The pastor and his community (part 4 of 5)

A continuation of Mark Dever’s 35 points:

22. We as pastors must make sure that matters of secondary importance should not

absorb our attention and energy to the detriment of our primary charge to preach

the Gospel.

23. Our exposition of God’s Word should certainly equip our members by applying

Biblical teaching to issues which are (or should be) of current concern, e.g.,

poverty, gender, racism, justice (cf. Isaiah 1:10-17). This teaching, however,

should normally be given without seeming to commit the church to particular

policy solutions to problems affecting the wider community. For example,

Christian preachers could strenuously advocate the abolition of slavery without

spending their sermons laying out how specifically it was to be done. We can

speak to ought’s without untangling all the how’s.

24. We should warn our congregations about the dangers of accumulating wealth. Many

Christians throughout history have read the Bible as being more suspicious of

wealth than we modern American Christians seem to be. Everyone from

Augustine to Wesley has written eloquently of the dangerous gravity of wealth,

and the worldly pull it can have on our hearts. Such teaching need not cause us to

reject careful financial planning, but it should cause us to be more vigilant, more

wary and even suspicious of wealth than we tend to be. We should give fresh

attention to cautionary passages like Matt. 6:21, Luke 12:34, I Tim. 6:17-19 and

James 5:1-6. According to the Bible, wealth can be more spiritually dangerous

than poverty.

25. We must carefully prioritize the responsibilities unique to the church. Matters like a

concern for education, politics, and mercy ministries for those beyond the

church’s membership are proper concerns for Christians to have, but the church

itself is not the structure for addressing such concerns. They are the proper

concern of Christians in schools, governments, and other structures of society. In

fact, if such concerns came to be the focus of the church, they could potentially

distract the church from its main and unique responsibility, that of incarnating and

proclaiming the gospel. “To the church is committed the task of proclaiming the

whole counsel of God and, therefore, the counsel of God as it bears upon the

responsibility of all persons and institutions. While the church is not to discharge

the functions of other institutions such as the state and the family, nevertheless it

is charged to define what the functions of these institutions are . . . . To put the

matter bluntly, the church is not to engage in politics. Its members must do so,

but only in their capacity as citizens of the state, not as members of the church,”

(John Murray, “The Relation of Church and State,” in Collected Writings of John

Murray, vol. 1 [Banner of Truth, 1976], 255). We want to protect the practice of

evangelism, and the priority of evangelism in the life of the local church. We

never want to allow our congregation’s activity in caring for the needs of the

community to diminish, or encroach upon the priority of the Gospel.

Mark Dever

Sovereign Grace Pastors Conference

The Pastor & Community

www.SovereignGraceMinistries.org

© 2009

5

26. We must beware of dividing the church unnecessarily over non-essential issues in

which we involve the congregation (e.g., nuclear disarmament, constitutional

amendments, particular art outreaches or ministries in the community).

27. We must be aware of the deadly distraction such good deeds have been to earlier

generations. (e.g., the Social Gospel movement; NB ancient examples like

Council of Rome in 826 establishing schools at cathedrals was done in a context

where the assumption was they were serving the baptized. NOT an example of

reaching out to those we take to be unconverted with physical charity.)

28. We must ask ourselves and others whether or not we are more excited by and about

the Gospel, or other, secondary issues, and if others perceive this in our ministry.

22. We as pastors must make sure that matters of secondary importance should not absorb our attention and energy to the detriment of our primary charge to preach the Gospel.

23. Our exposition of God’s Word should certainly equip our members by applying Biblical teaching to issues which are (or should be) of current concern, e.g., poverty, gender, racism, justice (cf. Isaiah 1:10-17). This teaching, however, should normally be given without seeming to commit the church to particular policy solutions to problems affecting the wider community. For example, Christian preachers could strenuously advocate the abolition of slavery without spending their sermons laying out how specifically it was to be done. We can speak to ought’s without untangling all the how’s.

24. We should warn our congregations about the dangers of accumulating wealth. Many Christians throughout history have read the Bible as being more suspicious of wealth than we modern American Christians seem to be. Everyone from Augustine to Wesley has written eloquently of the dangerous gravity of wealth, and the worldly pull it can have on our hearts. Such teaching need not cause us to reject careful financial planning, but it should cause us to be more vigilant, more wary and even suspicious of wealth than we tend to be. We should give fresh attention to cautionary passages like Matt. 6:21, Luke 12:34, I Tim. 6:17-19 and James 5:1-6. According to the Bible, wealth can be more spiritually dangerous than poverty.

25. We must carefully prioritize the responsibilities unique to the church. Matters like a concern for education, politics, and mercy ministries for those beyond the church’s membership are proper concerns for Christians to have, but the church itself is not the structure for addressing such concerns. They are the proper concern of Christians in schools, governments, and other structures of society. In fact, if such concerns came to be the focus of the church, they could potentially distract the church from its main and unique responsibility, that of incarnating and proclaiming the gospel. “To the church is committed the task of proclaiming the whole counsel of God and, therefore, the counsel of God as it bears upon the responsibility of all persons and institutions. While the church is not to discharge the functions of other institutions such as the state and the family, nevertheless it is charged to define what the functions of these institutions are . . . . To put the matter bluntly, the church is not to engage in politics. Its members must do so, but only in their capacity as citizens of the state, not as members of the church,” (John Murray, “The Relation of Church and State,” in Collected Writings of John Murray, vol. 1 [Banner of Truth, 1976], 255). We want to protect the practice of evangelism, and the priority of evangelism in the life of the local church. We never want to allow our congregation’s activity in caring for the needs of the community to diminish, or encroach upon the priority of the Gospel.

26. We must beware of dividing the church unnecessarily over non-essential issues in which we involve the congregation (e.g., nuclear disarmament, constitutional amendments, particular art outreaches or ministries in the community).

27. We must be aware of the deadly distraction such good deeds have been to earlier generations. (e.g., the Social Gospel movement; NB ancient examples like Council of Rome in 826 establishing schools at cathedrals was done in a context where the assumption was they were serving the baptized. NOT an example of reaching out to those we take to be unconverted with physical charity.)

28. We must ask ourselves and others whether or not we are more excited by and about the Gospel, or other, secondary issues, and if others perceive this in our ministry.