"When I was a young pastor, I was eager to find and replicate worthy ministry models. I was attracted to the church growth movement. I admired the soul-winning zeal of practioners who counseled young pastors like me to fashion their Sunday services so the “seeker” wouldn’t trip over man-made obstacles on his way to finding Jesus.

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While I absorbed many of its lessons — clear communication, ministry excellence, community outreach — I began to have some questions about an approach that shapes the Sunday gathering exclusively around the unbeliever. I say “exclusively” because every pastor should have, in his mind, the image of a lost soul when he steps up to the pulpit to preach. He shouldn’t assume his audience is entirely made up of believers, and his preaching should be clear enough so the lost know how to repent and believe. Paul counseled Timothy to “do the work of an evangelist,” after all (2 Tim. 2:5).

There are, however, three vital questions to ask ourselves about our worship services.


1. What’s happening on Sunday mornings?

According to standard church growth philosophy, the Sunday gathering is the prime opportunity to invite unbelieving friends and neighbors to hear a gospel presentation. To make worship attractive, churches are encouraged to remove barriers that might offend those not fluent in Christian vocabulary.

This isn’t an entirely bad discipline. After all, our churches shouldn’t be contextualized to the 1950s if we’re living in 2016. We should hold preferences loosely in order to reach our communities for Christ (1 Cor. 9:19), and we should dream, plan, craft strategies, and spend resources for reaching the lost. 

But should attractiveness to the lost be our primary guiding principle on Sunday mornings? If so, do we lose the distinct purpose for gathering with the saints? Do we forget that no amount of contextualization will make the gospel inoffensive? In his Upper Room discourse, Jesus warned his disciples of the countercultural nature of his message. And Paul knew, even after making himself “all things to all people,” that the gospel he preached would be a stumbling block, ultimately landing him in jail and leading to death.

What’s more, in our increasingly pluralistic society, I wonder if these church growth methodologies will become less effective. Studies indicate Americans are less inclined to attend worship services than they were in previous generations.
We should ask ourselves: How do we see the Sunday gathering? Do we see it as an inspirational TED Talk with good music? Or do we see it the way the New Testament does, as God’s called-out people assembling for worship and mobilizing for mission? Music styles and preaching patterns will vary, but some elements should remain fixed. Paul instructed Timothy, as the pastor of the church at Ephesus, to “devote himself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching” (1 Tim. 4:13). He also instructed the same church to sing “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” (Eph. 5:19). And our Lord Jesus entrusted to local churches the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

We should not be embarrassed by the Christian language and rhythms of the Sunday gathering. We should gather with the expressed goal to declare to the world, to ourselves, and to the cosmic powers our worship of Christ as King.

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            Years before he wrote the above passage to Timothy, Paul was an unbeliever.  In fact we are told that Paul was present among those who murdered the first Christian martyr, Stephen.  Very likely it was on that occasion that Paul heard his first evangelistic prayer.  The blood spattered Stephen, practically with his dying breath began praying, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them."  And I doubt that Paul ever forgot that. 

           In  the above text we read Paul now a converted man and an Apostle of the Lord Jesus, spurring Christians on to what had no doubt become a central part of his own ministry – the great work of evangelistic prayer.
              First, he tells us:

Notice, that what Paul is about to say is of great importance.

            First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made…
(1 Timothy 2:1 ESV)

            The primary mission and aim of the church concerns the prayerful and open communication of the gospel to men and women, boys and girls.  We exist, if you like,  as the public relations arm of the Kingdom of Heaven - and that is why Paul says, this is “first” of all (v.1a).  Of all the things the church is commissioned to do communicating the good news of Jesus Christ is "first."  Because this work is so important we must commit it to prayer - four types of which are referenced by Paul in v.1 and run as follows:
        
1.  Supplications
            This word carries with it the idea of  “being without something.”  To put it another way, evangelistic prayer comes from a sense of need.   We call upon God to supply what is lacking and what is lacking – for many in our world, is saving faith.  
            This reality should spur us on in our supplications...  the understanding that my children, my neighbor, my spouse, and my friends are all never-dying souls who will live somewhere in eternity forever, should cause us to to engage in supplications. 

2.  Prayers
            This is a general word for prayer in the bible and it carries with it the idea of worship with reverence.  Paul is telling us that part of worshiping God with reverence involves calling on Him to save lost people.

3.  Intercessions       
            This is the idea of getting alongside someone.  It is a prayer in which the one praying identifies with those he’s praying for.   It is appealing to God based upon the fact that you can Identify with people's need for the gospel.  And why can you identify with their need for the gospel?  Because you need it yourself.  

4.  Thanksgivings
            This is gratitude to God for the fact that there is a gospel is the first place.  Could you imagine if there weren't?   But there is!  Right here in a world of bad-news there is a God-given message of good-news!  Moreover, out of all of the people on planet earth, we - the Church - have been given the privilege and responsibility to bring this good news to bear upon ourselves and to take it to others.  Because of this our prayers should be filled with thankfulness and total reliance upon the reality that the gospel is the means through which God answers our evangelistic "supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings."
(1 Timothy 2:1 ESV)

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Join us this Sunday, July 12th as we begin our course - Christianity Explored.  We will begin by sharing a meal together then will have our study.  What have you got to lose?  

It is always helpful to remember that gospel work is global work.  We are not alone in our little corner of the world but we have a multitude of partners - some of whom are in heaven while others are spread throughout the four corners of the world.

When later I came to learn that Peter was studying to become a pastor and that his future plans included marrying that young piano-player and planting a church in his native Inverness, I recognized that he had an unusual amount of wisdom and foresight.  Both the marriage and the church-plant seemed like good moves (though to me the latter seemed more attainable than the former.) 

As a matter of fact, I liked Peter so much that I actually had plans to bring him on staff at my church as a ministry partner while he finished up his theological training.  Though providentially this never came to pass the prospect did give me multiple occasions to get to know Peter better and to be inspired by his zeal for the gospel. 

Then time did its work.  Peter and that piano player got married (I sat in a small rural church in Northern Ireland and witnessed the nuptials with my own eyes.)  They started a new life together.  About that same time I was called to a church 3,500 miles away from Scotland and along with my wife and children left the UK.  We settled down into our new routine together...  and as often happens Peter and I more or less lost touch...  And then today I was sent a link to the website of Living Hope Church - a new church plant in Inverness, pastored by Peter Rennie.  This news has come as a great encouragement and it has reminded me once again that gospel work is global work. The same Lord who has guided us in the planting of All Souls Church in a little place called Green Camp, Ohio has guided Peter and Anne in the planting of Living Hope Church in a big place called Inverness, Scotland.  

What a great God we serve!

To Peter, Anne, and the flock of Living Hope Church; we thank God for you!  We will pray for the success of your work.  We will pray that under your ministry the saints will be perfected even as the lost will be saved.  We will pray that the hand you have laid to the plow will remain on the plow....  

And we will do all of this with the firm conviction that we, here in this corner of the world, are greatly blessed to be your partners in the gospel. 

In light of this mornings Supreme Court ruling declaring homosexual marriage to be a enumerated constitutional right I thought it was timely to share a small portion of a Q&A  dialogue on the subject.  I trust it will be helpful.  For another  helpful article on the subject of same-sex marriage written from a different perspective please read "Same-Sex Marriage & the Future" by Russell Moore.

In the meantime, if you are a Christian troubled by todays ruling and concerned about its implications for religious liberty and free-speech, please take comfort in the following facts:

1)  Homosexuals are not our enemies - they are people who are lost and need the transformative gospel of Jesus Christ.
2)  Regardless of the dictates of the governments of man,  Christ is still on the throne and the good news is still true.
3)  Agreeing with God's is always the right thing to do - especially when it is difficult to do so.
4)  Always remember that Jesus wins (see Psalm 2).  At the end of the game all of the pieces will put back in the box and only Christ and His people will stand victorious.  

Though at first this might seem pedantic it is nevertheless important to point out that same-sex “marriage” is not really “marriage” in any real sense of the word.

Why is this?

This is because real marriage (unlike same-sex marriage) is most assuredly NOT a manmade institution or a societal construct, it is an institution very obviously imposed upon mankind from an outside source.  Proof of this is that marriage is hemmed in with very obvious biological, anatomical, and psychological (not to mention theological) parameters. 

A pastor would argue that these marital-parameters were given by God.  An evolutionary biologist might argue that these parameters were given by nature.  Either way though we are both agreed that the parameters are there.  They exist.  They are facts.  They are beyond our control.  They are unaffected by our feelings, preferences, desires, wishes, wants, and yearnings.  They are unalterably bound-up in the concept of marriage.  Since same-sex marriage has no such parameter and is little more than a societal construct it does not qualify as “marriage” in any way shape or form.

Politicians might pass legislation that will change how our society is permitted to use the word “marriage.”  Justices might pronounce judgments changing the legal definition of the word “marriage.”  But these are merely linguistic games  that cannot change the institution of marriage any more than they can change the biological, anatomical, psychological and theological parameters that surround it. 

Above I mentioned that it seemed as if marriage had been imposed upon mankind from an outside source.  It has, of course.  God is the outside source.  He alone has “imposed” marriage upon mankind without ever canvassing our views on the subject.   Therefore marriage’s meaning, its boundaries, and its blessings all come from God and are clearly laid down in His word, the Bible. 

Here are some scripture references that might help you understand why I, along with any Christian who takes the Bible seriously, cannot affirm the practice of homosexuality let alone support the concept of same-sex “marriage”

1.)  Marriage has been given by God as a picture of the relationship between Christ and His bride the church (Ephesians 5:32).   This is yet one more proof that God has set the institution up in a very particular way and for a very particular purpose and therefore we have no real authority to redefine or recreate it.

2.)  Homosexual behavior is strictly prohibited in both the Old and New Testaments (Lev. 18:22-24, Lev. 20:13, I Cor. 6:9-20, I Tim 1:10) as being contrary to God’s design in creation.

3.)  Homosexuality along with all other forms of sexual immorality is always represented as intrinsically sinful behavior that provokes the wrath of God (Rom.1:26-28) and dehumanizes its participants. 

4.)  Scripture clearly shows that marriage is the lifelong union of one man and one woman.  (Gen.2:22-24, Matt. 19:5-6).         

5.)  Homosexuals (like all of the rest of us) though sinners are NOT beyond the transformative power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (I Cor 6:9-11 – please note the implications of the phrase “such were some of you” in v.11).  Christians who, in the name of love or tolerance, support same-sex marriage are simply affirming homosexuals in their sin.  Furthermore, they have embraced a very troubling philosophy – namely, that whoever the gospel is for, it certainly isn’t for the sexually immoral. 

Can I say to you very bluntly that if the gospel isn’t for the sexually immoral, be they homosexuals, adulterers, fornicators, or people who yield to lust, then the gospel isn’t for me…  and it isn’t good news at all…  But, of course, it is for me and it is good news.  Therefore, I am against same-sex marriage because I am for the gospel. 

Rev. Joseph Addison Alexander, (April 24, 1809 - January 28, 1860) was a Presbyterian minister, biblical scholar, theological professor, author, and poet.

Since "the praise of the praiseworthy is above all rewards" (as J.R.R. Tolkien aptly put it in one of his books) let's note what Alexander's well-known colleague, Charles Hodge, had to say about him:


"I regard Dr. Joseph Addison Alexander as incomparably the greatest man I ever knew - as incomparably the greatest man our church has ever produced. His thorough orthodoxy, his fervent piety, humility, faithfulness in the discharge of his duties, and reverence for the Word of God, consecrated all his other gifts. He glorified the Word of God in the sight of his pupils beyond what any man I ever saw had the power of doing." 

We covered this one last time.  Want to reread it?

1.  The Great Equalizer

            While sitting on a beach in Florida my father once casually voiced his belief that bathing suits are the world’s “great equalizer.”  And in terms of the powerful businessman who at that very moment was slowly strolling the beach in front of us in a speedo that accentuated his pear-shaped frame, my father was right.  Off of the beach in a 3-piece suit, sitting behind a desk in a penthouse office the man would have commanded respect.  In a speedo, on the other hand, he was just another participant in the human freak-show that paraded past us, the sand on his feet, the sun on his back, a large straw hat on his head.   

       
  Here’s another thought,  greater even than speedos, kitchen tables are the greatest equalizer of all because of what happens when we eat together.  We share food as friends.  We sit at the same level around the table.  We can talk about our shared need of God’s grace.  To mix my metaphors, kitchen tables and meals together allow us to freely acknowledge that we are all part of the freak-show.  This, very simply, is what sharing a meal does.

Charles Peace (May 14, 1832-February 25, 1879) was an English career criminal whose burglaries and murders eventually led to his execution 136 years ago today.  During his final walk to the gallows the condemned man was visited by a nameless pastor who told Peace to repent of his sins and to seek God’s mercy before meeting the hangman and going on to meet God as judge. 

The pastor, who had made such an appeal many times before to convicted men facing execution seemed to deliver his appeal with all of the passion of a man reading aloud from the yellow pages.  There was no zeal, no winsomeness, & no urgency in what the pastor had to say, particularly when he mentioned of the reality of hell.  Charles Peace, just moments from his execution was shocked at the lifelessness of the pastor's words and he responded with what would be his last words on earth:

On the 136 anniversary of his execution, let us hear the wisdom and answer the challenge of a condemned man.  Moreover, let us commit ourselves to the communication of the gospel even as we seek to live in the light of its eternal claims with winsomeness, passion, and sympathy for our fellowman.  Let us remember the never-dying soul of man, the reality of eternity, the certainty of judgment, and the mercy of God in the gospel.  Also let us embrace afresh the words of the apostle Paul who reminds us:

   “…we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”
2 Corinthians 5:20

In my own experience I have heard church leaders say things like:
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“Unbelievers don’t know or understand hymns or metrical psalms – so let’s ignore these things!”


 “Unbelievers don’t understand the Bible – so let’s either keep our readings brief or avoid the book altogether!”


 “Unbelievers are uncomfortable with lengthy public prayers – we’ll keep them short!”


 “Unbelievers are suspicious of preaching – so let’s make sermons short and ‘relevant.’  We’ll talk about … say… hot-       button political issues, heartache, self-improvement, mere-morality, or the challenges of raising teenagers.”

​And so the mistakes continue to multiply until the final product is as strange as my Mc Fillet O’ Chicken.

So how do we correct this?

By starting in the right place – with the first component of worship.

What is it?

Simply this; we must believe that Lord’s Day worship is not about unbelievers.  It’s not about their wants, their musical tastes, their felt-needs, or anything else.  Lord’s day worship is about God, His wants, His commands, His requirements.  The concern of the worship of the Church is to please the Lord of the Church – our Faithful God who has taken great pains to reveal Himself in His Word.  Our prayers, our praise – every element of our worship services – must be in accordance with the Scriptures.  Above all the Word of God must be faithfully preached as the climatic act of public worship.  Why?  Because in faithful, expository preaching the Triune God of the Universe condescends to speak to His people.             

Yes!  Let the unbelievers in the door each Sunday!   By all means, compel them to come in!  But when they do, ensure that they get a glimpse of the glory of our God, a fearful understanding of His might, and a grasp of His wonderful grace in Christ Jesus.  Whatever we do, let’s not stroke the affections of unbelievers, let’s not try our best to put them at ease, let’s not say to them through word or deed, “Now we know that you’re not interested in Christianity or the church so we have something else for you today.”  No!  The fact is, we DO NOT have anything else for them.  If they don’t want our Savior who are we to suggest to them ways of spicing up their marriage?  If they won’t hear our gospel who are we to offer them rules of conduct to make their jobs more satisfying?  At the end of the day, all we have to offer them is a Prophet to teach them, a Lamb to take away their guilt, and a Shepherd-King to guide and protect them.  In a word, all we have to offer them is the One we gather to worship each Lord’s Day – and He is enough.  Yes, of course, we want our worship to be marked by intelligibility and clarity.  But no!  We do not want our worship to feel casual or “normal” to the unbeliever.  Because what happens Lord’s Day by Lord’s Day is anything but “normal.”  The great covenant making God is condescending to meet with His people once more in a special way.  He is meeting with them around Word and Sacrament.  He is renewing His covenant with them.  Here is the Triune God in the midst of a people once dead in trespasses and sins who He has raised to newness of life.   Here is the Triune God calling His people together and graciously giving the unbelieving world yet another sign that the Kingdom of God has indeed come.  This is anything but “normal” and cannot truly be conducted casually if it is to have the ring of authenticity about it

 As British pastor Geoffrey Thomas wrote in and article entitled Goat-Sensitive Worship:

            “If the style and mode of our expression when we meet in God’s presence is just like that which the goats hear in the office or in the schoolyard life then we have failed them. We whom the Lord is seeking and saving are sensitive to their real needs... So our worship will be simple, spiritual, substantial, warm, reverent, characterized by free prayer, great hymns and metrical psalms climaxed in expository preaching and anchored in proven forms that quickly gain familiarity and so become better means of channeling people to the God we are serving, and away from noticing clever servants who are speaking.”

By the way, when I realized my Mc Fillet O’ Chicken was all wrong I exchanged it for a proper one.  I would urge you by God’s grace to do the same.