Church planting is one-half asking people for favors and one-half asking for money. I exaggerate, but not by much. Church planters are needy.

By God’s grace, Trinity Baptist Church of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, recently covenanted as a church. We’re up and running but still in startup mode. Ultimately, of course, we look to God to meet our needs. That’s one reason we have a weekly prayer meeting. And in his generosity, God has provided dozens of founding members who are eager to give and serve and sacrifice for the good of this new body.

But founding members are not the only ones who have played a vital role. In this article, I want to glorify God, and encourage and counsel church planters, by reflecting on ways we’ve benefited from partnerships with, and the generosity of, other local churches. I also hope to encourage pastors of established churches to consider ways they might support new gospel work in their area.

Here are seven ways we’ve benefited from the help of other churches in our town and region, along with some biblical principles that account for why these other churches have been so helpful to us.

1. Partner with Counsel

Kingdom-minded pastors don’t just care how their own churches are doing. They care about the progress of the gospel and the state of God’s churches throughout their region. Consider, for instance, how Paul and Barnabas set out on their second missionary journey not to evangelize an unreached area but to check on the state and soundness of the churches: “Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are” (Acts 15:36). I benefited from pastors who modeled this kind of kingdom-minded concern for their whole region from the very beginning of my planting efforts.

When I first started thinking about planting a church in Chapel Hill, I called a handful of pastors I knew in the area. I asked them whether they thought Chapel Hill could use another faithful church and whether they thought I’d be a good person to lead it. Their responses were encouraging and affirming. If they hadn’t been, I would’ve taken that seriously. They also gave me their read on the area’s culture, spiritual needs, and other churches. If you’re a pastor who’s been ministering in a region for a decade or more, a little counsel from you can go a long way in helping a potential planter get his bearings.

2. Partner with Encouragement

There’s no need for church plants in the same area to develop a sibling rivalry. Instead, even young churches can be a model for and help to other churches. Consider how Paul commended the Thessalonians, who were barely out of their “planting” phase when he wrote to them: “You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia” (1 Thessalonians 1:6–7). Church planters working to establish new works near each other can generously share with each other what the Lord has done in and through them, along with what they’ve learned even in a short journey so far.

When planting in Chapel Hill was an idea still in the “maybe” phase, I got a call from Shane Shaddix, then one of the pastors of Imago Dei Church in Raleigh. He was also in the beginning stages of planting a church there, just a few steps ahead of us. Shane wanted to encourage me and help our efforts. Shortly after, on one of my first trips to the area, he and his fellow planter, Manny Prieto, bought me lunch and asked how they could help and encourage our work. They have consistently supported me and my fellow pastor, Michael Abraham, by texting us, praying for us privately and publicly, warmly welcoming founding members of ours for a season of attendance at their church, and in many other ways. Their church, Risen Christ Church, is a new faithful gospel witness in Chapel Hill. If you’re in the area, I would gladly encourage you to check them out.

Another local-church planter who’s been a huge help to us is Chase Jenkins. First Baptist Church of Durham recently sent out Chase and another FBC pastor, Wes Treadway, with about 72 (!) of their members to plant Parkside Baptist Church in South Durham. Chase has encouraged us relentlessly. He has been so affectionately invested in our work that I sometimes wonder if he cares more about our church’s success than his own!

3. Partner with Local Knowledge

Paul commended the Philippians for partnering with him from the very beginning of his gospel ministry: “You Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only” (Philippians 4:15). Many churches in our area have been eager and generous to partner with us in seemingly small but practically crucial ways — for instance, by sharing local knowledge, connections, and church-planting hacks.

Eric Gravelle, campus pastor of the Summit Church’s Chapel Hill campus, generously shared contacts in the school system and advice about meeting in a school. Travis Bodine, the pastor of Mount Olive Baptist Church west of downtown Chapel Hill, pooled local knowledge from his church members to generate all kinds of leads for us to chase down. And Manny and Shane of Risen Christ shared a detailed spreadsheet of possible meeting spaces. After Michael and I made dozens of inquiries, with a perfect fail rate of 100 percent, the venue that agreed to host us was from the list Risen Christ had given us. I was recently able to return the favor by sharing about a location we checked out that might prove to be a good fit for their next home. And both sets of these planting-pastor peers, from Risen Christ and Parkside, have given us advice about incorporation, nonprofit status, banking processes, and many more of the interminable logistics of planting a church.

“There’s no better way to encourage a church planter than by praying for him and his church, publicly, by name.”

On the last Sunday morning before we covenanted, I had the joy of worshiping with the saints at Parkside. Like we would soon, they baptized someone in a horse trough. (They at least got to bring the trough inside their building — our baptisms take place in a large outdoor patio next to our meeting space.) Long story short, Parkside offered us not only helpful equipment for pulling off a horse-trough baptism, but one of their deacons even assisted us with our first one the following Sunday. That’s more help than I even would have thought to ask for.

4. Partner with Local Connections

One of the ways Paul used his pastoral (or I should say, apostolic) capital to help churches take root and grow was by connecting them with, and commending to them, other leaders. For instance, Paul commends Timothy to the Philippians and urges them to trust him because of his proven character (Philippians 2:19–24).

Similarly, another way that local pastors have helped us is by connecting us to other local pastors in their relational networks. On another of my early trips down, Lawrence Yoo and Danny Castiglione of Waypoint Church generously bought me lunch and gave me their take on spiritual dynamics throughout the Triangle region. Lawrence then connected me with David Kwon, pastor of Journey Community Church, because he thought they might have space for us to rent. When Michael and I met with David, he emptied out his mental Rolodex of places we might consider for a meeting space and pastors we might consider connecting with. We wound up renting space from Journey for our Wednesday-night Bible studies.

5. Partner with Space

We know from Scripture that the church is a people, not a building (1 Corinthians 1:1–2). Some churches in the New Testament likely met in homes (Romans 16:5). Paul carried out evangelistic ministry in a rented hall (Acts 19:9). So we know that churches can gather wherever they have permission and room. But many of us (like me!) are so used to doing ministry in a well-appointed church building that planting can be a shock to the system.

I’m used to doing ministry in a 150-year-old city-center church with a large and well-maintained workhorse of a building. Having no building to take for granted is like learning to throw a baseball with my weak arm. Once a church plant hits a certain size, it will gather more people than can comfortably fit in someone’s home. Which means that for every meeting you’re either renting or asking for space.

On this front, the Lord has been generous to us through many different churches. Parkside is not the only local church to offer space for occasional meetings. Chapel Hill Bible Church graciously allowed us to host an early interest meeting in their chapel. And First Baptist Durham let us meet first in their fellowship hall and then in their sanctuary every Sunday night for the whole summer before we covenanted, for free. In addition to some key members’ homes and garages, our church essentially incubated in First Baptist. Your church might not have a large building or budget margin to give to a new church plant, but do you have enough spare space to incubate one for a season?

6. Partner with Prayer

Because the gospel advances through God’s gracious, sovereign work of saving sinners, the gospel advances through prayer. And because the gospel advances through prayer, church planting advances through prayer. So, not only should planters pray, but other churches can have an Epaphras-like ministry of wrestling in prayer on behalf of new plants: “Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God” (Colossians 4:12).

Over a couple months’ worth of Sunday mornings leading up to our covenanting, my family and I visited just about every church we had founding members coming from, and a couple of others that wanted to partner with us. During at least three of those visits, the pastor or elder leading the pastoral prayer prayed for our work.

There’s no better way to demonstrate a spirit of catholicity than by leading your church to publicly pray for other churches. There’s no better way to say and show that we’re all on Jesus’s team. And there’s no better way to encourage a church planter than by praying for him and his church, publicly, by name.

7. Partner with Members

For the Great Commission to be fulfilled, some gatherings of Christians must support and encourage some of their members to scatter. It’s painful. It’s costly. It’s hard to part. But it comes with the territory of trying to establish new kingdom outposts. Sometimes God uses persecution to do it: “Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word” (Acts 8:4). But a more proactive way to scatter for the sake of the Great Commission is for pastors to encourage members to consider uprooting their membership and perhaps even their livelihoods for the sake of advancing new gospel works — and for churches to joyfully bear that cost.

Our main sending church, Capitol Hill Baptist Church, where I served as a pastor for seven years, was exemplary in this. Amid a difficult season of transition in which another long-term associate pastor was leaving to pastor elsewhere, along with several other elders doing the same, Mark Dever graciously gave public airtime to discussing our planting efforts in the church’s evening services and encouraged members to consider moving to join the work.

In similar fashion, First Baptist Church of Durham has demonstrated exemplary partnership with us in their willingness to joyfully give members away. Even amid planting their own sizeable, full-grown church, they have encouraged and supported their members who have considered joining our work. And in their service the Sunday before we covenanted, they commissioned those who were leaving FBC to join Trinity by bringing them onto the platform and praying for them. And Grace Reformed Baptist Church in Mebane did the same with the members they sent, a tremendously encouraging sign of their support and commitment to the work at cost to their own body.

Partners in the Greatest Cause

The apostle Paul knew what it was to be needy. Through Christ he learned the secret not only of abounding but of lacking (Philippians 4:11–13). And when Paul wrote those words to the Philippians, he lacked much more than a church building or office or staff. Yet Paul thanked God for the Philippians’ contribution to his needs, and he called their relationship a partnership (Philippians 1:5; 4:15). Partnership includes financial support, but as I can gratefully testify from experience, it goes well beyond money.

Church planter, your neediness is an opportunity for other Christians, pastors, and especially churches to forge new gospel partnerships. Pastor, a new church plant coming to town is not a competitor or an opponent, but a partner in the gospel. How can you lead your church to partner with them?

We’re just two weeks from Christmas. Presents are still being purchased, wrapped, and shipped. Christmas cards still need to be signed and mailed. Loose ends on travel details are getting sorted. Family event-planning is getting finalized. Perhaps you’re multitasking right now and gift-wrapping while you listen. We all feel the holiday pressures, of course, Pastor John, as we gear up for one of the busiest holidays in the world — and one of the most expensive. The average American adult will drop about $1,000 just on gifts during this season, leading to a question of great relevance this month, like in this email from a podcast listener named James.

“Pastor John, hello, and thank you for the podcast. Often, I hear that we are to love God for who he is, not for what he does for us — to love the Giver more than the gifts. How can we know that we are doing this, especially during this Christmas season? When I examine my own heart, so much of what I know about God seems to be in relation to what he has done for me, like the sending of his Son in the incarnation. How do I interact with him on the basis of him, and not simply on the basis of the gifts he has given me?”

First, I think it is absolutely crucial in pursuing that interaction with God in that way to get really clear in our mind and in our heart that there is a huge and important difference between enjoying a person who gives gifts and enjoying the gifts instead of the person or more than the person. And I think we need to clarify this and get it fixed in our minds, both from experience and from Scripture. Let me give you an example of what I mean from experience.

Key 1: Loving the Giver of the Gift

What if you give an engagement ring? You’ve been in love for two years, maybe, and now you’re going to move this thing decisively forward. You give a ring. (I’m assuming you’re a man, but gals, you apply it in an appropriate way.) You give your fiancée a beautiful diamond ring, and she spends the rest of the night and then the following weeks bragging about this gift, taking it and showing it to everybody. She never calls you. She never looks at you. She never takes you by the hand and looks you in the eye. She’s just thrilled with this diamond, and your intent in giving her that was totally missed.

“The goal of all God does for us is to make it possible for us to be with him and him to be with us.”

How would you feel about that? You wanted her to look at it. Oh, yes, you wanted her to love it. You wanted her to be thankful for it. You wanted her to enjoy it. And then you wanted her to put it on her hand, take your hands across the table, look you in the eye, and say, “I would love to spend the rest of my life with you. You are ten thousand times more precious to me than this beautiful ring.” We understand from our own experience what it means when gifts are loved more than the giver. We get that. There’s no excuse for not getting that. We get it in our experience.

Then we get it from the Bible when it comes to God, because it’s all over the place:

1 Peter 3:18: “Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God.” That’s why he died: to “bring us to God.”
Or Romans 5:11 — after saying that “we rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:2) and “we rejoice in [tribulation]” (Romans 5:3), then Paul adds this in Romans 5:11: “More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”
Or Psalm 16:11: “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
Or Psalm 73:25–26: “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
Or consider the story of the ten lepers healed by Jesus in Luke 17:11–37. Remember? All ten — no leprosy, awesome, healed, run away. One of them, a Samaritan, comes back praising God and falling down at Jesus’s feet. What’s the point? The point is that they missed it. They just missed it. This is about Jesus. This is about God. Leprosy deliverance was a means to that end.

So, we know from experience, we know from the Scriptures, that there’s a difference between enjoying a giver through his gifts and enjoying gifts instead of the giver. We know that. We get that. We know that the goal of all God does for us is designed to make it possible for us to be with him and him to be with us. He does everything for us to be with us as our all-satisfying treasure and Father and friend and Savior. Getting that clear is the key, I think, to experiencing God in and through all his gifts.

Key 2: Remembering the Gift of Jesus

Here’s one more key to help us experience God this way during the Christmas season. We should realize that every gift, every good thing that comes into our lives of any kind as a token of God’s everlasting kindness — all of it, all of it was bought by the sacrifice of Jesus, the blood of Jesus. Here’s the logic of Romans 8:32: “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” So, “all things” are coming to us as believers because he didn’t spare his Son. Here’s the effect this has: All giving and getting, especially at Christmastime, becomes a reminder of the death of Jesus.

Now, what effect does that have? What effect does God intend for his Son’s death to have on us when we think this way? On the one hand, Christ is the Father’s indescribable gift (Romans 8:32; 2 Corinthians 9:15). And Christ is his own gift. Over and over, the New Testament says Christ gave himself, Christ gave himself, Christ gave himself (Mark 10:45; Galatians 1:4; Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 5:2, 25; 1 Timothy 2:6; Titus 2:14).

Think of it! If God gives his Son, and the Son gives himself for you and to you, it doesn’t even make sense to say we love the gift more than the Giver. The gift is the Giver. The Giver is the gift. So, since every gift shared at Christmastime is possible only because of the death of Christ for us, and thus directs our attention to the death of Christ, therefore every gift takes us through the cross to the gift who is the Giver.

“All giving and getting, especially at Christmastime, becomes a reminder of the death of Jesus.”

Here’s the other way of seeing it. In Romans 5:8, Paul says, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” So, behind every gift that we get or give at Christmastime is the death of Christ. And that means that every gift is the overflow of the gift of God’s love, because that’s what he shows when Christ dies. When you think of God’s love, it is inseparable from himself. When John Piper talks about enjoying God, I don’t mean, “Oh, but you can’t enjoy his love.” In a sense, his love is not a gift. It is what he is. When real love binds two persons together, they don’t say, “Hey, where’s the gift?” They say, “You are the gift. You are the gift. You are my love. Your love is yourself given to me.”

So, it seems to me that Romans 8:32 is the key to Christmas God-centeredness in giving and getting gifts. Every good in our life as Christians is owing to the death of Jesus, according to the logic of Romans 8:32, and that death is the gift of God himself for our everlasting joy and the gift of God’s love, which is also the giving of himself to us.

O come, O Branch of Jesse’s stem,Unto your own and rescue them!From depths of hell your people save,And give them victory o’er the grave.

Rejoice! Rejoice! ImmanuelShall come to thee, O Israel.

“O come, O Branch of Jesse’s stem” is initially an unassuming, even underwhelming line. We might expect to hail the promised deliverer as “Cedar of Lebanon” or “Oak of Righteousness” or “Tree of Life,” not as “Branch” or “Sprout.” Such a nickname seems more fitting for a junior-varsity point guard than for the Savior of the world. Yet the old hymn draws our attention to a rich biblical theme of hope on the other side of calamity, renewal from the rubble, deliverance through devastation.

The “branch” or “root” of Jesse invokes a great Old Testament prophecy and its surprising fulfillment. Jesse the Bethlehemite is the grandson of Boaz and Ruth and the father of David, the giant slayer and great king of Israel. In 2 Samuel 7, Yahweh promises to set his love on this son of Jesse and to establish his descendant’s kingship forever. The Davidic dynasty continues for centuries, and most of these rulers are hardly men after God’s heart like David. When King Jehoiachin is banished to Babylon (2 Kings 24), David’s line is reduced to a lifeless stump.

The yawning chasm between the expectation of an enduring kingdom and the ruin of exile leads the faithful to pray, “Lord, where is your steadfast love of old, which by your faithfulness you swore to David?” (Psalm 89:49).

Evergreen Hope

Yet hope remains because of the prophetic promise. Seven centuries before Christ, Isaiah pens these hope-filled words:

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. . . . In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples — of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious. (Isaiah 11:1–3, 10)

The prophet speaks of a shoot from the stump, new life emerging from destruction and death. This Spirit-endowed sovereign would “reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom” and inspire hope not just for Israel but for the nations as well. Only “the zeal of the Lord of hosts” could accomplish such a stunning reversal (Isaiah 9:7).

“Immanuel will come again, O Israel, O nations, to fell every foe and lead us safely home.”

Jesus Christ is the prophesied sprout from Jesse’s stock. The opening verse of the New Testament designates him as “the son of David” (Matthew 1:1), and his birth in Bethlehem and endowment with the divine Spirit fit the prophetic profile for the messianic king. Yet Jesus is born in a lowly manger, raised in backwoods Nazareth, and travels about with nowhere to lay his head — hardly a “glorious” royal resting place. Moreover, he is hailed as “King of the Jews” not by joyful subjects but by jeering adversaries as he is lifted up on a cross. Ironically, the Branch from Jesse’s stem is impaled on a life-taking tree.

The crucifixion looks like the death blow to these prophetic hopes for a forever king. Then, in the greatest reversal of all, the broken Branch bounds out of the tomb on the third day.

The Root’s Surprising Fruit

Revelation 5:5 triumphantly declares, “Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.” This recalls Isaiah’s prophecy of David’s greater son who would rule with righteousness and faithfulness and strike down his foes. Yet when John turns to behold this lionlike King, he instead sees a Lamb. This apocalyptic vision reveals that the messianic king “conquers” in a most surprising fashion: not by crushing rebels but by dying in their stead and then standing victorious over the grave.

Only the zeal of the Lord of promise could bring forth from Jesse’s stump a righteous Ruler who would rescue the world. In the fullness of time, Jesus Christ — both Lion and Lamb — comes to a world condemned to rescue his people for a world renewed. Our King conquers through sacrificial death and resurrection life. This broken Branch from Jesse’s stem produces the sweetest fruit: life, healing, and hope.

O Christian, rejoice in this God of glory and grace whose arm is not too short to save, who overcomes all obstacles to keep his covenant commitments. Rejoice! Rejoice! Immanuel has come to you, O Israel, O nations. Rejoice! Rejoice! Immanuel will come again, O Israel, O nations, to fell every foe and lead us safely home.

There is no wrong time for world evangelization. And there is no wrong time for theological clarification. If you wait for the optimal time to become a missionary or to send a missionary, you won’t be one or send one. If you wait for the optimal time to get theological clarity about what the Bible really teaches, you won’t get it. There is no optimal time because sin, Satan, sickness, and sabotage have made certain that there is no optimal time to know or spread the truth. If knowing and spreading happen in your life, it will be because you looked sin, Satan, sickness, and sabotage in the face and said, “I’m going through you. In the name of Jesus, in the power of his Spirit, in the joy of the gospel, and for the glory of God, I’m going through you. And you will not stop me.”

I would like to motivate you — I pray that God will use me to motivate many of you — to give your life to world evangelization and theological clarification in the most inhospitable, unsuitable, uncongenial, forbidding times. If you wait for the ideal moment — personally, relationally, economically, globally — you won’t know what you ought to know, and you won’t go where you ought to go. There is only one kind of time for knowing and going, and it is always, at some level, inhospitable, unsuitable, uncongenial, forbidding.

So, the lesson that I want to draw out of the life of William Tyndale is that he carried out his theological clarification and his Bible translation in what most of us would consider impossible circumstances — the kind of circumstances that would surely justify putting theological study and Bible translation on hold while you just keep your nose above water. You just stay alive on the run.

Tyndale the Theologian

Tyndale’s incredibly productive twelve years (from the age of 30 to 42) working on theological clarification and Bible translation were spent in exile on the European continent. I’m including theological clarification because most people don’t know that Tyndale was a theologian — a theological Reformer — alongside his Bible translation. I have a three-volume set of Tyndale’s theological works, totaling over 1,200 pages. David Daniell wrote,

It is possible . . . to write about Tyndale as polemicist, as propagandist, as political reformer, as moralist, as theologian, as historian, as enemy of the institutions of the church: yet he first presents himself as a working translator of the Scriptures. It cannot be right to see him as being anything else more important than that. He translated two-thirds of the Bible so well that his translations endured until today, a labor so great that that list of secondary definitions must surely dwindle by comparison. (William Tyndale, 121)

Secondary, yes, but oh my — how significant those writings were in his own day. If Tyndale had never translated a page of the Bible, he would have been hunted down and killed by the Roman Catholic Church because of his writings in support of Luther’s teaching. Anthony Kenny wrote,

When he renounced the doctrine of transubstantiation, friars, noblemen, and bishops all turned against him, and the University which had sheltered him offered him a home no longer. (The Bible in English, 72–73)

Henry VIII was angry with Tyndale mainly for believing and promoting the theological clarification of Martin Luther’s Reformation teachings. In particular, he was angry because of Tyndale’s book Answer to Sir Thomas More, who had who helped Henry VIII write his repudiation of Luther called Defense of the Seven Sacraments. Thomas More was thoroughly Roman Catholic and radically anti-Reformation, anti-Luther, and anti-Tyndale. So, Tyndale had come under excoriating criticism by Thomas More. In fact, Daniell said Thomas Moore had a “near-rabid hatred” for Tyndale and published three long responses to him totaling nearly three-quarters of a million words. This was not mainly about Bible translation. This was about truth clarification. And remember, these are political leaders who at the snap of their fingers could kill Tyndale with impunity — if they could find him.

“There is no wrong time for world evangelization.”

This was all theological clarification — almost all of it written while he was in exile on the Continent, moving from place to place to avoid arrest. He had left England probably in April 1524 when he was 30 and never returned home till he was martyred at age 42 in 1536, just north of Brussels, after twelve years in exile and in hiding. The charge that sealed his execution was not Bible translation, though that might have sufficed, but heresy, not agreeing with the holy Roman Emperor — in a nutshell, following the teachings of Martin Luther.

Ministry on the Run

I don’t mean to downplay the achievement or the danger that Bible translation played in Tyndale’s life. It is almost incomprehensible to us how viciously opposed the Roman Catholic Church was to the translation of the Scriptures into English. In response to John Wycliffe’s work to put the Bible in English from the Latin, the Roman Catholic parliament passed the law de Haeretico Comburendo — “on the burning of heretics” — to make heresy punishable by burning people alive at the stake. The Bible translators were in view.

Then in 1408, the Constitutions of Oxford stated,

We therefore decree and ordain, that no man, hereafter, by his own authority translate any text of the Scripture into English or any other tongue . . . and that no man can read any such book . . . in part or in whole. (God’s Bestseller, xxii)

John Bale (1495–1563) “as a boy of 11 watched the burning of a young man in Norwich for possessing the Lord’s prayer in English. . . . John Foxe records . . . seven Lollards burned at Coventry in 1519 for teaching their children the Lord’s Prayer in English” (The Obedience of a Christian Man, 202).

Tyndale hoped to escape this condemnation by getting official authorization for his translation in 1524. But he found just the opposite and had to escape from London to the Continent for the rest of his life. He gives us some glimpse of those twelve years as a fugitive in Germany and the Netherlands (in one of the very few personal descriptions we have) in 1531. He refers to

. . . my pains . . . my poverty . . . my exile out of mine natural country, and bitter absence from my friends . . . my hunger, my thirst, my cold, the great danger wherewith I am everywhere encompassed, and finally . . . innumerable other hard and sharp fightings which I endure. (William Tyndale, 213)

All these sufferings came to a climax on May 21, 1535, in the midst of Tyndale’s great Old Testament translation labors, when he was betrayed in Antwerp by his supposed friend Henry Philips. He was taken to Vilvorde Castle six miles north of Brussels, where he stayed for eighteen months until his death.

No Hiatus from Holy Work

You might think that, imprisoned and waiting for your possible death, you would take a break from theological clarification and Bible translation and hope for a more optimal time, or think you’ve done enough. That didn’t happen. I think this letter is one of the most moving things I have ever read and captures what I mean by doing theological clarification and Bible translation in the most inhospitable circumstances. He wrote this to an unnamed officer of the castle. Here is a condensed version of Mozley’s translation of the Latin:

I beg your lordship, and that of the Lord Jesus, that if I am to remain here through the winter, you will request the commissary to have the kindness to send me, from the goods of mine which he has, a warmer cap; for I suffer greatly from cold in the head, and am afflicted by a perpetual catarrh, which is much increased in this cell; a warmer coat also, for this which I have is very thin; a piece of cloth too to patch my leggings. My overcoat is worn out; my shirts are also worn out. He has a woolen shirt, if he will be good enough to send it. I have also with him leggings of thicker cloth to put on above; he has also warmer night-caps. And I ask to be allowed to have a lamp in the evening; it is indeed wearisome sitting alone in the dark. But most of all I beg and beseech your clemency to be urgent with the commissary, that he will kindly permit me to have the Hebrew Bible, Hebrew grammar, and Hebrew dictionary, that I may pass the time in that study. In return may you obtain what you most desire, so only that it be for the salvation of your soul. But if any other decision has been taken concerning me, to be carried out before winter, I will be patient, abiding the will of God, to the glory of the grace of my Lord Jesus Christ: whose spirit (I pray) may ever direct your heart. Amen. W. Tindalus. (William Tyndale, 379)

So, the lesson I am taking away from Tyndale’s life is that his accomplishments in theological clarification and Bible translation are astonishing not only because of their faithfulness and excellence, but because they were achieved without waiting for the optimal moment. There wasn’t an optimal moment in his life.

Hindrances to World Evangelization

Let’s turn from Tyndale to the Bible and our own circumstances as we hear the call of world missions. Let Tyndale’s experience put fiber in your faith and stir you up not to wait for the optimal season of your life to be as engaged as God calls you to be in the task of theological clarification and Bible translation — or whatever dimension of world missions God calls you to.

Let me call your attention to some global crises that might make you think this is not an optimal time for doing world evangelization or Bible translation or even focused effort at theological clarification.

In the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the killed and wounded are approaching one million people. Israel is now fighting wars on two fronts, with Hamas and Hezbollah, with Iran about to intervene. China, for the first time in decades, several weeks ago launched an intercontinental ballistic missile. Boko Haram in Burkina Faso recently killed 26 Christians as they worshiped — and a hundred others. Over half of Sudan’s 46 million people suffer from acute hunger because of civil war. Civil wars rage in Ethiopia, Yemen, Syria, Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Haiti, and at least ten other nations. One hundred million people in the world have been forcibly displaced from their homes, including forty million refugees, 40 percent of which are under eighteen. On the home front, in the United States since 2017 there have been half a million opioid-related deaths. And the moral degeneracy embraced by our highest leaders and aspiring leaders is appalling.

I focus on those big, global, nonoptimal circumstances for two reasons. One is to draw attention to the fact that if every one of those crises were to go away tonight, the real-life, close-to-home reasons for not throwing yourself into world missions would be just as great. You are one heartbeat away from death every moment, and you have no control over God’s decision about how long you live (James 4:15). The pain in your chest might be a heart attack in the making. The ache in your hip might be bone cancer. The phone ringing might be the death of your children or parents — or worse, their divorce. The note you’re about to open might be that your twenty-year-old daughter has decided she is not a Christian and finds better community with her LGBTQ friends. Or you look in the mirror and say, “You are not fit to even consider Christian service.” Most of the hindrances to devoting ourselves to the nudgings of God’s Spirit in world missions do not come from world events; they come from the nonoptimal circumstances of our personal lives.

Hostility in the End Times

But the other reason I focused my list on global crises is that they describe the world in which the Great Commission is going to be finished. God is not going to make an era toward the end of history when the nations will be hospitable to the reception of the gospel. Most of the unreached peoples in our day live in cultures that are hostile to the gospel. They are not waiting with open arms. But that is the world in which the mission will be finished. Jesus said,

You will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:9–14)

Let this nonoptimal description of the world in which the gospel will reach the nations — leading up to the second coming of Christ — land on you with its proper force. Count them:

1. God’s emissaries will be hated by all nations.

2. Many Christians will fall away. They will deconvert, and we will call them nones — those who declare no religion.

3. Christians will betray one another and hate one another — and the strategy of Satan here is to cause other believers to say, “The faith is failing. It must not be real. If the Christians are betraying each other at home, what do I have to say to the world?” You need to know how the Bible describes the end if you are going to escape that temptation.

4. Many false prophets will arise and lead many astray — books, articles, podcasts, TikTok reels, and movies, giving voice to many false prophets. They will be causing people to think, “We’re not winning. We’re not winning.” Win what? The Christianization of the world? That’s not in the Bible — till Jesus comes! He will do it. And if you want to know how, read 2 Thessalonians 1.

5. Lawlessness is multiplied. The troops from Kenya in Haiti right now are outnumbered four hundred to fifteen thousand gang members. It is not hard to imagine urban centers in America being little Haitis. If you live there, will you stay true to your calling to the nations? Or will you say, “This is not an optimal time”?

6. The love of many will grow cold. You travel from church to church hoping to find warmth and zeal for world missions, but what you find is that love for the nations — indeed, for the Lord — has grown cold.

And when Jesus had spoken those six inhospitable circumstances for the completion of the Great Commission, the next words out of his mouth were, “And this gospel of the kingdom [this good news of the kingdom] will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14).

He did not say that the gospel of the kingdom might be proclaimed throughout the whole world. He did not say there might be a testimony to all the nations. He did not say that this proclamation and testimony might usher in the end and the coming of Jesus. Matthew 24:14 is not the Great Commission. That comes four chapters later. This is the great promise, the great certainty, the great absolute.

“If you wait for the optimal time to get theological clarity about what the Bible really teaches, you won’t get it.”

The Great Commission is a test of our obedience (most explicitly). This is a test of our faith. Do we believe him? Do we believe that in spite of being hated by all nations, in spite of many Christians deconverting and falling away, in spite of Christians betraying one another and false prophets persuading millions, in spite of lawlessness being multiplied in cities and nations, and in spite of the spreading of Christian coldness, there will be churches and Christians and missionary senders and goers who are white-hot for Jesus, and who are torching the glacier that is spreading over the world, and who will finish the mission?

Sustained by the Gospel Proclaimed

They will be sustained by the very good news that they carry. That’s why William Tyndale was both a truth clarifier and a Bible translator. It was the reality of biblical truth — the gospel of the kingdom — that sustained him. You might think that, living in exile, driven from place to place, in danger of betrayal, working in nonoptimal circumstances, he would develop an austere demeanor and a burdensome view of the gospel. Here’s how he defined the gospel:

Evangelion (that we call the gospel) is a Greek word and signifieth good, merry, glad, and joyful tidings, that maketh a man’s heart glad and maketh him sing, dance, and leap for joy. (Selected Writings, 33)

That’s Tyndale writing in 1530 in exile at the age of 36. Tyndale was driven to put the Bible into the vernacular of every language because of the gospel. And yes, not just English, but every language. He wrote in the preface to his New Testament,

Christ wishes his mysteries to be published as widely as possible. . . . I wish that they might be read and known, not merely by the Scotch and the Irish, but even by the Turks and the Saracens. (William Tyndale, 67)

Without the Bible, there would be no pure, enduring gospel. And without the gospel, there is no escape from universal bondage of the will.

[No] creature can loose the bonds, save the blood of Christ only. . . . When the gospel is preached, [it] openeth our hearts and giveth us grace to believe, and putteth the spirit of Christ in us: and we know him as our Father most merciful, and consent to the law and love it. (Selected Writings, 37, 40)

William Tyndale was sustained in a life of theological clarification and Bible translation through unremitting, nonoptimal, inhospitable, forbidding circumstances, because he was thrilled by the power of the gospel to set people free from condemnation and make them glad in God. He lived on it and would say with the apostle, “In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy” (2 Corinthians 7:4).

So, I close where I began. If you wait for the optimal time to become a missionary, you won’t be one. If you wait for the optimal time to get theological clarity about what the Bible really teaches, you won’t get it. There is no optimal time for either. Circumstances will almost always say, “Not now.” And faith will say, “I’m going through you. In the name of Jesus, in the power of his Spirit, in the joy of the gospel, and for the glory of God, I’m going through you. And you will not stop me.”

I can still remember the pang of distress that flushed through my body when I discovered that our country of service was no longer classified as “unreached” by the Joshua Project. Four percent of the ninety-million-person population was reportedly Christian. That percentage is twice the standard threshold for qualifying as unreached.

Since we had gone to the field with the idea that the unreached were of highest priority, we wondered, If we are not serving among the statistically unreached, can we justify being here? One of the important lessons we’ve learned is that missionaries serving among the reached can still have a profound impact on the unreached by leaning into the global church.

To be clear, identifying and pursuing people who do not have access to Scripture, discipleship, and healthy churches remains vital within the global church’s missions strategy. Wherever barriers to access exist — and wherever those barriers are most impermeable — missionaries should strategically seek to overcome them for the glory of God and the good of his people.

However, we also would do well to remember that getting the gospel to every tribe, tongue, nation, and people — however one understands those categories — is a vision and responsibility given to the global church. To see what I mean, consider the ministry of Robert Morrison (1782–1834), nineteenth-century missionary to the Chinese.

Reaching by Leaving

In 1807, Robert Morrison was appointed by the London Mission Society (LMS) to serve in China. He was the first Protestant missionary the LMS sent to East Asia. At the time, however, China was notoriously closed to outsiders — especially missionaries. The foreign trading companies that had established themselves in China were also averse to hiring missionaries. So, Morrison’s initial attempts to begin ministry in China were met with resistance and false starts.

In the eleventh year after he was appointed, however, Morrison took a fresh angle on ministry to the Chinese: he left China. Morrison relocated to neighboring Malacca (modern-day Malaysia), providing him the opportunity to engage Chinese people living there — people who could freely return to China and serve as native missionaries among the people he had struggled to reach. Despite the counterintuitive nature of leaving the country to reach its people, Morrison realized a strategic way to reach China was to prepare a missionary force of Chinese people who would assume their Great Commission responsibility, carrying the gospel farther into China than he could.

Following Morrison’s Example

Today, despite the best efforts of the Chinese government, the gospel has spread all over China, with Chinese believers leading the way. There are many other places, however, that present similar difficulties to foreign access as China did in Morrison’s day. The context my wife and I served in is surrounded by such places.

Though we found ourselves in a country no longer classified as unreached, some of our dear friends were local believers whom we saw God mobilize to go and serve among unreached people in nearby countries. We did not strategically design this plan — God providentially allowed us to watch it develop as the national believers sensed the weight of the Great Commission for the first time.

Better yet, a more intentional example of this strategy is present in a church I will call First Baptist Church in a major city of Southeast Asia. This country is populated by almost seventy unreached people groups whose native lands are notoriously difficult for foreigners to access. Despite operating in English, First Baptist Church has become a hub for gospel advance among foreigners, nationals, and the unreached by leaning into and mobilizing local believers into hard-to-reach places. Consider three elements of the church’s strategy.

1. Modeling a Healthy Church

First, this church has established itself in a city that is accessible to foreigners. At the same time, First Baptist distinguishes itself from other international churches by its healthy ecclesiology: it is led by a plurality of biblically qualified elders, it is congregationally governed, it promotes expositional preaching of the word, and it practices believer’s baptism. The members of this church observe the one-another commands of Scripture and engage actively in evangelism in their local communities.

“Missionaries serving among the reached can still have a profound impact on the unreached.”

This model contrasts with a more common model of an international church, where doctrinal statements and ministerial practices prioritize breadth rather than depth, often sacrificing biblical convictions in order to gain social community. Instead of aiming at an essentials-only vision of the church, First Baptist calls its members to covenant together under explicit convictions and doctrines that intend to protect the integrity of the body and its ability to display and convey the gospel. The healthy example of a convictional church benefits believers and unbelievers — whether foreign or local — in this city.

2. Developing Indigenous Leadership

Few of the nationals surrounding First Baptist speak English well enough to participate in church services. However, some are multilingual. The elders of First Baptist have taken special care to develop a ministry internship designed to disciple nationals toward the maturity, competency, and character qualifications required of ministry leaders and biblically qualified elders.

This effort has been led by a local believer — we will call him Paul — who has been a partner in ministry from the early stages of the church. Paul serves as a pastor at the church and feels the weight of the Great Commission to equip and go with his own people in missionary service.

While the internal partnership between foreign and local pastors is beautiful in and of itself, the next step in Paul’s ministry is to develop a core team of other nationals and to be sent by this English-speaking church to establish a local-language church nearby. Lord willing, in the next few years, this new church will be serving as a pillar and buttress of the truth for the local population in their own tongue.

Already, then, this English-speaking church is having an impact on the local context, partnering with and mobilizing local believers to Great Commission obedience. Although progress is slow and requires the initial partners to have proficiency in English, this pathway holds promise for seeing the gospel advance, disciples mature, and churches established in the broader context.

3. Reaching Unreached Language Groups

Along with the multiplication mentioned above, First Baptist also serves as the staging ground for two teams that intend to plant churches in other parts of the country among unreached language groups. Because these teams are composed primarily of missionaries (at least currently), they need to learn the culture and trade language of the country before attempting to enter the subculture and minority language groups they are targeting. Again, Paul has been a key partner in consulting and advising these missionaries.

Language learning and cultural adaptation take considerable time — usually two to three years to attain fluency and cultural savvy. It can be unhealthy for believers to spend those years without gathering with a church. By landing in this major city, both teams have had access to formal language-learning opportunities, have been immersed in the culture, and have also been members of a healthy church that aims to reach its neighbors. These teams are already in contact with national church-planting partners in their target location.

When the time comes for these teams to launch into their second context, First Baptist will be involved in sending them to their fields of service. While they are members at First Baptist, the missionary teams can also mobilize locals to join these pioneer church plants as they prepare to launch. More than that, they provide a vision and example for the nationals of how to strategically engage needs beyond their context. The missionary teams are already challenging nationals to respond to the Great Commission by making them aware that the majority of unreached groups in the area are far more inaccessible to foreigners. The best mobilization comes not from voices pushing you from behind but from voices calling you from ahead.

Don’t Panic — Mobilize

The historical example of Robert Morrison and the contemporary example of First Baptist are not a critique of or replacement strategy for direct missionary engagement in pioneer settings. The church in the West still needs to send missionaries directly to unreached people groups. However, the church’s missionary force does not come only from Western countries. All believers everywhere inherit the Great Commission and have a role in the “all nations” aspect of our disciple-making command.

The danger that “reached” places might get more attention from Western missionaries because they are easier to access and more comfortable is real. However, Westerners cannot neglect the opportunities to raise up and mobilize local believers in those places and equip them to go farther than Westerners can go on their own.

Morrison’s example reminds us that some places considered reached might become staging grounds for the equipping and mobilizing of a missionary force that will outlast our lifetimes and extend beyond our limitations. So, if you find yourself serving in a place that the Joshua Project deems “reached,” don’t panic — mobilize.

Will male-female complementarity exist in the new heavens and new earth? If so, what can we learn about the continued distinctions between men and women in the new creation?

Scriptural data on the contours of the life to come are limited, so we must admit the speculative nature of our question up front. However, we can draw reasonable inferences from what the Bible does say about life in the resurrection, particularly from how the Bible treats masculinity and femininity in creation, after the fall, and in redemption.

Grace Restores Nature

Before considering complementarity in creation, it is necessary to introduce a theological concept on which the logic of this essay depends. According to Dutch Reformed theologian Herman Bavinck, a key Reformational principle holds that grace does not destroy nature. What God created in the beginning is natural, and what is natural is good and not undone by God’s redemptive purposes. Rather, grace restores nature. Bavinck explains,

Grace serves, not to take up humans into a supernatural order, but to free them from sin. Grace is opposed not to nature, only to sin. . . . Grace restores nature and takes it to its highest pinnacle, but it does not add to it any new and heterogeneous constituents. (Reformed Dogmatics, 3:577)

Nature (which in this context is another word for God’s original design) is not inherently bad. Nature is good, but it has been corrupted by sin. In fact, sin is a privation and corruption of a created good. God’s gospel mission in Christ is to rid the world of sin and reform and restore nature in the new creation, taking it “to its highest pinnacle.” Importantly, the restoration of the created order includes God’s complementary design for male and female.

Some theological systems treat natural differences — such as those between men and women — as something bad to overcome. But after God created the world and everything in it, he called all that he had made “good,” and then he said it was “very good” after creating the man and the woman equal yet different in his image (Genesis 1:31). With God, we should confess that complementary difference is “very good,” and woe to those who call evil good and good evil (Isaiah 5:20).

Complementarity is creational, good, and part of what God redeems in the gospel.

Complementarity in Creation

Origin stories often provide crucial information for understanding a subject. The early chapters of Genesis are foundational for a properly biblical anthropology, and from these chapters we learn that complementarity — equal value with different callings — is original to and constitutive of humanity.

Genesis 1:26–28 introduces humanity’s form and function, teaching that God made mankind in his image to come in two varieties: male and female. The original Hebrew words for male (zakar) and female (neqebah) in Genesis 1 make subtle etymological references to the natural reproductive differences between men and women. These natural differences (form) ground and point toward their meaning and fulfillment (function) in marriage and procreation.

Jesus taught his disciples this connection between marriage and God’s complementary design in Matthew 19:4–5, where he connects the purpose of marriage in Genesis 2:24 (“Therefore . . .”) with God’s design in Genesis 1:27 (“male and female”):

Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh”?

Maleness and femaleness, masculinity and femininity, are inherently complementary, meaning not only that we understand one vis-à-vis the other, but also that each bears witness to and complements the other as they both point toward their fulfillment in marriage. How God created “in the beginning” informs God’s purposes for his creation. And in God’s grand design, we learn that God created marriage itself to be a mysterious sign with meaning in the gospel (Ephesians 5:31–32).

So God’s complementary design has both a natural and a supernatural purpose. The natural purpose of male-female complementarity is marriage and procreation — cornerstones of the natural family, which is the bedrock of human society. The supernatural purpose of complementarity is to display the good news that Jesus has given his life for his bride, the church.

Complementarity After the Fall

When sin entered the world, complementarity was affected but not destroyed. We see this clearly in the curses God pronounces over creation in Genesis 3:16. Procreation continues in a fallen world, but it is more difficult. Marriage likewise continues, but it is also more difficult. Strife and conflict afflict the relationship between husband and wife. The wife tends not to willingly submit to her husband, but she has desires contrary to his leadership — or she resigns herself to being a doormat. And the husband tends not to relate to his wife in love as his equal, but with harsh rule — or he resigns himself to being a pushover.

Either way, God’s original complementary design is defaced by sin, but it is not erased. In a fallen world, we continue to bear God’s image as males and females, and marriage and procreation continue as a common grace for the continuance of the human race and as a picture of God’s ongoing activity in the world.

Complementarity in Redemption

God answers sin in the gospel. Not only has Jesus paid the penalty of sin through his substitutionary death on the cross, but he has begun a redemptive work in creation everywhere the gospel takes root.

It is through complementary procreation and childbearing that redemption is both promised and ultimately realized. In the midst of cursing the world on account of mankind’s sin, God promises to raise up an offspring of the woman who will put down the rebellion instigated by the serpent. In Genesis 3:15, God addresses the serpent within earshot of the man and the woman:

I will put enmity between you and the woman,     and between your offspring and her offspring;he shall bruise your head,     and you shall bruise his heel.

As the biblical genealogies testify, generations of complementary relations between men and women brought this promise to the brink of fulfillment. Then, through the supernatural conception by a betrothed-and-then-married virgin, the promise was finally realized. Jesus is begotten of his heavenly Father and an earthly mother — the God-man come to earth to redeem his bride, the church. Complementarity permeates the gospel.

The New Testament affirms the continued goodness of complementary differences, particularly in marriage and procreation. The apostles exhort all Christians everywhere to faith and good works, affirming male-female equality of value in their redeemed standing before God (Galatians 3:28). But the apostles also give the New Testament churches differing, enduring, sex-specific instructions, including to the unmarried, in places like Titus 2 and in the household codes in Ephesians 5, Colossians 3, and 1 Peter 3. Grace does not erase nature but restores it — including our complementary natures and callings.

For instance, in 1 Timothy 2:11–15, Paul instructs women to act differently from men in the covenant community. Just as Adam was created as the covenant head of his wife, men are called to covenant leadership in marriage and in the church, and women are called to embrace their God-given design under the leadership of qualified men in the covenant community. In 1 Timothy 2:15, Paul mentions the archetypically feminine act, childbearing, for women to embrace in faith, love, holiness, and self-control. Many commentators see a reference in this verse to the unique role women played in the history of redemption to bring about the birth of the Savior. It was through childbirth, after all, that Jesus came into the world to bring salvation. Men are instructed to embrace their masculinity and women to embrace their femininity in the eternal life they have in Christ.

We can see how the gospel answers sin and restores nature also in the instructions Paul gives husbands and wives in Ephesians 5:22–33. The sex-specific commands for husbands and wives in this passage directly answer the propensities toward sin listed in the curses of Genesis 3:16. As the redeemed, husbands are commanded to love their wives as Christ loves the church rather than to rule harshly over them. Wives are commanded to submit to their own husbands rather than to nurse desires contrary to their leadership.

This sampling of passages makes it clear that even as we are made more into the image of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18; Romans 8:29; Colossians 3:10; Ephesians 4:24), we embrace our masculinity and femininity as the God-given way we image him (Genesis 1:27).

Complementarity in the New Creation

The resurrection of Jesus offers an important clue for life in the new creation. The Bible teaches that Jesus rose from the dead as the “firstfruits” of the new creation (1 Corinthians 15:20, 23). Firstfruits portend not only that more will follow, but also what will follow.

When Jesus rose from the dead, he demonstrated continuity between his bodily existence before and after his death. Jesus was born into the world as a human male, lived a perfect life as a human male, died as a human male, and was resurrected as a human male. Francis Turretin rightly connects Christ’s resurrection to the resurrection believers should anticipate:

When he rose, Christ received the same body he had before and the same flesh which he had assumed and in which he died, for what he once took he never laid aside (Psalm 16:10; John 2:19; Acts 2:31). Hence he significantly says, “It is I myself” (Luke 24:39). Such ought to be our resurrection. Our bodies ought to be no other than those which were deposited in the earth. (Institutes of Elenctic Theology, 3:572–73)

At the resurrection, all the redeemed will be raised with bodies in the same way that Jesus was raised. Men and women will be reconstituted with imperishable male bodies and female bodies, respectively. In this way, we can affirm that maleness and femaleness, which imply masculinity and femininity, will persist in the new creation.

But what will this masculinity and femininity look like? We find another clue to life in the resurrection from Jesus in Matthew 22. This passage is a hotspot for speculation, and for good reason. In this passage, Jesus answers the Sadducees’ attempt to stump him with a question about a woman who was successively married to seven brothers. To which of the seven brothers would this woman be married in the resurrection? But Jesus is not stumped:

You know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob”? He is not God of the dead, but of the living. (Matthew 22:29–32)

Jesus’s reply contains two pieces of information about life in the resurrection: we will not marry or be given in marriage, and we will be like the angels. Mainstream Christian orthodoxy has concluded from Jesus’s teaching that there will no longer be marriage in the new creation. But if marriage and procreation cease, then will maleness and femaleness cease?

This conclusion does not necessarily follow, in part because of the theological logic of resurrection (presented above) and in part because of Jesus’s own words. Indeed, the words Jesus uses in Matthew 22:30 appear to affirm the continuance of differences between the two sexes. The words “marry” and “given in marriage” refer to the uniquely male and female roles in marriage. In other words, the activity will cease, but not the differentiated identities. As Augustine observes,

In the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven (Matthew 22:30). They shall be equal to the angels in immortality and happiness, not in flesh, nor in resurrection, which the angels did not need, because they could not die. The Lord then denied that there would be in the resurrection, not women, but marriages; and he uttered this denial in circumstances in which the question mooted would have been more easily and speedily solved by denying that the female sex would exist, if this had in truth been foreknown by him. But, indeed, he even affirmed that the sex should exist by saying, They shall not be given in marriage, which can only apply to females; Neither shall they marry, which applies to males. There shall therefore be those who are in this world accustomed to marry and be given in marriage, only they shall there make no such marriages. (City of God, XXII.17)

In this way, Jesus does not mean to indicate that we will be “like angels” in that we will be non-physical or disembodied. We will have resurrected bodies, which means we will be sexed as Jesus is in his resurrected male body. But we will be “like angels” in that we will be immortal, as Augustine affirms, and we will no longer procreate. The pleasures promised to Christians (Psalm 16:11), both male and female, transcend the mere physical, instead promising spiritual unity with God himself as we enjoy his goodness forever in his presence (Revelation 21).

In sum, masculinity and femininity continue in the new creation because God created us male and female — equal in value yet different in our callings — in the beginning, pronouncing it “very good.” Masculinity and femininity are not erased by the fall but are being redeemed in the gospel. We who are united to Christ by faith will be raised with sexed bodies like his, male or female, which means masculinity and femininity will persist in the new heavens and the new earth. Male-female complementarity originated in the garden, persists in spite of the fall, is redeemed in Christ, and will be fully restored in the new creation.

Male and Female Forever

If we have adequately established that masculinity and femininity will persist in the new heavens and new earth, we may now explore what this might look like. If marriage and procreation are no more, what will masculinity and femininity look like? How will they be distinguished? And for what purpose?

The differences between masculinity and femininity will persist, first and foremost, in our embodied differences. Men and women have similar yet different forms that lend themselves to different but overlapping modes of subsistence. While no longer directed at marriage and procreation, masculinity and femininity will retain their original function in imaging and reflecting the glory of God. And because we are not God, no one of us can image or reflect his glory independently. Male and female together are required to image God sufficiently.

God-created differentiation will continue in the new creation. The new heavens will be distinct from the new earth; angels and cherubim will be distinct from seraphim; trees will be distinct from rivers, and these created realities will be distinct from the men and women who will walk among them, embodied and differentiated as either male or female. Each aspect of God’s new creation will proclaim something about its Creator (Romans 1:20). Because no one created being is equal to God, which includes each of us as male or female, we will continue to experience and benefit from differentiated createdness, which will bear testimony to and give glory to God.

Second, bodily continuity between this age and the age to come points toward spiritual continuity. Masculinity in this age is typified by strength and initiative and leadership. We have reason to think that in the new heavens and new earth, masculinity will continue to typify such. Femininity in this age is typified by beauty and receptivity and nurture, and this also is likely to continue in the age to come. Importantly, one typified attribute is not better than another. Just the opposite: every attribute is good and necessary, as it is created by and participates in God himself. But they are differentiated, and this differentiation will continue in the new creation because maleness and femaleness will continue.

Admittedly, though, we have arrived with C.S. Lewis’s character Ransom at the brink of futility and wonder as we try to fully account for the beauty of complementary difference:

But whence came this curious difference between them? He found that he could point to no single feature wherein the difference resided, yet it was impossible to ignore. One could try — Ransom has tried a hundred times — to put it into words. He has said that Malacandra was like rhythm and Perelandra like melody. He has said that Malacandra affected him like a quantitative, Perelandra like an accentual, metre. . . . What Ransom saw at that moment was the real meaning of gender. (Perelandra, 171)

Complementarity participates in true reality, because it reflects God’s design. Instead of trying to define the scope of masculinity and femininity in the age to come, we should content ourselves with affirming complementary continuity, which means affirming the goodness of male-female difference, while celebrating and anticipating continued complementarity in God’s (re)created order.

God’s creation is beautifully diverse, like a multifaceted diamond, in order to catch and reflect the eternal divine Light (1 John 1:5). It will be similar in the new creation, which is described in similar terms as the first creation (“new heavens and new earth,” Revelation 21:1; “the heavens and the earth,” Genesis 1:1). We serve a God whose Trinitarian love is reflected in and refracted through all of creation, including redeemed humanity. Male-female complementarity is part of God’s original design, and this complementarity will be beautifully restored with the rest of creation, which eagerly awaits God’s redemption (Romans 8:23).

Male-female complementarity will exist in the new heavens and the new earth, and so will masculinity and femininity. As for their eternal complementary purposes, Lord willing, we will have an eternity to appreciate them, and through them the strength and beauty of our God.

Audio Transcript

If you’ve listened to the Ask Pastor John podcast for more than a few weeks, you know that we regularly explore life’s deepest sadnesses and most painful losses. This is a fitting place to hear Pastor John address hard situations, and those hard situations include couples who are unable to bear children of their own. On infertility, we have looked at amazing Bible texts with amazing promises, like Isaiah 56:4–5. That comes to mind. And you can see how important Isaiah 56:4–5 is pastorally, in the APJ book, on page 193. There, you’ll see that this same incredible promise can be applied to two sadnesses: infertility and lifelong singleness. It’s one of those essential texts you want in hand, when the time is right, in ministering to others — Isaiah 56:4–5.

Lifelong singleness is the topic again today in an email from a woman, a listener, who writes in anonymously. “Hello, Pastor John. I am 43 and a faithful Christian — have been all my life — but I have never been married. I’ve been visiting many congregations in my community and have yet to find a suitable mate. I am haunted by the story of Jephthah and his daughter at the end of Judges 11:34–40. I know the point of that story is to teach us not to make rash vows, especially to God. But when I see how his daughter wanted to spend the last two months of her life mourning that she will never be a wife or a mother, it terrifies me. It shows me that if I don’t get married, I am missing out.

“That fear is compounded when I consider Jesus’s words from Matthew 22:30. I know some teachers, including you, who use this verse to give hope for single people. But I don’t see what is hopeful about it. I resonate with Jephthah’s daughter. If people are ‘neither [married] nor are given in marriage’ in the resurrection, that means if one doesn’t get married in this life, they will never know the joys of marriage! They won’t know what it’s like to touch or be touched by someone of the opposite gender. They won’t know what it’s like to hold their own child in their arms. These blessings that such a single person may have wished for their entire lives will be unrealized for all eternity!

“Even if whatever God has in store for us is better, won’t they still wonder what they missed — what it seems everyone, Christian and non-Christian alike, seemed to enjoy? My question is, if I die unmarried, yet remained faithful to Christ and have kept myself pure, will I have the same grief in my heart that Jephthah’s daughter dealt with in those last two months of her life for everything that I will never experience as well?”

Before I saw this question yesterday and had time to think about it, I was sitting in my chair over my Bible, pondering how pervasive and inevitable deep disappointments are that will never be turned around in this life.

World of Sorrows

I thought of people who are blind, perhaps from birth. They will never see the sun or moon or the beauties of a flower or the face of a friend. All will be dark until death. That will be their life on earth. I thought of people who are deaf and live in total silence all their lives — no music, no voices from a family or friend, no sweet robin’s song, no blasting thunder. I thought of people who are paralyzed because they were born that way or had an accident and perhaps can’t feel anything below their neck — paraplegics, maybe, who can’t run or walk or play pickleball, all the way to the end of their life. It never changes — all of life paralyzed. That was what they were dealt.

I thought of people who grow up in very poor, desperate conditions where they never learned to read — no Shakespeare, no Milton, no Herbert, no novels, no poems, not even a note or a letter from a friend — confined to a small world of limited experience. No reading. I thought of people who are miserable in marriages. All their hopes for what marriage was supposed to be have crashed. The romance has gone. There’s no mutual affection shown anymore — both partners in frustration and disappointment that the other doesn’t meet their emotional needs. The children are broken. All the dreams seem dashed all the way to the end. “For better or worse” — and it turned out to be worse.

I thought of refugees and people whose entire lives are decimated by war. I see the pictures today, people who as a class are hated, driven from one place to the next with scarcely any peace, any security, any comforts at all. And then there are the countless diseases, sicknesses, disabilities that people live with and die with and never experience healing or freedom from debilitating suffering.

“As we find our richest contentment in God, this life of singleness or marriage need not be wasted but full of joy.”

Now, I mention these realities in this world not to minimize this woman’s sorrows at not being married or having children. Her longings are good and right. Human beings were designed by God to be married, to be hugged in a one-flesh union, to have sexual relations that bring forth exquisite pleasures and then the cutest little persons. We were made to be cherished and respected in a lifelong union of man and woman in marriage that is deeply right, deeply human, deeply good, deeply gracious of God, and not to have it can be profoundly disappointing and painful, and I feel no need to minimize that.

Living with Realistic Hope

I mention these things because we really do need to have a biblical, realistic assessment of the possibilities of this fallen age, which is ruined by sin. And by ruined, I mean virtually everything that was designed by God for human pleasure is corrupted and, in greater or lesser ways, wrecked. Here’s Paul’s most penetrating description of our world. He said,

The creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

That’s Romans 8:20–23 — subjected to futility, bondage to corruption, groaning as Spirit-filled Christians, waiting for our bodies to be redeemed from their present wasting away and dying condition. What an amazing, painful, realistic, worldly-hope-dashing assessment of the world. History is a conveyor belt of diseased, broken, frustrated, disappointed, dying, gloriously human persons and bodies. We in the West have so many suffering-ameliorating amenities that we can scarcely begin to imagine how hopeless this life feels to billions of people who don’t have a fraction of our comforts.

Looking to Our Reward

This is why the New Testament — unlike the Old Testament, including the experience of Jephthah’s daughter — is so relentlessly focused on the hope of eternal life: spectacular hope, incredible inheritance, lavish happiness being swallowed up by life at the resurrection, where the Lamb will bring us to springs of living water, and “[God] will wipe away every tear from [our] eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4). Over and over again, the New Testament presents the Christian life as shot through with sorrow and pain and disappointment and affliction and rejection and persecution — all of it sustained with gladness by rejoicing in the “hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:1–2).

Apart from Jesus, nobody in the New Testament suffered nearly as much as Paul did, and yet he embraced it, even his singleness, as part of his calling, even though he had a right to have more pleasures than he got. Listen to what he says:

Do we not have the right to eat and drink? Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living? . . . But I have made no use of any of these rights. (1 Corinthians 9:4–6, 15)

The flag flying over Paul’s life of self-denial and sorrow was 2 Corinthians 6:10: “Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.”

Sorrow Will Flee

I’m not asking our 43-year-old single friend not to be sorrowful. I’m not. If our arm is cut off, we are sorrowful. If we are not granted a legitimate lifelong desire to be one flesh with a person of the opposite sex, we are sorrowful. But we do not feel singled out. We do not feel picked on. We do not feel mistreated by God. And we do not feel hopeless, as if in the resurrection we will walk the barren hills with Jephthah’s daughter and bewail our virginity. No, we will not wail on any hill in the age to come. These are hand-clapping, dancing hills and will satisfy our deepest lungs.

Whatever we have sacrificed in this world “is [working] for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison [because] we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:17–18). And in the meantime, as we go deeper and deeper with God, finding our richest contentment in him, this life of singleness or marriage need not be wasted or meaningless but full of meaningful fruitfulness and joy as we pour ourselves out for the present and eternal good of others.

O come, O come, great Lord of might,Who to your tribes on Sinai’s heightIn ancient times did give the lawIn cloud and majesty and awe.

Rejoice! Rejoice! ImmanuelShall come to thee, O Israel.

“Great Lord of might” hardly seems an appropriate handle for the son of Mary. In his infancy, needy, dependent, vulnerable — like every other human babe. In his youth, submissive to his parents. In his few adult years, despised, rejected, misunderstood, the scorn and derision of the “lordly” of the land, killed.

And yet . . .

Almighty on the Mountain

The old Latin text of the traditional Christmas hymn “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” reads, “Veni, veni, Adonai” (“Come, come, Lord”) and then remembers the great theophany of God on the mountain of Moses. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the one who rescued his people from enslavement in Egypt with “an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment” (Exodus 6:6), came down with “thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud” and with “a very loud trumpet blast,” wrapped in fire (Exodus 19:16, 18).

Here was El Shaddai, “God Almighty” (Exodus 6:2), the God of might who made covenants with their forefathers, who kept his promise to conquer their enemies, who caused the waters to turn red with blood, to stand in a heap, to turn from bitter to sweet, to burst forth from a flinty rock on a parched plain. Here was the one who served his people meals in the wilderness — manna, the very bread of heaven.

Here was Adonai (the Latin rendering of Yahweh in Exodus 6:3), who promised to take the pitiful people of Israel, the least of all the nations, and make them his own with a staggering twofold promise: “I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God” (Exodus 6:7). Here was the one who addressed Moses from the burning bush and the people from the flaming mount, in grace giving them the law.

There could hardly be better news for the people of Israel. Oppressed by the Egyptians, they called out to the God of their fathers. Their cry, far from falling on deaf ears, was heard by the one who created the heavens and the earth, the skies and the seas. God heard them, knew their plight, and came in might to deliver them.

Rejoice! Rejoice, O Israel! For here, truly, is God with us — Immanuel.

Who Is This?

To all appearances, the advent of the eternal Son in the incarnation could hardly be more different from the scene at Mount Sinai. The angel told Joseph to name his betrothed’s unborn child “Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). But could a babe harassed throughout his brief life really be the same God who broke out in strength against the land of Egypt? After all, isn’t he just the carpenter’s son?

To those who had eyes to see and ears to hear, this Nazarene was far more than a footsore rabbi.
He was the one who reigned over the waters. In his first miracle, he revealed his glory by turning clear water to red wine (John 2:6–11). To the amazement of his disciples, he demonstrated his power over raging seas as he calmed with a word or walked across the waves (Matthew 8:26; 14:25). To the wonder of the Samaritan woman, he promised water that would eternally slake her thirst (John 4:14).

He was the one who provided food for the hungry. Twice, when the multitudes hungered, he gave a heavenly blessing and multiplied bread in the wilderness (Matthew 14:19; 15:36). When they sought more signs of his identity, he named himself as the very bread of life (John 6:35).

Even more, he was the one who made blind eyes see, deaf ears hear, lame men walk, the sick well, the dead alive, at whose mere presence the demons cowered and at whose word they fled.

Could this be El Shaddai?

He was the one who spoke to Israel from the mountain, giving the law of the kingdom as “one who had authority,” astonishing the crowds with his teaching as he called them to enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 7:28–29; 5:20). He was the one who, as in days of old, spoke with Moses on the mountain in the radiance of his glory and in the shadow of the cloud (Matthew 17:3–5).

Could this be Adonai? Could he be the long-awaited Immanuel?

He was not the Messiah they expected. His life ended miserably on a criminal’s cross.

And yet . . .

O Come, Behold

For those with eyes to see, even in the hour of deepest humility God reveals himself in salvific glory.

Here on the tree, God speaks from a mount shrouded in cloud and deep darkness. “It is finished,” rings the cry (John 19:30). The earth shakes; the rocks split.

Here on the tree is blood poured out, the perfect fulfillment of the law. And here on the tree the red blood of the new covenant turns to clear water, spilt from his side — a river of life.

Here on the tree his body is broken. “It is bread,” he said, “given for you.” The very bread of heaven come down to feed the hungry.

Here is your God. His name is El Shaddai, for he releases his people from bondage by the strength of his arms outstretched. His name is Adonai, for he is the God of the covenants — old and new. His name is Immanuel, for he will dwell with us.

His name is Jesus.

O come, o come, ye Christian and beholdThis one who worked his wonders from of oldThe Lord of might on Calvary’s treeNow reigns for you in majesty.

“Did he actually say that?”

I can imagine one of the Ephesian elders turning to a fellow elder to say those words after hearing the apostle Paul say, “I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them” (Acts 20:29–30). Every pastor can readily grasp the first part of Paul’s warning, but the second part is another story.

As pastors, we train to be watchful and alert. Inherent to our calling as shepherds is the task of looking out for the flock of God and protecting it from savage wolves and false shepherds. However, Paul emphasizes here that one of the greatest threats to the church can emerge from within its own leadership ranks, making self-awareness a critical aspect of pastoral leadership. A pastor who does not know the temptations of his own heart cannot guard his heart from what might cause him to become a source of spiritual danger to his congregation.

The question then arises: What danger signs can pastors watch for to guard against diseased leadership? Let me suggest six warning signs for pastors to pay attention to in themselves.

1. Pride

The Bible is clear about the destructive nature of pride: “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18). Pride deceives, turning a leader’s focus inward and corrupting his care of God’s people. For pastors, pride can be a subtle temptation, fostering an inflated sense of self-worth.

The pastor’s office comes with authority, and a pastor can easily forget that his authority is derived from Christ himself. Intoxicated by his own perception of self-importance, a pastor may develop a “Diotrephes” complex: loving to be first and not willing to be corrected (3 John 9). Both signal spiritual decay. If not dealt with, he will cut himself off from constructive feedback and accountability — essential guardrails for a pastor’s protection.

The fallen pastors’ landfill is littered with men who began to believe their press clippings, which led to them thinking more highly of themselves than they ought to think. Pastors must be on guard and never forget that “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5).

2. Negligence

One of the early signs of spiritual decay in a pastor’s heart is a diminishing personal spiritual life. It is common for pastors to become so consumed with the external demands of ministry — preaching, teaching, counseling, administration — that they neglect their walk with the Lord Jesus. Prayer becomes perfunctory, preaching becomes mechanical, counseling becomes shallow, and the man morphs into a carnal shell of his spiritual self. At that point, he becomes an easy target to the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the boastful pride of life, and God’s people reap the rotten fruit of the pastor’s withering soul.

Paul’s admonition to “keep a close watch on yourself” (1 Timothy 4:16) serves as a powerful reminder to pastors that we cannot lead others where we ourselves are not going. Preaching about the joys of sweet communion with Christ while personally neglecting the means of grace will make a pastor a perfect hypocrite. The gap between his public ministry and private life will inevitably become a place where the devil sets his devouring traps.

In guarding his heart, a pastor will do well to heed Robert Murray M’Cheyne’s words: “It is not great talents that God blesses as much as great likeness to Christ. A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God” (Memoir and Remains of Robert Murray M‘Cheyne, 243). And holiness comes through consistent holy discipline (1 Timothy 4:7).

3. Compromise

A slow drip from a leaky pipe can erode the foundation of a massive building, and small compromises can undermine a pastor’s ministry. Whether it is sexual immorality, financial impropriety, or another lapse of integrity, patterns of cutting moral corners can cause enormous damage to a pastor’s own spiritual life and infect the influence he wields on his congregation.

“One of the early signs of spiritual decay in a pastor’s heart is a diminishing personal spiritual life.”

When a pastor finds himself avoiding the company of others, operating in isolation from other leaders in the church, or pushing back against accountability, heed the warning signs of compromise. If not addressed, a pastor will drift away from the biblical standards he once held and start living and leading in the questionable realm of “gray-area” ambiguities. Slowly, convictions are jettisoned, standards are lowered, and the once-principled leader transforms into a walking contradiction and a stumbling block to his congregation.

Pastor, if this is you, the Lord of the church “who searches mind and heart” (Revelation 2:23) calls you to “be zealous and repent” (Revelation 3:19) before it is too late — before you shipwreck your faith, “destroy God’s temple,” and in turn have God destroy you (1 Corinthians 3:17).

4. Control

Some pastors fall into the trap of trying to control their congregation. Drunk with authority and power, rather than governed by gentleness and love, they use fear, guilt, or intimidation to exert power over the people they are supposed to serve.

Coercive tactics have no place in the church. Such tactics include micromanaging, insisting on making decisions without collaboration, refusing to listen to differing perspectives, or even manipulating and threatening others with church discipline to get them to do what you want them to do. Each of these indicates destructive leadership, which breeds fear and division. This approach to spiritual leadership creates a toxic church culture that betrays the heart of Christ, meek and humble (Matthew 11:29).

Pastor, if you desire complete and unquestioned control over the congregation, you stray from biblical leadership. Christ is the chief Shepherd to whom all loyalty and obedience is owed, and you compete with him to your demise if you exercise leadership over his flock in a domineering way rather than as an example worthy of imitation (1 Peter 5:3–4).

5. Jealousy

Jealousy is a potent danger for a pastor, a toxin that poisons both his heart and his congregation. Jealousy blinds a man to the needs of others and causes him to view fellow leaders as rivals rather than as co-laborers in Christ. Like King Saul, who allowed jealousy of David’s success to consume him (1 Samuel 18:6–9), pastors can become ensnared by comparison and envy.

Left unchecked, this sin distorts a leader’s vision, shifting his focus from faithfully shepherding God’s flock to competing for status, recognition, or influence. James warns that “where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice” (James 3:16), a reminder that the ripple effects of jealousy extend far beyond the individual pastor to cause harm to the body of Christ.

Pastoral leadership is not a competition but a shared labor of love for Christ and his bride. When pastors root their identity in Christ and his finished work rather than in their own success or public platform, they can lead with joy and contentment, nurturing their congregations with a healthy, Christ-centered vision.

6. Burnout

Burnout is a slow-growing but deadly danger for pastors. The weight of shepherding the flock and constant ministry demands can easily lead to exhaustion and spiritual dryness in a pastor’s heart, especially when he neglects proper rhythms of rest and renewal. Burnout erodes compassion, patience, and joy, often resulting in a harsh, irritable, and ineffective leader who alienates a congregation.

Even Moses needed to be reminded by Jethro of the danger of burnout: “You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone” (Exodus 18:18). When pastors fail to heed this wisdom, they risk overworking themselves, which can lead to discouragement, emotional numbness, and even moral failure. The spiritual vitality of the pastor is closely tied to the health of his congregation. The loss of pastoral joy and energy can create an environment devoid of the life-giving presence of Christ.

The antidote to burnout is cultivating a life of dependence on Christ and recognizing that the church belongs to him and not to any other leader. By trusting in God’s sustaining grace, prioritizing time with God, and practicing rest and refreshment with family, pastors can avoid burnout and lead with the energy and joy that flows from communion with Christ.

Guard Your Heart

The warnings in Acts 20:29–30 are just as relevant today as when Paul addressed the Ephesian elders. Pastors are called to a high standard of personal and spiritual integrity. To guard against diseased leadership, we must be vigilant in examining our hearts, considering the scriptural call to “pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood” (Acts 20:28).

By paying close attention to these danger signs of pride, negligence, compromise, control, jealousy, and burnout, pastors can fight to lead their congregations with the heart of a true shepherd — one who cares for the sheep, protects them from harm, and leads them faithfully in the ways of God that honor and glorify Jesus Christ.

My charge to you, Brian Tabb, as the third president of Bethlehem College and Seminary, may be spoken in a rhyming couplet with iambic tetrameter. It goes like this:

Hold fast the word, unchanged and true;Let insight, joy, and song be new.

Hold Fast the Word

Hold fast the word, unchanged and true. Be like those who received the word in good soil: “Hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience” (Luke 8:15).

Hold fast the word, unchanged and true. Be a firm and steadfast lover of the gospel: “I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word” (1 Corinthians 15:1–2).

Hold fast the word, unchanged and true. Be a guardian of the apostolic traditions: “Stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter” (2 Thessalonians 2:15).

Hold fast the word, unchanged and true. Be dogged in holding our confession: “Since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession” (Hebrews 4:14).

Hold fast the word, unchanged and true. And be obedient to the risen Jesus when he says in Revelation 2:25, “Only hold fast what you have until I come.”

Hold fast the word, unchanged and true. You are our leader, our pacesetter, our example, our ethos builder, our inspiration, and our truth protector. Hold fast to the inerrant word, for “the words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times” (Psalm 12:6). And Scripture cannot be broken (John 10:35). “More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb” (Psalm 19:10). Hold fast to the inerrant word.

Hold fast to Reformed soteriology — that is, the unchanged truth that our great salvation is a decisive work of God, start to finish. He chose, he predestined, he died, he rose, he bore our sin, he took condemnation, he calls, he causes new birth, he gives saving faith, he forgives, he adopts, he guards and sustains and keeps, he sanctifies, he perfects and brings us to God where there is fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore. And whatever contributions we make in the obedience of faith, it is not we but the grace of God working in us what is pleasing in his sight, so that our salvation — from eternity to eternity, from start to finish — redounds to the glory of his sovereign grace. Hold fast to the infinitely precious Reformed, biblical soteriology.

“Hold fast the word, unchanged and true; let insight, joy, and song be new.”

Hold fast to the fullest glorification of God through the joy of God’s people in God. Hold fast to Christian Hedonism — by whatever name. Hold fast to the serious joy that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him — or as Paul expressed it: “I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Hold fast to the truth that gladness in Christ in weakness magnifies the glory of Christ.

Hold fast to the beauty of biblical manhood and womanhood as God created them and orders them in complementary relationships. Hold fast to marriage as a lifelong covenant union between a man and a woman, with the man taking his cues from Christ as the head of his wife, and the woman taking her cues from the faithful, submissive, loved body of Christ, the church. Hold fast to the burden that men must bear as those responsible for the pastoral leadership of the church. Hold fast to the truth that God has spoken in Scripture and in nature that men are men all the way down and women are women all the way down, and this is a godly, glad, and glorious thing.

Hold fast to them all, Brian Tabb — all the precious realities of our Affirmation of Faith.

Hold fast the word, unchanged and true.

Let Song Be New

And in all your steady, solid, stable, unflinching, unchanging holding fast to what is true, let insight, joy, and song be new.

Oh sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth! Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples! For great is the Lord, and greatly [freshly, newly!] to be praised. (Psalm 96:1–4)

When the psalmist said, “Sing to the Lord a new song,” he did not mean, “Write a new Bible, find some new doctrine, bow to a new Lord, bless a new name, tell of a different salvation, praise a novel glory, or be amazed at a greatness that never existed before.” That’s not what he meant.

He meant, “Hold fast the word, unchanged and true, but by all means, let insight, joy, and song be new.”

You have a great faculty in the school. And they have amazingly gifted eyes to seek and find treasures in the Bible — “the word, unchanged and true.” The word of God — and the world of God — is like an ocean of insight without bottom and without shore. Inspire these teachers. Challenge them, equip them, and pay them to see what is really there — insights they may never have seen before — so that they may train the students to do the same. “Every scribe [and these are worthy scribes] who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure [his bottomless ocean] what is new and what is old” (Matthew 13:52). Old truth, new insight.

Let insight, joy, and song be new. Let joy be new. “Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning” (Psalm 30:5). Yes, there is a serious joy that endures through the night of weeping: “Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (2 Corinthians 6:10). But dawn is not darkness. Dancing is not weeping. Birth is not death. And the joy of the bridegroom coming out of his chamber at sunrise is not the same joy as the joy of the old man thankful for sixty years of marriage, standing by his wife’s grave. They’re all different. Every joy is different. The mercies are new every morning; the joys are new every morning — and every night.

Brian, know this, savor this, live this, and pray this until education in serious joy in this school is new every morning.

Let insight, joy, and song be new. If our president, our faculty, and our students are finding new insights in the ocean of God’s unchanging truth, and if we are tasting new joys every morning, we will sing new songs. And we will sing old songs like we’ve never sung them before.

So, I wrote a new song for you, Brian, which I would like our congregation to sing over you. (It’s to the tune of “All People That on Earth Do Dwell.”)

God’s Truth stands like his holy Name,     No origin, nor e’er became,Eternal, absolute, the same,     Forever one in sum and aim.

Yet oh how new and fresh the taste!     Linger with him and make no haste.Through every line the sweet is traced;     May we forever so be graced.

Come every scholar, poet too;     Keep ancient truth and bliss in view.Hold fast the word, unchanged and true;     Let insight, joy, and song be new.

Amen.