Culture Changes You

I remember taking an introductory communication course during my first year of college. It wasn’t a profound experience, really, just a community college course outlining a few social science theories while most of the class worked on math homework or played Angry Birds. Something from that course stuck with me though. It was the first day of class when the professor challenged us, “try to not communicate” the professor said. So we stopped talking and put on an expressionless face. “Nice try, but you failed” quipped the professor. “You are always communicating something. Through your body-language, your choice of clothing, your mannerisms, your vocal inflection. You can’t not communicate.”

After forgetting most of what I learned that semester, that stuck with me (granted, it helps that every communication professor starts their semester with this little exercise. Since I studied communication theory for my undergrad, I’ve probably blended a dozen or so lessons into the story above). But the point holds true.

Drenched in Culture

To take a page from my old professors, I would like to suggest that the same is true for culture. Take a minute to try to imagine a person not influenced by culture. I’ll wait.

Do you have your imaginary case study ready? Maybe it’s a sort of unabomber character, living off the land in Montana. Maybe it’s a small town fundamentalist preacher who hasn’t watched a movie, played a card game, or read a “secular” book since 1971.

Well, thanks for playing, but even these folks can’t escape the reach of culture. Culture is as ubiquitous as the air we breathe. The clothes we wear (or don’t wear), the language we speak, and the things we buy—which are all evidence that we are all drenched in culture.

Culture is everywhere and, like it or not, culture is changing you.

After watching that movie last night, listening to that album, reading that book, binge watching House of Cards, and buying that new shirt you are not the same person.

On a recent Christ and Pop Culture podcast we asked Dr. Greg Thornbury, president of King’s College in New York City, about engaging culture. To which he responded,

“You want to engage culture?—too late! Because culture has already engaged you . . . It’s the air you breathe. You’re so suffused with it, that to talk about engagement is almost a misnomer.”

Thornbury then recalled this old Palmolive commercial. “You’re soaking in it,” Madge tells her friend in the commercial. Just as our curiosity is peaked about culture and Christianity, we realize that we’ve been soaking in it this whole time.

Maybe you fully realize this, but fear the growing influence of secular culture, and try to avoid that which seems antithetical to Christian morality, or liberal, or heterodox. However, because we are unable to escape culture and since culture is undoubtedly influencing us, the question cannot be “how can we avoid being discipled by culture?” and should be “how can our involvement in and consumption of culture be harnessed as a gospel-centered discipleship tool?”

For the rest of this article, I will lay groundwork for the latter question and, in a series of monthly posts at Gospel-Centered Discipleship, I will go through several case studies using different cultural artifacts.

What exactly is Culture, anyway?

What: What is culture? Culture is hard to define because culture is both profoundly visible and invisible. Both concrete and abstract. Culture is what you are expected to say when somebody sneezes. Culture is the free version of Hamlet in the local park. Culture is the billboard on the highway. Culture is how long you are expected to pray, if at all, before a meal. Culture consists of the shared ideas, norms, and practices that knit humans together. Culture forms us and we form it.

Why: Why do we create and consume culture? Maybe more important than understanding the precise definition of culture is understanding why we create and consume it. As articulated by James K.A. Smith in Desiring the Kingdom, humans create and consume culture because we are lovers––that is, we participate in the cultural practices that we do because they promise to fulfill us. “We are essentially and ultimately desiring animals, which is simply to say that we are essentially and ultimately lovers. To be human is to love, and it is what we love that defines who we are,” says Smith (50-51). Simply put, the cultural practices that we participate—sometimes without even realizing it—reveal what we desire.

Culture is much more than beliefs and ideologies. Culture is a collective conscious and unconscious  striving for happiness, understanding, and fulfillment. To quote James K.A. Smith again, the ideas and practices that make us human are “always aimed at some vision of the good life, some particular articulation of the kingdom” (24).

“Pop Culture”: To briefly summarize for clarity, “pop culture” is the media, practices, and artifacts that are produced by culture.

Popular culture is one big, diverse collection of desire-driven narratives. We often buy certain clothes because we believe that how we look will lead to some sort of fulfillment. We watch films that explicitly reflect our desire for reconciliation or subtly reflect our desire for beauty. These artifacts are what Smith calls pictures of the good life. We are being discipled (changed into the image of something) by what we consume,

“[A]esthetic articulations of human flourishing as found in images, stories, and films (as well as advertisements, commercials, and sitcoms). Such pictures appeal to our adaptive unconscious because they traffic in the stuff of embodiment and affectivity. Stories seep into us––and stay there and haunt us . . . . we can’t not be lovers, we can’t not be desiring some kingdom” (58, 75).

Considering the power and ubiquity of culture, we cannot afford to ignore it. Nor can we afford to go to war with it. If “The earth is the LORD's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein”(Ps. 24:1), then we must recognize the import, God-ordained role that culture has to play in our lives. More than, culture can be used as a valuable discipleship tool. With all the complicated messages that culture presents, we need supernatural help to view it as such.

Trained by the Spirit to See

The beauty of grace is that we aren’t going to get it right, but that’s okay. God is actively living and working inside of sinful people.

I grew up in a non-Christian home, intellectually discipled by my dad to love and appreciate great film, music, and literature. Before becoming a Christian at sixteen, I found refuge in the music of Bob Dylan and Uncle Tupelo, the writing of Salinger and Vonnegut, and the films of Kurosawa and Wes Anderson. These cultural artifacts shaped me, dare I say, in wonderful and healthy ways.

When I became a Christian, my life was changed by Jesus. I understood that I was a bad person who needed to be saved from myself. I found security where I had only known insecurity. I also found Christian culture, and, for about three months, I gave up “secular music” and listened only to Christian radio because I thought that’s what Christians did. It was like only feeding a kid spinach for three months—”I know it’s good for me.” I would tell myself, “but it’s so awful going down!” I don’t remember the day that I gave in, but going back to my Wilco and Rolling Stones albums was a breath of fresh air. And those albums turned out to be some of the most helpful discipleship resources I’ve ever interacted with. They displayed what it looks like to wrestle through doubt, insecurity, and loneliness. Not to mention, expressions of joy, historical rootedness (here’s looking at you, Mick Jagger), and intimacy. As I began to study the Bible, I found that culture expressed similar emotions and often strove towards the same goals, and fell into the same trap.

There is an invisible thread that runs throughout culture. Christians have the grace of the revealed knowledge that this cultural mystery is the Logos—God himself working through culture, history, and music. Paul quoted Aratus and Epimenides of Crete in Acts 17 to show the Greeks that God was at work in their culture. While the Spirit teaches us the substance of this thread (the gospel narrative) through the preached Word, the sacraments, Scripture, community, and prayer, we can learn to boldly draw parallels between the seemingly secular, obtuse, or ignored and the Creator of the universe.

After years of being well-discipled in a gospel-loving church—a safe place to wrestle through the inherent goodness or badness of the pop culture that I love so much—the Spirit trained me (and is continuing train me) to see how, while broken, human culture is divinely infused. Through cultural expressions of honest doubt, sincere beauty, and vulnerable intimacy, the Spirit has taught me the cathartic joy of identifying with human longing and the art of seeing the sacred in the secular.

The Spirit teaches us to view the world and culture through gospel colored glasses. Humans who create culture are creatures who are longing for redemption—creatures with eternity written on their hearts and the image of God in their DNA.

“Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.  And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual” (1 Cor. 2:12-13).

Our spiritual nature (that is, united by faith to Jesus) allows us to see the world for what it is. We are taught by the spirit to see people as made specifically in the image of God, longing for something to save them from their fallenness. The culture that humans create—Christian or not—reflects this Godward orientation and can itself lead Christians to understand God in rich, previously untapped ways.

Take The Brothers Karamazov—the book that, apparently, led Reza Aslan to reject Christianity. The same book that I would call one of the most import books in my spiritual life. While I saw pure, Christ-like grace exemplified in the characters of Alyosha and Zossima, I saw a wise vision of ecclesiology in the chapter “The Grand Inquisitor” and even when Dostoevsky inevitably strays from Protestant orthodoxy, as I read I grew in love. I don't need it to be explicitly evangelical to see God’s divine imprint in Dostoevsky's work.

Enjoying good culture is a joy and a blessing. When we see God’s fingerprint on it, we can be sure that the Spirit is teaching us that he loves his creation and culture as a good, undeserved gift. No need to freak out at the upsurge in “secular” culture. If God created culture and man is wired to know God, even the most anti-Christian cultural expressions will not be able to overcome God’s redemptive plan and will, in some way, reflect gospel truth. One of the joys of being a Christian is that we get to search for it.

Granted, Scripture says that some things are truly wicked and should be avoided (see 1 Cor. 10:23-33), and that many things are unhelpful, though lawful. Pornography, hate speech, and like are to be rightfully abhorred and actively fought against. However, everything is a mixed bag, including Christian culture (and certainly including this article!). So we must be careful not to draw black and write lines in the sand, calling everything that disagrees with our theological and moral sensibilities irredeemable smut. Culture is complex, and more often than not has much more to offer us that we think, not less.

Culture can be spiritually detrimental, but often it simply exposes our already corrupt heart. If we are unrepentantly greedy or adulterous, films like The Wolf of Wall Street and Goodfellas will feed those desires. However, if we approach these films with an explicit desire to understand the character of God, culture, even the most seemingly unredeemable can point us to the gospel.

Maybe you zone out to How I Met Your Mother every night after work. Maybe you just bought Weird Al’s new album and you’ve been jamming out to “Tacky”  this week. Whatever it is, it isn’t “secular”—it’s shaping you. Be encouraged though, as you learn to view it through a gospel lense—like Paul did with the poetry of Epimenides and Aratus. God can use it as a means to reveal himself and the good news of his Son.

—

Nick Rynerson lives in the west suburbs of Chicago with his groovy wife, Jenna. He is a staff writer for Christ and Pop Culture and a marketing coordinator at Crossway. Connect with him on Twitter @nick_rynerson or via email.

Setting Your Heart at Rest

This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God  and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.

—1 John 3:19-22

Condemned.

That is how I felt when I received the note in class one day “to meet with the Assistant Principal.” As I made my way to the office, my heart was beating out of my chest. I assumed everything I had ever done at high school was about to be laid out before me. As I made my way into the office and sat down, my heart was restless and anxious, prepared for the worst. I couldn’t even remember doing anything to get myself in trouble, but that did little to calm my increasingly antsy nervous system.

“Hey R.D., I want to talk with you about the senior banquet coming up in a few weeks and some ideas I had to help make it come together,” said the Assistant Principal.

“Yes, that is exactly what I want to talk about as well,” I sputtered out. This was going to be a much better meeting that I imagined. My heart could rest easy again.

The sense of condemnation and restlessness before my meeting with the Assistant Principal is often how I feel in the presence of God and I believe how many Christians feel as well. If God dropped you a note right now and said it is time to come into my office, how would your heart feel? What would your emotions be? If the invitation from the great throne room came to you, would you feel condemned? How our hearts are set in the presence of God can tell you a lot about how deeply (or not) you are experiencing the gospel within your heart.

John is writing to Christians in his first letter to encourage them to have confidence and assurance in the presence of God. He writes that remind us “how to set our hearts at rest in his presence.” John is telling us that we do not naturally set our hearts to rest in God’s presence, but we must work at it; we must learn how to “set” our hearts at rest.

Why do we struggle to be at rest in the presence of a God? Because our hearts condemn us. John writes that our hearts will condemn us when we truly come into the presence of God (1 Jn. 3:20). When we truly come into the presence of absolute perfection and excellence, our hearts will tell us how far short we fall of  that perfection and excellence. When Isaiah catches a vision of God in the temple he doesn’t run up to him to get a hug, he nearly falls apart, crying out “Woe is me! I am ruined!” (Is. 6:5). This is how you know you have come into the presence of God. When the light of God’s glory truly shines on you, your immediate reaction will be a desire to turn the lights off.

I remember when I had terrible acne in high school. I would wake up every morning and walk into my bathroom to turn on the lights. When all the lights turned on, all the impurities of my face were evident. There was no hiding and it was embarrassing. So for a while I simply turned on a single light to dim the lights, in a vain attempt to pretend that if I couldn’t see all the pimples then they might not actually be there.

But in the presence of God, the lights are fully on and we see ourselves for who we truly are, pimples and all. And our hearts rightly condemn us. The accusations fly from our hearts as we begin to seek God and pray to God, “You call yourself a Christian after the week you had?” Our hearts begin to bring up our sins, our brokenness, our guilt before God to accuse us and weary us as we honestly try and seek him.

We all experience this condemnation to differing degrees at different stages in our lives and we all counsel with people who experience condemning hearts as well. The reason John writes then is to provide a gospel remedy for our condemning hearts so that our hearts can rest in our Father’s presence.

A Gospel Remedy

“God is greater than our hearts...”

First, John reassures our hearts before God. God is greater than your heart, he is greater than your momentary feelings of guilt and shame. John reminds us that what God says about you is greater and truer than what you say about you. It can be easy to elevate our feelings, our emotions, our very hearts over the truth of who God says we are, but John tells us we cannot do that and be at rest. We need a greater word, a deeper anchor for our hearts in order to find rest.

Religion and irreligion are both recipes for restlessness. Religion promises rest for your heart by working, doing, thinking, and acting rightly. Religion comes to our hearts saying, “You can get over your guilt by working really hard at being a moral and righteous person so that the guilt of being immoral and unrighteous leaves.” But this is madness. How many good deeds and good thoughts does it take to truly put our hearts at rest? We can never know and, therefore, we remain, ultimately, restless in our path out of condemnation through the remedy of religion.

Irreligion promises that you don’t need a god to remove the guilt you feel, you only need you. You are the one who is able to remove the guilt by embracing who you are and by pursuing things which make you happy. But this is another recipe for restlessness. Here you simply replace a religious god with a secular one—in romance, approval, or wealth. But a new relationship, a new car, or a new job eventually lose its luster, and the reality of who you are, suppressed for a while, returns with a saddening vengeance.

We need something beyond religion and irreligion to deal with the crushing reality that whatever the standard is, we don’t measure up and whatever it is we think will put us at rest only makes us more restless. We need a greater word about us to hold onto.

This greater word is the word of God—the truth that we are created in God’s image (Gen. 1:26-27), saved by God’s grace (Eph. 2:8), adopted into God’s family (1 Jn. 3:1), and able to approach God’s throne with full confidence because of Jesus (Heb. 4:16). These are the gospel promises that we must make greater than our hearts and truer than our feelings. The remedy to the religion of work is to rest in the work of Christ for you. The remedy to the irreligion of the pursuit of pleasure is to rest in the beauty of the ultimate pleasure—Jesus Christ.

When we behold the greatness of God’s promises for us through Jesus we are able to begin setting our hearts at rest, knowing that our feelings betray us, but God is greater than our feelings of guilt, shame, and condemnation. That precious promise is not the only one that John reminds us of, he moves on to remind us of another.

“...and He knows everything.”

Second, God knows everything about us, absolutely everything. God is not surprised by anything that we have ever done. He has never looked out from the throne to say, “How did this happen? Why did you do that? I would never have saved you if I had know you would act like that?” No, he knows all about us and yet he still loves us.

We are often like Aladdin, continually fearing that when we are exposed for who we truly are, the people we love the most will desert us. You remember Aladdin right? Are you singing “A Whole New World” right now? I know you are—I digress. In the movie, Aladdin falls in love with Princess Jasmine, but doesn’t tell her the truth about his identity, that he is just a common peasant and not a prince. He enlists the help of the Genie in order to become something more than he is, but eventually the weight of hiding who he truly is wearies his soul. We see the exhaustion of hiding his identity come out in a conversation with the Genie towards the end of the film.

Aladdin: They wanna make me Sultan. No, they want to make Prince Ali Sultan. Without you, I’m just Aladdin.

Genie: Al, you won.

Aladdin: Because of you. The only reason anyone thinks I’m worth anything is because of you. What if they find out I’m not really a prince? What if Jasmine finds out? I’d lose her. Genie, I can’t keep this up on my own.

We can’t keep up hiding on our own as well. The liberating news of the gospel is that we don’t have to hide who we truly are because God knows everything. We have already been found out! There we stand before the God of the universe exposed! But now we have “confidence before him” (1 Jn. 3:21) because though he knows everything, he still loves us. How can we be sure of this? Because of the truth of 1 John 3:16, “This is how we know what love is, Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.”

Jesus Christ laid down his life for us, to bear the condemnation from God that we deserve so that we would not bear it. This is why Paul writes that “therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1). So now our hearts are put to rest toward God and God’s heart is put to rest towards us forever, and in the presence of God we can be vulnerable and honest, laying our whole lives bare before him and trusting that he will do what is good for us. We know that the Holy Spirit is here not to condemn us, but to convict us and remind us of the grace of Jesus and not the guilt of our sin.

The Liberating Rest

When we enter the presence of God through prayer or when we think of who God is in all his glory and beauty our hearts may condemn us and tell us that we are unworthy of his love or that we have no right to ask things of this God because of how we have been behaving, we must remember the gospel remedy in what Christ has done for us. We must remember the liberating truth that “God is greater than our hearts and he knows everything.”

We are not under guilt. We are under grace and so when the note from God comes to us, to enter into his presence and the voices in our heart rise up to condemn us we can confidently say with Paul “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” (Rom. 8:33-35a).

The answer of the Holy Spirit in Scripture is no one. And we can rest in that.

—

R.D. McClenagan is a teaching pastor at Door Creek Church in Madison, WI where he lives with his wife Emily and their increasingly adorable twin baby daughters Maisie and Camille. Follow him on Twitter: @rdmcclenagan.

Take It Back to Jesus

A lot of people are skeptical of Christianity and the the church in general. You’ll often hear statements like, “I don’t believe in organized religion.” How should we respond?

Take It Back To Jesus

Our goal isn’t to convince lost people that church is cool. We are witnesses of the Risen Lord, this is about Jesus. Jesus is the Savior of sinners, not a cool Sunday service.

When people say they don’t like organized religion, ask them their thoughts about Jesus Christ. More pointedly, ask them if their position on organized religion means that Jesus didn’t rise from the dead.

If they think Jesus is dead, why go to church? Who cares? Why be in a huff over organized religion if its founder is a loser?

But, if Jesus is alive—everything changes. Their thoughts about the church and “organized religion” have to be seen in light of the risen Lord. Since Jesus is breathing, everything the Bible says about Jesus’ church has weight to it. It is solid. If Jesus conquered the largest obstacle in our lives—that’d be death—than we need to listen, and seriously consider everything his book says.

• Jesus said he was going to build his church (Matt. 16:18).
• Jesus came for the church (Acts 20:28).
• Jesus picked twelve leaders to start his church.
• Jesus is the head of the church (Eph. 5:23).

Jesus wants a church; if he didn’t, don’t you think he would have told the apostles in Acts to stop organizing and corrupting his vision for Christianity? In Acts they are meeting, structuring themselves, sending out missionaries, appointing leaders, etc. I don’t think Jesus wants a disorganized religion.

Jesus loves the church (Eph. 5:25). You can’t truly follow Jesus and not be a part of his church. It’s backwards. The New Testament doesn’t recognize that as Christianity.

A Rebellious Christian

If they profess to be a Christian and are against the church, then they should be called to obey Jesus, who is the head of the church, which is his body. To have Jesus, the head, is to also have his body, the church.

A professing Christian that is against the church is against Christ. If you are anti-Church, you are acting more like Satan, more like an anti-Christ, than your professed Savior.

The New Testament is clear, Christians are meant to belong to a local church (Heb. 10:24). I’ve met far too many Christians who are too “mature” to obey the Bible and go to church. Sheesh. Repentance is in order.

God Isn’t Against Organization

There is nothing wrong with the words “organized” and “religion.” But put them together and people get goosebumps.

God isn’t against organized religion. The entire Old Testament shows that. And the New Testament affirms the gathering, structuring, and ministry activity of God’s people for the sake of God’s glory and the spread of the gospel. Again, the Bible doesn’t prefer a disorganized religion, “But all things should be done decently and in order” (1 Cor. 14:40).

So, the bigger reality is not what we think about “organized religion,” frankly, it doesn’t matter; the greater question is what does God think?

God is pro-organization. I’ll just give two pieces of evidence. Exhibit A: the Bible. And exhibit B: the universe.

What Do They Mean By “Organized Religion”?

When discussing or debating a word or phrase, define it. Ask what they mean by “organized religion”—it takes the conversation from the clouds to the ground. And then you can get going somewhere.

What they probably mean by “organized religion” is that they don’t want to be a part of some system that doesn’t care about them, doesn’t help them, just wants their money, etc. And I’d agree. That sucks. And frankly, that’s how Satan would run a “church”—which is not a church.

So, yeah, I’m against that kind of organized religion too—we all should be.

But the New Testament gives a different vision for the church—the main metaphor used is that of a family.

No one is against a family—or organized families.

We are brothers and sisters in Christ. God is our Father and Jesus is our big brother. We are adopted into God’s family (Rom. 8:15). We aren’t a perfect family. But we are family. There is real love, joy, and harmony to be had among the family God, the body of Christ, the local church.

We ought to acknowledge—and repudiate—the yuck of abusive, manipulative, serpent-like “organized religion,” and put forward the compelling vision of the family of God.

“And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved” (Acts 2:42–47).

—

J.A. Medders is the Lead Pastor of Redeemer Church in Tomball, TX. He and Natalie have two kids, Ivy and Oliver. Jeff digs caffeinated drinks, books, and the Triune God. He blogs at www.jamedders.com and tweets from @mrmedders. Jeff’s first book, Gospel-Formed: Living a Grace-Addicted, Truth-Filled, Jesus-Exalting Life, is set to release this November from Kregel.

Originally published on JAMedders.com “How to Handle the ‘I Hate Organized Religion’ Talk.” Used with permission.

Does God Care About Productivity?

Does God Want Us to Manage Ourselves Well?

I would argue that the call to be productive (Genesis 1:28) also implies the need to learn how to be productive. Yet, this is a slightly different question from the first, because one could presumably say “Yes, God wants us to be productive, but he doesn’t want us to fiddle with things like workflow systems and productivity tips and tools.”

The Importance of Intentionality

But what we see in the Scriptures is that productivity doesn’t come apart from our deliberate intentionality. We are called to be intentional in the way we live our lives. Note again, for example, Ephesians 5:15-17, the core New Testament passage on productivity:

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. [Emphasis added.]

We are not to breeze blindly through life, taking whatever comes. We are to “look carefully” how we walk. You don’t just walk through a store with your eyes closed, buying whatever you touch, and expect it to turn into a wardrobe. And neither should you do that with your life. Likewise, we are to “make the most” of the time. The time doesn’t make the most of itself; we are to take deliberate action to take back the time from poor uses and turn it to good uses.

Further, a concern for good use of our time is an important characteristic of the Christian that the Bible expects us to have. Consider Psalm 90:12: “Teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom.” I like how the New American Standard Bible puts this: “Teach us to number our days, that we may present to you a heart of wisdom.” In other words, even our growth in wisdom and our ability to manage ourselves is something we do for God, and to present to him.

We saw in the previous chapter that a concern for time management should actually lead us right up to God. What we see here is that love for God should also lead us to be concerned with time management. As Peter O’Brien has said, “those who are wise will have a right attitude toward time.”

An Affirmation of Personal Effectiveness

The Scriptures, interestingly, get even more concrete on the issue of personal effectiveness. Notice how in Ephesians 5:15 Paul placed walking as “wise” people in parallel with “making the most of the time.” We are to walk “not as unwise but as wise, making the most of the time.”

Paul isn’t simply saying here that the wise make the most of their time (though he certainly is saying that). He is actually connecting his exhortation to the central OT theme of wisdom.

As most commentators point out, Paul is referring us here to the wisdom literature of the Old Testament as central to aiding us in discerning the Lord’s will for our actions and making the most of our time: “Paul commends to the believers the vast Old Testament teaching about wisdom, especially as represented by the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. There they can find ethical insight into God’s will.”

In addition to pointing us to the wisdom literature generally, his exhortation here connects up with several specific passages. One of those passages is Proverbs 6:6-8, where we are also told to “be wise”:

Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest.

In other words, Paul’s command that we walk “as wise” people hooks up with Proverbs 6:6, where we see that managing yourself well—like the ant—is an essential component of wisdom.

What we see here is that in commanding us to walk as wise people, Paul is not simply commanding us to be wise in spiritual things (though that is there; cf. Proverbs 11:30). He is also calling us to be wise in relation to how to live in this world—and, specifically, to be wise in how to lead and manage ourselves, just like the ant.

Knowing how to get the right things done—how to be personally effective, leading and managing ourselves well—is indeed biblical, spiritual, and honoring to the Lord. It is not unspiritual to think about the concrete details of how to get things done; rather, this is a significant component of true Christian wisdom.

Productivity and Discipleship

What we see here is that there is no distinction between learning how to be productive and learning how to live the Christian life altogether, for both are about how we are to live in this world for the glory of God.

The way we go about doing our email, handling appointments, running meetings, attending class, running the kids to where they need to go are not something distinct from the everyday life of sanctification that God calls us to, but are themselves a fundamental part of it. We are to “be wise” in them just as we are to be wise in the things like directly pertain to salvation; and, indeed, the way we go about them is an expression of our Christ-likeness and sanctification.

Thinking Christianly About Productivity

It makes sense for there to be a Christian perspective on prayer. But on getting things done? How can that even be?

The brief answer is that, as Christians, our faith changes our motives and foundations, but not necessarily the methods we use.

For example, a Christian doctor and non-Christian doctor will likely go about heart surgery in the same way, using the best practices of the field and their training. Both will also seek the good of the patient, rather their own ends. But the Christian has an additional motive— loving God and seeking to serve him. This is a difference that is fundamental, but which can’t necessarily be seen.

That’s not always the only difference—sometimes there are variations in our methods (for example, the Christian doctor will likely pray before the surgery)—but it is the main difference.

The other change our faith makes is that it puts our work on a different foundation. We look to God for power to do all we do, including our work, and act not out of a desire to gain his acceptance but because we already have it in Christ.

With the specific issue of productivity, then, we will likely utilize the same best practices as non-Christians in things like processing workflow and getting our email inboxes to zero. But when it comes to the motive and foundation of our productivity, the gospel brings in some radical transformations.

—

Matt Perman formerly served as the senior director of strategy at Desiring God Ministries in Minneapolis, MN, and is a frequent speaker on the topics of leadership and productivity from a God-centered perspective. He has an MDiv from Southern Theological Seminary and a Project Management Professional certification from the Project Management Institute. Matt regularly blogs at What’s Best Next and contributes to a number of other online publications as well. He lives in Minneapolis. Follow him on Twitter @mattperman.

(Editor’s Note: This is an excerpt from What’s Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done by Matt Perman available on Zondervan. It appears here with the permission of the author and publisher.)

4 Ways to Love Those with Mental Illnesses

I am one of the many millions of people who suffer from a mental illness. About five years ago, I started having panic attacks. My first one took place when I was out on a date (of  course)! Since then, I have struggled on and off with depression, irrational phobias, and generalized anxiety disorder. No doubt these struggles have been the toughest I have faced thus far in my life. I am the Director of Discipleship at my church in Georgia, and over these past few years I have come to the belief that there is a better way to disciple those who are suffering from a mental illness. I am by no means a mental health expert, but I am going to discuss a few ways in which the church can best love those with mental illnesses.

1. Offer Compassionate Community

People who struggle with mental illness often feel isolated and alone. They do not think anyone who is an “outsider” (someone who doesn’t struggle with a mental illness) will ever be able to comprehend what they are going through. This is why a compassionate community is something extremely important for the church to offer. Those who struggle with any type of mental illness do not want to be treated special or different, but rather they simply want to be a part of the body.

Of course, there are going to be plenty of times when compassion explicitly needs to be presented to those who are suffering from a psychological ailment. The church and its leaders should be willing to go out of its way to provide this care. Many times those who are suffering cannot even put into words what they are going through and so compassionate involvement and care from the church must be present.

2. Present The Gospel Constantly

Those who are struggling through the darkness of mental illness need to be presented with the light of the gospel on a regular basis. There are plenty of times that those suffering with mental ailments just need to continuously and definitively hear the good news that Jesus Christ is sufficient enough and has promised to never leave them nor forsake them. Today, even doctors understand the importance that spirituality plays in healing a psychological illness. For Christians, a combination of medicine and gospel-mediation can help those who are suffering from a mental illness. Full relief might not come, but there is no doubt hearing the gospel on a regular basis is important to a Christian’s health. The good news that Jesus Christ has done everything for our salvation must be presented constantly.

3. Preach Hope Relentlessly

Jesus Christ is our hope (1 Tim 1:1). He is the only one who has promised to be with you to the end of the age (Matt. 28:20). There is no doubt that this message is what must be preached because of how easy it is for the mentally ill to struggle with losing hope. In a world that seems so pitch-black a lot of the time, the church must always remember to present the hopeful light of Jesus. This is a hope that will not relent even when the walls seem to be closing in. It is always important to remind those who are suffering from different kinds of mental illness that one day in the new heavens and new earth all suffering will be gone (Rev. 21:1-4). There will be no more mental illness. Counselors, pastors, and church leaders must share a relentless hope in Jesus Christ. He’s our anchor in this dark world.

4. Understand That You Probably Don’t Understand

Everyone who struggles with a mental illness comes from a different background and has different symptoms they struggle with. One of the most difficult things I have dealt with regarding my mental illness has been effectively communicating to others what exactly I am going through. What has been even more difficult though has been some of the responses and advice people have offered up to me regarding my mental illness.

The naive response of “Just get over it” surprisingly has been  proposed to me numerous times through my struggles. Now, of course, I have taken that advice with a grain of salt. The church must learn that everyone’s struggle is different and that no two situations are exactly alike. There is no doubt that the body of Christ needs to continue to educate itself on the symptoms and struggles of mental illness. However, simple education should not make one feel like they have become a mental health expert. Mental health issues are real and a struggle for many and there is no doubt that sympathy and care triumphs over input and words of wisdom.

This may mean just being present with a friend while they struggle. Even if you do not have the answer, just listening can be encouraging and goes a long way. Being present can sometimes provide more comfort, than our words could ever provide.

A Few Final Thoughts

My mental illness has made me feel secluded and crazy a lot of the time. I started taking medication for my anxiety a little over two years ago and have taken it ever since. There definitely have been seasons of my life that have been better than others, but there is no doubt I consider anxiety to be my thorn in the flesh (2 Cor. 12:7). I have seen counselors and have tried to seek console in the Word of God, but life has just been hard. I have had trouble being in a healthy relationship with a woman because of my anxiety and I have struggled preaching to my congregation because of panic attacks. Mental illness has won the battle plenty of times in my life.

It is time to face the fact that there are millions of people who struggle with mental illness and the church must rise up and disciple them. Jesus Christ is greater than any mental illness and even though anxiety wins many of battles, I always remember that Jesus Christ has already won the war. We will be raised up. We will have new creation bodies. We will not suffer forever. He is the resurrection and life.

—

Matt Manry is the Director of Discipleship at Life Bible Church in Canton, Georgia. He is a student at Reformed Theological Seminary and Knox Theological Seminary. He also works on the editorial team for Credo Magazine and Gospel-Centered Discipleship. He blogs regularly at gospelglory.net.

Same-Sex Attraction in the Church

There are a number of things churches can do to help Christians with SSA:

1. Make it easy to talk about

Pastors as well as church members need to know that homosexuality is not just a political issue but a personal one, and that there will likely be some within their own church family for whom it is a painful struggle. When the issue comes up in the life of the church, it needs to be recognised that this is an issue Christians wrestle with too, and that the church needs to be ready and equipped to walk alongside such brothers and sisters.

Many Christians still speak about homosexuality in hurtful and pejorative ways. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve heard Christians (even some in positions of church leadership) use phrases like: “That’s so gay” to describe something they don’t like. Such comments are only going to make their Christian brothers and sisters struggling with SSA feel completely unable to open up. When I first began to share my own experiences with friends at church, I was struck by how many mature Christians felt they needed to apologise for comments they’d made in the past about homosexuality, which they now realised may have been hurtful.

Key to helping people feel safe about sharing issues of SSA is having a culture of openness about the struggles and weaknesses we experience in general in the Christian life. Christian pastor and writer Timothy Keller has said that churches should feel more like the waiting room for a doctor and less like a waiting room for a job interview. In the latter we all try to look as competent and impressive as we can. Weaknesses are buried and hidden. But in a doctor’s waiting room we assume that everyone there is sick and needs help. And this is much closer to the reality of what is going on in church.

By definition, Christians are weak. We depend on the grace and generosity of God. We are the “poor in spirit” (Matthew 5 v 3). It is a mark of a healthy church that we can talk about these things, and so we need to do all we can to encourage a culture of being real about the hard things of the Christian life.

But there is a caution: having made it easy for someone to talk about their sexual struggles, we must not then make the mistake of always talking to them about it. They may need to be asked about how things are going from time to time, but to make this the main or only thing you talk about with them can be problematic. It may reinforce the false idea that this is who they really are, and it may actually overlook other issues that they may need to talk about more. Sexuality may not be their greatest battle.

2. Honour singleness

Those for whom marriage is not a realistic prospect need to be affirmed in their calling to singleness. Our fellowships need to uphold and honour singleness as a gift and take care not unwittingly to denigrate it. Singles should not be thought or spoken of as loose ends that need tying up. Nor should we think that every single person is single because they’ve been too lazy to look for a marriage partner.

I remember meeting another pastor who, on finding out I was single, was insistent that I should be married by now and proceeded to outline immediate steps I needed to take to rectify this. He was very forthright and only backed down when I burst into tears and told him I was struggling with homosexuality. It is not an admission I should have needed to make. We need to respect that singleness is not necessarily a sign that someone is postponing growing up.

3. Remember that church is family

Paul repeatedly refers to the local church as the “God’s household” (for example, 1 Timothy 3 v 15). It is the family of God, and Christians are to be family to one another.

So Paul encourages Timothy to treat older men as fathers, “younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters” (1 Timothy 5 v 1-2). The church is to think of itself as immediate family. Nuclear families within the church need the input and involvement of the wider church family; they are not designed to be self-contained. Those that open up their family life to others find that it is a great two-way blessing.

Singles get to experience some of the joys of family life; children get to benefit from the influence of other older Christians; parents get to have the encouragement of others supporting them; and families as a whole get to learn something of what it means to serve Christ by being outward-looking as a family.

4. Deal with biblical models of masculinity and femininity, rather than cultural stereotypes

Battles with SSA can sometimes be related to a sense of not quite measuring up to expected norms of what a man or woman is meant to be like. So when the church reinforces superficial cultural stereotypes, the effect can be to worsen this sense of isolation and of not quite measuring up.

For example, to imply that men are supposed to be into sports or fixing their own car, or that women are supposed to enjoy craft or to suggest that they will want to “talk about everything”, is to deal in cultural rather than biblical ideas of how God has made us. It can actually end up overlooking many ways in which people are reflecting some of the biblical aspects of manhood and womanhood that culture overlooks.

5. Provide good pastoral support

Pastoral care for those with SSA does not need to be structured, but it does need to be visible. Many churches now run support groups for members battling with SSA; others provide mentoring or prayer-partner schemes.

Those with SSA need to know that the church is ready to support and help them, and that it has people with a particular heart and insight to be involved in this ministry. There may be issues that need to be worked through, and passages from the Bible that need to be studied and applied with care and gentle determination. There may be good friendships that need to be cultivated and accountability put in place, and there will be the need for long-term community. These are all things the local church is best placed to provide.

It has been a few years now since I first started telling close Christian friends that I battle with homosexual feelings. It was a lengthy process and in some ways quite emotionally exhausting. But it was one of the best things I have ever done. The very act of sharing something so personal with someone else is a great trust, and in virtually every case it strengthened and deepened the friendship. Close friends have became even closer. I also found that people felt more able to open up to me about personal things in their own lives, on the basis that I had been so open with them. There have been some wonderful times of fellowship as a result.

It has now been several months since I shared about the issue of sexuality publicly with my church family. Again, it has been a great blessing to have done so. There has been a huge amount of support—people asking how they can help and encourage me in this issue, many saying that they are praying for me daily. Others have said how much it means to them that I would share something like this. It has also been a great encouragement to me that it does not seem to have defined how others see me. Aside from the expressions of love and support, business was back to normal very quickly.

—

Sam Allberry has been a pastor at St Mary's Church, Maidenhead, UK since 2008. Prior to that he worked as the pastor for students at St Ebbe's Church, Oxford, UK. His passion is helping people understand the significance and wonder of biblical truth. He is the author of Is God Anti-Gay? You can follow him on Twitter: @SamAllberry

(Editor’s Note: This is an excerpt from Is God Anti-Gay? by Sam Allberry available from The Good Book Company, 2014. It appears here with the permission of publisher. For more information visit The Good Book Company.)

Resurrection: Essential or Optional?

Is belief in resurrection essential or optional? All scholars agree Jesus died by crucifixion, but some insist there isn’t enough historical evidence to warrant belief in a physical resurrection. Let’s examine the evidence for the resurrection through: the gospel tradition, skeptical scholarship, and faith.

Gospel Tradition

Concluding his long letter to the church in the city of Corinth, Paul writes:

"Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.”(1 Cor. 15:1)

For the early Christians, church was not something they attended; it was something they were, wherever they went, at home or at work, in groups or going out, they didn’t leave this identity behind— they were family in Christ Jesus. Paul gives us a family reminder of what creates deep community—the gospel. In fact, he says if we deviate from the gospel, it puts us in grave danger “believing in vain.”

Put positively, the gospel is of first importance. This means it has priority over all other teachings and all of your life. It is more important than your career, your friends, your future, your preferences. It is this:

"that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.”(vv. 3-5)

The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus for our sins is the essential, life-changing, world-altering gospel message. It announces hopeful news “according to the Scriptures.”Did you notice he repeated this? This is not a way of saying, “See, this was all about Jesus predicted in the Old Testament, so you should believe it,”as if to one-up skeptics with prophecy. Rather, Paul appeals to the Scriptures as a rich, ancient, live narrative about the world, which hinges on the Messiah. “According to the Scriptures” is shorthand for true story. In this true story, the Messiah has come to deal with the sin of Israel and the world. This is why he says: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age”(Gal. 1:4).

According to the Scriptures, Christ is the hero of the world story. He exchanges divine grace for personal sin. He replaces evil with peace. The gospel is the story of God bringing Israel’s messiah onto the world stage to make a new humanity fit for a new world. Now, is this a true story? Well, it isn’t something Paul made up. It is the result of Jesus’s teachings on the Scriptures and is something he received. This is a technical word referring to the transmission of a tradition. Jesus died in the 30s, Paul is writing in the 50s and had already taught it to the church at Corinth, and now says it is Christian tradition. That puts this early creed’s origin around 45 A.D. But for it to become a tradition, it had to be a decade old. So that puts it around 35. N. T. Wright notes it was probably formulated within the first two or three years after the first Easter. This gospel creed is very close to the source. Now let’s take a closer look at this tradition by breaking it into three parts: died for our sins, buried, and raised on the third day.

Skeptical Scholarship

Paul says Jesus died for our sins. Virtually no reputable scholar has an issue with the historicity of Jesus’s death on a cross. It’s an accepted fact. But the claim that this was divine atonement to deal with human sin is another matter. What gives Jesus the right to say he died for our sins? Who says we need saving? Well, our conscience does. Everyone encounters guilt for certain actions. Maybe for how you have treated some person, or things you’ve done in the past.

This sense of guilt is a gift from God. If we didn’t have guilt over things like adultery, murder, or gossip humanity would do them all the time. Why not do them if there isn’t a transcendent standard for human flourishing? Where does that come from? It comes from a transcendent being, God. So while we may not like admitting we need saving, the reality is that our guilt is a gift, to help society, but more importantly to alert us to our need for rescue before God. When Jesus dies for sins, he offers to absorb our guilt. If you accept it, you become guilt-free before God. If you don’t, you will have to absorb the consequences for your guilt in this life and the next.

Next, Paul says that Jesus was buried (1 Cor. 15:4). There is skeptical scholarship regarding this phrase. Bart Ehrman, formerly a believing Christian New Testament scholar but now an agnostic biblical historian, was interviewed on NPR recently and also just released an important book called When Jesus Became God. There has been a response book called When God Became Jesus. Unfortunately, they did not respond to his chapters on the resurrection. Ehrman points out that Paul makes no mention of the empty tomb in this tradition, and contends that the reason for this is that there was no empty tomb, that in fact the disciples who wrote the Gospels, like Mark, made up the empty tomb idea. To prove this, he says the tradition would have had a neater parallel to “appearing to Cephas”(1 Cor. 15:5) if it read “buried by Joseph of Arimathea.”But this reliable tradition cited by Paul does not include Joseph.

Ehrman asserts that Joseph was part of the “whole council of the Sanhedrin”(Mark 15:1) which condemned Jesus to death. Why then would Joseph suddenly become an advocate for Jesus burial? Surely this was made up to make sure there is a tomb story to go with Jesus death, so people can later claim an empty tomb. What really happened, Ehrman suggests, is that Jesus’s body was left on the cross and devoured by dogs. No tomb, empty or otherwise. I honestly find this hard to believe, not on the grounds of theology, but on the grounds of history.

First, it is quite an elaborate, alternate reading based on speculation, an argument from silence (there are no documents supporting this and there would have been clear documentary outcry if this is actually what happened). Second, the more natural reading would be that Joseph, upon seeing Jesus die, converted to faith in Jesus as the Son of God, like his executor did (Mk. 15:39) or that he did not make the meeting. Mark tells us Joseph was “looking for the kingdom of God and took courage”to ask Pilate for the body (Mk. 15:43). This tells us Joseph had a rich theological reason to convert (seeing Jesus as the king of the Kingdom) and personal conscience to follow by mustering courage and go with his conviction against the grain of his peers. Therefore, we have good reason to accept the tradition in Corinthians while also affirming the empty tomb claim of the Gospels.

The third element is that “he was raised on the third day” (1 Cor. 15:4). Here is the bold resurrection claim. To this Ehrman says: “There can be no doubt, historically, that some of Jesus’s followers came to believe he was raised from the dead—no doubt whatsoever. This is how Christianity started. If no one had thought Jesus had been raised, he would have been lost in the mists of Jewish antiquity and would be known today only as another failed Jewish prophet” (emphasis added). Jesus wouldn’t stand out in history if people didn’t believe Jesus rose from the dead. But notice Ehrman’s wording, “Jesus followers came to believe.”He contends that while some believed this; it was based on a vision and not on an actual historical resurrection. Rising on the third day, he says, was just a theological flourish based on Jonah’s three days in the whale or Hosea 6:2. While there are symbolic connections to those texts, this doesn’t mean that the three days or the resurrection isn’t literal. The early Church likely included this phrase to reflect that there was no great delay of time, but in reporting on history, it was actually a specific number of days, which reflects their encounter with an actual, physically risen Christ. In fact, the verb used in the tradition means he was raised at a specific point in time, and that his act of being raised has ongoing effects in the present.

It does not suggest there were multiple visions of Jesus. It says something happened to Jesus’s body in history—raised—and that this event continues to have remarkable impact. The grammar puts the resurrection in history, where Ehrman is doing his work. Moreover, if Christianity is based on having visions of the risen Jesus, then why don’t most Christians have that encounter too? Because Christianity is not based on visions, but on the historic death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It’s about a person, not a resurrection. This is why Paul goes out of his way to list all the eyewitnesses: Peter, the Twelve, the 500+ witnesses, James, and himself. Hundreds of people claim to have witnessed an actual, physical, resurrected Jesus with nail-scarred hands. Eyewitness testimony is critical to good history. Reporters prioritize this material when writing their story, so do courts. And there is a deafening silence in connection with these reports in the first century. They are uncontested.

Only later, when another religion called Gnosticism flowered, did people begin to reread Jesus as a spirit, which was based on their philosophy of the body being corrupt or evil. Ehrman is simply trying to reread the text based on his historical presuppositions, which he actually admits: “I should stress that unbelievers (like me) cannot disprove the resurrection either, on historical grounds.” In essence, he says the resurrection is a matter of faith, not history, because history cannot admit miracles as a plausible explanations. But isn’t this biased, ruling out the supernatural from the historical record? He says he isn’t anti-supernatural, but as a historian it’s not admissible evidence. This, of course, is based on twenty-first century historiography, which he is imposing on first century historical documents. It is a classic case of what C.S. Lewis called “chronological snobbery,” arrogantly assuming the superiority of his historical moment over the past saying—miracles don’t count. But they did then!

Faith

This brings us to the question: What difference does it make? Well the resurrection doesn’t make any difference if you don’t have faith. But I’m not talking Bart Ehrman's faith, and I’m not even talking about faith in the historic resurrection. The gospel is not mainly a set of dogma to which we pin or do not pin our beliefs. Resurrection?—yes or no. That is a mental game.

Rather, the Scriptures are appealing to your conscience, like they did to Joseph, the centurion, and countless others. The gospel is a rich story about the Messiah absorbing your sin. Our guilt rightfully presses down on us. We are condemned before a transcendent, holy God. But Jesus would have us reach up in faith, take hold of his hand, allow him to pull us up into his forgiveness. That is not a mere mental decision; it is an act of surrender. It is compliance with your conscience to trust, not in the resurrection, but in the unmatched resurrected Christ.

God wants faith (not in a doctrine)—but in his Son. Without this kind of faith, God will condemn you. With it, we receive his grace for our sin. This is what happened to Paul who was once a murder of Christians, unworthy, but made worthy by God’s grace: “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain”(1 Cor. 15:10). That’s an identity statement. I am who I am in Christ. Remember the gospel gives us a new identity. Instead of sinner, you become a saint. God sees you not only as forgiven, but as raised up with Christ into his new and radiant life. Faith not only gets you forgiven; it gets you new creation. The guilt is gone and godliness has come. This changes everything. In creating a new identity in Christ, we are motivated to work hard for the kingdom of God. Earlier he said, you received, stand, and are being saved in the gospel. Standing is past action with ongoing effect. You don’t just believe in the past, you keep believing. It’s not once saved always saved. That assumes you only believe once.

This isn’t about pinning your yes or no to a dogma. This is about throwing yourself, your life, on a Person. It’s about love. Faith works through love. When you get married you are saying to that spouse, I choose to trust and uniquely love you, like no other. I am ruling all other men and women out. You don’t know what’s on the other side of the altar. What suffering or hard times may come, but you act in faith out of love and say, “I do.”

That’s what happened to Paul and all the early Christians, and  many of us. “I do Jesus, and I will continue to trust you, obey you, and love you, exclusively, uniquely above all other gods. I put my faith-love in the risen Christ, not simply nod my head to the resurrection.” Then, you become part of his new humanity—fit for a new world. Your sin for his grace, the world’s evil for his peace. The story is still unfolding along its central character—Jesus. And the risen Jesus will return to gather his children into his perfect kingdom. He admits those who continue to stand in faith-love toward him. To those who simply nod their heads over doctrines, he dismisses since they believed in vain.

Like church, the resurrection isn’t something you simply attend; it is something you are, something you become by faith in the risen Christ.

—

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

United: An Interview with Trillia Newbell

My friend Trillia Newbell has written a needed and helpful new book called United: Captured by God's Vision for Diversity. In United, Trillia explores the importance of pursuing diversity in the church by sharing her own unique experiences growing up in the South and attending a predominately white church. She champions the theology of diversity throughout the book through the Scriptures providing compelling reasons to pursue diversity. She was gracious enough to allow us to interview her today.

Brandon Smith: You write in United about your friendship with two girls of other ethnicities. How do you think the friendship, accountability, and discipleship helped you feel a part of your local church?

Trillia Newbell: There is something unique about really getting to know someone. We can walk into the doors of our churches and never build deep friendships. I was thankful to have met Amy (white) and Lillian (Chinese) early on. We decided to begin meeting together every other week to do accountability. The Lord used those girls in profound ways. First, it was so nice to have friends. When you are in a new place, as a new Christian, it can be scary to navigate your place in the church. But having friends like these helped ease that tension. Second, we had older women to bounce things off of and then we also had each other. We could ask pointed questions and pray for one another. It was a rich season of fellowship which taught me how to engage in fellowship with other members of the body.

B: You became a Christian in your 20's. Tell us about your conversion. How important is evangelism in the pursuit of diversity?

T: I was sitting in a hotel room with another gal when she popped open her Bible. I was there to lead a cheer camp and she was my assistant. We had never met each other before but the Lord had divinely appointed this meeting that would change the whole course of my life. I remember putting up a guard and asking her what she was doing. She said she was going to have a quiet time. By the end of that time I was sitting on her bed and we were both crying while she shared the gospel with me.

It took two years and two broken engagements before I finally submitted and committed my life to the Lord. He was faithful to draw me to himself and to save me. It was and remains amazing to me. But what if my friend, who is white, had decided not to share with me because I am black? What if she shrunk back in fear because of our ethnicities? The gospel transforms the way we think of ethnicity. The gospel empowers us to share cross-culturally because it is the Good News that all need to hear. Jesus charged the disciples to make other disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19). This mindset is important to the pursuit of diversity because we could find ourselves otherwise reaching out to only those like us. God paints the beautiful picture of disciples of all nations, all tribes, and all tongues. He most often uses his people to accomplish this goal.

B: How important do you think discipleship is as churches seek to pursue diversity?

T: Perhaps you or your readers have experienced this…a person comes to your church for a little while but after a few Sunday’s they stop showing up. We might assume that they decided they didn’t like the teaching or worship. Maybe. But I wonder if they got to know anyone? I would wonder if anyone said hello and then invited them to lunch or showed some sort of hospitality and interest beyond a “Hello.” Discipleship typically starts with relationship and relationship begins with intentional care. In other words, we have to pursue one another first and then we have the opportunity to teach one another the Word. But there is almost no doubt that if we begin to pursue one another and teach one another then we will build churches that reflect the Last Days.

There isn’t a guarantee, of course. But I do think it’s worth the effort. God gives us a picture in Titus 2 of what it could look like for the whole church to be involved in discipleship. I think this model helps us to build into each other and build the church. I am confident that if I didn’t have people who genuinely cared for me during my early days attending my old church, I would not have stayed. I’m sure of it. But because there were people who showed love, care, and interest, I stayed and built relationships and was discipled.

B: You've shared often that United isn't so much about diversity as it is about love. Could you explain?

T: When people hear the word diversity there is a temptation to automatically put up a guard or to assume we are talking about quotas. It is a bad assumption but one that I completely understand. The word diversity has been politicized and causes many to cringe at its sound. But the Church is made up of people, made in the image of God, equal in fall and redemption. We aren’t talking about, as C.S. Lewis puts it, mere mortals. This is why the pursuit of diversity in the church is about love. Jesus came and died for the church, for His bride, for people. John 13: 6, God so loved the world that he gave his son, isn’t a cliché, it is the glorious truth of the gospel. Diversity is about building a church that reflects who Jesus died for: all nations, tribes, and tongues. And we pursue this because Christ first loved us. And we pursue others because he has called us to love our neighbor as ourselves.

_

Trillia Newbell (@trillianewbell) is a wife, mom, and writer who loves Jesus. She is the author of United: Captured by God’s Vision for Diversity (Moody).

Doubt Is Not a Disease

Should we focus on engaging those who are skeptical about the truths of Christianity? Should Christians who are struggling with their faith join a discipleship group? Should the Church spend more time and resources engaging the doubts that people have in regards to Jesus Christ? Well, yes.

Pastor Timothy Keller once said:

“A faith without some doubts is like a human body with no antibodies in it. People who blithely go through life too busy or indifferent to ask the hard questions about why they believe as they do will find themselves defenseless against either the experience of tragedy or the probing questions of a smart skeptic. A person's faith can collapse almost overnight if she failed over the years to listen patiently to her own doubts, which should only be discarded after long reflection.”

Keller makes it clear that in today’s world we must be willing to acknowledge the doubts that we have and to confront them. Sometimes evangelicals tend to overlook the doubts that people struggle with and just sweep them under the rug. This is not the solution. Church leaders must focus on discipling those who are struggling with doubt. Here is what Scripture reveals to us about faith and doubt.

Faith is a Gift

In Romans 12:3 the Apostle Paul says, “For by the grace given to me I say to every-one among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has as-signed.” As we meditate on this verse, we are able to see that God gives out different amounts of faith to his people. The measure and amount of one’s faith depends totally on what God has assigned. Faith is a gracious gift from God. However, we are also able to see that doubt is a tool that our Father in Heaven uses for his purposes and plans. In God’s sovereignty, he sometimes uses doubt as a tool to drive us to Jesus Christ. All of this is done in his perfect timing. With that framework in mind, we can now turn our attention to examining why doubt should not be taboo.

Scripture reveals many doubters to us. The disciple, Thomas, is probably most widely known for struggling with doubt (Jn. 20:24-29). However, there are plenty of others who are worth mentioning. Abraham struggled with believing that God could make him a father in his old age (Gen. 17:17). Moses did not believe God could use him to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt (Ex. 3:10-15). Peter struggled with belief, when he almost drowned at sea (Matt. 14:28-32). So if you struggle with doubt, know you are not alone. The Bible is full of doubters who were used by God for his sovereign purposes, and there is no question he can use those who struggle with doubt today.

There are plenty of men and women you probably know who struggle with doubt within your church. These people should not be treated as inferior Christians. They should not be treated as people who have an infectious disease. When we understand that faith is a gift and that the measure of one’s faith does not determine the level of one’s spiritual maturity, we will finally be a people who do not drive doubters away from the church. The church should always be a place for skeptics and saints alike.

If all of us were honest with ourselves we would admit that doubting as a Christian is not abnormal. When Christians go through intense trials or have been praying for God to answer a specific prayer over a prolonged period of time with no answer, doubts arise. Does this suggest they are not trusting God enough? Perhaps not. I have found myself more than once in my life exclaiming in prayer the same words uttered by the father of a demon possessed child (Mk. 9: 21-24). The simple prayer: “I believe; help my unbelief,” is indeed a prayer that should be included in almost every Christian’s life.

The reason this prayer should be included in our prayer life is because of the ever-present reality that Christians struggle with doubt. This should not make us feel ashamed. We must always remember that Jesus Christ still heals the child in Mark 9 despite his father’s doubt. This should encourage us because it serves as a constant reminder that God still works with us and in us through our doubts.

Picture yourself in a home group filled with both skeptics and mature believers. Imagine the diversity of this group. Skeptics are able to voice their concerns and ask questions about the faith. Mature believers are able to evangelize and present the gospel message in a practical way. This benefits both parties and there is no question that a community like this would encourage skeptics and believers.

The Gospel for Doubt

There is good news for those who are struggling with doubt, and that is the message of the gospel. The good news proclaims to both skeptics and saints that God has done everything for us through Christ Jesus. His faith excels where our faith falters. Unbelievers and believers should acknowledge their doubts and always be willing to confront them head on. The church can help in this area. The gospel is the message that the church should always proclaim because it is the only message that has enough power to provide confidence for both the unbeliever and the believer.

An unbeliever might be struggling with doubting certain tenets of Christianity, and he might need to be confronted with an apologetic defense of the faith, but that should never take complete place over the gospel message. Hearing the gospel proclaimed is what leads to faith (Rom. 10:17). For a believer, the gospel is what encourages the Christian to look to Jesus Christ and his finished work even in the midst of doubts. Christians must preach the gospel to themselves because it serves as an antidote for the doubtful heart and mind.

The Church should always do everything it can do to help those who are struggling with doubt. There are various ways that this could be done, but I believe that the most effective way is by explicitly and constantly proclaiming the good news of what Christ Jesus has done for sinners. And we must always remember that faith is a gift, and doubt is not a disease.

_

Matt Manry is the Director of Discipleship at Life Bible Church in Canton, Georgia. He is a student at Reformed Theological Seminary and Knox Theological Seminary. He also works on the editorial team for Credo Magazine and Gospel-Centered Discipleship. He blogs regularly at gospelglory.net.

Hobbies: Gift or God?

The moment I walked into the dorms, I was greeted by a barely clothed 19-year-old guy with an Xbox controller in his hand. He looked at me and asked, “You play Halo?” So began my undergraduate degree at a Baptist university. I had come to study the Bible and philosophy, but it seemed that many of my peers had come to enjoy four years of practicing and perfecting the art of hobby. Dedicated intramural teams, obsessive gaming, competitive fantasy football brackets, and weekends to shoot skeet or play golf were just a few of the options that college opened up for myself and hundreds of other young men. When I graduated, the hobbies just got bigger and more expensive. With salaries and full time jobs, young men are given the resources to take their hobbies and obsessions to new levels. They often have a hard time being able to enjoy their hobbies in a restful way, without immersing themselves headfirst in a world of distraction. The young seminarian might obsess over his blog, the undergraduate student might be chest deep in video games, the father is dedicated to watching every game or being out on the links every weekend, and the grandfather is hoping to re-read all his favorite Grisham novels this spring at his lake house. Like Aristotle might have said, had he had the chance to update the slang in his Nichomachean Ethics, “It’s hard to fiddle in the middle.”

Are hobbies evil? Absolutely not! But when hobbies become obsessions they flip the created order, where man exercises God-given authority and dominion over creation (Gen 1:27-31), and instead place man in subjection to the creation (Rom. 1:21-25). So, the question before us is, how do you enjoy God’s goodness in creation without making your hobby a hindrance to your faithfulness to God’s mission in your home, church, and community?

I want to state three things that we must do, truths we can’t abandon in enjoying hobbies, and two things that we can do to shape our practice of hobby.

What We Must Do

In order to be faithful men of God while enjoying God’s creation, we must:

1. Be Self-Controlled

Paul tells Timothy that those who aspire to the office of overseer “desire a noble task.” These men, the overseers, are to set an example of the lifestyle of a Godly man. Paul exhorts Timothy that these men, the standard set before the men of the church, should be “sober-minded” and “self-controlled" (1 Tim. 3:2).

What is self-control? It is the ability to restrain oneself from one thing so that one might be cast headlong into something better. Paul goes on in 1 Timothy 4:12-15, saying, “Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid theirs hands on you. Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress.”

As C.S. Lewis says in The Weight of Glory, “We are far too easily pleased.”

We refrain ourselves from immersion in hobbies so that we can immerse ourselves in communion with God. We practice self-control in our hobbies so that we can practice reckless abandonment in our pursuit of Christ.

2. Redeem the Time

Above my desk, in my office, I have a framed picture that my wonderfully creative wife made for me that has pictures of books, coffee beans, and a few quotes. Knowing that my hobbies are reading, writing, and the quest for the perfect cup of coffee, in the middle of that picture is a quote from Jonathan Edwards. The quote from his “Resolutions” says, “Resolved, never to lose one moment of time; but improve it the most profitable way I possibly can.” Underneath this quote is Paul’s admonition to the church in Ephesians 5:15-16, “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making he best use of the time, because the days are evil.”

Is it lazy that I occasionally enjoy reading fiction while I watch a rack of ribs smoke on my pit? Is it sinful that my brother and I have fun attempting the maddening challenge of placing a small white ball into a hole 400 yards away? No, but there is a difference in delighting in the good gifts of God and engrossing myself in the realm of distraction.

If I look to use the “first fruits” of my time for any hobby or practice other than advancing the Kingdom in my home, church, and community, then my hobby has stolen my heart.

One way that I would encourage you to “test your hobbies” is to ask the question, “Where do I run in times of crisis?” In times of crisis, struggle, or fear we run to the functional hero of our hearts. After that argument with your wife, do you flee to tinker in your garage? After that bad news from the boss, do you escape into a fiction fantasy?

Where you run to spend your time when your “time is up” is where your worship is directed.

3. Possess a Gospel Urgency

While Paul encouraged Timothy and others to “Practice these things [scripture reading, teaching, exhortation, etc.], immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress” (1 Tim. 4:15). Paul goes on, “Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.”

Our hobbies should be practiced with a gospel urgency. Vacations, hobbies, and rest does not exempt us from the ongoing mission of God in our home, church, and community. If your hobby is an escape from living under the Lordship (authority) of Christ, than your hobby is a remnant of your sinful desire for autonomy. When you are enjoying fishing on the lake…you belong to Christ, the water belongs to Christ, and the fish belong to Christ. Like Abraham Kuyper once proclaimed, “There is not one square inch in all of our human existence over which God does not cry, ‘Mine!’”

Yet the world and the spiritual forces of evil at work in the lives of unbelievers oppose Christ’s Lordship over all of creation. Your hobby must become a platform upon which you stand to proclaim “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” (Ps. 8:1).

If our hobbies are lacking an urgency to know and enjoy Christ and to make him known, than they are becoming less than they were created to be.

What We Can Do

To encourage and challenge ourselves to remain faithful men of God while enjoying our hobbies we can:

1. Serve Our Wives

I love writing, so I operate a blog. My wife knows that I love to write and that if I am not blogging, I will be working on a sermon, book, article, or paper. What does it say about my heart if I write a thousand blog posts and never once use my gift of writing to honor, serve, or celebrate her? It says that I believe my hobby is from me, through me, and to me. Does that phrase sound familiar?

So I attempt to serve my wife with my writing. I write her poems and “choose your own adventure story-dates.” I am also sure to speak well of her in my writing.

Maybe you love to cook; cook her a meal. Maybe you love to work with your hands; make her something. Maybe you love to golf; take her out to her Putt-Putt. Be creative, put as much thought into including her in your hobby as you do in practicing your hobby.

2. Include Others

You are not the only guy who likes playing Madden 2013. There is a high school guy in the student ministry at your church who can destroy you, invite him over and let him teach you a few things. You are not the only man in your church who enjoys watching the games on Sunday afternoon, so invite them over and mute the TV during the commercials. You would be surprised at how excited that young man would be to get invited to your senior adult men’s domino game.

Bring other people into your hobby. Use your hobby to develop relationships with your neighbors and church family. When you see a gift as a gift, and not as an entitlement, than you will share that gift.

The real question is, “Is your hobby gift or god?”

_

Kyle Worley is the author of Pitfalls: Along the Path to Young and Reformed, an editor at CBMW, and serves as Connections Minister at The Village Church Dallas Campus. He holds a double B.A. in Biblical Studies and Philosophy from Dallas Baptist University and an M.A.Th. in Church History at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He also pursuing an M.A.R at Redeemer Theological Seminary.

*This originally appeared at CBMW.

Joining Jesus in Restoring Culture

What do we mean when we talk about “culture”? In Culture Making, Andy Crouch defines culture this way: “Culture is what we make of the world. Culture is, first of all, the name for our relentless, restless human effort to take the world as it is given to us and make something else.” All of us make something of the world. And our contributions actually communicate quite a bit about what’s important to us. What we make of the world either gives people a surprising vision of the Kingdom of God or reinforces their spiritual numbness as citizens of the dominion of darkness. This is the essence of Jesus's teaching in the Sermon on the Mount.

Now that we are citizens of a better Kingdom that is breaking into the world, Jesus invites us to participate with him in what he is “making of the world” via the Kingdom of God.

During a flight to Denver, a man named Ben and I talked for a couple of hours. He shared how he used to be a Christian but now isn’t sure how to categorize his spirituality. As the conversation continued, we began to speak about the role of the Christian church in the world today.

“I think Christianity is primarily characterized by fear. Churches are shrinking away from culture out of fear.” Ben stated.

I replied, “That’s a fair assessment. That’s certainly not how it should be.”

Then I began to share good news about Jesus with him. What followed was one of the most mutually encouraging Jesus-driven conversations I’ve ever experienced. I introduced Jesus as the restorer of culture.

A Robust Redemption

Jesus is our atonement. Jesus is our substitute, our propitiatory sacrifice, and our expiation. Jesus is our example. Jesus is our ransom. Jesus is our reconciliation. Jesus is our redemption. Jesus is our triumph and victor. Yes, he is all these things. But Jesus is also the restorer of culture.

What makes the atonement so beautiful is that, like a well-cut diamond, there are so many angles from which we can view its brilliance. But without that last facet, virtually all of our understanding of the atonement can become  individualized. Jesus is not merely redeeming us; he is redeeming all things.

As Mouw points out in When the Kings Come Marching In, there is more to the atonement. The redemptive ministry of Jesus is bigger and extends into culture.

I believe Jesus is good news for children who are victims of violence. Jesus speaks a word to citizens who live under murderous, corrupt governments. Jesus offers hope to those in sexual slavery. And his message is more than just, “Repent. Believe. Be baptized.” Jesus also says to them, “I am your restorer. This is not the way things are supposed to be, but my Kingdom is here and my Kingdom is coming.”

Ultimately, we will proclaim an atonement that covers our perception of the scope of sin. So if we believe that sin is only individual, we will preach redemption that covers only the individual. However, as we begin to see that sin also reaches into every area of creation, we uncover the need for an atonement that is larger in scope. And thankfully the atonement is big enough to cover both individual and systemic sin.

 What Ought to Be

Genesis 1:28 gives a command that scholars have dubbed “The Creational Mandate” or “The Cultural Mandate.” God says, “Adam and Eve, check out the good creation I’ve made! Now go cultivate, subdue, tame, innovate, and make.” To play off Crouch’s understanding, God is saying, “Go make something of the world that reflects my sovereign rule over it.” When sin soiled the good that God made (Gen. 3), things were fractured. Perfect culture became distorted culture.

But God is the ultimate creative maker. He has made us in his image so that we also would also creatively “make” in such a way that points people to his invisible rule. He has redeemed the fallen world in order to help us flourish once again. What we make of the world should inevitably point to a picture of this human flourishing.

We believe that Jesus will return again to set up his Kingdom here on earth (Rev. 11:15). At that point God will abolish sin, injustice, pain, oppression, and disease. As citizens of God’s Kingdom, we are to use our talents, skills, and passions to give people a glimpse of what the Kingdom of God is like. We live now in the reality of what will be. That means we have the joyful opportunity to join God in the renewal of all things. Each one of us has an opportunity to help the world taste the Kingdom by being a “restorer” and introducing people to Jesus and his ways.

If this seems strange or foreign to you, here’s the essential building block for this conversation: God’s Kingdom is what ought to be. The brokenness of our world is what ought not to be. Jesus’s ministry as prophet, priest, and king is about nothing less than initiating – and eventually consummating – what ought to be.

Participating in Restoring Culture

The world is messy. There is division, destruction, hatred, greed, slander, debauchery, and plenty of other types brokenness. It is all around us. How does understanding God's desire for culture translate practically? Here are a few points for consideration and action.

1. What is? Like a fish in water, it can be difficult to consciously observe the water we swim in. Yet Jesus and his disciples seemed to be good at observing people, places, and patterns that everyone else was gazing right past. In the community you inhabit, what are the norms of life? What’s good and enjoyable? What’s broken or perverted?

2. What ought to be? Disciples of Jesus are driven by a vision of a different kingdom. We know how God created things to be, how they were before the first sin. So ask the Spirit for some creative imagination and ponder: “What would this community look like if the Kingdom of God broke in? If Jesus was ruling here, what would be different?”

3. How can I participate? What do you sense the Spirit asking you (and/or your church community) to create? Who or what is he asking you to confront? What specific actions and strategies will you enact to see the Kingdom of God break in?

Wherever you happen to find yourself right now, the surrounding culture is a landscape ravaged and twisted by sin, yet still bearing glimmers of Eden. And God is inviting you to participate with him in the renewal and restoration of all things. Under the leadership of Jesus, he invites you to make his invisible Kingdom visible. By the power of the Spirit, he invites you to abandon fear and imagine what ought to be and then pray, innovate, confront, create, redeem, and restore.

–

Sean Post resides with His wife and son in Maple Valley, WA. He serves as Academic Dean for Adelphia Bible School  - a one-year Bible and mission immersion experience for young adults. Sean is also a leadership coach, doctoral student, book-lover, and a has-been basketballer. Twitter: @Sean_Post

3 Reasons to Read Poetry

Most school days, my 10-year-old son and I play on the Playstation when he gets home. A few days ago, we finished the first of three games. As soon as we had a few seconds between games, I ran to my home office to work on something and ran back when the game began. I did the same after the second game. Thinking about it later, I wondered what was so important that I couldn’t hang with my son for those few seconds. I couldn’t remember. Something in me felt like I couldn’t sit. I had to find something to do. I had to speed up. Isn’t that what TV, the Internet, smart phones, and iPads do? These extensions of work and non-work busyness bury us. We’ve all experienced the person who can’t stop looking at their phone in the middle of a conversation or who made us think they were talking to us while actually on Bluetooth with someone else. We’ve done this to others, too. We are always looking for something to fill the space. We are in a hurry even at times when we have no reason to be.

Living as disciples of Christ with the distractions and attractions of the modern world isn’t easy. We need the disciplines of the Christian life to slow us down and reorganize our lives and hearts around the Savior. When the speed of culture and life is overwhelming and I need to slow down, I turn to the poetic warmth of the Psalms. Poetry holds a special place for us as followers of Jesus because God put in the hearts of our Scriptures’ songs and poems. Poetry holds a special place because central to our personal and corporate meeting times is songs and poems. We even call Jesus the Son of David, and David is the most prolific writer of biblical poetry.

Christians should make biblical poetry a central part of our lives because it retunes our hearts. We can resonate with those who suffered, were threatened, scared, in despair, and who through it all learned to praise the sovereign God. Christians should also make reading and enjoying cultural poetry a part of life. In a busy world, it does a couple of specific things that are very good for us.

1. The Importance and Power of Words

Poetry is packed tight with meaning. The poet places each word with great intent. We live in a time where we take pride in how much content we can consume. As we read poetry, we force ourselves to see the purpose and place of each word. Poetry reminds us how to be selective, to use words for a greater impact.

Consider your life, family, church, and city. What would be different if God’s people were more choice in their words? Read for yourself, see how much can be said in such a tight space. And then go and make the most of what you say.

2. Slowing Down

I’ve already hit on this one, but it’s an important point and one of the greatest blessings of poetry. It slows us down.

As a kid, I loved golf and played almost every day of every summer. I remember when I was old enough to start driving golf carts. The electric ones were fun enough, but nothing like the gas carts. They zipped around the course and I felt the wind in my hair. Then one day I rented a gas golf cart with a governor, which is a device used to regulate the speed of the cart. What a massive disappointment, but what an important tool to keep me from driving off a bridge at a high rate of speed. Slowing down kept me in the game and not in the hospital.

Your life, at the pace you are going, may very well be too fast for the next bridge. Slow down. Poetry is a wonderful governor that helps to regulate the speed of our lives. Notice the rhymes, the meter, the cadence of a poem. Regulate your mental breathing. Allow poetry to judge you, to question your pace, and consider an alternate path. Life is lived better in a rhythm.

Try it. Pick a poem, take some time, and read it deliberately. See if it doesn’t relax you a bit by slowing you down. Then ponder how living as a poet might change you and the people around you.

3. Seeing and Feeling

In a busy world, we need to see and feel what our neighbors see and feel that we may better share the gospel with them. One of the great evangelistic helps of any age is to know the art that influences the world we intend to reach. Ezra Pound said that “[Poets are] the antennae of the race.” Paul must have know that since he quoted them in an apologetic/evangelistic opportunity (Acts 17).

Poetry is more than a tool in our hands to connect culture and gospel; it helps us reach our neighbor’s heart. One of the things I love most about poetry is it connects us to the emotional pulse around us.

When my mom died a few years ago, I spent time with my dad. We were waiting for a meeting so he could order a gravestone. We waited at local restaurant bar for a bit. He knew the bartender a little and the bartender knew what happened to my mom and asked for permission to recite a poem for us. Reluctant, but desiring not to be rude, my dad said that he could. It was remarkable. I can’t remember a line of the poem, but I can remember how it spoke of both the pain of loss and of a coming peace in a way that “I’m so sorry” could never do.

Poems are made to do things like that. You just have to slow down and stare into the words as you would a painting or a night under the stars.

Is there anyone or anything we need to see more clearly than God and neighbor? We see our neighbors often, but do we really see them? Do we know their lives, their longings, their hearts, or their pains? Poetry opens up these doors. Poetry makes us aware of the world and people around us. It tells us to spend time in their shoes, considering their worlds and their struggles and dream. And poetry can help with that by both instructing us and opening our eyes that we would see them truly.

Where To Start

So let’s say you are willing to give it a whirl. How do you start? Well, you need poetry and time. Here are some helpful resources.

John Piper has written a number of notable poems available in various forms. Also, check out solid websites like Poetry Foundation, Poets.org, and Poetry.com. There’s a lot of free poetry online as well as essays on poetry and a number of other resources you might find helpful. Maybe one of the simplest ways to get started enjoying poetry is to grab an app for your phone or tablet. My favorite is the Poetry Mobile app from Poetry Foundation, though you may want to look up Pocket Poetry and Poetry Daily apps that send poem a day. I highly encourage you to check The Writer’s Almanac podcast with Garrison Keillor. It’s excellent whether or not you are a writer. Along with nuggets and tidbits from history he reads a short poem every day.

You might want to check out a few books. Good Poems is a nice compilation. Your public library probably has a decent selection. I highly recommend you find some living poets you can follow. Some of my favorites are Dana Gioia, Wendell Berry, and Billy Collins. Search YouTube for Billy Collins’s animated poetry. If those don’t get you interested in poetry, I don’t know what will.

Let me close with Billy Collins’s poem, “Introduction to Poetry.” Sense how he encourages you to approach poetry:

I ask them to take a poem and hold it up to the light like a color slide

 or press an ear against its hive.

 I say drop a mouse into a poem and watch him probe his way out,

or walk inside the poem's room and feel the walls for a light switch.

I want them to waterski across the surface of a poem waving at the author's name on the shore.

But all they want to do is tie the poem to a chair with rope and torture a confession out of it.

They begin beating it with a hose to find out what it really means.

_

Steve McCoy is pastor of Doxa Fellowship and blogs regularly at SteveKMcCoy.com. Follow him on Twitter: @stevekmccoy.

The Dangers of Online Christianity

Chris Crane has formerly served as both a college intern at First Baptist Church in Irving, TX and in leadership of Dallas Baptist University’s Encounter Ministries. He holds a B.A. in Biblical Studies with a minor in Philosophy from DBU. Currently, he is a student at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, pursuing his M.Div. in Biblical Spirituality. Follow Chris on Twitter: @cmcrane87. ___

Living in the 21^st century, we have become overwhelmed with the advances of technology and how literally every part of our lives now seems to be using some sort of technology that wasn’t available 10 or 20 years ago. Many of these things have been quite helpful and I’m thankful that God has given them to us. However, like any good gift, it can become a danger if we let it. This is especially true when it comes to the gospel and our lives as followers of Jesus. There are countless podcasts, books, videos and websites dedicated to our favorite pastor/theologian and that feature countless theological topics. While I celebrate the diverse availability of the gospel, I also find some dangers that I think we need to be mindful of and fight against.

Before I get into these issues, let me make a clarifying statement about what I am not saying. First, I am not calling for some boycott of the Internet. I am not a fan of boycotts and they usually do more harm than good. Neither am I calling for a legalistic, shame-centered guilt trip about it. Online resources can be helpful if used properly. Secondly, I realize that unexpected things happen and so sometimes we have to miss church on a Sunday and we watch the live-stream of the service online. I’m not telling you to stop that, as long as it doesn’t become a habit. What I am trying to accomplish here is to show that neither our lives nor our spiritual growth can simply be lived online. Third, and lastly, I am not claiming I do all of this perfectly. In fact, I struggle with some of these issues myself and daily pray for the grace to recognize when my use of social media is getting out of hand, asking the Holy Spirit to show me my heart and reveal any areas I need to repent of. I’m on this journey with you all. So, with that being said, let’s examine some of these issues that I think can be harmful if we’re not careful.

Podcast Commitment

We lose something when we live off of podcasts: community. Living vicariously through the Internet is emotionally unhealthy and neglects the reality of our need for community. In fact, being in community in a local church reflects the eternal fellowship and community the Trinity has as Father, Spirit and Son. Furthermore, the author of Hebrews speaks to the importance of community, exhorting us to, "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 [of the Lord's return] drawing near.” If you are living off of the preaching of your favorite podcast, not only are you living the Christian life in the opposite way intended for Christ followers, but you’re doing yourself harm in the process.

This sort of lone wolf, individualistic Christianity is opposite of God’s desire for you to be in true, biblical community. We need to learn how to sit under the authority of God’s Word as it’s preached from the pulpit, to realize that the gospel frees us to be open and honest about our weaknesses with other believers so that they may help us flee sin and pursue righteousness, and for us to use our spiritual gifts to build up the body (see 1 Cor. 12:12-26). To speak frankly, it wouldn’t surprise me if a person living off of podcasts and not being faithful to a local church was also living in some sort of secret sin, since they are neglecting one of God’s means at growing us in our hatred for sin. Additionally, it can be really easy to judge all pastors – yours included – by the standard of the pastor you podcast. Your pastor is not [insert favorite pastor]. Don’t expect them to be. It’s not healthy for you or them.

Time Consumption

Social media is a time consuming endeavor. It can be a great resource in staying informed, but trying to keep up with the latest online skirmish can be exhausting work. If we find ourselves spending more and more time online, we can slowly run into some potentially serious problems. First, we can become consumed with who likes our Facebook posts and re-tweets/favorites our tweets. We chase our online popularity more than we chase after holiness. We take on personas that fuel our pride and harden our hearts. Secondly, the longer we spend online, the more opportunity there is to look at unrighteous material online, especially pornography. How easy it is for our minds to wander! At first, we can be reading an article on discipleship and in the next moment, spending the next hour looking at filth.

Remember, pornography is adultery (see Matt. 5:27-28). In 1 Corinthians, Paul entreats us to "flee from sexual immorality" (6:18). Commenting on this verse, Kevin DeYoung adds, "Don't reason with sexual sin, just run. Don't dabble. Don't peruse. Don't experiment. Don't "find yourself." Don't test your resolve. Don't mess around. Just flee."[1] It would be wise of us to heed that exhortation and guard against sin and temptation by not spending so much time online. There’s more to life than your news feed.

Real People Exist

This point is kind of an extension of the previous one. The problems we run into with social media and other forms of online interaction is the effect it can have on our real life relationships. We can appear to be one type of person online when, in reality, we are the exact opposite offline. We can simply click on a button and we have a new "friend", despite the fact we may never have interacted with them, or for some, may not even know them.

What happens, if we're not careful, is we damage our ability to have healthy relationships with people in real life. It's so easy to argue with people online that we lose our ability to resolve conflict in real life. It can be so easy to be a flirt online with no accountability that it becomes more and more difficult to have healthy, romantic relationships with the opposite sex. Men are clueless as to how to "treat their sisters with absolute purity" (1 Tim. 5:2) and woman become blind to the beauty of aspiring to be the woman of Proverbs 31 and Titus 2. Spend time getting to know and grow with real people. It will humble us and give us opportunities to be obedient in areas we haven’t been.

Plenty of Talking, Not Much Walking

This may be the area that young Christians are notoriously guilty of, especially if you happen to be a 20-something male studying theology. I know I am guilty of this. More often than not, it’s easier for us to get a group together and debate Calvinism or spiritual gifts than it is to “put our money where our mouth is” and help a single mother mow her lawn and take care of her kids or invest our time in a coffee shop so that we can share the gospel with the people there. Our communities need that more than your countless hours of Facebook debates. And we fool ourselves if we think we are glorifying God with our doctrinal precision without obedience to Christ’s commands. For starters, that’s not obedience. Additionally, a biblical view of knowledge is not one that only dwells in the head, but makes its way to the heart and, in turn, is lived out by keeping Jesus’ commands. In other words, we can spend a lot of time debating and studying Jesus, while neglecting to follow and believe what He says.

Concluding Thoughts

Social media can be a great way to glorify God. However, it can quickly become an addiction and feed our narcissism. It can choke out healthy relationships and can cause envy and jealousy to take root in our hearts. For some of us, we may need to get rid of our Facebook or Twitter if it has become a disruptive idol in our lives. Others may need to take a break for a certain amount of time. I’m sure all of us could benefit from that. Still some may not have a problem and have been able to retain that healthy balance with using social media. Whichever group we find ourselves in, let us use God’s good gifts to grow into healthy, mature disciples that love each other and love the local church. And in turn, encourage others to do the same.

---

[1] Kevin DeYoung, The Hole In Our Holiness (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012), 111

The Pornified Mind and the Glory of God

When I was 22 I heard Louie Giglio speak about the glory of God and I've never forgotten that sermon. He spoke about a road-trip he and a friend took in their late teens. Mount Rainier was the destination; they ate, drank, and breathed information about the mountain in preparation to summit it. But in the moment when they beheld the mount, it was not information that filled them, but awe. Louie told how he stood there looking at Rainier and wept. He was ashamed of his tears at the time—what self-respecting man weeps at a mountain? But as he shared the story in front of thousands of young people I guarantee there was no shortage of tears welling in our own eyes. Awe is contagious.

Rewiring Our Minds

A new film is set to release this year, the protagonist is a guy who values, "My body, my pad, my ride, my family, my church, my boys, my girls...and my porn." As best as I can tell from the trailer, when he finally encounters a girl who meets his porn-infused standards, he's surprised to find out she has some standards of her own. Her porn, though, is chick flicks—stories of tender, strong, fictional gentlemen who will meet her emotional and physical needs; needs which our principle guy finds he is hardly qualified to meet.

There's a good amount of gender stereotyping from what I can tell in just the trailer, however, as I don't see myself spending time, money, or soul watching the film, my observations here are based on the trailer alone. Now would be a good time to point out that porn is not just an issue for men: 66% of women today watch or have watched porn. But for the sake using the illustration of the film, we're going to stick to what it offers to us here. There are a few notable observations to be made from it, namely that even secular culture recognizes the similarity between men who watch porn and women who read books and films depicting romance. If watching porn rewires the minds of men, it's a safe bet to say there's some rewiring happening in the minds of women as well when they feast on emotional and sexual fantasies (of any kind).

One of the ways porn has affected men in greater numbers is their arousal by a real live woman is simply nonexistent. The more they feast on multiple women at the mere click of a button, the more they train their minds to need new, new, new. Though I have no scientific proof for my theory, I would argue the same is true for women who have allowed their minds to sit in the stench of imagined and unfulfilled futures. No man can compete with the specimen of modern lore.

A number of single, young men have told me they can't get a date because women have this strong, silent, tall, dark, and handsome fictional ideal. The same is true for women; men who have feasted on airbrushed women meeting their every sexual fantasy are not going to find much attractive in the girl next door unless she's wearing daisy dukes and midriff top. The more we feast on what is not real, the less we desire that which is.

In conversations with my single friends, the number one attribute of a woman the men want is someone they're physically attracted to, and the number one attribute the women want in a man is a partner and a friend. That's telling to me and it should be to all of us.

Splitting Intentions

Wendell Berry, in his essay Feminism, the Body, and the Machine, writes,

Marriage, in what is evidently its most popular version, is now on the one hand an intimate "relationship" involving (ideally) two successful careerist in the same bed, and on the other hand a sort of private political system in which rights and interests must be constantly asserted and defended. Marriage in other words, has now taken the form of divorce: a prolonged and impassioned negotiation as to how things shall be divided.

While Berry is speaking specifically about the modern idea that within marriage we "split" duties and work equally, his share and her share, and how this is only a divorce mindset within the confines of a lawful marriage, there's something to be said here for the way we go about seeking a spouse. For a man to place such high emphasis on the "hotness" of his wife is to overlook the sharedness of the image in Whom they were made. And for a woman to find her greatest satisfaction in a man who will be her gentle-friend and provider, she misses the opportunity to reflect back the Maker to her spouse.

We have been splitting duties since the garden of Eden (Eve: The serpent gave it to me! Adam: The woman you gave to me gave it to me!). In a culture that increasingly sees nothing wrong with porn, romance novels, or chick flicks, we only fracture that split further: the woman is meant to please men, the man is meant to please women. Meanwhile both have almost completely lost sight of original intention which is not to please one another at all.

God's Good Pleasure

"Come, let us make man in our image, after our likeness," are the first words we hear from God regarding man. In our image. In our likeness.

He formed man from dust and breathed life into his nostrils. He formed woman from bone and brought her to man.

Adam's response to woman has been caricatured by many to imply that woman was staggeringly beautiful and so should every woman henceforth be to her husband. But it falls flat because to what did Adam have to compare this creation? There were no standards of beauty but One. God alone. And in Adam's cry we hear the anguished cry of every man and woman to this day when they behold the nearest thing to God they can know, "At last!"

At last.

It was not the mere beauty of Eve's body that brought Adam such joy, but the image-bearer of his Creator standing in full glorious reality in front of him. It was not only a sexual reaction, but a spiritual one. Like Louie at the foot of Mount Rainier, nothing could have prepared Adam for the sight of something which so beautifully reflected his Maker.

Within the hearts of men and women, at the sight of what God has created to bring Him worship and glory, to fulfill our greatest good and every mandate, we stand and worship, we weep. Why? Because we have seen the real thing, and no amount of airbrushed images or happily ever afters could prepare us for what God created to best reflect His likeness. A real, live person. The real thing.

Avoiding the Pain of Boston

Tim Briggs is the Creative Media Pastor at Church at Charlotte in Charlotte, NC. He blogs regularly at Church Sports Outreach.  He also regularly writes about ministry, the church, technology, culture, and creative stuff. He is married with two children and is currently pursuing a M.A. in Biblical Studies from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. You can find Tim on Twitter: @timbriggshere. ___

You can learn a lot about yourself in how you react to a tragedy like the Boston bombings.

Ask yourself, what did you first feel when you heard the news? What did you do when you saw the first images?

For many, emotions like this began to fester: anger, frustration, sadness, hopelessness, fear... the list goes on. Not me though. Like many, I read the news on Twitter but I didn't initially feel any of the above emotions. Rather, I met the news with a cold indifference. I brushed it off. No sympathy, no prayer, just emotional lethargy.

Sound calloused? Cold-hearted? On the surface, you could chalk it up to that, but it goes much deeper than the initial reaction. Later in the day, I began to ask myself the all-important question: Why? Why did I react so blankly to the news? Why was I so indifferent? After wrestling with that for an evening, I came to this conclusion: It was for my protection.

Mercy in Pain

If I internalized the pain and suffering in Boston, it could lead to fear, anger, sadness, etc. and I didn't want to feel that. I didn't want to let what happened in Boston affect my little world and make me uncomfortable, so I moved on with my day as if nothing happened. You see, indifference has become an acquired skill over the years that provides a refuge from pain (or so I believe). This realization, which took me hours to discover after the fact, took only seconds to happen in the moment. It's amazing how quickly we can emotionally render a situation.

Of course, it's all a lie. This coping mechanism can't go on forever. After all, pain will always be a reality this side of Heaven. In the midst of that somber reality, there is hope. Not only is Jesus making all things new, but he understands my pain. "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses … Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need" (Hebrews 4:15-16). Yes, I need mercy and I need grace. And so do the people of Boston.

My belief in indifference will never deliver on its promise of keeping the pain away. At best, it will only delay it. What Christ offers in the midst of suffering, though, is "peace which transcends all understanding" (Philippians 4:7). The truth that needs to soak into my soul is that Jesus tenderly awaits to deliver it to me. It's a counterintuitive truth that says that I should lean into the pain, not run from it. And Jesus promises that he will meet me there.

I pray that whatever you felt while hearing the news of the bombings in Boston, you won't run from it. Embrace it, lean into it, and experience the mercy of God.

Race and the Gospel

On the wall of my office hangs a picture of Jackie Robinson stealing home during a Dodgers game in 1947. I like the message it sends about courage and taking risks, but more importantly I like the message it sends about how Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in the game of baseball, pioneering a way through the racial tensions in our country. It can be argued that this event opened up the possibility for the Civil Rights Movement. In 2004, Major League Baseball declared each subsequent April 15th “Jackie Robinson Day.” On this day, I am reminded that few people have done more for racial reconciliation and equality than Jackie Robinson. Except Jesus.

The Dividing Wall

Imagine for a moment that you are a Gentile living in first century Palestine. You’ve grown up with Jewish friends, in a Jewish world, surrounded by a Jewish way of life. As part of that life, your friends participate in temple worship. Out of curiosity, you follow them to the temple one day. As you come close to the Temple Mount, you begin to get excited. Your friends have told you about the experience of worship, and the anticipation builds as you imagine what it might be like to encounter Israel’s God.

As you arrive, you are surprised by a sign on the wall of the temple. Looking a bit closer, your heart drops as you read the words: “Gentiles enter upon pain of death.”

You’ve just encountered one of the most egregious experiences of racial segregation in history. The temple, created as a house of prayer for all nations (see Isaiah 56), had become an exclusionary place of worship, guarded by a series of courts which kept certain groups of people (Gentiles, women, etc.) from getting near the Holy of Holies. The Court of the Gentiles was the outer-most court of the temple and kept every non-Jew on the outskirts. But this racial discrimination extended beyond temple worship. If you were a Gentile, a Jew would be considered unclean if he stepped into your house. If you were a Gentile woman in labor, Jews were not allowed to help you through childbirth. The list goes on.

One in Christ

Enter Jesus. He healed a Roman Centurion’s son. He told a story where a Samaritan (a Gentile half-breed despised by Jews) was the hero. And he, in Paul’s words, “broke down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility (picture the wall in the temple which kept the Gentiles out)…that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body…for through Him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father” (Ephesians 2:14-18).

Jesus died in order to kill the hostility between Jew and Gentile. In Galatians 3, he says there is no longer “Jew or Greek.” The cross is where all racial hostilities cease. Paul says that both groups (Jew and Gentile; also black and white, American and Iraqi, etc.) have the same access to the Father. If we have the same Father, that makes us brothers and sisters. And this despite differences in ethnicity, socio-economic status, and other worldly divisions.

The idea is that you have more in common with an Iraqi who follows Jesus than you do your own brother or sister if they don’t follow Jesus. It also means that despite whatever differences you have (skin color, country of origin, etc.), those differences are not as important as the one thing you do have in common with believers of other races – Jesus.

Seeing Like Jesus

So, the gospel breaks down racial barriers. It redefines what family and citizenship means. That’s why in the next verse of Ephesians, Paul says that we are “fellow citizens with the saints, members of the household of God” (Eph. 2:19).

So live like it. Whatever your color or background – the gospel calls us to care for all of the nations and love one another like Jesus loved us. If we are going to be gospel people, we must see one another as God sees us. God loves all people the same, regardless of color. Race should never be a barrier. This is what Jackie Robinson Day is all about.

For the Christian, this is what every day is about.

Kermit Gosnell and the Culture of Death

The picture to the left is my daughter, Harper Grace Smith, on March 29, 2013. In this photo and subsequent photos and videos, we were shown her developed vital organs, her strong heartbeat, and her incessant kicking and squirming. According to U.S. law, we could decide to stop these things from ever happening again. If we didn't want her, we'd be perfectly justified legally to end her 20-week-old life. In fact, we'd have a few weeks to think about it. The debates rage on about the human rights for the unborn, using labels such as "zygotes," "fetuses," and other non-human terms for the developing life inside a woman. This debate alone is a tragedy. And this disturbing testimony by a Planned Parenthood representative notwithstanding, basic human morality would promote the idea of embracing the life of a child actually delivered from the womb. Or so we hope.

Building a Culture of Death

Since at least 1973, with the decisions of Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, we've been publicly conditioned to value human life only when convenient. It's amazing that these were debatable matters of the court, and they triggered the start of a frightening ethical progress. In short, abortion went from an idea to a normative option. I'm no fan of tracing the acts of extremists back to the roots of a belief system, but surely such degradation of life led to the reprehensible actions of Kermit Gosnell, an abortion "doctor" in Pennsylvania. According to reports, Gosnell performed innumerable illegal abortions well past the 24-week limit set by the state, including severing the spinal cords of babies who partially and fully left their mother's womb. Mothers of some children even died during the process due to shabby procedures and conditions. All with the help of underage "nurses."

That abortion exists at all, and that it's culturally acceptable, opens the door to the extreme horror of Gosnell's practice. And let's be clear: Whether a life is ended at 24 weeks (the legal limit) or 25, at one week or at birth, a life that God created is destroyed. The gruesomeness may be more obvious to the senses, but the savagery is the same.

Our world is becoming inoculated to the deaths of 1.2 million children every year, to the point that the media isn't putting Gosnell on the front pages and average Americans aren't raising much concern about the silence. Akin to the brainwashing of the majority in Nazi Germany, culture's acquiescing to the systematic destruction of a group of people immunizes our hearts to its ghastly reality. In Inside Hitler's Germany, Matthew Hughes and Chris Mann explain that brainwashing started with German youth. By the time the real violence began:

Ordinary people went along with this appalling violence against fellow Germans. One remembered that while [the attacks on Jews] was a shock, "When the masses were shouting 'Heil' what could the individual person do? You went along. We went along. That's how it was. We were the followers." (101)

Sound familiar? And while both pro-choice and pro-life proponents are equally flabbergasted by the Holocaust now, there will be a day when history will look back on today's America, India, China, and other life-destroying cultures and be repulsed by the staggering abortion numbers from 1973-???. Or so we hope.

Promoting a Theology of Life

For the Christian, this should be a non-negotiable issue. God creates human beings in his image (Gen. 1:27) and, in turn, knows them intricately in the womb (Ps. 139:13-15). God is a God of life, and each life belongs to him and no one else. Life itself is woven into every theological construct from anthropology to soteriology to eschatology. We are created to physically live, redeemed to spiritually live anew, and given eternal life to live forever.

As Jesus's disciples, we follow his lead on matters of justice. All things are for him, through him, and to him (Rom. 11:36), and he cares about mankind. For this very reason, the second great commandment orders us to love others as we love ourselves (Matt. 22:39). I don't know about you, but I would expect those who had the choice to defend my life when I had no choice. It's easy to promote abortion when you weren't the one aborted; it's righteous to defend the unborn precisely because you weren't the one aborted.

As culture presses in on our beliefs, posing us as the close-minded bigots of our era, we must stand firm. We will not be silenced. We must take this truth to the pulpits, the streets, the social media realm, and beyond. Let us follow in the footsteps of Jesus who healed the blind man even when he was pressured to leave him helpless (Matt. 20:29-34). If we take up our crosses and follow Jesus, contending for what is right and true, we can raise a clarion call for the value of human life in this age.

Or so we hope.

The Shadow of Secularization and the New Dawn of the Church

The sky is falling. Secularization is on the rise, or so it seems. Positions long held by Christians as central to our faith are now massively unpopular and Christians are increasingly marginalized because of it. What is more, there seems to be a growing movement away from identification with Christ and his church, and towards an embrace of no religious affiliation at all. Of course, this is leading to an increasing pessimism among churches that are being marginalized, and this sentiment is understandable. I want to suggest however that this encroaching secularization may, in fact, lead to the dawn of a new era for the church, an era in which the church may actually prosper and grow like it has not in America in some time.

Same-Sex Marriage

Same-sex marriage is coming. As of this moment it has not been recognized by the Supreme Court, but I have little doubt that it is coming. While it may not ultimately be determined by the Supreme Court, it will certainly be determined by the court of public opinion and in that domain, those of us who would advocate for a traditional understanding of marriage as a lifelong commitment between a man and a woman have lost. 58% of all Americans now believe the legalization of same-sex marriage is inevitable. 70% of all Millennials support same-sex marriage. Half of all U.S. Senators have now publicly announced support for same-sex marriage and even prominent Republicans are joining that chorus. The verdict may not have been announced yet but, apart from an act of God, the verdict is now in. Same-sex marriage will be the law of the land, and it will happen soon.

With that said, I think the ramifications run deep. The increasing marginalization for those who support traditional marriage will only pick up speed as these decisions are ratified in the public square. It would not surprise me to see Christians who embrace traditional marriage, during my lifetime, viewed with much the same disdain as those who embrace white supremacy are currently viewed. Obviously this will increasingly diminish a conservative Christian ethic from the general acceptance in the marketplace and serve to push conservative Christianity to the margins.

Encroaching Secularization

Another troublesome trend that seems to be discouraging many within contemporary Christianity is oft-reported, and regularly referred to as, “the rise of the nones.” This phenomenon is the movement of significant numbers of Americans who previously identified with Christianity and who now identify as having no religious preference. This scares a lot of Christians, and the fear has been fueled by many in the media who may struggle to understand the nuances behind it and are reporting that Christianity is in substantial decline. Thankfully Ed Stetzer, who I work for, has been at the forefront of researchers who have identified that committed Christianity is not actually disappearing, but nominal Christianity is. In other words, what is actually happening is that those who have not really expressed any tangible commitment to their faith, but have previously identified as a follower of Christ, are now acknowledging what has probably been true all along, that is they are not actually believers.

The New Dawn of the Church

In spite of these incredibly fast-changing realities for the American church, I am not nearly as discouraged as one might assume. These changes, among others, would seem to indicate doom for the church, and yet I am convinced that there are reasons for hope.

1. Christianity is strongest as a counter-cultural movement, rather than as a form of civil religion.

In America, we have long been told that America was founded on a "Judeo-Christian ethic.” While this may be true, it has unfortunately led to an unintended problem, namely that Christianity long ago began to be assumed by many inside and outside of the Christianity community. Anytime something is so broadly “known” that it begins to be assumed, or taken for granted, any attempts to learn about it will be subtly, but surely, diminished. Why learn about something that everyone already knows? This has certainly become the position of Christianity in the USA. Our churches are full of Christians who are extraordinarily unfamiliar with their bible, and as a result, they are unfamiliar with their faith. Of course, this is to say nothing about those outside of the church who are increasingly unfamiliar with the claims of our faith. Beyond this, assuming the faith has led to a diluted faith which is not a clear picture of the faith of Jesus at all.

As Christianity continues to be marginalized, and as those who claim the faith are reduced to only those who are most committed to the faith, this naturally leads us to a place where Christianity is no longer assumed. When it is no longer assumed, it becomes more and more difficult for it to be misunderstood, though it may often be dismissed, allowing the church a unique opportunity to declare and display the unique story of God to the world. This is a good thing.

2. Christianity is strongest when Christianity means something more than nominal identification.

This should be seen as one of the great blessings of “the rise of the nones” across the country. As we find fewer and fewer people who willingly assume the title “Christian” without any tangible commitment to the faith, a substantial barrier to effective evangelism comes down, namely the barrier of false belief. Those who have spent any time in areas cloaked with an aura of Christianity understand how difficult it is to share our faith with people who are far from God, and yet are convinced that they are in the faith.

Another wonderful consequence of the changing moral norms, and the decreasing identification with Christianity, is the number of those who are convinced of their eternal security because of their ability to adhere to a moral code is also reduced. In other words, those who have embraced a sort of moralism as their faith, and interpreted that moralism as Christianity, are going to disappear. This dilution of authentic faith is problematic to gospel expansion, and as it disappears, the growth of the gospel seems more likely. Again, these are good things.

3. Christianity is strongest when we assume a missional posture.

Missional activity occurs most naturally in an environment where Christianity is not regularly seen or understood. I know this is true for me, personally. For instance, when I find myself in a foreign country that is unfriendly to the gospel I find myself more intentional in my behavior and my conversations. I find myself more accommodating, relationally, to those who disagree with me. This is often not true when I am in the majority.

Sadly, my story has too often been the story of the church in America. The church has assumed a position that could be considered anything but missional. Far too regularly we have talked down to those who disagree with us. We speak using verbiage that most do not understand, and we expect them to modify their behavior if they want in our “club.”

As Christianity is marginalized in America; as most are not only non-believers, but are aggressively opposed to our faith, I think the church will find itself increasingly forced into a missional posture. This, of course, is a good thing.

4. Christianity has historically thrived when it is the minority.

History tells us that Christianity is most sharp; it is most clear and it is most aggressive, when it is in the minority. It is when the faith becomes generally accepted as normative that the church begins to function lazily, when lethargic, and even lapsed faith often becomes the norm and the church begins to decline. We have seen this over and over throughout the millennia.

So the decline of the church's supposed influence may, in fact, be the spark that leads to a renaissance of our faith. Even, potentially, the persecution of those who identify with Jesus could be a blessing. It was early church father Tertullian, after all, who reminds us that "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church." While I do not foresee martyrdom coming in the U.S., his point stands. The isolation and marginization of the church may end up being the fuel that drives her growth. This is a good thing.

To be fair, it should also be noted that history does not always indicate the best future for post-Christian corners of the world. The Middle East and Western Europe are not exactly shining examples of our faith on display after Christianity has moved off the scene as a dominant force.

In light of all of the above, I think the church should approach the future with some level of brevity. We should be aware of the challenges that are ahead of us, but we should not run in fear. The future can be bright, for all the reasons I laid out, and even more. Most of all, the future is bright because God is good, he is still sovereign and he loves his bride, the church. And this is a great thing!

Evangelicals and the Changing Political Landscape

Senator Rob Portman recently announced the reversal of his position on gay marriage. While this is not necessarily surprising in our current cultural climate, what makes it particularly newsworthy is that Portman is not just a GOP Senator, but one who was vetted to be the running mate for Mitt Romney in the most recent Presidential election. Portman seems to be representative of a growing groundswell of support for homosexual marriage, even within the historically conservative GOP's ranks. Portman's reversal comes on the heels of sweeping shifts among the American populace on this issue. Two recent LifeWay Research surveys have found that Americans are changing their mind on this issue at a pretty significant rate. In a November 2012 survey, it was found that the percentage of Americans who believed homosexuality to be a sin had shifted by 7% in just one year. As of that survey, only 37% of Americans are willing to go on record that they believe homosexuality to be sinful. In a recent, and maybe more telling, survey, it has been shown that 58% of Americans believe homosexual marriage to be a civil rights issue, and 64% of Americans believe it is now inevitable that homosexual marriage will be legalized across the country. It is difficult to underestimate just how significant these shifts are, particularly in the short amount of time which they have occurred. These changing social mores are an indication of a number of things, but they are particularly indicative of how rapidly the American populace is shifting on this issue. In response to Senator Portman's announcement, I asked via Twitter & Facebook, the following question:

With increasing GOP sympathy towards homosexuality, is it out of line to think an "official" GOP endorsement of gay marriage is not far off?

— Micah Fries (@micahfries) March 15, 2013

In what was somewhat surprising to me, as of this moment, every response I have received - all of which came from conservative Evangelicals - agreed with my sentiment at some level. Conservative Christians have, for millennia, objected to homosexual practice, primarily on two grounds. First, there is the belief that it is explicitly described as sin in scripture. Additionally, however, there is a basic belief about marriage that stipulates that marriage exists as a reflection of Christ's relationship with the church. Gender, roles in marriage, its permanence, and more, all point to the purpose behind marriage, namely to communicate to those watching an image of the gospel story. Unfortunately, for many Christians, we have abandoned that moral high ground long ago with our acquiescence to the prevalence of sexual infidelity and divorce within heterosexual marriage, among other breakdowns in the traditional model. I am convinced that our protestations concerning homosexual marriage often ring hollow to those who disagree with us because it appears less and less likely that we take our own marriages that seriously.

Having said all of that, I am beginning to believe that a couple of things are possibly upon our doorstep. The first, as I queried above, is whether or not the GOP, on a wholesale level, will soon publicly abandon their commitment to heterosexual marriage as the only appropriate model; and secondly, is it even possible for someone to be elected President of the US while holding to traditional marriage only, while substantial swaths of the American populace disagree with him, and that number only seems to be climbing? All of this leaves the church in an important, but certainly tenuous, situation. It certainly places the American church in a situation they have never been in before. How does the church position itself when they stand on the wrong side of the popularity vote? What does the church do when the political systems that they have been so engaged in have left them behind? Is the church able to speak with clarity and compassion to those who they disagree with, even when those across the aisle will view the church as outdated, at best: bigoted and hateful, at worst?

The answers that the church provides to these questions, and many more like them, are radically important to the cause of the gospel. May we be found faithful.

On Blog Attacks and Having a Conversation

The rise of social media and blogging over the past decade has opened the door to a new avenue of public discourse. As I've said on this site before, we should not stifle the right to be heard. Freedom of speech is crucial. And social media is a unique, powerful mode of ministry. However, problems inevitably arise because anyone can write a blog post or status update, send it out to the world, and for all intents and purposes move on without repercussion. In light of this, there is a tendency to write "hit pieces" -- attacks on an individual or group -- under the guise of free expression of opinion.

And why not write sensational pieces? You can attract a lot of attention to your work. A recent example is the article written by Gregg Doyel of CBS Sports regarding Tim Tebow, Robert Jeffress, and FBC Dallas. Doyel extracted quotes from Jeffress's sermons, likened him to a mild-grade version of the Westboro group, and started the frenzy that caused Tebow to skip out on his scheduled appearance. (Oh, and Gregg Doyell got a lot of pub for himself.)

This kind of work is no stranger to the Christian world of social media. In fact, it's disappointingly common. Some were upset about Kevin Ezell's now-infamous critique of "bloggers who live with their mother and wear a housecoat during the day," but he's been given ample ammunition to make that sort of claim. Let's face it: Blogs are used as bully pulpits far too often.

Now, we may expect this from professing nonbelievers. But when this happens in the Christian community, a disconnect occurs.

Scripture and Conflict

Most people are aware of Jesus's command in Matthew 18 that begins with, “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother." And we've probably heard Paul's exhortation in 1 Corinthians 5: You should expel a person in the church who sins without regard.

But how should a people respond when a brother (or sister) writes, says, or does something that they don't like? It's not sinful, it's not an offense against you -- you just simply disagree.

When dealing with online dialogue -- whether sinned against or not -- the two parties should mimic the new life Paul describes in Ephesians 4:

²⁵ Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. ²⁶ Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, ²⁷ and give no opportunity to the devil. ²⁸ Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. ²⁹ Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. ³⁰ And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. ³¹ Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. ³² Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Remember: It's not a sin to publicly or privately disagree with someone, nor is it evil to show concern about something they've said or done. When these conversations are healthy and informative, they can be truly helpful. But tone is important. Snark, misrepresentation, and attack on another's character should disappear when we ponder our redeemed lives, the reality of Satan, and the implications of Christ living in us (Gal. 2:20). The cross levels the playing field and demands grace as the immediate response.

Practical Tips for Online Disagreement

Imitating Christ should be our foundational aim. This ought to bring pause to our knee-jerk reaction to assault another. (And might save our keyboards a little stress, too!) Beyond that, here are some thoughts to remember when engaging in online dialogue.

• Those you cyber-fight are real people. A fact lost on many is that you're dealing with a real person, with real feelings, a real family, and real flaws -- just like you. Treat them as such. Take a step back, do your homework, and make a fair attempt to understand their position.
• It's much easier to blast someone from your computer screen than actually talk to them. Our first inclination should be to speak with that person about the issue. You might find that the person meant something else, regretted their decision, or has a legitimate explanation for what happened. It's not holy or helpful to shoot arrows across the interwebs.
• God searches the heart. Scripture is full of reminders that God knows our motives (Ps. 139:1; Jer. 17:10; Rom. 8:27; 1 Thess. 2:4). There are likely not many pure reasons for publicly attacking another, so pray for the Holy Spirit to reveal your intentions.

May we all glorify God in our public, and private, disagreements.