Category: Church

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Church Clint Spiritual Growth Theology

The Trap of Godliness as a Means of Gain

In a world that is quite ungodly, it might seem strange to be pointing out the problem with how people might be using ‘godliness’. Yet there is a serious trap for people who use godliness as a means of gain (1 Timothy 6:5).

The Philosophy of False Teachers

When Paul tells Timothy to continue to teach what Paul has emphasized, even urging those things on his hearers, he also points out those who stand in opposition. These are the false teachers. Now it’s not obvious that the false teachers wear black hats like the old Westerns. Instead, false teachers have much that is appealing in their teaching. If they didn’t, no one would listen to them.

In a phrase that summarizes the philosophy of false teachers, they “imagine godliness as a means of gain” (1 Tim 6:5). So they have it in their minds that learning, or theology, or Christian culture, or spiritual experience, or anything else connected to godliness, is to be used. The philosophy of false teachers is utilitarian. They want to use Christian things as leverage for their own personal gain. The gain might be financial, or it may simply be the gain of social status. Whatever the gain is, the intention is to use Christianity for personal advancement.

The Trap

It can be an easy escape for some people to think that this only applies to the false teachers, to those who are the really bad ones. But the trap of using Christianity for personal gain remains a deadly prospect for any redeemed sinner.

Of course, the history of Israel had examples of God being used for personal gain by the Israelites. From the golden calf incident (Ex 32) to the idolatrous use of the staff with the bronze serpent on it (2 Kings 18:4), God’s people could be tempted to use God as a means of gain.

Even after Jesus rose from the dead, the disciples still asked, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6). Their concern was not about the resurrected Christ standing in their midst, but with how his coming was useful or beneficial to Israel. The trap is subtle but very real.

Bloated By Gain

Paul had strong words for the person who imagined godliness was a means of gain. He said:

he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth

1 Timothy 6:4-5a

The dominant feature of Paul’s description is that of a person who is personally gaining so that they are getting bigger by being puffed up, craving more and more, and so increasing the space they take up, bumping into others more and more.

Sadly our era is seeing a lot of this kind of bloating gain among those who profess Jesus Christ. Because there are so many errors, like the lists of a large menu, they can glut themselves with pride as they tackle each item. But like gluttony at a smorgasbord, their goal is not to satisfy spiritual hunger, but to satisfy unhealthy cravings that are unconnected with the humble, hungry soul.

Grace Not Gain

How different is the description that Paul makes in Ephesians 4:29 when he says:

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

Eph 4:29

We are quick to associate this with vulgar talking. However Paul’s command applies to all talk that is not generous in building others up. If it is only tearing down, only expressing demands, then it cannot “give grace to those who hear”.

The problem, in this case, is a fundamental misunderstanding of grace. Grace does not permit error or wink at it, so as to ignore it. Grace recognizes the error, yet expresses undeserved favour. The hearer doesn’t deserve it, but it is given anyway. Further, the correction is given in such a way that a person is moved from error to truth and from confusion to clarity. This is all done with such personal advocacy that the hearer believes that you are on their side personally, even if you disagree doctrinally.

Against Utilitarianism

Christians must be careful not to use godliness as a means of gain. We must also be careful not to use theological discussion as a means of building a Christian market platform. Or to use personal theological study as a tool (weapon!) to elevate ourselves above our peers. Or use book acquisition, celebrity pastor relationships, theological tribe-associations, or any other form of ‘godliness’ as a means of gain. Utilitarianism will rot our souls. We may not have the chance to be false teachers, but we will be complicit in their agendas, no matter how much we publicly crusade against them.

unsplash-logoHunter Bryant

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Categories
Church Clint Ministry Pastors Reformers Theology

5 Assessments of Pastors According to Calvin’s Geneva

In the Draft Order of Visitation of the Country Churches January 11, 1546 [1], there are some points made about what to watch for in assessing the ministries of pastors.

1. Doctrinal unity.

The first order of business was to make sure that the pastor maintained, “proper uniformity of doctrine in the whole body of the Church of Geneva.” This was done by having two Genevan pastors visit the country churches in order to, “enquire whether the Ministry of the place have accepted any doctrine in any sense new and repugnant to the purity of the gospel.” So the churches weren’t little labs where pastors could exercise their speculative experiments. They were expected to be fairly conservative, that is, unchanging in their doctrine.

2. Wise Application

Not only was the doctrine to be in line with the other Genevan churches, but there was also an expectation that the minister would preach with wise applications. He wasn’t to preach, “anything at all scandalous, or unfitting to the instruction of the people because it is obscure, or treats of superfluous questions, or exercises too great rigour.” In applying his expositions, the pastor wasn’t grinding axes or riding hobby-horses. How many ‘Calvinist’ pastors today are guilty of ‘exercising too much rigour’.

3. Congregational Support

The pastor wasn’t the only one who was held accountable. The congregation was urged to be diligent not only in attending church services, but “to have a liking for it, and to find profit in it for Christian living.”  Many congregations need to be reminded of their responsibility to support the pastor’s ministry and to like it.

4. Pastoral Care

Pastors were supposed to be engaged in ministry outside of the pulpit, through visitation of the sick and counselling. Specifically, pastors were to confront those who needed it, as well as applying counsel to prevent patterns of sin.

5. Pastoral Integrity

The last element that was examined was whether the pastor had a testimony marked by integrity.  Basically, did the pastor live as an example to others, leading “an honest life”? Also, the pastor’s reputation was checked to see if people viewed areas of his life as lacking self-control (“dissoluteness”) or being flaky (“frivolity”). Finally, the pastor needed to have a harmonious relationship with the congregation. And above all of these, he needed to have his family life in order.

These priorities are quite basic. But how often do pastors fail to maintain these basic emphases? May God grant us mercy to fulfill our duties.

[1] JKS Reid, Calvin: Theological Treatises, (SCM Press, 1954), 74

unsplash-logoSamuel Zeller

photo credit

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Agrarian Pastor Church Clint Ministry Pastors

4 Ways to Identify Potential Elders

Many churches lack qualified elders. It’s not that they don’t have elderly men. They don’t have elders; that is presbyters (Ac 20:17,1Ti 5:17Ti 1:5, Ja 5:14,1Pet 5:1). These elders (who are also overseers (Acts 20:28; 1 Tim 3:1,2; Ti 1:7), must meet the qualifications laid out in the pastoral epistles. The challenge is how to identify those potential office-bearers. Here are four ways to spot these men in your church.

He’s a Good Church Member

There is no sense looking at a man as a potential elder if he is not a good church member first. What I’m talking about is more than simply someone who has passed through a membership process. A good church member is someone who is faithful in attendance (Heb 10:25), faithful in the “one anothers” (a phrase used 100 times in the NT), and faithful in appropriate exercise of responsibility (eg. Heb 12:12-17), submission to authority (Heb 13:17), and promotion of the gospel (Matt 28:18-20).

Since the qualifications for an elder in Paul’s first letter to Timothy map out an exemplary Christian, then the potential elder ought to be a good churchman by design.

For example, if he doesn’t bother to attend the prayer meeting, he is likely not an elder candidate. That is not to say that a man on shift work or with a lot of evening work can’t be an elder. But there should be a clear indication that the local church is a high priority for him.

He Can Teach (with an audience of one)

There are men who are growing in the Lord, but they have a hard time expressing themselves in orderly ways. That of course, is what teaching involves: assisting someone to move from confusion to ordered understanding of the subject. Men who can teach have the ability to come alongside someone else and move them from point A to point B in theological understanding.

Being able to teach (1 Tim 3:2) does not necessarily require a man to be an orator or pulpiteer. There are many men who have less skill in public speaking. At the same time, a man who has a deep understanding of the bible, ought to be able to speak in an orderly way to someone else. One-to-one discipleship is a form of this kind of teaching. If a man can teach another man in a discipling context, then they are in the habit of ‘teaching’.

This one-to-one kind of teaching is important to recognize. Often men will like to lead bible studies or teach a class, but they have little interest in the patience and obscurity that goes along with one-to-one discipling. I have found that the men who don’t disciple, yet want to have public teaching roles will tend to view the bible and theology as a hobby. They will be energized by the study in the way that a fan is energized talking about their favourite team. Added to this can be the slight ego trip of being a centre of attention and being “made much of” by other people. By contrast, the man who is content to meet together with another guy in obscurity, yet help that man grow in biblical understanding— that man is teaching as a way of life. Maybe if that man is given an opportunity, he will teach publicly in the same effective, humble manner.

Confessionally Compatible

Since elders are office bearers in a local church, they have to confess the doctrinal parameters of that church. Much of this will be discovered by seeing if the man is a good church member. But more than this, a potential elder will have to be evaluated regarding his relative understanding of the doctrinal positions of the church. It is one thing for a member to submit to a doctrinal position that they haven’t studied too much, but it is another thing for an elder to have to teach it.

Added to this is a recognition of the doctrinal triage that exists in:

  • the statement of faith
  • the church’s constitution
  • and the existing ministries and policies.

By triage, I mean the ordering of priorities in terms of clearer or less clear and important or less important. If a potential elder elevates an obscure teaching to a high degree of importance or acts callously toward the way that his local church faithfully applies Scripture in practical matters, then he will likely create disunity among the elders and in the church. Everyone doesn’t have to think exactly the same, but there should be unity about what matters and what doesn’t.

Sometimes this means that the potential elder you develop will not serve in your church but someone else’s. If you have a generous spirit, you can recognize that on lesser matters in the triage, it is okay to differ. But that may mean that a potential elder will have to go to a different church that fits his understanding of things.

Capacity for the Work

There are many godly men who are faithful as church members and who can teach, yet they are not capable of doing pastoral work. They simply don’t have the time, energy or capacity.

It is not out of laziness or stubbornness. But some men recognize that their callings as husbands and fathers require them to work in such a way that there isn’t a lot of capacity left over for being an elder.

Since managing one’s own household well is a key qualification for an elder, the lack of capacity that a man has can be a signal that he is not called to the work. It is better to have the man continue as a faithful church member, than to have him over-extended into pastoral care and wreck his marriage and ministry.

Considering these elements can go a long way toward identifying potential elders. In the end, the wisdom of pastors and parishioners will culminate in wise assessments that can be recognized by everyone.

Categories
Canada Church Clint Gospel Society

Symbols in Stained Glass

Our church has been accepted to participate in a civic celebration of art called, Calgary Artwalk. What could our church offer? We are the stewards of a church building with distinctively blue stained glass. Within the stained glass windows are a series of symbols. The symbols represent Christian stories, themes and even doctrines. The artistic value of the stained glass symbolism is very high. But more than that is the profound symbolic significance which the windows provide.

Since we were included in the city galleries of Artwalk, we decided to offer interpretive tours through the church building in order to explain the symbols and introduce many non-religious people to the world of the Christian Scriptures.

This is the unedited tour guide script which the volunteer tour guides will use. Our hope is that as people come to study the beauty, craftsmanship and symbolism of the stained glass, they will inquire further into the message of Jesus Christ and his mission to deliver human beings from the banality of immorality and the lostness of their misplaced love.

Calgary Artwalk 2019

Symbols in Stained Glass

Exhibition Guide

Welcome to Calvary Grace Church. My name is [_____]. I’m a member here at the church. We are delighted to participate in Artwalk this year. And we are glad you could come and tour our historic building and see the our exhibition. 

The exhibit is called, “Symbols in Stained Glass”. Our tour should take about 20 minutes. There are washrooms available downstairs. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask at any time. I’ll do my best to answer them. 

According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York city, stained glass was a technique which became well developed in the Middle Ages. According to the MET:

Most of what is known about medieval stained-glass making comes from a twelfth-century German monk who called himself Theophilus. An artist and metalworker himself, Theophilus described in his text, On Diverse Arts, how he carefully studied glaziers and glass painters at work in order to provide detailed directions for creating windows of “inestimable beauty.”

Stained glass became an artistic way to show the symbolism of Christianity. For the many illiterate people in the Middle Ages, stained glass became a picture-book for teaching them the faith. 

In our tour, we are going to see as many as 20 different symbols in the windows. It’s going to be like flipping through a large colouring book on the walls! You’ll notice the graphic design and beauty of these symbols. 

  1. AGNUS DEI and the 7 Seals [Any ideas about what’s going on here?]
    1. This image shows a lamb with the sunshine around the head with the cross inset. This represents “The Lamb of God”
    2. John the Baptiser (They didn’t have “Baptists” back then) called Jesus “The Lamb of God Who Takes Away the Sin of the World”. Later in the Book of Revelation, Jesus Christ was called the Lamb of God and he is the only one deemed worthy to open the sealed prophecy about the end of the world. The singers said of Jesus, “Worthy are you to take the scroll    and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation,
  2. Crown
    1. This is the claim, not only that Jesus Christ is the King of the Jews, which is what Pontius Pilate labelled him when he had him crucified, but Jesus is also the eternal king who reigns in this way:
    2. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. First Letter to the Greek Corinthians from Paul, the Apostle. 
    3. [Nobody likes death. But the Christian belief is that Jesus died and rose from the dead, so he beat death and will destroy it completely]
  3. Candle
    1. This symbol represents the saying of Jesus, ““I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
  4. The Pelican in Her Piety [ Now what do you think is going on with this one? ]
    1. This was an ancient symbol used by the early Christians to portray what Jesus did in sacrificing himself.  People thought that the Pelican would stab itself and feed its hungry young with her own blood. In a similar way, the idea was that Jesus shed his blood to give life to his own. 
    2. [This is one of the more puzzling ones. Unless you’re an ancient history expert or a zoologist!]

From the Narthex, we enter the Sanctuary. We will turn off the lights and you can appreciate the blue light. 

  1. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John
    1. [Can you name the 4 Beatles? (John, Paul, George, Ringo) or 4 Calgary Flames? (Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan, Mark Giordano, Matthew Tkachuk)]
    2. What about the 4 gospels? [Matthew, Mark, Luke and John]
    3. Each gospel was a memoir of Jesus of Nazareth. And each memoir writer had an image which was connected to them. 
    4. The symbols are taken from Revelation 4:7 which speaks of “living creatures” who give testimony about Jesus.
      1. Matthew: Flying Man– His gospel stresses Jesus Humanity
      2. Mark: The Lion— His gospel stresses Jesus Royalty
      3. Luke: The Flying Ox— His gospel stresses Jesus Sacrificial Offering
      4. John: The Eagle— His gospel stresses Jesus high Deity (or God-ness). 
  2. Luther’s Rose
    1. Designed by Martin Luther, founder of the Protestant Reformation. 
    2. A ‘graphic designer’ who developed what we would call a Brand, not by self-promotion, but simply because he had his own distinctive style of writing, art, music, and church ritual. 
    3. Luther believed that you can’t earn your way to heaven by being a goody-goody, because you’ll always fail. But you can trust Jesus as your sub-in, your substitute, because he’s is perfect. Jesus’ perfections can make you acceptable to God. 
  3. Lilies
    1. [Is anyone a gardener? ] What happens when you plant a lily bulb? [it dies]. But out of the ground comes a beautiful spring plant. That is the symbol of Jesus’ death, burial, and three days later, resurrection from the dead. 
    2. The Lily is the symbol of literal rising from the dead by Jesus.
  4. Lamp
    1. “Your word is a lamp to my feet   and a light to my path.” (Ps119.11)
    2. Spiritual insight and understanding.
  1. Book
    1. Bible. 66 books with a common plot written over hundreds of years by diverse authors, with the dramatic climax in the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.
  2. Stormy Ship
    1. Who gets seasick? 
    2. This symbol represents the church on the stormy waters of the world. 
    3. It can also refer to the miracle when Jesus was sleeping on a boat during a terrible storm. When he woke up, he spoke to the wind and the storm ceased miraculously. 
  3. Palm Branches
    1. Triumphal Entry
    2. Roman conquerors
    3. Son of David on a Donkey, humble, entering Jerusalem.
    4. Palm Branches laid down in honour of the king. 

At this point, if you’d like to see more we have two other rooms with stained glass. You’re welcome to continue or if you’ve had enough, you can linger here and look at the inside of the sanctuary until we finish the extended tour. 

Extended Tour

  1. [Sacristy/ Pastor’s Study] Globus Cruciger: The cross-bearing orb. When Jesus holds the globe with the cross on it, he’s called Salvator Mundi (Latin: “Saviour of the World”). 
    1. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 
    2. What’s the Bible reference for that one? [John 3:16] You see it as a sign in the crowd at football games or soccer stadiums. 
  2. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
    1. The two interior stained glass frames, aren’t really stained glass. They are more like painted glass. They are an inferior quality compared to the others. 
    2. The first represents the ritual of Baptism. Baptism is the outward expression of true faith on the part of the person baptized. It’s a person following Jesus, and identifying with him by this ritual of initiation. 
    3. The second shows the Lord’s supper, both the bread /in this case a wafer, and the wine. 
      1. The picture is of the meal where believing people participate in a spiritual union with Jesus Christ, by eating this regular meal together with the rest of the local church family. 
      2. At Calvary Grace, we pass around small gluten free crackers, and then small cups of ‘unfermented’ fruit of the vine. 
    4. This lesser quality glass pieces illustrate that the church is actually two separate buildings. 
  3. [Luther Hall] Bread of Life
    1. [What does the Loaf of Bread represent?…. For a while we used to give away Cobbs bread at our services to anyone who wanted it.]
    2. Jesus famously said, “ “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. (Gospel of John (the Eagle] chapter 6. 
  4. Ichthous 
    1. [What is that? “A Jesus Fish”..Where do you see it? Back of a car…. sometimes you see the Darwin fish with the 4 legs sticking out of it.— Still looking for those transitional life forms between species.–smile—]
    2. You might know the story, This was a secret code which the outlawed Christians would use to see if a person was a fellow outlaw.  It can be drawn with only two lines. One person would write the top, and the other would draw the bottom making the fish. 
    3. But what do the letters mean? 
    4. Iesous = Jesus/ Xristos = Christ/ Theos = God/ Huios = Son/ Soter=Saviour
    5. Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Saviour
    6. The acronym, Ichthous is the Greek word for FISH. 
  5. Luther’s Rose
    1. The church was built by Germans from the Volga river in Russia, and they were Lutherans. That meant that they followed the Protestant Reformation begun by Martin Luther. 
    2. The called that room LUTHER Hall. And we do to this day. 
    3. Above the exit is Luther’s rose. 
    4. Luther explained it in his own words [Only for the diehard fans]. See attached:

Conclusion:

That concludes our tour of Symbols in Stained Glass. You are welcome to walk through the sanctuary and take pictures.

If you’d like to discuss more of the history of the church, church art, or the Christian belief system, you’re welcome to leave your contact and one of our pastors can chat with you. 

You’re also invited to attend our worship service tomorrow at 10:45. It will be filled with people from all backgrounds and cultures. You don’t have to be a believer of any sort to attend the public services. As we say, “Skeptics are welcome!”

If you would like to have a free bible, you are welcome to take one, even if you just want to look up the art history references. 

We are volunteers so if there is any way we can improve our tour for next year please let us know. 

Thank you for coming and may you keep on seeking the substance behind the symbols!

Appendix:

 Luther on his graphic design of the Rose:

The first should be a black cross in a heart, which retains its natural color, so that I myself would be reminded that faith in the Crucified saves us. “For one who believes from the heart will be justified” (Romans 10:10). Although it is indeed a black cross, which mortifies and which should also cause pain, it leaves the heart in its natural color. It does not corrupt nature, that is, it does not kill but keeps alive. “The just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17) but by faith in the crucified. Such a heart should stand in the middle of a white rose, to show that faith gives joy, comfort, and peace. In other words, it places the believer into a white, joyous rose, for this faith does not give peace and joy like the world gives (John 14:27). That is why the rose should be white and not red, for white is the color of the spirits and the angels (cf. Matthew 28:3; John 20:12). Such a rose should stand in a sky-blue field, symbolizing that such joy in spirit and faith is a beginning of the heavenly future joy, which begins already, but is grasped in hope, not yet revealed. And around this field is a golden ring, symbolizing that such blessedness in Heaven lasts forever and has no end. Such blessedness is exquisite, beyond all joy and goods, just as gold is the most valuable, most precious and best metal. This is my compendium theologiae [summary of theology]. I have wanted to show it to you in good friendship, hoping for your appreciation. May Christ, our beloved Lord, be with your spirit until the life hereafter. Amen

Categories
Canada Church Clint Ministry Pastors Theology

Bleeding Consumers Dry

Not as many people are talking about consumer-driven churches these days. Maybe it’s because there has been a switch in some of the mega-churches from lighter content, to teaching that positions itself in a conservative stream like the big-gospel movement.

Still, I think that the consumer-driven approach is quite common. Maybe it is so common that churches have simply given up resistance to the sales-customer model of church life.

Lost Vitality

David Wells was one of the key voices addressing this problem in the late 20th century. Through his books he documented how a renewal movement like neo-evangelicalism could flourish after WWII, only to be overtaken and hollowed out by the lure of cultural power and a marketing impulse.

This switch occurred in the 1970’s according to Wells, and the result was to bleed evangelicalism of its doctrinal and spiritual vitality. It had worldly success, but the renewal movement was losing its soul.

Jesus’ Warning

Of course, there is always the temptation for movements inside the church to turn parasitical upon it. Jesus warned of this when he said pointedly:

“Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honour at feasts, who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

Luke 20:46-47

This challenge has existed throughout the history of the church. It is part of the reason for Martin Luther’s protest at the Reformation. In the current climate of #MeToo and #ChurchToo, there is a need to ask serious questions about ministries, churches and what they exist to do.

Why Does the Church Exist?

As in the case of the scribes, the consumer-driven movement subtly shifted the questions of why the church existed. In such a case the church is no longer the gathering of sinners in a compelling community with supernatural, rather than natural bonds. Instead, the church is a vehicle for:

  • cultural power, (social gospel/social justice; “Court Evangelicals” a term coined by historian John Fea; liberal Protestantism)
  • personal platform (prosperity gospel preachers, other celebrity speakers)
  • building a brand (some church planting cultures, some denominations)

There are other variations of these, and some which could include all three (such as the church of Rome). If we can get back to clear thinking about what the church is, and what it’s for, we will resist false analogies that will lead us away from the church’s mission.

A False Analogy

Wells made the observation that when the church views people as consumers, then they have adopted a false analogy from the world of capitalism. In the article, The Bleeding of the Evangelical Church, Wells wrote:

Consumers in the market place are never asked to commit themselves to the product they are purchasing as a sinner is to the Christ in whom belief is being invited. Furthermore, consumers in the marketplace are free to define their needs however they want to and then to hitch up a product to satisfy those needs, but in the Church the consumer, the sinner, is not free to define his or her needs exactly as they wish. It is God who defines our needs and the reason for that is that left to ourselves we would not understand our needs aright because we are rebels against God. We are hostile both to God and to His law and cannot be subject to either, Paul tells us. Now, no person going into the marketplace, going to buy a coffee-pot or going to buy a garden hose, engages with their innermost being in the way that we are inviting sinners to do in the Church. The analogy is simply fallacious.

The Bleeding of the Evangelical Church, David Wells

Unfortunately, Wells’ analysis is being mostly forgotten by those over 40, and those under 40 have not learned the cautionary tale of what happened to a bright and hopeful movement called Neo-evangelicalism. But maybe there are some gains we can make, starting with some small purges.

Purging Parasites

How can we purge the unseen parasites in our practices? Here are three suggestions:

  1. Stop asking people to ‘serve’ before they are saved. In too many church plants, as well as larger churches, the temptation is to get people ‘involved’ but asking them to plug holes in the ministry machine before they are saved or effectively discipled.
  2. Accept the cost of being less responsive to non-biblical preferences. People are used to thinking of themselves as consumers. Churches should resist feeding that mentality, but sticking to biblical essentials, and habitually being less responsive to non-biblical preferences. Each church will have preferences based on geography, culture, demographics, etc. But to keep the focus on biblical essentials will lessen the elastic responsiveness which some churches have toward changing fads among the people.
  3. Audit your ministry for any areas you think are indispensable, and adjust your reliance them. Consider if you had a worship band that was just average. Or your children’s program was reduced. Or your meeting space was changed to a different facility. How indispensable have things become which are unrelated to the indispensable gospel of Jesus Christ? This includes the possible indispensability of the pastor’s personal ministry. As Charles De Gaulle said, ‘The graveyards are full of indispensable men’. Maybe it’s time to cultivate elders and pastors in the church who can preach in the event that God takes a pastor home?

Making these kinds of adjustments will be painful, but they will develop greater church health over the long term.

A Different Formula

Churches may use tools that are part of the modern marketing world just to get their message to people (Facebook, MailChimp, etc). But they must also ask themselves if the unwitting pursuit of cultural power, platforms, or brand expansion are subtly eroding the supernatural community which Jesus promised.

We ought to remember, that Jesus said regarding the true church, that even “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Mat 16:18). That is a formula for success which no marketer can ever accomplish.

unsplash-logoЕгор Камелев

Categories
Church Clint Gospel Spiritual Growth Theology

Four Parts of Practical Discipleship

In one of the classic passages on discipleship, the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) we see that to make disciples is to baptize them into the Triune name. This gives them a common identity. The disciple may be from a certain nation, but their new identity is named by the single name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. It is a personal and corporate designation given to someone who has been “born from above”(John 3:3).

Following that initiation into a new identity (Matt 28:19) the process of discipleship involves four parts. They can be seen in verse 20 of Matthew 28. I’ve broken it down in this way:

  1. teaching them
  2. to observe
  3. all that I have commanded you.
  4. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

1. Teaching

First, there is always teaching. Discipleship requires giving instruction in the content of the gospel and all of the wider interpretations and applications which Jesus and the apostles explained and applied. This content must be taught.

When content is slender or unclear, then the disciples who are being made are not actually following the true Jesus, but a different Jesus. Like a package that has been delivered to the wrong address, it doesn’t matter if the delivery has been made, the connection between sender and receiver has disappeared. There are many groups that claim to be Christian, but they suffer from this postal fallacy. What has been delivered to them is not from the true Christ but from somewhere else.

2. Submission

Second, a disciple must submit to the instruction. Content delivery doesn’t matter much if people don’t observe or submit to what the content requires. It does no good to have an IKEA manual for building a chair if you don’t follow it. In the same way in discipleship, teaching isn’t useful unless it’s observed and submitted to.

As John said in his first epistle, “Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him” (1 Jn 2:4). Submission to the instruction by heeding and observing it is a basic part of discipleship. Submission is neither optional nor extraordinary.

3. Obligation

The third aspect is obligation. A disciple needs to submit to the instructions, observing them and following what is laid out. But it is easy for Christians to shift their hearts away from God as they submit to instruction. That is why there must always be a reminder of the One who has done the commanding. When Jesus says, “all that I have commanded you”, it is not merely a tautology which replaces “observe” with “command”. It is actually a reminder that the commands of Jesus which the disciple is taught and submits to are not impersonal. Instead they are the commands of the disciple’s sweet Saviour. There is delight in obeying the Son.

Jesus himself said:

Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.

John 14:21

Without this orientation toward Jesus as the one who makes the commands, discipleship can become a grand demonstration of box-checking. When Christians go through lists and mark off their due submissions to what they’ve been taught, it can be easy for their hearts to shift away from Christ himself. Jesus warned of this (Mat 15:9) when he quoted Isaiah (29:13) that for all of the so-called worship that was going on, it was in vain and not directed toward the true God, rather being mere observations of human commands.

4. Presence

The fourth element in this discipleship process is the promise of Christ’s presence. It is a further reminder, that even though Jesus is ascended into heaven, disciples follow him, and he is present with them. He said, “And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age” (v.20b).

The presence of Christ assures that discipleship continues as a personal relationship. The authority of Jesus, the incarnate Son according to his divine nature is such that he can confidently promise that he will be present, even omnipresent with the disciple.

Of course, this is another example of personal discipleship connecting with the corporate. Jesus says “I am with you always”, and speaks of the “you” as the plural number of all disciples.

Discipleship involves basic elements. When we drop any of these parts, we have to ask ourselves: “Are we truly making disciples? Or are we doing something entirely different?”

Discipling by Mark Dever

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Church Ministry Personal Growth Spiritual Growth

Friends are Precious

Of all the things Paul could have said to Timothy in his last days, in this last letter, he says, “Do your best to come to me soon” (2 Tim 4:9). Paul wanted Timothy close. This is what friends do. Friends impose on each other when they are needy, because they value each other so highly. 

A Precious Friend

Timothy was precious to Paul. Paul called him his ‘son’. Paul had given a pattern of life to Timothy. And of all of the teammates which Paul had, Timothy was different. Paul could describe Timothy to the Philippian church saying, “I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare” (Phil 2:20). So it’s Timothy that he asks for. 

Persevering Friendship

Do you have those kinds of deep friendships? Few of us do. It’s hard to develop a friendship that perseveres through difficulties and distances. Paul and Timothy had that. 

Paul wasn’t entirely alone. Luke was with him. In some ways, Luke was a friend to Paul like Lord Beaverbrook was a friend to Winston Churchill. Churchill said of Beaverbrook— “He’s a foul-weather friend” (That’s the paraphrase).

Luke was not a fair-weather friend who flies off when things aren’t sunny. He was a foul-weather friend. He’d stick with you through storms. Luke was that kind of friend to Paul. The result is that we have the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles as the fruit of Luke’s ministry, and Paul’s influential friendship.

Strained Friendship

And the other person to note is Mark. Paul says, “Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry” (2 Tim 4:11).

You will recall that Mark was one of the early companions on Paul’s mission team. He went with Paul when they set out from their base in Antioch and went to Cyprus (Acts 13). But when they went to the coast of Turkey, Mark quit (13:13). He quit the mission and quit Paul. And he returned to Jerusalem. 

How to view Mark became a major disagreement between Paul and another friend Barnabas (Acts 15:39). Barnabas wanted to bring Mark on a new mission trip and Paul didn’t. So there was a break in the friendship between Paul and Barnabas over Mark. And another friend, Luke recorded it in Acts 15. 

Repaired Friendship

The point to see here is that friendships can be strained, but they can also be repaired. Mark had been a flashpoint for all kinds of relational stress— not just with Paul but with others. 

Yet unlike the wisdom of today, Paul wasn’t proclaiming Mark to be ‘a toxic friendship’ that he forever needed out of his life. 

Instead, he made his choice about Mark, but he could still have hope in God that Mark could grow and change and ultimately become, as Paul said, “useful to me for ministry” (2 Tim 4:11). 

Friendships are precious and we must have hope that in the long term, even when they are strained, friendships are worth working for, or as Tim Lane called them, “ a mess worth making”.

This article is taken from my sermon, The Legacy of Friends, Enemies and Frenemies here.

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unsplash-logoPriscilla Du Preez

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Canada Church Clint Gospel Spiritual Growth Theology

3 False Attractions of Revivalism

In any discussion of revival, there has to be an admission of revivalism too. The distinction was highlighted by Iain H. Murray’s historical study, Revival and Revivalism. These days people will speak about revival, but what they’re really talking about is a form of revivalism.

Revival and Revivalism

The key distinction between revival and revivalism is that the first is an unpredictable intensification of the normal, sufficient way that God saves and sanctifies. The second is a predictable, application of abnormal practices in order to create immediate, visible results (conversion decisions and extraordinary phenomena).

Revival intensifies the regular means of grace through the work of the local church, the preaching of the gospel, the discipleship of the saints (including their discipline), and the obedient practise of baptism and the Lord’s supper. In revival, there is a compressed density and expanded geography to the regular work of the gospel.

Revivalism always sidesteps the regular ministry of the local church. In fact, we could observe that many churches have swapped the regular ministry for perpetual revivalism. They use “new measures”, abnormal practices, and solicit vast numbers of public decisions without the need for discipleship, accountability, or any examination of the content of the deciders’ faith.

3 False Attractions

Why is revivalism so popular? I’m reminded that it continues to be popular as I watch the spread of the Bethel Church influence into non-pentecostal, mainstream evangelical churches. When I look at the features of Bethel Church and its pastor, Bill Johnson, I see many problems, but part of the issue is simply a repackaged revivalism. Here are three of the false attractions of revivalism that are recurring since the days of Charles Finney and are seen in the Bethel movement today.

1. A New Way of Doing Church

Western, consumerist culture loves something new. New computer, new phone, new show. So when people go to church they are very susceptible to new packaging and even new content. With every generation, there is the suggestion of a new way of doing church. I remember the Emergent Church movement which was at a pinnacle over a decade ago. It had books with titles like “A New Kind of Christian”. Newness sells.

Bethel has tapped into this by promoting the use of a new Passion “translation” of the bible. It is not a translation, as Andrew Wilson points out. The practice of grave soaking or grave sucking is new and really weird (see Joe Carter’s summary).

Charles Finney offered “new measures” which lead to saw-dust trails to altar calls. None of it was in the bible and in the regular ministry of the local church. But the newness attracted a lot of people. Unfortunately in the “Burned-Over Districts” the false conversions created a spiritual hardness among people as well as cults that grew like mushrooms (cf. 2 Tim 3:5).

2. Direct Access to the Unseen

Revivalism has to offer something special and unique for people to be attracted. One of the key enticements is for direct access to the unseen. In other words, true faith in the unseen is not enough. There has to be quick, repeatable phenomena that indicate the “power” of that faith.

The Bethel message is that repetitive miracles are normal Christian life. Of course, the problem with common-place miracles is that they are a contradiction in terms. This is not a matter of the theological arguments over cessationism or continuationism. Rather, it imports a low view of miracles, not a high view. By taking strange practices and imaginative interpretations of circumstance and labelling them as miracles, Bethel denigrates the possibility of God doing the truly miraculous.

Ironically, Bethel, like all revivalism, flips 2 Corinthians 5:7 around. They want people to walk by sight, not by faith, but they will say it’s faith. The problem with this kind of revivalism that walks by sight is that it sets people up for disillusionment. When the miracles aren’t miraculous, they will go looking for some other direct access to the unseen. I have been told by observers of the Christian Missionary Alliance that along with the Bethel influence growing, there is also a move toward medieval Roman Catholicism and it’s mystical tradition. Into this mixture, there can be the prospect of encouraging a new sacramentalism as the famous convert to Roman Catholicism, JH Neuman desired. Or there is a type of panentheism that has more to do with the New Age spiritualities than might appear at first.

3. Big Attendance Creates False Credibility

Looking at revivalism, whether it was Finney’s crowds, Methodist tent-meetings, or even elements of Moody and Graham’s crusade evangelism, we need to recognize that the existence of large crowds can create authority and credibility. Usually, the existence of crowds is a poor indicator of the credible and authoritative content of the preacher’s message. How faithful the message is to Scripture is the key indicator. Getting a crowd is possible for any showman.

Nevertheless, we all know that large events have authority and credibility ascribed to the leaders of the events because of the attendance. You would expect that with such big crowds, or big influence, that the message would be informing the attendees in deep and profound ways. But in revivalism settings, when people are asked about what they actually believe as a result of their attendance, the results can be disappointing.

Sadly in the wake of such big events, people will tend to remain agnostic or vague about key doctrines. They won’t understand clearly what the content of the Christian faith is. They are unable to assent to that content. And in turn, there is no basis for them to put living trust in the true gospel of Jesus Christ as specially revealed in Scripture. John Calvin’s threefold understanding of true faith (knowledge, assent, trust), is not encouraged by revivalism. True knowledge is bypassed or distorted and bare assent to the distortion is all that is required. Few would connect the obedience of faith (Romans 1:5; 16:26) to revivalism movements like Bethel’s.

Yet the crowd creates credibility. Many churches outside of Bethel’s stream are interested in emulating them. It was similar in Charles Finney’s day when his new techniques (eg. altar calls) became standard practices within churches for the next century.

The Consequence of Finneyism

I got an email this week from a pastor who shared with me his observations about Northern Ireland in the 1970’s during the Troubles. He noted that there was a great desire for God to bring revival. There was much spiritual good that came out of that pursuit. However, he also said that revivalism, namely the legacy of Charles Finney, was promoted positively. Yet true revival never came.

It makes me wonder that when the promised revival didn’t come, and the Troubles left devastation in its wake, the consequence of Finneyism would result in many, many disillusioned people. This would be an added tragedy.

We need to resist the false attractions of revivalism. If we don’t we will see a further “marring” of Evangelicalism (as Iain Murray described).

Instead, we should seek a robust view of God and his ways, learning from the Scriptures and the history of God’s dealings in the church, so that we would not be deceived by the false attractions of revivalism.

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unsplash-logoEdwin Andrade

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Canada Church Clint Gospel Spiritual Growth

Could Millennials Be A Blessing to the Church?

One of the benefits of staying at one church for a long time is that you get to see different aged people mature in the faith. “Kids” from the youth group get married, have children and then one day, they take their own kids to youth group. The ages progress and new generations emerge like the Millennials.

The Millennials or Generation Y are those young people who came to adulthood in the early years following the turn of the century. They are comfortable with technology, not knowing what it is to be an adult without an iPhone.

Some people talk about Millennials in a sort of ‘get off my lawn’ type of way. They think that Millennials lack work ethic or are too enamoured with virtual worlds rather than the real one. The marketers take a different angle. They talk about Millennials as desiring authenticity, and so they aim to position their brands to look authentic (which might not be).

When Millennials are converted to a true living faith in Christ, some of the stereotypes about them can persist, even in the church. It can be assumed that Millennials won’t be concerned for doctrine, or they won’t withstand the assault of the moral revolution, or they won’t carry on the legacies of the Baby-Boomer Generation.

In my experience, contrary to bad stereotypes, I have seen Millennials as a great blessing to the church. They want authenticity in doctrine, relationships, and mission. Let me unpack what I’ve seen in particular the blessing of the Millennials emphasis, with some small warnings too.

Authenticity in Doctrine

On the whole, Millennials care about doctrine more than most folks in my church and the churches that I’m familiar with. It’s the Baby-Boomers that have tended to push for more entertainment, how-to-sermons, and less one-another accountability and shared life. The Millennials have been the awakened generation who have driven the desire for more significant doctrinal clarity. The Gospel Coalition has become a massive parachurch ministry in part due to the appetite for theological thinking among Millennials.

The trap which Millennials must avoid is their willingness to try other choices. Millennials are used to having many options and choices available. Don’t like one app, choose another. When it comes to doctrine, Millennials can be tempted to confess one doctrinal stream (eg. “Reformedish”) and switch to another (Anglo-Catholic? Eastern Orthodox? Non-evangelical Anabaptist?). There is a possibility that Millennials could switch between different theological streams multiple times over the course of their lives. They won’t switch because they don’t care about doctrine, but because they have a harder time committing and confessing one stream of doctrine without having experienced the others. Fear of missing out, or FOMO, can lead Millennials to develop a theological wanderlust for other doctrinal traditions.

Authenticity in Relationships.

Millennials value relationships. They live in a virtual world in both their work and leisure times, so they want to meet face to face with real people. This means that they want that all-important church buzzword: “community.” Millennials seem to pursue more fellowship, more meals, more get-togethers than Boomers or Gen Xer’s. Of course, there are exceptions across the generations, but it appears that Millennials want to get together for a meal the most.

The one problem with this pursuit of relational authenticity is that it puts a lot of pressure on those relationships. Millennials can put an unseen pressure on others to “come through for them”. If other church members or pastors don’t meet the expectations of Millennials then, they can turn-off their relational commitment. This may be in part why more pastors are burning out, as they must keep up the relational closeness which Millennials want, even though the size of their churches (anything over 50 people) make that degree of closeness impossible. So Millennials build great cohesion in the church, but sometimes Millennials can get disillusioned when the growth of a church lessens the depth of those relationships.

Authenticity in Mission

Accepted opinion says that Millennials are eager to be a part of a cause. In the church, I’ve found that this is also true. Millennials are eager to be “on-mission”. They are the ones who are more concerned with cross-cultural ministry and global missions. They care less about building massive suburban edifices that have little aesthetic appeal anyway.

In the pursuit of authenticity in mission, sometimes Millennials will get too focussed on wanting to see tangible results to validate the authenticity of their efforts. The result is that evangelization can be left off for development projects. The fact is that it’s difficult to quantify the impact of a person’s evangelizing ministry, except by converts, and even then, that calculus is best left ultimately to God. It is much easier to show the physical results of bringing clean water to so many villages, or constructing a clear number of orphanages or rescue a certain number of girls from sex trafficking. In this case, seeking tangible results in this life can be seen as the only real path of authenticity. These good works, can marginalize the best work, namely heralding the kingdom of Jesus Christ in the gospel.

Yet when Millennials are committed to the kingdom of heaven, not transforming the kingdom of earth, they are winsome, evangelistic, bold and gospel-focused.

Who knows what God will do through the Millennial generation?

We can pray that this mass of people will share the gospel with their peers, and be used of God to bring him glory in ways that we never imagined.

unsplash-logoHelena Lopes

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Anxiety Church Clint Puritans Spiritual Growth

3 Helps for Weak Christians From Samuel Rutherford

One of the blessings that have been handed down through the ages has been the record of pastoral care contained in letters. From Paul and John’s letters to the correspondence of Augustine, Calvin, Newton and Rutherford, we possess the fruit of their pastoral care put on display.

In a letter to the church members of Kilmacolm, Samuel Rutherford (d.1661), addressed their concerns about being worn down and tired from holding true to the Christian faith. The social turmoil brought by persecutions and counter-revolutions made the people of this church complain about their spiritual fatigue and feelings of weakness.

Like many Christians, they were wanting to relax a bit. In Rutherford’s words, their problem was that they saw their calling to obey God (personally and as a church) as too demanding, and they wanted to loosen up a bit. He said, “You write that God’s vows are lying [heavy] on you”. It appeared that the Christians at Kilmacolm were looking for a less strict confession of faith, a quicker compromise to current church debates, and a smoother pathway to comfortable Christianity.

Rutherford replied with three remedies to this apparent longing for spiritual ease and earthly security in the midst of their weakness.

1. Life Isn’t Easy Until We Are in Heaven

Rutherford addressed the common desire for things to go easy. We all desire an easier life and when things get difficult we can act surprised. Rutherford’s response was to point out that life isn’t easy until we are in heaven. In heaven, when the victory is complete, then we can sleep. He said, “if I sleep, I would desire to sleep faith’s sleep in Christ’s bosom”.

Rutherford knew that like the disciples who slept as Jesus was in Gethsemane (Mt 26:43), our natural selves, “loveth not the labour of religion”. Rutherford was telling the Kilmacolm church that they needed to admit that their desires for “a break” when it came to church controversies and biblical obedience, was a natural temptation to choose sleepy ease in this life, rather than the rest that resides in heaven alone.

2. Worrying About Staying Faithful Can Show a Lack of Faith

It is a common feature in churches that people’s complaints reveal the things they aren’t trusting God for. Caring about doctrine is too hard. Loving the unlovable is too difficult. Submitting to authority is too chafing. Yet in each case, the complaint that a call to obedience is too much, reveals that a person doesn’t think God can give the grace needed to obey.

Rutherford made the observation that “Sorrow for a slumbering soul is a token of some watchfulness of spirit”. By this, he meant that because people actually cared about doctrine, obedience, and faithful witness, it would lead to spiritual fatigue. He said that this willingness to “care” was a grace. But this caring, he said, “as a grace in us is too often abused”. Worrying too much about the difficulties of staying faithful can show a lack of faith in God who keeps us faithful (Phil 1:6, 2 Tim 2:13). The fact that Christians get tired of obedience and ‘suffering outside the camp’ (Hebrews 13:13), shows that they may not be trusting God for the strength to persevere.

3. Weakness invites Christ’s comfort to you.

Our weakness is evidence that we are not in heaven yet, but it does hold promise that Christ will comfort us until we get there. Rutherford explained this comforting idea to his correspondents when he said, “To [lack] complaints of weakness, is for heaven, and angels that never sinned, not for Christians in Christ’s camp on earth”.

Rutherford pointed out that one of the defining characteristics of the church is its weakness. He said:

“I think our weakness maketh us the church of the redeemed ones, and Christ’s field that the Mediator should labour in. If there were no diseases on earth, there needed no physicians on earth. If Christ had cried down weakness he might have cried down his own calling. But weakness is our Mediator’s world: sin is Christ’s only fair and market.

Letters, 156-157

So when we are feeling especially weak, we can trust that we are clearly qualified to receive comfort from God. As we share in Christ’s sufferings, we share in his comfort too. (2 Cor 1:3-7). Paul received comfort when he learned from the Lord, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Cor 12:9). This was the overarching truth that Rutherford was sharing.

Rutherford knew that when we are weak, our strength must come from the Lord. And so, Rutherford said, “we are carried upon Christ’s shoulders, and walk, as it were, upon his legs”.

As many Christians grow fatigued in their walk of faith, they need to realize that an easy life on earth is not the answer. Rather it is to find the help of Christ’s legs to carry us on. That was Rutherford’s counsel on an August day in 1639 and it applies directly to us today.

unsplash-logoSorin Tudorut

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