Church Life | Blind Man's Fancy

Baptist Catholicism (What the Altar Call, Sinner’s Prayer & Pope Have in Common)

July 9, 2015July 9, 2015 B.J. MaxwellBaptism, Christian Life, Church Life, Romans, The Gospel

The typical Baptist suffers from Catholiphobia: the fear of all things Catholic. We Baptists often know more about Catholics than Catholicism, which is probably true of any religious tradition. We tend to define religious traditions by the few people we know who practice them rather that what that tradition has historically confessed. Nevertheless, it doesn’t take long for a Baptist to realize he strongly opposes Catholic baptism. The Council of Trent‘s […]

Why Your Church Should Have Elders (Part 4)

June 24, 2015June 24, 2015 B.J. MaxwellChurch Life, Pastoral Ministry

Jesus loves the church and has richly provided for her eternal health and glory (Eph 4.7-16). He sustains the church through a well-ordered, humble, Spirit-wrought polity. The New Testament teaches and demonstrates that local church leadership should be entrusted to a plurality of qualified men who, though gifted differently, are equal in authority and responsibility. Both biblically and practically, your local church benefits greatly by having a group of men […]

Why Your Church Should Have Elders (Part 3)

June 23, 2015June 24, 2015 B.J. MaxwellChurch Life, Pastoral Ministry

Parts 1 and 2 introduced and briefly defended from Scripture that local church leadership is best entrusted to a plurality of qualified men who, though gifted differently, are equal in authority and responsibility. Both the biblical vocabulary and pattern indicate the local church is best led by elders (a.k.a. overseers, bishops, pastors-shepherds) rather than solo pastors or other pastoral hierarchies. A church without elders is no less a church, but she should […]

Why Your Church Should Have Elders (Part 2)

June 22, 2015June 23, 2015 B.J. MaxwellBiblical Meditations, Church Life

The New Testament teaches and demonstrates local church leadership should be entrusted to a plurality of qualified men who, though gifted differently, are equal in authority and responsibility. The local church is most healthy when she is led by elders who defend and teach sound doctrine, and encourage gospel progress through careful pastoral oversight. As introduced in Part 1, until a local church installs a plural eldership it is lacking. It […]

Why Your Church Should Have Elders (Part 1)

June 20, 2015June 23, 2015 B.J. MaxwellBiblical Meditations, Church Life, Pastoral Ministry, Titus

For many a churchgoer church polity (how a church is governed) is not of great concern. As long as there are plenty of programs, pennies and people then why fuss over a secondary issue. But is polity as secondary as we assume? Church polity does not rise to the level of salvific importance. Whether or not a local church has a plurality of elders does not determine if it’s a […]

Jesus Is No Cartoonist

May 30, 2015July 25, 2015 B.J. MaxwellBiblical Meditations, Christian Life, Church Life, Current Events

2015 is shaping up as the year of referendum on cartoons. Cartoons of Mohammad, to be exact. It all started in January in France. Two Muslim gunmen stormed the headquarters of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. They killed twelve, including several cartoonists who for years had disgraced the Prophet Mohammad with their drawings. In May, the American Freedom Defense Initiative hosted a “Draw the Prophet” rally in Garland, Texas. In a […]

Thursday Hymn Reflection: Afflicted Saint, to Christ Draw Near

April 30, 2015April 30, 2015 B.J. MaxwellChurch Life, Hymns, Pastoral Ministry

John Fawcett was converted as a 16-year-old in 1755 under the ministry of George Whitefield. He became the pastor of Wainsgate Baptist Church in Yorkshire in 1764. In 1772, he initially accepted the invitation to succeed the formidable John Gill at London’s Carter’s Lane Baptist Church and that at a substantially higher salary. This was no small honor for Fawcett who once wrote prior to 1764, To be brief, my dear […]

Jesus Makes Nothing out of Something (and That Means Everything)

February 7, 2015February 9, 2015 B.J. MaxwellBiblical Meditations, Christian Life, Church Life, Galatians, The Gospel, Theology

Paul wrote Galatians to confront and combat the attempted Judaization of the church. Such was arguably the backdrop behind many of the New Testament letters. Intoxicated by the air of religious supremacy, Jews sought to enslave (Paul’s word for it) Gentiles under the burdensome yoke of Torah (cf. 4.7, 25; 5.1). Anyone wanting to be part of Yahweh’s people (i.e. Abraham’s people) had to come under the authority of Torah. And […]

Don’t Pray More or Better, Pray Like Jesus

December 27, 2014March 17, 2015 B.J. MaxwellBiblical Meditations, Christian Life, Church Life, Matthew

Eugene Peterson writes in Tell it Slant: A Conversation on the Language of Jesus in His Stories and Prayers (pp51-52): “Prayer can be learned only in the vocabulary and grammar of personal relationship: Father! Friend! It can never be a matter of getting the right words in the right order. It can never be a matter of good behavior or proper disposition or skillful manipulation. It can never be a […]

What I’ve Learned from the Bench About Pastoring

October 22, 2014March 25, 2015 B.J. MaxwellChristian Life, Church Life, Pastoral Ministry

An injured point guard sees the game differently from the bench. Without a harassing defenseman, crowd noise or game pressure he is able to see more of the floor. He can see and learn from the bigger picture. He can finally see what his coach sees and hopefully better understand his decisions. What seems so clear from half-court isn’t so clear from the sidelines. When he’s ready to play again […]