The humility of Joshua

Josh. 3:7 And the LORD said unto Joshua, This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee.
Josh. 3:8 And thou shalt command the priests that bear the ark of the covenant, saying, When ye are come to the brink of the water of Jordan, ye shall stand still in Jordan.
Josh. 3:9 And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, Come hither, and hear the words of the LORD your God.
Josh. 3:10 And Joshua said, Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Hivites, and the Perizzites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites.
Josh. 3:11 Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passeth over before you into Jordan.

Note here how Joshua takes the influence that God gives him with the people and uses it to increase their faith in God. Although God tells Joshua that the parting of the Jordan would be the means by which he would cause Joshua to be magnified in the eyes of the people, Joshua turns right to the Children of Israel and tells them that this would be the means by which they would know that God was among them and would not fail to drive their enemies out before them. The selflessness that was exhibited here by Joshua should be an example for all of us. How easy would it have been for Joshua to turn right around and say, "God has told me that he will part the Jordan in order for me to be magnified in your eyes!" However, he had a mind of service toward the people, to do what was best for them, and he knew that what was best for them was always more of God. More faith in him, more love for him, more obedience to him, and more trust in his words. If God's plan was for Joshua to be magnified in the eyes of the people, there was no reason for Joshua to grandstand or pontificate, God can and will accomplish his plan without our egotism.
What a lesson in humility and service is here to be gained for us, how often is our first priority on making sure we look good or we get our due instead of doing what is best for others, particularly the children of God? Let us commit to be more like Joshua by using whatever influence or respect we have with others to point them back to Christ, if we use it simply to make ourselves feel better or to increase our material wealth we have prostituted one of the good gifts of God, and using what could have been used to glorify God as a means of glorifying ourselves makes us guilty of idolatry!

Can a young, single man be a biblically qualified elder?

I took my first official ministerial position the day after my nineteenth birthday, I was in my senior year of bible college and was being brought in to a very small Baptist Church as an Assistant Pastor with the idea that over the next year I would transition to Senior Pastor. Seven years later, I am back at the church that I spent my teenage years in, but now as an Associate Pastor, and yet I'm still only in my mid-twenties and single. Nearly everyone who finds out that I'm in the ministry comments on how young I am and many question whether or not my youth and singleness disqualify me from being able to appropriately carry out the necessary requirements that come with pastoring.
Let me address these issues one at a time. First the issue of age. There is only one place in scripture that I am aware of where the topic of age is addressed in relation to a bishop's qualifications. That is in I Timothy 4:12 where Paul commands Timothy to let no man despise his youth. Some have argued that this is an ambiguous term that under Roman divisions of age dealt with men between 30-40 years old. Others have done their own math based on when they think I Timothy was written and the known fact that Timothy died at 80 years old in the year 97 AD. Those using this method of calculating have put him anywhere between 23 - 48 years old at the writing of 1 Timothy (John Gill, the puritanical pastor who wrote a verse-by-verse commentary on the entire bible is of the belief he was 23). A third argument is that in the Old Testament a Levite was not allowed to become a priest until he was 30 years old, therefore the same must be true of a New Testament bishop. I see a couple of problems with defining the word "youth" to mean thirties or forties.
First, why would a man in his thirties or forties, need to be told to let no man despise his youth? If that was the typical time frame for a man to become a priest for the Israelites, and the time when a man moved from youth to middle age for a Roman, who would it be that was questioning his qualification? It seems to me that the command not to allow anyone to despise his youth, assumes that there were those who were of the opinion that he was too young by societal norms.
Secondly, we see the word "youth" used in many places throughout the scripture and we rarely to never assume these places to be talking about a man around 40 years old. In Genesis 8:21 God says he will not destroy every living thing on the earth again "for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth." Do we think that man's heart is evil from the time he is in his thirties? In I Samuel both Saul and Goliath disdained David because he was a "youth", was he a man in his late thirties? Wouldn't that put him in the prime of his life and the most formidable age he would ever be? Proverbs 5:18 tells men to rejoice in the wife of their youth, are we to take that to mean a man shouldn't marry until he is in his late thirties? Lam. 3:27 says it is good that a man bear the yoke in his youth. Shall we then put off working until we reach our mid-forties? The rich, young ruler in Matt. 19:20 said he had kept the commandments from his "youth up," did Jesus understand him to mean that he had begun keeping the law in his thirties? I think from just these few examples we see that the definitions for "youth," "grown man," and "old man" have not changed much since biblical times. If anything we live in a culture that extends childhood longer than they would have in those days.
The second objection I often get is that the qualification for pastors in both I Timothy and Titus include being the husband of one wife and having his children in subjection. There are many who take this to mean that only a married man with children can be pastors. If that is in fact what those verses mean, then neither Jesus nor Paul were qualified to be pastors.Seeing that it was Paul who was writing these and that he did in fact start many churches, I do not believe this to a consistent understanding of those verses. Rather, I take it to mean he is not to be the husband of more than one wife, he is not to be a polygamist. This may even mean he cannot be divorced and remarried, but the fact that he says the husband of one wife, coupled with the fact that the first interpretation would disqualify himself, causes me to think he does not here exclude single men. It is also relevant to note that in I Cor. 9 where Paul is talking about the rights of gospel ministers, he says they have the "power," or the right, to have a wife, which reading would imply that while the right was theirs, not all took advantage of it. It is not that he must have one wife in order to be qualified, but that if he has more than one he is disqualified. The reason for the stipulation that they have their children in subjection is clearly stated to be because if their household is not in order, we can see a clear flaw in their leadership ability. Much like the qualification for wives, this requirement ensures that a man who has an unruly household is precluded from becoming a minister, not that a man with only one child or childless altogether is kept from the presbytery.
Last (and least), the argument is often made that a young, single, childless pastor will not have the experience to help the older, married with children, men in his congregation because he doesn't have the experience. But nowhere in scripture do we find experience to be an important trait in a bishop. What of the divorced and remarried men in the congregation? They will not have a minister who has the experience to help them. What of the widow and widower? The minister will probably not have the experience to help them. What of the man in the military, the man with the special needs child, the man with a degenerative disease? There are a million specific situations every human will uniquely encounter that the pastor probably won't have personal experience with, therefore he is to know God's Word intimately. He is to be able to rightly divide the Word of truth, he is to be instant in season and out of season, he is to be ever ready to give an answer to those who ask about the hope that lies within him. He is to be of sound speech that those who are opposed to the truth may be ashamed with no evil thing left to say to us. The job of the pastor is to be steeped in the Book, not personal experience.
Let me close all of this out by saying two things. First, the qualifications for an elder are steep, they are heavy, they are demanding on a man of any age. The pool of men who are in their youth, who can bear them, is very small in our society. He cannot be a novice (newly saved and/or unlearned in doctrine), he must flee youthful lusts, he must be an example in word and deed, etc. I am not here promoting that every 19 year old who has the urge should be made a pastor, but rather that there are occurrences where young men do in fact meet all of the qualifications. Secondly, I am sure ministry is much easier with a wife. There are unique challenges to trying to minister as a single man. I am sure there are benefits to having children that prove that you can practice what you preach when it comes to child-rearing. Quite the opposite of promoting singleness or childlessness in pastors, I would recommend it when God allows it. But if God in his divine wisdom has withholden a wife from a man, or if he has given him a wife but has closed her womb, he is not disqualified from serving, he will simply have to do it with the handicaps that God, in his good pleasure, has seen fit to place him under at that stage in his life.

Couseling conference

I am writing today from Lafayette, IN where I'm attending Faith Baptist Church's annual counseling conference. On the superficial side of things the weather hasn't been too bad, we had some wind and rain today but overall not too cold, no ice or snow. As far as the real issues, the sessions have been incredible! They have done a good job of balancing the philosophical and practical sides of counseling. I. e. a sampling of some of the sessions from track one which I'm attending have been, Processing Data, Walking in the Light, Dealing with Depression, Growing in Holiness, The Biblical Principles of Sex. In other words, they have been very thorough in teaching the whole counsel of God concerning counseling. I now see that with the Scriptures as my guide, I am competent to counsel. I've learned in general that the main problem for every counselee is the heart, but I've also learned how to take an issue (Depression, Marriage Conflicts, Anorexia, Etc.) and use the scripture to diagnose what is causing them to act that way and use the scriptures to resolve the problems.
While Anna and I have been attending track 1 covering the basics of counseling, Pastor and Mrs. Michael have been going through track 5 which focuses on how to become NANC (National Association of Neuthetic Counselors) certified. He says there is a lot more paperwork and less lectures that are involved in track 5, but the information he is gathering will be invaluable when we go to get certified.
All the while Jason Wallace has been learning many of the more specific situations you will run across in counseling in track 2. Learning about issues like Miscarriage and Infertility, Eating Disorders and Provocative Parents.
The hope is that at the end of the week and in the coming weeks we can share notes, collaborate on issues and methodologies and ultimately have several certified and competent counselors of different age, gender and station in life. Be praying with us that none of this knowledge or these resources would go to waste, but that God would use us as able ministers to our church and our community.

If my people

I Chr. 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear I heaven, and will forgive their sins, and will heal their land.
As I said in last week's editorial, I feel as if this country is in dire straits. However, I know from scriptures that there is still hope for this country, if the christians will begin acting as christians should. In the future revivals only come when the christians in the country start focusing on their own walk with God. There is a lot of focus on evangelizing the lost world, or reaching out to the youth in our communities, and while these are admirable ministries they will be futile if the ones ministering are not right with God.
You will notice in this passage that God says that it is his people that are in need of repenting from their sins. He does not say that they need to get more people into the synagogues, or even to do more door to door witnessing, he says that they need to humble themselves and turn from their wicked ways. There are too many churches across this country that are so "seeker friendly" they have stopped preaching the biblical doctrines of sin, the depravity of man, the just wrath of God, and holy living of the saved, because they are afraid of scaring people away. The truth is the preachers need to preach the bible in love and allow the saved to conform to it, and the lost to leave. While that may sound harsh, it would purify our churches back to what they are supposed to be, a sanctuary for the saints to be able to retreat to and be free from the filth of the world. Instead we have bought into the idea of bringing the lost world into the church, instead of bringing the gospel to the world and keeping the church for those whose have been converted.
I want to see this country revived as much as anyone, I want God to hear from heaven and heal our land. As one man told me recently, "Our churches are sick, but we've got to give them the right medicine." The funny thing about medicine is most of it isn't very fun to take, but when we get over it and take it, it helps us get better. If pastors want to see this country turned around they will have to stop giving their congregations candy and start giving them medicine. It may taste bitter for us to eat some humble pie, but the end result will be a spiritually healthier country.
One other aspect that is mentioned in this verse is the need for prayer, unfortunately we live in such a busy world that it has become easy for us to make the excuse that we have too much going on to spend more than a few minutes a day in prayer. For those of us that desire to see a return to christianity in this country over the next decade, must begin praying in that direction. Both aligning ourselves to the will of God and praying that others would do the same, is necessary for change come. It is my prayer that you will join me in this effort to reform our country, first by conforming ourselves to the word of God and secondly by fervently praying that God will ignite others hearts to see the need for healing.

A sure foundation

Ps. 11:3 "If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?
Down through the ages there has been a precedent set for today's Christians. If the Bible is not clear on an issue, a good idea is to look back and see how orthodox Christianity has acted in the generations before us. Nine times out of ten, the pattern will show you the correct view. The church as we know it today (as a called out assembly of believers) is being built by God down through centuries until one day when He calls us home, we will be a perfect, unified assembly, in which each age will contribute it's piece to fit into the holy convocation. (Eph. 4:16)
Why then, this present and very prevalent idea, that we need to pull away from the pattern and precedent laid down for us by our forefathers? It seems as if the modern view of the church, is that it must conform to look like the world, instead of making the world conform to Christ. The foundation is singing hymns, psalms and spiritual songs. (Eph. 5:19) Today's church has decided that these type songs are too full of controversial doctrine, so in order to be more relevant, we have replaced them with "Praise and worship" songs. Unfortunately these song have little to know doctrinal content, when the words of a song are such that a Mormon, Muslim, Catholic, and Baptist, could all sing along without confrontation, the song is not fit for church. Take for example this song found in many "Orthodox Christian" church hymnals.
"Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia,
alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

He is God's son, He is God's son, He is God's son, He is God's son,
He is God's son, He is God's son, He is God's son, He is God's son.

We will praise him, We will praise him, We will praise him, We will praise him,
We will praise him, We will praise him, We will praise him, We will praise him."

This is an actual song with the very original title, "Alleluia". What has happened to the songs that were lifted up to God singing of his holiness and justice, what of the hymns sung among the believers, that held so much undeniable truth Christians were martyred for not recanting them? The foundations are being destroyed, and the righteous are being crippled, because the world is having a larger impact on the church, than the church is on the world.
The foundations laid said that joining a church was a strict process in which your salvation was made sure and your walk with God was watched diligently, and if you fell into a sin of which you refused to repent, the Bible would be followed and you would be taken off of the rolls. Today a church will put you on the rolls if you attend once (that is the actual practice of at least one of the churches in our area) and God forbid that you should ever mention taking someone off the membership roll.
I pray that the righteous will begin taking a stand while they still can, and say "I will stand by the foundations that my fathers died on, I will not stand idly by and let the world destroy the foundations." For thousands of years men have lived and died trying to keep the church of God pure, will you let that pass in a few short generations? Will their efforts have been in vain? Or will you, like Martin Luther take a stand against the errors in the church, and attempt a reformation? It must be done in love, but it must be done.

Cleansing Part I

Psa 119:9 Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.
As a young man myself, this verse has become one of my mainstays in life. I guess all humans stay in an almost constant state of being in need of cleansing, but a young man is open to so many venues of temptation and sin. Who is more likely to be arrogant and full of themselves than a young man? What stage of life does lust occur most often than in the youth? Who has more choices to make concerning the direction of their future than a young man? His occupation, his education, his marriage, where he will settle down, these are all questions that only aid in clouding his mind further. I often stop and wonder what does a young man do that does not make it a habit to read the bible daily? Where does he go to get the answers so desperately needed during this time of life? But, as the verse so clearly states it is not only answers the bible provides but a cleansing. When a man has disobeyed the laws laid out in the word of God, it is only the word of God that can cleanse him from the filth he has gotten himself into. Paul says that Christ uses this same method in the sanctifying and cleansing of His church, Eph. 5:25-27 says “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” (Emphasis mine).
Clearly then, the bible does possess spiritual cleansing properties not found in any other thing here on this earth. Why is it then that we try to cleanse ourselves in so many other ways? We somehow think that doing good deeds will cleanse us, as if the good would erase the bad. Or perhaps we are more inclined to think that cleansing occurs by “finding our inner self” and that by taking long periods of time out of the day to sit and clear our minds of all the other things that has clouded them, we can become clean. God on the other hand has designated a much better method of cleansing our minds and spirits, a continual drenching by the scriptures. I once heard a man say that someone had accused him of being brainwashed to which he replied he was glad to be brainwashed by the bible, in fact it was the only way he would want his dirty mind to be washed. We ought to all take up this attitude, that we would give over minds to the truth of scripture. Instead we try to convince ourselves and others that we would read the bible more, if only we had more time. The truth of the matter is we have time for what we make time for. We have time in spades to work, we have plenty of time to take meals thrice daily, we have time to watch the news and ball games, we have time for everything else. How pitiful our excuses sound when laid against reality, how apathetic our lives have become if we can convince ourselves that our time would be better spent working out at the gym than reading the letter God has preserved for 4,000+ years, just for us. I mean not to tirade against watching television or any other such exercise, I only mean to point out what god's we have made unto ourselves. I recently conducted an informal poll, asking the participants how a man could become right in God's eyes. You would be amazed how many people either didn't know, or didn't know “how to explain it”, and we live in the “bible belt”. Unfortunately, our bibles are fast being replaced by TV Guides and newspapers. Why don't we make a resolution to start reading more of the scripture than we currently do, at least a few minutes a day? I attempt to read it for an hour a day and I still don't get the kind of washing this young man daily needs.