6 Reasons Catechisms Make Truth Stick

Many Christians have a hard time knowing how to make "gospel" and "discipleship" stick in our personal lives and relationships. We're called to be disciples who make disciples, but how? In our desperate search to answer this profound question, we devote books, studies, podcasts, and resources to uncover how we live this out. In his short and powerful book The Gospel: How the Church Portrays the Beauty of Christ, Ray Ortlund champions one pivotal idea: "Gospel doctrine creates gospel culture." Ortlund concisely demonstrates that the Christian life is founded on the truths of our faith, which then become the lifeblood for our relationships. Therefore, our discipleship efforts and relationships must converge with the foundation of our faith. Thankfully, we've had many faithful men and women in our generation labor to help us. But in our search for fresh answers to this question sometimes we forget time tested resources.

What is a Catechism?

A catechism is a collection of theological questions and answers. They are meant for instruction and teaching. Although many evangelicals who are unfamiliar with catechisms might associate this practice with the Roman Catholic Church, many Protestant traditions have gospel rich catechisms waiting to be re-discovered Studying a catechism might seem dated, laborious, and overwhelming for many Christians today. This may be the likely reason they aren't a part of our regular worship and study of God. It's important to note here the various benefits of catechisms, and how easy it is to make them the "glue" for the gospel in our pursuit of a life of discipleship.

The catechisms are excellent tools to focus like a scope of a rifle. They give us clearer insight into who we are, who God is, how we respond, and how to live life with others. Because of the many faithful pastors who have gone before us, we have at our disposal a collection of confessional, rich, and succinct declarations of our God and our faith. They are devices for Christian use that make doctrine and culture gospel-centered. Here are six reasons why catechism make "gospel" and "discipleship" stick.

1. Putting Words to Beliefs

Oftentimes one of the pitfalls in explaining your doctrines to another person is trying to figure out how to put words to what you believe. That seems backwards, but out of fear of incorrectly describing or using too technical language, we often become complacent with "I don’t know." Certainly admitting what you don’t know is appropriate, but it should be our exception, not the norm. Catechisms "do the talking for us," helping us describe in succinct, clear, and assured words what we believe. Personally, this was a huge factor that drew me to using catechisms. Instead of having to create my own evangelistic tract or discipleship program, I could walk someone through a catechism like Q&A2 from the Heidelberg Catechism. In this question we learn the three necessities of the gospel: man's sin, Christ's redemption, and our response, with a slew of verses for support. As our culture grows more post-Christian by the day, we must hold fast our beliefs and have the appropriate language for them. Catechisms are not the source of truth but they can give us structure to speak about it.

2. Connecting Scripture to Doctrine

While the doctrines we hold should be based on the whole of Scripture, the great advantage of familiarizing ourselves with catechisms is that it gives us immediate and clear support for our beliefs from Scripture. This does wonders not only for our personal relationship with God's Word, but it helps us in apologetic and doctrinal discussions with those who ask us questions. For example, say a Catholic friend of yours asks you how many sacraments you believe in. You remember the Heidelberg Catechism question 68 is devoted to this subject. Not only does it give us the answer ("Two: holy baptism and the holy supper"), but it also gives us passages under this answer as Scriptural support (Matt. 28:19, 20; 1 Cor. 11:23-26). Divorcing Scripture from our beliefs is dangerous practice; likewise, uniting these two as often as we can help us stay grounded in the Word and able to make a clear defense (1 Pt. 3:15) for our faith.

3. Helping Readers to Interpret

Few people want to spend the time going through a seminary-level hermeneutics class to learn principles for better Bible study. A great place to start in our search for better Bible interpretation is a catechism. Because of this connection to Scripture, we are aided greatly in how to summarize key Biblical texts. We start to see how Scripture not only supports, but relates to our thoughts. Associating ourselves with catechetical thinking will help us approach further Scripture reading with the same interpretative ideas.

4. Committing Truth to Memory

Catechisms exist not merely to serve as reference tools, but as our very own pre-written "flash cards" that will help us learn how to recite and retain what our beliefs are. The practice of Biblical memorization is neglected in our culture, but the catechisms revive the importance of firmly grasping our doctrines and their corresponding Scriptures. From personal experience, I will say that the more effort you put into memorizing of any kind, the easier memorizing Scripture becomes. Using catechisms for memorizing and thus retaining our knowledge of the faith will only propel us into better and quick Scripture memory.

5. Training Children to Study

As a child, I was never exposed to catechisms in my home. I also do not have any children of my own. It is obvious I cannot speak from practical experience in this regard. But I have watched parents wrestle with how to introduce the "weightier" truths of Scripture to their children. Catechisms are a time tested way to do that. For children, memorization is far easier (and thus probably more enjoyable, too!), but also these are excellent conversation starters for children. Naturally, I won't expect my 4-year-old to recite "penal substitutionary atonement" and its Scripture references, but with the help of many "kid-friendly" catechisms out there, such as Luther's Small Catechism, I look forward to helping my children learn the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, and other essentials of the Christian faith. When our children have a question about something, catechisms invite gospel conversations into the household. Catechisms can and should become part of our family routine.

6. Teaching Disciples to Slow Down

In today's culture, anything that requires you to slow down is not worth your precious time. To us, "slow" is viewed as a negative word—our minds default to traffic, old desktop computers, and bad waiters! But the practices of meditation and reflection are critical to our understanding and study of God and his precepts. God is infinite, and, therefore, cannot ever be fully known. This is even more reason for us to take pause as often as possible instead of skimming over the rich theology found all around us. Using catechisms helps us take our foot off the gas and take time to consider the glorious, unsearchable riches of our God. As a side note, such an attitude can only help our prayer lives.

How to Study A Catechism

Some people will attempt to memorize an entire catechism; others will find it helpful to use them in a more devotional sense, focusing less on memorization and more on exploring the ideas themselves. There is no one right way to use a catechism; the only wrong way is to leave it unused. Do what works for you. The more we familiarize ourselves with the catechism, the easier meditating, praying, and memorizing the catechisms will get for us.

I highly recommend Kevin DeYoung's The Good News We Almost Forgot: Rediscovering the Gospel in a 16th Century Catechism to get acquainted with catechisms. DeYoung spends a lot of time providing commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism, but his book more than anything outlines the kind of intimate, reflective, and dedicated approach we should take to unpacking catechisms.

Let us labor to use this "gospel glue" to help us stand firm in our faith, ground ourselves in the Word, compel us to unity with our brothers in discipleship, aid us in teaching our children and those we mentor, and awaken us to the rich truth of God himself.

Catechism Resources

There are multiple catechisms that prove fruitful to study. See below for a list of some catechism-based resources that can help beginner and advanced students alike:

• Luther's Shorter/Larger Catechism - Great for families and children
• Heidelberg Catechism - More devotional treatment of doctrine
• New City Catechism - Recently adapted from Reformation catechisms for families
• Westminster Shorter/Larger Catechism - More systematic treatment of doctrine
• Westminster Shorter Catechism Songs: Vol 1 - Holly Dutton (Westminster Catechism Q&As put to music and lyrics)
• Training Hearts, Teaching Minds - Starr Meade (Devotional on the Westminster Shorter Catechism)
• Comforting Hearts, Teaching Minds - Starr Meade (Devotional on the Heidelberg Catechism)
• The Good News We Almost Forgot - Kevin DeYoung

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Zach Barnhart (@zachbarnhart) currently serves as a church planting intern with Fellowship Church in Knoxville, Tennessee and is pursuing pastoral ministry. He is a college graduate from Middle Tennessee State University and lives in Knoxville with his wife, Hannah. He is a blogger, contributor to For The Church and Servants of Grace, and manages a devotional/podcast at Cultivated.

Buying Into Our Own Marginalization

Recently Q Ideas, the conference and TED-like Christian event, posted talks given by Rod Dreher, a conservative journalist for The American Conservative, and Russell Moore, the president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. The two talks are titled, “The Benedict Option” and “The Prophetic Minority.” These two titles represent a wave of Evangelical rhetoric flooding social media timelines and trending topics. Moore and Dreher are proponents of framing the current American Evangelical experience as an “exile.” In an op-ed publishing by The Washington Post, Moore closes his piece by saying, “We see that we are strangers and exiles in American culture. We are on the wrong side of history, just like we started. We should have been all along.”

That same day, Dreher published a piece in Time and on his blog hosted by The American Conservative saying Christians “are going to have to learn how to live as exiles in our own country. Voting Republican is not going to save us, nor will falling back on exhausted, impotent culture war strategies. It is time for the Benedict Option: learning how to resist, in community, in a culture that sees us orthodox Christians as enemies.”

Language that hints at marginalization or exile from a white male is tough to stomach in the 21^st century. I recently heard the novelist Nick Hornby say he stopped writing white male protagonists in his latest book, Funny Girl, because, “I can’t figure out what their problems are anymore.” With a history of privilege, we lack humility and self-awareness when we buy into our own marginalization.We actually have no idea what that even means.

What is an Exile?

But perhaps on a deeper level, there is something sadly untrue about the marginalization rhetoric surfacing amidst the evangelical church. Maybe even deeper lies a misunderstanding of what the “exile” and the “sojourner” meant Biblically. Yes, Scripture (particularly in 1 Peter) identifies Christians as “sojourners” and “not of this world” with “citizenship in heaven.” But are events like the Supreme Court decision and losing culture wars what the Biblical authors had in mind when they used these terms?

My guess would be that if Paul were reading our history, he would not chalk up these moments as our identity as “exiles.” He would probably tell us this is life as a Christian. Jesus, Peter, Paul, and the early church never had anything go their way, nor did they have any hope in the political system to begin with because their beliefs were not predicated and assisted by a political system. It was based on an eternal kingdom that you could not see.

The exile language is Jewish language, belonging to the people of Israel first as a key identity piece that actually reminded them of their sin and disobedience to God (2 Kgs 17:7-23, Jer. 29:4). The word is used, depending on your translation, nearly 100 times in the Old Testament; it is used six times in the New Testament—only four of those times are they referring to Christians, half of which are found in Peter’s first letter.

Where Peter calls the Christians, “exiles” and “sojourners,” it is important to remember he was writing to the church in the Diaspora, or “the Dispersion,” which “originally described Jews or Jewish communities scattered throughout the world (see Isa 49:6; Psa 147:2; 2 Macc 1:27; John 7:35 and note).” This term—again, only used four times in the NT for Christians—is vague but refers to all believers everywhere who await the New Jerusalem as their final home. This is simply a spiritual term used for the broader family of God, which are those who claim Jesus as Lord and fall under the New Covenant. They are, like Israel, exiles in the spiritual sense, not the political.

We Were Always Exiles and Sojourners

Politically and nationally, I do not see evidence of how the culture wars have had an affect on the lives of most Christians everywhere. Yes, we are exiles who await the New Jerusalem, a time where Jesus returns to “make all things new.” Until then, we do, yes, wander the earth as people who are not fully home.

But as Americans we are quite well-off. Furthermore, as a white male pastor, I do not understand how we can apply this heavy word during a time of fantastic freedom and religious liberty. Every day of my life is—despite common suffering and troubles of life as a human being on earth—remarkably good and easy.

For the Christian in America, it seems absurd to claim marginalization politically or culturally. These arenas are still dominated by white men and offer a lot of freedom for Christians to practice worship and preach the gospel. Even though the political and cultural landscape is changing little has changed that will affect our ultimate and eternal mission as we await our new home.

We were wanderers and exiles 10 years ago, and 25 years ago, and 1,500 years ago. That is our spiritual identity and it always has been. As we see the waves of culture and politics go back and forth, we continue to serve the unseen kingdom—serving the poor, widow, and orphan, preaching the gospel, and remaining unstained by the world. That is what we have always done and that is what Christians will always do. Nothing has changed.

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Chris Nye (@chrisnye) is a pastor and a writer living in Portland, Oregon with his wife, Ali. His first book will be published by Moody next year.

4 Simple Ways Fred Elliot Discipled His Children

Editor: In our Family History Series we are seeking to understand how Christians of the past have pursued making disciples. We want to connect the church’s current efforts to make, mature and multiply disciples to its historical roots as well as encourage the church to learn from her rich past. This is the first in our series.

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“Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth.” –Psalm 127:4

Fred Elliot isn’t a name I’ve heard thrown around . . . well ever. Despite being mentored by Harry Ironside, his legacy is largely unknown in our present day. However, his son, Jim Elliot, is perhaps the most well known missionary of the 20^th century. Because the saying is true that disciples aren’t born they’re made, it is difficult to understate the influence Fred had on Jim’s spiritual formation. Here are just four examples:

1. Authentically Living Coram Deo

Interestingly enough, Fred Elliot may or may not even have been able to define the term “Coram Deo,” a Latin term, meaning to live in the presence (literally “face”) of God, but all the same he lived it out. And this had a profound impact on the young Jim Elliot. Prior to marrying Elisabeth he wrote to her of his father:

“Betty, I blush to think of things I have said, as if I knew something about what Scripture teaches. I know nothing. My father’s religion is of a sort which I have seen nowhere else. His theology is wholly undeveloped, but so real and practical a thing that it shatters every ‘system’ of doctrine I have seen. He cannot define theism, but he knows God.”1

Jim was often viewed with suspicion by other students at Wheaton College for taking God’s Word at face value and living in obedience to a simple and literal interpretation of Scripture. A skeptic of human attempts to systematize and categorize biblical truth, Jim took the second part of 2 Timothy 2:9 which states, “the word of God is not bound,” to mean that God and his revelation in Scripture could never be contained by human classifications.

Too often we give the impression that assent to accurate theological teaching is indispensable to salvation. Don’t misunderstand me, while salvation is more than just “right belief” it is certainly not less. But believing “rightly” is not the same as “walking closely” (cf. 1 Jn. 2:3). Fred’s relationship with Christ left a profound impact on the young Jim not because he possessed a tidy, buttoned-up orthodoxy, but because he humbly submitted to the living God and aimed to walk closely with him. The Savior’s words sufficiently warn us of the danger of placing one’s study of God’s Word above one’s submission to the Word Made Flesh: “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life” (Jn. 5:39-40). We must take care not to stuff our heads so full of content of Christ that our hearts lack contact with Christ.

It doesn’t take long for a young mind to come up with a theological question that stumps even the most well read of Christian fathers. Don’t lose heart, dad, let God’s grace melt your pride. Seek his face, live authentically in front of it, and teach your children out of the overflow of that relationship. A simple faith lived out sincerely in front of your children will likely leave a stronger impression than a complex theology devoid of an intimate relationship with the Savior.

2. Intentional Time Spent with His Children

Additionally, Fred carved time out of his schedule to spend with the young Jim Elliot and this too left a lasting impression on him. He wrote on his nineteenth birthday:

“My arrival at this point is not of my own efforts […] but by the quiet, unfelt guidance of a faithful mother and a father-preacher who has not spent so much time rearing other people’s children that he hasn’t had time for his own.”2

Anyone who’s ever tried to serve in any meaningful capacity in ministry knows just how demanding it can be. The to-do-list is never done. The temptation to sacrifice your own family for the sake of another family who is in need of pastoral help and discipleship is always present. Even the time with our families that we guard could potentially be interrupted by phone calls and emails if we are not careful. Even before the cell phone and email, pastors were neglecting their own families enough to warrant Jim mentioning it in his journal.

What measures do you take to guard time with your children? Whether you’re in vocational ministry, banking, accounting, medicine, law, or any other profession, what time do you make “sacred” for your family?

There will always be another email; there will always be something on the to-do-list that still needs to be done. Our children, on the other hand, will remember if dad took time to read to them, pray with them, and listen to them. Conversely, if our “quality time” consists of being physically present, but mentally engaged in answering emails on our phones, our sons and daughters will remember that as well.

3. Praying For His Children

Third, Fred Elliot was a man who prayed both with and for his children. “The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much,”3 he writes in one journal entry, going on to attribute his own affection of Christ to the prayers of his own father. Elsewhere he writes to Fred: “Nothing has had a more powerful influence on this life of mine than your prayers […] thank God you took the time—the value of such is inestimable.”4

He didn’t mince words. The single most effective action Fred took in training his son to follow Christ was praying for him. This shouldn’t be surprising when Christ himself, the only perfect person to ever walk this earth, models a life of unceasing prayer for us. Can we really expect to be effective in any of our attempts to make disciples out of our children if we aren’t constantly stopping to pray with and for them?

I know it’s not super flashy to say, “praying for your kids is important.” And then offer that as the most effective way of discipling them. We all prefer 15 new and improved methods of raising children that love Christ, but the simple fact is that God is a person to be related to and not a set of principles to be assented to. While it sounds so simple and dated to say, it does not mean it isn’t true or that it’s easy. Spending time with God and with our kids, praying to him, for them, and with them (as the Bible so intuitively outlines) is likely to pay off better dividends than jumping at the latest trending parenting method that will be forgotten in six months.

So, dad, live in the face of your God and invite your children to accompany you. It’s easiest to introduce them to the living God when you spend a lot of time living in his presence and praying to him.

4. Making The Gospel the Main Thing

Finally, Fred Elliot sought “to show [his children] the glory of Christ above all else, striving always to avoid legalisms or a list of ‘don’ts.’”5 What else could be more important than this?

I only had to wait nine months before my son, Knox, started walking. Then I quickly found myself saying the word “no” more than any other word. Not surprisingly, he wanted to do everything I told him not to. Why is it the fallen human race is so quick to point out everything that shouldn’t be instead of all the great things that are? The Christian life is nothing less than chasing after the glorious risen Christ. Yet, we all too easily can reduce it to a list of things to avoid or define ourselves by the things we are against.

We do well to follow Fred’s lead. Rather than put a spotlight on all the things that are lesser than Christ and discuss their inferiority, we simply exalt him and give him his due praise and our children will hopefully decide on their own that nothing else on this earth is worth their time.

Christ’s defeat of sin and death is proclaimed as Good News. If we continue to proclaim it as such to our children and show them why it is Good News, perhaps they will follow in our footsteps and live their own lives Coram Deo, investing in their children, and praying for the next generation. None of us will be perfect fathers, but, by God’s grace, we can be purposeful fathersand maybe some of our own sons will shake the gates of hell much like Jim Elliot did.

1 Elliot, Shadow of the Almighty, p. 90

2 Ibid. p. 39

3 Ibid. p. 32

4 Ibid. p. 42

5 Ibid. p. 25

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Sean Nolan (B.S. and M.A., Summit University) is the Family Life Pastor at Christ Fellowship Church in Fallston, MD. Prior to that he served at Terra Nova Church in Troy, NY for seven years and taught Hermeneutics to ninth and tenth graders. He is married to Hannah and is about to be a father for the second time. He occasionally blogs at Hardcore Grace.

Loving and Seeking Justice for the Unborn

In our media-saturated culture, it’s unlikely you haven’t heard about the undercover Planned Parenthood videos released over the last several weeks. The Center for Medical Progress has released four videos and counting of Planned Parenthood executives discussing and admitting to trafficking body parts of aborted preborn children. In the middle of our society’s culture war over elective abortion and the surrounding industry, these types of exposé videos are common place. However, these video are unique because they’ve gone viral. As of today there were over 2.7 million views on the original video that included highlights of the Planned Parenthood leader casually discussing selling and marketing livers, lungs, and other body parts that she personally removed from preborn children during elective abortions. While the topic was trending on social media, like many other headlines of horrific acts of violence, our culture and even some Christians were uncertain how to react. Even though self-identifying Pro-Choice activists who generally support Planned Parenthood were displaying moral disgust, many Christians were still unable to biblically respond to the phenomenal atrocities exposed. Now many Christians (along with our Pro-Choice neighbors) had a “gut reaction” to such an ugly story, but ultimately many were still not sure how to respond or even what to think about this injustice and repulsive practice. This discomfort disabled Christians from even trying discuss the topic with their neighbors, which always proves to be more difficult than sharing an article or video on social media.

Personally, I was surprised to see Pro-Choicers who support legalized elective abortion and Planned Parenthood, disapprove of this secretive business of trafficking the body parts of aborted children. As a Christian and someone who is deeply committed to restoring justice for our preborn neighbors, my first reaction was to balk and point at the hypocrisy of others. I was looking down on these Pro-Choice advocates who for some reason see something wrong with THIS atrocity, but not the legalized, intentional taking of an innocent preborn human’s life. This immediate urge to condemn others is not just foolish because of Christ’s teaching on judging others (Matt. 7:1-5), but because I’m condemning those individuals for responding the way God designed them to. The unavoidable “gut reaction” that we have to such unjust practices and humans rights abuses reveals our humanity—created in the image of God. We are designed to be moral agents with an active conscience. This moral capacity to weigh and approve or disapprove of what happens in the world is a common grace give to us by our Creator.

These types of abuses and injustice abound in our world because of the Fall. However, the Fall has not just corrupted nature but humans as well. This means that humans now willingly practice injustice like elective abortions and human tissue trafficking, but also, the Fall has marred our consciences. The compass that distinguishes between right and wrong is distorted although never destroyed. The hypocrisy I want to accuse those who support elective abortion of, is actually proof that we are moral beings practicing although imperfectly an important task that resembles our Creator.

Paul explains in Romans 2:14-16 that even unbelievers have “the works of the law written on their hearts” and “their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them.” However, Paul also makes clear that the human conscience is not incorruptible. Earlier in Romans 1:28 Paul explains that because of rebellion against the truth God gives unbelievers “up to a debased mind.” In short, yes our consciences can be misinformed or misdirected, but all humans have a basic yearning for justice in this unjust world. Believers and unbelievers alike are acutely aware that, at the very least, things are not as they should be and have an undeniable built-in moral yearning.

A Thirst for Justice in a Moral Desert

This thirst for justice in the moral dessert of a Post-Genesis 3 world is not a new human phenomenon. We see David himself was in the same position. In Psalm 10, David cries out to the Lord because he witnessed appalling human rights abuse, unethical practices, and the failed judicial systems of his country.

In Psalm 10:2, David describes how he saw the wicked hotly pursue the poor, trying to catch the helpless in wickedly devised schemes. David describes how the wicked sit in ambush in the villages and in hiding places they murder the innocent (v. 8). He mourns that in his land the wicked look for ways to take advantage of the poor.  Some of these injustices we’re most sensitive to and broken over today are not just random crimes or accidents, but they have become systems that target certain demographics.

David then writes that the wicked “[lurk] like a lion so that he may seize the poor” (v. 9). Planned Parenthood and the entire abortion industry demonstrate this predatory mindset. These are business models built around selling a service that is deadly to the preborn and harmful to women. These newly released videos show Planned Parenthood acting like predators. Again, the image of verse 10 is appropriate when David writes, “The helpless are crushed, sink down, and fall by his might.” The Psalmist is watching the wicked not only scheme and draw the helpless in his net, but violence always accompanies his schemes. Once the helpless are in his net, the wicked crushes them and they perish.

He sits in ambush in the villages; in hiding places he murders the innocent. His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless; he lurks in ambush like a lion in his thicket; he lurks that he may seize the poor; he seizes the poor when he draws him into his net. 10 The helpless are crushed, sink down, and fall by his might.

While there is room for Christians to discuss and work in other areas like environmental justice, the highest ethical concern in Scripture are attacks on the marginalized who are made in God’s image.

These attacks are wrong and unjust. Injustice didn't sit well with David and it shouldn’t sit well with us. The reason these systematic wrongdoings disturbed David so deeply and should affect us today is not just because God had commanded his people to do justice, but because our drive for justice comes from the very character of God whose image we are created in.

Justice as Central in Redemptive History

In Psalm 10:12-18 David reaffirms that justice is a central attribute of God. Also at crucial junctures in redemptive history, the Lord over and over again reveals himself as the God who executes justice. For instance, Moses delivers the Law from God to the people of Israel and says,

For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing.

In another Psalm, David simply proclaims: “The Lord loves justice” (Ps. 37:28).  This simple premise is cosmically consequential since it is the very fuel of the gospel. The narrative of Scripture is driven by the fundamental premise that the Lord, the creator and redeemer, is a just God.

Accordingly, throughout the narrative of Scripture we see the Lord intervene in human history to restore social justice—in the Exodus when the Hebrews became a socially disenfranchised class in Egypt and in Judges the Lord reminds Israel, “I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery. And I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land” (Jgs. 6:8-9).

The ultimate expression of God’s just character is in the person and work of Jesus Christ.Christ is the fulfillment of God’s Justice. When Isaiah was telling of the Messiah, he prophesizes that Christ “will bring justice to the nations” (Is. 42:1-4; Matt 12:18). At the heart of the gospel, Christ voluntarily receives injustice in order to fulfill God’s just verdict as Philip explains in Acts 8:32:

Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.

Because of our sin is against a holy and just God, we have earned eternal punishment. But God, being rich in mercy as well as justice, devised a plan before we even existed, not to set aside his justice but to fulfill it by practicing his mercy. So in place of sinners, Jesus Christ became human to receive the wrath of God on the cross that we deserved as rebels. However, Christ rose again, conquered death, ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father so that now through the Holy Spirit those who have faith in Christ’s victorious work and repent do not receive eternal punishment for their transgressions against a just God.

God has done something epic about injustice. He absorbed the injustice of sin and evil at the cross. All history is shaped around this narrative because God loves justice.

Loving and Seeking Justice in Light of the Gospel

In order to love and seek justice in light of the gospel, the people of God need to mature in several areas.First, we must not think about those we disagree with as our political adversaries but recognize them as God’s image bearers who although misinformed can act on their sense of right and wrong. Also, we must think the way David did and have the moral certitude he did about social injustice. Public figures and blogs shouldn’t be our first stop to inform our consciences on social injustice. We must weigh everything with revealed truth and our moral consciences. Our response to wickedness should signal that our God is the source of justice. We need to hold our informed convictions boldly. For instance, intentionally causing an innocent human’s death is a moral wrong—no matter who does it or whether our government has sanctioned it. We should seek to understand the ethics of God revealed in Scripture to inform how we interpret our post-Fall world.

Second, like David we should look at injustice instead of averting our eyes from the ugly stories, the heartbroken victims, and the helpless. In order to do justice, we must be willing to endure the moral discomfort of looking into the brokenness.

Third, we need to fervently and genuinely pray for the injustice in our land to end. Psalm 10 is not just a song; it was a moment in which David was crying out to the Lord and pleading for God to protect the innocent and helpless in his land. Last, as we draw near to God, we must walk towards the victims. This walking must include a spatial nearness and also a prioritizing socially and politically. We should pray and work to end these atrocities and seek to restore justice in our land through the power of Jesus Christ our Righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30).

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John Seago (@JohnSeago) serves as the Legislative Director for Texas Right to Life. He leads the research, writing, and lobbying for state legislation on bioethical issues like abortion, euthanasia, stem cell research, and patients rights. John graduated with a double major in History of Ideas and Biblical Studies from Southeastern College in Wake Forest, North Carolina. He studied Philosophy at University of Dallas for several years and is now earning his Master’s in Bioethics from Trinity International University. John lives in Austin, Texas with his wife Brandy and two children Nahum (5) and Sophia (3).

The Weeping King

“As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it.” —Luke 19:41

We start our lives crying. Babies never come out of the womb staring blankly at the doctors ready for the umbilical cord to be clipped. At least, I don’t think there has ever been a baby like that. In fact, it is not until you hear the baby cry that you actually know it is okay and can breathe and react to its new surroundings. If the baby does not cry, then something is actually wrong with him.

Though tears are welcome and expected from our little ones, it doesn’t take long before we begin encouraging people not to cry, or to suck it up and get it together. Crying becomes a sign of weakness and an awkward vulnerability for teenagers and adults. We are conditioned to suppress our emotions and tears as much as possible.

The irony is that as we get older and experience the world more there is far more to cry about.  As we grow up, we experience the brokenness of the world and that brokenness can be unrelenting. From the diagnosis of cancer to the death of a child, from the wreckage left in the wake of a storm to the wreckage left in the wake of a divorce—we cannot escape the pain of the human experience. And this is why I am grateful that Jesus Christ is a man acquainted with sorrow , grief, suffering, and tears of the human experience.

The Haunting Tears

On my Mount Rushmore of Bible verses there is one that I continually come back to and meditate on—Luke 19:41. Luke is the only Gospel writer who notes Jesus weeping over Jerusalem, but I am so thankful he did. The Greek word translated “wept” carries the meaning of bawling and weeping loudly. Jesus does not simply have a tear or two running down his face, but tears upon tears cascading down his cheeks as he sees the city of Jerusalem come into view. Jesus’ tears have always haunted me and encouraged me as I pastor and preach, to enter into the weeping of the world and be okay to stay there.

Jesus could have come into Jerusalem any way he wanted. He could have climbed onto a war horse and rushed into Jerusalem filled with anger and rage. He could have walked into the city emotionless and stoic, unmoved by the brokenness and sin he was passing by , but Jesus is not that kind of king. Instead he was a king who rode into Jerusalem weeping and wailing on a young colt. He was a king who was broken by the brokenness of the world.

If we are not a weeping people, then we are not the people of Jesus. Weeping and lamenting, however, are often dismissed in Christian (and most adult) circles. One must simply turn on any Christian radio station to note how little mention of lamenting or weeping is talked about. We are encouraged to be happy, to stay uplifted, to move quickly over the pain and onto what God can do in and through our pain for his glory.

I am not against being encouraged and uplifted. I do believe our pain and suffering have a purpose in the eternal plan of God, but let’s not be too quick to fast forward through the lamenting and weeping to the the fixing, reasoning, and theologizing.

Let’s enter into the weeping. Sit there. Stay there. Let the tears of the world have a place among us as the people of a weeping King. Lamenting, weeping, and wailing should have a revered place among the people of God.

Lamenting for the World

As we lament for our world, we do so with hope because our weeping King is also a reigning King. Jesus did not stop his mission in Luke 19:41, but pressed into the heart of darkness that week in Jerusalem—absorbing the tears of the world and laying the foundation for the day when all tears will be wiped from the eyes of God’s people in the New Jerusalem.

In The Lord of the Rings J.R.R. Tolkien writes wondrously of the hope to come through the comfort that Aragorn offers Arwen before he passes away, “In sorrow we must go, but not in despair. Behold, we are not bound for ever to the circles of the world, and beyond them is more than memory.” Right now all that we have is our memories, and many of them are wonderful, but they remain in the past and no matter how much we wish we could relive them—we cannot. Many of these memories are painful, and no matter how much we wish we could forget them—we cannot. Our memories are what define us, shape us, and often imprison us.

But the world that is coming transcends all memories and somehow someway, mysteriously and wondrously, it will usher us into a place beyond time and memory where sorrow is ended and joy finally overflows eternally.  This is the world we must always point people towards.

So let’s be an Easter people, gladly celebrating the breaking in of God’s kingdom of life, love, and wholeness here and now and longing for the ultimate breaking in of life, love, and wholeness in the world to come. But let’s also be a Palm Sunday people, a Luke 19:41 people, a weeping with those weep and lamenting with those who lament people. That is, quite simply, what it means to be the body of Christ in the here and now, lamenting in hope, looking back to Palm Sunday and Easter, and longing for the great Day to come—when our returning King wipes our tears away with his nail pierced hands at last.

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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.

7 Ridiculously Simple Ways To Make Time for Beauty

Life spiraled increasingly into chaos the moment I set out to write this article. I helped with unplanned classes, struggled with migraines, sifted through significant opportunities for my husband, woke up to a neighbor’s house fire, witnessed the loss of life, caught a case of the flu, and went on a family trip. Needless to say, enjoying God’s beauty wasn’t on the top of my “to-do” list. I found myself thinking, “Who could justify devoting time to beauty when things are this chaotic?” Through the chaos I’ve discovered that Christians of all people can (and must!) devote time to beauty because our God is a beautiful God. We have been claimed by the loveliest Being ever to exist. Nothing in heaven or on earth or beneath the earth compares with the beauty of our God. Thus, it’s our delightful duty to regularly raise our vision above the chaos of this world to behold the beauty of our Lord.

Viewing Christ’s Beauty in the Midst of the Chaos

Here’s the bottom line—there’s never going to be a convenient time for beauty. If you wait for the ever-elusive “perfect moment” to meditate on Christ’s beauty it will never happen. The truth is that you will behold the beauty of Christ when, and only when, you believe it matters enough to do so.

Scripture reveals that those who take time to behold Christ’s beauty do so, not because their schedules allow for it, but because there’s a gnawing sense within them that it matters. They encounter chaos in a fallen world and inherently know it isn’t the way it’s supposed to be. This tension creates a longing to be in the presence of God, viewing his beauty, that they might experience relief from life’s pressures. As they bask in the beauty of the resplendent One, they are re-fueled for life and re-invigorated for mission

Consider David in Psalm 27. The specific evil that occasioned this psalm is up for debate, but it’s universally accepted that King David is in a tumultuous situation. He speaks of evildoers assailing him (27:2), an army encamping against him (27:3), war rising up (27:3), multitudes of enemies surrounding him (27:6), his own parents forsaking him (27:10), and false testimony being brought against him (27:12). David is experiencing intense pressure from every side.

What does a man in the throes of chaos do? He does the one thing he believes matters most to the well being of his soul—he cries out for a fresh vision of God’s beauty. His words in Psalm 27:4 (emphasis added) pierce my cluttered soul,

One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.

From the overflow of his God-entranced worldview David directs his focus towards beauty. He asks to gaze upon Yahweh’s beauty, knowing that in Yahweh’s glorious presence he would find something greater than the greatness of his circumstances. Out of everything Israel’s mighty king could do to procure peace for his soul, he sought out that which he believe would best refuel him for what lied ahead—gazing upon God’s beauty.

Shouldn’t Christ’s beauty matter more to me than this?

Chaos has an interesting way of exposing our truest beliefs. We may say we value something in life but when pressed hard enough we give ourselves to those things that we most value; those things we believe give us the greatest payoff. Even at our busiest, we manage to find (or make) time for what needs to be done on our “to do” lists: We grocery shop, feed the kids, do the laundry, go on dates, write sermons, meet deadlines at work, update twitter accounts, grab coffee with a congregation member, or fix up the house.

As a matter of fact, even during my recent chaotic season (when I allowed beauty to slip) I somehow “found the time” to finish out the season of a TV show I had been watching. I made time for it because I sought the relief it offered me in the midst of a busy stretch. Unfortunately, it exposed a distorted belief system. I believed thirty mind-numbing minutes of television could give me greater rest and refreshment than time in God’s beautiful presence.

It follows then that our commitment to God’s beauty is not primarily an issue of time; it’s an issue of belief and affection. You and I abandon devotion to God’s beauty because deep down we don’t believe it matters as much as everything else. Something inside of us believes unloading the dishwasher before the kids wake up or replying to emails before bedtime has a greater payoff than taking ten minutes to behold Christ.

What we don’t realize is that taking time to bask in God’s beauty will actually empower us to re-enter the chaos and approach these tasks with fresh vigor. A few moments gazing upon the LORD’s beauty will energize our affections for him and others, thus helping us better love and serve those God has entrusted to our care. It has a circular nature to it. The chaos drives us into the presence of God to rest in his beauty which in turn re-fuels us to enter back into the chaos and live missionally.

Considering the vital role God’s beauty plays in all of life and mission, many of you may be wondering why you don’t value beholding Christ’s beauty more greatly. It’s a legitimate question I’ve wrestled with during this season. Could it be that our affections follow our practices? If we never spend time gazing upon the beauty of God, we will never develop a taste for his beauty.

Many of our lifestyles (running chaotically from task to task) have stifled any appetite for beauty. We need to jumpstart these affections by choosing to practice godly habits that put us in a posture to savor Christ’s beauty. The good news is that affections are like a muscle; they grow and develop as we exercise them. Start regularly practicing small ways to behold Christ’s beauty and you will grow to crave a glorious vision of him more often.

7 Ridiculously Simple Ways to Incorporate Beauty Into Your Daily Routine:

1. Wake up earlier to read and meditate on God’s Word (Ps. 19:7-10) – Enjoy God’s beauty in his Word before the chaos begins. Directing your heart towards Jesus first thing in the morning enables you to control the chaos instead of the chaos controlling you.
2. Rehearse the gospel to yourself throughout the day (Eph. 2:1-10) – Periodically stop and reflect upon the gospel. Allow its beauty to put the smaller matters of life into perspective.
3. Go for a walk and admire God’s handiwork (Ps. 19:1-6) – Set aside fifteen minutes (alone or with your children) to take in the beauty of God’s world.
4. Discuss God’s beauty over a meal (Deut. 6:6-7) – Make it a point to talk to those around you about God. Ask them what they find most lovely about him.
5. Worship through song with your children (Col. 3:16) – Few things are quite as delightful as watching children sing about Jesus. Doing informal worship is an easy but rewarding way to incorporate beauty into the mundane.
6. Switch out one segment of “screen time” for gazing upon God’s beauty (Ps. 27:4) – Make a habit of enjoying God’s beauty before you check your email, twitter, pinterest, facebook, etc. Or, push back your nightly “unwinding” TV time until you’ve savored Christ’s beauty for a few moments.
7. Meditate upon the wonders of Christ as you go to sleep (Ps. 63:5-6) – Take time at night to think about Jesus. Meditate on his perfections, his character, and his redemptive work. Allow Christ to be the last thing on your mind at the end of the day.

This week consider incorporating one of the above suggestions into your daily routine. Don’t wait for the “perfect time” to pursue beauty—it doesn’t exist! Instead, create little pockets of calm in the midst of the chaos by lifting your vision above all the distractions and beholding the beauty of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. As you do you will experience a fresh sense of purpose for tasks and energy for mission that all the finished to-do lists in the world can’t offer you.

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Whitney Woollard has served in ministry alongside her husband Neal for over six years. She holds an undergraduate degree in Biblical Studies from Moody Bible Institute and just finished her Master of Arts in Biblical and Theological Studies from Western Seminary. She is passionate about equipping disciples to read and study God’s Word well resulting in maturing affections for Jesus and his gospel message. Neal and Whitney currently live in Portland, OR where they love serving the local church. Follow her on Twitter @whitneywoollard.

Catechizing Our Children in Wonder

Success by Religious Conformity

It was one of those moments when I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. So I opted to just shrink lower into our second-row pew, stifle my giggles, and thank God for my seven-year-old son and all his glorious honesty.

My husband pastors a rural church in SW Virginia; and while we do our best to keep our kids out of the fishbowl, we do expect them to participate in the full-scope of congregational life. This includes our mid-week Bible study. This isn’t usually a problem, but like all of us, there are days when our children would rather stay home. Sometimes they’re tired, busy doing other things, or in the case of my seven-year-old son, simply finds his Legos more interesting than sitting still for an hour.

On this particular Wednesday night, my husband and I had dealt with the standard objections over dinner, and by 7:05, everyone was safely ensconced in our pew with our heads bowed. The head deacon was opening the service with prayer as only a head deacon from a rural Baptist church can when about half way through, he asked God to touch the hearts of “those who could have come tonight, but chose not to.” Not missing a beat, my son piped up, “Well, I didn’t want to come, but I HAD to.”

My son’s resistance to church is not the only discipleship hurdle we face as parents. It is easily matched by his older sister’s recent acknowledgment that she finds God’s eternality “weird” and by the fact that their five-year-old brother regularly asks to pray at meal time for the sole purpose of controlling the length of the prayer. (“Dear-God-Thank-you-for-this-food-help-us-to love-each-other-Amen.”) If parenting success is measured by religious conformity, we’re batting 0 for 3 here.

Discipleship Through Fear

These kinds of situations have the potential to worry Christian parents who desire to pass their faith on to their children. With reports of widespread Millennial angst and stories of apologists’ daughters rejecting Christianity, it easy to fear our children will not come to a personal relationship with Christ. It’s even easier to respond out of that fear by simply doubling our efforts to force faith into them through more catechism, more Bible memory, more “church.”

Part of the reason we do this is because we tend to believe discipleship happens through the accumulation of religious knowledge. A quick Google search for “children’s discipleship” brings back resource after resource—everything from catechisms to Bible memory systems to pint-sized devotional books–all promising to produce faith in the next generation of believers. What I rarely hear discussed is the necessity of discipling our children through “natural revelation.” When theologians use the term “natural revelation,” they are referring to what God has revealed about himself through the world around us. “Specific revelation,” on the other hand, is what God has revealed about himself through the Scripture.

And while I believe Scripture is essential to the process of belief, Scripture was never intended to be engaged in a vacuum. Instead, faith happens as the Holy Spirit impresses the truth of God’s Word (specific revelation) onto a heart that has been primed to accept it by experiencing the truth of God in the world around it (natural revelation). Like a pair of chopsticks, the two must work together.

The Apostle Paul understood this and it’s precisely why in Acts 17—that famous Mars Hill sermon—he begins by appealing to what the Athenians already knew through their experience of the world. They already believed in some “unknown God” because they could see his works both in them and around them. Most of us understand the importance of this approach in adult evangelism; we craft winsome arguments and appeal to the nature of the cosmos and the intrinsic code of right and wrong that seems to be written on every human heart. What fewer of us recognize is that we must evangelize and disciple our children in this exact same way. We must evangelize and disciple our children through wonder as much as through catechism.

Wonder as Much as Catechisms

In Orthodoxy, G. K. Chesterton, that great British philosopher of the last century, writes that he gained his understanding of the world as a child:

“My first and last philosophy, that which I believe in with unbroken certainty, I learnt in the nursery . . . a certain way of looking at life, which was created in me by the fairy tales, but has since been meekly ratified by mere facts.”

It is this “certain way of looking at life” that many Christian parents neglect—or perhaps have never even acquired for themselves. We are not merely stuffing our children’s heads with facts; we are shaping hearts to believe that certain realities are true so that when they do finally encounter the facts essential to faith, they will already have hearts that can recognize them. When they finally memorize “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth,” it will find lodging because they have already gazed up into this same heaven and marveled at its brilliant stars; and they have already let the sand from this same earth slip through their chubby fingers.

So that in the end, they don’t believe there is a Creator simply because Genesis 1 tells them so; they believe there is a Creator because they have seen his Creation. 


As you go about discipling your children, as you teach them their Bible verses and correct them when they disobey, do not neglect the sacred discipline of awe. Take them to the mountains to walk forest trails in search of the millipedes and butterflies that are the works of his hands. Take them to the seashore to be knocked over by the power of a wave so that one day they’ll know how to be knocked over by power of God. Take them to the art museum to thrill at colors and shapes and textures whose beauty can only be explained by the One who is Beauty himself. Take them to the cities to crane their necks to the see the tops of sky scrapers and shiver at God’s miracle of physics that keeps them from tumbling down.

And then take them to church.

Take them to church to bow their heads and receive the Word that gives them the ability to know the God behind all these wonders in a personal way. Take them to church to let the joy of their little hearts overflow in worship of the One through whom all these things consist. And take them to church, so that in the midst of other worshipers, in the midst of other image bearers, they too will be able to find their place in the great, wide world he has made.

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Hannah Anderson lives in the hauntingly beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. She spends her days working beside her husband in rural ministry, caring for their three young children, and scratching out odd moments to write. In those in-between moments, she contributes to a variety of Christian publications and is the author of Made for More: An Invitation to Live in God’s Image (Moody, 2014). You can connect with her at her blog Sometimes a Light and on Twitter @sometimesalight.

3 Tremendous Tasks for Dads (and Grace for When We Fail)

It’s that time of the year again. The time when multitudes flock to Hallmark aisles and stand awkwardly among strangers as they are confronted with one of the most powerful, delicate, and potentially painful relationships known to humanity. That’s right—Father’s Day. The day set apart to celebrate fatherhood and honor those who, for better or worse, have the greatest impact upon society in general and their children in particular. What is it about the relationship with our dads (or lack thereof) that contributes greatly to shaping who we are and what we become? Why can one father enable a young woman to flourish in her femininity, while another promotes her downward spiral? Why does the presence of a father nurture a son’s masculinity, while his absence fosters a sense of insecurity and confusion? Could it be that earthly fathers possess such influence because of the way in which they point towards the heavenly Father?

Earthly Fathers Mirror the Heavenly Father

God ordained fatherhood to reveal his own essential nature. This fundamental role was built into the family structure from the beginning to make visible the invisible God. God willed that earthly fathers would mirror him as the perfect heavenly Father and thus teach their children about his nature and attributes.

There is a powerful relationship between the knowledge of an earthly father and understanding of the heavenly Father. When a dad is merciful, patient, and loving towards his children they have a better chance of understanding the paternal nature of Yahweh when he reveals himself as “A God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Exod. 34:6). Conversely, if the only picture a child has of his father is an angry man who doesn’t like to be interrupted while watching golf (or who takes off altogether!), there’s a greater likelihood that child will struggle to see God as a loving, committed Father.

We see this correlation clearly in Jesus’ teaching on prayer in Matthew 7:9-11,

Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

Jesus reveals that the provision of an earthly father teaches us to trust in the provision of our heavenly Father and openly present our needs to him. He reasons from the lesser to the greater: if earthly fathers (who are fallen) have an innate impulse within to provide for their children how much more does the heavenly Father (who is perfect) desire to meet the needs of his children!

This passage resonates with me. My dad is single-handedly the most generous man I’ve ever met. There is not a stingy bone in his body! Though he’s a fallen man, he always provided for my needs. It never crossed my mind that he wouldn’t provide for me—I simply knew he would. Consequently, during my thirteen years as a Christian I’ve never doubted that God the Father would meet all of my needs. I’ve always approached his throne to openly present my requests believing that “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (Jas. 1:17).

It’s not a coincidence that an attribute my earthly father excelled in is an attribute I’ve always understood about my heavenly Father. His generosity mirrored the Father’s generosity and taught me about the lavish nature of God’s heart. My perception of the Father was shaped by my experience with my dad. I’m not alone in this.All fathers (again, for better or worse) daily disciple their children and teach them, perhaps unconsciously, about the character of God.

Dads As Disciple-Makers

Because of the divinely appointed influence the role of “father” has in teaching others about God the Father, all dads are disciple-makers. If you are a father or acting as a father figure in someone’s life, you have a tremendous task before you.

1. Recognize This Responsibility.

Every day you are creating little disciples! Your words, actions, and emotions teach those around you about the nature of God and his heart towards them. You have the opportunity to cultivate an atmosphere in which children are drawn towards the heavenly Father. In the way you shepherd their little hearts through conversation, discipline, laughter, you are creating fertile soil for the reception of the gospel. You’re constantly painting a picture of a Father they will one day desire to know (or not know) and training their adolescent affections to long for a relationship with him. Daily you are doing the preparatory work that makes way for the gospel to be received when the time is ripe.

2. Accept the Reality.

You will fail at this task! Despite your best intentions, you cannot perfectly image God the Father. You are a broken man who needs Jesus as much as your children do. This doesn’t mean you don’t take seriously your responsibility as a father, but it does mean you do so with an informed understanding of the gospel. The gospel tells us that we all fail to image God, but Jesus came as the image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15) and perfectly revealed the nature of the Father (Heb. 1:3). He died in your place for all your failure, including your failure as a father, and rose to life for the forgiveness of your sins (1 Cor. 15:3-4). He ascended to heaven and poured out his Spirit so you could have his indwelling presence helping you walk in covenant faithfulness (Ezek. 36:27). As a believer, you have God’s own Spirit within you empowering you to lead your children towards the heavenly Father.

3. Walk in Repentance.

 Your children don’t need you to be perfect; they need you to repent! The danger of emphasizing your role as a father is that you could walk away thinking you need to be the capital “H” hero of your children’s lives. You can’t be the hero of their stories anymore than you can be the hero of your own story. This isn’t a legalistic pep rally urging you to be the “Superman/Superdad” figure in your household. What a false burden to bear! The exhortation is to cultivate an environment in your home that illuminates the true capital “H” Hero of the story—Jesus Christ. You do this by walking in continual repentance in front of your children. When you sin tell your children you messed up, ask for Jesus’ forgiveness in front of them, and point them towards the perfect Dad who will never fail them. As you repent openly and frequently you will create a safe place for your children to experience transparency and intimacy leading them towards the perfect Dad.

To All Fathers

Gospel-Centered Discipleship wants to wish all of the dads a very Happy Father’s Day! May you richly cherish the love of your heavenly Father even as you pour out that grace-infused love upon your children. Always remember, “Children are a heritage from the LORD” (Ps. 127:3) and “Blessed is the man who fills his quivers with them!” (Ps. 127:5). God has tasked you with a special role in your children’s lives only you can play. May you walk in this responsibility with much humility, joy, and reliance on the Spirit of God.

To my own dad, Lonnie Byers, Happy Father’s Day! I know our story wasn’t exactly “perfect” and it won’t ever end up on a Hallmark card, but that’s just as well. Ours is the story of repentance and redemption in a broken, fallen world that has provided ample opportunity to experience the grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, more deeply together. That’s something Hallmark doesn’t know how to market. I wouldn’t change a thing! Even during hard times you always met my needs, thus preparing my heart to understand the lavish generosity of my heavenly Father when I came to know him. I am eternally grateful to you for how you mirrored the image of God the Father in this.

Thank you for all you’ve done Dad. Love, Whit

—

Whitney Woollard has served in ministry alongside her husband Neal for over six years. She holds an undergraduate degree in Biblical Studies from Moody Bible Institute and just finished her Master of Arts in Biblical and Theological Studies from Western Seminary. She is passionate about equipping disciples to read and study God’s Word well resulting in maturing affections for Jesus and his gospel message. Neal and Whitney currently live in Portland, OR where they love serving the local church. Follow her on Twitter @whitneywoollard.

The Story Wars

Enjoy this excerpt from Sean Post’s The Stories We Live. Order your paperback today! Or use 1-click to purchase your digital copy from Amazon! —

Lawyers sometimes have a saying they use when building their case behind closed doors: “The best story always wins.” When it’s time to render a verdict, the judge and the jury won’t be thinking about the information presented as much as they will be asking, “Which story is most compelling and coherent?”

The courtroom isn’t the only place where story wars unfold. In the unseen corners of the human heart, they rage daily. These stories vie for supremacy on the silent channel of our thoughts. This battle is between the story of God and alternative broken stories.

Temptation is a Story War

In Matthew 4, Jesus experiences three temptations that highlight how many times the most powerful temptation is not to do something bad, but to do something good in the wrong way. Satan offers Jesus the chance to live into a story with the same ending as God’s perfect plan but with a different plot.

Specifically, Jesus is tempted to indulge a legitimate desire (eat), to believe something that is true (he is the Messiah), and to pursue a kingdom-minded shortcut (establish the Kingdom of God). These are all good things, which is exactly why these temptations were strategically chosen by Satan. Satan offers Jesus the chance to live a story with the same ending as God’s perfect plan but with a different plot.

So what’s the problem with these temptations? They don’t seem so bad.

In the first temptation, Jesus was tempted to indulge a desire at the cost of a greater desire. There’s a sad story in the Bible of a man who sold his birthright for a bowl of stew because he was hungry. This is the epitome of short-sightedness. It’s easy to allow a legitimate desire to crowd out things that may be even more important.

In the second temptation, Jesus was tempted to believe a truth in isolation. That is, a truth isolated from the rest of the story of Scripture. It was only Jesus’ knowledge of God’s broader plans and purposes that allowed him to reject the sound byte truth that Satan fed him.

During the third temptation, Jesus was tempted to establish the Kingdom by temporarily worshipping the wrong thing. Satan was saying, “We can get to the last chapter of the story without any conflict. All you have to do is worship me.”

As far as I can tell, every temptation I’ve ever faced has fit one of those three molds. Temptation comes to us in the form of a story. And that story will always tweak the details of the biblical story in some way. At that point, we are caught in the middle of two stories that war for our heart.

Sin is Trusting a Broken Story

The essence of sin is false love. When we love the wrong things in the wrong order, we’ve put our stock in a broken story. Rather than desiring God above all things, some misplaced desires flood our vision.

If you have some perspective, it’s probably not too difficult to look back and see how these broken stories have manifested in your life. You have pursued (and still pursue) loves that were “ultimate” for you but were also false.

Tristan’s Story

From the moment Tristan first stepped into my car on the way to the coffee shop, he seemed burdened. We ordered drinks, sat down, and the whole situation came pouring out. He was confused about why he continued to look at pornography even though he didn’t want to. Together, we began to unpack the broken story he was trusting in.

During our conversation, it became clear Tristan’s deep longing was to be a husband and a father. The porn was a cheap substitute for the intimacy his soul craved. The porn promised to meet this desire, but it couldn’t. His spirit was left sloshing around in a wake of sewage.

For Tristan, grasping the distinction between the true story of Jesus and the broken story of pornography was a turning point in his internal civil war. He was able to see that his good desire for intimacy was being hijacked and driven down a road that leads to death. So we talked about the road to life and truth. We spent the end of our time exploring the question, “How is God inviting you to you feed your desire for intimacy with him and with others?”

All of us are seduced by broken stories. For a moment, they promise hope, but if we follow them long enough they lead to frustration, pain, and an overwhelming emptiness. So how can we gain perspective in the midst of these story war?

The way we refuse false love is by catching a captivating picture of Jesus as the true and better lover of our souls. And our weapon for fighting the story wars is not willpower; it’s worship. As we fixate on Jesus, we see that he is the real picture of human flourishing. Other stories of our good can’t deliver. So worship (i.e., affection and desire for God) —not willpower—is what kills sin in our lives.

Trusting the Best Story

Actor Jim Carrey has famously said, “I wish everyone could get rich and famous and have everything they ever wanted so that they can see it’s not the answer.” Jim is saying, “Hey, wake up world. What you are chasing won’t make you happy. That story is broken.”

What if we took that advice? What if we allowed the Holy Spirit to begin to expose the emptiness of the stories we regularly trust in? How much more joy would we find in Jesus as we aligned ourselves with the true story of God?We would be free from lying successes, free from false loves, and free from broken stories. We would know the true story, trust the true story, and we would be set free to actually live a better story.

I can tell you that these ideas work with two-year olds. Parents, the beauty of grasping that sin is “loving the wrong things” is your toddler can understand it. I’m able to say things like, “Son, right now you are loving that toy more than your brother.” That really drives at the heart. My encouragement to you is this: help your child see the story war in their own heart. What false loves can you help them identify? When they demand a toy forklift or a snow globe or a skateboard or an iPod or a candy bar you can ask them, “How long will these things make you happy for?”

In our lives, in our families, in our churches, in our culture, may the best story win. The good news is, it will.

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Sean (@Sean_Post) lives in Maple Valley, WA with his wife and two sons and leads a one-year discipleship experience for young adults called “Adelphia”. He is completing his doctorate in Missional Leadership.

Adapted from Sean’s upcoming GCD Books title The Stories We Live: Discovering the True and Better Way of Jesus. Coming June 2015.

The Forgotten Essential of the Kingdom

We are starting a series that will explore the intersection between beauty, discipleship, mission, and the Kingdom of God. We will answers questions like: Why is beauty important for Christian living? Can we get by without it? What does the gospel teach us about beauty? How does the beauty of God inform lesser beauties? What is beauty in the Kingdom of God? This is part one. —

We hiked through the tangled woods searching for something beautiful. The trees had changed. We started on an open path with towering trees and far reaching boughs. As the path made its way closer to the water, the trees changed becoming smaller and reaching over the path which narrowed. These branches were bent and gnarled like the hands of my grandmother.

As the path descended, the air become cooler. We also heard the gurgling of water which grew into a growl as we approached our destination—a magnificent waterfall with a devastating 420-foot drop. This natural wonder is not the kind you walk by without awe at its beauty and danger. It demands you stop. We found a rock at the edge of the river looking over the waterfall and sat. We admired the beauty and danger of this tour de force of water.

Christians above all should be the kind of people who stop in awe of beauty.“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (Ps. 19:1). The earth below and heaven above teach us how to declare the glory of God. They are beautiful for him. Yet some Christians think very little of beauty. Or maybe it’s not that they think little of it, but they don’t see where beauty intersects with their ordinary life. Our world is full of beauty. We have just lost the eyes to see it all around us. We are like a man who can only see the world in muted colors. We cannot live without beauty. We shouldn’t live without it.

Experiencing Beauty

In a recent article “Why Do We Experience Awe?” in The New York Times, Paul Piff and Dacher Keltner get at just this,

Why do humans experience awe? Years ago, one of us, Professor Keltner, argued (along with the psychologist Jonathan Haidt) that awe is the ultimate “collective” emotion, for it motivates people to do things that enhance the greater good. Through many activities that give us goose bumps — collective rituals, celebration, music and dance, religious gatherings and worship — awe might help shift our focus from our narrow self-interest to the interests of the group to which we belong.

They go on to introduce new research that may backup this initial thesis. In the research, people who regularly experienced awe in their life were more willing to help others. And it didn’t have to be ridiculously hard to reach Mount Everest type beauty. One group in the study spent time “on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, which has a spectacular grove of Tasmanian blue gum eucalyptus trees, some with heights exceeding 200 feet — a potent source of everyday awe for anyone who walks by.” This research tells us what Christians have been teaching for millennia, but many have forgotten: Beauty empowers love of neighbor. Let’s smooth the wrinkles even more: Beauty energizes love of God and, therefore, love of neighbor—because God is beauty and all beauty ultimately has its origins in his divine perfections. In the third century, St. Basil wrote, “Let us recognize the One Who transcends in His beauty all things."[1] And in the sixth century, St. Maximus the Confessor states,

Nothing so much as love brings together those who have been sundered and produces in them an effective union of will and purpose. Love is distinguished by the beauty of recognizing the equal value of all men. Love is born in a man when his soul's powers—that is, his intelligence, incensive power and desire—are concentrated and unified around the divine. Those who by grace have come to recognized the equal value of all men in God's sight and who engrave His beauty on their memory, possess an ineradicable longing for divine love, for such love is always imprinting this beauty on their intellect. (Philokalia, II)

Seeing the beauty all around us opens our eyes to seeing the beauty of the imago dei in all humans. In The Weight of Glory, C. S. Lewis plucks this same string:

There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously - no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption.

Beauty Must Not be Ignored

Some Christians today might consider spending a day hiking through the woods a waste. Some might be too busy to stop to gaze at 200-foot-tall trees. They might finding reading great fiction boring or might say, “I just don’t have time.” They might scoff at spending money at a museum. Or laugh off traveling to the Grand Canyon to sit and wonder at its terrible beauty. Others may want to do these things, but not have the means. Others might not see the importance. Beauty, however, is all around us and must not be ignored. It is essential for making, maturing, and multiplying disciples of Jesus Christ.

The same New York Times article ends:

We believe that awe deprivation has had a hand in a broad societal shift that has been widely observed over the past 50 years: People have become more individualistic, more self-focused, more materialistic and less connected to others. To reverse this trend, we suggest that people insist on experiencing more everyday awe, to actively seek out what gives them goose bumps, be it in looking at trees, night skies, patterns of wind on water or the quotidian nobility of others — the teenage punk who gives up his seat on public transportation, the young child who explores the world in a state of wonder, the person who presses on against all odds.

Christians, we must insist on experiencing more beauty—even in the smallest ways like sharing acts of kindness or admiring that “mundane” summer lightening storm. Find beauty wherever you can and stand in awe.

Beauty and Sadness

But what do we do when the most beautiful things in our world are littered with sadness? What happens when a mother dies giving birth to a child? What happens when a terrorists group destroys an ancient and awe inspiring cultural artifact? What happens when war breaks out and priceless art is destroyed? What happens when a loved one dies and you cannot see the beauty in that thing you once shared with them? Because truth and beauty cannot be divorced for now, Christians must acknowledge this uneasy union between beauty and brokenness. Sometimes we need permission to experience beauty in the midst of our sadness and suffering. When sadness intersects with beauty, gaze at the cross of Christ for permission. It embodies beauty and brokenness. J. R. R. Tolkien called the cross the ultimate eucatastrophe (eu = good and catastrophe you know). There we have the brutal, de-humanizing Roman cross and the Savior of the world sacrificing himself for our sins. The truth is we live in that kind of world and our Savior came to show us how to find joy in its midst. The writer of Hebrews says,

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. –Hebrews 12:1-2 (italics mine)

This tension then between beauty and brokenness creates more longing for a true and lasting beauty, for the kingdom of Jesus Christ to come fully to this earth. Until that day, we cry out “Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is heaven.” When the Kingdom is fully realized, all sadness will be undone and all things beautiful will be eternal. We will gaze at the beautiful unfiltered by sadness. We will truly see beauty because in the new heaven and new earth the King will return in all his beauty and majesty and his presence on earth will change everything forever.

Until that day we pursue the beauty we have. Not just for its own sake, but because God himself is beautiful, because beauty moves us with compassion for our neighbors, and because it creates longing for true and lasting beauty. Do not treat beauty as a luxury or something far off. Find beauty where you are and take the time to stand in awe of it. Consider how much more work we have to do in the world as we strive for the Kingdom coming.

It is meet and right to hymn Thee, to bless Thee, to praise Thee, to give thanks unto Thee, and to worship Thee in every place of Thy dominion: for Thou art God ineffable, inconceivable, invisible, incomprehensible, ever existing and eternally the same, Thou and Thine Only-begotten Son and the Holy Spirit. — St. John Chrysostom

[1] All quotations from the Church Fathers come from http://www.antiochian.org/node/23896

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Mathew B. Sims is the Editor-in-Chief at Exercise.com and has authored, edited, and contributed to several books including A Household Gospel, We Believe: Creeds, Confessions, & Catechisms for Worship, A Guide for Advent, Make, Mature, Multiply, and A Guide for Holy Week. Mathew, LeAnn (his wife), and his daughters Claire, Maddy, and Adele live in Taylors, SC at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains with their Airdale Terrier. They attend Downtown Presbyterian Church (PCA). Visit MathewBryanSims.com!

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Our Freedom to Make Jesus Famous

In the months leading up to my daughter’s birth, I contemplated what it would be like to raise a child. I thought, if I can barely remember to put deodorant on in the mornings, how could I possibly steward another life? More importantly, how will I lead her to cherish Jesus? What if she one day rejects the gospel? I felt the enormous weight of Deuteronomy 6 where God commands his people to teach his statutes “diligently to your children, and you shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise” (Deut. 6:7). Raising an eternal soul was, and still is, terrifying.

The Bible tells us that the home is the most immediate context for discipleship. I am called to love God with all my heart, soul, and strength and to teach this diligently to my little girl. My wife and I have the unique mission of raising our daughter in a gospel-saturated home, reminding her about what God has done when we sit, when we walk, when we lie down, and when we rise. This is a beautiful calling, and totally beyond me.

When thinking of raising my daughter, I’m reminded that Jesus’s call for us to make disciples of all nations can also feel like a daunting task (Matt. 28:18–20). We wonder, how could I tell another sinner about Jesus when I myself am a sinner? What if I don’t say the right things? What if my own imperfections and foibles deter them from believing the gospel’s power?This calling, too, can be terrifying.

Beware the Obsession

I love being a dad. I thank God for my little girl every day. But as with any great blessing from God, the blessing of a child can make us want to squeeze too tight and never let go.

I have already been tempted to shirk the “prefab parenting models” in an attempt to raise my daughter the “right” way. There’s both an internal pressure within my own heart and an external pressure from the world to have a child who turns out perfect. I want her to love Jesus and to desire the supremacy of God above all things, but these pressures, and my inordinate concerns, often command me to focus on her conduct more than her heart. I hear others complain about unruly, bratty kids and I think, “That won’t be my girl!” This can be consuming.

When we invest ourselves in the lives of others, this tension is no different. We experience the extreme joy of God’s call to show them the ways of Jesus. Discipleship is wonderful. We feel responsible for their souls, and we long to see their lives radically transformed by the gospel. One of the greatest phenomena in God’s creation is watching the caterpillar become a butterfly, and this type of spectacle is beautiful to witness in the heart of an unbeliever.

The dangers lie in basing your own worth on the actions of those in whom you invest. It is tempting to allow our self-esteem to rise and fall based on another’s failures and successes. If the person you’re discipling fails morally, it is easy to blame yourself. If they show impressive growth theologically, it’s easy to congratulate yourself on the extraordinary ability to relay the deep things of God. This, too, can be consuming.

Certainly, there are many ways we can go wrong in discipling others. The sin that corrupts our hearts can lead us to dark places. Yet when we look to the cross, the hope we find in Jesus can take away all the anxieties and dangers of placing the results of discipleship on our own shoulders.

Pointing to Christ

In any discipleship relationship, whether our children or our neighbors, it is imperative that we continually point them to Jesus. And when we find ourselves getting rusty in this work, that’s when we need the gospel all the more.

Eugene Peterson says that “discipleship is a process of paying more and more attention to God’s righteousness and less and less attention to our own.” We were saved by grace through faith that was not, and is not, of our own power (Eph. 2:8). In the cross we see our need, how desperate we are, and the ultimate display of God’s love for us. The cross that we proclaim is also the cross that frees us from mistaking discipleship to be about us. This is the good news that we must keep at the center.

If we’re not seeing this glory, we cannot expect to lead anyone else to see it. At least, not in a way that will truly matter. However, Paul reminds us that “it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13). If we recognize this, the shackles of self-affirmation will no longer weigh us down. We can joyfully disciple others with the expectation that Jesus’s life-changing gospel will prevail regardless of our shortcomings.

Whether I’m holding my daughter or talking to my neighbor, I’m freed to make Jesus’s name famous rather than my own.

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Brandon D. Smith serves in leadership and as an adjunct instructor in theology and church history at Criswell College, where he is also associate editor of the Criswell Theological Review. He recently edited the book Make, Mature, Multiply and is a contributor to Designed for Joy (forthcoming from Crossway, 2015). Follow him on Twitter.

Adapted from an article originally posted at Desiring God.

The Local Church: Love It or Leave It?

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

Looking for God Elsewhere

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

In a follow-up blog post, he added:

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

Why are so many believers dissatisfied with the church?

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

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

Romanticizing the Early Church

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

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

Whose Wisdom . . . Ours or God’s?

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

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

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

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

Jesus’ Bride . . . Also Our Mother

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

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

A Family, Not a Club

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

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

Strength in Diversity

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

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

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

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

A School for Learning to Love

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

Including ourselves.

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

The Church Needs You . . . and You Need Her

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

4 Inner Rings You May Be Pursuing

What are you pursuing with your life? C.S. Lewis talked about a set of "Inner Rings" or societal clubs that we long to be part of or included in, but often take a high level of expertise, time, or master ability to achieve. These Inner Rings often become a set of values, goals, and ideals that we spend our life pursuing so that we end up being known as a certain kind of person. Lewis said as we pursue these Inner Rings we often transform into people we never intended to be. The reality is it isn't the Inner Ring itself that is the destructive reality for us, it's really the pursuit of them. If we are going to understand our pursuit of the Inner Ring and how those pursuits motivate and manipulate our behaviors and beliefs, we must know what we are pursuing. Without being reductionistic or missing the nuances of individual hearts, there are four principle Inner Ring pursuits each of us gravitate towards. While many of these pursuits can be fundamentally good, their gravity will cause us to acquire them in unhealthy ways. Here are the four principle Inner Rings manifested in our everyday lives.

1. The Inner Ring of Acceptance

No one wants to be excluded. In fact, living in isolation and estrangement can be hellish. We want to be loved, included, thought of, and affirmed as “the right people.” Socially we’ve engineered all sorts of structures, tribes, and means to make sure we are people who are known and accepted. Often we know where we stand with others by the invitations we do or do not receive for group conversations and activities. If we discover a particular circle of friends got together without inviting or including us a sense of jealously and dismay can overcome our hearts. We might ask, “Why weren’t we invited? Why were they included and we weren’t?” That exclusion might very well bring us to change our behavior when we are in proximity to that tribe. We can begin to think that our exclusion and the inclusion of others has us on the “outs” socially and we need to change something to get back in.

The sitcoms of our culture often identify this desire and pursuit of acceptance. Consider The Office boss Michael Scott. While possessing the authority of the office manager, Michael deeply longs to be accepted as one of the guys within Dunder Mifflin. His employees often hold him at a distance and fail to include him in their social gatherings and activities. This drives Michael into many awkward situations as he attempts, often with disastrous results, to attain the acceptance and inclusion of his employees socially. All of this plays out humorously for our enjoyment and also reminds us of “that guy” at our place of work.

The Inner Ring of Acceptance displays itself in every social environment of our lives. Where ever people gather, we want not only to be part of the club but also to be accepted. The way in which we seek to be part of an Inner Circle of Acceptance is to find that group or community that we desire to be part of and do whatever we can to be accepted. To hear the words “We like you, let’s be together” is a sure indicator of our acceptance by others. To feel the disconnect, disinterest, and avoidance of that same group ruins us many times. You can identify your Inner Ring pursuit by asking:

• Who excluding you would hurt you deeply?
• Who’s acceptance does your day hang on?

The people you desire the greatest acceptance from are the same Inner Ring you pursue for acceptance.

2. The Inner Ring of Authority

While many find themselves chasing acceptance from others as an ultimate pursuit, for others the pursuit comes in a different form. The great pursuit of life doesn’t come in having the affections of others. It reveals itself in the leadership over others. Not satisfied to just be part of a team, these people pursue control and power at the highest level. They feel they have the insight, capacity, drive, resources, or vision to lead people to greater and higher things. This extends far beyond a business environment and can play itself out in practically every sphere of life. God has ordered all society levels to have leaders and followers.

We need leaders. We need direction. Someone must carry the responsibility for decisions in society. The government needs leaders. Corporations without capable leadership fail. The church needs leaders to shepherd people toward maturity in Christ. A home structure without proper authority and responsibility fail to raise children who contribute to society. It is a fundamental mistake to think authority in and of itself is bad.

The pursuit of authority consumes and drives many into dangerous territory. Some climb the mountain to stand alone at the top—just to be seen as the expert, leader, guru, or boss. The Inner Ring of Authority only invites a select few, and as an exclusive club itself the attraction of being part of that select few is intoxicating to those who would have it.

Often to those pursuing the status of authority an internal voice says, “You won’t be anybody until you are _________.”  That blank can be filled in with a whole host of titles. You won’t be anybody until you’re the CEO. You won’t be anybody until you’re an elder at the church. You won’t be anybody until you’re leading the MOPS group in your city. You won’t be anybody until . . . What’s yours?

The people you desire the greatest acceptance from are the same Inner Ring you pursue for acceptance. It’s a high stakes drive to the top that destroys, diminishes, and derails anyone in the way of attaining to the highest throne. In House of Cards, Francis J. Underwood pursues authority with force unmatched. This pursuit leads him to lie, murder, abuse, and manipulate anyone and everyone to achieve the Presidency. At the core, Underwood tries to sell himself that he is doing it all for good reasons. But as the saying goes, “Power corrupts, and ultimate power corrupts ultimately.” Ask these questions to identify your Inner Ring:

• If you never rose to the highest position of authority in your sphere of life would you feel your life was a failure?
• If you never had power to control and lead others as greatly as you would desire, would you feel like you missed the purpose of your life?
• What would you do to attain authority in different spheres of your life?

3. The Inner Ring of Applause

While some pursue acceptance and others authority there are some that have a uniquely different pursuit. Some people don’t care about authority or acceptance. They don’t care who they lead or even if people like them. They just want to hear applause and cheers. They love the spotlight. Often we think of these people as the artists from Nashville or the actors and actresses in Hollywood. Seeing your name in lights and having the crowd acknowledge your performance becomes a powerful drive. Yet it’s not just our stars that struggle with the Inner Ring of Applause. It’s found in stratus of life.

We want to be approved and applauded. We want our work to be noticed and recognized as exceptional. We want others to affirm we’ve done a good job in whatever we are doing. For the mother at home she wants to be recognized and applauded as having good children, a clean home, and happiness and joy to go around. The engineer seeks acknowledgement for his innovative design that advanced his company’s product above the competition. Pastors hope to hear “Great sermon!” from their congregation as they shuffle out the doors of the church building. This helps them feel like their preparation was not in vain.

Just as acceptance and authority are not evil within themselves, neither is applause. It’s legitimate for our words to be used to encourage and affirm others. We should celebrate beauty, creativity, excellence, and truth. Being applauded for excellence mirrors the way we should glorify and exalt Christ for his excellencies. The applause, by and large, isn’t the proverbial fly in the ointment that spoils everything.

What destroys, however, is the pursuit of that applause. What will it take for you to get noticed and awarded? This pursuit can lead us to do all sorts of subtle, compromising things. Social media has become, for many, an applause factory. Someone asked me the other day why I rarely “liked” their posts of Facebook. They noticed I wasn’t noticing them. They began tagging me in their posts so I would be guaranteed not to miss the opportunity to applaud them. They were keeping a scorecard of "likes" and "shares" by their friends. They longed for the affirmation of others and were discouraged when I didn’t hang on every word they wrote, picture they posted, and story they linked. They perceived my lack of a “thumbs up” as a lack of approval for their life narrative on Facebook. Frankly, their “I have an awesome cat!” posts were a little obnoxious and tiring. Yet they desired my applause and were willing to go to extremes to get it.

Like acceptance and authority, applause is a powerful and intoxicating thing. The person who chases applause will rarely have their fill of it. To the heart unchecked, the pleasantness of the first trickle of applause will soon desire an avalanche of ovation. It won’t ever be enough. The pursuit of it becomes the goal and not the having itself.

If you are pursuing the Inner Ring of Applause, it can be identified by asking yourself:

• If no one every affirmed or approved of your hard work would you despair?
• Would depression set in on your heart if you weren’t recognized for your beauty or creativity?
• Do you do things at your work, church, home, and in your community so that others will affirm and applaud you?
• Do you compromise yourself in ways so that others will affirm you?

4. The Inner Ring of Abundance

This final Inner Ring isn’t built around people but possessions. The old saying goes, “He who dies with the most toys wins.” Our culture reinforces and reiterates this position. Of course, Christians know he who dies with the most toys is still dead (Lk. 16:19-31), but that doesn’t mean we’re not impressed by those who have the resources to live up now. No one wants to live in poverty and I’m not saying we should. But the drive to acquire possessions and live in economic security and abundance crushes people those that live in our gravitational pull.

Scripture teaches us to pray for daily bread (Matt. 6:11) and offers this juxtapoistion between poverty and riches.

Remove far from me falsehood and lying;     give me neither poverty nor riches;     feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you     and say, “Who is the Lord?” or lest I be poor and steal     and profane the name of my God. —Proverbs 30:8-9

Pursuing abundance in the wrong way leads to “be[ing] full and deny[ing the Lord]” (v. 9), but that doesn’t mean all acquisition of material possessions is an ungodly allowance. Having a well paying job, a nice home, a reliable vehicle, and enjoying a quality steak while on vacation are not damning vices to be rejected outright. Poverty is not necessarily a virtue—but neither is abundance.

Like acceptance, authority, and applause the trouble comes at the heart level. It’s not enough that we have nice things. It’s that those nice things eventually don’t fulfill us the way we thought they would, so we end up pursuing more. The home isn’t big enough, the car not luxury enough, the television not big enough, and the vacation not exotic enough. We begin to compare notes with our peers and friends and find what they have doesn’t match what we have so we get and get and get to “keep up with the Joneses.” As we pursue the Inner Ring of Abundance, we find that acquiring stuff allows us to enter different circles of identity and more Inner Rings.

I remember the first time I saw someone with Apple’s iPhone out in public. I was riding the ferry boat from San Francisco to Alcatraz with some friends. The owner of the magical device whipped it out to make a phone call and I couldn’t take my eyes off it. The allure of that device was palpable. I could hear myself thinking, “If I had one of those I would be so cool.” The small circle of people who owned one of those devices was an attractive circle to join. The problem was the phone originally cost $599 with a two year contract. The price put it beyond the reach of so many of us. The iPhone was (and is) a status symbol and the pursuit of having it was a siren call to my heart.

Perhaps this is the trickiest pursuit to reveal and yet the most obvious at the same time.

• Could you do without something and be content? If your friend, neighbor, coworker or peer had all the things that you wanted and you did not would you be satisfied?
• Do you live beyond your means so that others will view you as affluent?
• When will enough be enough?

These are hard questions to wrestle with, but they can reveal a pursuit of abundance very clearly. The people you desire the greatest acceptance from are the same Inner Ring you pursue for acceptance.

Discerning Your Pursuits

Motives have to be questioned. Pursuits must be examined. If we will be people not driven by pursuits that will cause us to compromise and capitulate our convictions and values then we must understand where the battlefield lies. Ultimately, having acceptance, authority, applause, and affluence are not evil. We are hard-wired by God for them. Yet pursing these Inner Rings and the object of these pursuits may destroy our lives.

Ask yourself which pursuit do you most deeply identify with? Which “Inner Ring” do you deeply desire to be part of or known for? Do you want to be seen as someone with abundance and material possessions? Deep in your heart do long for people to applaud you and recognize your achievements? Are you eager to be part of a specific social group, network, or clique and have their acceptance? Are you frustrated if you aren’t the leader exercising authority and control over a group of people or organization?

Once we identify our core pursuits, we can address how to navigate those pursuits in a way that will free us from the ensnaring power of sin and death. To help us further diagnose our motivational drives and ambitions, we need to take a walk into the darkness. We need to step into our nightmares and look at our fears in the face. By moving the things that bring us the deepest fear and anxiety into the light, we can clearly see the pursuits that drive our daily lives.

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Jeremy Writebol (@jwritebol) has been training leaders in the church for over fourteen years. He is the author of everPresent: How the Gospel Relocates Us in the Present (GCD Books, 2014) and writes at jwritebol.net. He is the pastor of Woodside Bible Church's Plymouth, MI campus. 

An Open Letter to Justine Sacco on Grace

Can your life be defined by one moment? By one mistake? By one infamous decision? For Justine Sacco it probably feels like it can. Maybe you have heard her story, but in case you haven’t, let me tell it the best I can. On December 20th, 2013 Justine sent out the following tweet before boarding a plane en route to Cape Town, South Africa: “Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white!” Now what Justine tweeted was irresponsible and misguided. These are the obvious facts.

But what happened to Justine Sacco after that tweet revealed how much our society really loves to see people destroyed. Social media exploded with outrage over the tweet, and Justine’s life suddenly took a swift turn for the worse.

However, I want to focus on this situation from an explicitly Christian perspective. How should we, as Christians respond to Justine Sacco’s mistake? Is there grace for her? Would Justine have a place in your church?

Now I believe that most Christians would say that there is indeed grace for Justine Sacco. Grace is the centerpiece of the gospel—the central message of Jesus. However, are Christians simply using “grace-talk” or actually believing that grace is big enough to cover sins that have been deemed unforgivable?

Finding Grace and Freedom

According to a recent story on Sacco in The New York Times, she admitted to “crying out (what seemed to be) her body weight in the first 24 hours” after discovering that her tweet had been retweeted and shared thousands of times. Sacco inevitably was fired from her job, and spent a long time wallowing in the guilt, remorse, and shame that comes from making mistakes, sinning, and it being exposed to the world.

Now over a year has past since Justine Sacco made a grievous mistake that ruined her life. I do not know what Justine is up to now, and I’m sure she is fine with that. I’m sure she prefers not being in the limelight anymore. Nevertheless, I do wonder if Justine found grace and freedom. Has she experienced the liberation of having her past mistakes redeemed and forgiven? Has she felt the burden of shame and guilt lifted from her?

Many people will say the church is “a hospital for sinners.” This seems right in light of the way that Jesus lived his life. Christ said, “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mk. 2:17). In other places, Jesus dined with outcasts and tax collectors (Matt. 9:10). He seemed to have no problem in keeping company with those who were considered to be marginalized and wrongdoers (Jn. 4).

So what does this communicate to current Christians in an age of internet shaming? In an age of public shaming, is it possible for Justine to start over? No doubt Justine was wrong, but what should the consequences be for her mistake? Exile? Excommunication? Expulsion?

The Mentality of Karma

It’s interesting to me that Christians regularly use grace-language, but live out a karma-like mentality. When situations like Justine Sacco’s are brought before our attention, we tend to immediately think, “She is getting what she deserves.” But what exactly does she deserve? Is it really punishment, exile, and condemnation? I don’t think so.

What’s alarming though is that Christians tend to display this same karma-like mentality online. The culture of shame has infected the way that Christians conduct themselves on the Internet (just take a look at Twitter or Facebook on any given day). To be honest, do we really believe that the gospel message is going to bear fruit in an atmosphere of humiliation and reproof?

Imagine if Jesus would have said to Matthew, “Clean up your behavior and then you can follow me” (Matt. 9:9). Or when Jesus encountered the woman at the well. What if he would have said, “You have been sleeping around a lot, so I’m not sure that this living water is for you” (Jn. 4). What about in the last moments of the thief on the cross’s life (Lk. 23:32-43)? This man would have been considered to be one of the worst of the worst. However, Jesus offered unconditional grace to this man, and did not withhold forgiveness from him.

What if this was what immediately was offered to Justine Sacco? Grace, forgiveness, and love. I know that everybody is not a Christian, and she still would have faced consequences at work and from the world, but why couldn’t the Christian church rally around her and say, “There is room at the table for you”?

Why couldn’t the overwhelming response to Justine’s situation be more centered on Jesus Christ’s undeserved grace instead of on her ill-advised tweet? We now live in a culture where one mistake, tweet, lie, or video can ruin your life. Is this really the message of the Christian gospel? Of course not. But if the Christian church isn’t careful, she will let the secular culture influence her more than the liberating message of Jesus.

This is why I hope Justine Sacco, wherever she is, is confronted by someone who has been grasped by the now-power of the gospel. I hope she is floored by the amazing grace of Jesus Christ. That is my hope and prayer for her, and for many more like her (i.e., Peter Jennings, etc.).The good news really is that good, even though Christians might not present it in that light always.

So Justine Sacco:

I pray that you will be liberated by the good news of Jesus Christ. He died so that we would not be defined by one mistake. He died so that we could be made alive (Eph. 2). If you are still experiencing overwhelming guilt, shame, and distress, I hope that you will recognize that the Christian God is a God who removes our sins as far as the east is from the west (Ps. 103:11-12). Our sin may run deep, but God’s grace runs deeper still. Realize that.

Your friend and fellow-sinner,

Matt Manry

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Matt Manry is the Assistant Pastor 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 matthewwmanry.com.

How the Gospel Comes to the City Through Community

Our cities remain the gathering place of culture, human capital, and change. Suburban flight is a reality as young educated creatives flock to cities for the opportunities and lifestyle they offer. All this comes on the heals of the American church surrendering property and influence in the urban core while finding its place as the religion of the suburbs. Evangelical Christianity doesn’t have a literal or cultural place in the city, we gave it up decades ago. Now, we’re trying to reengage in a context divergent from the orderly and homogeneous context of the suburbs the church has made its home. Cities need both worship gatherings and missional communities to intersect the people and needs of the city. This article will focus on the need for missional communities in the city. The gospel shines brightly, speaks clearly, and welcomes sojourners with questions and doubts in the context of relationships.

Good News in the City

Oddly, the first step forward isn’t toward cutting edge strategies or culturally relevant events. It’s pressing into the gospel—the thing of first importance. The gospel is the good news that Jesus has defeated sin, death, and evil through his own death and resurrection and is making all things new, even us. This is good news in the city and for the city.

The city is where death, evil, and destruction is obvious to all. The affects of sin, whether it is acknowledged as sin or not, is exposed in every neighborhood. The city is where the abused gather together. Where the enslaved, broken, and downtrodden end up. It’s where schools fail to keep kids safe. The city is where injustice is present on almost every corner. Where isolation from community, family, and others is rampant. Cities are settling grounds for fugitives and refugees. They gather orphans.

The city is also a place for hope. It’s where we hope in our humanity, ingenuity, non-profits, and creative solutions. The city is a place of beautiful artwork, music, and cuisine. Cities gather ideas. The city is where humans, created in God’s image, thrive in expressing some of God’s most beautiful attributes: compassion, mercy, creativity, and justice.

Despite the high volume of humans, each made in God’s image, our hopes and solutions always fall short. Despite the population density, we need loving community. Despite the creative capital, we need justice and healing. Despite the plethora of opportunities, we need lasting satisfaction, joy.

The gospel of Jesus is good news in the city. He defeats sin, death, and evil through the cross and empty tomb. Jesus isn’t just defeating he is recreating, making all things new. This is good news in cities of unfulfilled promise and expectation of complete restoration. This good news is what every mayoral candidate promises, but only Jesus delivers—not only a new city, but a new humanity. The gospel offers redemption, restoration, and renewal.

Community and Mission in the City

The gospel saves us from sin and death toward something: unity with God, unity with his people, and the ministry of reconciliation the gospel of Jesus offers. In other words, Jesus calls us to himself, to his community, and to his restorative mission. The gospel is the starting place. The cause for the gathering and scattering of his people on mission.

I’ve never been around a community that was centered on the gospel that wasn’t on mission. A gospel-centered people is a missional people. I’ve never been around a community that loves one another, that doesn’t have Jesus at the middle of everything they do. A gospel-focused people is a missional community. If the truth of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection isn’t woven into the fabric of everything a community does, it has no purpose outside of its own will to make their cities better. Without the gospel at the center, the community has no reason to endure and bare all things together other than its consumeristic pursuit of ideal community. This is no different in the city.

Our cities need the gospel to be made visible and audible. This is certainly accomplished on Sunday mornings in worship service throughout the city. However, the gospel must pervade the city through God’s scattered people. The city needs gospel communities on mission nestled into every crack of the city.

What is a missional community? The space of this article does not allow me to get into the depths and nuances of a missional community. But simply put, gospel communities are a group of people learning to follow Jesus together in a way that renews their city, town, village, hamlet, or other space. They aren’t fancy. In fact, they are almost always a messy community of everyday citizens who are devoted to Jesus, one another, their neighbors, and their city. This means they invest in each others’ lives, calling one another to repent and behold Christ daily. A missional community reorients their activity to center not on themselves, but on Christ. They struggle forward as in process sinners redeemed by the unconditional and infinite grace of God. They share meals, step humbly into the injustice in their city, welcome others into community, and take care of each other.

How to Become a Missional Community

Every missional community has three natural ingredients: qualified and called leaders, a clear purpose, and committed participants. These three elements are where you must begin as a leader. After these components are brought together your first task is laying a biblical foundation for missional community.

Qualified and Called Leaders

As you dream about starting a community, you must ask these important questions about leadership and prayerfully consider them:

• Am I qualified and called to lead a missional community? Do I have capacity to be a leader? (See this article on leadership roles and calling)
• How do I need to grow as a follower of Jesus? (See this template of personal development as a leader)
• Who will lead alongside you? How will you invite them into leadership? How do they compliment your gifts?

The Purpose of Your Community

Before you start making phone calls and sending out invitations to start a missional community, take some time to think about why missional community. Why do you want to start one? Be honest with yourself. How would you describe a missional community in your own words? It’s important you describe it well as you invite people to participate. Your definition of a missional community should include: shared life, the gospel, care for the city and neighbors, and making disciples.

Think through what you are passionate about and who you are passionate about. Is it a neighborhood, a group of people, or the specific names and faces you interact with everyday? What would a community that proclaims and promotes the gospel to them look like? What would it look like to welcome your neighbors into that kind of community?

A Committed Core

Begin to pray for the people God will bring into that community. Pray for people to come alongside you and help. Pray for co-leaders and for God to connect you with others who have a similar passion. Pray for God to bring names to mind. Think through the specific people in your life you want to join your new missional community. They’ll need to live or work close to you since its hard to commute to community. You aren’t looking for all-stars or elite Christians—they don’t exist. Instead, you are praying for people who will commit to the process of becoming a community. Who will be teachable, humble, and honest in faith and repentance?

As you invite people, give them a picture of gospel-shaped community alive in God’s mission. As you describe what you are prayerfully starting, avoid making your invitation tailor-made to each person, where you sacrifice your convictions. For example, you really want your friends who are struggling in marriage to join, so you tell them it will be a group that fixes marriages. Invite people into a community that isn’t centered on their needs, hobbies, or passions but the gospel of Jesus and his mission.

Start by Laying a Foundation on the Gospel, Community, and Mission

Spend the first chunk of your time as a missional community growing in biblical understanding of what these large topics are. You cannot move forward without laying this foundation. However, your community’s foundation will be the composite assumptions and ideals of each individual member. It is painfully difficult to lead a community that doesn’t have a biblical foundation on the essentials. You can do this a variety of ways.

• Study a book of the Bible by asking these questions: what does this teach us about who God is, what he has done, who we are, and how we ought to live in our city? I would recommend Ephesians, Colossians, or 1 Peter. This helps a group of people see the connections between the gospel, community, mission while developing an understanding of the Scriptures.
• Go through an oral telling of the grand narrative of Scripture. This gives your community an understanding of the gospel and God’s mission for his people. It helps root a community in the big picture. An excellent version of this has been put together by Soma Communities.
• Use a Missional Community primer or curriculum. There are several options out there by the various missional community tribes. Jonathan Dodson and I recently released our eight week guide that spends considerable time unpacking the gospel, community, and mission.

Be Committed to the Process and Your City

Missional community is a mess and a process. A community leaning into this process is the ideal missional community on this side of new creation. A community that engages the journey of being conformed into the image of Christ is a dynamic picture of the gospel the city needs. Your calling is to start where you are and take steps forward, through prayer, study, shared meals, showing up to serve, inviting others in, and becoming increasingly present in your city. A great missional community is one that regularly asks: how are we allowing the gospel to shape us? What is God calling us to? How is God challenging us to be conformed into the image of Christ? This is the whole deal.

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Brad Watson (@bradawatson) serves as a pastor of Bread&Wine Communities where he develops and teaches leaders how to form communities that love God and serve the city. Brad is the author of Raised? and Called Together: A Guide to Forming Missional Communities. He lives in southeast Portland with his wife and their two daughters. You can read more from Brad at www.bradawatson.com

Why You Should Care for Creation Now

Gnosticism was at the heart of much of the New Testament writers’ objections. At its root, Gnosticism argued that the material world was bad, and the spiritual world, or realm, was good. The majority of Gnostics, then, practiced a mix of asceticism and even philanthropy as they tried to divest themselves of material goods in an attempt to pursue knowledge through the spiritual world. The New Testament writers wrote in detail about the danger of Gnosticism, and we consistently affirm their objections, but when it comes to the underlying theology in Gnostic thought, I wonder if the church isn’t guilty of embracing its premise? Since I was a small child, I have been taught that our time here on earth was limited. All of history points to the return of Jesus Christ when he would call his children home to his eternal kingdom. Earth, then, is a temporary holding place—a place for us to live in such a way so we honor God, but a temporary home, none-the-less. Popular songs have been written for decades now celebrating this truth. The chorus of the old Southern Gospel song, “The Old Gospel Ship” seems to embrace that philosophy.

I'm a gonna take a trip In the good old gospel ship I'm goin' far beyond the sky I'm a gonna shout and sing Until all the Heavens ring When I bid this old world goodbye

I’m not trying to pick on musicians, but the church has been celebrating both the badness of this world and the goodness of some other, better, world for a long time now. We like the spiritual world off in the distance, and we diminish, or even discredit, this world—this physical world. Fundamentally, though, when I look at scripture I see a couple of things pointing to this being a thoroughly Gnostic—and thoroughly non-Christian—approach.

This World Is Not Our Home?

First, any theology viewing this world as bad and abandoned by God, conflicts with Scripture’s testimony that the world was created before the existence of sin. God declared of his created world, “It is good.” The created world is God’s good plan intended for our good and his glory. When we dismiss this world as temporary, we do violence to the biblical text. Scripture teaches God’s plan involved this good creation from the beginning.

Secondly, viewing the world as inherently bad and soon to be destroyed or abandoned is to ignore Romans 8 and its thoughts about God’s future plans for his creation.

For the creation eagerly waits with anticipation for God’s sons to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to futility—not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it—in the hope that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage of corruption into the glorious freedom of God’s children. —Romans 8:19-21

Note creation itself is groaning for Christ’s return because it will be set free into the same kind of freedom that God’s children will experience. The point of the text is God moves toward the resurrection/restoration of his creation, in the same way he moves towards the resurrection/restoration of his children. When we treat this world as if it’s temporary we treat it in a way God himself doesn’t treat it.

I hear one primary objection to this. Some might say scripture indicates God will “burn up” the earth, as some translations describe it (see 2 Peter 3:10). However, seeing this text in context, we understand this burning not as destructive, but cleansing. 2 Peter 3:6 tells us this burning was foreshadowed in the flood of Noah, so indicates God’s use of fire to purify his creation—ultimately leading to its resurrection/restoration.

In light of all this, what are we to make of it, and why does it matter?

The Welfare of Our World

First, in light of God’s work to restore this world, we would do well to treat it as if it’s not just our temporary home. God is working to resurrect not only his people, but all of his created order. Secret agents that sneak into a country, accomplish their mission, and then get snatched up by a black helicopter to take them home makes for a great action movie, but for a bad gospel story. Let’s embrace the world around us as part of God’s good plan for his people.

Second, our behavior in this world, in this life, should model and foreshadow God’s work of ultimate resurrection/restoration. As current residents of the kingdom of God, whose allegiance lies with King Jesus, we are called to live now as we will live then—when his kingdom has been fully culminated. We are called to work in such a way so we model his work of restoration. This is why, for instance, creation care is a deeply biblical concept.

Finally, let’s be cautious of embracing any theology that encourages us to escape the world, rather than embrace it, love it, and work to see God’s order restored in and among it. As God reminded the Jewish exiles in Babylon in Jeremiah 29, our call is seek the good of our culture, not to isolate ourselves from it, or try to escape what’s around us. Instead, let’s recognize God has placed us here, in this place and at this time, to declare and display his gospel, working to bring his blessing—his shalom—to the places we call home, modeling in this time and place the ultimate restoration he will fully bring about in the day of his return.

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Micah Fries is the Vice President of LifeWay Research. He has served as a Senior Pastor in Missouri and a missionary in West Africa, prior to coming to LifeWay. Connect with Micah on Twitter.

5 Vital Ways to Seek the Welfare of Your Neighborhood

I have spent my entire life living in two inner city neighborhoods of Chicago (Humboldt Park and West Garfield Park). It is easy to believe that God has abandoned these two communities due to the poverty, crime, lack of education, absence of fathers, and hopelessness. While many would want to avoid these two communities, I have come to understand God’s sovereignty in determining the boundaries of my dwelling place. God has invited me to be his presence for those seeking him. God has invited me into his mission for those feeling their way towards him.

“And He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward Him and find Him. Yet He is actually not far from each of us, for in Him we live and move and have our being.” (Acts 17:26-28)

Has God abandoned the hood? Of course not! Have Christians abandoned the hood? Sadly, in many ways we have. We have abandoned God’s mission for our momentary well being. We have focused on our desires before other people’s needs. We do not realize that our well being is tied up in the well being of those around us. We do not realize that we actually find life through death to our individualism.

“But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you…and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” (Jeremiah 29:7)

Following are five simple ways that you can seek the welfare of your community (whether it’s an inner city neighborhood or not). This is not an exhaustive list, but my prayer would be that it sparks believers to understand God’s purpose for us in the exact places that he has sovereignly placed us.

After reading the five steps, feel free to give additional ideas that you may have. Let’s grow together as urban missionaries!

Step 1: Pray daily for your community

Take ten minutes each day to pray for the families on your block. As you see your neighbors, be purposeful in asking for prayer requests and then follow up with them on those requests.

Step 2: Spend time in your community

In today’s day and age when we jump in our car to go from here to there, this will take some intentionality. But let yourself be seen. Be friendly. As opportunities arise, get to know people. Walk your community, play basketball at the local park, shop at the local stores, eat at the local restaurants, volunteer at a community center or nursing home, worship at a local church.

Step 3: Asset map your community

Map out the resources available in your community and city. These resources might include job training programs, GED programs, sports leagues, after school programs, day camps, tutoring programs, and church service times. Include as much info as possible (Contact name and number, cost, address, etc). Print these lists out and distribute them to people in your community.

Step 4: Beautify your community

Pick up trash. Help your neighbors plant grass on their lawns. Begin a community garden that the block can own and enjoy together. Recruit skilled labor to do a service day in your community.

Step 5: Open your home to your community

Invite people over for dinner. Host a game night. Lead Bible Studies. If you have an extra room, invite someone in need to live with you.

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Brian Dye is a servant of Jesus Christ. Husband of Heidi Dye. Elder at Legacy Fellowship. Mentorship Director at GRIP Outreach for Youth. Director of Legacy Conference. Follow him on Twitter @VisionNehemiah

Originally published at Vision Nehemiah. Used with permission.

How to Shine the Light of the Gospel Into Public Schools

I’ve had the honor of writing a lot on evangelism, gospel-centered ministry, and spiritual awakenings. I’ve probably never been more excited about a project than a book that just released called Get Out: Student Ministry in the Real World (Rainer Publishing). Why? Because I wrote it with our son Josh, himself a student pastor now. It's a follow-up to my missional, gospel-centered student ministry book As You Go (NavPress). Filled with real-life examples from effective student ministers, this book challenges the church to get outside the church building into the community, and particular to impact the public schools with the gospel. The following is adapted from the Introduction to the book. The Western Church faces a significant change in culture in our time. Student ministry is in the heart of the vortex of change. “The combined impact of the Information Age, postmodern thought, globalization, and racial-ethnic pluralism that has seen the demise of the grand American story also has displaced the historic role the church has played in that story,” Researcher Mike Regele observed, continuing: “As a result, we are seeing the marginalization of the institutional church.”¹ Just because your student ministry has been effective in the past featuring events and personalities does not mean it stands ready to face the challenges to the gospel in our time.

Christianity in the West has been increasingly marginalized in our culture; many of us simply refuse to see it. We certainly have not lost all our influence, but on many issues that were once in the center of American society (protecting the unborn, the sanctity of marriage, heterosexual marriage only, to name a few) have now been pushed out of the mainstream of cultural norms. How do we respond? We must think less like Christians enjoying a home field advantage and more like Christians living as missionaries. In their excellent book Everyday Church, Chester and Timmis argue for a shift in ministry focus to meet the challenges of our time, and this shift especially relates to the front line of student ministry: “Our marginal status is an opportunity to rediscover the missionary call of the people of God. We can recover witness to Christ unmuddied by nominal Christianity.”²

Student Pastor Spencer Barnard summarizes how things have changed in student ministry on most public school campuses today:

I'm the Lead Student Pastor at The Church at Battle in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Campus Ministry is a huge part of what we do on all of our campuses. In my 16 years of doing student ministry my strategy has changed a lot. Just in the last five years things have drastically changed. The days of showing up at lunch with pizza for students are over in most places. You have to earn the right to be on a campus. There needs to be a reason for you to be on a campus. Where a lot of student pastors go wrong is that we show up and say we are there to hang out with students. We could do that in the past, but when 30-year-olds or even 20-year-olds show up on a junior high or high school campus, it’s just weird in this culture today.  It worked 10 years ago, but in most places it just doesn’t work any more. There needs to be a reason we are there: we should be there to serve and support the administration. Our role is to be there for the school, and not expect the school to be there for us. With that in mind we have to be careful to follow all the school’s rules and present ourselves in a respectful way.

Here are some of the ways we serve schools:

• We take food to the teacher’s lounges and teacher in-service days. One of the best things that has happened for us is the government cutting funds for the schools, because it gave us the opportunity to meet their needs first hand.
• We make our facilities available to them for meetings and banquets. We hosted 10 different sporting banquets this last year and it has earned us a great reputation with our schools and also showcased our facilities to students and parents.
• We talk with coaches and teachers about leadership training or become Chaplains for sporting teams. We found out that many coaches loved the extra help.
• We take drinks to the band, cheerleaders, and sporting teams.
• We are on the Substitute Teacher list. Also, some schools need volunteers to monitor testing.

Getting to know the Principal and the office staff has been huge as well.  We will take with us some Starbucks gift cards or Chick Fila cards to give away as we meet teachers, coaches, or administration.

The final thing we do, and probably one of the biggest connecting points for us with schools, is FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes.) FCA has a great reputation on all of our campuses. We have developed a great relationship with them and because of it they have allowed our staff to become huddle leaders at eight different campuses around our city. This gives us a huge opportunity to connect with students who normally don't attend church at all. We have seen our student ministry grow by about 50% over the last eight months and I would attribute it to how our team has shifted our work regarding campus ministry.

The public school campus is arguably the greatest mission field in America. With so many challenges to the Christian faith in the West today, we need to be reminded that the best way to respond to darkness is to turn on the light: the Light of the Gospel!

^{1. Cited in Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, Everyday Church: Gospel Communities on Mission (Crossway, Re:Lit: 2013) Kindle Edition, 14.↩}

^{2. Chester and Timmis, Everyday Church, 10. Italics added.↩}

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Alvin L. Reid is husband to Michelle and father to Josh and Hannah. He is a professor of evangelism and student ministry at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, as well as a popular speaker and author. He has written numerous books on student ministry, evangelism, missional Christianity, and spiritual awakenings. Follow him on Twitter: @AlvinReid.

Alvin L. Reid and Josh Reid, Get Out: Student Ministry in the Real World Rainer Publishing, ©2015. Used by permission. http://rainerpublishing.com/

Making Peace Through Confronting And Repenting

Everyone assigns a different meaning to the word “peace.” To some, peace is a calm feeling, an ability to relax, and a care-free life. To others, peace is the end of hostility, a white flag raised to end a terrible war. To others, it is something that happens when we avoid conflict, ignore faults in others, affirm and flatter and “sweep it under the rug” rather than challenge hurtful actions or patterns. Biblical peace is none of these things. Rather, biblical peace is something that we make by engaging in healthy, redemptive, life-giving conflict when necessary—especially with those whose actions and patterns are hurting us, other people, and/or them. Jesus said, “Blessed are the peace-makers.” But what does this mean?

To make peace is to rescue a hurtful person from himself

Paul writes that if anyone is “caught” in a transgression, those who are “spiritual” should restore him (Gal. 6:1). If a person is caught in a transgression, it means he has actually been overtaken by a sin. It now controls him and, if he is to be freed of it, he will need outside intervention. Some of us have participated in an intervention with a drug addict or an alcoholic. When friends or family notice that a loved one is being overtaken by an addictive substance, they come together and lovingly seek to rescue the addict from his own, self-destructive patterns. To ignore the problem would be terribly unloving. To do everything in your power to block a person from continuing in destructive patterns—this is true love and true peace-making.

Peace-making is counterintuitive

None of us wants to confront. We fear uncomfortable conversations and potential rejection, so we may choose to ignore hurtful patterns in others, or, perhaps worse, to flatter them into thinking that there is nothing wrong with their behavior. When Paul says to “restore” a person caught in transgression (Gal. 6:1-2), the same word in other ancient writings refers to the re-setting of a broken or dislocated bone. The re-setting of a bone is excruciating at first, and is usually followed by a low-grade pain that could last for weeks or even months. But once the bone is fully healed, it is usually stronger than it ever was before it was broken. When friends confront friends, and loved ones confront loved ones for sinful and destructive patterns, it is comparable to the re-setting of a bone. But instead it is a re-setting of the heart and of the person’s character. It flows from a vision to see God restore the person’s original moral beauty to him, to heal and re-align his life to the way things are supposed to be. It is a small, tangible way to bring the peace or ‘shalom’ of heaven to the present earth.

True peace-making is done in a gentle, humble inviting spirit

Galatians 5:15 warns against our potential to “bite and devour” each other. We are warned because whenever we are offended—whenever someone fails (fails us!)—we tend to become aggressive toward the perpetrator in one of two ways. We may become active-aggressive (the fight impulse) by telling them off, asserting our rights, pointing fingers, making ourselves out to be the sole victim, beating them up with our words. Or, we may become passive-aggressive (the flight impulse) by withdrawing relationally, making the person pay with our silent snubs, gossiping about them to others, or even leaving the relationship altogether.

We must see that both forms of aggression—active and passive—are self-medicating strategies employed to soften our own pain by increasing the pain of the enemy. But the Bible calls for a different kind of confrontation—the kind that prizes the healing of the enemy and the restoration of the relationship. So we are to approach this effort in a spirit of gentleness and humility. Biblical peace-making is confrontation in a sinner-safe environment. The goal is two-fold. First, we must do everything in our power to ensure the person feels safe with us and not condemned (because we are just as capable of the sin). Second, we must do everything in our power to ensure that the person is rescued from patterns that are harmful to him and/or to others.

Peace-making requires a heart that is saturated with the Gospel

The only way to gain the emotional wealth needed to respond to an offense with gentleness and humility instead of active or passive aggression, is if our hearts and identity are secure in the gospel. To the degree that we are experiencing freedom from condemnation in God’s eyes through our union with Christ, we will not fear rejection from the person we confront. If we understand that we are fully loved and secure in our relationship with God as Father—that God loves us as much as he loves Jesus, all the time—we will envision even our enemies flourishing in the gospel. We will view ourselves as partners with God, on a mission not to put offensive people in their place but, as JI Packer says, to make people great by calling them to a more beautiful, Christ-like heart and character.

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Scott Sauls, a graduate of Furman University and Covenant Seminary, is foremost a son of God and the husband of one beautiful wife (Patti), the father of two fabulous daughters (Abby and Ellie), and the primary source of love and affection for a small dog (Lulu). Professionally, Scott serves as the Senior Pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tennessee. Prior to Nashville, Scott was a Lead and Preaching Pastor, as well as the writer of small group studies, for Redeemer Presbyterian of New York City. His first book Jesus Outside the Lines: A Way Forward for Those Who Are Tired of Taking Sides releases March 1. Twitter: @scottsauls.

Originally posted at www.scottsauls.com. Used with permission.

2 Big Reasons Evangelism Isn’t Working

One in five Americans don’t believe in a deity. Less than half of the population attends religious services on a regular basis. People simply find our evangelism unbelievable.

Why?

While a person’s response to Christ is ultimately a matter that rests in God’s sovereign hands—something we have no control over—a person’s hearing of the gospel is a matter we do have control over and responsibility for.

• “Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season…” 2 Tim. 4:2
• Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. – Col. 4:4-5
• So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.  Romans 10:17

The first reason our evangelism isn’t believable is because it isn’t done in grace for each person.

Paul isn’t just saying evangelism is our responsibility; he’s telling us to do it “in person.” Unfortunately, a lot of evangelism is an out of body experience, as if there aren’t two persons in a conversation. It’s excarnate, out of the flesh, not incarnate—in the flesh.

I’m reminded of the more passive Christian who looks to get Jesus off his chest at work and into a conversation. “Check!” Or the time in college when I pretended to share the gospel with a friend in Barnes & Noble so others would overhear it! Alternatively, an active evangelist might troll blogs and start conversations to defeat arguments, while losing people in the process. “Aha!” The comment section on a blog is the new street corner.

These approaches are foolish because they treat people like projects to be completed, not persons to be loved. Have you ever been on the other end of evangelistic project? Perhaps from a Jehovah’s Witness or Mormon at your door. Or a pushy pluralist at work? You don’t  feel loved; you feel used, like a pressure sale.

Paul says we should “know how you ought to answer each person.” This means that most of your gospel explanations will be different, not canned. It also implies a listening evangelism. How can we know how to respond to each person, if we don’t know each person?

When Francis Schaeffer was asked how he would an hour with a non-Christian, he said: “I would listen for fifty-five minutes, and then, in the last five minutes I would have something to say.”

A second reason people find our evangelism is unbelievable is because it is foolish.

Paul isn’t just telling us evangelism is personal; he’s telling us to do it with wisdom. Wisdom possesses more than knowledge; it expresses knowledge through understanding. It considers life circumstances and applies knowledge with skill. Another word for this is love.

Love is inefficient. It slows down long enough to understand people and their objections to the gospel. Love recognizes people are complex, and meets them in their need: suffering, despair, confusion, indifference, cynicism, confusion. We should look to surface these objections in people’s lives. I was recently having lunch with an educated professional who had a lot of questions. After about thirty minutes he said, “Enough about me. You’re asking me questions. I should ask you questions.” I responded by saying, “I want to hear your questions, but I also want to know you so that I can respond to your questions with wisdom.” He told me some very personal things after that, and it shed a lot of light on his objections to Christianity. It made my comments much more informed, and he felt much more loved, declaring at the end, “I wish every lunch was like this. Let’s keep doing this. I have a lot more questions.”

Rehearsing a memorized fact, “Jesus died on the cross for your sins,” isn’t walking in wisdom. Many people don’t know what we mean when we say “Jesus,” “sin,” or “cross.” While much of America still has cultural memory of these things, they are often misunderstood and confused with “moral teacher,” “be good,” and “irrelevant suffering.” We have to slow down long enough to explore what they mean, and why they have trouble with these words and concepts. Often they are tied to some kind of pain.

We need to explain these important truths (and more), not simply assert them. When we discerningly separate cultural misunderstanding from a true understanding of the gospel, we move forward in wisdom. But getting to that point typically doesn’t happen overnight.

We need to see evangelism as a long-term endeavor. Stop checking the list and defeating others. Be incarnate not excarnate in your evangelism. Slow down and practice listening and love. Most conversions are not the result of a single, point-in-time conversation, but the culmination of a personal process that includes doubt, reflection, gospel witness, love, and the work of the Holy Spirit.

And remember, don’t put pressure on yourself; conversion is in God’s hands. We just get to share the incomparable news of Jesus.

In sum, how you communicate the gospel matters.

Does Anything Need to Change in Personal Evangelism? from Jonathan Dodson on Vimeo.

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

Jonathan’s new book is The Unbelievable Gospel: Say Something Worth Believing (resource website here). You can also get his free ebook “Four Reasons Not to Share Your Faith.”

Re-posted with permission from Desiring God.