Categories
Church Robert Haldane Theology

The Persuasive Use of Authority

Robert Haldane observed in his commentary on the twelfth chapter of Romans that Paul had a special way of using his authority.

When it comes to authority, we might have some assumptions about Paul. We would assume that Paul would only have a commanding tone in his speaking because he possessed the right of authority. We would expect that his syntax would be always in the imperative mood.

But Haldane observed that Paul didn’t use his authority that way. Paul said, “I beseech you” or “I appeal to you” (Rom 12:1). Haldane wrote:

Those whose authority was avouched by mighty signs and wonders, whose very word was command, strive frequently to express commands as entreaties.

Commentary, 566.

Haldane’s observation is that the apostles were not insecure about their authority, even though their authority had been clearly demonstrated. Yet the apostles could choose to entreat people and appeal to them by way of persuasion, rather than command. They didn’t need to be defensive. They had the liberty to persuade when they had the right to command.

This observation is helpful for pastors to know. Often, according to the authority of God’s word, there is the need to exercise authority and make commands (as Scripture requires). At the same time, the aim of persuading by entreating ought to be the norm.

This is where the pastoral requirement of gentleness comes to the forefront (Ti 3:2). Gentleness is persuading, entreating and compassionate, even when the right to command exists.

Paul would nevertheless urge Timothy, “Command and teach these things” (1 Timothy 4:11). These leaders had the right to command and exercised that right. But when they had the opportunity, they would “express commands as entreaties”.

Categories
Canada Gospel History

Turning Away From the Old Indigenous Religion

I drove through the Siksika Nation recently and saw the cemetery named after Paul Little Walker. He was a Christian believer whose testimony of coming to faith in Christ showed the power of the gospel to save and transform a life. I wrote about this transformation before in An Indigenous Testimony to Gospel Transformation.

As I saw the cemetary, I was reminded of Paul Little Walker, or Pokopi’ni’s testimony to the gospel. One of the evidences of Little Walker’s conversion was the way that he discarded the sacred objects, and identifiers that connected him to the false worship he had been immersed in before his conversion. Hugh Dempsey, the historian, writes about Little Walker:

And just as Small Eyes–Paul Little Walker– had turned away from his old religion, so did he now reject the objects that went with it. He quit the Horns and the warrior socieities, gave the marten flag to Bishop Pinkham, and turned the thunder arrow, painted staff and the other holy objects over to his wife.

Pretty Nose (Little Walker’s wife) was aghast at the reactions of her husband. She had joined the Horn Society with him and had taken part in many of the ceremonies. She became angry when he started to give things away, but no amount of arguing would change his mind. She reminded him of the power of the holy objects and the misfortune that had come to others who had desecrated them. But he remained steadfast in his devotion to the new religion.

The Amazing Death of Calf Shirt and Other Blackfoot Stories, 229.

Although many calamities fell on the new Christian, Little Walker did not forsake the Christian faith. When his wife died and his painted tepee was hit by lightning, others interpreted these disasters as signs that Little Walker should return to the native spiritualities. But he refused and continued on zealously as a Christian.

Later, as an older man, respected as a churchman, but also for his growth in graciousness (in contrast to his naturally harsh temperament), he showed that his faith in Christ was a true conversion as he persevered to the end. Dempsey wrote:

His chest still bore the scars of the self-torture ritual [i.e. Sun Dance], and the joint of his finger was missing because of his Native religion, but ever since that night in 1898 when his vision had taken him to God, Little Walker had pursued only two goals in life– to be a Christian, and to bring others to his church.

Ibid, 233.

Like any Christian convert, Little Walker was not instantly sanctified but needed to grow and change. His natural pride, combined with his single-mindedness meant that he could lack grace in dealing with others, even as he was passionate about the truth of God’s word in the midst of his people’s need. But God progressively refined Little Walker to hold fast to truth while at the same time, extending grace to sinners.

There is much to learn from the Christian testimonies of Indigenous people, but what is clear is that Christ’s power to save in the gospel is always the same— a miracle.

Categories
Gospel Ministry Spiritual Growth Theology

One Foot Into the Other Error

Tim Keller on Legalism and Antinomianism

In his foreword to Sinclair Ferguson’s book, The Whole Christ, Tim Keller writes:

I learned …that to think the main problem out there is one particular error is to virtually put one foot into the other error.

The Whole Christ, Foreword, 14

Keller’s lesson learned from Ferguson is useful on many fronts. We can often think that there is only one error when there might be more than one. An example of this is how the desire to avoid one trinitarian error can easily lead a person to fall into a different error. It is not a matter of falling into a ditch on one side or another, the whole doctrine of the trinity is surrounded by a moat. We must pay attention or else we’ll slip and fall in.

The specific issues that Sinclair Ferguson’s book are dealing with are the topics of legalism and antinomianism. Keller goes on to expand on what he learned from Ferguson’s book:

If you fail to see what Sinclair is saying—that both legalism and antinomianism stem from a failure to grasp the goodness and graciousness of God’s character— it will lead you to think that what each mind-set really needs for a remedy is a little dose of the other. In this view, it would mean that the remedy for legalism is just less emphasis on the law and obedience, and the the remedy for antinomianism is more.

Ibid, 14

How often in ministry have we seen or practiced this idea of giving “a little dose of the other”. Discipleship is relaxed. Consciences can be bound tighter. Sin is winked at. Or leadership can tightly control behaviour. In the end, we should be able to see the tendencies and temptations toward applying “a little dose of the other” in our lives and ministry.

Keller warns about this strategy of “a little dose of the other” when he writes:

This is dangerous. If you tell those tending toward legalism that they shouldn’t talk so much about obedience and the law, you are pushing them toward the antinomian spirit that annot see the law as a wonderful gift of God. If you tell those tending toward antinomianism that they should point people more to divine threats and talk more about the dangers of disobedience, you are pushing them toward the legal spirit that sees the law as a covenant of works rather than as a way to honor and give pleasure to the one who saved them by grace.

Ibid, 14.

So there is a great danger in putting your foot into the other error, simply by thinking that there is only one. This is the confusing thing for new Christians, and it can be very limiting to the growth of those who have been believers for many years. It is how a person can start to lose their first love (Rev 2:4).

Keller points to the solution or remedy which Sinclair Ferguson offers in this excellent book. Ferguson says clearly:

The gospel is designed to deliver us from this lie [of the Serpent], for it reveals that behind and manifested in the coming of Christ and his death for us is the love of a Father who gives us everything he has: first his Son to die for us, and then his Spirit to live within us… There is only one genuine cure for legalism. It is the same medicine the gospel prescribes for antinomianism: understanding and tasting union with Jesus Christ himself. This leads to a new love for and obedience to the law of God.

Ibid, 15.

This is such good news! The gospel is what we all need, and it is the remedy to our propensities, trajectories, personalities, and most of all, to our sin. We can sin in legalistic ways and antinomian ways, but the gospel cures all.

And if you are worried that “gospel-centered everything” is an error in itself, simply read Ferguson’s book, The Whole Christ. You’ll regain clarity about the gospel and how it remedies legalism and antinomianism, which places the gospel at the center of everything, not in a superficial way, but a God-glorifying way.

Categories
History Robert Haldane

Robert Haldane on The Fate of Those Who Have Never Heard the Gospel

The perennial question of the fate of those who have never heard the gospel is addressed by Robert Haldane.

While it is on all hands admitted that the knowledge of the gospel is highly beneficial, there are many who may hold that it is not indispensable to salvation. This opinion is opposed to the whole testimony of the Scriptures, whether they refer to the way of salvation, or to the condition of all who are strangers to the gospel. From every part of the word of God, it is obvious that salvation comes to none of the human race in any other way than through the knowledge, more or less clear, of the Messiah, before or after his advent. “Neither is there salvation in any other for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.” [Acts 4:12] Multitudes, however, are unwilling to admit that salvation should be so limited in its extent as to be confined to those who have enjoyed the advantage of a revelation with respect to the Messiah. They have, therefore, endeavored to show that the benefits of Christ’s death may be available to those whom they term the virtuous in all nations, even although they have heard nothing of the revelation of mercy (emphasis mine).

From Exposition of Epistle to the Romans (1858), 670.
Categories
Clint Puritans Society Theology

Christ V. Antichrist

John Bunyan wrote a book called Antichrist and his Ruin. I’m guessing it’s one of his works that are seldom read today. People, at least in the church circles I run in don’t talk much about the Antichrist. They don’t talk about the judgement to come either. Maybe that’s why we don’t share the gospel very often.

Since I’ve been preaching through the book of Daniel, I’ve had to re-engage with the topic of the Antichrist and to consider his ‘ruin’ as Bunyan put it. And although many antichrists have been identified through history (Joe Carter lists over a half dozen), these days fewer people seem to care about the reality of godless, supernatural opposition to Christ and the gospel. We tend to be fixated on politics– good or bad– as the only level of warfare in existence. As American Senator Ben Sasse has observed, “so many of those local tribes of textured meaning [i.e. family, neighbourhood, workplace, local church] are in collapse, and people are looking for substitute tribes in politics. And I don’t think that’s going to work out very well.” So I’ve looked with interest at what a wise guide like Bunyan has to say about the Antichrist, and the spirit of antichrist which is at work “already in the world” (1 John 4:3).

Bunyan’s Introduction to the Identity of the Antichrist

In one of his opening descriptions, Bunyan sets out the way that the Antichrist is the antonym of Christ, yet deceptively so. This sense of being the opposite of Christ, but with a false veneer or duplicitous camouflage, is the character of Antichrist which Bunyan seeks to emphasize. He writes:

Antichrist is the adversary of Christ; an adversary really, a friend pretendedly: So then, Antichrist is one that is against Christ; one that is for Christ, and one that is contrary to him: (And this is that mystery of iniquity (2 Thess 2:7). Against him in deed; for him in word, and contrary to him in practice. Antichrist is so proud as to go before Christ; so humble as to pretend to come after him, and so audacious as to say that himself is he. Antichrist will cry up Christ; Antichrist will cry down Christ: Antichrist will proclaim that himself is one above Christ. Antichrist is the man of sin, the son of perdition; a beast, [that] hath two horns like a lamb, but speaks as a dragon (Rev 13:11).

Works, Volume II, 46.

Consider that according to Bunyan’s reading of Scripture, the Antichrist is obviously against Christ, but less obviously seen to be against Christ. He is against Christ in activity, but presents himself publically as a supporter of Christ (“for him in word”), even “pretending” to come after him in humility, but all with an “audacious” arrogance.

All of this means that Antichrist has a religious connection, engaged with church circles.

Antichrist subverts the church with false support.

Bunyan’s List of Contrasts Between Christ and Antichrist

Another way that Bunyan helps us to understand the Antichrist is by contrasting him with the vast superiority of Jesus Christ. In fact, even Bunyan’s contrasts are inadequate because Jesus Christ the Son of God is in a category by himself, and is utterly incomparable. But for the purposes of giving an introduction, Bunyan suggests the follow antonymic comparisons:

  1. Christ is the Son of God; Antichrist is the son of Hell.
  2. Christ is holy, meek, and forbearing: Antichrist is wicked, outrageous, and exacting.
  3. Christ seeketh the good of the soul: Antichrist seeks his own avarice and revenge.
  4. Christ is content to rule by his word: Antichrist saith, The word is not sufficient.
  5. Christ preferreth his Father’s will above heaven and earth: Antichrist preferreth himself and his traditions above all that is written, or that is called God, or worshiped.
  6. Christ has given us such laws and rules as are helpful and healthful to the soul: Antichrist seeketh to abuse those rules to our hurt and destruction. (Works, Volume II, 46.)

The descriptors which Bunyan uses to describe Jesus Christ are beautiful. Against our cultural moment, Christ is forbearing, seeks the good of the soul, rules by his word, prefers his Father’s will, and gives what is helpful and healthful to the soul. Bunyan saw in the Lord Jesus Christ one who is gratuitous in his help toward his creatures.

By contrast, the Antichrist is the opposite, though he feigns to hide his true intentions.

If we take the Bunyan’s descriptions and lay them up against our cultural moment, the zeitgeist, the spirit of the age, then you can see clearly how much the spirit of antichrist is upon us.

Think about how everyone and everything is so exacting these days. If the Antichrist is, according to Bunyan, “wicked, outrageous, and exacting” then the spirit of Antichrist is clearly evident in our social media. If you misspell something on Facebook, or mess up some grammar, someone will correct you in exacting detail. If you tweet something that is out of line with the prevailing cultural orthodoxies, you’re statement will be parsed, critiqued, and judged with an execution of shame. Twitter can be an exacting platform, that is at the same time outrageous, and not so subtly wicked.

We see that growing tendency for people to turn quickly against leaders, public servants, customer service reps, believers, churches, organizations and anyone else when they feel they have been wronged. It’s as if there is a spirit of revenge that is waiting to burst out at the slightest injury. How strikingly different is the impulse of Christ himself, who “seeketh the good of the soul”.

And of course, the church is wrestling with the problem of whether or not they will follow Christ’s rule by his word, or listen to the spirit of Antichrist which says that “the word is not sufficient”

It is a simple binary. Follow Christ or heed the Antichrist. Christ is Lord. He is God, the Son incarnate. He is above all and over all. The Antichrist would presume to set himself above the Creator. Yet the spirit of antichrist prevails even in such unlikely places as critical New Testament scholarship. For example, Robert Yarbrough documents how critical NT scholars, set themselves above Scripture, rather than under it. As reported from Yarbrough’s lectures in 2018:

Elitism, dating back only a few centuries to Germann scholars, he explained, does not necessarily take the Bible at face value and views the Bible from “a superior vantage point,” often dismissing or reinterpreting claims of Scripture. It is the viewpoint of the academy, Yarbrough said, and is marked by a critical study of the Bible that rejects a doctrinal interpretation of it.

Scholarly ‘populism’ provides a way forward in New Testament theology, says Yarbrough at SBTS Gheens Lectures, SBTS News, March 2018

Bunyan would argue that such critical scholarship is an example of the spirit of antichrist, inspiring creatures to set themselves above Christ, to pass judgement on him and his word, and to draw attention to themselves for their cleverness and omniscience.

Of course, this type of spirit is everywhere in society. Yet how different it is to find the humbled, diligent follower of Jesus Christ, who confesses him as her Lord, who enjoys his gratuity with thanksgiving tempered with awe and wonder!

The Illusion of Culture Wars?

If the spirit of antichrist presents the advance claims of “the man of lawlessness”, then we should admit that we might be wrong in our perception of where the battle lines are drawn. We need to admit that we are likely wrong that our primary battlefront is in the culture war. The culture war is the diversion. Rather, the real warfare is against the spirit of antichrist, which aims to deceive the church (Matt 24:4).

As Paul told the Ephesians:

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Ephesians 6:12

Therefore, then as now, we need to, “take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.” (Eph 6:13) 

Antichrist and his Ruin – PDF from Chapel Library

Categories
Ministry Spiritual Growth Suffering & Trials

Coming Alongside One Another—Encouraging the Fainthearted


These are notes from a recent talk given at Calvary Grace Church’s Women’s Brunch.

1 Thess 5:14 “And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.”

It can be hard to know exactly how to help a sister who is struggling. It’s easy to say (or do) the wrong thing. Or simply say and do nothing because you don’t know what to say. 

Hurting people will tell you that a lot of well-intentioned people have said hurtful or insensitive things to them.

Ed Welch has an article on CCEF called “The Steady Stream of Foolish Words Said to Hurting People”. In it he lists 4 things we should not say when someone is suffering.

  • don’t give advice,
  • don’t try to solve the problem,
  • don’t say you are available any time but don’t offer concrete ways to help,
  • don’t try to show your empathy by talking about a similar situation in your own life, and so on. 

You may be wondering what it left to say then? This is the question that we will discuss today. 

Read 1 Thess. 5:12-14. Notice these things:

  • Final instructions to the church
  • They are instructed in vv 12-13 to respect the elders and esteem them highly because of their work
  • They are then commanded to come alongside one another and minister to each other in v 14
  • Three kinds of struggling Christians in v 14 that need our care: 
    • idle (unruly, undisciplined, not lining up with what God has for them
    • Fainthearted (discouraged, timid, anxious–perhaps in personality or because trials have been hard on them. 
    • Weak (likely moral and spiritual weakness, ie struggling with temptation, perhaps rattled by ongoing persecution–whatever the case, they are not mature in their faith) 

There are 3 different ways to help these 3 types of struggling Christians

  • Admonish the Idle 
  • Encourage the fainthearted
  • Help the weak “The verb for help (antechomai) presents a graphic picture of the support which the weak needed. It is as if Paul wrote to the stronger Christians: ‘Hold on to them’, ‘cling to them’, even ‘put your arm round’ them.”

Today we will focus on encouraging the fainthearted. This word “translates a compound of oligos (few, or little) and psuchē (life, or soul). It occurs only here in the New Testament….It may indicate a person who is “timid” as a personality trait or one who is “discouraged” at a particular turn of events.” 

This is a person who doesn’t feel courageous and full of faith. They may be going through an intense season of suffering and loss that has worn them down and caused them to become discouraged. They may be grieving. They may feel bruised or like their faith is barely there. Whatever the reason for their struggle, Paul says that these fainthearted Christians need our encouragement.

How do we encourage our fainthearted sisters? 

3 truths that our fainthearted sisters need to be reminded of.

1. Fainthearted Christians need to know God is with them. 

We can embody this truth by being physically there for our suffering friends, loving them well and listening compassionately as they tell us their struggles. Suffering people need to know that God is with them, not just in theory, but his presence is literally with them in each moment that they are suffering.  

The Psalmist says, (139)

“Where shall I go from your Spirit?

Or where shall I flee from your presence?

8If I ascend to heaven, you are there!

If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!

9If I take the wings of the morning

and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

10even there your hand shall lead me,

and your right hand shall hold me.

11If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,

and the light about me be night,”

12even the darkness is not dark to you;

the night is bright as the day,

for darkness is as light with you.”

This is important for the sufferer to know. There is no trial too deep or place too dark that God’s presence can’t penetrate. He is fully there with them in every moment, in every place.

It doesn’t matter if we feel like God is far away or if we feel like our faith is weak. God is “actually not far from each one of us, for “‘In him we live and move and have our being’ (Acts 17:27)

When people are suffering, God can feel very far from them. Our thoughts can become confused. Is God punishing me? Is He angry at me? Am I angry at him? Why doesn’t he help me? Doesn’t he care?

Our instinct is to turn away and hide our face from God until we get our emotions figured out, but suffering Christians need to know that they can go immediately to God for help and they will find it. God wants us to come to him–even with our angry, bitter and confused thoughts. 

He’s under no illusions about the degree of our sinfulness. He pursued us when we were his enemies. He knows the depths of your sinfulness better than you do, so you might as well talk to him about it. 

God will not turn his back on you when you are swamped by sinful emotions. Because Christ died for those sins. 

Jesus cried out on the cross, “My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me?” so that we would never have to. Christ bore God’s wrath for our sins on the cross so that our sin wouldn’t separate us from God.

Romans 8 tells us that we are spiritually joined to Christ so that there is literally nothing that can separate us from God’s love. 

Fainthearted Christians need to know that God is near to them in their suffering and even as they wrestle with their doubts. Because of Christ’s mediating work, they can (and should) bring those doubts and fears to God. Here, they will “receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Heb. 4:16). 

You don’t need a bold faith to approach God’s throne, you just need a genuine faith. You are not saved by the quality of your faith, but by the object–Clint. 

 “A weak hand can receive an expensive jewel” –Sibbes. We all have the same precious jewel of salvation. And that jewel is not diminished by the weakness of the hand that holds it.

So fainthearted Christians can freely go to God with their fears and doubts. Because of Christ, they have the same standing before God as the boldest Christian in the room.

When we are fainthearted, we may imagine there is distance between us and God. But there is none. He is right there with us in our worst trials and deepest fears.

2. Fainthearted Christians Need to Know that Christ Sympathizes with their weakness and will deal tenderly with them. 

Richard Sibbs talks about Christ’s ministry to suffering Christians in his book called The Bruised Reed. Based on Isaiah 42, he divides those who are suffering into two categories: bruised reeds and faintly burning wicks. 

Behold my servant, whom I uphold,    

my chosen, in whom my soul delights;

I have put my Spirit upon him;

    he will bring forth justice to the nations.

2 

He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice,

    or make it heard in the street;

3 

a bruised reed he will not break,

    and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;

    he will faithfully bring forth justice.

This servant —who we know is the Christ—comes to bring forth justice to the nations. And in the midst of his mission, the text says he deals tenderly with bruised reeds and faintly burning wicks.

Who are these wicks and reeds?

Bruised Reeds are being disciplined through trials. They are feeling bruised,  beaten down and weary. Faintly burning wicks are doubting Christians, perhaps struggling with assurance or anxiety. They feel timid in their faith. Their faith is there, it is not extinguished, but it’s small.  

When we are in a season of suffering, it’s easy to imagine that Christ grows tired of hearing our woes. I think we base this assumption largely on our own experience with struggling people. We might feel impatient with our children or someone in the church whose faith is barely there. We may feel exasperated. Why are they still struggling with this? Why haven’t they moved past it? We may be harsh and judgemental toward people who are in a season of bruising and faintheartedness. But Christ isn’t.

a bruised reed he will not break,

    and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;

We know that faintheartedness is not an end in itself. It is not something that a Christian should be content to stay in. God has something better for us. Faintheartedness is a symptom of the flesh at work. It is opposed to the Spirit, not something to glory in (Rom 6–What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?). We know that we are not meant to be faint-hearted Christians. However, there are seasons of life where weakness is a reality. So it’s important that we talk about it.

When Is. 42 talks about the “smoking flax” and “bruised reed”, these are descriptions of believers. When 1 Thess. 5:14 talks about the “fainthearted” in the church who need encouragement, we know that there are those among us who identify with this description. It’s important that we don’t shame fainthearted Christians into silence. 

If you are a “faintly-burning wick” here this morning, you need to know that there is hope for you, that Christ ministers to you tenderly to you and the church is here to support you.

It’s frustrating to be plagued by doubts and fears. It’s unpleasant and discouraging. But if this you, remember, that Christ will not grow impatient with you. He will not quench your faith altogether. And he will not break you if you are feeling brittle and bruised. 

Christianity is like no other religion in that you don’t have to earn God’s favour. This Suffering Servant died for our sins and rose again. He is completely unique in that he is able to sympathize with our weakness because he took on flesh. (Heb. 4:14-16) He felt every temptation we do, although he was without sin. 

He is God’s Son, 

he is the sacrifice for our sin and he is our high priest who makes intercession for us and sympathizes with us in our weakness. No other god is like him. 

If you are fainthearted here this morning, think of the advocate you have in Jesus Christ! 

Remember, “A weak hand can receive an expensive jewel”. If you have Christ, you have everything. You have access to God’s presence and every spiritual resource in Jesus Christ. Your compassionate high priest is praying for you even now.

3. Fainthearted Christians need to be reminded of God’s promises.

When I was first diagnosed with lupus, I remember feeling scared and grieving the loss of what I considered to be a normal life. And my grandmother encouraged me with God’s promise in Isaiah 41:10. She said it was a lifeline for her when she was going through her cancer treatment.

fear not, for I am with you;

    be not dismayed, for I am your God;

I will strengthen you, I will help you,

    I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Notice how God motivates fearful believers to move forward in faith.. He doesn’t say “enough already, get your act together!”. He gives 5 compelling reasons based on His provision for us. 

  • I am with you
  • I am your God
  • I will strengthen you
  • I will help you
  • I will uphold you with my righteous right hand

This is such good news for fainthearted Christians. And it gives us a clue as to how we should encourage our fainthearted sisters. They need to know that—even though they may feel like a faintly-burning-wick, they can move forward in faith because God will provide what they need.

Sometimes we feel like God’s expectations for us are larger than our actual capabilities. But God always gives us the grace to do what He requires of us. When we are fainthearted it’s easy to feel defeated by all the ways that we fail rather than feeling hopeful that God will provide what he requires of us today.  We need a shift in perspective so that we can stop fixating on our own inability to cope and instead, rest in God’s future grace toward us.

Sibbes says, “He requires no more than he gives, but gives what he requires, and accepts what he gives”.  

In other words, God doesn’t require more from you than he enables you to do. 

And what’s more…whatever you do in reliance on him, he accepts. And He is pleased with it.

Doesn’t that take the pressure off? If you are a fainthearted Christian here this morning, remember you can keep moving forward in faith—not because you are strong—but because God is strong. And he is with you and fights for you. 

Some other promises to consider:

Is. 43:1 “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;

    I have summoned you by name; you are mine.

Josh 1:9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

1 Peter 5:6-7  Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

Ex. 14 And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. 14The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”

These promises are all based on God’s ability and His care for us. Fainthearted Christians have very little life in them. They don’t have the gumption, the strength or the resources within themselves to get their life together. 

What they do have is a strong, compassionate God. And our faintheartedness is almost a blessing in disguise because it teaches us to rely on His strength, not our own. 

When someone is in a state of anxiety, depression or faintheartedness, they will struggle to act because their feelings are so unruly. They can do all of the things: get a good night’s sleep, pray, read their bible…and still these dysfunctional emotions may barely diminish. It’s freeing for a fainthearted person to know that they don’t have to feel in control before they step forward in faith. Rather they step forward in faith because God will provide everything they need that day AND he will accept what he provides. 

4. Faint-hearted Christians need the example of other Christians who continue to press on toward the goal. 

  • Heb. 12 talks about the painful necessity of discipline in a Christian’s life. The author encourages the Hebrews to not become weary when God disciplines them. He reminds them that God disciplines his children because he loves them and it “yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”
  • Then he says, “Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.”( Heb 12:12)  
  • The whole church is like a body. 
  • Think of a woman’s experience giving birth: big head, displaced tailbone, can’t stand straight, one thing out of line throws off the rest of the body. Having neck pain may be because your hip is out of line. Everything is connected in the human body.
  • Notice the whole church is to “lift drooping hands” and “strengthen your weak knees” and “make straight paths for their feet” Why? So that what is lame (read: despondent) will not be put out of joint, but be healed. 
  • “The reference to drooping hands and weak knees is familiar imagery in Jewish literature, often used to describe attitudes of discouragement and despair. Here the writer…urges these believers to press on to the goal so that those members of the church who have become despondent (lame) will notice their good example, receive fresh courage and begin to march again rather than fall even further behind. …But if healing is to come, it is not simply the responsibility of the leaders, tireless pastors though they are (13:17), but of every single member.

When the whole church presses on in faith, the lame part of the body begins to heal.  

  • When a fainthearted Christian comes to church on Sunday and is surrounded by people singing praises to God, that encourages her faith and helps her to heal.
  • When a fainthearted Christian sees you trusting Christ through your trials and hardships, that encourages her faith and helps her to heal.
  • When a fainthearted Christian knows you are praying for her and trusting that God will fight for her, that encourages her faith and helps her to heal.
  • When you keep speaking truth to her with patience and gentleness, that helps her to heal.

Sometimes we think, “I’m just one person, what can I do?”. But it’s the cumulative effect. When each member is striving to be faithful, the lame members are enveloped in testimonies of God’s faithfulness. They are surrounded by love, encouragement and good godly counsel. 

Fainthearted Christians will naturally want to avoid fellowship because it sort of exposes how much they are floundering. There is an unflattering contrast between the expansive faith of others and their own faintly burning wick.  

If you are fainthearted today, it is really encouraging that you are here. It takes a lot to get yourself to church and meet with other Christians. But the church is God’s gift to you, to help you heal. It protects you from going out of joint and helps you to line up again with what is healthy and good for you. 

You can help your fainthearted friends by making it as easy as possible for them to get to church and other community gatherings. Pick them up, find babysitting for their kids, etc..

Applications:

Nancie Guthrie (What Grieving People Wish You Knew About What Really Helps and What Really Hurts).–put a survey up on her website that asked grieving people wish others understood about grief. Here’s what they said:

4 things grieving people wish you knew

Here are Guthrie’s four things:

  1. How much it means for you to just show up and say something. Grief is lonely. There probably isn’t a perfect thing to say. You can’t fix the situation. Just being there (and maybe helping out a bit) helps.
  1. They don’t want to hear stories about someone else’s loss. Or your own loss. It diminishes their experience. IT takes the focus off of the grieving person and puts it on someone else. We’re trying to relate to them, but it can come across as “Your loss shouldn’t hurt so much because a lot of people have had that experience.”
  1. They want to talk about the person who they lost. Bring up the person. Use their name. You won’t make them cry, you may allow them to release some tears. They are always thinking about it in the background. 
  1. They need time and space to simply be sad. Don’t try to rush them or fix it.When you talk with people about heaven, don’t expect that it makes everything okay

If you have someone in your life who is fainthearted. Remember it’s not your job to fix them. You just need to be there for them. If they are grieving, grieve with them. Help them in practical ways. If they are anxious about the future, encourage them with God’s promises, his nearness to them and Christ’s compassionate intercession for them. 

As Paul says in 1 Thess. 5 “Be Patient with them all”. Fainthearted-ness is not a quick-fix scenario. It requires time and patience on our part. They need help and support over the long haul.

Make it as easy as possible for them to come to church and meet with God’s people so that they are surrounded by love, encouragement and good godly counsel. If that’s not possible, maybe offer to communicate with the church on their behalf so that they can be as integrated into body-life as possible. 

One of the best things we can do for our fainthearted friends is to pray for them and believe that God is able to restore to them the joy of their salvation. (Ps. 51).

Resources Consulted:

  • Commentaries:
    • John Stott
    • Raymond Brown
    • D. Michael Martin
  • Websites
    • Ed Welch
    • Nancy Guthrie
  • Books
    • Richard Sibbes
Categories
Canada Society

1. Knowing the Times

This is a list of resources that you may find helpful. It is a curation based on my own choices, like any curation. Let this be a sieve for you to drain and collect what is useful.

captive by philosophy

There are some philosophies entering into the church which Christians need to be aware of. The philosophies are in a cluster composed of Critical Theory and Intersectionality.

intersectionality

Rosaria Butterfield, the former lesbian university professor, now Christian believer, has written about intersectionality for Table Talk at Ligonier ministries. She says:

How did we get to a place where it makes sense for a person to reject truth not because it’s false but because it hurts? How did we get to a place where we label people—image bearers of a holy God—as knowable primarily by their political and social group, as if that is their truest and most indelible virtue? Under what worldview could my words cause suicide but the genital mutilation that allows a biological man to masquerade as a woman cause celebration and affirmation?

READ THE REST: Intersectionality and the Church

critical theory

While I was at the Immanuel Network conference hosted by my friend Ryan Fullerton and his church, I was given a booklet by Neil Shenvi and Pat Sawyer titled, Engaging Critical Theory and the Social Justice Movement (you can download a copy for the price of an email here).

Shenvi says that Critical Theory is a worldview that is antithetical to Christianity. He writes:

The story of critical theory begins not with creation, but with oppression. The omission of a creation element is very important because it changes our answer to the question: “who are we?” There is no transcendent Creator who has a purpose and a design for our lives and our identities. We don’t primarily exist in relation to God, but in relation to other people and to other groups.  Our identity is not defined primarily in terms of who we are as God’s creatures. Instead, we define ourselves in terms of race, class, sexuality, and gender identity. Oppression, not sin, is our fundamental problem. What is the solution? Activism. Changing structures. Raising awareness. We work to overthrow and dismantle hegemonic power. That is our primary moral duty. What is our purpose in life? To work for the liberation of all oppressed groups so that we can achieve a state of equity.

READ MORE from Shenvi’s blog series

The current spirit of the age involves these variations of a cultural Marxism which has morphed into Critical Theory. It relates to issues of ethnicity (Critical Race Theory), gender and (LGBTQ+ advocacy), politics and more.

I have written about cultural Marxism, and the helpful analysis of Albert Mohler and Robert Smith, here.

Paul’s warning to the Colossians is very applicable here:

See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

Colossians 2:8

idealized cultures

Some more articles in this vein are Leonardo De Chirico on Pope Francis and his new statement Querida Amazonia. :

Querida Amazonia tends to have a very positive view of indigenous cultures – at times somewhat naïve – and in so doing it lacks biblical realism. According to the Bible, cultures are not to be idealized nor demonized: they are mixed bags of idolatry and common grace in need of redemption. Pope Francis tends to idealize native cultures, seeing them as already infused by the grace of God.

READ THE REST

This seems to derive from a similar philosophy to the intersectional/cultural marxist ones mentioned above.

What Does the Bible Say About…

Lust, Homosexuality, Transgenderism? Owen Strachan and my fellow pastor Gavin Peacock have written a trilogy of books that address simply what the bible says about three areas of hot contention. In these areas, some of the philosophies mentioned above are deeply embedded. Highly recommended.

Order the books from Christian Focus publishers.

Categories
Clint Spiritual Growth Theology

Orthodoxy, Sin and Revival

D.M. Lloyd-Jones wrote about the perils of a useless, defective or “eccentric orthodoxy”. He outlined the problem of possessing correct notions, without holiness of life:

…we can be perfectly orthodox and yet our orthodoxy can be useless if we are failing in our lives, if we are disobedient to God’s holy laws, if we are guilty of sin, and continuing in known sin. If we put our desires before him, well, we have no right to expect revival, however orthodox and correct we may be in all our doctrines and in all our understanding. You will invariably find that when revival comes men and women are profoundly, and deeply, convicted of sin. They feel that even God cannot forgive them. They have been in the Church, yes, but they have been living a life of sin, and they have know it and they have done nothing about it. When revival comes they are put into hell, as it were, and they are horrified and alarmed. They may feel so terrible about it that they stand up and confess it. That may or may not happen, but they are certainly convicted. And so sin in any shape or form is ever one of the major hindrances to a visitation of the Spirit of God.

— Revival, 67

Categories
Christel Family

Four things moms of young children should remember

People joke that there is something in the water at my church. Someone is always pregnant. And it’s not crazy to assume that for every one pregnancy you see there are 3 more you don’t know about. I’m surrounded by new moms all the time. As someone who still has a lot to learn about parenting, I’m hesitant to hand out too much advice. But I also know that I’ve been helped tremendously from the encouragement of moms who are just a little further ahead of me in this journey. So for my mama friends with young children, here are four things I want you to know.

1. You don’t have to keep someone else’s standards.

When I talk to new moms, I feel exhausted for them. There are so many decisions about diapering, feeding, sleeping, discipline, diet, screen time, education, etc. And many of these decisions have to be made in a sleep-deprived state of new motherhood. Most moms I talk to want the best for their child and worry they will somehow put their child at a disadvantage if they make the wrong decision.

Depending on who is in your circle of friends, the standards for “doing it right” can be high. 

If I could go back and talk to my younger self, I would tell her that it’s okay to be “good enough”. If your child is in a context of love, and you are making the best decisions you can with the information you have, it’s enough. I’d even go further and say it’s okay to do a mediocre job of parenting some days. When you’ve reached your breaking point sometimes the whole family is helped by an episode (or five) of Dora and Diego. Rest up and try again tomorrow. His mercies are new every morning.

God didn’t make you like other mothers. You and your husband make decisions for your children before God and no one else. He gave you the children that He wanted you to have and wrote your disposition and capacity in your DNA. He places no burden on you to live up to other people’s standards and preferences. Instead, he desires you to trust Him. He will provide the grace that you need to parent your little ones today. 

2. Your kids don’t have to be like other kids.

It’s super annoying when your friend’s kid can recite their ABC sounds at 18 months and yours can barely say “Dada”. It’s also annoying when your kid is doing bum-scoots across the church lobby and their BFF is literally running circles around them while catching a football. If I could go back and talk to my younger self, I would tell her to relax. Ten years from now you won’t be able to tell the difference between early-starters and late-starters. 

I would also tell her to absolutely positively scrap the early potty training. It is so much work for parents and kids are totally fine with having soiled pants. (I may or may not have told my youngest repeatedly to go in his diaper because I wasn’t ready to potty train him.) Guess what, in the end he got potty trained. And no, he’s not scarred for life. 

Other mothers can be a tremendous support and encouragement for you. (How else are you supposed to learn about resources like the Letter Factory video and warm compresses for clogged milk ducts.) But it’s also important to remember that just because your friend’s child is learning Latin for toddlers, doesn’t mean you have to scramble to catch up.

You have the freedom to pick activities, routines and pursuits that fit with your family rhythm and preferences. It can be character-building for kids (and their parents) to be second best. It’s less important to impress the world than it is to please God.

3. Physically, your life is about to get a lot easier.

I read somewhere about the golden years of parenting (ages 6-12). And guess what, they weren’t lying. Kids this age can get themselves breakfast and buckle their seatbelts. The can puke into a bowl and engage in interesting conversations. They’ve moved past toddler tantrums and not yet reached teenage meltdowns. Imagine sleeping through the night and drinking your coffee while it’s warm. This will be you in a few years.

4. Your conversations are about to get harder.

It’s so important for moms to take time to keep developing as a person. Not only for their own sake, but also for the sake of their children. You see, something shifts as the children get older. Mothering isn’t as much about caring for our children’s physical needs (although they still require food, clothes and kisses!). But the primary emphasis of parenting shifts to character development, decision making and moral dilemmas. Conversations turn to spiritual matters, playground dynamics and understanding the world. We suddenly have to engage with our kids in a thoughtful, nuanced manner and help them understand the world from a biblical perspective. This is hard to do unless we are also growing spiritually, emotionally and intellectually. 

I read once that the primary reason young people fall away from the faith is because their parents seemed irrelevant and out-of-touch with the real world. I’m not overly worried about this because salvation belongs to the Lord, not to me. I don’t have to bear the weight of saving my kids. But I still think there is something to be said for genuine, thoughtful interactions with the world we live in. We don’t retreat in fear, but engage with hope because we’ve tasted “the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge” (Ephes. 3:19).

I have a growing hunch that kids benefit from seeing their parents try new things, and struggle, and grow as people. Kids need to know they are loved and prioritized by their parents, but as strange as it sounds, I don’t think that they actually want it to be all about them. They also need examples of adulthood that inspire them. Moms don’t have to be spiritual superstars, but when we grow in maturity, we will be better equipped to help our kids grow into adulthood.

This post appeared originally at The Gospel Coalition Canada as Dear Mom With Young Children

Categories
Pastors

More on Pillar Men and the Context of Revitalization

I’ve had a couple of people ask me about an article that I wrote, Move Toward Elder Leadership By Developing Pillar Men. The concern that was expressed was that the article lacked context. Without that context, it could be misunderstood in different ways, such as minimizing the contributions of older men in the church, or offering a sort of disingenuous, ‘fifth column’ approach to ministry. Without the context explained I can see that some of these impressions could be taken. So I’ll attempt to unpack a bit better what I mean.

  1. A Pastor’s Dilemma in a “Revitalization”

If a pastor takes a job at a church, at the minimum, there ought to be agreement on paper with the doctrinal positions that he and the church maintain. However, often in spiritually declining churches,  the church body has immature understandings of their own statement faith, or at worst they are a resistant to change, even though such change is argued from Scripture and in keeping with their own statement of faith. 

This type of resistance is the normal context of a revitalization. It may be that some churches are more or less resistant, or they are not resistant, but they are unaware of their practical, doctrinal inconsistencies. 

A conservative pastor who takes a job in a less than conservative church, will have his hands full in staying faithful to his own convictions, working within the parameters of his doctrinal agreement with the church, and extending grace to the congregation as he has received from the Lord. 

Still, pastors will have to make choices. They are limited and they need to know where should they expend their energies in ministry. The priority must be in preaching the Word of God and praying for God to be glorified in the context of the ministry (cf. Acts 6:4). Many pastors will aim to be faithful to this calling, and in the face of resistance, they will not have much more to offer in the ministry. They will feel overtaxed very quickly. They will pray and teach and minister to people as they can. However, in resistant contexts, they can get burnt out in a hurry because they can feel alone in the work, without like-minded support. Many younger men (and older ones) have had short ministries in churches that need revitalization, and they leave that church (and the ministry) disillusioned and exhausted. Often they never knew where to start to address the dilemma of revitalization beyond their Sunday morning ministry. 

  1. The Missing Mentorship

Most pastors in a revitalization are exhausted by maintaining the regular ministry work. What tends to be dropped is the command to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:2, “what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also”. This mentorship of potentially ‘pillar men’ needs to be a high priority for the pastor facing the dilemma of revitalization. It is easily ignored due to the busy demands of regular ministry. However if these men are not invested in, then you are failing to steward your ministry faithfully, and ignoring the long-term view of the church. 

  1.  Older Men 

Some of the misunderstandings of my previous article had to do with my emphasis on younger men, (although I did qualify my statements about older men). Given the context of a revitalization, (which I had not stated in the article, but was the context of the pastor whom I was counselling), the young men need to be prioritized. Why would I say that? Is it because like our culture says, youth is better than old age? No. The reason is based upon the ministry context that I was addressing. A church that has become schlerotic and sick has had its older members participate in promoting the decline, or more likely, watching as the decline occurred all around them. 

In spiritually or doctrinally compromised churches, the older men tend to be doctrinally confused, apathetic, or sadly unsaved. Sometimes there will be a lamenting stalwart who has remained at the church despite the decline, but who has prayed and hoped for better things. Often that man can be a great ally for a pastor as he seeks to bring a church back to biblical moorings. But generally speaking, older men who have become set in their ways, are in deep ruts of bad teaching or bad practice, and they can be resistant to biblical change. 

  1. Strategic Positions

So assuming that there are not a pocket of older men who are spiritually mature and supportive of biblical change in the church, a pastor will invest in the men’s ministry and the young men in particular. 

Over time, as those young men are mentored (2 Tim 2:2), there will be opportunities for various kinds of ministry in the church which they can take up. At this point, the temptation can be for the up and coming ‘pillar men’ to only want to study theology, and teaching or preach publicly. This is where a wise and strategic understanding of the church is critical. According to 1 Cor 12, Ro 12 and Eph 4:15-16, the principle of the church as the body of Christ must be dominant. This means that every believer has God-given roles to play in the body, just as elbows, toes, eyes, lungs and cartilege all have various roles. 

Pillar men have roles to play in a church, and it is critical that they are encouraged to fulfill those roles. The primary way for them to do this is to engage in faithful churchmanship. And that means they should start to serve in ‘unglamorous’ ministries. This is where real relationships are developed, where biblical examples of being salt and light (Matthew 5:13-14) can be expressed. Remember, we’re talking about ministry in a church that has been in spiritual and doctrinal decline. Often ministry inside these churches is more like evangelism than the discipleship of believers. 

As I counselled my pastor friend, I stressed that ministries or committees that might seem unimportant, are nevertheless viewed as important by people in the church. When pillar men engage in patient empathetic ways with these committees and ministries, they show that they care about the people, but they also care enough to be “speaking the truth in love” (Eph 4:15). 

In my article, due to its abbreviated manner and lack of context, it might have given the impression that slotted these pillar men into these ministries is a sort of cynical infiltration. On the contrary, when pillar men (or any godly person man or woman) takes a caring interest in others, they are showing that they care about the people, not just about their picture of ecclesiastical perfection. At the same time, when pillar men commit to engage with ministries and committees, they do so with the aim to bring the thinking and the actions of the church into conformity to Christ, taking even every thought captive to him (2 Cor 10:5). This aim is no dark conspiracy, but is the design of the healthy body of Christ, “joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love” (Eph 4:16). 

  1. Culture Before Constitutions

One of the frequent challenges which pastors face is to assist a church to reform it’s governance structures. For example, in Canada, it is surprising how many churches are governed by a board of directors model. This model is not found in Scripture, but is found in the manuals of IBM and General Motors. In the face of these unbiblical structures, many zealous pastors have attempted to instituted structural change rapidly. They push the church to move toward a plurality of elders, or they push to implement meaningful membership and clear inactive members from the rolls. But when they do this, they are attempting a political change in the church without the hard work of applied ministry. As with all sanctifying work, the inside must be changed before the outside can be. 

So encouraging the 2 Tim 2:2 men to engage in the various ministries and committees of the church will result in a shift in the church from decline to spiritual life. This is where change must start. Then when it comes time for the annual meeting, the church will have a new desire to reform it’s structures and even its constitution to reflect biblical governance. 

The task of revitalization is an important one, but for pastors who take up the challenge, they have the opportunity to patiently see God sanctify individuals, and over time, see the transformation of unhealthy churches into healthy ones. 

This is a plan which God has established, and we have the privilege of serving him as he works.