Latest / Chapel at Southern Seminary and Boyce College / Eric Bancroft | ”Pastoring From a Beach Chair: What the Doctrine of Passive Righteousness Teaches..”
Transcript
- 0:00Well, I bring greetings to you from the
- 0:02brothers and sisters of Grace Church in
- 0:04Miami, Florida.
- 0:06It is indeed a joy to be with you this
- 0:09morning.
- 0:10Uh
- 0:11I consider uh Boyce College and Southern
- 0:15Baptist Theological Seminary very near
- 0:17and dear to my heart. As Dr. Mohler
- 0:18said, I had the privilege to be a
- 0:20student here a number of years back.
- 0:23I count a number of the faculty of this
- 0:25great institution dear friends.
- 0:28Uh time doesn't permit me to express to
- 0:30each and every one of them my
- 0:31appreciation for them, but sincerely a
- 0:34joy to be with you this morning. I also
- 0:37feel very kind or appreciative rather to
- 0:41Dr. Mohler and his friendship to me and
- 0:43to my wife and to our children. Uh
- 0:46indeed his expression of friendship to
- 0:48me is an example of his heart of mercy
- 0:50ministry.
- 0:52Uh as he has shown love to me over the
- 0:54years and uh it's a joy to be with you
- 0:57this morning. These songs that we have
- 0:59sung have been wonderfully rich with
- 1:02truth that will relate to even what I
- 1:04intend us to look at this morning in
- 1:06Romans.
- 1:08It was 23 years ago, almost 24, that I
- 1:13walked across the platform
- 1:15graduating from seminary for the first
- 1:17time.
- 1:19And in those 23 years since then, I've
- 1:21had the opportunity to serve as an
- 1:23associate pastor for 6 years,
- 1:26to serve as a senior pastor of a church
- 1:29in Indianapolis for 10 years at a
- 1:31111-year-old church,
- 1:33and then in five these last years to
- 1:36serve as a pastor in Miami where I've
- 1:38had the privilege to plant and to pastor
- 1:40Grace Church.
- 1:42Over those years, I've had the
- 1:44opportunity to see a number of ways in
- 1:46which the Lord has blessed and also a
- 1:48number of challenges to ministry.
- 1:51I have seen the power of God's word as
- 1:53it's given life to the the
- 1:55raising people from the dead who are
- 1:58dead in their trespasses and sins. I've
- 2:00had the opportunity to go through the
- 2:02reality of people who would Sunday after
- 2:04Sunday stage boycotts, walking out of
- 2:08the sermons every single week to protest
- 2:10the disagreement with me being their
- 2:12pastor.
- 2:14I've had the opportunity to have gay
- 2:15activists boycott me and the ministry of
- 2:18the word and our preaching of the word
- 2:20of God, and yet have had the joy of
- 2:22raising up new elders and the
- 2:24opportunity to see those men being
- 2:27stalled into ministry as faithful under
- 2:29shepherds serving. And yet other men who
- 2:32have left the church because they would
- 2:34not be recognized for the leaders that
- 2:35they perceive themselves to be worthy
- 2:37of.
- 2:38In all of life, be it in pastoral
- 2:41ministry or in personal reality, there
- 2:43are these ups and downs.
- 2:47And you and I know the reality, no
- 2:48matter how old you are and no matter how
- 2:51you have or will be called to serve the
- 2:52Lord in whatever occupation or vocation
- 2:55accordingly, there will be good days and
- 2:57there will be difficult days.
- 2:59This is not unique to our generation nor
- 3:02to your place of ministry or occupation.
- 3:04It is common as the pages of church
- 3:06history record.
- 3:08Now, what I want to talk to you about
- 3:09this morning is what will sustain you
- 3:11through all of that.
- 3:13What will be a buoy, if you will, to
- 3:15keep you from going down under
- 3:18in those waters of trial and difficulty?
- 3:21Because I think this morning is what
- 3:23we'll look at this morning will be so
- 3:25edifying, so encouraging to you that you
- 3:28will be able to be sustained
- 3:30accordingly, not simply with endurance
- 3:32that you might make it through,
- 3:34but with joy.
- 3:37If you do so, please open your Bibles to
- 3:39Romans chapter 5.
- 3:42Romans chapter 5 will be our text this
- 3:44morning.
- 3:45As you turn to Romans chapter 5, the
- 3:47title of my message is pastoring from a
- 3:49beach chair,
- 3:51what the doctrine of passive
- 3:53righteousness teaches you about life and
- 3:55ministry.
- 3:57Some of you might think that this is a
- 3:58recruiting tactic to get you to come to
- 4:00Miami, Florida.
- 4:02Is that what you guys do in Miami? You
- 4:03just pastor from a beach chair?
- 4:06Well, I would disappointingly tell you
- 4:07that's not the case. But you're welcome
- 4:10to come to Miami and join us on mission
- 4:12and as you graduate from Boyce College
- 4:14or master or here at the Southern
- 4:15Baptist Theological Seminary and come to
- 4:17be with us there. We'd love to have you
- 4:20be with us in ministry and help plant
- 4:21more churches as the Lord is giving us
- 4:23the opportunity to do so.
- 4:26But rather from the reality of what it
- 4:28means to rest.
- 4:31Our text this morning is Romans chapter
- 4:335 verses 17 to 19. If you would follow
- 4:37along as I read it to you.
- 4:40Paul writes
- 4:44For if because of one man's trespass,
- 4:48death reigned through that one man,
- 4:53much more will those who receive the
- 4:55abundance of grace
- 4:59and the free gift of righteousness reign
- 5:02in life through the one man Jesus
- 5:05Christ.
- 5:08Therefore,
- 5:10as one trespass led to condemnation for
- 5:13all men,
- 5:14so one act of righteousness leads to
- 5:17justification and life
- 5:20for all men.
- 5:23For as by one man's disobedience, the
- 5:26many were made sinners, so by the one
- 5:30man's obedience, the many will be made
- 5:35righteous.
- 5:37We'll stop there for our purposes this
- 5:39morning.
- 5:41But for our time together this morning,
- 5:43it's not my intention to necessarily
- 5:44take you through a detailed exegetical,
- 5:47expositional working through this text,
- 5:50rather to help you, I hope encourage you
- 5:53personally and for future realities,
- 5:55pastorally for those pursuing such, to
- 5:58be encouraged by what we learn here in
- 6:00the text doctrinally.
- 6:04What I want us to first of all see
- 6:07is the doctrine of passive righteousness
- 6:09is great news for you personally.
- 6:13Personally.
- 6:16I wonder how many of you who are married
- 6:18understand the challenges that sometimes
- 6:19you'll have in marriage where you're
- 6:21seemingly in some train of thought,
- 6:24maybe even one existing conversation,
- 6:26and then your spouse, in this case my
- 6:28wife poses to me, I wonder what she's
- 6:30going to do about that.
- 6:32And I'm who is the she in this sentence?
- 6:36Was there some conversation that I
- 6:38missed, some antecedent that I did not
- 6:40recognize? Who are we talking about
- 6:41here?
- 6:42My wife sometimes thinks that I could
- 6:44just read her mind and is picking up
- 6:46where she's last left off in thought.
- 6:49Well, here in our text, as we parachuted
- 6:51into Romans chapter 5 verses 17 to 19,
- 6:55we are coming into a middle of a
- 6:57construct, if you will, an argument, a
- 7:00case that Paul is making.
- 7:02He speaks in these earlier reverses
- 7:05about the reality of Adam. Earlier in
- 7:09Romans chapter 5, Paul has been talking
- 7:11about Adam, our original, if you will,
- 7:13spiritual older brother.
- 7:17But then he talks about the new and
- 7:19better Adam, Jesus Christ.
- 7:22Romans 5, while the cross is
- 7:25specifically in view here, the entire
- 7:28righteous life of Jesus Christ is
- 7:30implicitly considered here.
- 7:33It's what earlier would be said by Jesus
- 7:36in Matthew chapter 5 when he's having a
- 7:39conversation with John the Baptist.
- 7:42And John the Baptist is a little
- 7:43disoriented by Jesus asking him to be
- 7:46baptized. And John is disordered by that
- 7:49reality. And Jesus would say, "Let it be
- 7:51so now. Thus it is fitting for us to
- 7:53fulfill all righteousness."
- 7:58Later on in the famous Sermon on the
- 7:59Mount in Matthew chapter 5,
- 8:02uh Jesus would say in verses 17 and 18,
- 8:04"Do not think that I've come to abolish
- 8:06the law or the prophets. That I've not
- 8:07come to abolish them, but to fulfill
- 8:09them. For truly I say to you, until
- 8:12heaven and earth pass away, that not an
- 8:14iota, not a dot will pass from the law
- 8:16until all is accomplished."
- 8:21Friends, understandably and
- 8:22appropriately,
- 8:24we are captivated by the cross. It is
- 8:27Paul himself who speaks about preaching
- 8:29Christ and him crucified.
- 8:32The significance of what was taking
- 8:34place in that event.
- 8:37But friends, let's not miss the reality
- 8:39of what Paul is referring to here.
- 8:41The reality of not simply the
- 8:43crucifixion of Jesus, but the life of
- 8:46Jesus prior to such crucifixion.
- 8:49Here in Romans chapter 5 verse 18, Paul
- 8:52is speaking about a justification, the
- 8:55act whereby God graciously declares
- 8:59rebellious and guilty sinners righteous.
- 9:03Not doing so based on their merits or
- 9:06their good works, rather he does this
- 9:08entirely based on his son's
- 9:10righteousness.
- 9:11Which is imputed, which is credited.
- 9:15Earlier in Romans chapter 3 verse 24, he
- 9:18would say, "We are justified by his
- 9:20grace as a gift through the redemption
- 9:22that is in Christ Jesus."
- 9:26Now, how important is this doctrine of
- 9:29justification?
- 9:31Well, historically, we know of such
- 9:33figures like John Calvin who would write
- 9:35in the Institutes, quote, "Justification
- 9:38is the main hinge on which salvation
- 9:42turns."
- 9:46It is the foundation of truth, the
- 9:49subsequent construction of the Christian
- 9:51life, and will not collapse.
- 9:55Which you can see in contrast of Romans
- 9:57chapter 5
- 9:58is this point of compare and contrast
- 10:00earlier.
- 10:02Death, thanks to Adam. Life, thanks to
- 10:06Christ. Sin, thanks to Adam.
- 10:09Righteousness, thanks to Christ.
- 10:14This is where we get the reality of what
- 10:16it means of what Christ has
- 10:17accomplished.
- 10:19His active obedience
- 10:22accomplishes our passive righteousness.
- 10:27Passive in the sense that we've done
- 10:28nothing for it. Now, we think about
- 10:30righteousness, and I know that I'm
- 10:31treading into complicated waters here
- 10:34with such theological minds that are in
- 10:36the room, but we understand
- 10:37righteousness as it's described to us a
- 10:39number of ways. For example, forensic
- 10:41righteousness, this legal declaration,
- 10:44if you will.
- 10:45This declaring the sinner indeed free,
- 10:49no longer guilty, but now pardoned.
- 10:53We think about the idea of imputed
- 10:55righteousness, the idea of something
- 10:56being credited. It's like going to the
- 10:58ATM machine and having your negative
- 11:00balance of all the money you owe to now
- 11:02going to it and having a printout of all
- 11:04the billions you have in it.
- 11:08Here I mean to highlight the
- 11:09significance of passive righteousness.
- 11:13Passive because the Christian does not
- 11:15actively earn, achieve, or inherently
- 11:18possess the righteousness through their
- 11:21own efforts, through their own good
- 11:22works. He is passive. Christ is active.
- 11:30This is what Paul would say in
- 11:31Philippians chapter 3 verse 9, "Not
- 11:34having a righteousness of my own that
- 11:36comes from the law, but that which comes
- 11:38through faith in Christ, the
- 11:40righteousness from God that depends on
- 11:43faith."
- 11:45Think about passive righteousness. You
- 11:47think about the reality that has an
- 11:49external source. It's Christ's
- 11:51righteousness, not the Christians. It's
- 11:53a free gift, not an achievement. It
- 11:55comes through faith. It's the instrument
- 11:58by which God gives it. Even that itself
- 12:00is a gift. It's a legal declaration.
- 12:06Uh friends, I I don't trust that I'm
- 12:08saying anything necessarily
- 12:09groundbreaking here at an institution
- 12:12like Boyce College and the Southern
- 12:13Baptist Theological Seminary, all of
- 12:15which you could be saying through the
- 12:17songs you're singing, the sermons you've
- 12:19heard in this very pulpit, the lectures
- 12:21you're hearing in your classrooms. Yes
- 12:22and amen.
- 12:25But friends, if I can sort of make sure
- 12:26that we stop and stare at this, not for
- 12:29its place in history with the Great
- 12:31Reformation,
- 12:33not for its position doctrinally as to
- 12:35what it's saying versus not, as to where
- 12:37our hope is found, but to you
- 12:40personally.
- 12:43Why does this matter to you personally?
- 12:50Think of what Martin Luther wrote.
- 12:52He said, "It's called passive
- 12:53righteousness because we do not have to
- 12:56labor for it.
- 12:58It's not righteousness that we work for,
- 13:00but righteousness we receive by faith.
- 13:02This passive righteousness is a mystery
- 13:06that someone who does not know Jesus
- 13:08cannot understand.
- 13:10In fact, Christians do not completely
- 13:12understand it and rarely take advantage
- 13:15of it in their daily lives."
- 13:20He continues, "When there is any fear or
- 13:23our conscience is bothered, it is a sign
- 13:27that our passive righteousness is out of
- 13:29sight and Christ is hidden.
- 13:33Person who wanders away from the passive
- 13:36righteousness has no other choice but to
- 13:38live by works righteousness. If he has
- 13:41does this, he does not depend on the
- 13:42work of Christ. He must depend on his
- 13:45own work.
- 13:50Can I ask you a question?
- 13:54Do you struggle with anxiety?
- 13:58A form of fear?
- 14:02Perhaps insecurity as to who you are who
- 14:05you are not.
- 14:07What you know and what you do not know.
- 14:10What you have accomplished and not
- 14:12accomplished.
- 14:14How you compare to your classmates or
- 14:16perhaps older siblings and where they
- 14:19are in their professional careers.
- 14:22Those of you are single who aspire to be
- 14:24married. Those who are married and want
- 14:26to have children or want to have more
- 14:28children.
- 14:30There is lurking behind every
- 14:32observation, every point of reflection,
- 14:35a temptation to think
- 14:38wherever I am, whoever I am
- 14:42it's not enough.
- 14:45I don't mean to denounce ambition. I
- 14:47don't mean to denounce desire.
- 14:49But I mean to get to the heart of issues
- 14:51of insecurity
- 14:55and identity.
- 15:02I think it's important to remember in
- 15:04the earliest pages of Romans.
- 15:07Paul who is writing to these Christians
- 15:10says in verse 7 of Romans chapter 1 to
- 15:13those who are in Rome who are loved by
- 15:14God and called to be saints.
- 15:17Grace to you and peace from our God and
- 15:19Father the Lord Jesus Christ. These are
- 15:21Christians. He is an apostle wanting to
- 15:23He's set apart for the gospel of God in
- 15:25verse 1.
- 15:27But notice what he says in verse 15.
- 15:31I am eager to preach the gospel to you
- 15:34also who are in Rome.
- 15:38Friends, how important
- 15:41is it that we as Christians, we who are
- 15:44saints,
- 15:45do not graduate from, do not move beyond
- 15:48the gospel?
- 15:50When we come to the waters of Romans
- 15:52chapter 5,
- 15:54again to our text,
- 15:57this one man's trespass, Romans 5:17,
- 15:59death having reigned, and then again in
- 16:02verse 17, the the free gift of righteous
- 16:04reigned in through Christ, that one man
- 16:07Christ.
- 16:09By one man's obedience, verse 19, the
- 16:12many will be made righteous. When we
- 16:13come to that,
- 16:16I want us to not simply understand it
- 16:17theologically.
- 16:22I want us to soak in it personally.
- 16:28Why is this important?
- 16:31Let's do a pop quiz.
- 16:34Would you be described as a joyful
- 16:36person?
- 16:39I don't mean your temperament. I don't
- 16:40mean your personality.
- 16:44I mean as the Bible describes joy.
- 16:47Paul so commonly would say in
- 16:49Philippians, rejoice in the Lord.
- 16:53We do simply to know him in the sort of
- 16:55theological realities of who God is. I
- 16:57mean to ask a question, where is your
- 17:00joy found?
- 17:03Understandably, perhaps you have good
- 17:05days and bad days.
- 17:07Providentially, personally,
- 17:11and perhaps accordingly, your joy can
- 17:13rise and fall accordingly.
- 17:16I'm reminded of with the disciples as
- 17:18they're sent out into the ministry, sort
- 17:20of the the first short-term mission trip
- 17:22if you will, as Jesus sends them out and
- 17:24they come back and they're like shocked
- 17:27in the ministry that took place and
- 17:29Jesus says to them, "In all these
- 17:31things," he says, "rejoice that your
- 17:33name is written in the Lamb's Book of
- 17:35Life."
- 17:38Friends, too often as Christians,
- 17:42though we stand in our identity
- 17:45and our confidence in the gospel, we
- 17:49functionally often operate out of our
- 17:51own merit, our own reality of our
- 17:55circumstances, not in who we are in
- 17:58Christ.
- 18:02The joy that should come from
- 18:03understanding everything we have
- 18:06relationally, everything in our security
- 18:08is because of Christ.
- 18:11Uh those words of Luther earlier are a
- 18:12sign that our passive righteousness is
- 18:15out of sight and Christ is hidden.
- 18:18It's important to recognize the the
- 18:20doctrine of passive righteousness is the
- 18:22reality by which we can find our
- 18:25identity.
- 18:27Too commonly, it's this idea that we do
- 18:30not think this.
- 18:32We do not recognize this.
- 18:35We understand it by profession, truly.
- 18:40But by the practical daily reality, it
- 18:42can be a struggle for us.
- 18:45We need to remember what Paul says in
- 18:46Philippians chapter 3 verses 7 to 9
- 18:49after reflecting on his life before
- 18:50Christ with his religious resume, he
- 18:53would say, "Whatever gain I had, I
- 18:55counted as lost for the sake of Christ.
- 18:57Indeed, I count everything as lost
- 18:59because of the surpassing worth of
- 19:02knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord.
- 19:05For his sake I have suffered the loss of
- 19:07all things. I count them as rubbish in
- 19:09order that I may gain Christ and be
- 19:11found in him, not having a righteousness
- 19:14of my own that comes from the law, but
- 19:16that which comes through faith in
- 19:18Christ.
- 19:20The righteousness from God that depends
- 19:23on faith.
- 19:27For those of us who are
- 19:31in pastoral ministry, we have a number
- 19:33of guests here this morning who are part
- 19:34of the Pillar Network who serve in
- 19:36pastoral ministry around the country and
- 19:37beyond.
- 19:39Others of you being trained for pastoral
- 19:40ministry or already in pastoral ministry
- 19:43while you're attending as a student here
- 19:45at Boyce College of the Southern Baptist
- 19:46Theological Seminary.
- 19:49It's common in ministry
- 19:52to recognize
- 19:54that there can be an opportunity in
- 19:56which our well will run dry. Our joy can
- 19:59dissipate. Our motivation can cease.
- 20:02Why?
- 20:03Because oftentimes we forget our own
- 20:07righteousness in Christ.
- 20:10One writer says, "Pastors of all people
- 20:13must be constantly re-centered on the
- 20:15gospel or they will inevitably drift
- 20:18into legalism, moralism, pragmatism, or
- 20:22some other ism that undermines their
- 20:24effectiveness and joy."
- 20:30What happens as an alternative?
- 20:33Things go well, you're tempted towards
- 20:34pride.
- 20:36They don't go well, you're tempted
- 20:37towards despair.
- 20:40We need to recognize the reality of
- 20:42Romans 5 here is what it means to not
- 20:44only be positionally
- 20:47but relationally right with God.
- 20:51Not paying him back.
- 20:54Not filling out an IOU slip and giving
- 20:56it to God in life.
- 21:01Even for those of you who are pastors,
- 21:02may I remind you, dear pastor,
- 21:05before you were a pastor,
- 21:07you were a Christian.
- 21:09And the day will come when you no longer
- 21:11be a pastor, but you will still be a
- 21:12Christian.
- 21:14For that to comfort your heart,
- 21:17to not let the
- 21:18job steal the joy of being a son
- 21:22adopted by God.
- 21:25Uh secondly, we can see here for
- 21:26reflection, passive righteousness is
- 21:29great news specifically for pastoring
- 21:31people, for Christianity in community.
- 21:35May I just draw your attention back to
- 21:37the text in Romans chapter 5. Let's make
- 21:39sure we see the text and the tone of it.
- 21:44Back up earlier to verse 15, Romans 5.
- 21:47It begins this cascading repetition,
- 21:51but the free gift is not like the
- 21:54trespass.
- 21:57He goes on and says, "Much more have the
- 21:59grace of God and the free gift by the
- 22:01grace of that one man Jesus Christ
- 22:04abounded for many."
- 22:06Uh verse 16, "And the free gift is not
- 22:09like the result of one man's sin.
- 22:12For the judgment following one's
- 22:13trespass brought condemnation, but the
- 22:16free gift following many trespass
- 22:18brought justification." And later on, he
- 22:21would say again in the middle of verse
- 22:2317, "The free gift of righteous reign in
- 22:26life through the one man Jesus Christ."
- 22:30Have you ever been to one of these
- 22:31conferences or exposés, perhaps at the
- 22:34Cross Conference or some other
- 22:35conference, and you have a number of
- 22:37vendors who've set up their tables, want
- 22:39to introduce you to their product or to
- 22:41their ministry or to their school, and
- 22:43want you to attend? And inevitably, they
- 22:45have on the table some handout, some
- 22:48giveaway. It could be a Frisbee, it
- 22:50could be a little disc golf, could be a
- 22:52pen, it could be a piece of candy. If
- 22:54you've ever been to the Southern Baptist
- 22:56Convention, the annual gathering of the
- 22:58Southern Baptist Convention, it's just a
- 22:59whole floor of a
- 23:01of just free gifts.
- 23:03And they'll actually give you bags where
- 23:05you just kind of fill it up, fill it up,
- 23:06fill it up. And you're like, you
- 23:07sometimes wonder like, "What am I going
- 23:08to do with all these things?" I don't
- 23:09know, but it's free.
- 23:12It's free. I just love free stuff.
- 23:14Free food.
- 23:17Free frisbees. Free candy.
- 23:20I mean, I'm a grown man. I have a job. I
- 23:22can afford to pay for things. I love
- 23:24free things.
- 23:28We're so easily satisfied by the idea of
- 23:31getting something for free.
- 23:35PAUL IS SAYING HERE, THERE'S NOTHING
- 23:36MORE JOYOUSLY WONDERFUL than to
- 23:39recognize the FREE GIFT OF GOD.
- 23:42THE FREE GIFT OF GOD. Nothing you can do
- 23:45to earn it, secure it, or keep it.
- 23:48Nothing you pledge to do once you accept
- 23:50it. IT'S YOURS FOR FREE.
- 23:55BUT, we've grown so cynical and
- 23:56skeptical that if you get a call,
- 23:58somebody offering you something, you're
- 23:59like, "What's the small print?" Somebody
- 24:01knocks on the door and offers you an
- 24:02advertisement, some sort of deal on
- 24:04solar, whatever it might be, you're
- 24:07like, "Yeah, but what's the small
- 24:08print?"
- 24:10Infamous time share sales pitches, "Yes,
- 24:12but how much is it going to cost me as I
- 24:14have to deal with this?"
- 24:16There's no small print here.
- 24:19THERE'S NO SMALL PRINT.
- 24:22IT'S YOURS FOR THE TAKING.
- 24:28I don't want us to simply be clear in
- 24:30the doctrine. I want us to be
- 24:31overwhelmed by the doctrine.
- 24:35And the reason this is significant
- 24:36because I think it's significant to
- 24:38recognize we're not simply doing what
- 24:40pastors and ministries should do, which
- 24:42is really teaching sound doctrine,
- 24:44refuting false doctrine, making sure
- 24:45we're protecting the sheep from the
- 24:46wolves. All of that is good and right
- 24:48and true. But, to inviting people into
- 24:50the reality of the gospel for those who
- 24:52are lost. And anybody here who does not
- 24:54know that, to understand, friends, you
- 24:56do not earn your relationship with God
- 24:58based on what you know, but based on
- 24:59what Christ has accomplished.
- 25:01And for those of you, and I trust most
- 25:02of you, if not all of you, have done
- 25:04that, to surrender your life to Christ,
- 25:06to live in that reality.
- 25:10To not just understand it and to mind
- 25:12the truths of which are unsearchable,
- 25:14but how it reshapes you.
- 25:17For those in pastoral ministry,
- 25:19currently or future aspiring to,
- 25:22does not denounce the responsibility of
- 25:24ministry.
- 25:26Does Paul not say, some might say, in
- 25:28Colossians chapter 1, verse 20 and 29,
- 25:31him we proclaim, warning everyone,
- 25:34teaching everyone with all wisdom, that
- 25:35we may present everyone mature in
- 25:37Christ?
- 25:39He says, for this I toil, struggling
- 25:42with all his energy that he powerfully
- 25:44works within me. Yes, it says that.
- 25:49Does he not say in Galatians chapter 4,
- 25:51verse 19, my little children, for whom I
- 25:53am again in the anguish of childbirth,
- 25:56until Christ is formed in you? Yes, it
- 25:59says that.
- 26:00But please do not confuse responsibility
- 26:05with results.
- 26:09That's the work of God.
- 26:16I say this because in ministry,
- 26:18we can often find ourselves
- 26:20feeling well with the Lord if it's going
- 26:23well with ministry.
- 26:27A number of years back, I
- 26:30under the
- 26:31conversation and counsel of
- 26:34dear friends, like Dr. Mohler and
- 26:36others, talking with our own elders in
- 26:38our church in Indianapolis,
- 26:40I made a decision to step down from
- 26:43where I was pastoring
- 26:45in Indianapolis.
- 26:47Gladly and joyfully doing so, which I
- 26:49thought I would be there for the rest of
- 26:51my life.
- 26:53And I made a decision
- 26:56to step down and to return back to Miami
- 26:59after having been gone for 20 years,
- 27:01place where my wife and I had met and
- 27:02married back in the '90s
- 27:05to plant a church.
- 27:08Church planting is typically a young
- 27:09man's game.
- 27:11No marriages, no mortgages. You're like,
- 27:13"If it works, it works. If it doesn't,
- 27:14that's okay. I'm a fool for Christ."
- 27:19I had three teenage sons.
- 27:23Two were 15 and one 17.
- 27:29I'm stepping down. I I live 2 miles from
- 27:32my church.
- 27:33My house will be paid off in 4 years.
- 27:37We started number of works. We've done a
- 27:39number of things.
- 27:41This initially looks like a midlife
- 27:43crisis.
- 27:45What's happening, Eric? What's going on
- 27:46here? Just stabilize. Just go buy a
- 27:48convertible or something. Don't like
- 27:49take the, you know, commit ministerial
- 27:51suicide here.
- 27:55Through a lot of prayer, through
- 27:56fasting, through conversation,
- 27:59stepped down, moved my family to Miami
- 28:01to plant a church.
- 28:04Became members of a local church,
- 28:06eventually covenanted as a church in
- 28:082019
- 28:10to this booming core team. IT WAS
- 28:13GIGANTIC.
- 28:15IT WAS 16 people.
- 28:19Back room of my house.
- 28:23And I felt,
- 28:24be it my flesh
- 28:26or be it the evil one,
- 28:28tempting me
- 28:29to think,
- 28:31"You're a failure.
- 28:33What have you done?"
- 28:36If we had 35 people on a Sunday night,
- 28:38it felt like we're ready to go
- 28:39multi-site.
- 28:42We're like back at having revival.
- 28:45We're killing it.
- 28:47Books are going to be written about how
- 28:48successful we are.
- 28:51And then COVID happens, shuts us down.
- 28:54I did not appreciate that.
- 28:57Could not meet for 5 months. The church
- 29:00we're renting from on Sunday night said,
- 29:01"We'd like to keep charging you rent,
- 29:02$3,500 a month to meet one time a week,
- 29:07but you can't meet." I'm like, "Uh
- 29:09that's I untenable. I I I need a place
- 29:11to meet. I can't do this."
- 29:14Wrote to another church.
- 29:16Throughout that time as God was showing
- 29:20me the reality that this very doctrine I
- 29:23preach to you had gone out of my
- 29:26purview. It had gone out of my
- 29:28peripheral vision.
- 29:30I was finding my hope and my identity
- 29:33and my security and how things were
- 29:34going ministerially.
- 29:37And I didn't see a number of heads in
- 29:39the room as I wish I had seen here today
- 29:41that are here now.
- 29:45And I felt like I was a failure.
- 29:49And I had to recover the gospel and the
- 29:51reminder
- 29:54to recognize in ministry,
- 29:57whether it be for you personally in
- 29:59ministry or if you experience it with
- 30:01others relationally,
- 30:04is to recognize that we need to go back
- 30:07to the gospel to be reminded of these
- 30:09truths.
- 30:14God had given me a free gift that all
- 30:16that I wanted I'd already received in
- 30:18Christ.
- 30:21Did that not mean I was not praying? No,
- 30:23it just meant that my relationship with
- 30:25the Lord was not dependent upon how it
- 30:26went.
- 30:29God has given his word accordingly.
- 30:33I think it's important to recognize this
- 30:35even personally or pastorally that we
- 30:37differentiate between our positional
- 30:39righteousness and our practice
- 30:41righteousness.
- 30:43Good days and bad days, good ministry,
- 30:46hard ministry.
- 30:49The reality is that the doctrine of
- 30:50passive righteousness is a doorway into
- 30:53great news for you personally, and great
- 30:56news for you pastorally.
- 31:01Think about the significance of this.
- 31:04Just recently we saw the
- 31:07Seattle Seahawks
- 31:12defeat the
- 31:14New England Patriots in the Super Bowl.
- 31:17The Seahawks fans were losing their mind
- 31:20with cheering cuz it'd been since 2014
- 31:23since they had last won the Super Bowl.
- 31:26And just hundreds of thousands of fans
- 31:29cheering,
- 31:30"We won! We won! We won!"
- 31:35No one interrupts them and says, "No,
- 31:38you didn't."
- 31:41The 53 men on the roster won. You didn't
- 31:44do anything.
- 31:47They won.
- 31:50They felt that sense of victory that
- 31:52somebody else had accomplished for them.
- 31:58Friends, we can chant confidently,
- 32:02"We have won."
- 32:04We have won, not because of anything
- 32:06that we have done, but because Christ
- 32:09has accomplished for us.
- 32:12That is our joy in life and in death.
- 32:20Some of you will know the name
- 32:22Gresham Machen.
- 32:24Used to be a professor at Princeton
- 32:25Seminary.
- 32:27Eventually left to found the Westminster
- 32:29Theological Seminary in 1929.
- 32:35Shortly before he died on January 1st,
- 32:381937, he dictated a final telegram to
- 32:41one of his friends.
- 32:43It was only 13 words.
- 32:47Here's what he said in that final
- 32:48telegram.
- 32:50I'm so thankful
- 32:53for the active obedience of Christ.
- 32:58No
- 32:59hope
- 33:00without it.
- 33:03Friends, at the end of your life, you
- 33:04will not send a telegram.
- 33:06You might send a text.
- 33:09Those final words are sent from you.
- 33:13What will you say?
- 33:16I pray it'll be something very similar
- 33:18to that.
- 33:19Let's pray. Lord,
- 33:21thank you for this truth.
- 33:22How it washes over us with comfort and
- 33:25encouragement.
- 33:27For the reminder of not who we are,
- 33:31but who Christ is and who we are in him.
- 33:37God, I pray your ministry,
- 33:39Holy Spirit, to encourage and comfort
- 33:42those who perhaps have lost sight of
- 33:45their identity in you.
- 33:48Be it personally or pastorally.
- 33:52And may they find the joy that comes
- 33:53from knowing
- 33:55that their name is written in the Lamb's
- 33:56Book of Life.
- 33:58Amen.