Lead, Laugh, Love

A Charge to the Pastor

On Sunday, February 20, 2011, I was officially installed as Senior Pastor at Christ Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Winterville, NC. On that Lord’s day morning, a friend and fellow soldier in the work of the ministry, Cole McLaughlin delivered a charge to me which was very encouraging to me and others present. Below is a transcript of that charge:

John, my friend, my brother in the gospel, it is now my privilege to give you a solemn charge to persevere in your duties as pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church. To do so I want to give you three simple exhortations. The first is this: John, as you minister to the congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church, Be Unshakably Confident. Now, confidence will sometimes come fairly easily to you. You have a sharp mind, a pithy tongue, and, let’s face it—you even have great hair. But those things don’t bring unshakeable confidence. Because sometimes that sharp mind will get confused, or that eloquent tongue will be tied. And sometimes, criticism will come. And during those times, especially, it will be easy to doubt, to be discouraged. In those times you’ll need to remember, especially that Jesus didn’t come for you because you are a great preacher, or a perfect husband, or the pastor of the year. Jesus came for you because you, like me, are a great sinner. A great sinner who in Christ, is more deeply loved than he can even imagine. In Christ, John, you have God’s highest approval. In Christ is all the confidence that you will ever need. So be strong in his favor. Be strong in his love. Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Be unshakably confident.

Secondly, Be Uncomfortably Honest. John, we Christians don’t always like the truth, but we need you to tell us the truth. I remember you gently rebuking me a few years ago, as I complained about some people who I felt were causing problems for me. You said, “Cole, those people are a problem, yes. But they are not your biggest problem. Your biggest problem is your sinful heart, and that is what God, by his grace, wants to change.” It was honest. It was uncomfortable. It was what I needed to hear. As you minister, be uncomfortably honest. Tell people the truth about their sin. And tell them the truth about Jesus. And I think you find that when you do, they’ll desperately run to Him.

Finally, John, Be Unapologetically Limited. John, you can’t do everything. People will ask you to. But you can’t do it all. Even you, the man with more capacity for work than perhaps anyone else I know. Even you, the master of multi-tasking, who can write a great sermon, have a meaningful phone conversation, coach a little league team, and eat 10 of the hottest habenero hot wings known to man, all in one afternoon—even you cannot do it all. So you will need to say no. A LOT. You will need to sleep. You will need to rest. So do it. Say no. Say no a lot. And know that as you say no, the gates of Hell will not prevail against Christ Presbyterian Church, because the Lord, not John, is the one who is tasked with bringing to completion the good work he’s started here. Remember that, and say no. Be unapologetically limited. So there it is, John. Be confident in Christ, tell the truth, and recognize your limits. That is my charge to you as you carry on this work. I look forward to watching as the Lord empowers you to do it well.

– Rev. Cole McLaughlin is an ordained Teaching Elder in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) and serves the ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ as Director at Duke University.

Pastoral Calling: an inside look

Men are not led to the Pastoral office as they are induced to select other professions in life they are drawn as a sinner is drawn to Christ by a mighty invincible work of the Spirit. The call of God never fails to be convincing. Men are made to feel that a woe is upon them if they preach not the Gospel. It is not that they love the work for often like Moses they are reluctant to engage in it and love at best can only render its duties pleasant; it is not that they desire the office, though in indulging this desire they seek a good thing; it is not that they are zealous for the glory of God and burn for the salvation of souls for this is characteristic of every true believer nor is it that upon a due estimate of their talents and acquirements they promise themselves more extended usefulness in this department of labour than in any other for no man is anything in the kingdom of Heaven except as God makes him so; but it is that the word of the Lord is like fire in their bones they must preach it or die; they cannot escape from the awful impression which haunts them night and day and banishes all peace from the soul until the will is bowed, that God has laid this work upon them at the hazard of their lives.
– J.H. Thornwell, 1843

The discomfort and intrusion of Grace

We’ve all been in uncomfortable and awkward situations often involving someone who didn’t fully understand personal boundaries. Maybe it was a “close-talker,” a house guest who stayed too long, the neighbor who suddenly appears at your back door, or the friend who asks too many personal questions. Well, if you asked the Apostle Peter about his most intrusive, uncomfortable experience, I bet he would tell you about the time when Jesus washed his feet. Having your feet washed in any context is quite personal and intimate but in the first century context of dusty roads and exclusive sandal-wearing, it was a common expression of hospitality arranged by hosts but handled by servants. John’s gospel vividly explains the discomfort of Peter as his eyes and feet were intrusively engaged by the Savior. “Jesus, YOU will never ever wash my feet!” Peter is surprised, shaken and really uncomfortable as Jesus invades his personal space. It’s an invasion of privacy, an intrusion of touch as a right understanding of grace offered to us by Christ will bring out all of our defenses. Calvin sums up Peter’s retort, “In short, until a man renounce the liberty of judging as to the works of God, whatever exertions he may make to honor God, still pride will always lurk under the garb of humility.” Grace is intrusive and uncomfortable because of our pride and we tend to like the idea of grace but not the incarnation of it.

As this Holy Thursday scene plays out we understand that the foot washing was a little act of grace; a part of the whole of Christ’s humiliation that would involve a bigger acts of grace later in the week. So we learn that Jesus was inviting Peter and the disciples to relax and receive his intrusive and uncomfortable acts of divine grace. Moreover, when Jesus offers grace to us, He doesn’t honor our personal boundaries which makes His redemption possible. God invites us into the power and irresistibility of His Grace that can only be gained through the intrusion of uncomfortable receiving! If receiving Grace is comfortable, you have received something else. Jesus says to Peter and to us, If you won’t receive uncomfortable grace, you can never share my inheritance. Grace means Jesus wants to give something to you: Himself! And grace means Jesus wants something from you: Yourself! And He is not one to ask permission. The King of Everything has every right to barge into our lives and personal space and it’s a good thing He does because if Jesus respected our personal boundaries He would never get in.

The self-awareness and identity of Jesus

How do you humble yourself before a true enemy? How to you love and serve someone whom you know is going to turn on you and sell you out? How do you wash the feet of the one you know is going to betray you in just a few hours?

At the Thursday gathering of the disciples during what we call the Last Supper, the gospel of John tells us that the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot to betray him. (Judas was a wicked man whose evil flame was intensified by Satan’s fan). As Jesus one by one washed the feet of the disciples, at one point He came to Judas. While there is no recorded dialogue during this interaction, the understanding of the Scriptural text of the evening is that Jesus washed Twelve sets of feet. I marvel at the composure of mind possessed by the Savior during this scene! How do you wash the feet of the one whom you know is going to betray you?

John gives us some insight into the psyche of Jesus when he says in John 13:3, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God. The composure of Jesus was a result of His self-knowledge, His relational identity with His Father and His clear sense of destiny. He possessed a full consciousness and deep awareness of self, identity and purpose accompanied with an experiential knowledge of His Father that carried Him through difficulty. This heart-felt knowledge, acceptance, affirmation of being, and love that He had received from all eternity from His Father overflowed in Jesus so that he could give Himself away, serve everyone, live with people’s dirt and even in love, wash the feet of the traitor.

Jesus could stick with the plan of redemption and maintain His clear purpose for coming to the earth because He was rooted and grounded in the love of the Father. He experienced the breadth, length, height, and depth of the Love of God which surpasses knowledge. He had this composure of mind because He had already obtained victory over death, His eyes lifted to his glorious triumph which was soon to come. And He (like us) was already seated in the heavenlies! What composure! What wonderful patience to endure the washing of the feet of the trusted friend who would sell him out! He knew that His death was ultimately a passage back to the heavenly kingdom (as yours will be) and this brought him a composure of mind in the midst of adversity. Through the entire length of His humiliation as a man, He is not even shaken until he must enter into being forsaken by His own Father, an experience that a child of God will never have to endure again.

I would do anything for love, even that!

Meatloaf sang the popular song, “I would do anything for love, but I won’t do that” which became an instant classic when Dr. Pepper picked it up for their commercial a few years ago. The commercial pictures a young man who would do anything for his girlfriend including the purchasing of her feminine products, the folding of her laundry and accompanying her to Yoga class and on shopping trips. But when it came to giving up the thing he loved most, his 12 oz. can of cold Dr. Pepper, he chose to draw the line there and break off the relationship. She just wasn’t worth it.

At the beginning of the events of the Passion week of Jesus Christ, the Gospel-writer John gives Jesus’ purpose statement:

Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. John 13:1ff

John’s gospel deliberately omits many things which he knew were covered by Matthew and Mark but here in the scene of the foot-washing of the disciples as in other places he explains a narrative which was left out by the others, one which clearly had a deep impact on him. John saw this foot-washing not just as an example of servanthood, but a gesture of the deep love and affection that Jesus had for His own. This was the beginning of an extended weekend where Jesus would give many visible signs of His firm, lasting love that would never be quenched not even by death. John understood that the totality of the humiliation of the Son of God from his conception to taking the form of a servant in the foot-washing to His suffering, death and burial was all motivated by tender love.
We ought also to fix our hearts on this conviction for he bears the same tender affection for us.

Jesus’ love motive is in full operation in the foot-washing, which is an integral moment with the whole of His Life of Humiliation which began in His conception and ended in His death, burial and descending before His exaltation in resurrection, ascension and the sitting at the right hand of the Father. The purpose of all of this was to merit salvation for His people. Jesus refused to draw the line of the extent of His love for us. A love that extended from the washing of our dirt all the way to his suffering and death. Jesus says to all who believe and trust in Him, “You’re worth it! I would do anything for love, even that!”

Click here for the Dr. Pepper Commercial

Substituting ideas about God for an Experience of Him

This Spring will mark a special occasion in my life when on my physical birthday I will turn 44 and on my spiritual birthday I will turn 22. It might not mean so much to you but it means a lot to me because 22 years ago the Holy Spirit chased me down to execute a plan of grace that was made at a Triune Table before the creation of the world. The occasion is also significant because it marks exactly half of my life in personal communion with Jesus Christ as well as a passage into Christian early adulthood.

I would define my early Christian life as one of ACTIVITY including disciplined scripture memory and initiative personal evangelism while my adolescent years were about IDEAS including the study of systematic theology, Greek and Hebrew, attaining a seminary degree and climbing a rigorous denominational ordination process. Reflecting back to my early years, I saw how easy it was for me to substitute spiritual activity for God in the place of a relationship with God. Now since the collision of middle age in my physical life and early adulthood in my spiritual life I see how easy it was for me to accept ideas about God as substitutes for an experience of Him.

Sadly most of us call ourselves Christians based on our belief system more than our experience. Even the celebrated Gospel Coalition movement in which I have participated and appreciate, speaks primarily of the Christian experience and even the Gospel in the forensic language of ideas and philosophy. I am struck by the words of A.W. Tozer who still speaks to our Reformed and Calvinistic churches today,

“We have substituted theological ideas for an arresting encounter; we are full of religious notions but our great weakness is that for our hearts there is no one there.”

We can even treat God’s love as an IDEA while being void of a personal experience of the heart that encounters His love. God doesn’t just want us to have correct views about him, He wants to make Himself Known to us Personally and Up Close. His heart through the Old and New Testaments was not just to be objectively known ABOUT. His self-revelation to the Israelites was always in the most personal and intimate language (Cf. Exodus 34:5-7). The God of the Bible, can’t be known from a distance which was why He bent down from heaven to send His Son to live among us so we could see Him, hear Him and touch Him (Cf. 1 John 1:1-4).

My heart’s desire for my life and the lives of those who will listen is to help navigate an authentic Christian journey that finds a direct, personal experience of God which results in a deep generosity to others.

The Unpredictibility of Living with Jesus

With the simplicity of click, drag and drop, Jesus exorcised the demons and sent them into the herd of 2,000 pigs who immediately ran down the steep bank and drowned themselves in the sea. Upon hearing the breaking news of the miraculous healing along with the bankruptcy of the BBQ industry, the Gadarene townspeople were petrified of Jesus so they begged Him to leave their region while the formerly possessed man begged to live with Jesus.

The townspeople, having seen the power of Jesus became afraid of His authority and chose rather to be deprived of salvation than to endure any longer in His presence. They prayed for Jesus to leave because they could not live with a man who had such power. They said, “Jesus, we like you, and we would have accepted you but your authority ruins what we really care about.”

To live with a Powerful Jesus means losing control. While it is one thing to see and acknowledge His power, it is quite another thing to live with Him. When we accept the presence of Jesus, we accept the loss of control that comes with Him. We say we believe in Jesus but are we truly willing to live with Him? Are we willing to lose control and accept the unpredictable, irresistible power of Jesus in our lives?

Enjoy the poem below by Richard Wilbur based on the story of Mark 5:1-20 & Matthew 8:28-34, I think it speaks to us today.

Rabbi, we Gadarenes
Are not ascetics;
We are fond of wealth and possessions.
Love, as You call it, we obviate by means
Of the planned release of aggressions.

We have deep faith in prosperity.
Soon, it is hoped, we will reach our full potential.
In the light of our gross product,
the practice of charity Is palpably non-essential.

It is true that we go insane;
That for no good reason we are possessed by devils;
That we suffer, despite the amenities which obtain
At all but the lowest levels.

We shall not, however, resign
Our trust in the high-heaped table and the full trough.
If You cannot cure us without destroying our swine,
We had rather You shoved off.

Jesus stills the storm and He stills the soul.

Mark 5:1-20 tells the story of a miserable man who was kept in the tombs by a legion of unclean, demonic spirits. The spirits trapped him there to torment him continually with the spectacle of death. They cut him off from society and he lived as a dead man among the dead. The “Gardarene Demoniac,” as we’ve come to know him, had perhaps never known an experience of love, mercy or forgiveness. His memories of human touch are limited to the posses sent to hold him down in order to chain his hands and feet. Especially in the depths of the night, you could hear him wail and cry out with eerie sounds. Normalcy was a distant memory and he was equally feared by others and afraid himself as he lived a life of restless pain, agony, mental anguish.

Enter Jesus into the land of the Gadarenes, the one who has recently quieted the vicious storm, who with a word heals and restores the man. And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid.

When we trust Jesus, he heals the darkest troubles in the deepest recesses of our souls.
The townspeople find the man sitting, clothed and in his right mind (all new and foreign experiences for him). He no longer drives people away, he is no longer afraid and he’ll be home for dinner. His Spirit is clean, his mind is healthy and now he has a story to tell (like you have a story to tell) about how he lived in the abyss of madness and hell. He would say, “I know it’s hard to believe but I used to be the Man of the Tombs until the day I encountered the conquering love of Jesus. It’s a love that takes your sin away and leaves you seated, clothed and in your right mind.”

Though our conversions would likely be less dramatic than this, we can relate to the man of the tombs. Before we encounter Christ, there is an experience of being held captive by the devil to do his will. (cf. 2 Tim. 2:25b-26) We lived as dead men among the dead with only death and judgment to look forward to. Jesus comes to us across the abyss to our tomb of deadness so we are able to cross from death to life (John 5:24). We were dead in our transgressions and sins, without God and without hope (Eph. 2:1-10) until we encountered the conquering love of Jesus and He restored our souls.

Man of the Tombs meets Jesus

Man of the tombs
He lives in a place where no one goes
And he tears at himself
And lives with a pain that no one knows
He counts himself dead among the living
He knows no mercy and no forgiving
Deep in the night he’s driven to cry out loud
Can you hear him cry out loud?

Man of the tombs
Possessed by an unseen enemy
He breaks every chain
And mistakes his freedom for being free
Shame and shamelessness equally there
Like a random toss of a coin in the air
Man of the tombs, he’s driven to cry out loud

Underneath this thing that I’ve become
A fading memory of flesh and blood
I curse the womb, I bless the grave
I’ve lost my heart, I cannot be saved
Like those who fear me, I’m afraid
Like those I’ve hurt, I can feel pain
Naked now before my sin
And these stones that cut against my skin
Some try to touch me, but no one can
For man of the tombs I am

Down at the shoreline
Two sets of footprints meet
One voice is screaming
Other voice begins to speak
In only a moment and only a word
The evil departs like a thundering herd
Man of the tombs, he hears this cry out loud

Underneath this thing that you’ve become
I see a man of flesh and blood
I give you life beyond the grave
I heal your heart, I come to save
No need to fear, be not afraid
This Man of sorrows knows your pain
I come to take away your sin
And bear it’s marks upon My skin
When no one can touch you, still I can
For Son of God I am

Dressed now and seated
Clean in spirit and healthy of mind
Man of the tombs
He begs to follow, but must stay behind
He’ll return to has family with stories to tell
Of mercy and madness, of heaven and hell
Man of the tombs, soon he will cry out loud

Underneath this thing that I once was
Now I’m a man of flesh and blood
I have a life beyond the grave
I found my heart, I can now be saved
No need to fear, I am not afraid
This Man of sorrows took my pain
He comes to take away our sin
And bear it’s marks upon His skin
I’m telling you this story because
Man of the tombs I was

Did God Create Evil?

This past week the Lord brought me to a place where I had to answer some questions about God’s relationship to evil: Where did evil come from? Did God create it? So this blog entry is a bit of a digression from what I usually write about. I do care deeply that people see God as good, holy, morally perfect and with the highest virtue. If the Almighty, All-powerful God is not good and holy then we could never feel safe with Him.

Did God create evil?
If God is the Sovereign Creator and we have evil in the world then did God create Evil? We know that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all and we know that God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts no one. This means that there is no hook in the soul of God onto which evil can latch. God is good and He is neither evil’s creator nor evil’s author. God created everyTHING, and He created EveryTHING Good. Evil is exempt from the creation because evil is NOT a thing, nor is evil a being. Evil was not created and is not a created thing.

What is evil?
Evil digs a hole in goodness and spoils the GOOD that God created. All which is corrupted is a deprivation of good. Evil is A SPOILED GOODNESS. It is like a moral hole, a nothingness that results when goodness is removed. Just as a shadow is no more than a “hole” in light, evil is a hole in goodness. Evil is not something present but something missing. Evil is not something to turn toward but the TURNING itself away from Good and away from God.

God created a world of moral perfection but that does not necessitate the attribute of immutability or unchangeablenes in the morally perfect creation just as a perfectly beautiful vase is capable of being chipped or broken. In the creation, God’s goals were to create free creatures and the greatest good possible but His Creation, being free, turned away from Him, His goodness and generosity. God is neither the author of evil, nor its helpless victim. For a time, God chooses to co-exist with evil and allow it. During this season, the presence of evil illustrates by stark contrast the goodness of God. And a day will come when God’s people will no longer be able to turn away from Him again and the possibility of evil will cease.

Much of my writing here today is based on Augustine’s theory of evil and this wonderful article: Augustine on Evil by Greg Koukl