Michael S. Foster's Weblog

Moved to www.mscottfoster.com

Readers,

I have decided to part ways with Typepad. You can find my blog at M. Scott Foster Dot Com Please change your feeds and links. I will be posting some excellent articles through July. I hope you will continue to read!

Michael Foster

Summer Vacation

Readers,

I'm taking a summer vacation from blogging. I am doing this for two reasons. First, my family just moved out of state to Bloomington (IN) and we are struggling to get adjusted. Second, I want to take the summer to really build up a cache of good posts to publish later this year. So...I will see you in July if you do not drop me from your feed. God Bless.

Michael

You are the Man: How to Rightly Listen to a Sermon

I can imagine the king of Israel sitting there on his throne, brow furrowed, sporting a consistent head nod. It was impossible for this youngest son of Jesse to not be drawn into the story that Nathan was verbally painting. A wealthy man had orchestrated and executed a sinister plot that resulted in the robbery of a poor and oppressed man. By the conclusion of the prophet’s tragic tome the anger of the king burned nuclear. His head nod had subsided into a frozen glaring grimace as he thought of this great injustice happening on his watch, in his kingdom. David had been moved to apply Nathan’s sermon. The poet-warrior declared, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die…because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.” It is at this moment that the brave messenger of God delivers news that is chalked full of irony that outweighs any Hitchcockian tale….

“You are the man.”

My friends we are David. When we listen to our shepherds bring forth the Word of God we think others. We are ready to apply our lessons into the life of our brethren. We never think for a moment that Scripture is talking about us when it speaks harshly of the…

• The jealous and murderous son of Adam
• The correction-hating fool of Proverbs
• The camel-swallowing Pharisees
• The politically-astute Sadducees
• The mob-pleasing Pilate and Herod
• The glory-seeking Ananias and Sapphira

No, all the villains in the Bible are our villains. They are Catholics, emergents, the liberals, and the God-hating atheistic scientists. Right? They have nothing to say to us? Right?

Wrong. You are the man. Take the counsel of Kierkegaard who advises, “When you read God's Word, you must constantly be saying to yourself, ''It is talking to me, and about me.'' Learn from David. Nathan is talking to you.

Semi-Hibernation

This blog is going to be in semi-hibernation through the month of April as I am moving my family to Bloomington, IN. Please keep me on your feedreader or be sure to stop by again. Thanks.

Things You Probably Weren't Taught at Seminary

Deepak Reju listed seventeen things seminary neglected to teach him. I think his list is a reminder that seminaries are not sufficient to prepare us for the core of pastoral work. Our training must be based in the local church where all these messy and "unscholarly" issues are dealt with one a regular basis. Here is his list:

• How to tell a man his wife just died.
• How to tell a couple they should not get married.
• How to tell a staff member he is fired.
• How to tell my wife that I am depressed.
• How to tell someone that he or she is foolish.
• How to encourage someone who has given up on life.
• How to plead with a man to stay with his wife.
• How to give comfort to a woman whose husband just left her.
• How to give comfort to a mother who just suffered a miscarriage.
• How to navigate the IRS tax code for pastors.
• How to chair an elders’ meeting.
• How to organize and manage a church budget.
• How to balance church responsibilities with family life.
• How to do a wedding and a funeral.
• How to administer the Lord’s Supper.
• How to best use technology for the sake of the kingdom.
• How to shield my kids from the pressures of being a PK.

He ended by asking if there is anything that others might add to the list. The replies may be found in the comments here along with the usual push-backs that come with the slightest criticism of seminary. What might you add to this list?

Ian Murray's Wisdom on Taking up a New Pastorate

I recently was doing some research on Ian Murray and in the process stumbled across a post from a blog called, "Pastor and People." The blog's author, Dustin Benge, was talking about a correspondence he had with Mr. Murray in which he inquired of Murray for some of his wisdom on taking up a new pastorate. Regarding this work, Murray wrote back that, "It is the best work in the world, but not only the hardest - it is quite beyond our own resources…Distrust of self and childlike trust in Him are our lifelong needs.” He went one to give several other points which Benge summarizes below:

1. If God calls you to a people, he will put some special regard for them in your heart. For you have to express His love and concern for them. Love to Christ and love to the people is the foundation and always to be kept first.

2. Be slow in forming assessments of individuals. Some of whom you at first expect much may turn out to be disappointing; others you scarcely noticed at first prove to be your best helpers. Try to avoid special friendship in the congregation. Remember the people who seem to want your time, maybe not the persons who need it most.

3. Be careful never to promise anything without fulfilling it. (You should probably therefore keep a record of everything you promise.)

4. You need to gain the affection of the people and at the same time avoid trying to be popular. Divine grace is needed here as elsewhere.

5. Follow as much as you can all the current usages and practices - don’t hurry to change anything. If there is something serious that you cannot accept you will hopefully see it before you accept the call and can discuss it beforehand with the deacons/calling committee.

6. Do not be too tied to theories on what you must preach; how long your sermons should be etc, etc. You need to study the people’s needs. Jesus spoke “as they were able to bear it.” Better sermons be too short than too long. Love for the people will dictate much you do or do not do.

7. In my experience the people most needing attention in a congregation are usually those on the fringe of things - the half-committed maybe.

8. Concluding, he warns of our cunning adversary the devil who will attack personally as well as the ministry we participate in. He says to make regular prayer times and reading of the Scripture a daily habit.

Now, those are some insights that are worthy of serious consideration and prayer. Might I also add that you are really missing out if you have not read any of Ian Murray's books. I personally have dedicated myself to reading all his writings. A good starting place would be Evangelicalism Divided. You can find all his works on Amazon or at Banner of Truth. I hope you will give him a read if you have not already.

Don't you twitterstand? (video)

Guilty as charge. This video, which I found through this guy's twitter, almost makes me want to quit twitter. Hmmmm...I better tweet these thoughts before I forget. Be right back.

Faithful Wounds

I have been thinking about Proverbs 27:5-6 quite a bit for the last couple of years. The verses read, “Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.” They certainly aren’t verses you commonly hear Christians or even pastors quote. I think most Christians would be very pleased to just ignore them as they run counter to the conventional thinking about godly speech. However, these verses contain truths that are essential if a local church’s members are to grow into the image of God’s Son and experience robust gospel community. Since I cannot improve on Matthew Henry’s exposition of these gems, I’ll simply quote him:

“It is good for us to be reproved, and told of our faults, by our friends. If true love in the heart has but zeal and courage enough to show itself in dealing plainly with our friends, and reproving them for what they say and do amiss, this is really better, not only than secret hatred (as Lev. 19:17), but than secret love, that love to our neighbors which does not show itself in this good fruit, which compliments them in their sins, to the prejudice of their souls. Faithful are the reproofs of a friend, though for the present they are painful as wounds. It is a sign that our friends are faithful indeed if, in love to our souls, they will not suffer sin upon us, nor let us alone in it. The physician’s care is to cure the patient’s disease, not to please his palate. It is dangerous to be caressed and flattered by an enemy, whose kisses are deceitful We can take no pleasure in them because we can put no confidence in them (Joab’s kiss and Judas’s were deceitful), and therefore we have need to stand upon our guard, that we be not deluded by them; they are to be deprecated. Some read it: The Lord deliver us from an enemy’s kisses, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue.”

We must soak ourselves in these important words lest we mistake our friends for enemies and our enemies for friends!

The Safety of a Communal Interpretation of Scripture

Christians are reactionaries. All too often it seems that we grab a ride on a pendulum out of one ditch only to swing ourselves right into the opposing one. This is definitely true when it comes to our method of hermeneutics. We must beware that there are two equally dangerous ditches on both sides of our approach on how to interpret the Scripture. The great American pastor and theologian, Jonathan Edwards wisely wrote:

“The best way to guard a true interpretation of Scripture, the Reformers insisted, was neither to naively embraced the infallibility of tradition, or the infallibility of the individual, but to recognize the communal interpretation of Scripture. The best way to ensure faithfulness to the text is to read it together, not only with the churches of our own time and place, but with the wider “communion of saints” down through the age.”

Many of us are well aware of the dangers of embracing “the infallibility of tradition” since it has been so aptly demonstrated by the Roman Catholic Church. However, it seems that in Evangelical and non-denominational Christianity our sin tends towards the embracing of the “infallibility of the individual.” A few experiences lately have help confirmed my postulate. For example, I once confided in a friend how I was having an argument with a church member over the particulars of the Lord’s Supper. Our debate centered on whether elders had to physically administer the sacraments themselves or if the task could be regulated to just another godly church member under the elders’ oversight. I explained to my friend that as I struggled through the subject I had been reading John Calvin, Charles Spurgeon, Sam Storms, and a couple of lesser known Puritans to gain some clarity. My confidant stopped me and informed me that he thought I was making things way too complicated. I agreed that it had become a pretty complex debate but I soon realized he thought my whole approach to forming a position on the Lord’s Supper was somehow flawed. Consequently, I asked him how he had come to his position regarding communion. He replied, “Honestly, I just read the Bible.”

Oh, I knew I forgot something…

My friend, like myself not too long ago, had succumbed to the infallibility of the individual that often masquerades as just being a humble student of Scripture. This usually is nothing more than a carefully veiled arrogance. You see, I had read and reread all the relevant passages in Scripture in regards to the Lord’s Supper in my study just like him. I had also discussed these passages with the church member and found that we were still at odds. It was then we both had turned to the wider church community, both dead and living, in our attempt to arrive at a true interpretation of Scripture. We did this not because we had a low view of Scripture and a high view of tradition. It was just that we wanted the input of wiser and godlier men that God has given to the church throughout history. God has given us pastors, teachers, brothers, and sisters for a reason. They are here to sharpen us and keep us in check. As previously stated, I understand the dangers of traditions but we must not overreact. It is not enough to just read the Bible alone. That will undoubtedly lead to naïve conclusions. We should listen to Pastor Edwards and work hard to keep ourselves out of ditches through a communal interpretation of Scripture.

They are nothing but devil’s fools...

“Now observe that when that clever harlot, our natural reason (which the pagans followed in trying to be most clever), takes a look at married life, she turns up her nose and says, “Alas, must I rock the baby, wash its diapers, make its bed, smell its stench, stay up nights with it, take care of it when it cries, heal its rashes and sores, and on top of that care for my wife, provide for her, labour at my trade, take care of this and take care of that, do this and do that, endure this and endure that, and whatever else of bitterness and drudgery married life involves? What, should I make such a prisoner of myself? O you poor, wretched fellow, have you taken a wife? Fie, fie upon such wretchedness and bitterness! It is better to remain free and lead a peaceful, carefree life; I will become a priest or a nun and compel my children to do likewise.” What then does Christian faith say to this? It opens its eyes, looks upon all these insignificant, distasteful, and despised duties in the Spirit, and is aware that they are all adorned with divine approval as with the costliest gold and jewels. It says, “O God, because I am certain that thou hast created me as a man and hast from my body begotten this child, I also know for a certainty that it meets with thy perfect pleasure. I confess to thee that I am not worthy to rock the little babe or wash its diapers, or to be entrusted with the care of the child and its mother. How is it that I, without any merit, have come to this distinction of being certain that I am serving thy creature and thy most precious will? 0 how gladly will I do so, though the duties should be even more insignificant and despised. Neither frost nor heat, neither drudgery nor labour, will distress or dissuade me, for I am certain that it is thus pleasing in thy sight.

A wife too should regard her duties in the same light, as she suckles the child, rocks and bathes it, and cares for it in other ways; and as she busies herself with other duties and renders help and obedience to her husband. These are truly golden and noble works. . . .

Now you tell me, when a father goes ahead and washes diapers or performs some other mean task for his child, and someone ridicules him as an effeminate fool, though that father is acting in the spirit just described and in Christian faith, my dear fellow you tell me, which of the two is most keenly ridiculing the other? God, with all his angels and creatures, is smiling, not because that father is washing diapers, but because he is doing so in Christian faith. Those who sneer at him and see only the task but not the faith are ridiculing God with all his creatures, as the biggest fool on earth. Indeed, they are only ridiculing themselves; with all their cleverness they are nothing but devil’s fools.” -Martin Luther, “The Estate of Marriage”