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What are Elders and Why Do We Have Them?

(This is a summary of the second sermon in the six-part series, “God Gave Pastors and Teachers,” preached on June 15. The audio is available here.) Why do we exist as a church? The glory of God is our goal. This is the reason we exist. We as a church are not able to glorify God in some ways:
  • We won't create galaxies or planets
  • We won't raise up kingdoms and bring them down
But what can we do, by His grace, through His power? Basically there are three ways we glorify God: 1) We worship God corporately: proclaiming and singing and delighting in the glory of God This gives God glory DIRECTLY 2) We proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those who don't know Him
  • Through Missions: Reaching ALL NATIONS with the Gospel of the glory of God
  • Through Evangelism: Reaching our neighbors with the Gospel of the glory of God
3) We build up the body of Christ
  • In knowledge
  • In love
  • In faith
  • In Christlikeness
  • In perseverance
We can summarize these three ways in short phrases: We glorify God through:
  • Expressing joy in Christ
  • Spreading joy in Christ
  • Deepening joy in Christ
Thus, elders exist to help the church fulfill the reason for its existence.
  • Through worship
  • Through outreach
  • Through edification
God gives pastors and teachers as gifts to the church, so that the church might become what He intends it to be. The growing, strengthening, thriving, worshiping bride of Christ.
July 25, 2008

What is Preaching and Why is it Important?

(This is a summary of the first sermon in the six-part series, “God Gave Pastors and Teachers,” preached on June 1. The audio is available here.)

The title of this sermon series comes from Ephesians 4:11-14, which says, in part:

He gave the . . . pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,

Note that God gives pastors and teachers to the church.

  • They are His gifts, His presents, tokens of His love for the church.
  • They play a key role in equipping God’s people to minister as God intends.
  • They play a key role in guarding the church from waves of false teaching.
  • Thus they play a key role in enabling the church to become the interdependent, smoothly functioning body of Christ Paul describes in Ephesians 4:16.

Five main points:

July 25, 2008

Running the Race of Faith

(For a version of this devotion that is easier to print, follow this link.) The Bible is full of images that help us to understand the Christian life: we are part of the army of God, engaged in battle; we are part of the body of Christ; we are Christ's ambassadors, his envoys, representing him in this world; we are a building, being built up into Christlikeness; we are branches, Christ is the vine; we are the bride of Christ; we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. All of these analogies are rich and useful. My favorite analogy, however, compares the Christian life to running a race. This analogy is not common throughout the Bible, but Paul loves it, as he uses the running and racing image at least nine times in his epistles. In addition, the author of Hebrews uses the analogy once. The analogy is particularly rich for me because I am a product of the running boom. I grew up during a period when mile world records would be the lead headline of the sports section; when an American set two of those world records; when 100,000 fans filled a stadium to witness a track meet between the US and the Soviet Union. Then came the 1972 Munich Olympic Games. That summer, as a 16 year old who had been running competitively for less than two years, I watched Jim Ryun, the mile world record holder and my boyhood hero, fall in his 1500 meters heat and thus fail to make the final; I watched Steve Prefontaine, an American runner only five years my senior, make a game effort to win Olympic gold in the 5k; and, most importantly, I watched Frank Shorter demolish the field to win the Olympic marathon. After those Olympics, millions of Americans began running, many hoping to complete a marathon. Every teenage boy in the country who was already running competitively began to dream of mile world records and marathon victories. I was no exception.
July 25, 2008

Submission and Disagreement

(For a version of this devotion that is easier to print, follow this link.)

In Sunday’s sermon, we looked at Hebrews 13:17, which reads in the NIV:

Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.

In discussing this verse, I said, “Submission only comes into play when there is a disagreement.”

Several of you have asked (respectfully and submissively!) if this is correct, particularly considering that God the Son submits to God the Father. Surely there is no disagreement between them!

This is an excellent point, and many thanks for the input. I’ll correct my statement briefly next Sunday; here let me elaborate on the idea more fully than will be possible in the sermon. Consider first the nature of God the Son’s submission to God the Father:

July 19, 2008

Tony Snow, Death and Life

Tony Snow died of colon cancer this morning at the age of 53. He is best known as President Bush's former Press Secretary. But Tony and I first met 35 years ago, when were freshmen at Davidson College. We both loved philosophy, and had several courses together. Tony was a voracious reader, a quick thinker, and a prolific writer. Full of energy, full of ideas, adventurous in spirit, he clearly had an interesting life ahead of him. I took a year off between our junior and senior years, going to Kenya to teach secondary school. That year changed my life, as I focused for the next two decades on issues of economic development, spending several years overseas.  Tony corresponded with me while I was in Kenya, and, intrigued, decided to go himself the next year. He taught at the same school.
July 12, 2008

Why Read the Prophets?

“Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the LORD, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged.” Isaiah 1:4

Those are some of the opening words of the book of Isaiah. I read them this morning, along with the rest of Isaiah chapters 1, 7, and 8, following the chronological ordering of the Bible Unity Reading Plan. Because Israel’s prophets wrote about 30 percent of the Old Testament and almost all of them lived and wrote between the years of 750BC and 515BC, those of us following this plan will be reading mainly from the prophets for the next three months.

There are passages in the prophets that most Christians know and love: Those we read every Christmas, such as Isaiah 9 and 11; the song of the suffering servant in Isaiah 53; the promise of the New Covenant in Jeremiah 31. These are pearls in the midst of . . .

Of what? We’re tempted to say, “in the midst of the less interesting parts of these books.” Or even to say, “in the midst of the less important parts of these books.” For the prophets devote a great deal of time to condemnation of Israel and Judah (such as Isaiah 1:4 above) and then also a great deal of time condemning the nations surrounding them. This can be . . . dare we say, tiresome?

July 11, 2008