Jason K. Allen's Blog, page 19
February 20, 2019
Simply Profound yet Profoundly Simple: The Paradox of the Gospel and the Mandate for a Robust Witness
A paradox, G.K. Chesterton quipped, is “a truth standing on its head, waving its legs to get our attention.” In the Bible, such paradoxes abound. Paradoxically, Jesus is both God and man; and, paradoxically, the Bible was given by both human inscription and divine inspiration. One such paradox, or seemingly contradictory truth, is rooted in the gospel itself – the gospel message is simple, yet profound.
The gospel is a simple message. Simple enough to be comprehended by a child, understood by the illiterate, and conveyed by those lacking formal education. In fact, at times in the New Testament the Apostle Paul, an educated man, seems to revel in the gospel’s relative simplicity. To the church at Corinth, he chided the Jews who desired authenticating signs and Greeks who searched for wisdom. On the contrary, to the Corinthian believers, Paul purposed to “know nothing among you except Christ and him crucified.”
At the same time, the gospel is also a profound message. Paul, the church’s great missionary-evangelist, was also the church’s most accomplished theologian. Paul penned some 13 New Testament letters, explaining and applying the gospel. Moreover, the Pauline epistles both insist and assume believers to be students of Scripture, equipped and equipping others to defend the faith. In many ways, the New Testament as a whole is one large project in documenting, defining, and defending the gospel.
One need not look back to the first-century church to find this gospel paradox. In the 21st century, just like the first century, the gospel message – the simple gospel message – still saves. Yet the 21st century also brings with it a season of unique evangelistic challenge. Prior generations of Christians often had the luxury of presenting the gospel in a cultural context of shared presuppositions – even among the lost – concerning the authority of Scripture, the truthfulness of the gospel, and the realities of heaven and hell. In past generations, the great enemy of the gospel was frequently perceived as apathy among unbelievers, and much of evangelism was oriented toward persuading the hearers to respond to the gospel message they knew and acknowledged but had not yet personally embraced. Evangelism focused more on exhortation to believe the gospel than an explanation of the gospel.
Such is not the case now. Contemporary believers can no more assume modern man is predisposed to believe an ancient gospel message than we can assume a modern man would be predisposed to believe in ancient medicine. Therefore, when it comes to explaining the gospel less may be more, except when less is not enough. God’s people must not settle for only a rudimentary knowledge of God’s saving message. Rather, we must have a robust and confident grasp of God’s Word and be ready to field the questions of modern man. In every sense of the expression, we must be New Testament believers, ready to give an answer for the hope that resides within us.
In Paul’s day and in ours, the gospel is indeed a paradox. In its own way, to paraphrase Chesterton, the gospel stands on its head, waves its legs and demands our attention. This is a paradox worth embracing, celebrating, and proclaiming.
*This article was originally published on 4/12/13*
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February 16, 2019
Lord’s Day Meditation: “And David Said In His Heart, I Shall Now Perish” by C. H. Spurgeon
Lord’s Day Meditation: “And David Said In His Heart, I Shall Now Perish” by C. H. Spurgeon (Morning and Evening, October 17, Morning)
“And David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul.” (1 Samuel 27:1)
The thought of David’s heart at this time was a false thought, because he certainly had no ground for thinking that God’s anointing him by Samuel was intended to be left as an empty unmeaning act. On no one occasion had the Lord deserted his servant; he had been placed in perilous positions very often, but not one instance had occurred in which divine interposition had not delivered him. The trials to which he had been exposed had been varied; they had not assumed one form only, but many–yet in every case he who sent the trial had also graciously ordained a way of escape. David could not put his finger upon any entry in his diary, and say of it, “Here is evidence that the Lord will forsake me,” for the entire tenor of his past life proved the very reverse. He should have argued from what God had done for him, that God would be his defender still. But is it not just in the same way that we doubt God’s help? Is it not mistrust without a cause? Have we ever had the shadow of a reason to doubt our Father’s goodness? Have not his lovingkindnesses been marvellous? Has he once failed to justify our trust? Ah, no! our God has not left us at any time. We have had dark nights, but the star of love has shone forth amid the blackness; we have been in stern conflicts, but over our head he has held aloft the shield of our defence. We have gone through many trials, but never to our detriment, always to our advantage; and the conclusion from our past experience is, that he who has been with us in six troubles, will not forsake us in the seventh. What we have known of our faithful God, proves that he will keep us to the end. Let us not, then, reason contrary to evidence. How can we ever be so ungenerous as to doubt our God? Lord, throw down the Jezebel of our unbelief, and let the dogs devour it.
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February 13, 2019
Six Simple Steps to Revolutionize your Spiritual Life
As Christians, we are absolutely responsible for our growth in Christ, yet entirely dependent upon the Holy Spirit to foster such growth. This duality, one of the great paradoxes of the Christian life, is captured in Paul’s exhortation to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who is working in you, enabling you both to desire and to work out His good purpose” (Phil. 2:12–13).
Thankfully, God has made plain how we are to pursue Godliness and how he works in us to this end. In fact, the secret to the Christian life is there is no secret. God has given his children spiritual disciplines like prayer, worship, and especially, Bible intake to nurture our sanctification.
Why Bible Intake?
While all the spiritual disciplines are commended, Bible intake is the most foundational and most urgent. It is the indispensable discipline because it informs, fosters, and enables the other disciplines. For example, the Bible teaches one how to intercede, thus informing the discipline of prayer. The Bible presents the person and work of Christ, thus informing evangelism. The Bible is the Word of God, thus enabling worship through the reading and preaching of it. Likewise, the Bible similarly informs, fosters, and enables each of the spiritual disciplines, giving it a singular status.
The preeminence of Bible intake is rooted in the nature and status of Scripture itself. God chose to reveal himself to his people through his Word. The Bible is self-described as being “like a hammer that pulverizes rock” (Jer. 23:29), and as a word that “will not return to Me empty” (Isa. 55:11). Moreover, it makes binding, theological claims of itself, declaring, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16).
Evangelical Christians embrace the verbal, plenary inspiration of Scripture. “Plenary” emphasizes the totality of Scripture, and “verbal” underscores that the words themselves—not merely the authors’ or their thoughts—are inspired. Since all of Scripture is inspired by God, it is true, trustworthy, and authoritative.
Bible intake, though singular in importance, is practiced through six primary steps. Practice these six simple steps and see your Christian life revolutionized.
Hearing the Bible is the most basic and common form of Scripture intake. It occurs when one sits under the ministry of the Word, whether preached or taught, received in person, or through other mediums. Jesus pronounced blessing upon those who hear the Word of God and obey it (Luke 11:28), and Paul assigned the “public reading” of Scripture as an indispensable part of public worship to ensure God’s people heard God’s Word (1 Tim. 4:13).
Reading the Bible, at the personal level, is perhaps the most essential form of Bible intake. For the Christian, nothing should displace daily Bible reading. This includes both the macro-level of reading through books of the Bible, and the micro-level of reading passages and verses repeatedly for greater familiarization and specific application.
Studying the Bible gives the Christian depth and strengthens his knowledge of God, thus enabling him to more ably teach and defend the faith. Every believer is called to be a Berean, searching the Scriptures and weighing teachers and doctrines by them (Acts 17:10–12). Such is expected of a disciple—or learner—of Christ, and the most faithful disciple will “be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who doesn’t need to be ashamed, correctly teaching the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15).
Memorizing the Bible is another proven method of Scripture intake. In so doing, one hides God’s Word in his heart, so as not to sin against Him (Ps 119:11). Moreover, it follows the pattern of the Bible itself. Whether it is Jesus quoting the Scriptures to Satan or Paul reasoning from the Old Testament to his Jewish interlocutors, the Bible prioritizes “treasur[ing] Your word in my heart so that I may not sin against You” (Ps. 119:11).
Meditating on the Bible sounds like a mystic practice to some, but it is a biblical concept and a distinctly Christian activity. In fact, God links meditating on his Word with obedience and blessing (Josh. 1:8, Ps. 1:1–3). Meditating on God’s Word is as simple as intentionally reflecting on a passage of Scripture, directly applying its truth to your life, and letting it marinate in your heart. Time devoted to lingering over Scripture is time well spent, as it surfaces implications for one’s life and enables the living and active Word of God to convict of sin and inform the conscience (Heb. 4:12).
Praying through the Bible flows naturally from Scripture meditation. Giants of the faith, such as Martin Luther, Charles Spurgeon, and especially George Mueller made a habit of praying through Scripture. The Psalms especially lend themselves to prayer. In the Psalter, one finds the full range of human emotion, gains a panoramic view of God’s Work, and encounters the full pallet of biblical truth. Additionally, praying the Scriptures helps assure one’s prayers are biblically sound and most pleasing to God.
Conclusion
Though the Western world is largely Bible-saturated, many professing Christians in the West ironically live Bible-depleted lives. This is a tragic occurrence, but not perplexing. The answer to the problem is not hidden, neither is it complex. Christians are called to be people of the book—the Bible—and therefore must prioritize the spiritual discipline of Bible intake.
Not everyone can preach a sermon, lead a Bible study, or persuasively advocate for biblical truth, but every believer can and must engage in Bible intake. In as much as the Christian life has a silver bullet, it is Bible intake. Therefore, practice these six simple methods of Bible Intake and see your Christian life revolutionized.
*This article was originally published on 12/9/13*
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February 9, 2019
Lord’s Day Meditation: “With Thee Is The Fountain Of Life” by C. H. Spurgeon
Lord’s Day Meditation: “With Thee Is The Fountain Of Life” by C. H. Spurgeon (Morning and Evening, October 16, Evening)
“With thee is the fountain of life.” (Psalm 36:9)
There are times in our spiritual experience when human counsel or sympathy, or religious ordinances, fail to comfort or help us. Why does our gracious God permit this? Perhaps it is because we have been living too much without him, and he therefore takes away everything upon which we have been in the habit of depending, that he may drive us to himself. It is a blessed thing to live at the fountain head. While our skin- bottles are full, we are content, like Hagar and Ishmael, to go into the wilderness; but when those are dry, nothing will serve us but “Thou God seest me.” We are like the prodigal, we love the swine-troughs and forget our Father’s house. Remember, we can make swine-troughs and husks even out of the forms of religion; they are blessed things, but we may put them in God’s place, and then they are of no value. Anything becomes an idol when it keeps us away from God: even the brazen serpent is to be despised as “Nehushtan,” if we worship it instead of God. The prodigal was never safer than when he was driven to his father’s bosom, because he could find sustenance nowhere else. Our Lord favours us with a famine in the land that it may make us seek after himself the more. The best position for a Christian is living wholly and directly on God’s grace–still abiding where he stood at first–“Having nothing, and yet possessing all things.” Let us never for a moment think that our standing is in our sanctification, our mortification, our graces, or our feelings, but know that because Christ offered a full atonement, therefore we are saved; for we are complete in him. Having nothing of our own to trust to, but resting upon the merits of Jesus–his passion and holy life furnish us with the only sure ground of confidence. Beloved, when we are brought to a thirsting condition, we are sure to turn to the fountain of life with eagerness.
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February 6, 2019
The Four Biblical Marks of Corporate Worship
What should a church do during its time of corporate worship? Or, perhaps better asked, why do churches do what they do during worship? These questions are necessary enough, but ask them in the typical church and they will elicit puzzled looks and confused answers.
What a church is to practice during corporate worship is not a new consideration. In fact, it was a pressing concern in Reformation Europe, and its answer continues to shape the 21st-century church.
The Regulative Principle Considered
The ordering of worship for Protestant churches has followed two general patterns over the past five centuries. Martin Luther advocated what became known as the normative principle, arguing the mass—as celebrated by the Roman Catholic Church—should basically remain intact, sans the aspects of RCC worship that clearly violated Scripture. The Pandora’s box-like openness of the normative principle—that worship is free to incorporate what is not forbidden scripturally—is its most obvious and vexing liability.
The regulative principle, advocated by John Calvin and the Reformed tradition, argued the church should essentially start over, only permitting into corporate worship that which the New Testament explicitly calls for. Over time, the regulative principle became common practice in much of the Free Church tradition, including Baptist churches.
Based upon what is specifically prescribed in the New Testament, the regulative principle includes four features in public worship: Scripture reading, corporate prayer, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, and the preaching of God’s Word.
Historically, the public reading of Scripture, mandated in I Timothy 4:13, has served as a scriptural call to worship—a reminder the church has gathered to hear from God. Often the congregation stands as it is read, showing reverence, deference, submission, and a physical reminder the Bible is the Word of God.
Prescribed in Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs have always marked the worship of God’s people. The psalter served as a Jewish hymnbook, and the New Testament records early church hymns.
In I Timothy 2:1, Paul instructed the church to practice corporate prayer. Whether praying for one’s nation and governmental leaders, the infirmed, the church’s ministries, the lost, or for God’s blessing on the service, every time God’s people gather their prayers are to be offered.
In II Timothy 4:2, Paul instructed Timothy to preach the Word, explaining and applying the Scriptures for God’s people. The preached Word is one of the central recoveries of the Protestant Reformation, even affecting church architecture with the pulpit becoming the central feature of the worship center and the main course of the worship service.
Additionally, observing the ordinances are always welcome when an individual is ready for baptism or the church elects to celebrate the Lord’s Supper. Moreover, the regulative principle does not preclude making announcements, greeting visitors, or collecting an offering, but it does so mindful of the worship service’s flow and where such ancillary matters are best positioned.
Biblically Faithful, Practically Helpful
While the regulative principle helps ensure the worship service is biblical, it also brings many practical benefits. As a pastor, one will often be asked for special promotions, features, or emphases to be made in the worship service. Some of these are especially cringe-worthy, sure to distract from the worship service, if not downright unbiblical. If the congregation has a general awareness of why the church does what it does in the worship service, then the pastor can point to the regulative principle as an objective criterion. This depersonalizes the denial of the request and avoids the appearance of playing favorites.
Practicing these four elements brings other benefits as well, including keeping the church in the stream of believers from previous generations. It also sets the worship service on higher ground—thus avoiding worship wars—and it ensures a certain baseline quality and spiritual vitality in the service.
This doesn’t preclude a Sunday evening concert, a Bible conference, or a service exclusively for prayer; rather, it means we might best think of those events as concerts and conferences, as opposed to formal worship services. We might also more intentionally guard the integrity of corporate worship, especially when God’s people gather on Sunday morning.
Conclusion
I once frequented a restaurant that had fabulous food, but it always seemed just a bit much. The entrée, which was hard to beat on its own, always had an added sauce splattered on the top or a garnishment protruding from the steak. The chef intended the additives to complement the meal, but they wound up distracting—and detracting—from it.
Sometimes we do the same thing in public worship. Our attempts to improve Christian worship may, in fact, distract from it. Often, less actually is more. There can be a beauty in simplicity. We might do well to de-clutter our worship services.
When it comes to the regulative principle, I am not legalistic. I still facilitate an offering, greet visitors, and make announcements. But a broad recovery and commitment to these four elements might revive our services. Let’s be intentional about our worship services and privilege these four biblical aspects of worship.
*This article was originally published on 2/24/14*
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February 2, 2019
Lord’s Day Meditation: “Jesus Saith Unto Them, Come and Dine” by C. H. Spurgeon
Lord’s Day Meditation: “Jesus Saith Unto Them, Come and Dine” by C. H. Spurgeon (Morning and Evening, October 16, Morning)
“Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine.” (John 21:12)
In these words the believer is invited to a holy nearness to Jesus. “Come and dine,” implies the same table, the same meat; aye, and sometimes it means to sit side by side, and lean our head upon the Saviour’s bosom. It is being brought into the banqueting-house, where waves the banner of redeeming love. “Come and dine,” gives us a vision of union with Jesus, because the only food that we can feast upon when we dine with Jesus is himself. Oh, what union is this! It is a depth which reason cannot fathom, that we thus feed upon Jesus. “He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.” It is also an invitation to enjoy fellowship with the saints. Christians may differ on a variety of points, but they have all one spiritual appetite; and if we cannot all feel alike, we can all feed alike on the bread of life sent down from heaven. At the table of fellowship with Jesus we are one bread and one cup. As the loving cup goes round we pledge one another heartily therein. Get nearer to Jesus, and you will find yourself linked more and more in spirit to all who are like yourself, supported by the same heavenly manna. If we were more near to Jesus we should be more near to one another. We likewise see in these words the source of strength for every Christian. To look at Christ is to live, but for strength to serve him you must “come and dine.” We labour under much unnecessary weakness on account of neglecting this precept of the Master. We none of us need to put ourselves on low diet; on the contrary, we should fatten on the marrow and fatness of the gospel that we may accumulate strength therein, and urge every power to its full tension in the Master’s service. Thus, then, if you would realize nearness to Jesus, union with Jesus, love to his people and strength from Jesus, “come and dine” with him by faith.
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January 30, 2019
Balancing Ministry and Family Time
How does a pastor most healthily balance ministerial service with family time? This tension is felt by all who serve the church and resides just under the surface in many congregations. Sadly, many men leave the ministry due to erring one way or the other in what is often a delicate balance.
A few years ago, while interviewing a potential staff member, I was struck anew by this tension. The interview was going smoothly until a committee member inquired about the role the candidate’s wife would play in his ministry. The young man became defensive, insisting the church was hiring him, not his wife. That brief exchange nearly torpedoed his candidacy, and it left me puzzled.
In the previous months, I had gotten to know the couple personally. He was a great guy, and his wife struck me as one who fully supported her husband. In fact, in many ways, I viewed them as a model couple, well-balancing ministry and family. That is why I was surprised by the young man’s response.
After further conversation, I discovered the couple was not reticent to give themselves to the church. Both husband and wife were eager to serve. Rather, he had been coached up by others in ministry to protect his wife—an appropriate concern that was inappropriately expressed. That scenario was indicative of a long-standing concern for the pastor and the church alike—how do we rightly balance ministry and family expectations?
A Swinging Pendulum
In the mid-twentieth century—during the heyday of programmatic and event-driven ministry—churches prioritized pastoral presence. In many churches, the pastor was expected to be virtually omnipresent. The dutiful parson was always roaming hospitals, making house calls to church prospects, and presiding over every church function. In addition to limiting his time for sermon preparation, it often compromised his ability to lead his family.
In its most excessive forms, congregations expected their pastor to lead ever-growing ministries, even at the expense of their family. In fact, one of the 20th century’s most famous pastors once remarked, “A man has to choose. He can have either a great family or a great ministry. He cannot have both.”
Other, more budget mindful churches, may expect a “buy one get one free” scenario. If you hire a man to pastor, surely his wife will play the piano, coordinate the nursery, or direct the children’s ministry for free, right?
In other words, the pendulum needed to swing the other way, and, thankfully, in most contexts it has. Yet, at times I fear the pendulum has swung too far the other direction. We must protect our families, but we need not sequester them. Balance is hard to find, but perhaps these five principles will help.
Ministry is Life on Life
We must remember that ministry in the New Testament is life on life. For the Apostle Paul, the church was not a distant group before which he occasionally appeared. They were his spiritual family, with whom he lived and ministered.
Often times the most fruitful ministry is organic. It happens when church members are in your home, and you are in theirs. Maximum fruitfulness in ministry requires life on life—and often family on family—engagement. There simply is no shortcut.
If the church is so burdensome that you feel the need to erect barriers between God’s family and yours, it likely points to deeper issues of concern either in your family or theirs.
You are Inseparable from Your Family
The pastor is not an autonomous agent, hired by the church without consideration of his family status. If that is the case, the church merely wants a clergyman to deliver chaplain-like goods and services. The New Testament picture of the pastor is much more inclusive and robust.
Though the church does not hire our wife and children, it is entirely appropriate for them to expect us to lead biblical families. This does not mean we exhibit perfection, but that we handle our imperfections in biblical ways.
The simple fact is if our household is not in order then our entire ministry is in question. Our household cannot be fully in order unless they are actively engaged in the local church.
You Can Minister With Your Family
Many of my fondest family memories have been in the context of ministry, and many of my fondest ministry memories have occurred with my family present. I have made a thousand hospital visits, knocked on hundreds of doors, and shared the gospel countless times all with a child or two by my side.
Over the years my kids have heard me preach hundreds of sermons, have sat through scores of seminary chapel services, and participated in countless church outreach projects. We’ve always sought to make such outings enjoyable, so that they made the body of Christ more attractive to our kids, not less.
If we really believe in the glory of the church and of the splendor of God’s call to ministry, then it is not something from which we shield our families. We should expose them to it. I have learned that often times choosing between family and ministry is a false choice. Why not just bring them along?
Know Your Wife and Kids
The wise man is always observing, always learning his wife and children. Different life stages, particular ministry contexts, and the relative bandwidth of the minister’s wife will all impact their participation. If your season of life is particularly challenging, just be upfront and state plainly your needs to the church. Most likely they will understand.
Over the years my wife has been a wonder woman, resolutely supportive of my ministry. Yet there have been seasons—like when our five kids were ages five and under—that required unique energy and attention at home. That required me, and my places of service, to understand.
You Have More Time than You Think
Over the years I’ve learned that we have more time than we think. Adrian Rogers counseled pastors that the larger God grows your ministry, the less “me time” we will enjoy. Often times, the key to giving our ministry and our family more time is giving ourselves less. If you question this assertion, ponder how much time you have given social media, leisure, recreation, sports, entertainment, idle chatter, and various other distractions this past week. Make sure your ministry and your family win, even if you have to lose.
Conclusion
Brother pastors, if a church expects us to win at ministry while losing at home, we are right to push back. Let us not neglect our families, but let us not hide behind them either. We can have—indeed we must have—strong families and strong ministries. And let us be willing to die to ourselves, forgoing some of our personal pleasures and privileges, so that we can have just that.
*A version of this article previously appeared on 02/02/2016
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January 26, 2019
Lord’s Day Meditation: “But Who May Abide The Day Of His Coming” by C. H. Spurgeon
Lord’s Day Meditation: “But Who May Abide The Day Of His Coming” by C. H. Spurgeon (Morning and Evening, October 15, Morning)
“But who may abide the day of his coming?” (Malachi 3:2)
His first coming was without external pomp or show of power, and yet in truth there were few who could abide its testing might. Herod and all Jerusalem with him were stirred at the news of the wondrous birth. Those who supposed themselves to be waiting for him, showed the fallacy of their professions by rejecting him when he came. His life on earth was a winnowing fan, which tried the great heap of religious profession, and few enough could abide the process. But what will his second advent be? What sinner can endure to think of it? “He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.” When in his humiliation he did but say to the soldiers, “I am he,” they fell backward; what will be the terror of his enemies when he shall more fully reveal himself as the “I am?” His death shook earth and darkened heaven, what shall be the dreadful splendour of that day in which as the living Saviour, he shall summon the quick and dead before him? O that the terrors of the Lord would persuade men to forsake their sins and kiss the Son lest he be angry! Though a lamb, he is yet the lion of the tribe of Judah, rending the prey in pieces; and though he breaks not the bruised reed, yet will he break his enemies with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. None of his foes shall bear up before the tempest of his wrath, or hide themselves from the sweeping hail of his indignation; but his beloved blood washed people look for his appearing with joy, and hope to abide it without fear: to them he sits as a refiner even now, and when he has tried them they shall come forth as gold. Let us search ourselves this morning and make our calling and election sure, so that the coming of the Lord may cause no dark forebodings in our mind. O for grace to cast away all hypocrisy, and to be found of him sincere and without rebuke in the day of his appearing.
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January 24, 2019
MBTS Spring Convocation Sermon: “Be Diligent to Present Yourself Approved to God” (2 Timothy 2:15)
Turn with me to Second Timothy chapter two, verse 15. We will consider just one verse together.
I, like many of you, perhaps all of us, make something of New Year’s resolutions which are more like New Year’s goals. One of my resolutions was, in the year 2019, whenever possible, to preach from the Old Testament. In my very first opportunity, I am violating my New Year’s resolution. But it is with good cause as this verse gripped my heart over the Christmas break, and I have come back to it again, and again, and again. It just seemed like the Lord was leading me to preach this text this morning.
“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.”
This verse first came to my attention in the weeks after my conversion in college. A friend introduced me to the ministry of The Navigators and the Bible memory verse construct it offered. The very first verse I memorized in that setting was this verse, Second Timothy chapter two, verse 15. And as the Lord would have it, he would subsequently call me to the ministry of the Word. So, this verse has rightly been near to my heart ever since. It is a verse loaded with relevance for us, and one that knows no sell-by date. It is a verse that applies to each one of us.
For us, we have a confessional expectation as an institution. We have reflected on that this morning together. This verse reminds us that sound doctrine is derived from hermeneutics, developed from sound interpretation; sound exegesis. We check our doctrine against Scripture, not vice-versa. Today we witness the public attestation to our confessional documents by both Dr. Barrett and Dr. Johnson. It is a reminder of these things.
This verse also finds us with an instructional expectation in the classroom. What do we do? We do a lot, but the very core of it is rightly interpreting and applying the text. It is not just what we believe, but what we teach. We, as a theological institution, are people who know better. We know the priority of rightly handling the Word of Truth.
There also is a ministerial expectation which broadens the application to all of us, right? You are here in some degree in a ministerial role or preparing for a ministerial role directly or indirectly. To fulfill a ministry calling is to fulfill a calling of preaching, teaching, sharing, and counseling the text. When done right, much good comes. When done wrong, catastrophe follows.
When you think about it there really are two types of ministers, are there not? The first type is the type who starts with the text, interprets the text, and applies the text to their Christian life. They develop a doctrinal framework from the Scriptures, a philosophy of ministry, and a Christian worldview with the text always leading in that procession. There are others who begin with cultural awarenesses, personal observations and experiences, 21stCentury sensitivities and sensibilities, and they work backward to Scripture to proof text their pre-formed opinions or to explain away the passages which conflict with the same. It goes something like this, “I know Paul wrote that, but he could not have meant that.” “Well, Paul was clearly influenced by 1stCentury Roman prejudices; that is not applicable now.” “Jesus would not say that. He was more likely captain of the Love Boat, ensuring everyone was having a good time.”
But our job as ministers, and especially those in the context of a seminary, is not to explain away the text; it is to explain the text. Our job is not to bend the text to our lifestyle, but to bend our lifestyles to the text. As an institution, at every level, our responsibility is to be about the business of rightly dividing the word of truth and to training and appointing ministers accordingly. With that institutional backdrop, think with me about verse 15 this morning.
Remember the context of the letter. Most of us know it, so I will not rehearse it thoroughly. But before just entering into the dialogue here, remember what is going on. Paul is near death and this is his last letter written, at least his last one that has been preserved for us. He is writing to Timothy, his son in the faith. To read this book, if you are a preacher, is to be gripped again and again and again by it. We see all of this counsel poured into this book. We see apostolic burdens, apostolic desires, ministerial concerns, and theological concerns. All of this is poured into this book in verse, after verse, chapter after chapter, where Paul is speaking to his son in the faith, Timothy. And of course, through him, to us. The letter as a whole is chock-full of forceful charges, gracious encouragements, keen insights, attention-getting admonitions, and sober warnings. This verse at once is full of the same. Within this verse, we see gracious encouragement, keen insight, admonitions, sober warnings, and it has all to do with rightly diving the Word of God.
More broadly, in this book, we see this concern crop its head again and again. In chapter one, verse 13, it says, “Retain the sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.” In chapter two, verse two: “The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach these to others also.” In chapter three, verses 16-17: “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” Chapter four, verse two says: “Preach the Word. Be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction.” Chapter two, verse 15 rolls all of that up, it seems.
I want to invite you to use your imagination at this moment and think of this verse not even so much as a sermon, not as a lecture, not as something to be read, but imagine with me the personalization of this counsel to Timothy. You can almost envision Paul looking him the eye, saying it gently, pastorally, brotherly, perhaps paternalistically to Timothy. “Timothy, be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a workman who need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth.”
This morning, we will see that this verse has three parts. It is straightforward, simply straight from the text. It does not take much imagination to see what Paul is encouraging us to do this morning. First, “Be diligent to present yourself approved unto God.” It is a personal word of instruction. It is not a minister’s manual, not a pastor’s conference, not even a class lecture. Paul says to Timothy, “Be diligent to present yourself approved, unto God.” Let every word hang there. Again, Paul is not speaking in his writing, but it is so easy to imagine Paul having said that to Timothy 1,000 times one-on-one. Here, he reminds him to be diligent.
Diligence is to persist, to continually do again and again and again. Think duration. Think longevity. That, after all, is the challenge of ministry, is it not? It is easy to start well. It is easy even to have an early season of health. But to do it again and again and again and again and again, coming to the text repeatedly to teach, to preach, to share, to counsel, that is the charge. It is easy to do for your first sermon, your first church, that first opportunity to open the Book for God’s people on Sunday morning. You are committed, you have studied all week. You didn’t go out on Saturday night, you kept everyone in, you reviewed the sermon on Saturday evening, and you got the kids to bed early so they can get up early on Sunday morning. You woke up early on Sunday morning, you reviewed the sermon again and again and again, and by the time you are in the pulpit, it is all but memorized. You have so immersed yourself in the text and in the sermon. You are ready. But slowly and steadily, digression takes place. The point is not that you have to stick to that same ritual of being locked in your study on Saturday night and locked in your study on Sunday morning, ect., etc. But slowly, patterns of digression can set in where from one extreme you are hyperactively committed, and on the other extreme, it is just opening the book like any other book.
Paul is saying to us, through Timothy, to be mindful of the fact that this is a special book, it is a unique book, and it is a singular book. The task to teach it is a unique task. It is a singular task. It should never be routine to us. You are to be diligent to do something. I do not want to play games with the text where we can say, “Paul does not say, ‘Be diligent to pray, or be diligent to witness, or be diligent to meet.’” That is not the point here. However, I do want to draw attention to the fact that in this verse, his attention is dialed in on this diligence to present oneself approved unto God and he is going to tell us, ministerially speaking, how that approval comes.
“Approved” means to pass a test; to undergo scrutiny and pass through on the other side. That is a phenomenon which many of us are familiar with in Seminary and Christian college education, right? You study, cram (hopefully not too much, we believe in incrementally studying), and you prepare for the test, and you want to pass it. You want to be approved. Actually, you want to do better than just pass it, you want to excel. You know the rush of the final exam week. Who is going to judge you in that setting? Your professor, or perhaps yourself if you have high standards for yourself. Ultimately the Lord also, because in all we do, we are to do it unto the glory of Christ, right? But here this passage draws a direct line from how well we study the text to how we stand before God. Note this diligence is not unto a professor, a pastoral mentor, a group of deacons or body of elders or to the congregation as a whole. It is not that there is no accountability to those groups, but rather, this accountability is a transcendent accountability proved unto God.
Think of your ministerial accountability as an ascendant accountability, culminating in whether or not God approves of how we are handling his Word. It is work. It is a high calling. This is why James says things like James 3:1, “Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, because you will be held to a higher standard.” First Timothy 5:17 reminds us the standard is indeed so high that all of those who exercise these faithfully are worthy of double honor, double recompense.
So the first part of this verse is simply to be diligent to present ourselves approved unto God. “How long does it take you to prepare a sermon?” so one man asks you. The answer should always be this, “As long as it takes to know the passage; nothing less.” Yes, it should take more to fine-tune the sermon, to think of ways to amplify the text, to make sure you communicate it clearly, but if someone wants to know how long it is going to take you to preach on passage “X,” it has a direct correlation to how well you know passage “X.” Be diligent to present yourself approved unto God.
Second, notice what we see taking place here in this verse, “…as a workman who does not need to be ashamed.” Let every word sink in here. We want to be careful how we handle this because what I want to submit to you this morning is simply this: your position before Christ as a minister is fixed based upon the work of Christ, amen? But our ability to stand before God and God’s people without shame is correlated to how faithfully we handle the text. Sure, we cannot stumble and sloppily handle a text in such a way that we are denigrated before the Lord in the ultimate sense because of Christ’s work for us, but if we are sloppy with the text, evidently there is ministerial shame to bare.
“A workman.” I love the activity or industry in this short phrase. It is work. Have you ever had someone suggest the ministry is a place for lazy people? “You do not want to work hard,” or “if you do not want to work in a factory; become a minister.” Let me tell you, if you are pursuing the ministry because you think it is a life of ease, you are delusional. The work of handling the text is difficult work. The work of dealing with God’s people can be difficult work. There are 1,000 points of difficulty. Yet, there are 1,001 exhilarations and joys that make it a greater calling still. We are reminded in this verse that we are a workman, one who is engaged actively with the Word of God.
Notice what else we are taught here, that there is the possibility of shame associated with our ministries. We all know this in the moral sense, right? The guy who runs off with his secretary, or the lady who runs off with a man. We all know of this in the big, monstrous, and scandalous sense. We know the shame associated with these falls, and we know how they sully the reputation of Christ. We have a good working knowledge of how shame is associated with moral scandal, but there is another shame that we are introduced to this morning. It ought to wake us up. “A workman who does not need to be ashamed.”
Here is the grand irony in the broad world of Christianity, and I am using that phrase in this sense very broadly and very generously. In the broad world of Christianity, Christian television and all that goes with it, those who should be most ashamed are those who evidently feel the least. Those who are most concerned about handling the Word of God rightly, being faithful, and who take verses like 15 seriously, typically lead a life and ministry where there should be very little shame. This is because they are being faithful, they are studying and doing their best by the grace of God. But remember this, every time you open the book, there is the potential for buried shame. Did you cut corners? Were you sloppy? Were you distracted? Have you binged on college football and social media and whatever else would take of your time? Did you come to the text seriously and with thoroughness? If not, there is the potential for buried shame.
Notice the third aspect of this verse, and we will spend a little more time here. “Be diligent to present yourself approved unto God, a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.” Again, to be clear, your confidence before Christ is secure, but your confidence as a minister of the Word should be growing. With each passing year of studying the Word, of being trained and mentored, there ought to be a deepening and growing sense of confidence. A growing confidence that you can stand before God’s people and lead Bible study, that you can talk to your friend about Scripture, and that you can do it in such a way that the text is treated seriously. Can you say this? Have you taken the responsibility to handle God’s Word seriously? Have you been faithful to the best of your ability to study it?
No one bats 1,000. Please hear me say that. None of us, including me, bats 1,000. But I am batting a lot higher average now than I was 20 years ago. I can promise you that.
What does it mean to, “accurately handling the word of truth?” It literally means to cut it straight. It is a craftsman who can cut a straight line. One challenge we have as ministers is that we can feel shame over the wrong things. Mishandling the text? Yes, shame is associated with that. Being lazy in the study? Yes. Moral failings? Yes. Small church? Not one ounce of shame should be found in that. Little ministerial fruit, if you are being faithful? Feel no shame. An ineloquence? Feel no shame. Low I.Q.? Feel no shame. Limited gifting? Feel no shame. Shame is associated with none of that because those types of people are the ones God especially delights in using.
Here we see that to avoid a ministry of shame before God, we are to be about the business of rightly handling the word of truth.
I shared a couple of years ago at the For the Church Conference my first foray of preaching. It was a catastrophic event. I am still trying to expunge it from my ministry. I share it with you briefly this morning as a way of personal confession and group therapy, and a way to perhaps encourage you along the way.
I was a college athlete and became a believer in my freshman year of college. I was on fire for the Lord, sharing my testimony, and I did not know at the time that my call to ministry was in seed form. One of the many ministries my church had was on Sunday afternoons they would go out to two different places, both were called “A Home of Grace.” One was a place of about 40-50 women that were recovering from some sort of abuse, perhaps it was drug abuse or maybe just their life had become busted. Maybe they had been in an abusive marriage or something pretty catastrophic had happened, and they needed to be there for 16 weeks just to reset. There was a similar place for men which was a few miles away. I began to go with a couple of men who were going to minister to the ladies. I was just riding around with them with very little responsibility. I was there and participated pretty minimalistically. One week it was announced to me that I was going to be doing the preaching the next week. I was both exhilarated and frightened, having never preached before. I did not know what to do. I literally had no idea what to do. I remember that week in my college dorm I got out a legal pad and a binder. I was literally writing out all of my favorite Bible verses and all of the preacher’s jargon I have ever heard. I was writing down a few stories and thought, “How do I put this thing together.” I had no idea how to put together a sermon. I got up that week to preach, and I thought it was a 30-minute sermon, but went through my notes in eight minutes. What do you do? You start your notes over and do it again. That is what I did. At the end of the service, I gave an invitation and around seven women came forward to the altar. I was overwhelmed. This was the greatest moment of my life. These seven women came to the altar. It was a very sweet moment. Well, we were driving back to the church and a guy says to me, “It made you feel good when those seven women came forward didn’t it?” And I said, “Yes, Sir.” He said, “You know, those same seven women come forward every week.”
I look back on that and other early preaching forays and they were a disaster. I had not been equipped. I had no idea. But I cannot say that anymore. There is a heightened sense of accountability, as there is for each one of us in the room. Why is “the word of truth” the “therefore?” Why is it what brings shame or honor? Why is it what is being drilled in on to rightly handle? I think it is because the word of truth brings enormous potential or enormous harm if handled wrongly. It has enormous potential because if handled rightly it is the word of life. People are saved through the preaching and teaching of it, lives are sanctified through the ministry of it, believer’s hearts are lifted up by the right application of it. But handled wrongly it leads people down deadened streets spiritually. Unfortunately, it is used at times as a weapon to burden the consciences of people. There is enormous potential there.
My wife and I were in the Phoenix area for a few days last week for the seminary, and not far from Phoenix is a city you have heard of, Los Vegas. It is a city I have studiously avoided going to all of my 40 plus years. But we were there, and I have always wanted to see the Hoover Dam. My wife has always wanted to see Celine Dion. This is how teamwork works, okay? But, we were in the proximity, so we thought we could dart over there and back. We wondered if we should do it; we felt kind of yucky in Las Vegas. I called a couple of friends in the city who do ministry there, and who said there are good things happening in the city. I got coached up on where not to go and about a family-friendly hotel to stay in. So we went in and out briefly and enjoyed an aggressively G-rated experience. We took in the Hoover Dam, my wife enjoyed and I weathered a Celine Dion performance, and, being children of the ’80s, we took in David Copperfield, the magician. It was a memorable two days.
Back to Hoover Dam. It lived up to the expectations in every way. It was amazing. I could have been there all day. It was a massive structure, and to me what is so mind-blowing is that it was built nearly 100 years ago. Think of the feat of architecture and engineering. It is conservatively estimated to last at least 2,000 years. It is conservatively estimated to withstand an 8.6 magnitude earthquake. It is incredible. It backs up the high side of the dam, the Lake Mead, which is 580 feet deep and goes for miles and miles and miles. And if I read the sign right, there is enough water in Lake Mead to flood the entire state of New York by one foot. It is amazing. What happens through it all? There are massive pipes in the middle of the lake that draw water in. They go down over 600 feet. These pipes go from wide to narrow and by the time that water falls 600 feet with all of that force in a narrowing pipe, it blows through generators with enormous power. So much so that each one of the 17 generators can power 100,000 homes and the family that lives within them each and every day. It is an enormous source of energy, unlike most any other things I’ve ever seen. The generators which we toured crackled with electricity. They roared with energy.
There is something like that in the power of Scripture. This is our weapon in ministry against all of the forces of evil that exist like Satan, his minions, and the New England Patriots. But seriously, this is our tool, our weapon, our source. But what does this all mean? Let me give four words of reflection to pull this together.
Number one, studying, interpreting, preaching, and teaching the text has to be labeled priority number one for professors, pastors, students, and all of us. We are people of the Book.
Number two, the Bible has proven itself powerful to withstand centuries of sloppy exegesis. That is true. But let that not be a license for our own sloppy exegesis. People survive plane crashes and brain tumors, but that is not an argument for them. The Bible has survived a lot of terrible sermons, but that does not mean we should indulge in them.
Third, we must, in our own little corners of the kingdom, politely fight against eisegesis. Eisegesis, for the listener, makes the text an impenetrable jungle only to be entered into by a select few with special knowledge. This is akin to what the Gnostics did. But we understand that the Bible is not so much a jungle, but a window we can see clearly in and out. There is an overabundance of entry points. We believe in the perspicuity of Scripture, the clarity of Scripture, the nobility of Scripture.
Fourth, let us be careful and always on the lookout for any Bible study that goes something like, “What does the text mean to you?” That is a horrible question to ask. The text means what it means. The question to ask is, “What does the text mean and how does it apply to me or to you?” Perhaps it is in vain that thousands of Evangelical Bible studies throughout the years are grouped together where a Bible verse is bantered back and forth under the guise of, “What does it mean to you?” Let us be careful to study to be able to speak with clarity and with biblical authority that this is what the text means and the conversation and discussion becomes, “How do we best apply it?”
And so this is us. We go forward with a new semester and a new year cheerfully and purposely living out God’s calling on our lives. A calling as determined men and women who rightly divide the word of truth.
The post MBTS Spring Convocation Sermon: “Be Diligent to Present Yourself Approved to God” (2 Timothy 2:15) appeared first on Jason K. Allen.
January 19, 2019
Lord’s Day Meditation: “And Be Not Conformed To This World” by C. H. Spurgeon
Lord’s Day Meditation: “And Be Not Conformed To This World” by C. H. Spurgeon (Morning and Evening, October 14, Evening)
“And be not conformed to this world.” (Romans 12:2)
If a Christian can by possibility be saved while he conforms to this world, at any rate it must be so as by fire. Such a bare salvation is almost as much to be dreaded as desired. Reader, would you wish to leave this world in the darkness of a desponding death bed, and enter heaven as a shipwrecked mariner climbs the rocks of his native country? then be worldly; be mixed up with Mammonites, and refuse to go without the camp bearing Christ’s reproach. But would you have a heaven below as well as a heaven above? Would you comprehend with all saints what are the heights and depths, and know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge? Would you receive an abundant entrance into the joy of your Lord? Then come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean thing. Would you attain the full assurance of faith? you cannot gain it while you commune with sinners. Would you flame with vehement love? Your love will be damped by the drenchings of godless society. You cannot become a great Christian–you may be a babe in grace, but you never can be a perfect man in Christ Jesus while you yield yourself to the worldly maxims and modes of business of men of the world. It is ill for an heir of heaven to be a great friend with the heirs of hell. It has a bad look when a courtier is too intimate with his king’s enemies. Even small inconsistencies are dangerous. Little thorns make great blisters, little moths destroy fine garments, and little frivolities and little rogueries will rob religion of a thousand joys. O professor, too little separated from sinners, you know not what you lose by your conformity to the world. It cuts the tendons of your strength, and makes you creep where you ought to run. Then, for your own comfort’s sake, and for the sake of your growth in grace, if you be a Christian, be a Christian, and be a marked and distinct one.
The post Lord’s Day Meditation: “And Be Not Conformed To This World” by C. H. Spurgeon appeared first on Jason K. Allen.
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