Lost Pages

The Vulnerability of A Pastor

noreply@blogger.com (Chola Mukanga) — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 16:54:29 +0000

None are more exposed to slanders and insults than godly teachers. This stems not only from the immense demands of their work, which can sometimes overwhelm them, causing them to stumble or falter and thus providing fertile ground for malicious individuals to find fault. Even when they diligently fulfil their duties and avoid any errors, they face a barrage of criticisms. Satan’s strategy is to alienate people from their ministers, gradually undermining their teaching and causing its reputation to suffer. This not only harms innocent individuals whose reputations are unjustly tarnished but also diminishes the authority of God’s holy teaching. Satan’s primary goal is to achieve this, as Plato’s observation about the maliciousness and envy of the masses applies here. Furthermore, the more sincerely a pastor strives to advance Christ’s kingdom, the more they become targets of spite and the more intense the attacks against them become. Moreover, accusations against ministers of the Word are often believed without due investigation. This is partly because they are held to a higher standard of integrity and partly because Satan fosters widespread over-credulity, leading people to hastily condemn their pastors without proper scrutiny.

JOHN CALVIN

(Source: Errol Hulse, One In A Thousand)

God is Not in A Rush

noreply@blogger.com (Chola Mukanga) — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 12:58:27 +0000

It is a noble aim to serve the Lord but we are sometimes too hasty, like children who love fruit but have not patience to stay till it is ripe. But the Lord is seldom hasty in his operations, and when our zeal comes to be sifted, by experience and after reflection, we shall perhaps find some of the bran of our own spirit mixed with it. Nay, possibly that Satan transformed into an angel of light, has put us upon things beyond the present call of duty and beyond our strength, that we may give him the less disturbance in future. In a word as I approve of your zeal, I shall be glad for your own sake if you will approve and adopt a little of my prudence. I wish my | letters may be a bridle to you and yours a spur to me.

JOHN NEWTON

(Source: Wise Counsel, p30)

Newton is giving this caution to Ryland because he feels he is getting overstretched. Ryland is taking on too much. He is serving as a man in hurry because he probably feels the urgency of the Gospel. Newton’s point is that even when the motives are right, it may be that our flesh is mixed in with it. We may be hurrying for the right thing but doing in a self-driven way rather than resting on the wise judgment of God. His general point that the Lord is not in a rush has wide application. For example, too often in our labour for the Lord we can become discouraged that the Lord is moving too slow. If we are discouraged when we are serving the Lord faithfully, it could be that we are discouraged for ourselves rather than for the Lord.

The Making of A Pastor

noreply@blogger.com (Chola Mukanga) — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 12:34:36 +0000

You will perhaps find many ready enough to say smooth and pleasing things to your face, but I hope you will know how to value an admonition from a friend. You are engaging in an important service, honourable it is beyond expression, but it is full of difficulties and snares. If the Lord gives you liberty and acceptance you are liable to be exalted above measure. Your comfort and success eminently depend upon your being humble. And if the Lord loves you and has sent you, he will find ways and means to humble you. If he has put it into my heart to give you these hints, and if he enables you to receive them in a right spirit, and to make a right use of them, it may save you some trouble in future. I am sure I have no desire to grieve you. If you take this as I mean it, I shall be glad of a line from you at your leisure to tell me so. You are now putting on the harness, but what you may meet with from within and without before you put it off, is only known to the Lord. You have reason to pray, 'Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe." And if from a sense of your weakness and insufficiency, and the difficulties of your warfare, you do thus pray to him who is able to keep you, you will find his presence and support in every time of need. He will cover your head in the day of battle and at length, make you more than conqueror through His love.

JOHN NEWTON

(Source: Wise Counsel, p16)

Newton wants Ryland Jr to learn a hard but important lesson early on in his ministry. The lesson is that God humbles those He wants to use. The task of growing in serving the Lord is growing in humility. Not necessarily because of any overt pride in us, but because we can always go lower. In ministry, serving Godward means going downward. The means and circumstances which God uses to bring about this humility are varied. It is a good exercise whenever we find ourselves in a difficult situation to always ask ourselves, ‘in what way is the Lord using this situation to humble me?’

Christian Unity

noreply@blogger.com (Chola Mukanga) — Thu, 20 Aug 2026 20:44:40 +0000

I profess myself to be of no party, and to love all of every party who love the Lord our saviour in sincerity. If they preach the truth in love, live as they preach, and are wise and watchful to win souls, and to feed the flock, I care not much whether they are called, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Church men, Kirkmen, or Methodists. I desire to rejoice in their success, on every side. I believe the zealots of all parties, pity or blame me, for my latitudinarian spirit, but the moderate and peaceable of all parties show me kindness.

In some of the great shops in London, there are several counters; and servants at each to attend the customers. If these servants are faithful and have their masters' interest at heart, they will not be jealous of each other, they will not affront the customers by saying 'Why do not you come to be served on my side of the shop? If they are all well served and pleased, it signifies not to which counter they come. Now what are we but servants of one great master? What are our denominations and distinctions but as the several counters?

I claim the right of private judgment, and consider myself in matters of conscience accountable only to the Lord. You have an equal right to do the same. And so have the customers. The Lord sends some to your counter, and some to mine. Shall we be displeased with each other, or with them, because they do not all come to one side? Let us love and pray for one another, and let each of us endeavour to build up the walls of Zion on our own side. When we meet above, we shall be all of one mind.

JOHN NEWTON

(Source: Wise Counsel, p371)

Wonderful words from John Newton that exemplifies the Christian charity we should have as we deal with others who profess to be followers of Christ. Newton is not giving a blank check here. He is clear that we are talking about unity among those who are truly serving the Lord. People who have a true profession of faith that is evidenced by genuine love of the Lord Jesus Christ that is evidence by putting the gospel at the heart of what they say and do. People who are seeking to genuinely win the lost and are showing that in the way they care for the church. Newton is saying that we are to love such people and help them in their work, and indeed rejoice in their Gospel success.

The allusion to the checkout staff in the supermarket is excellent. In the supermarket all the staff work together for the glory and success of the business. What a contrast among the churches, where there is often very little labouring side by side for the Gospel, or rejoicing in the success of others. I guess the real question is: do we genuinely love Christ or are merely serving for our glory? When the Lord’s glory is our main goal, the church is bound to be united for Christ. This is also true among churches. If honouring Christ is our motive, we would approach things differently. We would labour to be at peace with other believers. The key to Christian unity then is to prayerfully seek to have the glory of Christ at the heart of everything we do. When we genuinely focus on the glory of God, we will reap a harvest of Gospel unity.

God Cares for His Work

noreply@blogger.com (Chola Mukanga) — Thu, 20 Aug 2026 18:56:56 +0000

The usefulness of some is protracted, while others…are taken away early, that those who survive may see that the Lord can carry on His work without them. He who has the fulness of the Spirit will never lack instruments to carry on His work. He can raise them up as it were from the very stones. He can call the most unworthy persons, and bring them from the most unlikely places, to labour in His vineyard. Had it not been so, you would have never heard of me. From what a dung hill of sin and misery did he raise me, to place me among the princes of his people! Consider what I was, and where I was (in Africa) and you must acknowledge I am a singular instance of sovereignty and the riches of His mercy!

JOHN NEWTON

(Source: Wise Counsel, p370)

Newton makes a very good point that the Lord provides for His work. It's very easy for us to think that the work we do depends on us, when in fact everything depends on Him. It is humbling to know that God doesn't need any of us in the work that He does, and that it is an immense privilege that we are able to serve him at all in any area of life that he has called us to. This is something that we tend to forget quite easily. It is our fallen nature, that as time passes, we tend to see ourselves as indispensable to the work we are doing. But Newton is reminding us that the God who said to the darkness, ‘let there be light’ is surely able to raise stones to praise Him. He is able to use unlikely people to advance His work. This is something we need to remember all the time. God delights to work through us, but He has no need on us. God doesn't need anyone. He is self-sufficient. God provides for His work.

The Blessing of our Christian Identity

noreply@blogger.com (Chola Mukanga) — Tue, 18 Aug 2026 14:57:28 +0000

The prospect of my true identity being revealed in Christ on the last day means that I am not faced with the choice of either realizing and actualizing all the aspects of my self now or having them lie dormant forever. My identity can be messy, confusing, and even frustrating to me in the present in a way that does not signal an ultimate or final denial of who I am. By the grace of God I am what I am, and what I shall be has not yet been made known (1 Corinthians 15:10; 1 John 3:2). In a late modern culture that rhymes complete self-expression with authenticity and places a heavy burden on selves to become transparent and fully actualized, I know that as a Christian I need not be crushed by the obligation of having fully to express, or even fully to understand myself here and now. If I remain torn between different identities, if I remain frustrated by who I am until the moment of my death, I know that just like the carnivorous lion who will lie down with the lamb and yet be more lion than ever, there awaits for me a subversive fulfilment of the tangled knot of my desires, assumptions, blind spots; and predispositions that will surprise, delight, and fulfil me in ways I never dreamed possible. Unlike Stepan in Camus's The Just Assassins, Christians do not need to be terrorists of identity, forcing the full disclosure and realization of the self here and now. As Christians strive for wholeness and authenticity in these last days, they look to the future apocalyptic unveiling of identity when what is sown in dishonour will be raised in glory, letting nothing move them, because they know that their labor in the Lord is not in vain.

CHRISTOPHER WATKIN

(Source: BTC, p578)

It’s a great point that he makes that in the here and now, all the tensions that we have will not be fully resolved until we see Christ face to face. Now, thais doesn't mean we shouldn't strive to be in practice who we truly are in Christ. Rather we should do that from a position of rest, a position of trusting God to bring about His purpose, because He is the one moving us from one degree of glory to next.

The other thing is that what Watkin says here is not just about identify. I think it applies to other areas of our lives. For example on the whole question of success and greatness in life. We all want to be successful in life in different ways e.g. as parents, workers, ministry.  But in the here and now, we will never b perfect parents, perfect workers, or perfect ministers of the gospel. We will always strive to become what God is bringing up about in our lives. We need to remember that success or greatness is not in the here and now. Ultimate greatness will only be evident on that great day when we see Christ face to face.  

This eschatological greatness should not make us lazy, but instead it means allowing God to perfect us, to bring us to who He wants us to be in Christ. And to do that in a way in which we are dependent on him, and resting in him, and labouring and living fruitfully in a way that glorifies him. Not doing things in our own flesh.

Mistakes in Ministry

noreply@blogger.com (Chola Mukanga) — Thu, 02 Jul 2026 12:49:29 +0000

This painful experience, along with my subsequent years in pastoral ministry, taught me never to assume every member of my church understands these foundational truths in the same way. A shared statement of faith, though extremely helpful, is not a guarantee that your entire congregation will always agree on doctrine, the ordinances, or church membership. Perhaps this assumption proved to be my biggest mistake. The words we use may not be received or understood as we intend them to be. Therefore, when our members ask questions, we must patiently answer them and slow down if necessary. When doctrine appears to lead to division, hold fast to the truth, but also resist the urge to see congregants as your “adversaries.” God loves them in Jesus and so must you.

JERI CHOI

(Source: 9 Marks)

The Wound of Sin

noreply@blogger.com (Chola Mukanga) — Mon, 05 May 2025 23:16:00 +0000

Bless the Lord, O my soul, that when you were playing with the bait, unaware of the hook like so many others, He opened your eyes—allowing you to see your folly and danger so that you might flee from it. And now, be careful that you do not grasp at any of the devil's temptations, lest he ensnare you with his hook. For though you may be restored by grace, it will not be without a wound—just as a fish sometimes escapes the hook but swims away injured. That wound may bring sorrow and take long to heal. And you have already known this to be true.

THOMAS BOSTON

(Source: The Art of Man-Fishing)

A sobering truth from Thomas Boston. Sin always damages. God always restores His children when we fall but it is never without the wounds. We often carry the scars of our sins. This is another m reason for us to avoid sin altogether. Sometimes in our presumption of His grace, we tend to be antinomian. Boston is warning that such an attitude is foolish since sin always damages. It always leaves scars that will only disappear when we see Christ face to face in Heaven.

Do Not Be Anxious

noreply@blogger.com (Chola Mukanga) — Mon, 05 May 2025 21:02:00 +0000

Do not be troubled if you are poor - Christ Himself had no place to lay His head. Do not let the prospect of future hard times make you anxious about how you will endure, for "you will not be ashamed in evil days, and in times of famine you will be satisfied." God has said (Psalm 37:19) therefore, you must believe it.

Do not be overly concerned with securing provisions for old age, for by all appearances, you may not live to see it. It is more than likely that you will reach your journey’s end sooner than expected. Your body is frail - it is already declining, greeting decay as its mother before it has even fully entered the hall of this world. The supports of your earthly tent are being loosened little by little. Take courage, O my soul, for soon the devil, the world, and the flesh will be crushed beneath your feet, and you will be welcomed into eternal mansions.

But even if the Lord prolongs your days to old age, He who brought you forth from your mother's womb will not abandon you then. If He gives you life, He will provide for your needs. Hold loosely to this world. Despise it if you would be a fisher of men.

THOMAS BOSTON

(Source: The Art of Man-Fishing)

You Are A Pilgrim

noreply@blogger.com (Chola Mukanga) — Mon, 05 May 2025 20:18:00 +0000

Remember the brevity and uncertainty of your time. You are a tenant in the world and you do not know how soon you may have to leave. You can take nothing with you. Therefore, having food and clothing (which the Lord does not allow you to lack), be content with them (1 Timothy 6:7-8). You are a stranger on this earth, going home to your Father's house, where the things of this world will no longer be needed. Why, then, O my soul, should you desire more than what will carry you to the end of your journey? Will you set up camp on this side of the Jordan and settle here? Are you saying, "It is good for me to stay here"? Are you so satisfied with what the world is offering that you no longer long for home? No, no! Well then, O my soul, gird up the loins of your mind! You are heading home, and your Father urges you to run and make haste. Go, then, and carry no burden that might slow you down, lest it hinder your journey, and the doors close before you reach home—leaving you outside through the long night of eternity.

THOMAS BOSTON

(Source: The Art of Man-Fishing)

Incarnation and Modernity

noreply@blogger.com (Chola Mukanga) — Mon, 21 Oct 2024 08:51:00 +0000

[The Bible] resituate modernity's prejudices within a wider context from which they were originally wrenched, showing them to be reductive heresies of a more complex biblical reality. So whereas modernity privileges an unchanging a-historicity, in the incarnation God enters history at a particular moment to gather a people to be with him not in a Greck eternity of unchanging timelessness, but in a biblical eternity of never-ending and ever-renewed intimacy and relational richness. Whereas modernity subordinates the particular to the universal, the Bible perfectly marries the universal "image of the invisible God" together with a particular first-century Palestinian Jewish man. Whereas modernity seeks the abstract over the material and finds itself painfully akimbo between the twin idols of materialism and immaterialism, in the same gesture the incarnate Christ validates material reality and prevents his followers from ever worshipping it. Finally, whereas modernity secks truth in the impersonal rather than the personal, the Bible cuts across the modern dichotomy of a view from everywhere and a view from nowhere with a God's eye view that resolves to neither pole, and the incarnation delivers everything that modernity seeks in the impersonal (and more!) through the person of Jesus Christ.

CHRISTOPHER WATKIN

(Source: Biblical Critical Theory)

Pride vs Humility

noreply@blogger.com (Chola Mukanga) — Tue, 03 Sep 2024 22:58:00 +0000

Spiritual pride tends to speak of other persons’ sins with bitterness or with laughter and an air of contempt. But pure Christian humility rather tends either to be silent about these problems or to speak of them with grief and pity. Spiritual pride is very apt to suspect others, but a humble Christian is most guarded about himself. He is as suspicious of nothing in the world as he is of his own heart. The proud person is apt to find fault with other believers, that they are low in grace, and to be quick to note their deficiencies. But the humble Christian has so much to do at home and sees so much evil in his own heart and is so concerned about it that he is not apt to be very busy with other hearts. He is apt to esteem others better than himself.

JONATHAN EDWARDS

(Source: The Works of Jonathan Edward’s, Volume 1)

The Humility of Newton

noreply@blogger.com (Chola Mukanga) — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 19:23:00 +0000

Thou hast honoured me. Thou hast given me a tongue and a pen, many friends; (Thou] hast made me extensively known among thy people and I have reason to hope, useful to many by my preaching and writings... It is of thine own that I can serve thee. And if others speak well of me, I have no cause to speak or think well of myself. They see only my outward walk; to thee I appear as I am. In thy sight I am a poor, unworthy, unfaithful inconsistent creature. And I may well wonder that Thou hast not long ago taken thy word utterly out of my mouth and forbidden me to make mention of thy Name any more!

JOHN NEWTON

(Source: Wise Counsel)

Newton wrote these words addressed to God in his diary in 1789. In that year, Newton’s fame had grown significantly because of his publishing ‘Thoughts upon the African Slave Trade’ and his appearance before Her Majesty’s Privy Council appointed to investigate the slave trade.

I find Newton’s words quite challenging. The words reveal a heart truly shaped by the Gospel. He never let his fame blind him to the truth that man sees only on the outside, God sees the heart. And what God sees in all his true children is that we are great sinners saved by His great grace in Christ.

The Fruits of Prayer

noreply@blogger.com (Chola Mukanga) — Sun, 02 Jun 2024 23:17:00 +0000

What happens when you open your heart to God and pray?

You care. As you pray for God's kingdom, his people, and the needs of the lost, you begin to care. God starts to work on your priorities and your compassion. You start seeing that there are people to serve with the gospel. And you start to love serving their needs.

You find you have nothing to complain about. Prayerlessness contracts your life and ministry to the size of your abilities. You'll quickly discover that those abilities, aside from grace, are tiny and feeble. And how you'll complain then! But open your heart to God, reflect on the greatness of his power and grace, and you can live with yourself and your life. More than that, you can live with contentment and peace. Only then can you bear lasting fruit.

God gets to work on your worries. When you don't pray, you get worried. Prayerlessness is abandoning ourselves either to fate or, worse, to ourselves. No wonder we find life stressful when prayer dries up. Prayer is recapturing a Christ-centered worldview, in which we celebrate again his loving rule. Problems might not go away, but they regain their God-ordained perspective.

You get refreshed. God guides you through the tasks you need to get done, and gives you strength for them. He gives you wisdom so that you don't get committed to things you shouldn't be doing or don't have the skills for. Working in his strength is joyful, fruitful, and satisfying. Yes, our Father is unseen; but prayed-for grace is visible and glorious.

LEWIS ALLEN

(Source: The Preachers’ Catechism)

Inconsistency of Moral Progress

noreply@blogger.com (Chola Mukanga) — Thu, 14 Mar 2024 20:10:00 +0000

If morality, if our ideas of right and wrong, are purely subjective, we should have to abandon any idea of moral progress (or regress), not only in the history of nations, but in the lifetime of each individual. The very concept of moral progress implies an external moral standard by which not only to measure that a present moral state is different from an earlier one but also to pronounce that it is "better" than the earlier one. Without such a standard, how could one say that the moral state of a culture in which cannibalism is regarded as an abhorrent crime is any "better" than a society in which it is an acceptable culinary practice?

Naturalism denies this. For instance, Yuval Harari asserts: "Hammurabi and the American Founding Fathers alike imagined a reality governed by universal and immutable principles of justice, such as equality or hierarchy. Yet the only place where such universal principles exist is in the fertile imagination of Sapiens, and in the myths they invent and tell one another. These principles have no objective validity.

Yet relativists tend to argue that since, according to them, there are no moral absolutes, no objective rights and wrongs, no one ought to try to impose his moral views on other people. But in arguing like that, they refute their own theory. The word ought implies a moral duty. They are saying, in effect, that because there are no universal, objective principles, there is a universal moral principle binding on all objectivists, and everyone else, namely that no one ought to impose his moral views on other people. In so saying, relativism refutes its own basic principle.

JOHN LENNOX

(Source: 2084)

The Shame of Worldly Joy

noreply@blogger.com (Chola Mukanga) — Thu, 07 Mar 2024 14:11:00 +0000

Only a Christian can be joyful and wise at the same time, because all other people either rejoice about things that they should be ashamed of (Philippians 3:19) or things that will disappear. A Christian is not ashamed of his joy, because he is not joyful about something shameful. That is why the Apostle Paul in [2 Corinthians 1:12] defends his joy. He says, I don’t care if everyone knows what makes me happy, because it is the ‘testimony of my conscience.’ He means, let other people can be happy about base pleasures that they are afraid to admit; let other people rejoice in riches, fame, or popularity; they can be happy about whatever they want, but my joy is different. ‘I rejoice because of my conscience.’ A Christian has a happiness that he can stand by and prove. No one else can do that. They will feel embarrassed and guilty if their happiness is found in something that is outside of themselves. They cannot say, ‘this is what makes me happy’. But a Christian has the approval of his conscience for what makes him happy, and so he is not ashamed of it. A non-Christian does not want to show his happiness. He tries to hide it, because he knows that it comes from sinful pleasures. Where is the happiness of the greedy person? He works hard, thinks hard, and is happy to get respect, like Haman; but he also tries to hide this. He does not want anyone to know. He does not want to admit, ‘this is what makes me happy’; because then everyone would mock him for being foolish. The happiness of the lustful person, is in his pleasure, but he does not want to admit this. He does not want to say, ‘this is what makes me happy’ because everyone would despise him as an animal. The rich person, he finds joy in his wealth, but he does not want anyone to know this, because he would then be seen as a greedy and worldly person. Everyone would hate him. He tries to enjoy all the pleasure and comfort that these things can give him, but he also tries to hide them. He does that because he knows that there is something better that he would find joy in, if he were not an atheist.

RICHARD SIBBES

The Gold of Affliction

noreply@blogger.com (Chola Mukanga) — Mon, 08 Jan 2024 10:53:00 +0000

Suppose that a loving father in some high room, throws down a bag of gold to his child, and it falls on the child's head causing injury. While the child is feeling the pain, he is impatient and troubled; while he looks only at the leather bag he is not thankful; but when he looks into the bag, and sees what a great deal of gold his father has given him, then he speaks well of his father, notwithstanding the injury to his head. Affliction is a bag of gold given to the people of God; though it seems from outside like a bad leather bag, yet there is gold within it. As long as we simply stare at the bag, or focus only on the suffering, we are not thankful, we do not praise the Lord, but are much discouraged; but if we would look into the bag, and count our gold, then we would have comfort, and not be discouraged. I tell you from the Lord, there is gold within; look in this bag, the bag of affliction; count over all the gold which the Lord has given you in this affliction, and then you will be quiet.

WILLIAM BRIDGE

(Source: A Lifting Up for the Downcast)

Preaching to the Conscience

noreply@blogger.com (Chola Mukanga) — Wed, 03 Jan 2024 00:40:00 +0000

Preaching to the conscience means something concrete. It means explaining the listeners’ obligations to God, their failure to meet those obligations, their impotence to make up for that failure, the eternal consequences of that failure, and God’s astounding grace offered to all who will humble themselves, repent, and believe the good news. In other words, preaching to the conscience is provocative. It seeks to disturb the comfortable and to comfort the disturbed….The great obstacle to this kind of preaching is when the conscience is awakened, people react. The humble repent, rejoice, and enter God’s kingdom. The proud become angry: “Who are you to tell me I am a sinner?” or “This is not the God I learned about in Sunday school.” Men dominated by the fear of man will not preach to the conscience. If you’re seeking a reward from men as you preach the gospel, you may get it, but that’s all—you won’t get anything from God. The world needs pastors who fear God, love sinners, and understand the need to preach to consciences. This will only happen to the degree that God’s Spirit liberates God’s leaders from the fear of man as he humbles them with a deep sense of their own need.

WILLIAM P FARLEY

(Source: Gospel Coalition)

The Slavery of Prosperity

noreply@blogger.com (Chola Mukanga) — Sat, 23 Sep 2023 07:25:00 +0000

I read a story this morning about a businessman who was behind fake bombs planted at Grays’ Inn in London's legal district to intimidate lawyers who work for the National Crime Agency (NCA). He wanted to frighten them after the NCA conducted legal proceedings against him and his wife, which resulted in £1m of assets being recovered. The court heard he was upset at the prospect of losing his stately home, Embley Manor in Romsey, Hampshire.

The man’s case is another example of how our slavery to prosperity leads us to offer more sinful sacrifices to keep it. In his case it has cost him physical freedom. Materialism is a loveless uncaring god. Now, if we are true followers of Christ, we know that Christ is infinitely better. Yet, how we also still give in so easily to the pursuit of the slavery of prosperity! I recently came across a statement by Paul David Tripp (PDT) that helpfully discusses this issue:

Why are we so busy? There may be many answers to that question, but let me suggest one that is particularly true of Western culture. The answer may surprise you: materialism. I think we all have been influenced by the materialism of Western culture, which says that happiness and fulfillment are to be found in material things. If you are a Christian, you would say that is wrong and that you do not believe it. But that does not discount the fact that the influence is very powerful, and the evidences of its seduction are in all of our lives in some way. The constant pursuit of bigger and better material things sucks away our time, energy, and relational vitality. We not only have to work way too much to acquire material things, but once we have them, we are enslaved to the responsibility to maintain them. And with all our acquiring, the things we have acquired don’t satisfy the longings of our heart. So we go out and get more, as if we are running a race that has no finish line. Many of us live in houses way bigger than we actually need. Many of us have closets that are stuffed with clothing we seldom wear. Many of us are spending way too much money on restaurants, entertainment systems, big vacations, and luxurious cars. And if that does not describe you, perhaps this will: almost all of us are living beyond our means in some way.

PDT puts the finger on the ugly stain of how most professing Christians live. It is not a life of freedom in Christ, it is sadly a life of slavery to things we own. The more we accumulate the more enslaved we become because we feel pressure not only from inside but outside to maintain our lifestyles. This is a bigger explanation of what is going on with us, than simply, ‘I need a car because my neighbour has one’. The first movement of getting the car may well be built on better moral foundations, the bigger problem is that now we have a car we must offer sacrifices to it to keep it. There is not just slavery but also an element of paganism in our materialism.

The real issue is that in a fallen world our relationship with everything has become adversarial. All things we own are trying to enslave us in some way because all things are tainted by sin. C S Lewis makes a similar point in The Screwtape Letters. In one of the chapters, Lewis puts a finger on why “prosperity” is dangerous to the human soul. It makes living in this fallen world comfortable. It makes us want to live longer in this world not because we want to honour God with our lives but because we are afraid of losing what we already have. In short, properity reduces the size of God and enlarges earthly possessions. Here is how Lewis puts it in his own words:

Prosperity knits a man to the World. He feels that he is “finding his place in it”, while really it is finding its place in him. His increasing reputation, his widening circle of acquaintances, his sense of importance, the growing pressure of absorbing and agreeable work, build up in him a sense of being really at home in earth which is just what we want. You will notice that the young are generally less unwilling to die than the middle-aged and the old.

When I think of prosperity, I see it in terms of the four things that Job in the Bible had in his life which were taken away from him for a season: riches (properties and businesses); family (children); personal health; and, influence (significance, friendship, social influence). When we receive blessings from God in any of these areas we are prospering. The odd thing is that as we prosper in these areas we start prefering this life more than the eternity God offers each one of us through faith and trust in Jesus. And most importantly we start configuring our lives to be about maintaining these things rather than focusing on living for Jesus.

Now, I know many who profess faith in Jesus would not regard themselves as followers of the "prosperity gospel". We do not follow God to give us riches. That is a good thing. And yet, if we simply stopped and looked at our lives, it is quite evident that most of us are living desperately to maintain or even chase a higher level of prosperity of family, health and influence. It is not just that our lives are organised around investing in these things above all else, including God, it is also that that our joy is tied to how much of these things we have. If we do not maintain some level of prosperity we become depressed and joyless.

It is much worse than that. I suspect if we searched deeply, we would find that buried within our hearts is a false assumption that if we work hard for God and really gave him our best, God will work hard for us. We live hoping that if we put in lots of mileage to church on Sunday and share Jesus with others, God will see how good we are! And then he will bless us with a great family, good health and widen our influence. We don’t believe in the "financial prosperity" gospel but we still believe in the lie that if we are nice to God, He will give us the best life now. To paraphrase C S Lewis, prosperity has knitted our souls to this world. We live for here and now. Even our relationship with God is about the here and now.

What is the antidote to this slavery of prosperity?First, we need to recognise that even as true followers of Jesus there is still that temptation in us to live for this world, even though we know full well this world is not all there is. We know that it is foolish on our part to chase prosperity in this life because this world is not enough. The world is passing away. To centre our lives on this world is nothing short of decorating the tomb. All the things we live for - riches, family, health and significance are good things. But knitting our souls to these things is folly because they can never give us ultimate fulfilment. They only enslave us.

The problem with living for worldly prosperity, in whatever form it takes is not simply that the more blessings we have the less we want to lose, it is that the very accumulation of blessings strangely expands our longing for more. From the youngest age, this longing for prosperity in life defines everything we do and say. We fight over toys, the last bowl of cereal, and who gets the bathroom first. We want to be first in the classroom; we want to be prettiest girl in school, to win every argument with our neighbour; to achieve that illusive promotion. We strive to have the best, to be the most powerful, the best known; and the most loved. As we grow older this desire for prosperity just keeps on growing.

Why does prosperity lead to a deeper desire for more? A. W. Tozer says, “There is within the human heart a tough, fibrous root of fallen life whose nature is to possess, always to possess. It covets things with a deep and fierce passion”. Prosperity expands our desire for more prosperity because at the heart of each fallen human being is a longing for satisfaction that never ends. It is a longing for God, as PDT says elsewhere, “The crisis of the human existence is not that we are horizontally unfulfilled, but that we are vertically cut off ". As Christians we know that God is the only one who can ultimately fulfil our endless longings for prosperity because God made us in his image. He is our greatest need in life.

As followers of Jesus, we know that people don’t just need prosperity from God, we need an intimate and interactive life with God. We need God to fill us with Himself. To be of one mind with God.. To love what he loves, and our hearts to beat for what God’s heart beats for. This is only possible by God giving us a new heart. We cannot do it on our own because we carry a virus within us called sin. It is forever pushing us to hate God. So we need God to take away our evil hearts and put a new desire within us. The good news of Jesus is that God does this for everyone who repents and trusts in Him.

If we are trusting in Jesus we have found lasting meaning and purpose in God. However, whilst we are still in these bodies, and living in this fallen world, we will face temptations to give into the temptation of prosperity. So there is need for us to examine ourselves everyday. What are you truly living for? Are you living for God or are you living for prosperity? What are you most afraid of losing in this life? Is it your family, your house, your health, your job, your car, your video games, good behaviour of your children, the respect of your co-workers? If your fear of losing intimacy with God is bottom of the list then clearly you are handcuffed to the very slavery of prosperity which God has already freed you from in Jesus.

What are are you really living for? What gets you up in the morning and keeps you going through the day? What would your friends say really matters most to you? If we watched the video of your life over last month, listening to what you said and why you said it, what would we notice most? If we watched how you made decisions and related to others, noting what you were interested in and fought for, what would it reveal? If we saw how you invested your free time, and if we saw you in busy and quiet moments, even hearing your silent conversations with yourself, would we conclude that Jesus is the centre of your life? Is Jesus really your love, your source, your motive, your goal, and your hope?

C S Lewis elsewhere says: If we consider the staggering rewards promised in the Bible, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased”.

The truth is that we will never find fulfilment in new outfits, new homes, new cars, new businesses, new holidays or new promotions. This is a truth we know already as believers but we so easily forget. This world only offers us the slavery of prosperity. True last fulfillemnt is already ours in Jesus and we grow to enjoy it by growing in surrendering to Jesus.

The proper response to the slavery of prosperity is not simply trying harder not to pursue it. The answer to the slavery of ownership is not in taking unilateral steps to abandon ownership, that is death. To live is to own. The answer is to ensure that which enslaved us loves us. What we want is for our lives to be dominated by a slavery that is freedom. And we have One whose slavery to Him is love because we know He gave His life to purchase us our freedom from the slavery of sin to a new life of loving slavery with Him. We over come the slavery of prosperity by growing in a superior slavery to Christ. Allowing Christ to extend His loving shackles on us. The more we are controlled by His love the more happy and free we become.

Every musician knows that it’s hard to enjoy playing with another musician who fails to stick to the same key and rhythm, and the same is true of life in general. We cannot say we are living life with God when we are playing in the wrong key with Him. Only growing in surrendering to Jesus can we grow to in experiencing lasting happiness in Him. So we must come afresh to God believing that in Jesus we have an advocate with the Father. And that if we confess our sins, God is faithful to cleanse us from our sins! In Jesus we have a Saviour who is enough for us! So let us come to Him afresh and ask Him to take away the love of prosperity and renew in us the love of the Father!

Workers for Your Joy (A Review)

noreply@blogger.com (Chola Mukanga) — Sat, 02 Sep 2023 17:11:00 +0000

Workers for your Joy (WFYJ) is about what Christ calls leaders in his church to be and do, particularly the teaching office in the church (i.e. pastor or elder). It presents a biblical vision of leadership by going through the fifteen qualifications of elders listed 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. The central question Mathis is basically asking is – how should we pastor or lead the church in light of these qualifications?

The target audience of the book seems to be those who are in the early stages of pastoral ministry. The book was part of the seminary syllabus at Bethlehem. However, the author does explicitly state that the book is also meant to be of use to church members in considering what Christ expects of leadership in the local church.

Mathis has written this book because he believes leadership has fallen on hard times. The church in the west and the society around us has become increasingly discontent with being led due to the high-profile cases that have sprung about leadership. These failures of leadership have amplified our natural (fallen) anti-authority streak and love for self by distorting our understanding of what leadership is and fuelling aversion to authority structures.

The problem is that this sceptical approach to leadership stands against what we see in the Bible, where God has created us people to be led by Him and exercises his leadership of us through human leaders. We see this especially in the local church, where Christ has given us leaders, as a “gracious inequality” for our good. God has given us leaders for our joy and the leaders are meant to do this work with joy. This equilibrium of joy exists where leaders find joy in the Lord as they labour for others, and are being treated by those they lead in such a way that their joy is growing as they labour in the Lord for joy of the church.

So how do we realise this biblical vision of leadership? Matthis believes the key is to have leaders who serve in line with the qualifications. Elder qualifications are not just “moral hoops to jump through to then be qualified to do the work of pastoring”. Rather, Christ requires these traits, “because they are the precise virtues pastor-elders need for the day in, day-out work of their calling”. The qualifications are the “graces we need to be good pastors”. Without them, “leaders will not prove, in the long haul, to be genuine workers for the joy of their church”.

Matthis examine the qualifications in three categories to give us a fresh appreciation of the qualifications. The first category looks at those qualification that presses our humbleness before God. The second category focuses on the qualifications that helps us to live privately and in our homes for the Lord. The final section looks at public facing qualifications. Mathis reminds us that pastor and elders are meant to be honourable men before a watching world. This does not mean to be respected by everyone. But it means we live in the way that honours Christ as his ambassadors.

I found Matthis’ teaching on humility quite helpful, particularly his observation that humility in leadership starts by ensuring that we have truly been called by God into ministry and confirmed by the church, and not simply appointed ourselves into the office. Many men today seem to force their way into ministry, and therefore it comes as no surprise when pride leads to implosion of their ministries. Matthis is also right when, he notes that humility also means that that men should assume office at a spiritually mature age. A key part of this spiritual maturity is being level-headed. Pastors are meant to be sober thinkers in a world that is on fire. Soberminded means not being diverted from central things of the Gospel, things of first importance. Not driven or chasing things on the margins or the agendas of the time. The sober-minded leaders drink from the living water of the Gospel, not the polluted fountains of the world.

The best chapter in the book is probably Chapter 14 . It discusses the importance of pastors or elders not being quarrelsome. Matthis rightly observes that pastors need to be peacemakers like our Lord Jesus Christ for the sake of the gospel. This practice of peace-making begins with recognizing ways in which we may be failing to promote peace and undertake appropriate course correction. For example, many chuch conflicts arise out of ignorance, which in turn stem from the failure to teach clearly and soberly the truth of God. In unavoidable moments of conflict, it is important that pastors see these as opportunity for Grace. The real battle is always spiritual, and therefore elders and pastors should focus on ensuring they win people away from the ways of Satan, rather simply trying to get rid of them, which is always a strong temptation. Growing in peace-making requires pastors and elders to be hardest on themselves. Here is how Matthis puts it:

The heart of Christian leadership is not taking up privileges but laying them down; not gravitating toward the easy work, but gladly crucifying personal comfort and ease to do the hard work to serve others; not domineering over those in their charge but being examples of Christlike self-sacrifice for them (1 Pet. 5:3). A pastor learns to contend well, without being contentious, "by seriously applying the word of God to himself before he applies it to others". When trying to discern between silly controversies to avoid and conflicts to engage with courage, pastors might ask: is this conflict about me - my ego, my preferences, my threatened illusion of control- or about my Lord, his gospel, and his church? In other words, is this for my glory or Christ's? Am I remembering that my greatest enemy is not others, or even Satan, but my own indwelling sin?

There are areas of the book that could do with improvement. A key one for me is that the emphasis of the book seems to be more on drawing joy from God. That is as it should be of course, except Hebrews 13:17, which is quoted early on as part of the rationale for the book, is about the joy that leaders enjoy from being better treated by those they serve. If you are planning to read this book because you expect directions on how the church can grow in treating pastors or elders better, this will not be the book for you. This book, as the strapline says, is ‘the call of Christ on Christian leaders’ not on the church.

Now, I don’t know why Matthis did not explore the other part of the joy equilibrium, especially having borrowed the title from Hebrews 13:17. My guess, based on the impressions from the book, is that Matthis probably believes that as pastors live self-sacrificially, the people will recognise that and therefore will be more willing to submit to them. Sadly, the evidence for this is not cogent. Many leaders sacrifice much with little in return. It is often common for a leader to suffer for the people, and they do not appreciate it at all. This is the case with our Lord Jesus Christ! It was also the case with Paul. We only need to read his letters to the Corinthians and 2 Timothy.

It seems to me that this is an important point that was not sufficiently emphasised. People entering pastoral ministry need to remember that sometimes the more sacrificial you are the less those you are serving will appreciate your efforts. Those who enter church ministry should not expect their joy to come from being better treated by those they serve, but from our resting on Christ and the Holy Spirit. It seems to me that one of the reason Hebrews 13:17 is in the Bible is precisely to help future leaders be aware that in a fallen word, many do not submit their leaders and submit to them. If such submission was easy, the Holy Spirit would not have inspired and preserved it for our exhortation.

In terms of style, the book could have been a lot shorter. There is a lot of good stuff added to chapters which seem to be more book filling and leads to loss of cohesion. For example in Chapter 1, there is a discussion on disciplining elders and ordination, which are helpful but adds little to the main point of the chapter which is how Christ appoints people. Perhaps the most disappointing was Chapter 4. After explaining what it means to being sober-minded it did not go on to flesh out living or biblical role models. Nor does it explain how we can grow in being sober-minded. Instead space is taken up with the head scratching discussion of the general struggle between old and young people.

None of that means that the book is not worth reading. Quite the contrary, I think in some ways it is a very helpful addition to any pastoral library. Ironically, it is not simply because it will be helpful next time you teach on 1 Timothy or Titus 1, but also because of its ‘book filling’ material, of which the material in appendix materials is particularly interesting. And of course, there is the little gem of Chapter 14 on peace-making, which alone is worth the whole book.

Beware of False Hope

noreply@blogger.com (Chola Mukanga) — Tue, 18 Jul 2023 08:42:00 +0000

There are ships lying quietly in Liverpool and London docks, about to sail for every part of the globe. They all look equally trustworthy, so long as they are in harbour; they have all equally good names, and are equally well-rigged and painted: but they are not all equally well-found and equally safe. Once let them put to sea, and meet with rough weather, and the difference between the sound and unsound ships will soon appear. Many a ship which looked well in dock has proved not sea-worthy when she got into deep water, and has gone down at last with all hands on board! Just so it is with many a false hope. It has failed completely, when most wanted: it has broken down at last, and ruined its possessor's soul. You will soon have to put to sea. I say again, beware of mistakes.

J C RYLE

(Source : Old Paths)

Today I Learned

noreply@blogger.com (Chola Mukanga) — Mon, 19 Jun 2023 16:05:00 +0000

Lord Chesterfeld wandered into a chapel once when George Whitefield was preaching. He sat in the pew that belonged to Lady Huntingdon, listening intensely. The preacher was comparing an ignorant sinner to a blind beggar on a dangerous road. His little dog gets away from him when skirting the edge of a precipice, and the old man is left to explore the path with his iron-shod staff. On the very edge of the cliff his stick slips through his fingers, and falls away down the abyss. All unconscious, its helpless owner stoops down to regain it, and stumbling forward. At this moment Chesterfilef, who had been listening with breathless alarm to this description of the blind man's movements, jumped up from his seat shouting, “Good God! he is gone!", trying to prevent the catastrophe.

The Witness of Character

noreply@blogger.com (Chola Mukanga) — Mon, 19 Jun 2023 15:54:00 +0000

Though religion, in its ordinary mode of exhibition, commands but little respect, when it rises to the sublime, and is perceived to colour and pervade the whole character, it rarely fails to draw forth the homage of mankind. The most hardened ungodliness, and daring immorality, will find it difficult to despise the man who manifestly appears to walk with God, whose whole system of life is evidently influenced and directed by the power of the world to come. The ridicule cast on religious characters, is not always directed towards their religion, but more often perhaps to the little it performs, contrasted with the loftiness of its pretensions; a ridicule which derives its force from the very sublimity of the principles which the profession of piety assume.

ROBERT HALL

Today I Learned

noreply@blogger.com (Chola Mukanga) — Thu, 04 May 2023 19:32:00 +0000

The English reformer John Hopper was imprisoned from September 1553 and killed in February 1555. Just before Hopper was martyred for his faith in Christ, Sir Anthony Kingston, whom he had once offended by rebuking his sins, came to see him, and begged him, with much affection and many tears, to think about his safety and recant.

Kingston said to Hopper, "Consider, that life is sweet, and death is bitter. Your life hereafter may do [much more] good." Hopper answered: "The life to come is more sweet, and the death to come is more bitter”. After seeing that Hoper was not going to change his mind, Kingston left him with bitter tears, telling him, "I thank God that I came to know you, because God appointed you to call me to be His child. By your good instruction, when I was before a fornicator and adulterer, God has taught me to detest and forsake the same”.

John Hooper afterwards said that this meeting with Kingston had drawn from him more tears than he had shed throughout the 17 months of his imprisonment.

(Source: J C Ryle, The Five English Reformers).

The Hyper-Spiritualisation of Justice

noreply@blogger.com (Chola Mukanga) — Thu, 27 Apr 2023 20:28:00 +0000

Our supposedly secular society has in fact hyperspiritualised the question of justice. Every claim to justice takes on an importance equivalent to that of a final battle between Christ and the devil, with good unambiguously on one side and evil on the other, along with all the apocalyptic fervor that this framing implies. But no human struggle can bear this divine weight. That way lies totalitarianism and making any means legitimate in attaining an end that is so pure, so noble, and so absolute. It is the logic behind the proclamation in "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" that in the advance of the Northern troops, "My eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord." It is the logic that led to the "Terror" of the French Revolution, with the guillotining of around 17,000 people, including many former revolutionaries whose convictions were subsequently considered to be insufficiently radical. It is the logic that led to the Chinese cultural revolution, in which intellectuals were murdered for their unwelcome views, to the killing fields of Cambodia, all in the name of creating a better society of the future, and to the various oppressions perpetrated by Catholic and Protestant states in pursuing the end of a properly Christian society.

CHRISTOPHER WATKIN

(Source: Biblical Critical Theory)

According to Watkin, at the root of this hyper-spiritualisation is the rejection by secular man of the biblical doctrines of original sin and redemption. In a world where people don’t regard themselves as sinners, they will only see themselves as pure victims and the others as exclusive sinners. If we add to that the absence of the biblical doctrine of redemption, life becomes a zero-sum game.