Is Hook-Up Culture Infiltrating the Church?

“There’s an app for that,” has become a cultural banner for a society that loves to “have it your way” and “have it now." Modern culture isn't a microwave society (that's about eight years behind). We’re now a culture shaped by the convenience of downloading an app for just about anything. If there’s not an app for that, there will be tomorrow. In fact, you could probably develop it on your iPhone. Many have commented on the dangers of this kind of culture. We are losing the ability to reflect. We’ve lost the patience for it. With this loss comes a decline in our understanding the sacred. The rise of selfies reflect a preoccupation with the iconic self. Our social skills are diminished in favor of pseudo social circles we “friend” or “follow.”

Technological engagement can be legitimate, but there are also dangers to be avoided. Many have drawn attention to the “hookup” culture, which has accelerated as a result from having the world at your fingertips. Apps like Down, Snapchat, and countless others feed right into our assumed right to have our lusts instantly satisfied.

Have hookups always been an issue? Absolutely. Has anonymity ever been this easy? Absolutely not. Driven by our sexual appetites, we have made it possible to hookup with someone on neutral ground without even exchanging real names. Moreover, we live in a culture in which there is a national conference for literally every field of study. Throw 1,000 widget manufacturers from up North together in a central Florida resort for three days, and all bets are off.

Has this hookup culture infiltrated Christianity? Perhaps that’s a question for someone with a greater vantage point, but from where I sit, I know we are all vulnerable. When we enter into environments where accountability is virtually non-existent, and anonymity is almost guaranteed, we have entered the danger zone. King David assumed a certain level of anonymity when everyone else was away at war and he slept with Bathsheba. He got what he wanted pretty quickly, and he didn’t have an iPhone. But most of us today don't possess that power...or do we? More than any other time in history, the common person possesses royal privilege. We can get what we want when we want it, with just a few clicks.

When a culture is given over to the god of sex, you can find worship of what it offers everywhere: billboards, chat rooms, magazines, blogs, ads, and much more. How are Christian men and women to avoid the pitfalls of sexual sin in such a culture?I propose three ways.

1. Recognize the war.

Anyone who denies there is a war going on is simply diluted. Paul reminds us:

The desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. —Galatians 5:17

If you are united to Christ, your old man is dead (Gal. 2:20), but the indwelling flesh remains until he returns. If you fail to recognize your vulnerability to the flaming arrows of sexual temptation, your defenses will be down. How many well-meaning, God-fearing people have simply been fooled for lack of vigilance?

One way to remain vigilant is to build a pattern of daily prayer in which you ask God to keep you aware of your vulnerabilities . Paul reminds us that,

This is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor. —1 Thessalonians 4:3-4

Why should we know how to control our own bodies? Because our vulnerabilities are not universal. What becomes temptation for your brother might not even phase you. On the other hand, things most would not even give a second glance might be your Achilles Heel. Know your weaknesses, recognize the battle, and ask God to strengthen you each day.

2. Build an Army

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. —Hebrews 10:24-25

This passage is one among many that echo God’s heartbeat for biblical community. No man is an island, and when you pretend to be, you open yourself up to destruction. Each of us needs a multitude of people in our lives who know us well and know our vulnerabilities and outright weaknesses. We need to be exhorted to do good works and abstain from the lusts of the flesh. We need to be reminded of the big picture, looking forward to that Day when we will inherit bodies free of sin! When we try to be lone rangers, our sight becomes destructively narrow, allowing us only to see the immediate desire.

One note about an army—it needs weapons. Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, as Paul reminds us in Ephesians 6. Therefore, we ought to arm ourselves with the full armor of God. But wisdom also tells us that there are so many practical weapons at our disposal. Men, if we do not have Covenant Eyes or some other software on our devices (and real Christian brothers monitoring these), we are almost begging for destruction. Women, if you do not have biblically wise, God-honoring ladies walking alongside you, asking hard questions about things you post on your social media accounts, you may be defenseless during a battle field much bigger than you realize.

3. Remember Grace has won.

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. —Titus 2:11-14

Though we may recognize the battle, we often forget that it is won. The grace of God in Christ has appeared. We are not lost in darkness, without the beacon of God’s redemptive grace to carry us home to Christ’s appearing.

All humans share a common problem. We lack the strength to do what we know we must do. It’s not as if we don’t know the law. We do. Our problem is that we know it and we still can’t keep it. That’s where grace comes in. Ever since God called Israel to be a people for his own possession, he has been changing hearts (Deuteronomy 30:6). The fullest expression of this gracious heart-change is seen in the New Covenant. God has put his law on our hearts, indwelling us with his Holy Spirit, who empowers us to live the very way God has commanded.

Remember this, we are no longer slaves but sons and daughters. Grace has appeared, totally transforming our wayward state. And as we await the Day when we won’t need articles like this (Come, Lord Jesus), we are empowered by the Spirit of God who transforms us. Without the past grace of the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, we are dead. Without this present grace of the indwelling Spirit, we are lost to our lusts. Without the promise of future grace at Christ’s return, we are hopeless. And yet, the grace of God has appeared. Look to Him. In every temptation, there is a way out. In every failure, well, there is a grace for that.

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Alex Dean (@AlexMartinDean) is a pastor in Lakeland, Florida. Holding an undergraduate degree from Dallas Baptist University, Alex is currently completing his graduate work at Reformed Theological Seminary. His book, Gospel Regeneration: A story of death, life, and sleeping in a van, is available on Amazon, iBooks, and other online retailers. Follow his blog at www.GospelRegeneration.com and follow him on Twitter.

The Local Church: Love It or Leave It?

There is a trend, especially among younger generations, of people who are saying goodbye to the local church. We’ve heard statistics of those who leave because they no longer believe. But, surprisingly, others leave because they say they want more of God in their lives and the church just isn’t doing it for them.

Looking for God Elsewhere

Several influential Christians are among this group, including Donald Miller, author of Blue Like Jazz and other books that speak meaningfully to younger believers. In 2014, Miller shared candidly on his blog that he did not attend church very often because he connected more with God in other ways, like through nature and through his work.

In a follow-up blog post, he added:

I’d say half of the most impactful people I know, who love Jesus and tear up at the mention of His name, who reach out to the poor and lonely and are fundamentally sound in their theology, who create institutions that feed hundreds of thousands, do not attend a traditional church service. Many of them even speak at churches, but they have no home church and don’t long for one.[1]

Why are so many believers dissatisfied with the church?

Often, their disenchantment with the church is justified. Instead of going to church, they are eager to be the church. Instead of being a face in the crowd, they are eager to be a known and needed member of a community. Instead of being passive observers of an event, they are eager to be active contributors to a shared mission. Instead of listening to a preacher pontificate and tell stories, they are eager to be welcomed into a Story that is bigger than the preacher. Instead of being around people who “accept” Jesus but who seem bored with him, they want to be around people who come alive at the mention of his name.

Where the local church is not fulfilling this vision, the temptation to “look for God elsewhere” is understandable. But is it the best solution? Most importantly, would Jesus, the Bridegroom and Head of the church, favor a churchless Christianity?

Romanticizing the Early Church

Many who are disillusioned with the church today romanticize the early church, not realizing how broken things were then as well. Take Corinth, for example. As the most prominently represented church in Paul’s letters, Corinth was also a dysfunctional mess. Factions, harshness, divisions, adultery, lawsuits, divorce, elitism, classism, and neglect of the poor were just some of their issues. The famous “love chapter” in 1 Corinthians 13 was written less as inspiration and more as a rebuke, because each love attribute was something that the Corinthians were not. They had trampled on the ideal of what Jesus’ church should be—an infectious community of prayer, truth, love, justice, and mission (Acts 2:42-47).

But Paul never gave up on Corinth. Instead of walking away, he pressed in. As he sharply corrected them, he also encouraged, affirmed, loved, prayed for, and thanked God for them. Like Jesus, he saw a broken church and envisioned beauty. He saw a sinful church and envisioned sainthood. He saw a band of misfits but envisioned a radiant, perfected bride. And he knew that God wanted him to participate in loving this church to life.

Whose Wisdom . . . Ours or God’s?

At her best and at her worst, Jesus loves his church. He will build his church and nothing will prevail against her (Matthew 16:18). He laid down his life for her (John 10:11). He will never leave or forsake her (Hebrews 13:5). He will complete the work he started in her (Philippians 1:6). In other words, Jesus knows nothing about having more of God by having less of the church. To the contrary, Jesus is married to the church. The church is his chosen, beloved Wife.

What does it say about us if the church is good enough for the Father to adopt, for the Spirit to inhabit, and for Jesus to marry…but not good enough for us to join?

In Life Together, Dietrich Bonhoeffer said that those who love their dream of Christian community more than the Christian community itself become destroyers of Christian community. He also said that the church, which may at times seem weak and trifling to us, is great and magnificent to God. Do we believe this? When tempted to hit eject on the local church, will we trust the infinite, perfect wisdom of God or our own finite, fallen instincts?

The wisdom of God says that we need the local church. This is both declared and assumed throughout the Scriptures, which don’t define the church as a free-flowing, self-directed spiritual experience, but as an organized, rooted, local expression of the body of Christ. Within this structure, things like oversight and care from ordained officers (pastors, elders, deacons), participation in the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s supper, weekly Lord’s Day gatherings with Scripture, preaching, singing and prayers, one-anothering and generosity practices, spiritual gift deployment empowering members to serve the body, evangelism, and neighbor love through deeds of mercy and justice, are assumed.

Jesus’ Bride . . . Also Our Mother

Tony Campolo said, “…you dare not decide that you don’t need the church. Christ’s church is his bride…and his love for her makes him faithful to her even when she is not faithful to him.”[2]

The church was God’s idea, God’s plan for His Kingdom on earth. As St. Cyprian said, “One cannot have God as his Father who does not have the church as his Mother,” and as Saint Augustine once said, “The church may be a whore, but she is still my mother.”

A Family, Not a Club

Family is the chief metaphor the Bible uses when it talks about the church. The church isn’t an exclusive, monolithic club. It’s a gathering of wonderfully and sometimes irritatingly diverse, divinely-selected brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, grandmas and grandpas. A dysfunctional family at times indeed, but a family nonetheless.

Family stays together. When one member is weak, the others lift her up. When another is difficult, the others confront him. When another is leading on mission, the others join, support, pray, and cheer her on.

Strength in Diversity

By design, God chose the church to be as diverse as possible. At Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville, we have described our community this way:

We are builders and baby boomers, gen-xers and millennials, locals and internationals, conservatives and progressives, educators and athletes, struggling doubters and committed believers, engineers and artists, introverts and extroverts, healers and addicts, CEO’s and homemakers, affluent and bankrupt, single and married, happy and hurting, lonely and connected, stressed-out and carefree, private and public schoolers, PhD’s and people with special needs, experts and students, saints and sinners.

This isn’t merely a written description. It is an actual representation of our local church body. It is sometimes messy. In its messiness, it is always awesome.

We want to celebrate and learn from differences instead of dividing over them. We believe the best expressions of community happen when people come together with varying perspectives, personalities, cultures, and experiences.

A School for Learning to Love

Part of the Christian experience is learning to love people who are not like us. In the church, we are given a community of complicated, beloved-by-God, always in process, fearfully and wonderfully made, sometimes faltering and inefficient people we are called to love.

Including ourselves.

Reconciliation, peacemaking, relational perseverance, and loving the unlovely are difficult but necessary steps of discipleship. Without these things, we remain stunted in our spiritual growth. Our goal in Christian community is not just tolerance of others, but authentic love and relationship. In order to learn to truly love, we must stay in the Christian community and do the hard work of resolving conflict, redeeming differences, and building unity.

The Church Needs You . . . and You Need Her

As it is a family, the church is also a body. Without you, the church is missing an eye or an ear or a hand. Without you, the church is not whole.

Each of us is made in the image of God. As we live in community with one another, we grow in knowledge and experience of God by being with others who bear his image. As we learn from and rub off on one another we become better, more whole, more Christ-like, and ultimately better-for-the-world versions of ourselves.

If you are dissatisfied or disillusioned with the local church, don’t leave it. If the church stinks to you, then change its diapers. Make it better. Pray for it. Bless it. Serve it. Love it to life.

In the process, you may discover that it’s not only that the local church needs you. You may also discover that you need the local church as well.

[1] Donald Miller, “Why I Don’t Go to Church Very Often, a Follow Up Blog” Storyline, Feb 5, 2014 – http://storylineblog.com/2014/02/05/why-i-dont-go-to-church-very-often-a-follow-up-blog/

[2] Tony Campolo, Letters to a Young Evangelical (New York, NY: Basic Books, 2008).

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Scott Sauls is senior pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tennessee, and author of Jesus Outside the Lines: A Way Forward for Those Who are Tired of Taking Sides. You can connect with Scott at scottsauls.com or on Twitter at @scottsauls.

Originally published at scottsauls.com. Adapted from Jesus Outside the Lines: A Way Forward for Those Who Are Tired of Taking Sides copyright ©2015 by Scott Sauls. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.

Calling People to the Kingdom Through Feasting

“I’ll raise you a hundred,” Greg said as he pushed a stack of poker chips into the middle of the table to show he meant business. At the same time, laughter erupted from the next room, where the ladies were sharing stories about marriage and motherhood. Greg’s wife, Mary, listened as the women poured out their hearts to one another. This was the first time Greg and Mary had been at our house for one of our parties. Jayne and I had been in the Puget Sound area for about a year, and we were beginning to call people together to be the church in the greater Tacoma area. Parties and feasts were one of the means we were using to gather people and give them a taste of what it might look like to be the church in our community.

In the past, several of us in the Chicago suburbs had experienced community forming this way around meals and celebrations. Caesar and Tina had introduced us to the art of hospitality and the joy of the party. Tina is an amazing cook, and she and Caesar hosted the best dinner parties around. If they were hosting a dinner, you did not want to miss it!

A Kingdom Built on Celebratory Feasting

At one of these dinners, about three courses into an amazing five-course meal, it dawned on us: “This is a great picture of the kingdom of God!” While immersed in the feast of food and life together, we recalled Jesus comparing the kingdom of God to a feast where everyone is invited in (Luke 14:12–24). Together we started to imagine what the church would be like if we all believed we were a picture of God’s kingdom breaking into the world in ways that felt like a party. One of us said: “If the church believed this, it would radically change what we do and how we live! We would be known as the most celebratory people around. Word would spread. People who wouldn’t normally want to come to a church event would come to our homes. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that?”

A seed was planted in our hearts at that moment, and the conversation never really ended. We began to ask questions: What if we were to start a church that feasted and celebrated around Jesus together? What if our homes were intended by God to be some of the primary spaces in which the ministry of the church should take place? People could be welcomed in, cared for, and experience belonging to a people who enjoy one another and life together. This would transform people’s perceptions of the church. Their understanding of who the church is and what she does would be very different from others’. As a result, people would come to understand Jesus in an entirely new way. If church were more like a feast and ministry took place regularly in our homes, everyone could join and anyone could do it. Everyone loves to feast and celebrate together, and anyone who knows and loves Jesus can host a party around him.

Jesus’s church celebrates and feasts together. His people live life to the fullest for his glory and learn how to do the normal, everyday stuff of life for his glory. Not just parties and feasts— everything!

Remembering God Through Feasts

This isn’t a new idea. God called his people Israel to remember him and show the world what he was like through the everyday stuff, the big and the small. The special feasts, which were extraordinary, were meant to remind them that everyday meals mattered as well. Parties are God’s idea. During the Israelites’ parties and feasts, they were to remind one another that all of life was to be done as an expression of their love for God. God called them to see their celebrations and feasts as an expression of their worship. He wanted them to use something mundane and everyday—eating—as a reminder that he is to be the center of all the everyday stuff.

God is brilliant, isn’t he?

He wants us to see that all of life, every aspect of it, is a good gift from him. He wants our hearts to cry out, “God is so good!” in the middle of everyday life. He wants us to eat, play, create, work, celebrate, rest, and relate to one another for his glory. God always intended that every part of life be a participation in his activity in the world and a celebration of his goodness to us all. So he told Israel to do all the stuff of life—working, resting, eating, and celebrating—in remembrance of him.

I love this about God!

I grew up believing that after I died, I would go to heaven, which would be like an eternal church service. As a teenager, I wasn’t too excited about that. All I could imagine was a bunch of us in white gowns floating on clouds that felt like hard wooden pews. We would forever listen to long sermons and sing songs from red hymnals. Later in life, as I read the Bible, I found out that this is not an accurate picture of our future with Jesus. The Scriptures tell of a day when we will dwell on a new earth and enjoy a sin-free existence, living life fully and abundantly with God in our midst. We will eat, play, create, work, celebrate, and rest in perfect harmony with God and one another. It will all be good and it will all be worship!

Imagine if the church was like this now.

— Jeff Vanderstelt (@JeffVanderstelt) is the visionary leader for the Soma Family of Churches and the lead teaching pastor at Doxa Church in Bellevue, Washington. When he isn't preaching or mentoring church planters, he and his family share life with their missional community. He is the author of Saturate: Being Disciples of Jesus in the Everyday Stuff of Life.

Jeff Vanderstelt, Saturate: Being Disciples of Jesus in the Everyday Stuff of Life Crossway, ©2015. Used by permission. https://www.crossway.org/.

Liberating Our Teens from Sexual Lies

(Editor’s Note: This is an excerpt from Preparing Your Teens for College by Alex Chediak available from Tyndale House Publishers, 2014. It appears here with the permission of the author and publisher. For more information and a lengthier excerpt, visit Alex’s site.)

A Biblical Understanding of Sex

Our teens need to have a biblical understanding of sex in order to navigate the challenges that await them in college. For starters, let’s define the term, not on an anatomical level but at a foundational level. Here’s how pastor and author Tim Keller puts it:

Sex is perhaps the most powerful God-created way to help you give your entire self to another human being. Sex is God’s appointed way for two people to reciprocally say to one another, “I belong completely, permanently, and exclusively to you.”¹

And that’s true. But Keller (and the Bible) would go a step further. Sex is a physical picture of a spiritual reality: God wants to dwell among and deeply know his people. God invented sex not just to propagate the human race and to give us enjoyment but to be a picture of the salvation story—Jesus Christ laying down his life for us (his bride) to bring us back to God (see Ephesians 5:25-27; 1 Peter 3:18). Gerald Hiestand and Jay Thomas say it well:

God created sex to serve as a living portrait of the life-changing spiritual union that believers have with God through Christ. . . . God created the physical oneness of sex to serve as a visible image, or type, of the spiritual union that exists between Christ and the church.²

At stake in our sexuality is nothing less than our representation of Jesus Christ’s relationship with those who follow him.

Maybe you’re saying, “This all sounds great for an adult Sunday school class, but is it really practical to explain this to our teens?” While I wouldn’t expect the same level of interest from a 12- or 13-year-old as from a 17- or 18-year-old, I do believe teens need a big-picture perspective on what sexual intimacy represents if they’re going to win the battle for purity in college and throughout their adult lives. And a biblical understanding of sex is the best antidote to the culture’s sexual lies. Our culture believes that sex is all about me. My desires. My satisfaction. It’s about using others, not serving them. But the Bible tells us that sex is all about God and his glorious work in bringing us into relationship with him. In the context of marriage, sex is about giving ourselves to serve our spouse (see 1 Corinthians 7:3-5).

A BIBLICAL MOTIVATION FOR PURITY

A biblical understanding of sex leads to a biblical motivation for abstaining until marriage. I fear that sometimes we motivate teens to sexual purity in small, even worldly ways, rather than in big, biblical ways. I have friends who grew up in Bible-believing churches that faithfully preached chastity, but the rationale was “Hey, you wouldn’t want to get pregnant, or get someone pregnant, or contract a sexually transmitted disease (STD). And watch out for those condoms! They’re not as effective as your health teacher says they are.”

The problem is it’s assumed that teens know that sex before marriage is a sin and little to no explanation is given as to why it’s a sin. Of course, we should want our teens to avoid out-of-wedlock pregnancies and STDs, but neither of these is an explicitly Christian goal. You don’t have to believe the Bible to want to avoid those things. Moreover, this argument doesn’t confront the cultural lie that sex is all about self.

If our teens know something about how human sexuality is meant to represent the permanent, spiritual union between Jesus Christ and his bride, it gives meaning and motivation to the prohibition on sex outside of marriage. Sexual intimacy in any context besides marriage dishonors God by telling a lie about how Jesus Christ relates to his people. And it massively disrupts our relationship with God (see 1 Corinthians 6:12-20). In contrast, the fear of the Lord teaches us to hate all evil (see Proverbs 8:13), to abstain from sexual immorality (see 1 Thessalonians 4:3-7), and to be holy because God is holy (see 1 Peter 1:13-16).

Once our teens understand what sex is, what it represents, and why it must be reserved for marriage, they’ll be better able to understand that there is a whole range of behaviors that are sexual in nature and that therefore must all be reserved for marriage. I fear it’s too easy for those with small, worldly motives for “staying pure” to cut corners, focusing on how close they can get to the edge without falling off. For example, ministry leaders in Christian college settings will confirm that a significant number of professing Christian students (like their non-Christian counterparts) do not consider oral sex to be sex. Why not? Because it doesn’t fit their overly narrow definition of “sex.”

But if they had a more comprehensive understanding—one rooted in the perspective summarized above—they would see that of course oral sex is sex. It’s the giving of oneself to another person in an incredibly intimate way. Like-wise, a lot of other physical acts would fall into this category.

Which leads us to the age-old question Christian teens and singles ask: How far is too far before marriage?

AN OBJECTIVE STANDARD FOR PURITY

But your teen might ask, “Isn’t that legalism?" We should anticipate this response. Many Christian teens will recognize that “getting physical” with someone they don’t really know is pure lust and clearly wrong. If they struggle at this point, remind them of 1 Corinthians 6:12-20, the forgiveness available in Christ, and that their past behavior need not determine their future. For others, the clear line of purity gets fuzzy when they develop a mutual attraction. Maybe they agree to be “exclusive,” to be boyfriend and girlfriend. They begin to see this other person as “special”—more than a friend but less than a spouse. So things get a bit physical (i.e., sexual), but they tell themselves, It’s not like we’re having sex, Things aren’t getting out of hand, and We know when we need to stop. And they tell others, “Don’t judge us—you don’t understand.” (As if we never lived through those years.)

Teach your teens what’s wrong with this logic before they’re in the throes of temptation and every ounce of their being wants to believe they have the right to decide “how far is too far.” The idea that Christians are allowed to set their own sexual standards, as long as they accomplish the goal of avoiding intercourse, is dangerous and misleading. . . .

This is not legalism. It liberates our teens from being captive to their own subjective standards, which can be profoundly flawed, especially in the heat of the moment. And we can really help them as parents, because if you’re married, I’d imagine that the boundaries of propriety toward other women or men are pretty clear for you. If our teens are to relate to young men and women “in all purity” (1 Timothy 5:2), they need to have this same clarity.

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Alex Chediak is an author, speaker, and professor of engineering and physics at California Baptist University. Alex has been involved in mentoring students for many years. He has published numerous articles in Boundless (Focus on the Family), Trak (God’s World News), and Christian College Guide (Christianity Today). He is the bestselling author of Thriving at College (Tyndale House, 2011). Alex and his wife, Marni, live with their three children in Riverside, California. Visit Alex’s site or follow him on Twitter: @Chediak.

^{1. Timothy Keller with Kathy Keller, The Meaning of Marriage (New York: Dutton, 2011), 223-224.↩ 2. Gerald Hiestand and Jay Thomas, Sex, Dating, and Relationships (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012), 18..↩}

Giveaway: Raised? Finding Jesus By Doubting the Resurrection

Jonathan Dodson and Brad Watson have written a stellar book that we want to share with you.

Raised? encourages you to doubt in order to believe. Too often Christians look down on doubt, but in Christ, we see a person who welcomes doubt and encourages faith. Jonathan Dodson and Brad Watson don’t shy away from the hard questions or settle for easy answers. They help you to see how the resurrection offers hope for the future and answers for the life and death questions we all face.

Jonathan and Brad in partnership with Zondervan were generous enough to offer 10 free copies of Raised? to giveaway for FREE to GCD readers. Below you will find a variety of ways to enter to win your FREE copy. Enter all of them for more chances to win. The contest will run until Monday, April 21st at 2PM CST. Shortly thereafter we will email the winners and announce them on Twitter.

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Jonathan K. Dodson (MDiv; ThM) serves as a pastor of City Life Church in Austin, Texas. He is the author of Gospel-Centered Discipleship, Unbelievable Gospel, and Raised? He has discipled men and women abroad and at home for almost two decades, taking great delight in communicating the gospel and seeing Christ formed in others. Twitter: @Jonathan_Dodson

Brad Watson serves as a pastor of Bread & Wine Communities in Portland, Oregon. He is a board member of GCDiscipleship.com and co-author of Raised? His greatest passion is to encourage and equip leaders for the mission of making disciples. Twitter: @BradAWatson

For free resources and orders, visit raisedbook.com.

Love Actually

When blogging about the Christian worldview and framing apologetic arguments, there is typically (at least, there should be!) a heavy dose of truth involved. But what does Paul mean when he admonishes us to "speak the truth in love”? Paul makes an important point here, the subtlety of which can be easily missed. The obvious response to this verse would be: "Well, Paul is saying we shouldn't bash people over the head with the truth because that wouldn't be loving." This is true, but I think it goes deeper than that. I think it's worth exploring some further questions.

What does Paul mean by love?

It is useful to view Paul's statement in the context of Jesus' teaching: the first and greatest commandment is "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" (Matt. 22:37) and the second is "‘Love your neighbor as yourself'" (Matt. 22:38). If we consider Paul's statement in light of these two commandments on which "all the Law and the Prophets hang" (Matt. 22:40), we can deduce that Paul is telling us to speak the truth as an outworking of our love of God and of people—not as a result of our love of the world, our love of popular approval, or our love of ourselves.

The Greek term for love Paul uses here is agape, a form of agapeis, which is also used by Jesus (agapaō) when he quotes the greatest commandments. The essence of agape is self-sacrifice. So then, speaking the truth should be done in self-sacrificial love as modeled by Jesus Christ. First, it should be to glorify God, and, second, to edify those who hear it. And speaking the truth may also be costly to us, costing us things like convenience, popularity, friendships, even our safety.

The Holy Spirit empowers us to love God and love others in a self-sacrificial way. Loving others without the Holy Spirit involves a self-serving, consumeristic form of love that actually takes away from God and other people more than it gives. This may not be immediately evident when we observe acts of love that are done in human strength such as generosity, kindness, or charity. Humans are created in the image of God, so in some ways we gravitate toward the notion of doing good unto others.

But, loving others in our own strength as well-intended as it may be, ultimately ends up being self-serving because of our fallen nature. Loving others certainly can provide us with a whole lot of earthly perks: a warm and fuzzy feeling, popularity and a good reputation, a wholesome family environment, a better marriage, or a safer community to live in. Loving others in our own strength, however, hardly ever leads us to speak the truth in love because it isn't God-honoring. Instead, it's more likely to make us smooth things over so things will be more comfortable for everybody. It can lead us to ignore inconvenient truths and live in denial. It can lead to double-mindedness, flattery, and people-pleasing. Living in the power of the Holy Spirit, on the other hand, gives us a supernatural ability to genuinely love others sacrificially. Christ-like love, however, is often rejected by the world and doesn't come with all the earthly perks we might desire.

What does Paul mean by truth?

We can see from the passage above, that the alternative to speaking the truth in love is spiritual immaturity (being like "infants") and susceptibility to being "tossed back and forth by the waves," to being deceived by every wind of teaching and the deceitful scheming of other people (Eph. 4:14-16). Paul, then, is urging us to teach others to obey God's commandments so that they will not be caught up in circumstances or be deceived by false teaching, but will instead be anchored in the truth so that they will mature and be built up in the Body of Christ.

This is the essence of discipling others, just as Jesus articulated before His ascension to heaven. He says, "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you" (Matt. 28:19-20). Teaching the truth about God's commands as laid out in his Word is an integral part of discipling others and building up the Body of Christ.

Paul admonishes believers to handled the "Word of truth" accurately (2 Tim. 2:15). Paul makes it clear that the only way to do this is to understand that it’s in Christ alone in whom all truth is rooted. Speaking truth about the law like the Pharisees did is not what Paul means by handling the Word of truth accurately.

Paul resolved to "boast in nothing except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." (Gal. 6:14). While Paul stays with the Corinthian believers, he describes how,

"When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power." (1 Cor. 2:1-5).

Speaking the truth, then, must be Christ-centered—not relying on human wisdom, but on the power of God. Because speaking the truth in love rejects human wisdom, and centers on the stumbling block of Christ, it may be offensive others.

What does Paul mean by "in"?

The little word "in" carries a lot of weight here. Paul's admonishes us to speak the truth "in" love. He doesn't talk about speaking the truth "with" love or speaking the truth "about" love.  I think there is a subtle but significant distinction here.

First, loving actions and behavior towards others should provide the backdrop for speaking the truth. Young Life's founder, Jim Rayburn, talks about "earning the right to be heard" when ministering to young people and sharing the gospel with them. The gospel is best communicated within a context of friendship or service. I think Paul is saying something similar here: the truth is better received when it's delivered within the context of Christ-like love.

Interestingly, Paul didn't say speak love, he said speak truth. He isn't talking here about love as the content of what is being spoken. Have you ever heard the saying, "actions speak louder than words"? Simply saying nice things to someone without backing up our words with loving actions is disingenuous. Speaking words of love alone, can quickly turn into flattery and empty words. Love is more authentically demonstrated in the way we treat others. In other words, we need to aim at doing love, and speaking truth in a way that honors God first and foremost.

Second, our motive for speaking the truth should be rooted in our love of God and our love of people. The fact is, if we truly love someone, we will want to be honest with them. If you saw someone you loved self-destructing, you would do what you could to save them. In actuality, the only life-preserver that will save someone who's spiritually drowning is the gospel. This should be our motivation behind speaking the truth: to help others find the Way--Christ Jesus.

Keeping our motives pure can be costly. It can cost us friendships, popularity, and convenience. I am a people-pleaser by nature and as a result I am constantly struggling with the temptation to do and say things I think will make people happy or make people like me more. At times, it has been tempting for me to make a friend feel better about a problem they are having, rather than speaking the truth to them about their situation. The truth can make us uncomfortable. This can lead us to brush it under the rug, or tell ourselves a different, more palatable story. In doing this, however, we put our feelings before our obedience to God.

Finally, Paul shows that Christ-centered truth is inseparable from Christ-like love. As demonstrated above, love without truth is people-pleasing. But just as dangerous is truth without love, which can lead to hard-headed legalism, hatred, and division. Truth without love is like faith without deeds. And we know from James that faith without deeds is dead. "Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder" (Jm. 2:18-19).

Head-knowledge alone doesn't save us, for even the demons know the truth. I have known people who have a keen grasp of theological concepts and can even articulate the atonement, for example, with amazing precision. However, their hearts have been unchanged by the gospel. Head-knowledge alone doesn't change the heart. We know from Scripture, "knowledge puffs up while love builds up" (1 Cor. 8:1). Head-knowledge can be a source of pride—an unhealthy form of self-love that turns us away from God. If we don't experience heart-change in response to the truth of the gospel, our faith is dead.

Essentially then, love and truth are interdependent. Truth is, by its very nature, completely submerged and saturated in love! God is love (1 Jn. 4:8), just as he is truth (Jn. 14:6). And the truth of the gospel of Christ is the purest expression of love. In other words, in Christ, love actually is truth. And love and truth are an integral part of discipleship.

As Paul shows us, speaking the truth in love is key to establishing unity in the Body of Christ. This is because what unifies us as believers is not brushing fundamental truths under the carpet to keep the peace, but rather upholding the Gospel of Christ in our churches and uniting together in the name of Jesus. Paul explains that with Christ as our Lord, believers will be united together, speaking the truth in love, as we "grow up in every way into Him who is the head," which allows the Body to "build itself up in love" (Eph 4:15-16).

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Anna-Maeve Martin has worked in international development, civil liberties, and church ministry (missions & outreach). She has two Master's degrees in History of Ideas (Leeds University, UK) and Government (University of Pennsylvania) and continues her studies at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. She is originally from England but now resides in Northern Virginia where she is a stay-at-home mom of three young daughters by day and a blogger by night at Faith Actually. Follow her on Twitter @FaithActually.

Seminarian: Take Your Time!

Andy Hynes serves as the Director of Admissions and Dean of Men at Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary where he is also a Ph.D. candidate. He is married with two boys, Samuel and Nathan. Connect with him on Twitter: @ABHYNES.  

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I am currently in my seventh year of seminary education. I plan to finish writing my dissertation within the year and move on to what God has in store for my family and me. I suppose many of you are or were in the same situation. I can remember the beginning of my master’s work. We moved to Memphis in July 2006 and I was eager to get started. We had been serving at a local church in southwest Georgia before we moved. While serving there I spent a lot of time “doing” ministry. I had a B.A. in Theology, and I was learning something new every day.

When we arrived in Memphis, I knew that was going to be the time God was going to prepare us for my delusions of grandeur. I was going to speed through the 96 hours of the M.Div. and then consider earning a Ph.D. I wanted to get done quickly; the sooner the better. Investing in my education was not a concern.

Those were some of the most foolish things I have ever thought.

It was not until I neared the end of my third year that I could look back and see God had been poking and prodding me. All along now I see where God was providentially carrying me while I was quickly washing away into a sea of “knowledge.” I was learning a lot of book knowledge, and even being allowed to apply some of that knowledge in the venues where I was serving, but I was wasting years of time of intimate communication with the Father. I was learning much about the Father, but I was not growing more intimate with the Father. At a time when “growth,” specifically “spiritual growth,” should be at its highest, it was actually at its lowest.

So What Happened?

I lost sight of the purpose. My education became about getting a degree and not about doing as unto the Lord. While Paul teaches about doing everything unto the Lord (1 Cor. 10:31), I saw my education as unto my preparation for moving forward.

I allowed my reading and studying to be sufficient for my intimacy with Christ. As we see the life of Christ, there are various times when he goes to be alone, to get away from the hustle and bustle of life. He needed those times to connect with the Father. In ministry, and even in school, the same necessary times are there to find a regular time to seclude and silence oneself.

Following Christ can become a chore while in seminary. It becomes just something that you do, and not a representation of who you are. Chores are those menial tasks you are asked to do by a parent or spouse like taking out the trash, washing dishes, or folding laundry. They become a routine and mandatory.

How to Avoid Complacency

1. Remain in awe of who God is! Allow yourself to be wrapped up in the attributes of God on a daily basis. J.I. Packer in Knowing God talks about letting the study of God move beyond knowledge. His main point is to allow your study to be a time of meditation that results in action. So why couldn’t this same principle be applied to all our studies while in seminary? I think it could. Everything from History of Christianity to preaching, missions, and beyond could if we’d only grasp the depths of the glory of God through all our studies.

2. Never become satisfied with where you are. Paul was never satisfied with his holiness before Christ. He constantly pushed himself and others toward a deeper more intimate fellowship with Christ. When we get to school we may think that we have arrived at a place of relaxing and learning. When in fact what we are doing is taking in information and growing in knowledge. If we are not careful and purposeful it never gets beyond that. If we were to move beyond the informative idea of school and into a practical sanctifying work, I think we would avoid the trend of men and women laying aside their growth in Christ while in school.

3. Practically apply what you are learning and put forth the maximum effort in all you do. Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. We can get into such a fast-paced mentality and never stop to put into practice what we are learning at the time. I have seen student after student (myself included) finish a master’s degree having spent very little time investing in their education. I rushed through my degrees and finished all the classes, but I had grown so little.

Take Your Time

It was not until the Father faithfully destroyed and wrecked my heart and exposed ALL the gross infirmities that I had no idea were there, that I began to realize how much of my “education” was poorly poured into. Now I look back and long to do it over. I wish I could go back and invest in learning and growing, not for the sake of getting some degree or a notch on the ministerial belt, but to GROW in wisdom and knowledge of the depths of the love of Christ, as Paul prays for the Church at Ephesus.

Maybe you have been there, or are there right now. In my current role at Mid-America, I have the privilege of speaking to many of our prospective students. One of the main things I emphasize is TAKE YOUR TIME. Invest in learning and growing in your intimacy with Christ while in school. Let your classes be a part of your growth, not a means to an end. It is the greatest time to study the things of God and allow them to saturate and permeate your life. Do not try to expedite this time of your life.

4 Temptations of a Bible College Student

Michael Cooper currently serves as Assistant to the President at Criswell College and attends Cornerstone Church in Mabank, Texas. Follow him on Twitter: @mrcjr24.  

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This May, I will be graduating with a B.A. in Biblical Studies. Ask me about Greek paradigms or eschatological views, and I can fill your head with information. I mean, it’s been my “job” for the last four years to learn the ins and outs of theological debates and to master the intricacies of various doctrines. Though I love studying such things, there exists a great danger.

For many of us, the doctrine of sin is something that can become just another answer on a test. It grows into such an intellectual exercise that we miss the reality of it crouching at the door, seeking to destroy us. This is, to say the least, one of many difficulties that a Bible college or seminary student knows all too well.

As I reflect upon my time in college, I can think of four temptations that could easily lead to sin. While I think every Christian is susceptible to these temptations, in the environment of Christian academics a full-time "student of the Word" is prone to drift in this direction quite easily.

Temptation #1: Reading the Bible as a Textbook

It was challenging at times not to view the Bible as a “textbook” for my classes, paired up alongside Ladd, Carson, Wright, and others. As one dives deeper into the depths of Biblical theology, hermeneutics, and critical thinking, the danger to turn the Bible into nothing more than another book is tempting. I found myself using, quoting, and reading the Bible as a tool for research instead of allowing the Bible to become the standard for my life. Reading the Bible became, dare I say, dry and boring as a Bible college student. It became a routine, something that I was supposed to do.

However, the Bible is not just another book. It is the Word of God, the rule of faith and practice. So in order to fight this temptation, one must consciously read the Bible as though God is speaking directly to you. Of course, use your historical backgrounds, hermeneutical methods, and exegetical tools, but do not lose sight of the true goal of reading the Bible and encountering Jesus Himself. Do not read the Bible as a student only; read it as a disciple of Jesus. Allow it to change and challenge you.

Temptation #2: Puffing Up

Paul states in 1 Corinthians 8:1 that “knowledge puffs up.” Now, now all you seminarians… before you lay down your “proof text” trump card, realize that Paul said again, "If I have…all knowledge but not love, I am nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:2). You may have the knowledge to distinguish between proof-texting and proper exegesis, but if you walk into your church welding your newly found knowledge like a sword you might do more damage than good. The temptation to “puff up” is present within the heart of every Bible college student.

Growing in the knowledge of God is a wonderful experience. Yet, that temptation toward placing yourself above “laypeople” can result in a critical and an unloving individual who knows a ton, but doesn’t have the ability to put it into practice. We are commanded by our Lord to love Him with our mind. As full-time students of the Word, this is our motivation. Do not forget that He commanded us to be humble, loving, and gracious towards others. I think this applies appropriately to those of us with degrees in Bible and theology. Allow that knowledge to drive you to the foot of the cross in humility and love for others.

Temptation #3: Neglecting the Church

I find this temptation so ironic for theological students, but is so easy to fall into. It is easy to walk through the pages of the New Testament and become discouraged as you look at the biblical expectations for the first churches, and realize that our churches don't match up. As you compare your local congregation to the New Testament model, you see the blemishes and bruises, which can result in discontentment and frustration.

This relates to the second temptation: We study the church, but don’t attend the church. Students can become so knowledgeable of a subject like ecclesiology that all they do is deconstruct. And the way to combat this temptation is to reconstruct. Allow your critique of the local church to be constructive. But in order to do so, one must become involved in a local congregation first. Submit under the authority of a church and begin to serve. N.T. Wright once said, "Practice without theory is blind, and theory without practice is dumb." The best way to put your theory in practice is through a local congregation.

Temptation #4: Studying Just to Get a Grade

I've said it many times over the past few years: "I just want to get the grade and get out." I acknowledge this temptation all to well, especially as a senior. This type of thinking distorts the goal of studying – it becomes more about the grade rather than about Jesus. In order to fight this temptation, it is imperative to view the work you are doing in class as worship unto Jesus. I remember walking into my Greek I class a few semesters ago, and my professor stood up and began to speak to us about this very principle. He indicated that as we study Greek it would be difficult, but he encouraged us not to give up. His conclusion was, "Make your work your worship."

It’s easy to do enough just to get by, but as disciples we are called to a higher mission in everything we do. Another scholar that reinforced this for me was Andreas Kostenberger in his book Excellence: The Character of God and the Pursuit of Scholarly Virtue. What other degree do you have the opportunity to learn about the God of the universe? Take advantage of your time and make your work your worship.

Finish the Race

It is easy to fall into these temptations. Once you do, your fallen nature might take control and turn it into sin. My encouragement – as one who has struggled with all four temptations – is to recognize the hurdles when they come upon you. Make sure you know how to clear them. If Jesus is Lord over the universe, then allow Jesus to be Lord over your schoolwork. It is challenging, but it is worth it to finish strong. May we be able to join Paul as he declares, “I have finished the race" (1 Timothy 4:7).

That was a Bible college proof text, I know.

Superbowl Ads and What They Say About Us

As the audience for the Super Bowl has grown over the years, so has the price tag for in-game advertising. With the higher prices, comes increased pressure on advertisers to outdo one another for memorability and influence. The result is that the "line" is pushed further and further every year. Advertisers want to have the commercial that is THE topic of discussion on social media and around the water cooler on Monday. Consequently, a polarization has occurred. We have created two Americas: a noble, inspired America and a sophomoric, risque America. Sunday night's latest installment of commercials seemed to have brought us to a new crossroads for both audiences and advertisers: will we point to the noble or race to the bottom?

The Original Commercial Arms Race

Possibly the most memorable commercial for many in our generation was the 1984 ad by Apple. It's an iconic commercial much like Coca-Cola's Mean Joe Green spot, Budweiser's Frogs, and McDonalds' Jordan vs. Bird. Everyone knows those commercials. But a funny thing happened along the way. Our once creative commercials devolved into sultry, uncreative attempts at shock and awe advertising.

Pepsi was one of the originators of this sex-sells strategy for Super Bowl commercials. Madonna's Like a Prayer ad in 1989 was the first to really garner national attention for its risque content.

They followed that up with the less-explicit-yet-still-sexualized Cindy Crawford ad in 1992. Even though ads were toned down some in the later 1990s, a precedent had been set and the DotCom boom in the early 2000s helped take things to a new low.

Sex Sells Website Addresses

While they are not solely responsible, GoDaddy is now the leader in the clubhouse when it comes to commercials that both objectify women and use sex to sell completely unrelated products. The website registrar began Super Bowl advertising in 2005 and has been on a downward spiral ever since.

This year's Kiss ad with Bar Rafaeli was just the latest example of how low the bar has fallen. What is discouraging is that ads like the Tim Tebow's Mom one from 2010 are the ones which draw criticism while sexualized filth like Go Daddy's ads not only don't draw much mainstream criticism, they actually are quite effective in selling their "product." GoDaddy saw more new sales and new customers as a result of this year's ad than any of their previous Super Bowl ads.

An Encouraging Trend

But there is hope. A "remnant" of wholesomeness is lurking. It's been there all along, yet it has never contrasted so much as it did Sunday night.

The Farmer ad from Chrysler was a runaway hit with much of America. Will it sell more Ram trucks? Maybe. Did it remind us of what America-- and our commercials-- could be? Definitely.

Where Do We Go From Here?

As trite as it may seem, we truly have become two Americas. We saw this clearly in November. Though it was presented differently Sunday night, there were red state ads and blue state ads. There is a clear delineation and polarization of values in our country. And advertisers know this.

Until GoDaddy isn't the #1 domain registrar on the planet and Calvin Klein isn't one of the most iconic brands in fashion, nothing will change.

Ad execs know they can keep pushing the envelope and moving the line because half of the country is with them. The ad execs are not to blame. Their job is to make their clients successful. And they are succeeding.

Why?

Because they are more in touch with their America than we are with ours.

Immorality is easy an easy target for marketers. It's a known commodity to us all-- even the most Christlike among us. We know our depravity. And we know what appeals to that. So do advertisers.

We live in a post-Christian culture. The Nones are rising. We are fighting an uphill battle against culture. It's a battle that has waged since the garden. And one that will not end until His return. It is a valiant battle and one we must fight.

We must connect with culture while not compromising our message. Why did the Farmer ad connect with so many? Because it offered hope. Honesty. Diligence. Tradition. Values.

But those values are becoming less valued. However a remnant remains. We are that remnant. We must point to the noble. To inspiration. To wholesomeness. And ultimately to the gospel.

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Jonathan Howe serves as Director of Strategic Initiatives at LifeWay Christian Resources, the host and producer of Rainer on Leadership and SBC This Week. Jonathan writes weekly at ThomRainer.com on topics ranging from social media to websites and church communications.

Remember Whose You Are

As I began my walk through the New Testament this year, the first reading was, quite obviously, from Matthew 1. I was struck anew with a sense of awe as I read it and the words came to life for me like never before. Just last month, my wife and I had our third child (and Jonathan begat Micah). Because of this recent life event, fatherhood had been on my mind more than usual. When I read over is familiar passage, two things stuck out: our parenting doesn't affect just our kids but also generations to come, and it matters whose you are.

Trickle-Down Parenting

We see it over and over again where one sin causes peril for generation after generation. Cain, Akin, Abram, etc., are prime examples of this.

The genealogies in Scripture should serve as a minder of how much our actions do matter for those yet to come. And when applied to parenting, this increases all the more.

My responsibility as a father to Ethan, Micah, and Parker is the train them for godliness. They will be most significantly influenced in matters of both faith and lifestyle by my actions, words, and training. That is a heavy responsibility, but a welcome one. God has chosen me as a father to these three boys. That in itself is quite humbling.

But He provides me guidance as I provide them guidance.

Through both Scripture as well as the example of my own godly father, I am blessed with a firm foundation on which to live my life as an example to my boys. I can rest in the grace God has extended to me and show that same grace to my boys.

My prayer is that they see that grace, respond to Christ in faith and do the same for their children, they for theirs, and so on.

Remember Whose You Are

When I was a youngster, the last thing my dad would tell me before I went out with my friends was, "Remember whose you are." I knew the meaning of that quite well. He wasn't just telling me to not do anything to embarrass him or my mom. He was reminding me to act in a way that represents the character of Christ. It's one of the most vivid memories I have from my childhood.

Reading these genealogies brings that memory rushing to the forefront once again.

Something that seems as boring as a genealogy was comfort to me and should be a comfort to you as well. For we are to remember whose we are. We are bought with a price. Heirs.

Sons.

We know who our heavenly Father is. Let us not forget that. We are His, and He is ours. And we are to pass that on.

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Jonathan Howe serves as Director of Strategic Initiatives at LifeWay Christian Resources, the host and producer of Rainer on Leadership and SBC This Week. Jonathan writes weekly at ThomRainer.com on topics ranging from social media to websites and church communications.

Experiential Discipleship

We’ve gotten discipleship backwards. Jesus put it like this: “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32). In discipleship, we have reversed this. Instead, we start like this: Know the truth. Be set free. Follow Jesus.

Knowing facts about God is not enough

Many people have never actually seen what God is like. They only know facts about him. They can list off many things: He is loving, gracious, all knowing, all powerful, everywhere present, infinite, provider, caring, passionate, and more. But here is the issue: We never fall in love with someone by simply knowing a list of things about them.

I was speaking to a young woman who said she was struggling with her faith. She expressed deep confusion about what God was like, as this was the very One she was supposed to tell her friends, neighbors, and strangers about. She would describe for them God’s varied characteristics, but for some reason they were unaffected.

Then I pressed her. She has a boyfriend so I asked her: “What if I were trying to set you and your boyfriend up and I said: ‘He has two eyes, two legs, a face, hair, a mouth, he eats, he hugs people and he wears clothes.’ Would you be so caught up about him that you’d fall in love with him?” She laughed and said, “Of course not!.” I said, “How have you fallen in love with him?” She responded, “Our time in relationship with each other.” Exactly.

She spent time with him and walked with him to see what he was like. So much so, that if I told tell her, “Your boyfriend is a thief and a liar,” she wouldn’t believe me, because of her experiential understanding of who he is and what he is like. His being called a thief and a liar is a contradiction to his character that she knows intimately. This is how it is with God. He has always wanted a relationship with us, so we could show off what he is like to the entire world. We see this right away in the Garden of Eden, as God walks with Adam and Eve, God’s image bearers, in the cool of the day.

This is why discipleship starts with the first time we have contact with a person. Now, don’t read this and hear that facts about a person or facts about God aren’t important. Of course, it is important that her boyfriend has an actual heart that keeps him alive, just as it is important that God is, in fact, spirit. But, if you asked Adam and Eve why they believe God is their provider, they’d point to the variety and lushness of the garden, not because they found a tract behind the tree of life that told them so.

We show off what God is like as we walk in his ways

When we do not merely memorize facts about God, but actually experience those facts in relationship with him, we can show him clearly to others. So, instead of just saying, “God provides,” we see that he provides as we lean on his provision and wisdom. We don’t merely call him Comforter, but we have experienced his comfort in our lives. We can then authentically show off what God is like to others as we live in community with them. So, when they begin to trust in Jesus, they’ve already seen what a disciple does and experienced it. Because of this, they have an affectionate relationship with God and not merely an intellectual relationship with facts about God.

Isn’t this moralism? No. Instead, we are open with our sin, showing people how forgiving, loving and pursuant God is, even in our sin because of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. We aren’t saying we are the gospel, but we are the image bearers of God, showing others the fullness of God in every way, in our righteousness and our sin. Of course, both of these are only possible because of the gospel (John 15:15; 1 John 1:5-10).

Where did we get so off track?

We’ve never had relationships like this. We’ve never merely known facts about someone and said we were in intimate relationship with them. Yet we can see many people living this way. They believe this list of facts, then they work the rest of their lives trying to do things to prove that God is real and true, the same way they know it with their minds. In reality, they’ve never been set free. They are still slaves. Jesus’ burden is heavy, not light. And, in the end, the gospel isn’t good news and definitely doesn’t bring great joy.

Maybe this is the reason why so many pastors and Christians are burnt out. They have a relationship with a spreadsheet of facts instead of walking in the ways of Jesus who sets them free, brings great joy, and whose burden is light. I wonder what would happen if our list of facts, or our systematic theology actually came from the truth of the Spirit working in our lives and seeking what the Word of God says about himself. If we allowed this sort of patience and long-suffering to happen, we’d truly experience God for he is and what he’s done in our world and in our lives. The Spirit would disciple us in the truth of who he is in both word and deed, showing us experientially who he is. The problem with our method of discipleship, is we often want people to cross this line of truth overnight, instead of resting in the sovereign work of God by trusting him to reveal himself to people as he sees fit, in his perfect timing.

If you fall in love with someone through experiencing who they are by seeing their beauty, both physical and spiritual, why wouldn’t you expect that shadow to point you to the reality of who God is, especially in light of his exponential depth of glory?

We need to go back to a discipleship that starts with walking with others as we walk with Jesus, so they’ll know the truth and that truth will set them free as it has set us free.

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Cross-posted from Gospel-Centered Discipleship.

Being Ministers of Reconciliation

In a world of subjective truths, tolerance, and acceptance, Christianity has become nothing more than ‘another’ religion in the eyes of many. Western culture, in particular, is grievously enamored with the idea of self-reliance, self-dependence, and self-worth. Christianity is extremely counter-cultural because it teaches the actuality of human depravity, the necessity for a savior, and an eternal focus for our temporal lives. For unbelievers at-large, this can be something that can seem intolerant and outdated, a tradition steeped in rigid tradition, and a stumbling block to the progress of the society and the world. For Christians, however, depraved humanity in need of a savior is true reality. This is life for the human race. As we consider our calling to be “ministers of reconciliation” (2 Cor. 5:18-20), we must understand the people we are living around, their view of the world, and the journey they are on. Likewise, we have to continually allow the Spirit to draw us to repentance in areas of life where we fail to “let the love of Christ control us” (2 Cor. 5:14). Though loving others is often difficult and even scary, the pressure is not on us to change hearts, for only God can save through the transforming power of the gospel (Acts 4:12). As a friend of mine says often, “We do the ministry, God does the miracles.” The ministry of reconciliation acknowledges two truths: humans are sinful and we need a savior. The message of reconciliation is that God dealt with sin himself and saved humanity. This is the Christian's message.

How Can this Message be Rejected?

Perhaps a substantial reason for the negative view of Christianity is the attitude and actions of Christians themselves. As a world religion, the stigma of dependence on something outside ourselves is already a built-in excuse to reject believers. In addition, Christians have a tendency to mistake their salvation as license to be self-righteous and judgmental, wondering why unbelievers are not intelligent enough to “figure it out.” Like the Pharisee in Luke 18, we often look at the people around us exclaiming, “Thank you God that I’m not like these tax collectors!” As the story goes, the Pharisee has much to learn from the tax collector whose only justification is in the mercy of God and not in his righteous (or unrighteous) works. I have encountered many non-Christians and de-churched Christians who use Christian hypocrisy as the chief reason for their unbelief. Often times there is a deeper issue at hand, but just as often this objection is simply as real to them as Jesus is to us.

For Christians to be catalysts for change in the world, we must first wear his name with humility, dignity, and fervor. As Jesus so clearly states in Luke 19, even if we do not worship him, creation itself will cry out his name. He doesn’t need us to change the world but, nonetheless, he uses us as ministers of reconciliation. It is our duty and obligation to speak truth into the lives of others (Matt. 28:18-20), and there is no “out clause” for the Christian. We are to be salt and light (Matt. 5:13-16), loving God and others because he first loved us (1 John 4:19). There is a story going on all around us, a story that God has been writing since before the foundation of the world. Acts 17 tells us that God has appointed to every person the time and boundaries in which they live so that they will find him. So, for the Christian, this means that not only are you in the time and place that you are to find God, but those around you are in a similar position. Again, you cannot save anyone, but it is your burden as a Christian to treat everyone as though they will turn to Christ in that instance. As Charles Spurgeon once said (and I paraphrase), “I believe that God will save his elect and I also believe that if I do not preach the gospel, he will lay the blood of the lost at my doorstep.”

Hope

In the end, we do not know the answers to every question about how and why God saves anyone, but his Word is very clear that the proclamation of the gospel is a key component to transformation (Romans 10). People’s hearts cannot be ultimately changed for the better by new legislature, war, personal enlightenment, or secret philosophies; it can only be changed by the sin-stomping, life-altering life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. He is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father but through him and by him (John 6:44; 14:6).

This is our hope, and this is hope for those who are far from God. God is reconciling all things to himself and as reconciled people, Christians are to reflect Christ in a way that is not self-righteous and proud, but rather humble and sacrificial. Perhaps one of the most telling verses in the entire New Testament comes in Acts 2. After hearing the preaching of the Word, the early Christians went about their daily lives following the apostles’ teaching, sacrificing for one another, and spending genuine time in community. The result? They were loved by those around them and “the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved” (2:47). People were being saved through the Spirit of God just by watching these Christians live their lives! This is the gospel at work, changing lives through lives that love God and love others. The Word being preached is extremely important, as seen earlier in Acts 2, but there is so much more to it. Christians can make an eternal impact by obeying and worshiping God the way these early believers did. The truth, and only the truth, sets hearts free (John 8:32).

Toward Being Ministers of Reconciliation

As someone who is in constant prayer and repentance about my own selfishness and propensity to avoid serving others, there are a few ways that I personally seek to love my neighbors as Christ calls me to:

1. Pray, Pray, Pray – Nothing of this magnitude can be accomplished without the Spirit’s work (1 Cor. 2:12). When you share the gospel and when someone receives it, there is supernatural power weaved throughout the entire process. Knowing that I need – and have – God’s help encourages me to worry less about my own fear of man.
2. Remember Christ – Though WWJD? bracelets have largely come and gone, this slogan is actually highly missional. When speaking with others, praying for others, and serving others, I have the perfect model in Jesus. When I don’t feel like being generous, I am reminded of how generous Christ is to me on a daily basis. When I don’t feel like serving, I am reminded that God himself stepped into human history and suffered the cross with joy (Hebrews 12:2).
3. Go – Loving and reaching my neighbors is frequently a better idea than action. Upon relying on the Spirit and remembering how Christ lived, I am finally reminded of the Great Commission’s call to literally take this good news to the lost (Matt. 28:18-20). This may be the hardest part, but an understanding of who Christ is, what he’s done, and what he calls me to propels me into his mission. May we all trust him with this responsibility.

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Originally published at Gospel-Centered Discipleship.

Crossway Book Giveaway

It's that time again! Thanks to our continued partnership with Crossway, we will be giving away the following books:

How to Enter:

• Follow us on Twitter and Retweet our giveaway tweet OR
• Like us on Facebook  and Share our giveaway post
• EXTRA CREDIT: Do all of the above!

*There will be five winners (each winner will get one of the five books).

**Giveaway ends December 2, 2012 at 11:59 CST.

May the odds be ever in your favor...........

Are You a Glory Thief?

Two weeks ago, Jake Ledet of CityView Church preached a powerful message entitled "Glory Thieves" from Judges 6-8. He focused particularly on our propensity to want glory for ourselves rather than to give glory to God. The sermon is well worth a listen, but here are some provocative questions (via Paul Tripp) that Jake asked near the end:

• Where do you attempt to control things that you do not need to control?
• Where do you fail to listen when you should?
• Where are you tempted to speak more than you should?
• Where do you fail to recognize and esteem the gifts of others?
• Where are you unwilling to examine your weaknesses and to admit your failures?
• Where are you tempted to think of yourself as more essential than you actually are?
• Where do you care too much about people's respect, esteem, and appreciation?
• Where do you find it easier to confront than to receive confrontation?
• Where are you less than thankful for the people whom God has connected you to?
• Where are you too confident of your own strength and wisdom?

The Journey of a "What's Next?" Missionary

One of the things that we knew up here in Seattle is the cultural rhythms... it wasn't hard being that we, meaning my wife and I, have lived up here most of our lives. We ended up creating a yearly calendar because of it and have lived on this calendar as a missional community since we started over three years ago. Not only do we look around to see what we can join that the community already does well, but also what needs to be redeemed. Here is what our yearly calendar looked like: June - September:

• People are outside because the weather is somewhat nice. That made it very easy to connect with people in the neighborhoods. We used this time to have BBQ's in our front yard with an open invite to all.
• July 4th: People in Seattle, and specifically our neighborhood, love the 4th of July.  We used this time to create an event in our neighborhood so people didn't leave the neighborhood - a wiffleball tournament, cook-off, live band, and lots of fireworks.

October - May: 

• This is the rainy season for Seattle. People stay inside because of it and don't go outside to do any sort of general association with others. It's lock-down mode. Knowing this, we used this time to have Saturday morning breakfasts at our house. This caused people to see each other, stay in touch, etc.
• January: Knowing people usually start new things in January, this is when we started the 10-week "Story Formed Way" with our neighborhood.  This gave us a chance to dive deeper with the neighbors who were interested in seeing the fullness of why we live the way we do in our neighborhood.

Joining and Redeeming

One of the first things we knew needed redeeming was the bedroom community feel of our neighborhood. Everyone played and worked away from our city, and they only slept and sent their kids to school in our city. We wanted the understanding of community redeemed for our neighbors. I think that has definitely happened. Actually, one of the ways you can pray for my family is that we speak clearly the good news to our neighbors before we leave. We have 6-9 months before we move, so be praying that the Spirit gives us opportunities with those we have yet had the chance to speak clearly with. I've been praying for "what's next?" with a few neighbors and the Spirit is telling me to look for how the good news is good news to their story.

We've joined, a little, with a single mom's home in the area that were taking care of those in need and doing a very good job with it.  Because we only have 6-10 families (depending on when you ask) in our missional communities, we didn't have the man power to join too many other works.

Now on to Arizona

Because I know that one of the major things we'll be doing as missionaries to Arizona will be to understand the cultural rhythms - where to join and where to redeem - we have started the process of speaking to those who are already living there. Why start from scratch if you don't have to? I have talked to men from Church of the Cross and other churches. Some are in the city, some are in the 'burbs, some are pastors, and others are businessmen.

Here is what I know so far:

• Summer is hot. Meaning, no one does things outside in the summer. This is a complete change from Seattle. We'll need to figure out how to engage the neighbors during this time. I am thinking that the breakfasts will happen during the summer months.
• The fall through spring is amazing. It seems as though BBQ's, pool parties, and other parties will work the best during this time.
• Phoenix is one huge suburb. Many have told me that this is why Phoenix is a difficult place. I have heard for years that making disciples in the 'burbs is near impossible. Yeah, whatever. The Spirit won't fail, we just have to be patient and love people because God loved us, and not want anything in return from people because of our love. This is playing in my favor and the gifting of the Spirit in my life.
• Not only this, but few are from Phoenix as most have moved there and have little family. That is something that needs redeeming, to show people what true family looks like.

As you can see, because the weather is far different than we are used to and many don't have close family nearby, which is not the case in the NW (for the most part), some things will have to be thought through in regards to our rhythms and the rhythms of our new culture.

Here are some things you can think through where you are at, as we are also thinking through these things currently for AZ:

• What does the culture like to celebrate? Is it 4th of July, Christmas, Halloween, Friday night pub nights, etc.?
• What needs to be redeemed in the culture God has sent me to? How can I be the feet of Jesus to show them that the good news is redemptive to those needs?
• What is the story of the culture I am sent to? Then, what is the story of the specific people I am interacting with? Where does their story - both the culture's and the people's - point to Jesus, and then where does it need to be pointed to Jesus?
• How can I show love to the culture that I am sent to? How can I do this so that they find it as actual love and not judgment?

Creature of the Word Giveaway

 

Matt Chandler, Josh Patterson, and Eric Geiger have written a new book from B&H Publishing entitled Creature of the Word. The book essentially speaks to becoming a Jesus-centered church. I was blessed to receive an advanced copy and can honestly say that it is a very unique contribution to the conversation.

Additionally, there will be a live simulcast on October 23 where each author will be teaching a particular topic from the book followed by a Q&A session. (If you are unable to attend/watch this event, we will be live-blogging it HERE!)

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B&H was not only kind enough to send me a copy and a ticket to the event, but they've given us 3 FREE BOOKS and 3 FREE SIMULCAST TICKETS to give to you!

The Goods

There will be three winners who will each get a copy of the book and a simulcast ticket.

Rules of Engagement

Here's how to enter:

• Follow us on Twitter and retweet our tweet about the giveaway
• "Like" us on Facebook and share our post about the giveaway

***Contest ends October 16 at 5:59 p.m. CST***

Mission New England (Part 2)

Josh Cousineau is church planter of Redemption Hill, located in Auburn, Maine, and core team member of the Gospel Alliance New England. He enjoys spending time with his high school sweetheart – now his bride since 2002 – and their three children. Josh blogs at JoshCousineau.com.  

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In my first post I talked a little bit about the culture of the Northeast, especially New England. In this post I wanted to put forth a couple thoughts on the 'how' of mission. The question begs to be asked, 'If people do not know their need for a Savior, how do you reach them?' The short and simple is that it has to be a work of the Spirit. If He is not living and active in New England, or anywhere for that matter, then there is no hope and no point to our efforts. But the glorious truth is that the Spirit is at work, especially in the hearts of those who do not know they even have a need for Him.

Preach Jesus - The number one thing our churches must do in any culture, especially one who doesn't know anything about Jesus, is to preach the real Jesus. We need to stay far away from the 'your best life now' Jesus. The Jesus of the Bible will be the only one who can reveal people's need for healing from the brokenness that is this world.

Preach Truth - We need to not waver or wallow in our view of firm Biblical doctrine. Many people will 'water down' things that are clear in the Bible under the name of 'reaching out' to the lost. While this could be considered noble, it misses the point. What is needed in a world full of people who claim truth, is a people who's lives point to an ultimate, life-changing truth.

Be Real - Fakeness has struck many blows to the church. What is needed now is not more hypocrisy, but transparency. People need to hear about how we have failed, how we have messed up, how we have been about us or about an agenda and not about what Jesus was about. We need to confess our sins to those in our midst and show them how we turn to Jesus! Only in our real, brokenness will the world be freed to be broken.

Be Normal - All those things listed above are not to be done on Sunday during an hour-long service, but in our daily, normal lives. We need to be real at our 9-5, when we drop our children off at day-care or school, when we go on a date with our spouse, or sit and play catch at the local park. We also need to preach truth in our dealings with our boss and co-workers. We need to show that the truth we believe in is not simply a good, morally upright set of beliefs, but something that has changed us from the inside out. We need to be people that will hold firm to the truth of the Scriptures and be willing to take it on chin if need be.

Church in New England will never penetrate the culture by meeting for an hour each week, even if it is the greatest show in town. What we will do when we have the greatest show in town is draw people away from the other shows and have them join ours. This drawing is not true conversion, but transplant growth. No matter how great our show is, people that are not interested in watching the show will never attend.

Think of it this way. I don't play disk golf. So if a new course was to open and be the best in town, or even the region, or the world, it would not entice me in the least to go try my hand at it. The most it will do is draw people from the other 3 or 4 disk golf courses around my area. This makes total sense in the setting of something we do not like to do, or care to do. Yet we are baffled when we try it with church and it doesn't work. Here is the reason; you and I love the church. If you are spending time reading this blog, then you love the church. You are the disk golfer who is at the ribbon cutting for the new course. Just replace 'disk golf' with church, and you get the picture.

Yet we, in New England, live in a world that couldn't care less about church, so no matter how much we tell them it is amazing in our advertising, or no matter how 'cutting edge' we think we are, the only people wowed by it are those who are already playing church.

This is where things need to change. We need to take Ephesians 4 and live it out. We need to be pastors and ministers who equip our people to preach Jesus, be real, and stand firm on the truth of what Jesus has done for them.

(Photo courtesy: TGC)

Mission New England (Part 1)

Josh Cousineau is church planter of Redemption Hill, located in Auburn, Maine, and core team member of the Gospel Alliance New England. He enjoys spending time with his high school sweetheart – now his bride since 2002 – and their three children. Josh blogs at JoshCousineau.com.  

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I have heard stories about people who live in the Bible Belt and how everyone down there is a 'Christian.' I have visited the South and been blown away by how many church buildings there are, and how big they are. I grew up in the Northeast and this is my home. I love it, but it is a little (ok a lot) different than what I hear the South is like.

I remember one trip to Alabama where I met with a Southern Baptist pastor for breakfast. When we were at the local breakfast joint, he started to pray for our food. There was nothing special about his prayer, nothing that stood out to me as unusual. During the prayer the waitress came to the table. Now, I don't know if you are like me, but this seems to happen often when I am out with my family or friends for a meal. We pray and almost like clockwork, the waiter or waitress walks up to see how our food is. This is what stood out to me. Not that she walked towards us during our prayer; that was normal. The strange thing was that the waitress stood about five feet from the table, bowed her head, and waited for us to be done praying. This would never happen where I live. More often than not they just walk up and ask you their question. It is not that they are intentionally interrupting your time of prayer, it is that they don't even know or notice what you are doing. In the Northeast, people don't pray before meals.

It is not that those who serve us in the Northeast are slow to notice that we are eating and those in the South are that quick. It is that the thought of praying before a meal is not normal to those who call the Northeast home. Not only do people not pray before meals, but the 'Christian-culture' that so many of us have grown up in and are used to, is non-existent in the majority of people's daily lives.

Gospel-Depleted Culture

To say that we (those who live in the Northeast, especially New England) are in the midst of a gospel-depleted culture would be an understatement. I could throw around statistics about how dry it is up here, but who really cares about statistics. I would much rather talk about real life stories of real people, with a real eternity looming on their horizon. I could point to a local coffee shop where the people who work there are all about spirituality, but this spirituality has nothing to do with biblical worldview. It is actually fully opposed to those beliefs. I could talk about a guy who told me he could not believe in a church that has rooms full of gold and does not care about the poor or the down and out. I am not sure, but my church doesn't have rooms full of gold. The church he was talking about is the Vatican. His view of Christianly and the Church is based only off of what he knows about the Roman Catholic church, not my little church plant, or any other church I know of. I could tell story after story about students, parents, and teachers who do not see an issue with premarital sex, as long as you use protection.

In the Northeast, Christian is more likely to be found on the lips of someone making a derogatory comment, than someone talking about the hope which they live their lives by. Jesus is about as far back in people's minds as who won the medal count in the 2008 Olympics. Not only do the vast majority of people not know about Jesus, they don't even care that they don't know about Him. It is not relevant for them, so therefore there is no need.  See, it is not that they have turned their backs on the family religion, or let their parents down by bailing on the Easter service this year, or the Thanksgiving Eve prayer service. Their parents probably didn't go to church much in the first place, so they don't really care. You would have to go back to grandma, or even great-grandma before you would find someone who actually had a 'Christian-Rhythm' to their life. This is just how life is, and there is nothing one can do about it.

There is Hope

In the midst of this darkness, I find hope. The pastors I talk to have a joyful expectancy upon their lips. Student ministers are eager to pour their lives out for the next generation. To be honest I would rather work with people who don't have a care in the world about God, the Bible, the Church, or Jesus. Because what I find is when these people come face-to-face with the gospel, it changes everything. They are more like the prodigal son who 'comes to his sense (Lk. 15.17 NIV) that living as a servant with his father is better than the life he has now, eating pig slops, than the elder brother who sits by ticked that his sinner brother got back into the family (Lk. 15.28).

No matter if the waitress comprehends that people will pray before a meal or not, the gospel is still the same. That is our only hope. Not that she would see us praying and think, 'oh, I need to be considerate and wait.' No, our only hope is that Jesus is in the business of bringing people to Himself, lost, sick people. People who don't know they are lost or sick. People who think they have it all together. This is what Jesus came to do, and as a pastor and missionary, this is what I cling to. Jesus came to save the sinners.

(Photo courtesy: TGC)

Fighting with Scripture

*Editor's Note: This was #4 on our Top Posts of 2012. _

I am a child of the Southern Baptist Convention. I attended my first SBC service en utero. Not only that, I am a child of the Conservative Resurgence. I am extremely grateful to men like Adrian Rogers, Paige Patterson, Judge Pressler, and others who helped pave the way for my generation. I love that the conversations I have with my peers almost always center around biblical theology and methodology. Due to the diligence of the men who came before us, we no longer even wonder about each other’s commitment to the infallibility and inerrancy of Scripture. For those in my circles, this is a given.

Recently, though, I’ve been thinking through our commitment to Scripture's veracity. More specifically, I have been searching my own personal commitment to the integrity and efficacy of Scripture. As I have thought through this, it occurs to me that although the fight for the reliability of Scripture is much different in my day than it was 20 years ago, it certainly still remains. See, when I grew up, the great enemy of the gospel was almost always known as “liberalism”, or possibly, “moderate theology”. Today, however, it seems that we must equally be on guard against a different enemy. This new enemy is just as old as the first, but it is often more difficult to spot. Of course, it would be the enemy of legalism.

These two polar opposites of liberalism and legalism both stand apart from each other, in a sense, but in a very real way, they both accomplish the same goal; that of undermining God’s word. Liberalism, of course, reduces God’s word, and in doing so attempts to make a mockery of those who would dare take that word at face value. It assumes a position of great authority, in fact it could be argued that it assumes a position of greater authority than scripture itself as it attempts to “rectify” the “errors” found in the bible. Legalism, however, is also guilty of reducing the power and authority of God’s word, albeit in a much more insidious manner. While liberalism takes away from God’s word, legalism adds to it, and although it is different in practice from liberalism, it is essentially accomplishing the same goal, that of assuming authority over God’s word. While liberalism claims that scripture says too much, legalism claims that scripture does not say enough.

In all of this, however, I often find myself wondering if legalism might not be a greater danger to the Gospel, than the danger that liberalism itself poses. Liberalism is often easy to spot, and certainly within SBC circles, is easy to ridicule. Legalism is not nearly so easy to highlight, and often seems to find a more comfortable home amongst us. As I have thought through this fight that we must engage in if we love the gospel, I have noticed a few particular dangers inherent within legalism.

First, legalism is a difficult to diagnose cancer. All too often legalism is a subtle, creeping cancer that masquerades as holiness. In Matthew 23, Jesus points out that the Pharisees were guilty of adding “heavy loads” to the backs of their disciples. In Philippians 3 Paul points out that the Judaizers were “dogs” who “mutilated the flesh” in their pursuit of holiness. Both of these groups were guilty of affirming Scripture and yet adding to it in a further attempt to clarify their brand of “holiness”. When we take our personal convictions and apply them unilaterally, regardless of their clarity in Scripture, we may be guilty of this same creeping legalism. To oppose this vision of “holiness” is difficult, because to do so may cause others to paint you as a hater of all things holy. To oppose legalism can be seen as embracing the profane, which most often, could not be further from the truth. Because legalism masquerades as holiness, we can often struggle with whether or not we are right to identify it as a false gospel.

Second, legalism leads to a diminished recognition of sin. While some might find this to be a strange response to legalism, I think it is an accurate one. Notice, if you will, how many times in the New Testament we find the Pharisees trying to point out the sin of others, or even better yet, trying to “catch” Jesus in sin. A certain mark of legalism is a capacity to recognize others’ sins while failing to see our own. In his article on a topic similar to this, J.D. Greear cautions us concerning this danger. Good legalists get so busy playing watchdog for the sins of others, that they fail to see their own gross failure. As a result, personal sin is diminished, all in the name of “protecting holiness”. We often see this in our convention today as we get far more emails celebrating the latest boycott, or pointing out the moral lack of those in political leadership, than we do sharing about the hearts of broken Baptists, contrite in spirit and repentant before God regarding their sin.

Third, legalism worries more about “its reputation” than it worries about Jesus’ reputation. You could also say that legalism is uncomfortable with “go and tell” and rather enjoys “come and see” as an evangelistic strategy. As I have studied Jesus’ life, I have come across a really fascinating truth, that is that Jesus often seemed to be comfortable in places, and with people, that we often tell ourselves “good church people” would never go. Legalism worries more about whether someone else saw them talking to that “sinner” than it worries about that sinner actually being engaged with the gospel. Legalism is happy to preach to the sinner, so long as they will clean up and show up at the church on Sunday morning, but it would recoil in horror at the thought of going to the gutter with the person who is far from God. Ironically enough, at this point legalists are terrified of becoming like Jesus as we see Him in Mark 2:16. This unhealthy understanding of God and the gospel undermines the Romans 5:8 nature of the gospel and assumes a false righteousness must precede our ability to respond to the gospel, while also denying our own personal depravity and in doing so it neuters the heart of the gospel.

Fourth, legalism trumpets man’s capacity to do good, and in doing so undermines the depth of God’s grace. Legalism, in its efforts to adhere to the “holiness” code of rules and regulations, assumes man’s ability to “do good” and in doing, pulls the legs out from under the grace of God as exhibited in the gospel. Legalism loves hard work, and lots of it. The more you are able to work, the more holy you must be. Interestingly enough, this kind of pursuit will almost lead to a forced, false spirituality. Legalism judges you on behavior, not the condition of your heart, and therefore can encourage behavioral change, regardless of the heart’s condition. It is because of this that our churches are filled with unregenerate people, who still feel completely at home in our congregations. They have applied the appropriate levels of behavior modification to be found acceptable, so that their dark hearts are rarely if ever noticed.

These are just a few of the many dangers that legalism poses to the heart of the gospel. While liberalism was, is and always will be an enormous threat to the gospel, I would plead with Southern Baptists to recognize the danger that legalism also poses to the gospel. While it is easy to preach about the liberals “out there”, it is probably beyond time that we preach against the legalists who are among us; who often are us.

If we love God’s word, if we desire scriptural fidelity, we will stand equally opposed to liberalism and legalism, understanding that both attempt to stand in a position of authority over God’s word and in doing so, tear at the heart of the word, and inevitably, the gospel itself. We must oppose this kind of danger.

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Cross-posted from Micah's personal blog.

Gospel Lunacy

I've been reading C.S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters lately and I am continually floored by Lewis' insights into the human condition via his fictional senior demon's advice to his nephew, the junior tempter Wormwood. This quote particularly grabbed me recently:

“Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one -- the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts."

Much has been said about the state of the American church and our propensity to be distracted, allured to affluence, or encouraged toward various forms of debauchery, but perhaps the greatest threat is modern American Christianity's inclination toward inactivity. Unfortunately, pew-sitting has been encouraged and promoted by far too many pastors without emphasis on the true calling of the gospel to go - carry your cross and make disciples. Because of this, "church culture" has entered a lull that does not produce bold followers of Jesus but rather lukewarm spectators. Dull faith is a painful thing to both watch and experience, but perhaps the most grievous part may not be the Christian's personal spirituality as much as the lost people of the Christian's context.

Screwtape advises Wormwood to set his "patient" not on a trajectory of wild sin and habitual immorality, but to a pointless life that leads to the ultimate end of apathetic belief or no belief at all. Truthfully, most people are willing to settle for the standard moral posture of being "better than that guy" while maintaining a safe distance from conviction from God or anything that may challenge their worldview or self-built justification. And while Christians sit by and watch, non-believers are robotically drudging through life without any milestones, without any signposts.

The gospel is too epic and beautiful to bury within ourselves. While our family members, friends, neighbors, and co-workers play cat and mouse with fantasies of karma and subjective ideals, we must put in work for the Kingdom. We must be aware of the amazing grace that saved us and let that awe for God drive us into the world. Paul is clear:

 Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. ¹² We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart. ¹³ For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. ¹⁴ For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; ¹⁵ and he died for all,that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

¹⁶ From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. ¹⁸ All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; ¹⁹ that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰ Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. ²¹ For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

- 2 Cor. 5:11-21

Notice how Paul is even willing to be considered a lunatic - indeed we could call him a gospel lunatic - because the love of Christ so controls him. We have been reconciled, and this reconciliation leads to only one logical conclusion: that we extend such a great hope to others. Through reconciliation with God, we become by nature ministers of reconciliation. God has chosen, for reasons beyond our comprehension, to use us as his ambassadors. We must cry out with Paul, "You can call us lunatics, but it is for God's sake!" The message of Christ is not just cultural but anti-cultural, and this will inevitably lead to perceived craziness by some. Do not be the weird Ned Flanders Christian, but do be aware that the more like Christ you are, the more distinctive your life will be perceived by others.

Work, study, serve, love, and forgive like a lunatic. May we not allow the world to settle for the mundane, but show and offer them the greatest party that is beginning on earth and will carry on into eternity.