Devoted to King Jesus
Early in my campus ministry, I found myself in a relational, spiritual, and emotional crisis, which forced me to examine my past’s influence upon my life. Interspersed between painful memories, I questioned the nature of God and how he works in our lives: Is God in control of history and time? And more importantly, if he is, are his actions and heart good? To be honest, navigating these deep questions from the land mines of my anger and confusion seemed like an impossible journey; especially since I was targeting my rage at God. Even so, the mercy and patience of the Lord held me up while he slowly massaged my grieving heart and revealed his good and perfect will for my life. One of the means used to do both was many of the stories told in the gospel narratives especially Luke 2.
The Birth of a King
The story of Jesus’ birth is so familiar that it’s hard to appreciate its historical and spiritual nuances. I read over these familiar text like someone in a food coma after a huge Thanksgiving meal. However, as I read this text, the Holy Spirit provided fresh insight into the otherwise familiar story and shed light on its unexamined contours and applied it to my own heart.
In Luke 1 leading up to chapter 2 reveals how the sovereignty of God “drags humanity around” for his purposes. The major characters of this narrative, both those against and for his glory, are having their lives invaded in major ways. For example,
Zechariah and Elizabeth are forced to enter into the much wanted, but exhausting terrain of parenthood at an inconceivable old age; voices and bodies are compelled towards that end.
Mary and Joseph’s minds are entirely warped by God invading their life through Gabriel’s stark news, the overly intimate hovering of the Holy Spirit, and the awkward thought of parenting a child who has divinely conceived.
And to make matters worse, Joseph and Mary are inconveniently reminded by the edict of Rome’s Caesar Augustus to register in your hometown that in a very real world way they were not in control of their lives.
I can’t imagine how confusing and frustrating this all must have felt. Two worldview agendas at odds, the Kingdom of God and Rome, with two families caught in the middle of this metaphysical tussle. Both kings, one legitimate and the other illegitimate, are moving in time and space to establish their thrones in the hearts of humanity; both are calling these two families to be “counted” in their respective census. Can you imagine being pulled around like this in such a deep existential way? Commanded to submit one’s heart to one or the other?
Register Your Devotion
And then it hit me. We all are being pulled in this way to pick a side. We must register our devotion to either the things of this world or God’s King. We have been wrestling with this choice since our first family’s betrayal in the Garden of Eden. And considering our long history, we have landed on the wrong side more times than not. In fact, the chances of humanity being able to overcome the influence of the coup de taux of heaven are next to impossible.
Humanity’s hope? God crashes the “time and space” party of history. It starts with dabbling with various relationships and their reproductive capacities. He begins with a geriatric couple who have been barren their entire marriage; God pays them an angelic visit, and baboom, they are pregnant. Then, he proceeds to a nearby village and performs a procreation miracle, via the Holy Spirit, on behalf of an engaged virgin and her stunned fiancé. Through it all, the Lord of the universe creates life where life has never been before, the wombs of a barren senior citizen and a very young virgin. These crazy visitations point to the means by which God the Father will graciously save the world; in particular, that the life of God will come into the soul of man, to overthrow the oppressive tyrant of our souls and of the world.
The birth of Jesus manifests this plan, while pointing to the means by which he will secure his kingdom for the people. Notice, all of the power and glory of the Father residing in a fragile and innocent infant; not striking a pose of judgment and intimidation, but a spirit of gentle, beautiful, and healing communion with humanity. Unlike Caesar Augustus, or the likes of Herod in the Gospel of Matthew, the wise men, angels, and the shepherds are given a sliver of glory as the King of Kings is made manifest to them in the safest form one can imagine: An infant! This occurrence points to the very heart of the gospel—that God is making himself known in a gracious, merciful, and forgiving way to humanity. Amazingly, this revelation of God’s grace works a spirit of devotion, in which the humble of the world commit their hearts to the King gratefully and willing, unlike the brutality of the kings of the world who demand loyalty with the point of a sword. Over time, as the Holy Spirit tenderly worked in my mind and soul via the Word of God and the mentorship of many believers, I saw that my journey and the subsequent scar tissue was the work of a mighty and wise King, who was working through our lives to bring about his redemptive purposes. The pain finally had a rightful place in my story, which allowed me to once again bow the knee to his infinite goodness.
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3 Lies That Hinder Our Mission According to John Calvin
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution? -Romans 8:35
I've often heard that "self, society, and Satan" are the three sources of lies. My flesh (like so many other's) often fights against these pithy sayings, but so far as I can tell all lies ultimately come from one of these three sources.
However, all of these "sin sources" are biblical (Eph. 2:2-3). I was reading Calvin's commentary on Romans the other day and came across his remarks on Romans 8:35. He writes:
Tribulation includes every kind of trouble or evil; distress is an inward feeling, when difficulties reduce us to such an extremity, so that we know not what course to pursue. . . . Persecution properly denotes the tyrannical violence by which the children of God were undeservedly harassed by the ungodly.
It struck me how closely his definitions of these three words lined up with the "self, society, and Satan" line of thought. Let's deal with them in turn:
Self
Calvin refers to the word translated "distress" in Romans 8 as "an inward feeling." In other words, we come under distress when we stop trusting in God and His sovereignty and start looking at our own circumstances and allow our own thoughts and feelings to get carried away with worry. Surely someone like Moses could have had this happen to him when he was chased to the edge of the Red Sea with the Egyptians hot on his tail. But instead of "leaning on his own understanding" (Prov. 3:5-6) he trusted the Lord. It just so happens that God can make ways of escape for his people that humans can't do or understand on their own (in this case, parting the Sea!).
Experientially I confess that often I am the cause of lies I believe. I resonate with the theologians rock band Lit who said, "It's no surprise to me I am my own worst enemy."
I can also cry out with Paul who in Romans 7:24-25 wrote:
Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
Thankfully, Jesus sets us free from ourselves. Through him I can be liberated from my ability to deceive myself.
Society
Society tells me t hat certain kinds of clothes, food, jewelry, car, house, neighborhood, weight, size, shape, skin color, teeth, school, or work determine my self-worth. While these things have varying degrees of importance, God tells me that my identity is drawn from Jesus and to seek him above all these things. If I'm honest, at times I'm too quick to believe the lies society bombards me with rather than what I confess to true from Scripture.
Calvin's comments (v. 8:35) focus specifically on what the people of God suffer at the hands of those who are opposed to God. While most people in the US have not experienced physical acts of violence as a result of their faith, some are concerned that this sort of persecution is on the horizon. In the meantime, it is far more likely that society will woo us to conform to its image through its clever marketing and that we will adopt their markers of success.
Churches are truly tempted to make budgets, baptisms, and “butts in seats” synonymous with success. These are all good and important things, but don’t necessarily equate to faithfulness to Christ. God desires above all that his Church seek him and make disciples that obey the teachings of Christ (Matt. 28). Yet, it’s not hard to find churches that have abandoned this distinctive for societal marks of success and brought the Church’s mission into subordination to the American Dream.
Just as Jesus gives us the power to overcome our own self-deception, He's given us the power to overcome society's lies. In Galatians 1:3-4 we read: “The Lord Jesus Christ . . . gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.”
Satan
Finally, we come to Satan, our adversary and "the father of lies" (Jn. 8:44). If not for him, no sin or lies would exist within humanity. He is the source of all tribulation that’s not tied to the first two sources. Satan filled the heart of Judas on the night he betrayed Jesus. There’s an evil lie that tells us money is better than God and this lie shaped Judas in his betrayal (Matt. 26:15; 1 Tim. 6:10).
While Satan should be feared and we should not underestimate his ability to deceive us, we can take comfort knowing that God is sovereign and Satan can only do what God permits him to do (see Job 1 for this). While he prowls around like a roaring lion seeking to devour us (1 Pet. 5:8), we need only resist him and he will flee (Jas. 4:7).
Not surprisingly, Jesus has given us the power to overcome Satan as well:
Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. (Heb. 2:14-15)
Finding Our Way Back To The Truth
While all of us will give in to believing lies from time to time, thankfully Jesus has overcome these things and has imparted His victory to us by our faith in Him. We have God's inerrant truth in the Bible and can always turn there to help us in fighting off these lies. We also have prayer so we can trust in God with all our heart instead of leaning on our own understanding (Proverbs 3:5). What is prayer if not a vocal reliance upon our sovereign God?
Thankfully, despite this "unholy trinity" working against us, nothing can separate us from God's love that was made available to us through Jesus. In fact, Paul goes on to say that we are "more than conquerors" (Rom. 8:37). What does it mean to be more than a conqueror? Well it's possible for an army to conquer a competing army in battle yet suffer many casualties. But we are more than conquerors, so even if everything in creation was against us (even ourselves at times!) since God is for us we will not suffer casualties. We may be martyred for our faith, but we will live again and have life abundantly.
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Sean Nolan (B.S. and M.A., Summit University) is the Family Life Pastor at Christ Fellowship Church in Fallston, MD. Prior to that he served at a church plant in Troy, NY for seven years and taught Hermeneutics to ninth and tenth graders. He is married to Hannah and is father to Knox and Hazel. He blogs at Hardcore Grace and the recently started Family Life Pastor.
Moving Forward on Mission Together
Every community and mission is unique. The cookie cutter doesn’t exist. However, the best place to start is to listen to the people you are sent to and reflect on how their lives might intersect the gospel and community.
Understand the Mission
Here are five sets of questions to help you move forward in discipling others as a community with the gospel.
1. People: Who are the people is God sending us to? Where do they live and hang out? What are their stories? What are their names? What are the avenues to engage and build relationship?
2. Language: What “language” do they speak? Are these people young families, business professionals, working class, etc?
3. Value: What is most important to them? Success, money, relationships, independence, survival, comfort, escape, etc? Who speaks into their worldview?
4. Gospel: What false gospel do they believe in? In other words, what do they hope for? What is the “problem” in their eyes? What is the solution? How is the gospel good news to them? How does it address their values? How is the gospel better than what they value most right now?
5. Needs: What are their needs? How does Jesus meet those needs? How can we be part of meeting their needs in a way that “shows” the gospel?
Know What You Have to Offer
What are the gifts, resources, and passions of the community? Who is in your group? What has God given you as a people—not simply possessions, but talents, abilities, hobbies? What is it that you have to offer these people as a community? Likewise, how will your community begin to rely on and expect relationship from those you are sent to?
As you create this list, you will quickly realize you do not have enough. Your community doesn’t have what it takes, you don’t have the resources to solve homelessness in your city. This is the right place to be. It will push you to pray and push you to faithfully and humbly take steps. Don’t be proud of what you have to give, come to mission dependent. Don’t come defeated. Come with the confidence that Jesus is enough.
Lead Into the What
1. Commit to a new pattern of life. You are going to have to change the way you live to engage in relational ministry with the marginalized. Things will change.
2. Create a plan of patiently speaking and demonstrating the gospel. Planning requires putting things on the calendar and in the budget. Make a plan together that allows you to be on mission together. If you don’t plan it, it probably won’t happen.
3. Once you’ve planned it, show up. This takes resolve. The planning part of our brain is rational and taps into the deep longings of our souls. The in-the-moment-decision-making part of our brain taps into our primal desires for comfort and pleasure. Making a plan is huge but overcoming the urge to call it off or call in sick is also huge.
4. Once you show up, evaluate how it went as a community. Ask questions like: How did it feel? What fears did doing this bring up? Who wanted to show up? What was it that got exposed in your own heart as you served. Also, evaluate the mission: what do we need to grow in to be better missionaries? How do our hearts need to change? What did we learn about their true needs? What was encouraging? Do we need to change our plan and do we need to change our prayers? Finally, what did we learn about Jesus?
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Brad Watson (@bradawatson) serves as a pastor of Bread&Wine Communities where he develops and teaches leaders how to form communities that love God and serve the city. Brad is the author of Raised?, Called Together: A Guide to Forming Missional Communities, and Sent Together: How the Gospel Sends Leaders to Start Missional Communities. He lives in southeast Portland with his wife and their two daughters. You can read more from Brad at www.bradawatson.com.
Leadership in John 21
For leaders, one of the strongest tensions we face is understanding where we are. Not in a location or geography sense. I mean that in a sense of time. Leadership today is often described as the ability to be a “futurist” or “visionier.” Our culture cries out for leaders who can see down the road a couple of decades and pull out a greater and more glorious reality of what is to come for their followers. We want our leaders to live in tomorrowland and motivate us toward it. Certainly there is a rightness to this for a ministry leader. We want our people to reach the “prize of the upward call of God in Christ” (Phil. 3:15). Hopefully our ambition in ministry is to “present everyone mature in Christ” (Col. 1:28). Discipleship, after all, is about becoming more and more like Christ in all things. This is what Jesus had in mind when he told us to “make disciples of all nations … teaching them to obey all I have commanded (Matt. 28:19). Leaders in the church must envision what maturity in Christ looks like for their people.
Often, however, we are stuck envisioning a future for our local church that is more about the church growing in size and influence in the culture instead of seeing the people, who are the church, growing in christlikeness. Discipleship becomes a system of techniques, classes, and processes to move the organization into the future instead of the development of a person growing in their union with Christ. Like our industrialized society, discipleship is often reduced to an assembly-line manufacturing system that inputs a sinner and outputs a saint. I don’t mean for this post to exhaust what discipleship could and should look like for those leading in the local church but to simply call us to one specific act of leadership that requires a shift in our perspective from future-thinking to our present-placement. I have heard it said frequently from many places, “shepherd the church you have, not the one you hope to have.” I’m calling leaders to return from their time-travel to the present.
Jesus as the Present Leader
The example of Christ in John 21 is helpful to me in understanding this. The chapter sits as a epilogue to the whole book and ties together a few strings that we have remaining after Jesus’ resurrection, specifically the failure of Peter. Jesus finds his disciples in Galilee back in their boats doing what they do best, fishing. Before Jesus is able to cast a vision for the mission and catalyze a movement with these disciples he must shepherd them in the present context of their life. John’s account shows us how Jesus leads in such a way that he enables their future growth and maturity but is within the context of their present reality. Two specific examples demonstrate this:
1. Jesus Provides For Them
Understand that the disciples here are professional fishermen by trade. These guys earned a living scooping fish out in loads. One night’s worth of work with no result is an abject failure and frustration. More often than we would choose to think this is the world that we exist in. No matter how gifted, talented, resourceful, or dynamic we are most of our efforts are wrought with frustration and often failure. Yet Jesus steps into that moment of failure and provides for those disciples in deep care and love. The way in which he provides is an act of revelation of himself and blessing to his disciples.
We probably won’t be able to miraculously provide physically for those we are leading, but we must work at providing something for them. Certainly the provision of our time, our attention and our presence is help to those who are seeking to grow in Christ. A good question to ask is, “are you resourcing yourself to the people you are leading?” Do they have time with you? Do they have your attention? Do have have your wisdom and counsel? Leaders will often use their time as a carrot to dangle it in front of people who we want to accomplish something for us. When was the last time you resourced your people with unhurried time with yourself? When was the last time you sat down with your team, without an agenda on the table or a list to be accomplished, and gave yourself to them?
2. Jesus Restores Them
The people that we lead are far more wounded and broken then we will often care to admit. This is frustrating for most leaders because we want whole, dynamic, healthy people behind us because it makes the growth all the more palpable and expansive. The reality is that our sin invades every area of our lives, and the ways we are sinned against makes us far more fragile that we want to believe. It makes our people more delicate that we often care to give time to.
So it was with Peter. He was the type-A, dynamic, catalytic, entrepreneurial leader that was going to be a great success. Except at the crisis moment he was no better than Judas. His failure was just as deep. Do not discount the fact that your failures, and the failures of your people are paramount to the failures of Peter. We are all in need of restoration. And this is what Jesus does.
He lovingly reverses and undoes the triple betrayal of Peter. He replaces that betrayal with love. Jesus’ questions of “do you love me” aren’t questions to shame and guilt Peter. They are are questions to restore him.
Living presently as a leader requires restorative words and works of grace to those we live with. Certain leadership styles are infamous for discarding failed disciples as “bodies under the bus” and continuing to move on “for the sake of the mission.” The problem with that view of leadership is that the mission isn’t to have a big church. The mission is to be proclaim Christ and display Christ by restoring and healing broken people.
Present In Time and Space
Leadership is about the future. We must show and call people to a life in Christ that is full of his glory and our transformation to his image. We can not fail to show this vision to our people again and again. But we must not sacrifice the present for the hope of a future that we’ve envisioned outside of Christ’s view of it. I believe it is the work of Biblical leadership to bring people to Jesus’ vision of a new humanity. We can, in some ways, discard our own projects for notoriety and success and focus on Jesus’ vision. If we do that it will enable us to live and focus on the lives of the people we lead in the present.
If you are a leader in ministry I would challenge you to ask how your ministry goals line up with the future vision of Christ for his church. Paul speaks Jesus’ work as presenting his bride, the church, as one who is “cleansed … by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:26-27). Is the goal you are working for? Or are you working for a number to post on a scoreboard of how many came to your worship service this last week?
Jeremy Writebol (@jwritebol) has been training leaders in the church for over fourteen years. He is the author of everPresent: How the Gospel Relocates Us in the Present (GCD Books, 2014) and writes at jwritebol.net. He is the pastor of Woodside Bible Church’s Plymouth, MI campus.
They Know My Voice
Ours is a noisy world. An endless cacophony of voices clamors for our attention every day. The incessant ping of our cell phones reminds us that we are always on call. Some of these voices overtly seek to lure our hearts away from God, toward the wicked desires of our hearts. More often, these voices are seemingly mundane and sterile, like the viral video of a fight between a porcupine and a hippo (or something equally mind-numbing). Our social media accounts, blogs, radios, and TVs are vying for our attention and trying to influence our actions. The subtle danger of the unrelenting noise in our lives is that we may miss the voice of God. In John’s gospel, Jesus equates his care for God’s people to that of a shepherd and the sheep entrusted to his care. Like a good shepherd, Jesus leads his sheep to safety (v. 9), suffers to ensure their care (v. 11), protects them from harm (v. 12), and has thorough knowledge of their needs (v. 14). His shepherding stands in stark contrast to thieves and robbers who come only to steal, kill, and destroy (v. 10). Those who are truly God’s sheep know the difference between the two. John writes,
Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. (Jn. 10:1-4)
The sheep know the voice of the Shepherd. They hear him call and follow where he leads, because they know his voice.
I’ve Heard That Before
The image of a sheep and a shepherd is indicative of the way God desires to speak to his people. The spoken word is one of the most powerful tools for the work of a shepherd. With his voice, he warns his sheep of danger and calls them towards fertile pastures. Great danger awaits a sheep that foolishly follows his own desires or the voice of an imposter. Only his shepherd knows how best to lead his sheep. In time, sheep are trained to know and recognize the voice of their shepherd. They know that it is in their best interest to listen to that one voice.
We see the same process happen in the life of infants who quickly learn to recognize the voice of their mothers. Regardless of who else is in the room, when mom speaks, the child listens and responds. The reason is clear—the child has learned to associate that voice with food, comfort, and love. The mom’s voice stands out, it captures their attention, and it clams their heart.
God’s children are meant to recognize his voice as well. Before conversion, their sin-darkened hearts make them tone deaf to the voice of God. They have ears, yet cannot hear (Mk. 8:18). But God, in his kindness, speaks words of life to the hearts of his children by the power of his Spirit. He opens their hearts and they hear his invitation to salvation. At first, this voice is new, distinct, and compelling, yet different from the voices they’ve listened to all their life.
Time and again, God speaks. And, as he does, his children learn to recognize his voice. Like little sheep, God’s people discover that they should listen to God’s voice because he knows what is best. God’s sheep hear his voice above the noise of a fallen world.
The Ever-Present Voice of the Shepherd
God is a speaking God who is intent on leading his people. The voice of the Good Shepherd is an ever-present reality in the life of God’s children. Here the image of a shepherd leading his sheep is helpful. No shepherd worth the title would simply get up each morning and say to his sheep, “Alright boys and girls, today is going to be a big day. We’re going to head out toward the west. At some point, some mangy wolves are going to attack, and when they do…well…I’ll figure something out. And somewhere between mile-marker 11 and 14, you’ll need to turn toward a luscious pasture. I hope things work out for you and I’ll talk to you tonight.”
This is not the way shepherds work. They lead by speaking throughout the day. They constantly monitor the sheep and, with their voice, guide each movement, each change of direction, and each defense against an enemy’s advance.
God’s voice works the same way. Many have rightly been told that spiritual formation hinges on meeting with God through prayer and Bible study on a regular basis. There God graciously speaks to us through his Word, exposes our sin, calls us to repentance, and reminds us of the steadfast nature of his love. But, God does not stop speaking when we put down the cup of coffee and head off into the daily grind. He goes with us and continues to seek to lead us by his Word. He knows our hopes and dreams, our deepest needs, and our propensity to sin. Because he is a sovereign, the speaking God is an ever-present voice that guides his children, if we listen.
The Hearing Aid of Action
So, how do you and I train our ears to recognize the voice of God throughout the day? Certainly, we should give thought to the noise we willingly invite into our lives. Many of the voices we hear on a daily basis are there by our own choosing, such as social media, TV, blogs, or text messaging. One way God’s people learn to hear the voice of God is by actively and intentionally turning down the voices of the world. Rest, solitude, and silence position the human heart to hear the still, small voice by which God is continually speaking to his people.
But, James presents another way of training our hearts to hear the voice of God when he writes,
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at this natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing (Jms. 2:22–25).
Action is the hearing aid of the Christian life. James contrasts the hearer and the doer—both receiving the gift of God’s voice, but only one finding the blessing of God. The one who acts not only is “blessed in his doing,” but his action also heightens his awareness of the voice of God the next time he speaks.
Let’s imagine that a husband hears God through the Word, which challenges the husband’s neglect of his family and confronts his passivity in his discipleship of his children. The man quickly rationalizes his actions, protesting that his 80-hour work week is a testament to his love for his family and is necessary for his kids to go to college and succeed in life. As a result, he doesn’t obey the voice of God, and, through his inactivity, he turns down the voice of God and cranks up the voice of the enemy. The next time God speaks, the voice of God will likely be harder to hear because this man has trained his ears to listen to the wrong voice.
Another man may hear the same voice. However, this man listens. Convicted of his sin, this man asks his family for forgiveness and commits to reducing his workload in order to spend more time at home. He trusts God to meet the needs of his family and rests secure in God’s faithful care. This man finds blessing in his action. He learns that God will, in fact, provide and discovers that his family is a source of great joy. Through his action, he turns up the volume of the voice of God—not only in this instance, but also in the future when God speaks to him. He recognizes God’s voice as the one who exposed his sin and led him to blessing. Each time this man hears and acts, the voice of God gets louder and louder, eventually drowning out the competing voices of the world.
This doesn’t happen overnight. In fact, each day, in thousands of ways, we are training our ears to hear. Every time we hear God speak, each seemingly mundane decision he asks us to make, or every time he graciously points out sin in our lives and the countless steps of faith he puts before us are unique opportunities to learn to recognize the voice of the Shepherd.
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Matt Rogers is the pastor of The Church at Cherrydale in Greenville, South Carolina. He and his wife, Sarah, have three daughters, Corrie, Avery, and Willa and a son, Hudson. Matt holds a Master of Arts in counseling from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary as well as a Master of Divinity and a PhD from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Matt writes and speaks for throughout the United States on discipleship, church planting, and missions. Find Matt online at www.mattrogers.bio or follow him on Twitter @mattrogers_
Know God Intimately by Knowing the Word
Lisa Bevere, author and speaker, writes, “Rules will never set us free, just as fear and control will never keep us safe . . .The Law demands and dominates, but love leads and gives.” I’m captivated by her use of this revelation to teach women how rules alone will not keep them sexually pure. She argues that true sexual purity for God’s daughters is the product of a real and vibrant intimacy between them and their heavenly Father. She prescribes nothing short of a fairytale, sparing none of the fantastical ingredients of our most dearly beloved ones; princes and princesses, a castle and far off lands, danger and rescue. And as she weaves this story, she proves how laws can never legislate love, but that true obedience is fashioned out of deep and abiding intimacy. What has that got to do with Scripture memorization?
We have overlooked intimacy as an ingredient of this long underrated discipline in modern discipleship. These days, I wonder just where has the challenge to memorize Scripture gone? We live in a time where parishioners can quote more Jerry Seinfeld than they can Jesus Christ. And so, what is the solution? Is it to legislate more laws of Scripture memory from our pulpits or is it to pray that God would make us people of his Word? Is it such a big deal at all? Technically, there’s no verse that commands us to memorize Scripture, right?
But what if that’s not the point? What if Scripture memory is actually a passionate response to the love and grace of the God who extended both to us? What if Scripture memorization invites us to better know the one who loves us most?
Motivated by Passion
When I think about Scripture memorization, the usual passage comes to mind, “Thy word have I hid in my heart; that I might not sin against you.” (Ps. 119:11). Immediately, we draw upon the necessity of the verse, the why (i.e., “that I might not sin”), but we rarely reflect upon the nature of the man or the who that wrote it. This man was very real and raw; a man of war and of passion. Of David, it is written that he was a man after God’s own heart. Though he could beat a lion and a bear with his bare hands he could also unashamedly burst into tears of praise or anguish before his God and his people. He was indeed full of passion. This man wrote that verse. David teaches us that God is not only concerned with us doing what we are told, but also with the direction in which our hearts are led. “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” (Rom. 8:14).
Though it was no law in his Torah, it was a value in his heart. David’s passion led him to realize as Dr. John Piper says, “You cannot hide what you have not memorized.” And the promise of its necessity, though not fulfilled in David’s life, is come to fruition in the life of his Greater Descendant—Jesus. See Jesus in the wilderness (as recorded in the Gospels) being tempted by the devil. How does he win this match with almost all natural odds stacked against him? By his memory. By what he has hidden in his heart that he might be an obedient Son, not believe the devils’ lie and sin against his Father. And we know that Jesus too was a man of even greater passion—one in total intimacy with the Father and the Holy Spirit.
Passion is Built on What We Prize
Memorizing Scripture helps us to prize God’s voice above others because our passions are built on what we prize. As a culture heavily dieted on media and entertainment, I’ve noticed how even Christians boast more fluency of popular TV sitcoms than of the Bible. Do we identify with a cast on TV or a sports team roster more than with our ancestors in God’s story? If so, this evidences how we are prizing other voices over God’s in the Scriptures. Yet that‘s the voice we are commanded to meditate on both day and night. Rosaria Champagne Butterfield says, “When we cross reference our lives with Scripture, we insert ourselves into God’s story.” This process is significantly aided through committing God’s Word to memory. Instead of pouring our passions into scripts and filtering them through the psychology of modern television we can instead sift our hearts by the greatest story of all.
Scripture memorization brings a primacy of God’s point of view to our minds. It makes Christ more real and more beautiful to us as it keeps his reality close to our hearts and makes them inseparable. A long distance lover who receives a letter from their sweetheart feels immediately and undeniably connected from the moment their fingers touch the letter or their nostrils inhale the scent of its pages. Every aspect of the experience is savored because the beloved is prized.
This is important because merely quoting Scripture is not the same as prizing God’s voice. For the gospel to work in the heat of temptation, it requires an intimate affiliation with it. One that prizes it over and above the bait that is being dangled before us.
The End of Intimacy is Knowing
Picture a woman’s fingers gently tracing the face of her lover. What is she doing, but becoming intimately acquainted with every feature of the one she loves. She will know each contour, curve, and line of her beloved’s face. Her passion for him fascinates her. He will be no stranger to her in the dark. These acts of intimacy familiarize her with her lover. Committing God’s word to memory does this for us as well. Memorizing Scripture familiarizes us with the various contours, curves, and lines of Jesus’ character. His nature and ways are no stranger to me for I am my beloved’s and He is mine (Song of Songs 6:3). This familiarity, this knowing is the end of intimacy. In Genesis 4:1, it says, “And Adam knew Eve, his wife . . .”
The culmination of intimacy is knowing one another completely. Our intimacy with God through the memorization of his Word will lead to us knowing him. The end of Scripture memorization is not a boastful spirit (which is what the law produces), but Christ-the living Word. We will recognize Jesus.
Jesus sharply rebuked the Pharisees in his day saying, “Verily, you search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life—but these are they which testify of me!” The Pharisees missed the point of memorization, Christ. Their memorization should have led them to immediately recognize the Savior when he came—but they did not. For they never learned to prize the voice of God, so that they recognized him when he spoke. Their motivation was not passion, but performance. They were more in love with their present political arrangement of compromise than they were with the God in whom they should have put their hope. And so when God spoke to them by Christ, it was the voice of a stranger and they would not follow.
They did not know God. And because true intimacy always leads to knowing, their empty adherence to the laws resulted in what the law always ends in apart from faith-futility (i.e., attempting to be justified by keeping the Law instead of turning to Jesus in faith and thus results in futility—relying on anything outside of faith in Jesus to justify). They did not proceed from passion so they did not end in intimacy. As a child knows its mother’s voice because it has been whispered over them while in the womb, in the light of day with gentle caresses, and in the night soothing after terrifying dreams—so does Scripture memorization train us to recognize a God who has spoken and is still speaking to us through that same living and active Word. Let us remember that we know God and also know God intimately by remembering his Word.
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Kileeo Rashad is based in Philadelphia, PA, where he serves his local church in many capacities; speaker, preacher, deacon, and hospitality director. He is currently working on a debut writing project which will address breaking silence on sexual brokenness within the church. Kileeo is also the founder of Restoring the Breaches, a ministry that aims to help churches and individuals facilitate gospel-centered conversations around sexuality.
3 Ways To Repent of Our Apathy Towards Evil
Last week America celebrated the 43rd anniversary of the Roe versus Wade, the landmark decision that legalized abortion nationwide.[1] In an official statement released by the White House, President Obama reinforced the prevailing sentiment that the American dream can and should be pursued at any cost, even if that cost is the lives of almost 58 million innocent unborn baby girls and baby boys made in God’s image. He declared, “In America, every single one of us deserves the rights, freedoms, and opportunities to fulfill our dreams.” The multiple layers of distortion and demonic deception in that sentence are astonishing. It sickens me. Yet, it was my own sin of apathy on Thursday, January 22nd, 2016 that grieves me more deeply. I didn’t think about the aborted that day. Not even once. It’s one thing for an unbeliever blinded by the god of this world to release that statement. It’s another thing for a believer to become so calloused to the cry of the oppressed that she would forget to pray for justice on their behalf. Honestly, I’ve heard so many voices surrounding the issue of abortion that it (unconsciously) became white noise to me, slowly lulling my conscience to sleep.
Awakening My Deadened Conscience
This past Sunday as I gathered with my church family, through the preaching of God’s Word, my conscience was awakened to the cries of the oppressed. The Spirit jarred me as I felt the weight of the 58 million abortions since Roe v. Wade ruling. It was like “I knew,” but I didn’t really know.
In his sermon on Psalm 69, pastor Geoff Chang preached on the imprecatory prayer (vv. 22-28). He helped the congregation think well on these difficult prayers laced throughout the Psalms. He also challenged us to appropriately pray imprecatory prayers in light of the rampant injustice in our country. Geoff boldly proclaimed God’s Word in a way that I felt compelled to share. The following section is taken directly from his manuscript and published with permission.[2]
My Pastor’s Exposition of Psalm 69:22-28
The psalmist’s prayer for help takes a turn here, praying not only for salvation, but for the judgment of his enemies. Here we see images piled up again, giving us a glimpse of what God’s judgment is like. Where everything good in life is taken away and it’s replaced only with God’s burning wrath, as punishment for their evil. It ends with this dreadful prayer: “May they be blotted out of the book of life, and not be listed with the righteous.” This is a prayer for an ultimate judgment, an ultimate death, even hell.
In our modern 21st century sensibilities, this is hard for us to grasp. Should we pray like this? Should Christians pray for God to judge and destroy our enemies? How are we to make sense of this?
- Notice that the psalmist prays to God to accomplish his justice, but the psalmist never takes justice into his own hands. There is nothing here in the prayer that would justify violence in the name of God.
- Notice that the psalmist is ultimately not out for personal vengeance, but his zeal is for God’s house and for God’s glory. They hate him because they hate God. And so this prayer for judgment is not about personal revenge. Rather it’s a prayer that God’s justice and glory would be upheld and evil would be defeated.
- Could it be the reason why a passage like this seems so strange to us is simply because we’re just not that passionate about righteousness and truth and justice? We care about ourselves a lot. But we actually care very little for God and His holiness…This past week was the 43rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade. And the recorded number of legal abortions since that decision: 57,762,169.
That’s 57,762,169 of innocent baby boys and girls made in the image of God put to death for the demonic idols of sex and career and convenience, not in some barbaric land, but right here in our country.
At what point is your conscience so grieved by the enormity of that evil that you would say it’s okay to pray an imprecatory prayer against all those who work so hard to continue this holocaust, to deceive the minds and hearts of hurting women, and to continue profiting from it? Are 57 million deaths enough?
Could it be that God’s conscience is a bit more sensitive to evil than ours?
Jim Hamilton in his commentary on Revelation writes this:
If you have ever wondered whether you should pray the imprecatory prayers of the Psalms, let me encourage you to look again at the way the martyrs pray for God to “avenge” their blood in Revelation 6. You bet you should pray those imprecatory prayers. Pray that God would either save His enemies, those who oppose the gospel and the people of God, that He would bring them to repentance, or if He is not going to do that, that He would thwart all their efforts to keep people from worshiping God by faith in Christ. Pray that God would either save those who destroy families and hurt little children or thwart all their efforts and keep them from doing further harm. Those prayers will be heard. Pray that God would either redeem people who are right now identifying with the seed of the serpent, or if he is not going to redeem them, that he would crush them and all their evil designs. God will answer those prayers.
Friends, this imprecatory prayer of judgment is not some embarrassing part of Scripture for us to hide away. No, rather, this is the only appropriate response to evil coming from a conscience that is properly attuned to God’s holiness.
Repenting of My Own Apathy
On Sunday I repented of my apathetic, cold heart. I cried over the fact that I haven’t cried over the oppressed in a long time. I was reminded that we live in a broken world—unborn babies are murdered by their parents, refugees suffer and die at the hands of unjust governments, little girls are raped by their daddies, and innocent lives are taken in acts of terrorism. Evil is real and it necessitates a response from believers.
There are a variety of responses and measures that need to be taken by God’s people in the face of evil. In the way of personal repentance, I would like to share the convictions I had stemming from Sunday’s sermon:
1. We must be angry
Christians, of all people, should be the most sensitive to evil because it is a direct affront to our God’s righteousness, justice, and holiness. When God’s image-bearers are oppressed by evildoers, it’s ultimately an attack on him and his character. The lackadaisical attitude towards evil that often characterizes the Christian is out of place and unacceptable. We must never allow ourselves to grow apathetic towards the plight of the oppressed. This begs the question, how sensitive is your conscience to evil? How quick are you to become outraged at the unjust practices and moral laxity of our culture? When was the last time you wept over the oppressed?
2. We must pray for justice
The atrocities committed by those who oppose God and his kingdom of light drive us to the just King of the universe. Pray that God would attune your conscience to his holiness and you would take up the cause of the helpless. Cry out to God and ask him to bring justice to the oppressed and to deal with the oppressor. Pray that the wicked would turn towards God in repentance and enjoy the marriage supper of the Lamb in Revelation 19:6-9 or, if they don’t, that they would be judged and suffer punishment at the great supper of God in Revelation 19:17-21. Appropriately pray imprecatory prayers against those whose hearts are bent on crushing the vulnerable in rebellion towards God.
3. Pastors must preach God’s Word boldly
Man of God, don’t apologize for or be embarrassed by God’s Word. Eternal judgment is not the great evil of Scripture that you need to dance around. Hell is the final answer to all evil and injustice. In a culture filling our minds with unbiblical worldviews, your congregation needs to be confronted with God’s truth, even the reality of final judgment. One day God will right all wrongs and judge all injustices and this is good news for God’s people. If you’ve been silent on issues that Scripture speak to, repent of your fear or apathy and boldly proclaim God’s Word. I needed to hear a hard word from my pastor this week and I praise God for how that word led me to repentance.
[1] This article is not intended to heap additional hurt upon hurting women. My heart hurts with them and I’ve cried alongside many women who are broken over their choices. In this particular article I’m speaking to the greater issues of injustice against the oppressed in our country, not the restoration that God can bring to women who have had abortions.
[2] This is one portion of a full gospel-centered exposition of Psalm 69. Listen to the entire sermon “Praise the Lord…In Suffering (Psalm 69).” I inserted italics font in specific places where I experienced exceptional conviction. Also, the original manuscript was lightly edited to take it from spoken to written form.
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Whitney Woollard is passionate about equipping others to read and study God’s Word well resulting maturing affection for Christ and his glorious gospel message. She holds a Bachelors of Science in Biblical Studies from Moody Bible Institute and a Masters of Arts in Biblical and Theological Studies from Western Seminary. Whitney and her husband Neal currently live in Portland, OR where they call Hinson Baptist Church home. Visit her writing homepage whitneywoollard.com.
Geoff Chang was born in Brazil, but grew up in the great state of Texas. He did his undergraduate studies at the University of Texas at Austin, TX and his post-graduate work at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY. He currently serves as associate pastor at Hinson Baptist Church in Portland, OR, where he lives with his wife Stephanie and their young children.
The Mountaintop Experience
What are the three most significant moments you’ve had in your journey of following Christ? Would you use the term “mountaintop experience” to describe any of them? I have a few moments where experientially I felt a certain nearness to God that alluded my existing vocabulary. One example of this would be the day that I stopped calling myself an atheist and began calling myself a Christian. My girlfriend at the time—now my wife—led me in a prayer in which I asked God for forgiveness of my sin and accepted Christ’s sacrifice in my place. Internally, a lot of emotions and feelings accompanied this moment but when I’ve tried to articulate these I’ve found my vocabulary limited. Probably the most accurate way I could describe this event in an experiential manner would be passing from death to life. While it took many years for my lexicon to catch up to my experience, all of the accompanying sensations of believing upon the Lord Jesus that day in 2005 loosely fit into the category of coming alive. This is the same language the biblical writers use to describe the initiatory act of becoming a disciple (Eph. 2:5; Col. 2:13).
The next month or so of my life I was “on fire” and nothing could rob me of the joy I had being a brand-new Christian. I was living every day on top of the mountain. Then I committed some sins and became a little discouraged—reality set in. I still lived in a world affected by the fall. Being a new Christian and not having a very good connection to a church or support system, Jesus took a backseat to my other (sinful) desires for the next three years until I’d put him so far out of my mind that I actually considered myself an agnostic. So, what happened?
To shorten an incredibly long and complicated story, almost all of my problems were a result of the fact that I wasn’t grounded in the Word of God.
I’m thankful for God’s grace that my days as an agnostic were limited. God quickly found me when I was a lost and wandering sheep and brought me into deeper communion with him. But that is not everyone’s story. Some have shared in these sorts of “mountaintop experiences” and then left the Christian faith for good. What are we to think?
The Highest Mountaintop
When it comes to mountaintop experiences, the peak of them all (pun intended) is found in Mark 9. There we read an account of the apostles Peter, James, and John accompanying Jesus up a high mountain. At the top they saw something amazing: Jesus with clothes so white they’d put Clorox out of business. Moses and Elijah—long since dead—joined the four of them on the mountain and had a conversation with Jesus. As if this wasn’t amazing enough, the Father spoke from heaven: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”
What do you think went through the minds of the three apostles that day? Could they put words to the feelings they experienced? If it were me, I don’t think I’d want to come down from that mountain. I resonate with the quick fire comment of Peter, “It is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah” (Mk. 9:5) We should all long to campout in the glory of Christ the way Peter did in this moment.
Regardless of what your best “mountaintop experience” was, Peter’s trumps it. Which is why it’s so jarring that when he reflects back on this experience he writes:
For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. And we have something more sure, the prophetic word to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. (2 Pt. 1:16-20)
Peter subordinates his personal experience on the mountaintop to the Word of God. He was an eyewitness to the earthly life of Christ and the Father’s divine favor for the Son. Yet, he says the prophetic Word of God is “more sure” than his experience as an eyewitness into the unfolding redemptive plan of God revealed in Christ. How amazing!
It’s common that in our pursuit of Christ we will have some experiences in which we commune with God in a way that transcends the limits of our human language. Where we, like the Psalmist, “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Ps. 34:8). They are good markers and indicators of our faith, but they make poor foundations for our faith.
The Foundation of Faith
The first three years of my Christian walk (stumble might be a more accurate depiction) were founded on a basic and experiential understanding of the gospel. The gospel was explained to me in biblically accurate, yet contextualized, language and I trusted in Christ. But I invested minimal time or energy into Bible reading and study. After three years of this half-hearted commitment to Christ the foundation was challenged, someone asked me, “What do you think about Jesus?” The truth was that I didn’t think much about him. It was near impossible for me to have a knowledgeable (2 Pet. 1:3) faith in Jesus as I knew very little about him. My faith was less in the person of Christ than it was in an experience I’d had some three years earlier. The more time that has passed since that experience the more I doubt and question my own understanding and interpretation of those events. My foundation was not the objective Word of God, but my subjective experience
Herein lies the catch twenty-two of the mountaintop experience. It makes a great supplement to a vibrant relationship with God where he speaks to us through the Bible and we speak to him through prayer. But when it becomes our sole purpose for living it can easily slip through our hands like sand. Our minds and hearts are too fickle to hold onto our experiential points of contact with God. Peter had learned this as an older and wiser disciple and takes pains to mention he is writing his second epistle to “remind” his readers of things they already know (2 Pet. 1:12, 13, 15; 3:1, 2). The aged eye-witness to the risen Christ encourages his readers by building their confidence in the Word of God. He knows first-hand every prophecy of Christ to be true, but rests his case not on his memories of mountaintop experiences but on the Word of God which he believes to be superior in surety.
Our subjective experiences of God are good, but his revelation of himself in his Word is better. Peter was with Christ when he said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Mk. 13:31). Our minds are not as reliable as we think they are and as the hymn-writer said our hearts are “prone to wander.” But God’s Word is bond—a sure foundation.
Mountaintops can be perilous, there’s less oxygen, winds threaten to hurl us violently down the slope. But the sight at the top is the payoff people seek in exchange for the risk. This is good. It’s tempting to want to build our tent there and never come down, but it’s not practical. There’s scarcely any food up there and an avalanche could bury us. It’s better to build our tent on the solid rock (Lk. 6:48) and eat its food (Lk. 4:4; Jer. 15:16).
It is true that we can experience and commune with him in different ways and varying heights, but none are as trustworthy as time tested fellowship with God through the Bible. God’s Word provides us a feast that can’t be exhausted and a foundation that can’t be shaken and we would be foolish to elevate experience above that. When we’re tempted to setup our tent in the clouds remember that the “Word became flesh and dwelt [literally “tented”] among us” (Jn. 1:14). All of Scripture exists to reveal Christ to us—the Word that became flesh. It may not sound as exciting and appealing as some of the stories of modern miracles and sensationalism, but the saint who has spent eighty faithful years in seemingly mundane Bible reading has a better foundation than he who spent it chasing the next mountaintop experience.
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Sean Nolan (B.S. and M.A., Summit University) is the Family Life Pastor at Christ Fellowship Church in Fallston, Maryland. Prior to that, he served at a church plant in Troy, New York for seven years and taught Hermeneutics to ninth and tenth graders. He is married to Hannah and is father to Knox and Hazel. He blogs at Family Life Pastor.
4 Considerations for Making Friends
God has given me the gift of being friends with outsiders. I am not sure why, but when I move to a new place or visit a new place it seems as though God sends people to me so that I can enter into relationship with them. I am not talking about merely having acquaintances, but entering into a real relationship with people. It’s weird how often this happens. A quick example. I was going to golf with a couple of friends at a really nice course, so I went for a warm up round at another local course. I went out by myself and didn’t want to be bothered. Even when I went to check in the guy at the front desk at the golf course asked if I wanted to play with others I said “no . . . please put me by myself.”
God had other plans.
After the first hole, we were backed up on the second and two golfers in front of me asked if I wanted to join them, I quickly said no, I’m good. But they persisted, so I joined them. For the next four hours I listened to their stories, said very few things, but asked some questions and continued to listen to their stories . . . it was a good time. After the first few holes I found out that one of the golfers was a retired baseball player, and a good one at that. He bragged about the course we were playing on and then bragged about his local pub that he owned and asked if I wanted to join him afterwards. I, of course, accepted.
We went to his pub and he ordered a ton of food and drinks and just wanted me to try a bunch of food and in exchange it seemed like he only wanted one thing: someone to listen to his stories. I did. I barely said a whole paragraph in our 6 hours of time together, but by the end, he was my new best friend and we exchanged telephone numbers and we now are going to be playing golf together regularly. What I found very interesting is his simple statement at the end of our day. He said: “This was such a great time, I am so glad that you joined us today, it was a pleasure to meet you and I can’t wait to introduce you to all my friends.”
Funny to think that I had this much impact on him in merely 6 hours and I hardly said anything. Instead, I did what many Christians, or should I even say evangelists, do rarely: listen.
In keeping with this example, here are four consideration for making friends today:
1. Be Available
The church has done a really good job of many things in the last 100 years, but one thing that really sticks out to me—We’re busy. It seems like we are either coming from something or going to something. Rarely do we have time for the Spirit to engage us in our schedule when and where and with whom he wants. We are simply too busy for the Spirit to sovereignly interrupt us.
Start clearing up your schedule so that you can be ready for the Spirit to send you people to engage with. Not only that, but start doing more things in public where people actually are. If we do these two things and we add to this a simple prayer of asking the Spirit to send us people he wants us to engage in, then we’ll be ready when he does and more open to engaging the world around us with purpose, intention, and excitement.
My wife has said over and over the best way to start meeting people is by simply going to the same public space weekly. Find a place where people are and keep visiting that place over and over again at the same day and time week after week. Not only that, but invite friends alongside you and see the fruit of being available yet intentional.
2. Be a Listener
Some people assume that one of the essential qualities of a good evangelist is the art of not shutting up. It’s as if the wittier the person is with their rhetoric, the more we hold them high on the pedestal of a good evangelist. I believe the most effective method of engaging the culture is the opposite approach. Your average person simply wants someone to actually listen to what he or she has to say.
The importance of evangelistic listening actually should be pretty freeing for most people. Many think that they must have some great answer to the most pressing problem in today’s world, but they don’t have the first idea on how to go about discussing that concern. In other words, I believe the abundance of social media avenues in our generation gives rise to a unique concern; many people spend very little time conversing face-to-face with people who will listen to them. So, just by you listening, you are giving them an answer to a problem that faces them—even if they don’t know it yet.
Don’t just be a listener, but think about a few of these things as you listen:
- What is a common thread in this person’s story?What seems to hurt them most?
- What do they celebrate most?
- Where do they need redemption?
- What do they see as their functional savior for their problems?
- How could Jesus and the good news be the answer to their hurt and their issues?
Be careful that as you think of these things you aren’t merely listening so you can be ready to speak next...that isn’t good listening. Listen so much that you desire the Spirit to tell you when to speak, if you are supposed to speak at all. I’ve found myself listening so intently to people that at the end of their rant, story, or whatever that I have nothing to say. But I am ready to listen and ask more questions for deeper understanding.
3. Be Curious
The worst thing you can do as you listen to people’s stories is to jump to conclusions and try to answer questions that they never asked. Be very curious and ask questions until they tell you they don’t want to answer. But I’ll be honest I’ve never had someone say that they don’t want to answer a question that I ask...and I ask very personal questions. But remember...if you are a listener and not merely someone who seems to think they have all the answers, people actually want to talk to you and go deeper with you.
The posture of a listener opens people up to talk about and come to you about very deep issues and they’ll give you permission to ask the deepest questions about identity, idols, sin that you desire to ask.
The easiest way to be curious is when you hear details of someone’s story, never come to your own conclusions on the “why” in someone’s story and keep prodding them and asking them so you can uncover the “why” as they would tell it.
I’m always curious when people tell me their stories. I don’t hold back asking questions. And they aren’t bashful in giving me answers to my questions and going even deeper than I expected.
I believe the deeper the story goes, the longer the friendship will last.
4. Be Transparent
When you hear brokenness in their story that you can relate to, don’t hold back in telling them so. When they are vulnerable, make yourself vulnerable. This is where the church has, for the large part, disappointed many people. We haven’t been willing to open up about our own sins and hurt, but merely desire to point out other’s. As you open up about your story and your hurt, it opens up an actual relationship. An actual relationship is a vulnerable, two way street, not merely a one way relationship.
Do not hesitate to go as deep as they are going or press further into your sins and hurt to allow them the freedom to go deeper as well.
At this point many in the world have been better than some in the church. They know they’re broken, but some in the church act as though they are whole, without sin. Because my wife and I are transparent with who we are, we’ve found that it helps us develop deep friendships with the world, while it hurts us with the church where we receive constant pushback. The church would rather the scars and hurt stay deep within, so that she can look as though she is without stain. The problem is that when you do this, you hold in contempt those you are trying to reach and they can feel it. They can see it. And, they disdain it...and you...then Jesus.
We must know that we are not Jesus, but we represent Jesus. We actually get to show people Jesus the more transparent we are, showing our brokenness. When we show our brokenness, yet have joy in Christ, it gives hope that maybe our friends can also be loved by our Dad through Jesus as well.
Jesus Calls Us Friends
Jesus was called a “friend of tax collectors and sinners” then uses that same term as he speaks to those who were merely curious about who he was, to his very own disciples, and even to the one who betrayed him. I believe this is very purposeful, as everything Jesus did was, to make sure we identify, not just a few of God’s image bearers, but with all of God’s image bearers. Just think of this. The King of Creation, who could be friends with anyone, sent his son down so that we could be called his friends, that we could make friends, and that we could do exactly what Jesus has done for us: show us who the Father is.
This is the whole point. Jesus continually tells us that the reason he was sent was to show the Father. So, as he makes friends, that’s why he is doing it—to show off the Father.
The one who created time, makes himself available for us so we could be available to others knowing he holds time in his hands
The one who knows all things, is a listener to what we need and desire, so he can give it to us for the sake of making disciples. “Ask and it will be given” (Matt. 7:7).
The one who created us and is the center of the ultimate story is curious about us and our story. Jesus shows this with all his questions to his disciples and especially to the woman at the well.
Jesus…the one who Created the heavens and earth and was completely free of sin and was transparent with his creations. He pleaded with God to see if there was another way in the garden, because he was genuinely troubled with what was about to happen and to show us what it looked like to have an actual relationship with our Dad.
If the church, which is us, would just listen and start practicing these four simple truths, I would bet we would see how easy it is to not only make friends but share the hope that is within us (1 Pt. 3:15). You see Peter tells us to always be prepared to give a defense of the hope that is within us when people ask. But, my question is this: Are people in such a deep relationship with us that they would come to us and ask us about our hope? Or, do we see evangelism as something we have to go out and “do” with those outside of relationship because we don’t have any friends who are different than us in both appearance or beliefs?
Relationships take time and patience, judgment and condemnation takes seconds. May we pursue relationships the same way that Jesus has pursued us.
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Seth McBee is the adopted son of God, husband of one wife, and father of three. He’s a graduate of Seattle Pacific University with a finance degree. By trade. Seth is an investment portfolio manager, serving as President of McBee Advisors, Inc. He is also a MC leader/trainer/coach and executive team member of the GCM Collective. Seth currently lives in Phoenix, AZ with his wife Stacy and their three children: Caleb, Coleman, and Madelynn. He is also the artist and co-author of the wildly popular (and free!) eBook, Be The Church: Discipleship & Mission Made Simple. Twitter: @sdmcbee.
The ABC’s of Applying God’s Promises
The promises of God are one of the sweetest things in life that God has given us to enjoy. However, we cannot merely know them, we have to apply them to our life. Sometimes I wonder, what does it mean to “apply” God’s promises, things that often seem so abstract that I have no clue what to do. I’d like to give you a formula for taking holding of God’s promises. This formula is not new, nor is it original to me. In fact, I realized a few weeks ago I’ve been doing this for a long time without ever knowing I was following this formula. It wasn’t until one of the older gentlemen in my small group shared his process with everyone that I realized I was actually following a well-trodden formula for laying hold of God’s promises. Listing out the process has been extremely helpful in times when I need to grab a hold of God’s promises. So here is the process:
- Acknowledge Your Need
- Believe God and His Promise
- Circulate His Promise
I will illustrate each step with a personal situation in my own life dealing with anxiety while utilizing God’s promise in Philippians 4:6-7:
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
A few years back I was involved in a very serious car accident on Thanksgiving Day. I was on the highway when cars in front of me suddenly slammed on their brakes. All of the cars stopped but none of them hit each other, and I didn’t hit the car in front of me, but I came very close. Right as I realized I just dodged a bullet, I was suddenly rear ended by an SUV at almost 60mph. My car was crushed and sandwiched between two SUVs. It was completely destroyed. Thankfully my only injury was a laceration to the back of the head that healed in a few weeks. But afterwards I became very anxious about driving, especially when people slammed on their brakes. It got to the point where I was terrified before I left the house because I had to face the unknown anytime I got on the road. I knew about the promises in Philippians 4, but I never applied it to my anxiety. After I began doing this, I was able to drive again without gripping fear, although to be honest there are times when I still struggle against the promises.
Step A, acknowledge to God that I had a problem with anxiety and fear, and ultimately, a lack of trust in him. The promise in Philippians that the peace of God would come upon me had a condition. I had to tell God my problem. That the first step. Step B assumes a knowledge of God’s promises, so just acknowledging our need isn’t enough. I had to know the promise in Philippians. Before my accident, I knew that God was sovereign and he was the one that ultimately controls everything but now I had to apply. He controlled all the cars and people on the roads, even ordaining my accident. So if he wanted me to crash again, then I knew it would be for his glory and my good. That began to give me tremendous peace, because I knew God was in control now I began to experientially believe it. And because God always keeps his promises, I knew that he would give me peace. I began to believe in God and his promise. It wasn’t easy, but what helped me believe God was just studying his character in the Scriptures. What I found: He always keeps his word.
To be honest, I didn’t feel peaceful at first. It took time. And that’s where Step C comes in: circulate his promise. We must meditate on his promises. Learn what it entails. Study and pray on it. Read about other Christians, contemporary and past, and their dealings with this same promise. Talk to other Christians about your issue and God’s promises. Preach the promise to yourself, like David did so many times in the Psalms. I let this promise circulate in my mind and soul, throughout my daily life, so much so that when my anxiety crept back in, I immediately repeated all three steps without thinking about each one. They came naturally to mind. I tell God I’m anxious and ask for his help. I believe in his goodness and faithfulness to give me his peace, then I think about why I can trust and rely on him. I know he will do what’s best for me and I can let go of trying to control situations I can’t control. And now my anxiety is gone.
Some astute readers will notice that some of these steps are interchangeable or don’t always occur in the order I’ve listed. For example, I was thinking or circulating God’s promise in my mind before I really believed it. The point is, these three steps serve as a practical liturgy for disciplining your heart and mind to apply God’s promises to your life. I want to caution against trying to do these steps in your own effort. Even our efforts to apply his promises require God’s grace and help. Plead with him for both and don’t miss out on the joy of depending on God’s promises.
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Tim Nargi is a writer with a desire to teach church history and theology. He wants to bring Christians closer to Christ and help instill a daily hunger for the Word and the Church. He also writes fiction novels and plans to produce documentaries dealing with religious freedom and church history. He lives in Colonial Williamsburg with his wife Larisa.
Reading Scripture for Rest
As a writer, it’s not uncommon to be reading Scripture and automatically thinking of how I can use it in an article. Lately, I’ve noticed the severe danger in always being a teacher and abandoning the role of student. God has graciously appointed people to teach his Word and share the truth of his gospel. Teaching the Word is an honorable call, but detrimental to our spiritual relationship when it overwhelms our own personal devotion.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. – 2 Timothy 3:16
We are called to be salt and light, carrying and increasing the desire for Jesus everywhere we go. The teaching of God’s Word is a precious gift. We get to unpack and explain the depth of meaning and purpose behind words inspired by God. Scripture is undoubtedly used for teaching, reproof, correction, and righteousness. My fear is that our teachers, preachers, and gospel writers will tirelessly use God’s Word as a tool and forget to use God’s Word for personal rest and refuge. In fact, people who proclaim and expound the Word often need most what they offer.
So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. – Hebrews 4:9-11
The author of Hebrews sets up this passage by describing the historic rest of Israel entering the promised land and ties the neglect rest to disobedience. This is a powerful claim against self-sufficiency. Even more, it’s a prescription for abundant life. He uses strong words like “strive” to describe the significance of this pursuit. It’s not a suggestion for us to rest in God and his Word. It’s an urgent call to spend time with God and in his word, for no other reason but to know him. Preacher, do you have an intimate place to read and reflect on the word for your own soul? Writer, can you read without the need to retell?
Teaching ministries may be the most threatening form of idolatry.
Then Jesus said, “Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.” He said this because there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his apostles didn’t even have time to eat. – Mark 6:31
Jesus speaks of rest multiple times. Yet, this passage in Mark is especially telling, as Jesus advises his apostles to escape the endless pursuit of people. He tells them to rest because so many people are pursuing them they can’t even rest to eat. Notice, the people in need don’t go away before the apostles rest. They leave, knowing there is more ministry to be had. You may ask why he would allow able men rest from ministry. Jesus led his closest disciples to recognize genuine humility and dependence. Teachers of the Word need rest to take care of themselves and, predominantly, to receive the same grace they’re called to provide.
Read Mark 6:31 again. My question to you is, how often do you let yourself rest when you know there is impending ministry? My guess is not often. We in our flesh see every opportunity as ours for the taking. What would it look like to trust God with our rest? If we reexamine the context of Mark 6, we see God’s reputable nature in giving more responsibility to the faithful. The apostles following Jesus do get away for rest, but shortly after, they’re found surrounded by crowds. This passage unfolds into the renown story of Jesus feeding the five thousand. The disciples see God’s glory displayed in an act of abundant provision for an innumerable crowd. Jesus’ honor and faithfulness is clear when we’re healthy enough to rest and watch him provide. It often takes more courage to be weak before a faithful God then it does to “pull it off” ourselves.
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. – Psalm 91:1
Abide in Christ—because his shadow is where you want to be found. It’s the place of refuge, of rest, and of intimate dependence. He will sustain your ministry, because his glory goes beyond your invested work. Don’t resent ministry but courageously declare your dependence on God. He is faithful to fulfill his call on your life.
This year go to God’s Word to find your refuge, to fill you with joy, and to provide the rest you need. His Word is not just inspired for the teaching of your flock, it’s also for the rest and replenishing of your own delicate soul.
You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! – Isaiah 26:3
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Chelsea Vaughn (@chelsea725) has served a ministry she helped start in the DFW Metroplex since she graduated from college. She received her undergraduate degree at Dallas Baptist University in Communication Theory. She does freelance writing, editing, and speaking for various organizations and non-profits. She hopes to spend her life using her gift for communication to reach culture and communities with the love of Jesus.
Confessions of a Bible Thumper
I became a Christian at the age of eight at Round Pond Presbyterian Church in Franklin, KY, where my uncle was the pastor. While witnessing communion during a Sunday service I began to understand the gospel in a new way: that I was a sinner and that Christ had rescued me. I was baptized two weeks later in Sulphur Fork Creek on the county line. In the years that followed, my life as a disciple was characterized by varying degrees of knowing and doing. In my youth I was passionate about what I knew of Scripture and what I was learning. I would gather my friends together in the school cafeteria to read and discuss the Bible. God used my seemingly insatiable desire to learn the Bible. Years later my walk of faith was characterized by action as I was seeking to do the things I was learning from Scripture. I was passionate about evangelism and overseas missions, tirelessly pursuing active ministry and calling others to follow.
Throughout the years I pursued discipleship through various means: different books, methods, churches, para-church ministries, and mentoring relationships. These experiences were life-changing for me yet I was still seeking the best way to be both a disciple and a disciple maker, trying to balance the knowing and doing of the Bible. I discovered that discipleship was not only knowing and doing, but also being and becoming. This process of transformation involves Scripture and others in Christian community. My love for Scripture grew. This eventually led me to seminary at which time the vision for a new church in my hometown began to take shape.
My experiences have led me to the conviction that discipleship is a life-long pursuit and an ongoing process of transformation by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit who worked in and through Scripture is also at work in and through God’s people. I am increasingly convinced that discipleship methods based on biblical ideas and principles alone, though good and helpful, can remain short-sighted of the gospel.
Why I Wrote This Book
Theology must be practiced. The doctrine of Scripture is of utmost importance for Christian discipleship. Scripture is God’s written record of the gospel story in which we find our own story. The Holy Spirit uses Scripture as a means of grace—the Spirit and Word go together.
Scripture must play a prominent role in discipleship as the Holy Spirit works through the Word to grow us into the image of Christ personally, as well as grow us in community—faithful to the Great Commission. Christian discipleship, therefore, must be saturated in Scripture.
A disciple’s greatest need is to be constantly reminded of the gospel, as well as his or her new identity, community, and mission. The Bible explicitly reminds us of all this. Therefore, no matter our stage of faith or role in discipleship, we ought to evaluate our view and use of Scripture personally and in our community of faith. My prayer is that we have biblical expectations in discipleship. My hope is not only that you fall more in love with God's Word, but that you fall even more in love with the God whose Word it is.
Defining Discipleship
Throughout high school and college I played in various bands. A friend and fellow musician discovered the band Phish and quickly labeled himself a “phish head.” He wore tie dyed clothing branded by the band, made a mixtape to give his friends, and toured with the band. Phish greatly influenced my friend’s musical style in songwriting and performance. Phish was an identity he owned while connecting with a community of other fans on mission to spread the music. This is a great portrait of discipleship.
A disciple is a student who becomes more like his teacher. As a follower, a disciple takes on the characteristics of the one he follows. The characteristics bring about transformation and prompt action. By nature a disciple reproduces his discipleship, calling others to study and follow the one he follows. Discipleship is an identity that shapes community and fuels a mission.
For Christians, our identity, community, and mission are defined by the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel is good news that evokes faith—ongoing relational trust in the person and work of Christ. The gospel, therefore, is good news that we learn. This good news shapes not only our beliefs, but also our motivations, actions, and relationships. We learn the gospel, relate in light of the gospel, and communicate the gospel on mission together.
Gospel learning takes place primarily through Scripture. Gospel relating is done in the context of community. Gospel communication, by proclamation and demonstration, is the nature of mission by which others learn the gospel and become disciples. Christian disciples, therefore, are both relational learners and relational teachers.
In Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus announces, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” In the Great Commission, the disciples see their identity as disciples in the context of a community on mission with the good news to make disciples. Sent by Christ himself, the disciples represent the redemptive authority of Christ. Jesus does not provide an explicit methodology, but informs the mission to “make disciples” which includes “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” To this we must ask three questions: What has Christ commanded? How are we to teach? What are disciples to observe?
3 Essential Bible Questions
The gospel commission to make disciples involves information, application, and transformation. “Teaching” is the information of the gospel. Jesus states that all Scripture bears witness about him (John 5:39) and that Scripture written about him in the law of Moses, Psalms, and Prophets would be fulfilled in him (Luke 24:44). Since all Scripture is about Christ, this is what we are to teach. This is the information of the gospel.
Secondly, we see the application of the gospel in “to observe all that I have commanded you.” Teaching is not a one-time passing of information, but the ongoing action of kneading the gospel into the hearts and minds of disciples through observing what has been taught. When questioned by the religious elite of the day, Jesus replies, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” In quoting Scripture from Deuteronomy 6, Jesus displays his authority over the Old Testament as well as the continuity of God’s redemptive plan in gospel discipleship. We will take a close look at this often rejected concept of authority in chapter 1.
Thirdly, we see transformation in Christian discipleship. Discipleship begins with Christ (“all that I have commanded you”), involves a teaching disciple (“teaching”) and a learning disciple (“to observe”). Yet teaching information alone is not sufficient in becoming a disciple. Likewise, merely adhering to what is taught or commanded does not truly encompass discipleship. True discipleship in light of the gospel gives disciples of Christ a new identity that results in new action. This transformation is a work of the Holy Spirit that includes both instant and ongoing action.
Short-Sighted Discipleship
During our first year of marriage, my wife and I took a trip to the Grand Canyon. We rented a car and took our time enjoying the scenery of the Arizona desert. Following the signs to the canyon, we made our way into the national park, parked the car, and walked to the rim to enjoy a beautiful sunset. The purpose of the signs was to lead us to the canyon rim. Once on the rim, we no longer looked at the signs that led us there, but rather we focused on what the signs led us to: the painted pastels of the Grand Canyon.
In Christian discipleship, methods and traditions are like signs that point us to Christ. They can be helpful and beautiful. These signs are meant to be imprinted with Scripture. By Scripture we see who Christ is and what he’s done, and thus who we are and how we are to live. Scripture points us to the kind of disciples we are and are becoming, and what kind of disciples we are making. Often our discipleship methods become short-sighted, like signs that lead us to the very rim of the canyon only to be missing the clear text. In return, we focus on the sign itself, tragically missing the beauty of the canyon.
In 1 Timothy 6:3-4a, Paul offers instruction on discipleship, “If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing.” Paul highlights two features of Christian doctrine: “the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ” and “teaching that accords with godliness.” These two go together and cannot be separated. These “sound words” refer to the Lord’s message of the gospel. These words come from the Lord directly and through his apostles and teachers.
Paul warns against doctrine contrary to Christ and teaching that does not line up with godliness. In other words, Paul is providing warning against discipleship that loses sight of Christ and the gospel.
How do we know our doctrine lines up with “the sound words” and “teaching that accords with godliness?” Without the Apostles present with us, how do we determine what is Christ-focused and gospel-centered? The answer: Scripture.
Scripture is of both Divine and Human origin. The Holy Spirit uses Scripture as a means of grace for the identifying and shaping of disciples. Paul writes in 2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” The Holy Spirit works in and through Scripture through inspiration. Likewise, the Holy Spirit identifies us as disciples (Ephesians 1:13), dwells in our community of disciples (1 Cor. 3:17, 6:19), and by illumination gives us understanding so that we may obey Jesus by making disciples (Titus 3:5, 2 Thess. 2:13, Acts 1:8). How we view the Holy Spirit and Scripture will influence how we grow as disciples and how we make disciples.
Here we stand, on the rim of the canyon, reflecting on the signposts that have led us here. Through each chapter we will look at one of the bedrock doctrines of Christianity, especially as they pertain to Scripture. We will then see how this doctrine applies to our everyday discipleship: how we practice theology. Finally, each chapter ends with reflection questions to push us all to apply and wrestle with Scripture.
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Jeremy Carr (ThM, MDiv) is lead teaching pastor and co-founding elder of Redemption Church in Augusta, GA. He has been a member of the Acts 29 Network since 2007 and has written for the Resurgence. Jeremy is husband to Melody and father to Emaline, Jude, Sadie, and Nora. He is the Author of Sound Words: Listening to the Scriptures published by GCD Books. Twitter: @pastorjcarr.
Editor: Please enjoy an excerpt from Sound Words: Listening to the Scriptures by Jeremy Carr then pick up your copy for 61% off—$1.99 from Saturday Jan 16th 12AM PST - Saturday Jan 23rd 12AM PST.
3 Keys to Listening During Sermons
Going to church each Sunday and sitting under godly, loving, biblical, and practical preaching week in and week out should be enjoyed as a privilege by God’s people. While some people, like myself, learn best by sitting and listening, I know many people get more out of sermons by taking notes. When I’m listening to a sermon I try to always do the following three things:
1. Open my Bible and follow along as the pastor preaches the Word. 2. Listen for key ideas/points. 3. Learn to interpret the biblical text from your pastor.
1. Open Your Bible
First, open your Bible and follow along as the pastor teaches the Word. Whether you have a Bible app on your phone, or you have a physical copy of God’s Word, always be sure to have your Bible open so you can follow along as the pastor is preaching. Paul commended the Bereans (Acts 17:11) because they checked to see if what he was saying was biblical and the Thessalonians for how they received the Word of God (1 Thess. 2:13).
As Christians, we should be known for our love for God. A real love for God will produce a love for his Word, his people, and his Church.We are living in a time when biblical illiteracy is on the rise. By opening your Bible during the week on your own, at Bible study, and on Sunday at your local church, you can grow in your knowledge, understanding, and application of God’s Word. This is why opening your Bible and following along as your pastor preaches the Word is so important—it will help you see what your pastor sees in the text, which will help you to learn how to read the Bible well on your own.
2. Listen for Key Ideas/Points
Second, listen for key ideas/points. Some pastors provide an outline for you to follow during the sermon. I encourage you to follow along with the outline and fill it in as the pastor preaches. This outline is a key tool to help you take notes. Typically, my pastor has his main points in the outline with words the congregation should fill in. He also has a few applications points for how we can apply the message to our lives. If you are like me, you might also occasionally write further thoughts and sometimes these thoughts have even become future articles.
While you’re listening to the sermon look for key ideas. These may be points the pastor brings out in his sermons, but it also may be a thought brought to mind by the Holy Spirit. These are important insights to write down because while they may be for that moment, they may also be for later in the week, or further down the road to encourage you or others. As a Bible teacher, sometimes I’ll repeat something a few times to help the listener understand how a particular point is critical to the whole message. The essential point here is to pay attention throughout the sermon to the key ideas that are meaningful. Those may be the ones the pastor mentions, but they also may be something else that is helpful to you. Pay attention, take notes, and write down key ideas/thoughts as they come to you during the course of the sermon.
3. Learn to Interpret the Biblical Text from Your Pastor
Third, learn to interpret the biblical text from your pastor. In the Bible study I lead at church, we’re going through the Gospel of John. I’ve told the men that come that one of the objectives I have for this study is to help them learn how to read and interpret the biblical text. One of the main objectives for faithful verse by verse preaching is that week after week and year after year, people get to see how the pastor reads, understands, and interprets the biblical text. This is one of the primary reasons why verse-by-verse expository preaching is so important. People today simply don’t know how to read and interpret the text.
In my experience, when people read a biblical text they first read themselves into the text rather than allowing the text to simply say what it means. This results in people wrongly handling the Word of God. As Christians, we should be known for handling the Word of God well (2 Tim. 2:15). The faithful pastor preaches the biblical text with a view to helping people to see how they got the points they did from the text under consideration. In other words, the faithful pastor exegetes the biblical text in order to help the people of God see what the text teaches, by drawing it out in helpful ways so people can learn to interpret the biblical text themselves.
Final Thoughts
Maybe you’ve never considered listening intentionally to a sermon or note taking. I am always actively listening for key ideas in the message—even if I’m not taking notes. In every sermon, there will be points that you’ll find more helpful than others. I encourage you to listen well and take notes if necessary, whether that’s on an outline provided, a notebook you bring, or just mentally. As you do so you’ll find that you will remember more of the sermon you hear.
Listening well and taking good notes during the sermon is a means to an end. That end is our growth in Christ and understanding of the Bible. You leave church each week sent out on a mission by God to make disciples of the nations for the glory of God. Listening well to what is being taught to you with an open Bible, listening and jotting down key ideas, and watching how your pastor interprets the Bible will help you to grow in your knowledge and application of the Bible, which will in turn help you to grow in the grace of God.
This week pick up your Bible, read it, study it, and apply it to your life. The end result of this is that any duplicity in your life will be replaced by a growing hunger for more of Jesus. At the end of the day, that’s the goal to not only listening to a sermon well, but a Christian who is taking her own growth in Christ seriously.
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Dave Jenkins is the Executive Director of Servants of Grace Ministries, and the Executive Editor of Theology for Life Magazine. He and his wife, Sarah, are members of Ustick Baptist Church in Boise, Idaho, where they serve in a variety of ministries. Dave received his MAR and M.Div. through Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary. You can follow him on twitter @DaveJJenkins. Find him on Facebook or read more of his work at servantsofgrace.org.
In the Name of the Father, Son, & Holy Spirit
“In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”
Whatever the format—swimming pool, font, bathtub, or baptistery—this simple, rhythmic phrase has “stirred the waters” (Jn. 5:4) of baptism since the Great Commission (Mt. 28:18-20). As a second grader, I remember hearing these words at my own baptism while trying to catch one more breath. Now, as a pastor, I pronounce them over young adults as I baptize them in my church’s small and under-heated baptistery (complete with its own Bob Ross worthy Jordan River mural).
As we step into discipleship, though, we often leave this phrase (and the reality it proclaims) in the water. We attempt discipleship in the name of the Father or the Son or the Holy Spirit, but not in the name of the Holy Three. We might confess the Trinity at a doctrinal level, but we forget, sideline, or ignore the Trinity at a practical level. As Eugene Peterson noted, “We know the truth and goals of the gospel. But we have haven’t taken the time to apprentice ourselves to the way of Jesus, the way he did it. And so we end up doing the right thing in the wrong way and gum up the works.”[1] Instead of living “life to the fullest” (Jn. 10:10), we end up stuck, smug, or spent somewhere in the course of discipleship.
But, what if Jesus intended baptism “in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” to set the tone for discipleship? Listen to the way Dallas Willard paraphrases the Great Commission:
“I have been given say over all things in heaven and in the earth. As you go, therefore, make disciples of all kinds of people, submerge them in the Trinitarian presence, and show them how to do everything I have commanded. And now look: I am with you every minute until the job is done.” (italics mine)[2]
The Trinity is not a mere entry point into discipleship but the ongoing environment for discipleship. This means that gospel-centered discipleship is only as gospel-centered as it is Trinity-centered (please read Fred Sanders on this). Perhaps, this is what St. Paul meant when he prayed for “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit” to be with the Corinthian church (2 Cor. 13:14).
If we want our discipleship to bear fruit, sometimes we need to be pulled aside like Apollos and have explained to us “the way of God more accurately” (Acts 18:24-28). We need to uncover the areas where we only lean into the name of the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit, and recover discipleship in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Discipleship in the Name of One or Maybe Two
When we attempt discipleship in the name of one or two persons of the Trinity, it’s like attempting to live on only food or oxygen or water (or two out of three). Sooner or later, you are going to feel the effects of forgetting to eat, drink, or breathe. It’s a life or death matter. Discipleship is no different. Without the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, disciples (and even entire communities of disciples) start to shrivel up.
Although there are many angles from which we could consider this (e.g. overemphasis on one person of the Trinity), let us consider what happens when we neglect one person of the Trinity and attempt discipleship in the name of two, but not the other. If we attempt discipleship apart from the Son, we might begin to equate our progress in the faith (or lack thereof) with our status before God (Eph. 2:8-10, Gal. 2:15-16). If we attempt discipleship apart from the Father, we might attempt to live like Jesus without knowing the fundamental knowledge about the Father that made his life the logical overflow (as expressed in his Sermon on the Mount, especially Mt. 6:25-34).[3] And, if we attempt discipleship apart from the Spirit, we might burn out as we try to overcome our sinful habits through own insufficient power and discipline (Rom. 8:12-13, Gal. 5:16-25). Whether through ignorance or intention, each of these mistakes can be deadly for discipleship.
In my own life, I tend to lean into the Father and the Son but forget the Holy Spirit. Even if I believe (and teach) that transformation is not possible apart from the Holy Spirit, my own discipleship growth often centers on correct motives (the finished work of Christ) and correct knowledge of the Father. Borrowing the language of A.W. Tozer, it’s possible that 95% of my own discipleship would go unchanged if the Holy Spirit were withdrawn. As a result, I am prone to feeling burned-out, tired, and exhausted.
Since these kinds of oversights are difficult to notice on our own, we need a community of disciples who can gently point out where we need some course correction. This is not something that can be figured out with a Trinity survey or checklist, but by careful listening to our brothers and sisters in Christ. In our church, this happens best in discipleship communities (our equivalent of missional communities). While we are eating together and talking, I’ve heard phrases like:
- “I don’t feel like I can change.”
- “I feel like I am letting God down.”
- “I don’t understand why Jesus would tell us to do that.”
These phrases act like signposts that clue us into areas where we need to be reminded of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They are an open door to talk about the Trinity-centered gospel.
Discipleship in the Name of All Three
The best way to get back on track is to remember that we are already locals in the neighborhood of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Discipleship is not a way into the neighborhood, but something we do as part of the community. As St. Paul made clear in Ephesians 1:3-14, our participation in the life of the Trinity is thanks to the saving work of the Trinity in the first place. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit chose, loved, predestined, redeemed, sealed, and adopted us (just for starters!). At baptism, the Trinity became our home.
With this confidence in the saving work of the Trinity, we are free to explore how discipleship in a Trinitarian shape might look. Although there are many possibilities, we can start by considering some of the implications of John 13-17 (which is arguably the best discourse we have on life with the Triune God). Here are a few implications from Jesus’ conversation with his disciples:
- Discipleship in the name of the Father is dependent on the Father’s provision (15:16) and love for us (16:27).
- Discipleship in the name of the Son is made possible through him (14:6), looks to him to see what the Father is like (14:9), converses with the Father through him (14:24; 16:23), and trusts him to bring about the fruit of discipleship (15:1-4).
- Discipleship in the name of the Holy Spirit relies on the Spirit to remind us of what the Son taught (14:25-26), convict of us sin (16:8), and teach us how the truth applies in present circumstances (16:12-15).
This is just a taste of discipleship in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Alongside this and other Trinity-soaked texts, read authors like St. Augustine, John Owen, Eugene Peterson, Susanna Wesley, Dallas Willard, Fred Sanders, and Wesley Hill—people who have both written about and experienced life with the Triune God. Steep in these for a few minutes and the possibilities for discipleship in a Trinitarian shape really start to open up.
It’s Missional
As a final note, doing discipleship in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is not just about us. It’s for the sake of everyone else. The process of discipleship is just as critical to God’s mission as the product of discipleship. In a culture that is looking for the next self-improvement strategy, discipleship in a Trinitarian shape offers people a transformative relationship.Discipleship itself is an opportunity to show the world not only different goals to pursue, but also a different way in which to pursue them—in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And that’s good news.
[1] Eugene Peterson, Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places, (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2005), 300.
[2] Willard, The Great Omission, (New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2006), xiii.
[3] I am thinking here of the way Jesus deals with anxiety. He doesn’t say, “I’m not anxious, so you shouldn’t be anxious.” Instead, he says, “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them” (italics mine). Anxiety is rooted in wrong ideas about the Father.
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Austin Gohn serves as the young adults minister at Bellevue Christian Church in Pittsburgh, PA and is currently pursuing his M.Div. at Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge, PA. He’s been married to Julie for three years and you can follow him on twitter @austingohn.
Jesus’ Teaching Leaves Audience Thunderstruck
Editor: Please enjoy an excerpt from our latest book The Sermon on the Mount: A 31 Day Guide Through Jesus’ Teaching by Tracy Richardson then pick up your digital copy for just $0.99.
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The front-page headline following Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (SOTM) read, “Jesus’ Teaching Leaves Audience Thunderstruck.” When Jesus spoke to the crowd on the hillside that day their jaws dropped. Matthew 7:28 records, “When Jesus had finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching.”
Have you ever been shocked, surprised, and dumfounded all at the same time? Maybe by a surprise birthday party, a practical joke, or unexpected news? The Gospel of Matthew tells us that the crowd reacted this way to Jesus’ teaching.
Why did Jesus’ teaching cause such a stir? What was it about Jesus’ message that left the crowd absolutely amazed?
In a nutshell, Jesus’ teaching turned people’s religious ideas inside out and upside down.
The Gospel of Matthew begins with the story of Jesus’ birth, baptism, temptation, and choosing his disciples. In chapters 5-7, Matthew expounds Jesus’ story by presenting the crux of his teaching. Fundamentally, SOTM is a kingdom manifesto declaring how to live as a child of the King in a world that has yet to be fully transformed.
Could you ace an exam on Jesus’ teaching?
I’m afraid many professing followers of Jesus would flunk. If we are banking eternity on Jesus’ claims, prudence demands we should dig in and do the hard work to understand his teaching.
Yes, the Sermon on the Mount can be a hard to understand. But if you mine the depth of its treasure, your reward will be great. Your heart will be supernaturally renovated to become like Jesus’.
“I have to confess that I have fallen under its spell, or rather under the spell of him who preached it. For the last seven years at least l have been constantly pondering it.” – John Stott
SOTM is best understood when broken down into seven sections. Here is a simple overview of the sermon:
- The Beatitudes (Matt 5:2-11) - Jesus describes eight heart attitudes that are recognizable in a true child of God. These characteristics are the building blocks of discipleship; each trait blossoms into the next as you are transformed into the image of Christ.
- Salt and Light Matt (5:13-16) - Jesus coaches his disciples on their identity and mission.
- Radical Righteousness (Matt 5:17-48) - Jesus explains the radical righteousness that flows from a heart completely transformed by the power of the gospel.
- Spiritual Practices (Matt 6:1-18) - Jesus teaches his disciples the proper way to pray, give, and fast.
- Ambition and Possessions (Matt 6:19-34) - Jesus shepherds his disciples’ hearts on money and anxiety.
- Relationships (Matt 7:1-12) - Jesus teaches his disciples how to approach their relationships with people and God.
- A Decision is Imperative (Matt 7:13-27) - Jesus closes his sermon insisting that the audience choose between the wide and narrow gate. He gives three warnings with examples of folks who failed to make the right decision. Jesus boldly declares that the only way to enter the kingdom of heaven is to listen and obey to his commands.
If you consider yourself a follower of Jesus, let me encourage you to marinate in this sermon. The Holy Spirit is willing and able to transform your heart and mind as you savor Jesus’ words. Throw yourself into SOTM and take hold of the Messiah’s teaching. Saturate your mind with Jesus as prophet; let him expound the truth of God’s kingdom to you. Follow Jesus as priest and let him lead you into his Father’s Kingdom. Worship Jesus as king and bring your entire life under his rule and reign. Do this, so that the name of Jesus will be made famous.
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Tracy Richardson (@alaskagospelgrl) serves at Radiant Church in Fairbanks, Alaska as the Church Planters Wife. She loves to study scripture, throw parties, and run trails. She has a B.S.S. in Fine Art and Literature. She is also Mamma Bear to two wild cubs.
Neighborhood Missionaries
“To what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to their playmates, ‘We played the flute for you and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners! Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.’” – Matthew 11:16-19
In Matthew 11:16-19, we encounter Jesus speaking to a crowd about John the Baptist. Jesus draws attention to reality. John came neither eating or drinking. Jesus came doing both. God sent both of them. Israel rejected both. Why? Like children making music for each other, Jesus says, “It’s not about the kind of music that’s being played or sung, this generation just does not like who’s performing.”
From this, I think a couple of things can be pointed out. First, the gospel will always be received with mixed results. If both Jesus and John’s message were rejected, we shouldn’t be surprised if and when our good news about Jesus is as well. Our presentation may be both peerlessly articulate and effectually impotent. That is a possibility.
Second, no single strategy is the silver bullet for engaging others with the gospel. Many strategies should be employed contextualized for each situation. A few years ago, I encountered a witnessing team who attempted to convince me that the only “biblical” method of evangelism was door to door, like Jesus’ disciples. That view isn’t fully informed. Yes, Jesus’ disciples went house to house, but Paul also preached city to city, from synagogue to city square; John the Baptizer was a burning lamp withdrawn in the wilderness; and Jesus taught crowds in and out of the synagogues, made disciples one-on-one engaging intimately with “sinners” (Matt. 11:16-19). The church was not left with one method of sharing the gospel. And this last aspect of engagement, friendship with “sinners,” is what I’d like to draw our attention to.
Jesus’ engagement was so extensive that it was a scandal. Imagine your reputation being discredited for the ways you spend time with those outside of the “religious community.” But this is just what happened with Jesus. He was willing to be associated with them. He went to dinner parties, sharing table and cup with the so-called dregs of society.
My wife and I do not consider ourselves great evangelists or disciple makers. Far from that actually. But we’ve been challenged by Jesus’s example. We desire to engage with our neighbors more for the sake of the gospel and to enter into their world where they would allow us. After all, we’re all called to make disciples. And by God’s grace, we’ve seen small success in making friends with our neighbors and others outside of the religious community, for the sake of the gospel. This engagement has been part of our strategy.
Prayer
We walk around the neighborhood with the kids from time to time. As we do, we pray for the people who live in the homes we pass. We pray for marriages, for parents, and for children. We pray the Spirit would be at work in hearts of the people in our neighborhood. We pray that other Christians would be good neighbors who love and serve here as well. We pray for peace and safety in the neighborhood. We pray that we would have actual friendships with the people we live near. In doing this, we’re teaching our children to see their neighborhood, not just as a place where they live, but as a mission field.
Proximity
We get out, but try to stay local. One key to making friendships: repeated, unplanned interactions.[1] Not surprisingly, this only happens when you’re where everyone else is.
So we plan to bump accidentally into people by frequenting the same spots over and over: getting groceries at the closest grocery store, getting the oil changed at the same shop, frequenting the same restaurant, taking the kids to the same park. We’ve made friends with cashiers and hair stylists. I’ve made friends with guys up and down the street by doing yard work. If bumping into the same people over and over is the goal, staying local is the key.
Presence
Related to proximity, we try to make sure wherever we are, we’re present. This requires us to be situationally aware. When we’re doing yard work or at the supermarket, we should welcome interruptions and interactions. When someone moves in the neighborhood, we should offer to help them move in. We should make ourselves available to talk, to help, to participate, and to be involved. We must want to know and be known. It’s at this point that friendship begins.
But there is one thing we must overcome—fear. The reason we don’t walk over to our neighbor across the street and find out their name is fear. The reason we don’t do more than acknowledge that we’ve found everything we’re looking for at the grocery store is fear. We must deal with fear. It’s a topic that deserves a separate post. But it must be dealt with because it keeps us from taking this first step. Many times it keeps us from taking the last step as well.
Proclamation
If presence is about being situationally aware, proclamation is about being spiritually aware. We’re looking for gospel openings.
I can’t say how the Holy Spirit may be leading you to share the gospel with your neighbors, but in the context of many interactions with them, you will encounter times where the gospel will be particularly relevant. We must be willing to follow the Holy Spirit’s lead whenever the opportunity comes, even if it appears fruitless at the time. But when we do, usually we find something unusual happening: people listening.
Being intentional with prayer, proximity, and presence is the foundation for proclamation. People will know you and you will know them. This foundation enables the relationship to carry the weight of truth. As Proverbs says, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend” (27:6). Friends know they can say things that challenge, because they ultimately know there is a person who cares behind what is being said.
What successes or failures have you experienced in being “friends of sinners”? There are many times when we’ve moved too fast with these relationships, pushing them beyond what they can handle. I’m always wondering when and what to share. And afterward whether it’s even been helpful. What other challenges do you find in being gospel witnesses in this way?
[1] “How to Make Friends in a New City,” The Art of Manliness. This article has some helpful tips for making new friendships.
— Brad Hauer grew up moving quite a bit, living in 13 different states, but has called Orlando home since 2001. He's works with Cru (Formerly Campus Crusade for Christ) and is a student at Lutheran Brethren Seminary. He and his wife Jackie celebrated their 10th anniversary this year and have two special needs boys, Jonathan and Jack.
A New Year for Making Disciples
A YEAR IN REVIEW
We are thankful for your support through out 2015. We hope the Lord continues to bless GCD as we seek to come alongside the church to offer resources to make, mature, and multiply disciples. We wanted to share a few ways in which GCD grew in 2015:
We published over 300 articles.
We published 3 books (we’re on track for six books for 2016).
- Sean Post’s The Stories We Live,
- Brad Watson’s Sent Together, and
- Tracy Richardson’s The Sermon on the Mount;
During our peak, the GCD blog ranked 1,075,343 globally and 227,963 in the United States.
We had over 125,000 page views and 90,000 visits.
We moved all of our content to Amazon and released a new storefront.
And our staff grew to include 6 staff writers (We’re hoping to add at least 6 more over the next year).
Our favorite articles from our staff writers in 2015:
- Jason Garwood: Grounded on the Rock
- Chelsea Vaughn: Advent Restores a Song for the Suffering
- Jeremy Writebol: 3 Ways to Grow Leaders
- Whitney Woollard: Theology Proper: The Antidote for Insatiable Desire
- Sean Nolan: A Banquet Among Enemies
THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT
The last book we completed this year was Tracy Richardson’s The Sermon on the Mount: A 31 Day Guide Through Jesus’ Teaching. Here’s what you can expect:
Have you ever been shocked, surprised, and dumfounded all at the same time? Maybe by a surprise birthday party, a practical joke, or unexpected news? The Gospel of Matthew tells us that the crowd reacted this way to Jesus’ teaching. The front-page headline following Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount read, “Jesus’ Teaching Leaves Audience Thunderstruck” (Matt. 7:28). Why did Jesus’ teaching cause such a stir? What was it about Jesus’ message that left the crowd absolutely amazed? In a nutshell, Jesus’ teaching turned people’s religious ideas inside out and upside down.
In The Sermon on the Mount: A 31 Day Guide Through Jesus’ Teaching, Tracy Richardson walks us through Jesus’ teaching in hopes that the Spirit will transform the hearts of his disciples. This guide is designed specifically for DNA groups, two to three people, who meet weekly under the leadership of the Spirit.
This is a digital only release and we’re offering it for just $0.99. So start the New Year with a gospel rich devotional through the Sermon on the Mount.
P.S. We are still taking pitches from anyone, so please don't hesitate to email Mathew@gospelcentereddiscipleship.com!
Mathew B. Sims is the Editor-in-Chief at Exercise.com and has authored, edited, and contributed to several books including A Household Gospel, We Believe: Creeds, Confessions, & Catechisms for Worship, A Guide for Advent, Make, Mature, Multiply, and A Guide for Holy Week. Mathew, LeAnn (his wife), and his daughters Claire, Maddy, and Adele live in Taylors, SC at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains with their Airdale Terrier. They attend Downtown Presbyterian Church (PCA). Visit MathewBryanSims.com!
A Letter to a Dad Who Left
Dad,
There may be some form of words that I could come up with to begin this letter but I don’t think I would ever find them. To be honest, I don’t know how to start a letter to someone that I have failed to speak to for so long. Someone better with words could maybe come up with something. And out of all the things to say I don’t know if any is more important than this simple truth: I miss you. And I’m sorry that it has been this long since we last spoke. I simply cannot believe it’s 2012 and it was in 2004 that we last exchanged words. I feel terrible. I am sorry if I ever made you believe that I did not want to talk to you or see you. There has never been a day pass that I did not wonder what you were doing or where you were.
I don’t know what has kept me from writing you all these years. Maybe fear. Maybe pride. Maybe uncertainty. I don’t know. But one thing I do know is that I am deeply sorry for standing back in the shadows and not stepping out and writing you or calling. I guess what I feared the most is what on earth would I say. There were so many things that I could say but didn’t know which things to choose. I would have wanted to tell you about college, graduating from college, getting a job, finishing grad school, getting married. There were so many things I wanted you to know but didn’t know how to tell you.
I wanted to know what you were doing. How work was going, where were you living, how was Hershey, and so many other things.
With all of this, I just wanted you to know that I miss you. I want you to know that I love you and would love to know how you are doing. Again, I am so sorry that I have waited this long to make an effort to get in touch with you. Please forgive me.
I love you more than you know and I hope more than anything to hear from you
soon. But if not, that’s okay too. I just wanted you to know that I have been thinking about you and missing you for so long.
Love you Dad
I wish I could tell you that I heard back from him within that week but I didn’t. Even more I wish I could say I heard back from him period. But I haven’t.
And that’s okay.
I’m okay.
Christ is still sovereign and he is still good.
Writing those words is one thing but believing them is something different entirely. It’s the goodness and mercy of God that allows me to release this situation and place it in his hands and at his feet.
God’s grace and mercy are so freeing for our souls. They allow us to breathe underneath the wreckage of the sin in our lives and the sin entangling this world. It’s God’s mercy that gave me new eyes to see the darkness of my own heart and its effect on how I viewed the brokenness of my family. It’s God’s goodness that gave me new eyes to see my dad. It’s God’s grace that gave me a new heart that brewed new affections for my father.
This new heart and these new affections radically changed the way I understood the reality of my home as a child and my desire to tell my story. I no longer wanted to use these words to hurt, but rather to heal—because Jesus desires restoration for all his children.
And wherever you are right now, maybe on your lunch break in your car or in the back corner of the library while you’re studying or maybe on the way to the grocery store or J.Crew or Urban Outfitters—trust that. Trust that he desires to restore and renew.
My story is the story of many.
And that story is one from inside the dark corners of a soul that many keep secret and silent.
That story is one from a kid who didn’t want it.
A story he didn’t write.
A story she didn’t choose.
A story that is affecting an entire generation.
The story of a generation left on the front porch.
Abandonment happens every day in many way. There’s no question about it. Not one. No one disagrees and no one contests. The question we must wrestle with is: What do we do after abandonment strikes? Many give up. We become empty. We lose hope. We become angry. There’s not even hope of having any sign of hope to come. There is no doubt this is how we feel. Our lives, our stories, and our abandonment are real. It’s ever-present. It looms over us and it quickly becomes our world. Not because we desire it and not because we want to carry it around in our pockets or around our necks.
Not at all.
It’s because of the simple fact that our trust has been shattered. Our security has been broken. Our lives have been turned in every direction and we don’t have a clue how to get them back to the way they were. The questions have been posed:
- Who can we run to?
- Who is it that we can trust?
- Who will be our advocate?
- Who is it that will put our shattered pieces back together?
- Who can we rest in to know they will not open the door and leave us in the middle of the night?
- Again, who will fight for us?
There is great news for us as children of the perfect Father. Because of Jesus, there is no more longing and no more uncertainty.If the blood of the Lamb has washed us, our wounds have been healed solely because of the wounds he was given. Our hurts have been covered. Our worth has been secured. Our lives have been rescued. Our souls have been purchased. We have been fought for and we have been won!
This Great News, this Answer, this Redeemer, this Seed, this Hope has a name.
His name is Jesus.
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Jonathan C. Edwards provides leadership & vision to disciple and equip college students at City Church in Murfreesboro, TN. He is the author of the forthcoming book LEFT: The Struggle to Make Sense of Life When a Parent Leaves. Jonathan received his M.Div from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he is currently completing his Masters of Theology. He blogs regularly at NotThePuritan.com
Open-Handed Apologetics
OS Guinness believes that having truth is not good enough. He believes that simply “sharing the gospel” or presenting airtight arguments for God will not convince people to have faith in Jesus. He says there needs to be a creative element to presentations of truth that appeal to beauty and creativity as well as logic and science. He says we need to add a convincing element to our presentation of the truths of scripture and I, for one, have been persuaded. Guiness starts Fool’s Talk: Recovering the Art of Christian Persuasion by giving a story of an interaction he had with Norman Mailer. He witnessed how a man that was degrading to women was still able to capture the attention of a mostly feminist crowd by kicking it off with a joke. In a situation in which an entire group did not want to listen to his speech he was able to disarm them and cause them to be more open to hear his claims.[1] This is just one example of what Guiness defines as creative persuasion.
Guinness contrasts what is termed closed hand apologetics (the approach most people are familiar with) with that of open handed apologetics. Closed hand means utilizing the best of our knowledge in the areas of logic, science, reason, philosophy, ethics, and history to make the case for God’s existence that are as convincing as possible. This approach refutes objections and makes cases for what one believes.
On the other side an open-handed approach uses different tools to convince. This approach uses “all the highest strengths of human creativity in the defense of the truth” as Guinness says. This includes creating good art, writing beautiful stories, creating intriguing videos, or using the common philosophers of our day (like comedians and musicians) to display the ridiculousness of false viewpoints.
Not Secular Knockoffs
Now some will hear this and immediately think that means we create art with an agenda. Or that there should be a higher volume of art that has some over-arching and explicit message. Christian creativity is oft sacrificed at the altar of the salvation narrative that seems to be necessary for most content creation. Hank Hill summarized it best in an episode of King of the Hill when he told his son Bobby, who had been exploring the hype version of pop Christianity, "Can't you see you're not making Christianity any better, you're just making rock 'n roll worse."
This is not a call for pigeon-holing Christian artists into making their art explicitly apologetic but rather for these apologetic messages to be more creative. This approach calls for those who craft presentations and defenses of the gospel to not recite facts as if they alone convince the human heart to change.
When art is created only to push a message or just to make it relevant than much is sacrificed. This can be “Christian” art or overly content driven messages. For example this is what makes some people appreciate an older album by Lupe Fiasco but think that his newer content (which is clearly more message driven) is not as artful.
However, a sweet spot exists where art and message blend beautifully to create a persuasive message that stirs the heart and moves people into action. From Bob Dylan to Public Enemy to hearing “We Gon Be Alright” being chanted by #BlackLivesMatter protesters it’s clear that art can influence cultures when created excellently.
These songs as well as visual artists have been able to speak to culture and have a persuasive presence. Now if they were simply aiming at a strictly fact driven message set to simplistic music this would not have had the same effect. If people did not enjoy the visuals aesthetics then no one would care what Banksy says. If Marvin Gaye had a bad singing voice and a terribly written song then people would not care “What’s Going On.” The quality of work matters when viewing the trajectory of its popularity. If it’s not good then people just won’t care.
Heart and Head
The problem in much of modern apologetics is not primarily a matter of scholarship. In the fields of philosophy and apologetics the Christian worldview has made a strong impact. By the presence of such apologists such as Alvin Plantinga, William Lane Craig, JP Moreland, Ravi Zacharias, to name a few.
If this is the case, then what’s the disconnect? If strong, rational cases are being made then shouldn’t a wave of belief in God be on the rise?
This brings us back to where we started. Many of us who interact in the world of apologetics need to understand that appealing to the imagination is just as important as appealing to the intellect.There are many who are apathetic about truth until it is creatively brought to their attention.
When I use the word imagination I do not mean things made up in our mind or daydreaming. Rather I mean the underlying conscious part of our selves that forms all of our ideas, desires, and longings. James K.A. Smith referred to this as the way in which we navigate the world primarily through aesthetic forms.[2] The imagination being better described as the central portion of our hearts which guides all others.
For example William Wilberforce labored tirelessly against the evils of the slave trade in Great Britain. People could hear his words all day long but they weren’t moved until he forced the politicians of his day to see a ship that was being used for the trade. They now could smell the death and see the conditions that others were put under. He also enlisted others who had been on those ships to speak out at congressional hearings.
Wilberforce was not satisfied with merely a transfer of information. He wanted them to feel the full weight of what they were voting for. He wanted them to see, taste, and feel the evils of the choices they were making. He recognized that a factual argument alone would not convince their hearts (which loved money) but their head (which can believe one thing and love another). An appeal to the imagination was needed.
Our Messages
Antoine de Saint-Exupery is credited with saying, "If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea."
Whether we are trying to craft messages that persuade in a pastoral sense, through the written word, or perhaps in a particular art form, we must appeal to people’s hearts and imaginations as well as their minds. There is no “Solus Intellectus” that demands we appeal only to head but not the heart.
Jesus used various methods to communicate timeless truths to people who were indifferent to him. If we want to persuade others of the attractiveness of our gospel we should use our entire God given creativity hand in hand with our logic and rationality to aid us in being a public witness for Christ.
[1] Guinness, Os. Fool's Talk: Recovering the Art of Christian Persuasion. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books, 2015. 1.
[2] Smith, James K. A. Imagining the Kingdom: How Worship Works. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013. 36.
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Kevin Garcia is married to a beautiful woman, Miriam Garcia, and is a senior at SAGU. He will be continuing his studies in seminary afterwards particularly to study in the areas of philosophy, theology, social issues, and apologetics. He is passionate about seeing God work in urban contexts and examining the worldviews that influence people. He serves in a variety of areas at his church including teaching and preaching at LifePoint Church in the OakCliff neighborhood of Dallas, TX. Follow him on Twitter at: @kevingarcia__
Hope is a good thing
In the movie Shawshank Redemption, Andy writes a letter to Red and includes the following remark, “Remember, Red. Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”If I could respond to Andy, I would simply say, “Amen.” The reason, of course, is that hope truly is a good thing. Despite difficulties, hope is one of things that people everywhere hold onto, even if momentarily. Hoping admits frailty and attempts to look beyond the status quo, eagerly desiring and longing for something more. It’s good, yet it can be dangerous.
Grasping For Hope
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.” – Proverbs 13:12
For several hundreds years, Israel did not hear a word from the LORD. The same mouth that spoke all things into existence at creation, chose not to speak for a time. This time in redemptive history was cold, dark, and grimmer than the ominous silence before an impending tsunami. Israel had been exiled and only a few returned home. Things were not the same. Would God keep his covenant? Would God deliver them from Greek rule? Roman rule? Questions abound.... It’s within this context the Christmas story arrives.
Luke writes, “Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him” (Lk. 2:25, emphasis mine). Simeon kept the covenant by faith, hence Luke’s description in Luke 2:25. Here was a man who was waiting—expecting, hoping, and looking forward to Israel receiving comfort. Why was Israel in need of comfort? Grief. Pain. Frustration. Uncertainty. They lacked hope. That was status quo in Israel when the Christ was born.
Charles Wesley wrote of this in 1744 with the hymn, Come Thou Long-Expected Jesus:
Come, Thou long-expected Jesus, born to set Thy people free; From our fears and sins release us; let us find our rest in Thee. Israel’s strength and consolation, hope of all the earth Thou art; Dear desire of every nation, joy of every longing heart. Born Thy people to deliver, born a child, and yet a King, Born to reign in us forever, now Thy gracious kingdom bring. By Thine of eternal Spirit rule in all our hearts alone; By Thine own sufficient merit, raise us to Thy glorious throne.
Longing, expectation, and hope of the kingdom—but where and when would it come? Anointed by the Holy Spirit, Simeon was granted divine revelation: “It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ” (Lk. 2:26). Simeon was promised that he would in fact see the messiah. Finally! Hope had dawned and, though the sunshine seemed dim, the brightness would come in the promised messiah.
Simeon followed the revelation and the leading of the Spirit and went to the temple where he met Joseph and Mary by divine appointment. Simeon holds the child then blesses God. In a fit of divine elation, Simeon thanks God for the fruition of the promise: He has seen God’s salvation. And that salvation will be a light to the Gentiles as well as the Jews.
Simeon grasped for hope and, in God’s wise counsel, this hope was held in his very own hands. The messiah would bring light, truth, salvation, and hope to all nations (Is. 42:6; 49:6; 60:1-3).
The Story Progresses
Fast forward to the end of Luke’s Gospel account. Jesus was betrayed, murdered, buried, and raised. Talk about a journey of hope! This promised messiah stared death in the face, brutally falling under the sword of divine wrath. I suspect if Simeon were present at the execution of Jesus, he might have asked the following questions: “Was this the same man I held in my arms? The one the Spirit promised would be messiah? Now that he is dead, how could he possible be the consolation of Israel?”
Those who watched Jesus being crucified could have benefited from this Psalm, “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation” (Ps. 42:5).
Yet Christ was raised! Death couldn’t keep him for long; no, Jesus walked out of the tomb leaving death in the grave. “Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God,” says the Psalmist (Ps. 146:5). Jesus was blessed! God was his hope. Jesus saw his vindication on the other side of the cross.
Jesus then appears to a couple of his disciples on the road to Emmaus (Lk. 24). These disciples were walking along discussing among themselves the apparent failure of Jesus to bring the promised consolation to Israel. They say as much, “But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel” (Lk. 24:21). Did you catch that? We had hoped.
Tension. Simeon was told that Jesus was the hope that was coming to the world to bring redemption. Yet it seemed as if Jesus failed. He died! Messiah’s don’t just die! Hope was already waning when Jesus was arrested and now it has all but dwindled.
Little do the disciples know that Jesus rose from the dead, so he explained that the entire Bible is about him (Lk. 24:27). After that, they share a meal, their eyes are opened, and they know it’s him. He immediately disappears from their presence. After admitting an odd case of divine heart-burn (Lk. 24:32), they spread the news: “Hope is here! Hope has come! Our consolation is truly here!” The gospel announcement marches forward.
Living In-Between
The consolation that Simeon and the disciples were desperate for is still the same consolation we long for. The kingdom of God was launched in the person and work of Christ. This kingdom is not yet here in its fullest expression. Christ has been enthroned and his crown rights should be acknowledged by all nations, but not all nations have been discipled. The hope that surrounds Jesus’ first coming propels the church’s mission forward, knowing that the future hope we have is guaranteed by the resurrection of Christ.
We can learn much from the first advent as we peer into the future, longing for the second. Jeremiah Burroughs comments, “Faith and hope purge and work a suitableness in the soul to the things believed and hoped for.”
The act of faith (trusting without seeing) coupled with hope (longing and expectation) shape and mold the soul in such a way as to align one’s heart with what is envisioned. In other words, whatever our hope is our lives are to be lived in such a way as to strive for it. The soul is built to desire—to desire is to hope and to hope is to desire. So what does Christian hope look like?
Christian hope is quiet and waits patiently. It cries out with the Psalmist, “I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry” (Ps. 40:1). Christian hope is also confident expectation. Sure, we wait patiently and quietly, but we also look forward confident in God to be faithful to his promises. To have confident expectation is to yearn for something. We “put out our necks” to see when God will come.
We live in-between.
To live in between the advents of messiah is to look back on what God has done with excitement and look forward to what God will do with eagerness. We hope in what is to come because we see what God has already done. Living in between the advent pushes future hope deep into the soul because God has already proven himself faithful. Hope is only as good as the presupposed promise and that promise comes from the God of all true and better promises.
Real, Robust Resurrection Hope
We can hope with full confidence because Jesus is alive. The down payment of the firstfruits of the resurrection in Christ is a done deal. Christ has died. Christ is risen. The objective reality of the empty tomb is the fuel that drives the engine of hope. Sure, we don’t see the entire picture: “For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees?” (Rom. 8:24). But we don’t have to. The future belongs to God and those to whom he chooses to give it. But that doesn’t undermine our hope. It drives it.
What Christians hold on to during Advent is not fuzzy feelings of the past. We don’t celebrate Advent because God did something real nice once before. We take time to celebrate Christ’s coming because of a real, robust resurrection hope. The tomb is empty. The gospel announcement has been shouted. Christ has come, yet he will come again. Hope is definitely a good thing. Yes, it is dangerous because we can hope in things that will disappoint. That’s reality when living in the in-between. But resurrection power has come and will come again. Is there a surer or greater hope?
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Rev. Jason M. Garwood (M.Div., Th.D.) serves as Lead Pastor of Colwood Church in Caro, MI and author of Be Holy and The Fight for Joy. 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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Editor: In advent, there’s a natural sense of restlessness in our world which only Jesus’ presence can bring peace and resolution to. Our desire is to drive our hope toward the incarnate Savior during this season. Glory to God in the highest and peace to his people on earth.
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