David a Model of Restoration?

Does David’s life teach us that God can restore an adulterer to ministry? After all, David was a murderer and an adulterer, as well as a liar and poor father. 

Polygamy aside, his family life was a catastrophic train crash matched only by the debacle in 2 Samuel 11. 

Yet God did not remove him from the throne, and allowed his reign to directly last 40 years, and indirectly forever. Why? What is the lesson there?

The wrong lesson is this: God does not take sin seriously. I have heard people who commit immorality point at David and say, “See! God let him be king, so he can return me to ministry despite my unbiblical divorce and/or adultery.”

Let me be clear about two things. First, God does use sinners (those are the only kind of people there are!). At the same time, there are some sins that in the church disqualify someone from being an elder or church leader. Second, it is possible for people who have committed certain disqualifying sins to eventually be restored to pastoral ministry after an extended time away. An excellent book on that topic is The Stain that Stays, as it provides principles to apply in  those situations. This post does not want to go down the road of looking at those principles.

But I have heard Christian leaders who have committed disqualifying sexual sins point to David as justification for their refusal to take time away from ministry. The goal of this post is to explain why David’s life does not function as an example of God blessing the ministry of a disqualified leader.   Keep Reading >>>

Church Discipline Is Not a Dirty Chore

For some reason, doing the dishes vexes my wife. I think the process feels futile to her: there’s always something else getting dirty, something more that needs to be put away.

For me, dishes are no big deal. I’m more than happy to do them. But I’m much less sure-footed when it comes to some other, fouler-smelling messes around the house. 

Most of us put some chores on our “dirty” list. These are the things that make us hold our nose and look the other way. Things we would swiftly delegate if we could.

When it comes to life in the church, I think that many of us treat church discipline as a dirty chore. From private rebuke to public exclusion, we can resent the whole process. We hold our nose and look the other way as we go through the motions, eager to be done with all the mess.

I don’t deny that dealing with sin in the church can be uncomfortable, painful, and even disheartening. But we shouldn’t treat church discipline as a dirty chore.

Corrective church discipline begins—and, praise the Lord, very often ends—with one church member privately confronting the sin of another member. In Matthew 18:15-20, Jesus himself commands us to do this when our brother sins against us. Then Jesus provides further instruction about what to do if the individual doesn’t repent, ultimately culminating, if necessary, in excluding him or her from the congregation.    Keep Reading >>>

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Sin, Church Discipline and Thoughts About Bob DeWaay - Part 2

In Part 1 of my two part post aboutSin, Church Discipline and Thoughts About Bob DeWaay, I described my friendship with Pastor Bob DeWaay, how it came about, and how his diagnosis of alcoholic hepatitis had come as a profound shock to me. This was true not only for me, but for all who knew Bob. According to his wife, who had also become a friend of mine, she had truly never known a thing during Bob's years of secret alcohol abuse. She explained to me that both she and Bob are pretty independent, and that they gotten into a habit of going to bed at separate times. She told me that this was in part because Bob had suffered from insomnia for years. It seems he had a difficult time getting his mind to "turn off" so that he could fall asleep.

In hearing Bob's wife describe his difficulties with insomnia, my youngest son came to mind. My older son is like me: if he gets still enough, he's asleep in about 15 seconds. My 8-year-old, on the other hand, is extremely intelligent and has a mind that simply doesn't want to quit "consuming." His I.Q. has tested in the genius range, and he already reads at an adult level, composes music and writes poetry. His mind seems like a hungry animal to me, sometimes, and I find myself struggling to stay a few steps ahead of him! And he also has a very difficult time getting his mind to "turn off" so that he can fall asleep. So in listening to Bob's wife talk about Bob's problems with getting to sleep, and how, unbeknownst to her he had turned to alcohol to help him shut his mind off, I began to have some sympathy for his problem. This is not to say that Bob was not in sin. He was. And as this secret sin came to light, it was also obvious that Bob had gone to some lengths to hide his drinking which, in alcoholic fashion, had grown progressively worse over the years. Keep Reading...

The Significance of Natural Catastrophes (Part 1)

In recent years the headlines have reported catastrophic events from all over the world.  Earthquakes in particular have brought devastation to Sumatra, Pakistan, China and Haiti.  We wonder, “Where will the next earthquake hit?”  Those who have been exposed to the teachings of the Bible understand that these events have significance.  But what do they mean?  Are earthquakes “signs” from God?  Is God angry with men?  Is God punishing people because of their sin?

In order to interpret catastrophes (indeed to interpret all life and experience), we must view the event from the vantage point of a Biblical worldview.  A Biblical worldview rests upon the four pillars of Biblical reality: Creation, the Fall, Redemption and Restoration.  Earthquakes must be interpreted in terms of these four foundational truths. Keep Reading>>>