I have often been asked what it was like to pastor at Covenant Life Church for 27 years. Here is my immediate response: It was an unspeakable privilege and joy to serve this remarkable church. I’m not sure a single day passed that I did not receive encouragement from a kind member of the church.
And my experience is not unique. To pastor in Sovereign Grace Ministries is to be on the receiving end of encouragement every week and often every day. We have the privilege of serving grateful folks who love us and excel in communicating gratefulness. We simply do not deserve their support and encouragement. They make pastoral ministry a pure joy.
Well, most of them do.
In every church there will be those who are not particularly grateful, who normally communicate with you only in the form of criticism. And to some degree this is the norm for every pastor.
If you are a pastor you will be criticized. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but eventually you will feel the sharp sting of critique.
Those within your church may criticize you, those who leave the church may criticize you, and even complete strangers may criticize you. The criticism will come from enemies and from friends. Some of the criticism will be true, some of it will be false, and some may be outright malicious. But it’s coming—if it hasn’t already arrived.
And there are many reasons why we can expect criticism:
- A pastor can expect criticism because of his own sin, which will inevitably be present in his heart and service, no matter how mature or well meaning he is (James 3:2).
- A pastor can expect criticism because there are limitations to his gifting, meaning there will always be weaknesses in his leadership.
- A pastor can expect criticism because we often preach below-average sermons. (After one sermon, a guy asked me, “So where do you work during the week?” My sermon apparently gave him the impression that preaching wasn’t my vocation.)
- A pastor can expect criticism because people can be proud and ungrateful.
- A pastor can expect criticism because, well, it is a sinful and fallen world.
But we as pastors often forget one more important reason:
- A pastor can expect criticism because it is part of God’s sanctification process—a tool that he uses to reveal idols and accelerate the pastor’s growth in humility.
God enlists many to serve us to this end.
Puritan Richard Baxter got this. In his book to pastors, The Reformed Pastor, he wrote,
Because there are many eyes upon you, therefore there will be many observers of your falls. If other men may sin without observation, so cannot you. And you should thankfully consider how great a mercy this is, that you have so many eyes to watch over you, and so many ready to tell you of your faults, and so have greater helps than others, at least for the restraining of your sin. Though they may do it with a malicious mind, yet you have the advantage by it.*
According to Baxter, the critique of many is actually a great advantage to pastors. This is a great mercy—at least I keep telling myself it is. And I have to keep reminding myself because criticism isn’t my personal preference.
I would prefer to mature through less painful means. I would prefer to mature through a flood of sanctified encouragement—that’s what I’m talking about!
But the reality is that I have grown far, far, far, far, far more from criticism and correction than from all the wonderful encouragement I have received over the years.
So God uses correction to mature pastors. That seems to be the norm. And this is God’s great mercy to help me see my own pride and sin. (If you’ve discovered a way to avoid criticism and still grow, please give me a call!)
Conclusion
If you are a pastor, you will be criticized and corrected. It’s coming. We must be prepared for it, and we must see it as God’s means for our sanctification. How we respond to criticism (both from friends and from less-than-friends) is absolutely critical. I regret the many times I haven’t responded humbly to correction. I desire to grow in perceiving correction as a great mercy from God.
So for the next several days I will be writing out some of my thoughts, biblical reflections, and personal experiences in this series: “The Pastor and Personal Criticism.”
[Note: In this series I will use the terms criticism and correction interchangeably. I recognize the distinction between these two terms: criticism is a voiced disapproval of faults without a concern for resolving those faults; correction is feedback to rectify an error. The difference seems to be in the intent of the observer: the one simply points out apparent flaws, while the other points to apparent flaws and seeks to help bring change. However, because the pastor’s response is similar in either case, I think a careful distinction between the words isn’t necessary in this series.]
* The Practical Works of the Rev. Richard Baxter, vol. 14, The Reformed Pastor (London: Paternoster, 1830), 64–65.
December 9, 2010 by C.J. Mahaney
Categories: Pastoral ministry
Kevin DeYoung’s message “Rethinking the Mission of the Church” is the best I’ve heard on this topic, which is why I asked him to deliver it at the recent Sovereign Grace Pastors Conference.
Kevin provides sharp theological discernment on this topic. In the conclusion of his message, Kevin said,
So what is the mission of the church?
The mission of the church is to go into the world and make disciples by declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of the Spirit and gathering these disciples into churches, that they might worship and obey Jesus Christ now and in eternity to the glory of God the Father.
In other words, the mission of the church is not equal to everything God is doing in the world, nor is it everything we do in obedience to Christ. The mission of the church is the Great Commission. As Andreas Köstenberger says, “The church ought to be focused in the understanding of its mission. Its activities should be constrained by what helps others to come to believe that the Messiah, the Son of God, is Jesus.”*
Very well said!
Download and listen to the message here.
It is also worth noting that Kevin and Greg Gilbert are writing a much-anticipated book on this topic, What Is the Mission of the Church? Making Sense of Social Justice, Shalom, and the Great Commission (Crossway). It will be out sometime next year.
* Andreas Köstenberger, The Missions of Jesus and the Disciples according to the Fourth Gospel (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1998), 219.
John Loftness is among the finest pastors I know. Between 1981 and 2007 he pastored at Covenant Life Church. I treasure the time of service with John over those years and I am deeply grateful for his friendship that continues to this day.
In 2007 John became the senior pastor of Solid Rock Church (Riverdale, MD). So what was it like moving from a church of a couple thousand to a church of 200? John talked about the transition to a smaller church, and the advantages of a small church, in his message at our recent Pastors Conference: “The Advantage of the Small Church.”
John identified three specific advantages:
- Small forces you to focus on the fundamentals, but with flexibility.
- Small allows you to build one interconnected community.
- Small allows you to expand.
Here are few selected quotes from the message:
“What is a small church? I don’t think it is about numbers. I think it is about relationships. A small church is a church in which every member is able to participate personally with every other member.”
“My purpose is not to advocate for small churches or to label large churches as inherently bad. Both have their strengths and their weaknesses. I am here to address small church pastors. And here is my big point: In a large church the opportunity is excellence, but the challenge is relationships. In a small church the challenge is excellence, but the opportunity is relationships.”
“Small church pastor, my advice to you is to see that your church—by virtue of its size—has tremendous advantages that allow it to further Jesus’ mission in the world. You can build a God-glorifying, gospel-proclaiming community of interdependent people who bear fruit in the world for Jesus. You can do it with wonderful fruitfulness. You are in no way hindered from effectiveness because you are lacking in people or in certain qualities of excellence. Exploit your relational advantages. And in the meantime I would urge you to drop any program-driven, large-church-wannabe mentality that may be filling your dreams.”
I highly recommend John’s message to any pastor of a small church.
And I highly recommend John’s message to any pastor of a large church. John will help you think carefully and theologically about how you build.
Download and listen to the message here.
I have learned a very important lesson over the years: those I have the privilege to teach are not usually most affected by the general content of my teaching; they are often most affected by what I am most passionate about.
I am still learning this, and it’s all too easy to forget.
When I teach, my passion must be theologically informed, and proportional to the content or point I am making in the sermon. This insight is not original with me (no insights are original with me!), and I have found this point better articulated by Dr. Don Carson in a lecture he delivered last year at the CBMW Different by Design Conference (Feb. 2, 2009, Minneapolis, MN). While speaking of those who are passionate for social justice, he delivered this caution:
There are some wonderful instances of ordinary Christians, not least the young, who are concerned to preach the whole gospel unabashedly and do good first to the household of God and then, as much as is possible, outside as well [Galatians 6:10]. That has got biblical mandate behind it.…
My warning would be to those who are coming along and talking a lot about, “I want to be faithful to the gospel, but I also want to do social justice of good works.” My warning would be: it is not just what you do, it is what you are excited about.
And the implications are broader than social justice. All manner of topics can capture our excitement, like church methodology, parenting style, or any other point of application. Carson continues,
If I have learned anything in 35 or 40 years of teaching, it is that students don’t learn everything I teach them. What they learn is what I am excited about, the kinds of things I emphasize again and again and again and again. That had better be the gospel.
If the gospel—even when you are orthodox—becomes something which you primarily assume, but what you are excited about is what you are doing in some sort of social reconstruction, you will be teaching the people that you influence that the gospel really isn’t all that important. You won’t be saying that—you won’t even mean that—but that’s what you will be teaching. And then you are only half a generation away from losing the gospel.
Make sure that in your own practice and excitement, what you talk about, what you think about, what you pray over, what you exude confidence over, joy over, what you are enthusiastic about is Jesus, the gospel, the cross. And out of that framework, by all means, let the transformed life flow.
Seminary professors and preachers will transfer to others what they are most passionate about. And those we serve should see a difference between our passion for the gospel and our passion for other issues. It’s worth asking ourselves regularly: Is it clear to others that nothing excites me more than the gospel of Jesus Christ and him crucified?
This post is taken from C.J.’s chapter in the new book For the Fame of God’s Name: Essays in Honor of John Piper. C.J.’s chapter is titled “The Pastor and the Trinity,” and we’ve posted it in 11 parts.
As we lead our churches to grow in the fellowship of the Spirit, we must remember that the Holy Spirit always glorifies the Son. The primary role of the Holy Spirit is to reveal the Savior and to testify to the gospel. Our pneumatology must never take precedence over—and in fact cannot be understood apart from—the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Let’s avoid adopting the Corinthians’ erroneous definition of spirituality. They equated maturity with giftedness, spirituality with the spectacular. They thought of themselves as “people of the Spirit,” yet they lacked the primary evidence of the Spirit’s work: love. This is why Paul labors to redefine spiritual maturity for them in both of his letters. D. A. Carson summarizes Paul’s point:
What it means to be “spiritual” is profoundly tied to the cross, and to nothing else. More precisely, to be spiritual, in this passage [1 Corinthians 2:6–16], is to enjoy the gift of the Holy Spirit—and this means understanding and appropriating the message of the cross, “God’s secret wisdom.” . . . Indeed, those who are most mature are most grateful for the cross and keep coming back to it as the measure of God’s love for them and the supreme standard of personal self-denial.[1]
What does it mean for your church to grow spiritually? They must become always more grateful for the cross, always returning to Calvary. Let the glorious truth of Christ and him crucified define maturity for your church. Let us foster an appreciation for the broad work of the Spirit and pursue the Spirit, ever and always with Calvary in view.
The Holy Spirit unfailingly testifies to Christ. Let this be the work of the Spirit that we treasure the most.
Conclusion
The concluding sentence of 2 Corinthians provides a wonderful summation of the pastor’s priorities. Here Paul shows us that it is the character and work of the triune God that define and shape the heart of pastoral ministry.
May this definition of pastoral ministry govern us and guide us. May this triune priority be the increasing experience of each of those entrusted to our care. May the Lord equip us to passionately proclaim the grace of Jesus Christ, faithfully teach the love of God the Father, and consistently cultivate the fellowship of the Spirit. What a privilege we share in caring for, serving, and leading those the Savior “obtained with his own blood” (Acts 20:28).
Pastor, take this Trinitarian benediction and pray it for your people, desire it for them, pronounce it over them, and labor to see it take root in their hearts. Do everything you can to position them to experience all of this, and nothing less.
This blog post is part of an 11-part series, The Pastor and the Trinity, a reprint of C.J. Mahaney’s chapter “The Pastor and the Trinity” in For the Fame of God's Name: Essays in Honor of John Piper, edited by Sam Storms and Justin Taylor, ©2010. Used by permission of Crossway. For other posts in this series, see the index here.
[1] D. A. Carson, The Cross and Christian Ministry: An Exposition of Passages from 1 Corinthians (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1993), 62.
This post is taken from C.J.’s chapter in the new book For the Fame of God’s Name: Essays in Honor of John Piper. C.J.’s chapter is titled “The Pastor and the Trinity,” and we’ve posted it in 11 parts.
As we examine what Scripture teaches us about the Holy Spirit, we see that his work in the church is multifaceted. As is evident in Paul’s letters to the Corinthians, the Spirit’s work is diverse and broad. I think Gordon Fee got it right in his summary of Paul’s understanding of the person and work of the Spirit. He writes, “In Paul, power is not to be thought of merely in terms of the miraculous, the extraordinary. . . . Paul understood the Spirit’s power in the broadest possible way.”[1]
This is a perspective on the spiritual gifts that the Corinthians failed to grasp. It appears they exaggerated the importance of the gift of tongues and saw all the other gifts as secondary. For them, the gift of tongues was exciting, spectacular, the mark of true spirituality. The other gifts were good, but not truly spectacular.
So Paul sought to expand their understanding. To illustrate the diversity of the Spirit’s work, Paul gave the Corinthians two lists of gifts, neither of them exhaustive (1 Corinthians 12:4–11, 27–31). In each list, Paul intentionally placed tongues last, not because tongues were the least of the gifts, but because the Corinthians exaggerated the importance of this gift. In a few brilliant chapters Paul adjusted their perspective, broadened their understanding, and taught them to perceive the breadth of the Spirit’s work.
Like the Corinthians, we are sometimes inclined to see the Holy Spirit’s work only in gifts or events that appear spectacular. Like them, we sometimes emphasize only one gift of the Spirit, or only one kind of gift. Make no mistake: I am convinced that the Holy Spirit does give spectacular gifts, including prophecy, healing, and miracles. I thank God for the spectacular, wherever and whenever it genuinely occurs. But Scripture teaches us that God is at work in countless ways, whether it appears spectacular to us or not.
So let us understand the Spirit’s work in the broadest possible way. Let us cultivate our appreciation for, and celebration of, the diverse work of the Spirit as defined in Scripture. If you understand the multifaceted work of the Holy Spirit, your eyes will be opened to discover his work. He is at work all around you. Do not confine his work to what appears to be spectacular. And do not dismiss his work because of your particular views on the spiritual gifts.
In fact, Scripture gives us two very easy ways to identify the Holy Spirit’s work in our churches. Here’s your “starter kit” for recognizing his work: study the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22–23) and the gifts of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:4–11, 27–31; Ephesians 4:11–16; 1 Peter 4:10–11). Read these lists carefully. Then look up, and look at your church. You will see the Holy Spirit at work everywhere you look. I’d recommend you teach your church to do the same.
The Spirit is at work in you, and in the lives of those you care for. It may be easy to recognize his work when you witness the spectacular (and let’s be clear: it doesn’t get any more spectacular than the miracle of regeneration[2]). But it requires a different kind of discernment to recognize his work in daily life. When the elderly lady serves consistently and faithfully in your church year after year; when parents endure the loss of a child and continue to trust in God; when a single man gives away his time and energy to serve in a small group; when the businessman’s portfolio takes a hit but he keeps giving joyfully and generously—there is only one explanation for these. It is the presence and the work of the Holy Spirit that brings the fruit and the gifts of the Spirit in your church. And that is truly spectacular.
This blog post is part of an 11-part series, The Pastor and the Trinity, a reprint of C.J. Mahaney’s chapter “The Pastor and the Trinity” in For the Fame of God's Name: Essays in Honor of John Piper, edited by Sam Storms and Justin Taylor, ©2010. Used by permission of Crossway. For other posts in this series, see the index here.
[1] Fee, God’s Empowering Presence, 8.
[2] See John Piper, Finally Alive: What Happens When We Are Born Again (Fearn, Ross-shire: Christian Focus, 2009).
This post is taken from C.J.’s chapter in the new book For the Fame of God’s Name: Essays in Honor of John Piper. C.J.’s chapter is titled “The Pastor and the Trinity,” and we’ve posted it in 11 parts.
As Paul closes his letter to the Corinthians, his final prayer is that they will experience “the fellowship of the Holy Spirit” (2 Corinthians 13:14). He wants nothing less than that they experience the Holy Spirit’s presence, participate in his work, and partake of his fellowship—that they grow in relationship with the third person of the Trinity.[1] Pastors, as we follow Paul’s model for ministry, this must be our burden as well.
We must remain dependent upon the Holy Spirit, pursue his presence and power for sanctification and service, and grow in eagerness to experience his gifts as described in Scripture. Scripture does not permit us merely to affirm the existence of the Holy Spirit. Scripture calls us to grow in our relationship with him and our experience of his presence and work.
I know what some of you are thinking at this point: “Wait, this guy’s charismatic! You mention the third person of the Trinity, and bingo! suddenly this chapter becomes an apologetic for the charismatic view.” I can already feel the nervousness of my cessationist friends—just when you thought this was a safe volume, the charismatic guy shows up!
It’s true, I represent an odd combination: I am Reformed and charismatic. Some would say that’s an oxymoron, like being a Presbyterian televangelist or a humble Duke basketball fan. But although being Reformed and charismatic may sound historically odd, there is nothing theologically strange about it. Believing in God’s sovereignty over all things and seeing God’s glory as the end of all things provide motivation for the pursuit of the gifts, guidance for the exercise of the gifts, and evaluation for the practice of the gifts.
As a Reformed and charismatic pastor, I am aware of the many theological and practical deficiencies of the charismatic movement. When some Christians hear the word charismatic, they think of the nutty things they have seen on television, or stories of large healing meetings that resemble a WWF Ultimate Challenge on pay-per-view. I sympathize with all who are troubled by the theological deficiencies and goofy practices present in the charismatic movement. This stuff disturbs me as well. One reason it disturbs me is that it reflects a disregard for the authority and sufficiency of Scripture.
So let there be no misunderstanding: as we lead our churches in their experience of the Holy Spirit, we must always uphold the unique authority of Scripture.
Scripture Is Our Final Authority
Scripture alone is our final authority in all matters of life and doctrine. And Scripture is our only basis for helping our churches to grow in their appreciation and pursuit of the Holy Spirit’s work. It is the Bible that calls us to grow in our relationship with the Spirit, to eagerly desire and practice the gifts, and to experience his power and presence. We must study Scripture carefully, and lead our churches to do the same.
A weakness to which charismatics can be prone is the tendency to put more confidence in subjective impressions and feelings than in the Bible. And you don’t have to be a charismatic to have this weakness. All of us tend to assign more authority to subjective thoughts and feelings than we should.
I am grateful for Dr. Piper’s wise teaching in this area. I still remember the first time I read his provocatively titled article, “The Morning I Heard the Voice of God.” He begins:
Let me tell you about a most wonderful experience I had early Monday morning, March 19, 2007, a little after six o’clock. God actually spoke to me. There is no doubt that it was God. I heard the words in my head just as clearly as when a memory of a conversation passes across your consciousness. The words were in English, but they had about them an absolutely self-authenticating ring of truth. I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that God still speaks today.
As soon as I read that paragraph I wondered what had taken place in the life of my good friend. Apparently something unprecedented! John does not usually write this openly about his personal experiences (for which he has my respect).
So I kept reading until I came upon this explanation:
It was through the Bible that I heard these divine words, and through the Bible I have experiences like this almost every day. . . . If you would like to hear the very same words I heard on the couch in northern Minnesota, read Psalm 66:5–7. That is where I heard them. O how precious is the Bible. . . . This is the very voice of God.
John concludes, “Something is incredibly wrong when the words we hear outside Scripture are more powerful and more affecting to us than the inspired word of God.”[2]
Pastors, we must not build churches in which the words we hear outside of Scripture are more powerful and more affecting to our members than the words of Scripture. The words of Scripture must always speak to us most powerfully and move us most deeply. Let us study the Bible, celebrate it, honor its unique authority, and teach our churches to understand and treasure and obey it as their final authority.
Only when we uphold the authority of Scripture can we grow in our experience and pursuit of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit speaks to us primarily through Scripture, and never in contradiction of Scripture. And we lead our churches to grow in their relationship with the Spirit by leading them to understand, treasure, and obey the Scriptures.
This blog post is part of an 11-part series, The Pastor and the Trinity, a reprint of C.J. Mahaney’s chapter “The Pastor and the Trinity” in For the Fame of God's Name: Essays in Honor of John Piper, edited by Sam Storms and Justin Taylor, ©2010. Used by permission of Crossway. For other posts in this series, see the index here.
[1] Although it is possible that the phrase “fellowship of the Spirit” refers to fellowship among the Corinthians created by the Spirit (a genitive of source), the evidence seems to favor the interpretation chosen here. See Murray J. Harris, The Second Epistle to the Corinthians, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005), 939–41.
[2] John Piper, “The Morning I Heard the Voice of God,” blog posted March 21, 2007.
November 2, 2010 by C.J. Mahaney
Categories: Pastoral ministry | Trinity
This post is taken from C.J.’s chapter in the book For the Fame of God’s Name: Essays in Honor of John Piper. C.J.’s chapter is titled “The Pastor and the Trinity,” and we’ve posted it in 11 parts.
The second yardstick for measuring the immeasurable—as if we required more convincing—is our spiritual adoption. God the Father not only sacrifices his only begotten Son for us; he also adopts us as his children. “See what kind of love the Father has given to us,” John writes, “that we should be called children of God; and so we are” (1 John 3:1). In our adoption, the Father’s love is on full display.
Does your heart resonate with those words? How would the members of your church respond to this verse? Are they convinced that God the Father, in his great love, has adopted them as his children? J. I. Packer asks us this question in his book Knowing God:
If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God’s child, and having God as his Father. If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all. . . .
To those who are Christ’s, the holy God is a loving Father; they belong to his family; they may approach him without fear and always be sure of his fatherly concern and care. This is the heart of the New Testament message. . . .
Adoption is a family idea, conceived in terms of love, and viewing God as father. In adoption, God takes us into his family and fellowship—he establishes us as his children and heirs. Closeness, affection and generosity are at the heart of the relationship. To be right with God the Judge is a great thing, but to be loved and cared for by God the Father is a greater.[1]
Do the words “closeness, affection and generosity” describe your church’s perception of God? If not, perhaps your church is more aware of their sin than they are of adopting grace.
It is indeed a great thing to be right with God the Judge through the person and work of Jesus Christ. It is a great thing to be forgiven of sin, to be free from the fear of God’s wrath. But it is possible to grasp these great realities and remain unaware of what is even greater: we are adopted and loved by God the Father. In Christ, God the Father justifies us, but he does not stop there: he adopts us as his sons.
Does your church understand the great, but not the greater? Do they know about justification, but not adoption? Do they celebrate being made right with God, while unaware that they have been adopted by God?
The doctrines of justification and adoption are related, but they are not the same. We must distinguish between them without ever separating them. In fact, the doctrine of justification must always be foundational to our teaching and ministry, because all the saving benefits we receive depend upon justification alone. But we must also help our churches understand and celebrate the doctrine of adoption. We are not only declared righteous; we are made God’s children. We are not only right with God the Judge; we are loved by God the Father. And the more we teach on adoption, the more our churches will experience God’s fatherly love, affection, care, closeness, and generosity.[2]
So are those you serve certain of the Father’s love for them? Are you laboring to convince them of it? How do you leave your church at the end of a sermon? Where do you leave them at the end of a counseling appointment? What is the effect of even a casual conversation with you? Does a member of your church leave your presence more aware of his sin, or more aware of the love of God the Father? Is your church more secure in the Father’s personal and passionate love as a result of your ministry?
Let me ask a more personal question: Are you convinced of the Father’s love for you? He crushed his Son for you so that he might adopt you, so that he might convince you of his holy love for you. Pastor, are you more aware of your sin, the weaknesses in your pastoral ministry, the deficiencies in your church, or of the Father’s love? You cannot convince your church of the Father’s love if you are not convinced yourself.
As Paul concludes his letter to the Corinthians, in spite of all their faults, he closes not with a parting correction but with a reminder of the Father’s love for them. As pastors, we are called to lead our churches to experience the love of God the Father. And this begins with experiencing the love of the Father ourselves.
If your church is not persuaded of God’s love for them, I recommend that you lead them in studying the doctrine of adoption until they are secure in the Father’s love. You may even want to restrict the teaching diet of your church to this topic for a time. As you immerse yourself and your church in an extended study of this topic, you can expect to be freshly aware of, and overwhelmed by, the Father’s immeasurable love for you and those you serve.
This blog post is part of an 11-part series, The Pastor and the Trinity, a reprint of C.J. Mahaney’s chapter “The Pastor and the Trinity” in For the Fame of God's Name: Essays in Honor of John Piper, edited by Sam Storms and Justin Taylor, ©2010. Used by permission of Crossway. For other posts in this series, see the index here.
[1] Packer, Knowing God, 201, 203, 207.
[2] As you study the doctrine of adoption, let me recommend three books: Sinclair Ferguson’s Children of the Living God (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1989), particularly the chapter “Adopted Children”; J. I. Packer’s classic Knowing God, particularly the chapter titled “Sons of God”; and Trevor Burke’s Adopted into God’s Family: Exploring a Pauline Metaphor (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2006).
October 28, 2010 by C.J. Mahaney
Categories: Pastoral ministry | Trinity
This post is taken from C.J.’s chapter in the book For the Fame of God’s Name: Essays in Honor of John Piper. C.J.’s chapter is titled “The Pastor and the Trinity,” and we’ve posted it in 11 parts.
How do we lead those we love and care for to experience the love of God the Father? First, we proclaim God the Father’s plan to send his only Son to us, and to sacrifice him on the cross for sinners like you and me. Scripture is clear: the love of God the Father for sinners is supremely demonstrated on the cross.
In fact, the Father’s love cannot be understood apart from the cross. John writes, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son” (John 3:16). Later he writes, “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world” (1 John 4:9). Paul adds to the chorus: “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8).
The Father’s love for sinners like you and me was the divine motivation for the cross. As John Stott writes:
It cannot be emphasized too strongly that God’s love is the source, not the consequence, of the atonement. . . . God does not love us because Christ died for us; Christ died for us because God loved us. If it is God’s wrath which needed to be propitiated, it is God’s love which did the propitiating.[1]
Dr. Stott offers serious wisdom here to those committed to preaching faithfully on the topic of God’s wrath. Our sermons and our songs must not neglect the holiness and the wrath of God. We must not soften these topics or apologize for preaching them. But we must never teach about God’s holiness and wrath in isolation from his love.
One reason we cannot separate God’s wrath from his love is simple: they are joined at the cross. We must never leave the impression that it was the loving Son who placated the angry Father. Rather it was the Father’s love—his love for sinners who richly deserved his righteous wrath—that moved him to sacrifice his only Son as our substitute. At the cross, the Father both satisfies his wrath and displays his love for sinners. Pastors, we must remind those we care for that before the cross and behind the cross and through the cross, the love of the Father is revealed. If we do this well, their contemplation of the cross will bring a fresh experience of the personal and passionate love of the Father toward them.
Sinclair Ferguson says this well:
When we think of Christ dying on the cross we are shown the lengths to which God’s love goes in order to win us back to himself. We would almost think that God loved us more than he loves his Son! We cannot measure such love by any other standard. He is saying to us: I love you this much. . . . The cross is the heart of the gospel. It makes the gospel good news: Christ has died for us. He has stood in our place before God’s judgment seat. He has borne our sins. God has done something on the cross which we could never do for ourselves. But God does something to us as well as for us through the cross. He persuades us that he loves us.[2]
Is that what your church thinks? Have you ever preached so clearly about the Father’s love as revealed in the cross that your church wondered if God loved them more than he loves his Son?
The cross convinces us of the Father’s love because it is here that the voice of the Father says to us:
I will crush my Son under the full fury of my righteous wrath for you. In the Garden of Gethsemane, my Son will cry out for this bitter cup to pass from him. And I will remain silent. Why? Because I love you that much.
And when my Son utters that shriek on the cross, unlike any other protest in all of history, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” I will again remain silent. Why? To convince you that I love you.
Behold the supreme demonstration of my love—the cross—the death of my Son. What more can I say? What else do you require to be convinced of my love for you?
Behind the death of the Son for us stands the love of a Father toward us. And there is no more effective way to persuade your church of God the Father’s love than to remind them of the cross, the supreme demonstration of the Father’s personal love for them.
This blog post is part 7 of an 11-part series, The Pastor and the Trinity, a reprint of C.J. Mahaney’s chapter “The Pastor and the Trinity” in For the Fame of God's Name: Essays in Honor of John Piper, edited by Sam Storms and Justin Taylor, ©2010. Used by permission of Crossway. For other posts in this series, see the index here.
[1] John R. W. Stott, The Cross of Christ (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1986), 174.
[2] Sinclair B. Ferguson, Grow in Grace (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1989), 56, 58.
October 27, 2010 by C.J. Mahaney
Categories: Pastoral ministry | Trinity
This post is taken from C.J.’s chapter in the book For the Fame of God’s Name: Essays in Honor of John Piper. C.J.’s chapter is titled “The Pastor and the Trinity,” and we’ve posted it in 11 parts.
After praying that the Corinthian church will experience the grace of Christ, Paul prays that they will experience “the love of God.” It is a simple phrase, easy to rush past. But I appeal to you to slow down, to ponder this prayer, to ask what Paul means when he says, “The love of God . . . be with you all.” How should the model Paul provides here shape our pastoral ministry?
In the Trinitarian structure of this benediction, “God” specifically refers to the Father, the first person of the Trinity. And it is clear that Paul has in mind God’s love for us, not our love for God.
Paul’s closing benediction demonstrates what our prayer should be for those we love and serve: that through our ministry they might encounter the love of God the Father. True pastoral ministry seeks to convince Christians of the love of God the Father for them, a love that is specific, personal, and passionate.
And many Christians need convincing. Over the years I have spoken with many genuine Christians who are not certain of God’s love for them. They tend to think of God as merely tolerating them, often frustrated with them, eager to punish them. Countless genuine Christians are suspicious of God.
How are we to convince these believers of God’s love for them? I believe J. I. Packer gives us wise guidance. In his outstanding book Knowing God, Packer writes, “The New Testament gives us two yardsticks for measuring God’s love. The first is the cross (see Rom 5:8; 1 Jn 4:8–10); the second is the gift of sonship [1 John 3:1].”[1] We convince God’s people of his love for them by leading them to the cross and by reminding them of their adoption as sons of God.
Let us acknowledge right here that to fully measure God’s love is an unending and impossible (and joyous) task. Who can mark off the height and breadth and length and depth of God’s love for us? Elsewhere Paul prays for the Ephesians that they will “know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge” (Eph. 3:19). When we survey the love of God for us, we are plumbing the unfathomable, measuring the immeasurable. But let us use these two yardsticks, the cross and the gift of sonship, to attempt to do just that.
This blog post is part of an 11-part series, The Pastor and the Trinity, a reprint of C.J. Mahaney’s chapter “The Pastor and the Trinity” in For the Fame of God's Name: Essays in Honor of John Piper, edited by Sam Storms and Justin Taylor, ©2010. Used by permission of Crossway. For other posts in this series, see the index here.
[1] J. I. Packer, Knowing God (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1973), 214.