2. How healthy are pastors and their families?At our 2006 Reform and Resurge Conference in Seattle, my good friend Pastor Darrin Patrick from The Journey in Saint Louis (www.journeyon.net) spoke frankly of the burden that pastoral ministry is. He presented the following statistics, which he gathered from such organizations as Barna (www.barna.org), Maranatha Life (www.maranathalife.com) and Focus on the Family (www.family.org).
Pastors
- Fifteen hundred pastors leave the ministry each month due to moral failure, spiritual burnout, or contention in their churches.
- Fifty percent of pastors' marriages will end in divorce.
- Eighty percent of pastors and eighty-four percent of their spouses feel unqualified and discouraged in their role as pastors.
- Fifty percent of pastors are so discouraged that they would leave the ministry if they could, but have no other way of making a living.
- Eighty percent of seminary and Bible school graduates who enter the ministry will leave the ministry within the first five years.
- Seventy percent of pastors constantly fight depression.
- Almost forty percent polled said they have had an extra-marital affair since beginning their ministry.
- Seventy percent said the only time they spend studying the Word is when they are preparing their sermons.
Pastors' Wives
- Eighty percent of pastors' spouses feel their spouse is overworked.
- Eighty percent of pastors' spouses wish their spouse would choose another profession.
- The majority of pastors’ wives surveyed said that the most destructive event that has occurred in their marriage and family was the day they entered the ministry.
10.30.2007
Pray For Me
1. Consider Mark Driscoll's "Death By Ministry" series for some ministry advice. Here are some scary stats from Session Two:
10.29.2007
"A Real Minister"
These challenging words are from Mark Dever's essay in Preaching the Cross.
God has always created his people by his Word. It's never been the other way around...
Consider the promotional mail pastors receive. The advertisements assure us success in ministry if we buy a particular product...Many people have an economic interest in making us feel guilty, inadequate, and unequipped. The way to avoid such a snare is by convincing ourselves of the priority and the sufficiency of the ministry of the Word adn to stake our whole service on that.
Do you see how important this is for the glory of God and the good of his people? Why, in so many of our churches, is it unusual to see someone giving their all to follow Christ, and growing in him? Is it because we allowed people who are in open unrepentant sin to continue on in our congregation, and so have diluted the witness, the fellowship? Why have we so neglected church discipline? Is it because we've not followed biblical instructions on leadership in the congregation, and we've also neglected the Bible's clear teaching on church discipline itself? Why have we neglected discipline? Is it because we don't teach about what church membership entails?
And why would that be? Because we haven't made it clear what it really means to be a Christian in the first place? And why would that be? Because we've misunderstood the gospel? How could that be? Because we've misunderstood the Bible? And why would that be the case? Because we've had pastors who - with the best of motives - have given themselves to everything in the world before giving themselves to the study and preaching of the Word! We've spent more time reading our email than our Bible.
10.25.2007
10.18.2007
Quality Rather Than Quantity
Here's an excerpt from a Tozer daily devotional sent to me from a great friend:
Failure and Success: Quantity Rather Than Quality
But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts. For neither at any time did we use flattering words, as you know, nor a cloak for covetousness - God is witness. -1 Thessalonians 2:4-5
Time may show that one of the greatest weaknesses in our modern civilization has been the acceptance of quantity rather than quality as the goal after which to strive....
Christianity is resting under the blight of degraded values. And it all stems from a too-eager desire to impress, to gain fleeting attention, to appear well in comparison with some world-beater who happens for the time to have the ear or the eye of the public.
This is so foreign to the Scriptures that we wonder how Bible-loving Christians can be deceived by it. The Word of God ignores size and quantity and lays all its stress upon quality. Christ, more than any other man, was followed by the crowds, yet after giving them such help as they were able to receive, He quietly turned from them and deposited His enduring truths in the
breasts of His chosen 12....
Pastors and churches in our hectic times are harassed by the temptation to seek size at any cost and to secure by inflation what they cannot gain by legitimate growth. The mixed multitude cries for quantity and will not forgive a minister who insists upon solid values and permanence. Many a man of God is being subjected to cruel pressure by the ill-taught members of his flock who scorn his slow methods and demand quick results and a popular
following regardless of quality.
"Lord, I'm concerned this morning for pastors who are huge successes in Your eyes-because of their faithful, quality-oriented service-but who see themselves as failures because the 'quantity' doesn't seem to come. Open our eyes, Lord, to evaluate our success or failure by Your standards, and be encouraged. Amen."
10.17.2007
10.16.2007
John Paul in Flames
Two incredible statements:1. The Vatican news station has reported a visit from John Paul. "The Daily Mail" reports:
Service director Jarek Cielecki, a Polish priest and close friend of John Paul II, travelled to Poland after hearing an onlooker had photographed the image. Father Cielecki said he was convinced the picture showed the former pontiff.2. In response, "Shirley" claims,
"You can see the image of a person in the flames and I think it is the servant of God, Pope John Paul II," he said.
Each to their own. Don't condemn people's beliefs. If this "vision" is what gives some people comfort, then that is their business.Superstitious, Christ-less "faith" often begets real faith being pushed into the category of "comfort-myth." The truths of Scripture are not considered real knowledge, but reality-less stories to comfort the weak that are best left to personal opinion and preference.
10.11.2007
Dating Jesus
It's not what you think.
Dr. Kostenberger surveys the historical data for the dates of Jesus' birth and death.
Dr. Kostenberger surveys the historical data for the dates of Jesus' birth and death.
10.03.2007
Emergent Church From the Inside
Listen to Mark Driscoll's message at SBTS for a fascinating history, humble confession, and insightful critique.
The Relevance of Indwelling Sin
The "Editor's Note" opening John Owen's Sin and Temptation; The Challenge to Personal Godliness has this:
Our times have been called the "me generation" because of the psychological cult of self-fulfillment and its accompanying narcisism. We live in a society that is deaf to a well-known psychologist's question, "Whatever happened to sin?" O Herbert Mowrer has written candidly about this:It feels loving to pronounce the downtrodden victims. But with the effort at compassion we may have stolen the great hope of recovery: repentance and responsibility.
"For several decades we psychologists looked upon the whole matter of sin adn moral accountability as a great incubus, and acclaimed our liberation from it as epoch making. But at length we have discovered that to be 'free' in this sense, that is to have the excuse of being 'sick' rather than sinful, is to court the danger of also being lost."
We are beginning to see once more that there can be no recovery of self-realization...without the recovery of moral responsibility.
9.20.2007
The Road is Hard
This is the main road in south Sudan - where my in-laws are missionaries. As one pilot put it, this is strong apology for AIM Air.
Pray for our missionaries!
9.18.2007
How to Read Those Hard Psalms
The following is from Justin Taylor:
I recently saw that Peter Leithart referred to John Day's Crying for Justice: What the Psalms Teach Us about Mercy and Vengeance in an Age of Terrorism as the definitive treatment on the imprecatory psalms, and also wrote that the book was "balanced, meticulous, and convincing."
Here are a few notes I took on some of the book's major principles:
Day's Thesis
“In circumstances of sustained injustice, hardened enmity, and gross oppression, it has always been appropriate for a believer to utter imprecations against enemies or to appeal for the onslaught of divine vengeance. In certain instances today, appeals to God for his curse or vengeance are fitting” (pp. 15-16). “It is legitimate at times for God’s present people to utter prayers of imprecation or pleas for divine vengeance—like those in the psalms—against the recalcitrant enemies of God and his people. Such expression is consistent with the ethics of the Old Testament and finds corresponding echo in the New” (p. 109).
Three Groups of Imprecatory Psalms
1. Imprecation against societal enemy (58; 94)
2. Imprecation against nation or community (68; 74; 79; 83; 129; 137)
3. Imprecation against personal enemy (5; 6; 7; 9; 10; 17; 28; 31; 35; 40; 52; 54; 55; 56; 59; 69; 70; 71; 104; 109; 139; 140; 141; 143)
1. Imprecatory psalms express evil emotions that should be suppressed or confessed as sin (C. S. Lewis, Walter Brueggemann).
2. They are utterances consonant with old covenant morality but inconsistent with new covenant ethics (Roy Zuck, J. Carl Laney, Meredith Kline).
3. Such words may be appropriately spoken only by Christ in relation to his work on the cross and only by his followers through him (James Adams, Dietrich Bonhoeffer).
1. The first position fails to adequately account for the imprecatory psalms being inspired by God and the profusion of imprecations in the psalms, which were incorporated in the canon. It also does not sufficiently address the piety of the psalmists and their ethical rationale, the legitimacy of their utterance in light of their OT theological foundations, and the presence of similar imprecations in the NT.
2. The second position overly restricts the definition of love and minimizes the fundamental ethical continuity between the testaments in the outworking of progressive revelation. It does not sufficiently account for the enduring validity of the Abrahamic promise or the presence of personalized imprecations in the NT.
3. The third position overstates David’s position and function as a type of Christ, understates the reality of the historical situations that evoke the utterances, and evades the problem that David did not write all of the imprecatory psalms, let alone the other imprecations in Scripture.
In sum, these three perspectives all share the same fatal flaw: “each explanation ends up distancing the imprecatory psalms from legitimate prayers of God’s people today. This distance is fundamentally foreign to the use of the psalms as they were passed down through history. Indeed, the Psalter in its entirety was incorporated into the Christian canon with the tacit affirmation that it remained a book of worship for God’s people” (p. 35).
Foundations for Imprecation
The foundations for imprecation come most notably from:
1. The promise of divine vengeance in the Song of Moses (Deut. 32:1-43).
2. The principle of divine justice in the lex talionis (e.g., Deut. 19:16-21)
3. The promise of divine cursing in the Abrahamic covenant (Gen. 12:2-3).
1. The vengeance appealed for is not personally enacted. Rather, God is called upon to be the Avenger.
2. This appeal is based upon the covenant promises of God, most notable of which are “He who curses you, I will curse” (Gen. 12:30, and “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay” (Deut. 32:35). If God has so promised, then it would not seem wrong for his people to petition him (even passionately) to fulfill these promises.
3. Both testaments record examples of God’s people on earth calling down curses or crying for vengeance. Yet there is no literary or theological intimation of divine disapproval over such sentiments being expressed. Indeed, the implication is that, in its appropriate place, such utterances are commendable (cf. the imprecatory psalms and the Pauline and Petrine curses of Gal. 1:8-9 and Acts 8:20).
4. Scripture further records an instance in which God’s people in heaven, where there is no sin, cry out for divine vengeance and are comforted by the assurance of its impending enactment (Rev. 6:9-11). Since these martyred saints are perfected, their entreaty would presumably be “right.”
New Testament
1. The ethic of enemy-love and blessing is indeed intensified, and the implications of that ethic are more extensively explored and applied.
2. The presence of justified imprecation also insists that, in some fashion, the utterance of imprecation remains allowable within this elevated ethic of enemy-love and blessing, as it did in the imprecatory psalms.
1. The characteristic virtue of love shown by God and his people
2. The other ethical response is for extreme instances, used when God’s people face sustained injustice, hardened enmity, and gross oppression.
I recently saw that Peter Leithart referred to John Day's Crying for Justice: What the Psalms Teach Us about Mercy and Vengeance in an Age of Terrorism as the definitive treatment on the imprecatory psalms, and also wrote that the book was "balanced, meticulous, and convincing."
Here are a few notes I took on some of the book's major principles:
Day's Thesis
“In circumstances of sustained injustice, hardened enmity, and gross oppression, it has always been appropriate for a believer to utter imprecations against enemies or to appeal for the onslaught of divine vengeance. In certain instances today, appeals to God for his curse or vengeance are fitting” (pp. 15-16). “It is legitimate at times for God’s present people to utter prayers of imprecation or pleas for divine vengeance—like those in the psalms—against the recalcitrant enemies of God and his people. Such expression is consistent with the ethics of the Old Testament and finds corresponding echo in the New” (p. 109).
Three Groups of Imprecatory Psalms
1. Imprecation against societal enemy (58; 94)
2. Imprecation against nation or community (68; 74; 79; 83; 129; 137)
3. Imprecation against personal enemy (5; 6; 7; 9; 10; 17; 28; 31; 35; 40; 52; 54; 55; 56; 59; 69; 70; 71; 104; 109; 139; 140; 141; 143)
Three Major Solutions
1. Imprecatory psalms express evil emotions that should be suppressed or confessed as sin (C. S. Lewis, Walter Brueggemann).
2. They are utterances consonant with old covenant morality but inconsistent with new covenant ethics (Roy Zuck, J. Carl Laney, Meredith Kline).
3. Such words may be appropriately spoken only by Christ in relation to his work on the cross and only by his followers through him (James Adams, Dietrich Bonhoeffer).
Why These Solutions Are Unsatisfactory
1. The first position fails to adequately account for the imprecatory psalms being inspired by God and the profusion of imprecations in the psalms, which were incorporated in the canon. It also does not sufficiently address the piety of the psalmists and their ethical rationale, the legitimacy of their utterance in light of their OT theological foundations, and the presence of similar imprecations in the NT.
2. The second position overly restricts the definition of love and minimizes the fundamental ethical continuity between the testaments in the outworking of progressive revelation. It does not sufficiently account for the enduring validity of the Abrahamic promise or the presence of personalized imprecations in the NT.
3. The third position overstates David’s position and function as a type of Christ, understates the reality of the historical situations that evoke the utterances, and evades the problem that David did not write all of the imprecatory psalms, let alone the other imprecations in Scripture.
In sum, these three perspectives all share the same fatal flaw: “each explanation ends up distancing the imprecatory psalms from legitimate prayers of God’s people today. This distance is fundamentally foreign to the use of the psalms as they were passed down through history. Indeed, the Psalter in its entirety was incorporated into the Christian canon with the tacit affirmation that it remained a book of worship for God’s people” (p. 35).
Foundations for Imprecation
The foundations for imprecation come most notably from:
1. The promise of divine vengeance in the Song of Moses (Deut. 32:1-43).
2. The principle of divine justice in the lex talionis (e.g., Deut. 19:16-21)
3. The promise of divine cursing in the Abrahamic covenant (Gen. 12:2-3).
1. The vengeance appealed for is not personally enacted. Rather, God is called upon to be the Avenger.
2. This appeal is based upon the covenant promises of God, most notable of which are “He who curses you, I will curse” (Gen. 12:30, and “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay” (Deut. 32:35). If God has so promised, then it would not seem wrong for his people to petition him (even passionately) to fulfill these promises.
3. Both testaments record examples of God’s people on earth calling down curses or crying for vengeance. Yet there is no literary or theological intimation of divine disapproval over such sentiments being expressed. Indeed, the implication is that, in its appropriate place, such utterances are commendable (cf. the imprecatory psalms and the Pauline and Petrine curses of Gal. 1:8-9 and Acts 8:20).
4. Scripture further records an instance in which God’s people in heaven, where there is no sin, cry out for divine vengeance and are comforted by the assurance of its impending enactment (Rev. 6:9-11). Since these martyred saints are perfected, their entreaty would presumably be “right.”
New Testament
The NT data speaks in two directions:
1. The ethic of enemy-love and blessing is indeed intensified, and the implications of that ethic are more extensively explored and applied.
2. The presence of justified imprecation also insists that, in some fashion, the utterance of imprecation remains allowable within this elevated ethic of enemy-love and blessing, as it did in the imprecatory psalms.
In the Scriptures of both testaments two reactions toward enmity are given:
1. The characteristic virtue of love shown by God and his people
2. The other ethical response is for extreme instances, used when God’s people face sustained injustice, hardened enmity, and gross oppression.
The Best Teacher For Right Living
John Calvin wrote (Institutes, 41)
"For this sense of the divine perfections is the proper master to teach us piety, out of which religion springs. By piety I mean that union of reverence and love to God which the knowledge of his benefits inspires. For until men feel that they owe everything to God, that they are cherished by his paternal care, and that he is the author of all their blessings, so that naught is to be looked for away from him, they will never submit to him in voluntary obedience; nay unless they place their entire happiness in him, they will never yield up their whole selves to him in truth and sincerity."
When we love holiness (God) we will live holiness (a godly life).
"For this sense of the divine perfections is the proper master to teach us piety, out of which religion springs. By piety I mean that union of reverence and love to God which the knowledge of his benefits inspires. For until men feel that they owe everything to God, that they are cherished by his paternal care, and that he is the author of all their blessings, so that naught is to be looked for away from him, they will never submit to him in voluntary obedience; nay unless they place their entire happiness in him, they will never yield up their whole selves to him in truth and sincerity."
When we love holiness (God) we will live holiness (a godly life).
9.15.2007
9.14.2007
Wimpy Christians
"Wimpy worldviews produce wimpy Christians. And wimpy Christians will not survive the days that are coming. It would be a piece of cake to pastor a church and produce wimpy Christians. Just constantly coddle you; do a little survey every week about what you want to hear and then tell you… Producing wimpy Christians is easy. You make money at it. Get a big church. That’s not what I’m called to do. I want to produce Christians who stand in the last day! …Wimpy Christians won’t last! And wimpy worldviews produce wimpy Christians."
This quote is from John Piper's sermon, "The Fatal Disobedience of Adam and the Triumphant Obedience of Christ". This sermon is part of the fabulous series, "Spectacular Sins and Their Global Purpose in the Glory of Christ."
Find it all (so far) here:
All Things Were Created Through Him and for Him
The Fall of Satan and the Victory of Christ
The Fatal Disobedience of Adam and the Triumphant Obedience of Christ
The Pride of Babel and the Praise of Christ
The Sale of Joseph and the Son of God
This quote is from John Piper's sermon, "The Fatal Disobedience of Adam and the Triumphant Obedience of Christ". This sermon is part of the fabulous series, "Spectacular Sins and Their Global Purpose in the Glory of Christ."
Find it all (so far) here:
All Things Were Created Through Him and for Him
Colossians 1:9-20
August 12, 2007
The Fall of Satan and the Victory of Christ
Genesis 3:1-15
August 19, 2007
The Fatal Disobedience of Adam and the Triumphant Obedience of Christ
Romans 5:12-21
August 26, 2007
The Pride of Babel and the Praise of Christ
Genesis 11:1-9
September 2, 2007
The Sale of Joseph and the Son of God
Genesis 37:1-36
September 9, 2007
9.13.2007
Fake Holiness
Our church is enjoying Bridges' Pursuit of Holiness. It is a rich and helpful book - we have the 2006 editions.
On the very first page are two promos. The second reads as follows:
"Jerry Bridges gives timeless insight into a timeless problem: in our own pursuit of holiness, it's easy to end up in the ditch of legalism on one side of the road or lethargy on the other. The Pursuit of Holiness has helped so many believers navigate the tricky but vitally important road to personal holiness. The book should be on every Christian leader's shelf."
This is a fine and true statement.
The author? Ted Haggard. Former mega-pastor and president of evangelicals. And you probably know what he's been up to of late...massive unholiness to say the least.
Though it is embarrassing, I'm glad that name and quote are on that first page in my book on holiness. It gives me strong warning to remember that fake holiness is easy - and that it lurks in my heart. It causes me to tremble that my holiness might not only be of the bookshelf and not of the heart. And it pleads with me to "Strive for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord." (Hebrews 12.14)
On the very first page are two promos. The second reads as follows:
"Jerry Bridges gives timeless insight into a timeless problem: in our own pursuit of holiness, it's easy to end up in the ditch of legalism on one side of the road or lethargy on the other. The Pursuit of Holiness has helped so many believers navigate the tricky but vitally important road to personal holiness. The book should be on every Christian leader's shelf."
This is a fine and true statement.
The author? Ted Haggard. Former mega-pastor and president of evangelicals. And you probably know what he's been up to of late...massive unholiness to say the least.
Though it is embarrassing, I'm glad that name and quote are on that first page in my book on holiness. It gives me strong warning to remember that fake holiness is easy - and that it lurks in my heart. It causes me to tremble that my holiness might not only be of the bookshelf and not of the heart. And it pleads with me to "Strive for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord." (Hebrews 12.14)
To The King of France
Nuggets from John Calvin's letter to the King of France (as found in the prelude to the Institutes)
The Mark of Sound Doctrine:
"But the mark of sound doctrine given by our Saviour himself is its tendency to promote the glory not of men, but of God."
The Future of Christ's Church:
"The Church of Christ assuredly has lived, and will live, as long as Christ shall reign at the right hand of the Father. By his hand it is sustained, by his protection, defended, by his mighty power preserved in safety."
The Characteristic of True Government:
“The characteristic of a true sovereign is, to acknowledge that, in the administration of his kingdom, he is a minister of God. He who does not make his reign subservient to the divine glory, acts the part not of a king, but of a robber.”
Wow.
The Mark of Sound Doctrine:
"But the mark of sound doctrine given by our Saviour himself is its tendency to promote the glory not of men, but of God."
The Future of Christ's Church:
"The Church of Christ assuredly has lived, and will live, as long as Christ shall reign at the right hand of the Father. By his hand it is sustained, by his protection, defended, by his mighty power preserved in safety."
The Characteristic of True Government:
“The characteristic of a true sovereign is, to acknowledge that, in the administration of his kingdom, he is a minister of God. He who does not make his reign subservient to the divine glory, acts the part not of a king, but of a robber.”
Wow.
"God, Psychology, and Christian Care of the Soul"
Thanks to the Duke of Data for the reminder...
From Desiring God:
God, Psychology, and Christian Care of the Soul, Part 1 
Listen | 
Download
God, Psychology, and Christian Care of the Soul, Part 2
God, Psychology, and Christian Care of the Soul, Part 3
God, Psychology, and Christian Care of the Soul, Panel Discussion
God, Psychology, and Christian Care of the Soul, Greg Livingstone
From Desiring God:
2001 Desiring God Conference for Pastors
January 29, 2001
David Powlison
Listen | DownloadGod, Psychology, and Christian Care of the Soul, Part 2
2000 Desiring God Conference for Pastors
January 30, 2001
David Powlison
God, Psychology, and Christian Care of the Soul, Part 3
2001 Desiring God Conference for Pastors
January 30, 2001
David Powlison
God, Psychology, and Christian Care of the Soul, Panel Discussion
2001 Desiring God Conference for Pastors
January 31, 2001
Various
God, Psychology, and Christian Care of the Soul, Greg Livingstone
2001 Desiring God Conference for Pastors
January 31, 2001
Greg Livingstone
9.11.2007
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