Tim Challies

The Ministry of Being a Little Bit Further Along

What most people need and long for as they face trials and encounter questions is simply the dedicated attention of someone who is a little bit further along, the listening ear and gentle voice of someone who is a few steps ahead on the path of life, or the path of ministry, or the path of suffering, or the path of parenting. Most are merely seeking someone who will informally mentor them from the perspective of their own successes and failures, their own experiences of good and bad, the godly wisdom they have accumulated along the way.

No church can survive solely upon the labors of its pastors. No church can thrive when the expectation is that all ministry must be formal and must originate from the front of the room. No church can remain healthy when it falls to the elders to give and the members to consume. Rather, the work of ministry within a local church is the privilege and responsibility of each of the people who makes that church their own.
One of the most important ministries that any Christian can engage in is also one of the most unheralded. One of the ministries that is key to the functioning of the local church and to advancement in the Christian life is also one of the most overlooked. It is the simplest of all ministries and the least formal, a ministry that each of us is equipped to carry out. It is the ministry of being just a little bit further along.
There is a place in the church and a place in life for expertise and formal training. But there is a much wider place for simple commitment and involvement. The great majority of the help people need as they navigate life’s trials, the great bulk of the counsel people seek as they encounter life’s questions, does not require the input of experts, but merely the attention of someone who knows God and who knows his Word.
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A Late Summer Family Update (+ a few more LOTR thoughts)

We are now two weeks past the launch event for Seasons of Sorrow and one week past the official release date. Overall I think things went well. The Getty Music Sing! Conference, where we held the launch event and where I led a breakout session, was my first conference in more than two years and it was a blessing to meet so many of you there. I can’t say I really missed conferences and travel during the pandemic era, but it was still good to be back to it. I (perhaps inevitably) picked up a pretty good case of Covid there and though that knocked me off my feet for about a week, I then made a reasonably quick recovery. I trust I’ll stop coughing and recover my sense of taste before long!

I am very thankful for all the support and well-wishes related to the book and very grateful to each of you who purchased a copy. The song from CityAlight has also seemed to resonate and I look forward to hearing how you’ve introduced it to your own churches.
CityAlight shared some neat pictures from that launch event in case those are of interest:

I want to remind those of you who may be giving the book to families that have experienced a loss, that I’ve prepared a letter you can consider printing and including with it. It will help explain the background to the book and perhaps guide grieving parents to a couple of the chapters that may prove most helpful in the earliest days of their sorrow.
With the launch of Seasons of Sorrow behind me, I am planning to escape to a quiet location for a few days in October so I can begin to plan out my next writing project. I have what I think is a solid idea and one my publisher is behind, but I still need to tease it out and make sure it can be feasible—and be interesting enough to hold my attention through a year of writing and editing.
On the family front, Aileen recently began a part-time job—essentially a personal assistant in the real estate industry—and is enjoying it a lot. She sometimes works here and sometimes from the office, but considering her boss is a neighbor and has her office in her home, the commute is measured in mere meters. To this point it has been a good fit and a blessing to her.
Michaela did her first solo cross-border travel last weekend, flying down to the US to visit a friend and surprise her for her sweet sixteen. Sixteen is the generally-accepted age where people are allowed to fly without adult supervision and permission (though we still filled out the requisite paperwork just in case). She has traveled with us plenty in the past so had no trouble adapting to doing it on her own. She’s loving her online schooling and benefitting a lot from her classes. These are still early days, but so far she has no regrets in withdrawing from her former school.
While Michaela was going, Abby and Nate were arriving. Nate is a lifelong fan of the Blue Jays (rather convenient, considering the family he married into) but had never been to a game before. We decided a playoff run was the perfect time to remedy that, so he and Abby swung up for the weekend to go with us. I don’t get downtown as often as I could or should, but it sure was nice to take in a game at the Rogers Centre. It wasn’t a tremendously good game of baseball, but the Jays did come away with a solid win over the Orioles.
Finally, a couple of weeks ago I shared some thoughts on the first two episodes of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. I’ll add a few more thoughts today.
There was lots of chatter before the series debuted about whether or not it would be Wokety Woke Woke. We are now four episodes in and I’d say this is still not clear. What is clear is that the show’s creators are just making up their own story. And while the story is loosely based on Tolkien’s world, its characters tend to think, act, and speak like they live in ours. I suppose I could try to enjoy it on its own terms instead of trying to enjoy it as something related to The Lord of the Rings, but, as it happens, The Lord of the Rings is the only fantasy I’ve ever enjoyed. This show only means anything to me because of its connection to Tolkien—a connection that is increasingly tenuous.
To this point I’m finding the series drab. After four hours of television, and midway through the first season, very little has happened and no characters have been introduced that I have come to care about. It’s boring, boring, boring. Perhaps the worst thing of all, though, is that the central character is obnoxious, self-centered, entitled, and unlikeable. Why would you base a whole show around someone who is so brash and grating? And why would you make her so very different from who she was in the books and films? This is absolutely baffling to me! And don’t even get me started on the cringey action scenes where she single-handedly kills a snow troll or somehow shoves five soldiers into a prison cell even though she is unarmed. Galadriel is a beloved character from a beloved story and this adaptation completely eviscerates all that people love about her. I suppose you could say the writers are envisioning some kind of character arc in which she will eventually become the Galadriel we know and love. But I don’t think I’m alone in hoping that she comes across another snow troll soon—I know which of them I’ll be cheering for. (And yet that’s part of the difficulty with the show, isn’t it? We know she is in no great danger because she’s alive and well in the events that take place centuries later. We know she will survive every battle.)
Whatever the case, it’s hard to believe that this is the most expensive show in the history of television, not to mention one of the most hyped. At nearly $60 million per episode, and with some of the greatest intellectual property they could ever hope to work with, the creators have made a show that is, through the early episodes, mediocre at best. It truly could turn into one of the great entertainment disasters of all time. Of course it’s still possible that they can turn it around. But at this point I’m not holding out much hope. And, lest we lose sight of a key fact, let me repeat it: $60 million per episode and this is the best they can do! It’s almost unbelievable.

A La Carte (September 21)

For those who have been looking for it, the song “In the Valley (Bless the Lord)” which was written to go along with Seasons of Sorrow has now made its way to Spotify, Apple Music, and so on. You should now be able to listen to it wherever you listen to good music!

Speaking of the book, if you have been wondering what it’s all about, there are now a few reviews out there you can read: Donna Evans; The Palest Ink; Lisa LaGeorge.
Westminster Books is celebrating the 30th anniversary of Piper’s classic Let the Nations Be Glad by putting it and other similar titles on sale.
One Last Magnificent Porous Day
This is really good: “For one brief day the world was porous again. For one brief day we recognised that the invisible world still leaks into the visible. For one brief day – perhaps one final day – transcendence was admitted into the public square in the modern Western world, and we all stood and acknowledged it.” (See also Intermission: Last Post for Christian England)
Sharpshooter
The John 10:10 Project has another neat video. “It’s not particularly big, fast, or strong, yet the archerfish is one of the most proficient hunters in all of nature. Inhabiting shallow estuaries from India to Australia, the archer generates powerful jets of fluid that routinely dislodge insects clinging to branches up to six feet above the water line.”
Remembering Rich Mullins
It’s hard to believe it’s been 25 years since Rich Mullins died. Lisa remembers him in this article.
Conservative Theology Marks many new Canadians
I’m so thankful that my church has also been blessed in the ways Clint describes here. “The encouraging feature of many of the new Canadians at my church is the fact that they are bringing their theology with them. And the theology is good.”
Raising Emotional Healthy Ministry Kids
Eliza Huie: “This article is written for parents who are serving in ministry, and it is for the church. We all have a part in raising emotionally healthy ministry kids. Below are three issues ministry kids face and what parents and the church can do.”
Something to Eat
Andrea expresses a matter of caution here that we’d do well to consider.
Flashback: No Hand But His Ever Holds the Shears
If it is our loving gardener who does the pruning, we can be sure there are never any unwise or careless cuts. Though we may not know why this branch has had to be trimmed or that one removed, we do know the one who wields the blade.

A person may not allow us to talk to them about God, but they cannot keep us from talking to God about them. The power of Intercession! —Paul Washer

Shaken to Bear Fruit: What Has Come from Losing a Son

The strange machine along the streets of Madrid seized my attention.

Its long arms reached out and wrapped themselves around the trunk of a tree. Its motor vibrated those arms at high speeds so they could shake the tree violently. Its net sat suspended just beneath the lowest branches. As the machine buzzed and roared, a hundred ripe oranges fell from the branches to land in the net below — a hundred ripe oranges that could feed and satisfy a hundred people. That machine was carefully designed to release the fruit from the tree — to release it by shaking.

The nets filled with oranges remind me of something the apostle Paul once wrote about times of trial and tribulation, of deep sorrow and loss. He contended that Christians must be prepared to be afflicted, perplexed, persecuted, and even struck down — a collection of words meant to display the variety of ways in which God may call us to suffer (2 Corinthians 4:8–9).

The God who is sovereign over all things may lead us into times and contexts that are deeply painful. Yet we can be confident that our suffering is never arbitrary and never meaningless, for God always has a purpose in mind. Hence, Paul says more: we will be “afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.” For those in Christ, God’s purpose is never to harm us and never to ruin us.

“The God who is sovereign over all things may lead us into times and contexts that are deeply painful.”

So what is God’s purpose in our suffering? Why does God sometimes lead us away from the green pastures and still waters to call us instead to follow him into deep and dark valleys (Psalm 23)? These were questions that were much on my mind in the days, weeks, and months following the Lord’s decision to call my son to himself.

God Left Us Sonless

Nick, age 20, was at seminary and taking a break from his studies to play a game with a group of his friends when, in an instant, his heart stopped, his body fell to the ground, and his soul went to heaven. His friends tried to revive him, a passing doctor tried to revive him, responding paramedics and emergency-room doctors tried to revive him. But it was to no avail. God had called him home. And since God had summoned him to heaven, there was no doctor, no medication, and no procedure that could keep my son here on earth.

I don’t know why God determined that Nick would live so short a life, why he would leave this world with so little accomplished and so much left undone. I don’t know why God determined to leave Aileen and me sonless, Abby and Michaela brotherless, Ryn fiancéless and ultimately husbandless. I don’t know why God did it — why God exercised his sovereignty in taking away a young man who was so dearly loved, who was so committed to serving Jesus, and who had so much promise. But I don’t need to know, for, as Moses said, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God” (Deuteronomy 29:29).

While I don’t know why God did it, I am already beginning to understand how God is using it.

Lamentation Without Resentment

On the streets of Madrid, a machine shakes the orange trees to cause them to release their fruit. It shakes them violently, shakes them so hard that it almost looks as if the branches must snap, as if the trunk must splinter, as if the entire tree must be uprooted. Yet this is the way it must be done, for the delicious fruit is connected tightly to the inedible branches. And the moment the machine has collected the fruit, I observe, it ceases its shaking, it furls up its net, it withdraws its arms, and it backs away, leaving the tree healthy and well, prepared to bear yet another harvest.

And just like that machine shook the orange tree, Nick’s death has shaken me and shaken my family and shaken my church and shaken Nick’s friends and shaken his school — shaken us to our very core. Yet this shaking, though it has been violent and exceedingly painful, has not caused us to break. We have raised our voices in lamentation, but never in rebellion. We have raised hands of worship, but never fists of rage. We have asked questions, but have never expressed resentment.

“God does not mean to harm us when he shakes us, but simply to release the fruit.”

To the contrary, as I look at those who love Nick most, I see them displaying fresh evidences of God’s grace. I see them growing in love for God, in the joy of their salvation, in the peace of the gospel, in their patience with God’s purposes, in kindness toward others, in the goodness of personal holiness, in faithfulness to all God has called them to, in gentleness with other people’s sins and foibles, and in that rare, blessed virtue of self-control. I see them bearing the precious fruit of the Spirit as never before (Galatians 5:22–23).

Shaken to Bear Fruit

Just as the fruit of the tree clings tightly to the branch, the evil within us clings tightly to the good, the vices to the virtues, the immoral to the upright. God does not mean to harm us when he shakes us, but simply to release the fruit — to do what is necessary to separate what is earthly from what is heavenly, what dishonors him from what delights his heart.

As I consider my wife, as I consider my girls, as I consider Nick’s precious fiancée, as I consider his friends and fellow church members, I see that they have been deeply shaken by his death — shaken by God’s sovereign hand. But I see as well that they have been shaken for a beautiful purpose. They have been shaken to bear fruit.

A La Carte (September 20)

Blessings to you today.

(Yesterday on the blog: Emerging From Our Trials Unscathed)
The Queen’s Funeral Sermon
“In what has been billed ‘the most watched sermon in history’ the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, today spoke at the funeral of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. For those who never preach, and for those of us whose audience figures are drastically more modest, it is easy to be overly-critical about what is said and how it is said on such occasions. This post aims to avoid all such snark, and to reflect appreciatively on the Archbishop’s words, with one small point of clarification.”
2022 Results Now Available: The State of Theology
Ligonier Ministries has released the results of their annual State of Theology survey. As usual, there are some interesting (and concerning) results.
Seek God’s Face Before You Seek His Hand
It’s a good rule this: seek God’s face before you seek his hand.
What Is God’s Highest Calling?
“What is God’s highest calling? No one profession or ministry. God’s highest calling for each person is to surrender themselves to Him for whatever He asks. He has a place and purpose for each of us.”
The American Dream Couldn’t Save My Marriage
I appreciate Habtamu Sisay sharing his account of how the American Dream couldn’t save his marriage.
Why did God prevent Israelites with deformities from approaching the altar?
Sinclair Ferguson takes on a really difficult question here: Why were priests with physical deformities prohibited from offering sacrifices in the Old Testament?
Flashback: It Has To Be Dark Before We Can See
The path to joy does not avoid sorrow, according to Jesus, but leads directly through it. But not just any sorrow will do. Joy comes to those who experience a particular kind of sorrow—a deep remorse over their depraved hearts and defiled hands.

If you cannot worship the Lord in the midst of your responsibilities on Monday, it is not very likely that you were worshiping on Sunday! —A.W. Tozer

Lead for Joy, Not Privilege

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

It is one of the filthiest lies Satan whispers in the ear of our comfortable and entitled generation. From before we can even remember, we have been indoctrinated with the idea that being “a leader” means prestige and privilege. Why would you settle for anything less? Why follow when you can lead? Leadership means privilege, and no generation has considered itself more entitled to privilege than ours.
As novel and inspiring as it may seem, it’s a very old deception. From the garden to the modern world, the natural, human, sinful way to think about leadership is to be king of the hill — to view leadership as the ascent to honor and comfort, rather than the descent to attend to the needs of others. One of the distinct marks of Satan’s influence in society — evidence that the god of this world is blinding unbelievers en masse — is that leaders lord their leadership over those for whom they are supposed to care.
Not Lording It Over
The voice that calls most clearly for the true path of leadership — leadership as a sacrifice, not a privilege — is Jesus himself. He warned sharply against both the pagan and religious leaders of his day who sought to use their people for their own benefit.
You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Matthew 20:25–28; also Mark 10:42–45)
For a follower of Jesus, greatness in leadership is not defined by how many you have beneath you, but how consistently and significantly you are led by the Holy Spirit to take initiative and make personal sacrifices to serve the true needs of others.
And why do Christlike leaders take such initiative at such cost to themselves? According to the apostle Paul, they labor for the joy of those in our charge. “Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith” (2 Corinthians 1:24).
Sacrifice for Joy
Christian leadership is fundamentally about giving, not taking. Christian leaders are not empty, immature individuals looking to prop themselves up with new privileges. Rather, they are those in Christ who have become secure enough, and mature enough, to empty themselves for the good of others.
Mark this, fellow husbands, dads, and pastors, the very essence and heart of leadership is taking initiative we otherwise wouldn’t take and make sacrifices we otherwise wouldn’t make, to guide our people somewhere good they otherwise would not have gone. We are among those who are learning that life’s greatest joys come not in private comfort and ease, but in choosing what is uncomfortable and hard for the sake of others’ joy, and our joy in theirs. Like the Son of Man, we lead not to be served, but to serve. We die to self so that others might live, and in that dying, we find true and lasting life. It is our great joy to be workers for their joy.

Emerging From Our Trials Unscathed

It’s undoubtedly one of the most-told and best-loved stories in the entire Old Testament. It has all the hallmarks of a great tale—heroes and villains and peril and deliverance. It tells of faithful young men who faced unjust persecution, faithful young men who were sentenced to die a horrific death—to be consumed by flames in a fiery furnace. Yet it also tells how they were unexpectedly and miraculously delivered; how, though they were thrown into the flames bound hand and foot, they walked out of their own accord; how, though they were surrounded by a superheated fire, they emerged unscathed. Because Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego honored God in life, they were preserved from death.

One of the details never fails to fascinate. After they came out from the flames, the people nearby observed that “the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men. The hair of their heads was not singed, their cloaks were not harmed, and no smell of fire had come upon them.” These men passed through the fire of the furnace without a single hair being singed, without a single thread being scorched, without as much as a whiff of the smell of smoke sticking to them. They came from the flames just as they had gone into the flames—without the least trace of harm.
And this strikes me as a lovely illustration of the way God expects us to pass through trials of our own, whether that trial comes in the form of persecution or betrayal or illness or bereavement. We are to pass through our trials unscathed by them all, unsullied and unharmed. We will not be unchanged, of course, and neither should we be. We will not be unimpacted, for our trials are not nothing—they are real and meaningful and make themselves known to body, mind, and soul. We are after all, humans, not robots and Christians, not stoics.
But our trials should make us better, not worse. They should strengthen our character, not diminish it. They should grow our virtues, and amplify our Godward desires, and more prominently display the fruit of the Spirit. We may emerge from them with broken bodies and broken hearts, but should never emerge from them with broken vows, broken honor, broken character.
To the contrary, we should emerge from our trials with deeper joy (even if also with deeper sorrows), with greater love (even if also with a deeper understanding of evil). Our trials should make us more patient and loving, more kind and godly, more loving toward God and more eager to love our fellow man. All that we endure should not just make us long for heaven, but give us the character of heaven, and not just make us long to see the face of Christ but to imitate the virtues of Christ.
And this is possible. This is possible because the One who was with those young men in their trial is with us in ours. The One who spoke to them speaks to us and the One who comforted them comforts us. As he was in the furnace of their affliction, we can be certain that he will be in ours as well.
Those young men passed through the fiery furnace without picking up the bitter smell of smoke. And just so, we are to pass through every trial without picking up any trace of bitterness, without surrendering our joy, without charging God with even the least wrong.

A La Carte (September 19)

I wanted to remind you, in case you missed it on the weekend, that ChristianBook.com has Seasons of Sorrow marked down by 40%.

Today’s Kindle deals include a number of commentaries published by Crossway.
(Yesterday on the blog: Not a Matter of Pitch or Tone)
All Souls Tribute to Queen Elizabeth II (1926-2022)
This is a fitting tribute to the Queen on the day of her funeral.
Will You Be Good at Your Thing Today?
Here’s a good question: Will you be good at your thing today, whatever your thing is?
Why Difficult Conversations Are Getting More Difficult
“In this climate, to have what we may call a difficult conversation – where someone is challenged about their beliefs, choices, or actions – feels as if it is going to be majorly problematic.”
The Gospel of Cancel Culture
“‘Cancel culture’ is a recent social phenomenon. The term was first used in 2016 and it describes the increasingly popular practice of publicly rejecting, boycotting or withdrawing support for (‘cancelling’) particular people or groups because of their unacceptable social or moral views and actions.”
Student Debt and the Great Commission
“Much ink has been spilled in recent weeks over the US government plan to cancel (or reshuffle the responsibility of) some students’ educational debt. Whatever you may think of the proposal, here is one thing I know: Student debt is one of the greatest barriers to getting young people to the mission field.” Lisa LaGeorge explains.
When We Pray | Citizens
This is nice new song by Citizens.
Flashback: The Order and Causes of Salvation and Damnation: An Infographic
Whatever you do, linger. Bunyan has a lot to teach us through this infographic.

The highest honour in heaven will be the reward of the greatest humility on earth. —Matthew Henry

Why We Must Emphasize A Pastor’s Character Over His Skill

It is the man of character whose confidence is not in the messenger but the message. It is the man of character who cries out to God in his weakness and pleads with God to display his strength. Because he cannot rely on his human skill, he must rely on divine power. And the gospel shines through his weakness.

The New Testament clearly, repeatedly, and unapologetically lays out the qualifications of a pastor. What is so remarkable yet so often overlooked is this: Pastors are called and qualified to their ministry not first through their raw talent, their finely-honed skill, or their great accomplishments, but through their godly character. Of all the many qualifications laid out in the New Testament, there is just one related to skill (he must have the ability to teach others) and one related to experience (he must not be a recent convert). The rest of the nearly 20 qualifications are based on character. What fits a man to ministry is not first accomplishment or capability but character.
We cannot emphasize this too strongly or too often. I really mean that: We cannot overemphasize the primacy of character. A great many of the problems we see in the local and global church today are caused by the failure to heed this simple principle. So many Christians could be spared so much trauma if only their churches would refuse to put a man in leadership who is lacking such character. So many congregations would be spared so much pain if only they would remove men who prove they don’t have the kind of character God demands. This failure to heed what God makes plain is a terrible blight upon the Christian church.
From a human perspective, it’s not difficult to understand why the church gets this wrong. We are naturally drawn to people of remarkable charisma and outstanding talent. We love to listen to naturally-skilled communicators and to be led by accomplished leaders. We rejoice to bask in the residual glory of respected men and their noteworthy achievements. We convince ourselves that our measure of success is undeniable proof of God’s blessing. We are willing to overlook character if only we can have results.
Perhaps we need to ask why it is that God so values character. Why is it that God entrusts his church to men of character rather than men of talent or achievement? Why would he prefer that his church be led by unremarkable men instead of accomplished ones? Why would he choose an undistinguished but honorable man over a talented man who is known and celebrated for his many skills?
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Not a Matter of Pitch or Tone

God commands us to sing. Yet while some of God’s people are gifted singers, the plain fact is that others are not. In any congregation it’s likely that some have near-perfect pitch while others are functionally tone-deaf. Those who struggle to sing may be self-conscious, tempted to stay quiet or to do no more than mumble along. Should they? Not at all, for singing is a matter of the heart before it is a matter of pitch or tone.

In Ephesians 5:18-19 Paul writes, “Be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart.” What matters far more than the sound that comes out of the mouth is the posture of the heart. There is more beauty in an off-pitch voice that is the outpouring of a submissive heart than in a perfectly pitched voice that is the outpouring of a rebellious heart.
Though few Christians have voices that are truly professional, every Christian has a voice that can be confessional—that confesses and publicly professes the great truths of the Christian faith. Jonathan Leeman says rightly that “the most beautiful instrument in any Christian service is the sound of the congregation singing.”

(This little devotional is drawn from my book Knowing and Enjoying God)

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