Peter Witkowski Discipleship

Marks of A Good Pastor (Part 4: Don’t Babble)

mark-4The faithful pastor should do good and should be defined by his actions. But he should also be defined by what he doesn’t do…by his inaction.

The faithful pastor should remind his congregation of the gospel, he should charge his congregation to avoid quarrelsome words, and he should seek to be an approved worker who rightly handles the word of truth. But then he must avoid something. He must avoid babble. Paul says it this way in 2 Timothy 2:16-18

But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some.

Avoid nonsense that is irreverent, worldly, and easily accessible. Paul warns Timothy to stay away from goofy things that do not edify. He avoids easy things that appeal to his audience’s natural disposition. He avoids filling his sermon with goofy videos. He also does not fill his sermon with nice but meaningless stories that make people feel good. He does not welcome people into his church by having the praise team play Beyoncé or Beatle songs. No, he avoids the profane things of the world. He clings to the Scriptures and the Scriptures alone. Hebrews 2:12 says:

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

If you want to reach people, if you want to help people overcome sin, and if you want to direct people to joy, bring the Word of God to bear on their lives. Expose the people in your church to the Word of God. Avoid the babble of the world. The men in women in our church have ready access to the world’s ideas via the radio, social media, and Netflix. They do not need their pastor to expose them again to meaningless words.

The faithful pastor most avoid silly conversations devoted to discovering where Cain and Able got their wives. He must avoid the temptation to talk about blood moons, eclipse, and the exact return of Christ. Our Savior already told us in Matthew 24:36: “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.”

And he most avoid the temptation to embrace popular-culture psychology. For years people have championed the stages of grief: grief, denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Today, most psychologist have abandoned the stages of grief, viewing them to be too rigid and inaccurate. Greif expert Megan Devine who has authored a book on the subject wrote on the following words in her Huffington Post Blog:

“The truth is, grief is as individual as love: every life, every path, is unique. There is no predictable pattern, and no linear progression. Despite what many “experts” say, there are no stages of grief.”

Pastors will be tempted to embrace the babble of the world. Popular philosophy, popular music, and popular humor will appeal to the pastor’s worldly appetites. His congregation may even welcome babble into the service. But the pastor must avoid his inclination to abandon truth for babble.

If the pastor embraces babble, the church will be undone. Paul says it will go into more and more ungodliness. The pastor who preaches funny sermons that lack Scriptural power, the pastor who focus on meaningless trivialities, and the pastor who embrace babble undermine the very health of the church. They destroy the church. Their talk will spread like gangrene. It appears as a small and barely noticeable sore. But then it grows and grows and until every inch of the body is covered in sores and the body dies.

Hymenaeus and Philetus did this very thing. They embraced babble and ended the day denying the resurrection. They ended up denying the very essence of the faith.

Brothers and sisters do not tolerate babble. Do not encourage your pastor to entertain you at the expense of the gospel. Encourage you pastor to avoid babble and to cling to the Truth.

Is this true of your pastor or is he a babbler?

Peter Witkowski Discipleship

Marks of A Good Pastor (Part 3: An Approved Worker)

mark-3Why should your pastor want to walk into his small, jam-packed office this morning? What should he be about while his burning the the candle? Your pastor should jump out of bed tomorrow morning because he desires to be approved by God. The apostle Paul writes to his beloved son in the faith in 2 Timothy 2:15:

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

Why should Timothy, Paul’s mentee in the faith,  want to be a pastor? Why should your pastor desire to step into the pulpit this Sunday?

Paul tells us that our pastor should be driven by a desire to present himself to God. He should wake up each morning eager to stand at attention in God’s army, declaring that he is with God and ready to be used by God. He should seek to present himself to God as one who is approved and as one who is ready for service.

And what service should your pastor be about? Paul tells us. He says that the pastor is a worker, someone who labors faithfully and who has no need to be ashamed of his efforts.

And what does the pastor work at? What should he be laboring hard at? What should drive him to awake in the morning? The Truth.

The faithful pastor is marked by a burning and incessant desire to study the Word of God. He labors day-in and day-out to cut a path through the dense forest of biblical thought so that he can declare the truths of Scriptures to others. He labors in his study so that his congregation can understand and obey the Word of God on Sunday. This is the work of the pastor and elder. God has blessed the church with deacons to help with the administration and the daily physical tasks associated with ministry (Acts 6:1-7).

Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word. – Acts 6:3-4. 

The pastor or elder should be motivated by a desire to please God through the faithful study and teaching of the Word. The pastor is primarily a man who studies and prays.

The pastor can and should visit. He can and should be involved in some of the church’s administrative decisions. He can and should be able to move chairs and able to change a diaper. The man who is too lofty to serve his congregation is too immature to pastor his congregation. Yes, the pastor must do other tasks. But his main task and function is to be the correct handling the Word of truth. All of the pastors and elders other gifts and ministries and the very health of the church depends upon the pastor’s ability to understand and declare truth.  As Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said,

Visiting, or any other activity, can never compensate for a lack of preaching. Indeed I suggest that visiting will not have much meaning unless the preaching has been what it should be, and has prepared the way…Preaching prepares the way for all other activities of a minister.

If we want our church to thrive, we must encourage our pastor to faithfully and regularly study the Word of Truth. If our pastor becomes focused on facilities, visitation, counseling, or anything other than the Gospel, he will do harm to his church.

I heard a pastor once brag about neglecting his studies so that he could counsel more. He began to recycle sermon series and boasted about his changed focus. Before the next twelves months passed, his church was rocked by two different scandals.

41aOmdoo-sL._SX325_BO1,204,203,200_I have heard other pastors boast in their lack of preparation and study, believing their refusal to preach certain chapters of the Bible to be a mark of wisdom. It is not.

Paul affirms the opposite. He says the faithful pastor works hard to understand, declare, and apply the Scriptures. The faithful pastor makes the study of the word his main focus. The pastor who cannot preach the whole Bible should not pastor.

Moreover if you desire to go into the ministry and if you believe God is calling you to pastor his church, you must be a student of the Word. You do not have to go to college or seminary to be a faithful preacher. Spurgeon had only the equivalent of a high school degree. But he was an avid learner, reading at least six substantive books each week.  If you do not like to read, write, and study, please stay away from the pulpit and from pastoral ministry. The ministry is for those who desire to diligently study the Word of Truth.

As we have seen in past blogs, the faithful pastor is the one who reminds his congregation of the gospel, who encourages his congregation to avoid ruinous words, and who faithfully handles the Truth as an approved worker. Is this your pastor? Are your praying for your pastor to be such a man? What marks characterize your pastor the man stepping into your pulpit?

Peter Witkowski Discipleship

The Lord’s Supper: Yes, No, Maybe?

Should we view the cup and bread as being symbolic, spiritual, or physical things? Should we take the Lord’s Supper every week? Who can take it? Can people from other churches take it with us? Is there a correct and incorrect way to go about the sacrament? What happens if we get it wrong? What is the Lord’s Supper?

Definition

The Lord’s Supper is the second sacrament of the new covenant which celebrates salvation through Christ, unites the believer to Christ, and proclaims the future return of Christ. We label the Lord’s Supper as the second sacrament because it follows the first sacrament which is baptism. To partake of the table, one should be believer who has identified with Christ and with the local church by going under and coming up out of the waters of baptism.

Explanation

Jesus established the Lord’s Supper while celebrating the Last Supper. He gave his disciples the bread to eat and the cup to drink as symbols of his body and of his blood that would be shed for the people of the new covenant (Mt. 26:26-29; Mk 14:22-25; Luke 22:14-23; 1 Cor 11:23-26). Those who consume the bread and the wine proclaim that they have been united to Christ through faith in his work on the cross and are now members of his body, the Church (1 Cor. 11:23-25). Those who partake of the sacrament will experience the blessing and joy of Christ as they worship Jesus (1 Cor. 10:14-22). Lastly, those who partake of the wine and bread proclaim their longing for Christ’s return (1 Cor. 11:26).

And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it.  And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” – Mark 14:22-25

The Lord’s Supper should be reverently and joyously administered in the local church when the congregation is gathered for worship (1 Cor.10:17, 26). Traditionally the church has celebrated the Lord’s Table once a month or less. This view comes from the city of Geneva who believed that the Lord’s Table should be partaken of quarterly. John Calvin who led the church in Geneva argued for the weekly administration of the table but submitted to the wishes of the City Council and set a precedent for the local church (p.274). But as the debate above reveals, the Scriptures do not mandate how often the local church should take the sacrament. Consequently, the local church should partake of the Lord’s Table as frequently as can be accomplished without harming the administration of the Lord’s Table (Acts 2:42; 1 Cor. 11:20, 27).

 Doing It Right

The sacrament should be overseen and administered by representatives of the church who are above reproach. Typically, the table will be administered by elders and deacons who have been set apart by the church to lead and serve the church through preaching, oversight, and service. The elders and/or deacons should pass out the cup and the bread to the congregation. The cup and bread used do not have to be perfect representations of the wine and bread used at the Last Supper. But they should resemble the original elements in form as Christ gave us one cup and one bread. Grape juice and some form of bread should be employed as the grape juice (fermented or otherwise) represents Christ blood and the bread represents Christ body. Orange soda and chicken are not the Lord ’s Table.

Before consuming the elements, believers should evaluate their hearts to ensure that they have no unconfessed sins that would result in judgment (1 Cor. 10:27-29).  If a believer has unconfessed sin, he or she should abstain from the table as they are living a life that denies the power of Christ for salvation. If they or an unbeliever takes the table, they risk poor health and even death (1 Cor 11:17-24) . But if the believer has had a hard week and has repented, he or she should come freely to the table. The wine and the bread reminded their believer of who he or she is in Christ. The table points them back to the truth that they have hope because Christ has died for sinner like them.  Non-baptized believers should not be admitted to the table since they have not publicly identified with the local church by proclaiming the gospel through baptism. Believers who attend like-minded churches and who have fulfilled the above requirements for taking the Lord’s Supper, are welcomed to take communion at all.