MacArthur's Advice to Young Reformed Evangelicals

If I were to hand pick a few personal mentors from the crop of reformed influences today, it is likely that I'd begin with the Pipers and Kellers and Carsons of the world. John MacArthur has an awesome ministry, but I've never quite gelled with it for whatever reason. I have appreciated, though, sitting at his feet from time to time, and his article series to the Young, Reformed evangelicals of today was no different. What follows are the links the the articles, and then a few choice quotes:

1. Grow Up. Settle Down. Keep Reforming. Advice for the Young, Restless, Reformed

2. Grow Up

3. Beer, Bohemianism, and True Christian Liberty

4. Keep Reforming


Some favourite quotes:

I sometimes think no group is more fashion-conscious than the current crop of hipster church planters—except perhaps teenage girls.

Charles Spurgeon understood the principle. He became pastor of London's largest and most famous Baptist congregation at the age of 20, less than five years after his conversion. But he consciously and diligently sought to display maturity beyond his years—especially in his manners and his approach to ministry. At age 40, he reflected on the brevity of his own adolescence: "I might have been a young man at twelve, but at sixteen I was a sober, respectable Baptist parson, sitting in the chair and ruling and governing the church. At that period of my life, when I ought perhaps to have been in the playground . . . I spent my time at my books, studying and working hard, sticking to it."

If everything you know about Christian living came from blogs and websites in the young-and-restless district of the Reformed community, you might have the impression that beer is the principal symbol of Christian liberty.

God’s Word is the only true standard we have a divine mandate to conform to, and it is the ultimate standard by which we will be judged. Success or failure in ministry therefore cannot be evaluated by numerical statistics, financial figures, popularity polls, public opinion, or any of the other factors the world typically associates with “success.” The only real triumph in ministry is to hear Christ say, “Well done.”

Now let’s be completely candid: Many (perhaps most) evangelical celebrities from the past half-century or so will never be remembered like the Reformers, because they will pass away with their own self-styled faddishness.