My friend Mark over at the Grace Dependent blog is giving away a hardcover ESV Reformation Study Bible.  Just head over to the Grace Dependent blog at http://gracedependent.wordpress.com/2009/01/14/bible-give-away/ to see how to get it.  I have this study Bible myself, and I love it.  Check out how to get your hands on this great resource at the Grace Dependent blog!

Thanks, Mark!

My wife is daily a means of grace in my life.  She rarely realizes it, but the Lord has given her the uncanny ability to ask me the right questions at the right times as I think through various things.  I’m humbled when I think about this gracious gift from God.  That God sovereignly has placed us together so that we might together serve Him is increasingly clear and obvious.

Last night, as I was about to speak to a young man about the sin that had ensnared him, I was in a state of “righteous anger.”  At least, that’s what I told myself.  But honestly, I was really, really upset.  OK, fine.  If you must know, I was mad.  I was mad at this kid for living in a pattern of unrepentant sin.  I was mad that so many people had invested in his life, and yet he persisted in his flagrant rebellion.  I mean, time and time again this kid had been the recipient of prayer and counsel, but he still willfully chose to rebel against the Lord and live a life that has been focused entirely on what makes him happy.  (And I have never conducted my own life in that way.  I say this with a great deal of sarcasm.)

As a result of a series of events, I was about to get on the phone with this young man.  As I grabbed my phone and began to make my way toward the other end of the house, my wife said, “Matt, who’s the biggest sinner you know?”

Boom.

And that’s one of the many reasons I love my wife.

She was right, and that was exactly what I needed to hear at that moment to put things in their proper perspective.  And then so much of what the Lord has taught me over the past couple years came flooding back into my mind with a vengeance.  With just that question being posed, theology was unpacked and brought to bear on my heart. 

You see, all the things that angered me about this kid were, and often are, true of me to some degree.  For years and years and years, I’d wasted my life in selfish rebellion and pride.  Yet a gracious God was so merciful and patient with me, and instead of letting me continue to run from Him for the rest of my life, He kindly and lovingly waited and worked. 

This served to remind me of a few things.  First, who am I to decide who has had ample time and opportunity to get their life straightened out and who has not?  I am not the sovereign Lord of heaven.  And frankly, if the Lord had held me to the same standard that I would have held this young man to, I would have long ago been left for dead, spiritually speaking.  With a sovereign and omnipotent God, there is no lost cause.  There is no one beyond the reach of His powerful grace.

Second, as long as I have breath, there are battles that must be fought for the hearts, minds, and souls of others.  The gracious gospel of Christ must be preached, taught, and brought to bear on people’s hearts and minds.  It’s through His truth that the Spirit works, breaking wills and bringing individuals to repentance.  The gospel must inform who we are, what we do, and how we minister to others.

Third, we must fight for their hearts, showing them the glorious gospel of grace that we have already been recipients of.  We must be tireless.  We must be willing to be vulnerable, hurt, disappointed, and overwhelmed.  We must be willing to get down into the trenches and engage.  We must be willing to get dirty, grimy, and even bloody in this quest.  Ministry, as my friend Garry has said, is messy.  It gets on your shirt. 

The fight is on.

Below is an excerpt of a post from my friend Darrell’s blog.  You can access the whole post by going to http://www.darrelldow.com/blog/?p=1217 .  Give it a read; it’s well worth the few minutes it will take you.  So grab a cup of coffee, wet your appetite with the below snippet, and then head over to Dowblog. 

Here’s the excerpt:

Given the priorities we set upon the season do we have any right to be offended when someone wishes us “Happy Holidays”?

“It’s Merry Christmas!” we might yell pointing to the Keep Christ in Christmas bumper sticker on the back of our SUV. “You secular humanists are trying to take away the true meaning of Christmas.”

“It’s too late for that.” they reply. “All those bags stuffed in the back of your in your vehicle show that you need no help from us.”

And so off we go through the Christmas season humming Jingle Bells and dreaming of Sugar Plum Fairies and all the while trying to remember if there’s something we’ve forgotten. No, we’re sure we remembered Jesus, we left him sitting right next to Rudolf.

In my previous post, we looked at the response we ought to have in regards to the recent election.  The fact that God sits on His throne should provide us with an unbelievable joy and contentment.  That joy, that contentment, that faith—these things are an outgrowth of a proper theology.  Our ability to appropriately deal with disappointments, regardless of the size of those disappointments, is directly tied to our view of God.  As our associate pastor titled his message yesterday, “There is a God, and You’re not Him.”  God is very much still in control, and continues to bring glory to Himself through the events here on earth.

In John Piper’s Desiring God, he describes so very well how the foundation of both God’s and our happiness is His sovereignty.  Take a look at some of these verses.  My hope is that they’ll be an encouragement to us as we continue to marvel at His sovereignty and grace. 

Psalm 115:3: Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.

Psalm 33:10-11: The LORD brings the counsel of nations to nothing; he frustrates the plan of the peoples.  The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.

Isaiah 46:9-10: I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.

Daniel 4:34-35: His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”

Job 42:2: “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.”

Jeremiah 3:37-38: Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it?  Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come?

Amos 3:6: Does disaster come to a city, unless the Lord has done it?

Proverbs 21:1: The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns is wherever he will.

Psalm 135: 5-7: For I know the LORD is great, and that our Lord is above all gods.  Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the sea and all deeps.  He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth, who makes lightning for the rain and brings forth the wind from his storehouses.

Well, across the country you can see a variety of responses to the election of Barack Obama as the next President of the United States.  Some folks are absolutely euphoric, enthused to the point of nearly having a seizure.  Others, who saw the writing on the wall, had previously resigned themselves to their fate, so last night’s victory for Obama was not the stunning blow it may have been to others.  Still others are making their way through the Five Steps; many are stuck on denial or anger. 

The response in the Christian world is equally varied from what I can see.  I’ve seen a wide array of reaction.  Some have bemoaned the coming years under Barack Obama.  I’ve heard others decry the fact that they feel forsaken by God (a stunningly arrogant charge to level against Him).  Many have correctly pointed out that God is certainly still sovereign, and that this election played out precisely as He planned for it to.  Some have speculated that Obama’s election is God judging the United States.  Others still have at least implied, if not explicitly stated, that they feel like the apocalypse will most likely take place within the next four to eight years.

Look folks, God is still God.  He did not cease to be so just because the election did not turn out as some of us would have liked.  He still sits on His throne perfectly powerful, sovereign, and gracious.  God did not black out last night.  His plans weren’t thwarted.  The election of Barack Obama did not sneak up on Him.  He was not shocked by what occurred during the entirety of this election process.  He was not dumbfounded by how Obama was able to defeat John McCain.  He was not flabbergasted that previously Republican-leaning states voted overwhelmingly for Obama.  He was not confounded by Obama’s campaign strategy.  He was not mystified by Obama’s rhetoric.  He was not bamboozled by the Democratic party’s sales pitch.  He was not befuddled by the left-leaning media’s blatant desire to see Obama elected.  He was not rendered impotent in His control of American politics.  He was none of those things.  He was, and is, still God.

I’m dismayed when I see how many folks have suddenly adopted such a weak view of God.  It’s as if they’ve determined that since the election didn’t turn out the way they would have liked, God must not be as in control as He once was, or perhaps He’s just not as smart as He once was, or maybe not as powerful, or possibly not as interested in His own.  I’m stricken by the notion that so many of us who claim to put our trust in a sovereign God would have such little faith in His control of the political realm of affairs. 

It’s not that I’m not disappointed in the outcome.  I don’t think being disappointed, in and of itself, is a sin.  It’s a human emotion.  But at the same time, how we react and respond to that emotion can be sinful.  When we throw our hands up in despair, we’re violating the command to “be anxious for nothing.”  When we question whether God has forsaken us, we’re calling Him a liar, given that He has said He would “never leave us nor forsake us.”  When we wonder if He knows what He’s doing, it flies in the face of the many, many passages that explicitly state that God is in control of everything, including kings and powers that are, or come to be, in place. 

We must understand that the reason Barack Obama was elected President of the United States is because the Lord ordained it.  He remains fully sovereign.  And since we know that’s the case, we know that He’s done so so that He can receive more glory and His followers can become increasingly like Jesus.

In my previous post, we briefly discussed the idea of fully-equipped believers going out into the world with the gospel.  Not mentioned explicitly, though certainly implied, was the idea that merely expecting your pastor to preach the gospel on Sunday is not enough.  We, as believers, are to “Go into the world” with the gospel.  Whether a pastor or a lay member, not one of us is exempt from the Lord’s command.

The fact is that we need to be much more intentional about how we live our Christian lives.  God has intentionally placed us where we are for a specific purpose.  Consider Acts 17:26:

“And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,”

This means God was, and is, very intentional about our lives.  He placed us where we are.  He placed us in our jobs, neighborhoods, schools, community groups, and coffee shops on purpose.  Our lives are not random accidents, but rather, are intentially and purposely designed by a sovereign God.

That said, we need to be living gospel-centered lives in front of the audience that God has given us.  We want to interact with those that God has “determined” we be around in hopes that they will see Christ in our lives, hear us speak of what He has done, and be drawn to Him.  So we need to introduce ourselves and our Savior to those around us.  And then we must continue to reintroduce them to Jesus and His gospel.

Our adherence to this command boils down to simple obedience.  Matthew 28:18-20 says:

“18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Living in obedience to the Lord will require us to live our lives as if on a mission, because, well, we’re on one.  Or at least we’re supposed to be.  The Great Commission is the foundation of the mission, and as believers, we’re called to obey His command and live accordingly.  John 14 tells us that those who truly love God will obey Him.  They’ll keep His commandments.  There’s not much wiggle room here.  If you love the Lord—if you truly love the Lord—you’ll obey Him.

Thankfully, God graciously provided His Spirit to us so that we can become more and more like Christ.  It’s this sanctification, this progressive work of the Spirit, that enables us to obey Him appropriately.  So as we seek to honor God and become more like Jesus, we need to see the importance of obeying His simple commands.  Taking the gospel to the world is one of those commands.

Consider the words of Richard Baxter, as cited by I.D.E. Thomas’s A Puritan Golden Treasury:

“Oh, if you have the hearts of Christians or of men in you, let them yearn towards your poor ignorant, ungodly neighbours. Alas, there is but a step betwixt them and death and hell; many hundred diseases are waiting ready to seize on them, and if they die unregenerate, they are lost forever.

Have you hearts of rock, that cannot pity men in such a case as this? If you believe not the Word of God, and the danger of sinners, why are you Christians yourselves? If you do believe it, why do you not bestir yourself to the helping of others? Do you not care who is damned, so you be saved? If so, you have sufficient cause to pity yourselves, for it is a frame of spirit utterly inconsistent with grace.  . . .

Dost thou live close by them, or meet them in the streets, or labour with them, or travel with them, or sit and talk with them, and say nothing to them of their souls, or the life to come? If their houses were on fire, thou wouldst run and help them; and wilt thou not help them when their souls are almost at the fire of hell?”

Thinking through some things lately has caused me to take a closer look at the church and its function, the pastor and his function, and how the two comport.  One thing we tend to see more often than we’d like is an improper view of how the actual ministry at a church takes place.  The church’s actual ministry is to be carried out by, well, the church.

One of the primary responsibilities of the pastor or pastors at a church is to equip believers to carry out ministry.  The pastor must proclaim “the whole counsel of God” in order to equip the believers to go out and minister in whatever capacity that might be. 

For example, one such capacity would be evangelism.  Don’t misunderstand—I’m not about to say that the gospel should not be preached and taught in the church.  What I am saying is that evangelism should primarily be taking place outside the walls of the church.  In the great commission, we were not commanded to bring people to the gospel.  We were commanded to take the gospel to them.  Each believer is literally a missionary to their community.  In order for believers to be able to do this effectively, the pastor must equip them, teach them, train them, shepherd them, and love them.  This is such a wonderful privilege for the pastor.

On the flip side, within the walls of the church, one aspect of glorifying God (the chief end of man) is that the saints be equipped for the ministry.  One outgrowth of this philosophy, then, is that members of a given church will then be involved in ministry.  In many churches, the pastors and perhaps a few others are the primary individuals involved heavily in ministry.  Others are content to come to church when the doors are open, hear a good message, and then make plans to come back again for the next service. 

The New Testament Church knew of no such lifestyle.  Ideally, the New Testament saints were fully-equipped and well-trained to go out and do the work of the ministry.  God’s plan was not for one man or a few folks to bear the burden of ministry for a church.  Rather, it was His intent was to have the entire body of believers fully equipped to go out and minister regularly in their schools, at their places of employment, in their neighborhoods, within the church, and so on.  This is where the example of the body, given in Corinthians, is especially helpful.  It encourages us to have a much more organic view of the church.  Each believer—each believer—has been given a spiritual gift and is vitally important to the health and growth of the church. 

That idea brings us full circle.  We can see one aspect of the beautiful, God-ordained design for the functionality of the church.  One of the pastor’s primary responsibilities is to equip the saints that God has entrusted to his shepherding care.  This is a very serious and wonderful responsibility.  As this equipping takes place, and believers in turn are then living the ministry, we start to see the beauty of a functional, vibrant church that can then work more effectively toward its end—glorifying God.

I fear we’ve gotten it backwards in how we go about initiating change in our churches, whether that change be in something significant or something trivial.  We too often come up with a list of things that “need” changed, come up with a strategy to implement that change, devise an additional strategy to deal with all those in the body who would disagree with our first strategy, and so on.  Then, we’re surprised to see discord and division within the body in regards to the proposed changes.

As I’ve thought this through, it seems we’re missing some elements in our desire to change things.  The first thing that needs noting though is that changing things (I’m being intentionally ambiguous in regards to what those things would be) is not necessarily a bad thing.  In fact, often change (forgive me for using the word almost as much as Obama) is a necessary and good thing.  Sometimes, in our churches, we do need to make changes here and there so our ministry can be more effective and bring more glory to God.

That said, I think sanctification, growing in the Lord, is crucial to this process.  You see, if we attempt to implement change on that change’s merit, we’ll fall flat on our face.  It’s only as we grow in Christlikeness that we can begin to see things like He would.  The more we think like Him, the more our perspective will become a godly rather than human one.  Instead of finding ourselves thinking “What do I think about this or that change?”, we ‘ll find ourselves asking ourselves what God would think and if this or that change would help us glorify Him.  We want things that are important to God to be important to us, and we want things that don’t rise to that level to be treated appropriately as well.

Another thing that I think will help us to think clearly and Biblically about certain things is to view change within the context of the gospel and the cross.  When the gospel is at the center of what we do, and the cross is ever before us, other more insignificant things will be correctly viewed as just that—insignificant in comparison.  When our thoughts begin to center on the cross and the gospel, a proper perspective begins to emerge.  When we meditate on the centrality of that which is important, other more trivial things and issues cannot help but bow their figurative knee to that which is supremely important—the gospel and the cross. 

So I think that when we think about change in the church, or in ourselves for that matter, we must view it in a different way.  Instead of ramming change through a congregation, or scheming change through a congregation, we ought to first seek to become more Christlike and gospel-centered.  As that happens, we’ll begin to see things in a more Christlike and gospel-centered way.

…A friend of mine had some good thoughts on the topic on his blog.  Check them out at http://hipposrepose.blogspot.com/2008/10/fixing-ones-eye-on-north-star.html.  Have a great Lord’s Day.  May He be glorified.