Episode 203: Jeremy Writebol on Hope for the Burned-Out Pastor

By / Mar 22

On this episode of the FTC Podcast, Jared Wilson visits with pastor and author Jeremy Writebol about his new book *Pastor, Jesus is Enough* and the problem of ministerial burnout.



There is Something Better than Never Suffering

By / Mar 20

“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 a 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. So that Paul could refer to his missional life of suffering, “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.

He 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.



50 Thoughts on Preaching

By / Mar 13

1. Without a clear, discernible, and simple structure, your sermon will feel longer than it actually is.

2. Don’t short-shrift the exposition, but the quicker you move from point 1 to point 2, the shorter your sermon will feel, even if it’s not a short sermon. Ideally, your exposition should be a bit longer under each successive point. This will also lend the feel of a narrative arc to your sermon, a sense of build and climax.

3. An exegetical outline is not a homiletical outline. When it comes to the outline, remember to think in terms of proclamation, not just in terms of structure/data. Sometimes the difference in composition is just a well-placed verb.

4. Your homiletical outline should reflect a sense of symmetry (think alliteration, repetitive form, etc.), not because it helps people remember your sermon points – as a rule, sadly, they won’t – but because it forces you to think more compositionally, substantively, and even artfully about your sermon.

5. If you’re not a great extemporaneous speaker, a manuscript can keep you from crutch words and phrases (um, uh, er, “you know”) and make your preaching more polished and thus more listenable.

6. If you are a pretty good extemporaneous speaker, a manuscript may keep you from making eye contact and compassionate connection and make your preaching feel more robotic and thus more lecture-like.

7. A sermon is not a lecture.

8. If you manuscript your sermons, remember that you’re not writing for the page, but for speech. Adjust language, construction, development of arguments, etc. accordingly.

9. The sermon preparation process should be as much devotional as exegetical.

10. Sermon prep works best when it is prayerful.

11. Engaging introductions are important, but if you take too long to get to the text, you may give the impression the text is not setting the agenda for the sermon.

12. Preaching Christ as moral exemplar is fine and biblical, but it is not the same as preaching Christ.

13. The word “gospel” is not magic. Don’t mistake using the words “the gospel” for actually preaching the gospel. To steward the Spiritual power of the good news well, you must actually articulate the news – cross and resurrection, at a minimum.

14. Verse-by-verse is a perfectly fine mode of exposition, but it’s not the only one.

15. Sometimes verse-by-verse exposition falls short of biblical preaching, like when it misses the text’s context, and especially when it misses the text’s Christ.

16. A well-worn cliché worth remembering: A text without a context is the pretext for a prooftext.

17. There are generally three contexts for every text: the immediate, the biblical, the Christological.

18. Remember, the verse numbers are not inspired.

19. The most common point of application in the apostolic preaching is “Repent and believe.”

20. Don’t underestimate what good illustrations can do, but don’t overestimate them either. The power in your sermon is not in a well-turned phrase or a well-told anecdote but in a well-preached gospel.

21. Illustrations make your exposition “visible” to the mind’s eye of your hearers. Furthermore, they help hearers rest from exposition and engage a different portion of their brain. Good illustrative content makes a sermon feel more substantive, more full, and more aimed at the whole person.

22. Some of you should remember to smile.

23. Some of you should remember to cry.

24. Some of you think preaching just means yelling, and you’re way beyond the age of knowing better.

25. A succession of cutesy stories is just a hokey standup routine masquerading as a sermon. (Looking at you, older preachers.)

26. A succession of intellectual ruminations is just a theology lecture masquerading as a sermon. (Looking at you, younger preachers.)

27. Both of the above approaches are just opposite ways of “preaching ourselves.”

28. If you disdain creativity, you could probably stand to be more creative.

29. If you prize creativity, you could probably stand to be less creative.

30. Pay attention to what you’re doing with your hands. Pay attention to your tone of voice. Varying your gestures and modulating your voice suppress a “monotone effect.”

31. The sermon length sweet spot for the vast majority of us is probably 35 minutes, give or take a few minutes. This is not so much a capitulation to the short attention span of modern audiences as it is a preacher’s ability to economize in his presentation and be merciful to his audience. Most of us are not as listenable as we think we are.

32. Too-long sermons are sometimes the result of overcooking, the preacher trying to say everything about a text that is possible to say, which is not the point of a sermon. Too-short sermons are usually the result of superficial preparation. Beware both extremes, but for the favorer of short sermons, remember that, unfortunately, the sermon is the most Bible most of your congregation will get each week. They need a good, deep look, not a quick glance.

33. Law-heavy sermons please the flesh, but cannot save or sanctify a heart.

34. Law-heavy sermons are excellent at provoking conviction, but grace-heavy sermons both convict and comfort.

35. Grace-heavy sermons console, but they also empower.

36. Mind the imperatives and the indicatives and learn to distinguish them well. A stubborn distinction between law and gospel is part of what makes Christian preaching Christian.

37. When you are done with your sermon prep – ideally, before you have preached your sermon – ask whether there is anything distinctly Christian about it. Could your informational Old Testament sermon be preached in a Jewish synagogue? Could your inspirational New Testament sermon be preached in a Mormon setting?

38. Every text of Scripture has a road that leads to “the great metropolis of the Scriptures,” which is Christ (Spurgeon). The preacher’s job is to find that road.

39. If, after as much toil as time and energy allows, you cannot find that road, “make one” (Spurgeon). It is better to clunkily preach Christ than not to preach him at all.

40. Topical sermons are fine in theory, but in execution, topical sermons should entail the exposition of a central text on that topic.

41. Good expositional preaching passively trains churches how to study their Bibles.

42. Preaching through whole books of the Bible should be the normative diet in congregational worship.

43. Preaching through whole books of the Bible exposes the congregation to texts they might not encounter of their own volition and challenges the preacher to present texts he might otherwise wish to avoid.

44. Preaching through whole books of the Bible nurtures a deeper love of God’s word among the congregation, as well as a sense of endurance (Rom. 15:4).

45. At first, congregations will listen to your good preaching. Over time, however, if they do not experience you as a caring shepherd, even your good preaching will have little effect. They will wonder if you even believe it. But: “If they believe you love them, they will bear anything from you” (Baxter). Even a bad sermon now and again.

46. If you listen to the same preacher or two, you’re going to end up sounding like them – for better or worse. If you cannot listen widely, choose wisely.

47. As in writing, in preaching it takes a while to find your voice. In the beginning, you will (even unwittingly) sound like your favorite preacher(s). Over time, however, your true voice will begin to emerge. It will be a neat discovery.

48. A preaching of Christ that feels formulaic and one-note is not always a failure of hermeneutic but often a failure of spirituality. A preaching of Christ that feels formulaic and one-note is frequently the result of a personal relationship with Christ that is formulaic and one-note.

49. The preacher must take personal care during the week that he is not simply engaging in a relationship with the idea of Jesus rather than with Jesus himself.

50. A feeble, flawed preacher preaching a fallible sermon can nevertheless deliver a powerful Savior that scares devils, shakes strongholds, and saves sinners from death and hell. Many might preach the gospel better than you, but nobody can preach a better gospel.



Episode 202: Drew Dyck on Christian Publishing

By / Mar 8

On this episode of the FTC Podcast, Jared Wilson talks with author and publisher Drew Dyck about the ins and outs of Christian publishing — the good, the bad, and the ugly.



Do You Love the People of God?

By / Mar 6

Have you ever known a married couple who confessed they didn’t love each other? I have, and trust me, there is nothing more painful. As a husband, I can’t imagine waking up every morning beside a woman I didn’t love. I pity such a person.

On a couple of occasions, I’ve had such couples meet with me. Their stories tend to be similar. Life is rote. Their relationship is boring. They are married, but they feel more like individuals sharing a home and splitting the bills. For these people, romance left town long ago. They feel trapped because they understand divorce isn’t an option.

I can’t imagine the boredom, frustration, and disappointment that type of life must entail, especially for those who, like me, believe that marriage is between one man and one woman for life.

This is what one who enters the ministry without a love for the church will feel. In many ways, ministry is like marriage; you sacrifice for, love, and serve the body of Christ. You cannot do this—you will not do this—unless you serve out of a heart of love.

Perhaps you’ve seen pastors like this. They look for every opportunity to be away from their congregation. They erect barriers between themselves and their church. They view other activities, ministerial or otherwise, as more important and more satisfying than just serving God’s people. They seem to view God’s people as an interruption to their ministry, when the people are supposed to be their ministry.

Imagine giving your life to a task you do not love—or worse, to a people you don’t love. Ministry service is glorious, but it can also be uniquely taxing, and only those propelled by a love for Christ and His church survive the long haul.

THE NEW TESTAMENT IS ALL ABOUT THE CHURCH

It is impossible to read the New Testament without being struck by the centrality of the church. In the Gospels, Jesus dies for His church, charges Christians to expand His church, and promises to build His church. In the book of Acts, the church is birthed at Pentecost and explodes into unstoppable expansion and powerful ministry. The Epistles were all written to congregations or individuals about what the church should believe, how it should function, and how it should be led. When we come to the book of Revelation, we see Christ writing seven letters to seven churches and promising to one day return for His bride, the church.

This all speaks to the importance of the church—indeed, of Jesus’ love for it. In fact, Christ so identified Himself with the church that He famously challenged Saul on the Damascus Road, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9:5, emphasis mine). Saul’s occupation was to persecute the church, but to Christ, that was tantamount to persecuting His very self.

So we must right off dispel the notion that you can serve Christ without serving the church, or that you can love Christ without loving the church. Such an argument is harmful, goes directly against the grain of the New Testament, undermines the local church and the call to ministry, and will shipwreck your pursuit of Christ and Christian service. You may not serve it directly as a pastor or minister, but you should plan on serving the church at least indirectly in a ministry supportive of, or supervised by, the church. That is fitting and right because the New Testament defines ministry in the context of the local church. In whatever capacity you minister, to serve faithfully is to serve from a heart of love.

_____________________________________________

Editor’s Note: This originally published at JasonKAllen.com

*This article is an excerpt from Discerning Your Call to Ministry: How to Know For Sure and What to Do About It, by Jason K. Allen. If you are considering the ministry, there are two mistakes you must avoid. The first is taking up a calling that isn’t yours. The second is neglecting one that is.*

Available to purchase online at Amazon.com, Moody Publishers, and in LifeWay Christian Stores. Learn more at jasonkallen.com/calltoministrybook.



An Intimate Hour with God

By / Mar 1

The Lord invites us to know Him better. What a privilege! If the joy of heaven is in knowing the Lord’s presence without any sin to hinder us, surely seeking His presence now must be the greatest possible pursuit.

Do you feel your need to pray? A person who has no need to pray cannot be living by faith. Prayerless-ness says, “I am sufficient in myself for everything required of me.” But is that so? And do you not grieve God by your persistent self-sufficiency? The Bible says, “Without faith it is impossible to please Him” (Hebrews 11:6).

The following suggestions are designed to help you spend an extended time in prayer and meditation with God. You may spend this hour alone or with others. The order is not essential, but does provide a helpful way to progress. This tool may be used daily or for special times of retreat with God. Some may wish to follow this hour with more intense Bible reading.

It is sometimes good to kneel or to lie down before the Lord. “Come let us bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our God, our Maker” (Psalm 95:6). Walking while praying can also be helpful, or sitting in a comfortable chair so that all the focus can be on God. Be sure and find a quiet place.

1. Come in Christ’s Name

The audience we have with the Father is entirely based upon the merits of Christ. In other words, it is solely because Christ lived perfectly, died satisfactorily, and rose again victoriously for us that we have the privilege of addressing the Father. Because God accepts Christ, He can accept us in Him. “…He made us accepted in the Beloved” (Ephesians 1:6b).

Don’t just say the words, but actually trust in Christ as your mediator. Express in some detail your dependence on Christ’s worthiness and on His substitutionary work on your behalf.

“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ….For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father” (Ephesians 2:13,18).

2. Delight in Him

Express your wonder and delight in God. Praise Him for His character and His power. Do not thank Him at this time for His activity in your life, but focus on the person of God and His attributes: His Love, Patience, Immensity, Strength, Holiness, Grace, Glory, Knowledge, Wisdom, Goodness, etc.

“Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4).

3. Express Your Longings to Him

Tell God what you desire above all other things. Express your deepest longings for fellowship with Him and for holiness of life, or whatever is in your heart. This is not a time to pray about everything you need, but to make known your deepest, long-term desires. You may wish to personalize Ephesians 1:15-23 as a guide.

“As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God” (Psalm 42:1-2a).

4. Read a Psalm

You may wish to use one of the “Psalms for the day,” according to the day of the month. Add 30 to the day of the month to arrive at five Psalms for the day (i.e. on the 15th, the Psalms would be 15, 45, 75, 105, and 135). It may be helpful to read the Psalm you choose out loud.

5. Sing to Him

Use a hymnbook, recall a chorus or hymn from memory, or make up your own song from the Scriptures.

“Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands! Serve the Lord with gladness; come before His presence with singing” (Psalm 100:1-2).

6. Intercede for Others

Remember…

  • Those who have asked you to pray for them
  • The leaders of your church
  • The missionaries you know
  • The leaders of our country
  • Those who are unsaved
  • Your family members
  • Your friends
  • Those in trouble or grieving, etc.
  • “Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you…” (1 Samuel 12:23).

7. Place Your Day Before Him

If you are praying in the morning, you may wish to place every aspect of the day before the Lord, one item at a time.

“Lord, please give me patience with my daughter when she comes to breakfast; help me show her love and kindness.”

“Lord, when I try to make that sale at 2:00 this afternoon, help me to speak as a Christian would speak, and give me wisdom.”

By going chronologically through every possible event of the day, you are learning to trust Him in the details of life.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6).

8. Petition Him for Other Special Needs

There are matters needing attention in your own life and in the lives of others, the church, or your group. Tell these to God and ask for His guidance, deliverance, endurance, wisdom, or whatever it is that you need. It is at this time that you will want to deal with any repentance God is requiring. Expect Him to give you grace to overcome. “Be zealous therefore, and repent” (Revelation 3:19b). Ask with faith and genuine humility.

“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).

“…Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full” (John 16:24b).

9. Meditate on His Word

To meditate means to ponder, reflect, contemplate, or think over slowly, the Words of God. If this is your only Bible reading time, continue reading the passage that is next for you in your plan. Read at least a chapter of Scripture. Look for the key verses and meditate on them, asking God to show you what they mean. Mark them in your Bible and ask God to help you remember what He is showing. Pray that He will give you a way to humbly share these truths with others. Read to obey.

If you are in a group, allow a period of quiet so that each person may read the Word. The leader may wish to suggest the passage for use with the group. If there is time, insights may be shared with each other.

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also does not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper” (Psalm 1:1-3).

10. Offer Thanks to Him

Even if there have been difficulties in your life, the Lord has been good to you. Express to God your appreciation for specific acts of kindness He has done in the light of what you truly deserve.

“Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name” (Hebrews 13:15).

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published at ccwtoday.org.



Episode 201: Being Christian in a Secular Workplace

By / Mar 1

On this episode of the FTC Podcast, Jared Wilson and Ross Ferguson talk about navigating worklife as a Christian in a secular world.



The Scariest Thing Jesus Ever Said

By / Feb 27

For some, the Bible is and should be a great comfort.

For others, it is and should be deeply disturbing.

Throughout the Bible, God heals with reassuring words of forgiveness, kindness, and welcome. Also throughout the Bible, God thunders with warnings meant to stir people toward repentance, restoration, and peace.

Jesus, the center of the biblical story, comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable. He gives grace to the humble and opposes the proud. He is kind to shame-filled prostitutes and fierce with self-filled Pharisees. He gives special attention to the poor and denounces those who ignore the poor.

Perhaps the scariest thing Jesus ever said is that at the final judgment, many will say to him, “Lord, Lord,” and he will respond, “I never knew you; depart from me” (Matthew 7:21–23). He will also say the following:

“Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me … Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me” (Matthew 25:41–45).

These words should jolt us, especially because they will be spoken to church folk. These are people like me who spent their lives attending church and reading their Bibles and giving their money and praying their prayers and getting their theology right and even preaching sermons and writing Christian books. And yet, like the ancient church at Laodicea, though they will have built reputations for being spiritually alive, Jesus will expose them as naked, poor, wretched, and blind (Revelation 3:14–22).

James, the half brother of Jesus and leader of the church at Jerusalem, linked genuine faith with an active concern for the poor. He wrote, “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?” (James 2:15–16).

James answered his own question, saying, “So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (James 2:17).

Earlier in his letter, James said, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world” (James 1:27).

Both Jesus and James are putting a spotlight on our inclination to replace Jesus’ call to deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow him. We replace his call with a self-serving path in which we deny our neighbors, take up our comforts, and follow our dreams. When we do this, we exchange true faith for a counterfeit. We exchange irresistible faith with a way of thinking, believing and living that God himself will resist. Why is this so? Because demonstrating active concern for our neighbors—especially those whom Jesus calls “the least of these”—is an inseparable aspect of a true, Godward faith.

The apostle John, who was quite possibly Jesus’ closest friend on earth, gave a similar warning: “If anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:17–18).

One of my predecessors at Christ Presbyterian Church, Dr. Charles McGowan, says that our doctrine—that is, our stated scriptural beliefs about God, ourselves, our neighbor and the world—is the “skeleton” of our faith. Our doctrinal skeleton is a foundational, necessary structure around which the muscles, tendons, veins, and vital organs of faith must operate and grow. In other words, our doctrinal beliefs provide the foundation for our Scripture reading, listening to sound teaching, prayer, spiritual friendship, involvement in a local church, observance of the sacraments, and active love for our neighbors, including those who are without advantage among us.

As it is with the human body, so it is with faith: if the doctrinal “skeleton” is the only thing or even the main thing people can see when they look at our faith, it means either our faith is malnourished and sick, or it is dead.

Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

And a dead faith, like a dead corpse, is one of the scariest things of all.

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



Geoff Chang on Underappreciated Aspects of Spurgeon’s Theology

By / Feb 24

FTC.co asks Geoff Chang, curator of the Spurgeon Library at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, “What is an underappreciated aspect of Spurgeon’s theology?”



Episode 200: Barnabas Piper on Belonging

By / Feb 22

On this episode of the FTC Podcast, Jared Wilson talks with pastor and author Barnabas Piper about his new book “Belonging” and the beauty of gospel-centered unity and community in the local church.