As the book of Song of Solomon is a unique gift for married couples, the book of Proverbs is a unique gift for parents and children. For preachers looking to use the summer months to preach this unique book, here are a few tools that may be useful.

Preaching Proverbs in Calvary’s Shadow

It can be difficult to balance the call to obedience with the cross-centered life. Yet that is what William Arnot accomplishes in the final chapter of his old commentary on Proverbs, Laws from Heaven for Life on Earth (published in 1873). The final chapter, “Faith and Obedience—Work and Rest,” models this balance well and I commend it to you.

You can read or download the entire commentary for free online. But you can download the isolated chapter I mention as a PDF here (0.9MB).

Thematic Structures

Of importance to the preacher of Proverbs is getting a handle on a few recurring themes and character developments featured in the book (i.e. wisdom, folly, discernment, understanding, knowledge). Derek Kidner’s excellent commentary will certainly help here.

I also recommend a newer commentary on Proverbs by John A. Kitchen (Mentor, 2006). In the appendix of his commentary, Kitchen has written a very useful systemization and summary of the path of the righteous and the path of the fool (pp. 727–736). Kitchen uses three graphics to distinguish the two paths and the several steps along the way.

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The explanations behind these charts are developed in the commentary appendix. And the editors of Christian Focus have granted us permission to post the entire appendix here as a downloadable PDF (2.4MB).

Summer Series Outline

Due to its structure, the book of Proverbs is difficult to preach expositionally from beginning to end. The book lends itself to topical exposition, a feature that makes it a suitable text for preaching during the summer months.

Sovereign Grace Church in Fairfax, Virginia, is using the summer to preach a ten-week series on Proverbs. The pastors have divided the first nine chapters by topic (I was honored to participate in the series by preaching the second message).

FEAR GOD (1:1-7)
LISTEN (1:20-33)
SEEK (2:4)
TRUST (3:5)
GUARD (4:23)
DRINK (5:15)
GO (6:6-8)
KEEP (7:1-2)
HEAR (8:1, 32)
CHOOSE (9:6)

The church printed full-color bookmarks to outline the series and, as you will see, to capture the series as an opportunity to encourage and equip the church to interpret the book of Proverbs for themselves. Here is the graphic they used for the series:

Well done.

So these are a few tools of note as you preach Proverbs, or as you consider a future series in the book. I hope you find them helpful.

The arrival of summer brings summer vacations. And this leads to the pastor’s dilemma: what to preach on when church is not consistently assembled.

Should the pastor continue his expositional series throughout the summer months or not? Some pastors find it profitable to postpone lengthy, momentum-building, expositional series during the summer months. I agree. From my pastoral experience I have found it wise to pause and wait until the church gathers together in the fall to resume.

And that leaves us with the summer.

These weeks can be used to benefit the church, your soul, and your pastoral team. These months provide senior pastors with a good opportunity to delegate preaching duties (whether to your pastoral team or with guest preachers). And this delegation, in turn, provides the senior pastor with the flexibility and freedom to vacation with his family, and to enjoy a personal retreat in order to care for his own soul and prepare for the fall preaching series.

And these weeks of summer provide the pastor with the opportunity to plan messages that did not fit in a particular expositional series. Here are just a few ideas for summer preaching series, ideas that may lead you to think of other series options:

Topical Series. One summer at Covenant Life we taught a series titled “Sanctifying the Ordinary.” We covered the topics of sleep, work, eating, and leisure. A more recent series, “Don’t Waste Your…,” was not preached during the summer, but it very well could have been. These two topical series on everyday life, and others like it, are suited for the summer months.

Selected Psalms. Select ten favorite Psalms and teach them individually over the summer months. The Psalms provide a natural division for a standalone sermon.

The Parables of Jesus. The synoptic Gospels contain at least 30 parables, more than enough for a pastor to select ten to assemble a summer preaching series of individual messages that work as standalones.

Selected Proverbs. The topical character of the book of Proverbs lends itself to this type of summer series. One church is currently preaching through a series on Proverbs. They divided their series into standalone messages titled “Fear God” (1:1-7), “Listen” (1:20-33), “Seek” (2:4), “Trust” (3:5), “Guard” (4:23), “Drink” (5:15), “Go” (6:6-8), “Keep” (7:1-2), “Hear” (8:1, 32), and “Choose” (9:6). Next time I’ll provide more information on how this series has been assembled and presented, including how the pastors are using the series to equip their church to interpret the Proverbs themselves.

During the summer months, attendance fluctuates. But don’t see this as discouraging; instead, capture it as a unique opportunity to serve the church—and your own soul.

In the first half of our series, my friend David Powlison introduced us to two fictional works that each featured pastors—Cry, the Beloved Country and Gilead. In the second half, which you are about to read, David recommends six fictional works he classifies as “dark realism,” books that look honestly at the darkness of the human heart without Christ. Along the way David will explain what pastors can gain from works like these.

Like the previous half, this interview except was transcribed from an audio recording.

PART 2: DAVID POWLISON ON “DARK REALISM”

I am a real believer that pastors need a better sense of the messiness of life. You can have your nose in the Bible, you can do all your exegesis, and you can actually miss how gritty the Bible itself is. And you can certainly miss it and develop little idealistic, plastic-smile versions of the Christian life that are not reckoning with what real life is, the things you read about in a history of World War II or in Dostoyevsky. Even in a redeemed sense of things you read in these other two novels [Cry, the Beloved Country and Gilead] that have a powerfully redemptive, overtly Christian theme to them.

I mandated my class read three books. Cry, the Beloved Country and Gilead were two of them. For the third one I gave them the choice and they could pick from a list of the most despairing—but thoughtfully despairing—twentieth-century works I could think of:

•  Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller

•  The Iceman Cometh by Eugene O'Neill

•  Anton Chekhov's Short Stories

•  A short story by Raymond Carver

•  Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

•  The Plague by Albert Camus

I called these six books "dark realism." They are all worldviews that explore the darkness of human life. What I like about them is that if there is no Christ, they are right. And I don’t think we present Christ well if we do not reckon with the alternative, and the alternative to Christ is darkness.

I have appreciated all six of those books. Conrad, in Heart of Darkness, is looking about as straight as one can look into the pit of the human heart, and he sees the horror of human evil. Conrad is so profoundly pessimistic, an almost unalleviated cynicism and darkness. I think if you want to know about the nature of sin and death, it really behooves us to be aware of some of the more modern writers.

Chekhov is interesting because he has an equally pessimistic worldview, but there is a kind of common grace. Chekhov treats his characters with love, with a palpable love and respect in the way that he portrays people, even though he has no basis for it. In his worldview you die, and that's it. But there is a kind of dignity and grace of spirit.

One very admirable thing about all these guys is that they value honesty. And even if I fundamentally disagree with their vision, there is a certain way in which they have a love for what is true and a hatred for false fronts and hypocrisy.

They usually hate religion—which is what they think Christianity is. And they don’t have kind words to say about the church, but I always think it's worth hearing us at our worst, or hearing how we may be coming across, not because I don’t believe in Christianity, but because the Bible I read has an even more unsparing critique of the church's failings. But the Bible also has a Redeemer.

So these six books will give you vicarious wisdom to learn about people. But they shouldn’t rattle your faith—this is the alternative to faith!

More to come…

I appreciate David’s list of books (and just in time for summer). Over the coming days and weeks be watching for more from David.

Coming soon we will be posting a number of audio clips we recorded with David, including a narrated bibliography. I asked David to walk through several resources on biblical counseling that he has authored over the years to explain why he created them, who will benefit, and how. I think this recording will provide a useful overview to David’s most valuable tools for pastors.

We also recorded four short podcasts with him on topics including good advice versus the Good News, cravings and conflict, feelings versus reality, and the value of personal emotion. Stay tuned for more.

May our summer reading remind us of the light of the gospel that broke into our darkened souls. And may these books supply us with a sobering reality of sin’s darkness and generate a deeper love for the lost.

Recently we hosted my friend David Powlison for a week as he taught biblical counseling at the Pastors College. We were honored that he would make time in his schedule to come and teach us.

As you can imagine, for the students in the classroom and for me in my interactions with David, the week was rich and rewarding. And from that week with him I ended up with a bundle of counsel, including what has become a few blog posts and five audio interviews. Over the next couple weeks we plan to share a little of what I learned with you.

On Literature

On one evening, over dinner at a favorite Gaithersburg restaurant, I asked David a number of questions on various topics. Not surprising, we began with a lengthy conversation on sports and athletics. I gained a new appreciation for David’s athletic heritage, his personal gifting, and incredible knowledge of baseball. Some of this will emerge in the audio interviews segment I’ll soon share.

But part of our dinnertime conversation included David sharing on the topic of why pastors should read literature. And by “interview” I mean that I sat back in my seat and listened to a 17-minute monologue from David on books. The time was rewarding, and I think other pastors will benefit from David’s recommendations.

He began talking about literature by recommending two novels that feature pastors—Cry, the Beloved Country and Gilead. You can read about these titles in today’s post. Next time David will introduce us to six books he calls “dark realism,” and how these books can help pastors learn about real life vicariously.

Both of these excerpts were transcribed from the audio recording. Makes me wish I could have dinner with David more frequently! Enjoy.

PART 1: DAVID POWLISON ON PASTORAL LITERATURE

Of course, we are not all wired the same, but there are an awful lot of pastors who only read objective expositional things. Human life has poetry; it has drama. Much of the Bible is much more understandable from a more literary standpoint.

In fact, two of the great novels have pastors as their hero. And both show the inner workings of real life.

Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton

This is one of the books that undid apartheid in South Africa. There are characters in that book that I will not be able to talk about without tears. It’s a story of tragedy, focused on a black, rural pastor, Stephen Kumalo, who is a poor, simple man from the dirt country. His son [Absalom Kumalo] goes to the big city and commits a murder, gets caught, and gets caught up in the gears of the criminal justice system. Stephen goes to the big city to find his son.

Three people help him. One is a fellow pastor named Theophilus Msimangu who befriends him and goes to bat for him in a thousand ways. Stephen is a country guy, he doesn’t know how the city works. And Msimangu helps him. And every time the protagonist expresses his deep appreciation for all that he has done and commends the man's Christian character, Msimangu stops him and says, "I am only a poor wicked sinful man, but God put his hand on me." And there are about three variations on this theme; this profound sense of the real scale of value and why it is that one does this. It's not that he is some great hero, he is a weak sinful man, “But God put his hand on me.”

There is another character, an elderly widow, who rents a room to this man. She is from the church and her name is Mrs. Lithebe. And every time he thanks her for all her very basic kindnesses to him—like a roof over his head, a simple meal, and little aid—this woman of no education and no standing responds along the lines of: "For what else are we born, why else do we live?" She is a woman who wears charity. It is what life is. Why else are we here? You needed help, I have a room—it's your room. Absolute simplicity of faith.

The other thing that I found profoundly moving was the spiritual dynamic. At the end Stephen tries to come to terms with what is happening to his son and he goes to a mountaintop to "vigil," in which he is in a sense composing and “ordering his soul” in their classic Christian sense of the inner discipline of Christian truth and faith—confession of sin, profession of faith, giving of thanksgiving, intercession. He is an Anglican, so in one sense he is walking through what are familiar forms of the Anglican liturgy, and yet they are not rote, they are the living and thoughtful fiber of Christian life and faith. And it is such a wonderful portrayal of faith in action that’s not plastic, not sentimental, not hyper-emotional, not overly intellectual, it's simply real life being brought to the real God.

Cry, the Beloved Country was written in 1947. I read it in high school and had read it again in college.

[Later] I taught an advanced methods course. And one of the things I was concerned about with our students is that people obviously have to get hands-on knowledge of working with people. But it's also possible to get vicarious knowledge of people through reading. So I began thinking about novels. We read three different novels and this was one I picked. I had gone back and read it a few years ago and was again struck with the richness of the portrayal of human life—the fear, anger, love, betrayal, guilt, repentance, ambivalence, the fact that real life is never tidy. Our theology can be tidy, but life is never tidy. That does not invalidate the theology, it just means that theology is knowing what direction north is in a chaotic storm. There is a storm (life) and there is north (good theology). Good theology is critical, but life doesn’t actually play in the same terms as something neat and tidy.

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

Gilead won the Pulitzer Prize in 2005. The hero is John Ames, a 76-year-old pastor who is dying. He married late in life and has a 7-year-old boy, his only child. He had another child die in childbirth 50 years before. But he is dying of heart disease and he is leaving a legacy for his son and you wonder how it even works as a book. It’s a 250-page novel that is essentially his letter to his son, a son who will be unable to read it now, but perhaps in 10 or 15 years, when his father is long in the grave. This will be his legacy for his son.

It's written by a woman, Marilynne Robinson, and she is a Calvinist. I heard her speak in the Philadelphia public library. Here you have this crowd of 400 people in the audience to see this famous Pulitzer Prize winning novelist and she gets up. I kid you not, one questioner from the audience says, "Now how on earth did you as a woman get into the mind of an aging, dying pastor, and with all this theological stuff?" Her answer was, "Well I'm a Calvinist and I think about these things all the time."

Cry, the Beloved Country, you can read straight through. Gilead, I find, you cannot read more than 10 pages, it's just too rich. It's like eating cheesecake, you cannot eat a whole pie at once, a couple bites and you need to sleep on it, and read more tomorrow. It is so provocative.

[Next time David Powlison shares six more recommended titles for pastors.]

Welcome back to the final portion of my interview with Pete Greasley, senior pastor of Christchurch in Newport, Wales. You can read part one here and part two here.

Pete, where in ministry are you most regularly tempted to discouragement?

I can’t imagine any man having the privilege to serve a finer group of people than the wonderful folk of Christchurch. My greatest discouragement is when I take my eyes off the grace of God and grieve over how they deserve someone better to serve them! This has been a genuine battle for me at times; but God, through many means of grace, most especially my wife and colleagues, has ‘strengthened my feeble knees’ and I’ve become aware again that His power is perfected in my weakness.

Do you exercise? If so, what do you do? If not, why not? (Please be specific.)

I have a few health issues that make it difficult for me to follow an exercise routine that even borders on the strenuous! However, Jen and I walk some when we can and I get in the odd round of golf, so long as it’s on the flat!

Currently, what sport do you like to play and/or watch?

As said, I like to play the odd round of golf; but I’m completely useless! Fortunately, the men with whom I play golf are even worse than I! It’s a pathetic sight.

As for watching sport: truth is, I hate it! I can’t believe the amount of time my normally intelligent and hard working friends give to watching, and then tediously discussing, the football!  I do find myself thinking “so what?” They tell me I’ve a vital neuron missing and will continue to pray for revelation to open up to me, but I’m not convinced. I think it’s a serious time-waster.

Sport watched in the past 12 months:

Ryder Cup highlights: 1 hour 20 minutes

Ireland v Wales Rugby:  40 minutes (only one half, and that was because I’d made a rash vow concerning carrying Bob Mc Cann through the church on my shoulders if Ireland won the Grand Slam. They did…I didn’t!)

Total sport watched = 2 hours/annum. And I’ll attempt to half that in the next 12 months.

What do you do for leisure?

Prior to the children leaving home, we would spend many hours in the music room singing and playing instruments (all our kids are musicians). I still play for pleasure, but miss ‘the band’!

Jenny and I are very blessed to have a small 300-year-old cottage on the coast in West Wales. We frequently head down there together after the Sunday gathering and spend our day off on Monday rummaging around old antique shops and, in the summer, sailing the bay in my beautiful (albeit rather dangerous) fishing boat.

I also have a bit of a passion for horology. I buy broken old 19th century pocket watches and endeavor to restore them to their former glory. It’s a wonderful thing to see an old watch that hasn’t ticked for, what could be over a century, start to live again. The contrary is also true; I’ve killed a few watches that have been ticking away for centuries until they met me; I am the Newport watch-murderer.

If you were not in ministry, what occupational path would you have chosen?

Prior to taking up a full-time pastoral position 24 years ago, I was involved in starting up a small company that trained folk in computing and the setting up of new computer hardware systems in many companies.

If I were not in ministry I may have continued with this; computers have certainly become popular in the last quarter of a century!

I’d say so! … My friend, thank you for taking time to answer these questions!

Welcome back to my interview with Pete Greasley, senior pastor of Christchurch in Newport, Wales. You can read part one here.

Pete, if you could study under any theologian in church history (excluding those men in Scripture) who would it be and why?

Hmm; probably Calvin because of his extensive grasp of seemingly everything in a way it hadn’t been understood since the apostles!

Also, although he’s not really a hard line theologian, I would have loved the opportunity to hang at the Bird and Baby in Oxford with Lewis and the rest of the Inklings, just to hear how they processed and thought through the tough questions. (I’ve spent some time there with my friend Jeff Purswell and we tried to recreate the scene…but unfortunately there was only one great mind in the room; and it wasn’t mine!)

What single piece of counsel (or constructive criticism) has most improved your preaching?

My wife Jenny: ‘When you’ve said what you need to say, shut up!’

Also three quotes from Mr. Spurgeon:

“It is better to fail attempting the right subject, than to succeed in the wrong; and the right subject is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. To even attempt that subject is a noble thing in itself.”

“I am content to live and die as a mere repeater of scriptural teaching, as a person who has thought out nothing and invented nothing, as one who never thought invention to be any part of his calling, but who concluded that he was simply to be a mouth for God to the people, mourning that anything of his own should come between.”

“I always feel that I have not done my duty as a preacher of the gospel if I go out of this pulpit without having clearly set before sinners the gospel. I sometimes think that you have so often and so long heard me tell this story, that you will get weary of it; but I cannot help it if you do—I had better weary you than be false to my charge.”

What books on preaching, or examples of it, have you found most influential in your own preaching?

Christ-Centered Preaching by Bryan Chapell

The Sacred Anointing: The Preaching of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones by Tony Sargent

Preach the Word: Essays on Expository Preaching edited by Leland Ryken and Todd Wilson

I like to listen to our friend Mike Bullmore every week online. I’m trying to learn substance with brevity; he’s a great example that I want to imitate.

What single bit of counsel has made the most significant difference in your effective use of time?

When I started work at 16, my father, knowing me to be the laziest boy he’d ever come across, bought me a wall plaque to take with me into work. It just said in bold letters “DO IT NOW!” It’s been helpful advice, though not always heeded!

What single bit of counsel has made the most significant difference in your leadership?

No single piece of counsel comes to mind, but I think a message that you, C.J., brought a number of years ago from 1 Corinthians 1 on Paul’s confidence in the grace of God towards the Corinthians [“Grace and the Adventure of Leadership”], probably impacted me and has remained with me more than anything else of which I’m aware in terms of leadership. If Paul can give thanks for them and have confidence in God’s grace towards them, then I can do the same.

Join me next time for the third and final part of my interview with my friend, Pete Greasley.

Meet Pete Greasley.

My friend Pete is a jolly Englishman, an erstwhile rock musician, and a would-be sailor, who serves Sovereign Grace Ministries by traveling to Asia, Europe, Africa, and Australia preaching the gospel and serving churches for the glory of God. And today you get to meet him.

Peter is based out of Christchurch in Newport, Wales, where he has served as senior pastor for 14 years. He and his wife Jenny have been married for 26 years and have been blessed with three children.

So how does Peter order his devotional time? What does he do for fun? Why the distain for watching sports on television? Why does he collect old, broken watches? Let’s find out.

Pete, please describe your morning devotions. What time do you wake up in the morning? How much time do you spend reading, meditating, praying, etc.? What are you presently reading?

I wake at different times, all dependent upon what time I get to bed! I’ve never required a lot of sleep; if I get to bed at midnight then I’m normally wide awake around 5:00 am. Sometimes I’ll get up right away, but if it’s been a late night, I’ll lie there for a little while so as not to disturb my long-suffering wife who needs more sleep than I!

My mornings have been going through a change recently. In the past, I was regularly spending around 30 to 40 minutes in my devotions and then spending much longer on emails before heading to the office. This wasn’t working; I was arriving at the office more aware of my workload than the Savior, so I determined to not switch on my computer for the first two hours after I woke (bit of an Edwards’ like ‘resolution’). This has proved fruitful for me. Rather than ‘getting through my devotions’ in order to ‘get on with business’, I have far longer to read, think, pray and ponder. The emails still get done; but they no longer take the priority of time. God has been kind to me in this.

My devotional reading consists of three things:

Reading scripture. I’ll just spend some time reading through a book. I try to alternate between Old and New Testaments.

Reading books that will help my soul. At present I’m reading Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross edited by Nancy Guthrie; Whiter than Snow by Paul Tripp and re-reading The Bruised Reed by Richard Sibbes; The Great Exchange by Jerry Bridges and Bob Bevington.

I always spend time in the scripture from which I’m preaching the following Sunday. This helps me to meditate upon it and live in it prior to preparing the message or going to any commentaries, which I do on Friday and Saturday.

What book(s) are you currently reading in these three categories: (a) for your soul, (b) for pastoral ministry, (c) or for personal enjoyment?

Books for my soul are the ones mentioned above. Together with these I spend most time with my dear friend Mr. Spurgeon. How I love him!

I’ve four books on the go at the moment: The Great Work of the Gospel by John Ensor; The Future of Justification by John Piper; Simple Church by Rainer and Geiger; and Minority Report by Carl Trueman.

I like to read histories and biographies. I’m on volume 3 of Simon Shama’s History of Britain; The Calvinistic Methodist Fathers of Wales by John Morgan Jones and William Morgan (a gift from C.J.); Somme Mud by E.P.F. Lynch on the experiences of an infantryman in WWI France; and The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson.

Apart from Scripture, what book do you most frequently re-read and why?

No one book in particular, but I always have Mr. Spurgeon to hand. Why? Because his love for the Savior at the cross together with his passion for the lost keep me on track.

When you finish a book, what system have you developed in order to remember and reference that book in the future?

Every now and then I will scan in a quote to my computer, but apart from scribbling all over my books, the truth is I’ve no decent system for reference and remembering. OK, I’m convicted…thanks for the question!

Join me next time for the second part of my interview with my friend, Pete Greasley.

Welcome back to my interview with author and speaker Randy Alcorn. You can read the first three portions of my interview here, here, and here.

Randy, do you exercise? If so, what do you do? If not, why not? (Please be specific.)

I bicycle two or three times a week, outdoors in good weather, or on a stationary bike in my office. I also play tennis two to three times a week, usually singles because it’s better exercise than doubles. In the spring I coach high school tennis so am out hitting with the guys four or five days a week. I’m an insulin-dependent diabetic and the exercise is therapy. If I go two days without exercise, I feel lousy.

Currently, what sport do you like to play and/or watch?

We watch NBA and MLB when it comes to playoffs, but not regularly. We try to watch the tennis majors when we can, especially Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.

The one sport we watch regularly from beginning to end is the NFL. Nanci is a major pro football fan. She has our kids and grandkids and our kids’ friends and their children over for Sunday night football every week, fixing up a great meal for the 15 or so who show up. When I’m asked to speak in NFL chapels, Nanci’s my main reason for saying “yes,” since tickets come with it and she loves to meet the players. We don’t generally follow college football, until last year when Bob and Pam Tebow invited us to go to Florida and stay with them and watch their son Timmy quarterback the Gators. Suddenly we were wearing blue and orange. We had a blast.

What do you do for leisure?

Tennis, biking, watching a good movie with Nanci. And I read and read and read. Every Monday night we go to our friends’ house where twelve of us, including two pastors and a church elder, gather to watch 24. We are praying that Jack Bauer will come to Jesus.

In December, my leisure consists of daily going to the mailbox hoping for the annual arrival of chocolates from my friend C.J. Mahaney. While I know it would be better by far for C.J. to depart and be with Christ, I pray God will keep him around for Carolyn and his family, and the Sovereign Grace churches; and also to keep those chocolates coming.

If you were not in ministry, what occupational path would you have chosen?

When I was in the eighth grade, a few years before I’d heard the gospel, I filled out a survey asking what I wanted to be. I said an astronomer, philosopher, or teacher. Now, if I couldn’t be a writer, I would just say a teacher, maybe at a Bible college or seminary.

Randy, thank you for your friendship and thanks for investing your time in answering these questions!

Many years ago I came across a quote from Martin Luther about personal criticism from unfriendly critics. Luther’s point was that no matter how bad the personal criticisms—no matter how accurate, or inaccurate, the accusations—there is more sin in each of our hearts than a critic could ever discover.

Luther’s humbling reminder has been useful when I have been criticized and accused of things that were simply not accurate (although to avoid any misunderstanding, there have been plenty of critics that were right in their observations, too).

Far too often, my initial impulse has been to dismiss the criticism and defend myself, not realizing that this response is simply an evidence of pride.

Luther’s words directly confront my temptation to a prideful response, because he reminds me that, even if the criticisms are inaccurate or exaggerated, there remain in my heart many other sins that go unnoticed by my critics. And had my critics been aware of these other sins, they surely would have put them to use in their cause!

Luther’s reminder of the depth of personal sin has served me on numerous occasions over the years. And recently Luther’s words have served my friend Carl Trueman, too.

Carl is the Professor of Historical Theology and Church History at Westminster Theological Seminary. And he has taught a course on John Owen in the Pastors College. Carl is a gifted, insightful, and witty writer (despite writing with just two fingers). I am a friend and a fan of Carl Trueman.

In his most recent online article, “Thank God for Bandit Country,” Carl explains how Luther’s words have served him in handling personal criticism. Listen as the words of Luther and the words of Trueman merge:

I have learned much (as elsewhere) from the master theologian, churchman, public figure, and normal Christian believer, Martin Luther. It is well-known that in his writings [and] in table conversation Luther would often refer to visits from the Devil, how the Devil would come to him and whisper in his ear, accusing him of all manner of filthy sin: “Martin, you are a liar, greedy, lecherous, a blasphemer, a hypocrite. You cannot stand before God.” To which Luther would respond: “Well, yes, I am. And, indeed, Satan, you do not know the half of it. I have done much worse than that and if you care to give me your full list, I can no doubt add to it and help make it more complete. But you know what? My Saviour has died for all my sins—those you mention, those I could add and, indeed, those I have committed but am so wicked that I am unaware of having done so. It does not change the fact that Christ has died for all of them; his blood is sufficient; and on the Day of Judgment I shall be exonerated because he has taken all my sins on himself and clothed me in his own perfect righteousness.”

Luther knew what temptation looked like; he knew his own wickedness; but he also knew the all-surpassing perfection and grace of Christ. So, in closing, I want to thank my blog critics, the crass, the colourful, the profane, and the plain old crazy, for helping me to understand better my sin and my Saviour. You think I'm arrogant? You should talk to my wife: she could fill you in on just how arrogant I really am. You think I'm ruthless and cold? Believe me, you don't know where half of the bodies are buried. You think I'm a weak and spineless girlyman? Hey, you don't know nearly the extent of my cowardice. You think I'm an inveterate street fighter? Bring it on. If someone will hold my coat, why go out onto the street? We can finish this right here and right now. But you know what? My Saviour knows the full depth of all my sleaziness, my sin, and my moral insanity, and has covered by his blood all these crimes you allege against me. Indeed, he has covered many more and much worse; and your reminders of my sinfulness and my need of him are most gratefully received.

Carl’s words, with Luther’s voice in the background, provide us with a humbling and helpful pattern to follow when encountering personal criticism. When we face criticism, the gospel provides us with an ever-present reminder of the depth of remaining sin in our hearts, the scale of our need for our Savior’s blood, and our unceasing need for God’s abundant grace each day.

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Related post: "How to Help Your Husband When He's Criticized"

 

Welcome back to my interview with author and speaker Randy Alcorn. You can read part one here and part two here.

Randy, what single bit of counsel has made the most significant difference in your effective use of time?

In Charles Hummel’s booklet Tyranny of the Urgent, which I read as a young Christian 35 years ago, he said that what is urgent is often not important, and what is important is typically not urgent. It’s not urgent to spend time with God, talk with your wife, or read to your kids, but it is extremely important. It may be urgent to return someone’s call, go speak at some event, or turn in a manuscript next Thursday, but not important. (The manuscript, for instance, will likely sit in your editor’s inbox three weeks before he has time to open it.)

Years ago I developed a response to the 99% of things I have to decline:

I have to say “no” to many good things, and even some great ones, in order to be able to say “yes” to those very few things God has called me to do.

I live by this, saying “no” unless there’s a compelling reason to say “yes.” My life is very full, but that way I am free to do some things I couldn’t otherwise do (including coaching teenagers, playing with my grandkids, and hanging out with my wife).

What single bit of counsel has made the most significant difference in your leadership?

No one said it in exactly this way, but several men have said what helped me come to this way of thinking: Care about people but don’t live to please them. If you do, you’ll fail your Lord and you’ll fail people too.

As a young pastor I cared too much what people thought. The best cure for this was 20 years ago when I was repeatedly arrested and went to jail for peaceful nonviolent civil disobedience at abortion clinics. I did it because I believed God wanted me to stand up for unborn children. But it was extremely unpopular, to say the least, in Oregon, and even many Christians, including some of our church folk, disapproved. I learned to accept that. We live out our lives before the Audience of One. In the end, his approval is the one that matters. If our goal is to hear others say “Well done,” we won’t do what we need to do to hear him say it.

Where in ministry are you most regularly tempted to discouragement?

When I was a pastor, my discouragements were with people who were going nowhere spiritually, neglecting the basic spiritual disciplines, and living unfruitful lives year after year. Then, of course, there were the always-critical or easily-hurt high-maintenance folk. It was discouraging because I wanted to mentor, disciple, and shepherd, not change diapers and listen to whiners. (You wanted me to be honest, right?)

As a director of a parachurch ministry, I’m seldom discouraged in the ministry, as our staff stays on task, has a Christ-centered work ethic, and gets along well. Because I often have to withdraw in order to do my writing (I have an office behind my home, they are at the ministry office seven miles away, where I come in only once a week for prayer, sharing and lunch), I feel like I let them down by not being available as much as I want to, and used to be.

As a writer, especially on the big books such as Money, Possessions and Eternity; Dominion; Heaven; and this latest one, If God is Good…; there have been nights at 3:00 a.m. when I’m asking God, “Is this really worth it?” I feel like giving up or not going the second mile in research or doing yet another revision and seeking further critique that will create still more work for me. Sometimes the big projects feel like they will never end. But God graciously empowers me and I sense his sweet presence with me in those otherwise lonely hours.

God usually encourages me by time with Nanci, our kids, grandchildren, and our close friends. And often he encourages me with the emails that come in from people who say God used my books to change their lives. Often they come at exactly the right time, causing me to weep and renew my determination to persevere with my current writing.

Join me next time for the fourth and final part of my interview with Randy Alcorn.