Free Stuff Fridays (Moody Publishers)
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This giveaway is sponsored by Moody Publishers.
Attention all Bible scholars, believers in the power of faith, and lovers of the Word! Learn about God’s divine mercy and compassion with our exclusive Bible Study Giveaway. Win the ultimate bible study library including Overflowing Mercies by author and Bible teacher Craig Allen Cooper. This giveaway also includes books that are sure to encourage and challenge you like: The Kindness of God, Loneliness, Known for Love, and the bestselling Illustrated Little Pilgrims Progress. You’ll also win Bible study resources like the One Volume Seminary and the Moody Bible Commentary. There will only be one winner, sign-up before June 30th!
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Weekend A La Carte (December 7)
I am thankful to Insight Counseling for sponsoring the blog this week. Insight’s trained and trustworthy counselors offer online counseling from the comfort of your own home, office, or another location that is convenient for you. Learn more here.
Today’s Kindle deals include several more titles from the Christ-Centered Exposition commentary series. There are other titles to look at as well. (Do you prefer print books? Then look at this page with deals, discounts, and specials on print books.)
(Yesterday on the blog: 10 Christian Mega-Projects Released In 2024)
Joe Carter put together one of his helpful FAQs to explain what recently transpired at the U.S. Supreme Court and why it matters. “On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in United States v. Skrmetti, an important case that will determine whether states have the right to protect children from medical attempts to change their bodies for the purpose of ‘affirming’ gender identity.”
Stephen Steele draws an important lesson from Joe Biden’s pardoning of his son. “Many of the same people who are outraged by Biden’s behaviour (or who will be outraged if Trump follows suit) expect God to do the same thing. The German poet Henrich Heine was asked by a priest on his deathbed if he expected God to forgive him. He is reported to have replied: ‘Of course God will forgive me; that’s his job’. That is still a common attitude today.”
Should Christians view (or create) creepy, darker media? John Piper takes on the question here.
Tim explains one thing that many people get wrong about Doubting Thomas.
Seth Lewis has some counsel for those who are approaching midlife to help them head off a full-blown midlife crisis.
Should Christians pray only to the Father, or can we also pray to the Son and the Spirit? I appreciate Fred Sanders’ answer here.
Each of us has the joy and the sacred responsibility of displaying the beauty, the glory, of a foreign land here in this broken world.
If you are not concerned about holiness, you are not concerned about the Great Commission.
—Kevin DeYoung -
Confronting the Problem of Spiritual Abuse in the Church
Is there more spiritual abuse in the church now than there was in days past? Or could it be that the world has shrunk so that we simply see more evidence of it? I am inclined to believe the latter, but regardless, it is high time that Christians address what is clearly a too-common issue. Whatever we believe about the church’s history, we cannot and should not escape the fact that some pastors and some church leaders behave in abusive ways. Not only that, but some of the traits we may even desire in our leaders are opposed to the characteristics of leadership the Bible lays out. This is a church-wide problem, not just a leadership problem.
Michael Kruger’s Bully Pulpit is meant to address the issue by addressing Christian leaders. “I am writing as a leader in the church to other leaders in the church. Church leaders are the primary audience because they are the ones who can prevent spiritual abuse. They can stop bully pastors.” While there are other books written for the victims of spiritual abuse, this one is written for the ones who may purposely or inadvertently find themselves perpetrating it.
Of course Kruger is careful to affirm that it is only a slim minority of pastors who perpetrate abuse. “In some ways, the problem of abusive church leaders is not all that different from the problem of abusive police officers. While most officers are honorable, kind, and brave, some do use excessive force. And the reality of the former can’t be an excuse to ignore the latter. But, sadly, to protect the ‘dignity of the office,’ abuse is sometimes minimized or overlooked—sometimes even by other police officers.” There’s a terrible irony in this, for “it is this misguided desire to protect the office that may actually be harming it. The dignity of the office would be better protected if more good police officers had the courage to stand up to the abusive ones.” What is true of police officers is equally true of pastors. This is an issue that, for the sake of the purity of the church and the safety of the sheep, must be addressed.
Kruger begins by positing some ideas about the apparent rise of the bully pastor and, as he does so, covers some recent well-publicized cases like Mark Driscoll, James MacDonald and, to show that the issue is not uniquely male, Judy Dabler. He explains why Christian leaders may be prone to abusive behaviors: churches that emphasize giftedness over character, leaders who surround themselves with “yes men,” a misunderstanding of authority, and so on. Having done this, he defines spiritual abuse and defends his use of the controversial term. Spiritual abuse, he says, is “when a spiritual leader—such as a pastor, elder, or head of a Christian organization—wields his position of spiritual authority in such a way that he manipulates, domineers, bullies, and intimidates those under him as a means of maintaining his own power and control, even if he is convinced he is seeking biblical and kingdom-related goals.” As importantly, he is careful to point out that not everything is abuse, for there are some traits that may mark leaders who are merely unskilled or immature, but not abusive: unfriendliness, big personalities, or a willingness to confront people’s sins.
As he progresses into the heart of the book, Kruger discusses the biblical qualifications for ministry and how they necessarily disqualify abusers. After all, the Bible lauds characteristics like gentleness, patience, humility, and self-control. He considers why churches are slow to stop abusive leaders, too often waiting until there is a “trail of bodies” in their wake. He then discusses some of the retaliatory tactics abusive leaders employ to gain power and to maintain it: building a coalition of defenders, deflecting attention by crying foul about due process, claiming to be the victim of gossip or slander, attacking the character of the victims, and loudly reminding people of character and accomplishments.
A chapter is dedicated to the devastating effects of spiritual abuse on its victims while a final chapter lays out measures churches can implement to create a culture that is resistant to spiritual abuse. This includes key measures such as evaluating pastors more on their character than on their competency. “If we create a pastoral profile guided by biblical principles rather than worldly ones, it will hopefully be unattractive to potentially abusive pastors. The key issue is not only whether the church is attracted to the prospective pastor but also whether the prospective pastor is attracted to this kind of church.” He provides guidance as well on accountability for those in positions of leadership and protection for those who may call out abuse. An epilogue addresses pastors one last time to plead with them to resist the temptation toward heavy-handed and harmful leadership.
Bully Pulpit is a book that needed to be written and I am thankful that Michael Kruger took the opportunity to do so. I appreciate his handling of a difficult subject, his precise defining of the term, and his care in distinguishing between behaviors that are abusive and behaviors that are not. I appreciate his analysis of why churches are prone to elevate leaders who exhibit abusive characteristics. I appreciate his kind but insistent calls to pastors and church leaders that they ensure they are measuring up to the biblical qualifications for those who would take leadership positions in churches and Christian organizations. Most of all, I appreciate that he took on the topic at all, for only by facing it and admitting it can we address it. It’s my hope and prayer that Bully Pulpit is widely read so it can purify, bless, and strengthen the pulpit and, hence, the church.Buy from Amazon
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A Day in the Life of an Ordinary Christian
Let’s suppose that for just one day the Lord chose to make a documentary about you—“A Day in the Life of an Ordinary Christian.” For a single day your every move was recorded and your every word transcribed. For a single day even your thoughts were externalized and written down. A camera crew was beside your bed when you awoke, they sat with you at breakfast, and stayed at your side through your duties at work and at home. They held boom mics above your head as you led your family in devotions, trailed along behind when you went to your midweek service or small group, watched you sing your children to sleep, and bid farewell only when you had returned to bed, turned out the lights, and fallen into a deep slumber.
You would, of course, be on your best behavior and make it one of the best and godliest days you had ever lived. Even without fakery or hypocrisy, you would put your best foot forward and attempt to display your life at its purest. You would guard your thoughts and measure your words; you would take your duties seriously and do your utmost to display the heights of Christian character. You would be the best spouse you could be, the best parent you could be, the best friend and employee. You would attempt to model distinctly godly living.
And let’s suppose that somewhere in the distant reaches of time God chose to show you the results of that documentary. You had long since died and gone to heaven and begun to live in eternal bliss. And now God said, “Let’s show you that day in your life.” And so for hours you sat and watched yourself living life on this side of the grave. How would you feel about it? How would you evaluate the way you thought, the way you spoke, the way you lived?
You would, of course, understand that it was immeasurably far from perfect. You would see that despite your best efforts, your motives were still impure, your thoughts still imperfect, your actions still impacted by sin and still impaired by weakness. You would know you have already been forgiven for all the wrong you did and all the good you failed to do. So perhaps you would find yourself asking, “God, how could you have loved me when I was so sinful, when my best actions born from my best desires were still so poor?” What do you suppose the Lord would say?
I think the Lord might say something like this: “I have already forgiven you. And I know that you were living as well as you knew how to at that time. You were walking according to the light you had at that stage of your Christian life. You were making decisions on the basis of the knowledge you had gained so far and heeding your conscience as much as it had been informed to that point. Though you were still a sinner, though the old man was still active within, you were attempting to live well, attempting to live for the good of others and the glory of my name. So well done. I’m proud of you.”
The way you live today is, in all likelihood, better and purer than the way you lived ten years ago. The way you will live ten years from now is, in all likelihood, better and purer than the way you are living today. God’s work within us is progressive, not instant. Though we are never faultless when it comes to our sins, God may consider us blameless when we simply do not have the knowledge, do not have the maturity, do not have the sanctification that would allow us to live better and purer lives at that moment.
Of course, we must not content ourselves with immaturity or allow ourselves to dwell indefinitely in spiritual infancy. We must be committed to growth! Yet surely God does hold us equally responsible for unintentional ignorance as for knowledgeable defiance. Surely he is pleased with our best efforts, even when those efforts are so small and so weak. Surely he is proud of us when we live according to the light we have and serve with hearts of love, hearts of joy, hearts that long to magnify his name.