Core Values Revisited and Sunday’s Assignment on Vocations

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. 

Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” 

. . . Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God . . .”

(Hebrews 12:1–15 ESV)

Have you ever felt like you’ve lost your own vision? Mission; what mission?

It is not that I have not been busy. To the contrary. There is plenty to do. For various reasons, some good and some not so good, I am just having a hard time getting the right things done.

It feels like when I played football in the pouring rain trying reach the goal-line and score a touchdown while running through a swamp with a soaked uniform and defensive back hanging from your shoulder pads.

Only its not a game, and I’m not nearly as young and athletic as I used to be.

This week I am in Enterprise, Alabama with Vicki and her family. School is over for this semester. Rick Allen is preaching this week.

Last week, I gave you an assignment to think about the various vocations God has called you into. I was deeply convicted by the image of “Big Rocks.”

Here is a video from Franklin Covey that explains what I mean by Big Rocks (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6m9WnNdpSw).

According to research, our vision leaks out of us every 28 days. Whether the “28 days” is universally true, I don’t know, but the “vision-leak” certainly is.

I waste so much time on the small unimportant things like watching TV rather than the most important “Big Rocks” revealed in my various roles and vocational calling.

To help complete our assignment, and in light of being deeply convicted myself my “Big Rocks” being displaced by “small rocks”, during this week off, I wanted to revisit my own personal mission statement and core values.

However, I discovered a problem. My personal mission and core values are essentially the same ones I used as mission and core values for our church (www.hickorygrovepca.org) during its replanting phase twelve years ago.

This created confusion. Are these our churches core values, or are they my core values? Well, yes . . . Should they be the same? Though they were mine before they were the churches, I don’t know. I’m interested in your opinions.

Leaving that question, I did revisit, edit and re-aquaint myself with these important core values. This was a good exercise for me to personally re-state my core values in the first person singular.

This is helping me to take ownership of how I have done individually in these areas, rather than excusing myself.

For the rest of the week, I plan to set some personal goals in these areas that will provide a weekly compass for planning weekly and daily activities rather than being tyrannized by the urgent and often unimportant.

The goal is to re-focus on what is most important in those various vocational callings God has given (Son, Husband, Father, Teaching Elder/Pastor, PhD Student, Presbyter/Brother, Citizen/Neighbor).

It would be interesting to get some feedback on what some of you think about these core values, how they should be shaped differently for us as a church, and how we can together re-aquaint ourselves with the most important “Big Rocks.”

Also, I would like to hear from you about how you are doing on your assignment and your core values and various vocations.

Mission Statement:

The Gospel IS the Power of God for Worship, Missions and Renewal.

Worship, Missions, and Renewal result from “living in line with the gospel.” They are interconnected. One does not exist without the others, and none exist without Christ working through the Holy Spirit is us.

The Gospel is the Power of God for Worship. God is the audience of our worship. In worship, our small faith grows as the Holy Spirit works ongoing repentance, faith and obedience in our hearts. This results in greater receiving of God’s love leading to deeper worship.

The Gospel is the Power of God for Missions. The Gospel is God’s mission to us, and fuels our mission to others. We desire for others to know the the saving grace of the Triune God, and partner with us in God’s mission to extend His good news locally, nationally and globally.

The Gospel is the Power of God for Renewal. The power to become a Christian and the power to live in the already-not yet of this life have the same source – The Gospel. When I am growing personally in “repentant-faith” being continually renewed by the Gospel inside-out, renewal overflows leading others to the Throne of Grace resulting in worship and missions to God’s glory and for our joy.

Core Values:

Because God is at work in me, I am “receiving grace upon grace through faith” in Christ. Faith more than believes; faith actively and presently receives from Christ’s work. Jesus knows my weakness. When I am weak he is strong. I can trust him, and actually move out in weakness while resting in his strength. I am not an orphan. He will never leave me nor forsake me.

Because God is at work in me, I love others in my various vocations through faith as I have been loved by God. Love is the multifaceted fruit of the Spirit that reveals God’s joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control; salvation that works out in me to others. “I love because God first loved me.” God loves to give his Spirit to those who ask him.

Because God is at work in me, I practice relational evangelism and biblical hospitality in my vocational callings. Opening my life to the needs of others, especially my family, I realize more of my own self-centeredness and great need for Jesus. Otherwise I will become stale and hard-hearted, and over time “in-grown” losing God’s heart for the lost. There is no better way to be dispossessed of my own self-righteousness than to love others different from me.

Because God is at work in me, I am enjoying Repentance.  I don not run away from my Heavenly Father because of my sin, rather I run to my Father with my sin because of Christ. My “anxious fears” and “offensive ways” break intimacy with God. Because my heart is deceitful and wicked above all things, I cannot see the organic network of sin driving my sinful behaviors and over-desires. Even though seeing my sin initially may feel mean and harsh, I realize worldly sorrow leads to death. The Holy Spirit brings a godly sorrow that leads to life. Though painful, I am discovering joy in repentance, as the barriers to intimacy between God and me are removed.

Because God is at work in me, I am intentionally taking risks with and for others for the sake of the Gospel. The Gospel is too glorious for me to personally consume its goodness and not share it’s riches and joy with others. If I consume the gospel without sharing it, I naturally die inside. Good news is shared. If I am not sharing God’s good news, then I am saying his good news is not all that good. The Gospel is living water flowing into and out of the disciple. I am someone who is free to fail often and needs lots of grace, because I actively risk participating in God’s mission. When Christian growth is reduced to my personal change, I miss participating in the story of Christ bringing in His new creation.

Because God is at work in me, I am leading in Repentance and Faith. The Gospel has brought me into a family relationship with God. The same Gospel power sustains me in God’s family and changes me. Therefore, leading in ongoing repentance, faith and obedience characterizes how I live before others. I will be a sinner-safe Christian with whom it is safe to risk sharing problems and failures openly. I will not mistake “sinner-safe” with antinomianism, or “success” with legalism. I all grow to love God’s law while trusting his Fatherly discipline calling what he calls sin “sin”, and living in the light his presence

Because God is at work in me, I am working as unto the Lord. Justification by faith alone is true. I bring none of my works to God in an attempt to achieve merit, favor, acceptance or justify myself with him. Rather I receive the work of Christ on my behalf as my only rightness with God. Since the work underneath all my work is complete, I can rest more deeply than I’ve ever rested, and work harder than I’ve ever worked. All my work done by faith in Christ, no matter how successful or unsuccessful, is sacred to God. When I work to merit approval, acceptance, or rightness with God, my work will never be good enough. I cannot work hard enough to achieve what I have already freely received.

A Pastor-Theologian: Reclaiming the Historical John Calvin (by Mike Graham)

I.  Introduction:

One day I received a note from some family members who knew that I was in the middle of a class studying Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion.   These particular members of my family have not attempted to mask their dislike of Calvin nor what is commonly known as Calvinism or Reformed Doctrine.

The note was intended to be a gentle warning from ones who dearly love us and want our best.   Specifically, our family warned that we should not be too endeared to Calvin.  After all, he was a miserable man who led a sad life without happiness.  It was okay to learn from him, but not to imitate him, or else we too would be miserable and God did not intend on us living that way.

It would be one thing if I had heard this from only one source.  But, unfortunately, this mindset is not rare.  Listening to the popular preacher Adrian Rogers before he died, I heard him declare on a radio broadcast that his primary goal before retiring from ministry was to discredit John Calvin and Calvinism.

Most people that I know who are aware of the life of John Calvin caricature him as coldly austere, intolerant, mean, and belligerent; unable to get along with anyone.

Historical revisions have been unkind to John Calvin and his impact and teachings are largely ignored outside of reformed circles though this is changing.  Yet often those of us in the reformed tradition have been effective in engendering such rejection among fellow believers by the way we (“the so-called frozen chosen”) un-biblically treat others.

Rather than approaching Calvin from the doctrines of grace, unlike Calvin, we abstract God’s sovereignty from his fatherhood ending in endless esoteric debates over predestination and free-will.

Nonetheless, after reading the Institutes of John Calvin, it is clear that this mechanistic, cold-hearted paradigm of John Calvin is false.  We need another paradigm for understanding the historical John Calvin.

The goal of this essay is to present the historical person John Calvin that will provide a framework for reassessing our paradigms of him.

II.  Historical Context of Calvin:

Calvin is very much a second-generation reformer, enjoying the benefits of those who came before as well as bearing the cost of their mistakes.

Calvin was a young man when he came to Geneva.  The Reformation had been well under way.  Luther had inflamed the world with his the gospel recovery of Justification by Faith Alone.

Calvin was a lawyer by training.  His logic and legal acumen are clearly expressed in the Institutes.

It was a time of great trial for the church.  On the one hand, Martin Luther was aging and wasn’t doing a great deal to bring about the unity that Calvin so longed for. On the other hand, Calvin also recognized the import of Luther’s reformational teaching.

During this time, the plague swept through Europe killing two students who were living in Calvin’s home.

Other plagues also swept Geneva.  Calvin was plagued by slander on ever side.  His letters were stolen and misrepresented to his consistory.[1]  During Calvin’s first years, the consistory often forgot to pay him, and when they did, it was only a pittance.[2]  After being run out of Geneva, and going six months without pay, he was still accused by his detractors as being in ministry only for acquisition of property.

Calvin was also plagued by physical illnesses.  “Apart from his headaches…”, Calvin also suffered from “spitting blood when he preached too much… consumption which eventually took his life at fifty-five… abscesses that would not heal… gallstones, fever, kidney stones, intestinal influenza, and too all this was added arthritis.”[3]

And with all that, his son James, and his wife Idelette died.

This gives us but a distant glimpse of what John Calvin suffered while living in this broken world.

“We today are keenly aware of our own particular problems, but we can not pronounce John Calvin as ‘a man of like problems as ourselves.’  Our discouragements are intermittent, but for him they flowed down the years in an unbroken stream…”[4]

One of his own countrymen once wrote: “One must remember, . . . that he who fought against a world of deadly enemies was a very sick man.”[5]

III.  Reclaiming Calvin the Pastor

Nonetheless, though Calvin experienced no end to his troubles in this world, the Institutes and his other writings clearly demonstrate that he was a man full of gratitude for the great love shown to him by his heavenly Father.

The proper attitude for analyzing Calvin’s teaching is his own historical context as a person rather than anachronistically through our modern lens, or even through the lens of Protestant Scholasticism leading to the Synod of Dordt and the “Five Points of Calvinism” sixty  years after Calvin had died.

We typically abstract and systematize Calvin and his teaching by uncritically accepting historically revised presentations of him and his work disregarding his particular sitz em leben.

This impersonal abstract knowledge divorced from time and space offers little if any contemporary application, and inculcates ridicule of a man whose theology was pastorally worked out in the mission of the church.

“Calvin’s ministry, as marked and memorable as it was in so many other respects”, seen properly as a whole, “was essentially one of encouragement…  The Lord was his focal point; not man, circumstances, sin, self-examination, the church, . . . , vitally important though these were, but the Lord.”[6]

In doing so, especially in his letters, we begin to catch a vision of who John Calvin was as a man, pastor, husband and father.

Calvin loved the Lord and his neighbor.  “For most of Calvin’s ministerial life his home was the habitat of babies, children and teenagers.  It was a haven for students.”… All of his writing and ministering was not done “in an ivory-towered academic tranquility but against a background of teething troubles, growing pains, and questioning.”[7]

Our tendency is to read Calvin through the lens of Protestant Scholasticism. Seeing Calvin as a person, amidst the normal activities of life, struggling to work and love other people, helps us see him as a real person who loved Scripture rather than a heady logical systematic theologian locked up in a scholastic white tower.

In his own setting, Calvin undertook his ministerial work to pastor those around him.  He was a counselor, a friend, a confidant.  He wrote to kings, queens, and aristocrats, as well as orphans widows and paupers.

He went to the bed of a friend’s son dying of the plague, risking his own health and safety, to comfort this young man, and he paid the hospital bills and the cost of the funeral.

John Calvin provided hope and comfort to the persecuted in England and France.  He gently rebuked, corrected, and encouraged leaders in the reformation including Luther, Melancthon, and Bullinger.

Aside from his pastoral duties, “the flood tide of Calvinistic literature reached its height in 1562.  Toward the end of the period some sixty printers were at work on thirty-four presses… It was the largest single industry in the city and in one way or another absorbed the attention of much of the population.”[8]

“Today, Calvin’s works comprise 59 volumes, not to mention the unpublished works which are still being produced, among which are some 4000 letters and 2000 sermons.”[9]

I am not sure that we can gain more appreciation for this man we know as John Calvin than to listen to the words of his secretary, Nicholas des Gallars, who saw and interacted with Calvin virtually every day.  Des Gellars writes to the printer Jean Crespin:

“When I look back upon his frankness and integrity, his affectionate benevolence towards me and the familiar intimacy which I enjoyed for sixteen years, I cannot but grieve for my separation from such a friend or, I would say, such a father.  What labours, watchings and anxieties did he endure!  With what wisdom and perspicacity did he foresee all dangers and how skillfully did he go out to meet them!  No words of mine can declare the fidelity and prudence with which he gave counsel, the kindness with which he received all who came to him, the clearness and promptitude with which he replied to those who asked for his opinion on the most important questions, and the ability with which he disentangled the difficulties and problems which were laid before him.  Nor can I express the gentleness with which he would console the afflicted and raise the fallen and distressed, or his courage in adversity and moderation in prosperity.”[10]

What a eulogy! It is hard to imagine someone with whom I had spent sixteen intimate years, after my death, writing of friendship and ministry in such a way.

Only upon seeing this man in his historical setting, who lived the Christian life day in and day out, who walked by repentance and faith, are we able to adequately and properly consider Calvin’s theological contributions.

The doctrine of John Calvin is not abstract or inhuman, divorced from real life, floating around in thin air seeking for application as it were.  Rather, his teaching is living application, or a J. Gresham Maachen so aptly put it: a life built on doctrine.

IV. Update: Salutatory Prayers of a Pastor-Theologian

When people react negatively to hearing the name John Calvin, I have often thought about the above (now somewhat edited) paper I had written nearly twelve years ago for Dr. David Calhoun while studying Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion. 

At times, I attempted to counter critics of Calvin by sharing his pastoral heart and explaining the importance of hearing Calvin in his own historical and cultural context rather than uncritically swallowing modern, cynical, “predetermined and fatalistic” historically uninformed revisions erroneously portraying Calvin as “deterministic” and “fatalistic.”

This week, while researching for a PhD assignment on The Impact of the Recovery of Adoption on Evangelism (in process), I have been reading a dissertation entitled An Historical Study of the Doctrine of Adoption in the Calvinistic Tradition by Dr. Tim J. R. Trumper.

In Trumper’s dissertation, he provides so much more evidence of Calvin’s pastoral heart. Finally, after reading consecutive references to salutary prayers written in letters by Calvin to people and groups he loved and pastored, I decided to dust of my old paper, add these benedictory prayers to it, and share it with others.

One may still consider Calvin cold and harsh. Apart from being historically inaccurate, it robs the church of reading and understanding Calvin truly as an extraordinary pastor-theologian. Without question, had John Calvin been the person modern history depicts him as, no one then or now would bother.

Believe me, I have not always been a Calvinist. Reconsidering John Calvin in his historical context profoundly changed my view of him as a person and his ministry, enriched my understanding of the reformed faith, and deepened my love for the doctrines of grace he championed so effectively.

Instead of the doctrines of grace being abstract, esoteric and dead, they became personal, covenantal, living and loving orthodoxy; a change similar to that experienced reading Augustine’s City of God again after having read his Confessions.

My guess is that the doctrines of grace are so offensive to our darkened hearts and the gospel is so powerful that it seems easier to attempt assassination of the messenger than it is to kill the message.

Enjoy the pastoral heart of this theologian and pastor John Calvin as he continues to pray and pastor us today.[11] May we who pastor and study theology admit our own need of fervent prayer while praying for and pastoring God’s people in such a way.

“Whereupon, my well beloved brethren, after having commended myself to your fervent prayers, I entreat our heavenly Father to hold you in his holy protection, to guide you by his Spirit in all prudence and uprightness, to confirm you in full virtue and constancy, and to make use of you more amply, not permitting his enemies to gain any advantage over you, whatever they may devise. – Your brother, John Calvin” (Letter to the Brethern of Poitou, Sept 3, 1554)

“Whereupon, beloved brethren, having commended myself to your fervent prayers, I supplicate our heavenly Father to be to you as a fortress and rampart against all your enemies, to support you in the midst of their fury, in the mean time to govern you by his Holy Spirit in upright wisdom and charity, so that, in despite of Satan and his agents, his name may be glorified in you to the end.” (To the Church of Angers, April 19, 1556)

“Whereupon I pray our heavenly Father to give you counsel and prudence, to mortify all disorderly passions; and in general to have you in his keeping, to fortify you with his invincible power, and to prevent what he has built up in you from falling into ruin. My brethren greet you, and I especially desire to be commended to your fervent prayers.” (To the French Church of Frankfort, Feb 23, 1559)

“For my own part, I could wish that God had given me the means of being nearer at hand to assist you, but since that is not possible I will pray our merciful Father that since he has confided you to the keeping of our Lord Jesus Christ, he would cause you to feel how safe you are under so good a protector, to the end that you may cast all your cares upon him; and that he would be pleased to have compassion on you and all those who are in affliction, delivering you from the hands of the ungodly. And as he has once made you partakers of the knowledge of the truth, that he would, from day to day, increase you therein, making it bring forth fruits to his glory.” (To Bullinger, Jan 25, 1560)

Col. (Ret) Don Robert McEachern

Lieutenant Colonel Don Robert McEachern went peacefully to be with his Lord and Savior on Wednesday, January 23rd, 2013, in Nashville, TN after a period of declining strength and health which he endured with patience and humor. The span of his earthly pilgrimage was eighty-eight years, two months and three days.

The only son of Don and Mayhoward Austin McEachern of Jacksonville, Florida, Col. McEachern married Bette Whitehurst on

New Year’s Day in 1948. He bravely served his country as a Marine Corps pilot in the Korean War, during which time he was awarded numerous medals,

including the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Purple Heart. After graduating from the University of Florida with a degree in mechanical engineering, he became a loyal employee of E. I. DuPont de Nemours Co. in South Carolina and in Old Hickory, Tennessee.

Col. McEachern faithfully served the Lord as a founding elder of Hickory Grove Church in Mt. Juliet, TN and as a founding member of the Rafiki Foundation, a mission organization devoted to meeting the needs of widows and orphans in Africa.

Col. McEachern was a steadfast servant to his family, and his concern for their welfare was voiced again in his final days. He was a loving brother, husband, father, grandfather and great- father, and an example to all in his church and community. His strength of character, his humility, and his gentle, generous heart will be missed.

Survivors include wife Bette, of the home; daughters Beverly Coffee and son in-law Gary, of Nashville, TN, Barbara McLaughlin and son in-law Chip, of Prescott, AZ, Bonnie Lloyd and son in-law Kevin, of Philadelphia, PA; son Don McEachern, Jr. and daughter in-law Christi, of Mt. Juliet, TN; grandchildren Kirsten, Aaron, Taylor, Katherine, Dylan, Grace, Reynolds, Molly, and Tripp; great-grandson Caden; sisters Jeanne Thune, Candi Ray, Rosemary Jensen, Cecil Young, and Austin Brayfield; and nineteen nieces and nephews.

“Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them” (Revelation 14:13).

Services are with Middle Tennessee Veterans Cemetery located at 7931 McCrory Lane Nashville, TN 37221 on Monday January 28, 2013 at 11:00 AM.

Visitation will be with Hibbett & Hailey Funeral Home located at 429 Donelson Pike Nashville, TN 37214 on Sunday January 27, 2013 from 4:00 PM – 8:00PM.

In lieu of flowers Memorial Contributions can be made to Rafiki Foundation http:// http://www.rafikifoundation.org/ or Hickory Grove PCA, http://hickorygrovepca.org/.