Gospel-Centered Resources from Midwestern Seminary
On this episode of the FTC Podcast, Jared visits with Dr. Scotty Smith, one of the spiritual fathers of gospel-centrality, to talk about his early influences and ministry, pastoring early CCM artists, and how to stay focused on grace through decades of shifting cultural distractions.
Why don’t more pastors have friends? Why don’t more enjoy the friendships they do have? In this episode, Jared Wilson and Ronnie Martin discuss the promise and the peril of pastoral friendship. What are the risks involved? Why is it worth it? How is the pursuit of and investment in friendships an oft-neglected (or avoided) wisdom practice?
It’s another installment in the Grab Bag feature, where Jared Wilson and Ross Ferguson ask each other two surprise questions for off-the-cuff responses. Tune in and find out what we caught each other off guard about this week.
Our Lord has given the commission to the church to make disciples. Yet too many pastors spend more time settling for drawing a crowd or “keeping the customers satisfied.” In this episode, Jared Wilson and Ronnie Martin explain the obedience of disciple-making in pastoral ministry and how this practice reflects the wisdom of God, even if not always the concerns of modern religious sensibilities.
Jesus said, “The one who perseveres to the end will be saved.” Obviously perseverance is a necessary component of the Christian life! On this episode of the FTC Podcast, Jared Wilson and Ross Ferguson talk about the doctrine of the “perseverance of the saints,” how perseverance is treated in Scripture, and how Christians might cultivate it in their lives.
Being a pastor is difficult.
I remember my mentor in ministry telling me when I was in my early twenties that if I could do anything else, I should do that. He warned me there would be days that I wished I was working in any other sort of job. He was right. But I couldn’t do anything else–or rather—I couldn’t without feeling I was running from God, and he agreed that was a sign that God was calling me to be a pastor.
I can tend towards dwelling on the difficult and the negative some days because they are what so often are calling for our attention: solving problems, considering the next step in loosening or tightening COVID restrictions, wondering how this next phone call or meeting will go, remembering that I forgot to check in with somebody undergoing a trial. The list goes on.
But there are so many blessings in being a pastor, so many reasons I count it one of the greatest privileges of my life, so many reasons to thank God for being a pastor, and so many reasons I love being a pastor.
In keeping with Paul’s admonition to think about “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things,” (Phil. 4:8), I want to list five of the many reasons I love being a pastor.
#1 – I get to teach and study God’s Word as part of my job.
For all of the stresses that being a pastor entails, and the pressure of the Sunday morning sermon deadline, and all of the spiritual battles that come my way, every week I get to—and am expected to—spend hours studying God’s Word and preparing to teach it. This is an inestimable privilege.
I once heard an older pastor say that he couldn’t believe that he gets paid to study God’s Word. That is a perspective that I need to keep in mind and thank God for weekly. It is a joy to spend time in God’s Word and be filled up with it and challenged by it so that I can have the joy of equipping, encouraging, and stretching God’s people with it. May I never take this for granted.
#2 – I get to be there for people’s highs and lows in life.
Some of my favorite moments in pastoring are being right there for the highs and lows of people’s lives and being used by God in those situations to “rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep” (Rom. 12:15). It is a joy to pray with new parents while holding a newborn baby, and it is a joy to see the radiance in the eyes of a couple getting married while standing right behind them. It is also a different, somber kind of joy to be able to help a couple apply God’s Word to their marriage struggles when the need for counseling comes. It is something I would never trade to have the privilege of praying with a newly bereaved relative thanking God for the life of their loved one, sometimes while the body is still in the room.
These intense times of ministry bond me with God’s people and remind me each time of some of the unique reasons I love being God’s hands and feet. It is also special to be able to often minister during these highs and lows in people’s lives with my wife as she uses her gifts with me. May I never take this for granted.
#3 – I get a front-row seat to God’s work.
Another benefit to being a pastor that I love is getting a front-row seat to God’s work. The average church member does not have the joy of seeing some of the mercy ministry that goes on in secret in the life of a church. It is a holy privilege to know about an act of love in Jesus’ name that only God, me, and the other person involved know about due to confidentiality. It is a distinctive joy to not only ache at marriage problems but also to rejoice with a couple who is now reaping the benefits of following God’s ways in their relationship. I alone get to “see the light bulb come on” in the middle of a sermon for that person who has been trying to figure out what they believe about Jesus. I alone sometimes get to see tears of repentance over sin or tears of hope due to longing for Heaven and being reunited with a beloved spouse or child.
I know that God is always doing a million things and that we are usually only aware of a few of them at any given moment, but as a pastor, I literally get to see God’s invisible hand working out His plan for His glory and His people’s good every week, if I have the eyes to see it. May I never take this for granted.
#4 – I get to see people come to know Jesus as Savior and Lord and then baptize them.
“I wasn’t sure before, but I know that I know Jesus now,” the 16-year old boy told me in the car as we drove from Subway after getting his monthly favorite sub (ham with black olives–lots of black olives!) and catching up on high school life.
“What’s the change?” I asked, excited as I had been praying for him for years as he had been coming to youth group ever since I became a youth pastor.
“I didn’t care about sin before, but now I don’t want to sin anymore because I love Jesus,” he replied.
I never would have been part of that conversation if God had not called me to be a pastor. Baptisms—whether the believer going public grew up in the church or recently began to attend—are some of the most joyous Sundays on the calendar. When you get to talk about the gospel, make disciples, and baptize as part of your job, you are blessed. May I never take this for granted.
#5 – I get the privilege of serving Jesus as His errand boy.
Harold Senkbeil, in his book The Care of Souls, says that a sheepdog always has his tail wagging when he is working, and one eye always on his master. Too often my tail is not wagging, but those are the moments or days that I have my eyes off of my master. But some days, as I look to the day ahead and ask Jesus for strength and wisdom to serve His church that He has promised to build, it will hit me with a wave of joy: I get the privilege to serve Jesus as His errand boy today—wherever and in whatever way He may choose to take me for that day or that season. May I never take this for granted.
I don’t say it often enough—I love being a pastor.
Editor’s note: This piece originally appeared at the Baptist Convention of New England blog and is used with permission. It was republished at For the Church on July 1, 2021.
Most pastors fall into a pattern of overwork. Why is that? And how does sabbath set us free from worldly metrics of productivity? In this episode, Jared Wilson and Ronnie Martin explore the wisdom practice of guilt-free rest and “fasting” from being needed.
It’s a perennial question among many evangelicals. How should Christians think about Halloween? Avoid it? Embrace it? Reform it? On this episode of the FTC Podcast, Jared Wilson and Ross Ferguson discuss the spotty history of Halloween and survey the contemporary perspectives, challenges, and opportunities related to the Christian’s consideration of the “holiday.”
Pastoring people is a slow, long-haul process. As church planters and pastors in established churches, we are called to lead people who are under construction. Unfortunately, until Christ returns, we don’t get to experience heaven here on earth. All people, pastors included, deal with the effects of indwelling sin on a daily basis. This means, as pastors, we are called to drop into the mess of disordered lives and serve people who may be at their worst moments.
Most of us are familiar with the story behind the writing of the song “Amazing Grace” by John Newton. Newton, a slave trader, was caught in an awful storm while he plied his trade on the seas. The Lord used that particular storm to bring Newton to faith in Christ. In response to his conversion, Newton wrote “Amazing Grace.” What most people don’t know, however, is that Newton wouldn’t stop his trade of slaves for another ten years after his conversion! Yep, he used to drop off his cargo and go for walks across the meadow to think and pray. But, over those ten years, God slowly brought Newton to a deep conviction that the slave trade was wrong. My point? The process of change in Christians is usually very, very slow. This doesn’t mean that we overlook sin, but it does mean that we are patient with people as they connect the dots—just as Newton did.
We also need to realize that in addition to being slow to change, people (including pastors) easily drift away from gospel-focused lives. Do you remember when Peter and Paul, the two titans of the faith, squared off in Antioch? When Peter initially arrived in Antioch, he spent time with Gentiles and enjoyed both food and fellowship with them. But when the representatives from Jerusalem arrived, Peter drew back from the Gentiles out of fear. But Paul saw a deeper problem:
“For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, ‘If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?’” (Galatians 2:12-14)
Paul interpreted Peter’s behavior not just in reference to the law, or some category of the heart, but in reference to what Peter’s behavior revealed about his understanding and application of the gospel. Peter’s conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel. Peter unconsciously drifted into hypocrisy, but that was only a symptom. The cause was gospel-drift, and so Paul brought him back to the gospel.
Part of the pastor’s job is to help Christians regularly refocus on the gospel. To a friend who is bitter, we encourage them to, “…forgive, as God in Christ forgave you,” (Eph. 4:32). To the husband who is passive: “Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her,” (Eph. 5:25). In other words, we look at how the gospel speaks to a person’s struggles, fears, anger, and selfishness, and then help people apply the gospel to their particular struggles.
As Tim Keller says, “All of our problems come from a failure to apply the gospel.”
The call to plant and pastor is primarily a call to help people keep the gospel in focus.
Editor’s note: This piece was originally published at Dave Harvey’s site, AmICalled.com. It was republished at For the Church on February 10, 2017.
Editor’s note: The following is excerpted with permission from Home with God: Our Union with Christ by Kyle Worley. Copyright 2024, B&H Publishing. Available for pre-order from B&H Publishing and wherever books are sold.
A well-wrapped gift creates curiosity, doesn’t it? Sitting under a Christmas tree or at a table next to a birthday cake, children can be driven crazy with the anticipation of unwrapping a gift, their minds racing with curiosity. “What goodness could this box possibly have inside?!” All too often, for all of us, the unwrapped gift doesn’t live up to the hype.
But the exact opposite is true when we begin to unwrap all God has for us in Christ Jesus. We are told that “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” (Eph. 1:3) is in Christ Jesus and that “all the promises of God find their ‘Yes’ in him” (2 Cor. 1:20). All of God’s good things for His people are in Christ Jesus. All of them. And at the core of these many gifts there is the gift of a new identity.
In Christ, we receive a “new me.” This new identity is radically different from our old identity in Adam, because in Christ we are justified. To be justified is to be declared righteous by God. Justification is one of the key benefits of salvation, for it remedies the essential problem of our alienation from God: that we are born into this world, in Adam and unrighteous.
There is no way of earning the righteousness of God, but there is a way of receiving it. In Christ and Christ alone.
Where do we receive this declaration of righteousness? In Christ. Is it because when we trust in God, all of a sudden our behavior is perfectly righteous? Absolutely not! Is it because once we have done enough stuff following Jesus’s righteous example, God accepts us as righteous? Absolutely not! We are declared righteous by God because we have entered into the righteous one by grace through faith.
We are justified in Christ. The condemnation that belongs to us by nature in Adam is exchanged for the righteousness that belongs to Christ by nature. It is on the cross that this great exchange occurs. By nature, we deserve condemnation, but God “made [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). In Jesus, we are declared and made righteous. No longer defined by sin and shame, we are now defined by the righteousness we have been rewarded with in Christ.
In Christ, we receive all of God’s saving benefits. A gift that does not disappoint. And what we receive in Christ can never be lost, it can never be taken away, it can never be stripped away. God declares His people righteous in His beloved Son. To take back what He has given to His people in Christ would be to forsake His own Son. And that will never happen. Never.
I refer to the doctrine of union with Christ as our “home with God.” In Christ, we are welcomed into life with God.
How does this new home shape how God sees us? It means that we are now viewed by God the Father through the life, work, and victory of God the Son. So how does the Father see the Son? If we answer that, we will have our answer to how God sees us when we are in Christ.
Every Gospel account in the New Testament records the baptism of Jesus. In the Gospels we are told exactly how the Father sees the Son at Christ’s baptism: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Each of the baptism accounts presents this moment as one of the clearest pictures of the triune God’s beloved fellowship: God the Father declaring, the Holy Spirit descending, and the Son of God receiving.
And yet, the baptism of Jesus comes before His public ministry. When Jesus receives the declaration of “beloved,” His public ministry has not begun. After the baptism, He enters into the wilderness showdown with Satan. Why do I point this out? Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was beloved before the battle. In Jesus we, too, are beloved before the battle. Beloved by God in Christ before we ever do anything for the sake of Christ.
It is in being received as a child of God that we find the love for which we long. We are born longing to become beloved. To feel beloved. Due to our homeless hearts, we have a strong bent toward misplacing this desire in things and people that can never deliver on it.
When Christ receives the public declaration of “beloved Son,” He receives it on behalf of all who would be united to Him. “In love [God] predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ” (Eph. 1:5).
Who is the Christian before God?
In Christ Jesus, they are a righteous and beloved child of God.
Why does this change everything?
To put it simply, if you are in Christ Jesus, God isn’t waiting on a future version of you He is going to love more. You are already righteous. For good. Forever. Because you are in the righteous one. You are already beloved. For good. Forever. Because, you are in the Beloved Son. How could this not change everything?
In Christ Jesus, we receive forgiveness and fellowship. In Him, we are not only acquitted, we are accepted. In Christ Jesus, we receive both the righteousness we desperately need and the relationship we desperately desire. We are justified in Christ and we are adopted in Christ Jesus.
And this changes everything because our new identity is unbreakable and unshakable. It cannot be lost or corrupted, and it will be kept by God forever because He is forever faithful to Himself. In Christ, God is covenantally bound to you. To forsake you would be to forsake the perfect faithfulness of Jesus Christ, and God will never break fellowship with Himself. This unbreakable union is set by the Father, secured by the Son, and sealed by the Holy Spirit. Even when we disobey God or settle for lesser loves, we are kept by Jesus as we are “sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of His glory” (Eph. 1:13–15).
Union with Christ gives us a new identity. In Christ, I receive a “new me.” Not the “new me” of self-help books, not a “new me” that is more productive, more efficient, and more successful, but a “new me” that is now a righteous and beloved child of God. You can’t life hack a new identity, but you can receive one.
