October 28, 2010 by C.J. Mahaney
Categories: Pastoral ministry | Trinity
This post is taken from C.J.’s chapter in the book For the Fame of God’s Name: Essays in Honor of John Piper. C.J.’s chapter is titled “The Pastor and the Trinity,” and we’ve posted it in 11 parts.
How do we lead those we love and care for to experience the love of God the Father? First, we proclaim God the Father’s plan to send his only Son to us, and to sacrifice him on the cross for sinners like you and me. Scripture is clear: the love of God the Father for sinners is supremely demonstrated on the cross.
In fact, the Father’s love cannot be understood apart from the cross. John writes, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son” (John 3:16). Later he writes, “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world” (1 John 4:9). Paul adds to the chorus: “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8).
The Father’s love for sinners like you and me was the divine motivation for the cross. As John Stott writes:
It cannot be emphasized too strongly that God’s love is the source, not the consequence, of the atonement. . . . God does not love us because Christ died for us; Christ died for us because God loved us. If it is God’s wrath which needed to be propitiated, it is God’s love which did the propitiating.[1]
Dr. Stott offers serious wisdom here to those committed to preaching faithfully on the topic of God’s wrath. Our sermons and our songs must not neglect the holiness and the wrath of God. We must not soften these topics or apologize for preaching them. But we must never teach about God’s holiness and wrath in isolation from his love.
One reason we cannot separate God’s wrath from his love is simple: they are joined at the cross. We must never leave the impression that it was the loving Son who placated the angry Father. Rather it was the Father’s love—his love for sinners who richly deserved his righteous wrath—that moved him to sacrifice his only Son as our substitute. At the cross, the Father both satisfies his wrath and displays his love for sinners. Pastors, we must remind those we care for that before the cross and behind the cross and through the cross, the love of the Father is revealed. If we do this well, their contemplation of the cross will bring a fresh experience of the personal and passionate love of the Father toward them.
Sinclair Ferguson says this well:
When we think of Christ dying on the cross we are shown the lengths to which God’s love goes in order to win us back to himself. We would almost think that God loved us more than he loves his Son! We cannot measure such love by any other standard. He is saying to us: I love you this much. . . . The cross is the heart of the gospel. It makes the gospel good news: Christ has died for us. He has stood in our place before God’s judgment seat. He has borne our sins. God has done something on the cross which we could never do for ourselves. But God does something to us as well as for us through the cross. He persuades us that he loves us.[2]
Is that what your church thinks? Have you ever preached so clearly about the Father’s love as revealed in the cross that your church wondered if God loved them more than he loves his Son?
The cross convinces us of the Father’s love because it is here that the voice of the Father says to us:
I will crush my Son under the full fury of my righteous wrath for you. In the Garden of Gethsemane, my Son will cry out for this bitter cup to pass from him. And I will remain silent. Why? Because I love you that much.
And when my Son utters that shriek on the cross, unlike any other protest in all of history, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” I will again remain silent. Why? To convince you that I love you.
Behold the supreme demonstration of my love—the cross—the death of my Son. What more can I say? What else do you require to be convinced of my love for you?
Behind the death of the Son for us stands the love of a Father toward us. And there is no more effective way to persuade your church of God the Father’s love than to remind them of the cross, the supreme demonstration of the Father’s personal love for them.
This blog post is part 7 of an 11-part series, The Pastor and the Trinity, a reprint of C.J. Mahaney’s chapter “The Pastor and the Trinity” in For the Fame of God's Name: Essays in Honor of John Piper, edited by Sam Storms and Justin Taylor, ©2010. Used by permission of Crossway. For other posts in this series, see the index here.
[1] John R. W. Stott, The Cross of Christ (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1986), 174.
[2] Sinclair B. Ferguson, Grow in Grace (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1989), 56, 58.
October 27, 2010 by C.J. Mahaney
Categories: Pastoral ministry | Trinity
This post is taken from C.J.’s chapter in the book For the Fame of God’s Name: Essays in Honor of John Piper. C.J.’s chapter is titled “The Pastor and the Trinity,” and we’ve posted it in 11 parts.
After praying that the Corinthian church will experience the grace of Christ, Paul prays that they will experience “the love of God.” It is a simple phrase, easy to rush past. But I appeal to you to slow down, to ponder this prayer, to ask what Paul means when he says, “The love of God . . . be with you all.” How should the model Paul provides here shape our pastoral ministry?
In the Trinitarian structure of this benediction, “God” specifically refers to the Father, the first person of the Trinity. And it is clear that Paul has in mind God’s love for us, not our love for God.
Paul’s closing benediction demonstrates what our prayer should be for those we love and serve: that through our ministry they might encounter the love of God the Father. True pastoral ministry seeks to convince Christians of the love of God the Father for them, a love that is specific, personal, and passionate.
And many Christians need convincing. Over the years I have spoken with many genuine Christians who are not certain of God’s love for them. They tend to think of God as merely tolerating them, often frustrated with them, eager to punish them. Countless genuine Christians are suspicious of God.
How are we to convince these believers of God’s love for them? I believe J. I. Packer gives us wise guidance. In his outstanding book Knowing God, Packer writes, “The New Testament gives us two yardsticks for measuring God’s love. The first is the cross (see Rom 5:8; 1 Jn 4:8–10); the second is the gift of sonship [1 John 3:1].”[1] We convince God’s people of his love for them by leading them to the cross and by reminding them of their adoption as sons of God.
Let us acknowledge right here that to fully measure God’s love is an unending and impossible (and joyous) task. Who can mark off the height and breadth and length and depth of God’s love for us? Elsewhere Paul prays for the Ephesians that they will “know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge” (Eph. 3:19). When we survey the love of God for us, we are plumbing the unfathomable, measuring the immeasurable. But let us use these two yardsticks, the cross and the gift of sonship, to attempt to do just that.
This blog post is part of an 11-part series, The Pastor and the Trinity, a reprint of C.J. Mahaney’s chapter “The Pastor and the Trinity” in For the Fame of God's Name: Essays in Honor of John Piper, edited by Sam Storms and Justin Taylor, ©2010. Used by permission of Crossway. For other posts in this series, see the index here.
[1] J. I. Packer, Knowing God (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1973), 214.
The Fall 2010 issue of Leadership Journal is now out. It highlights the topic of ambition and fittingly includes an interview with my friend Dave Harvey, titled “The Glory Drive” (pages 20-24).
“Without ambition, nothing happens,” Dave says. “Churches don’t get planted, the lost aren't reached, the church has no impact. And beyond the church, business don’t start, social problems go unaddressed and exploration doesn’t happen. Without ambition people become lazy. If you undermine ambition, you rob people of their desire and will to do something great with their lives” (21).
If you see the magazine, check out the interview. And if you don’t own Dave’s book Rescuing Ambition, here's my recommendation--go buy a copy right away.
October 25, 2010 by C.J. Mahaney
Categories: Music
On a stage in front of 2,800 attendees at the 2010 NEXT conference, I called out my friend Curtis Allen.
Kevin DeYoung was speaking at the conference, and the focus of his newest book was the Heidelberg Catechism. He called it The Good News We Almost Forgot: Rediscovering the Gospel in a 16th Century Catechism (Moody, 2010). So at NEXT 2010 I challenged Curtis (aka Voice) to write and record a rap song to promote Kevin's book and the catechism.
Curtis delivered.
On Friday, this is what he sent me:
(Note: if you dont see the player, go here to listen. Download the song here.)
Yep, Curtis Allen is the best.
Heidelberg Catechism (lyrics)
Verse 1
Yeah I'm on a mission like a couple spies, and that guys is the reason why I catechize. The good news we almost forgot I recognize, Heidelberg rediscovering the gospel prize. It's not scripture but the truth in it will mention he, introduction hide and seek the 16th century. Written in a time when your mind was the weaponry, this document is back into the populace shouts to Kevin D. Better than you think not as bad as you remember, purpose driven truth, from Frederick the elector. He would initiate, the 129 questions to illustrate truths like Christ propitiates. All in a document, whose purpose was to teach children, a guide for preachers, and confessions in a church building. And this is all fact The Heidelberg Cat has been around but now it's seem like it is coming back.
Hook
We believe in the cross, believe in his life,
We believe in his death, believe he's the Christ.
We believe that he rose from grave yes it is him
And we read the Heidelberg Catechism
We believe in the after life and we believe nothing's after Christ, so we stand our ground, cuz the truth's been around from the word to the Heidelberg.
Verse 2
Year of the Heidelberg resulting in renewed passion, and we could see it in our lives lights camera action. Let's take a gander and address a few questions from Heidelberg document then look at the answers. But before that make sure that, you know how it's broken down, in a Q & A format, a few sections. Suggestions how to read this not to sound promotional, but Kevin put it in his book to make it a devotional. Each question each answer has a bit of commentary, so the application of it is not some involuntary. Mystery, the history screams through rings true but I'll just leave that up to God, cuz that's between you. to believe, but to believe you gotta read you and then you meditate on all the truths that the Heidelberg will illustrate. What's that the catechism homey where you been the good news we almost forgot let's get it in!
Verse 3
From the word to the Heidelberg, we see that what's the comfort of life should come first. And in death that I with, body and soul but belong to the savior, commentary from me man, tell this to your neighbor. Moving on, how many things are necessary for thee, enjoying this comfort, to live and die happily? Three, my sin's misery, deliverance from sin, and gratitude for God is how the answer ends. Let's stretch it out the Lord's day 23 the grandaddy of them all, questions 59 and 60. What good does it do to believe in all this? In Christ I am right heir to the promise. Paraphrase, anyways I'm kinda limited I'm just trying to say a couple things my man Kevin did. On the Heidelberg, go and get you one, and by the way CJ homey this was fun.
October 22, 2010 by C.J. Mahaney
Categories: Pastoral ministry | Trinity
This post is taken from C.J.’s chapter in the new book For the Fame of God’s Name: Essays in Honor of John Piper. C.J.’s chapter is titled “The Pastor and the Trinity,” and we’ve posted it in 11 parts.
Since as pastors we must handle the doctrine of sin, how do we avoid misusing this doctrine? How do we proclaim and unveil and apply the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ? Here is how: never lose sight of Calvary. What happened in Christ’s death gives the greatest possible hope for sinners. There we find forgiveness for sin, freedom from condemnation, salvation from God’s wrath, power to put sin to death and to grow in godliness, strength in weakness, perseverance in suffering, certainty amid mystery, and hope for eternity.
Some facet of gospel truth is the ultimate answer for every pastoral situation you confront—every one. But it requires discernment and skill to unveil the gospel and apply it to the apparent complexity of people’s lives, the circumstances in our congregations, and the situations we face in counseling. This is what we have been called to do, and this is what we can do, if we never lose sight of Calvary.
In his study of the Puritans, J. I. Packer writes, “The preachers’ commission is to declare the whole counsel of God; but the cross is the centre of that counsel, and the Puritans knew that the traveller through the Bible landscape misses his way as soon as he loses sight of the hill called Calvary.”[1] This is how to avoid misusing the doctrine of sin: never lose sight of Calvary. Keep this landmark firmly in your view.
It is frighteningly easy to lose sight of Calvary. We drift away from the cross, not toward it. And when this happens, we become aware only of our sin, the sins of our wives and children, the sins of our church members. So we must establish practices that enable us to maintain a clear view of the gospel.
Make this a priority in your spiritual disciplines. Dwell on some aspect of Christ and him crucified as revealed in your daily Scripture reading. Use your supplemental reading to refocus your gaze on the cross. Like Paul, resolve to know nothing except Christ and him crucified (1 Cor. 2:2).
Let the cross be central in your public ministry as well. As you prepare your sermons, ensure that at some point you give your church a clear sighting of Calvary. No matter how obscure the passage seems to be, however unrelated to the cross it appears, we must work at it until we can show how the text fits into the redemptive storyline of Scripture. Your sightings of Calvary should be so consistent that your church expects them in every sermon. When they arrive on Sunday to hear you preach God’s Word, they should be filled with anticipation. They should be able to say to someone who has never attended your church, “Regardless of what text our pastor begins with, regardless of whether he preaches from the Old Testament or the New, regardless of how obscure the text appears to be, I guarantee you that at some point in this sermon you will be led to the cross.”
And when you are counseling, although you must discuss heart issues, address sin, and carefully diagnose sinful cravings, at some point there must be a sighting of Calvary. Apart from the gospel, we have no basis on which to offer people hope for change. And we could continue on to every area of pastoral responsibility. No arena is exempt.
Paul never lost sight of Calvary. The man celebrated grace even more intensely than he grieved over sin. Even when writing to the Corinthian church—a church with more deficiencies than you will likely ever encounter in ministry—Paul reminded them that the grace of God was present and active among them as a result of the gospel. Paul wasn’t unaware of their sins. He was just more aware of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Which are you more aware of? As you think about your church, pray for them, preach to them, and counsel them—even in your casual conversations with them—which carries more weight in your soul: their sins, or the grace of Christ toward them?
Let us, like Paul, center our ministries on the cross of Christ. Let us labor that our churches may become more aware of the grace of God.
This blog post is part of an 11-part series, The Pastor and the Trinity, a reprint of C.J. Mahaney’s chapter “The Pastor and the Trinity” in For the Fame of God's Name: Essays in Honor of John Piper, edited by Sam Storms and Justin Taylor, ©2010. Used by permission of Crossway. For other posts in this series, see the index here.
[1] J. I. Packer, A Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1990), 286.
October 21, 2010 by C.J. Mahaney
Categories: Pastoral ministry | Trinity
This post is taken from C.J.’s chapter in the new book For the Fame of God’s Name: Essays in Honor of John Piper. C.J.’s chapter is titled “The Pastor and the Trinity,” and we’ve posted it in 11 parts.
Grace is what God extends to sinners. So preaching grace can be a complex task: in order to proclaim grace, we must address sin.
We face two possible errors when addressing the doctrine of sin. One is to preach grace while neglecting sin. This we must not do. The doctrine of sin is of immeasurable value to our churches. We must never minimize its importance, nor should we apologize for preaching it. Our hearers must understand that sin is pervasive, subtle, deceptive, and deadly. Only then will grace have any meaning.
The other error, one to which many of us are prone, is to teach and apply the doctrine of sin while neglecting grace. It is possible to teach this doctrine and not reveal the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is also a sobering possibility, one we must avoid at all costs.
It takes great skill to teach the doctrine of sin in a way that reveals, rather than obscures, the grace of Christ. Sinclair Ferguson captures this challenge:
Only by seeing our sin do we come to see the need for and wonder of grace. But exposing sin is not the same thing as unveiling and applying grace. We must be familiar with and exponents of its multifaceted power, and know how to apply it to a variety of spiritual conditions.
Truth to tell, exposing sin is easier than applying grace; for, alas, we are more intimate with the former than we sometimes are with the latter. Therein lies our weakness.[1]
Have you seen this weakness in your own life and ministry? In your church? When was the last time you thought deeply about it? We are all more familiar with sin than we are with grace—therein lies our weakness.
So we must handle the doctrine of sin with great care. We must teach it with humility and apply it with wisdom. Remember: this doctrine is a means, not an end. Preaching about sin is not the same as preaching grace. If we do not unveil and apply grace, our emphasis on the doctrine of sin will leave the members of our churches devoid of hope, without joy, and aware only of their sin, not of the grace of Christ.
Pastors, our goal is not simply to convict our hearers of sin, but to convince them of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. So which are you more aware of: the pervasiveness of sin, or the power of grace? Which is your church more aware of? If someone were to study your sermon notes, would he find more space devoted to exposing sin than to unveiling and applying grace?
It requires little skill merely to expose sin. But it takes great skill to unveil grace and apply it to the wide variety of spiritual conditions represented in our churches. Merely addressing sin or exposing sin is not sufficient; we must labor to show the stunning magnitude and power of the grace of Christ toward those he has redeemed. The message we deliver is the message of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, which saves us from all our sin.
This blog post is part of an 11-part series, The Pastor and the Trinity, a reprint of C.J. Mahaney’s chapter “The Pastor and the Trinity” in For the Fame of God's Name: Essays in Honor of John Piper, edited by Sam Storms and Justin Taylor, ©2010. Used by permission of Crossway. For other posts in this series, see the index here.
[1] Sinclair Ferguson, “A Preacher’s Decalogue Part II,” Reformation21.
October 19, 2010 by C.J. Mahaney
Categories: Pastoral ministry | Trinity
This post is taken from C.J.’s chapter in the new book For the Fame of God’s Name: Essays in Honor of John Piper. C.J.’s chapter is titled “The Pastor and the Trinity,” and we’ve posted it in 11 parts.
Paul’s benediction for the Corinthian church is consistent with all his letters, and indeed with his entire ministry: he points his readers to the grace of Jesus Christ. Paul did not rely on leadership styles popular in his day, the strength of his own personality, or the quickest way to increase membership numbers. His definition of ministry was rooted in theology, and at its center was the grace of Jesus Christ. For Paul there was no other foundation. And for us it should be no different.
The order of the Trinity as Paul presents it here is striking. He begins with the Lord Jesus Christ, then references God the Father, and concludes with a reference to God the Holy Spirit. Why does he not begin with the Father, the first person of the Trinity?
This verse is not intended to describe the relationships within the Trinity, but rather appears to describe for us the chronological order of our experience of the triune God. It is on the basis of the person and work of Christ that we are reconciled to God. And this priority remains consistent throughout the Christian life. All of the mercy, all of the grace, all of the blessings a Christian receives in this life and throughout eternity derive from the saving work of Jesus Christ.
So it is no surprise that Paul begins by referencing the grace of God, which is revealed through the gospel. The grand centerpiece of “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ” is the salvation of sinners through the death and resurrection of Christ. This is where Paul always begins. He is gospel-centered, he is cross-centered, and he consistently reminds the Corinthians of the content and the centrality of the gospel.
Paul begins 1 Corinthians with the gospel:
I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus. (1:4)
For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. . . . But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles. (1:17–18, 23)
For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. (2:2)
Near the end of the letter, Paul once again reminds the Corinthians of the gospel: “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures” (15:3–4).
And in 2 Corinthians, Paul continues with the gospel: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich” (8:9).
And although Paul addresses the Corinthians on diverse topics, he remains steadily cross-centered. At every turn Paul’s instruction is derived from the gospel, revealing a man who never assumed the gospel, and who refused to allow the Corinthian church to drift from Christ and him crucified. Down to the final words of the concluding benediction, Paul reinforces the primacy of the gospel.
All pastors have the privilege and joy of emulating Paul’s example in every area of pastoral responsibility. Paul’s example reminds me that:
- I must never assume the gospel.
- I must never assume the church I serve sufficiently understands the gospel.
- I must inform every aspect of pastoral ministry with the proclamation and celebration of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ revealed in the gospel.
- I must never teach on any topic without explaining how it relates to the gospel.
- I must preach to reveal the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- I must counsel to impart the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- I must help those vulnerable to legalism and condemnation to experience the justifying grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- I must help those fighting a besetting sin to experience the sanctifying grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- I must help the suffering to experience the comforting grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- I must help the weary to experience the sustaining grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- I must help those who persist in disobedience to experience the convicting and cleansing grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In short, I must labor so the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ will be with them all. This is the pastor’s privileged task. This is our joy and our call.
Yet if we understand our message and are committed to proclaiming it, why does the grace of Jesus Christ often seem to be an elusive experience for those we serve? If we’re preaching this week after week, why don’t some folks seem to grasp it? Why isn’t the message of grace taking root in every member’s life?
Let me offer one possible reason. …
This blog post is part of an 11-part series, The Pastor and the Trinity, a reprint of C.J. Mahaney’s chapter “The Pastor and the Trinity” in For the Fame of God's Name: Essays in Honor of John Piper, edited by Sam Storms and Justin Taylor, ©2010. Used by permission of Crossway. For other posts in this series, see the index here.
October 15, 2010 by Tony Reinke
Categories:
You may have noticed that the Sovereign Grace Ministries website was recently redesigned. C.J.’s blog was included in the freshening.
Also worth noting is that we added a new blog, Plant and Build, to share mission updates, local church highlights, and other ministry news for our pastors and church members. Anyone else is welcome to listen in as well, so check it out if you’re interested.
Overall we hope the redesigned website makes it easier for you to find information and to connect with us. I’m certain the new font and format will be easier on the eyes.
Thanks for reading!
October 15, 2010 by Tony Reinke
Categories: Pastoral ministry | Trinity
This post is from C.J.’s chapter in the new book For the Fame of God’s Name: Essays in Honor of John Piper. C.J.’s chapter is titled “The Pastor and the Trinity,” and we’ve posted it in 11 parts.
In this chapter I want to draw your attention to this Trinitarian benediction of 2 Corinthians in order to remind you of what has always been true: the character and work of the triune God define and inform the heart of pastoral ministry. In 2 Corinthians 13:14, hidden in plain sight, is a wonderfully succinct model for pastoral ministry. Paul’s pastoral ministry was theologically informed. Moreover, it was thoroughly Trinitarian—he references each member of the Godhead in his benediction. And it was shaped by a clear understanding of the Trinity’s disposition toward the church: in the gospel, the triune God extends to us his amazing grace, his immeasurable love, and his gracious fellowship.
Are you looking for a model upon which to build your ministry? If you have been a pastor for more than a few weeks, no doubt you have heard the calls for a new kind of ministry to meet the challenges of a modern world. Hardly a week goes by without a new article, another survey, a large conference, or a new book on church growth, all proclaiming that time-tested ways of doing ministry no longer work. Something entirely new is needed, they tell us. Stephen Wellum captures the current mood: “Around us on every side are calls to ‘revision’ Christian theology, to ‘re-imagine’ evangelism, to ‘re-think’ how we do church, and even to ‘rearticulate’ the very nature of the gospel for our postmodern times.”[1]
But as John Piper has proclaimed for decades, a biblically faithful ministry model needs no revising. What we are after is not novelty but faithfulness, not new paths but old ones, not the power of cool but the power of the gospel. Scripture is not silent on what leadership in the church should look like. And in a volume dedicated to Dr. Piper—who for thirty years has provided for all of us a compelling model of faithful pastoring—it is fitting for us to reexamine a biblical definition of ministry.
Pastor, if you are looking for a model for ministry, you’ll find it here: 2 Corinthians 13:14. Through our prayers, our preaching, our counseling, and all facets of our leadership, we must position those we serve to experience the grace of the Son, the love of the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.
This blog post is part of an 11-part series, The Pastor and the Trinity, a reprint of C.J. Mahaney’s chapter “The Pastor and the Trinity” in For the Fame of God's Name: Essays in Honor of John Piper, edited by Sam Storms and Justin Taylor, ©2010. Used by permission of Crossway. For other posts in this series, see the index here.
[1] Stephen J. Wellum, “Learning from John Today,” Southern Baptist Journal of Theology 10, no. 3 (Fall 2006): 2.
October 14, 2010 by C.J. Mahaney
Categories: Pastoral ministry | Trinity
Crossway gave us permission to post C.J.’s chapter from For the Fame of God’s Name: Essays in Honor of John Piper. C.J.’s chapter is titled “The Pastor and the Trinity,” and we’ve posted it in 11 parts.
It happened in my hometown, in a Washington DC Metro station. And I’m sure, had I been there, I would have walked past it without a single glance.
In 2007, the Washington Post organized an experiment. During the morning rush hour, world-famous violinist Joshua Bell stood incognito in the entrance to the L’Enfant Plaza Metro station and played a brilliant classical repertoire for forty-five minutes. It was, as Post reporter Gene Weingarten explained, “an experiment in context, perception and priorities—as well as an unblinking assessment of public taste.”[1]
Joshua Bell routinely fills up concert halls worldwide. Days before, an audience in Boston had paid around $100 apiece to see him perform. In L’Enfant Plaza, he was playing a Stradivarius made in 1713, reportedly worth $3.5 million. On that Washington morning, the virtuoso collected exactly $32.17 from the few passersby who stopped. Most of the 1000-plus commuters who hurried through the station that morning didn’t even slow down.
I don’t think I would have slowed my pace either. If I had been rushing through L’Enfant Plaza that morning, I might not have even noticed him. He was hidden in plain sight.
It’s quite possible for us to rush past certain verses of Scripture in a similar fashion. Sadly, I often do. We are busy, we’ve read this before, and we assume we understand the important stuff anyway. We do not perceive the wealth of God-glorifying, grace-magnifying, life-transforming truth before us.
This is one of many reasons I am grateful for the personal example of my friend John Piper. John doesn’t rush past the words of Scripture. He doesn’t assume he understands what he reads the first time around. He reads slowly, contemplates a single paragraph or sentence or phrase, examines a single word. As Mark Dever eloquently puts it:
While too many of us are saying a lot of things quickly and running on to the next, John stops and stands and stays and stares at God’s Word. Sometimes he stares at something that seems so obvious, but he keeps staring until it begins to expand and fill the horizon of his sight. . . . John prays and thinks until a part of God’s Word which seemed simple and obvious becomes fresh and powerful.[2]
John has taught me to slow down, to read my Bible carefully, to ponder the meaning and implications of every line, every word. So following his example, let’s stop and stare at a single verse that’s easily overlooked. It’s only one sentence. In these few words, however, we’ll discover in Paul’s example a model for pastoral ministry.
2 Corinthians 13:14
In the closing words of Paul’s second letter to the Corinthian church, we read, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Cor. 13:14).
Have you ever paused to contemplate this verse? Until recently, I hadn’t. For me, these words were hidden in plain sight.
I’ve often been guilty of racing past the closing verses of New Testament letters. Sometimes we approach these passages like the last few seconds of a phone conversation: “OK. Yep. Thanks. See ya later.” We assume these verses are a mere formality, an expression of ancient etiquette and nothing more.
But in Scripture there are no throwaway lines. This final sentence was divinely inspired, carries divine purpose, and has particular relevance for pastoral ministry. In this simple verse, just twenty Greek words, we find a biblical model for pastoral ministry. It is right before our eyes, if we do not race past it.
Gordon Fee cautions us not to neglect or overlook the importance of this benediction. He writes:
In many ways this benediction is the most profound theological moment in the Pauline corpus. . . . It is not difficult to see why such a profound moment of theology—in the form of prayer for the Corinthians—should be the single most appropriate way to conclude this letter. What Paul wishes for them is all of this, and nothing less.[3]
“In many ways . . . the most profound theological moment in the Pauline corpus.” And we so easily rush past it.
Paul’s benediction would deserve our attention no matter where in Holy Scripture it appeared, but it is particularly striking when we consider the original audience. Paul was writing to the Corinthian church, and if there ever was a church of self-absorbed sinners, these folks were it. They had been seduced by human wisdom. They had drifted from the centrality of the cross. They were splitting into four factions. The church was allowing sexual immorality of a kind, Paul wrote, “not tolerated even among pagans” (1 Cor. 5:1). Lawsuits among church members were common. They were desecrating the Lord’s Supper—some were even getting drunk there. They misunderstood and misused the gifts of the Spirit. In fact, Paul told them, their meetings did more harm than good (1 Cor. 11:17). So in two letters Paul exhorts this church, rebukes them, appeals to them, and admonishes them. The second letter is his most passionate—reading it in one sitting will leave you emotionally exhausted.
And yet, as he draws the letter to a close, what does he wish for them? “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.”
All of this, and nothing less.
I don’t think that would have been my closing wish for the Corinthian church. I’d have had a different wish altogether.
Is Paul’s prayer what you wish for your church? If not, perhaps you need to reexamine the model of pastoral ministry provided in his closing benediction.
This blog post is part of an 11-part series, The Pastor and the Trinity, a reprint of C.J. Mahaney’s chapter “The Pastor and the Trinity” in For the Fame of God's Name: Essays in Honor of John Piper, edited by Sam Storms and Justin Taylor, ©2010. Used by permission of Crossway. For other posts in this series, see the index here.
[1] Gene Weingarten, “Pearls before Breakfast,” Washington Post, Sunday, April 8, 2007, p. W10.
[2] Mark Dever, “Introduction,” in Mark Dever, J. Ligon Duncan III, R. Albert Mohler Jr., and C. J. Mahaney, Preaching the Cross (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2007), 15.
[3] Gordon Fee, God’s Empowering Presence: The Holy Spirit in the Letters of Paul (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1994), 363–64.