Ministry

What Should Churches Do Who Have Elders?

/ davidsschrock / 2 Comments

churchTitus 1:5–9 and 1 Timothy 3:1–7 give a host of qualifications for potential elders. Additionally, they give indication as to what an elder is supposed to do—to instruct the flock in sound doctrine and protect the church from false teaching, immorality, and division.

Yet, what about the congregation? Does the Bible have anything to say to church members as to their relationship with the elders who shepherd them?

While no virtue list exists for congregations like that of potential elders, the New Testament does instruct church members to love, support, and even submit to their leaders. In fact, from the context of many passages related to church leadership we find at least a dozen ways Christians should relate to those who lead them.

Twelve Ways The Church Relates to its Leaders

Continue reading →

Why Non-Pastors Should Read the Pastoral Epistles

/ davidsschrock / 1 Comment

pastoralsNext week I will begin preaching the book of Titus on Sunday mornings. Although Titus is only three chapters and forty-six verses in length, it contains a great deal of instruction for the church.

Titus is often grouped with two other Pauline epistles—1 Timothy and 2 Timothy. Together these three letters are known as the “Pastoral Epistles.” They are written to two of Paul’s sons in the faith (1 Tim 1:2; 2 Tim 1:2; Titus 1:4), ministers of the gospel sent by Paul to Ephesus and Crete for the purpose of building up those churches. As a matter of fact, Timothy and Titus are not so much pastors themselves but apostolic delegates who are called to confront error (1 Tim 1:3-7), preach sound doctrine (2 Tim 1:13; Titus 2:1, 15), and further the faith of God’s elect (Titus 1:2).

From this little synopsis, one might get the impression that the Pastoral Epistles are strictly for pastors, or at least for those working in the ministry. One might conclude they only have tangential relevance for the stay-at-home mom or the factory worker. However, such a conclusion would be premature, for the Pastoral Epistles have great application for all Christians. What follows are five reasons why every Christian should read them, study them, and apply them. Continue reading →

How Sheep Can Shepherd Their Shepherd’s Lambs

/ davidsschrock

ImageI am thankful to be at a church that loves our children and encourages me to spend time with them. I have members who ask about the time I am spending with them and have never received a complaint for the time I take with them or the times I bring them with me to ministry activities.

On that subject, the need for churches to care well for their pastor’s children, Chap Bettis has provided seven important exhortations for the way churches can shepherd their pastor’s children. Let me share them with you: 

  1. Give grace to the pastor’s children on Sunday.  
  2. If you have a concern, talk to your pastor about behavior that characterizes the children. But do so with an attitude of loving acceptance.   
  3. Be generous in your praise.  
  4. Limit church criticism and complaint to private conversations among adults.  
  5. Be brave and rebuke the critics. Unfortunately, not everyone in the congregation will follow this suggestion. When grumbling and faultfinding spill over in front of you, speak up.  
  6. Give your pastors room to deal with their children’s hearts. Older children will go through some spiritual ups and downs. How will you think about those bumps? With care and affection? Or self-righteous judgment?  
  7. Give your pastors margin to minister to their families. Children need their father. . . . Even as a church member, you can encourage your pastors to care for their families.

These seven guidelines and the explanations Chap provide come from twenty-five years of ministry with, by God’s grace, children who are not embittered towards the church. 

May God multiply Chap’s testimony, and give pastors church families that shepherd their children well, even as they shepherd their church.

Soli Deo Gloria, dss  

[photo credit: ThomRainer.com]

Five Questions on Discipleship: (1) What Did Jesus Do?

/ davidsschrock

A number of years ago, I followed the Christian crowd and wore the trendy WWJD bracelet.  For those who have forgotten (or never heard), the letters stood for “What would Jesus do?”  Developed from the book In His Steps, by Charles Sheldon, a book that favored a social gospel and promoted a man-centered kind of Christian imitation, the bracelet asked an important question:  How should we live our lives in a manner that would please our Lord?  The question was meant to stimulate obedience and lifestyles that reflected the kind of things true believers should do.  While missing the beautiful, objective work of Christ for us, it did helpfully ask how we ought to live for Christ.

That is what we are after this week too: How do we adhere to the Great Commission imperative to “make disciples”?  What is a disciple?  How should we go about making disciples?  And why should we do it?  Those are the questions we will consider this week, but instead of asking “What would Jesus do?” which orients the Christian life around subjective obedience of Christ’s followers, our inquiry begins with the better question: “What did Jesus do?”

Putting Christ at the center, instead of our Christian obedience, we will be able to see how central disciple-making is to our Lord and then from their to see how we might follow him in the work.  Therefore, today as we consider what Jesus did (past tense), we will look at a number of purposes statements spoken by Jesus that explain why Jesus became a man (Cur Deus Homo?), and how each of these purpose statements relate to disciple-making.

Here are five reasons why Christ came to earth.

First, Jesus came to preach the gospel

The first thing to note is that Jesus came preaching the gospel of the kingdom. Mark 1:38 records Jesus’ words, “And he said to them, “Let us go to the next town, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came.”  When we are introduced to Christ, in the Synoptic gospels, the first act of his ministry is to go out into the regions surrounding Galilee preaching the gospel and calling sinners to repent and believe (Mark 1:14-15).  What was his purpose?  The answer is surely pluriform, but it at least involved the calling and creation of disciples.

Second, Jesus came to fulfill the law

Not only did Jesus come to preach the gospel, he came to fulfill the law—to keep covenant with God, so that he could establish a new covenant, not based on works of the flesh, but faith in the Spirit.  So he says in Matthew 5:17, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law of the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”  In fulfilling all righteousness, Jesus made it possible for his disciples to one day be clothed with his righteousness (Isa 61:10). Likewise, he provided a perfect example of love and service to God that disciples are called to imitate (cf. John 13).

Third, Jesus came to provide salvation

In Luke 19, Jesus seeks out Zacchaeus, a hated tax collector, for the singular purpose of making this unlikely sinner a son of Abraham. Verse 10 gives a larger explanation of Jesus’ ministry: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”  Clearly, Jesus the lost, so to make them his disciples.  The same thing can be gleaned from Matthew 9:13, which states, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”  Here, Jesus explains that his target audience is not religious professionals, or even good people, but those who weary and heavy-laden with sin.  Jesus life, death, and resurrection served the purpose of making disciples.

Which leads to a question:  How can a righteous God who cannot stand the sight of sin or sinners (Ps 5:5; 11:5; Hab 1:13), extend blessings to sinners?  Again, the life of ministry and his biographical purpose statements explain.  In Mark 10:45, Jesus says, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”  The many harkens back to Isaiah 53:11-12, but it also bespeaks of the many disciples that Jesus is purchasing with his blood.

Fourth, Jesus came to judge the world

Jesus came not only to save a people for his own possession; he also came to judge the world, to cleanse the world from those who stand opposed to God.  In John 9:39, Jesus debates with the Pharisees concerning the healing of a blind man, and he says, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.”

Likewise, with greater graphic illustration, Jesus states in Luke 12:49, “I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled!”   The fire is that of judgment.  While John can say that Jesus did not come to bring judgment; in another sense he did.  He is preparing the way for his return when he will call all men to account.

Even the demons recognize this, though they did not know how it was going to work out.  In Mark 1:24, Jesus heals a man suffering from a demon, and they reply “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?  Have you come to destroy us?

Jesus is not directly making disciples with these judgments, but in another way he is. By judging the world, Jesus is creating a place for his people to abide with him.  Today, we do not yet see all things in subjection to Christ.  The new creation is not yet here in its geographic form.  However, Christ is saving me and women.  These are his new creations, disciples who are learning how to live in his kingdom–the kingdom that they will inherit at the end of the age (Matt 25:34).  Thus, Jesus purpose statements about judgment promise that all those who have become his disciples will escape his coming judgment, and will instead be protected by his sword.  This leads to a final point.

Fifth, Jesus came to create a new community of disciples

The final answer to the question of what Jesus came to do is this: Jesus came to call a new community of disciples.  Now indeed all the previous purposes are related to this.  (1) He preached the gospel to call people to faith; (2) he fulfilled the law and died on the cross so that he could remove the sin of his followers and clothe them with righteousness; (3) He announced his kingdom authority and his right to judge in order to assert the kingdom he was going to establish—a world free from sin, evil, Satan, and death.  Jesus came to create a new humanity.  He came to make disciples.

Significantly, this is what we find  then in Matthew 10:34-35.  In a context where Jesus has sent his disciples out to proclaim the message of the kingdom, Jesus explains his purposes after there return: “Do not think I have come to bring peace to the earth.  I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.  For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”

Everything Jesus did, he did for the purpose of making disciples.  His life, ministry, death, and resurrection, and heavenly session are all aimed at bringing in the sheep of his fold.  While acquiring many names in he gospels (sheep, children, given ones, friends), Jesus did everything for the purpose of making disciples.  So should we.

In the days, ahead we will answer four more questions on discipleship, as we consider this central feature of our Lord’s work.

Soli Deo Gloria, dss


A Biblical Theology of Business (and Church Growth)

/ davidsschrock

A few weeks ago I came across this video from the Gospel & Culture conference in NYC.  It features Jeff Van Duzer, dean of the business school at Seattle Pacific University giving a message entitled, “A Theology of Business.”

I have watched it a few times now and gleaned much.  It it is a great biblical-theological treatment of business that grounds itself in the four-fold movement of redemption history–Creation, Fall, Redemption, New Creation.

However, it is more than just a good presentation for businessmen who want to follow in the footsteps of Truett Cathy, founder of Chick-Fil-a.  It is a good paradigm for church leaders and churches to apply to the local church.  Usually, I am slow to make such claims because I think too many popular business practices have shaped churches.  Too little attention has been given to what the Bible says.  (Yes, I have drunk the punch served by 9Marks).

This is where Jeff Van Duzer is different.  He builds with the Scriptures and he gives a good model for business and for those doing God’s business in the local church.  Tonight our church leaders are going to watch the video and discuss.  I encourage you to do the same.  Spend an hour thinking through Van Duzer’s main points, and how, if they were implemented in your business, Bible college, or area of ministry, they would glorify God by producing good fruit.

If it helps here are a number of questions to consider

  1. What does Jeff Van Duzer critique?
  2. Some people say business is bad, others that it is good, even messianic.  What is wrong with these polarities?
  3. I would propose that his comments about “business” could easily be translated to “church growth.”  What is church growth?  And what should we think about it?
  4. He speaks of two issues: The PURPOSE and PRACTICE of business.  What are the two purposes for business that he mentions?  How do these contrasting visions of business relate to Mark 10:44-45?
  5. According to Jeff Van Duzer, should profit be the means or the end?  Translating to the church, should “numbers” be an end or a means?  What does it mean that numbers are a means in the church?
  6. In the church, who are the “shareholders”?  Who are the “customers”?  Who should we serve? Who are we serving?
  7. Using his illustration of blood circulation, what does a church that only circulates blood look like or do?  What characteristics does it have?
  8. What does a living and healthy church have?  What are the metrics of a healthy church?
  9. When leaders make decisions, Van Duzer says that they ask one of two questions:         (a) Which of these choices will maximize my return or investment?  Or, (b) Given our core competencies, how can we best employ them to serve others.  When we make decisions in the church, which are we asking? 
  10. When we make decisions are we making them to (a) increase our numbers or (b) increase our faithfulness?  Do we trust that if we focus on being “boringly biblical” that God will bless our church?  Or do we need to add to the message?
  11. Using the illustration of levies, Van Duzer speaks of limitations on pursuing capitol.  What limits do we have / should we have in our ministries?  Can we do anything or are their delimiting factors?  What are they?
  12. What in our day and age do we need to guard against?   What temptations do churches face who want to grow?
  13. What was the difference between the Gold Medal and Silver Medal companies surveyed by Jim Collins?
  14. What should a mission of the church include?

Now, go do God’s business (John 15:1-8).

Sola Deo Gloria, dss

 

Don’t Despise the ‘Plain Things’ of Life: What the Lord Uses to Prepare His Ministers

/ davidsschrock / 1 Comment

Thinking about ministry and concerned about your ‘theological’ preparation?

Consider that some of the greatest “pastor-theologians” (biblical authors) were entrenched in mundane occupations and the plain things of life for decades before God opened the door to ministry.  For instance, consider Jeffery Niehaus’s words that remind us of Moses’ calling and equipping:

When Moses flees to Midian, he learns to be a husband (Ex 2:2), a father (v. 22), and a shepherd (3:1).  These [plain things] are theologically important facts for him, because he now encounters the God who chooses to become a husband (Jer. 31:32; Eze 16:1ff–both reflecting the Exodus events), a father (Dt 1:31), and a shepherd (Ge 49:24) to his people (God at Sinai: Covenant & Theophany in the Bible and the Ancient Near East, 185).

For 40 years, Moses learned the plain things of life–caring for a wife, leading a family, and tending a flock.  Each of these prepared him for his ministry to Israel, and his ability to record God’s Word.  Likewise, for us, marriage and work, the common but significant lot which all humans enjoy (or despise), prepare us greater Christian service.  In fact, 1 Timothy 3 disqualifies ministers who fail at home.  Thus marriage (which pictures Christ’s love for the church), fatherhood (which reflects God’s love for his adopted children), and vocation (which requires thoughtful creativity, organization, and physical strength, resemble God’s work in the world), all demonstrate aspects about God and his gospel. And thus, all of these “plain things” prepare you and I  for more fruitful service.

Moses example teaches us to stop fearing insufficient training and to recall the fact that for those who God has called, he will use all of life to prepare us for our “received” ministry (cf. John 3:27; Col. 4:17). So, while we ought to look for ways to further our knowledge of god (cf. Ps 111:2; 2 Pet 3:18), we should at the same time realize that all of  life points to God, and prepares us for useful service–with or without “theological training.”

In the plain things are hidden the main things, if we look at them with eyes of faith and minds renewed by God’s Word.  In this way, God reminds us that he is the one who uniquely prepares us for his service, and that our plans are accomplished according to his steps (Prov 16:9).  May we seek God and see him in all of life, so that we may better communicate the divine truths of God’s word as we encounter the daily regimen of life.

Soli Deo Gloria, dss

A Word-Driven Ministry

/ davidsschrock

On Wednesday night, I taught through the book of Nehemiah as a part of our year long journey through the Bible–Via Emmaus: A Christ-Centered Walk Through the Bible.  My aim was to show the redemptive-historical features of the book and patterns of salvation that are extant in the book.  However, the book also provides an excellent portrait of godly leadership and a word-driven ministry.  (For more on that see Mark Dever’s chapter on Nehemiah in The Message of the Old Testament: Promises Made).

Ezra and Nehemiah are two books that show the sovereignty of God to reestablish God’s people (Israel) in God’s place (Jerusalem).  They also do a great deal to show how YHWH leads Israel back into covenant with himself, and with that covenant renewal comes a laser beam focus on the power of God’s word. For instance, Nehemiah 8 illustrates the way God’s word can transform a people.  And for God’s covenant people today, it gives an excellent motion picture of what the ministry of the word could and should look like.  Even with the differences that exist between that Old Covenant period of Ezra-Nehemiah and the church today, Ezra’s priestly ministration models a commitment to God’s Word worthy of imitation (cf Heb 13:7).

Here are 6 Marks of a Word-Driven Ministry from Nehemiah 8:

  1. Word-Based: There wasn’t any gimmick, program, or contrived technique to change the people.  From morning to midday, Ezra read the Law (v. 3, 5) and Levites gave the sense (v. 7-8). Ezra displayed incredible faithfulness to the Scriptures, and the sufficiency of God’s Word is seen in the fact that they simply read and explained the text, and hearts were moved.  If only, we would have the same commitment today!
  2. Expositional teaching: The kind of teaching that changes lives in Ezra is the kind that simply reads and explains the ‘Bible’. It aims to understand God’s word and make known the plain sense of the inspired Word; it reads the text in context and applies it to our lives. Ezra and his team of “small group leaders” took the word and helped the people understand it.  The words they read surely came form or were based on Law of Moses, and yet they understood the words as speaking to them (cf Deut 32:47).  The result was a deep sense of contrition and thanksgiving, as well as, a reinstitution of the Feast of Booths, which recalled God’s saving work during the Exodus (8:13ff).
  3. Community: A word-driven ministry gathers around the word  in unity and with regularity (v. 1).  In Nemehiah 8 we see men, women, and children gathering as one man to hear God’s word (v. 1, 3, 8) and to receive instruction (v. 7).  As a result, the entire nation repented and rejoiced as they heard the word (8:9-12).  For more on the centrality of the gathered people around the word, see Christopher Ash’s new book, The Priority of Preaching.  The third chapter explains the necessity of the assembly that gathers to hear God’s word: Powerful!)
  4. Plurality of teachers: As Ezra opened God’s Law, he was surrounded by Israelite leaders whose names are recorded in verses 4 and 7.  While Ezra was the leading teacher (a model that is continued in the NT and in churches today), he was not alone (a pattern also continued in the NT and sorely missing in many churches today).  Because the Word is authoritative, it is appropriate to have a plurality of teachers.  In fact, while a church can begin with a singular teacher, it does better to move towards a plurality of leader-teachers, what the NT calls pastor-teachers, elders, and/or shepherds.
  5. Elevation of the Word: Ezra stood on a platform “made for the purpose” of lifting high the Word of God; the people stood to hear it; hands were raised and audible sounds made indicating that this is God’s word– “Amen!”  The people were not stoic recipients of God’s word, nor were they impatient consumers.  They hungered for God’s word and listened with intensity and receptive participation.
  6. Heartfelt Affection: The appropriate response to God’s word is not only cognitive acquisition, but also heartfelt affection.  Those who heard the word of God, were moved to tears (v. 9); they were encouraged to take heart (v. 10), and they wept away rejoicing because they had understood God’s word (v. 11-12).  True understanding is not simply intellectual, it is emotive and volitional, too.  Thus listening to the Word read or preached is not a passive activity.  It requires earnest prayer and heart preparation to be moved by God’s word.  For preachers, too, it is essential that God’s word grips our hearts as much as our heads.

This list is by no means exhaustive, but it is instructive. Our churches and our pastors would do well to emulate Ezra (cf. Ezra 7:10).  From a cursory reading of Nehemiah, it is evident that God’s people were radically affected by God’s word, in a way that today’s churches need.  Yet tragically, pastors look back on Ezra as though his method is archaic and outmoded.

Ironically, there is more power today in the preaching of God’s word, than Ezra ever knew.  Ezra’s ministry was under the Old Covenant, and thus did not come with the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit.  With Jesus death, resurrection, and ascension, the promised Holy Spirit has been poured out (Acts 2) and today the power of the Word is incomparably greater (Acts 1:8; cf. 1 Thess 1:5).

Today, preachers should have even greater confidence to proclaim God’s unadulterated Word, because the living and active word is not only true, it is accompanied by the Holy Spirit who convicts, converts, comforts, and conforms God’s children into the image of Christ.  The word of God will not return void, and ministries marked by the Word will accomplish exactly what God intends–salvation and judgment (cf Matt 13:10-17).

May we who proclaim the Word, do so unashamedly, trusting that the seed of the Word will establish the kingdom of God.  It may be foolish to the world, but it is the wisdom and power of God.

Soli Deo Gloria, dss

The Living Church

/ davidsschrock

The Living Church by John Stott is an excellent book for pastors and would be a helpful read for many congregations.  It is an accessible book on the life of the church, where John Stott shows again why he has influenced evangelicalism for decades.  His writing is clear, biblical, and urges strategic risk-taking for Christ’s mission of making disciples.

His introduction begins with a survey of ’emerging churches.’  Like Jim Belcher he urges cooperation between emerging churches and tradiationalists without condoning the movement carte blanche (15).  Tongue-in-cheek, Stott calls for more “R.C.” churches, that is “radically conservative” churches which “conserve what Scripture plainly requires, but [are] ‘radical’ in relation to the combination of tradition and convention which we call ‘culture'” (15).  In this way, Stott purposes, “to bring together a number of characteristics of what [he] call[s] an authentic or living church” (15).  I appreciate Stott’s willingness to listen and be radical, while maintaining a solid grasp of Biblical truth that undergirds his book and shapes his analysis.  To that we turn.

Chapter 1 lists a number of church ‘essentials.’  Drawn out of Acts 2, Stott suggests that the church must be a learning, caring, worshiping, evangelizing body of believers.  The ebb and flow of church life is going out with the message of the gospel and then coming together to teach, love, share, and worship collectively.  Chapters 2-8 unpack these living essentials. 

In chapter 2, Stott explains that genuine worship is fourfold.  It must be biblical, congregational, Spiritual, and moral (think: pure and holy).  This is a powerful chapter and one that undoes the idea that contemporary worship revolves around competing styles and certain kinds of music.  True worship is something far more substantial (see David Peterson’s Engaging With God for more on this).  Honing in on music, Stott writes, “what is essential…is the biblical content of hymns and songs” (43).  I couldn’t agree more.

Chapter 3 follows with an every member ministry approach to evangelism that challenges the entire church to be on mission with/for Jesus.   Recognizing personal evangelism and mass evangelism as viable and biblical means of sharing the good news, Stott points to a better way, the church itself, as the venue for the most effective evangelism (49).  In theory, Stott asserts that every church must understand itself theologically, organize itself structurally, express itself verbally, and be itself morally and spiritually. (Stott unfolds these with greater precision in the chapter).  In very practical terms, Stott lists a number of evaluative questions to help assess the local mission field of any church as well as discerning the kind of resources a church has for evangelistic outreach.

Chapter 4 continues Stott’s emphasis on ‘every member ministry,’ though he turns to consider further the pastoral responsibilities in the church.  He reminds pastors that their primary focus is teaching and that pastoral leadership is a shared assignment–the church benefits from multiple pastor/elders.  (As a point of disagreement in this chapter, Stott gives permission for women to teach men (83), when the Bible explicitly teaches in 1 Timothy 2 that God has called men to be leaders and teachers in the local church.   This is not culturally conditioned; it is established in creation (1 Tim 2:11-15)  See Wayne Grudem and John Piper (eds.),  Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood)

In Chapter 5, Stott unpacks his understanding of fellowship in general and small groups in particular.  Biblically, he argues that it is not good for man to be alone and it is good for the people of God to gather together in one another’s homes.  Historically, there has been tremendous fruit that has grown out of prayer groups, Sunday Schools, and other small groups.  And practically, smaller groups facilitate relationships, sharing, and caring for one another that larger settings disallow.  Simple, yes; but still this kind of ministry lacks effective application in so many churches.

Chapter 6, which is on preaching, surely draws from Stott’s larger work on the subject, Between Two Worlds.  Stott likens preaching to bridge-building, as he does in BTW and lists five paradoxes.  The preacher must Biblical and Contemporary, Authoritative and Tentative, Prophetic and Pastoral, Gifted and Studied, Thoughtful and Passionate.  These polarities are challenging for even experienced preachers, and surely motivating for preachers who want to engage the people of God with the Word of God.  One instance worth nothing, that struck me as useful, has been Stott’s participation in a reading group since 1972.  These men read non-Christian books that help them better understand the culture.  Surely Stott’s ability to apply the Bible to the world is in part a fruit of this discipline.  He suggests that all preachers should do something similar, while not letting go of God’s Word.

Chapter 7 gives 10 priniciples about giving from the book of 2 Corinthians.  This is Stott at his finest, engaging the text in order to draw out practical examples and principles for Christian living.  This would be a great meditation for anyone considering how to think biblically about finances.  (Cf. Randy Alcorn’s The Treasure Principle).

Finally, Chapter 8 challenges the gospel-telling church to simultaneously be salt and light in the world (Matt 5:13-16).  Stott makes it a point to show how salubrious salt and light are and how the impact of local churches benefit the communities in which they reside.  Practically speaking, he gives 6 weapons for cultural engagement: (1) prayer, (2) evangelism, (3) example, (4) [apologetic] argument, (5) action, and (6) suffering.  This is one of the areas that the neo-evangelical movement and now the emerging church is right to challenge the church.  We must be better at loving and serving our communities, and yet we cannot hide the gospel or muffle its message of salvation and judgment.

Overall, Stott’s book is a fine treatment on the local church.  Engaging, missions-minded, biblical, and wise are just a few of the adjectives I would use to describe it.  However, in the American, baptist (SBC) context in which I live and minister, I was a little disappointed; not because I devalue Stott’s Anglican heritage, in fact, I am thankful for it, but because the numerous parochial examples relating to commission reports and decisions within the Anglican church would be confusing to many in my church.  Again, I commend the book to pastors without reservation, but I would be slower to recommend it for use in every congregation.  You simply have to know your flock, and judge accordingly. 

Soli Deo Gloria, dss

The Ways of Our God: God’s People (3)

/ davidsschrock

In The Ways of Our God: An Approach to Biblical Theology, Charles Scobie moves in chapters 11-15 to speaks about God’s People.  Continuing to expound a multi-thematic approach to biblical theology, he shows how God has from the very foundation of the world worked in covenant relationship with his people and how he will continue to have a people to call his own forever and ever.  Scobie outlines his section under the following headings.

11. The Covenant Community.  Scobie lays out a well-argued case in this chapter depicting the kind of unity God intended for humanity to have with Him and with one another.  He begins in the first family, shows how sin splintered unity, and how a significant part of redemptive history has been to foster unity among God’s covenant community and ultimately to create one new humanity in Christ (Eph. 2:14; John 17).  He argues a case where union with Christ is not mystical, but ecclesial where God’s people, as they are brought into fellowship with God by Christ’s active and passive obedience, are simultaneously called to unity among the brethren.  Obviously in this chapter, the idea of covenant is essential.

12. The Nations.  Scobie contends that the OT hints at God’s universal purposes, whereas the NT commands the mission of the church to reach the end of the earth.  In the OT, Israel is to mediate blessings to its neighbors but consistently fails to do so.  There is evidence of Gentiles finding there way into the covenant community (Ruth, Rahab, Uriah the Hittite), but primarily this is an accident of history, rather than a program of international expansion.  In this way, the movement in the OT is centripital.  That changes in the NT, where God gives the command to go to the nations through the Great Commission of Jesus and the sending of the Spirit.  Thus in the NT, the movement is centrifugal, with every nation invited and commanded to bow the knee to Christ.  On the whole, the chapter is a well-balanced articulation of missions in the OT and NT.  However, Scobie’s theological predilections show that he is not comfortable with the Bible’s exclusive message of salvation in Christ alone.  For he argues that those who came before Christ could be saved without knowledge of his name, and those who did not believe in this life will get another shot after death to respond to the gospel.  Clearly, he is making up the rules as he goes.  His position strips the gospel of its grace and glory.  By minimizing the name of Christ, he is stripping Christ of glory and by offering the gospel in the eschaton, he is blunting the force of the gospel today and making God subservient to the needs of men.  The Lord is a Servant and he does humble himself to save, but he is not required to save us, and in fact the hearing of the gospel is a matter of sovereign grace.  Scobie’s appeal to post-mortem evangelism misconstrues the gracious and necessary proclamation of the gospel in this age.

13. Land and City.  In this chapter Scobie breaks his pattern of proclamation, promise, fulfillment, consummation by ending with a different idea/concept than he started.  For some reason he does not see Land as an eternal reality.  Instead, land is collapsed into city.  Instead of seeing the Garden bookends of the Bible, he seems to say that the OT is focused on land and life in the land, but in the NT, the New Age is focused more on spiritual realities and on the City of Zion, God’s dwelling place.  What he does not recognize is the way land is not shrunk, but expanded in the New Heavens and New Earth.  Whereas God promises the land to Abraham in Genesis, in Romans 4:13, Paul says God promised the Cosmos to Abraham.  Therefore, the promises are not truncated but expanded–to God be the glory!

14. Worship.  Scobie sets this chapter to discuss the When, Where, and How of Worship, but ironically not the What or Who.  Perhaps this is assumed, but in an age of mysticism and spirituality where worship is sold at Wal-Mart, the most important aspect of Worship is not form or function, but who is worshiping Whom.  More could be developed here, from the people who called upon the name of the Lord (Gen. 4:26) to the worshipers around the throne of God (Rev. 4-5).  More concurrently, Scobie’s discussion of baptism was disappointing because of the way that he did not defend his conclusion.  Though he asserted a paedobaptistic view, he defended it with the most minimal biblical support.  Instead, he seems to articulate that credobaptists believe assert human responsibility over divine grace/agency in salvation.  This dichotomy does represent the issue well at all.  I know few Baptists who deny God’s initiating work in salvation, as Scobie seems to paint it.

15. Ministry.  Finally, Scobie addresses ministry and service in the Bible. He lists four kinds of leaders in the OT–elders, priests, prophets, teachers–who he shows to find their ultimate and perfect expression in Jesus Christ.  Moving into the NT, he shows how much he is a product of his ecclesial tradition.  He makes the case for three NT offices, even while admitting that elder and bishop were originally synonymous.  Likewise, he argues for women in ministry, though he does not produce any solid exegetical evidence.  Instead, when coming to “proof texts” like 1 Timothy 2 and 1 Corinthians 14, he inserts other proof texts like Acts 18:26 where “Priscilla taught Apollos” and 1 Cor. 11:5, 13 which showed women prophesying.  In all these cases, he argues that these historical situations should not be presented as normative representations of the church; this is said even after he concedes that Paul roots his argument in 1 Tim. 2 in the created order.

It is in these final two arguments–church government and women in ministry–that Scobie’s greatest weakness emerges.  He is not letting the text shape his theology.  Instead, in working out his BT grid, he is simply adapting it to fit his ecclesial traditions–beliefs that I would contend do not stand up to rigorous biblical considerations.   Likewise, in the way that he truncates certain areas (i.e. the proclamation and promise sections in the Servant’s Vindication), it looks like the weight of his BT model was for him to devote the time to every section.  There are areas in his book where he simply cites the biblical evidence, but does not wrestle with its meaning.  At other places, like here, he simply retreats to the position of his church–three offices for ministry and women as ministers in the church.

Scobie’s work reminds us that while biblical theology is helpful in painting with broad strokes the themes and ideas of the Bible, exegetical studies and systematic theology are absolutely necessary for working out doctrine and applying it to individual lives and local churches.  Scobie’s work is a helpful resource for tracing a doctrine through the Bible, finding places where a theme stands out in the text; however, it is not the place to find help in making decisions about doctrine.  In its articulation of doctrine, it leaves a lot to be desired.

Sola Deo Gloria, dss

Extra- “Ordinary Pastors”

/ davidsschrock / 1 Comment

This week I had the privilege of spending four days with more than 1000 pastors at Moody’s Pastor’s Conference.  It was a joy to get to know just a couple of these faithful shepherds as I manned the SBTS booth and talked to brothers, young and old, about ministry and on-going equipping for ministry.

At the same time, in the off hours of the conference, I had the chance to read through D.A. Carson’s inspiring tribute to his father, Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor: The Life and Reflection of Tom Carson. It was a fitting book to read at a pastor’s conference and it reminded me why no faithful pastor is ‘ordinary,’ and why the ‘ordinary pastors’ that I have come to know in my life are my heroes.  They are the ones I look at and say, “I want to be like them.”  “Ordinary pastors”  long to see Christ glorified at the expense of their own reputations; they sacrifice  time, money, personal leisure, and even ministerial advancement for the sake of soul-winning and commitment to their local flock; they put everything else down so they can pick up their cross and follow their savior.

Most pastors, like Tom Carson and the ones I met this week, will never be known in the world as great, powerful, respectable, or extraordinary, but at the day of judgment they will be the ones whom the Lord Christ honors as those who served his church well–with hearts filled with Christ-adoring faithfulness and not crowd-pleasing fanfare.  They will be the ones who will receive an unfading crown of glory when the chief Shepherd appears (1 Pet. 5:4).  Until then, they may be overshadowed, marginalized, and/or rejected by the men and machinations of this world, but when Christ comes and sets the record straight, any ordinariness will replaced with unreserved and undeserved glory–for the first will be last, and the last shall be first.  This point was brought home this week and gave me a greater appreciation for and desire to be an ordinary pastor.   Consider this moving quote and ask yourself how God might make you more faithful  as a servant of Christ (cf. Heb. 13:7),

Tom Carson never rose very far in denominational structures, but hundreds of people in the Outanouais and beyond testify how much he loved them.  He never wrote a book, but he loved the Book.  He was never wealthy or powerful, but he kept growing as a Christian: yesterday’s grace was never enough.  He was not a far-sighted visionary, but he looked forward to eternity.  He was not a gifted administrator, but there is no text that says, “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you are good administrators.”  His journals have many, many entries bathed in tears of contrition, but his children and grandchildren remember his laughter.  Only rarely did be break through his pattern of reserve and speak deeply and intimately with his children, but he modeled Christian virtues to them.  He much preferred to avoid controversy than to stir things up, but his own commitments to historic confessionalism were unyielding, and in ethics he was a man of principle.  His own ecclesiastical circles were rather small and narrow, but his reading was correspondingly large and expansive.  He was not very good at putting people down, except on his prayer list (D.A. Carson, Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor [Wheaton, IL: Crossway,  2008], 147-48).

Men like Tom Carson and the brothers I met with this week, challenge me to serve our Lord more faithfully and remind me what really matters in life–God, God’s Word, Christ’s church, and telling lost souls the Good News of Jesus Christ.  May we who are in or about to enter the ministry, aspire to such faithful service, and may those who are not called to pastoral ministry pray for their pastor that he would have such a zeal for souls, energy for service, and freedom from pleasing this world.

Sola Deo Gloria, dss