Good morning. May the Lord be with you and bless you today.
At Westminster Books this week you can get a discount on the Dream Keeper Saga by Kathryn Butler. You can also get up to 68% off some of their summer reading picks.
Today’s Kindle deals include Jonty Allcock’s Impossible Commands.

Most of us can be cowardly when it comes to evangelism. Mack Stiles has a good word for us.

“Churchgoing is good for the poor and vulnerable in a variety of ways: it gives people moral guidance on how to live their lives. It gives them opportunities to directly serve others as a community. It results in tithes that are then spent on a wide variety of charitable works. These things are not salvation, and it is certainly possible for someone to be warming a pew for 50 years without a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. But any person is far more likely to find Jesus while nodding off in a pew than watching Netflix in bed.”

Reuben Bredenhof writes about some of those experiences that will be near-universal to preachers.

This video from Gavin Ortlund is a long one but has some fascinating (and at times heartbreaking) things to say about the Israelite’s conquest of Canaan.

Anne Kennedy: “My question is, when will the rulers of the world finally be anxious enough about the collapse of their own societies to be curious enough about discovering for themselves what would make women want to have children? I feel like it’s not that complicated. But apparently, it is absolutely beyond the reach of modern societies.”

Rebekah Matt has three words for Christian parents. “The Bible has some other things to say about raising children, but in general, the overall message is to pass down your faith. As the years fly by and your children get older, your influence over them shrinks dramatically (this is by God’s design—it’s nothing personal), but laying the foundation of faith in Christ remains your primary purpose.”

Subjection describes actions taken by the one with authority where submission describes actions taken by the one under authority. When it comes to marriage, church, and our shared life with other believers, we are instructed to submit, not to subject.

How useless worrying is! It removes no trouble, lightens no burden, and softens no hardness in one’s lot. On the other hand, it only makes the trial greater and the heart in its feverishness, less strong for endurance.
—J.R. Miller

This week Westminster Books has a deal on a new book titled You Are Still a Mother that will be of comfort to many, I’m sure. They have a number of related titles on sale, including my own Seasons of Sorrow.

Psalms for Men Who Are Struggling
“The Psalms made no sense to me when I was in college because they sounded so bleak. Here were these compositions that were supposed to be so worshipful, but the Psalmists just spent too much time complaining about how hard life was. Now that I’m in my 40s, the Psalms resonate with me because in my frustration with the difficulties of life, I’ve said many of the things they say.”
Today’s Defining Question: What Is a Human?
Trevin Wax says, perhaps rightly, that the great theological battle of our day will be over anthropology. “What does it mean to be embodied? What do our bodies signify? What does our design say about our identity and purpose?”
Structured Song: a qualified appreciation of church hymnals
Andrew provides a qualified appreciation of church hymnals. “Much has been gained through the use of this new technology, but in this article I want to offer some appreciation for what hymnals brought and bring to the church, and how we could harness some of their benefits without necessarily sacrificing the help that technology has been to us in this area.”
Top Tips for Parents
There are some tips here that parents may find useful as they raise their children in a world like this.
On the Waves
I enjoyed this new poem “On the Waves” by Esther.
You Should Try Writing the Conclusion of Your Sermon First
I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who finds it beneficial to write the end of a sermon before the beginning. It doesn’t always work out, but often it does…
Flashback: Longing for What’s Second Best
While we can and should pray for those things we long for, we should always pray that what we long for would be according to God’s will.

I’m convinced that there is nothing that can happen to me in this life that is not precisely designed by a sovereign Lord to give me the opportunity to learn to know Him. —Elisabeth Elliot

This week the blog is sponsored by Desiring God and the post is written by David Mathis.

Some doomsdayers might say the church has a leadership crisis.
Perhaps a previous generation gave its presidents (and pastors) too much benefit of the doubt. But it that still our temptation today? Our criticisms of recognized leaders, cynicism toward them, conflicts with them, and controversies about them fill our feeds, queues, and real-life conversations. Are we becoming a society of discontents trying to take it to the man?
Whether in the world or in the church, both a fascination with and a negative mood toward our leaders and celebrities (we’re increasingly unable to draw clear lines between them) pervades our age. Many today are confused, and for good reason. Stories of use and abuse abound, and multiply, with the aid of our technologies.
While our list of what to beware grows longer and longer, do we have any corresponding list of (more positively) what to look for, and pray for, in our leaders?

No Confusion from Christ
For Christians, we have our conflicts and controversies to grieve and address, but the risen Christ has not left us to confusion for what to expect, pray for, and hold our leaders to account for. Scripture has a lot to say about our current crisis.
To my count, 1 Timothy 3 provides fifteen requirements for pastor-elders — the lead or teaching office in the church. Another list (again I count fifteen) comes just pages later in Titus 1, with most of them mapping on precisely to the first list. Added to that, we have, among others, 1 Peter 5:1–5; 2 Timothy 2:22–26; Hebrews 13:7 and 17; and the words of Christ in Mark 10:42–45.
Jesus has not left us without clarity.

Paul Really Knew
For more than a decade now, I’ve given unusual time and attention to lingering over the pastor-elder qualifications. Not only am I a pastor seeking to regularly rehearse what Christ requires of me (and grow, with his help, in these graces), but since 2012 I’ve been assigned “the eldership class” at Bethlehem Seminary. This class is typically a cohort of 15–16 seminarians, training to be vocational pastor-elders.
Over time, we’ve found the lists of 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 to be worthy of far more than a brief review or a single session of focus. In fact, in seeking to present to the class and explain what Scripture teaches, and what I’ve learned to be significant in pastoral ministry, I’ve found again and again that essentially all the relevant practical issues in preparing for eldership pair with one or more of the traits Paul lists in 1 Timothy 3 or Titus 1.
Imagine that. Paul really knew what he was talking about — not just as a list of prerequisites to become an elder but as a catalog of the kind of virtues that elders need day in and day out to be healthy, effective elders in the long haul for the joy of the church.

What Kind of Men?
Semester after semester, we have found much life, much to learn, much to say, much to discuss, and much to apply in these elder qualifications. For one, the graces mentioned here are not devoid of reference elsewhere in Scripture. Rather, in most cases, the Bible, from Old Testament to New, has much to say about these traits.
In studying these traits — and local-church leadership through them — I’ve come to organize the class (and now the book Workers for Your Joy) under three main headings: humbled, whole, and honorable. Or we might say, the devotional life (before God), the private life (before those who know us best), and the public life (before the watching church and world).
My hope is that such a study will be helpful, first and foremost, for current pastor-elders and especially for young men aspiring to the work. Under God, I’d love to see a new generation of pastors rise-and-fall proof their ministries, under God, long before the crises come.
But I also hope that congregants — church members — might enjoy finding new clarity about what they can expect in their pastors and hold them to. What does Christ call Christian leaders to be?
Christ has not left us without clarity. Christian leadership exists for the joy of the church. Such a vision may turn some of our churches upside down, first for pastors and then for the people. That’s the vision I hope to impart, and linger in, in Workers for Your Joy.