People still talk like this, but we don't preach like this anymore...
For some time now, I’ve been studying the practice of reading and preaching the Scriptures across the history of the church. Recently, I’ve been focusing on the Reformation. As part of that study, I came across this gem from John Calvin’s sermon on Deuteronomy 5:11 on the 3rd commandment:
Growing, Comforting, or Betrothing??
I’ve been reading the great John Owen’s Communion with the Triune God while recuperating from surgery. Great read. Hard, but utterly mind & heart changing. I long to know Christ more and more in the deep and personal sense Owen describes. I also long to pursue the purpose for pastoral ministry to which I am called and that Owen describes. Listen to this passage that well sums up what my ministry as a pastor ought to aim for, and while you're at it, think about how different it is from the purposes of most pastors (or church members for that matter):
“To this purpose we have his faithful engagement: ‘I will,’ says he, ‘betroth you unto me forever; yea, I will betroth you unto me in righteousness and in judgment, and in loving-kindness, and in mercies. I will even betroth you unto me in faithfulness’ (from Hosea 2:19-20). And it is the main design of the ministry of the gospel, to prevail with men to give up themselves unto the Lord Christ, as he reveals his kindness in this engagement. Hence Paul tells the Corinthians that he had ‘promised them to one husband, that he might present them as a chaste virgin unto Christ.’ (from 2 Corinthians 11:2). "This he prevailed upon them for, but the preaching of the gospel, that they should give up themselves as a virgin, unto him who had betrothed them to himself as a husband.” P. 154
While the romantic and sexual language may make some uncomfortable, it is the language the Bible uses to describe God’s strong emotional and volitional commitment to his relationship with us. And it is the language the Apostle uses for what every pastor’s goal is: that you would give yourself up to Christ with passionate love, devoted obedience, and unbending faithfulness. It’s a much better goal than growing a church or making people happy with the religious services I/our church provides, dontcha think? It is also a supernatural goal that I, and every other minister of the gospel, can’t possibly achieve through mere human effort. This is deep into the realm of the miraculous. Good thing this is precisely where the gospel of grace is most at home!
Why do our lives as Christians seem so powerless? The God of Our Emotions??
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about emotions. As I get ready to preach on Exodus, I’m amazed at how open God is over his emotions. For instance, let’s deal with a difficult emotion for us to admit concerning God, anger:
True Spiritual Authority is Trinitarian
True Spiritual Authority is Trinitarian
This past Sunday at services we looked at how the church that Jesus wants to love us into is a church that submits to His spiritual authority that He exercises in and through the church. For a fair number of folks, I realize this may be the first sermon we’ve heard on this subject in our lives. That is a tragedy, for it means we have been robbed of knowing and enjoying more of our Triune God. Let me explain.
The Communion of the Saints
As I prepared today for Sunday, I was studying the communion of the saints. What is the communion of the saints? It is the Spirit-created and empowered fellowship of all true believers who are united together in love by their union with Christ. They have spiritual, but tangible communion with one another as they tangibly share in corporate worship, use spiritual gifts, live together with Christian graces, share material goods and talents with one another, and speak gospel truth into one another's lives for mutual edification.
The Missional Challenge of Change
Recently, we have been studying The Church That Love Builds: What Jesus Wants to Love us into as Individuals and a Community. Over the past couple weeks, we have looked at the Mission of the church and spoken of what it means to be a “missional” church. It's why we exist; but it is far from easy because it involves change and it involves renewed focus.
Why Jesus' Kingship is Good News for Rebels...
In the opening of our series on the Church that Love builds, we saw a breath-taking glimpse of how Jesus loves the church as our prophet, priest, and king. We saw how Jesus came as the perfect prophet who reveals God to us and speaks to us as God. This is good news for it brings truth into our lives that provides real direction and wisdom.
Keeping the Main Pastoral Thing, the Main Pastoral Thing!
The past couple weeks have been, um, well challenging for me. Lot's going on in so many fronts that even a organization freak like me can't hope to keep up. I read The Tyranny of the Ugent in college and have since sought to invest in the most important things; not just the one's that screamed the loudest. But I've learned that sometimes, like the last few weeks, even important things have to get dropped because there are too many of them for one sinner to handle. So how should pastor's prioritize what are at the top of the list of not just urgent, but critically important things?
The Last 10 Minutes of the Sermon: More on the 3rd Way of the Gospel
Several weeks ago, I preached through Luke 15:11-32 on the two lost sons. We talked about the failed approached to life and love of both the younger brother (the prodigal) and the older brother (the religious type). We talked about the way to life and love found in The Third Way: The way of the gospel. It assaults our hearts through the passionate and pursuing love of the Father and it conquers us through the willing sacrifice of our true Elder Brother, Jesus.
But as beautiful as that reality is and as much as it is the way of life, it is still difficult to grasp and live! If we’re honest, we have questions. Questions arise in our minds even from our study of the Scriptures and the varied, perhaps contradictory, descriptions of the love of God. We also have questions that simply arise from our own experience (or lack thereof) of the love of God. We’re going to examine these briefly, and we’re going to find that our experiential challenges are very much due to our misunderstanding of the Scriptures over the love of God. Faith begins with knowing the truth- its value is found in the object of our trust. So if we have failed to grasp truly the nature of God’s love, then it is no wonder that our hearts will be struggling to live by faith in the daily battle of sin, suffering, and brokenness.