10 Ways to Pray for Your Pastor Search Team

By / Dec 6

God is shepherding his people even in seasons of pastoral transition. Unexpected resignations or changes in leadership do not threaten His good purposes or plans. His promises pertaining to prayer remain in uncertain seasons. He continues to work through the prayers of his people.

In fact, God may use a season of pastoral transition to deepen trust in Him. He has worked in churches looking for their next pastor and through Pastor Search Teams. Here are ten ways you can pray for your church’s Pastor Search Team.

  1. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name.

    2. Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness. (Psalm 29:2)

    Begin in prayer by recognizing who God is. Acknowledge that He is God and you are not. Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name. Praise Him for His attributes.

  2. Give glory, honor, and praise to God for his work in salvation.

    3. But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. (Psalm 13:5)

    Thank God for your own salvation and the salvation of other search team members. Ask God for more conversions even during the season of pastoral transition.

  3. Praise God for the various gifts he has given to this local church.

    4. Now there are a variety of gifts but the same Spirit… (1 Cor. 12:4)

    Thank God for the various gifts in the church and on this team. Ask God to empower those gifts for fruitful ministry and this process.

  4. Plead with God to give unity to the Pastor Search Team

    5. …eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace… (Eph 4:3)

    Ask God for a spirit of eagerness to maintain the unity of the Spirit. Recognize the various ways that the devil might foster disunity amidst the team. Present yourselves to God and commit to pursuing and maintaining this unity.

  5. Ask God to grant wisdom to the Pastor Search Team

    6. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. (James 1:5)

    Recognize that wisdom comes from God. Confess your need for wisdom and the search team’s need for wisdom in this process. Plead with God to give wisdom.

  6. Pray that God would bless and direct the candidates during this process

    7. If anyone aspires to the office of overseer he desires a noble task… (1 Tim 3:1)

    Pray that this process would be a blessing to the candidates. Pray for God to bless their families and current churches. Ask God for his direction in their lives just as he spoke to Samuel that he would speak to them.

  7. Ask God for his leadership in identifying the top candidates

    8. The LORD said to Samuel […] “I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided myself a king among his sons.” When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely, the Lord’s anointed is before him.” But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD look on the heart.” (1 Sam 16:1-7)

    Ask God to give the team insight in identifying his candidate for this church. Ask God to help the team look past what they want and to see what God wants.

  8. Intercede for the Pastor Search Team knowing that they will face spiritual warfare

    9. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. (1 Peter 5:8-9)

    Thank God for his victory over the devil. Ask for God’s protection for the Pastor Search Team knowing that this season will bring spiritual warfare. Plead with God to give the team all that is needed in this warfare.

  9. Ask God to give the church a spirit of support towards the Pastor Search Team

    10. Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken. (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12)

    Ask God for a spirit of support among the team. Ask God to prevent any spirit of unhealthy suspicion or malice. Pray that God would use the church to practically encourage the Pastor Search Team through the process

  10. Praise God that the future of the church is in his hands

    11. I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:18)

    Praise God for the finished work of Christ which established the church. Praise God for the ongoing work of Christ through the church.

    Note: This prayer guide was originally developed for the SBC of Virginia state convention of churches.



The Glory of Church Graveyards

By / Nov 29

Every couple of months, I go for a walk around our church graveyard. I have called it a cemetery for the longest time, but it’s actually a graveyard. Graveyards are connected to a church. Cemeteries are not.

As I walk through the graveyard, I visit the graves of saints that have passed on since I have been pastor and I remember them. I’m encouraged by their graves to keep pressing forward in pastoral ministry.

I once spoke with a pastor who told me, “I don’t like church graveyards. That’s just a picture that you are a dying church.” I thought that was quite silly. A church graveyard often means that the church has lasted for decades and decades as saints have labored there to preach the Gospel and build up the body.

It’s sad that many new churches that are started do not get to have a graveyard. Most of the time, I get it. If you plant a church in downtown Boston, you can’t really have a graveyard attached to it. But, how much we lose when our church doesn’t have a graveyard.

Here are five reasons I think there is glory in a church having a graveyard attached to it.

#1 It reminds us of our own death as we enter worship

The fact is, we in America rarely think of our own mortality, especially if we are young. We kind of know in the back of our minds that we will die someday, but it’s still a long way off, right? Wrong. In our church graveyard, there are people of all ages. We have several babies buried in our graveyard that were only a few days old. We have kids buried there. We have people in our graveyard that were in their 40s and 50s when they died. Every person in the graveyard that died at old age were at one time my age. And now they are gone. And so will my life be. So every day when I see that graveyard, I am reminded I will die and that causes me to consider my life and value what is important. It causes me to make my life about the right things and not waste it.

#2 It gives you the church history in a physical way

Our church graveyard has tombstones in it of people born before the Civil War. There are tombstones you can’t even read anymore because they have weathered so much. It’s very easy to see where the graveyard began and how it has slowly spread out over the last 132 years. Our church also has a book recounting the history of the church from 1890 to 2003 when it was written. So I can easily go out and connect graves to names in that history book. It gives me a physical church history to have a graveyard.

#3 It fleshes out Hebrews 12:1-2

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” -Hebrews 12:1-2

Hebrews 11 is known as the hall of faith. It goes through the whole story of the Old Testament and shows how God worked through the faithfulness of His people. And it concludes with 12:1-2, implying that it’s not just the Old Testament saints, but also every saint. All the saints that have gone before us are cheering us on to continue running the race and not give up.

The church graveyard is that cloud of witnesses. There was a dear senior saint in our church that passed away in 2020 named Evelyn. Evelyn treated me like I had been her pastor her entire life, yet I was only her pastor for 14 months before she died. The Lord sovereignly planned it that Evelyn would be buried right in line with the window at my desk in my office. So any time I am in my office discouraged and wanting to give up, I see her grave out there and it’s like she’s telling me, “Keep going. Look to Jesus.”

The church graveyard is a cloud of witnesses telling those in Christ that are still living to keep going.

#4 It gives mourning people a chance to continue processing their grief in sight of the church

On a regular basis, I’m in my office and see people pull up and get out of their car to stand at the grave of their loved ones. It’s pretty common that people do this right after the death. And when they do, they are right in line with the church. They aren’t out in the city with no one around to turn to in the midst of their grief. There have been many times as pastor that I have seen them out there and walked out to say hello while they were mourning. I’ve often been met with a look of comfort that someone was there and saw them struggling.

#5 It is an epic preparation for the second coming of Jesus

On the day Jesus returns, the graves are gonna bust open. What a glorious sight it’s gonna be! The saved and the unsaved will both be raised, but in different ways. The saved will be caught up in the clouds with Jesus. A cemetery in the city might have various pockets of saved people come forth. But imagine a church graveyard where hopefully the majority of those buried there are saved. Imagine the sight it’s gonna be when the whole field erupts like a resurrection volcano!

Church graveyards are not a sign the church is dying. There is much glory in them.



Who Will Walk These Streets?

By / Nov 28

As the nights darkness caves in, your feet tread the dusty, narrow, corridor-streets
High cement walls nestle your traveled bones; enclosing you completely into the dense life surrounding you
Heavy doors rest half open, handles of all different designs worn from overuse
Windows sit like eyes, wide-open, waiting
Waiting for someone, something, to bring forth a light to illuminate the darkness
Voices simmer, cats scatter, and bread is broken, but the air remains weighty
Every home holds souls, blindly sleeping to the eternal wrath awaiting them
Despite the soft light spilling through the cracks, darkness echoes and light is void
But
Your feet are walking these streets
An everlasting flame rips brightly through your soul, only concealed by skin and bones
Tears sting your eyes as Hope wells, though sin abounds, Grace abounding all the more
And suddenly, you’re looking into the heavy eyes of a void heart, begging the Father to wake the unaware, sleeping soul
Your lips part and the breeze softens
The night air stands still
And a name is whispered among the voices
Jesus.
A small light strikes the black night
The darkness trembles
For the first murmur of truth has brushed the concrete rooftops
And your feet that were made for walking
O how beautiful they are
The feet of those who bring good news.

Family of Christ, what kind of people will we be? Those that actively pursue the lost or those that passively stand by? Be careful not to forget the millions of souls, now as we read, waiting to be breached with the Gospel. We are the Church, the weak vessels privileged to be used by our mighty God! Let us call to mind Jesus’ exhortation to his disciples in John 4:34-35, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest…”

I pray this simple poem, written in an unreached village of North Africa, where the fields are ready today for reaping, stirs your soul to labor with all zeal in making disciples of all nations.



Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue: Reflections on Five Days in South Korea

By / Nov 15

I recently had the opportunity to visit ministry partners and church leaders in South Korea with MBTS Provost, Jason Duesing, and Dean of Asian Studies, Sun Jin Park. I wrote these reflections for my team at Midwestern Seminary and was later encouraged to submit the piece for a broader audience. I hope you enjoy my reflections on our time overseas.

Something Old

I knew that Eastern culture was a traditional culture, with formalities and pleasantries embedded into everyday life. I did not know just how embedded these customs would feel. As this was my first trip to Asia, I was overwhelmed by the perpetual politeness and steady stream of service coming my way. The bowing, the greetings, the ushering, the gifts, the food… The Food… THE FOOD. I was honored to be the guest everywhere we went, but I was also ready to be something other than a guest. I suppose this is how our Korean students feel, except I wonder if they ever feel like our guests in the first place? Knowing now what they expect a guest to receive, I am somewhat ashamed at how little I notice or welcome them with hospitality that is befitting of a heavenly host. I walk away from this experience much more acquainted with Eastern culture and hope to bring a little of it back for our Eastern students at home.

Something New

During one evening’s dinner, Dr. Jason Duesing and I were able to hear Dr. Minsoo Sim (a professor in the doctoral program at MBTS) describe the identity of the Korean people. In Korean-English, he reiterated repeatedly that Koreans are “fast, fast!” What makes Koreans unique from other Asian counterparts is their smarts and their hustle. They are “geniuses,” he claims, and they are willing to make a move when others are not. They hustle when others slog behind. Quite literally, if you go walking with a Korean, they are not walking. They are scurrying. This is who they are.

One of the values I have appreciated during my time at Midwestern Seminary is our commitment to a “fast, fast” strategy. The new Korean undergraduate program at Spurgeon College is a great example. We noticed a need for more theological education among the younger Korean demographic, and we went for it. There are countless other similar initiatives over the years that have been launched with great hustle and strategic speed. We pride ourselves in being an agile institution, ready to spring for action when the moment is right. There’s no room for dilly-dallying when Christ’s mission is urgent. I hope we will continue this culture of hustle, and perhaps learn a thing or two along the way from our “fast, fast” Korean friends.

Something Borrowed

Upon arrival in the country, I was immediately struck by English signage everywhere – on street signs, buildings, walkways, packaging, checkout counters – you name it. These markers were just small symbols of how modernized and westernized the country has become. Unfortunately, we have imported the bad with the good. Just as one can travel to the liberal coasts of the States and find more dogs than children, so also in Korea, there is a rising denigration of family life. South Korea is ageing faster than any other developed nation in the world. They have an extremely low fertility rate of 1.05 children born to women of child-bearing age. This is one of the most significant problems facing their country today, and most citizens do not even see it.

As we partner with their churches and train their future leaders, we must help them disciple families to prioritize children. How can we do this? I do not ultimately know. But I do know that a church without littles will soon be a church without elders. Let’s continue to pray that their churches – along with ours – recover vibrant homes for the gospel’s sake.

Something Blue

Near the end of our trip, we were able to visit the Demilitarized Zone between North Korea and South Korea. The experience was sad and sobering. It was “blue,” you might say.

While there, visitors are able to scale a perch and look over a valley with barbed-wire fence separating the North from the South. Through binoculars, one can survey North Koreans in the distant rice patties and statues glorifying the Kim regime.

As you engage the tour, you learn about South Korea’s Dorasan Train Station, which contains an international customs facility built in 2002 along the North Korean border. The customs facility has never been used. It contains a ticking clock counting the hours since the peninsula was divided in the 1950’s, and it sits in waiting for the day when the North reunites with their kin in the South.

Before walking into an underground tunnel (dug by North Koreans who hoped to surprise-attack the South decades ago), there is a short video explaining the DMZ. Halfway through the video, I noticed one word sneaking into the script repeatedly: “Peace.” The experience was oxymoronic. How can South Koreans be so convinced of a peace that does not exist? Why do they hold such hope for a reunification that is not coming?

What makes for such hope? I think it is heartbreak. The North Koreans are not ugly enemies to Southerners. They are family. They are not “another country.” They are them. They recite the mantra of “peace” and “reunification” because that’s what the heart does when someone so loved is so lost. You hope against all hope. Perhaps this is the heart of the Father on the porch in Luke 15, waiting for his prodigal son. And perhaps this is the heart of evangelists, waiting for friends and family in the far country. We who are God’s people should be heart-broken for our long-lost brothers in the world until they come to their senses, until they change, until they come back.

Until they do, let us recite one word… over and over. “Peace.”



Principles for Seeing and Celebrating Christ in His Scriptures

By / Nov 3

Editor’s Note: The following post is taken from Five Views of Christ in the Old Testament edited by Andrew King and Brian Tabb. Copyright © 2022 by Zondervan. Used by permission of Zondervan. harpercollinschristian.com

My redemptive-historical, Christocentric approach identifies at least seven possible ways of faithfully magnifying Christ in the Old Testament. All seven principles assume that we are reading the Old Testament through the lens of Christ, for only in him are we empowered to see, live, and hope as God intended from the beginning.13

1. See and Celebrate Christ through the Old Testament’s Direct Messianic Predications (P1)

Christ fulfills the Old Testament as the specific focus or goal of direct messianic predictions and redemptive-historical hopes. The Old Testament contains many explicit and implicit predictions.14 For example, Peter agrees that Isaiah’s words directly predict the Messiah: “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds we have been healed” (1 Pet 2:24 ESV; cf. Isa 53:5).

2. See and Celebrate Christ through the Old Testament’s Salvation-Historical Story and Trajectories (P2)

Scripture’s entire story line progresses from creation to the fall to redemption to consummation and highlights the work of Jesus as the decisive turning point in salvation history (cf. Luke 16:16; Gal 3:24– 26). Five major covenants guide this story line, each of which finds its terminus in Christ (Adamic/Noahic, Abrahamic, Mosaic, David, new).15 Furthermore, various themes develop or progress as God gradually reveals more of himself and his ways, including covenant, God’s kingdom, law, temple and God’s presence, atonement, and mission. Christ fulfills all of the Old Testament’s salvation-historical trajectories.

3. See and Celebrate Christ through the Similarities and Contrasts of the Old and New Ages, Creations, and Covenants (P3)

Jesus’s saving work creates both continuities and discontinuities between the old and new ages, creations, and covenants. For example, while both the new and old covenants contain a similar structure (i.e., God redeems and then calls his people to obey), only the new covenant supplies free- dom from sin and power for obedience to all covenant members; the old covenant did not change hearts (Deut 29:4; Rom 8:3). Similarly, whereas Adam disobeyed and brought death to all, Christ obeys and brings life to many (Rom 5:18–19). Whereas access to Yahweh’s presence in the temple was restricted to the high priest on the Day of Atonement, Christ’s priestly work opens the way for all in him to enjoy God’s pres- ence (Heb 9:24–26; 10:19–22). These kinds of similarities and contrasts between the old and new ages, creations, and covenants encourage a messianic reading of the Old Testament within the redemptive-historical approach.

4. See and Celebrate Christ through the Old Testament’s Typology (P4)

The author of Hebrews said the Old Testament law was “a shadow of the good things to come” (Heb 10:1), and Paul spoke similarly (Col 2:16–17). In the New Testament, these anticipations and pointers are called “types” or “examples” (Rom 5:14; 1 Cor 10:6) that in turn find their counter in Jesus as their ultimate realization. God structured the progressive development of salvation history in such a way that certain Old Testament characters (e.g., Adam, Melchizedek, Moses, David), events (e.g., the f lood, the exodus, the return to the land), and insti- tutions or objects (e.g., the Passover lamb, the temple, the priesthood) bear meanings that clarify and predictively anticipate the Messiah’s life and work.

5. See and Celebrate Christ through Yahweh’s Identity and Activity (P5)

When we meet Yahweh in the Old Testament, we are catching glimpses of the coming Christ. Recall that Jesus said that “no one has ever seen God” the Father except the Son ( John 1:18; 6:46), but that “whoever has seen me has seen the Father” ( John 14:9 ESV). Minimally, this means that those who saw God in the Old Testament enjoyed preliminary and partial glimpses of his glory (Exod 33:18–23). It also may imply that, at least in some instances where Yahweh becomes embodied in a human form in the Old Testament, we may be meeting the preincarnate Son (e.g., Gen 18:22; 32:24–30; Josh 5:13–15). Additionally, since the New Testament identifies Jesus with Yahweh (cf. Phil 2:10–11; Isa 45:23), when we hear God speaking or acting in the Old Testament as the object of people’s faith, we are seeing the very one who would embody himself in the person of Jesus (see, e.g., Heb 11:26; Jude 5).

6. See and Celebrate Christ through the Ethical Ideals of Old Testament Law and Wisdom (P6)

The Old Testament’s laws and wisdom provide fodder to magnify Christ’s greatness. The Mosaic law pointed to the importance for Christ in the way it identified and multiplied sin (Rom 3:20; 5:20), imprisoned the sinful (Gal 3:10, 13, 22), and showed everyone’s need for atonement. The law by its nature, therefore, predicted Christ as “the end of the law” (Rom 10:4 ESV).

Moreover, as God’s word was made flesh, Jesus manifests in his person the essence of every ethical ideal aligned with Yahweh’s revealed will, and he then imputes this perfection to believers (Rom 5:18–19; cf. Phil 3:9). When you observe how the Old Testament law and wisdom express ethical ideals, know that the justifying work of the divine Son fulfills them all.

7. See and Celebrate Christ by Using the Old Testament to Instruct or Guide Others in the Law of Love (P7)

Jesus came not “to abolish the Law or the Prophets . . . but to fulfill them” (Matt 5:17), and the way he fulfills the various precepts guides our pursuit of love. While old covenant instruction no longer bears direct authority in the Christian’s life, it still indirectly guides us when read through the mediation of Christ (2 Tim 3:15–16). Through Christ, the very texts that used to condemn now lead us in a life of love, and God empowers such love (Rom 13:8–10) by changing our hearts and filling us with his Spirit (Ezek 36:27; Rom 2:26, 29). The Old Testament helps guide our Christian obedience, and every step of this obedience magnifies Jesus’s sanctifying work.

 

  1. For more on these seven areas, see Jason S. DeRouchie, “Question 3: How Does Biblical Theology Help Us See Christ in the Old Testament?,” in DeRouchie, Martin, and Naselli, 40 Questions about Biblical Theology, 41–47.
  2. For a few examples, see Gen 22:17–18 with Gal 3:8, 14; Ezek 34:23 with John 10:16; Micah 5:2 with Matt 2:6.
  1. See Jason S. DeRouchie, “Question 22: What Is a Biblical Theology of the Covenants?,” in DeRouchie, Martin, and Naselli, 40 Questions about Biblical Theology, 215–26.


Five Views of Christ in the Old Testament

By / Oct 25

An Interview with Andrew M. King and Jason S. DeRouchie

Andrew M. King serves as Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies at Midwestern Seminary and Spurgeon College and Assistant Dean of Spurgeon College. Jason S. DeRouchie serves as Research Professor of Old Testament and Biblical Theology at Midwestern Seminary and Spurgeon College. Their latest book, Five Views of Christ in the Old Testament, explores five different approaches on how the Old Testament points to Christ. King served as an editor for the publication and DeRouchie contributed one of the five views.

In the book, views and contributors include:

  • The First Testament Priority View, John Goldingay
  • The Christotelic View, Tremper Longman III
  • The Redemptive-Historical Christocentric View, Jason S. DeRouchie
  • The Reception-Centered Intertextual View, Havilah Dharamraj
  • The Premodern View, Craig Carter

They both joined me to answer a few questions about their book and the importance of Christ in the Old Testament.

BF: What inspired you and your fellow editor Brian J. Tabb to initiate this new book Five Views of Christ in the Old Testament? How did you narrow down the contributors for this publication? 

AK: I attended a session at the Evangelical Theological Society in 2019 on the topic of Christ in the Old Testament. Dr. DeRouchie was a presenter alongside other Old Testament scholars. There was standing room only, as attendees eagerly heard different perspectives on this question. I thought about how to bring this important conversation to a broader Christian audience. Dr. DeRouchie connected me with Dr. Tabb and we submitted a proposal to the publisher. We sought to find scholars who represented different approaches. We assembled a long list of potential contributors for the major views out there and worked with Zondervan to find the best fit.

In the book, you had the opportunity to engage with four differing views on Christ in the Old Testament. What was the experience like to interact with scholars on this topic in a publication like this?

JD: Faithful study includes observing carefully, understanding rightly, and evaluating fairly. All three of these habits of heart and mind were tested in this exchange of perspectives, and the topic required me to work very hard in the strength God supplied to accurately represent and critique my counterparts in humble and accurate ways that remained true to what I believe the Bible teaches. The interaction also forced me to critique and refine my own approach and presentation and to trust the Lord to guide readers in their own evaluations.    

Why is this topic of Christ in the Old Testament so important for Christians today? 

AK: The question of seeing the relationship of Jesus to the Old Testament is fundamentally about how we understand the nature of Scripture and how the two Testaments of our Bible fit together. As a people of the Book, Christians desire to read their Bible’s well. Through seeing seasoned scholars wrestle with the biblical text with an eye towards Christ, readers can grow in their own interpretive skills. We desire to be more faithful in our interpretation so we can worship rightly and be on mission fruitfully. On the road to Emmaus, Jesus called the men he spoke with “foolish and slow of heart” for failing to see how the Old Testament bore witness to him. Our hope is that this volume, in part, will help believers today avoid a similar rebuke.

You defend the redemptive-historical Christocentric approach in the book. Can you give us a preview of your chapter by briefly explaining the heart behind the redemptive-historical Christocentric approach?

 JD: An approach that is redemptive-historical is one that accounts for how God’s work and purposes in Scripture progress, integrate, and climax in Christ, and how all faithful biblical interpretation must account for the way Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection inform and influence everything God is doing in space and time (Luke 16:16; Gal 3:23–26). Through Jesus God discloses mysteries (Mark 4:10; Rom 16:25–26), allows shadows to reach their substance (Col 2:16–17), and inaugurates a new creation (2 Cor 5:17; Gal 6:15), new covenant (Luke 22:20; Heb 9:15), and new law (1 Cor 9:21; Gal 6:2). A redemptive-historical approach requires that we consider every text in view of its close, continuing, and complete contexts within Scripture as a whole to fully discern what God meant in any passage.

By Christocentric I mean that all we do and teach is in some way tied to the cross (1 Cor. 2:2). Indeed, we need to interpret Scripture through Christ and for Christ. To interpret through Christ means that we start our reading as those believing in Jesus, with God having awakened our spiritual senses to see and hear rightly (1 Cor 2:14; 2 Cor 3:14). To interpret for Christ means that we recognize that that Old Testament history (Mark 1:14), prophecy (Acts 3:18), law (Rom 10:4), and promises (2 Cor 1:20) point to Jesus, that he fulfills all of them (Matt 5:17–18), and that the Spirit who inspired the biblical text is working to glorify the Son through it all (John 16:13–14; cf. 1 Pet 1:11). Christian biblical interpretation reaches its end only after we have beheld Jesus’s glory and found him transforming us into his image (2 Cor 3:18).

What do you hope readers will take from this book? 

AK: We have designed this book to allow each contributor to “put their cards on the table.” Every essay unpacks the presuppositions necessary for the view, the specific steps readers must take to follow the approach presented, and three case studies from different genres of Scripture. In all of this, readers can see the process of each view from start to finish. The critiques of each view from the other contributors raise important objections that readers can evaluate. Our hope is that by the end of the book, readers will not simply align with a particular view, but have a robust toolkit for their own study of Scripture. We hope this book will help believers do their personal devotions more faithfully, preach and teach more boldly, and exalt our Triune God globally.

What encouragement would you give to readers as they pick up this book?

JD: Readers must be very discerning with their Bible’s open as they consider the multiple views in this volume. The book’s format may suggest that any of these perspectives are viable options for Christians, but readers should not assume this from the start. The discerning reader will ask questions like:

  1. Is this scholar approaching Scripture as God’s unified Word (2 Tim 3:16) and allowing Scripture’s claims in both the Old and New Testaments to stand?
  2. Does this proposal require biblical warrant for the way it presents seeing Christ in the Old Testament?
  3. Does the view allow Christians to try “to convince” others “about Jesus from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets” (Acts 28:23)?
  4. Do the claims affirm with Jesus that “the Scriptures … bear witness about me” (John 5:39), that “Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day” (8:56), and that Moses indeed “wrote of me” (5:46)?
  5. Does this perspective agree with the apostles that (a) Isaiah spoke as he did “because he saw [Jesus’s] glory and spoke of him” (12:41), (b) “what God foretold by the mouth of all his prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled” (Acts 3:18; cf. 10:43), (c) “the gospel of God … concerning his Son” was “promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures” (Rom 1:1–3), (d) “it was revealed to [those prophets] that they were serving not themselves but you” (1 Pet 1:12), (e) the meaning of Scripture’s “spiritual truths” can only be “spiritually discerned” by “those who are spiritual” (1 Cor 2:13–14), and (f) “only through Christ” are minds softened to “read the old covenant” in a way that lets us “behold the glory of the Lord” so that we are in turn “transformed” into his image (2 Cor 3:14, 18)?

 

Editor’s Note: Five Views of Christ in the Old Testament is now available for purchase.



There is a Crack in Everything (Including Us)

By / Oct 19

The beginning of blessedness—and the beginning of real change—is not in realizing that we are okay, but in realizing that we are not okay.

It is not in becoming convinced that we are superior to everyone else, but that we are no better than anyone else.

It is not in believing that we are strong and capable and competent, but in accepting that we are frail and incapable and weak, while also being fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14).

It is not in thinking that God expects us to be awesome and prettied-up and all put together, but in gaining confidence that God has first and foremost, in Christ, caused us to be forgiven, loved, faithful and free. It is from this humble place—and only from this place—that we have any chance of growing into the virtues of Christ.

It is only when we can cry out, “God, have mercy on me, the sinner” that we are sent home justified, blameless in his sight, and confident in his love (Luke 18:9-14). As a pastor friend of mine has said, “God does not love us to the degree that we are like Christ. Rather, God loves us to the degree that we are in Christ. And that’s one hundred percent.”

It is essential that every journey in Christ begin with the realization that none of us has the ability to get better apart from the redeeming and restoring work of Jesus in our lives.

The first step in becoming like Jesus is acknowledging how unlike Jesus we are. We must not suppress the doubts we have about ourselves. Instead, we must start listening to those doubts and applying the truth about Jesus to them. We must not try to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. Rather, we must realize that we don’t even have boots. We must not merely think that we have problems. Rather, we must understand that we are our own biggest problem, our own worst nightmare, our own worst enemy.

As Shakespeare quipped, “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves.”

In his commentary on the Sermon on the Mount, Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones shares a similar perspective on our human condition:

The first thing you must realize, as you look at that mountain which you are told you must ascend, is that you cannot do it, that you are utterly incapable in and of yourself, and that any attempt to do it in your own strength is proof positive that you have not understood it.

God’s call on our lives, then, is first and foremost not a call to action but a call to brokenness and contrition, for a broken and contrite heart he will not despise (Psalm 51:17).

So how do we grow toward holiness? As my friend and songwriter Tom Douglas often says, “We stumble on.” This may feel contradictory, but the call remains: In the midst of our being fractured and frail, we continue our journey towards becoming more like Jesus.

The Apostle Paul’s wish for the first-century Galatians is still our Lord’s wish for us today: that Christ be formed in us (Galatians 4:19) and that the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control—become the most dominant, visible, increasing, and operative attributes of our lives (Galatians 5:22-23).

Though we will remain less-than-completed and conflicted and beset by sin until our last breath, we cannot allow ourselves to ignore our pursuit of Christ and his Spirit-filled virtues. Even though we will never fully attain it in this life, we must continue to strive with all the energy Christ supplies toward the perfection for which we were made—recognizing that even the striving is a gift given to us by him.

And even our flaws and frailties and the acknowledgment thereof is a grace, a sign of God’s kingdom at work in us. As Leonard Cohen has said, “There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.”

From beginning to end, our confidence is not in ourselves, but in God. He began a good work in us, and he will be faithful to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:6). In the same way that he saved us, he will ultimately complete us—by grace, through faith, and in Christ, so that God alone might receive the glory.

And whenever God gets glory, we will get joy.

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published at scottsauls.com. 



Political Gospel

By / Oct 18

Editor’s Note: This post is excerpted with permission from Political Gospel by Patrick Schreiner. Copyright 2022, B&H Publishing. This book is available everywhere Christian books are sold.

Christianity is political. Though it might sound crazy in our supercharged political climate, I don’t think the average Christian is nearly political enough.

It has become a truism to state that Jesus didn’t come with a political message. As the common trope goes, though Israel expected a warrior-king to come riding on a white horse to over-throw Rome, he came with a spiritual message about their hearts. Jesus simply wants a relationship with you.

The problem is, this is a half-truth.

Jesus made a political announcement. He declared himself to be King. We have one ruler to whom we are loyal.

Kanye West popularized this political message with his album Jesus Is King. However, many still think “Jesus is King” means, “He is Lord of my life.” We forget Jesus is more than that; he is the King of kings.

Jesus was not “conservative” or “progressive,” but we must not miss the politics of Jesus. The whole biblical storyline can be put under the banner of politics.

  • God put humans here to rule the earth.
  • Sin is insurrection.
  • Redemption is the offer of amnesty and citizenship in a new kingdom.
  • Restoration is the empire come.

Rule out politics, and you throttle the proclamation of God’s saving power. Almost all the vocabulary of salvation (justification, peace, faithfulness, and kingdom of God) has a political dimension. The substance of Christian hope at its foundation is political. Thus, Jesus was not merely urging a revolution in personal values. He was not aloof to political concerns; it was the very purpose of his coming.

I hope to show you that the spheres of religion and politics are not only partially overlapping, but completely and wholly overlapping. Yet, maybe not in the way you think.

Politics Defined

When you hear me arguing for a more “political” understanding of the gospel message, you might mistakenly assume a few things.

First, you might think I’m speaking about a partisanship. Many equate being political with being partisan, but politics is larger than partisanship. I’m not arguing we should do more wheeling and dealing along party lines, or that pastors should endorse candidates. I’m not arguing Jesus can be smuggled into one of our political parties or that preachers should be more like politicians. That is not what I mean by “political.”

Second, you might think I’m arguing for the merging of church and state. While instituting Christian law into our political processes is a complex topic, we need to recognize the authority of the church and the authority of governing officials are distinct. We must not imitate imperialist forms of religion: the Spanish Inquisition, Charlemagne, the cross-carrying conquistadors, the Nazi co-option of Christianity— these are all corruptions of Christianity’s political vision. We have seen through history that using political power to implement God’s law ends in disaster.

If I don’t mean these things, then what do I mean?

My subject is politics in the historical sense of the word. I mean politics in terms of public life, the ordering of society, enacting justice, and the arranging of common goods.

“Political” simply means the activities associated with the organization and governance of people. It has to do with rulership and who has the right to order our lives. It is what happens in the public domain. To paraphrase Augustine, politics is people bound together by common loves.[1]

Politics comes from the Greek word polis which means city, or politikia meaning the affairs of the cities. In some ways, “a political gospel” simply means a public reality, and the governance of that public activity, as opposed to a private or individualistic one.

God is sovereign over the whole world, not merely the inner reaches of the human heart. His project includes the ordering of society, of public life, the establishment of a coming city, and even its present manifestation in the church.

But I’m also not merely suggesting Christianity has political implications. Christianity is itself a politic.

It is an all-encompassing vision of the world and human life. This all-encompassing vision is meant to be enacted in the church, showcased to our neighbors, and spread to the world.

Politics answers the questions: How do we live together? How do we deal with money? How do we treat our enemies? What is authority? How should we love? Whom should we love? What does it mean to be human? How do we form communities? What is justice? Who is in charge? And how do we disagree?

Politics is simply how we partner together for the flourishing of humanity and the world. We must open the horizon of politics past partisanship and allow God to have his say again. Christian politics concerns how we integrate our confession that Jesus is Lord with our call to love our neighbors.

Many people wonder if Jerusalem has anything to do with Athens, but it should also be asked whether Bethlehem has anything to say about Rome? The answer is actually quite easy.

King Herod, the puppet of Rome, didn’t kill the baby boys in Bethlehem because a spiritual guru was born. He killed them because a new Ruler had arrived, and he knew his days were numbered.

That is why Jesus was crucified on a Roman cross. Why Peter was crucified by Nero upside-down. Why Paul was beheaded by the same Caesar. Their messages were the tremors of a new regime.

[1] Augustine, City of God, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1.



I Don’t Want To Be A Pastor Anymore

By / Oct 13

Twenty-something months into pastoring through this pandemic on a Thursday afternoon I had to reckon with the thought, “I don’t want to do this anymore.” I don’t want to be a pastor anymore. In 18 years of vocational ministry and nearly 8 years as pastor here, there have been times of burnout and leading from a place of emptiness. But this was different. This had been a season where every decision feels like a bad one and the Church seems divided on every issue imaginable. I wanted out. If “bearing with one another in love” met “seventy times seven,” I felt like I had reached the tipping point. I was done. It wasn’t one thing in particular. It’s the endless drip, drip, drip that had finally worn me down.

I hadn’t been sleeping well. I began to be short with my kids and distant from my wife. And I couldn’t see an end in sight. With the Fall approaching and everyone getting back into their routine after Summer, this should be the time when we are ramping things up. But I was drowning and I simply didn’t think I had it in me. And I didn’t need anybody’s Jesus jukes or platitudes.

So, I talked to a friend. Then my wife (I know… I should’ve talked to her first. But it’s that kind of constant criticism that led me to this place) Jenny & I went for a walk. I vented. She lovingly listened. We got home. Talked some more. I cried. A lot. I didn’t know what to do. I love my church and I love what God lets me do, but I knew I just couldn’t keep doing what I’ve been doing.

Then came the gracious ultimatum from my wife: “Either you can talk to the elders or I will.” So… I reached out to these faithful brothers that I get to shepherd alongside, told them I was struggling, and asked them to pray for me. They did, and I am so grateful for them. I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for God’s grace shown to me through these brothers.

Over the next few days I met with a few of these brothers individually then we met together as a group like we do every Tuesday at 6:15am. I was honest. They let me vent. They offered encouragement & correction where it was needed. And we prayed.

Sometimes it’s in difficult days like those that God reminds me of His Faithfulness. Here’s a few lessons I learned:

  1. There’s still work to do in my heart.

My nagging, Narcissistic Messiah Complex still needs to be put to death (among many other besetting sins). Colossians 3:5a reminds us to “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you.” By God’s grace, I’ve come a long way with this, but the Spirit reminded me He has yet to complete the good work He has started in me (Phil. 1:6). And the know-it-all, please everyone, fix everything because it all depends on my nature that shows up sometimes still has a ways to go! But I’m confident, The Spirit will complete that work as well!

  1. My wife is a gracious gift that I often overlook.

In Andrew Peterson’s song “My One Safe Place” he writes about his wife, “And I know that you’re broken too, but you are a sacrament God has spoken through. He has spoken through you.” This certainly wasn’t the first time God has spoken through Jenny. I know it won’t be the last. But I thank God for the grace He has shown me through my wife over the last 17 years. She really is my safe place.

  1. A Grace-filled Church Culture shines even on the dark days.

In a meeting several years ago that was tumultuous, to say the least, our worship pastor, Josh Hilliker said something that has defined us in many ways since that day. In the midst of some tough times, he said, “The Gospel frees us to have hard conversations.” Man, has that stuck with me! And I thank God that though our Church isn’t perfect, He has shaped us into a people that are free to be transparent. To be honest. To have hard conversations. When I was struggling with whether or not I had it in me to continue on I didn’t run from our elders, I ran toward them (with my wife’s nudging, of course). But even that is a gift. My wife, while I was in despair, loved me and then said without hesitation, call the elders! I’ve been in Churches where that wouldn’t have been the case. But not here. Even though we have a long way to go as a Church, God has created a culture where brokenness, transparency, and honesty are welcomed, not shunned. That has been a salve for my weary soul!

Dear Pastor, you are not alone! A lot of us are struggling. Some of us have thought seriously about quitting. But don’t give up. The God that began this good work in you is going to complete it! So breathe. It’s all gonna be alright.

And if you’re not a pastor but you are a Christian, check on your pastor. There’s a good chance he’s struggling. He probably needs a little encouragement. Or a lot. Just let him know you love him and appreciate him. It’ll mean the world to him.

I’ll talk to Jenny first next time.



Legal Issues in Biblical Counseling

By / Oct 5

Editor’s Note: This article is excerpted with permission from Legal Issues in Biblical Counseling by Dale Johnson, published by New Growth Press. This book is available everywhere Christian books are sold.

The origin of this book lies in the numerous questions I have received regarding the application of scriptural principles to legal issues.

The pressures on pastors are immense. Pastors ask questions that express the tensions between honoring the government and acting as proper authorities within the church. Pastors wrestle with fear of incurring legal liability and a fear of God that compels them to engage in messy and broken lives. Pastors want to shepherd their flocks. They want to provide soul care, but they are often uncertain about the legal ramifications for them personally, for their flocks, and for the wider church body.

Three broad threats, and several smaller ones, confront the church. The first is the threat to religious liberty. This may not have been an issue in the middle of the twentieth century, but it is now. We want to safeguard the freedom of religion guaranteed in our Constitution, but we need to remember that this freedom comes with the responsibility to remain faithful to Christ as supreme authority, no matter what the government in this country or any other may decree.

The pressures on the church are not simply judicial or legislative; they are also cultural. The tide of the culture is turning, resulting in a moral code that in some significant ways contradicts scriptural morality. In the middle of the twentieth century, there was a shift in the Western world toward a relativistic view of morality, which allowed for a different “truth” for each individual.

More recently, another shift has occurred, this time to a new cultural morality that demands conformity of everyone. Those who do not conform must pay in some way. The Bible, with its moral absolutes, is no longer viewed by the culture as one of several ways toward good, as it was during the period of relativism. Rather, the Bible and those who promote it by their lives or their teaching are looked on as opposing the cultural milieu. The conflict between the morality of the culture and biblical morality is giving rise to legal threats to the freedom of religion. We need to be aware of cultural and legal trends so that we do not lose the freedom to express our religion with a free conscience and in lives lived quietly and peacefully according to Scripture.

The second threat is to orthodoxy. There are two ways ortho- doxy is threatened. It is threatened when we neglect the truths from Scripture in our doctrinal confessions. But orthodoxy is also threatened when the church fails to act upon the doctrinal truths it teaches. Revelation from God has a purpose that extends beyond mere understanding; God commands us to respond to the truth he has revealed by acting and living in accordance with his wisdom. If the church is paralyzed because of legal pressures or fears, then we will be in danger of losing our orthodoxy.

History has demonstrated that orthodoxy is always at risk when the church is under cultural pressures. We must remain vigilant, fearless, and grounded in the Word of God, obeying his clear commands regardless of the shifting shades of “wisdom” and “truth” presented by our culture. If those of us who are pastors, teachers, and counselors acquiesce to these very real pressures and do not present the clear teachings of Scripture, we are in danger of harming the sheep. The prophet Jeremiah denounces the shepherds of Israel for not feeding the sheep with God’s Word: “They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace” (Jeremiah 6:14).

Finally, there is a threat to the proper authority God has granted to the church.[13] God established the offices of overseers and deacon within the church to govern it in a wise and orderly way. When these church leaders fail to execute their roles with integrity, the church is impotent.[14] All of us who are in a position of authority need to be alert to the danger of becoming like the leaders of Israel to whom God spoke through the prophet Jeremiah: “For from the least to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for unjust gain; and from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely” (Jeremiah 6:13). We must bear the burden of leadership with both humility and strength as we seek to lead God’s people with his faithful wisdom.

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13. One way the church loses its power is by becoming subjected to the state’s political system—by trying to exercise its power as a mere political actor.

14. I have appreciated 9Marks’s ecclesiological approach as they discuss the authoritative role of elders—see Church Elders by Jeramie Rinne (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2014).