Yeah, I know it’s Tuesday.  I am super busy with camp and trying to prepare the “perfect” sermons to proclaim that Jesus is Enough. 

I have four sermons to preach (as well as write short devotions, team-time devotions, and put a little together for the morning worship services).  I have spent a good deal of time on sermon number one.  It keeps going through revision.  I get it all together and then decide to cut something.  Then I add something else.  Then I cut something else.  The process keeps continuing.  I have even considered scrapping the whole thing and starting over. 

My problem is that I am trying to come up with the perfect  sermon.  I want to be biblically faithful, doctrinally pure, and Christ-exalting.  All of those are noble.  The problem is you cannot preach a good sermon about the sufficiency of Christ while denying it in your sermon prep.  I can put together a sermon that is biblically faithful, doctrinally pure, and Christ-exalting but if it is not accompanied by the power of the Holy Spirit then my “perfect sermon” is a “perfect” speech and not a sermon. 

I must remember what Spurgeon said:

“The gospel is preached in the ears of all; it only comes with power to some.  The power that is in the gospel does not lie in the eloquence of the preacher; otherwise men would be converters of souls.  Nor does it lie in the preacher’s learning; otherwise it would consist in the wisdom of men.  We might preach till our tongues rotted, till we should exhaust our lungs and die, but never a soul would be converted unless there were mysterious power going with it—the Holy Ghost changing the will of man.  O Sirs!  we might well preach to stone walls as to preach to humanity unless the Holy Ghost be with the word, to give it power to convert the soul.”  (Quoted from Arturo Azurdia, Spirit Empowered Preaching, p128)

The power of the Spirit and the work of Christ is sufficient to take this jar of clay and house glory therein.  Jesus preached the perfect sermon with every breath he took.  What can I learn from the life of Christ in my preaching.

1. He was radically God-centered
2. He poured into others
3. He spilled his blood for others
4. He was disturbingly real
5. He touched broken people in their brokenness
6. He comforted the broken and broke the comfortable
7. He passionately preached against “religion”
8. He relied upon the Spirit
9. He was Christ-centered
10. He was biblically-saturated
11. He was engaging
12. He was never afraid to stoop
13. He preached among the people
14. He live with those he taught
15. He preached with authority
16. He was Jesus and I’m not

Author: D.A. Carson

Pages: 160 pages

Publisher: Crossway

Price: $11.19

Genre: Christian Biography

Quick Summary:

You have probably heard of Don (D.A.) Carson. Most Americans have probably never heard of Tom Carson (Don’s dad). Tom was an “ordinary” pastor to French speaking Canada. His son has taken his letters, journals, and other manuscripts and has turned them into a mighty gift to the church.

Throughout this book we learn of Tom’s life and struggles as a common pastor. We are allowed to enter into the world of a pastor struggling with discouragement, depression, and feelings of worthlessness. We see the joys of laboring for Christ mixed with the brokenness of a fallen perfectionist. We see a loving father and husband that are always striving to be better. We witness the pain of Alzheimer’s and death of a cherished spouse and life-long partner in the gospel. From the highs through the lows this book is shockingly real.

What I Liked:

I had to hold back tears when D.A. Carson’s “mum” died. Perhaps, it through me back to witnessing my own grandfather by the bedside of my grandmother. Nevertheless, such emotion for someone that I had never met or even heard of is a testimony to Carson’s vivid writing style and compilation of his father’s journals. It is easy for a rural youth pastor like me (even though only 27) to identify with some of the feelings of Tom Carson. It is also wonderful that Carson interjects biblical wisdom throughout these journals.

Carson also, wisely, provides us American readers with some Canadian church history to help tell the story. That is helpful otherwise I would have been totally lost.

What I Disliked:

There is really nothing that I can honestly say I disliked. There are two things that make it somewhat difficult to read, but those are common in a book of this sort. One, it is sometimes difficult to place yourself in a situation when you have little knowledge of the environment. Carson makes a wonderful attempt at making us Americans at least moderately adept at understanding the French Canadian environment. Two, many biographies do this and it’s a good thing, but it makes it difficult to read letters when people are referred to by initials. It just gets confusing. Almost all memoirs are this way, I just wish they weren’t. I’d prefer a “names were changed to protect the innocent” type of thing.

Should You Buy It?

If you absolutely have to have a hard copy then yes. You need to read this book. You can read it online for free by going here. Or you can buy it for 11.19. There are some things in the book that are worthy of underlining or keeping on file for further reflection. You may want to go ahead and purchase it, but if money is tight you need to at least read the free copy (I read it in about 6 hours).

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

And any affiliation we shall have with any group of New Testament churches, in very many cases, will be after due consideration if such affiliation is going to affect adversely the local church. Not that it is our idea that we should join on condition we get something out of it; but the progress and development of local churches—not their splitting and destruction—is of paramount consideration.

Any idea who said that?

I was happy to be able to watch the SBC Annual Convention online.  Occasionally my feed went out got a little rough but it was great to be able to watch most of it.  Of course it would be nothing like actually being there; so I cannot share my experience as one that was actually there.  However, I thought I would share something that the Lord showed me through this. 

First, let me say that I am a young pastor (youth pastor even, which I’m told is not a real pastor).  I am coming to understand that I only know about 1/5 of what I think I know and that in a few years that will end up being about 1/20.  So I am very happy to soak up wisdom from older men (or even younger ones that have more wisdom than I).  Of course, my pride sometimes makes it seem like I already know all of the answers.

Second, because of my youthful vigor combined with ignorance I want to move faster than wisdom will allow.  I also am not wise enough yet to know when I should “fight” and when I should shut my mouth.

At the Annual Convention (I still think that sounds cultish) there were quite a few motions that were, in my opinion, a tad silly.  They detracted from the gospel and were brought in a form which appeared to me to be ill-spirited.  I have seen this in the Missouri Baptist Convention for awhile now.  My heart breaks that the applause for missions and the gospel pales in comparison to the woot-woots for motions against alcohol consumption.  (Even if you are a teetotaler you have to admit something is wrong with that). 

As these motions were brought to the floor, especially the one about taking Driscoll books out of Lifeway, I could not help but want people to stand up and expose the ridiculousness of these motions.  But my spirit was tempered by a dear pastor friend that explained how these things work, and then by the twitter updates by Dr. Mohler.  Dr. Mohler encouraged us not to be frustrated, to love them, to see their heart, etc.  What amazing wisdom. 

Then it hit me; Proverbs 24:6.  “Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will also be like him.”  All of these godly men (like Dr. Mohler and Dr. Akin) were sitting by and let these men make these motions without combating it.  Then I thought about the patient and biblically faithful testimony of folks like the Founders and 9Marks.  They have jam-packed breakout sessions full of hungry young people soaking up the truth.  It is best to just let these motions continue coming, present truth when you can, but ultimately just shut up and let it play out. 

I guess I really learned through experience what I read months ago in The Deliberate Church: “The best way to lose your place of influence as a pastor is to be in a hurry, forcing radical (even if biblical) change before people are ready to follow you and own it.  It would be wise for many of us to lower our expectations and extend our time horizons”.

So what did I learn?  I learned that I have a lot left to learn. 

John Piper models for us how to make a biblical apology as well as inform us about why he does not own a television.

The SBC Annual Convention was held earlier this week.  Here are a few of the reflections:  iMonk, Tom Ascol (from Founders), Owen Strachan, Peter Lumpkins, James Galyon, Timmy Brister, Micah Fries, and Wade Burleson

It is also worth mentioning this article by the iMonk: Why Mark Driscoll Shouldn’t Bug Ya

Kevin DeYoung reminds us that its not enough to believe in the authority and inerrancy of Scripture; we also need to like it.

David Powlison on Literature; Tony’s link is more extensive—check it out.

Check this out from Paul Washer:

That’s it for this week…all those SBC articles will keep you busy—that and reading everything about Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett.

After a brief hiatus we will return to our discussion on The Deliberate Church. As always If you are just joining the discussion (that as of yet has not been much of a discussion) then please check out the foreword, intro, and chapter one. You can catch up pretty easily. If you have yet to buy the book I would suggest buying it for a paltry 9 bucks, here.

Quick Summary

This chapter is one that holds a very passionate place in my heart. I have had to counsel a decent amount of teenagers that are confused because of irresponsible evangelism. I have been to conferences, children’s ministry events, motorcycle evangelism shows, etc. where a good number of students “accepted Christ” but had absolutely no clue what that meant nor had a passion to follow the biblical Christ. I have seen from experience the importance of heeding what Dever is saying in this chapter.

On the positive side of things, Dever encourages two over-arching principles: Be God-centered and be certain to include the essentials. What are the essentials? Dever makes it easy for us God—man—Christ—response. For a very great extended discussion on this check out Dever’s book, The Gospel and Personal Evangelism.

In this chapter Dever also talks a couple examples of irresponsible evangelism: extending invitations (at least in an irresponsible way), entertainment-centered evangelism, manipulation. This first one is probably the most controversial in Southern Baptist circles. It is important to understand that Dever is not saying that it is irresponsible to, “invite people to repent and believe the Gospel” (52).

What Dever is cautioning against is the “no evidence required” assurance. Allow me to give you an example of this from my own personal ministry. A few years back our church had previously committed to be a part of this motorcycle (X-games type) evangelism event. They had drama, music, and a cool motorcycle guy that did tricks that shared his testimony. At the very end of the event the speaker did one of those bow your head and close your eyes moments. He had people come forward, he prayed for them, assured them, and invited them to speak to a counselor.

After the event I found out that our youth group had somewhere around 20 “decisions for Christ”. I began the process of counseling these youngsters that were, keep in mind, assured of their salvation by this speaker and probably a fair amount of counselors that had prayed with them. As I began talking to these teens it was apparent that the only thing that really had happened was emotional manipulation and shoddy evangelism. Only one of these students actually had a helpful experience with Jesus. The others were assured of salvation and yet wanted little to nothing to do with Jesus or other believers.

This is what Dever is talking about: Draw a crowd with entertainment--sneak the gospel in the back door, have some heart tugging music, the preacher using his voice in a mellow way, etc. to manipulate people into decisions and then assuring them after those decisions are made that they are absolutely saved. That is not responsible evangelism, and our 16 million with only around 40% in attendance SBC is sadly a testimony to the effects of such evangelism.

The evangelism that we are to be engaged in is the whole church presenting the whole gospel to the whole person. Another great resource for this is Will Metzger’s excellent book Tell the Truth.

Quotables:

“If we’re not getting the evangel (gospel) right according to the Word, then whatever we are doing, it can’t be called evangelism.” (51)

“The only external evidence that the Bible tells us to use in discerning whether or not a person is converted is the fruit of obedience.” (53)

“The Gospel is inherently and irreducibly confrontational. It cuts against our perceived righteousness and self-sufficiency, demanding that we forsake cherished sin and trust in someone else to justify us.” (55)

“Churches are most healthy when the gospel is most clear; and the gospel is most clear when our evangelistic methods are most plain.” (55)

Questions:

• Dever mentions things that we confuse as saving responses with the only thing that is a saving response (repentance and faith). What are some of these things that we confuse with a saving response?
• When speaking of a “public profession of faith” Dever seems to be saying that baptism and not altar calls are to serve as that. What do you think?
• Have you been guilty of or had any experiences with irresponsible evangelism?
• These are Dever’s questions: Are there elements in your churches evangelism that are more entertainment than informative? Are there ways in which your churches evangelism strategy is more like a marketing strategy? Could your churches evangelism method be perceived as emotionally manipulative? If yes to any of these, how might you pursue change?

A MAN, very much annoyed with a Flea, caught him at last, and said, "Who are you who dare to feed on my limbs, and to cost me so much trouble in catching you?' The Flea replied, "O my dear sir, pray spare my life, and destroy me not, for I cannot possibly do you much harm." The Man, laughing, replied, "Now you shall certainly die by mine own hands, for no evil, whether it be small or large, ought to be tolerated."  (From Aesop’s Fables)

Oh, that more believers would heed this lesson: “no evil, whether it be small or large, ought to be tolerated.”  Since reading The Mortification of Sin, the words of John Owen have stuck with me,

“Sin aims always at the utmost: every time it rises up to tempt or entice, might it have its own course, it would go out to the utmost sin of that kind…And so far as the soul is made insensible to any sin, that is, as to such a sense as the gospel requires, so far it is hardened.  But sin still pressing forward; and that because it hath no bounds but utter relinquishment of God, and opposition to him.”  (From, The Mortification of Sin)

If you let a couple of fleas go in your house before you know it your entire house will be infested with fleas.  My wife and I, unfortunately, know this all too well.  Our cat ended up not only getting pregnant but also getting fleas.  Because she was pregnant we felt it best to try to quarantine her in a room and deal with the fleas later.  That was dumb.  Now we are going to have buy flea stuff for the cat and her kitties as well as tons of flea killer for our house.  We should have tried to kill the fleas before this became a problem.

Sin does this exact same thing in our lives.  “It is only a little sin,” we rationalize.  Friend, there is no such thing as a little sin.  Every sin if given opportunity will harden your heart, lead to forsaking the gospel, and relinquishing God from his throne.  Even it its seminal stages sin is an affront to God and his glory, and ought to be dealt with.   

One area that I have seen this most frequently is in the area of teenagers involved in inappropriate relationships.  We have lost numerous students, once seemingly passionate about Jesus, to boyfriends or girlfriends.  Ultimately, I know that if these students are in Christ that he will doggedly pursue them and work repentance in their heart.  Nonetheless, the pain that is caused by this is jarring. 

It starts with an “innocent” relationship.  Then mistakes are made.  Then it gets uncomfortable being around God’s Word and God’s people.  At the crossroads the student will either end the relationship with the boyfriend/girlfriend and respond in repentance or will “end” the relationship with God and run away from Him.  “Sin always aims at the utmost.”

What is the answer?  Kill the flea.  Kill the sin.  As John Owen has aptly said, “Be killing sin, or it will be killing you.”  Yes, Christ has ultimately taken away the principle of sin and its effects.  But we are still called in Scripture to actively be engaged in killing sin.  I do not fully understand it but all I know is this: Jesus has killed sin, Jesus is killing sin, and Jesus will ultimately do away with sin and he is calling us to, by his power, engage in killing sin. 

So, no matter how big or small the sin might seem to be it needs to be repented of.  Believe the gospel enough to turn from the ugliness of sin and embrace the beauty of Christ.  A couple fleas can end up costing you lots of labor and money; a “little sin” can cost you your soul. 

If you have never read John Owen’s classic work The Mortification of Sin, I would strongly suggest buying a copy for only 6.30 and reading it.