your edification.
-Doug

By Iain MurrayAn edited extract from Mr Murray's new book Evangelicalism Divided (Banner of Truth)

In his book on Evangelicalism, James Davison Hunter wrote: 'A dynamic would appear to be operating [in Evangelicalism] that strikes at the very heart of Evangelical self-identity'.

What is this 'dynamic'?

I believe that all the evidence points in one direction. It is that Evangelicals, while commonly retaining the same set of beliefs, have been tempted to seek success in ways which the New Testament identifies as 'worldliness'.

What is worldliness?

Worldliness is departing from God. It is a man-centred way of thinking; it proposes objectives which demand no radical breach with man's fallen nature; it judges the importance of things by the present and material results; it weighs success by numbers; it covets human esteem and wants no unpopularity; it knows no truth for which it is worth suffering; it declines to be a 'fool for Christ's sake'.

Worldliness is the mind-set of the unregenerate. It adopts idols and is at war with God. Because 'the flesh' still dwells in the Christian he is far from immune from being influenced by this dynamic.

It is of believers that it is said, 'the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary one to another' (Galatians 5:17). It is professing Christians who are asked, 'Do you not know that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?' (James 4:4) and are commanded, 'Do not love the world', and 'keep yourselves from idols' (1 John 2:15, 5:21).

Apostasy generally arises in the church just because this danger ceases to be observed. The consequence is that spiritual warfare gives way to spiritual pacifism, and, in the same spirit, the church devises ways to present the gospel which will neutralise any offence.

The antithesis between regenerate and unregenerate is passed over and it is supposed that the interests and ambitions of the unconverted can somehow be harnessed to win their approval for Christ. Then when this approach achieves 'results' - as it will - no more justification is thought to be needed. The rule of Scripture has given place to pragmatism.Converted to the worldThe apostolic statement, 'For if I still pleased men, I would not be the servant of Christ' (Galatians 1:10), has lost its meaning. No Christian deliberately gives way to the spirit of the world but we all may do so unwittingly and unconsciously.

That this has happened on a large scale in the later-twentieth century is to be seen in the way in which the interests and priorities of contemporary culture have come to be mirrored in the churches.

The antipathy to authority and to discipline; the cry for entertainment by the visual image rather than by the words of Scripture; the appeal of the spectacular; the rise of feminism; the readiness to identify power with numbers; the unwillingness to make 'beliefs' a matter of controversy - all these features, so evident in the world's agenda, are now also to be found in the Christian scene.

Instead of the churches revolutionising the culture, the reverse has happened. Churches have been converted to the world. David Wells has written: 'The stream of historic orthodoxy that once watered the evangelical soul is now dammed by a worldliness that many fail to recognise as worldliness because of the cultural innocence with which it presents itself. ... It may be that Christian faith, which has made many easy alliances with modern culture in the past few decades, is also living in a fool's paradise, comforting itself about all the things God is doing ... while it is losing its character, if not its soul' (No place for truth, pp. 11, 68).

Inducements

This same worldliness has come to affect the way in which the gospel is often presented to the unconverted. Leonard Sweet has pointed out that Evangelicals and liberals are often similar in the inducements which they propose to their hearers why they should become Christians.Both offer such things as more success in life, a happier marriage, an integrated personality, more meaning to existence, and so on. In other words, the reasons for becoming a Christian are pragmatic and they are presented with stories of how it has worked for others.

The subject of worldliness, however, has a deeper bearing. Human conduct is not capable of being understood so long as it is imagined that man is self-contained and insulated from any power other than his own.

Worldliness, it is true, is the outcome of man's fallen nature, but the same fall which introduced that nature also brought man under the control of Satan and demonic powers. Worldliness is no accident; it is the devil's use of such idols as pride, selfishness, and pleasure, to maintain his dominion over men.

The malice of Satan

What Satan proposes for man's happiness is, in truth, the result of implacable malice towards the whole human race. He means to exclude God and to destroy men, and the system he has devised to do this is so subtle that man is a willing and unconscious captive: 'You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him' (John 8:44).

Scripture says a great deal on the reality of the demonic, and yet the subject is today largely passed over in silence. Human wisdom has no place for the very idea and diverges completely from the revelation in Scripture.

The devil is a mere fable and superstition, so men believe; according to Scripture he is the unseen enemy who constitutes the greatest problem for men in general and for the churches in particular. Man is in the midst of a supernatural conflict; and the adversary - 'the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience' (Ephesians 2:2) - is vastly superior to all the intelligence and energies of men.

Supernatural power

While we may expect unregenerate men to have no discernment on this issue, it has to be a matter of concern when - given the prominent warnings of the New Testament - the demonic ceases to be a vital part of the belief of professing Evangelicals.

For the apostles, understanding the existence and wiles of Satan was essential to Christian living: 'Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might ... For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age' (Ephesians 6:10, 12). This teaching determines the biblical view of human need.Non-Christians are in a condition of blindness and bondage. They are under a power greater than the will of man and from which only Christ can set them free. Here was the recognition which led the apostles to repudiate all the world's methods for winning disciples.Supernatural power had to be met with supernatural power: 'For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds' (2 Corinthians 10:3-4).

Darkness and confusion

The biblical revelation on evil spirits is no less relevant to the way in which the church is to defend herself against the demonic. We are constantly warned that Satan works principally through doctrinal deception and falsehood. He was the inspiration for all the false prophets of the Old Testament: 'He is a liar and the father of it' (John 8:44).

His great intent is to bring darkness and confusion into the church as he did among the Jews. It was a lie of Satan which brought judgement into the infant church at Jerusalem (Acts 5:3). It was Satan who at Paphos opposed Paul on his first missionary journey by using a sorcerer 'to turn away the proconsul from the faith' (Acts 13:8).

The church at Corinth was in danger of allowing 'a different gospel' to be unopposed because 'the serpent who deceived Eve by his craftiness' was working to mislead her (2 Corinthians 11:3).

False prophets arise within the church yet they do not appear as such: 'And no wonder!', writes the apostle, 'For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light' (2 Corinthians 11:14).

The idea that Christianity stands chiefly in danger from the forces of materialism, or from secular philosophy, or from pagan religions, is not the teaching of the New Testament. The greatest danger comes rather from temptations within and from those who, using the name of Christ, are instruments of Satan to lead men to believe a lie. 'False christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect' (Matthew 24:24).

Resolute resistance

No one can rightly believe this without seeing the seriousness of error. Wrong belief is as dangerous as unbelief. To deny the deity and the work of Christ will shut men out of heaven as certainly as will the sin of murder (John 8:24; 1 John 2:22-23).

To preach 'another gospel' is to be 'accursed' (Galatians 1:6-9).Those who support heresies 'will not inherit the kingdom of God' (Galatians 5:20-21).This means that a large part of the preservation and defence of the church lies in resolute resistance to falsehood and in forthright teaching of the truth.Such warnings as 'beware of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees' (Matthew 16:12), for they 'shut up the kingdom of God against men' (Matthew 23:13), run right through the New Testament.

The apostles, filled with the Spirit of Christ, suffered no toleration of error. They opposed it wherever it arose and required the same spirit of all Christians. Eusebius, the early church historian, wrote of their outlook: 'Such caution did the apostles and their disciples use, so as not even to have any communion, even in word, with any of those that thus mutilated the truth, according to the declaration of Paul: "An heretical man after the first and second admonition avoid, knowing that such a one is perverse, and that he sins, bringing condemnation on himself".'

Consistent with love

Yet today this kind of witness against heresy and error, if not altogether silenced, has become muted to an extraordinary degree. 'Even the mildest assertion of Christian truth today sounds like a thunderclap because the well-polished civility of our religious talk has kept us from hearing much of this kind of thing' (Wells, No place for truth, p.10).

The explanation often given by Evangelicals for the lack of confrontation with error is that a harsh militancy has done more harm than good. As Christians, it is said, we do not want to be party to the kind of strident controversy which has too often marred the faith. Dr Billy Graham has often blamed 'fundamentalists' for this fault.

But the fact that what the New Testament says on love has been ignored, is no reason why its injunctions against error should not be obeyed. That some have followed these injunctions in a contentious spirit is no excuse for others not to follow them at all.A biblical contending against error is fully consistent with love; indeed it is love for the souls of men which requires it. The command to contend for the faith is not abrogated because some have failed to speak the truth in love.

Be watchful

However, there would appear to be a far more probable reason for the contemporary absence of opposition to error. It is the way in which the instrumentality of the devil in corrupting the truth has been so widely overlooked.

In this, as I have already said, we differ widely from Scripture. Instead of believers in the apostolic age being directed to listen to all views 'with an open mind', they were told how to 'test the spirits, whether they are of God' (l John 4:1). For there are 'deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons' (1 Timothy 4:1); false teachers 'who will secretly bring in destructive heresies' (2 Peter 2:1). There are words which 'spread as a cancer' (2 Timothy 2:17).

When churches have been in a healthy state they have always been watchful in this regard. In the great persecutions of the first three centuries, for example, Cyprian (c. 200- 258), bishop of Carthage, is to be found writing as follows:'It is not persecution alone that we ought to fear, nor those forces that in open warfare range abroad to overthrow and defeat the servants of God. It is easy enough to be on one's guard when the danger is obvious; one can stir up one's courage for the fight when the Enemy shows himself in his true colours.'There is more need to fear and beware of the Enemy when he creeps up secretly, when he beguiles us by a show of peace and steals forward by those hidden approaches which have earned him the name of the "Serpent" ...

'Light had come to the gentiles and the lamp of salvation was shining for the deliverance of mankind ...Thereupon the Enemy, seeing his idols abandoned and his temples and haunts deserted by the ever growing numbers of the faithful, devised a fresh deceit, using the Christian name itself to mislead the unwary.'He invented heresies and schisms so as to undermine the faith, to corrupt the truth, to sunder our unity. Those whom he failed to keep in the blindness of their old ways he beguiles, and leads them up a new road of illusion'.

Evangelicalism Divided; a record of crucial change in the years 1950-2000, is published by Banner of Truth, 352 pp., at £13.50 (ISBN 0-85151-783-8).

Preaching in a True Church

When sermons are preached
without so much as the mention of Christ’s name, it takes more than
charity, it requires you to tell a lie to say, “That was a Christian sermon”;
and if any people find their joy in a teaching which casts the Lord Jesus
into the background, they are not his church, or else such teaching would
be an abomination to them. Yet have I heard it said that from some
ministries you may go away like Mary Magdalene from the sepulcher,
exclaiming, “They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they
have laid him.”


The true church saith, “Give
us what learning and eloquence you will, but we cannot be content except
Christ be glorified; preach us what you may, we will never be satisfied
unless he who is the express image of the Father shall be set forth in our
midst.” Then, I say, she speaketh like the true bride of Christ, but if she can
be content to see her Lord dishonored she is no chaste spouse of Christ.

-Spurgeon

rainless clouds

The grandest discourse ever delivered is an ostentatious failure if the doctrine of the grace of God be absent from it; it sweeps over men's heads like a cloud, but it distributes no rain upon the thirsty earth; and therefore the remembrance of it to souls taught wisdom by an experience of pressing need is one of disappointment, or worse.
-Spurgeon

Non serving servants

Another church has given money to its parishioners in order for them to serve others in need. This time it was $100. Story here.

What do you make of this?

The way I see it, anytime a church has to pay its members to serve others, it does not speak well of them. In fact, what was intended to be something that demonstrates servitude doesn't do so at all. It says: "We are a 'church' composed of people who will not serve unless it costs them nothing."

If I'm right, then what does this say about the God they claim to serve?

Doug

Idolatry in a Postmodern Age

I found this article by Tim Keller very helpful and was able to use the concepts here as a meditation to prepare my people for a sermon from Jeremiah in which the people of Israel are condemned for, among other things, idolatry. We spent a moment considering the first commandment and I quoted some of the comments from Martin Luther in order to help everyone recognize that we all are guilty of idolatry and, thus, this passage speaks to each of us. http://www.monergism.com/postmodernidols.html

The Pastor's Problem and The Results

Tim Challies (Challies.com) blogged the ReFocus Conference and I excerpted the following from a message by Chip Ingram which I think is thought provoking:

The problem is…
Pastors have been given a job for which it is very difficult to measure how they are doing. There is an epidemic problem of quality control within the church and the shepherds are the ones who are responsible.

The result is…
We’ve become slaves to running programs, keeping church activities rolling and feeling very frustrated with limited spiritual life-change.

His ministry commissioned a Barna study to figure out how big a problem this is. The overall conclusion was that pastors had no way of explaining what a healthy, mature Christian is. So the pastors themselves did not know their task!

…Most Christians equate spiritual maturity with following the rules.
…Most churchgoers are not clear what their church expects in terms of spiritual maturity
…Most pastors struggle with explaining or defining spiritual maturity
…Most pastors struggle with feeling the relevance of and articulating a specific set of objectives for spirituality, often favoring activities over attitudes

The answer is…
He offered a three-part answer.

Focus - Get clear on your calling (see Colossians 1:28-29).

Metrics - Get clear on measuring spiritual maturity. Here he introduced what he called an R12 Christian. He drew these marks of spiritual maturity from Romans 12 and did so at some length. I’ll provide only a brief outline. If you’d like to learn more you can do so at livingontheedge.org. From Romans 12 he found these five marks of a mature Christian: Such a Christian is Surrendered to God; Separate from the World; Sober in Self-Assessment; Serving in Love; Supernaturally Responding to Evil.

Power - Making God’s work in you the priority over God’s work through you.

It seemed to me that he ran out of time by the end, so hurried through the last few points. Overall, I appreciated his talk. I think he is right that a huge percentage of what passes for Christianity in America is really just empty and unbiblical. And so he is calling these churches to understand the pastor’s role as leading Christians from infancy to maturity. This is excellent! I think, though, that this is an insight that has not escaped those churches that all along have been focusing on the preaching of the Word as the primary task of the pastor and of the church. Churches that have become distracted by endless programs have definitely lost sight of the most important thing. So I guess I’d say Ingram’s call to emphasize making disciples (not just converts) is important but also obvious; it is what a remnant of evangelical churches have been saying all along! For those pastors that have lost sight of this task that God has given them, I hope this message stands as a wake-up call that drives them to Scripture to see how God would have them lead and shepherd their flock.

"I tend to get stupid when I am preaching extemporaneously..."

Notes or no notes?

I know this is a well-worn discussion in seminary (at least it was at Southeastern) with differing opinions. Paige Patterson, who was president while I was there, insisted on no notes, no outlines, no nothing in the pulpit. However, many of the "big name" preachers who came through our chapel services brought either outlines or manuscripts with them. Patterson poked at James Merritt during one service saying "As good of a preacher he is with his notes, he would only be a better one if he didn't have them."

I have found that many of the preachers that I most admire actually take manuscripts to the pulpit. I have heard several of them say that their reasoning is that they have certain issues that they want to address and address well, and that having the notes helps insure that they don't skip over anything that they wanted to share and helps ensure that they maintain right doctrine rather than slip into an "off the cuff" explanation which may or may not be exactly on target.

A similar sentiment is expressed by Thabiti M. Anyabwile in an exchange that took place over at the 9 Marks blog.

It is a few short snippets that I found helpful to consider. Take a look.

Mike McKinley also stabs at it and says: "I use the manuscript because I tend to get stupid when I am speaking extemporaneously. I'll either get punchy and start making jokes or I'll get lost on a rabbit trail going nowhere."

You can access his response by clicking on the tab at the top of Anyabwile's post.

Preaching as Gravitational Center

On church discipline

Do yourself a favor and listen to this 6 minute clip of Matt Schumaker (of Capital Hill Baptist Church) talk about church discipline in an interview with Moody Radio.

You are different- you have something to say.

“Whatever be the limitations of your gifts, you will at least have a message. You will be, in one respect at least, unlike most persons who love to talk in public at the present time; you will have one qualification of a speaker – you will have something to say....While angels look on, you will have your moment of glorious opportunity – the moment when you can speak the word that God has given you to speak. It will be a word of warning; false hopes must be ruthlessly destroyed. But it will also be a word of wondrous joy. What can be compared, brethren, to the privilege of proclaiming to needy souls the exuberant joy of the gospel of Christ?”

J. Gresham Machen

Multisight churches- Good idea or no? and Perry Noble Unleashed

The latest 9 Marks Journal is a must read. It is on the issue of multi-site churches and has articles by those who defend it and those who condemn it. Read it here.

I hope that we will see some reactions to this posted here. Hint Hint!

My initial reaction, having not read the articles yet, is that I am anti-multi-site. I'm not sure how one can be "Baptist" in their polity while pastoring, what seems to me to be, a parish-type set up. The other concern I have is simply in terms of the definition of the local church. One of the articles by Jonathan Leeman seems to echo my concerns, but there are voices on the other side I'm looking forward to hearing.

I'm also curious if any of you have seen the following clip of Perry Noble. It has been a hot topic lately. What says you?

Decision Card for Today's Church Plant

New tract cover

Should we order a case for our plants?


from http://betweenthetimes.com/2009/04/23/front-cover-of-a-new-gospel-tract-published-by-sebts/

This Month's CPN

We will be meeting at the Acts 2 House in Roanoke once again for April's CPN meeting. We will share, and discuss items that you feel are relevant and helpful to our planting efforts, but our main topic of discussion will be "The Priority of Preaching?"

The basic application is similar to last month's- how are we going to organize and prioritize our resources as we begin our church plants, whether those resources be monetary or time, etc.?

If the Sunday morning message is simply one of several means by which we draw crowds, then perhaps it should be put on the back burner and not even bothered with until some time down the road- and, even then, not given a priority of time- not to mention the style of preaching and sermonizing would be chosen based upon what is most appealing to the non-Christian crowds we are seeking to reach.

However, if the sermon is the main course that God uses to build up the saints, then we are talking a whole different perspective with different priorities which will affect time use, personnel development, how we present ourselves to the community, how the Sunday morning is orchestrated (is it primarily evangelism and crowd gathering or is it primarily equipping the saints?), etc.

All this is to say that I think this is a very practical question for church planters to wrestle with.

Please do some thinking, reflecting, and come prepared to make your case with suggestions for reading, etc.

Thanks,
Doug

I don't tend to get discouraged in ministry...

This is an excerpt from an interview that C.J. Mahaney did with David Powlison. If you don't know either of these men, you should get acquainted. The interview in full can be found here.

Where in ministry are you most regularly tempted to discouragement?

I don’t tend to get discouraged in ministry. I think that I was convinced early on that evil is incomprehensibly deep and tangled, and that life is shadowed by death. The fewer the illusions, the less prone to disillusionment. Jesus came for all this sin and suffering, continues to enter in with light, mercy and power into imperfect and broken lives, will return to make right all that is wrong. “Tis mercy all, immense and free….” Kyrie eleison. I do get discouraged simply as a man, by my own shortcomings, lovelessness, and weakness/astheneia. But time after time the place of discouragement has become the door for the mercies of Jesus to delight and refresh me.

Bad Lodgers

Matthew and I were chatting on the phone tonight and he said that he had read this sermon and found it to be of great encouragement and challenge to his soul. After quoting a few portions to me I told him that, not only was I going to read it, but that I'd post it on the blog.

So here it is.

Read it and comment to all of our edification.

-Doug

BAD LODGERS, AND HOW TO
TREAT THEM.
NO. 1573
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

“O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved.
How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee.”-Jeremiah 5:14.

ONE notices in reading such a chapter as this fourth of Jeremiah that the
change which God required in the Jewish people was a very deep and
thorough one. It was not only the washing of their hands, nor the cleansing
of their outward lives, but the washing of their hearts from wickedness; and
the Lord did not alone require of them that they should cease from wicked
actions, but even from vain thoughts. The like demand he makes of us, for
he saith by the mouth of his servant James, “Cleanse your hands, ye
sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.” This makes our holy
religion such a weighty and solemn business. If it were wholly a matter of
outward ordinances, we might take the child and sprinkle it, or might bring
the adult and plunge him; or we might admit all to a table where they
should eat and drink such consecrated materials as should save them. This
would be all easy enough, and hence men cling to a religion of ceremonies;
for heart religion is troublesome, and the ungodly cannot endure it.
Ritualism is the most popular religion in the world, because it is all “Hi!
Presto!” Done in a minute-nothing to think of, nothing to care about,
nothing to sorrow over. It is all a mere matter of form, which men leave to
their priests, as they leave their deeds to be drawn up by their lawyers, and
their physic to be prescribed by their doctors. The little that is wanted of
them can be done without thought, and they can go on in their sins as
pleasantly as ever.

Next to that in popularity is the religion of mere morality. “Yes, we know
we do amiss: we will amend. Gross vices shall be lopped off as stray
branches that run over a wall. We will at once purge ourselves from
everything for which our fellow-men would blame us. Is not that enough?”
Many hope it is, and live as if they felt sure it was. But the religion of the
Word of God is not so. It is, “Rend your hearts, and not your garments:”
hence ceremonies are not enough “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy
strength:” hence outward actions are not enough. This is too hard a
demand; and as for repentance and faith, the ungodly cannot enter upon
such spiritual duties for they have no mind to them. The carnal mind hates
the mention of spiritual things.

This, I take it, while it makes the Christian religion so solemn, throws us
back upon one of its great first principles-that salvation must be of grace;
because if it be necessary that my heart must be changed, can I change it? I
am bidden to do so. I am told in such a text as this to wash my heart from
wickedness. But how can I do it? Shall a fountain purge itself? It has sent
forth bitter waters, bitter as Marah; can it of itself do the reverse? “Can the
Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?” That would be a very
simple business, for skin and spots are outside things; but how shall a man
change his heart-his very nature? Do you expect the crab tree to change
itself into a sweet apple-bearing tree? Will you go and talk-to come back to
the former metaphor-to the waters of Marah and expect them to change
themselves into the sweet wells of Elim? No; this is the finger of God. If
ever this is done God must interfere. It is a rule that nature can only rise as
high as nature. Put water where you please, it will rise up to where it
started from; but, except under pressure, it will rise no higher; and you
shall not find man rising above his fallen and depraved nature. “The carnal
mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither
indeed can be.” Out of the grave there comes not life. Out of an unclean
thing there comes not a clean thing. We must be born from above if ever
we are born aright. We must be new created by the Creator himself, and
become new creatures in Christ Jesus, or else up to the mark which God’s
law requires we can never come. “Wash thine heart.” Oh, God, how can I
wash my heart? Though I take to myself snow water, and make myself
seem outwardly never so clean, yet what have I done with my heart? Thou
biddest me drive out my thoughts; but, O my God, my thoughts often come
against my will, and sometimes with my will, and I am tossed about by
them as a poor sea shell by the restless waves of the sea. They compass me
about like bees; yea, they compass me about, these vain thoughts of mine,
like bees which sting my good desires to death. Like flies of summer they
buzz about my ears and fill my mind with corruption, and they will not be
driven away. I can no more resist them than Jannes and Jambres could
withstand the Egyptian plague. Oh, how can I purge out vain thoughts?
Whither shall I turn for strength to perform this necessary duty?
“By grace are ye saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the
gift of God.” And what ye cannot do, in that ye are weak through the flesh,
God can do for you, and his divine Spirit will sweetly enable you to
perform all duties which he requires of you. If ye be willing and obedient,
and yield yourselves up to the blessed gospel of the grace of God, he will
make you clean; and your thoughts, too, shall be purged as with fire, till
they shall rise like a sweet incense unto him. Let this word at the outset
encourage any person who may be inclined to say before I have done, “It is
a hard saying: who can bear it?”

Now to our text, “How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?”
Bad lodgers. Some people have admitted bad lodgers into their chambers. I
have known a good many people troubled with them; and there is no use in
keeping them; they must be sent adrift. So the text says, “How long shall
vain thoughts lodge within thee?” It means that we must not be slow to
give them notice to quit, for they ought not to be tolerated in the human
breast.

First, let me name some of these lodgers; secondly, let me show what bad
lodgers they are; and, thirdly, let me give you some advice as to how to get
rid of them. May the Holy Spirit also come and bless this word to their
immediate ejectment, and may a stronger than they come and dwell for
ever in you, not as a lodger, but as Lord and owner of your whole being.

I. First, then, HERE ARE CERTAIN BAD LODGERS; and I should not wonder
if some people here have found and furnished chambers in their hearts and
heads for these mischievous tenants whose name is “vain thoughts.”
Many thoughts may be called vain because they are proud, conceited
thoughts. Thus, whenever a man thinks himself good by nature, we may
say of his thoughts, “Vanity of vanities: all is vanity.” If you are
unrenewed, and dream that you are better than others because your parents
were godly, it is a vain thought. If you have never been born again by the
Spirit of God, and are trusting in your infant baptism, it is a vain thought. If
you have never come to believe in Jesus, but think yourself very good
because you are a respectable person and regularly attend a place of
worship, it is a vain thought. If you have got it into your head that when
we talk about sinners we do not mean you, and that when God’s word
condemns men for their sins it leaves a loophole of escape for you, it is a
vain thought. If you have an idea that you do not need to come to Christ as
a poor, helpless sinner; that you do not want the same kind of change as
others; that, indeed, there is a private way to heaven for you, and you have
found the silver key of it, you have made a mistake-it is a vain thought.
You will have to be born again, or else if you are not born twice you will
die twice. You will have to be washed in the blood of Jesus Christ, or you
will die in your sins. You will have to come crying to him for mercy, and to
find everything in him, or you will remain under condemnation and perish
in your iniquity. If you think not so, it is a vain thought. Every thought of
self-righteousness is a vain thought; every idea, moreover, of self-power -
that you can do this and do that towards your own salvation, and that at
any time when it pleases you, you can turn and become a Christian, and so
there is no need to be in a hurry, or to seek the help of the Holy Spirit:-that
also is a vain thought. To reckon yourself to be anything more than a mass
of sin and helplessness is a vain thought. You have misconceived your own
true value and your condition before God.

Now, perhaps I speak to some here who really are very nice sort of people,
at least they feel they are, for they go to a place of worship where they are
not often spoken to very personally; and if the minister does speak
pointedly, they say, “I do not think he has any right to talk in that way;
people should be charitable.” It is supposed to be charitable, you know, to
allow people to go down to hell without warning them. My charity leads
me to try as far as ever I can to break up all shams, and I am sure that selfrighteousness
is all a sham, a deadly delusion, a destructive error. It is
ruining tens of thousands of people-good, quiet, harmless, inoffensive
people-people, too, that are generous in their business, and kind, and all
that, and who therefore conclude that they are safe for time and eternity.
They say, “Well, now, I don’t know that I have done anything so very
wrong; I do not see that I need repentance and faith, or that I need come as
that poor thief did on the cross, and just look to Christ and say, ‘Lord,
remember me.’“ Dear friend, I must address you in the language of the
text, “How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?” for they are all
vain, every one of them. “By the works of the law shall no flesh be
justified” in the sight of God. The way to heaven is not by our fancied

works of righteousness; but salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus
Christ.

Another sort of vain thoughts may be ranged under the head, of carnal
security. The poet says, “All men think all men mortal but themselves,” and
often as the saying is quoted never was a proverb more generally true. We
are surprised to hear that So-and-so, who was well and hearty three days
ago, is dead: we are quite taken aback for the moment, but we never dream
that it will happen to ourselves. We are alarmed when we hear that a
person who was sitting near to us in the pew on Sunday is now in his
coffin; but we indulge the hope that we shall see old age. A person the
other day who was consumptive died suddenly of hemorrhage of the lungs,
and yet another consumptive person says, “This sad thing does happen to
invalids whose lungs are diseased, but I do not suppose it will ever befall
me.” Men go out to their daily business and they say, “Many that wake this
morning will never see the sun go down “; but they themselves talk of what
they will do in the evening, as if they were sure of surviving. There is no
hint of, “If the Lord will, we shall do this or that.” We know all of us that
life is very uncertain, yet multitudes are hazarding their souls upon the
uncertainty of that life, under an inward belief which they would not dare
to express, that somehow or other they are sure not to die just yet. What is
such security but a vain thought? Does it not strike you, dear friends, when
a man is eighty, eighty-eight, ninety, that surely he cannot expect to get
through another year? As a reasonable man he must reckon that he is soon
to die. Not at all. He is often the man who thinks least about death, and if
you introduce the topic he does not like the conversation and starts you on
another tack. Many who are younger than they do not like you to mention
anything about advanced age or growing old. You must talk of these old
sheep as if they were still lambs, or they will not like it: speak p lain truth
about their years, and they are offended. If you want an old man to move
quickly out of the road when you are driving always cry, “Move on, my
lad,” and he feels complimented, and moves directly, because there is in
him a joy in being thought young, and an aversion to the idea of his being
old. This is ridiculous. You smile, and you may well smile, for it is a folly,
but yet how common a folly. Why, when a man is of ripe age, or a woman
either, why should they not know it and let it be known? Why should they
not number their days and keep the reckoning before their own minds? If
all things are right with you and me, the older we are the better. Some one
said to a Christian man, “What is your age?” and he replied, “I am on the
right side of seventy.” They found out that he was seventy-five, and they
said, “You told us you were on the right side of seventy.” “So I am,” he
answered; “that is the right side, for it is the side which is nearest heaven,
my blessed home.” Why should not all Christians think so? They do think
so when they judge rightly; for they joyfully sing-

“Here in the body pent,
Absent from him I roam,
Yet nightly pitch my moving tent
A day’s march nearer home.”

If a day’s march is worth singing about, is not a year’s journey nearer home
a theme for still greater delight? Should we try to make out that we have
so much longer to stay in exile-so much longer ere we shall see the face of
the Well-Beloved-so much longer ere, like heirs that have come at age, we
shall enter on our divine inheritance?

My hearers, drive out these vain thoughts about not dying? I will lead the
way for you. I am as likely to die to-night as any other man upon the face
of this earth. You, too, my friend, may as likely never see another Sunday
as anyone else. You tell me, you do not know that you have any special
disease, and, indeed, I hope you have not; but we all carry something about
us in which death can fix his arrow. Depend upon it that the seeds of
mortality are in every constitution. I have met with one man-nay, with two
men-who do not believe that they shall die; but as they get very much
older, and one of them stoops very much, I am under the impression that
they will die: and I pray anybody here who thinks that such an idea is a
folly to remember that it is a minor form of the same folly to say, “I shall
not die just yet.” You may as well say, “I shall not die at all,” for it leads to
the same practical conclusion; death at a distance influences us very little
more than no death at all. You may die at any moment; and what, my dear
hearer, if at this moment while seated in that pew your naked spirit were
suddenly to find itself at the bar of God? What would become of you? I
charge you by the living God, and by your care about your own soul, do let
that thought pass through your mind;-it is a vain thought for me to suppose
that I shall have a ten minutes longer life; it is a vain thought to grant
myself a lease for another week, for I am a tenant-at-will, and I may be
ejected in a moment, so let me get rid of the folly and vanity of carnal
security. At this moment the Holy Spirit saith to any one of you who may

be presuming upon long life,- “How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge
within thee?”

I know another set of thoughts: they are better looking, but they are
equally vain, for they promise much and come to nothing: they are vain
because they are fruitless. These vain thoughts are like the better order of
people in Jerusalem-good people after a sort-that is to say, they really
thought that as God threatened them with judgments, they would turn to
him. Certainly they would. They had no intention of being hard-hearted.
Far from it; they owned the power of the prophet’s appeal; they felt a
degree of awe in the presence of the just God as he threatened them, and of
course they meant-they meant to wash their hearts, and they meant to put
away all their forbidden practices; not just yet, but by-and-by. They would
not wait very long: of course not. A long delay would be very dangerous,
but they might safely tarry a little longer. They had an engagement which
would take them into worldly company, and so they must wait till that was
over; and they had formed close connections which they could not very
well break, and so religion must be regretfully postponed for a more
convenient season. They were engrossed in a certain business which they
could not easily get out of for a term of years; but they would-oh, they
would- certainly; certainly they would attend to God and their souls.
Though they did not say so in words, yet their faces appealed to the
preacher pleadingly,- “Do not press us too much just now. We are honest
people; we acknowledge the bill. Let it run a little longer. We do not mean
to break away from the demands of God by any manner of means; we quite
intend to comply with them at a near date, but not to-day. Oh, no, we do
not deny the Scriptures: do not think that we are infidels. We do not doubt
the love of Christ to men, or the power of his gospel; we hope to feel it in a
little while.” They mean to enjoy the love of God one of these days, and
they hope to wind up their lives in a saintly manner. They feel rather
pleased with themselves because they are so good as to resolve; if it be not
virtue itself which they possess, yet the resolve to possess it flatters them
into great notions of themselves. It is a great deal to be able to get so far as
good resolutions, so they think. Well, now, my friend, has not that been the
style of your thought for a great many years? Did not you think like that
when you were a child-when you were yet fresh to the ways of religion,
and had not yet learned so much of other ways as you have now? Do you
not remember those early impressions- those tears at night, those childlike
cries to Jesus, your mother’s Savior? Yes, you do recollect them: and there
were times not so very long ago when all came back to you, and you sat in
the house of God trembling, and wishing you could get to your chamber
and bow your knees in prayer. You were on the borders of Immanuel’s
land, and there was only a step between you and life. You wished that the
step was taken, but, still-well, there was a reason why it should not be
taken just yet: and so you dared to bid the Lord wait your leisure, as if he
were a beggar at your door to whom you were under no obligation. Alas
for this constant delaying! Where will it land you? I see upon your head the
signs of age, but you are not yet born to God. Your eyes are failing, you
want spectacles; but you have not yet looked unto Jesus. Years have
followed years, and the record of your sin is a long roll written on both
sides, and you are resolving still, and making up your mind still, to
something very good-still hoping that the right time is coming, only you
must wait a little longer.

Now, the Lord says, “How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?”
for they are all vain-these delays, these false promises, these selfdeceptions.
How long shall it be that they shall throng the avenues of your
soul and curse your spirit?

In some, who I hope are saved, their vain thoughts lie in a similar direction:
they trust that they have believed, but they are slow to obey their Lord in
publicly avowing their discipleship. They know that the gospel has two
precepts- “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved,” or, in other
words,” He that with his heart believeth, and with his mouth maketh
confession of him, shall be saved.” They resolve that they will one of these
days make a confession of their faith; such is their fixed intention, but the
time is not yet come, for at present they are filled with questionings as to
their condition. They once felt sure that they had faith. Had they confessed
it then, that certainty might have continued. They have so long kept in
abeyance their obedience to their Lord that they begin now to question,
and perhaps rightly, whether they have really believed. The Lord Jesus has
said, “He that confesseth me before men, him will I confess before my
Father which is in heaven.” But, then, somebody would laugh at them: they
would have a cross to carry, and this hinders them, and they postpone
obedience to an indefinite period. Jesus Christ says, “He that taketh not up
his cross, and followeth not after me, is not worthy of me but they mean if
they can to find a by-path, so as not to go along the king’s highway and
pay toll at the gates, or be met by the king’s officers, or be seen by the
king’s enemies. They will, if they can, creep under a hedge when the battle
begins, and so escape the perils of the fight. Their religion gives them the
courage of a rat behind the wainscot, and no more. They do not come out
except it is at night, when nobody sees them. But this cowardice is not
intended to last for ever: they are going to be very brave one of these days:
you shall see them performing great exploits. They intend before very long
openly to say, “I am on the Lord’s side”; they will come forward and
display their colors; they will be the bravest of the brave; only not just yet.
Another time for seeing the church-officers with reference to union with
the church will pass away, and another, and another, and yet they will be
no nearer the point of decision. Their resolutions are vain thoughts, and so
I put the question, “How long?” Do fix some time or other. Do not for
ever remain a trifler with God, and his church, and his command. “How
long shall thy vain thoughts”-thy ineffectual promises of obedience to
Christ- “lodge within thee?”

Now, I shall come closely home to some here whom I love in the Lord if I
say that resolutions to be very useful, prayerful, and holy are often little
better than vain thoughts, because they are encumbered with
procrastination. There are many who love the Lord, who have never done
much for him because the time of figs is not yet. Leaves, and leaves only,
have they produced. They are live branches of the vine, although they have
not brought forth many grapes; but they cheer themselves with the
persuasion, that one of these days-they do not know quite when- they will
bring forth clusters as famous us those of Eshcol, though hitherto they
have been poor specimens of Christian professors; their mind is made up to
rise to a higher life; they will grow in grace; they will give more time to
Bible-reading and prayer; they will live nearer to God; they will grow quite
strong Christians; and when that happens then they are going to do some
great thing-I do not know quite what form their resolution is to take; but
they will do something extraordinary. They will enter the Sunday-school
and bring scores of little children to the Savior’s feet. They will commence
a class for young men: the class is sure to grow, and out of it many will
come to build up the church of God. They will become fathers or mothers
in Israel, and their children will be many: or they are going to preach at the
village stations, draw large congregations, and lead hundreds to the Savior.
They are going to serve the Lord by personal exertion, or to give to the
cause of God very largely of their substance. It has been on their hearts a
long time to be bountiful benefactors to the poor, to the church at home,
and to missionaries abroad. They have not given much yet; but before long
they intend to overflow like gushing fountains which send forth rivers of
water. They are resolving: when will they come to acting? Dear brothers
and sisters, if we had any of us done about half what we thought we should
do, we should have been tolerably fruitful branches of the vine; but we
spend so much of our time in this proposing, and then proposing again,
that we have little left for the actual performance of anything. We dream
with our eyes open, not at night when we are asleep, and are being really
refreshed, but in the day when our dreaming does no good, but merely
flatters us into a good opinion of ourselves. These are vain thoughts, for
the Lord deserves to be really served. Not with imaginary blood were you
redeemed; nor with imaginary fruit can you reward your Savior’s love. Not
with imaginary woes, nor with a painted death upon a painted cross, did
Christ ransom us from hell, and do we think to reward him with proposals,
and plans, and schemes, and fancies, and hopes, and resolves? Is this thy
kindness to thy friend? Some men brood so long over their future
intentions that they all of them become addled eggs, and nothing whatever
is hatched. O man, “whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it,” do it, do it
“with thy might.” Do not leave it for somebody else to do when you are
dead. Many make up their minds that a great thing shall be done-when they
die. When they cannot hold their money any longer, then they will give it
up-a wonderful sacrifice to God! but he that would serve God acceptably
determines, “I will give him of my substance while it is mine, and not when
it is my heir’s.” My dear friend, I would have you regret your idleness. It is
infinitely better to get to work, and perform the little which you are able to
do; to give the Lord your service while you can serve him than that you
should have to lie upstairs trying to amuse yourself or quiet the upbraidings
of a guilty conscience by proposing to do great things, which you could not
accomplish if you were to set about them, and which, indeed, you will
never even so much as attempt.

I have thus mentioned to you several groups of bad lodgers, of whom the
text says, “How long shall vain thoughts lodge within thee?” “How long,”
says God to every Christian here that has loitered, lingered, hesitated-
“how long shall vain thoughts lodge within thee?” Perform at once the
doing of that which you have resolved, if indeed the resolve is such as you
ought to have made. God help you by his sacred Spirit to lead a practical
life, and not a dreamy one.

II. Now, secondly, let me show WHAT BAD LODGERS THEY ARE. Vain
thoughts get admittance into our heads and hearts, and there they make
themselves at home, and do mischief without end. They run upstairs and
downstairs, and all over the house, and they multiply every day; but they
are dreadful pests, the worst lodgers the soul can harbor.
For, first, they are deceitful. The man that says, “When I have a more
convenient season I will send for thee,” does not send for Paul any more:
he never intended to do so. A man says, “To-morrow”; but to-morrow
never comes. When that comes which would have been “to-morrow” it is
“to-day”; and then he cries, “To-morrow,” and so multiplies lies before
God. What deceptiveness it is on the part of any man who knows to do
good and does it not, that he should think to put off God with empty
promises. Now, listen to that: “To him that knoweth to do good and doeth
it not, to him it is sin.” “Sin.” That is God’s word, not mine. But you ask
me, “To him that knoweth to do good, and truly intends to do it, does not
the intention remove the sin?” I answer decidedly, No. “To him that
knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” So long as he
refuses to do what he knows to be right he is sinning, and every minute
that he delays heaps up another sin, and so the sin multiplies like money
that is borrowed at compound interest; the amount of guilt runs up, and
you never know what it comes to. Delay in performing duty is the most
mischievous evil, doing infinite damage to the heart in which it lodges,
because it defiles it with falsehood upon falsehood, and thus provokes the
Most High. Oh, I would turn such a lodger as that out. David said, “He
that telleth lies shall not tarry in my house.” Do not suffer these vain
thoughts to lodge a day longer; for they disgrace you, and place you in
jeopardy.

Vain thoughts are bad lodgers, for they pay no rent; they bring in nothing
good to those who entertain them. There is the lodger of selfrighteousness,
for instance: what good does self-righteousness ever do to
the man who entertains it? It pretends to pay in brass farthings: it pretends
to pay, but the money is counterfeit. What good does it do to any man to
harbour in his mind the empty promise of future repentance? It often
prevents repentance. I would rather hear a man say straight out, “Now,
look here: I never mean to repent or believe, my mind is made up as to that
matter.” This, at least, is truthful: that man will, perhaps, change his mind,
or God will change it. But that other man-the soft, putty-like being, the
india-rubber man, squeeze him; pull him out; force him together again; do
what you will with him; he gets back into his old shape. There is no solid
stuff in him; you cannot make anything of him. These irresolute men,
“unstable as water,” cannot excel; they are neither good for use nor for
ornament; and we have plenty of this class: are you one of them, my
friend? If so, God help you to get rid of these bad lodgers of instability,
self-sufficiency, and constantly promising, because they pay no rent. And
so you Christian people who are always on the verge of being splendid,
you members of churches who are always going to be generous, who are
quite certain that you shall be useful, only you never are, what profit has
ever come to God or yourself from this continued hesitation? Let such a
lodger as that depart at once, for the longer he lingers the more will you
lose by him.

The next reason for the ejectment of these lodgers is this: that they are
wasting your goods and destroying your property. For instance, every
unacted resolution wastes time, and that is more precious than gold. It also
wastes thought, for to think of a thing and to leave it undone is a waste of
reflection. It is a waste of energy to be energetic about merely promising to
be energetic; it is a great waste of strength to be for ever resolving to be
strong, amid yet to remain weak. You screw yourself up to the stickingpoint,
and you are going to be holy, and yet never are so; you mean to turn
to God, and yet never do. Why, you are wasting time; you are wasting
thought; you are wasting opportunity; you are wasting the gospel under
which you sit. These had lodgers are causing you such daily loss that
before long you will be utterly ruined unless you can cleanse your house of
them. You cannot afford to give them shelter: send them packing at once.
Worse than their damaging your house, they are damaging you. Bad
lodgers will break your windows, burn your shutters, pull down your
wainscots, and do a thousand spiteful things. When they will neither pay
nor go, they will do all the mischief they can: and thus do vain thoughtsfoolish,
ineffectual thoughts-work us grievous ill; for the man that resolves
and does not carry out the resolve grows in irresolution. He that yesterday
said he would, but to-day does not, may to-day say he will, but there will
not be so much strength in his resolve as there was in that of yesterday; and
he failed yesterday, and he is still more certain to fail now. A man that has
been ten years making up his mind to think about eternity is ten degrees
less likely to do so. A man who has had ten years’ sermons earnestly driven
at him, and yet they have not penetrated him, is as one that has been ten
years hammered on the anvil, and is just so much the harder. O God, how
are men hardened, besotted, befooled, and enslaved by vain thoughts? How
long will you let these lodge within you? Shall they remain till they have
plundered you of heart and hope, and left your mind a wreck and ruin?
Worst of all, these vain thoughts are bad lodgers because they bring you
under condemnation. There have been times when to entertain certain
persons was treason, and many individuals have been put to death for
harbouring traitors. Rebels condemned to die have been discovered m a
man s house, and he has been condemned for affording them a hidingplace.
Now, God declares that these vain thoughts of yours are condemned
traitors. Are you going to harbour them any longer? If a lodger came to
your house, and after a while a policeman called and said, “You let your
front room, I think?” “Yes.” “What kind of a person is your lodger, and
what is his business?” I think after one or two visits of that kind you would
say to your lodger, “I shall be obliged if you will go somewhere else,” for
you would not enjoy the idea of having a suspected person within your
doors. Nobody does. Now, these vain thoughts, these self-righteous
thoughts, these boastings in self, they are something more than suspected:
they have been judged, and condemned to die; and, oh, let not your heart
become a haunt for things that God abhors: and when he sends a summons,
as he does to-night in the words of the text, “How long shall thy vain
thoughts lodge within thee?” oh, that God would grant you grace to drive
out the Canaanites, who will dwell in the land as long as ever they can find
a den to hide in. Let Beddome’s hymn be your prayer

“Astonish’d and distress’d,
I turn mine eyes within:
My heart with loads of guilt oppress’d,
The seat of every sin.
“What crowds of evil thoughts,
What vile affections there!
Envy and pride, deceit and guile,
Distrust and slavish fear.
“Almighty King of saints,
These tyrant lusts subdue;
Drive the old serpent from his seat,
And all my powers renew.
“This done, my cheerful voice
Shall loud hosannas raise;
My soul shall glow with gratitude,
My lips proclaim thy praise.”

III. That brings me to my closing head, which is, LET US SEE WHAT TO
DO WITH THESE BAD LODGERS.

The first thing is to give them notice to quit at once. Let there be no
waiting. When a man is converted it is done at once. There may be a long
process by which he comes up to it, and there may be a long succession of
light-breakings before he gets clear about it; but there is a turning-point.
There is a line, thin as a razor’s edge, which divides death from life, a point
of decision which separates the saved from the lost. Did you ever notice in
our Lord’s parable of the prodigal son the decision of the repenting one?
He said, “I will arise and go unto my father”; and he arose and came to his
father, and, as I heard a quaint divine say, he did not give his master a
day’s notice. The narrative tells us that he had joined himself to a citizen of
that country, who had sent him into the fields to feed swine. He ran off
there and then, just as he was. If he had gone to see his master and had
said, “Sir, I am obliged to go home and see my father,” or if he had
stopped to clean himself,-if he had stopped to purchase better linen, and a
fairer suit of clothes before he went home, he would have died of hunger at
the swine-trough. But, instead of that, he did the right thing: he ran for his
life directly; and that is what you must do. “Well, I shall, I hope,” says one.
You never will, my friend, if you get no farther than that. It must be done
at’ once. And, possibly, it is “now or never,”-ere the clock tick again. Wilt
thou have Christ, and go to heaven, or thy sins and go to hell? Quick!
Sharp! God help thee to answer aright, for on that answer may hang
eternal things. I believe that it is always so. Men decide at once, or not at
all. It was so with me. I was thinking, as I stood up here to preach, that this
is just the kind of weather in which I found the Savior. Some did not come
out that morning, it snowed so hard; but I had a heavy heart, and I wanted
to lighten it; and I went out to the place of worship, and when I heard the
gospel, and he that preached it said to me, “Look! Look, young man!
Look, now!” I did there and then look to Jesus, else had I never looked.
When the word came to me, immediately I received it. There is one heavy
knock sometimes at a man’s door, and he must open then, or no other
knock may come. I think that somebody has come in here to-night that in
God’s name I may give that knock at his heart; and if the door be opened,
and he says, “Come in, blessed Savior,” then it shall be well. The first
thing, then, ms to give notice to quit to all self-righteousness. Away with
it! Away with it! What a fool I was ever to have any! All self-confidenceaway
with it! I had better lean on a broken reed than lean on myself. To all
delays-to all hopes that I shall live another week-away with them! Away
with them! I have no ground for such hopes. Away with them. Quit, quit,
vain thoughts. Oh, that they would go at the bidding!

Suppose that these vain thoughts will not go just when you bid them
begone. I will tell you what to do to get rid of them: starve them out. Lock
the door, and let nothing enter upon which they can feed. I would have you
unconverted people say, “We confess that we have fed our vain thoughts,
but now we will not go where they can get food. We will not go to
ungodly amusements, nor into evil company, nor will we talk with idlers on
our way home.” Send into your heart what you know vain thoughts cannot
be nourished upon, what will be poison to them. Give them God’s Word.
Read it and study it, and cry to God to have mercy upon you. Do nothing
which will help these vain thoughts to live.

I will tell you a secret, and then I have done. The best way in all the world
that I know of to get rid of vain thoughts out of your house- these bad
lodgers that have gone in and that you cannot get out-is to sell the house
over (heir heads. Let the house change owners. When you have done that,
you know, it will be the new owner that will have the trouble of turning
them out; and he will do it. I recommend every sinner here that wants to
find salvation to give himself up to Christ. Come out, you vain thoughts.
They will not come out. Notice to quit we give you; and they will not go.
Now we will tell them something that will change the nature of the
struggle. Lord Jesus, I trust thee to be my Savior from every form of evil;
and I am not my own now, for thou hast bought me with a price. Ah, now
the stronger than they are has come, and he will bind the strong ones, and
he will fling them out of window, and so break them to pieces with their
fall that they shall never be able to crawl up the stairs again. He knows how
to do it. He can expel them; you cannot.

Oh, that you might have grace now to give your whole nature to your
Creator and Redeemer! Give the house over to a new owner, and let him
come, and he will drive them out, and he himself will come and live there,
and his divine Spirit will come and fill every chamber with his own
presence, and there shall be no fear that these bad lodgers shall ever come
back again.

God bless this simple word to many, for his name’s sake. Amen

We are suckers

I was listening this morning to a recording of Sinclair Ferguson speaking at SEBTS chapel and he said:

“I remember my daughter came in with enthusiasm one Sunday night.

'Dad, I can teach you to preach in a way that people would take notes of your sermon. Everybody will take notes of your sermon.'

'Tell me how.'

'It is easy. I have noticed that every time you say "there are three things you need to understand" or "three things here that you need to put into practice," the women are diving into their purses them men are scraping around for a piece of paper because as long as you can reduce it to a simple number so that they can say “now I’ve got it!”'

Sinclair then commented: “We are suckers to the end.”

He then continued to the pastors:

"And we are suckers too- 'Eight ways to improve your preaching,' 'A single technique that will make you a great preacher,' 'How to preach to the postmodern world'...

Never mind the Holy Ghost.
Never mind the text of Scripture.
You see a thousand different ways that we fall prey to this."

Be Watchful

Gentlemen,

In prepping for this coming Sunday's message, I came across an excerpt from Iaian Murray's book "Evangelicalism" which is well, well worth the five minutes it will take you to read it. It starts:

In his book on Evangelicalism, James Davison Hunter wrote: 'A dynamic would appear to be operating [in Evangelicalism] that strikes at the very heart of Evangelical self-identity'.

What is this 'dynamic'?

I believe that all the evidence points in one direction. It is that Evangelicals, while commonly retaining the same set of beliefs, have been tempted to seek success in ways which the New Testament identifies as 'worldliness'.

Read the whole thing here.

-Doug

The Coming Evangelical Collapse, etc.

Some things I found interesting lately:

A thought provoking article by Michael Spencer argues that the end of the evangelical church is fast approaching.

Mark Galli, editor of CT, responds to Spencer

R. Scott Clark responds to Galli.

Russell Moore, Dean of the School of Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, asks in an editorial in my favorite journal Touchstone (subscribe now!): "Why do our pastors and church leaders speak bluntly about homosexuality but not about divorce? Because, in many cases, they know the faces of the divorced people in the pews before them—and they fear losing the membership statistics or the revenue those faces represent."

Time Magazine has said that, of the 10 things that are now shaping the world, they rank " the new Calvinism" as number 3. What?! Quotes by Mohler, etc.