5 Lies that Kill Obedience

When Mirela and I loaded up our belongings and headed to the northwest, we were filled with an incredible blend of expectation and zeal. We knew something major was happening, and God was going to let us be part of it. We didn't have a grand plan. We just had a genuine desire to serve and to start a church in Portland. It was a big adventure and we felt like pioneers on the Oregon Trail. As we crossed the Walla Walla mountains in eastern Oregon, we listened to Rich Mullen’s song, “You’re on the Verge of a Miracle.” We couldn’t wait to see mass revival in Portland. God placed us in a remarkable church planting team. We’ve seen lots of evidence of God’s grace in our lives and in the church. He has continually provided for our small church plant. We are thankful for many things. From the outside, it looks pretty good. Church planters come from all over the world to learn about what we are doing. Our missional communities multiply every year. We even have a cool website.

The reality is: life lived on the frontier is hard. We have seen only a handful of people come to Christ and be baptized. Church conflict is constant. It seems as though every time someone joins our church, another person leaves. About a third of the missional communities we start fail. All the while, our city continues to be desperately far from knowing the riches of the gospel. My neighbors constantly reject the good news of Jesus despite our best attempts to demonstrate and proclaim it to them. The city is not flourishing in the peace of salvation, but struggling in the chaos of brokenness. It doesn’t feel like the ‘miracle’ is happening. We sometimes wonder: “When will the revival come? Will we be around to see it?”

Lessons from China

It reminds me of the church in China. No, not the Chinese church of today, where thousands are baptized daily and they can’t print enough Bibles or equip enough pastors to keep up with the rapid multiplication of the church. Not that movement. I am reminded of the Chinese churches of Hudson Taylor, Robert Morrison, and the Cambridge Seven. They spent the best years of their lives laboring with little or no fruit. Despite decades of evangelism and service, they only witnessed a few conversions and a few new churches in their life times. By the time Mao banned religion, many, even within the missions movement, assumed China was ‘unreachable.’ These missionaries had seemingly wasted their lives.

However, the house church movement that began to erupt in the 1960s and continues today was built on the foundation of these missionaries. The converts they baptized became the backbone of today's movement. The few disciples they made, made more disciples, and they made disciples, and so on. The revival those missionaries prayed for came. It was just decades after they had died. The pioneering missionaries never saw the packed house churches or the all night baptism services. They didn't see their prayers answered. Yet, they faithfully served, at great personal cost, for years. They obeyed the call to go and make disciples without knowing their impact.

The Rewards of Obedience

What do you get for all your anonymous and resultless faithfulness? Nothing short of God. “Discipleship,” as Bonheofer writes, “means joy.” The reward is Christ himself. Often we get confused and think the rewards for obedience are big churches, lots of twitter followers, and the approval of our peers. We miss the promise of Christ.

How sick are we when we lust for the results of Christ’s work, thinking it could belong to us? When we prefer convert stories to Christ? Sadly, many of us will hope more for ‘success’ than we will hope for Christ.

If you follow Jesus, you may never see revival. Though you love your city, you may never see it transformed. But if you follow Jesus you are guaranteed this one thing: Jesus. Your fruit is the joy of obeying Jesus. Nothing else. The baptisms and church plants belong to God. Those are God’s work, not yours.

5 Lies that Kill Obedience

Our ability to quit and become sidetracked is great. Our hearts are constantly being attacked by lies that keep us from persevering in faith. These five lies are particularly successful. They are deceptive and effective in killing our conviction to follow Jesus and trust in his work.

1. “You are above this.”

This is the lie of strong pride. That the grunt work isn’t for you. I first heard this lie when I cleaned toilets for a church in Los Angeles. You may hear it while you are watching babies in the nursery Sunday after Sunday. Or when you get stood up once again by your not-yet believing friends for dinner. You hear it when your neighbors shun you for being crazy people who believe in Jesus. The lie is: “you are better then this.” When you believe this lie, you think you are entitled to fame. In reality, you are only entitled to be called a child of God, and that right was purchased by Christ. Don’t settle for position and fame. If you think you are above the job and task, you will not persevere in obedience.

2. “You are below this.”

Many times it also sounds like: “You don’t belong and you don’t deserve this.” This is a lie attacking Christ’s ability to work in and through you. If you believe this lie, you believe that God is not at work, but you are the one at work. This lie leads to fear and rejection of your identity as a son or daughter of God. It is also born out of comparison to others instead of Christ. What is so devastating about this lie is it paralyzes folks from obedience that would give God glory. No one is capable or skilled enough to do what God has called them to do. The Holy Spirit empowers us for the tasks and God is glorified in using us.

3. “If you were better, it would be easier.”

This one comes when things feel incredibly hard. It leads to self loathing and increased suffering. This lie shakes your sense of purpose. You begin to place yourself as the focal point of God’s work and conclude you are either in the way or driving it forward. When things improve, you believe it is because you have done better and have earned it. When things fail, you are certain it is your fault. Similar lies are: “You have to be good to be used for good.” Or: “You have to be smarter, better, quicker, more talented, more educated, rich and moral in order to do good.” This leads to a personal quest for self-rightness, excellence, and God's job. This lie essentially says: “You are this city’s savior.” Eventually you quit in desperation because you have labored without a savior.

4. “If it isn’t happening now, it never will.”

This lie says: "today is all there is and God can't work tomorrow. If God hasn’t answer your prayers for revival by now, he never will." When you believe it, you lose perspective on the scope of life and count everything you are doing as worthless. You are no longer content in obedience alone, but want to see what your obedience will create. This is nearsighted dreaming. This lie results in quick quitting or shrinking versions of worthwhile-God-given dreams. This is a lie people believe when the settle for less then the radical surrender and obedience God called them to. When we believe this lie we are saying, “God doesn’t care anymore or he can’t do it.”

5. “You are alone.”

This is the hardest one. Our sinful hearts leap to this lie when we are tired and discouraged. The goal of this lie is to isolate you and make you think no one else cares, and no one else is coming to help. No longer are you being obedient to God’s work, but now you feel like a hired hand. It is as if God is paying you to establish a franchise of his kingdom and is looking for a return on his investment.  Your belief in this lie says, “Jesus doesn’t love me or this city. He didn’t died for this city of for me...God abandones his people."

Gospel Motivation

At the heart of each these lies is an attack on your motivation and an attack on the gospel. The truth is Christ died for you. You are loved and you are his son or daughter (1 John 3:1). He has empowered you with his Spirit to be his witness (Acts 1:8). He will work in you and through you as he works all things together for good and conforms you to the likeness of Christ (Romans 8:28-29). He is with you always, even to the end of the age (Matthew 28).

When I was 11, my family moved to Lisbon, a city of five million people with fewer than 4 percent believing the gospel. Shortly after we arrived, my family went to a hill that overlooked the city we came to ‘win’ for Christ. My dad wept over it as he prayed for the people and for the gospel to take root and free people. We all cried. We had put everything on the line to follow Jesus to this city. We loved the city and we loved Jesus.

Soon it will be two decades since that day we prayed for that city, and the statistics are the same. My parents saw only a couple people baptized in over a decade of ministry there. They will never see or experience his prayers for the city being answered. What did they experience? God’s lavished grace in new ways; the gospel.

Are you willing to weep over your city for decades and never see your prayers answered, and plant seeds you never see germinate? What if your church never becomes nationally known? What if you don’t write books or speak at conferences? Is the gift of the gospel enough for you?

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Brad Watsonserves as a pastor of Bread&Wine Communities in Portland, Oregon. He is also the director of GospelCenteredDiscipleship.com. Brad is the co-author of Raised? Doubting the Resurrection. His greatest passion is to encourage and equip leaders for the mission of making disciples. He is Mirela's husband and Norah's dad.

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Related Resources:

Gospel Amnesia by Luma Simms (e-book)

Living the Mission by Winfield Bevins (article)

The Gospel and the Great Commission by Abe Meysenburg (article)

4 Temptations of a Bible College Student

Michael Cooper currently serves as Assistant to the President at Criswell College and attends Cornerstone Church in Mabank, Texas. Follow him on Twitter: @mrcjr24.  

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This May, I will be graduating with a B.A. in Biblical Studies. Ask me about Greek paradigms or eschatological views, and I can fill your head with information. I mean, it’s been my “job” for the last four years to learn the ins and outs of theological debates and to master the intricacies of various doctrines. Though I love studying such things, there exists a great danger.

For many of us, the doctrine of sin is something that can become just another answer on a test. It grows into such an intellectual exercise that we miss the reality of it crouching at the door, seeking to destroy us. This is, to say the least, one of many difficulties that a Bible college or seminary student knows all too well.

As I reflect upon my time in college, I can think of four temptations that could easily lead to sin. While I think every Christian is susceptible to these temptations, in the environment of Christian academics a full-time "student of the Word" is prone to drift in this direction quite easily.

Temptation #1: Reading the Bible as a Textbook

It was challenging at times not to view the Bible as a “textbook” for my classes, paired up alongside Ladd, Carson, Wright, and others. As one dives deeper into the depths of Biblical theology, hermeneutics, and critical thinking, the danger to turn the Bible into nothing more than another book is tempting. I found myself using, quoting, and reading the Bible as a tool for research instead of allowing the Bible to become the standard for my life. Reading the Bible became, dare I say, dry and boring as a Bible college student. It became a routine, something that I was supposed to do.

However, the Bible is not just another book. It is the Word of God, the rule of faith and practice. So in order to fight this temptation, one must consciously read the Bible as though God is speaking directly to you. Of course, use your historical backgrounds, hermeneutical methods, and exegetical tools, but do not lose sight of the true goal of reading the Bible and encountering Jesus Himself. Do not read the Bible as a student only; read it as a disciple of Jesus. Allow it to change and challenge you.

Temptation #2: Puffing Up

Paul states in 1 Corinthians 8:1 that “knowledge puffs up.” Now, now all you seminarians… before you lay down your “proof text” trump card, realize that Paul said again, "If I have…all knowledge but not love, I am nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:2). You may have the knowledge to distinguish between proof-texting and proper exegesis, but if you walk into your church welding your newly found knowledge like a sword you might do more damage than good. The temptation to “puff up” is present within the heart of every Bible college student.

Growing in the knowledge of God is a wonderful experience. Yet, that temptation toward placing yourself above “laypeople” can result in a critical and an unloving individual who knows a ton, but doesn’t have the ability to put it into practice. We are commanded by our Lord to love Him with our mind. As full-time students of the Word, this is our motivation. Do not forget that He commanded us to be humble, loving, and gracious towards others. I think this applies appropriately to those of us with degrees in Bible and theology. Allow that knowledge to drive you to the foot of the cross in humility and love for others.

Temptation #3: Neglecting the Church

I find this temptation so ironic for theological students, but is so easy to fall into. It is easy to walk through the pages of the New Testament and become discouraged as you look at the biblical expectations for the first churches, and realize that our churches don't match up. As you compare your local congregation to the New Testament model, you see the blemishes and bruises, which can result in discontentment and frustration.

This relates to the second temptation: We study the church, but don’t attend the church. Students can become so knowledgeable of a subject like ecclesiology that all they do is deconstruct. And the way to combat this temptation is to reconstruct. Allow your critique of the local church to be constructive. But in order to do so, one must become involved in a local congregation first. Submit under the authority of a church and begin to serve. N.T. Wright once said, "Practice without theory is blind, and theory without practice is dumb." The best way to put your theory in practice is through a local congregation.

Temptation #4: Studying Just to Get a Grade

I've said it many times over the past few years: "I just want to get the grade and get out." I acknowledge this temptation all to well, especially as a senior. This type of thinking distorts the goal of studying – it becomes more about the grade rather than about Jesus. In order to fight this temptation, it is imperative to view the work you are doing in class as worship unto Jesus. I remember walking into my Greek I class a few semesters ago, and my professor stood up and began to speak to us about this very principle. He indicated that as we study Greek it would be difficult, but he encouraged us not to give up. His conclusion was, "Make your work your worship."

It’s easy to do enough just to get by, but as disciples we are called to a higher mission in everything we do. Another scholar that reinforced this for me was Andreas Kostenberger in his book Excellence: The Character of God and the Pursuit of Scholarly Virtue. What other degree do you have the opportunity to learn about the God of the universe? Take advantage of your time and make your work your worship.

Finish the Race

It is easy to fall into these temptations. Once you do, your fallen nature might take control and turn it into sin. My encouragement – as one who has struggled with all four temptations – is to recognize the hurdles when they come upon you. Make sure you know how to clear them. If Jesus is Lord over the universe, then allow Jesus to be Lord over your schoolwork. It is challenging, but it is worth it to finish strong. May we be able to join Paul as he declares, “I have finished the race" (1 Timothy 4:7).

That was a Bible college proof text, I know.

Why Entrepreneurs Don't Like Your Church

Most readers know me as a missional community practitioner and don’t realize I am also an entrepreneur. I currently own an investment portfolio management firm, and have for 10 years. I’ve started three other businesses, and will be starting another when we move to Phoenix later this year. I am a business starter, that’s my ‘day job.’ Most churches have a hard time getting entrepreneurs, like me, to join their mission and vision. We are either running from church or passively sitting in pews on Sunday. We have gifts and strengths to offer, but they lay dormant in the local church. Why? It isn't for a lack of asking. Pastors frequently attempt to pull the business owners in but are met with, “I’m too busy.” Excuses, like these, are usually a cloud of smoke to mask the true objections. My hope is to help shed some light on what lies beneath the "I'm too busy" objection.

A Big Problem

First, entrepreneurs are not more important or better than the rest of the church. However, we can all agree that the entrepreneur is usually a pretty odd specimen with unique gifts and abilities. The church can’t afford to have anyone’s gifts sidelined. The mission of the church is too important to miss out on a single part of the body. What does it say about our church, if a fraction of its gifts go unused, unengaged?

The entrepreneur is not super human, but they usually have a ton of capacity, they aren’t scared of risk, they love thinking outside the box, and they don’t mind submitting to leadership. What’s really interesting is that if they find something they are sold out for, they’ll call others to join them. They can become a huge ally for the church to aid in the understanding of making disciples who make disciples. The problem is that for many years the entrepreneur has been told to “fit into this box” or go elsewhere. Many have. Many entrepreneurs have decided to fulfill the great commission through para-church organizations and non-profits. I understand why.

What if you were a baseball player and were continually told by your coach that instead of playing baseball, you were going to knit scarfs? I’m guessing you’d find a different place to allow your talent to mature. In a sense, churches have been doing this for years with the entrepreneur. We don't put them in the game they were designed to play.

Entrepreneurs are so unique they can give a church's vision a run for its money, ask tough questions, and sharpen the leadership of the local church. They have the ability to challenge and push leaders in ways other folks can't. They cause us to dream bigger, get specific, empower others, and take major risks. So, why do entrepreneurs hate your church?

Your Vision is Too Small

What do I mean by “vision?” The mission of all followers of Jesus is to make disciples who make disciples (Matthew 28:18-20). The vision for your local church is the how, where, and who of this commission. How are you going to make disciples? Where are you going to go? Who are you going to reach? Your church was placed on earth to make disciples. That is why you exist. If we all had the exact same vision for the how, where, and who we were going to make disciples of, then we might as well be one big church. But, the fact is, God has given each church a unique vision to carry out the mission he has given us all. Far too often, churches settle for a vision that is too small.

Entrepreneurs think big. Honestly, that’s also what makes us (entrepreneurs) fail sometimes. We think all our ideas are going to be the next big thing, when in reality, our dreams are often bigger than the marketplace can handle. However, these big dreams allow businesses to be born and succeed.

Entrepreneurs want to be part of something big, not something that is going to only affect those around the block. Now, those around the block might be the starting point to implement the vision, but shouldn’t be the end point. If you want entrepreneurs to be engaged on the mission in the context God has given your church, think big, not small.

Soma Communities told me they wanted to see 3,000 missional communities in the Seattle area. That’s 1 for every 1,000 people. That vision started with me getting after it, trained, and excited for multiplication. If they merely told me that they wanted me to go and start a missional community in my neighborhood, that would have been great and all, but the first thing I’d be thinking is: “Is that it? Is that where I stop?” Honestly, as an entrepreneur, to have that be the end goal, wouldn’t be exciting enough.

God is our example for casting vision. He told Abraham: “Your offspring will be numbered as the stars. The whole earth will be blessed through your family.” This is a big vision. God also said that we were to be his witnesses, not only to our neighbors and cities, but to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). Think of this vision laid out by God in Genesis and Acts. It includes the people next door to you, but is also much bigger that that. God’s vision is simultaneously as small as a family and as big as the world.

So, when we hear this, we get excited. Not because we can do it on our own, but because we know that God can and he has given us the Spirit to empower us for the mission. This is a vision beyond our powers and requires us to rely on the Spirit. So, while others may balk at a large vision, the entrepreneur will be your ally in calling people to fulfilling the seemingly impossible. We need entrepreneurs calling us to push the envelope, to think beyond our neighborhood and consider the world. They will become a litmus test: if your vision is too small and doesn’t require risk, innovation, or creative thinking, they will pick up on this.

Your Vision is too Generic

Having a large vision is one thing, but if it is a generic vision, it will likely die. God’s vision for Abraham was big, but it was also specific. He told Abraham: “Go to the land I will show you.” At times, God is not always specific with us, but that’s okay. He’s God. But, what I do find interesting is how God treated Paul on the mission field. Paul listened to Jesus when he said, “you’ll be my witness even to the ends of the earth” (big vision) and then listened to the Spirit as he continued to instruct Paul where to go and where not go. It is amazing to watch how specific the Spirit was with Paul as he listened and relied on God (Acts 16).

What we’ll see in churches is that their vision is: “We want to glorify God in all the earth.”  Well, thanks? It is a big vision, but I can frankly do that without being connected to your specific church.

Give us some handles on what you mean. When Soma Communities says: “We want to see 3,000 Missional Communities in the Puget Sound area.” This gives me so much information right up front. I see a big vision: a number that they desire to attain. I also see the means by which they are going to see disciples made: missional communities. The vision tells folks how they plan on glorifying god in the earth. You don’t necessarily need to see a number, but put some sort of descriptive handles so we aren’t left to wander.

It’d be like me trying to secure a loan for my business and saying: “We want to be the best company in the whole world!” How? By being the best. Where? The world. Ridiculous. Entrepreneurs need specific vision.

Your Implementation is Too Restrictive

Many churches and pastors usually fail the most here. You literally take the best weapon from the entrepreneur out of their hand by wanting to control everything.

You tell them how things are going to run on Sunday, how things are going to run in your programs, and how things are going to work in their community, small group, or missional community.

Entrepreneurs are used to coming up with game plans and strategies based on who they are, what their context is, and who is working alongside them. Churches steal that mindset from the entrepreneur and tell them, “Our way or the highway.” And frankly, most entrepreneurs have said, “See ya later.”

Churches then chalk it up to us not wanting to submit to leadership, but that’s not it.  We don’t want to be controlled and manipulated into thinking the pastor knows it all and knows how our lives should work. That sounds a little harsh, but that’s how they see it.

Entrepreneurs are used to being handed the “rules” to live within as they deal with local government, tax laws, officials, etc. Once we figure out the “rules of engagement” we can take it and build our businesses within that framework.

Think like that when implementing your vision. How can the church set up a system where it allows the entrepreneurs to use their gifts instead of restrict them? In Soma Communities, the parameters or rules are: we believe that the primary organizing structure of the church is gospel communities on mission and how you work that out is up to you! They train, equip, and encourage. They don’t control.

The Austin Stone does this well, too. My friend Todd Engstrom, says, “For us inviting entrepreneurs into conversations that are in their fields, not just ours.  Most entrepreneurs hate the church because everything is pretty prescribed, and honestly not very complex. So, we help them think through ministry in their world, but allow them to be the experts.“ By inviting the entrepreneur into these conversations, Austin Stone has launched 9 different non-profits and unleashed leaders into full engagement in the mission of making disciples.

This is a dream for the entrepreneur. It allows us to work within the time frame that our businesses allow instead of having to be at programs, church services, or church buildings. To be part of most churches, you have to be at the church building more often than a hipster wears a scarf. Most business owners don’t have time for that. When they don’t show up to those events, they are made to feel guilty and less than a Christian for not showing up to the latest greatest event.

As a church, flip that scenario and say, “the mission and vision is critical; figure out how to make disciples in the ways that God has given you.” Empower folks! Free up the implementation of your vision to liberate more gifts. This respects the uniqueness of everyone’s design. We have all been made differently, with different gifts, with different schedules, and different ideas.

Your Methods Are Too Safe

God is sovereign, right? Don’t be a chicken pastor. If we can all agree that it’s God’s mission, God’s power, and God’s resources, why wouldn’t we risk everything we’ve got? Entrepreneurs are willing to try whatever it takes and are rarely controlled by the fear of failure. They thrive on risk and “going for it.”

Entrepreneurs can see right through the leaders who are more afraid of man than God.  They can see the fear of failure. They never want to be part of something safe and want to push the envelope with mission. They want to be sent to the places considered unsafe to live in, work in, and do ministry in.

Last year as Soma leadership, we prayed for leaders to be sent to Seattle, San Francisco, and Phoenix. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but the more I heard about Phoenix and some of the “hard things” about it, I knew I was ready.

People were saying:

• Phoenix has a ton of gangs and drugs and horrid schools.
• Phoenix is spread out and is more like a suburban context, which is impossible to do missional community life in.
• Phoenix is hard for relationship building. Most people just stay inside and don’t want to get to know other people.

All I heard was, “Yadda yadda yadda…” My wife thought through the above and said, “if all these (and other excuses) are true, shouldn’t we be the first to move in and show others about our God who lives in community? “

Pastors, stop being safe with your people. Call them to take risks in making disciples. If it doesn’t work, who cares? You’ll learn something. If you’re following Jesus, you have nothing to lose. It’s not even really a risk. God is in control and he is good at it. If you enable entrepreneurs to take risks, others will follow. Your church will quickly see the joy in following Jesus with reckless abandonment.

Final Word to Pastors

Honestly, if you are reading this and you are a pastor, know this: entrepreneurs desire to be part of what the local church is doing. They’re just tired of you thinking too small and being too timid. Dreaming big. Leading strong. Take risks. Entrepreneurs will follow you.

This article isn’t a fix-it-all. However, pastor and business starters are on the wrong page. This is meant to be a shout to the pastor from the pew on why you have been frustrated with us and we (entrepreneurs) have been frustrated with you.

I don’t believe that we are always right, or that we are better than any other person in your flock. But, for too long, we’ve been shelved and treated as though our gifts are a hindrance to the church instead of actual gifts.

If you can start to lean into these four basic things…you’ll be surprised how much you’ll see the entrepreneur get behind you and desire to be part of what the church is doing.

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Seth McBee is the adopted son of God, husband of one wife, and father of three. He’s a graduate of Seattle Pacific University with a finance degree. By trade Seth is an Investment Portfolio Manager, serving as president of McBee Advisors, Inc as well as a missional community leader, preaching elder with Soma Communities in Renton, Washington, and executive team member of the GCM Collective. Twitter @sdmcbee.

Other article by Seth: Leading Joe Blow Into Mission, The Introverted Evangelist, and How Kids Learn to Follow Jesus.

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Also Read Proclaiming Jesus by Tony Merida.

The Story of Good Friday

In observance of Good Friday, our resident novelist, Ben Roberts, wrote a reading and response to the narrative of Jesus' sacrificial death. We pray it blesses you as you remember the gospel today.

The Last Supper

The sun sank over the olive groves in the west, and across Jerusalem the doorways were smeared with sacrificial blood. This was Passover, the culmination of high holy week, and though the city was ruled by Rome—occupied by soldiers under the command of procurator Pontius Pilate—families gathered to remember how Jehovah had liberated their ancestors.

When the table had been set and all of His followers had assembled, Jesus—who had been their Rabbi, their Lord—took a towel and a basin of water and washed the feet of his followers. They questioned this: it was a chore for a servant.

But, Jesus continued the task, saying, “You are right to call me Rabbi and Lord, but I tell you a servant is not greater than his master. A messenger is not greater than the one who sent him.”

Then the group took their places at the table, and as they passed the matzo, the unleavened bread, Jesus said, “One of you will betray me.”

His followers were horrified. It confirmed their fears. Hadn’t they heard rumors in Jerusalem? Weren’t the religious leaders conspiring in the temple? But, betrayal by a follower?—this was unthinkable.

Each questioned him, saying, “Not me, Rabbi. Tell me it’s not me.” Jesus looked at Judas, who had already received his blood money from the conspirators. He said, “Go. Buy what we need for the feast.” And, Judas went out into the night.

Then Jesus took the matzo and blessed it and broke it and gave it to each of his followers, saying, “This is my body, broken for you. Take it and eat.”

He took the Passover cup of new wine and gave thanks to Jehovah God and offered it to his followers, saying, “This is my blood—the blood of the covenant, which is shed in atonement for many, for the forgiveness of sins.”

His followers did as he instructed, and Jesus said, “I will not eat or drink with you again until we meet in my Father’s house. After I’m gone, you will have each other. Continue to offer this bread and this wine in remembrance of me. You must love one another just as I have loved you. By this simple act, the whole world will know you are my followers.”

Prayer

Jesus, unite us in fellowship. As we remember you, unite us in communion.By the power of your Holy Spirit. Jesus, blessed is your name on high. Your love for us is infinite. Jesus, let us love one another As we know you love us. To know this love, Jesus, To know the love of your Father, To know your Holy Spirit here among us now. This is eternal life. Hallelujah. Amen.

The Trial

Later that night, Jesus walked with his followers through the olive groves of the Kidron Valley. Many of them were worried, and Peter approached him to say, “Rabbi, I will stay with you through any difficulty.”

But, Jesus told him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you’ll deny me three times.”

They rested in a garden outside the temple walls. Jesus often came to this spot to pray, and this was where Judas led the mob. They found Jesus, surrounded by a group of drowsy followers who all fled when they saw the swords and clubs of the crowd. Only Jesus remained.

Judas approached him, saying, “Rabbi,” and kissed Jesus on the cheek.

Then the mob seized him and brought Jesus to the religious conspirators. They proceeded to accuse him without due process of the law. Jesus listened to the accusations but said nothing.

Caiaphas, the High Priest, asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed?”

Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven.”

Caiaphas tore his garments and screamed, “What further witnesses do we need? You have heard his blasphemy.”

At the first light of day, they hauled him to the Roman court. Pilate questioned Jesus and found him blameless, but the crowd chanted, “Crucify him. Crucify him.”

To avoid a riot, Pilate washed his hands of the business and sentenced Jesus to death.

Jesus’ trial is troubling from a legal stand point. Jewish law prohibited the opening of a trial at night. Jesus was assigned no defender. The allegation of blasphemy was not a capital offense, and trials for capital offenses required at least two days. From the standpoint of Roman law, Jesus was found innocent, and yet he was sentenced with the most extreme penalty of the law simply to keep the peace. In other words, these proceedings were not merely unjust—the trial was illegal. Worse still, Jesus was abandoned by his closest followers. Even Peter denied him three times, cursing and insisting that he didn’t know beloved teacher.

Prayer

Jesus, you were a laughing stock to people who did not know you. Jesus, you were outlawed from human company. You were accused like thief and murderer. Jesus, we have betrayed you to mockery, injustice, and disbelief. Jesus, we have belittled you. We have made much of ourselves. We cry out to you, Lord Jesus. You understand our suffering and sorrow. Give us strength to remain in you, even in our own final dreadful trial. Amen.

The Execution

Following Pilate’s orders, the Roman troops took Jesus into the praetorium, stripped him naked, and forced a crown of thorns onto his head. They beat him with a barbed whip, flaying the skin off his back. As he stood there bleeding and trembling in shock, the soldiers laughed, bowing and calling him your majesty.

Once they were bored with this sport, the soldiers forced Jesus to march through the city, dragging the cross on which they would execute him. He was weakened by the beating. So the soldiers forced a passerby to carry the cross. In this way, they went to a rock quarry east of the city, a place called Golgotha because it looked like a human skull. There the soldiers tied Jesus’ arms to the cross and drove long metal spikes between the two bones of his forearms. His feet they pinned together with a single metal spike through bones of his ankles. Then they lifted the cross into the air, dropping the base into a hole, and left him there to die.

Death by crucifixion is slow. The body gradually asphyxiates. In order to draw breath, Jesus had to lift himself by the nails piercing his arms and legs.

A crowd gathered to mock him, shouting, “You’re the Son of God. Come down off that cross.” The carrion birds circled overhead. Dogs waited beneath.

After several hours of agony, Jesus said, “It is finished,” and bowed his head and gave up his Spirit. The soldiers thrust a spear through his abdomen into his heart and lungs, and he was officially declared dead.

Prayer

Jesus, you are the image of the invisible God, The firstborn over all creation. For you, Jesus, all things were created, Things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, All things have been created through you and for you.

Jesus, you are before all things, And in you all things hold together. You are the head of the body, the church. You are the beginning, The firstborn from among the dead.

Jesus, God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in you. Through you we are reconciled. You made peace through your blood, shed on the cross. Jesus, in our sin, we were once your enemies. In your grace, we are now your brothers and sisters.

By your atonement alone we are holy in God’s sight. In you alone, we are without blemish, free from accusation. Lord let us continue in faith, established and firm, Lord Jesus, give us strength to remain forever In the hope of the gospel. Hallelujah. Amen.

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Ben Roberts (@Benstolemyname) is a follower of Christ & an editor at both Gospel Centered Discipleship & the speculative literary journal, Unstuck. A graduate of the Michener Center for Writers, he lives in Austin with his wife, Jessica and son, Solomon. They fellowship and worship at Austin City Life.

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Other free Easter resources from GCD: Journey to the Cross by Will Walker and Raised? by Jonathan Dodson. 

Roger Ebert, Non-Believers, and The Hope of Christ

Roger Ebert has been a powerhouse journalist for over 40 years. My generation may perhaps know him best as the co-host of the Emmy-nominated movie review show Siskel and Ebert at the Movies or the later version, Ebert and Roeper at the Movies which gave “two thumbs up” to movies that both critics recommended. He is also a highly acclaimed newspaper columnist, and the first film critic to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize or a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2007, Forbes named him the most powerful pundit in America. The lesser-known story of Roger Ebert is found in his Roman Catholic upbringing. Though the son of a non-practicing Lutheran, he was raised in a Catholic school and “dedicated” in the second grade. Even as a child, Ebert admittedly struggled with what he’d learned from the Church in relation to what he’d learned about the universe through science. In the end, “just have faith” wasn’t a persuasive enough answer.

In the last few years, he has written two interesting entries regarding his faith (or lack thereof) on his popular “journal” at the Chicago Sun-Times blog. Though he is only one man, I believe that his concerns are shared by those that we interact with on a daily basis. In light of this, it might be helpful to engage two major statements that Ebert has made, and explore how Christians might respond with biblical wisdom and love if presented (or personally battling) with similar concerns.

Working for Grace

Reflecting upon struggles with objective morality as a young man, Ebert writes:

We were drilled in memorizing entries from the Baltimore Catechism, which was a bore, but more interesting were the theoretical discussions about what qualified as a sin, what you have to do to get to Heaven, and “Sister, what would happen if…” Those words always introduced a hypothetical situation which led the unsuspecting Catholic perilously close to the fires of Hell.

Looking back, I realize religion class began the day with theoretical thinking and applied reasoning, and was excellent training. To think that you might sin by accident, and be damned before you could get to Confession in time! What if you had an impure thought at the top of Mt. Everest, and couldn’t get back down? We were exposed to the concepts of sins of omission, sins of commission, intentional sins and, the trickiest of all, unintentional sins. Think of it: A sin you didn’t intend to commit. But Sister, is it a sin if you didn’t know it was?

Catholics are often illustrated as a works-based religion, but how many of us remember hearing this functionally taught in Baptist, Methodist, and other Protestant churches? As a young teenager in a Southern Baptist church, I shared in Ebert’s ethical anxiety. Which sins might damn me forever, and how many apologies will compensate for my offense to God?

The non-believers that I encounter will often address Christianity in one of two basic ways. First, they will proclaim that God and his followers are hateful and narrow-minded, and that they don’t care to associate with someone like that. The other popular response is that the person is “good” enough not to need Christianity to experience a pleasant afterlife. One or both of the ideas can present a significant roadblock in sharing the gospel.

The common misconceptions about God’s wrath or man’s ability are clarified in the person and work of Christ. Paul rightly declares, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). John can say confidently that “God is love” (1 John 4:16) because he has proven it through Christ. Additionally, no one is righteous in God’s eyes (Rom. 3:10) and Christ’s mission was to remedy that through sacrificing himself on the cross with joy (Heb. 12:2). God’s grace is unending and unchanging, and available to those who will humbly receive it (James 1:21). This is a magnificent truth to share.

The Hesitant Atheist

Regarding the specifics of his current beliefs, Ebert concludes:

I consider myself Catholic, lock, stock and barrel, with this technical loophole: I cannot believe in God. I refuse to call myself a [sic] atheist however, because that indicates too great a certainty about the unknowable.

This statement is puzzling at first glance, but makes sense considering the way this age views spirituality. Believing in some sort of ethereal divine presence is not uncommon today. It is popular to say, “I don’t belong to any religion; I’m spiritual.” Ebert and others realize that there might be some form of deity or power beyond our comprehension, and this leads them to seek out a middle road between religious doctrine and complete denial of the supernatural.

We see this in Ecclesiastes 3:11: “God has put eternity into man’s heart.” When non-believers do the Ebert dance by claiming neither God nor atheism, they are working from an obscure awareness that there is something beyond what they can see. The veil is lifted when the human heart is flooded by the Holy Spirit and awakened to the truth (1 Cor. 2:12-13). What was once hazy and uncertain is now an unmistakable, radiant light. We can safely operate under the assumption that God is ready to ignite a flame in anyone that we come into contact with.

Building Bridges

The trouble with rebuttals from non-believers is that we as Christians are highly invested in our faith. And we rightly should be. It’s crucial, however, that we respond in love toward those who make claims against us. As we’ve discussed here, there is already a built-in hostility toward God due to sin, and we would do well not to amplify their opposition with our words.

Peter exhorts us to “give a reason” for our faith (1 Pet. 3:15). We are commissioned to stand boldly for the truth and not compromise our values, but boldness and hatefulness are not interchangeable. Non-believers are blinded by Satan (2 Cor. 4:4) and unreceptive to the things of God, but he leads people to repentance through his kindness (Rom. 2:4). Jesus laid his life down for us, and we must be willing to lay down our own pride for the sake of serving others.

Responding to critics or even genuine seekers is not easy, but we must press on. In Jesus’s first serious confrontation in Scripture (when he was accused of working on the Sabbath), he replied, “My Father is working until now, and I am working” (John 5:17). This fervor is what he expects from all of us.

May we take the gospel boldly to the uttermost ends of the earth, or to our neighbors across the street, armed with the love of Christ and power of the Spirit.

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This originally appeared at For Christ and Culture.

An Open Letter to My Politically Outspoken Facebook Friend

Dear Friend, I saw your post on Facebook today. And yesterday. And the day before yesterday. From what I can tell, you are pretty worked up about the bill that was just passed by the Senate. Furthermore, your frustration with the president’s signature on the bill was apparent. I get it. You don’t like laws that were just ratified in our country. I can’t say I’m a great fan of them myself. However, I’ve noticed a trend with your posts that has me a bit concerned. In all honesty, we need to talk about politics and our faith. We need to talk about how we treat others. We need to talk about the gospel’s relationship to these things. Of course, we are having the conversation face-to-face as soon as I finish typing this email, but I wanted to at least write down my concerns (for myself) before we meet to talk about the issues.

My Passive Sin

Let me take the “log” out of my own eye first. I know I don’t seem to care too much about the political atmosphere in our country. My own passivity on political matters is a sin to you because you see so much injustice and wrong being done by our government. I don’t act as I should act. My absence from the voting precincts for the primaries and general elections is apparent. I understand the argument “if you don’t vote you can’t complain,” and that reasoning is, to a degree, accurate. We have been given a great gift to be able to, through our votes, speak our minds about candidates and issues that are brought before us as a city, county, state, and nation to decide. My lack of involvement demonstrates that I do not care for legitimate means of stating my position on issues that I should care about. Education, health care, immigration, abortion and the like are gospel issues. My lack of caring for who is speaking and working to legislate those ideas demonstrates a lack of concern for the impact of the gospel on those we live around. In some ways I am showing that I don’t love my neighbor. I am disobeying the Word of God by not seeking the welfare of the city I have been sent to live in (see Jeremiah 29:7).

Furthermore, my passivity has caused me to be judgmental about those who are rightly and actively involved in talking and advocating certain political positions. I have been judgmental in my thinking towards you, and for that I am in sin. I have believed certain things about you that I have no power to discern, because I can’t know or see your heart. I have believed that, because you are interested in politics you must love your country more than you love God. I’ve believed that your first allegiance is to the U.S.A. and not to the Kingdom of God. Furthermore, I’ve believed that you only care about your prosperity, your comfort, your interests and if others aren’t as responsible and hard working as you then they can just suffer their own stupidity. I’ve demonized you in my mind because of the political stances you’ve expressed in your Facebook posts. Let’s be honest, I’ve wronged you by placing myself on a pedestal to look down upon you because you speak up about political issues. For this I am wrong and need to be reconciled to you. Please forgive me.

I need to be reminded of the gospel in this area. Christ has come and lived as the perfect righteous King over all kings. He has taken all the sins of political passivity and all the sins of political activity and died for them so that we might live under his perfect and gracious reign now and forever. I need to be reminded that his resurrection is the resurrection into Lordship and that the Father has given him the name above every name. All glory, honor, and power are his because of his life, death, and resurrection. I need to be reminded of this truth: Jesus as the King is good news for the world. I need to believe who Jesus is and submit to him as my King. My activity in working for the welfare of my neighbor, city and country, even through our political system, should be evidence of my devotion to Christ as my Lord. However, I am not believing the gospel changes things. I am not believing he can bring change through the God-ordained and appointed governments and our political system. My passivity demonstrates that I don’t trust the King who uses means like government to renew and recreate all things into his glorious image. By my passivity and judgmentalism of those who are active, I show that I don’t believe that the government is “God’s servant for your good” (Romans 13:4).

Dishonoring Authority

In sharing my failure with you, I now hope we can help each other through our sins. You see, I struggle with the way you talk about our government and particularly our governors on Facebook. I’ve seen the posts you’ve shared about how ignorant you believe our president is. Your rants about government control and abuse concern me by the tone they take and the frequency with which you post them. You aren’t the only one who does this. I see it from so many professing Christians that it deeply bothers me about what is being believed about politics in the church. Why did you post the story about wishing harm would come to our president? Why do you call him names or refuse to use the title that he has rightfully earned, “President?” Whether you agree with him or not, he has been placed in this position of power by God. Paul reminds us in Romans 13 that “there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God” and that our president is “God’s servant.” Those are incredible words. God has, by his sovereign design and purpose, placed the government and the president in place to accomplish his will. God's will is not thwarted by our president's views or mistakes. God chose our president. God is using our president.

Furthermore, it is sin when you disrespect him and fail to show him honor as Scripture commands. Peter tells us to “honor the emperor,” and I fail to see how you honor him. I know that our president does not see your Facebook posts, but your friends and family do. You are teaching non-Christians that the gospel allows us, when we don’t like something, to vilify and demonize someone else. You are displaying to the church that it’s okay to mock, disparage, and demonize God-ordained authority just because you disagree with them. How would that go over in the church if you disagreed with our pastors and treated them the same way you treat our governing authorities?

Where does submission to the governing authorities demonstrate itself in your life? I know we are Americans and it is in our cultural DNA to say “We serve no sovereign here!” But the gospel gives a deeper and better DNA. No, submission doesn’t mean turning off our minds and doing whatever we’re told. Submission means intelligently honoring, respecting, and obeying the authority over us. The Scriptures never tell us to overthrow government. Instead it tells us that God is the ruling one over all governments and that by submitting to the God-given authority we are submitting to his rulership. I don’t know if you are aware of the political cultures of Jesus’ day but his government was anything but righteous. The same emperor that Peter tells the Christians of his day to honor, Nero, saw fit to persecute and kill those Christians. Yet the Scripture stands. Paul’s submission demonstrated itself by laying down his “rights” and being imprisoned, even for righteousness sake. Jesus himself didn’t disrespect any governor or authority he stood before, even though they were about to crucify him. As believers in the gospel we are Biblically called to submit to our government, it’s laws, and leaders.

I don’t want to stop at challenging your surface behavior on Facebook. I am concerned about your heart. I am worried that you are not believing the gospel, just as I struggle to believe it. Remember the gospel tells us that Jesus submitted to the will of his Father, and this submission cost him his life. However, he died so that we could be forgiven for our lack of submission to our authorities. He submitted to enable and empower us, by the Spirit, to submit to those God has placed over us. This includes the governing authorities under which we live. Furthermore, Christ has been raised to live again to be King over all kings. We don’t just submit to the government as the end. Our ultimate submission is to Christ the King. By honoring the leaders God has placed over us, we uplift the value and dignity of all people made in the image of God, whether kings or commoners. We show the church that Christ is our King and that we care about his Kingdom here on this earth.

Active Submission to Authority

I know what you are asking at this point: “What does someone who is both politically active and submissive look like?” I think the way forward is reflected in our deeds more than our words. We need to be people who do the right things, in the right ways, at the right time. For instance we need to vote, write our congressional leaders, and be involved in the processes that have been set up for us to disagree. If you don’t like the law that has been enacted don’t petition all your friends on Facebook to join your cause. Write and speak to your representatives. If you do not find the president’s position on an issue in alignment with yours, you have the right to disagree, but do not disagree in such a way to slander, malign, or demonstrate hatred towards God-given authority. Submission doesn’t break the law of the land, nor does it violate the Law of God. In that vein I’m not sure that using Facebook to express your viewpoints politically is the right place. Short attempts to express a position often go mistaken and misunderstood. Furthermore, passing along meme’s to demonstrate your position aren’t humble or submissive. They are billboards of disrespect and dishonor. Submissive activity in politics will often go unnoticed by the general public, but if you use the right means to achieve the right end, God will be glorified and the emperor will be honored. You’d do well to read about William Wilberforce and his submissive political activity against the slave trade in Britain in the 19th century. He and his friends are fantastic examples for us to follow.

I know these are difficult words, but we need to remember the gospel even in politics and social media. Maybe the change that we both need starts with something we’ve both failed to do. We’ve both failed to pray for “kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quite life, godly and dignified in every way” (1 Timothy 2:2). Let’s start by repenting of our sins together and then praying for our leaders and the governing authorities. I believe the Holy Spirit will be pleased to transform our insufficient views of the government and each other as we humbly pray together for these leaders that God has put over us. I love you and want to see us both be more submissive to Christ so that we will grow more and more to be like Christ even if we struggle with our politics.

In Christ,

Jeremy

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

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A great book on the impact of forgetting the gospel: Gospel Amnesia by Luma Simms.

Related free articles: What is Missional Culture? by JR Woodward and The Call to Discipleship by Tim Keller

8 Tips for Short-Term Mission Trips

Mark Hampton is currently a student at Criswell College pursuing a B.A. in Biblical Studies. He also works as an intern at Metrocrest Community Church in Coppell, TX where he plays a role in music, media, and missions. Last June, he returned from a six-month mission trip to India and will be returning this summer to work with pastors in rural environments. Follow him on Twitter: @markismoving. ___

As summer approaches, churches across the nation prepare to send out teams for their summer mission trips. Those who are going on trips typically go through some type of training, but as flawed individuals, it’s more than easy to make some mistakes. Some are only minor and will lead to a good laugh and a great story to bring home; however, there are others that can have more collateral damage than meets the eye, and could prevent the work we do as missionaries from being effective.

Here is my list of eight important things that I have learned from doing mission work and I hope that it helps all of us going on trips this summer to have a greater impact, realistic mindset, and do the least damage to others and ourselves.

1. Serve Incarnationally

One of the foremost things to remember when going on mission is that you are there to serve. Whether you are evangelizing, teaching, or building a house, it will mean more to someone if it comes from a servant’s heart. Keep in mind the attitude of Christ who “came not to be served but to serve” (Matt. 20:28). Also, be incarnational when you do so. By incarnational, I mean that we should strive to be as much like those we are serving. As Paul wrote, “I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some” (1 Cor. 9:22b). Embrace your host culture in every way that you can; eat they eat, wear what they wear, do what they do. This is what Christ did to come in the flesh and take “the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (Phil 2:7). Trust me, you’ll do more to reach people from a different culture if you can empathize with them, rather than trying to maintain your American identity.

2. You Don’t Have to Be ‘Called’

That’s right! So, if you happen to be waiting for a great sign from God for you to go on mission you can quit waiting. You don’t have to be called because you have already been commissioned (Matt. 28-18-20; John 20:21; Acts 1:8). As a new creation in Christ, you have the authority to go and proclaim the Gospel to all nations (2 Cor. 5:17-19). You can go and serve out of obedience to Christ’s commands without having received some specific "call.". As a disclaimer, prayerfully consider what God would have you do though. There may be a specific reason He does not want you to go and you should concede to stay home. On the other hand, God may specifically call you to go somewhere and likewise, you should obey what God has put on your heart.

3. Support the Stayers

Most of us who go on summer trips aren’t going to pack up and move there. However, we will probably be working with someone who has committed to a specific area or people group for a long amount of time. Keep in mind that they have more experience in the area and that they will build relationships with people that will extend outside of a 1-2 week period. Often, encouraging and serving them is as vital a part of missions as working with the unreached. Your support can help them press on in difficult working conditions. Cleaning their house, watching their kids, or any other behind the scenes work can help them be better servants to those you are collectively trying to reach. Try to build into the ministry they have to help create something long term, rather than just performing hit and run ministry.

4. Don’t Build Things That Won’t Last

This is probably one of the easiest and most dangerous things that we can do on mission trips, and I must admit that I am guilty of it. This most often happens with the relationships we form, especially with children. In missions where you work with children, they are probably the less fortunate. They have probably been abandoned or experienced some type of loss before, and they do not need to form a bond with someone who is going to leave them never to be seen again. Now, I’m not saying to avoid children when you go on mission, but bear in mind that you do have a flight home. Don’t make promises you can’t keep, but rather, try to lead the people you work with into better relationships with those who are there for the long haul.

5. Embrace the Awkward

Get out of your comfort zone and practice doing so! Seek out a community that is different from your own somewhere near where you live. Take a team member and go visit them and talk with them. Sure, it’s not going to feel natural, but if you go with a genuine interest to get to know the people you may be surprised how quickly the walls can come down and how quickly relationships can begin to form.

6. Have a Stay-at-Home Mission Partner

Remember, not everyone you come home to has had some awesome experience over the past few weeks. Realize that life has carried on as normal for them and that they won’t have the same enthusiasm as you do when you come home. Get a close friend (preferably someone who has been on a mission trip before) to be there to talk about everything you did, hear all of your stories, and look at the 3,000 pictures you took. Have this person praying for you every day from the moment you know you’re going to the day you come home. Try to send them a postcard if you can and bring them home a small gift. When you tell them of everything God did they will know that they were also a part of what took place.

7. Manage Your Expectations

The key word here is YOUR. By YOUR, I mean YOUR expectations about YOURself. God will be God, and He will do amazing things, but you are not God. There are going to be times when you are worn out, spiritually exhausted, tired of the living conditions or the food, and are frustrated. I recommend memorizing a specific Psalm you can say to yourself when these moments occur. It’s also important to keep your expectations realistic for when you come home. It’s easy to come home with the “Mission High”, and again, I’m guilty of doing so. We think we’ll be completely different when we come home, but it just doesn’t last. God works on us over time. Yes, going on a mission trip can fundamentally change you, but understand that there may be more subtle things that have changed about you as a result that may take a while before you see what they are.

8. Pray for the Ridiculous

Surround your mission trip in prayer! Enlist others to pray, as many as you can, and don’t be afraid to pray for God to do things that seem absurd. Our biggest vulnerabilities can turn into God’s greatest victories if we are obedient and trust in Him to do the work. Pray for your time on mission from every angle possible and don’t let one detail escape being prayed for. Invite the Holy Spirit into every facet of the task at hand and pray constantly before, during, and after your trip.

I hope and pray that this list will challenge, encourage, and inspire those who are going on mission trips this summer. Certainly, this does not cover everything that could be said about missions. This list merely comprises what have been some of my greatest (and hardest) lessons that I have had to learn both on and off the mission field. Remember, that in our weakness God’s strength is perfect (2 Cor. 12:9), and because of that promise we can take hope in what God will do through us to reach the lost and hurting of this world. Therefore, be bold! Go and serve and you will see what amazing ways God can use His people!

Can Marriage and Mission Mix?

“I can’t wait to be done with college; then life will slow down.” Over the last decade of working with college students, that’s one my favorite recurring comments. Every time I hear it I chuckle under my breath, trying to resist outright laughing. You likely know as well as I do: life never seems to slow down! Most of us find ourselves stressed, stretched, and spinning out of control. We can’t even seem to find time for a hobby, or to keep ourselves in shape – or if we’re married, at times even the time to connect deeply with our spouse! Add kids to the mix, with their added busyness, and the craziness increases exponentially! That seems to be the reality of today’s culture.

But there’s a greater reality, which has applied to every culture in which Christians have lived: God sends us into that culture, despite our busyness, as a “minister of reconciliation” (2Cor 5:18), to “seek its welfare” (Jer 29:7) and to “make disciples” (Matt 28:20). That call and command rests on all of us, no matter how busy, but the question for this article looks specifically at married people: how can God use my marriage for his mission?

DIVERGING STREAMS?

Many married people reading this are well versed in two streams of Christian thought: the first stream is that we are God’s people sent into God’s world to carry out God’s mission. From Abraham on, God sends his people into the world – not to be enveloped by the world, but to live – as St. Augustine put it – as the “city of God,” living among the “city of Man” and seeking its good. The other stream is that marriage is the best reflection of the Trinity, and of God’s love for and pursuit of his Bride. Orthodox theology for the past 2000 years has affirmed Paul’s words in Ephesians 5, that the blessed relationship between a husband and wife is the clearest picture of “the mystery” of “Christ and his church.” We’ve heard both those streams; we know both principles; we even believe and strive to live out those truths.

The problem is that we often hear, know, believe, and live those streams separately from each other, while God designed them to be one strong, flowing, unified river. We try to live as missionaries and as couples as two distinct compartments of life. As Paul Tripp has said: “But they’re not naturally divided. That’s why you don’t have a huge discussion in the New Testament of the tension between ministry and family. It’s just not there. We have set that up, because we naturally look at these two things as separate dimensions.” Here’s the truth for every Christian couple: marriage is the clearest picture of the gospel in the world today, and your marriage is one of the best forms of evangelism in the world today. We can no longer keep our marriage and our mission in separate, parallel streams – they must unite.

How can God use our marriage for his mission? We can learn much from the Bible’s brief glimpses of one couple, Aquila and Priscilla, in Acts 18.

After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them, and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade. -Acts 18:1-3

GOD’S MISSION THROUGH YOUR IDENTITY

Aquila and Priscilla were not pastors and they didn’t have seminary degrees. They made tents for a living, working a culturally-normative profession. Yet they saw themselves as ministers of the gospel by opening their lives to Paul. We see at the end of 1 Corinthians that they hosted the local church in their home. Later in Acts 18 they go with Paul on mission for the gospel. In some circles today, Christians refer to “tent-making” as the honorable use of a “secular” job for ministry. For this couple, tent-making carried no great honor; it was simply their job, and a means of God’s provisions, as they lived their lives for the gospel! They were a married couple with a normal life, who used their marriage and life for God’s ministry. Whoever you are, and regardless of your job, city, or profession – or marital status! – you are a minister of the gospel!

The God who saved you “by grace through faith” now has “good works, prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Eph 2:8-10). “God… through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Cor 5:18). If you're married, you're probably busy. Whether you’re paid by a church or by Starbucks, FedEx, an ISD, or the government, and whether we’ve been married one week or 50 years, and whether you have 10 kids running around the home or are empty-nesters, and whether you deal with the normal messiness of life or struggle with deeper issues, you’re still (primarily) God’s people sent on God’s mission to God’s world. That’s your identity in Christ: you’re a minister of his gospel.

GOD’S MISSION THROUGH YOUR HOSPITALITY

As part of Aquila and Priscilla’s gospel ministry, they opened their home to the Apostle Paul. He didn’t just crash on their couch for a few nights but moved in with them. Their home was also the meeting place for the local church. If you look at the normative life of the early church in Acts 2, you know that folks didn’t just wander into their home at 10am on a Sunday, stay for an hour, then go to Chili’s. Instead, “day by day, [they attended] the temple together and [broke] bread in their homes” (Acts 2,). They were likely in Aquila and Priscilla’s home a lot.

There’s an old episode of Everybody Loves Raymond in which Ray’s parents purchase a new couch, and won’t remove the plastic wrap for fear of getting it dirty – that’s a great picture of how many of us view our homes. Today we often view our homes as a “refuge” or “retreat” from the difficult world “out there.” That thinking misses part of the point: our homes, like everything God gives us, are gifts to steward for the sake of God's mission! Aquila and Priscilla had a home, and used that home as a generous blessing to others.

Aquila and Priscilla lived as God’s ministers, and in doing so, they used their home as a ministry. In the familial mess of opening your home, doors open for deep conversations. In denying the comfort and convenience a home can provide, others are blessed and cared for.

GOD’S MISSION THROUGH YOUR DECISIONS

Put yourself in Aquila and Priscilla’s shoes: you’re new to town, and you're only there because you got kicked out of your last town. If the local church needs a place to meet, would you volunteer your home? Paul shows up and asks to live with you. While your first impression today might be excitement: “The most famous Christian in the world, the guy who wrote two-thirds of the New Testament, the greatest missionary of all time, wants to live with ME?!” We must see the other side too: Paul was also one of the most persecuted, “most wanted,” most despised persons of his day. “Inviting him in” was a massive danger to yourself!

When we think of “hospitality,” we often mistake it for what the Bible calls “fellowship.” At times it’s easy–or at least, easier–to open your home to other followers of Jesus. But true, biblical hospitality is opening your home to strangers, caring for the hurting and the “least.” Biblical hospitality means blessing folks who could never bless you back. Hospitality is initiating with others and loving people because God first initiated and loved us.

The rubber meets the road in marriage and ministry through the decisions you make each day. Those decisions display what you and your spouse value, love, pursue, and fear. Your decisions display what you and your spouse worship. And those you’re ministering to will watch your marriage and learn from it. How you use your home as a couple is one of those daily decisions.

The Fears We Have

What are our biggest fears with using our marriages for mission? That we’ll be unsafe? That we won’t be successful? That our child will experience a tragedy or they won’t have the best opportunity to succeed themselves? None of these fears are inherently evil, but if they become a greater fear than “the fear of the LORD,” which “is the beginning of knowledge” (Prov 1:7), they have become evil. If they become the primary motivation behind our marital and familial decisions, above obedience to God, then we are listening to our culture over our God. In the decisions we make, we must discern whether we’re placing our hope in God or something else. Are we trusting a certain neighborhood for safety more than God? Are we placing hope in a certain job to provide better than God?

Here’s the point: in Romans 16:3, Paul literally says, “Priscilla and Aquila risked their necks for my life.” Why would they do that? This couple valued God’s mission and ministry over any cultural norm, distraction, or idol. There would be no other reason to risk their lives except that their values and goals were different than those of the world around them. Throughout Jesus’ own ministry, he called people to fight against their inward-focused, selfish, consumerist lives. He called them to battle the natural currents of culture and to fight Satan’s subtle temptations to convince you – among other things – that following God is too risky.

GOD’S MISSION THROUGH YOUR STEWARDSHIP

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:9: “if in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.” If Jesus hadn’t risen, and there’s no hope for the future, then we should be more pitied than anyone in the world! The reason our lives should invite pity from people who don’t know Jesus is that our lives should look so strange, illogical, and even crazy. People should think we’ve lost our minds! Is that true of the decisions you and your spouse make? What values and priorities do your neighbors see in your marriage? What goals and pursuits does the world around you see in your life?

If God is using our marriages for his mission, it looks completely illogical. For example you might be able to afford the best private school in town, yet send your kids to the less-esteemed, local public one because your family places obedience in mission above an educational reputation. It makes no sense to deny a higher paying job, for one with better hours – but you pursue mission by dwelling with your family and mission field longer. Might we give up a club, hobby, organization, Xbox, or even one of our many Bible Studies, to free up time, money, and energy for those God sent us to? Might we even “cold-call” our neighbors and invite them over for dinner? Would we let them see our imperfections, and bless them without expecting a return? This is the call to display the weird life of gospel implications in marriage.

The key to each of these– living as a minister, opening your home and marriage, and living a counter-cultural lifestyle – is seeing yourself as a steward of your life, possessions, and even family, rather than an owner. Here’s what Aquila and Priscilla understood: everything we have is a gift from God. Everything we have is his; everything is given to us to use and cultivate and use on his behalf. We are the servants in Matthew 25, and one day our Master will look at all he entrusted us with. Will our master be pleased or disappointed in our stewardship?

GOD’S MISSION THROUGH YOUR PROCLAMATION

Our marriages, like everything else God gives us, are gifts from God to steward well for his purposes. Do we take his gift and make it about ourselves? Do we trade his purpose and mission for our selfishness and safety? Do we take marriage – the best display of the gospel to the world – and hide it away rather than using it to proclaim the glory, grace, and goodness of God? Aquila and Priscilla were so sold out on God’s mission that they later moved to Ephesus with Paul. They stayed there when Paul continued on, and as a “husband-wife team,” directed their ministry into a young convert named Apollos.

After this, Paul stayed many days longer and then took leave of the brothers and set sail for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila… And they came to Ephesus, and he left them there, but he himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. When they asked him to stay for a longer period, he declined. But on taking leave of them he said, “I will return to you if God wills,” and he set sail from Ephesus… Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. -Acts 18:18-26

The scriptures that speak to this point in history show that that, as a couple, Aquila and Priscilla “discipled” this young man for a season just as they had opened their lives to Paul and the church at Corinth. And like Paul, God used Apollos to produce great fruit and bring himself great glory through the known world.

A CONVERGENCE FOR SAKE OF THE GOSPEL

By their actions, decisions, lifestyle, and their words, Aquila and Priscilla were a couple who proclaimed the gospel. What your city be like if it was filled with couples devoting their lives and marriages to helping others understand the good news of Jesus? What would your church be like if it was filled with families who opened their homes to literal life-on-life discipleship? What would it look like to see our marriages as gifts from God, for the sake of his mission, rather than our own selfish desires?

It is difficult! It battles everything in us that wants comfort, convenience, privacy, and silence. If we deny ourselves for his mission, we should be pitied if Jesus didn’t raise from the dead. But he did! In doing so, he transforms both our marriages and our mission; he gives us the only reason for living this way; he becomes the only reason for “intentionally illogical” decisions. In Jesus’ death, resurrection, and call on our lives, his mission and our marriages converge into a story that’s bigger than our own – the writing of which took a greater sacrifice than we’ll ever be asked to give.

In our marriages, we have the opportunity to put that story on display every day. Will we continue to live as married people, who separately, occasionally in our busyness, pursue ministry? Or will the gospel transform our time, priorities, and relationship, and unite those diverging streams into one, as we live out our new identity and God’s mission through our marriages?

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Special thanks to Ross Appleton for the foundational concept this article is built on.

Ben Connelly lives in Fort Worth with his wife and daughters. He started The City Church in 2010 and lives on mission by teaching public speaking at TCU. Ben sits on the board of a few city-focused organizations, trains occasionally across the country, and writes in spurts at benconnelly.net. Twitter: @connellyben

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Read more about the implications of the resurrection in the free e-book Raised? by Jonathan Dodson and Brad Watson. 

Living the Resurrection?

This is an excerpt of the book Raised? Doubting the Resurrection. Get the entire e-book for free at www.raisedbook.com. --

Once we make our way through doubt, come to understand the gospel story and saving faith in the risen Christ, these questions arise: How do we practice the resurrection? What difference does it make in you and me? How do we live this new, or raised, life?

The last lines of Matthew’s Gospel belong to Jesus himself. Believers in the resurrection cherish them because the final words of their Savior explain how to live the resurrected life. After his resurrection, and just before his ascension to the Father, Jesus tells his disciples how to be fruitful and multiply with their new, abundant life. He describes a life characterized by a new authority, a new identity, and a new mission.

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. - Matthew 28:16-20

A New Authority: Follow Me

Jesus has all authority on heaven and earth. His authority eclipses the kings of Israel and the leaders of nations. All other kings die; Jesus vanquished death. All rulers are made, but all things were made by and for Jesus. His rule extends beyond the earth into the heavens, where he deposes powers and will bring all who are in opposition to surrender, establishing never-ending peace. Paul poetically describes his lordship:

[Jesus] is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. - Colossians 1:15-20

In short, the risen Jesus has all the authority in the universe. Christ is profoundly great and good. He deserves our worship and obedience. Those who possess resurrected life joyfully acknowledge that Jesus is in charge and follow him. We listen to what he says, by reading his teachings, and we follow what he says, by lining our lives up with his teaching. A disciple learns to submit to Jesus in every facet of life. From waking up to going to bed, everything falls under his authority. Short-term plans and long-term investments are decided by his instruction. Living the resurrected life means placing yourself under Christ’s rule. He is in charge and he is good at it. So know this—Jesus is no tyrant. He does not abuse his power. Rather, he is a loving and serving master. He is the master who washes his disciples feet. He is the king who lays down his life for his friends and, yes, even for those who doubt him. You are not cheated. You can run the cost-benefit analysis a million times, but it always comes out the same. The cost of submitting to Jesus pales in comparison to the rich relationship and future you have in Christ.

Four Ways to Follow Jesus

• In Community. Following Jesus is communal. You need others and they need you. You share in struggle and daily remind each other of the abundant life and precious savior you have in common. Christians gather on Sunday to sing not only to God but each other: “Jesus rose from the dead!”

• In Prayer. Have you ever wondered why Christians pray? They pray because they know how dependent they are on God. Prayer is an invitation to know God and join his grace agenda for our lives.

• In Repentance & Faith. Repentance and faith are integral to the Christian life. Repentance is not feeling sorry to get on God’s good side. It is turning from the fleeting promises of sin to the superior promises of the Savior. It is seeing that, by grace, we are already on God’s good side and nothing else can compare to him.

• In the Story. Despite its age and apparent obscurity, the Bible is the story and inspired texts of God. It teaches us how to follow Jesus. We read it not to learn about extinct cultures, but to know and follow our Savior who was raised.

New Identity: In Christ

Resurrection life is nothing short of an entirely new identity. An identity is formed by what defines you. In American culture, your sexual orientation, your political party, your race, your religion, or your home state may define you. You can find identity in your occupation, your alma mater, your hobbies, and even your clothes. You can locate your identity by filling in the blank with “I am ____” statements.

• I am an accountant
• I am a Buddhist
• I am an alcoholic
• I am a vegetarian
• I am a Longhorn
• I am a skater
• I am white
• I am a democrat
• I am gay
• I am beautiful
• I am a hipster
• I am a disciple
• I am a Christian

Sometimes our identities are a composite. However, there some are typically stronger than others. How do you know which is strongest? Think about the one you just couldn’t live without. If you can’t imagine life living without it, you may have found your deepest identity. Each identity has a hidden mantra that goes something like: I am what I eat, who I sleep with, how I make money, what I wear, what I look like, or where I came from. Others are defined by their addictions and failures.

The interesting thing about many identities is that they come from what we do. The resurrected life is different. Instead of being named by the things we have done, we are named “in the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” We no longer have to be defined by our rise and fall in success and failure. Instead, our identity is defined by God’s utter success over our sinful failures and his gift of new life. We have a new identity. The New Testament describes our newfound identity in various ways:

• Child of God
• Friend of God
• Servant
• Sent one or missionary
• Disciple
• Blessed
• New Creation
• Saint (Holy One)

This list only scratches the surface of our new identity in Christ. This is God’s grace in the resurrected life. We don’t deserve these wonderful identities. Yet, Christ’s work is to give them to us. They all spring from grace—what he has done for us, not what we have done for him. He is Father to the child, Friend to the friend, Master to the servant, Ultimate Missionary to the sent one, Savior to the disciple, Resurrection to the new creation, Holy to the saint.

Empowered by the Presence of God

Jesus’ final words make it clear; we will not be abandoned: “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” The resurrected Jesus is not in a distant universe or looking down from the clouds to see how well we are doing. He is with us and will be forever. The resurrected life is a continually restored relationship with God. We will not be exiled. We will not be alone. This is the ultimate benefit of following Jesus: Jesus himself. We can enjoy him daily. Like Adam and Eve before their rebellion, we can always walk the garden with God.

The promise of God’s presence isn’t a fleeting greeting on the inside of hallmark card. It is real comfort and power. As Jesus was preparing his disciples, he told them he would send them the Holy Spirit. In the Bible, the Book of Acts tells the story of how the Holy Spirit empowers normal disciples to follow Jesus. We see the Spirit empower ordinary people like you and me to speak the gospel boldly, obey Jesus commands, heal the sick, make disciples, give generously, and care for the poor. The Holy Spirit is the power of the resurrection for Jesus and for us: “And the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you” (Romans 8:11). The power of the resurrection is in us through the Spirit!

Now, we could easily read this think, “Okay, let’s get to work...maybe I can do this.” But if you set off in your own resolve, you will fall flat. I do. When Im not living out of resurrection power (depending on the Spirit through prayer), I end up relying on emotional power. If I feel good that day, I’ll attempt to live out of my new identity and follow Jesus. If I don’t feel good, I’ll struggle to follow him. Either way, I miss the vibrancy of the Spirit. I quickly tire out, snap at others, or silently take credit for good things. I amass self-righteousness through self-dependence. However, when I begin the day with utter dependence upon the Spirit, drawing near to God in prayer, asking for his power and guidance throughout the day, it changes things entirely. Instead of tiring out, I’m filled up. Instead of snapping at others, I find a hesitating nudge from the Spirit to love and forbear. Instead of taking credit, I’m quick to give glory to God. The Holy Spirit enables you to live the resurrected life. He bears the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, and self-control, even in difficult circumstances. You don’t have to muster up the strength to follow Jesus. Instead, you get to rely on the strength of the Holy Spirit.

New Mission: Make Disciples 

Matthew 28:18-20 is what Christians call the Great Commission, the dominant marching orders for all who have faith in Christ. It can sound a bit militant: “Take God’s authority and make disciples.” But remember, these orders are from the one who lays down his life. Ironically, our orders are to invite through imitation. The mission is to make disciples through our words and actions. Or, as Jesus said, “teach and obey.” In fact, it is when we experience the riches of renewal through Christ that we become, as Eugene Peterson says, “God’s advertisement to the world.” We make disciples by living resurrected lives and telling people about the resurrected Christ.

There’s not a hint of coercion here. It’s a life of love. Jesus wants us to spread the gospel throughout the world by spending our lives intentionally with others. Resurrection doesn’t stop with us but travels through us. The commission is to invite. We get to invite others to join his redemptive agenda for human flourishing and the remaking of the world. We are sent to share the good news that Jesus has defeated sin, death, and evil through his own death and resurrection and is making all things new, even us. Jesus calls his followers to participate in his work of renewing the world.

Distinctive Discipleship

Part of what makes this command great is its scope—all nations. When Jesus spoke these words, he was orienting a primarily Jewish audience to a distinctly multi-ethnic mission. We get the word, “ethnic” from the Greek word for nations, which doesn’t refer to modernist geo-political states, but to non-Jewish ethnic groups (Gentiles). The commission is not calling disciples’ to Christianize nation-states, but to share the good news of what Jesus has done with all ethnic groups. Christ does not advocate Christendom, a top-down political Christianity. Instead, he calls his followers to transmit a bottom-up, indigenous Christianity, to all peoples in all cultures. The command is to make disciples of all nations not from all nations. So, we aren’t meant to exchange our rich culture for a cheap, consumer, Christian knock-off culture. Andrew Walls puts it well:

Conversion to Christ does not produce a bland universal citizenship: it produces distinctive discipleship, as diverse and variegated as human life itself. Christ in redeeming humanity brings, by the process of discipleship, all the richness of humanity’s infinitude of cultures and subcultures into the variegated splendor of the Full Grown Humanity to which the apostolic literature points Eph 4.8-13.

What we should strive for is distinctive discipleship, discipleship that uniquely expresses personal faith in our cultural context. Disciples in urban Manhattan will look different than disciples in rural Maehongson. These differences allow for a flourishing of the gospel that contributes to the many-splendored new humanity of Christ. Simply put, the message of Jesus is for the flourishing of all humanity in all cultures.

The Call of Resurrection

Jesus tells those who follow to leave all they have behind, to give their lives to the poor, to love their enemies, and be a blessing to the world. The resurrection enables us to follow Jesus. In this we risk for the sake of humanity and out of belief in the gospel. We do not hold back because we live with the certainty that death and sin have been defeated. His death and resurrection has become our death and resurrection. We have a new authority, identity, and mission.

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This is an excerpt of the book Raised? Doubting the Resurrection. Get this eBook for free at www.raisedbook.com.

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

Brad Watson serves as a pastor of Bread&Wine Communities in Portland, Oregon. He is also the director of GospelCenteredDiscipleship.com. His greatest passion is to encourage and equip leaders for the mission of making disciples. 

Raised? Doubting the Resurrection

We wrote this book out of our love for skeptics and respect for the questions they help us ask. We also write as believers who oscillate in real belief in the resurrected Christ. We hope it proves to be an insightful, stirring reflection on the resurrection. 

We are giving this book away in the hope that churches will make the eBook or hardcopy available to their people, especially to all their visitors on Easter. We are praying God would use it to spark gospel conversations, equip believers, and help people meet the risen Jesus.

Download artwork, slides, and the book at: www.raisedbook.com

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One in five Americans don’t believe in a deity. The “none” category in religious polls has doubled over the past ten years. Less than half of the population attends religious services on a regular basis. As statistics rise on the decline of Christian faith in America, you may find yourself wondering if Christianity is really worth believing? After all, the Christian faith makes some audacious claims.

Audacious Claims of the Gospel

Some of the most audacious claims are made right at the center of the Christian faith—in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Though some particulars may vary, the gospel is something all Christians agree on: “that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). Now, there are some big assumptions made in this verse: that we sin; that Christ was strong enough to deal with sin, and that he was stronger than death—he was raised from the dead!

If this is all true, Jesus calls us to respond by faith in him to receive forgiveness of sin and the gift of eternal life (John 3:16; Romans 6:23). Here we have four big concepts—sin, faith, Christ, and eternal life. Followers of Christ have, at times, communicated these concepts terribly. As a result, there is a general misunderstanding, even among some Christians, as to what these terms mean. For instance, eternal life (or resurrection life) is often mistaken as an escape from life in order to get into a cloudy eternity. How boring! While we address this error throughout the book, it gets particular attention in chapter four. In chapter three, we examine the meaning of sin, faith, and Christ. These are misconstrued to mean bad behavior, wishful thinking, and great teacher. Way off target. All of these concepts lack deep appeal apart from a greater narrative to fit into. In chapter two, we trace the bigger story of Scripture to see if it resonates with human longing. In this chapter, we hone in on an audacious gospel claim—that Jesus was raised from the dead.

At first glance, the death of Jesus is easy enough to embrace. It is well documented and the Roman authorities crucified people regularly. The god-sized claim beneath his self-sacrifice is what ruffles feathers. The claim that his sacrifice was on behalf of all humanity troubles both our pride and our intellect. Jesus, represented all of us? What gives him the right? Who says we need a representative or sacrifice anyway? The gospel gets crazier. The bull’s eye of the gospel is the death and resurrection of Jesus. We don’t have to dive deep to surface doubt with the resurrection. Its surface value is, well, incredible. The notion that a first century Jewish man, crucified between two common thieves, was actually God and rose from the dead is unbelievable. To the modern mind, resurrection is utterly implausible. People don’t beat death, especially after being in the grave three days. In light of recent horror trends, we might be more inclined to believe in a zombie emerging from the dead than a resurrected and fully restored person. Yet, at the center of historic Christian faith is the belief that a Jewish man named Jesus was “raised.”

If you doubt the resurrection, I’m glad. Anything worth believing has to be worth questioning, but don’t let your questions slip away unanswered. Don’t reduce your doubts to a state of unsettled cynicism. Wrestle with your doubts. Find answers.

If you call yourself a believer and a skeptic, don’t settle for pat proofs, emotional experiences, or duty-driven religion. Keep asking questions. Those who haven’t questioned their faith can easily become doctrinaire, even detached from the everyday struggle of faith. Whether you are a skeptic, believer, or somewhere in between, press into your faith or push into your doubt. Question your faith and question your doubts. Determine good reasons for believing or not believing in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If he really did defeat death, it changes everything. Doubt well and you can walk away from skepticism, cynicism, or blind faith into perceptive belief, intellectual security, and deeper commitment. You can know that you have honestly questioned the resurrection.

Others Who Struggle to Believe

You aren’t the only one to struggle with belief in the resurrection. The story of the resurrection includes many doubters. The resurrection story is rooted in an historical account of events in first century Palestine (modern day Israel). The Gospels (written by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) report these events from four different vantage points, narrating the life, ministry, death, and alleged resurrection of Jesus. The Gospel authors tell us that Jesus predicted his death and resurrection years before it occurred (John 2:22). He knew what was coming and went along with it. He didn’t run. One evening, Jesus met his disciples in a garden to pray. Suddenly, he was interrupted by clanging armor and flaming torches. Roman soldiers appeared to arrest him at the behest of the religious right (the Pharisees). The Pharisees charged Jesus with sedition, a charge most unsettling to the Roman Empire. As his disciples scattered, Jesus was left to face trial alone. He was quickly tried in the wee hours of Friday morning and crucified that afternoon. He was buried that night. On Sunday, grief stricken women went to visit Jesus’ tomb. As devoted disciples, they were shocked to find his tomb uncovered. Other disciples joined them, entered the tomb, and found his body gone, with his grave clothes lying there. This is where doubt begins to creep in.

Some claim the body was stolen. Mary thought the same thing, until Jesus appeared to her. Other disciples disbelieved her resurrection report, even after Jesus appeared to them (Luke 24:36-43). They mistook him for a ghost, so Jesus took it upon himself to prove his physical existence. He ate a piece of fish before their very eyes and they all believed, except doubting Thomas. Thomas saw all of this and remained incredulous. He heard the news, saw the man, and even watched Jesus perform an experiment proving he was real. Now, if God really is Jesus, and he’s risen from the dead standing right in front of you, proves he’s not a spirit, and you still doubt, how do you think Jesus should respond? You’d think Jesus would smack him down for doubt, rebuke Thomas on the spot, and call him to fall in line with his now believing friends. But he didn’t. Instead, Jesus entertains his doubts. He invites Thomas to press his hands to his tender crucifixion wounds, charging him: “Do not disbelieve, but believe” (John 20:27).

If you doubt the resurrection, you’re in good company. To the solidly skeptical and those struggling with doubt, Jesus remains ready to receive our questions. Jesus entertains doubts. He also implores belief. (Wouldn’t you if you died and rose from the dead, appearing to your disbelieving family and friends?) And to those who do not see the resurrected Christ, and still believe, Jesus confers a particular blessing (John 20:29). Though a blessing from God sounds nice, it can still be hard to get past the implausibility of someone rising from the dead. Many believe in the historical Jesus, but fewer believe in the resurrected Jesus.

The resurrection is like a river that parts a road. People are on the road approaching the river. Arriving at the river of the resurrection, you look across it to where the road continues, and see quite a few cars are parked there. In your doubt, you can’t imagine how people got to the other side. How did they get across the river? How can rational people come to the belief that Jesus died and rose from the dead?

The Global Perspective

Truth be told, the parking lot on the other side of the resurrection is overflowing. Resurrection-believing Christians are all over the world. Today there are approximately 2.2 billion Christians in the world, almost a billion more Christians than Muslims (who adhere to the second largest world religion, Islam). Christians around the world claim a personal encounter with Christ and a relationship with a resurrected Jesus. Many of them are so devout they have suffered for their belief in the resurrected Christ. These believers are from a broad array of cultures and ethnic backgrounds. What are we to conclude from this?

Because Christianity is the world’s largest (and incredibly diverse) religion, should you jump ship on your unbelief or switch religions? The sheer number of believing, praying, suffering Christians does not make the resurrection true, but it should make it possible. It is possible that Islam is also true; however, Muslims do not put hope in a resurrected messiah. Allah is not a God who suffers for humanity and conquers death. In Jesus, however, we find God crucified and raised to life. According to the Bible, the resurrection is also a preview of things to come (1 Corinthians 15). Resurrection isn’t restricted to Jesus. All who have faith in him will eventually gain a resurrected body to enjoy a “resurrected” world. This certainly is hopeful. If billions of people and thousands of cultures have found hope in the resurrection, then perhaps there is something to it? How did all those ethnic groups come to believe a claim as implausible as the resurrection of Jesus?

The majority of the Christian population has shifted away from the West to the South and the East.The current statistical-geographical center of global Christianity is, quite literally, Timbuktu, Mali. That’s Africa. The largest Christian nation is China. Now, the interesting thing about the current center of global Christianity is that it is in cultures that affirm the supernatural. In fact, the global south encounters inexplicable, supernatural events on a regular basis. Not so in the West, we have ruled out the supernatural. We rarely see such extraordinary things. We begin with the assumption that the supernatural is not possible. Is this position critical or biased? To be sure, some Americans are willing to believe in the supernatural the teachings of Buddha, Vishnu, and Eckhart Tolle, but are we willing to believe in Jesus, risen from the dead? If we are to consider the plausibility of the resurrection, we must begin with its possibility. Critical of our default cultural position, this is the only intellectually honest place to begin. Is it true, as the Apostle Paul summarized: “that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4)? Let’s consider this central tenant of a historic world faith. We will begin by asking other skeptics who were alive at the time of Jesus’ alleged resurrection. Did they find the resurrection plausible? How did some of them get across the river of doubt?

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

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

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

The Single Guy and Pursuing a Wife

Chris Crane currently serves as a College Intern at First Baptist Church in Irving, TX and in leadership of Dallas Baptist University's Encounter Ministries. He is also completing his B.A. in Biblical Studies with a minor in Philosophy at DBU. From there, he plans to pursue his M.Div. in Biblical Spirituality from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Follow Chris on Twitter @cmcrane87. ___

Over the past several years, I have become increasingly aware of the need for men to be godly, myself included. I have seen the devastating effects of the neglect of biblical manhood in churches and in the lives of people I care about. However, if we want to see God raise up men who are going to love their wives and serve the church, we have to begin the discussion early, namely, when men are still single. While I have no doubt that God can redeem broken marriages and mend fractured relationships, my primary focus here is to examine how, as single men, can we faithfully pursue biblical manhood, under the banner of the gospel, for the glory of God and the good of the Church. There are many points to be made, but I will list five.

1. Examination and Repentance

Real men love Jesus. As tiring as that old cliché may be, it's true. We must heed Paul's exhortation to examine whether we are in the faith or not (2 Cor. 13:5; see also Phil. 2:12-13; Eph. 4:1). Godly women want to be loved by godly men and you can't be godly if you don't know Jesus. In fact, if you do know Jesus, your life will be marked by a distinct characteristic: repentance. Repentance is not simply what you do to be saved, but it is the fruit of those who belong to God. In order to be the men we were created to be, to paraphrase Martin Luther, "All of life must be one of repentance."

2. Find Community

Modern Christians often emphasize “a personal relationship with Jesus,” but Christianity is actually quite corporate. That’s not to say that Jesus isn’t concerned about the individual. He is. However, that doesn’t negate our need for each other. If you look at 1 Corinthians 12, Paul’s analogy of the body would make absolutely no sense if Jesus’s desire was to build an individualistic Christianity. Instead, what we see in this chapter is Jesus uniting people in the gospel by his Spirit for his mission. Each person in the body has their own spiritual gifts and natural talents that God has given them to serve his purposes. Embrace that; don’t flee from it.

Additionally, we need each other for encouragement and correction. True joy is fought for. It’s warfare. But how often in history do we hear of a soldier going to war by himself? There’s always a group of men fighting with him, watching each other’s backs. This is where biblical community comes in. We should “stir one another up to love and good deeds” (Heb. 10:24), “bear one another’s burdens” (Gal. 6:2), as well as remind each other to “only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ” (Phil. 1:27). It’s in the context of community where the examination I mentioned above should take place. It keeps us from being overly introspective and, instead, keeps our eyes on Jesus Christ. Jesus will use community to shape us into godly men, especially if we take the time to get counsel from older and wiser godly men.

3. Take Responsibility

God calls men to bear responsibility. It hearkens all the way back to Genesis 2:15, where God gives Adam responsibility and a job to do before he gives him a wife to lead. If you want to work towards being a godly man, there are some practical steps to take as well.

If you can’t pay for your dates, you probably shouldn’t be going on them. Your days spent playing with young ladies’ hearts or sleeping all day won’t make you a man. In fact, it will further your “boyishness.” God is so concerned about men stepping up and taking responsibility that, in 1 Tim. 5:8, we read, “But if anyone does not provide for this relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” Men, feel the weight of that text. This is not something to play with. If you want to be godly and respectable men, stop playing around and take responsibility. Be ready to provide for your future family before you actually have a family.

4. Be a Gentleman

For the record, chivalry is not dead. It may be wounded, it may be sleeping, but it surely isn’t dead. However, there’s a difference between being a gentleman and being a flirt. A godly gentleman serves women out of the kindness of his changed heart. He seeks after the lady’s welfare above his own. An ungodly person often flirts in hopes of getting a woman into bed with him or to be the trophy on his arm.

In 1 Tim. 5:2, we are told to treat our sisters in Christ with “all purity.” In other words, we should treat our sisters in Christ with the same relational reverence and respect as we would our own biological sisters. If what you’re trying to do with that woman is something you wouldn’t do with your sister, then you need to check your heart and leave her alone.

5. Don’t Look for a Girlfriend, Look for a Wife

I’ll be honest and say that this point is still the one I have to remind myself of the most. It’s easy to forget because it’s so counter-cultural to the entire American idea of dating. As men pursuing godliness, do not simply “date for fun.” You should be intentional and make your intentions known up front. Don’t leave her guessing about what you want out of your time together. You need to be mindful of her love for Jesus and her maturity as a woman.

And if she’s beautiful, that’s great, but what’s her character like? Her physical appearance may constantly change, but her character is what’s going to matter in the long run. Let me give you an example. As someone who is pursuing pastoral ministry, I want to be very careful who I choose to intentionally seek out to develop a romantic relationship with. So, while yes, I want her to be physically attractive, more than that, I want to know if she fears the Lord. I want to know that Jesus is her hope, not me. Will she be patient with me, especially if I pursue more theological education? Will she respect me and let me lead? Do I see anything in her life that shows she’s growing into the godly woman revealed in Prov. 30 and 1 Pet. 3? These are things you want to look for the seeds of in a potential wife. Now, don’t freak her out and talk about marriage on the first date, however she needs to know and you need to tell her what your intentions are, so the sooner she knows that, the better for both of you.

The God of Grace

Remember, my brothers, that God is a God of grace. You won’t do all of this perfectly. I sure don’t. But we have been given the Holy Spirit, who comforts us, convicts us, and guides us into all truth. Therefore, let us be bold in chasing after Christ together and let him inform our masculinity. I leave you with Paul’s charge to be godly men found in 1 Tim. 6:11-16:

“But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony beforePontius Pilate made the good confession, to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.”

How Kids Learn to Follow Jesus

One of the questions we get many times at the GCM Collective is, “What about kids? How do you have time to disciple your children during all this mission stuff, and what does it look like?” I have three kids, a 10 year old, a 7 year old, and an 16 month old. I own a business, elder in the church, preach, and participate as an executive team member of the GCM Collective. Not to mention I coach leaders around the world and travel for speaking and training events. How do I have time? I learned early on, from my brothers at Soma Communities, that I only have one life, and mission has to be part of my everyday life, not some other life that I need to live. I don’t have time to get into all of that teaching, but it transformed how I see mission and discipleship. (To see an illustration of this look here: We Have Been Given One Life). Needless to say, I've decided to serve and leverage my life as much as I can. I'm busy and you are probably busy, too. How can we disciple kids in the midst of such hectic community and mission filled lives?

Holistic Discipleship

What is the goal of children's discipleship? Are we just trying to teach them stuff? See, the goal is not that our children will merely know the right answers on their Bible College theological entry exam, also know as Sunday School. We certainly want them to know God and understand the gospel in their minds. But, discipleship cannot stop at intellectual assent of biblical truths in their heads alone but must penetrate their hearts, too. In the same way, the goal is not for children discipleship cannot stop at their hearts, but must be evidenced in their lives. Certainly our children's discipleship is not only about getting them to behave and use proper manners. The Bible speaks to parenting and disciple making more holistically than this:

You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. - Deuteronomy 11:18-20

This passage tells us two fundamental principles in parenting. One, discipleship is for the head, heart, and hand. We are to teach our children to know the gospel, believe the gospel, and obey the gospel. Two, the discipleship process is happening all the time, in everyday life. Every moment of the day is a chance to speak, teach, and demonstrate the gospel. My aim with this article is to offer some easy handles and ideas for parents to obediently live Deuteronomy 11 with their kids.

Head

We want our kids to know theology.  We want them to know who God is, what God has done, who we are and how we should live. The issue is our kids get bored with the many ways we have tried to do teach this in the past. Memorize this verse, sit here for Sunday school, or listen to mommy and daddy read from the Bible. None of those things are bad, but what if we could do all those things in ways that they’d actually love and look forward to and ask to do?

• What TV show does your kid love to watch?  Watch it with them and tell them that at the end we are going to discuss questions in which we see ways the characters are living out their identity, how are their lives looking like Jesus, how are their lives showing who/what they are trusting, etc. For my kids, it’s Phineas and Ferb. We sit down and watch it, then discuss. The night before I wrote this article, we spoke about servanthood, identity, idols, fears, anxiety, the Imago Dei, etc. After we discussed, we prayed as a family for very specific things that we discussed. Guess what the kids are always asking to do? “Daddy, can we do Phineas and Ferb and theology?” They desire to learn because it is something they enjoy.
• Teach them from material they will enjoy and let them teach and dialogue through it. I personally use two resources: The Jesus Story Book Bible and the Story of God for Kids. When we go through these resources, I am always asking questions to get their insight. These resources are great because there are pictures and questions and really gets the kids involved, instead of just sitting there and listening. I also allow my 10 year old to lead through this so he can learn what it looks like to lead and create discussion. In this I am able to disciple him in what it looks like to lead by allowing him to do it himself.

Heart

Not only do we want our children to learn theology and mission through teaching, but we want them to believe it and know it in their hearts. We want it to go from information, to transformation. Know this: you have to be faithful in this and there will be many times we try this with our kids and it will sail over their head. We will articulate the gospel in eloquent ways and they will have no reaction. We have to be faithful. Find out how to affect their heart by seeking the Spirit and continue to do it, even if you don’t get the reaction you were hoping for.

• Discipline like you believe the gospel. I learned this from John Piper some years ago. He simply asked, “Does your discipline mirror grace and the gospel or legalism?” My kids never know when they are going to be punished for a sin. I try to sit them down after they have sinned and walk through grace and mercy and the effects of sin. We get to the heart of the issue of their sin, instead of saying, “stop it!” There are times when they are not punished for their sin, and we speak a lot about grace. There are also times when their sin causes natural consequences. For example, they might leave a favorite toy outside when they were supposed to bring it inside and it gets ruined. When this happens, we merely point out the consequence and pray together for forgiveness and reconciliation. When you spend time demonstrating in discipline what grace, the gospel and reconciliation looks like, it hits the heart.
• Demonstrate. I got this idea from my buddy Caesar. One of the discipleship issues we had with our older child had to do with his behavior while he was playing outside. We decided that if he was having issues playing outside, he would have to come inside or face punishment. The punishment was to sit on the wall for 20 minutes. Lots of fun. Instead, when the time came for him to receive his punishment, I told him I’d take it for him. We talked about Jesus and the good news and how he has done this for us. This sounded great, but he listened, and then ran back outside like nothing happened. I still do this, because I think at some point, it will sink in. But you have to know: they are kids and they won’t always react in the ways you were hoping.
• When you see your child do something that reminds you of Jesus, tell them and praise them for it. Not to the point where they get all the credit, but as a pointer. When they see how their actions depict God’s character, it really freaks them out. My 7 year old last night asked, “God works through me to show who he is?” It really hit him. Our kids need to hear about God, not only when they are doing things that are disappointing, but also when they are showing the fruit of the Spirit. Recently, my 10 year old came up and told me that his little brother made him lunch for school. He was stoked! I told him, “Caleb, where do you think he learned that?” He replied, “God?” I said, “He learned it from you as you have been serving him. And you learned it from God as Jesus served and serves you. You have been showing your brother Jesus. Isn’t it amazing that he does those things he sees in you as you show him Jesus?”
• Continue to remind them they are loved by God and you, no matter what. We do this in both their sin and their praise. We want them to continually know that God loves regardless of their actions. Their identity and acceptance is not wrapped up in what they do but in who God is and what he does. I do this when they do something that requires discipline and I do this when they show off who God is.

Hands

Not only do our kids need to know about God in their head, and know what he’s done in their heart, but they also need to work this out as disciples and missionaries. We have to know that our children are not missionaries only when they get older. They are missionaries now.

• Involve your kids in the mission. Rarely do we do things that don’t involve our kids. When we do events, most of the time it is with families. The reason is I want my kids to see that it is totally normal to be around those that don’t believe like us and what it looks like to hang out with them. I don’t want them to ever think that our job is to do things so we’ll get something in return. We merely show others what God is like, we plant, we water, but God causes the growth. The best way to do this is to model it for them in life on life.  So, at neighborhood BBQs or neighborhood breakfasts, they have jobs before and after. We talk about why we are doing these, what their thoughts are, and their struggles with it. They get to walk this out and deal with the consequences of following Jesus: when their toys get broken, when they have to clean up after others, etc.  When all this happens, we get to talk about what it means to serve and show off Jesus without expecting anything in return.
• Make your house the “hang-out-house.” Our kids know that they can always have friends over and invite them in for dinner, etc. Because of this, they are actively sharing their lives with those around us. They see what it means to have an open home, to be hospitable, to believe that our possessions are God’s and not ours. They also know that to open our home means there will sometimes be kids they don’t want to play with, but we open our home anyway. We love our enemies, we don’t hate them or shun them. The more you allow your kids to have people over and just hang out and play, the more they will be able to understand mission in the everyday.
• Invite their friends and parents out to your activities. Recently, I took my boys to a movie and dinner, so I asked them who they wanted to bring. I then invited their friends and their family to go out with us.  Again, this is simple. Their friends and families came and hung out. We were already going to do it, why not do it with others? This doesn’t mean we eat dinner and ask the other Dad, “You see the bread on your kid’s plate? That reminds of when Jesus said he was the bread of life.” Be a good human and hang out with others, be friends, show your kids what it looks like to be hospitable in all areas of life.
• Ask your children what charity they’d like to help on their birthday. We have done this with both our older kids. We tell them, “Mom and Dad will buy you a gift, and so will your grandparents, but what if we had your friends bring something for a charity?” We have had food drives, blanket drives, and more for one of our missional communities that helps the homeless in our town. Our kids actually love doing this! They get to help others and participate in serving.

Normal Life with Intentionality

I know these things aren’t earth shattering ideas. They are simple everyday life type of activities. That’s the point. We don’t need some program to raise our children for us, we can do this in normal, everyday life. That way our kids will understand what following Jesus looks like and will desire to do it, too. Some days are better than others, some things work better than others. You know your family. A simple way to start is just to look at your schedule with your family and start asking, “How can we be more intentional with these things we are already doing so our children can better understand who God is, what he has done, who he has made us?” What can we do to holistically disciple our children, their head, heart, and hands?

Just think if your parents taught you about God while watching cartoons? Pretty cool parents, pretty fun way to learn theology.

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Seth McBee is the adopted son of God, husband of one wife, and father of three. He’s a graduate of Seattle Pacific University with a finance degree. By trade Seth is an Investment Portfolio Manager, serving as president of McBee Advisors, Inc as well as a missional community leader, preaching elder with Soma Communities in Renton, Washington, and executive team member of the GCM Collective. Twitter @sdmcbee.

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Get the excellent resource: A Beginner's Guide to Family Worship by Winfield Bevins

Read these free resources: How Parental Authority is Good News by Tim Chester and Raising Gospel Centered Children by Luma Simms.

Your Baby's Ugly

Hershael York is Victor and Louise Lester Professor of Christian Preaching and Associate Dean of Ministry and Proclamation in the School of Theology of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Senior Pastor of Buck Run Baptist Church. He is married to Tanya and they have two sons. ___

I often have to answer the strangest question anyone could ask a preaching professor: “Do you think preaching can be taught?” I always want to respond, “No, I’m just going through the motions for the money.” Of course I never do, not only because it’s best not to say the smart aleck things I sometimes think, but because I know what they mean when they ask. It’s not really an unfair question.

No one denies that a preaching class and some coaching can help anyone become better. What we question is the possibility that someone with no natural giftedness and ability can be taught well enough that he can become really good.

For the last sixteen years I’ve sat in a seminary classroom, listening to student sermons on an almost daily basis, and I’ve heard every kind of sermon and every level of preacher. I’ve seen guys so nervous that they had to stop and vomit during the sermon, and I’ve been so moved by a student’s sermon that I felt I had been ushered into the presence of the risen Christ. I’ve seen guys who were no better the fifth time they preached for me than they were the first time, but I’ve seen guys whose initial sermon was depressingly awful turn it around so radically by the end of the semester that I almost couldn’t recognize him as the same preacher.

On the first day of the semester or the first time I hear a student preach, I have no way of knowing if he has what it takes or is willing to do what he must to be the preacher he needs to be, but I can usually tell by the second sermon if he does, because that is when he has to act on what I told him after his first sermon. What makes the difference?

1. Calling

The most frustrated preacher is the one who has a sense of duty but not a burning calling. Preaching is not just another helping profession, a Christian version of the politics or the Peace Corps. The call to preach is a definite demand issued by the Holy Spirit that ignites a fire in one’s bones that cannot be extinguished by the hard-hearted, stiff-necked, or dull of hearing. A preacher who has been called must preach what God has spoken simply because God has spoken it. The success of one’s ministry will depend on the strength of his calling. His willingness to work at his preaching will be proportional to his conviction that God has called him to preach and to be as fit a vessel for God’s use as he can be. The Holy Spirit must undergird everything else from preparation to delivery, and that will not happen apart from that calling.

2. Teachability

Being a preaching professor is like getting paid to tell a mother that her baby is ugly. It might be the truth, but it’s not a truth anyone wants to hear. Most guys I have taught dread my comments and cringe when I tell them they missed the point of the text or seemed unprepared. They tire of hearing me tell them they lack energy or failed to establish a connection with the audience. Every now and then, however, someone smiles gratefully as I offer corrections and suggestions. Someone may even say, “I want you to be really tough on me. Tell me everything I’m doing wrong because I really want to do this well.” That guy is going to be fine because his spirit is teachable and he’s willing to pay the cost of personal discomfort in order to be effective. He understands that he is a vessel in service of the text and his feelings are not the point.

3. Passion

Almost all my students are passionate about Christ, about reaching the lost, and about the Word of God. The problem is not that they don’t feel passionate but rather that they do not show passion. What I feel is never the point, whether good or bad, but rather how I act. If my delivery of the Word does not convey that passion, then my audience will not be moved to be passionate about it either. The prophets were all passionate. The apostles were passionate. Jesus was passionate. Why else would farmers, fisherman, and housewives come stand in the Galilean sun for hours just to hear Him?

I once heard a missionary preach at the Southern Baptist Pastors Conference. He was dynamite, preaching a great expository sermon with incredible energy and moving the entire audience by his treatment of the Word and his testimony of baptizing tens of thousands of Africans. Astonished by his great preaching, I approached him and held out my hand to introduce myself. “Hershael.” he said, shocking me that he knew my name, “we went to seminary together.” Embarrassed, I admitted that I did not remember him. “You had no reason to,” he explained, “I was very quiet, never spoke in class, and never went out of my way to meet anyone.” I asked him to explain what happened. “When I got on the mission field, no one would listen to my preaching of the gospel. I was putting them to sleep. When I came stateside and preached in churches, they were bored to tears. Finally I realized that the only way to be effective was to preach the Word in the way it deserved to be preached, so I became willing to go beyond my natural personality and comfort zone and allow God to make me effective. I prayed for the Word to so grip me in the pulpit that I would never be boring again.” His teachability led him to show a passion that was not natural to his introverted personality. It was supernatural.

4. Reckless Abandon

The generation of students I now teach have grown up with the written word—on screens, smart phones, blogs, Kindles, and now iPads. Through video games they have raced cars, built civilizations, won wars, destroyed zombies and killed hundreds. They communicate orally far less than any previous generation, and when they do so, they typically do it with less passion. Yet God still uses the preaching of His Word—an oral event—to edify the church, encourage the saints, and engage the lost.

So to preach the Word, a young man has to be willing to get completely out of the comfortable cocoon he’s built in his personality and habits, and recklessly abandon himself to risk being a fool for Christ. I tell my students, “That little voice inside your head saying ‘That’s just not who I am’ is not your friend. Sanctification is the process by which the Holy Spirit overcomes ‘who I am’ and shapes me into who He wants me to be. So if I need to preach with a reckless abandon that is foreign to my natural way, I will beg the Holy Spirit to help me do it for Christ.”

Pay the Price

Frankly, very few students I teach fail to get the meaning of the text. They often demonstrate an exegetical and hermeneutical sophistication that astounds me. They are serious about the Word. But they make the mistake of thinking that if they just feel that way, and if they just say the words, the preaching will take care of itself. And if they keep thinking that, if they insist on “data dump” sermons that just concentrate on the content and not also the delivery, there’s not much I can do for them. They will be the kind of preachers they want to be.

But if someone has a burning calling, a teachable spirit, a passionate heart, and a reckless abandon to pay the price to preach well, then not even the limitation of their own background, personality, or natural talents will keep them from preaching the Word of God with power.

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*Editor's Note: For another helpful post on preaching, check out our interview with Jared Wilson and Tony Merida.

Interview: J.D. Greear on "Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart"

You will be hard pressed to find a book with a more compelling, if not controversial, title than J.D. Greear’s new book, “Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart." For those of you who may not know J.D., he is the Lead Pastor of The Summit Church in Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina. J.D. has pastored The Summit since 2002, when he led the church to relaunch itself (formerly known as Homestead Heights). At the time of the relaunch they were running close to 300 people, and now are exceeding 6,000 regularly. For the past few years they have been recognized by Outreach Magazine as one of the 25 fastest growing churches in the country. J.D. is kind enough to stop by the blog today to speak with us about his new book. I am thankful for his willingness to give us a bit the inside story behind the book, and to help us understand the content of the book a bit more.

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1. J.D., thanks for stopping by the blog today. I appreciate the effort. Your new book has a provocative title. I am confident that it is stirring interest in those who are reading it. So, give us a quick synopsis. What is the book all about?

My main thesis in this book is that reducing salvation to a sinner’s prayer gives assurance to some who shouldn’t have it, and keeps assurance from some who should. I wrote this book because there are a lot of people who can’t seem to find assurance no matter how many times they pray “the prayer,” and others who have a false assurance based on the fact that they went through a ritual with their pastor.

You could say I wrote the book to bring comfort to the unnecessarily troubled, and to trouble the unjustifiably comforted.

2. Your story is similar to mine, though I haven’t been baptized as many times as you. However, you talk about your struggle with assurance and the fact that you have been baptized four times. You also point out that false assurance, which is the flip side of the coin, is a serious danger. Of the two, which do you think is a bigger plague in the church?

Based on statistics that those like the Barna Group have run, the larger numerical problem is probably the falsely assured: 51% of all American adults believe they are going to heaven, even though most of that group never attends church, reads the Bible, or lives in any recognizably Christian manner. But the flip side of the problem is a huge issue that I have encountered repeatedly in my time as a pastor.

In the end, it’s less important to figure out which side of the coin is the “bigger” plague, but to focus on the remedy. And I believe that part of the problem comes from the shorthand, clichéd ways we speak of the gospel. The usual evangelical shorthand for the gospel is to “ask Jesus into your heart” or to pray the “sinner’s prayer.” Shorthand is fine insofar as everyone knows what the shorthand refers to. But in our day “the sinner’s prayer” has often become a substitute for repentance and belief.

To be clear—I am not trying to say that the sinner’s prayer is wrong in itself—after all, repentance and belief are in themselves a cry to God for mercy. Jesus presents the repentant tax collector being converted through the prayer, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner” (Luke 18:13). Some of the greatest evangelists in history—even Reformed ones—used a sinner’s prayer, including John Bunyan, George Whitefield, and Charles Spurgeon. Spurgeon would plead with people to pray the words of a sinner’s prayer after him as part of the conclusion to his sermons. I would go so far as to say that if you do not press for a decision when you preach the gospel, you haven’t fully preached the gospel, because the gospel in its very essence calls for a response. I’m not even against the language of asking Jesus into your heart, because—if understood correctly—this is a biblical concept (cf. Rom 8:9–11; Gal 2:20; Eph 3:17)!

I am saying that the sinner’s prayer has become a Protestant ritual that people often go through without considering what the prayer is supposed to embody. God doesn’t give salvation in response to a prayer; repentance and faith are the instruments that lay hold of salvation. You can express repentance and faith in a prayer, but it is possible to repent and believe without a formal prayer, and it is possible to pray a sinner’s prayer without repenting and believing.

3. In chapter 2 you mention that every religion in the world, except for Christianity, uses doubt to compel one to obey. However, in my experience, doubt is one of the most often used reasons for many Christians to obey. Instead, you suggest that the gospel of God’s grace creates a desire to obey. What’s the difference? As long as we are obeying, that’s all that should matter, right?

God is not simply after obedience; He’s after a whole new kind of obedience, the obedience that grows from desire. He wants the intimacy of sons, not just the service of slaves. Unfortunately, far too many Christians use doubt as a catalyst for obedience. The Roman Catholic Church of Martin Luther’s day, for instance, believed that people would only obey when threatened with harsh consequences for rebellion. Luther did not mince words when he called this the “damnable doctrine of doubt.”

We are supposed to relate to God as a father, not as a strict task-master. A faithful father does not leave his kids wondering whether or not he knows and loves them. When I go away on a trip, I don’t say to my kids, “Daddy will be back soon . . . or maybe he won’t. Maybe I’m not really your daddy at all. Maybe my real family lives somewhere else. You’ll just have to wait and see if I come back. Sit around and think about that while I’m gone, and let that compel you to become better children.”

That would not produce love and loyalty in my children. It might produce a little fear-based obedience, but it’s only a matter of time until fear-based obedience turns into father-loathing bitterness and rebellion. I don’t want my children feeling like orphans, and neither does God.

4. At the beginning of chapter 3 you suggest that assurance, in one sense, is as easy as asking the question, do you believe in Christ? Your rationale is supported by John 3:36. However, many who worry over assurance will, with great fear, point back to Matthew 7:21-23 that says:

Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in Your name, drive out demons in Your name, and do many miracles in Your name?’ 23 Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you lawbreakers!’

How do you balance the simple truth of John 3:36 with the fearful tone of Matthew 7?

The verses from Matthew 7 were part of what threw me into the first of my many spirals of doubt. I remember during my 9th grade year, when my Sunday school teacher told us that according to Matt 7, many people who think they know Jesus would awaken on the last day to the reality that he never knew them. I was terrified. How could I know I wasn’t going to be in that group?

My advice to those who fear that they will be among those to whom Christ says, “Depart from Me, I never knew you,” is this: rest in His promise to receive all who hope in His finished work. Jesus’ warning often makes us look inward and find plenty of reasons for God to reject us. But for every one look we take at our sinful heart, we should take 10 looks at Christ. Once Charles Spurgeon, reflecting on those whom Christ turns away in Matthew 7:21–23, said (and I paraphrase), “Never knew me, Lord? How could you say that? When I had no hope of salvation, I rested all my hope on you. When I despaired in my struggle against sin, I looked to you for strength. Jesus could never say to me, ‘I never knew you.’”

None who lean the weight of their soul on the truth of the testimony God gave about Jesus as their hope of salvation will ever hear the words, “Depart from Me, I never knew you.” To rest in Christ’s finished work is, you see, to be known by Jesus.

5. I love the statement you make in chapter 4, in reference to our own assurance. You say, “Present posture is better proof than a past memory.” In other words, your present position before God is more important than whether or not you can remember the time, date, location of your conversion. I’ve said it this way, “The question is not so much, have you believed, but rather are you believing?” Having said that, are you suggesting that salvation does not have to be tied to a “moment?”

Certainly not. Salvation does indeed happen in a moment, and once you are saved you are always saved. My point is that conversion is not a ceremony you go through but a posture of repentance and faith that you assume. The posture does indeed begin in a moment, but it continues for a lifetime.

Salvation happens in a moment: I don’t want to confuse or downplay that. But in that moment, you merely enter a posture of submission to the lordship of Christ and trust in his finished work. That is a posture you maintain for the rest of your life. And the way you know you made the decision to get into that posture is that you are there now.

In the book I compare conversion to sitting down in a chair. If you are seated right now, then you know that at some point in the past you made a decision to sit down—your posture proves it. If you are right now trusting in Christ’s finished work and submitting to his Lordship, that proves you are saved. If you are not, then it doesn’t matter what “ceremony” you went through. Assurance doesn’t come through a memory of a past event, but through our present posture. “Believing,” as it relates to assurance, is almost always presented in the present tense (e.g. 1 John 5:13).

6. Further along in this chapter you speak about helping your children to know Christ. You mention the tension parents feel about not pushing their children to make a hasty decision. I know I have greatly struggled with this. However, you encourage parents to begin appealing to their children to respond to Christ at an early age. How do you do that, and not encourage what would become your testimony, and mine, that of multiple “conversion stories,” multiple baptisms, etc.?

As a father of 4 young children, I have often reflected on the best way to lead them to faith. I want their decision to follow Jesus to be significant, but I also don’t want them to go through what I went through, constantly questioning my previous religious experiences. I know that when you present kids with a “don't you want to be a good girl and make daddy happy and accept Jesus and not go to a fiery hell?” of course they say, “Yes.” “Praying the prayer” in such a situation may have little do with actual faith in Christ and have more to do with making daddy happy.

For that reason, many parents don’t want to push their child to make a decision for Christ. What if we coerce them into praying a prayer they don’t understand, and that keeps them from really dealing with the issues later when they really understand it? Might having them pray the prayer too early on inoculate them from really coming to Jesus later, giving them false assurance that keeps them from dealing with their need to be saved?

I understand that fear. At the same time, I know that children are capable of faith. (In fact, Jesus tells adults that for them to be saved they must become like children, not visa versa!) And Jesus says that those of us who make it difficult for little kids to put faith in Him ought to have a millstone tied around our necks and be thrown into the sea (Matt 18:1–6). So I don’t ever want to discourage my kids from faith.

The dilemma is resolved, however, by seeing salvation as a posture toward Christ and not as a ceremony. There is only one posture ever appropriate to Christ: surrendered to His Lordship, and believing that He did what He said He did. From the very beginning of their lives, I want my kids to assume that posture! So I explain to them often what Christ has done and encourage them to pin their hopes of righteousness on His work and not theirs. Whenever they think about their hopes for heaven, I want their minds to go to what Jesus did on Calvary. And when I encourage them to walk in holiness, I want the motivation—from day one—to be the finished work of Christ on their behalf.

Again, it’s like sitting down in a chair. If you’re sitting down now, that is proof that at some point you made the decision to sit down even if you don’t remember the moment. There was a moment you sat down, but the proof is in the present posture, not the past memory. The same is true with my kids and the Lordship of Jesus and his finished work. They can only be in one of two postures with him. So whenever I talk to them about Jesus, I encourage them to assume the posture of repentance and faith. Why would I ever want them to have a different posture in relationship to Jesus? Whether they can explain later the exact moment they sat down in repentance and faith is less important than the fact that they do it.

7. In chapter 6 you speak about the doctrine of eternal security. You say, “It’s not incorrect to say ‘once saved, always saved.’ It’s just incomplete.” What do you mean by that?

I do believe in eternal security, the idea usually summed up with the phrase you mention here: “once saved, always saved.” But the way that I heard eternal security described in Baptist churches growing up is not the way it is described in the Bible. It’s not even the way that some of the great Baptists of the past—I’m thinking of Charles Spurgeon and John Bunyan, among others—described eternal security.

Neither the great Baptists of the past nor the Bible describes eternal security as a one-time ritual that produces a guarantee of salvation no matter how you live your life. They described it as the knowledge that if God had started a true work in you, he would complete it. And the way that you show your salvation is genuine is by persevering for the rest of your life.

Persevering in the faith is proof that you have the salvation you could never lose; failing to persevere shows that you never had it to begin with.

8. In chapter 7 you address the biblical signs of genuine faith. You even go so far as to say, “the presence of the struggle [with sin] itself can be affirmation that God’s Spirit is at work within you.” I know many will find this difficult to believe. Can you elaborate on this point?

Struggling with sin or its consequences isn’t proof by itself that a person knows God. But I have known a lot of believers who live on the brink of despair because of the presence of sin in their lives. They know the attitude of their hearts, and they recognize strong undercurrents of selfishness, idolatry, apathy, and unbelief. And they begin to wonder, “Can I really be saved and still have these sinful desires?”

The simple answer is, “Yes.” The Apostles all testify to a never-ending and intense struggle they had with sin (cf. Paul’s words in Rom 7:21, and John’s in 1 John 1:8). James says that we sin (even as believers) because we are “drawn away by our own lusts and enticed” (James 1:14). I assume he says that from experience. And I find my own heart prone to unforgiveness, resentment, jealousy, and selfishness more often than I care to admit.

Believers can and do struggle with just about any kind of sinful lust. This is why the struggle is so affirming. Before God’s Spirit came into you, you didn’t struggle with sin—you ran toward it eagerly! But now God’s Spirit lives in you, and you feel the tension of that struggle every day. The strongest evidence of my growth in grace is not absence of struggle, but the growing recognition of my need of grace.

9. As we close this up, if you had 30 seconds to speak to a believer who was greatly struggling with assurance. What would you say to them?

It would, of course, depend on the situation of the person I was talking to, as a wayward believer needs to be treated differently than a humble seeker, but essentially I would ask them if their present posture is one of submission to Christ’s Lordship and trust in his finished work. If so, they are saved, even if they don’t remember the prayer or the moment they got into that posture. If not, then it doesn’t matter what prayer they prayed.

Second, I would ask them to consider whether the signs of eternal life are present in them. As John explains so thoroughly in 1 John, conversion does not bring sinless perfection, but it does begin to make fundamental changes in the human heart.

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If you would like to purchase “Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart" click here.

If you would like to see other books by J.D. Greear, click here.

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Cross-posted from Micah's personal blog.

How do We Respond to Pain?

In my early years of professional football, I played without wearing gloves. Not wearing gloves as an offensive lineman was definitely out of the ordinary; most linemen wore gloves for their own protection and safety. I rejected this protection for several reasons. First, back then I thought it proved how tough I was; it didn’t. Second, I found wearing gloves made me feel hot (temperature, not appearance) and as a ‘husky’ fellow I was always trying to keep cool. Third, I thought that bare hands helped me hold opponents better. And even though technically offensive linemen aren’t supposed to hold, we did and thus sought any advantage we could get. Finally, and most importantly, I found that very early in a game I would, without exception, hurt my hands.

Why would hurting your hands be a good reason to not wear gloves? Good question. You see, I found the pain that I would experience when my hand was smashed between a shoulder pad and a face mask would help me engage in the game. Getting my digits stomped on in a pile would help me get focused for competition, and I would get focused in a hurry. This pain-induced focus and the resulting engagement in the game was the main reason I didn’t wear gloves.

Now consider how much aggravation a simple hangnail causes. Think of the seemingly disproportionate amount of pain that come from a small tear in your fingernail. A small paper-cut can cause adults to whimper, and hitting a thumb with a hammer will bring men to their knees. There is something about the hands and fingers that make them especially susceptible to pain. And I would intentionally seek these aching, stinging, and throbbing sensations to promote a fixated intensity in the game of football.

I was not alone. Using pain as a preparatory mechanism is quite common in football. Before a game, in the locker room or on the sidelines, you will often see teammates hitting each other or slapping each other on their shoulders. Many football players claim that they can’t really get into a game until they receive or deliver their first hit. There is something about the pain that brings purposefulness and clarity in combative sports.

Detach or Engage?

It seems that pain in ‘real’ life, whether physical, emotional, or physical, does the exact opposite of what it does in football. For many people, pain leads to paralysis instead of performance. Pain doesn’t help us engage; it causes us to detach, disassociate, and disconnect from life. When the life gets tough, genuinely tough, the accepted response is to quit. We do not regain focus on the end and purpose of our lives. Instead, we abandon engagement in life.

One of the most profound studies of pain in the Bible occurs in the book of Job. In it we see an individual who finds purpose in pain. It propels him forward. We also see an individual, Job’s wife, for whom pain evokes passivity.

Both Job and his wife were subjected to an incredible amount of pain and suffering. We often overlook that Job’s wife also lost her children, her wealth, and likely the provision and protection a husband could provide. Job’s demise would likely be her demise as well. But these two people had opposite reactions to the pain.

The pain caused Job’s wife to exclaim, “Curse God and die” (Job 2:9). She was done. She was beat. She was in shut-down mode.  Job replied, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” (Job 2:10). What accounts for this difference?

Why can pain cause Job to engage, to fight, to persevere? Why was his wife ready to quit? What about us?

We will never, on this side of eternity, be free from pain. We will never avoid suffering. The pain and suffering of this life is relentlessly real. But the witness of the Word seems to be that we will persevere in it, grow through it, and eventually outlast it.

I believe Job hints at the answer to our earlier question regarding why pain caused him to dig in and hold on instead of shut down and quit. In chapter 19, Job speaks these faith-filled words despite the difficulties he was experiencing:

For I know that my Redeemer lives,

and at the last he will stand upon the earth.

And after my skin has been thus destroyed,

yet in my flesh I shall see God. - Job 19:25-26

Job indicates that prevailing over pain is a process of perceiving a person. Job's view of who God, that he was the redeemer lives forever and rules, sustained him. Suffering reveals our theology, what we really believe about God. For Job, God was good and worthy, the giver and the redeemer. We cannot even stand, much less move forward, in the presence of pain without the Good News of Jesus.

Long View of Pain

Paul locates the essential element to overcoming pain as the end-result of the gospel. The Apostle Paul was no stranger to pain; his list of sufferings is well-known:

Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. - 2 Corinthians 11:25-27

Paul went through all manner of anguish, agony, and affliction. He experienced pain, endured it, and engaged in life like few others in recorded history. This was a man that pain could not subdue. He, like Job, found the motivation and means for overcoming pain in the Good News of Jesus.

Consider the words this veteran of misery and misfortune used to describe pain. He called suffering “light” and “momentary affliction” (2 Corinthians 4:17). This is incredible. Or is this incredulous? Paul was not naive. Nor was he in denial. To understand his approach, and what ours should be, notice that his reference to suffering as light and momentary is in light of something else. The verse reads, “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,”  (2 Corinthians 4:17 ESV).

Paul did not respond to pain and suffering by shutting down and turning off. He leveraged his pain into praise and engaged in life. He contrasted the comparatively slight strain of temporal tribulation with the “eternal weight of glory” won for us by God’s Son and our Redeemer. Paul looked to the end which those who have believed in Christ are assured; it is nothing less than eternal glory.

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, the great preacher who preached from the pulpit of Westminster Chapel for more than 30 years, notes the key to Paul’s attitude was found in the comparison: “He does not say that it was light in and of itself but that when you contrast it with this “far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” on the other side it becomes nothing.”

I mentioned at the start of this article that pain could be a mechanism for engaging in a game of football. I also suggested that pain could, in fact should, be a mechanism for engaging in life for those of us who have been born again. For the Christian this is possible because of the gospel. The incarnation of Christ, his perfect life lived, his death and resurrection, all ensure for us massive glory-an eternity spent with God-forever and ever. As we reflect on this glorious truth, our pain becomes light and momentary. Thus, pain becomes a life-engaging blessing when we perceive in light of the glory of the gospel. With every wound, scar, and loss our hearts are fined tuned to hope for and trust in the eternal presence of God. Christ's death and resurrection secures a future without tears and separation (Revelation 21-22). Pain reveals that day hasn't come yet. The suffering of Christ on the cross confirms the certainty of that day's arrival.

When we experience pain, and this is sure to happen, will we “curse God and die?” Or will we look to the “eternal weight of glory” won for us by Christ? I pray that we will look to our Savior and look to what he has saved us to and feel the life-crushing burden of pain become light and temporary. I pray that pain will be a signal not to withdraw or wilt but to praise our God and persevere to the end as messengers of hope.

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Jude St. John (@judestjohn) played football professionally in the Canadian Football League for 14 years and currently teaches English at Saunders Secondary School in London, Ontario, Canada. Jude is married to Nicole and they share their lives with their 5 children: Ena, Adele, Mara, Judah, and Arwen.  He blogs at quercuscalliprinos.blogspot.com. 

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Read Luma Simm's book Gospel Amnesia: Forgetting the Goodness of the News.

Read more in Abe Meysenburg's article: Grief and the Gospel

Creating Culture in Your Living Room

Richard J. Mouw wrote a book on culture and common grace called He Shines In All That’s Fair. Philip Graham Ryken has a similar book called He Speaks To Me Everywhere. The idea, of course, is that there are glimpses of God everywhere, especially in culture. But what if you live in a cultural context which seems to lack any distinctive rays of individuality, creativity and especially God’s glory?

The Cultural Void

In Jeremiah 29, God tells His people to seek the welfare of the city of their captivity. For me, that is suburbia. Not cool suburbia where gentrification has transformed the past-its-prime strip mall into vintage clothing stores and hip coffee shops. We have Chili’s and Target and if it’s crowded, don’t worry because there’s another one just a couple of miles down the road. Our color palette is various shades of beige and the term “cookie cutter” adequately describes our home architecture. One day, when we moved back to Phoenix in 2008 to plant our church, we visited some friends in a neighboring subdivision. Turning into their neighborhood, one of my boys said: “We’re home!”

I live in Suburbia and I love music, especially live music. Suburban exile means that live music has been stripped from the fabric of our culture with the exception of the occasional lip-sync act at the mall food court. It’s as if the Taliban came in silencing the music, but the special forces are outside the camp trying to drive us out by pumping in “lowest-common-denominator, auto-tuned, mid-era power pop” until we snap. I have to drive close to an hour for quality live music venues.

My first reaction to such an obvious injustice was to blog about it. Once I had done that, I want to do something about it. Though I was tempted to simply complain about my lot in life, Andy Crouch had already pulled my card. In Culture Making, he argues that instead of simply “critiquing” or “copying” culture, we should “create” culture. If our surrounding culture lacks flavor, we should be the salt.

One way to think about the gospel is in terms of “fall reversal.” When Adam and Eve mistrusted and disobeyed on our behalf, they cast everyone after them and all of creation into slavery to sin, decay, disorder, and death. Yet their task to “subdue the earth,” or to bring order from chaos, was not nullified; it just became more difficult. As Adam and Eve wandered from the garden, they left remnants of order behind them, glimpses of God’s character. They were still charged with the task of bringing God’s image to bear in and through a now-broken creation. This charge extends to God’s people to this day, primarily in and through the Gospel.

This is true on several different levels. As the Holy Spirit awakens rebelliously dead souls to life in Christ, the fall is being reversed. The dead are brought to life and God’s people are sent into every sphere of life to show who God is and what he’s like. Likewise, when we bring order from the chaos of life, when we seek justice, when we build community, or when we pursue beauty we are bringing God’s image to bear on the world he created. Therefore, those who have been brought from death to life ought to be at the forefront of creating culture.

A friend and I decided to do something about our city’s musical barrenness. We started hosting concerts at our homes. Not like those sketchy house parties you used to go to where that one band from high school rocked teen angst out of hand-me-down amps and you tried to protect your Dixie cup from the mosh pit in the backyard (no, wait, maybe that was just me). We host musical performances where community is built around artistic expression and we do this for a number of reasons.

We Believe In A Creator God & Culture Is Important

Our God is a creator god who spoke creation into existence and created us in his image.This means that we have creative capacities like God. We can’t create out of nothing but we can take what God has given us and shape it into new statements. We can bring order from the chaos. Not only is this what our God did (Genesis 1 and 2), it is what he has charged mankind with as well.

Many refer to Genesis 1:28 as the "cultural mandate.” We are to shape the world around us, extend God’s order and beauty, and bring order to chaos. It’s telling that the biblical story does not end with a return to the Garden. It begins in a garden but ends in a city. We are commanded to create culture.

The idea of “culture” has taken on various meanings. At its root, the word culture is derived from the Latin cultura, which is a form of colere, meaning to “plow or till.” The idea was one of “cultivation,” particularly in an agronomic context. Hence, the word agriculture. God’s command to “subdue the earth” was also a command to create culture.

Culture is about more than worldview and ideas. Culture is, as Andy Crouch argues: “the name for our relentless, restless human effort to take the world as it’s given to us and make something else” (p. 23). It includes artifacts, music, television shows, newspaper articles, sporting events, origami, that last great meal you had and everything in between. Culture is everywhere and it matters. More than we realize.

When we create culture, we are showing the world what God is like; who he is and what he values. He has brought order from chaos, beauty from tumult and he has charged his people to do the same. When we bring a moment of comfort to a friend’s sorrow, when we create a piece of art from the left-over magazine scraps, when we open our homes, when we have a yard-sale for a friend, when we create music or just open up a space for that to happen, we are creating a culture that demonstrates the character of God. The culture that we leave behind says more about the God we worship than it says about us.

If all we leave behind is a choked thoroughfare of strip-mall banality, dotted with chain stores and microwaved restaurants, what are we telling the world about the God we worship? That he is willing to make things just tasty enough to get people through the door but not spicy enough to drive anyone away? What are we communicating when our “art” competes with the starving artists’ clearance sale this weekend at that shady motel?

Christians should make the best culture because we have the least to fear and the most to celebrate because we have been given life! I worship a God who brought order from the chaos and continues to do so in every area of my life and has given me a desire to see beauty spring forth from the parched ground of suburbia.

We have been called to celebrate the creator through creating. We cannot create out of nothing, but we can point to the God who can as we make new discoveries out of what he has left us. Culture matters because the culture we create says a lot about the god(s) we worship. Our mediocre art says, “our God is comfort.” Our reality T.V. shows say, “our god is at-least-I’m-not-that-messed-up.”

My friend and I were not content with the various shades of beige culture of our suburbia so we set out to create a better story pointing to a God who is beautiful and spurs me on to love, appreciate, and create beauty.

God’s People Are Called To Better the City Of Their Captivity

While establishing His covenant with Abram, God says He is blessing Abram and his descendants “so that you will be a blessing” (Genesis 12). God shows his love not just to his people but through his people.

Society should be better because we, his people, are present. This extends to our enemies. In Jeremiah 29:7, God tells his exiled people to “seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” Our love for God should manifest itself in the betterment of our cities.

We have not only been called to “preach the gospel” (the message of reconciliation), but to be ‘salt and light,” making things better (the ministry of reconciliation). I wonder, if my church family disappeared overnight, would our city even know the difference? We don’t seek to better the city just for our “best life now” but to reflect a God who has not left his creation abandoned.

The city should be filled with creativity, celebration, and community. House Shows, when seen through this lens, become a kaleidoscopic. They give us a glimpse of something more, something that resonates with the way we know things ought to be.

Jesus Brought The Better Wine

When considering culture, most of the attention is focused on the “cultural mandate” of Genesis 1. This is important because it is the foundation of interacting with culture. But there is more to your home than a foundation. From a Christian perspective, we should ask how the cultural mandate is changed (if at all) by Jesus.

Not only did God call his people to seek the welfare of their captors, he accomplished this through Jesus who entered into the sinful world to bring freedom. Jesus didn’t just enter culture, he made it better. He used community to bring people towards belief instead of using belief to exclude people from community. He brought the better wine. He made people consider their motives. He listened. He healed. He left behind not only words that people could remember but a different culture they could experience.

We don’t host concerts just because we love good music. We belong to a God who not only commanded us to go to the ends of the earth to create culture but primarily to make disciples. Though we do not use the concerts as evangelistic events, we make sure that we have friends there who can listen, declare, and demonstrate the gospel as the Spirit leads. Jesus demonstrated that this sometimes means creating spaces where those who don’t believe feel more comfortable than those who already do. Music is an important way to bridge these boundaries.

Music Brings Us Together And Lowers Social Boundaries

Music can be powerful. People who love the same music often feel a bond. People who have experienced the same music live together often feel a bond. A good performer can encourage self-examination and discovery while also being entertaining. House shows provide a unique opportunity to engage people in the realm of the creative while also being accessible. As people attend more than one of our house shows, we wee deep, meaningful discussions arise in the context of relationship. Music can be a powerful tool in building a community that wants more than what the current version of life seems to have to offer. House shows provide a valuable, non-threatening way to build community.

Artists Are Often Our Prophetic Voices

Not only can music lower social barriers, it can also make us acutely aware of the world’s problems in a unique way. Artists in general, and musicians in particular, are often the prophetic voices of a generation. Songwriters are often the ones saying what the rest of us innately feel: something’s not right. Though the musician may not be a Christian, we are able to enter one another’s story knowing that we agree that things are not the way they should be. This is a great opportunity for people who not only realize that things are broken but who have also been touched by the Great Physician.

Other Ideas

Music certainly isn’t the only way to pursue this vision. You might consider hosting a poetry or spoken word night, craft night, wood carving fire-pit nights, or sponsoring artists. You could even partner with local restaurant/coffee shop to host an artist’s opening night, song writer groups, film makers’ night, etc. You don’t even have to have any talent yourself. But you must believe that God gives us glimpses of himself when we bring order from chaos and beauty from the broken.

How has God called you to seek the welfare of your city?

What does it look like in action?

Here is video of Aaron Spiro (Soma Tacoma) performing at one of our house shows.

Tips on how to start a house show movement in your city: House Show Tips

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Brent Thomas (MDiv) and his wife Kristi live in Glendale, AZ with four biological sons and one foster child. Brent pastored in KY and TX before moving back to AZ to plant Church of the Cross which exists to make, mature, and multiply disciples through gospel, community, and mission. He sometimes writes at Holiday At The Sea and hosts house shows with The Habañero Collective.

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Read more in Proclaiming Jesus by Tony Merida

Read more free articles on mission in Mission is Where You Live by Jeremy Writebole and Sonnets and Discipleship by Deborah Murphy.

Women Teaching in the Church?

It may be better to sleep on the corner of the rooftop than live with a quarrelsome woman, but friends, educate that woman and there is hardly a limit to what she can do with her mouth and mind—for good or evil. God created woman as a helper knowing Adam would need help. What that help was exactly will be up for debate for centuries; we only know that the command to both man and woman at that point was to be fruitful, multiply, and subdue the earth. A friend of mine confesses that at times he fears exposing his weaknesses to women in his life for various reasons. To which I replied that a woman was born to see a need, to come and encompass that need, nurture it until the time is right for it to be birthed into something more beautiful than he could imagine. We are built to help in ways men will never be able to help. That is our good design.

Disciplers on the Rise

Another friend and I were talking recently about the droves of women coming out of seminary in the coming years. These women have or will have studied biblical texts, learned Hebrew and Greek proficiently, interacted with scholars, and written theses. They have a deep and true abiding love of God's word, and the inerrancy of it. A few quick internet searches show women make up more than 51% of seminary students, and we should expect that number to grow as the Church at large is increasingly heavy on the side of female presence.

These women have taken the command to be fruitful and multiply seriously, and for many, in the absence of their own children, they have become incubators of God's word. They meditate on it, murmur on it, pray it, speak it, and teach it. They are poised for a gracious reception of hungry souls, souls weary of milk, starving for meat. They are disciples.

And even more, they are disciplers.

They may hold a collective Master of Divinity, they may give their brothers a run for their money in both their drive and grace, but over all of it, they see a distinct need in the world and want to help it. They are like the hen who gathers her chicks, finding the odd ones out and pulling them close, covering over, receiving the broken and disillusioned. And brothers: They should not be a threat to you.

Send Me, I'll Go

As the culmination of all things draws near, we grow more poised for a more holistic picture of what Paul said when he said, "Neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Gal. 3:28)." Why? Because these women are perfectly situated to teach women. They are the Naomis, the marginalized taking the faces of future women in their hands and saying, "Here is how we see the Kingdom built, and it will take daring women who trust and believe the word of God, who will do beautifully vulnerable things to see the birth of a King brought forth."

As secular feminism is on the rise, more and more women within the Church will be looking for strong female voices. They are not looking for poor theology, but many of them haven't been taught how to study their bibles, or how to discern good theology from bad. Our culture is not the same as when the New Testament was written—more women than ever are without husbands or godly fathers, so there is more of an opportunity than ever for us to be like the women Paul wrote of in his letter to Titus: teaching what is good (Titus 2:3). Culturally it may look different than the first century Christian women looked like, but the message is still the same: the gospel comes in, fills out, changes us, and sends us out to make disciples.

• Has God given you the opportunity to learn the biblical languages? Teach other women so they might rightly discern what is true.
• Have you studied Church history? Teach women so they might help change history.
• Have you been given the gift of a discerning eye and mind? Teach women to exegete the Word, instead of the proof-texting all too common in studies meant for women.
• Has God radically transformed your heart in regard to the gospel? Extol His name to others in everything you say and do.

The question should not be, "Why can't we teach men?" but, "Who will teach the women who want to be taught?"

And our response should be, like Isaiah, "Here am I, send me!"

Will We Have Hobbies in Heaven?

Recently, I had the pleasure of completing a year-and-a-half long labor of love: a fully illustrated version of one of my favorite books, Richard Sibbes’ The Bruised Reed. It was a hobby project. One question I’ve been getting a lot since the book went live is: “Where on earth did you get the time?” I want to explore where I got the time. Specifically, I want to make a case for the cultivating of hobbies as a way of remembering where we’re headed. A hobby as work that is fully restful. As fully restful work, hobbies give us a glimpse of work in Heaven, where we are headed in Christ.

RETHINKING HEAVEN

Before we get started, we need a better view of heaven. For many, heaven remains the big white puffy thing in the sky. It's where we sport goose wings, and smiling in a prozac induced stupor, pluck three-stringed harps, snoring ourselves gently to sleep. This is the third death: eternal boredom. Let’s rid ourselves of this conception of the afterlife

If we start with Jesus, we get a very different notion of heaven. His resurrected body is a preview for ours (1 Corinthians 15:20-21). Far from floating along trailing fairy dust, these heavenly bodies will eat breakfast (John 21:12-13; Luke 24:30), go for long walks (Luke 24:13-35), and be made up of real flesh and bone (John 20:26-29). So forget a future as Casper the ghost. Our resurrected bodies will be altered, but they will be human.

In addition, the prophecies concerning the New Heavens and New Earth describe a very earthy place. Isaiah 33 and 35 tell us our destination is the earth brought to flourishing. The majesty of these prophecies are lost if they’re speaking of something akin to an alien planet — neat, but nothing like what we’ve known so far. No, biblical prophecy speaks of a New Earth, where everything we know and love is redeemed.

One of those things redeemed appears to be work. Isaiah 65 says of Zion, “the wealth of the nations shall come to you, a multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense,” (vv. 5-6). The list goes on, and the best of what the nations have to offer are present: livestock (v. 7), transportation (v. 9), wealth (vv. 9, 11). Note that these things would have no meaning whatsoever in anything in psuedo-reality. All this implies work but changed work. Redeemed, restful work. Foreigners build up the walls of Zion (v. 10); the building materials of all the land are upgraded, and the people themselves will no longer work under oppression (v. 17).

FUTURE "WORK"

In other words, in the very earthy New Heavens and New Earth, the curse is lifted, and the precious gift of work, creation, and cultivation is returned to humanity cleansed of it’s trappings of sin and decay.

The implications are staggering. It means we haven’t begun to see the potential of what human dominion can look like. Just because you know how to use your your limited edition Chemex to brew single-origin, hand-ground beans in unbleached filters doesn’t mean you’ve ever tasted real coffee. We’ve only begun to ply the trade. Give it a hundred thousand years or so, and see what the coffee tastes like then.

It means our failures and frustrations with daily life now may one day have an outlet. In Chicago, I can be frustrated when train breaks down, even as I dream about Zion, where the El will always run on time. It means we have to get rid of our strange vocational concepts like genius and prodigy. Calling the work of a fallen human genius is like calling the drawings of a three-year-old genius. Who can say what genius really looks like when human life is cut so dreadfully short?

Not that the redemption of work is the central point of the greater story of redemption. But if the redemption of work is part of what Jesus has done (and based on the above, I believe a strong case can be made), it’s also something that Scripture asks — demands — that we dream about.

HOBBIES AS RESTFUL WORK

This is where hobbies come in. A hobby, by nature, is work you do restfully. It’s not cleaning out the septic tank. It’s not playing space invaders with your inbox, answering one, or even as twenty more invade. It is restful work. A hobby is work that has zero conflict with joy and peace. As such, the hobby offers us a glimpse of work fully redeemed.

Hobbies give us a taste of work in eternity. When do you work on a hobby? Not on Monday morning. Not on Hump-day. You work on a hobby on Saturday. You do it on your day off. You do it when your time is free. That’s the beauty. We can pick hobbies up, and put them down, and maybe even take a nap in between.

The rest of our work is crammed into seemingly impossible schedules. We till the cursed earth in a panic to survive. If we don’t answer the email, then our bosses will notice, and if it happens too many times, then he’ll take away the emails for good, and our food and shelter along with it. (When managers talk about a “sense of urgency,” this is what they mean). We work at hobbies in a fundamentally different frame of mind. When we work at hobbies, it’s as if we have all the time in the world. And our work in Heaven will be the same.

Hobbies give us a taste of work as pleasure. Why work at anything in our time off? We work at hobbies because something in us knows that, though work is broken, it is a good thing. Work is not our enemy, and the eternal hammock sweet redemption. Rather, work is what were are made for; work that is not toil is blessed.

So we humans build little model planes, and paint pictures, and bone up on our golf games, and knit those ever-needed Christmas sweaters. We do these things because we want to, not because we have to.

What better description for what happens when hearts of stone are made hearts of flesh? All our have to’s become want to’s. All our duties become desires. Work is no exception to this glorious facet of the gospel. In eternity, no one will be forcing us to punch the clock. Hobbies give us a small glimpse of that glorious day.

Finally, hobbies give us a taste of work that thrives. The world out there is complicated beyond recognition. Systems break. Markets collapse. In spite of the motto, "We build to last," we are awestruck if something survives more than a decade. Thieves break in. Moths and rust destroy. Built-in obsolescence seems the order of the day.

Hobbies offer a different kind of work altogether. Hobbies typically offer us closed systems. "Place Axle A in Hole B. Apply glue. Let Dry." Hobbies let us work on things where actual progress is possible, where we may build relatively free from the complexities of work after Adam. Not perfectly free, of course, but more free. And work in eternity will be free from decay and frustration altogether.

WHAT ABOUT ENTERTAINMENT?

The sad truth is, when most people ask where I got the time to illustrate my favorite book, they usually aren’t taking seriously the possibility that someone might sacrifice entertainment time. A few thoughts here.

Media vs. Hobbies. Challenging the American’s right to television is about as safe as giving a pill to the wrong end of a horse, but here it goes. I think we spend too much time with our televisions. I’m not aiming for no T.V., just less. We live in an age where some pretty decent stories are told through what was once an unsophisticated medium — I get that (though if we think we can just turn our brains off while watching, we’d better think again). What I don’t like about television is that it reinforces what most of us want to believe already: that work is bad. Work is not bad. Work is good. We need help seeing this. Spending 28 hours per week in front of a T.V. screen doesn’t help at all.

Video Games vs. Hobbies. I’m fairly certain that video games will become a top-level moral issue for the church in the coming years. The way things are going, video games will far outrun T.V. in terms of addiction and temptation to sexual promiscuity. Already in many countries, games allow main characters to realize every fantasy they’ve ever had: orgies, rape, incest, murder.

We must ask not only how video games can lead us to sin, but also why they are appealing in the first place. I haven’t seriously played since the 8-bit glory days of yore, yet I think the answer to the latter question is still the same: video games offer un-cursed progress. That is the appeal. When I found a heart-container in the Legend of Zelda, nothing could take that away. The game had a save feature. There is much more to be explored here (perhaps in a future article). For now, I’ll simply state that I think video games should be taken with much moderation, as they are more entertainment than work. For proof, I offer nothing more than the sweat stains on the gamer’s couch.

Other Games vs. Hobbies. I’m a fan of board games (Eurogames to be precise). Games bring people together. They too are closed systems, and often restful for the mind. Families playing games can have great fun (also great sorrow, should a sibling acquire Boardwalk and Park Place). I’m all for putting games somewhere in the Sabbath routine. Yet again, hobbies fulfill a longing in the human heart that no game will satisfy. Games exercise our desire to rule, but not our desire to build. Games exercise our powers of decision, but they do not allow us to image creator God.

A SHINING VISION

Hobbies can help us cultivate a shining vision of future glory. I have about a half-dozen serious hobbies going at the moment.

Rather than merely playing, my son Ezra (5) and I are developing a video game using MIT’s programming language, Scratch. This Christmas, I gave my family the first chapter of an illustrated children’s book about rats in the city called The Owl’s Eyes. It will probably be a five-year project. I also have a card game in the works. The first version of this I’ve made on paper. The second will be real illustrations on actual playing cards. If I live long enough, I want to turn it into a heritage toy, and create the entire thing from hand-carved wood tiles. And, if it does well financially, my Bruised Reed project will become a whole line of books called Illustrated Puritans (with future illustrating accomplished by an army of friends).

I say all this not to boast in myself, but to boast in the Lord. Jesus has saved the whole world. Everything you and I love rightly will be redeemed. The wonders of what is coming we cannot currently comprehend. Yet we get glimpses, small and precious glimpses. They are graces come down from the author of grace.

Every Saturday the Youngren family wakes up to pancakes, then sits down in the living room, assembling tools of trade. Markers, felt, and many-colored papers line the table. Phones are off. Laptops closed. Everyone’s in pajamas. The conversation rises and swells with excitement.

This is the Sabbath. We know what we are about. The Youngren family is getting to work.

It makes our tired hearts glad.

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Aaron Youngren pastors The Line and is a husband and father in the heart of the Windy City. He writes at Unbound and is the author of the Two Cities book series. Former lives have involved writing for theater and managing a global team at Amazon.com. Aaron make pancakes.

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Further Reading: Gospel Amnesia by Luma Simms