So This is Why I Go to Bojangle's

Look, unless you don't know me at all, you probably already know that I love hanging out at Bojangle's. I love the tea, I love the biscuits, I love the chill atmosphere, I love the free refills and the hours spent with my friends there (you know who you are) - but this is what I hadn't realized so fully until minutes ago - I love hanging out there for the glory of God in meeting whoever He sends my way.

It's like I set up shop there. I take my Bible, another good book or five, maybe my laptop, a pen, and a notebook and sit down at a table in the corner near a power outlet and a window. I go through the line and get my sweet tea and maybe a biscuit, and then I'm off to work. I even try to meet people as they come and go. Novel idea, huh?

What I didn't know is that, this whole time, I have been trying to hang out for the glory of God because I believe it is important to be out in our real world and meet real people, many of whom are really lost.

This is what JT's post on Jim Eliff's article taught me. "Hanging out for the glory of God" is - yes, actually is - a valid means of ministering to the lost and dying all around us. So pick a spot - go ahead. It doesn't have to be Bojangle's, but it should be somewhere in public.

Martin Luther: Lessons from His Life and Labor

Pastor John Piper's 1996 biographical address on the great reformer Martin Luther has been encouraging me these past few days. I post a few tidbits and encouragements here, but go read the whole thing for yourself. Be you unbeliever or Christian, layperson or deacon or elder, teacher or student, man or woman - it will be good for your soul to see such a vessel of God's grace.

Piper does a wonderful job of picking a theme from Luther's life and hammering it home with really good quotes:

In this psalm [119] David always says that he will speak, think, talk, hear, read, day and night constantly—but about nothing else than God's Word and Commandments. For God wants to give you His Spirit only through the external Word.

Let the man who would hear God speak, read Holy Scripture.

Be assured that no one will make a doctor of the Holy Scripture save only the Holy Ghost from heaven.

The apostles themselves considered it necessary to put the New Testament into Greek and to bind it fast to that language, doubtless in order to preserve it for us safe and sound as in a sacred ark. For they foresaw all that was to come and now has come to pass, and knew that if it were contained only in one's heads, wild and fearful disorder and confusion, and many various interpretations, fancies and doctrines would arise in the Church, which could be prevented and from which the plain man could be protected only by committing the New Testament to writing the language.

(Of his struggles with trusting God's grace during his monastery days he said,) If I could believe that God was not angry with me, I would stand on my head for joy!

Dear Lord God, I want to preach so that you are glorified. I want to speak of you, praise you, praise your name. Although I probably cannot make it turn out well, won't you make it turn out well?

Of his groundbreaking discovery on Romans 1:17, Luther wrote:

I had indeed been captivated with an extraordinary ardor for understanding Paul in the Epistle to the Romans. . . I beat importunately upon Paul at that place, most ardently desiring to know what St. Paul wanted.

At last, by the mercy of God, meditating day and night, I gave heed to the context of the words, namely, "In it righteousness of God is revealed, as it is written, "He who through faith is righteous shall live." There I began to understand [that] the righteousness of God is that by which the righteous lives by a gift of God, namely by faith. And this is the meaning: the righteousness of God is revealed by the gospel, namely, the passive righteousness with which [the] merciful God justifies us by faith, as it is written, "He who through faith is righteous shall live." Here I felt that I was altogether born again and had entered paradise itself through open gates. Here a totally other face of the entire Scripture showed itself to me. Thereupon I ran through the Scriptures from memory ...

And I extolled my sweetest word with a love as great as the hatred with which I had before hated the word 'righteousness of God.' Thus that place in Paul was for me truth the gate to paradise

More on the Bible, languages, and preaching:

For a number of years I have now annually read through the Bible twice. If the Bible were a large, mighty tree and all its words were little branches I have tapped at all the branches, eager to know what was there and what it had to offer.

He who is well acquainted with the text of Scripture, is a distinguished theologian. For a Bible passage or text is of more value than the comments of four authors.

... the Scriptures alone are our vineyard in which we ought all to work and toil.

I then read the commentators, but soon threw them aside, ... 'tis always better to see with one's own eyes than with those of other people.

Solomon the preacher is giving me a hard time, as though he begrudged anyone lecturing on him. But he must yield.

It is certain that unless the languages [Greek and Hebrew] remain, the Gospel must finally perish.

Without languages we could not have received the gospel. Languages are the scabbard that contains the sword of the Spirit; they are the casket which contains the priceless jewels of antique thought; they are the vessel that holds the wine; and as the gospel says, they are the baskets in which the loaves and fishes are kept to feed the multitude.

If the languages had not made me positive as to the true meaning of the word, I might have still remained a chained monk, engaged in quietly preaching Romish errors in the obscurity of a cloister; the pope, the sophists, and their anti-Christian empire would have remained unshaken.

It is a sin and shame not to know our own book or to understand the speech and words of our God; it is a still greater sin and loss that we do not study languages, especially in these days when God is offering and giving us men and books and every facility and inducement to this study, and desires his Bible to be an open book.

Some pastors and preachers are lazy and no good. They do not pray; they do not read; they do not search the Scripture ... The call is: watch, study attend to reading. In truth you cannot read too much in Scripture; and what you read you cannot read too carefully, and what you read carefully you cannot understand too well, and what you understand well you cannot teach too well, and what you teach well you cannot live too well ... The devil ... the world ... and our flesh are raging and raving against us. Therefore, dear sirs and brothers, pastors and preachers, pray, read, study, be diligent ... This evil. shameful time is not the season for being lazy, for sleeping and snoring.

Let ministers daily pursue their studies with diligence and constantly busy themselves with them ... Let them steadily keep on reading, teaching, studying, pondering, and meditating. Nor let them cease until they have discovered and are sure that they have taught the devil to death and have become more learned than God himself and all His saints [which, of course means never].

On triblulation:

I want you to know how to study theology in the right way. I have practiced this method myself ... Here you will find three rules. They are frequently proposed throughout Psalm [119] and run thus: Oration, meditatio, tentatio (Prayer, meditation, trial).

For as soon as God's Word becomes known through you, the devil will afflict you will make a real doctor of you, nd will teach you by his temptations to seek and to love God's Word. For I myself ... owe my papists many thanks for so beating, pressing, and frightening me through the devil's raging that they have turned me into a fairly good theologian, driving me to a goal I should never have reached.

[Trials] teach you not only to know and understand but also to experience how right, how true, how sweet, how lovely, how mighty, how comforting God's word is: it is wisdom supreme.

On prayer:

That the Holy Scriptures cannot be penetrated by study and talent is most certain. Therefore your first duty is to begin to pray, and to pray to this effect that if it please God to accomplish something for His glory—not for yours or any other person's—He very graciously grant you a true understanding of His words. For no master of the divine words exists except the Author of these words, as He says: 'They shall be all taught of God' (John 6:45). You must, therefore, completely despair of your own industry and ability and rely solely on the inspiration of the Spirit.

Since the Holy Writ wants to be dealt with in fear and humility and penetrated more by studying with pious prayer than with keenness of intellect, therefore it is impossible for those who rely only on their intellect and rush into Scripture with dirty feet, like pigs, as though Scripture were merely a sort of human knowledge not to harm themselves and others whom they instruct.

You should completely despair of your own sense and reason, for by these you will not attain the goal ... Rather kneel down in your private little room and with sincere humility and earnestness pray God through His dear Son, graciously to grant you His Holy Spirit to enlighten and guide you and give you understanding.

The natural mind cannot do anything godly. It does not perceive the wrath of God, there cannot rightly fear him. It does not see the goodness of God, therefore cannot trust or believe in him either. Therefore we should constantly pray that God will bring forth his gifts in us.

On the lies of "free will" teaching:

I condemn and reject as nothing but error all doctrines which exalt our "free will" as being directly opposed to this mediation and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. For since, apart from Christ, sin and death are our masters and the devil is our god and prince, there can be no strength or power, no wit or wisdom, by which we can fit or fashion ourselves for righteousness and life. On the contrary, blinded and captivated, we are bound to be the subjects of Satan and sin, doing and thinking what pleases him and is opposed to God and His commandments.

And finally, on GOD-centered theology:

I recall that at the beginning of my cause Dr. Staupitz ... said to me: It pleases me that the doctrine which you preach ascribes the glory and everything to God alone and nothing to man; for to God (that is clearer than the sun) one cannot ascribe too much glory, goodness, etc. This word comforted and strengthened me greatly at the time. And it is true that the doctrine of the Gospel takes all glory, wisdom, righteousness, etc., from men and ascribes them to the Creator alone, who makes everything out of nothing.

Amen. Praise the Sovereign Lord for those who have gone before us and taught the Word of God to us. May we imitate their faith.

God-Centered Lessons from Ray Ortlund, Sr.

Thanks to JT's blog, I learned of the recent death and heavenly happiness of the Jesus-loving pastor, teacher, and writer, Ray Ortlund, Sr, and subsequently found his grandson's "lessons learned." The whole thing is a gem, and I have copied most of it (with slight reformats) here:

My grandfather is, with a few possible exceptions, the most remarkable man I’ve ever known. As my dad put it yesterday, he is the definition of a godly man. If I could choose words from all the hundreds of languages of the world, I would never come close to communicating the weight of what my grandfather has taught me about God and faith and "going hard after God," as he would say. And I know only one language. But despite the frustration of not adequately doing justice to God's abundant work of grace in his life, I list eight things I've learned from Grandpa--and am still learning.

My goal in listing these is not to erect a picture of a perfect man (which would only discourage us), but to “consider the outcome of his way of life, and imitate his faith.” I want others to feel the weight of what God did with this very ordinary man and, with me, to be stirred up. This is not exalting a man instead of Jesus, but exalting a man because of Jesus. Grandpa is the last person who would want his own name to overshadow that of Christ.

1. The Centrality of Love: when he came and spoke to the pastors of Missouri Presbytery of the PCA in 2004, with the chance to pick any text he wanted, he chose John 13: "A new commandment I give you: that you love one another." It was vintage Grandpa when halfway through his message he stopped and instructed the guys present to go around and tell their brothers that they loved them. A simple "I love you" from one pastor to another, face to face. Imagine!

2. The Importance of Joy: Nothing was more tragic, to Grandpa, than a morose believer. He was himself one of the happiest people I've ever known, and that is not without a good deal of heartache of his own.

3. The Bible as Food: Grandpa did not read the Bible mainly for information, but to feed his soul. In one of his books he writes, "You don’t get food for your soul by osmosis! You can hear others talk of it; but until you yourself regularly take in that delicious Word of God, you’re undernourished!” I possess a Bible of his from the late 80's - every page is marked. Including 2 Chronicles and the second half of Joshua.

4. The Critical Place of Prayer: Often we would be together as a family and Grandpa would say, “Let’s stop and pray about this.” And there was no spiritual gamesmanship with the man--just honest, earnest talking to and pleading with the Lord.

5. The Secret Value of Repentance and Humility: One evening in Nashville when we were together as a family Grandpa had been telling me about how Fuller Seminary started in his church, and mentioned some of the big-wigs involved. The next morning, the first thing he said to me was: "Dane, I need to apologize to you about something. I was putting myself forward last night when I was talking about Fuller and those guys, and it was prideful, and I want to tell you I'm sorry and ask you to forgive me. I don't want to be a self-promoter." He was 82, had spoken to crowds of 100,000 in India, had had an interational radio ministry, and written over 20 books. And he wanted to apologize to his grandson for being a self-promoter.

6. The Importance of Loving My Wife: In 2004, sitting in a booth at Chili's in St. Louis, Grandpa gave me a stinging rebuke for not studying Scripture with my wife. That day was a turning point for our marriage.

7. The Incomparable Worth of Singlemindedness: Some of Grandpa's favorite phrases were “tiger for Jesus,” “great exploits in Jesus’ name,” “there’s nothing in life outside of Jesus,” and “go hard after God.” He was a tiger for Jesus, he did great exploits' in Jesus' name, and he did go hard after God. He also eschewed normalcy. He wrote: “Your danger and mine is not that we become criminals, but rather, that we become respectable, decent, commonplace, mediocre Christians. No rewards at the end, no glory—“saved; yet it will be like an escape through fire” (1 Cor. 3:15)! The twenty-first-century temptations that really sap our spiritual power are the television, banana cream pie, the easy chair, and the credit card. Christian, you will win or lose in those seemingly innocent little moments of decision.”

8. Strength in Weakness: Grandpa exemplifies the counterintuitive biblical truth that when we are weak, then we are strong. He was dyslexic and therefore a very slow reader, often felt huge waves of insecurity, and wrestled with what he called an "inferiority complex" early on in life. Yet God used him remarkably, and I believe it was not in spite of his weaknesses but because of them. They forced him to yield himself to the Lord in utter dependence. And I take much consolation in that, as a weak person myself. Grandpa knew that to say “I don’t have what it takes” is exactly what it takes.

I summarize the life of this man with Jesus' words to Peter in Matthew 16: “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Grandpa lost his life. And therefore found it.

I love you, Grandpa. Thank you for exalting and enjoying Christ and Christ alone. What a work of grace he did in your life. The joy was yours. The honor was his. The blessing is ours. I can't wait to enjoy the new earth with you.

What a testimony to leave his children and grandchildren! What lessons we all should learn! Let us aspire in Christ to such faithful, Biblical, sacrificial lives by the power of His Spirit!

Thank God for Gary W. Beecham, Jr.

This past weekend I had the distinct privilege and humbling honor to be a groomsmen for one of my best friends in the world, Gary W. Beecham, Jr. He got married to his beautiful bride, formerly Miss Ashley Harris. My wife and I had a wonderful time in Columbia, playing with our daughter and enjoying the wedding festivities. Going to Gary's wedding made me ponder over the highs and lows of our almost five-year friendship, and I began to thank the Lord Jesus for giving me such a good friend.

1. Gary loves the living Word of God.

Anyone who knows Gary knows two things: he is relentless silly and he is relentlessly talking about Jesus. This love for Christ is built on Gary's love for the Bible and his study of it. I have seen this firsthand during our long meetings at Bojangle's and many conversations on the phone. This is a man who cannot stop reading the Bible. God Himself has taken him and molded Gary into a reading, studying, Jesus-talking, joy-overflowing vessel of His own glory.

2. Gary loves his wife.

In a day when far too many men either disregard or dishonor their wives, Gary was planning and praying for his wife long before she was his. Often in the last few years, months, weeks, and days, I've heard him talking about how he did this or that because (either implicity or explicity) he knew it would help her. "Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her," means that we give up not only our bodies but our desires, too. Gary is a wonderful example of that.

3. Gary loves his church.

Having the privilege of introducing him to his local church, and her to him, I can say, again, from firsthand experience, that Gary undoubtedly, unquestionably loves his local church. He loves her from the Scriptures and from his heart. He loves her with his hands, his time, and his mind. He loves her with kind words and with funny ones. He loves her with rebukes and with encouragements. And I've seen it all come about in the last five years. Praise be to God!

4. Gary loves his friends.

I was telling my wife the other day that when we went through an mind-bending, emotion-twisting, sin-exposing situation last year, I had two friends I knew I could count on to be there for us - one of them was (and is still) Gary. His friends simply cannot count the number of times Gary has helped them out of jams, holes, tough spots, brokenness, stumblings, and grumblings. Not to mention that he's always up for hanging out.

I am thankful for my friend, Gary W. Beecham, Jr. May the sovereign God give us more faith-filled, joyous brothers and sisters like Jesus.

Thank God for Tom Ascol

Tom Ascol is an amazing man of God, and I barely know him. He is the pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, FL, and the executive director of Founders Ministries, an organization dedicated to the recovery of historic Baptist principles and the reformation of Southern Baptist churches. Tom studies hard, preaches often, blogs regularly, and loves his family - all for the glory of God.

I am thanking God today for a few specific things I have learned from Tom's writing and preaching ministry:

1. Being faithful to the Word of God is more important than anything else.
Tom has taken a lot, I mean, if you read his blog and follow his ministry, a LOT, of flak over the years because of his convictions in the Bible. He continues to persevere in love and humility despite being publicly wronged more than any minister I can think of.

2. Preaching should be Bible-built, Christ-focused, clear, and devotional.
Some of the best sermons I've ever heard are a few he preached at a Founder's Conference a few years back. (sidenote - if you haven't checked out the Founder's Ministry and their conferences, do it! God will feed your soul!)

3. Perseverance in controversy is necessary, difficult, and possible by the grace of God.
Tom keeps hammering away at the same issues - the doctrines of grace, the necessity of regenerate church membership, integrity in the SBC, repentance - year after year after year. He may never see the fruit of his labors, but I praise God for them. The Lord is surely using Tom's hard work to stoke new fire in His church.

4. Humility must be cultivated.
I'm sure Tom doesn't feel humble - I'm sure he would tell you that pride is one of his biggest struggles - but I also know that he works to cultivate humility in everything he does. In the way he writes and preaches, the way he handles his family and church, the way he responds to controversy, the way he approaches other leaders, even down the way he quickly responds to my emails, it is clear that God is working humility into this elder's life. It is a joy to see.

Well, I don't know him that well, but I follow his writing fairly well and his preaching somewhat. I am so thankful to God for Tom Ascol.

Thankful to God for People

Over on his blog, Thabiti is working on cultivating thankfulness. He has a series of posts on his gratefulness to the Sovereign God for certain people He has placed in Thabiti's life:

• I am Grateful for Mark Dever
• I am Grateful for Dave Jorge
• I Am Grateful for Dr. R. Albert Mohler
• I Am Grateful for Dr. John MacArthur
• I Am Grateful for John Piper
• I'm Grateful for Jonathan Leeman
• I'm Grateful for C.J. Mahaney

My favorite, and I think I quickly read through almost all of them, is the one on his former pastor and mentor, Mark Dever. God truly uses this man and his church, Capitol Hill Baptist, to teach and model so many truths and admirable qualities that are found in Christ yet conspicuously absent from much of His church. Lord, teach us to be thankful for Your neverending blessings in Christ, especially through His church.

ps - search Thabiti's site for discussions on preaching, ministry and ministers, race, Islam, the church, Paul's letters, and many more wonderful series. I couldn't link them all here - there's just too many. (What's the plural of "series"? "Serieses"? It's a collective noun, so I'm not sure how to pluralize it.)

The Shepherd and the Flock

By the providence of God, I have met several older pastors in my recent days here at my job. These genuine, God-loving men tend to be "walking the mall" to stay in shape in their latter years. It got me thinking: What does it look like to be a minister of God? So many men (and women, unfortunately) do it poorly that we have forgotten most of what it means to be an earthen vessel with the treasure of the Gospel and an undershepherd of God's flock, especially in the midst of such theologically-troubled and misguided church in a crooked and perverse generation.

Then, again by the providence of God, I stumbled across an excerpt of an interview with Joel R. Beeke, who is "pastor of the Heritage Netherlands Reformed Congregation in Grand Rapids, MI, president and professor of systematic theology at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, and author of numerous books including The Quest For Full Assurance and Meet The Puritans."

Here are several points worth pondering:

How should a minister keep his own heart, mind, and will from theological error?

• Keep yourself deeply immersed in the Scriptures, and pray daily to be willing to surrender all to their inerrant truth.
• Surround yourself with sound, godly colleagues and lay people who love you sufficiently to be honest with you, so that iron will sharpen iron.
• Read the best, sound, scriptural, classic books, especially those by the Reformers and Puritans, that address your mind with clarity, convict your conscience with poignancy, bend your wills with conviction, and move your feet with passion.
• Meditate on those truths preached that do your people the most good; in every case, you will discover that they are biblical truths.
• Develop the hide of a rhinoceros so that you won’t be tossed about with every criticism and wind of doctrine while maintaining the heart of a child, so that you will be a tender undershepherd to the needy.

Calvin said that ministers have two voices. One is for the sheep and the other for warding off the wolves. How have you struck the right balance in this regard in your pulpit ministry?

I suppose that one can never be absolutely certain that he is striking the right balance on this critical subject, but here are four guidelines that I find helpful:

• Pray daily for biblical balance in all areas of ministry.
• Love your sheep. Love has a way of balancing out our often imbalanced personalities. Those in error can receive much more from a minister who obviously loves them than from one who comes across as combative.
• Be patient with your sheep. Be willing to teach them the same truth repeatedly, just as the Lord has done with you (cf. Phil. 3:1; 2 Peter 3:1–2).
• Let your "voice for the sheep" always receive the primary accent of your ministry. Truth must ultimately be positive in nature to win the day with a congregation. Many ministers have focused too much on polemical and apologetical theology, often setting up and beating upon straw men in their congregation to the detriment of the flock. Polemics and apologetics must have the proper place of a minor accent in the ministry, so that no error is left unexposed.
• But the minister must expose error wisely, forthrightly, humbly, compellingly, not by lording it over the sheep (2 Tim. 4:1–2; 1 Pet. 5:2–3).

This is sound, Scriptural advice for loving the Lord Jesus and loving His people put under our care. And every believer, not just "pastors," has a ministry to hurting people who need God, be it in the church body or outside.

Pride in the Ministry and on the Internet

Thanks to Pastor Thabiti Anyabwhile, I came across this humbling, helpful, and heart-exposing discussion on 1 Timothy 5:1-3 by Carl Trueman in an interview with the Against Heresies blog. My ministering and writing brothers, it is well-worth the read:

What signs of potential doctrinal drift and danger do you need to keep an eye out for in ministerial students?

I am increasingly convinced that pride is the root of problems among students. I was convicted recently by a minister friend quoting to me 1 Tim. 1:5-7 (ESV):

The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.

My friend made two observations about this passage. First, the drift into dubious theological discussion is here described as moral in origin: these characters have swerved from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith; that is why their theology is so dreadful. Second, their desire is not to teach but to be teachers. There is an important difference here: their focus is on their own status, not on the words they proclaim. At most, the latter are merely instrumental to getting them status and boosting their careers.

Thus, what concerns me most is that students may simply desire to be teachers. If that is their motivation, then they have already abandoned a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith, and their theology, no matter how orthodox, is just a means to an end and no sound thing. It is why I am very sceptical of the internal call to the ministry as a decisive or motivating factor in seeking ordination. Nine times out of ten, I believe that the church should first discern who should be considering the Christian ministry, not simply act as a rubber-stamp a putative internal call which an individual may think he has.

Further, such students whose first desire is to be teachers are more likely to try to catch whatever is the latest trendy wave. Orthodoxy is always doomed to seem uncreative and pedestrian in the wider arena; if the aim is to be a teacher, to be the big shot, then it is more likely that orthodoxy will be less appealing in the long run – though there are those for whom orthodoxy too is simply a means to being a celebrity.

If a prideful desire to be a teacher, to be a somebody, is the fundamental problem, then one other aspect which is increasingly problematic is the whole phenomenon of the internet. Now anyone can put their views out for public consumption, without the usual processes of accountability, peer review, careful editing timely reflection etc. which is the norm in the scholarly world and has also been the tradition in the more theologically responsible parts of the Christian publishing industry. The internet has few quality controls and feeds narcissism. Again, I have a friend, a minister in a North American Presbyterian denomination who says that, as he reads many blogs, his overwhelming feeling is one of sadness as he sees men seriously undermining their future ministry through the venom they pour out on others. I think he is right.

Of course, all young theologians and aspiring church leaders say stupid and unpleasant things. I still blush about comments I made 15 or twenty years ago which now seem arrogant and offensive, and certainly unworthy of a Christian. But for those of us who are older, the sins of our youth are thankfully now long vanished from the public sphere; yet such sins committed today can live on indefinitely in cyberspace. I shudder for those who have not yet grasped this basic fact and who say some frightful things on the internet which will come back to haunt them the very first time a church googles their name as part of doing routine background checks on a potential ministerial candidate. But more than that: I shudder at the kind of self-appointed arrogance among ministerial candidates and recently-minted graduates which the internet can foster and intensify.

Paul’s words to Timothy seem prophetic in times such as ours. Students should cultivate pure hearts, good consciences, and a sincere faith. That way they will safeguard their theology from becoming idle speculation.

Wow. So why do I write? Why do you? Do you and I want to speak and teach God's truth so that others may be encouraged and built up and saved in Christ? Or do we want to be teachers? Do I love the status, the name, the feeling, more than I love God? Do you? Oh, brothers, may our souls make their boast in the Lord Jesus(Psalm 34:2).