One cannot explain the explosive dynamite, the dunamis, of the early church apart from the fact that they practiced two things simultaneously: orthodoxy of doctrine and orthodoxy of community in the midst of the visible church, a community which the world can see. By the grace of God, therefore, the church must be known simultaneously for its purity of doctrine and the reality of its community.- Francis Schaeffer, The Church Before the Watching World
But let me take a moment to express my regret to you on behalf of your pastors.Read the rest.
Where our leadership was characterized by these patterns—in ways that I’ve shared and in ways I haven’t fully seen— we want to ask you to forgive us. We’ve been wrong. Deficiencies in our leadership have been hurtful to some of you. We are very sorry. Please forgive us.
There are people who have left Covenant Life over the years in part because of the very areas we’re talking about. I know many people who have grown up here whose walk with God has been significantly hindered by these issues. I want to try and get this apology out to them. We’re going to have the audio of tonight’s message available online and hope you’ll pass it along to anyone who needs to hear it.
And if you’re one of these people, and you’re listening to this some time in the future, please hear this: we’re asking for your forgiveness, too. And we sincerely pray that our failures as pastors and our failures as a local church will not hinder you from trusting in the perfect Savior Jesus Christ. If you’re thriving in your faith in another church, we praise God. But if you’re not walking with Jesus, and in some way our practice and example has distorted your view of Jesus, please forgive us and please turn back to him.
I realize you may never love Covenant Life or come back to this church, but I hope that you will come back to Jesus if you’ve strayed. And I want you to know that we would love to have you join us again at Covenant Life as we seek to grow in grace together. By the power of the gospel of grace, we are committed to growing and changing with God’s help.
For everyone here tonight and anyone listening, if you want to sit down with any of the pastors and talk about any specific circumstances from the past, please contact any of the pastors. We would love to do that.
I recognize that this apology doesn’t fix anything if you’ve been hurt, but I pray that God will use it to bring healing and closure for you.
If you don't have C.J.'s book, Sex, Romance, and the Glory of God, you need to repent and buy it now
. It might be the best $10 you ever spent.
C.J. Mahaney from The Cross Centered Life:You and I follow along as the Romans lead Jesus away to the hill called Golgotha – - “Place of a Skull.” They nail His quivering flesh onto a cross, then raise it and slam it on the ground.
From all around us in the throng of onlookers, the verbal abuse continues. Those passing by wag their heads and say, “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” The chief priests and the scribes and the elders echo the mockery: “He saved others; he cannot save himself.
Make no mistake: Jesus can descend from the cross and save Himself at any moment. It isn’t the nails that keep Him there. What keeps Him there is what placed Him there – - His passion to do the will of His Father, and His love for sinners like you and me.
Without their knowing it, the mocking words these onlookers utter do in fact reveal the uniqueness of the Savior’s death and why it mattered. In their spiritual blindness they in effect express sublime spiritual truths. For Jesus cannot save both Himself and save you and me. It’s precisely because He refused to save Himself that He’s able to save others.
It would be necessary for Him to die even if it were for your sin alone or my sin alone. That’s why you and I are fully responsible for this tragic death. As John Stott wisely observed, “Until you see the cross as that which is done by you, you will never appreciate that it is done for you.”
Luther said that we all carry in our pockets His very nails. Are you aware of those nails in your possession?
On different occasions over the years I have been on the receiving end of criticism from someone who appeared to have, well, a bad attitude. When this happens I am tempted to be offended by that attitude, and prematurely relieved, concluding that any criticism brought in such an attitude must certainly be inaccurate. And it might be inaccurate (or not). But even if the criticism is inaccurate, any relief I experience is a short-lived when I am reminded of Mr. Spurgeon’s words.* Charles Spurgeon, sermon, “David Dancing before the Ark because of His Election,” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, vol. 35.
Even if the criticism is inaccurate, that leaves no room for my pride. This is due to the fact that I am more fully informed of my own sin than any critic. More importantly, God is perfectly informed of all my sins. So even if the correction is proven totally inaccurate, I shouldn’t be prouder for it.
Knowing this restrains me from too quickly criticizing and dismissing the perceptions of others, even if their correction is severe, even if their hearts don’t seem humble and kind, and even if their content is largely inaccurate. I can always learn from criticism one simple lesson: I am worse than they think!
Surgeon’s quote humbles me, restrains my pride, and reminds me that I always need a Savior even when others cannot accurately see the true depth of my own sin. I have learned over the years that even when criticism is inaccurate, it should humble me and remind me of God's accurate moral portrait of sinners like me. It should remind me that even the most ill-informed criticism is still more flattering than the reality.
Years ago during a study on Proverbs, I was surprised to discover that maturing in wisdom is often the fruit of correction (see Proverbs 9:8, 19:25, 29:15). I can remember thinking, “Surely it’s possible to learn wisdomwithout any need for correction and criticism.”
Apparently not.
In his commentary on Proverbs, Derek Kidner writes that wisdom’s “frequent companion is correction” [1]. That phrase is now firmly fixed in my mind. If you ask for wisdom to hang around in your life, you will find that she doesn’t prefer to travel alone.
If we could mature in wisdom without any need for correction—and how I wish we could!—I would have discovered a way to do it by now and probably written a bestselling book explaining how. But that’s not how it works. We cannot separate growth in wisdom from criticism, correction, and reproof.Read the rest.
Charles Spurgeon once noted in a sermon, “I consider that one of the great lacks of the Church nowadays is not so much Christian preaching as Christian talking.” In fact, a preacher may invest more time in carefully thinking about the words he will use in one sermon than most of us will invest thinking about the words that will come from our lips all year.
And the result is that we often waste our words. Corrupt talk is a daily temptation. Rarely do we consider the decay that we spread through our speech. And rarely do we consider the grace-giving potential of our speech. “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21).
So what words fit a particular occasion? Consideration for one we are conversing with must inform our words. So before I speak I must observe and listen. I must ask questions. I must take an interest in them.
So here is my point. Buying the appropriate Christmas gift for someone requires that we know and study them. But this is no less true of our conversations.
- If they are Christians, are there evidences of grace I can draw their attention to?
- If they are not Christians, are there evidences of common grace in their life?
- Is this person experiencing prosperity?
- Or is this person experiencing adversity?
- If they are suffering I want to give them comforting grace through my words.
- If they are weary, I want to give them sustaining grace through my words.
- And to all, when and where appropriate, I want to share the gospel, for that is the most effective way to give grace through my words.
So as you consider certain individuals, and seek to buy meaningful gifts for them, also consider how you can give them grace through your words.Read the rest.
C.J. Mahaney
:A humble athlete recognizes his limitations. We all come with divinely imposed limitations—limitations meant to humble us.
The humble athlete welcomes critique and correction from coaches and teammates. If we’re humble, we realize that we have weaknesses, so we welcome correction. If we’re humble, we know we need to improve, so we want others to show us where and how.
The humble athlete acknowledges the contribution of others. No athlete accomplishes anything alone.
The humble athlete is gracious in defeat and modest in victory. When the humble athlete loses, he recognizes that his opponents played better, and he sincerely congratulates them on their win. And when the humble athlete wins, there are no excessive celebrations, no inappropriate victory dances. He realizes that victory is a gift from God and is an opportunity to draw attention to God, not himself.
The humble athlete honors his coach. He doesn’t rip the coach in private, he doesn’t slouch when on the bench, he expresses gratitude and accepts the role the coach chooses for him.
The humble athlete respects the officials. He doesn’t protest a call—even if it was inaccurate.
The humble athlete gives glory for all his athletic accomplishment to God. He knows that all of his athletic skill is ultimately a gift from God.Don't Waste Your Sports
- Check it out here.
As kids get older, how do you deal with idols in their lives?...For example, my 12 year old son is generally obedient, but he loves to play video games. If that privilege is lifted he is like a different kid. How much do we restrict? Do we just say no more of this? What have you done in those situations?Read his response here.
What I have learned from about twenty-years of serious reading is this: It is sentences that change my life, not books. What changes my life is some new glimpse of truth, some powerful challenge, some resolution to a long-standing dilemma, and these usually come concentrated in a sentence or two. I do not remember 99% of what I read, but if the 1% of each book or article I do remember is a life-changing insight, then I don’t begrudge the 99%.Read the rest.
So how does a pastor help ensure that doctrinal knowledge does not become an end in itself? To this point Piper added the following comment:
A very practical thing for pastors: I asked that we sing when I was done because I really wanted you to be able to say with the heart “all I have is Christ.” I wanted you to say it and sing it. My suggestion for pastors is that you study the music here, the lyrics, and you do the research and get the gospel songs. Sovereign Grace is serving the evangelical movement incredibly, I think. I’m going to qualify my enthusiasm here. I'm totally there, these are my favorite contemporary songs. And it is a narrow slice of culture, it’s a narrow slice of musicality. Know that, and be okay with that, and maybe not limit yourself to that.…It’s amazing how many churches don’t—from their hearts—sing the gospel, sing the glories of justification, sing the glories of substitutionary atonement, sing the glories of the resurrection.John’s words show us the important relationship between knowing right doctrine and putting that doctrine into lyrics and songs that free our hearts to express our affections to the Savior. And I cannot think about this topic without voicing my appreciation for my friend and my favorite worship leader, Bob Kauflin.
This entire panel discussion is worth a listen and it’s available online here. Audio from all four of the panels is now available online here.
Tiger cannot intimidate this enemy like he can Pebble Beach or any of the field of professional golfers. And there is no privacy he can claim from this enemy, regardless of his resolve, his silence, or the name painted on his yacht. It’s likely Tiger only perceives the press hunting him out of a vain “curiosity about public figures.” But Tiger is being hunted and hounded by a far greater foe: the consequences of his sin.Read the whole thing.
And this story should humble and sober us. It should make us ask: Are there any so-called “secret sins” in my life? Is there anything I have done that I hope nobody discovers? Is there anything right now in my life that I should confess to God and the appropriate individuals?
And this should leave us more amazed by grace because there, but for the grace of God, go I.
I greatly appreciate C.J.’s comments here. I know for a fact (in spite of what you might think from the quote above) that C.J. loves creativity. He leads a ministry that is one of the most prolific I know of in producing new and fresh songs for congregational use. This is a huge creative endeavor. But again, the focal point of their creativity is to draw attention to the content of the gospel.
I have been reflecting recently on the tension that most church musicians live in between creative innovation and congregational accessibility. I think we are called to both and should reflect on how we are doing in each area. Most church leaders err on one side or another. Too much innovation can lead to a focus on the art itself and potentially (not always) away from the cross. Too much accessible singing that is rote or exactly the same week after week can (but not always) lead to sterile and unreflective participation.
The question is not IF you are creative, but HOW? For what purpose?
I would submit that we need to promote creativity and gospel-centeredness in all that we do as it pertains to the church gathering. Our gatherings certainly should not be a showcase of our creative abilities, but also not divorced from them. The aim and goal of our creativity should be to draw people’s attention to the gospel. Can we do both well? I think we can, but it will take much intentionality and hard work. If we can, I think God will be glorified and our people will be well served.
Lessons Learned from Three Decades of Leading from Sovereign Grace Ministries on Vimeo.
As one would expect, all these messages are completely worth the listen. I was told (I had to leave early) that the Q and A time with Bob Kauflin and C.J. Mahaney was especially exceptional. "The Pipe Bomb" (John Piper) brought the thunder as usually. Don't miss those two messages.
The WorshipGod Conference is devoted to the theology, practice, and joy of God-honoring worship. Our 2009 conference was held August 5–8 at Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
General-session audio is available for listening or download below. Seminar audio will be available in the coming weeks.
General Sessions
For all downloads, right-click and select "Save Target/Link As."The God of Worship (John Piper)
Listen | DownloadThe Heart of Worship (John Piper)
Listen | DownloadThe Leaders of Worship (Jeff Purswell)
Listen | DownloadThe Church of Worship (Thabiti Anyabwile)
Listen | DownloadLessons Learned from Three Decades of Leading (C.J. Mahaney and Bob Kauflin)
Listen | DownloadThe Life of Worship (Bob Kauflin)
Listen | Download
Audio from Past ConferencesWorshipGod08: free MP3s
WorshipGod06: free MP3s
WorshipGod04: free MP3s
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