A pastor sent this blog. I am unfamiliar with the man who wrote it; but sadly I am familiar with the problem he is describing. May it never again be found among us:
Who is the most dangerous guy at your church?
September 20, 2011 by Erik with 84 Comments
In addition to leading and teaching, pastors are called to protect or guard the flock (Titus 1.5, 9; 2.15; John 21.15-19). Therefore, it logically follows that it is important for pastors to know who is in attendance and membership within the congregation. There are obviously many practical reasons for this, but one is certainly to protect the flock from potential harm.
So I ask you, “Who is the most dangerous guy at your church?”
Here I am not so much aiming at an individual as I am looking at a type of person.
Sure, we all can spot the unbeliever who doesn’t fluently speak the language of Zion, we can identify the person from doctrinally anemic backgrounds because they keep cutting themselves with the sharp knives in the theology drawer, and of course any Calvinist can sniff out an Arminian within 20 seconds.
But I submit that these types of people are not the most dangerous people that attend your church. At least, they are not in my experience.
Instead, the most dangerous person at your church is the apparently smart guy who is unteachable.
When I say ‘unteachable’ I mean that he has it all figured out. He is the classic, “Don’t confuse me with the facts, I know what I believe” guy.
This is the guy who seems to have a lot of biblical knowledge. He can drop the 30 lb. words and effectively argue his point. Very often he is quite involved and appears to have things together. However, he is dangerous because of the reason you would not think, he is unteachable.
Let me give you some reasons why and how he is dangerous:
(1) He is Gospel-Eclipsing: The great commission has learning embedded in it (Matthew 28.18-20). This means that being a disciple is one who is always learning. Therefore, to have it all figured out is to deny who you are. As Christians we have to be people who are learning, this includes everyone from pastors to children.
(2) He is Critical: If this guy is not being moved by the ministry of the word he is likely gathering bullets to shoot at leaders. He sits quietly during the sermons and teachings only to pick apart everything like a Monday morning quarterback. His unteachability looks the exact opposite of what James 1 teaches:
Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. (James 1.20-21)
(Please note this is not a repudiation of constructive criticism. This is desperately needed. There is a difference between constructive and destructive criticism however.)
(3) He is Divisive: This is dangerous for the church in that it invariably brings division (Titus 3.10). This type of boiling pot eventually spills over and when he does he hurts unity and people.
In my experience, division in the church usually is a result of somebody being unteachable. This type of thing has a long legacy. Consider how Diotrephes liked to put himself first and stir up division. How did he do this? He did not submit to the teaching of the apostles (3 John vv. 9-10). He was unteachable.
This is obviously dangerous for his own soul but also the church. Just like Diotrephes had influence in that congregation so too the unteachable guy no doubt has influence in your local assembly. The influence of an unteachable guy is a vehicle for division.
(4) He is Joy-Robbing: A church that is teachable brings its leaders joy. A church or church member who is not robs them of joy. It’s that simple (Hebrews 13.7, 10). I can attest to the fact that this is very true.
(5) He is a Time-Waster: Let me be careful how I say this. I don’t mean that labor in the ministry is a waste of time. But what I do mean is that unteachable guy is one who continues to take up pastoral leadership’s time with arguments. He just keeps resetting the same issue over and over again. He can find anything to nitpick and be critical about. So in this sense he is a waste of time. Or, as Paul might say, the labor is in vain (Philippians 2.16; 2 Thessalonians 3.5).
So, what do you do with him?
Pray for him: Forbid it that pastors become callous and unmoved themselves! The desire is for growth in the gospel. Therefore, pray (Colossians 1.9-14; 2 Peter 3.18).
Minimize his influence: Pastors should always be careful about who is appointed unto leadership. In this case it would obviously make sense not to just put the Bible trivia champ in charge of teaching and leadership items. This is because the Bible trivia champ could also be a spiritual MMA champ on the side.
Watch him and the sheep: If this guy is a Christian then he must be cared for too. The pastor must do this while guarding and caring for the flock. This is the type of thing that keeps pastors up at night (see #4 above).
Lovingly aim to teach him: Keep on keeping on (Titus 2.15)
Confront where necessary: When there is sin involved Jesus is clear (Matthew 18.15-18).
This type of thing weighs heavy upon pastors and church members alike. Therefore, even the consideration of such things should cause us to pause, evaluate our own hearts, and pray for receptivity of the word of Christ (James 1.20ff; Colossians 3.15).
Deuteronomy 1:29-33 29 “Then I said to you, ‘Do not be terrified, or afraid of them. 30 ‘The LORD your God, who goes before you, He will fight for you, according to all He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, 31 ‘and in the wilderness where you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a man carries his son, in all the way that you went until you came to this place.’ 32 “Yet, for all that, you did not believe the LORD your God, 33 “who went in the way before you to search out a place for you to pitch your tents, to show you the way you should go, in the fire by night and in the cloud by day.
By these words Moses reminded a generation of Israelites regarding his counsel to them when they first arrived at the Promised Land. Their spies had reported giants inhabiting the land. It was obvious to them that they themselves would not be able to route them. However, that was not the expectation which brought them to this place. God had promised the land to their fathers. He would fight for them. The land would be His gift to them. All that was required was for them to enter in and to fight in the strength of Jehovah.
However in the most colossal misjudgment of their lives, this generation of Hebrews decided not to trust God! On account of which, none of them (except for the two men who did trust the Lord: Caleb and Joshua) were allowed to partake of that marvelous place flowing with milk and honey.
The severity of God’s dealing with the people was predicated upon the remarkable demonstrations of His power and faithfulness that had brought them thus far. Had He not delivered them as a nation from the oppression of the Egyptians? The Egyptians were the strongest of nations and the Jews were a large collection of mere servants. They possessed neither skill nor weaponry suitable to waging war. God, by His sheer power, had brought them out of Egypt and had killed the Egyptian king along with his army. Furthermore, God had brought Israel across the wilderness by tangible, supernatural direction. Notwithstanding all that the people decided to trust their senses and their reason rather than to trust in the promise of God. He was justly angry!
Are there giants in your life that God calls you to conquer by the power of Christ administered through the Holy Spirit? Perhaps it is the giant of lust or the giant of worry or the giant of despair or of some other menacing sin. The giant is obviously too big and strong for you. All of your previous attempts to kill it have proven unsuccessful or only temporarily successful. Now the giant or giants are raging against your soul and you are thinking there is no hope of defeating them. You must just surrender and let them have their way with you.
Dear Believer, the Lord Jesus Christ is alive from the dead so that you might do great works and bear much fruit to God’s glory. If you will look and see there have been many occasions in your past wherein Christ has demonstrated His power in your behalf. Remember the check in the mail which arrived just in time. Remember the word of encouragement spoken by a fellow believer that was specially suited to a discouragement concerning which that believer had no knowledge? Remember the sick child remarkably recovered? Think! Recall the mighty mercies of the Lord! Do not dishonor your Savior by giving in to your adversary now. Of course you would prefer to see the giants in your life just shrink away without you having to lift a finger. The Israelites would have to enter into the land by faith before their giants would fall. God is ready to show Himself strong for those who trust Him and who act in faith. Christ has promised triumph over your spiritual enemies; but you must be strong in Him by faith. You must engage your enemies in spiritual warfare. Then you will experience the mighty deliverance of the risen and reigning Christ.
Sometimes the deliverance comes speedily and then sometimes multiple trips around the city must occur before the walls fall. However it happens, none who trust in the Lord will ever be put to shame.
Don’t make the huge mistake of the generation of Hebrews who died in the wilderness. Don’t refuse to follow Christ in doing war with your spiritual enemies. Trust Him, call upon Him and go to war. Trust Him, call upon Him and act in all the ways that He commands caring not for the obstacles. Great blessing awaits those who trust and act.
September 7th, 2011 by
Gary Hendrix |
Uncategorized
Yesterday the focus was upon a cavalier approach to Biblical warnings. At times there appears to be a “that doesn’t apply to me” attitude on the part of professing Christians regarding the admonitions of Scripture. As stated then, it is to be feared that we assume that Christ makes us invincible with respect to threatened Divine rebukes no matter how we behave. The fact is, Christ saves us from Divine punishments in part by delivering us from the behavior warned against.
Now I must speak to those believers who do take God’s warnings seriously. They do not presume upon God’s goodness in Christ. Yet, they find themselves falling or slipping into the behavior that Scripture warns us not to do. And they are alarmed. What must they (we) do? Batten down the hatches and hope to survive the torrent of Divine disfavor? What?
Let me suggest a few responses (no need to be overly detailed because Christians know these things already–sometimes we simply need to be reminded):
1. Speak to yourself and to God honestly and frankly about your bad behavior. I used the example of unloving behavior to illustrate how easily we seem to ignore Biblical warnings, so let’s continue with that. Suppose you have given in to irritation and perhaps to hurt feelings and you have spoken harshly, unkindly to a fellow believer. Now your conscience afflicts you and you consider God’s warnings, which cause alarm. The proper response is not to focus on all that provoked your bad reactions. The proper response is to focus upon your bad behavior and call it by its proper name: a sinful lack of love. Whatever response you should have made to the provocation, it should not have involved harshness or unkindness. It is not unloving to rebuke someone even pointedly when the rebukes are measured in tone and content. Speaking with the purpose of causing hurt or embarrassment is unloving. So tell yourself and your Heavenly Father exactly what you did.
2. Ask God to enable you to discern if your bad behavior was truly exceptional or was reflective of something imbedded deep inside. Remaining sin rears its head far too often in the lives of all God’s children in this world. However remaining sin is categorically different from reigning sin! The difference is strategic to our salvation. Your unkindness– was that a surprising eruption that caught you off guard because you ordinarily recognize unloving thoughts for what they are and fight to kill them? Or, could it be that your mind is literally filled with unkind, unloving, critical thoughts? Ordinarily you try to hide them…not kill them. This time what you were thinking in your heart slipped out for others to “see”. The distinction here is critical.
3. Ask trustingly and repentantly for Jesus Christ to forgive you and to deliver you from your sin. If your bad behavior was an expression of remaining sin and not the revealing of your true self, you know that you have forgiveness in Christ. Your hatred for sin and your refusal to permit sin to reign in you are demonstrations of Christ exercising Lordship over you. That in turn is evidence that His death on the cross was specifically for you. Thus while you must take your sins seriously, you should do so knowing that the King of the universe loves you and intercedes for you. You must confess your sin to Christ and to those who have been privy to it; but your confession should be made with confidence both of forgiveness and of Divine strengthening to defeat sin.
On the other hand, if you determine the sin was not exceptional at all. It was in fact an out-break of the real you, then you must face that for what it is. You must go to Christ humbly and passionately seeking His saving, pardoning, reconciling and transforming grace. Christ does not have to be persuaded to save you. However you must be repentant! That means that you are finished excusing your sin and sincerely embrace the reality that sin is anarchy against God. Sin is man’s attempt to defeat God’s order for human thought and behavior. In coming to Christ seeking salvation, you must be convinced of that and must ask for that work of the Spirit which causes that conviction to sink deeply into your mind and heart. Being convinced about deserving to go to hell is necessary; but it is also necessary to become convinced of the sheer evil of sin… of defying God.
Scriptural warnings ought to sober us and evoke from us a serious response to our sin. That is what it means to take those warnings personally.
Upon occasion I will become aware that some brother or sister in Christ has behaved very badly and with some forethought. That is always painful! It generates much sadness in a pastor’s heart. More than sadness, it generates alarm. One question that usually comes to mind in such instances is this: “Don’t they care that God has given clear warnings about the implications or the ramifications of acting in that way”? It puzzles me how people who profess to believe the Bible to be the very Word of the only God, Who created and controls the universe, can be so nonchalant concerning threats made by God with respect to the very behavior they are committing. They profess such confidence in the Bible that they entrust the destiny of their lives/their souls unto the promises of Scripture regarding Jesus Christ and His saving authority. Yet, they also seem impervious to the threats which the same Scripture issues to people who behave the way they are behaving. How can this be? What does it mean? What do you think?
Let me give an example of the kind of thing that I have in view. Most of us are very familiar with the penetrating and poetic words which the Holy Spirit moved Paul to write in 1Corinthians 13. This great statement on love commences with words which should be considered as warnings:
NKJ 1 Corinthians 13:1 ¶ Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.
These statements possess a kind of literary beauty; but their meaning is sobering, even devastating. In essence Paul is saying, “Whatever my religious privileges, attainments or performances if I do not have and demonstrate love I am nothing spiritually.” Apart from the consistent presence and practice of love there is no evidence of grace. The gracious work of Christ should not be thought present where love is absent. Don’t think yourself to be at peace with God because you have spiritual gifts or possess spiritual understanding or seem to have miracle working power, if at the same time love is not powerfully operative in your heart and evident in your conduct. The meaning is rather unmistakable.
Of course it is easy to convince ourselves that we are loving and that Paul’s warning has nothing to say to us. The text however will not allow us to escape so easily. Paul goes on to give us concrete examples of the kind of behavior which love does and does not produce.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 4 ¶ Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
In light of these rather graphic descriptions, how can we continue to say that we are baptized in love when we speak harshly to and about others or when we lose our patience and pour our wrath out on brethren in Christ or when we are grossly insensitive to brethren and speak without consideration of their feelings or when we believe unsubstantiated reports about them and even pass those reports on to others? How is love consistent with saying, “I’ve had it and I am going to give this person a piece of my mind” when love “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things”? How do we say that we have no tension with the opening verses of 1Corinthians 13 even as we are growing bitter with disaffection in our spirits toward brothers or sisters in Christ? How do we say that we are loving as Christ is loving when we are willing to break relationships with God’s people because they are a drain on our nerves—how is that bearing all things? How can we do that? How do we so easily dismiss the clear and pointed warnings of Scripture? How do we insist that we are Christians while we manifest unloving behavior since the Spirit of God plainly says that without love we are nothing? If God’s Word is trustworthy in its promises of salvation, it must be trustworthy in its indictments and warnings! So, how do we live with the tension of claiming the promises while we ignore the warnings?
That is the real question: “how do we live with the tension of claiming the promises while we ignore the warnings”? I have used love as an example and it is a major issue. If you read blogs which invite comments, you have to be aware that there is a great deal of unkind talk that passes between and about other Christians. Perhaps it is the ability to speak with a measure of anonymity and seclusion that encourages such words. Even if no one actually knows who you are, how can Christians so boldly violate the principles of 1Cor. 13? How does their heart permit that? How do they reconcile such words with the warning of 1Cor. 13:1-3?
Often the rationale would be that in using such rough, in your face speech brethren are “defending the faith”. As if to say, “I can be mean and nasty as long as I am standing for truth”. Where does God say that we do not have to be loving if we are doing His work? Where does God suspend love if we are putting an erring brother or even pastor in his place? In making these kind of exemptions for ourselves and our sin, we are placing ourselves in jeopardy. And, we are placing the church in jeopardy. There is a growth of rudeness and, well dare I say it, “hate” in the Christian community on the web which is alarming. It is to be feared that brethren who read that kind of candor come to think that it is acceptable Christian behavior and thus it carries over into real life personal relationships. Still, how can a regenerate person allow himself or herself to indulge in this kind of unloving behavior knowing 1Cor.13:1-3? How do we so easily dismiss the warnings of Scripture?
Here is my deepest fear in this regard, I fear that we think that Christ protects us from the warnings. The thinking might run something like this, “I don’t have to worry about being ‘nothing’ as Paul says because Christ makes me ‘something’. Christ makes me real even if I do not practice real Christian behavior. I may be unloving, but Christ is loving. His loving makes me safe to be unloving.” Perhaps we would be hesitant to state it quite that brazenly but I fear that that is what is in our minds. If so, we are in grave danger.
Christ saves us from the warning of 1Cor. 13 by making us loving! He makes us real not just in our position before God but in our hearts and in our character. He works against the unloving instincts of our former selves. He creates instincts of love and a conscience that is sensitive to our lack of love. The work of Christ holds us back from unloving words and deeds by making us genuinely kind and gracious in our thoughts toward others–particularly brethren. Love is not a front. It is the disposition of our souls. When we fail and remaining sin gets the best of us, Christ will not permit us to rationalize our sin. He moves us to confess our unloving behavior and to seek forgiveness while also seeking to make right the hurt that we may have caused.
Our Savior does not make us indifferent to Biblical warnings. Rather He is saving us from the very behaviors warned against. Christ enables us to take the warnings seriously and to use them against our remaining sins. It is part of His saving/sanctifying work.
Now I have used love to illustrate my point. Numerous examples could have been given. The question is, are you exempting yourself from God’s warning in any area of your life? Friends, it is not safe to ignore Biblical warnings. Let the warnings drive us to Christ that He might save us from our sins.
I suspect that everyone who was present and engaged in last evening’s prayer meeting left feeling wrung out emotionally and deeply challenged spiritually. Whatever else we have come to expect at prayer meeting, we should expect that we will be called upon to believe God in ways that will tax our souls and our flesh. If we have even an iota of spiritual life and grace, we should never be bored at prayer meeting. Each week we are confronted with some aspect of God’s Kingdom that cries out for us to render help by our intercession. Many weeks the cries for help are balanced by invigorating accounts of some marvelous work of God in another portion of His vineyard. Each week we are made aware of brethren whose lives have fallen into a time of crisis to one extent or another. Hurting brethren want and need our prayers. And we should pray with a strong conviction that we are doing definitive good to our afflicted brothers and sisters by our calling upon the living God in the name of His Son. Glorious returns are promised to such praying. Our personal confidence and participation in spiritual reality is tested by the prayer meeting more than by anything else that we do. Are we convinced that the promises made to the gathered church relative to prayer are true? When we lift our hearts in importunate pleadings with our Heavenly Father for the salvation of souls or for the protection of persecuted saints or for the healing of afflicted brethren are we really persuaded that such labor will bear much fruit? If so, how can we choose not to come and labor—if we are truly convinced!
Back to last night–we heard a most encouraging first hand report of what God is doing among our Calvinistic Southern Baptist brethren, particularly at Southeastern Seminary. Anyone who has possessed some acquaintance with the SBC for the last 30-50 years, as I have, must surely recognize that what has happened and is happening is nothing less that a miraculous work of the Holy Spirit. If Christ does not return soon, books will be written about this period and future generations of Christians will read in amazement at what God accomplished in bringing a denomination whose seminaries were on the very brink of apostasy back…not simply back to orthodox evangelicalism but back to historic robust Calvinistic theology in substantial measure. We must not minimize this great work of God just because we are hearing about it from living participants instead of reading of it in a moldy old book!
However, before we received that inspiring report, our souls had been wrung out by the word that just yesterday a dear sister, Peggy White, had received the stunning word that she has endometrial cancer! We were almost as stunned as Peggy and Sam must have been by the news. Immediately our hearts ran out to Peggy but even more ran out to Christ for her. The almost spontaneous outcries of God’s people for our much loved sister were a genuine demonstration of the mysterious work of the Holy Spirit in binding our hearts together in Christ’s body. A young man prayed that while he had been a God-hater while sitting in her class as a child, he now praised God for all that he learned from her teaching. The love and the zeal were tangible in the praying. A visitor was present at the prayer meeting, someone who does not attend church very often. This person commented afterward that she had never experienced anything like that. And added something to the effect that she needed that for herself.
At the end, we were emotionally challenged again by the wonderfully written letter of a young person, one of our own, who is now in prison. As this young person testified of the great things Christ has done and is doing and how she now loves what she once hated and rejected, we (or at least I) once again found tears rolling uncontrollably down my cheeks.
When I left church last evening I felt completely exhausted. Yet I also felt the enormous privilege of having been allowed to participate in something real. This, folks, is life in the highest and best sense possible in this world. We wept, we loved, we rejoiced, we were amazed by the power of the Lord, we engaged our souls in vigorous attempts to express need and faith to our Heavenly Father. We lived at prayer meeting last evening…really lived.
I realize that we are moving into another school year and that many will decide to keep your children home so that they can get needed rest. That is a parental decision that I respect! However, you might want to consider if perhaps the experience of the spiritual world in prayer meeting (an experience rarely known in any other context), might be more important for your children to experience.
While my heart aches and pleads in behalf of Peggy, especially, and while I personally very much wish that this trial had not come; yet, I am so thankful to have been included in the experience of God’s presence and love last evening. But prayer meetings can be dangerous to our detached, self-absorbed and cold hearts. Surely that is a good danger!
No doubt you have experienced a measure of disappointment when finishing a book that you really enjoyed. You had become so engrossed with the story that you felt yourself a part of it. When it ended you felt almost like a real life experience had ended. Good books can do that to you.
Life itself is like a book comprised, hopefully, of many chapters. The possibilities are too numerous to mention. Graduation from high school, entering college, finishing college, marriage, the birth of your first child, the death of a parent–all such events could be seen as chapters in our lives. Once we live them those chapters are closed never to be reread.
I am writing with folk in mind who are opening and closing new chapters at this particular time. Some are commencing home schooling for the first time, some are sending children off to school for the first time (or the last child is going to the school for the first time), some are sending children to college for the first time, some are facing an empty nest for the first time. All such experiences close a chapter in your life. Perhaps there will never be another toddler in your home. Perhaps there will never be another high school student or teen to worry about in your family. Perhaps you will never have kids at home again, not in the same way as before at least. It is sobering to see chapters close. Even when that closure brings a measure of relief, it is still sobering.
In God’s amazing goodness to me, I really enjoyed every chapter of parenting. Even the stressful years of trying to guide and guard adolescent kids from falling off dangerous cliffs that they didn’t even know where there…even those years were filled with sufficient joys that the end caused me sadness. Two of my kids entered college hours from home, one moved hours away after marriage, those events marked some of the darkest days in my life emotionally. This dip of nostalgia is simply my way of saying that I do not minimize the closing of such chapters. The pain is real even if non-lethal.
It is helpful at such times to force oneself to realize that the close of one chapter is the opening of another. Life simply does not remain stagnant. The clock does not stop, even when we desperately wish to hold tightly to a particular event or period. The minutes, hours, days, weeks and months turn into years and soon that time is over. Yet, while it is sad not to have a toddler it is exciting to have a new scholar and to contribute toward a life-changing education. The absence of children at home morphs into the appearance of responsible adults and meaningful careers and spouses and eventually the wonderful chapter called “grandparenting”. Over the years we must adjust to the growing maturity of our children. Their childhood cannot be held onto and we must change to accommodate the changes that are sure to come. These changes are challenges and sometimes these challenges are overwhelming. Yet this is life.
More significantly this is what our God has planned for us. This is how we serve Him in this world or at least a major way. We must be focused on the Lordly will of Christ at the beginning of each and every new chapter. If the old chapter did not end well, we must seek Him for mercy (perhaps we need to confess sin). Still, we cannot become stuck in the past. A new chapter is commencing and Christ has work for us to do. We must be thinking about the new work and pleading with Him for grace to do it all well.
The closing of chapters may be sad, but the opening of new chapters is exciting. What might be accomplished for Christ and for our children and for us in this new stage! Let us trust and press forward forgetting the things which are past (at least forgetting in any way that would impede our reaching forward).
Sooner than we think the last chapter in this present book will be nearing its end. There will be time enough to stop and rest. Hopefully when that time comes we will be able to say that we finished our course and fought the good fight faithfully and kept the faith. For that to be the case, we must be strong to close chapters and to begin new ones without allowing ourselves the freedom to hang behind in the past. The chapters come ever marching forward and so must we. But never forget that He who wrote the book will be ever with you both to wipe away tears and to impart fresh vision and courage. And He has planned a glorious conclusion. Those who love and serve Him will in fact ‘live happily ever after’.
Up until the last 10-15 years, I could usually pick a fundamentalist preacher out of a crowd. He was often the only guy wearing a shirt and tie at the picnic or the ball game. He was the fellow who artificially changed his voice when he spoke to you or when he addressed a group of people. Somehow these and other characteristics came to be associated with piety. Preachers always wore ties and spoke in exaggerated tones. Whatever the origin, it was all a bit pretentious.
Today such pretentiousness is considered passe (or is it the piety that is considered passe?). The more common trait today may be the attempt to be “cool” and with it. “Cool preacher” sounds like an oxymoron but it seems to be the trend. Here I am thinking about fellows in their 40s and 50s with gel assisted spiked hair and t-shirts, perhaps even a body piercing or a tattoo. These men use the word “just” often when they pray and they speak a great deal about having “conversations”. Apparently all of this communicates that you are not “pretentiously pious” and that you know an ipad from an ipod, therefore you should be heard.
These traits have something in common: both cause thinking people to mock.
Perhaps they mock the preachers; but it is to be feared that they mock the Gospel. Why is that? It is because neither trend is real and neither reflects the kind of seriousness belonging to someone who is truly in tune with eternal issues. Both trends represent an attempt to gain credibility by appearance whether the appearance of piety or of coolness. In either case, the appearance does not compute with the gravity of the message. Heaven and Hell are authentic ends belonging to every human being in the world– irreversible destinies. The person most likely to speak intelligently and convincingly of these realities is one whose appearance and manner proclaims unaffected authenticity. He is not cutting edge. Neither is he stuck in the 50s. Instead think: normal. Think of the unspectacular. Think of a sober minded person who is friendly and cares about others in ways that demonstrate love. Think of someone whose appearance sets others at ease by being rather bland. Think of someone who takes time to ask questions of genuine interest and who sincerely wants to hear the answers.
At any rate, the concern just now is that preachers in particular may be so preoccupied with creating impressions by our outward appearance that we are communicating artificiality to people who are somewhat willing to think about Heaven and Hell. The best rule might be to so appear that no one would suspect that one is a preacher from mere observation and yet neither is anyone especially surprised to learn that it is so (unless they have come to expect either “pretentious piety” or “calculated coolness”).
NKJ 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
Increasingly I am hearing this text employed by Reformed preachers as though it is a declaration of God’s love and goodness toward all of Adam’s race. The idea is communicated that it is not God’s will that any human being perish. Rather, He wills that every individual person would repent of his or her sins and be delivered from the 2nd death. This in turn becomes an argument both for the unbeliever to turn from his unbelief and for the believer to become more engaged in evangelism.
There is, however, a substantial problem in using the text in that way. That problem being simply that this is not what Peter is saying in the context. The Apostle is endeavoring to strengthen the faith and the faithfulness of God’s people. He warns against the inevitable discouragement coming from scoffers. Scoffers who mock the doctrine of Christ’s return. Scoffers who argue that nothing substantially has changed since the beginning and thus nothing will ever change. ‘ Christ is not coming. There is not an end. There is no eternal glory. Christians are believing and suffering for nothing.’
Peter challenges believers to think pure thoughts and to remember the Word of God which they have been taught. The world has not always existed. It was created by the word of God. The world has not always continued the same since creation. It was essentially destroyed by God through the flood in judgment against sin. And the created heavens and earth are now waiting for the execution of the final judgment which God has appointed. God has a timetable and His “time” is not like ours. For God a day is as a millennium and a millennium is as a day. These are things which believers must keep in mind and use to combat the sophistry of the mockers.
It is in the course of arguing thus for the sake of people whom he refers to as “Beloved” (verse 1), that Peter makes his statement in verse 9. It is crucial to observe that he is speaking of people like the “Beloved” in this verse: “{God} is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all (of your kind) should come to repentance”. Peter is speaking expressly of a particular group of people as opposed to the entire human race in general. At the beginning of this epistle he more specifically identified those now referred to as the “Beloved”:
NKJ 2 Peter 1:1 ¶ Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:
The Greek term translated “have obtained” means to be chosen or appointed to receive. Peter is writing to those who were chosen by God to receive faith and salvation. Peter is writing to sinners who have received from God the grace of faith just like his. He is assuring his readers that God is not willing that any such chosen ones perish but that each of them come to repentance. This explains His delay in sending Christ to judge the world. Christ will not return until all of His chosen lambs have been brought to repentance.
That is decidedly different from the idea that God is delaying the return of Christ because He is unwilling that any human being should perish and that He is holding out some hope that everyone will repent. Now if we wish to communicate that God desires that everyone who is privileged to hear the Gospel would repent and believe, we can make that case in other ways. This text does not say that, neither does it lend itself to that meaning.
We might argue that God desires that human beings not sin, ever. Impenitence, especially in the presence of the Gospel, is great sin; therefore it can be argued that God desires that people upon hearing the Gospel would always repent. We might argue that God takes no delight in the death of the wicked but that they turn and live. Thus, we can say with Biblical authority that God desires that people give up their sins and believe on Christ. However, saying that God is not willing that any perish but that all come to repentance is saying more than we have warrant to say.
Even if we reduce the idea of “willing” to desiring as contrasted with the “willing” of His decree, we must face that reality that God has not arranged for every human being to hear the Gospel in order that they might repent and be saved. To argue that God is “not willing” that any should perish brings about tensions and questions which are simply unnecessary. That is not what the text says and it is unhelpful to make the text say something other than what it says, even from good and noble motives.
It the high calling of the church to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the world. We must do that because we love Christ and because we love men for Christ’s sake. Wherever the Gospel goes sinful humans must be commanded to repent, that is to abandon their Godless thoughts and practices and to turn to God in the way that He has provided– even Christ. Sinners must be told that perishing is inevitable apart from such repentance. They should be told that God in His goodness invites and entreats them to repent and not perish. They should receive pleadings in God’s behalf to be reconciled to Him through the righteousness of Christ received by faith.
All of this is appropriate and thoroughly biblical. It is not biblical to tell them that God is not willing that they perish but that all of them come to repentance and that He is delaying the return of Christ until they do.
2Peter 3:9 is a comfort to believers. It is not a word to unbelievers. Let’s keep this precious passage in its intended place.
Biblical Christianity includes many ideas and many truths. It is reckless to ignore any part of what God has deemed it wise to reveal. All Scripture is breathed out by the Holy Spirit and is profitable. There is a wholeness to God’s Word. There is a purpose in each segment which serves the whole. If we miss that, we are the poorer and the weaker for it.
However, the ultimate benefit of the Bible for us is that it alone instructs us on how survive this world of dangerous sin and dangerous death so that we live in God’s perfect world forever. The great dangers of this ruined world extend far beyond the chaos and pain inflicted upon our temporal condition. The great dangers belonging to present sin and present death relate to hardening us beyond recovery. Sin hardens against our only hope and death finally cuts us off from all hope. The realm of fixed and everlasting judgment is real. Sin and unbelief push us hard toward that state, which is beyond redemption. The Bible’s ultimate benefit for us is that it leads us to the grace of God. God’s grace (His undeserved activity toward mankind) which operates in and through the living Person of Jesus Christ, delivers us from the hardening, damning power of sin and the finality of despair. Jesus Christ saves us from sin, from ourselves, from Satan, from the world, from the just judgment of God, from the destruction of sin and from the final estrangement of death. Jesus Christ is the life itself and He is the way to life in final perfection. The best and greatest thing about the Bible is that the Bible leads us to Jesus Christ.
Study all of the Bible. Learn the greatness and glory of God. Learn the dangers of sin and evil. Learn the freedom of righteousness. But above all else, learn Jesus Christ.
The testimony linked below bears clear witness to the “bottom line” of Biblical religion. Read it thoughtfully.
http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/between-a-rabbi-and-two-imams
