The Shape of Gospel Partnership| Part 3b: Partnership for the Sake of the Gospel (2)

Gospel partnership is a partnership that is founded on the gospel, for the sake of the gospel, and shaped by the gospel. In the previous post in this series we began to examine what it means for our partnership to be for the sake of the gospel. We shall continue to explore this in this week's post and next week. last week we saw that partnership for the sake of the gospel means (1) defending the gospel and (2) proclaiming the gospel. In this post we shall look at two more implications of partnership for the sake of the gospel:

3) Training and Deploying Gospel Workers

Obviously, if we want to see the gospel proclaimed throughout our own nation and beyond, both now and in the future, this means that more workers for the harvest field will be needed. These workers are not going to come from nowhere, we will needing to be deliberate about training and deploying them.

There are two key areas that come under this heading:

i) Training the local church. Every member of the church is a partner in the gospel; they are all gospel workers with a unique part to play. We need, therefore, to be thinking about how we can be equipping the members of the churches we serve to serve faithfully as members of the body of Christ. This will mean training them as Sunday School teachers, Youth Group leaders and Bible Study leaders etc.

Again, this is something that we can better do together. Working together, we will be able to serve one another with the specific resources and experience and strengths that we have. This can take many shapes and forms. It could involve setting up a regular training scheme between churches in a local area to use our resources and gifts in different congregations to serve one another, so that as churches as a whole we are not committed just to the building up of our own churches but of those around us also. It will also help foster a mentality of sacrificial service in our churches as they see us committed to building up the ministries of others. On another front it could mean preparing and making available resources to help serve these different ministries in our churches (using, for example, a Sunday school curriculum that we have developed in our church to prepare materials that could serve many other Sunday school teachers in their minist

ries). On a larger level, it would be helpful to think how we could be doing such training on a country-wide level. Perhaps an annual conference for training members of the local church in the various ministries they are involved in their local church.

ii) Training full time gospel workers. As well as training those in our congregations to serve in our congregations, we also want to be training others to be sent out to serve in other parts of the harvest field. If we are to see Ireland and beyond reached with the gospel, both in our lifetime and beyond (if Christ has not come before then), then we will need to be working hard about raising up a new generation of gospel workers.

Whilst we must recognise that through the faithful exercising of the ministry of the word and prayer God, in His grace will be raising up men and women for this work (that is, such people will be one of the natural outcomes of a faithful ministry), we need also to recognise that it is something that we need also to be deliberate about. One way that this can be done is through some form of apprenticeship scheme. Such a scheme will involve looking out for those in our churches who are godly and show the appropriate gifting and ability for gospel work (however embryonic these might be), and giving them opportunities to serve in the work of prayer and the ministry of the word in different forms, and providing training and the opportunity to learn from an older Christian in full-time ministry. This can be done in individual churches. However, it will be much more effective if we work together to raise up and train such apprentices.

There are many strengths that come from partnering together in apprenticeship schemes. We can share resources for training, so that the training that the apprentices receive is not merely dependent upon the pastor they’re under, instead there could be a shared central training for different apprentices in a certain area. Also, if we are working together we can provide opportunities for people to do apprenticeships in different churches other than their own so that they can gain experience of ministry in different contexts and be equipped to serve in different harvest fields in the future. It also means that those in larger churches can support smaller ones by sending apprentices out to do apprenticeships in smaller churches and thus support the work of the gospel there.

Another element to mention under this heading is more formal theological training. One of the things we that needs to be grappled with as we seek to raise up workers, is the question of how and where they shall receive faithful theological training after apprenticeships in order to equip them for a lifetime of gospel ministry. At present in Ireland there is a huge gap in this regard, many are heading abroad to receive this training and a large number of them end up not returning to Ireland. Therefore, we need to think about how we can be preparing the ground for, and taking the first steps towards providing more and more good quality theological training for the workers of the future.

4) Supporting Gospel Workers
The work of the gospel is not something that we can do, or should attempt to do, alone. We need the support and accountability of others. It has been said that ‘lone-rangers are dead-rangers’. The more and more we isolate ourselves the more danger we put ourselves in of making a shipwreck of our ministries, causing great damage to those we serve and bringing the gospel into disrepute. Therefore, it is essential that we are thinking carefully through how, not only can we raise up gospel workers, but also how we can give ongoing support and accountability to one another for the whole of the ministries that God has given us.
There are many ways that such support can happen. Here I want to mention just a few.

First, on a small scale, an accountability group or prayer triplet (or quadruplet etc) can be a great way of doing this. This would be a small group of gospel workers who meet together regularly to open the Bible together, pray for one another and ask each other the hard questions. It will mean being committed to each other in the group and committing to wrestling in prayer for them and their ministries, marriages and family life.

Secondly, on a slightly larger scale, in order to keep us fresh in our preaching and teaching, a local preacher’s workshop would be of great value. This would be where pastors in a local area come together on a regular basis to sharpen one another up by listening to and giving feedback on one another’s sermons. This could also include keeping one another fresh in our thinking by reading good meaty books and discussing them together.

Thirdly, on an even larger scale, another idea would be conferences of various kinds which would serve to continue to encourage and equip gospel workers in their ministries. This could be something like a large annual conference, but also having smaller, more generalised conferences throughout the year. There are many benefits that such conferences bring: they bring many gospel workers together so that they can encourage one another, they provide quality teaching to build up gospel workers and they help to promote a healthy mindset of being lifelong learners, always sitting under the Word, rather than thinking that once we’ve left theological college we’ve arrived and are the finished article.

Fourthly, printed resources can be a great support to gospel workers. There are many great magazines and periodicals available which are aimed at keeping gospel workers fresh. However, what about such a magazine written from and for an Irish context, aiming to keep us going and thinking through how we do gospel ministry in an Irish context?



Previous Posts in this series:

• Introduction
• Partnership Founded on the Gospel
• Partnership For the Sake of the Gospel (1)

Tuesday Teaching| Spectacular Sins: Part 3

We come now to part three of John Piper's series Spectacular Sins and Their Global Purpose in the Glory of Christ. This week we're looking at Romans 5:12-21, where we see 'The Fatal Disobedience of Adam and the Triumphant Obedience of Christ'.

The Forgiveness of Sins Is The Biggest Problem in the Universe

Our Eyes Will Feast Forever on This

In a sermon on John 1:29, Martin Luther said this about the unsurpassable love of Christ at the cross:

It would be spectacular and amazing, prompting all the world to open its ears and eyes, mouth and nose in uncomprehending wonderment, if some king’s son were to appear in a beggar’s home to nurse him in his illness, wash off his filth, and do everything else the beggar would have to do. Would this not be profound humility? Any spectator or any beneficiary of this honor would feel impelled to admit that he had seen or experienced something unusual and extraordinary, something magnificent.

But what is a king or an emperor compared with the Son of God? Furthermore, what is a beggar’s filth or stench compared with the filth of sin which is ours by nature, stinking a hundred times worse and looking infinitely more repulsive to God than any foul matter found in a hospital?

And yet the love of the Son of God for us is of such magnitude that the greater the filth and stench of our sins, the more He befriends us. For how amazing it is that the Son of God becomes my servant, that He humbles Himself so, that He cumbers Himself with my misery and sin. . . . He says to me: “You are no longer a sinner, but I am. I am your substitute. You have not sinned, but I have. The entire world is in sin. However, you are not in sin; but I am. All your sins are to rest on Me and not on you.”

No one can comprehend this. In yonder life our eyes will feast forever on this love of God.

(Martin Luther, Works, 22:166-67)

Words Don't Belong to You

The Shape of Gospel Partnership| Part 3a: Partnership For The Sake of The Gospel (1)

In the previous post we saw that gospel partnership is a partnership founded on the gospel. A second implication of calling partnership 'gospel partnership' is that it is a partnership for the sake of the gospel. Over the next few posts I want to explore what it means to partner together for the sake of the gospel.

If we simply stayed at defining the boundaries, which is crucial, we would not have gospel partnership. Rather, we would have a gospel agreement, a group of people who agree on the gospel. This is different to gospel partnership. Gospel partnership has a purpose; it is a partnership for the sake of the gospel. That is, it is working together to see the gospel proclaimed and lived out.

But what will this working together for the sake of the gospel look like? There are a number of key areas involved in this, with much overlap between them. We shall look at the first two of these areas in this post, and shall examine the rest in the next couple of posts.

1) Defending the Gospel

Scripture is clear that in these last days, while we wait for Christ’s coming, there shall be false teachers, those who teach a different gospel. If we have clearly defined the gospel as the foundation for gospel partnership (discussed previously), we will be in a better position to discern false teaching and to hold one another accountable so that we are not led astray by it.

Further, we will need to defend against it. It is much easier to do this in the context of a partnership of brothers and sisters who are committed to the gospel, than on our own (especially if there are many who are being blown by this wind of new doctrine). Partnering together to defend the gospel will mean continually reminding one another of the gospel and helping one another to grown into a deeper knowledge of it, as well as helping one another to grapple with the issues that are thrown up by new winds of doctrine and articulating a clear biblical response to it. Not only that, but also helping the churches we serve to stand firm in the gospel and not to be swept away by any new teaching, whether it be through helping each other address it in our preaching and teaching or by producing resources for the average Christian in the churches we are serving.

This means that as we think together through gospel partnership we need to be asking how, practically, we are going to do this. What structures do we need to put in place? What can we be doing to help us continually to be clearly articulating the gospel and growing in our understanding of it? What can we be doing to guard the church in oue country against being swept away by new winds of teaching? What resources would help in doing this?

The best way to defend the gospel is to proclaim it. This moves us on to a second key area: Proclaiming the gospel.

2) Proclaiming the Gospel
Under this heading come a number of things. This is a broad category which encompasses proclaiming the gospel locally, nationally and globally. The faithful, clear and prayerful proclamation of the biblical gospel is the heart of gospel partnership. It is what will shape the rest of gospel partnership.

Partnering together for the sake of the gospel will mean being committed to the prayerful proclamation of the gospel. This takes place on many levels:

i) Locally it will mean that we are committed to the faithful persevering work of prayer and the ministry of the word (Acts 6:4), continually teaching the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27) as revealed in the Bible both publicly and from house to house (Acts 20:20) in unceasing commitment (Acts 20:31). This is not something that can be sustained in isolation. Therefore we need to be partnering together to support and encourage this, and to hold one another accountable in this.

Further, on a local level it will mean a commitment to reaching our local area with the gospel. Gospel partnership sees that this is not just the concern of one congregation but of us all. We ought to be helping one another to reach our local areas. This can take many forms (e.g. sending a team to help the church in another local area during a mission week). The mindset behind this is not ‘I’ll mind my own business and let you get on with your work in your corner while I busy myself in mine’. Rather, it is taking an active concern, interest in, and commitment to one another’s ministries and seeing ourselves as partners together in one overall ministry. Therefore, doing all we can to see the work of the gospel continue in someone else’s sphere of ministry through actively supporting and encouraging them in their ministry.

ii) Nationally it will mean thinking, working and praying together about how we see the whole of our country (across any borders or boundaries there might be) brought under the sound of the gospel. This will mean that we are doing the above in supporting one another in different local areas across the country. It will involve working together to send out mission teams to different areas of the country. It will involve working together to see churches planted in areas where there are none presently. It will mean going or people to go to these unreached areas.

This will not be easy. It will be costly. It will involve being sacrificial, not holding the best resources or people for ourselves but actively sending them out to proclaim Christ where He has not yet been named (Romans 15:20), as we see Paul doing throughout the New Testament. Further, because in our country it may be a day of small things, and we are few, it will also mean the difficult task of working together across denominational and cultural boundaries. This is why it is so essential that we see ourselves as primarily identified by the gospel. We need to think hard and work hard together about how we do this.

iii) Globally. We do not want to restrict our working together in the proclamation to be restricted to our own land. It would be unhealthy if we are focussed solely on our own country and holding all of our resources and people to ourselves, instead of lifting our eyes to the vast harvest fields of the world in need of workers. An Irish gospel partnership must not have its aim as seeing Ireland reached with the gospel, we want to see this happen globally (This article has been written with an Irish context in mind). It might be helpful to describe our focus as seeking to see the gospel proclaimed throughout Ireland so that it might be proclaimed throughout the world. Or, to use Jesus’ terms, to make disciples of Ireland so that we can make disciples of all nations.

But what will this look like on the ground? For a start it will mean partnering with gospel workers and churches in different parts of the world in the ways that we have already outlined (obviously being adjusted to make allowances for the geographic limitations).

Further, it will mean that as partners together in the work of the gospel in our own country, we are working together to send missionaries out to all peoples. As well as raising up workers to send to various parts of our land, we are committed to raising them up to go even further afield and providing the resources to do so (training and resources will be discussed in a later post). This will involve working with existing missionary organisations, and thinking through how we ought to relate to them. But it does not mean assuming that this is the job of the missionary organisations, and that our churches need not play too much a part. The church is the primary means for the sending out of missionaries, and we must not abdicate our role. We need to be active in preparing and sending workers into the harvest field.

With the busy slog of regular pastoral ministry it will be hard to keep global missions on the agenda in our churches, there will be plenty of other things to distract us. Therefore we need one another, not only in sending, but also to keep one another accountable, and to lift one another’s eyes to the harvest fields again and again.

Previous Posts in this series:

• Introduction
• Partnership Founded on The Gospel

Tuesday Teaching| Spectacular Sins: Part 2

We continue with John Piper's series Spectacular Sins and Their Global Purpose in the Glory of Christ. This week we're in Genesis 3:1-15 with Piper. Enjoy.

When We Battle Sin With Sin

It is not necessarily a godly thing to avoid looking lustfully at a woman. Neither is it necessarily a godly thing to guard our tongue from gossiping.

I'm not suggesting for a moment that lust and gossip are not sinful and abhorrent to God. They are. Neither am I suggesting that we should not be seeking to put to death the sins of lust and gossip. We should. Rather, what I want to show is that we can avoid sin and still be sinning. We are not necessarily being godly when we are avoiding sin.

Let me explain. If we avoid looking lustfully at a woman or guard or tongue from gossiping because we are concerned about our reputation before others, because we want to be known in the eyes of others as godly, then we are simply replacing one sin with another. We are simply replacing the sin of lust or gossip by the sin of people pleasing and pride. We are battling sin with sin. We are letting the love of one particular idol keep us from sacrificing at the altar of another idol. In this case, our love for our reputation before others keeps us from lustful glances or gossip.

If we battle sin in this way, we may convince others and even ourselves that we are being godly. However, the truth is that we are decieving others and we are decieving ourselves. We our letting our love for one particular idol blind us to the reality of our sin. We may think that we're being godly and putting sin to death, when we are in fact letting sin flourish, we are letting a particular idol (e.g. the idol of reputation) shape our actions.

This means that as we seek to battle sin and put it to death in our lives, we need to carfully examine our motives for doing so. If we want to be godly in killing sin then we need to get our motivations right, otherwise we will only end up decieving ourselves that we are honouring God when we are not. If we are not killing sin out of a love for God which shows itself in a love for others (Matthew 22:37-40) then we are simply replacing one sin with another. A love for God which drives out a love for the world (1 John 2:15), must be the engine which drives our battle against sin. If this is not the case, then we decieve ourselves that we are being godly in our battle against sin. If we are not doing it out of a love for God, a zeal for His glory, then we will be doing it out of a love for something which is not God. This is idolatory.

The way that we cultivate a sin-killing love for God is through the gospel, as revealed in the Bible. It is by the gospel that God transforms our hearts to love Him more and more. It is as we see the glory of God in the face of Christ as revealed in the gospel (2 Corinthians 4:4, 6), that we are changed to reflect that glory more and more, because the more we see Christ, the more we will be transformed to be like Him (1 John 3:2), the only One who has perfectly loved God. As the gospel changes our hearts to love God more and more, it will simultaneously change us  to hate sin more and more. This means that we will be genuinely putting sin to death and not merely replacing sin with sin.

Hymn: Rock of Ages

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee;
Let the water and the blood,
From Thy wounded side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure;
Save from wrath and make me pure.

Not the labor of my hands
Can fulfill Thy law’s demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, and Thou alone.

Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to the cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress;
Helpless look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Savior, or I die.

While I draw this fleeting breath,
When mine eyes shall close in death,
When I soar to worlds unknown,
See Thee on Thy judgment throne,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee.

By Augustus Toplady

The Life and Death Power of Words

A Trendy Catechism!

The Shape of Gospel Partnership| Part 2: Partnership Founded on the Gospel

In the last post in this series we saw that there are three major implications to speaking about partnership as 'gospel partnership'. First, it means that it is a partnership that is founded on the gospel. Secondly, it is a partnership that is for the sake of the gospel. Thirdly, the way in which we conduct this partnership must be shaped by the gospel. In this post we are going to examine the first of these implications: Partnership founded on the gospel.

In thinking through partnering together in the work of the gospel, two of the crucial questions we need to ask are ‘who can we work with?’ and ‘who has the authority to decide this?’

We do not have the authority to decide who we are partners with in the gospel. Only God has that authority. If it was up to us to decide, we would gradually whittle it down until we get to the stage where ‘it’s just me and you, and I’m not too sure about you.’ We do not decide who is part of the church and who isn’t, Jesus does.

Now this does not mean that we simply  throw our lot in with anyone who calls themselves by the name of Christian, not all genuinely are. That is why we need to ask ‘who can we work with?’ Neither does it mean that we can partner to the same extent with all who are genuinely believers. There is a place for wisdom and discernment in answering this question. There will be those who are genuinely converted, yet who may hold to unhelpful teaching or practice that would hinder the work of the gospel. Whilst not wanting to say they are not believers, we would want to exercise caution in the way we deal with them, which may mean that we cannot partner with them to the same extent as we could with others.

Because God decides who we can and cannot partner with this means we must look to what He has revealed to define the boundaries in which gospel partnership can take place. This means that we must let the gospel, as revealed in Scripture, define these boundaries. It is not denominations (as important as some of their distinctives may be), nor pragmatics, nor cultural identity that marks out who we can work with, but the gospel. One of the implications of this is that we must see our identity primarily as found in the gospel, rather than as being bound up with denominations, cultural background or anything else which shapes who we are.

This will mean that we need to think and work hard about articulating the biblical gospel and what are the things (both doctrinally and in practice) that have direct implications on the gospel. We need to work together on defining these gospel boundaries and articulating what we must not compromise on at any costs, and what areas we are free to be flexible in. This is the basis for partnership.

We are not the first to have to face up to this issue, the historic creeds and confessions of the church down the ages have been formulated partly to serve this purpose, and the statements of faith of more recent times have been doing the same.


Previous Posts in this series:

• Introduction

Tuesday Teaching| Spectactular Sins: Part 1

We begin a new series of Tuesday Teaching posts this week. Over the next seven weeks we shall be working our way through John Piper's series Spectactular Sins and Their Global Purpose in the Glory of Christ. This week we begin in Colossians 1:9-20 as we see "All Things Were Created Through Him and For Him."

Oh, For A Closer Walk

Over at the Proclamation Trust Adrian Reynolds has written a very helpful post on maintaining a close walk with Christ. He has written this with preachers in mind, but what he has to say is equally valuable for every Christian to listen to.

1 Timothy 4:16 shows the vital importance of the preacher cultivating a close walk with Christ. If he is not doing so with prayer and the study of the word, then how can he save himself and his hearers.

Reynolds says that ultimately there is only one answer to the struggles we have with maintaining a close walk with Christ. It is this: a deep hunger and thirst for Christ. This is what we need to be crying out to God for. However, there are also many practical things that we can be doing, as we cry out to God for this hunger and thirst, that will help serve us walking closely with God. He mentions 10 practical things that he has found helpful:

1) Read the Bible for your own soul first. Even it eats into prep time don't think that studying to preach is enough to feed your own soul.

2) Read and pray with a pen in your hand - both to capture thoughts and jot down distractions to be dealt with later. I write myself a prayer every day based on what I have read.

3) Use Bible helps judiciously. You're a pastor for goodness sake - don't get caught into the "I can only read the Bible with a commentary" trap

4) Nothing beats an early morning. I learnt this reading chapter 20 of Book 3 of the Institutes [Calvin's Institutes] which is some of the warmest stuff I have ever read on prayer. Google it.

5) Pray for your people deliberately and by name. Better to pray for one or two well than 5 in a bland way. Don't focus on felt needs, pray in what you are reading for your people. Pray that what you are learning they will learn and tell them about it next time you see them.

6) Tear up your prayer diary every few months. I find routine is a life-killer, so I have to tear up my routine and refresh it regularly.

7) Singing to yourself is not a sign of madness. I sit in the morning with an open hymn book and take one a day (which, by the way, opens my eyes to some beautiful and lovely words from the past)

8) Develop prayer as an attitude not a diary slot. We all know it. Practice it. A few minutes here and there. A cry when you reach a really knotty part of Scripture you're struggling to prepare.

9) Don't be afraid to use helps in dry times. I find Valley of Vision a real help when I struggle to pray (I use the leather version, not much more, nicely laid out and it doens't fall apart with use).

10) Cry out with honesty for your lack of thirst. Admit your sin. Repent of it. Use the psalms to align yourself with Christ once again.

You can read the whole of the article here.

The Death of the Mushy Middle

Feeling Enslaved to TV and Internet

True Belief

Horatius Bonar had these words to say about the nature of true belief in God and how this affects our view both of God and of ourselves. What he says is both perceptive and challenging. Take your time reading through it, think through what he is saying, and then take time to examine your own heart in light of it.

In all unbelief there are these two things—a good opinion of one’s self and a bad opinion of God. Man’s good opinion of himself makes him think it quite possible to win God’s favor by his own religious performances; and his bad opinion of God makes him unwilling and afraid to put his case wholly into His hands. The object of the Holy Spirit’s work (in convincing of sin) is to alter the sinner’s opinion of himself, and so to reduce his estimate of his own character that he shall think of himself as God does, and so cease to suppose it possible that he can be justified by an excellency of his own. The Spirit then alters his evil opinion of God, so as to make him see that the God with whom he has to do is really the God of all grace.

But the inquirer denies that he has a good opinion of himself and owns himself a sinner. Now a man may SAY this, but really to KNOW it is something more than SAYING. Besides, he may be willing to take the name of sinner to himself, in common with his fellow-men, and yet not at all own himself such a sinner as God says he is—such a sinner as needs the cross, and blood, and righteousness of the Son of God. It takes a great deal to destroy a man’s good opinion of himself; how difficult it is to make a man think of himself as God does! What but the almightiness of the Divine Spirit can accomplish this?

Unbelief, then, is the belief of a lie and the rejection of the truth. Accept, then, the character of God as given in the gospel; the Holy Spirit will not give you peace irrespective of your views of God’s character. It is in connection with THE TRUTH concerning the true God, “the God of all grace,” that the Spirit gives peace. That which He shows us of ourselves is only evil; that which He shows us of God is only good!

The Shape of Gospel Partnership| Part 1: Introduction

What is ‘gospel partnership’? It is a phrase that many of us will be very familiar with. We hear it used in sermons, at conferences, in books, articles and other Christian literature. No doubt we will have used it ourselves many times in different contexts. But what is ‘gospel partnership’ and what does it involve? This is what I want to tease out in a series of posts. It is worth doing this because ‘gospel partnership’ may be in danger of becoming simply a trendy ‘buzz-word’ or ‘Christian jargon’ that we use, but have not thought through what it means.

Let us begin by thinking about partnership. The word partnership in the Bible can also be translated as ‘fellowship’(See Philippians 1:5). Fellowship does not mean merely a nice chat over a cup of tea (with some “wee buns”!) after a Christian meeting as it has often come to mean. It’s a lot stronger than that. It is a sharing together in something, and indicates a very close relationship. In Philippians it is closely tied with the sacrificial, costly, energetic, wholehearted, persevering striving together for the sake of a common goal of project (Philippians 1:27-30). It is something that happens together with others. It is something that we have a share in, sharing joys and sorrows in. In Paul’s language it is having “one spirit” and “with one mind striving side by side” (Philippians 1:27). Partnership is not easy, it is hard, costly, demanding work; but it is worthwhile.

When we speak about partnership as ‘gospel partnership’, this has three major implications. First, it means that it is a partnership that is founded on the gospel. Secondly, it is a partnership that is for the sake of the gospel. Thirdly, the way in which we conduct this partnership must be shaped by the gospel. All of these areas are vital for us to be getting to grips with as we think about gospel partnership and the shape it ought to take.

In this series of posts I intend to outline each of these three areas in turn. First up, in our next post we shall look at what it means for our partnesrship to be founded on the gospel.

Tuesday Teaching: Preaching to the De-Churched

London is a city FULL of de-churched people and most cities around the UK are running to catch up. In this sermon, from 2009's Advance Conference, Matt Chandler helps us and challenges us to recapture our first love for the sake of those who have been completely turned off the gospel!

"The Centre Truth in the Whole Bible"

What stands at the centre of the whole of Scripture and why is it so important that we recognise this centre? This question is one that is vital for us to grasp.

In a booklet called 'The Cross' J. C. Ryle spells out clearly that it is the cross of Christ that is the centre of the Bible, and shows us why this is so important for us to recognise.

Working from Galatians 6:14, he shows that "Jesus Christ crucified was the joy and delight, the comfort and the peace, the hope and the confidence, the foundation and the resting-place, the ark and the refuge, the food and the medicine of [the apostle] Paul's soul." It was what he delighted in, what stood at the heart of his preaching, and what permeated all of his letters. Paul was centered on the cross of Christ. Ryle then goes on to press the implications home to us, the reader. He says:

And, reader, you may rest assured that Paul was right. Depend upon it, the cross of Christ,- the death of Christ in the cross to make atonement for sinners, - is the centre truth in the whole Bible. This is the truth we begin with when we open Genesis. The seed of the woman bruising the serpant's head is nothing else but a prophecy of Christ crucified. This is the truth that shines out, though veiled, all through the law of Moses, and the history of the Jews. The daily sacrifice, the passover lamb, the continual shedding of blood in the tabernacle and temple, - all these were emblems of Christ crucified. This is the truth we see honoured in the vision of heaven before we close the book of Revelation. "In the midst of the throne and of the four beasts," we are told, "and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain." (Rev. 5:6) Even in the midst of heavenly glory we get a view of Christ crucified. Take away the cross of Christ, and the Bible is a dark book. It is like the Egyptian hieroglyphics without the key that interprets their meaning, - curious and wonderful, but of no real use.

Reader, mark what I say. You may know a good deal about the Bible. You may know the outlines of the histories it contains, and the dates of the events described, just as a man knows the history of England. You may know the names of the men and women mentioned in it, just as a man knows Caesar, Alexander the Great, or Napoleon. You may know the several precepts of the Bible, and admire them, just as a man admires Plato, Aristotle, or Seneca. But if you have not yet found out that Christ crucified is the foundation of the whole volume, you have read your Bible hitherto to very little profit. Your religion is a heaven without a sun, an arch without a keystone, a compass without a needle, a clock without spring or weights, a lamp without oil. It will not comfort you. It will not deliver your soul from hell.

Practical Tips for Expository Preachers

Here are five tips that Alistair Begg learned about preparing to preach from an older minister when he was a theological student:

1. Think yourself empty. Survey a passage of Scripture in the proper spirit of unlearnedness. Avoid the proud assumption that you initially know what everything means.

2. Read yourself full. Read widely and regularly.

3. Write yourself clear. Aside from the essential empowering of the Spirit, freedom of delivery in the pulpit depends on careful organization in the study.

4. Pray yourself hot. Without personal prayer and communion with God during the preparation stages, the pulpit will be cold.

5. Be yourself, but don’t preach yourself. There is nothing quite so ridiculous as the affected tone and adopted posture of the preacher who wishes he were someone else. Also – a good teacher clears the way, declares the way, and then gets out of the way.

This comes from Beggs book Preaching for God’s Glory.

One Great Lesson

When asked in an interview recently as to what was one of the greatest lessons that he has learned, Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said these words:

I think the one great lesson the Lord has taught me over these years is that the importance of the family and the local congregation supersedes every other [human] relationship to which the Christian is called. Christians demonstrate the glory of God and the power of the gospel by the way we marry and stay married, by the way we raise our children, by the way we love each other, and by the way we live faithfully in the congregation of believers. In the end, I fear that far too much energy is devoted to and far too many hopes are invested in institutions, programs, and projects that will not last. The centrality of Christ’s purpose to glorify himself in His church and the blessings of God that are directed to the precious gift of the family — these far exceed our other allegiances.

The Very Essence of All Delights and Pleasures

Where is it that we will find the fullness of pleasure and delight? This is what John Flavel had to say about Jesus:

Christ [is] the very essence of all delights and pleasures, the very soul and substance of them. As all the rivers are gathered into the ocean, which is congregation or meeting-place of all waters in the world: so Christ is that ocean in which all true delights and pleasures meet. . . .

His excellencies are pure and unmixed; he is a sea of sweetness without one drop of gall.

If this is who Christ is, why would we not desire Him above all things; why would we not be constantly seeking to know Him more and more? If "all true delights and pleasures meet" in Him, then why do we run after other things to give us happiness instead of Him?

Good Health Is Not What's Best For Us

Our prayer life reveals our priorities, what we think as most important. Therefore, what we ask for prayer for ourselves and others shows what we think we need the most. What we pray for others tells us about what we think is best for them.

Recently I've noticed something quite revealing about how we pray for those who are sick or suffering. When the cancer strikes what is it that we primarily pray for those in its grip? Or when that devastating virus knock us out what is it that we ask for prayer for from others? Well, more often than not (in my experience) the answer is that we pray that others will get well soon. We pray that God might grant the doctors skill in operating, that the individual would have time to rest and make a speedy recovery.

Now, please don't misunderstand me. I am not suggesting for a moment that we should not be praying for these things. There is nothing wrong with prayers such as these. I wholeheartedly believe that God is sovereign over all sickness and is concerned for the good of the afflicted. However, if good health is the only thing that we are praying for those who are sick, then something is wrong. Indeed,even more than this, I want to suggest that if good health is the primary thing we are praying for those who are unwell then something is wrong.

Let me explain. If we are praying only, or primarily for the sick person to get well then this implies that we think that good health is what's best for us. What we pray for ourselves and others reveals what we think we need the most. If a return to health is top of the prayer list, then that is what we think is most important.

However, good health is not what's best for us. In Romans 8:28 Paul says: "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." In all things God is working for the good of His people in Christ. Now, all things includes all things! It includes both sickness and health. For the believer, all things have been ordained by God to work for our good.

But what is that good that all things are working for? What is what's best for us? The context shows us. In verse 29 Paul goes on to explain when he says: "For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers."

What is God's ultimate goal for the Christian? It is "to be conformed to the image of his Son". In other words, it is to be made like Jesus. This is what is ultimately what's best for us: to be christlike. This is God's sovereign, unshakeable purpose that he is working for the man or woman who has trusted in Jesus, which He will surely bring this to fulfillment on that day when we shall be like Him when we see Him as He is (1 John3:2). And He is using all things to bring about this purpose (Romans 8:28). Sickness and health, the troubles and the good times are all His servants to bring about this purpose for His people.

This means that when sickness comes, it comes ultimately from God's sovereign hand, and it serves to chisel and to shape the believer to become more and more like the Lord Jesus. So, good health is not necessarily going to be what's best for us. If, in God's infinite wisdom, He sees fit to afflict the believer with sickness, it is because He sees it as what is best to mould the believer into the image of His Son.

Now, this does not mean that we should never pray for those who are unwell, or that we never pray that they return to good health.The rest of the Bible shows that we should be praying for these things (See James 5:13-15). However, what it does do is to transform the way we think about and pray about sickness. It helps us to see that our priority in praying for those who our sick ought not to be: "help them get well quickly". Rather, it ought to be "Father, please, in your sovereign purposes, use this sickness to transform your child more and more into the likeness of your dear Son."

That's Easter!

We're both away on a mission trip in Dublin over the next week. So no posts until after Easter Sunday. We'd greatly value your prayers that Christ would be exalted in His gospel being faithfully proclaimed and knees bowing to Him, the risen and reigning King.

We'll leave you with a short video for Easter, one worth sharing with non-Christian friends and family members. Have a Christ exalting Easter, rejoicing in the death and resurrection of our glorious saviour, "who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification" (Romans 4:25).

The Miracle of Easter Week 1779

In Easter week 1779 Charles Simeon, who was the minister of Holy Trinity Church Cambridge for fifty-four years, was converted. He went on to have a huge influence on the Church of England, through faithful Bible teaching, and his raising up of workers for the harvest field (both in England and overseas).

Whilst studying at Cambridge, he was told that he must attend the Lord's Supper in the Chapel on Easter Sunday. Little did he know that, in God's providence, this was to lead to his conversion. As he prepared for the Lord's Supper he recognised most clearly that he was utterly unfit to attend. He knew his sinfulness. The therefore started to try prepare himself by reading various Christian books. The more he thought and read the more convinced he became of his own sinfulness and his helplessnes to do anything about it. He describes his experience in a private memoir, written in 1813:

My distress of mind continued for about three months, and well might it have continued for years, since my sins were more in number than the hairs of my head; but God in infinite condescension began at last to smile upon me, and to give a hope of acceptance with Him.

But in Passion Week, as I was reading Bishop Wilson on the Lord's Supper, I met with an expression to this effect - 'That the Jews knew what they did, when they transferred their sin to the head of their offering.' The thought came into my mind, What, may I transfer all my guilt to another? Has God provided an Offering for me, that I may lay my sins on His head? Then, God, willing, I will not bear them on my own soul one moment longer. Accordingly, I sought to lay my sins upon the sacred head of Jesus;and on the Wednesday began to have a hope of mercy; on the Thursday that hope increased; on the Friday and the Saturday it became more strong; and on the Sunday morning, Easter-day, April 14, I awoke early with those words upon my heart and lips, 'Jesus Christ is risen today! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!' From that hour peace flowed in rich abundance into my soul.

How Do You Frighten Someone Raised From The Dead?

Recognising the Reality About Ourselves

It is important that we recognise some difficult truths about ourselves. Jonathan Edwards, in his sermon The Spirit of Love the Opposite of a Selfish Spirit (from 1 Corinthians 13:5), gives a vivid description about what happened to mankind at the fall (Genesis 3): 

The ruin that the fall brought upon the soul of man consists very much in his losing the nobler and more benevolent principles of his nature, and falling wholly under the power and government of self-love. Before, and as God created him, he was exalted, and noble, and generous; but now he is debased, and ignoble, and selfish.

Immediately upon the fall, the mind of man shrank from its primitive greateness and expandedness, to an exceeding smallness and contractedness; and as in other respects, so especially in this. Before, his soul was under the government of that noble principle of divine love, whereby it was enlarged to the comprehension of all his fellow creatures and their welfare. And not only so, but it was not confined within such narrow limits as the bounds of the creation, but went forth in the exercise of holy love to the Creator, and abroad upon the infinite ocean of good, and was, as it were, swallowed up by it, and became one with it. But so soon as he had transgressed against God, these noble principles were immediately lost, and all this excellent enlargedness of man's soul was gone; and thenceforward he himself shrank, as it were, into a little space, circumscribed and closely shut up within itself to the exclusion of all things else.

Sin, like some powerful astringent, contracted his soul to the very small dimensions of selfishness; and God was forsaken, and fellow creatures forsaken, and man retired within himself, and became totally governed by narrow and selfish principles and feelings. Self-love became absolute master of his soul, and the more noble and spiritual principles of his being took wings and flew away.

Quote: Upon A Life I Did Not Live

‎Upon a life I did not live,

Upon a death I did not die;

Another's life, another's death,

I stake my whole eternity.

Horatius Bonar

Tuesday Teaching: The Final Act in the Theatre of God

This week we have a one-off Tuesday Teaching slot, following the end of our epically long 14 part series! This week we're going to look at a talk from Sam Storms who takes us through Calvin's teaching on the Christian hope of the Final Resurrection and how he applied the Bible's teaching on this to those he ministered to. This talk is taken from a Desiring God conference entitled "With Calvin in the Theatre of God."

On Reading

Have you ever thought about how important reading is in the Christian life? A former minister of mine used to comstantly remind us that we should "always have a Christian book on the go." Reading is one of the ways in which we keep ourselves fresh and growing as Christians. Recently I was reminded of the importance of reading when I came across the following two quotes. Have a read and be challenged to be a reader!

John Wesley had these words to say to when he wrote to a younger pastor. They are something that anyone in Christian ministry would do well to heed, and indeed any Christian. He recognised the huge importance for pastors to be reading, that they might nourish their own souls, and be able to faithfully nourish others:

What has exceedingly hurt you in time past, nay, and I fear, to this day, is lack of reading. I scarce ever knew a preacher who read so little. And perhaps, by neglecting it, you have lost the taste for it. Hence your talent in preaching does not increase. It is just the same as it was seven years ago. It is lively, but not deep; there is little variety; there is no compass of thought. Reading only can supply this, with meditation and daily prayer. You wrong yourself greatly by omitting this. You can never be a deep preacher without it, any more than a thorough Christian. Oh begin! Fix some part of every day for private exercise. You may acquire the taste which you have not; what is tedious at first will afterward be pleasant. Whether you like it or not, read and pray daily. It is for your life; there is no other way; else you will be a trifler all your days, and a pretty, superficial preacher. Do justice to your own soul; give it time and means to grow. Do not starve yourself any longer. Take up your cross and be a Christian altogether. Then will all the children of God rejoice (not grieve) over you, and in particular yours.

Recently Tim Challies quoted from Warren Wiersbe’s book 50 People Every Christian Should Know. If the quote from John Wesley challenges us on the importance of reading, the following quote challenges us about what kind of readers we ought to be. That is, how we read. In his chapter devoted to Alexander Whyte he has this to say:

Alexander Whyte loved books, and he read them to his dying day. The Puritans in general and Thomas Goodwin in particular were his main diet...Whyte constantly ordered books for himself and his friends in the ministry. However, he cautioned young pastors against becoming book-buyers instead of book-readers. “Don’t hunger for books,” he wrote a minister friend. “Get a few of the very best, such as you already have, and read them and your own heart continually.” Whyte often contrasted two kinds of reading—“reading on a sofa and reading with a pencil in hand.” He urged students to keep notebooks and to make entries in an interleaved Bible for future reference. “No day without its line” was his motto. He wrote to Hubert Simpson: “for more than forty years, I think I can say, never a week, scarcely a day, has passed, that I have not entered some note or notes into my Bible: and, then, I never read a book without taking notes for preservation one way or another.

Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing

Tune my heart to sing Thy grace

Streams of mercy never ceasing

Call for songs of loudest praise

Teach me some melodious sonnet

Sung by flaming tongues above
Praise the name! I’m fixed upon it
Name of Thy redeeming love

Hitherto Thy love has blessed me
Thou hast brought me to this place
And I know Thy hand will bring me
Safely home by Thy good grace
Jesus sought me when a stranger
Wandering from the fold of God

He, to rescue me from danger

Interposed His precious blood

Oh to grace how great a debtor

Daily I’m constrained to be
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter
Bind my wandering heart to Thee
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it
Prone to leave the God I love

Here’s my heart, oh take and seal it

Seal it for Thy courts above

Oh that day when freed from sinning

I shall see Thy lovely face

Full arrayed in blood-washed linen

How I’ll sing Thy sovereign grace

Come, my Lord, no longer tarry

Bring Thy promises to pass

For I know Thy pow’r will keep me
Till I’m home with Thee at last

Contented With Singleness

Contentment in Christ does not come without a battle. This means that, if we are single, we need to fight for contentment in being a single man or woman. One of the greatest helps that I have had in this fight for contentment as a single man has been the encouragement of those who've been fighting this battle for many more years than I have. Older brothers and sisters in Christ, who have been life-long singles, and who have used their singleness to the glory of God in the service of the gospel, have provided invaluable help in this fight.

Recently I came across a seminar given a while ago by two of the people who have personally been a huge encouragement to me in this way. Jonathan Fletcher and Jane Leggett gave a seminar entitled Contented with Singleness at St. Andrew the Great church in Cambridge. Jonathan serves as the vicar of Emmanuel Church, Wimbledon and Jane serves as the women's worker there. Both of them have been lifelong singles, and are a great example of using singleness to serve the work of the gospel. I thank God for their lives and ministries, and for the opportunity to have served with them on the staff team of Emmanuel for two years.

May I commend this seminar to you, especially if you are a single man or woman, and encourage you to take the time to listen to this. It is saturated with the Bible, greatly realistic, and both challenging and encouraging. It will be a great help in the battle for contentment, and a spur to use your singleness to honour Jesus and serve His people. You can listen by clicking here.

The King, The Carrot, and The Horse

Charles Spurgeon once told this story to make a point:

Once upon a time there was a king who ruled over everything in a land. One day there was a gardener who grew an enormous carrot. He took it to his king and said, “My lord, this is the greatest carrot I’ve ever grown or ever will grow; therefore, I want to present it to you as a token of my love and respect for you.” The king was touched and discerned the man’s heart, so as he turned to go, the king said, “Wait! You are clearly a good steward of the earth. I want to give a plot of land to you freely as a gift, so you can garden it all.” The gardener was amazed and delighted and went home rejoicing. But there was a nobleman at the king’s court who overheard all this, and he said, “My! If that is what you get for a carrot, what if you gave the king something better?” The next day the nobleman came before the king, and he was leading a handsome black stallion. He bowed low and said, “My lord, I breed horses, and this is the greatest horse I’ve ever bred or ever will; therefore, I want to present it to you as a token of my love and respect for you.” But the king discerned his heart and said, “Thank you,” and took the horse and simply dismissed him. The nobleman was perplexed, so the king said, “Let me explain. That gardener was giving me the carrot, but you were giving yourself the horse.”

Why do we serve our king, Jesus? Do we serve Him because we love Him, or because we love ourselves? Do we serve Him because we delight in the Giver, or because we want His gifts? There is a big difference.

Quote: The Honour A Gospel Worker Recieves

Tuesday Teaching: The God Who is There (Part 14)

We come now to the final talk in our longest ever Tuesday Teaching series, The God Who is There. This week Carson brings his series to a conclusion as he takes us through Revelation 21-22, the closing chapters of the Bible. Here we see "The God Who Triumphs."

The Path of the Wrath of God: Mark Driscoll on Hell

Here's an exerpt of a recent sermon from Mark Driscoll on Luke 16:19-31 from a series in Luke's Gospel. He spells out lovingly, clearly and urgently the nature of hell. Driscoll does not shy away from saying the hard things, yet he does so out of love for his congregation. He also includes a very helpful summary on how God's attributes relate to one another, particularly His love and His wrath.

Tim Keller on TV: What is Christ's Appeal in the 21st Century?

An interesting video of Tim Keller being interviewed recently on TV.

"You Are My Righteousness, and I Am Your Sin."

Here's some words of counsel Martin Luther wrote in one of his letters as he sought to counsel another. Let us be those who do not lean upon our own righteousness, which cannot make us stand before God, but instead to lean on the perfect righteousness of Christ, which is ours through faith in Him.

Now I should like to know whether your soul, tired of its own righteousness, is learning to be revived by and to trust in the righteousness of Christ. . . . My dear brother, learn Christ and him crucified. Learn to pray to him and, despairing of yourself, say, ‘You, Lord Jesus, are my righteousness, but I am your sin. You have taken upon yourself what is mine and have given to me what is yours. You have taken upon yourself what you were not and have given to me what I was not.’ Beware of aspiring to such purity that you will not wish to be looked upon as a sinner, or to be one. For Christ dwells only in sinners. On this account he descended from heaven, where he dwelt among the righteous, to dwell among sinners. Meditate on this love of his and you will see his sweet consolation.

Two Extremely Obvious Observations on the Book of Job

Recently I've been reading through the book of Job and have noticed again two glaringly obvious things about the book as a whole. As obvious as these things are I think that they are part of the way that the book of Job ministers to the suffering believer. So, here they are, two obvious observations on the book of Job:

1) Job is a Big Book

Suffering is not an issue that we can give short and quick answers to as we seek to care for sufferers, or grapple with suffering for ourselves. It takes time to do this. This is perhaps why Job is such a long book. One of the ways it ministers to the suffering believer is by helping them to take time in wrestling with their suffering and the questions it raises. It helps the reader to take the time to grapple with these issues and not to settle with short and quick answers.

2) Job is a Poetic Book

That is, most of the book is made up of poetry. There are very few narrative sections (See Job 1-2; 42), and even these have poetic lines in them. Poetry has an effect that prose never can. It allows us to express things that plain lines of prose would not be able to. It can minister to us in ways that prose cannot. Have you ever noticed how, for many believers, what has sustained them through the waves of suffering has been a Psalm, or a hymn that expresses biblical truth? Poetry has a way of engaging with the soul and ministering to it in ways that plain words cannot (it is interesting to note what a large proportion of the Bible contains poetry and poetic images). Therefore, another way Job ministers to the suffering believer is through the fact that it is a poetic book, it expresses the pain of Job in ways that prose cannot express, but that the suffering believer can identify with. It ministers to the soul with poetic images and devices that express things, and impress things on the heart that cannot be conveyed by other genres. For example, the poetic imagery in chapters 38-41 says "God knows everything and is in control of everything", in ways that are much more vivid than this and in ways that impress these truths on the heart in a way that simple prose cannot.

Tuesday Teaching: The God Who is There (Part 13)

Welcome to the second last talk in this Tuesday Teaching series. This week in part 13 of The God Who is There we see "The God Who is Very Angry".

Rapping Philippians

Recently I came across this song by Trip Lee. It is essentially an exposition of some of the big themes of Philippians through rap. It is very clever and a great example of someone using their musical gifts to the glory of God. Even if you're like me and wouldn't naturally class yourself as a fan of rap ('trendy' and 'me' aren't known to be found in the same sentence!) this is a very edifying listen.

Being a Single Pastor

Over at the Gospel Coalition Steve DeWitt has written a very helpful article on the blessings and battles of being a single pastor. He is writing in a context where the overwhelming majority of churches lean towards having a married pastor and to be a single pastor of a church can be viewed as being odd or abnormal. DeWitt has this to say about the benefits of being a single pastor:

But we must...recognize that a pastor’s singleness is equally valuable in different ways [to a married pastor]. Speaking from experience, singleness has its own anvil on which God shapes character and pastoral gravitas. In addition, single pastors have some tremendous gifts to share with their congregations. When I speak of my loneliness, how many hearts leap with hope identifying with my trial? When my voice quivers as I describe life lived with unmet and unfulfilled expectations, what heart can’t hear the echo? A normal red-blooded, sexual, single, Christian man battling all the normal desires yet pursing contentment in Christ is a living sermon that Jesus alone is sufficient. These strengths, combined with the greater energy and time that single pastors can pour into their churches, should lead us to conclude that singleness ought not be viewed as a negative. If Paul was serving on the search committee, I think he’d argue for it as a positive.

You can read his whole article by clicking here.

The Importance of Being Under the Ministry of the Word

Sinclair Ferguson shows the relationship between our tongues and our sitting under the ministry of the Word. May we allow the word of Christ to dwell in us so richly so that we cannot speak in any other accent.