Articles

REVELATION 5:9–10

“They sang a new song, saying, ‘Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.’”

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“Changes,” a popular ’70s-era song, captures well the feeling many of us have toward the notion of change:

Everyone is going through changes;
No one knows what’s going on;
And everybody changes places,
But the world still carries on.

Love must always change to sorrow,
And everyone must play the game;
It’s here today and gone tomorrow,
But the world goes on the same.¹

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“What’s wrong with the world?” someone asks. Many explanations are on offer: economic turmoil, moral collapse, political extremism. Certainly these are things that are going wrong. But are they “what’s wrong with the world”?

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Most pastors would say that they aspire to be good pastors—that is, good at the task to which they’ve been set, not merely average (much less rotten!). Thankfully, the Scriptures don’t leave us without guidance as to what being a “good pastor” means. When Paul wrote his first letter to Timothy, he told him, “If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 4:6).

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Pastoral ministry is, in many minds, synonymous with pulpit ministry. Yet pastors, as their name suggests, are not only preachers but shepherds. They are “those who will have to give an account” (Heb. 13:17), working as under-shepherds to the Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5:2, 4), the one to whom the sheep belong. They have been charged with caring for the flock.

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As pastors, we acknowledge the importance of evangelism in the Christian life. Sharing the good news was one of the last directives that our Lord gave His disciples (Matt. 18:18–20), and the early church’s rapid growth largely was due to the believers’ obedience to this command. Given its central role in the New Testament, evangelism should be a key feature in our lives—including in our preaching.

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A story is told of a prisoner who had been locked away for decades. One morning, the warden came to his cell and told him his sentence was complete. The warden opened the door and allowed the prisoner to walk free. The prisoner walked out of the cell, crossed the block, and, seeing another cell open, ran in and slammed the door behind him.

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Imagine that you’re in London. The year is 1675; it’s been fewer than ten years since the Great Fire ravished the city. One Sunday afternoon, after lunch, you walk down Bishopsgate Street to discover a constant flow of people entering the great hall of the Crosby House. The large home’s owner is Sir John Langham, a Nonconformist who has left the Church of England.

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Can we be certain that we know Christ in a saving sense? It’s an age-old question, one that’s vital to our Christian experience. In his first letter, the apostle John writes on the theme of assurance. He states his purpose clearly: “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13).

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In what may be some of his last recorded words, the apostle Paul wrote to his protégé in the ministry, Timothy, “Do your best to come to me soon” (2 Tim. 4:9). It must have been a lonely life in the Roman prison from which he wrote, but his tie of love for Timothy was strong. He had a vivid memory of Timothy’s tears at their last departure, and he longed for the joy of being together with him again (2 Tim. 1:4). Yet one verse earlier, in 4:8, Paul could confess a love and longing for the “appearing” of Jesus—which, he had said earlier in the letter, “abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Tim. 1:10).

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