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The Pastor and His Congregation, 2

Published November 12, 2014 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
Tags: Church Membership, Congregation, Pastor

What the Pastor Expects From His Congregation

In this series on stewardship, we’ve covered what God expects from all members of His Church. He wants them to be good stewards of the gifts – Spiritual gifts – He has given them. All members of the Church, from the top on down, have a responsibility to be faithful in this regard. We also covered what the congregation may expect from their pastor. The pastor has a responsibility to not only be a good steward of the gifts God has given him, but he must also be faithful to the souls God has put in his charge. Now it’s time to consider what the pastor expects from his congregation. Of course he expects each member to use their Spiritual gifts, but beyond that, he has certain expectations. These expectations are just as valid as those held by the congregation.

A job, yet not

Your pastor is in a different, sometimes difficult, situation. He has been called to your church by the Lord. It may seem otherwise. It may seem as though you and your congregation or your pastor search committee called him, but in reality, if your pastor is a man of God intent on being obedient to God, then he is your pastor because God placed him in your church. He is not your employee. Some churches treat their pastor like that, but he is not. In fact, his position is much higher than that of any employee.

Your pastor is God’s man. He stands between the living and the dead. He brings God’s message to you; in a sense he is a modern-day prophet. He brings your needs to God; in that sense he functions as a priest. And yet, he is neither a prophet nor a priest in the Old Testament sense of those offices. Every Christian may have complete, free and unfettered access to the very throne room of Heaven. Every child of God may enjoy the continual presence of God. However, it behooves every church member to recognize that God in His wisdom has placed certain officers in the church for their benefit. Elders and deacons serve both God and the church. The pastor is also in your church to serve God and you.

Dear brothers, honor the officers of your church who work hard among you and warn you against all that is wrong. (1 Thessalonians 5:12 TLB)

Mind you, your pastor has to keep this verse in his mind:

Don’t be tyrants, but lead them by your good example… (1 Peter 5:4 TLB)

God has placed the pastor over the congregation, but in the sense of a shepherd who is to care for his sheep. He is not the boss of the congregation and he shouldn’t treat those in his care like a tyrant. The relationship between pastor and congregation is a special, delicate one that can easily become unbalanced in either direction – pastors turn into dictators or congregations come to disrespect their pastor. A wrong spirit on either side of the equation will grieve the Holy Spirit and halt any work of God in that church.

To state the obvious, it takes a lot of grace for the pastor-member relationship to remain a healthy one.

A marriage analogy

In a sense, the relationship between the pastor and his congregation is like a marriage. When either a pastor or the people become dissatisfied with the other and attempt to take things into their own hands, you may be sure disaster will result. In the marriage ceremony, we say:

What God has joined together, let no man put asunder.

It is useless to tinker with or interfere with God’s plan, either in the marriage relationship or the pastor-member relationship. A third party often causes problems between husband and wife. And when any member or anybody else comes between the pastor and his congregation, problems will inevitably ensue.

The pastor expects you to be loyal

When the Lord leads your pastor to you; when after being interviewed and voted on and prayed over, all involved settle the issue and you as a congregation are duty-bound to support and stand behind your pastor in every way possible. Loyalty is not to be confused with lip service. While a congregation has every right to except certain things from him, no member of the church should criticize or persecute or demean and disrespect the pastor. If you have a problem with your pastor, talk to him about it, not to your neighbor. Talk to him, then shut up. Pray about the situation, if it remains unresolved. Never, ever belittle your pastor in front of your children or grand children or others. Those are future church members! Pastors come and go; over the life of your church, you’ll have good pastors, bad pastors, and mediocre pastors but – Lord willing – your church will remain and it looks bad when a church mistreats its pastor. Don’t taint the reputation of your church by treating a pastor badly out in the community. It may well be that particular pastor needs to go, but it needs to happen in an environment of love and mutual respect.

Your pastor is loyal to you. Many pastors are approached by other churches looking for a pastor “just like him.” Over your pastor’s tenure with you, he may have turned down and walked away from many other pastoral opportunities (some maybe very attractive!) to stay with you.

Your pastor expects you to pray for him (and his family)

This hardly needs to be expanded upon. Nothing happens unless somebody, somewhere is praying about it. What would happen if every member of a congregation felt as much responsibility to pray for the pastor and his work as they expect him to pray for them? Pray every day for your pastor. He needs it. His family needs it. There are stresses and pressures in the ministry unknown in any other profession.

The pastor expects you to encourage, not discourage him

Encouragement is not the same thing as flattery. Your pastor has more than enough to discourage him in the ministry; a word of encouragement is always welcome. Most members are very quick to “constructively criticize” him or tell him how to do his job, but what your pastor needs are your prayers and your encouragement. Don’t wait until your pastor has resigned to tell him what a blessing his ministry has been. Many a pastor has left a church never knowing how effective his ministry has been. Contrary to what some think, your pastor is human just like you are. You like to be appreciated, and so does he.

Your pastor expects you attend services

This may well be the most important expectation any pastor has of his people. No preacher is at his best preaching to empty pews. Nothing discourages a pastor more and nothing makes him feel like a failure more than when his people can’t be bothered to show up on a Sunday morning. There is an urgent spiritual reason for being dedicated to your church, but here’s a practical one! You can turn a poor preacher into a good one by just showing up and supporting him with your prayerful presence. And not just on a Sunday. Mid-week Bible studies and prayer meetings and church-wide dinners are all opportunities you have to not only have fellowship with one another and with the Lord, but it’s also an opportunity to encourage you pastor and his family.

Let us not neglect our church meetings, as some people do, but encourage and warn each other, especially now that the day of his coming back again is drawing near. (Hebrews 10:25 TLB)

Your pastor expects you to be a worker, not a shirker

Closely linked to church attendance is this expectation. The work of the Lord needs more workers. A church doesn’t build itself. Children don’t teach themselves. The pastor and his wife shouldn’t be the only workers or soul winners in your church. Use your spiritual gifts without being coerced. Use your talents in church, if you have them. See something your church lacks? Don’t whine and complain, do something about it! If there’s a ministry lacking, just do it yourself, if you can. But check with your pastor first.

There’s no such thing as retirement in the kingdom of God. There’s always something you can do in your church, regardless of your age.

Your pastor expects decent financial support

If every member gave as he is able to do – as the Lord has blessed them – this would be a simple need to fill. Many church members think their pastor is overpaid. He works one day a week, after all. Consider some facts of life. The average pastor is in his profession, not necessarily because he wants to be, but because God has called him to be. Most preachers have natural talents that could earn them a much better income doing something else. God doesn’t call weaklings, but strong, capable men to do the work of His ministry. Think about Paul and Peter, men who were strong in character and conviction. One an intellectual powerhouse, the other a rugged fishermen, yet both doing pastoral work. How about men like John Wesley, Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Knox, David Lingstsone, Billy Sunday and Billy Graham. All men with single-minded devotion to the work of God, yet all men with differing talents, gifts, and vision, and all men who changed the world because they chose to be faithful to God. God chooses strong individuals to do His work. Your pastor deserves the best salary you can manage to pay him. He often has as much education as a doctor or lawyer has. He has to have reliable transportation. He has to attend conferences. He has bills to pay just like you do. And if he is a career pastor, YOU are his only source of income.

If the congregation has a right to expect the sacrifices of their pastor, which he gladly gives, then he has a right to expect the members to give as they are able to. Your pastor has given his life in service to God and others. Should the pastor sacrifice more for God financially than his people? No, he shouldn’t.

The pastor expects you to be people of vision

The pastor expects members of his church to be devoted to the church. He expects them to pray for the church. He expects them to support the church financially. He expects them to care about the future of the church. He expects them to have a vision for the church. He expects them to be soul-winners; people who share their faith with the lost, building both the Kingdom and their church, one soul at a time. Without this, the pastor is helpless. Members should be willing and enthusiastic evangelists for God and their church, out in the community, witnessing to the lost, and talking up the church.

Your church exists today because generations long ago cared about it, planned for its future, prayed for its future, sacrificed so that it would be around in the years to come, and had a vision for a church that would be here for future generations. This is significant, because without a vision for the future, a church merely treads water; it doesn’t really go anywhere. Part of that vision must be for members; new blood. The church of Jesus Christ must be always growing, reaching out into the community, drawing in new people who need what you have. What kind of person doesn’t want to be a part of a loving, caring community of believers? If you love your church, you’ll want others to experience what you experience every week.

The pastor expects his congregation to be as interested in, excited about, and devoted to the church as much as he is. Without that, his job is just a job.

Is Jesus Really the Only Way?

Published November 7, 2014 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
Tags: Inclusivism, Jesus the only way, salvation

It’s a provocative question, that’s for sure. Yet it must be true because the song says it’s so:

Jesus is the answer, for the world to-day. Above Him there’s no other, Jesus is the way.

If we sing it in church, then it must be true, right? But what about those people who have never heard the Gospel? Would a loving God hold the oft-mentioned native on that uncharted island accountable for something he has no knowledge of? How does God deal with those who are unable to think or reason for themselves? What about children who die? These are important questions because the answers you settle on will influence your opinion of God, which in turn will influence how you pray and how you relate to Him on a day-to-day basis.

So, let’s consider the question: Is Jesus really the only way?

This question is not a new one; it’s been around a very long time. Porphyry was an early critic of Christianity, and as a philosopher he made this observation:

If Christ declares Himself to be the Way of salvation, the Grace and the Truth, and affirms that in Him alone, and only to souls believing in Him, is the way of return to God, what has become of men who lived in the many centuries before Christ came? . . .What, then, has become of such an innumerable multitude of souls, who were in no wise blameworthy, seeing that He in whom alone saving faith can be exercised had not yet favoured men with His advent?

He wrote that in the third century, and since then, theological egg-heads have cooked up a number of answers. Let’s make a very quick survey of them.

Universalism

This answer says that all people – all people – will be saved by Jesus. Not a single soul will be damned. Universalists cite these verses to support their view:

Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous. (Romans 5:18, 19 NKJV)

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive…Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all. (1 Corinthians 15:22 – 28, verses 22 and 28 cited NKJV)

Among famous Christian writers and thinkers, Origen, William Barclay, and possibly Karl Barth would be considered Universalists. Remember, though, Universalism teaches that salvation comes to ALL through Jesus. They do NOT teach that there are “many paths to God.” Some how and in some way, Jesus will come through in the end and save all souls.

Inclusivism

This ill-named theory teaches that those who have never heard the Gospel – that unevangelized native on the desert island – may be saved if they respond in faith in God according to the light they have. Among the verses used to support this view are:

And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself (John 12:32 NKJV)

Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him. (Acts 10:34, 35 NKJV)

For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe. (1 Timothy 4:10 NKJV)

Justin Martyr, Thomas Aquinas, John Wesley, and C. S. Lewis are all famous Inclusivists.

Postmortem Evangelism

This idea teaches that the unevangelized will be given a chance to believe in Jesus after death.

Those who believe in the Son are not judged; but those who do not believe have already been judged, because they have not believed in God’s only Son. (John 3:18 GNB)

Christ also suffered. He died once for the sins of all us guilty sinners although he himself was innocent of any sin at any time, that he might bring us safely home to God. But though his body died, his spirit lived on, and it was in the spirit that he visited the spirits in prison and preached to them—spirits of those who, long before in the days of Noah, had refused to listen to God… (1 Peter 3:18 – 20a TLB)

But just remember that they must face the Judge of all, living and dead; they will be punished for the way they have lived. That is why the Good News was preached even to those who were dead—killed by the flood—so that although their bodies were punished with death, they could still live in their spirits as God lives. (1 Peter 4:5, 6 TLB)

Clement of Alexandria, who knew Peter and Paul personally, was an early proponent of this idea.

Universal Opportunity Before Death

This theory tells us that all people will be given the opportunity to be saved because God in His providence will see to it that they will hear the Gospel, even if that opportunity comes through an angel at the very moment of death.

Daniel 2 and Acts 8 are often cited as proof-texts for this view. Arminius and Norm Geisler espoused this view.

Restrictivism

This very rigid theology says that God does not provide salvation to those who fail to hear of Jesus and come to faith in him before they die. Jesus is absolutely the only the way; there are no options.

Jesus told him, “I am the Way—yes, and the Truth and the Life. No one can get to the Father except by means of me.” (John 14:6 TLB)

There is salvation in no one else! Under all heaven there is no other name for men to call upon to save them. (Acts 4:12 TLB)

And what is it that God has said? That he has given us eternal life and that this life is in his Son. So whoever has God’s Son has life; whoever does not have his Son, does not have life. (1 John 5:11, 12 TLB)

A lot of Calvinists hold to this view, including the likes of Augustine, John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, and R.C. Sproul.

If, in reading these views, your eyes have glazed over and a heavy fog descended upon your brain, here’s one more that might suit you:

The Agnostic View (the Non-View View)

This view is prefect for those who don’t want to take a position. It simply says that we just don’t know all the answers; that God’s ways are beyond our understanding. In matters likes these, it’s best just to “leave it up to God.”

Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just? (Genesis 18:25b ESV)

A reasoned answer to the question

But for the rest of us who’d like to know, what is the answer? I suggest the following.

First, it’s clear in Scripture that some souls will be damned. There’s just no way to ignore this Biblical fact. Salvation through Jesus is God’s gift to man to reject. And some will. If there was another way for Jesus to save sinful man, then He wasted His time on the Cross. The Universalist position is hard to defend and harder to swallow.

Second, it’s difficult to imagine to how a reasonable, compassionate God could hold a person accountable for something he doesn’t know or is incapable of knowing (in the case of infants, children and the mentally handicapped). That just doesn’t make sense. That seems to morph our loving God into a very cold Person indeed. Yet, that’s what Restricivists believe.

So, how do they reconcile their view with that of a God who wants sinful men to be saved? Well, to them, God’s foreknowledge is the key. God knows how that individual would have responded to the Gospel had they been given a chance. That’s a convenient out. But is it enough?

Third, you should have some problems with the idea of Postmortem Evangelism idea. It’s a little weird, and yet there are Bible verses that seem to support it. Can an unrepentant sinner get a second chance to make the right choice after death? Not really. These postmortem evangelism supporters would say that only those who have never heard the Gospel get that chance. That may give those who are left grieving comfort, but it’s difficult to buy.

What makes sense is what this passage says:

But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore He says: “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men.” (Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.) (Ephesians 4:7 – 10 NKJV)

Whom did Jesus lead “captive?” Who were these “captives?” Many believe these “captives” were Old Testament saints, held in Sheol/Hades. During the time between His death and resurrection, Jesus wasn’t sitting around Heaven playing Bridge with Peter and Paul and the other apostles. He descended into Sheol/Hades (not Hell), announced His victory and preached salvation. The Old Testament saints recognized who Jesus was, believed, and He took the lot of them to Heaven.

Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. (Matthew 27:51 – 53 NKJV)

Those who didn’t believe were condemned.

A lot of Dispensationalists find this palatable. To them, it makes sense. It does make “Jesus is the only way” a statement of truth. Supporters say this isn’t happening today. It happened one time and one time only. Today, since the finished work of Christ, Sheol/Hades is no more.

And we are not afraid but are quite content to die, for then we will be at home with the Lord. So our aim is to please him always in everything we do, whether we are here in this body or away from this body and with him in heaven. (2 Corinthians 5:8, 9 TLB)

Inclusivism seems to be the view that makes the most sense, even though it’s name is dreadful and misleading. It has nothing to do with universalism or pluralism. Inclusivists do NOT believe everybody will be saved. What they do say is that God in His Sovereignty and providence makes a way for those who have never heard to be saved.

And why wouldn’t He do this? Consider:

…a huge part of the human race has died never hearing the good news of Jesus. It is estimated that in the year AD 100 there were 181 million people, of whom one million were Christians. It is also believed there were 60,000 unreached groups at that time. By AD 1000 there were 270 million people, 50 million of whom were Christians, with 50,000 unreached groups. In 1989 there were 5.2 billion people with 1.7 billion Christians and 12,000 unreached groups. (John Sanders)

God is nothing but fair; He doesn’t play favorites. Think about this:

After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from all nations and provinces and languages, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white, with palm branches in their hands. And they were shouting with a mighty shout, “Salvation comes from our God upon the throne, and from the Lamb.” (Revelation 7:9, 10 TLB)

People from “every tribe and nation” (KJV) will be found in Heaven. That is problematic for Restrictivists because there have been and continue to be people (“tribes” and “nations”) that have never heard about Jesus, yet they are represented in Heaven. A classic example of people who were never evangelized is a group that lived in southern Mexico between 300 BC and 900 AD, known as the Teotihuacans. Other tribes in the Americas (and throughout the world) disappeared prior to the arrival of missionaries. Since these tribes never heard the preached word, they will only be represented in heaven if Inclusivism is true.

God’s mercy trumps man’s doctrine

Finally, we have the Samaritans. We tend to romanticize them today, largely do to the fact that one of them was “good.” In fact, there was nothing good about the Samaritans. Their religion was pagan – a strange concoction of heathen beliefs and practices mixed with a smattering of Judaism. They despised the Jews as much as the Jews despised them. They had no use for Jesus and Jesus wasn’t kindly disposed to them, either. Yet, one time an expert in the law approached Jesus and asked what he needed to do to be saved. Jesus’ answer was in the form of parables, including the parable of the Good Samaritan. Jesus said that the Samaritan who had mercy was preferable to the Levite and Priest who did not. In God’s view, mercy always trumps doctrine. It’s foolish to think that God is bound by the ideas we have of how He works.

If we truly believe that God draws all men to Himself, then we should at least leave room for the Inclusivist and the Universal Opportunity Before Death views. At the very least, we should leave those who have never heard the Gospel to our loving, capable God. He can be depended upon to the right thing, in every circumstance.

The Pastor and His Congregation

Published November 4, 2014 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
Tags: Congregation, expectations, Pastor, Stewardship

The church of Jesus Christ is not just an organization; it’s an organism. It is always growing and maturing, reaching out replicating itself all over the world. But it is also an organization made up of a leadership structure and members. During this Stewardship Emphasis Month, we’ve considered what causes a church to grow: the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. As each member learns how to submit himself to the Holy Spirit within him, he will learn what gift or gifts he has been endowed with, and he will learn how to use those gifts in the most effective way within his church to the benefit of his congregation. All members of the church, from the pastor on down, have a responsibility to be faithful to the moving and direction of the Spirit in this regard.

Beyond this purely spiritual dimension, lies another aspect of a healthy church. It involves the pastor and his congregation, each recognizing their respective roles within the dynamic of the local church. The Bible doesn’t say a lot about the roles of the pastor and his congregation, but what it does say is very significant. God’s people are described as “sheep” in the Bible and our Lord as the “Shepherd,” or if you will, the “Head Shepherd,” with pastors functioning as His “under-shepherds.”

Peter wrote about the pastor and his responsibilities:

And now, a word to you elders of the church. I, too, am an elder; with my own eyes I saw Christ dying on the cross; and I, too, will share his glory and his honor when he returns. Fellow elders, this is my plea to you: Feed the flock of God; care for it willingly, not grudgingly; not for what you will get out of it but because you are eager to serve the Lord. Don’t be tyrants, but lead them by your good example, and when the Head Shepherd comes, your reward will be a never-ending share in his glory and honor. (1 Peter 5:1 – 4 TLB)

And Paul, not to be outdone by Peter, penned this about the congregation:

Dear brothers, honor the officers of your church who work hard among you and warn you against all that is wrong. Think highly of them and give them your wholehearted love because they are straining to help you. And remember, no quarreling among yourselves. (1 Thessalonians 5:12, 13 TLB)

In considering the roles of pastor and congregation, we’ll take these passages as jumping off points.

Part One: What the church may expect of their pastor

Believe it or not, your pastor is God’s gift to you, assuming he is in your church by the will of God. Don’t believe me? Feast your eyes on this:

It was he who “gave gifts”; he appointed some to be apostles, others to be prophets, others to be evangelists, others to be pastors and teachers. He did this to prepare all God’s people for the work of Christian service, in order to build up the body of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11, 12 GNB)

Yes, the pastor is a gift to a congregation, but he has his hands full. He has a job to do: to prepare you, his congregation, to serve the Lord with an eye to building the church.

To that end, what can you, as a member of a church, expect from your pastor?

Your pastor should be called by God

Any pastor who is not behind the pulpit God wants him to be behind shouldn’t be there. Natural talent notwithstanding, the pastoral ministry is a calling first and a profession second. All believers are called to serve the Lord, or course, but only a select few are called to stand behind a pulpit. This was something the apostle Paul understood:

For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me. (1 Corinthians 9:16, 17 NIV)

Like Paul, we whom God has chosen, feel compelled to preach. Preaching is something your pastor must do. Verse 17 is a bit difficult to understand, but turning to The Living Bible, it’s paraphrase clears Paul’s meaning up:

If I were volunteering my services of my own free will, then the Lord would give me a special reward; but that is not the situation, for God has picked me out and given me this sacred trust and I have no choice.

If your pastor is truly called of God, he’ll feel the same way.

Your pastor should be in your church only because that’s where God wants him to be

You, as a member of a congregation, have every right to expect that your pastor is in your church because your church is where God wants him to be. A pastor should never leave a church or accept a position in a church because of the money or the benefits. And he should leave a church only after a lot of prayer and clear direction from the Lord to do so; after the Lord has taken the burden for that particular congregation away.

Salary may be important. Working conditions may be important, especially when the pastor’s family is taken into consideration. As Paul wrote:

Pastors who do their work well should be paid well and should be highly appreciated, especially those who work hard at both preaching and teaching. For the Scriptures say, “Never tie up the mouth of an ox when it is treading out the grain—let him eat as he goes along!” And in another place, “Those who work deserve their pay!” (1 Timothy 5:17, 18 TLB)

Pastors are not oxen, but Paul’s point is well taken. But do you know what your pastor’s real reward is? It isn’t his paycheck. Again, Paul wrote:

What pay do I get, then? It is the privilege of preaching the Good News without charging for it, without claiming my rights in my work for the gospel. (1 Corinthians 9:18 GNB)

You see, Paul knew it was his right as a Christian preacher to expect to be paid, but he said his real reward was in the ministry of the Word itself. That’s the attitude you may expect from your pastor, if he is called by God to be filling the pulpit in your church.

Your pastor should be an example of godliness

A congregation rises or falls to the spiritual example set by its pastor. Your pastor may or may not be an accomplished preacher or teacher. But if he is a godly man, that will make all the difference in the world. A godly pastor doesn’t mean a perfect pastor. Your pastor may make his fair share of mistakes. But if he is a man of God, he will always make things right; he will always be learning and growing and going back to God for direction, inspiration, and forgiveness.

You can expect your pastor to be a man of prayer. Behind every sermon or Bible study should be hours of prayer. It takes time to pray, but faithful prayer always pays off. But the pastor doesn’t only pray for his work; he prays for his flock. Mind you, you and your problems are not the reason God has called your pastor to your church; he is there because God put him there, sometimes for reasons known only to Him. But you are his responsibility while he is there. And a good pastor will feel the burden of what’s burdening members of his congregation. The only way to deal with that is through time spent in prayer.

Sometimes church members wonder what the pastor does all day. If your pastor is a contentious man, he will be a man of prayer and prayer will take up much of his day.

Your pastor should be faithful in his ministry

Some of the laziest people I know are in the ministry. It’s easy to be lazy in the ministry. Pastors get a month or more off every year. They don’t work Monday’s. They take long lunches. They go to conferences umpteen times a year. They “work from home.” Right. And congregations in all likelihood have been conditioned to maybe criticize his long sermons but to never do more than that. How many times have you been told this verse applies to so-called men of God:

Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm. (Psalm 105:15 KJV)

Fact is, that verse has nothing to do with your pastor. You have the right to expect your pastor to be faithful in his ministry while he is in your church. He should prepare and preach sermons he himself has written with you in mind. He should visit the sick when needed and pray for them. He should make the time to listen and advise when called upon. He should be honest with how he spends his time. He doesn’t punch a time clock and most pastors don’t answer to anybody. It takes a lot of discipline to be faithful in the ministry. It’s not easy. But if a pastor will honor both his God and his congregation, he will be found faithfully discharging his call.

Your pastor should take his job seriously, but with a spirit of good cheer

The pastorate is great profession for men who like to work as little as possible. Or for men who like a sense of power. Or for men who like lord it over other men. But for those of us who take the calling seriously, we understand that the responsibility of shepherding God’s flock is heavy indeed.

Obey your spiritual leaders and be willing to do what they say. For their work is to watch over your souls, and God will judge them on how well they do this. Give them reason to report joyfully about you to the Lord and not with sorrow, for then you will suffer for it too. (Hebrews 13:17 TLB)

As a pastor, I can tell you that there isn’t a day that I don’t think about this verse. Every night I replay what I did that day, hoping it was enough for the souls in my charge.

That’s not to say I don’t have a good time doing what I do. There is great satisfaction – personal and spiritual – in the pastorate. No other profession allows a person to be involved in and to watch the spiritual growth of people like pulpit ministry affords. It’s an honor to preach and teach a congregation the Word of God. But it is a dreadful responsibility. There will come a day when I and others in my profession will be called to give an account. The writer to the Hebrews pleads with his readers, as I plead with my congregation, to live lives that will cause me, their pastor, to give a positive report to the Chief Shepherd.

Divine Determinism

Published October 31, 2014 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
Tags: divine determinism, God's sovereignty, theology

If we as Christians want to worship God “in spirit and in truth,” and if we want to fulfill the Great Commission by taking the Gospel to the lost, then we need to be thinking rightly about God. In other words, our theology needs to be correct. All people, Christians and non-believers, acquire their “theology” or their “philosophy of life” from someplace. For most of us, our worldview is shaped by our parents. How often have we heard, “My father was a Democrat, my grandfather was a Democrat, and by golly, I’m a Democrat too!” Well, that’s often where our beliefs begin and end. Other people start off inheriting their beliefs from their parents, then off to college they go, where they are brainwashed by either their peers or more likely their professors. They went into college believing one thing and came out believing another.

Christians are the same. Which is fine, as long our parents or professors are filling our heads with true, Biblical ideas. This is, unfortunately, often not the case. It’s surprising how Biblically illiterate our parents, our Sunday School teachers, or even our pastors may be. The most influential Christian people in our lives are often sorely lacking in a fundamental knowledge of what the Bible teaches. They may know and teach a lot of “church doctrine,” but “church doctrine” is sometimes not the same as Biblical doctrines. That’s funny, since the church is supposedly in business to teach the Bible! But what happens so often is that instead of teaching what the Bible says, what gets taught in many churches is what the pastor thinks or what some theologian thought or what some denominational constitution or book of order teaches.

But if we want to think rightly about God, we need to know what the Bible teaches. It’s good to know what the great thinkers of Christianity thought, but it is essential to know what the Bible teaches. It’s good to know what John Calvin or John Wesley thought about theology, but what if they were wrong sometimes? The Bible, however, is never wrong. It is God’s revelation to man. And that’s why you need to know what really says.

How much of what we do and think is foreordained and rendered certain by God? According to one wing of the Christian church, everything is. They teach that absolutely everything down to the minutest detail of history and individual lives is ordered by God. Even evil thoughts and actions are ordained by God to further His will. This is called “Divine determinism,” and maybe you believe it. Maybe you don’t. C. Everett Coop believed it. In fact, he famously spoke on the topic, “God Killed My Son.” Dr. Koop’s son was killed in a tragic mountain climbing accident and Dr. Koop believed that God had foreordained his son’s death and that it was no accident. God quite literally “killed his son.” It gave Dr. Coop great peace to think this; knowing that his son’s death was not an accident and that there was some grand purpose behind it.

A lot of Christians believe this for the same reason. And if you don’t think too long about it, you may believe it too. It was a quick death. Dr. Koop’s son died immediately. He didn’t suffer. So you can see how appealing this aspect of Divine determinism is. It puts a purpose behind a horrible event.

But does God work that way? If He does, it’s hard to see a purpose behind a lingering, painful death by, say, cancer or some other disease. Is that Divine determinism at work, too? Some would say it is. God causes some people suffer terribly for reasons known only to Him. If you believe God orders the tiniest details of our lives, then that’s what you have to believe.

Ulrich Zwingly, John Calvin and Providence

Where did the idea of Divine determinism come from? A lot of scholars trace it back to Ulrich Zwingli’s and John Calvin’s ideas of “providence.” To put it simply, God’s providence is “God’s rule over and direction of all things in the universe. For if anything were guided by its own power or insight, just so far would the wisdom and power of our Deity be deficient.” Zwingly, who greatly influenced Calvin, flatly denied that any event in the world is “contingent, fortuitous or accidental.” His teaching was that God is the sole cause of absolutely everything that happens.

But where did this idea come from? A lot of it comes from philosophy Zwingly believed, but there are Bible verses that seem to indicate Ulrich Zwingly was on to something. Here is just a handful:

The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord. (Proverbs 16:33 NIV)

For the Lord Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back? (Isaiah 14:27 NIV)

I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things. (Isaiah 45:7 NIV)

There are many more verses like these, but just these three seem to support Ulrich Zwingly’s teaching of God’s absolute providence. Later on, John Calvin continued in Zwingly’s footsteps, except while Zwingly’s theology was more philosophical, Calvin’s theology was grounded more in Scripture. His teaching was simple:

No wind ever arises or increases except by God’s express command.

Even Adam’s fall, Calvin thought, was foreordained by God. Calvin continued:

Since God’s will is said to be the cause of all things, I have made his providence the determinative principle for all human plans and works, not only in order to displace its force to the elect, who are ruled by the Holy Spirit, but also to compel the reprobate to obedience.

It seems pretty clear that Calvin believed that everything, even horrible, evil things done by the unsaved are rendered certain by God.

Other Calvinists

Jonathan Edwards, great revivalist preacher and philosopher, taught the idea of Divine determinism in the strongest way possible. As far as he was concerned, all things on earth, including sin and evil, follow a course laid out for them by God.

God, however, is forever untainted by the sin He Himself foreordains. Take Adam’s sin, for example. Adam sinned because his intentions were sinful. Even though God foreordained Adam’s sin, God cannot be held culpable in any way because God’s intentions in Adam’s sin were not at all evil. As Edwards wrote,

In willing evil God does not do evil.

It’s hard to get around the fact that Jonathan Edwards believed, in some fashion, that God is the author of sin.

If by “author of sin,” is meant that permitter, or not the hinderer of sin; and at the same time, a disposer of the state of events, in such a manner, for wise, holy and most excellent ends and purposes, that sin, if it be permitted or not hindered, will most certainly and infallibly follow: I say this, if this be all that is meant, by being the author of sin, I don’t deny that God is the author of sin.

For Edwards and most Calvinists, “God is the author” of sin means that while God certainly did not force Adam to sin, or anybody else for that matter, God does render man’s sinful actions sure and certain. Most, if not all, Calvinists – R.C. Sproul and John Piper included – hold this high Calvinist view of God’s sovereignty: everything down to the smallest particle of history – history in the grand scale and history in the individual – including every human being’s thoughts and actions, are foreordained by God and necessarily rendered certain by Him so that everything and everybody carries out God’s will.

Remember, though, God is in no way stained by the sin He foreordains even though the person committing the sin has no choice in the matter. As another famous Calvinist wrote:

God wills righteously those things which men do wickedly.

God does not force men to sin but men WILL sin because God will withdraw or withhold His influence to deter them. Therefore, this wing of the church says that everything, including sin, is ordained by God for His own glory.

Is that the right view?

While much of Calvinism is worthwhile, some Calvinist teaching just doesn’t make much sense, at least to a majority of Christians. All orthodox Christians from all wings of the Church, affirm the absolute perfect goodness of God. From Calvinists to Arminians to everybody in between, we all agree that God is totally good. There is NO debate on that. There are dozens, or perhaps even hundreds of Bible verses that either directly or indirectly uphold the theology that God is good. Here are a few:

“Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.” (Matthew 19:17 NIV)

Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. (James 1:16 NIV)

Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. (Psalm 73:1 NIV)

You are good, and what you do is good; teach me your decrees. (Psalm 119:68 NIV)

The list goes on and on. “God is good all the time,” as the song goes. But God is also sovereign. This is also a belief that all orthodox Christians believe. And herein lies the problem. Calvinists, while affirming God’s goodness, also scrupulously protect God’s sovereignty to the point of making it an “all-determining sovereignty,” which we call Divine determinism. But can an all-good God engage in the kind of shady manipulation Calvinism teaches?

Sovereignty

That God has a plan for His creation is not disputed. God does have a plan – a will – for all of us and when we speak of God’s sovereignty we are saying that, to put it simply, “God is in control.” Non-Calvinists, though, often speak of God’s permissive will. This, they say, explains the story of Joseph. Here is how Joseph, who probably wouldn’t consider himself a Calvinist, viewed the events of his up-and-down life:

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children. (Genesis 50:20 NIV)

If you don’t like that example, here is a New Testament verse that says the same thing in a general way:

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28 NIV)

God foresaw and permitted sinful people, like Joseph’s brothers and Potifar’s wife, to do the sinful things they did because He is sovereign, and in His sovereignty He would take the sinful actions committed by those people and turn the results around so that He would be glorified. But – and here’s the departure from Divine determinism – God did not foreordain the sin or render the sin certain. He simply knew beforehand that sins would be committed and who would commit them and why. God’s foreknowledge is absolutely perfect because He knows what’s inside the heart of man:

“I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.” (Jeremiah 17:10 NIV)

Because God knows what is in the hearts of all men, He knows their thoughts and intentions. He knows what they will do. God doesn’t have to foreordain their actions, He already knows what they are planning. He doesn’t have to manipulate sinners to guarantee what they will do. His foreknowledge is perfect in ever way.

Here is where your theology determines your view of God. If you believe in Divine determinism – or God’s sovereignty to the endth degree – then God is the author of all that is good but also the author of all that is bad. He doesn’t just allow sin, He causes it so that He will be glorified. In other words, God ordains evil (and everything else) to glorify Himself. Adam sinned, not because of a decisionAdam made, but because God set the first man up for a fall. This view of God will determine how you view sinners and even how you view things like evangelism. Sinners may be lost, but they are lost because that’s how God wants them to be, because in their lost condition they somehow glorify Him. Huh?

The alternate view of God’s sovereignty is a more “passive” view. Yes, God is involved in His creation, but He doesn’t trick, manipulate or coerce people into doing what He wants them to do. He could if He wanted to, but God limits Himself. He allows His creation freedom of will – including freedom to sin – knowing that even that can bring about His will. That freedom man has is a gift from God. You can also consider it a curse. In His sovereignty, God allows His perfect will to be stymied by the actions of man. He lets this happen because He loves man and respects him.

God’s two wills

Instead of God being a cold, impersonal force that sneakily controls man, what if God really is personally involved in the lives of man to the point where He knows them so well nothing they dream of doing surprises Him? This view of God sees Him as having not one but two wills for His creation. God has a perfect will for His creation. This will is what God truly wants to happen. A good example of God’s perfect will is this:

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9 NIV)

And yet we know NOT everyone will come to repentance. Most people won’t. God’s perfect will is one thing, but God also has a consequent will. This is His will based on the consequences of Adam’s fall and man’s subsequent rebellious nature. This will graciously allows man to choose not to repent. God doesn’t manipulate man into not choosing Him. He genuinely limits His influence, and in doing so man makes his own, free choice.

Does this view of God do damage to His omnipotence or His sovereignty? Not at all. God is sovereign by absolute right, but He willingly limits that sovereignty temporarily.

The god (Satan) of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2 Corinthians 4:4 NIV)

As I stated, this self-limited sovereignty is just temporary. God’s full sovereignty will become actuality in the future when “the god of this age” is defeated for good.

When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all. (1 Corinthians 15:28 NIV)

So, whose view of God is right? Is God sovereign, or does He operate in divine determinism? Consider this:

Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?” (John 14:9, 10a NIV)

So Jesus lived and acted as His Father would. He did nothing His Father didn’t want Him to do. Including this:

He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. He was amazed at their lack of faith. (Mark 6:3 NIV)

Jesus “could not” heal everybody in town because the people had no faith (a sin, by the way). As God, of course Jesus could have healed everybody, but He limited His awesome power because the people refused to believe. Is the power of God dependent on man? Not at all. But, we serve a God who makes covenants with man. God has willingly bound himself to man in a covenant relationship. If man rebels – if man refuses to exercise faith, for example – God’s hands are tied as far as that man is concerned.

We serve a God who is not a Calvinist. Nor is He an Arminian. Our God is a sovereign God, above any labels we try to velcro onto Him. David Bentley Hart wrote:

How radically the gospel is pervaded by a sense that the brokenness of the fallen world is the work of rebellious rational free will, which God permits to reign, and pervaded also by a sense that Christ comes genuinely to save creation, to conquer, to rescue, to defeat the power of evil in all things. This great narrative of fall and redemption is not a charade, not simply a dramaturgical lesson regarding God’s absolute prerogatives prepared for us from eternity, but a real consequence of the mystery of created freedom and the fullness of grace.

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