Christ’s Purpose for the Church and the Necessity of Every Member

Scientists still marvel at the human body’s ability to fight off disease and build itself up to proper health. The apostle Paul informs the Ephesian church that something even more remarkable happens when every member of Christ’s body is walking in a manner worthy of the Gospel:

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.  (Eph 4:15-16)

So often, we think of spiritual growth in strictly individualistic terms, but Paul says something completely different, that our sanctification is tied up with the woman’s in the pew across the aisle. He says that Christ has designed his body  in such a way that the proper functioning of every member is necessary for the entire church to grow up into maturity in Christ. And when this happens, the body builds itself up in love, so that the glory of Christ is displayed to the world through the unity of diverse individuals. Now that is something to marvel at. You can listen to my sermon on this beautiful passage here:  Eph 4.1-16

He Must Increase: John the Baptist vs. the anti-Christ in me

I am preaching through the Gospel of John on Sunday mornings, and recently was pierced by the words of John the Baptist in John 3:30, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” John’s followers were fuming that their significance was diminishing as Christ’s was rising. Throughout the Gospel, the Pharisees rage against the Messiah as he claims to be greater than Abraham and the True Temple. Every day, I am tempted to turn to my own wicked forms of self-idolatry rather than acknowledge Jesus as supreme. But these words of the Baptist here remind us of what has been true since before the world began, that “The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.” (John 3:35) The exaltation of Christ is not just a nice idea; it is an eternal reality that Paul tells us the entire universe will one day proclaim from bended knee. (Phil 2:9-11) May this reality of Christ’s supremacy shape every part of our lives. You can listen to my sermon here: John 3:22-36

Sing a song of Grudem

As Dr. Brad Green would say, I “cut my teeth” theologically on Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology the summer after my freshman year of college. It remains remarkably accessible to a theological lightweight like myself, and is a great resource for the church today in Sunday School, small group, or private discipleship settings.

Although I love Wayne Grudem, I think my affections fall short of another group of admirers who have put together an entire musical tribute to the man. I am still laughing about watching the performance of “The Wayne Grudem Song,” and you can view it here:   

http://thebluefish.org/2008/02/my-karaoke-heroes-aka-south-west-relay.html

HT: Gene Smith

Charles Bridges, the Christian Ministry, and one wicked tag-team

Charles Bridges (1794-1869) in The Christian Ministry: With an Inquiry into the Causes of its Inefficiency  (Banner of Truth) offers insights in the work of pastoral ministry that warm the heart and stir the soul. So much of Bridges’ attitude and advice about the ministry is completely out of step with the popular notions of the pastorate today, but his words are so thoroughly grounded in God’s word that they ring with an umistakable conviction and nobility. Useful quotes abound from these pages, but this one on the necessity of personal oversight is enough to humble me for the rest of the week. While discussing difficulties in the ministry, he notes that “after all, the greatest difficulties derive their origin and power from ourselves.”  He continues to describe the ditch that exists on either side of the road for ministers, pride and despondence. To borrow an illustration from pro wrestling (not usually reccomended), these two sins can form a wicked tag-team against any minister.

A course of opposition also to our message may stir up a selfish, unhumbled spirit. Popularity is yet more dangerous: the few, who escape its influence unhurt, have been exercised in painful conflicts, such as have shown their deliverance form this fiery trial  to have been nearly miraculous. Symptoms of success, unless tempered with personal abasement and habitual watchfulness, excite to self-confidence. The want of these tokens on the other hand, is too often accompanied with impatience or despondency; so that – assaulted at the extreme points from opposite directions – we need ‘ the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left.’ (2 Cor 6:7)  (15)

How often have these two sins “tag-teamed” me relentlessly, puffing me up with arrogance one day, then plunging me into despair the next! In both cases, I am taking my eyes off the sufficiency of Christ crucified and risen for me, my only boast. I suspect, from Bridges’ words, that this is no new development. May the Chief Shepherd deliver us from the wiles of the evil one, and may all of Christ’s shepherds keep a close watch over our own souls.

A Lamp Shining in a Dark Place

My church has been working through some basic doctrine together on Wednesday nights, beginning with the doctrine of the Word of God. We started off with something of a “Biblical theology of God’s Word,” seeing from Scripture how central God’s spoken Word has been from Creation all the way to the New Creation. Tonight, we arrived at the centrality of the Word in the church, as presented in the NT epistles. I was struck, as I have been many times, when we read together the the apostle Peter’s words in his second letter. He begins by recounting his experience on the Mount of Transfiguration. How magnificent it would have been to stand on that mountain with James, and John, witnessing the glory cloud at Jesus’ transfiguration! What a sense of awe it would have evoked, viewing the very glory of God, and listening to the audible sound His authoritative voice. No one could leave such an encounter without knowing that God had been present. And yet Peter, as he writes years later to a group of churches led to believe by false teachers that Christ was not really returning, says something remarkable about Scripture. With the memory of the Transfiguration still fresh, he asserts that they possessed something even more reliable than the audible voice of God.

And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as a to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.( 2 Peter 1:19-21) 

 

According to Peter, if the church in the first or 21st century wants to tremble in awe along with Moses and James and John, if it wants to be caught up into a life-changing encounter with the divine, this comes about when we humbly gather around the written word of God. This means that the same manifestation of His will and word, so tangible at the Transfiguration, is being revealed to His people every time a father sits down with his children and explains to them the love of Jesus in a family devotional. This means that the glory of God is made manifest over the creaking pews of a rural Baptist church, filled with farmers and railroad workers and teachers, who sit submissively under the preached word of God. They are hearing the voice of God revealing Himself and directing their paths. As Peter put it, they are looking with to a lantern light in a sin-darkened world until the morning star arises in their hearts.

I don’t think Peter was implying a casual look; I think he intended the kind of desperate clinging to a flickering light in a pitch-black cave filled with unseen, life-threatening dangers. This is the call of God’s people: to look to this lantern light together, and to follow its path, until the Morning Star arises and the Light of the World casts out every shadow once and for all. We need this kind of desperation for God’s Word as we preach and sit under Biblical preaching, not content with entertaining stories and jokes, but well-aware of our need for the light. We need it throughout the week, not idly thumbing through a devotional book, but desperately running to the Spirit-inspired prophets and apostles, to hear the voice of Jesus Christ. May we cling to the light this week, to the glory of our King, until he comes again.

 

 

 

The Gospel Takes on Flesh and Blood: Sin and Restoration in the Church

According to Jesus, even in the community of his own people, sin remains a reality until he returns. The question for the church then is not, “what if one of us sins?” but, “how would Christ have us respond when one of us does sin?” The short answer to this question is that the Gospel determines our response. The longer answer is Matthew 18, where Jesus addresses sin and restoration within his church. I recently preached from this passage on a Sunday evening at my church:  sin-and-restoration-m-18

Dr. Ray Van Neste delivers ordination charge from 1 Tim 4:6-16

Dr. Ray Van Neste preached a stirring sermon at my ordination service on Sunday morning from 1 Timothy 4:6-16. He directed Paul’s Spirit-inspired instructions to the would-be pastor and his congregation, that we might both understand the call of the Gospel ministry. I tremble at the gravity of this task, but in my insufficiency cry out for more grace. You can listen to the sermon here: 1 Tim 4:6-16 (ordination sermon)

Ordination to the Gospel Ministry

The ordination of Francis Asbury

Candace and I spent the fourth of July with my grandparents at their home in Pickwick, TN. At one point in the afternoon, I came across a little NKJV New Testament in my grandfather’s houseboat. I opened up to Paul’s first letter to Timothy, and for the first time in a long time, I read the entire letter straight through. I was only a few lines in before my heart was stirred to the point that my eyes began to burn with tears. What a marvelous letter! Paul, the greatest Christian missionary and theologian who ever lived, writing to a young pastor with all of the sincere love of a father. Among the many moving passages, this familiar text took on new meaning for me in light of my own recent calling to the pastorate here at Curve Baptist Church, one to which I feel completely insufficient. 

“ 11Command and teach these things. 12 Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. 13Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. 14 Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. 15 Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. 16 Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.” (1 Tim 4:12-16)

Tomorrow morning, by the mercies of Christ, I will be ordained to the Gospel ministry. Included in the ordination service will be the reading of Scripture and a sermon from two of my own “Pauls,” Dr. Ray Van Neste and Dr. Brad Green. I am immensely humbled that these men and the church of Jesus Christ would see fit to ordain me to this glorious calling of shepherding the flock of God, and I look forward to the public exhortation and affirmation I will receive before my own dear church and my visiting family. By grace, may I keep close watch on my own doctrine and life, and dedicate myself not to man-pleasing and posturing, but to an earnest ministry for the sake of Christ, that I may save both myself and my hearers. Truly, God has placed the treasure of his Gospel in unbecoming and unworthy jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to him and not to us!

D.A. Carson coming to Union University

Photo of Dr. Carson taken from desiringgod.org

I was so excited to receive a brochure in the mail yesterday announcing that Dr. Don Carson is coming to my own Union University in the month of April. Dr. Carson is the featured speaker at the R.C. Ryan Center for Biblical Studies’ semi-annual conference. More information can be found at http://www.uu.edu/centers/biblical/

Dr. Carson is widely known as one of the very finest evangelical scholars in the world, and I am personally grateful for the profound influence his writings and sermons have had on me over the past several years. Dr. Carson’s grasp of the whole counsel of God, and his ability to preach Christ warmly and reverently never cease to amaze and edify me. I highly reccomend the website of Andy Naselli, who has compiled many of his sermons for download: www.andynaselli.com//theology/d-a-carson-mp3s.  

The beginning of a blog

My name is Eric Smith, but this is nothing to boast about, because I owe my very life to another man. I once was dead in the trespasses and sins in which I once walked and dearly loved, a child of wrath at war with the God who created me. By nature and by action I had made myself God’s enemy. But God, being rich in mercy, by his grace and through no desiring or doing of my own, made me alive together with Christ, and seated me in the Heavenly places with him. I have been born again by the Spirit, so that I no longer have a love for sin and a hatred for God, but a growing love for God and a growing hatred of sin. But even whatever transformation God continues to work in me is not where I make my boast; I can only direct you to the one who saved me. The apostle Paul said it like this: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live. But the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.” My name is Eric Smith, but this is nothing to boast about. I stand now hidden in Christ with God, and it is only here that I long to stay forever.

By the mercies of God, I have been given a wonderful wife, Candace, who miraculously agreed to marry me just over two months ago. We live in rural West Tennessee, where I have the honor of serving as a shepherd to the very flock of my God. It is our desire to see the Gospel of Christ go forward in this region which has always been my home. By God’s grace, I will labor here until the chief Shepherd appears.   

Dr. Greg Thornbury once said of a group of young blogging enthusiasts, “they do not know the joy of an unpublished thought.” I hope that I will not be carried away into similar unhelpful or unholy blog addiction; I do not presume to be particularly wise or influential at all. But perhaps the Lord can use this little blog to help this little pastor think clearly about the Church, pastoral ministry, Biblical theology, and other Gospel matters, and hopefully I can point any readers to wiser men and resources that are helpful to me, also. Along the way, a few other loves of this life-long West Tennessean may emerge, including local high school football, the Memphis Tigers, and a certain bird-logo’d baseball team in Misourri.