What Is the Imago Dei?

“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.  And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’” Genesis 1:26-28

The question of imago dei has puzzled theologians and laymen for centuries. What does it mean to be made in the image of God? Answers to this question have included things like reason, relationality, the ability to walk upright, etc. I want to suggest three different ways of thinking about the imago dei:

1. Think about the imago dei in the context of a kingdom.

In the ancient world, kings would mark the boundaries of their kingdom by putting images or statues of themselves at their territorial borders. Images of a king marked out the extent of the reign of a king. When God sets up mankind as His image-bearers and commands them to fill the earth, He is sending them out to be markers of His reign to the four corners of the earth. Being an image-bearer of God means that you demonstrate to creation that the earth is the realm over which He reigns as king.

As bearers of the image of Jesus, in particular, we are to carry the message of Christ’s kingdom to the far ends of the earth. We are called to bring the truth to bear that “the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof” (Ps. 24:1) and this ownership of creation is expressed clearly in Christ’s rule over all things. For “all things have been created through Him and for Him” (Col. 1:16).

2. Think about the imago dei in the context of a temple.

When temples were built in the ancient world, they were built with specificity. They were meticulously constructed with care, creativity, and beauty. The last item to go into a newly-built temple was an idol or image of the god for whom the temple was built. It’s interesting that God creates earth with meticulous care and specificity, not in a manner unlike that of a temple. Furthermore, earth is seen not only as a place for humans to dwell, but a place for God’s presence to be manifest. The earth was created to be a type of temple in which God’s presence would be felt on earth and mankind’s praise would be reflected back to Him. If you fast-forward to the picture of New Creation in Revelation 21-22, it is explicitly stated that the new earth is God’s temple. If we are to picture the creation scene as a kind of temple-building act, than it only makes sense that God’s last creative act is to place mankind in the center of this temple as His image-bearer. God’s dwelling place has at its center an image of Himself through the people He has created, so that, as priests, we represent His image to creation and reflect creation’s praise back to Him.

3. Think about the imago dei in its own literary/textual context.

Though theologians have stretched their the limits of their imagination in trying to articulate a creative description of the imago dei, a more sound approach to understanding what it means to be an image-bearer of God is looking at the text of Genesis 1:26-28 itself. Right after declaring that He was going to make mankind in His image, God states that man will have dominion over the earth. It seems as if the functional aspect of being image-bearers is that we are to reign over creation as vice-regents, of sorts, under the headship of God the King.

This all fits very nicely with the call of Israel to be a kingdom of priests (Exodus 19:6) and later for the church to fulfill its calling as a royal (kingly) priesthood (1 Peter 2:9). If we are to be priests and kings, than bearing the image of God means simply that as kings, we mark out His reign by ruling over creation and as priests, we image Him forth (represent Him) to creation and reflect creation’s praise back to Him.

The Takeaway

More than anything, the imago dei is a very practical doctrine. Specifically, there are three “takeaways” for image-bearers:

1. Rule. The charge to have dominion over the earth fills the word vocatio with meaning. It means that regardless of your profession, there is dignity in your work as a means of exercising dominion over creation. There is a way to write a song, paint a picture, and film a movie for God’s glory. In every achievement and advance of mankind, there is evidence of the image of God in man. We bear His image well when we pursue the arts, politics, business, and law for His glory. This is what caused Martin Luther to say:

All our work in the field, in the garden, in the city, in the home, in struggle, in government-to what does it all amount before God except child's play, by means of which God is pleased to give his gifts in the field, at home, and everywhere? These are the masks of our Lord God, behind which he wants to be hidden and to do all things . . . The works of monks and priests, however holy and arduous they may be, do not differ one whit in the sight of God from the works of the rustic laborer in the field or the woman going about her household tasks.

2. Represent. As “imagers” of God, we represent Him to creation. For believers, we are called “ambassadors for Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:20). As God’s ambassadors, we image Him well when we represent Him in a way that points others to find their sufficiency and satisfaction in Christ alone. This is a calling for every follower of Christ and is part of our created purpose as humans.

3.Respect. As image-bearers of God, humans have inherent worth and dignity. One practical implication of the imago dei is that we must respect and value life, from conception to natural death. This, obviously, is a case for the pro-life argument. Yet beyond this, there is a very real call for us to treat one another with kindness and respect because as humans, we are special. The co-worker you don’t like, the person in your church you have a hard time getting along with, the annoying kid down the street – all bear the image of God and deserve to be treated in a way that is worthy of one who is created in God’s image.

Don’t view the doctrine of the imago dei with theological perplexity. Rather, embrace the task and identity of being an image-bearer. As you do, you will find satisfaction in “ordinary” life and fulfillment in accomplishing the purpose for which you were created.

Walking Through Doubt

I met with a Christian-turned-skeptic friend recently who asked, “Does anyone ever really believe?” After listening to more of the questions and the struggles he faced in the Christian life, I understood why he would ask this question. A few weeks later, I began to doubt God more acutely than I ever had before. I felt as if there was no end to my fight against sin. I was running the race of faith in circles rather than progressing toward the finish line. I felt as if my search for a job was becoming futile. Dead ends were everywhere I turned. I began to feel as if my education was a waste of time, energy, and money. Had I misinterpreted God’s call on my life a long time ago? I felt as if God had set me up to fail. What if he did set me up to fail? What if God set everyone up to fail, beginning with Adam and Eve?

This is the place my doubt took root. Like Adam after eating the forbidden fruit, I shifted the blame to God. I said in my heart: “If you had not created this world, I would not be in such a mess.” I simply did not want to believe in a god who would create a world with people made in his image, knowing beforehand they would rebel against him. I did not want to believe in a god who would want me and everyone else in this world to suffer or at least to struggle in some degree or another. I didn’t want to believe in this kind of god. This is the heart of atheism, or any other -ism which essentially rejects the God of the Bible.

Kinds of Doubt

People experience various kinds of doubt. One is neutral, when someone temporarily suspends their presently held beliefs, for serious, careful, and honest re-examination. Another kind of doubt is caused by shock or surprise, ending either in joy, mockery, or desire for further consideration (Matt. 28:17; Acts 17:32-34). Yet, a third kind of doubt is caused by suffering or disappointment. It can either lead someone toward God or away from God. I was experiencing this third kind of doubt.

When we speak of doubt, we often unconsciously place doubt in the intellectual category, and unbelief in the spiritual category. For example, during my doubt, I questioned God's purpose for creating the world he knew would go bad. At the same time, I was dealing with unbelief. I struggled to believe God’s promise that he was working everything out for my good (Rom. 8:28).

We often equate doubt with issues of the head and unbelief with issues of the heart. Or, doubt is provoked by intellectual questions while unbelief is provoked by personal questions. My doubts originated from a personal struggle not an intellectual struggle. Yet my personal struggle influenced my intellectual struggle.

Lessons from Doubt

During the days of my doubt, many things were happening inside of me. I felt as if someone had hijacked my head and my heart. Dead to the God I once loved and believed in. However, through this season of doubt I learned the following:

Doubt never (or rarely) arrives at your doorstep carrying only intellectual baggage. We are complex holistic creatures, whose faith and doubt are shaped by various influences: personal (emotional, intellectual, physical, circumstantial, spiritual, familial), cultural, and social. My doubt was largely influenced by the burnout I was feeling after six years in seminary. “Part of burnout is losing track of your purpose. Now you’re working harder and harder, faster and faster for that which is seemingly more and more meaningless,” says Jeff Van Duzer. Somewhere along the way I lost track of my purpose. I lost sight of my identity first of all as a follower of Christ, second as a husband, and third as a seminary student. My seminary studies were becoming "seemingly more and more meaningless," as I was not working out what I was learning on a regular, consistent basis. I found that just as life without Christ is meaningless, the Christian life without discipleship is absurd.

Doubt is often necessary to experience and healthy to face during certain seasons of life. An unexamined faith is not worth believing. And during this season of life, I felt as if the Lord was bringing my wife and me through a certain wilderness. What was God's purpose for his doubting people when he brought them through the wilderness? No less than to humble them, test them to know what was in their heart, whether they would keep his commandments or not, make them know they must not live by bread alone but also by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord, provide for their every need, discipline them, and do them good in the end (Deut. 8). And just as the waning faith of God's people was being tested on their journey toward the promised land, so also I was pressed to examine the holes in my faith.

Satan is against God, me, and all my relationships. He knows that if he can destroy my faith, he will certainly undermine most everything else God is doing in me and through me, affecting everyone I know. Since I believe there are various kinds of doubt, I do not believe Satan is necessarily a direct cause of some. However, we should not extract him from the equation too quickly. In my case of doubt, I believe Satan played an essential part. Just as Satan planted a deceitful question in the ear of Eve (Gen. 3:1), so also he provoked my heart to ask: "What if God set me up to fail?" This is a deeply personal question, affecting my faith both emotionally and intellectually.

God was using these doubts to awaken my soul in the following ways:

1. To check the pulse of my own personal-existential faith. Have I been attempting to drop meaning into my life and faith through a variety of means other than Christ, or is Christ the substance and reason for my existence?
2. To ask why my faith doesn’t feel as it should (yes, spiritually and emotionally). How is my life not in accord with the gospel and the life Jesus calls me to live?
3. To ask what I am not seeing and/or hearing as I read and reflect on God’s word, in order that I would obey him. Along with this, what idols am I clinging to that are keeping me from following Jesus wholeheartedly?

I had to confess. I had to open my heart of unbelief to my community and invite them to listen well and lovingly speak truth to me. I told my friend, Ian, these questions I was asking along with my acknowledgments. But I then added, “This is the closest I have ever been to walking away from the Lord. Please pray for me, so that I don’t continue in this unbelief--that as the writer to the Hebrews says, will lead me to fall away from the living God.” If Satan was attempting to lead my doubting heart away from the Lord, I knew that prayer on my behalf was probably the most important thing I could ask for.

I knew that if anyone could ultimately help me walk through my doubt, Jesus could. I knew I must confess my doubts, disagreements, and unbelief to him. “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24). Although faith and doubt live together in this statement, they should not stay together. Yet, this simple confession itself evidences a flicker of faith, a sign of hope. Jesus is a friend of doubters. Indeed, he ate and drank with them. Jesus died and rose from the dead for doubters like you and me.

Athenian Skepticism

Yet, I still attempted to search out passages of Scripture to back up my case against God. The first that came to mind was Acts 17:26, from Paul’s address to the Athenians: “And [God] made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and boundaries of their dwelling place...”

“See, Lord," I thought, "You placed me where I am. In this world, this nation, this state, this city, this situation...”

Then I continued reading the passage: “...that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us” (17:27).

And I stopped in my tracks. I had read this passage countless times before, but probably not with such Athenian skepticism. Then God, through Paul’s message hit me with hope. God’s own hope.

I thought, "God, you placed me right where I am right now, in this situation, this city, this state, this nation, and this world, so that I would seek you and find you...even in the midst of my doubt. This is unbelievably good news."

As I walked through my valley of doubt, I acknowledged Tim Keller’s recommendation to “doubt your doubts.” Yet, I realized it was much easier to doubt my affirmations than it was to doubt my doubts. I learned that in order to doubt my doubts, I had to double over in humility and confess that God is God and I am not.

And while thinking through my question of “Why would God create a world with future rebellion and suffering in mind?”, I finally acknowledged that:

1. I am not God.
2. God can do whatever he wants.
3. All that God does is good, even those things I don’t understand or agree with.
4. God also had a solution in mind--the sacrifice of his own beloved Son.
5. His Son rose from the dead to defeat such rebellion, and to finally make all things new--even me and you.
6. Jesus sent me and you to tell fellow rebels and sufferers of his incomparable love.
7. Unless we tell them and demonstrate such love with our lives, they will continue to live a perfectly rebellious life, suffering alone without God.

Seeing Through Doubt

During previous periods of doubt, I had taken up the banner of “I believe in order that I may understand” (originating from Augustine and Hebrews 11:3). Simply put, this confession has not merely relieved my doubts, but has helped me work in faith through doubt unto a more robust, reasonable faith.

This time around, I had to explore more deeply. What sort of belief is it through which I understand? Is it a “blind faith”? No. Rather, the only faith through which we understand is a seeing faith. Not with the eyes of the head, but with the eyes of the heart. We see examples of this sort of faith all throughout Scripture. For example:

Now in putting everything in subjection to [the Son], [God] left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone (Heb. 2:8-9).

What do you see during times of doubt, anxiety, or depression? Do you only see your circumstances as if they are in constant disarray? Or, looking through your circumstances, do you see the suffering Son, who by God's grace tasted death on your behalf? Looking through your doubt, do you see King Jesus who righteously orders all things for your good both now and in the end?

Contrary to the lies I was believing, God was not playing games with me. God's story of creation, fall, redemption, renewal, is no game.

Returning to my friend’s question: “Does anyone ever really believe?” I answered, “Everyone always believes in something.” If I turn from believing in the Lord, I simultaneously turn in faith toward something or someone else.

Yes, but does anyone ever really believe the gospel--that Jesus Christ died and rose from the dead to defeat sin, death, and evil, and is making all things new, even us? The question is whether or not anyone's life is 100% consistent with his or her confession. The answer is no. If our lives exemplified perfect consistency with our faith, we wouldn't need Jesus. We do need Jesus. In both the depths of our doubts and the shallowness of our faith, we look to Jesus, who alone is the founder and perfecter of our faith (Heb. 12:2).

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JT Caldwell is a disciple, husband, writer, editor, and student. JT helped start www.GospelCenteredDiscipleship.com. He lives in Austin, Texas and is part of City Life Church. Follow on Twitter: @JT_Caldwell.

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For more articles on doubts, read Jonathan Dodson's article: Questioning the Gospel.

Reactionary Christianity: Step Off the Pendulum

I’ve recently started watching The West Wing on Netflix, which I think should be required watching for everyone, but especially every church staff. I’m one of those Netflix viewers who binge on TV shows watching back to back to back…to back episodes and not being able to stop. In season 3, one of the episodes involves a character named Joey Lucas who is hired as a polling consultant for the State of the Union address as President Bartlett prepares for a re-election campaign. In the episode, White House staffer Josh Lyman is reviewing the polls as way of responding to the people and choosing whether or not to push gun control in certain counties based upon crowd reaction.

Josh receives the polls that say it’s not popular in the counties and is deciding to not push gun control there, but Joey Lucas objects to his conclusions from the poll. She tells Josh that he is asking like the French radical who watches his people run by and says, “There go my people, I must figure out where they are going so I can lead them.”

As I watched that episode and heard that statement, it seems clear to me that the church is that rebel leader stuck in a pattern of reactionary Christianity leaving it unable to really lead anyone anywhere.

Following Church Trends vs. Holy Spirit Guidance

Every week of the year you could attend a church conference with a cool name and theme that will try to convince you to follow the latest church trends, doing it just like every speaker has done it in your context (where every speaker does not live, mind you). Our culture is hungry for success, and unfortunately a church culture hungry for success looks to models and methods over the Holy Spirit and God’s revealed will in the Scriptures.

The results are that churches react to not being “missional” enough and embrace a method without thinking it through. Then someone reacts and criticizes the missional movement without fleshing out what missional actually means. Every day people are posting articles, blogs, and sending out thoughts about the way to “do church.”

One example of this idea is with missional living. Anthony Bradley provocatively wrote recently that it is the “new legalism” in Christianity. This was, even according to his article, a reaction to a small number of interactions he had, primarily with Millennials. Instead of embracing reactionary Christianity in response to missional living, we could seek the clear call of the Scriptures that to love God and love others is to embrace a missionary mindset for every area of life. The Scriptures lay out a clear understanding of God's mission and His invitation to join it. Reactionary Christianity causes a stir, but doesn't inspire to action beyond debate. Biblical Christianity cultivates a sustained expectancy as we pursue scriptural living.

Twitter, Feedly, and our favorite writers become battering rams for our arguments about the current state of the church and what should be done about it. This is good only to an extent because while the current must be discussed, God’s plan for the church has not changed dramatically over the last few centuries. Our man-made models and methods have clouded that purpose, and we’ve painted it in our image instead of God’s. It is time that we stepped off this man-made pendulum of reaction.

God builds His church, grows His church, and provides grace to grow a thousand different churches in a few hundred different ways. The wisdom and knowledge needed for leading the church is not a hidden secret only discovered by the leading church growth experts, but has been clearly provided by God in His Scriptures and we as His children have been given the Holy Spirit to open our eyes and teach us what is true (John 14:26).

Bringing the Ancient Truth to a Modern Culture

The invitation to the leadership of each church is to pursue God in prayer and study of the Scriptures to simplify church in an over-programmed and ever-changing culture. The culture changes often, but the gospel of Jesus Christ never changes. The ways to engage the culture have historically been most effective through everyday lives of ordinary people who are transformed by the gospel. These people gather to express their faith in worship and celebrate the preaching of the Word of God.

We are in a reactionary culture and unfortunately Christianity has followed its ways, but God’s call to love Him most and lovingly challenge our societal norms with His ancient truth has not evolved or changed. Modern culture will be different in a decade, but the truth of the gospel will not be. The Scriptures lay out a clear and simple direction for church that will not be different either.

Will we choose to continue the pendulum swing, reacting to culture and church trends, or step off the pendulum to pursue the purposes of God revealed in His Scriptures? The future of the church in our culture may be determined by our answer.

Your Language Matters

We believe in a God who “spoke” the world into existence (Genesis 1:3). This truth is a constant reminder that words and language have power to create. James compared the tongue to a rudder that steers ships, a bit that guides a horse, and even a spark that can start a fire (James 3:3-6). Clearly, God is serious about our words. Scripture is consistent in its call to us to encourage and build up with our words, praise the Lord with our words, and let truth be what our words form. There is much to write and talk about when it comes to glorifying God with our words. But for this post I want to focus on how our words can create a culture and, sometimes, unintentionally create one that is the exact opposite of that which we are trying.

How Language Hurts Missional Culture

For instance, the phrase “go to church” seems so harmless, and anytime we are corrected that we don’t go to church, we are the church, it can be easy to brush it off as nitpicky or prideful. And sometimes it is! But the reality is that this little phrase can be a big deal if used over time. The phrase insinuates that church is an event to attend rather than the adopted family of God. This little phrase can and has helped create generations of Christians that are sitting on the sidelines just viewing Christianity instead of being catalyzed to get in the game and be the church. If I am the church, that changes everything. I am a living being that is a part of a living thing that God created – the church. Now I have to figure out how this living thing is to live and participate in its life. Language is not the only culprit or the only answer, but it can assist us in creating a people who see the church as God’s people not as God’s event. This difference is worth humbly and consistently fighting for, and our language can help this.

Another issue consistently coming up in the church is getting God’s people to see there smaller church community as a day-to-day, life-on-life community instead of something on the mid-week calendar. People are always saying things like, “How was your community group?” or “Which community do you go to?” Not bad questions. But if our goal is to have our smaller community be a family of God’s servants doing life and mission together, then we want to use language that constantly reminds people of that truth. If you talk as if your communities only exist once a week, your community will believe it only exists once a week.

In addition, we love to use acronyms for everything. Unfortunately, you get new people wondering, “What in the world is the MC? Or GG? And why it is conflicting with Sarah’s DNA?” And it just makes everyone wonder WWJD in this situation. If you have insider and outsider languages, you will have insiders and outsiders. If joining your church requires a glossary, you’re using poor language.

Our language can easily isolate or train people to believe God is calling them to set aside one day or evening instead of setting aside their entire lives. We don’t want to confuse those two!

Correcting Language

There are a few ways to combat our poor language. One is to constantly explain your church’s language - what it is and what it isn’t. Try to minimize acronyms, and if you use them be ready to explain them. Constantly be sharing what God created this community to be and have explanations in your announcements, literature, and website.

For instance, instead of announcing that your church’s missional communities meet on Wednesday night, announce that you have missional communities and explain what those are. You might say something like, “We believe the church is a big family made up of smaller families, and these smaller families meet throughout the week as missional communities. A missional community, or MC, is a small family of God that is participating with God to bring the good news of Jesus to our city. You can meet with so-and-so about joining a family for a meal this Wednesday night.” Yes, it will make announcements a bit longer, but it is a teaching moment for new people and a reminder for others that MC’s are not meant to simply be a weekly potluck. It is worth restating this over and over as we are so prone to forget!

Never assume that people know what you are talking about or what your church’s language means but always explain everything. If you are calling your whole church to be “missionaries,” explain that you mean all of God’s people are missionaries in all of life and that you don’t mean to imply that the whole church should move into a hut in Papua New Guinea this next week – unless you want them to all move to a hut in Papua New Guinea, then have them do that. I don’t even know if Papua New Guinea has huts, but I digress. Minimalize church lingo. Inevitably you will have some, so go out of your way to explain it as often as possible. This goes a long way in making outsiders, newcomers, and unbelievers feel like they belong.

Another helpful language tool is to begin referring to the community as just that and the meeting as a “community meeting.” This way people will begin asking, “How was your MCM or missional community meeting?” They might ask, “How was your small group’s dinner?” This helps reiterate that your small groups eat dinner together but are much more than just that one meal. Constantly differentiate between what your community is and what it does by using different language for both. We are a “community group,” and we have “weekly community outings.” This will take time to create, but it will catch on. People will recognize the difference, and visitors and unbelievers will begin to sense that something is different too!

Think through what you are trying to accomplish on Sunday’s and what to call that. There is a difference between a service and a gathering. A Sunday service conveys that this is something here to serve you and for you to consume, which isn’t bad if this is what you are going for. A gathering, though, creates a posture that this is something in which you participate. In the Soma family, we try to be very intentional about inviting God’s people to participate in God’s work. We use the term “gathering” to help create this culture. A gathering can help facilitate the belief that we are the church, and we are gathering together on a Sunday, rather than the church being a service that we attend.

We expect God’s people to gather together to serve, worship, and build up one another so they can then be sent out to do the same in the world.

Preachers and teachers should be especially considerate with the language they use. It can be very easy to slip into using a bunch of doctrinal terms, Greek words, and bible character references as if everyone knows who or what you are talking about.  I remember growing up with a leader named Paul, and he was always saying, “Paul said this” or “Paul wrote that.” I always thought he was talking about himself in the first person, and I was very confused. Telling people who Paul is, even briefly, adds so much to his writing. You could say something like, “This dude, Paul, was essentially a terrorist who killed Christians until he met Jesus.” One quick sentence can end a lot of confusion and allow the listener to engage more with the content of the message rather than trying to figure out the characters or writers.

Many doctrinal terms can be explained with a mere sentence or two, allowing the listener to learn and understand this doctrinal language rather than being lost with every term. Try to never use Greek or Hebrew words, unless absolutely necessary, as we want to teach in the language of our listeners. We don’t need to preach our homework but rather the good news message that God has given us. Being sloppy by thinking that everyone knows what we are talking about is assuming too much and will isolate the unbeliever or new believer, creating missed opportunities to share the gospel with the lost or help the new believer grow in maturity. Let us be considerate and take the extra time to explain every doctrinal term and use language that is common to our context and culture. This is the very art of teaching, is it not?

Lazy Language with the Gospel

I have caught myself often being sloppy with the gospel. Even we gospel-centered disciple makers can be lazy and hear of people’s sins and issues and toss out a quick, “You just need to believe the gospel.” We can take this precious word and toss it around, abuse, overuse, and mishandle it until it loses its meaning. This has already happened as many think “gospel” is simply a genre of music and others a denomination or theological camp. The gospel is not just a word; it is good news. Don’t just tell people to believe the gospel but tell them what this “good news” is. Pray through what aspect of the gospel they may need to hear. Do they need a reminder of the good news of the forgiveness won for them on the cross? Do they need a reminder of the good news that Jesus is alive and will return one day to make all things new? Maybe they feel hopeless to beat sin and need to hear the good news that Jesus sent the Spirit to dwell in us. Explaining the good news of the gospel is powerful for everyone who speaks and hears it!

Additionally, use God’s Word to show these truths. God’s Word is rich with explanations of the good news and is our best tool for revealing all that Christ accomplished for us on the cross. Use God’s Word to explain the gospel, and others will start looking to God’s Word on their own to understand the gospel!

For instance, if someone is struggling with guilt and shame and scared to confess their sins, I might take them to John 3 to illustrate how Jesus came not to condemn the world but to save it. God’s Word says we were condemned already. I would explain the good news that Jesus knows their sin, came to rescue them, and that his blood washes their sin away. I would encourage them be sharing that Christ died for them while they were still sinners, so they are free to confess their sin and walk away from it. A conversation like this, with prayer and scripture, is more powerful than simply saying, “You just need to believe the gospel.”

Language is a gift. Let us use it wisely and intentionally to create a culture that encourages and builds up generations to love and serve Jesus as his church!

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

Let Your Students See the World Through God’s Eyes

Scott Douglas serves as Student Pastor at Westside Baptist Church in Murray, Kentucky. He is married to Carrie Beth, and they have a son, Samuel. He is also a Ph.D. candidate in Leadership at Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.

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Our student ministry center has a collection of flags hanging from the rafters. Each one represents a place our students have visited on mission trips. We have several from around our area, one from Boston, and some global flags. Each flag represents a life-long memory for students and adults, but more importantly, an opportunity to be a part of God’s work among the nations and our neighbors. They remind us of the words of John Piper in Let the Nations Be Glad when he declares that worship is the ultimate act, and missions is secondary - that one day we will gather with all the nations and praise the Savior, and there will be no more need for missionaries or missions offerings or awkward yard sales to raise money for short-term trips. All will be set before the throne of God in worship. This is the great motivation for mission work.

I am often asked the question, “Why take students on mission trips?” Here are four important reasons that has caused our church to be committed to student missions:

1. To teach them what it means to love God. We often think of love as merely a sentiment or a feeling towards someone, but love is always an action. The feelings are there of course, but the act of love is what truly matters. Jesus makes this very point when he says that the evidence for faith will be the love His followers have for one another. As the band DC Talk once put it, “Love is a verb.” Paul describes love as active in 1 Corinthians, James describes love in terms of obedience (doing the Word), and Jesus defines the greatest love as active (laying down His life). Love for God is always intersected with love/service to others. At its core, mission trips are about love. Love for God means holding the hand of a homeless man with a drug addiction who needs to hear about how Jesus is the only one who can give him the freedom he craves. Love for God means picking up trash in a lower-income neighborhood for the sake sharing the gospel with those who live there. Love for God means serving others with humility - scrubbing toilets, serving meals, and coloring with a child to show her that not all adults will yell at her and that Jesus loves her

2. To give them a heart for the nations and their neighbors. When we think about missions most of us naturally think about international work, as we should. There are over 6,000 unreached people groups, and countless billions around the world who will die and spend eternity in hell. This heartbreaking reality should spur us to care deeply about international missions. Yet, there is another heartbreaking reality the church faces: the United States is 40% unengaged with the gospel. The United States is the 4th largest unreached nation on the planet, and other nations are sending their foreign missionaries to us! We need to be careful not to separate our call to the nations and our call to the neighborhood. We have a responsibility to the ends of the earth and at the same time to our local context. It means little if we’re willing to board a plane to share the gospel overseas if we won’t serve in the food pantry in our hometown. We push missions, have missionary testimonies, support missionaries, and make it a central part of our student ministry for the simple fact that all around us are countless people who do not know Christ.

3. To give them a burden for their school & friends. Sometimes getting away from the distractions of everyday life can be a catalyst for God to work. One of the things we always do on mission trips with our students is set aside some time when we talk about how things will be different once we return home. I’ll ask them to identify people, projects, and opportunities where they can apply what they have learned while on the short-term trip. Short-term mission trips are an eye-opening experience for many students. When they see the great needs out there, it shows them how great the needs are here. By narrowing the distance between students and the overseas mission field, short-term trips become the starting place for students to recognize that the “mission field” begins in the context where God has placed them.

4. To show them how they can be a part of God’s work. The final goal and aim of taking students on mission trips is to expose them to what God is doing to reconcile people to Himself through Jesus. Our goal in every mission trip is to develop a comprehensive understanding of the missio Dei in our students’ lives. This can be seen in every activity of the mission trip – whether knocking on doors, cleaning a park, hosting a block party, or serving a homeless. Most of our students aren’t called to be vocational missionaries, but these short-term trips and projects help give them a vision to see themselves as missionaries even if they serve in another profession. Each trip has the potential to be a catalyst for a lifetime of service in the kingdom of God, regardless of the vocation our students pursue. My prayer for each short-term mission trip has been simple: God, show them what it is you have for them and how this can be the beginning of a life lived for your glory.

Seminarian: Take Your Time!

Andy Hynes serves as the Director of Admissions and Dean of Men at Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary where he is also a Ph.D. candidate. He is married with two boys, Samuel and Nathan. Connect with him on Twitter: @ABHYNES.  

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I am currently in my seventh year of seminary education. I plan to finish writing my dissertation within the year and move on to what God has in store for my family and me. I suppose many of you are or were in the same situation. I can remember the beginning of my master’s work. We moved to Memphis in July 2006 and I was eager to get started. We had been serving at a local church in southwest Georgia before we moved. While serving there I spent a lot of time “doing” ministry. I had a B.A. in Theology, and I was learning something new every day.

When we arrived in Memphis, I knew that was going to be the time God was going to prepare us for my delusions of grandeur. I was going to speed through the 96 hours of the M.Div. and then consider earning a Ph.D. I wanted to get done quickly; the sooner the better. Investing in my education was not a concern.

Those were some of the most foolish things I have ever thought.

It was not until I neared the end of my third year that I could look back and see God had been poking and prodding me. All along now I see where God was providentially carrying me while I was quickly washing away into a sea of “knowledge.” I was learning a lot of book knowledge, and even being allowed to apply some of that knowledge in the venues where I was serving, but I was wasting years of time of intimate communication with the Father. I was learning much about the Father, but I was not growing more intimate with the Father. At a time when “growth,” specifically “spiritual growth,” should be at its highest, it was actually at its lowest.

So What Happened?

I lost sight of the purpose. My education became about getting a degree and not about doing as unto the Lord. While Paul teaches about doing everything unto the Lord (1 Cor. 10:31), I saw my education as unto my preparation for moving forward.

I allowed my reading and studying to be sufficient for my intimacy with Christ. As we see the life of Christ, there are various times when he goes to be alone, to get away from the hustle and bustle of life. He needed those times to connect with the Father. In ministry, and even in school, the same necessary times are there to find a regular time to seclude and silence oneself.

Following Christ can become a chore while in seminary. It becomes just something that you do, and not a representation of who you are. Chores are those menial tasks you are asked to do by a parent or spouse like taking out the trash, washing dishes, or folding laundry. They become a routine and mandatory.

How to Avoid Complacency

1. Remain in awe of who God is! Allow yourself to be wrapped up in the attributes of God on a daily basis. J.I. Packer in Knowing God talks about letting the study of God move beyond knowledge. His main point is to allow your study to be a time of meditation that results in action. So why couldn’t this same principle be applied to all our studies while in seminary? I think it could. Everything from History of Christianity to preaching, missions, and beyond could if we’d only grasp the depths of the glory of God through all our studies.

2. Never become satisfied with where you are. Paul was never satisfied with his holiness before Christ. He constantly pushed himself and others toward a deeper more intimate fellowship with Christ. When we get to school we may think that we have arrived at a place of relaxing and learning. When in fact what we are doing is taking in information and growing in knowledge. If we are not careful and purposeful it never gets beyond that. If we were to move beyond the informative idea of school and into a practical sanctifying work, I think we would avoid the trend of men and women laying aside their growth in Christ while in school.

3. Practically apply what you are learning and put forth the maximum effort in all you do. Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. We can get into such a fast-paced mentality and never stop to put into practice what we are learning at the time. I have seen student after student (myself included) finish a master’s degree having spent very little time investing in their education. I rushed through my degrees and finished all the classes, but I had grown so little.

Take Your Time

It was not until the Father faithfully destroyed and wrecked my heart and exposed ALL the gross infirmities that I had no idea were there, that I began to realize how much of my “education” was poorly poured into. Now I look back and long to do it over. I wish I could go back and invest in learning and growing, not for the sake of getting some degree or a notch on the ministerial belt, but to GROW in wisdom and knowledge of the depths of the love of Christ, as Paul prays for the Church at Ephesus.

Maybe you have been there, or are there right now. In my current role at Mid-America, I have the privilege of speaking to many of our prospective students. One of the main things I emphasize is TAKE YOUR TIME. Invest in learning and growing in your intimacy with Christ while in school. Let your classes be a part of your growth, not a means to an end. It is the greatest time to study the things of God and allow them to saturate and permeate your life. Do not try to expedite this time of your life.

Not Only Spirit Filled, But Also Spirit Controlled

Why are Christians so unkind to one another and the world? Why do we criticize, degrade, and dismiss? Why do we act like jerks? I have experienced the sting of Christian criticism many times as I’ve posted Scripture or encouragements online. I’m sure you’ve experienced this, too. Christians critique my use of the Bible and correct my theological positions. This happens so frequently on Twitter, there is now a hashtag, #JesusJuked, for Christians who use Scripture as a correction-weapon to tell others how they are wrong. This isn't cool and this isn't classy. Nowhere in the Bible has God given us license to treat each other like jerks.

If we continue to pridefully announce our objections to everything, we will soon lose credibility to speak the truth of the gospel. We will be known for our desire to be right and prove others wrong, instead of being known for our love for one another. The world will not believe our points about God's love when they are delivered with disrespect and pride. Some Christians have been so busy trying to make their argumentative points, they have lost the opportunity to make a difference. It’s that kind of non-Spirit-led, fleshly preaching that turns people from the gospel everyday.

Again, why do we act with such pride and arrogance toward one another?

At the root, we are relying on our own intellect, ego, and proven arguments instead of Christ. We are prideful and think we can get people to see the truth in our own strength. We trust our smarts and wit more than Christ. With our eyes on our selves, we miss others and the gospel.

A Matter of Control

Today, we have access to the Holy Spirit's power to control our lives. The Holy Spirit empowers us to live with “gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15) and be “the aroma of Christ” (2 Corinthians 2:15) to the world around us. God has commanded us to walk and live by the Spirit.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. - Galatians 5:22-23

Scripture tells us "when the Holy Spirit controls our lives," we will have certain characteristics that demonstrate his character. Through our words and actions people should see certain aspects of God’s character: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. If we are speaking out of bitterness, anger, frustration, fear, we are not being controlled by the Spirit. The fruits of the Spirit are the picture of what it looks like to follow Jesus. If our actions do not display these fruits, we aren’t being controlled by the Spirit.

We often get confused into thinking our frustrations and bitterness are actually righteous obedience. The reality is, however, the righteous acts are those of peace, patience, and kindness.When we aren't patient with our unbelieving neighbor and his journey with faith, we are not living by the Spirit. When we lose our temper when our co-worker asks another hard question, we are not living by the Spirit. However, when pursue peace among those quarreling in the office, we are living by the Spirit. When we sacrifice our Saturday to help our neighbor with their yard-work, we are living by the Spirit. As the Spirit controls our lives, we become a better picture of God's character and the gospel.

We not only need to live Spirit-filled lives, but also Spirit-controlled lives. If you don't know if your actions or words are from the Spirit, ask: Is this statement done out of joy? Done out of love? Done out of gentleness? Done out of kindness? If the answers are no, it’s not of the Spirit.

A Better Way called Grace

Make no mistake. We are called, as Christians, to persuade others towards the gospel. It is one of our main responsibilities. Paul says: “Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others. God knows we are sincere, and I hope you know this too” (2 Corinthians 5:11). We are to share the message of grace.

I’ve been asking myself a question lately, and it has been wrecking my heart: “How is the world supposed to see the grace of God if the people of God are not gracious?”

The wise in heart are called discerning, and gracious words promote instruction. - Proverbs 16:21

The writer of the proverb is saying: "Gracious words make a person persuasive." It is not our arguments or our tight-doctrine that make us persuasive to people, it is the graciousness, love, and joy that only comes from a Christ-filled and Spirit-controlled life. If we walk in step with the Spirit and exhibit these characteristics to a world thirsty for grace, who wouldn’t want to be around us?

When we are gracious, we introduce a little more of the character of God to the world. God, more than anyone, has the right to banish us, to speak ill of us, to expose our heart’s motives, to reveal how wrong we are, and yet God is gracious. He doesn’t critique, jab, or JesusJuke his children.

The gospel shows us that God is not running after us to smite us, but to save us. "God so loved the world,” and “God did not come to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.” (John 3:16-17). God lavishes us with grace.

The gospel is not our work, our rules, or our religious structure. It’s the news that Christ has come, died, and rose again for the sake of us sinners. God wants to reconcile people to himself and he’s given everything in His Son to reconcile people to himself. God has done it all for us and that is grace. That’s the gospel the world needs to hear. It’s this simple proclamation and the hearing of this good news that transforms the human heart.

This gospel preached graciously does something profound to the human heart. When we talk about who Jesus was, and what He did, and His great love and gracious covering for our sin - God takes it and drives it supernaturally into the human heart, and the Holy Spirit draws people into faith in Christ. As we graciously share this story of Jesus, the graciousness of God is evident and draws people to the grace of Christ that can save them. When we pridefully argue our points, the message of grace is lost.

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

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Read more on making sharing the gospel with grace in Jonathan Dodson's book, Unbelievable Gospel: How to Share a Gospel Worth Believing

Avoid Making Disciples of Yourself

Those of us who take seriously the Great Commission recognize how Christ’s charge compels us not to make converts on a superficial level but Christ followers in every area of life. This rightfully includes a healthy obedience to Jesus Christ, the head of the church, and a deep love for Christ’s body, the local church. We cannot create missionaries without making disciples. But we who make disciples must remember our own fallen state. Though pure in motive, without great care we may—in the name of disciple making — focus on making those we disciple like us rather than like Jesus. True, Paul told those he discipled to follow him as he followed Christ, and there is a sense in which one of the best ways to show a disciple how to follow Christ is by demonstrating such a life. But we must be aware of our own biases as we lead others.

As we make disciples, we need to take care to be balanced and holistic in our training. All of us have personalities and passions that make us unique, but our goal in disciple making is less to note our uniqueness and more to spotlight Christ. If we are not careful, we will inadvertently push those we follow to pursue our personal passions more than Jesus. The goal is to make Christ followers not us followers.

Three areas represent how to balance the heart of our disciple making and mentoring:

•  Orthodoxy, or right belief — we must affirm and guard fundamental teaching of Scripture.
•  Orthopathy, or right affections — we must have a deep love for God and for others.
•  Orthopraxy, or right actions — we must demonstrate our faith effectively in how we live.

In other words, we should be discipling others (and ourselves) to give glory to God through our head, our heart, and our hands. This is hinted at in Luke 2:52 where we read our Lord grew in wisdom, stature, and favor with God and man. We see this in the earliest description of life in the church in Acts 2:42-47:

• Orthodoxy: They gave themselves to the apostles’ doctrine.
• Orthopathy: They were praising God and having favor with the people.
• Orthopraxy: They sold their possessions and distributed to those in need.

Here is how we must take care not to make followers of us rather than followers of Christ. We all have a tendency to favor one of these areas — doctrine, affection, or action — more than the others.

You probably know some believers who love to study doctrine or some subset of theology, from apologetics to a specific theological trend (eschatology, for instance). Sometimes folks given to such interests display a less-than-gracious capacity to relate to others or to practice their faith in the real world. And, sometimes they would rather argue their theological convictions than take time to hear yours.

Others have a great heart for people and really love God, but the idea of a doctrinal study gives them chills. They have affection but do not adequately value truth.

Then again, some just want to know how to “do” the Christian life. These are the activists, jumping from one cause to another, sometimes running over people who do not share their fondness for said cause, and often not able to articulate biblically why they have such an activist bent.

You may be given to one of these three tendencies more than others, but take care: If you focus on one in your disciple making to the neglect of the others, you are not making followers of Jesus. You are making followers of you.

Consider these unbalanced approaches:

Orthodoxy + Orthopraxy – Orthopathy = legalism.

The Pharisees were keen on preserving the truth and on doing their religious duties. But they did not love people. Modern-day Pharisees still don’t.

Orthopraxy + Orthopathy – Orthodoxy = liberalism.

You have heard the expression a “bleeding-heart liberal.” Liberals love to talk about their love for people and causes, but loathe to talk about doctrine and changeless truth.

Orthodoxy + Orthopathy – Orthopraxy = monasticism.

Monasteries seek to preserve a pure faith. They love those inside their safe walls. But their focus is on what goes on inside their sanctuary far more than what happens in the surrounding culture. I know many churches who function this way, gathering together regularly, loving their fellowship, standing on the promises while they sit on the premises of their church facility, but who do so little in their communities that if they vanished no one would notice.

We must be aware how we as individuals and churches focus on one of these to the exclusion of the others. We need balance. Not a milque-toast, generic version of each, but a bold, unashamed passion for truth, for God and people, and a burden to live out our doctrine and our affection effectively. Students need to see where they are strong and where they are weak in these areas, and student ministries must as well. Most student ministries focus primarily on affections, and then to some degree activism, but give far too little focus to doctrine. I want to dig deeply into the riches of God’s Word, have a heart for my Savior and the people for whom He died that is apparent to all, and be able to live the faith in this culture in such a way that believers and unbelievers alike see there is no better way to live. Or to think. Or to love.

Understanding this not only helps us disciple those who have come to follow Christ, it can help us evangelize as well. Some people need to be shown theologically the truth of the gospel. But some also need to see and sense the great love of God for them in addition to the propositions of the gospel. Further, some need to see how our faith actually works in the real world, how following Christ affects our daily lives and decisions. The effective gospel bearer will learn to explain the gospel in such a way that one sees its truth, senses its heart, and realizes its practicality in a broken world.

Be busy making disciples. Just be busy making disciples of Jesus, with all of our hearts, minds, and activity. Such disciples may make people take notice. They did in the early church. And they will today.

The following is an excerpt from Alvin Reid's new book, As You Go: Creating a Missional Culture of Gospel-Centered Students (Navpress). Continue reading As You Go.

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

Be a Storyteller

What do you do when you get together with friends? You start with story. What do you do when you return from vacation? Do you pull out the agenda from the cruise and walk them through a list of what you did? No, you share story. How do you explain your childhood to your kids? Story. It is almost impossible to separate storytelling from the fabric of relationship. We like to tell stories and hear stories. Sharing them is the foundation of relationship. And yet, we often fail to share the story of the scriptures in the same natural way. If story is the way we share  how our day went, why is it not the form in which we clarify the gospel? If story is the way we instruct our children in the way they should live, why don't we become storytellers to instruct disciples in the way of obedience. We like stories as illustrations in sermons to clarify meaning but fail to see the story of Scripture as the place to find meaning. I want to call us back to narrative. I invite us to become gospel storytellers. The Bible is nearly two-thirds narrative. It is the story of God. We ought to share it.

Stories are Where We Go for Meaning

"What is the meaning of life?" is the timeless question. It is the question asked in Micah 6:8: "What is required of man?" It is Aristotle’s question: "How should a man lead his life?" Historically, humanity has answered this question through philosophy, science, religion, and art. The first three have failed us or been disregarded. No one reads Plato outside of homework and cramming for exams. We are tired of science’s polished but empty answers. Religion is a place of hypocrisy, ritual, and superstition. The world of cynics has rejected all but the art and story is the dominant art form:

The world now consumes films, novels, theatre, and television in such quantities and such ravenous hunger that the story arts have become humanity’s prime source for inspiration. Robert McKee, Story.

Many of the stories we hear and tell fall short of the meaning of life. As a society, we are beyond the myth of progressive human progress. We have far too many evils to remind us we aren’t getting better. The depravity of the world is our base assumption and our human hunch is that life was not supposed to be this way. Stories try to explain the way forward through this mess. However, void of the gospel story, our neighbors hears some variation of this plot: you can fix your problems, if we are creative, courageous, and smart enough. The meaning of life in contemporary stories is: you are the center of the problem and the solution. The story, or life, is about you. However, the gospel is the story of God for you, for your life. The story of a gracious and just God who goes to great lengths to save and redeem those who don't deserve it. The story of God gives humanity a new identity, meaning, and purpose.

Stories are Where We Turn for Guidance

Kenneth Burke said, “Stories are equipment for living.” We model our own life choices on the stories we believe are best or the stories we wish to avoid. We hear how things worked and didn’t work in the years before and make adjustments. We learn from how our older siblings stories and model our own lives after them. Not only do my parents and teachers have major impact on forming the way I wanted to live, but so did Huck Finn, Bill Huxtable, the Box Car Children, and the group from Saved by the Bell. These stories and characters instructed and formed my proper view of living. They taught me how to live adventurously, with integrity, and even how to ask a girl out on a date. They do so, because we connect with the characters. We witness what they witness, we experience what they do. Stories are shaped in the reality of the world. They reflect what is true of us and our surroundings. As we listen to a story, it informs how we live. How does the story of the Bible inform how you live? What would it look like to have life shaped by the gospel story and bring others into that story?

Stories are the Glue of Community

Stories form and hold groups of people together. They are the folklore shared, the background , and the history of our greatest triumphs over our most challenging days. The inside jokes, the shared experiences turned lifelong memories, and anything that follows “remember that one time” binds communities together. The stories a community shares are the stories that define it. If the story is one of independence and self-reliance, the community will be shaped by this. If the common story is one of pleasure and riches, it will be defined by this, too. If the community's story is one of hope, grace, and love, it will be characterized by hope, grace, and love.

The Good Story

Robert McKee, the self proclaimed story guru of the 21st century, writes that "a good story tells the world something it wants to hear and it's the artists job to figure out what it wants to hear." The gospel is that good story. It is the story of what the world needed but didn't deserve being given by God through Christ. It is the story of true acceptance, adoption, belonging, gifts, overcoming the destruction and devastation of this world. Eugene Peterson explains this well:

Stories are the most prominent biblical way of helping us see ourselves in ‘the God story,’ which always gets around to the story of God making and saving us. Stories, in contrast to abstract statements of truth, tease us into becoming participants in what is being said. We find ourselves involved in the action. We may start as spectators or critics, but if the story is good (and the biblical stories are very good!), we find ourselves no longer just listening to but inhabiting the story.

The gospel is a story not a list of facts. It is the story about God redeeming, rescuing, and recreating his creation. The story of God taking it upon himself to save us from death and bring us to life. The gospel is the true story and only trustworthy account for what has been done to redeem the world. The story is good news. The gospel is the compelling story that doesn’t fall flat on meaning. The story that satisfies our longings for purpose and joy. It is the greatest story because it instructs us in how to live with faith and in close relationship with God. Furthermore, it creates a community. The story of God makes a new people characterized by grace, because the story is about grace. The community is centered around God because the story is about God. This is a story the world wants and needs to hear.

Sheryl's Story

Her family tree mostly produced problems. Its fruit wasn't peppered with convicts or crazies, just disappointments: neglected homes, broken promises, and abandoned children. The residue of family pain was silent relationships. She knew at an early age that everything would be uphill for her and no one was going to carry her. Whatever she gained would be by her sweat. Whatever the costs, she would pay. She was raised religiously in what to do and how to do it. She knew the right things to do but was never told the story.

One evening, she came to our home for our community's weekly meal and story time. We shared and engaged the story of the early church (Acts 2). We shared the story of God's adoption of us and the creation of the church. It was story-time. In the middle, Sheryl asked, "I've never heard this story, but is the church a family? All I've heard is God wants us to do stuff for him and live right, this story sounds like God loves us like children." My wife explained, "Church is family. We are a family. Even when we are not together we are the family. But all good families get together, catch up, share stories, and live life together."

Sheryl was raised to know the right things to do and the bullet points of theology. She was never told the story of the Gospel. The story she had believed was one of self-reliance and moral behavior. She found meaning in it and had accepted this story for her life. But it wasn't the true story. We had the blessing of sharing the story of God with her. Unfortunately, most of the people we live around and work with don't know the gospel story, either. They may know some of the points, or some of the characters, but they haven't heard the story. Like Sheryl, they need to hear it and engage. Be a storyteller to them!

Become a Storyteller

How do you become a gospel storyteller?

• Begin by knowing it as a story. Read it, listen to it, and engage it in conversation with us. Place yourself in the narrative, not as the hero but as the everyman. 
• Ask of the story? If this were true, how would it change my life, community, city?
• Participate in the Story-Formed Way created by Soma Communities.
• Speak it. The best way to learn is to share it and try!
• Share your life story and how it is really part of God's story.

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Brad Watson serves 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. Twitter: @BradsStories

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Read more on story-formed discipleship: A Story of Gospel Community by Seth Mcbee.

Avoiding the Pain of Boston

Tim Briggs is the Creative Media Pastor at Church at Charlotte in Charlotte, NC. He blogs regularly at Church Sports Outreach.  He also regularly writes about ministry, the church, technology, culture, and creative stuff. He is married with two children and is currently pursuing a M.A. in Biblical Studies from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. You can find Tim on Twitter: @timbriggshere. ___

You can learn a lot about yourself in how you react to a tragedy like the Boston bombings.

Ask yourself, what did you first feel when you heard the news? What did you do when you saw the first images?

For many, emotions like this began to fester: anger, frustration, sadness, hopelessness, fear... the list goes on. Not me though. Like many, I read the news on Twitter but I didn't initially feel any of the above emotions. Rather, I met the news with a cold indifference. I brushed it off. No sympathy, no prayer, just emotional lethargy.

Sound calloused? Cold-hearted? On the surface, you could chalk it up to that, but it goes much deeper than the initial reaction. Later in the day, I began to ask myself the all-important question: Why? Why did I react so blankly to the news? Why was I so indifferent? After wrestling with that for an evening, I came to this conclusion: It was for my protection.

Mercy in Pain

If I internalized the pain and suffering in Boston, it could lead to fear, anger, sadness, etc. and I didn't want to feel that. I didn't want to let what happened in Boston affect my little world and make me uncomfortable, so I moved on with my day as if nothing happened. You see, indifference has become an acquired skill over the years that provides a refuge from pain (or so I believe). This realization, which took me hours to discover after the fact, took only seconds to happen in the moment. It's amazing how quickly we can emotionally render a situation.

Of course, it's all a lie. This coping mechanism can't go on forever. After all, pain will always be a reality this side of Heaven. In the midst of that somber reality, there is hope. Not only is Jesus making all things new, but he understands my pain. "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses … Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need" (Hebrews 4:15-16). Yes, I need mercy and I need grace. And so do the people of Boston.

My belief in indifference will never deliver on its promise of keeping the pain away. At best, it will only delay it. What Christ offers in the midst of suffering, though, is "peace which transcends all understanding" (Philippians 4:7). The truth that needs to soak into my soul is that Jesus tenderly awaits to deliver it to me. It's a counterintuitive truth that says that I should lean into the pain, not run from it. And Jesus promises that he will meet me there.

I pray that whatever you felt while hearing the news of the bombings in Boston, you won't run from it. Embrace it, lean into it, and experience the mercy of God.

The Burden of Shepherding

It's an understatement to say that the Apostle Paul faced challenges. In 2 Corinthians 11, he rattled off a list of some of the difficulties he encountered as an apostolic church planter. He was beaten, imprisoned, whipped, and shipwrecked. He experienced sleeplessness, hunger, nakedness, rejection, false accusation, and persecution. His work was literally dangerous. He used the word “danger” eight times to describe it. This list de-romanticizes the apostolic gifting and calling, doesn’t it? And yet, at the end of his vivid description of the suffering he had faced, he makes a very telling statement: “Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my anxiety for all the churches” (2 Corinthians 11:28). Everything else refers to his being shipwrecked, beaten, homeless, hungry, etc. There was something  beyond these struggles. What could be more difficult to endure than all of that “everything else?” Evidently, of all the challenges Paul faced, the burden of caring for the churches was the most difficult. Paul’s concern for the church caused him anxiety. This is the very same word used in 1 Peter 5:6-7: “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”  Anyone who has ever answered the phone at 3 am to the sound of someone weeping can relate to Paul. Anyone who has sat with a woman after she’s learned her husband has cheated on her can understand what he’s feeling.  Anyone who has driven around town in the dark looking for the guy from their missional community who is strung out on meth can begin to comprehend what Paul is saying. Caring for people is extremely difficult work that has the potential to cause great anxiety.

I am frequently asked: “How to you handle the burden of shepherding people? How do you avoid making people’s problems your own? Where do you find the strength to continue caring for them, even when it’s extremely difficult?” Often, the person asking these questions are being crushed under this burden.

I think there is something healthy about Paul’s anxiety. He continues his thought by saying, “Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?” (2 Corinthians 11:29). We are actually commanded to “weep with those who weep.” (Romans 12:15). The word “compassion” literally means “to be moved in one’s intestines.” When other people are hurting, we should feel it deeply, too. On the other hand (and I have no idea if this was the case for Paul), I think there is often something unhealthy about the anxiety we feel.

Two False Beliefs that Lead to Unhealth

While there may be many factors that contribute to unhealthy anxiety, in my own life I see two primary reasons I end up feeling the burden of shepherding.

1. I think it’s my responsibility to “save” people.

It’s my job to “fix” them. I need to save this couple’s marriage, I need to ensure that this man overcomes his porn addiction, I need to heal this woman from her sexual abuse. Those statements sound ridiculous because they are never stated that explicitly but are buried under a pile of good intentions and pious justification. Justifications such as: “We are called to bear one another’s burdens,” “We are the hands and feet of Jesus,”and “this is the work I’m called to do.”

What I’m truly saying when I take ultimate responsibility for the well-being of others is: “If they crash, it’s on me. My worth and value is at stake. If this doesn’t end well, it will reflect negatively on me, and I don’t want to look like an idiot.”

The good news, however, is Jesus Christ is the person responsible for the shepherding and care of every person in our church family! He is the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep (John 10). He is the Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5), which means he’s the Senior Pastor. He’s the one who indwells people with his Spirit; the same Spirit that raised him from the dead. He is the one who brings about transformation. Let that sink in for moment:  It’s the Spirit’s job to care for people and to change people. The amazing thing is that he asks us to join him in that work-not to own that work, but to join that work.

2. I think I can do my part with my power.

The Chief Shepherd is responsible for everyone, but he asks me to shepherd his flock, too. The weight is on his shoulders, while I am given the opportunity to serve him by serving others. Even when I’m clear on this, however, I sometimes end up feeling the burden of shepherding because I attempt to do “my” part in the power of my own strength.

Here are some indicators that I may have slipped into this faulty thinking/belief:

• I am concerned about saying the wrong thing.
• I am uncomfortable with silence.
• I get nervous about heart level conversations.
• Shepherding leaves me completely exhausted.
• I find myself worrying about the people I'm caring for
• I get frustrated (rather than grieved) by a lack of progress

Jesus has, in fact, asked us to join him in his work of caring for his people. But he has also given us every resource needed to do that work. Every resource! He’s given us his Spirit, who supernaturally empowers us for ministry (Ephesians 1:19-20, Colossians 1:29). The Spirit is the wisdom and the power of God, so we lack neither the necessary wisdom or the necessary power to care for others. The challenge for me is to “serve by the strength that God provides” (1 Peter 4:11) rather than “leaning on my own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5). Self-reliance is a sure path to shepherding burnout.

Three Helpful Practices in Shepherding

How can we actively engage in the care of people’s hearts without getting completely overwhelmed in the process? How do we avoid unhealthy anxiety, and consider the health of our own hearts as we shepherd others? I’ve found these three practices to be helpful:

1. Repent of my desire to save people in order to make myself significant. This is nothing short of idolatry, and a flat-out denial of the work of Jesus. He alone defines me. I am one with him, and my life is hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3). Additional efforts to prove my worth are an insult to the One True Savior. We must repent of this idolatry and return to worship of the only savior.

2. Affirm that it is the Spirit’s responsibility to change people. Repeatedly entrust people to his care. They belong to him! (Psalm 24:1). I often lift my hands in the air as I’m praying early in the morning for a hurting person, reminding myself that they belong to him, and that they are ultimately in his hands. I can trust him to do all of the things Jesus said he would do: convict, teach, comfort, remind, and glorify Jesus.

At the end of a hard meeting or a heavy phone call, pray and entrust the person into the Spirit’s ongoing care. Make it clear to God, yourself, and the other person that you are trusting the Holy Spirit to be the one to bring about transformation in the person’s life.

Worry and anxiety are often a sign that we believe our identity is in question. “If this doesn't work out well, it will impact my worth and value.” Casting all of your anxieties upon him means affirming that the outcome of any shepherding situations we find ourselves in will have no impact on our identity. I find this prayer helps me affirm the Spirit’s work and my identity. I pray:

This is your responsibility, not mine. This is in your hands. I trust you to work. Regardless of what happens, I will entrust this person to you, and I will entrust myself to you. I will not be anxious, feeling that I must perform in order to be significant or worthy. My worth and value comes exclusively from the work of Jesus and through my connection to him. I cast my anxieties upon you, because you care for me, and because you are responsible for them and for me. This is your job and I trust you to do it!

3. Pray and ask the Spirit to speak to you concerning the people you shepherd. “What do I need to say? What questions do I need to ask? What scriptures might be relevant?” Then, pray and ask the Spirit to fill, empower, and speak through you. My flesh (Romans 13:14), my “old self” (Ephesians 4:22) hates to depend on the Spirit. It is filled with pride and desperately wants me to look smart, to appear as if I have it all together.  Total dependence on the Spirit puts me in a place of humility, and gives me greater energy and clarity for the task at hand.

Peter’s words to elders should serve as a fitting closing word to anyone involved in the shepherding and care of others. May the Spirit fill us for the task at hand!

I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. - 1 Peter 5:1-5

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Abe Meysenburg serves as a pastor and elder with Soma Communities in Tacoma, WA. After living in the Midwest for most of their lives, he and his wife, Jennifer, moved to Tacoma in the summer of 1999. In 2001, after working as a Starbucks manager for a few years, Abe helped start The Sound Community Church, which then became a part of Soma Communities in May 2007. Twitter: @AbeMeysenburg.

Other articles by Abe Meysenburg: Grief and the Gospel and The Gospel and the Great Commandment.

Staying for the Best Things

I can't shake the scene of that little room where Passion and Patience sit waiting. The boys' sitter instructed them to stay still, to rest side by side, to hold out for what's best. What we come to find is a quest for pleasure so intense we're compelled to take note. John Bunyan is telling that kind of story in The Pilgrim's Progress. He brings us along with Christian every step of the way and at this particular point Interpreter is our guide.

Interpreter leads Christian into a small room to observe two kids seated in parallel chairs. Passion is the restless one. He is discontent, perhaps huffing and puffing, frowning and squirming. Beside him is Patience. He's the one who keeps quiet. Bunyan implies his posture: feet straight in front of him, neatly squared up in the middle of the chair, hands folded in his lap (i.e., not the way my kids sit at the dinner table). The boys were plainly told they had to wait for the best things. The best things were coming to them, but wouldn't get there until early the next year. Passion can't stand this. We can tell by how he acts. He just wants it all now. Then someone walks in the room and dumps a bag of treasure at his feet. Aha! Passion jumps down from his chair and happily scoops up the goodies. Grinning, he looks over at Patience, still sitting quietly, and he laughs him to scorn.

But Christian continues to watch. He sees that Passion “quickly lavishe[s] all away” until he "had presently nothing left him but rags." Interpreter explains:

These two lads are figures: Passion, of the men of this world; and Patience, of the men of that which is to come; for as here thou seest, Passion will have all now this year, that is to say, in this world; so are the men of this world, they must have all their good things now, they cannot stay till next year, that is until the next world, for their portion of good. . . . But as thou sawest that he had quickly lavished all away, and had presently left him nothing but rags; so will it be with all such men at the end of this world.

Christian replies,

Now I see that Patience has the best wisdom, and that upon many accounts. First, because he stays for the best things. Second, and also because he will have the glory of his, when the other has nothing but rags.

How'd He Do That?

Bunyan leaves us to wonder how Patience's waiting actually looked. Sure, we understand the end. We get that he has the best wisdom. But how exactly did he wait? What did he think about while sitting in that chair? Watching Passion indulge in the treasure? Remembering the sitter's words? How was Patience, well, patient?

Answer: he was a Christian hedonist.

Now to be sure, it doesn't sound very hedonistic at first. Denying himself the bag of "treasure" tossed in front of him resembles more the tune of self-denial. But self-denial, for the Christian Hedonist, is not for the sake of self-denial.

Patience saw Passion dive into the mass of goodies, and he denied his impulse to do the same. He held back. And this is biblical, of course. The apostle Paul writes in Titus 2:11–12a, "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions." Paul says there are things in this world we're supposed to renounce, that is, deny. And the "self" in self-denial is composed of these things. That self is the old self, the one that was crucified with Jesus (Romans 6:6), the one in whom we no longer exist (Galatians 2:20). That is the self Patience denied, the self of ungodliness, worldly passions, and inferior pleasures.

"For the Best Things"

You see, this doesn’t end up as a negative enterprise. Remember how Bunyan says it. Patience sat quietly in his chair "because he stays for the best things." It appears that Patience realized he sat in that room with pleasures for which that bag of treasure could not satisfy. Denying the treasure didn't shrivel up his appetite. It was that his appetite was so big it shriveled up the treasure. Patience didn't bury his head in the sand either. He wasn't frantically shouting "No!" over and over. He simply kept his eyes on next year. He trusted what he was told. Passion could have done the same had he not been far too easily pleased.

We learn that Patience’s self-denial came from a craving for the superior pleasure. This is the self-denial of the Christian Hedonist. Patience wasn't merely holding back, he was looking forward. His resistance from that bag of transient treasure was actually his feasting in eternal joy. As Paul continues in Titus 2:12b–13, "training us. . . to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ."

What Bunyan means is that Patience halted the world's empty promises because he had something better ahead (namely, our Savior Jesus Christ).

Different and the Same

So we're different from Patience, and we're the same. We're different in that we're in a much sweeter spot than he was. He sat in that chair with the promise of better things (convincing enough) while we sit here, in the room of this world, with not only a promise, but also God's very Spirit living inside us. We have the active communication of himself through his word. We have the experience of being "in Christ" now, of being seated with him now in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6). Our lives are hidden in him now (Colossians 3:3). We are brought to God now and enjoy his fellowship (1 Peter 3:18; 1 John 1:3).

But there is still more to come. Like Patience, what's better remains out in front. Learning again from Paul, we've not yet obtained the fullness of our portion. We're not yet perfect (Philippians 3:12). We are waiting, too. We are waiting for the consummation of God's great work, the revealing of our Lord Jesus and the final redemption of our bodies (1 Corinthians 1:7; Romans 8:23). So as wondrous at it is now, the "far better" is yet next year (Philippians 1:23).

And waiting like this is staying for the best things.

Editor’s Note: This is a repost of “Staying for the Best Things“ from the Desiring God blog. It appears here with the author’s permission.

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

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For more free articles, read: Five Lies that Kill Obedience by Brad Watson and Patience and Discipleship by Jeremy Writebol.

What Would Jesus Say About That?

“I DO DRUGS. WHAT WOULD JESUS SAY ABOUT THAT?”

How would you respond to this question? Here’s the context: you’re a night security guard and the only Christian in your workplace. Another guard suddenly sticks his head into your office. Pointing his finger he almost accuses, “You’re one of those ‘Christians,’ right?” You get a little nervous. Nothing good ever follows that question. No one gives you a high five, says “good job,” and goes about their business. They only want to debate, challenge, or stump you. You respond with regretful hesitation, “Yeah…”

He crosses his arms, looks you square in the eye and then brings the challenge: “I do drugs. What would Jesus say about that?” How would you respond? More pointedly, how could you respond in a way that might actually resonate with the asker?

THREE INSUFFICIENT RESPONSES

I’ve posed this scenario, which actually happened to a leader I was coaching, in trainings around the country. No matter where I am, I hear these responses:

1. “Um, I Don’t Know Exactly”

For some followers of Jesus, our gut response would be to look down, stammer a bit, and ashamedly admit we don’t know what Jesus would say. Maybe, we give in to the pressure of the unexpected question, the outlandish honesty, or the shock of a challenge at 2 a.m. Perhaps we have a general sense of what Jesus might say, but have a hard time putting it into words. It could be that our “people-pleaser” kicks in and we simply can’t tell him the core of what we believe. Sometimes, we are afraid. A common response to this question is a blank stare. Put yourself in the shoes of the asker: “I don’t know” looks like ignorance. This simply isn’t a sufficient answer, the asker really wants to know what you and Jesus think.

2. “He’d tell you to stop.”

For other Christians, the answer would stem from the moralistic, humanist culture we grew up in. Our answer is some form of Bob Newhart’s MadTV sketch: a counselee admits a number of struggles, while Newhart, the counselor answers each with a blunt “Stop it!” Even if we intellectually know Jesus is our savior, we function as if he is simply a good guy with ethical advice. When asked about any sin issue – by anyone, Christian or not – we espouse surface-level fixes. Instead of addressing the true sin, we merely address the outflows or consequences of sin. Maybe we look for five easy steps to end a struggle; advise a few “good works”. Perhaps we appeal to legality (“you’ll get arrested”), personal welfare (“it might kill you”), heartstrings (“if you get arrested or die, can you imagine how your family will feel?”), or moralism (“you know it’s wrong”). It could be that we even quote a verse: “He’d say ‘you shall have no other gods before me’ – that’s the first commandment.” Put yourself in his shoes again“He’d say, ‘Stop it’” fits a view of God they’re most likely assuming of a no-fun, rule-giving, demanding, and impersonal deity. This too doesn't get to the heart of the matter.

3. “He died for your sin so you can be with him in heaven”

A final common response acknowledges their need for the gospel. Maybe you’ve been praying for this guard. Perhaps, you’ve intentionally spoken of faith before to “peak his interest.” It could be that in this moment of boldness, you’re elated that God finally opened the door. So, you share the gospel many of us know well. You gush out some form of, “He’d tell you that God is perfect and heaven is perfect, but because of sin, you’re not perfect. God sent Jesus to die for your sin so you can be reconciled to God and live eternal life with him. If you accept Jesus he’ll forgive your sin of drugs!” This is all true – and praise God it is! But, if he’s ignoring God, he doesn’t care about heaven. If he’s like much of the world, he doesn’t believe he’s too bad a person. If he’s a common American, it’s likely he doesn’t fully understand sin or his need for Jesus. There’s a strong possibility he doesn’t believe in God – or at least, a God who makes any difference in his daily life. Even the objective, big-picture gospel is not a sufficient answer!

CHILDREN, TOSSED TO AND FRO

These three responses fail because they don’t get to the heart of our faith! The first answer is empty, the second is moralistic, the third is futuristic: it sees the gospel as merely a past event that greatly benefits my future but has nothing to do with today. Many who question the gospel need to know how it applies to them in their current situation. Behind the challenging question is a heart in need of applicable truth.

Futile and failed attempts like these, for growing or explaining faith, are not unique to our culture. Writing to first-century Ephesus, Paul explains the goal of Christian life is maturity in Christ. How do we attain maturity? Paul gives three ways we cannot grow: “[by] every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes” (Eph 4:14). Following new doctrinal trends, teachers, or even gaining more head-knowledge of the Bible isn’t enough. We will always be let down by relying on our own power and “cunning,” to make new rules and fix ourselves or each other. Some are deceived by false teachers, with false hope, and false ways to solve real issues. This is how we often answer any question, not just the 2 a.m. drug challenge. Difficult questions like:

• “How can God redeem my broken marriage?”
• “I’m so angry at my boss, what do I do?”
• “We just want a baby!”
• “How do these verses or commands apply to me?”
• “Where is God in this (recent tragedy)?”

Our answers are some mixture of:

• “I don’t know” (and if you’re really good, you’ll add “but I’ll pray for you.”)
• “Let me give you a great book on that.”
• “Let’s meet every week for accountability.”
• “Do these three things or steps.”
• “You just need to trust Jesus.”
• “One day, all this will be better.”

None of these, Paul would say, are sufficient for faith or maturity. He even claims answers like this likens us to “children, tossed to and fro by the waves” (v.14). These answers fall short because they don't come from belief in the gospel. Pointing people to books, programs, and renewed moralism to receive blessings and solve problems demonstrates a lack of belief that Jesus is sufficient for our struggles, doubts, hopes, and frustrations. We are saying, "that's a tough question, let me point you to some human cunning or the latest in pop-psychology.

APPLYING AN OBJECTIVE GOSPEL TO SUBJECTIVE SITUATIONS

In conversations like these, we miss a great blessing of the gospel. It is a past event, both historically and personally for every Christian. It does give future hope, for personal reconciliation and the renewal of all things. But it also impacts every moment of our present lives! Paul writes in Romans, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’” (Romans 1:16-17). Verse 16 shows the past reality of the gospel; in the verses following these, Paul explains coming wrath and eternal power: the future reality of the gospel.

But verse 17 says our faith doesn’t just “save us,” and “give us eternal life.” Faith is the very power by which we live. The gospel does mean something: to everyone, everyday and for every situation. We just don’t seem to know how to apply it! To the Romans, Paul says we learn to “live [now!] by faith.” To the Ephesians, he says that while those other ways will fail, the way to “grow up in every way into him who is the head” is to “speak the truth in love” (Eph 4:15). Jesus himself, the greatest proclaimer and very embodiment of the gospel, gives us an example of what it looks like to apply the objective truth of the gospel to the specific, subjective need.

When Jesus meets a Samaritan woman in John 4, she challenged him with a question of race and gender roles, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (v.9). Jesus doesn’t ignore her first question; he doesn’t tell her to stop worrying about her situation; he doesn’t answer that he’ll die soon to reconcile the broken socio-economic status, so she should believe in him for eternal life. Instead, he starts by addressing her obvious need, thirst: “there is greater water than this well can give,” he says – “living water” will forever quench your thirst (v.10, 13).

Here’s what is often missed in this passage: Jesus speaks to something deeper than thirst. He speaks to the woman’s lack of satisfaction. We see this in her desire to be filled, never having to drink again: “Sir, give me that is water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water” (v.15). We see this as they discuss her string of spouses: “You’ve had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband” (v.18). In her unfilled desire to worship: “[Jews] say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship” (v.20). At every point, Jesus shows himself and God’s truth to be more satisfying than any of her lesser pursuits: water, good husband or fulfillment in a man, or worship location. Finally, she declares her need for a Messiah as he reveals, “I who you speak to am he” (v.26).

Jesus spoke “truth in love.” He met her on her turf. He showed her how faith matters for her present life. Jesus spoke the objective gospel: “There is a Messiah, coming to free you to worship God in spirit and truth, and I am he!” But he spoke that objective gospel in a way that addressed her subjective situation. He started with her felt needs, then pointed to her greater, heart-level need: “God will satisfy you more than this!” It’s a poignant picture of Jesus, truth incarnate, speaking truth to her in a way that she can immediately resonate with and understand.

HOW WOULD YOU RESPOND?

Back to the original scenario and challenge: “I do drugs. What would Jesus say about that?” How do you answer that question? What deeper need is the asker really addressing? What true struggle is he admitting? Put yourself in his shoes: how can the objective truth of the gospel apply to their subjective situation?

Here’s how my friend responded to the challenge, and I couldn’t be prouder of him. After thinking for a moment, he said, “I think Jesus would tell you that you’re looking for hope in a place that’s going to let you down. You know it lets you down because you have to take a hit three times a day. So I think Jesus would tell you that he’s a better place to put your hope, because he promises he’ll never let you down.” Jesus spoke the gospel truth as it addressed satisfaction; my friend spoke the gospel truth as it addresses personal hope. He exalted Jesus as the objective answer to the guard’s subjective question. God has thousands of years of history, 66 written books, and millions of lives throughout history to prove that Jesus is man’s greatest hope.

No, the guard didn’t fall on his knees weeping that night. God didn’t redeem his soul in that office. But he uncrossed his arms, shook his head, smiled and told my friend: “No one has ever told me that before. That actually makes a lot of sense. We should talk more about that sometime.” That night, the guard walked away from my friend, having heard the gospel spoken to him in a way that resonated with him in his present life.

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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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Related articles:  Questioning the Gospel by Jonathan Dodson and What is the Purpose of the Bible? by Jeremy Carr

It’s Grace All the Way

This is an excerpt taken from On the Grace of God by Justin Holcomb copyright ©2013. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.org. ---

From Jesus Christ “we have all received grace upon grace” (John 1:16). We are saved solely through faith in Jesus Christ because of God’s grace and Christ’s merit alone. We are neither saved by our merits nor declared righteous by our good works. We do not deserve grace, or else it wouldn’t be grace. This means that God grants salvation not because of the good things we do or even because of our faith— and despite our sin. This is the ring of liberation in the Christian proclamation. If it is not grace all the way, then we will spend our lifetime wondering if we have done enough to get that total acceptance for which we desperately long. “I said the prayer, but did I say it passionately enough?” “I repented, but was it sincere enough?” Election puts salvation in the only place that it can possibly exist: God’s hands. God’s election is the unconditional and unmerited nature of his grace.

Ephesians 2:4–5 proclaims Gods grace clearly: “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace have you been saved.” Regeneration (being made spiritually alive) takes place when we as spiritually dead people are made alive in Christ. Dead people do not cooperate with grace. Unless regeneration takes place first, there is no possibility of faith. Paul got this from Jesus, who told Nicodemus: “Unless a man is born again first, he cannot possibly see or enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).

Ephesians 2 is filled with the high-octane gospel of grace for both our justification and sanctification. It begins with how believers were dead in their sins, then moves to how God loved us and rescued us from this death by his grace, bringing salvation to all in Christ, uniting Jews and Gentiles as one people in which the Spirit of God dwells. The first half of the chapter focuses on God’s rescue operation for his people, which delivered us from our sin and God’s wrath, and ends with the verse 10, which centers on how God’s deliverance means we are created anew for lives of righteousness. As one commentator notes, salvation has already been described by Paul as “a resurrection from the dead, a liberation from slavery, and a rescue from condemnation”; he moves now to the idea of a new creation.

The theme of Ephesians 2:8-9 is clear: grace. This theme was already mentioned in Ephesians 2:5, but what was then more of an “undercurrent” now becomes the main point.

We are saved by grace, not anything we have done. The passage is a traditional one used to support the idea that justification before God is by grace alone, and not anything we do.

And for good reason. The verses strike with great emphasis the note of salvation as a complete “gift of God.” We have done nothing to bring it about that could lead us to boast about it. And yet it is nearly impossible not to boast in the radical love of God when we grasp this reality.

We now move to Ephesians 2:10 with its focus on “good works.” It is tempting at first glance to think that verses 8-9 are about grace and verse 10 is about works. But this would be to miss something very important that we easily neglect: everything is grace. Or, as one scholar puts it, “It is grace all the way.”

But what does that mean exactly?

Notice how God-centered Ephesians 2:10 is. In the Greek, the first word in the sentence is “his,” which is an unusual placement and puts the emphasis squarely on God. We are “his workmanship.” We “are created [by God] in Christ Jesus” for good works. These good works were those “that God prepared beforehand.” Clearly works are important to Paul, but his emphasis here is on God bringing them about within us.

Notice that this verse does three important things.

First, it gives the reason why Paul can say in verses 8-9 that salvation is a complete gift of God: because we are his workmanship, re-created in Jesus Christ.

Second, it points forward to other places the new creation idea is found in Ephesians.

Third, it completes the section of Ephesians 2:1-10 in a fitting way by using again the idea of “walking,” which contrasts with Ephesians 2:2 where Paul talks about how we used to “walk” in sin, following the “course of the world.” Now we “walk” in good works God has set before us.

Ephesians 2:10 continues that we have been created in Christ Jesus “for good works.” So we are saved for the purpose of walking in good works. Good works are never the ground or cause of our salvation. They can’t be, they just don’t work like that. They are not the cause but the “goal of the new creation.”

And God has already prepared them for us ahead of time.

We must always hold Ephesians 2:10 together with 2:8-9. The Bible paints a holistic picture of the believer as one whose life is continually lived in grace that bears fruit, fruit that is used by God to bless others.

How do we then live? If our works are “prepared beforehand,” what do we do? Paul says we “walk in them.” We show up. We abide in the vine of Jesus (John 15:4). We walk by the Spirit (Gal 5:16-25). We do our best not to muck it up. But we will; and when we do, grace picks us up again. It’s like the old Rich Mullins lyric: “If I stand, let me stand on the promise that you will see me through, and if I can’t, let me fall on the grace that first brought me to you.” There is a damaging idea floating around that says, “God saved you, now what are you going to do for him?” This is a recipe for failure. If you come to the table believing you can do anything for God in your own strength or repay him on any level, you have already lost. You are back to confessing your self-dependent spiritual death from which Jesus saved you.

Above all else and before any discussion of what we should do, we must understand deeply in our bones who we are: the workmanship of God. You are his project. So, you are invited to be who you are. Your life is not your own; it was bought with a price. Live with the gratitude, humility, joy, and peace that come from knowing it does not all depend on you. You are loved and accepted in Christ, so you don’t have to focus on what you do or don’t do for God. Now you can focus on what Jesus has done for you, and that will cause you to love God more. Then you can’t help but walk in grace, realizing how costly God’s grace was.

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Justin Holcomb is a pastor at Mars Hill Church, where he serves as executive director of the Resurgence. He is also adjunct professor of theology and philosophy at Reformed Theological Seminary and previously taught at the University of Virginia. Justin holds two masters degrees from Reformed Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. from Emory University.

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Read Gospel Amnesia: Forgetting the Goodness of the News by Luma Simms

What is the purpose of the Bible?

I was recently taking a walk with my family through our neighborhood. We ran into some neighbor friends and in the midst of conversation began discussing the recent History Channel series, “The Bible.” The neighbor asked my thoughts on the program’s accuracy, both historically and theologically. This opened the door for the question: What is the purpose of the Bible? This is a great question that is not always answered well. There are several misconceptions about the Bible’s purpose. For some, the Bible is seen as a collection of mythical stories about heroes whose point is to convey a moral lesson. For others, the Bible is seen as a book of lessons and rules by which we live good lives. In the over-churched yet under-gospeled South, the Bible has even been misapplied to justify preferences, lifestyles, and, at times, foolishness, that Scripture itself does not mandate.

Often, this stems from limiting the Bible to information that a person should learn – mere knowledge to acquire but never practice. Likewise, the Bible can be limited to mere practical steps for living. While both of these features are important and have a role in discipleship, they miss the full purpose of Scripture. Scripture is a grand story of redemption in which we find our story. It is the authoritative word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit, revealing the person and work of Jesus. When we listen to Scripture in discipleship, we will be transformed to become more like Jesus together.

Listening Well

As a music major in college, I studied classical guitar. I also played in a local band that kept busy playing shows, recording albums, and pursuing the rockstar dream. This often  kept me from a disciplined practice of classical guitar. Once in a group meeting of all the classical guitar majors, our instructor advised, “Be sure you’re listening to good music. Don’t listen to junk that’ll just ruin your ears. Listen well and strive to create something good.” He urged us to focus on both music theory and practice.

Around that time I attended a concert in Atlanta featuring Christopher Parkening, one of the greatest classical guitarists of our time. Parkening played solo guitar in a way I never thought possible. His dynamic style featured fast, technical melodies as well as lush, peaceful tones. The concert was nothing less than inspirational. In that moment, I witnessed the beauty of both the technical theory of music and its performance. I was transformed and encouraged to study the technique of classical guitar as well as to strive to excel as a performing musician. This affected not only me, personally, but also my fellow classmates, as we cheered each other on toward better performance.

Similarly, our discipleship is a marriage of theory and practice – the information of gospel truth as well as the practical application of that good news. In this way, Scripture becomes the tune to which we are to listen – a beautiful symphony composed and performed by God.

The “information” of Scripture is the grand story of redemption, revealing the identity, character, and nature of our God. This story’s hero is Christ himself. In teaching his disciples, Jesus states, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled” (Luke 24:44).

Likewise, the “practice” of Scripture is the application of this truth. James 1:22 says to “be doers of the word, and not hearers only.” Other examples include the instruction to love one another (John 13:34-35; 1 Peter 1:22, 4:8; 1 John 3:11), fellowship with one another (1 John 1:3-7, Acts 2:42-47), forgive one another (Ephesians 4:25-32), accept one another (Romans 15:7), serve one another (Galations 5:13-14), teach one another (Colossians 3:16), be patient with one another (1 Thessalonians 5:14), pray for one another (James 5:13-16), submit to one another (Ephesians 5:1-21), and encourage one another (1Thessalonians 5:11-15). Since our new identity is found in the person and work of Christ, new actions and a new way of living follow.

As we listen, we take in not only the information of gospel truth but also the practical application of this good news, thereby being transformed to become more like Christ together. Acts 2:42-47 is a great example:

And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

The disciples’ devotion to the teaching affected their personal lives as well as their shared community. Through worship and obedient action together, their hearts were “glad and generous.” They did not merely do generous things, they had an inner transformation together. This is summed up in the word “fellowship,” which describes a community of active participation.

Rhythmic Participation

Heeding the wisdom of our guitar instructor, we music majors devoted ourselves to classical guitar together. We would listen well and practice often; culminating in performing recitals and concerts, both as soloists and together in ensembles. There’s a drastic difference between being being a mere listener of music and being a musician. And although many can appreciate the sound of good music, its creation comes from those who not only listen but who also devote to practice and performance. So it is with discipleship in listening to Scripture.

In Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” In this gospel commission, Jesus charges the disciples to make disciples by bringing to bear both the “information” and “application” of the good news together for transformation.

First, we see that “teaching” is sharing the information of the gospel. Jesus states that all Scripture bears witness about him (John 5:39) and that Scripture written about him in the law of Moses, Psalms, and Prophets would be fulfilled in him (Luke 24:44). Since all Scripture is about Christ, this is what we are to teach. This is the information of the gospel.

Second, we see the application of the gospel in the instruction “to observe all that I have commanded you.” Teaching is not a one-time passing of information but the ongoing action of kneading the gospel into the hearts and minds of disciples through observing what has been taught. When questioned by the religious elite of the day, Jesus replies, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” In quoting Scripture from Deuteronomy 6, Jesus displays his authority over the Old Testament as well as the continuity of God’s redemptive plan in gospel discipleship.

Third, we see transformation in Christian discipleship. Discipleship begins with Christ (“all that I have commanded you”) and involves both a teaching disciple (“teaching”) and a learning disciple (“to observe”). Yet teaching information alone is not sufficient in becoming a disciple. Likewise, merely adhering to what is taught or commanded does not truly encompass discipleship. True discipleship in light of the gospel gives disciples of Christ a new identity that results in new action. This transformation is a work of the Holy Spirit that includes both instant and ongoing action.

As we listen to Scripture, the Holy Spirit works to transform us, empower us, and mature us together.

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Jeremy Carr (ThM, MDiv) is lead teaching pastor and co-founding elder of Redemption Church in Augusta, GA. He has been a member of the Acts 29 network since 2007 and has written for the Resurgence. Jeremy is husband to Melody and father to Emaline, Jude, Sadie, and Nora. His book, Sound Words: Listening to the Scriptures, will be released by GCD books in May. Twitter: @pastorjcarr.

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Equip, Don't Enable

One of my great concerns for the church in America today is the consumer mentality that has become so pervasive. Unfortunately, in my experience, most pastors complain about it a lot but then unintentionally, or even intentionally, propagate that reality in their churches as, rather than equipping our people, we are enabling our people. Ephesians 4:11-13 has an important word to offer to us to that end. Consider these words:

And He personally gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, for the training of the saints in the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into a mature man with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness

While this passage is not unknown to most pastors, I am not sure we have really considered the application of the text. I see four major implications of this text that cannot be missed by those who are leaders in the church.

1. God gives the church leaders. (11)

Leaders are not in their role simply because of giftedness, or desire, though both of those things are important. Leaders exist in their roles, first and foremost, because God has ordained that they be there. Your role as a church leader is a commission; an assignment from the God of the universe. It cannot and should not be approached with lazy, half-hearted effort. Leaders are given, as a personal gift from God. Notice the text. Leaders do not just exist. They do not just exist because God put them there. They exist as God's gift to the church. The idea here is that church leaders are intended by God to be a good, and gracious gift to the church.

2. Leaders equip the body. (12a)>

It is difficult to overstate this. God does not give us church leaders so that they can simply "do ministry." This text reminds us that He gives us leaders to equip the body, as a whole, to do ministry. In the American church we have even modified our vocabulary about the vocational expectation of a pastor to indicate that when we assume certain aspects of pastoral leadership that are focused on serving the needs of others we are now known as being "pastoral.” This belies a belief that what it means to be pastoral is to minister to the needs of others. This is unfortunate because, not only is it not faithful to the biblical text, but it is enabling, rather than equipping the church.

While this practice can sound noble, and while the pastor should certainly be a servant, we do a disservice to the people we serve and the kingdom of God, if we as leaders do the ministry that God has called the whole church to do. I want to suggest that while “pastoral ministry” is part of our responsibility as the body of Christ, the unique responsibility of the church leader is not to be extraordinarily good at “doing ministry”, but instead to invest our lives equipping the body to serve.

Not only that, though, the bible is clear that the ministry will not be done well, when we assume that posture, and the church will not grow, when we assume that posture.

Far too often we have developed a form of church that reflects our consumer driven society. “Church” is where people go to receive goods and services, and the pastor’s job is to deliver those goods and services. In this model,  we don’t create disciples, we create customers.

3. The body is built up. (12b-15)

The ability of the church to be built into the image of Jesus is dependent upon the leadership training and handing off ministry. Allow me to say that again. The ability of the church to be built into the image of Jesus is dependent upon the leadership training and handing off ministry. This cannot be stressed enough. The spiritual growth and maturity of the church is incredibly dependent upon the church leadership's capacity to develop the body to serve in ministry.

Colossians 1:28-29 reminds us, We proclaim Him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 I labor for this, striving with His strength that works powerfully in me

I know so many pastors and church leaders who are living out this passage, and yet they are frustrated because much of their effort seems to be ineffective. I want to suggest that our effectiveness as a pastor or church leader is extraordinarily connected to our capacity to hand off ministry others.

Notice how Paul says the church will grow, when leaders are developing others and handing ministry off to them. Paul says that the church will grow in unity, knowledge, doctrinal stability, gracious speech & the character of Jesus. Is it surprising, then, to note that much of these described character traits are absent from the church today? Could it be that our insistence on doing what we should be equipping others to do with us is radically inhibiting our churches?

The ability of the church to be built into the image of Jesus is dependent upon the leadership training and handing off ministry. All this is done as Jesus enables it to be so, and it is done to bring him great glory. As we serve passionately, equipping the body for the work of ministry, the body matures into what God intends for them to be. His bride is made perfect (or complete) as they mature, and that maturity does not happen apart from equipping. Notice the progression of the text concerning what Jesus accomplishes in the church, as leaders equip the church instead enable the church.

4. Jesus is glorified. (16)

All this equipping, this "building up of the body" is done as Jesus enables it to be so, and it is done to bring him great glory. As we serve passionately, equipping the body for the work of ministry, the body matures into what God intends for them to be. His bride is made perfect (or complete) as they mature, and that maturity does not happen apart from equipping. Notice the progression of the text concerning what Jesus accomplishes in the church, as leaders equip the church instead enable the church. The text explicitly points out that when church leaders equip the body, this is what would happen in the church:

- Jesus brings the church together (unity in diversity)

- Jesus makes the church grow

- Jesus increases the church’s capacity to love

- Jesus helps every believer to reach their potential

Ultimately, in the end, all of these things serve to make us like Jesus and advance Jesus’ mission. If we want to lead churches to be like Jesus; if we want to lead churches to advance Jesus’ mission, then we must determine to do the hard work of equipping the people. We must hand off ministry. Unfortunately, the reality is that in too many churches this kind of ministry shift would be challenging. Objections are sure to come from lazy church members who are happy as consumers, but I fear that the greatest objections will come from pastors who are fearful of doing the hard work of leading this kind of change, or who feel personally fulfilled when the church is radically reliant on them being Pastor Superman.

Remember this radically important lesson. You church's mission effectiveness is directly tied to ministry multiplication. Yes, this is hard. It may even be costly, both personally and professionally, but I am confident that the future success of the church is dependent upon it.

3 Reasons I May or May Not Follow You on Twitter

On Twitter it seems common to know more what users are against than what they are for. Sometimes, I get the sense that everyone is a watchdog not only for themselves, but ostensibly on behalf of everyone else. Now I understand the importance of good doctrine and protecting sheep from wolves, but what I do not understand is when people within the Church expend so much of themselves in policing on social media. Below are some reasons I keep my "following" column to a minimum. 1. Geographical Distance: One of the benefits of having moved so many times, and having lived in many different cultures in the U.S. and overseas, is that I've had a good amount of my ethnocentrism stripped away. Don't get me wrong, I still love the Northeast with its mountains, rivers, and rich bed of American history. It will always be home to me. But I've realized there are some ways we Northeasterners "do church" that simply can't compete with the Deep South. In the same way, there are some detrimental patterns in the Bible Belt that simply aren't issues for churches up north.

These geographical differences result in dialect, mindset, humor, historical, and cultural differences. This sets social media users up for a whole host of possible blunders or miscommunication. I think there is a reason Jesus commanded His disciples to go from Judea to Samaria to the ends of the earth; He was saying, among other things, "You're most equipped to do ministry first locally, and as you learn you go, and as you go you learn." I'm simply not interested in what a grudging person in Virginia has to say about a pastor in Idaho. Nor am I too much interested in what a seminary punk in Washington has to say about a rural pastor in Maine. They're not speaking the same language and probably aren't even trying to.

2. Relational Distance: The Internet has closed the geographical gap in some ways, but I'd argue that reach and ministry are two different things from a user's standpoint, and we ought to note that difference even just personally. Thousands of people who listen to Matt Chandler on podcast would consider him their pastor. But Matt actually is my pastor; he knows me and is covenanted at The Village Church with me. So while he may reach people across the world, when he stands account as pastor of The Village Church, he stands account for his ministry to me.

When Twitter users troll pastors and leaders with whom they have no relationship, and no intention of building relationship, it is not helpful, nor is there a precedent for it in Scripture. "Well of course there isn't," you say, "face-to-face was the only option when Scripture was penned." Well then, I say, close that gap as much as is within your power. You have an issue with someone? We have the gift of modern transportation—use it. Using social media to continually push back on someone is cowardly.

3. Spiritual Distance: If you have an issue with another user on social media, and all I see is you pushing back on them repeatedly, I'm going to assume you have not done your best to close the gap of which I spoke above. Because of that, I'm going to assume you are not interested in true communion within the Church, but only your pet doctrine or peevish point. In this case, your seasoning is not welcome in my steak.

Titus 3 gives pretty clear directives for what to do with those stirring up foolish controversies, so I'll try to push back in a tender way, then perhaps a bit more firmly, but third strike and you're out. Your salvation is not in question and your brotherhood is always welcome, but I simply am not going to submit the health of my soul to someone who seems to be only interested in self.

The Social Media Pulpit

With these three considerations in mind, I guard my "following" column on Twitter pretty carefully. I do not think I have to only follow those with whom I agree, but just as we would not expect someone to walk into a room where stones are being tossed in every direction by those who should be my family, I'll do you one better: I'm not going into the house.

A fellow blogger received some pretty heavy hits recently and when she asked me if I thought she should continue to engage those throwing stones at her on Twitter, my counsel was simple: Preach the Word with joy and continue walking the path set before her. Standing at the crossroads and arguing ad nauseum does no one any good, and no one moves forward. Instead, I advised that she take the path in front of her with joy and the Holy Spirit, inviting others to follow to a more full likeness of Christ.

If you use Twitter, you have a pulpit. So, "Preach the Word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching (2 Tim. 4:2)." Be known for what you're for, rather than what you're against, and always be long-suffering even in your shortest replies.

Note: I want to just say that I don't use these same considerations for blogs/articles. I take them into account, but my criteria for discerning which sites to read is more robust and full. I am mainly addressing Twitter in this. In other words, I'm using 800 words to describe what should happen in 140 characters.

Race and the Gospel

On the wall of my office hangs a picture of Jackie Robinson stealing home during a Dodgers game in 1947. I like the message it sends about courage and taking risks, but more importantly I like the message it sends about how Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in the game of baseball, pioneering a way through the racial tensions in our country. It can be argued that this event opened up the possibility for the Civil Rights Movement. In 2004, Major League Baseball declared each subsequent April 15th “Jackie Robinson Day.” On this day, I am reminded that few people have done more for racial reconciliation and equality than Jackie Robinson. Except Jesus.

The Dividing Wall

Imagine for a moment that you are a Gentile living in first century Palestine. You’ve grown up with Jewish friends, in a Jewish world, surrounded by a Jewish way of life. As part of that life, your friends participate in temple worship. Out of curiosity, you follow them to the temple one day. As you come close to the Temple Mount, you begin to get excited. Your friends have told you about the experience of worship, and the anticipation builds as you imagine what it might be like to encounter Israel’s God.

As you arrive, you are surprised by a sign on the wall of the temple. Looking a bit closer, your heart drops as you read the words: “Gentiles enter upon pain of death.”

You’ve just encountered one of the most egregious experiences of racial segregation in history. The temple, created as a house of prayer for all nations (see Isaiah 56), had become an exclusionary place of worship, guarded by a series of courts which kept certain groups of people (Gentiles, women, etc.) from getting near the Holy of Holies. The Court of the Gentiles was the outer-most court of the temple and kept every non-Jew on the outskirts. But this racial discrimination extended beyond temple worship. If you were a Gentile, a Jew would be considered unclean if he stepped into your house. If you were a Gentile woman in labor, Jews were not allowed to help you through childbirth. The list goes on.

One in Christ

Enter Jesus. He healed a Roman Centurion’s son. He told a story where a Samaritan (a Gentile half-breed despised by Jews) was the hero. And he, in Paul’s words, “broke down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility (picture the wall in the temple which kept the Gentiles out)…that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body…for through Him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father” (Ephesians 2:14-18).

Jesus died in order to kill the hostility between Jew and Gentile. In Galatians 3, he says there is no longer “Jew or Greek.” The cross is where all racial hostilities cease. Paul says that both groups (Jew and Gentile; also black and white, American and Iraqi, etc.) have the same access to the Father. If we have the same Father, that makes us brothers and sisters. And this despite differences in ethnicity, socio-economic status, and other worldly divisions.

The idea is that you have more in common with an Iraqi who follows Jesus than you do your own brother or sister if they don’t follow Jesus. It also means that despite whatever differences you have (skin color, country of origin, etc.), those differences are not as important as the one thing you do have in common with believers of other races – Jesus.

Seeing Like Jesus

So, the gospel breaks down racial barriers. It redefines what family and citizenship means. That’s why in the next verse of Ephesians, Paul says that we are “fellow citizens with the saints, members of the household of God” (Eph. 2:19).

So live like it. Whatever your color or background – the gospel calls us to care for all of the nations and love one another like Jesus loved us. If we are going to be gospel people, we must see one another as God sees us. God loves all people the same, regardless of color. Race should never be a barrier. This is what Jackie Robinson Day is all about.

For the Christian, this is what every day is about.

Kermit Gosnell and the Culture of Death

The picture to the left is my daughter, Harper Grace Smith, on March 29, 2013. In this photo and subsequent photos and videos, we were shown her developed vital organs, her strong heartbeat, and her incessant kicking and squirming. According to U.S. law, we could decide to stop these things from ever happening again. If we didn't want her, we'd be perfectly justified legally to end her 20-week-old life. In fact, we'd have a few weeks to think about it. The debates rage on about the human rights for the unborn, using labels such as "zygotes," "fetuses," and other non-human terms for the developing life inside a woman. This debate alone is a tragedy. And this disturbing testimony by a Planned Parenthood representative notwithstanding, basic human morality would promote the idea of embracing the life of a child actually delivered from the womb. Or so we hope.

Building a Culture of Death

Since at least 1973, with the decisions of Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, we've been publicly conditioned to value human life only when convenient. It's amazing that these were debatable matters of the court, and they triggered the start of a frightening ethical progress. In short, abortion went from an idea to a normative option. I'm no fan of tracing the acts of extremists back to the roots of a belief system, but surely such degradation of life led to the reprehensible actions of Kermit Gosnell, an abortion "doctor" in Pennsylvania. According to reports, Gosnell performed innumerable illegal abortions well past the 24-week limit set by the state, including severing the spinal cords of babies who partially and fully left their mother's womb. Mothers of some children even died during the process due to shabby procedures and conditions. All with the help of underage "nurses."

That abortion exists at all, and that it's culturally acceptable, opens the door to the extreme horror of Gosnell's practice. And let's be clear: Whether a life is ended at 24 weeks (the legal limit) or 25, at one week or at birth, a life that God created is destroyed. The gruesomeness may be more obvious to the senses, but the savagery is the same.

Our world is becoming inoculated to the deaths of 1.2 million children every year, to the point that the media isn't putting Gosnell on the front pages and average Americans aren't raising much concern about the silence. Akin to the brainwashing of the majority in Nazi Germany, culture's acquiescing to the systematic destruction of a group of people immunizes our hearts to its ghastly reality. In Inside Hitler's Germany, Matthew Hughes and Chris Mann explain that brainwashing started with German youth. By the time the real violence began:

Ordinary people went along with this appalling violence against fellow Germans. One remembered that while [the attacks on Jews] was a shock, "When the masses were shouting 'Heil' what could the individual person do? You went along. We went along. That's how it was. We were the followers." (101)

Sound familiar? And while both pro-choice and pro-life proponents are equally flabbergasted by the Holocaust now, there will be a day when history will look back on today's America, India, China, and other life-destroying cultures and be repulsed by the staggering abortion numbers from 1973-???. Or so we hope.

Promoting a Theology of Life

For the Christian, this should be a non-negotiable issue. God creates human beings in his image (Gen. 1:27) and, in turn, knows them intricately in the womb (Ps. 139:13-15). God is a God of life, and each life belongs to him and no one else. Life itself is woven into every theological construct from anthropology to soteriology to eschatology. We are created to physically live, redeemed to spiritually live anew, and given eternal life to live forever.

As Jesus's disciples, we follow his lead on matters of justice. All things are for him, through him, and to him (Rom. 11:36), and he cares about mankind. For this very reason, the second great commandment orders us to love others as we love ourselves (Matt. 22:39). I don't know about you, but I would expect those who had the choice to defend my life when I had no choice. It's easy to promote abortion when you weren't the one aborted; it's righteous to defend the unborn precisely because you weren't the one aborted.

As culture presses in on our beliefs, posing us as the close-minded bigots of our era, we must stand firm. We will not be silenced. We must take this truth to the pulpits, the streets, the social media realm, and beyond. Let us follow in the footsteps of Jesus who healed the blind man even when he was pressured to leave him helpless (Matt. 20:29-34). If we take up our crosses and follow Jesus, contending for what is right and true, we can raise a clarion call for the value of human life in this age.

Or so we hope.

When We Stop Dreaming

The following is an excerpt of Freefall to Fly by Rebekah Lyons, used by permission. Purchase the entire book on Amazon.  ---

My head snapped up from the pillow at the sound of my daughter calling my name from downstairs. Good Luck Charlie had ended, and my job needed to start again. More than fifteen years removed from my napkin dreams, I was running fast. I’d been given a front-row seat on a rickety wooden roller coaster motoring on a never-ending loop. Twisting, turn- ing, backward, forward. Straining to find my bearings, but never slowing enough to compose myself. Going in circles, but never finding my dreams.

If we ignore the yearnings of our souls, we atrophy, and our dreams die. Sadly, many of us choose this descent because we believe it’s safer. If we don’t hope, we won’t be let down. If we don’t imagine, reality won’t disappoint. Either way, we avoid pain.

These destructive tendencies seem to afflict women in particular. Since 1988, the use of antidepressant drugs has soared nearly 400 percent, and women are 2.5 times more likely than men to take them. Twenty-three percent of women ages forty to fifty-nine regularly take these drugs, more than in any other demographic. Nearly one in four. A devastating statistic. Why the struggle? Why the heaviness?

As for me, I wondered: Is this just seasonal depression? Or will it linger? My faith was flailing. The gloom lifted by spring, but the lurking shadow reminded me that January would come again. I think perhaps the antici- pation of the darkness returning was as precarious as when it settled.

A friend recently confessed through tears that she struggles with bitterness. Her life doesn’t look the way she’d hoped it would. She couldn’t reconcile how her life—looking so successful on the surface—disguised the aching void that brings her tears the moment she opens her balled fists.

Are we grieving because our lives don’t look the way we imagined in our youth?

Do we pressure our children to reach their potential because we aren’t living up to our own?

Are we spending every moment cultivating the lives of everyone . . . but ourselves?

Women are stars fading behind the dark shadow of those we care for, and we often look a little worse for wear. Our light is dimmer than it used to be as we find ourselves unable to dream beyond our current reality.

So we compromise. My childhood dreams were just that—dreams. I should let them go. We push down any hope when we sense it emerging. The desire for change uncovers what terrifies us most: failure.

Then we go numb. We tell ourselves a quick fix will do just fine. Whatever will keep our heads above water—whatever will allow us to keep making lunches, paying the bills, getting through sex, doing the kids’ carpool, working out, pursuing that career, and so on—will just have to do. We don’t want to become the crazy lady at the bus stop, so we think to our- selves, Just give me the shortcut. Then I’ll be okay.

Perhaps most alarming are the many women who don’t see past their manicured lives—grasping for society’s definition of being “put together.” We have pretty ways of masking our lack of meaning, using all kinds of beauty products and retail therapy. We have homes to furnish and decorate, then redecorate once we tire of what we have. We keep up with fashion styles, throw and attend parties, and maintain a rigorous pace. While these are all delightful and beautiful and often worthy goals, using them to conceal our unfulfilled lives is dangerous.

Some women uncover their talents before having kids and then shelve them while raising their children. They’ve experienced a sense of fulfill- ment in living out their purpose but believe they must set aside their pursuits for the sake of motherhood. They’ve bought into the belief that their gifts and child rearing are disparate parts, unable to coexist. Instead of fighting to figure out the balance, they stuff their dreams in a box marked “Motherhood.”

Other women never identify their purpose before having children. Parenthood sets in and can unknowingly become the excuse to stop cultivating their dreams. Instead, they place their quest for significance on the lives of their children (as we see played out on Facebook every day). But this suffocating pressure is too much for anyone to bear, much less a five-year-old.

In either case, the displacement of a mother’s purpose (beyond child rearing) becomes a huge loss to our communities. If women aren’t empowered to cultivate their uniqueness, we all suffer the loss of beauty, creativity, and resourcefulness they were meant to inject into the world.

Can a mother chase the dreams that stir her heart and simultaneously raise her children?

Can a woman chase the dreams that stir her heart when life gets in the way?

The masks need not remain. The fading is teaching us to turn from try- ing to prove to each other that we have everything together to letting our wounds show. We speak words that ring out in the air and just sit there. Moments of sharing and pain and desperation. Desperation to be heard, to be understood, and to know we are still in this life together. The years give us new perspective and freedom to be honest. In these settings, an echo keeps surfacing. Struggle, responsibility, pain, and in the midst of it all, faith.

Aging is paradoxical: the older we get, the less we are sure of. All we hope for is the courage to keep walking. And our understanding of God’s grace takes new shape for us. Our hearts stumble into unknown territory as our lives twist and turn. Yet we aren’t sure how to respond.

We thought we had faith figured out before, when life was a negative in black and white. But now that we see in full color, the image has faded. Clarity left long ago when we were held in the tension between seeing how things ought to be in contrast with how they really are. We freefall because we never figured out what makes us fly.

We stopped dreaming.

I’m riveted by the scene in The King’s Speech when Prince Albert, Duke of York, delivers a discourse to a large crowd on a dreary London day in 1930. He stutters conspicuously, and the crowd squirms in their seats. Out of desperation to defend her husband’s reputation, the Duchess of York travels to a dilapidated part of town to locate Lionel Logue, a speech therapist. He has Bertie (his affectionate nickname for Albert) wear headphones and listen to blaring classical music while reading Shakespeare’s well-known soliloquy from Hamlet. Lionel records Bertie’s voice as he stutters through the famous first phrase—“To be or not to be”—but Bertie’s final frustration drives him out of the room, recording in hand, shouting, “What’s the use?”

Bertie hides the vinyl recording in his desk drawer. Just out of reach. But he knows it’s still there. After a week passes, Bertie pulls out the record and listens. As his smooth, liberated speech echoes out of the speaker, he is dumbfounded, amazed by the gift he possesses. He hears words of conviction soaring without stutter. Beautiful like music. His wife bears witness. An epiphany. They promptly return to Lionel in secret to continue working. Too often we live with our talents hidden in the desk drawer. Just out of reach. We’ve tucked them away. Refusing to listen. It hurts too much to hope. So we go on with our lives, not allowing ourselves to go near that drawer.

“We arrive in this world with birthright gifts—then we spend the first half of our lives abandoning them or letting others disabuse us of them,” Parker Palmer writes in Let Your Life Speak. “Then—if we are awake, aware, and able to admit our loss—we spend the second half trying to recover and reclaim the gift we once possessed.”

This was an excerpt from Freefall to Fly by Rebekah Lyons. Purchase the entire book on Amazon. 

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Rebekah Lyons is a mother of three, wife of one, and dog walker of two living in New York City. She's an old soul with a contemporary, honest voice who puts a new face on the struggles women face as they seek to live a life of meaning. As a self-confessed mess, Rebekah wears her heart on her sleeve, a benefit to friends, and readers alike. She serves alongside her husband, Gabe, as cofounder of QIdeas, an organization that helps leaders winsomely engage culture.