On Doing Ordinary Things

It has come as kind of a shock to me, now that I am a pastor and preaching on a regular basis, that the vast majority of the sermons I preach will be rather ordinary. I will study hard and pray hard and work hard, I’ll get started early in the week and give it a couple of days to germinate and give it another look-through early on Sunday morning, and at the end of it all I will have a rather ordinary sermon. Not a bad one, but an ordinary one. It certainly won’t be the sermon I had envisioned when I first sat down with my Bible and a cup of hot coffee on Monday morning. In my mind I’ve got these visions of greatness; before me on the pulpit I’ve got this reality of ordinariness.

Last week a friend asked me how my sermon had gone and I said, “Somewhere between being receiving a standing ovation and being pelted with dead cats.” That seems to about capture it, because honestly, I don’t know. It’s not like the people were weeping and throwing themselves to the ground in sorrow and repentance, and it’s not like they all just got up and left. Their response was as ordinary as my sermon—some people expressed gratitude, a couple of people offered correctives or improvements, and the majority said nothing while showing nothing out-of-the-ordinary.  Continue at Tim Challies

Other Blog posts by Tim Challies:

Satan's Great Desire

How to Build Unity in Your Church

Healthy Sexuality

IMAGE

Church Size: The Fault Line in the Movement

It can be good to have a "tribe" (e.g., Acts 29, 9Marks, SGM, the PCA)  where you resonate with the philosophy of ministry and get good resources for your work.  I'm also glad for what God is doing to bring people together across Reformed "tribes" through movements like T4G and The Gospel Coalition. Part of what God seems to be doing is forging trust and partnerships between groups that do things differently.

 

But from my observation (at conferences and in personal conversations), there seems to be still be a fault line running through us: church size.  I've sat in conferences where the speakers talk as if you aren't a good pastor until your church hits 2,000 people in attendance.  I've also heard small church pastors who seem to assume that large crowds always indicate that the message is being watered down.

A few suggestions on the matter:

• Drop the "better than" language.
  

Large churches aren't better than small.  And vice versa.  I don't care what your surveys say, you can easily find examples and statistics to show the superiority of whatever it is that you happen to be doing.  The fact is, some churches grow big because the ministry is faithful and the Lord is blessing.  Others grow big because the itching ears of the masses are being appeased.  Some small churches are doing great work in difficult places.  Others are small because they are lame and ineffective.  Most churches (big and small) do some things well and other things less well.     Keep Reading >>>

IMAGE

How Can I Know I'm Not a Christian?

How can I know that I’m a Christian? This is a question most of us have faced at one time or another, and even if we have not asked it ourselves, it’s likely that someone has asked for our help in wrestling through it. I recently came across an article from Michael McKinley that provides an interesting counter-question: How Can I know that I’m not a Christian?

In II Corinthians 13:5, the apostle Paul commands his readers: “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ​ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”

OK, that seems straightforward enough.  But what does it mean to examine yourself?  What should you be looking for?  How do you know whether or not you are “in the faith”?  What is the “test” that we might fail?  I wrote Am I Really a Christian? in order to try to help answer these questions.

Well, we should all hope that we pass “the test” (again, Paul’s words, not mine!).  And Scripture gives us a few things to look for that would indicate that in fact we are not “in the faith”.  A few examples:  Examples Here...

Am I Really a Christian?

...some of the best books in the history of the church lean toward one ditch or the other. Jonathan Edwards’s Religious Affections (a book that I love!) is sometimes overly introspective. Yes, Edwards’s analysis of what distinguishes true Christian affections is profound. His application is probing. But even the best of Christians can feel shaken in their assurance when reading Edwards. On the other hand, some of Martin Luther’s statements border on dangerous presumption. Of course, Luther’s exuberant faith in the finished work of Christ is exhilarating, even intoxicating. But it does seem a bit much for him to tell Melanchthon, “Be a sinner and sin boldly” (Letter No. 99)–especially when the apostle John said, “These things I write unto you that you sin not” ()!

Well, in reading through Mike McKinley’s Am I Really a Christian?, I initially thought it leaned a little too far on the introspective side. The chapter titles themselves could give this impression. “You are Not a Christian,” declare the first seven chapters, “Just Because You Say that You Are,” “If You Haven’t Been Born Again,” “Just Because You Like Jesus,” “If You Enjoy Sin,” “If You Do Not Endure to the End,” “If You Don’t Love Other People,” or “If You Love Your Stuff.” The second chapter, in particular, sets out McKinley’s bottom-line criterion for answering the question “what does it mean to be a true Christian” with the doctrine of new birth. This becomes the rubric with which the majority of the book develops. “A Christian is someone who has received the new birth as a free gift from God” (p. 30). The main body of the work then focuses on five evidences of new birth – “Five Things All Christians Have”: Read it all HERE

Protect the Flock by Excluding Visitors

Elders are called to protect the church from people who would do them spiritual harm (wolves among the sheep). One of the ways we try to do that in our church is by not allowing people to get very involved in the life of the congregation until they are members. 

So in our church, non-members are welcome to attend and participate in the public services of the church.  We are happy to have them in our Sunday morning gathering, our Sunday evening gathering, and our fellowship meals.

But we don't let people attend small groups or serve among the children or lead music until they are members.  In order to join the church, a person must be examined by the elders and approved by the congregation.  Once a person has been through that process, we feel reasonably comfortable that they are safe (that is to say, not a wolf). 

But until the point, we don't want to encourage people in the church to look to that person as a leader by putting them up in front of the congregation to lead singing.  We don't want them teaching the children of the church.  We don't want people to completely let their guard down and trust them in the way we ask members to trust each other in small groups.

People who are "regular attenders" but who haven't joined the church sometimes feel like our policy is exclusive.  But ultimately my responsibility is to the flock over which the Spirit has made me an overseer.  And besides, they are welcome to pursue church membership at any time.

And if you're looking for an awesome sermon on church membership, Jonathan Leeman preached one at my favorite church yesterday.

HT: 9marks

Evangelistic Worship

How Members Can Serve the Church on Sunday Morning