Free to Serve

Christianity Explained

Christianity Explained is a great introduction to the Christian faith. I began taking a small group through it last Sunday (sans DVD), and I'm continuing it tomorrow as we think about what Christ accomplished on the cross. The cross is essential to become a believer, but it is also essential for continuing in the faith. I love this prayer of thankfulness for Christ's work on the cross:

The cross still stands and meets my needs

    in the deepest straits of the soul.

I thank thee that my rememberance of it

    is like David's sight of Goliath's sword

        which preached forth thy deliverance.

The memory of my great sins, my many temptations, my falls,

    bring afresh into my mind the rememembrance 

        of thy great help, of thy support from heaven,

        of the great grace that saved such a wretch as I am.

    There is no treasure so wonderful

        as that continuous experience of thy grace toward me

            which alone can subdue the risings of sin within:

Give me more of it.

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Peace of Christ is Reasonable

In 1750, the Puritan pastor, Jonathan Edwards, preached a sermon entitled, The Peace Which Christ Gives His True Followers. Edwards took John 14:27 as his text, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you."

He describes the peace Christ gives to those who follow him. It is an eternal peace, a sweet peace, a holy peace, and, perhaps surprisingly, a reasonable peace.

Christ's peace is a reasonable peace and rest of soul; it is what has its foundation in light and knowledge, in the proper exercises of reason, and a right view of things; whereas the peace of the world is founded in blindness and delusion. The peace that the people of Christ have, arises from their having their eyes open, and seeing things as they are. The more they consider, and the more they know of the truth and reality of things--the more they know what is true concerning themselves, the state and condition they are in; the more they know of God, and what manner of being he is; the more certain they are of another world and future judgment, and of the truth of God's threatenings and promies; the more their concsciences are awakened and enlightened, and the brighter and the more searching the light--the more is their peace established.

Christians are exposed to the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In that light we see things more clearly. Our eyes are open. We see reality as it actually is. We know ourselves better. We see our weaknesses and our strengths more clearly. We can be honest about how we have failed in ways that an unbeliever struggles.

It is not that the unbeliver can never understand himself, but he can't fully understand himself without the light of the gospel in his life. He sees only a bit of his true self the way you can see only some of a dark room when the door to the bright hallway is just cracked open. Most importantly, the believer is able to know God, his character and his ways. This is a knowledge out of the reach of someone without God's peace.

Notice what Edwards preached happens when the unbeliever begins to ask hard questions about life, when he "allows himself to think": 

The worldly-man's peace cannot be maintained but by avoiding consideration and reflection. If he allows himself to think, and properly to exercise his reason, it destroys his quietness and comfort.

Part of the evangelistic task for believers is getting others to think:

• What is life all about?
• What are we here for?
• What will happen when you die?
• Why do you make the decisions you do?

When a person starts truly and deeply thinking about life and death and time and space and reality and eternity, he or she cannot help but become troubled. He may not be honest about these troubles with others, but he feels the trouble deep within.

We were made by God to be at peace. It is our own sin and rebellion that has blinded us. We need God to open our eyes and, when he does--by breaking into our hearts with the gospel--we can truly, fully, and wonderfully know a peace which transcends understanding.