As citizens of heaven, we who belong to Christ live among a people and in a culture that is not native to us now. I am reminded of that often at the university where I teach, and sometimes it’s just because I cannot keep up with the 18-21 year old vernacular. When I was growing up, sick was a bad thing. We’d feel bad for our sick friends and we didn’t know anything about a sick movie or song. Same with nasty. Nasty was when the kid next to you threw up in the cafeteria, not when he tomahawk-dunked a basketball. Dope was something we were told to avoid, not something really cool. Or rad.

In the greeting of his first letter to Christian exiles, Peter doesn’t mention anything about race, ethnicity, or language, but defined his readers by their status as God’s elect. This diaspora is made up of mainly Gentiles, who did not grow up in the Jewish covenant. Peter greets these Gentiles, however, as God’s chosen people. They are elect exiles, and so are all who belong to Christ. We live between two worlds, passing through this one while living for the glory of Christ by the grace of God so that others may see the hope that is within us and ask us for a reason. We are living in God’s witness rejection program, if you will, and that does not hinder the Lord to do his work in us in any way.

Peter uses four phrases to describe the position of the elect. He says we are elect “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father” Those who are elect are chosen by God before the foundations of the world. The ESV Study Bible says that the foreknowledge of God “means that he set his covenantal affection on (the elect) in advance, foreordaining that they would belong to him.” David Guzik writes, “Election is not election at all if it is only a cause-and-effect arrangement basing God’s choice only on man’s.” That means, believer, that you were the object of God’s loving concern from all eternity. He loved you even before he formed you in the womb. Edmund Clowney writes, “The mystery of God’s choosing will always offend those who stand before God in pride. Forgetting their rebellion and guilt against God, they are ready to accuse him of favoritism. But those whom God’s love has drawn to Christ will always confess the wonder of his initiative in grace.”

We are elect “in the sanctification of the Spirit,” and as Paul wrote, “predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.” That’s the process that happens while we are living here, between two worlds. Looking more like Jesus over time is the proof that we belong to the Father. Antioch met on the college campus for nine years. One day we divided into groups of two or three and were passing out flyers on a Saturday afternoon. My oldest son was not in my group and one of the students he gave a flyer to said, “Hey, are you related to Mark Fox?” Micah said, “Yeah, he’s my dad.” The student said, “I thought so! You look just like him.” I apologized to Micah for that later. But we, the sons and daughters of Christ, are being made more and more to look like him in our character and in our obedience.

We are elect “for obedience to Jesus Christ” The obedience here starts with the faith we received as a gift from God to believe! Peter says in effect, “You were chosen by God and are being sanctified by the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ. You have the Triune God with you, working on you, walking with you, helping you to stand and promising you an inheritance that is beyond anything our imagination can conceive. So walk. Stand. Obey by faith. How can we do that?

We are elect “for sprinkling with his blood.”  You will see Peter use some Old Testament references through the letter, perhaps to give these Gentiles some understanding of the tree they were grafted into. The two times in Exodus when blood was sprinkled on people may be in his mind here. The people of God were sprinkled with the blood of a sacrifice to confirm the covenant God had made with them. Then the first priests were ordained by Moses through the same sprinkling of blood from a sacrifice. That’s a heavy weight and a joyful one, because it is by the blood of Christ that we come into God’s family and that we are made part of the “royal priesthood” that Peter mentions in his letter.

Last week we baptized 8 young people and children at Antioch and I reminded them they had already been sprinkled, washed, by the blood of Jesus. They were brought into the covenant by grace through faith when they first believed. They entered into the royal priesthood when the Spirit gave them life.

Now they live as elect exiles between two worlds, for the glory of God!

One of the things I hear over and over from Christians about their church-search woes, maybe when they have moved to another city and they are looking for a church, or they have come to Antioch after sampling several other places, is this. Why can’t we find a church that has both sound biblical doctrine and strong fellowship? Where is that solid Bible-embracing church that is also warm and welcoming to everyone who comes through the door, a church that is intentional about helping people find their place and build solid relationships with the family of faith? What I hear is that most of the time if they find a church that holds firm to the trustworthy Word as taught, the people there can be as cold as a fish. Instead of receiving a warm welcome and an invitation into fellowship when they walk in, visitors often sit alone and try to enter into corporate worship with people who don’t even acknowledge their existence. The flip side is people who tell me they found a church where everyone loves each other and welcomes those gladly who come to visit, but what they are being taught and what they believe is not grounded in the Word. They are not sound in doctrine. Why can’t we have both? Sound doctrine and healthy community?

I think we can. And we must. Everyone reading this who has been around the Word for more than a few months has already seen that the truth of Scripture demands it. Jesus was, as John said in his prologue, “full of grace and truth.” If that is true of Jesus then it is to be true of his church as well. Grace and truth. Not just truth. Not just grace. You really have neither one unless you have both. I would suggest that the church filled with the frozen chosen, no matter how much they pride themselves on knowing the Word, are not practicing it if there is no reputation there among outsiders or even among themselves that part of the reason they come together on Sunday is to love one another. Jesus said it plainly in the upper room, after Judas had left. He looked the 11 men in the eye and said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” Just to make sure they got it, and we get it, he says it three times. Love. One. Another.

A Gospel culture in a church is easily one of its most attractive features. It often makes people want to stay if they visit a couple of times and get a taste of the sweetness of the love they see there for the Lord, his Word, and for the family of faith. It sometimes even makes some people want to come back after they have been gone for a few years.

I recommend a podcast by Ray Ortlund and Sam Allberry, both leaders in Immanuel Church in Nashville. The podcast is called “You’re Not Crazy: Gospel Sanity for Young Pastors.” The theme of the podcast is Gospel community and how to cultivate it in a church. As Sam said, “There should not be a disconnect between the grace of Jesus as we receive it in the Gospel, and church life.” Church should be something we look forward to on Sunday, certainly not something we dread or do out of duty. Allberry compares coming out of the world and into the fellowship of believers on Sundays to entering Rivendell, in Lord of the Rings: Sam said, “We’ve just been stabbed on Weathertop and we find ourselves in Rivendell where we can find space and healing and help and care.” Sometimes people feel like they can’t come to church if they have messed up, or they have failed in their faith in some way. They can’t come in, they think, looking like they don’t have it all together. But what’s the truth? Not a single one of us have it all together! Each of us stumbled and fell this week, one way or another, and Jesus is calling us to come to him. His arms are open wide to us. And so are our arms in the church to be open wide to one another.

Paul said it like this in Romans: “May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.”

The glory of God can be seen when we welcome one another in the same way that Christ has welcomed us.

So many of us grew up in churches with solo leadership that it is part of our ecclesiology and very difficult to shake. We think the church ought to operate like a corporation: one person at the top, the CEO, and everybody else is under him. Or, there is a board of elders or a board of deacons, or a consistory, or whatever terminology we want to use, but it is still a hierarchy, and one man (or in some churches, one woman) has final authority and can overrule all the rest.  But that is not the New Testament model of leadership for the local church. Paul instructed Titus to stay in Crete and set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you. Paul gives the qualifications for elders in Titus 1 and 1 Timothy 3, and he uses the plural in chapter 5 when he writes, “Let the elders who rules well be considered worthy of double honor…” In the book of Acts, we read about Paul stopping off in Miletus, on his way to Jerusalem, where he knew he would be handed over to the authorities and eventually end up in Rome. This was his last chance to minister to the church he had loved so much that he stayed there longer than he stayed anywhere else: the church at Ephesus. So, what does Paul do in Miletus? He sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church. Finally, one of the most compelling passages that hold up this New Testament model of leadership by a council of elders in every church is found in Acts 14. Paul and Barnabas were on their first missionary journey, these premier church planters and perhaps the greatest missionary team ever. They went back to three cities they had preached in, Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, to encourage the believers. And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed. Elders, plural, for each church.

In each of these passages, we see the same thing. God has ordained a biblical model for church leadership, a council of elders. And I would submit to you that healthy, vital churches that are achieving what God has called them to, without exception have healthy, vital leadership. What are elders? Your translation may say bishop, or overseer, or shepherd. But it’s the same thing. The Jews preferred the term, presbuteros, which means mature, dignified, wise, even “gray-haired.” The Greeks preferred the word episkopos, and that means “overseer” or one who takes responsibility. But they are used interchangeably in the New Testament because an elder must be both: a mature believer, and one who leads the flock and takes care of them. One denotes the dignity of the office and the other the duties.

Each of the qualifications for elders are important, but I think the last thing Paul said in Titus 1 may be the most important, because it is the ground upon which elders must stand if they are going to faithfully lead the flock. “He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught.” An elder or pastor may have a great marriage, solid kids, and good character in the community, known far and wide for their kind words and good deeds. But if his teaching undermines the authority of God’s Word, he is the blind leading the blind. If what he holds firm to is “peace at any price,” or “a rejection of the authority of the Bible that transcends culture,” then he is not holding firm to the trustworthy word as taught, and he will not be able to “give instruction in sound doctrine.” Nor will he be able to “rebuke those who contradict it,” for he contradicts it himself!

I cannot remember where I read this many years ago, but I love it: The Dakota Indian tribe was known for its common sense wisdom. They said, If you discover you are riding a dead horse, dismount. Here’s how this basic wisdom has been re-worked for church life in America; think of the dead horse as unbiblical thinking. Some churches do nothing about the dead horse, and simply change riders, or pastors. Others say: “this is way we’ve always ridden dead horses.” Some churches form a committee to study the horse in order to see how dead it really is. Liberal churches reject the notion that unbiblical thinking IS a dead horse and merely re-classify the dead horse as “living impaired.” The ONLY way to address the dead horse of unbiblical thinking is to hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught. That’s what elders must do.

Got elders?

We are committed to expository preaching as the norm at Antioch. It doesn’t mean we can never share a sermon that is more topical, but probably 45 weeks of the year, we are working our way through a book in the Bible, verse by verse. Why is that helpful? Because we are getting the milk and the meat of Scripture. Try this experiment if you will, and your kids will LOVE it. Go for a month just eating doughnuts for every meal. Or ice cream if you’re not a doughnut family. Sounds like fun! But it would make you sick. And weak. Topical preaching runs heavily toward milk and cookies. We need the meat and vegetables (and milk!) that the Bible offers in every book in order to be spiritually healthy. Working through a book also gives us an understanding of the context from which each verse comes, the reason the author wrote the book, his intended audience, and how it fits into the whole of Scripture. Can you imagine a Chemistry professor teaching a textbook on chemistry by picking out parts of sentences at random and using them for his lectures, with no context, no understanding of how one thing relates to the other? Working through a book also forces us to deal with the difficult issues. You can’t preach through James without talking about prejudice, the rich exploiting the poor, quarrels and fights in the church, how we use our tongues to hurt, or elders’ prayer for the sick. Sometimes the Bible confronts us and sometimes it upsets us. Tim Keller said this: “Only if your God can say things that upset you will you know you have a real God and not just a creation of your imagination. So an authoritative Bible (the point of contradiction) is not the enemy of a personal love relationship with God (the point of contact). It is the precondition.” 

What is expository preaching? Here are two definitions I like. John Stott: Exposition refers to the content of the sermon (biblical truth) rather than its style (a running commentary). To expound Scripture is to bring out of the text what is there and expose it to view. The expositor opens what appears to be closed, makes plain what is obscure, unravels what is knotted, and unfolds what is tightly packed. (Between Two Worlds) Alistair Begg: Unfolding the text of Scripture in such a way that makes contact with the listeners’ world while exalting Christ and confronting them with the need for action. (Preaching for God’s Glory)

Why teach through books of the Bible instead of interesting topics? I mean, won’t we be able to draw a bigger crowd if we teach interesting topics? Probably! But is that the purpose of a pastor or a church? To stack people on top of each other and hope that maybe they will grow? Paul said the church leaders’ job is “to equip the saints for the work of the ministry…building up the body of Christ.” We teach through books of the Bible simply because the Bible, and only the Bible, is the Word of God. And because we believe what Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 3: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” Profitable for truth, for exposing error, for correcting wrong behavior and for training good behavior. But even more, Paul said, that we may be complete men and women of God and that we may be equipped for every good work! That’s a lot of good works. Good works in the home, good works in the church, good works in the place of business, good works in the community. So, it must beg the question: Why don’t we see much expository preaching in churches anymore? Alistair Begg said, “The absence of expository preaching is directly related to an erosion of confidence in the authority and sufficiency of Scripture.” If we lose confidence in the Bible, then we replace a period in the Bible with a comma. One “comma” prevalent in many churches today is to reject clear biblical truth that God created two genders, male and female, and that God created and ordained marriage as between one man and one woman. Period. 

Paul spent three years in Ephesus, preaching and teaching. Remember when Paul met with the Ephesian elders a few years later, as he was on his way to Jerusalem? He said, “Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.” I believe the whole counsel of God can best be declared through expository preaching. Tim Keller said it this way: “Expository preaching should provide the main diet of preaching for a Christian community. . . . (It) is the best method for displaying and conveying your conviction that the whole Bible is true. This approach testifies that you believe every part of the Bible to be God’s Word, not just particular themes and not just the parts you feel comfortable agreeing with.”

So, the family returned to Egypt after a long journey to Canaan, where the brothers buried their father, Jacob. When they got back, Joseph’s ten older brothers suddenly realize their father is dead. That’s the way it reads, and it would be funny if it weren’t so sad! Because this triggers in their minds that only one possibility awaits them: they will be punished, maybe even put to death, for their sin against Joseph 39 years earlier. In their muddled thinking, stoked by fear, Joseph has been patiently biding his time for years, while his hatred boiled just beneath the surface, waiting until the day that dear old dad is out of the picture so he could execute his wrath on these wicked men. Oh, and at the same time, he has been generously providing for his brothers in Egypt for 17 years. What do they do? They send a messenger to Joseph with a made-up story about their father Jacob giving a command before he died that Joseph should forgive his brothers for their sin. And, the messenger says to Joseph, your brothers ask that you forgive their transgressions as they are the servants of the God of your father.

It reminds me of the parable of the unforgiving servant that Jesus told in Matthew. A servant owed, let’s say, 5 billion dollars, to the king. No way he could ever repay it, so the king ordered that he and his family and everything they had be sold. The man went to the king and begged for mercy. And the king forgave his debt! Completely forgave him, no strings attached. The servant went out and happened upon a man who owed him $5. He seized the man and began to choke him while demanding payment. The servant begged for patience and promised to pay, but the man who had just been forgiven 5 billion dollars took the man who owed him $5 and put him in prison until he could pay what he owed, to the last penny. The only way to understand that parable is to see that the man who had been forgiven 5 billion by the king did not receive the grace he had been given. He still saw himself as someone with an unpayable debt and therefore had no patience with anyone who happened to be in his debt. Simply put, he rejected grace and held even more tightly to the law.

Tim Keller wrote, “When something happens that reveals your sins more clearly than you have ever wanted to see or admit, does it move you away from God or closer to him? If it makes you want to stay away from God and prayer and church—that shows you don’t understand what Jesus did for you. If you grasped it, your inner dialogue with God would sound more like this: ‘Lord, I knew before that you died for me and accepted me, but I didn’t know I was this foolish or this sinful—so now I realize your love is greater than I thought. Your mercy is more free and undeserved than I thought!” (Forgive: Why Should I and How Can I?)

The brothers were afraid of Joseph because their understanding of a gracious and forgiving God was stunted. Again, Keller writes, “If you have a God who is nothing but wrath, and if you have little understanding of what happened on the cross, you’ll be a driven person. You’ll try hard to be moral. You’ll try hard to be good, but you will always feel unworthy. It will be hard to grow into a loving person, because fear cannot awaken love. Only love can awaken and grow more love.”

So how do we approach and accept the amazing grace of God’s forgiveness? Stuart Townend’s last refrain in “How Deep the Father’s Love” says it so beautifully:

I will not boast in anything, No gifts, no power, no wisdom;
But I will boast in Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection.
Why should I gain from His reward? I cannot give an answer;
But this I know with all my heart –His wounds have paid my ransom.

Picture three grown sons standing around their father’s bed on Christmas, 2005. The four men of the family were together for the first time in at least 15 years. The oldest grew up like many firstborns, wanting to please his dad, working for the company that gave his father a career, being a responsible son. The second son ran off to college, met his wife, and settled 75 miles away from his hometown. His relationship with his father had been strained over the years, sometimes because of his stubbornness and pride, sometimes because of his father’s. The third son ran off to the beach after some run-ins with the law, and there he had stayed, without a driver’s license but with a job, a moped and a faithful dog. He too had a strained relationship with his father whose feelings about his third son’s lifestyle seemed to alternate between guilt and frustration.

Here they were, all together again, brought to this place because their father was dying. He had been diagnosed three months earlier with cancer and was doing all that he could to beat the disease. But the prognosis wasn’t good, and the weight of their father’s impending death muted the sons’ laughter and rough teasing. They didn’t know what to say. They listened to their father speak about growing up as one of eight children in a house where there were no extras and often not enough love to go around. “The only thing my parents ever gave me,” he said, “was a .22 rifle.” He went over the finances with his three sons and began to cry as he spoke of leaving his wife, and their mother, behind.

He said that he had not done a good job when the three boys were growing up of expressing how proud he was of them. “I couldn’t have asked for three finer sons,” he said. “I just wish I had done a better job giving encouragement and guidance for you three, but when I was growing up, all I got from my dad was the belt…and I guess I passed some of that on.” The middle son responded, “Dad, we deserved every lickin’ we got…and plenty we didn’t get!” The father smiled tiredly and praised his two older sons for the way they had raised their own children. The talk shifted to final plans that would need to be made. “What would you like your obituary to say, Dad?” they asked, and the oldest took notes. “What hymn or scripture would you like in your funeral service?” the middle son asked. His father replied, “How Great Thou Art.”

He died a little more than 3 months later. And as the middle son, though I have many regrets about my relationship with Dad, for this one thing I will always be grateful: that the last Christmas we were together, speaking to one another with love, putting the past hurts behind us, loving one another just as Christ has loved us.

I am certain that this column is being read by many who are estranged from a brother, a father, a mother. Some have made a vow to themselves that you will “never step foot in that house again!” because of past hurts or offenses. Consider this truth: “Bitterness is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.” Time is short, friend. Why not be reconciled today, before the sun goes down?

Is it hard? Yes. Is it worth it? Oh, yes.

The last act of Father Jacob was to bless his twelve sons, and you can read his blessing/prophecies in Genesis 49. Though all of the sons are important in the history of the foundation of Israel, the lion’s share of the blessings go to Judah and Joseph. Judah is the lion of the tribes and Jesus is the lion of the tribe of Judah, the King of kings. But Joseph was Jacob’s favorite son as a child, and clearly Joseph lived in such a way to increase favor with his father. Charles Spurgeon said, “The main point in Joseph’s character was that he was in clear and constant fellowship with God, and therefore God blessed him greatly. He lived to God, and was God’s servant; he lived with God, and was God’s child.”

Jacob gives God five titles as he uses the word “blessings” five times. Jacob says God is: The Mighty One of Jacob. The Shepherd. The Stone of Israel. (The Shepherd leads and the Stone is stable, unchanging.)  The God of your father. The Almighty. What a great word of God to pray back to God! “Oh God of my father, you will help me! Almighty God, you will bless me and have blessed me with blessings from heaven!” He helped Joseph and heaped blessings on his head and those who came after him, as his father says here. And the same is true for all who follow Christ and are co-heirs with him.

Jacob says to Joseph, “The blessings of your father are mighty beyond the blessings of my parents.” I love this new Jacob. I don’t think Jacob is saying he has been blessed so much because he is better than his father Isaac or his grandfather Abraham. I think the opposite! I believe he is acknowledging that God’s grace to him is amazing beyond anything he could imagine because he deserved none of it. He may be saying something like this: You have blessed me beyond anything I can imagine, God, because I know I was selfish, deceitful, a bad father, and a lousy patriarch. And yet you forgave me and turned my heart towards you.

When I think of Jacob at the end of his life, I think of the woman “of the city, who was a sinner,” who kissed Jesus’ feet and anointed them with ointment. Jesus was rebuked by the host, a Pharisee named Simon, who thought to himself that if Jesus were really a prophet, he would know who this woman was! Jesus knew Simon’s thoughts so he told him a story of someone who owed a lot of money and was forgiven the debt and as a result loved the one very much who had forgiven him. Then he said of the woman, “Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”

I think Jacob knows best at the end of his life how much God had carried him and loved him and forgiven him. He loves much because he has been forgiven much. Finally, at the age of 147!

Why wait until the end of life to know that truth and walk in the love that flows from a heart that has been “forgiven much”?

A young man asked me once how far he could go with his girlfriend and not sin. I asked him if he thought he would marry this girl one day and he shrugged. I said that if his future wife was ‘out there’ somewhere, what did he hope other guys would be doing with her? How far would he want them to go with his future bride? He got the point. Young men are to “flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness,” not just in the dating or courtship stage, but at all times before marriage. Hey guys, this is almost impossible without help. Seek out an older Christian brother to hold you accountable. Young husbands, you may have come into the marriage with a track record of giving into your lusts, and now you realize that doesn’t disappear magically when you say, “I do.” You need help to resist giving in to them, and what better partner to help you than your own spouse? Many times it is the younger wife who is the stronger spiritually, especially when it comes to these matters. Make yourself vulnerable in asking for her help.

A younger man is almost always ruled by his desires. It might be a desire for sexual pleasure that finds its empty fulfillment in sinful substitutes for the marriage bed. Or it might be a desire for entertainment pleasure, which can find its fake fulfillment in social media or Netflix or video game binges. It might be a lust for power or for success, which can lead to sacrificing everything on the altar of climbing the economic ladder. The truth is, you don’t break the commands of God; you break yourself against them. The longer and the harder you throw yourself into any pursuit other than God, the more you hurt yourself, and those around you. But when you submit yourself to the Lord and allow him to teach you self-control, there is no end to what he can do in and through your life. Again, we cannot do this alone. We need the help of Christian brothers and sisters, one of many reasons planting ourselves in a healthy church and really getting to know that gospel community is critical and necessary for our lives.

In the 1960s and 70s, psychologists at Stanford conducted the now-famous “Marshmallow Test.” They handed a child a marshmallow (or a cookie, whichever they liked best) and told him or her, “If you wait 15 minutes without eating this, I’ll give you two marshmallows.” Then the researcher left the room. Some of the kids gobbled up the first marshmallow or cookie; others waited. The way in which the second group waited is hilarious. Many kids paced the room. Some would pat the marshmallow or just stare at it. Others turned around so they couldn’t see it at all. Nonetheless, they chose delayed gratification. When these researchers tracked the kids’ progress over the years, they found that the second group far exceeded the first in life skills: they had higher SAT scores, were in better physical shape, even had a lower BMI (Body Mass Index) thirty years later and were more likely to be happy in life. The only difference between the two groups in this study was self-control.

An interviewer asked Sir Edmund Hilary, the first man who conquered Mount Everest, about his passions for climbing mountains. He said, “It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.” Younger people, God calls you first to conquer yourselves. And believe me, we older men are with you in the battle and have not yet arrived!

Conquering yourself will look a lot like taking up your cross daily and following Christ.

As many in the faith mourn the passing of Tim Keller and thank God for his ministry that has touched countless numbers, I am reminded of Paul’s strong encouragement for pastors and church leaders in Titus 2. Tim Keller modeled these things for us.

First, he is to teach what accords with sound doctrine. In short, he teaches the Bible. That is the first and most important responsibility of a minister of the Gospel, and nothing can replace it or cover up for the lack of it.

He is also to be a model of good works. Good leaders should never show off, but good leaders will always show up. And stand out. And that’s because we all need people to follow. Even people to imitate. Paul said, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” It was Jeff who inspired me to do triathlons, at least a few, back when I was a younger man in my 50’s. I had heard Jeff talk about triathlons a lot, but then I started training with him, and learning from him, and that changed everything. It was Shawn who inspired me to start memorizing books of the Bible. I had heard Shawn and others talk about memorizing chapters and books in the Bible. But then I heard him recite a couple of chapters of Philippians and, several months later, I followed his example. John Calvin said, “Example draws where precept fails.” Do you get that? We can tell others how they are to live, but how much better to show them.

This is why parents who develop good strong relationships with their children are going to be the most palpable persuaders of sound doctrine that results in godly living in their children’s lives. In a recent survey of 9300 millennials who were raised in church-going homes, the most powerful predictor in children of Christian belief and practice as an adult, of satisfaction in life, of civic and community involvement, and many other positive results, was the presence of a strong relationship with their parents as they grew up. It’s just a fact that children grow up to be like their parents, for good or ill. The pastor’s job, then, is to teach the parents how to be godly role models for their children.

Not only must the pastor be a model for good works, but also he must have integrity, dignity, and sound speech in his teaching and preaching.  Integrity means “incorruptness,” and it sits in contrast to the message of those who teach for shameful gain and will say whatever draws a crowd, or sells a book or CD. If integrity is your motive, dignity is your manner. Richard Baxter wrote, “Whatever you do, let the people see that you are in good earnest…you cannot break men’s hearts by jesting with them.” There’s a balance here, I know, but teaching the Word must be serious business. I don’t mean dry and boring, but certainly we must be serious about the Word and how we present it. If our manner suggests that we only want to make people feel comfortable or light-hearted all the time, then we may very well be leading them down a comfortable path to destruction.

Finally, if integrity is your motive and dignity is your manner, then sound speech is your message. This does not refer to diction or enunciation but the validity of the message that we are presenting. Again, we who speak for God before His people must preach the Bible.

Is it enough to just do good works and ignore the Scriptures? No. Neither is it enough to teach the Bible and not live out its truths through good works. The church and the world must see both.

The story of Jacob and Joseph reuniting in Egypt after 22 years reminds me of the special love between a father and a son. No story moves me more on that theme than the story of John Paton, a 19^th century missionary to New Hebrides in the South Seas. One of 11 children, John would write in his autobiography that the most memorable impression from his childhood was his father’s prayers for his children as he went to what John called his father’s Sanctuary Closet daily. He wrote, “my soul would wander back to those early scenes, and shut itself up once again in that Sanctuary Closet, and, hearing still the echoes of those cries to God, would hurl back all doubt with the victorious appeal, “He walked with God, why may not I?” John left home in his early 20’s for Glasgow, Scotland, to divinity school, where he would prepare for life as a missionary to the cannibals in the South Pacific. He records the story of his leaving for seminary in his autobiography:  

“My dear father walked with me the first six miles of the way. His counsels and tears and heavenly conversation on that parting journey are fresh in my heart as if it had been but yesterday; and tears are on my cheeks as freely now as then, whenever memory steals me away to the scene. For the last half mile or so we walked on together in almost unbroken silence – my father, as was often his custom, carrying hat in hand, while his long flowing yellow hair (then yellow, but in later years white as snow) streamed like a girl’s down his shoulders. His lips kept moving in silent prayers for me; and his tears fell fast when our eyes met each other in looks for which all speech was vain! We halted on reaching the appointed parting place; he grasped my hand firmly for a minute in silence, and then solemnly and affectionately said: “God bless you, my son! Your father’s God prosper you and keep you from all evil!”

Unable to say more, his lips kept moving in silent prayer; in tears we embraced, and parted. I ran off as fast as I could; and, when about to turn a corner in the road where he would lose sight of me, I looked back and saw him still standing with head uncovered where I had left him – gazing after me. Waving my hat to him, I rounded the corner and out of sight in an instant. But my heart was too full and sore to carry me further, so I darted into the side of the road and wept for a time. Then, rising up cautiously, I climbed the dike to see if he yet stood where I had left him; and just at that moment I caught a glimpse of him climbing the dike and looking out for me! He did not see me, and after he gazed eagerly in my direction for a while he got down, set his face toward home, and began to return – his head still uncovered, and his heart, I felt sure, still rising in prayers for me. I watched through blinding tears, till his form faded from my gaze; and then, hastening on my way, vowed deeply and oft, by the help of God, to live and act so as never to grieve or dishonor such a father and mother as he had given me.” (John G. Paton, D.D., Missionary to the New Hebrides)

May God grant us as parents and grandparents to love like John Paton’s parents loved him. And where we fail, or where we were failed by our parents, as none are perfect, may God give us grace to forget what lies behind and to press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus!