Living in Tension, 2 Volume Set: A Theology of Ministry

Living in Tension

A Theology of Ministry

—Volume 1­—

The Nature of Ministry:

Faithfulness from the Beginning

Douglas D. Webster

LIVING IN TENSION

A Theology of Ministry

Copyright ©

2012

Douglas D. Webster. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers,

199

W.

8

th Ave., Suite

3

, Eugene, OR

97401

.

Cascade Books

An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers

199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3

Eugene, OR 97401

www.wipfandstock.com

isbn

13

:

978

-

1

-

63032

-

150

-

8

eisbn 13: 978-1-62189-422-3

Cataloging-in-Publication data:

Webster, Douglas D.

Living in tension — a theology of ministry : the nature of ministry / Douglas D. Webster.

xiv +

212

p. ;

23

cm. — Includes bibliographical references.

Living in Tension, Volume

1

isbn

13

:

978

-

1

-

62032

-

150

-

8

1

. Pastoral Theology.

2

. Clergy—Office.

3

. Laity—Reformed Church. I. Title.

BV4011 .W33 2012

Manufactured in the U.S.A.

Writing a theology of ministry is far more difficult than it seems, for it must bring worlds together that remain stubbornly separate . . . The task is made all the more difficult because of the subject matter itself, which is as peculiar as the gospel. This is the point Webster makes so thoroughly and insightfully. As a pastor, preacher, and theologian, he has done the work to write this book. It is his masterpiece. It will set the standard for how we understand ministry as learning to live in biblical tensions.

—Gerald L. Sittser,

Professor of Theology, Whitworth University

Now, after a long immersion in pastoral ministry, supplemented with reflective periods of teaching, Webster has mined for us a rich vein of pastoral theology . . . The theme of tension in ministry is the note we need sounded in this ‘add water and stir’ culture. The layers of resources in these pages will open the reader to a whole world, the depth of which is exactly what the church today desperately needs.

—Jim Singleton,

Associate Professor of Pastoral Leadership and Evangelism, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary

To Virginia,

our three children and their spouses,

Jeremiah and Kristin, Andrew and Jeanine, Kennerly and Patrick

Acknowledgments

First Presbyterian Church of San Diego and my students at Beeson Divinity School were the catalyst for this work. I wanted to offer to students a theology of ministry, tested and shaped over time, that grew out of the practical reality of serving a household of faith. My understanding of the themes expressed here, such as the priesthood of all believers, every-member ministry, and mutual submission in Christ, took a long time for me to grasp and to develop. I would have liked to start out with these wonderful truths worked into my life and ministry, but the Lord and his saints have been very gracious and patient with me. Sharing these perspectives with soon-to-be pastors and church members is the motive for writing. For the last couple of years, Central Presbyterian Church in Manhattan has also been a great place to work out and test these truths.

Many friends have helped shape this work. A special thank you goes to Jason Fincher, Jim Meals, Jeremiah Webster, and Kennerly King for their valuable suggestions. I am grateful to editor Rodney Clapp and to Wipf and Stock for publishing this work without regard to potential sales. I credit a lot of the joy of my work to my wife Virginia, who makes life and ministry feel fresh and vital. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has been very good to me and I hope that comes through in these pages.

Introduction

Working with ancient perspectives and contemporary practices is bound to generate a tension. The contemplative nature of the classics offers a level of reflection on ministry that seems as foreign as it is intense. In significant ways, the early church fathers understood the life and death significance of the work of the church. Their passion for Christ is evident.

The intensity of John Chrysostom’s Treatise on the Priesthood, Gregory the Theologian’s Oration II, and Gregory the Great’s Pastoral Rule, led me to rethink my relatively laid back approach to ministry. The example of these ancient pastors caused me to meditate on the nature of ministry in a new way, more as a passion than a profession. There is a contemplative intensity in Martin Luther’s The Babylonian Captivity of the Church and The Freedom of the Christian, and in Book IV of John Calvin’s Institutes and Richard Baxter’s The Reformed Pastor that I find inspiring. They wrote more as working pastors than academics, not for scholarly review, but for spiritual impact. While their focus tended to be on the pastor and his office, mine is on a theology of ministry for all believers. My aim is to convey in some small way the intensity and passion for ministry expressed by the ancients and to carry on the dialogue.

A theology of ministry is as much for the congregation as it is for the pastor. All believers are called to salvation, service, sacrifice, and simplicity. Books on pastoral theology that target the pastor inevitably and unfortunately split up the ministry into clergy and laity categories. We need to hold the ministry of the church together and resist the clergy-laity divide. Most Christians believe pastors should be gifted by the Spirit, thoroughly trained, and well-equipped for ministry. They believe that pastors are set apart by a Spirit-led congregation to teach the Word of God and exercise spiritual authority in the household of faith. Faithful disciples also believe in every-member ministry, shared leadership, the distribution of the gifts of the Spirit among all believers, and the mutually received call to ministry. Every member of the household of faith is in some way a pastor, a missionary, a theologian, and a servant leader. In Christ, we are all called to take up a cross and follow Jesus.

What would it be like to send the whole congregation to seminary, not just the pastor, but the whole church? In the past, we may have done a better job of bringing the seminary to the congregation. Week-long Bible conferences and missions emphasis weeks went a long way in training lay people for ministry and in shaping their expectations for service. John Sung was one of China’s early twentieth-century evangelists. Biographer Leslie T. Lyall explains that Sung longed to see Christians better established in the Scriptures. In the summer of 1936, Sung hosted a month-long Bible conference from July 10 to August 9, in southeast China. Sixteen hundred believers came from all over China for thirty days of Bible study. Beginning with Genesis 1, Sung taught the Bible chapter by chapter, until he reached the last chapter of the Book of Revelation. In his closing session, Dr. Sung said, Beloved brothers and sisters . . . Within one month the Lord has enabled us to study the Bible book by book, and now this Bible is yours to take home with you. I have but given you a sort of key and you must go on studying for yourselves . . . During these thirty days I have trembled before the Lord, that I might rightly expound to you the Word of God.¹ Can you imagine what it would be like for a congregation of sixteen hundred members to gather together for thirty days of intense Bible study? Before you dismiss the idea as hopelessly unrealistic, consider what the impact would be on the life of the church. Even one week of serious Bible study, table fellowship, daily worship, and life together would transform our churches.

Few students today learn their theology at their mother’s knee. Seminary seems to be where they begin to cultivate a deep familiarity with the Bible. But for earlier generations the home was the little seminary that introduced the theological curriculum long before formal ministry training began. It was worked into the daily family routine as nothing unusual or especially spiritual. I cannot think of any particular course in the seminary or divinity school that would not benefit ordinary believers. Studies in Hebrew and Greek may be asking too much, but a course in linguistics and the Bible would not only encourage humility but enhance a person’s understanding and application of the Word of God. Studies in church history, theology, biblical interpretation, spiritual formation, preaching, and pastoral counseling would serve only to strengthen serious believers, whether or not they were gifted for teaching or church leadership.

Instead of viewing the seminary as a professional school for pastors, we ought to see the seminary as a learning center for the church. The rigors of graduate school are designed to develop natural aptitudes, convey essential knowledge, and prepare a person to specialize in their chosen field of expertise. Medicine, law, and engineering are professions that require a high degree of specialization, but theological education is different in one very important way. All theology belongs to the church and serves to strengthen the Body of Christ, and all seminary courses ought to be designed to strengthen the church and its mission. Even a general knowledge of medicine, law, or engineering is beyond the capacity of the ordinary layperson, but biblical and theological studies are essential to the worship practice and body life of the local church. It makes good sense for a doctor or a business person to take courses in spiritual formation and Old Testament theology.

In this theology of ministry, we face a positive tension. We want to strengthen the authority of the pastor without diminishing the responsibilities of the congregation. We want to take seriously the Spirit’s gifts for every-member ministry and the priesthood of all believers. A theology of ministry is multi-faceted. Instead of a linear approach, laying out the ABC’s of ministry, or a simple listing of the ten easy steps to a successful ministry, I have opted for a more layered approach. Our aim is to add truth upon truth, layering biblical insights one after another as we explore the nature and practice of the ministry. Then, we want to laminate each of these layers into a composite that produces a realistic and resilient theology of ministry, not only in our thinking, but in our living.

To get our bearings, we have to enter into the story of salvation history beginning with the priesthood of all believers and the call of God to salvation, service, sacrifice, and simplicity. First, we examine the role that positive tension plays in a theology of ministry (chapter 1). Second, we lay a foundation for a theology of ministry by affirming the biblical doctrine of the priesthood of all believers (chapters 2–4). Then we examine the call narratives of our biblical predecessors to see the pattern of God’s call in their lives and ours (chapter 5). This is followed by a devotional reflection on the call images revealing the essence of God’s call worked out in the discipline of surrender (chapter 6). Next, the Bible reinforces this divine call to ministry with story and symbol, and leads us into the hard work of self-understanding and self-examination (chapters 7–8). This grace-based spiritual growth affirms the biblical doctrine of the priesthood of all believers, renews our self-understanding in Christ, and develops within us a sensitivity to sin and a passion for Christ.

As we continue to explore the nature of ministry, we move on to ministry leadership development. On the basis of this God-ordained priesthood and the call of God upon our lives, we study the two faces of leadership. The Bible illustrates good and bad leadership by comparing the stories of those who yield and respond to God’s direction and those who resist and reject (chapter 9). Two major paradigms will be examined: the story of David and Jesus’ experience in the wilderness (chapters 10–11).

Building on this understanding of leadership in the Jesus tradition, we turn our attention in volume two to the practice of ministry. We seek to understand the relationship between Christ and culture and the importance of the Christian mind. Our theology of ministry must be grounded in the whole counsel of God. We are committed to the meta-narrative of Scripture and we seek to stay in the Story for every aspect of ministry. Worship is rooted in the Word and sacrament and is faithful to the principle of the unadorned altar. By the grace of God, all that we have understood about the call of God, the priesthood of all believers, biblical leadership and the Word of God, forms the foundation for building the household of faith. In Christ, we explore the meaning of mutual submission, organic church growth, and God’s mission for the church. Finally, our goal is to be God-dependent resilient saints who make it their prayer and passion to be faithful to the end.

1. Lyall, John Sung,

109

–

10

.

1

Living in Tension

Rethinking a theology of ministry challenges the followers of Christ to discern the difference between negative and positive tensions. It overcomes old divisions between pastor and congregation, and seeks to follow the Jesus way.

Most approaches to ministry try to reduce tension, solve problems and promote success. The aim of this book is to increase positive tensions and prepare resilient saints. This is what Jesus did in his ministry and we want to follow his lead. Tension in the ministry is unavoidable, but there are different kinds of tension. Aerobics is designed to stretch and strengthen your muscles without straining your muscles. We know the difference between being in good shape and suffering shin splints, tendinitis, and stress fractures.

Negative tension in ministry is the result of disobedience, ignorance and resistance to the will of God. Positive tension comes from obedience, biblical integrity, faithfulness to the will of God, and costly discipleship. We want to reduce negative tension in our lives and ministries and embrace positive tension. This is easier said than done. To keep negative tensions at bay, while thriving on positive tensions, requires discernment, humility, and courage. Living in tension distinguishes the followers of Jesus from the admirers of Jesus—from being almost Christians to being altogether Christians.

Positive Tension

Like resistance training in a physical workout, certain tensions are good for us. They are necessary for our growth and obedience. Where there is no tension, there is no mission. Positive tensions come from being in the world but not of the world. Negative tensions come from being in the world and of the world. We want to be as free as we can from negative tensions but we don’t want to be tension free. When the apostle Paul wrote to the church at Corinth and told them not to associate with sexually immoral people, he was referring to believers who were continuing to live sexually immoral lives.¹ His aim was to minimize the negative tension of unrepentant sexual immorality in the body of Christ. But the Corinthian believers misunderstood what Paul meant. They thought he wanted them to have nothing to do with sexually immoral people in or outside the church. This would have eliminated the positive tension of sharing the gospel with the very people for whom Christ died. As Paul wryly said, In that case you would have to leave the world.

²

Spiritual discipline in the church is coupled with compassionate evangelism in the world. We seek the positive tension of being in the world but not of the world. Truth is held in tension. The mature believer learns to say, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, and then in the same breath to add, when I am weak, then I am strong.³ The promise of Christ, I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly, is in tension with, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.⁴ These positive paradoxes of ministry challenge a simplistic faith. They require growth in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus to appreciate. Paul said to the believers at Corinth, I try to please everyone in every way, and to the believers in Galatia, If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.⁵ We rest on our heritage: The faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints, and we live in the present: He is not the God of the dead but of the living.

⁶

Oliver Wendell Holmes famously said, I would not give a fig for the simplicity this side of complexity, but I would give my life for the simplicity on the other side of complexity. There are many complex ways we can distort spiritual direction and move away from our ministry responsibilities. Life is filled with complicated saints who, like the prophet Jonah, muddle ministry with their petty grievances, conformities, and indulgences. To some extent we may all take after Jonah, pulled in one direction and then another, a bundle of narcissistic feelings and moralistic concerns. Like the ancient prophet we may be a mix of religious fervor and ethnic prejudice.

We have trouble sorting out favoritism from friendship and a living faith from dead orthodoxy. Worldly wisdom that succeeds often seems more attractive than heavenly wisdom that suffers. We vacillate between trust and anxiety, gospel and gossip, humility and pride. If we expect to overcome these negatives tensions that pull us apart, it is good to be honest about them.

The goal is simple: uncomplicated, ordinary believers who are God-dependent, strong in character, obedient to the Word of God, engaged in ministry, and faithful to the end. Is this an impossible ideal or a realistic hope? The biblical portrait of James is a good counterpoint to Jonah. He was passionate about the truth and compassionate toward those in need. He had no tolerance for evil and denounced disobedience without a hint of self-righteousness. He was neither ego-driven nor self-promoting. His down-to-earth, no nonsense spiritual direction generated plenty of positive tension. James is the antithesis to the unreal, plastic saint who takes comfort in glib certitudes. He insisted on a vulnerability and transparency that was true to the harsh realities of wrestling with sin and experiencing suffering. True saints work at the intersection of discipleship and denial, and everyday they feel the tension between belief and unbelief, obedience and disobedience, sacrifice and self-indulgence. We are often torn between the work we are called to do and what works in the eyes of the world. The way of Christ and the ways of the culture run at cross-purposes.

Today’s bestselling books on church growth, preaching, leadership, and worship promise to improve our ministries by promoting what works best. Success, we are told, is only a strategy away. We receive enthusiastic advice on empowering people, promoting positive change, niche-marketing the gospel, discovering our target audience, inspiring volunteers, and leading cutting-edge ministries. In print, online, and at conferences the religious marketplace is saturated with this genre. Much of it is trite and clichéd, produced by and for pastors who are torn between two worlds, the biblical mandate and the latest business models. Deep down these pastors want to follow Christ, reach the lost and grow the church. They want their church to be authentic and relationally real. They want to explode the stuffy religious atmosphere that smothers so many churches. They are ready to engage in genuine worship and get people excited about mission.

The positive tension we are talking about goes deeper than a willingness to change with the times or remain stuck in the past. Change alone will not solve our problems and revitalize our ministries, nor will maintaining the status quo safeguard faithfulness and orthodoxy. Some churches try to avoid tension by imposing a popular business model on the church. Pastors turn to Apple, Google, and Papa John’s for the latest insights in how to function efficiently as a church. Never before in the history of the church has the business world governed the church world like it does today. Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger in Simple Church argue that churches suffer from ministry schizophrenia. Every time a pastor reads the latest church growth book or goes to a leadership conference, he comes away with some new plan or strategy to institute in his or her church. Each new idea gets added, without subtracting the old ideas. As a result, churches have become so cluttered that people have a difficult time encountering the simple powerful message of Christ.

⁷

Rainer and Geiger compare growing and vibrant churches to non-growing and struggling churches. They argue that churches that keep to a simple efficiency model, doing a few things well rather than many things poorly, are more effective and successful. A simple mission statement and a simple discipleship process leads to genuine spiritual growth. They claim vibrancy is the product of a simple sequential strategy. A crystal clear mission statement, such as loving God, loving people, and serving the world, followed by a simple process that moves people from attending worship services, to joining small groups, to participating in service opportunities, adds up to success. The key to vibrancy is assuring that everyone is on the same page. Any program that distracts from the focus must be eliminated. If a midweek mother’s day out program competes for volunteers with Sunday morning’s children’s ministry, then cut it. If a cross-cultural missionary program struggles for support, then eliminate it and go with a mission outreach in the neighborhood.

Popular church growth books offer pastors the rationale for eliminating the messy side of ministry. They are encouraged to cut back and streamline church ministries in order to impact the bottom line— spiritual growth. One senior pastor embraced this streamlining strategy and fired the pastor of adult education, because he was convinced that Sunday morning Bible classes should be 80 percent relational and 20 percent content. The pastor of adult ministries, who taught the Bible in the largest and most popular Sunday morning classes, wanted to respect the senior pastor and cooperate with his new vision, but he did not know how to use up 80 percent of his Sunday morning class time being relational.

Books like Simple Church may correctly diagnose the negative tension of consumer induced over-programming, but their streamlining strategy fails to comprehend what it means to be the church in the first place. Fast-tracking discipleship by a simple four-step efficiency process may sound great in the marketplace, but it is a different kind of simplicity than we find in the New Testament. Jesus promised his disciples an easy yoke, but there is a difference between Sermon-on-the-Mount-easy and the efficiency model described in Simple Church. The process of eliminating negative tensions and embracing positive tensions for the sake of obedience and mission is hard work and not easily accomplished by program cutbacks. It is doubtful whether the solution is to be found in a new business model that promotes efficiency. The real tension seems to be between the mission of the church, as envisioned in the New Testament, and running a church to meet consumer demand.

Traditional alternatives to the business model may be equally ineffective in leading the church to discern the difference between negative and positive tensions. Liturgical fastidiousness is not a solution, nor is clinging to a culture-bound religious heritage. Some churches try to avoid tension altogether by discouraging change and affirming tradition. Like the one talent servant in Jesus’ parable, they bury the gospel in their traditions and rules. Sermons may be biblical in detail, but not in depth or impact. They remain safe and predictable. Missions is all about going someplace else and not about ministering in neighborhoods a few blocks from church. Worship has more to do with a format of three hymns, announcements, an anthem, and a thirty-minute sermon, than it does with faithfulness, repentance, confession, adoration, and submission. Old patterns of executive-style, power-based leadership remain in place. Controversial issues are avoided. The less said about women in leadership, praise songs, racial reconciliation, and sexual ethics the better. Stewardship is the hottest preaching topic of the year. Leadership tends to focus on buildings, budgets, programs, and committees.

Truth-in-Tension

Like a suspension bridge under permanent tension, the truth is always in tension and the church is always suspended over the chasm of evil by cables of truth. In an earthquake, we sway and under a load we flex, but these positive tensions keep the church stable and strong. The beauty of God’s truth is that apparent opposites are held in tension. This dialectical tension in both doctrine and practice is necessary for us to grasp the fullness of God’s revealed truth. Consider the following examples drawn from our theological convictions, the person of Christ, personal spirituality, and the body life of the church. We hold all these truths in positive tension.

We believe in the total depravity of humankind and the evidence of God’s image even in the vilest sinner. We accept God’s unconditional, sovereign control and election of all people and affirm the freedom and responsibility of each person to respond to God. We believe in the salvific efficacy of Christ’s atoning sacrifice on the cross for all those who are called and the universal invitation of the gospel—that whosoever will may come. We believe in the irresistible grace of God and the human freedom of choice to reject as well as accept the gospel. We believe in the eternal security of the saints and in the struggle to remain faithful to the end. We sing two songs: This Is My Father’s World and This world is not my home, I’m just a passing through. We hold these truths in tension.

Jesus is the embodiment of truth in tension. The Word-made-flesh was full of grace and truth; dwelling in our neighborhood and revealing the glory of the only begotten of the Father.⁸ Born of a woman and the firstborn over all creation.⁹ The Incarnate One is not only gentle and humble in heart but the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.¹⁰ Jesus fit Isaiah’s description, He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him, even as he fulfilled the apostle Paul’s confession, He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.¹¹ In his very being God, worthy of all praise, and in his humanity, humble and faithful, obedient to death—even death on a cross! The truth of this paradoxical tension calls for imitation and adoration: Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, and Who has known the mind of the Lord? . . . For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever! Amen.

¹²

The positive tension between the divine and human in Jesus is foundational for how we understand the truth and embrace life. The Chalcedonian definition was hammered out by the early church in 451. The church circumscribed the nature of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in divinity and perfect in humanity. They let the revealed mystery stand, by acknowledging two natures which undergo no confusion, no change, no division, no separation; at no point was the difference between the natures taken away through the union, but rather the property of both natures is preserved and come together into a single person and a single subsistent being; he is not parted or divided into two persons, but is one and the same only-begotten Son, God, Word, Lord Jesus Christ . . .

¹³

The dual nature of one integrated person, Jesus Christ, is the single best model for understanding the doubleness or tension found in a fully integrated understanding of reality. Christians confess the mystery of the divine and the human in Christ right along with the mystery of God’s self-revelation grounded in a fallen world. In Christ are hidden all the treasures of the wisdom and knowledge, and the treasure hunt involves science, history, mathematics, psychology, philosophy. and every other avenue of true learning, along with biblical revelation. We cannot divorce historical particularity and divine revelation. The tension must be maintained.

¹⁴

Christ’s followers embody this truth in tension. Belief and unbelief are not as simple as we may think. Unbelieving believers can suffer from a dialectical imbalance, swinging from pride to despair and from zeal to sloth. One minute we are impressed with all our possibilities and the next minute we are depressed with all our limitations. Unbelief takes many forms and despair is reflected in opposite extremes. We vacillate between a theoretical faith and practical fatalism. It’s not easy holding infinite truths in tension with finite realities. Belief in Christ is reflected in countervailing tensions. We need a firm grasp of divine confidence and human limits.

We are compelled to say with Paul, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, knowing that this confidence exists in tension with, Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.¹⁵ We rest in both infinite hope, For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain, and finite contentment, I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

¹⁶

We will never graduate from beatitude-based humility nor forsake kingdom of heaven hope. To be in need yet need nothing; to mourn but to receive all comfort; to grieve but not without hope, is the story of the Christian life. We will always be poor in spirit, even as we are exhorted to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.¹⁷ The truth of evangelism is held in tension. The apostle Peter says, Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have and Solomon warns, Do not be quick with your mouth . . . so let your words be few, and Jesus says, Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs.

¹⁸

When tested to the limits, faith supercedes resignation. The followers of Jesus say with Job, The Lord has given and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord, and they affirm with Paul, We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be revealed in our mortal body.¹⁹ The fellowship of Christ’s sufferings is held in tension with the power of his resurrection.

²⁰

The called-out community of God’s people, the church, exists in a dialectical balance of counter-veiling tensions. Worship holds in tension the transcendence of God and the immanence of God. The otherness of God’s holiness is held in tension with the nearness of God’s intimate fellowship. Preaching holds in tension the objective content of God’s Word and the subjective experience of God’s Word. The spiritual life of individual believers is held in tension with the body life of the whole community. The transformation of the community of believers is never sacrificed for the sake of the individual nor is the individual sacrificed for the sake of community. What is good for the individual is good for the body and what is good for the body is good for the individual. With regard to our own security we are admonished, Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.²¹ Unnecessary anxiety, however, is held in tension with real concern and unceasing prayer for God’s people and God’s work.

²²

There is no trade-off between worship and mission; what is good for worship, is good for mission and what is good for mission is good for worship. Evangelism and social action are distinguishable, but inseparable. Edification and evangelism cannot be divorced. Accountability and forgiveness were meant to thrive in the household of faith. Spirit-inspired preaching strengthens old believers, grows young believers and evangelizes the lost. Spirituality has its roots in ethics and ethics deepens spirituality. By God’s design, leadership is humble and sacrificial, as well as authoritative and confident. Older believers are sensitive to the young and young believers are respectful of the old. Women and men serve one another together in mutual submission in Christ. The rich are aware of their low estate and the poor of their high estate. The races are reconciled and integrated in Christ. The great commission (Go and make disciples of all nations) and the great commandment (Love your neighbor as yourself) are held together dynamically and sacrificially. Clearly, there are many variables in building up the body of Christ, but keeping these truths in tension is the essential challenge of a theology of ministry that glorifies God. Preachers preach, for one reason only, so that their congregations will preach!

²³

The anthropic principle of the universe may be a helpful analogy for the complexity of the church. Scientists tell us that there are more than two dozen parameters for the universe that must have values falling within narrowly defined ranges for life of any kind to exist. A just right universe involves a precision balance of electromagnetism, strong and weak nuclear forces, gravitational forces, ratios of electron to proton mass and protons to electrons. The universe, its expansion, entropy, density, and age, are all exactly balanced for life. The velocity of light and the polarity of water are just right for life. These mathematical regularities are essential for life on earth and, as far as we know, found nowhere else in the universe. The anthropic principle suggests a finely tuned universe designed for human life. By way of analogy, the mathematical regularities in this finely tuned universe are comparable to the theological regularities essential for the church. The cosmos and the church are complex realities that testify to the necessary presence of the living God to sustain life. The major difference between these two large, complex realities is that the cosmos is in tension with an array of physical principles that are relatively unaffected by human interference, and the church is in tension with an array of spiritual dynamics greatly affected by human participation.

Tension in Nazareth

When Jesus stood up to read the Isaiah scroll in the synagogue on the Sabbath, he launched his public ministry in an obscure Galilean village far from centers of power and influence.²⁴ Jesus went home to Nazareth, home to obscurity, to begin his journey to the cross. God’s redemptive story has many beginnings in obscurity. Places like Harran, Bethel, Horeb, and Bethlehem were not known as power centers. It seems that ministry begins in the least-likely-place-to-succeed and continues on in unpredictable ways with God’s blessing. By choosing Nazareth, instead of Jerusalem, Jesus introduced a strategic tension. His sense of timing and place were by God’s appointment rather than human calculation.

When Jesus read from the prophet Isaiah he knowingly triggered the truth tension. He purposefully left the almost inconceivable impression that he claimed to fulfill the messianic promise in himself, The Spirit of the Lord is on me. This provocative message generated a tension similar to the tension produced by proclaiming salvation through Christ alone to today’s hearers. Then, he announced in no uncertain terms the coming Day of the Lord, Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. The juxtaposition between hometown humility and prophetic fulfillment accentuated the truth tension. How could Jesus, who was known locally as Joseph’s son, claim to be Isaiah’s long awaited, Spirit-anointed Servant? The audacity of a commoner, the son of an ordinary laborer, claiming divine authority was provocative to say the least.

The choice of Isaiah 61 as his text radiated a series of attention-grabbing positive tensions. First, Jesus proclaimed good news for those who had been living on bad news. Then, he declared freedom for the unfree. He promised sight for the blind and liberation for the oppressed. In the middle of a worship service, he proclaimed the good news, bold and clear, putting evil on notice that its time was limited. Without any reservation Jesus announced the unheard of year of Jubilee—the year of the Lord’s favor.

In a matter of minutes Jesus raised the strategic tension by commencing his cosmic-changing ministry in obscurity, the truth tension by claiming his messianic identity among those who knew him as Joseph’s son, and the relational tension by challenging his hearers to react to his ethnic reference. He used a proverb to expose their unholy opinions: Physician heal yourself! And he was quick to forecast the hostile reaction of the people. But he had hardly let the analogy sink in, before cutting to the chase, Truly I tell you, he said, prophets are not accepted in their hometowns.

His strong first-person declarative statements suggest an authoritative intensity consistent with his explicit and explosive content. Jesus raised the racial tension when he referred to the days of Elisha and God’s apparent neglect of the many widows and lepers in Israel as he helped the widow of Zarephath and Naaman the Syrian. It was like pouring fuel on a fire. Instead of working the crowd and building on their earlier enthusiasm (All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips), Jesus crossed the line. There was nothing seeker-sensitive or user-friendly about commencing his public ministry with this in-your-face inaugural sermon. The gospel of Jesus goes off in that little synagogue like a bomb. Figuratively speaking, shrapnel flew everywhere.

Jesus’ presence and preaching provoked the tensions essential to his mission and ministry. There was tension between the humble setting and its historic significance, between the all-too-human messenger and the divinely inspired message, between God’s mission and the people’s expectations, between Jew and Gentile, and finally between life and death. The crowd wanted to throw Jesus over a cliff, yet inexplicably he walked unscathed right through the crowd. If our Master could be so bold, so ready to risk the tension in the text and face the danger of an angry crowd, why are we so reticent to apply the gospel the way he did? There is no way we can communicate Jesus’ message today without confronting these very same missional, theological, social, and racial tensions. Time and place, message and messenger, persecution and perseverance, all come together in a dynamic interplay. The truth is combustible. We want to embrace the tensions that arise because of the gospel and reject the tensions produced by selfishness, pride, complacency, racism, and sin in all its forms. If we minister in the name of Jesus we cannot avoid tension.

Tension in the Sanctuary

It was the second Sunday of Advent and the tension in our church was palpable. You could almost feel the storm of emotions inside the building. The gay organist had resigned the week before when the elders voted 22 to 3 to adopt a standing rule that precluded a practicing homosexual from serving in church leadership. The rule read in part:

"Each person employed by the Church must manifest, in both speech and conduct, a standard of behavior consistent with the decrees of Scripture (

1

Timothy

4

:

12

; Titus

2

:

7

–

8

) both during and apart from the performance of duties and responsibilities as an employee of the Church. The total biblical witness affirms the demand for moral and ethical purity of the people of God. . . . Conduct inconsistent with this biblical standard of behavior is grounds for termination of employment. . . . violations include, but are by no means limited to, the following: a) Participation in, and/or endorsement of, deviant sexual behavior such as pre-marital sex, adultery and same gender sex (Leviticus

18

:

22

,

20

:

13

; Romans

1

:

26

–

27

;

1

Corinthians

6

:

9

–

10

). b) The consistent use of vulgar or profane language (

2

Timothy

2

:

16

; Titus

2

:

7

–

8

). c) The repeated use of illegal drugs (

1

Corinthians

3

:

16

). d) A pattern of hypocrisy or deceit (Mark

7

:

21

–

23

)."

The organist was gone, but his supporters came to church in full force. Gay activists had promised to demonstrate and threatened to disrupt the service. The police were aware of the situation and planned on extra patrols in the area. The choir was still at full strength, although sharply divided on the standing rule. Several older members called the church to see if it was safe to come to the 10:30 service.

A visitor might have had trouble accounting for the strange atmosphere. There was nothing to inform them that this was D-Day in a spiritual battle. Stone-faced ushers who for the most part were upset with the elders for disrupting the status quo, took their responsibility as temple guards seriously. They handed out bulletins as their eyes darted from person to person, exchanging quiet whispers with members who wanted to register their feelings. The ushers saw themselves as unofficial pollsters, taking the pulse of the congregation. The Presbyterian Sunday routine prevailed in an atmosphere of uncertainty and tension. The Advent sermon was entitled, God’s Christmas Message from the seventh chapter of Isaiah and the fourteenth verse: The Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

Ironically, Christmas really felt like Christmas. Mary’s may it be to me as you have said confidence in God proved necessary for worship. Seven hundred years before the prophecy given to Mary, that a virgin will give birth to a son and you will call him Immanuel, the prophet Isaiah was called to stand up to King Ahaz. Judah’s king was under pressure to compromise and ally himself with the enemy. Isaiah’s message to the king was to trust in God, Be careful, keep calm and don’t be afraid. Do not lose heart. The sign of a young woman giving birth was originally meant as a sign of condemnation. Ahaz’s refusal to trust in God was to be countered by young women throughout Judah who manifested more faith and trust in the Lord God than the king did. Young maidens named their sons Immanuel because they believed what Ahaz denied, that God was with the people of Judah.

On that second Sunday of Advent, God’s word to Ahaz was God’s word to us. Isaiah’s message ends, If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all. There was a tense silence as I moved to the high pulpit. Several in the choir waited until I had ascended the six stairs to the pulpit before departing in silent protest. They had just sung Handel’s chorus; . . . And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it . . . Someone from the back of the sanctuary shouted hypocrite before making a quick exit. A few gay couples sitting in the balcony also chose the start of the sermon to leave.

I prayed that I would be relaxed and conversational. I did not want the intensity of the situation to come through in my voice and be misconstrued as anger. I wanted to convey a come let us reason together approach. I didn’t want to sound triumphant or defiant. Compassion and conviction must prevail. I wanted to speak the truth in love. When I came to the end of the sermon, I applied Isaiah’s message to our church: If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.

My tone was calm and matter-of-fact. Like Ahaz we are faced with a choice, I said. It is not an easy choice, but the elders of the church have chosen not to condone immoral behavior in its leadership. We are all sinners in need of God’s gracious redemption and we know the difference between a repentant sinner and an advocate for sin. Ahaz worshiped in the same temple that Isaiah did, but he also worshiped at the high places and sacred shrines of the cultural religions. And the Lord God judged him for that compromise. The gospel is good news for the sinner but bad news for the unrepentant.

I did not relish the opportunity to preach this sermon. I hope my words came out more as a plea than a defense. I was entreating the church to stand firm, not hammering a point. I said,

Accepting theological diversity does not mean that the church is open to heresy. It does not mean that good is evil and evil is good. Inclusiveness at the expense of faithfulness to God’s Word substitutes a cultural absolute of tolerance for biblical authority. For us the primary issue is not unity but truth; not legalism but license. We are concerned about the message we send to those who struggle with homosexuality; we want to reach out in compassion. We are also concerned about the message we send to our young people; we want to offer a biblical model of human sexuality. We believe it is possible to be both loving and truthful; filled with compassion and conviction.

I believe that the day is coming, and for some has already arrived, when faithfulness to the Word of God is condemned by our culture as immoral. For our church, this is a defining moment. We have faced a difficult issue that has been thrust upon us. We have not desired nor asked for this attention. If it were up to me I would never choose this issue as a critical issue of our time, just as I imagine many Christians in first century Rome did not feel that paying homage to Caesar needed to become the life and death issue that it became. We do not choose the defining issue for our time, it is thrust upon us. As far as I am concerned I wish it had nothing to do with sexuality and personal feelings, but it does. I wish it did not divide churches and families, but it does. It would be nice if it was a simple matter of conservative versus liberal, but it is not. I wish I could say that everyone is entitled to their opinion, each to his own way, but I cannot. I suppose we could overlook the Lordship of Jesus Christ in this matter and the authority of God’s Word and become more open-minded. We could rationalize the issue and claim that it’s like the racial issue. We could do a lot with this issue, but what we do will define us. How we respond will separate the sons of Isaiah from the sons of Ahaz. It will determine whether God is for us or against us.

I closed by repeating the words of Isaiah to Ahaz, If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all. I said, Amen, and turned to descend the pulpit when an immediate, spontaneous applause erupted throughout the sanctuary. Sermons are not applauded in our Presbyterian church and this sermon would not have been an exception, apart from the fact that the congregation wanted to make a statement. It was a strong, sustained applause that lasted for several moments after I took my seat. On this second Sunday of Advent, in an atmosphere all too reminiscent of the first Christmas and Herod’s intrigue, there was a sign of hope in this moment of shared solidarity. We were standing firm together.

As much as we do not like to face negative tensions, they can have a positive impact on the church. We cannot live tension-free, but by God’s grace, these negative tensions (the tensions encountered because of sin and disobedience, ignorance and apathy, faithlessness and apostasy) can become positive tensions, defining and strengthening a Christ-centered household of faith.

Tensioned to Christ

Jesus promised freedom, but the nature of this freedom is found only in being bound to Christ. If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.²⁵ Pastor Earl Palmer tells the story of the thinking kite.²⁶ In his parable, a young boy’s kite has a mind of its own. Flying high above, the kite resents the taut line held by a small boy on the ground. If only I wasn’t tied down, says the kite to itself, then I’d be free to really soar. So the clever kite smuggles a scissors on board. When the boy launches the kite and it has reached the heights, the kite, with a mind of its own, cuts the string. But the thinking kite knew nothing about physics. The kite was no longer held taut against the wind. It flew out of control and crashed. Kites cannot fly tension free and Christians cannot serve tension free. This why John Calvin wrote, The whole comes to this, that the Holy Spirit is the bond by which Christ effectually binds us to himself.

²⁷

1.

1

Cor

5

:

9

.

2.

1

Cor

5

:

10

.

3. Phil

4

:

13

;

2

Cor

12

:

10

.

4. John

10

:

10

;

2

Cor

12

:

9

.

5.

1

Cor

10

:

33

; Gal

1

:

10

.

6. Jude

3

; Matt

22

:

32

.

7. Rainer and Geiger, Simple Church,

19

.

8. John

1

:

14

.

9. Gal

4

:

4

; Col

1

:

15

.

10. Matt

11

:

29

; Heb

1

:

3

.

11. Isa

53

:

2

; Col

1

:

17

.

12. Phil

2

:

5

; Rom

11

:

33

–

36

.

13. Pelikan and Hotchkiss, Creeds and Confessions of Faith in the Christian Tradition,

1

:

181

.

14. Noll, Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind,

19

–

20

.

15. Phil

4

:

13

;

3

:

13

.

16. Phil

1

:

21

;

4

:

12

.

17. Matt

5

:

3

,

48

.

18.

1

Pet

3

:

13

; Eccl

5

:

2

; Matt

7

:

6

.

19. Job

1

:

21

;

2

Cor

4

:

10

.

20. Phil

3

:

10

.

21. Phil

4

:

6

.

22. Col

1

:

29

;

4

:

12

;

1

Thess

2

:

7

–

8

.

23. Smith, Jr., Doctrine that Dances,

44

.

24. Luke

4

:

14

–

30

.

25. John

8

:

31

–

32

26. From a lecture at Beeson Divinity School, March

10

,

2011

.

27. Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion,

1

:

463

.

2

Priesthood of All Believers

In Christ, we are all meant to be pastors gifted by the Spirit, set apart for holy vocations and equipped for good works. This is what the priesthood of all believers means. Moreover, congregations prayerfully appoint a pastoral team from within the body of Christ who evidence the gift of teaching and preaching the Word of God and who have the necessary discernment to lead the household of faith. The responsibility of pastoral leadership was meant to enhance every-member ministry, not diminish it.

The priesthood of all believers is where our theology of salvation meets our theology of ministry. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ makes justification by faith alone possible, liberating believers from works righteousness and any possibility of self-salvation. No amount of religion will free us from the bondage of sin and death but a personal relationship with Jesus Christ who loves us and gave himself for us will. Salvation opens up a whole new life and ministry for each one of us in the Body of Christ.

We are saved by faith alone, but saving faith is never alone. In the words of the Reformers, Faith alone justifies, but not the faith that is alone. Early American pastor-theologian Jonathan Edwards framed the positive tension this way: We are not saved on account of our works, but we are not saved without works.¹ I once heard J. I. Packer say, Holiness is no more by faith without effort, than it is by effort without faith.

The apostle Paul affirmed the natural complement of faith and works when he wrote, For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.² Luther said it well: True faith will no more fail to produce good works than the sun can cease to give light. Works righteousness is a negative tension to be rejected; the work of righteousness is a positive tension to be embraced. There are no theological grounds for congregational passivity.

By Faith Alone: Salvation and Ministry

We are no more or less saved and anointed by the Holy Spirit than was the apostle Peter. And no one would have been more surprised than Peter by tradition’s papal entitlement. For surely in his own lifetime no one called him the Holy Father or bowed before him as the head of the church. In the Spirit, Peter did his part in disavowing any thought of a religious monarchy or papal infallibility, by uniting all believers into a holy priesthood. There never was a claim to apostolic succession, only the lineage of faith in Christ passed from one generation to the next.

As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by human beings but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

³

Our identity, calling, solidarity, and significance are no longer based on ethnicity, family, heritage, or merit, but on Christ’s atoning once-and-for-all sacrifice and the promised seal of the Holy Spirit. Because of our great High Priest, Jesus Christ, we have all become priests. We are called to declare the praise of him who called us out of darkness into his wonderful light. This is an extraordinary