Forty Years of Ministry - An Appreciation

On Saturday evening past, Suzanne the family and I had the great joy of being present at a retirement function for Suzanne's dad as he retired from pastoral ministry. Gareth had served for exactly forty years and had most recently served in the Stranmillis congregation of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, a denomination to which I owe my own training for the ministry. I first met Gareth when I had applied for the post of student worker within the Stranmillis Congregation, having met and married his daughter (a risky strategy ill admit) I have got to know him better over the past number of years. As I reflected on his ministry I have much to be thankful to him for,  Paul instructed the believers in Corinth to be imitators of him as he was of God and over the course of my ministry I have tried my best to imitate Gareth in so many ways as he was a faithful, caring shepherd of the congregations that he served as their under shepherd.

1. His love for the LORD, most of all what impressed me about Gareth was his love for the LORD, in the forty years of gospel ministry Gareth kept his love for the LORD fresh, to hear him pray was to listen to someone whose relationship with God was fresh. The danger for pastors is the professionalisation of ministry, being a minister becomes something we are, something that defines us and our relationship with the LORD. For me listening to Gareth that never felt like the case, he loved the God who saved him, he served the God who saved him faithfully and it never felt to me like his passion and love for the LORD waned.

2. His love for God's word, Gareth loved preaching, he loved teaching people God's word, he loved showing people how the truth of God's word shaped and moulded them. He would think nothing of jumping in the car, driving for two hours to go and share God's word with a group of young people, with a group of older people anyone who asked him to come and share God's word if Gareth could do it he would. His application of God's word to society was also very refreshing, his wider minister on Radio Ulster's thought for the day and his monthly column in the Belfast Telegraph showed that society at large valued what Gareth had to say and his application of the bible to society.

3. His love for God's people, there is a running joke in our house that whenever the phone rings, or there is a difficult pastoral situation to deal with we ask ourselves the question WWGNBD, what would Gareth Norman Burke do? Invariably what Gareth would do would be the caring compassionate thing. To spend time with people, to listen, to try and help. I can't think of a single pastoral situation that I have faced where trying to think what would Gareth do has led to poorer outcomes. His love for God's people is what I have tried to copy most. Gareth thought nothing of spending time with people investing in people but in all that trying to lead them down the road of righteousness.

4. His love for the mission of the church, Gareth has a passion for the worldwide ministry of the church, heading to Kenya, to South Sudan, to Nigeria in an attempt to train pastors, in support of missionaries and to see the church of God expand. Ministers are so busy these days that it can be hard to lift our eyes beyond our immediate parish. For Gareth the parish of Stranmillis was never the be all and end all his vision was for the world wide church.

5. His durability Gareth served for forty years and he had in that time two Sunday's off sick, I have been involved in ministry in one shape or another now for 17 years, in that time I have been blessed by God with relative good health. However there have been times when I have been tempted to give in, to give up, to stop doing ministry to go and do something else. Its at those times that the internal sense of call sustains you but Gareth served faithfully for forty years, he stuck at it, he plugged away and he did what the LORD called him to do.

I know its uncommon for son in laws to speak well of their father in law but I hope I am a better minister today for meeting Gareth, for seeing how he works up close. Every minister I have worked with or under I have tried to learn something from them, to take their good points to imitate them as they imitated God. These are just some of the ways that Gareth has impressed me over the years, he is an encourager, a source of wisdom but most of all a faithful servant who is worthy of imitation as he modelled God to his congregation.

The Man He Sees In Me

I stumbled across this song after a podcast by Shane Todd in which he talked about the album "Fathers and Sons" by Luke Combs. I have to confess that I had heard about Luke Combs somewhere in the ether but I never really got him, until I listened to this song and it nearly broke me. I have to confess that whilst listening to it I did have a little cry.

The basic premise of the song, as I understood it anyway, is trying to be the man that your son sees in you, the man who scares the monsters out of the closet in his room, the man who hung the moon but there is a sense of sadness in it because of the realisation that we will never be the man he sees in me.

As the father of five boys this is the question that sometimes crosses my mind, who is the man they see in me? Sometimes the man they see in me is kind, generous, loving, caring but more often than I would care to admit the man they see in me is proud, arrogant, angry, selfish and lives for my own comfort and good.

The bible talks about "the fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge" and there are times in my life when I like the taste of sour grapes, times in my life when sin reigns and the consequence of that can easily be passed on to my children, thats the man that they see in me, the sinner, the lover of self.

Yet in isolation this would drive us to despair wouldn't it? If the salvation of our children depended on my example as a father then all would be lost because I could never cope with that pressure and I could never set an example that would save them. Rather what I hope for my boys (and girl) is that they learn to look beyond their earthly father, look beyond his flaws and instead they look to their heavenly father.

Their heavenly father who will never let them down, their heavenly father who sent his only son to die for their sin, their heavenly father who loves them and cares for them. The song finishes with the author looking at his grandson riding on his sons knee and his prayer that his son would be the man he saw in him for all those years. I don't want my children to grow up to be like me, I want them to be better, to be more Godly, I don't want them to grow up to be the man they see in me I want them to grow up to be the man they see in Jesus.

You can listen to the song here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNRW8en2pp8
 

The Spirit Of The Game

I have to confess that I am a cricket addict, it doesn't matter who is on I'll be watching. So you can imagine my excitement at this time of the summer as the Ashes rolls around. I suspect that even if you aren't that into cricket it has invaded your consciousness over the past few days due to the incident involving England wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow.

For those of you who haven't heard, there was controversy when Jonny Bairstow, assuming the ball to not be in play anymore wondered from his crease and was promptly stumped by the Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey. The controversy doesn't surround if Bairstow was in or out everyone agrees that he was out, according to the laws of the game, the controversy surrounds if what Carey and the Australian team did was within the "spirit of the game".

Cricket has always considered itself a gentleman's game, where if you nick the ball to the wicketkeeper you walk, if the ball goes for a boundary you signal it and somehow what the Australians did it was felt went against this "spirit of the game."

What has transpired in the past few days has been nothing short of astounding. The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Rishi Sunak weighed in declaring that what Australia had done was against the spirit of the game, a few of the quotes from the England players have stood out to me though.

Stuart Broad, the England bowler in a column for the Daily Mail said this:

I was angered by Australia’s decision, particularly having heard their lines about creating a new legacy as a team, and how they have changed since the tour of South Africa in 2018.

Fair enough you might be tempted to think, here is an England player seeking to uphold the spirit of the game, that is until you remember that Stuart wasn't so keen to uphold the spirit of the game when he refused to walk after nicking the ball to slip twice. Or there was the reaction of England head coach Brendon McCullum who said that England would have chosen not to uphold their appeal and therefore Bairstow would have been declared not out. That again sounds good and very sporting but yet again when we consider McCullum's history when he controversially ran out a Sri Lankan player celebrating a team mates hundred it begins to ring a bit hollow. Perhaps the England team itself can be held up to be bastions of the so called spirit of the game...or perhaps not, consider the world cup final when Stokes deflected the ball over the boundary for four crucial runs from a throw. Surely the spirit of the game would have said well next ball we won't play a shot but of course with the game on the line that couldn't be done.

Perhaps we should consider the run out of Colin DeGrandhomme in similar circumstances last year again the appeal was not withdrawn again similarly in a one day international v New Zealand when Ryan Sidebottom an England bowler ran into the New Zealand batsman who was subsequently run out the appeal was not withdrawn.

Now what is the point in all this? Well quite simply this is how we often try and deal with God isn't it? Like the England cricket team we might say we have done some bad things but we aren't as bad as the person down the road, we aren't as bad as the worst of the worst and therefore actually because we aren't as bad as them then God will tolerate our sin.

The problem comes though when we realise that God's standard isn't the Australian cricket team, it isn't our friend down the road, but God's standard is perfection and if we are honest we all know that we have fallen far short of that standard of perfection. We all know that we have done things that aren't right, we all know that we have said things that are hurtful and we all know in our heart of hearts that we fail to meet that standard.

Yet thats the good news of the gospel, that there is one who is perfect, there is one who has always done what is right, there is one who was good and kind and true. Jesus came and laid down his life so that through faith in Him, His perfection could be our perfection, his obedience could be our obedience. Dont settle for comparing yourself to someone else but rather come to know Jesus as your saviour and know His perfect obedience for yourself today.

Book Review: Devoted To God's Church Sinclair B. Ferguson

 

I bought this book just after Christmas with some gift vouchers someone in the congregation had kindly given me and it is quite simply a superb little book. Sinclair Ferguson authored a book a few years ago entitled "Devoted to God" which was essentially a manual on discipleship, this volume with a similar name instead focuses on how as Christians we are called to be devoted to God's church. It is a very timely book given the current situation we find ourselves in with churches being largely online, with very little accountability on attendance or not, but also in an age where church attendance in general is declining this book is a helpful counter to that.

There are 11 chapters in the book each focusing on slightly different aspects of the life of the gathered church, ranging from mission to preaching to prayer. I have to say the chapter i found most helpful was the first chapter and the simple focus Ferguson had on just showing up to church. The contrast he draws out with the Rotary club membership is fascinating. If you are a member of the Rotary club the constitution states that you have to be there, you have to make up missed meetings somewhere else or face the consequences. If that is true of something as insignificant as the Rotary club then surely how much more seriously should we take church attendance and participation? This was a tremendous tonic to the current climate in which people struggle to commit or if they do commit it will only be to a very limited amount of time and energy.

This book isn't a long read, only 180 odd pages and it is interwoven with some very helpful, very down to earth illustrations which bring home the truths to the reader in a very relatable way. The call to be devoted to God's church is one that as followers of Jesus we all need to take seriously and this book will help us along the road to that devotion.

The book can be purchased here

How Long O LORD?

 How long? A question we have found ourselves asking a lot of late isn't it? How much longer will I have to homeschool for? How much longer before I can get back to work? How much longer will this lockdown last? How much longer will I have to wait until I can get the vaccine? How long until everything is back to normal? 

Maybe you have been asking some spiritual questions of a similar nature? How long before we are back together as a church? How much longer before we can sing together? Its been a year of deep frustration for many of us and a year I dont think many of us could have imagined living through and at the heart of it has been this frustration with that question of how long?

The Psalmist has a fairly similar experience in Psalm 13 in fact he asks exactly the same question how long O LORD? How long will you forget me? How long will you hide your face from me? It is easy in the situation we are in at the moment to feel that way isn't it? To feel like the LORD has forgotten us, to feel helpless and hopeless.

We get a sense of the Psalmists problem in v.2 where he asks the question how long shall my enemy be exalted over me? Yet what solution does the Psalmist offer? Well we see that in v.5 he trusts in the steadfast love of the LORD, the covenant love that the LORD has for his people and because of that his heart can rejoice in the salvation of the LORD, he can sing to the LORD because he has dealt bountifully with me.

As he looks around the Psalmist sees reasons for despair, he sees foes prospering, he sees his own weakness, he sees the sorrow in his heart, he sees his enemies prevailing over him. As we look around it is easy to see reasons for despair, the mounting deaths associated directly or indirectly with COVID 19, we see the wicked prospering, we can see and sense our own weakness.

The solution to the question of how long isn't to look around but its to look up, to remind ourselves of the covenant love of the LORD which never fails, to see the steadfast love of the LORD displayed on the cross through his son Jesus Christ, truly in the midst of asking how long will it be until we can say I will sing to the LORD because despite what I can see around me at the moment he has dealt bountifully with me.

There is an excellent modern rendition of this Psalm which can be found at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaMPbjkprQ0

Book Review "Therefore The Truth I Speak" Donald MacLeod

I posted an extract from Donald MacLeod's new book the other day in a blog trying to explain why the government couldn't unilaterally force churches to close but now that I have finished the book I thought it might be a good idea to post a fuller review of the whole book.

This book is a gem of a book, people today deride history newer is better there are no lessons to be learned from the people of the past, but MacLeod in this volume illustrates why that is so foolish. The characters in this book may be from 1500-1700 but the lessons the issues they are facing could well be taken from 21st Century church history, what role does the state have in the church? When is it right to listen to the king and when is it right to disobey him?

The book is a relatively straightforward read, Donald MacLeod writes in a way that is academic but it is accessible for the interested, this volume isn't as scholarly as say MacLeod's "The Person Of Christ" but it does not lack scholarly rigour.

Each chapter takes a person from the period of time and works through the lessons that they taught the church at the time and what those lessons might mean for us in the church today. Figures covered include Patrick Hamilton and George Wishart, John Knox, Andrew Melville, Robert Bruce, Alexander Henderson, Samuel Rutherford, David Dickson and Robert Leighton. Interspersed with historical sketches other more topical chapters are written including on Federal Theology, the impact of Rutherford's Lex Rex and the Second Book of Discipline. 

This book is no hagiography the charachters dealt with are dealt with fairly their good points are emphasised but by no means are there flaws hidden. What you come away from this book with is a sense of the importance of Scottish Theology on the whole presbyterian church worldwide, with a sense of the deep peity of the men and women involved and the cost associated with being a presbyterian in Scotland in 1500-1700, most of the characters studied ended up deposed, in prison, or killed for their faith.

If you would like to buy a copy of the book you can find it here:

Evangelical Bookshop

Is Online Church Really Church?

  Your Facebook feed, like mine has probably been inundated recently with images like this, ministers recording sermons for Youtube having the most embarrassing thumbnails created. It has been amazing to see the way that the church has responded to the Covid19 crisis and things that seemed impossible or unthinkable six months ago are now commonplace. Yet with the restrictions on worship being lifted in the U.K. at least it got me thinking about the issue of what church is.

Fundamentally the church is a gathering...its a group of people, however big or small coming together to praise and worship God and to encourage one another in our walk with God. The classic proof text of this is of course Hebrews 10:25,

    "not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near." (E.S.V.)

Now we should be clear here and say that this verse in context was written to a group of Christians who were tempted to turn their back on Jesus and go back to the Old Covenant way of doing things, the letter is written to encourage them to cling to Christ and not to go back. So we cant just take this verse and say you see every church should be meeting this Sunday because its a clear command of God. Yet this verse does help us because its clear that meeting together should be the norm for Christian people, why? So that we can encourage one another, so that we can spur one another on towards love and good deeds. The Christian life lived in isolation is a difficult life, the Christian life in isolation will be a struggle, will be a Christian life where we remain blind to our own sins and difficulties.

Yet this isn't the only text in the bible that speaks about Churches, yet I cant find a reference to church in my bible where it is to an individual, there may be small churches, there may be house churches but an individual, one person church, is an oxymoron.

Which brings us back to online church and the question if it is really church or not? This is where I am struggling because i am not sure that it is, it is impossible to gather online in any meaningful way, we can watch the same sermon, we can listen to the same songs at roughly the same time but thats not the same as church in my opinion. We can zoom afterwards to our hearts content but that isn't the same as looking someone in the eye, as seeing their movements and their body language.

I wonder if we are so reluctant to return to church services because online church is so much easier? Its nice to sit in our pyjamas with a cup of tea and watch, its nice to be able to pause and rewind as a child screams about something insignificant but friends we are missing out on so much by not being able to meet together.