Training Other Men
Training Other Men
(Matthew 28:19-20; 2nd Timothy 2:2)
I.WHY TRAIN OTHER MEN? (Needs, Commands and Examples)
Why train other Men? A Moment’s reflection will show you at least three reasons. First, the needs of Christ’s Churches can only be met when we train other men. Second, the Biblical commands for pastors to train other men are clear. And third, the examples in Scripture of training other men are numerous. What more motivation do we need? Follow my thoughts now.
A. First—Needs That Can Only Be Met By Training Other Men
Several needs of Christ’s Churches can only be met when we train other men. The need of the hour, in every generation, is for godly men to be raised up to serve at home, in the local Church, and in the wider work of the Kingdom of God. Patiently stay with me as I show you why you must enter upon this new effort of training other men.
We need men of God to lead our Christian families. From Genesis to Revelation, the Word of God highlights again and again the importance of the husband and the father in the home. Men who are not good husbands and fathers leave a legacy of spiritual mediocrity and disaster behind them. I am sure several Biblical characters come to mind whose lives were marred or helped by their husband or father. Pastor after pastor I talk to complain of the lack of godly men, growing men, men who can lead in their homes and then outside their homes. You yourself may have cried out to God: “Where are the men of God?” The need of the hour in family after family, Church after Church, is for godly men to lovingly lead their wives and children in the things of God. If the husband cares more about making money and advancing his career than he does about the eternal destinies of his wife and children, then the family will soon show the effects of his idolatry of work and success and the so-called ‘good life.’
Our surrounding secular culture has been under the judgment of God for some time, as explained in Romans 1:18-32. We have been given over to a graceless condition of moral and spiritual blindness and stupidity. We cannot see, let alone solve our true national problems. It depresses biblically-sensitive readers to see a national weekly new magazine have as its cover story: “Men and Women—Are They Different?” Yet this is only a recent skirmish in the three-decade-long war to obscure or clarify maleness, femaleness and the family. The war has produced millions of marriage and family casualties and brought national cultural upheaval and devolution. Some modern writers are fighting a rearguard action by pointing out the foolishness of the past several decades. [Cf. Representative voices would be social critic George Gilder, MEN AND MARRIAGE; Pelican; family activist and think-tank president David Blankenhorn, FATHERLESS AMERICA; Confronting Our Most Urgent Social Need; Basic Books; Orthodox priest and conference speaker Weldon Hardenbrook; MISSING FROM ACTION; Vanishing Manhood in America; Thomas Nelson; experts on the impact of divorce on children, Judith Wallerstein, Julia Lewis and Sandra Blakeslee, THE UNEXPECTED LEGACY OF DIVORE: A 25 Year Landmark Study; Hyperion; and even a Harvard historian, Steven Ozment, WHEN FATHERS RULED: Family Life in Reformation Europe; Harvard.]
As American culture has been in the throes of this battle for marriage and the family, the Churches have not been silent. Pastors and theologians have identified the issues and alerted the Churches. But the need still stands to train men to be Biblical singles, Biblical husbands, Biblical fathers and Biblical older men. We cannot take for granted that conversion gives a man all he needs to know about manhood, marriage, child raising and leadership. There may have been a time a few decades ago when a family could begin to attend your Church, be converted and hit the ground running. There was then much more common grace in American culture than there is today. We can no longer assume very much, if any, understanding of Biblical manhood, marriage, the Church nurture of children, and aging among our families coming to us from the world. Even many Churches have allowed the culture to dictate their views of gender, marriage and the family. We cannot be passive but must become proactive in teaching our people these things. We must proactively train our men in these areas.
Next, we need men of God to lead our Churches. It has always been God’s way to use men. As A. W. Tozer pointedly said: “God the Holy Spirit does not fill rabbits.” The cry in the Churches around the world is for men, godly men, men who will lead at home and then in the Church. Too many Churches are functionally led by women. Once, when asked why there were so few men in the British Churches, London pastor, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones replied: “Because there are so many old ladies in the pulpits!” If pastors themselves are not truly Biblical men, men of God, they will not attract men. A famous evangelist stung the men of one large Baptist Church here in Atlanta when he challenged them by saying: “You work and dream and sweat to put Coca-Cola and UPS (Atlanta based corporations) on the map around the world. But you have small visions and little energy for Jesus Christ and to spread His fame around the world!” And this evangelist was right. Young business and professional men are far more concerned about pouring their lives into their jobs and careers than they are at pouring themselves into being Christ-like churchmen. South African mission leader Michael Cassidy wrote of men “giving up their small ambitions.” There is more to life for the Christian man than money, fame and power. Our family and our Church family need Christ-like male leadership. They do not need men of confused gender and pitiful priorities who give Christ, their family and His Church the dregs of their lives. The barrenness of so many men’s busy lives today silently preaches that men must change.
And don’t be too quick to listen to those who say that life is too hard in our day, and time is too precious for men to give up their frantic pursuit of financial security and personal success for serving Christ in His Churches. Life has always been hard since the fall. By the sweat of his brow a man must labor among the thistles and thorns of farming, business, industry and technology. When was it ever easy and leisurely for men to provide for the families’ needs?
But God gives men to the Churches as gifts, men who have enough grace to slake the thirst of their own souls from the wells of salvation and slake the thirst of their families and others in their local Churches. Our Lord promised His hearers that coming to Christ would enlarge a man, magnify his abilities and multiply his life. The Head of the Church cried out to the thirsty crowds on the Jewish feast day recorded in John 7:37-38, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me as the Scripture has said: ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Verse 39 tells the reader that Jesus was referring to the Holy Spirit who was yet to be given in His fullness at Pentecost. Our Lord was giving a mental picture of the expansive life the Holy Spirit would create within each regenerate heart. He was not promising a drop or a cup or a bucket of the Spirit’s living water. He promised a river! Surely such an expansive heart has an overflow to others. Late in John 10:10b, when comparing His ministry to His sheep as the Good Shepherd with the ministry of the hireling shepherds, the Pharisees and Sadducees, our Lord said: “ I came that they might have life and have it abundantly.” The word abundantly means more than enough. It means you have more than you need. Men who have truly entered into the new birth have the means to look beyond themselves and give to others. Men who have truly entered into the new birth are trained to be Biblical, channel their overflowing lives within the riverbanks set out in God’s Word. Regeneration produces life and energy and the Bible provides the guidelines for what the regenerate person is to be and do. Men who are saved and trained are a mighty source for good in the local Church.
Thirdly, we need men of God to build up the Kingdom of God beyond the local Church. In Matthew 9:35-38 our Lord exhorted His disciples (and us) to pray to “the Lord of the Harvest” that HE might raise up harvesters for the harvest fields. The harvest is great but the workers are few. For a man to leave his Church, his culture and the comforts of the ‘known,’ something greater than human persuasion and motivation is needed. Divine authority must call and compel a man to go. That is why we must pray for these divinely called men to recognize the call of God on their lives and faithfully answer the call with active obedience. Pitifully few good men are coming forth to become missionary Church planters abroad. Women are seeking to fill the vacuum in seminaries and on the mission field. Where are the men? We pastors must pray for our men that the Lord of the Harvest might call men from each of our Churches to give up their small, self-centered ambitions and become zealous for Christ, the Spirit-anointed preaching of His gospel, the in-gathering of His elect and the spread of His glory throughout the earth.
B. Second, the Biblical Commands for Training Other Men
In Matthew 28:19-20, our Lord commanded His Apostles (and through them the Churches of all generations) to go into all the world and make disciples. The imperative was make disciples. The other verbs in the sentence are explanatory. It is by going, baptizing in the name of the Trinity and teaching all things that Jesus taught that making disciples is accomplished. Taking the initiative and going to the lost with the gospel, baptizing those who respond in repentance and faith, and then teaching them “all things whatsoever I have commanded you” rounds out the job description of making disciples. The Lord was not interested in spraying the masses with the gospel before some ‘secret rapture’ occurred but truly making lasting Christians, Biblical disciples. To change the metaphor, He wanted decisions that became disciples. Too much of the evangelism of the past hundred years had been of the shallow, superficial kind that seeks to induce a decision that is countable, but does not take the time to truly make disciples. Sad studies have shown that in nation-wide evangelism strategies that targeted the masses of America with the minimalist approach to evangelism and fulfilling the ‘Great Commission’, less than one percent of the ‘so-called decisions’ last one year to become disciples who would become enfolded in local congregations. One international student ministry discovered that when a study was done of their model campus ministry, the majority of senior leadership students were not walking with Christ five years later. Something is terribly wrong. What happened in upstate New York in the early 10th century when Charles Finney’s ministry produced “the Burned Over District” has happened to our entire nation. Multitudes had been inoculated by Finney’s gospel (and even outwardly responded) but precious few actually got the real disease of Biblical Christianity! If we would follow our Lord and not aim for decisions but “making disciples,” how different our Churches would be, how different American Christianity would be. Christ’s command has never been rescinded. We are still under its divine mandate.
Also our Lord’s delegated apostle, Paul, commanded his young assistant, Timothy, to aim at making disciples. In his final letter, with all the important issues he wanted to leave clearly focused in Timothy’s mind, Paul emphasized making disciples. In II Timothy 2:2, Paul wrote: “And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” Herin lies the genius of a faithful ministry – men ‘discipling’ men who in turn disciple other men. The torch of truth must be passed on through the men from generation to generation of Christians by means of faithful disciple making. Our Lord saved Paul and uniquely made the message clear to him. He in turn disciples young Timothy, as if he was a spiritual son. Timothy in turn was to pour the truth into faithful vessels, men who would in turn find faithful men to relay the truth on. Four generations of faithful men—Paul, Timothy, “Faithful men” and “others.” We do not need to jazz up or somehow enhance a weak gospel. We need to faithfully teach and preach the Biblical gospel and see to it that identifiably faithful men will take the unadulterated gospel on to the next generation. That is Biblical church growth. That is how to grow a Church. One well known Christian leader I heard made being faithful seem so vanilla and bland that men at lunch afterward were bemoaning their uncreative, non-innovative ministries. He had crowed that he liked to be creative and innovative—he called it “pushing the envelope” and these men bemoaned that they did not have the gifts or temperament or energy level of the speaker. But if this speaker only knew his own heart, Church history and Scripture, better he would see how hard it is to be faithful. To end your days as faithful is no small thing. The Pastoral Epistles and indeed the whole of the New Testament holds up faithfulness as the model. Faithfulness is not blandness nor is it least-common-denominator-Christianity, but fidelity to the Biblical gospel. We can believe that the Apostle Paul did not fill his final letter to his chosen and loved assistant with fluff or small talk. The primary and important things of a pastor who wants to hear the Lord say: “Well done, good and faithful servant” is to disciple faithful men who will in turn be able to teach others the Biblical truth without adulteration or pollution or diminution. So, both our Lord’s closing command to His Church and Christ’s great Apostle’s closing command to his assistant tell us to make disciples in our ministry. What more instruction do we need?
C. Third, Biblical Examples of Training Other Men
The method of God the Son to establish His Kingdom upon the earth was to pour His life and teaching into twelve men. Christ’s example in the gospels is to build by multiplication. Our Lord did not want to end His ministry with only Himself as the lone competent person to carry on the ministry. He knew He was leaving. He repeatedly talked of His impending departure. The Cross and the Resurrection, the 40 days of appearances and then the Ascension would take Him from the scene. What was the Church left with to compensate for the loss of its Leader? Twelve Spirit-filled leaders who would soon fan out and expand the scope of Christ’s ministry, thereby doing greater things than He did in His ministry. Our Lord’s ministry to men was principalized in Luke 6:40—“A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.” Christ had hand-picked and personally trained twelve men, even though one would become the son of perdition. But nevertheless He had twelve assistants who duplicated and multiplied His ministry. The Greek word for disciple means follower and learner. It was commonly used by the rabbis and even the Greek philosophers. Such groups had their disciples, even as John the Baptist had disciples. Our Lord had His committed followers and learners who would replicate His ministry. Many people, men, women and undoubtedly children followed our Lord as disciples. From within this mass of disciples, Jesus chose the Twelve who would become Apostles for specialized training and commissioning. Among the Twelve, there was the inner circle of three who are most frequently seen with our Lord (Peter, James and John). As you reread the gospel accounts, you will notice in a new way the special time our Lord spent with these three. Of the three, He was especially close to John, the disciple Jesus loved. Notice, too, in the gospels that our Lord commissioned Seventy more disciples to take the gospel out from their midst, verifying that the Kingdom of God had come upon them. If you go through the gospels highlighting the times our Lord was with the Twelve, the Three or the Seventy, it is eye-opening how committed He was to training men as the means to continue and expand His ministry.
Our Lord’s example is not alone in the New Testament; the example of Barnabas training other men is outlined for us. A true “son of encouragement” as his name reads, he seemed to have a special gift for spotting underdeveloped men and bringing them along to be more useful to the Savior. When the Churches were tempted to treat Saul of Tarsus and his recently professed conversion as an obvious ploy to infiltrate and expose the Christian community, it is Barnabas who takes Saul/Paul under his wing and stamps upon him the imprimatur of his own credibility (cf. Acts 4:36-37; 8:1-3; 9:1-30; and 13:1-13). It is not long before “Barnabas and Saul” become “Saul and Barnabas” (cf. 13:2 and 13:13). You may well discover that one of the men you train exceeds you in usefulness to the Master. I know one pastor who trained a young teacher in his congregation who seemed teachable and hungry to grow as a Christian. This young teacher proved to have outstanding gifts and abilities in studying and teaching the Bible. He was soon on his way to becoming a faithful and much-used evangelical and Reformed theologian and seminary professor.
Barnabas’ ministry of training men did not stop with Paul. Young John Mark had assisted Barnabas and Paul on a previous trip but had dropped out and left their ministry. Later, when Barnabas wanted to reinstate John Mark, Paul would have none of it. Their differing appraisals of John Mark led to a heated difference and division of the ministry. Paul took Silas and went his way; Barnabas took John Mark and went his way. Both Silas and John Mark proved to be good and faithful men who would be able to teach others also. John Mark was salvaged and would later assist his uncle, Peter, in his ministry. Many scholars, as you know, believe John Mark’s gospel is really Simon Peter’s gospel filtered through John Mark as his secretary. Later, Paul himself would ask for John Mark’s help, praising his usefulness. You can follow the skeleton of Barnabas’ ministry to John Mark by comparing Acts 15:38-39; Colossians 4:10; Philemon 24; II Timothy 4:11 and I Peter 5:13. So Paul’s 13 epistles and Peter’s gospel were written by men who were one time viewed as questionable for the ministry but were invaluable when trained by Barnabas. To put it another way, the Holy Spirit inspired over half of our New Testament to be written by men Barnabas had discipled!
Not only our Lord Jesus and Barnabas, but the Apostle Paul also leaves us an example of training other men. The record of New Testament training reveals that Paul took men wherever he went, and the implication becomes clear that he was training them: Silas (Acts 15:40), Timothy (Acts 16:3); Aquila and Priscilla (Acts 18:18), Erastus (Acts 19:22 and Romans 16:23), Sopater or Berea (Acts 20:4), Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica (Acts 20:4), Gaius from Derbe (Acts 20:4), Tychicus and Trophemus from the province of Asia (Acts 20:4), and Luke the physician (not the “we” portions of Luke’s book of Acts of the Apostles). Paul was a great preacher of the gospel and teacher of the Scriptures, but he was also a great trainer of men. While some portray him as the indomitable loner, Paul almost always had his men with him. In fact it is rare for him to be alone! He was the faithful apostle of the “good deposit,” always preaching and teaching wherever he went. But frequently unnoticed by Bible students, is that wherever Paul went he trained men. (It is a most enlightening exercise to reread Acts and Paul’s epistles and look for references to Paul’s ministry to men.) We are too often creatures who limit ourselves by our “either-or” mindsets. Some of us are the scholarly, bookish type, known for always being in our studies, alone with our books. Others are known as vibrant “people-persons,” always gathering people around us. Frequently left imbalanced by remaining sin, we wrongly think one must choose between studies or people. Paul was both a man of the Book and his books and a man among his men.
And Paul’s final letter to his “son in the faith,” young Timothy, emphasizes that Timothy must train men, faithful men, who would be the ones to do the same and so multiply both of their ministries. We briefly looked at II Timothy 2:2 above. Let’s go there again. Paul gives Timothy detailed instructions for training other men. Paul begins by saying “…and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses…” and this refers to the “deposit,” that is, the gospel that Paul and the other Apostles had entrusted to them by the Lord Christ. A soon-to-be-martyred Paul speaks of the need to guard this sacred trust in II Timothy 1:13-14. Whatever else a faithful disciple may know; he must know the contents of the gospel and be clear as a bell about it. Today we see pastor after pastor, Christian leader after Christian leader, who is not clear on the gospel. Martin Luther noted that the least one could believe and truly be saved and thus be an evangelical believer was justification by faith alone. This is the gospel in a nutshell. Paul distills its essence in II Corinthians 5:21 – “For God made Him who knew no sin to become sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” The sins of the believing sinner are imputed to Christ and the righteousness of Christ is imputed to the believing sinner. Even in so-called evangelical circles today, one hears only half of the gospel-“Christ died for your sins.” The reverse side, His righteousness is imputed to believers, is rarely taught amount today’s self-professed evangelicals. And yet evangelicals have lost the evangel. So the resulting spiritual poverty and impotence of the Churches should be no surprise to us. Faithful men are to guard the deposit of the faith once and for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3).
Paul also calls Timothy to be faithful to guard his pastoral calling. The context for this observation is set in Chapter 1, verses 13-14. Paul exhorts Timothy to follow the pattern or template of sound words he heard from Paul. Timothy could use his own words and phraseology in his preaching but he was to stay in the template or pattern marked out for him by Christ’s Apostle, Paul. It is no easy thing to carry out your ministry throughout your lifetime and never dilute or obscure the gospel. If faithfulness to our message is not easy, neither is the faithfulness of our lives. Timothy was instructed to flesh out his orthodoxy of sound doctrine with the orthopraxy of “faith and love.” Timothy heard Paul preach on many occasions. Usually it was for a local, gathered assembly of believers. Paul also preached at Timothy’s ordination when the council of elders (presbytery) laid hands on Timothy. One could probably view II Timothy 2:2 as a solemn repetition of Timothy’s ordination charge to keep the gospel unsullied and pristine. But Paul had more for young Timothy to do if he was to earn the coveted title of faithful. Timothy’s charge was to preach the Scriptures and the gospel contained in them (cf. II Timothy 1:13-14 and 1:18-19 with 4:1-5). He was not to make up his own message or cater to the varying desires of his fallen hearers. He was to preach the Word. Faithful preachers down through church history have not found that limiting or cumbersome. Indeed, that most prolific of preachers, Charles Spurgeon, said if he was asked by the Lord to preach on into eternity, he would ask the Lord to preach the Scriptures and that would be sufficient for him!
Having proven to be faithful himself, Timothy was also to entrust this good deposit of the gospel of “faithful men.” A man must be faithful. He must train faithful men. He can only entrust the deposit to faithful men. Timothy was to make sure the next level or generation of preachers was to be made up of faithful men who could “color within the lines” also. “Faithful men” were men who kept the template in tact, who did not rub out the edges of the pattern of “sound words.” It was paramount that each generation of preachers gets the gospel right. High-energy men who are restless by nature like to brag that they like innovation and experimentation. But men who know their hearts and who know the Scriptures, know that simply being faithful is a huge accomplishment, attained by far fewer men than who think they do. To keep the gospel unadulterated, unchanged and undiluted is very hard. While the word faithful may seem old-fashioned and weak, like the Bible word, meek, it is not. It is God’s own chosen word and it is required of men entrusted with a sacred charge that they prove faithful (I Cor. 4:1-2). Christian pastors want faithful written on their tombstones, not innovative, not creative, not he pushed the envelope. Those terms are left for the biographies of the liberals, the heretics and the heterodox. Biblical shepherds want to hear our Lord say on Judgment Day, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” They would shudder to hear the words creative or innovative used of their teaching and ministry. Bible men simply want to be faithful. Think of it this way: Primitivists are those who want to be able to trace the history of their church right back to Christ and His Apostles. In doing so they think it lends authority and credibility to their ministry. Some groups in Christendom boast of their apostolic succession. Well, the true apostolic succession is the faithful transmission of the gospel from one man down to another generation of faithful men. The faithfulness of these men is both their faithful adherence to the truth of the gospel and also their faithful depositing the truth in another generation of faithful men “…who will be able to teach others also.”
The teaching skills referred to here do not necessarily refer to those who have formal training in educational methods and advanced degrees. A clear understanding of the truth and a personal desire to preach and teach it to others is what is in view. A man does not necessarily have to go to seminary to gain these truths and have them firmly lodged in his heart and mind. God’s apostolic succession is faithful men training faithful men in the unadulterated gospel. Multiplying faithful men is God’s time-honored method. Before the New Testament had been completed, it was especially crucial that the truth of the gospel and the details of the Scriptures not be lost. The Word of God and the gospel must remain free from error. Yet today, there is still validity in this process. The gospel is still being lost by unfaithful men. Impostors and charlatans still plague the Churches with their gospel-lite and their journey down paths of heresy. The price for keeping the truth and keeping the Church in the truth is our perpetual vigilance in guarding the gospel in its content and those to whom we entrust its teaching. If the saving message of the gospel is watered down so God the Holy Spirit no longer accompanies it with saving power, one can soon write Ichabod over the doorways of that Church.
II. WHAT GOALS SHOULD YOU HAVE FOR THE MEN YOU TRAIN?
A. First, You are Training Men to be Men - Men of God
Your primary goal is to train men to be men of God; Christ-like men. If they are married, then being a man of God involves being the Christ-like head of their wife and the loving and faithful nurturer of their children in the things of the Lord. Let’s look at this a minute. We must begin at the beginning. I am not trying to be cute, but basic and observant. God’s grace saves sinful men to be Christian men. God does not save men to be feminine or robotic or sub-human. They are to be men filled with the Spirit and progressively conformed to Christ. Biblical manhood should not be taken for granted. Paul told young Titus to instruct those under his charge with sound doctrine about gender- Christian men, older and younger, are to act like this (Titus 2:1-2, 6-8, 11-14). Paul tells young Timothy to teach those under his charge how Christian men are to conduct themselves in the local assembly (I Timothy 2:8-15).
The need is the same today. After a quarter of a century of gender bending by the increasing graceless and clueless American culture, American Churches have assimilated people into their memberships who neither understand nor strive to be examples of Biblical manhood and womanhood. God’s Word teaches that Spirit-filled husbands and fathers exhibit identifiable traits according to Ephesians 5:16-6:4. God’s Word also teaches that Scripture-filled husbands and fathers exhibit identifiable traits, according to Colossians 3:16-21. (Note that the same traits are taught in both passages; the passages reveal two sides of the same coin.) God’s Word also teaches that Christian men who are single must learn to channel their energy into godly and constructive goals, according to I Corinthians 7:6-9. An orthodox Church with an Orthodox confession and an orthodox pulpit which does not have faithful men incarnating these orthodox truths, and in turn ministering out of the overflow of their lives to their wives and children, is not a healthy Church. It is a sick and weak Church that only has a name for orthodoxy. Later I will mention resources to help you at each step of the way, but you must first be very clear in your mind about this. If you do not train men to be men and men of God, then you will have failed in entrusting the good deposit to faithful men. If the men of your Church and their marriages are Biblical (not perfect but faithful to Scriptural norms), then you will have a healthy foundation from which to build faithful men. But men who are derelict at home cannot rise higher. You would not want them to. Scripture forbids men who are not faithful at home from multiplying their mediocrity. Train your men to be men who know Christ and love Him and His gospel and who love their wives and their children for Christ’s sake. Their success at home is their credibility with others. If a man can’t handle four people, why entrust forty to him? Biblical wisdom says “No, let him manage four well first and then we may give him forty.”
B. Second, you are Training Men to be Office-Bearers in the Local Church
Some of the men you train to be faithful men of God and husbands and fathers may well later become Elders for a local Church. Faithful men are the spiritual backbone of any congregation. Paul gives clear instructions as to who is qualified to be considered to be an elder and clear instruction as to what elders do. Biblical guidelines say nothing about them being wealthy, powerful men who are appointed to Church leadership so they will give more and be more committed to the local Church and whose sole duty is to show up occasionally for meetings to make decisions. Such carnal thinking about the nature of local Church leadership is common and reaps great havoc; like begets like. If ungodly men lead a Church, that Church will be ungodly. If godly men lead a Church, blessed will be that Church and it will promote godliness. Godless rulers are a curse to whatever they rule – whether it be a city, a Church or a home. Paul’s Spirit-inspired instructions as to who qualifies to be an elder/overseer/shepherd are clear from comparing I Timothy 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-9 and Acts 20:17-35. Elders are to be time-tested men of God who watch over the well-being of God’s flock as those who must give an account to God for this sacred trust (Hebrews 13:17). You are seeking to build men who will feed the flock, guard the flock, and guide the flock in the Word of God, under the authority of Jesus Christ, the Chief Shepherd.
Some of the men you train may well become Deacons. Deacons are seen in the New Testament as assistants to the elders in ministering to the flock of God. Paul lists their qualifications in I Timothy 3:8-13. Paul does not believe we should guess or be in the dark as to what qualities are necessary for leadership in the local assembly; he spells them out for young Timothy. Luke recorded how the needs of ministry grew in the early Church such that an order of local Church officers was created to meet physical and fiscal needs. These proto-deacons in Acts 6:1-6 freed up the Apostles and elders in the Church in Jerusalem for teaching and prayer. That is what godly and faithful deacons do today. In this you are seeking to build men who will aid the Elders in serving the flock.
C. Third – Your are Training Men for Wider Service in God’s Worldwide
Kingdom
The Church of Jesus Christ always needs godly pastors and missionary church planters. God Himself sovereignly equips and calls them, but HE does not do this in a vacuum. The Sovereign God has sovereignly chosen to work through means. He normally does His sovereign work in and through local congregations where young men first gain knowledge of Christ and the glory of preaching His gospel. As I mentioned earlier, our Lord’s commission recorded in Matthew 28:19-20 has never been rescinded. Our Lord’s command to “…go into all the world and make disciples…” is still fully in force. Likewise when the Master told the Twelve in Acts 1:8 to wait for the promised Holy Spirit, He promised them that the Holy Spirit would enable Christ’s men to be witnesses “to the uttermost parts of the world.” The world still needs the gospel. All of Christ’s elect have not been brought into the fold. We have much sacrificial work to do “until all the ransomed Church of God be saved to sin no more” (II Timothy 2:10). God the Holy Spirit still makes men supernaturally endowed witnesses to the truth of Christ and the gospel of “Ruin by the Fall, Ransom by the Son and Regeneration by the Holy Spirit.” And He is still compelling men to leave home and hearth to go to that last jungle, that last barrio, that last metroplex, that last valley, that last frozen wasteland, and that last neighbor next door. Some of the men we train may well be called to take the gospel abroad and plant churches where none are currently found. As I mentioned earlier, too many men today dream only of their career and putting their name or their company’s name on the map. Too often it has been left to discerning women to see the spiritual needs and feel the spiritual burdens that the men around them did not acknowledge. The history of missions is sadly full of examples of single women who went because men were not faithful to go. Let’s do our part to see to it that good men are trained and available for the Lord of the Harvest to send into the harvest field.
III. SOME NUTS AND BOLTS OF TRAINING MEN
A. How to Gather Men
First, gathering men precedes training them. That seems obvious but we must keep it in mind. And to rightly father men we must do several things. We must pray. I said earlier that the Lord Jesus specifically tells His people in Matthew 9:35-38 to pray earnestly to the Lord of the Harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. God raises up men. We can work until we are blue in the face but without prayer it is not faithfulness, it is only fleshly activity. God can bring men out of nowhere and right from under your nose. Early in my ministry days I needed to learn two lessons. The first was hard prayer. The second was hard work. Both together comprise the Christian ministry. I spent months, from September through March, laboring from dawn till dusk. I labored to contact and meet with many young men. But while the prospects were many, I did not see where my men were. Then I began to pray in earnest. John 15:16 jumped off the page. “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, He may give it to you.” What I saw so clearly was that God’s sovereign calling of men was intertwined with my prayer for my men. As I began to pray in earnest, that week God raised up the men who would become the backbone of my first ministry. Only God can give enduring fruit. Only the Lord of the Harvest sovereignly chooses and calls men. And in answer to prayer, He enables His Churches to recognize His called leaders-to-be.
Second, you must sow broadly. Jesus preached to the multitudes and invited those who knew themselves to be weary and burdened with their sins to come to Him (Matthew 11:28-30). And those effectually called did come. It is a mistake to sow narrowly and hope to see a mega-harvest from a small plot of land. The more you sow, the more men the Lord may raise up. Besides preaching on the Lord’s Day, take opportunities to preach to service clubs, baccalaureate services, jails, nursing homes, military bases, ladies’ clubs and wherever else you would have freedom to preach the Word of God. Also have occasional men’s night out where you gather at the Church or someone’s home to watch a movie together and analyze its implications Biblically. ( It does not take great discernment to use monuments of common grace like Chariots of Fire, It’s a Wonderful Life, The Caine Mutiny, The Devil and Daniel Webster, The Straight Store, The Kid, The Elephant Man, The Hiding Place, or other similar movies to pique discussion and Biblical analysis). As men begin to respond, you can also begin to offer things that require a bit more commitment. For thirty years I have had men’s groups that required a bit more commitment of time, effort and sacrifice on the part of the participants. Early in the day during the workweek (like 6:15-7:30 a.m.) and Saturday mornings are good. Such meetings should be open to all the men in your ministry. You should make your invitations to come public and clear. And pray. And see who the Lord brings. (Requiring that they go outside the normal Church comfort zone of Sunday morning, Sunday evening and Wednesday evening shows whether spiritual growth and usefulness are important to them.) I also privately exhort men I believe to be underdeveloped to come. They have heard the public invitation. Then I give them a private invitation. The Lord will winnow out those who have no real appetite for God, no hunger and thirst for righteousness.
Third, you must clearly identify those you are going to train. You cannot be too careful here. Our Lord is recorded to have spent a whole night in prayer before choosing the Twelve. If you have one chance to pour your life into men, which men are you going to choose? To choose poorly and wrongly is to waste your precious time. What man can afford to pour his life into unfaithful men? To do so is to risk wasting a lifetime – a precious stewardship entrusted to you by God. Have the biblical marker of faithfulness before you as you pray over your men. Who seems to be truly hungry and thirsty for righteousness? Who is regularly poor of spirit and seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness? Who is faithful in little things (Luke 16:10)? Who has a heart for God and a teachable attitude? Who craves attention but seems to have little appetite for Christ? Don’t look at the outward man (I Samuel 16:10), nor even the gifts. Ask the Lord for discernment of heart issues. As Robert Murray McCheyne reminds us, it is not great gifts that God blesses so much as great likeness to Christ. Which men pursue holiness? Which men are jealous for Christ’ glory? Which men are zealous for Christ in witnessing? Which men so walk with Christ that there is an overflow of their lives into the families first and then to others outside their families also?
Fourth, you must test them. Give them menial things to do that require faithfulness and humility. Give them things to do that are detestable to the flesh. Fleshly egos want to do fleshly and important things, but will not do the everyday, faithful things. Those who do not show up for practice don’t start on game day! Neither should men think they can be unfaithful in little things and be called upon to do big things. Our Lord delegated His men to get food while He talked with the woman at the well (John, who recorded the exchange, excepted). He sent them into town to get a donkey for him to ride upon later during the so-called Triumphal Entry. If men cannot get food or a donkey with a good attitude and faithful adherence to the directives, don’t multiply their unfaithfulness by giving them larger spheres of mediocrity. Also give men things to do that will test their metal. Take them witnessing. Take them with you when you are to speak somewhere and have them give their testimony. Have them publicly identify themselves with Christ and His cause. This will help them burn some psychological bridges and help burn the gospel into their mind. See if they can teach by giving them a small group to lead and teach for a defined period of time. When the time is up, debrief and critique their work. If no one has the gift of listening to them, they probably do not have the gift of teaching. They are not lost to the Kingdom, but you had better learn their strengths and weaknesses now.
Fifth, you must personally ask and challenge them to come up higher and come in farther. Our Lord challenged men to follow Him with the promise that HE would train them to become “fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19). We can do no less. Paul could challenge men and Churches to follow him as he imitated Christ (I Corinthians 4:6 and 11:1). In doing so, we make clear the chain of command and the ultimate goal. The goal is the building up of Christ’s Kingdom and we are His under shepherds. We pastors should never be or become authoritarian, but we should biblically wield authority. Clearly asking men to follow us as we follow Christ into ministry to people in His name must be done. We should not be vague or nebulous but clear and forthright. “Here is where I am going. I believe God has worked in your heart to go down this road with me in ministering to others. I want you to follow me as I follow Christ. Will you come with me?” Give them a vision of where you want to go and pray that the Lord will work in their hearts.
Sixth and last, you must publicly identify them. In your local church context, explain publicly that Joe is being asked to teach Sunday School and that Moe is asked to lead a small group study. All authority is delegated, coming down from the Father. Your men and your people need to know that these men occupying new positions have delegated authority from the Elders. People should not have to guess and wonder, “Who appointed him teacher over us?” The answer should have come up front – as Christ’s under shepherd, you did!
B. How to Train Men
First, you train other men by example (that is, who you are). The Lord Jesus Christ’s incarnation is one great argument for the role of a godly example as the foundation of training men. Our Lord did not drop sermon outlines from heaven or a manual on sacrificial love to God and to man. He became the proverbial picture that says more than ten thousand words. Our Lord consciously acted in such ways as to leave His disciples and us today examples to flow. John 13:1-5 is the great example of greater love. Peter could never lose the memory of our Lord’s example that night and later exhorted his readers to follow Christ’s specific example of suffering in meekness (I Peter 2:21-23) and serving others rather than lording it over them (I Peter 5:1-5). The Apostle Paul taught much about the place of being an example in his discipleship. He used the word translated example or model (think template) to illustrate spiritual truth. The mark that a type face makes when it hits paper is analogous to the mark our lives leave upon others. Paul called Timothy, even though he was young, to be an example to the people, in his speech, conduct, love, faith and purity (I Timothy 4:12). He admonished the Corinthians to remember the kind of example he had been to them and challenged them to imitate his life’s pattern of faithfulness (I Corinthians 4:14-17 and 10:31-11:1). He lauded the church in Thessalonica for being an example of the maxim that “if a man will not work for his food, he should not be helped by the church: (II Thessalonians 3:9). He warned the Philippians to keep their gaze focused upon those who walk “according to the example you have in us” (3:17). He instructed young pastor Titus to be an example to the believers in Crete (2:7). He used an augmented form of the word example when he wrote Timothy that Jesus was the prototype or supreme example we are to follow (I Timothy 1:16). The power of an example cannot be overstated. The old adage “I cannot hear what you say because your actions speak too loudly” is still true today. If you are an unattractive person, if your life and conduct puts others off, if your life speaks a different message than your sermons, if you are not to some degree embodying what you profess and preach, you cannot train others – except in hypocrisy. A hypocrite is what we call someone who does not practice what he preaches. The Bible does not teach or expect perfection this side of heaven, but it does hold up faithfulness. Faithfulness is fulfillment of a stewardship as well as conformity with a code or standard. If I am a pastor who does not trust God, if I am known to be always under the pile, if I whine a lot about how hard life and the ministry are, if I am not leading and loving my family, then I am a bad example and must repent. Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones was right when he said it was a sin for a minister to fail to express confidence in God. Men who obviously know God and are hopelessly in love with His Son and consciously dependent upon His Spirit and His Word are going to be attractive to and impact others; like begets like. If you are burdened for the lost and are witnessing as a way of life, so will your men. If you bring all of life before God’s providence in Romans 8:28 fashion, so will your men. If you are a thorough repenter of your sins, so will your men be. You cannot take your men where you yourself have not gone. And if the Lord is teaching you, you ought to be passing on these lessons to your men. Some pastors are closed books that no one can read. One amazed teenager remarked in my presence that she had seen a well-known speaker after a game of tennis and she exclaimed: “He sweats!” How revealing. This man was so isolated that no one could imagine his humanity. Do you tell your men what you are learning fresh from the hand of God? Remember that the lessons the Lord teaches you are not all for your own benefit (II Corinthians 1:3-7).
Second, you train other men by sound doctrine. Teach your men the Bible. Teach your men the doctrines of the Bible. Some men have the ability to make the Bible sound interesting and they can hold an audience. But one wit described them as “Chinese dinner speakers” who “taste good at the time but an hour or so later you are hungry again.” Christianity in the west is weak because it no longer has any skeletal structure. It is an evangelly fish. It no longer teaches the great core doctrines of the Word of God. Before we cluck our tongues at others, we must be careful that we don’t fall into the error of some of our forefathers who thought that holding on to a few fundamentals was enough. That great early 20th century champion of the Bible and the historic Protestant faith, Princeton professor J. Greshman Machen, once said something to the effect that he did not use the term fundamentalist to describe himself because fundamentalism was too small a ledge to stand upon as the great waves of modernity and unbelief smashed upon the shores of America. He was a full-blooded and hearty confessionalist. The historic confessions of the Protestant churches must be returned to for their fulsome and balanced presentation of the cardinal truths of Scripture. Some men protest that they only like to teach the Bible and not use names or labels that cause people to blink and go mad – bullet words like Calvinist, Armenian, fundamentalist, liberal, conservative, moderate, evangelical, etc. In the early stages of beginning a work of reforming a dead or declining work, simple exposition of Scripture without labels may be useful. But very soon you must explain to your people that how you have been interpreting the Scriptures has a label. Otherwise, your successor may come along and exposit the Scriptures from a different theological position and undo all you have done. Your people will never learn discernment if you never learn and use labels. Labels can be helpful and descriptive of reality or they can be used in a prideful and ugly fashion. Remember, the only reason you differ from those you think are wrong is because God was gracious to you and gave you the light. “What makes you to differ?” Remember that you are teaching the truth to make your people holy, not to make them smart. Nothing is more repugnant than a professed Calvinist whose life is consumed with looking for real or imagined “Armenians and semi-Pelagians” to sword fight in the bushes. The truth is given to make us like Christ, not to position us atop the Hill of Vain Glory to rain down scorn on brethren with less biblical theology. Paul warned the gifted and learned but unholy Corinthian congregation that knowledge puffs up but love builds up (I Corinthians 8:1). If we keep clearly in mind that we are “teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you,” then we will avoid the danger of notional religion and truly be experiential Calvinists.
Don’t neglect a key weapon in your arsenal – good books. Protestants have always championed literacy because of the primacy of the Word of God (a Berean spirit) and the priesthood of the believer. To have the Bible and the great legacy of Protestant theological and devotional writings and not use them is a sin! Have your men read the best books by the best teachers. After the Bible, your men should become lovers of the best books. Protestantism’s wealth of spiritual treasure must be used and appreciated or the Lord of the church will take it from us. Remember how Paul warned the Thessalonians that people would be duped by the Antichrist and believe the lie because they did not love the truth. Protestantism in Europe and America is going down the drain precisely because we have not loved the truth and it is being taken from us. Start your men on good authors who put the cookies down where everyone can reach them. Even men who are not great readers can become great readers when they are spiritually motivated and exposed to the good stuff. Start them on Peter Jeffrey, Jerry Bridges, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, James Boice, R.C. Sproul, Don Whitney, Richard Belcher, John Blanchard, Sinclair Ferguson, James Packer, John MacArthur and similar contemporary writers who make the truth come alive and are biblically and historically faithful. (You won’t agree with everything each author says but without being unduly critical tell your men where you disagree and why. It will help them learn discernment and know that no man, not even you, is perfect. Not everything that comes from our lips is 100% true!) Give them back their great Protestant heritage. Teach them to appreciate their heritage by giving them the best of the best to begin with. Then let them try the more accessible works from the Reformers (Martin Luther, John Calvin), Puritans (Thomas Watson’s The Ten Commandments, Thomas Brooks’ Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices, John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress and The holy War, Richard Sibbes’ The Bruised Reed, Jonathan Edwards’ On Revival, Charles Spurgeon’s All of Grace), the writers of old Princeton (Alexander, the Hodges and Warfield), and the founders of the Southern Baptist Convention (Dagg, Boyce, Mell, Broadus, Manly, etc.). They can learn to love church history. Few men will not become fascinated with S. M. Houghton’s Sketches from Church History. Your men should learn to love Iain Murray’s works making church history come alive and theology seen to be the profound foundation for all of life that it is (The Forgotten Spurgeon, Jonathan Edwards, Spurgeon vs. Hyper Calvinism, Revivals and Revivalsim, Evangelicalism Divided, Pentecost – Today?, The Puritan Hope, etc.). Give them an overview of the great Puritan era by taking them through the fascinating studies of Erroll Hulse, Who were the Puritans?, and Leland Ryken’s Worldly Saints. Have them read biographies of men whose lives will challenge theirs – Augustine (The Confessions), Luther (Here I stand), the lives of Whitefiles, Judson, Carey, Paton, Lloyd-Jones, etc. The Lord will show you other classics to add to the mix. When your men ask, “Pastor, what other Christians in history believe like us?” You can show them their spiritual family tree and the long list of the faithful.
Third, you train other men by speaking the truth in love. What I mean is that you should become their encourager when they need it and their rebuker (both gently and more sternly) when they need it. Paul’s admonition of “Speaking the truth in love” (Ephesians 5:15) is literally “truthing in love.” Our men need the hard edge of unbending truth and the tender sensitivity of love. Watch yourself closely because your tendency will be to do what comes easy. If you are an encourager by nature, you must learn to say hard things too. If you are straight forward and blunt with people about the truth, be careful to learn how to be a loving encourager. Pastors who live on the pendulum don’t do well. Be both an encourager and a rebuker. Who else takes such an interest in your men’s well being and spiritual development? Who else is monitoring their life with a view to help them reach the stature of the fullness of Christ? And you, too, must be a man who takes rebuke and admonition well, without reacting and becoming defensive. You must be a man who receives encouragement and not act like you always have it all together. Simple word studies on rebuke, admonish, correct, encourage, one another, ect., will flow out of your times teaching them the Word of God (cf. II Timothy 3:16-17). But sometimes you will need to be private, direct and personalized. You should regularly have appointments with your men to monitor their progress, so aim some of your one-on-one times this way.
Fourth, you train other men by doing (with them) and delegating (to them). Earlier I said you must test your men by giving them things to do. You should always be the example or model who is out doing it yourself and you are taking them with you to watch and learn. Never do anything by yourself if you can help it. Always take one of your men with you. Jesus did. Paul did. When riding together in the car on the way to speak, pray about the upcoming engagement, explain how you make decisions on what to preach about or how you discern things, and then debrief and rejoice (or grieve) on the way home. Think of how our Lord spoke to the multitudes or to a person along the way and then discussed the events with His men. When you have a spontaneous opportunity to counsel a person with a tricky problem, let your associate pretend he is a fly on the wall and be quiet and learn (e.g. John 3 and 4 – John knows the exact dialogue between Jesus and Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman because he was there, trying to be invisible but listening very hard and learning very much). Jesus was not an ivory tower theologian. He was not the general who led from the rear of the army. Biblical shepherds led their sheep to green pastures and still waters by walking out ahead. So must we. We just take them where we want them to go. Don’t send them witnessing, take them witnessing. Don’t just delegate, take them with you. Don’t just tell your men to pray, pray with them.
Fifth, you train your men in a variety of formats. Churches have many places to give men places to serve. Let them try several things, even if they fail briefly. Do not leave a failing man in a responsibility forever. Take him out, debrief as to why failure occurred. Give him other things to do. One man may have gifts that do not make him a public leader; he is more of a behind-the-scenes kind of guy. But if he ever has to lead a public meeting, he will appreciate the man who is gifted in that way. Similarly, the man with public gifts should learn to take a back seat and minister in quiet obscurity for a time. It will cause him to appreciate the brother whose gifts are not as public but are nevertheless necessary if the whole body is to function well.
III. A WORD ABOUT WIVES & CHILDREN
As we work with men and train them, we will work more or less indirectly with wives and families. As we assess our men’s fitness for leadership and responsibility, we must ask ourselves biblical questions and look for biblical answers.
A. Conversion?
1. Is the wife a believer?
2. Is her profession of faith beyond question?
B. Sanctification?
1. Is she growing as a Christian?
2. Is her relationship with Christ vital and intimate?
C. Biblical wife and mother?
1. Is she submissive and respectful to her husband?
2. Is she happy as a wife and mother under her husband’s leadership?
D. Heart and vision for ministry?
1. Though she is not the candidate in question; does her heart beat with her husband’s?
2. Does she share her husband’s vision for ministry?
3. Does she now practice hospitality, using her home as a ministry to others?
RESOURCES FOR TRAINING MEN IN SOUND DOCTRINE
Maturity is obedience to truth over time. There are no shortcuts. The truth must be known, embraced and obeyed. Not just once or twice or occasionally, but habitually, over a period of time. Our Lord, the Master teacher and trainer of men, spent over three years training His men. Christ’s Apostle, Paul, spent over two years in Ephesus carefully expounding the Word of God. So we must take our time and build for a life, not just a season. A summer squash is here and gone in six months. A mighty oak takes sixty years. Your view to training your men should be both intensive (special times of focused training) and extensive (training broadly over the length of your time in that church). [The following books are meant to be read and digested in the order in which they are listed for each category. Hopefully, the logic of the choices is evident. Some books may have more than one publisher. The best edition is the one listed. Because an author is listed does not mean that everything else they produced is gold. Only the books listed are endorsed.]
OUR GREAT THREE-IN-ONE GOD
1. R.C. Sproul, THE HOLINESS OF GOD; Tyndale
2. A.W. Pink, THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD; Banner of Truth
3. Stuart Olyott, THE THREE ARE ONE; Evangelical Press
4. Richard Belcher, A JOURNEY IN PROVIDENCE; Richbarry Press
5. Jerry Bridges, TRUSTING GOD; NavPress
6. James White, THE FORGOTTEN TRINITY; Bethany Press
7. Sinclair Ferguson, A HEART FOR GOD; Banner of Truth
8. Jerry Bridges, THE JOY OF FEARING GOD; Water Brook
THE AUTHORITATIVE WORD OF GOD
1. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, AUTHORITY; Banner of Truth
2. Richard Belcher, A JOURNEY IN INSPIRATION; Richbarry Press
3. Brian Edwards, NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH; Evangelical Press
4. Charles Spurgeon, THE GREATEST FIGHT IN THE WORLD; Ambassador
5. James Montgomery Boice, STANDING ON THE ROCK; Baker
6. James Packer, ‘FUNDAMENTALISM’ AND THE WORD OF GOD; Eerdmans
THE DOCTRINE OF MAN, THE FALL AND SIN
1. J. Gresham Machen, THE CHRISTIAN VIEW OF MAN; Banner of Truth
2. Martin Luther, BORN SLAVES (The Bondage of the Will); Grace Publications
3. Anthony Hoekema, CREATED IN GOD’S IMAGE; Eerdmans
4. Kris Lundsgaard, THE ENEMY WITHIN; Presbyterian & Reformed
5. James Packer and Thomas Howard, CHRISTIANITY: THE TRUE HUMANISM; Regent
6. Jeremiah Burroughs, THE EVIL OF EVILS; Soli Deo Gloria
GOD THE SON (Jesus Christ—Who He is and What He did_
1. Stuart Olyott, JESUS IS BOTH GOD AND MAN; Evangelical Press
2. John Cheeseman, SAVED BY GRACE; Banner of Truth
3. Phillip Tyken, THE SAVING CROSS OF CHRIST; InterVarsity Press
4. John Blanchard, MEET THE REAL JESUS; Evangelical Press
5. Tom Wells, A PRICE FOR A PEOPLE; Banner of Truth
6. James Packer, “Introduction” to John Owen, THE DEATH OF DEATH IN THE DEATH OF CHRIST; Banner of Truth (frequently available as a free standing booklet)
7. Kris Lundsgaard, THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS; Presbyterian & Reformed
GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT
1. Richard Belcher, A JOURNEY IN THE SPIRIT; Richbarry Press
2. Edwin Palmer, THE HOLY SPIRIT; Presbyterian & Reformed
3. Octavius Winslow, THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT; Banner of Truth
4. Jim Elliff, LED BY THE SPIRIT; Jushua Press
5. Walter Chantry, SINGS OF THE APOSTLES; Banner of Truth
6. Richard Belcher, A JOURNEY IN REVIVAL; Richbarry Press
7. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, REVIVAL; Crossway
8. Iain Murray, PENTECOST—TODAY?; Banner of Truth
9. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, AUTHORITY (of Christ, the Scriptures, the H.S.); Banner of Truth
10. James Packer, KEEP IN STEP WITH THE SPIRIT; Revell
SALVATION—Forknown, Predestined, Called, Justified, Sanctified, Glorified
FOREKNOWLEDGE, PREDESTINATION & GOD’S ETERNAL PLAN
1. Richard Belcher, A JOURNEY IN GRACE; Richbarry Press
2. Lorraine Boettner, THE REFORMED DOCTRINE OF PREDESTINATION; P&R
3. James White, THE POTTER’S FREEDOM; Calvary Press
4. Anthony Hoekema, SAVED BY GRACE; Eerdmans
NEW BIRTH (Calling from the Father, Regeneration by the Spirit)
1. Richard Belcher, A JOURNEY IN SALVATION; Richbarry Press
2. Peter Jeffrey, FROM RELIGION TO CHRIST; Calvary Press
3. A.T.B. McGowan, THE NEW BIRTH (What ‘Born Again’ Really Means); Christian Focus
JUSTIFICATION (My New Standing before God—My Sins are Imputed to Christ; His Righteousness is Imputed to Me)
1. Jerry Bridges, THE GOSPEL FOR REAL LIFE; NavPress
2. James White, THE GOD WHO JUSTIFIES; Bethany
3. R. C. Sproul, FAITH ALONE (The Evangelical Doctrine of Justification); Baker
4. R. C. Sproul, GETTING THE GOSPEL RIGHT; Baler
5. Tom Wells, FAITH: THE GIFT OF GOD; Banner of Truth
6. Thomas Watson, THE DOCTRINE OF REPENTANCE; Banner of Truth
7. Cesar Malan, THE CROSS: WHERE ALL ROADS MEET; Evangelical Press
SANCTIFICATION (Living and Growing into Holy Christ-likeness)
1. Kenneth Prior, THE WAY OF HOLINESS; Christian Focus
2. Jerry Bridges, THE PURSUIT OF HOLINESS; NavPress
3. Jerry Bridges, THE DISCIPLINE OF GRACE; NavPress
4. J. C. Ryle, HOLINESS (It’s Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties and Roots); Evangelical Press
5. John Bunyan, PILGRIM’S PROGRESS; Tyndale edition
6. Sinclair Ferguson, GROW IN GRACE; Banner of Truth
7. Sinclair Ferguson, THE CHRISTIAN LIFE (A Doctrinal Introduction); Banner of Truth
8. Don Whitney, SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE; NavPress
9. Don Whitney, TEN QUESTIONS TO DIAGNOSE YOUR SPIRITUAL HEALTH; NavPress
10. Don Whitney, HOW CAN I BE SURE I’M A CHRISTIAN?; NavPress
11. James Montgomery Boice, CHRIST’S CALL TO DISCIPLESHIP; Kregel
12. John Bunyan, THE HOLY WAR; Whitaker House edition
13. Bryan Zacharias, THE EMBATTLES CHRISTIAN (The Puritans and Spiritual Warface); Banner of Truth
14. Peter Jeffrey, STAND FIRM (Spiritual Warfare in Ephesians 6); Brynterion Press
15. Tom Wells, CHRISTIAN, TAKE HEART!; Banner of Truth
16. Jerry Bridges, TRANSFORMING GRACE; NavPress
THE MEANS OF GRACE (The Church and God’s Appointed Means to Grow)
1. Daniel Wray, THE IMPORTANCE OF THE LOCAL CHURCH; Banner of Truth
2. Don Whitney, SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES WITHIN THE CHURCH; Moody Press
3. Denis Lane, I WANT TO BE BAPTIZED; Grace Publications
4. Errol Hulse, THE TESTIMONY OF BAPTISM; Evangelical Press
5. Denis Lane, I WANT TO BE A CHURCH MEMBER; Grace Publications
6. Earnest Kevan, THE LORD’S SUPPER; Evangelical Press
7. Peter Jeffrey, THE LORD’S SUPPER; Brynterion Press
8. Peter Jeffrey, HOW TO BEHAVE IN CHURCH; Evangelical Press
9. Richard Belcher, A JOURNEY IN PURITY; Richbarry Press
10. Richard Belcher, A JOURNEY IN AUTHORITY; Richbarry Press
11. Walter Chantry, CALL THE SABBATH A DELIGHT; Banner of Truth
12. Joseph Pipa, THE LORD’S DAY; Evangelical Press
13. Fred Malone, A STRING OF PEARLS UNSTRUNG; Founders Press
14. Fred Malone, THE BAPTISM OF DISCIPLES ALONE (The Covenantal Argument for Credobaptism Versus Paedobaptism); Founders Press
15. Wayne Mack and David Swavely, LIFE IN THE FATHER’S HOUSE (A Members Guide to the Local Church); Presbyterian & Reformed
16. Derek Thomas, MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR DEVOTIONAL LIFE; Evangelical Press
17. Douglas Kelly, IF GOD ALREADY KNOWS, WHY PRAY?; Presbyterian & Reformed
18. Thomas Goodwin and Benjamin Morgan Palmer, WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I PRAY?; Grace Publications
19. Jerry Bridges, THE CRISIS OF CARING (True Fellowship); Presbyterian & Reformed
20. Sinclair Ferguson, DISCOVERING GOD’S WILL; Banner of Truth
21. John Blanchard, POP GOES THE GOSPEL; Evangelical Press
22. Derek Cleave and John Blanchard, SHALL WE DANCE?; Evangelical Press
ETHICS—How the Father wants His children to act in His family & Kingdom
1. Ernest Kevan, THE MORAL LAW; Presbyterian & Reformed
2. Brian Edwards, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR TODAY; Day One Publications
3. Samuel Bolton, THE TRUE BOUNDS OF CHRISTIAN FREEDOM; Banner of Truth
4. Richard Alderson, NO HOLINESS, NO HEAVEN!; Banner of Truth
5. Walter Chantry, GOD’S RIGHTEOUS KINGDOM; Banner of Truth
6. Richard Barcellos, IN DEFENSE OF THE DECALOGUE; Founders Press
7. D. B. Knox, NOT BY BREAD ALONE; Banner of Truth
ADOPTION—Becoming God’s Child
1. Sinclair Ferguson, CHILDREN OF THE LIVING GOD; Banner of Truth
2. James Packer, “Sons of God” in KNOWING GOD; InterVarsity Press
THE RETURN OF CHRIST—The Consummation of History
1. Richard Belcher, A JOURNEY IN ESCHATOLOGY; Richbarry Press
2. William Hendricksen, THE BIBLE ON THE LIFE HEREAFTER; Baker
3. Anthony Hoekema, THE BIBLE AND THE FUTURE; Eerdmans
4. Cornelius Venema, THE PROMISE OF THE FUTURE; Banner of Truth
5. R. C. Sproul, THE LAST DAYS ACCORDING TO JESUS; Baker
6. Iain Murray, THE PURITAN HOPE; Banner of Truth
7. Robder Clouse, ed., THE MEAN ING OF THE MILLENIUM (4 views); InterVarsity Press
THE FINAL STATE—Death and Final Judgment; Heaven and Hell
1. Ted Donnelly, THE BIBLICAL DOCTRINE OF HEAVEN AND HELL; Banner of Truth
2. John Blanchard, WHATEVER HAPPENED TO HELL?; Evangelical Press
3. Eryl Davies, HEAVEN IS A FAR BETTER PLACE; Evangelical Press
CHRISTIAN MANHOOD (Including Singleness, Marriage, Children & the Christian Family, Aging and the Elderly)
1. Douglas Wilson, REFORMING MARRIAGE; Canon Press
2. John MacArthur, DIFFERENT BY DESIGN; Victor Press
3. Werner Neuer, DIFFERENT BY DESIGN; Victor Press
4. Wayne Grudem, ed., BIBLICAL FOUNDATIONS FOR MANHOOD AND WOMANHOOD; Crossway
5. Stuart Scott, THE EXEMPLARY HUSBAND; Focus
6. James Dobson, STRAIGHT TALK TO MEN; Nelson
7. Weldon Hardenbrook, WHERE’S DAD?; Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood; (also published as a chapter in Piper and Grudem, RECOVERING BIBLICAL MANHOOD AND WOMANHOOD; Crossway)
8. Tedd Tripp, SHEPHERDING A CHILD’S HEART; Shepherd Press
9. Paul Tripp, THE AGE OF OPPORTUNITY; Presbyterian & Reformed
10. Bruce Ray, WITHHOLD NOT CORRECTION; Presbyterian & Reformed
11. Douglas Wilson, FUTURE MEN; Canon
12. Jerry Marcellino, THE LOST ART OF FAMILY WORSHIP; Sprinkle Publications
13. Joel Beeke, BRINGING THE GOSPEL TO COVENANT CHILDREN (In Dependency on the Holy Spirit); Reformation Heritage Books
14. James W. Alexander, THOUGHTS ON FAMILY WORSHIP; Spinkle Publications
15. Edward Pearse, THE BEST MATCH (The Soul’s Betrothal to Christ); Soli Deo Gloria
16. Jay Adams, WRINKLED BUT NOT RUINED; Timeless Texts
17. Wayne Mack, STRENGTHENING YOUR MARRIAGE (Resolving Conflicts); P&R
18. Paul Tripp, WAR OF WORDS; Presbyterian & Reformed
19. Ed Wheat, INTENDED FOR PLEASURE; Revell/Baker
20. Tim & Beverly LaHaye, THE ACT OF MARRIAGE AFTER 40; Zondervan
21. O. Palmer Robertson, THE GENESIS OF SEX; Presbyterian & Reformed
22. John MacArthur, SUCCESSFUL CHRISTIAN PARENTING; Word Publishing
23. Dennis Gunderson, YOUR CHILD’S PROFESSION OF FAITH; Calvary Press
24. Douglas Wilson, FIDELITY; Canon
CHRISTIAN WORK AND LEISURE
1. Leland Ryken, REDEEMING THE TIME (Work and Leisure in Christian Perspective); Crossway
2. Richard Steele, THE RELIGIOUS TRADESMAN (Businessman); Sprinkle
3. Charles Hummel, THE TYRANNY OF THE URGENT; InterVarsity Press
4. Charles Hummel, FREEDOM FROM THE TYRANNY OF THE URGENT; InterVarsity
5. Paul Helm, THE CALLINGS; Banner of Truth
CHRISTIAN MINISTRY
1. Peter Jeffrey, HOW SHALL THEY HEAR?; Evangelical Press
2. Walter Chantry, TODAY’S GOSPEL—AUTHENTIC OR SYNTHETIC?; Banner of Truth
3. Will Metzger, TELL THE TRUTH (3RD ED.); InterVarsity Press
4. John MacArthur, ASHAMED OF THE GOSPEL; Crossway
5. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, PREACHING AND PREACHERS; Zondervan
6. Iain Murray, MARTYN-LLOYD-JONES—THE FIRST FORTY YEARS; Banner of Truth
7. J. C. Ryle, A PLEA FOR PRAYER; Banner of Truth
8. Patrick Johnstone, OPERATION WORLD; Bethany
9. Charles Spurgeon, THE SOUL WINNER; Eerdmans
10. Alexander Strauch, THE HOSPITALITY COMMANDS; Lewis & Roth
11. John Murray, THE FREE OFFER OF THE GOSPEL; Banner of Truth
12. D. B. Knox, SENT BY JESUS; Banner of Truth
13. Tom Wells, A VISION FOR MISSIONS; Banner of Truth
14. Iain Murray, THE INVITATION SYSTEM; Banner of Truth
15. Robert Coleman, THE MASTER PLAN OF EVANGELISM; Revell
16. Leroy Eims, THE LOST ART OF DISCIPLE MAKING; Zondervan
17. David Hegg, APPOINTED TO PREACH (assessing a call to the ministry); Christian Focus
18. Robert Godfrey, PLEASING GOD IN OUR WORSHIP; Crossway
19. Kenneth Prior, THE GOSPEL IN A PAGAN SOCIETY; Christian
Focus
20. James Packer, EVANGELISM AND THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD; InterVarsity Press
21. Iain Murray, SPURGEON VS. HYPER-CALVINISM; Banner of Truth
22. Gareth Crossley, EVERYDAY EVANGELISM; Christian Focus
23. Geoff Thomas, ERNEST REISNGER, A LIFE; Banner of Truth
24. Arnold Dallimore, GEORGE WHITEFIELD (Vol. 1); Banner of Truth
25. John G. Paton, THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JOHN G. PATON; Banner of Truth
26. Courtney Anderson, TO THE GOLDEN SHORE (Biography of Adoniram Judson); Judson
27. FIVE PIONEER MISSIONARIES; Banner of Truth
28. Douglas Kelly, PREACHERS WITH POWER; Banner of Truth
29. Francis Schaeffer, NO LITTLE PEOPLE; Crossway
30. John MacArthur, CAN GOD BLESS AMERICA?; Moody Press
This material has been drawn from a chapter of the same title by Steve Martin in the compilation, DEAR TIMOTHY, Thomas Ascol; editor; Founders press; 2003 and used with their kind permission.
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