Category Archives: The Pastor’s Toolbox

Feeding the shepherds, so they can feed the sheep.

Pastors, Think Everything Else Relatively Worthless

23 April 2013

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John Calvin’s comments on the first part of 1 Tim 4:6:

“Men often set before them some other aim than to approve themselves to Christ; many seek applause for their cleverness, eloquence or profound knowledge, and that is why they pay less attention to the basic necessities which are apt to produce less popular admiration. But Paul tells Timothy to be content with this one thing, that he should be a faithful minister of Christ. And we should certainly regard this as a far more honourable title than being called a thousand times over seraphic and subtle doctors. Let us remember therefore that it is the greatest honour than can befall a godly pastor to be accounted a good servant of Christ, so that during his whole ministry this should be his only aim. For those who have some other ambition may well succeed in winning men’s approval, but they will not please God. Thus not to be deprived of so great a blessing, let us learn to seek nothing else, to think nothing else so important, and indeed to think everything else relatively worthless.”

What Comes Into Your Mind?

18 April 2013

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One of my favorite twentieth-century writers is A.W. Tozer. This May will mark fifty years since Aiden Wilson Tozer went to be with his Lord and Savior. Tozer was born on April 21, 1897. He grew up in a small farming community in Pennsylvania. Tozer was converted as a teenager, and at the age of 22, having no theological education, he took his first pastoral position. This was the beginning of over forty years of faithful ministry. In the course of his life, Tozer wrote dozens of books. Perhaps my favorite one is a little work entitled The Knowledge of the Holy. In this book, Tozer discusses the attributes of God: God’s holiness, His love, His wisdom, etc. Tozer wrote this book because, as he looked at the Church of his day, he felt that Christians had surrendered their once lofty concept of God. The Church, he said, had lost sight of the greatness of God. As a result, the worship of the Church was cold and the witness of the church was weak. Here are a few powerful lines from the opening chapter of the book:

“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. The history of mankind will probably show that no people has ever risen above its religion, and man’s spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God. Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God. For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like. We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God. This is true not only of the individual Christian, but of the company of Christians that composes the Church. Always the most revealing thing about the Church is her idea of God, just as her most significant message is what she says about Him or leaves unsaid, for her silence is often more eloquent than her speech… Were we able to extract from any man a complete answer to the question, “What comes into your mind when you think about God?” we might predict with certainty the spiritual future of that man. Were we able to know exactly what our most influential religious leaders think of God today, we might be able with some precision to foretell where the Church will stand tomorrow. Without doubt, the mightiest thought the mind can entertain is the thought of God, and the weightiest word in any language is its word for God.”

The Pastorals for Pastors – Part 2

10 January 2013

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Having previously commented on my top five commentaries on the Pastoral Epistles, I would like now to introduce two more. These fall into the category of “honorable mention,” because they are specifically written for pastors (and so are user-friendly and ministry-sensitive) and because they take a very unique approach (and so offer something that no other commentary on the Pastorals offers).

Paul Trebilco and Simon Rae. 1 Timothy. Asia Bible Commentary; Paul Trebilco, Chris Caradus, and Simon Rae, 2 Timothy and Titus, Asia Bible Commentary. Trebilco is Professor of New Testament at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. This series of commentaries is designed to enable Asian readers to understand the Scriptures in their own context and to interpret and apply them to the plurality of Asian cultures in which they live and work. The series is designed for use by pastors in their expository ministry of preaching, teaching, and counseling, by teachers and students in their theological studies, and by men and women who lead small groups in churches and homes.

Samuel Ngewa, 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus. Africa Bible Commentary. Ngewa is Professor of New Testament Studies at the Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology in Kenya. This series grew out of the one volume Africa Bible Commentary. The contributors are Anglophone or Francophone African scholars, all of whom adhere to the statement of faith of the Association of Evangelicals in Africa. The series targets pastors and focuses on sermon preparation with more technical issues handled in footnotes. It is aimed at the African context: illustrations are drawn from life there and the current concerns of churches in Africa are addressed. Study questions at the end of each section raise specific issues current in African churches.

For believers stationed in North America or Europe, these two commentaries offer the opportunity to hear from the church in Asia and Africa, and to see how they are wrestling with the interpretation and application of scripture in their contexts. Therefore, these are invaluable tools.

 

 

The Pastorals for Pastors – Part 1

1 November 2012

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Most pastors are on a pretty tight budget, and commentaries can be quite expensive. Plus, there are hundreds of commentaries to choose from, so pastors with a limited book budget need to know which commentaries are the best. I’m in the process of writing a thesis on 1 and 2 Timothy, and over the course of the last year or so I’ve read a lot of commentaries on the Pastoral Epistles. Some have been good. Some bad. Some just ugly. Here are the current top five commentaries I would recommend for pastors.

#5  William D. Mounce, Pastoral Epistles, WBC. Mounce is a New Testament scholar who is best known for his Greek textbooks and tools. I’m not particularly fond of the format of the WBC series, but it’s worth working through this one. Mounce is a Conservative Evangelical who definitely knows his Greek (a lot better than I do!). This is a good commentary.

#4  Luke Timothy Johnson, The First and Second Letters to Timothy, AB. Johnson is a former Benedictine monk. He currently serves as Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins at Candler School of Theology. He knows the Greco-Roman world extremely well, does a great job in explaining why we must be careful about referring to Timothy and Titus as “pastors” (they were actually apostolic delegates), and his defense of Pauline authorship is one of the best I’ve come across.

#3  Gordon D. Fee, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, NIBC. Fee is an ordained minister of the Assemblies of God (USA) and an excellent biblical scholar. His commentary on the Pastorals is very user-friendly. If you’re looking for a short but substantial commentary then this is the one for you. Fee has a pastoral tone, and he is usually quite helpful theologically.   

#2  I. Howard Marshall, The Pastoral Epistles, ICC. Marshall is an Evangelical Methodist and a first-rate scholar. This is probably the most thorough commentary on the Pastorals, written by a man who has dedicated his life to studying and teaching the New Testament. Marshall definitely does the best job of explaining the tough grammatical and syntactical issues. Unfortunately, Marshall’s position on authorship is a bit thorny for me; he tries to navigate a via media between pseudonymity and authenticity. Still, this is one stout work.

#1  Philip H. Towner, The Letters to Timothy and Titus, NICNT. Towner is a biblical and translation scholar with extensive translation experience as a translation consultant in SE Asia and the Americas. Overall, I find his to be the best commentary on the Pastorals. Towner has been studying these letters for over two decades, and he has written more on the Pastoral Epistles than anyone else (with the exception of Marshall, who was Towner’s doctoral supervisor). It is well-written and well-organized. He makes a solid case for Pauline authorship. He works with the Greek text, but transliterates in the body of the commentary, so no worries if your Greek isn’t stellar. Towner is strong on word studies and grammatical complexities. And he is very strong theologically. If you’re going to be preaching through the Pastorals sometime soon, I hope you’ll buy at least three of these commentaries. But if you can only buy one, this is the most bang for your buck.

God is Love: Short Notice

28 September 2012

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God is Love: A Biblical and Systematic Theology. By Gerald Bray. Wheaton: Crossway, 2012.

Gerald Bray is research professor of divinity at Beeson Divinity School and an ordained clergyman of the Church of England. He is a keen theologian and a devoted churchman—the ideal combination for a writer of a systematic theology. Bray has written this work for students of the Word throughout the world. He hopes to reach those who would not normally find systematic theology appealing, and his goal is to “speak with equal clarity to believers in China, Indonesia, and Africa as to those in Europe, America, or Australasia” (13). The book is devoid of scholarly jargon, and the reader will not once be asked to spectate “the kind of theological ping-pong that sets one man’s views against another’s” (13). Certainly Bray realizes the value of critical argumentation, but here he concentrates on the eternal truths of Scripture, rather than summarizing the debates of the specialists. By my estimate, ninety percent or more of the footnotes contained in the book direct the reader straight to the biblical text. A refreshing pattern indeed.

Bray, a Reformed Anglican who has previously provided us with a helpful study of the beliefs held by those within his particular tradition (see his The Faith We Confess: An Exposition of the Thirty-Nine Articles), chooses to focus here on what he, along with John Stott and C.S. Lewis, refer to as basic or mere Christianity. By basic Christianity he means a faith that “draws deeply on the revelation of God’s Word and seeks to embrace all who submit to its authority in sincerity and truth” (12-13). This focus makes the book more ecumenical than any other systematic theology I have read. But Bray does not confuse theological hospitality with an unwillingness to confront heresy; he carefully articulates and defends the boundaries of Christian orthodoxy.

This is an exceptional work, written for the benefit of pastors and church members alike. It would be a great text to use in discipleship groups/classes in the local church. A small group of college students could read through the book together. A group of businessmen could commit to meet and discuss a chapter every Friday morning before work. The book is appropriate for believers of just about any stage of life.

I encourage you to take the time to work through this book. And I’m confident that if you do so, you will be better equipped “to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you…” (1 Pet 3:15).

Audio of John Piper at Age 25

19 March 2012

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John Piper has had a tremendous impact on my life.  He’s been faithfully serving the Lord for over forty years now.  Young guns in the ministry can learn a lot from Piper’s view of the authority and sufficiency of Scripture and his commitment to expositional preaching.  I recently discovered quite a treasure–the oldest existing (that I know of anyways) audio of Piper’s preaching.  Here’s a link to the sermon.  It’s his chapel sermon at Fuller Theological Seminary, delivered on March 24, 1971.  Piper was 25 years old at the time.  The subject is, of course, the glory of God.

Of Good Shepherds and God’s Sheep: Responsibilities of the Pastor/Elder

6 March 2012

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I tend to think of my pastoral authority and responsibilities in four basic categories:  feeding, leading, protecting, and caring.  Alexander Strauch, in his wonderful book, Biblical Eldership, was perhaps the first to introduce these categories to me in such a clear and persuasive manner.  I believe this is consistent with the biblical teaching on pastoral leadership.  In I Pet. 5:1-5, for example, the Apostle Peter offers a brief description of how pastors/elders should conduct themselves.  Interestingly, Peter doesn’t say that elders are to be CEOs, savvy businessmen, sharp dressers, dynamic speakers, brilliant minds, or charismatic personalities.  He tells us from the very beginning that elders are to be shepherds.  This is without a doubt the dominant imagery in the Bible when it comes to spiritual leadership—the image of a shepherd.  So, I think these four categories—feeding, leading, protecting, and caring—line up well with Scripture.  I’ll elaborate a wee bit.

1.  A shepherd must feed the sheep.  This means that he must preach and teach the Word of God.  Without the Word, the sheep will suffer; they will experience spiritual starvation.  I’ll have more to say about this in a forthcoming post.  For now, I’ll just mention a few basic criteria.  A shepherd who desires to nourish the flock will preach:  faithfully (the content is thoroughly biblical). clearly (the presentation is orderly and biblical terms/ideas are carefully explained), and passionately (the herald believes and is convicted by what he has studied long before he tries to share it with anyone else).

2.  Additionally, a shepherd must lead.  He must guide and direct the sheep.  He must have a vision of where God wants the church to go (this, of course, should come from the Bible) and he must work diligently to move the church in that direction.  In doing this, however, the shepherd must hold to the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers and instill within the entire congregation a sense of ministry as “our work.”

3.  Third, a shepherd must protect.  He must be on guard against those who would try to harm the flock.  False teachers are popular because they tell people what they want to hear.  But a shepherd must be able to discern truth from error and he must be willing to protect the sheep from going down the wrong path.

4.  Finally, a shepherd must care.  He must love the sheep.  He demonstrates this by praying, visiting, counseling, writing letters, and whatever else he can to show the sheep that they really do matter to him.

In summary, all four of these things are extremely important.  No parson on the planet will ever be able to do all of these things perfectly!  However, a faithful shepherd must be aware of and committed to all four of these areas.  Enough said for now.  But if you have never read it, or if it’s just been a while, I highly recommend Strauch’s book.  You can check it out here.

“The Runway Leading Up to the Pulpit”

26 February 2012

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In case you haven’t heard, Texas mega-church pastor, Ed Young, has launched a website called Pastor Fashion.  You can check it out here.  Here’s the mission statement, taken right off the site:

Pastors aren’t typically known for their fashion. Most people don’t think of the runway leading up to the pulpit. But why not?! Why can’t the men and women of God set the standard for the rest of the world in fashion as well as faith? That’s why we’re launching PastorFashion.com. We want to set the trends.

Young is a believer and co-laborer in the Lord’s work.  He is my brother and ministry companion.  Even though I have never met him in person, I will spend eternity with him, and we will worship Jesus together forever.  But brothers err, and when these brothers are also pastors, there are times when public confrontation is entirely necessary.  In my view, this is one of those times.

This whole Pastor Fashion bit troubles me.  The very idea of a “runway leading up to the pulpit” brings out the Hyde in me.  I’m convinced my indignation is righteous.  If you’re not, then consider the following.  I hope it will help us see why this is all so treacherous.

When it comes to clothing, there’s not a great deal of prescriptive material in the Scriptures.  Women are warned about the dangers of being obsessed by outer appearances (e.g.: I Tim. 2:9-10 and I Pet. 3:3-4).  Inner beauty is much more important, and pleasing to God.  The issue of elaborate dress among men doesn’t come up in the New Testament–I guess there weren’t any metro-sexuals in the first century.  Those were the days.  But what is very clear in Scripture is that a man who holds the office of pastor/elder is not to be a lover of money (I Tim. 3:3), and by implication he is not to be consumed by the things that money can buy.  This certainly includes expensive clothing.  If he is preoccupied with his fancy wardrobe, there is a serious problem.  Another issue here is that pastors/elders should not want to be the center of attention.  They should desire for all attention to be on Christ.  A pastor’s thought process should never be, “What can I wear today that will wow my parishioners?  I want them to walk away saying I’m a great looking pastor!”  At a conference a few years back, John Piper commented on how he thinks about his preaching attire.  It’s the complete opposite of what Ed Young is suggesting on his Pastor Fashion website.  Piper explained that his goal is to dress plain and simple, so that his congregation will never give the slightest thought to what he is wearing.  He does not want his garb to distract or to take the focus off the gospel.  Piper realizes that he (or what he is wearing) is not the point.  Christ is the point.  This, my fellow pastors, is a much better way to approach “fashion.”  So disregard the ridiculous notion of a “runway leading up to the pulpit,” and shine the spotlight on Christ.  After all, He is the only One worthy of all our attention and affection.

All Desiring God Books Are $5

15 February 2012

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I’m back from a brief hiatus with great news of cheap books!  The Desiring God store will be completely renovated in the days ahead and Piper’s books will no longer be sold on the site.  To help DG get rid of all their inventory, all books are on sale right now for just $5.  Go here to stock up!  You can also go here to read Piper’s explanation of the changes to DG ministry.

Of Marriages and Merisms

6 February 2012

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Here are two new theological/pastoral resources.  The first is a case study paper.  What should a pastor do if a couple in his church requests to be married without filing the appropriate paperwork with the State (aka:  the marriage license)?  In other words, the couple wants to be married “in the eyes of God,” but not “in the eyes of the government.”  This is more common than you might think.

In the Eyes of the Lord-A Pastoral Case Study

The second is a list (including Scriptural examples) of some of the figures of speech used in the Bible.  If we desire to interpret the Bible accurately, we must learn to interpret figures of speech–the Bible is jam-packed with them!

Some of the Major Figures of Speech Used in the Bible