Subtitle: A Humble Life, Lesson 4

This week, I wanted to share some “quotable quotes” on humility…

“But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God… as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:27-29, 31)

“Since God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble, what could be more important than understanding and developing true humility as a lightning rod for grace?… We need less egomania and more humility and servanthood in our churches today.” (Randy Alcorn)

“A proud Christian is an oxymoron.” (J. Ligon Duncan III)

“No matter our age or vocation, humility is our greatest friend and pride our greatest enemy.” (C. J. Mahaney)

“Jim Collins, in his well known book Good to Great, identifies two specific character qualities shared by the CEOs of these good-to-great companies. The first quality was no surprise: These men and women possessed incredible professional will – they were driven, willing to endure anything to make their company a success.

“But the second trait that these leaders had in common wasn’t something the researchers expected to find: These driven leaders were self-effacing and modest. They consistently pointed to the contribution of others and didn’t like drawing attention to themselves. ‘The good-to-great leaders never wanted to become larger-than-life heroes,’ Collins writes. “They never aspired to be put on a pedestal or become unreachable icons. They were seemingly ordinary people quietly producing extraordinary results.’ When Collins interviewed people who worked for these leaders, he says they ‘continually used words like quiet, humble, modest, reserved, shy, gracious, mild-mannered, self-effacing, understated, did not believe his own clippings, and so forth’ to describe them.” (C. J. Mahaney)

“Yes, amazingly, humility sometimes attracts the world’s notice. But here’s something even more astonishing: Humility gets God’s attention. In Isaiah 66:2 we read these words from the Lord:

‘This is the one to whom I will look:

He who is humble and contrite in spirit

And trembles at my word.’

“This profound passage points us to an altogether different motivation and purpose for humility than we will ever find in the pages of a secular business manual. Here we find motivation and purpose rooted in this amazing fact: Humility draws the gaze of our Sovereign God.” (C. J. Mahaney)

“The person who is humble is the one who draws God’s attention, and in this sense, drawing His attention means also attracting His grace – His unmerited kindness.

Think about that: There’s something you can do to attract more of God’s gracious, undeserved supernatural strength and assistance! … Contrary to popular and false belief, it’s not ‘those who help themselves’ whom God helps; it’s those who humble themselves.” (C. J. Mahaney)

So what is “humility” according to Scripture?

“Humility is honestly assessing ourselves in light of God’s holiness and our sinfulness.

That’s the twin reality that all genuine humility is rooted in: God’s holiness and our sinfulness. Without an honest awareness of both these realities, all self-evaluation will be skewed and we’ll fail to either understand or practice true humility. We’ll miss out on experiencing the promise and the pleasures that humility offers.” (C. J. Mahaney)

“There is only one thing I know of that crushes me to the ground and humiliates me to the dust, and that is to look at the Son of God, and especially contemplate the cross.

When I survey the wondrous cross

On which the Prince of Glory died,

My richest gain I count but loss

And pour contempt on all my pride.

Nothing else can do it. When I see that I am a sinner… that nothing but the Son of God on the cross can save me, I’m humbled to the dust… Nothing but the cross can give us this spirit of humility.”

(D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones)

“Fill your affections with the cross of Christ that there may be no room for sin [which includes pride].” (John Owen)

“Every time we look at the cross, Christ seems to be saying to us, ‘I am here because of you. It is your sin I am bearing, your curse I am suffering, your debt I am paying, your death I am dying.’ Nothing in history or in the universe cuts us down to size like the cross. All of us have inflated views of ourselves, especially in self-righteousness, until we have visited a place called Calvary. It is there, at the foot of the cross, that we shrink to our true size.” (John Stott)

“How can anyone be arrogant when he stands beside the cross?” (Carl F. H. Henry)

“Far from offering us flattery, the cross undermines our self-righteousness, and we can stand before it only with a bowed head and a broken spirit.” (John Stott)

“Pride is more than the first of the seven deadly sins; it is itself the essence of all sin.” (John Stott)

In Proverbs 6:16-17, God lists those things “that the Lord hates” and “that are an abomination to him.” What’s at the top of that list? “Haughty eyes (i.e. pride).”

“I hate pride and arrogance.” (Proverbs 8:13 NIV)

“Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord; be assured, he will not go unpunished.” (Proverbs 16:5) Think about the above verse: Stronger language for sin simply cannot be found in Scripture.

“The grand difference between a human being and a supreme being is precisely this: Apart from God, I cannot exist. Apart from me, God does exist. God does not need me in order for Him to be; I do need God in order for me to be. This is the difference between what we call self-existent being and dependent being. We are dependent. We are fragile. We cannot live without air, without water, without food. No human being has the power of being within himself. Life is lived between two hospitals. We need a support system from birth to death to sustain life. We are like flowers that bloom and then wither and then fade. This is how we differ from God. God does not wither, God does not fade, God is not fragile.” (R. C. Sproul)

“Charles Bridges once noted how pride lifts up one’s heart against God and ‘contends for supremacy’ with Him. That’s a keenly insightful and biblical definition of pride’s essence: contending for supremacy with God, and lifting up our hearts against Him.” (C.J. Mahaney)

“Jonathan Edwards called pride ‘the worst viper that is in the heart’ and ‘the greatest disturber of the soul’s peace and sweet communion with Christ’; he ranked pride as the most difficult sin to root out, and ‘the most hidden, secret and deceitful of all lusts.’

“God intentionally designed salvation so that no man can boast of it. He didn’t merely arrange it so that boasting would be discouraged, or kept to a minimum – He planned it so that boasting would be absolutely excluded!” As it says in Jonah 2:9, “Salvation is of the Lord.” (Mark Webb)

“The greatest and best man in the world must say, By the grace of God I am what I am, but God says absolutely … I am that I am.” (Matthew Henry)

“…God cannot bear with arrogance. He reveals Himself in Scripture as actively opposed to pride. Actively. ‘God opposes the proud (James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5). ‘Opposes’ in this statement is an active, present-tense verb, showing us that God’s opposition to pride is an immediate and constant activity. The proud will not indefinitely escape discipline.” (C.J. Mahaney)

“God cannot bear with seeing his glory appropriated by the creature in even the smallest degree, so intolerable to him is the sacrilegious arrogance of those who, by praising themselves, obscure his glory as far as they can.” (John Calvin)

(You will probably notice that there were several quotes from C.J. Mahaney. All of these have been taken from his book, Humility: True Greatness. This book was published in 2005 (Multnomah Publishers) and I read it soon after. It would certainly be at the top of my list of books on this grand, but very slippery and hard to apply subject. I would encourage you to pick up a copy and read it if you want to grow more in this area of your life (it’s a small book and a fairly quick read – only 170 [small] pages).

Subtitle: A Humble Life, Lesson 3

J.I. Packer writes these incredibly profound and comforting words (I urge you to allow these words to take root deep within your soul)…

“There is unspeakable comfort, the sort of comfort that energizes, in knowing that God is constantly taking knowledge of me in love and watching over me for my good. There is tremendous relief in knowing that His love to me is utterly realistic, based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that no discovery now can disillusion Him about me, in the way I am so often disillusioned about myself, and quench His determination to bless me.

“There is, certainly, great cause for humility in the thought that He sees all the twisted things about me that my fellow men do not see, and that He sees more corruption in me than that which I see in myself.  There is, however, equally great incentive to worship and love God in the thought that for some unfathomable reason He wants me as His friend and desires to be my friend and has given His Son to die for me in order to realize this purpose.”

It’s only when we understand our utter sinfulness and God’s profound holiness that we will begin to fully appreciate God’s phenomenal love for us! When we understand these truths, the natural response is humility! This God who is perfectly holy in every way, and we who are utterly sinful through and through – this God, this Lord, this Jesus – loves us immensely and promises to always work all things for His glory and for our good.

Randy Alcorn gives us perspective on humility…

“If we see God as He really is, and ourselves as we really are, there’s only one appropriate response: to worship Him. Humility isn’t pretending we’re unworthy because it’s spiritual—it’s recognizing we are unworthy because it’s true.”

As A.W. Tozer said, “Only the humble are sane.”

If someone were to ask me, “Paul, what do you consider to be one of the most important character traits required in order to be used by God, to have a happy, healthy marriage and maintain long-term successful relationships with friends and family?”

My answer would be: Humility.

No one has helped me more in understanding what a “prideful, arrogant” life looks like as opposed to a “humble, broken” life than Nancy Leigh DeMoss. Her superb book entitled, Brokenness: The Heart God Revives, would certainly be among the best and most personally impacting books that I have ever read.

The Apostle Peter, probably known as the most naturally arrogant of the disciples in his early years of ministry with Jesus, writes in his later years (after learning many lessons the hard way), the following:

“God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5).

And then he goes on to say: “Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time.”

The force of the Greek text in verse 5 could accurately be translated as, “God stiff-arms the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

How would you like to be “stiff-armed” by God? Not me! I want and need all of the grace from God that I can get.

Notice also in v. 5 “who” is the One that does the “exalting.” God!

As a matter of fact, Jesus said in Luke 14:11, “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Over the years, I’ve had dozens of men approach me about wanting to go into full-time ministry. Many times they tried the “self-promotion” route and came up empty. In many of these situations, no doors opened for them and no one seemed to be asking.

When asked for my opinion, my counsel has always been: Faithfully and humbly serve Christ where you are, with the opportunities that are in front of you. He promises to do the ‘exalting’ when and how He wants. He will open those doors if, when and how He desires. Trust His sovereign hand.

I’ve learned over the years that there are two ways to end up humble:

Either choose to humble yourself before God and others or let God do it for you! Trust me, I’ve been in the second category too many times to count (it’s painful).

Notice that Peter’s command in v. 6 is “humble yourself…” We’re commanded to choose humility each and every day, in all of our relationships and conversations. Humility in our relationships with others begins with humbling ourselves before God.

I leave you this week with a quote from Andrew Murray on humility…

“Humility is perfect quietness of heart. It is to be at rest when nobody praises me. It is to be at rest when I am blamed or despised. It is to have a blessed home in the Lord where I can go in and shut the door and kneel to my Father in secret and am at peace as in a deep sea of calmness, when all around and above is trouble. The humble person is not one who thinks lowly of himself, he simply does not think of himself at all.”

Subtitle: A Humble Life (Part 2). This week, we continue with Lesson #7 in the series “What I Wish (as a Pastor) that I had Known, Understood, Believed and Lived 30 Years Ago.”

Lesson Number 7: Humility is always the right choice! Humility is “foundational” to the Christian faith, as well as effective, God-honoring ministry. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. God always honors the humble – either sooner (on earth) or later (in heaven)! (1 Peter 5:5-6; Proverbs 18:12)

(Con’t from Part 1)

Augustine, once made this statement:

“If you ask me what is the #1, #2, #3 most important quality of a Christian, I will answer by saying: Humility, Humility, Humility!”

I believe one of the most dangerous and debilitating people in all of ministry is a pride-filled, insecure pastor who must always be the center of attention and receive all the praise. These pastors get really uncomfortable when one of their colleagues seems to be garnering more success, attention or blessing from the Lord than them. Usually this flows from being insecure as an individual. They are not locating their identity in Christ (refer back to “Lesson #3 in this series), but rather in how their ministry is going (or at least “appears” to be going).

Pride-filled, insecure pastors are typically jealous when another pastor or leader within their church (or organization or surrounding community) gets more attention than they do. This person’s natural tendency is to be critical of the person (usually behind their back) who is being praised because of the blessing or apparent success of their ministry.

I’m convinced that one of the greatest marks of a humble, mature, and secure person is the genuine ability to “rejoice with those who rejoice” (Romans 12:15). In other words, to rejoice and celebrate the Lord’s blessing and success of another person’s ministry.

Insecurity and pride go hand in hand. Humble people are so secure in their own identity (because of their deep trust in the Lord and fear of the Lord) that they can freely compliment and encourage fellow brothers and sisters in Christ – even when those people are more “blessed” or are experiencing greater “success” than what they are.

One of the first things I look for whenever I want to hire someone on my staff (both in the past when I was a pastor and now leading a missions organization) is:

How often and how well does this person genuinely compliment and rejoice in the blessings of another brother or sister in Christ? Especially when it is another person who is in the same type of ministry as what they are involved in – and especially when that other person is more successful, more blessed, and getting more attention than them.

How do they respond? Are they jealous? Are they hesitant to “rejoice with those who rejoice”? Or do they freely “join in” on the joy of what God is doing in and through this person and their ministry? It’s not about praising another individual. It’s about praising and honoring God by rejoicing with what He (God) has done in and through this person.

I also pay special attention to how this person talks about people in their past: are they quick to be critical of and point out the faults of the people in their past? Or do they make it a practice to always speak well of others?

Several years ago, I met with a pastor in another state and it wasn’t more than 10 minutes into our almost two-hour conversation that he began to verbally shred the previous pastor who came before him. And then he proceeded to tell me about the faults and failures of several pastors throughout his surrounding community. He was so quick to point out others’ failures, but found it seemingly impossible to speak well of anyone else in ministry. I couldn’t help but think, “This poor man is so insecure that the only way he can feel better about himself and his ministry is if he tears other pastors down.”

I remember asking myself: “Why does he feel the need to “gloat” in the faults and failures of others in ministry? Why does he find it so hard to speak well of others – as imperfect as they might have been” (of course as if he was the model of perfection)? I believe that Scripture shows that this is a characteristic of someone who lacks humility and maturity as a person and a pastor (again, going back to Lesson #3 in this series).

This kind of person is best described in the following illustration called “Competition or Cooperation?”

What if we replaced competition with cooperation?

Fishermen say you never need a top for a crab basket. If one crab starts to climb up the sides of the basket, the other crabs will reach up and pull it back down. There are people who act a lot like crabs.

In a competitive world it is easier to weep with those who weep than it is to rejoice with those who rejoice. We can sympathize with failure better than we can congratulate success. We are jealous of those who rise too high and succeed too quickly. We want to pull them back in the bucket where they belong.

What if we replaced the spirit of competition with the spirit of cooperation? What if people helped each other climb as high as they can without yielding to the temptation to cut them down? What if service became our motto instead of selfishness? What kind of world would we have? So the next time you see someone doing well, cheer them on instead of holding them back. After all, people were not made to live like crabs.

The late Dr. Joseph C. Aldrich, former president of Multnomah School of the Bible (now Multnomah University) used to always say, “My job is to make you as successful as possible!” He would say this often in the context of Sr. Pastors and their associate staff. Imagine if we all lived like that toward one another? Imagine the impact upon our world if they saw us genuinely living like that? Imagine if our focus was truly on helping to make those around us the best, most effective leaders possible?

The Apostle Paul says it this way:

“Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:3-4)

Or as Jesus said so clearly…

“But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:26-28)

And finally, let me wrap up with some great wisdom from A. W. Tozer (this is the second half of the quote I began in Part 1)…

“If you are too big for a little place, you are too little for a big place.

It is an odd rule of the kingdom of God that when we try to get big, we always get smaller by the moment. God is jealous of His glory and will not allow anyone to share it with Him. The effort to appear great will bring the displeasure of God upon us and effectively prevent us from achieving the greatness after which we pant.

Lord, help me never to be too big for a little place. In humility let me serve and revel in You as my ‘friend and helper always.’”

Subtitle: A Humble Life (Part 1). This week I’ve come to lesson #7a in my “What I Wish…” series.  I will be spending a few weeks on this particular point because I feel it is one of the most important of all the lessons that I am sharing in this series. I wrote briefly about this subject (humility vs. pride) last summer in a short three-part sequence of blog posts, and today I’ll be expanding significantly upon that content.

Lesson Number 7a: Humility is always the right choice! Humility is “foundational” to the Christian faith, as well as effective, God-honoring ministry. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. God always honors the humble – either sooner (on earth) or later (in heaven)! (1 Peter 5:5-6; Proverbs 18:12)

Demonstrating genuine humility and vulnerability will engender greater trust and deeper relationships between yourself and the people you are leading. On the other hand, pride and egotism will most certainly cause people to be repelled by you and your leadership. Humility is not only the right thing, it is the best thing – both for yourself and your ministry.

As Randy Alcorn has said, “Pride is delusional and it is never in our best interests!”

Allow me to say right up front: I have a long way to go in my understanding of and application of what it means to be a truly “humble person.” Humility is one of those slippery character traits – once you think you have it, you’ve lost it! Having said that, I do believe that I have learned a few things (by no means all) about the importance of humility – both personally and in ministry leadership.

My desire in sharing this is to (especially) help younger pastors avoid the potential pitfalls and spiritual potholes of ministry leadership. As a matter of fact, that is the primary reason for this entire series of “What I Wish…” blog posts. It is to help younger pastors learn some of these lessons from those of us who are further down the road (and who have made some of these mistakes themselves and have the bruises to show for it) – rather than having to make these mistakes on their own and therefore, learn the hard way.

For the past 20+ years I have begun my personal prayer time with the following words (this is what I have written at the very top of my Prayer List):

“Lord, today I humble myself under Your mighty and sovereign hand. I acknowledge that You are God and I am not! I acknowledge that apart from You I can do nothing! May You pour out, in abundance, Your grace and mercy upon me today!”

Do you want God to honor your life and ministry? Then make sure to always take humility seriously and run from all forms of pride, egotism and stubbornness toward the Lord! God chastened the people of Israel over and over throughout the Old Testament because they were a “stiff-necked people.” They weren’t teachable. They were arrogant and filled with pride. They were stubborn and wanted to do things “their way.”

A.W. Tozer wrote…

“Humility pleases God wherever it is found, and the humble person will have God for his or her friend and helper always. Only the humble are completely sane, for they are the only ones who see clearly their own size and limitations. Egotists see things out of focus. To themselves they are large and God is correspondingly small, and that is a kind of moral insanity.”

This week I introduced this lesson on humility. Next week I will be sharing some very practical and difficult lessons on humility that I have learned through the years that I pray will be of great benefit to you and your ministry.

Also, an important side note: Rather than make one really long blog post, I am going to try and keep them a bit shorter (easy to read within 1-3 minutes at most). Because of this, each lesson may have more “parts,” but I think it will be easier for everyone to digest and find the time (and take the time) to read in the midst of their hectic lives. As always, I pray these posts will be an encouragement to your heart and spiritual stimulation to your soul – all for the glory of God!

I leave you this week with the following Scripture verses on the importance of humility. I would encourage you to allow these verses to soak deep within your soul.

“Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.” (James 3:13 NIV)

“Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’ Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you.” (1 Peter 5:5-6 ESV)

“…with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:2-3 ESV)

“You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews.” (Acts 20:18b-19 ESV)

“Before destruction a man’s heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor.” (Proverbs 18:12 ESV)

Has entertainment replaced Scripture as the center of our worship?

A Leadership Journal interview with Chuck Swindoll.

A survey in 2009 asked pastors to identify the most influential living preacher. Chuck Swindoll came in second only to Billy Graham. How does one use that kind of cachet? Apparently to call the church back from its captivity to entertainment. (Click here to finish reading)

“For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” (1 Corinthians 2:2 ESV).

As we approach Good Friday and then Resurrection Sunday in a few days, I thought I would pass along to you some of the “best of the best” quotes that I have come across recently on the Cross of Christ.

As a believer in Christ, these words should fill your heart with joy, gratitude, love, hope and humility. Many of these quotes are theologically deep, not simply some light, pithy, inspirational sayings. We must have a deep theology if our faith is to remain strong during the storms, temptations and doubts that come our way.

Root your faith deep in the doctrine of the substitutionary atonement! Root your faith deep in the cross of Christ and what it means!

Pastors, I hope you can use some of these quotes in your sermons or other writings and teachings in the future.

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That Is How Jesus Died (warning: very graphic)…

“Shredded flesh against unforgiving wood, iron stakes pounded through bone and wracked nerves, joints wrenched out of socket by the sheer dead weight of the body, public humiliation before the eyes of family, friends, and the world — that was death on the cross, ‘the infamous stake’ as the Romans called it, ‘the barren wood, ‘ the maxima mala crux. Or as the Greeks spat it out, the stauros [Greek word for the cross]. No wonder no one talked about it. No wonder parents hid their children’s eyes from it. The stauros was a loathsome thing, and the one who dies on it was loathsome too, a vile criminal whose only use was to hang there as a putrid decaying warning to anyone else who might follow his example. That is how Jesus died.” (Greg Gilbert, as quoted in “The Gospel: God’s Self-Substitution for Sinners” in Don’t Call It a Comeback, by Kevin DeYoung – Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 2011 – Page 72)

“At the cross, the love of God and the wrath of God shake hands; the mercy of God and the justice of God embrace; and the holiness of God and the sinfulness of humanity appear in stark contrast.” (William P. Farely, from his book – Outrageous Mercy)

“How dare you approach the mercy-seat of God on the basis of what kind of day you had, as if that were the basis for our entrance into the presence of the sovereign and holy God? No wonder we cannot beat the Devil. This is works theology. It has nothing to do with grace and the exclusive sufficiency of Christ. Nothing. Do you not understand that we overcome the accuser on the ground of the blood of Christ? Nothing more, nothing less. That is how we win. It is the only way we win. This is the only ground of our acceptance before God. If you drift far from the cross, you are done. You are defeated. We overcome the accuser of our brothers and sisters, we overcome our consciences, we overcome our bad tempers, we overcome our defeats, we overcome our lusts, we overcome our fears, we overcome our pettiness on the basis of the blood of the lamb.” D.A. Carson, from his book Scandalous: The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010), 103

Please, please – let the above paragraph by D.A. Carson sink in!

“My observation of Christians is that most of us base our relationship with God on our performance instead of on His grace.” (Jerry Bridges)

“The law discovers the disease. The gospel (the cross and resurrection) gives the remedy.” (Martin Luther)

A Response to Ricky Gervais

Mike Cosper has a thoughtful response to “An (Atheist) Easter Message from Ricky Gervais.”

“Here’s the conclusion: In his abundant mercy, God looks upon the broken, the downtrodden, those crushed by the burdens of Satan, sin, and death, and provides scandalous mercy in Jesus Christ. That’s the starting place of the gospel, and the starting place of any conversation about what it means to be a Christian.

Ricky Gervais looks at the Scriptures and sees only law, not grace, and responds with appeals to legal obedience. There are millions like him, both inside and outside the church. They believe that the essential message of the Bible is, “If you behave, then you belong.” We have a better message and a much richer story, one drenched in grace and mercy. Remember, as many Christians before us have understood, the gospel tells us that we’re far worse off than we ever imagined . . . and far more loved than we ever dared to dream.”

Justin Taylor writes: I highly recommend Joe Thorn’s new book: Note to Self: The Discipline of Preaching to Yourself. It’s proving to be good medicine for my soul. Each “note to self” is short but full of gospel wisdom. In a recent interview he explains something that he also covers in the introduction: we must not only preach the gospel to ourselves, but we should also preach the law (rightly understood):

The law essentially does three things:

1. The law tells us what’s right. God has not left us in the dark about his will and ways. He has graciously revealed himself and his will to us that we might know what is right and good. This is actually grace.

2. The law tells us what’s wrong. Unfortunately, we do not keep God’s commands. The law is held up against our own lives, and what is reflected back is a life of law-breaking, rebellion, and selfishness. The law shows us what’s wrong—ourselves. Through the law we see our sin and guilt.

3. The law tells us what’s needed. The law then shows us that what we need before God is forgiveness, cleansing, and restoration. We need mercy if we are to find life. We need God to rescue us from our sin and his judgment. In this way the law prepares us for the gospel.

“Every time we look at the cross, Christ seems to say to us, ‘I am here because of you. It is your sin I am bearing, your curse I am suffering, your debt I am paying, your death I am dying.’ Nothing in history or in the universe cuts us down to size like the cross. All of us have inflated views of ourselves, especially in self-righteousness, until we have visited a place called Calvary. It is there, at the foot of the cross, that we shrink to our true size.” (John R. W. Stott, from his commentary, The Message of Galatians (London, 1968), page 179.

And because of the cross of Christ…

“Ransomed men need no longer pause in fear to enter the Holy of Holies. God wills that we should push on into His Presence and live our whole life there. This is to be known to us in conscious experience. It is more than a doctrine to be held, it is a life to be enjoyed every moment of every day.” (A. W. Tozer)

“Either He bore all our sins, or none; and He either saves us once for all, or not at all.” (Charles Spurgeon)

“My whole theology of gospel preaching rests on the foundation of truth that the quote below illuminates. God’s grace is a beautiful, and scandalously freeing, thing! My observation of Christendom is that most of us tend to base our relationship with God on our performance instead of on His grace. If we’ve performed well—whatever ‘well’ is in our opinion—then we expect God to bless us. If we haven’t done so well, our expectations are reduced accordingly. In this sense, we live by works, rather than by grace. We are saved by grace, but we are living by the ‘sweat’ of our own performance. Moreover, we are always challenging ourselves and one another to ‘try harder’. We seem to believe success in the Christian life is basically up to us; our commitment, our discipline, and our zeal, with some help from God along the way. The realization that my daily relationship with God is based on the infinite merit of Christ instead of on my own performance is very freeing and joyous experience. But it is not meant to be a one-time experience; the truth needs to be reaffirmed daily.” (Jerry Bridges, from his book Transforming Grace)

One of My Favorite Descriptions of the Christian Life…

“I am not what I ought to be.

Ah! how imperfect and deficient.

Not what I might be,

considering my privileges and opportunities.

Not what I wish to be.

God, who knows my heart, knows I wish to be like him.

I am not what I hope to be;

ere long to drop this clay tabernacle, to be like him and see him as He is.

Not what I once was,

a child of sin, and slave of the devil.

Though not all these,

not what I ought to be,

not what I might be,

not what I wish or hope to be, and

not what once was,

I think I can truly say with the apostle Paul, “By the grace of God I am what I am.”

(Cited in Letters of John Newton, p. 400)

You will not understand, nor will you fully appreciate, the grace, mercy and love of God, until you first understand the holiness, justice and wrath of God! As a believer in Jesus Christ, don’t be afraid of learning and embracing the holiness, justice and wrath of God – let them push you deeper into a full appreciation and embrace of God’s love, grace, mercy and kindness! Listen to what D. A. Carson writes in The Gagging of God: Christianity Confronts Pluralism:

“The point that cannot be escaped is that God’s wrath is not some minor and easily dismissed peripheral element to the Bible’s plot-line. Theologically, God’s wrath is not inseparable from what it means to be God. Rather, his wrath is a function of his holiness as he confronts sin. But insofar as holiness is an attribute of God, and sin is the endemic condition of this world, this side of the Fall divine wrath cannot be ignored or evaded. It is not going too far to say that the Bible would not have a plot-line at all if there were no wrath.”

Knowing the truth of what Carson has just said, we must now remember that on the cross, Jesus took the full wrath of Almighty God, that was meant for you and me, so that we could be free forever from his wrath and condemnation! (Romans 5:1-11, 8:1)

“Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.” (Romans 5:9 ESV)

J. I Packer says it this way: “There is unspeakable comfort, the sort of comfort that energizes, in knowing that God is constantly taking knowledge of me in love and watching over me for my good.  There is tremendous relief in knowing that His love to me is utterly realistic, based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that no discovery now can disillusion Him about me, in the way I am so often disillusioned about myself, and quench His determination to bless me.  There is, certainly, great cause for humility in the thought that He sees all the twisted things about me that my fellow men do not see, and that He sees more corruption in me than that which I see in myself.  There is, however, equally great incentive to worship and love God in the thought that for some unfathomable reason He wants me as His friend and desires to be my friend and has given His Son to die for me in order to realize this purpose.”

“I’m forgiven because You were forsaken,

I’m accepted, You were condemned.

I am alive and well, Your spirit is within me,

Because You died and rose again.

Amazing love, How can it be

That You, my King, should die for me?

Amazing love, I know it’s true.

It’s my joy to honor You,

In all I do, I honor You.”

(From Amazing Love – by Chris Tomlin)

“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:18 ESV)

So far in my series entitled “What I Wish (as a Pastor) that I had Known, Understood, Believed and Lived 30 Years Ago,” we have covered SIX of the TWELVE “lessons” in the series.

One of my long time pastor friends from North Carolina was kind enough to remind me that it has been a bit confusing “which lesson you are on” and “how many more there will be in the series.” I apologize for any confusion.

In order to clear up any potential confusion, I have gone back and titled each blog post in this series as “Lesson #1 (or #2, #3, etc.): “What I Wish (as a Pastor)…”

For some of the lessons where I spent more than one week on that particular point (for example “Lesson #3” on “your identity”), I labeled each one as “Lesson 3a”, “Lesson 3b” and “Lesson 3c.” This way you will know which “lesson” I’m writing about and how they all fit together.

Also, as you may have noticed, periodically (like this week) I have done a special blog post that was not part of this “What I Wish…” series. For those posts, I have gone back and labeled them as: “Stand Alone Post” before each title. This way you will know right away that this particular post is not connected to this (or any) series.

Because we are now half way through this series (i.e. “halftime”) on “What I Wish…” (we have finished lessons 1-6), I thought that it would be a good idea to recap where we have been so far in this series and where we are headed.

Also, let me mention a very important point here: These 12 lessons that I have and will be sharing, are not necessarily the 12 “most important” lessons that I think a pastor needs to know for godly, effective ministry (some are, some are not). Rather, these 12 lessons are truths and principles that are very personal to me. These are lessons that I wish I had either known, understood, believed and then ultimately lived out throughout my years in ministry.

Most of these truths I knew from my early 20’s. Someone taught me each of these truths (or lessons). But many of them I really didn’t believe or understand until later on in ministry.  For example, Lesson #3 which says, “Your identity is defined by your relationship with Jesus…not your ministry,” I learned and knew very well early in my 20’s. I really thought “I have this one down pat” and therefore thought that I was living it out. But it wasn’t until my mid to late 30’s, after planting a church and being a Sr. Pastor for several years, that I realized that my identity was misplaced (it was through those “four lights on the dashboard,” that I wrote about a  few weeks ago, that revealed this to me).

I was deriving my sense of significance from being a Sr. Pastor, not from my relationship with Christ. So even though I “knew” this lesson in my early 20’s, I really didn’t believe and/or understand it until almost 20 years later. And we will never be able to live out a particular truth if we don’t…

First, know it,

Second, understand it, and

Third, believe it.

Now, just to recap, here are the first SIX lessons that I have covered:

Lesson #1: Decide which hills are worth dying on, and which are not.

Lesson #2: Live to an audience of One.

Lesson #3: Your identity is defined by your relationship with Jesus…not your ministry!

Lesson #4: Ministry will always be challenging and (at times) very discouraging. You must fight the temptation to give in to your discouraging thoughts.

Lesson #5: You must remind yourself daily of this simple, but profound and incredibly comforting truth: God is sovereign and in full control of all the circumstances and details of your life and ministry (this lesson was subtitled: Bites from Sheep and the Sovereignty to God).

Lesson #6: The daily habits of your life will be one of the greatest single factors in your own personal spiritual growth, as well as your future ministry effectiveness. Develop good, healthy, God-honoring habits.

In the coming weeks, I will be covering the last six lessons in this series (lessons #7 thru #12).

Just so you are aware, I will still post “Stand Alone Post’s” periodically. I will mark them clearly so that you will know that they are not part of this series.

My writing of these blog posts is not one of the highest items on my priority list (at least at this point in time), that is why many weeks I don’t write anything substantial or simply pass on to you great articles, quotes, video’s etc. My life (as well as Lisa’s) is extremely full and extremely busy with leading Global Training Network. My weeks are typically jammed from end to end. Even though these blog posts typically only take 4-5 hours to write, many weeks I just don’t have the time. I typically write these in my “spare” time (when I have any).

Also, just for your information, in case you are fairly new to my blog posts, I have posted three other complete “series” throughout last year. Those series are:

“Heaven: Living ‘Here’ in Light of ‘There’” (Six parts)

“The Cross-Centered Life: Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing” (Four parts)

“Humility: That Elusive, All-Important, Hard-To-Define Character Trait” (Three parts)

You can click on any of the above titles and it will take you to “Part 1” of that particular series.

A few last thoughts…

Thank you to all of you who have taken the time to let me know (either in person or via email) of your benefit and blessing from these blog posts. I really appreciate it and am genuinely humbled that God has (and still does) use such an inadequate and imperfect “clay pot” (or “jar of clay”).

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.”

(2 Corinthians 4:7)

As the Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 2:16, referring to carrying out this great stewardship called ministry, “Who is adequate for these things?” The obvious answer to Paul’s question is “no one!”

The longer I walk with Jesus and serve Him, the more aware I become of my profound inadequacies and shortcomings. In my 20’s I remember thinking (though would never ever say it), “I think I have this thing (ministry) wired! It’s not that hard. I’m up to the task!” I was ready to “charge hell with a water pistol!”

Through the years God humbles us and breaks us – and that breaking is necessary for the “fragrance of Jesus” to be released through us. Every day I wake up with a profound sense of gratitude for God’s amazing grace and incredible kindness in choosing me to be part of his family and calling me to be his servant. Humbled, grateful and overwhelmed by His Grace! Soli Deo Gloria!

I leave you with this quote from Spurgeon…

“Meet me in heaven! Do not go down to hell. There is no coming back again from that abode of misery. Why do you wish to enter the way of death when heaven’s gate is open before you? Do not refuse the free pardon, the full salvation which Jesus grants to all who trust him. Do not hesitate and delay. You have had enough of resolving, come to action. Believe in Jesus now, with full and immediate decision. Take with you words and come unto your Lord this day, even this day. Remember, O soul, it may be now or never with you. Let it be now; it would be horrible that it should be never. Farewell. Again I charge you, meet me in heaven.”

C. H. Spurgeon, All of Grace (London, 1897), page 128.

Subtitle: “The importance of your daily habits.” This week, we continue with Lesson #6 in the series “What I Wish (as a Pastor) that I had Known, Understood, Believed and Lived 30 Years Ago.”

Here is Lesson Number 6:

The daily habits of your life will be one of the greatest single factors in your own personal spiritual growth, as well as your future ministry effectiveness. Develop good, healthy, God-honoring habits!

Develop, pursue and practice daily habits that build spiritual stability and vitality! Never stop growing! Self leadership is the most important leadership that you will give!

“You are responsible for the depth of your life; God is responsible for the breadth of your ministry!”

(Dawson Trotman)

“This much is certain: we will never preach more than we know and we will never preach above our reading.”

(R. Albert Mohler)

If you do not plan into your daily / weekly / monthly schedule time to…

1)    be alone with God in prayer and in his Word,

2)    to read good, spiritually stimulating books,

3)    to rest and refresh yourself physically, mentally and emotionally,

…then your spiritual life and ministry leadership will suffer!

Listen to what John Piper says about the importance of planning time for prayer into your regular routine (this is powerful, rich stuff!)…

“I close this chapter (his chapter on Prayer) with an earnest exhortation. Unless I’m badly mistaken, one of the main reasons so many of God’s children don’t have a significant life of prayer is not so much that we don’t want to, but that we don’t plan to. If you want to take a four-week vacation, you don’t just get up one summer morning and say, ‘Hey, let’s go today!’ You won’t have anything ready. You won’t know where to go. Nothing has been planned.

But that is how many of us treat prayer. We get up day after day and realize that significant times of prayer should be a part of our life, but nothing’s ever ready. We don’t know where to go. Nothing has been planned. No time. No place. No procedure. And we all know that the opposite of planning is not a wonderful flow of deep, spontaneous experiences in prayer. The opposite of planning is the rut. If you don’t plan a vacation you will probably stay home and watch TV. The natural, unplanned flow of spiritual life sinks to the lowest ebb of vitality. There is a race to be run and a fight to be fought. If you want renewal in your life of prayer you must plan to see it.

Therefore, my simple exhortation is this: Let us take time this very day to rethink our priorities and how prayer fits in. Make some new resolve. Try some new venture with God. Set a time. Set a place. Choose a portion of Scripture to guide  you. Don’t be tyrannized by the press of busy days. We all need mid-course corrections. Make this a day of turning to prayer – for the glory of God and for the fullness of your joy.”

(from Desiring God, pages 150-151)

I’m convince that things and people, when left to themselves, drift towards mediocrity and sloppiness.  They  become wandering generalities.  God calls us to live life intentionally.

As Howard Hendricks used to say, “I have never met a Christian who sat down and planned to live a mediocre life.”

Mediocrity, both in our spiritual life and in our ministry leadership, come naturally. This is why we need to be intentional about growth in all areas of our life.

As Eugene Peterson said in his classic book, God calls all of us to “a long obedience in the same direction.”

“What have I learned in these last six years? That Spirit-motivated disciplines facilitate the Christian walk.  Oh, I’m not discounting all the warm feelings along the route, when I’ve sung Jesus-songs and held hands and the rest.  But our sensuous age forgets that feelings come and feelings leave you, but the disciplines of life are what get you to where you want to go.”

(Anne Ortlund)

The well known author Elisabeth Elliot wrote these classic words on the importance of planning and personal discipline when it comes to writing (these thoughts also apply well to the preparation of sermons – as a pastor, I’m sure you will be able to relate!)…

“We all have to do things by an act of the will that we don’t really feel like doing.  I am often asked, ‘Do you write when you feel inspired?’ My answer is, “No, I write from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon and from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. and from 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.’ I don’t usually feel inspired at any of those times.  In fact, I don’t know if I’ve ever been inspired for five minutes in my life.  But I take myself by the scruff of the neck, march myself into the study, sit myself down in the chair, turn on the computer and write–or chew on a pencil and think about writing.  I try, cogitate, meditate and think, and then sometimes something comes out that eventually turns out to be publishable. But it takes a lot of perspiration–not inspiration.  If I wrote only when I felt inspired, I would never have written a book, let alone anything else.

So there is a sense in which each of us has to master ourselves…actually, that’s the way I do most of my praying – not because I’m in a spiritual mood or feel particularly pious or heavenly minded, but simply because I need to pray.

“Freedom and joy come on the far side of obedience.”

As George Müller wrote…

“It is a common temptation of Satan to make us give up the reading of the Word and prayer when our enjoyment is gone; as if it were of no use to read the Scriptures when we do not enjoy them, and as if it were of no use to pray when we have no spirit of prayer; whilst the truth is, in order to enjoy the Word, we ought to continue to read it, and the way to obtain a spirit of prayer is to continue praying; for the less we read the word of God, the less we desire to read it, and the less we pray, the less we desire to pray.”

Make the reading of good books a high priority in your life! Read biography regularly! I have such a high respect for a “well finished (though far from perfect) life!”

John Wesley, in writing to a young minister, wrote the following about the importance of reading (this was quoted by D. A. Carson and John D. Woolbridge in Letters Along the Way, Wheaton, 1993, page 16)…

“What has exceedingly hurt you in time past, nay, and I fear, to this day, is lack of reading.  I scarce ever knew a preacher who read so little.  And perhaps, by neglecting it, you have lost the taste for it.  Hence your talent in preaching does not increase.  It is just the same as it was seven years ago.  It is lively, but not deep; there is little variety; there is no compass of thought.

Reading only can supply this, with meditation and daily prayer.  You wrong yourself greatly by omitting this.  You can never be a deep preacher without it, any more than a thorough Christian.  Oh begin!  Fix some part of every day for private exercise.  You may acquire the taste which you have not; what is tedious at first will afterward be pleasant.  Whether you like it or not, read and pray daily.  It is for your life; there is no other way; else you will be a trifler all your days, and a pretty, superficial preacher.  Do justice to your own soul; give it time and means to grow.  Do not starve yourself any longer.  Take up your cross and be a Christian altogether.  Then will all the children of God rejoice (not grieve) over you, and in particular yours.”

As someone once said,

“Show me a person’s daily habits and I will show you who they will become in the future!”

God uses our daily habits to build our character, develop our mind, strengthen our body and deepen our spiritual life.

The daily habits of your life will determine more about your personal growth and future ministry effectiveness than any other single factor! Develop good, healthy, god-honoring habits.

Rick Warren, at this past years Desiring God National Pastors Conference in Minneapolis, MN (which I was privileged to attend), talked to the thousands of pastors gathered about “The Battle for your Mind.”

One of his main points was “Never let up on learning!” He went on to talk about the importance of developing a good personal library (he has over 20,000 books in his library)! He just finished reading this past year the entire set of “The Works of Jonathan Edwards” (who is his hero in the faith). He recommended pastors read “25 percent of your books from the first 1500 years of church history, 25 percent from the last 500 years, 25 percent from the last 100 years, and 25 percent from recent years.”

We so often think that nothing of any value was written before 1900. The legacy of the great saints of the past can teach us a great deal. I personally love church history and biography. Whenever I read it, it reminds me over and over that there truly is “nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9)

Tim Challies recently wrote in his blog…

“A couple of years ago I read Warren Wiersbe’s book 50 People Every Christian Should Know and marked a couple of paragraphs that I thought would prove worth sharing. These words come from a chapter devoted to Alexander Whyte. Here they are:

The sales manager of a successful Christian publishing house tells me that pastors are not buying books. “Most of the books sold in Christian bookstores are sold to and read by women,” he said. If our pastors are not using their valuable time for study, what are they using it for? Perhaps Whyte had the answer: “We shroud our indolence under the pretext of a difficulty. The truth is, it is lack of real love for our work.”

Alexander Whyte loved books, and he read them to his dying day. The Puritans in general and Thomas Goodwin in particular were his main diet. But he also thrived on the mystics and the princes of the Scottish church, such as Samuel Rutherford. Whyte constantly ordered books for himself and his friends in the ministry.

Whyte often contrasted two kinds of reading—“reading on a sofa and reading with a pencil in hand.” He urged students to keep notebooks and to make entries in an interleaved Bible for future reference. “No day without its line” was his motto. He wrote to Hubert Simpson: “for more than forty years, I think I can say, never a week, scarcely a day, has passed, that I have not entered some note or notes into my Bible: and, then, I never read a book without taking notes for preservation one way or another.”

It’s important also to remember that a personal library isn’t just about the books that you have read, but also books that you will reference at some point in the future. Having good books to reference when the time comes is vitally important. You can’t always wait a few days for a book to arrive when you need it that “day” in your preparation of a sermon or other written material.

I leave you with these two passages of Scripture…

“My son, if you receive my words

and treasure up my commandments with you,

making your ear attentive to wisdom

and inclining your heart to understanding;

yes, if you call out for insight

and raise your voice for understanding,

if you seek it like silver

and search for it as for hidden treasures,

then you will understand the fear of the LORD

and find the knowledge of God.

For the LORD gives wisdom;

from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.”

(Proverbs 2:1-6)

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”

(1 Corinthians 9;24-27)

One of the young pastors that I enjoy reading on a regular basis is Kevin DeYoung. Kevin is an accomplished author and speaker (only in his late 30’s, maybe early 40’s at most). I find that he has a great deal of wisdom and insight on everything from theology to church ministry to Christian living in general. A few months back Kevin posted an article on his blog entitled “The Hole in our Holiness.” I found it to be truly one of the best, most concise treatments of the importance of holiness (or Christlikeness) in the believers life. The blog post is only a page and a half, but loaded with great wisdom and insight! I thought I would pass it along for your encouragement. Click here to read The Hole in our Holiness.

Next week I’ll continue in my series on “12 Things I Wish I Had Known, Understood, Believed and Lived 30 Years Ago.”

Also, in the coming weeks, I will be posting a critique of Rob Bell’s new book Love Wins. In case you are looking for a good, biblically sound review / critique of Bell’s book, take a look at the following articles:

God is still Holy and What You Learned in Sunday School is still True: A Review of Love Wins

Rob Bell’s Bridge Too Far by Mark Galli

David Platt: Do We Really Believe What We Are Saying?

Mark Driscoll: To Hell with Hell?

Tim Challies – A Review of Rob Bell’s Book “Love Wins”