Committed to the Mission of God

Today on a special edition of Renewing Your Mind God's mission cannot fail because God cannot fail. You know, there are various ways of summarizing very briefly what the mission of God in the world is Jesus summarized what I think when he said I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. He's promised that is going to gather all of his elect and that mission will not fail to renew your mind it is Friday and the legibility is likely to listen in on online conversation, president and CEO Chris Larson had with three of our teaching fellows Dr. Robert Godfrey from his home in Southern California. Derek Thomas in South Carolina and Dr. Bert Parsons you in our campus talked about the certainty we have the Christ will build his church and are calling to remain faithful to his great commission. These are certainly days the church has had to think through how to carry forward its mission in the world and perhaps challenging circumstances, we can't even envision all the different places and circumstances into which people might be hearing this broadcast today, but we do know across the world. The church has been faced with many scenarios in which they've never really had to think through before in terms of caring forward how to care for their people in the midst of lockdown's government orders or even guidance from health officials that sometimes can be, frankly, quite confusing were hoping today to help to remind God's people about the enduring nature of God's mission in the world and how that relates to the great commission how we should think about the means of grace.

The role of preaching prayer gathering and fellow shipping with the saints and how we should even think through the sacraments in very difficult circumstances, and so with just thankful to have you all with your wisdom and serving the church over the years Dr. Godfrey out.

We certainly know that there in California. There have even been perhaps more restrictions placed upon the church then perhaps in other parts of the world and how are things going there for you and how has the church assault to respondent. I know that your member of a vital local congregation there in Escondido and how have things look for you all well things are going well for us in our our local church where very blessed in Southern California to have good weather so were able to meet out-of-doors. We've been meeting out-of-doors really since March and we've been wearing masks but were living in an environment where there's a lot of pressure, a lot of tension ministers often feel themselves sort of caught betwixt and between there some folks saying we shouldn't meet all this is so dangerous, so we shouldn't get together and then others saying this is all a hoax. We should pay no attention to it.

Our rights are being violated. We have to stand up for Christ. We are to be meeting indoors not wearing masks and so church's ministers and elders have have felt a lot of pressure from different directions and to have tried to find a way through it all. It has led interesting questions about what's the difference between hearing a sermon in person and hearing a sermon online because some churches for a time ceased face-to-face meetings of any kind, and everything was live streamed is that an effective use of the means of grace were the liabilities of that, so we're world sort of muddling through my own my own belief is that we need to loose listen to our ministers and elders.

We have to be obedient to our civil government. To the extent we can unless we are really in a position where we have to say we have to bathe obey the Lord rather than obey the magistrate. I think for most of us were not in the position and we ought to be careful and safe. It seems to me, if only out of love for our brothers and sisters in the church. Dr. Parsons, I know that you've also sought to shepherd and navigate the second circumstances from the other side of the country. Here, what is that look like for you in the midst of the congregation you serve. Let's good question Chris and I'm grateful for Bob's comments.

There are of course things in Florida are quite a bit different, but we have worked very hard and I worked very hard to make sure that all the decisions that we have made. From the very beginning are made by the entirety of our elder board or session that we as elders are making decisions together and thanks be to God, he has given us great unity of spirit and the decisions that we have made have been decisions that we have made together with unanimity. So with the various guidelines and restrictions and suggestions from both state and local leaders and even national agencies. We've tried to keep things as normal as possible.

We've tried to show forth a spirit of grace in all decisions and we've also tried to make all decisions based on a certain principle of freedom and freedom of conscience so that people and of themselves individually can make certain decisions and for the most part in Florida, things have been very open and very free and schools are open.

Our kids are in school and have been since the beginning of the school year.

Every day, but no shutdowns of their schools and does so as we know there are different views on all these matters and we have worked very hard not to bring those up.

It's not my job as a pastor to help people make these decisions and to try to discern all the different views and all the different science that is out there, but what I am very grateful for is how are elders and we as pastors have worked very hard to read everything that we possibly can to study the evidence and to strive to lead God's people carefully, patiently and graciously through this pandemic. Dr. Thomas, we know that this has been a time where many congregations have had to think through the means of grace, even as they've not been able to meet perhaps in different parts of the world. Some churches have moved to streaming their services in terms of what is ideal, though in what is the primary means of grace that God is given to shepherd his people yes thank you that's a great question and like Burke and Bob we've had to navigate our way through this last model almost a year, or no, and there will be several more months of it to come. We are a Presbyterian Church and we are governed by the ruling elders.

It's interesting if I can pick up on the mask the issue. I've seen it more or less a parallel to first Corinthians. The second group deficient in Dayton and Romans 14 on and that whole argument about the weaker brother and it doesn't like I told the congregation it in a we are where we all and it doesn't really matter what your particular opinion is I'm not even sure what my particular opinion is a lapse of stop stop reading all of the opinions because we just need to get through this and we need to get through it as as unified as possible and to one of the issues I think for me as a pastor it is that I think this season has brought out the best in folk but is also brought out some of the worst side of us. Everyone seems to have an opinion about everything and and wish to express that opinion and sometimes very loudly and so my concern is to get through this season in one piece and item on the other side preaching prayer are primary means here of of grace to enable folk to grow. III I'm glad it's it was in 2020, and not in 1980, so that we did at least have the ability continue to have the ability to live stream and we've more or less been able to do almost almost everything except the Lord's supper and and and that's a that's a huge issue, it's an immense issue and in one sense it. It has gone to within a certain art, a greater love. I think for what the Lord's supper does it as as a means of grace to to grow us more into Christ likeness. The fact that we have missed it for such a long time. When I personally can't wait for the return of the Lord's supper, but that that's where we are in Columbia. Dr. Parsons, I want to come back to you and to have you help us think through the great commission, sometimes leaking air is reaching people who are just beginning to study God's word in-depth for the first time there.

Waking up to the reality of holiness of God and all that he has said through the Scriptures, and in an age in which there so much dizziness and really complication and life.

I'm just thinking in our family life and sports activities with kids and things like that and sadly, it seems that some churches complicate family lives better and can even complicate that the Christian life as it gets down to it, and just boiling it down for us and what's the mission of God in the world and in what should we be about as the church and and has the Lord given us more straightforward and rather simple commands you Chris, I think so, how the mission of God is in one sense as expansive as the Scriptures and God's story of his mission of rescuing his people throughout history and we know we could we could spend a great deal of time talking about the mission of God and from the very beginning. I mean, the reason the reason everything exists. The reason we exist. The reason the world exists is for God and his glory when he created us and created a planet which we can live for him or himself or his glory, and so the reason he has created us the reason he has made us a new man is to be born again in Christ is his own glory, and so the of the mission of God is as you know Chris is. It is really at the core of of of my passion is a Christian is a pastor because if you look at Scripture. It's hard to see anything not fitting into the mission of God and how he is rescuing and redeeming his people from throughout the world and every tribe, tongue, and nation. I think too often to get it. What you're talking about Chris and I think you're exactly right. Too often we we complicate the church and we complicate. Thus, the mission of God, and too often we add to what really the church should be about, and then complicate the lives of God's people.

We we we tend to associate programming and activity and busyness with maturity in Christ and those are not always the same thing. Certainly we want people to be involved and engaged. We want them to be in worship and we want them to be learning and growing in Bible study and fellowship together as God's people, but too often to many churches throughout history have just programmed the life out of people.

They've made their lives way too complicated and way too busy were they really don't have time just for the basic things in life to care for their families and to care for their neighbors and their friends and widows and orphans and so is the church need to be very careful that we are striving to really really keep focused on what God has called us to do as the church, namely as Derek said administering to God's people the means of grace, preaching and teaching and discipling in prayer and the sacraments of Lord's supper and baptism that that we would really be consumed with that and all that comes from that and certainly fellowship and coming together and loving one another and confessing our sins to one another. Caring for one another.

All of that is part of that. But you can't force people to do that.

That has to happen naturally and organically. Dr. Godfrey on the subject of God's mission can that mission ever fail why or why not.

The course God's mission cannot fail because God cannot fail God will accomplish his purpose.

What he is set out to do. He will accomplish in other various ways of summary summarizing very briefly what the mission of God in the world is a Jesus summarized that I think when he said I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it his mission to build his church will not fail. He's promised that is going to gather all of his elect and that mission will not fail there so many ways in which Leanne strives to serve the local church and if we could just a word of encouragement to the local church pastor church leader elders who are out there.

There's so many competing ideas in the world in terms of what success looks like. And of course we hear this bantered about by the media and sports figures and celebrities in weight we have an idea of what the world calls success but what would God speak of as success for the local church and the coming certainly the temptation to I merely judge by numbers of attendees coming into a ministry. It is that success and what should we be looking for as markers of success as we seek to obey the great commission will one aspect of success is to fulfill one of the mandates.

One of the three mandates of the great commission to go into all the world to make disciples to teach them and to baptize them and you see the cheesy ecclesial dimension of that with the reference to baptism. But what does making disciples look like growing Christians in the Lord growing them in face growing them in the words growing them in prayer and that would be successful. Whether you are talking about a dozen people or whether you're talking about 3000 people facets of the numbers that don't make a difference and I and I think that fulfilling what it is that the church is supposed to do in terms of faithfully administering the means of grace is at least one mockup of what success looks like in the church is say I very much agree that an art I think of John Calvin saying the church is where the word is preached and heard like I really like that in Calvin because it's not enough that we preach the word we need to preach the word we want to preach the word we want to preach the word even where it's not heard that if you preach the word and is not heard. You don't have a church. The church is the place where the word is preached and heard. For the people listen to the word or they where they follow the word when I occasionally gets preach in our congregation. I've been preaching through Luke and we just looked at the transfiguration, and of the word of the father on the Mount of glory was listen to my son, listen to my son and Jesus comes down the mountain and people are listing the disciples haven't listened to his commission that they cast out demons. The disciples haven't listened to him that he has to give himself to the cross to save them. The disciples haven't listened about how there to be servants, not Masters and the great problem for the church a foundational problem is always, are we listening to the word already are we eager to hear the word and are we following it. When we hear it that that has to be the great standard by which we evaluate success in any church. Again, I think Jesus provides a model for us in John chapter 6 no doubt talked about this together before.

But Jesus starts with 5000 people and whittles it down to 11 and his message. There is not that fewer is better. His message is not small is always better than bigger. His message is better to have a few disciples that really listen to my word that many disciples that are due. It many pseudo-disciples that are doing their own thing and so disk I think success has to be measured by faithfulness to God's word, Chris.

I think the question that you're asking is so critical for the hour and has been really very important question for a long time, but the problem is is that people have not been asking that question and they've not been asking it properly.

They've not been looking really for that. The appropriate biblical answer because as we all know success as the world defines it. We as the church will never have it faithfulness to God rarely ever looks like success in the eyes of the world, but it always is, if you will success in the eyes of God. And that's what our Lord is concerned with in all of our lives is as pastors, elders, deacons, Christians, all of us that we would strive to be faithful and that means faithful with the stewardship that he's entrusted to us and that's all that we can be. I remember quite vividly a few years ago I was pressing Dr. scroll on when did he want to see happening with linear ministries over the next 25 years. I think this was an 2011 that I asked him this question and he certainly wanted legionnaire to continue serving the church around the world and continuing to propagate reformed theology to the church throughout the world to be fixed on proclaiming teaching and defending God's holiness in all of its fullness, and then he had this parenthetical statement. If we are faithful and that defined for me what it looks like for any Christian to continue to serve the Lord. Whether our numbers grow or diminish its gonna come back to that bedrock, anchor of faithfulness to God and to his word and I think that gives Christians staying power. What you all say in the midst of sometimes very changing circumstances.

In terms of hostility, even that would come against the church.

If were panic following that simple principle of faithfulness to God's word and seeking to be obedient, don't you think that that gives Christians a great measure of courage. Absolutely Chris. The problem is is that a lot of times Christians themselves are the ones who don't like it when we're striving to be faithful to God's word.

That's when the problems that's facing the evangelical church today is that there is almost an end to antipathy towards faithfulness to God's word because being faithful to God's word isn't always easy. In fact, in our rapidly changing culture. It is rarely ever easy and what we find often in our church is that it's professing Christians that despise true steadfast faithfulness to God's word and as we look at the history of the church were encouraged that the church has been able to be faithful and to flourish in every kind of social and economic, and political circumstance.

So the church survives in monarchies. It survives in democracies it survives in dictatorships and survives in chaos. It it survives when it's a persecuted minority it survives. Maybe with more difficulty when it's a powerful majority. We should be encouraged that so that the present culture is not what saves Christianity it's Christianity that saves those in every sort of culture who will listen to the word of Christ.

I think that's one of the most significant lessons Bob that the church needs to hear today and I'm grateful that you've set it. It is something that I think many Christians sadly have forgotten and that they forgotten that we are fundamentally citizens of heaven that heaven is our home, and that in this world we will suffer and we will be persecuted and that we are beginning to see it in more and more significant ways in our country and throughout the world and I'm reminded of what one of the early church apologists, said when he said something to the effect of the world, persecuting the church that while they may kill us. We can never truly hurt if leader teaching fellow Burk Parsons. He was joined by Robert Godfrey and Derek Thomas in a conversation that they had with linear president Chris Larson were glad you joined us today for Renewing Your Mind as we think deeply about how were to live in these challenging times.

It's important for us to be reminded daily that in the midst of lockdowns and government orders God is still on the throne's plans never thwarted. This is a special edition of Renewing Your Mind. I'm Lee Webb, and I'm glad that you joined us today I want to let you know about three helpful resources that touch on the very subject or teaching fellows were addressing today. The first is Dr. RC Sproul's book, how should I live in this world are offering that along with Dr. Stephen Nichols DVD series, a time for confidence in Dr. Derek Thomas's book titled strength for the weary.

All three of these resources are available to you for your gift of any amount you can reach us by phone at 800-435-4343.

You can also go online to Renewing Your Mind.org. By the way, if you'd like to view our listen to the conversation we just heard in its entirety. It's available on Ligonier's YouTube channel. It's titled, committed to the mission of God. Again, thank you for being with us today, and I do hope you'll join us again Monday for Renewing Your Mind. We are the listener supported outreach of leader ministries