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From: The Gospel Coalition Blog <w...@thegospelcoalition.org>
Date: Fri, Jan 3, 2014 at 7:10 AM
Subject: The Gospel Coalition Blog
To: bethelmi...@gmail.com
The Gospel Coalition Blog |
- The Cross-Shaped Purpose of Life
- The New Year for Your Children
- Anthony Carter on Writing and Ministry
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The Cross-Shaped Purpose of Life Posted: 01 Jan 2014 10:05 PM PST We are born to die. Not that death is the reason why we were born, but it is an inescapable part of our future. Our lives move along a deathward trajectory that none of us, even the most vigorous, can avoid. Therefore, it's important to understand life's purpose. An important voice on the subject of purpose is Jonathan Edwards. On July 8, 1723, Edwards penned his 52nd resolution along this line, asserting: "I frequently hear elderly people express how they would live, if they were to do life over again: [I am] Resolved, that I will live in faithfulness without regret, supposing I live to an old age." God's call is too important to waste time, and, if we're concerned with the advance of Christ's kingdom, we want every ounce of energy to serve its progress. Toward this end, the following video, which we recently filmed in downtown Bologna, Italy, examines the cruciform pattern to which God actively conforms our lives. Meaning and Purpose: Its Cruciform Shape from Chris Castaldo on Vimeo. |
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The New Year for Your Children Posted: 01 Jan 2014 10:01 PM PST We've turned a page on the calendar. For many, the new year signals an opportunity for change. It's the start of a new chapter and the chance to begin fresh and new.
But the one thing we won't hear or see are ads telling us to invest more time in our children. We won't be encouraged to teach our children the Word of God. Amid all the talk about resolutions and goals, we won't hear about the importance of speaking the gospel into the hearts of our children, pouring love into them, and leading them down the path that leads to life. In fact, much of what we hear will tell us to do just the opposite: to fill our time with activities, our minds with the latest news, and our hearts with the love of possessions. And just like the possibilities for the new year, the opportunities to do so are endless. The more our time is consumed with busyness and activities, the less time we have to teach and instruct our children about their Savior. This year, let's be intentional with teaching our children about Christ. While everyone else makes plans and sets goals for all that they will do this year, let's consider specific ways we can point our children to their Savior. Be mindful of teaching moments. The opportunities for teaching and showing our children Jesus are endless. Yet it is so easy to miss these moments. Ask God to open your eyes to see them when they happen. Be prepared to stop whatever you may be doing to relate everyday experiences and situations to God and his Word. Make efforts to use the truths of the gospel in your everyday conversations with your children. Discuss with your spouse areas to target with your children. Perhaps you've noticed a tendency toward lying. Or maybe they struggle with sharing. Whatever it is, select a couple of heart issues to target and help your children. Work together with your spouse to find ways to communicate your concerns with your children. Pray together about your child's spiritual growth. Seek out opportunities to teach lessons that point your children to Christ and what he has done for them. Make intentional plans for what you will teach them this year. Teachers have lesson plans. They have goals for the school year. There are specific lessons a child needs to learn in each grade in order to progress on to the next. In a similar way, we as parents can set goals for what we want our children to learn each year. As they mature and grow, the lessons become deeper. For example, what theological terms are your children ready to learn about this year (for example, the Trinity, sacraments, justification, sanctification, God's sovereignty, God's omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence). What verses are they capable of memorizing? Maybe they are ready to memorize the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments, or the books of the Bible. Consider teaching them catechism questions and creeds from the early church. Ask the Lord to help you be sensitive to his promptings. Above all, be in prayer, asking God to show you what your children need to learn. Make it a daily prayer that he would make you sensitive to teaching moments as they arrive. Seek God's wisdom to guide you as you teach your children about who God is and what he has done for them through Christ. This year, let's encourage one another to seize opportunities to "teach Jesus" to our children. Let's invest in the hearts of those eternal souls entrusted to our care by their Maker. |
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Anthony Carter on Writing and Ministry Posted: 01 Jan 2014 10:01 PM PST It's no secret: pastors like books. We read them, we quote them, we give them away. After all, the foundation for our entire ministry is the written Word of God himself. Take away that book and we have no ministry. But what about the writing of books? How should pastors think about putting words on paper for publication? Anthony Carter, lead pastor of East Point Church in Georgia, has written, co-authored, and contributed to a number of books, including most recently Blood Work. Carter warns against the desire for attention and the distraction that writing can take away from pastoral ministry but also encourages pastors to pursue writing and publishing if they can. You can also read our interview in this series with Timothy Keller. * * * * Should a pastor write? Is writing a valid part of pastoral ministry, or does it distract us from the people we're called to care for?
A young pastor comes to you wanting to be a published writer. What advice do you give him? How should a pastor evaluate and pursue a call to write? All pastors should seek to get published. The process of writing and being published is a great learning experience. It causes you to think about how you communicate outside of sermonic sound bites and gives you another venue through which you can communicate to the congregation. So I would encourage the young pastor to write. However, I would caution him against thinking more highly of his writing than he should. As I said, consider writing as an extension of the pastoral calling, and be contented if no one but people in your local congregation read your book. After all, you have been called to the local flock, not the world. If my congregation reads and is encouraged by what I write, I should consider myself blessed. Writing for publication brings a measure of national attention. How does a published pastor resist temptations to pride and cultivate humility? Actually, most books get published with little to no national attention. If you write for national attention, you are writing for the wrong reasons. I would encourage any pastor to remember and take to heart this sobering reality: Most people won't even know that you have published a book, and the rest won't care. In his book Excellence: The Character of God and the Pursuit of Scholarly Virtue, Andreas Köstenberger says, "Writing never just happens. If you are called to write, you must actively plan for it and doggedly persevere in it." Take us into your writing routine. How do you actively plan for and doggedly persevere in the writing task? I write sermons practically every week. This is the bulk of my writing, and where my writing is primarily concentrated. Writing books or blogs is more a fruit of the preaching ministry than anything else. Consequently, I plan my writing like I plan my sermons. First, I start with an idea that grabs my attention. If I am not interested in what I am writing, I doubt others will be either. Second, I outline my thoughts with the end in mind. What do I want people to take away from this article or book? Then I develop the outline seeking to get myself, and subsequently my readers, to that end. Third, I set aside time where I can spend on the deliberate exercise of writing. Like anything else, writing takes discipline. Discipline is time and effort. Are there any practices or disciplines that have helped you develop skill as a writer? I don't know how much skill I have as a writer. I am sure many would say not much, and I would tend to agree. However, I find that I write better when I read good writing. Good reading is the best discipline I know for being a good writer. In fact, when I read good writers, it does two things: one, I am reminded of how weak my writing is and, two, I am encouraged to try and write better. |
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Bethel Gospel Mission
From: The Gospel Coalition Blog <w...@thegospelcoalition.org>
Date: Sat, Jan 4, 2014 at 7:39 AM
Subject: The Gospel Coalition Blog
To: bethelmi...@gmail.com
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What I Wish I'd Known: Reflections on Nearly 40 Years of Pastoral Ministry Posted: 02 Jan 2014 10:01 PM PST What follows has been adapted from a brief talk I delivered to the Oklahoma chapter of The Gospel Coalition on October 2. Here are 10 things I wish I'd known when I first started out as a pastor.
1. I wish I'd known that people who disagree with me on doctrines I hold dearly can often love God and pursue his glory with as much, and in some cases more, fervency than I do. The sort of intellectual pride that fuels such delusions can be devastating to ministry and will invariably undermine any efforts at broader Christian unity across denominational lines. 2. I wish I'd known about the inevitable frustration that comes when you put your trust in what you think are good reasons why people should remain loyal to your ministry and present in your church. I wish I'd been prepared for the feelings of betrayal and disillusionment that came when people in whom I'd personally invested so much love, time, and energy simply walked away, often with the most insubstantial and flimsiest of excuses. 3. I wish I'd known how deeply and incessantly many (most?) people suffer. Having been raised in a truly functional family in which everyone knew Christ and loved one another, I was largely oblivious to the pain endured by most people who've never known that blessing. For too many years I naively assumed that if I wasn't hurting, neither were they. I wish I'd realized the pulpit isn't a place to hide from the problems and pain of one's congregation; it's a place to address, commiserate with, and apply God's Word to them. 4. I wish I'd known the life-changing truth of Zephaniah 3:17 long before Dennis Jernigan introduced me to it. I'm honored when people thank me for writing a particular book with comments such as "This was very helpful" or "You enabled me to see this truth in a new light," or something similar. But of only one book, The Singing God, have people said, "This changed my life." This isn't some vain attempt to sell more books, but a reminder that most Christians (including pastors) are convinced God is either angry or disgusted with them, or both. I wish I'd known earlier how much he enjoys singing over them (and over me). 5. I wish I'd known how much people's response to me would affect my wife. For many years I falsely assumed her skin was as thick as mine. Regardless of a woman's personality, only rarely will she suffer less than him from criticism directed his way. 6. I wish I'd known how vital it is to understand yourself and to be both realistic and humble regarding what you find. Don't be afraid to be an introvert or extrovert (or some mix of the two). Be willing to take steps to compensate for your weaknesses by surrounding yourself with people unlike you, who make up for your deficiencies and challenge you in healthy ways to be honest about what you can and cannot do. 7. I wish I'd known it's possible to be a thoroughly biblical complementarian and to include women in virtually every area of ministry in the local church. In my early years in ministry, I was largely governed by the fear that to permit women into any form of ministry was to cross an imaginary biblical boundary—even though the Bible never imposes any such restriction on their involvement. I tended to make unwarranted applications by extrapolating from explicit principles something either absent or unneccesary. Aside from senior governmental authority in the local church (the role of elder) and the primary responsibility to expound and apply Scripture, is there anything the Bible clearly says is off-limits to females? Trust me, men, we need them far more than we know. 8. I wish I'd known it was okay to talk about money. Don't be afraid to talk about money. Just be sure you're humble and biblical and don't do it with a view to a salary increase for yourself (unless you genuinely and desperately need one). For far too many years I allowed my disdain for prosperity gospel advocates to silence my voice on the importance of financial stewardship in Christian growth and maturity. I didn't formulate a strategy for calling people to lifelong financial generosity without sounding self-serving. 9. I wish I'd known about the delusion of so-called confidentiality. Pity the man who puts his confidence in confidentiality. You can and must control the information that comes to you, but you can never control the information that comes from you. Once information is out and in the hands of others, never assume it will remain there, notwithstanding their most vigorous promises of silence. Be cautious and discerning about to whom you promise confidentiality, under which conditions (it's rarely if ever unconditional), and in regard to what issues and/or individuals. "Sam, you don't appear to have much trust in human nature, do you?" It's not that I don't trust human nature. I'm actually quite terrified of it! What I trust is Scripture's teaching about human nature. 10. I wish I'd known about the destructive effects of insecurity in a pastor. This is less because I've struggled with it and more due to its effect I've seen in others. Why is insecurity so damaging? • Insecurity makes it difficult to acknowledge and appreciate the accomplishments of others on staff (or in the congregation). In other words, the personally insecure pastor is often incapable of offering genuine encouragement to others. Their success becomes a threat to him, his authority, and his status in the eyes of the people. Thus if you're insecure you likely won't pray for others to flourish. • Insecurity will lead a pastor to encourage and support and praise another pastor only insofar as the latter serves the former's agenda and doesn't detract from his image. • An insecure pastor will likely resent the praise or affirmation other staff members receive from the people at large. • For the insecure pastor, constructive criticism is not received well, but is perceived as a threat or outright rejection. • Because the insecure pastor is incapable of acknowledging personal failure or lack of knowledge, he's often unteachable. He will resist those who genuinely seek to help him or bring him information or insights he lacks. His spiritual growth is therefore stunted. • The insecure pastor is typically heavy-handed in his dealings with others. • The insecure pastor is often controlling and given to micromanagement. • The insecure pastor rarely empowers or authorizes others to undertake tasks for which they're especially qualified and gifted. He won't release others but rather restrict them. • The insecure pastor is often given to outbursts of anger. • At its core, insecurity is the fruit of pride. In summary, and at its core, insecurity results from not believing the gospel. The antidote to feelings of insecurity, then, is the rock-solid realization that one's value and worth are in the hands of God, not others, and that our identity expresses who we are in Christ. Only as we deepen our grasp of his sacrificial love for us will we find the liberating confidence to affirm and support others without fearing their successes or threats. |
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Hearing God in the Midst of Suicidal Thoughts Posted: 02 Jan 2014 10:01 PM PST No one ever suspected. I worked hard to have a polished smile and on-cue laugh. But several times during my teen years I contemplated taking my own life. Had someone asked me why I was thinking about suicide, I would never be able to rationally explain my reasoning. It's hard to admit that I thought life was so hard that I wanted to end it—especially considering how easy my life has been in comparison with people suffering all over the world. It's also hard to describe the experience of depression. It's like trying to describe living in a room that is pitch black.
It can be dangerous to speak generally about depression and suicide, and I don't want to give anyone the impression that such thoughts of self-harm are acceptable. While they are more common than we care to admit, we should not give in to the debilitating lie that death is better than life. This is true especially in light of our overly psychologized culture that too readily qualifies us as victim—and not also a perpetrator in our own mess. No Easy AnswersLest you think that I ascribe an overly simplistic approach to depression (by saying it's all about decisions and doing), let me clarify that I offer an anecdotal account and do not mean to prescribe or denounce your experience. But for those going through such struggles, I hope you may find that much of my antidote—listening for the voice of God in Scripture—will speak to your own experience. I am writing to you who feel like suicide shouldn't even be entering your mind. After all, you have the mind of Christ, and such thoughts seem contradictory to his. You know you have been declared righteous—but you don't care. You just want the world to stop. You want the blur of confusion and numbness to go away. If you could just cast yourself upon the rocks below, you think you would be able to enjoy bliss. Let's start with what we know to be clear in Scripture. You know that it is wrong to murder (Lk 18.20). You know that God will never leave you or forsake you (Heb 13.5). You know you have been brought out of darkness into his marvelous light (1Pet 2.9). Yet you also know that the darkness seems to pull you in like a black hole. No matter how much you preach to yourself, the darkness doesn't flee. You feel alone and forsaken. And you know you have murdered yourself a hundred times over in your heart. God Meets Us in the DarknessThis is where the gospel meets us. The sadness you feel over your sin and the world is exactly how you should feel. The darkness surrounding you is real. No shiny, happy people holding hands here. Grief and disgust is entirely appropriate for our fallen world. When I had suicidal thoughts in my Christian life I used to condemn myself for thinking such horrible things. I used to try to think of my "happy place." But I have come to embrace the reality we live in: This fallen world is painful. God invites you to embrace this sadness, for on the other side lies hope. It may only be a flickering flame, yet it pushes back the darkness. Hear your maker's voice asking, "Where are you?" (Gen 3.9). And as your head is heavy with grief, you hear his voice again saying, "My soul is so sorrowful, even to death" (Matt 26.38). You hear him as he weeps and cries out in anguish. You feel the torment. You grieve. You feel helpless. And yet, you hear his voice again asking, "Why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?" (Jn 20.15). This is the beginning of the remedy. In the midst of your garden of sorrow, seek his face. Know that he was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief (Isa 53.3). You are not alone or forsaken. |
Once I became a Christian, I thought I had victory in Jesus, my Savior. Yet within a few months I found myself fighting the demons again. Why did I continue to struggle with this? Why does depression continue to crouch at my door even today?