A Teaching Ministry that Edifies the Saints and Glorifies the Lord

At bare minimum faithful teaching is comprised of two essential components.  Preparation and delivery.  Or, more specifically stated, God-honoring preaching involves diligent expository study combined with on-target exposition and application. 

              The “diligent study” component is mandated in 2 Timothy wherein Paul instructs his young protégé, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth.”[1]    

              The on-target exposition component is prescribed in many biblical texts but chiefly in  2 Timothy 3:16-4:2. “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.  I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom, preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.” 

              In short, the faithful bible teacher must read the text, explain the text, and apply the text.

Evangelicalism Gone Wild: The Continued Folly of Hyper-Grace Sanctification.

Photo Credit: modernmarburg.wordpress.com

We interrupt our current blog series to bring you an updated press release concerning Tullian Tchividjian and to sadly recount the continued decline of American Evangelicalism...

Last week (celebrity editor) Phil Johnson criticized (celebrity counselor) Paul Tripp over a public article wherein Tripp basically stated that Pastor Tullian Tchividjian's divorce is necessary because his marriage is 'irreparably broken.'  As most of you know Tullian Tchividjian's ministry credentials were deposed by a south Florida Presbytery recently following his extramarital affair. (Paul Jones of Reformation 21 also weighed in on Paul Tripp's public comments.)

As this tragedy unfolded publicly Phil Johnson added some very helpful commentary along the way. Here are some Pastor Johnson quotes that I found to be quite discerning. "I can't imagine any circumstances under which it would be appropriate to counsel a man who is admittedly guilty of adultery that it's OK to file for divorce after a six-month attempt at reconciliation. Plus, this particular man was a pastor whose whole message was supposedly about the power of the gospel and grace and forgiveness. Tullian himself has been practically demanding grace and forgiveness since the day after his sin was exposed. Furthermore, he seemed to throw his wife under the bus even in his original "confession." From the public perspective, it seems clear that he has sinned against his wife; he is not merely an innocent victim of her sin, whatever that may be. All of those things raise questions in my mind, but the biggest question is, Why is Paul Tripp so willing to be complicit in this whole mess?"

The Myth of Adolescence

15+ years ago I heard a series of lectures that addressed biblical youth ministries and "the Myth of Adolescence."  This message was quite helpful in shaping my Biblical Philosophy of Ministry in relation to youth and family ministries.  

"Where does most of this come from? Let me begin by highlighting the myth of adolescence. You know the age with which youth ministry deals with is commonly known as 'adolescence,' and our society has been identified as unique in history by calling people between age twelve and age twenty 'adolescents.' Let me give you the history of that, okay?

 In 1904, G. Stanley Hall—this is all on your CD, by the way—G. Stanley Hall published a book called.. .and guys, if you publish a book, please, please don’t do this, okay? Here’s his book, Adolescence: It’s Relations to Physiology, Anthropology, Sociology, Sex, Crime, Religion and Education. How do you put that on the spine of… anyway. 1904. This is the first known treatise on adolescence. 1904. The first place to identify that age. In this book, by the way, Hall argues that the stages in a child’s development parallel in mankind’s evolutionary development in history. The thesis of his book and the idea of adolescence is that the period between thirteen and eighteen is a crisis and stormy period of a young person’s life. Hall concluded that these years almost always include extreme inclinations for a person to be very good or very bad.

Has anyone outgrown adolescence? Has anyone in your church outgrown adolescence according to that definition? By the way, it was his book and these expectations that were the basis for segregating school children by age for educational purposes. It was at this point, 1904, that adolescence was—keyword—invented.

Lake Country Bible Church 2017

Our new church family and ministry home.

"The church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ, her Lord;
she is his new creation by water and the Word.
From heaven he came and sought her to be his holy bride;
with his own blood he bought her, and for her life he died"

"We believe in one true God
Father, Spirit, Son
One Church, one faith, one Lord of all
His kingdom come

A Passionless Message is a Lecture (Not a Sermon)

All preaching involves teaching, but not all teaching is preaching.  "Without passion there is no preaching.  Without passion you are simply a lecturer."

Paul commanded Timothy to "PREACH the Word, in season and out!"  Therefore, let us implore men, as if God were entreating through us, "Be reconciled to God!"

"In-Depth Preaching Requires Full-Length Exposition."

photo credit: www.becominglikechristjesus.com

"True expository preaching always involves a lengthy, full treatment of the biblical text.  When Ezra stood before the people of Israel in Nehemiah 8, he read 'from morning until midday, before the men and women and those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law" (Neh. 8:3b).'

The service went from sunrise to high noon, from 6:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.  It was a six-hour period of time.  Obviously, this was a unique setting and situation.  Every sermon is not to be six hours long; But our delivery should be long enough to be deep.   Nehemiah did not cut it short; his treatment of the Word was lengthy.   This is not the scene we see at many churches in the U.S. a twenty minute sermon and a twenty-minute invitation.  This is not the spiritual fare at the average "seeker" church- one hour of syrupy choruses and a twenty minute pep talk from someone sitting on a stool.  No, this was a full treatment of the Word.  Ezra presented the Word without watering it down.

Careful Bible exposition requires considerable time in the pulpit.  It takes time for there to be introduction, transition, homiletical points, explanation, word studies, cross references, historical background, thematic context, authorial intent, application, illustration, exhortation, persuasion, and conclusion.  It always takes longer to get a 747 off the runway than it does a crop duster.  So it is with preaching.  An in-depth sermon requires a full-length exposition.

Pastoral Search Committees and Spiritual Purple Hearts

Question: The primary badge of apostleship for the mighty apostle Paul was _______

A) His ability to triple local church attendance in 24 months or less 

B) Paul's experience pastoring a large church with multiple full time staff.

C) His impressive academic credentials and communication ability.

D) His larger than life personality and his Christian celebrity status.  Paul would have been a keynote speaker at all the major conferences.  He also was the author of 13 best-selling "books."

E) His ministry scars and his spiritual purple hearts.

The answer Paul gives in 2 Corinthians 11:16-12:10 is E).   If we are being honest we'll admit that 2 Corinthians 11:16-12:10 is a counter cultural text to modern day evangelicalism.  Many search committees judge success and ministry potential using a much different criteria than what Paul sets forth in his Corinthian epistles.  I have heard of more than a few search committees of "Bible-driven" churches ask questions and eliminate potential candidates because they could not check boxes A, B, and/or C.  This seems to be especially true of local churches that are larger than 500 people.

Many years ago A. W. Tozer put it this way, "It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until he has wounded him deeply." Few servants of Christ suffered more for the truth and for the Lord's church than Paul.

On rare occasions you will talk with a mature lay leader like Tom Gibson from Christ Fellowship Baptist Church.   Some years ago this particular elder team had the daunting task of hiring Dr. Steve Lawson's ministry successor.  One of the traits this leadership board said they were looking for as they went about the pastoral search process was to find potential candidates who had been "tested by fire" (as Dr. Lawson had been previously).  Rather than viewing Corinthian-esq battle wounds as a liability they viewed battle scars in the line of duty as a mark of maturity (James 1:2-4).

In his classic book on Spiritual Leadership J. Oswald Chambers noted,

When God wants to drill a man

And thrill a man

And skill a man,

Lessons Learned from a Long Line of Godly Men- Embrace Suffering!

As you make your way through my series of articles on church revitalization articles please consider the Scripture passages and other ministry resources that I have linked in every journal entry.  Suffice it to say, the trials that God took us through during my first four years of ministry in Freeport are really not that unique.   Which Christian parishioner or faithful pastor ever lived a care free life?  Job himself noted that "Man is born into trouble as the sparks fly upward."

As you listen to the following leadership interviews you will hear some faithful Christian leaders share a collection of honest reflections about some of the trials and tribulations of gospel ministry.  The snippet of John MacArthur (1 minute-8 1/2 minutes) and Paige Patterson (46 minutes-52 minutes) are the clips most applicable to this series of articles on reformation ministry.  I continue to learn so much from the testimony and example of godly men such as those interviewed in this audio recording (see below). 

http://www.9marks.org/audio/9marks-leadership-interview-sampler

http://media.9marks.org/audio/interview-leadership-sampler.mp3

Here is one very powerful quote from the 9 Marks interview sampler.  "I have learned to embrace the suffering and to embrace the criticism and the failure and the pain as probably the most productive work of God in my life.... Their is a sense in which the best things that have ever happened to me are the mutinies that have occurred in my church, the disappointments, the criticisms, and the misrepresentations."

Pastoral Lessons from Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Many years ago I read Iain H. Murray's signature biography on the late great D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones.  The second volume of this epic two part biography is aptly titled "the Fight of Faith."  If you want to know what makes MLJ's ministry so enduring check out this series of exceptional articles written by Dr. Steve Lawson.

Over the past ten years Christian biographies have been some of the best ministry mentors a young pastor could ask for. Many pastoral lessons can been gleaned from reading great biographies. For example, I was somewhat shocked to read about the internal opposition MLJ faced when transitioning into the Lead Pastor position at the historic Westminster Chapel. MLJ left his very successful ministry in Wales to serve as a Co-Pastor with the famed G. Campbell Morgan. Campbell had pastored his London congregation for thirty-nine years (1904-1943). A church member could not have asked for a better succession than this. To go from the pulpit ministry of G. Campbell Morgan to the preaching ministry of D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones is sort of like going from Joe Montana to Steve Young at quarterback. 

Despite his ministry pedigree MLJ was not without internal critics. Iain Murray writes, "There were influential members of the congregation from pre-War years, including men in the leadership of the diaconate, who were by no means enamored with the prospect of hearing nothing but Dr. Lloyd-Jones. Hitherto they had tended to suffer the new preaching while expressing their undisguised preference for Dr. Morgan. Some members even choose to attend only when the older man was preaching, and one of these, mistaking the arrangements for a particular Sunday, was overheard at Sunday lunch to say with indignation, 'I went to Westminster to hear Dr. Morgan but it was that Calvinist.'" The same attitude was strongly represented in the diaconate itself. Murray went on to explain how upon receiving Dr. Morgan's resignation letter the deacons met alone.  After this secret meeting the board asked MLJ what his intentions were knowing all along that MLJ was to transition into the Lead Pastor position once Dr. Morgan retired.