Is Your God Like A Stepford Wife?

John Piper Passes The Baton 

Shame Interrupted 

Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?

GB

I am a preacher. I preach every week. I am always thinking about a sermon, writing a sermon, preaching a sermon, or looking back over a sermon I just finished. It is what I do. I have no desire to do anything else. I’d like to maybe write one day or teach in a seminary infrequently, but my plan is to have the pulpit taken from my cold dead hands before I do anything else! I realized several years ago that if I were going to do this for the rest of my life that I needed a plan, something that would guide me every week as I prepare and preach from the Scriptures to God’s people. So whether it appears this way to my hearers or not, I do in fact have a plan, an aim, for my sermons. Here it is.

Text, Text, Text

I want the text to drive everything that I say. I want my outline, my central theme, and my overall message to be driven by the text. This should come as a no-brainer, but there are too many churches where this is not the case. Without the text I have nothing to say, nothing I want to say. I want to know what God has said and then move into what it means for us today. Do I perfectly understand and interpret what God has said in a particular passage every time? Probably not. But the Word of God is too rich and too vast and too deep for me to start anywhere else.

To The Point Introduction

Probably one of the weaker areas of my preaching, at least I’ve been told, is my introduction. To be honest, I don’t like them! I am ready to get to the point when I enter the pulpit. But I also know that my hearers have not been grappling with the text all week the way I have, so I have to be careful here. I want my introductions to get better, but my overall plan with them is to introduce the main theme of the sermon. I want to tell people where we are going, why we are going there, and then go there. I am not big on long, colorful, and detailed introductions. But I do want them to be done well.

Memorably Forgettable Outline

My outlines are pretty simple. I want it that way. Early in my ministry I would literally spend hours on the outline! I wanted each main word of the point to illiterate (you know all R’s) with the other main words in the other points. I wanted the sentences to be pithy and insightful. But looking back, I am not sure why. My sermons often felt boney and mechanical. Now I just want them to be present, but not in the way. I want them to function like lines on a road and simply guide the sermon. Those who hear me know I mostly use questions: why, how, what, when, etc. This helps with my preparation and enables me to simplify the passage for those listening (and me!).

Central Shaft

Whether a sermon has 20 points or 3, there should be one main theme, one central shaft that the entire sermon revolves around. Last Sunday my central shaft was: Fear the Lord. I had three main points, but they each supported this central theme. Some texts and sermons are harder to pin down than others, but I always try to get one main theme running through the message.

Believers and Non-Believers

I want to address Christians and non-Christians in a sermon. This looks different every sermon, but I try not to assume that everyone hearing me is a Christian. I want to give our members a reason to bring non-Christian friends to church. I want to address some of the questions and concerns they might have about Christianity. I want them to feel like I have taken them into consideration when preparing the sermon. I want to think about how they might think toward difficult texts or hard issues in the Bible. This might mean I explain something further or defend a particular doctrine. Sometimes I will say, “Now if you’re new to church or you’re not a Christian, here are a few things to think about today.” My hope is to be clear about what the Bible says but also respect that some people are wrestling with matters of faith. I want to encourage them to continue to seeking out the truth of Christianity. If I expect non-Christians to attend our services and eventually become Christians, I have to speak to them in the message. Hopefully people who are “kicking the tires of Christianity” are helped and served through these attempts. Furthermore I hope to train our people to constantly keep in mind those who are far from God. Knowing when to do this in the sermon can be tricky, but I will take my chances.

In Your Kitchen

A convienent message helps no one. While my goal is never to be too hard on people, I do want to make sure the message gets beneath the surface and exposes the idols of their heart. I want to apply the text in as many ways as I can and provoke further thought throughout the week. I want to help people know why they should obey a particular text and why they disobey other texts. I want to get to the heart and not simply preach morals and good behavior.

Problem

In every sermon I attempt to identify a problem in the text. What I mean is that every text presents an issue that we cannot solve, apply, trust, enjoy, or resist without the grace of Christ. The Bible is not meant to be applied without the grace of God. I want to identify that problem to remind my listens that they cannot and should not attempt to apply the text without a deep love for God and a constant dependence on the grace He has provided in Christ.

Jesus The Hero

Related to the problem that the text creates, I want to lift up the life, death, and resurrection of Christ regardless of the text. I want to show how he fulfills the text and how he is the solution to the problem I’ve raised. I want to make Christ real in during the sermon. I want people to exult in what He has done, not just get more information about it. I want them to know the depths of God’s love in Christ. I want them to adore Christ on the spot. This way believers and non-believers hear the Gospel every week. Believers are strengthened and encouraged by seeing the work of Christ, and non-believers are exhorted to believe the Gospel. I don’t have to decide between an evangelistic sermon or an edifying sermon, the Gospel can do both in one sermon from the same text. The Gospel can be shown from multiple angles regardless of whether the text is a Psalm, a Proverb, or a New Testament epistle. I never want to jump to Christ too quickly, but unless I slowly work my way the Gospel I do not feel that I have preached an effective sermon.

Conclusion

My conclusions are usually brief. I try to go back over what I said, ask some probing questions, and then close with a quote or a brief story. Martyn Lloyd Jones said he would not cross the road to hear himself preach (he got this from Charles Spurgeon). I feel the same way about my preaching. However, I don’t have much time to worry about that because Sunday is coming!

If anyone reading this has some time to kill and would like to listen to my sermons you can find them here.

GB

I am asked often, “Why don’t you give invitations at the end of your sermons.” I thought I would give a brief response here, mainly to those who attend Metro East, as to why I do not ask people to publicly come to the front of the church and receive Christ after my sermons. To be sure, my aim here is clarity and charity. I have no intentions to start a debate or cause any controversy in our church. The majority of people who have asked me about this issue have voiced that they fully support the church and me as their pastor. I feel I owe them a clear and gracious response as to where I stand on this particular subject. To be sure, I am not accusing anyone who uses or prefers the invitation to be in error and out of touch with the Spirit. I am simply arguing for why I do not use this method. So here goes.

Definition

When someone asks me about an invitation at the end of a sermon I assume they mean something like this:

A pastor preaches the Gospel and in some form calls non-Christians to get up from their seats, come down the aisle to the front of the church and receive Christ into their life. By physically walking down front they are publicly asserting that they want to follow Jesus. 

This is what I have in mind in this post.

Agreement

First, let’s clarify a few areas of agreement between me and those who desire a public invitation as I’ve just defined it.

• We both agree that the Gospel must be heard by non-Christians for them to be saved.
• We both agree that salvation is only found in Christ.
• We both agree that we must urge, call, and exhort people to come to Christ.
• We both agree that an urgency should accompany preaching and evangelism.
• We both agree that the Gospel demands a response; repentance and faith.
• We both agree that evangelism is central to the church.

Therefore it would be unfair to say that those who are for public invitations are more Gospel-centered, more evangelistic, and more concerned for lost people, than those who are not for public invitations.

So why don’t I give them?

Scripture Doesn’t Prompt Me

I see nothing in Scripture that prompts me to ask for people to walk down to the front of the church after a sermon and receive Christ. Jesus never did this. He did call people to follow Him, but following Him in the 1st century and following Him now looks quite different. Some may argue here that He said, “So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 10:32-33). This text is often used to defend a public invitation. Not coming forward is seen as denying him before men. But confessing Jesus before men is not something that makes us Christians, it is something we do because we are Christians. However, Scripture does provide us with an avenue to make a public profession of faith. When we are baptized, we are publicly identifying ourselves with Christ.

In the book of Acts we never see the Apostles preaching to non-Christians (nearly all the sermons in Acts are to non-Christians) and asking them to come forward. In fact when Peter preached at Pentecost we read, “Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “’Brothers, what shall we do?’” (Acts 2:37). In this case the hearers gave themselves an invitation! So while I have no problems with people who use invitations, I see nothing in Scripture that requires all preachers and churches to use them.

Logistics 

As stated, I do believe that I should urge and exhort non-Christians to repent and believe in Christ on the spot. And I believe there should be a place for people to be ask questions, hear more about the Gospel, report that they’ve become a Christian, or pray to receive Christ with a pastor or deacon. At Metro East we ask people who want to become Christians to either come to the front after the service or visit our Connections room to meet with a pastor or elder. This way we have time to answer any questions they might have or set up a time for follow up.

In addition, the few minutes at the end of the service with music playing and everyone standing is not the place to give someone counsel into becoming a Christian.We can, and must, trust the same Holy Spirit who might be revealing Himself to someone during the sermon, to continue to do so after the sermon. While I always want to communicate urgency and immediacy to non-Christians, I don’t believe this requires a public invitation to walk forward. Furthermore, some people do not wish to walk to the front of the church due to shyness or dislike of being put on the spot. To require them to come forward adds an unnecessary element.

Overly Simplistic

Some will not agree fully with me here, but I think requiring that someone walk the aisle may signal an overly simplistic view of salvation. The Gospel message is simple, but people with no church background may need more time to wrestle through their objections, ask hard questions, and understand exactly what becoming a Christian means. A balance needs to be maintained between an urgency to believe as well as room for people to wrestle with questions of faith. More might be required, for some people, than walking an aisle and praying a prayer.

Potential False Converts

I do not believe that those who use the invitation equate salvation with walking the aisle. They do not. I am not saying that if someone reading this walked the aisle years ago that their conversion wasn’t genuine. It likely was. But we cannot assume that all non-Christians understand this. The biggest criticism of using the invitation is that it has too much potential to produce false converts and give a counterfeit security. Of course false converts will be in our churches until Christ comes, but I want to avoid adding to their number as best I can.

Some people will, have, and do equate walking the aisle and praying a prayer with their salvation. Or they walk the aisle simply to create a memory. We must be clear that decisions are not conversions. In my opinion, walking the aisle puts too much emphasis on a visible response. Sermons can produce all kinds of emotions in people and they may walk the aisle for a number of reasons besides genuine desire for God and leading of the Holy Spirit.

Essential or Not?

For those who argue for a public invitation as I’ve described above, the question must be asked if it is essential or not. Is walking down an aisle after a sermon essential to salvation or not? Will more people become followers of Jesus if a public invitation is given? I can hardly imagine someone arguing for this. Baptists in the 1700′s were the first to use the public invitations during services. Before this, we have no (to my knowledge) historical references of the Church utilizing this practice. This alone causes me to question its importance and necessity.

Conclusion

These are the main reasons I do not give a public invitation. Hopefully what was said here was gracious and clear. I also hope that those wondering about this issue understand that I have given the invitation a lot of thought and not indifferently overlooked it. I am grateful for the questions I’ve been asked about this and the people who asked them. This post is not a response to an angry email or a disgruntled member. I simply wanted to communicate my position. I assure that I am working hard on preaching more evangelistically and being more clear on calling non-Christians to repent and believe. But I am not convinced that an invitation is the best means to do this.

GB

• Have you ever struggled with peer pressure? “Peer pressure” is simply a euphemism for the fear of man. If you experienced it when you were younger, believe me, it is still there. It may be submerged and revealed in more adult ways, or it may be camouflaged by your resume (your perceived successes).
• Are you over-committed? Do you find that it is hard to say no even when wisdom indicates that you should? You are a “people-pleaser,” another euphemism for the fear of man.
• Do you “need” something from your spouse? Do you “need” your spouse to listen to you? Respect you? Think carefully here. Certainly God is pleased when there is good communication and a mutual honor between spouses. But for many people, the desire for these things has roots in something that is far from God’s design for his image-bearers. Unless you understand the biblical parameters of marital commitment, your spouse will become the one you fear. You spouse will control you. Your spouse will quietly take the place of God in your life.
• Is self-esteem a critical concern for you? This, at least in the United States, is the most popular way that the fear of other people is expressed,. If self-esteem is a recurring theme for you, chances are that your life revolves around what others think. You reverence or fear their opinions. You need them to buttress your sense of well-being and identity. You need them to fill you up.
• Do you ever feel as if you might be exposed as an imposter? Many business executives and apparently successful people do. The sense of being exposed is an expression of the fear of man. It means that the opinions of other people especially their possible opinion that you are a failure, are able to control you.
• Are you always second-guessing decisions because of what other people might think? Are you afraid of making mistakes that will make you look bad in other people’s eyes?
• Do you feel empty or meaningless? Do you experience “love hunger?” Here again, if you need others to fill you, you are controlled by them.
• Do you get easily embarrassed? If so, people and their perceived opinions probably define you. Or, to use biblical language, you exalt the opinions of others to the point where you are ruled by them.
• Do you ever lie, especially the little white lies? What about over-ups where you are not technically lying with your month? Lying and other forms of living in the dark are usually ways to make ourselves look better before other people. They also serve to cover our shame before them.
• Are you jealous of other people? You are controlled by them. Isn’t a hermit dominated by the fear of man?
• Aren’t most diets, even when they are ostensibly under heading of “health,” dedicated to impressing others? The desire for the “praise of men” is one of the ways we exalt people above God.
• Have all these descriptions missed the mark? When you compare yourself with other people, do you feel good about yourself? Perhaps the most dangerous form of the fear of man is the “successful” fear of man. Such people think they have made it. They have more than other people. They feel good about themselves. But their lives are still defined by other people rather than God. (Ed Welch, When People Are Big and God Is Small)

Congratulations on winning Preaching and Preachers, This Momentary Marriage, Counterfeit Gospels, and The Cross and Christian Ministry.

Email me at gbreaz@mac.com with your shipping info.

GB

He said, “If I am not your pastor, I will talk to the man who is. If your pastor is a woman, why I am talking to you, again?”

So basically if a guy goes to a church where a woman is the pastor, Wilson will not allow him to date his daughter. As you might have guessed he immediately received a fair amount of feedback, most of which was good, but some he described as, “quite vitriolic.” I also received a lot of feedback from the post, the majority of which was positive. However, a few of the people who commented made it clear that they were not in agreement with #8 on Wilson’s list and therefore were not in agreement with me either. I responded to each of them, hopefully graciously, but I thought it necessary to write a follow-up post just to clarify a few things.

I Agree With Wilson

I of course did not write the post So You Want To Date My Daughter, but I agree with it. Would I have written some things differently? Probably. To be honest, I don’t know if I would’ve even thought to include #8, not because I don’t agree with the issue, but because in my circles most everyone agrees that women should not be pastors. With that said, I must say that I am in complete agreement with Wilson on this and the other issues in the post, though I don’t have daughters.

I Am For Women

Jesus was pro-woman! Paul was pro-woman! Peter was pro-woman! I am pro-woman! I married a woman! The Bible is for women! The church where I pastor have some of the most godly and Christlike women I’ve every known. I call our men constantly to love their wives, honor them, and serve them as Christ served the church. Men are not above women. Women are not above men. Men are strong in some areas, weak in others. Women are strong in some areas, weak in others. Men and women are equal, but vastly (!) different. This is a gift from God.

Women Should Not Be Pastors/Elders

There is a kind of authority in the church, and the home for that matter, that God has gifted to men. In the church, the role of elder should be restricted to men. Paul said, “12  I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. 13  For Adam was formed first, then Eve; 14 and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. 15 Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control” (1 Timothy 2:12-15).

To be clear, men are also called to quietness (1 Timothy 2:2) and women are also called to teach (Titus 2:3). But I believe this passage refers to a specific kind of authority and teaching reserved only for men, which is the office of elder. Paul continued in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 with the requirements of an elder. They are to be men (v.2), they are to rule (v.4, see also 5:17), and they are to teach (v.2), among other things. While what Paul says in 2:15 is strange, one connection is obvious: men can’t have babies and women can’t be elders! The reason for both is rooted in creation (2:13), not culture. God made male and female in His image, but gifted them with different roles. Obviously there are other interpretations of this passage, I just find them unconvincing.

What About Women Pastors?

Regardless of where I stand on this issue there are, and will continue to be, female pastors. In fact one of the comments on the post came from the daughter of a female pastor. So what about them? While we would obviously disagree on how to interpret the passage above and while I do not agree with their decision, I still respect and appreciate anyone who shoulders the burden of leading God’s people in this capacity. I know what pastors go through and what problems they face. So while I would not support or encourage this decision, I would seek dialogue, clarity, and not withhold grace and truth from anyone who loves the Gospel and the Word of God.

I Would Not Let My Daughter Date A Guy Whose Pastor Was Female

I still would not be comfortable letting my daughter, or any other girl in my church, date a guy who attended a church where the pastor was a woman. My biblical and theological convictions govern how I parent. My denomination expects me to uphold those convictions as do the elders who commissioned me.  I hope anyone reading this would respect that. Now if I just had a daughter!

While my goal wasn’t to be controversial here, I do suspect some will want to push back against this post. If so, I do ask that you maintain a spirit of kindness when commenting. Thanks!

GB

I’m giving away a copy of the following:

Preaching and Preachers (40th Anniversary Edition) by Martyn Lloyd Jones

This Momentary Marriage by John Piper

The Cross and Christian Ministry by DA Carson

Counterfeit Gospels by Trevin Wax

The winner gets all four!

To rules are simple: Comment on this post and leave your name, retweet this blog post and include my handle (@pastorbreaz), follow me on Twitter, or comment on Facebook. Please no emails though. I’ll select a winner on Monday and work out the details from there.

GB

]]> http://yearnforgod.org/2012/05/03/book-giveaway-lloyd-jones-piper-carson-wax/feed/ 6 gregb24 books http://yearnforgod.org/2012/05/03/book-giveaway-lloyd-jones-piper-carson-wax/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Yearn/~3/xiZc027VXU4/ http://yearnforgod.org/2012/05/02/so-you-want-to-date-my-daughter/#comments Wed, 02 May 2012 14:20:53 +0000 gregb24 http://yearnforgod.org/?p=1128 ]]> Great post here from Jared Wilson:

1. You must love Jesus. I don’t care if you’re a “good Christian boy.” I was one of those too. So I know the tricks. I’m going to ask you specific, heart-testing questions about your spiritual affections, your daily devotional life, your idols, your disciplines, and the like. I’ll cut you a little bit of slack because you’re young and hormonal and your pre-frontal lobe isn’t fully developed yet, but I’ll be watching you like a hawk. I know you. I was you. You will think you can fool me, and you likely have fooled many other dads who didn’t pay much attention to their daughters’ suitors, but I will be on you like Bourne on that guy whose neck he broke. Which guy was that? Every guy. So love Jesus more than my daughter or go home.

2. You will install X3Watch or Covenant Eyes on your computer and mobile devices and have your regular reports sent to me.

3. I will talk to your dad and tell him I will hold him responsible if you don’t treat my daughter like a lady. If he thinks I’m a crazy person, you fail the test and won’t get to date her. If he understands what I’m saying, that bodes well for you.

4. You will pay for everything. Oh, sure, every now and then my daughter can buy you a Coke or something and a gift on your birthday and at Christmas. But you pay for meals, movies, outings, whatever else. Don’t have a job? I’m sorry, why I am talking to you again?

5. You will accept my Facebook friend request.

6. If it looks like you need a belt to hold your pants up, I will assume you don’t have a job. See #4.

7. Young people dating are putting their best face forward, so if you appear impatient, ill-tempered, or ill-mannered, I know you will gradually become more so over time. I will have no jerks dating my daughters.

8. If I am not your pastor, I will talk to the man who is. If your pastor is a woman, why I am talking to you, again?

9. You don’t love my daughter. You have no idea what love is. You like her and you mightlove her someday. That’s an okay start with me, so put the seatbelt on the mushy gushy stuff. Don’t profess your undying love, quote stupid love song lyrics to her, tell her you’d die for her, or feed her any other boneheaded lines that are way out of your depth as a horny little idiot. A lady’s heart is a fragile thing. If you play with hers, I will show you yours.

10. If you ever find yourself alone with my daughter, don’t panic. Just correct the situation immediately. If I ever catch you trying to get alone with my daughter, that would be the time to panic.

11. It may sound like I’m joking in threatening you harm, and while I might not physically hurt you if you offend my daughter or violate her honor, when I am addressing the issue with you, you will not be laughing.

12. You may think all this sounds very legalistic. That’s fine. You can be one of the many antinomians not dating my daughter.

HT: The Thinklings