Top 5 Articles of July
1. New Director of Gospel-Centered Discipleship & Merger with Project TGM by Jonathan Dodson
Jonathan introduces Brandon Smith as the Director of Gospel-Centered Discipleship and shares their excitement about absorbing Project TGM's articles and excellent team. He also gives a sneak peek at a few eBooks that are on the horizon.
2. Mentoring, Church, & Missional in Discipleship (My Response to a 9 Marks Book Review) by Jonathan Dodson
Jonathan responds to a 9 Marks review of his book, Gospel-Centered Discipleship. He says that he hopes "to clarify my position and, perhaps by God’s good grace, increase clarity regarding some of these very important discipleship questions. I believe some real fruitful discussion could result, as two resource ministries (and an author and reviewer) reflect on Scripture for the good of the church and the world."
3. Sabotaging Your Kingdom by Sean Post
There are ambitions which silently attach themselves to those of us who are participating in the work of the Kingdom of God. The desire to be known. To be recognized. To be wanted. To be in demand. To make a name for yourself. To have a calendar full of important speaking engagements. We each indulge our favorite flavor. And often we think we’re helping Jesus out when we do it.
4. Two ideas That Change How We Think About Food, Weight Loss, & Body Image by Josh Reich
When we think of addictions, we often think of things like drugs and alcohol. You might add pornography or sex into the list. For many, these aren’t the addictions that plague us. Josh isn't talking about debt and money; he is talking weight loss, body image, and food. This is Part 1 of a 3-part series.
5. Character is Different Than We Think by Brad Watson
You know what not changing looks like, but what about character change? In the character journey we re-learn the gospel. We cling to God. We realize that God is working all things together for our good. It just doesn't look like the good we want; it looks even better: conformity into the image of the Son (Romans 8:28-29). In the midst of the struggles, God has been transforming our character as much as he has been using us to transform the world. We want God to work through us, but he is doing just as much work in us.
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Brandon Smith is Director of GCD, Associate Editor of The Council on Biblical Manhood & Womanhood, and Director of Communications at Criswell College. He lives in Grapevine, Texas with his wife, Christa, and daughter, Harper. Follow him on Twitter: @BrandonSmith85.
Singing as Kingdom Warfare
Only one more song before I went up to preach. I felt prayed up. Ready. But then a sense of uneasiness came over me. As the first verse began to roll, I prayed, "Lord, help me. Move in your people. May you be glorified. I know the principalities and powers are against us in this place. They are looking for gospel seeds to steal. The enemy is prowling against me and your Bride this day. Help us, Lord. One little word from you is all we need."
The forces of evil (Eph. 6:12) were more real to me in that moment than they had been all week. It was then I realized that there was a snake in lion's clothing slithering through our church (1 Peter 5:8). We were going into battle.
THE COSMIC BATTLE
Singing as Exorcism
I looked to the words of "In Christ Alone" on the screen and joined the church in singing about a Roman cross and an empty grave. The gathered saints of a risen Galilean, the King of Kings, were singing, exalting, and enjoying the gospel of the Kingdom.
"Till on that cross as Jesus died, The wrath of God was satisfied. For every sin on him was laid; Here in the death of Christ I live.
There in the ground his body lay Light of the world by darkness slain: Then bursting forth in glorious Day Up from the grave he rose again!"
As we sang the beautiful truths of the gospel, we were doing more than reciting words. This was no mere singing. Pagans can sing. We were engaging in exaltational exorcism. We were pushing back the darkness around us, in our minds, in our hearts, and in the air.
Tearing Down Strongholds
Cosmic battles are waged in our little churches. It may appear quiet, neat, and orderly to our eyes, but there are powers over this present darkness, spiritual forces that are tempting, distracting, and condemning—even while we shake hands, hug, sip coffee, and take sermon notes. They want Mrs. Jones to be so wrecked by her sin that she wouldn't dare look to Jesus and believe that she's forgiven. Demons swirl around that teenager in the back row, hoping he won't confess his porn addiction to his youth leader—and especially not his parents.
Something nuclear happens we sing the glories of Christ. We are wielding weapons-grade gospel power to tear down strongholds and cast out every word raised against the word of our Messiah, and we fall down before our Lord and follow him.
“For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Cor. 10:4–5).
THE SATANIC POWERS HATE THE GOSPEL
Victory at Calvary
Satan isn't terrified of our electric guitars, live drums, or hip services; no, when redeemed sinners exalt the Triune God and exult in Jesus of Nazareth, that’s the moment demons shriek and whimper back to the darkness from which they came (Luke 4:33-36). When we sing the truths of the gospel, we aren't the only ones being reminded of the victory at Calvary—the satanic powers are freshly reminded that Jesus is Lord, not Lucifer. They follow a loser.
"And as he stands in victory Sin's curse has lost its grip on me, For I am his and he is mine, Bought with the precious blood of Christ."
Jesus holds me; sin doesn’t. My flesh can't boss me around anymore because Jesus isn't laid up in a tomb—he stands in victory. It was on a bloody hill outside of Jerusalem that, “He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him" (Colossians 2:15). Jesus has not only conquered Satan, he has made a spectacle of him.
As the army of Christ assembles in high school cafeterias, warehouses, theater chair filled rooms, and under thatched roofs, these buildings are more like barracks. We gather to be filled by the Spirit of the King, refreshed by his Word, and we march back out into enemy occupied territory, singing in unison the battle hymn of the Kingdom: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).
Songs laced with gospel truth, sung in faith, are anti-air missile defense systems against the flaming darts of the evil one (Ephesians 6:16). Read these last lines of "In Christ Alone."
"No guilt in life, no fear in death, This is the power of Christ in me; From life's first cry to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of Hell, no scheme of man, Can ever pluck me from his hand; Till he returns or calls me home, Here in the power of Christ I'll stand."
We sing those words to God, Heaven rejoices, and Satan watches on in horror. No power of Hell can pluck us from Christ's hand. "No power of Hell, Satan. Do you hear us? You and all your rotten might are no match for our Jesus." This is why I advocate for loud singing (Zephaniah 3:14-15). War isn't quiet. No soldier mumbles on the battlefield—and especially not at the victory party. Belt the glory of Christ. And know that our Champion sings loudly over us (Zephaniah 3:17).
Crucified with Christ
We focus our hearts and vocal chords on the lifeless body of Jesus and his life being returned to him three days later, to remember that Calvary happened to us too. “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). The Dark Snake lost his grip on us when Jesus gave up his life and came back from the dead, because Jesus brought us with him (Ephesians 4:8). We too lost our lives and got them back. We died on that cross. We rose from the grave. We are new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17). We are more than conquerors (Romans 8:37)—and the fallen angels hate it and don't want us to know it or enjoy it. But "here in the power of Christ I'll stand!"
Church singing hacks away at the unrealities we've bought into during the week. A part of spiritual warfare is cutting the heads off of lies with the shovel of truth. The satanic forces work in tandem with our flesh and without noticing it, we start to believe that maybe we have sinned too big or too much this week, and then we hang our heads, and drag our knuckles on the Lord's Day. We think, "Maybe this sin is, you know, just the way it's going to be."
But that's all anti-gospel. That thinking didn't come from the throne, but the ground. We tear down that stronghold and sing, "No guilt in life!" (Romans 8:1).
SING THE GOOD SONG, FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT
War Songs
Some people endure the time of corporate singing, just so they can get to the sermon. Well, there are a lot of dumb things to do in church, and that's one of the big ones. You may not like the style of music, but that doesn't matter. If God wanted one style of music, or even the songs done in a certain way, we'd have sheet music instead of maps in the back of our Bibles. God commands us to sing, “Sing praises to the LORD, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name" (Psalm 30:4). And it might be that during those songs we are being made ready to hear their word of our Christ. The belt of truth is being tightened, we remember the righteousness of Christ as our breastplate, the gospel shoes are being laced up. As hands are raised in response, they are lifting up the shield of faith blocking the darts of the Serpent (Eph. 6:13-17). We are confident in the helmet of salvation, and we've heard the sword of the Spirit through our songs. And it is in those verses and hymns, these gospel songs, that the Spirit gives us the spiritual gift of street fighting.
Believe and sing. Sing and believe. You are in the middle of a war. Look at the words, take them in, believe them, and let them soar into the air. Lift up the shield of faith by lifting up your voice.
And sing loudly. Maybe God will use your voice, as you sing a spiritual song, to help a brother or sister look away from lies, cheap thrills, and temptations. Help lift their droopy hands and dwell on Christ (Colossians 3:16).
The Mighty Fortress
Pastors, worship leaders, lead us to the gospel waters. Help us hear, “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price” (Isaiah 55:1).
Select songs that are jam-packed with gospel glories. "His glories now we sing." Is your church singing the glories or a bunch of goofiness? Are we singing about a solid rock of truth or soggy love? If we aren't singing about the cross and the empty tomb, what are we singing about? God's love? 1 John 3:16 much? Take us to Jerusalem, show us Golgotha and that empty grave, and then point us to the clouds that will be rolled back like a scroll.
Martin Luther knew this kingdom warfare theme. In his powerful hymn, A Mighty Fortress is our God, he sings:
“For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe; his craft and power are great, and armed with cruel hate, on earth is not his equal."
He knew our enemy and his work against us. Luther's conclusion?
“And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us, we will not fear, for God hath willed his truth to triumph through us.
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him; his rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure; one little word shall fell him.”
One word from Christ, that's all. One truth. The truth. Like Tolkien's elvish waybread, one gospel crumb is enough to sustain the whole church, for a whole lifetime, for a whole eternity.
Sing the good song of the good news. Fight the good fight of the faith—we are in a war after all.
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J.A. Medders is the Lead Pastor of Redeemer Church in Tomball, TX. He is pursuing his M.Div at Southern Seminary. He and Natalie have one precious little girl, Ivy. Jeff digs caffeinated drinks, books, and the Triune God. He blogs at www.jamedders.com and tweets from @mrmedders.
Living in Christ
In his book, Introducing Paul, Dr. Michael Bird writes, “Be what we are, be what we are becoming, and be what we will be on the final day of Christ Jesus.” As a Christian our spiritual formation is grounded “in Christ.” This “in Christ” motif, especially in the Pauline letters, sets the spiritual trajectory for proper Christian growth. Yet, it might be the most overlooked aspect of our spiritual growth.
Confused Holiness
I confess: I am a recovering legalist. When I became a Christian at the age of 17, I was immediately introduced to the world of legalistic holiness. My desire for growing in holiness was grounded in my own ability to manufacture that holiness by what I did and didn’t do. I set up rules and regulations that dictated my life. As I stripped away my “worldly desires,” I began to realize that I wasn’t growing spiritually.
I was confused about holiness. My desire to be holy, as holy as that desire may have been, was rooted in my own ability to fulfill that desire and not to rest in being “in Christ.” But as you look through the pages of the New Testament, you begin to see this remarkable theme: be what you are in Christ.
In Christ
Paul states in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” Being in Christ results in being a new creation. This marvelous truth of existing as a new creation is conditioned upon being in Christ. But what does this mean?
- In Christ you have died (Galatians 2:20)
The process of conformity to Christ is just that – a process. It does not happen instantaneously at conversion. Rather, it is a progression of becoming what we already are in Christ, a new creation. This conformity – or in the words of Michael Gorman, cruciformity – is the way a Christian is shaped by the cross. As we surrender are hearts, minds, and wills to the cross, we participate in the gospel narrative. The union we have with Christ allows us not only to be redeemed at the moment of conversion but it motivates us to live a life of cruciformity until we are finally united with Christ. Dying to our sin and ourselves allows us to live freely as our lives are shaped by the cross of Christ.
- In Christ you are raised (Colossians 3:1)
We as believers share in the resurrection of Jesus already. Although we will be raised physically from the dead, we now share in the benefits of the resurrection spiritually. We were once dead in our sins but now we are raised to new life through the power of the resurrection of Jesus. This resurrection power allows us to participate in the new creation.
- In Christ you are seated in Heaven (Ephesians 2:6)
In Christ we are currently seated with him in the heavenly places. This realized view of our current position, our living in Christ now as we will live in Christ forever, is mind-blowing. At this present time we are already in a place of honor and prestige because of the saving act of Jesus. We are truly children of the one true King.
- In Christ you will appear with him (Colossians 3:4)
We will share in the glory of his appearing. When Christ is publicly manifested for all the nations to see, those who are in him will also participate in his return. This act of vindication for the saints echoes many Old Testament passages, and the person that we are in Christ will one day experience that.
The Gospel Narrative
This narrative of death, resurrection, ascension, and return is not only the gospel story about Jesus, but the story of the believer in Jesus. I’m convinced that our spiritual growth in holiness is dependent upon this gospel narrative in Christ. As believers in Christ, we have entered into the story of redemption not just by believing in the story, but through experiencing the narrative itself in our own lives. Being in Christ means allowing the gospel narrative to shape the way we think and live. We have died, we have been raised, we are currently seated with Christ, and we will appear with him at his coming.
Because we have already experienced this gospel narrative, we can then live it out in Christ. Our union with him grants us the ability to live out the gospel imperatives. This follows Paul’s formula of indicatives and imperatives. He begins with straight-forward gospel realities and then moves into gospel commands. The commands are grounded in realities. To divorce the commands from the actual realities could result in ill-founded legalism. As in my case many years ago. The imperatives can become no more than a list of dos and don’ts without understanding that in Christ you are already granted the ability to live them out. The point: become what you already are in Christ.
Live the Reality
When you think of spiritual formation, you may be thinking about the “spiritual disciplines” such as prayer, fasting, and reading Scripture. No doubt, these disciplines are important to the growing Christian and they should be practiced. However, the beginning of our spiritual formation is not rooted in our spiritual actions. Paul recounts in his testimony “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Phil 3:8). Spiritual formation begins with knowing Christ and participating in the gospel narrative. The story of the Bible is the story we share. It is an ongoing narrative that we don’t get to make up; we simply enter in. We have entered into the grand redemptive drama of “God reconciling the world to Himself in Christ” (2 Cor 5:19). It is the cosmic plan of God to unite all things in Christ, things in heaven and on earth (Eph 1:10). And we are part of that story.
Understanding our spiritual formation “in Christ,” as participating in the narrative drama as God unites all things together, makes holiness simply the natural outflow of knowing Jesus. Holiness is the outflow of being in Christ because Christ is holy, not because we are holy. The disciplines are not a means to the end nor are they the end themselves. The disciplines flow from our positional standing in Christ, who is the beginning, middle, and end. We pray, fast, and read because we are becoming what we already are in Christ. New creational people live as new creations.
Spiritual formation is like watering a plant. You can pour water on the plant all you want, but if it isn’t potted in good soil, it will not grow. We are potted in Christ. Therefore, as we receive the living water through the Word, community, and prayer, we can grow into what we already are. The reality is you are in Christ; you are free to live and think that way. Allow the gospel narrative to shape your life. May those gospel realities motivate you to live out the gospel commands. Beware of trusting in your own ability to become holy. To be holy is to be in Christ.
Be what you are: a new creation.
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Michael Cooper is married to his wife Kailie and they are expecting their first child, Sophia Grace in December. He currently serves as an assistant to the president at Criswell College where he is also pursuing an M.Div. You can follow him on twitter: @mrcjr24
Food, Weight, and the Gospel
This article is part 3 of a 3-part series on how the gospel changes the way we look at weight, body image, and food. Read Part 1 and Part 2 here. --
If you are addicted to food, overweight, or struggling with an eating disorder, the good news is that you are not alone. It may feel that way; in fact, if you attend church, it can feel incredibly lonely. You wonder how many other people struggle with it. It has become the sin that we don't talk about. Make no mistake, it is a sin because we hope to find wholeness, completeness, fulfillment, and happiness in food, eating too much, eating too little, or working out.
Who Temptations Hurt
We often think of ourselves as the victims when wrestling with temptations. We rationalize why we do what we do. I don't trust people because my dad broke promises to me. I don’t take charge in my life because my mother always dominated it. So, I’ve just learned to sit back and wait for it to be taken care of. I buy things so that I’ll feel like I belong with my neighbor or good friend. I eat like I do because it makes me feel better after a long day.
Our addictions and temptations often start as someone else’s fault. This is why it is so easy for us to live with the addictions and think, “This is just who I am. I can’t do anything about it.” I’m just the guy who gets angry. I’m just the girl who can’t keep her mouth shut. I just need to have the newest gadget.
You may believe that you are overweight because of something your parents did, how they raised you, or what someone said to you in high school. We play this record over and over in our heads. We use those words as reasons to keep us from dealing with what lies underneath.
When we sin, we hurt. We feel guilty and we feel distance from friends and family, but ultimately, we feel distance from God. The scope of sin and temptation is almost exclusively bent toward us.
Do You Really Hate Sin?
One of the problems in our culture is that most of us don’t have a biblical view of sin. We talk about sin as guilty pleasures or vices. Many in our culture believe sin is something made up by Christians to make us feel guilty. Many of us approach sin as if it’s something we can live with, something that is true of everyone. So what’s the big deal?
While sinfulness is true of everyone (Romans 3:23), we are told in Scripture that sin is death (Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:1), and that sin is committing adultery against God (James 4:4).
When you sin, do you have that view? When you gossip, are stingy, look at porn, or eat too much, do you think, I am cheating on God?
Scripture teaches this because when we sin, we are living outside the way God designed life to be lived. We are choosing our way over God’s. In that moment, we believe that sin will be more gratifying and more fulfilling than God.
When it comes to food, eating too much, or seeing food as a crutch, the church is silent on whether this is a sin. This allows many to continue living without a worry. It is also why we don’t see food as a spiritual issue - only a health issue.
Lies We Believe
Tim Keller has said, “Every time we sin, we believe a lie.” In that moment of sin, we believe that it will be more gratifying, more enjoyable, and more fulfilling than the life Jesus has promised us. When Jesus came to earth, he promised that he came to give life - life to the fullest (John 10:10). This life is beyond what we can dream or imagine. A life many of us only hope is true. When we sin, we believe this life is not possible for us and that we can find life on our own.
If we’re honest, sin, in the moment we commit it, feels fulfilling. If it didn’t, we wouldn’t do it. When you eat, it feels good, it brings you comfort, and it is a friend in your loneliness. This is why many of us eat like we do. Then something happens after we eat. You know the feeling. The guilt and shame that quickly follow is a different story.
The lie many believe is that they can’t persevere. Often we give into temptation before it even comes. We are defeated people, broken down by life, hopeless to withstand any temptation or trial. We simply acquiesce to the idea that we will always be overweight. We shrug our shoulders and eat another scoop of ice cream. I’ll always be the overweight girl that is excluded. I’ll always be the last picked for the game.
Another lie we often believe is that our sin or temptation is not our fault. Maybe you are like me and blame your weight on your upbringing and how your parents didn't teach you good eating habits. Maybe it is God’s fault that you can’t have the metabolism of a fourteen-year-old now that you are thirty-five. I don’t know why God created people who could eat Taco Bell four times a day and lose a pound in the process when I feel like I gain a pound every time I smell McDonald’s. We rationalize that we aren’t the most sinful person we know. In fact, if you made a list of the ten most sinful people you know, my guess is that you wouldn’t be on it.
This gets at the fundamental question that gets debated in our culture, “Are people basically good or bad?” According to Scripture, we are sinful and broken. We sin out of our desires. You might be thinking, “I sin because of what happened to me.” On the surface, this may be true, but underneath it is another level. Maybe you sin out of protection, to not let people see your brokenness, or have to deal with the brokenness and hurt in your life.
God and Our Bodies
When I was at my heaviest, I had a conversation with my brother-in-law that proved to be a life altering conversation. We were at Starbucks and he asked me, “How can you challenge people in sermons to have self-control when you don’t have any in the area of food?”
The reality of being overweight in the Christian community is that until you have a heart attack or some other health issue, no one will say anything to you. It isn’t seen as a sin, so what’s the point of saying anything? If you choose to be overweight, it’s your choice.
Back to Temptation
We’ve all had that conversation with someone we love who has been hurt by our addictions. We utter these hopeful words that often feel empty, “This is the last time.”
Why do they feel empty?
These words are brimming with the opportunity of freedom. But they are empty because they are overused. Men addicted to porn swear to their wives they will never do it again. They will get accountability, and this time it will be different. After a mother screams at her children, she tells them she won’t do it again. On the verge of bankruptcy, we tell our loved ones that this is the last time we will spend more than we make. We will stop buying things. We will stop drinking. Stop gambling. Stop gossiping. Stop eating too much.
This is the year that I’ll lose weight. How many times have you uttered those fateful words? How many January’s have you said or written down, “This is the year I will get healthy?”
The personal issue my brother-in-law pointed out is that pastors are unhealthy and many of them are overweight. Ouch. A 2001 Pulpit and Pew study of 2,500 clergy found that 76% were overweight or obese compared to 61% of the general population at the time of the study. For many, it has to do with a lack of controlling their schedules when it comes to their sleep and exercise habits along with making poor choices at their lunch meetings or laziness. I think the larger issue for people who say they believe in God is that we compartmentalize the gospel to the point that it is strong enough to save us for eternity but not to transform our eating habits or body image issues.
It’s not just pastors who are overweight. The problem has moved into the pews. A 2006 Purdue study found that fundamental Christians are by far the heaviest of all religious groups, led by the Baptists with a 30% obesity rate compared with Jews at 1%, and Buddhists and Hindus at 0.7%. This study prompted the lead researcher, Ken Ferraro, to say, “America is becoming a nation of gluttony and obesity and churches are a feeding ground for this problem.”
Similarly, a 2011 Northwestern University study tracking 3,433 men and women for 18 years found that young adults who attend church or a Bible study once a week are 50% more likely to be obese. The Pawtucket Heart Health Program found that people who attended church were more likely than non-church members to be 20 percent overweight and have higher cholesterol and blood pressure numbers.
There are a few reasons for this reality. One reason is that churches don’t talk about food as an addiction, the need for exercise, or body image issues. It can be awkward. I didn’t realize this until I lost all my weight. I remember standing on stage talking about this, weighing in at 170 pounds, and looking out at my church. I saw some people who were overweight; some were very obviously overweight, while others just slightly. Whenever you bring up weight, body image issues, or food as an addiction, immediately everyone thinks you are talking about them. While you are speaking to them, it is beyond each individual, and leaders must see it as a larger issue as well. It isn’t that we as pastors want to shame anyone in our church or any leader wants to bring guilt on someone who works for them. But we know they will feel so much better about themselves and their lives if they can gain the freedom that Jesus offers in this area. We want them to experience the life Jesus promised. Too often, we interpret the life described in John 10:10 as simply about heaven. This life, an abundant life, is also about the pace we keep, what we put into our bodies, and how we think about our bodies.
A second reason this isn’t talked about has to do with the leaders of churches in America. You can’t preach about something you don’t believe or don’t live out. You can’t talk about believing in the life Jesus promises when it comes to weight and body image issues while eating the way we do at the church potluck. You can’t challenge your church to have self-control in areas in which you struggle to have self-control.
The last reason this isn’t discussed in churches and why pastors and those who sit in our churches every week are unhealthier than the culture around them is we don’t believe that Jesus is better than food, work, and our pace in life. Since we don't believe it, there is no sense in living it. For many who attend church, the gospel is simply how one gets to heaven and how we spend eternity. Yet, the gospel, the truth of Jesus, is so much bigger and impacts the here and now of our lives. Until this changes, we won’t see how the gospel can free us from food as an idol or an addiction. In short, we won’t be able to see the glory of how God created us in his image and why this is an amazing truth.
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Josh Reich is the Pastor of Preaching & Vision at Revolution Church, an Acts 29 church in Tucson, AZ. He is married to his high school sweetheart and they have 4 kids and are adopting any day from Ethiopia. He is currently working on a book about weight loss, health, body image and the gospel. He blogs at www.joshuareich.org and you can follow him on twitter at @joshuareich.
Crossing the Road of Mission
On my most recent trip to India, I was able to observe something that I had never seen before. Something that, as I witnessed it, had me tingling with anxiety. On my various trips to India, I’ve seen a multitude of strange and exciting things. However, I’ve never witnessed something so downright precarious; something so foolish, yet inspiring. As I sat outside a restaurant in a crowded downtown area, I watched as a blind man approached an extremely busy street and began walking across.
There I sat in Pune, India, a city known for having more two-wheel vehicles on the road than any other in the world with a bustling population that is densely packed together. The man was undaunted as horns blared and traffic moved around him. He was unable to see whether one of those vehicles was swerving in his direction without warning, but he patiently pressed on, clearly trusting that he had calculated his path correctly. Despite the unknown, the man kept his pace and safely reached the other side.
This image replayed in my mind for the next few hours and as I continued to ponder it, I was reminded of how symbolic it was of the very gospel mission that we engage in every day. A mission where we often step out into the unknown despite the dangers that surround us, blind as to what may happen next. By observing this man, I also realized that he wasn’t arbitrarily crossing the road; in fact, he had a plan for how he was going to reach his goal and many of his tactics are things that can be applied to our own mission.
Listen
First, the man listened. As he stood on the side of the street, he intently listened to the ebb and flow of traffic to determine if it was indeed a safe time to cross. Similarly, listening for the voice of God is essential for determining when we are to act and where we are to go. In Acts 16:6-10, Paul, Timothy, and Silas are able to go confidently when God confirmed to them where he wanted them to go and minister:
And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
In this instance, they were forbidden from going to Asia and were instead instructed to go to Macedon. Had they not listened, they would have found themselves going the complete opposite direction, both geographically and within God’s will for them. By listening, we ourselves can hear when God is saying to go, and where he is sending us. When we respond in faith, God will unveil the path with each subsequent step we take in obedience to him. Like carrying a lantern in a pitch-black night, we can only see the ground that is around our feet, not what lies far off. However, as we faithfully step forward in what we do know, more of the unknown enters the periphery of light and we can proceed in the confidence of God’s direction.
Patience
Second, the man was patient. He did not immediately approach the street and begin to cross. Instead, he waited for the right time, standing patiently on the side of the street, not letting his eagerness to cross cause him to move too quickly. Likewise, when we approach mission, an attitude of patience can help us to operate on God’s timing rather than our own.
After my first trip to India in 2010, I returned home and immediately quit my job because I knew God was calling me to go back and serve for a greater amount of time. I foolishly thought that I would be back in country within a few months, however this was my ideal timing, not God’s. It ended up taking an entire year before I would set foot back in the country and begin serving. When I look back, I can see that God was sovereignly working through this for his purposes and for my good. During this time of waiting, I learned a great deal of patience and an understanding of how much I needed to rely on God before I would go serve cross-culturally. At times, jumping the gun can place us in situations of unpreparedness that can be detrimental to the mission itself.
Boldness
Finally, the man walked boldly. Having listened and waited patiently for the right time to cross, the man raised his cane in the air and began to walk. Once he started walking, he did not break his stride or make any erratic movements. He moved at a quick pace and did not go backwards once he had started walking.
Those who carry the gospel must display a similar manner: walking forward in faith, not turning to the side or stepping back. To do so takes confidence in the Lord’s protection and sovereignty to work through the situations of our own insecurity. As our Savior put it, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). In the context of this passage, Jesus had just instructed a man to go and proclaim the Kingdom of God (v. 60), yet the man was hesitant. Jesus is looking for those who, when they receive the call, respond and boldly step out into the unknown with a trusting heart that is wholly reliant on him.
By observing this man crossing the road, I was struck with how similar the situation seemed to my own mission of proclaiming the gospel. At times, things can become so unpredictable and it would be easy to quit and cower in fear. However, doing so leaves us exposed and vulnerable, making us an easy target for the enemy. This man’s example taught me that a little planning, preparedness, and trust in God’s providence can help me do the Lord’s work with a much greater confidence. When we listen to God, wait on him, and walk boldly in his name, we can go forth with the message of the gospel through the power of the Spirit.
Cross the Road
These lessons have spurred me on toward a much more purposeful and obedient gospel mission, at home and abroad. I currently serve at a church where we have just recently seen God introduce several oversea mission opportunities. It is an exciting time and we can tell that God is up to something, yet we are still uncertain what that is entirely. We’ve been blessed to have before us more mission opportunities than our small congregation can even carry out. We are all anxious to begin work, but we must do it on God’s terms and not our own. To do so obediently, we must all be like the blind man: waiting patiently and listening for God’s direction. Then, once God has issued the call, we can submit ourselves to the unknown with a confidence that God’s providence will lead us.
We can cross the road, and reach the people and places that God has intended for us to reach.
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Mark Hampton is currently a student at Criswell College and serves at Metrocrest Community Church where he plays a role in music, media, and missions. He has served on foreign fields such as Russia and Spain, and in 2012 he spent six months in Northern India. He is currently learning the Hindi language and he just returned from a month of working with pastors in rural parts of Maharashtra, India. You can follow him on Twitter: @markismoving.
New Director of Gospel-Centered Discipleship & Merger with Project TGM
Dear Friends,
A lot of change comes with the start of new organizations. Once the vision is set, the strategy is refined, funding may rise and fall, and staff comes and goes. As GCD.com enters its third year, we say goodbye to an outstanding person and great director—Brad Watson. Brad loves the church, which why he is a pastor. Brad also loves the gospel, which together with his administrative skill, made him a strong director. His commitment to integrating the gospel with life, to generate discipling wisdom, is a strength we will miss but a value that will remain.
I am very excited to introduce the new Director of GCD, Brandon Smith. Brandon is passionate about editing, writing, and publishing gospel-centered content. In fact, as former Editor-in-Chief for Project TGM (Theology, Gospel, Mission), he’s bringing a whole ministry into his new role. As we discussed the prospect of working together, it quickly became clear that a gospel partnership was in the works. Today, I’m also excited to announce the merger of ProjectTGM.com into GospelCenteredDiscipleship.com. We believe the Spirit has led us into a ministry that will deepen and further our ministry of making resources that help make, mature, and multiply disciples of Jesus.
As a freelance writer, Brandon’s work has appeared in newspaper, radio, and popular online resources such as The Gospel Coalition, Baptist Press, and Church Leaders. He is also the Associate Editor for The Council on Biblical Manhood & Womanhood and Director of Communications at Criswell College. Brandon holds a degree in Biblical Studies from Dallas Baptist University and is completing an M.A. in Systematic/Historical Theology at Criswell. He resides in Grapevine, Texas where he and his wife, Christa, are excitedly awaiting the arrival of their little girl, Harper Grace.
Here are a few words from Brandon:
"When we started Project TGM almost exactly one year ago, Gospel-Centered Discipleship was one of the few content-related ministries that we looked at and said, “They are doing it right.” I had hoped that Project TGM – like GCD – would be a place where people could find practical, gospel-driven content that they could apply to their lives and take into their homes, neighborhoods, workplaces, and beyond. God blessed us tremendously and we were humbled by what he did through our writers. As Jonathan, Brad Watson, and I began to discuss what it might look like for these two ministries to merge, there were a few obvious “wins” for us.
First, we felt as though the two ministries had enough in common that a merge would be natural for both the audiences of each website, and the contributors and staff. I was already working as a writer/contributing editor for GCD, and some of the Project TGM contributors were also writing for GCD. We had one common goal: to see God use our articles to impact people’s lives for the gospel’s sake. Why not combine these two incredibly gifted teams and maximize our impact for the gospel?
Second, we believed that the two ministries were also unique and had serious potential to complement each other. Project TGM focused on medium-length articles and blog-like content; GCD focused on longer-form articles and eBooks. Both ministries have been big fans of what the other was doing, so why not combine the two and join hands on the same mission?
After much prayer and conversation, we felt like Project TGM and GCD would ultimately advance God’s mission much more effectively together than as separate entities. As I begin serving as GCD’s Director, I am excited and humbled at the task before me. The vision for GCD has been and will continue to be simple: to promote discipleship resources that help make, mature, and multiply disciples of Jesus. This should be the heartbeat of every Christian, and we aim to continue to help equip the Church by publishing material that is practitioner-tested, gospel-centered, community-shaped, and mission-focused."
The future looks bright and exciting for GCD. In the next few months, we will publish an eBook by Alvin Reid that looks at both the history of gospel movements and our role in the seeing the gospel advance today. Also, be on the lookout for Jeremy Writebol's eBook on being present in the mission. Writebol looks at the most basic but often forgotten piece of being on mission: being present spiritually, emotionally, and physically right where you are. In the coming months, we will also be rolling out a rebranding and redesign for GCD.com. As we move forward, we pray that all of these resources and changes not only mature disciples in the gospel, but also equip disciples to make and multiply disciples. Join us in praying for God to continue his work through us.
In Christ, Jonathan Dodson
Founder, GCD Lead Pastor, City Life Church
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Jonathan K. Dodson (MDiv; ThM) serves as a pastor of City Life Church in Austin, Texas. He is the author of Gospel-Centered Discipleship and Unbelievable Gospel. He has discipled men and women abroad and at home for almost two decades, taking great delight in communicating the gospel and seeing Christ formed in others.
Why We Aren't Healthy
This article is part 2 of a 3 part series on how the gospel changes the way we look at weight, body image, and food. Read Part 1: Two Ideas that Change How Think About Food, Weight Loss, and Body Image. --
John is a friend in his mid-thirties. He works out very little. He has never had to think about his health or his eating habits. He can eat three cheeseburgers in a single meal and not gain any weight. Each day he eats fast food for lunch. This has created a lifestyle that is not sustainable as he gets older. He confided in me recently that for the first time in his life he feels lethargic after eating and is starting to feel like his clothes are getting tighter.
In high school and college, Daniel was in great shape, as he played sports. But then he got a job, got married, and though his exercise habits slowed down, his eating stayed the same. He is now almost thirty and starting to long for what he used to look like and the pace that he used to live. He always feels behind at both work and home and wishes for the stamina he once had.
Heather is single, works part-time, and goes to school full-time. She wants to get married but has always struggled with her weight. It isn’t that she eats a lot of food; she just makes poor choices about food. She wishes that she could have more time to exercise, but with school and work, it ends up being a quick bite here, a short night of sleep there, and a Friday night with friends that leaves her feeling lonely and unhappy. Whenever she sees her friends who keep their weight off, eat whatever they like (at least in her mind), and slender women at the mall or in a magazine, she feels heavier and heavier. She wants to have time for community and church but struggles to make this happen on top of a healthy lifestyle.
Austin is overweight by about sixty pounds. He works too many hours each week, sleeps too little, and eats too much. He never exercises. He takes time to be with his family and attend church. He doesn’t have a desire to lose weight or be healthier and doesn’t really see the need as it hasn’t affected his health--yet. In fact, he would say that his weight isn’t a problem, and it certainly isn’t a sin.
Lisa is married, in her mid-thirties, and a mother of two toddlers. She spends her days chasing after her kids and picking up after them. She wants to get back to her pre-baby weight but is too tired. She looks at magazines, which never help her to feel better. They only remind her of the body she used to have. Her husband doesn’t complain, but she is unhappy. She feels like a failure as a mom because of how tired she is, longing for five minutes of quiet, a hot shower, and to know that she is making an impact on her kids. She misses the romance she and her husband used to share and laments the feelings she has whenever her husband asks her about sex because of how she feels about herself.
Are these stories familiar? The problem is these things are so normal and so accepted that we don’t think twice about them.
Do you find yourself eating mindlessly? Do you start a snack and, before you know it, the bag is empty? Are there leftovers on the counter or food on your spouse’s plate that you just eat? When you have a long day at work, do you find yourself eating to numb the pain or bring some comfort? If a meal you make is so good, do you find yourself having a second and then a third trip?
If you answer yes to enough of these questions, you are addicted to food. You are not alone. Most Americans are.
In fact, if you attend church, it is one of the addictions you can have that no one will call you out. When was the last time you heard a sermon on weight or eating habits? We talk about overindulgence, but always in relation to alcohol or money. Pastors typically stick to the really “big” sins, partly because it is easier and partly because most pastors are overweight.
It is so accepted in our culture to be overweight, it is almost expected.
Questions for Each of Us
I’ve spent some time sharing my story (see part 1 of this series), so now it is time to talk about yours.
Where do you fit into this? Do you have an eating disorder wherein you won’t eat anything or throw it up out of fear of what you look like or try to look a specific way? This tragic thinking affects so many people, particularly women. I remember a college student who couldn’t have weighed more than one hundred pounds, telling me how fat she felt. It was heartbreaking.
Maybe you are on the other end of the spectrum, and you can’t stop eating. At the end of a long day, you find yourself eating not one Oreo but the whole box. It seems there are many foods that you can’t eat just one of.
You could also be there person who works out but can’t take a rest day. If you work out and enjoy it like I do, do you get angry if you miss a day? Are you frustrated that you will not be building the muscle that you want?
The Image of God
How do you think about your body? Many people who attend church regularly every week and follow Jesus do not believe the truth of Genesis 1:27: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” And, 1 Corinthians 6:19–20: “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”
Together, these two verses lay out a simple truth that many followers of Jesus know in their heads but fail to live out in their lives. Why do we not connect the dots on these two key verses? If we truly believed that we were created “in the image of God,” we would look at our bodies with more wonder, more joy, and gratitude for how we were made instead of thinking about why we can’t be thin or even lose weight. We live as if God messed up in the process of creating us and gave us the wrong bodies. We often take 1 Corinthians 6 as simply a suggestion, yet rarely take it seriously and think through how we honor God with our bodies, how we treat them, and what we put into them. We thank God before a meal and then stuff thousands of calories into our mouths, slowly destroying the bodies God has given us.
It’s popular in our day to think our bodies belong to us. We think, “No one can tell me what to do with my body!” In fact, in our culture nothing is more essential to our identity than the freedom to express ourselves and use our bodies as we choose. But God says our bodies belong to him, not us. We are temples of the Holy Spirit and members of Christ (1 Corinthians 6:15). The body is no longer for self-gratification, but rather for God-glorification (v. 20).
Let’s go back to Genesis 1 for a minute. If you and I are made in the image of God, then that means we are not an accident. The body, DNA, and genetics you have when it comes to how you burn through food, or not, are not an accident. They were planned. According to Ephesians 1, God planned these things before he created anything. Think about your body and what you would change. Maybe it’s your nose, love handles, legs, or arms. Those were planned and created by God, in his image.
1 Corinthians reminds us of the price that God paid for us. Jesus went to the cross to redeem our bodies. They are broken; sin is real and has brought havoc to us in the form of our eating habits and how we think about our bodies.
The only time I’ve heard 1 Corinthians 6 mentioned has been in connection with why someone says a Christian shouldn’t smoke or drink alcohol, as we stuff chicken wings into our mouths. Our view of this verse is too small and misses the grandness of its intentions. Taken together, these verses reflect how our bodies are to be reflections of God to the world around us. On top of this, we see God’s love and care for us in our bodies that he has created.
Self-Control
Several years ago, my brother-in-law asked me, when I was at my heaviest, almost three hundred pounds, “How can you challenge people in your sermons to have self-control if you don’t have any?” It’s a tricky question. Why do people lack self-control? Is it just born in them (or not, in some cases)? Are some people just more strong-willed than others and that’s it?
The reality is that, personality-wise, some people tend to be more driven and strong-willed than others. As a follower of Jesus, though, self-control is something we’ve been given by God. In Galatians 5, after Paul laid out how followers of Jesus have been set free by Jesus, he tells them how to see this truth in their lives in verse twenty-two. He said that they will have fruit, evidences in their lives of this change, in the form of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (emphasis added).
The Holy Spirit has given followers of Jesus the power of self-control. This has enormous implications for how we eat, exercise, look at our bodies, sleep, and work. Those moments of weakness when you want to eat another piece of pie or stay up and watch one more show, you have the power through the Holy Spirit to control yourself. The moments that you find your mind drifting and thinking about the body you wished you had or are trying to please in appropriate ways, you have the power through the Holy Spirit to control your thoughts and focus on how God created you. Sound impossible? But is anything that is worth doing not hard in the beginning but easier as you commit to it?
What Does Repentance Look Like?
We've addressed the heart issues, the scriptures, and the role of the Holy Spirit. What would it look like to repent from your current life-style and the beliefs beneath it? This is what I suggest: Stand in front of a mirror. I know, for some of us mirrors are our enemies, but push through your fears. As you look in the mirror, look at the things you would change. Now, remind yourself that God created those things for a purpose before the foundations of the world.
Then, think about what you ate today, the pace you have kept with work, and exercise and sleep in the last week. Are you honoring God with your body in those areas?
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Josh Reich is the Pastor of Preaching & Vision at Revolution Church, an Acts 29 church in Tucson, AZ. He is married to his high school sweetheart and they have 4 kids and are adopting any day from Ethiopia. He is currently working on a book about weight loss, health, body image and the gospel. He blogs at www.joshuareich.org and you can follow him on twitter at @joshuareich.
The Work of the Holy Spirit
Justification
Regeneration
Sanctification
The General Work of the Spirit
Questions for Reflection
- How does the Holy Spirit bring about salvation in a person’s life?
- Does every person have the opportunity to receive salvation? How is the Holy
- Spirit involved in making that possible? Explain.
- What is the major purpose of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life?
- Discuss the general work of the Spirit.
- Reflecting back on your salvation experience, in what ways can you recognize
- that the Holy Spirit was at work in your life?
Concluding Prayer
Two ideas That Change How We Think About Food, Weight Loss, & Body Image
This article is Part 1 of a 3-part series on how the gospel changes the way we look at weight, body image, and food. ---
When we think of addictions, we often think of things like drugs and alcohol. You might add pornography or sex into the list. For many, these aren’t the addictions that plague us. And no, I’m not talking about debt and money, although those certainly are addictions that plague many people.
What I’m talking about has to do with weight loss, body image, and food.
My name is Josh…and I’m addicted to food.
If you are like me, you love food. You might be one of those people who just loves to snack. You always seem to have a bowl of candy on your desk, or you grab a bag of chips mindlessly. Sitting in front of the TV, you find yourself eating something. It isn’t anything big; it isn’t a meal, you just eat, all the time.
Maybe for you it is dessert. You can’t go to bed without eating dessert. It is a comfort when life seems out of control. A long day is made better with a bowl of ice cream, a piece of pie, or some chocolate.
For me, I was never much of a snacker. When my wife Katie and I would take road trips, I never really wanted snacks. But I couldn’t resist the stops we could make for a hearty meal.
There is something else we might have in common. For you, it might not be food that is a problem. It is how you feel about yourself. The constant comparison to magazine covers or TV ads, the inferiority complex you have as you compare yourself to that guy in your office, the one who can eat whatever he wants and lose a pound, or the woman who always looks put together. You put yourself up against your sibling who always seems confident, looks great, and feels great, kind of like an annoying commercial.
Across the board in America there is a problem when it comes to food addiction, weight loss, stress, health, and body image. Today, there are more people overweight and obese than ever before. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, as many as 35.7% of adults are overweight or obese. 17% of children, or 12.5 million, are overweight or obese.
Consider this: 44% of U.S. women are on a diet, 29% of U.S. men are on a diet, 80% of U.S. women do not like how they look, and $109 million is spent in the U.S. every day on diet and weight loss products. Among those who lose weight while on a diet, 95% will regain all of the weight they lost within the first 5 years. Concerning stress, 43 percent of U.S. adults suffer adverse health effects from stress, according to an American Psychological Association (APA) study.
Is This It?
Maybe you have gotten to the place where you’ve asked, “Is this it? Is this really how life was meant to be lived?” Was I meant to envy the body of someone else, envy the six pack abs, butt, or hips of someone else?
My change began 6 years ago. There wasn’t a magic pill of any kind, I didn’t have a surgery, but things in my heart began to change, which led to things in my life changing.
I wasn’t always overweight. In fact, in college I played soccer all 4 years but when college ended, I continued to eat like I played soccer year round and then my metabolism came to a screeching halt and well, you can guess the rest. I ballooned up to almost 300 pounds. Someone looked at our wedding pictures recently and asked how much weight I lost. When I told them I lost 130 pounds, they said, “You lost a jr. higher.”
Maybe you are reading this and think, “I don't have an eating problem. I’m not overweight, but I can’t stop looking at the bodies that others have. I starve myself to look a certain way, to feel beautiful.”
Maybe you are like a guy I had lunch with recently. He eats like he doesn’t know fruit or vegetables exist, but he doesn’t gain any weight. For him, weight is an issue others deal with, but he doesn’t view his body the way God does.
Our Bodies and the Gospel
Often, when it comes to our bodies, the only time we bring the gospel into the conversation is if we are talking about sex. This is too small of an application. If the gospel changes everything and if the gospel one day restores all things, then our bodies, health, body image, and weight loss should fit into the discussion.
Two ideas have changed how I think about food, weight loss, health, pace in life, body image and how I talk about them. The first is found in the first chapter of the Bible in Genesis 1 where it tells us that we as humans are made in the image of God. We are made in the image of God. Most Christians do not believe this. How do I know? We envy other people’s images instead of celebrating our own.
The second idea is a verse that gets quoted to encourage Christians to not smoke or drink, at least, that is how the pastor of the church I grew up in used it. In 1 Corinthians 6:19 – 20 it says, do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. Glorify God in your body.
These two thoughts and their implications changed my life.
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Josh Reich is the Pastor of Preaching & Vision at Revolution Church, an Acts 29 church in Tucson, AZ. He is married to his high school sweetheart and they have 4 kids and are adopting any day from Ethiopia. He is currently working on a book about weight loss, health, body image and the gospel. He blogs at www.joshuareich.org and you can follow him on twitter at @joshuareich.
Sabotaging Your Kingdom
There are ambitions which silently attach themselves to those of us who are participating in the work of the Kingdom of God. The desire to be known. To be recognized. To be wanted. To be in demand. To make a name for yourself. To have a calendar full of important speaking engagements. We each indulge our favorite flavor. And often we think we’re helping Jesus out when we do it.
With the same effect of a succulent burger ad, we salivate. Then we order “it.” We order to get what we saw the happy, successful Kingdom-workers enjoying. Then we pay for it. We justify a real sacrifice to get what others have and we want. Then we open the box. We encounter a disparity between the mess we’ve ordered and are experiencing and what was seductively held up to us through someone else’s life.
Two years ago, in the middle of my self-created busyness and self-supposed importance, I realized how desperately I was straining to be known. I was confronted with the reality that all of the “Kingdom” work I was doing was really a convenient front for another empire I was building. My own.
In his book, Sensing Jesus, Zach Eswine recounts a jolt he received from a mentor (p. 243):
Bob looked at me.
‘Zachary’, he said, ‘You are already discovered.’
‘What?’ I asked.
‘I want you to know that you are already discovered. Jesus already knows you. You are already loved, already gifted, already known.’
Is that enough for us? To be known by Jesus? If you and I are never “discovered,” will our hearts survive?
Although this temptation is greatly pronounced in our modern evangelical celebrity culture, it is not a new problem. The Apostle Paul observed the same sin in the church while he sat in a Philippian jail. “Some preach Jesus out of rivalry and envy” (Phil 1:15). Paul was aware that many used the Kingdom of God as a platform to serve a more personal agenda – the kingdom of self.
I confess the sickness of my own heart and am disgusted by the surfacing of these motives in it. I’ve begun to wonder, “How can I destroy my kingdom? What measures must I take to keep my intentions and affections in check?”
Well, here are three habits I’ve begun to cultivate in response to this tension. In many ways these practices have the power to help us “seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness.”
1. Cultivate a Skepticism Towards Your Use of Social Media and Entertainment
I was about to drop the name of an impressive leader with whom I’d met to another impressive individual with whom I was tweeting. It was relevant to our conversation on international church planting trends. Though just before firing off the message, I realized the pride that was embedded in it. I didn’t send the message.
I’m fascinated by how social media affects our daily lives. People now sleep with their smart phones. I would never do that! I just kept it on my nightstand for a while, and during that time the first thing I would do in the morning is check my Facebook, Twitter, and e-mail. You might feel that’s bad. Or you might feel it’s acceptable. I’m not interested in the verdict. I’m primarily intrigued by what my behavior tells me about my heart. What is it that drives the average American to check their smart phone 150 times a day?
In a real sense, we are tempted by a desire for omnipresence. Social media propagates the idea that we can be in more than one place at the same time. The idea that I can maintain the awareness of what 900 “friends” are up to indulges the illusion of real engagement with their lives. I can like a status. Or try to post a status or picture that will compel others to engage with me through clicking “like.” Resultantly, many sociologists have observed that social media leads to more interactions – but not more meaningful interactions.
My love for TV furthers my desire for omniscience. When my son crashes around 9 p.m. or so, my wife and I use all the energy left in our bodies to drag ourselves onto the couch. We then transport ourselves to the wilderness of Alaska. Or into a crowd watching America’s favorite dancers. We become part of an exciting auction. For a moment, we aren’t full-time working, toddler-worn parents. We are in a different place and part of a different story.
I’m not condemning social media or TV, but I do want to cultivate a healthy skepticism for my use of both. What does the frequency of your social media usage say about your heart? What does your compulsive need to rest via TV say about your soul?
2. Combat Boredom by Embracing the Ordinary and Mundane
G.K. Chesterton has said that we must learn to “exult in monotony.” Why? If the ordinary moments of life are not deserving of celebration, then life itself is not worthy of being lived. The essence of boredom is discontentment with “what is” and a desire to be somewhere else, doing something else. This state of being indicates that we do not yet possess gratitude for our lives. We haven’t yet absorbed the simple weight of what it means to be able to change diapers, pay taxes, and put in contact lenses.
“For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, ‘Do it again’ to the sun; and every evening, ‘Do it again’ to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike, it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never gotten tired of making them.”[6]
What would it mean to oppose your boredom for the sin that hides beneath it? How might you and I come to celebrate those moments that leave us wishing we were present in another place and time? Perhaps, we were made to live like Jesus in life’s most simple moments. The Son of Man built stuff with wood in Nazareth for two decades. Perhaps, this is the kind of life Paul had in view when he said that we should seek to lead, “a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way” (1 Tm 2:2). If something in your soul recoils at this prospect, what is that part of you?
German theologian, Jurgen Moltmann, observed, “The knowledge of the cross brings a conflict of interest between God who has become man and man who wishes to become God.” The incarnation speaks to the astonishing reality that God was willing to become “one of us.” Furthermore, the Son became the very best “one of us” who ever lived. The Son was the most fully human human being who has ever been. He relinquished the benefits of his membership in the Trinity so that he could live life as you and I.
But the ironic tension Moltmann noted is that although God descended to be with us, our universal desire is to ascend to the place of God. In many ways, I deny the limits of my humanity and posture myself as divine.
If the most human human being experienced life the way it was intended to be by occupying one place (an obscure and impoverished town) and simply “being there,” what can that teach us about embracing the glamour-less moments and places we tend to despise in our lives?
3. Remain Aware of What Your Worship is Doing
My sin causes me to love the wrong things. I am a “desiring being.” I have cravings that actually shape my entire person. These “wants” form me, rippling out from the core of my being and driving my thoughts, will, emotions, and behavior. This is what it means to be a worshiper. I am always worshiping and must remain conscious of what my heart is treasuring.
I must constantly ask myself, “What am I looking for right now? What is it that I most deeply want?” Sometimes it may be important to even ask a layer beneath that, “I crave acknowledgement. Why do I want that acknowledgement? What am I hoping it will do for me?”
Conversing with the Father after viewing both him and ourselves in the mirror of Scripture leads us to pray, “Your Kingdom come.” And when we pray with this heart, we are killing our own kingdoms.
There are moments I sit quietly with the Father, unable to offer my Creator any kind of adoration. I remain silent, wondering why I can’t piece together some string of affection that would communicate a perception of his worth. And then I realize why I can’t. I can’t worship God because I am simultaneously pouring out my heart to something else. There’s something that I want more than him. There is some good “second thing” that I have enthroned as my ultimate thing.
And then I have to do something even more pathetic. I must ask God to change what I want. The convenience of more superficial sanctification is that I can change myself. I can modify my behavior. I can filter my thoughts and words. But I am powerless to change what my heart wants. Only God can do that for me.
Conclusion
If your inner traitor is as sneaky as mine, then it’s almost certain there is a way in which you’ve been secretly siphoning off glory intended for God and stockpiling it for yourself.
There’s an impending rationale for why each of us must halt construction of our personal kingdoms immediately. One day, Jesus will take possession of the kingdoms of this world. He will set up his rule on Earth, and it will never end. You and I will sit under his rule as willing captives to his unmatchable radiance.
Then for many of us, the tears of regret will come. On that day, we will wish we could relive each hour we spent preoccupied with building our own kingdoms. Jesus will then wipe away tears of regret.
With the vision of the New Jerusalem coming down from heaven in mind, let’s skip back a few scenes. Skip back to right now. Invite God to help you sabotage your kingdom so that you can begin to truly live in his. It’s not a kingdom where you rule. It’s a better and enduring empire.
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Sean Post resides with His wife and son in Maple Valley, WA. He serves as Academic Dean for Adelphia Bible School - a one-year Bible and mission immersion experience for young adults. Sean is also a leadership coach, doctoral student, book-lover, and a has-been basketballer. Twitter: @Sean_Post
Mentoring, Church, & Missional in Discipleship (My Response to a 9 Marks Book Review)
Last week the helpful, church loving ministry of 9 Marks posted a review of my book Gospel-Centered Discipleship. With so many books that can be read, I am grateful to Zach Schlegel for taking the time to read and respond to my book. His opening story narrates just the kind of application of the gospel I long for. I believe he got the essence of the book.
Is Peer Discipleship Enough?
While I don't usually respond to reviews, this piece raised several questions worthy of response. The first two can be quickly answered, while the third, regarding my perspective on "missional," will receive more attention. The first question inquires why I don't talk about examples of discipleship from those older in the faith to those who are younger. This critique has been raised before. For those unfamiliar with the book, I am critical of the professional-novice discipleship relationship, which often creates a distance between disciples based on knowledge, spirituality, or character. An older and younger disciple schedule a regular meeting where insights, spiritual practices, or character exhortations are transferred. Do this and you have a "discipler." This approach results in discipleship that is knowledge, spirituality, or character centered, not gospel centered. The older disciple acts as a guru to pass off best practices, while the younger disciple simply acts as a receptacle. This one on one discipleship is often bent on sharing faith but not sharing failures. With this lack of transparency, Christ is obscured. Disciples are not seen as equals, fighting together for belief in the gospel. This can be quite damaging because it creates a guru dependency that displaces Jesus. However, these dangers shouldn't cause us to do away with mentoring altogether.
The Bible offers numerous examples of mentoring type relationships that are gospel-centered (Abraham/Isaac, Moses/Joshua, Elijah/Elisha, Jesus/The Twelve, Paul/Timothy). In fact, this kind of relationship is written right into our DNA as fathers and mothers who raise sons and daughters. The most discipleship influence we will ever have will be with our children. In fact, familial ecclesiology (as opposed to individual mentoring) is God's appointed context for the flourishing of his followers. The apostle Paul refers to his discipleship relationships in familial terms. He refers to Timothy his true son in the faith (1 Tim 1:2). He acted as a father, mother, and brother to the Thessalonians (1 Thess 2). Many more texts could be marshaled in support. However, just because Scripture provides a mentoring pattern does not mean every disciple is entitled to a mentor. In missionary contexts, very often those kind of believers simply don't exist yet. Therefore, it is incumbent upon us as followers of Jesus to "make disciples of all nations" regardless of the availability of a mentor. With God as our adopting Father, the Savior as our redeeming Lord, and the Spirit as God's empowering presence, we have all we need to make disciples. Nevertheless, I wholeheartedly believe that mentoring discipleship is beneficial to Christian growth, provided it is Christ-centered. Then why didn't I mention it in the book? The reason I chose not to develop this pattern of disciple-making is because there are already countless books available on this topic, and I believe the literature needs to be balanced out with good examples of peer-based, gospel-centered discipleship.
In our church, we encourage people to form two types of discipleship groups (Fight Clubs): peer and mentoring. For example, I am in a Fight Club with a local pastor, who is a dear friend. I also meet with two emerging leaders for discipleship every other Thursday at a local coffee shop for breakfast. While I retain transparency and confess my need for Christ, I also take the lead in challenging, exhorting, and encouraging them in their faith. However, this is just one part of our discipling relationship. We also share meals, play Tennis, watch movies, serve the elderly, spend time together with our spouses. We share life not just meetings. In addition, we teach a whole course on how to mentor and disciple those younger in the faith. I have considered turning that into a book; however, there are probably better resources out there like (The Walk, Bill Hull's writings, and Robby Gallaty's forthcoming book). To conclude, there are seasons where peer discipleship will have to be enough, but this is not a settling "have to"; it is a get to. Peer discipleship is actually the normative example in the Bible. It is the church carrying out the commands of the New Testament in the context of sharing life and sharing the gospel together.
What About the Church?
The review states: "What about the church?" I was surprised to see this critique of Gospel-Centered Discipleship since I spend a whole chapter on the church, making the case that there three conversions for every disciple--one to Christ, church, and mission. In fact, I say "the church is God's appointed context for our gospel change." The bulk of chapter six is spent on how to be disciples in community, living as the church. The author then raises this question: "How does he [the pastor] help them avoid the error that their Fight Club is their church?" Ah, this gives me some insight into the critique. My whole book presupposes a commitment to the local church. As I explain in the book, discipleship should happen through organized expressions of the church, what we call City Groups, where you can be the church to one another an the city. Fight Clubs are smaller subsets of a larger expression of the body of Christ. For us, discipleship happens in three spaces: Sundays, City Groups, and Fight Clubs. Each environment of grace fosters growth and appeals to a primary identity: Sundays (worshipper), City Groups (family/missionary), and Fight Clubs (learner).
On the one hand, I want Fight Clubs to become "church" to our people. These relationships should be so rich, faithful, and deep that they express the various "one anothers" of churchly activity: confess, repent, encourage, serve, love, speak the truth...to one another. This kind of discipleship is more intimate and less diverse. Therefore, a disciple needs also participate in larger, more diversely gifted expressions of the church such as a City Group. To head off narrow practices of church, we encourage our people to have "fight club conversations in their city groups." By this we mean, continue transparency, confession, and truth telling in larger settings. If church isn't thick, then discipleship will be thin. Ephesians reminds us that we have a whole body of gifts that exist for our growing up into the full stature of Christ. Therefore, it takes a church to be a disciple.
Is Missional Just Evangelism?
The final questions revolves around my use of "missional." The author takes issue with my broader definition of missional, which includes everything from evangelism to social justice. Although I didn't have space or focus to develop my convictions about the mission of the church, I did note that the Great Commission is often reduced to an evangelistic text; when in fact, it presupposes a larger practice of mission. The author is kind enough to mention my article on the Great Commission that develops my view, but points his readers to a book by Kevin DeYoung that I disagree with. Thus, he is at odds with me when he writes: "The dangerous irony is that defining missional this way threatens to shift a church away from a gospel center—the very thing Dodson is fighting for." I disagree. In fact, I believe this broader understanding of the mission of God does more justice to the gospel and as world and life view, a theory of everything, that affects everything from creation to individual souls.
Very often evangelicals reduce the good news to what Scot McKnight has called "the soterian gospel," a gospel for personal salvation only. Although the term may not be that helpful (in biblical theology God is saving the world not just humans), it is true that the gospel generates mission that is more than soul-winning. For example, in Colossians 1:15-20 Paul argues that the atonement is both for the elect and the whole creation. In Luke 4:16-19 Jesus announces that the Spirit of the Lord has come upon him to anoint him to proclaim the good news. This gospel proclamation issues forth in mission that includes city renewal (see background in Isaiah 61), social justice, and personal evangelism. Some conservative evangelicals are afraid that if we elevate social justice and cultural renewal to the status of evangelism that we will compromise the gospel and lose evangelistic impetus. Therefore, they conclude that missional must be restricted to evangelism.
This appears to be Schlegel's concern. In fact, he expresses a fear that if given an opportunity between evangelism and tutoring that people will chose tutoring and neglect evangelism. Although I disagree his prognostication, my primary point is that he argues his case for a narrow definition of mission based on prediction of what someone might do. This is theology by reaction. He reveals his position when he states: "But if both are seen as equal aspects of the mission of the church, the church is at risk of communicating that evangelism is no more urgent than tutoring, or at worst, is optional." Clearly, he believe missional to equal evangelism. This, however, is not how missional has been historically used. More importantly, I believe prioritizing evangelism over social justice, for example, introduces an unbiblical hierarchy in mission.
In the words of noted missiologist David Bosch, “Mission is not primarily concerned with church growth. It is primarily concerned with the reign and rule of the Triune God.” Perhaps this is the starting place of our differences. I believe the meaning of missional should be derived, not from evangelistic concern, but from biblical theology. If the mission of God is the reign and rule of the Triune God through history, then I believe this gets us closer to a gospel-centered and therefore missionally diverse understanding of mission. What is the reign and rule of God? The rule of the Triune God is unmistakably Christ-centered, culminating in the death and resurrection of Jesus. It is this mission we are to announce and demonstrate--the reign of God in Christ in this world. Mission includes both social action and evangelism because both are a demonstration of God’s awe-inspiring, creative, redemptive reign breaking into our world (see Luke 4; Isaiah 61 and the five Great Commissions in the article above).
If mission is focused on God’s reign in Christ, which comes through the cross and resurrection, should we prioritize social action or evangelism? Michael Frost responds to this question, by citing six of the twelve historic positions noted by Bosch, which range from prioritizing evangelism over an optional social action (Position 2) to evangelism and social action as equally important with no prioritization of over one another (Position 6). Perhaps Schlegel assumes Position 5, which affirms the importance of both but prioritizes evangelism? I am arguing for Position 6--both are equally important and without prioritization. Both social action and evangelism are equally important ways of alerting people to the reign of God, and therefore, no prioritization should be made.
Rather, our emphasis should be on the gospel of Jesus, which is cosmic and personal, encouraging missional faithfulness in all areas of life by responding to the Spirit and seeking obedience to Jesus in every aspect of life. In other words, our entire life should be viewed and lived through the rule and reign of the Triune God, repenting wherever we fail and celebrating Christ wherever we succeed. I would like to have developed a longer response to the missional question, with greater biblical support; however, I have already exceeded my word limit. I do look forward to doing this elsewhere at some point. For now, I can point interested readers to the Great Commission article above as well as Ed Stetzer's fine work on the Meanings of Missional.
In conclusion, this response is not meant to generate spiteful polemics, but to clarify my position and, perhaps by God's good grace, increase clarity regarding some of these very important discipleship questions. I believe some real fruitful discussion could result, as two resource ministries (and an author and reviewer) reflect on Scripture for the good of the church and the world.
*Jonathan Leeman of 9 Marks was kind enough to respond to this article by pointing to his review of Tim Keller's Generous Justice. Keller makes this very important observation: “Evangelism [speaking words] is the most basic and radical ministry possible to a human being. This is not true because the spiritual is more important than the physical, but because the eternal is more important than the temporal” (139)."
I tend to agree with this; however, our good works also have eternal value and are rewarded as such. Even good works of cultural tribute will be present in heaven (Rev 21:22-27). Perhaps we could say evangelism, social justice, and cultural renewal are equally important for mission (avoiding dualism) but unequal in temporality? Yet, this seems to assumes that good works will not achieve eternal significance. Yet, Kuyper and Revelation 21/Isaiah 61 point to our good deeds as works of cultural tribute fit for the King of creation. Thus, it may be that long after our good works have faded from history, a great piece of art or work of social justice may reverberate in the new creation as a display of the reign of the creative, reigning Lord. Perhaps we are meant to remain in a tension on this matter...
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Jonathan K. Dodson (MDiv; ThM) serves as a pastor of City Life Church in Austin, Texas. He is the author of Gospel-Centered DiscipleshipandUnbelievable Gospel. He has discipled men and women abroad and at home for almost two decades, taking great delight in communicating the gospel and seeing Christ formed in others.
Stereotypes prevent lasting Community
In 2004, Pixar introduced The Incredibles, a family of superheroes posing as a “normal” suburban family. After a series of unfortunate incidents followed by equally unfortunate lawsuits, superheroes are forced into “the Superhero Relocation Program,” in which they are forced to pose as normal citizens in order to evade any further legal action. Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl become Bob and Helen Parr, insurance agent and stay-at-home Mom, complete with three children. As a result of their hidden superpowers, Bob and Helen’s children are caught in a net of confusion. They know they are different but every voice they hear seems to say, "different is not good." Things come to a head when at dinner one night when their daughter, Violet, complains to her Mom, Helen: “We act normal, Mom! I want to be normal!” Their son, Dash, wrestles with similar issues. After being told he can’t try out for the track team because he’s too fast, Dash says: “But Dad always said our powers were nothing to be ashamed of, our powers make us special.” His Mom responds by telling him that “everyone’s special, Dash,” to which he retorts: “Which is another way of saying no one is.”
Though born different (with super powers), society no longer values their differences. Instead, they want the “supers,” as they’re known, to simply blend in and be like everyone else. Soon, Syndrome, a super villain, emerges wreaking havoc and giving the Supers no choice but to come out of retirement and use their powers to save the very people who want them to just be normal. They’re not normal. It’s only when they’re are able to truly be themselves that they can rise to their full potential and fight the evil that threatens their world.
The movie raises interesting questions about perception versus identity. When urging the children to use their special powers, Helen gives them masks, saying: “Your identity is your most valuable possession. Protect it.” At a climactic moment, Syndrome reveals plans to sell super weapons to everyone, noting that, “When everyone’s super, no one will be.” When we all fit the expectations, there’s nothing left to differentiate us.
Christian stereotypes prevent real, lasting, effective Christian community.
Sadly, this is exactly what much of what passes for Christian community does. We forget that each one of us is fearfully and wonderfully made. We expect everyone to look and act the same. Our community is weakened because we try to smooth out people’s rough edges. We forget that our community is strongest when we encourage individuality, not at the expense of, but for the sake of community. Christians, of all people, should get this.
Near the middle of my time in seminary, John Piper preached in chapel. I don’t remember most of the sermon, but I do remember that, at one point, he took an aside, mentioning that he was preaching to a room full of men who were training to do the same. He noted that when we graduated, most of us would try to emulate our favorite preachers, but we wouldn’t be any good at it. Instead, he offered, "we should strive to become sanctified versions of ourselves rather than watered-down versions of someone else.” That phrase has haunted me, in a good way, like no other during my subsequent years of following Jesus.
I have spent a good deal of my life in “ministry” being compared to and contrasted to celebrities and stereotypes. Everyone has their idea of what a pastor should be. Everyone has an idea of who their pastor should be. But it goes deeper. Everyone has their own idea of what a Christian should be. And when everyone has their own idea of what a Christian should look like, we race towards the middle: the blandest version possible (so as to not offend anyone, of course). The very people who should be the most distinct, expressing the most individuality for the sake of community, end up being watered down versions of a stereotyped celebrity that doesn’t even exist: An idealized Christian who no one really likes and no one can actually be but everyone seems to think is the standard.
American Christians have produced some of the most anemic community known to man. We have perpetuated closed-off, private, judgmental, and stereotypical environments where everyone feels an unspoken (or sometimes spoken) expectation that everyone should look and act the same. The result, of course is that what passes for community in many churches is nothing of the sort. People are afraid to let their idiosyncrasies show and many are afraid to be honest about their shortcomings and struggles because all the other Christians have it together (even though, of course, they really don’t).
Who We Really Are
Christians ought to be the most comfortable with who they are and the most welcoming and celebratory of uniqueness. We know we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” by God himself (Psalm 139:14). Though we were by nature children of wrath (Ephesians 2:3) and enemies of God (Romans 5:10), he has adopted us into his family (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:5; Ephesians 1:5, etc.). We, who were once far from God, have been brought near to him (Ephesians 2:13). We have become his children, his heirs (Romans 8:17, Galatians 3:29, etc.). What is true of the Savior is becoming true of his people. He stands on our behalf even now interceding with his righteousness (Romans 8:34). The Holy Spirit who raised Christ from the dead dwells in us (Romans 8:11)!
There is a direct correlation between individuality and community. Community is strongest when people are most encouraged to explore their individuality; to just be themselves and walk in honesty. If we are free of needing people’s approval, we are free to serve sacrificially.
Why doesn’t this happen?
Why do we allow stereotypes to typecast us into a blandardized versions of likable but not real characters? Everyone knows the answer but no one likes it. We judge each other and hogtie real community because, deep down, we believe that it matters how you look before others and before God because that’s how he loves us more! So, I become tied to your approval of a fake version of myself which means that I can never actually give myself up to truly serve you because I’ve created a weird co-dependency thing that you may or may not be aware of.
In short, we choose to believe lies. Jesus told us that the “Truth will set us free” (John 8:32). If Truth sets us free, then it would seem that lies hold us captive. Deep down, we don’t believe that God’s acceptance of us is enough. We may not even be sure if it’s sincere. So we are never free to truly be ourselves because it’s always tied to a search for acceptance. But what if this is not the way God meant it to be?
How Does God See You?
If you were to picture God looking down on you and your life, how do you picture his facial expression? What do you think he might say over your life? Would he say: "Dangit, I’ve given Brent so many chances, why can’t he just get it together? Or, Oh man, I’ve just had it with Brent’s failures! This has gotten ridiculous!"
What do you really think he would say of you and your life?
Do you remember when Jesus went out to his crazy cousin John to be baptized in the Jordan? Mark 1:10-11 tells us that when Jesus came up out of the water, the Spirit descended upon him in the form of a dove and a voice came from heaven saying, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” What might change in our communities if individuals believed that what the Father says of the Son, he says about us? That, because Jesus stands on our behalf, the Father loves us, he is pleased with us, and we do not have to work for his approval or anyone else’s.
I wonder why our first thought is so rarely that God is pleased with us for who we are and not what we do? I have seven sons and one daughter (four biological sons, three foster sons and a foster daughter) and I love them each for who they are. They are each very different from each other. It would be foolish of me to expect them all to have the same interests, play the same sports, read the same books, listen to the same music, etc. It would be even more foolish if I based my acceptance of them on how well they all tried to act the same. And yet that’s exactly what we often do to one another.
The Fruit of Disbelief
We don’t believe that God truly loves us for who we are so we don’t believe that anyone else will love us for who we are. We pretend and there’s no real community because no one is really themselves because everyone has adopted a false caricature of what what we should all look like. Since our relationships are bound up in seeking approval, we never have the freedom to truly serve one another.
But the Truth sets us free. What if I no longer need your approval because I have God’s approval through Jesus? Now, I am free to be myself which enables me to serve you sacrificially because I no longer need your approval. It doesn’t matter what you think of me. I can and will find ways to show you God’s love. Because I can, not because I should.
When Jesus sets us free to truly be ourselves, community flourishes. And as community flourishes, I am even more comfortable showing you just how screwed up I am. And community flourishes as we accept one another as a “beautiful circus of crazies and freaks” to quote my friend Aaron Spiro. But we won’t ever have real community until we accept one another for who we are because we’ve accepted ourselves for who God has made us to be. And only the Gospel can do that.
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Brent Thomas (MDiv) and his wife Kristi live in Glendale, AZ with four biological sons and one foster child. Brent pastored in KY and TX before moving back to AZ to plant Church of the Cross which exists to make, mature, and multiply disciples through gospel, community, and mission. He sometimes writes at Holiday At The Sea and hosts house shows with The Habañero Collective.
Other Articles by Brent:
Character is Different Than We Think
One of my mentors says: "80% of life is character development." Most of us want it the other way. We want our first 20 years to be about 'growing up' and the rest of life to be about successful leadership, disciple making, movement building, and world changing. We think that we can master the character stuff by the end of college, and then take on the world. Then, we find ourselves in our 30s learning all over again what it means to be humble, when our dreams don't come to fruition and we fail at changing the world. In our 40s, when our work becomes difficult and monotonous, we have to learn afresh what faithfulness means. The older we get, the more we see of our need to learn the basics: humility, self-control, perseverance, love, wisdom, generosity. Life teaches us we know nothing about those things. Hardships remind us we don't have life figured out.
We are faced with two choices: proceed unchanged or press into the character journey. You know what not changing looks like, but what about character change? In the character journey we re-learn the gospel. We cling to God. We realize that God is working all things together for our good. It just doesn't look like the good we want; it looks even better: conformity into the image of the Son (Romans 8:28-29). In the midst of the struggles, God has been transforming our character as much as he has been using us to transform the world. We want God to work through us, but he is doing just as much work in us.
Character is Different Than We Think.
Often we get into the mindset that we are transforming ourselves at one thing or level at a time. For example we might think: first we master humility , then we start working on generosity, then we pursue faithfulness, all the while getting closer to the 'goal.' Essentially, we think we are moving up the character ladder. However, the character journey is actual a constant process. Christ not only redeems us, giving the status of righteousness, but also begins to transform our core. It is more like a path we walk with him than a ladder we climb to be like him. Each day we are learning many new things about who we are in Christ and how to live and we are learning old things all over again. Each day we realize that Christ has changed who we are, and is changing how we live. His divine power is giving us everything we need for a godly life. These qualities are ours and are increasing.
His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. - 2 Peter 1:3-8
The character journey is like climbing a mountain, painting a picture, or earning a college degree. It not only requires process, it is process.
Who You Are And How You Live
Character is the collision of who you are and how you live. There is an unmistakable connection to what we believe and what we do, and who we are and how we act. Everyone has character. Most of us arrive at a personal identity and a personal way of life opposed to and absent from Christ. We live out of a false perception identity based on who our parents say we are, what our teachers, peers, or even culture says we are. We are told we are sexual beings who's urges must be satisfied, and so we act on those. We are told we are the best and most important being in the world. Therefore, look out for #1, and we do just that. We may even base our personal identity and way of life on 'churchy' things. For example, we are good people, raised in a good home, who know the truth, so we should read our Bibles, pray, tell the truth, tithe, and say hello to strangers. We begin with a false understanding of who we are and move forward with wrong living and deceived hearts. Mostly our deceit is in our thinking we can decide what is good and right for ourselves. That we, on our own, are living an abundant and good life. When we fall on our faces, we simply muster up enough strength, or attempt to change our circumstances enough, to change ourselves.
Personally, I think of myself as a missional expert. "I know how to start and lead missional communities and can do it better than anyone," I say to my deceived self. This belief leads to a new legalism instead of new character. It is a legalism or self-justification around inviting neighbors to dinner, doing something every night with community, serving every Saturday, throwing a party every holiday, and sharing the gospel not out of love and belief but out of a duty to accomplish the mission. This is not the picture of godly living or transformed character we found in 2 Peter. This is a lie-filled identity and false actions. I'm not becoming more like Christ, I'm just becoming more exhausted.
Character transormation is actually found in a life lived close to God. It is in a God informed identity that our core is transformed, conformed, renewed, and recreated into his image. Character change is a redoing and repairing of a destruction from long ago. When Adam sinned, our relationship was broken with God. We, humanity, stopped walking with God. In fact, we rejected God. When we sin, we are acting different from God: distinctively selfish and prideful. The character journey is where Christ decisively transforms us into selfless and humble humans in relationship with God and others. God conforms us into his image. New identity and new way to live. This is exactly what Peter is talking about in his letter:
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. - 1 Peter 2:9-12
God has made us a people, a holy, special, chosen, and mercy received people. I am not a missional expert, I'm God's special possession. How much better is that! It is with this identity that we are called to abstain and live good lives. In the end, as Peter writes, the character journey isn't even about you. It is not for the sake of improved leadership, or for the sake of success in the Kingdom, it is for Christ's sake. It is Christ's work in us. It is for his glory.
What sort of "lessons" will be learned on the Character Journey?
What can you expect from embracing a life of change not only in who you are but how you live?
- You can trust that God is good and nothing but pure joy exists in that trust. You see his good character everywhere. You trust he is concerned for you. You trust he is good at being in control.
- Persistence is possible because of God's faithfulness. We continue down difficult paths because all we see is how abundantly gracious God is every morning and evening.
- Weakness is strength. You will depend on God for everything. You will rely on the Spirit for the words to pray and preach. Rely on God to counsel the messy and be a husband or wife. You will come to a place where you regularly pray: "I don't know how and I know I can't. God empower me and walk with me. Please give me grace to do this thing beyond me."
- Forgiveness will be tasted and extended. You will grow to know the depths of your sin and the heights of the cross. You will look forward to opportunities to extend forgiveness to those who wrong you. When folks rebuke you and expose your sin, you will be neither offensive or defensive.
- Wisdom doesn't look like high GPAs. It looks like studying the scriptures with an intent on living them and applying it to life.
- Humility isn't thinking bad about yourself or putting yourself down in front of others. Humility is viewing God rightly and taking your proper position as his child, his beloved, and his creation.
- Faith is obedience. Obedience is Faith. You will realize that obedience doesn't come from getting the write Bible reading app, or setting enough reminders in your phone. It doesn't even come from making lists or accountability partners. Obedience is rooted faith. When we believe the gospel, that we were dead but raised to life by the person&work of Jesus, we read the Bible because it is our story. When we believe the gospel, we don't need reminders to pray, we know we can't survive without God's presence. We share the gospel in obedience because we believe it. We live on mission because we are recipients of the mission's message of grace.
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Brad Watson serves as a pastor of Bread&Wine Communities in Portland, Oregon. He also works as 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.
Other Articles by Brad:
A Declaration of Dependence: Following the Spirit-Filled Example of Jesus
If you had to choose, who would you say is more like Jesus---Batman or Superman? Was Jesus an “alien” with divine powers we don’t have access to? Or was he a more human hero? Was Jesus' power on earth rooted in the benefits of his Trinitarian membership or was it rooted in participatory dependence upon the Trinity? 700 years before the arrival of the Messiah, Isaiah tells us that the Savior would be full of the Holy Spirit. “And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.” Apparently Jesus thought “Spirit-filled” and “Spirit-anointed” were pretty good descriptions of Himself. He uses another “Spirit passage” from Isaiah 42 to describe Himself in Matthew 12. “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.”
It is safe to move forward with the understanding that Jesus walked perfectly in step with the Spirit, was led by the Spirit, was filled with the Spirit, and perfectly displayed the fruit of the Spirit. It is also safe to assume that in Jesus, believers have a visual illustration of what it means to walk in the Spirit. So when we are exhorted to do the Spirit filled life in the Pauline epistles we can look to Jesus in the gospels for greater clarity on how to do that.
Early on in the gospel accounts, we’re told that Jesus would often retreat to places of isolation for extended times of prayer (Mark 1:35). For example, he spent all night in prayer before choosing his twelve disciples (Luke 6:12). These prayers were an expression of friendship with the Father and the Spirit, submission to the Father and the Spirit, and dependence upon the Father and the Spirit. Prayer expresses (or at least should express) these same elements for you and I today. And when we talk about what it means to walk in the Spirit as Jesus did, we cannot miss these three components.
Friendship with the Holy Spirit
In Luke 11, Jesus is teaching the disciples how to pray and He begins to talk about asking God for good gifts. He promises that God wants to give good gifts when we ask. He then instructs us that the best gift we can ask for is the Holy Spirit (v13). That’s high praise for the Holy Spirit!
The Holy Spirit comes highly recommended from Jesus. Jesus could honestly tell us that the Holy Spirit is the best gift the Father gives because Jesus Himself enjoyed an intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit. How do we know? We know based on the same criteria we’d use to evaluate any relationship between two people. “What good things flow from that relationship? What fruit is produced from this friendship?”
In the case of Jesus and the Spirit, Galatians 5 summarizes the produce of the relationship: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The problem we run into is in trying to bear the same fruit without pursuing the same Spirit. Jesus never intended for us to imitate him without the help of the Helper.
Submission to the Spirit
It seems logical Jesus came to an understanding of His Messianic identity through the voice of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit probably spoke to him as he read the Scriptures. Imagine Jesus at ten-years old, listening to Isaiah 61 being read, “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me. He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom to the captives, and release from darkness for the prisoners.” Then the Holy Spirit speaks to Him, “That’s talking about you…”
In his early years, as Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, it was his submissive listening to the Spirit that led him to embrace his Messianic identity and job description. During Jesus ministry, it was the same submissive listening that allowed Jesus to know what he should do or say in a given situation. The Spirit often told him what people were thinking, who to heal, and what would happen in the future.
Jesus explains this at one point without directly mentioning the Holy Spirit (but clearly referring to Him). “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.” (John 8:28-29) Elsewhere Jesus says, “I do nothing on my own accord, but only what I see the Father doing.” (John 5:19)
It seems the whole of Jesus ministry was a response to what he heard when he was watching and listening. As he observed the will of the Father through the illumination of the Scriptures by the Spirit, or heard the voice of the Spirit during a moment of need – Jesus then acted accordingly. Jesus did only what he heard the Father speaking to Him through the Spirit.
To follow in the footsteps of Jesus, we must cultivate a sensitivity to the voice of the Spirit. A heart that says, “Speak Lord for your servant is listening!” Of course, as we obey the revealed will of God through Scripture, our conscience becomes more and more tuned to the ways of God and we are better able to hear the voice of God (John 10:3-4). As we walk in the Spirit we come to think like Jesus – this is why Paul referred to the possessing the Spirit as having “the mind of Christ” (1 Cor 2:14-16).
Dependent upon the Resources of the Spirit
Through the incarnation Jesus made a declaration of dependence. We’ve already seen that in his ministry Jesus only did what he heard the Father speaking through the Spirit. But it’s also important to note that Jesus did not fulfill the will of the Father using his own human resources. Jesus accomplished the will of the Father using the supernatural resources the Spirit provided.
As Luke sets the scene for the story of Jesus healing a paralytic, he says, “On one of those days, as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with him to heal.” The final phrase of the verse is significant. The fact that it is stated serves as an indication that there were times when the power of the Lord was not with him to heal. Why would this be the case? Because Jesus only needed healing power from the Spirit when he was healing people. The rest of the time healing power was unnecessary.
Later in his ministry Jesus reminds the disciples that in their own strength, they do not have the ability to resist temptation, do miracles, endure persecution, or answer kings as they are speaking the gospel. On the night he was betrayed, Jesus warned the disciples, “Watch and pray for the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” In other words, “You’d better ask God for some help because otherwise you’re going to fail.”
The psalmist offers the identical perspective: “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” (Psalm 73:26)
Both Scriptures are intended to point us to the one who can strengthen our heart – the Holy Spirit. We can be encouraged that it is God who works in our hearts to will, and to do according to His good pleasure. We are not sufficient ourselves but our sufficiency is from Him.
Reality Check – Am I Relying on the Spirit?
Looking at Jesus Spirit-filled life points us to a startling realization. We may lack the fruit and miracles of Jesus because we fail to ask for the Holy Spirit as He did. We must ask ourselves the challenging questions: “When was the last time the Holy Spirit clearly showed up in my life? Is the fruit in my life, relationships, and ministry reproducible without the Spirit of God? Am I relying on the Spirit at all?”
The Christian is commanded to “walk in the Spirit” (Gal 5:25). Being empowered by the Spirit and walking in the Spirit refer to the moment by moment decisions we make about where we will draw our energy and resources for daily life. Through his Spirit, God has given us everything pertaining to life and godliness (2 Pet 1:4). Will we choose to draw from God’s divine resources or seek to live the Christian life by our own effort (Gal 6:12)?
Practically speaking, God’s indwelling presence should be on our mind regularly (1 Cor 6:18). When Paul tells us to “pray without ceasing” the prayer we ought to pray ceaselessly is a prayer for the Holy Spirit to fill us, focus us, strengthen us, and help us (Eph 5:18, 1 Thess 5:17). How can you cultivate a conscious dependence upon the Holy Spirit?
Thankfully, Jesus is not only our perfect example but also our perfect sacrifice, forgiving all our self-dependent sin. He’s not a Savior who is stingy with his power and privilege. He extends it to us, as his sons and daughters, through the presence of the Holy Spirit. In Christ, we have the help of the Helper.
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Sean Post resides with His wife and son in Maple Valley, WA. He serves as Academic Dean for Adelphia Bible School - a one-year Bible and mission immersion experience for young adults. Sean is also a leadership coach, doctoral student, book-lover, and a has-been basketballer. Twitter: @Sean_Post
An excellent resource on this topic is A Primer on the Person and Work of the Holy Spirit by Winfield Bevins.
Top 5 Articles of June
1. Our Hunger for Community by Brad Watson
Broken families, broken relationships, and an epidemic of loneliness has created a ravenous hunger for community in this generation. But our flesh can seek our idea of community more than we seek Jesus. Our souls, it seems, are ready to settle for a sit-com style of friendship instead of striving for the spirit-led family of God purchased and created by his son’s death and resurrection. What is gospel-centered community and what isn't it? Brad Watson offers several characteristics of both.
2. The Tension of Marriage and Mission by Jake Chambers
The reality of the gospel is the backdrop and foundation that should shape our marriages, families, and the church. Jake Chambers addresses the tension of missional living and the health of our marriages and families. He urges us to not to seek balance between family and mission, but to lead our families out of balance through loving God, loving our families, and loving others!
3. Fire From the Gods: Why Control Doesn't Solve Worry by Jonathan Dodson
Jonathan looks at the ancient Greek tale of Prometheus for insights into what happens when we demand control of our lives and the worry it doesn't cure. In this current age we are blinded by ambition, unaware of our mortality, we proceed under the illusion of control, under the spell of human progress, unaware that we are human because we can act like gods. Jonathan explains what happens when we seek the kingdom of God instead of our own kingdom.
4. Good News for Single Men by Abe Meysenburg
Single men face many unique challenges and opportunities. They are regularly pressured to be married, constantly set up on blind dates, and are left feeling less than a man without a spouse. As a shepherd and elder who cares deeply for the hearts of people, Abe Meysenburg speaks directly to single men about their calling, temptations, and manhood.
5. Six Lessons from Everyday Discipleship by Josh McPherson
Josh McPherson offers six crucial and powerful lessons everyone must learn while leading a gospel community on mission. He speaks from the perspective of a gifted preacher stepping into the discipleship process that is everyday community. Josh challenges our hearts, character, and beliefs.
6 Lessons from Everyday Discipleship
As lead pastor of Grace Covenant Church, I equip disciple-makers every week through preaching the gospel from the front (we call this our air-war). As a Christian, I make disciples in the every day through leading a gospel community from my home (we call this our ground war). Though known for being mildly thick in the head, if you give me enough clues I’ll eventually get it, with some help. One of the things I’m currently learning is the more involved I am in the ground-war work, the more affective I am in my air-war work. The ground war is hard, slow, messy, up-close, and personal. Daily being involved in the the ground war prevents my weekly air-war delivery from becoming cold, distant, impersonal, un-attached, and reckless. In other words, my involvement with both makes me more effective in both. Here are six lessons I’m learning as I lead my family to live in community with other people while making disciples of believers and unbelievers in the every day of life.
1. LEARN TO FACILITATE A SINGLE CONVERSATION
You're not there to teach them everything you know, you’re there to facilitate the Holy Spirit guiding them into self-discovery. Be intentional...don’t let 5 conversations go at once where everyone is talking over everyone else and no one’s listening to anyone. Instead, learn to facilitate a single discussion, where people are listened to, loved, shown interest in, and asked questions of. You’ll be blown away at what will happen.
2. MISSION IS MESSY, SO DON'T AVOID IT, MOVE INTO IT
If you’re not discouraged, overwhelmed, tired, hopeless, frustrated...you’re probably not making disciples. You’re just not. You might be attending a nice Bible study where people come, share polite observations and leave, but you’re not in anyone’s life. You’re not under the hood. You're not past the facade. So you’re simply not making disciples (although you may be disciplining people to hide their stuff and perform for other people’s approval?) Gospel discipleship is messy. Everything gets exposed. No on gets to hide. So remember, when the crap hits the fan, don’t dread it, embrace it. Thank Jesus for it. It’s prime opportunity for discipleship. Don’t see sin as defeat, see it as an act of grace through which the Spirit is exposing unbelief so we can all learn, grow, repent, and turn again to Jesus.
3. LEARN TO TRUST THE HOLY SPIRIT
Making disciples is an exercise in learning to trust the Holy Spirit, not be the Holy Spirit. You don’t have to trust the Holy Spirit listening to me preach a sermon. But when you’re out trying to make disciples, strap on. The water level rises quickly as your unbelief, lack of skill, and ungodly character get exposed for the world to see. Worse, you realize you can’t change anyone at the heart level. You just can’t. You might be able to strong-arm people to change a few external habits through the application of enough guilt and calls for more will power, but we all know how long that kind of change will last. So it’s discouraging and humbling all at the same time. And then it becomes freeing when you realize the pressure’s off. You can’t do it! Now you get to act like you believe that by trusting the only One who can to do the heavy lifting. Phew! What a relief. Unless Jesus shows up, this will be a waste of time. Guess what? Now you’re in a place of utter dependance upon the Spirit of God working through the power of the gospel. That is a good place to be when making disciples. It doesn’t remove any of the weight or urgency, it just removes the pressure. He is the one who can correct, teach, rebuke and encourage. You just have to listen to the Spirit and ask the right questions.
4. LEARN TO PERSEVERE
What I really mean when I say that is: show up. Just flat-out, every time, rain or shine, feel like it or not, show up. I say that because most people don't. Lots of leaders start strong with lots of enthusiasm, but in the long run bring little sticking power. And you just won't make disciples if you don't stay after it. Let me explain. Wednesday is the hardest day of the week for me. Every week. No exceptions. It’s also when our gospel community gathers for our “structured” time of learning (we share a meal and then dive in). Coincidence? I don't think so. There hasn’t been a Wednesday I haven’t been tempted to cancel. Long day, stuff at work, kids get sick, you name it. Wednesday is official crap-interface-fan day, because the enemy wants me to quite, to cancel, to make up excuses, to go home and veg. Maybe even hit the sack early for a change? Anything but open my home and invest in other people's lives.
My selfishness, neediness, idols and unbelief all come boiling to the surface about 4:30 every Wednesday afternoon. And it's what happens in that moment that determines whether or not I'm going to be a person who makes disciples for the long run. No wonder Paul said he beats his body (I Cor. 9:27). This is flat out work, and my flesh often rebels and just wants to take a break. So I have to repent of my dependance upon myself, of my desire to avoid discomfort, and push ahead.
By 10:00 that night I’m standing in my kitchen, amazed, saying “Dear Jesus, thank you for saving me from myself. Again.”
Because there just aren’t any “average” nights when Jesus is at work. Every night something significant changes for someone. A penny drops. A connection gets made for an unbeliever. A new believers shares a fresh insight into God’s grace that rocks all of us. An old believer get convicted in a new way. Questions get asked, wrestling takes place, sin gets confessed, grace gets applied, tears get shed, laughter c and my ripples through the house, and my heart is once again full. And I almost missed it to indulge my selfishness! And often times the best moments come from where I least expected, from those I don’t even think were listening or paying attention. So the simple lesson is this: don’t trust in how you “feel”, trust that the Holy Spirit that is working and just wants you to be obedient. So show up. And watch Him do his thing.
5. LEARN TO MAKE A PLAN, BE FLEXIBLE, EMBRACE THE UNEXPECTED
One night my entire GC canceled between 4 and 5:30. I came out of a meeting and had 5 texts, all with differing reasons why they couldn't make it (all legitimate by the way, no complaining here). Great, I thought to myself. A young gal who was a new believer in our group was bringing her unbelieving boyfriend over for the first time, and I was frustrated. This was supposed to be the night we would show him our "family" identity! We had talked about it, planned it, prepared for it. And now everyone had bailed and he’d show up and it’d just be me? Some family. Totally lame. When he showed up I did the only thing I could think of. I asked him if he wanted to help me do the dishes while Sharon put the kids to bed. We cleaned the kitchen for an hour, and in the process I got to hear his story. The night I had pegged for a total wash (no pun intended) turned into the ice-breaking relational-building event that motivated him to come back again the next week.
See what happened? I know, it seems small. But small is big in disciple making. We'd made a plan, it fell apart, we flexed, and I spent an evening hanging with just him getting to know his story. For him, that night I went from “the pastor” to a real person who cared enough to ask questions and listen to his stuff. And none of this could have happened had things gone the way I’d planned. Jesus knew what was needed. Make a plan, be flexible, and embrace the unexpected. (Oh, and by the way, we’ll be baptizing that young man this summer!)
6. LEARN TO PLAY THE LONG GAME
When you’re in community, and building relationships, and inviting people into your life, and really caring for them, it gives you freedom. You can have hard conversations, you can dig into to the real issues, and you don’t feel the weight of having to address every issue in a single conversation because you’re going to see that person the next day. You don’t have to hit a home run every time. You’re looking for base hits. And the accumulative affect of that will blow your mind. In one sense there’s urgency in our disciple-making; in another sense there’s patience, because I’m wanting to make a life-time disciple out of the men in my group, and I’m willing to stick it out.
It also means I don’t have to point out every little thing I see wrong with them. I love them, I walk with them, I ask lots of questions, I talk about the gospel, and before I know it...they’re confessing the sin that I saw a long time ago! But it’s not because I pointed it out and now they want to change in order to please me, it’s the Holy Spirit convicting them of their sin or unbelief and working in their heart true change.
So hear this...you don’t have to return the kick-off for a touchdown. 2 yards over the right tackle is progress. 4 yards up the middle is progress. Stack a few first downs together and after a series of plays, guess what, you’re staring at the end-zone. Disciple-making is not a series of hail-mary’s for touchdowns. It’s a series of well-planned and executed first-downs that regularly put you in the Red Zone for striking distance.
LAST WORD
Making disciples isn’t a recipe. Neither is this article. These are ideas. These are components of a healthy group. These are disciple-making tools. Don't look for a recipe. If it doesn't work, change it. Make an adjustment. Make it your own. Just like a baseball swing...there are some mechanics that are a must. Every good hitter has them. But many of their swings look different. The fundamental mechanics are buried under their personal adaption of the basics. So make these your own, get on the field, try stuff out, scrap it when it doesn't work, tweak it when you get stuck, and make adjustments as you go. And above all, keep swinging!
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Josh McPherson serves as lead pastor of Grace Covenant Church in Wenatchee WA, a church he helped plant in 2008. He is a member of Acts 29 and graduated from the Resurgence Training Center in 2010. He also holds an undergraduate degree in biblical studies and is currently finishing his graduate degree from Western Seminary. He and his wife Sharon have four children: Ella Mae, Levi Gregory, Amelia Claire, and Gideon Joshua. Twitter: @JoshMcPherson79
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The Walls Are Screaming
by Kyle Worley.
Kyle Worley is a connections minister at The Village Church in Dallas, TX. He is the author of Pitfalls: Along the Path to Young and Reformed and blogs regularly at The Strife. He holds a double B.A. in Biblical Studies and Philosophy from Dallas Baptist University. He is currently completing a M.A. in Theology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and is pursuing a M.A. in Religion at Redeemer Seminary. You can find Kyle on Twitter: @kyleworley.
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The house had never felt so empty. Don’t misunderstand me; when we had initially moved in there was no furniture, no coffee mugs, no books. But, standing in the middle of what was our house, with all of our possessions packed into a U-Haul in the driveway, it felt like the walls were screaming at us.
The home was a treasure chest of memories. The first home for my wife and I, the first house we had filled with pictures, the house where I wrote my first book, the house where I had spent Saturday nights praying before preaching the Word on Sunday mornings. It was the first thing that didn’t belong to her or to me, but to “us.”
It had also been a place for others to gather. During the three years that we lived there we hosted over a hundred missional community gatherings where we shared our lives with others. People came and went. Some got saved and some got sent. We shared meals and we shared tears. We celebrated and we prayed. There were cookouts, dinners, parties, hymn sings, bible studies, counseling appointments, fundraisers, and arguments in that house.
I had always heard people say, “Boy, if these walls could talk.” And standing in the middle of that empty house this is what they said:
“Live in the Light”
There were countless times where Lauren and I dreaded having our home be an open place. People would randomly stop by when we had been arguing, our missional community gathering would fall in the middle of an insanely busy week, or we would just be in a season where we weren’t fit to lead.
But the walls were preaching to me, “Live in the light…let people in.” It’s as if they knew that the times where we wanted to push people out, were precisely the moment where we needed to let people in. Let them see the good, the bad, and the ugly. Let them see that the pastor struggles with anxiety and anger. Let them see that a healthy marriage doesn’t sweep troubles under the rug, but exposes them to the light of the gospel.
What if the walls of your home could talk? What do you think they might say? Is your house stained with stories? If not, why?
As I listened closer, the walls continued to speak, saying:
“Come to the Table”
We shared our dinner table with the homeless, the broken, and the victorious. The faithful congregant and the committed unrepentant had a seat at our long black table. My wife is a marvelous host and her hands served crying high school girls, brash high school boys, children out of wedlock, and “holier-than-thous.”
Sometimes the food was burnt. Sometimes the coffee was cold. But even when the conversation was stale, the guest was awkward, or we were in a tiff, without fail the Lord used that dinner table as a sacred space. That dinner table never held the bread and wine, but it reminded me that the only qualification for coming to the table during worship is being a repentant sinner who is clinging to Christ.
Who is welcomed at your table? What social capital must one possess to be seated at your right hand? Jesus says, “Come to the table and feast with me. Feast on me.”
While I was walking out of the house, crossing the threshold of our front door, I turned around to lock the door and looked up at the door. There is nothing unique about our door, except that it is painted crimson red. It had become the way we identified our home to those first-time visitors, unexpected guests, and friends visiting from out of town. We would say, “Drive down the street till you see a home with a red door…that’s us.”
As I looked at that red door, I leaned in expecting to hear a whisper, but was surprised by a shout:
“Stay Under the Blood”
Our door welcomed the lost, the believer, the seeker, and the saint. Even when our missional community failed to show compassion to the wanderer, or Lauren and I turned a blind eye on a houseguest desperate for grace, the Lord was moving and working. Our home never saved a person, but we saw salvation. Our home never placed the missionary call on a person’s life, but many were sent out. Our home never put food on a plate that belonged to us, but many were fed.
I was the first person to enter that house and the last to leave, and there wasn’t one day during my three years there that I didn’t have to run to the fountain and plunge myself deep beneath the “cleansing blood.”
I fought demons in that house…under the blood. I preached the word in that house…under the blood. I wronged my wife in that house…under the blood. I laughed in that house…under the blood. I wept in that house…under the blood. I prayed in that house…under the blood. I loved my wife in that house…under the blood.
My good deeds were directed Godward by the blood and my sins were made white as snow by the blood.
What banner do you live under in your home? Is both good and bad received under the blood?
That U-Haul truck might have been packed with possessions, but as I walked through that empty house, I realized it was packed from wall-to-wall with memories.
When you leave your home, what will your walls be screaming? I pray that they are screaming out the glories of grace that have become permanent stains in your home.
The Implications of A Globally Exalted God
I want to suggest that you take your time in reading through this article. Pause with me for a while today, if you are able, and reflect. I want to invite you to read, pray, think and work your way through this mutual reflection one section at a time. This invitation isn't a mandate, however, I do believe that this sort of slowing down and pondering might give us a better idea of what action to take as we assess things. So slow down, think, pray, and let's reflect together.
The Grace of My Location
Where are you? Where are you from? I happen to be in middle of Wichita, Kansas. I was born in Colorado, lived all over the United States growing up, and spent most of my life up to this point in California. In every place I've lived there has been a few constants like language, currency, driving on the right side of the street, the message of the gospel, a church building of some fashion or another. For my entire lifetime it has been relatively easy to have access to what I consider the most valuable thing in all of life: the gospel.
I've lived in small rural towns, super-sized cities, and suburban developments. The gospel has always been an accessible reality for me. As I reflect on the fact of my national wanderings and my access to the gospel, I have to give thanks. God, by his kindness, has birthed me into a land where gospel access and gospel fluency is accessible fairly easily. Even the development of the Internet, because of my native language of English, allows me greater proximity to the gospel message, and probably to local believers in the gospel. I thank and praise the Lord for his kindness to me in that regard. What about you? Where have you lived? Did you have, or do you now have consistent and strong access to the gospel?
The Global Realities
Now, let me move the lens back to a wider panoramic. This last year I've already spent time in the second largest nation in the world, India. I've walked some of the neighborhoods of the largest city in the world, Tokyo. In each of these places the proximity of the gospel, and gospel expressions of churches and gospel communities was almost too small to even record. Conservative estimates state that for every four people in the United States there is one Christian1. In Japan the ratio is exponentially higher. For every five hundred (500) people there might be one Christian2. The Dunbar Number suggests that the average human being can only have and maintain about 150 personal relationships at one time. If there is only one Christian for every 500 people in Japan the likelihood of someone coming into proximity to the gospel message is nearly impossible.
I am not sure where our reflection has you at this point, but let's refrain for just a moment longer from drawing conclusions. Let's assess what we now know. Those who live in the United States and Western world have a greater proximity to gospel resources and gospel proclamation. Those in other parts of the world have a much larger, even seemingly impossible, gulf to cross in order to be in proximity to the gospel message and people. Take a moment and feel the burden of that.
Beginning at the End
Again, before we pull out implications, conclusions, ideas, or actions steps I want to challenge us to reflect. Three passages in Scripture have been the source of contemplation and meditation for me lately. They frame for me a perspective on my proximity to the gospel in light of the lack of access that my friends in India or Japan might have. They call me to action, not because of an apparent local need but because of the glorious nature of the God represented in them.
I'm the kind of person that likes to know the destination before I start the journey, so Revelation 5:9-10 is a good place for us to reflect. The scene is the worship in heaven of God and Christ. There the Father is seated, ruling, from his throne. A scroll is presented which causes great consternation among the angelic beings. Who is worthy to open it? As the scene shifts from angels to throne a Lamb "as though it had been slain" appears before the throne. The Lamb that had been slain is worthy to open the scroll. At the recognition of the one who is worthy to open the scroll a great chorus of song breaks out in the heavenly courts.
Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation,
and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
and they shall reign on the earth.
At the center of this song is a statement of purpose. Christ is worthy to open the scrolls because he shed his blood and bought back a people for God. And where are those people from? "From every tribe and language and people and nation." This says something about the great and ultimate purposes of God. The gospel will be received by some from every language and location on the earth. Indigenous peoples everywhere will worship Jesus as the one who purchased them back from their sins by his life, death and resurrection. To say it in a shorthand way, the gospel message and power will go global. Maybe we should reflect on that idea for a while. Nothing in heaven or earth or under the earth will be able to thwart or hinder or hold back God's purposes. The gospel will go global. Every tribe and language and people and nation will worship Jesus.
It's Too Light A Thing
But that isn't the only passage that has been stirring my heart lately. Isaiah 49:6 keeps me out of the myopic, small imagination that I have about the gospel's spread and advance.
And now the Lord says,
It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to bring back the preserved of Israel;
I will make you as a light for the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth."
In this passage, the Father speaks to the Servant-Son and declares that for him to be just the servant or savior of one small people would be too inadequate for his glory. The idea of something being too light is for it to be too little, too small, or not glorious enough. It would be akin to saying that it wouldn't fit the dignity of the Queen of England to only let her visit Auxvasse, MO (population 901). The glory of God is far greater and far more majestic for the Savior to only be the redeemer of Israel.
The Father promises the Son that his light (or glory) would be for the nations. His salvation would reach to the end of the earth. To put it in modern parlance, Jesus being the savior of American's isn't enough. It's not glorious enough. One specific location or people in the world is not enough. The glory of God must be global, his saving power and grace but be known the very ends of the earth. That would be awesome. That would be glorious.
From The Land of the Rising Sun
Just a few Saturdays ago, I was afforded unimpeded time to read and pray. I haven't reading a whole lot in the Old Testament Minor Prophets in recent days. So I gave myself some time to read Malachi. As I was, a particular passage jumped off the page and proverbially hit my square between the eyes. Malachi 1:11 leveled me in all the right ways,
For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts.
From a global perspective the East will be a place that offers pure worship to Christ, just as the West will be. God resounds and tells us that his name, his great and glorious "name above all names" will be valued and treasured everywhere on the earth. The name of God, which encapsulates all that he is (see Exodus 34:6-7), will be worshipped, enjoyed, celebrated, praised, and declared throughout every nation on earth. There will be no place that does not worship the King of All Kings. As one author likes to say, "Put that in your theological pipe and smoke it."
The Implications of A Globally Exalted God
How do all these dots connect? First, we are graced to have free and frequent access to the gospel here in the United States. Second, God is a global God, his grace will be proclaimed and heralded and worshipped by every language, people and place. Jesus as the radiance of the glory of God will be exalted above all names everywhere. Third, there are still places on this planet that do not have gospel access and do not exalt and worship the name of Jesus. Which leads me to this conclusion: they will one day.
If God has promised that all the nations will worship him as Lord and Savior, and there are not places that are not doing that currently, it seems to me that the reasonable conclusion of this is there is a certainty that one day they will. The mission of global gospel-advance will be accomplished. God's will won't be thwarted and his will will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
What does this say to us in the here and now? How does this lead us to action? I could point out all the mission agencies and opportunities that are available for you to go and work in all the places of the world. I could tell you of the need for financial support for global mission and the way in which we need to send and support those going for the sake of the mission. I could show you starving children, poverty-stricken nations and destitution that only the gospel can redeem and restore. I could give you more statistics on the needs of unreached people for translated Scriptures, linguistic workers, church-planters, teachers, pastors, missionaries, engineers, and so on and so forth.
However, instead I want to call you to reflect and then act. Each of us has a part to play in advancing the mission and engaging the globe with the gospel. Where has God been directing you to serve and work? Go do it. Who has God placed in front of you to support and encourage and send? Support, encourage and send them. How has God called you to make much of his name from East to West? Get after it.
If the gospel going global and reaching the nations is a guarantee, then mobilize yourself, your resources, your church, your passions for the one sure thing that God has declared: "My name will be great among the nations." Let's be part of that global, missional movement of God for the sake of his glory!
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1 Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life Report
2 Mission Leader, Why So Few Christians in Japan
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Jeremy Writebol(@jwritebol) has been training leaders in the church for over thirteen years. He is the author of everPresent: How the Gospel Relocates Us in the Present (GCD Books, 2014) and writes at jwritebol.net. He lives and works in Plymouth, MI as the Campus Pastor of Woodside Bible Church.
The Opportunity of Doubt
It is human, all too human, to doubt. When we share our faith with our non-Christian friends, we are often skirting the tension between finite understanding and infinite understanding—between the materially possible and the spiritually necessary. Doubt and faith have nothing to say to each other, and yet in this world, they often appear inseparable. For this reason (and by God’s grace), I have felt the Spirit prompting me at times to share my doubts with the folks I disciple. My prayer is that what follows is both a guide to the stormy waters of doubt as well as a clear pointer to the light of Christ shining above the troubled seas of our lives.
One Hundred and One Fun Things to do with Doubt
Last football season, I had an extra ticket to a game, and I invited my friend along. We stopped by the grocery store for some beers and sunscreen before heading to the tailgate party. Which is to say, I wasn’t really brooding about Existence right then, but my friend was. As we waited in the check-out line, he started talking about the end of the world: how humans have polluted the land, air, and water; how we’re continuing to do it; how we’re actually increasing our efforts.
Zoom out. We were waiting in line in a noisy, crowded store, and my friend was speaking to one of my most complex, unending despairs. Here’s how the doubt runs in my mind: both the Bible and science indicate that the future isn’t exactly rosy for the earth, and yet one of God’s initial commands was for humans to be stewards of His creation. I can’t help but feel deeply ashamed of the ways my actions contribute to the destruction of the environment.
This doubt stems from a cognitive dissonance: Take care of the Earth versus the Earth will be destroyed. This dissonance is partly responsible for the heated political rhetoric surrounding the environment and sustainability. At any rate, this is what I told my friend. I explained how deep my despair is about this subject, and I didn’t sugarcoat it with some platitude about my beliefs. I was honest. I told him that I have to pray about the Earth every morning. I have to give it back to God. On a cosmic-scale, it’s almost hilarious just how much global climate change is out of my hands, and yet I cannot help but feel responsible.
The beauty is that God doesn’t sugarcoat anything. He doesn’t have to. He knows this planet—He even knows me—far better than I do. By placing my faith in Christ, I align myself not with unthinking religiosity, but with the greatest thinker in the universe. As a result, I am free to act (and sometimes even fail) in pursuing environmental stewardship.
Zoom back in. My friend and I are standing in line to buy junk from the local mega-corporation. (There’s those cognitive dissonances playing out in real life.) But I don’t have to despair. Yes, I think the gospel calls us to help in renewing all creation, but do I always trust that knowledge? No. That’s what I told my friend. The gospel frees me from judgment and empowers me to act (Romans 6:1-2), but I am still compelled to get down on my knees and pray for strength to accept that freedom everyday.
We can open up to our friends about doubt, if we will see past our feelings of despair into our forgiveness in Christ. This frees our witness from both crippling defeatism and self-satisfied legalism. It can season our speech with the salt of critical thought (Colossians 4:6). In other words, the doubts aren’t the key. The key is the compassion found in Christ—that he understands our doubts and still loves us.
With this freedom, my friend and I climbed into my car and drove to our national distraction. Because I followed the Spirit’s promptings to be transparent about doubt, I gained an opportunity to talk about my faith. Honesty about doubt led to a deeper conversation about faith.
Doubts and the Doubting Doubters who Doubt Them
In Christ, there is no real reason for doubt. In Christ, we claim forgiveness, grace, and peace. Through faith in Christ, we possess the power to move mountains. The problem is one of unbelief. Our brokenness, our every sin stems from something we do not fully believe about God, but if we are to share our faith in a genuine way, we must share how God answers our unbelief, how our wayward minds are redeemed in Christ, how our troubled souls find rest and overflowing grace in the Holy Spirit.
When sharing a doubt with your friends, avoid the language of ownership (if possible). More importantly avoid self-pity about the despair attached to the doubt. Avoid smugness about your faith. The hope is that in disclosing a doubt we can open up a discussion of faith and offer loving words about how God answers our unbelief with grace and courage.
For example, many of my non-Christian friends feel the doubt voiced by logical positivist philosophers like A.J. Ayers. In so many words, they’ll explain that religious language is nonsense because it’s scientifically/empirically unverifiable. While this isn’t my particular brand of doubt, it is certainly one to which many non-Christians cling. But in speaking to them about this doubt, I have not found it helpful to rationally discourse about this philosophical stance. The conversation then caves in on the limits of its own reasonability, resulting at best in a series of metaphysical chess problems.
Rather, when I’m attentive to the Spirit, I’ve learned to take a step back and remember my own feelings of doubt—how they create such pointless sorrow and anxiety—and I speak to that. In other words, when we’re in tune with the Spirit, we speak from the heart to the heart (not necessarily from the mind to the mind).
The Division of the Individual
That’s all good and fine for sitting at the café chatting with our friends. What do we do when doubt gets personal? For example, what of the militant doubts that point out the uncounted atrocities that have been committed in the name of religious belief?
Again, take a step back and pray. Remember, this is the despair and anguish of unbelief talking. We are not equipped to answer these charges. Fortunately, Christ is. In this example, it may not be a good idea to air your own feelings of unbelief and doubt, but rather speak directly to the pain of the individual with the healing and love you have found in Christ Jesus.
Here’s the funny thing about faith. We all have it. It takes a certain amount of faith simply to be convinced that my “self” or anyone else exists. Interestingly, folks don’t typically assign this aspect of faith any religious meaning. It’s simply “who we are.” But, in the total absence of faith, who are we really? There are statistics that speak to those who lose this last hold-out of faith, and they aren’t pleasant. Without some small amount of faith, we would begin to doubt the very substance of our being.
This is the critical juncture of how broken we really are. Except for faith, our humanity is literally falling apart. In John’s Gospel, Christ says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5). This is kinda scary stuff for a non-Christian to hear, but God is bigger than those fears. God is bigger than the horrifying things that have been done by ignorant and deceived and broken people in his name. How do I know this? Is it simply wishful thinking? Is God loving only because I say so? No. Christ says that’s all sorts of backwards and upside down.
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. - John 15:9-12
In other words, when addressing—for example—despair over the atrocities committed in the name of religion, leave everything else and follow Christ. Remind your self and your friend that—according to scripture—nothing has been done in Christ’s true unutterable name that wasn’t also done in love. If an act of “religious belief” was done without love, it was done without Christ, and if it was done without Christ, then it was done without faith. In the absence of faith, all that remains is—not just doubt—but the void, the total dissolution of the God-breathed life inside us.
The critical distinction we must make as disciples of Christ is that our identity and agency do not arise from the formless void gnawing at the base of individual identity. By grace, we are learning to see that the very prospect of this construction of individual self is impossible from its foundation up, hence the terror and pain of those feelings of doubt. But when we take ownership of faith in Christ, then from him flows a new communal identity and a powerful fellowship of agency—the foundation of which is the very center, the unshakable core of all Creation.
Identity Restored
My true identity is in Christ not in myself. In Christ, we stand united with the true meaning of our lives, with our renewed humanity. But for a person hearing this truth for the first time, all this sounds pretty weird. The loss of individual identity? Being united with what? This is when—if I’m in tune with the Spirit—I often hear that still small voice saying, “Share those same doubts you once had… now share how Christ offers so much more.”
Christ is the hinge on which the entire universe turns. Christ is the door that opens to the infinite glory of God. Likewise, the gospel is the key that unlocks our restore identity. The good news is Christ understands our doubts. In Luke’s Gospel, Christ dispels the disciples’ doubts just before his ascension, offering questions that convict me even now: “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see.” (Luke 24:38-39)
My prayer today is to lay my doubts before Christ. To meditate on the wounds he suffered for my sake and find in his cuts and bruises the fullness of grace poured out for my sake. What doubt can withstand this flood of mercy? May the Holy Spirit guide the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts toward healing the sickness and pain of unbelief in ourselves and in those we disciple!—that we might sing of the peace and restoration found only in our redeemer Christ Jesus.
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Ben Roberts is follower of Christ & an Editor at both Gospel Centered Discipleship & the speculative literary journal, Unstuck. A graduate of the Michener Center for Writers, he lives in Austin with his wife, Jessica & son, Solomon. They fellowship and worship at City Life. Twitter: @BenStoleMyName.
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For more on sharing the gospel authentically, check out Jonathan Dodson's Unbelievable Gospel.
Helping Singles Feel at Home in Your Church
by MV Bergen.
Several months ago, two articles caught my attention when I was reading online: Marvin Olasky’s “Early Maturity” and Karen Swallow Prior’s “The Case for Getting Married Young”. Essentially, both writers urge believers to tie the knot sooner rather than later. I find such articles singularly unhelpful. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate Prior and Olasky’s defense of marriage. I too believe that marriage is a gift from God. Yet this is not a gift God has given me. I and many other godly men and women have been given the gift of singleness – some of us for a short time, others for life. For us, the question is not how soon we can be married but how we can best, most wholly participate in the church as singles.
Paul writes that the church was designed to bear one another’s burdens, individual believers coming together to support each other in their walk with Christ. Thus, as God works in the lives of us singles, we naturally want to share the resulting joys and burdens with our married brethren, and we want to bear their burdens in return.
I want to offer a few suggestions for nurturing this kind of relationship in your church. The suggestions I give are born out of my own experience as a single woman in an evangelical church and the experiences of my friends. I hope they will be useful to you.
1. Integrate single people with married people.
When I show up at a new church, one of the things I look for when perusing the bulletin are the weekly Bible study and service opportunities. What I discover is that a lot of women’s Bible studies are scheduled for times like 10.00 AM on Tuesday. I work at 10.00 AM on Tuesdays. Not for years will I be able to take time off in the middle of the day to attend a women’s Bible study.
Yet this experience is hardly an aberration. Most churches today arrange activities and groups by demographic. And there are many good reasons to split groups up by demographic. Young mothers, for instance, need the support of other young mothers. Yet unless the church also has groups that are not split up by demographic, we singles may find it hard to fit in, let alone build the kind of deep relationships that foster mutual encouragement. It’s hard to build relationships with people and minister to them when they’re busy with a parenting group or a young married group and we’re not.
Establishing singles’ groups is not necessarily a solution; especially as we grow older, we age out of singles’ groups peopled mostly by college students. Instead, establishing groups that cross demographic lines will encourage single people and families to build friendships together and support each other in Christ. Nearly all my single friends tell me that it is these friendships, between single and married people, that have been some of the deepest and most fruitful in their church experience.
How can the church integrate married and single people? Schedule two or three Bible studies for the evenings as well as the mornings. Start Bible studies or Sunday school groups that mix married and single people. Invite the single men in the church to the men’s prayer breakfast. Ask single people to volunteer alongside married people at particular church ministries, such as working at the homeless shelter. Start the groups. Then it’s up to us to build relationships with other people in the church.
2. Give us the opportunity to serve in new ways in the church.
When I joined my current church, someone suggested that I assist with nursery duty. I have not changed a diaper in 10 years – seriously. I am not what you would call good with children. I am sure that this is a personal deficiency. Yet the fact remains that before I can serve in the church, I have to bridge the gulf between what my church expects me to do and what I am actually gifted to do.
I am not the only single believer encouraged to take on roles in the church that don’t really fit who I am. Jenna, a friend of mine single into her late 20s, tells me that her church assumed that because she was single, she was immature and directed her towards areas of service reserved for high schoolers. At other times, the church makes a mistake that can be as easily made with married people: They suggest a particular ministry before they really know us well enough to know what our gifts and talents are. I don’t mean to cast blame. Everyone makes wrong assumptions about other people at some point. Yet when singles are, whatever the reason, directed towards avenues of ministry that they’re not really gifted for, they will be uncomfortable contributing to the church, and the church in turn will suffer.
As long as we singles are part of the body of Christ, we want to use our gifts to support our brethren. The church is strongest when members serve each other in keeping with their spiritual gifts. Thus, encouraging singles towards ministries suited to their gifting has a double benefit: We singles will feel at home contributing to the church, and the church will be blessed as the body of Christ works together in unity.
The best way to get singles involved in areas that we’re gifted for is simply to ask where we’d like to serve. For instance, if asked, I will tell you that I don’t feel qualified for nursery duty, but I’m happy to pass out bulletins. Another option is to make church members aware of what ministries need help and how they can get involved. If we know where the church needs help, we can pick an area that matches how God has gifted us to serve. As with the previous suggestion, it’s important for the church to make singles aware of the opportunities to serve. After that, it’s up to us singles to actually start serving.
3. Give us a voice in the church.
Several months back, two elders at my friend Faith’s[1] church stepped down. The church held a men-only meeting to discuss the transition and review the future of the church. All the men attended the meeting; married women were represented by their husbands. Yet Faith had no husband and thus no representative at the meeting – no one to ask the questions that were on her mind or report back to her afterwards. The problem is this: Faith’s singleness prevented her from participating as fully in the church as married people. This should not be.
Listening to people is a universal sign of respect, and the church is no different. When a church fails to listen to the voice of its singles, even accidentally, we are likely to be hurt and discouraged. When, on the other hand, you listen to us, you assure us that we are welcomed at the church. You encourage us not only to speak up with concerns but also to invest in a church community that feels we are worth listening to.
Don’t misunderstand me: Giving singles a voice in the church does not have to mean installing women in leadership roles. All I am saying is that churches need to make sure that they do not apply their biblical principles in a way that, even accidentally, relegates single women to the peanut gallery.
There are ways for our voice to be heard without violating biblical leadership patterns. For instance, a church might designate an elder to take questions from single women prior to a men’s-only meeting. A church might explicitly invite single congregants to email the pastor with their concerns about church development. Single men ought to be encouraged to participate in church leadership – perhaps as a deacon or an elder. If singles are to truly be part of a church, they can’t just be doing stuff with the church; they also have to know that the church listens to their voice.
A Word to Singles
I want to close these posts with a word to singles: Encouraging the church to value our participation does not let us off the hook. We too have responsibilities towards the church.
First, be patient with your church. Don’t get offended easily. Almost no churches are deliberately uninviting to singles. Married people, especially those who married young, sometimes have a hard time understanding who we are and what challenges we face. Let your church get to know you. Let them know that you want to be involved. Over time, your patience will help them understand you – and hopefully other singles – better.
Second, be proactive. Don’t wait for your church to magically become the perfect welcoming church. It’s not going to. Start reaching out to its members anyway. Several of my single friends told me how important it was for them to take the initiative. Jenna set aside one night a week to invite people over for supper. Josh, who has served in four churches as a single man, invites married couples over to his tiny apartment for mac & cheese. You don’t have to offer the church something fancy, but you do have to deliberately, obviously offer your support and friendship. If you’ve found a good church, your effort should pay off in stronger, encouraging relationships within the church community.
In Closing
Can singles be a welcomed part of the church? Absolutely! God designed the church so that all kinds of believers could be united in Christ, mutually supporting each other in the faith. Is this vision an easy one to achieve? Absolutely not! It will require hard work on the part of married people and single people alike. But the end result – a community in which everyone, married or single, feels welcomed – is worth it.
[1] Name changed by request
M. V. Bergen teaches college writing in the Midwest. In her spare time, she reads the Church Fathers and science fiction, writes free verse poetry, and runs.