Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Praying for Kingdom Workers

In Matthew 9 Jesus heals a paralytic brought to him on a mat and forgives his sins. He calls Matthew and other sick sinners to follow him. His disciples learn to enjoy their fellowship with him, the bridegroom. He heals a woman who is sick and touched his garment, and gives life to a young girl. He gives sight to two blind men and then casts a demon out of a man and gives him the ability to speak. Throughout this passage the workers or leaders of Israel question him as one who can forgive sins, one who eats with tax collectors and sinners, one who does not require his disciples to fast and accuse him of casting out demons by the power of Satan. It is at this point that Jesus says to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few, therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Mt.9:37-38). It appears to me that the workers in Israel are many, in God’s harvest fields among his harvest, but they are few.

How can there be many workers but few? The many workers in this passage are the teachers and leaders of Israel who do not recognize the Lord of the harvest. They question the connection between Jesus’ mercy in healing, his authority to forgive sins and send him forth into life. They question his relationship to the “sinners” in society. They question him about the tradition of fasting and do not see the blessed relationship the disciples have with the Lord of the harvest. They do not see his mercy, justice, wisdom and power toward sinners and those being destroyed by the results of sin and living in a fallen world. These workers of Israel are many but because they do not see their need for Christ and how God is working in his harvest fields to reap his harvest they are few.

Therefore Jesus tells his disciple to pray for workers. But what kinds of workers are needed? First, workers that know God has a certain harvest. Jesus says explicitly here that laborers are needed for his harvest. Jesus went among the people and found those who put their faith in him, crying out to him for mercy. These were those of God’s harvest and they were recognized by their coming unto Jesus by faith. God has a harvest and the workers of that harvest know that certainty and trust in God to bring all who belong to the harvest to Jesus by faith through his grace. Second, workers are needed that know they are sick and dead in sin and that Jesus can heal that sickness. In this passage Jesus heals the sick, calls the sick, the sick call out to him and others call out on behalf of the sick. The sick are those who can do nothing for themselves, and Jesus makes it know that the sick are sinners who he came for. Therefore the workers of his harvest fields must be those who are sick calling upon Jesus for mercy and in finding mercy from him will go to sick sinners proclaiming grace for sin and mercy for misery. The third characteristic of a worker for God’s harvest in this passage is a laborer. In our culture today people aspire to positions where they will be free from labor. The aim is to reach a position where there is rest from hard labor. But Jesus came not to be served but to serve and give his life in that labor. And the rest he promises is a rest that is found in knowing and delighting in him now and in the life to come, but in the now that rest in him is found in the context of labor. Jesus demonstrates in this text that those who work in God’s harvest field must labor among those who are sick and sorrowing, those who are wrestling with sin and the misery of living in the fallen world. Therefore kingdom workers are called to suffering labor resting in Christ.

In Matthew 9 we see the Lord of the harvest working in his harvest field and reaping fruit from his labors. He labors where he knows his Father has sent him to pluck the fruit that his Father has chosen. He labors among the sick that need a physician, among the sorrowing who need mercy, among the dying who need life. He works as a laborer among the people. Those whom God calls to labor by his grace in Christ Jesus will trust the Lord of the harvest that he has a harvest, they will labor as those who have been shown grace and mercy toward those who need grace and mercy, and they will suffer in the way of suffering labor. Let us pray diligently that he will make us his kingdom laborers and that he will raise others up who will go among his harvest for his glory and others good.

Friday, June 26, 2009

PCA Rejects Study Committee on Women in Ministry

This years General Assembly of the PCA rejected two overtures that called upon the assembly to establish a study committee to study and report on the role of women in the church as it relates to the Book of Church Order. Those putting forth the overtures believed this is necessary to give pastoral leadership to churches in dealing with the issue of the roles of women in ministry.

In the PCA there are three church courts established by our constitution. The Session governs over the local church body meeting monthly, the Presbytery serves a particular area of churches meeting four times a year and the General Assembly meets once a year. These church courts are made up of Ruling and Teaching Elders from particular churches. The General Assembly meets to worship together, to hear reports made by committees within the PCA such as Reformed University Ministries (RUF), Mission to the World (MTW), Review of Presbytery Records, which reviews and reports on all the records of Presbyteries in the PCA, and the Bills and Overtures Committee. Some of these committees only report but some report in order that the gathered assembly can vote on various issues facing the PCA. Each year there are a number of overtures that come before the assembly on various issues. This year there were four overtures dealing particularly with the role of women in ministry within the PCA.

The assembly voted 427 in favor and 446 against the overtures to form a study committee to study the role of women in ministry for the purpose of crafting a pastoral letter to be sent to the churches on this issue. This demonstrates how the PCA is divided not only on an issue of the role of women in ministry but how the church is governed.

There are those in the church who believe that the church is very confused as to the role of women in the church. This confusion they believe leads to the suppression of women in the church. Therefore, they believe that it would be helpful to our churches if a group was appointed to study the issue and present the churches with a study report that would help guide them in their leadership of women in the church. However, what most often happens is that a study report becomes the “official stance” of the denomination and that study report is often used authoritatively in dealing with difficult matters in the church. Therefore, there becomes a top down leadership in the church or the “tyranny of the majority”. The PCA is most helpfully lead from the grass roots. At the grass roots level churches can govern themselves from the Scriptures and the constitution. This enables elders, deacons and church members to study and make decisions on important matters such as the roles of women in the particular church. Also, if there are matters such as churches or presbyteries wanting to ordain women as deacons then they must do this by way of overtures to the General Assembly in regard to our constitution. In this way the courts are not circulated in making important decisions. The vote demonstrates that there are still those in our denomination who are interested in this issue and seeing women use their gifts for the service of God’s church according to the authority of God’s Word and under the constitution of the PCA, but who want to see the difficult decisions made at the grass roots of the church and Presbytery and not handed down to them by the General Assembly in committee.

The second issue this brings to the forefront is the role of women in the church. There are two main views in the evangelical church on the role of women in the church. The complimentarian and the egalitarian views. The complimentarian view holds to the order of creation and the explicit teaching of Scripture that men and women are to carry out their roles in the church in compliment of one another. There are specific roles given to men such as the office of elder and deacon that women are not called by God to pursue. However, there are particular roles that are given to women in the church where they work in a complementarian way with men. In this view a man is not less than a woman nor is a woman less than a man, but both are one as created after the image of God and redeemed in Christ. However, they are created and redeemed for differing roles. This is reflective of the Triune God who made us and sustains us. He is one God but three persons acting in different roles as regards those persons. However no person of the Godhead is less than any other person of the Godhead, but they are all fully God. The Son does not rival the Father nor the Spirit the Son but all are glorified as one in their acting together for their own glory in perfect love. This view of the church should direct the culture.

However, the egalitarian view of the culture is affecting the church. The egalitarian view looks at man and woman as equal and says that all should be able to carry out the same roles as one another based upon the gifts given to the man or woman. In this view nothing should prohibit a woman from leading in a particular office in the church if she has gifts for that office. Though in the PCA there may not be those who are egalitarians they want to be more open to seeing women serve as deaconesses because they want to provide more freedom to women in ministry and not be seen as a denomination that suppresses women in our culture. While I applaud their desire to see women exercising their gifts in ministry we must all be willing submit our wills to the authority of God’s Word no matter what our culture may dictate. There are many roles open for women to serve in the church. The Scriptures do not suppress a woman and her gifts but they give her freedom to follow Christ by faith in love in accordance to the freedom of his will.

If I had been at General Assembly and not driving 3,000 miles with my family to from Georgia to Wisconsin then Michigan and home again I would have voted against the study committee overture. The Word of God is clear and the issue has been clearly studied so that elders and pastors can teach their congregations and help them steward the gifts given them under the authority of his Word. Unity in the PCA will continue to be forged on our submission to God’s Word as authoritative and a willingness to live in the present culture not according to it’s whims but in accordance with God’s Word. I pray men and women in our church will freely follow Christ by faith in the roles he calls them to using the gifts he gives them grace for. I also pray that these men and women will work as unto to God and not man as bond slaves of Christ for his glory in the earth and not for their own or their churches glory.

You can read more about this decision of the GA by linking to By Faith Magazine Online.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

How Will You Spend the Time 2

In the last article on time I considered why we are to be wise stewards of the time that God has given us and our children. You can read that article at redeemerchurchbrunswick.wordpress.com. This week I would like to offer some practical suggestions as to the wise use of your summer that is saturated in time. While this article is particularly geared to parents with children at home it should be helpful to anyone who is thinking about being a wise steward of the time given them by God.

READ to Discover Truth, Goodness and Beauty
Parents should be teaching their children to be life long learners. Therefore teach them to enjoy learning through reading. Read to your children and give them time to read each day. When you are with them ask them to tell you about what they are reading. If they are older teach them to reflect on what they are reading through writing. There are many resources that are helpful for parents to know what to read to their children and what their children should be reading. I would suggest the following resources to get you started The Book Tree and The 1000 Good Books List. And if you are not sure about how to encourage your older children to write in reflection upon what they are reading you may want to read The Well Educated Mind by Susan Wise Bauer. You are never to old to become a life long learner. Take up and read.

LABOR to Develop Skills and Discover Interests
Parents should be looking to their children’s adult life. Therefore the time is given you to teach them that God has made them to work for his glory. The work ethic that will enable them to provide for their families, contribute to the needs of the saints and subdue the earth for God’s glory can be discovered during childhood and the young adult years. They will learn different skills as you give them different jobs and in the development of skills they will find what God has given them abilities for and interests in. Seek to give them regular duties they must perform each day and week. But you should also give them opportunities to perform special tasks or jobs that will help them explore the God’s gift of cultivating the earth. Those labors may even require them to do jobs for people outside of their own house at church, for a neighbor or in the community.

PLAY to Enjoy the Pleasures of God and the People God has Made
In redemption Christ is making all things new and the recreation we participate in and hold out for our children should reflect this. God has given your children a world to discover and enjoy his pleasures in creation and the preservation of that creation. Parents should be putting their children in situations where they play in the enjoyment of what God has made and sustains. It does not have to be organized at a park but can be within the confines of the linen closet that turns into a secret headquarters, cave or a house of their own. Parents should seek to put their children in situations where they play by themselves and with others. And the others should not always be the people they get along best with or the people the parents can tolerate the most. Play may involve organized sports, playing in a creek, on some rocks at the beach or out in the backyard with the “same old stuff”. However, the word nor any form of the word “bored” should allowed to be spoken by the child who is given the privilege of playing in God’s creation.

SERVE to Learn to Love Neighbors
Life is ministry and ministry takes a life. God has redeemed his church to serve his creatures not to be served by his creatures. Therefore, parents have a particular responsibility to set an example before their children as servants to those inside and outside of the church. Parents should be seeking opportunities to take their children with them as they serve others. Serving and loving our neighbors does not require and invitation or a special program set up by the church or the government. You do not have to look far beyond your family, your church family or your neighbors to find an opportunity to steward the time God has given by doing the works of him so that others will see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

DISCOVER to See Beyond Their Present Reality
Places of discovery are the windows into the breadth of the world that God creates and sustains. There are places in the backyard or in the community that can be places of discovery. You do not have to spend great amounts of money to participate in discovery. Your children can learn a lot from the complexity of the places where you live. But there is also discovery to be made beyond in the wide earth. And if time and money permit then plans should be made to open the doors of discovery not for entertainment sake but for opening up the realms of God’s general revelation to ourselves and our children. But places are not the only places of discovery. Our present reality is the people we spend the most time with, but God has created and he sustains people who are living in very different situations than our own. Children and adults will benefit greatly from spending time each week around people whose lives are not like their own.

The time we have been given is not our own. Let us make the best use of the time knowing that the days are evil and that we will be held accountable when our King returns.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

How Will You Use the Time Given to You?

The bell is about to toll. For whom does it toll? It tolls for the children, teachers, administrators and parents who’s lives change for several months as they leave the daily school hours for summer days. How will those days be spent when there are no teachers, administrators and staff to lead the children and teach?

The summer months offer a saturation of time for families. In the summer months parents have an additional seven hours a day to spend with their children. This is an additional 35 hours a week and a total of 420 hours in the twelve week summer. Therefore as the bell tolls for families this summer how will this 420 hours be used?

The Apostle Paul states, “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:15-16) In these verses the apostle Paul is speaking to the church about redeeming the time. He literally means here to buy up the time at the marketplace, or to buy back the present time which may now be being used for evil and godless purposes. He knows that every creature is given time to be exchanged in the market of life. The time given is exchanged for occupations and activities that may or may not be worthy or productive for God glorifying gain.

Time is a precious gift that must be measured by days (Psalm 90:12) knowing that the years will care for themselves under the Lord of time. Believing this truth causes the Christian to be careful about opportunities and responsibilities that occur in a day. If a person takes eight hours a day for sleep, three hours for meals and conversation, ten hours for work on five days, that person is still left with thirty-five hours each week to exchange in the market of opportunities and responsibilities. How are your days being spent in the time of five hours a day for opportunities and responsibilities in the callings God has given you? Granted, sometimes we sleep four hours, work fourteen, eat for thirty minuets. But however you do the math or whatever chaos may rule your schedule we are still left with the fact that time is given to redeem.

God is sovereign over the Christian’s time, and the Christian is responsible for the time that God gives. The Christian must seek to manage the time given in his range of control as a responsible steward of the gift. In this management of time he must be careful about many dangers. Three of these dangers are procrastination, “urgent needs,” and leisure. Procrastination is the thief of time. We must make decisions and act on them, set deadlines and do not miss one or postpone one. The Christian who wants to read more does not get more time for it. He takes time for it. He makes a decision with the time he has been given and redeems it for the opportunity to read more.

We must also be aware of the danger of “urgent needs” and interruptions when managing our time. Every call for help is not necessarily a call from God. However, we cannot say to every interruption or urgent need that interrupts our schedule, “Get behind me Satan!” We must take interruptions and urgent needs into our schedules, because our schedules are God’s gifts to us to arrange at His pleasure. If we treat our schedule with this Godward focus then we will be looking for reasons why God has brought this interruption or urgent need. This allows us to get to the point of why God has sent this situation our way, and we will be more efficient in handling it in time.

Last, in our practical responsibility of the management of the time God gives, we must be careful with leisure. Leisure is not a bad thing, but in these evil days we are taught it is something we deserve and something to be used to satisfy the pleasures of our flesh. Leisure is a gift from God to be enjoyed for the glory of God, under the authority of His revealed will. The Christian should seek to be wise and redeem the time given in the market of leisure in a planned and purposeful mode for his good and the good of others. However, in the management of time leisure should never supplant responsibility. When we “owe it to ourselves,” we can count on someone else paying for our indulgence in leisure. And when we redeem a little time here or there in the market of leisure opportunities, when our lives are in the market of responsibility, we can count on an unwise use of the gift given and someone else paying the cost. Leisure is a good thing when managed under the control of the Holy Spirit according to the revealed will of God.
God is the giver of good gifts. He has given to His people the gift of time to be used for the glory of His name in all things, and He is concerned that we spend the time he gives wisely. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Proverbs 1:7)” We must fear the Lord in the planning and use of the time he gives us and our children this summer under the direction of His revealed will in the Scriptures and by prayer. To do any less is to live as if we have no Lord.

In the next post we will think practically about how time can be used for God’s glory.