From One Degree to Another

The audio from the 2007 Desiring God National Conference is now online. I have listened to an interview Justin Taylor did with John MacArthur and John Piper on the first night of the conference. One question had to do with what would you tell yourself, with the wisdom you had today, when you first started out in ministry? Without blinking an eye, Piper responded that he would give more attention to family leadership. He hinted at the following questions by Rich Gamache as ways to draw out the spiritual affections of your children:

How are your devotions?
What is God teaching you?
In your own words, what is the gospel?
Is there a specific sin you’re aware of that you need my help defeating?
Are you more aware of my encouragement or my criticism?
What’s daddy most passionate about?
Do I act the same at church as I do when I’m at home?
Are you aware of my love for you?
Is there any way I’ve sinned against you that I’ve not repented of?
Do you have any observations for me?
How am I doing as a dad?
How have Sunday’s sermons impacted you?
Does my relationship with mom make you excited to be married?
(On top of these things, with my older kids, I’m always inquiring about their relationship with their friends and making sure God and his gospel are the center of those relationship. And I look for every opportunity to praise their mother and increase their appreciation and love for her.)

Use these in your own home to draw out your children for deeper spiritual fruit.

A conviction I’ve become more aware of in recent days is the need for me to shepherd my own family before the congregation. In his chapter, The Pastor’s Home, in Rediscovering Pastoral Ministry, Richard Mayhue writes:

A strong home begins with the pastor. He must take the biblical qualifications for ministry seriously, even if no one else does. A weak home means a weak ministry — that’s the pastor’s bottom line. Regardless of the circumstances, the pastor must lead–first at home as a biblical priority.

Leadership in the home is a must for any pastor. This is both encouraging (that God has granted me this priority) and discouraging (realizing how often I fail to live up to His standard). God in His grace, though, in setting apart men to serve as elders, sets them apart to excel in the pastoring of their homes. This must be our priorities.

Now, what implication does this have for any married person? God has set apart your leaders in the local church to model what He intends all of us to be. It is not just pastors who are called to excel in godly homes. God has called all of us to have homes that honor Him. I was so encouraged last night talking to a family with a child on the way. I asked them how I could pray and they both, without hesitation, said, “That we would be more consistent in our personal devotions.” They recognize a primary call God has placed on their lives. As we center our lives on God’s design we will have homes that glorify and enjoy Him, forever.

Well, today, 10/1, I return to the office after a week of vacation. After preaching on 9/23 and having small groups that night, I started my vacation on Monday…

Here are some highlights:

Monday, 9/24:
Read Manhunt by James Swanson
Enjoyed dinner with Elders and Our Wives at P.F. Changs

Tuesday, 9/25:
Read What is a Healthy Church by Mark Dever
Enjoyed a personal retreat at Sterling College

Wednesday, 9/26:
Read The Contemplative Pastor by Eugene Peterson
Led my Wed PM Class on Lloyd-Jones (Sermon on the Mount)
Moved into my newly renovated office

Thursday, 9/27:
Read When Sinners Say “I Do” by Dave Harvey
Had dinner at the Open Door Pregnancy Center (Pastor’s Appreciation Lunch)

Friday, 9/28:
Read Do I Know God? by Tullian Tchividjian
Traveled to McPherson and enjoyed a great day with Meg and Andrew

Saturday, 9/29:
Read the lastest issue of the Journal of Biblical Counseling
Picked Graham Hill up from the airport, enjoyed fellowship with him
Enjoyed dinner at the Guthrie’s

Sunday, 9/30:
Received great spiritual benefit from Graham Hill’s preaching
Deepened relationships by fellowshipping at our Church’s Annual Picnic

So, as you can see it was a very fruitful week. I am refreshed. It seems I have a renewed desire to preach and am ready to give myself fully to my labors here. I thank God and the dear ones at Crestview who allowed me to have such a blessed week.

Tony Reinke recently took a vacation which featured, among other things, a tour of Crossway Books. Our church uses the ESV and I believe every book I see published by Crossway is helpful and beneficial in some way. If you are in Chicago, I’m sure they would love to have you stop in. Tony does us a great service, though in this photo tour of the place.

The women of GirlTalk are interviewing Mary Mohler, wife of Southern Seminary President Al Mohler. Read the intro, Part 1 and Part 2.

I was really intrigued and took the test myself. Tim Ellsworth tipped me off to this. Apparently, students at Harvard didn’t crack 70% on this test. Read the story from USA today on how college students struggled on this history test, then take the test for yourself.

Since I am working on a series on Mondays on conflict, I would highly recommend you give a listen to C.J.’s sermon “Cravings and Conflict.” It is available as free audio now on the Sovereign Grace Website.

Last Monday, we began a short series on conflict and today and I want to point you to the reality of the Gospel. In his book The Gospel for Real Life, Jerry Bridges speaks of reconciliation like this:

When Jesus satisfied the justice of God and propitiated the wrath of God, He did all that was required to remove the enmity of God toward us. By His death He bridged the vast gulf of divine alienation between us and objectively restored us to a position of friendship and favor with God. But again we must keep in mind that it was God, the offended party, who sent His Son to reconcile us to Himself. As Paul wrote in Romans 5:10, “When we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son.”

As we are mindful in conflict of the Gospel, we can press on through any difficulty with the example of our Lord.

Paul Tripp recently used the following illustration to point us to the good life God desires for us in Psalm 27.

Imagine a little child running to the house once afternoon and saying to his mom, “Mommy, I am hungry…I want a candy bar, a can of soda, and a bowl of ice cream.” Now pretend that you respond, “I’ll make you a peanut butter sandwich with some apple slices on the side.” There’s a good possibility that your child won’t run over to his neighbor friend’s house and say, “You won’t believe what a good Mom I have…I asked for unhealthy treats and she responded by giving me things that were much better.” Probably the more likely scenario is that the child would immediately protest to his mother, “I don’t want peanut butter…I want candy…why can’t I have candy?” At this moment your child doesn’t think of you as the definition of parental goodness!

Being confident of the goodness of the Lord shouldn’t be confused with an assumption that because God is good, he’ll give me the things that I’ve set my heart on. In his grace, God is freeing you from the small confines of your little definition of what’s good so that you can experience the huge and satisfying good that he’s planned for you. Grace welcomes me to experience what is eternally right, true and good. Grace invites me to good that I could never have imagined, deserved, or earned.

Let your heart leap today toward your good God.

Thabiti points us to the greatest sin ever planned…

“The greatest sin that was ever committed in the history of the world… was planned by God, namely the death of His Son.”

This was the concluding comment by John Piper during a recent time at Wheaton. He preached a sermon entitled “Treasuring Christ and the Call to Suffer” Part 3.