Gifted and Godly . . . But Especially Godly

By / Apr 22

Should a church require that a pastor be gifted? Yes. Paul indicates that if a man desires to serve as a pastor, he must be “able to teach” (1 Tim. 3:2; Tit. 1.9). A man is not required to produce theological tomes for the ages or to pack out auditoriums with his great oratorical skills, but he must be able to faithfully and clearly communicate the truth of Scripture so that others are able to understand the Bible and act upon it.

What’s equally noteworthy, however, is the unmistakable emphasis that Paul places on the necessity of a pastor’s godliness. He spends more ink here than he does on giftedness. For Paul, godliness is of utmost importance.

For example, in 1 Timothy 3:1–7, Paul lists approximately sixteen qualifications for a man who desires to serve as an overseer. One relates to giftedness: the ability to teach. Fifteen refer to character.

Likewise, in Titus 1:5–9, Paul lists approximately sixteen qualifications for a pastor. One relates to giftedness: again, the ability to instruct in sound doctrine. Fifteen address character.

Paul is undeniably biased. Giftedness matters. Character matters maybe more.

Consequently, Paul insists that the young pastor, Timothy, prioritize godliness in his life and ministry. Paul charges Timothy: “Train yourself for godliness” (1 Tim. 4:7); “keep yourself pure” (1 Tim. 5:22); “flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart” (2 Tim. 2:22).

WHY GODLINESS?

Why does Paul emphasize godliness over giftedness?

It’s not that the gospel life is more important than the gospel word. How many passages throughout the pastoral epistles emphasize faithful teaching! Again, the gospel word must come first. Yet beyond that basic element of faithfully teaching the gospel word, maybe Paul realizes that human beings generally don’t need any help in being persuaded to follow charismatic and talented leaders. We do it naturally.

What we—even as Christians—fail to recognize is how essential godliness in the life of the pastor is to gospel-word ministry.

In Titus 2:11–14, Paul writes, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness . . . and to live . . . godly lives . . . waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” According to Paul, God graciously redeems his people so that they might reject ungodliness and reflect his character to the world.

Therefore, godliness is mission-critical for the church. And, like any group of people, churches will take on the character of their leaders. More times than not, ungodly pastors will produce ungodly churches, and godly pastors will give rise to godly churches. As a result, pastors, whom God calls to lead this band of transformed repenters, must be characterized by repentance and an ongoing pursuit of godliness.

For this reason, the church so desperately needs leaders who not only teach the truth clearly and compellingly but also who live it authentically and consistently. Paul warns that there will be those who “have the appearance of godliness, but deny its power” (2 Tim. 3:5). Perhaps these individuals grew up in the church; perhaps they know some Bible verses; perhaps they advocate family values—but they’ve never been transformed by the gospel. So many spiritual counterfeits exist that the church needs to be led by men who are living examples of the transforming power of the gospel.

PASTORS AS EXAMPLES

Pastors also serve as examples to their flock. Paul speaks plainly on this point: “Set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity” (1 Tim. 4:12). And again Paul directs, “Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech” (Tit. 2:7–8).

Therefore, pastors, prioritize the pursuit of godliness in your life.

Consistent time alone with God in his Word and in prayer are of the utmost importance.

Be accountable to other men.

Accept that most pastors possess average gifts, and resolve to be happy to be a man who possesses average gifts and a biblical zeal for godliness.

Be encouraged. God will not finally evaluate our ministries based on the measure of our giftedness. God will finally evaluate our ministries based on our diligence to exercise the gifts he has given us and on our faithfulness to know him and to walk with him before our people.

CONCLUSION

Brothers, let’s strive to be men like Paul who on the one hand says, “I am the chief of sinners” (1 Tim. 1:15), and other the other hand says, “You . . . have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness” (2 Tim. 3:10).

In other words, let us say with Paul, “I am an example of a sinner transformed by the power of the gospel, and I am a man whose life, though imperfectly, does in fact genuinely and increasingly reflect the character of God to God’s people.” For Robert Murray McCheyne’s words still ring true: “My people’s greatest need is my own personal holiness.”

Editor’s Note: This post originally appeared at the 9Marks blog and is featured in the June 2020 9Marks journal on the topic of “Shepherding.”



Andreas Köstenberger on Giving Time to the Gospel of John

By / Apr 22

FTC.co asks Dr. Andreas Köstenberger, Director of the Center for Biblical Studies at Midwestern Seminary, "Why have you given so many years and pages to the Gospel of John?"



How to Respond to National Tragedies

By / Apr 21

I remember where I was on 9/11. I can still see the room, the people, the old-school television, hear people gasping in shock, and feel the emotions coursing through my body. 

Since then, the bad news hasn’t stopped. Just in the past year, we’ve beheld events of senseless murders, riots, and a Capitol insurgence. 

With media that’s bent toward sharing bad news, it’s no surprise that people grow weary and overwhelmed — swinging from outraged activism to overt avoidance. And sometimes, we have no clue how to respond in healthy ways. 

Sadly, devastating news is nothing new.

Nehemiah asks some travelers about the exiles in Jerusalem, and “they said to [him], ‘The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire'” (Nehemiah 1:3).

In the Old Testament, Israel was no stranger to bad news — from slavery to Jerusalem’s destruction to the exile from the promised land. Here in Nehemiah, we glimpse, like a fly on the wall, how a single Israelite processes a tragedy. 

Nehemiah’s six-fold response coaches us in how to respond to devastating national news.  

Step 1 – Lament

“As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days…” – Nehemiah 1:4

Compassion fatigue catches up to all of us when negative news inundates us. We might conclude that becoming a digital hermit who disconnects from all information is a viable option. 

However, I wonder how many of us are exhausted from the onslaught of bad news because we never fully lament.

Expressing grief is the only legitimate way to digest some tragedies. 

Step 2 – Fast and Pray

“… and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.” – Nehemiah 1:4

Fasting denies certain comforts to remind us of our dependence on God. 

It’s helpful for us to pair fasting with lamenting because we often cope with pain through consumerism in our already overstuffed world.

The hunger pangs of fasting remind us that there’s a time to mourn and weep (Ecclesiastes 3:4). We need this reminder because we’d rather dance our days away with ever-increasing happiness. However, some days require grieving, and fasting can help us respond appropriately.

Step 3 – Confess Corporate and Personal Sin

“Let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father’s house have sinned.” – Nehemiah 1:6

Nehemiah bravely does what we’re often scared to do. He asks, “What part have we as a people and I contributed to this disaster?” 

When discussing injustice, we can place the blame entirely on society or individuals. Nehemiah teaches us it can be both.

We all must learn to take responsibility for what’s ours to carry, knowing that God’s perfect love casts away any fear of eternal punishment (1 John 4:17-18).

While every bit of news doesn’t connect to us personally, we are all interconnected as citizens. Are we brave enough to ask the Spirit of God to search us as a nation and individuals to see if there’s “any grievous way” in us (Psalm 139:23-24)?

Step 4 – Pray God’s Promises Back to Him

“Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses…” – Nehemiah 1:8

In remembering who God is, we can pray with boldness, asking God to act.

And God’s past faithfulness grants us hope that He will be faithful both now and in the future. 

When we don’t know what to pray, let’s pray God’s Promises.

Step 5 – Pray for Favor To Act

“O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant… and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” – Nehemiah 1:11

Nehemiah doesn’t stop with prayer. He asks God for the favor to do something and for God to bless his efforts. 

Negative national news may cause us to feel powerless. However, I bet we’d be surprised by the number of opportunities the Holy Spirit would open if we only asked (Matthew 7:7-11).

Step 6 – Do What You Can

“Then the king said to me, ‘What are you requesting?’ So I prayed to the God of heaven. And I said to the king, ‘If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ graves, that I may rebuild it.'” – Nehemiah 2:4-5

God positioned Nehemiah to use Him. God sovereignly places you where you are too. 

Let’s faithfully take the next step available to us and trust God along the way (Galatians 6:10). 

Good News People Living in a Bad News World.

It’s natural for the brokenness of our world to overwhelm us. However, let’s not forget that we’re good news people living in a bad-news world.  

Nehemiah shows us a way to navigate tragedies, yet Jesus ultimately liberates us through the tragedy of His death. 

No matter what news you hear today, I’d encourage you to remember “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. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted” (Hebrews 12:2-3).



Episode 114: Dave Harvey on The Plurality Principle

By / Apr 21

For The Church Podcast

Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

On this episode of the FTC Podcast, Jared Wilson visits with Dave Harvey, President of the Great Commission Collective, about the importance and the establishment of pastoral plurality in the local church.



10 Ways for Every Pastor to Be More Relational

By / Apr 20

There are pastors who love crowds, but not people so much. I understand. People can be the worst part of ministry, and at the same time be the best part. But, I think it’s important as we approach the new year to remind ourselves that leadership, at its core, is really about people. Here are several practical actions to help leaders be relational and build the kind of authentic community that makes leadership personally fulfilling.

  1. Build community one relationship at a time. There really are no shortcuts for building community. It takes time to sit with people, get to know them, and prove that you genuinely care. Sending out an e-mail or having a group meeting helps you communicate information, but it’s no substitute for getting to know a real person.
  1. Make time for downtime. Setting aside planned time to “build relationships” can make it seem forced or programmed. Build relationship all the time in brief, everyday interactions with people. Take a minute to ask someone how he or she is doing. Say hello to people you pass in the hallway. This may seem basic, but a friendly word or smile can make someone’s day. In other words, be friendly and make a connection.
  1. Listen more than you talk. Leaders are famous for loving to hear themselves talk— and to mostly talk about themselves. Seek to listen to others more than you speak (James 1:19). If you ask people about their life and world, and take the time to listen attentively, they will become drawn to you and more readily trust you. This means sincere care, not pretend listening.
  1. Try to remember names. You will be amazed at the response if you remember someone’s name after meeting him or her the first time. This one practice attracts people toward a leader like almost nothing else. It shows your interest in the other person and dignifies their presence with you.
  1. Go where people are. If you want to build community, you have to go to the places where other people go: picnics, parks, events, parties, playgrounds, youth soccer games, etc. Don’t isolate yourself from people. They matter.
  1. Accept people as they are. Some leaders communicate in subconscious ways that others just don’t measure up. Leaders who constantly critique and come across as judgmental are leaders no one wants to be around.
  1. Work with people; don’t use them. It’s inauthentic to form relationships just to get people to do things for you. That approach won’t work in the long term because people will feel used. Leaders should approach relationships with integrity. We form relationships because we genuinely care and because we share a common mission. Of course, we cannot be friends with everyone. Determine the appropriate level of a relationship, establish boundaries with it, and act authentically within those boundaries. Remember, however: the more you ask of someone, the more need there is to have relationship with him or her. Making demands of people without a measure of care, concern, and trust for them creates resentment.
  1. Be relational; don’t just act relational. People quickly learn whether you genuinely enjoy people or are bothered by them. Again, appropriate boundaries are needed because there are many demands upon a leader’s time, but how you are perceived is important—and perception flows from what is actually in the heart of the leader. Ask God to give you a genuine love for people. If you genuinely enjoy people, whether you can spend a lot of time with them or not, others will be attracted by your attitude.
  1. A note about time. It’s not logical to assume that leaders can spend quality time with every person in the organization. However, biblical leaders determine the key people with whom they will have quality relationships, and they go about investing in them by the example of Jesus. This number can normally be no greater than ten to twelve (notice that Jesus engaged twelve disciples). Beyond this number, time is a constraint and relationships enter into a different category of intensity and intimacy. In other words, you cannot build community with all, but you must have it with a few. Normally, many of these key people will be those with whom the leader interacts on mission and on a regular basis. While leaders should be genuine with everyone, it is wise to invest at this level with people who hold pivotal roles in an organization. This matter of ten to twelve not only aligns with the time bandwidth of leaders, but also with the emotional bandwidth. We only have a maximum amount of time to be able to invest in this number of relationships, but we also possess a maximum emotional capacity that tops off at about the same number. Most of us don’t possess the emotional resources to genuinely care, be concerned for, and build authentic relationship with more than that. Understanding these limitations actually helps leaders be more effective toward the ones God has given them.
  1. Building friendships. Finally, leaders should give themselves permission to have the deepest of friendships and it is healthy for these relationships to exist outside the church or organization. These kinds of friendships provide downtime and companionship, wise counsel outside the loop of the organization, healthy accountability, and loving support during difficult seasons. A good pattern for healthy leadership seems to be one or two safe, deep friendships with people of the same gender and who stand outside the leader’s core group, church or organization. 


3 Things the Gospel Isn’t

By / Apr 19

We live in an age of gospel illiteracy. Unchurched people have never heard this message. And I wonder about a lot of churched people too. But it’s always been this way. The Reformers’ recovery of the good news was not a one and done deal. We are daily in danger of gospel amnesia, so we must always be recovering the astounding announcement of grace.

Even in the early church, in the days of the historical newness of the gospel there was so much confusion. If we think about it long enough, we can feel, for instance, Paul’s exasperation with the Galatians. “I’m astonished at how quickly you’ve deserted this message,” he says in the introduction to his letter. And so he fires all his cannons in this short letter, rebuking the pharisaical heresy of the Judaizers, who insist that the good news is Jesus PLUS something – namely, circumcision – and calling the Galatian church to return to the undiluted, unvarnished truth. And as he rounds the corner into chapter 5 of that letter, he’s doing some meticulous work of what we might call “gospel distinctions.”

Here’s Galatians 5:13-25:

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who dosuch things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

Many people treat the good news of Jesus as a kind of ideological abstraction, as a shibboleth, as amorphous, ambiguous, a biblical feelgoodism to which we can attach any meaning at all. So it’s important not just to understand the gospel by its affirmations, but also by denials. Here from Galatians 5 are three things the gospel is not.

1. The gospel is not license.

It seems clear that Paul is addressing a somewhat common assumption that since grace is free, it must not cost much. Which is like saying it doesn’t matter much. The good news is an announcement of great freedom, including – apparently – the freedom not to take it too seriously. He addresses this in a few of his letters and puts a little ink toward that idea here too. As in verse 13: “Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh.”

Or, as vv.16-17, when he lays out the weightiness of grace. Because the gospel comes by the Spirit, it is in opposition to fleshly appetites. Desires of the flesh are against the Spirit. The point he’s making is similar to the point in Romans 6, when he brings up hypothetical – “If grace abounds more than sin abounds, should we continue in sin to get more grace? Of course not!” he says. How can you continue living in something you have died to?

Here in Galatians 5:24 he says, “And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

In short, the good news doesn’t just give us pardon, it gives us Christ HIMSELF — which is to say, it gives us a new life.

In his work Concerning Councils and Churches, Martin Luther addresses this kind of antinomianism and puts it this way

Verily, it amounts to this, that Christ is taken away and made worthless in the same breath with which He is most highly extolled. It means to say yes and no in the same matter . . . According to the logic of Nestorius and Eutyches these people, in masterful fashion, preach a Christ who both is, and is not, the Redeemer. They are excellent preachers of the Easter truth, but miserable preachers of the truth of Pentecost. For there is nothing in their preaching concerning sanctification of the Holy Ghost and about being quickened into a new life. 

It is proper to extol Christ in our preaching; but Christ has acquired redemption from sin and death for this very purpose that the Holy Spirit should change our Old Adam into a new man, that we are to be dead unto sin and live unto righteousness, For Christ has gained for us not only grace (gratiam), but also the gift (donum) of the Holy Ghost, so that we obtain from Him not only forgiveness of sin, but also the ceasing from sin. Any one, therefore, who does not cease from his sin, but continues in his former evil way must have obtained a different Christ 

Christ is too precious to live as if he’s not. But we do live as if he’s not, don’t we? Every day we do. In fact, we find that we often can’t seem to help it. And this is why the second denial is actually a comfort:

2. The gospel is not law.

The gospel is not license. But also, the gospel is not law.

Paul writes in 5:18, “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”

This is the overarching point of Galatians in fact. (See verse 13: “For you were called to freedom, brothers.”)

Earlier in the chapter, in vv.1-3, he says:

It is for freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law.

Paul recognizes the great danger in failing to make proper distinction between law and gospel. It’s the same danger the church faces in every age. It’s the same danger you and I face every day, and it makes the biggest difference between seeing the Christian life – the way of Jesus himself – as a burden or as a liberation. In a way, Paul’s letter to the Romans is about the gospel to the world. Galatians is the gospel for the church.

I grew up in church hearing about people who had “fallen” into sin, people who had “fallen away,” and it usually referred to people who had given in to sexual sin or some kind of immorality or debauchery. But that’s not the danger Paul is emphasizing here at all. No, in v. 4 he defines “falling away” as those who depart from the truth of grace! Not those who engage in licentious sin but those who adopt legalism. It’s the legalists who have fallen away!

Both license and legalism are self-salvation projects. What can save us?

The true gospel? The Holy Spirit working through the announcement of the finished work of Christ.

No, the gospel is not law. It’s not advice. It’s not instructions, commandments, or exhortations. It’s not moral uplift. It’s not an inspirational maxim or a religious aphorism. It’s not a spiritual imperative. It’s not anything we do. Sometimes we hear people say things like “We just need to ‘be’ the gospel to people.” Look, if you could be the gospel, you wouldn’t need the gospel.

No, it’s not anything you or I do. It’s a declaration of something that HAS BEEN DONE.

It’s a newspaper headline! It’s an announcement. It’s glad tidings of great joy. It’s a proclamation of something that happened. The gospel does not demand “Get to work” but announces “It. is. finished.”

Because the gospel is not law, you are not your sin. You are not your worst day. Or your best. Because the gospel is not law, the summons is not to come prove yourself, but to come BE yourself.

Isn’t that amazing? To qualify for the gospel, all you must be is a sinner. Who couldn’t qualify for that? You qualify. If it’s not beneath you to admit it.

The freeness of the gospel seemed too good to be true to the Galatians. Which is just a way of saying they were too good to be true . . . To tell the truth about themselves. The great problem of legalism is in fact not thinking too highly of the law but not thinking it highly enough! Thinking too highly of ourselves that we think it manageable, achievable. But we are wretched sinners. That’s the truth. And because that is true, the gospel can never be law.

But what neither license nor legalism can do, the gospel can. Which leads to the third denial:

3. The gospel is not lacking in power.

License claims to make much of grace but belittles it – it says the gospel is big, but not big enough to empower obedience. Legalism claims to make much of the law, but belittles it – it says the law is ultimately manageable, doable. Thus, license and legalism are more alike than we often think. They are basically both self-salvation projects. One seeks to liberate the self through feeding of the flesh. The other seeks to elevate the self through religious merit. Both are bullet train journeys into hard canyon walls.

If you want real liberation and real elevation, it can only come through the unfiltered, unadulterated, undiluted grace of Jesus. Only grace has the power to save. Only grace has the power to transform.

So we look at those two lists Paul contrasts with each other in vv.19-23 in a new light. We notice a difference. The first list (in vv.19-21) is largely a list of actions, even if mental. The second list (the fruit of the Spirit in vv.22-23), by contrast, is a list of conditions, qualities. Isn’t that interesting? Paul doesn’t contrast a list of bad things we do with good things we do; instead, he contrasts a list of bad things we do with good things to be.

Because the fruit of the Spirit cannot be faked, because it is the result not of religious behavioral change but Spiritual heart transformation, it can only be brought to flourishing in us through the gospel of Jesus. Only the gospel has the power to affect real, deep heart change. That is real power.



Links For The Church (4/19)

By / Apr 19

Ministry, Personal Limits, and Saying “No”

Ed Welch provides diagnostic questions to provide healthy boundaries for your ministry.

God Has Not Forgotten You

In this article, Vaneetha Rendall Risner shares three truths to remember about God and His faithfulness to you.

The Gift of True Words

“We don’t say what we know and feel and appreciate often enough. We assume things are understood, and we underestimate the impact of our words.”

The Perseverance of the Father’s Heart

We may, at times, forget our love of God and try to turn away from Him, but His love never leaves us, and it will not.



There Will Most Assuredly Come A Morning

By / Apr 16

A year ago, we gathered in a cemetery chapel next to a coffin that seemed too small to be real. That beast Cancer had taken another. This time, little Finn.

Through tears and a shaky voice, I offered the words God gave me as best I could. Moments later, I watched parents bury their earthly dreams for their boy. The dirt piled on. They said their goodbyes. But how does a parent bid goodbye to their three-year-old son? How do they go on, parenting their other two boys when the one missing pulls their heart underground with them?

I don’t know. But God knows. And in moments like that, that’s the greatest hope we have.

Last week, on the anniversary of Finn’s death, we gathered to remember. We grieved together as those in Christ grieve—truly but with all the hope Jesus gives. There is a day coming when death shall be no more. We believe that. We look forward to it. Today, though, isn’t that day. So we cry with aching hearts. But we won’t bury our hope. How could we? Our hope rose from the grave.

For two and a half years, the fight for a cure was in full force. Then, suddenly, one day it was over. For a year and a half, all Finn’s parents had each night as they tucked their boy into bed was that morning would come bearing new mercies. Perhaps one day, they hoped, the mercy of a cure would come knocking on their door.

But that cure never came. Instead, the tumors grew larger and faster, making their home in a place they didn’t belong. The medical landscape dried up. Time ran out. One final morning, it was all over.

I remember the moment I saw the text message come in. As I looked at the words there in black and white, I grieved. I knew this was coming. We all did. But it hurt. It felt surprising. Death always leaves you longing for just one more something—one more visit, one more hello, one more goodbye, one more hug, one more look, one more smile, one more anything. Among the many things death steals is the normal things of life that you don’t even notice until you can’t have it again. Those are the things that really hurt. The toys sitting on the living room couch. The label that prints his name for Sunday School at church. The things of life that just happen until they suddenly don’t. Those are the things that hurt so much more than we expect.

Days after his death, we showed up to a church in town to mourn together and to celebrate a life too short but oh so meaningful. We wore our avocado pins because they were Finn’s favorite food. We told stories and gave hugs and we worshiped God because that’s what you do when you have no other answers. You lift your praise to the one who knows what it’s like to lose a son. And you put your hope in that Son’s resurrection.

During the service, there was a slide show of Finn’s life. Ellie Holcomb’s Red Sea Road served as the soundtrack for the first part.

We’ve buried dreams,

Laid them deep into the earth behind us

Said our goodbyes

At the grave but everything reminds us

God knows we ache,

When He asks us to go on

How do we go on?

How does a family go on? I didn’t know. So I looked to the one who was trying to—to Finn’s dad. And he gave me hope. On this anniversary of Finn’s burial, I know no better words than Dan’s, which I have included below.

Every night before bed, we had the same routine. We’d get a glass of water, and say our prayers. Sometimes we would pray but there were times when he would pop up and say, “I want to pray.” So he would pray. He’d say the usual prayers and when he was done praying, he’d look at us, and hold his arms out and say, “Hug and kiss.”

So we’d tuck him in, snuggling with his lion blanket. We’d pull his blanket over him, and he would give us just the sweetest and gentlest hug and kiss you can imagine. And every night without fail, he would finish by saying in the cutest little voice, “See you in the morning.”

Finn is profoundly missed. Where once there was a loving and joyful presence in our lives, there is now a gaping, jagged raw hole. The loss of Finn is so real, so physical, so emotional, and it is so life-dominating that it is hard to think of anything beyond our present moment of sorrow. And as we cry out to God in our sorrow and our anger, it’s hard to see any hope in any of this. And yet in the midst of this bitter grief, the Bible does still give us hope. Psalm 30 says that weeping may stay for the night, but joy comes in the morning. It teaches us that because of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the things that are will not always be. There is a hope for those in Christ Jesus, and a glorious future to look forward to. The apostle Paul spoke of this and he said it makes our current suffering seem light and momentary in comparison.

What is will not always be. We may be deep in the night now, but there will most assuredly come a morning. And with that morning will come great joy.

For now we mourn. But we cling to the hope that we will see Finn again. We will see him without tubes, without bags, and without the ravages of cancer. We will laugh and we will run. And we will probably eat avocados.

Finn, we will see you in the morning.

This is the hope of Advent lived in between the death we experience and the life promised. As Fleming Rutledge says, “The disappointment, brokenness, suffering, and pain that characterize life in this present world is held in dynamic tension with the promise of future glory that is yet to come. In that Advent tension, the church lives its life.”

Only the church has this hope. The promise of future glory is yet to come. A light will shine in the darkness. So we go on, as Ellie Holcomb sings, because in Christ, by the power of his gospel, we can sing this good song of gospel hope to our souls.

Where He leads us to go, there’s a red sea road

When we can’t see the way, He will part he waves

And we’ll never walk alone down a red sea road

Why? Because God is always there. Even in the midst of the deepest sorrow. He was there when Finn took his final breath. He was there a year ago when we laid him in the ground. He was there last week when we gathered to remember. And he will be there every moment of every hour of every day because he is a faithful God.

On a day like today, as I remember the pain of last year, and as Finn’s parents weep and remember, there is a God above who is faithful, who is bringing a morning so bright that all this pain will certainly be in comparison light and momentary. And all those little things we miss today he will restore. In our mourning, in Christ, we can know that there will most assuredly come a morning. The years that the locusts have taken will be ours again, and no one will snatch them from our resurrected hands.

Editor’s Note: This originally published at Things of the Sort.



The Weightier Weight

By / Apr 16

Editor’s Note: The weekend can be an incredibly distressing time for many pastors to enter into. The desire to spend quality time with family while juggling the pressures of an unfinished sermon can be an exhausting reality. What many pastors need are not more tips on how to prepare better sermons as much as some encouragement to better prepare their hearts to preach the sermon they have. Join Ronnie Martin every Friday for The Preachers Corner, where he offers some words of comfort and stories of hope to help preachers enter the weekend encouraged by the gentle and lowly heart of Jesus. 

A sermon is never finished. 

Depending on the kind of person you are, that either evokes a sigh or a sigh or relief in you. What I mean is that until you actually step up and preach the thing, a sermon can be endlessly changed, edited, revised or tossed across the room into an overflowing trash bin of frustration. 

This is probably one of the reasons that preaching can feel so heavy, and with a weight that feels nothing less than unbearable at times. And preaching should be heavy in some sense, right? There is a weighty kind of weight for the person who steps up to the pulpit and declares “Thus says the Lord.” And if that ain’t heavy enough, James bluntly informs us that teachers will be “judged with greater strictness” (James 3:1). 

If that was the only kind of weight we carried, we would likely spend the time we’re not clicking away on our keys kneeling before the Lord, and pleading for His help. 

But I wonder if the weight we often carry is mixed with a less weighty weight? One that manifests itself in those unspoken cavities of the heart that seek things like authority, affirmation, acclaim and adulation. The kind of weight that keeps our pulses racing at night because what we actually crave is a sermon that will spotlight us as intelligent, funny, thoughtful, and insightful people. A sermon where we get to share some of God’s unshareable glory. All of this creates a heaviness, but it’s not the kind you or I really want. It’s not an “eternal weight of glory” that Paul mentions in 2 Corinthians 4:17, which is how we learn to endure some of the momentary affliction that accompanies the Christian life. 

No, these are the subtle weights of the world. Anchorless passions and wandering desires that form hearts heavy with cares that we were never meant to carry.

Is this the kind of weight you carry as you slog your way toward Sunday morning week after week? Has the pulpit become the proving ground of your worth to the world once again? 

Maybe you need to stop. Stop and reset your gaze on the weightier weight that you hold in your hands as you open God’s word with your people. The weightier weight that is contained in your heart because of the Spirit that inhabits it. The weightier weight of your mind that Christ is transforming and renewing day by day. 

This preaching thing was never meant to be about us. When we begin to believe that, the easy yoke of Jesus will lighten our weighty hearts with a love that is heavier than the very universe itself.



Deep Discipleship: A Book Review

By / Apr 15

It is somewhat ironic that Deep Discipleship released in 2020 during a global pandemic of the coronavirus disease. As we’re all aware, this past year resulted in lockdowns, cancellations, and zoom meetings; all of which birthed renewed desires for the local community that gathers around the Word. This past year reminded us how critical the gathered new covenant community is to one’s being conformed to the image of Christ. Thus, as this year pushed us into separation, J. T. English’s Deep Discipleship was released.

English calls his readers to see the discipleship disease that is prevailing within the church and the importance of diagnosing it correctly. Importantly, the disease persists because we’ve gotten too deep and have treated it by requiring less of our people. By contrast, self-centered discipleship and spiritual apathy are the actual diseases. The treatment? More Christ, Bible, theology, and spiritual disciplines. English says: “Our ministry aim is to ask God to bring us into his inexhaustible presence, bottomless beauty, and infinite glory. Fellowship with the Triune God is where we are going, and fellowship with the Triune God is how we are going to get there.” (p. 18) Reality must be reoriented such that true knowledge is apprehended through self-denial. That is, knowledge of God and all things in relation to God. Deep discipleship matters because of the inexhaustible richness of God.

This God-centered vision for deep discipleship fleshes itself out in five areas; space, scope, sequence, send, and strategy. These form the structure of the book going forward.

The first area, space, addresses where discipleship happens in the church. According to English, many church have a community-oriented discipleship philosophy or a learning-oriented discipleship philosophy. While we cannot be disciples outside of the community of Christ, we can be in a community that is not teaching us to be disciples of Christ. To strive toward both a community and learning oriented discipleship philosophy, English provides a discipleship space inventory and a sample description of an active learning space. Deep discipleship is holistic, placing a high value on both community and learning.

The second area, scope, addresses what disciples need. What are the absolute necessities? “A healthy disciple must be growing in the understanding of God’s Word, founded on distinctively Christian beliefs and practicing spiritual disciplines.” (p. 105) These three are necessities (Bible, beliefs, and spiritual habits) for fellowship and communion with the triune God in the local church.

The third area, sequence, addresses how disciples grow in knowledge of the triune God. English gives a few examples of trinitarian picture of salvation from the New Testament and maturing in it (1 Cor. 6:11; 1 Peter 1:2; Phil. 3:11-16). English presents three tiers of discipleship growth: discipleship for everyone, discipleship for disciple-making disciples, and discipleship for disciple-making movement disciples. While leaders will need to address the varying levels of maturity, the subject and object of Christian discipleship is the same as the subject and object of Holy Scripture: the triune God.

The fourth area, sending, addresses where disciples go. Christian maturity naturally results in multiplying other mature disciples. Thus, a church that is training mature disciples is also sending mature disciples to replicate more mature disciples. Maturation in Bible, beliefs, and habits do not hinder mission, “deep discipleship and mission, training and sending, are meant to work together and complement one another. Deep discipleship is the fuel for the mission.” (p. 181)

The final area, strategy, addresses how to adopt and incorporate this holistic discipleship in a sustainable manner. English argues that “deep discipleship” can be implemented in any ecclesial context through the principles of structure, predictability, accountability, accessibility, community, and excellence. Operating with structured rhythms and accessible content aides the disciple’s commitment to learning in community to the glory of God.

Deep Discipleship is a book on Christian discipleship that has been missing for some time now. Particularly because the project is 1) principally and eschatologically oriented unto the Triune God, and 2) asking completely different questions: Where does discipleship happen in the church? What do they need? How do disciples grow? Where do disciples go?

The importance of this book is its emphasis on reorienting disciples to true reality: God and all things in relation to God. Deep Discipleship “is about a redirection of our loves to the One who is lovely.” (p.20) In effect, the book is an excursus on Psalm 119. God, who is life, gives life through his Word, Ways, and Promises. This is how Christian disciples are made and mature: apprehension and fellowship with the Triune God.