Tag Archives: The Westminster Confession of Faith

Pride and the Pastorate

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As a pastor, I am keenly aware of the sins with which I struggle.  It makes me a little more tolerant when those around me struggle in sin.  I spend a good amount of time in prayer every Sunday morning, asking that God would somehow use this earthen vessel, with all its blemishes, to bring Him glory and to proclaim His goodness.  I beg that my sins won’t come in the way of the Holiness of God.  I so identify with Isaiah, standing in the presence of the Almighty God, who said, “Woe is me.   For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.”

Fortunately for me, I struggle with those sins which are more socially acceptable.  I don’t struggle with any addiction, I’m not tempted to cheat on my wife, nor have I any plans to commit murder.  But do I get angry easily, I hold grudges well, I’m quick to judge and slow to forgive.  The longer I deal with these sins, the more I find that while they may be “respectable sins,” they still run deep, they stain every little thing I do, and the “old man” within me will fight tooth and nail to keep them in his arsenal.

At the heart of it all is my pride.  It is easy for pastors to grow proud.  We have a captive audience every week as we delve into the deep waters of Scripture and speak to the hearts and minds of our congregations.  People come to us for counsel.  Our opinions are respected because of our position in the community.  We accept this calling humbly, knowing that it is God’s work, not ours; we are but sheep-dogs for the Good Shepherd.  Humility comes with being a pastor, but a pastor can still take great pride in his own humility.  “Look how humble I am!  I don’t need your praise for all my accomplishments; just knowing you know how humble I am is enough for me.” 

So when God goes about curing me of the sin of pride, it is a painful process.  Like drawing poison from a deep wound, God draws pride out of my heart, but I find the healing worse than the sickness.  Losing my selfish pride means learning to live only for the glory of God; can I live without the praise of man?  Losing my selfish pride means learning to live without being in control of my life (as if I ever was); can I trust God with my life?  Losing my selfish pride means learning to suffer the same shame and humiliation as my Savior; do I love him enough to be so identified with him?

All I know is that I cannot overcome this sin on my own, and I will not overcome it quickly.  Even in my pride I recognize the fact that I am too weak to overcome sin on my own, I need and trust in the power of God’s Holy Spirit to strengthen me for this battle.  Still, I take comfort in the teaching of the Westminster Confession:

They who are effectually called and regenerated, having a new heart and a new spirit created in them, are further sanctified, really and personally, through the virtue of Christ’s death and resurrection, by his Word and Spirit dwelling in them; the dominion of sin is destroyed, and the several lusts thereof are more and more weakened and mortified, and they more and more quickened and strengthened, in all saving graces, to the practice of true holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.
This sanctification is throughout the in the whole man, yet imperfect in this life: there abideth still some remnants of corruption in every part, whense ariseth a continual and irreconcilable war, the flesh lusting against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh.
In which war, although the remaining corruption for a time may such prevail, yet, through the continual supply of strength from the sanctifying Spirit of Christ, the regenerate part doth overcome: and so the saints grow in grace, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

Lord, how I need your Holy Spirit to continue your healing and sanctifying work in my life.  May I take up arms in this battle against the sin in my heart, strengthened by your Word and Spirit, so that I may grow in grace, perfecting holiness in the fear of your holy name.

SDG

Out of the mouths of babes… more thoughts from G.A.

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“Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?  God judges those outside.  Purge the evil person from among you.”
(I Corinthians 5:12-13)

As I mentioned last week, I had the opportunity to attend the General Assembly’s Committee on Church Orders and Ministry as an overture advocate.  On Monday morning, as the committee began to address the business before them, there was a scheduled “Open Session,” an open mike time for anyone with a vested interest in the issues before the committee to share their thoughts.  Each speaker had 90 seconds to speak, and they could say pretty much anything they wanted.  There was a wide range of testimonies, from those advocating the inclusion of all people (including homosexuals) into the ordained ministry to those in favor of maintaining the standards and principles the church has held for centuries.  Everyone spoke passionately from personal experience, and, in my humble opinion, the most powerful testimonies were from those who spoke about how the grace and love of God in Jesus Christ helped them to overcome sin in their lives, including sexual sin.

There was one speaker, however, who really stood out.  He was a 13 year old boy, who, along with a handful of other teens, had organized to speak in favor of repealing the ordination standards to allow all people to serve.  He began by reading from Deuteronomy 21:18-21:

““If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they discipline him, will not listen to them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives, and they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear, and fear. ” (Deuteronomy 21:18–21, ESV)

This young man, with great wit and charm, suggested that it’s a good thing that his parents did not uphold this command, otherwise he wouldn’t be standing before us today.  Logically, he then said that if that Old Testament command was “out of touch” and inapplicable to our lives today, couldn’t we also say the same of the prohibition against homosexuality in the church? 

The problem, however, with his approach, was that he failed to see how this passage addressed the greater, communal nature of sin and its devastating effect on the covenant community of the people of God when left unchecked.  Had he truly understood the passage, he would have known how he had unwittingly made a case against his own position (though I doubt anyone on the committee caught it).

Patrick Miller, Old Testament Professor at Princeton Seminary, wrote about this passage in his commentary on Deuteronomy.  He notes that while this passage seems “barbaric” today, Israel regarded the Fifth Commandment (“honoring your parents”) with the same seriousness as the treatment of God neighbor.

“In the statute concerning the rebellious child, such rebellion is clearly regarded as resistance to divine direction as mediated through parental authority and teaching.  That behavior is not simply a bad thing but is representative of a festering sore in the midst of the people, a corruption that can undo the community’s devotion to its Lord and its continued attention to the Lord’s way… The statute, therefore, bears testimony once again to Deuteronomy’s setting of the love of the Lord and the Lord’s way as not only the highest good but an absolute necessity for the people to live as God’s people and enjoy God’s blessing.  Punishment is not determined by how much explicit harm has been done to individuals but by the depth of the wound to the body politic and religious when the fundamental directions of the Lord’s way are violated” (Miller, Patrick D. Deuteronomy, Interpretation, A Biblical Commentary for Teaching and Preaching, (Louisville, John Knox Press, 1990)pg 167.).

Rather than give Biblical evidence that the Old Testament laws no longer apply, this passage actually testifies to the serious nature of un-confessed and un-repentant sin.  Yes, we are all sinners (hetero- and homo-sexual alike), and we are all deserving of God’s wrath.  We all must cling to and trust in the grace of God in Jesus Christ for our salvation.  None of us has the claim to moral perfection and self-righteousness, our righteousness is found in Christ alone.  But to say that God’s word no longer applies to our lives, to attribute to “God’s will” what scripture univocally calls a sin, is to deny God’s will and His way for our lives.  To take away the church’s ability and authority to lovingly and carefully discipline those who are lost in sin goes against the very nature of our life together.  The blind toleration, or worse, the willful promotion of sin, will rob the church of our mission and ministry.  The love of the Lord and of His way is our highest good and an absolute necessity for us to live as God’s people and to enjoy His blessing.

I am reminded of The Westminster Confession of Faith which teaches that “although true believers be not under the law as a covenant of works, to be thereby justified or condemned; yet is it of great use to them, as well as to others; in that, as a rule of life, informing them of the will of God and their duty, it directs and binds them to walk accordingly; discovering also the sinful pollutions of the nature, hearts, and lives…”  Unfortunately, there was no opportunity to address and correct the gross misunderstanding of God’s word presented by this young man.  There was no instruction regarding the use of the law in the light of the gospel.  Instead, God’s word was mocked and biblical discipline was sneered.  If this is the future of the church, we’ve got a lot of explaining to do.

SDG