I have recently enjoy reading J.I. Packer’s book, A Quest For Godliness.  The reason I am finding this book so delightful, is that Packer uses the words and thoughts of the Puritans to address doctrinal issues and issues of the Christian life.  The benefit for us, is that we can enjoy perusing excerpts from the puritans in a broad way, while at the same time enjoying Packer’s insightful commentary linking these thoughts together. 

 In Packer’s introduction to John Owen’s The Death of Death in the Death of Christ, included as a chapter in A Quest For Godliness, he heralds the importance of reading such works.  The reason given, is Packer’s belief that “it will help us in one of the most urgent tasks facing evangelical Christendom today—the recovery of the gospel.” (125)  Packer brilliantly addresses the distinctions between the Gospel according to Arminianism and the Gospel according to Calvinism.  Consider this excerpt from Packer:

To the question; ‘What must I do to be saved?’, the old gospel (this as opposed to the new gospel of Arminianism) replies: believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.  To the further question; ‘What does it mean to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ?’, its reply is: it means knowing oneself to be a sinner, and Christ to have died for sinners; abandoning all self-righteousness and self-confidence, and casting oneself wholly upon him for pardon and peace; and exchanging one’s natural enmity and rebellion against God for a spirit of grateful submission to the will of Christ through the renewing of one’s heart by the Holy Ghost.  And to the further question still, ‘How am I to go about believing on Christ and repenting, if I have no natural ability to do these things?’, it answers: look to Christ, speak to Christ, cry to Christ, just as you are; confess your sin, your impenitence, your unbelief, and cast yourself on his mercy; ask him to give you a new heart, working in you true repentance and firm faith; ask him to take away your evil heart of unbelief and to write his law within you, that you may never henceforth stray from him.  Turn to him and trust him as best you can, and pray for grace to turn and trust more thoroughly; use the means of grace expectantly, looking to Christ to draw near to you as you seek to drawn near to him; watch, pray, and read and hear God’s word, worship and commune with God’s people, and so continue till you in yourself beyond doubt that you are indeed a changed being, a penitent believer, and the new heart which you desired has been put within you.  The emphasis in this advice is on the need to call upon Christ directly, as the very first step.

 Obviously, this is quite different than the advice most evangelism training experts and pastors give us in today’s evangelicalism.  The critics believe that Calvinists have no motivation or zeal for evangelism.  It is actually quite the opposite.  Consider this evangelistic plea:

Are any of you depending upon a righteousness of your own?  Do any of you here think to save yourselves by your own doings?  I say to you…your righteousness shall perish with you.  Poor miserable creatures!  What is there in your tears?  What in your prayers?  What in your performances, to appease the wrath of an angry God?  Away from the trees of the garden; come, ye guilty wretches, come as poor, lost, undone, and wretched creatures, and accept of a better righteousness than your own.  As I said before, so I tell you again, the righteousness of Jesus Christ is an everlasting righteousness; it is wrought out for the very chief of sinners.  How, everyone that thristeth, let him come and drink of this water of life freely.  Are any of you wounded by sin?  Do any of you feel you have no righteousness of your own?  Are any of you perishing for hunger?  Are any of you afraid ye will perish for ever?  Come, dear souls, in all your rags; come, thou poor man; come, thou poor distressed woman; you, who think God will never forgive you, and that your sins are too great to be forgive: come, thou doubting creature, who art afraid thou wilt never get comfort; arise, take comfort, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of life, the Lord of glory, calls for thee…O let not one poor soul stand at a distance from the Saviour…O come, come!  Now, since it is brought into the world by Christ, so, in the name, in the strength, and by the assistance of the great God, I bring it now to the pulpit; I now offer this righteousness, this free, this imputed, this everlasting righteousness, to all poor sinners who will accept of it…Think, I pray you, therefore, on these things; go home, go home, go home, pray over the text, and say, ‘Lord God, Thou hast brought an everlasting righteousness into the world by the Lord Jesus Christ; by the blessed Spirit bring it into my heart!’ then, die when we will, ye are safe; if it be tomorrow, ye shall be immediately translated into the presence of the everlasting God; that will be sweet!  Happy they who have got this robe on; happy they that can say, ‘My God hath loved me, and I shall be loved by Him with an everlasting love!’  That every one of you may be able to say so, may God grant, for the sake of Jesus Christ, the dear Redeemer; to whom be glory for ever.  Amen. (160-161)

Who is this that speaks with such passion to souls?  Who is this that speaks so eloquently in offering the righteousness of Christ?  Who is this who does not seek to close the deal, but rather sends people home, entrusting them to the work of God?  It is George Whitefield, perhaps the greatest evangelist of the past millennium, and a strong Calvinist to boot (Sermons on Important Subjects; by the Rev. George Whitefield, A.M. (1832) pp. 207ff).

 Be encouraged Christians!  Our ministry is to plant and water, God’s is to give the growth (1 Cor 3:5-9).  Plead for souls!  Call men to repent and believe the good news!  Be clear and persistent in proclaiming the Gospel!  But trust their souls not to a momentary decision or prayer, but rather to the God who converts the human heart.  Take heed to Packer’s counsel above and to Whitefield’s example.

“The Truth is Costly”

 There are times in ministry when it is clear that God wants a message to sink in.  In His sovereign care, He will reveal my weakness and then through a series of graces, bring a repeated message to my attention.  These are sweet times in the Christian life.  We do have a High Priest who sympathizes with our weaknesses.  We do have a God who knows our frame.  How encouraging to be shepherded by the unseen God, when the very visible and tangible realities of life are facing us. 

 This past week I have been laboring in spirit over the trials and spiritual battles of others.  I have been acutely aware of my own inabilities and weaknesses.  I have seen the despair of other up close.  And in the midst of it all, God revealed His faithfulness again.  He did it through the ordinary studies of my week.  He did it through the input of other brothers and sisters.  He has brought encouragement just when I needed it most, once again.  For brevity sake, let me give you three encouragements in the midst of your trials that God made very evident to me this week.  The first is a study in Jeremiah that we are doing at our Wednesday Night Prayer Meetings.  The second is a song that my fellow pastor at GTCC chose for our worship service this coming Sunday.  The third is an article in Christianity Today.  God used all of these to bring comfort to this needy child.  Perhaps it will be of encouragement to you.

 1)  The truth is costly, but you can be sure God is preparing you to keep on proclaiming it.  Your friends may turn their backs on you.  Your family may make fun of you.  You may lose opportunities in your career.  You may suffer.  You may need to forfeit everything you worked hard for.  It won’t always make sense.  You may not understand why.  You may expect something different from God.  You may not get the answer you hoped for.  Grief may come when you expected joy.  Pain may come when you expected peace.  The truth is costly.  It is costly to speak God’s truth.  It is costly to live for Christ.  You may not see it as overtly in our culture.  But you can be sure, if you diligently speak the truth you will come up against opposition.  God is faithful to His Word.  He is working in your trial.  He using pain, opposition, and grief to prepare you for future ministry.

 In Jeremiah 11:18-23, the prophet learns that he is a target for assassination from of all people, his own home town of Anathoth.  We are reminded of Jesus’ words in Matt 13:57: “But Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.’”  Speaking the truth may make you a target.  No, it will likely make you a target.  No, it will almost certainly make you a target (2 Tim 3:12).  God is our only hope and the only avenger.  And He is the one whom Jeremiah turned to in the midst of His trial (11:20,22-23).

 God is preparing us to keep proclaiming the truth.  We can’t always see what good God is doing.  We don’t always know why we face the trials that we face.  Jeremiah lodges a complaint in his confusion (Jer 12:1-4).  He asks an age old question of God, “Why does the way of the wicked prosper?  Why do all who are treacherous thrive?” (Jer 12:1b)  We can empathize, can’t we?  Jeremiah is a servant of the Lord, a spokesman for God, and what does he get for it…a trip to the assassination list of his hometown.  While at the same time, it appears that the wicked are doing just fine.  Notice however, that the real problem is based on what Jeremiah thinks he deserves.  He says to the Lord, “But you, O Lord, know me; you see me, and test my heart toward you.” (Jer 12:3)  Jeremiah is convinced that he deserves better, essentially challenging the Lord to test his heart toward God. 

 In our trials, how might we identify with Jeremiah’s complaint and sentiment here?  Perhaps we get impatient when life doesn’t go smoothly.  Perhaps we get overwhelmed and wonder why it is all happening.  We might see others doing well, while we are doing what we are supposed to and our world is falling apart.

 What we so easily forget, is that God is at work in our trial.  The sovereign God is preparing us for even greater trials.  And if we are going to face more severe trials with resolute faith and hope, our spiritual muscles need to be strengthened.  Notice God’s response to Jeremiah is not a direct answer to his question about the wicked prospering, it is an answer to Jeremiah’s suffering.  “If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you, how will you compete with horses?  And if in a safe land you are so trusting, what will you do in the thicket of the Jordan?” (Jer 12:5)  The point couldn’t be clearer: “I am training you for still more trials to come Jeremiah.”  We need spiritual muscle.  We need strengthening.  This is the very point of passages like Romans 5:1-5 and James 1:2-4.  Yet, we so often look at trials as a curse.  Those training for a marathon have to train to be ready to run those extreme distances, lest they faint.  Christian, we have unforeseen circumstances that God has planned for us.  He doesn’t always tell us exactly what we are training for.

 Jeremiah is informed of the kind of trials he has coming his way.  Not only is his hometown out to get him, but he cannot even trust his own family.  The closest of worldly relationships that he has offers no comfort (Jer 12:6).  The truth is costly, but God is working in the midst of it with sovereign purpose for your good.

 All of you have faced trials of some sort: disappointments, loss, grief, and change.  You can be sure that God is preparing you for something yet to come.  God in His grace is showing you His faithfulness all along the way.  Don’t fight against it…trust in God’s sovereign care and plan for your life.  Jeremiah may not have seen it as clearly, but you know a great reality: our trials in the context of eternity are microscopic.  Keep pressing forward.

 2) When Trials Come: Billy Rosano, the other pastor here at GTCC, was working on the order of service and came across this wonderful hymn written and performed by the Getty’s.  Click here and enjoy: When Trials Come.   

 3)  To Serve is to Suffer: Ajith Fernando is a brother in Christ and New Testament scholar.  He posted a wonderful piece in Christianity Today that I stumbled across through Justin Taylor’s blog.  Here are a couple of excerpts, though I recommend you read the entire article by clicking on this link: To Serve Is to Suffer

 The West, having struggled with the tyrannical rule of time, has a lot to teach the East about the need for rest. The East has something to teach the West about embracing physical problems that come from commitment to people. If you think it is wrong to suffer physically because of ministry, then you suffer more from the problem than those who believe that suffering is an inevitable step on the path to fruitfulness and fulfillment. Since the Cross is a basic aspect of discipleship, the church must train Christian leaders to expect pain and hardship. When this perspective enters our minds, pain will not touch our joy and contentment in Christ. In 18 different New Testament passages, suffering and joy appear together. In fact, suffering is often the cause for joy (Rom. 5:3-5; Col. 1:24; James 1:2-3).

 Another excerpt:

 I have a great fear for the church. The West is fast becoming an unreached region. The Bible and history show that suffering is an essential ingredient in reaching unreached people. Will the loss of a theology of suffering lead the Western church to become ineffective in evangelism? The church in the East is growing, and because of that God’s servants are suffering. Significant funding and education come to the East from the West. With funding and education comes influence. Could Westerners influence Eastern Christians to abandon the Cross by communicating that they must be doing something wrong if they suffer in this way? Christians in both the East and the West need to have a firm theology of suffering if they are to be healthy and bear fruit.

Mark Nine: Biblical Church Leadership

 What does the Bible say about leadership in the Church?  How are decisions supposed to be made in the Church?  Who has the final say in what is taught and done in churches?  Is it elders or pastors or bishops or deacons or the Pope or the congregation?  These questions must be addressed and how we answer them will have a radical impact on how the church is structured and even how the Gospel is proclaimed.

 First, Scripture teaches some form of congregationalism.  What is congregationalism?  Congregationalism means that local churches are vested with authority in decisions.  Not denominations.  The question to what extent does the congregation have authority in decisions?  How far should it extend.  Consider some of the following passages:

• Matt 18:15-17—Notice the congregation had the final word in this matter of discipline.
• Acts 6:2-5—It was the congregation that chose the seven men full of the Spirit.
• 1 Cor 5:4-5—Again, the congregation is exhorted to issue church discipline.
• 2 Cor 2:6—Yet again, the congregation is involved in church discipline decisions here.
• Gal 1:6-9—The congregation is responsible for addressing false teachers.
• 2 Tim 4:3—The congregation is even accountable for teachers.

 It is clear from these passages that some form of congregational authority is biblical.  Every situation is not dealt with, therefore wisdom ought to be exercised in determining what decisions ought to be voted on by the congregation and what decisions are expected to be carried out in the daily responsibilities of Elders.

 Second, Scripture teaches that authority is granted to those who hold the office of Elder. 

“God does not, however, leave us merely to operate all the time as a ‘committee of the whole.’  We need to trust that God gives particular people gifts to serve as church leaders.  We should therefore desire to see in our church the right balance of authority and trust.” (Mark Dever, Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, 227)

 God has given to His people leaders in both the OT and the NT.  Consider some of the following passages that address the principle of Elder authority in the NT. 

 Heb 13:17: “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.”

Eph 4:11-13: “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ”

God has designed for His church to be led by men who are uniquely gifted to lead, to teach, to preach, and shepherd the body of Christ.  Yet, in His divine wisdom He has provided accountability for these men through a congregational authority.  This may be what is in mind in Ephesians 5:21, where we are exhorted that we should be “submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.”  There is a shared accountability in the Church that serves to strengthen the church, yet to allow it to be led at the same time by gifted men.    

What kind of leadership structure do we see in the NT?  What is the difference between Elder, Overseer, and Pastor?  It is clear in Scripture that Elder, Overseer and Pastor all refer to the same office (Acts 20:17,28; Titus 1:5,7; 1 Pet 5:1-7).  Elders are never given separate qualifications (1 Tim 3:1-7; Titus 1:7-9).  Elders and Overseers are never listed as separate offices.  Overseer and pastor are terms that are more descriptive of the office of Elder, rather than the establishment of separate offices.  So then, it appears unlikely that a three-tiered hierarchical system of leadership was ever intended by the text of the New Testament.

 The role of an elder is described as that of a leader (1 Tim 3:4-5; 5:17; Rom 12:8; Heb 13:17; 1 Thess 5:12), a shepherd (Eph 4:11; 1 Pet 5:1-5; Acts 20:28-29), a teacher (1 Tim 3:2; 5:17; Titus 1:9; Gal 6:6), and as an equipper (2 Tim 2:2; Eph 4:11-13). 

 If at all possible, there ought to be a plurality of elders.  In virtually every place in Scripture, except for in cases of an individual charge, elders are referred to in the plural (Acts 11:30; 15: 14:23; 20:17,28; Titus 1:5; 1 Tim 5:17; Phil 1:1; James 5:14; 1 Pet 5:1).  The plurality of elders provides for protection of the flock from the devastation that an errant leader can cause. 

 The qualifications of an Elder are listed in 1 Tim 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9.  Without going into a detailed description of these qualifications, it is important to recognize that only those who exemplify these qualifications should be considered for the office.  The requirement here is not perfection, but rather characterization.  A person’s life must be characterized by these qualifications.  In addition, only men are qualified to fulfill the role of an elder.  The pattern of male leadership of the church is clear in Scripture on a number of levels.  Consider the following:

• It is only the husband that is addressed, not the wife in the qualifications of an elder (1 Tim 3:2).
• Male leadership of the Son of God—Jesus was and had to be a first-born male, ‘holy to the Lord’ (Lk 2:23).
• The “last Adam” and “the second man,” He was the antitype of Adam and had to be male (1 Cor 15:45,47; Rom 5:14).
• Jesus personally trained and appointed twelve men whom He called ‘apostles’ (Lk 6:13)…an affirmation of the creation order as presented in Gen 2:18-25.
  • He prayed to His father the entire night before making this choice (Lk 6:12).
  • Jesus’ choice of male apostles was based on divine principles and guidance.
• No evidence of any female apostles, despite the close relationships with a number of women.
• Replacement for Judas was a man (Acts 1:21,24).
• Model of Male Leadership in the NT Churches
  • Headship and Submission Roles in the Marriage relationship (Eph 5:22-24; Col 3:18; Titus 2:1,4,5).  The marriage relationship is a living picture of the relationship between Christ and the Church: “This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church” (Eph 5:32).  Therefore, it would be quite a contradiction for men to be appointed the spiritual leadership of their homes and then to submit to their wives, in leadership of the church. 

 We should not conclude from all this that female involvement in the church ought to be discouraged.  This does not diminish active female involvement in the home or church.  Some of Paul’s co-laborers in the gospel were women (Rom 16:1-15; Phil 4:2,3).  Both Pricilla and Aquila were involved in discipling Apollos (Acts 8:24-26).  Women serve vital roles in the church, on a number of levels.  God has simply ordained for men to be uniquely set apart for the office of elder. 

 The Lord has graced His church with a structure and with leadership.  He neither wills for His church to be led dictatorially or for it to operate as a disorganized anarchy.  He has designed for His church to be governed by godly servant leaders, who do not “lord it over the flock” (1 Pet 5:3), and congregational authority.  It appears God’s design provides for a body of Christ that operates with leadership, orderliness and accountability.