Ordination IV

Another of the questions asked of me was:

Will you so live the gospel that you challenge us with the demands of love?

Sure, I thought. What's the problem with this one - just live the Christian life. No difference here between me and anyone else who trusts in Jesus.

Now that's true, of course, but I've come to realise that in a small town, 'the vicar' (although I'm not!) is always on view. At the shops, as people walk past our front yard and see me playing with the kids, and especially on the golf course, I'm on view. I'm a walking billboard for our Saviour and for the church here in Methven. And therefore what I do and say, even on my day off, even when I'm having a bad day (or a bad round) is seen as a representation of the gospel. And while that is, to be honest, pretty scary, it is also incrediblypowerful. I have an opportunity to declare grace, love, compassion, honesty to a town who will immediately associate what I do with what Christianity is - with what the gospel does in people's lives.

Will I do it?

I will. God give me strength and humility

How would I respond?

I would respond by
a. not keeping my laptop near the breakfast table (not helpful, I know)
b. spreading one condiment on top of the other, dumping it down in front of him, and starting on a very dad-like rant: 'when I was your age...'
c. escaping to my study, looking at the view, and reminding myself that the God who created the beauty of the mountains also created the beauty of my son, and that Psalm 127:4-5 is still true even when you begin to seriously doubt your doctrine of inerrancy.

You know you are a parent…

…when your wife asks you to pick up a goat that has fallen under a bed and it doesn’t seem strange to you in the least.

How would you respond?

Imagine this scenario: You are feeling behind on your work so you set aside an hour early in the morning to get going. Your son wakes up an hour early. Your other son wakes up in a bad mood. You make them breakfast. You put honey instead of peanut butter on one son’s toast which leads to a melt down (for both of you). Meanwhile, the other son plays with his straw and (accidentally and it is your fault anyway) flicks milk onto your laptop. You can tell something is wrong when you hit the ‘A’ key and 10 random letters appear. You turn the computer off immediately. A few hours later you finally settle down to do some work – which you are now feeling even more stressed about. Your laptop now won’t turn on at all.

How would you respond? I wish I had remembered James 1:2 at the time. I didn’t.

There are two morals to this story: 1. Back up your computer now. 2. More importantly, remember James 1:2 the next time you have a morning like this…

Post-script: the lap-top is now working, the kids are asleep and a bit of perspective has returned…

Waitangi Day

Today New Zealanders celebrate Waitangi Day and remember the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, a foundational document in this country's history. It is a treaty between the Crown and Tangata Whenua, the people of the land, and legally sets out a relationship between the Crown and Maori. Waitangi Day is a time to remember and think about what it means to be a New Zealander, to live in this country, and to have our history.

It's also a holiday, and so we headed out for a drive in our new backyard. We found a nice spot, the boys threw rocks in a stream, ate some bread roles and enjoyed the very nice land that God has given us. I read the paper.

And of course the paper was full of treaty issues, of discussions about the relationship between Maori and Pakeha (that's us white fellas), and so on. And again there was the perennial plea for us to focus on what unites us, rather than what divides us (Waitangi Day has, in the past, seen more than its fair share of protests, violence and calls to 'honour the treaty'). We are all New Zealanders, we're told. We have so much more in common than that which is different. And yet the protests continue. Our unity doesn’t seem to be that deep.

As Christians our unity comes from the fact that each one of us is indwelt by the very same God. We have one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. That is where our unity comes from. We can't help being united. It's what we are. And it comes not from a piece of paper but from the death and resurrection of Christ, and the gracious pouring out of his Spirit.

Ordination III

Part of my ordination required me to agree to a number of statements. Some of my more ‘independently’ orientated friends had me on about these afterwards! One point of contention was me agreeing to this statement:

Do you hold to the doctrines of the faith as this Church understands them?

The suggestion was that I was agreeing to believe the doctrines of the church solely because they were the doctrines of the church. If this were the case then it might be problematic. Exegesis, of course, comes to our rescue.

First, exegesis of the liturgy. The statement quoted above was the second I agreed to. The first was this:

Do you believe that the Bible contains all that is essential for our salvation, and reveals God’s living word in Jesus Christ?

The doctrines of the Church are grounded in the Bible. The ‘the faith’ of the second statement refers to that which is found in the Scriptures upheld in the first statement. ‘The faith’ could be epexegetically translated as ‘the faith revealed in the Scriptures’.

Second, exegesis of the Scriptures themselves. In 2 Timothy Paul urges Timothy to identify and equip men to carry on the work of gospel proclamation. In 2 Timothy 2:2 Timothy is urged to entrust ‘the things you have heard me say’ to reliable men. There is meant to be a progression of teaching throughout time in the church (for part of what these 'reliable men' is to do is pass on to other reliable men that which was passed on to them). And this teaching is described a few verses earlier as conforming to the pattern of u`giaino,ntwn lo,gwn – sound words, or correct, or well grounded words. u`giai,nw is used 8 times in the pastorals and every time it refers to sound teaching, sound faith, or sound words – that is, sound doctrine. Sound doctrine, grounded in scripture, is to be held, believed, and passed on by the church (those reliable men). I think that the 39 Articles are a good articulation of u`giaino,ntwn lo,gwn – maybe not as good as the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith, but then, on this side of glory, we live in an imperfect world!

Ordination II

One of the first things to happen in my ordination service was that I was ‘presented’ to the bishop and the church by a minister and a lay-person. I was fortunate enough to have Wally Behan, my minister from St John’s Latimer Square and a very fine expository preacher present me, and also Cam Gracey, a friend of mine who runs Christianity Explored at the same church. However, as a preface to this, the bishop said these words:

People of God, we have come to ordain a deacon in Christ’s holy church. Christ is the head of the church; he alone is the source of all Christian ministry.

He alone is the source of all Christian ministry. What the Bishop says goes on to allude to Ephesians 4 and Christ giving gifts to his church. But it was vital to remember at the very beginning of both the service and my ministry here at Methven that Christ is the source (and therefore the content) of all ministry. This church is his church, the people are his people, he ministers to us by his Spirit and Word, and builds us up into his likeness. He alone is the source of all Christian ministry, and may our ministry be spent proclaiming him alone.

Being ordained

On Sunday I was ordained as a deacon in the Anglican Church of Aotearoa New Zealand. There were a number of aspects of the service which people raised with me afterwards (having heard what I said), thinking that they might have been problematic for me to agree with. There were also a number of fantastic things which I promised and which were said. Over the next few days I’m going to raise a number of those things, outline my thinking, and hopefully explain why evangelicals should not be afraid of committing themselves to work within traditional denominations (although my co-blogger might disagree).

Lessons in Ministry from Thomas Scott

John Newton is famous as the slave trader who was converted to Christ, gave up the slave trade and penned the famous Amazing Grace. Newton spent many years as a parish minister and part of that time he was in the neighbouring parish to a man named Thomas Scott. Scott was actually not a Christian when he went into the ministry. In his autobiography he mentions three reasons why he became a minister. First, he thought it would be an easier life than working on his father’s farm; second he thought the life of the ministry would give him time to read – the great passion of his life; and thirdly, he thought that being a minister would give him the chance to distinguish himself as a literary man – as ‘he felt within himself the capacity for success’. Now, thankfully Scott was converted to a genuine faith in Christ and became a very effective minister.

This is an account from Scott’s diary that illustrates how poor view of ministry was:

In January 1774 two of my parishioners, a man and his wife, lay at the point of death. I had heard of the circumstances, but according to my general custom, not being sent for, I took no notice of it; till one evening, the woman being now dead, and the man dying, I heard that [ the neighbouring minister] my neighbour Mr Newton had been several times to visit them. {so even though these people were not in Newton’s parish – he had made the effort to see them} Scott continues: Immediately my conscience reproached me with being shamefully negligent, in sitting at home within a few doors of dying persons […] and never going to visit them…This reflection affected me so much, that without delay, and very earnestly, yea, with tears, I besought the Lord to forgive my past neglect. {from Thomas Scott, The Force of Truth (Carlisle: Banner of Truth, 1984 [1779])}

Contrast this to that of Paul in 1 Thess 2:7 But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. 8 we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.

The need for the preacher to be interesting

"If men's minds are wandering far away they cannot receive the truth, and it is much the same if they are inactive. Sin cannot be taken out of men, as Eve was taken out of the side of Adam, while they are fast asleep" (Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 127). HT Doug Wilson.

conversation with a three year old...

3 year old: How did Jesus rise from the dead?

Me: God rose him.

3 year old: But God is Jesus…so he rose himself.

Me: Yes, well, um...my ice cream is melting I better go. Good night...

1 Thess 2:8

I have often thought about what Paul means in this verse by the idea of 'sharing our own selves'. I guess I used to think that it referred to Paul (and his colleagues') openness about their struggles and anxieties. That is certainly a Pauline trait, but two things count against it. A quick scan of the use of the other uses of the Greek word translated 'share' here show that it is more often used of an actual giving or imparting. And this, secondly, fits with the next verse - connected by 'for' - where Paul points to their labour and toil. Paul and his associates shared their selves by giving themselves in hard labour to bring the gospel to the Thessalonians free of charge.
Ministry means loving people enough to work flat out for them.