Friday, May 22, 2009
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.
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.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
"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.
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.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Friday, May 15, 2009
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.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
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
J. Gresham Machen
Monday, May 4, 2009
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?
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?
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