J. C. Ryle drew back on the imagery of the chant of Hebrew women when they were celebrating David's military exploits: "Saul has killed his thousands, but David his tens of thousands." Ryle was looking through the lens of the biblical doctrine of apostasy. He was looking at the "Christian" culture of his own day in Britain, and said:
"Open sin may kill its thousands, but indifference and negelct of the gospel kills their tens of thousands."
This Sunday at Ann Morrison Park, we will hear a sermon from the text in Matthew 22:1-14 on the Parable of the Wedding Feast. But will they hear? It seems that the most offensive idea in the church today is not necessarily Calvinism or Complementarianism per se, but that such ideas are ever related to the reality of apostasy. Apostasy is a word that we don't hear about much anymore: kind of like "unction." But perhaps there is no more unction because there is no more fear of apostasy. The word apostasy comes from the Greek word apostasia found in verses such as 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 and Acts 21:21.
Hyper-inductivists have pointed out that the word does not actually refer to a movement of false doctrine but only a separation (i.e. forsaking); but this assumes that doctrine is unrelated to the object from which one separates. How exactly can one "fall away" without something to fall away from? And how can one reasonably conclude what thing has been forsaken unless it is knowable? This is why no one should ever study Greek without first obtaining a working knowledge of philosophy! But that's another blog.
The book of Jude uses examples throughout redemptive history (even the "apostasy" of angels, if I may use the word correctly again) to warn the church to contend for, and persevere in, the content of the faith. In the parable of the wedding feast, we see that Israel was invited to the feast but was indifferent, and even violent toward the King's messengers. They were therefore judged. Their willful falling away was an ultimate result of the eternal division that God made (v. 14), yet this eternal division issued forth in a historic division (their willful rejection: vv. 3-6), which then resulted in a final historical separation (v. 7)--which most biblical scholars believe was fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.
At any rate, what does this have to do with modern Americans? That is what I hope will be clear in the application of this sermon: An American can be a Christian, and a Christian can be an American. But they are not the same thing! Most of the people who fill our churches every Sunday are simply deluded about their conversion and most of the preachers and teachers of (everything except the gospel!) whatever it is they are teaching are simply deluded about their calling. If we fall away, it is happening right now. And if we fall away, we are falling away from the most amazing good news imaginable, symbolized by such a feast, thrown completely in the celebration of the King's Son, yet unexpectedly including guests who do not deserve to be there...who are obligatied to be there...who are obligated to be there as ones who do not deserve to be there. There it is. There's the gospel.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Monday, May 4, 2009
What is the Immediate End of Pastoral Ministry?
Immediate ends are nothing more than penultimate (or subordinate) ends defined as that which the shepherd is doing right now. So, another way to ask the same question is: What is the main thing the pastor/shepherd is to be doing in the immediate?
If the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever, then the immediate operation of the shepherd on a sheep is to prepare the soul for heaven, to prepare him for God. This is what the Puritans understood so well, that we seem not to understand at all. This is why when we open up a book by any Puritan and read a few sentences, it is as if the rest of the world beyond the boundaries of the page fade to blurry and black and white, while the black and white of the seemingly archaic print turns into a world of color and clarity. All that we had just been thinking is reduced to the tone of triviality that it always was. We needed the sanity of the dead man to show us.
Nothing so tempers the envy for sheer numbers in the pew like the stark reality that each of the people over whom we watch will stand next to us on judgment day. And what will their condition betray about us? What did we care about?
Not to be lost in the shuffle here is that even among shepherds there is a diversity of gifts. Hence, much of what each soul needs, I alone cannot give them, even as an instrument in the hands of the Spirit. So how do we combine the urgency of standing before the chief Shepherd with the contentment in how He has arranged the body and the humility that it does not finally depend upon us? It is a balance that only comes (from what I hear and am experiencing) from being corrected when we are on one or the other of those extremes--not enough urgency, too much micromanaging, too little prayerful dependence, too little strategic, organized planning.
This is why the shepherd needs the gospel every bit as much as his flock. This is why the cross of Christ is at the center of everything we say (1 Cor. 2:2) and our every boast (Gal. 6:14). So maybe our answer above needs to be refined. What is the immediate end of pastoral ministry?
The immediate end of the pastoral ministry is to prepare the soul for heaven by preaching the gospel to myself and everyone around me every day.
If the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever, then the immediate operation of the shepherd on a sheep is to prepare the soul for heaven, to prepare him for God. This is what the Puritans understood so well, that we seem not to understand at all. This is why when we open up a book by any Puritan and read a few sentences, it is as if the rest of the world beyond the boundaries of the page fade to blurry and black and white, while the black and white of the seemingly archaic print turns into a world of color and clarity. All that we had just been thinking is reduced to the tone of triviality that it always was. We needed the sanity of the dead man to show us.
Nothing so tempers the envy for sheer numbers in the pew like the stark reality that each of the people over whom we watch will stand next to us on judgment day. And what will their condition betray about us? What did we care about?
Not to be lost in the shuffle here is that even among shepherds there is a diversity of gifts. Hence, much of what each soul needs, I alone cannot give them, even as an instrument in the hands of the Spirit. So how do we combine the urgency of standing before the chief Shepherd with the contentment in how He has arranged the body and the humility that it does not finally depend upon us? It is a balance that only comes (from what I hear and am experiencing) from being corrected when we are on one or the other of those extremes--not enough urgency, too much micromanaging, too little prayerful dependence, too little strategic, organized planning.
This is why the shepherd needs the gospel every bit as much as his flock. This is why the cross of Christ is at the center of everything we say (1 Cor. 2:2) and our every boast (Gal. 6:14). So maybe our answer above needs to be refined. What is the immediate end of pastoral ministry?
The immediate end of the pastoral ministry is to prepare the soul for heaven by preaching the gospel to myself and everyone around me every day.
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