Drawing Near

I have just returned from a study leave which has been fruitful and productive. In 2015, the Elders of FBCG granted me an annual study leave which includes five Sundays in the summer to advance our ministry in ways that I could not while on my regular pastoral schedule.  Since 2000, FBCG has sent me on over thirty-five international trips. Most of these trips have been to East Asia where I serve as the coordinator for Advance International (www.2advance.org). Over this time, we have developed a foundational theological education for pastors and teachers who have little access to pastoral training.

The Lord has blessed these years with over 2,000 students enrolled in our program, and we have seen 1,000 graduates as of October 2024. Each graduate has completed eight courses and earned the Biblical Ministry certificate from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary/Leavell College.

This summer I was back in Japan where we have a new Advance center and during this time I taught an Expository Preaching Seminar in two venues in Tokyo. The four-hour seminar walked through a basic homiletical plan for pastors and Bible teachers to consider in the sermon-building process. The response was incredible, and the fellowship was sweet.

Our daughter, Lydia, and her husband David serve in Japan, and we had the joy of being there for the birth of their fourth child, Gabriel James. Gwynne and I are praising God from whom all blessings flow.

We return home with many memories of God’s faithfulness and pray that our feet will be beautiful in the advance of the gospel from Ascension parish to the ends of the earth. (Rom. 10:14-15). 

REMINDERS OF REPENTANCE

As I work through the jet lag of international travel, I want to share a short post I’m calling “Reminders of Repentance.” 

This time of year my thoughts are taken to the words found in Jeremiah 8:20:  “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” These words were spoken by the people of Judah in a moment of anguish. It was a proverb expressing that their God-given opportunity to repent was now over. It was a statement of great despair and loss.

When August departs and summer’s close is in sight, this statement speaks to a major theme in Scripture, namely, that “men and women everywhere need to repent before God and receive His grace and mercy for their sins” (Acts 17:30).  Repentance is often cast in a negative light. It is one of those words that is categorized as “preachy” or “confrontive.” However, my survey of Scripture has revealed that repentance is a beautiful, hope-giving response to God.  To repent means that we change our mind concerning our sin and attitudes toward God which leads to a turn from our present path to one of obedience and faith in Him. Through repentance, we begin to love what Christ loves and hate what He hates.

Repentance is a gift of God and not something we manage on our terms. The people in Jeremiah’s day mourned the missed window that led to the nation’s calamity. Repentance and faith in Christ are the proper response to the gospel, and we should not be surprised that we find this message from Moses to the prophets, to John the Baptist, to the apostles, and to Jesus Christ Himself.

Jesus’ public ministry was introduced with a call to repent as He declared, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). Jesus often preached repentance, a need to turn from our sins and to walk in the obedience of faith.

On one occasion Jesus was told about a group of “Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices” (Lk 13:1).  We are not sure of the historical reference this account describes, but we do know that Pilate was brutal and calculating in his treatment of those under his rule. Jesus’ response to this atrocity was startling, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Lk. 13:2-3).

From our perspective, Jesus’ message of repentance could seem cold. However, the takeaway here is that with every atrocity we are reminded that we live in a fallen, groaning creation in which life is uncertain. Every vicious act, every ugly expression is to be processed as a call to repent, to turn from our sins by acknowledging them and confessing them to God, and then to move forward with a heart to honor God. 

Jesus followed with another story about the tower of Siloam falling and killing eighteen people. With the same emphasis, Jesus asked His hearers, “Do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Lk 13:4-5). With every news cycle we hear of some disaster, some calamity in this world that should be a reminder of how our lives are vapors—here for a moment and then gone. With every sorrow, every pain may we be reminded that there is relief, comfort, and salvation in Jesus Christ. The world’s remedies never satisfy the needs of the human heart.

So, at the close of this summer, may the gracious call of God be heard to turn from sin as a part of being a lifelong repenter, and may we rest in the grace that is found in Jesus Christ.

“Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” ~Romans 2:4

Abraham Lincoln once said, “No man is poor who had a godly mother.” Indeed, my mother, Sharon E. Law, loved the Lord Jesus Christ, and everyone knew it. Her deposits in the lives of her four children and many, many others are priceless treasures.

She was 17 when I was born and from my earliest recollections, there was never a time when I did not sense her love, protection, sacrifice, care, and generosity. I’m the oldest of four children born to Jim and Sharon Law who were married for nearly 58 years until this week when she passed from this life into the presence of her Lord. Nothing but everlasting love and gratitude fill my heart upon every remembrance of her. I offer this post as an initial tribute with more to come.

Please pray for our family as we meet this Sunday, December 4^th, 2022 to give glory to God for her life and the hope we know through Jesus Christ our Lord. The funeral service will be offered through Livestream on the Troutman Baptist Church, Troutman, NC, YouTube channel. 

Obituary Link: https://www.cavin-cook.com/obituaries/Sharon-Law-2/#!/Obituary

Life on the Altar: The Life We Are Called to Live (LOTA) is now available! A year ago I began a series of blogs entitled, “Life on the Altar,” and I shared that I would be putting these posts into a book in the summer and fall of 2021. I am thankful to announce that the book has come together by God’s grace, and I pray for His glory.

I will be promoting the book in the coming weeks. I hope you will consider reading it and passing it on to others. Also, If you are able to leave a favorable review on Amazon, I would appreciate that as well. Thank you friends for your support during the writing process. I believe strongly in the message of this book and pray that it will be a rich blessing to you.

You can pre-order through Amazon here: https://amzn.to/3nRrQjI. The “Look Inside” feature on Amazon is forthcoming. Also available at Barnes & Nobles, https://rb.gy/q4kya.

I want to thank those readers who have followed Drawing Near in 2021. In the last six months, I have laid the groundwork for a book that has been on my mind for some time. The preliminary title is “Life on the Altar: The Life We Are Called to Live.”  The theme comes from Paul’s application of the gospel in Romans 12.  Following his systematic presentation of the Good News in Romans 1-11, Paul pivots in Romans 12 to begin answering how we are to live as followers of Christ. 

Driven by the commands and exhortations of Romans 12, my prayer is to offer a fresh look at a basic command for the Christian. In a time of confusion and chaos across the cultural and evangelical landscape, I hope to bring a simple word for a confused time as we think of what it means to present ourselves to God and live in the obedience of faith.

The Elders of FBCG have given me the month of July to hopefully finish the work. I have begun the writing leave, partially this week ,and in earnest on Monday. It is a thrilling and exhausting experience, and I would appreciate your prayers for the time of July 5 and August 2.  I’ll keep you posted.

 A Podcast on “The Meaning of America”

RecentIy I have been tuning into the podcast, Life and Books and Everything.  This week one of the hosts, Kevin DeYoung, offered a very helpful analysis of how we should view the dual citizenship believers have in this world. How are citizens of heaven (Philippians 3:20,21) to understand their citizenship in the United States of America?

As we approach the 4th of July tomorrow, I found this podcast valuable for several reasons:

In his book The Problem of Pain, C. S. Lewis wrote, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”^[1]  Pain has a way of getting our attention like nothing else. Indeed, it is a megaphone that awakens us to difficult realities of life: the death of a loved one, the betrayal of a friend, the shattering of marriage vows, the collapse of a nation, the trauma of violent crime, the devastation of natural disasters, and thousands of other heartbreaks that fill this groaning planet.  We don’t have to look far to find suffering and we can be sure that one day pain will come knocking at our door.

Gratefully, the hope found in God’s word has not left us in the lurch regarding the suffering of this life. We find in Scripture that suffering is promised, and we also find precious assurances that God is with us through it all. The psalmist declared with confidence, “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.”^[2]

The whole prospect of following Jesus Christ is a call to die. Life on the altar as we have seen in this series is a picture of dying to self for the sake of God’s Kingdom agenda. In yet another paradox, our dying to self, our presenting ourselves to God as living sacrifices, becomes the pathway by which we truly live as God intended. This life in Christ brings not only promised joy and peace, but continues on forever and ever.  This eternal perspective becomes the ballast that keeps us steadied in times of pain. 

World Magazine shared the story of Ernesta Wood several years ago which captures the beauty of multi-generational faithfulness to the gospel. Wood, who at the time of the article was 88 years old, displayed “photos of her 53 descendants, nearly all Christians. Once a week for the past 16 years, she has sent them letters—777 in all…filled with stories.”^[1]   Some of her accounts are dramatic:

Her blind grandmother miraculously saw Wood’s grandfather minutes before he died. Other stories cultivate a sense of God’s presence in less dramatic moments: Once, her parents’ pet birds escaped but returned to their cage before dark, just as her mother had prayed. Another letter told of how Wood stayed safe and her car remained intact as she was driving 65 mph down the highway without realizing she had a flat tire. 

The letters testify about tragedies as well. Wood’s first husband, Clyde, was a pastor and a pilot in training. He died in a plane crash when he was 54. Wood remembers sending her children to school that morning and praying, ‘Lord, help us to accept whatever happens to us today as from your hands.’ Then came a phone call: The plane was down, and one of the pilot’s legs had burned. She assumed the other pilot was hurt and drove to the hospital to pick up her husband. There she learned he was dead. Wood stayed calm and wrote about the comfort of knowing her early morning prayer had been answered amid the family tragedy. 

After her husband’s death, Wood moved in with her parents, then traveled as a teacher with the Jesus Film Project. She lived in Russia for a year and wrote to her grandchildren that the exact amount of money needed for her to live overseas that year, $27,000, miraculously came the day it was due. She wrote about new converts, prayers answered, and joy. Wood also visited Mongolia, Cambodia, South Africa, Croatia, and other countries. She hated flying, especially after her husband’s death, but she embraced the adventures and chronicled stories of God’s worldwide work. 

In 2007, Wood, then 76, married Cliff Wood, 80, five months after their first date. More than 700 guests attended their wedding, and two grandsons served as the officiating pastors….While giving a tour of the grandchildren’s photos hanging on the walls, Wood laughs at a photo of her and Cliff, two octogenarians, rolling by the White House on Segways. She remembers blowing past another elderly lady in a wheelchair who shouted, ‘You go, girl!’ That could be Wood’s refrain, as each of her weekly letters quotes Psalm 118:17: ‘I will not die, but live, and tell of the works of the Lord.’”^[2]

May her tribe increase!

Timothy S. Lane and Paul David Tripp have written a helpful book entitled Relationships: A Mess Worth Making.  In one of their chapters, they ask the question, “Why bother?” Of course, they are asking, “Why bother with relationships at all in light of how they are often painful and troubling?” Lane and Tripp argue strongly, and biblically, that instead of calling for a détente on all relationships, we should see them from this perspective:

“God wants to bring us to the end of ourselves so that we would see our need for a relationship with him as well as with others. Every painful thing we experience in relationships is meant to remind us of our need for him. And every good thing we experience is meant to be a metaphor of what we can only find in him.”^[1]

Not only do we have to deal regularly with our own sinful attitudes and tendencies, which makes life hard, but we have to work through painful relationships in the course of living our life as a follower of Christ.

God’s plan is not to avoid problems, but to work through them by his grace and for his glory. The relationships in a local church become the training ground for all believers to learn to love as Christ loves us (Ephesians 4:31,32).  We are prone to speak in generalities about loving others. We prefer to love people from afar where they can’t mess up our comforts and preferences. Truth be known, the following describes us well,

“To dwell above with the saints we love, Oh that will be glory; But to dwell below with the saints we know, Well, that is another story!“

One of the great promises of God is that he will never leave or forsake his blood-bought people. This promise was fulfilled in part by the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and through the indwelling Holy Spirit, God’s presence is in us and with us…always.

The New Testament presents many times over the importance of the Holy Spirit’s ministry in the life of the church. Beginning with regeneration, believers are baptized by the Spirit.^[1] We are command to walk by the Spirit in our pursuit of an obedient life before God.^[2] Believers are called to be filled with the Holy Spirit which is commanded in a tense that communicates a continual being carried along by the Spirit.^[3]  In Galatians 5, the fruit of the spirit is presented by the apostle Paul as the fragrance that should come from the believer’s life as opposed to the deeds of the flesh.^[4]

In addition to these different aspects of the Holy Spirit’s ministry, the apostle Paul spent considerable effort to instruct the church on spiritual gifts.  The New Testament records five instances in which spiritual gifts are listed.^[5]  The lists are varied with nineteen gifts mentioned in all, and sometimes different words are used to describe the same gift as with serving and helping.  We come to one of the lists of spiritual gifts in Romans 12:6-8, the text reads:

Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; ⁷ if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; ⁸ the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

Paul wrote to challenge believers to use their spiritual gifts with urgency and purpose.  Sadly, many are like the disciples in Acts 19 who responded to Paul’s question about the Holy Spirit by saying, “We have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”^[6]  Their ignorance was honest as they were experiencing the transition from the old covenant to the new covenant without the aid of the New Testament. They needed to be taught what God had done through Christ and Pentecost. Twenty-one centuries removed we are living at a time, to quote Martin Luther, where “the Spirit and the gifts are ours.” Life on the altar is lived in the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit as we use the gifts and talents God has given to us.  This is an informed spirituality.  God wants us to know how he has gifted us for his kingdom work. The bestowal of spiritual gifts are divine enablements for the task at hand. They are gifts for the journey.

Some of the most comforting promises in the New Testament are those that refer to the Holy Spirit’s ministry in the life of the believer.  My thoughts immediately go to the Upper Room and Jesus’ parting words to the disciples. After the shock and awe of his announced departure, Jesus said to them, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”^[1] Jesus pledged that he would not leave his disciples as orphans. With his departure “another Helper” would come who would be like him in supplying everything needed to obey his commission. As we can imagine, this was a difficult teaching for the twelve. How would this happen?

Then came Pentecost, and the Spirit of the living God was given to the church.^[2]  The disciples then began to understand that God did not dwell in a building made with hands, but the living God dwelt within every believer, just as Christ had promised. In Paul’s letters, he would emphasize the seal of the Spirit on the believer’s life and that “anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.”^[3] Through the saving work of Christ, the new covenant established that God’s law would not be written on tablets of stone, but on the heart of the believer.^[4]  The prophet Ezekiel referenced the new covenant with great hope as he declared the word of the Lord: 

“And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.^[5]  

The Spirit’s Power for Altar Living

I’m drawn to this important doctrine because the Holy Spirit’s power is essential to presenting ourselves to God as living sacrifices.  Life on the altar is not empowered by human grit but by the Holy Spirit. I believe we could include the beautiful ministry of the Spirit in Paul’s reference to the “mercies of God” in Romans 12:1.^[6]  

I remember well my first year at the University of Kentucky walking through the free speech area and hearing a woman with a high shrill voice waxing eloquent in open air.  I remember her name was “Sister Cindy,” and she was quite skilled in enumerating the sexual sins of college co-eds. Her voice took me back to a childhood memory of a neighborhood mom who would yell at her son early in the morning to get the trash to curb before the garbage truck passed.

Sister Cindy in the free speech area was a first for me, and certainly she was an aberration. Indeed, there are many gifted women in the Body of Christ who teach with great skill and because of that, coupled with cultural pressures, the last thirty years has seen a steamroller movement in the evangelical community to usher women into the role of pastor.  This month Saddleback Church, one of the largest churches in the Southern Baptist Convention with 53,000 members, ordained three women into pastoral ministry. In many streams of the evangelical community, women are encouraged to pursue such roles, and a number of women hold prominent, global preaching ministries.

As a convention, Southern Baptists have taken a stand on this issue in our statement of faith (Baptist Faith & Message 2000) which reads that “the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.” This conviction flows from the biblical text which we believe to be foundational for our faith and practice.