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The Blessing of Christ-centered Family Ministry

A few years ago I had the opportunity to briefly share at an event for the volunteers in the Family Discipleship Department at Bethlehem Baptist Church and reflect on the blessing that it was to grow up in a children's and youth ministry that was Christ-centered and gospel focused. I recently came across what I said, and it reminded me how grateful I am that the gospel was declared to me and my peers continuously from a young age, and that Sunday school was never a game or a ploy to get people in the door. It wasn't about fun, it was about Jesus. And that provided more pleasure than any activity could. My leaders weren't still kids at heart. Rather they were gospel saturated role models that I could look up to and strive to imitate as Paul commanded the Corinthians to imitate him. I owe much of who I am to the what I was taught as a child and teen at Bethlehem and am grateful I was taught that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.

Here is what I said to the group:

My name is Sam Dahl, and I had the blessing of growing up here at Bethlehem and graduating in 2008. My family began attending the summer before my third grade year despite my resistance. It was hard to change churches and leave the friends that I had, but God knew exactly what He was doing. Looking back, I am so grateful for every year spent here and for the many people that have influenced me along the way. I want to share with you three blessings God has given me through the Family Discipleship Department that helped to build me up in the Lord and draw me closer to Him.

My Introverted Pastor

Recently at a gathering of the local chapter of TGC Twin Cities, Pastor John Piper discussed how he loved people as an introvert. As a fellow introvert, I was greatly encouraged to read his comments.

I have been tempted to think from time to time that because I don't love to hang out with people all the time, I can't be as effective in whatever ministry God calls me to. Being with people is exhausting! It's been easy to believe that I just have to grit my teeth and endure the life of an extrovert.

Reading how Pastor John loved made me reflect back on my time under his leadership. I was blessed to attend Bethlehem Baptist Church from 3rd grade through high school and God used his teaching to change my life and make me more like Christ. Thinking back on my years there, I feel loved by my pastor. I don't just remember feeling loved then, I still feel loved today. I felt John Piper's love for me and for his congregation through the way he loved God and the way he loved God's Word.

I have never seen anyone so joyful in who God is. It radiates from him and for years I couldn't figure out how God could bring that kind of pleasure to someone. But Pastor John wasn't chipper; he was also acutely aware of the severity of sin. Therefore deeply moved by his Savior and satisfied in Christ. He was so joyful in God because the gospel was real to him. And God used him to make the gospel real to me.

I also felt John Piper's love for me in how he loved God's word. When I was younger, I wasn't that interested in his sermons, but I saw how important the Bible was to him. It wasn't that important to me. I thought it was boring. But Piper's love for the Scripture was captivating. Because he was so excited about it, I wanted to know what was so exciting. He treated it as what it really is: the actual words of God. He helped me see that glorious reality. He helped me see the gospel that it contained. God used him to instill in me a love for the Bible.

I never hung out with Pastor John. I think I spoke to him just twice in my 10 years at the church. But I feel loved by him. He showed me the glorious Christ and proclaimed to me Christ's Word. He loved me well by giving me something beyond himself. He held out to me God and God's Word. He showed me love that was greater than the love that he could give because he showed me Christ. And that is a love that will last for eternity.

My prayer as an introvert is that I can love others like Pastor John loved me: by showing them a glimpse of the glorious truths of the gospel of Christ found in the Scripture. Sometimes that will mean hanging out with people. Sometimes it will mean time in solitude. But it always means beholding and proclaiming Christ as all satisfying. Thank you Pastor John for loving me well.

ERLC Sports March Madness Tourney Challenge is about to begin! Can't wait to be crowned king of the office.

The Wrath of God

God’s wrath is His just response to the sinfulness of man. In His wrath, God does not sin but carries out His holiness, righteousness, and justice through this appropriate reaction to rebellion against Him. God’s wrath can be manifested in various forms from the withdrawing of protection from other nations (as He did with Israel in the Old Testament) to the giving over of one to his own sinful desires (as Paul describes in Romans chapter 1). 

If God’s wrath were not a reality, the gospel would not be sweet. The reason that Jesus Christ had to live a perfect life, die, and rise again is because sin was a problem. If God were not angry with sin, there would not be a need for a Savior; there would not be a need for rescue. But God is angry with sin and yet, He is also the initiator and giver of salvation for those He is angry with. Christ is the propitiation for our sins (1 John 1:2), not only removing the wrath of God, but turning it into favor. If God were not wrathful, Christ’s propitiation would be nonsensical. The wrath of God is an important point of theology that cannot be sacrificed on the altar of warm fuzzy feelings about a god that so many people want to believe. God’s wrath is a magnificent and glorious attribute but because of Christ, not something that we His children need to fear. For us, God’s wrath is a magnifying glass for His grace, which He freely lavishes on His children (Ephesians 1:8).

What Does it Mean to Have a Pastor’s Heart? (Part 1) - by Evan Burns

In recent months, I have mediated deeply on what it means to have a pastor's heart. Ultimately, TLI seeks to train biblical leaders, and a synonymous description of leaders in the Bible is "pastor". Of course prophets, priests, kings, sages, and apostles are all leaders in the Bible, but the role of a pastor in the New Testament commonly identifies the ordained biblical leader withing a local church. In this post and subsequent posts, I am seeking to answer the question: "what does it mean to have a pastor's heart?"

Unpacking the biblical meaning of a pastor is the best way to initially answer this question. A pastor is simply a synonymous word in the English Bible for shepherd, and is often identified with the office of elder/overseer/bishop, though not all believers with a pastoral-type gift are to lead in the office of an elder. But all elders are pastors (Acts 20:17-35), and all pastors are shepherds, and all shepherds are teachers (Eph 4:11).

Two primary passions of the biblical shepherd's heart must be to lovingly feed the sheep and lovingly protect the sheep, and all other expressions of a shepherd's heart are derivative of those two all-consuming desires of love. Moreover, feeding and protecting the sheep are chiefly done through the ministry of teaching. Nevertheless, a teaching ministry is not to be relegated only to pulpit time on Sundays, any more than it would suffice to only feed sheep once a week. A pastoral teaching ministry is one of loving, intentional disciple-making in speech, conduct, conversation, confession, illustration, informal opportunities, formal occasions, and essentially in patiently leading sheep to green pastures in which God's flock might find solace and fodder for their souls, away from wolves and barren lands.

True shepherds do not desire to lead the sheep as entertainers, life-coaches, CEOs, comedians, politicians, programmers, motivational speakers, cultural architects, artisans, bosses, butlers, therapists, professionals, professors, psychologists, or actors. The heart of a biblical shepherd should be to lovingly lead the object of his love (Christ's flock) to feed on the source of all love (Christ Himself), away from wolves (false teachers) and stale water and dead ground (love of money, pride of life, lusts of the flesh).


Originally posted on the Training Leaders International Missions 101 Blog. The original post can be found here.

Don’t develop a philosophy of ministry that takes the seasoning out of the salt and puts the light under a basket - by John Piper

What is it about Christians that make then the salt of the earth and the light of the world? It is not wealth. The desire for wealth and the pursuit of wealth tastes and looks just like the world. It does not offer the world anything different from what it already believes in. The great tragedy of prosperity-preaching is that a person does not have to be spiritually awakened in order to embrace it; one needs only be greedy. Getting rich in the name of Jesus is not the salt of the earth or the light of the world. In this, the world simply sees a reflection of itself. And if it works, they will buy it.

The context of Jesus' saying shows us what the salt and light are. They are the joyful willingness to suffer for Christ. Here is what Jesus said, "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heave, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. You are the salt of the earth. . . . You are the light of the world" (Matthew 5:11-14).

What will make the world taste (the salt) and see (the light) of Christ in us is not that we love wealth the same way they do. Rather, it will be the willingness and the ability of Christians to love others through suffering, all the while rejoicing because their reward is in heaven with Jesus. This is inexplicable on human terms. This is supernatural. But to attract people with promises of prosperity is simply natural. It is not the message of Jesus. It is not what he died to achieve.


Taken from Prosperity Preaching: Deceitful and Deadly by John Piper. Originally posted on the Desiring God blog on February 14, 2007.