Tag: worship

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Charge to Athanasius Presbytery

The life of the ministry is a life of theological self-giving. The minister gives away wisdom, learning, and life in everything he does. The very clerical collar he wears is a sign of that sacrificial life.

Paul’s words to Timothy fit this profile:

…give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. 16 Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.

A minister must rightly divide the word of truth. He must be a compelling interpreter, a respecter of the Word’s purity, internal logic, and redemptive flow. This is the standard for ministers as they come to be examined, and it is the expectation of those must give an account to our Great Shepherd.

Among the pastoral candidates who came for ordination in Geneva under the tutelage of the Company of Pastors, the vast majority were properly equipped theologically; they were not ashamed of the Word and their calling. However, some of them lacked theological gravitas prompting pastor Antoine de La Faye to say that a few were not even “qualified to watch goats.” Those were often sent home to study for a season or encouraged to find other professions. It reminds me of the advice my old professor Steve Brown gave to a young man after hearing him preach: “Young man, can you do anything else?” This is far from a harsh assessment; indeed, not many should be teachers.

Calvin viewed ministerial preparation as essential to developing a healthy city; thus, putting into place learning academies and offering opportunities for theological growth became an essential component of the city’s learning revolution. Calvin’s zeal for proper training of pastoral candidates came from what he viewed as a lack of equipped pastors in the day. Further, there were some clear signs that “vagabond ministers” traveling around Europe were causing dissension and assuming leadership positions “without oversight.”

The impetus for pastoral training was an outworking of the general premise Calvin had for regular Christian living. One could say that for Calvin, the process of doing theology was to adore God, and one could only adore God rightly by learning theology.

The training process equipped candidates to endure the lengthy but careful ordination process, which included examining piety and theology. “The Venerable Company” had a disposition towards candidates whose training included the liberal arts, biblical exegesis, theology, and practical experience. The preparatory season occurred in community settings where candidates were encouraged to attend Hebrew and Greek lectures and sharpen their rhetorical and dialectic skills.

Certain days were set aside for pastoral candidates to deliver sermons in the presence of members of the Venerable Company and test their abilities to debate issues confronting the civil and ecclesiastical scene of the day. With the learning process completed, Calvin and Beza, and other members of the Company of Pastors led the ordination process. Biblical knowledge took a central focus in the examining process under the assumption that if a candidate did not know his Bible well, his ministry would not prosper under God’s guidance.

The ordination examination had three sections. First, there was an examination for the candidates, which lasted for about two hours on various theological issues about the biblical text. Second, following the principles laid in I Timothy 3 and Titus 1, the pastoral candidate underwent examination concerning his moral standing in his familial and public life. Finally, there were trial sermons where the candidate provided an astute presentation of a text to reveal his ability to properly divide the word of truth and his skills to handle the text. The process was long and tedious, but Calvin believed that if a new reformation was to inundate the land, ministers should be men of learning committed to the authority of the Bible and pious servants of the great Shepherd, Jesus Christ.

It is our privilege today to continue with the next three candidates for pastoral ministry. The examining committees have affirmed that these men have shown enough knowledge in all these fields to come before the presbytery. And they have assured me that they are equipped to enter into Gospel ministry. We hope that these examinations will serve more as additional confirmation of their call, and we are eager to rejoice that God has called these brothers to share in the life of theological self-giving for the sake of the flock.

Let us pray: O God of eternal praise, you have equipped and called these your servants to the frontlines of Gospel activity in your holy church. Remind them of the gracious call to serve your flock, and give them the wisdom to remember, rejoice, and reflect on your kindness through Jesus Christ, the Great Shepherd, Amen.

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Three Virtues of Lion-Hearted People

We were doing our Brito dance this morning to the melody of a contemporary song written in 1712 called “Rise Again, Ye Lion-Hearted.” The boys joined for all stanzas ’cause they’re lion-hearted and all and they have sung it enough that it flows through their blood.

Singing it again this morning reminded me of the forcefulness and necessity of this song for our day. Following are three needed virtues for our day.

Hear ye:

“Honor, gold, they laugh to scorn…”

Lion-hearted men and women scorn the world’s riches. When the naked emperor offers wine, women, and song to any who would forsake Messiah Jesus, the saints mock their offers. He knows that there is no earthly wealth that can surpass the glories and abundance of heaven. When elites offer us a seat at the table with their six-course meals and galas and flatter us with empty words, and “honor” us with prestigious job offers if only we would leave out one of our convictions at the table, lion-hearted children laugh at their contracts. We refuse to be Peter Enns for a chance at notoriety.

2. “Songs of praise outpouring…”

When you put several naked Christians in the arena, taunt them, ridicule their God, and open the gates for ferocious lions, there is only one logical thing to do: we sing.

Our age is completely ripe for the kind of singing I have been advocating for a long time. You cannot face the arena with songs about a secret and a quiet place; that kind of pious gush may scare away kitties, but not hungry beasts. Arenas are made for Athanasius figures, Elizabeth Elliot, and bold singers. The arena is the place for practicing warriors who have been trained to use their voices to fight demons. From the lips of children, God uses our music to frighten foe and avenger; lions and leftists.

3. “Loyal, staunch, and true to Thee.”

This glorious hymn closes with a vocal call to faithfulness; this hearty theology of perseverance that grabs us by our baptisms and releases us at death. If we have learned anything, it is that the greatest threat to the Church today is the allures of the world, the flesh and the devil. And these temptations come in all shapes and sizes.

Christians, however, ought to be masters of repentance and turning their heads away from enslaving rituals. These enslaving rituals keep us away from the battle, and we need to be so daring that the battle is always coming to us, which means that we must keep the devil and his nephews fully aware of the threat we pose to them.

~~~

We take our stand joyously because our scorning of evil, our songs of praise, and our vibrant loyalty will determine whether we will rise again, or whether we shall be content in our slumber.”Joyously they take their stand on the arena’s bloody sand.”

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Becoming a Radical

An esteemed friend I have loved for many years recently stated that he was radicalized during COVID. His antennas became more attuned to the shenanigans of the state. Similarly, I think it is safe to say I have been radicalized in the academy of no-non-sense against leftist ideology. There were simply too many issues to test our theories. And every time I did the scientific experiment it ended with the same results.

But, of course, I was already a radical by the very nature of my affiliations and theological affinities. But practically, my expectations will be much of the same and more of the same and the same of more when it comes to specific institutions. I have no doubt many of these folks, especially those who cherish the Nicene Creed, are of good nature and take their trash out to the curb on Thursday nights, and I am also sure they have a sweet disposition towards their children, but I will no longer assume as I did once that they want biblical authority to permeate everything.

I believe that places like Christianity Today are not institutions of theological integrity. I firmly believe they wish to lead the Church in a direction that does not lead back to Machen and Van Til and Sproul but to Schleiermacher and mainline-ism.

Mark Galli’s recent statements that CT writers are more interested in the approval of the New York Times and other “respectable” magazines is an indication that the Billy Graham era is over and CT has become just another tool to propagate whatever is most classically unconservative. This has been true for some time, but sometimes institutions make themselves abundantly clear. Suffice to say, CT is headed towards oblivion, and the respect they think they will earn from MSNBC as whistleblowers for true orthodoxy will quickly evaporate.

I am desensitized to these cowardly attempts at respectability. I am no longer shocked or dismayed. I will join critiques of Mark Driscoll on a host of issues, but I will not accept that the best critics of Driscoll are leftist mainline female priests or ambulance chasing feminists or CT’s book awards. What these folks are looking for are examples of abuse anywhere to destroy conservative causes everywhere. While they may have good intentions, their telos is absolutely malicious. They do not lead to a “Jesus-loves-me-this-I-know-for-the-Bible-tells-me-so hermeneutic. Instead, they eagerly embrace critical hermeneutics to matters regarding race like classic liberalism welcomed higher criticism to the issues regarding inerrancy. They are seeking to domesticate Jesus, and in doing so, they domesticate his word.

Jesus has no patience for expertise religiosity and scribal law-making; he eagerly takes them apart for their cunning ways and fashionable statements. Our Lord eagerly overthrows their tradition-painted tables and mocks them in derision. The way to avoid this blabbering of foolishness is to stay close to those who share the sentiments of the healthy iconoclasts like Luther and Machen. Eat together. Laugh together. Eat at the table of our Lord together. Sing Psalms together, and on this latter point, I am not aware of any institution that sings imprecatory psalms that fall for this 1st grade understanding of ethics and politics. If we keep cultivating biblical authority in the little acts, we too will be radicalized towards more biblical fidelity.

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Deaths and Resurrections

God is a God of deaths and resurrections. His world is a constant refrain of repetitive themes. We might say that God is gloriously repetitive. He repeats themes because his creation reflects his thematic ability to kill and make alive. God gives us and takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord.

The practicality of such historical imperatives is that phases of history come to an end, and God brings new stages fresh from heaven. Humans experience this often in daily life. Parents, in particular, see these transitional phases occurring with frequency. Diapers, potty training, speech, and sicknesses are all a part of the grand scheme of transitions in the home. Little deaths provide new liberties.

In very tangible ways, the Church is transitioning as well in our day. Many whose commitment to the sacred scriptures was a vital part of their DNA have had two years to navigate their convictions to test their loyalties. In the process, many things have died, and many new things are flourishing. The natural quest for neutrality is over! In fact, the game is over. Neutrality is a myth, but beyond that, it’s a death—the good kind. Some deaths are needed in the Church to awaken her to her responsibilities and plant her in new pastures.

As I have said throughout this season, men need to put away their baby bottles and dust off their wedding glasses and pour the real, unadulterated stuff in them. It’s time to man up, love up, and serve up! Neutrality is dead!

This entails that church life needs serious invigoration in the days ahead. The kinds of churches that prepared you for tea parties won’t survive another generation. The types of churches that prepared you for martyrdom will shine like the sun. Deaths are coming, but resurrections are in high demand, and God loves when we petition him to raise the dead.

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The Case for Children in Worship, Part 6

We love our children! We love being with them when they wake up and we love their snuggles at night before bed. There are so many magical moments of parenting. But let the parent who speaks always smilingly of parenting throw the first stone! Don’t tell me you don’t long for that bedtime with fierce determination; don’t tell me you don’t long for some precious time with your spouse!? Don’t tell me you don’t long for conversations with big people for a change?

We shouldn’t feel guilty about this…no, not once. We pour our hearts into our little ones, but if sleep cycles didn’t exist, none of us would be a parent for longer than a week. In much of our conversation about parenting, we tend to fall into pious overload mode and treat parenting as if it were so easy that anyone could do it well with a little prep time and a few tips from our favorite parenting guru. But anyone putting on their reality glasses understands that parenting is much more complicated and that we need additional times when life isn’t a liturgy of diapers and breaking up squabbles and cleaning mushed green beans from the floor.

I have thus far encouraged parents to keep their squiggly bundle of energy with them during the entire service. Aren’t I asking for a little too much? Shouldn’t I be content with simply allowing parents to enjoy a precious 75-90 minutes of pure and uninterrupted bliss of worship without keeping them on their feet…again on the Lord’s Day?

I promise I am not a tyrant; I am a benevolent pastor who sees your woes because I am fairly self-aware of the work I do as a father and the double/triple work my wife does when I leave those doors to the office in the morning and the remarkable job a single mom does who doesn’t have that additional voice to harmonize her strategies.

So, the final argument essentially ponders why a parent would have to sacrifice fellowship time catching up with good friends for an additional hour of navigating the wants of tiny people who incidentally want a lot. The answer is that we need to view our worship service as fellowship with the Triune God who invites our little children to come unto Him. Ultimately, that is worship.

There are plenty of opportunities for more substantial fellowship that will require some sacrifice. Perhaps dad stays home a night or two while mom spends some time with friends and vice-versa. We should allow Sundays to function as a day where we fellowship in a unique way (in the context of worship), but build the rationale for fellowship in a more intimate way outside the Sunday environment.

As a pastor, I usually have 20-25 different conversations before and after worship, but most of them involve catching up, and if there is a need for something more intimate, a parishioner and I will come to an agreement about what day to meet and discuss certain matters. Similarly, Sunday should function not as a time to have real conversations that must exclude children, but it should be used as an opportunity to make plans to meet in a more favorable environment.

Again, children shouldn’t be a hindrance to such fellowship. Certain phases of life mean that our conversations take place in a particular way. I often say that parents fellowship on the basis of fragmented sentences. We have this unique opportunity to begin conversations and then continue them 10 minutes later after dealing with whatever “emergency” our children may have.

In sum, I firmly believe that none of these reasons should distract us from healthy community life, and in fact, children provide an abundance of opportunities for beautiful learning and growing together in grace in the context of worship and fellowship.

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Church Vaccine Mandates

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Last Monday, I had talked about the expansive demand among churches to require vaccine proof before parishioners walk into their building to worship. Some inquired if this even existed. No one inquires now. I argued that these pastors need to be defrocked and that there was a legitimate rationale to leave these churches in good standing. I and many other pastors would demand a letter of transfer and take you in as a refugee.

I am certain that a majority of us would never have fathomed at the beginning of this brouhaha that there would be church officers demanding proof of a vaccine at the entrance door before worship. The reality is creeping in like a leviathan. Its movements are heavy and felt everywhere. It is not a 1/1 correspondence, but you can easily see that the majority of these same congregations produce woke waters among them and show incredible fondness for leftist politics/causes. The rule of thumb is, “If Al Sharpton likes it, then run for the hills.” If that seems a little too far off of an example, try this one: “If Russell Moore speaks positively of it on Morning Joe, go the other direction.” Again, the numbers are not exact, but it is significant to make a pattern and from that pattern, you can draw ducks, and if it quacks like a duck, it’s a leftist leaning church.

Now, if these conclusions seem too absurd to you, then you and I are drinking very different whiskey or sweet tea. There is a high likelihood that you are perceiving these movements as absolutely neutral and that such decisions have no impact on theological discourse. Well, I have been alive long enough to know that when Herodias puts on a party, she’s got some nefarious intent in mind.

I am old enough to remember when REVOICE was only an attempt at celibate Christianity, but now it’s become the lingua franca among too many once faithful churches. Who knew that to be gay and Christian could be uttered in the same sentence in the local Presbyterian church?

There is a 100% chance that these same churches, once bastions of Reformed orthodoxy, are also the ones compelling people to show them the proof before you come in to sit in those pews. I am not a gambling man, but that has never prevented me from putting some money on a monopoly game. These are the same churches advocating for racial reconciliation on the basis of the “Woke Church” textbook during Sunday School. They are the same guys endorsing White Fragility events.

And now you may wonder: will restaurants and rotary clubs do the same? You betcha and they already are. As churches go, so go Walmarts. They will do it with utter ease, and many will gladly go along with it. In case you are wondering, “What would I do in such situations?” Thanks for asking. Well, whether vaccinated or not, I would stay away from any restaurant or church that requires vaccination proof. They will not get a cent of my devotion or dinero. It’s a principle. I am not boycotting, for boycotting would mean I don’t like the moral direction of an institution, but what I am saying is that I don’t like an institution requiring me to put something inside my body unless it is the food they offer. Here, ethics has become existential and applicable. Boycotting is too nice to describe what I am proposing.

What is my best-case scenario from this turmoil?

That institutions will grasp ever more significantly that an inch thou givest a mile they takest.

That institutions will be re-invigorated to think more carefully about governmental overreach.

That new institutions will be formed from this and that they will have the backbone layered with courage.

That institutions will know henceforth that little acts based on compassion do not produce truthful institutions, but perhaps undiscerning bodies.

In some ways, we live in a day where there is competition among platforms of good works. Everyone states that what they are doing stems from a heart of goodness towards their neighbor. But the end result has been catastrophic. Not all good works are made equal; some are made out of naivete. That nice guy you let into your house to rest his body from a long journey took all your belongings during the night. But you could have seen it if you had just asked him a few questions the night before, but you preferred to love thy neighbor like a cheesy Hallmark card. 

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Leisure in Worship

Leisure plays an important part in the Christian life. In leisure scholarship, one prevailing definition is that leisure is anything that is not a part of earning a living. So, that leisure becomes enjoyment in the acts of eating out, fellowshipping with friends, and a movie at the theater, etc. Some say that leisure is a form of contemplative time when a person sits and meditates on the blessed realities of life like remembering the goodness of God outside of work. Leisure is an entirely fascinating area of study.

For the Christian, the entire endeavor under the category of leisure or recreation assumes a much more holistic definition. The Apostle Paul says, “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it to the glory of God.” Paul saw the whole body of human endeavor and said, “Here’s the deal: just do everything out of sheer doxology.” Love, work, work and love, leisure and contemplation, contemplation and leisure, singing and chewing, chewing and singing with your hearts lifted up to the Lord.

As we prepare to worship the Father, Son, and Spirit, we take pleasure in the act of worship for though it takes work to praise Yahweh, it is also an act of sheer pleasure and joy. Worship is the playground of God where servants take up instruments of praise, where children lift up holy hands and the house of God becomes a joyful invitation to the world. Come and play with us! Come and taste and see the goodness of God s we leisure in the presence of angels and archangels. Come, let us worship!

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The Case for Christian Education

One of the more audacious positions of Providence Church (CREC) is that it does not speak adoringly of public education. Our Book of Memorials says the following:

“Government schools tend to be, by decree and design, explicitly godless, and therefore normally should not be considered a legitimate means of inculcating true faith, holy living, and a decidedly Christian worldview in the children of Christian parents. Therefore, we strongly encourage Christian parents to seek alternative ways of educating their children, whether by means of Christian schools or homeschooling. In cases, where Christian education is an impossibility, parents must be active and diligent in overseeing the education of their children.”

In my southern context, most evangelical churches have a host of children populating local public schools. And as I understand it, opposing public schools is not the sort of topic that grants pastors awards in local ceremonies. Now, mind you, we are not speaking here of the responsibility to bear witness by some mature Christian adults who sense a calling to instruct and minister in that environment. Indeed, I know many who do great work in the public corridors. I bless them with every ounce of my being.

What we are arguing against is the intentionality of sending covenant children to learn under almost always ungodly curriculums. The responsibility God places upon parents to provide a Christian education is too abundant (Deut. 6, Eph. 6), which means that indoctrination is a means of grace to our children. We teach in order to inculcate a particular form of training for our local collection of arrows (Ps. 127-128); the kind that pastes on their foreheads all thoughts of Jesus applied to the earthly terrain of Mathematics and Moravian culture. You may say, “But education is neutral; we can just train them when they get home at night.” Well, I applaud your enthusiasm, but there are intellectual corpses all over the Red Sea of those who followed that logic.

Of course, no education is foolproof. Education A does not necessitate Godliness A. But Christian Education A offers a type of godliness in learning, logic, and leisure that benefits the cause of Christendom. Now, I have been advocating for this for over 15 years. Back then, it wasn’t that popular, but in our day, some have come to the obvious conclusion that such opposition to public education is the right one because the Democrats are eager to give transgender students the option of choosing their bathrooms and locker room and are enforcing mask mandates on little children. If this caused you to jump on the Christian education train now, I am grateful. Whether for pragmatic reasons or not, do it. And the hope is that pragmatism becomes dogma. Find your local Christian school or homeschool co-op in your town and go for it with every Herculian strength you have left.

In our congregation, we try to live out these principles by dedicating some money to help parents follow what we believe to be biblical and true about education. So, if parent A says, “Look, you all are speaking from a position of luxury. We can’t afford to put our children in a Christian school or to bring mom back home to homeschool,” we offer some economic encouragement to aid members to make that decision much simpler. But the one thing we wish to also do if you think this is still an impossibility is to help you –assuming you inquire–to look at your financial priorities on the table and analyze whether that iPhone 12 pro-max is really worth more than a semesters’ worth of books, or whether that middle-age crisis vehicle is really as important as a faithful education for your offspring.

Obviously, there are some nuances to this conversation and some exceptions, but the bottom line is that the longer you look at the exceptions and nuances, your answer will always be the same. But if you begin to look at the principle as the thing you pursue doggedly, then suddenly the exceptions and nuances become lesser things than they were just a day or two ago.

And speaking of nuances, if a family desires to keep their kids in the public school system for whatever reason, but still love our body enough to endure my occasional meanderings about the dangers of public schools, they are welcome to join our church as members, so long as they eagerly seek the well-being of the body and are not divisive. In my estimation, what we are after is not adherents of Christian education, but adherents of Christendom who believe Christ died to make us whole as students and servants of the kingdom. We happen to believe that Christian education best serves that purpose.

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Children as Distraction

When I was a pastoral intern, I remember someone approaching me after a service and confessing that she simply couldn’t tolerate little children in worship because of their noises. “They were a distraction,” she said angrily. I often think this is the way many evangelicals view children: as distractions. They are distractions at home, so we find ways to entertain them rather than engage them. They are a distraction at church, so we do the same.

The disciples rebuked our Lord because they believed that the children were a distraction to Jesus’ “real” ministry (Mat. 19:13). But Jesus rebuked the disciples and said his ministry is to draw little children to him and to build a kingdom through the faith of those little disciples.

When we send our children to another gathering away from Jesus’ central gathering in worship, we are creating a separate class within Jesus’ earthly kingdom. Even though our intentions may be pure, we may be thinking as the disciples did and thereby missing the opportunity for Jesus to place his hands upon them and bless them with His love (Mat. 19:15).

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God’s Communication in Worship

God communicates his Gospel in many ways this morning. God’s language is his service to us. He could have focused exclusively on our sin. “You are sinners! Remember your sinfulness, confess your sinfulness, be ashamed of your sinfulness and the sinfulness of your sin!” But that language, though critical to the Gospel, is a small part of his conversation. He also communicates in explanations, in absolution, in singing, food, and drink and with his presence. Aren’t you glad God’s language is not one-sided; aren’t you glad that He serves you in more than one way? Aren’t you glad that His Gospel is yours to be heard, embraced, cherished, absorbed and eaten? Prepare for God’s Gospel through his many ways of communication.

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