Mars Hill in Forbes

Over at Forbes, Rob Asghar has written quite an interesting piece on the Mars Hill debacle. Whether he knows it or not he makes a case for denominationalism and sound polity:

Some organizations are more wired than others for spectacular success or spectacular failure. Nondenominational megachurches are one example. They often can be free-wheeling, Wild West-style operations, unencumbered by national bureaucracies. That frees them to respond to grow quickly … or to grow malignantly.

The central focus of the article is on the malignant nature of toxic leading and following. Along the way he makes statements that the church ought to carefully consider. Without dispensing with the responsibility to restore the one who has sinned, the church must also consider realities such as sociopathy. In other words, the church must not be naive about the reality that some pastors, no matter how sincere their repentance, must never serve as pastors again.

With toxic leaders, there are no happy endings, no matter how hard you pray. You just have to move on. That may seem especially sad to those Mars Hill congregants who want Driscoll to undergo a disciplinary process so that that a newly mature, repentant and humbled version of himself might someday take the pulpit.

But a number of psychologists have told me that the truly toxic leaders, the ones who manage to cause trouble on the scale of a Driscoll, are tragically irredeemable as managers. Oftentimes, the disciplining process only teaches them new ways to exploit the system while pretending to obey it. (Bear in mind that Driscoll himself has been claiming for years that he’s been making progress on his shortcomings.)

Could it be that this writer for Forbes has a better grasp of the consequences of pastoral malpractice? Certainly he raises some important questions about the difference between a pastor whose sins and frailties are common to most Christians and the one who is simply not qualified for the role to begin with.

Read the entire article HERE.

Leadership Training?

It seems that a secret from my past I thought had been well buried has now come to light. To find out more listen in on the latest Mortification of Spin... 

Crisis! Todd's past comes back to bite him. This Promise Keepers-sweatshirt-wearing hooligan and the rest of the gang discuss a continually important pastoral subject: leadership. Much of what passes for "leadership training" in the evangelical church is profoundly unhelpful. It has more in common with secular leadership theory than it has with anything found in Scripture. This becomes especially troubling when it comes to pastoral leadership. What qualities should a good leader have? How can pastors improve their leadership capabilities to better serve their churches? Listen in!

Battered Pastors (5)

Over at Ref21 I have posted my final piece in the series on battered pastors.

Clergy Killers

Back in April of 2012 an article entitled "Silent Clergy Killers" ran in the Huffington Post. I would encourage you to take time to read it.

"Clergy Killers" is also the title of a book by G. Lloyd Rediger. That book was quite helpful to me several years ago during a particularly challenging season in my life.

The author of the Huffington Post article defines "Clergy Killers" as "congregations where a small group of members are so disruptive that no pastor is able to maintain spiritual leadership for long." He continues:

And yet ministers often endure the stresses of these dysfunctional relationships for months, or even years, before eventually being forced out or giving up.

Adding to the strain is the process, which is often shrouded in secrecy. No one -- from denominational officials to church members to the clerics themselves -- wants to acknowledge the failure of a relationship designed to be a sign to the world of mutual love and support.

But new research is providing insights into just how widespread -- and damaging -- these forced terminations can be to clergy.

An online study published in the March issue of the Review of Religious Research found 28 percent of ministers said they had at one time been forced to leave their jobs due to personal attacks and criticism from a small faction of their congregations.

I am one of many pastors who have personal knowledge of this reality as I have written in a series of articles.

Periodically, I will read an article or blog post where the writer tells pastors who have been battered to more-or-less "Shut up and quit your complaining. It's a blessing to be a pastor." Well it certainly is a blessing to be a pastor. I have served on a church staff since I was 21 years old. I know the blessings of pastoral ministry. I have seen and witnessed the most excellent acts of love and service from my fellow Christians. I have been treated with profound kindness more times than I can possibly recount. Throughout my years in pastoral ministry I have known men and women who make it a joy to be a pastor. I love the church of Jesus Christ. I am deeply grateful for the blessing of serving her as a pastor.

I also know that some churches truly are clergy killers. And the research indicates that it is probably worse than we know. This sin is a blight on the church and greatly detrimental to her witness.

It is not really difficult to determine whether your church is a clergy killer. It just requires a bit of painful honesty. Here are a few questions that may help:
1. What is the typical length of tenure for the lead or senior pastors of our church?
2. How many of our pastors have been fired or otherwise forced out?
3. Does our church have good relationships with our former lead or senior pastors? If not, why?
4. Does our church have a reputation for being a difficult place to serve?

Battered Pastors (4)

Over at Ref21, I have posted part four in my series on battered pastors. In this latest post I offer the first three of seven exhortations for battered pastors.

All people experience hurt at the hands of others. But we are all also, without exception, the source of hurt. We are all simultaneously receivers and inflictors of pain. This is true of pastors. What pastor believes that he can somehow be insulated from the sorts of pain we inflict upon each other? He is, after all, a sinner called upon to lead other sinners. Parishioners often project upon their pastor a whole set of expectations that no ordinary man can fulfill. As a result, being criticized is an inescapable feature of being a pastor. If you cannot tolerate being criticized then don't be a pastor.

These common sorts of criticisms and pains are not what I have been writing about in this series of posts. Rather, I am seeking to shine a light on the very real problem of toxic followers, those who mob the pastor and seek his downfall. The battered pastors I am writing to and about are competent pastors but have found themselves in churches who, for whatever reason, are pastoral "meat grinders" (I learned that phrase from an elder at a previous church).

At the risk of sounding alarmist, I do believe that the church (in the West at least) is going to see (is seeing?) an increase in the number of churches which batter their pastors. It makes perfect sense. With the demise of the very idea of authority it should not be surprising that more pastors are being driven from their churches. A consumerist church cannot abide a prophetic pastor.

Read the entire post HERE.

For those facing the lions...

On Sunday morning during the first service as my wife and I were standing and singing with our brothers and sisters, she leaned over and whispered in my ear, "I'm so glad we're here." I could not have agreed more.

We have lived for six months in Harrisonburg, Virginia where I serve as Lead Pastor at Covenant Presbyterian Church. It has been like breathing in fresh air. They are a kind and blessedly unpretentious congregation. It takes quite a bit of time to learn of the many wonderful things about the history of Cov Pres because the church is reluctant to boast about their achievements. The congregation and session of Cov Pres honor those men who labor in preaching and teaching. Many pastors labor in churches where this is not the case.

The ministry staff at Cov Pres is united and share a strong bond of trust. The session consists of men who love Christ and his church. It is a wonderful feeling to leave staff and session meetings refreshed and encouraged. Each Lord's Day I have the immense privilege of standing to preach before men and women who love to receive God's Word. They bless me in ways that they probably are not even aware.

But not every church is like the church I am blessed to serve. I know this firsthand. Ray Ortland has written a tender piece of encouragement to pastors that acknowledges the brutal reality alive and well in some churches. He writes to a friend who has ended up being a meal for lions.

Unless there had been a spiritual breakthrough and deep repentance, conflict was inevitable.  But the conflict did not discredit you; it validated you.  It just wasn’t the validation you wanted!  All you wanted was their blessing, for the greater glory of Jesus.  But the rejection you suffered there is the reason 1 John 3:12 is in the Bible — to tell you that you’re not crazy: “And why did he murder him?  Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s were righteous.”  There it is.  That was your crime, pastor.  You were a godly man, wholehearted for the Lord.  Your ministry was righteous.  In your church, that was a fatal step.

So you lost your ministry there.  But you didn’t lose your ministry altogether.  What feels like loss is, in fact, re-investment.  You were a profound man before, and now you are even more profound.  For the rest of your life, when someone comes to you who has just taken a torpedo amidships and they’re going down, you will understand, as few men can.  You are now equipped as never before to comfort sufferers.  In your weakness and desolation, you are formidable.  What can anyone do to you now?  You’ve gone deep into the heart of Jesus, and you’ve found him to be an utterly faithful Friend.  For the rest of your life, that glorious awareness of your Friend above is going to be pouring out of you onto devastated people.  And your ministry will have more impact than ever before.

If you are a pastor serving in a hard place, don't lose hope my brother. Many of us have walked that road. We know the loneliness of it all. We know the dismay and emotional desolation of realizing that people we have tried to serve have undermined us. Some of us have even ended up in an emergency room.

It may be the Lord's will for you to travel that path a bit longer. Remember that we are hard pressed in this life. But we are not crushed. We are persecuted. But we are not destroyed. We do carry around death in our life. Brother pastor, in that brutal place full of lions God is doing some very deep mining in your heart. Do not despise your time in the den. He has not forgotten you.

A great model for pastors...

Mark Dever has had a great impact on my life and ministry. When I was a Southern Baptist pastor who had come to embrace the Doctrines of Grace I felt incredibly isolated until I stumbled across 9 Marks Ministries around 2000 or 2001. I have also had occasion to visit Capitol Hill Baptist Church on several occasions and been blessed by once dying, now thriving congregation.

Jonathan Leeman, a long-time associate of Mark and editorial director of 9 Marks has written a very helpful piece on Mark's style of leadership. Particularly, Leeman highlights the ways in which Dever shares authority. If you are a pastor, you would do well to carefully read and re-read the piece. Share it with your elders and associate pastors. Find ways to begin implementing at least some of these practices.

The Pastor As Chief Sinner

I have been thinking lately about how difficult it must be to serve actively in a church as a layperson. It isn’t the demand on one’s time that is the hardest thing but the more challenging demand on one’s heart. To serve a local body of believers is to inevitably be exposed to both the best and the worst in others. The layperson actively involved in ministry to the Body of Christ will see extraordinary acts of kindness and even self-sacrifice. But often, perhaps more often, what is observed is pettiness, gossip, and appalling acts of selfishness. Adding insult to injury the layperson soon realizes that their pastors are sinners as well.

Of course everyone knows that pastors are sinners. What is difficult, however, is to actually see the sins of your own pastor on full display. Perhaps he is jealous or insecure. Maybe he struggles with anger, pride, depression, or a critical spirit. Seeing these things in one’s pastor can be a heavy burden to bear. As a pastor I know what it is to disappoint people that I care about. I know what it is to go home feeling miserable because some of the ugliness in my heart escaped in the site of people I am called to shepherd. In those times I say with Paul, “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost” (1 Tim. 1:15).

This is not false humility on the part of the apostle. Neither are we to surmise that Paul committed more heinous sins than anyone who ever walked the face of the earth. I am pretty sure that the point Paul is making is that he is the worst sinner he knows. This displays the default position that all Christians should embrace: “Knowing the condition of my heart in a way that I cannot know yours, I can only safely conclude that I am in worse shape than you.” This doesn’t mean we turn a blind eye to our brother’s sin. Indeed, we are to hold each other accountable in a loving, but if necessary, firm way. However, the wickedness in my own heart ought to always be a greater source of concern to me than the wickedness present in anyone else.

So, I am a sinful pastor. I sometimes wear my sins and flaws on my sleeve for all to see. Very often, perhaps more often than not, I fail to live up to my confession. As far as I know, my heart is in worse condition than that of any of my brothers and sisters. So I will endeavor to take my own sin more seriously than yours. I will try to be more offended by my own sin than by yours. I will, by God’s grace, always be ready to receive the loving correction of my fellows in Christ. This, I believe will guard me from the pessimism and cynicism that so easily accompany service to the church.

Sermon Audio - Savior of Lost Causes (1 Timothy 1:12-17)

A Prophet In Rough Clothing

Before any great achievement, some measure of the same depression is very usual. Surveying the difficulties before us, our hearts sink within us. The sons of Anak stalk before us, and we are as grasshoppers in our own sight in their presence. The cities of Canaan are walled up to heaven, and who are we that we should hope to capture them? We are ready to cast down our weapons and take to our heels. Nineveh is a great city, and we would flee unto Tarshish sooner than encounter its noisy crowds. Already we look for a ship which may bear us quietly away from the terrible scene, and only a dread of tempest restrains our recreant footsteps...

This depression comes over me whenever the Lord is preparing a larger blessing for my ministry; the cloud is black before it breaks, and overshadows before it yields its deluge of mercy. Depression has now become to me as a prophet in rough clothing, a John the Baptist, heralding the nearer coming of my Lord's richer benison. So have far better men found it. The scouring of the vessel has fitted it for the Master's use. Immersion in suffering has preceded the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Fasting gives an appetite for the banquet. The Lord is revealed in the backside of the desert, while his servant keepeth the sheep and waits in solitary awe. The wilderness is the way to Canann. The low valley leads to the towering mountain. Defeat prepares for victory. The raven is sent forth before the dove. The darkest hour of the night precedes the day-dawn. The mariners go down to the depths, but the next wave makes them mount to the heaven: their soul is melted because of trouble before he bringeth them to their desired heaven.

Charles Spurgeon from Lectures To My Students (p. 186 - Banner Of Truth edition)

5 Resolutions Worth Following...

Great wisdom from the Memoirs of Charles Simeon:

The longer I live, the more I feel the importance of adhering to the rules which I have laid down for myself in relation to such matters.
1st. To hear as little as possible what is to the prejudice of others.

2nd. To believe nothing of the kind till I am absolutely forced to it.

3rd. Never to drink into the spirit of one who circulates an ill report.

4th. Always to moderate, as far as I can, the unkindness which is expressed towards others.

5th. Always to believe, that if the other side were heard, a very different account would be given of the matter.

I wonder how much greater would be our joy and our fellowship if we were to commit ourselves to such simple rules.

J.I. Packer

HT: Carl Trueman

"The best book in a minister's library"

"I am afraid that all the grace that I have got of my comfortable and easy times and happy hours, might almost lie on a penny. But the good that I have received from my sorrows, and pains, and griefs, is altogether incalculable ... Affliction is the best bit of furniture in my house. It is the best book in a minister's library."

- Charles Spurgeon

Taking God into the pulpit...

From Carl Trueman:

This last Friday, I had the privilege of being in Vancouver to give Dr. James I. Packer an honorary doctorate and to interview him for the Westminster website. The interview will be posted on the Westminster site in the next week or two. Suffice it to say that, if I had known what answer he was to give on my question about the damaging effect of upper class English public (for US, read private) schoolboys on Anglican theology, I would have walked from Philadelphia to Vancouver in my bare feet. Nay, on my knees in the rain. I love talking to someone who shares the same basic prejudices that I do.

One other question I did ask was about Dr Lloyd-Jones. 'He took more of God into the pulpit with him than any other preacher I have ever known,' was Dr Packer's reply. One can be nostalgic about the past, but I wonder how many of this generation's archetypal, aspirational model preachers will have that said about them thirty years after their death? They were funny; they had huge churches; they took more stand up comedy into the pulpit -- or onto the stage -- than anybody else; they looked cool; they were branded and puffed by the powerful evangelical patrons as role models for the rest of us; they had great hair-does; they were so hip and young, at least until it became painfully obvious that they had passed forty many years before. I can imagine all these things being said. But that they took so much of God into the pulpit? That seems somehow less likely.

Those of us who preach need to reflect on Dr Packer's comment, repent daily of our pride and pray without ceasing that we take God, not ourselves, or Chris Rock, or our mastery of street talk or postmodernism, into the pulpit with us. A preacher should be remembered not for the numbers he once attracted or for his slick engagement with the wider culture but for whether he spoke the words of God as a man of God.

Stick With Your Work

Great words for pastors.

Sidelined by distraction...

One of the things I love about the Basics Conference at Parkside Church is that the theme never really changes. Each year the focus is on some aspect of the pastor's role as preacher. It is refreshingly non-innovative.

Alistair Begg preached the first message this year. His text was Acts 6:1-7:

Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.

And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.

The primary pastoral duty is the prayerful preaching of God's Word. John Owen wrote, "The first and principle duty of the pastor is the feeding of the flock of God by the preaching of the Word."

There is a direct correlation between the ministry of preaching and the growth of disciples.

"And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus." (Acts 5:42)

"But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” (Acts 6:4)

"And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith." (Acts 6:7)

Chapters four and five of Acts recount some of the opposition faced by the apostles as they faithfully preached the Word of God. The enemy used various tactics to sideline them. They were mocked, threatened, and arrested. They also had to deal with the deception of Annanias and Sapphira. But what seems to have truly threatened the ministry of the Word were increasing needs within the church and the subsequent grumbling that followed.

Alistair made the point that the enemy, having failed to stop the apostles from preaching by persecution, now seeks to stop them by distraction. History seems to confirm that distraction is a far more effective tool to sideline the preaching the Word than is persecution.

Paul was a meanie

I have the privilege once again to attend the Basics Conference. Basics is the annual pastor's conference at Parkside Church outside Cleveland. I have been attending this conference for nine years and it is always a restful and challenging time. One of the helpful elements of the week is that I come early enough to attend worship at Parkside under the preaching of Alistair Begg.

This morning Alistair continued his series through Titus. His text was Titus 1:10-16:

For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach. One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth. To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.

This text falls between two calls for elders to be able to teach sound doctrine and be willing to rebuke those who who contradict it.

What an odd set of priorities this seems to many contemporary evangelicals who seem willing to jettison doctrinal boundaries for a veneer of peace. Alistair pointed out the harshness of Paul's tone and how offensive it seems to many today. "They must be silenced." Those who are diluting the church with errant doctrine are "liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons." We are to "rebuke them sharply." Notice that Paul will not allow the word "rebuke" to be dumbed down. There is a sharpness which is to accompany a rebuke given to those who teach or embrace errant doctrine within the church.

Bottom line? Paul was a meanie. He was a narrow-minded bully. He believed in the necessity of sharply rebuking error and those who teach it. He simply did not allow for peaceful coexistence (within the church) with errant doctrine or those who teach it. I shudder to think of Paul's long-term prospects in any church today. His intolerance for what is false would simply not be tolerated in a church milieu where the only heresy is believing that there is heresy.

Recommended Reading:
The Real Scandal Of The Evangelical Mind by Carl Trueman
The Courage To Be Protestant by David Wells
The Intolerance of Tolerance by D.A. Carson

Preaching Through Adversity...

I do not know where I would be were it not for the clear evidence of God's grace in the lives of so many preachers before me. Charles Spurgeon is one of those men who have most captivated my attention because of the volume of his work and the honesty with which he wrote about his heart-breaks.

I have, in the past, posted a link to John Piper's profoundly comforting address on Charles Spurgeon which he presented at the 1995 Bethlehem Pastor's Conference. The following is just a bit about the man who knew what it was to preach through adversity:

Preaching is heart work, not just mental work. So the question for us is not just How you keep on living when the marriage is blank, and a child has run away, and the finances don't reach, and pews are bare and friends have forsaken you; the question for us is more than, How do you keep on living? It's, How do you keep on preaching. It's one thing to survive adversity; it is something very different to keep on preaching, Sunday after Sunday, month after month when the heart is overwhelmed...

For just over a year now that has been perhaps the uppermost question of my life. And, if I am not mistaken, I believe it is now, or will be, uppermost for many of you as well. Just last Sunday night I spent a half-hour on the phone with the wife of a pastor who would love to be here. He is under so much criticism and accusation that she found it hard to go to church and marveled that he could preach last Sunday morning—and I know this is a pure and faithful servant whose church I would gladly attend for the sake of my soul.

Preaching great and glorious truth in an atmosphere that is not great and glorious is an immense difficulty. To be reminded week in and week out that many people regard your preaching of the glory of the grace of God as hypocrisy pushes a preacher not just into the hills of introspection, but sometimes to the precipice of self-extinction.
I don't mean suicide. I mean something more complex. I mean the deranging inability to know any longer who you are. What begins as a searching introspection for the sake of holiness, and humility gradually becomes, for various reasons, a carnival of mirrors in your soul: you look in one and you're short and fat; you look in another and you're tall and skinny; you look in another and you're upside down. And the horrible feeling begins to break over you that you don't know who you are any more. The center is not holding. And if the center doesn't hold—if there is no fixed and solid "I" able to relate to the fixed and solid "Thou," namely, God, then who will preach next Sunday?

When the apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:10, "By the grace of God, I am what I am," he was saying something utterly essential for the survival of preachers in adversity. If, by grace, the identity of the "I"—the "I" created by Christ and united to Christ, but still a human "I"—if that center doesn't hold, there will be no more authentic preaching, for there will be no more authentic preacher, but a collection of echoes.

O how fortunate we are, brothers of the pulpit, that we are not the first to face these things! I thank God for the healing history of the power of God in the lives of saints. I urge you for the sake of your own survival: live in other centuries and other saints.

I have turned to Charles Spurgeon in these days, and I have been helped...

What comes through again and again is Spurgeon's unwavering belief in the sovereignty of God in all his afflictions. More than anything else it seems, this kept him from caving in to the adversities of his life. He said,

"It would be a very sharp and trying experience to me to think that I have an affliction which God never sent me, that the bitter cup was never filled by his hand, that my trials were never measured out by him, nor sent to me by his arrangement of their weight and quantity" (see note 51).

This is exactly the opposite strategy of modern thought, even much evangelical thought, that recoils from the implications of infinity. If God is God he not only knows what is coming, but he knows it because he designs it. For Spurgeon this view of God was not first argument for debate, it was a means of survival.
Our afflictions are the health regimen of an infinitely wise Physician. He told his students,

"I dare say the greatest earthly blessing that God can give to any of us is health, with the exception of sickness ... If some men, that I know of could only be favoured with a month of rheumatism, it would, by God's grace mellow them marvelously" (see note 52).

He meant this mainly for himself. Though he dreaded suffering and would willingly avoid it, he said,

I am afraid that all the grace that I have got of my comfortable and easy times and happy hours, might almost lie on a penny. But the good that I have received from my sorrows, and pains, and griefs, is altogether incalculable ... Affliction is the best bit of furniture in my house. It is the best book in a minister's library (see note 53).

He saw three specific purposes of God in his struggle with depression. The first is that it functioned like the apostle Paul's thorn to keep him humble lest he be lifted up in himself. He said the Lord's work is summed up in these words:

"'Not by might nor by power but by my Spirit, saith the Lord.' Instruments shall be used, but their intrinsic weakness shall be clearly manifested; there shall be no division of the glory, no diminishing of the honor due to the Great Worker ... Those who are honoured of their Lord in public have usually to endure a secret chastening, or to carry a peculiar cross, lest by any means they exalt themselves, and fall into the snare of the devil" (see note 54).

The Heavy Ballast of Humiliation

From an excellent message by John Piper on the life, afflictions, and legacy of Charles Simeon:

Simeon was utterly unlike most of us today who think that we should get rid once and for all of feelings of vileness and unworthiness as soon as we can. For him, adoration only grew in the freshly plowed soil of humiliation for sin. So he actually labored to know his true sinfulness and his remaining corruption as a Christian.

I have continually had such a sense of my sinfulness as would sink me into utter despair, if I had not an assured view of the sufficiency and willingness of Christ to save me to the uttermost. And at the same time I had such a sense of my acceptance through Christ as would overset my little bark, if I had not ballast at the bottom sufficient to sink a vessel of no ordinary size. (Moule 134f.)

He never lost sight of the need for the heavy ballast of his own humiliation. After he had been a Christian forty years he wrote,

With this sweet hope of ultimate acceptance with God, I have always enjoyed much cheerfulness before men; but I have at the same time laboured incessantly to cultivate the deepest humiliation before God. I have never thought that the circumstance of God's having forgiven me was any reason why I should forgive myself; on the contrary, I have always judged it better to loathe myself the more, in proportion as I was assured that God was pacified towards me (Ezekiel 16:63). . . . There are but two objects that I have ever desired for these forty years to behold; the one is my own vileness; and the other is, the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ: and I have always thought that they should be viewed together; just as Aaron confessed all the sins of all Israel whilst he put them on the head of the scapegoat. The disease did not keep him from applying to the remedy, nor did the remedy keep him from feeling the disease. By this I seek to be, not only humbled and thankful, but humbled in thankfulness, before my God and Saviour continually. (Carus, 518f.)

If Simeon is right, vast portions of contemporary Christianity are wrong. And I can't help wondering whether one of the reasons we are emotionally capsized so easily today – so vulnerable to winds of criticism or opposition – is that in the name of forgiveness and grace, we have thrown the ballast overboard.

Simeon's boat drew a lot of water. But it was steady and on course and the mastheads were higher and the sails bigger and more full of the Spirit than most people's today who talk continuously about self-esteem.

Listen to the audio or read the transcript of this entire message HERE.

Where Pastors Need To Grow

Excellent post from Brian Croft over at Practical Shepherding:

What are 5 areas in which a pastor should be growing each year?

Pastors are instructed to be examples to the flock (1 Peter 5:3). The pastor can feel a bit overwhelmed when considering the implications of that instruction. Because of this, we can lose sight of the need to mature and grow for the sake of our own personal sanctification, not solely because others are looking to us. In light of this temptation, here are a few areas that pastors need to double-check to make sure there is annual progressive growth. These revolve around the pastor’s soul and the longevity of his ministry:
1) A closer walk and intimacy with Christ. Pastors should honestly evaluate whether they feel closer to Christ and the fellowship of his spirit is sweeter now than a year ago. The power behind a pastor’s ministry is how closely he walks with God every day, relies upon Christ, trusts in his Word, and grows in holiness because of it.

2) A greater love and appreciation for his wife. Every year a pastor completes, he not only survived another year of pressures and demands of ministry, but so did his wife. Additionally, she walked through the pressures and demands with him and cared for him through them. Pastor, if you find you are not growing in love and appreciation for your wife, it is an indictment you have lost sight of the unique treasure she is to you, your children, and your ministry.

3) A greater resolve to shepherd and invest in his children. Time with our children is flying by. One more year means they have had one more year of the world to mold their character and form their thinking, or you have by teaching them God’s Word and modeling that Word before them. Time is ticking. Other things can wait. Do not waste one year with them.

4) A heightened sense of his expendability. I have been saying for a while now that I want the mantra of my ministry to be “Expendable, but Appreciated.” If we see ourselves as more expendable every year, then we will be leading, delegating, and shepherding in such a way that will not build the church around us. It is good for the pastor’s soul to remember God does not need us, but allows us to participate in this kingdom work.

5) An increased appreciation by others for his labors. This is the one that is more out of our control as we cannot control what others think of us, nor should we try. However, if we are making ourselves more expendable, then hopefully the affection of our people towards us comes from appreciation for our labors, not because we are essential to the church’s survival. This should not be difficult as we have had one more year to do what we do. One more year of praying and ministering the Word with our folks. One more year of them sitting under our public preaching. One more year to be in their homes and visiting them in the hospital. One more year to be with them and guiding them when tragedy strikes.

There are certainly more, but these are the ones I think are most important when thinking about essential annual growth of the pastor. Out of all that could be chosen, I pray you see the strategic nature of this list. Steady, annual growth in each of these areas are essential for a long, fruitful ministry.

Piper on Spurgeon

When you get a chance, listen to this excellent address on the life and ministry of Charles Spurgeon delivered by John Piper in 1995. If you are a pastor you absolutely must listen and read the manuscript. If you are not a pastor but would like to better understand your pastor and be edified simultaneously then take time to listen.

Some beautiful gems from Spurgeon:
"I am afraid that all the grace that I have got of my comfortable and easy times and happy hours, might almost lie on a penny. But the good that I have received from my sorrows, and pains, and griefs, is altogether incalculable ... Affliction is the best bit of furniture in my house. It is the best book in a minister's library."

"This depression comes over me whenever the Lord is preparing a larger blessing for my ministry; the cloud is black before it breaks, and overshadows before it yields its deluge of mercy. Depression has now become to me as a prophet in rough clothing, a John the Baptist, heralding the nearer coming of my Lord's richer benison."

"It is wisdom to take occasional furlough. In the long run, we shall do more by sometimes doing less. On, on, on for ever, without recreation may suit spirits emancipated from this 'heavy clay', but while we are in this tabernacle, we must every now and then cry halt, and serve the Lord by holy inaction and consecrated leisure. Let no tender conscience doubt the lawfulness of going out of harness for a while."

"I have found it utterly impossible to please, let me say or do what I will. One becomes somewhat indifferent when dealing with those whom every word offends. I notice that, when I have measured my words, and weighed my sentences most carefully, I have then offended most; while some of my stronger utterances have passed unnoticed. Therefore, I am comparatively careless as to how my expressions may be received, and only anxious that they may be in themselves just and true."

"You never met an old salt, down by the sea, who was in trouble because the tide had been ebbing out for hours. No! He waits confidently for the turn of the tide, and it comes in due time. Yonder rock has been uncovered during the last half-hour, and if the sea continues to ebb out for weeks, there will be no water in the English Channel, and the French will walk over from Cherbourg. Nobody talks in that childish way, for such an ebb will never come. Nor will we speak as though the gospel would be routed, and eternal truth driven out of the land. We serve an almighty Master ... If our Lord does but stamp His foot, He can win for Himself all the nations of the earth against heathenism, and Mohammedanism, and Agnosticism, and Modern-thought, and every other foul error. Who is he that can harm us if we follow Jesus? How can His cause be defeated? At His will, converts will flock to His truth as numerous as the sands of the sea ... Wherefore be of good courage, and go on your way singing."