Ferguson: You know an ordinary means of grace
ministry is, the thrill from the point of view of those who share in that ministry of
the exposition of Scripture in different ways and at different levels, and watching the
Word of God work. I’ve become more and more convinced, that
the default among us evangelicals is, that we do the work and the Word helps us. And perhaps that’s an indication that in
our churches we see far too frequent — far too infrequently what it’s like when the
Word of God preached in the power of the Holy Spirit, itself does the work, and changes
people’s lives. If you read through the Acts of the apostles,
it’s interesting how on occasion the Word of God is — almost becomes like a person
who does things. The Word of God increases, the Word of God
prevails. Paul speaks to the Thessalonians about the
Word of God which is at work in you. And my own feeling is that even if we speak
about means of grace ministry, we may not have caught sight of that vision of what’s
it like when God’s Word does its work, floors us, prostrates us, transforms us, gives dignity
to our lives, and means that what happens in — under the ministry of the Word is — becomes
visible in the community in the days that follow, and we long for that, and for that
we need to as, Act 6:4 says, give ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word. Lawson: Yeah, it’s a Word-centered ministry,
and is saying the same thing in slightly different way. And when we say Word-centered we’re talking
about the written Word of God in the canon of Scripture. We preach the Word, we teach the Word, we
sing the Word, we pray the Word, we see the Word in the signs of baptism and the Lord’s
Supper. We live the Word. It’s a Word-centered, Word-driven ministry,
and so, just to succinctly state what that is, it’s the written Word of God ruling
in the life of the church, and we’re not looking for alternative strategies or other
ways of doing ministry. Like I quoted Luther last night, there is
no reason for the church to ever come together except the Word be in the very center of it. Parsons: I think that’s very helpful, and
talking about the ordinary means of grace, our confession speaks of these outward and
ordinary means of grace being: Word of God, prayer, and the sacraments of the Lord’s
Supper, and baptism. And these outward and ordinary means are really
the warp and woof of the life of the church and of our lives. And as Dr. Lawson said, that means that in
trusting God and believing that God is sovereign, we’re believing not only that God ordains
the ends of all things, but also that He ordains the means of all ends. And so often people claim to believe that
God is sovereign, they believe in the sovereignty of God, but they’re not trusting the means
that God has ordained to build His church, to grow us up, to make us mature as disciples
of Jesus Christ. And so, in ordaining the ordinary means of
grace, these are the means by which we grow. These are the means we worship Him and these
are the means by which He carries out His Great Commission to the ends of the earth
in His mission. And so, it’s trusting them. It means we’re not technique-based, we’re
not method-based. We don’t have to constantly drum up new
technics and programs. No gimmicks. It means we trust God’s way to build and
to grow and to reach and to revive and to reform His church, and that’s what the Reformers
did. They were relying on the Word of God. Relying on the Spirit of God through the Word
of God in prayer and the sacraments to do what God promised they would do. So we need to trust God and believe that He’s
sovereign, not only in some ethereal way, some theoretical way, but really, where it
really counts in the life of the church. Nichols: I think there’s two things in Luther
that can be very helpful for us. When you think of the ordinary means of grace,
and you think of Scripture and you think of the Lord’s Supper. And we have the signs and wonders. I think in our day its more feelings. You know, there’s this — we’re very
tuned in; do I feel joy or how am I feeling today? Luther has this great hymn of God’s Word,
he says that we don’t trust in feelings. He says, “For feelings come and feelings
go and feelings are deceiving. My warrant is the Word of God, not else is
worth believing.” And there’s a solidity there. There’s a soundness there to Luther and
his emphasis on the Word of God. And that’s really at the center of our worship,
it’s at the center of the Christian life. But the other is the Lord’s Supper. You don’t have to agree with Luther’s
view of the Lord’s Supper to appreciate what he has to say about it. And I think especially in American Evangelism,
we’re very much influenced by a Zwinglian memorial view. And probably for most American Evangelicals,
the Lord’s Supper does not rank very high in their list of things they need to live
the Christian life. Luther, of course, advocated the Lord’s
Supper every week, and in his larger catechism he says this, “We are locked in a battle
for our souls. The Devil is out to get us every week, and
so on Sunday we come for the nourishment of the body of Christ.” And there’s something to that. You don’t have to be Lutheran in your view
of the Lord’s Supper to appreciate that we need to take the Lord’s Supper very seriously
as a gracious gift of God, for us, and how we live the Christian life. Godfrey: Now, this is really beautifully summed
up in the Heidelberg Catechism. Where question 65 asks, “Where does true
faith come from?” And for every preacher, for every Christian,
that’s a vital question. “Where does true faith come from?” And the catechism says, “True faith is worked
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the holy gospel and confirmed
unto us by the holy sacraments. And what a beautiful summary that is of Christian
ministry by the work of the Holy Spirit. But I like particularly, “through the preaching
of the gospel,” it’s the Good News of Jesus Christ that the Spirit uses to work
faith in our hearts, and then confirms it through the gospel sacraments. Thomas: Steve Lawson reminded us last night
of that wonderful story of Lloyd-Jones at the beginning of his ministry in Sandfields,
in South Wales, that the first thing that he did was to nail the pulpit to the floor. So, I’ve been thinking about that ever since
I was reminded of it last night. Just the image of Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones with
a hammer, and some nails, and hammering this pulpit into the floor. But it was a demonstration of the centrality
of the Word. Wasn’t it Lloyd Jones who also said, that
the way to fill Westminster Chapel was to announce that he’d be preaching in his swimming
trunks the next week? Parsons: I think, also Chris, it might be
helpful to say that in these ordinary means of grace — and if we can sort of borrow
some of the language of the marks of the church, and the ordinary marks of the church that,
it’s only when a church is concerned, as Calvin said, with the pure preaching of the
Word of God, the right administration of the sacraments, and subsumed within that is right
and consistent church discipline. And that if a church isn’t carrying these
things out consistently and wisely and graciously, that they’re not a true church. Ferguson: I’m not a great fan of the expression
‘means of grace,’ as it happens. But I think we shouldn’t miss out from this
the pattern of, for example Ephesians 4, with its emphasis on the ministry of the Word,
and what it actually produces in the life of the church, where it produces a community
in which each part is doing its work properly, and outbuilds itself in love. And you know, we are — we’re not just
a teaching institution. We’re — the Word of God creates a new
kind of community, and so the preaching of the Word without the creation of that new
kind of community ordinarily does not make the same evangelistic impact on the world
around. But the creation of that community helps people
to see that the Word that is preached has illustrations in the life of this new community,
that are beyond contradiction. And you know, often one finds that people
who think little of the gospel, find that they cannot contradict the reality they experience
when they come among God’s people. And it’s that reality that begins to work
in their hearts to open their ears to listen to what the Word is actually saying. So, you know, we’re not speaking when we
speak about means of grace and the importance of the preaching of the Word that all we need
is more ministers. Or even all we need is more preaching. But what is produced by that is — I mean
that is one of the griefs about the United States, there has been so much evangelical
preaching that has changed nothing. And, the statistics — those of you who know
James Davison Hunter’s books, or Paul, or David Well’s books, the deficit between
the amount of preaching there is and the amount of transformed living that there is, is absolutely
colossal. And we need preaching that closes that deficit,
prayer that results in the closure of that deficit, and new gospel communities that give
illustration of the power of the gospel. There’s a huge need, I think, in the Christian
church today.
