David Julen wrote a Biblical Recorder article in March, “Can a woman be president but not a pastor?”: http://www.biblicalrecorder.org/post/2009/03/09/Can-a-woman-be-president-but-not-a-pastor.aspx.
My friend, Ted Manby, published an excellent response, “Handling the Bible properly on culturally hot topics”: http://www.biblicalrecorder.org/post/2009/04/14/Handling-the-Bible-properly-on-culturally-hot-topics.aspx.
A new article on The Briefing, Making Singleness Better, is well worth the read.
The column begins: “There are those who say that singleness is better, but unfortunately that is not the experience of many who have been single long-term. Tim Adeney looks at why, and what we can do to love and serve the single people in our churches.”
You can also read some of my thoughts on singleness at: http://joshberrus.wordpress.com/2008/04/22/some-thoughts-on-singleness/
I have been challenged by Dennis Okholm’s book Monk Habits for Everyday People where he challenges pastors toward solitude, listening, poverty (sharing the goods), obedience, humility, hospitality, stability (staying put to get somewhere), and balance (God in everything). By cultivating these disciplines, ministry leaders have great potential to change the world for Christ.
I’ve been especially blessed by chapter 8 considering the Benedictine monks who took a vow of stability to stay with one church community for life. This kind of consistency is rare for GenX who tend to lack commitment. I urge you to prayerfully read Okholm’s book as a reality check. It may help you re-think your future ministry.
Kevin Roose has written an interesting book, The Unlikely Disciple, about his experience going “undercover” as a student for one semester at Liberty University.
Check out J. D. Greear’s excellent book review at: http://betweenthetimes.com/2009/04/27/the-unlikely-disciple/.
Greear says, “It is worth reading just to see how we as Christians look to those on the ‘outside’, and to see what intelligent, articulate, surprisingly MORAL ‘unbelievers’ think about us.”
No generation has arrived. Every generation has gains and losses. I pray our generation will be prayerful, teachable, Scripture-centered, seeking counsel from ministry leaders who have paved the way, learning from history, and making greater strides for Christ in the decades ahead.
I recommend the following article by Nathan Akin: A Call for Foot Soldiers in a Great Commission Resurgence: The Positives and the Pitfalls for Young Leaders. A brief outline is below.
Positives of Young Leaders:
1. Energy and Creativity
2. Theological Renewal
3. A Missionaries’ Mindset
4. Expectancy
Pitfalls of Young Leaders:
1. Pride and Ageism
2. Follow through
3. Capitulation to Culture
4. Isolationist Attitude
5. Neglect of the Spiritual Disciplines
Here are some thoughts from John Stott on Self-Forgetfulness:
“If you look at yourself in the mirror, and listen to yourself on tape, or do both simultaneously on videotape, I fear you may find that you continue to look at yourself and listen to yourself when you are in the pulpit. In that case you will condemn yourself to the cramping bondage of preoccupation with yourself just at the time when, in the pulpit, it is essential to cultivate self-forgetfulness through a growing awareness of the God for whom and the people to whom you are speaking . . . I know actors make use of glass and tape, but preachers are not actors, nor is the pulpit at a stage. So beware! It may be more valuable to ask a friend to be candid with you about your voice and mannerisms, especially if they need correction. An Indian proverb says ‘He who has a good friend needs no mirror.’ Then you can be yourself and forget yourself.”
During Ligon Duncan’s sermon at The Gospel Coalition conference he quoted Spurgeon’s sermon on 2 Timothy 4:13 where Paul asks Timothy to bring him his books/parchments.
Here is a section from Spurgeon’s sermon:
“We do not know what the books were about, and we can only form some guess as to what the parchments were. Paul had a few books which were left, perhaps wrapped up in the cloak, and Timothy was to be careful to bring them. Even an apostle must read. . . . A man who comes up into the pulpit, professes to take his text on the spot, and talks any quantity of nonsense, is the idol of many. If he will speak without premeditation, or pretend to do so, and never produce what they call a dish of dead men’s brains—oh! that is the preacher. How rebuked are they by the apostle!
He is inspired, and yet he wants books!
He has been preaching at least for thirty years, and yet he wants books!
He had seen the Lord, and yet he wants books!
He had had a wider experience than most men, and yet he wants books!
He had been caught up into the third heaven, and had heard things which it was unlawful for a men to utter, yet he wants books!
He had written the major part of the New Testament, and yet he wants books!
The apostle says to Timothy and so he says to every preacher, ‘Give thyself unto reading.’ The man who never reads will never be read; he who never quotes will never be quoted. He who will not use the thoughts of other men’s brains, proves that he has no brains of his own.
Brethren, what is true of ministers is true of all our people. You need to read. Renounce as much as you will all light literature, but study as much as possible sound theological works, especially the Puritanic writers, and expositions of the Bible. We are quite persuaded that the very best way for you to be spending your leisure, is to be either reading or praying. You may get much instruction from books which afterwards you may use as a true weapon in your Lord and Master’s service. Paul cries, ‘Bring the books’—join in the cry.”
I hear reports on a regular basis of ministry friends, pastors, leaders, and spiritual heroes falling into sin and wandering from the faith. We are to mourn, be broken over sin, and prioritize prayer. But even while grieving, we must not overreact to circumstances like most do, but rather live with priorities and keep our eyes on Jesus. Furthermore, we must not grow cold-hearted and numb. We are not to write people off and give up on them. Ministry requires getting our hands dirty. Charles H. Spurgeon said, “A church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints.” May we be humble, repentant, broken over our personal sins and the sins of others, speak truth in love, encourage and build others up, and pray for restoration.
I heard Al Mohler speak at the SBC convention this summer concerning the scope of evangelical Christianity in today’s culture. Mohler claims that we live in a time where it doesn’t take long to see who is all about Jesus and who is not. Those who truly stand for Christ are swimming against the tide. Jesus said that the road to heaven is narrow and few find it.
Let’s be faithful, pray for one another, and fix our eyes on Christ!
There can be some risks and dangers in singleness. I appreciate John Piper’s warning against “adultolescence.” This is a common trend to extend adolescence through the 20s and purposely delay marriage due to selfishness, pursuing pleasure, irresponsibility, and refusing to grow up. I have heard Al Mohler say that “Christian men who are still single by the age of 30 are often guilty of indecisiveness, commitment phobia, and perfectionism.” There is a potential for singles over time to become more selfish, stubborn, dysfunctional, and set in their ways. Some singles are able to hide behind their secret sins like wasting time, pornography, or eating disorders, which would be more easily exposed in marriage. Marriage has a wonderful way of sanctifying believers, revealing sin, and promoting spiritual growth.
On the other side of the coin, there are many godly singles who have pursued education, ministry and careers though the 20s and 30s, and as long as they are walking in holiness and serving the Lord, this can be a good thing. Remember Psalm 84, “Nothing good does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.”
While some singles may need some moral support and encouragement to pursue marriage, local churches are often guilty of pressuring singles toward marriage, treating them as victims, viewing them as immature, and judging their status as sin. This has been a painful part of my experience as a single in ministry. An individual should not be judged negatively for their single status. A single is to remain content in the Lord whatever his/her status. While singles may struggle with various sins (such as self-sufficiency, commitment, indecisiveness, perfectionism, and other sins mentioned above), every person is a sinner. One is ultimately single or married because of the will of God. Married folks also struggle with sin. I have seen individuals pursue marriage with wrong motives . . . being desperate, on rebound, finding significance in a partner, etc. Motives are a messy thing. The Lord meets us where we are. He uses all of us and our experiences for his glory.
I recommend the book, They Were Single Too: Eight Biblical Role Models, by David M. Hoffeditz. In chapter 1, he considers the apostle Paul and the “gift” of singleness in 1 Cor 7: “Often people neglect to see both [singleness and marriage] as gifts, and in so doing, regard singleness as a social oddity. Finally, note that Paul does not pit the two marital states against each other, but stresses the significance of each gift. Both are given by God. I am comforted to know that God is the one distributing marriage or singleness. The God who called me before He created this world, the One who knows the number of hairs on my head, and who gave His Son for me is the benefactor of these gifts. It is the Lord who has appointed—not Aunt Lilly, not my mother, not my so-called friends, not that well-meaning church member” (Hoffeditz, They Were Single Too, 9).
In the article, “Singled Out by God for Good,” Paige Benton writes: “I am not single because I am too spiritually unstable to possibly deserve a husband, not because I am too spiritually mature to possibly need one. I am single because God is so abundantly good to me, because this is his best for me. It is a cosmic impossibility that anything could be better for me right now than being single. The psalmists confirm that I should not want, I shall not want, because no good thing will God withhold from me” (Benton, Regeneration Quarterly 3 (1997), 21).
I just returned from the Together for the Gospel 2008 conference in Louisville, KY. Each of the sessions were excellent featuring Al Mohler, Ligon Duncan, C. J. Mahaney, Mark Dever, R. C. Sproul, John MacArthur, and John Piper. You can download all the 2008 messages for free at: http://t4g.org/08/media/ and the 2006 messages at: http://t4g.org/06/media/.
I was most impacted by the sermon from Thabiti Anyabwile of First Baptist Church of Grand Cayman entitled: “Bearing the Image: Identity, the Work of Christ, and the Church.” He challenged us to remove race from our vocabulary, since it usually carries negative connotation. It would be better to incorporate words like ethnicity, people groups, and nationality. He reminded us that every person on earth is the “seed of Adam . . . like me, created in the image of God . . . like me.” Even more, Christians throughout the world should view one another as “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God” (1 Pet 2:9). I pray this would truly be our perspective.
