Dear Friends - February

I love being taught, lectured or preached at. I used to have to attend conferences to hear the finest preachers, theologians and apologists, not any more. I can just download their materials. And I’m not alone. I know that many at CCB feast on the best of Keller, Piper and Driscoll, to name a few. And I’m all for it. But what do we make of this phenomenon? Is it all good? I’m not so sure.

I want to encourage people to grow in their faith through listening to the word of God and being built up in the faith. In that sense listening to online sermons is a little like reading a Christian book. But I have a few reservations. Let me try and articulate them.

1. We can’t see their lives
I have no idea how Don Carson treats his wife. I have no insight into the family life of Mark Dever. I don’t get to hang out in the pub with Dick Lucas. I have no reason to doubt that they are godly men. But I don’t get to see it. And that’s not enough. I don’t just need to know what godliness looks like on the page, I need to see what godliness looks like in the flesh. I need it modelled. Of course, even local church pastors can pull the wool over our eyes. We may have little idea of the secret sins that take place behind the front doors of the Vicarage. But if a man who runs his family well stands up and talks about how to discipline his children, I’m all ears. If a man who lives an evangelistic life offers a seminar on explaining the faith to others, I’m there. Many will have heard the sad news that Mark Ashton, the Rector of STAG, in Cambridge has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. He announced to the church that he ‘counted it a great privilege to show them how to die well’. You can’t do that online. We need to see how our pastors live.

2. They don’t know our issues
As brilliant as he is, John Piper doesn’t know how my life needs to be reformed by the word of God. I’m sure he’d work it out, but he doesn’t know what it’s like to be a Dad of three small children, living in an aspirational inner city suburb in 21st Century London with a mortgage, some unbelieving mates and a church plant. And I’m not criticising him for that. He’s addressing his own church situation in Minneapolis. A friend nailed this issue for me when he wrote, ‘A sermon is not (or at least, it shouldn’t be!) some timeless exposition of a Scriptural text that is delivered irrespective of a particular group of hearers; it is a passionate and persuasive exposition of a Scriptural text that is aimed fair and square at a particular group of people, exhorting them to mature and active faith in Christ’. And so we need to remember that God is more concerned that we listen to our local church sermon than we do to something travelling through the ether from the other side of the world. And so when we’re downloading sermons make sure that the first sermon you listen to is the last one you missed at your local church.

3. No one can compare with ‘the greats’
I’m no Tim Keller. No really, I’m not! I’m an average preacher. I’m not the worst but I’m not the best. There are many like me. We’re just ordinary pastors who try and understand, teach and apply the scriptures to the local congregations in which God has placed us. But if we constantly compare the average with the exceptional then we’re in danger of disparaging the pastors God has given us. If God thought that I needed Vaughan Roberts he’d have given me the brains to get an education at Oxford or made him a pioneer church planter with a predilection for getting up the nose of the Anglican authorities. But He didn’t, because I don’t. And so let’s value the average pastor teachers that God has given us and beware of dissatisfaction because they compare unfavourably with ‘the greats’!

4. They can’t lead us from afar
We’d never go online and ask someone on another continent to be our virtual Dad and take over the running of our family, no matter how good they were at parenting. Neither should we allow any of these terrific preachers to become our virtual pastors. But that’s often what happens when we begin to be influenced by and submit to the leadership of others. They become our de facto leaders. Be wary of inadvertently seeking to undermine local church leadership with an ever growing allegiance to someone else.

5. Nothing replaces reading God’s word
When I’m tired it’s easier to listen to a sermon than it is to read the Bible and pray. Occasionally that’s fine. Trouble is I’m often tired. And so the regular healthy habit of listening to God’s voice in the scriptures and responding in prayer can easily get ditched in favour of a much less demanding activity. That can’t be good. Somehow I need to carve out time in order to diligently study the scriptures and feed on God’s word. So if I’m going to listen to online talks I need to make sure that I do so with an open Bible and an open mind. I need to test what’s said by the scriptures and ensure, as I should with all teaching, that I believe only what can be substantiated from the text.

Generally speaking I’m enthusiastic about the wealth of online evangelical talks, sermons and theology. Of course, if you really want to have your life shaped by the brilliant men whose sermons we download then move! But just in case you miss my sermons you can find them online!

Dear Friends - March

Confidence is a funny thing. Not funny as in witty but funny as in peculiar. Semantically it’s got a range of meaning. Sometimes it’s a good thing and at other times it’s not. It all depends on the context. Spiritually speaking; self confidence is misplaced. It’s known as arrogance. And that’s bad. Jesus told a story to warn of the dangers of spiritual self confidence. It’s called the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. It’s one of my favourites!

It was my privilege to speak to some of the pupils at Cranleigh School this last week, as part of their Lenten Addresses. It was essentially a school mission. This parable got more leverage than any other talk that I gave. I think that’s because it’s so unexpected. No one really thinks that God works like this. We assume that God makes friends with the religious types. But we may have taken for granted the wonderful surprise of the gospel.

Jesus told this parable because there will always be people confident of their own righteousness and therefore their own standing with God. He told a story about two men; one was an upstanding member of the community and the other was a disgrace. Both went to the Temple to pray. One returned home God’s friend and the other left as God’s enemy. But it wasn’t the way round that we’d expect. It was the man who’d made a mess of his life that walked away confident that God would accept him. Why is that?

It’s because there were three things that were true of the tax collector that were not true of the Pharisee.

1. He recognised his sin
The Pharisee thought much of his exemplary religious performance. Not so the tax collector. In his heart of hearts he knew that he’d lived life in God’s world without any reference to Him. He knew that he’d treated God with contemptuous disdain and so he couldn’t even approach him or even look up to the heavens. And he was right. In the same way, we need to recognise that we too are sinners. We’ll get nowhere in the Christian life until we own up to the fact that we have not lived the way that God would have us do. He’s not been number one in our lives. He’s not directed the way we live, the things we say and what we allow ourselves to think. Unless we admit this truth, Jesus Christ will never amount to much in our lives.

2. He relied on God’s mercy
The Pharisee prayed but didn’t think he needed anything. He was supremely self confident. Not so the tax collector. His plea was that God would not give him what he knew he deserved. What he deserved was God’s punishment for the way that he’d treated Him. But he threw himself at God’s mercy. In the same way, we need to rely on God’s mercy. But will we throw ourselves at His feet and rest on nothing else but His compassion. What other option do we have? How else do you propose we persuade God to overlook our sinful rejection of His rightful rule? Do you really want to rely on your good works? Do you really want to tell Jesus that he was wasting his time dying on the cross because you don’t need his help?

3. He returned home justified
The Pharisee left the temple God’s enemy. Not so the tax collector. He returned home justified. God decided to think of him ‘just as though he was Jesus’. That’s incredible. This sinful man who threw himself on the mercy of God was declared righteous. Every time God thought of him He thought he was morally perfect. Every time God looked at him He looked at someone pure and holy. He knew his life was a mess but God thought he was blameless. How? Is God stupid? No, but He is gracious. He gives us what we don’t deserve. And what we don’t deserve is Christ’s righteousness. But on the cross an exchange took place. Jesus took our unrighteousness and gave us his righteousness. God regarded Him as a sinner and punished him accordingly. God regards us as holy and treats us accordingly. When God thinks of us, even at the moment of our worst sin, He thinks of us as though we’re His perfect Son.

Conclusion
Jesus concludes his parable with these words, ‘For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted’ Luke 18:14. God will humiliate the arrogant but praise the humble. That’s the way it is. So what will you do? You’re of age; make up your own mind. How do you fancy your chances going down the merit route? Jesus says that there’s a better way; mercy. If we’re prepared to recognise we’re sinners and if we’re prepared to rely on God’s mercy then we can be confident that we’re God’s friend. Is that not the single best thing that you have ever heard in your whole life?