I thought this was powerful…and pretty convicting.
The One Gift Every Pastor Must Have
Yep. This one is indispensable.
The Self-Sufficiency of Self-Improvement
Kelly Needham pinpoints something that really frustrates me about a ton of Christian-sounding social media.
Convincing people to focus on their self-worth is quite unproductive and unhelpful.
If I had such a kickin’ mullet I might say things like this too:
Two days.
Two days was all I was going to have to wait. My wife and I had purchased a couple new bikes to give to our children for Easter, and I just couldn’t wait to give it to them. I wanted to give it to them on Good Friday. This was only about twenty minutes after I’d found the good deal on them and purchased them. My wife convinced me to wait—as she knew it’d be so much greater if we made a big deal out of it on Easter Sunday. I waited, but it just about killed me.
God has given to humanity an even greater present. (My, that is quite the understatement). And he gave it on Good Friday, but the whole thing wasn’t opened up until Resurrection Sunday. This gift changes everything.
I have to wonder if the Lord wanted to roll the whole thing out about five minutes after Adam and Eve fell into sin. I know He is brought to joy, along with the angels in heaven, when any sinner repents. Seeing humanity discover the wonder and glory of His Son has to give the Father smiles. This is a present he absolutely loves to give.
But he didn’t give it five minutes after Adam and Eve fell.
He waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Not with Noah.
Not with Abraham.
Not with Joseph.
Not with Moses.
Not with Joshua.
He waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Not with David.
Not with Solomon.
Not with any of the prophets.
Not with John the Baptist…
And then it was time.
It was time to unveil the greatest present he would ever give to humanity, His precious Son. It was a costly gift. But a gift which brought Him great joy to give. And He, being infinitely patient, waited for just the right time to reveal His Son and give us this gift.
—
Here we are in a world with ISIS. A world with crazy politics. Broken marriages. Abortions. Christians being slaughtered. Injustice thriving.
We find ourselves saying, Come Lord Jesus, Come. Set all things right. Unveil your latest and greatest present—the return of Christ. Make all sad things be untrue. It’s time. Take us back to the Garden.
But he waits.
And he waits.
And he waits.
Why?
Because there is a right time, and not everyone has come to Christ yet. He won’t come back until every single one of His elect have come into the fold. Not a moment too soon. He won’t give an Easter present on Good Friday. He’s too patient.
And this patience, though at times painful, is to our greatest good and to His greatest glory.
Had it been me, I’d have probably waited all of five minutes after the Fall. And that would have been a great story and a great present—but not nearly as phenomenal as the one that is being told.
Hang in there. He not only gives great gifts…He gives them at the right time.
How a Generation Lost Its Common Culture
“Our students’ ignorance is not a failing of the educational system – it is its crowning achievement.”
This is helpful.
You Can’t Shame People Into Repentance
You can shame people into an apology but that is much different than actual repentance.
3 Ways to Get Involved in Church Planting
I’m convinced every church should be involved in church planting. Here are three ways.
I like the work of The Bible Project, here is their work on Judges:
Thanks to Terry Delaney for filling in this week.
In this sixth lecture/chapter, the Doctor transitions from the importance and the actual act of preaching to the man who is called by God to preach. He begins by laying out an important first principle: not every Christian is called to be a preacher. Yes, we are all called to be ready to offer the reason for the hope we have (1 Peter 3:15), but that does not mean everyone who is a Christian is called of God to preach.
Those who are called, however, must be conscious of this call on their life. The Doctor states emphatically, “preaching is never something that a man decides to do” (p. 116). Further, the preacher must, of necessity, lead to a concern for others in addition to a yearning to preach the glories of Christ. ML-J argues that the man called of God can do nothing else though he may try to run from God’s call like Jonah.
There remains a tension, though. The man who is called to preach feels, much like Moses, completely inadequate to the task. Not only is Lloyd-Jones extremely clear on this issue of feeling inadequate, he states at length on page 119
“A man who feels that he is competent, and that he can do this easily, and so rushes to preach without any sense of fear or trembling, or any hesitation whatsoever, is a man who is proclaiming that he has never been ‘called’ to be a preacher. The man who is called by God is a man who realizes what he is called to do, and he realizes the awfulness of the task that he shrinks from it. Nothing but this overwhelming sense of being called, and of compulsion, should ever lead anyone to preach.”
Once the call to preach is confirmed, the preacher must seek to develop his character as a Christian through the power of the Holy Spirit. As his character develops, he seeks opportunities to teach where he might discover he has the ability to teach. If he is unable to teach, then he may need to question his calling for preaching and teaching go hand in hand.
Finally, the one who is to be the preacher must, like a deacon (1 Timothy 3:10) only more so, must be tested and tried. If he is confirmed both externally and internally, he continues his work toward becoming a preacher and a pastor. He must, again of necessity, seek to further his education in Scripture. This will look different for many, but must include nothing less than biblical and theological studies as well as a study in church history.
Personal Reflections
When I first read this book back in 2006, this chapter ministered to me as the one who wanted more than anything to be a preacher. I was serving as a youth pastor, but that was not enough. I wanted to preach. It was this chapter that actually was one of those external confirmations that Lloyd-Jones talks about and it has remained a very important chapter in one of the more influential books in my life.
Tweet Note
The only man who is called to preach is the man who cannot do anything else, in the sense that he is not satisfied with anything else.
Quotables
Preaching is never something that a man decides to do.
Before you can be quite sure that a man is called to be a preacher, his personal call must be confirmed by the Church, it must be attested by the Church.
The preacher must be a godly man. But he must also have wisdom. And not only that, he must also have patience and forbearance.
The chief thing is the love of God, the love of souls, a knowledge of the Truth, and the Holy Spirit within you. These are the things that make the preacher.
Questions
What are your thoughts on the feeling of the inadequacy of the preacher? If you are a preacher, do you struggle with this? How do you battle against this tendency?
Explain the difference between an internal and an external call.
Education is extremely important to Martyn Lloyd-Jones. What are your views on the education of the minister? Do you think he needs seminary training or will local church training suffice? What about self-directed study?