Stafford Carson : Presbyterian Pastor

It is very disappointing, to say the least, that the European Rugby decision-makers have decided that Ulster’s quarter-final match against Munster will be played at 1.45pm on Easter Sunday. Given the Christian commitment of so many Ulster supporters, as well as the players, it is worse than unfortunate that the ERC authorities have in effect denied Christian supporters of Ulster the opportunity of supporting their team in this important match.

I love Ulster Rugby and for the past number of years I have been a season ticket holder at Ravenhill. Friday nights at Ravenhill are great events, and have been enjoyed by many Christian youth groups as a good social outing. But my commitment to Jesus Christ takes precedence over anything else, and on the most important day in the Christian calendar I plan to be with my fellow Christians worshipping and praising my Risen Saviour. I am grieved that I cannot travel to Thomond Park to stand up for the Ulstermen. I imagine that a significant number of my fellow supporters will also be very disappointed and will feel that their “right” to support their team has been taken away from them.

It’s not that I want everyone to conform to a strict sabbatarian position with regard to sport, and I recognise that there is tradition among many people on this island of participating in and supporting sport on Sunday. But for those of us who are committed to our local church each Sunday, and especially on Easter Sunday, this decision means that we are unable to follow our team to Limerick.

Some years ago there was a controversy over Ulster being required to play their home matches on Sundays and that decision was quickly reversed following representations from the Ulster supporter lobby. I hope that the reaction of Ulster supporters puts some pressure on the ERC to re-think this bad decision.

JSC Personal, Uncategorized

After listening to a couple of recent editions of Sunday Sequence on Radio Ulster and the controversy surrounding the issue of homosexuality and reparative therapy, I was reminded of what I had read on Al Mohler’s blog a wee while ago. In his characteristically lucid style, Mohler states the orthodox Christian position on this whole issue, and significantly takes us back to the truth and grace of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I will include the entire blogpost below the fold, and it’s worth the read.

Read more…

JSC Uncategorized

I recently began a new series in our Midweek Fellowship on the Doctrines of Grace, sometimes known as the Five Points of Calvinism. The purpose of this series is to make explicit some of the key doctrines in our confessional standards, the Westminster Confession of Faith and its Catechisms, and to help members of the congregation have a greater zeal for the glory of God and for the task of mission.

Knowing and understanding these doctrines of grace is also crucial for knowing and understanding the gospel. The gospel stands or falls by grace, and the gospel is not really good news unless it is a gospel of grace. So it is crucial that we have a clear understanding of God’s grace.

The great Princeton theologian, B.B. Warfield said that evangelicialism stands or falls with Calvinism. Jim Boice and Philip Ryken in their excellent book, The Doctrines of Grace, point out that Warfield made that statement at a time when Calvinism still had a major influence on evangelicalism, helping to define its theology, shape its spirituality, and clarify its mission. This is no longer the case. Most evangelicals today are suspicious of Calvinism, and the result is that the gospel of grace has been diluted or lost.

A number of years ago, a group of evangelicals in North America expressed their concern at the changes they observed within the world of evangelicalism and summarised their views in The Cambridge Declaration. Part of that declaration states,

“Unwarranted confidence in human ability is a product of fallen human nature. This false confidence now fills the evangelical world; from the self-esteem gospel, to the health and wealth gospel, from those who have transformed the gospel into a product to be sold and sinners into consumers who want to buy, to others who treat Christian faith as being true simply because it works. This silences the doctrine of justification regardless of the official commitments of our churches. God’s grace in Christ is not merely necessary but is the sole efficient cause of salvation.”

It is sometimes claimed that Calvinism reduces and restricts one’s passion and enthusiasm for evangelism. That view is mistaken both in its understanding of Calvinism and in its understanding of evangelism. In fact, properly understood, the doctrines of grace give the most solid foundation and greatest motivation for sharing the gospel. Only when we hold thoroughly biblical convictions about divine election, the atonement, and the irresistible grace of God can we have any confidence that the gospel has the power to accomplish God’s saving purposes. With their emphasis on the glory of God in salvation, the doctrines of grace can help evangelicalism grow and mature by restoring a proper view of God’s majesty, sovereignty and grace.

C.H. Spurgeon was a great evangelist and a staunch defender of the doctrines of grace.

“I have my own private opinion that there is no such thing as preaching Christ and him crucified unless we preach what is nowadays called Calvinism. It is a nickname to call it Calvinism; Calvinism is the gospel and nothing else. I do not believe we can preach the gospel …. unless we preach the sovereignty of God in his dispensation of grace; nor unless we exalt the electing, unchangeable, eternal, immutable, conquering love of Jehovah; nor do I think we can preach the Gospel unless we base it upon the special and particular redemption of his elect and chosen people which Christ wrought upon the cross; nor can I comprehend the Gospel which allows saints to fall away after they are called.” (quoted by J.I.Packer in his “Introductory Essay” to John Owen, The Death of Death in the Death of Christ (London, Banner of Truth, 1959), 10.)

If Warfield and Spurgeon were right, then it is crucial that evangelicals understand and affirm the doctrines of grace. Quite simply, the doctrines of grace preserve the gospel of grace. More than that, understanding these doctrines enables us to be the humble worshippers that God calls us to be. As John Piper puts it about the doctrine of election,

“Unconditional election delivers the harshest and the sweetest judgments to my soul. That it is unconditional destroys all self-exaltation; and that it is election makes me his treasured possession. This is one of the beauties of the biblical doctrines of grace: their worst devastations prepare us for their greatest delights. What prigs we would become at the words, “The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth” (Deuteronomy 7:6), if this election were in any way dependent on our will. But to protect us from pride, the Lord teaches us that we are unconditionally chosen (7:7-9). “He made a wretch his treasure,” as we so gladly sing. Only the devastating freeness and unconditionality of electing grace lets us take and taste such gifts for our very own without the exaltation of self.”

If you want a fuller statement on these doctrines then one place to start is here.

JSC Theological

When it comes to Her Majesty the Queen’s Christmas message, it is all her own work. On this one occasion each year she does not turn to government for help or advice, but writes it herself. You can imagine how thrilled we are as Christians in the UK and the Commonwealth when our Sovereign makes an unambiguous statement of the Christian gospel.

“Finding hope in adversity is one of the themes of Christmas. Jesus was born into a world full of fear. The angels came to frightened shepherds with hope in their voices: ‘Fear not’, they urged, ‘we bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour who is Christ the Lord.’

Although we are capable of great acts of kindness, history teaches us that we sometimes need saving from ourselves - from our recklessness or our greed. God sent into the world a unique person - neither a philosopher nor a general, important though they are, but a Saviour, with the power to forgive.

Forgiveness lies at the heart of the Christian faith. It can heal broken families, it can restore friendships and it can reconcile divided communities. It is in forgiveness that we feel the power of God’s love.

In the last verse of this beautiful carol, O Little Town Of Bethlehem, there’s a prayer:

O Holy Child of Bethlehem, Descend to us we pray. Cast out our sin and enter in. Be born in us today.

It is my prayer that on this Christmas day we might all find room in our lives for the message of the angels and for the love of God through Christ our Lord.

I wish you all a very happy Christmas.”

Thank you , ma’am.

JSC General

It’s a Wonderful Life is an American Christmas drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra, that was based on the short story “The Greatest Gift”, written by Philip Van Doren Stern. Released in 1946, the film stars James Stewart as George Bailey, a man whose imminent suicide on Christmas Eve brings about the intervention of his guardian angel, Clarence Odbody (Henry Travers). Clarence shows George all the lives he has touched and the contributions he has made to his community. It’s a great film for pastors and elders to watch, especially if they are a bit disillusioned about church life.

In an afterword to his book, What They Didn’t Teach You in Seminary, James Emery White reflects on the calling and challenges of pastoral ministry, and he uses the example of George Bailey to describe his own experience of leaving pastoral ministry to take up a position in a theological seminary. Initially, he viewed it as an escape from all the pressures, demands and criticisms that are part and parcel of congregational life. But within two years, White was delighted to be back in pastoral ministry again.

Just as George Bailey got a chance to see what life would be like if he had never lived, so White says that he was given a chance to see what life would be like without serving as a pastor of a church. And just as George Bailey learned that he wanted to live again, so did White. His conclusion is that if you are called to pastoral ministry, no other vocation will satisfy.

I know it’s tough. I know there are days you want to quit. Don’t. If you do, you’ll wish you could go back. I’ve never yet met anyone who at one time was truly called to the church but did get out of the game who remained glad they left.

You will miss the terrific idea for a talk or a series and having the ability to develop it and teach it.

You will miss coming upon a nugget of scriptural insight, tethered to language and historical insights, and being able to share it.

You will miss living in full community with others - young and old, married and single, believer and seeker, black and white.

You will miss being a leader, chasing dreams and building a kingdom vision that reflects the comprehensive vision of the church, and being free to pursue that vision with all vigour and energy without barrier.

You will miss being on the front lines of impacting lives - not just talking about life change but seeing it, experiencing it, making it happen as you cooperate with the Holy Spirit in people’s lives.

Simply put, if you are a practitioner and not a theoretician, you will miss the practice.

After a hectic programme of activities during the autumn, pastors and elders need to catch their breath over Christmas and New Year and then gird up their loins for a new session of activity. Some of us may feel a bit jaded, and our evaluation of our progress and fruitfulness in ministry may cause some degree of despair. We would love to see the kingdom advancing more quickly and we yearn to see greater growth in sanctification in our own lives and the lives of others. That is the burden and challenge of pastoral ministry. But, if we were taken away from all the frustrations and fears of pastoring a congregation and preaching every week, how better could we spend our days?

Paul’s description of his pastoral care of the Thessalonians continues to encourage and inspire us:

“As apostles of Christ, we could have been a burden to you, but we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her children. We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become som dear to us….For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting, and urging you to live lives worthy of God who calls you into his kingdom and glory.

For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ when he comes? Is it not you? Indeed you are our glory and joy.”

I think Paul would agree that when it comes to pastoral ministry, it’s a wonderful life.

JSC Uncategorized