Free to Serve

Homosexuality and Same-Sex Marriage

A couple weeks ago, I preached from the Book of Judges, chapters 17-21. It's the end of book, where the reader is exposed to the sin of Israel at its peak. The main point is obvious--Israel needs a good and godly king. More than anything, Israel needs God to come and change their hearts.

One of the most distrubing scenes in these dark chapters is that of the men of Gibeah who demand to have sex with a man. Their demands are pretended in the chapter as sinful. This raises all sorts of questions about our culture's view of homosexuality today. 

What follows are my comments to the congregation I serve, in light of this text, on the topic of homosexuality and same-sex marriage:

Together for the Gospel, Reflections

Last Tuesday through Thursday I was in Louisville, KY for the biannual pastors conference called "Together for the Gospel." It was started by four Christian leaders: Mark Dever, Al Mohler, Ligon Duncan, and CJ Mahaney. Mark was my pastor in Washington, DC for a few years. In 2006, several hundred showed up in the ballroom of the Galt House Hotel to attend the first conference. Last week, approximately 8,000 pastors, laymen, and ladies filled the Yum! Center.

The pastoral staff of MVBC was able to attend. This was the highlight of the trip for me. Over meals we were able to reflect upon the sermons we heard, as well as simply engage in the types of conversations that don't happen as often as they should during the weekly bustle of pastoral ministry. But it wasn't just pastoral staff who were there. A few members of MVBC came, too. One of them told me it was helpful to be a the conference for three reasons: First, the sermons affected him, personally. Second, he better understands the temptations pastors face. Third, he was encouraged to see MVBC pastoral staff spending time together.  

The conference is becoming a bit of a reunion as brothers and sisters I've known for nearly twenty years descend upon Louisville for a few days. 

The sermons fed my soul. Especially this one on suffering preached by Ligon Duncan:

 

Why Care About Elders and Deacons?

This Sunday morning I'm preaching through 1 Timothy 3:8-13. The text is about deacons. Last week we thought about elders. Why should you listen? Why should you care about this topic? Ten reasons:

1. Because we all need models. Kids need a mom and dad from whom they can learn about life. Christians need elders and deacons to learn about shepherding and service.
2. Because it shows God’s heart for the world. Elders shepherd and deacons serve without discriminating on the basis of economics or ethnicity or for any other reason. The church is a diverse body with elders and deacons committed to the each and every one in the body. 
3. Because church leadership can reflect the gospel. As elders shepherd, they exemplify the righteous, loving, good authority of Christ our king. As deacons serve they exemplify the humble, sacrificial service of our savior. We must understand authority and sacrifice to make sense of the gospel. We are accountable to God (authority) and it is the blood of God (sacrifice) that saves us. 
4. Because good church leadership preserves the church for the next generation. Paper documents can be destroyed or ignored. Statements of faith are only good if there are living, breathing, loving human beings willing to stand for the truths they contain. Elders and deacons are called to be in the public eye of the church and the world as individuals who stand by the truth of Scripture. It is only as these truths are passed on, person to person, that the fidelity of the church to God’s Word is assured.
5. Because the quality of the church will rarely rise above the quality of her leaders. If we ignore the character qualification in our leaders, we can expect the church to follow suit. If we hold elders and deacons to the biblical standard of holiness, we can expect the church to follow suit.
6. Because leaders are evidence of God’s love for the church. The Holy Spirit raises up men to serve as elders of the church. The Lord gives the Spirit in a great measure to those called to deacon for the church. The presence of godly elders and deacons is evidence of God’s love for his church.
7. Because God inspired 1 Timothy 3. God cared enough about the structure and governance of the church to ordain that we establish elders and deacons. God’s decision to reveal this plan should be sufficient to incite our interest.
8. Because so many of us have seen the devastation wrought by ungodly leadership. It is, thus, imperative that we go to the Bible and ask, “How should our elders and deacons then live?”
9. Because God gifts those who serve well with spiritual honor and confidence. It is both a challenge and privilege to serve in the office of elder or deacon. Those who do serve can expect that Satan will seek to do them harm. But, should they serve well, God will gift them with a generous measure of joy and satisfaction.
10. Because most of us are inclined to look for the wrong thing in our leaders. We want charismatic, personable, humorous, approachable, and skilled leaders. But God wants us to want respectable, dignified, holy leaders. We are tempted to make the “successful” community leaders our church leaders as well. God calls us to test the character first.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thankful for the Elders

We've got an elders meeting here at MVBC on Thursday night. I'm very thankful for these brothers and for their service. Here are ten reasons why:

1. They pray faithfully for the body. We do this nearly every time we gather together to pray, and I know they do it privately as well. Elders are to be committed to the ministry of the Word and to prayer. These brothers are.
2. They empathize with the body. When we talk about how these members are doing, I can tell that they really care. They want to see people loved and served and growing in the Lord. They have gone through trials themselves, and they know how to empathize with others. It's a beautiful thing to see.
3. They model Christian discipleship. By God's grace, these men are striving to follow the Lord in private and in public. I'm happy for members of the church and the community to look at them to see an example of what it means to be a Christian.
4. They hold an office other men in the body should aspire to hold. These men are modeling leadership. Pastoral ministry is not simply for those who are paid. The office of pastor/elder is open to all men that the church views qualified and elects. 
5. They multiply the pastoral efforts of the body. We can't hire enough staff to meet our pastoral needs. Over this past year, our elders have begun to reach out with greater and greater frequency to members in need.
6. They go after the lost sheep. This is a way of multiplying our pastoral efforts, but it deserves special attention. There are members of the church who have stopped coming. Maybe they have moved away, maybe something happened. Our elders are working hard to reach out.
7. They encourage the pastoral staff. Our elders are a real encouragement to me. They want to know what's going on, they want to know how to pray, they care about missions more than they care about money. What an encouragement this is!
8. They encourage deacons and ministry leaders. Our elders are sensitive to the fact that the Lord has raised up lots of servants here at MVBC. So they are working hard to know our deacons and ministry leaders and make sure they are equipped and encouraged to do the work they've been assigned to do.
9. They labor to know and teach the Word. Some of our elders teach during Sunday school class. Others have spoken on Sunday evening. Most all of them regularly lead in prayer. All of them are men the congregation could turn to for practical, biblical counsel. Over the course of the past year we have thought through Scripture together, read the Bible, read good Christian books and articles. I love to see their hunger to grow.
10. They help keep the gospel central. To a man, our elders know that if we assume the gospel of Jesus Christ, we have lost the fight. I'm thankful for these men eager to contend for the faith once for all entrusted to the saints.

There is a lot of work to be done. I'm thankful for the elders and for the body of MVBC as we partner together in ministry.

 

 

 

The Unassuming and Effective Pastor--John Stott

John Stott died yesterday. He was a theologian, a writer, and a pastor. He served All Souls Church, Langham Place, in London for practically his entire life. I heard him preach about fifteen years ago at Falls Church Episcopal in Washington, DC. He spoke the truth of the Bible clearly and powerfully.

In 2005, Time Magazine selected him as one of the most influential people in the world. He has certainly influenced me! I return again and again to a few of his many books including Men with a Message, a New Testament overview, Understanding the Bible, Men Made New, an exposition of Romans 5-8, Between Two Worlds, a book on preaching, and The Cross of Christ.

Stott remained single his entire life, a life devoted to preaching and teaching. He served without fanfare--something noted in his obituaries.

Tim Stafford of Christianity Today wrote that "Stott exemplified how extraordinary plain, ordinary Christianity can be." He preached Scripture in such a way that people walked away from the text asking the question, "Why didn't I see that myself?" In other words, they walked away from the sermon thinking about the text, not about Stott. This is the way it should be. Stafford described Stott's visits to countries we call the Third World, but that Stott dubbed, The Majority World: "He traveled without entourage, sometimes preaching in cathedrals one day and under a tree the next, meeting the mighty and the lowly and staying in their homes." David Wells, a prominent Christian thinker, came to know Christ at a mission Stott held in South Africa in 1959. Later he lived with Stott. Wells observed, "He was known all over the world, but when you met him he was a devout, humble Christian man. His private life was no different from his public life. It was the same person. That's another way to say that he had integrity. There was no posing."

Wolfgang Saxon of the New York Times was struck by Stott's humility: "For all his fame on several continents, Mr. Stott's travels and appearances were remarkably devoid of pomp, befitting his simple message of reason and faith and his unassuming demeanor." Saxon quotes Stott directly on the danger of pride, "Pride is without doubt the greatest temptation of Christian leaders and I'm very well aware of the dangers of being feted and don't enjoy it and don't think one should enjoy it." 

Without seeking to draw attention to himself, the Lord has used Stott to draw more than one generation to pay attention to God and to His Word. Stott was not flashy. Neither was his prose. Notice his simple but clear explanation of justification by faith. Commenting upon Ephesians 2:8-9, Galatians 2:16, and Titus 3:5, Stott wrote:

We cannot avoid the stark alternative which such texts put before us. Not works, but grace. Not law, but faith. Not our righteous deeds but his mercy. There is no co-operation here between God and us, only a choice between two mutually exclusive ways, his and ours. Moreover, the faith which justifies is emphatically not another work. No, to say 'justification by faith' is merely another way of saying 'justification by Christ'. Faith has absolutely no value in itself; its value lies solely in its object. Faith is the eye that looks to Christ, the hand that lays hold of him, the mouth that drinks the water of life. And the more clearly we see the absolute adequacy of Jesus Christ's divine-human person and sin-bearing death, the more incongruous does it appear that anybody could suppose that we have anything to offer (Cross of Christ, 187). 

There it is, one of thousands upon thousands of paragraphs with simple but piercing prose pointing to the glory of Jesus Christ.

Stott is to be remembered for his faithfulness. He leaves behind him no children, but many pastors and believers who see Christ with a greater degree of clarity because of Stott's influence. Pray your leaders would be so unassuming and, yet, so effective.

Elders, Members, and Moving Forward

On Sunday morning, Mount Vernon Baptist Church called eight men to serve with me as elders of the church. They were approved overwhelmingly. Please pray that each of us would "keep watch over ourselves" (Acts 20:28). Pray we would watch our "life and doctrine closely" (1 Tim. 4:16). Pray that we would watch over the flock of God at Mount Vernon. Finally, pray that everyone at Mount Vernon would serve God in the church.

I'm reading a book called God at Work by Gene Edward Veith, Jr. He makes the very important point that God works through each of us:

Christ is also working, in a powerful way, through the vocation of the pastor. Christ as He animates His body, also works through what laypeople are called to do in the local congregation. All of those seemingly humdrum tasks--singing in the choir, serving as an elder, being on the board of trustees, teaching in Sunday school, doing committee work--are nevertheless critical areas of service that are tremendous blessings to the whole congregation (116).

Veith reminds me that there really are no humdrum tasks in the local church. HIs words bring to mind Paul's teaching in Romans 12:3-5, "Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others."

What a privilege it is to serve in the local church!

Pilot Internship Program at MVBC

A few weeks ago we started a pilot internship program at MVBC. The Lord brought us a young man with a seminary education, a heart for pastoral ministry, and a desire to learn more. The internship is a great opportunity to learn more about the church, see what pastors do on a daily basis, discuss books on ministry and theology, and generally see whether or not pastoral ministry is a good fit. 

Investing in an intern is one way to multiply the ministry and reach of the church. Look at what the Lord has already done at Mount Vernon's life. Think of men like Steve Farish, now pastoring outside Chicago or Dean Ropp, a beloved pastor from MVBC who went on to plant a church near Alpharetta. Steve and Dean may not have been interns, but they were men we sent out (before I got here) for the good of the kingdom of God. 

My prayer is that through an internship program we will be able to continue our commitment to building not only into our own church but into men who may very well, eventually, be part of other churches.

So, what can you do?

• Pray for our first intern and church member, Patrick Hearn, and his wife, Elizabeth. They are newly married and adjusting to life together in Atlanta. This is a time of transition for them, so we should pray they would have wisdom in the days ahead.
• Get to know the Hearns. Invite them to lunch or dinner. Part of the internship is being immersed in church life, that means getting to know you.
• Give financially. The cost of this pilot program is very small because the Hearns live in the area. Should the internship program grow, the expense would as well. Our faithful giving to the ministry of MVBC goes not only to the growth of our own congregation, it is an investment in the larger kingdom of God.

Praying for Hinson

One of the often-missed facts of the New Testament is the concern Christians had not just for their own church but for the churches of others. You certainly see it in Paul's writings, but you also see it in the actions of local churches themselves. In 2 Corinthians 8 we learn that churches in Macedonia took up offerings to help other local churches.

The implications of this are legion:

--we should pray for other churches regularly;

--we should be a part of planting other churches; and

--we should encourage other churches.

To that end, I'd like us to be praying for Hinson Baptist Church, a historic church in SE Portland that has just received a new pastor, Michael Lawrence. Michael and I met in Washington, DC over fifteen years ago. The Lord blessed him as he served as an associate pastor in DC until he was recently called to lead Hinson. I am very grateful that Michael invited me to preach this last Sunday. First because it gave me an opportunity to see his ministry. Second, because it allowed me to preach to many of my family members who live in the Portland area. 

--Pray that Michael would have wisdom and humility as he leads Hinson.

--Pray that Hinson would contend for the faith once for all entrusted to the saints.

Radical Womanhood

I know that a number of women at MVBC are keeping up with a blog by Carolyn McCulley, Radical Womanhood. It is named after a book she wrote describing how feminism in the culture has affected the church. Carolyn is an accomplished, single woman. She's written for Christianity Today and the Washington Post. She just started a film company called Citygate. 

I just listened to an interview with her here. She speaks as one who came to saving faith as an adult. The fact that God has different roles for men and women in the home and church came to her as quite a surprise. In this interview she helps churches understand the challenges facing women in general and the challenges facing singles in particular. She gently encourages churches to carefully fold singles into the family.

Hearing her talk reminds me that it is too easy for singles to feel like second class citizens in a church of "families." We should praise God for the families in the congregation but, even more fundamentally, we are one family full of singles and married couples, youth and seniors. Carolyn suggests we be careful not to divide the church by age and stage of life. She also says one of the best experiences she had in a local church was when she spent time with a married couple where the man was truly a brother in Christ to her and the woman a sister. 

May we see the same kind of relationships built here at Mount Vernon!

By the way, another blog that targets women: girltalk. 

The Local Church Needs Ladies

One of the things I love to do is disciple men. I could spend hours each week meeting with brothers in the faith and encouraging them to fight the fight. The church needs men who are faithful examples of Christ-like perseverance. Men who care about doctrine. Men who are willing to roll up their sleeves, stop complaining about the church, and start building the church. So, over coffee (in my case a vanilla creme -- don't judge me!) or a sandwich at Subway, or simply a walk around the church, I pour my life into men that, I pray, God will use to build this local church here at Mount Vernon.

But what about ladies? My discipleship of women is less direct. Preaching is an act of discipleship. As I open up Scripture and apply it to all of our lives, women hear and, I trust, grow. I'm often involved in marital counseling--as I meet with men and women I seek to see both grow in their knowledge and love for Jesus. I pour into my wife and my wife will often invest in women at the church. But all of this is indirect, and yet I want every woman at Mount Vernon to be discipled. I have to be careful, though. As a man, there are important and clear limits to how I can disciple women. It is why I pray that the Lord uses the godly women at Mount Vernon to invest in one another's lives and that He brings even more to share in this work.

With that said, I'm very thankful that my friends at 9Marks have published an e-Journal that addresses pastoring women. There are wonderful essays on a pastors role in discipling women, equipping women to disciple women, the special challenges young mothers face, as well an answer to the question, "Can women be pastors?"  

This is good stuff. Please join me at Mount Vernon as we equip men and women to do the work of the ministry and build the church for the glory of God.