It Is I Who Needs to Ask John Piper for Forgivness

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Last evening I posted a link to the full text of Pastor John Piper’s announcement concerning his leave of absence from Bethlehem Baptist Church.

Today, as I thought about this turn of events and the heart of my brother and co-laborer in the gospel, I felt compelled to post a first-ever comment on the Desiring God blog addressed directly to Pastor John.

Here is what I wrote:

My dear brother, as a fellow pastor laboring for my flock’s joy in God, I am sobered by your statement. Thank you for the courage, honesty, humility, and integrity to do the hard thing, but quite obviously the right thing. Who can argue successfully that responding to the Spirit’s reality check, as you put it, and taking seriously the priority of your family, especially your marriage, over your ministry, is somehow misguided and unnecessary. No man’s ministry matters so greatly, even as one as broad and valued as yours by God’s grace, that he should sacrifice the vitality of his marriage for it. To fail to live with your bride in an understanding way, honoring her as a fellow heir of the grace of life as tender of the precious garden of your home would result in hindered prayers leaving all for naught in God’s work anyway (1 Pet. 3:7). So Godspeed to you in this sacred season of redirection in ultimate things. I promise to pray for you as you have asked and I will do it daily. I understand your apology to your flock but assure you owe me no apology. It is I who need to ask your forgiveness for failing to pray more earnestly and regularly for you and your protection from the several species of pride that hunt a man so wonderfully used by God in my life and so many others others. He who thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall (1 Cor. 10:12). May God have mercy on us all who put our hands to the gospel plow that after preaching to others we should not be disqualified (1 Cor. 9:27). I look forward to your restoration to the pulpit according to God’s will and in His time. I love you.

Will you join me in praying for this man, his marriage/family, and ultimate return to his pastoral post? And please, please pray more vigorously than ever for me that I not succumb to the several species of pride and a hundred and one other threats to my fitness for the work at OGC.

After this shocking development in the life and ministry of one I admire so much and desire to emulate, I feel more vulnerable than ever and in need of so much in the way of grace, power, and protection. First Thessalonians 5:25 has never seemed to me a more pertinent and absolutely necessary request.

Update on Pastor John Piper

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This morning before my pastoral prayer I mentioned the news regarding Pastor John’s leave of absence from Bethlehem Baptist Church and Desiring God.

Here is a portion of his statement on today’s DG blog:

I asked the elders to consider this leave because of a growing sense that my soul, my marriage, my family, and my ministry-pattern need a reality check from the Holy Spirit. On the one hand, I love my Lord, my wife, my five children and their families first and foremost; and I love my work of preaching and writing and leading Bethlehem. I hope the Lord gives me at least five more years as the pastor for preaching and vision at Bethlehem.

But on the other hand, I see several species of pride in my soul that, while they may not rise to the level of disqualifying me for ministry, grieve me, and have taken a toll on my relationship with Noël and others who are dear to me. How do I apologize to you, not for a specific deed, but for ongoing character flaws, and their effects on everybody? I’ll say it now, and no doubt will say it again, I’m sorry. Since I don’t have just one deed to point to, I simply ask for a spirit of forgiveness; and I give you as much assurance as I can that I am not making peace, but war, with my own sins.

You can read the entire post here.

Please pray along with me for God’s multi-layered purposes to be accomplished in this man of God’s life, family, and ministry.

TLC Walk for Life

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Will you join us?

Tomorrow, March 27, at 9 AM at Lake Eola in downtown Orlando, people from all over the city will gather for the annual “Walk for Life” hosted by True Life Choice, a crisis pregnancy ministry.

Their mission statement reads like this:

True Life Choice is a mission in active obedience to Jesus Christ that saves unborn babies and their families from the consequences of abortion by: Equipping people involved in crisis pregnancies to make life-affirming choices; Healing people suffering from post-abortion stress to find healing; Encouraging unmarried people to embrace sexual purity; and communicating the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ.

OGC has long supported this strategic ministry and participates every year in the walk, their principal fund raising event of the year.

Come and join us on a walk just like this one.

You’ll enjoy a complementary breakfast, get some exercise, and meet some great people. Make a pledge on behalf of one of the walkers from OGC or give a donation of your own.

Also, the offering in our joint Good Friday service with Faith Baptist Church will go entirely to the support of this fine organization.

I hope to see you at Lake Eola first thing tomorrow morning!

Not Your Average State of Happiness

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No question about it. The way James describes blessedness doesn’t fit the average American definition. Consider James 1:2-12.

2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. 9 Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, 10 and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. 11 For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits. 12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.

James promotes a living faith – a faith that works (see James 2:26). Genuine faith manifests itself in a lifestyle of wise speaking and acting in all of life’s facets. These verses in chapter one address how faith works to persevere under trial. He gives four principles to guide the believer.

First, reckon your joy (2-4). Count it all joy . . . when you meet trials of various kinds. We are to calculate the immense value of trials such that we delight, not in their pain, but in the profit they yield. What profit? For you know the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. We are to let steadfastness have its full effect that we might become spiritually mature. That’s worth delighting in. God uses trials to grow us in the likeness of Jesus.

Second, request your wisdom (5-8). If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God. Who doesn’t lack wisdom? We all do, particularly when it comes to how to navigate a trial so that we make the most of the opportunity to grow in Christ-likeness. So pray. Remember two things when you do. God loves to give wisdom (5b) and don’t doubt that fact for a second (6-8).

Third, release your wealth (9-11). Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation. One great source of trials in life comes in the form of money, either too little or too much of it. James levels the playing field for both ends of the spectrum by urging right thinking about wealth. If you are poor, exalt in your spiritual riches. If you are rich, remember it will all pass away. The focus needs to be on the spiritual, not the material. How important is that in these difficult economic times in which we live?

Fourth, relish your perseverance (12). That brings us back to his beatitude, Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial. There is a present benefit to steadfastness in trial as we saw in vv. 2-4. But there is a future, eschatological one as well. Those who persevere receive a crown of life in heaven! It goes to those who love God. And those who love Him keep His commandments even when it proves costly. They never abandon their faith.

Oswald Chambers gave this counsel:

Believe steadfastly on Him and everything that challenges you will strengthen your faith. There is continual testing in the life of faith up to the point of our physical death, which is the last great test. Faith is absolute trust in God— trust that could never imagine that He would forsake us.

And it is trust that often imagines how greatly He will reward us.

Take care that your pursuit of happiness is not conformed to the world but rather transformed by the renewing of your mind in passages like James 1:2-12.

What You Need To Hear When You Think You Know God But Don’t

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Last Sunday I preached on John 8:48-59, the closing paragraph of the chapter. You can listen to the entire audio of the sermon here.

Here’s how I closed the message and summarized the passage:

It’s conceivable that you may be listening to this message and think you know God when you don’t. There is only one way to tell. Do you hear the words of Jesus so as to keep, obey, treasure, guard, observe them? If not, you aren’t of God. You’re of a different father, the devil. And you need to hear certain things again: the truth of Jesus’ relationship to His Father –mutual devotion; the truth of Jesus’ relationship to His mission – singular dedication – yet one more time today He comes to you and holds out the promise – truly, truly, if you keep his word, you will never see death; and the truth of His relationship to spiritual giants of the past, like father Abraham – Before Abraham was He is. Don’t harden your heart against the words of Jesus today. Believe in the Son of God. Honor Him and then and only then will you honor the Father. Then you will be of God and never see/taste death because He tasted it for you (Heb. 2:9).

Throughout the sermon I interspersed six practical lessons for sharing our faith especially when we have the chance to do so with religious people. Here they are for your review:

  1. Don’t give up too soon on someone. You may need to share the gospel multiple times with someone even as Jesus did with His hearers.
  2. Expect persecution. The servant is not greater than the master. If they persecuted Him, they will persecute us.
  3. Do not revile in return when insulted.
  4. Stick to the message of the gospel. Keeping bringing things back to the cross.
  5. When given the opportunity, share the whole truth about the gospel, even the potentially most offensive truths.
  6. When necessary, shake the dust off your feet and move on. It is not fitting to cast the pearls of the gospel before “swine.”

You can listen to the whole message here.

A Call to Spiritual Reformation Study Guide

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Here is the study guide for our final chapter in Dr. Carson’s book!

Chapter Twelve – Prayer for Ministry

  1. With what analogy does Carson lead on p. 205 of this chapter and how does he use it to make his point, particularly in relating it to the matter of prayer?
  2. How does the prayer of Paul in this chapter differ from the others we have studied in this book?
  3. What is the first of four important lessons to draw from this particular prayer (p. 209)? How does the author unpack the text to make his point? What cross references do you find especially helpful and why? How do you react to the statement, “Prayer is the gymnasium of the soul?” Where does Carson make application at the end of this section and how do you react?
  4. What is the second of four important lessons to draw from this particular prayer (p. 212)? What other examples from Paul’s prayers does Carson cite to demonstrate his point? What two things does Paul request in his prayer in Rom. 15? What two factors does Carson emphasize about the first request? Where does Carson find application for us today in this section?
  5. What is the third of four important lessons to draw from this particular prayer (p. 219)? How does Carson tie in the context in Rom. 15 to explain his point? Why does Carson say this manner of praying for Paul is “attractive” (p. 221)?
  6. What is the fourth of four important lessons to draw from this particular prayer (p. 221)? How is this reality in Paul’s life in Acts and history reassuring to us? What other biblical examples of this reality does Carson cite? What does Carson ask us to imagine about prayer at the bottom of p. 222 as if it were magic, not true religion and what is he attempting to get the reader to understand?
  7. How do you react to the two anonymous poems at the end of the chapter?
  8. What point does Carson make as he summarizes things at the end of this chapter? How do you respond?
  9. How will your prayer life be different as a result of reading this chapter?
  10. What one or two most significant things will you take away from this overall study on prayer?

Vastly Different Perspectives on Sickness

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While suffering recently through the most prolonged bout with the Epstein Barr virus I have experienced in years, I received two vastly different perspectives on sickness.

The first came from an old high school acquaintance. While I was ill she phoned me about our 40th high school reunion coming up in October. I explained that I couldn’t really talk with her because of my sickness. She asked, “What’s wrong.” “Long story,” I replied, hoping to evade going any deeper. Then she offered to pray for me. I gratefully accepted. Then she pressed. “Do you have the flu?” I think she asked. “No, I have a virus.” “What kind of virus?” I reluctantly explained, including some description of the debilitating fatigue that comes with the bug. Before launching into a very vigorous prayer, she added without the slightest trace of doubt, “God doesn’t want you sick.” You may well imagine what denominational tradition has shaped her theology of illness. I let it go.

Contrast that with the content of an email someone in OGC sent me. It’s a quote by J. C. Ryle.

Sickness helps to remind men of death. Most live as if they were never going to die. They follow business, or pleasure, or politics, or science, as if earth was their eternal home. They plan and scheme for the future, like the rich fool in the parable, as if they had a long lease of life, and were not, tenants at will. A heavy illness sometimes goes far to dispel these delusions. It awakens men from their day-dreams, and reminds them they have to die as well as to live. Now this I say emphatically is a mighty good (Practical Religion, “Sickness”, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1998], 360).

I rather think Job would have cast his vote for the second perspective given his reaction to trials that included boils on his body in Job 42:1-6. I suspect Paul would have done the same given his account of a divinely given thorn in the flesh (assuming it was some kind of physical malady, of course) that taught him the all-sufficiency of God’s grace for every extremity in 2 Cor. 12:1-10.

I’m certain my old high school friend meant well with her prayer ministry on my behalf. But I can’t help but believe along with Ryle that God pursues multiple redemptive purposes in our sicknesses and this emphatically is a mighty good.

A Call to Spiritual Reformation Study Guide

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Apparently it pays to have the elders anoint you with oil and pray when you are sick. May well have broken through today with this latest bout with the plague. Thanks for all your prayers.

Here is the study guide for this Sunday’s 9:30 equipping hour. It was not available in hard copy form last Sunday.

Chapter Eleven – Praying for Power

  1. Carson opens the chapter with a question. How did you learn to pray? What was your experience in this regard and what point is he trying to make on p. 182?
  2. How does Carson reassert the theme of the book in the opening pages of the chapter? How has engaging in this study changed your approach to prayer?
  3. What are the two central petitions of Ephesians 3:14-21?
  4. How is the first petition “carefully circumscribed?” What does 2 Cor. 4:16-18 contribute to your understanding of Paul’s meaning in the first petition?
  5. What two important questions must we ask about Paul’s first petition? What analogy does Carson use to help explain the first question? How does he tie in Col. 3:5-17? What does of Phil. 4:19 contribute to your understanding Paul’s meaning in the second question?
  6. What does Paul assume with respect to the second central petition (p. 191)? What overreaction does Carson attempt to correct? How do “love” and “power” connect in Paul’s prayer at this point (p. 193)?
  7. When has the love of God in Christ been brought home to your heart with force?
  8. Why does Paul say it is important to know the love that surpasses knowledge (p. 195)? What “stunning implication” does Carson bring out? How does Carson work against “Lone Ranger Christianity” in light of Paul’s petition (p. 198)?
  9. What two grounds does Carson cite for Paul’s petitions (p. 199)? How does he tie in the earlier chapters of Ephesians to his argument? How does he tie in Jesus’ teaching (p. 201)? How does he seek to motivate us at the bottom of p. 201?
  10. How does Paul put his petitions into perspective (p. 202)? Where do you find inspiration to reform your prayer life from these closing thoughts?

Healthy Pulpits, Healthy Congregations

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With another Lord’s Day on the horizon, I offer this quote by J. C. Ryle passed on to me by one of our deacons as a way for all of us to prepare for our encounter with God through the preaching of His word.

Let us beware of despising preaching. In every age of the Church, it has been God’s principal instrument for the awakening of sinners and the edifying of saints. The days when there has been little or no preaching have been days when there has been little or no good done in the Church. Let us hear sermons in a prayerful and reverent frame of mind, and remember that they are the principal engines which Christ Himself employed when He was upon earth. Not least, let us pray daily for a continual supply of faithful preachers of God’s Word. According to the state of the pulpit will always be the state of a congregation and of a Church (Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke volume 1, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1986], 128, 129).

That last line sobers me as a preacher as it should every church goer who listens to preachers.

Let us pray daily for a continual supply of faithful preachers of God’s Word.

Camping in Tampa for OGC's & My Joy

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I know what some of you are thinking. Camping and joy don’t belong in the same sentence. I’ve had some of those experiences. I feel your pain.

My post comes from Tampa this evening. Camp Logos brought me here. That’s what Libronix calls it. Two days of intensive seminar training on the lastest version of their Bible study software, Logos 4. You know, the package I purchased in Minneapolis a few weeks ago spurred on by the promise of doing exegesis 10,000 times faster!

So this is camping of a different kind. Frankly, I’m nestled in at a cost effective hotel near the training site, getting ready to retire soon in hopes of awaking fresh tomorrow morning for another go around of mastering this incredible computer resource.

Why do this? What’s the point? Always a good question. Answer? Our mutual joy. Everything comes down to that when it comes to a pastor’s job description, if I read 2 Cor. 1:24 right.

Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith (emphasis added).

I’ve actually got the software up and running as I write this piece. The literal Greek reads: sunergoi we are of your faith. We get our word synergy from the Greek word. It’s a noun, not a verb. Spiritual leaders are workers together with their people (this is synergy at the highest level) for their mutual joy in Jesus. Another way of saying it is that we work together for that which brings us the greatest pleasure. Who would argue with the notion that joy comes as a direct result of the experience of pleasure?

Where might we find greater pleasure than at the right hand of God (Psalm 16:11)? What reveals the God who gives such extreme pleasure more than the Scriptures (Psalm 19:7-11)?

I read today in my devotions a segment of J. C. Ryle’s book, Holiness, with this thought about pleasure:

Millions live for pleasure. Hedonism is the great spirit that knows no boundaries, whether economical, social, political or cultural—pleasure is an idol enslaving the great majority of the world. The schoolboy looks for pleasure in his summer vacation, the young man in independence and business; the small business owner looks for it in retirement, and the poor man in the small comforts of home. Pleasure and fresh excitement in politics, travel, amusement, in company, in books, in several vices too dark to mention, pleasure is the shadow which all alike are hunting; each, perhaps, pretending to despise his neighbor for seeking it, each in his own way seeking it for himself, each wondering why he does not find it, each firmly persuaded that somewhere or other it is to be found.

Oh my, it is indeed to be found and nowhere more intensely than at God’s right hand in His word. I’m camping out in Tampa these two days in hopes of gaining greater proficiency in my study of the Bible for our mutually exceeding joy and intense pleasure.