By emangalagiu / Aug 12
Ftc.co asks Dan Darling ‘What about ministry gives you joy?’.
Gospel-Centered Resources from Midwestern Seminary
Ftc.co asks Dan Darling ‘What about ministry gives you joy?’.
Editor’s note: This summer, we’re sharing articles aimed at encouraging pastors, ministry leaders, and church members in living and serving in light of Christ’s coming Kingdom. To hear more on this topic from Jared C. Wilson and other key leaders, register to join us for the 2025 For the Church National Conference, “Kingdom Come: Ministry in Light of Glory.”
The following article was originally published at ftc.co on August 23, 2021.
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And Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.” —Luke 20:34-36
Jesus knows that the Sadducees he’s speaking to do not believe in a resurrection, and in a way, their very misunderstanding of what Jesus believes about marriage betrays their disbelief. The Sadducees, like so many others then and today who don’t believe in Jesus, think this is all there is. Nothing comes after death. You die and that’s it. They do not think on the scale of eternity, that God is endless and therefore life is endless. That when God created the world, not even the fall of mankind, and the sin unleashed into the world through it, and the brokenness of the earth contracted by it, can thwart God’s purposes. Sin will not have the last word when it comes even to creation. What God made good and man trashed, God is going to remake.
This means that everything created good is only a pale glimmer of what it will be in the time when heaven crashes into earth fully and God restores it all.
So Jesus sets up the contrast between the here and now with the sweet bye and bye.
Now, when he says resurrected believers are “equal to angels” he doesn’t mean that when good people die they become angels. That’s been a very popular misunderstanding throughout the church age. I mean, I don’t know if you get your theology of the afterlife from Tom and Jerry cartoons, but when we die we don’t spend the rest of eternity up in the clouds playing harps and wearing diapers.
Jesus simply means that we will be glorified in such a way that we will be along the order of angels—enjoying the paradise of God under a new order.
The thrust of this is in the contrast. Notice the difference he presents between “this age” (v. 34) and “that age” (v. 35).
What Jesus is telling them—and us—is that the gifts we enjoy in this age are meant to be signposts to the Giver himself and the everlasting enjoyment in the age to come. He uses the example they’ve brought him: They’ve brought up the topic of marriage, so that’s how he answers them. In this age, men and women are gifted the covenant of marriage. But in that age, like the angels, we won’t need the covenant of marriage.
What Jesus is saying is that marriage is meant for this age to point us to the reality of that age. How does it do that? There are so many broken marriages and always have been since the fall, but it wasn’t originally like that. And even the best marriages, even the ones that last “until death do them part,” are often fraught with conflict or hurts or just disappointments. But that wasn’t the original design. The original design—that man would leave his parents and cleave to his wife and become “one flesh” with her—was meant to be a reflection of God’s loving commitment to mankind.
Even after sin entered the world through the acts of that first married couple, marriage points to the gospel, because a husband and wife are meant to live in a gracious covenant with each other—forgiving each other, nurturing each other, caring for each other—as a picture of what Christ has done out of sheer grace to show his love for his Church. In Ephesians 5, Paul calls marriage “a profound mystery,” and he says it refers to Christ and his Church.
This is why marriage is both beautiful and temporary. It’s beautiful because it is a signpost pointing to Christ and his Bride, the Church. And it’s temporary, because when Christ returns to consummate his Kingdom, the thing to which the sign points will finally have arrived. We won’t need the signs any more—because we will have the reality forever.
Sons of the resurrection we will be. And so Jesus is showing how the reality of the resurrection to come provides a new perspective on how we think about things like marriage today. Looking to the day of the new heavens and new earth gives clarity to our vision for the things around us.
What would it look like to treat each other, married or not, not as objects for our own use and pleasure today, but as opportunities to affirm the image of God and show that we believe there is a new day coming?
Editor’s note: This summer, we’re sharing articles aimed at encouraging pastors, ministry leaders, and church members in living and serving in light of Christ’s coming Kingdom. To hear more on this topic from Jason K. Allen and other key leaders, register to join us for the 2025 For the Church National Conference, “Kingdom Come: Ministry in Light of Glory.”
*This article was featured in the issue 44 of Midwestern Magazine.
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By Jason K. Allen
We believe that Midwestern Seminary’s right to exist is directly tethered to our faithfulness to the local church. I believe that any parachurch organization or ministry should be evaluated primarily based upon its faithfulness to serve, support, and strengthen the local church. Christ has promised to build His church, not His seminary. But as we are faithful to His Church, doubtlessly He will build this seminary.
Over the past decade, we’ve trumpeted our for the Church mission as loudly as we can. It’s been implemented across every square inch of the campus, embedded into every aspect of our institutional programming and curriculum, and embraced by every member of the team.
Moreover, for the church has given us institutional momentum.
It’s been an igniter, a propellant moving us forward, and it’s galvanized our constituency to support us. It’s been a cohesive, binding us together. We are for the church.
Articulating the Mission
Ordinarily a mission statement should not change with a new leader. Perhaps it’s tweaked or reapplied, but it ought not be reinvented with each leadership change. In a sense, I was blessed because Midwestern Seminary had already been serving the church, but it had not expressed that mission in a clear, cogent way. I had the opportunity to clarify, to convey, and every day since, to champion that mission.
When Winston Churchill was heralded as the lionhearted leader of wartime Great Britain, he famously said, “It was a nation and a race dwelling all around the globe that had the lion heart. I had the luck to be called upon to give the roar.” [1]
I feel the same way toward Midwestern Seminary’s for the Church mission. Before me were faithful men and women already serving for the church. Yet, like Churchill, I’ve had the pleasure of articulating that mission and leveraging all the seminary’s resources for the church in a way that hadn’t been done before.
At the personal level, for the Church had been building in my life for years. I had twin loves, the local church and theological education. In fact, that’s why I’d been dually engaged in institutional and local-church ministry settings for almost my entire adult life.
But the for the church mission is so much bigger and better than I am. It’s not just autobiographical; it’s biblical.
The Unchanging Mission
Over the past ten years, I’ve watched with pleasure as for the church has gone from being my mission statement for Midwestern Seminary, to our mission statement for Midwestern Seminary, to the mission statement of Midwestern Seminary.
There is a symbiotic relationship between the church and the seminary; they are to serve, strengthen, and support one another. With the previous generation of pastors retiring, churches are asking, “From whence will a new generation come?” Midwestern Seminary must be ready to respond to that question every year going forward by supplying a new generation of pastors, missionaries, and ministers to serve our churches.
This is precisely why for the Church still matters. Our mission has not changed. Our constituency has not changed. Our directive from the Lord has not changed. Therefore, we will continue to be for the church because our calling is clear, and the need is great.
For the Church animates our team, represents our institution, and inspires our constituency. Together, we are for the church, and we always will be.
*This article is an excerpt from Turnaround: The Remarkable Story of an Institutional Transformation and the 10 Essential Principles and Practices that Made It Happen. To purchase the book, please visit: jasonkallen.com.
[1] This line was said in a speech of thanks given at the House of Commons on Churchill’s eightieth birthday on November 30, 1954. See Geoffrey Best, Churchill: A Study in Greatness (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003), 183.
They don’t make headlines. They don’t sell books. They’re not killing it on Insta or TikTok. But they’re probably way better than we deserve. They’re boring pastors. In this episode of the FTC Podcast, Jared and Ross talk about why we’re tempted to underestimate pastors we find “less than dynamic” (but why we shouldn’t) and try to encourage ordinary pastors in their boring-ness to trust God in the normalcy of everdyay ministry.
Ftc.co asks Mat Alexander ‘What recent resources would you recommend for fellow pastors and believers?’.
Does obeying the fifth commandment mean never bugging your unbelieving parents about their spiritual state? How might other passages of Scripture provide some guidance on evangelizing our lost mom or dad? It’s common for Christians to think about winning prodigal children, but in this episode of hte FTC Podcast, Jared and Ross discuss how to handle having “prodigal parents.”
Ftc.co asks Dan Darling ‘What dangers is the church facing?’.
Editor’s note: This summer, we’re sharing articles aimed at encouraging pastors, ministry leaders, and church members in living and serving in light of Christ’s coming Kingdom. To hear more on this topic from Jared C. Wilson and other key leaders, register to join us for the 2025 For the Church National Conference, “Kingdom Come: Ministry in Light of Glory.”
The following article was originally published at ftc.co on March 20, 2023.
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“And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself . . . strengthen [you].” —1 Peter 5:10
To suffer with Christ is vastly superior to a life of comfort without him.
And if he has saved you through his death, manifesting all his divine power in his own human weakness unto death, do you not think he can be your power in your suffering?
He will be your strength in the eternal life he gives you. Eternal life means just that—“eternal.” This means however much you suffer, even if it be all of your life, and even if your life is long, it will still be nothing but a blip on the radar of eternity. “After you have suffered a little while,” says Peter. It is the context of eternity, which is the length of our union with Christ and therefore the un-expiring duration of our security, which colors our suffering. Paul could refer to his missional life of suffering as “a light momentary affliction” (2 Cor. 4:17). It’s not even worth comparing to the eternal weight of glory.
It is the sustaining vision of eternal life in Christ that fixes even a lifetime of suffering to a fine point—a fine point that in the last day will be eclipsed by the glory of the radiant Christ, perhaps even distilled down to a jewel placed amidst your treasures, or placed in the crown of Christ himself as we offer our suffering up to him, finally in our fully sanctified state, truly not loving our own lives even unto death.
But the apostle here is not simply promising the escape of suffering—he is promising the sustenance through it.
Christ will be your strength in the midst of your suffering, with sustaining grace to persevere. He is there, with you and around you and beneath you and over you and in you and beside you, and you are in him, and there is no furnace so hot that Christ will not walk into it with you.
I’m reminded of the passage in The Hiding Place, as Corrie ten Boom, with her father, contemplates the prospect of torture and death ahead of her:
I burst into tears, “I need you!” I sobbed. “You can’t die! You can’t!”
“Corrie,” he began gently. “When you and I go to Amsterdam, when do I give you your ticket?”
“Why, just before we get on the train.”
“Exactly. And our wise Father in heaven knows when we’re going to need things, too. Don’t run out ahead of him, Corrie. When the time comes that some of us will have to die, you will look into your heart and find the strength you need—just in time.”
When you must go through the furnace, you will not be alone.
In the weakness of suffering, Christ will be your strength.
It’s now come to be expected in evangelical headlines — the fallen pastor. Whether by sexual immorality or greed or abusive patterns of leadership, ministers big and small, famous and relatively unknown, seem to be dropping like flies. How does it happen? And, perhaps more intriguingly, can they be restored? In this episode of the FTC Podcast, Jared and Ross talk about fallen pastors and the possibility of restoration to ministry? Also: stick around til the end of the ep for a REALLY BIG announcement. Links mentioned in this episode include “How to Fall in Ministry”: https://ftc.co/resource-library/blog-entries/how-to-fall-in-ministry-and-what-to-do-when-you-do/ and “Can We Restore Pastors After Sexual Sin?”: https://www.9marks.org/article/can-we-restore-pastors-after-sexual-sin-a-longer-answer/
Ftc.co asks Jed Coppenger ‘What recent resources would you recommend for fellow pastors and believers?’.