Thomas Watson wrote The Doctrine of Repentance in 1668. In his opening letter he says that repentance is one of the two great graces in the Christian life. The other is faith. Note how he says the grace of repentance. Watson believes that repentance is something we must do, but it is also something we can only do by the grace of God in the power of the Holy Spirit. He calls faith and repentance the “two wings by which [the Christian] flies to heaven” (7).

But why write a book about repentance? Well Watson gives his reasons:

• “Repentance is never out of season” (7). It is always useful.
• Repentance is timely to our current situation.
• Repentance purges sin and cherishes godly affections.
• Repent for we do not know what tomorrow holds.
• Repentance is the way of the saints who have gone before us.
• Repentance is what our country needs.
• Repentance makes the sinner happy in God

The Puritans were biblical and logical thinkers. And their books are wonderfully organized as we shall see presently.

A Preliminary Discourse

First, Watson says he is not going to argue about whether faith precedes repentance. He believes it does, but that is not the point of his book. Even if faith precedes repentance he says repentance is so important “that there is no being saved without it” (13).

Second, Watson says repentance is “pure gospel grace” (13). There was no repentance in the garden with Adam. Death was the only option for sin. In the Covenant of Grace, “Repentance came by the gospel. Christ has purchased in his blood that repenting sinners shall be saved” (13).

Third, Watson says repentance comes about two ways: By the word of God (scripture) and the Holy Spirit. The Word of God makes some men worse and others better. Why? Because the Holy Spirit must carry the Word to the conscience or it will bounce off upon rocky ground.

Counterfeit Repentance

Here Watson identifies things that look like repentance but are not because they are shallow, fake, or incomplete.

#1: Legal terror

Being scared of Hell is not the same as being repentant. Fear of punishment does not automatically mean a change of heart.

#2 Personal resolutions

Outward promises of change sound good and make a man feel better about himself, but don’t last.

#3 Leaving many sinful ways, but not others

A person might repent of certain sins, but leave others because they are cherished and he cannot bear to part with them. We might exchange one sin for another. It might cost too much to part with a certain sin so it is left alone.

The Nature of True Repentance

Watson argues for six ingredients for true repentance:
1) Sight of Sin: You must know you have sin and are a sinner if you are to repent!

2) Sorrow for Sin:

• Not just feeling bad, But a holy agony over the wickedness of our sins and the bloody price paid for them by the Son of God.
• It is a sorrow of the heart for sins of the heart.
• It is a sorrow for offending God, not for the punishment deserved for it.
• It is a sorrow of faith, not despair.
• Sorrow for sin makes us willing to let go of sins no matter how much pleasure they brought us.
• This sorrow makes Christ precious, drives out sin, and makes way for the solid comfort of grace.
• Golly sorrow sometimes requires acts of restitution for those we have wronged.
• Godly sorrow is abiding and habitual for the Christian life.
• Two appropriate times for renewing our repentance are the administration of the Lord’s Supper and the hour of death.

3) Confession of Sin: Confession must be self-accusing, voluntary, from the heart with sincerity, and particular.

• Confession must acknowledge the pollution of humanity, the ripples of our sin as they impact the people around us.
• We must never blame God for our sin.
• Confession requires resolution not to repeat sin.
• Confession is necessary because it prevents us from hiding our sins behind vague generalities, from confessing only some sins, and from minimizing our sins.
• Confession is desirable because it gives glory to God, humbles the soul, gives release to troubled hearts, purges sin, endears Christ to the soul, and makes way for pardon to come.
• Confession of sin is private except in 3 cases: 1) A person commits public and scandalous sin that “his repentance may be as visible as his scandal” (37). 2) A man confessed his sin to God, but is still burdened by his conscience. It is wise to go to a godly friend and receive a word of comfort and advice. 3) A man has slandered another.

4) Shame for Sin: “Repentance causes a holy bashfulness” (39)

• Every Sin makes us guilty before God even if we are saved from the flames of Hell.
• In every sin there is much unthankfulness.
• Our sins put Christ to shame.
• Many sins committed are by the special instigation of the Devil.
• Sin turns men into beasts.
• In every sin there is folly.
• The sins we commit are worse than sins of unbelievers because we sin against the light of grace.
• Our sins are worse than the sins of the devils because he nor his demons ever sinned against Christ’s blood.

“Hypocrites will confidently avouch God to be their God, but they know not how to blush…Be assured, the more we are ashamed of sin now, the less we shall be ashamed at Christ’s coming.”

Page 44.

5) Hatred for Sin: A true penitent is a sin-loather.

Hatred for sin is known when a man’s spirit is set against sin in all its forms and manifestations. The origin and nature of sin make us hate it all the more. Sin is worse than affliction and Hell. In affliction the love of God is present for his purity and comfort. Sin is worse because the most terrible earthly judgment God can do is to allow men to sin without control. Sin is worse than Hell because in Hell there is justice, but sin against God is injustice of the highest degree.

“If a man loathe that which make his stomach sick, much more will he loathe that which makes his conscience sick.”

Page 45

6) Turning from Sin

• It must be a turning from sin with the heart.
• It must a turning from all sin.
• It must be turning from sin upon a spiritual ground.
• It must be such a turning from sin unto God.
• True turning from sin is such a turn as has no return.

These points assist the penitent from only turning halfway from sin. It is not enough to turn partly away and partly toward God. Repentance is a turning from death to life.

The Reasons Enforcing Repentance, with a Warning to the Impenitent

1) God’s sovereign command demands we repent.
2) The pure nature of God denies communion with an impenitent creature.
3) Sinners continuing in impenitence are out of Christ’s commission
4) We have by sin wronged God.If God should save men without repentance, making no discrimination, then by this rule he must save all, men and devils alike.

A hard heart is a receptacle for Satan. As God has two places he dwells in, heaven and a humble heart, so the devil has two places he dwells in, hell and a hard heart. It is not fall into water that drowns, but lying in it. It is not falling into sin that damns, but lying in it without repentance.

Page 62.

Reflections

Well that is a lot to take in! Know that Watson will be careful in a future chapter to say that repentance does NOT merit forgiveness or grace. Further, I don’t believe Watson is saying that unless we check all these boxes then we haven’t ever truly repented. Rather he is mediating on what true repentance is and is not, the ways we deceive ourselves, and how we can truly be repentant.

This should not lead us into overly self-reflective spirals. Rather in a church culture where doctrines of sin and repentance are often vague if they are recognized at all, Thomas Watson’s meditations on repentance inspire us to take sin and repentance seriously because God is serious about his love and mercy.

Quotes and pages numbers are come The Doctrine of Repentance by Thomas Watson and published by The Banner of Truth Trust reprinted in 2016.

• What our churches are doing to help people worship
• The distinction between family worship and corporate worship (and why it matters)
• An often misunderstood verse about worship.
• What family worship is and why it is important.
• The basics of family worship and how you can get started
• The use of catechism
• How often to do family worship
• Resources to help you.
• We also share some personal stories about family worship including the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Listen

Ep.12 – Family Worship with Mason Kiple (Part1)

Ep.13 – Family Worship with Mason Kiple (Part2)

Ep.14 – Family Worship with Mason Kiple (Part3)

Connect

Connect with Mason: northpointepca.org

Connect with Eric: baileychurch.com

Resources

Here is a helpful and short video on family worship by Jason Helopoulos

The Family Worship Book: A Resource Book for Family Devotions by Terry Johnson

Family Worship: : In the Bible, In History, and In Your Home by Donald Whitney

A Neglected Grace: Family Worship in the Christian Home by Jason Helopoulos

Trinity Hymnal by Great Commission Publications

Digital hymnal directory

Let me know what you think! You can contact me here. Thanks for listening and reading!

Ep.10 – Missions with Brett McAlpin (Part1)

Ep.11 – Missions with Brett McAlpin (Part2)

Connect with Brett & Valerie McAlpin

More about Mission to the World (PCA)

I hope you enjoyed this conversation. If you have a comment or topic suggestion you can contact me here. Thanks for listening!

You can listen to both episodes here:

Ep.8 – Counseling in Crisis with Michael Preston (Part1)

Ep.9 – Counseling in Crisis with Michael Preston (Part2)

Links:

MS Counseling Associates
Feelings Wheel
Grief Handout
Feeling Words Handout

What do you think? If you have a comment or suggestion for a topic to discuss you can contact me here. Thanks for listening!

You can listen to both episodes here:

Ep.6 – Coaching Churches with Matt Bohling (Part1)

Ep.7 – Coaching Churches with Matt Bohling (Part2)

Links:
Flourish Coaching
The Church Renewal Podcast

• Ministry in a time of lock-down
• Family life
• Creativity as a Christian endeavor
• Recos for movies and games for the family
• How we keep from making comforts into idols
• What scriptures and theological truths strengthen Gavin’s hop right now

You can find the episodes at the links below.

Ep.4 – College Ministry with Gavin Breeden (Part 1)

Ep.5 – College Ministry with Gavin Breeden (Part 2)

If you want to listen to all the episodes of the Rookie Pastor Podcast go here:

All episodes of the Rookie Pastor Podcast

If you have a comment, question, or would like to suggest a topic for discussion you can contact me here. Thanks for listening!

Ep.1 – The Church and Coronavirus (Part1)

Ep.2 – The Church and Coronavirus (Part2)

Ep.3 – The Church and Coronavirus (Part3)

We have more content on the way!

For more information about Mason Kiple and Northpointe Presbyterian Church you can go to their website: www.northpointepca.org

If you have a comment or topic you would like discussed, contact me here. Thanks for listening!

In our first episode Eric and Mason discuss the Coronavirus and the church. The conversation was a long one so we are releasing it in three parts.

You can listen to here:

The Rookie Pastor Podcast

If you have a question or comment you can contact me here. Your question could be featured on a future episode! Thanks for listening!

It is almost a joke at this point to see a book entitled “Christ-centered X”: worship, preaching (I have both those books and they are excellent!), parenting…there might be a cooking one at this point. But why was there that boom of titles? It wasn’t just marketing. It had become clear that in much of our evangelical culture we had traded the gospel for moralism.

In this chapter Ferguson dives into the very heart of the Marrow controversy. You have a bunch of Scots from hundreds of years ago fighting about a book (see Part 1). The ideas in that book were powerful and they were right. They exposed a subtle corruption of the gospel that had come into the church. This is why we must always go back to the basics regularly. This chapter centers upon a specific question:

How do we offer the gospel?

Ferguson breaks it down into two smaller questions:

1) What do you say when you call people to Christ?

2) On what grounds are they entitled to come?

Our automatic response might be to say, “Anyone can come!” That’s true as Ferguson argues, but is it true in practice? In Thomas Boston’s day the church had added requirements, prerequisites to receiving the gospel. Remember the question from chapter 1: Must one forsake sin prior to receiving Christ? Largely the church said, “Yes.” It sounded right. It felt right. It made sense in a certain way. But it was actually wrong. Even worse it was corrupting the gospel they loved.

This wasn’t just a problem back then. Many churches are guilty of the same thing today whether they are Reformed in their theology or Arminian as the day is long. Must one recant of their sexual immorality or political affiliation before they can become a Christian? Are there certain non-essential doctrinal commitments that must be made before once can come to Jesus? What about how they dress and speak? Can they truly come to Jesus as they are or do we need to put an asterisk* next to the hymn?

The point is that there are things that can sneak in under the radar that become advance requirements for people coming to faith. That makes these basic questions much more important and more uncomfortable to answer.

The common error

You may not be familiar but there is an old argument between the Calvinists (like myself) and Arminians. Calvinists believe that God has set apart certain people for salvation while Arminians believe in the possible salvation of all men (salvation is not determined by God). If predestination is true, and there are elect from every nation set apart from eternity past by God for salvation, then the Arminian says, “I cannot preach the gospel to every man, because the gospel is not for every man.” While I would disagree with this response, the Scottish Presbyterian church basically said, “Y’know what? That’s right!” and doubled down on it. So the church ended up creating a faulty logic that we call hyper-Calvinism:

Major premise: God’s saving grace is for the elect alone
Minor premise: The elect are known by forsaking sin
Conclusion: Therefore, you must forsake sin in order to participate in saving grace (43)

If you read the above do you notice anything missing? How about Jesus? Ferguson makes the point that this kind of preaching makes an “implied separation between Christ and the benefits of the gospel”(44). Effectively a person is doing something in order to make themselves qualified to receive salvation: they forsake their sin. What this does is separate Christ himself from the benefits of the gospel. This is a bigger problem than you might think. Ferguson explains:

Wherever the benefits of Christ are seen as abstractable from Christ himself, there is a decreasing stress on his person and work in preaching…This is accompanied by an increased stress on our experience of salvation rather than on the grace, majesty, and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ

Pp.49-50

Translation: There are ways to preach the gospel in which you lose Jesus and focus on the things Jesus does for you. The hyper-Calvinist prerequisite of forsaking sin before being allowed to enjoy the gospel is comparative to the Arminian revival preacher saying, “You don’t want to go to Hell do you?!? Now repeat after me…” In this way hyper-Calvinists and Arminians share the same error because they end up focusing on the experience of salvation in the individual rather than on Jesus. In this way salvation becomes more about me than about Jesus.

The only correction

The only correction is to recover what was lost: Union with Christ. Jesus did not die to secure heavenly benefits for us and store them up to pass them out as we do good things. Grace is not a customer loyalty program. All the benefits of the gospel are in Jesus. So if we are to “get those benefits” then we must find a way to be in Christ and him to be in us.

When the New Testament talks about us and the gospel it usually talks about how we are “in Christ.” This is because all the infinite riches of salvation and glory are in Jesus and not in us(48). This is precisely why we need salvation. Our need is met not in programs and benefits, but in the person of Jesus himself. We don’t need the benefits of grace. We need grace itself which is the person of Jesus Christ himself.

The correction we need to get the gospel right is to recenter it away from us and our experience on to the person and work of the Savior.

The only way to offer the gospel

This brings us back to how we offer the gospel to others. When we look at the scriptures we do not see any prerequisites for receiving and resting in Jesus. As Ferguson writes no one is disqualified from receiving the offer of the gospel. The question of election addresses why some believe and why others do not. Election doesn’t function as a screening process to filter out the unworthy. How could it? Having Christ at the center makes all the difference as can be seen here:

Benefits gospel:
1) For the preacher: “How can I offer these benefits?” and
2) For the hearer: “How can I get these benefits?”

vs

Christ-centered gospel:
1) For the preacher: “How do I preach Christ himself?” and
2) For the hearer: “How do I get into Christ?”

Pages 48-49.

For the first model Jesus is the means to an end. For the second Jesus is the end.

Now let’s go back and see if we can answer the questions from the beginning. What do we say when we offer Christ to people? We say what Christ said, “Come to him all ye who are weary and heavy laden and he will give you rest for your souls.” We say, “Here is the word of life, Jesus Christ himself. Hear, repent, and believe.” We say this because:

Personal Reflections

I was not always Reformed in my theology. I have asked the questions of this chapter. How do I as someone who believes in election offer the gospel? And the answer is I offer it freely and to everyone. I don’t know who the elect are. I’m not supposed to. My favorite way to explain this is to paraphrase Charles Spurgeon who was embroiled in a similar controversy in England. You want to know who the elect are? You want to know if you are elect? Well, then believe in Jesus and follow him all your days. This is because the elect believe and rest in Jesus.

In our membership course I always make sure to disabuse people of any notion they must be good people to be a part of our church. Since we are a conservative congregation I will usually say something along the lines of, “You don’t have to be pro-life to be a member of our church.” This normally gets me incredulous looks. I had one couple sheepishly ask me if I thought abortion was wrong. I said, “Of course I believe it is wrong. I believe it is evil. But being pro-life is not the gospel.”

This chapter presses us to consider the subtle ways we have corrupted the gospel by adding prerequisites or experiential requirements. It is such an amazing chapter because it brings us back to the glory and wonder of the gospel which is our savior Jesus Christ! For Jesus IS the grace of God.

What do you think? Are there ways you have seen the church add to the gospel that remove Christ? What would it look like if churches ditched these things and recovered the grace of the gospel? You can contact me here. Thanks for reading!

There are a lot of books on leadership in the church. There are even quite a few books dedicated to the ministry of elders. It is not the same for deacons (though it is improving!). Now one issue is variance in how the office of deacon operates within different church denominations. For many Baptist churches a deacon functions much the same way as a ruling elder in the Presbyterian church. In reformed Baptist and Presbyterian churches, elders and deacons are called to different, yet vital works of ministry. Cornelis Van Dam’s The Deacon: Biblical Foundations for Today’s Ministry of Mercy is a concise, yet thorough treatment of diaconal ministry.

The first part of the book covers the Old Testament background focusing on Israel’s care for the poor. Part two surveys the New Testament data about deacons. There is a whole chapter devoted to the issue of female deacons. Part three surveys the history of diaconal ministry in the church. The last part looks at how the office of Deacon operates in churches today. Amazingly, Van Dam (yes I made Timecop jokes while I read this) is able to accomplish all this at around 200 pages. This book is a treasure trove of biblical data and careful thought about the office of Deacon.

In Part 1: Old Testament Background

The Deacon is normally associated with care for the poor. Who were the poor in Old Testament Israel? Van Dam identifies the poor as those in Israel who were “materially poor, powerless in society, and afflicted or oppressed (4). There also was an unusual focus on care for the poor, widows, orphans, and foreigners than you would find in other ancient codes of law. How Israel cared for the poor was a testimony to the nations about the God who ruled them.

According to Van Dam, the heart of care for the poor is that “God wanted everyone to share in the joy of redemption, and for that reason no one was to be in bondage to affliction and poverty” (30). This meant that it was incumbent upon the family and society at large to care for the poor. The care for the poor protected society by upholding the family.

Part 2: New Testament Times

Van Dam summarizes Christ’s teaching in 5 points (we reformed people LOVE 5 points!):
1) Serving others is a requirement of loving God and neighbor
2) We are stewards of our possessions and accountable to God for how we use them.
3) How we give and serve matters to God.
4)We are to love the needy who are in our path even if they are outside our comfort zone.
5) Helping the poor includes material, emotional, and spiritual needs.

Like the OT Israelites, God’s concern in the church is that believers would not have the joy of their salvation hindered because of poverty or affliction. This concern was so important to God that he created an office in the church: the office of Deacon. Van Dam writes:

The joy of salvation in Christ and of liberation from the dominion of the evil one must not be threatened in any way, certainly not because of material wants.

Pages. 59

It is important to understand that “wants” doesn’t mean iPhone’s and TVs. “Wants” refers to basic human needs like clothing, food, and shelter, but most of all Gospel grace and comfort.

Thus Van Dam argues that deacons are “to safeguard the communal joy of the fellowship of believers so that everyone in the church can function according to the God-given responsibilities each has been given.”

Page 71.

As one of the two ministries come from Christ, deacons collect, mobilize, and deploy resources of all kinds to meet the various needs to those who are suffering in the church.

Part 3: The Office of Deacon in the History of the Church

This part is what makes this book excellent. I have heard and read about deacons in Acts and arguments about diaconal ministry from the New Testament. I had not heard consideration of the OT (part 1) or what in the world happened to the office of deacon in church history. Here is the skinny:

Deacons in the early church functioned alongside elders and focused on caring for the poor members of the church. The emphasis here is on function, not rank. Sadly, that came later on.

I love the Council of Nicea because it gave me a beloved creed. But it also did something wrong: They issued a decree subordinating the office of deacon under the bishop. The effect of this was to make deacons assistants to the pastor. This practically ended the diaconal ministry to the poor. Other groups arose to fill the void, but by the time of the Reformation deacons barely existed. Couple that with the rise of the false belief that giving money to the poor could get you into Heaven and you have a real problem.

In the Reformation, the office of Deacon was rediscovered. Justification by faith alone wiped out the terrible “meritorious giving” doctrine. Poverty as an ideal for monks was tossed out as well. There was a recovery of work as a positive good and giving to be done out of love for God. The office of deacon was reconstituted. Calvin was the most influential as he “stressed the ecclesiastical nature, holiness, and dignity of the office, which was to be focused on helping the poor” (111). That takes us up near the modern period.

Now any discussion of deacons raises the question of deaconesses. Van Dam argues from scripture and church history against the idea of an ordained office of deaconess. But he is careful here not to focus on what women aren’t allowed to do:

As long as it does not have official ordination in view, a church has considerable freedom as to how it engages the help of women in the diaconate…In any case the diaconate should make use of the gifts within the congregation as much as possible in executing their task, and that most certainly includes the gifts of women.

Page 129.

Part 4: The Official Position of the Deacon Today

First, Van Dam reaffirms the office of deacon is an ecclesiastical office (an official office in the church) that bears spiritual authority and requires ordination. Second, he highlights the necessity of the office. As the church grows the needs of the congregation grow and elders need help or the ministry will fail. There is also the clear scriptural establishment of the office as one of the two distinct offices in the church: elder and deacon. These offices are distinguished by function, not rank of importance. Elders and deacons function in a complimentary way caring for all the needs of God’s people.

In order for deacons to function well they must be trained and equipped for the work. The privilege and obligation to support the work of deacons must be taught to the congregation. When it comes to meeting the specific needs of church members there is an order: first, the family is to care for their needy family member. If they cannot, then the church community steps in. First, individual Christians should see if they can help. If there is no one then the diaconate can assist. There is also nothing wrong with making use of state assistance in the care of the needy.

Now in this section Van Dam makes some interesting suggestions. He argues that the offering taken up in worship should only be for the needy and that anything else ought to be collected outside the worship service. He also argues that bags should be used over plates so that what is given is hidden from everyone else.

The final part of the book is taken up with how deacons care for those inside and outside the congregation. As for church members in need Van Dam argues that deacons should go with elders on visits as this best represents the ministry of Christ. While both elders and deacons are concerned for all the various needs of church members they have their own particular areas of focus.

Van Dam then gives a list of 9 principles for diaconal ministry. Some of them draw on what he has previously stated. Here are a few that stand out:

• The Lord commands to love your neighbor as yourself and the golden rule are the motivations behind all diaconal work.
• Diaconal assistance should not encourage idleness or laziness.
• Prayer is extremely important in all aspects of diaconal ministry.

Remember that the goal of the deacon when ministering to a church member is to safeguard their joy in the gospel by helping to alleviate the affliction they are enduring.

Deacons are also involved in assisting people outside the congregation. Generally, there is an obligation on all Christians to do good to all men. This applies to deacons as well. However, the work of the deacon specifically gives priority to the care of church members who are suffering. When ministering to those outside the church it is a ministry of outreach. When deacons care for those outside the church they are showing the love of God to strangers in hope that these unbelievers might turn to Christ in faith.

The last chapter highlights the blessings involved in serving the poor and needy. There are blessings for those who help the poor: opportunities to show others our love for Jesus, a way to shine the light of grace in an unbelieving world, a growing sense of our status as pilgrims. The blessings to poor and needy believers go beyond temporary relief: the knowledge that theirs is the kingdom of God, that their God is with them and will not abandon them, that what they have in Jesus cannot be taken away.

Personal Reflections

We might look at history prior to the Reformation and think we are glad that we recovered the office of deacon. It would seem we still have work to do. Too often the primary work of the Deacons is counting money and fixing the building. These are bad or unnecessary things.

I once heard the chairman of the deacons at a church (not mine) who described the deacons as “janitors with a budget.” That’s about as cynical as you can get. But he wasn’t to blame. That was the culture that had been built and he was speaking from experience. He was frustrated.

The sacrificial service of deacons glorifies God. But what is often missing is what is at the heart of this book: Deacons as the safeguards of a Christian’s joy. I think if that was placed at the heart of diaconal work things would be much better.

This was a fascinating book to read. I have read several books on church government and church officers. Van Dam’s book is biblically rich and practically challenging. It got me thinking about my own church, how we train deacons, do visitation, and mercy ministry.

The Bottom Line

We need deacons in the church and this book is a tremendous resource. I plan to incorporate this book into officer training for deacons if not for the elders as well. If you are interested in diaconal ministry, this is a book I would highly recommend you read and digest thoroughly.

What do you think? Does your church have deacons? What are some of the best and worst practices you have observed? Is there an unhealthy split between church offices today? You can contact me here. Thanks for reading!