Eschatology Today

Inaugurated Eschatology: (n.) The wonderful already-but-not-yet tension and reality of redemption. Read the theological reflections of Pastor Jay and others around him below. This is a great place to dialog about the beauties of the Gospel!

Why Do Pastors Use Pastoral Life As An Example for All Believers?

Does it ever bother you that pastors often use professional ministry issues and life patterns as a means to teach about Christian life in general? Does it leave you wondering: why do I need to know about his pastoral struggles, issues, temptations, tests, burdens, experiences, and principles? Why do pastors so often use their own ministry life to teach lay people?

I don't know about the rest of my brethren, but I do this a lot, and on purpose. It is not as if I have forgotten that there are some unique issues involved in my professional pastoral life, but I very much still choose to use the lens of that life to teach lay people about human life in general. Why? Because, while there is some distinction in being an ordained and called apart shepherd/elder, I think the NT makes it clear that every trait that an elder must have is also a trait that every believer should attain to as well. Yes, I get paid by the church. I have an office at the church and I spend a good amount of time reading, studying, and preparing to teach the Bible. But, the passion and purpose for the gospel that direct me as a pastor-elder should also drive every Christian. Every Christian should be as called to minister, think of themselves in shepherding terms, should love the Bible, study it, and long to have it made known in truth and action, should have a missional mindset to all of life. Everything that a pastor should know, believe, and cling to in order to have a meaningful and fruitful ministry are things that translate quite directly to every believer. If they don't, well, there is a problem, isn't there? If you feel like the pastor's life is some kind of professional guild that has no bearing on you, then I question what you even understand about the Christian life. Elders hold a distinct office with very real stipulations, but the principles of that office bear on every believer.

A good illustration of all this occured when I asked a young woman who attended the Gospel Coalition conference with me how she experienced the teaching given the conference was primarily aimed at male pastors. She said that she was aware of that, but was blessed to have been invited to come regardless AND that almost every exhortation given from the speakers applied to her in some form as a passionate servant of Jesus. That made me feel really proud of her and encouraged me to keep using pastoral life as a model for all Christian life on a regular basis.

At some point, then, I will need to blog on how the best pastors understand and appreciate the world of 'tent-making' disciples who work in the markets, theaters, labs, sports arenas, schools, and other non-local church spheres of the world.

Fighting Jealousy in Ministry

There are two things I wish I was warned about more clearly in seminary. The first is satanic attack against pastors who serve faithfully in the ministry of the Word. The more fruitful the ministry, the more satan targets the minister. The second thing, which I want to touch upon now, is the pitfall of jealousy. Or, put another way, no one told me that I should be keen to feel blessed everytime I see another pastor succeed in ministry.

Jealousy is rampant in ministry. Pastors constantly, whether they are aware of it at the time or not, measure themselves up against each other, especially in the holy triad of preaching, leadership, and publishing. Most pastors are involved in the first two, but the third, where only a small percentage actually get to participate, can also foster a jealous spirit even within a man who has no desire to write publicly, even if capable of it. The internal conflict begins and questions fire away like pistons: why haven't I been asked to preach? Why don't people enjoy my preaching like so and so's? How come I don't get asked to lead a vision, or got promoted, or get invited to counsils, boards, etc? Why do I get stuck with low-level, ground war issues, and am never sought out for high-level, air war leadership and teaching?

The irony is, truth be told, even men whose preaching is highly acclaimed, who do get invited to top level leadership, and who are sought after authors, wrestle with these demonic temptations - and some still fall into the pit of wallowing in the miserable state of jealousy even once they have "arrived".

I say all of this so that I can be a voice telling you all, many of you still in college, to prepare yourself not only to avoid jealousy, but to ask God to shape your heart in such a way that you are blessed when you see other people succeed in life and especially in ministry.

You should be blessed when:

1. People teach and preach well, and you know it blessed people.
2. You see people garner gospel influece in leadership.
3. You hear of another theologically and devoptionally helpful book written by a
person you know.
4. You hear others speak well of a friend's ministry and life.
5. You see people get converted and grow under someone else's ministry.
6. You see talents you respect more vividly expressed in another's life.
7. And so on.

What about you all not in pastoral ministry? The thing is, each one of those areas above translate into your sphere of influence. Just think about it: music, business, science, art, athletics, academics, whatever. Each of those have measures of success. Every time you see someone succeed, you should enjoy how that person's gifts were effectively used, hopefully for the glory of God.

Jealousy is a bitter cancer. Don't have any tolerance for it. It is one of the more hurtful fall-outs of unbelief in the gospel. But, joy in other peoples' success is a balm to the soul. And, only the gospel can produce that in your heart. If you believe that you are justified by Jesus alone and the goal of life is His glory alone, then you find that other's success is sweet to you. So, fight jealousy with love for Jesus which creates love for others.

Gospel Coalition 2009

The second bi-annual Gospel Coalition Conference is wrapping up this morning. The theme of the conference was the theme of the pastoral epistle of 2 Timothy - guarding and passing on the gospel in ministry.

Three years ago I was privileged to sit in on one of the preliminary council meetings that led to this conference and network. Each original council member was asked to bring a junior colleague and Kent Hughes graciously asked me to accompany him (to this day I pinch myself that he asked me of all my capable colleagues, but hey, I took it and thankfully). It was a thrilling experience to sit in a room over two days with just about all my pastoral heros sitting around a table, with their junior colleagues assembled in an outside concentric circle (some of whom are close friends). That, I think, is the metaphor for what the Gospel Coalition is all about and I think what I experienced at this conference. It is about elder pastors who prize the gospel, who prize the ministry of the word, and who want to challenge and inspire the next generation to hold the course and expand the passion for the course.

Here is a list of things I appreciate about this particular conference:
1. It refreshed my soul.
2. It was constantly challenging me and calling me to repent, but because of grace.
3. Expository preaching was modelled, and yet each man had his own gift and style.
4. It was clearly complementarian in vantage point, but in no way did I feel like it was rude or patronizing and it was neat to see that about a quarter or more of the attendees were women.
5. It was a blessing to see how many young men, mostly college and recent post grads, who are probably thinking about or heading into ministry, attended.
6. Christ centered preaching was modelled, where Jesus was the final drum beat, his work, his sufficiency, his Lordship - not our effort or a try-harder mentality.
7. The overall thrust of the time was not to showboat gifted preachers, but to start local, smaller communities of like minded pastors and churches to actually go and live the theology expressed at GC09.
8. Finally, it drew together like minded people from across the board. The New Calvinism movement, contrary to some opinion, really is a broad spectrum movement, including Baptist, Presbyterians, Free Churchers, non-denomers, Pentecostals, dispensationalists, Anglicans, and so forth. The gospel of grace, of justification by faith alone, for God's glory alone, taught in the Scriptures, is what owns this community and glues us together.

Some caveats:
1. Conferences like these can insight jealousy, covetousness, insecurity, and idolatry. One needs to pray against these and be careful during the time.
2. At times I do wish that drawn out and highly approbational introductions would simply be supplanted by: welcome to the pulpit, fill in the blank. I can see why many, even like minded people, avoid and resist these groups because they feel it is a bit of a club, or self congratulatory. I don't think these men are doing it for their own glory or with exclusivity, but I can see why it looks that way.
3. Finally, remember, we are not justified by our groups, our really strong doctrine, our recent influence, but by Jesus and his work alone.

The Bride of Christ Part 4

St. Helens Bishopsgate is a classicly architected and beautiful Anglican church in the heart of the financial district in London. Amidst the modern glass towers and the power exchange of its parish, it sits as a symbol of what is truly important and powerful. It speaks of the nature of the church, what the NT calls the pillar and buttress of the truth. The church is the true anchor of truth in the world. It is the primary place God makes truth known. Now, I did not say truth is known through the church, but truth is known in the church, which while not a mediatorial role is still very, very important. So, some thoughts on how this plays out in outline form:

What are practical ways the church is the pillar and buttress of truth?

I. Teaching
A. Expository preaching.
1. Definition; the main point of the sermon is the main point of the text.
2. Range: book study, thematic.
3. Motivational talks are OK from time to time.
B. Bible driven teaching.
1. Sunday schools, Bible studies, small groups, children's ministry, etc should all ultimately be based on the curriculum of the Bible, whether by book study, themes, theological depth, etc.
C. Counseling as Shepherding -- Bible driven, based on anthropology of Biblical story - fallenness and sinfulness.
1. Psychology proper is OK as long as it is subordinated to Biblical theology of personhood.


II. Leadership and Membership Standards
A. Elders/deacons 1 Tim 3; Tit 1 -- godly life, sound doctrine, ability to teach Biblically.
1. Pastors are paid elders (teaching elders).
B. Membership
1. Testimony of faith in Christ.
2. Doctrinal beliefs.
3. The pattern of obedience.
4. Commitment to the church in time, energy, and resources (participation).


III. Vision, mission, and program.
A. Vision: Based on Biblical categories, and even Biblical center of truth as best as a church can articulate it in their host language.
B. Mission and program: Biblically proportionate: what the Bible cares most about is given the most space and time, what is less important is less of a time and energy priority.

Implications:
1. The church is your touchstone for truth in a truth-distorting world.
2. The church is your first line of theological instruction and should bolster or rebuke what is taught in Bible or theology classes. Your orthodoxy meter should be set at church, not at school. Theological training and nuance does not equal truth. A pastor's first concern is Biblical faithfulness from what has been historically defined as doctrinal orthodoxy from a responsible interpretation based on a sense of stewardship over people's souls. Profs sometimes waver from these concerns due to the nature of their training, the pressure of their academic peers, and from a rampant skepticism of tradition, dogma, and consensus within the academy.
3. You should come to church hungering to learn more truth and to grow in truth you already affirm.
4. You should make sure your church is doing its best to live as the pillar and buttress of the truth.

The Good News of A Less "Christian'" Nation

I just finished reading Newsweek's latest cover story: The End of Christian American by Jon Meacham. A cover like that can send chills up an evangelical spine. But, this is not new news to me. This has been a long time in the coming, and I have witnessed its coming since I have been a college pastor. I find it heartening. Why? Because of how I think the data is to be interpreted. It can be interpreted that people are falling away from the Lord and Christ's church is failing in its mission, and that the marginalization and perhaps even suffering Christianity will face in new America is going to hurt the church and the cause of Christ. OR, and big OR here, it means that traditional American religiosity, in the guise of Judeo-Christian categories, is finally having its cultural day. It means that the true church is in fact going to be marginalized and suffer, but this will lead to purification, true power, and growth.

Here is what I think the data means in particular.
1) Christian nominalism is dying. This is good. As a pastor in Dallas, Matt Chandler, likes to say, people are going to be less inoculated with Jesus, having just enough of him so that people don't actually get totally infected by him. The gospel can now be viewed as truly unique, rather than the norm, even in places like the South.
2) Americans don't feel cultural baggage to play Christian and thus fool themselves in a self salvation numbness. The moral claims of Jesus will stand out more. The work of grace is going to be a very radical message, up against the total moral relativism on the horizon.
3) The suffering church is always the more vital church. I certainly don't want to downplay what this means for our public experience as Christians. It is going to get dicey. Christian institutions, like Christian colleges that will only hire Christians who believe and live within orthodoxy, are going to be under pressure to embrace a non exclusivity framework or suffer pressure to take no public aid or have students who cannot take public aid, or may even be banned legally as an illegal institution by virtue of its exclusivity in hiring, admission policies, and propagation of its beliefs.
4) More Roman Catholics are no longer feeling the cultural pressure to remain 'Catholic' simply because of a certain ancestry. The Newsweek article cited the North East as the region with the most change in its Christian population. Evangelicals are far and few between there. I am most confident the data represents ex-Catholics that feel less overall cultural pressure to remain identified with the Catholic church, especially after the priest abuse scandals of several years ago. This leaves room for evangelicals to proclaim the message of salvation by faith alone.
5) The world is going to be less inviting for the body of Christ, and thus less comfortable and less numbing. We will be freed to long for heaven, where exile will be over. We will move away from being of this world, back to where we were supposed to be, in it but not of it. Holy dissatisfaction will prevail, so we will preach more urgently and await Jesus more enthusiastically, praying, "Come Lord Jesus, Come quickly!"

Life is going to change for us. It is going to get more challenging in many respects. There is going to be less tolerance and even rejection for moral norms that Christians enjoyed at a public level in this society for many years. Our children will face a less moral, less tolerant society of Biblical Christianity in general and they will be viewed as strange. But, the Bible is clear. That is the world! We have been living with a facade for a long time. That facade has made the gospel usual and bland to a lot of people. We are now facing some challenges, but also a new climate where the true gospel is going to stand out and offer a truly radical counter message and life. There will be no cultural pressure to be a Christian. Thus, the church has a wonderful mission ahead of her. The lines are being drawn and that is good. Ask any believer who lived in Eastern Europe under communism. Those were hard days, but those were the golden days of the church in Eastern Europe. Jesus was savored more when he was the only true hope. And, ask this pastor who grew up in Marin County, the society that already had no Christian moorings for a long time, what it was like to be a Christian there. Answer: challenging but also energizing, radical, and Biblically real.

Discernment in Media

I was recently asked by a student about the issue of watching violence in a visual media. The age old dilemma behind the question is that of discerning what is and what is not sin, wrong, or unwise. How does one know if something is an impure activity if it does not fall readily into a clearly defined Biblical category? Violence in a movie is a case in point. Is it OK at any level? There is no verse that says: thou shalt not watch violence in media! Or, if OK at some level, when does it go too far? Same goes for sexuality in media.

This is a huge topic and many books, papers, and articles try and tackle it, but let me provide some very, very broad brush strokes. By the way, if you haven't already realized this, blogging is all about very, very broad brush strokes. It is all about accuracy, hopefully, but is quite unnuanced and undetailed. So, let this intrigue you into further Biblical and secondary literature study and meditation.

1. The most important thing I can say is that NT discussions on this like 1 Corinthians 8 and the like put a premium on the conscience. That seems very subjective but the point is that if you are seeking to please the Lord in every area of your life and you come across a fuzzy gray area, then the Lord will use your conscience. If your conscience is convicted about a movie or play or piece of art, then don't watch or look. Be careful not to judge others, but definitely act on your conscience. Play it safe. Not legalistically, but safe. And, if those in your company are obedient to Scripture, they will respect that and not put you in a place to go against your conscience.

2. The other issue is how the violence is put in context. Is it the written word where your imagination supplies the image? Is it visual, where the image is supplied for you? What is the nature of the story? For instance, the Bible is chalk full of very intense violence: battles, descriptions of battle wounds, of executions, rapes, suicides, etc. The context? God's holy work of cleansing, or judgment on personal sin, or the falleness and brokenness of humanity. Then there is the book of Song of Solomon, full of explicit eroticism. Context? Marital love, along with the call not to awaken love before its time. Context is king. However, this is inspired Scripture, so it has a lot to commend its trustworthiness, doesn't it?

3. But, while movies, plays, and paintings are not inspired Scripture, there are similar principles that apply. What is the artist's aim? Is he glorifying violence or is it part of a greater, redemptive story? For instance, say you have a short film where a soldier is fighting his way into what seems to be some sort of fort. He kills many enemies on the way, often with great bloodshed. He makes his way into the heart of the building. The sense you get is that he is after the chief villain and wants to either arrest him or exact great vengeance on him, but he must get past his guards into his inner chamber. He kills the last guards and breaks into a room where huddled in the corner is a cowering woman and her three young children, the youngest of whom is a baby. This bloodied soldier runs to them, they cringe in fear as he is in the shadows and is a mess of blood and dirt himself. But, then they recognize him. It is her husband and it is daddy. With the same hands that broke bones, he scoops his family up and squeezes hard with love and joy, and he weeps. He has found and rescued his kidnapped family. They are safe now. Now, that is a very particular and redeeming context. But, there will still be questions as to the warrant of certain levels of depiction of that violence. But it begs an in interesting question, I think.

4. Also, while violence and sexuality intersect in terms of ethical considerations, they have variance as well. Violence in media does lead to violence sometimes. If it is gratuitous and purely for entertainment, it can numb one to violence. But sexuality is almost always a tempting force, especially for men. It numbs and by its nature it draws one into personal sexual expression. So, in my mind, sexuality is a much more complex and insidious issue in media. Therefore, even in very redemptive messages or stories sexuality needs to be portrayed with the utmost carefulness, with a leaning toward modesty in every sense. I am not even comfortable with Christians acting out a kiss in a play or movie, although many serious Christian artists would disagree with me armed with theological nuance.

5. So, for violence, the important questions in discernment are: story context, does it glorify it, is it purely for entertainment, is it gratuitous, is there a redemptive edge, and most importantly, how does your Biblically acute and Spiritually sensitized conscience respond?

So, there is a priming of the pump. Think about it.