CHOSEN CHILDREN, Our Blessings in Christ – Part 3 of TBD on Ephesians

This is part 3 of TBD on Ephesians. I’ll be quickly going through the first three (and last two) chapters of Ephesians to set the context, because we live in age of declining Biblical literacy, and I’ll slow down more when I reach Ephesians 4, because I think we always need more unity and purity.

As we walk through Ephesians 1, we’ve already covered our identity in Christ and will cover our blessings in Christ (this post and the next on Ephesians) and our growing knowledge of Christ. This week, I want to explore some of the many blessings we have in Christ, found in Ephesians 1:3-5.

Starting in Ephesians 1:3, Paul’s talks about every spiritual blessing[1] we have in Christ. He’s not including every blessing of every kind, just the spiritual ones. Matthew Henry says God wants us to realize that there are temporal, earthly blessings but that spiritual blessings are better.

That statement is almost hard to believe until we realize the richness of the blessings Paul lists next.

I could easily define and explain 20 words in Ephesians 1:3-14. I want to focus on five categories of blessings, divided around 5 of the “in Him,” (or “in love”) statements in verses 3-14. I’ll cover two this week and one next time.

How are we blessed in Christ? We’re chosen, children (this week), redeemed, rich, and secure (next time):

First, verse 4 says God “chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless.”

Chose is the Greek word eklego, where we get the word “elect”. It says we are “chose[n] in Him.” The phrase “in Him” (or “in Christ”) occurs approximately 140 times in Paul’s letters. Theologians call this concept union with Christ. This is the idea that through faith in Christ (a gift of God, Eph 2:8-9) we are in union with Him, in His life, death and resurrection, and we receive all the benefits Christ has earned.

Notice that we didn’t earn them, but Jesus did. Notice as well that He chose or elected us before the foundation of the world, so that we might be holy and blameless.

Some might say that this doctrine of election encourages us to be complacent. Paul did not think that. Paul says God’s electing love (which sought us out before Genesis 1:1, in eternity past) motivates us to live for him.

2 Corinthians 5:14-15 says, “The love of Christ controls [or compels] us … [to] no longer live for [ourselves] but for him who for their sake died and was raised.”

In Christ, we’re chosen, and that is very good news.

Second, Paul says in verses 4-5, “In love, he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ.”

We are God’s children. We’re predestined, or marked out beforehand, for adoption as sons.[2] As sons of God, we have the greatest inheritance and blessings we could possibly have. All this is part of God’s plan and purpose, and it glorifies Him to say so. In Christ, we’re chosen. In love, we’re children who are adopted as sons of God.

This may not erase every problem you have in life, but those problems do not erase these benefits and blessings, either. Tomorrow, you may struggle with anger or lust or jealousy or selfishness or idolatry or something else. But if you’re in Christ, you’ll still be a chosen child of God. And as we’ll see in our next Ephesians post, you are also be redeemed by his blood and rich, because of your secure inheritance that has been sealed by the Spirit.

-Pastor Matt, 05-16-25

[1] Cf. The benefits that flow from our effectual calling in Westminster Shorter Catechism 32-39.

[2] Why not “sons and daughters”? Because to Paul’s original audience, daughters didn’t have as many rights as sons. Is that good or bad? Paul doesn’t comment on it. That’s simply what was the case, but Paul is actually showing more honor to the women in his audience by saying, “sons,” instead of “sons and daughters.”

What I’m Reading, What I’m Preaching - Hebrews, Chapell, Beeke, Trueman, and more

I once told a respected, seasoned megachurch pastor here in town that I was preaching through Isaiah. He politely told me I was crazy, because of the enormity of the challenge that Isaiah presents. Well, I haven’t told him this recently, but I’m preaching Hebrews as of Sunday, May 4, and the challenge feels similarly daunting to Isaiah.

I’m always trying to preach what I think the church needs most at a given time. Sometimes, that means I preach some of my favorite books (Judges comes to mind), and sometimes I end up preaching books that I like but want to understand better – Isaiah and Hebrews are two examples, along with Esther from several years ago. In the end, I’m anxious about Hebrews – anxious-excited and just plain old anxious. I’m also excited about re-preaching this book in 10 years, which I’m convinced will be an even better series. I’ve read through Hebrews a few times, divided it into 47 sermons for now, and I do plan a to take a few breaks, which will stretch this series sometime past May 2026.

Since this post is meant to be what I’m preaching and what I’m reading, let me transition to the former by mentioning a few of the following commentaries I’ve cracked open on Hebrews:

-          F.F. Bruce, NICNT[1] series - Scholars are unsure who wrote Hebrews, and that’s a simple sequeway to mention that Bruce once penned one of my favorite book titles about the Apostle Paul (who, if I had to bet, didn’t write Hebrews) – The Apostle of the Heart Set Free. Back to Hebrews – I may crack open this commentary a little less because it’s older and many of the newer ones quote it.

-          Simon Kistemaker, NTC by Baker – A classic from a Reformed author. This is part of an entire series on the NT; all the volumes are authored by either Kistemaker or William Hendriksen, whose 100+-year-old book on Revelation, More Than Conquerors, is a classic and very readable, at under 200 pages.

-          John Owen – One pastor friend named Josh[2] recommended that I read Owen’s seven volumes on Hebrews. Duly noted. I chose the one-volume, 300-page version that I inherited from my dad instead.

-          Other commentaries of note: Donald Guthrie’s commentary in the Tyndale series seems good; so does a volume by Raymond Brown. I added one more (and I probably won’t read all six every week) to my shelf by R. Kent Huges because I wanted a very clear, readable commentary for the really hard parts of Hebrews.

What else am I reading?

-          Overdue Reader Feedback – After mentioning Kevin DeYoung’s Daily Doctrine several weeks ago, one of our deacons told me that Table Talk (a magazine and daily devotional by Ligonier Ministries that I’ve subscribed to off and on) is also doing an extended series this year focusing on systematic theology topics. Thanks for the heads up, Alex.

-          I’m on the verge of a reading rut. I’ll confess that I sometimes binge read and then need a break. Many of the titles I’m about to mention are ones I’ve read or skimmed in the past 4-5 months.

-          Christ-Centered Preaching by Bryan Chapell – a classic that I’m reading for the second time. I have the second edition, and I think there’s now a third edition out.

-          Pastors and Their Critics by Joel Beeke and Nick Thompson – I have to be honest: I had to skim this one and even then only after much procrastination. I plan to read it more closely at a time TBD. Criticism comes with the job. (So does the chance to dig deep into Hebrews and then others about it.) That doesn’t mean it’s easy, and we can all give and receive criticism better. Two brief quotes (and a semi-related note) to give you the flavor of this book:

o   A church with a culture of healthy criticism is a church that is not afraid to fail. (146)

o   Constructive criticism is best carried out in the context of a ministry of encouragement. (128)

o   Beeke also co-wrote a book with Terry D. Slachter titled Encouragement for Today’s Pastor: Help from the Puritans that I’d like to read soon, too.

-          (I’ve blown past my desired word limit for the 2nd week in a row, but I have to mention one more.)

-          A Crisis of Confidence by Carl Trueman – Why are creeds and confessions important? Why is it more Biblical to have a creed or confession (a summary of the Bible’s teaching) than to say your only creed is the Bible itself? Trueman tackles those questions and more in this recent update of a book previously titled The Creedal Imperative. He pays special attention to our cultural moment in which belief in authority and institutions is at low point and why that actually makes creeds and confessions more important now than ever. Lastly, he’s written on this topic in pamphlet form. I think I have a few in my office, and a quick glance tells me that this is a similar, brief version available for free - https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/the-value-and-role-of-creeds-and-confessions/.

Enjoy! Some of those titles might be more pastor-centric than others, but I hope they help you grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I also hope you’ll pray for me to preach Hebrews well and to get out of my reading rut. Thanks in advance!

-Pastor Matt, 5-9-25

[1] Googling the author’s name and Hebrews will probably turn up the exact titles easily, but I’m including abbreviations for the name of the series (NICNT – The New International Commentary of the New Testament) because the full names are lengthy and most Bible nerds who care can figure it out.

[2] Not Pastor Josh of Forestgate. I know a lot of Joshes. When I tell stories to my wife, I’m required to state a last name after I say “Josh,” because (as she says), “You have too many Joshes in your life [for me to automatically know which one you’re talking about].” That’s a joke, btw. We love all of the Joshes in my life.  

What I Have Vowed I Will Pay

Today’s post was inspired Rev. DeMyron Haynes, a fellow PCA minister ordained three years ago.

He recently said on Twitter that someone might want to examine the nature of our ordination vows. With that, take your Books of Church Order (BCO) and turn to 21-5. 

I’m looking at ministerial vows, but I would encourage others to also see the similar vows for elders and deacons in BCO 24-6, as they consider the kind of men God would have them elect to lead His church. Electing elders and deacons will usually be more frequent than the calling of pastors or teaching elders, those who will take the following vows:

1. Do you believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, as originally given, to be the inerrant Word of God, the only infallible rule of faith and practice?

This is our “norming norm,” scripture alone. Other sources (history, tradition, creeds, and confessions) provide norms for what we do, but those are normed norms (shaped by others), not the norming norm that can shape or even normalize the others. That’s a good place to start. What else do PCA ministers vow when they’re ordained?

2. Do you sincerely receive and adopt the Confession of Faith and the Catechisms of this Church, as containing the system of doctrine taught in the Holy Scriptures; and do you further promise that if at any time you find yourself out of accord with any of the fundamentals of this system of doctrine, you will on your own initiative, make known to your Presbytery the change which has taken place in your views since the assumption of this ordination vow?

We all have creeds and confessions. Some of us write them down and submit them to public scrutiny.[1] Confessing what our creed is does not negate the doctrine of Sola Scriptura or the previous ordination vow. It simply allows us to see whether our confession lines up with scripture. In addition, this vow requires ministers to inform the Presbytery (their ecclesiastical oversight) when their views change. I recently heard a well-known conservative pastor in the PCA tell a story about this very thing happening. A man in his presbytery sheepishly told him that his views had changed (on a significant issue - I think it was ordination of women). The man telling me the story said he asked what his friend’s next step would be. The man responded that he was transferring to a denomination where that view was acceptable. He seemed to expect a harsh response, but he didn’t receive one. The man telling the story remembers wishing him well and telling him he was doing the right thing. One might hope that such a thing doesn’t happen often, but if it does, one might also hope it could be conducted with that level of civility.

3. Do you approve of the form of government and discipline of the Presbyterian Church in America, in conformity with the general principles of Biblical polity?

An elder emeritus in my church might call this “informed consent.” We tell you on the front end what you’re signing up for in this area. I’m willing to admit I understood very little of PCA polity until I had to learn it while I practiced it as a pastor. Sixteen years later, I’m still learning.

4. Do you promise subjection to your brethren in the Lord?

Ironically, I’d like to quote a Baptist (some of whom have elders but none of whom have presbyteries) on this point:         “A crucial part of an elder’s work is knowing how to submit to other biblically qualified, gifted, and Spirit-filled men who will, from time to time, see a matter differently. It’s proud to think this will never happen, and it’s proud to think the other elders should always submit to you.”[2]

5. Have you been induced, as far as you know your own heart, to seek the office of the holy ministry from love to God and a sincere desire to promote His glory in the Gospel of His Son?

Pastoral failures are always heart-breaking. I’ve seen too many, and frankly, even one is too many. I’ve seen more than one, and I don’t think they ever become less heartbreaking. As JC Ryle says, “Men fall in private long before they fall in public.”

What might also be good to remember is this - rarely does a man (unless he can answer this question with a bald-faced lie) start out pursuing the wrong things in ministry. Usually, men have pure motives, at least as pure as they can be on this side of heaven. It’s what happens later that Satan uses to tempt them away - thorns that choke away their spiritual cares. If I can sound Piper-esque for a moment: Brothers, love the gospel. Love Christ. Love His Kingdom. Long to see God’s Churches full, that all the chosen race may with one heart and soul and voice sing His redeeming grace!

6. Do you promise to be zealous and faithful in maintaining the truths of the Gospel and the purity and peace and unity of the Church, whatever persecution or opposition may arise unto you on that account?

Zeal without Burnout by Christopher Ashley is one of the best books I’ve read in the past decade. It strikes the right balance both in its title and content. We need to be zealous to do the work of an evangelist and all other aspects of our sacred calling. And we need to avoid burnout and pace ourselves. I’ve heard some say self care is overrated, an excuse for laziness. I’ve also seen (and experienced) what it’s like to burn the candle at both ends and resist the call to rest. Frankly, I think those dueling voice may be talking past each other. Of course we need to work hard, and we should be unafraid to plainly say it. And of course, we who know the finished work of Christ need to rest, to know that our livelihood and our church’s health is not dependent on my never taking a week off. Zeal without burnout. It can happen. It’s a good goal. Read Ash’s book for the rest.

7. Do you engage to be faithful and diligent in the exercise of all your duties as a Christian and a minister of the Gospel, whether personal or relational, private or public; and to endeavor by the grace of God to adorn the profession of the Gospel in your manner of life, and to walk with exemplary piety before the flock of which God shall make you overseer?

Will you adorn the gospel? Will others think more highly of Christianity because of how you conduct yourself in this calling? A question like that hit me like a ton of bricks when I took similar vows a few years before my ordination, during the process of “coming under care” of presbytery. Best I can tell, it was the first question in BCO 18-3, which doesn’t seem overly severe as I read it now. But I remember the gravity of that feeling, and I think it was a good thing then and now to feel a bit of holy fear for the path I was undertaking.

8. Are you now willing to take the charge of this church, agreeable to your declaration when accepting their call? And do you, relying upon God for strength, promise to discharge to it the duties of a pastor?

There’s not a ton to say here, except that this vow is properly numbered. It should be last. After you’ve considered all that other stuff - with all the weightiness and formality of it all - are you still willing to take this calling to be pastor of this church, full of ordinary sinners redeemed by God’s extraordinary, sufficient, and enabling grace?

Yes? Then remember PCA Membership vow #3 and walk in humble reliance upon the grace of the Holy Spirit as you endeavor to live as a follower of Jesus Christ. Because no matter how high you rise (if ordination and service in the Church constitute rising), you will still need humble reliance upon His grace.

Amen. Godspeed, ordinands.

[1] Trueman, Crisis of Confidence.

[2] Anyabwile, Finding Faithful Elders and Deacons, 102–3.

SAINTS - Our Identity in Christ, Part 2 of TBD on Ephesians

This is part 2 of TBD on Ephesians. I’ll be quickly going through the first three (and last two) chapters of Ephesians to set the context, because we live in age of declining Biblical literacy, and I’ll slow down more when I reach Ephesians 4, because I think we always need more unity and purity.

 As we walk through Ephesians 1, we’ll cover our identity in Christ, our blessings in Christ, and our growing knowledge of Christ. This week, I want to explore an aspect of our identity in Christ or … the Greetings that the Apostle gives us from Christ, which are found in Ephesians 1:1-2.

In Paul’s introduction, it’s important to notice how Paul greets us (the church in Ephesus and all the saints thereafter) and from whom he sends greetings.

First, from whom does Paul send greetings? Paul is an apostle or an envoy, a messenger, a “sent one.” Who sent Paul? Verse 1 tells us he’s an apostle “of Christ Jesus by the will of God.” This introduction might seem like a few brief words, but they are the words of God – His greetings, His regards.

Second, how does Paul greet the Ephesians and us? He greets us as saints, and he extends grace and peace to us. Saints are those who are holy in Christ.[1] Saints are not holy on our own, because no one is. Saints are holy in Christ, because of Christ’s work on our behalf – taking our sin upon Himself and suffering for it; living the life we could not live and giving us the credit, when we trust in Him. This is who God’s people are – saints in Christ Jesus, those made holy in Christ, because of Christ’s work.

That’s who God’s people are, and that’s who you can be even now through faith in Christ. You may be reading this and not yet be a believer in Jesus Christ. You may know about Him and even be inspired by Him. But you may not realize how much you need Him, and how much He meets all of your needs.

Today is not too late to trust in Him. Today may be the day of salvation for you. Now may be the favorable time. (See 2 Corinthians 6:1-2.)[2]

The favorable time for what? To embrace these blessings with which Paul greets us:

Paul extends to us, “grace and peace,” which he’ll explain more after verse 2.

So far, Paul is saying: 1) God’s people are holy in Christ through faith in Christ in spite of our sin, and 2) We have received grace (or God’s unmerited favor) that we don’t deserve, and 3) We have also received a peace that we couldn’t find except in Christ.

St. Augustine[3] was born in the 4th century and lived a wild life before Christ found him. His spiritual autobiography, the Confessions, says, “You made us for yourself, O God, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee.”

If your life is messier than you want, then you may think the first thing you should do is change any one of 100 things. What if you followed Paul’s advice? His original audience had much to learn, but first Paul told them the following: Remember your identity and your status in Christ.
You are:

-       Holy in God’s sight despite your sin.

-       Favored in God’s sight, though you didn’t earn it.

-       Peaceful in God’s protection, which you didn’t find.          It found you.

God’s grace, favor, and peace search for us. They hunt us down in a good way. In Psalm 23 terms, surely His goodness and mercy will follow (even pursue) us all the days of our lives.

That’s the opening Greeting that the apostle Paul gives us, which emphasizes our identity in Christ. The next time we look at Ephesians, we’ll cover our Blessings in Christ.

[1] This is the New Testament’s definition, not the Church of Rome’s definition.

[2] And it is always time, even if you have already believed, to renew that faith, to deepen that trust, and to remember all the blessings you have. I’ll talk about some of those blessings today and in future weeks.

[3] As the Church of Rome dubbed him.

Have a Good Friday

Today’s ecumenical blog post is brought to you by one of my old college friends – Brandon the Baptist minister. He texted the following to our mutual friend Dan the Methodist minister and me. (We’re simultaneously the start of a joke and three old friends who’ve known each other since Freshman year at Bama.) He gave me permission to expand upon his thoughts, so here goes, with his original text/post in italics and my thoughts below.

On Wednesday of Passion Week, Satan led Judas to betray Jesus.

Judas heard all of Jesus’s sermons. Judas had the best small group Bible study leader ever. (HT, Matt Smehurst, Jean Larroux) The other disciples thought Judas was a nice guy. They assumed he was going to buy food for the poor when he was actually about to betray the Son of God who offered His life as a ransom for many. Judas fooled a lot of people. Judas had a lot of privileges. Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. (1 Cor. 10:12)

Satan is still trying to tempt the people of God today. He wants us distracted. He wants us to focus on ourselves. He wants our disagreements to become bigger than they are. He wants our differences to lead us to petty division. He wants our fellowship to be a point of contention, cliques, and self-righteousness. He wants to steal our joy, kill our witness, and destroy our lives.

Satan will not stop trying to tempt God’s people. It’s what he does, even though he knows he’s defeated. One of my favorite ways to explain Satan’s modus operandi is to quote Alfred the Butler from The Dark Knight: “Some men aren’t looking for anything logical like money. They can’t be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.”[1] Satan will take any form of chaos or division that presents itself. Selfishness, division, pettiness? Great, in his mind. How about bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander, and malice? All those things Paul tells us to put away (or put off) in Ephesians 4:31? Satan wants you to put those on. And what better time (in Satan’s mind) to put those vile clothes on than now, Passion Week, a week when we celebrate Christ’s triumph through suffering? Satan would rather see pointless suffering and self-inflicted squabbling. Beware.

But Jesus has a better way. He came to give us life in abundance. He came to unite his church. He came to seek and save the lost. He gives us the way to stand against temptation through His Word. Today, commit to focus on Jesus and not the temptations Satan will use to divide us. Pursue Jesus, not the shiny pieces of silver.

Earlier, I quoted I Cor. 10:12, which urges us to take heed and be watchful against our own arrogance and overconfidence, so that our pride doesn’t precipitate a Humpty Dumpty moment. The very next verse is alluded to above. I Cor. 10:13 says, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” We don’t have to succumb to the pettiness and the division. We can look to Jesus instead, the One who loved me and gave Himself for me, the One who lovingly rules over His church, the One who pursues us like the Hound of Heaven[2], the One who is still working in works-in-progress like us, the One at whose right hand there are pleasures forevermore.

Make it a Good Friday. For every look at yourself, take 10 looks at Christ.[3]

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIYkhb2NjfE

[2] “The Hound of Heaven” is John Stott’s famous paraphrase of Psalm 23:6: “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” The Hebrew for “follow” is a bit more intense and often translated as “pursue.” From the NET Bible’s translator notes: “The word ‘pursue’ is used outside of its normal context in an ironic manner and creates a unique, but pleasant word picture of God’s favor (or a kind God) ‘chasing down’ the one whom he loves.”

[3] Robert Murray McCheyne.

Ephesians, part 1 of TBD…

In 2023 I had a (possibly) bad idea, but I had a good reason. Not quite two years later, I’m still in the same place.

My questionable idea in 2023 was to preach one sermon on the entire first chapter of Ephesians. How could I do that? There’s so many good things said in Ephesians 1, so many spiritual blessings mentioned. True, there are. But here was/is my good reason for drinking from the firehose that is Ephesians 1: Every year, studies show that Biblical literacy (familiarity with the basic content and storyline of the Bible) is declining. In fact, it’s declining across all categories – Christians and non-Christians, people who go to church and people who don’t, even among incoming seminary students.

In short, we know increasingly less about the Bible. There is a time and a place to study Ephesians 1 deeply and slowly. (In our church, that happened at the Friday Men’s Bible Study. It took them years, and they recently finished. On to Philippians!) But there’s also a time and a place to proclaim the whole counsel of God – to expose as many people to as many of the great truths of the Bible as possible.

So, Ephesians 1, drinking from the firehose, might be a bad idea. But I have a good reason – I want us to know the grand metanarrative of scripture – the height, breadth, and depth. I won’t explain every detail, but I’ll try to highlight the main ones.

My other ideas and goals for doing only one sermon on a densely-packed chapter like Ephesians 1 were the following:

-       I really wanted to preach a series on Ephesians 4, but I thought I had to attempt to set the context.

-       Ephesians 4 (and part of chapter five) is a great summary of life together as the body of Christ.

-       For those reasons and more, I’m going to revisit Ephesians, especially chapter four, in a series of blog posts for as long as it takes me. What does any church need? To know God more, to know His Word more; and walking through Ephesians is a one great way to get a summary of the most important teaching in Scripture.

-       Practically speaking, what’s this going to look like? I’m going to blog more often, and I’m hoping to make every other week a post from Ephesians. I hope they will be a manageable size, meaning 500-700 words, so that you can read them in 2-4 minutes. (Fair warning in case I exceed that word count in the future: “All preachers have an uncrucified lust for the sound of their own voice.” So said Steve Fults, a ruling elder in Texas, who was joking. A little. I think. I hope.)

I also hope to make future posts a bit more cohesive in their theme, but this is an introduction, so I guess it brought out my scatterbrained side. With that, here’s one final introductory thought before I dive into Ephesians more next time.

Why did Paul write the letter of Ephesians? Scholars debate different reasons, which may not be mutually exclusive, but we can say something definitive about the circumstances surrounding the writing of this letter. Eph. 6:19-20 says that Paul is in prison, but his biggest prayer in those verses is not to get out of jail. His biggest prayer is to proclaim the gospel clearly and boldly. Isn’t that a great way to describe what Paul does throughout the six chapter of Ephesians? He proclaims the gospel clearly and boldly, despite being in prison as he writes.

We could also say it this way – Paul has an earthly problem, but he’d rather tell other people about spiritual blessings. We all have problems, and I plan to talk specifics once we get to Ephesians 4 and slow down. But first, we need to remember who we are – our identity in Christ, the blessings we have in Christ, and the experience of knowing Christ more closely. I’ll explore those themes more in future posts.

What I’m Reading, Preaching, etc.

I like to write, but if you look at the dates on my previous blog posts, then that may be a shocking statement to you. Your bewilderment would be a reasonable conclusion, but I’ve been busy, and I’m hoping that’s changing.

I’m going to try to make this topic (what I’m reading, preaching) a more regular thing. Think of it as mini-book reviews or links to good articles, as well as occasional previews of what I am (or will be) preaching.

First, what am I preaching? This Sunday, Luke 18:31-43, about Blind Bartimaeus (though just calls him a blind beggar). Next Sunday, Luke 19, the Triumphal Entry. The Sunday after that, a section from Luke 20 about the Resurrection. What’s the common thread? I’ve been intrigued by these passages, which all take place near the Passion week, that seem to highlight the compassion of Jesus, even as He has the weightiness of His pending death approaching. (Pastor Josh, our assistant pastor, is sprinkling in Titus sermons when I need a break, and he’ll also give a Good Friday message soon.) After that, I’m planning to preach through the book of Hebrews, with minimal breaks. I’ve never preached or taught through that whole book before, and I’m anxious about it – anxious-excited and anxious-nervous, all at the same time.

What am I reading? A lot. That’s not a brag; it’s actually a recommendation to not do as I do. I have a really bad habit of reading widely and slowly, having way too many books partially completed at one time. That said, here are a few of my current favorites:

Daily Doctrine by Kevin DeYoung – Do the words systematic theology intimidate you? Then why not start small with this book, which includes daily (hence the title) 500 words entries on 260 different topics of systematic theology. Why 260 entries? 52 weeks x five entries per week = 260. It’s designed to be read daily, with margin for days when you’re too busy. I try to read it every day, but I took all of Spring Break off when we were out of town, and I think I’m still on track. As DeYoung says in his introduction, this book can be used as a daily devotional (what I’m doing), a reference tool (what a friend at church is doing), or as a mini systematic theology that you can read straight through.

New Morning Mercies by Paul David Tripp – Also a daily devotional, with even shorter daily entries than the selection above. (For comparison, DeYoung’s entries are about a 1.25 pages, and Tripp’s take up not quite a full page.) I’ve had this Tripp book on my shelf for years, and for some reason, I actually have two copies. At the risk of oversimplification, Tripp focuses more on heart application (but not at the expense of doctrine) while DeYoung focuses more on clear explanations on key doctrines (but not at the expense of application). I’ve enjoyed spending a short time on both books daily, at least on most days.

Those are two books I’m reading now, and I’ll save the rest for later. If you need something to read (in addition to your Bible, of course, which you can read fully in a year in just 15 minutes a day), I’d recommend both.  

 -Pastor Matt, 4-4-25

When a President gets shot...

Like many of you, I’ve consumed news coverage of the assassination attempt on President Trump today. I wasn’t planning to say anything substantial, but I stumbled upon the following words and decided to share them. (A fellow PCA Pastor commented positively about the following words, which were a long tweet from a Pastor Ben Marsh, whom I do not know.)

Church Family, I am sure some of you are shaken by the news of the attempted assassination of the former President Trump. These times are not unprecedented in American history. Some in our church can recall the attempt on President Reagan or the death of President Kennedy. We know that political violence always waits around the corner like the crouching lion of sin that Cain did not resist. What marks our uniquely Christian response right now is the following, which I hope you will practice in the coming days and months:

1. A commitment to peace. The people of God uniquely understand that human kingdoms rise and fall but the Kingdom of Heaven alone is eternal. Knowing this, we are called to be a unique people of peace, filled with trust in the Lord's plans. As our Lord said: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." Violent rhetoric is inseparable from violent actions, so I urge you to be a people whose language is seasoned with peace.

2. A focus on the Kingdom of heaven. Our citizenship is in heaven, which means our partisan commitments (as Democrats or Republicans or Libertarians or...) always take a backseat to our identification as followers of Jesus. Jesus had no political party and has no rivals for power in his kingdom! He alone is seated on the throne. To him alone will we swear allegiance for all eternity and from him alone will come all blessings.

3. A recommitment to the gospel. The Gospel of Jesus Christ alone is our Hope in this life and the next. No policy or politician can satisfy eternal or temporal needs. In Christ alone is our hope and sure salvation. He alone gives us his Holy Spirit by which we live day to day. He is the just Judge and the righteous sacrifice. He alone has defeated death. The Church has seen political violence from the first days. They saw emperors assassinated and they saw political parties come and go. They saw kingdoms rise and fall. Still for 2,000 years they have held forth the reality that Jesus is our Savior and our hope. He alone is our peace. I urge you to speak the name of Jesus before the name of anyone else and to lift up all your cares and concerns in these days to Jesus. Beloved, I'm grateful that this assassination attempt was unsuccessful. I do not think it will be the last time we see that sort of violence in American politics, at least not as long as partisans and tv talking heads carry on in their mission to whip people into fear and anxiety. I urge you to resist that same crouching lion that faced Cain, and to hear the word of the Lord to Cain who said "if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it." In Christ we have conquered sin and death itself. Stand firm then brothers and sisters in the unshakable hope of the glorious Majesty of Jesus Christ. Blessings.

PCA General Assembly Report 2024

While I haven’t written very prolifically lately, it’s time for the annual update following our denomination’s annual meeting-convention.

This year’s PCA General Assembly was held in Richmond, Va., and wrapped up in record time. After a few years where the PCA had to navigate issues of human sexuality (and did so in a way that was faithful to the scriptures), this year’s Assembly was noticeably more calm and less contentious. That doesn’t mean no one disagreed with each other, of course. As one of my former pastors from seminary would say: our goal as Presbyterians is to disagree without being disagreeable.

For details of all the business discussed, I would recommend visiting byfaithonline.com, the PCA’s online magazine. I’ll highlight a few items of possible interest:

• On the opening night, we approved a measure to add clearer language about the chastity and purity required for officers (deacons and elders, including pastors or teaching elders) in our denomination. It passed with no objection in a voice vote. (In others words, no controversy, no long debate, and no need for our electronic clickers that allow for quick numerical tallies of votes.)

• That same night, we also passed a measure clarifying that the titles deacon and elder/pastor are only for ordained officers.

• We approved a statement for strong encouragement of background checks for officers. Some wanted to make this required by our Book of Church Order, but we didn’t do so because of the difficulty of applying a one-size-fits-all mandate for background checks that would apply to the 50 States and Canada.

• We commended a letter that our past moderator (with help from a commission) wrote to the US Government to end the practice of sex change operations.

• Our Stated Clerk reported on the PCA’s growth. While our growth is modest, we are one of only two growing denominations in the USA even as church attendance continues to decline significantly.

• Other measures we approved included various measures to clarify or simplify our Book of Church Order and related documents and a request for a report on the book Jesus Calling - which was written by a PCA missionary.

• We also elected many men to the PCA’s various permanent Committees and Agencies, including Bruce Harrington, inactive elder of Forestgate, who will be serving another term on the Board of Trustees for Covenant Theological Seminary.

• Pastor Josh and I attended several luncheons or dinners and other gatherings to see old friends, including a talk by Rosaria Butterfield, whose book on hospitality has been read recently Forestgate’s Engagement MinistryTeam (EMT) and others. Her conversion after years as an LGBT activist is well known in the Church, and at one point she described it like this: “The God who made the mountains and told them where to stand now reigned over my feelings and the affections of my heart.” As one friend said to me afterwards: “That was an eloquent statement about the power of progressive sanctification.”

• I served on the Overtures Committee, and the Nominating Committee this week. If you want to know what that means, just ask me. Pastor Josh and I did not attempt to speak at one of the microphones on the floor of the Assembly in front of 2,000 people, but we did occasionally say, “yes”, “no”, and “second.”

Lastly, in addition to many friends, I saw three different PCA missionaries supported by Forestgate. I’ll close with pictures and brief descriptions. (Pardon my lackluster selfie skills.)

Tim Kay serves with Edgewood Ministries as Executive Director and is active in various aspects of pastoral training and discipleship with leaders in Africa. He’s also my wife’s cousin and a very dear older brother in the faith.

Larry Wilkes called Colorado Springs home at one point, but he now labors in Cheltenham, England, as an MTW missionary who is also ordained as a pastor-church planter in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of England and Wales (EPCEW).

Kurt Schimke works closely with Tim Kay as part of African Bible University in Uganda. Kurt has faithfully served General Assembly as a floor clerk (running papers and reports to the rest of us Commissioners) for many years in a row. This year, two of his adult children also served as floor clerks. I took this selfie quickly so as not to further keep Kurt from his floor clerking, and the picture of me was so bad that I cropped myself out.

What I’m Thinking, What I’m Reading

I like to write, but writing requires time to think and discipline to write even when you don’t have time to make your ideas as polished as you want. So today is a “conquering writer’s block by stringing together some half-baked thoughts” day.

Tell all of your bullet-point-loving friends. Here’s what I’m thinking; here’s what I’m reading:

-          I’m re-reading a book I just finished that I want to unpack more, Alan Strange’s recently released Empowered Witness: Politics, Culture, and the Spiritual Mission of the Church. The spirituality of the church is a doctrine often associated with Presbyterians in the 1800s, and that time period is covered well by Strange. He also covers and commentates on the doctrine’s flaws and its differing expressions from Charles Hodge and James Henley Thornwell in the Northern and Southern churches. Kevin DeYoung tries to succinctly state the doctrine in the foreword by quoting from one of the PCA’s founding documents in 1973: “The Church in its visible aspect is still essentially a spiritual organism. … The task of the church [is] primarily declarative and ministerial, not legislative and magisterial.” In the final chapter, Strange poses a helpful question, “Does this advance the true spiritual task/calling/mission of the church?” (112) He does answer one possible objection, clarifying that religion is not a private affair, saying “the whole of our Chrisitan lives” are “to be lived in faithful obedience to all that God has commanded, all to his glory.” (115) Bonus points to Strange for saying it all in 130 pages.

-          I’m going to read, Lord willing, a new volume by Dr. Miles Smith IV. (I’ve quoted “my friend Miles” from the pulpit before: “Everyone says the world is going to hell in a handbasket. No, the world ALREADY WENT to hell in a handbasket. It’s called Genesis 3!”) I was Miles’ pastor briefly when he was getting his Ph.D. in history, and when I plugged his new book on Twitter, that post received more “likes” than I’ve ever received for a single post before. Maybe that’s because he has nearly 11,000 followers, which is about 10,700 more than me. That said, more political theology from someone who’s way smarter than me on the topic and who grew up Presbyterian? Sounds good to me. Not yet released, but coming soon; also featuring a foreword from Kevin DeYoung.

-          I’m thinking that this is about as much political “commentary” as you’re going to get from me. Senator Katie Britt from Alabama gave the opposing party rebuttal (or whatever they call it) to the President’s State of the Union last night. I found that out shortly after a church member sent me a link about her. I don’t think I ever meet her, but it’s possible that I interviewed her husband, a former University of Alabama football player, when I was a student sports reporter there. She’s the same age as me, and we’re both from LA – Lower Alabama. Her hometown is Enterprise, which is 36 minutes from my childhood home (in Dothan, a booming metropolis with more than double the population of Enterprise).

-          I’m reading a series of popular children’ s books with my daughter, which I originally read at least 15 years ago. My daughter is 10, and she blew me away. She finished the seven-book series a week ago, and I’m still stuck half-way through book five.

-          I’m thinking that’s a sad commentary on how slowly I read (party because of how many books I try to read at once).

-          But I’m also thinking that I’m very proud of my daughter.

-          I’m thinking my wife, who has read 50 books a year for two straight years and is on pace to read even more this year, puts us both to shame when it comes to prolific reading.

-          I’m thinking that I’d like to write a bit more on church membership vows. Vows help us to do the things we know we should do but are hard to do. As previously mentioned, if Costco takes membership seriously, then so should Christians.

-          I’m thinking that the Alan Strange book is worth more words, perhaps a top 20 quotes post, perhaps more.

-          I’m thinking that 700+ words is gonna have to be enough for this Friday.

‘OUT-LOVE, OUT-PREACH, OUT-DIE’ – A Path to Gospel Faithfulness for Pastors Prone to Pessimism (and Addicted to Alliteration)

I think it’s easier to be a pessimist, but I don’t think it’s better.

Pessimism is a protective posture that makes it easier to view the outside world. Pessimism can give you a sense of control: “I know what’s going to happen, and it’s going to be bad.” Playing the odds of fallen human nature means that eventually you’ll be right, that you’ll able to assure yourself that you saw it coming all along, and that you were only right to be so pessimistic about life. Pessimism can be a simple, protective bubble to guard me from the dangers of hope and the inevitable, horrible feeling known as disappointment.

Dangers of hope? Did I really write that? Did you recoil a bit when you read it? I hope so. We know we should be hopeful, and I suspect this is true for non-Christians, too. Yet we know the all-too-familiar darkness of disappointment. We wanted something, and it didn’t come, so now we try to guard our hearts, hold things loosely, and try desperately to trick our own emotions and desires into not really wanting the thing that we desperately want.

But the tricks we play on our own emotions don’t really work. As Emily Dickinson wrote, “The heart wants what it wants – or else it does not care.” That doesn’t mean the heart always wants the right thing (Jeremiah 17:9). The heart often needs to be redirected to its proper object (Psalm 37:4). If not, Augustine famously said our hearts will be “restless, until they find their rest in Thee.” Years later, the Puritan Thomas Chalmers memorably wrote that we will not be cured of idolatry (excessive love for God’s good creation, or love for improper things) until we find, “The expulsive power of a new affection.” Trick your emotions all you want, but in the end, what we need is a rightly-ordered love.

Am I starting to sound like a spiritual Pollyanna? Possibly. But maybe your pessimism is just rising up to protect you from potential disappointment again. Maybe you’ve become “institutionalized” by the prison of pessimism, just like Red. Even if you don’t know Red or the movie that features him, you probably know his philosophy. In a certain movie[1], Red’s friend Andy sits down at lunch after a week in the hole, solitary confinement, claiming that the beauty of Mozart’s music kept him sane. All of Andy’s friends think he’s crazy, and Red asks him what he’s talking about? Andy hesitates, wondering why no one understands, before simply saying, “Hope.” Red, a veteran of 20+ years at Shawshank Prison who knows how to survive within its unjust confines, has heard enough. He responds gravely, “Let me tell you something, my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane.”

We’ve all been where Red lives, not to Shawshank but to the island of despair, that place of pessimistic protection where it’s just easier not to hope, not to dream big, not to dare or risk or dance with danger or invite insanity and disappointment into our lives.

You may be wondering by now, “What kind of person is writing this? Is he one of those annoyingly relentless optimists who dismisses all hardship in the lives of others?” Fair question. Time to show my cards. I’m a pessimist by nature who desperately wants to be an optimist. I’m also a pastor, who realizes that my pessimistic bent needs to be killed, mortified, and vivified into something better.

So when I see a realistic optimism in someone, I grab hold and don’t let go, like I did with a random quote I tracked down on the internet almost a year ago. As a Reformed Presbyterian pastor who prizes “the truth that accords with godliness,” (Titus 1:1) my pessimism gets triggered during theological controversy. “Oh, no. Here we go again. What did they say? How bad will this get?” But into that sea of pessimism, this quote appeared and kept me afloat: “We must stand fast. And we must out-live, out-rejoice, out-love, out-preach, out-serve, and out-die the false teachers and errorists.”[2]

We must stand fast – We don’t have to be the loudest voice on social media, but we do have to speak and stand up for our beliefs.

We must out-live the false teachers – Jesus outlived Herod (Matthew 2). We may not outlive every false teacher, but we can be sure that the faith once-for-all-delivered-to-the-saints (Jude 4) will outlive them.

We must out-rejoice the false teachers – Negativity may gain a following in a cynical world, but only joy can sustain us and our people. Eventually, even the pessimists begin to wonder if that dangerous thing called hope isn’t worth another try.

We must out-love the false teachers – Recently, I asked the officer candidates in our church, currently in training (a weekly interactive Bible study with some extensive preparation and feedback), why they ended up at a Presbyterian church. Almost to a man, the answer was “people” more than Presbyterianism. They were loved well, and it happened to be by Presbyterians. Praise the Lord for that pleasant surprise.

We must out-preach the false teachers – One thing I know Alistair Begg got right was this simple philosophy on preaching: “Think yourself empty, write yourself clear, pray yourself hot, and preach yourself empty.” Amen. Now, give me the strength to do it again, Lord.

We must out-serve the false teachers – I know at least one widow who landed at our church because of the love and sisterhood of another widow who helped her through the toughest stages of grief.

We must out-die the false teachers – The Puritans used to say that one of the goals of the Christian life was to prepare to die well. My gut says that is another long article (or maybe a book I’m not yet qualified to write) for another day. But at the very least, it means living with hope until we die. Because when we die, that is when “our faith [that in which we hoped] shall be sight.”

That’s how I want to live, with hope in the face of hopeless circumstances. I want to learn what Red learned but not as late as he did. At the end of the movie, Red has finally been paroled, and Andy (who was wrongly convicted and is now living on a Mexican beach after a multi-year plan to escape prison) has left a letter for Red. Andy writes, “Remember, Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”

Pessimism may seem easier, but hope is better, says this pessimist who wants desperately to be an optimist, by God’s grace.

-Pastor Matt

[1] All illustrations from movies, now and in the future, are not endorsements. I learned as a youth pastor to say, “Not that I’m recommending that movie, because I would never do that.”

[2]Ligon Duncan, in Risking the Truth, edited by Martin Downes, 202. The book is 15 years old, and the theological controversy it’s discussing is largely past. The encouragement seems evergreen.

'We have an enemy'

“We have an enemy”

(Foreword - I wrote this in March 2019, almost five years ago. After I finished this weeks’ sermon on the Armor of God – Eph 6:11-24 – I decided this might be a nice way to whet our appetite for Sunday. I don’t believe I’ve updated anything except this brief note. -Pastor Matt, 2-16-24)

“We have an enemy, and he would like nothing more than for us to be discouraged.” One of our elders said that to me as I was driving home from the hospitable two years ago. It was about this time of year, when everyone seemed to have be recovering a cold, when several members (including one whom I had just visited) were dealing with conditions that would ultimately claim their lives. I was trying to make sense of why the world seemed to be falling apart. Some of it was my overreaction. Some of it was my missing the obvious.

We have an enemy. It’s a simple truth that is so easy to forget. I’ll confess that I don’t particularly like talking about Satan. There are reasons, and some of them are selfish. For starters, whenever I preach about Satan (and I’ve done it two out of the last three Sundays), I have the weirdest, strangest, most difficult weeks you can imagine. Sometimes, I’m discouraged. Sometimes, I’m angry. Sometimes, I get sick. Sometimes, it’s just weird.

Paul talks about how he and the Corinthians are not unaware of the Devil’s schemes at one point (2 Cor. 2:11), and it’s one of those passages that reminds me that Paul was much smarter than me. I often feel very unaware of the Devil’s schemes, at least when it comes to the particulars. But more and more, I am finding freedom in simply acknowledging the fact that Satan is real and that he might be behind some of the struggles I’m facing. Is he still under God’s control? Yes. But he is powerful, and he has a vested interest in thwarting all the efforts of the church and individual Christians. There are times when I simply ask myself, “How would Satan want me to respond to this news?” just so I can do the opposite.

We have an enemy. And we need to pray regularly for God to deliver us from all his evil schemes. As I said, I don’t like talking about this stuff. It simply invites more attacks from Satan, I’m convinced. I also fear that it makes me sound like a hyper-spiritual preacher who might be off his rocker. Oh well, I guess that’s a risk I’m going to have to embrace. The alternative (just not talking about Satan) would imply either that 1) Satan is not currently active in this world, or 2) that I don’t need any protection from him. I think both are false. Peter reminds us: “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8) Peter knew this first hand. Before Simon Peter (he went by both names, it seems) denied Jesus three times, Jesus told him: “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:31-32)

I haven’t done an in-depth study on Satan before. I’m kind of scared to do one, in some ways. But I know a few things. I know that he exists. I know that we have an enemy. I know that he wants to thwart God’s purposes. I know that he has many different tricks. Some of that is because he’s smart and strategic, and some of that might because he’s fighting a losing battle and he’s simply flailing around trying to inflict as much damage as he can. (It reminds me of a quote from The Dark Knight where Alfred the Butler tries to help Bruce Wayne make sense of the Joker’s scatter-shot plans. “Some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money,” Alfred says. “They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.”) But in the end, it’s ultimately Satan who will burn (Rev 20:10).

We would be foolish to forget that we have an enemy. But we need not overreact, either. When Peter writes about that roaring lion, he has some comfort in store, as well. In the following verses he writes, “Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.” (1 Peter 5:9-11)

Our enemy also has an enemy. And in this case, the enemy of my enemy is definitely my friend, a friend who sticks closer than a brother, during every attack from our enemy, until our enemy can no longer attack us ever again.

A 'Humble Petition'

This past year at the PCA’s General Assembly, we decided to send a letter to the President and other government officials asking them to stop the practice of sex-change operations for minors. Since we debated the wording so much, we did a very Presbyterian thing and let a committee appointed by our moderator write it.

What follows is that letter and a cover letter from our Stated Clerk.

The letter itself:

(It’s addressed to the President and other “leaders of the United States Government.”)

We, the Presbyterian Church in America, the largest body of confessional Presbyterian and Reformed churches in North America, consisting of more than 1,500 congregations and 374,000 members across the United States and Canada, humbly petition you to protect the lives and welfare of minor children from the physical, mental, and emotional harms associated with medical and surgical interventions for the purpose of gender reassignment. Furthermore, we call upon you to use your positions to promote the health, bodily integrity, and wellbeing of minors who are suffering from gender dysphoria and related conditions.

We recognize the growing nationwide distress and concern over interventionist practices targeting children. While we acknowledge complexities around these issues, we share those concerns and urgently appeal to you to protect the Nation’s children. The basis for our appeal is that all people—young and old, male and female—are created in the image of God (Genesis

1:26–27; James 3:9). This unique status accords all human beings with inherent dignity, a dignity that extends to both soul and body. For over two thousand years, the Christian Church in all her branches has stood on the teaching that the value of the human body arises from its source, which is from God, and its purpose, which is to bear God’s image. We believe current gender reassignment interventions for children are not in keeping with the high value of human bodies—a value determined not by circumstance, ability, or human judgment, but by the determination of our wise Creator who constituted each person a body-soul unity (Genesis 2:7; Psalm 139:13–16).

We also ground our humble petition in God’s love for children. He expressed his love when the Son of God said, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:14 ESV). Indeed, his deep love for children is revealed in comparing them to those who are greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Because of this love, it is a grave sin to harm children (Matthew 18:1-6). In his kindness, God has provided parents and the civil magistrate for the protection of children (Ephesians 6:1–4; Romans 13:1–4).

Until recently, an obligation to protect children has been widely acknowledged in Western society. The duty to protect children from harm is to be met by authorities in familial and civic contexts who recognize the vulnerabilities unique to childhood. While these vulnerabilities can be preyed upon by powerful external forces, they are also susceptible to the internal confusions and instabilities often accompanying childhood.

As Christians, we recognize that we live in a fallen world in which some children and adults experience a perceived incongruence between their biological sex and their internal sense of gender. These feelings of gender incongruence cause severe psychological distress often associated with debilitating anxiety and depression. We genuinely sympathize with the parents and loved ones of those who experience this kind of suffering—many of them in our churches.

However, experts disagree on the nature and causes of gender dysphoria. Persons who try to change their biological sex through the process of transitioning—including psychotherapy, lifelong hormonal treatments, and extensive nongenital and genital surgeries—are attempting the impossible. This reality merely reflects the divine design, as God created human beings distinctly male and female (Genesis 1:27; Matthew 19:4; Luke 10:6). Since the sexual binary is rooted in creation and determined by God, it cannot be changed; therefore, it is not surprising that transition attempts carry many long-term risks. Among these risks, which are often irreversible, include conditions such as sterility, infertility, cancer, cardiovascular disease, strokes, blood clots, pituitary apoplexy, pseudotumor cerebri, and diminished bone density.

For children, the stakes are even higher. Since the brain has not yet fully developed during puberty and adolescence, minor children are not mentally and emotionally ready to give informed consent to life-altering and non-reversible medical procedures. And with the increase in depression, anxiety, isolation, and alienation of children and adolescents in the United States and Canada—exacerbated by the use of social media and, more recently, COVID-19 policies—young people often experience fluctuating emotions and internal confusion. Teenage girls especially have been susceptible to rapid onset gender dysphoria, a recent phenomenon involving large numbers of teen girls claiming to have gender dysphoria. The increased diagnosis of gender dysphoria in girls has been driven by social contagion from current social, educational, and cultural influences. Children whose minds and personalities are still developing do not yet possess the perspective or maturity to make these irreversible decisions; they should be given time to accept their biological sex, which occurs in the majority of teens allowed to progress through natural puberty.

Although we respect the expertise of medical professionals, it is striking that traditionally, medical students had to affirm the Hippocratic Oath, which includes the commitment: “I will abstain from all intentional wrong-doing and harm, especially from abusing the bodies of man or woman.” This priority of not harming others is ultimately grounded in the triune God who is love (1 John 4:8), from whence he calls us to love each other. Reflecting this nature of God, one of the greatest commandments is that we love our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:39). As Scripture states, “Love does no harm to a neighbor” (Romans 13:10 NIV; cf. Exodus 20:13). Providing medical intervention for the purposes of transitioning does irreversible harm and injustice to all people, but especially minor children.

For these reasons, we condemn the practice of surgical and medical gender reassignment, especially of minors, and we humbly petition you to protect the lives and welfare of minor children.

Sincerely,

The Presbyterian Church in America

I’m listing the Cover Letter after the main letter because the theological content was mostly contained above. This letter is intended to be used by individual presbyteries to contact their government officials. Our stated clerk of Rocky Mountain Presbytery will be sending something like this, with the above letter, to government officials in Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana. Here’s the Cover Letter:

Dear [name and title of government official],

The attached letter has been prepared by a commission of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), the largest body of confessional Presbyterian and Reformed Churches in North America, consisting of more than 1500 congregations. In the letter we humbly petition our government officials to protect the lives and welfare of minor children from the irreversible damage associated with the medical and surgical interventions of gender reassignment.

We ground this humble petition in God’s love for children and in your and our government’s commitment to their welfare. We deeply respect the weightiness of the obligations of your office in the light of our culture’s difficulties in determining what voices to heed on so tender and difficult an issue, but our petition asks that you consider the decisions that children are capable of making about permanent physical changes that will affect the rest of their childhood and adult lives. We ask that you read this petition with an understanding of the humility and respect that we desire to express, even as we speak unreservedly in behalf of those who are not yet ready to make adult decisions.

Sincerely,

Love Came Down at Christmas

It’s December 1, and I’m delighted that the calendar allowed us a few extra days of post-Thanksgiving time to get ready for Christmas this year. Tonight, our church will host an Advent Kickoff/Chili Cookoff event, and I’m ready.

At the risk of sounding like a sentimental sap, I love Christmas. About three years ago, I was limping through the year, and December felt like a breath of fresh air that reminded me that I might actually finish the year in one piece. I wrote about it.

One book you’ll see mentioned in that old article is Sinclair Ferguson’s Love Came Down at Christmas. I received it as Christmas gift in 2019, probably at the Christmas Eve service, based on the sweet note from a deacon’s wife that’s now become my bookmark. Who reads an Advent Devotional in January, even a good one? Not me, but it was my loss. In 2020, I opened it up, and it simply hit the spot, and it’s not because of Sinclair’s wonderful Scottish accent, though I’ll admit that I sometimes imagine him reading the words out loud in that wonderful brogue.

To entice you into reading it, let me give a brief teaser. The 24 daily devotionals are built around 1 Corinthians 13, the love chapter. Why? In his introduction, he imagines what would happen if an interviewer asked a celebrity, as they often do, what Christmas means to them. He imagines that, maybe, just maybe, someone will someday elaborate beyond the usual platitudes like, “Love.” What if they interviewed a Christian who said something like:

“Christmas is about love because Love came down at Christmas.”

Before you know it, he’s quoting John 3:16 and roping you into a familiar passage, showing you new depths in the simple words of John and the simple words of I Cor 13. Then you’re into Day 1, talking about angels and gifts and the Nicene Creed: “For us and for our salvation he came down.” He concludes:

“Whatever gifts you may have, love always means that you come down. It means that you use those gifts for the good of others, not to make yourself feel good. It means that you are willing to do things that are uncomfortable or inconvenient for you, or that you go unnoticed. … Real love always comes down. We know that because Love came down at Christmas.”

If you want the other 23 days, use the Amazon link above, or visit CBD.com for a cheaper price and more complicated shipping.

P.s. If you’ve already read this, because I’ve been recommending it for a few years, try this instead: R.C. Sproul’s new advent devotional, posthumously published by his wife and some close friends.

 -Pastor Matt

Ministry in this Strange New World: 20 Quotes to whet your appetite

 I spent the weekend of Nov. 3-4 at The Lifetime of Ministry Conference at Covenant Theological Seminary in St Louis, Mo.

The conference was structured around Carl Trueman’s 2020 book The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self[1]. Trueman and CTS Systematic Theology Professor Robbie Griggs were the keynote speakers. Griggs added insights into how technology affects our understanding of the self.

I read Trueman’s book, slowly, in 2020-2021, appreciating its timeliness in explaining the rise of LGBT ideology, with a particular emphasis on transgenderism.[2] As Trueman says, his goal is not to lament or even primarily to offer solutions to this noticeable difference in worldview from a previous generation. His goal is explaining why we are where we are, and then to briefly, humbly suggest how we as Christians might respond.

For the remainder of this article, I want to offer 20 thought-provoking quotes from the conference, some from Trueman (CT), some from Griggs (RG), with a few disclaimers:

-      I wrote my notes on my iPad with a bit less precision than I did during my journalism days when I would check my written notes against a recording.

-      I assume my notes and context are accurate, but if anyone stumbles across this who attended the conference and thinks I have a quote or its context wrong, I would welcome feedback in the comments section or private correspondence.

With, 20 Quotes from The Lifetime of Ministry Conference about how to minister to the Modern Self:

1.   What does it say about culture if that comment (“I am a woman trapped in a man’s body.”) is widely accepted? It says biology and body have lost authority, and feelings have gained authority. – CT

2.   It’s important to realize there is not one cause to this problem. And therefore there’s no one solution. … The circumstances of today are a long time in the making. Bruce Jenner didn’t transform anything. He was a culmination.[3] – CT

3.   This isn’t a result of arguments. (Mentions Charles Taylor and his phrase ‘social imaginary’ – widely-accepted arguments in culture.) … Intuition forms morality more than we think. Intuition forms worldview, too. Many people who hold views on gay marriage do so because of the TV show Will and Grace. – CT

4.   The greatest American theologian (Jonathan Edwards) was actually British. – CT

a.    MG: This was Trueman, a Brit who’s resided in the USA for a long time, just having some fun. Our largely American audience laughed. After all, Edwards died in 1758, before the Declaration of Independence.

5.   (Explaining Expressive Individualism) The real me is my inner feelings, and authenticity is acting out on those inner feelings. … I was trained (as a British man) to be inauthentic, reserved, part of the team. That’s very inexpressive. – CT  

6.   Freud made his arguments in scientific idioms at a time when scientific idiom carried a lot of weight. By making every stage of human existence about sexual desire, he made sexual desire the essence of what it is to be human. Sex is what we are, not what we do. – CT[4]

7.   Technologies aren’t neutral. They carry ideology. – RG

8.   Computers tell us that learning is about information capture, not meaning making. The digital default is to consume info quickly, but it makes us feel adrift, because information can’t replace relationships. – RG

9.   Relationships are inefficient. If you don’t want your congregation to view your ministry as merely information, then our digital means of ministry needs to be secondary to all the other ministry that we do. – RG[5]  

10. Real relationships are slow, messy, inefficient, and they are irreplaceable. – RG

11. We’re sense-making creatures. We ask, ‘Why?’ – RG 

12. We need to help others limit the information they take in, and we need to first love our neighbors locally, not globally. – RG

13. We need to recover what it means to be human. – CT

14. What we need to do (in response to the sexual revolution) goes beyond arguments. – CT

15. The rise in the psychological self[6] has led to a downgrade in the importance of the body. … The gospel (as expressed in the Apostles’ Creed) ends with the resurrection of the body, not just forgiveness of sins.  – CT

16. The body is embodied. Sex is important. The sexed body is important. – CT

17. Transhumanism is the belief that technology will allow us to transcend the human form. Transgenderism is a subset of Transhumanism. – CT[7]

18. In a mobile society, we should cover the big bases of theology in 12 months, like the Heidelberg Catechism does. … We should preach regularly on the body, anthropology, the image of God, and embodied issues. – CT 

19. Digital environments extend personal presence, but they don’t replace personal presence. – RG

20. It’s a common experience to feel out of place in your body as a young person, to feel out of place with your peers. Digital mediation doesn’t help this. – RG  

Do those quotes (that small bit of information) accurately convey the fullness of the conference? Of course they don’t. See quote 8 for a short explanation of why. But I hope that at least whets your appetite and maybe encourages you to read one of the books mentioned already. I’d recommend starting with Strange New World, and if I come across a book from this topic by Dr. Griggs, I’ll pass that on, too. I purchased, but haven’t read yet, a copy of The Tech-Wise Family by Andy Crouch in light of several things that Dr. Griggs said.

In all this, I hope it helps us minister to modern selves, the selves around us and our-self, as well.

-Pastor Matt, 11-22-23

[1] Full subtitle: Cultural Amensia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to the Sexual Revolution. It’s not an easy read (400+ pages and lots of primary-source footnotes), but it’s a good, rewarding read.

[2] My wife and I recently read his shorter version (approximately 180 pages) of the same book - Strange New World: How Thinkers and Activists Redefined Identity and Sparked the Sexual Revolution.

[3] Olympic gold medalist Bruce Jenner now identifies as Caetlyn Jenner. I think Trueman called him “Bruce,” and while that usage might be controversial, controversy is not my goal, and I don’t think it was Trueman’s, either.

[4] This may be obvious, but I’ll repeat it to avoid confusion – Trueman is not stating agreement with Freud. He’s merely explaining his logic and its effects and how contemporary people (even those who reject most of what Freud taught) agree and live accordingly.

[5] This is definitely a paraphrase, and I hope I’ve represented it well.

[6] What’s the psychological self? See quotes 1 and 5 above for a better idea, but the short version might be that the psychological self is one that defines itself less by biology, observable realities, and external authorities and more by inner feelings.

[7] This is part of a larger discussion in Trueman’s books that intersects with thoughts like the following: How technology has enabled advances in personhood that dehumanize us, how Transgender ideology is actually unraveling the LGBTQ political alliance from within.

Get Angry…

(Preface: I published the following article in December 2020. I decided it was worth a repost this week since I’ll be preaching an entire sermon on anger, more specifically on Ephesians 4:26-27, one of the passage mentioned in this article below. -MG, 11-16-23)

Since March, I noticed an increase in angry people. Aren’t you glad you and I don’t have that same problem? Well, actually, that was sarcasm. This post is about how you and I need to be on the lookout for the same kind of attitude that we find so objectionable in others.

This may not seem like a Christmas post, but very little about 2020 has been normal, so why start now? (I have written a version of this post before, most recently in November 2016. But I thought it was worth an update.) Here goes:

Plenty of passages show why anger can lead us to sin, but there are also pesky passages that command us, “Be angry, and do not sin.” (Ps 4:4; Eph. 4:26) That’s because there is such a thing as righteous anger. Sin and injustice should make you angry. First and foremost, you should be angry, because sin is a violation of God’s holy Law. He’s the King, and His decree has been violated, and this wrong must be righted!

And the problem with so much of our anger is not that we are angry about the wrong sinful actions but that we’re angry on the wrong person’s behalf and angry at the wrong person’s sin.

On the wrong person’s behalf – In Ps 51:4 (a hard-to-translate verse), David acknowledges that his sin with Bathsheba (and against her husband/his soldier Uriah) is first and foremost a sin against Yahweh, the creator of life and the creator of marriage. Yes, he has wronged Uriah and Bathsheba. But the primary offense is against God. Uriah and Bathsheba are His creations; David cannot sin against them without first rebelling against God, the Only God, who demands absolute allegiance to Him before He demands one to love our neighbors, His fellow image-bearers.

At the wrong person’s sin – My primary calling as a Christian is not to repent of your sin. It’s to repent of and crucify my sin. For example, David’s army commander Joab is a pretty shady character. In 2 Sam 11 Joab complies with David’s heinous command to murder Uriah through dastardly military strategy. But David’s confessions in 2 Sam 12 and Ps 51 never mention, “Joab’s guilty, too!” It’s not that David is unaware of Joab’s complicity; it’s just that it doesn’t matter.

So often, I’m mad at sin, but I’m mad at sin committed against me, committed by others. In the process God’s holiness becomes an afterthought. So often, I’m mad at sin, but it’s the sins of others. I want mercy for my sin, but I want justice and judgment for the sins of others. The Bible turns the tables on all of that: Love God and His Law, and be offended when He doesn’t receive glory. Love God, and be grieved when you don’t.

Yet Nathan the Prophet (2 Samuel 11-12) shows us this:               There is a time to be angry over sin, even the sin of someone else, even if we have to repent of our unrighteous elements of anger, too. The answer is not to wait until our anger is pure and wholly righteous, because on this side of heaven, we will never be wholly righteous or wholly holy. The answer is still to be angry and not sin. And if you do sin in your anger, be angry at that sin, too, and bring it before a Holy God who has poured out His wrath upon Another who alone could stand the Heat of His anger and live to tell about it. The answer is not less anger when sin is committed. It’s more anger and, most importantly, the right kind of anger. Anger that’s offended on behalf of God and His tarnished majesty. Anger that isn’t afraid to turn against self before it turns to the Savior.

[Afterword: I began to use the following phrase to describe life in 2020 and early 2021:

Almost everyone is overreacting to something right now.

Almost no one thinks it’s their fault.

Everyone (no exception) could do a better job reacting to the overreactions around them.

The craziness of 2020 is mostly past, but the encouragement to do a better job reacting to the overreactions around me is still a word that I need to hear occasionally. -MG, 11-16-23]

A Reformation Day post, on the 506th Anniversary

By Matt Giesman

Read the biographies of the Reformers. That’s the advice someone gave me when I was in my 20s, wrestling with my calling (to ministry and everything else), trying to figure out if I was a Baptist or a Presbyterian. (The latter prevailed. I credit RC Sproul, whom my dad loved, and Ligon Duncan, whose Covenant Theology class swayed me during my first year of seminary. Plus a few dozens others along the way.)

But thanks to a pastor’s daughter who worked at the same summer camp as me, I decided I needed to read about the Reformers. I borrowed Dad’s weathered copy of Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther by Roland Bainton. I added my own underlines and marginal notes, and nearly 20 years and a few bookshelf purges by my Dad later, I think this book officially belongs to me now, even though Dad’s name is still written in pen on the inside cover page.

While I don’t claim to be a Lutheran historian or a church historian, I thought my nearly 20-year-old conclusions (written in pen on the back cover page) were worth sharing on Reformation Day 2023:

“He never wanted to be a leader.

“He never wanted to be a married man.

“He never wanted to be famous.”

(Sometime later I scribbled in – “He also never wanted to start a revolution.”)

“He was all three because he realized that none of them made him a man. His deep, abiding relationship with Christ showed him who he was as a man: a redeemed product of divine grace. Every other action and role of his stemmed from that one foundational fact.”

I’m happy to leave those thoughts unedited and let them remain what they were and are: impressions from a giant in history upon a man in his 20s wrestling with his own calling to ministry. But perhaps it would be better to finish with Luther’s own, words, recorded by Bainton, from pages 49-50 at the end of chapter 3, reflecting upon Romans 1:16-17- “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’” (ESV)]  

I did not love a just and angry God but rather hated and murmured against him. … Night and day I pondered until I saw the connection between the justice of God and the statement that ‘the just shall live by his faith.’ Then I grasped that the justice of God is that righteousness by which through grace and sheer mercy God justifies us through faith. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise. The whole of Scripture took on a new meaning, and whereas before the ‘justice of God’ had filled me with hate, now it became to me inexpressibly sweet in greater love. This passage of Paul became to me a gate to heaven.

 A paragraph later, he writes, “He who sees God as angry does not see him rightly but looks only on a curtain, as if a dark cloud had been drawn across his face.”

From consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29) to loving heavenly Father (Matthew 6:9). This is but one of Luther’s many contributions to theology and the doctrine of God. Soli Deo Gloria.