Thankfulness: Deep, Loud, & Dangerous

This week until Thanksgiving, everyone will be talking about thankfulness, so it’s especially important to ensure we understand it from a biblical perspective. Scripture has plenty to say on this subject. Among other things, it tells us that thankfulness is deeper, louder, and more dangerous than we might think.

Designed by God

Thankfulness goes much deeper than we might think. It’s not a human idea. In fact, it was in the Creator’s mind when he created. The Apostle Paul says food was created by God “to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth . . . ” and then immediately goes on to broaden this out to ‘everything’ God created (1 Tim. 4:3-4). This is a massive theological claim. God created corn on the cob, steak, pasta, avocados (dare we say even brussel sprouts and liver?) with a specific purpose in mind: that they would be received and then result in thanksgiving flowing back to him. Even a grape and a tangerine can lead a purpose-driven life. Who knew that baby carrots and barbecue ribs and escargot had a telos? They do. So do sunsets and flowers and rain, and good conversations and sweet sleep. God intended them to produce thanksgiving. Thankfulness is the God-designed follow-through to God-given blessing.

Giving thanks to God is living along the grain of the universe, savoring God’s creation in sync with the Creator. It’s one of the very best ways of bringing glory to God (2 Cor. 4:15). On the other hand, enjoying a meal or conversation or movie without feeling thanks to God is a tragic exercise in missing the point. It’s a waste, like using a laptop as a paperweight. It’s a damaging mistake, like using a light bulb as a hammer.

Meant to Be Overheard

Thankfulness can be silent and personal. But very often it ought to be loud enough to be heard by others. Thankfulness wants to point others toward God. And it wants to be a group activity. “Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together!” Thankfulness is much happier when someone else can say “Amen” (1 Cor. 14:16-17).

In John 11, God (the Son) gives thanks to God (the Father). Jesus stands before the tomb of Lazarus and prays aloud, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.” He then continues praying, stating to God why he said just thanks out loud: “I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” In other words, Jesus gives thanks to God aloud because he wants the other people present to overhear his thanksgiving and believe in God and in his mission. That’s the whole point. Thankfulness is meant to point others toward God.

In Acts 27, the Apostle Paul is sailing for Rome as a prisoner. The ship he’s traveling on gets caught and driven along in a storm for many days, the crew frantically throwing all the cargo overboard. Finally, they approach land and spend a long night in the dark, anchors down. In the morning, here’s what happens: “Paul urged them all to take some food, saying, ‘Today is the fourteenth day that you have continued in suspense and without food, having taken nothing. Therefore I urge you to take some food. It will give you strength, for not a hair is to perish from the head of any of you.’ And when he had said these things, he took bread, and giving thanks to God in the presence of all he broke it and began to eat.”

I love this little phrase “. . . And giving thanks to God in the presence of all . . . ” It had been fourteen days since Paul had eaten! He must have been starving. Here was bread in his hands, finally. But he paused and prayed. He gave thanks “in the presence of all”—clearly meaning for these sailors to learn something about God and about the purpose of food. Paul was living with the grain of the universe, going vertical with thanks, and doing it loud enough for others to hear.

Easily Misused

But thankfulness can be dangerous. It’s striking that in the famous story of the Pharisee and the tax collector (Luke 18:9-14), the one who’s recorded as expressing thankfulness is the Pharisee. “God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.” Of course, this isn’t true thankfulness. True thankfulness is a posture of great humility before God the giver. The Pharisee is using his supposed thankfulness in order to puff himself up. He’s taking something designed to make much of God and instead using it to make much of himself. His thankfulness is false cover for his pride. The spotlight operator has turned the spotlight from the stage and is now standing, lit up with ludicrous glory, on the balcony. Pathetic and bizarre. God is clearly not pleased with this perversion of thankfulness. He rejects the Pharisee.

But lest we run too quickly to judgment . . . have we ever used thankfulness amiss? Have we ever publicly thanked God for an accomplishment and in so doing, wished for the accomplishment to be known more than the One we’re thanking? Have we ever tweeted “Thankful to God that my new article . . . my most recent speaking engagement . . . my kids . . . ” and mainly used our thankfulness to announce our latest achievement? Maybe? Just saying. How easy it is for the spotlight to turn from the stage to the stage hand.

This Thanksgiving, I’m thankful for thankfulness, thankful that God has built it into the fabric of the universe, maximizing both his glory and our joy as we live in sync with his design.

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Stephen Witmer is Pastor of Pepperell Christian Fellowship in Pepperell, MA and teaches New Testament at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He is the author of the forthcoming Eternity Changes Everything: How to Live Now in the Light of Your Future (Good Book Company). Follow him on Twitter: @stephenwitmer1.

3 Ways Not to Share Jesus with Millennials

Over the course of the last six months, I’ve been communicating almost daily with a friend who was my small group leader when I was in middle and high school. We’ll call him Kurt. Kurt was an awesome youth small group leader.

What I never knew was that he also loved making techno music. Now living in Berlin and signed to a record label, Kurt is one of the most popular DJs of house music and plays some of the largest clubs in Europe.

Many in the Christian community ostracized him when he began to pursue his music career, and the people of God have been more of a judge and jury than they have been friends and family.

Since leaving the country and experiencing a myriad of cultures, Kurt’s faith has started to wane. Today, he identifies as a Christian-leaning agnostic. He believes Christianity causes good, but he’s not sold on the inspiration of Scripture and many supernatural events in the Bible, which naturally produces obstacles on the road to true faith in Jesus.

As I’ve been discussing world events and sharing the gospel with Kurt over the last six months or so, I realized many of the phrases I was taught to use as apologetic tools while growing up in church simply were not working.

Kurt is a Millennial, barely, but his situation is not unlike many older Millennials. He’s smart, engaged with culture, and open-minded. He is open to Christianity, but when people share the gospel with him and cannot answer any questions that come from their proposals, he starts to wonder if anyone actually believes what they’re saying.

When we share the gospel with Millennials, we have to understand that everything will be called into question. Glittering Christian assumptions, like the ones below, may have been sufficient in our culture when Christianity was king, but they don’t work with Millennials now.

Here are three ways not to share Jesus with Millennials:

1. “The Bible says Jesus is the only way to heaven. That’s all you need.”

If you attempt to share Jesus with a Millennial by appealing to the authority of the Scriptures alone, you’re going to sound like you’re proposing that cats wear hats because Dr. Seuss says so.

Ok, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point: if you try to prove the legitimacy of Jesus as Savior with Scripture, you’re going to immediately have to field the question, “Why should I believe what the Bible says?” and now you’ve just gotten yourself into a much more nuanced conversation that will be difficult to navigate, so be prepared.

Because of the increased secularization of American culture, you’re going to have to go beyond telling people to trust the Bible blindly—you have to explain why the Bible deserves to be trusted.

Instead of simply appealing to the Bible as the ultimate evidence one needs to believe in Jesus, be ready to defend the legitimacy of the Scriptures as reliable, historical documents, because they are!

2. “Jesus is our lover and protector. He makes life awesome.”

Have you paid attention to what happens to the disciples of Jesus? Faithful followers of Jesus rest in joy of eternity amidst the turmoil of the present.

The promises of God do not prevent pain, and pastors, don’t pretend they do.

If Millennial values hold true, and if the secularization of culture persists, the prosperity gospel is going to die a slow, painful, deserved death. Young people have experienced enough economic and institutional instability to know that life is tough, even for those resting in Jesus.

Pastors, pay attention to what your young people are reading and sharing on social media. People know the world is messed up, and they’re not naïve enough to think pledging allegiance to Jesus is going to make everything immediately better. To be sure, followers of Jesus find untouchable peace in the finished work of Christ, but that doesn’t mean life is always peachy.

Even the man who built his house on the rock had to endure the storm.

Don’t pitch prosperity nonsense. Not just because it’s untrue, but because it usually doesn’t work.

Having faith in Christ doesn’t prevent problems, but it gives us a foundation on which to stand when they come, because they will. Even more, if the storms of life leave us in a heap, the foundation of Christ is our only hope for new life.

Instead of pitching a health and wealth gospel, share the comfort found in Christ amidst life’s hardest times.

3. “The Church has been a dominant force for thousands of years, how could that many people be wrong?”

This is precisely the sort of thing you do not want to say to a Millennial to share Christ. Among many unchurched young people, particularly atheists, the Church is seen as an oppressive, money hungry organization built to be the biggest ponzi scheme in the world. We’ve already looked at the fact that Millennials are averse toward institutions, so pitching the authority of the Church because its aged institutionalism is probably not the wisest way to approach an unbelieving Millennial.

I love the Church deeply. I am committed to the establishment of the local church as the greatest force of social and spiritual change the world will ever know, but most young people are not. If you’re going to reach unbelieving Millennials, lead with the love of Jesus.

God sent Jesus (Jn. 3:16), and Jesus sends us (Matt. 28:18-20). The gospel has been missional from the beginning. The love of God fuels our love for others, and the grace of God fuels our pursuit of justice for others. The gospel is the fuel for social justice.

Instead of appealing to the dominant force of the Church, appeal to the life-changing love of Christ.

God Grows Faith in Millennials Hearts

Sharing Christ with others is almost never easy. We’re afraid of people rejecting what is at the core of our being, which makes us understandably timid. Thankfully, the same Jesus that saves sinners equips the saints to share the gospel. If you’re going to share Christ with Millennials, begin by praying and spending time with the Savior you’re sharing.

An unwillingness to share the gospel is ultimately an unwillingness to trust God and pursue the mission given to us by Jesus. The Great Commission is not a solo mission. In 1 Corinthians 3:6-7, Paul says, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.” God will grow faith in Millenial hearts. He will make disciples by the power of the Spirit in that demographic. The gospel is the power of God for salvation—even among Millenials.

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Chris Martin (@ChrisMartin17) is a social media facilitator at LifeWay Christian Resources in, an M.Div. student at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and blogger at Millennial Evangelical where he hopes to help pastors and Christians better understand, reach, and serve Millennials. He lives in Nashville with his wife, Susie, and hopes to pastor in the future.

Tethered to the Gospel

Common Grace and Scoliosis

My mouth dropped and my eyes filled with tears as the surgeon lifted my daughter’s spine x-ray up to the light box. As a former chiropractic assistant, I had seen my share of spine films twisting and coiling from scoliosis; I had no idea one day the film I saw would be my own eleven year old daughter’s. Four months earlier, a checkup as part of a school transfer had revealed that Sarah’s thoracic spine was beginning to curve into her right shoulder blade. Now, the x-ray showed that instead of stabilizing, the curve had nearly doubled in size. At her age, with the trajectory of progress her condition seemed to be on, it was no longer a question of if my daughter needed surgery, but what kind she should have, and how quickly she should have it.

Scoliosis is rarely fatal in and of itself, but left uncontrolled, an excessively curving spine can make everyday activities painful, give women difficulty during pregnancy, childbirth, and menopause, and restrict heart and lung function—not to mention the psychological trauma of disfigurement so distinctive that in earlier centuries it was associated with demon possession (and still is today in some countries). The surgical “gold standard” for progressing scoliosis in adolescents is spinal fusion, a complex surgery which sandwiches the spine between rods, and screws threaded through them, into the vertebrae. Fusion is usually corrective, but it renders parts of the spine permanently immobile, inhibits growth, and can stress the non-fused portion of the spine, causing pain, arthritis and the need for more surgeries later in life.  Sarah would need to spend the formative years of junior high and high school in a shoulder to hip brace, which would hopefully squeeze her spine into submission until she was nearly done growing. Then she would have the fusion surgery and spend months recovering. It was a daunting, discouraging prospect. There had to be a different approach.

Through the common grace of the Internet, we discovered a brand new type of spine surgery that leverages rapid adolescent growth to correct scoliosis curves. Similar in approach to orthodontic braces with teeth, vertebral body tethering involves inserting screws on the outside of a spinal curve, and a heavy polyethylene cable threaded through the heads of the screws, which are then tightened to straighten the spine part way. As an adolescent child continues to grow, the tension on the cord causes the spine to continue to straighten, often completely. With no fusion to restrict movement or inhibit growth unnecessarily, kids who receive this type of surgery are able to enjoy sports and all kinds of physical activity with no restrictions, With freedom of motion and growth maintained, and little to no risk of complications associated with fusion, kids are able to grow, play any sport, and generally return to just being growing kids.

One month of insurance drama, round the clock emailing and phone calling, and an eventual plane flight across the country later, I again looked at an x-ray of my daughter’s spine with eyes filled with tears, this time from inexpressible thankfulness as she slept nearby in a hospital bed.  In less than five hours, the chief of surgery at Shriners Hospital in Philadelphia had done the tethering procedure, and taken a post-operative film to make sure everything was just right, and it was, beautifully so. Sarah’s curve was less than half of what it had been mere hours before.

Today, six months after her surgery, Sarah has dived, literally, back into all the water sports she loves, with several small scars her only visible reminder of the procedure, as the invisible tether helps her grow stronger and straighter every day. The experience itself was sanctifying for our entire family. But through it, I have given a profound, and profoundly helpful, picture of how the “tether” of the gospel, rather than the crushing of the law, empowers our life as believers in Jesus.

homo incurvatus in se

Martin Luther summarized our battle with sin with the Latin phrase homo incurvatus in se—humanity curved in toward self.  My natural “bent” is away from God. Left to myself, I see only myself—my needs, my desires, my idols—and I am powerless to change. I need spiritual surgery.

The gospel, Paul reminds us in Romans 1, is that power. United with Christ through repentance and faith and made alive through the Holy Spirit, it is the power of the gospel that “tethers” our hearts and minds, reducing the curving inwardness of our sin and lifting our hearts towards our heavenly Father. In our times of struggle with temptation and discouragement, it is the tether of the gospel that keeps us from coiling back in on ourselves.

When my children seem determined to make Titus 3:3 their collective life verse, it is the tether of the gospel that helps me respond to them with the same goodness and kindness God showed in saving me (Ti 3:4).

When the administrivia of junior high homework and house projects “get in the way” of my plans for writing and study, the tether of the gospel reminds me of the One who emptied Himself of his glory to become a servant for me (Phil 2:7).

When my husband does not utter the precise arrangements of words and phrases that would make me feel loved at the precise moment I want him to, the tether of the gospel reminds me that God exults over me with singing (Zeph. 3:17).

And when the weight of my sin and weaknesses and failures begin to curve my heart inward toward my wretched self, it is the tether of the gospel that reminds me that before the very foundation of the world, God had chosen me in Christ before the very foundation of the world and that redemption and forgiveness are mine in him, forever (Eph 1).

The law can only crush me into rigid, outer conformity. But the tether of the gospel empowers me to move freely, as a beloved child of God and a growing disciples of Jesus Christ by curving my affections towards the Triune God.

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Rachael Starke (@RachaelStarke) lives with her husband and three daughters in San Jose, California. A graduate of The Master's College, she is now pursuing a master's degree in Nutritional Science, and writes about the intersection of spiritual and physical nutrition at What Food Is For. She also writes for and co-edits Gospel-Centered Woman, a newly repository of resources for for pastoral staff and lay leaders to support women’s discipleship through the local church. She and her family are members of West Hills Community Church in Morgan Hill.

Battling the Idolatry of Insecurity

What was your middle school experience like? To most people, that question will make them cringe. It conjures up all sorts of awkwardness and feelings of insecurity. As someone who consistently struggles with insecurity, many of my days are spent feeling like a frail middle schooler: perpetually in a state of crippling self-doubt and anxiety.

You may not struggle with insecurity as much as I do, but we all have it. I'm assuming most of us would not consider it a virtue. So, how should we fight it?

I was curious how our Westernized, self-help culture would combat this problem, so I investigated some pop psychology blogs to see what they said. What I found were all sorts of strategies to cope with insecurity, things like:

• "Remember your successes instead of your failures."
• "Visualize only good things happening to you."
• "Pursue something you're good at."
• "Surround yourself with only positive people."

There was even one blog that advocated creating a “self-esteem file.”

"It’s a collection of anything anyone has ever said, written, indicated that can be categorized as positive. Someone says something shallow like, ‘I like your shoes.’ Sure, put it in there, with a note ‘I have good taste in shoes.’ Another person mutters, ‘Dude, thanks for listening.’ That goes in there as well: ‘I am a good listener.’”

Ridiculous, right? Here's the thing: I've tried all of these before! So hear me when I say that I found them all lacking. They may bring short-term relief, but they are not solutions, only band-aids. Self-esteem only goes so far because we never live up to our own standards. If our record exclusively informs our view of worth, then we will never feel secure.

Veiled Schemes of Self-Righteousness

We usually think of pride and insecurity as antonyms but they are more like synonyms in this sense: both are veiled schemes of self-righteousness. Pride is thinking too high of oneself and insecurity is thinking too low of oneself, but both put an improper focus on the self. You see, the solution to insecurity is to not look inward but upward.

"The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold” (Psalm 18:2). Sound secure enough for you? Seriously, could there be any stronger anthem for the insecure to proclaim than that? In Christ, there is no need to be self-righteous because we have been given righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21). We are adopted sons and daughters (Eph. 1:5) and God lavishes his love upon us so much so that we can never be separated from him (Rom. 8:38-39). There is no condemnation in Christ (Rom. 8:1) and God effectually says to us what he said to Jesus, "You are my beloved child in whom I am well pleased” (Mk. 1:11). That’s something we can lean into. That’s something that can bear the weight of our self-doubt. That’s where we should find our confidence, security, and significance.

Tim Keller in The Freedom of Self Forgetfulness describes what life would look like if we lived out this gospel-shaped vision of identity:

“Friends, wouldn’t you want to be a person who does not need honour — nor is afraid of it? Someone who does not lust for recognition — nor, on the other hand, is frightened to death of it? Don’t you want to be the kind of person who, when they see themselves in a mirror or reflected in a shop window, does not admire what they see but does not cringe either? Wouldn’t you like to be the type of person who, in their imaginary life, does not sit around fantasizing about hitting self-esteem home-runs, daydreaming about successes that gives them the edge over others?"

Yes, yes, and yes!

The Idolatry of Insecurity

Martyn Lloyd-Jones once wrote, "Most of the unhappiness in your life is because you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself." When your inner middle-schooler comes out, preach to yourself. Don’t battle the idolatry of insecurity with shallow tricks of bolstering your self-esteem. Instead, boldly declare the above-mentioned gospel cues and let the good news soak into your soul. Take confidence and lean into the Savior, knowing that only he can bear the weight. After all, combating insecurity is a discipleship issue. Jesus once told his followers that they must deny themselves to follow him (Matt. 16:24-25). For the insecure (and those discipling the insecure), the focus must be on death to find life—death to the doubts, fears and misplaced sources of significance and life in our grace-giving God.

If there is one redeeming quality to insecurity, it is this: it points us to our need. My prayer for you and myself is that every time it whispers its doubt we will be prompted to turn our eyes upon Jesus.

"Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting" (Ps. 139:23-24).

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Tim Briggs, his wife Jenni, and their three sons Cooper, Graden and Cayson live in Charlotte, NC. Tim is the Creative Media Pastor at Church at Charlotte and is attending classes at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Twitter: @timbriggshere.

4 Ways to Apply Grace to Fight for Holiness

Christians believe in the gospel. Simply put, God became human in Jesus Christ; Jesus lived a sinless life; in his perfection, Jesus died as an atoning sacrifice for sin; and he was resurrected. Christians believe this life to be the power of God’s grace—we are powerless to save ourselves, but God in Christ has reconciled us to himself. Grace is what justifies us before God. Millions—if not billions—of people alive believe the truth of the gospel. They confess it freely. But the question many of them have is what’s next after this confession. They might say, “I believe the gospel to be true. But what do I do now? How do I grow spiritually?” For centuries, churches have recommended corporate worship, Bible study, prayer, and a host of other spiritual practices. But I’ve recently found when people ask me how they are to grow spiritually, they are actually asking a different question. They are recognizing a universal experience in the Christian life—they are still tempted to sin.

If grace has justified me before God, how does grace change me over a lifetime? God gives his grace freely in Jesus Christ and in Scripture; the Christian journey is one of applying that grace to our brokenness over the course of a lifetime. The application of grace is the way we fight for holiness in life.

How to Fight For Holiness

1. Identify the lie you believe.

We all believe lies about ourselves. These lies are different for each of us, but belief in lies is universal. The prophet Jeremiah puts it this way: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jer. 17:9) You do not need to wonder whether you, too, believe lies about yourself. Instead, you must identify what the lie you believe is.

Our tendency is to focus on the concrete, to focus on our actions. We spot the actions or attitudes in our lives we do not like, and we want to change them. We make plans or resolutions and through sheer willpower, we change behaviors. This sort of behavior modification is good and works in many circumstances. We want to stop biting our nails, so we resolve to do so.

But the darkest places in our heart and actions are not able to be overcome by willpower, for those dark places are not about the actions. The dark places are about motives and loves. And these are the places where the lies live. The place where anger, jealousy, insecurity, lust, lies, and fakery thrive. And these sorts of motives and loves feed upon the lies. As Matthew 12:34-35 reminds us, “How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”

If you want to apply the grace of Jesus to your life, you must be willing to spelunk into these dark places and examine your heart. You will need to ask some difficult questions to find the emotional and spiritual motives behind some of your actions. No easy answers are allowed in the dark places.

Addictive behavior often falls into the same trap. I choose to look at pornography, drink excessively, or abuse illegal drugs because I believe that the pleasure I will receive from succumbing to my addiction will supersede all other pleasures available to me. I have convinced myself peace comes through my addiction; the behavior killing me is the one I believe best-suited to satiate my thirst. I believe a lie: The greatest pleasure in my life comes from participating in addictive behavior, not God.

Surface behavior is rarely the root problem. Behaviors are often symptoms of something deeper within our hearts. We believe things about others, ourselves, the world, or God, and we then act upon those deeply held beliefs. Often those beliefs are so deeply rooted within our personality or our past that we cannot even immediately identify them. As a lifelong struggler of insecurity and people pleasing, it took multiple conversations with my wife and friends—along with extended time in prayer and reflection—to begin to notice the lies beneath my behaviors. Rooting out the lies we believe can often be the most difficult part of the process, for it often requires us to visit emotional and spiritual wounds we would prefer to forget or ignore.

2. Find the grace-centered truth of Scripture.

The preceding spiritual lies are false thoughts taking up residence within our current belief structures. These false thoughts are causing us to behave in ways we know are in opposition to Kingdom living. In order to fight the lies, we must replace the false thoughts with the truth. The written source of truth for the Kingdom life is found in Scripture. In order to change our life, we must find the truth of Scripture and allow it to combat the lies. Hebrews 4:12 describes the Scripture as a sword, able to divide between soul and spirit. The truth found within the pages of the Bible must become the weapon you use. These lies are not new; humanity has been recycling the same lies for millennia.

To battle lies with the truth, we need to know the themes of Scripture. Because the lies we tell ourselves are not always about the outward symptom (drugs, pornography, etc.) but instead about heart motivations, we must ensure we are allowing the Word of God to speak to the lie itself, not simply the symptom. Take anger for example. A root lie for anger says, “I believe I am entitled to a life I control.” In order to combat this belief, I must find what Scripture says regarding control.

“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” (Matt. 6:24).

“In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind” (Job 12:10).

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28).

“Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases” (Ps.115:3).

“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today” (Gen. 50:20).

Repeatedly, Scripture testifies that the Lord is sovereign over all of creation. While I am allowed great freedom to act within the world, the Bible clearly states that everything is seen by his gracious eye and everything passes through his hand. If my anger stems from a desire to control, these (and many other) verses are essential. The lie? I am entitled to a life I control. The truth? God is in control and sovereign over my life.

Once you have identified the lie, finding the truth of Scripture becomes a quest. Do not only settle on the easily discovered Scriptures; instead, dive into Scripture every day. Read the New Testament repeatedly—like any great text, it takes multiple readings to grasp its depth. The more you read, the more the truth of God will replace the lies within your mind. If you keep a running list of Scriptures with the truth that combats your resident lie, you will soon find you have an extensive armory. Even further—and perhaps more important—Scripture is best understood when it is read and interpreted in communally. You need to read the Scripture with other believers so that you can understand it. Deuteronomy 6 exhorts parents to teach their children in this way—talking about the Scripture as they journey together. When you read Scripture in community, allowing it to address the lies present in your life, you will quickly find Proverbs 27:17 true, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”

3. Apply the grace of Jesus.

Once you have stocked your built your armory, you are now prepared for the fight. And there will be a fight.

When temptation comes, you will be better-equipped to recognize it for what it is—the seduction to believe and act upon a lie. You will recognize your anger as the lie of control; you will know your desire for people-pleasing is actually your misguided understanding of self-worth.

And in that moment, you must act decisively—you must choose to act upon the truth instead of the lie. This is a tension, to be sure. You are not justified by your action; you are justified by grace. But in that justified state, you are now freed to act upon grace as empowered by the Spirit. The Spirit’s leadership is found within Scripture’s truth. Therefore, you must remember those stockpiled truths and act upon them. Acting upon Scripture instead of self-created lies is the practical application of the purchased grace of Jesus.

• God is ultimately in control (Scripture), not me (lie), so I can resist anger.
• God declares me to be a child of the King (Scripture), not others (lie), so I can resist the need to unnecessarily people-please.
• God alone is the judge (Scripture), not me (lie), so I am not required to immediately criticize the actions of others.
• God is the ultimate pleasure and joy in life (Scripture), not my addictive behavior (lie), so I am free to enjoy him.

Contemporary neurology affirms what you instinctively know to be true. Years of acquiescing to spiritual lies create neural superhighways which feel like second nature. To choose to act upon Scripture’s truth will be difficult, because it will be the hacking of a neural path through the thick underbrush of amassed past decisions. In fact, current neurology explains that to create new neural pathways can be painful, as it indicates new neural growth. In spite of the pain, the decision to act upon the truth is the step toward freedom. You are creating new thought patterns within your mind; you are participating in the inception of holiness.

4. Repeat. For life.

The temptations will always come, but the more you choose to act upon the grace of Jesus imparted within Scripture, the more your machete-hacked neural path becomes a well-worn road. Eventually, the decision for holiness becomes its own superhighway. Like any behavior, the new habit of holiness will eventually take hold, and the truth will more naturally supplant the lie.

You will fail and fall down some days. You will fall prey to old temptations and use the old pathways. But, on those days, do not believe the lie that you are a failure. Instead, embrace the truth of the gospel. Remember 2 Corinthians 12:9, “‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” In your weakness, God continues to give grace, and he never ceases to do so. The well of Jesus’ love does not run dry.

Spiritual maturity is the journey of a lifetime, and it is a journey that we never complete until the day we “will be like him, for we will see him as he is” (1 Jn. 3:2). Paul encourages believers to “work out your salvation” (Phil. 2:12). Much like our contemporary use of “working out,” the application of grace is an exercise or a solving of spiritual issues. It is breaking old patterns of thoughts and behaviors through the process of grace. It is what Jesus referred to when he commanded his disciples to take up their cross each day (Lk. 9:23). Nevertheless, walking with Christ daily is a source of incredible peace and joy—it is the greatest delight of the heart. So find the lies you believe; replace them with the truth of Scripture; and act upon the grace purchased at the cross. This is the path of holiness—the path of a mature disciples.

This is the Kingdom life, the truth of Jesus, made alive in us. As Paul wrote in Galatians 2, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me!” May you apply the grace of God each day in your journey to know him alive in you. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Cor. 5:17).

—

Steve Bezner is Senior Pastor of Houston Northwest Church. He holds degrees from Hardin-Simmons University (B.A., Bible; M.A., Religion) and Baylor University (Ph.D., Religion). He is married to Joy and has two sons: Ben and Andrew. Follow him on Twitter: @Bezner.

Looking for Hope in a Better Person

You’re a night security guard and the only Christian on duty. Another guard suddenly sticks his head into your office. Pointing his finger he almost accuses, “You’re one of those ‘Christians,’ right?” Nothing good ever follows that question. No one gives you a high five, says “good job,” and goes about their business. They want to debate, challenge, or stump you. You hesitantly respond, “Yeah . . .” He crosses his arms, looks you square in the eye and then comes the challenge: “I do drugs. What would Jesus say about that?” How would you respond—in a way that might actually resonate?

Three Insufficient Responses

I’ve posed this scenario, which actually happened to a guy I know named Nick, in trainings around the country. No matter where I am, I hear these responses,

“Um, I Don’t Know Exactly”

For some, our gut response would be to look down, stammer, and ashamedly admit we don’t know what Jesus would say. Maybe it’s the outlandish honesty or the shock of a challenge at 2 a.m. Perhaps we have a hard time putting Jesus’ response into words. Or our people-pleaser kicks in and we simply can’t tell him the core of what we believe. A common response to this question is a blank stare. Put yourself in the shoes of the asker: “I don’t know” looks like ignorance.

“He’d tell you to stop”

For others, the answer would stem from the moralistic, humanist culture we grew up in. Our answer is some form of Bob Newhart’s MADtv sketch: a counselee admits a number of struggles, while Newhart “counsels” each with a blunt, “Stop it!” Even if we intellectually know Jesus is our savior, we function as if He is a good guy with ethical advice. Maybe we advise a few “good works.” Perhaps we appeal to legality (“you’ll get arrested”), personal welfare (“it might kill you”), heartstrings (“if you get arrested, can you imagine how your family will feel?”), or moralism (“you know it’s wrong”). It could be that we even quote a verse: “He’d say ‘you shall have no other gods before me’; that’s the first commandment.” Put yourself in the asker’s shoes again: “‘Stop it’” fits a view of God many already assume: a rule-giving, demanding, and impersonal deity.

“He died for your sin so you can be with Him in heaven”

A final common response acknowledges their need for the gospel. Maybe you’ve been praying for this guard. You’re elated that God finally opened the door. So you gush the gospel many of us know well. “He’d tell you that God is perfect and heaven is perfect, but because of sin, you’re not perfect. God sent Jesus to die for your sin so you can be reconciled to God and live eternal life with Him. If you accept Jesus He’ll forgive your sin of drugs.” This is true—and praise God it is! But if he’s ignoring God, he doesn’t care about heaven. If he’s like much of the world, he doesn’t believe he’s too bad a person. If he’s a common American, it’s likely he doesn’t fully understand sin or his need for Jesus. Even the objective, big-picture gospel is not a sufficient answer.

“Like Children, Tossed To And Fro . . .”

These responses fail to get to the heart of our faith. The first is empty. the second is moralistic. The third sees the gospel as merely a past event that greatly benefits my future, but that has nothing to do with today. Many who question the gospel need to know how it applies to them in their current situation. Behind the challenging question is a heart in need of applicable truth.

Futile attempts like these are not unique to our culture. Writing to first-century Ephesus, Paul explains the goal of Christian life is maturity, then gives three ways we cannot attain that goal: “every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” First, exclusively pursuing doctrinal trends, teachers, or head-knowledge of the Bible isn’t enough. Second, we will always be let down by relying on our own power, to make new rules and fix each other. Third, false teachers deceive, spouting false hope and false ways to solve real issues.

But these are ways we often answer many questions, not just the 2 a.m. drug challenge. “How can God redeem my broken marriage?” “I’m so angry at my boss, what do I do?” “We just want a baby.” “How do these verses or commands apply to me?” “Where is God in this (recent tragedy)?” We answer, “I don’t know” (and if you’re really good, “. . . but I’ll pray for you.”) “Let me give you a great book on that.” “Let’s meet every week for accountability.” “Do these three things or steps.” “You just need to trust Jesus.” “One day, all this will be better.”

Applying An Objective Gospel To Subjective Situations

None of these, Paul would say, are sufficient for faith or maturity. He even calls answers like this childlike. Answers like these miss one of the great blessings of the gospel. It is a past event, both historically and personally for every Christian. It does give future hope, for personal reconciliation and the renewal of all things. But it also impacts every moment of our present lives. The gospel means something, to everyone, everyday, for every situation, whether they know it or not. Paul says that while those other ways fail, the one way to grow in Christ is to “speak the truth in love.”

This is why we listen well; why we learn stories. Within every complaint, struggle, and idol hides an opportunity to speak the objective truth of the gospel into someone’s subjective circumstance. Jeff Vanderstelt offers four areas to listen for, in every story, frustration, and situation, where we can intervene and point people toward Jesus:

• Identity: Who or what shapes their understanding of themselves? Where do they find personal value and worth?
• Brokenness: Where are things “different” than they’re supposed to be? What are areas of pain, hurt, and frustration? Who or what’s to blame?
• Redemption: What or who do they look to, to fix the brokenness? What or who makes everything right? What or who’s their functional redeemer?
• Hope: What does “right” look like? What would everything look like once everything is fixed? What or who is the center of that hope?

When we identify false identity or hope in someone’s life, see a misplaced view of brokenness, or hear the letdown of a false redeemer, we can point them toward a better story. We lead them to an identity and hope in God, not anything or anyone else. We define sin as the true brokenness, not any other problem. We point to Jesus as the only true Redeemer in the midst of the siren calls of false saviors. That loves them well, and speaks gospel truth in a way that addresses a direct need.

How Would You Respond?

“I do drugs. What would Jesus say about that?” Based on today’s content, how do we answer that question? What deeper need do the drugs really cover? What true struggle is he admitting? Put yourself in Nick’s shoes: how does the objective gospel apply to the guard’s subjective situation?

After thinking for a moment, Nick responded, “I think Jesus would tell you you’re looking for hope in a place that lets you down. And you know it lets you down because you have to take a hit three times a day. So I think Jesus would tell you He’s a better place to put your hope, because He promises He’ll never let you down.” Nick spoke the gospel truth into the basis of the guard’s personal hope. In thousands of years of history, sixty-six written books, and millions of lives across history, God has proven that Jesus is our greatest hope. The guard didn’t fall on his knees weeping that night. God didn’t redeem his soul in that office. But he uncrossed his arms, shook his head, and told Nick, “No one has ever told me that before. That actually makes a lot of sense.” That night, the guard walked having heard the gospel in a way that resonated with his present life and need.

—

Ben Connelly, his wife Jess, and their daughters Charlotte and Maggie live in Fort Worth, TX. He started and now co-pastors The City Church, part of the Acts29 network and Soma family of churches. Ben is also co-author of A Field Guide for Everyday Mission (Moody Publishers, 2014). With degrees from Baylor University and Dallas Theological Seminary, Ben teaches public speaking at TCU, writes for various publications, trains folks across the country, and blogs in spurts at benconnelly.net. Twitter: @connellyben.

(Editor’s Note: This is an excerpt from A Field Guide for Everyday Mission by Ben Connelly & Bob Roberts Jr. available from Moody Publishers starting June 2014. It appears here with the permission of the author and publisher. For free resources and preorders, visit everydaymission.net.)

Setting Your Heart at Rest

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

—1 John 3:19-22

Condemned.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Gospel Remedy

“God is greater than our hearts...”

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

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

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

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

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

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

“...and He knows everything.”

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

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

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

Genie: Al, you won.

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

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

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

The Liberating Rest

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

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

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

—

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

Moving Beyond Dad Issues

Father’s Day—some are grateful it’s just one day. There are many fathers who have heaped unbearable burdens upon their children with unrealistic demands. To you, this day reminds you of failure, not measuring up, not being who dad wanted you to be. For others, dad subtracted meaning from your life. Your dad just cut out on you, left mom for another woman, a career mistress, or never entered your life at all.

How do you respond to your father while edging out on the ice of fatherhood yourself?

Others see Father’s Day as an opportunity to honor someone they’re grateful for every day. Dad reminds you of warm approval, strong godly character, firm discipline, and vibrant faith. You don’t know how good you got it but you know it’s good. Fathers possess incredible power over their children, for good or for ill, and a new generation of Christian fathers are emerging with very poor role models. Is it possible to redeem your patriarchal past? How do you respond to your father while edging out on the ice of fatherhood yourself?

What to Do with a Not So Great Dad

St. Augustine had great mom and a not so great dad. Throughout his Confessions, (a Western classic every Christian should read), Augustine reflects on his mother’s prayerful faithfulness and his dad’s worldliness. In a passage in Book 2, he extols his father for providing for his education in literature and rhetoric. He notes that his father took great pains to secure the necessary finances. It is hard to imagine the Western Church without an educated Augustine. His books, ideas, and turns of phrase have been admired by many, believer and non.

Augustine shows us how to honor our fathers, even when they were less than honorable. Even if your father was absent and just cut a check for child support, at least he did that. Instead of ripping cynically on his absent dad, Augustine shows us how to carry out the Christian principle of “honor your father” by searching for anything positive and honoring him for that.

But what about his Dad’s absence, or worse, his very real, damaging presence?

Augustine describes his father’s neglect: “father took no pains as to how I was growing up before you [God], or as to how chaste I was, as long as I was cultivated in speech, even though I was a desert, uncultivated for you, O God, who are the one true and good Lord of that field which is my heart.”

Though he received a financial deposit, Augustine was raised in spiritual poverty by his father. His father approved winkingly over his sexual exploits, a badge of manhood. He sent his son in the wrong direction. Dad held the career high—a rhetorician—and Christ low. Augustine repeatedly reflects on his struggle with mistresses and sexual temptation remarking that he was “in love with love.”

Moving Beyond Dad Issues

Until he was conquered by a holy love: “You love, but are not inflamed with passion; you are jealous, yet free from care . . . who will help me, so that you will come into my heart and inebriate it, to the end that I may forget my evils and embrace you, my one good?”

The prison of his father’s neglect was redeemed by the heavenly Father’s attentive concern. Evils were slowly blotted out from his memory in the presence of the one, true Good. The way we move beyond our Dad issues isn’t to bury them, but to carry them to the Redeemer.

When I was preparing to become a father for the first time, I asked a good father friend for advice. He said, “Be a good dad by being a good son.” He was saying that fatherhood is less about technique and more about identity.

The more a man settles into the perfect love of God, the more his fathering becomes an approximation of the perfect Father. The more rooted you are in God’s approval, the more inclined you are to give it to your kids. The more you are aware of the holiness of God, the more you will call your children into his holiness—cultivating their soul. The more you are aware of God’s unfathomable grace, the more quick you will be to extend it to your children.

Dad, you have an opportunity to cultivate the soul of the next generation. You can point them to the “one true and good Lord of that field which is their heart.” You don’t have to be enough for them because God already is enough. Cultivate your soul and act like your heavenly Father toward your kids. Teach them the gospel, repent quickly, and be present—no perfection required—Jesus has that covered.

Be a good son, and you’ll be a good dad.

—

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

Originally published at jonathandodson.org “How to Be a Good Dad (& What to Do with a Bad Dad)”

Pursuing Discipleship in All of Life

Discipleship is not a program. It’s life.  We’ve misunderstood discipleship too long as simply one part of our lives and we’ve strayed from the biblical teaching that to be a disciple means your identity is in Christ and that true disciples make disciples. I want to flesh that out practically. The purpose of discipleship is maturity, or Christ-likeness. Therefore, Christian discipleship must be intentional and purposeful. However, intentional and purposeful doesn’t always mean planned. Oftentimes, discipleship is spontaneous. This is a good place to point at that we are always discipling and that’s part of the problem in many churches.

There is intentionality in discipleship, but this is more than just formally teaching a class on “5 steps to be a better mom.” Our lives teach others daily. So, our pursuit of holiness (or lack thereof), teaches. Everything we do teaches. Our songs we sing, our Christianese sayings, the way we live, even how we drive. This is what I call informal discipleship.

Now, this does not take away from being intentional. It reinforces it. Informal discipleship is only one part of the discipleship process. I want to look at four ways to discipleship.

• Informal Discipleship—Model of good works (Titus 2:7), Character building, life on life, pursuing holiness together
• Formal Discipleship—Verbal instruction, Information transfer, biblical teaching, sound doctrine
• Spontaneous—No plan, just ‘happens’
• Intentional—Deliberate, purposeful, plan, commitment

We now have a launching point to look at the ways that Christians are always discipling. I want to encourage us to carefully think through all four of these areas in an effort to make, mature, and multiply disciples in all of life.

1. Informal Spontaneous Discipleship

This is Matthew 5:16 in action: "In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." You don’t say at “2:37pm I’m going to plan a confrontation with a rude cashier so my child can see how a Christian responds.” It’s naturally happening in mature believers’ lives whether at work, home, or school. I don’t plan arguments with my wife, but they do happen (and they are usually my fault!). Am I clear in my repentance to her? My children see this. What about when I’m cut off in traffic? What about the way I treat our waiter when we are eating out? Our children are watching us.

Here’s another example. My oldest son has finally graduated from the type of “baseball” where everyone wins. This season he’s playing with a pitching machine, umpires, and real competition. How do I respond when a bad call is made? When he wins? When he loses? When the coach makes a mistake? The other parents on the team know that I am a Christian and when these things come up it is my goal to let my light shine in a way that gives testimony to the change that has been wrought within me by the power of the gospel. This is informal spontaneous discipleship.

2. Informal Intentional Discipleship

This is being an intentional model of good works that often happens weekly. This is intentionally putting yourself around others to show them what a Christian looks like. Specifically, this works best in a discipleship relationship in which you are pouring into a small group of people (1-3) from your local church.  This is loving them by showing them what a Christian looks like in daily life (Col. 3:12-15). This kind of discipleship occurs prayerfully, intentionally, and purposefully when we commit to invest in someone else’s life. This is done in homes, in restaurants, taking someone along to shop for groceries with you, hunting, fishing, volunteering together, etc. This is a small group we invest our lives in. Think of Jesus, Paul, Barnabas—each had a few that they built close bonds with.

Here’s what that looks like in my pastoral ministry. For my family, this is about letting people in our lives. In the last year, I became pastor of an older congregation in rural Arkansas. We continue to grow in being intentional in inviting people over for meals. We have given our congregation a copy of my son’s baseball schedule. When people invite us somewhere we try to make ourselves available to go. The point is for us to actually be around people in real life situations so that they can see what the love of Christ shed abroad in our hearts looks like “out there.” And so that we can learn from them.

3. Formal Spontaneous Discipleship

This is 1 Peter 3:15 in action: "In your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect." I live in Arkansas where recently we experienced an EF4 tornado that wreaked havoc in several communities. None of us “planned” a tornado, but we can be intentional about using this experience to teach others things pertinent to the gospel. I was on a trip the other day with a church member to help clean up some of the recent destruction from the tornadoes that came through Arkansas on April 27th. As we talked about the power that winds can do, I shared the truth about God’s power over even the strongest winds.

In his book Follow Me and in his most recent Secret Church simulcast, David Platt talked about weaving gospel themes into our everyday conversations. Opportunities are all around us, but we must look for them. All of us want to grow in communicating the gospel more frequently, myself included. This is one of the ways I’ve grown in that, although I need to grow more! How can we connect our everyday situations to God? What does daily life tell us about our fallenness? What about God’s goodness or love? Or his wrath?

Think of Deuteronomy 6:7 “as you walk by the way” as things come up in life you give a biblical perspective on them. I use the moon and the stars often with my children asking them “Who made that?” And then when they tell me God, I ask “Why did God make that?” The answer of course being “for His glory” (Ps. 19:1). Have to be devoted to knowing Scripture to do this effectively. You can’t “plan” the providential hand of God but you can devote yourself to knowing and memorizing Scripture so that when things do come up, you can give a gospel-centered answer.

4. Formal Intentional Discipleship

When people think “discipleship” now days, I think this is what they think.  This is intentionally setting up time with others to teach them to observe all that Jesus has commanded us (Matt. 28:20). This happens semi-regularly and is purposeful teaching, usually verbal instruction. Maybe you meet every Thursday morning for half an hour over coffee.  Maybe you meet every Tuesday at lunch.  Maybe you meet every other Monday night. You go through Scripture together, you have a plan, whether reading a book together, or going through books of the bible together.

Also, family worship would fall into this category. Our goal is to have family worship 3-4 times a week. Some weeks it’s more, and some weeks it is less. For us, family worship is simply a time to sing a couple songs, memorize Scripture together, and catechize our children. Sometimes we use the Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones. This whole process takes about 15 minutes on average (sometimes more, sometimes less). We start out by singing the “Doxology.” We then move to the verses our children have memorized. Sometimes we stop on these verses and ask what they mean and tie them to the gospel.

On nights we don’t do memory verses, we do catechism. Right now we use questions from Carine Mackenzie’s My 1st Book of Questions and Answers. We also have recently been working in some questions from The New City Catechism. Then we read a passage of Scripture. It may be a Psalm, or where daddy is preaching from (currently, I am going through Genesis and Psalm 119), or something else that my wife or I have read in the bible that week. Our children are 6, 4, 2, and 4 months, so we don’t have lengthy theological discussions, although it is a joy to be involved in some of the discussions we do have! Sometimes it feels like the whole time is spent telling our 2 year old to listen or sit down.

Finally, we close by singing a song or two (my kids love “The Gospel Song” by Sovereign Grace Music) and then prayer. This is a time to weekly share the gospel with our children. I must emphasize though that this doesn’t “just happen.” It has to be planned and worked in and labored at or you will find that weeks have gone by and you’ve failed to have a family worship (I speak from experience).

Vital for Discipleship

All four ways to disciple are biblical and vital to making mature disciples. The examples in this post highlight the personal aspect of discipleship—what you are doing to disciple others. There are plenty of examples for the corporate aspect of discipleship as well—how discipleship fits in with the regular gathering of the local church. You’re still doing spontaneous-informal, spontaneous-formal, intentional-informal, and intentional-formal discipleship every Sunday. While Sunday is a major component of discipleship, it’s not all discipleship consists of. Discipleship is multifaceted and should be intentionally worked it into every aspect of your life. Christians are to be disciples who make disciples. My conviction is that you are always teaching. So maximize your efforts for making disciples to the glory of God by pursuing discipleship in all of life.

—

Allen Nelson IV  has been in gospel ministry for 8 years and is currently serving as Pastor at Immanuel Baptist Church in Clinton, AR.  He has an undergrad degree in History Education and is in the long process of pursuing his M.Div from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He and his wife Stephanie have been married for 7 years and have 4 beautiful children and 1 aesthetically challenged dog.  He is passionate about the amazing, awesome, and all encompassing grace of Jesus.  He also likes alliteration. You can follow him on Twitter: @CuatronNelson

I Am Noah's Wife

I had just spent the majority of the last 36 hours at a Christian women’s conference. The conference was well done with inspiring speakers, moving worship, beautiful ambiance, and, most importantly, the coffee was really good! I was glad I went. But once I returned home I couldn’t seem to get out of the car. I just sat there in my husband’s (not awesome) 1998 Infinity with no air conditioning. Although I was burning up in the Texas heat, I just couldn’t go inside. I was stuck in the seat with my seatbelt still wrapped around me. Over and over again I kept asking myself, “How do I describe to my husband what I’ve just experienced?”

He had sacrificed a lot that weekend to make it possible for me to attend the conference. I was certain he’d love hearing about the beautiful worship I heard. He’d love to hear the glowing reports of women being challenged to be what God made them to be. I know for a fact that news of the good coffee would be a welcomed report.

How in the world could I tell him the truth--that despite all the beautiful words I heard, despite all the perfectly arranged songs I sang, and despite all the perfectly brewed coffee I drank. . . I wasn’t satisfied. I was still bored. I was still wrestling with something very deep inside my heart. Although I couldn’t quite name it, I knew it wasn’t something I  was proud of.

Eventually I did manage to collect my pamphlets and gift bag and get out of the car. As I took a deep breath and walked in the door, there he was, my husband--smiling from ear to ear! I could see the excitement on his face, his excitement to hear of my excitement. Rats! Typically I might lie a little bit. Not a bad lie. . . just a little twisting to make myself look better. I really didn’t want to seem unrighteous or ungrateful, so I wish I could’ve come up with something wonderful to say. Instead, I chose to tell the truth as best as I understood it. I know now the Holy Spirit was working powerfully to give me these words, but at the moment, it was a little weird! Are you ready for it?

Here’s what I came up with: “I am Noah’s wife.”

Yep. Insert the creepiest looking emoticon you can think of right here.

I am Noah’s wife.

You may, like Jonathan, be wondering what in the world I meant. Truthfully, it’s something I’d been chewing on for a while, but right then and there I understood the reason for my boredom. Let’s me explain.

Years ago I participated in a bible study of the book of Genesis. Oh sure, it was an amazing study. I am sure I learned a boatload of amazing truths. Wanna know what I remember most? Genesis 7:6-10:

“Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth. And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood. Of clean animals, and of animals that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground, two and two, male and female, went into the ark with Noah, as God had commanded Noah. And after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth.”

Let’s think about this together. Who is Noah? Duh.

Who else was on the boat? Noah, his wife, his sons, and their wives.

What were the sons’ names? Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Yep.

What was his wife’s name? Think. . . think. . . think. . . I got nothin’.

Noah’s wife was nameless.

Hey, writer of Genesis. . . are you kidding me right now? I can understand leaving out the daughters-in-law’s names, but the wife? You can remember names like Shem, Ham, and Japheth but not the wife’s name?

I’ve always been sad for her. I mean, maybe she wasn’t as awesome in the whole “righteousness” thing as her husband, but she must have done something right. Right? I mean, she was good enough for righteous Noah to fall in love with her. She raised their children in such a way that they got access to the boat. Something must have been noteworthy about her. Right?

Well, the author of Genesis decided to leave her nameless. She’s known forever as simply “Noah’s wife.” The unnamed wife of one of the most well known men in history.

Back to real time--and here’s where it gets uncomfortable to talk about. It’s the truth though. . . and since I’m being truthful. I sat there the whole weekend trying to engage my heart in worship, but all I could think about was how much I had in common with Noah’s wife. How utterly unknown I was. Over and again I thought about my different titles: “Owen and Ellie’s mom,” “Teacher helper,” or “That girl who sews things.” Oh, I can’t leave out the most popular one, “Pastor’s wife.”

It’s crazy, but no matter how well I know a woman, no matter how many hours we spend together, and no matter how many laughs or tears we share, she will always introduce me as her pastor’s wife. Occasionally the title of friend comes in at the end, but first and foremost I’m her pastor’s wife. The nameless companion of her pastor. Are you picking up what I’m putting down?

Well, the real heartbreak came on as I watched the women on stage. Please put your grace cardigans on because this is vulnerable y’all. It might not be pretty but it’s what I got. They were all friends, and were all exercising their unique gifts on stage--together. As each one was introduced with a glossy photograph, it was like a parade of comrades who gave themselves away to us so that we could know them too. This was not at all their intention, but as I watched I became increasingly and painfully aware that not only did I not know them nor they know me, but my gifts were lying dormant in the room as if they were nonexistent. All of a sudden I saw what I had been suppressing in my heart because I didn’t want to believe it:

I’m average.

I’m unnamed.

I’m unknown.

When I’m alone and have time to think (also known as either house cleaning or showering), I’m confident I’m a strong leader. I’m pretty certain I’m an able public speaker and teacher. I know hands down that I can throw a pretty good party. I mean come on. . . I’ve been a Christian for 25 years, so I’ve had time to accept my talents and figure out my spiritual gifts. They’re part of me, they’re who I am.

At the conference, I realized, however, that to most people I’m known differently. I’m known more generically.

Jonathan’s wife.

Pastor’s wife.

The woman in the back.

That girl.

Average.

Unnamed.

Unknown.

It’s one thing to fear being unknown, it’s altogether more painful to realize that you are unknown. It was devastating. In fact, my fingers are still a little shaky just typing about it. I don’t enjoy the truth of it, but it is the truth.

If I weren’t baptist, I’d make a bet that many of you reading this feel the same way.

WHAT'S AN AVERAGITE TO DO?

So, fellow averagites, what do we do now? Do we stay in our seats and either shake in fear or seethe in bitterness? Do we hurl insults and cheap commentary on those women who are known? Do we hide our gifts away as we decide that if no one’s gonna notice we’re just not going to perform? Oh Lord please no! I don’t want that. I don’t want that!

In the days that followed, I cried out to the Lord in a way that only a lonely soul can do. The privileged voice of helplessness was crying out to him asking him to make sense of my selfishness and sorrow. I was asking him to turn my mourning to dancing. To use my gifts and remove my desire to make a name for myself. I refused to live a life of jealousy, but I had no idea how to exercise it. And then I watched a video. I remembered the unnamed, and, soon, I called out for his name over my own. It’s exciting. If you are or have felt like me--average, unnamed, unknown--I hope you’ll read on.

I WATCHED A VIDEO

My husband recently co-wrote a book on the resurrection of Christ called Raised? to help engage doubters and skeptics. A movie was made about the spiritual journey of a dear couple Ben and Jessica Roberts. The story the Lord has written for them is truly amazing. I have personally watched them walk from darkness into light and have witnessed the corresponding life change that is gifted to those who know Jesus as their resurrected King. It’s been an amazing gift to observe this process in them and celebrate what the Lord has done. I know that this couple is just at the beginning of something amazing.

A week after the conference, I was watching part three of the movie. In this part, Jessica tells of her return to church. She chose our church  because “it met in a bar.” She goes on to share what I’ve heard about twenty times before, but this time I heard it with keen hearing, like it was the first time I’d ever heard something so amazing.

She said something like, “I sat with my son in the children’s worship. They were singing Father Abraham, which has no spiritual significance, but somehow I met Jesus. I knew then that I was loved, that I belonged, and that I could be cleansed.”

Averagites--that was ME leading children’s worship! Even though I swore I’d be the only pastor’s wife in the history of pastor’s wives to never ever lead the children’s ministry. . . that Sunday, I was in charge of leading the children’s ministry! I remember that day like it was yesterday. I remember feeling stupid for choosing to sing that song, but it was the best my ineptitude could come up with so I went with it. I remember meeting Jessica. I remember her son’s uncertainty there. And I remember seeing her facial expression change from fear to comfort.

As I sat there watching the video, tears begin to fall uncontrollably as I began saying to myself, “That was you! That was you! That was you!” I became completely aware that the Lord had used me and my service to him to change this family’s life.

Jessica never said my name nor did she even hint at it. . . but I know it was me! I am so happy for the Roberts’ faith and influence so the realization that my unnamed status had a part in their faith is overwhelmingly wonderful! In all honesty, I’d love to have a million more of those stories where my unnamed, unknown, and even inept self is used to bring others from darkness into light. What a privilege!

That moment, the Lord taught me that being unnamed is not the same as being unknown. I felt the love of my Father pour over me in such a way as to bring purpose to my generic status. Like Hannah, I felt completely seen. I felt known. He knows me and is using me in mysterious ways! I am unnamed but I am not unknown. What a joyful distinction.

THE HOPE OF BEING UNNAMED

Come to think of it, the world is overflowing with powerful no-name Christians. We call them missionaries, Sunday school teachers, doctors, neighbors, parents, and friends. When I think of the people who have had the greatest impact on my life, I don’t think of the amazing conference speakers I’ve heard or the great authors I’ve read. Nope. I think of the family in Minneapolis who taught me how to open my door to strangers. I think of the couple in Boston who showed me that all of life is repentance and discipleship. I recall the gentle rebuke of a church planter’s wife who pointed to me to Christ and away from bitterness. I think of my aunt who lived well and died even better as she drew nearer and nearer to Christ. Each of these have made an indelible mark on my faith--yet to the world they will always be nameless. The nameless souls who teach other nameless souls to proclaim the name of Christ.

All of this unnamed searching led me to where else...the cross. (And this is where I hope I camp out for the rest of my life!) There we meet two of the most powerful unnamed characters in all of Christendom- the two thieves on either side of Jesus.

Two men. Two criminals. No names.

One chides Jesus, refusing to repent. He wants to save his own life, his own name so to speak. I’m certain he’d be happy to use Jesus’ power for his own name’s sake but he wants nothing of the Christ as Lord. Forever unnamed. Forever unknown.

The other, however, is altogether taken with Jesus. He places no demands on Jesus, and instead, he asks Jesus to be who Jesus says he is...the Forgiver. He loves Jesus just as He is. He accepts his calling as a thief on a cross. He asks for the glory of the Lord to shine on him and give Him grace. Forever unnamed. Instantly known.

Fellow Noah’s wives we can get a name for ourselves or we can get Jesus. One leads to death, the other to beautiful life. May we strive for the popularity of our King and not ourselves. May we be content to use our gifts in secret knowing that our God sees us. Let us delight in being unnamed yet fully known.

—

Robie Kaye Dodson lives in Austin, Tx with her husband Jonathan and their three young children. She’s a horrible cook and a worse housekeeper…but she loves Jesus who gives her worth and meaning in the majestic and mundane of life. When all else fails, she makes dresses! Read more of her craft at www.sosewsomething.com. Follow on Twitter: @RobieDodson

9 Ways to Battle the Darkness

I know from personal experience the difficulty of battling depression, condemnation, and anxiety. The fight can take many forms, ranging from legalism to thoughts of suicide. Whatever the case, it is all overwhelming. I love Jesus and he loves me. But I have struggled with fear, anxiety, condemnation, and even depression my whole Christian life. I actually struggled so much with these issues that I had to resign from my first pastorate. I wasn't eating, I couldn't get out of bed, I was having demonic nightmares, and I was thinking about suicide. I'm not out of the woods yet, but I have learned a few things in going through these struggles about God's grace despite our failures to trust him.

Though each of us faces unique circumstances, here are a few lessons I have learned that I pray will help as you, too, battle depression, condemnation and anxiety.

1. Look to Jesus.

It’s tempting to believe that what you need is to find more answers or to “do better,” or to get yourself out of depression by sheer human effort. But what you need to do is rest in Jesus and his finished work. His job is to deliver you; your job is to rest in him. His yoke is easy, and his burden is light. He wants you to rest, allowing him to fight the battle for you, through you and with you. Don’t run to legalism. Run to the Savior who will deliver you when you can’t deliver yourself.

2. Worship.

Set aside time once a week to worship the Lord through music. Anxiety and depression focus your eyes on yourself, as the enemy wants you to focus on anything except Jesus. Worship focuses your eyes on Jesus. Don’t feel as though you have to “get your worship right.” If you don’t feel like singing or your thoughts feel very confused, then just listen to the music. Let God minister to you. You might even set up “worship nights” where you ask a few friends to come over and worship with you and pray for you.

3. Be around community.

The enemy prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Just as a lion wants a gazelle to step away from the herd to destroy it, so the enemy wants you away from people so he can destroy you. When you are facing anxiety, depression and condemnation, being by yourself is extremely difficult. Being alone too long can send you into “self-destruct mode,” and your thoughts can seem to “own you.” Being around people provides a source of community and helps you from keeping your thoughts on you.

4. Don’t answer the “broken record” questions in your head.

“Maybe I’m not really saved.” “Maybe God doesn’t love me.” “I need to clean up this area of my life before God will save me.” Anxiety and depression feed on a pattern of asking the same questions over and over, even if we’ve already answered them satisfactorily. It can feel like, as one man put it, “Vietnam is going on in my head.” Taking thoughts captive is not just a practice for issues like lust or anger. Taking thoughts captive sometimes means not answering the questions or condemning thoughts that pop into your head at all.

5. Talk to God more than you think about him.

God is a person who exists in reality outside of your mind. It is helpful to remember that he understands everything and, unlike you, is not stressed. He is absolutely confident in himself and his ability to save you. Rather than making God a puzzle to solve, remember he is a person. Talk to him. Don’t just think about him.

6. Realize that perfect faith is not required.

Don’t penalize yourself for lacking faith. The opposite of faith is not doubt; it is disobedience. Our faith has never been and will never be perfect this side of eternity. It is okay to have faith the size of a mustard seed and to cry out to Jesus, “I believe. Help my unbelief” (Mk 9:24).

7. Serve.

Service gets our eyes off of ourselves and onto others. Find a ministry that needs help in tangible ways and set aside time to serve. Think hard about the needs in your own home that you could focus on meeting. Are there household chores, child care tasks or maintenance projects you could take on for the sake of serving your family? Who in your neighborhood or community could use your help with a project or cause? Look for ways to shift self-focus through service to others.

8. Meditate on Scripture.

When you’re battling anxiety and depression, your tendency will be to read the Bible looking for everything that is condemning, ignoring the rest. Make a list of verses that point you toward hope and God’s love. Make a list of verses that celebrate grace. Make a conscious decision to approach Scripture through the lens of God’s love and grace rather than his judgment. Ask a trusted friend or mentor to help guide you toward reading that will edify.

9. Get counseling.

You need an outside perspective on what you’re going through. Whether it is at Recovery Groups or at a biblical counselor’s office (biblical counseling versus generic “Christian counseling”), it is helpful to get advice from godly pastors and counselors to help you navigate the path to wellness.

Battling depression, condemnation, and anxiety requires you to embrace a number of reversals: Resting instead of striving. Grace instead of works. Asking instead of doing. It also requires a tremendous amount of patience. God is determined not to allow you to remain in the shadowy valley of worried, anxious Christianity, desiring instead that you would rest in gracious, peaceful Christianity. I know firsthand that he is able to lift your shadows and restore your soul.

Take hope that he remains faithful when we are faithless, for he cannot deny himself (2 Tim. 2:13).

_

Zach Lee is Associate Home Groups Minister at The Village Church and is married to Katy.  Follow him on Twitter: @zacharytlee.

[© 2014 The Village Church, Flower Mound, Texas. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Adapted from “9 Ways to Battle Depression, Condemnation and Anxiety.”]

How Our Union with Christ Defines Us

Every day, men and women get bombarded with ideas, subtle and obvious, on who they should be. The messages are mixed and they come from all corners. Whether it's the culture of the world or the culture of the Church (and the countless veins within each), the propaganda and advice can be dizzying and confusing.

I am convinced that the breakdown in our understanding of Christian human identity today is a lack of understanding and living out of our union with Christ. Setting aside the gender issues, there is one answer which Scripture gives us to the question of identity for men and women: to be conformed to the image of his Son (Rom. 8:29).

We may have many earthly identities: single, married, husband, wife, mother, father, daughter, son, friend, butcher, baker, candlestick-maker, etc. However, there is a wider and deeper reality than all of this: a Christian man or woman is in union with Christ. A Christian man or woman is in Christ. That is our reality. It is Christ who defines personhood.

New Life in Christ

As a first principle, this is where we need to start as Christian humans. All thought, and the subsequent actions from that thought, should come from our union with Christ: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come" (2 Cor. 5:17).

Let me give an example (and there are countless others) of how our understanding of our union with Christ affects our everyday life. As a wife, I submit to my husband according to Ephesians 5 because of the fact that I am united to Christ. I submit because Christ submitted to the Father and I am in Christ. All the secondary and tertiary reasons for why I am called to submit are of no value unless I fully internalize what it means to be in Christ. Moreover, there is no greater motivation or power to live in line with this section of Scripture except the knowledge of my union with Christ. Saying that it is in the Bible does not make this Scripture effective. Claiming to be a complementarian does not make these verses effective. What makes all the realities of new life effective is our union with Christ and living out the wisdom contained in his Word.

Here are some ways we can think about how our union in Christ define us, with a little help from Anthony Hoekema’s Saved By Grace.[1]

A Defining Union

1. If we are Christians, we were chosen by the Father before the creation of the universe and before anything existed; even before we existed. Our union with Christ has its roots in divine election.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him." (Eph. 1:3–4)

2. Our union with Christ is based on his redemptive work. Christ came to earth to save his people.

 "You are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." (Matt. 1:21)

3. Our actual union with Christ began at new birth. At regeneration (new birth – when our spirits are made alive), the Holy Spirit brings us into a living union with Christ.

"He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit." (Titus 3:5)

4. Throughout our lives, we live out our union with Christ through faith. That is, we exercise/seize/live out our new life in Christ, through faith.

"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." (Gal. 2:20)

5. Our justification (where God declares us "not guilty," forgiving all our sins) is inseparable from our union with Christ. As we are spiritually moved by the Holy Spirit out from under the kingdom of darkness and the reign of sin, and brought into Christ several things happen: Our nature (ontologically) is changed from being under Adam to being under Christ. At which time we start sharing in Christ's obedience and righteousness. God sees us now through our new nature. Christ defines us. We are freed from the dominion of sin and driven by grace to live a new life.

“And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption." (1 Cor. 1:30)

"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." (Rom. 8:1)

"In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace." (Eph. 1:7)

"…and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith." (Phil. 3:9)

6. We are sanctified through our union with Christ. The progressive work of the Holy Spirit over our lifetime conforms us to the image of Christ, leading us to bear spiritual fruit. As Sinclair Ferguson has said, “We must consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God. … let it dawn on you... you must reckon this to be true.”

"Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." (John 15:4–5)

7. We persevere in our faith because of our union with Christ. Through power of the Holy Spirit we endure, persist, and remain steadfast in our devotion. We remain because if we are in him, we cannot come out of him.

"For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom. 8:38-39)

8. We die in Christ. Being united with Christ means that we die to ourselves that we may live through his life.

"For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s." (Rom. 14:8)

9. We are raised with Christ already and not yet. In one sense, our new self has already begun at regeneration. At the same time, we will be resurrected as our glorified selves at Christ's return.

"Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is." (1 John 3:2)

10. We will live in eternity with Christ as glorified men and women. The ultimate result of our union with Christ is that we will spend eternity worshiping him for who he is and what he has done.

"For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord." (1 Thess. 4:16–17)

Tell This Story

It's beautiful to see our union with Christ spelled out theologically. But how are these truths played out in us Christians?

The most important thing to remember and to stay conscious of is that the power of the Holy Spirit which raised Jesus up from death is the same power doing all this work.

By the power of the Holy Spirit, God regenerated my heart. The Holy Spirit then mysteriously and spiritually united my spirit to Christ's. Now I live and move and have my being in Christ; therefore what I think, say, and do flows from this union. When Paul says in Galatians 2:20 that he has been crucified with Christ and that his life in the flesh is lived by faith in Christ who is living inside him—what can he possibly mean? How does this affect the life of flesh we live on this planet?

The Holy Spirit of the living God living inside of us changes everything. Sinclair Ferguson has said that “sanctification is nothing if it doesn't affect the bodily life.”  You have a new being, and the progression of sanctification works backwards and forwards at the same time. The Holy Spirit is putting to death the old you as he continues to slowly build up the new you. That new you will look more and more like Jesus—slowly, incrementally, the power of the Holy Spirit is creating and will create the new you until you are glorified.

This means the new me will make different choices about my body, my mind, my friendships, my entertainment, my reading habits, my hobbies, etc. This is why Paul talks about fornication as uniting Christ with a prostitute.

Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never!... But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. (1 Cor. 6:15-17)

It says we are one spirit with him, and that our bodies are members of Christ. This means everything we do with our fleshly body has to align with something that Christ would do.

Would Christ get drunk and sleep around? No! Would Christ beat his wife? No! Would Christ lie to someone? No! Would Christ cheat on his taxes? Gossip about a neighbor? Cut someone off in traffic? Allow someone to go hungry? Do you see where I'm going with this?

Invariably someone will say, “Well that's just too hard. I'm not perfect. I'm not Jesus.” Good news: you are never called to be like Jesus by yourself. Scripture never says these are rules to obey in our own strength. Scripture says that the spirit of the God of this universe lives in us. He gives strength, power, self-discipline, and everything we need to live in line with the spirit of Christ in us.

We are a new people with a new nature on a new mission. We tell this story to a watching world as we worship, obey, and reflect our Savior. It takes fervor to say “no” to our old selves, the ones who like to indulge in our favorite sins. It takes humility when we fail to confess our sins and receive Christ's forgiveness, which he never begrudges but rather lavishes on us. It takes patience to love people who are not easy to love. It takes courage to talk about Jesus in the presence of those skeptical of his existence. Through our union with Christ, this new life empowered by the Spirit, we are given all we need to live as grace-driven members of Christ's body.

_

Luma Simms (@lumasimms) is a wife and mother of five delightful children. She studied physics and law before Christ led her to become a writer, blogger, and Bible study teacher. She blogs regularly at Gospel Grace.

Luma's book, Gospel Amnesia, is now updated and available in paperback. Buy it HERE.

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[1] Anthony Hoekema, Saved By Grace (Eerdman’s, 1994), 55-64/

Returning to the Good News

"What you really need is good news," I told him. He didn't understand. We had met time and time again and unbeknownst to him, he was trying to perform his way into the kingdom. "You can't do that," I exhorted, "otherwise you miss the entire point of Jesus and his performance on your behalf!" Whether we acknowledge it or not, we all need good news. Not just good news, but better-than-anything news. News that announces something spectacular—like nothing you could ever imagine or fabricate. And until you recognize this need, you'll be helpless. Like an engine with no gas, your life, without a constant barrage of Jesus-is-King news, will stall.

I often tell my congregation that I have 34 years left in my ministry here, and for those 34 years, you will hear the gospel over and over again, not because you don’t know it in your brain, but because knowing it in your brain isn’t enough. We must know it—I must know it—in our hearts, and in our hands. The gospel isn’t the starting point—it is the point. It’s the point of everything! And until we understand this truth, we will continue to be lured away, enticed by other false gospels that over-promise and under deliver.

Martin Luther is reported to have said that he continues to preach the gospel each and every week because each and every week his people forget it. I’m sure he would include himself in this assertion because let’s face it, we’re all guilty as charged.

Because of this, I came up with five simple reasons as to why we need to hear about Jesus and his glorious gospel each and every day. “Give us Jesus” ought to be the rally cry of the church. Over and over again, our hearts should be yearning to hear the gospel again and again—like my two-year-old daughter begging for a “horsey-ride” on my back, let us go back to the truth that sets us free.

Give us Jesus and his gospel:

1. So Our Affections Are Stirred

Our emotions are impressed with many things. Whether a good movie, television show, football game, or shiny new Apple product, we love an emotionally stirring experience. We thrive on it. But what happens when those emotions become sour? What happens when we just don’t feel like worshiping Jesus and finding joy in him? What do you do when your affections are clouded with bitterness, jealousy, envy, and anger?

Jonathan Edwards is helpful: "Upon the whole, I think it is clearly manifest, that all truly gracious affections arise from special and peculiar influences of the Spirit, working that sensible effect or sensation in the souls of the saints.”^[1] It is the Holy Spirit that drives our affections towards gospel holiness and one of the means by which he does so is through gospel proclamation. We need it. Fighting for joy is absolutely that: a fight; but joy in him is absolutely worth it (Ps. 16:11). Only when old affections have been expunged by greater, far superior affections can we be free from idolatry. Give us Jesus so our affections are stirred!

2. So Our Identities Are Clarified

Whether it is a counseling appointment with a young man trying to understand what he should do with his life, or a newly-engaged couple looking for some premarital help, I am convinced that the root issue with all of our problems is an issue of identity. For example, no matter the marital issue, I can always trace the issue between the husband and wife back to the problem of a husband not being a biblical husband, and a wife not being a biblical wife. Identity matters tremendously.

If you think about it: sin is a loss of identity. When Adam and Eve sinned against God in the garden, they lost their identity as a covenant people with their covenant God. Subsequently, because of their transgression, their lives were marred by sin and ever since then, man, made in God’s image, has simply forgotten who he is in relationship to God. Everyone knows he exists (Rom. 1:20); however, the issue is identity amnesia.

Take the example of the pursuit of holiness. For the Christian, the battle of sanctification is a battle to be who you are. If you’re a redeemed saint, then act like one! Though we don’t have the time to get into this too far, the reality is, the indicatives of the gospel drive the imperatives of holiness. When we give ourselves to sin, we lose our identity—hence the need for the gospel. Again, and again. We need a reminder that we are freely justified in Christ to rest in him. Give us Jesus so our identities are clarified!

3. So Our Idols Are Uprooted

John Calvin once wrote, “The human mind is, so to speak, a perpetual forge of idols.”^[2] Calvin was on to something. Every time we lose sight of the gospel it is because we have taken our eyes away from Jesus and placed them on an idol. Idols can be subversively deceptive, or they can be patently obvious. Either way, this side of glorification will undoubtedly be marked by a constant fight with idols.

One of my favorite quotes on idolatry and the gospel comes from Thomas Chalmers:

“The love of God and the love of the world, are two affections, not merely in a state of rivalship, but in a state of enmity—and that so irreconcilable, that they cannot dwell together in the same bosom. We have already affirmed how impossible it were for the heart, by any innate elasticity of its own, to cast the world away from it, and thus reduce itself to a wilderness. The heart is not so constituted; and the only way to dispossess it of an old affection, is by the expulsive power of a new one.”^[3]

This is brilliant. An idol cannot be uprooted by mere moral effort. It has to be uprooted and replaced by something far superior, namely, the gospel. And what better way to see an idol uprooted, than the goodness of the good news? The intensity of pain we feel when an idol is removed from us is directly proportionate to how far away we walked from belief in the gospel. If sin is trusting, confiding, believing and gaining identity from something other than God, then it follows that we ought to, through repentance and faith, trust, confide, believe and gain our identity in Jesus. Idols are destroyed when good news is heeded. Give us Jesus so our idols are uprooted!

 4. So Our Covenant Is Kept

Whether we know it or not, the New Covenant instituted by our Lord is meant to be kept (it is, after all, a covenant!). Sometimes we do not often talk like this, mostly because in portions of our culture we’ve lost the key concepts behind covenant. Irregardless of unconscious ignorance, it is our duty—indeed it is commanded of us!—to “be holy” (1 Pet. 1:15-16; cf. Lev. 11:44). To be sure, Christ is our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption (1 Cor. 1:30). However, we are still called to the covenant obligations of obedience. And because of the indwelling power of God the Holy Spirit, we can follow Jesus in obedience (John 14:21) because the law has been written on our hearts (Jer. 31:33; cf. 2 Cor. 3:6). How this happens is through the work of the Spirit leading us to truth (John 17:17) and glorifying Christ (the power of the gospel in us). You need to hear it, because the Spirit uses it to drive your obedience. Give us Jesus so our covenant is kept!

5. So Our Mission Is Spurred On

So having had our affections stirred, our identities clarified, our idols uprooted, and our covenant in check, what do we do? The answer? Make disciples. This is our mission. The gospel is news, therefore, it should be proclaimed. Boldly, I might add. After all, Jesus has been given all authority—we need not fear! (Matt. 28:18)

If we do not continue to go back to the good news again and again, we will lose sight of our identity, and purpose. The gospel is the engine that drives the mission! Without it, we are lost. Again and again, we need to hear, see, believe, experience afresh, enjoy and understand the good news of Jesus’ work on our behalf: his virgin birth, his perfect life under the Law of God, his perfect fulfillment of the Old Testament Scriptures (including Israel’s story!), his substitutionary death, his resurrection, his ascension to the throne, and his current mediation—this is our gospel! Let it spur us on to do his work. Give us Jesus so our mission is spurred on.

“I have stored up your word in my heart,” the writer says, “that I might not sin against you” (Ps. 119:11). The issue is not just hearing the gospel, but marinating in it as well. Whether proclaimed from the pulpit or shared over a cup of coffee, the gospel must take center stage, because we do not want to sin against God. When it is stored in our hearts and minds, we get all of the benefits mentioned above. But the ultimate benefit is that we get God. We need the good news because we need God. May all of us be immersed in the gospel of our Lord, Jesus Christ!

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Jason M. Garwood (M.Div., Th.D.) serves as Lead Pastor of Colwood Church in Caro, MI. Jason and his wife Mary have three children, Elijah, Avery and Nathan. He blogs at www.jasongarwood.com. Connect with him on Twitter: @jasongarwood.

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^[1] Jonathan Edwards, The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Volume 1 (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2008). 267. (Emphasis in the original).

^[2] John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion. (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 2008), 55.

^[3] Thomas Chalmers, The Expulsive Power of a New Affection. (Minneapolis, MN: Curiosmith, 2012), 19.

8 Characteristics of Sanctification

One of the things I enjoyed most about my previous job was the direct connection between how hard I worked and the results I saw. If I just put my head down and pushed hard I could get where I wanted. It was an independent role and I liked the fact that my production rested on no one’s shoulders but my own. Much of my frustration in growing as a Christian is because sanctification isn’t exactly like my job. Yes, my effort does affect my growth but I can’t simply produce the desired outcome from my performance alone. I’m learning that while I certainly play a part in my maturity I can’t just will it through hard work. This has not only shaped my own spiritual formation but it changes how I encourage other believers.  When a brother comes to me sharing a struggle with sin I realize I can’t just take him to the mat for not working hard enough but I must take him to the cross to rest in Christ’s work for him. I find many Christians genuinely desiring to grow but they end up throwing up their hands in discouragement saying, “I’m trying but things don’t seem to be changing.” I think as weary believers, we can go from feeling frustrated to feeling free as we take the yoke off our own backs and place it on Jesus.

Gospel-centered sanctification tethers becoming (growing) to being (identity) by making Christ’s accomplishments and provision for us the catalyst of our lives. Here are eight characteristics of gospel-centered sanctification that frame our theology of the doctrine while also steering our practice.

1. News, Not Advice

“And this word is the good news that was preached to you.” (1 Pet. 1:25)

The gospel is first and foremost an announcement. It is news about the historical events related to the life, death, and resurrection of the God-man Jesus.[1]  And it is good news because the objective events have personal significance; they are for us so we might be redeemed from our sin and reconciled to God. I do my brothers and sisters in Christ little good when I resort to offering sage advice, giving opinions, or dispensing the latest spiritual maxims.

For the gospel (and no shabby replacements) to remain the center, we must regularly remind one another of the good news of Jesus Christ. We retell this accomplished, objective, historical news and unpack the never-ending applications gushing from it. If the majority of my conversations sound like “you should try doing this or that” instead of “Jesus has already done this for you” then I’m headed out to the stormy sea of advice and opinion.

“Advice often masquerades as the gospel. Messages filled with advice to help people improve their lives or turn over a new leaf are in contradiction to the nature of the gospel—news we respond to, not insight we should consider heeding.”[2] Also see: 1 Cor. 15:1-8; Eph. 1:13-14; Acts 15:6.

2. Repentance, Not Resolve

“Confess your sins to one another.” (Jam. 5:16)

The gospel grabs us and shakes us back into the reality we quickly forget: sin is a big deal and our hearts reek of it. I avoid thinking of myself or my sin in these stark terms. I’ve noticed that instead of confessing my sin, I settle for praying that I would “do better.” Instead of seeing my cutting tongue as sin requiring humble repentance I might piously say, “I’ve not done a good job in my speech this week and I need to make that a higher priority.” Through my language of “trying harder” or “being more disciplined” I create the mirage of being a good person. All I need, I tell myself, is to dig deeper into my inner reservoirs of strength and goodness. In reality, I need more God-dependent and self-humbling repentance and less self-sufficient and God-ignoring resolve.

“In confession, we become authentically Christian, agreeing with God about our judgment-deserving sin and trusting in his sin-forgiving grace. We return to the reality of grace, in Christ, which in turn compels real obedience.”[3] Also see: 1 John 1:8-9; Ps. 32:5; 2 Cor. 7:10; Rev. 2:5.

3. Needy, Not Self-Sufficient

“God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.” (Jam. 4:6)

Once we turn to repentance from sin instead of improving on our weaknesses, it becomes clear we can’t dig out of the problem we got ourselves into. I don’t just need more discipline. The problem isn’t primarily that I’m not giving it all I’ve got or trying with enough vigor. The gospel unshackles us by allowing God to be in charge of my sanctification instead of me (deep exhale). When I stop relying on myself and my resources and collapse into trust in God, I see He possesses the power I needed all along.

God promises help to the humble but leaves the self-reliant to their own resources. My generation laughed when Stuart Smalley picked himself up by looking into the mirror and saying, “I’m good enough. I’m strong enough.” Unfortunately, we failed to see that this kind of thinking had slipped into how we live our lives.

“This bruising makes us set a high price upon Christ. Then the gospel becomes the gospel indeed; then the fig-leaves of morality will do us no good.”[4] Also see: Rom. 8:9-11, 13; Phil. 2:12-13; Eph. 3:16; Gal. 5:16-17, 25; Col. 2:20-23.

4. Heart Transformation, Not Behavior Modification

“I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts.” (Heb. 8:10)

The biblical view of sanctification requires a genuine change of the heart (root) in order to have the long-term effects of reflecting Christ (fruit). Heart transformation takes time and work. Because most people “don’t have time” and don’t like work we try to short-circuit this process by simply altering a few behaviors. Since the person hasn’t actually changed—including their motives and desires—it’s a near-sighted solution at best. For example, instead of actually dealing with the pride in my heart that fuels sarcasm, I just tone it down a couple notches.

If others are less offended by my words then I assume I’ve fixed the problem. Despite the better version of me on the outside the heart remains unchanged. We might know this cognitively but think how often when someone shares a struggle with sin the first thing they’re told is how to work on the behavior. These might be helpful strategies, but they aren’t solutions. Care for the root and healthy fruit will eventually ripen.

“It’s all too easy to turn the fight of faith into sanctification-by-checklist. Take care of a few bad habits, develop a couple good ones, and you’re set. But a moral checklist doesn’t take into consideration the idols of the hearts. It may not even have the gospel as part of the equation.”[5] Also see: Mt. 15:19-20; 23:25-28; Luke 6:43-45; 2 Cor. 3:3.

5. Freedom in Christ, Not Slavery to Law

“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” (Gal. 5:1)

The gospel promise is that at the moment of faith our condemnation is removed and we are declared righteous—with the results of full acceptance and fatherly love. Hearts changed because of grace are given a stronger motivation than a person striving to merit God’s favor through works. Grace jolts us into joy because of an undeserved redemption and we can now live out of gratitude and love for Christ. We seek to grow in sanctification, not to receive favor but as a result of tasting such favor. This does not eliminate the role of law completely, but it does change our relationship to it.

The difference between gospel-centered sanctification and its performance-based counterfeits is that the former prompts heartfelt obedience out of gratitude and the rest provoke external compliance out of guilt. The fruit of the Spirit are not what we bring to God for approval. They are the result of walking in the freedom Christ brings to children freed from the law’s enslaving power.

“Even the Christian with his nose to the obedience grindstone can miss out on this transforming positional view. I may outwardly look very diligent in the faith and dutiful in good works, good words, and good manners, but if inwardly that is all the result of an insecurity about my standing with God, the hardest work I can muster will be both worry-inducing and worthless. The performance treadmill simply leads to exhaustion.”[6] Also see: Rom. 5:1; 8:1, 15-16; Gal. 5:14-16.

6. Under the Rule of Christ, Not Apart from It

“He has delivered us form the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.” (Col. 1:13)

In the gospel, God heaps good news on top of good news. We’re not only freed from slavery to sin and Satan but we’re also redeemed to the kingdom of the Son. There we receive the guidance, protection, and presence of the all-powerful King. Imagine if God had freed Israel in Exodus—people who had been slaves all their lives—and then left them in the wilderness. They lacked wisdom, understanding of righteousness, and knowledge of how to live consistently with why they were created. Thankfully, for Israel after the exodus and for Christians after redemption in Christ, God does not leave us as refugees but makes us full-fledged citizens.

When I see sanctification through gospel-centered lenses, living under the rule and reign of Jesus doesn’t steal my joy but maximizes it. The biblical concept of kingdom unites gospel and law. God’s law for those already in the kingdom is not a criteria for citizenship. Instead, it is just as much a demonstration of his care and grace as it his authority. In Christ’s kingdom, his laws are not to be loathed but to be loved, and his rule is not dreadful but delightful.

“The gospel of the kingdom is the announcement that life with God, under the rule of God, is made immediately available to us through Jesus, our King. He arrives as one who restores, rules, and provides access to God’s kingdom.”[7] Also see: Rom. 6:6-7, 22; 1 Cor. 6:20; Ex. 20:1-2; Matt. 13:44-45.

7. In Community, Not Isolation

“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.” (Heb. 10:24)

Many of the frustrations and shortcomings in the Christian life occur from trying to play a team-sport on our own. The kid playing basketball alone in his driveway never becomes great without instructional coaching, the complementary strengths of his teammates, and the sharpening of skills that only comes from other people. When we start thinking we’re strong enough and good enough on our own we believe self-reliant lies opposed to a gospel of need. If you’re not in a biblical community focused on Jesus and anchored in the authority of the Word, who will ask tough questions when you choose sin or share your joys when God is faithful? Who will speak the gospel of grace when you think you’ve blown it? Who will pray with you when you feel alone or shaken in your faith?

Sanctification within community is a two-way street. God matures us as others love us in word and deed, but he also strengthens us by stretching us to share our faith, serve with our gifts, and enter into messy relationships—which all of them are of course. Being plugged into a church body and committing to grow in maturity alongside others isn’t an option. Gospel-centered sanctification only happens as you humbly receive the gospel and the gifts other believers bring to you, and then doggedly commit to doing the same for them in return.

“We are to be sanctified by living lives together that are honoring to God and marked by growth and maturation. Bonhoeffer anchors the goal of Christian community in ‘meeting one another as bringers of the message of salvation.’…A life-giving community is one that is continuously being transformed by the gospel as a people.”[8] Also see: Heb. 10:24-25; 1 Thess. 5:11; Col. 3:16; 1 Cor. 12:25; Gal. 6:1-3.

8. Progression, Not Perfection

“But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.” (Phil. 3:13)

Unfortunately, we often talk in a way that fosters misunderstandings about what the Christian life will look like. Our speech can make it sound like the Christian’s life should be characterized by complete victory over sin instead of continued repentance from sin.  Martin Luther provides a good counter-balance in Thesis 1 of his famous 95 Theses: “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said ‘Repent,’ he intended that the entire life of believers should be repentance.”[9] In this life we will always remain simultaneously sinners and saints—people who have been justified and yet remain nagged by indwelling sin.

The Puritans portrayed this lifelong perseverance in their picture of the Christian carrying a weight on his back but the Word in his hand on his pilgrimage to the celestial city. Since we never arrive at perfection in this life we must daily bring our sins before God and receive fresh grace from his hand. We not only confess our sins but we by faith look to Christ to find assurance of our forgiveness and the help to change. This is why many church liturgies include confession of sin and assurance of pardon, modeling the rhythm of our own lives. Just as sure as the sun comes up after the night so also we awake daily in need of grace that pardons and grace to persevere.

“This life therefore is not righteousness but growth in righteousness; not health but healing; not being but becoming; not rest but exercise. We are not yet what we shall be, but we are growing toward it. The process is not finished, but it is going on. This is not the end, but it is the road. All does not yet gleam in glory, but all is being purified.”[10] Also see: Phil. 3:12-14, 20-21; 1 Thess. 5:23; 1 Pet. 5:10.

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Dustin Crowe has a bachelor’s degree in Historical Theology from the Moody Bible Institute and studied at the master's level at Southern Seminary. He is Local Outreach Coordinator of College Park Church, a church of 4,000 in Indianapolis, where he also helps with theological development.

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[1] The language of the gospel being good news and not good advice began with Tim Keller: http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2007/05/23/keller-gospel-centered-ministry/

[2] Eric Geiger, Michael Kelley, and Philip Nation, Transformational Discipleship (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2012), 72.

[3] Jonathan Dodson, Gospel-Centered Discipleship (Wheaton: Crossway, 2012), 68.

[4] Richard Sibbes, The Bruised Reed (Carlisle: Banner of Truth, Reprinted 2008), 4.

[5] Kevin DeYoung, The Hole in Our Holiness (Wheaton: Crossway, 2012), 34.

[6] Jared Wilson, Gospel Deeps (Wheaton: Crossway, 2012), 47.

[7] Daniel Montgomery and Mike Cosper, Faithmapping (Wheaton: Crossway, 2013), 35.

[8] Brad House, Community (Wheaton: Crossway, 2011), 40.

[9] http://www.spurgeon.org/~phil/history/95theses.htm

[10] Edward M. Plass, What Luthers Says, vol. 1 (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1997) 234-35.

Bringing Young and Old Together

It appears to me that there is a growing chasm between generations in local churches. Churches are becoming more and more generationally homogenous. If you entered a church on Sunday, you might easily label the church as either a baby boomer, generation X, or millennial church. Obviously, this is a broad observation. There are churches that do well at being generationally varied. But I don't think enough attention has been drawn to how uniform many churches are and how dangerous this is to discipleship and spiritual growth. Let me first share my own experience.

Generational Gaps

I’ve attended four churches in my Christian journey. Each of them had a generational makeup that defined them. Likewise, I’ve interacted with a handful of other churches from which I’ve built this experience.

Two churches that I attended had a strong constituency of young families. One was a baby boomer church; the other was a generation X church. In both, the singles and college ministry was a ghost town. In one of them, there was not a grey hair in the crowd, merely families with children through teens.

I attended the first as a college and single. I was the anomaly of the church. In order to find gospel community with people from my generation, I traveled through several college ministries or singles ministries for four years. I did what I could to build community within the church, but there were many barriers that prevented this. One of which was the lack of urgency that the older generations felt to remedy the situation.

In the second, my wife and I were married with children and I served the church as a pastor. I shepherded the teen generation and was at max capacity. I didn’t have time to pour into my own generation and build community. This generation remained fragmented with no voice or leadership; it had a tough time finding a place in the church.

The third church was a dying church with an aged congregation. Then it relaunched. After relaunch it was mostly constituted of college and single students. As I have watched this church progress, I have seen it turn the corner and develop more heterogeneity. But I can tell that this church has been intentional. My wife and I attended this church between the two churches I shared about above. We felt very connected to our own generation, but were hungry to have more mature saints to pour into our lives.

Then there are the churches I hear whispered about. “Did you hear that such and such church closed their doors?” These churches after decades of loyal saints serving could not afford to maintain their facilities. They atrophied. They lacked younger families, singles, and college-aged adults to sustain gospel ministry momentum. These church facilities become community centers, pubs, or small businesses. As I’ve traveled the Chicagoland area during the past few months, I have encountered the truth of this. What were once beautiful bastions of Christianity have been converted into businesses.

Thankfully, there are churches that have a healthy cross-section of generations present. The fourth church, which I attend now, represents this healthy cross-section. In this church, not one generation sticks out from another.

Why the Divide?

One reason that a church is generationally uniform is because it started that way and stayed that way.

For example, if the plaid, bearded, hipster, millennial church planting conferences that I’ve gone to during the last year is any indication of the uniformity within past generations, I might be onto something. These bearded, plaid-bearing men are a type that I am a part; I’m pointing the finger at myself here. We love to gather together with others just like us to learn how to minister those who are - shocker - just like us.

If churches strive to be generationally mixed, it is important to start that way. They cannot be started with young people who are reacting to the stagnancy of older generational churches. It is not outlandish to claim that younger generations of the church become frustrated with how older generational churches function. The reasons for frustration vary. It could involve theological, philosophical, or cultural generational preferences.

But these preferences have planted certain kinds of generational churches. Some may question if a generation can have theological preferences. But I guarantee there is a young, restless, and Reformed millennial generation that has “left behind” the generations before it.

Likewise, generation X made a pivotal shift philosophically. This generation became seeker sensitive. This generation valued church growth that emphasized programs. The generation before it resisted this shift. The one coming after has seen its foibles and is running away from it as well.

Finally, the baby boomer generation withstood all of these changes. They maintained the culture that it had before generation X. It resisted the philosophical shift. A segment of this generation is delighted with the Reformed part of the young, restless and Reformed millennials. Another segment feels more threatened than ever by how this generation embraces certain aspects of culture. They dress more relaxed, have tattoos, imbibe in alcohol, and smoke pipes and cigars. This generation navigates media in a redemptive mode. All of this frightens the older generations.

Unfortunately, these fears build gospel blockades rather than bridges. From one generation’s frustration, another generation of church dies; the younger generation abandons ship and starts a younger-aged church. This has been going on for decades now. Thus, we can recognize when a church began in the mid 20th-century, the 70's and 80's, or the 90's and 2000's. You can see the predominant life-stage represented within the church as easily as you can date the architecture of the building.

Here is a major caveat. Do not read this article and think that this guy is against church planting. On the contrary, I am a church-planting intern. I wholeheartedly believe that church planting is biblical. Paul traveled the Mediterranean region starting local churches and installing men that he mentored into elder roles in those churches.

In America, there is a great need of new churches because of gospel poverty. This is not a slam against church planting. It is a caution against a certain kind of church planting; the kind of church planting that does not possess a healthy cross-section of generations. New church plants should intentionally be generationally varied. We should be alarmed when visiting a church plant and the assembly is nearly all college students - regardless of how well-meaning, doctrinally sound, and genuine the community is. Likewise, be concerned if a church plant only has young families.

Listen church planters. Develop a core group that is generationally diversified and you have hope.

Building Gospel Bridges

So how does a church plant or established church build generational bridges and develop a healthy cross-section of generations? How do they take down the gospel blockades? The only way to bridge this growing chasm between these generations is through the gospel. Here are three gospel-bridges a church can build towards having an inter-generational church.

1. Construct Inter-Generational Gospel Communities

If Colossians 3:18-4.1 and Ephesians 5:25-6.9 are examples of household codes, Titus 2:1-10 is a church code. It is a code of how multiple generations and people from varied life situations relate with one another within the church in light of the gospel. Older men, younger men, older women, and younger women should all be present in the body.

Verse 11 explicitly mentions that the gospel is “for all people.” This is not incidental. The gospel saves and unites all people in gospel community. Is this what your gospel communities look like? Have you considered creating Sunday school classes or community groups that are intentionally generationally varied?

I know this is a risky task. How can these generations with such divergent views and lifestyles function in harmonious gospel communities? They do so by the gospel. The gospel has to be the number one undergirding principle in which the community submits. We have to submit to our theology first and then build our philosophy and culture around it. That philosophy and culture should value diversity and respect authority.

Inter-generational gospel communities will add a deeper dimension to your communities. Older men and women will provide wisdom and biblical guidance in the study of Scripture. Younger men and women will infuse the gospel community with vigor and zeal to be intentional to serve both the church and the surrounding community.

2. Promote Inter-Generational Gospel Discipleship

Titus 2:3-4 indicates how older women train younger women. Does your church offer discipleship groups for younger women to learn from older women?

Likewise, similar discipleship groups could be offered for men. The book of Proverbs sets this standard. Proverbs 1:8 indicates that this book is written from the standpoint of a father to a son on living skillfully. Obviously this is the ideal. A mother should instruct her daughter and a father should instruct his son in the ways of each gender.

But guess what? Your church has first generation Christians in it. Those Christians need spiritual fathers and mothers to mentor and lead them through Scripture. My wife and I are an example of this. We are grateful for the men and women who have come alongside us during our eight years of marriage to mentor us towards the gospel and godliness.

Does your church offer inter-generational gospel discipleship? Is this a bridge your church employs to help men and women grow in the gospel and godliness?

3. Make Disciples of Multiple Generations

The gospel is for every generation. In 1 John 2, there is a gospel refreshment course for fathers, young men, and children. John says that he writes to remind them of the sin they’ve been rescued from, the enemy they’ve overcome, and the God whom they know. The gospel refreshes these generations that exist harmoniously within the church.

This is the same gospel that should be preached to multiple generations. Is your church taking intentional steps to preach this gospel to multiple generations?

There are intentional steps that a church may take to make disciples of multiple generations. Serving these people in their natural environment is an excellent way to build a gospel bridge.

To reach mature generations, do outreach to an assisted living community. Maybe there is a person there with gospel interest that needs a ride to church on Sunday. To reach young families, college-aged, and singles with the gospel, look for outreach opportunities at elementary schools, colleges, or local businesses. Help paint a school. Adopt a fraternity or sorority. Offer to do landscaping for a local business.

Allow these service bridges to become gospel bridges. As you serve these people, you are earning the opportunity to share the gospel with them. You welcome them to cross the bridge from their natural environment into your church environment. Through these relationships you make disciples of multiple generations.

Together in the Gospel

The Church has a long way to go to reconcile the generational divide within her. When generations fail to interact with one another and listen to one another, it only widens the divide. When younger generations act as exiles or evacuate from one church to start new, younger, and hipster churches, it only aggravates the situation. Young and old have to come together to build gospel bridges because the gospel reconciles all people..

Galatians 3:28 says, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” We could apply that to young and old, as well. Joel 2:28 and Acts 2:17 anticipates this. These two Scriptures give a snapshot of the Church in the last days. It will constitute of sons and daughters and young and old. All of these generations will function together to bring attention to the gospel.

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Joey Cochran served as an Associate Pastor at Fellowship Bible Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma for four years before transitioning to be the Church Planting Intern at Redeemer Fellowship in St. Charles, Illinois under the supervision of Pastor Joe Thorn. Joey is a graduate of Dallas Seminary. Joey blogs at jtcochran.com and you can follow him on Twitter at @joeycochran.

2014: The Year I Quit

My New Year’s resolution is to quit. Quitting is usually seen as failure, as giving up.  This is ironic because the Christian life is all about quitting. It is about giving up on yourself before you can even start. I had to give up to become a ministry leader. I never wanted this role. I was wounded by pastors in the past and never wanted to do anything close to leading a ministry. Growing up, I only went to church when there wasn’t a good football game on television or I wasn’t playing soccer. I never really wanted to “go to church” let alone “be the  Church.”

Then Jesus stepped in. Jesus saved me in my mid-20’s and immediately called me to tell others about  him and to start living life as part of his church. Surprisingly, I loved both. I had to give up (quit) my way of life to live out his ways and t  It ended up being amazing. I was on fire for the Lord. My faith was increasing daily. Everything I gave up only made me feel like I had more. I confessed stuff I had hidden for years, and I quit trying to make up for my hidden junk with charity.

I finally decided to receive his forgiveness and healing. I realized that Jesus knew all my failures, sin, insecurities, and doubts  yet he still loved me. I felt like I could fly and I couldn’t help tell everyone about it. This made me quit even more. At the time, I had a job that stole a lot of time from my wife and church family - it was weekends and nights, demanding and sporadic. I quit. And God immediately provided a better job, with better hours, with better pay. My faith soared.

Trying Harder

My journey into church planting wasn’t me “not giving up,” it was me giving up on my career dreams, my addictions, and my view of the church and church leadership. I had to be a quitter to get into ministry.

I have now been an elder of a church plant for four years  and somewhere along the way I stopped “quitting” and started  trying too hard. I don’t even know when this started happening, but I know it did. .

Maybe it was one of the many leadership assessments, where instead of me feeling thankful for outside support and perspective, I started believing the lie and feeling the pressure to prove myself. Sure I may be young and inexperienced but I will show you that I earned this.

Maybe it was the several times I have had close friends leave the church for one reason or another, or  maybe because some of them beat me up a bit on the way out. I will show them for leaving. I will try harder, I won’t give up, they are wrong about me. I will succeed and show them how great I am.

Maybe it happens every year when I get my network’s survey asking how many baptisms our church had. Instead of rejoicing in all the people God is saving across the country (the reason for the survey in the first place), I start wondering if I did good enough. We had 8 baptisms. Is that good enough? Two of them went back on drugs and left and another two got divorced and left and another moved in with their boyfriend and said they will never talk to me again. Do those still count?

Or maybe it is the constant question,  “How many people are in your church? How many on Sundays?” Do I give them last month’s numbers that were the highest ever? Or this month’s numbers that were the lowest of the year? And why were this month’s so low? What could I do to change that? Maybe if I study more, nail down the perfect church structure, go to the right conferences this year, speak at a conference, podcast more, podcast less, get our  Twitter account more followers, pray harder, get more people praying harder, preach on this, teach on that, then I will be a success!

Maybe it was when I started having kids and getting less sleep and trying to pretend that I got this whole parent thing down. These kids won’t listen. They won’t sleep. They won’t stop making messes. They won’t stop filling diapers. I just want them to go to bed on time so I can watch “one,” just “one” episode of The Office on Netflix, then I will be happy. Truly happy.

Maybe it was when I adopted a beautiful baby girl and found out that adoption is hard and it revealed the evil in my heart..  I found out that on my own I didn’t love her the same as my biological son; I wanted to treat her like a step-daughter instead of as my daughter. I understand the gospel. I understand adoption. Why is this so hard? Maybe I don’t understand at all. Maybe I still believe I am a step-son of God and  trying to prove myself to him. I am adopted. I am loved. I get to adopt and I get to love my daughter as my own just as the Father loves me as his own.

Maybe it is trying to hide the amount that I still lust, still want control, still feel more comfortable when there is more money in my savings account, still over-eat, still hold grudges, still have pride, still am selfish, and still want my own kingdom. What is wrong with me? Shouldn’t I be better than this by now? Maybe I am hopeless case. Maybe I have reached my righteousness ceiling. Maybe God gave me as much freedom from sin as he can and now the rest is up to me. I can’t be a pastor. I got to hide this mess so I can pretend that I can help people with their mess. I guess I will just minimize all of this and try harder on my own.

Maybe it was when I learned how to “dress my sin up” with more acceptable language. “I am struggling a bit with this, I am growing in that, I gave in to a little temptation, the Lord is calling me to live more comfortably.” I checked out my friends wife, I ignored my kid to check a sports score on the phone, I am bitter against at least ten l people who I am supposed to love as brothers and sisters, I’d rather watch my football team lose than share the gospel with an unbelieving friend. I am selfish and still often believe that being selfish is the best way to live.

Finally Quitting

I quit. I’m not getting anywhere on my own. .Paul grew more and more aware of his sinfulness as he matured and led, and I am growing more and more aware of my achievements and how to minimize  my sin.

Truth is that I am still a mess, but he still knows all  of my mess and still chooses to love, bless, protect, and care for me. He still gives me a purpose and a life worth living. Truth is that my sin does not define me; his love defines me. I am a beloved son of God the Father. I am a saint. I am a living stone amongst living stones that make up the dwelling place of God. I am alive in Christ. I am holy. And I don’t have to try and prove  any of this. I get to just trust that this is who I am. I am not my sin or my failures. I am his righteousness and his victory! And when I trust who I am in Christ, I begin to live like I am who he says I am. This is how I discovered the power over life-long sin, addictions, and pain that lead me into a life of ministry in the first place. But I often forget this and once again start trying too hard.

I quit. The problem isn’t with church surveys, with kids, with people leaving, with temptation - the problem is with my heart. A heart that trusts who God is and what he has done is going to be secure in Christ. A heart that is trying to prove itself will try harder to gain God or people’s acceptance. I want to quit trying and start trusting who God has made me to be! I want to live freely in his grace!

I quit. I want Jesus to lead his church, lead my family and lead me!  I want my ministry to be his ministry, to be about his reputation, and about God the Father’s approval that Jesus earned for his followers. I want this to be the light burden and easy yoke that Jesus promised.

The truth is that it is only  grace that I am in ministry. It is only grace that anyone would marry me, that God would give me three kids, that I could have the privilege of adopting, that anyone would dare follow me as I follow Christ, that anyone would listen to me as I to teach about Jesus. It is all a gift that I don’t deserve. It is all grace! Forgetting this and trying to prove that I earned it, only leads to a cycle of trying to prove something that can never be proven. It is impossible, exhausting, and foolish to try and prove that I deserve what I don’t deserve.

So, this is my letter of resignation. I want to be the biggest quitter alive. I surrender. I can’t do any of this and I want the world to know it. I need Jesus. I need his forgiveness. I need him to send the Spirit. I need him to save my friends, family and neighbors. I need him to reveal himself to San Diego. I need him more now than ever. And he is here. He is with me. He forgives me. He blesses me. He is filled with joy when he thinks about me.

He loves me. And he loves you, too.

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Jake Chambers (@JakeJayChambers) is the husband to his beautiful bride Lindsey, and a daddy to Ezra, Roseanna, and Jaya. Jake is passionate about seeing the gospel both transform lives and create communities that love Jesus, the city, and the lost. He currently serves Red Door Church in San Diego through leading, preaching, equipping, and pastoring.

What Can Protestants Learn From Mary?

  In Luke chapter 1, the angel Gabriel greets Mary: “O favored one, the Lord is with you!” He then continues with: “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.”

It is rare for us Protestants to linger long over Mary, the mother of Jesus. Whether in reading or meditating over Scripture, we quickly pass over her.

For those of us working to keep the gospel at center, taking a longer look at Mary's place in our theology and practical living could yield much fruit. After all, part of internalizing the gospel is understanding how God brought it forth through real flesh and blood people. The incarnation happened because God favored a woman and chose her to be a real live mother to his Son!

Mary Was Favored by the Lord

We may not fully comprehend how it is that God “favors” someone, but we cannot deny that the words came out of the angel Gabriel: “O favored one,” and “for you have found favor with God.” God the Father loved Mary, the young lady, living in Nazareth. Out of all the women in the history of the world, he chose her to be the mother of his Son.

This particular word, favored, used here in Luke 1:28 (KJV says “highly favoured”), is used in only one other place in the Bible, and that is in Ephesians 1:6. It means to bestow favor upon, to freely give, or to show kindness to, endued with grace. The Latin Vulgate translates it into “full of grace” which has given some the impression that Mary inherently had this special grace. But that is not the case. Mary was given a special grace from God. In the wise and secret council of God he determined that out of all the women in the history of mankind, that he would give a special endowment of favor to Mary—a poor, young, virgin girl from the lineage of David.

Matthew Henry says of Mary: “We have here an account given of the mother of our Lord, of whom he was to be born, whom, though we are not to pray to, yet we ought to praise God for.”

My question is: If Mary found favor with God, why does she not find favor with us? Why not give honor where honor is due, as Scripture teaches (Rom. 13:7)?

Giving Appropriate Honor to Mary

I believe we can honor Mary because of what God did through her. Just as we look highly upon the Apostle Paul and learn from him, we can look at the life of Mary and learn from her.

Later in the first chapter of Luke, after her encounter with her cousin Elizabeth, Mary sings a song of praise to God, which we refer to as the Magnificat. Although the song extols the character and virtue of God, it tells us some things about Mary herself:

And Mary said, My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior; for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, In remembrance of his mercy. As he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.

Her humble acquiescence alone puts me to shame. How many of us if we were told by an angel that God would do something in our life that will bring raised eyebrows, possibly lose a spouse, ruin our reputation, and cause us grief, would submit with such grace and humility?

Learning from Mary

We Christians will, without hesitation, give honor to church fathers and theologians, authors and pastors whom we find to be “full of grace” in their own ways. We “magnify” them by reading them, learning from them, telling others about them, quoting them, appreciating them.... They have “found favor” with us. So again, I ask, if Mary found favor with God, why not with us?

Mary didn't huddle down in sinful fear at was going to happen to her; her soul magnified God and her spirit rejoiced in God her Savior. She is not puffed up because she has been so especially blessed. Her soul lifts up God and her spirit finds joy in the one and only person who can give lasting and true joy—God her Savior. Furthermore, we see that she understood her salvation was from God.

She confesses she is of a lowly estate, she's not being proud of her poverty, nor puffed up in the redemption offered to her. She gives honor to God because he is the one that has done a mighty thing for her. Although she is not afraid to speak of her blessed position and the grace that was given to her, there is no arrogance or false humility in her words.

Mary knows her theology; she is versed in the words of the Old Testament Scriptures. Her words testify that she was a young woman who had invested time in learning. She may have been young and poor, but she wasn't uneducated.

Studying the words of Mary we also see that she was a woman of faith. Her understanding of the Scriptures was not just academic, Mary had internalized her knowledge of God. Her knowledge came out in a devoted and fervent faith. And we see the fruit (outward manifestation) by the way she questioned the angel—without doubt and faithlessness; We see it by her submission to God in verse 38 of Luke chapter one. And we see it in faith filled words in her song.

This small article is but a stone skimming. There is a lot of depth to Mary and her life if we but put in the effort to study. God gave a special grace to Mary—I think we would be wise to learn from her.

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Luma Simms (@lumasimms) is a wife and mother of five delightful children. She studied physics and law before Christ led her to become a writer, blogger, and Bible study teacher. She is the author of Gospel Amnesia: Forgetting the Goodness of the News. She blogs regularly at Gospel Grace.

Gospel Amnesia: An Interview with Luma Simms

 

Luma Simms recently wrote Gospel Amnesia for GCD Books and it has helped many people see the gospel in a new way or even for the first time! In preparation for the release of the paperback version of the book, we asked Luma a few questions.

In a sentence, how would you define "gospel amnesia"?

Gospel amnesia is a name for the state of a Christian life that is characterized by marginalization, suppression, or degradation of one's consciousness of the gospel.

You say in the book that you suffered from gospel amnesia. What did this look like in your life?

Gospel amnesia manifested itself in my life in a variety of ways. One which stands out to me is what I call Progression Mode. I truly believed I had progressed past (matured beyond) the gospel because I thought of the gospel as a simple proposition—Jesus died on the cross for your sins (i.e. justification)—and then we move on. I was obsessed with becoming "more sanctified." This "sanctification" turned into a long list of extra-biblical life choices I had raised to the level of salvific importance. Another manifestation of gospel amnesia in my life was a heart full of scorn, criticism and derision for any Christian or church which did not believe what I believed, and practice all the secondary issues I had raised to primary importance.

How does the gospel fight against this type of amnesia?

The cross work of Jesus Christ tethers you to the reality of who you are as a human being. At the foot of the cross, arrogance, anger, and angst melt away and our anthropocentric existence breaks down. The beauty at the heart of the gospel is the cross work of Jesus Christ. When the person of Christ, when Jesus, becomes a conscious presence in our life—and this happens as we meditate, dwell, and preach the gospel to ourselves every day—it staves off our tendency toward amnesia.

What unique message does this book have to offer?

Many people talk about "forgetting" the gospel, often in the context of carelessness or lukewarmness. What is unique about Gospel Amnesia is that I also point out the often intentional efforts we in our sinful hearts make that end up pushing the gospel out of our consciousness, and I try to show exactly what that looks like for individuals, churches, denominations, and the Church corporately.

You can also check out other interviews with Luma here and see the book's page with endorsements here.

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Luma Simms (@lumasimms) is a wife and mother of five delightful children between the ages of 1 and 18. She studied physics and law before Christ led her to become a writer, blogger, and Bible study teacher. She is the author of Gospel Amnesia: Forgetting the Goodness of the News. She blogs regularly at Gospel Grace.

Facing Our Identity Issues

I sat in my office sulking. My day had been so demanding. My week tiresome. My month an all out marathon, minus the fans. Pastoring eternal souls, preaching week after week, leading leaders, and living an outwardly focused life is demanding enough, but occasionally the demands pile higher. As a pastor, I am a sinner that counsels sinners. This means that, despite our common hope in the gospel, there are times that I fail to apply my own counsel to my own soul. It means that I'm not enough for any disciple much less a whole church.

The past couple of weeks had been one of those "pile up" weeks. More counseling, more speaking, more demands. Add to the stack a particular situation that was, shall we say, extreme? The inbox had hate mail and church slander waiting for me. In tandem, I had to watch self-destructive behavior dismantle a person, whom I had poured a lot of life into.

Exhausted, I thought: "No one understands what it's like to be a pastor." "I deserve better treatment than this, after all I've done. Why can't I have better circumstances." I was emotionally drained.

In hope, I turned to Chuck Palahniuk for help, author of Choke, Snuff, and Fight Club.

Split Identity

Chuck Palahniuk writes sketchy fiction that challenges the prevailing norms for identity in our culture. His book Fight Club exposes misplaced identity through the central characters: The Narrator (played by Edward Norton in the movie version) and Tyler Durden (played by Brad Pitt). Durden starts underground fighting clubs where men show up after hours to fight bare-chested and barefoot.

In the now famous scene from Fight Club, the movie, Durden gives a speech that clarifies just what kind of war we should be fighting:

We are the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no great war, or great depression. Our great war is a spiritual war. Our great depression is our lives. We've all been raised by television to believe that one day we'll all be millionaires and movie gods and rock stars — but we won't.

Our great war is a spiritual war. But what kind of spiritual war?

The spiritual war, according to Chuck, is to ground your identity in reality not in the American Dream. This is precisely what Edward Norton struggles to do. It was what I was struggling to do. Norton wants to be sexier and cooler than he actually is. He wants to be Brad Pitt, and he wants it so badly that he creates an alter ego called Tyler Durden, who starts Fight Clubs and lives like a rock god. He believes the lie that ubermasculinity and rock star living will give his life meaning, a greater sense of identity. So he creates Tyler Durden in his mind. You might say he has "identity issues," but he's not the only one.

Identity-of-the-Moment

We all have identity issues. Many of us have created an alter ego. It's more subtle than Norton's, but it's an alter ego nonetheless.

This alternate personality contends for our identity. It pulls at your heart, your longings. It tells you that if you were just a little more like this or that, then you'd be somebody. If you were better looking, if you were more successful, if you were married, if you were more spiritual, if you had more of a following on Twitter or Facebook, then you'd be somebody.

How do you detect your alter ego? Where do your thoughts drift when you have down time? What do you daydream about? Follow your thoughts, your dreams, your calendar and you will find your alter ego. In an interview with Paste Magazine, Chuck Palahniuk shares where part of his vision for Fight Club came from. He notes that the fighting in Fight Club was more about:

... people need(ing) a consensual forum in which to express themselves and to exhaust their pent up anxiety, and also to test themselves and kind of destroy their identity-of-the-moment, so that they can move on to a better, stronger identity ...

His book really is about identity — destroying the unwanted identity-of-the-moment (alter ego) and finding a better, stronger identity. This is what's at stake in our discipleship, every, single, day. A better identity.

Recovering Identity in Christ

What if we became adept at identifying our identity of the moment, the egos and images we slip into for meaning and worth? What if we were quick to confess those to friends and community? Just think what could happen if you consistently saw through your sin to your "identity-of-the-moment," and turned to Christ for true identity. It could be life-changing! Here are a few tips that have helped me recover identity in Christ in my insane moments:

• Reflect on Identity-of-the-Moment. I look for the sinful patterns in my life and trace them to "identity of the moment." For instance, my sin was sulking and my false identity was victim. I try to ask myself the hard questions, but often I need others to do that for me. Our self-image is as accurate as a carnival mirror, says Paul Tripp. We need good questions to straighten out our self-perception. We need to ask questions "What are you longing for most right now?" "Why are your emotions so extreme?" Check out David Powlison's helpful "X-ray Questions."
• My symptom was sulking. Sulkers are sour because they focus on how they've been mistreated. They see themselves as victims, their identity-of-the-moment. Complaining is a sure sign my victim identity is creeping in. "Can you believe they did that?" "There's no way I deserve that." Complaining can quickly turn to ripping on people. If we're not careful, best friends and spouses will end up colluding with us for other's verbal demise. "Venting" is an extreme expression of victim identity. We need a better identity in that moment.
• Reject Alter Identity. Once I detect my sin/identity issue, I try to reject it. Confession to God is the first step. "Lord, I am finding my worth in my wallowing, in being pitied, and not trusting your providence. I don't believe these circumstances are a kindness appointed to lure me deeper into you. I confess and I receive--forgiveness and cleansing" (see: 1 John 1:9). When we confess our sin, we reject our false identity. It's the first step toward gospel sanity, shaking off the delusions of sin, and returning to the grandeur of grace.
• Return to Christ. Returning to Jesus for gospel identity instead of an identity-of-the-moment is the most difficult and important part of being a disciple. Robert Murray McCheyene said: "For every look at sin, look ten times at Christ." How does Christ offer you a better identity than the false identity? My sin was sulking and my identity was victim. In 2 Peter 1:3, I'm reminded that my identity is godly; I'm a partaker of the divine nature. I was sulking in ungodliness because I thought I deserved better circumstances. I felt weak. This time I turned Peter the Apostle, not Chuck Palahniuk.

Peter reminded me that we have "divine power granted to us for life and godliness." This scripture reminded me of my identity — godly — but it does not stop there. It also offers a Savior to trust, a counter-promise of divine power necessary to live a godly life, not a sulking life. What a relief! Our identity is godly, and our promise is divine power for godliness.

Identity-in-Community

Interestingly, some of the material for Palahniuk's book came from his experience in hospice patient therapy. During one Christmas, he picked a paper ornament off of a church Christmas tree, the kind that obligates you to a good deed like buying a gift for an underprivileged child. His ornament called him to give hospice patients a ride to their therapy sessions. As he sat through some of these sessions he reported that:

I started to recognize that, in a way, 12-step groups, recovery groups, support groups were becoming the new kind of church of our time — a place where people will go and confess their very worst aspects of their lives and seek redemption and community with other people in the way that people used to go to church and sort of present their worst selves in confession and then celebrate communion and then go home for another week.

This is what got Chuck going with some of Fight Club — the need for redemption and community. It's time the church took those things back. It's time we became a community that confesses the worst part of our lives to one another, but doesn't stop there. We need more than confession, more than identity-of-the-moment exposure. We need sanity, to return to our true selves in Christ, in community. We need people who will point us to the redemption that is in Jesus. People that won't let us sulk for too long, people who will reminds us that our identity isn't victim. It is son or daughter of the Living God, "partakers of the divine nature," godly ones. I've traced out one way we can do this in Gospel-centered Discipleship, a community-based, gospel-centered approach to following Jesus. However you do it, make a habit of exposing false identities and re-grounding true identity in Christ.

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Jonathan K. Dodson (M.Div, Th.M) is happy husband to Robie, and proud father to Owen, Ellie & Rosamund. He is also the lead pastor of City Life church and a leader in The GCM Collective, PlantR, and Gospel Centered Discipleship.com. Jonathan is also author of Gospel-Centered Discipleship, Raised? Finding Jesus by Doubting the Resurrection (Feb, 2014). He enjoys listening to M. Ward, watching sci-fi, and following Jesus. Blogs at jonathandodson.org

4 Anchors of Repentance

  Repentance is a big deal. You’ve probably heard that. It’s a motif in Scripture that you absolutely cannot avoid. We often create terminology, systems, or routines that help to motivate and remind us to regularly repent because we see its importance. This surely isn’t bad. However, complicated theological definitions and white-knuckled systems often lead to a dry, mechanical, lifeless interaction with God. This, of course, is bad.

The most common definition of repentance that I have heard is to turn from your sin and to Jesus. This is a helpful definition, but if we let a definition drive our repentance, it isn’t really repentance. So, what drives repentance? What type of repentance is truly biblical? The scope of this question is deep and wide, but there are four foundational aspects of biblical repentance: biblical repentance is from God, centered on God, produces life-giving joy, and should be sought in community.

1. Biblical Repentance Is from God

If we look at Psalm 130, we see the Psalmist waiting, seeking, and needing God. It seems as if, without God, there is no hope. Biblical repentance starts with God. The Psalmist later cries out in the midst of repentance saying, “Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me” (Ps. 51:11). David knows that there is no hope for repentance outside of the Holy Spirit’s leading. He is petitioning God to grant him forgiveness. We also witness Paul encourage Timothy to correct his opponents with gentleness, so that “God may perhaps grant them repentance” (2 Tim. 2:25).

Biblical repentance is initiated by God. How is this helpful? If God grants repentance, then we have no need to fake it. That doesn’t mean we give ourselves over to sin while we wait for God to grant repentance. Surely if your heart heads in that direction, there is cause for concern. But, the truth that God grants repentance should drive us to seek him earnestly. Instead of settling for going through some routine, we ask the God of the universe to brake our hearts over our sin. Scripture also encourages us to “draw near to the throne of grace with confidence” (Heb. 4:16). God is willing and able not only to respond, but to give generously.

Why does appealing to God often feel difficult? Perhaps it’s because we want God to zap us from a distance rather than seek him in the midst of disobedience. Our mechanical, humdrum repentance is dry because we don’t want to be intimate with God. We have blown it, perhaps for the thousandth time, and facing the most offended Person is unbelievably humbling. But in this, we have forgotten another aspect of biblical repentance. We are told that not only should we approach God with confidence, but that “God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance” (Rom 2:4).

We don’t seek God for repentance because we are good, but because he is good. David’s opening cry in Psalm 51 rings with desperation, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgression.” David bases his plea on God’s mercy.

Jesus’s words remind us ever-so-clearly that we need God’s mercy. Consider the parable to those who trusted in themselves that they were righteous while treating others with contempt:

“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 18:9-14)

We tend resemble the tax collector at times when things go badly. But does the rhythm of our lives consistently communicate the same need for mercy? Do you more often resemble the Pharisee, bartering with God based on your own deeds? You go to church, tithe, read Christian blogs, and even share the gospel at times. Those these things are right and good, they do not necessarily mirror a heart seeking after the God who grants forgiveness.

Entitlement to grace creeps into our life subtly. It's an insidious disease. One way entitlement manifests in our lives is blaming God for our sin. Have you ever said, “God I do all of this stuff for you, why have you not saved me from ______ sin.” Maybe we don’t say it in those words, but we know that God has the power to help overcome any sin, and yet he hasn’t. Entitlement rears its ugly head.

We must remember that our repentance will be maturing until we go on to glory. Holy Spirit led, God-centered, life-giving, joyful repentance is a gift you continue to discover for the rest of your life. And the good news is that God wants to give it to you.

2. Biblical Repentance Is God-Centered

In Psalm 51, David also laments, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment” (Ps. 51:4).

At times, our repentance can be centered on everything but God. If we were to think of repentance as a play, then God is the main character while sin, ourselves, and others play supporting roles. However, we are often grieved over our sin because we are tired of being the guy that struggles with porn or the mom that blows up at her kids. Sometimes we don’t like when relationships are off or that our workplace or church has issues. Our response is to try and make everything right again, but this will get us nowhere.

In these situations, we should join in with David, recalling that our sin can only be called sin because God himself declares what is holy and what is not. People are affected, no doubt, but God is always the most offended. In repentance, we have the obligation to going before the most offended party and acknowledging our guilt without excuse. If repentance isn’t God-centered, we can give him a token apology while avoiding facing the depth of our sin. Unfortunately, this causes us to miss enjoying the most abundant, heavenly pardon ever offered: our sin for the Son’s perfect righteousness. Jesus righteousness feels most undeserved when we are aware of our sin, and our heart rejoices most deeply when God is at the center of our repentance. Our joy in repentance is intimately intertwined with God’s work to crush sin for the glory of his name. He reminds us in Isaiah:

“For my name's sake I defer my anger, for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off. Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.” (Is. 48:9-11)

3. Biblical Repentance Leads to Life-Giving Joy

Repentance should lead to joy, as Scripture often reminds us. For example:

“For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death” (2 Cor. 7:10).

“Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice” (Ps. 51:8).

“Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit” (Ps. 51:12).

Taking our sin seriously and experiencing the joy of repentance can and should come in many forms. Surely we have had times where our brokenness over sin has led to genuine godly grief and tears have flowed. But there are often times genuine repentance takes place in the midst of ordinary life.

Here is a brief personal vignette:

I have some friends that raise chickens. One night, they were telling us about the death of a chicken and my buddy mentioned that chickens will often pluck the eyes out of their dead counterparts. He even said as a joke that if you lied down out there, they would pluck your eyes out. My young son, Wyatt, loves the chickens.

I was at work remembering the conversation with my friend and realizing my son was over at their house. I had the ridiculous picture of my son lying down near the chickens and getting his eyes plucked out. I realize this sounds quite silly, but it caused real anxiety in me. I called my wife and couldn’t get in touch with her. I was going to have her check on Wyatt’s eyes. Then the Lord brought to mind a struggle of mine.

I have realized more and more that I struggle to trust God with my kids. I often feel the need to over-control situations because, frankly, I don’t trust God. I happen to be dwelling on Psalm 130 that week, and I remembered the Psalmist exhortation at the end: “O Israel, hope in the Lord!” I then began tell myself, “Jake, hope in the Lord!” A sweet joy came over my heart as I ventured from lies to truth, sinful disobedience to Spirit-led obedience.

This is a picture of repentance in the everyday rhythm of life. If we are to be more consistent and genuine in our repentance, we must realize God grants this gift in many different forms, although the substance is the same. Whether at church, at home, at work, or anywhere else, joy can be had if we simply focus on the One who offers it to us.

4. Biblical Repentance Is Sought in Community

It’s important to note that these three aspects of repentance should not be sought alone. There is great joy in seeing a sister who has been asking God to mold her into the image of his Son come to the place of repentance. Joy abounds. It’s beautiful to be a part of a community where people don’t just talk about some abstract theology of repentance, but who actually point each other to the God who grants repentance. As with most things, it is hard to be a pointer if you aren’t a practitioner. But as you swim in the abundant grace available for you in repentance, your spirit will be renewed.

As we walk through the highs and lows of life with others, we shouldn’t feel a heavy burden to “fix” them our make sure they “get it.” We continually walk humbly with them, trusting them to the only One who is able to save. The Psalms are very helpful in this regard. We see men experiencing and interacting with God. We don’t merely want people to see their sin; we want them to see their sin in relationship to a holy, forgiving God.

Repentance is not simply an individual affair. Repentance experienced in community allows us to share in each other’s joy and marvel at God’s good grace. So take heart, and seek him for the gift of repentance. May the Spirit blow a fresh wind into your soul. And may you have the courage to share it with others.

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Jake Ledet is Pastor of Discipleship at CityView Church. He lives in Texas with his wife and two kids. Connect with him on Twitter: @JakeLedet.