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Light and Heat in Preaching

Note:  This is part of an on-going series as I blog through D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ “Preaching and Preachers.”

If any chapter in Preaching and Preachers will at first seem to not apply to you if you are not a preacher, it is Chapter Five, “The Act of Preaching.”  fireplaceIt was a chapter I needed to read and that I long to grow in, especially after preaching to our beloved congregation the last two Sundays.  But, I want to challenge you to spend a few minutes contemplating these incredible quotes from Lloyd-Jones and then consider two important applications concerning multi-site churches and prayer even if you are not a preacher.

[Preaching] is ‘truth mediated through personality.’ (96, quoting Phillips Brookes)

The preacher should never be apologetic, he should never give the impression that he is speaking by their leave as it were; he should not be tentatively putting forward certain suggestions and ideas…He is a man, who is there to ‘declare’ certain things; he is a man under commission and under authority…He should always know that he comes to the congregation as a sent messenger…You have no self-confidence, but you are a man under authority, and you have authority [as God’s messenger]… (97)

It may sound contradictory to say ‘prepare, and prepare carefully,’ and yet ‘be free’.  But there is no contradiction…You will find that the Spirit Who has helped you in your preparation may now help you, while you are speaking, in an entirely new way, and open things out to you which you had not seen while you were preparing your sermon. (99)

How can a man be dull when he is handling such themes?  I would say that a ‘dull preacher’ is a contradiction in terms; if he is dull he is not a preacher.  He may stand in a pulpit and talk, but he is certainly not a preacher. (101)

He is concerned about them [the people he is preaching to]; that is why he is preaching to them.  He is anxious about them; anxious to help them, anxious to tell them the truth of God.  So he does it with energy, with zeal, and with this obvious concern for people. (101)

The preacher is a witness.  That is the very word used by our Lord Himself, ‘Ye shall be witnesses unto me’; and this is what the preacher must always be at all times.  Nothing is so fatal in a preacher as that he should fail to give the impression of personal involvement. (103)

Can a man see himself as a damned sinner without emotion?  Can a man look into hell without emotion?  Can a man listen to the thunderings of the Law and feel nothing?  Or conversely, can a man really contemplate the love of God in Christ Jesus and feel no emotion? (108)

Preaching is theology coming through a man who is on fire. (110)

You must have light and heat, sermon plus preaching.  Light without heat never affects anybody; heat without light is of no permanent value. (110)

Any man who has had some glimpse of what it is to preach will inevitably feel that he has never preached.  But he will go on trying, hoping that by the grace of God one day he may truly preach. (112)

First, I want to challenge your thinking if you are drawn to the multi-site model of church.  In other words, an exceptionally gifted preacher preaches at one church, and other churches at different sites geographically (sometimes even across state boundaries) watch the sermon via a video feed.  There are other reasons that I struggle with this model, but here is a strong argument against most multi-site models of preaching:  Not only does the congregation miss some of the element of being there physically (and emotions, etc. that can easily be missed even through video) as the Holy Spirit uses His Word through a man who is an ambassador, but generally the congregation does not interact regularly with the pastor either.

You may be thinking, “But isn’t this how most mega-churches are anyway?”  I am not necessarily talking about knowing your pastor personally.  For 5 years during seminary my family and I attended Grace Community Church where John MacArthur is the Teaching Pastor with a membership of over 8,000.  I only met him a handful of times face to face and we never talked for more than a minute at once, but seeing him preach in person week after week had a profound impact on me that listening to him on the radio never has (which would be the same as watching him regularly on a video feed).

For example, I saw the compassion of Christ in him as he lovingly shepherded a member in the congregation with Down Syndrome from the pulpit during a Question and Answer Evening Worship Service.  Watching him stay after the service most weeks to talk with the line of people that inevitably formed encouraged my heart.  I met his children and grandchildren as I was involved in different ministries at the church.  I saw the truth modeled that Richard Cecil explained, “To love to preach is one thing, to love those to whom we preach quite another.” (105)  This personal interaction, no matter how involved or limited it is with a preacher (not simply a campus pastor that doesn’t preach often), is something that cannot be duplicated through a multi-site church model.  We need to be careful that we are not so enamored with a certain style of preaching that we cannot stand to sit under the preaching of a man that is human, a fellow pilgrim, who is so much more than a talking head.

Second, I want to challenge you to pray for your pastor. Lloyd-Jones explains, “It is not surprising that the Apostle Paul, looking at the ministry, asks ‘Who is sufficient for these things?’…What are you doing?  You are not simply imparting information, you are dealing with souls, you are dealing with pilgrims on the way to eternity, you are dealing with matters not only of life and death in this world, but with eternal destiny.” (104)  Brothers and sisters, in light of such a glorious but weighty responsibility, pray for your pastor!

Source:  Lloyd-Jones, D. Martyn.  Preaching & Preachers: 40th Anniversay Edition.  Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011.

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What is Expository Preaching?

preach the word

Note:  This is part of an on-going series as I blog through D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ “Preaching and Preachers.”

My life was changed by expository preaching.  I had heard the Bible and the gospel taught from the time I was born, but during my sophomore year of high school I started to hear a kind of preaching I had never heard consistently before.  Through my Grandpa Cordell Baker, our Interim Pastor at that time and then our next Pastor, Mark Waite (who I later had the great privilege of working with in New Mexico for almost 6 years), I heard God’s Word preached in a way that made me want to look to God’s Word for all direction, hope, knowledge, and experience of Christ.  As I sat under this powerful teaching my last few years of high school, God used His Word to change my heart from a budding legalist to a lover of Christ.

What is expository preaching?  There is much more that could be said, but Lloyd-Jones helps us out in Chapter 4, “The Form of the Sermon”:

Expository Preaching is Thoroughly Biblical
In other words, expository preaching is not just based on a Scriptural text, it comes out of the text.  It is biblical in the sense that it is preaching the Bible.  “You do not start with a thought, even though it be a right thought, a good thought; you do not start with that, and then work out an address on that…it should be clear to people that what we are saying is something that comes out of the Bible.  We are presenting the Bible and its message.” (85-86)

Expository Preaching is Theological
“…the preacher must have a grasp, and a good grasp, of the whole biblical message, which is of course a unity…That is the meaning of the phrase ‘comparing Scripture with Scripture’.  We must not deal with any text in isolation…The right use of systematic theology is, that when you discover a particular doctrine in your text you check it, and control it, by making sure that it fits into this whole body of biblical doctrine which is vital and essential. (77-78)

Expository Preaching Preaches the Gospel, Not Just About the Gospel
“The business of the preacher is not to present the Gospel academically…we are called to preach the Gospel, to convey it, and to bring it directly to the individuals who are listening to us, and to bring it to the whole man.  So let us be clear that we are not to talk about the Gospel as if it were something outside of us…it itself is being directly presented and conveyed to the congregation through us.” (79)

Expository Preaching is More Than a Running Commentary
“I maintain that a sermon should have form in the sense that a musical symphony has form…You are not an antiquary lecturing on ancient history or on ancient civilizations, or something like that.  The preacher is a man who is speaking to people who are alive today and confronted by the problems of life; and therefore you have to show that this is not some academic or theoretical matter which may be of interest to people who take up that particular hobby, as others take up crossword puzzles or something of that type.  You are to show that this message is vitally important for them, and that they must listen with the whole of their being, because this really is going to help them to live.” (83, 86-87)

It is obvious as you consider the immensity of the preacher’s task, that expository sermons take time and hard work to develop.  Every pastor needs the prayers and encouragement of his people to be faithful to God’s calling to preach the Word! 

Source:  Lloyd-Jones, D. Martyn.  Preaching & Preachers: 40th Anniversay Edition.  Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011.

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Why Preaching and Not Conversation?

preach the word

Note:  This is part of an on-going series as I blog through D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ “Preaching and Preachers.”

Why do we gather for a sermon each Sunday and not a conversation?  Why do I love leading a Growth Group (where we do have discussion and conversation about God’s Word), but would balk at the idea of not listening to a sermon preached on Sunday?  Lloyd-Jones gives four reasons in Chapter 3, “The Sermon and the Preaching.”

God Does Not Want to Be Debated
In our post-modern, post-Christian America, this is probably the point in this chapter that evangelicals would most commonly divide on.  For a preacher to stand up and declare God’s message seems brash to many in our culture and times.  The question then is, is the preacher declaring his own thoughts or those of God?  “An ambassador is not a man who voices his own thoughts or his own opinions or views, or his own desires.  The very essence of the position of the ambassador is that he is a man who has been ‘sent’ to speak for somebody else.” (71)  If the preacher believes that he has a message from God (from the Bible) for the people, it is not an apologetic message.  There are other venues for edifying or evangelistic conversation such as home Bible studies, but in preaching, “We believe in the almighty, the glorious, the living God…we must never put ourselves…into a position in which we are debating about God as if He were but a philosophical proposition.” (58)

Christianity is Not Entertainment
Yes, these lectures were given 44 years ago.  And yes, if the point that “God does not want to be debated” in preaching rubs our current evangelical culture the wrong way, then “Christianity is not entertainment” points to maybe the second biggest issue in answering the question, “Why preaching and not conversation?”  Does the preacher bring the Word of the living God?  Do we truly believe that eternity is real and that Jesus is the only Savior?  We should not listen to a sermon to be entertained, although we may enjoy the sermon and laugh now and then.  We should listen to a sermon to hear from God through His Word.  I love Lloyd-Jones’ perspective: “I am a vehicle, I am a channel, I am an instrument, I am a representative.” (71)  God in Christ offers something so much greater than entertainment.

Spiritual Things are Spiritually Discerned
1 Corinthians 2:14 explains, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”  When we gather to hear preaching on Sundays, there are those whose eyes have been opened to Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6) and who have the Holy Spirit to illuminate God’s Word to them, and those who need to know Christ and be reconciled to God.  God’s Word is foolishness to them until that happens.  These circumstances that the Bible explains require hearing from God through preaching the Word when the church primarily gathers for worship, rather than a conversation or debate.

Preaching Smashes Pride
“The first thing that has to be done with the man who does not accept the Christian faith is to humble him…All men have to be converted and ‘become as little children.’  All they know, and all they are, and all they have, and all they have done, is utterly useless in this realm.  There is no hope for them until they become aware of their utter bankruptcy…Truth is revealed to us in the Scriptures and by the illumination that the Holy Spirit alone can produce…I [Lloyd-Jones] argue therefore that this whole notion of having a debate or a discussion or exchange of views concerning these matters is something that is contrary to the very character and nature of the Gospel itself.” (61)

So, even in the 21st century, we continue to preach.  We continue to “preach Christ crucified,” (1 Corinthians 1:23), and we continue to preach the Word as “ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us” (2 Corinthians 5:20-21).

Source:  Lloyd-Jones, D. Martyn.  Preaching & Preachers: 40th Anniversay Edition.  Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011.

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Above All Things, See to it That Your Souls Are Happy in the Lord!

“The welfare of our families, the prosperity of our business, our work and service for the Lord, may be considered the most important matters to be attended to; but, according to my judment, the most important point to be attended to is this:  Above all things, see to it that your souls are happy in the Lord.  Other things may press upon you; the Lord’s work even may have urgent claims upon your attention; but I deliberately repeat, it is of supreme and paramount importance thJehovah-Magnified Mullerat you should seek, above all other things, to have your souls truly happy in God Himself.  Day by day seek to make this the most important business of your life.  This has been my firm and settled conviction for the last [35] years … The secret of all true effectual service is–joy in God, and having experimental [i.e. experiential] acquaintance and fellowship with God Himself.

But in what way shall we attain to this settled happiness of soul?  How shall we learn to enjoy God?  How obtain such an all-sufficient soul-satisfying portion in Him as shall enable us to let go the things of this world as vain and worthless in comparison?  I answer, this happiness is to be obtained through the study of the Holy Scriptures.  God has therein revealed Himself unto us in the face of Jesus Christ.

In the Scriptures, by the power of the Holy Ghost, He makes Himself known unto our souls.  Remember, it is not a god of our own thoughts or our own imaginations that we need to be acquainted with; but the God of the Bible, our Father, who has given the blessed Jesus to die for us.  Him should we seek to intimately know, according to the revelation He has made of Himself in His own most precious Word.”

George Muller’s writing in “The Secret of Effectual Service to God” (an address in the book, Jehovah Magnified) was food for my soul this morning.  There are so many things that cry out for my attention each and every day.  Many of these are joys and responsibilities that God not only wants me to engage in but even commands me to be fully engaged in–such as my family and ministry.

But, how do I fully and joyfully engage in these responsibilities in a way that brings the most glory to Jesus (Col. 3:23-24) and also the most happiness to myself and others (Psalm 100:2)?  As Muller exhorted, by above all things, seeing that my soul is happy in the Lord–which will happen through seeking His face in His Word.

Jehovah Magnified: Addresses, which includes the address: “The Secret of Effectual Service to God” quoted above, is available free the entire month of September, 2013 from Logos Bible Software.

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No Substitute for Preaching in the Church

Note:  This is part of an on-going series as I blog through D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ “Preaching and Preachers.”

With any area of ministry, we must have God-ordained reasons for doing what we are doing or it is not really ministry.  These theological underpinnings not only keep us on track, but also invite God’s blessing because we can know with confidence that what we are doing is what He has commanded.  Jesus bought the church with His own blood (Acts 20:28).  We want to serve Christ with full knowledge that we are doing the task He has given us as we will one day give an account (Hebrews 13:17), and as He has promised His presence and power (Matthew 28:18-20).

In Chapter 2, “No Substitute,” Lloyd-Jones asserts “that the ultimate justification for asserting the primacy of preaching is theological…the moment you consider man’s real need, andPreaching and Preachers also the nature of the salvation announced and proclaimed in the Scriptures, you are driven to the conclusion that the primary task of the Church is to preach and to proclaim this, to show man’s real need, and to show the only remedy, the only cure for it.” (37)

Forty-four years after these words were spoken, man’s need and Christ’s salvation remain the same.  However, if the church is afraid to lovingly but confidently teach that man is a great sinner in need of a great Savior, then certainly preaching will begin to change.  In fact, in many churches it has.  We must hold onto the biblical truths that man is completely spiritually dead without Christ, and that Christ is the only way to salvation.  These truths are not popular in our pluralistic feel-good culture, but they are the most loving.

Lloyd-Jones, a medical doctor before he became a preacher, explains that if a doctor sees a man in pain and simply gives him morphine because he hates to see people in pain–but ignores the symptoms that point to a disease–then he is actually doing a criminal act (42).

May we have this laser focus as we consider our own churches, our own ministries, look for a church, or pray for our pastor:  “…the primary task of the Church is not to educate man, is not to heal him physically or psychologically, it is not to make him happy.  I will go further; it is not even to make him good.  These are things that accompany salvation; and when the Church performs her true task she does incidentally educate men and give them knowledge and information, she does bring them happiness, she does make them good and better than they were.  But my point is that those are not her primary objectives.  Her primary purpose is not any of these; it is rather to put man into the right relationship with God, to reconcile man to God.” (41)

With all of our technology today, we might ask the question: Why do we still need preaching?  Why can’t we simply do church at home or a coffee shop on the internet, or on TV, or by reading a book?  Lloyd-Jones helps us with an often-overlooked truth:  “Now the Church is a missionary body, and we must recapture this notion that the whole Church is a part of this witness to the Gospel and its truth and its message.  It is therefore most important that people should come together and listen…that has an impact in and of itself.” (52)  What a joy, to think that one way you are a missionary is by simply worshiping at church on any given Sunday!  We need to hear preaching together, and we need to hear preaching that is not afraid of proclaiming man’s greatest need and our only Savior.

Source:  Lloyd-Jones, D. Martyn.  Preaching & Preachers: 40th Anniversay Edition.  Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011.

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Blogging Through “Preaching and Preachers”

I am never more reminded of my weakness and God’s power than when I stand up in a pulpit to preach God’s Word.  I remember one time that I preached in a small village outside of Juarez, Mexico and the congregation enthusiastically sang a song right before I stood up to preach:  “The Messenger of God Is Coming.”  It said something about how a message from God would now be given, and how the Bible would be opened and our hearts should be open too.  I remember praying, “God, may it be Your message, not me.”  I didn’t have anything to offer those dear people–and that was magnified in a culture and language not my own–but God sure did, in His Word.Preaching and Preachers

I am only aware of two preachers who read my blog (the pastors I work with), so why would I decide to blog through a book on preaching, the classic Preaching and Preachers by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones?

First, I need it.  As school started for 16 weeks at The Master’s Seminary this week where I received my M.Div, as the High Schoolers I work with as a Pastor of Family Ministries are starting a new school year, and as my own son starts Kindergarten–I realized that I needed the discipline of growing in preaching by sharing with you what I am learning each week.  There are 16 chapters in Preaching & Preachers, so I see it as a semester of continuing education, and Lord willing growing in grace and knowledge in the proclamation of God’s Word.

Second, you need it.  You may not be a preacher, but preaching does matter to you.  You listen to preaching every Sunday.  As has often been said, “As the pulpit goes, so goes the church.”  If reading my musings from Lloyd-Jones’ Preaching & Preachers helps you listen to a sermon better, pray for your pastor more, or find a church that has this view of preaching the Bible, then it is time well spent.  There will be blog posts on other topics now and then throughout the Fall as well, but after this 16 weeks of blogging through Preaching and Preachers I will go back to “blogging as usual.”

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones exclaims at the beginning of Chapter One, “The Primacy of Preaching,” that “the most urgent need in the Christian Church today is true preaching; and as it is the greatest and the most urgent need in the Church, it is obviously the greatest need of the world also.” (17)

This is a sweeping but true statement, just as true today as it was in 1969 when these lectures were first given at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia.  When we preach (and I would add even when we teach Bible studies, as I do more often than formal preaching), we need to derive our authority from the Scriptures so that we are meeting this most urgent need.  As Lloyd-Jones explains, “While men believed in the Scriptures as the authoritative Word of God and spoke on the basis of that authority you had great preaching.” (21)  If we truly believe that God’s Word is sufficient, that eternity is real, and that the Gospel is the power of God for salvation, then we will do all that we can to make sure that we are doing “true preaching.”

Lloyd-Jones gives the apostolic example of Peter and John healing a man at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, which created great excitement and interest in receiving similar benefits.  What did Peter do?  “Peter again preaches and corrects them, and immediately draws their attention, as it were, from the miracle that he and John had just worked to the great truth concerning Christ and His salvation, which is so infinitely more important.” (29)

The church does many good things and in many good ways.  I am involved in many of those programs, from missions to High School ministry to Awana to a Good News Club.  These are all ways that we can “preach” the Gospel and God’s Word to both unbelievers and believers alike.  But it starts in the pulpit.  I am so thankful to be in a church where Gospel-centered, Bible-saturated sermons are expected and desired.  As Lloyd-Jones said, “What is it that always heralds the dawn of a Reformation or of a Revival?  It is renewed preaching.  Not only a new interest in preaching but a new kind of preaching.” (31)  By God’s grace, may we be found faithful at the church’s most urgent need–true preaching.

Source:  Lloyd-Jones, D. Martyn.  Preaching & Preachers: 40th Anniversay Edition.  Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011.

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It is too much!

As followers of Christ, we often forget all that God has planned for us–we have a hopeful future so glorious that we cannot take it all in now.  “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.” (1 Corinthians 1sunrise with tree3:12)  This is one reason that we need God’s Word to not only inform our minds, but also to warm our hearts.  We need God’s truth to not only instruct us now, but also to point us forward through our present to what God is preparing us for.  This is what 1 John 3:2 has done for me recently:  “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.”

Today, fellow believer in our resurrected King Jesus, you are God’s child.  If you are in Christ you will never more be God’s child than you already are now.

But God went even further, even beyond bringing us into an intimate family relationship as His child.  He wants us to be near Him.  He has completely reconciled us to Himself through what Christ did on the cross, and that includes our future hope of glorification!  When people see the resurrected Christ in the Bible, they fall down out of fear because they are overwhelmed at His majesty, and at His holiness and their sinfulness (Revelation 1:17).  We may fall before Jesus’ feet when He appears at His Second Coming just out of sheer worship and praise and adoration and love and awe–but it will not be out of fear–because He will change us.

The Apostle John lovingly reminds us that although we cannot fully comprehend what we will be when Christ comes back at His Second Coming, we can know this: “we shall be like Him.”  We will finally be sinless, and we will have transformed, glorified resurrection bodies!

A missionary was working with a tribe that had received the gospel fairly recently, and as he was translating 1 John a scribe was making a copy.  When the missionary told him to write, “…we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is,” the scribe threw down his pen and exclaimed, “No!  It is too much!  Let us write, ‘when He appears we shall kiss His feet.'”  He was right.  It is too much.  Our God lavishes His grace on us in Christ.  Are you overwhelmed with praise at these precious promises?

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Why I Love Camp Ministry

I just returned with my family last week from speaking at a Micamp gilead logoddle School Camp at Camp Gilead (www.campgilead.org) and I’m now in a van heading for Camp Regeneration (www.regencamp.com) with High Schoolers from our church.  This is my 14th summer involved in some kind of leadership in camp ministry.  Why do I love camp ministry?

God Goes To Camp
regen 2013Any time a group of people–any age–stop the busyness and extra noise of their daily lives and spend concentrated time in God’s creation, seeking Him through His Word and worship, God meets them.  “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13)

Camp Ministry is a Gospel Ministry  I had the joy and privilege of preaching the Gospel & teaching God’s Word in chapel last week at Camp Gilead. Almost always, at any camp, there are people who have never heard the Good News of Jesus. What an opportunity! Last week at Camp Gilead 5 Middle Schoolers professed Christ as their Savior for the first time. Need I say more about why I love Camp Ministry?

Christian Children & Teenagers Experience the Larger Body of Christ at Camp Teenagers need to know that Jesus is bigger than their church, and even their local community. Time spent in fellowship with believers from other areas can strengthen their faith and challenge them in their walk with the Lord. I have friends today that still encourage me in Christ, who I only know because I went to camp in high school.

Camp is Fun  Camp Ministry embodies what I believe a Youth Ministry should be–Bible-centered, Gospel-centered & Christ-centered while having a blast!

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An Open Letter to Immanuel Bible Church VBS Volunteers

Colossal Coaster World Logo 1Dear Immanuel VBS Volunteers:

Wow!  This year’s VBS can be described by the adjective in our theme:  “colossal”!  God has truly surprised us this week by showing us that He is the One “who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think…” (Eph. 3:20)  With over 150 children at VBS this week, it was sheer joy to minister to them with you and to watch your joy in helping them to have fun and learn about Jesus!

Teaching children God’s Word and sharing the gospel with our community in a kid-friendly way are great reasons to have VBS.  But I believe that another reason God blessed us with such a great VBS is to show Himself glorious through the body of Christ working together.  Our Children’s Ministry Coordinator Hilleary Sorenson worked tirelessly to plan all of the details, and you–65 of you at last count–stepped up to serve the Lord with such joy even as all of the classes were bigger than expected.  In fact, knowing that you were serving so many children and families from our church, from the greater Bellingham area, and from right here in our own neighborhood seemed to add to your joy.

I loved watching both young and old from Immanuel teaching, decorating, coordinating, leading, cooking, cleaning, serving food, doing tech work, photography, games, crafts, songs, praying, and simply loving children and families in a way that reflected Christ!

Ephesians 3:20 reminds us that God is able to do far more than what we ask for or think, because it is “according to the power at work within us.”  I saw the fruit of the Spirit pouring out of your lives this week as you served with the strength and the joy that God provides.  Thank you for all that you did, and join with me in praying, “…to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.” (Eph. 3:21)

For the fame of Jesus in all generations,
Pastor Tim

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A Wonderful Tension: The Importance of Fathers and the Supremacy of Christ

As I think about Father’s Day approaching, I can easily think of areas in my parenting that I need refocus in.  Voddie Baucham Jr. helped me put my fatherhood in perspective this morning:

The role of men in their families is so important that God picture21honored it by conferring upon us his own title, Father.  We’re the governors and guides of our families, and the way we lead has far-reaching implications…I’ve watched families crumble under the weight of paternal neglect…I’ve watched households transform quickly as fathers take the helm and begin to lead and disciple their wives and children.  I’ve seen marriages healed as husbands begin to take seriously their duty to love their wives as Christ loved the church (Eph. 5:25) and to raise their children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Eph. 6:4).

The role of fathers in the family can hardly be overstated.  However, the supremacy of Christ is our fuel, our goal, and our comfort in this great duty.  Because of the power of the gospel and the past and present work of Christ, we can have strength to lead our families today, the vision for where we need to be leading our families, and the reality of forgiveness and help for where we have failed and when we will fail.  I need Jesus.  My family needs Jesus.  Baucham continues:

…The family is not the gospel; nor is the family as important as the gospel.  The family is a delivery mechanism for the gospel.

In Ephesians 5 and 6 the role of fathers loving their wives and discipling their children, the responsibility of wives to submit to their husbands, and the duties of parents to their children are all couched in terms that are unmistakable in their gospel-centeredness.  This is all about “Christ and the church” (5:32)…

…In the end, I want you to see Jesus.  I want you to see him in a way that drives you to pursue him personally and to keep him before your wife and children in a way that causes them to seek him as well.  In short, I want you to shepherd your family in the direction of the Good Shepherd.
(From Family Shepherds, pp. 11-14)

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