What are we Saying?

Last night I had the opportunity to speak at the Baptist Collegiate Ministries at Virginia Tech. I spoke on "Missions is a Blood Issue" based on Revelation 5:9-10, "And they sang a new song, saying, 'Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.'" My challenge to them was that missions was important because Christ spilled out His blood for people from every tribe and language and people and nation.

This has me thinking today. What are we saying if we are not involved in fulfilling what Christ Himself died to fulfill? In other words, if Christ has purchased people from every tribe, and His sheep will hear his voice (John 10:16), then what are we saying by not taking this seriously? I think we're saying the death of Christ on behalf of His sheep isn't all that important to us. What do you think?

Churches Planting Churches

Ed Stetzer gives 10 Reasons to Partner in Planting Now. Here are the 10 reasons, but I would encourage you to go and check out what he writes.

1. The current economy is a perfect opportunity.

2. Plants do better when local people are sent out.

3. Churches get healthier as and after they plant another church.

4. Shared DNA is better than solo DNA.

5. Planters who partner benefit from increased accountability.

6. Partnerships lessen the financial and resource burdens.

7. People in the community need to reach their community.

8. You can take advantage of more effective exposure.

9. It creates a vivid witness.

10. It is ultimately Kingdom-minded.

Called to Lay Down Your Life

Several weeks ago we had a deacon ordination at our church. As I was researching the passage I wanted to preach from that morning I ended up in Mark 10:35-45. The reason is not because that passage has to do with the office of deacon, but because it captures the heart of everyone involved in deacon ministry. In this passage James and John ask Jesus to do for them whatever they ask. They proceed to ask to sit on His right hand and left hand in glory. They did not display a servant attitude.

However, the other disciples did not either. Verse 41 says, "And when the then heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John." The response of these disciples was not what Jesus wanted either. All of the disciples in this passage missed the way in which Jesus would build His kingdom. So Jesus responds in verses 42-45 by showing that the way to be great in His kingdom is to become a servant of all.

Interestingly, in verse 45 a from of the word for deacon is used twice. It says, "For even the Son of Man came not to be served (deaconed) but to serve (deacon), and to give his life as a ransom for many." Jesus came to serve and He pointed His disciples in the same direction. If they were to follow Jesus and achieve greatness in His kingdom, they would have to empty themselves of everything in order to serve others, as it says in verse 44, "and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all."

I tied this in with our church by saying that we are all called to serve others. We are not called to lord our positions over one another, but rather to lay our lives down for one another. Those who do this well would make good deacons. The example that Jesus gives, however, is for all who are followers of Him. We are all called to lay down our lives for others.

Certainly it is not in the same way as Jesus. Jesus laid down His life as a ransom for many. We cannot do that. But we can lay our lives down for many. I wonder, what would happen if Christians today took seriously the pattern Jesus set by laying down their lives for others for the glory of God and to point to (let's not miss the reason for this) the fact that Jesus bought you and others with His blood. May we serve in such a way that people see our good works and glorify our Father who is in heaven.

I'm After an Image, but not that Image

Romans 8:29 - For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

Certainly there is much theology in this verse. Some would even debate exactly what is being taught here. However, it is very clear that God plans for those who believe in Christ to be conformed into the image of Christ. That is what we are becoming as believers. We are called to the image of Christ.

However, I do not see that in myself. Over the years I have come to realize more and more that I am a very prideful person. Though I would like to think that has changed for the better, the fact remains I'm still prideful. This is clearly evident in my desire to have an image. I want to be seen as something. I want people to know who I am for something. As a pastor I can make that sound very spiritual. I didn't realize the pride of the following statement until recently, but it has been my thought for some time, "I want to be known as a sinner conformed to the image of Christ." Doesn't that sound great?

The problem is the first five words of that statement: I want to be known. It shows that my goal is not so much for Christ to be seen as it is for ME to be seen in Christ. Pride is such a difficult sin to combat because it's prevalent in all of life. As a prideful sinner I can take the best of things and try to twist it and turn it for my own glory. Of course it would be great for people to see you as conformed (or conforming) into the image of Christ. We are saved for that purpose. But the point is that they see the image of Christ, not us.

I have concluded that I am after an image, but it's not the right image. I (we) must fight against our sinful, prideful desires to be known and live for Christ's image to be displayed through us. He gets all the glory because He is the One worthy of being seen.

We're NOT all God's Children

To be a child of God is a special privilege. I have heard many people over the years talk about how everyone is God's child. There is a great problem with that: It's not what the Bible says. In fact, in Galatians 4 Paul talks about becoming a child of God by saying in verses 4-5, "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons." If we were already children of God, then we would not need to be adopted into His family. To say everyone is a child of God is to diminish what Christ accomplished on the cross for those who would believe. In fact, those who are actually children of God (through adoption) have evidence that they are children called the Holy Spirit, "And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!' So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God" (Gal. 4:6-7). We must rejoice that God in His sovereign mercy would redeem a people and adopt them as children into His family. We must plead with others that they would renounce their own self-righteousness (which is no righteousness) and embrace the righteousness of Christ. And we must rejoice that those who have faith in the finished work of Christ are sons of God through faith.

Wow, It's been a Month

I just realized yesterday that I haven't posted anything on here in a month. I will work on that. For now let me say that I have recently been pondering the glorious truth of justification by faith alone in Christ alone. I have been preaching through Galatians and have been sweetly encouraged of God's sovereign grace in salvation. I am completely undeserving of such grace.

This was so Helpful

This message by Mahaney at the God Exposed Conference at SEBTS was so helpful for me. I encourage everyone to listen, and especially pastors. It's 80 minutes long and I think it will change your life and ministry.

Expository Faithfulness from Sovereign Grace Ministries on Vimeo.

Free Yard Sale

This past Saturday our church had a yard sale where everything was free. Our hope was to bless the community with items that may help them and to share information about our church, and more importantly, our Lord. There are several reasons this event encouraged me as a pastor.

The first reason is that it wasn't my idea. Several months ago a lady in our congregation brought up the idea of having people from the church donate items that could be used in a give away for the community. Immediately I thought and heard from others that there were several variables that we need to think through. For instance, what if someone pulled up with a truck and said they wanted it all since it was free. So we decided we had to organize this thing to make sure we were actually accomplishing our goal of blessing those who needed the items and were able to meet as many people as possible. We started with one idea, and then changed it first thing Saturday morning. We changed it to say that everyone could take up to 10 items. However, after about 20 minutes we stopped telling people of the limit and just trusted the Lord would take care of that. He did! We were able to bless around 75-100 people through this outreach.

The second encouraging thing I saw as a pastor was that the people of First Baptist were eager to give for this event. We talked about it for a couple of months and ended up with a lot of items to give away. We had a wide range of things (some that I didn't think would go and they did!), because our people stepped up with a heart to give to this community for the sake of the gospel.

A third encouragement was that I saw the church being intentional not to withdrawal to themselves, but to actually go talk with the visitors who came. There were a lot of great conversations going on that included talks about the Lord and invites to the church. But it went even further. Our people were genuinely taking the time to ask questions to get to know the people better. As a pastor I saw a genuine desire to get to know the visitors as much as possible in that brief window of time.

A fourth encouragement was the emphasis on being faithful. While it's certainly true we hope some of those who came would come and visit with our church and sit under the preaching of the Word, that was not our first concern. We were glad to be obedient and faithful to being a witness to the grace of God through Christ in our lives. The conversations I had Sunday and Monday with our church were all positive about the event. We were glad to have been used by God to bless others and pray that our labors would bring Him glory by bringing others into His kingdom.

There are other things for sure. We learned some things that will be improved upon for next time. We are already planning to do this again in, God-willing, the Spring of next year. But I am thankful that we didn't wait until we had every detail worked out and end up not doing it because of all the questions. First Baptist Church committed to blessing whomever we could and I am thankful to have been a part of this.

Are you a Church or a Club?

This 2 min. video from Piper is very challenging for the church.

Choosing Thomas

This video has been posted on several blogs lately, but I found it powerful and worth posting here. Take 10 minutes to watch this please.