A word to pastors: this book is a gift to you. It will help you help others—by the modeling that’s done here and by the exegetical reflection and by the biblical and cultural insights. I can see whole churches reading this together as the pastor fleshes out the biblical foundations from the pulpit. What a powerful season that would be in the life of the church. (p. 12)
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C.J. Sermon Archive | Discernment | Parent-youth ministry | Pastoral ministry | Reading | Sermons | Small groups | Worldliness
By our uncritical pursuit of relevance we have actually courted irrelevance; by our breathless chase after relevance without a matching commitment to faithfulness, we have become not only unfaithful but irrelevant; by our determined efforts to redefine ourselves in ways that are more compelling to the modern world than are faithful to Christ, we have lost not only our identity but our authority and our relevance. Our crying need is to be faithful as well as relevant. (p. 11)
The gospel is good news. In fact it is “the best news ever” because it addresses our human condition appropriately, pertinently, and effectively as nothing else has, does, or can—and in generation after generation, culture after culture, and life after life. Little wonder that the Christian faith is the world’s first truly universal religion and in many parts of the world the fastest growing faith, and that the Christian church is the most diverse society on planet earth, with followers on all continents, in all climates, and under all the conditions of life and development. Of course, Christians can make the gospel irrelevant by shrinking and distorting it in one way or another. But in itself the good news of Jesus is utterly relevant or it is not the good news it claims to be. (p. 13)
Without God, our human knowledge is puny and perverse, limited on the one hand by finitude and distorted on the other by sin. That said, and that said humbly, three things can help us cultivate the independent spirit and thinking that are characteristic of God’s untimely people. In ascending order, they are developing an awareness of the unfashionable, cultivating an appreciation for the historical, and paying constant attention to the eternal. Each is crucial for effective resistance thinking. (p. 96)
Mere lip service to the importance of history will not do. We each have to build in a steady diet of the riches of the past into our reading and thinking. Only the wisdom of the past can free us from the bondage of our fixation with the present and the future. C. S. Lewis counseled, “It is a good rule, after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between.” (p. 104)
How then do we lift ourselves above the level of the finite and the mundane to gain an eternal perspective on what is true and relevant? The biblical answer is blunt in its candor. By ourselves we can’t. We can’t break out of Plato’s cave of the human, with all its smoke and flickering shadows on the wall. We can’t raise ourselves above the level of the timebound and the earthbound by such feeble bootstraps as reason. But where we are limited by our own unaided efforts, we have help. We have been rescued.…God has broken into our silence. He has spoken and has come down himself. And in his written and living Word we are given truth from outside our situation, truth that throws light on our little lives and our little world. (p. 107)
Book reviews | Christ + Culture | Pastoral ministry | Reading | Sound doctrine
Humor | Interviews | Reading
I’m not in the business of introducing every good book released from Christian publishers (there are others who do this well). But today I want to draw your attention to three noteworthy books all recently released and written by three of our African-American brothers and friends—Thabiti Anyabwile, Eric Redmond, and Anthony Carter. (I think it’s fitting to here inform readers that at the 2008 T4G conference, Thabiti publicly announced that ethnically I’m a “brother.” This was without a doubt one of the highlights of the conference for me and on the short list of greatest honors I’ve ever received.) I want to commend these three books to your attention because each is focused on strengthening the local church. But none of them requires a lengthy introduction, because I think the chapter titles speak clearly and compellingly to the content, scope, and value of each volume. What Is a Healthy Church Member? There is a desperate need for more books written by doctrinally discerning pastors addressing a passion for, and the priority of, the local church in the life and practice of every Christian. I highly recommend Thabiti Anyabwile’s book, What Is A Healthy Church Member? (Crossway, 2008), to all pastors and Christians alike. Chapter titles include:
My thanks to each of these men for serving Sovereign Grace churches with their writing, leadership, godly example, and friendship.
Book reviews | Discernment | Reading
Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III recently traveled to Sovereign Grace to teach on covenant theology at the Pastors College. Dr. Duncan currently serves as senior minister of First Presbyterian Church (Jackson, MS) and as an adjunct professor at Reformed Theological Seminary (Jackson, MS). In late March, Dr. Duncan generously opened his schedule for me to ask a handful of questions on the value of the early church fathers, especially for busy pastors. Patrology, or the study of the early church fathers, was the topic of Dr. Duncan’s PhD thesis from the University of Edinburgh. The interview answers questions like Why should a busy pastor invest time in reading the patristic authors? How will a pastor benefit? Where should he start? What cautions should he be alerted to? Download the full interview MP3 (14.4 MB).
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Outline of interview questions [with time markers] [00:00] – Intro [01:30] – Define for us patristics or patrology. [04:28] – Why should busy pastors read patristic literature in the first place? [09:29] – What hurdles do pastors face in reading and benefiting from patristic writings? [14:13] – For the busy pastor, recommend a few specific patristic titles covering history, biography, and primary sources. [26:52] – What contemporary debates reflect controversies addressed by the patristic authors? [32:00] – Our culture appears to be growing increasingly secular. If it's true that secularism is on the rise, what can we learn from the church fathers on engaging a “pagan” culture? [36:06] – In patristic literature, a reader will be faced with thoughts or practices of the early church fathers that were incorrect. What concerns do you have for a pastor getting his feet wet in the patristic writings? [41:46] – Would you agree that in patristic writings we see a stress on ethics over and above the gospel? [45:08] – Dr. Duncan, you are a gifted patristic scholar and have been pastoring at First Presbyterian in Jackson for over twelve years now, preaching on a regular basis. How do your preaching and pastoral ministry reflect the impact of patristic authors?
Book reviews | Interviews | Preaching | Reading
Pastors are obviously called to care for the souls of others, and yet today we want to turn the focus and ask: How does a pastor make sure that he is caring for his own soul? What does it look like for a man to pursue his own personal relationship with God and make sure he is growing spiritually?
The full hourlong podcast, “The Pastor and His Soul,” can be downloaded here.
Affections | Cross of Christ | Cross-centered life | Leadership | Pastoral ministry | Podcasts | Prayer | Reading | Spiritual disciplines
In this slightly edited excerpt from our first Leadership Interview podcast (“The Pastor and His Reading”), Joshua Harris, Jeff Purswell, and C.J. Mahaney discuss the priority of reading in the pastor’s schedule. ---------------- Joshua Harris: Fitting reading into your daily life can be a challenge. How does this fit in with all the meetings that I’ve got, with just normal message preparation, with counseling, all those kinds of things? What is some practical advice to make reading a priority? C.J. Mahaney: Well, I think first of all, you need a conviction related to reading and the priority of reading. So I think it all begins with a conviction. Once the conviction develops, then one needs to plan. And for me, during a simple, brief period of time—either Sunday afternoon or Monday morning—I plan my week, where my passions and priorities are transferred to the schedule. This makes all the difference, because I know entering each week that there will be more requests than I can possibly fulfill. So I know that. Given my limitations, given my weaknesses, I know that there are going to be more requests this week then I can possibly fulfill. JH: You are not going to get it all done. CJM: I am not. Only God gets his to-do list done on a daily basis. I also know that there will be some unforeseen crisis that takes place in a given week. And there will be urgent requests in a given week. I mean, all those inevitably await. If I am not prepared through planning—planning derived from biblical priorities—I will be overtaken by the urgent. And at the end of the week, looking back, I will not have devoted myself to that which is important. I will have been governed by the urgent or governed by that of secondary importance. Now, there are exceptions in each and every week, particularly in relation to an emergency. But by planning prior to the week, based on priorities—and reading and study would be a top priority on the short list of priorities—you are in a position to say “no” to the numerous requests from well-meaning people for your time and attention. And you will have a decision previously made that will position you to humbly and graciously decline opportunities, because you know the best way you can serve your soul, and your family, and the church is to devote yourself to reading and study. So that brief time of planning on a Sunday or Monday, I find, makes all the difference when I arrive here on Tuesday. Jeff Purswell: I just think what you said, C.J., is so critical for pastors: this conviction and awareness of the urgent. In light of the demands placed upon a pastor—and those are typically good things, they are typically arenas of service, they are things we are doing for the glory of God and for the good of his people—it is so easy to let reading slide. It is so easy for reading to be postponed. It is so easy for us to lose our conviction. In the Pastors College we try to emblazon on the student’s mind an age-old saying that pastors are “ministers of the Word.” And whether your specialty is pastoral care, or overseeing small groups, or leading evangelism efforts, or doing mercy ministry, or preaching, all that we do is the ministry of the Word. And at the end of the day we have nothing to offer people except God’s Word. And so regardless of one’s particular pastoral responsibilities, I think we should all be viewing our responsibilities through the lens that God’s Word provides. And so I just so appreciate the way C.J. has led us in keeping reading as a conviction and a priority. CJM: And I would want to encourage pastors who I think might be tempted to view reading and study as selfish. I view reading and study as one of the most important ways I can serve the church. So it is not a selfish act for me to set aside this time. It is really the most effective way I can serve this church, by tending to my soul and by preparing for the various forms and expressions of ministry. The best way I can serve a church is by responding to the command to watch your life and watch your doctrine (1 Timothy 4:16). It is the example of a pastor over a period of years and decades that will make a difference in the life of a congregation. And therefore I want to guard my heart from growing familiar with the pastoral world, growing familiar with God’s Word, growing familiar with corporate worship, growing familiar when I am listening to preaching, growing familiar when I am taking communion, growing familiar with God. I want to guard my heart from that. And the best way I can do that is by attending to his Word and applying his Word to my heart on a daily basis. I think that is the most effective way I can serve those I care for and those I have been called to serve and lead.
Listen to the full podcast here.
Pastoral ministry | Reading
On behalf of the many folks excited to make C.J.’s pastoral and practical wisdom more accessible to pastors, we announce the launch of the Sovereign Grace Leadership Interview Series podcast. The interviews feature a roundtable discussion among C.J. Mahaney (president of Sovereign Grace Ministries), Jeff Purswell (dean of our Pastors College), and Joshua Harris (senior pastor of Covenant Life Church). The three gather on a regular basis to discuss a wide array of theological and practical leadership issues. In the introduction to the first podcast, Jeff Purswell explains the origin of the series.
Well, as we talk about this series around here it gets a lot of laughs because the genesis has been so long in coming. C.J. contributes to the Pastors College (Sovereign Grace’s school where we train pastors for Sovereign Grace churches). C.J. and his wife, Carolyn, will meet with the students and their wives once a month in the evening to share wisdom, answer questions, share from their wealth of experience and so forth. And I used to sit in those every week or twice a month with C.J., and so many times I would be sitting there as he answers questions. And I would be amazed at the wisdom coming forth, the grace that is on C.J., and the wealth of experience he has. And I remember thinking, “Oh, this would be so good for so many pastors.” Actually, I talked to a pastor from another Sovereign Grace church and told him about this context. I will never forget what he said. “I would give my right arm to sit in that basement and listen to C.J.”
Lend your ear and keep your arm because those Pastors College contexts have been recreated, recorded, and made available for free download. But beyond the wisdom of C.J., you will glean valuable insights from Jeff and Joshua, too. The combined wisdom of these three men—each with unique church leadership experiences—converges into an informative and lively conversation that will especially serve pastors. The first episode—“The Pastor and His Reading”—covers the importance of reading, the priority of a developed discipline of reading, and gets down to specific book recommendations (check your book budget balance before listening). Listen, download, and subscribe through the podcast page here. Below are links to all the resources mentioned in the podcast. Enjoy! ------------- Resources mentioned in the podcast:
Pastoral ministry | Podcasts | Reading
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