Of Providence

In my elective class on the Westminster Confession Faith here at Covenant Seminary, Dr. Calhoun asks us to memorize questions from the Westminster Shorter Catechism.  Upon our arrival at class, we occasionally have quizzes on the assigned catechism questions.  The plan last Tuesday was, after studying the night before, that I would wake up and review a bit more so that I would be well ready for the quiz.

Things did not go according to plan.  I overslept my alarm and only had fifteen minutes to get ready.  As I pulled onto I-170, traffic was dead stopped.  I was listening to Holly Dutton's Catechism questions set to music, trying to firm up the questions for the day in my head, and then the words sunk in:

What are God's works of providence?
God's works of providence are his most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures and all their actions.

It was as if, after studying this question so diligently  I heard it for the first time.  Westminster is very clear that humans are responsible creatures, yet ultimately, it is God who is in control.  It is so easy for me to get so hung up on what I do, that I forget that I have a kind and gracious Father who loves and cares for me.  An all-powerful Father who wants what is best for me.

Looking back on that morning, oversleeping my alarm was a very good thing.  I was completely exhausted and needed some extra rest.  It turned out that we didn't have a quiz that morning, and traffic cleared just in time for me to make it to class.  But what I needed most that morning were not those little graces, what I needed was a reminder that my God is in control, that He loves me, and that He will care for me, just as He always has.

"Cor meum tibi offero, Domine, prompte et sincere."

Top 10 for New Seminary Students

A new semester is upon us and I thought, in a gesture of good will, that it would be nice to write a "Top Ten" list for new seminary students.  These are things that I did which worked well, things I failed to do which I regret, and things that I wish I had known when I showed up in Saint Louis.  The list could be expanded (it is mostly focused on the classroom side of things), and if any other seminary students or pastors read this, feel free to add things in the comments.

My top 10 pieces of advise for new seminary students:

10.  Get organized - You will be busy.  You will be very busy.  If you have a job, you'll be busier.  If you have a wife, you'll be even busier.  If you have kids, you'll be busier still.  Believe me, if you have none of those things, there will be plenty of things to keep you busy.  I've yet to meet a student who has had too much time to work on a paper or project.  One of the most important things that you can do is to get organized.  As soon as you get your assignments, plan your semester.  Know when things are due and guess at how long they will take.  Organize files for papers and notes.  Organize the files on your computer into semeseters and classes.  Start organizing your library.  Organize your personal life as well (bills, calender and so forth).  The better organized that you are at the beginning, the easier life will be in crunch time.

9.  Find a church home - Here in St. Louis the number of PCA churches is staggering.  Add the other good churches in the greater St. Louis area, and you could be looking for a church home well into your third year. In my opinion, this isn't an ideal situation.  Visit some churches.  Ask your neighbors where they go and what their church is like.  Visit the ones where you think you can worship and minister.  Once you find one, stick with it. You will need the spiritual support of a good church.

8.  Go to chapel - Chapel here at Covenant is outstanding.  It is one of the best ways to keep all of the knowledge that you will gain in proper perspective.  We aren't here just to learn, we are here to become closer to Jesus.  In chapel you will hear the gospel in word and song.  You will hear from some of the best preachers around.  It is worth your time.  Don't be legalistic about it.  If you need to study for an exam, study for an exam, but try to get in the habit of going as often as you can.

7.  Serve - A professor here told me that one of the best ways to ensure that the knowledge that you gain here is not just academic is to serve.  Serve in anyway you can.  It may be ushering for your church, serving in nursery, participating in mercy ministries, helping with youth group, or any number of other things.  It does not really matter how you are serving, but your time here and all of the knowledge that you gain will be put to better use if you make service a priority.

6.  Get to know your classmates - During seminary you will likely form bonds with people that you will carry through your future ministry.  Spend some time and get to know people.  Study with them, help them if they are in need, pray together, eat together, have fun together.  Your classmates here are not your competition, they are your support.  The seminary does a wonderful job of facilitating this, so use the resources that they provide.  Not everybody here is wonderful.  There are some bad eggs.  There will be many people whom you will meet here that will be growing in grace just like you.  There are very few people (though there are some) who are the same now as when they got here, so get to know your classmates and grow with them.

5.  Do the reading -This may be the single most difficult aspect of seminary.  It was for me.  I don't read very quickly, so it was a real struggle to keep up, but try your hardest.  You will get more out of your classes if you do the reading.  You will understand the subject matter better if you do the reading.  The professors here are pretty smart.  They know what a good book is.  Trust them.  If they think you should read it in preparation for ministry, you probably should.

4.  Go to office hours - I did not do this during my first semester here and it is one of my greatest regrets.  Sign up for office hours.  Your professors are intelligent, experienced, graceful pastors.  Any time that you spend with them is time well spent.  Don't waste thier time.  Go into the office prepared with questions and items that you want to discuss.  Then, just see where the conversation goes.

3.  Ask for help - Do not be afraid to ask for help.  If you are stuck or struggling in class, use your professors, classmates, teacher's assistants, upper class-men, and pastors as a resource.  There is no shame in admitting that you aren't quite understanding.  It is okay to ask for an extension if something serious comes up (but do so knowing that the professor may say no).  Form some study groups.  Do research as part of a group.  Be willing to help others as well.  If you find something great, share it with your classmates.

2.  Be humble - This one is not easy.  If you get a good grade, it is easy to let it go to your head.  If you grasp a topic that one of your classmates is struggling with, it can make you feel superior.  When you go to church on Sunday, you'll have more knowledge and more resources at your disposal than most people in your church.  It can be tough to be humble.  Remember two things: 1. There are a lot of people at the seminary (classmates and professors) who are smarter and more talented than you.  2. Seminary is not a competition.  You are here to learn to serve and use your gifts.  If a classmate is struggling and you could help him but choose not to, then you have failed.  This is a time to strengthen and encourage each other in the Lord.  We are all hear to learn, and learning is difficult without humility.

1.  Be patient - You will not "get" everything.  There will be subjects and parts of subjects that will be difficult, or that you might not understand fully.  You will be confronted with a lot of new ideas and faced with new ways of thinking, and you will not understand them all the first (and sometimes second or third) time.  Be patient.  Seminary is the beginning of a journey, not the end of one.  You will not leave with all of the answers.  Seminary is a place where you learn how to seek the answers, how to read your Bible well.  Be patient with yourself as you are challenged and as you grow.

Finally, and this should be a part of all ten of the things mentioned above, don't forget to seek God.  Do not forget to pray.  Do not forget to read your Bible.  Remember that you are here to be trained as a minister and servant of God and His people.  Place your heart in God's hands and seek Him throughout your seminary experience.

Seminary can be a wonderful.  Covenant certainly is.  Enjoy the time you have been given to learn from your pastors, teachers, books, and friends.  But, above all else, seek the Lord.

"Cor meum tibi offero, Domine, prompte et sincere."

The Heart of Evangelism and Learning Evangelism from Jesus by Jerram Barrs

Evangelism may well be the most difficult aspect of the Christian faith.  For many of us, sharing our faith can be intimidating.  Some of that fear generates from our own shyness.  We would be just as intimidated if we were asking for directions.  Some of our fear comes from our participation in failed and insensitive "evangelistic" methodologies.  For others, the offense of the cross is an offense to the would-be evangelist, and so he neglects to share his faith.  Against these challenges, Professor Jerram Barrs lays out a Biblical approach to evangelism over the course of two books; The Heart of Evangelism and Learning Evangelism from Jesus.

In The Heart of Evangelism, Barrs lays out the foundation for this approach.  This book is divided into four major sections dealing with the "Mission to the World", "God's Kindness and Perseverance," "Barriers in the Way of Communicating the Gospel," and finally, "Making the Gospel Known."  The first lays out God's call to mission and the foundations for fulfilling this mission, things like prayer and a faithful life.  The second section deals with God's work in evangelism, and the variety of ways that God prepares people's hearts for hearing the Good News.  The following section contains an important discussion about evangelism in our time and the unique challenges that we face, both within and outside of ourselves.  Finally, the book concludes by giving the reader seven "principles" which should shape our evangelistic efforts.  These are not "steps to evangelism," but rather a philosophy of evangelism that fleshes out the implications of the previous three sections in light of the Bible.

Learning Evangelism from Jesus is a different sort of book.  Instead of developing a theology or philosophy of evangelism, this book seeks to understand evangelism as it is portrayed in the pages of Scripture.  Of the sixteen chapters in this book, fifteen of them are case studies drawn from the pages of the New Testament.  The first chapter summarizes the content of The Heart of Evangelism.  Throughout the remainder of the book, the reader is able to see how these ideas about evangelism play out in the pages of the Bible.  Over the course of this book one sees the way that Jesus shares about God with legalists, seekers, sinners, and others.  It is in this book that the compassionate method of evangelism that Barrs proposed in the previous book is demonstrated in practice.

These books read like companion volumes.  The first book gives us a skeleton, an outline of what evangelism should be.  The second book puts muscles and flesh on the bones.  It shows what the type of evangelism that Barrs proposes looks like on the ground.  These are challenging books.  In their pages one will not find a simple or formulaic approach to evangelism.  Instead, one will see what evangelism through relationship and compassion looks like.  Together, these books challenge the way that the Christian sees the unbeliever.  It challenges us to understand the difference between the Law and the Gospel.  It challenges the reader to take evangelism seriously.  

I have read a lot of good books during my first year of seminary, but none have been as challenging or, at the risk of overstatement, as life-changing as these two. It was an honor and privilege to sit in Professor Barr's class for a full semester.  Fortunately for the reader, his character and graciousness shines through the pages of both of these books. For anyone who finds evangelism difficult, or who is weary of "canned" Gospel presentations, or for those who want to be challenged and have their heart for others shaped by the Gospel, I cannot recommend these books highly enough.    

"Cor meum tibi offero, Domine, prompte et sincere."

The Internet and Books

On a recent broadcast, the White Horse Inn radio program facilitated a discussion of  Nicolas Carr's "The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains."  While I've not read this book, the discussion did cause me to think about the internet, how we use it, and what that means for us.

If you were to ask my wife what my favorite webpage is there is little doubt that she would roll her eyes and respond "Wikipedia."  I am aware that there is a good bit of consternation about the rise in popularity of a non-peer reviewed encyclopedia written by non-experts.  I know that Wikipedia is not a worthy tool for real research (though it can point you to such resources), but I also know that if I want a quick and usually reliable answer to a question that pops into my brain, Wikipedia is the place to go.

It usally goes something like this: my wife and I are watching a movie and I think that I recognize an actor from another movie.  I go to Wikipedia, and find out if I'm right.  Recently, it has come up during the Olympics.  "How many people live in the Republic of the Seychelles?"  Wikipedia.  "Are there any rules in water polo?" Wikipedia.  "Where were the Olympics in 1964?" Wikipedia.  The internet is a powerful tool.

As wonderful as the internet is, though, I still love books.  I even still love books made out of paper.  In fact, one of my summer projects has been tagging and arranging my books with Library of Congress call numbers.  I'm a book geek.  I buy used books.  I look for books at yard sales.  Whenever a graduating student has books to give away, I'm there to take a look.  My parents in my childhood and teachers at my school cultivated a love of books that has remained strong.

Yet, and this may sound obvious, books and the internet are not the same.  They do not facilitate the same type of knowledge acquisition.  As I thought about my love of Wikipedia and how it easy it is to find answers to one's questions I was struck by the difference in the approach to "knowledge" that I take with the internet and with a book.

When I use the internet, it is almost always to find an answer to a question that I thought of.  I search and scour looking for an answer to that question.  When I find that answer, I'm satisified.  I tend to read the internet in a fleeting, skimming manner.  Anything more than a few paragraphs long can tend towards tedium and function as an impediment to my quest.  It is a distraction that must be thrust aside so that my inquisition ends in success.

A book is an entirely different experience.  Instead of just looking for answers to my questions, I read a book to really learn.  I read to be challenged.  I hope to find ways of thinking and looking at this world that are different from my own. Instead of quickly finding a fact, I read a book as a different kind of quest.  Instead of a quick-strike mission, reading a book is an epic journey which follows a path that I do not plan.  My destination is not my own, but it lies in the will of the author and my conversation with the author.  My duty as I read a book is to question and wrestle with the author.  In the end, at least at the end of good book, my horizons have been expanded.

You see, the internet, as vast as it is, is stifled by my own imagination.  I ask it what I want to know, and it promptly and usually accurately answers that question.  However, at least as I tend to use it, it does not expand my horizons.  The increase of my knowledge is limited by my own imagination.  It only answers questions that I come up with.  A book, on the other hand, is not so easily swayed to my agenda.  If I am to read a book and read it well I must read it on the author's terms and wrestle with the ideas that she wants me to wrestle with.

In Adler and VanDoran's "How to Read a Book" they say it like this:

There is the book; and here is your mind.  As you go through the pages, either you understand perfectly everything the author has to say or you do not.  If you do, you may have gained information, but you could not have increased your understanding.  If the book is completely intelligible to you from start to finish, then the author and you are as two minds in the same mold.  The symbols on the page merely express the common understanding you had before you met.

In some sense, this type of reading is perfectly acceptable.   It is fine to "gain information," but, as they say, it does not mean that you have "gained understanding."  This is, in fact, how most people read the internet.  Yet there is another alternative.  Truly reading well is reading in which "you gradually lift yourself from a state of understanding less to one of understanding more" (ibid.).  Here is the place at which my reading of the internet differs from my reading of a book.  Instead of just increasing the amount of information that I have, I seek to increase my understanding.  Surely there are some who can do the later using the internet.  However, by and large as a culture, this is no longer the way that we read anything (even books) due to the influence of the easy answers that the internet provides.

I consider myself fortunate that those who taught me how to read, my parents and teachers, did not grow up with computers.  It will be much more difficult for me to teach my children to read well.  It will be even more difficult for their children.  Technology is a wonderful thing.  Books, after all, were at one point a new technology.  But whenever a new technology that obviously and pervasively improves our lives comes about, we must still ask ourselves what we could lose in its adaptation and strive to prevent that from happening.  Technology is designed to make our lives easier, yet as our lives get easier our will to work decreases.  Reading a book well is hard work.  It is extremely enjoyable, but it is hard work.

Reading is a skill that all Christians must be willing to cultivate.  We come to know God through His Word, through a book.  Losing the ability to read is dangerous for Christians.  God communicates to us in a story, and if we are to know His will and His plan, we must read that story, and read it well.  So please, pull up your Bible on your iPhone, kindle, tablet, or, if quite convenient, a paper copy, and learn to read it.  It is a book worth reading well, for it aims to change you.

"Cor meum tibi offero, Domine, prompte et sincere."

The Most Useless Sort of Christian

Right now, I am the most useless sort of Christian.  In these past few months I have gained a great amount of knowledge.  That knowledge was not given to me in the abstract; it was directed not only to my head, but to my heart as well.  However, over this period of time, I have just been a reseptical.  A lot of stuff going in, and nothing coming out.  This is not how things should be.

My situation has changed dramatically over the past half year.  I went from a job at a secular company, to a full time student learning from some of the best pastors in the PCA.  I now live in a great neighborhood, but here all of my neighbors are Christians.  I went from involvement in teaching Sunday School, working on the missions committee, playing in the church orchestra, and occasionally preaching, to doing, well, nothing.

At the end of the book of Matthew, after powerfully demonstrating Jesus' status as the greater king than David and the greater prophet than Moses, we read this charge given as Jesus departs from the presence of his followers in Matthew 28:

And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.   Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

Currently, I am only benefiting from others who are carrying this out, but I am failing to do this in any way.  If I take the indicative (id est "what is true") of this passage in Matthew seriously, namely "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me..." (and I do), then I must willingly and gratefully fulfill the imperative (id est "what to do").  As Dr. Chapman pointed out, the emphasis of this passage is on making disciples.  (For those interested, the imperative in this passage is "make disciples" while "go," "baptizing," and "teaching" are participles that help to describe the making of disciples).  If I am not actively involved in making disciples, then I am disobeying my Lord.

There are plenty of excuses that I could make.  I'm new to St. Louis.  I don't know anyone here.  I am trying to get use to a new and busier lifestyle.  I wasn't a member of a church here yet so they might not let me get involved, but that is all they are.  Just excuses for not doing what I should.

In one of my favorite quotes by John Calvin he says:

Here indeed is pure and real religion: faith so joined with an earnest fear of God that this fear also embraces willing reverence, and carries with it such legitimate worship as is prescribed in the law... all men have a vague general veneration for God, but very few really reverence him...” (1,2,2)

In other words, real and authentic Christianity is demonstrated when one loves God so much that he desires to obey Him.  He loves God and God's Law, and obeying that Law is not a burden, but a true joy.  It is my hope that in the coming weeks I will find some places where I can serve and be one who gratefully serves God out of love for Him.  It is my prayer that I will, as our Lord commands, make disciples.

"Cor meum tibi offero, Domine, prompte et sincere."

Pastors or Scholars?

When I was accepted to Covenant Seminary, I wasn't quite sure what to expect.  I had been told by many people that it was a great school.  Every Covenant graduate that I met was extremely happy about the time they spent here.  When my wife and I visited the seminary, we came away very impressed.  Instead of "selling" the school during our admissions interview we were advised to confirm our calling to ministry before we decided to come.  In spite of these great endorsements, however, one never is quite sure if a move halfway across the country is really ever a great idea.  I have been here for about six months, and the question "was it worth it?" has been met by an emphatic, "YES!"  I am quite sure that God led me to the right seminary.


There are plenty of seminaries that will give you a good education.  Covenant is no exception.  A quick browse through the faculty shows degrees from Harvard, Princeton, Cambridge, and so forth.  This is not exceptional.   Our professors write articles for journals, have books published, and speak at conferences.  In class we interact with the thoughts and writings of important Christian thinkers and ideas.  We talk about accusativus cum infinitivo in Greek, about Schleiermacher in systematic theology, about critical realism and speech-act theory in our hermeneutics class, and about Aristotle's "On Rhetoric" in homiletics.  All seminaries do these things.  With all of this academic rigor in any seminary curriculum, it is little wonder that many people jokingly call seminary a cemetery.  In fact, Google returned 3.7million hits in 0.36 seconds for the phrase "seminary cemetery."


This, though, is far from the case here at Covenant.  While Dr. Bayer did strongly hint at the existence of a cemetery on campus for students who died learning Greek (a situation that he made sound quite common), Covenant has been a place where one not only grows in knowledge, but in love and faith as well.  At our orientation we were told that the seminary's pedagogical goal was not to put facts in our heads (though they certainly do), but to make us closer to Jesus.  One imagines that many seminaries say this, but here, they mean it.  


Every class in every course is designed to help us not only know about God, but to show us why and how to love Him.  Our professors demonstrate this love of God everyday.  They preach the Gospel to us and show us how to help others understand it.  This is not just something they know in the abstract, it is something they believe and trust in.  Just this past week three professors in different classes were brought to the point of tears when talking about the beauty of the Gospel.  It is real and it is powerful.


The Gospel should change us.  It should change how we view God, of course, but also impact how we love other Christians, our neighbor, and the creation.  Here, at Covenant, one catches a glimpse of what lives transformed by the Gospel really look like in an educational setting.  Here is a community where the Gospel is the center and the effects are pervasive.  I am very thankful that I was led to this place, and I pray that my life will exemplify the change wrought in me by the Gospel.  If it is reflected in me even half as powerfully as it is reflected in my professors then the seminary will have met it's goal: producing people who love Jesus more.

"Cor meum tibi offero, Domine, prompte et sincere."

The Story of Christianity (2 vols.) by Justo Gonzalez

The two volume Church History by Justo Gonzalez is a great introduction to Church History.  These thick volumes (each over 500 pages) serve as a very good orientation to the two thousand years that have transpired since the resurrection of Jesus.  After a short orientation to first century Palestine, Gonzalez moves on to the church in Jerusalem, and does not stop until the conclusion of volume two with a discussion of the church in the world today.


One of the things that the reader will come to appreciate about these books is the concerted effort on the part of the author to show not only the breadth, but the depth of the Christian story.  Gonzalez draws attention to the life of the average believer in the early church, the development of Christianity in  places outside of the empire in the early centuries of the church, and the contribution of more remote remnants of Christianity in places like Egypt and Ethiopia.  To be sure, much of the ink used in these volumes describes Western History, but that is because most of the History of the Church took place in that region or under its influence.  Throughout the book, though, wherever something is happening outside of Western Europe, or among minorities, Gonzalez calls attention to it.


Despite the length of these volumes, it still reads as a fairly high level overview.  It is rare that any one theologian gets more than a few pages.  Augustine, for instance, who is very significant, has a relatively long section of 12 pages.  One must remember that this is an overview and introduction.  It is not likely that the average reader would want or expect much more than this.  This book is here to orient you in the history of the Church.


Included in these volumes are maps and pictures which prove helpful.  For those whose interest is piqued, the end of most chapters contain sometimes lengthy bibliographies which guide you towards further investigation.  Also quite helpful are the time-lines at the beginning of each book and the beginning of each chapter.  These help you to quickly grasp where you are in human history should you decide to read a specific chapter out of order.


This is great two volume set, and well worth the time if you have any interest in Church History.  They are not perfect volumes (for instance, Gonzalez slightly misunderstands Luther's theology), but as an overview, they are great.  Both volumes read very well and integrate the Christian story into the larger political and historical narratives of the day.  The indexes and tables of contents are very useful if you want to brush up on a specific subject, like, say, German Pietism.  It is a useful and readable history, and as a bonus, it has a quite attractive cover that looks great on a bookshelf.  

"Cor meum tibi offero, Domine, prompte et sincere."