The Kingdom of God!

Pastor Tim's preaching on Sunday makes it easy to blog on Monday!

This past Lord's Day served to remind my wife and I once again why we chose to be part of Trinity Fellowship over a year ago. We wanted good preaching! We wanted it for our children especially. I can assure you that our five teenage sons who sat through the service yesterday are NOT getting this anywhere else. And nothing they DO get outside stacks up against this kind of teaching. Public school teachers, coaches, friends, advertisers, internet, etc... every day they get an earful and eyeful of information. But compared to what they heard in church, it all falls short--in rhetoric, in substance, and in coherence. Our boys are bright--I'm pretty sure they'd agree.

Pastor Tim was answering the "big questions" yesterday. "Where did I come from?" "Why am I here?" "What is my purpose in life?" Our boys heard a "lecture" in Theology, Anthropology, Philosophy, and Christian World-view all wrapped up in one passionately delivered sermon.

"The Kingdom of God is God's rule, through God's Son, in and with God's people, throughout God's world, for God's glory." Any questions!?

From the fall of Satan, to "cosmic treason" and "the first Adam", to the incarnation, to redemption, then on to talk of "kingdom outposts"--it was all clearly laid out, and all so very reasonable. God's kingdom, touching the "dust and dirt" of earth--his dust, his dirt, our labors, the proclamation of his kingdom--so much to think about, all neatly wrapped together to create a convincing world-view. As I said, nothing they're getting on the outside holds a candle to the truth they heard yesterday.

Thank you Tim! May you have the grace and strength, along with the other pastors, to continue the shepherding work that you all do so well.

A Tale of Two Sermons

I'd like to reflect on 2 sermons I recently heard.

The first sermon (I caught less than 3 minutes of it), was on a TV in a hotel room two Sundays ago. It was preached in what appeared to be a stadium, but I think it was the regular church building. The man who gave the sermon seemed sincere-- He's quite popular... he is "America's Pastor." He assured the worshipers that "God would take them places they never dreamed of going" and that He could "fulfill their wildest dreams." As the camera panned the neatly dressed crowd I saw smiling faces. The crowd was huge! I'm guessing that one Sunday's offering/collection from this place could meet the annual budget of the church I attend. It would seem that the dubbing of this man as "America's Pastor" is an apt one... America's pastor, keeping the "American Dream" alive.

And I heard a sermon yesterday. This man too was sincere. The subject was vastly different, as was the size of the crowd... several empty seats in the sanctuary, and an offering that barely keeps up with (and ocassionaly lags behind) a modest budget. This pastor began his message with a scripture text: "Put to death... Put to death... Put to death therefore what is earthly in you." The crowd wasn't smiling. The pastor then proceeded to step on the proverbial toes of many of us, myself included. He lovingly challenged us toward holiness (without which, no man will see the Lord.)

My take on the two sermons? The first one left me shaking my head in disbelief. Did the Father send the Son, Jesus, to the cross so that my wildest dreams could be fulfilled? And yet, here was a packed stadium hanging on the words of this "pastor." Perhaps a man left there feeling hopeful--- maybe that dream of a million dollar home at the shore wasn't out of reach after all... ?

The other sermon, from this relatively obscure pastor, left me convicted about the sin in my life, and aware of the dangers if I refuse to change course. My particular sin is laziness. I've been aware of it for many years. This morning, however, I was up at 5:30, meeting with the Lord... just as my pastor recommended. I took his warning seriously... I must put laziness to death, and for me, it will be a daily killing.

Solomon said there is nothing new under the sun. In the days of Israel false prophets abounded. Remember the cleverly devised set of horns used by Zedekiah to prophesy to Ahab and Jehoshaphat exactly what they wanted to hear (1 Kings 22)? "Thus says the Lord, with these you shall push the Syrians until they are destroyed!" What hopeful words! "And all the prophets prophesied so and said, Go up to Ramoth-gilead and triumph; the Lord will give it into the hand of the king." This brought a smile to Ahab's face.

But then there was Micaiah, a faithful prophet of the Lord. He never cheered the king's heart. His word did not leave a smile on their face--their "dream" was to triumph in the battle--Micaiah's word was this: "I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd."

Thank you pastors of Trinity Fellowship... for speaking the truth in love... so that WE will not be scattered sheep, wandering on the mountains.

My Verse for Today

Let me start by saying thanks to those sharing in this blog. The posts and comments by Bruce and Peter and John and Tom and others have been consistently great and in some cases so full of thought that there is enough to bless the soul for days, just through them alone.

If you haven't been keeping up on these you may want to spend some time reviewing.

As for me, I've got days of study and writing ahead of me. Here's my verse for the day: Acts 6:4.

Please pray for me as I have much ministry of the Word to do:
1. A Sunday sermon to prepare.
2. An important study I'm doing, and paper I'm writing on the very critical matter of what the Bible says about children and birth control. The pastoral implications of this are huge.
3. Ten messages I need to have outlined for my July 12-17 week of camp ministry up in Maine; followed by Sunday preaching ministry on the 19th at a church up in Massachusetts.
4. Counseling and mentoring in the Word to do (at least one appointment today and each day, through Friday).

And then pray for me that in the middle of all of this and throughout all of this I will pray. Pray for me that I will pray for you!

Just a glimpse into my week. I appreciate and love all of you who stand alongside in the work of the gospel.

The Spiritual Malady of the Age

Our family is fairly new to Trinity Fellowship. We have chosen to make our home at Trinity because of the preaching-- and Sunday's message by Scott is yet another confirmation of our decision. Jesus Christ was preached!

In his "Lectures on Justification" (1838), J.H. Newman includes an essay entitled "The Spiritual Malady of the Age." Consider this excerpt:

"A system of doctrine has risen up... in which faith or spiritual-mindedness is contemplated and rested on as the end of religion instead of Christ. Stress is laid rather on the believing than on the Object of belief, on the comfort and persuasiveness of the doctrine rather than on the doctrine itself. And in this way, religion is made to consist in contemplating ourselves instead of Christ."

"The true preaching of the Gospel is to preach Christ. But the fashion of the day has been, instead of this, to preach conversion; to attempt to convert by insisting on conversion; to exhort men to undergo a change; to tell them to be sure they look to Christ, instead of simply holding up Christ to them; to tell them to have faith, rather than to supply its Object; to lead them to stir up and work up their minds, instead of impressing on them the thought of Him who can savingly work in them; to bid them take care that their faith is justifying, not dead, formal, self-righteous, and merely moral, whereas the image of Christ fully delineated of itself destroys deadness, formality and self-righteousness; to rely on words, vehemence, eloquence, and the like, rather than to aim at conveying the one great evangelical idea whether in words or not."

Sunday's message was not an effort to insist, to persuade, or to cajole. Scott's goal was to reveal Christ in the text of Philippians 2:9-11. True worship can only take place where there is this kind of anchoring in the "indicatives" rather than the "imperatives" of our faith (Michael Horton: "A Better Way", 2002).

I'd like to say thank you to all of the pastors at Trinity, who work hard to keep clear doctrine before us, in a day when doctrine is being put aside in favor of more "exciting" techniques. We need God's word clearly exposited, and we need to have Jesus Christ "fully delineated." Thank you!

Tuning in to Hear God's Word

My dear friend Steve Cassarino gave our church an exceptionally powerful and important word yesterday, preaching about the right hearing of the Word of God.

As I have long reflected on the right preaching and hearing of God's Word I have learned that while the preacher's study, life, and presentation are all very important, at least equally important is the life and present tense heart condition of the hearer. The hearer has to be spiritually tuned in.

The hearer of the Word must be as spiritually prepared and diligent in the experience of preaching as is the preacher of the Word. This is clearly the implication of James 1:19-25; Luke 8:11-21 and other texts.

This biblical perspective is supported by a report from the well-known preacher, Dr. David Jeremiah. As I heard the story, years ago Dr. Jeremiah had a battle with cancer. During his treatments he took his radio program off the air. Once his treatments were over he returned to the air and the public tuned in and was blessed again.

Only now the blessing seemed to be increased. Soon he began to receive many letters thanking him for his preaching and commenting on how his preaching had a distinctly different quality about it since his bout with cancer. I'm guessing that people felt it was more sensitive, more pastoral, more effective--perhaps because it was coming to them now from a man who had been through the fires of affliction. People were very grateful for the marked growth of effectiveness in his post-cancer radio ministry.

But here's the deal: the post-cancer radio ministry was nothing more than recorded messages of Dr. Jeremiah's pre-cancer preaching! He hadn't broadcasted any of his post-cancer sermons yet. Think about that. What it means is that the post-cancer hearers were the ones who had changed, not Dr. Jeremiah.

They were the same people listening to the same preacher, but their hearts had changed toward the preacher. His preaching was the same, but their listening wasn't. They thought they were listening to a cancer victim. They thought they were listening to a man made humble and sensitive by affliction. And as a result they were the ones who had changed. They were more open, more humble, more receptive, more inclined to listen, less inclined to find fault. And as a result, the Word came with greater power and effect to their lives.

This explains the experience I have had more times than can be counted, when people have responded in completely opposite ways to the very same sermon that I have preached. Of course I realize that the effect of preaching is a matter of the Sovereign Spirit blowing where He will and God giving the increase (John 3:8; 1 Corinthians 3:6). And I realize that God is omnipotent in grace so that He can transform a heart through preaching.

But the Bible is also clear that the effect of preaching is often determined by the heart condition of the hearer. This is why one is unmoved by a sermon while another is profoundly changed. One feels a sermon to be hard or harsh while another finds it sweet. One finds it heart-breaking while another finds it soul-thrilling. One is exhilerated while another is bored to tears. It's all about the condition of the hearer's heart.

Unless the Spirit works in ways to overcome the condition of the heart (and praise be to God that He often does!), whatever the heart condition going into the hearing the Word will affect the heart condition and reponse once the Word has been heard. The effect of the Word is more about having good reception than it is about making a good presentation.

So it's important that we think even more about how to prepare to rightly hear the Word. Over the next few days I think we'll explore this vital component of Christian growth in grace.

I hope you'll tune in.