Free to Serve

Our identity is not in our vocation but in our confession

It is so important to be able to see our vocation (that is our calling or our job) through the lens of God's gospel. We have to trust that God has given us all different jobs, different roles, different callings. It is the diversity of what we do (some are chefs, some are homemakers, some are marketers, some are pastors, some are salesmen, some are painters) that makes the unity of the gospel so profound. In Christ there is neither salesman nor painter--we are all one in Christ Jesus.

If we fail to see God's hand behind what we do week in and week out (he is the God of diverse callings), we will be less likely to marvel at the God who calls us together in prayer and praise, to hear and respond to his Word. When we gather as the body we leave our earthly callings behind and identify ourselves simply as "brother" or "sister" in Christ.

Let us all appreciate our God who has called us to such diverse tasks. Let us praise the God of our vocation. Gene Edward Veith, Jr. in his book, God at Work: Your Christian Vocation in All of Life, reminds us that work is good. We can all bless God and praise the Lord as we work as Christians in various fields. This is true for farmers and filmakers:

Ironically, it is sometimes easier to see how God provides through lowly occupations than through those with more status. It is easier to see how God blesses the world through farmers and milkmaids than through Madison Avenue advertising executives or Hollywood movie stars, though in the eyes of the world the latter are considered much better jobs.

Still, most lawful occupations do give service to others. If someone is willing to pay for a product or service, they must consider themselves benefiting from it. Companies need advertising to help them become successful, and Hollywood movie stars can offer innocent pleasure for millions. These are worthy vocations.

But no one should be ashamed of being called to a vocation through which God blesses people in more tangible ways: waiting on tables, digging foundations, hauling away garbage. Nor should those o fus who are blessed by God through these vocations look down upon them.

As for those who work with their hands--on a shop floor, on a factory line, on a construction site--they are especially honored in the Bible, in a text that says much about vocation, ambition, and the Christian's life in the world: "Aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may live properly before outsiders and be dependent upon no one" (1 Thessalonians 4:11-12). 

But as we give praise and thanksgiving to God for the vocation he has called us to, let's also praise and thank him that whatever we do--be it build buildings or preach sermons or sell bolts or make pizza--our fundamental identity is not builder, pastor, salesman or pizzamaker; our identity is found not in our vocation but our confession: we are those who confess Jesus is Lord--our crucified and risen Savior.

What is Family Worship?

The term, "family worship" is being used a lot lately. I'm glad for that. I regularly hear of local churches (including my own) that are strongly encouraging moms and dads to lead their families in worship. This is, of course, nothing new. You can look at James Alexander's work, Thoughts on Family Worship, first published in 1847. Moreover Don Whitney in his booklet, Family Worship: In the Bible, in History, and in Your Home, argues that Christian families have always alloted time to Christian evangelism and discipleship within the home.

This should be no surprise to us since we have biblical evidence that God's people have always been instructed to raise up their children in the ways of the Lord. Consider Deuteronomy 6:6-7, "And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise."

That passage in particular leads me to address one concern I have about the growing interest in family worship in the church today: We must not think of family worship as something that we can merely schedule in our homes. Though it is important, wise, and helpful to gather the family together sometime during the day for prayer, bible reading, singing, and biblical conversation, true family worship extends beyond that time and into the warp and woof of a family's entire life. That appears to be the point of Deuteronomy 6:6-7.

So avoid thinking of family worship as an event. Think of it instead as a lifestyle. Family worship is the deliberate, consistent, and careful evangelizing and discipling of the family.

To say it is "deliberate" is to say that family worship does not happen accidentally. It requires planning, preparation, and intentionality. This is especially true of those times that you may schedule. What will the family read together? What prayer requests will you work through? What particular questions might members of the family have that need to be addressed? All that requires deliberate preparation.

To say family worship is "consistent" implies that mom and/or dad are always working on it. They are making plans and executing them. Children are formed more by patterns than they are by points. One point in time, one conversation, can be really helpful. But many points form a pattern and are more likely to have a long-lasting effect. Having a consistent, scheduled time of family worship is great. But consistently taking advantage of every opportunity to turn conversations to the Lord is even better.

To say family worship is "careful" is to say that theology matters (1 Tim. 4:16). Kids need solid answers from parents who are careful to look for those answers in Scripture, good Christian books, and from friends and even pastors at church. But kids need more than parents who are careful to shower them with good theology, they also need parents who are careful to shower them with love (1 John 4:7-12). We don't create a culture of family worship in our home simply to raise excellent kids who will be good models in the neighborhood, we do so because we love God and we love our kids--and one way we show our love for them is by carefully pointing them to Christ. Think of it this way: our kids need good theology but they also need warm hugs.

The reason we are deliberate, consistent, and careful is because we want to see our children evangelized and discipled. Our kids may or may not be Christians. Time will tell. In the meantime we should be sharing the gospel with them every day. The youngest child can truly repent and believe. It may be hard to discern if their repentance is genuine, but praise God that it is our job to faithfully share the gospel with them again and again and to repeatedly call them to repentance and faith. Salvation belongs to the Lord. Every child is different, every circumstance is unique, but I think it is a good rule of thumb to pursue baptism for a professing believer when he or she is at or on the cusp of adulthood.

Furthermore, we want to create a discipling culture in our home where it is normal and natural to talk about the Lord. This includes modeling for our family a rightly prioritized life. When it comes to the gatherings at church, would your kids see in your attitude that meeting with the church body is something you have to do or something you get to do? When it comes to hospitality, is your home merely a place of refuge from work, or is it a place of ministry for the sake of others? When it comes to your own interaction with family (parents, grandparents) do your children see you honoring them? Consider that how you treat your parents is a key indicator of how your children will one day treat you! Finally, what is the culture of your home? Again, is it normal and natural to talk about Jesus?

I am so thankful for what I see as a renewed emphasis being placed upon family ministry in the church and family worship in the home. Nonetheless, I pray that we never boil it down to ten minutes on the couch after dinner. May family worship in our homes be that, but may it be so much more. May it be the deliberate, consistent, and careful evangelizing and discipling of the family.

"Little Things" -- Elisabeth Elliot

When we were growing up our parents taught us, by both word and example, to pay attention to little things. If you do a thing at all, do it thoroughly: make the sheets really smooth on the bed, sweep all the corners and move all the chairs when you sweep the kitchen, roll the toothpaste tube neatly and put the cap back on, clean the hair out of your brush each time you use it, hand your towl straight on the rod, fold your napkin and put it into the silver ring before you leave the table, never wet your finger when you turn pages. They kept promises made to us as faithfully as they kept those made to adults. They taught us to do the same. You didn't accept an invitation to a party and then not turn up, or agree to help with Vacation Bible School and back out because a more interesting activity presented itself . . . 

It is not easy to find children or adults who are dependable, careful, thorough, and faithful. So many lives seem honeycombed with small failures, neglectful of little things that make the difference between order and chaos. Perhaps it is because they are seldom taught that visible things are signs of an invisible reality; that common duties may be "an immeasurable ministry of love." The spiritual training of souls must be inseparable from practical disciplines, as Jesus so plainly taught, "The man who can be trusted in litle things can be trusted in great; the man who is dishonest in little things will be dishonest in great."

From Elisabeth Elliot, Keep a Quiet Heart. (HT: my wife who is so careful about the little things!)

 

An End to Racism?

Last week messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention elected Fred Luter to the presidency. As I previously mentioned, this was an historic moment and an opportunity. It is an opportunity to pursue local churches that are united around the gospel of Jesus Christ and not the color of our skin. 

John Piper, a white pastor, in his book, Bloodlines: Race, Cross, and the Christian, expresses his desire to see a church where blacks and whites consistently find unity in the Lord, Jesus Christ. He ended the book this way:

What I have tried to do in this book is show that the gospel of Jesus Christ--the death and the resurrection of the Son of God for sinners--is the only sufficient power for this effort, and the only power that in the end will bring the bloodlines of race into the single bloodline of the cross. It is the only power to bring about Christ-exalting harmony, which, in the end, is the only kind that matters, because all things were made through him and for him (Col. 1:16). To his grace, and his name, and his Father be glory forever. Amen.

"Christ-exalting harmony" will not come easily. Anthony B. Bradley, an African-American theologian wrote Black and Tired: Essays on Race, Politics, Culture, and International Development. He explains rather bluntly that racism is an effect of the Fall, and so long as there is the need for sanctification, there will be racism:

When African Americans, Latinos, and Asians lament, "It's 2008 and racism still exists in America," the temptation is to shout, "What fairytale were you reading that said racism would ever cease?" An historic tenet of Judeo-Christianity, along with many other religions, is that evil exists in the world. As long as people lack the moral development to escape it, there will always be racism.

So what hope is there for Christ-exalting harmony if there will be racism until the arrival of the new heavens and new earth? After all, until Jesus returns there will always be a lack of "moral development."

The hope is the gospel of God that builds the church. The hope is the reality that in the church we are not united by a common interest, a common class, or a common ethnicity. In the church we are united by the gospel. In a church united around this gospel, divisions (e.g. interests, socio-economic class, ethnicity) become opportunties to prove the Christ-exalting power of the gospel.The gospel makes friends out of employers and employees, men and women, Americans and Germans, blacks and whites. "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:27-28).

I think Bradley is right: racism will not end until the return of our Savior and Judge. But in the meantime there is a fight to be waged. Our weapon is the Word of God. We preach the only Message with the power to reconcile sinners to a holy God and, subsequently, sinners to one another. The more our churches focus on the gospel, the more welcome our congregations will be to men and women of every color.

 

Wears Valley Ranch Needs Additional Staff

In 1991 Jim Wood, the former pastor of the church I now serve, founded a home and school to help children in crisis. It's called the Wears Valley Ranch and it is situated in Sevierville, Tennessee (not far from Pigeon Forge). They serve a maximum of 32 students, all with a troubled background.  

Jim and his wife, Susan, have a real desire to invest in the lives of these kids. As you can imagine, finding godly, qualified, and committed staff is always an issue. Many of the positions (like house parents or mentors) are usually short-term opportunities (1-2 years). 

If you know of someone who would be willing to serve in this way, contact Wears Valley Ranch and let them know. Please pray they would find men and women who know how to apply the gospel to the lives of these kids each and every day.

 

Mack, Jonah, MVBC, and a Few Questions

This coming Sunday Mack Stiles will be visiting MVBC. Mack is the CEO of Gulf Digital Solutions and a lay elder at Redeemer Church in Dubai. I had the opportunity to visit Mack's company over a year ago and to visit the church he serves. It was an amazing experience.

In America we talk a great deal about our churches signaling today the reality that one day all the nations will worship together. This kind of corporate worship is taking place in Dubai. The ethnic and racial diversity is amazing. But even more thrilling is the clear proclamation of the gospel, week in and week out. 

If you are at MVBC on Sunday, be reading through the book of Jonah in preparation for Mack's sermon. The ancient book begins this way:

Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 'Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.' But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went on board, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD.

Ask yourself a few questions about this text:

1) Why did God want Jonah to go to an enemy city?

2) What does it mean for evil to "come up" before God?

3) Why, when Jonah "rose to flee to Tarshish" are we told he was actually fleeing "from the presence of the LORD"?

4) Why are we told a second time that Jonah fled "away from the presence of the LORD"?

5) How does this revelation of Jonah's attitude toward God and his command help us understand the life and work of Jesus Christ?

Speaking to Churches About International Missions

For the fourth year in a row, 9Marks hosted an hour long conversation during the SBC. This Monday night, Mark Dever, a pastor in Washington, DC (and my former pastor) interviewed pastor David Platt, seminary professor Zane Pratt (and former IMB missionary), and IMB president Tom Ellif (IMB stands for “International Mission Board,” the sending agency of the Southern Baptist Convention). 

The conversation was instructive for pastors and churches alike. Here are seven main points that I took away from this time. Each is an application addressed to a local church. Every member of the panel sought to emphasize the primary role churches play in fulfilling the Great Commission. 

1. Get the gospel right. The first and most important thing that pastors and churches can do to encourage international missions is to get the gospel right. Tom Ellif mentioned that, sadly, it is not uncommon for a potential missionary to be unable to articulate the gospel. Thankfully, the IMB training is rigorous, but those interested in serving overseas (or anywhere for that matter) should know the gospel inside and out. 

2. Take responsibility for international missions. Too often churches expect missions sending agencies (like the IMB) to bear the full-weight of the burden of reaching the lost. But the Great Commission belongs to the churches. Therefore local churches ought to be strategizing how to support the work of international missions.

3. Demand expositional sermons. Ellif pointed out again and again to the responsibility of churches to train people to know, love, and teach the Word of God. Their best missionaries are those who spent years as members of churches where the Word was regularly and clearly taught from the pulpit. 

4. Focus on long-term partnerships. Short-term trips can help one better understand global needs. They can ignite a passion for missions. They can sometimes be of help to the full-time missionaries serving on the ground. But local churches should place greater emphasis on developing long-term partnerships. Even short-term trips ought to focus on how the sending church can be a long-term encouragement to the work they are seeking to encourage. 

5. Take the lead in nurturing, training, and even screening potential missionaries. Zane Pratt mentioned that one of the hardest things he had to do when he served as a regional director overseas was to send missionaries home when they were no longer qualified to serve. This was especially hard when the missionary had no significant connection to a stateside local church. Missions sending agencies like the IMB go to great lengths to screen workers to make sure that they are qualified, but it is the churches who ought to take the lead nurturing, training, and screening potential missionaries.

6. Make sure every member is pursuing spiritual disciplines. Most missionaries come from the membership of a local church. They reach the mission field with a love for the lost and a desire to share the gospel. But too many have insufficient knowledge or experience actually pursuing God in bible study, prayer, fasting, etc. Churches, therefore, should not assume that their members are well-trained in these areas. We shouldn’t be surprised that candidates for ministry in international missions are unlikely to be spiritually deeper than the churches they have called home.

7. Ask your senior pastor to take the lead. It is easy for preaching pastors to leave the missions work to other staff or interested lay leaders in the body. However the task is so challenging and the needs are so great that pastors cannot afford to be bystanders. They need to be on the front lines, leading their churches to see the need for workers, strategizing how to meet those needs, and personally raising up godly believers to participate in global evangelization.

 

The SBC, Fred Luter, and an Opportunity

A little history is necessary to understand why the upcoming election of Fred Luter to the presidency of the SBC is being regarded as a milestone moment.

Beginning in the 1830s, churches in the North began to express their opposition to slavery. As Henry Vedder in his Short History of the Baptists put it, "there was a growing sentiment among the churches, that a Christian man ought not to be a holder of slaves." 

Tragically, this view did not hold in the South. When northerners began advocating emancipation, most southerners defended this sinful institution. As a result, even before the United States engaged in a Civil War, costing the lives of more Americans than any war previous or following, the Baptists split. 

It may come as a surprise to learn that just a few decades earlier, in 1790, a significant group of Baptists in Virginia had asked the government to end slavery: 

Resolved, That slavery is a violent deprivation of the rights of nature, and inconsistent with a republican government; and therefore we recommend it to our Brethren to make use of every legal measure, to extirpate from the land, and pray Almighty God, that our Honourable Legislature may have it in their power, to proclaim the general Jubilee, consistent with the principles of good policy.

But by the 1830s, this group had reversed their position, condoned slavery, and set themselves in opposition to the emancipation movement taking shape in the North. The controversy came to a head in 1844 when the northern and southern Baptist churches disagreed over the question of whether or not their denomination should allow slaveholders to be sent as missionaries overseas. Baptists in the North argued "we can never be a party to an arrangement which would imply approbation of slavery." Baptists in the South largely disagreed and in 1845, in Augusta, GA, they organized the Southern Baptist Convention.

Perhaps, then, you will appreciate the significance of the Southern Baptist Convention, meeting this week in New Orleans, preparing to vote upon the election of Fred Luter, the pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church. Mr. Luter is an African-American. 

He was called to Franklin Avenue in 1986, when it was a church with 65 members. Almost twenty-years later it had become a megachurch. But when Hurricane Katrina hit the building that thousands of his members called home, it was rendered unusable. Only a handful stayed in New Orleans. Most fled. Luter, their leader, remained. Jamie Dean of World Magazine reports: 

Though the pastor could have fled himself, Luter stayed in New Orleans and led the church's efforts to restore its building and its congregation. Today, more than 4,500 worshippers pack Sunday services in a new building that opened in 2008.

I live in Atlanta, GA, just a few hours from where the Southern Baptist Convention was founded. I began pastoring here in 2008. I have met men and women who look for a Southern Baptist Church because they want to go where the Gospel is preached, and they are convinced that, by-and-large, SBC churches have done a good job holding fast to the Gospel where many churches have failed. I have also met men and women who would never darken the doors of a Southern Baptist Church. In part, their reluctance is due to the history of the SBC--they don't want to be part of a movement with such a tragic and sinful start. 

As a Yankee who has found a home in the South, and as a Christian who longs to see the the nations worshipping together under one roof, I can appreciate both positions. I don't know Mr. Luter, but I am thankful for his willingness to take the reins of a denomination with a reputation for being on the wrong side of discrimination. Such a reputation, though deserved given our past, is a blight upon congregations who claim to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. It was, after all, Jesus who gave the Apostle John a vision that we are all waiting to be realized:

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!"

Mr. Luter will not be able to change the perception so many have of the 40,000 or so Southern Baptist churches that exist today. Furthermore there are many churches, in the SBC and other denominations, who still have cultures of racism. The election of Mr. Luter will not changethe culture of these churches. Nonetheless, his nomination and election is an opportunity for a denomination once known for the enslavement of men, women, and children, to become known as a denomination that is aware of its past, repentant of its sin, and eager to elevate a godly man such as Mr. Luter to a position of highest honor in our denomination. 

It took too long, but at least the day has finally arrived. The opportunity this election presents should not be ignored. 

Why I'm thankful to be back in the Gospel of John

This Sunday morning at MVBC I begin an eight-part series through John 7-8. I've been slowly working through John the past few years. I'm glad to be back. Here are a few reasons why:

1) Because John was written "so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name" (John 20:30). Studying the Gospel forces me to reflect on how I came to believe that Jesus is the Son of God. And, I pray as I prepare to preach, that some who have yet to believe would do so, and have life in his name.

2) Because the Son of God is the King to whom the book of Judges points. I've spent the last five weeks preaching in Judges, and I have loved it! And yet, I'm just as excited to focus on the final Judge, the perfect Savior, and the risen King--the long-expected Jesus.

3) Because the passages that I'll be preaching on are shorter. Okay, this is not a particularly good reason, but it is an honest one. But I hope it is helpful to you, too! You'll easily be able to read the passages over and over again in preparation to hear the sermon.

4) Because John, like the other Gospels, reminds me just how amazing Jesus is. The title of the sermon series is, "The Jesus That Might Surprise You." I've been a Christian for eighteen years, but Jesus still amazes me. I was reading in John 3 this morning where John the Baptist is so humbled by the reality of Jesus' person, character, and mission that he can only say, "He must increase, but I must decrease." And then, chapter 4 begins with us reading that "Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well." This Jesus whom John the Baptist preached is the Christ, the Son of God, who came to take away the sins of the world was human, he could get tired on a dry and hot day in Samaria. He is truly God incarnate. Amazing.

5) Because I need the Gospel. I don't mean the Gospel as in the book that John wrote. I mean I need the message of Jesus Christ that John delivers to us. The message of a Savior who did what I could not do, died the death I deserved to die, and now calls me to himself. That's what I need today, and tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that . . ..

Will you join me in reading through the Gospel of John? 

Christians are wealthy and poor, both at the same time

"How much can we safely keep?" This is a question asked by Randy Alcorn in his book, Managing God's Money: A Biblical Guide. His words are challenging, but encouraging, too. 

There are some things that no Christian should do--such as hoard money, live in opulence, or fail to give generously. But there are other things that some Christians can freely do that others may sense God's leading not to do, such as own land, a home, a car, or a business; go on certain vacations; or set aside significant retirement funds.

How much money and how many possessions can we safely keep? Enough to care for our basic needs and some wants, but not so much that large amounts of money are kept from higher Kingdom causes. Not so much that we become proud and independent of the Lord. Not so much that it distracts us from our purpose or leaves us with the illusion that we are owners rather than managers of what God owns.

Those who happen to be rich--simply as a result of circumstances, hard work, or wisdom--have done nothing wrong. They need not feel guilty--unless they withhold their riches (which are really God's) from Kingdom causes, including helping the needy, or their lifestyles are self-centered and excessive.

I would add that the sin of greed rears its ugly head in the lives of the poor just as much as it does in the lives of the rich. Those without can idolize what they don't have just as easily as the rich can idolize what they do have. The issue is your heart. Consider the words of Paul in Philippians 4:10-13:

I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

I take this to mean that by the grace of God Paul I can live in poverty--should the Lord withold. And, by the grace of God, I can live in wealth--should the Lord so provide. The question is not ultimately the size of my bank account--big or small--but the stewardship of everything that God, in his sovereign wisdom, has entrusted to me.

Of course, every Christians should also know that, biblically speaking, we are wealthy and poor all at the same time. Is this a contradiction? Not at all.

We are wealthy (spiritually-speaking) because we have the Gospel--and the Gospel is a treasure (Matt. 13:44). Those who have the Gospel, who know what it is like to have their deepest need met in Christ, those who know what it is like for Christ to bear for them the wrath of God they they deserve--will always be spiritually rich. The believer has, after all, what no one can take away.

We are poor (spiritually-speaking) because we have the Gospel--and the Gospel teaches that there is nothing within us to commend ourselves to God. Thus, Jesus' amazing words, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 5:3). The true believer, he and she who is poor in spirit, has experienced what it is like to stand before the Lord with only her sin to offer. We are nothing more than sinners in need of grace. We will always be, in this sense, poor in spirit.

So every Christian is wealthy and poor, both at the same time.