Tag: Providence Reformed Church

My city is heartbroken. A man has chosen to do great evil, murdering more than fifty people and wounding more than four hundred people. Nobody knows why. And, honestly, I do not care why. The actions of this man, deranged, insane, unstable, whatever, are simply evil. One evil man has chosen to take lives of people created in the image of God. It is wrong.

 

John 11:35 – Jesus wept.

 

The Bible reminds us that Jesus is the kind of person first to weep with those who weep. This is good. At the funeral of a friend, a friend Jesus would soon bring back from the grave, the Savior wept. He is not cold to us. He is not unwilling to feel our sorrow with us. And may we be like him. May we first and foremost mourn with those who mourn. Let us be loving before we are anything else.

 

Colossians 3:1-2 – 1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

 

And we must set our minds on things above. Without heaven, without eternity, without God on his throne, there is no way to handle the broken world in which we live. Mankind’s heart is evil. People are broken. WE are fallen, and we do evil as a human race. And we cannot pretend that we can solve this problem on our own. WE cannot do justice in our power. There is no justice that man can dispense to an evil gunmen who has already taken his own life.

 

Hebrews 9:27 – And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,

 

But we know this to be true: God is just. The Lord will do rightly. The man who chose to try to destroy those made in the image of the Lord is now facing the Lord he has tried to attack. God will do rightly. God will be just. God has the power and the authority to do what we cannot.

 

Our world is broken. We must show one another kindness. We must seek to do good to our fellow man. But we cannot find healing there alone. We need the Lord, enthroned, eternal, holy, just, gracious, to remind us that this world is not our home. We need God to remind us that this life is not all there is. We need God to call us to himself and grant us the ability to see the world we live in from eternal eyes.

 

If you want to talk about what has happened, I’m happy to talk with you, to grieve with you, to listen to you. If you have questions about God and his justice, I’m happy to hear them and to try to answer what I can. If you want to know about the God who has forever in front of us, I would be happy to help you know how to know him. If you would like someone to pray with you or for you, I am happy to do that. Send me a message here or give me a call, and I will help however the Lord will allow.

 

Let us not allow one evil man to have victory over us. Instead, let us be reminded of eternity, let us mourn with and pray for those who have been impacted by this evil, let us trust that God will do a justice we can never bring, and let us seek to know the God who will love and comfort all who seek his mercy. 

I grew up in a Southern Baptist context, and I’m very much grateful for that. I learned Scripture from godly men, I went to a wonderful seminary, and I saw a denomination at work caring for the needy and taking the good news to the nations. So, when I say that there is something biblical that I seldom saw in my SBC time, please understand that I say that from a position of love and not of sniping.

 

What I never saw in SBC churches growing up was a church operating under the leadership of a plurality of elders. Every church I grew up in had a solo pastor, perhaps associates under him, and a board of deacons. But none of them did what we see Paul say that he instructed Titus to do.

 

Titus 1:5 This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you—

 

Titus was to appoint elders (plural) in every town. That means that every individual church on that island was to have more than one elder in leadership. And if you follow that command with the remaining verses, you see that the call for elder leadership is the call for pastoral qualifications and the pastoral role in more than one man.

 

Why would God design the church so that a plurality of elders lead? The Scripture does not tell us, but it makes sense. No one man has the wisdom and perspective to faithfully shepherd an entire congregation. WE all have weaknesses. We all need others who can see our situation differently than we do. We all have emotions, and we need others to let us know if our reactions are too driven by self than by the truth. We need the strength that comes from working on a team instead of being the Lone Ranger.

 

The beautiful thing is, a plurality of elders actually allows the church to have deacons who do what deacons are called to do—serve. The word deacon means servant. The first deacons in the church were men appointed to care for physical needs in the church so that the leadership could devote themselves to prayer and ministry of the word. It would have been inconceivable to the first century church to have a solo pastor and a board of deacons serving as an oversight committee.

 

In the churches where I grew up, the role of deacon had become a sort of hybrid role combining the spiritual oversight work of elder minus the teaching role with the task of serving in some areas of the body. Looking back, I see that this mixture actually prevented qualified men from serving as deacons and prevented qualified men from becoming elders. Many men have the character and heart to serve as deacons, but do not want the burden of spiritually overseeing the church. They will not become deacons in the hybrid model. At the same time, there are men who are appointed as deacons whose qualifications better fit that of elder. They are better teachers and overseers, but they are burdened with types of service that do not fit their gifting.

 

The church functions best when it is shaped as the Scripture lays it out. We need more than one man serving in the elder role. These need to be godly men, able to teach, living lives of character, and praying and ministering the word in the body. We need godly men to serve as deacons, men of character who meet the physical needs in the body without exercising oversight of the spiritual life of the congregation. When we separate those roles correctly, we are more biblical and we are far more efficient.

 

If any of my SBC friends read this and wonder if this is not consistent with Baptist doctrine, understand that it perfectly fits the model in the Baptist Faith and Message. Elder leadership, even a plurality of elders, does not in any way require a surrendering of congregationalism. In truth, no church that is larger than a handful of people is totally congregational in every decision. WE trust leaders to make day-to-day decisions, and we then affirm those decisions in our congregational meetings. We discuss major issues in the meetings under the guidance of leaders. And a plurality of elders, rightly functioning, can work through elder-led congregationalism. So, there is nothing at all unBaptist about a plurality of elders. But there is something less than biblical and less than helpful about only having a single elder and a hybrid model of deacon.

 

The most biblical way to structure a church is to have a plurality of elders and a plurality of deacons. Other things may be debated here, but this is what we see clearly in Scripture. I love that we have this happening in our church. I would love to have even more deacons and more elders in our congregation to share the responsibilities of ministry. This has been good, and it honors the Lord we represent.

I think that many of us have seen the TV broadcasts of faith healing evangelists. These men, often gaudily dressed and with some really odd hair, travel the world claiming that they have been gifted with the power to heal. Somehow, these same men have that gift in the arenas where they are speaking, but they do not carry it to the hospitals and nursing homes in the cities they visit.

 

But I also know that, if we are honest, in the quiet of our minds, we wonder. Could it be that this is how spiritual gifts work? Are we missing something? Is our biblical conservatism keeping us from something special? And if you come from a cessationist point of view, you really get uncomfortable.

 

The problem is, no matter how much people want to be fascinated with the notion of a modern day healer, we need to let Scripture speak to us about the spiritual gifts, especially the boldly miraculous. Are there or are there not men and women gifted by God to be able to heal at will? It certainly seems that Peter and Paul were gifted in that way, at least for a time. Did that gift remain on those men?

 

Look at this little note at the end of Paul’s second letter to Timothy.

 

2 timothy 4:20 Erastus remained at Corinth, and I left Trophimus, who was ill, at Miletus.

 

We often read through the closing of Paul’s letters quickly, and we do not always pay attention. Paul left Trophimus behind because he was ill. Paul left a friend sick. What must that say about the power to heal? Paul had it at one point. Paul, however, did not heal his friend. Why? Did Trophimus lack the faith? I doubt that very seriously. Did Paul lack the faith? Again, that would be hard to swallow. Or is it more likely that the gifting that Paul had to supernaturally heal did not rest on him for all of his life and ministry after conversion.

 

When the apostles and those connected to them in the 1^st century church healed, they did so for a reason. The supernatural power of God was displayed through them to lend credibility to the gospel message of the risen Lord Jesus that they were preaching. The power to do the miraculous testified that these men were men of god, bringing the truth, and eventually authoring divinely inspired Scripture. Their gifts were not for show. Their gifts were for gospel. Their gifts were never about entertainment or about making money so they could live lavishly.

 

Do the supernatural gifts continue today? I do not think so, at least not in the way that they were on the apostles. WE do not have modern apostles today. We do not have modern folks who will need the Spirit of God to testify to their right to write Scripture, as the canon of Scripture is closed. I do not deny at all that God may, in a moment of grace and generosity, heal someone of a disease—otherwise we would have no reason to pray for the sick. But I do deny that the charlatans on the religious broadcasts have a personal, continuing, supernatural gift of healing. I think that it is most likely that, if the supernatural gifts such as healings are occurring today, they are occurring on the front lines of evangelism as the gospel of the Lord Jesus moves into cultures and nations that have no prior gospel witness. But none of those miracles are going to be on public display, as doing such for showy entertainment has never been God’s way.

 

If Paul left a friend sick, Paul who healed so often, we ought to conclude that no person is going to carry on himself a gifting for healing in the way that the televangelists claim. Where does that leave us? It leaves us seeking the Lord for the glory of the Lord instead of seeking the excitement of the mysterious and miraculous apart from the Lord. It leaves us living by the grace of the Lord, knowing that his grace is sufficient for us whether we are healed or not. It leaves us knowing that God can heal, but that such is the work of the Lord and not of men. It leaves us fully denying that there is a special class of healer who has received a secret gifting, faith, or knowledge—which is, by the way, Gnosticism. It leaves us rejecting a modern handling of the gifts that is not consistent with biblical practices. It does not leave us doubting that God does the supernatural or that he takes action in the modern world. But it most certainly leaves us praying, as the Savior taught us, “Your kingdom come; your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Mentoring is a big thing in Christian circles. We tell our folks that they need to be raising up leaders. Pastors go to conferences where big-named speakers tell them that they have to open up the leadership pipeline so that the church can grow. And we read book after book about new mentoring strategies.

 

In truth, the call to be a mentor is clear in Scripture.

 

2 Timothy 2:1-2 – 1 You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, 2 and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

 

Paul told Timothy to take the truth that Paul had taught Timothy—Paul mentored Timothy—and teach others—Timothy would be a mentor to others—who would in turn teach others—Timothy’s protégés would mentor still others. So there is a clear intent of a chain of mentoring in the church.

 

So, let’s ask questions about mentoring from two angles. First, are you a mentor? I’m not talking about some sort of formal, book-driven process. I am simply asking if there is someone into whose life you regularly invest. Do you open your home and your heart to someone to help them learn to navigate life? If you are a mature believer, you need to be investing in others as Paul invested in Timothy.

 

 

On the other side of the coin, are you looking to anyone to mentor you? Who do you go to in order to have them look into your life and offer you wisdom? At whose feet do you sit and learn? Are you wishing someone would invest in you, but you do not have anyone? For the mentoring pattern to work, we need both students and teachers.

 

So, ask yourself if you are playing the role that God might have for you in the church. You need to be invested in. find a mature believer who can teach you something about life, about marriage, about friendship, about purity, or about doctrine. And you need to be investing in others. Find someone into whose life you can pour the faithful teaching you have received. You should be receiving from above and passing knowledge down. If you are not involved in this in some form, you are not helping the cause of the church as well as you could be.

 

The thing is, mentoring is not complicated. It does not require a seminar or a book set. To mentor is to do what Paul just said: Learn from the more mature, pass it on to the less mature, and help them pass it on even further. This is hard, not because it is complicated, but because it requires us to invest our time and our hearts in each other. May we be a people willing to be open to one another as we pass on biblical counsel from man to man, from woman to woman, and from generation to generation.

How would you encourage a timid Christian? What kind of words of counsel would you offer to a believer who was struggling with staying strong in the face of potential persecution? I think you might be surprised to see what Paul says to Timothy in such a case.

 

2 Timothy 1:8 – Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God…

 

In 2 Timothy 1, Paul, writing from his final prison cell, has just reminded Timothy that God did not give Timothy a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control. Clearly Paul is trying to encourage Timothy away from timidity and toward boldness.

 

So, what is Paul’s first bit of advice? Paul does not try to encourage Timothy to pray that he not go through hardships. Nor does he offer Timothy empty words of a false hope. Paul does not tell Timothy, “God loves you so much he would never let you suffer.”

 

Instead, Paul tells Timothy to join him and to share in suffering for the gospel. Rather than telling Timothy to hope not to go through hardships, Paul actually tells Timothy to get to them. Timothy is to expect suffering. And somehow, expecting suffering is to help Timothy to have courage.

 

How can expecting suffering bring about courage for the Christian? It is actually a simple thing. When we think that suffering is only a possibility, our cowardice is in danger of flaring up. If we think that we, by compromise or through deceit, can avoid suffering, we well might do so. But if we know that we cannot avoid the suffering, that it is coming no matter what we do, Christians with God’s Holy Spirit living in us will tighten up and face the hardship.

 

Paul is not telling Timothy to seek out suffering. God is not telling us to go look for trouble. But the word of God is clear that, if you are a true follower of Jesus, you are likely to face hardships because of that faith. And God’s counsel for us is that we should expect it. When we know that this is the road that God has for us, we will rely on his word and his Spirit to walk us through the hardships for his glory.

The Song of Solomon is one of those books that we read when it comes up in our Bible-in-a-year plans, but we seldom talk about it. There are a few reasons for this. First, there is the debate among some teachers as to whether or not the book should be interpreted figuratively, as a metaphor for Christ and the church. Others get caught up in unveiling the racy language of the book, the intimacy and passion between a husband and wife, and they make the book nearly impossible to read without blushing.

 

Sadly, both of those interpretations rob us of some of the great beauty in the Song of songs. First, to interpret this book primarily as an allegorical representation of Jesus and the church is to force upon it a meaning that simply could not have been understood by its original audience. There is no biblical warrant for spiritualizing this text any more than what is done in the rest of Scripture. In Ephesians 5, Paul shows us that marriage as a whole depicts the faithful and self-giving love of Christ and the church. And so we can rightly say that this marriage is a depiction of marriage, and then we can go a third step to draw the metaphorical connection in Ephesians. But that is a far cry from making every detail of the book somehow uncomfortably refer to something religious.

 

At the same time, there is no goodness in striving to uncover every poetic metaphor for sexuality. The author wrote some racy things in this book, things to be shared between a husband and his bride. But the author wrote them in poetic form. He used symbols and metaphors instead of medical terminology on purpose. He did not want to be crass. He did not want to be pornographic. He simply wanted to express the truth of the relationship in a way that could be understood by the husband and wife in their day. But there was no form in the writing of being crude or of exposing to a watching world things that were supposed to be shared by the couple.

 

The sad thing is, if we allow either a fully metaphorical view or a crass view of this book to rule our understanding, we miss the beauty of the book. Yes, it is a book about marital love. Yes, it is a book that shows tenderness, commitment, reconciliation, passion, beauty, and so much more. And no, we do not have to put an R rating on it. Instead, we should read it for what it actually shows us about the beauty of a truly committed marriage.

 

Look at the end of the book.

 

Song of Solomon 8:5-8

 

5 Who is that coming up from the wilderness,

leaning on her beloved?

Under the apple tree I awakened you.

There your mother was in labor with you;

there she who bore you was in labor.

6 Set me as a seal upon your heart,

as a seal upon your arm,

for love is strong as death,

jealousy is fierce as the grave.

Its flashes are flashes of fire,

the very flame of the Lord.

7 Many waters cannot quench love,

neither can floods drown it.

If a man offered for love

all the wealth of his house,

he would be utterly despised.

 

Don’t let the poetry mess you up. This is a scene of the couple from the book walking together. Perhaps they are visiting the husband’s old home, his birthplace. This seems to be a place of memories for them, maybe even of a first date or meeting. She is leaning on his arm. She is sealed to him, never to be removed. She trusts in him. She knows he will stand with her as long as they live.

 

But how can she say that love is so unquenchable? So many in our world know that the feelings of passion fade. So many know that their affections wax and wane. We have seen people “fall out of love.” So how can she talk like that? Is she a fool?

 

No, the woman is no fool. Nor is her marriage perfect. WE saw some conflict between them because she was selfish in chapter 5. But the point is that their love will not fail. This is not about emotion. It is about commitment. The woman and the man in this book are committed to one another. They are clinging to each other, even as they age. They have decided to be given to each other’s good regardless of the circumstances. And because of that commitment, they walk together into the twilight with a full assurance that neither of them would give up their relationship, no matter what another person on earth could offer.

 

In the book, we see the sparks of love and passion. We see desire that is kept in check before marriage. WE see the wedding and the joys of the marriage bed. WE see conflict and reconciliation. WE see growth in the relationship. And we see, at the end, an older couple walking together, leaning on each other, and declaring that they will do each other good until death parts them. And this is a beautiful and biblical picture of a love that is better with age. 

One neat thing about Scripture is that we get to see the prayers of many. We see the Lord Jesus praying in the garden before his crucifixion and outside of the tomb of Lazarus before Lazarus’ resurrection. We see how Daniel prayed for the mercy of God on Judah during their Babylonian captivity. And we get to see how Paul called the early church to pray.

 

What has been striking to me is some of the things that Paul tells the church to pray. If you look at what Paul writes, his calls to prayer simply do not match the way that many of us expect that Paul would command the church to pray. If you read much from modern church growth experts or denominational missions organizations, you would expect that all the prayers of the local church would be for God to give us boldness, a platform, and the spiritual power to turn the world upside-down. But then you read the Scripture, and you see Paul tell us the following:

 

1 Timothy 2:1-2 – 1 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.

 

Pray what? Pray for leaders. Ah, pray that our leaders will be radically saved and turn the nation to faith? No, pray for leaders so that you can live, as a Christian, a peaceful and quiet life in all dignity. Does that feel funny to you?

 

Now, let’s be clear so that no odd Internet accusations arise. I am pro-evangelism. I share my faith. I call people to repentance and to come to Christ for salvation. And I believe that the Christian life that has no evangelistic focus has problems.

 

But with that said, does it not seem interesting that the prayer that Paul urges for the early church is that we could live simple, quiet, dignified lives? This does not seem to fit the big splash mentality of the modern church growth movement. This does not sound like the kind of prayer you pray when you want to start a megachurch.

 

So, Is Paul’s prayer here non-evangelistic? Not at all. Actually, the next lines say that our prayers for leaders that we might live quiet and dignified lives are pleasing to the God who wants to save all sorts of folks.

 

1 Timothy 2:1-4 – 1 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

 

Obviously, praying that we are freed by God to live a peaceful and quiet life in all dignity is not counter-evangelistic. IN fact, if we take the Scripture seriously, it seems that such a prayer for a peaceful, quiet, and dignified life is an evangelistic prayer. Could it be that, somehow, God will use us to be tools in his hands to bring about salvations even without a big-splash strategy?

 

Again, I am not anti-evangelism. But I find it fascinating that the prayer here is not a prayer to be noticed, to have a footprint in the community, to be a player in town politics. Of course, the world worked very differently back then. However, I am not so sure that the kind of prayer that Paul here commands would fit with some of the strategies and pressures now put on congregations by pastors and staffs, even well-meaning, who would say that community evangelism is the highest or even the sole purpose of the church.

 

May we indeed be a people who share the gospel of the Lord Jesus. May we develop friendships, genuine friendships, with people who will desire to ask us for the reason for the hope we have (1 Peter 3:15). May we willingly and openly bring the message of Jesus and his grace to those who need it. May we be a light in our communities, a city on a hill, as we gather for worship, hold forth the word, and live incredibly differently. May we see what Jesus said to his disciples as a powerful tool in proving who we are to the world: “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). Yes, share. Yes avoid laziness, fear and compromise. Yes, pray to have the opportunity to share your faith.

 

At the same time, take the word seriously. We are to pray for our government and for those over us that we would be allowed to live a peaceful, quiet life in all dignity. That does not mean that we pray that the government give us a platform for mass evangelism. It means just what Paul said. It means that we pray that God will let us live out love for him, love for family, love for the church, love for his word, love for the kindness of Christ in such a way that we will see people saved.

 

I’m not sure how this all works out. I’m certainly not wanting to tell anyone to slow down their evangelism. But I think there is something here that many modern Christians need to take seriously. And for those who have an evangelism-only mentality as it relates to the church, her purposes, strategy, and resources, I think this passage and the rest of the New Testament point us toward some other things that also need to be central to the lives of believers.

It is funny how, when faced with the sovereignty of God, we human beings so often want to know why. Why, knowing God is in control, did he allow a certain event to take place? Why does he not save a particularly rich and powerful person who could make life easier on the church? Or, perhaps, why would he save me?

 

1 Timothy 1:15-17 – 15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. 16 But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. 17 To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

 

Why would God save someone like me? After all, I have been a great sinner. I have thought and acted so foolishly for so much of my life. Why would he choose me?

 

When Paul was faced with that question, he felt much like many of us would feel if we were honest. When comparing ourselves to how the rest of the world seems, we see ourselves as chief among sinners. If there was a sinner team, we think we would be elected team captain. If there was a sinner army, we’d be generals. Why would God save people like us? We are not special. WE are not strong. We have not been good. Even saved, we do not bring good to the table.

 

But look at why Paul said that God saved him. God saved Paul so that “Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.” Paul’s salvation is a testimony to the patience of God. Pauls’ salvation is a testimony to the fact that God can and will save anybody. Paul’s salvation is a reminder to the world that, if you are still breathing, you still have a chance.

 

And friends, how true is this of my salvation? How true is it of yours? I know that my life is a reminder that God is gracious to fools. My life is a proof that the Lord can take the rawest of raw materials and put it to his own use. Even now, I fully proclaim that if anything good ever comes out of me, it is all of God. I cannot steer my life. I cannot make good choices that build the kingdom. I have nothing to offer that he does not work through me. And thus, my salvation and my sanctification is to his glory from start to finish.

 

What is Paul’s response to that great salvation? Paul, after considering the patience of God and his salvation, writes, “To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.” Paul, when he sees what a great sinner he was and that God saved him for God’s own purposes, breaks forth in praise. Paul glorifies the Lord because of the amazing way that the Lord would save a sinner like him. And this too should be our response. The more you realize that your salvation is not about you, not about what you can do for God, not about what you bring to the table, the more you will want to break forth in praise to the Lord who saves sinners like us. God is the one who saves. We are the ones who bring the sin into the equation. But, when God saves those who are chief among sinners, God is glorified, his patience and mercy and kindness are displayed, and we get the benefit of it all.

I love my seminary. I love the time that I spent there. I believe that the classes I took and the experiences I had there with students and professors was incredibly valuable to me as I tried to learn what I needed to know to faithfully handle the word of God.

 

In seminary, ,many of the professors also served as pastors or had done so in the past. And many of those men offered more than book knowledge. Many of those men talked to us plainly about the practical side of ministry. They talked to us about pastoral care, about administration, about hospital visits, and about much more.

 

But as a student, it is, I am coming to believe, impossible to understand with your heart and not just your head the things that are required to be a truly faithful pastor of a church. Seminary can give us tools. But seminary cannot help us to see the significance of the truths that we are learning. Like reading a book on marriage or parenting, you might learn some things that you acknowledge are true and necessary, but none of that sticks and clicks with you until you actually live it.

 

With all that in mind, I can say that I now see a particular passage of Scripture today in a way that I simply could not have seen it twenty years ago. This is not to say that I see the meaning differently, as I do not. But I have a grasp of the heart and significance today in a way that my heart simply could not have grasped while I was a student.

 

Look at how Paul describes his heart for the people of the church at Thessalonica.

 

1 Thessalonians 2:7-8, 11-12 – 7 But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. 8 So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.

11 For you know how, like a father with his children, 12 we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

 

How did Paul emotionally feel toward this church? He says with clarity that they had become dear to him. He describes his care for them in parental terms.

 

That love, that tender affection, that parental-styled emotional attachment is something that no classroom can teach. The professors tells us that we are supposed to care for our people in that way, but they cannot show us what it is like. But let me say, without qualification, that love for the local body is a biblical mandate for a godly pastor. WE have to learn to not only do the word work of the ministry, but we must also learn to do the heart work of loving the people like a caring parent.

 

I would also suggest that this kind of emotional attachment to the people comes only over time. We never finish learning this lesson. It is only after growth in Christian maturity, after walking with people through the joys and pains of real life, after performing weddings and funerals, after sitting in hospital rooms and living rooms and all the rest, only after all these things do we learn to love the body with the affection that Paul here describes. A classroom cannot simulate this. A lecture cannot bring it about. A Facebook post cannot make you see it if you are not there in your spiritual maturity.

 

But, dear Christian friends, may we learn to love as family just as Paul showed us. May we learn to have a tenderness and compassion for each other that is beyond what the world has to offer. May we not be so devoted to systems and organizational things that we do not care. May we not be so devoted to academia that we have no love. May we be what Scripture shows us that a good pastor does. May we love like family, good, healthy, non-dysfunctional family.