The Minister The Ministry & Me Show - The 3M Podcast

Lindsay and Jeremiah Wheelersburg talk about being refined by God in marriage and embracing change in life and family. Also, we talk about the fact that we are each marrying a sinner.

Jeremiah and Lindsay Wheelersburg talk about marriage beginnings and setting expectations grounded in grace and forgiveness.

Book by Paul Tripp:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/143354945X/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Still Not Professionals
Ten Pleas for Today’s Pastors

Still Not Professionals: Ten Pleas for Today’s Pastors is a celebration and extension of John Piper’s Brothers, We Are Not Professionals. With two brief exhortations from Piper and eight others from veteran pastors, this short ebook aims to strengthen and challenge Christians in general, and pastors in particular, for the labor of everyday life and ministry. The contributors were asked to express their “heart of hearts” for fellow leaders. You’ll find these chapters tap into profound human themes, in both the pastor and his flock, and will be of use, we hope, beyond the North American context of the contributors.

by John Piper Modal , Daniel L. Akin Modal , Thabiti Anyabwile Modal , Mike Bullmore Modal , Sam Crabtree Modal , Ray Ortlund Modal , Jeff Vanderstelt Modal , and Douglas Wilson
Read here by J.N.Wheels

Find the Still Not Professionals link from Desiring God Here: https://www.desiringgod.org/books/still-not-professionals

Support The Minister The Ministry and Me Show (The 3M Podcast) or get T-Shirts, Mugs, notebooks and more while still supporting jnwheels.com here: https://jnwheels.com/donate-support/
Full Text:
BROTHERS, PRAISE SOMEBODY OTHER THAN GOD
Sam Crabtree
Brothers, praise somebody other than God.
I can hear blasphemy sirens going off in readers’ minds. If
“somebody other than God” means “somebody instead of God,” or “more than God,” the concern is warranted indeed. But if “somebody other than God” means “because God is honored by
it,” that’s another thing entirely.
Commending Whom God Commends
Is it possible that God actually receives more honor from us when we praise somebody other than God? The answer can be yes. In the same way that the heavens are declaring the glory of God (Psalm 19:1), God’s common kindness in everyone around us (both saint and sinner) is declaring his glory as well. But just as God does not receive as much glory when we fail to pause, observe the heavens, and verbalize our praise, so he does not receive as much glory when we fail to pause, observe his good- ness in others’ lives, and verbalize our praise.
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So, we could say, “Brothers, praise somebody other than God, for God’s sake.” Or even, “Brothers, agree with God, and commend somebody he commends.”
Merely praising somebody other than God isn’t enough. God isn’t necessarily honored by that. The question is, How can we praise somebody other than God for God’s glory?
God-Centered Praise for Those Who Are Not God
We do it by praising persons who are not God in a God-cen- tered way, by praising them for being godly, for being Christ- like, by commending them for God’s glory, by applauding them for doing something good in the strength God supplies (1 Peter
4:11). This is how we complete the loop when Jesus teaches us that people should let their lights so shine that others see their good works... and what? Glorify their Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16). If we don’t glorify God for people’s good works, we miss the point of Jesus’s teaching and the point of their good works, which are works that are... what? Good! We must recognize them as such, and say so. And they did those good works, because God was at work in them. So he gets the final, ultimate credit.
For many of us, our churches and homes and offices and marketplaces are full of people doing good works in the strength God supplies. Our job is to get for God the glory he deserves by calling out the goodness he’s worked through oth- ers and commending it openly.
God Praises Others
God himself—to whom all praise is finally due—praises oth- ers. Is he violating his own most basic revelation? As a jealous
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God, he permits no competition. “You shall have no other gods before me,” he says in Exodus 20:3. “Whoever sacrifices to any god, other than the Lord alone, shall be devoted to destruc- tion,” says Exodus 22:20. “Let no one boast in men,” enjoins the apostles Paul (1 Corinthians 3:21).
God straightforwardly warns the wise, the mighty, and the rich to not boast in anything but him.
Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 9:23–24)
Jesus Joins the Chorus
Jesus himself says, “No one is good except God alone” (Mark 10:18). If God alone is good, how can I exhort us to praise any- one else? Even more startling, how can God praise anyone else? Well, Jesus models such praise of others, calling Nathaniel a man in whom is no guile, calling his disciples salt and light, saying his followers are more valuable than many sparrows, saying the woman of ill repute did a beautiful thing, marvel- ing at the faith of the centurion, commending the woman of great faith, and more.
God the Father describes Noah as righteous in his genera- tion, Jabez as more honorable than his brothers, and Solomon as very great and even majestic. And what does the Bible say
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we are to do with the noble woman of Proverbs 31? She is to be praised! (Proverbs 31:30).
Well Done, Good and Faithful Servant
There is something defective about a person who does not want to be praised by God. Every person in existence should want to hear God say at the end of his life, “Well done, good and faith- ful servant” (Matthew 25:23). Humble yourself before the Lord, and he will exalt you (James 4:10). And when we are so praised, we will immediately deflect the praise to God saying, “It was God’s grace at work in me.” We get the praise — and the joy of deflecting it back to him.
We should desire to be like Paul when he says, “Our boast is this: the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God” (2 Corinthians 1:12). Paul is boasting about his own behavior—but only by the grace of God. So affirmation travels horizontally toward people and passes vertically through them to God where it lands.
For God’s Good and Ours
If anything is commendable, we should take delight in com- mending it. We are commanded to esteem our leaders very high- ly because of their work in the Lord (1 Thessalonians 5:12–13).
When we become fountains of affirmation, God gets the honor he deserves, others are refreshed, we gain a hearing (peo- ple tend to be influenced by those who commend them), gen- eral morale is lifted, our mouths are filled with praise instead
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of complaint and grumbling, and good things are increasingly valued and are more likely to be repeated.
So, brothers, for God’s sake, praise somebody other than God.
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Still Not Professionals
Ten Pleas for Today’s Pastors

Still Not Professionals: Ten Pleas for Today’s Pastors is a celebration and extension of John Piper’s Brothers, We Are Not Professionals. With two brief exhortations from Piper and eight others from veteran pastors, this short ebook aims to strengthen and challenge Christians in general, and pastors in particular, for the labor of everyday life and ministry. The contributors were asked to express their “heart of hearts” for fellow leaders. You’ll find these chapters tap into profound human themes, in both the pastor and his flock, and will be of use, we hope, beyond the North American context of the contributors.

by John Piper Modal , Daniel L. Akin Modal , Thabiti Anyabwile Modal , Mike Bullmore Modal , Sam Crabtree Modal , Ray Ortlund Modal , Jeff Vanderstelt Modal , and Douglas Wilson
Read here by J.N.Wheels

Find the Still Not Professionals link from Desiring God Here: https://www.desiringgod.org/books/still-not-professionals

Support The Minister The Ministry and Me Show (The 3M Podcast) or get T-Shirts, Mugs, notebooks and more while still supporting jnwheels.com here: https://jnwheels.com/donate-support/
Full Text:
BROTHERS, LIVE A VISIBLE, EXEMPLARY, EVERYDAY LIFE
Jeff Vanderstelt
As I mentor and coach leaders in North American churches, I find a common theme among many pastors: They live and lead in such a way so as to disqualify themselves as elders in their own churches.
Living “Among” the Flock
First of all, they are not living and leading “among.” First Peter 5:2–4 exhorts the elders to “shepherd the flock of God that is among you... being an example to the flock.”
When meeting with a leader, I will often ask, “Are you liv- ing in such a way that people can see your life and follow your example?” In other words, is your daily life visible, accessible, and reproducible? Not visible and accessible to everyone, of course—your life and home are just not that big, and hopefully you are not the only leader. But is your life visible and acces- sible to everyday people? Can people see your marriage, your parenting, your interaction with neighbors and others? From
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watching your life, can they see what their life would look like if they loved Jesus and lived for him daily?
Jesus lived among his disciples, and they could say that they saw, touched, and heard the Word in flesh. Paul reminded the church in Ephesus that they knew how he lived because he lived among them in the everyday stuff of life. It’s a beautiful thing when those who have open access to your life and see who you really are in everyday life, regularly say to you, “We don’t under- stand what’s the big deal about you. Why would anyone ask you to come speak? You’re just a regular guy like everyone else!”
Living Visibly and Accessibly
Do they see you struggle as a parent, work through tension with your wife, repent from your idolatry, and regularly share how in need of grace you are?
This visibility and accessibility helps to keep us grounded— less prone to become overly impressed with ourselves. It also keeps us in the know of what people, including ourselves, need from our teaching. We know the struggles. We see the challeng- es. We fail. So, when we teach, we are able to speak from both a real awareness of what we all are going through and a credibility that we are struggling in community with the same things.
Unfortunately, many pastors find that the majority of their life includes working in an office, seeing people at church gath- erings, meeting with their staff, and primarily just hanging out with their own family. How will people know what it looks like to live out gospel convictions in everyday life if they never see the leaders of the church live it out in front of them?
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Living the Way We Call Our People to Live
Second, far too many pastors are not living the life they call everyone else in their congregation to live. They have given themselves permission to be the exception to the norm. What does your church expect of its members? Are you setting an example to the flock by doing what you expect others to do?
I have had countless conversations with pastors who expect the people in their congregation to be in a small group or a mis- sional community, while they excuse themselves from the same expectation. Or, they conclude that the staff meeting together or the elders regularly meeting together is the equivalent of a small group. Really? If you are going to come to that conclu- sion, please give your people the freedom to count their regular business meeting with their staff at work as their small group. Or free up your members to only meet with the people they like doing life with. Forget calling them to reach the unlovable, the broken, the “much-grace-necessary” people. Unfortunate- ly, that is much of what takes place in the church because the members are following the example of their leaders.
Leaders, whatever you ask the church to do as normative, set the example by doing it yourself.
Living the Biblical Requirements
Third, often I find that elders fail to live out the biblical requirements for overseers that we find in 1 Timothy 3:1–7 and Titus 1:7–9. Not all of the requirements, of course, but I do see a pattern around some of them today. And this pattern, I believe, is connected to seeing the elders primarily as the pro- fessional teachers.
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Most leaders I meet with take seriously the requirement of being able to teach sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it. What they don’t tend to take as seriously are the requirements of being hospitable, not being a lover of money, and having a good reputation with outsiders.
Living Hospitably
Hospitality means making space for the stranger in your world. Too often Christians think hospitality is just a group of Chris- tians meeting over a meal. That is not the biblical meaning of the concept.
A better picture is what God has done in Christ Jesus for us. He has made a place for his enemies to become part of his fami- ly by Jesus being treated like an enemy on the cross. He brought us into his home, treated us like family, and gave us access to all that he owns, making us co-heirs with Christ. When lead- ers open their homes and lives to the stranger—the outsider— we show the world and the church how the gospel reshapes our view of our homes.
I have found too often that pastors have given themselves a pass on this one. They often say that their home is their ref- uge, and they fail to remember that Jesus is our refuge, not our homes. Our homes are one of the primary places of ministry according to the Scriptures. Our churches need to see pastors lead by example in this area so their example will lead to every Christian home becoming a place of ministry for those outside of the family of God.
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Living for More Than a Paycheck
Not being a lover of money could be restated as not doing min- istry primarily for a paycheck. Jesus referred to this kind of shep- herd as a hired hand whom he would not entrust with the care of his sheep.
I often ask pastors, “Would you do what you’re doing, even if you weren’t paid for it?” Many would not. They see the pas- torate as a career, not a calling. Please do not forget the grace of God that has enabled you to serve Jesus and his sheep with the best of your time. We are not paid to do ministry, we are freed up financially for ministry.
If you or your church believes you do ministry because you are being paid, the example you are setting is that the only ones who do ministry are paid workers. This leads to further pro- fessionalization of the ministry—where only a few do ministry, while the many just watch the paid professionals.
This can also lead to a pastor seeing his 40–50 hours of work each week as “ministry” and the rest of his time being primar- ily family or personal time. The problem with this is that most church leaders ask their members to give extra time outside of their 40–50-hour workweek to the work of the church. There is hypocrisy here. Leaders, you are asking your church to do something you are not willing to do.
Living Among Non-Christians
Lastly, having a good reputation with outsiders means you have non-Christians in your life that would call you their friend. They invite you to their parties and events, call you when they are in need, and regularly bring you into their world. They not
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only call you friend, but they also respect you—you have a good reputation with them. It doesn’t mean they always agree with you or are never offended by the gospel, but regardless, they believe you love them and in turn entrust themselves to you.
A few years ago, during a party at my neighbor’s home, I had a very direct and heated conversation with my neighbor and some of her friends about the reality of coming judgment. I pleaded with her to put her hope in Jesus as the only means by which she would stand in the day of judgment.
The next day I knocked on her door and asked if everything was okay. She said, “What do you mean?” I then recounted the conversation of the previous night and my concern that it might have hurt our relationship. To which she replied,
“You’re my friend, Jeff. I know you love me. I expect you to tell me about Jesus. That’s what you believe. It doesn’t change our friendship at all.” I have a good reputation with her. As a result, she sends people who are asking spiritual questions to my wife and me. One of the lines she says when introducing me is, “This is Jeff. The guy I told you about — you know, the pastor that is not like most pastors...”
I’m always glad, and sad, to hear her say that. Glad, because she sees me as her friend who is a regular guy who loves Jesus. Sad, because she

Still Not Professionals
Ten Pleas for Today’s Pastors

Still Not Professionals: Ten Pleas for Today’s Pastors is a celebration and extension of John Piper’s Brothers, We Are Not Professionals. With two brief exhortations from Piper and eight others from veteran pastors, this short ebook aims to strengthen and challenge Christians in general, and pastors in particular, for the labor of everyday life and ministry. The contributors were asked to express their “heart of hearts” for fellow leaders. You’ll find these chapters tap into profound human themes, in both the pastor and his flock, and will be of use, we hope, beyond the North American context of the contributors.

by John Piper Modal , Daniel L. Akin Modal , Thabiti Anyabwile Modal , Mike Bullmore Modal , Sam Crabtree Modal , Ray Ortlund Modal , Jeff Vanderstelt Modal , and Douglas Wilson
Read here by J.N.Wheels

Find the Still Not Professionals link from Desiring God Here: https://www.desiringgod.org/books/still-not-professionals

Support The Minister The Ministry and Me Show (The 3M Podcast) or get T-Shirts, Mugs, notebooks and more while still supporting jnwheels.com here: https://jnwheels.com/donate-support/
Full Text:
BROTHERS, WE SHOULD STINK
Thabiti Anyabwile
These days, pastoral ministry has become more glamorous, fabulous, and fashionable than ever. We hear nowadays of pas- tors driving expensive cars, being chauffeured, owning private jets, and living in opulent mansions. Once only “the prosperity preachers” and bona fide hucksters touted such lives; now your neighborhood “orthodox” super-pastor does the same. It’s all so pretty, perfumed with the world’s “best” of everything.
But, brothers, we are not professional models or entertainers hawking the world’s airbrushed version of “the good life” from the lofty heights and flashing lights of public adulation. Brothers, we are shepherds down in the fields of life—and we should stink.
Do We Live Among Them?
Our model of ministry comes from the faithful shepherds and fellow elders of the holy Scriptures. Men like the apostle Paul who defended his ministry, in part, by appealing to his life with the sheep. He writes in 1 Thessalonians 1:5, “You know how we lived among you for your sake.”
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Still Not Professionals Ten Pleas for Today’s Pastors
I’m challenged by the apostle’s confidence here. Here’s a man that could describe himself as formerly a blasphemer, per- secutor, and violent man (1 Timothy 1:15). He was no perfec- tionist. He felt himself to be trapped in a wretched body of sin that warred with the Spirit (Romans 7). Yet, I find it remark- able that without flinching, and without caveat, he can call upon the Thessalonians’ own memories of him to testify to the blamelessness of his life.
Many of us won’t hesitate to swear by our own lives but would tremble in fear if our people were asked, “How does he live among you?” We can talk of ourselves in ways that excuse our failings, justify our sins, and shift the blame we deserve. But some of us would panic if the reputation of the gospel came down to the testimony of our people about our lives.
Paul Didn’t Phone It In
We all know the message we preach is better than the messen- gers who preach it, but that doesn’t mean the messenger should settle beneath the message. There must be a striving to be what we are in Christ, so that the message is adorned and defended by the messenger’s life. If we find this is not the case, we should either repent or leave the ministry.
Notice carefully Paul’s words: “...how we lived among you....” It’s not just “how we lived,” which could be reported from afar, airbrushed and beautified for the pages of Jerusalem Home Journal. Paul says—with confidence—you know how we lived “among you.” He’s no absentee apostle or church planter. He doesn’t “phone it in.”
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Smelling Like the Sheep
The apostle understands that shepherds should smell like sheep. The sheep’s wool should be lint on our clothes. Our boots should be caked with their mud and their mess. Our skin ought to bear
teeth marks and the weather-beaten look of exposure to wind, sun, and rain in the fields. We belong among the people to such an extent that they can be called on to honestly testify that our lives as messengers commend the message. We should be so frequently among them that we smell like them, that we smell like their real lives, sometimes fragrant but more often sweaty, musty, offensive, begrimed from battle with the world, the flesh, and the devil.
Our people should be able to testify that we “lived among them for their sake.” Our living with them is to benefit them. We should be welcomed among the people because our pres- ence means spiritual gladness and profit (Hebrews 13:17). The goal of all our living is the blessing of all our people. That’s why we come and dwell among them.
An Insidious Idea Aboard
The more gifted we think ourselves to be, the more closely we should live among them. There’s an insidious idea abroad that suggests that the more gifted the pastor, the less time he has to be with the sheep. It implies that being with the people is a hin- drance better left to less gifted men.
The power of the gospel does not depend upon the giftedness of the messenger. Everyone God has saved in the cause of our preaching has been saved despite the messenger—not because of him. Even Paul—arguably the most gifted Christian ever— would rather boast in his weakness. Here you have a messenger,
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keenly aware of his brokenness, living out both his brokenness and his giftedness among the sheep for their benefit.
Stop Pimping the Sheep
Let me admit that there are limitations we pastors face. Some of them may be due to the size of our churches. Some may be due to the vastness of the region over which our people are scat- tered. Most of us don’t live in Baxter’s Kidderminster. Some of our limitations may be based on good priorities—like spending more time training leaders than attending certain social functions. I want to allow every good caveat and qualification necessary.
But if our hearts say either we’re too gifted or too big to be with our people, we should stop pretending we’re motivated by their benefit. We should stop pretending we’re not pimping them or feeding on them. If we honestly feel we’re too gifted to be with them, we’re not shepherds. We’re wolves.
Plan to Get Smelly
Do you know how to tell the difference between sheep and wolves in sheep’s clothing? Sheep eat grass; wolves eat sheep— it doesn’t matter how prettily they are dressed.
Paul was among the Thessalonians for their profit. It was so obvious that he could confidently call them to testify to it. That’s the kind of messenger in whose hands the message ought to be trusted.
A powerful message in the hands of a humble messenger among the people is how God normally works. Brothers, we should smell like sheep. Do we have a plan for regularly getting smelly with the sheep?

Still Not Professionals
Ten Pleas for Today’s Pastors

Still Not Professionals: Ten Pleas for Today’s Pastors is a celebration and extension of John Piper’s Brothers, We Are Not Professionals. With two brief exhortations from Piper and eight others from veteran pastors, this short ebook aims to strengthen and challenge Christians in general, and pastors in particular, for the labor of everyday life and ministry. The contributors were asked to express their “heart of hearts” for fellow leaders. You’ll find these chapters tap into profound human themes, in both the pastor and his flock, and will be of use, we hope, beyond the North American context of the contributors.

by John Piper Modal , Daniel L. Akin Modal , Thabiti Anyabwile Modal , Mike Bullmore Modal , Sam Crabtree Modal , Ray Ortlund Modal , Jeff Vanderstelt Modal , and Douglas Wilson
Read here by J.N.Wheels

Find the Still Not Professionals link from Desiring God Here: https://www.desiringgod.org/books/still-not-professionals

Support The Minister The Ministry and Me Show (The 3M Podcast) or get T-Shirts, Mugs, notebooks and more while still supporting jnwheels.com here: https://jnwheels.com/donate-support/

Full Text:
BROTHERS, WE ARE NOT SUPERSTARS
Daniel L. Akin
Jesus summarizes the purpose of his incarnation in Mark 10:45 when he says, “Even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
This profound and crucial statement—which weds the “Son of Man” of Daniel 7:13–14 to the “Suffering Servant” of Isaiah 52–53, and redefines what kind of Messiah-Savior our Lord would be—comes on the heels of James’s and John’s request that Jesus would give them seats on his right and left in Glory (Mark 10:37). James and John are crystal clear in their inten- tions and goal: They want status, not service. They want the position of a king, not the calling of a slave. They want to be looked up to, honored, and revered. They wanted to be super- stars, not servants.
Don’t Play the Ostrich
Tragically, today, when it comes to the ministry, the stan- dards and criteria for success are too often culled from the world, and not from the Word of God. To deny this is to play the
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ostrich, stick our head in the sand, and simply ignore the mas- sive evidence that swirls around us. Allow me to share what I see. Evangelicals have their cult-heroes and cult followings.
This is true both inside and outside the local church. We have our groupies who pine after their “Christian rock stars.” Such stars are given almost infallible status, at least by their devoted fans, and if they are not careful, they may begin to believe what blogs, fans, and fellow superstars say.
Suddenly, the green monster of pride sneaks into their lives and an attitude of entitlement begins to transform a once gra- cious and humble servant into a hulk-like prima donna who less and less resembles the simple carpenter from Galilee. Sub- tly, over time, I convince myself that I deserve a six-figure sal- ary. I deserve to live in a big home and drive an expensive car. I deserve to have people wait on me hand and foot and respond immediately to my every request. Furthermore, they can expect to receive a quick and painful tongue-lashing if they move too slowly or fail to meet my exalted expectations. Why, I may even fire them for not measuring up to my personal expectations.
I become too important and my time is too valuable to meet with common people, people who cannot help me further my agenda. I am too busy in “my ministry” to respond to letters, answer emails, return phone calls, or schedule appointments.
And amazingly, I become almost self-righteous in defending my lifestyle, my perks, and my prideful behavior because what I do is valuable to the kingdom and I’ve earned the right to be treated as one of its kings.
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Battling the Green Monster
I wish what I have written to this point was theoretical or at least hyperbolic. Sadly, it isn’t.
As someone who has been in the Christian ministry for 35 years, and who battles daily the green monster of pride, I have seen and continue to see this superstar mentality and lifestyle far too often among a number of current day pastors. You see, I am now a seminary president who, if not careful, can get caught up in all of this “malarkey.” I am easily seduced by the sirens who feed a superstar mentality that knows nothing of the way of Jesus.
So, what biblical counsel and wisdom can help keep our heads out of the clouds and our feet on the ground where “real people” live? Let me offer one avenue of Scriptural exhortation that may help.
Our Model of Leadership
Keep continually before you the biblical model of leadership. We are not CEOs. We are not professionals. Brothers, we are shepherds—and under-shepherds at that. We are servant-lead- ers. First Peter 5:2 instructs us to “shepherd the flock of God that is among you.” The word “shepherd” is an imperative receiving the force of a command. Shepherds who follow in the footsteps of the “Good Shepherd” (John 10:11), the “Chief Shepherd” (1 Peter 5:4), the “Great Shepherd” (Heb. 13:20), will love and lead their sheep. They will not drive them and use them and make ungodly carnal demands of them. They will continually remind themselves that they tend over “the flock of God” and not their own.
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They also understand it is the “flock of God among you.” That means they live with their sheep, they spend time with their sheep, they know their sheep, they care for their sheep.
With Joy and a Clear Conscience
I once heard a famous and well-known pastor brag about the fact he had never had a single meal in the home of one of his mem- bers, nor had he ever invited any of his members into his home for one. When I asked him why, he simply responded, “I never wanted to get that close to any of my people.” Words cannot express how this broke my heart. It still grieves me to this day.
Brothers, we never have been and never will be superstars. We are lowly shepherds, servants of the “Great Shepherd of the sheep.” One day we will give him an account for the souls we are keeping watch over (Hebrews 13:17). May we by his grace and for his glory do so with joy and a clear conscience, serving him and his sheep “honorably in all things” (Hebrews 13:18).

Still Not Professionals
Ten Pleas for Today’s Pastors

Still Not Professionals: Ten Pleas for Today’s Pastors is a celebration and extension of John Piper’s Brothers, We Are Not Professionals. With two brief exhortations from Piper and eight others from veteran pastors, this short ebook aims to strengthen and challenge Christians in general, and pastors in particular, for the labor of everyday life and ministry. The contributors were asked to express their “heart of hearts” for fellow leaders. You’ll find these chapters tap into profound human themes, in both the pastor and his flock, and will be of use, we hope, beyond the North American context of the contributors.

by John Piper Modal , Daniel L. Akin Modal , Thabiti Anyabwile Modal , Mike Bullmore Modal , Sam Crabtree Modal , Ray Ortlund Modal , Jeff Vanderstelt Modal , and Douglas Wilson
Read here by J.N.Wheels

Find the Still Not Professionals link from Desiring God Here: https://www.desiringgod.org/books/still-not-professionals

Support The Minister The Ministry and Me Show (The 3M Podcast) or get T-Shirts, Mugs, notebooks and more while still supporting jnwheels.com here: https://jnwheels.com/donate-support/

Full Text:
BROTHERS, WE ARE NOT PROFESSORS
R. C. Sproul, Jr.
It has been said by one great Reformed theologian that we are living in the most anti-intellectual age in the church’s history. We are the TV generation, making way for the Internet gen- eration. Images tickle our eyes, and sound-bites massage our brains. We are, compared to our Puritan fathers, ignorant shep- herds leading sensate sheep in a dry and dusty land. Surely what we need then is more thought, more scholarship, more earnest hours spent pouring over the ancients in our studies. Right?
We are worldly when we, like the world around us, give our- selves to an entertainment mentality, when we amuse ourselves to death. We are still worldly, however, when we rightly reject the eye candy and froth of pop culture and then conclude that our problems are intellectual, and our solutions more learning. It was the Enlightenment, not the Light of the World, that gave us education as its high and holy sacrament. What Jesus calls us to is to repent and believe the gospel. It is more important to us
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and our sheep that we would learn to believe more, than that we would find more to believe.
The Call of the Shepherd
That means first that when we prepare to serve in the minis- try, we have to prepare to serve in the ministry. Our seminaries, if we must have them, should more reflect a training hospital than a university. Divinity is not a body of knowledge to be mastered like geology. The Bible is not a book to be dissected like Moby Dick. We go there, if we must go there, not to study the Word, but to begin to learn to have the Word study us. We go to pursue not advanced degrees but the fruit of the Spirit. We go to lose our reputations, not to gain them. We go not to be thought wise, but to learn what fools we are.
That means next that when we are called to the ministry, that we minister. Our pulpits, sadly, are filled with men who started as seminarians eager to shepherd a flock. There they were introduced to a dynamic, likely godly professor, and sud- denly the student determines he will pursue still more degrees, that he might follow in the footsteps of his hero. As seminary comes to a close, growing debts, a growing family, and a grow- ing urge to go and teach derail the plan to become a professor. Instead the young pastor determines to take a church that his flock can become his student body, and His Body, a tiny little seminary. He will lecture then during Sunday School, and regale them through each sermon.
The Shepherd, however, calls us to feed His Sheep. We are not to give our wisdom, our insights, the fruits of our scholar- ship. Rather, like Paul before us, we serve up our weakness, our
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frailty, our need. That’s how the Word breaks through, where the power comes from.
Fools for Jesus
Brothers, your flock may need some more information. What they need more, however, is someone to lead them, to show them the Way. They need to see you repenting. They need to see you wrestling with your sins. They need to see you preaching the gospel to yourself, not because you like the sound of your voice, but because you hate the sin that yet remains, and you need grace. They need to see you rejoicing in the fullness of his prom- ises, and mourning both sin and its fruit, the last enemy, death.
No man needs advanced degrees, and arcane letters after his name in order to follow Jesus. Which means that no man needs these things to lead others in following Jesus. If you follow him, they will follow you. If, however, you merely tickle their brains, they will soon go off in pursuit of someone who seems smarter than you. If they are taught to hear your voice, they won’t dis- cern the voice of the Master.
When our days of ministry come to an end, our labors will either be dust, or they will be dust. No matter how many downloads our wisdom garners, no matter how many journals publish our insights, these will all one day decay. Our scholars’ hoods and robes, pulpits and libraries will become mere chaff.
If, however, we spend our days as shepherds, pasturing the flock, our labors will last forever. For we minister to dust, to men into whom the Spirit breathed twice. We minister to dust that is, through faithful, pastoral preaching, being burnished into the image of the Pearl of Great Price. Brothers, we are not
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doctors, but the sick—not scholars, but fools. Let us then be fools for Christ. Preach.

Still Not Professionals: Ten Pleas for Today’s Pastors is a celebration and extension of John Piper’s Brothers, We Are Not Professionals. With two brief exhortations from Piper and eight others from veteran pastors, this short ebook aims to strengthen and challenge Christians in general, and pastors in particular, for the labor of everyday life and ministry. The contributors were asked to express their “heart of hearts” for fellow leaders. You’ll find these chapters tap into profound human themes, in both the pastor and his flock, and will be of use, we hope, beyond the North American context of the contributors.

by John Piper Modal , Daniel L. Akin Modal , Thabiti Anyabwile Modal , Mike Bullmore Modal , Sam Crabtree Modal , Ray Ortlund Modal , Jeff Vanderstelt Modal , and Douglas Wilson
Read here by J.N.Wheels

Find the Still Not Professionals link from Desiring God Here: https://www.desiringgod.org/books/still-not-professionals

Support The Minister The Ministry and Me Show (The 3M Podcast) or get T-Shirts, Mugs, notebooks and more while still supporting jnwheels.com here: https://jnwheels.com/donate-support/

Full Text Here:
BROTHERS, WE ARE NOT SISTERS
Douglas Wilson
To say that one thing is not another thing is not to register a complaint against either.
To say that the sun is not the moon is not to criticize the moon, and to say that the land is not the sea is not to file a com- plaint against the sea. God establishes differences in the world with the intention of them complementing one another, and not so that his variegated world would try to melt itself down into one great indistinguishable mass. A pine cone is not a cheesecake is not a covered bridge. A man is not a woman, but God bless them both.
And so to exhort my brothers in the ministry to remember that they are not sisters is in no way a form of disdain, either open or disguised, toward the sisters. As brothers in ministry, there are many things we must learn from the sisters, and we must take care to learn these things carefully and appropriately.
For just one example, the apostle Paul says he was gentle among the Thessalonians, the way a nurse with small children would be (1 Thessalonians 2:7). The Bible says that women
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should not set up to teach the men authoritatively (1 Timothy 2:12), but this is a very different thing than men learning from women (Acts 18:26). How on earth would it be possible for a man to live with his wife with understanding (1 Peter 3:7) with- out learning anything from her?
Masculine Presence in the Pulpit
That said, in these egalitarian times, we must insist on a mas- culine presence in the pulpit because the church is the bride of Christ, and needs to obey her husband in everything (Ephe- sians 5:24). The Lord requires this of us (1 Timothy 2:12), and so that is what we must do. The individual man in the pulpit must be masculine because the bride of Christ must be femi- nine. The appropriate feminine response of the Church is to be submissive, and you cannot be submissive while disobeying.
But as we accept this responsibility as the wisdom of God, and embrace it on that basis, we should not be surprised if a number of additional incentives and reasons occur to us as well.
For the Sake of Young Men
We must be masculine in our ministry for the sake of many young men entering the ministry—men who grew to manhood without an appropriate role model in their father. We are their fathers in the work now, and so we must model for them what this kind of masculinity looks like—what courage with an open book looks like.
The Bible teaches that the best forms of learning are imita- tive, and if we want the next generation of preachers to grow up into a true masculinity, then there must be a masculinity out
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there that they can see in order to imitate. But before we can model it, we must learn it ourselves.
For the Sake of the Women
We must be masculine in our ministry for the sake of the women in our congregations. Because men are naturally com- petitive, they are more prone to see the differences between the sexes in terms of that competition. Women are more realistic at this point, and do not make this mistake as often.
The best thing in the church for the women is for the men to be men. For a man to teach the word of God with author- ity (and not as the scribes) is not withholding anything from the women at all—it is a gift to the women. Godly women are grieved by usurping women, and annoyed by effeminate men. They are fed by men who teach the Bible with boldness. They need that sort of provision and protection, and they know that they do. We should know that also.
Erasing an Old Perception
We must be masculine in our ministry in order to help erase the centuries-old perception of clergymen as the “third sex.” We have a word from the Lord for the nations around us, and they will not be able to hear us if all that comes from us is a dif- fident bleating. The Lord chose the sons of Zebedee as his “sons of thunder,” and as we consider the state of our nation around us, we should long for him to choose out some more.
The humidity levels of our spiritual stupidity are oppressive, and our sins and iniquities have created a mugginess that feels like the atmosphere on Jupiter on a hot afternoon. What we
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need is five or six first-rate Midwestern thunderstorms to clear all of that away. Nothing is more apparent than that we need for some masculine preachers to cut loose.
The Pulpit: Public Place of Courage
This relates to the last point, which is that we must be mas- culine in our ministry because the pulpit ought to be the sort of public place where it takes courage to stand. And it is this sort of statement that reveals just how sensitized to unbeliev- ing propaganda we have become. If we say that men should step into pulpits because it should take courage to do so, the retort will come back immediately that we must not believe that women can be courageous. The reply is simple—to say the pulpit is a place that requires courage of a sort peculiar to men is not to say that courage is non-existent or unnecessary every- where else. But this is just a small sampling of what a minister of the gospel must be willing to do—he must be willing to be misunderstood and misrepresented in ways just like this.
Our battles over women’s ordination are often misguided in emphasis. We ought to spend less time trying to keep the wom- en from becoming men in the pulpit, and more time teaching men to become men in the pulpit.
Brothers, we are not sisters.

Still Not Professionals
Ten Pleas for Today’s Pastors

Still Not Professionals: Ten Pleas for Today’s Pastors is a celebration and extension of John Piper’s Brothers, We Are Not Professionals. With two brief exhortations from Piper and eight others from veteran pastors, this short ebook aims to strengthen and challenge Christians in general, and pastors in particular, for the labor of everyday life and ministry. The contributors were asked to express their “heart of hearts” for fellow leaders. You’ll find these chapters tap into profound human themes, in both the pastor and his flock, and will be of use, we hope, beyond the North American context of the contributors.

by John Piper Modal , Daniel L. Akin Modal , Thabiti Anyabwile Modal , Mike Bullmore Modal , Sam Crabtree Modal , Ray Ortlund Modal , Jeff Vanderstelt Modal , and Douglas Wilson
Read here by J.N.Wheels

Find the Still Not Professionals link from Desiring God Here: https://www.desiringgod.org/books/still-not-professionals

Support The Minister The Ministry and Me Show (The 3M Podcast) or get T-Shirts, Mugs, notebooks and more while still supporting jnwheels.com here: https://jnwheels.com/donate-support/

Full Text:
BROTHERS, SUPERNATURAL DOES NOT MEAN STUPID
John Piper
If somebody reads the last chapter and says, “So, then, you think it doesn’t matter if we sing off key, preach incompetently, and don’t provide parking?” my answer is, “That’s just stupid.”
It matters whether you think the only alternative to tacky is “professional.” If the only way you have for urging excellence in your church is to urge “professionalism,” I suggest you need a bigger vocabulary.
The baggage attached to the word “professionalism” is not helpful, if you are trying to be a supernatural people of God. And that is what we want to be: body of Christ, chosen race, royal priesthood, holy nation, people of God’s own possession, temple of the Holy Spirit, household of God, saints, called,
Way, bride of Christ, and more. It is not helpful to aim at being a “professional” bride.
Where the Quest Begins
So when I renounce the pursuit of professionalism, does that
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mean I don’t aspire to excellence? No. But I do start my quest for excellence with the quest for excellent forgiveness. Excel- lent mercy. Excellent patience. Excellent kindness. Excellent humility. Excellent self-control. Excellent gospel-walking (Galatians 2:14).
That’s what Paul had in mind when he told us to imitate the infinitely excellent God. “Be imitators of God... And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us” (Ephesians 5:1–2). I don’t know if Jesus could sing on key, or if his tunic was wrinkle-free, but I do know his capacities for returning good for evil were beautiful beyond words. The radical quest for that excellence is where we begin.
The Quest Broadens
Then Paul broadens the quest: “Whatever is honorable, what- ever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (Philippians 4:8). So after our hearts undergo a gospel renovation, the next room for refurbishing is our mind: Think on these excellent things. Fill your mind with excellence. Beauty. Justice. Purity. Honor.
Then the next thing out of Paul’s mouth is this: “What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things” (Philippians 4:9). So the gospel-renovated heart and the excellence-refurbished mind both “practice these things.” It matters how things are done. At home. At church. Everywhere. We “practice” excellence.
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Seasoned with Mission
So do we build magnificent buildings? Maybe. But not many. The priority put on opulence in the Old Testament palace and temple was owing to an era of “come-see-religion.” Like the Queen of Sheba who came to Israel and was breathless at Solo- mon’s wealth (1 Kings 10:5).
But the New Testament has none of that emphasis on opu- lence, because it is a “go-tell-religion.” The mission impulse dominates the domestic impulse. We are sojourners. We are sent.
“Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics” (Luke 9:3). This saying is not normative for all mission, but it does flavor everything.
So the quest for excellence is always seasoned by a mission- oriented mentality, with a bent toward simplicity. It’s a bent, not an absolute. There may be a place for a cathedral here and there. But the people of God won’t lean toward living in pal- aces. And the vast work of the kingdom will happen mainly in the rugged outposts.
Undistracting Excellence
But what about the way we do things? What about music, for example? We recall the psalmist saying, “Splendor and maj- esty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary” (Psalm 96:6). “Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings” (Psalm 33:3). Beautifully. Skillfully. Does that mean professionally? In all my years of pastoral ministry, I have never prayed that worship be done professionally.
The category we have found most helpful is “undistract- ing excellence.” The adjective “undistracting” means that the
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quality of an act must help, rather than hinder, the spiritual aims of the ministry. Lead worshipers aim by the power of God’s Spirit (1 Peter 4:11) to awaken the mind’s attention and the heart’s affections to the truth and beauty of God and the gospel. The kind of singing and playing that helps this happen is not well described as “professional.”
Seeking a Miracle
But “undistracting excellence” helps us get at the issue. It reminds us that people are distracted not only by shoddy music, but also by the flare of musical finesse. Corporate worship is not a recital. The sanctuary is no orchestra hall. The shouted
“Bravissimo!” for a virtuoso performance (which may be total- ly appropriate at the concert hall) has the opposite focus from what we are seeking on Sunday morning. We are seeking the miracle of communion with God.
The same applies to preaching. On the one hand, elders are to be “apt to teach” (1 Timothy 3:2). Gifted. Able. Skilled. Effec- tive. On the other hand, there is a kind of smooth, effortless oratory, and a kind of cool, clever, hip, and even studied casual- ness that can be just as distracting from the presence of God as the self-conscious awkwardness of the nervous beginner.
Spiritual Does Not Mean Shoddy
Undistracting excellence means that content, language, tone, gesture, and demeanor will all serve the spiritual aims of the message: the quickening of the dead and the build- ing up of faith in the saints by the power of God. There is no
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professional raising of the dead. And no professional building of the temple of the soul.
Therefore, brothers, we are (still) not professionals. Our aims are supernatural. Therefore, our means are stirred and shaped by the Spirit of God. The excellence we seek serves a spir- itual communion with God. It is undistracting. But spiritual does not mean shoddy. And supernatural does not mean stupid.

Still Not Professionals
Ten Pleas for Today’s Pastors

Still Not Professionals: Ten Pleas for Today’s Pastors is a celebration and extension of John Piper’s Brothers, We Are Not Professionals. With two brief exhortations from Piper and eight others from veteran pastors, this short ebook aims to strengthen and challenge Christians in general, and pastors in particular, for the labor of everyday life and ministry. The contributors were asked to express their “heart of hearts” for fellow leaders. You’ll find these chapters tap into profound human themes, in both the pastor and his flock, and will be of use, we hope, beyond the North American context of the contributors.

by John Piper Modal , Daniel L. Akin Modal , Thabiti Anyabwile Modal , Mike Bullmore Modal , Sam Crabtree Modal , Ray Ortlund Modal , Jeff Vanderstelt Modal , and Douglas Wilson
Read here by J.N.Wheels

Find the Still Not Professionals link from Desiring God Here: https://www.desiringgod.org/books/still-not-professionals

Support The Minister The Ministry and Me Show (The 3M Podcast) or get T-Shirts, Mugs, notebooks and more while still supporting jnwheels.com here: https://jnwheels.com/donate-support/
Full Text:
BROTHERS, THE MINISTRY IS SUPERNATURAL
John Piper
It’s been ten years since the publication of the book Brothers, We Are Not Professionals. Nothing has happened in the last ten years to make me think this book is less needed. In fact, instead of going away, the pressure to “professionalize” the pastorate has morphed and strengthened.
Among younger pastors, the talk is less about therapeutic and managerial professionalization, and more about commu- nication or contextualization. The language of “professionaliza- tion” is seldom used in these regards, but there is a quiet pressure felt by many pastors: Be as good as the professional media folks, especially the cool anti-heroes and the most subtle comedians.
The New Professionalism
This is not the overstated professionalism of the three-piece suit and the power offices of the upper floors, but the understated professionalism of torn blue jeans and the savvy inner ring.
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This professionalism is not learned in pursuing an MBA, but by being in the know about the ever-changing entertainment and media world.
This is the professionalization of ambience, and tone, and idiom, and timing, and banter. It is more intuitive and less taught. More style and less technique. More feel and less force.
If this can be called professionalism, what does it have in common with the older version? Everything that matters. The way I tried to get at the problem ten years ago was to ask some questions. Let me expand that list. Only this time think, old and new professionalism.
Is there professional praying?
Professional trusting in God’s promises? Professional weeping over souls?
Professional musing on the depths of revelation? Professional rejoicing in the truth?
Professional praising God’s name?
Professional treasuring the riches of Christ? Professional walking by the Spirit?
Professional exercise of spiritual gifts? Professional dealing with demons?
Professional pleading with backsliders? Professional perseverance in a hard marriage? Professional playing with children? Professional courage in the face of persecution? Professional patience with everyone?
These are not marginal activities in the pastoral life. They are vital.
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The Heart of Ministry
Why do we choke on the word professional in these connec- tions? Because professionalization carries the connotation of an education, a set of skills, and a set of guild-defined standards which are possible without faith in Jesus or the power of the indwelling Spirit of God.
Professionalism does not usually carry the connotation of being supernatural. But the heart of ministry is supernatural.
Professional Crucifixion?
There is a professional way to crucify. But there is no profession- al way to be crucified. There were professionals on Golgotha. They were experts in torture. But Jesus was not one of them.
For Paul, the ministry was more like being crucified than crucifying. “I bear on my body the marks of Jesus” (Galatians 6:17). “I am crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20). “I die every day!” (1 Corinthians 15:31). “For the sake of Christ I am content with weaknesses” (2 Corinthians 12:10). “He was crucified in weakness... we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God” (2 Corinthians 13:4).
“We are the aroma of Christ... a fragrance from death to death... a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?” (2 Corinthians 2:15–16).
Pastors say, “Who is sufficient for these things!” And then they look to God. Professionals say, “Education and training and savvy are sufficient.” And then they look to experts.
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Leaning on God for Effect
Pastors do not look to their eloquence for the supernatural fruit they long for. “My speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God” (1 Corinthians 2:4–5).
Whatever gifts and eloquence a pastor may have, whatever preparations he makes, he looks away from them all to God for every spiritual effect.
He knows what he is after. And he knows that no human effort and no human excellence can bring it about. He wants people to be raised from the dead (Ephesians 2:5). He wants people to be set free from lifelong bondage (2 Timothy 2:25– 26). He wants camels to pass through the eyes of needles (Mark 10:25–27). Therefore, at every turn, he seeks to “serve by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong glory and dominion forever and ever” (1 Peter 4:11).
Supernatural Goals and Means
The goals are supernatural, and the means are supernatural. Conversions and conformity to Christ are the supernatural fruit of serving in the supernatural strength of Christ. Only Christ can do this.
Ministry is discovering how to live happily in the all-accom- plishing hands of the risen Christ.
This is a plea for pastors to put the presence of the Holy Spirit, and the power of Christ-exalting truth, and the purity
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of holy living, above the pragmatic considerations of organiza- tion, and above our concerns with compelling style.
And if this sounds like a prescription for careless, sloppy, distracting ministry, turn now to the next chapter, “Brothers, Supernatural Does Not Mean Stupid.”
Brothers, the ministry is supernatural.