Theology and the Preacher

Yesterday I enjoyed a discussion about what is a preacher and what is a theologian. Sometimes, sadly, they are very different. I know of theologians who cannot preach, worse still I know of plenty of preachers who "don't do theology." I was reminded by Al Mohler that the calling of a pastor is the calling of a faithful theologian. Mohler writes, 'Every pastor is called to be a theologian. This may come as a surprise to those pastors who see theology as an academic discipline taken during seminary rather than as an ongoing and central part of the pastoral calling. Nevertheless, the health of the church depends upon its pastors functioning as faithful theologians-teaching, preaching, defending, and applying the great doctrines of the faith.' R. Albert Mohler 'He is Not Silent' p.105

Mohler goes on to say, 'The Pastoral calling is inherently theological. Given the fact that the pastor is to be teacher of the Word of God and the teacher of the Gospel it cannot be otherwise' p.106

Mohler rightly sets this in context- theology is not the result but the means, the means to faithfulness in preaching, in mission and in discipleship. ' Being faithful to this theological task will obviously require intense and self-conscious theological thinking, study and concentration. If the church is to be marked by faithful preaching, God-honouring worship, and effective evangelism, the pastor must give concentrated attention to the theological task' p.109

I am thankful to God for Albert Mohler and theologians like him who believe in the authority of scripture and the power of God to change lives. I am thankful for my time at HTC where I encountered lecturers like him. We need to pray though that the church will love to grapple with the Word and to seek preachers who preach it and live it.

Shalom

Stephen

Lewis Fest

This past week I have been enjoying something of a C. S.Lewis fest, last night Joy and I finished watching the Disney version of the Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. Today I got to pick up a new book called Planet Narnia by the Rev Dr Michael Ward, Last weekend I got to listen to Michael discuss his book with Laura Miller an American atheist who also loves the Chronicles of Narnia and she has written a book called 'The Magician's Book'.

A Couple of Years ago Christianity Today devoted a whole issue to C. S. Lewis, as I recall the editor suggested that Lewis was like the patron saint of American Evangelicalism, which is very ironic as 1. We don't have patron saints in Evangelicalism and 2. Because Lewis was neither American nor an Evangelical. Yet Lewis has a lot to offer evangelicals, because he did have what can only be described as an evangelical conversion and in his autobiographical book 'Surprised by Joy' Lewis tells us of his conversion first to theism (when he becomes the most reluctant convert in all of England) and later his conversion proper. Lewis became the most famous defender of Christianity in Britain in the C20th and his work 'Mere Christianity' is still unrivalled (although Tim Kellar's 'The Reason for God is a great alternative) as a discussion starter. In recent times I have heard several attempts to refute Lewis tricotomy by the new atheists "either Jesus was a mad man, a demoniac or who he claimed to be" they propose a fourth that Jesus was simply mistaken but surely that comes under number 1, No rational person would claim to be God and simply be mistaken without needing to stay at the funny farm. I can't remember how I got acquainted to Lewis' work but I have always appreciated them even when I disagree. I am looking forward to reading Planet Narnia as Michael Ward believes he has found a deeper level to the Narnia books where Lewis provides a defense of Christianity using medieval cosmology, now who doesn't love a conspiracy theory?

Shalom
Stephen <><

I am somewhat unusal as a C.S.Lewis fan in that I read 'Mere Christianity' years before I read the Chronicles of Narnia due to a misspent childhood. I am looking forward to reading the books with Hannah and hopefully she will love them as much as I do.

Raw Driscoll-Vintage Church

Driscoll- Warts and All

I have just finished reading Vintage Church by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears and this is by far the best book from them yet. Driscoll receives a hard press from some conservative Christians because of his immaturity but this is a little unfair. Driscoll presents himself warts and all, we know his failings because he is happy to share them. He is happy to share them because he wants to show that in this world only Jesus is the good guy and that even pastors are in need of grace. I find this refreshing as too many mature believers wear a mask pretending to themselves and everyone else that they don't sin anymore.

Driscoll reveals his maturity in the chapter on discipline-firstly, just by including a chapter on church discipline as very few books on the topic would include a whole chapter on this vital subject. Driscoll reveals that rather than lacking any sense of sanctification, as his critics claim, he has a high regard for the holiness and purity of Mars Hill Church and for the body of Christ as a whole. Secondly, he shows a concern for those who are the victims of someone who is in need of church discipline and sets out Mars Hill's practice on discipline. He also shares how they can come back and his disappointment at some churches who take in members who are under discipline. His pastoral hope for those who are under church discipline is that they would repent and be restored to full fellowship. It is his desire to protect the disciplined believer's family from the consequences of the discipline as much as is possible. He also argues that whilst the believer is under discipline we shouldn't treat them as before but neither should we avoid them when we see them rather we should be seeking to urge them to repentance and restoration.

Driscoll has also been accused of being too culturally affirming yet he is faithful to scripture arguing for male elders only- in spite of this being unpopular in culture at large and in large sections of the evangelical church. He points out at one point whilst we might aim to be cool, we are called to follow Jesus, share the gospel and warn people about the judgement to come so we will not be perceived as being cool.

The Missional Church

A currently in vogue phrase which few people seem to understand, Driscoll points out that a missional church is not some church where there is no pastor or the pastor is a young dude who doesn't shave and has a couple of tattoos but no understanding of truth or mission. Rather a missional church is concerned with mission both on a global and local stage. Therefore a missional church seeks to train disciples to be missionaries to their unreached neighbours. They do this in the same way missionaries in far flung places do, by dressing the same and speaking the same language. It seeks to make disciples through a word centred ministry therefore it also preaches and practices repentance. A missional church is aware of the community and seeks to be a community within the community. A missional church wouldn't encourage what happens in so many places where believers drive for miles to do church and then drive miles again out of that neighbourhood back home. A missional church seeks to be a blessing to those on the outside, Driscoll shares how one bus driver spoke to a visitor to Mars Hill and said that Mars Hill was a force for good in the city.

Finally in the early chapters Driscoll sets out what a church looks like, he speaks in general terms before narrowing down what Mars Hill looks like. In this section he argued very briefly for believer's baptism and I for one was very convinced :-).

This book is a good example of a warm hearted Bible centred theology from a pastor in the reformed tradition for the C21st.

Shalom

Stephen

Calvin and his children

Yesterday was the 500 anniversary of John Calvin's birth, Calvin was a frail and fallen human who loved his Lord and saviour. He was also sanctified and tireless devoted to serving God in Geneva. The sales of his books were used to support the french protestant refugees who had fled France. Calvin is one theologian amongst many throughout the history of the holy catholic church (catholic with a small c). He also preached almost every day and during periods of sickness and towards the end of his life would preach either from his bed or be carried to church. He is not original in some sense because he proves in his institutes that he stands in the tradition of Augustine and many others. He did not start the reformation that honour goes to Martin Luther. He is not the only classical trained theologian of the period, so why are those of us who are reformed or "predestinarian" called Calvinists? I think the answer in part is because Calvin's Geneva produced many little Calvin's as both English and Scottish pastors and theologians sought refuge in Geneva and then took the theology they had learnt from him back home. This was then transported to the New World as the Puritans took that Theology with them. While Luther's theology stayed pretty much in Germany following his lack of interest in the theology of the Swiss reformers at the Marburg debate.

A second reason why we are called Calvinists is because he wrote a lot more his commentaries are still in print and still readable, these have been used and delighted in for centuries. His institutes whilst not a systematic theology are a complete guide to his theology and you don't find the same sort of writing from any of the other reformers. I enjoy Calvin's commentaries and think the Institutes are a wonderful example of a warm hearted theology and I am glad to be one of Calvin's theological children.

Shalom

Stephen

a citizen of a faraway country

Our daughter Hannah (now 6 months old) received her American passport in the post yesterday. She is now officially an American citizen and the paper work says that she 'acquired United States citizenship at birth.' What is unusual in Hannah's case is that she is now a citizen of a place that she has never been to. She has a passport and will be allowed entry as a citizen but as yet she has never even visited the States. What makes her a citizen is not where she was born or anything else that she has done, she is a citizen because her mom is a citizen. She acquired American citizenship at birth because one of her parents is American. This reminds me of salvation if we are born again even though we have never been to heaven we are still citizens of heaven. Our citizenship was acquired at the cross and we received it when we were born a new. We will be welcomed in because we are citizens and not through anything we have done but because as I Peter chapter 1 says "The Father through His great mercy has caused you to be born again". We are aliens and strangers in this world because we are citizens of a faraway home.

As I am writing this on the 4th of July may I take this time to wish all my American family and friends a happy 4th of July (although I don't understand why you would celebrate not being part of Great Britain) :)


God Bless

Stephen <><

The Great Evangelist

This last weekend Inverness hosted The Highland Festival with Luis Palau and it was good to see the great evangelist at work. I don't mean Luis Palau I mean the Holy Spirit, Palau's style isn't refined, his sermon was messy but from the heart but it was really great to see people visibly coming under conviction of sin and God saving them. I do not see the wind but I could see the effects of the wind of the Spirit blowing. Many young people made responses how many of them are real God alone knows but we can leave it to God. Palau preached about heaven and hell, the cross and the judgement to come as well as giving an invitation. He clearly presented the gospel although from an arminian perspective. He continues to do great work at 74 years of age and has preached the gospel to over a billion people throughout the course of his life. I am thankful to God for his servant, it did make me wonder though where are the Calvinistic evangelists? Some of the greatest open air evangelists of the past were Calvinists but there doesn't seem to be any now adays. We should pray for God to raise up more evangelists and seek to be more evangelistic ourselves.

God Bless

Stephen <><

Shalom

Stephen

Earl and the Gospel

Joy and I have recently being enjoying the TV show my name is Earl, the show is based around the life of a man named Earl, surprisingly enough. Earl came to a crisis point through all the bad things that he has done and he repented, well no he didn't repent. Instead Earl is seeking to do good for all the bad that he has done. He has a list that he is working his way down, the problem is the list keeps growing. In trying to undo the wrong that he did in the past he finds himself in new situations where he causes hurt and needs to make restitution. Earl's problem is the human problem it would not matter if we had a thousand life times to put right our wrongs because all we would be doing would be adding to our list of wrongs. There is nothing we can do to pay for the wrong that we have done, not that trying to undo the wrong we have done is not commendable. Our problem is we cannot undo the sin itself, nor can we make restitution to God. David says in Psalm 51, against you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight. If we are to be put right we need to come to Him who we have offended and seek His forgiveness, that can only happen through trusting in the atoning work of His Son, whose name is Jesus. Still 'My name is Earl' is a funny show, sit back and enjoy.

God Bless


Stephen