Editor's Note: This is an excerpt from Gospel Amnesia by Luma Simms. The ebook edition will be available next week from GCD Books. In Gospel Amnesia, Luma fearlessly interrogates how our prideful forgetfulness of the power and grace of the gospel of Christ undermines the foundation of our relationships with God, ourselves, and each other. For the purposes of this excerpt, Luma defines gospel amnesia in this way: "an extensive degradation or suppression of our consciousness of the gospel." It is our sincere prayer that her words will inspire believers to renewed gratitude and deeper understanding of all that Christ is and all that he has done for us.

A few years ago I watched one of my dear friends start maturing and growing spiritually. There seemed to be a tangible difference in the way she served her family and in the way she related to her husband. This was not an act; the Lord was working in my friend's life. Instead of rejoicing with her and seeking to learn from her, I became envious. I told myself that it was okay, that we are allowed as Christians to “covet” someone else's sanctification because it would drive us to try hard and do better and become more spiritually mature ourselves. This was at the height of my gospel amnesia years, and I had “moved on” from the gospel and was busy growing and becoming “more sanctified” with all those “right things” I was doing. Except that I wasn't growing, my heart was becoming darkened with envy. I actually envied my friend's spiritual growth; I wanted it for myself, and not in addition to her, but instead of her! Is that not sick with sin? How very Cain-like of me. If that's not gospel amnesia, I'm not sure what is. It grieves me deeply when I think about how sick my heart was that I would resent the work of the Holy Spirit in my friend's life.

This went on for almost an entire year until one day I couldn't take the conviction from the Sprit any longer. This sin was crushing me. I called my friend and admitted everything. Of course she forgave me. It's not like my poor friend hadn't noticed that I had been irritable with her for almost a year, but she waited patiently for me to come talk to her. She was very longsuffering, way more than I had ever been with her, to my shame.

This type of sin is real in the local church and it needs to be brought into the light. As long as we keep our “little” sins hidden in the dark we have no hope of overcoming and standing victorious over them. The entire time I was being eaten by envy over my friend's spiritual growth, my longsuffering friend had been praying for me. She saw that I was in bondage. I will dare to say that gospel amnesia is that—bondage.

SPIRITUAL COVETEOUSNESS & SPIRITUAL PRIDE

Have you ever felt ashamed or guilty because you can't seem to keep up with someone else's sanctification? On the other side: have you ever let words slip from your lips (e.g. how many times a week you do family worship, what books you are reading, which parenting and education method you are using, etc.) to show how far along your family is on the sanctification spectrum? In other words, have you ever “preached Christ” out of envy, rivalry, or selfish ambition (Philippians 1:15–17)? I certainly have.

Spiritual covetousness and spiritual pride are real, and can do damage to relationships and to a church body. These are subtle sins. Nourished by the fertile soil of a gospel amnesic church culture, they creep into hearts under the guise of the call to “let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works” (Hebrews 10:24). They manifest themselves in a myriad of ways across countless personalities. How does this type of thing happen? How do we get to a point in the local body where we resent the work of the Holy Spirit in someone else's life, or sling around our spiritual pride provoking our brethren? How do we forget that it was he who said, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion?”

The answer is: gospel amnesia. We forget the gospel and the cross at the heart of the gospel. We forget the work of Christ.

The local church is a messy place; a place full of sinners in need of their savior every day. You and I are part of this organism. Hence, if we personally have gospel amnesia, we can imagine how that could exponentiate within the local body. Here too we have to ask ourselves: What has become the center of our local church? What excites those in the pews around us?

SINS IN THE LOCAL CHURCH

There is sin in every church, because every church, no matter how small or how selective, is made up of fallen humans.

Gospel amnesia flourishes in a local church where there is a disconnect between doctrine and culture. An obvious case would be a church where there is no gospel preaching. Another would be a church that is obligation-heavy and gospel-light. Yet another is where there is a fair amount of gospel doctrine with little or no gospel action.

Ray Ortlund Jr. asks in his sermon Justification versus Self–Justification, “what kind of dark church culture can a mentality of self-justification (gospel amnesia) create?” (I am substituting 'gospel amnesia' knowing that the gospel is more than just the doctrine of justification.) Here are some of his answers: Selfish ambition, manipulative power of exclusion, a sense of grievance toward some, a redefining of what it takes to be an acceptable Christian (a “Jesus + Something” mentality), biting, devouring, insecurity, anxiety, fear and anger. I would add suspicion, warring over secondary matters, verbal or non-verbal pressure to adhere to unstated rules, a culture of affectation, preoccupation with outward behavior, and a lack of humility and transparency. A church rife with gospel amnesia can trumpet all day long that they hold to the gospel, but if the fruit of church culture shows otherwise, they have effectively de-gospeled the gospel. (My deep gratitude to Pastor Ray Ortlund Jr. whose sermon helped me to crystalize some of these thoughts. His phrase “de-gospel the gospel” had me taking notes feverishly while driving and listening.)

When members of a church are blinded by gospel amnesia, dealing with sin in the congregation is hampered by a lack of grace and a gospel-centered rebuke and restoration process. How can a people tackle difficulties in their relationships and in their body life when they have forgotten the gospel, Jesus has been marginalized, and the center has become many things, none of which is the gospel and cross work of Christ!?

The friend I mentioned has long since forgiven me. Although we went through more hard times, the Lord has always brought us back together. I will say this: The only reason our relationship survived such heavy sinning was due purely to the cross of Jesus. When the two of us grabbed hold of the gospel again, when we started understanding the grace of God and when we became more comfortable with our identities being in Christ, that is when our friendship truly deepened, and love—Jesus' love—covered a multitude of sins.

What has become the center of your life in your local church?

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Luma Simms (@lumasimms) is a wife and mother of five delightful children between the ages of 1 and 19. She studied physics and law before Christ led her to become a writer, blogger, and Bible study teacher. Her book Gospel Amnesia is forthcoming on GCD Press. She blogs regularly at Gospel Grace.

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For more GCD articles from Luma on the life-changing power of the gospel, read: Gospel Amnesia & Building a Sister Up and Raising Gospel Centered Children.

Lore Ferguson 1/4/13 Lore Ferguson 1/4/13

A Single Calling

A few months ago a friend called me for advice. Phone calls for advice are nothing new, but the advice she sought seemed a bit strange to glean from me: "I can't get my baby to stop crying, what should I do?"

Let me introduce myself. Lore (pronounced Lor-ee), single, 32, graphic designer and writer, lives with three other singles in the suburbs of Fort Worth, Texas. No babies. No husband. I have no recollection of the last time I found myself babysitting. I don't know, how do you get your baby to stop crying?

I don't know much about babies, but I do know a little about God. We spent thirty minutes talking about my friend's relationship with the Lord, the ways in which she sees God, and the ways she feels He sees her. We spoke of Him as a Father and her as a child. We talked about the ways she's been instructed (by books and well-meaning friends) she needs to train her little one—to make him independent, self-sufficient, able to pacify himself, etc. We talked about how she would sit on her couch sobbing while she listened to her four-month old sob, how her heart ached to be near him, her hands ached to hold him, and her soul longed to sooth him. And, while his cries sounded in the background, I did what no single childless person should do, I gave parenting advice: go pick him up and hold him close, do exactly what God does with us when we are dependent, insufficient, and unable to be consoled.

Our Common Devotion

I have been guilty of thinking the only way a woman could meet God's expectation for her was to be a wife and a mother, and I thought the next highest calling was to teach other women these same expectations. But when I watched all of my friends marry and become mothers while I still remained single, I felt like an oak tree in the fall, losing all my leaves and opportunities one by one. If I couldn't be a wife or mother, I certainly couldn't disciple other women in being a wife or a mother—and how could I accomplish anything of worth otherwise?

In I Corinthians 7:32-35, Paul addresses the unmarried and married. To the unmarried woman he gives this generous task: to be concerned with the things of the Lord; and to the married he gives the beautiful task of devotion to her husband. And then he closes that section with this: I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord.

This means for the unmarried woman, she is unrestrained in her undivided devotion to the Lord, and for the married woman, she understands good order and the security of her devotion to the Lord. Neither call is higher, neither is better—both result in devotion to the Lord.

Our primary devotion is the Lord. Psalm 16 speaks of pleasant boundaries and this, I believe, is the pleasant boundary of womanhood (single or married). As single women we seek to reflect the gospel in ministry to others, and as married women we seek to reflect the gospel in ministry to our children and husbands. There are always ideas and principles and tactics and recommendations for how these are done best, but ultimately, the gospel going forward is our highest aim.

Knowing and Reflecting the Gospel

How do you serve your husband best? How do you parent best? How do you discipline best? How do you do singleness well? Know the gospel. Know the Word of God. Grasp core tenets of our faith (the Trinity, the character of God, the redemptive plan of salvation), because they ought to be the starting point of every conversation in which wisdom is sought or given.

Single women, serve others in joyful gratefulness for the gospel. Whether you ever see the culmination of what you wish, God's promise to His bride never fails.

Wives, submit to your husband as the Church submits to Christ, adorn the gospel in this pleasant way.

Young mothers, preach the gospel to your babies, parent them as you are parented by the Father.

Middle aged women and seasoned mothers, don't simply offer good advice to younger women, instead all your counsel should adorn the gospel. Study how this is a role of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Older women, recognize the greatest need for discipleship in the Church today among women is not your good ideas or years of experience, but the beauty of a woman who has lived devoted to the depths of the gospel in her home and ministry—whether married or never married.

Above all, whatever your home or ministry looks like today, make Christ the centerpiece and cornerstone.

Jason Seville 1/4/13 Jason Seville 1/4/13

Resolutions: Aladdin vs. Jonathan Edwards

The much-maligned ritual of making New Year’s resolutions has fallen on hard times. One problem is most people want their wish magically granted. This Aladdin-like, genie-in-a-bottle, approach is why many New Year’s resolutions are abandoned by February. In our quick fix, microwavable, take-a-pill-to-lose-weight, culture we often make resolutions devoid of the necessary resolve to see them through. Aside from a well-known failure rate, there are other problems with these vows of fortitude made at the beginning of every year. First, our approach can teeter dangerously on the edge of self-salvation. “My life isn’t what I’d like it to be so I will turn things around! I will get a better job this year so I can improve my life.” In this process, we see a problem and then assume that we can also be the solution through our own determination. The reality—as many of us know—is more complex than that. Change happens best in the context of a supportive community, and we will inevitably fail if we attempt significant life change in our own power. Change happens through God's power.

Second, our resolutions often give disproportionate significance to a single area of life. We assume that the problems our resolutions will solve are the only things standing in the way of our our complete happiness, growth, or true meaning. So, our resolutions hang around our necks as a magical key to unlock the abundant life. This can be imprudent for multiple reasons: it reveals misplaced priorities, it's a narrow view of the good life, and misses Jesus. The good life comes from Christ. The gospel brings life.

Aladdin: Tempted By The Genie Approach

1 Kings 3 challenges our way of looking at and making resolutions. In this chapter, we find an interesting contrast to our New Year’s resolutions in an interaction between God and Solomon. In this rare display of wish granting, God asks Solomon to make a wish. He says, “Ask what you wish me to give you.” In this moment, Solomon could have asked for anything.

If God asked you or me what our one wish would be for the coming year, how would we respond? Would we ask to lose 20 pounds? To stop smoking? To have a prosperous year? More safety? More comfort? Better family? Solomon’s response was astounding. He asked that he would be able to understand justice for the sake of better serving God and his people (1 Kings 3:9). Essentially Solomon's one wish was to be divinely equipped to serve others better.

God’s reaction to Solomon’s response reveals what lies within most of our hearts. God has come to expect us to lust after physical and financial excellence above all else. Affirming Solomon’s request, God said,

Because you have asked this thing and have not asked for yourself long life, nor have asked riches for yourself…behold, I have done according to your words. - 1 Kings 3:11-12

God knew that most people would be tempted to ask for health and wealth. God was impressed that Solomon did not follow suit.

It isn’t necessarily wrong to have good health and money. In fact, God decided to give Solomon the long life and riches for which he had not asked for in addition to the wisdom and understanding for which he had asked. Let us follow this same pattern as we consider resolutions--New Year’s or otherwise--in our lives. Let's focus first on loving God and loving others before moving on to ancillary issues. What Solomon understood is this truth: to serve well we need God's empowerment.

We should evaluate what needs to change this year through the lens of others-centeredness instead of self-centeredness. What will make you a better neighbor, a more joyful employee, a more faithful ambassador for Christ? Any of these categories may or may not require physical or financial alterations in the coming year. But they will require Christ's work.

Edwards: Grounded By A Christian Approach

Our endeavors aren’t all bad, though. David Powlison has noted the profundity of some resolutions:

“[They] express a sensed need of moral reformation. Gluttony, laziness, drunkenness, overspending and debt, loveless isolation from others, joyless workaholism, peaceless anxiety, restless entertainment, sexual self-indulgence, bitterness and estrangement from kith and kin, slovenly disorganization…[resolutions] are not trivial matters…”

Resolutions are not trivial. They demonstrate an awareness that our hearts and lives are not as they should be--that we are in need of revival. We need transformation. Then, how should we make our resolutions and persevere in keeping them?

Perhaps the most famous set of resolutions made by a Christian were the 70 made by Jonathan Edwards. His resolutions, penned in 1722, were prefaced with this sentence:

“Being sensible that I am unable to do anything without God's help, I do humbly entreat him by his grace to enable me to keep these resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to his will, for Christ's sake.”

Not only did he write them once, but Edwards meditated weekly on these 70 resolutions. Praying this same prayer, he asked for and sought after God’s glory.

In this simple introduction, Edwards offers find several tips for how a Christian should make resolutions.

First, there should be a humble approach that recognizes it is God’s strength that we rely on for resolve and victory. Resolutions are not for the purpose of self-salvation; they are for Christ’s sake and his glory. When we assume self-salvation, or sola bootstrapa, we are in dangerous territory. To confess Christ means we have stopped trying to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. Instead, we rely on Jesus raise us.

Second, we must yield to his will. Health and wealth isn’t promised to any of us. God may want you to have a more prosperous year. Then again, he may not. To confess Christ is to submit our will to his. Not only does this become our posture in resolutions but for daily life. We make resolutions by asking, “God, what do you want to do in and through me this year?”

Third, our goal should be the glory of Christ. If our impetus in resolution making is self-glorification, then we are beginning with improper motives. Time and again, the posture of self-glorification leads to either personal pride or despair. However, seeking God's glory brings peace.

Finally, just as Edwards did, we must review our resolutions on a consistent basis. We also need to seek accountability.

Get Started!

What are some areas of life where God might be calling you to re-focus? What could God grant you that would allow you to serve and love others better? What victories over sin might God want to give you for his sake? Are your resolutions for Christ’s sake and glory?

Also, get around others who share a common passion. You can't run this race alone. Undoubtedly, there are some wonderful people at your local church who would love to see you grow in numerous areas this coming year. Community calls us to remember Christ and our commitment to him. They remind us we are doing it through Christ’s power when we are foolishly trying to act in our own. Christian community reminds us of our need for repentance and heart change we chase our own will. They don’t hold the mirror up to us; they hold Christ up. If you are going to change in 2013, it will be through Christ and his people.

May 2013 be a year when you resolve--by God’s strength and for his glory--to make some serious life change both spiritually and physically.

Jason Seville (Th.M) lives in Memphis, TN with his wife, Kim, and daughters, Sydney & Sophie. They are members at First Evangelical Church, and Jason is on staff with Downline Ministries, where he writes curriculum, teaches, and heads up Downline Builder. You can follow him on Twitter @jasonCseville.

Read Winfield Bevin's book, The Holy Spirit.

Read more free articles: The Daily Gospel by Matthew Simms and Rethinking Devotion by Matt Manry

Jonathan Howe 1/3/13 Jonathan Howe 1/3/13

Four Keys to Better Blogging

Over the past six years, I've served as a designer, editor, administrator, and marketer for a number of blogs, including this one. If you know me personally, you know some of the sites I manage. I currently have my hands on about 6-8 sites per week and edit, post, or shape around 50 posts per week. As you can tell by the lack of frequency of my posts here, it leaves little time for me to write much of my own content. However, it does allow me to see what works—and what doesn't—when it comes to blogging. So what works?

I've narrowed it down to four basic principles:

Content
Connection
Consistency
Community

Content

People start blogging thinking it will be an easy task—they just need to go in and write every day. Then when they begin, they realize how difficult it is to come up with something to write out of thin air. Even if they have a specific topic, it becomes difficult to regularly produce original ideas and thoughts.

The most important thing about your blog content is for it to relate to what you're already doing in life. If you write about what you live, you will always have content for your blog.

The content is already there to write about. You simply need to see it that way. Since I work mostly with pastors and Christian authors/leaders, I encourage them to take adifferent perspective on their work as a way to find content for their blog.

blogging

Here is a simple example for pastors: Pastors typically generate several thousand words every week for their sermons. If you gave me a thirty-minute sermon, I could show you at least five blog posts in it. Take your 3 main points along your introduction and conclusion and condense them into 300-500 words. There are your five blog posts for the week after the sermon. Add in a quote or section of reading that you used in studying for the sermon and you have another post for Saturday. And you haven't even touched on the content available in your life moments of ministry, family and leisure time.

As for the non-pastor types out there, be intentional about seeing content in your everyday life. Use a journal or your smart phone and jot down ideas as they come. The content for your blog is all around. It's just a matter of seeing it as such. It takes discipline, but once you start it will become natural.

Connection

Content alone might make a blog, but it won't necessarily make for a good one. That takes connecting to the audience. You have to present the content in a way that it connects with the reader. It's like baking. You might make the best homemade cupcakes and icing, but you'll have a tougher time getting people at work to try them if they look like they've been dropped in your car a few times on the way to work than if they are presented well.

Once you have your content, you have to make it appealing. Be timely with your posts. Tie in your topics with current events. If during the week of the Super Bowl you're blogging about where the MLB All Star Game will be played, you're not going to get the traffic you would if you were blogging that same topic in early April when the MLB season begins.

Another key point of connecting with your audience is making your content fit the web. I've noticed that pastors tend to struggle with this at times. They are so used to having an introduction to set the stage for their points, that their posts come out that way almost by default. When it takes 4 paragraphs to get to the first point, the reader is either bored or has moved on. You have, at most, 15 seconds of reading time to connect with the reader. If you haven't made your point in the first two paragraphs, you've likely lost your audience.

Here are a few bonus tips on writing for the web:

Use bulleted lists (like this one)
Use headers or subheadlines to separate longer bodies of text
Incorporate graphics if possible
Use correct grammar and punctuation
Try to include short, pithy statements in the post that can be tweeted by readers

Consistency

This might be the most difficult part of blogging. We all have a work capacity. There is only so much we can get done in a day. And when we think we have extra time, something usually comes up and fills that time slot too.

That's why having a structure or plan for your posts is helpful. Also calendaring your writing and blog time is beneficial. If your blog is related to your job, carve out time at work. Make it part of your work day. If it's not part of your job, then it's like anything else you have to find time for. If that weekly round of golf or time spent fishing on the lake can make it into your calendar, so can your writing time.

I have a routine for working with the different websites I manage. I know how long it takes to complete certain tasks over the last year, that time has decreased because it's part of my routine now. The same will happen for you. A post that takes you an hour to start will likely be one that takes 20 minutes later down the road.

If you want to be successful at blogging, it will take time. But no one has more time in their day than you do. We all have 24 hours. How will you use that time to make your blog successful?

Community

Of the four principles for successful blogging, this might be the easiest. Why? Because if you're actually blogging, you will want to connect with readers. Talking about what you've written will come naturally.

So get to know your readers. Connect with them on social media platforms.

Also, connect with other bloggers who write on the same topics. When they have good content, share their posts. They will start to take notice and likely reciprocate the favor when they see something from you that they like.

Two of the blogs I manage saw incredible growth in 2012. One grew by 67%. The other saw a remarkable 178% increase in traffic. But the difference in the workload from the previous year wasn't anything big. It was these four small steps.

These four steps have worked with these bloggers and many more. And they can work for you. But remember, it's not an overnight thing.

In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell shares his principle of the 10,000 hour rule. Gladwell wrote that greatness requires not only a great amount of talent, but a great amount of time as well. The 10,000 hours rule claims that the key to success in any field is, to a large extent, a matter of practicing a specific task for a total of around 10,000 hours.

I'm not to the 10,000 hour mark yet with blogging, but I'm getting close. And I can tell the difference. You will be able to as well.

If you're interested in a book to help you with the basics of setting up your blog or to grow the one you already have, there is really only one book I would ever recommend: Platform by Michael Hyatt. It is the best resource for bloggers I have ever seen. Even for someone who works with this every day, I found loads of helpful information in the book. If you're starting at square one, make this book your first purchase.

If you have any specific questions about blogging or social media, or if you would like to book a in-person consultation for you or your group, feel free to email me at jonathan@howeoriginal.com.

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

Owen Strachan 1/2/13 Owen Strachan 1/2/13

Be Strong and Courageous (and Not a Boy-Man)

The boy-man is selfish, young, immature, addicted to games, immune to responsibility, foul-mouthed, and weak.

I recently had the opportunity to see The Bourne Legacy, which is way better than the critics had made it sound and totally worth seeing for adults. The critics, by the way, often don’t like a movie that skews traditional, as Legacy does. It was a fantastic action film filled with the intelligent intensity you expect from the Bourne series. No, Jeremy Renner is not Matt Damon, but he’s quite convincing in his portrait of a Bourne-like character. Go see the film. It’s a blast.

Anyway, it struck me afresh how impressive the lead character of the Bourne movie is as a man. He’s in control, assertive, aware of others, physically fine-tuned, and one who meets any challenge in front of him. This kind of man is strikingly different than another avatar of modern cinema, the boy-man, who pops up repeatedly in the films made or led by Judd Apatow, Adam Sandler, Jonah Hill, Seth Rogen, and many others.

The boy-man is selfish, young, immature, addicted to games, immune to responsibility, foul-mouthed, and weak. He’s overwhelmed by adulthood, so he chooses to stay in some sort of boyish fantasy. He doesn’t want to build big things, meaningful things, like a family, a six-decade marriage, a socially and personally profitable career, or a gospel-driven church or missions effort. He wants to make music, play games, follow sports, flirt with girls, loaf through life, bend the rules so he’s not accountable or inconvenienced in his selfishness, and ignore the need to help others.

I want to suggest that wherever you can as a young man or one involved in any way in training young men, you point them toward manhood, maturity, adulthood, responsibility, ambition, strategy, vision, focus. Yes, it can be fun to be boyish. But you know what’s far more satisfying? Becoming something. Becoming something greater than you are. Becoming a man. Building stuff.

What else is cool? Winning a woman’s heart and keeping it for years, decades, a lifetime. Raising children to know the Lord. Giving tons of energy to a church plant or a church undergoing revitalization. Leaving everything to go to the mission field as a single young man. Mentoring at-risk youth. Creating a company that employs others and advances the common good. Pushing past laziness and whining and getting yourself in shape, fine-tuning your body so that you’re no longer a boy in the way you eat and take care of yourself.

The Bourne series is of course fictional. But if you read the stories of real-life elite soldiers, you see that they become something greater than they naturally are. See the gripping American Sniper, for example. The stuff that a Navy SEAL must do to enter the program is stunning, frightening. It’s also awesome. Emulate that as a Christian. Become a SEAL follower of Christ. Become something greater than you are and that this culture trains you to be.

You’re not an idiot by nature as a guy. You’re not a goofball. You’re not addicted to silly things. If you are a boy-man right now, there is tremendous hope for you, and there is forgiveness for your sins. If you haven’t been trained well, if you haven’t had a father at all, there are gospel-preaching churches led by godly men who will train and help you. Seek them out. In the power of the Spirit, leave your boyish ways.

Hear Moses’ words to Joshua as he passed on the mantle of leadership in Joshua 1:9.

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

And, we might say by way of contextualization today, do not be a boy-man. Be a man, period.

Cross-posted from Owen's personal blog.

Gino Curcuruto 1/2/13 Gino Curcuruto 1/2/13

Show Them What He’s Like

Before we ask how or what we are supposed to do, we must ask why. Why do we interact with the world? Why are we on mission? Questions like these can be dangerous because they can bring clarity--life-changing clarity. I experienced it myself in a powerful way two years ago. The Spirit used a question to change my life.

It happened in May of 2011 while I was visiting my friend, Seth McBee, in the Seattle area during a Soma School. Seth and I spent one day in Seattle just walking and talking while he showed me the sights.

Seth was already familiar with the "dangerousness" of asking the right question at the right time. Asking the Spirit, "What's next?" has been as life altering for Seth as it has for me (read more about Seth's experience in this GCD article). However, there was a question I needed wrestle with before I even got to "what's next?" I needed to struggle with the question: "Why am I interacting with the world?"

It's a question that asks "Why am I missionary?” You see, the "what's next?" question is about how and it is a good question. Before the "how" we must ask the "why". Two years ago I thought I had a pretty good answer for why I was a missionary. My answer was to make disciples for God's glory. Pretty decent answer, right? At least it sounds right.

Two Christians Walk into a Muslim’s Smoke Shop

Seth and I’s trip to Seattle had took us to Capitol Hill in search of a cigar shop. We walk into a smoke shop owned by a Pakistani Muslim and engage in conversation with the owner. Quickly our conversation moves from business to religion as the shop owner shares his views about who God is and what we have to do to be right with him. Neither Seth or I say much of anything, we just listen. While the owner shares lots of rules with us, another customer comes in to buy a pack of cigarettes but stays to eavesdrop on our conversation. Seth looks to him and asks, "What do you think about all of this?" Keith, the tall, African-American man with dreadlocks says, "Man, I just don't know how you guys go on like that. Why do you keep trying to convince people about God? I'm Native American and think you guys cause more problems trying to convert people than if you lived at peace, man. Besides, how do we even know if there is a God?"

Before Seth or I could respond, the shop owner began to explain the evidence he had as a Muslim of why there is a God. He used lots of arguments we've heard before and drew upon his own experience. As he was sharing, I watched the newest member of our conversation, Keith, listen and look completely disinterested. It was as if he had heard it before and was totally unmoved. His reply was something like, "So, I've gotta believe that this God I can't see is real so that I can obey his commands and be accepted by him?"

I could sense the Spirit challenging me at that moment. "Gino, does your telling others about me sound like this? Does it sound like a burden to people or does my gospel look and sound like good news to the people around you? Are you pointing to God’s commands or God’s love?” Conviction came over me like a cold shower. I was speechless.

Immediately after the conviction was my repentance to God. "Forgive me Father. Please, I don't want to burden people. I want to show them the hope found in you. I want them to find joy in the gospel. Spirit, show me how to do that."

All of this happened quickly as if time stopped around me because the next thing I heard was Seth's response to our new friend. It went something like this:

"What if we weren't trying to convert you or anyone else but just loved you regardless of your beliefs? What if we just loved you and others because we've been loved by God and want you to see what he is like?"

Keith had a wide smile on his face and the look of happy disbelief. "Well, I guess we'd hang out a lot and get to know each other," he said.

"Yep," Seth replied, "we could have meals together and just share life without any barriers."

Keith said he had to run and thanked us as he left. I'm really not sure if the questions had much of a lasting impact on him or not, but they opened my eyes.

What if we didn’t try to Convince People?

The rest of the afternoon, I must have driven Seth crazy, because I just kept thinking and saying, "We don't try to convert people, we just show them what the Father is like." I may have heard those words before but I had never heard those words before.

God is so gracious and faithful to teach us. He didn't just leave me convicted that I was in danger of burdening others rather than sharing good news. Instead, he met me there and used my brother to provide an answer for why we are missionaries: we aren't here to convert people, that's the Spirit's work. We are here to show the world what God is like through our words and our actions.

Please read that again. Let the words be an encouragement to your soul. If you, like I had been, are stuck trying to convince people of who God is and what Jesus has done, relax. Let these words ease your burden and remind you of your job description. We aren't here to convert people but to show them what God is like. The Spirit opens blind eyes to reveal the glory of the gospel in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4:6). We show people what God is like through both demonstration and proclamation. We show our neighbors the gospel is real by experiencing it ourselves. There is great freedom in this! The heavy weight of trying to do more to convince more people of the truth is gone. That weight isn't ours to carry anyway. Jesus says,

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. -- Matt. 11:28-30

The work of a missionary is hard. Actually, impossible apart from the Spirit. Yet with the Spirit, this same hard work is filled with joy because the burden of "success" is carried by Jesus.

The Pressure is Off with the Gospel

The pressure is off when we make disciples in the Spirit's power. We are filled with God's love and we allow it to flow into others’ lives. We are freed up to enjoy people and love them rather than struggle to change them. Gone is the desire to control their beliefs and behavior. Gone is the pressure to convince them that God's ways are best. In its place is the desire to love them because we are convinced God's ways are best!

I said it before, questions are dangerous. They can lead to conviction and clarity which will necessitate change. God used the simple questions of my friend to call me to dramatic change as a follower of Jesus. If you are ready to see some Spirit-led change in your life, consider the question, "What if we aren't here to convert people but to show them what God is like?" Then, ask the Spirit, "What's next?" Watch the Spirit do his work. In your heart. In your family. In your neighborhood. All the while, praise God for it all.

Gino Curcuruto is a disciple of Jesus, husband to Jill, and father of four. He is a chiropractor by trade and missionary by calling. Gino enjoys making disciples in the everyday: at home, at work, on the block, and within the church. Twitter: @ginoc

Read Proclaiming Jesus by Tony Merida.

Continue reading on the topic: Mission is Where You Live by Jeremy Writebol and Missional Living in a Complex World by JD Payne.

Matt Brown 12/31/12 Matt Brown 12/31/12

Evangelism has Become a Dirty Word

Evangelism has become a dirty word. This is probably because of situations like my wife and I ran into in San Francisco a couple years ago. We spent a few days traveling up and down the Pacific Coast Highway before working at the Oracle Conference, a technology conference attended by more than 30,000 business people from all over the world. As we walked to the convention center from our hotel one day, I noticed a short, stalky gentleman on the street corner in the midst of all the hustle and bustle. Suddenly, the man on the street corner began to scream. It was not your average yip or yell. It was a high pitched, throaty kind of scream, one that would cause you to lose your voice within a few minutes of unleashing it. He began to wave his Bible back and forth in the air. Between his gasps for breath, I could tell he was saying something about Jesus, repentance, and God. The crowds quickly skirted around him, crossing the street as fast as they could, adding one more reason to their dislike of the “E-word.”

As I’ve gone back over this experience in my mind, my main deduction is that this stalky street preacher was using the wrong bait.

Jesus talked to his first followers about “fishing for men.” I’m not much of a fisherman myself, aside from the occasional sunny day in Minnesota (we have 10,000 lakes in here, so it’s almost a sin not to do all that fun lake stuff). If fishing has anything to do with the “E-word,” we can easily assume that “different strokes work for different folks.” It doesn’t take a brain scientist to discover that screaming at a businessman (or 30,000 of them) is among the most unsuccessful sales pitches in the history.

I get it. I understand why evangelism has become a dirty word, but I want to believe God can do something different with it through my life. If I don't scream the gospel, what can I do? How can I care about people more authentically, and love people more unconditionally, share the gospel more faithfully?

So What Do We Do?

We have to put ourselves in the apostles' shoes. When they traveled with Jesus, what did they say? What did they do?

I’ve done my fair share of street evangelism. It took me many years to realize something profound: the first followers of Jesus did not witness to every person they met on the street. In my mind, I had somehow come to the conclusion that the more we witness to strangers, the holier we become. I used to think if I could just witness to literally every person I came into contact with throughout my day, I would have made it into Kingdom greatness (I seriously thought this).

It took some time and some years to understand Acts 17:2: “As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures.” What did Paul do on the days in between? We don’t exactly know, but we see on every church day, he took opportunities to speak of Christ, proclaim Christ and call men and women to Christ. Paul wasn’t rabidly evangelizing every single person he met throughout the week (although he did personal evangelism at times), yet in the power of the Spirit, the spread of the gospel was the driving force of his life.

The gospel frees us from the notion that the evangelization of the world falls on our shoulders alone.

I believe in reaching the world. I believe that God has placed each of us in the time we live in, growing up where we grow up for a reason (see Acts 17:26-28). But it is God alone who draws men and women to Himself (John 6:44), and it is the Church collectively that is called to reach the world. Not me. The Church together. With every part working its unique strength (Ephesians 4:16) that God can use for his glory.

We can play a small part in God’s grand story: the rescue and redemption of the world. Our role is led by the Spirit and focused on Christ. We carry it out by setting apart Christ as Lord within our own hearts, to give an answer to anyone who asks for the hope we have received, and to always share of Christ with gentleness and respect for our hearers (1 Peter 3:15). Our role is to be faithful to the leadings and promptings of the Holy Spirit in the large and small stages of our lives. If we are to “do the work of the evangelist,” we must study the life of Christ, and also the story of Philip the Evangelist in Acts 8. He was led at key moments by the Spirit, where to go, what to do, what to say. He was prepared with a proper understanding of the Word of God and how to point a seeker towards Jesus.

We Don’t Go Alone

Evangelism becomes a dirty word when it is done religiously out of human motivation (often guilt and aiming to earn God’s pleasure by works) and attempted to be accomplished through human strength. The antidote comes from understanding our proper role as simple tools in the hands of God.

“One says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere human beings? What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor.” - 1 Corinthians 3:4-8

The message of evangelism is not just “go,” but also, “I am with you always.” (Matthew 28:19-21). It is Christ’s presence that heals. It is Christ’s presence that saves. It is Christ’s Presence that delivers. We are needy of his Presence every day in every way. Unless God moves, and does through us what he loves to do best, hearts will remain darkened to the light of the gospel.

Matt and Michelle Brown are evangelists and founders of Think Eternity, an evangelistic nonprofit. Matt is the author of several books, including Revolutionaries: Men and Women in Every Century Who Advanced Christianity and a frequent blogger. You can connect with them on twitter @evangelistmatt and @Thinke

Read Unbelievable Gospel by Jonathan Dodson (available as e-ebook and in print).

More free articles: Being Ministers of Reconciliation by Brandon Smith and A Jesus-like Church by Scott Sauls

Garrett Ventry 12/28/12 Garrett Ventry 12/28/12

The Sufficient Strategy

This is the time of year when we traditionally look back and reflect on where we've been. We celebrate victories and try to learn from mistakes. It is also the time we look forward to the coming year and make plans, resolutions to change ourselves, our organizations, and even our churches. We try to fix our problems and figure out how we can do it better. Pragmatism is tempting. The temptation is: "if I can learn how to do this best, then people will grow, disciples will multiply, and the church will grow." However, when we continually apply this line of thinking, we end up more dependent on strategies and programs than the gospel of Jesus. To be sure, programs and strategies are not bad, but they are bad at for injecting authentic community and real mission into the church. Only the gospel is sufficient for that. Paul said the gospel is of first importance, and that he decided to know nothing but Jesus crucified (1 Cor 2:2, 15:1-4).

A common misconception is that the gospel of Jesus is only for salvation and not sanctification. What I mean is that people think the gospel is the 'intro class' to the Christian life. Instead, the gospel is the whole Christian life--it is the whole program. Tim Keller describes the gospel this way: "We are so sinful that Jesus had to die for us, yet so loved that Jesus was glad to die for us." The gospel not only makes me a disciple of Jesus but also brings me into a community of people (i.e., the Church) who are also experiencing this life-giving offer of Jesus' grace.

When we experience Jesus's love for ourselves, we naturally want to tell others about it. Think about the first time you fell in love with someone. Your heart was so captured by their beauty and love that you couldn't help but tell others about them. When the gospel captivates our hearts, our only natural response is to proclaim Jesus (2 Cor 5:14-21). This is a gospel sufficient enough to make disciples, form community, and ignite mission.

The Gospel Makes Disciples

After Jesus' victorious resurrection he visited his disciples one last time. "Go and make disciples," he told them. Jesus called his disciples to be disciples who multiply by going, teaching, and baptizing. They were sent by Jesus, under his authoritative rule, to go. They were sent by the 2nd person of the trinity, who rose from the dead and accomplished salvation for his people. Jesus called them to teach the good news. Jesus told his disciples that the gospel is enough to make disciples. Proclamation of this good news makes disciples (Acts 2:14-41). We proclaim the message of Jesus' sinless life, atoning death, and victorious resurrection. We then call and persuade people to repentance and faith in Christ ( 2 Cor 5:18-20). Then we baptize. Baptism is a tangible representation of the work of Christ in his death and resurrection (Rom 6:1-6). Being on Jesus' mission is all about the gospel. The gospel is enough to make disciples.

The Gospel Forms Community

Revival breaks out in the book of Acts. In the beginning of the book Jesus told his followers to be his witnesses to the world. The disciples were a small group of about 120 people. Peter then proclaimed the message of the gospel to many who were gathered at Pentecost. The Lord added 3,000 disciples that day as a result of the preaching of the gospel. The very next part of the narrative we see those couple thousand disciples with different backgrounds meeting together scattered throughout the city (Acts 2:42-47). Luke records for us that "they had everything in common."

How is that possible? Think about it. These people from different cities and backgrounds all of a sudden have everything in common. Why? Because of the gospel. They had Jesus. They experienced his grace. The gospel created and formed a vibrant community of people. You may ask, "How does the gospel apply to our communities today?" Take pride, for example. If someone in our community is struggling with pride, the answer is not to try harder to be more humble. Behavior change will not last. At best we will lie about the pride deep within our hearts and become discouraged. At worst we will become more prideful, doing acts of humility simply for ourselves. The gospel gets to the heart. The gospel teaches us that Jesus became a servant (Mark 10:45). As God in the flesh, he came humbly (Philippians 2:1-8). As we behold the humble servanthood of Jesus, our prideful hearts are changed. The gospel grows us in humility--forming a counter-cultural community, radially transformed by grace.

The Gospel Ignites Mission

The Holy Spirit changed the disciples. They became bold followers of Christ after he rose from the dead and gave them the Spirit. The gospel is enough to ignite Jesus' followers to be on his mission of going and making disciples of all nations. We don't have to manipulate people or guilt them into being on mission. That sort wouldn't last anyway. The only way people will be motivated to be on mission and stay on mission is by a heart that is saturated and transformed by the gospel. Charles Spurgeon said, "Every Christian is either a missionary or an impostor." Disciples of Jesus, made alive by the gospel are by nature missionaries. It is their very identity (1 Peter 2:1-10). The gospel gives us the identity of children of God. It also gives us the identity of a redeemed people-- empowered by God's Spirit, and on God's mission of making disciples.

The Gospel Sends Help.

Finally, remember you have been given the Spirit. He has sent you on mission to proclaim his message of redemption. He has all authority. He calls his people to go and make disciples by telling them of his life, death for sin, and victorious resurrection. Jesus has given your community a new identity as a missional people (1 Peter 2:1-10).

The gospel is sufficient enough to make disciples, form community, and ignite mission. Before you implement better techniques, diets, or strategies in 2013, consider the power and purpose of the Gospel.

Garrett Ventry is a church planting intern at Vintage 21 Church in Raleigh. He serves under the regional director of the Acts 29 Network’s southeast region. He is also a student at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He and his wife Megan live in Raleigh. Twitter: @GarrettVentry

A helpful book: Gospel-Centered Discipleship by Jonathan Dodson.

Read more free articles: A Story of Gospel Community by Seth McBee and Finding Christ in the Family Room by Luma Simms.

Brad Watson 12/26/12 Brad Watson 12/26/12

Some Links for the Week

As we take the Christmas week off, here are some links to articles (some are oldies but goodies) by our contributors on other sites!

As we take the Christmas week off, we wanted to provide you a little entertainment for the week. Though our contributors write often and in a lot of places, here is a link to an interesting article (some are oldies but goodies) by each of our contributors on another site. Enjoy!

Brandon Smith

"Beyond X-Mas" at For Christ and Culture.

Seth McBee

"Satan in the Suburbs" at Gospel-Centered Discipleship.

Duke Revard 12/24/12 Duke Revard 12/24/12

Between the Advents

For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this. - Isaiah 9:6

Six and Seven year-olds massacred in Newtown, CT. Others randomly shot in a mall in Oregon. Dozens of other headlines highlight less spectacular bloodshed in your hometown newspaper. It appears there is no end in sight. Random wickedness and brokenness are also your problem in your otherwise safe pocket of the world. Evil is local and apparently sustainable. It seems to be everywhere and affecting everything. Though the topic of evil is often suppressed and psychologized in our public discourse, it persists.

Less dramatic, but equally as personal, is your neighbor who actively dreads the holidays at the dysfunctional home of his youth. How do you avoid the curse on your hometown when every town is rife with the same brokenness and fear? The dread of the family that fell painfully short of the ideal: bitter divorce, fatherlessness, selfish people living selfish lives with deep wounds of rejection. Look around. This is where we’re from, but it’s not where we want to live. We find ourselves in grief and fear longing for peace and comfort. Like a hip out of socket we are limping. We are hurting.

Meanwhile, buried deep within the lines of a familiar carol springs:

"Fear not then," said the Angel,

let nothing you affright, This day is born a Savior Of a pure Virgin bright, To free all those who trust in Him From Satan's power and might.

O Tiding of Comfort and Joy

Comfort and Joy.”

The Tension between the Advents

Advent, or coming, is a less familiar latin term referencing the historical fact that God took on flesh and dwelt amongst us in the person of Jesus from Nazareth. He came to do battle with death. He came to reconcile predator and prey. He came, we are told, to bring peace, hope, joy, and love to the world. Impressively Jesus dealt with both the penalty and the power of sin in his first coming. We can be justified, are declared righteous, and are empowered to live righteously in the power of the Spirit he sent for us. However, we are not yet saved from the presence of sin. Even the faithful are tempted to ask, "Must we continue to sing the songs of universal peace, a few days earlier each year, while their promise is still largely unrealized?"

Already/Not Yet

Advent is the first installment of two comings. The scriptures reveal that God will again inhabit earth in flesh. Jesus will come again and when he returns, comprehensive salvation is coming with him. In the early 20th century, Princeton Theologian Gerhardus Vos coined a helpful and scripturally consistent phrase to capture the present tension between the advents: “the already/not yet.” Vos observed that much of the good we seek is resident with believers after Christ’s 1st Advent. While at the same time, aspects of God’s promises are still future and won’t be experienced until the 2nd coming, or advent, of Christ and the culmination.

The ‘already’ looks like things put back in socket. New people come to faith and see their lives renovated by Christ. Marriages are restored. Kids grow up strong with parents that love them consistently and sacrificially. Gospel words are shared where there was once legalism or license. Communities rally to meets the needs of the vulnerable. Merriment and good cheer not only at Christmas but all year. Beauty all around.

But all is not as it should be, at least not yet. The ‘not yet’ is devastatingly tangible for the 40 parents of deceased 1st graders in Newtown. ‘Not yet’ is the unrest that all of us feel after such an event. Not yet are the masses who consciously live for self, forsaking the cost of love and community. Not yet are our cities full of single moms, shut-ins. sex traded children, and the scores of people who couldn’t care less.

Most Christmas seasons are a bundling of good news and bad news, celebration and mourning--the ‘already’ with the ‘not yet.’ We live between advents and we live in tension. With a good bit of joy and lingering pain.

Our waiting for the completion of joy and elimination of grief is filled with questions about closing the gap. What should we expect the pace of restoration to be like? Are we naive to wish for sweeping reforms and more comprehensive change in our lifetime? Is there anything I can do to make it come faster?

We are certainly too cynical if we assert “this is just the way life is” when we are privy to in the first Advent and the now massive fork it has created in the human narrative. The gospel is still the power of God to save all who believe and we know that God is competent and thorough (Romans 1:16). Peter reminds the believer of a living hope, a salvation ready to revealed in the last time. There is much more to come and it is better than what has gone before it (1 Peter 1:5).

Expect Bigger Government

Jesus. Messiah. Baby. Daddy. Prince of Peace. The King and his rule. A wonderful Counselor with the strength to pull it all off, forever.

The kings who conquered Jerusalem always began in Zebulun and Naphtali, in northern Israel, in route to Jerusalem. Jesus was no different. He began his kingdom reign in the north, in Galilee. He started his quest by calling men to himself, teaching with authority, casting out demons, and generally reversing everything that was broken in his little corner of the world all the way to Jerusalem. It was there he died for peace and rose again for everlasting peace.

Yet, the promise found in Isaiah 9 was for an increase of his government and of a peace without end. So, what started small like a mustard seed grew and turned one nation upside down before going viral through Samaria and the uttermost parts of the earth. His kingdom continues to expand. Jesus and his ever increasing government means more is “already” and less is “not yet.” While local tragedies devastate us and obscure our line of sight, we do well to span out and recognize the broader movement of God. Justice and righteousness is intermittently experienced and universal flourishing is coming.

Promises are made to be fulfilled. The God who makes them is more real than the present tragedy. His faithfulness in the past and his promises about the present age of the Spirit and the future age to come are enough to give us strength and perspective.

This past year, I have watched first-hand as two drug addicts came to know Jesus. From where they sit, the Kingdom has indeed come and is mostly ‘already.’ To contrast where they were with where they are now overwhelms them with optimism. The world is not as dark as it used to be. They are not as broken as they used to be. Things seem to be getting better. Christ’s rule appears to be expanding in all kinds of creative ways as they find themselves in God’s family and on his mission. They are contagiously hopeful in Christ’s work.

But who is right? The emotions we experience after the Newtown massacre or the hope of the newly redeemed? Life between the Advents argues they are both right. Christ brings comfort in the ‘not yet’ and joy in the ‘already.’

This Advent

Chances are your neighbors are struggling this holiday season with the stories on cable news, the obligatory visit home, or the broken stuff that they have just come to accept as normal human life. So, they might get drunk with more regularity. They might cry but tell no one. These are real people, across your street who see the massacre in Newtown turned way up, and any sense of tangible hope muted. If you know Jesus you have the opportunity to bring more balance to the conversation.

Be a hope-dealer this Advent. Hit the streets. Move some product. Get the word out. Because God did come softly to earth as a baby, lived obscurely as a servant, and died unjustly in our place, we have hope to deal. Because, his love is so capable and his Kingdom so forceful, we can hope for better--much better. We hope in the present and in the perfect future that the scriptures continue to insist are already a sure thing.

This is good news to your struggling neighbor. Will you invite them into the alternate narrative God is writing with your family? What will you give her? What will you say to him? Who will you hug? How well will you listen? What will you pray? How will you speak honestly this Advent to the reality of the pain and the reality of the resurrection?

Duke Revard (ThM) serves as an Elder and Equipper with Bread&Wine in Portland, Oregon. He is the vice-chairman of the board of Soma Communities. He equips his family, Portlanders, and church planters for the work of ministry. Duke is husband to Caroline and father to three daughters. Follow him on twitter @dukerevard.

Read more articles on Advent: Incarnation in the City by Bethany Jenkins and Long Live the King by Jake Chambers.

Guest User 12/21/12 Guest User 12/21/12

The Image of God and the Life of Love

Though mankind’s image-bearing manifests itself in various arenas of life, it could be said that love is most practical way that we as God’s reflections can join in his reconciling of all things.

When Paul proclaims in Romans 3 that “no one is good, no not one,” he makes a bold statement. Indeed, the scope of sin's reach within creation is wide and its effects are devastating. In the case of mankind, it’s safe to say that we do not naturally compare to the original model of moral perfection. At the start, God created man and woman in his image, placed them in a garden, and assigned them dominion over everything that he had created and had called “very good” (Gen. 1:27-31). He marveled at his work, including the pinnacle of his labor, Adam and Eve. The beginning of the Bible portrays God and his masterpiece dancing in perfect harmony. As the story goes, this did not last (Gen. 3:24).

Though the first sin laid waste to the perfection of God’s creation, his glory still radiates from the skies (Ps. 19:1) and creation reveals his attributes for all to see (Rom. 1:20). Sin marred creation such that we can still clearly see the beauty of God’s handiwork in sunrises and ocean tides, but as those looking through a dim mirror (1 Cor. 13:12). Likewise, God’s image-bearers now reflect him in a rather distorted way, but reflect him nonetheless.

Love: the Divine Reflection

As the world around us drudges along in a perverted mirage, those redeemed by Christ have the unique opportunity to truly portray God’s beautiful design for his people. Though mankind’s image-bearing manifests itself in various arenas of life, it could be said that love is most practical way that we as God’s reflections can join in his reconciling of all things (Col. 1:20).

Jesus teaches that the two greatest commandments are to love God and love others (Matt. 22:37-39). John tells us that God is love and that those who claim to love God had better show it through love (1 John 4:8). These statements are not trite; they are monumental.

Sin brings death, destruction, and a mighty chasm between God and man. If love is a defining attribute of God, then his image-bearers should be distinctively known for their love. This means that we counter grudges with forgiveness, harshness with gentleness, abuse with tenderness, and derision with encouragement. Satan pushes us into self-absorption but God pushes us to radical acts of service. As Jeff Vanderstelt so aptly charges, “We should live a life that demands a gospel explanation.”

The natural bent of the human heart is to play the role of king. Whether it’s belittling others, stock-piling material goodies, griping at other drivers on the road, or working hard to reach maximum success in personal endeavors… people will find a way try and manipulate for themselves a world to their liking. When God’s people respond to such urges with unexplainable selflessness, they take part in the reconciliation of creation. Every time Satan’s lies are met with the character of God, things look much like they ought to. Love forges more paths than violence.

And let’s be clear, love is not always warm and fuzzy. It is paramount to remember that love is often displayed in hard truth. When Peter argues against the plan of God, Jesus uses strong language: “Get behind me Satan!” (Matt. 16:23). In the next verse, he reminds his disciples that they must be willing to give up everything to follow him. Now, this is not to say that we should liken everyone to the Prince of Darkness, but it is a reminder that sometimes the most loving thing to do is to rebuke others in order to point them to something better: Christ.

Albeit Imperfect

As previously stated, we are imperfect carriers of the divine image. We are not pre-Fall Adam and Eve, but we are still the apex of God’s creation. This is significant, life-changing.

Wayne Grudem rightly reflects: “This realization will give us a profound sense of dignity and significance as we reflect on the excellence of all the rest of God’s creation: the starry universe, the abundant earth, the world of plants and animals, and the angelic kingdoms are remarkable, even magnificent. But we are more like our Creator than any of these things.”

As we assess our own purpose and reason for existence, may we remember that God is renewing us into his image (Col. 3:10) and that he wills for us to be conformed into the image of his Son (Rom. 8:29). This gives us hope in the fight to love him and those around us. Though it will not always play itself out perfectly, God’s people can know that the gospel is powerful enough to overcome their weaknesses and propel them into service for his eternal Kingdom.

[Portions of this article originally appeared at Servants of Grace.]

Jonathan Parnell 12/21/12 Jonathan Parnell 12/21/12

Who is Your Neighbor? Well, Who Are You?

"Who is my neighbor?" an earnest lawyer asks Jesus in Luke 10:29. We soon learn it's one of those conversations that's padded out in advance. He asks a question to set up something he wants to say. He was earnest to "justify himself," as Luke makes clear. And obviously, he was feeling pretty good about how it was going through verse 28. But then comes the curve ball. Whatever this lawyer had in mind for the answer, it wasn't the story Jesus told. And it's not what we would expect either. Yes, we may all know the parable of the Good Samaritan, but it can be a little confusing. The “neighbor,” it would appear, is the man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho who was beaten and left for dead (Luke 10:30). The neighbor is the object, the one of whom the three other characters encounter. But in the end, Jesus says the Samaritan who helped his man "proved to be the neighbor" (Luke 12:36–37).

So here we are, along with the lawyer, trying to figure out whom we're supposed to love, and Jesus turns the question around. Look at this man who acts in mercy. Stop asking, "Who is my neighbor?" There are deeper questions to ponder. As John Piper explains, "When we are done trying to establish, 'Is this my neighbor?' — the decisive issue of love remains: What kind of person am I?" (What Jesus Demands from the World, [Crossway, 2006], 264).

"Who are you?" — that's the question.

Are we going to be like this Samaritan who gives help when help is needed? Or are we going to be caught up in questions about who we're supposed to help, and when and where and how, and what if it will make me late for Sunday School?

What grounds the way we think about neighbors is actually our identity, not theirs. What matters first is who we are.

Grace for Standing and Action

In his book, Union with Christ, Todd Billings builds on Calvin's teaching on the "double grace of justification and sanctification." He explains that when we are made new in Christ we receive forgiveness of sins and Christ's righteousness — we are saved from God's wrath. And we also receive new life by the Spirit — we are saved to fellowship with God and love others.

This is a radical truth. In Christ we are given a right standing before God (justification), and we are propelled in love for God and others by the new power of his Spirit in us (sanctification).

This affects the way we see those around us. It's not because they've become something different, but because we have. God's justifying work for us and transforming work in us commissions a path of good works prepared beforehand "that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10). On this path are real people with real lives full of real stories. And now when we encounter them, they are a divine call to us. They are an opportunity — a welcomed mandate — for us to be who we are in Christ.

Of course, we could make a thousand qualifiers. The Good Samaritan didn't give his spare change to fill an empty whiskey bottle, and that’s not the best use of our resources either. But perhaps we should have some concern that we get lost in these qualifiers too often — about when help can hurt and who are the poor and what's not the Great Commission. These are all important questions, and we do well to give them careful thought.

But while we think — and think we must — may we never lose sight that the central issue has to do with how the gospel miracle bears on our own souls. God has made us new creatures in Christ — righteous before him and empowered to love others for his sake.

Editor's Note: This is a repost of "Who is Your Neighbor? Well, Who Are You?" from the Desiring God blog. It appears here with the author’s permission.

Jonathan Parnell is a content strategist at Desiring God. He lives in the Twin Cities with his wife, Melissa, and their three children: Elizabeth, Hannah, and Micah. Twitter: @jonathanparnell

For more free articles, read: Send Well by Lindsay Fooshee and Mission is Where You Are by Jeremy Writebol.

For more on mission, read: Unbelievable Gospel by Jonathan Dodson

Casey Lewis 12/19/12 Casey Lewis 12/19/12

God Doesn't Help Those Who Help Themselves

America is a hard working nation. The average workweek is no longer 40 hours a week, but 50, 60, or even 70 hours a week. Why do we work so hard and for so long? We have been told no one is going to do it for us and so we operate under the mentality that we have to go out there and earn it ourselves. While that is partly true in the secular world, it is not true when it comes to salvation found in Christ. Sadly, many have applied this concept of 'earning it yourself' to Christian life. They live by the motto 'God helps those who help themselves.' If we do our part, then God will do his part. Even though that may sound right to our ears and in our culture, it is not true.

What does living by this motto mean?

Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. -- Galatians 5:2-4

Paul is saying that if we believe we need to do something other than have faith in Christ for salvation, we do not understand the gospel. Instead of understanding Christ we have rejected him and are obligated to keep the whole law, which cannot be done.

So then, by thinking we can add works or merit to the gospel we will earn acceptance with God, we, in fact, do the opposite. We do not gain the acceptance from God for which we were hoping. God doesn’t help those who help themselves. God helps those who can't help themselves. That may come as a shock, but that is what Scripture tells us.

By thinking we have to do our part, we prove we don’t believe Christ’s sacrifice is sufficient; we believe we have to make up for something that it lacks.

Christ’s sacrifice, however, lacks nothing. His work on the cross sufficiently paid the price for our sins - past, present, and future. We do not need to do anything to earn or pay God back for our salvation. Christ paid it all and earned it all for us.

How do we try to earn God’s Acceptance?

Even though the Bible tells us that we are accepted and made righteous because of Christ’s work--not because of our works--we still have a tendency to try and earn God’s acceptance. Why do we do this knowing it doesn’t work? The temptation of moralism is powerful. It fits within the framework of our society. Moralism is the idea that we can earn righteousness, or acceptance through our works, and it is inherent in our DNA; it is natural to us. For example, if you do well in school, you will be rewarded with recognition or accepted into an elite program. If you do well at work, you will be acknowledged and promoted. This is how our society works, but it isn't how the gospel works.

In order to combat something so natural to us, we must know what things we typically add to the gospel. If we know some of the things we add to the gospel, we can watch out for them and seek to rid them from our lives.

What are the things we add to the gospel?

Before we get into it, let me first say, we should do all of the following, but for different reasons. The reason we do them is because Christ has made us righteous, not in order to gain acceptance or righteousness.

What are the things we may add to the gospel, thinking we become more righteous by doing them?

A Quiet Time – Some believe that if they miss their quiet time they will loose God’s acceptance and things will go bad for them. It is almost as if they treat their quiet time like Karma. However, the reason we do a quiet time is to commune with God, learn more about him, and how he would have us live in his kingdom, not so that things will go well for us.

Church Attendance – There are those in the Church who think themselves superior to others and more accepted by God because they come to church every time the doors are open. Yes, we should attend church services. The reason we attend should be to fellowship with, encourage, and serve other believers; worship the Lord; and learn more about our Savior, not to make ourselves more righteous or acceptable to God.

Holding to a Certain Political View – In the South, I think we have this false notion that being a Republican is the same as being a Christian. Well, not necessarily. There are some who genuinely follow Christ who politically identify with Democrats or Independents. In order to come to Christ, you don’t have to change your political affiliation; you only have to believe in Jesus as your savior. That doesn’t mean; however, all believers should not hold to their party affiliations without biblical discernment.

Social Justice – It is right and good to fight and provide for the needs of others. Scripture calls us to love our neighbor, take care of widows and orphans, and provide for the poor and needy. All these things, however, are the result of the gospel melting our heart of stone into hearts of flesh. In other words, we do them because we have been made righteous, not to gain righteousness.

Being on Mission – Our God is a God of mission. He both calls us and uses us to accomplish His mission. While it is true a large number of Christians avoid, or half-heartedly accept God’s call to mission, those who actively take it up are not more righteous than those who do not. I need to be careful here because I do not want to discount the necessity to be on God’s mission. I do, however, want to make sure those who label themselves as missional do not create a false sense of superiority, or believe they are more accepted for their labors. We are on God’s mission because He has called us to it, not to puff ourselves up or gain greater acceptance from God.

Community – Since we are made in the image of God, community is in our DNA. The Trinity has existed in community for all eternity, serving, loving, and glorifying one another. We are called to reflect or image that community here on earth as those redeemed by Christ. By God’s grace some reflect that relationship better than others. Where I believe some go wrong is to believe better community equals greater acceptance from God. The only reason, however, we can exist in community with one another is because the gospel has changed our heart. Better community then does not equal greater acceptance from God. Better community is the result of God’s work in the gospel.

Other things we may have a tendency to add to the gospel are:

Prayer
Community service
Adoption
Home schooling
Baptism
Giving
Eating organic

Again, all these things are right and good, but none of these things make us more acceptable to God. We are justified by faith alone. You see, in Christ, we are as accepted as we will ever be. We can do nothing to make ourselves more acceptable. Nor do we need to do anything. Christ’s sacrifice on the cross is sufficient. Attempting to gain acceptance outside of Christ, will merit us nothing but exhaustion, because our work will never be done. Exhaustion will turn into anxiety because we never know if God accepts us or not. Exhaustion and anxiety will turn into distress, and finally disappointment as we realize we cannot be made righteous through our own work.

In addition, by adding these things to the gospel message we functionally prove we don’t believe Christ’s sacrifice is sufficient. Rather, we prove we actually believe we have to make up for something that it lacks. But what Paul is telling us, and why this message is so important, is that if we think we must add to the gospel in order to be saved, or to maintain our righteousness, even though we say we believe in Christ as our Savior, we may not be saved.

So as Christians, we have to examine our hearts. We have to ask ourselves why we do the things we do. Is it because Christ has saved us and the Holy Spirit is working in us to produce the fruits of righteousness through the means of grace? Or is it because we think we have to do these things in order to either gain or maintain our acceptance with God? Your answer will be telling of your understanding of the gospel.

God doesn’t help those who help themselves

God does not help those who help themselves; God helps those who humble themselves. He helps those who completely and utterly depend on Him for salvation. He helps those who see Christ’s sacrifice as sufficient and who do not attempt to earn his acceptance through their work.

God wants us to depend on him completely and to trust that Jesus’ sacrifice is all we need for salvation. If we are trying to help ourselves, then we do not really understand the gospel. We do not really know what it means to accept God’s free grace for our sins. We do not understand that all our works are like filthy rags and they are not able to merit us even one ounce of God’s acceptance.

We are saved by God’s grace through Jesus Christ’s death on the cross, which means we must stop laboring for God’s acceptance. We must stop laboring for our salvation. We must trust in Jesus Christ for our salvation! Once we realize our salvation doesn’t come through our labors but Christ’s, we can then labor for the right reason. We can labor because we have been accepted, not for acceptance.

Casey Lewis currently serves as the Senior Pastor of Sycamore Baptist Church in Decatur, TX. He is a graduate of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, a husband to his sweet wife Jennifer, and follower of Jesus Christ. He currently blogs at ChristianityMatters.com. Follow him on twitter: @caseylewis33

Read more free articles: From Moralism to Evangelism by Seth McBee or The Gospel Gives Us a Secure View of Self by Jared Wilson.

Read the e-book: Proclaiming Jesus by Tony Merida.

GCD Editors 12/17/12 GCD Editors 12/17/12

Inter-Trinitarian Joy, and the Joy of Knowing and Loving God

by Dave Jenkins.

Dave Jenkins is the Director of Servants of Grace Ministries. He earned his M.A.R. and M.Div. through Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary. He is happily married to his wife Sarah and lives in Caldwell, Idaho where he enjoys spending time with family and playing golf.

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Inter-Trinitarian Joy

Luke 10:21-22 - “In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him."

The greatest joy of all is the joy that God the Son has in God the Spirit and God the Father. The word that Luke uses for rejoicing in this passage is more intense than any other word for joy including the other terms he has used in Luke 10. The Greek word agalliao is a word for exuberant ecstasy meaning complete exultation in the fullness of joy.

Jesus rejoices to see Satan defeated and to give the free gift of eternal life. Here was an even greater joy because it took place within the triune being of God, who exists eternally as one God in three persons. By its very nature, the joy of Jesus is greater than any joy that we could ever experience. Jesus is the God the Son, so His joy is a divine rejoicing. It is a perfect joy, unspoiled, and undiminished by sin. Here His joy is especially intense because He is rejoicing in the revelation of the Holy Spirit and in the secret, saving work of His Father. Luke is showing us the joy at the heart of the universe – the rejoicing that takes place within the Godhead, where God is both the subject and the object of His own joy.

The Father, Son and the Spirit glory in one another. When Jesus was baptized in Luke 3:22 and again when He was transfigured in Luke 9:35 we see the pleasures that the Father takes in His own beloved Son. Jesus rejoices in the Spirit and the Father, and as He rejoices we catch a glimpse of God glorifying and enjoying Himself. There can be no greater joy than this: the eternal joy that God Himself enjoys in the being of God. Jesus was so overwhelmed with the triune joy that in a spontaneous outburst He rejoiced out loud. He rejoiced in the Holy Spirit finding His enjoyment in the Third person of the Trinity. He also rejoiced in the Father, praising him for his supreme greatness over heaven and earth.

The Glory of God in Salvation

Many people would be surprised at the occasion for this joy. Luke 10:21-22 gives the reason for this rejoicing. Jesus was rejoicing over the sovereignty of God in salvation, over the doctrine of election, over the fact that God reveals the truth of salvation only to His own beloved children. People often consider the sovereignty of God’s grace to be a dark and difficult doctrine.

Why does God bring some people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ while others are left to perish for their sins? The Bible never gives us a full answer to this question except to say that God does it for His own glory. Far from treating this mystery as an occasion for anxiety the Bible presents it as a comfort for the soul.

The doctrine of election, which proves God’s sovereignty in salvation, is a doctrine of joy. We find this on Christmas night with the angel singing “glory to God in the highest” and “bless the people who are in God’s pleasure” in Luke 2:14. We find it in Romans 9-11 where Paul’s exposition of election ends with a grand doxology of praise. We find it in Ephesians 1, where the fact that God has chosen us in Christ is celebrated with high praise to God. We also find it here in Luke 10, where God’s sovereignty in salvation brings joy to the very Godhead.

Jesus rejoices in the Father’s gracious will to reveal salvation to some but not to others. To be specific, God has hidden the secrets of His Gospel from people who think that they are wise and revealed them instead to little children. In other words, He reveals to people who know that they do not know everything and who therefore come to Him in simple, childlike faith. When Jesus spoke about the wise and understanding He may have been referring ironically to members of the religious establishment like the Pharisees and Sadducees theological know-it-all who refused to believe that He was the Christ. When Jesus spoke of little children, He was referring to ordinary disciples who for all their weakness were learning to follow Him in faith and obedience. Jesus is not praising ignorance but humility.

Searching Our Hearts

The contrast here in Luke 10 is not between educated and uneducated but between those who imagine themselves to be wise and sensible and want to test the Gospel truths by their own intellects, and to pronounce judgment according to their self-formed ideas. Those who live under the profound impression that by their own insight and their own reasoning demonstrate they are utterly powerless to understand the truths of God and to accept them.

Which two of these categories describes your own attitude toward Christ? Are you still trying to evaluate Christianity according to your own belief system or are you ready to learn what God wants to teach you? If in our arrogance we insist that God wants to meet our own intellectual standards, we will never be saved.

The mystery of God’s person, His mind, His heart, and His salvation are infinitely too exalted and wonderful to be penetrated and understood simply by submitting them to a sufficiently powerful intellectual analysis. By God’s own choice and decree they remain hidden from the wise. By the grace of God, the Holy Spirit plainly reveals these same profound mysteries to humble sinner who come to God with nothing except their need for him. God is not an intellectual elitist.

There is no minimum IQ for membership in the family of God. The Gospel is not restricted to people who are smart enough to understand it. All we need is a teachable spirit and a childlike trust in Jesus. Giving God’s grace to the humble is one of God’s greatest joys.

In Luke 10:21, Jesus had rejoiced in the revelation of the Father; here in Luke 10:22, He rejoices in His own revelation as the Son. It is all interconnected. Jesus Christ is God the Son. Therefore everything that belongs to the Father – such as His sovereign power and divine authority – also belongs to the Son. When Jesus said that the Father had given Him all things, He was making the strongest possible claim to His own deity. All things belong to Jesus Christ the Son of God. Not a single atomic particle in the entire universe is outside His supreme Lordship. Due to His divine identity, the Son has perfectly knowledge of the Father, in the same way that the Father has perfect knowledge of the Son.

The Father and the Son share mutual intimacy with the Spirit in the fellowship of their triune being. Only God can know God perfectly and therefore no one knows the Son as does the Father, or the Father as does the Son. We ourselves are able to have fellowship with the triune God. By the grace of the Father, according to the will of the Son, through the revelation of the Holy Spirit, the Christian knows the living God. It is the work of the Son to bring us into fellowship with the Father and Jesus rejoices that this is so. God the Son came into the world so that we could enter His joy, the joy of knowing and loving God. As the Son of the Father, He enjoyed unique knowledge of the intimate relationship that lies at the heart of the Godhead, and with that unique knowledge the unique privilege of communicating it to whomever He pleased.

The Joy of Salvation

Luke 10:23-24 - “Then turning to the disciples he said privately, "Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”

Jesus ends this conversation with a blessing that came from a heart full of joy – a blessing that must have made His disciples joy complete in Luke 10:23-24. This joyous benediction is in keeping with what Jesus already said about the secrets of salvation belonging only to God. The Father and the Son have exclusive, mutual, intimate fellowship within their triune being. According to the Father’s gracious will, by His own sovereign choice and through the revealing work of the Holy Spirit, the Son invited His disciples – and His disciples alone – to share in their fellowship. Theirs was the high privilege of knowing the Father and the Son, with the Spirit.

To make sure they understood what a great privilege this was, Jesus referred to all the men who desperately wanted to have this knowledge but never lived to that day. He was referring explicitly to the prophets and kings of the Old Testament who prayed for the coming of the Christ. How these men longed to see the promise of the ages fulfilled in the long awaited Messiah! Imagine what Jeremiah would have given to see the righteous branch raised up from David described in Jeremiah 23:5. Or Isaiah to see the son conceived to the virgin described in Isaiah 7:14. Or Micah to see the baby born in Bethlehem in Micah 5:2.

Imagine what David would have given to see his God-forsaken Savior poured out like water or laid in the dust of death. Or Isaiah to see the Suffering Servant wounded for his transgressions and buried in a rich man’s tomb. Imagine what Job would have given to see his risen Redeemer standing on the earth. With a holy jealousy these mighty kings and faithful prophets longed to know the Christ as the disciples knew him. What a blessing it was for the twelve to see the ancient promises fulfilled in the birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. What a blessing and what a joy!

Only one thing could add to the disciples’ joy: our own believing response to the Gospel. The apostle John who had been with Jesus the day he rejoiced in the Spirit wrote about this saving response in his first epistle. John began by testifying to the things he had heard with his own ears and seen with his own eyes – the Gospel realities that were the envy of prophets and kings. Then he celebrated the joy he had in knowing God. 1 John 1:3, “that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeedour fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. “

John’s joy was not yet complete. There was still one thing he had desired which was to join him by trusting in Jesus for our salvation. 1 John 1:3-4, “that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things sothat ourjoy may be complete.” The joy of the apostles is complete whenever we join their fellowship with the Father and the Son through Jesus Christ. Their joy becomes our own when we come to Christ. The ancient kings would have laid down their crowns, and the old-time prophets would have left behind their ministries to know Jesus the way we know Him in the Gospel: as our Savior from sin and our God forever.

What joy is ours! We have the great joy of having our names written in heaven and the still greater joy of knowing the Father, the Son and the Spirit in their rejoicing. No one is more greatly blessed than we are and therefore no one should live with greater joy.

Jake Chambers 12/17/12 Jake Chambers 12/17/12

Long Live the King

I used to work in sports television. One of my favorite parts of this old job was getting to go to Seahawks football practices. Seeing professional athletes train, compete, and prepare for games up close was truly thrilling. I remember watching linebackers smash into pads and quarterbacks throw the same pass a hundred times in a row. I have one memory that sticks out above them all. It was the last offense vs. defense drill of the day. Practices were structured around stations and timers. You would be in your station until a loud horn went off and then you would sprint to the next station or drill. At the end of practice everyone would be at the same station for an offense vs. defense drill. Close to a hundred football players, plus coaches, trainers, medical teams and the media all at one station. When the final horn sounded, everyone would jog off to the locker rooms and practice was over.

One day the team was at its last station and the horn went off. As usual, hundreds of people set in motion towards the locker room when all of the sudden the Head Coach Mike Holmgren yelled, “stop!” With absolute authority a hundred giants in full gear stopped. Coach Holmgren then said, “let’s do a few more.” Without question everyone returned to their places and kept on going. I went to tons of practices and I only saw this happen once. What I and everyone there knew was that Coach Holmgren was in charge. He was the King of that football team. Total authority.

In the Bible, Jesus is called the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is the one with absolute authority. He even has authority over those who have political and religious authority. There is no second guessing and will be no second guessing when he returns. When he speaks, even the wind and the waves obey. He is the king.

Good King vs. Bad King

I grew up playing a lot of sports and so I had a lot of coaches. Some were cool and some were jerks. One thing I learned was that when you have a bad coach it doesn’t really matter how much you love the sport the coach can ruin it for you. The same could be true with a good coach. Good coaches could take lame sports and make them fun and make you play and practice harder. The good coaches knew your name. They took interest in you outside of just the sport. They were coaches you had relationship with. They let you know what was expected of you and they let you know they were there for you on and off the playing field/court.

I believe the same can be said about kings. We all have things that rule our lives. Things that we serve and that have absolute authority over us. It can be bosses, money, work, education, sports, sex, anxiety or anything really. The problem is that nothing in creation was created for us to serve and obey completely. Nothing in creation was created to be our lord and king. Lots of things were created for us to enjoy, but just like a bad coach, they make bad kings and destroy what enjoyment we once gained from them.

Take money for instance. When was the last time money cared for your heart? Sacrificed for you? Loved you? Money is a greedy king that demands you take time from family, steal from friends and hoard everything for yourself only to leave you as unsatisfied as you were before you had the last dollar. Money is helpful to serve Jesus the King with but terrible to worship as King and be enslaved to.

Jesus on the other hand is a different kind of king. He is a good and perfect king. A king that loves his people and listens to his people. He is the good shepherd who knows his sheep. He is such a good king that obeying him, even when it leads to suffering, ultimately leads to joy. He is not a distant king but, in fact, is a high priest who listens to our struggles and sympathizes with our weaknesses. He is not a controlling or demanding king but a king who came to serve us. He is a king who washes feet. He leads in love, tenderness, service, and care. He is not a greedy king but a generous king. He loves us.

The Loving King

How do we know that he loves us? Look at the cross. At the cross, Jesus took our guilt, our shame, all of our ugliness, and sin upon himself. We committed treason against him and he takes the death penalty for our treason. Not only does he take what is bad, but he gives what is good. He gives us forgiveness, righteousness, grace, mercy and hope. This is not just a good king, this is a great king. A glorious and generous king! And he loves us!

The truth of the Bible is that the one with absolute authority knows who you are and he deeply loves you. He knows every hair on your head and he died to save and rescue you. Our king is not just a king but a savior and a shepherd. He doesn’t treat us like slaves but calls us friends. This is good news. This changes how we serve our king and how we live. Theology is important. Knowing who our God is and who we worship affects every area of our life and every area of the church.

At the Service of the King

Many of our problems in the American church are due to us thinking King Jesus is really a distant and demanding coach or boss. Instead of us seeing ourselves as blessed to serve a good and gracious king we run, hide or complain when given the opportunity to serve because we are worried that we will once again fail to please another person in authority over us. This life of hesitant or disgruntled service is really a life of poor theology.

Good theology frees us to run to King Jesus as one that we get to serve. If Jesus is always king, then we must always be his servants. We are not in some higher or lower class where some people should serve us and we should serve others. That is not who we are. All of creation is here for the sole purpose of serving the king. That means that we are servants in our home even if we are the head of the house. It means we are servants in the workplace even if we are the CEO. It means that the homeless, ditch digger is at the same status as the Oscar award winning actor--a servant. We no longer have to fight to prove the lie that we are king; we get to rest in our rightful place as servant to the king. This is who we are.

Service goes from a chore to a joy as it is us being who we were created to be and us doing what we were created to do. We will find ourselves at home serving all kinds of people at all sorts of times as we are ultimately serving Jesus. A life as a servant enables humility as we grow in realizing that we are never the one with absolute authority and this frees us from being enslaved to people or things that also are not in absolute authority.

I want to encourage you to get to know King Jesus. Learn to listen to him and to obey him. He truly is the only one worthy of our complete obedience.

Jake Chambers is a member of Jesus’ bride - the church, husband to his beautiful bride Lindsey, and a daddy to his boy Ezra. Jake is passionate about seeing the gospel both transform lives and create communities that love Jesus, the city, and the lost. He currently serves Red Door Church through leading, preaching, equipping, and pastoring. You can read more of his writing at reddoorlife.tv. Follow him on twitter: @JakeJayChambers

Read more free articles: The Implications of Obeying God by Jennie Allen and Gospel Centered Religion by Jason Seville.

Jared Wilson 12/14/12 Jared Wilson 12/14/12

The Gospel Gives Us a Secure View of Self

The church in the West is sleepwalking. Why? We don't lack for dynamic preachers, innovative church models, entrepreneurial spirit, wealthy benefactors, high technology, or widespread media and cultural saturation. Yet while the biggest churches get bigger, the number of Christians in America is shrinking, and even in those big churches, leaders are discovering a discipleship deficit of emergency proportions. I am not an expert in missiology or ecclesiology or sociology, but I can read what the Bible says. In its pages I read that the source of the church’s power is the Holy Spirit working through the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. No other source is credited with transforming power, not even intelligence or good works, much less creativity and good marketing. Uneducated men with stuttering tongues and unclever speech set the world on fire because they were content to simply arrange the wood and trust the torch of the gospel to do its thing. What we are left to deduce is that either we are faithful to gospel-centered ministry but God doesn’t work that way anymore—in which case the Bible’s claim that the gospel is power needs a retroactive expiration date—or else our half-hearted, defeated, apathetic Christianity is a result of our gospel-deficient Christianity. What can wake us up? A better vision. The gospel does not merely give us a ticket to heaven, a lifeline to stuff in our pocket for safekeeping—it gives us a new worldview. It gives us eyes to see and ears to hear; it expands our vision to behold the vistas of eternity and deepens our vision to see the world through redemption colored glasses.

Isaiah was undone by the vision of God’s glory in the temple. Paul was hijacked by a blinding light. Peter was shaken by the descending linen. The disciples fell on their faces during Christ’s transfiguration.

None of them was unchanged by what they saw, and while none of them followed God perfectly after their vision, they certainly saw God, themselves, and the world differently even after the vision had faded.

When John the Baptist began preparing the way for Jesus’s entry into public ministry, he cried out in the words of Isaiah 40:3–5:

A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

What a beautiful cataclysm this foretells! When the king comes, his arrival is earth-shaking. The gospel changes the landscape.

When we behold the gospel’s bigness, we behold the true bigness of everything else. There are three primary things the gospel expands our vision of, and I see them embedded in these words of Peter:

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. (1 Pet. 2:9)

Peter is admonishing the church to abstain from fleshly talk and actions, to obey diligently in order to commend the gospel and reflect the holiness of God. It is as if he’s saying in 1 Peter 2:9, “Besides, don’t you know who you are?” And his declaration of who they/we are evinces the gospel’s threefold vision.

The Gospel Gives Us a Secure View of Self

Many Christians’ problems of fear, doubt, and complacency stem from forgetting who they are, which is to say, who they are in Christ . Paul is quite clear: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Cor. 5:17). It is true that we are simultaneously sinners and saints, but when we are not operating according to the gospel’s resurrection power, it is because we believe that greater is the world than he that is within us.

Even the Christian with his nose to the obedience grindstone can miss out on this transforming positional view. I may outwardly look very diligent in the faith and dutiful in good works, good words, and good manners, but if inwardly that is all the result of an insecurity about my standing with God, the hardest work I can muster will be both worry-inducing and worthless. The performance treadmill simply leads to exhaustion.

But the gospel says I am free from the curse of the law, which means I am free from the burden of the law’s demands. Christ has met them for me. Christ’s righteousness is credited to my account. Christ hides me within himself. If all this is true, I am as secure as Christ is. God’s affection does not have to be earned; in fact, it can’t be earned (by us, anyway). God’s affection is freely given. When we really grasp that the gospel is saying this about God and about ourselves, our sense of identity will blossom, swell, and strengthen.

Look again at how 1 Peter 2:9 describes our position, thanks to the gospel of Jesus.

A Chosen Race

This means that God picked us. In the days of my youth in Houston, Texas, I played pick-up basketball or football with my buddies nearly every weekend at our favorite park. When it came time to form teams, I enjoyed very often being the first or second pick. I had serious game, I assure you. Then my wife and I moved to Nashville, Tennessee. I stopped playing sports every weekend.

Several years later on a visit back home, the old gang decided to get together to throw the pigskin around. We began to form teams, and even though I had given no more demonstration of my current fitness level than simply walking from the car to the field, I was picked second to last. Oh, how the mighty had fallen! I was humiliated. All these guys had done was look at me; I guess several years had taken the sheen off their memories of my athletic prowess. I suddenly looked less Tom Brady and more Tom Bosley.

I felt very keenly in that moment how good it feels to be picked. Everybody wants to be picked. The gospel tells an interesting story about being picked. If I had to relate it to my weekend football humiliation, I would put it this way: God looks at the available selection, sees that I have no evident talent or ability and that in fact I give all indications of being a liability to the team, not an asset, and says, “I’ll take him first.”

He does this for all of us. He picks us. Not because we’re great players, but because Jesus is. We can contribute nothing to God; he is not needful of us. There’s nothing that he can’t get done without us. But there he goes, picking us. And he purposefully picks the scrubs, the benchwarmers, the C team. In God’s economy, he chooses the last to be first, blesses the poor in spirit with riches aplenty, and exalts the humble.

You thought this whole deal was your idea? Nope. “You did not choose me, but I chose you” (John 15:16). You think you were picked based on your ability? Nope. “So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy” (Rom. 9:16). You think you were picked when you entered the draft? Nope. “He chose us in him before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:4).

A Royal Priesthood

God doesn’t just take the scrubs; he takes the scrubs and turns them into frontline warriors. He makes the C team the A team. He raises our estate. He makes us not serfs in the kingdom, but brothers and sisters of the King, princes and princesses under his lordship. He has seated us with Christ in the heavenly places (Eph. 2:6); the gospel gives us the royal treatment, and one day we will have the crowns to show for it (James 1:12; 1 Pet. 5:4).

But we aren’t just any kind of royalty; we are royal priests. We’re made ambassadors for Christ, go-betweens charged by God to bring the ministry of reconciliation to the lost, commissioned to make disciples of the nations. We pour out our lives as Christ did his own, in order that we might testify to the saving sacrifice of him who makes our sacrificial witness a glory to God. In the days of old, we needed priests to make atonement for us. Now that the High Priest has made atonement once for all, we have become priests ourselves, given full access to the throne of grace inside the holy of holies. Indeed, our bodies are now the temples of the Spirit.

Are you catching yet just how much God makes of us? There is more.

A Holy Nation

When God tells us “You shall be holy, for I am holy,” it is a command, but it’s also a promise. And because we can’t make ourselves perfectly holy, he does it for us. The blood of his Son cleanses us from all unrighteousness. Christ’s goodness is set to our account, and we are set apart from the condemnation hanging over the world. We are set apart for special use, consecrated by our saving God whose plans for us include demonstrating the expansiveness of his perfect holiness throughout the world.

A People for His Own Possession

Put simply, God owns us. Of course, God really owns everybody, but he treats those trusting in his Son as his own children. He treats them differently, specially. He marks them out, covers them, secures their future, and gives them a hope. He sends his Spirit to indwell, convict, teach, and comfort them.

And here’s the deal: nobody steals God’s stuff. If he owns you, he owns you. Those whom Christ has purchased for the Father will not get lost or be forfeited (John 6:39; 10:28).

Jesus cleanses us from all unrighteousness. How are we not staggered by this minute by minute? Look how saved we are!

While I do not agree with all of what Neil Anderson has written, I greatly appreciate the following list of gospel affirmations he includes in his book Victory Over the Darkness, and have used it personally and in counseling:

Since I am in Christ, by the grace of God . . .

I have been justified—completely forgiven and made righteous (Rom. 5:1).
I died with Christ and died to the power of sin’s rule over my life (Rom. 6:1–6).
I am free forever from condemnation (Rom. 8:1).
I have been placed into Christ by God’s doing (1 Cor. 1:30).
I have received the Spirit of God into my life that I might know the things freely given to me by God (1 Cor. 2:12).
I have been given the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16).
I have been bought with a price; I am not my own; I belong to God (1 Cor. 6:19, 20).
I have been established, anointed and sealed by God in Christ, and
I have been given the Holy Spirit as a pledge guaranteeing my inheritance to come (2 Cor. 1:21; Eph. 1:13, 14).
Since I have died, I no longer live for myself, but for Christ (2 Cor. 5:14, 15).
I have been made righteous (2 Cor. 5:21).
I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. The life I am now living is Christ’s life (Gal. 2:20).
I have been blessed with every spiritual blessing (Eph. 1:3).
I was chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and am without blame before Him (Eph. 1:4).
I was predestined—determined by God—to be adopted as God’s son (Eph. 1:5).
I have been redeemed and forgiven, and I am a recipient of His lavish grace.
I have been made alive together with Christ (Eph. 2:5).
I have been raised up and seated with Christ in heaven (Eph. 2:6).
I have direct access to God through the Spirit (Eph. 2:18).
I may approach God with boldness, freedom and confidence (Eph. 3:12).
I have been rescued from the domain of Satan’s rule and transferred to the kingdom of Christ (Col. 1:13).
I have been redeemed and forgiven of all my sins. The debt against me has been canceled (Col. 1:14).
Christ Himself is in me (Col. 1:27).
I am firmly rooted in Christ and am now being built in Him (Col. 2:7).
I have been spiritually circumcised . . . (Col. 2:11).
I have been made complete in Christ (Col. 2:10).
I have been buried, raised and made alive with Christ (Col. 2:12, 13).
I died with Christ and I have been raised up with Christ. My life is now hidden with Christ in God. Christ is now my life (Col. 3:1–4).
I have been given a spirit of power, love and self-discipline (2 Tim. 1:7).
I have been saved and set apart according to God’s doing (2 Tim. 1:9; Titus 3:5).
Because I am sanctified and am one with the Sanctifier, He is not ashamed to call me brother (Heb. 2:11).
I have the right to come boldly before the throne of God to find mercy and grace in time of need (Heb. 4:16).
I have been given exceedingly great and precious promises by God by which I am a partaker of God’s divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4).

Isn’t this cause for confidence? This is not self-help. This is God-help. This is not self-esteem, because none of these affirmations can come from self, none can be accomplished through pulling up of bootstraps or the turning over of new leaves. These statements—and many more found in the Scriptures—are God-esteem, because they are what God does for us and what God says about us.

Jesus says something remarkable about us by virtue of something remarkable he says about himself: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live” (John 11:25). There is no more secure position than this. If you are in Christ, you cannot be stopped even if you are killed.

Because of Christ, I am free to confess that I am a sinner deserving the wrath of God, but I am also free from both sin and wrath. Why do some Christians think that to seek our identity in Christ, the way the Scriptures say we ought to, is thinking too much of ourselves? Why are they afraid to trust what God says about them? When God says to his people, “Whoever touches you touches the apple of my eye” (Zech. 2:8), am I to think he doesn’t mean it? In fact, to live in insecurity (or to insist upon it doctrinally) is to side with the accusations of the Devil, whose chief end is to convince us that our sin is greater than our God’s promise to forgive it.

In Martin Luther’s “Letters of Spiritual Counsel,” we find this word of encouragement written to a young correspondent:

When the devil throws our sins up to us and declares that we deserve death and hell, we ought to speak thus: “I admit that I deserve death and hell. What of it? Does this mean that I shall be sentenced to eternal damnation? By no means. For I know One who suffered and made satisfaction in my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Where he is, there shall I be also.”

When you see who you are through the lens of the gospel, it changes everything.

Editor's Note: This article is an excerpt from Jared Wilson's book, Gospel Deeps, posted here with the authors permission.

Jared C. Wilson (@jaredcwilson) is Becky’s husband and Macy and Grace’s daddy, and also the pastor of Middletown Springs Community Church in Middletown Springs, Vermont and the author of the books Gospel Wakefulness, Your Jesus is Too Safe, Abide, Seven Daily Sins, and Gospel Deeps. He blogs almost daily at The Gospel-Driven Church.

Seth McBee 12/13/12 Seth McBee 12/13/12

Experiential Discipleship

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

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

Knowing facts about God is not enough

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Where did we get so off track?

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

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

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

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

Cross-posted from Gospel-Centered Discipleship.

Jeremy Writebol 12/12/12 Jeremy Writebol 12/12/12

The Presence of Advent

What is the single greatest fear that most people have about the Advent season, especially Christmas day? I doubt it has to do with finding the perfect gift. Nor does it seem like the inevitable holiday weight-gain would rank as the greatest fear. Debates over religion and politics at the dinner table might earn a higher rank but even those fights are nothing compared to a deeper fear of the soul.

What might be the single greatest fear during Christmas?

I believe it to be the lack of presence. Not a lack of presents (or gifts) but a lack of presence. No one wants to be alone during this season. We sing songs about being home for Christmas. Many Christmas films riff on the theme of being separated from family and loved ones at Christmas. We cower at the thought of waking up to ourselves with no lit tree, no joyful laughter, and with nobody to share the day. Consider the very ghosts that haunted Scrooge in Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol, they haunted him with lonely Christmases. Studies indicate that depression hits widows and widowers deepest at the holidays. I can almost guess that a full 98% of people reading this article would prefer to have someone, even if they didn't really like them, to be with on Christmas over spending it with no one at all.

What is it about Advent that reveals this fear in almost all of us? If we look at the very nature of what Advent means we will find the very reason being physically alone during this season troubles so many. At its core Advent is more than just remembering the coming of God into our existence, Advent is about the actual presence of God in our existence. Advent is the one season that reminds us that God is with us. So, when we consider a season that tells us God is with us and yet functionally experience it in loneliness a massive discord hits. The discord, for most, isn't with God, it's within ourselves. We should be experiencing presence. We should be with others and God should be with us.

Presence on the Way

Four hundred years is a very long time to wait. The United States of America has barely existed for half of that time. It would be nearly impossible to understand then the absence and silence from God for that long. However, that is exactly where the people of Israel were. National culture and identity would go through an immense rewriting if it had been four hundred years since you had a prophetic word from the national center of worship activity. Certainly brief and dim glimpses of recovery and hope came and recharged everyone's expectations but they were just that, brief and dim. Sure, they had the prophetic words of old to lean on. Isaiah did promise Emmanuel, even if that was seven hundred years ago.

Then, rumors started cropping up. Angelic visitations occurred. Barren old women conceived. Kings from the East traveled West. A nation immigrated within itself because of a census. A virgin was with child. Then, the rumors died down. Things went back to normal for another thirty years until a shabbily dressed man like Elijah began to speak for God in the wilderness. He was no respecter of persons and calls kings, priests, and publicans to repent. A nation finally received a prophetic word: “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world is present. God is with us. Emmanuel has come.”

Yes, Emmanuel, God-With-Us. He was attested to be God by his words and works by doing things only God could do. God-With-Us possessing authority to drive out sin, devils, and death. God-With-Us doing justice, loving the outcast, and the stranger. God-With-Us dinning with the drunkards, the harlots, and the sinners. God-With-Us clothed in the material flesh of our bodies, Emanuel experienced the physical limitations, pains, and agonies of our condition. God-With-Us bearing the wrath of God in our place for our offenses against God and taking our very own death-blow. God-With-Us being laid in a tomb dead for three days, he, God-With-Us, was miraculously raised to glorious new life again by the power of God--securing resurrection life for all who trust in him. God-With-Us sent his eternal presence to indwell and empower us for lives of glory and mission. He hasn’t left us, in fact, God-With-Us has come, became flesh and lived in our very domain and gifted us his eternal presence so we would always be with him.

Advent as a Missional Teacher

This is what Advent points us towards. A seasonal reminder of presence. An annual celebration of God’s personal intervention and presence with us. Advent teaches us that God is with us and that God is for us. Advent shows us God-in-action working for his glory and for our good. Our reflection of this reality can not leave us to merely feel good about God With Us, it must propel us forward to display the God whose image we bear.

Advent becomes a missional teacher to us as we consider that God shares life with broken, messed up, needy, people of disrepute. As we increasingly consider God-With-Us we must ask ourselves are we displaying this reality to the world? Are we showing lonely people God-With-Us by our presence with them? Are we enacting this good news for the same broken, messed up, needy, people of disrepute that God hung out with?

As much as Advent is a season for gathering with family and friends, for the church it is a missional launching point for us to inhabit and take the gospel to the world. The world sits and waits year after year for a savior. They make functional saviors of sex, power, possessions, comfort, and a billion other idols they can find. Yet, all the while being let down year after year by their little, failing, and distant gods. The world is waiting, the Savior has come, the church must be present!

Practically this boils down to one thing: be with them. In the same way God was became present the world he sends us to go and be with the world. Be at the parties, the Christmas programs, the neighborhood celebrations, the family dinners, and the company gift-exchange. As you are with them, love them. Be the presence that the lonely, lost, waiting world is so eager to receive. Show them their savior through your love, by the way you honor them, give them dignity, listen to their stories, and hear their hurts.

A rocket-science degree isn’t mandatory for this, just ask the Holy Spirit to show you someone that he can display his presence to through your presence with them, and then follow his lead. Go be present with the world because God is present with you. The world waits for God-With-Us and we are blessed to display that God is with us!

Jeremy Writebol (@jwritebol) is the husband of Stephanie and daddy of Allison and Ethan. He lives and works in Wichita, KS as the Community Pastor at Journey the Way and the director of Porterbrook Kansas. His book, everPresent Gospel, is forthcoming on GCD Press and he writes at jwritebol.net.

Read more on Advent: The Object of Our Hope by Jonathan Dodson and download the free devotional, Come Lord Jesus Come by Will Walker and Nathan Sherman.

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