Pursuing Treasures in Heaven

A year ago, I moved from Austin, TX and took a “cush” job in San Francisco. As a young, single dude with a good job in an unbelievably exciting city in the most beautiful region of the US, the world was suddenly open to me in entirely new ways. I moved with the explicit reason to live on mission in a creative, secular city and with the implicit reason of experiencing all that northern California had to offer. Slowly, I began dropping cash on great food and great fun every weekend. I was spending tons of my free time on things like hiking, surfing (i.e. getting pummeled by waves and trying not to drown), and all kinds of other new excursions. A few months into this, and with the help of a new community at King’s Cross Church, I began to ask myself—what am I actually investing my life in right now? When I added up all my money, time, and energy, the answer was obvious—I had made a subtle shift from investing in the Kingdom of God to investing in treasures on earth. My heart was trending more toward the love of earthly treasure like experiences and less to the treasure of ChristPerhaps you are trending in the same direction. But what does Jesus mean when he tells Christians not to lay up treasures on earth? To lay up treasures on earth means to invest your life in the pursuit of worldly wealth. This is more than just the love of money. Most of the time, we pursue worldly wealth not because we love money, but because we love what money affords. Materialism has different faces and each of us is tempted to invest our lives in worldly wealth in one of three ways. First, many of us invest our lives in worldly wealth because we value stuff. We want the nicest homes in the most ideal neighborhoods, the slickest cars, and the hippest gadgets. We work hard at our businesses and jobs to acquire more and greater “things.” What do you spend most of your money on? How often do you find yourself shopping? How often are you thinking about your next big purchase? The answers to these questions will give you an indication of your treasure. To this, Jesus gives a blunt warning: Moth and rust destroy and thieves break in to steal. Material things will not last and are not worth the investment of our lives.

Others of us invest in worldly wealth because we value image and acceptance. We don’t care about stuff in the most general sense. What we really care about is the right stuff that will help us build the right image. We are buying our way to acceptance into a particular community. Maybe you invest in your image as the successful businessperson, as an artist, or even as a mom that has the perfect Pinterest home. You invest in worldly wealth because you value the acceptance of the business world, or the artist community, or the other homemakers in your neighborhood. Perhaps wealth is the in-road to your ultimate treasure—acceptance.

Finally, many of us are prone to invest in worldly wealth for the experiences it can afford. We want to travel, see shows, and live a life full of rich experiences. I often hear people frame this as the opposite of materialism—but they are wrong. The investment in experiences can be a manifestation of materialism. The experiences we want cost money and it is all too easy to spend dollar after dollar on sporting events, concerts, and vacations. How much time, money, and energy do you spend on the next great experience? How much money do you drop on shows every year? How much time do you spend thinking about your next family vacation? Do you spend more time on fun experiences than you spend serving others? Are your experiences your greatest treasure?

To be clear, when Jesus tells us “not to lay up for yourselves treasures on earth,” he is not attacking worldly wealth in itself. He is not saying to get rid of all your earthly stuff and to never enjoy experiences. He is arguing against an inordinate focus on those things—a preoccupation with temporal worldly wealth over the timeless wealth of the Kingdom of God. Jesus tells us not invest our lives into worldly wealth because all these things will be destroyed or stolen from us—they won’t last! You might say, “Wait a second, your image doesn’t rust and experiences can’t be eaten away by moths, can they?” Material stuff breaks or gets stolen. Image is shallow and acceptance is fleeting. The high of an experience always fades. Jesus is saying that pouring your life into worldly wealth is a bad investment because it will not last into God’s Kingdom.

On the other hand, laying up treasures in heaven does not mean “Be a good Christian so that you can have more rewards and more stuff in heaven.” It means to invest in those things that are of value in the Kingdom of God. Heaven refers to God’s space—where he resides today—that in some mysterious way has interlocked with earth in the coming of Jesus and in his Spirit who fills the church. Heaven is the Kingdom of God that has already been launched and will one day be fulfilled. So, what then are the things that matter in the Kingdom of God? How might you invest in those things that will last into God’s future? First, God wants you to invest in his family—the church. The church matters to God, so she should also matter to you. He loves his family so much that he entered into his creation to suffer and die that we might be restored to him for eternity. If you are a Christian, you are part of that family. As a part of that family, you have a spiritual responsibility for the care and well being of it. God’s family will last into his great and future Kingdom. Are you investing in the family of God in practical ways? Are you actively engaged in caring for folk? Commit to invest your time, energy, and money into the family of God.

Second, God wants you to invest in his mission. God’s mission is to redeem the world and fill it with his presence. A key part of this process is renewing people so that they are united to God and worship Christ. God has sent us out into our everyday lives on his mission to make disciples so that more people would know the love of God and more people could worship him. Are you committed to the work of making disciples? Does your investment of time, energy, and money reflect a commitment to the mission of God? What would need to change in your life this year to prioritize the mission of God?

Finally, and most importantly, we must invest in our relationship with God. Ultimately, this is what we have been rescued to—the joy of knowing the living God and walking with him daily. Are you listening to him through his Word? Are you meeting the Spirit in prayer daily? Are you committed to knowing God and growing in grace? If you are not daily investing in your relationship with God, you are missing out on the greatest treasure of life. God is a perfect Father, who loves you, cares for you, and desires to know you. We have the opportunity to step into that each day.

What do you treasure? What are you investing your life into day-in and day-out? Jesus says, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” The heart, in Jewish teaching, refers to the center of the entire person. It encompassed the will, the desires, and the emotions. Jesus is saying that whatever you treasure, whatever you invest your time, energy, and money into is an indication of where your heart is. Ultimately, what you invest in is where your heart is, and where your heart is, is what you worship. If you worship God, then you’ll invest in his Kingdom. If you worship stuff, your image, or experiences then you will pour your life into those things only to see them fade away or be ripped out of your grasp. Treasure on earth will pass away, but the Kingdom of God will endure forever.

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Garrett Coles currently serves as a Connections Associate at The Austin Stone Community Church. He is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin where he studied finance and philosophy. After working in finance in San Francisco for a year, he has recently moved back to the great city of Austin! He is passionate about Jesus, missional communities, and Wilco. 

Theology Proper: The Antidote to Insatiable Desire

Editor: In our Theology Proper: The Antidote to Insatiable Desire we are seeking to understand how knowing God is indispensable to make, mature, and multiply disciples. We want to explicitly connect the theology of the church to its mission. —

As far back as I remember I’ve lived with an insatiable appetite. I’ve always hungered for more—more of a good meal or a good feeling or a good moment. Regardless of how satisfying the food or the experience or the relationship may be, I inevitably awake desiring more.

It comes as no surprise then that early on I depleted most of my relationships and resources looking for infinite satisfaction in finite things. Obviously, my friends (and boyfriends!) couldn’t offer the deep sense of happiness and harmony I frantically pursued, so I moved on to new friends and new boys and new challenges. Unfortunately, those cisterns also ran dry. I found myself trapped in a cycle of disenchantment as I looked to one fixation after another to fulfill my desire. My soul was ravenous and I feared there was nothing left to feast upon.

Then I met God.

Feasting on God’s Inexhaustible Nature

When I came into saving relationship with God through the work of Jesus I “stumbled” upon a transforming truth: The only hope for insatiable desire is a Being inexhaustible in natureIn God I found an endless reservoir of glory and delight to feast upon. The well from which I drank seemed to fill up with every sip rather than dry out.

The Scriptures affirm this truth about God’s nature:

“Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable” (Ps. 145:3).

“Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure” (Ps. 147:5).

“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways” (Rom. 11:33).

Page after page is pregnant with the magnitude of God’s being. Bound up in him is endless love, justice, righteousness, mercy, wrath, compassion, faithfulness, goodness, and holiness. He is gentle and terrifying and wonderful all in One. He is blessed and beautiful. He’s all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-present. He’s unchanging, yet moved by our plight. He’s independent, yet chooses to give us significance. He’s free, yet invites us into his story.

When this disenchanted fifteen-year-old girl came to saving knowledge of that God, I became enchanted in the truest sense of the word. He captivated me. I read the Scriptures in hopes of knowing him more (I had to know him more!). I studied him and studied him . . . and studied him looking for an end in sight, only to discover there was still more to be devoured. I learned that God’s nature is endless and is to be endlessly explored, experienced, and enjoyed by those who have entered into covenant with him

Think about that. You can explore God, read about him, study him, worship him, pray to him, talk about him, meditate on him, and tomorrow there’s still more—more of him to be discovered, more to study, more to meditate upon, more to worship, and more to talk about. You could spend your whole life mining the riches of God and take your last breath knowing you’ll awake to an eternity of more.

In Psalm 36:8-9, King David rightly exclaims,

“They [the children of mankind] feast on the abundance of your house,

And you give them drink from the river of your delights.

For with you is the fountain of life;

In your light do we see light.”

Theology Proper As An Antidote to Insatiable Appetite

If God’s nature is an inexhaustible treasure, then theology proper is the discipline that invites us to mine the depths of those riches. Unfortunately, ordinary Christians often pass on this invitation because they think theology is reserved for scholars, theologians, and “high level” pastors. It seems too intimidating for the stay at home mom or busy college student or ministry volunteer. After all, what if we mess it up or don’t get it “right”?

However, the prevailing notion that theology is better left to the “professionals” is totally false. Theology is for you and for me! “Theology” in the broadest sense is simply the “study of God”. As I’ve explained elsewhere,

At its root, theology is the process of thinking about our lives in light of the faith we proclaim. It’s faith that seeks understanding. When we do theology we are attempting to understand who God is, who we are, and how we should live in view of God. To study theology is to study God—to know him better and delight in him more accurately with the hope of glorifying him through our love and obedience. “Redeeming Theology”

“Theology Proper” is the name given to the specific branch of theology that focuses on knowing God the Father more fully by thinking well on him and his attributes. It seeks to answer the question, “What is God like?” by examining the multi-faceted nature of his person. Take heart knowing that a child can engage that question. If you were to ask a young boy or girl, “What is God like?” he or she would immediately begin telling you all about God’s nature: He is “big” or “happy” or “everywhere.” Children can do theology proper!

I would encourage you not to feel threatened by words like “theology” and “doctrine.” The way I see it, if a fifteen-year-old unchurched, uneducated, ordinary girl can begin “doing theology” (studying God) then anyone can! It’s a discipline that people of all ages and from all walks of life can and should joyfully take up.

Personally, when I came to saving knowledge of God through Jesus Christ my Lord, there was no way I could not explore God. My little, famished heart “happened upon” the most lovely, glorious Being I ever encountered. The deficiency wasn’t in my ravenous appetite, but in the way I directed my desires. I was looking to finite things to experience infinite satisfaction. Those relationships and pursuits couldn’t bear the weight of my desire, but I discovered God could. Not only was God big enough to absorb my endless appetite for “more,” his infinite attributes encouraged me to pursue him with growing affection!

Will You Feast With Us?

If you want to feast at the never-ending banquet and drink from the overflowing fountain that is God then theology proper is for you. If you’ve exhausted all of your resources looking for satisfaction in finite things (even good things!), it’s time to direct your affections towards the study of God, the One worthy of your endless pursuit.

At Gospel-Centered Discipleship, we are convinced that meditating on the attributes of God will offer you perpetual food for your hungry soul. That’s why we are starting a series on Theology Proper: The Antidote to Insatiable Desire. Over the next month we’ll explore God’s being and celebrate his attributes. We’re going to intentionally feast on who God is and what he is like and we want to invite you to that feast!

Will you feast with us?

If you want to participate in the ongoing exploration of God, here are practical ways you can study his attributes during our Theology Proper series:

1. Commit yourself to Scripture reading. Every day ask yourself, “What is God like in this passage?”
2. Focus on an attribute of God each week. As you meditate upon it, take time to worship God in response to that particular attribute.
3. Talk about God and his character to those around you. Discuss what he is like with your children, spouse, friends, missional communities, co-workers, and even (or especially!) unbelievers.
4. Read an extra-biblical book about God’s attributes. We highly recommend classics such as Knowing God by J.I. Packer, The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer, or The Attributes of God by A.W. Pink. You could even crack open a good systematic theology like Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology, Michael Horton’s The Christian Faith, or Michael Bird’s Evangelical Theology and study the section on Theology Proper.
5. Read and freely share the articles on God’s attributes at gcdiscipleship.com!

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Whitney Woollard has served in ministry alongside her husband Neal for over six years. She holds an undergraduate degree in Biblical Studies from Moody Bible Institute and just finished her Master of Arts in Biblical and Theological Studies from Western Seminary. She is passionate about equipping disciples to read and study God’s Word well resulting in maturing affections for Jesus and his gospel message. Neal and Whitney currently live in Portland, OR where they love serving the local church. Follow her on Twitter @whitneywoollard.

3 Reasons to Love Halloween

I love Halloween. It’s true. Usually, I still dress up. My children love to put on costumes and collect candy from our neighbors. Often times we have people over, or are invited to someone’s house where we just enjoy good times. Halloween puts a smile on my face. It reflects the joy and frivolous generosity of my Heavenly Father—which is one of the many reasons I love it. Consider a few more reasons.

1. My Children Smile, Laugh, and Play

On Halloween my kids can’t stop laughing and giggling. They’ve found the best costume they can and wear it all day long. They go door to door and ask the neighbors for candy. The other children smile, laugh, and play as well. They have more sugar coursing through their veins than should be legally allowed. They simply have a lot of fun.

I love seeing my children happy—as a father their joy is my joy. I love to hear their little laughs and screams of delight as they run back to me as we walk and show me what they got from the next door neighbor. This reminds me of the Father’s joy over his children. He really loves us and delights in giving us infinite joy. He celebrates our joys and delights. He works for our good and his glory in all things. Halloween reminds me of Heavenly Father’s joy in his children’s joy in Christ.

2. My Neighbors Are Known

Think about this—what other day of the year can you walk through your neighborhood, knock on your neighbors door, and not have them shut off the lights and hide? On that day, it’s permissible and even expected that you take your children to your neighbor’s home and ask for candy. It would be very strange in our culture except on Halloween.

Jesus came to seek and save the lost. I ask myself: Would he go to the home of the “worst” person on the block? Would he “trick-or-treat” the grumpiest, most miserly person on the street? I think he would. He would find the person with no joy or hope and would knock on their door and bless them.

Halloween reminds me that Christ came to my home. He knocked on my door, not to receive anything, but to give me a blessing. He came and rescued me from my outright rebellion and pride. He came to my house to love me and know me.

I love Halloween and the opportunity to go to my neighbor’s homes merely because it reminds me of the pursuit of Christ for the lost. I get to put my costume on, bundle up the kids, and visit those who I wouldn’t normally hang out with. Halloween reminds me that I am a missionary (and so are you) in our neighborhoods.

3. The Generous Are Known

Guess who my children talked about after Halloween last year? The home that gave out the King-Sized Snicker Bars. He wasn’t skimpy and didn’t just give one little “fun sized” bag of M&M’s. He went all out and bought the good stuff, the best candy. And all the kids talked about the extravagantly generous home at the end of the street. They love that house!

Jesus was the generous one with all he did for us. I want to be like him. He came and gave everything for us and it cost him everything. He gave the best! He gave the most!

On Halloween, I’m challenged to display the love of Christ by my generosity. Just as my family goes around the neighborhood, the neighborhood comes to my home too! I can either display a judgmental, self-righteous, Pharisaical attitude and condemn every kid that comes by my house for dressing like a ghost or vampire or something silly like that. Or, I can display the prodigal love of God (which means “wastefully extravagant”) and give the best candy and have the most fun and be the house that the neighborhood kids are talking about. I can display the generous love of God by the generous way I live towards those who are far from God.

I want to encourage you this year to display the love of God on Halloween. Have fun! Go visit your neighbors. Be wastefully extravagant and generous. Live in such a way that your neighbors might just begin to ask, “What’s the reason for their joy and hope?” You may just win an opportunity to tell them about the love of God! I’m praying for that already.

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

Overcoming Anxiety

Three years ago, I had my first panic attack. The panic attack continued off and on for 5 days, I had a moment of revelation from the Lord and felt immediate physical relief. I continued my battle with anxiety, sought counseling, prayer, and anything else I could get my hands on and am now in a completely different spot than I ever imagined I could be. Although going through that was truly awful, I'm better for it and I'm grateful to be able to empathize with others who are struggling. Before all of this, my perception of mental illness was completely inaccurate. It seemed weak and, honestly, just kind of silly. Why can't people just get a grip? I know that kind of perspective is shared among many people who have never experienced a mental illness or walked alongside someone who has. Sometimes it's because of a lack of compassion, but sometimes it's just because they don't know any better.

Sure, we all deal with anxiety on some level. But when it stops your life, takes over your brain, causes you physical symptoms and pain, and clouds your mind with fear—that's when you know you have a problem that needs serious attention. That's a mental illness, not just a little case of worrying too much.

By the grace of God, I am currently in a place where I don't deal with anxiety on a daily basis. It's very situational and even then, I feel capable of managing it and coping. Since I'm on the other side of it, I wanted to share the areas to examine and consider when overcoming anxiety. I'm not a doctor and I'm not a therapist, but I am a person who has been in the dark and come into the light.

SPIRITUAL LAYERS

In most cases, a spiritual aspect is involved with anxiety. A lot of the time, anxiety is our body's response to holding on too tightly to too much. That can mean a lot of things. We can hold on too tightly to our children, our husband, our future, our status, our job, our financial situation, or a specific problem going on.

From what I've experienced, anxiety comes from a loss of control that we thought we had. But the reality is that the only control we really have in life is over our own decisions—our own responses to what life deals us. We cannot control the safety of our children or the security of our job or the outcome of the future. This is why it's so important to know where we place our trust.

Now, one of the most frustrating things is when Christians think that a good sermon on worry or a list of bible verses will cure anxiety. It's just not true. So, while I am saying that there is a spiritual element that needs to be dealt with, it is not the quick fix for a mental illness.

MEDICATION

In some cases, medicine is needed. All I will say about that is that even with a medication, I would strongly encourage you to still seek out counsel and help for the anxiety or depression or whatever mental illness you're struggling with. This is not something you want to let linger. Treating a mental illness solely with medication is only part of the process. You should dig deeper into it, whether that is with medication or not.

GUARD YOUR HEART

You might find at the onset of anxiety and depression you are not in a place to guard your heart. It's like your brain is locked in one spot and can't get out. Sometimes you're just stuck dealing with the shock of it all. That's where people come in. After a few months of trying to move through this on my own, I decided I needed to find a counselor. I needed someone who I could trust to guide me when I didn’t feel I could trust myself. I also found rest and understanding within my community group at church. Many of our meetings ended with me in the center of the room receiving prayer. They were faithful to pray for me when I didn’t have the strength or the words to pray. They knew my story and were aware of my triggers. They could guard my heart for me even when I was unable to. It wasn’t until after I felt some real healing had begun that I could move into a place where I was capable of guarding my own heart.

Guarding our hearts is something we have to actively practice. It helps keep us from going back to that dark place. It's also a great preventative habit to start now even if you've never had serious issues with anxiety. An awful thought may come to mind, but we are in charge of whether or not we let it spin out of control into a completely false fear-based reality. We choose what we let into our minds and hearts.

"Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life." Proverbs 4:23

I like this quote from a book study I did a few years ago:

"When you have a thought, it lingers in your brain for anywhere from thirty seconds to several minutes, and then it seeps into your heart. During those seconds or minutes you can take the negative thoughts captive and deny their entry into your heart ... Thoughts will reach your heart either way, but you have a choice to hide them in your heart or throw them in the trash." Gary Smalle,  Guarding Your Child's Heart

You get to choose what you think about each day.

In my opinion, our society is bad at this. It seems like we mope around as these weak mental beings.

I can't help it.

I just fell out of love with her and that's why I cheated.

It's what comes naturally, so I did it.

I need to do what's right for me and what feels good.

That's just who I am and I can't change that.

I'm not talking about being true to yourself versus being like someone else. I'm talking about fighting for what's right and best versus giving in to every little desire or fleeting thought we have.

"And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you." —Philippians 4:8-9

Take charge and push out the dark thoughts. So what does this look like? For me, it looked like stopping trails of fearful thoughts in my head and choosing to think about something else. It looked like focusing on exactly what I was doing at every single moment of the day instead of allowing anxiety of the future or "what ifs" to take over. It looked like choosing not to watch the news or other shows and movies that I knew would take my heart to a place it didn't need to be. It looked like getting up to do something different with my body if I felt the physical symptoms of anxiety start to rise up in my chest. Baby step by baby step, I replaced negative or fear-based thoughts with truth. Over time, all of those baby steps added up.

GET HELP

If you suffer from anxiety (or any mental illness) and haven't sought any help, consider this your sign to get help. Get help! You can have the strongest support system around you and still need a professional counselor. Everyone can benefit from counseling, but people who are weighed down by anxiety most definitely need it. You may not think it will help you, but it will. You may be nervous about talking to a stranger, but I think you'll find it's easier than you imagined. You may worry that asking for help is a sign of your weakness, but it is in the weakest times that you are able to become who the Lord is making you to be.

Do not put off getting help. You are valued, you are important, you are worth the money, you are worth finding childcare. It's critical that you talk to someone.

When it comes to anxiety, I know I'm not alone. When it was all happening I thought I might be, I quickly realized I wasn't as soon as I started sharing my story on my blog back in 2012. So many people deal with some sort of mental illness. Sometimes it's a lifelong struggle and sometimes it's situational. It looks different for all of us. But a lot of people are suffering mentally and you need to know you're not the only one.

If you are feeling overwhelmed by any sort of mental illness, seek help immediately. You need people to walk through this with you. Never in my life have I been so carried by the community of believers around me. There may be a long, exhausting road ahead of you, but there is hope. There is light on the other side.

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Claire Westbrook is a stay-at-home mom to two kids, Duke and Nova, and has been married to her husband, Colt, for 7 years.  When she's not changing diapers and assigning timeouts, she enjoys teaching piano lessons, songwriting, and blogging at My Devising.  You can follow her on Twitter or Facebook.

9 Ways to Pursue Spirit-Led Leadership

Leadership is a tough concept to grasp, especially for those that are in or aspire to leadership positions. There are endless perspectives, books, commentaries, and motivational content on how to become a “better” leader. Much of the information is helpful yet it’s insufficient if your aim is to get beyond worldly wisdom. For Christians, Jesus promises much more—to be personally and practically lead by the Spirit as you lead in your homes and workplaces. Acts 1:5 says, “For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” Acts presents this beautiful pattern of conversions where the eventual result is being sealed with the Spirit. Look at Acts 2 where the Spirit is poured out at Pentecost. The power of the Spirit in that setting was astonishing, amazing, and bewildering (Acts 2: 6-7). To the onlooker, the role of the Spirit is incredible because the disciples are able to do things that they could never do relying on their own power. As a young Christian, I had to work this out and learn what it meant to have been baptized by the Spirit. Personally and practically, Spirit-led leadership is important. I’m a husband, my wife and I have 4 young children, and I’m the CEO of a fast-growing company with 50+ employees. The truth is, by my own strength, I’m insufficient and under qualified. Yet God has called me to these things, and it’s in these things that I submit to him on a daily basis. Spirit-led leadership is not a one-time concept you just grasp. It’s a daily fight that requires diligence, prayer, and seeking the Lord’s will for all of your life.

As a leader, there’s no shortage of issues to work through. I’d argue that leaders are making hundreds of influential decisions on an annual basis. Often times, if you’re leading, your decisions are affecting many. Whether you call it your conscience or not, you will often know what “feels” right in certain situations. In every tough decision that I have to make, there’s usually a very clear answer as to what’s right and good. It’s not often an easy decision, yet there is a right decision to be made. This requires the leader to be mindful and receptive to what the Spirit is doing in their hearts and minds. In Ed Welch's book, Addictions, A Banquet in the Grave, he speaks of this attentiveness. He gives the analogy that a soldier can hear a twig snap because they’re so alert and aware of what’s happening around them. That’s what Spirit-led leadership is like. It demands we stay alert.

In my study of the Old Testament, I’ve noticed an interesting pattern. Leaders succeed because the Lord allows their success. Typically, failure results from disregarding godly wisdom and counsel because of pride and/or idol worship. Build in time to study 2 Chronicles and you’ll get a front row seat into leadership successes and failures. Brothers and sisters, this is not an obscure pattern that we should overlook. Whether in your homes or workplaces, allow others to speak into your life. Let your guard down and allow the Spirit to work through other godly influences in your life. What’s the worst thing that can happen? They’ll find out that you’re a sinner? For the sinner, there’s grace. There’s a Father that loves us so much, that he sent his Son to be the propitiation of our sins. We are washed by the blood of the Lamb and that’s good news to the aspiring leader!

In an effort to share how leadership failures have shaped my wife and I, I wanted to share nine stories and situations that we had to work through. I really struggled to get through these situations, so I’m calling you to learn from my mistakes and the pattern of repentance.

1. Pray through decisions and be attentive to what the Spirit is imprinting on your heart and mind during prayer.

Remember, prayer does not always move the hands of God. It often shapes us and changes our hearts so that our will aligns with his. I’ve also learned to commit huge decisions to prayer for a period of time then to make a decision at the end of that period. I’ve worked with so many ineffective leaders because they’re indecisive. Pray and fast for a period of time then make your decision. I found myself paralyzed by indecisiveness until our CFO started encouraging us to set deadlines for decision making. This came after periods of time where I was not making tough decisions that I had to make.

2. Invite godly leaders and mentors into your life.

The unexamined life is not worth living said Socrates. Godly leaders invite counsel and feedback. They’re also rooted enough in their identity in Christ that the feedback shapes them into more effective leaders rather than defeating and discouraging them. One of my most trusted advisors is our CFO. He’s an elder in the church and provides invaluable counsel and leadership to us. I also have a Gospel Coach. These are men that constantly carry the burden of leadership with my wife and I. I am incredibly thankful for them even when I hate what they have to say! My natural inclination as a sinner is to remove these influences so that I can have my way. I did that for a while yet it doesn’t works if you want to have an impact for the Kingdom.

3. Leaders shape and influence other leaders.

Model repentance to those that you’re entrusted to lead. We need godly influences and role models. While you’re doing this, remember that God does not need you. That’s right, you’re invited to participate by the King, but you’re a dime a dozen. Stay humble my friends.

4. Serve well.

Never settle for allowing others to serve you, especially if they're entrusted to you and you're responsible for leading them well. Practically, get off the sofa and love your wife by doing the dishes, starting the laundry, or making dinner. Make time for that employee that really needs you to affirm them in their work. Never believe the lie that you’re so busy that you’re unable to create space for depth in relationships, especially for those that you’ve been entrusted to serve. Three years ago my employees were constantly telling everyone how busy I was because I was not making time for them. I was lazy and undisciplined in my schedule, which made it appear like I was busier than I was. Be disciplined in your schedule and serve those that God has entrusted to your care. That’s what a good shepherd does. If you need help with your schedule, find tools that other godly leaders have used. There’s a gamut of good resources available.

5. As Jesus did, retreat and take time to meditate in silence.

Often God speaks mightily when you’re quiet and receptive to what he’s communicating. I used to believe the lie that I needed to “do” more and sitting around was not acceptable. What I failed to remember was God’s established rhythm for rest and solitude. Find sacred time and space to pray and meditate but keep yourself from becoming legalistic. Good leaders are flexible and can adapt well when unexpected things come your way because they will.

6. When there seems to be two choices or decisions and you’re not sure which one to make, consider this: God is a good Father that loves to give good gifts.

Maybe he’s giving you the choice. Maybe it’s like taking your kiddos to the toy store and saying “Which one do you want, you could have either?” My Gospel Coach and I worked through this exact scenario just this month. That’s what he said to us verbatim. There’s two really good choices and both honor the Lord. The question really is, what do we want? This goes back to making decisions and not allowing yourself to become indecisive.

7. Be ready to make tough decisions when the Spirit leads.

I remember three years ago when we had an attorney advise us against paying drive time to our staff (they drive to their clients). Legal counsel was “That’s not necessary, you’re protected under the law against having to pay them.” Godly counsel was different. Wisdom says, “Pay your employees for their time, even if you’re not legally obligated. The result will be fruitful because you’ll rightly communicate to your employees that you value them and their time.” That decision affected my wife and I personally because we knew those resources would come directly off what we were paid. Be ready to make tough decisions and know that the Lord honors those that walk upright in heart.

8. Allow yourself to fail.

Failure is feedback and serves as a learning experience. We’re shaped in part by the consequences in our lives. Certain actions and decisions are strengthened by the success that follows, while others are informative due to failure. Learn from failure and document what God is teaching you through those experiences.

9. Think sustainability and listen to the Spirit’s prompting to slow down and reevaluate your pace.

I felt the Spirit calling us to steward our time better, yet ignored it until it became really unhealthy in our lives. If you’re going to be effective, you need to maintain a sustainable pace. I’ve failed miserably at this and have learned so much as a result. Once more, it took godly counsel and wisdom to redeem our chaotic lives and schedules. I can accomplish more today than I did before, yet I maintain a healthier pace, one that allows for rest, leisure, and ample time for the most important, not just the urgent things. Lastly, sustainability involves having established boundaries. Dr. Henry Cloud has a book called The One Life Solution. This was the most influential read in my life as a husband, father, and CEO. I’d highly recommend it if you’re struggling with sustaining as a leader because of boundary issues.

Spirit-led leadership is attainable. It’s not perfect nor is it easy. It’s what we’re called to as leaders, whether you’re leading in your home or workplace or in any other context for that matter. We know the Lord works mightily in those who hunger and thirst for him, so let’s be leaders who wholeheartedly seek the Lord.

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Rob Fattal serves as CEO and BCBA in high-touch boutique firms providing educational services to children. He started his career as a credentialed teacher and served in both the public school system and at the university level. He and his wife have 4 kiddos of their own and have led and coached MCs and MC leaders. Ultimately, they love the church and hope to serve it well.

Removing Fear Out of Friendship

She sits across from me, perched on the edge of her seat, with her ankles crossed and fingers interlocked over her knee. She makes limited eye contact as she begins to describe the circumstances that brought her to this room. It’s obvious that she isn’t comfortable, but the hope for help and expectancy of change hold her here. She’s weary and searching for a hand to reach out and grab on to. I’ve had the privilege of being the biblical counselor sitting on the other side of this scene, asking the Holy Spirit to give me wisdom and gospel-clarity to share. These kinds of moments, however, when pain reaches out and love attempts to reciprocate, should not be unique to a counselor’s office. This is what should happen every day in living rooms, coffee shops, and crowded playgrounds. God, in his mercy and through his Spirit, has equipped every follower of Christ to be able to speak gospel truth and encourage others with the Word. Unfortunately, I haven’t witnessed this to be the norm for relationships in local gatherings of the Church. The need for more relationships saturated with the gospel and facilitating effectual growth, healing, and change should drive us to ask, “What keeps these kind of friendships from happening? What keeps me from pressing in to this?”

In my life the answer to those questions has been fear. Various fears—judgement, rejection or ineffectiveness—have driven me to stop short when it comes to developing deep relationships. By God’s grace alone I’ve learned how the gospel speaks directly to my fears and have been freed to taste and see how good true community can be.

I can remember thinking and operating this way. I was so afraid my friends would find out how truly sinful I was and that they’d politely opt out. I was worshiping others’ perception of me and denying what God had already declared about my identity! When God, out of the overflow of his love and by his grace alone, brings a dead heart to life and grants sight to spiritually blind eyes, he doesn’t begrudgingly tolerate us. He adopts us into his family and delights in welcoming us to his table! The perfect blood of Jesus atones for our rebellion and changes our identity completely. The Father looks at Jesus and says, “This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased.” The Father looks at me and sees Jesus. The Father looks at me and is well pleased! When my heart is awakened to this beautiful truth, my worry of how I will look to others begins to fade. Humble gratitude stirs worship within me, and I let the veil of my own perceived self-righteousness be torn down. I can share my struggles openly, as well as extend judgment-free grace to others.

In addition to the fear of judgment or rejection, I have also seen how the fear of “not having anything good to offer” keeps women hiding behind the walls of surface-friendships. In Christ, we see that we can actually look this fear dead in the eye and say, “Yep. You’re right.” In our own flesh we don’t have anything good to offer. But by God’s grace we can echo Paul and affirm, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”

They don’t need impressive sounding advice or more how-to’s; they need Jesus. So, all I need to do is move out of the way and let him love on her. How God actually works in each relationship will look very different, but we can trust that he will work.

And what a joy it is to be a part of sharing Christ’s love with someone else! God doesn't need me in order to accomplish his will. I get to be a part of his work, and as my joy in him grows, he is even more greatly glorified through me.

Remember, you have been redeemed for a reason. Jesus not only saves us from; he saves us to. When we are rescued out of the domain of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of the Son, it’s for a specific mission. God has chosen to use each of us to bring the message of hope to the hurting world around us,and it is solely in him that we will find the ability to do so. The same Spirit who defeated death, indwells each regenerate believer, empowering us to do his work in our own small circles of influence! So take heart, you do have something great to offer, the most beautiful Gift to give. Trust the Wonderful Counselor to lead, he is forever faithful.

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Myra Dempsey lives in the Columbus, Ohio area with her husband, Andrew, and their 3 children, Eli (5), Esther (3) and Gideon (1). Myra works part-time as a Licensed Professional Counselor and School Psychology Assistant.  She blogs at dependentongrace.com, contributes to the blog for her home church, at vineyardgrace.org, and has been blessed to be the keynote speaker at the iAm conference in Powell, Ohio, an event for teen girls. She loves reading, writing, and talking about God’s glorious grace!

4 Lessons for Making Disciples from Jan Hus

Editor: In our Family History Series we are seeking to understand how Christians of the past have pursued making disciples. We want to connect the church’s current efforts to make, mature, and multiply disciples to its historical roots as well as encourage the church to learn from her rich past. So far in our series:

• 4 Simple Ways Fred Elliot Discipled His Children
• 4 Lessons from St. Patrick for Making Disciples the Irish Way
• 3 Counter-Cultural Lessons from Elisabeth Elliot
• 2 Principles for Living Free from J. R. R. Tolkien
• 4 Convictions for Boldness from John Knox
• 3 Essentials of Discipleship According to Herman Bavinck
• 4 Gifts to the Church from Mechthild of Magdeburg
• 3 Lessons from John L. Girardeau for Crossing Divides

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Yesterday I meandered through Prague with my friend Nuno. Nuno used to be a student of my father’s in Lisbon, Portugal, and we now oddly find ourselves sharing a few days together in Prague, his adopted city. Prague is everything I thought it would be: craftsmanship in every detail of the city—the rails, the sewer caps, the windows, the roofs, the palaces, and the cathedrals. We walked through cramped cathedrals with thousands of others who could barely get enough space to take photos. We walked over the Charles Bridge, passed snake handlers, beggars, artists, and tourists rubbing statues for good luck and blessings. We escaped the crowds when we went to the cemetery of the Jews and the oldest standing synagogue in Europe. It was preserved, unlike the jewish people in Prague, during world War II because Hitler wanted it to be a museum or monument to the extinct race. On our walk, I learned the mixed history of this city. It was central in trading, the arts, and religion. Now it’s central in human sex trading, the arts, and atheism—the brand of atheism that refuses to even think about God.

Then we stepped into a nondescript building donated and built by a shopkeeper where the Bible was to be preached in Czech. I found this fact both inspiring and disappointing, what were all the other cathedrals for?

An old Czech woman walked us into the vast silent chapel where, 700 years ago commoners, business owners, nobleman, and university students pilled in by the thousands to hear the gospel in their language, many for the first time. They say it seats 3,000 people. Historians note it was normal for upwards of 5,000 to gather there. To the side of the pulpit where Jan Hus preached the gospel is a deep, ancient well. Literally. On the walls you can see slight remnants of hymns etched in stone where people sang the gospel in their language. The room itself was powerful. More powerful than the massive gothic cathedrals crammed with tourists, because of the significance of what happened in that space and in the souls of thousands hundreds of years ago.

My friend Nuno and I, who hope to give our lives to seeing everyone in our cities experience the deep well and life found in Christ, sat quietly meditating on the reality that we wouldn't be where we are in life without the ministry and discipleship of Jan Hus.

Jan Hus was a Czech priest and a professor at the Prague University which was established by Charles IV, the Holy Roman Emperor. Hus was given the privilege of being the preacher of the Chapel of Bethlehem where he was charged with delivering sermons in the language of the people. This is what Jan Hus did and the impact was astounding. It’s amazing how such a simple act can have massive global, historical implications and how at the time it was seen as a small charitable work of an entrepreneur.

As Hus preached the gospel, people responded. As he declared the gift and mercy of Christ, his convictions hardened against the system which kept people from receiving that. Jan Hus stood as a sign post in one of the Church’s major forks in the road. Would the church be given to the lives of everyday people? Would she include them or would she be kept exclusively for the ruling class? Hus, emboldened by the fruit of the gospel, knew instinctively that it should be given to the people. He worked to have the Bible and his works published into Czech and allowed every believer to take part in communion—to drink the cup and eat the bread for themselves.

Jan Hus came into the reformation movement after Wycliff and before Luther and Calvin. On my tour through his small apartment attached to the chapel, I saw a piece of art that depicted Wycliff lighting a spark with stones, Hus lighting a candle, and Luther carrying a torch. Hus stands firmly as a major player in our family history. Luther would say later that he was Hus’ “disciple” despite the time and place that separated them.

In the fall of 1414, Hus was called to attend the counsel of Constance and speak before the rulers of Europe and the Catholic Church about his beliefs and teachings. He was granted safe passage, but once he arrived and shared his beliefs they demanded he recant his teachings and his reformation ways. Hus was soon put into prison to await a trial. At the trial, he refused to recant unless they could prove his error through the Scriptures. In the summer of 1415, he was condemned a heretic and sentenced to death. He was burned publicly at the stake in the center of town and in the shadow of the cathedral. Dying, he sang hymns to God as worship before breathing his last as flames blew in his face.

Here are just four lessons on gospel-centered discipleship I learned from Jan Hus in the old city of Prague:

1. Unleash the Artists to worship God through their work in the Cities

“I entreat all artisans faithfully to follow their craft and take delight in it.”

This is so evident through out the city. The wealth that flowed through Prague and the vision of Charles IV attracted  hundreds of artists to build temples, bridges, theaters, clocks, statues, and palaces. Jan Hus continued to press the creative tradition and took it further. Ultimately God commissions the artisans to create beauty in the world, notnobility or bishops .

2. We want to be pastors for respect and admiration, but instead we lose our lives and it is sweet

“I was anxious to take the holy orders to have a life of comfort and the admiration of the people.” 

Hus’ desire to become a priest was rooted in his desire for comfort and respect. He saw the life of a priest accurately in that time. Instead of the life he envisioned, he found the gospel to be everything his heart desired. As a pastor, his life models mine. Honestly, my heart often seeks admiration from people through my vocation. I don’t simply just want to be liked but revered. Hus’ life and writing teach me to be honest about that while pursuing the greater calling which is to give your life away and find the deepest life possible in the gospel.

Hus stood in front of kings, emperors, and a pope knowing he could have their affection by recanting his beliefs. Yet, he sang hymns to God amidst flames in death. He found God to be more worthy of worship than himself. Then, he found God more worthy of worship than his peers.

3. The Gospel is For Everyone

During Hus’ lifetime, many church leaders were separating people into categories—who is important and who is not. For them, the church existed for the wealthy and powerful more than the people. The church played the role of power broker and power keeper more than a place for everyone to know the love of God and to love one-another.

This is our family history, too. We cozy up to the influential and use the uneducated, the burdened, the insignificant as collateral damage in kingdom building. Many times we are more like the Catholic church of 700 years ago than we would like to admit. We prefer to imagine ourselves and our family history beginning with Jan Hus; however, all of it is our history. And some of it ought to be a caution to us as we build kingdoms, seek the influential, and disregard the un-cool. This problem isn’t new—Jesus critiqued the Pharisees, Paul fought Jewish leaders to include Gentiles, and James rebuked the church for keeping special seats for the “important.”

Jan Hus teaches us that the gospel is for everyone and for every aspect of life. The gospel is grace, mercy, and faith—not power, money, and control.

4. Proclaim and Die for the the Gospel alone 

“I hope, by God's grace, that I am truly a Christian, not deviating from the faith, and that I would rather suffer the penalty of a terrible death than wish to affirm anything outside of the faith or transgress the commandments of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

I love how Hus describes his reasons for persevering to death. He would not let go of what he knew and believed to be central to his faith. He died for refusing to give up anything central. He didn’t die for the fringe, he didn’t stir up conflict, and he didn't try to start a revolution.

He was fixated on making the gospel clear, understood, and experiential. He wouldn’t recant that. He couldn’t stop preaching the gospel. Because to stop proclaiming the gospel andto stop inviting people to the communion table would make his life in Christ void.

The gospel of free salvation and mercy in Jesus was controversial and it still is. As we make disciples this has to be our focus, too. We have to put all our efforts into making the gospel central and clear.  As we make disciples in community and in our cities, we need to create a space for the gospel itself to be controversial. Step into conflicts about those things that without you would not be a Christian.

Conclusion

We are in the midst of many conflicts, disagreements, and issues in our culture. I pray that we are fighting with the gospel in mind and for the gospel. I pray our hope in talking about sexuality is rooted in the gift of God’s love in Jesus. I pray that our discussions about racial reconciliation are directly sourced in the reconciliation of God to man in Christ. I pray that our motivations in government are founded on God’s love for all men and women. Above all, I pray that we are motivated and empowered by the Spirit of God to make the gospel plain and clear to everyone around us.

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Brad Watson (@bradawatson) serves as a pastor of Bread&Wine Communities where he develops and teaches leaders how to form communities that love God and serve the city. Brad is the author of Raised?, Called Together: A Guide to Forming Missional Communities, and Sent Together: How the Gospel Sends Leaders to Start Missional Communities. He lives in southeast Portland with his wife and their two daughters. You can read more from Brad at www.bradawatson.com.

Fulfilling the Law of Christ Through Biblical Counseling

“Carry one another’s burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” —Galatians 6:2 (HCSB)

The mental health community recognizes September as National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. As a biblical counselor and former police officer who responded frequently to calls for service involving human tragedy (i.e., suicide, domestic violence, child abuse, rape, etc.), I’m reminded of the urgent need for spiritual hope in our communities and of the church’s role in providing the hope that so many desperately need.

Over the course of my law enforcement career, followed now by several years of pastoral and counseling ministry, I have grown increasingly convinced of the power of the gospel to not only save us in eternity, but to redeem us in this lifetime, including our disordered thoughts and troubled emotions.

When we acknowledge this, we are not denying the role of appropriate medical care—to be human is to possess both a body and a soul. Neither are we making outlandish declarations about the cure of organic mental illness through prayer and the reading of Scripture alone. But to deny the gospel’s power to restore the mind is to suggest that for most of human history, that is, until the advent of psychoanalysis and psychotropic drugs, that we were without any tangible hope for the restoration of our minds or the alleviation of emotional suffering.

A History of Care

“Counseling belongs in and to the church of God.”

This mantra of the greater biblical counseling movement raises eyebrows in an age that dismisses the authority and sufficiency of Scripture while uncritically assuming the efficacy of secular mental health care. This phenomenon exists despite serious questions about secular treatment methodologies based on research outcomes that cannot always be reproduced and counseling theories that do not otherwise align with Scripture.[1]

Through the effective use of media and its dominance in academic and medical arenas, secular psychology has a firm grip on societal mental health structures. Accordingly, mainline and evangelical churches have too often surrendered control of counseling to those who adhere to theories established by Freud, Jung, Rogers, Skinner, et al. The result is that today’s most common approaches to counseling reflect a societal shift away from a biblical worldview while embracing a medical model of mental health care that more often than not establishes a pathology for nearly every problematic behavior and emotion.

Dr. David Powlison observed that following the Civil War, “Professional jurisdiction over Americans’ problems in living gradually passed form the religious pastorate to various medical and quasi-medical professions: psychiatry, neurology, social work, and clinical psychology. . . .  Psychiatry and psychotherapy displaced the cure of souls.”[2] While the debate concerning the church’s ongoing embrace of biblically questionable counseling theories continues, what is clear from Scripture and church history is the church’s responsibility to provide biblically faithful, clinically-informed counsel in the context of the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20).

A Biblical Foundation for the Care of Souls

Galatians 6:2 is one important verse that urges the church to re-engage in the counseling task. Paul instructs the church, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” To understand this verse and apply it properly, we need to consider what “burdens” Paul had in mind. Were these burdens primarily physical (i.e. food, shelter, and clothing), or more holistic? Further, we need to consider what Paul meant by the “law of Christ,” because for Paul, its fulfillment was the desired outcome.

Although a few scholars find that 6:2 is independent of 6:1 because of the absence of a connecting article in the Greek text (as happens at 6:3), Paul’s point does not arise in a vacuum. Restoring a “brother” who has fallen into some type of “wrongdoing” is accomplished in part when burdens are shared. How then do we practically observe this passage? For many people, a season of intentional and systematic counseling of God’s word is central to their discipleship.[3]

It was in this context that Paul called upon the church to “bear one another’s burdens” and in so doing “fulfill the law of Christ”—a law that, according to Paul, transcends the law of Moses (3:2-3). To this point, Bruce wrote, “The ‘law of Christ’ is for Paul the whole tradition of Jesus’ ethical teaching, confirmed by His character and conduct and reproduced within His people by the power of the Spirit.”[4]

This law of Christ was nothing less than the command of Jesus for believers to love one another and their neighborsas they love themselves (Jn. 13:34; Matt. 22:39).

With the call to love one’s neighbor in view, the command to “carry one another’s burdens” takes on clearer meaning and may be applied more holistically to the whole man. Carrying one another’s burdens certainly includes meeting physical needs, but it does not end there. The spiritual and emotional concerns of those who suffer fall within the scope of Paul’s intent and may be properly addressed through biblical counsel.

Rapa agrees in his commentary on 6:2 that sin is, at a minimum, included in Paul’s admonition. He wrote, “Joining together to restore one who has sinned or to prevent others from being ‘caught in a sin’ in the first place is a way that believers may ‘serve one another in love’ (5:13; cf. Ro 15:1-3).”[5] Moo, on the other hand, takes an expanded view of “burdens” in 6:2 to include “all those problems that afflict our brothers and sisters”(emphasis added).[6] In light of Christ’s command to love, Moo’s interpretation should be preferred.

The gospel is the power of God unto salvation for all those who believe and by it sinners and sufferers experience transformation rather than conformity to the patterns of the world (Rom. 1:16; 12:2). Paul understands, however, that people live in the context of a world marred by sin and

‘[‘ therefore will go on experiencing the varied effects of the fall, both physical and non-physical (Gen. 3). For this reason he calls upon his audience to fulfill the law of Christ by carrying one another’s burdens in whatever form they may come (i.e. sin and suffering).

Tim Lane and Paul Tripp wrote,

“Kind people look for ways to do good. Patient and faithful people don’t run away when people mess up. Loving people serve even when sinned against. Gentle people help a struggler bear his burden. Galatians 5 and 6 are filled with hope.”[7]

As with Moo, Lane and Tripp see Christ-like love as the source of hope in 6:2 along with a call to enter into the suffering of others across the full spectrum of human struggle. This is the essence of biblical soul care and why the church must re-consider its obligation to provide intentional forms of counsel.

The Stakes Are High

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, in 2013 there were approximately 43.8 million adults aged eighteen and over in the United States with some form of diagnosable mental illness.[8] That statistic excludes children, which would only serve to increase the extraordinary figure.

While the definition of what constitutes “mental illness” is not a settled debate, that people struggle with a multitude of problematic behaviors and emotions that help fuel significant societal concerns is evident even if the source of those troubles are also debated (i.e. biological or spiritual). Whatever the cause of one person’s mental, behavioral, or emotional trouble, the gospel is everyone’s preeminent need and those needs are often properly addressed through a word-based counseling ministry.

With significant numbers of those diagnosed or diagnosable being found within the church at large, the issue of mental health and mental illness is one that affects the mission of making disciples. This ought to communicate to the church an area of immediate gospel-need and missional opportunity, yet many people, both inside and outside of the church, perceive the church to be less than responsive. This communicates to some a casual indifference to emotional suffering or even an unbelief in the sufficiency of the word of God to actually transform the mind (Rom. 12:2). The church can and must do better.

Paul’s command to bear one another’s burdens is founded upon the law of Christ, which calls us to love one another. As we’ve seen in our survey of Gal. 6:2 and the surrounding verses, the burdens Paul demands we carry run deep and the law of Christ that calls us to love our neighbor is necessarily wide.

The church has historically responded well to the physical suffering of others through such things as food pantries, clothing closets, and soup kitchens. The past one-hundred years or so have not been equally distinguished by soul care through counseling. With the advent of quality training programs available at both the academic and lay levels, inadequate preparation is no longer an reasonable excuse to ignore this critical ministry concern.

Whether that counsel is provided for through a lay ministry, pastoral position, or some other arrangement such as a para-church ministry is a separate matter for the local church to decide. My hope is to persuade Christians that counseling ministry is not an something the church should outsource to the state, rather it fits squarely within the command of Paul in Galatians 6:2 to fulfill the law of Christ by carrying the burdens of one another, whether physical or spiritual-emotional.

The church must recall that if it does not love people with the gospel in this way, that the secular world waits with a “gospel” of its own—and its “gospel” cannot save. Paul states this more positively in Rom. 15:14, where he writes, “I am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another.”

[1] A.D.P. Efferson, “How Many Laws Are Based On Psychology's Bad Science?,” The Federalist, September 8, 2015, accessed September 14, 2015, http://thefederalist.com/2015/09/08/how-many-laws-are-based-on-psychologys-bad-science/.

[2] David Powlison, The Biblical Counseling Movement: History and Context (Greensboro, NC: New Growth Press, 2010), 22.

[3] John Strelan, “Burden-Bearing and the Law of Christ: A Re-Examination of Galatians 6,” Journal of Biblical Literature 94, no. 2 (June 1975): 266, ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost.

[4] F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Galatians (The New International Greek Testament Commentary), Reprint ed. (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2013), 261.

[5] Robert Rapa, ed., Romans - Galatians (The Expositor's Bible Commentary), Revised ed., ed. Tremper Longman III and David E. Garland (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2007), 634.

[6] Douglas J. Moo, Galatians (Baker Exegetical Commentary On the New Testament) (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2013), 376.

[7] Timothy S. Lane and Paul David Tripp, How People Change, 2nd ed. (Greensboro, NC: New Growth Press, 2008), 214.

[8] “Any Mental Illness (AMI) Among Adults,” National Institute of Mental Health, accessed September 6, 2015, http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/prevalence/any-mental-illness-ami-among-adults.shtml.

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Josh Waulk is the Founder and Executive Director of Baylight Counseling, a nonprofit biblical counseling ministry in Clearwater, Florida. He is married with four children, three of whom are adopted. Josh earned the MABC and is now pursuing the D.Min. in biblical counseling at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is ACBC certified.

4 Dimensions of Exposing Faulty Worldviews

Few issues today are as important as understanding the connection between the gospel, discipleship, missions, and apologetics. I’ve learned these truths through ministering on the streets of Seattle, being in college campus ministry, and at local coffee shops around my area. Engaging in discipleship, missions, and apologetics in a manner worthy of the gospel means understanding how they relate first to the gospel and then to the Church’s mission. I hope to trace out some of these vital connections and in so doing help readers understand that the story of Jesus exposes faulty worldviews. For example, in John 4, Jesus unveils the woman at the well’s faulty worldview. He asks her questions designed to draw her closer to understanding who he is. As the woman’s understanding grows, she sees her need for Jesus. She understands that Jesus is the Son of God. Then she becomes a disciple of Jesus and goes on mission for Jesus in reaching her neighbors and town for him. This is how the gospel works. Jesus exposes faulty worldview stories by showing us our need for his better and truer story,then he saves us by showing us the majesty of his death and resurrection. From there he grows our understanding of himself and sends us out on mission. Part and parcel of this mission is to show the truthfulness of his story in history in comparison to the faultiness of every other story.

Gospel

As the Church, we come together on the Lord’s Day because of the gospel. We gather to be reminded of what Jesus accomplished in his death, burial, and resurrection. We assemble together because God has taken those who were formerly not his and redeemed us through the blood of the Lamb of God. The Apostle Peter calls us to “give an answer for the reason for the hope that we have but to do so with gentleness and respect” (1 Pt. 3:15) because we are honoring Christ the Lord as holy in our hearts (1 Pt. 3:15).

Apologetics exist not because we know all the right answers but as a result of a life centered on Christ. This is what Peter emphasized in 1 Peter 1:13-17, namely that God who is holy has called us to be his own and as a result, we’re called to manifest godly character in keeping with our status as his beloved.

Redeemed people long to see Christ formed not only in their own lives but in the lives of others and to share their stories with others. The real work of apologetics is sharing the stories of God’s grace, goodness, and work in our lives with others. Part of apologetics does deal with objections and responds to error, heresy, and false teaching, but, before we do that, Christ must be honored preeminently in our hearts as noted in 1 Peter 3:15. We’ve been called as a people because of the gospel to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Pt. 3:16) and to have a Christ-like character being formed in our lives (2 Pt. 1:3-15).

Discipleship

Because we are disciples of Jesus, we must grow in Christ-like character. Jesus had much to say to the disciples about discipleship. Luke’s Gospel is arranged around the question of “Who is Jesus?”, a question explored in great detail from Luke 1:1 to Luke 9:51. Luke also spends considerable time noting the training of the disciples in his Gospel. This training focuses on helping the disciples learn about Jesus. To be a disciple of Jesus is to be a learner of Jesus. To be a disciple of Jesus means to grow in understanding of who Jesus is, what he has done, and what he demands.

This is why exposing faulty worldviews as I mentioned at the outset is so important. Faulty views of the gospel, discipleship, and missions abound today. One prime example of a faulty perspective on these issues can be found in the book Heaven is for Real. In Heaven is for Real, the author promotes a worldview where God’s words are not enough, instead suggesting that in some way we need more assurance than Christ has given us that we will rise from the dead. The truth is one day when we die we will be with Jesus. This truth compelled the Apostle Paul to long for this Day, the Day Jesus said we would receive the crown of righteousness (2 Tim. 4:8). Mature disciples of Jesus are those who are growing in their understanding of the gospel and can apply that knowledge in real-world situations. As disciples of Jesus therefore, we must grow in our understanding of Jesus for the purpose of exercising godly discernment so we might speak the truth in love to people.

Mission

The message of the King demands faithfulness to the means the King has given. King Jesus died on the cross, was buried, and rose again. Jesus, through the work of the Holy Spirit, indwells believers for the task of growth in him and also to be about doing the work of the Kingdom. When either growth in him or missions for him are emphasized above the other, the redeeming message of the gospel is compromised. The gospel’s call is personal in that it alone justifies the sinner, as well as transforming every area of one’s life. Furthermore, the gospel is corporate in that it calls people everywhere to repent and believe in who Christ is and what Christ has done in his death, burial and resurrection.

The reason we engage worldviews comes from the mission of Jesus who came into the world to redeem man from sin. By coming in human form, the God-Man Jesus lived a sinless life, performed miracles, taught his disciples, and demonstrated how to engage people with the truth in love. When dealing with the religious leaders of Israel, Jesus often asked questions and went against the grain of theological thought of his day. Jesus was not novel with the Old Testament, but he did interpret it through the perspective that he came to fulfill its meaning. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, David, and the Prophets all looked ahead to the hope they would have in a coming Savior. New Testament believers today look back to what Jesus has done in his finished work. Jesus engaged people where they were and helped them to understand who He is and what he has done. This should provide believers today with the urge to engage people through a biblical worldview.

The mission of Jesus is to rescue sinners (Lk. 19:10) from sin through his death, burial, and resurrection. Jesus called his disciples to mission. During his earthly ministry, Christ called his disciples to a small missions trip to prepare them for future service (Lk. 9), he called the seventy-two to ministry (Lk. 10:1-16), and now he calls believers in our day to a mission to make disciples. While the mission of Jesus is to redeem lost sinners, his mission is also to grow in intimacy with those who follow him. Paul makes it clear in 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 that the gospel is both inward and outward. The gospel is a message that one first must believe personally and then confess outwardly. The gospel is a message we first must apply to our own life and context before we can ever hope to confess it outwardly with any degree of effectiveness. Preaching the gospel to ourselves is the greatest way to fight against sin and grow in sanctification. We first must be a disciple before we can do the work of a disciple. Jesus taught that a disciple is not greater than his master, so a disciple must first learn from his master before they do the work of the Master.

The mission of Jesus is to go out and make disciples (Math. 28:18-20, Lk. 24; Acts 1:8). As a result of going out on mission, we will engage all manner of worldviews and the interaction with these various worldviews is ultimately a Great Commission concern. The gospel is the timeless message we are to preach but the way one ministers that message may change depending on the context we find ourselves or the background of the person we interact with. Regardless of context or background, the Christian must preach the gospel in such a way as to make it clear to the person listening that Christ died, was buried, and rose again.

We live in a rapidly changing world where many voices are calling for Christians to compromise on matters related to the gospel, the Bible, and ethics. Christians have been called to be in the world but not of the world. This is why as Christians we must know what we believe so we can accurately, boldly, and precisely represent Christ as his ambassador in a pluralistic therapeutic culture. This is why understanding the gospel will help us to have a biblical view of discipleship and missions with the result that we’ll be able to be an effective witness for Christ in the world in the context of the local church that makes, matures, and multiples disciples to the glory of God.

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Dave Jenkins is the Executive Director of Servants of Grace Ministries, and the Executive Editor of Theology for Life Magazine. He and his wife, Sarah, are members of Ustick Baptist Church in Boise, Idaho, where they serve in a variety of ministries. Dave received his MAR and M.Div. through Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary. You can follow him on twitter @DaveJJenkins. Find him on Facebook or read more of his work at servantsofgrace.org.

Idolatry: A Fatal Attraction | Part 2

It’s one thing to understand the category of idolatry, but quite another to isolate what deities you worship. It’s the difference between knowing what a steak is and actually tasting a perfectly grilled morsel of meat melting on your tongue. Today we take the first step in diagnosing idolatry. ****

I’m a sucker for the occasional B-movie escapism. Replete with a low budget, painful dialogue, and a severely undefined story arc, it can be the perfect silliness for a Friday evening. Enter Anaconda. As only 1997 could deliver, the film chronicles a documentary crew headed into the jungle to shoot footage on a mysterious Indian tribe. On their way, they pick up a stranded man who then takes the team hostage on his quest to capture the world's largest and deadliest snake: a record-breaking green Anaconda.

The thrust of the storyline in one sentence (spoiler alert!) is: people scanning the crest of the river to determine where this deadly snake might be. That’s it. You can imagine the dialogue: “Is that it?” “Did you see that?” “I think I heard something” “Watch out, I see it coming!”

I’ve been thinking lately about the ways we pursue happiness and my drifted to Anaconda. Though most of us wouldn’t articulate it this way, we stroll through our human existence, scanning the surface of our hearts until we find what we think we are looking for. Our time, our energy, our attention, and even our money is devoted to a quest of self-assurance and self-significance.

The Great Hunt

We want to be loved. We want to belong. We want to make a difference. We want to feel important. And we’ll look endlessly until we have found something we think might satisfy us—much like the documentary crew looking for what lies at the crest of the river. But the fruit of our self-salvation projects lie at the surface of a greater hunt in our lives.

Want happiness? It’s important to identify what is at the surface of our hopes and desires. In order for us to find real satisfaction, we must start here. We must ask, “Is that it?” “Did you see that?” “I think I heard something” “Watch out, I see it coming!” The Bible calls this self-diagnosis idol detection (1 Cor. 10:14). Today, we are discussing step one of this self-diagnosis: unearthing those idols that lie on the surface.

Many times these idols are easily discernible, because they are on the surface but there’s always deeper root idols. You can identify them by listening to your prayers. What do you ask God forgiveness for? Maybe it’s an anger problem. Maybe it’s an issue with lust. Maybe you have bitterness in your heart towards another.

While it is good to ask God to cleanse you of unrighteousness, prayer is the first leg in the race to kill your idols. Anger, lust, and bitterness are exterior sins indicating deeper root sins. These are branch idols. You can see them easily but the root sins are what’s actually feeding them.

Hunting for Your Idols

Here are some questions as you look for your surface idols.

• Do I need to be esteemed by people?
• Do I demand order in my world?
• Do I compare myself favorably to others?
• Am I angry or defeated if things are not accomplished immediately?
• Do I have to be the center of my family life, my job, or my church?
• Do I dictate that people must submit to me?
• Do I think my opinions are all-wise and correct?
• Do I do whatever pleases me?
• Is my appearance—whether religiously or physically—ultimate?
• Do I desire to be accountable to no one?
• Do I have to win at everything?

If you notice, these questions require a sense of self-awareness. Tim Keller says that one way you can identify your surface idols is by looking at your most uncontrollable emotions

Just like a fisherman looking for fish knows to go where the water is rolling, look for your idols at the bottom of your most painful emotions, especially those that never seem to lift and that drive you to do things you know are wrong . . . when you ‘pull your emotions up by the root,’ as it were, you will often find your idols clinging to them.

So what are your surface idols? Look at where the water is rolling on the crest of your heart and you will locate them. It’s an essential first step to reversing the fatal attraction of idolatry in our lives.

Next time, we will look at why we can’t stop at just identifying our surface idols if we want to find true significance and happiness. To find real peace and contentment in life, there is something that lurks beneath the surface that we must address because our surface sins are only symptoms of much deeper sins.

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Brad Andrews is a husband of one, a father of seven, and an advocate for grace. He serves as pastor for preaching, vision, and missional leadership at Mercyview in Tulsa, OK. He blogs at graceuntamed.com and his articles can also be found on Gospel-Centered Discipleship and Grace For Sinners. He served as a religion columnist for the former Urban Tulsa Weekly and was also one of the ten framers of The Missional Manifesto, alongside Tim Keller, Ed Stetzer, Alan Hirsch, Eric Mason, J.D. Greear, Dan Kimball, Linda Berquist, Craig Ott, and Philip Nation.

3 Lessons from John L. Girardeau for Crossing Divides

Editor: In our Family History Series we are seeking to understand how Christians of the past have pursued making disciples. We want to connect the church’s current efforts to make, mature, and multiply disciples to its historical roots as well as encourage the church to learn from her rich past. So far in our series:

• 4 Simple Ways Fred Elliot Discipled His Children
• 4 Lessons from St. Patrick for Making Disciples the Irish Way
• 3 Counter-Cultural Lessons from Elisabeth Elliot
• 2 Principles for Living Free from J. R. R. Tolkien
• 4 Convictions for Boldness from John Knox
• 3 Essentials of Discipleship According to Herman Bavinck
• 4 Gifts to the Church from Mechthild of Magdeburg

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I remember as a young kid waking up in the middle of the night and walking into my parent's room and just staring at them. It sounds creepy, but I'm sure that many parents know exactly what I am talking about. I did not want to wake my parents, so I decided just to get right in their face and stare. They would wake up, startled, and fuss over the mild heart attack I just gave them.

In a way, this is the story of the old Presbyterian churches throughout the South. Looking back into the early nineteenth century, the Southern Presbyterians were solid in their doctrine, but inconsistencies in their practices and teaching were staring them right in the face. Slavery.

Didn’t slavery in the antebellum South not go against the grace and compassion that the Southern Presbyterians preached? Was this not breaking the commandment to love your neighbor? One minister —a Southern Presbyterian—struggled with these questions.

John L. Girardeau is not a household name, but his boldness for the Scriptures and his heart for discipleship should not be forgotten. Early on Girardeau desired to minister to the slave community in the low country of South Carolina. He graduated seminary in 1848 and went on to be a famous pastor to the slaves of Charleston, SC.

Through his pastor's heart, his Biblical convictions, and his boldness to break the great divide of race, he has a lot to teach us today about discipleship.

1. A Pastor to the Least of These

Girardeau spent much of early life around slaves because his father ran a small plantation. His mother’s compassion for the slaves made a strong impression on the young John. He watched as she would care for them while they were sick and share Bible stories with them. Girardeau's love for the slaves as people and his desire to see them know Christ would grow.

Conviction, compassion, and a pastor’s heart starts in the home—even when inconsistencies and sin are present. His home was full of regular family devotions, his parents taught him what it meant to pray without ceasing, they worshipped faithfully together at their local church, and observed the Lord's Day with great reverence and admiration. Later in his life Girardeau shared these practices and his knowledge of Christ with slaves.

As he grew, he attended college and enrolled in seminary at Columbia, SC. He would regularly listen to the preaching and teaching of James Thornwell and Benjamin Morgan Palmer. These men's theological convictions and walks with Christ were instrumental to Girardeau. All the while, he still longed to minister to the "least of these."

Even in his time in the midlands of South Carolina, Girardeau would spend time in the streets ministering to the homeless. He would travel to the local plantations and preach the gospel to the slaves. He would continue to do this while fervently studying with the goal in mind—go back to his home region and preach and teach to the slave community.

As he returned to the low country of South Carolina, his longing became a reality as he began his ministry to the slaves. At his first church, he would preach in the mornings to his white congregation then for the slaves on Sunday afternoons. He would travel around to the different plantations in the surrounding area and preach from the porches of the slave houses. Girardeau would sometimes preach six or seven times on a given Sunday. He would eventually be called to serve as the minister of a mission church built for the slaves in the Charleston area. In 1854, he had a regular attendance of thirty-six people and six short years later would preach to a congregation of over 1500.

Through his preaching there was never a doubt where his theological convictions were founded. Girardeau held fast to the Scriptures and found the Westminster Confession and Catechisms a faithful exposition of biblical truth. He would use both throughout his preaching and ministry.

Ultimately, the small mission church Girardeau was called to pastor was too small for the crowds that were gathering to hear him preach. The plantation owners in the Charleston area built another church for the slaves. The slaves would call it Zion Presbyterian Church. Zion Church would continue to grow and its influence in the lives of the slaves and in the community would not be surpassed.

2. A Barrier Breaker

Girardeau has been considered by some to be the "Spurgeon of America." He preached with a clear and gentle voice. His sermons were always Christ-centered and applicable. The congregation was regularly brought to deep conviction of their sins sometimes to the point of tears.

His proclamation of the gospel was clear and precise. He handled the Word rightly. He always presented the gospel then underlined the believer's response to the gospel as he called the people to love God with all of their heart, body, and soul and for them to love their neighbor as themselves.

Girardeau, in the new Zion Presbyterian Church, established a thorough education program where the catechisms, hymns, Psalms, and Scripture memorization were practiced. This entire education program came at a time when it was illegal to teach a slave to read and write. Girardeau and the elders of the church would be criticized and sometimes were physical intimidated by those who disagreed with their ministry.

However, the church stayed true to its vision and taught the slaves fervently through what Girardeau called Sabbath Schools. The slaves would be discipled in classes and spiritually strong men would be trained to be future leaders of the church.

As the Civil War began, Girardeau was called to be a chaplain for the Confederate Army. However, his intentional discipleship of the "least of these" never stopped. These classes were continued even in his absence. As the war ended, Girardeau was begged to come back to the Zion Church. Dr. C.N. Willborn writes in the Presbyterian Church in America history logs,

"[The Zion Church] desired to have their white pastor whom they knew, loved, and respected, rather than a black missionary from the North." [1]

Even with this pleading from the congregation, because of Reconstruction and the Freedman's Bureau happening throughout the South, he could not return.

Davey Salley, in his article for Banner of Truth, writes,

"It was a sad situation: many of the Southern whites were defensive and bitter; and the policy of the Freedman’s Bureau, set up by the Northern government, was to divide the now free black citizens from the Southern white populace."[2]

Nevertheless, Girardeau still trained the newly freed slaves through Sabbath Schools and taught them the same as if he was their pastor.

This discipleship process culminated in 1869, after the Civil War, as Girardeau nominated seven newly freed slaves to become elders of the Zion Presbyterian Church. Later that year he preached the ordination service and along with his white elders, they laid hands on their black brothers ordaining them to the office of ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church.

3. A Reformer Who Stood Alone

Stepping across the great divide of race within the South before and after the Civil War did not come without a price.Girardeau and some of his elders were criticized and even threatened for teaching and training the slaves. Even after the Civil War when the slaves were freed, Girardeau still faced great opposition for his desire to disciple the "least of these." One particular instance would pin him against one of the very men who he was mentored by during his time in seminary. Willborn again writes,

"The pressures of Reconstruction and the Freedmen's Bureau, and the hardened positions of notables like B. M. Palmer [who Girardeau would sit under the preaching of during his time in Columbia] and R. L. Dabney brought the church to a pivotal moment. The weight of political and social issues eventuated in "organic separation" of white membership and black membership and the formation of churches along the color line. Girardeau alone dissented against the resolution at the 1874 General Assembly in Columbus, Mississippi, for which he served as Moderator." [3]

Girardeau was the only dissenting vote. He boldly stood. He believed the Scriptures demanded loving and teaching the "least of these" and his convictions held fast. He would stand alone if that is what it took, and sometimes he had to do just that.

Girardeau would continue to preach and teach until his death. He would be nominated to take the endowed chair at Columbia Theological Seminary and is still recognized as a prominent professor. However, we should rejoice and take note of  his work discipling the slave community where he lovingly pastored the "least of these," faithfully taught them while breaking barriers, and many times stood alone.

[1] Dr. C.N. Willborn. http://www.pcahistory.org/HCLibrary/periodicals/spr/bios/girardeau.html

[2] Davey Salley. https://banneroftruth.org/us/resources/articles/2015/john-l-girardeau-minister-to-the-slaves-of-south-carolina/

[3] Willborn.

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Matthew D. Adams is the Director of Youth and Family Ministries at First Presbyterian Church, PCA in Dillon, SC. He is currently a Master’s of Divinity student at Erskine Theological Seminary in Columbia, SC. He lives in a small town by the name of Hamer, SC and is married to Beth. Follow him on twitter @Matt_Adams90.

A Case for Public Discipleship

What we talk about and the words we use when we approach discipleship are important. If the direction of our discipleship is unclear or incomplete, that shortcoming will affect our pursuit of the image of Christ. For example, if you were asked what do spirituality and discipleship look like what are your initial thoughts? Does it include people’s work place? Does it include business, art, or music? Just completing a quick search for “what is discipleship” pulls up this definition:

A Disciple is one who grows in Christ and in so doing models and teaches Christians the precepts of the Bible, prayer, doctrine, relationship, Christian living, service, and worship, to name the main ones.

This plays out in a discipleship relationship where we often, subtly, are just transferring information. For some this can be an emphasis in theology, for others it’s Scripture memorization, and in other groups it’s a deeper “level of the Spirit.” In the best case scenarios, we see how this knowledge applies to our hearts practically and what steps can be done to continue this walk.

While we should celebrate any areas where a believer is discipled I would contend that large portions of our lives remain untouched with this kind of knowledge transfer approach to discipleship. I am not saying the traditional approaches are bad or inherently wrong. Having a sharpened focus on spiritual disciplines and obtaining knowledge are a vital part of discipleship and should be integrated into any approach. Rather this approach alone is incomplete. It doesn’t integrated with our daily lives, work, or human flourishing through loving our neighbors in politics, art, education, culture, and other public spheres.

Why Is This?

As we approach discipleship, we assume that the focus should be primarily, if not entirely, on spiritual disciplines. Songs are written, blogs shared, books authored, and sermons preached that teach exclusively that this world is not our home and that one day we will escape from it to float in heaven and sing songs. This kind of teaching implicitly prioritizes “spiritual” practices like Scripture reading and prayer; meanwhile because this world is not our home, it implicitly teaches Christians to neglect “worldly” practices like taking care of the world, creating excellent art, or focusing on social justice.

Dr. Anthony Bradley writes that this deficient view is rooted in a fundamental misunderstanding of where our gospel begins. He argues that when we begin with man’s depravity in Genesis 3 rather than man’s creation and cultural mandate in Genesis 1 our starting point is faulty:

A Gen 1 and 2 starting point views the gospel as a means for human beings to have a realized experience of what their humanity was meant to be and to do, whereas a Gen. 3 orientation sees the gospel as a means of saving us from our humanity in preparation for the eschaton (heaven).

In order to see the need for our public lives to be discipled along with our private ones we must understand that our good news begins in creation, not the fall. This creation based approach prevents us from seeing creation as an evil to be avoided rather than a good to be stewarded.

When God created us he created us good. Sin marred this inherent goodness that Christ’s victory through the cross and resurrection has started to restore in us and the world. In a sense when we are being disciple, it is not to become more otherworldly in our discipleship process but rather more human, how God intended us to originally be from creation.

Public Discipleship

Misunderstanding the fundamental goodness of creation fosters a lack of engagement in our world.When Scripture speaks negatively of the world, it is not speaking to the material form we see around us but rather the sinful systems, desires, and worldviews that oppose God.

God created the world as inherently good in the same way that man was originally created as good. In the same way that God works a particular type of grace to save people there is also a type, called common grace, in which he works throughout his creation. This common grace restricts the affects of the fall on mankind as well as empowering us to better cultivate creation and serve the world.

In Exodus 31 tells us that Bezalel was “filled with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability, and knowledge in all kinds of crafts to make artistic designs.” Also, Isaiah 28:23-29 teaches us how God gives the farmer his abilities to cultivate the ground correctly in order to produce crops. God reveals his truth in a way that advances human culture beyond just personal piety. In every advancing stage of society, God is the one working through people and society to further display his glory in the world.

This is not just limited to farming but extends to all advances in human culture such as the utilization of electricity, the invention of personal computers, or even the mapping out of DNA by the Human Genome Project. These all imprint God’s restoring work in creation that we should fully embrace rather than ignore in our discipleship efforts. Abraham Kuyper, Dutch Reformed Theologian, in his Lectures on Calvinism says:

Henceforth the curse should no longer rest upon the world itself, but upon that which is sinful in it, and instead of monastic flight from the world the duty is now emphasized of serving God in the world, in every position in life.

This “every position of life” emphasis in discipleship could be termed—“Public Discipleship.” Practically this would encourage believers to steward creation in whatever area of influence they find themselves in and to do it well. This could be milking cows to produce the best milk possible or creating jobs by being a successful entrepreneur. This public discipleship is not less than spiritual discipline and knowledge but more as we work them out in our everyday lives.

However, if we see discipleship intersect with our jobs or the public square, we are prone to give lip service to Jesus when given a platform. Musicians are given quotas on how often they must say the name of Jesus, artists with how many crosses are painted in a picture, and businessman charged with how cleverly they can fit a Scripture into a business plan. Let’s honestly answer: Does this advance the kingdom?

Most jobs don’t provide daily opportunities to evangelize and pray with co-workers, clients, or customers. For those in these other jobs they might start to wonder how the grand scope of Scripture informs how they work if their discipleship is only knowledge transfer. Scripture tells us that that our faithfulness to work helps bring God’s plan for all of mankind to fruition.

In his recent work, The Political Disciple: A Theology of Public Life, Vincent Bacote promotes an idea called “Public Holiness.” This approach teaches how our sanctification overflows from our lives into the public arena and our interaction with those around us. This means that not only do we individually become more like Christ but we also extend that into making society more reflective of God’s intentions as well. He writes,

Though we may often think of holiness in in terms of our personal piety (and indeed we should), the pursuit and expression of holiness is hardly antithetical to Christian engagement in public concerns such as politics.[1]

This approach prevents the promotion of biblical values in issues of personal morality to the neglect of what God says on public morality. This approach engages our areas of influence holistically no matter where we have been placed by God. This approach means applying the ethics of the entirety of Scripture to the entirety of life.

How Does This Happen in Discipleship?

You may be saying to yourself, “Well that sounds good and we should affirm God’s plan in our vocation but what now?” There are numerous ways to highlight how our discipleship is related to all of life. In whatever discipleship approach your denomination or church may practice whether community-centered, one-on-one relationship, or another form the public discipleship emphasis can be adapted into the approach.

• Affirm Vocation – Communicate this clearly and consistently. Just that emphasis alone would be a great place to start. Timothy Keller’s Every Good Endeavor might be a good tool to jump start the conversation in small groups or traditional information transfer discipleship programs.
• Find Their Role – Encourage people to find how their work specifically relates to God’s work in this world. For example, if someone is building fences we could show how this demonstrates God’s common grace in restraining sin and protecting people and their property.
• Connect – Connect with others who value excellence in their craft. Often people in non-explicitly Christian vocations feel alone in their pursuit of doing things well. Help them connect with others in their field which can create persistence in serving in their role well.
• Challenge – Challenge people to be creative to help them serve better. That can be a more efficient way to work, starting a business to help create jobs, or providing quality care for their peers or employees. This challenge is to start viewing work as a way to extend God’s kingdom rather than just getting a paycheck.

What we talk about and the words we use in discipleship matter. It affects our emphases in how we seek to glorify God and become increasingly Christ-like. When all of Scripture informs all of life we have a public discipleship that extends inwardly to our personal piety as well as outwardly to loving/serving those around us. As we pursue various ways to disciple people in our given contexts, let’s affirm this area and make much of God and his reign wherever we can.

This worldview has reshaped my way of working at my current job. Daily I would have such a struggle to see how my work was accomplishing anything meaningful. I would have days of working on multiple accounts and clocking in that I felt would be better served preaching, teaching, serving at the church, or other more direct forms of what I understood ministry to be. Once I began to understand the way my work connected to God’s work in the world, it reinvigorated my appreciation for the purpose of work.

The majority of people we focus on in our discipleship relationships will be in the same boat. They may be working at a job they find purposeless or mundane. We should aim to affirm their vocational calling and encourage everyone to make much of God in their 9-5.

[1] This chapter and idea is where the aforementioned public discipleship term is based off of.

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Kevin Garcia is married to a beautiful woman, Miriam Garcia, and is a senior at SAGU. He will be continuing his studies in seminary afterwards particularly to study in the areas of philosophy, theology, social issues, and apologetics. He is passionate about seeing God work in urban contexts and examining the worldviews that influence people. He serves in a variety of areas at his church including teaching and preaching at LifePoint Church in the OakCliff neighborhood of Dallas, TX. Follow him on Twitter at: @kevingarcia__

4 Gifts to the Church from Mechthild of Magdeburg

Editor: In our Family History Series we are seeking to understand how Christians of the past have pursued making disciples. We want to connect the church’s current efforts to make, mature, and multiply disciples to its historical roots as well as encourage the church to learn from her rich past. So far in our series:

• 4 Simple Ways Fred Elliot Discipled His Children
• 4 Lessons from St. Patrick for Making Disciples the Irish Way
• 3 Counter-Cultural Lessons from Elisabeth Elliot
• 2 Principles for Living Free from J. R. R. Tolkien
• 4 Convictions for Boldness from John Knox
• 3 Essentials of Discipleship According to Herman Bavinck

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A week after I started reading Mechthild of Magdeburg[1], my wife asked jokingly (I think) whether she should be worried about my new 13^th-century girlfriend. It was an understandable question: I’d never read anything quite like Mechthild’s The Flowing Light of the Godhead and I was eager to tell anyone who would (pretend to) listen about this fascinating writer. Mechthild (her name looks complicated, but it’s closely related to “Matilda”; the ch is hard, like in character, and the th is more like a t) lived most of her life as a beguine[2]—a member of a lay sisterhood, living in chastity, poverty, and community—before entering a convent in later life. She and her book became inspirational models for contemplative prayer; but soon after her death, Mechthild’s work was known only in bits and pieces, often anonymously. So if you haven’t heard of her, that’s not surprising. As I’ve continued to study Mechthild’s life and work, I’ve found four significant gifts that she gave to the church—gifts that I’ve experienced personally, and that I think can be profoundly helpful for discipleship today.

1. The gift of creativity in prayer and writing.

Mechthild’s book is a mixture of visionary journeys, images of courtly love drawn from her medieval world, conversations between her soul and the Lord, sympathetic observations on characters from Scripture, and other meditations. But later, she asks God to let her stop writing: she feels “just as weak and unworthy, and more so, than . . . when I was required to begin.” God responds by showing her “a spiritual convent” of personified virtues. For example, the “abbess is sincere love”; the choir mistress, hope; the schoolmistress, wisdom; and the “mistress of the sick is toiling mercy.”[3] In these personifications, perhaps Mechthild’s prayerful imagination is rising to the challenge of relying on (and identifying with) her new sisters, even in the frustrations of writing. It’s as if she’s looking at the flawed, flesh-and-blood sisters around her, and seeing, in their actions, reflections of love, hope, mercy, etc. What would happen if we asked the Holy Spirit to use this text to shape our perceptions of others in our churches and communities? Individually and together, how are we embodying such virtues? Where might God be calling us to nurture, complement, and pray for one another in our practices of love, generosity, or peacemaking?

I’ve also found that Mechthild’s book fuels my own reading and writing. In my journaling, her tendency to align her character with those that inspire her in Scripture—not just for their heroics, but for their approach to suffering—has transformed the way I identify with the oh-so-human thoughts and reactions recorded there. Mechthild’s honesty about her failings and weaknesses has changed the way I see the Examen, the prayer in which we take stock of our day and ask for God’s help in remedying the moments that require forgiveness. I’ve even found Mechthild’s work helpful for my own creative writing, as I’m working on a novel that draws significantly from her life experience. Not that I always agree with her theology or her interpretations of Scripture; but when I part company with her, I have to discern what it is that I disagree with and why. Prayerfully cultivating such discernment makes us more sensitive to the voice of God, more faithful in our imagination and discipleship, and that’s never a bad thing.

2. The gift of seeing estrangement and exile as welcome gifts.

One of the most consistent notes in Mechthild’s writing is her yearning for God’s presence. To express this yearning, she often used images of estrangement and exile, as though she were living in another country, separated from her true home and her Lord. These metaphors helped her face challenges in her life, coming to see them as bittersweet blessings from God. It probably shouldn’t surprise us that she found help in identifying her feelings of estrangement and exile with similar experiences of the Bible’s cast members, including Jesus, Mary, John the Evangelist, Peter, Paul, and Stephen. In the following short excerpts, Mechthild speaks respectively to Mary Magdalene, John the Baptist, and Mary, Jesus’ mother:

“I live with you in the desert wilderness, because all things are foreign to me except God alone”;

“To the extent that we live a holy life in exile,” we resemble John the Baptist;

“Ah, Lady, remember all my longings and all my prayers . . . when I leave this deplorable exile.”[4]

Desert wilderness. Foreign. Deplorable exile. With these images, and in solidarity with biblical figures who had undergone similar experiences, Mechthild transforms her feelings of estrangement and exile into heartfelt prayers of hunger for God. Amid the rapid religious, political, and cultural shifts that are re-shaping our world today, the image of exile is receiving a lot of attention: in some instances it’s being used to describe a sense of loss and nostalgia for the Christendom of the past, while in other cases it’s employed as a picture of Christian mission in an uncertain future, and it’s not easy to tell where one ends and the other begins.[5] And in the current Syrian refugee crisis, we should be careful not to use images of exile too easily, as exile is a very real thing for so many. But in all of this, exile and estrangement should never be left as merely abstract concepts. They certainly weren’t just images for Mechthild; they were at the heart of her prayer language, shaping her prayers for herself and for others in their suffering.

3. The gift of following Christ as a pilgrim.

400 years before John Bunyan wrote Pilgrim’s Progress, Mechthild envisioned her life as a pilgrimage, following a path that Jesus had walked as a pilgrim before her. In her younger days, she had observed,

“God guides his chosen children along strange paths . . . that God himself trod: that a human being, though free of sin and guilt, suffer pain. Upon this path the soul that aches for God is joyful.”[6]

Years later, ravaged by age, illness, and blindness, she returns to the exile theme as she laments:

“This is how the tormented body speaks to the lonely soul: ‘When shall you soar with the feathers of your yearning to the blissful heights to Jesus, your eternal Love? Thank him there for me, lady, that, feeble and unworthy though I am, he nevertheless wanted to be mine when he came into this land of exile and took our humanity upon himself.’”[7]

The younger Mechthild understands this path is “strange” not merely because it carries both pain and joy, but because God himself has preceded her on it and is now her guide. Looking back upon the same path, her older self is thankful for the same grace, in a different key: Christ “wanted to be mine when he came into this land of exile and took our humanity upon himself.” Here—and in other places in her book, where she envisions Christ himself as a pilgrim[8]—Mechthild reminds herself, and us, that if the hard moments of our lives feel like estrangement, alienation, and exile, then there is consolation in knowing that God himself knows what it is like to have been estranged, alienated, and exiled. As if that were not enough, God wants to identify so closely with us in our hardships that he belongs to us, and we belong to him.

4. The gift of submitting our gifts to our community and the church.

Having spent her earlier life serving in what today we might call “intentional community,” when Mechthild transitioned to the convent in later life and poor health, she struggled with letting others serve her, as well as with the question of whether to keep working on her book, as we’ve already seen. But her writing shows how she brought these challenges back to God. Even when she struggled most with her longing for God’s presence—confessing, once, that when God “chooses to withdraw,” to temporarily estrange or absent himself from her, “My longing is higher than the stars”[9]—even then, her life points to a submission to Christ and to the church. In continuing to live in community with her new sisters, in submitting to their Cistercian order, and in completing her book as an example of contemplative prayer that would inspire them even after her death, Mechthild’s path of discipleship wasn’t just a “vertical” relationship of disciple and Master, but a “horizontal” relationship with other disciples in her community, too. She might not have put it quite this way, but Mechthild was contributing her gifts to what has been called the maintenance of longing:[10] a mutual support of one another’s hopes for God’s kingdom, when facing a deeply fragmented world.

In all of these gifts—and perhaps in others that I haven’t yet discerned—Mechthild’s discipleship isn’t a new thing. It is a well-worn path, which she followed with faltering but prayerful steps, inviting others to follow along. She was well aware of the company of saints who had preceded her on this path, and of her own frailty and faults that kept her from walking it as confidently as she might have liked. But she allowed Christ to use these challenges to conform her more closely to his image, so that others might meet Christ while following the written “footsteps” she left behind in her book.

[1] Much of this post is adapted and expanded from a longer paper that I hope will be published in an upcoming issue of the Canadian Theological Review.

[2] Yes, as a matter of fact, the word is distantly related to the Cole Porter song, “Begin the Beguine.”

[3] Mechthild of Magdeburg, The Flowing Light of the Godhead, Book 7.36. Quotations in English are from Frank Tobin’s translation (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist, 1998).

[4] Ibid., 2.24, 6.32, and 7.20, respectively.

[5] For a helpful study of this image of exile in biblical tradition and the church today, see my friend Lee Beach’s book, The Church in Exile: Living in Hope After Christendom (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2015).

[6] Ibid., 1.25.

[7] Ibid., 7.65.

[8] Ibid., 6.33, 7.13.

[9] Ibid., 7.8.

[10] Sherrie Steiner and Michelle Harper Brix, “Mark 7: Nurturing Common Life among Members of Intentional Community,” in School(s) for Conversion: 12 Marks of a New Monasticism, edited by The Rutba House (New Monastic Library 1; Eugene: Cascade, 2005), 97–111, citing 102 here.

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Matthew Forrest Lowe is a freelance editor, professor, and writer, specializing in spiritual formation, biblical theology, and imperial contexts. He lives in Hamilton, Ontario, where he co-directs Lectio House, a retreat house startup, with his wife Karen.

Jesus Loves the (Unborn) Children

Within the past couple of months, the conversation over abortion in America has changed forever with the scandal surrounding Planned Parenthood and their use of fetal tissue and handling of aborted babies. Through several scathing videos, both sides of the political aisle and much of the culture was left stunned by what they saw and hear. Several state and federal agencies investigated Planned Parenthood resulting in several states removing  funding. Most recently, the House of Representatives has attempted to defund Planned Parenthood which the Senate chose to block. Many companies—such as Coke, Xerox, and Ford—instructed Planned Parenthood to remove their names from the list of company donors, while other major companies—such as Avon, March of Dimes, Macy’s, and the American Cancer Society—have made it clear that they have no direct involvement in giving financial support to Planned Parenthood. Even StemExpress, the company featured on these videos, has chosen to cut ties with the company. Regardless of the national outcome, we can now say along with William Wilberforce, “You may choose to look the other way but you can never again say you did not know.” Margaret Sanger in Woman and the New Race writes,

[We should] apply a stern and rigid policy of sterilization and segregation to that grade of population whose progeny is tainted, or whose inheritance is such that objectionable traits may be transmitted to offspring.[1]

Furthermore, in the Birth Control Review in 1932, she wrote “Birth control must lead ultimately to a cleaner race.”[2] In Woman, Morality, and Birth Control, Sanger absurdly writes,

We should hire three or four colored ministers, preferably with social-service backgrounds, and with engaging personalities. The most successful educational approach to the Negro is through a religious appeal. We don’t want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population, and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members.[3]

This is sad, evil, and heartbreaking. It is certainly evidence of a Western cultural narrative that has no place for God, only radical individualism, a incurvatus in se, a life oriented towards the self rather than towards God or in service to others. It’s a revelation of how American consumerism funnels into our view of life, where lives are expendable and meaningless if they don’t somehow benefit us. This is the world we live in. So how can churches respond to this culture of death? How can we faithful live out the gospel in our communities?

1. Know the Science

For example, Dr. Micheline Matthews-Roth, associate professor of medicine at Harvard University Medical School says, “[It] is scientifically correct to say that an individual life begins at conception.”[4] Furthmore, Dr. Alfred M. Bongiovanni, professor of obstetrics at the University of Pennsylvania says, “I have learned from my earliest medical education that human life begins at the time of conception. . . . [H]uman life is present throughout this entire sequence from conception to adulthood. . . . [Any] interruption at any point throughout this time constitutes a termination of human life.”[5] Lastly, Randy Alcorn writes,

At eighteen days after conception the heart is forming and eyes start to develop. By twenty-one days the heart pumps blood throughout the body. By twenty-eight days the unborn has budding arms and legs. By thirty days [the baby] has a brain and has multiplied in size ten thousand times.

By thirty-five days her mouth, ears, and nose are taking shape. At forty days the preborn child’s brain waves can be recorded, and her heartbeat, which began three weeks earlier, can be detected by an ultrasonic stethoscope. By forty-two days [the baby’s] skeleton is formed and [their] brain is controlling the movement of muscles and organs.[6]

Science is clear—abortion ends a human life, created in the image of God. Alcorn again is helpful, arguing that as you look through Scripture, what you see is that personhood was never predicated upon “age, stage of development, or mental, physical, or social skills. Personhood is endowed by God…at the moment of conception.”[7] In Scripture, such as Lev. 18:21, Deut. 19:10, 2 Kgs. 24:3-4, Ps. 72:12-14, and Prov. 6: 16-17, we learn that God hates the shedding of innocent blood. Also, the grand narrative of Scripture shows us how God loves children and that his people should care for the orphans (Lk. 18:16, Ex 22:22; Ps 146:9; Isa 1:17; Jam 1:27). We cannot ignore or be silent about abortion.

2. Encourage Adoption

As John Piper writes, “The deepest and strongest foundation of adoption is located not in the act of humans adopting humans, but in God adopting humans. . . . It is at the heart of the gospel.” He goes on to say,

There are huge costs in adopting children. Some are financial; some are emotional. There are costs in time and stress for the rest of your life. You never stop being a parent till you die. And the stresses of caring about adult children can be as great, or greater, than the stresses of caring for young children. There is something very deep and right about the embrace of this cost for the life of a child!

Few things bring me more satisfaction than seeing a culture of adoption flourish [as a church]. It means that our people are looking to their heavenly Father for their joy rather than rejecting the stress and cost of children in order to maximize their freedom and comforts. When people embrace the pain and joy of children rather than using abortion or birth control simply to keep children away, the worth of Christ shines more visibly. Adoption is as far as possible from the mindset that rejects children as an intrusion. Praise God for people ready to embrace the suffering—known and unknown. God’s cost to adopt us was infinitely greater than any cost we will endure in adopting and raising children.

Aside from marriage, what better way to live out the gospel story? Foster a culture where adopting children is encouraged, whether orphans, from broken homes, or unexpected pregnancies. Welcome these children into a new family, with a new name, and give them unconditional love and full acceptance. Adoption is a way to display the better story of life, one under the reign of Jesus, one in which there’s no “unwanted” children. Ask God to raise up men and women who would adopt children and raise them in families who love the Lord.

3. Drive Home Hope

As children of God, we have the undeserved privilege of calling God “Father” and this God who adopted us, to paraphrase John Piper, hasn’t just brought us into his family, but has brought us into his arms. Abortion can cause shame that has lasting effects on the women. It can also cause guilt for men who stood idly by instead of taking responsibility for the life they helped create. Listen to their stories. Be slow to speak and slow to spout off stock answers. As rapper Trip Lee says, “Keep all your anecdotes and cute quotes / I’ll pass on clichés for true hopes.” When men and women who are reeling from the effects of abortion feel like they have no place to go, the church should be a place where they are welcomed with open arms.

The gospel should be a reality that changes the culture of our churches. People won’t see the gospel as good news if we don’t actually live like it really is. If Christ welcomed all sorts of sinners into his midst and welcomed prodigals and Pharisees into his family, what does that say about how our church should welcome those who are considering an abortion, have had abortions, or have performed abortions? No one is beyond the grace of God and the gospel can set people free from even the strongest bondage to sin. Lavish grace and mercy upon them and show them how, in Christ, they are not their sin. We point them to the Savior who gives rest and takes their burdens on himself (Matt. 11:28-30). To be pro-life means being pro-resurrection life as well, an eschatological life that proclaims the reign of King Jesus, a good king who will “will wipe away every tear from their eyes” and where, in his kingdom, “death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore.” Abortion does not have the last word. Shout hope from the rooftops.

Through God’s work of creation, the church champions being made in the image of God and the value of human life. Through the gospel, we not only maintain the value of human life, but seek to proclaim the restoration of it, even if you ended someone else’s. Let the gospel bring the healing it can, showing and proclaiming to families affected by abortions and to abortion clinic doctors and staff members that “if the Son sets free you will be free indeed” (Jn. 8:36). And no amount of shame or guilt is too powerful for that kind of love and grace.

[1] Margaret Sanger, Woman and the New Race (Kessinger Publishing, Whitefish, MT, 2010).

[2] Margaret Sanger, “A Plan for Peace” in Birth Control Review, April 1932, 108.

[3] Margaret Sanger, Woman, Morality, and Birth Control (New York: New York Publishing Company, 1922), 12.

[4] Quoted in Randy Alcorn, Why Pro-Life?: Revised and Updated (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishing, 2012), 14.

[5] Ibid., 13.

[6] Ibid., 17.

[7] Ibid., 132.

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Chris Crane is a Th.M. student in Historical and Systematic Theology at Dallas Theological Seminary. He previously served in various church ministries around Dallas, TX and in campus ministries with Dallas Baptist University. He is a freelance writer and occasional blogger at chriscrane.net. You can follow him on Twitter @cmcrane87.

3 Essentials of Discipleship According to Herman Bavinck

Editor: In our Family History Series we are seeking to understand how Christians of the past have pursued making disciples. We want to connect the church’s current efforts to make, mature, and multiply disciples to its historical roots as well as encourage the church to learn from her rich past. So far in our series:

• 4 Simple Ways Fred Elliot Discipled His Children
• 4 Lessons from St. Patrick for Making Disciples the Irish Way
• 3 Counter-Cultural Lessons from Elisabeth Elliot
• 2 Principles for Living Free from J. R. R. Tolkien
• 4 Convictions for Boldness from John Knox

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You probably haven't read much, if anything, by Herman Bavinck. I hadn't either, but after hearing what impact he had on some ministers that I deeply respected, I decided to take the plunge and purchase his seminal masterpiece, Reformed Dogmatics, a four-volume, 3000-page collection that was translated into English only seven years ago. As I finish reading through the last of the four volumes, I now treasure Bavinck’s Reformed Dogmatics as an essential piece of my library. I have gleaned a wealth of learning from Bavinck and I know I'll return to these again and again throughout my ministry. Even if you are familiar with Bavinck's work, many are tempted to view him as only a systematician, doctrinal explanation without application. My aim is to not merely draw your attention to a man worthy of it, but also to show that we can learn much from Bavinck in terms of how we apply these critical teachings in our lives as we pursue a historically rooted discipleship.

The Preface of Discipleship: God's Revelation

Our quest for discovering the depths of discipleship through Herman Bavinck's eyes starts with a focus on God's revelation. Oftentimes, especially in systematic treatments of theology, revelation is placed at the forefront, serving as a sort of apologetic. After all, if God can or does not reveal himself generally and specially, what argument is there for him? This point certainly should be emphasized, especially for the unbeliever. Yet, in our approach to thinking about God's general and special revelation, we face the temptation of limiting its importance to only the unbeliever. We feel like revelation must be talked about only for the sake of those who need to be convinced of its reality, and it is often treated in such a way that Bible-believing Christians are exempted from the discussion. But "general revelation," Bavinck observes, "has meaning not only for the pagan world but also in and for the Christian religion."¹

The primary Greek word for disciple is mathetes, which means "a learner." If we can reduce the concept of God's revelation to knowing, we can reduce the concept of Christian discipleship to learning. Bavinck connects the task of discipleship with the function of revelation here:

"Now special revelation has recognized and valued general revelation, has even taken it over and, as it were, assimilated it. And this is also what the Christian does, as do the theologians. They position themselves in the Christian faith, in special revelation, and from there look out upon nature and history. And now they discover there as well the traces of the God whom they learned to know in Christ as their father."²

Discipleship starts with revelation, because it is in that moment that we are "equipped with the spectacles of Scripture" and thus "see God in everything and everything in God." Revelation does not only help the Christian "feel at home in the world," but also gives Christians "a firm foundation on which they can meet all non-Christians."³ Revelation is critical to our foundation as disciples of Christ.

One last word from Bavinck on how discipleship finds its origins in revelation:

“The purpose of revelation is not Christ; Christ is the center and the means; the purpose is that God will again dwell in his creatures and reveal his glory in the cosmos...In a sense this, too, is an incarnation of God.”⁴

While Christ is the ultimate instrument of revelation, the highest purpose of revelation itself is that God may be glorified by dwelling with his people. As we will see, once the revelation of God captivates the heart of the believer, not only can the journey of discipleship begin, but also the horizon of its purpose will come more plainly into view.

The Purpose of Discipleship: Union With Christ

If you went to one hundred Bible-believing, evangelical Christians and asked them to define "discipleship," you'd likely get one hundred unique answers. Because of its broad scope, everyone's definition may look and sound slightly different. As we examined earlier, discipleship at its core is learning. Here's my imperfect stab at a more broad, yet succinct definition: Discipleship is a faithful striving towards the heart of God and the love of man. This idea is summed up well by Luther's famous charge, "Love God and do what you will." Ephesians 4:1-6 is a perennial passage for determining what discipleship looks like. Paul's words in these verses can be rightly narrowed to two: love and unity. Paul is not only helping us to understand the importance of love and unity in the body, but ultimately, love and unity to Christ. This is the entire purpose, the entire hinge on which the door of discipleship opens or closes.

Maybe your proof-text of a lifestyle of discipleship is summed up as "walking in the Spirit" (Rom. 8:4). Maybe it's becoming "a new creation" (2 Cor. 5:17). Maybe it's Galatians 2:20, or Ephesians 2:5, or 1 John 4:13, or another. What Bavinck would argue is that all of these verses, among others, have one similar aim or goal: union with Christ. In a section called Becoming Spiritual Persons, Bavinck proves his point from a slew of verses, all of which ironically written by Paul:

"The new life is the life of the Spirit but just as much the life of Christ in us (Rom. 6:8, 23; Gal. 2:20; Col. 3:4; Phil. 1:21). Believers have been crucified, have died, been buried and raised, set at God's right hand, and glorified with Christ (Rom. 6:4ff.; Gal. 2:20; 6:14; Eph. 2:6; Col. 2:12, 20; 3:3; etc.). They have put on Christ, have been formed in his likeness, reveal in their bodies the suffering as well as the life of Christ, and are perfected in him. In a word, "Christ is all and in all" (Rom. 13:14; 2 Cor. 13:11; Gal. 4:19; Col. 1:24; 2:10; 3:11), and they are "one spirit with him" (1 Cor. 6:17). In Christ, by the Spirit, God himself dwells in them (1 Cor. 3:16-17; 6:19)."⁵

Bavinck's understanding of Pauline theology is that at the heart of every hint of discipleship is a motivation to be united with Christ. If God is going to accomplish his highest purposes of revelation, dwelling in his creatures and revealing his glory, we must set before ourselves in our journey of discipleship this sole intention of union with Christ.

If union with Christ is a fundamental of discipleship, it cannot be something we achieve by our own volition. "Union with Christ is not the result of human decision, striving, seeking, yielding, or surrendering, but of Christ's."⁶ This is what Paul meant in Ephesians 2:20 when he calls believers "[God's] workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." We do not walk alone. We do not earn his love through measuring up. His grace has perfectly covered our transgressions, and because we belong to the true vine, we are therefore branches who produce fruit.

Not only this, but being united with Christ means the Spirit is empowering and enabling us for His glory. "The spirit . . . poured out in the church is not only a Spirit of adoption, who assures believers of their status as children, but also the Spirit of renewal and sanctification."⁷ Oftentimes our view of discipleship is strictly limited to what we do and how we do it. When we think about the journey, all that often comes to mind is our Bible reading habits, our prayer life, our evangelism opportunities . . . all of these are discipleship, but discipleship is more than all these things. Bavinck places a great deal of emphasis on the work of the Triune God in our lives, taking us beyond what we do and onto what God is doing. Dead men cannot raise themselves, but united to the resurrected Jesus, he has no problem restoring what's broken. Unloving attitudes become Spirit-enabled love (1 Cor. 13). Formless groans become Spirit-articulated thoughts (Rom. 8:26-27). Remarkably, after the end of his letter to the church at Thessalonica, after Paul gives them plenty of practical tips and charges for how to grow in sanctification (5:12-22), he says in the following verse, "May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely" (5:23). Paul and Bavinck both recognize the ultimate purpose of discipleship is not only being united to Christ, but letting him move in and through us.

The Process of Discipleship: Ordinary Obedience

So we've got some principles for discipleship in our pockets now, but how do we actually implement this stuff in our lives? Discipleship is often seen as a tiered system, where those who courageously live in bold, radical situations for the gospel are elevated above simple professions of faith. John Bolt fabulously labors to explore this idea deeper in his new book, Bavinck on the Christian Life: Following Jesus in Faithful Service. Bolt discusses Bavinck's disapproval of this celebration of only striving for or trying to live out acts of "radical discipleship." The most radical thing we can do, according to Bavinck, is being faithfully obedient to God with ordinary simplicity. This is true "radical discipleship," and arguably, more extreme and "heroic" than a life spent selling all possessions, taking vows of silence, and so forth. Bavinck elaborates in The Certainty of Faith:

"Nowadays we are out to convert the whole world, to conquer all areas of life for Christ. But we often neglect to ask whether we ourselves are truly converted and whether we belong to Christ in life and in death. For this is indeed what life boils down to. We may not banish this question from our personal or church life under the label of pietism or methodism. What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, even for Christian principles, if he loses his own soul?"⁹

If the summary of discipleship is to learn, we have been commissioned by Christ to go and make learners. But in what way will such people learn? Are we going to win souls to the gospel with scientific defenses of God alone? Do we win people with personal and character attacks, or endless banter back-and-forth on social media? Discipleship is first and foremost ordinary obedience. Making disciples, then, is letting others see the ordinary obedience of Jesus in our lives, and showing them how the same can be true of them. Some may think this is an oversimplification; but in a culture warring as hard as ever at Christianity "dying to self and taking up our cross" is becoming a practice less and less about heroism and more about holding fast to him in the small and insignificant. Even Jesus's exceptional acts of death and resurrection are truthfully simple, unflashy acts of obedience to the Father. More from Bavinck:

"All work which man undertakes in order to subdue the earth, whether agriculture, stock breeding, commerce, industry, science, or the rest, is all the fulfillment of a single Divine calling. But if man is really to be and remain such he must proceed in dependence on and in obedience to the Word of God. Religion must be the principle which animates the whole of life and which sanctifies it into a service of God."¹⁰

Bavinck makes discipleship simple: By God's revelation, we become true disciples by being united to Christ and thus equipped by the Spirit for the extraordinary life of ordinary obedience.This Dutch Reformed theologian may not be a marquee name (yet) among evangelicals, but if you want to learn the essentials of the Christian life, look no further.

¹ Bavinck, Herman. Reformed Dogmatics. Baker Academic, Grand Rapids, 2003. I.320.

² ibid. I.321

³ ibid.

⁴ ibid. I.380

⁵ ibid. IV.89

⁶ Horton, Michael. "Union With Christ." Accessed September 23, 2015, at http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/questions/horton/union.html

⁷ Bavinck, Herman. Reformed Dogmatics. Baker Academic, Grand Rapids, 2003. IV.251.

⁸ Bolt, John. Bavinck on the Christian Life: Following Jesus in Faithful Service. Crossway, Wheaton, 2015. 44-47.

⁹ Bavinck, Herman. The Certainty of Faith. Paideia Press, Ontario, 1980. 94.

¹⁰ Bavinck, Herman. The Origin, Essence, and Purpose of Man. Accessed September 23 at http://www.the-highway.com/origin_Bavinck.html

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Zach Barnhart (@zachbarnhart) currently serves as a church planting intern with Fellowship Church in Knoxville, Tennessee and is pursuing pastoral ministry. He is a college graduate from Middle Tennessee State University and lives in Knoxville with his wife, Hannah. He is a blogger, contributor to For The Church and Servants of Grace, and manages a devotional/podcast at Cultivated.

Introducing Our New Staff Writers

GCD had two two goals this year: consistent quality and diversity in perspectives. Our desire is to see a growing ministry that helps churches equip the saints for the work of ministry. We want the content to have a consistency in the quality of writing, theological thought, and robust application. GCD is also as committed as ever to helping new writers grow through opportunities and the editing process. To do this, we have created a solid core of writers who are able to demonstrate the quality we are looking for.

Along those same lines we want to become a diverse representation of theology and practice in discipleship. This means we want to have a regular writers who engage unique topics, approaches, and themes. This goes along with our goal to promote different voices. Too often sites become an echo chamber of theology, practice and, homogeneous contexts. That’s why we have created a staff writer team that has excellency in writing but also diversity of perspective.

We’ve already started to form this team and we’ve seen growth in these areas already. Our staff writers video chat monthly to engage and sharpen each others’ ideas then each contributes two articles a month. This collaboration has already produced a few great writing series—first our series on the Gospel of Matthew in August and our currently running Family History of Discipleship series.

Our current Staff Writer team consists of four fantastic writers:

Rev. Jason M. Garwood (M.Div., Th.D.) serves as Lead Pastor of Colwood Church in Caro, MI and author of Be Holy and The Fight for Joy. Jason and his wife Mary have three children, Elijah, Avery and Nathan. He blogs at www.jasongarwood.com. Connect with him on Twitter: @jasongarwood.

You can read all of Jason’s articles here.

Chelsea Vaughn has served a ministry she helped start in the DFW Metroplex since she graduated from college. She received her undergraduate degree at Dallas Baptist University in Communication Theory. She does freelance writing, editing, and speaking for various organizations and non-profits. She hopes to spend her life using her gift for communication to reach culture and communities with the love of Jesus.

You can read all of Chelsea’s article here.

Whitney Woollard has served in ministry alongside her husband Neal for over six years. She holds an undergraduate degree in Biblical Studies from Moody Bible Institute and just finished her Master of Arts in Biblical and Theological Studies from Western Seminary. She is passionate about equipping disciples to read and study God’s Word well resulting in maturing affections for Jesus and his gospel message. Neal and Whitney currently live in Portland, OR where they love serving the local church. Follow her on Twitter @whitneywoollard.

You can read all of Whitney’s articles here.

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

You can read all of Jeremy’s articles here.

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Brad Watson serves as a pastor of Bread&Wine Communities where he develops and teaches leaders how to form communities that love God and serve the city. Brad is the author of Raised? and Called Together: A Guide to Forming Missional Communities. He lives in southeast Portland with his wife and their two daughters. You can read more from Brad at www.bradawatson.com

Diligently Teaching Our Children to Spot Counterfeit Gods

I have a friend who works in the banking industry, and as he was training I was fascinated by a particular story that he shared with me. He was sitting in the training room and his manager began to lay twenty-dollar bills on the table. As he laid them down he looked up and asked, "Which one is a counterfeit?" My friend carefully examined the bills and chose one. He chose the wrong one. The manager picked the bills up and began to teach him how to spot the counterfeit bill. This happened everyday until he could spot the counterfeit within seconds. Likewise, we must train our children so well that they can spot the counterfeit gods that our society invites them to serve within seconds. These brazen invitations to serve counterfeit gods are the reason our children need to be trained just like my friend who works in the bank.

Teach Them Diligently

These are the words of God in Deuteronomy 6:

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. –Deuteronomy 6:4-9

When we think about raising children, these words from God come quickly to mind. God commands believing parents to raise their children diligently.

"You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise."

This training is a lifestyle and you must teach it to your children.

We must answer the question, "Why?" Why do we need to be teaching this to our children? It is quite simple—because as believing parents, we are the primary means of discipleship in our family. God tells us to teach our children diligently and that is exactly what we must do. Besides, as you may have figured out, this command has many practical implications for your life and your children.

God is very clear in why he commands his people to train their children up in the way they should go; because when they go into the land that he has promised them, there will be counterfeit gods and they will be tempted to go and worship them! Well, we know that the only God that must be worshipped is the Lord and he is a jealous God for his people (Deut. 6:15). He demands we worship him and him alone (Exod. 20:1-6).

My mind immediately goes to Galatians as Paul warns those believers not to turn to a "different gospel" (Gal. 1:6). Well as frankly as I can put it, believers are finding their children turning to a different gospel and falling into the temptations from its counterfeit gods because we have not followed the command from Deuteronomy 6 to diligently teach our children.

More times than not I hear parents say, "I'm just going to let my child be a child. They don't need to worry about things like homosexuality or abortion until they're out of college."

This response is oblivious at best because everything that surrounds them in life pushes them to counterfeit gods and their “gospels.” Our children are pushed by the media to care more about Brady's deflated footballs than the devaluation of human life. Their schools teach them that it's foolish to believe in God and that only science should be trusted . I could go on and on about how our world is telling our kids to run far away from God and into a different gospel of false love and acceptance—where anything goes and God does not exist.

Three Common Counterfeit Gods

As a youth director, I regularly encounter these three counterfeit gods: the counterfeit god of choice, the counterfeit god of sex, and the counterfeit god of acceptance.

First, our children are being proselytized by the god of choice. This is the idea that they are entitled to live life the way they see fit. This counterfeit god’s gospel proclaims that how they and others choose to live their lives is no one's business. There is no absolute truth; there are no rules for life only whatever they see as right. Jesus rebukes this counterfeit god by saying, "Sanctify them in the truth, your word is truth" (Jn. 17:17). The Word of God is the only absolute truth. The Word of God tells us what is right and points us to Jesus. Many today see the Word of God as binding them, but the Psalmist David exclaims that the Word of God makes the believer's paths wide (Ps. 119). The Word of God is where our children will find their perfect joy and peace in this life, and ultimately, Christ prays that his people will be sanctified by it.

Second, our children are being proselytized by the god of sex. We live in a culture that glorifies sex without consequence. The television shows, the movies, and the music that surrounds our children shove a sexual lifestyle that carries no future weight in their lives. Our children see this bogus glorified lifestyle and they begin to desire to live their lives this way. This counterfeit gods gospels proclaims that they know what true love is and a rampant pornography industry says they know what sex is designed to be. Our children fall into this trap time and time again. The gospel counters this counterfeit god by reminding believers that their bodies are temples of God and that sexual immorality should not be named among believers (Eph. 5:3). Jesus is clear in his definition of marriage and beyond that definition is against the will of God (Mark 10:6-9).

Last, our children are being proselytized by the god of acceptance. As our children fall into the lies of counterfeit gods, so do their friends. As their friends begin to believe a different gospel, they proclaim the gospel of acceptance and urge our children to follow suit in esteeming the opinion and acceptance of man above the one true God. What does the true gospel proclaim? Our reward for faithfulness is in heaven (Matt. 5:12). Our children must live a life that is always ready for eternal life and able to say, "Come Lord Jesus, Come quickly, Amen" (Rev. 22).

So, as parent's, how do we disciple our children, and stop this constant sliding into a lifestyle that is led astray by these counterfeit gods? We must teach our children that the only way to discern what is important in our world is to look at what is important to Jesus. We must teach our children how to spot counterfeit gods and different gospels.

And this must start at the home! Parents must diligently disciple their children in the faith once delivered. Parents, you spend the most time with your children and you must be intentional about raising them up in the faith so that they will not be like the house built upon the sand that falls when faced with the great storms of life (Matt. 7:24-27).

Two Means to Recognize the Counterfeits

I think we have two primary means to disciple our children:

1. Go to Church Regularly as a Family

I do not know of a better place to have your children other than in the church—where we are called to worship in the very presence of God. They will be accustomed to hearing the Word preached, the sacraments being practiced, and prayers being made. These aspects of worship are the primary ways by which our God pours out grace upon his people. Parents, why would we not want our children in church? For children to see their parents worshipping God, to see them fellowship with other believers, and to see them serve the church faithfully—there is no greater training that you can give!

If you worship God together in the church fifty times every year over the course of your child’s life, they will have heard and seen the gospel over 600 times. Don’t miss these opportunities. Families who worship in the church together help to counter the current trend in our culture because when you know what true worship looks like on Sunday, you can truly worship rightly on Monday through Saturday.

2. Worship with Your Family at Home.

Because family worship is often neglected in the church, it is a practice I’m intentional about promoting to the children and families I help shepherd. How can we obey Deuteronomy 6 without setting aside time for family worship? If your children see God being glorified in the home, if they see their parents living out their worship that takes place on Sunday morning through the rest of the week, and if they feel encouraged to live their life for Christ, they will be more prepared to boldly stand for their faith outside of the home when the time comes.

Parents, it is not good enough to live for Christ on Sunday morning and not the rest of the week because your child will grow up and do exactly the same thing. These two practices go hand-in-hand. Our worship on Sunday flows into our family worship throughout the week. We worship in our churches, the benediction is proclaimed and the service ends, and now we are sent out into the world. However, discipleship cannot end there. We must worship in our homes so that as the counterfeit gods of our culture assault our children they instinctually recall what we have diligently taught them in our churches and in our homes.

Through worshipping together on Sunday mornings and worshipping throughout the week in the home, our children will have been in the presence of God so much that they know exactly how these counterfeit gods look and their response will be to flee from them. Parents, disciple your children. Make going to church a habit and worship regularly together, in your church and in your home. Teach your children diligently. It's vital for your family and our culture. Now the time to take Deuteronomy 6 seriously.

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Matthew D. Adams is the Director of Youth and Family Ministries at First Presbyterian Church, PCA in Dillon, SC. He is currently a Master's of Divinity student at Erskine Theological Seminary in Columbia, SC. He lives in a small town by the name of Hamer, SC and is married to Beth. Follow him on twitter @Matt_Adams90.

Idolatry: A Fatal Attraction | Part 1

I was just a young boy when it first happened. Gazing out the window of our sedan, my heart leaped when I saw a cityscape scuff the sky. I was mesmerized. Growing up in small-town southeast Missouri, the tallest building I had ever seen was our town’s three-story red brick high school. Now in my purview was a gray jungle spattering the horizon, with yellow lights placed perfectly like stickers in rows. Bright lights, big city.

The jutting skyscrapers and surrounding city felt like Oz. But unlike the movie where this magical land was just a dream, this was real. And this material city had a certain allure to it. One that I haven’t been able to get away from since. Looking upon the urban panorama as a child, I had no need to click my heels. I was home. It had captivated me. Why?

Underneath the awe, it promised me something that I thought I wanted—fulfillment, significance, worth. Even as a young boy, those yearnings were there. And the city tugged those yearnings.

All of us could make a short list of the things that have caught our fancy. But many of us could take that same list and wax eloquently about how things have failed to deliver what they pledged. That’s the problem with allurement. All that glitters really isn’t gold. Sometimes our magnetisms are just gold-plated rubbish.

The Charm of Idolatry

The Bible calls our misguided pursuits of what charms us idolatry.And we aren’t talking golden calves here either. As a Christian, idolatry is anything that supplants God in my life with a lesser god. It’s an inverted move of the soul. When our hearts engage in idolatry, we have to ask ourselves the question that the Avett Brothers sing: “Are we growing backwards with time?”

Theologian Doug Stuart masterfully explains idolatry’s attraction in Exodus: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture (The New American Commentary). He says there are a few things in an idol’s appeal:

Idolatry obliges: Fashion your god out of stone or wood or precious metals and a god would enter the idol. No need to wait on a god to answer your prayers anymore. Summon him and get what you want without delay.

Idolatry gratifies: The motive of idol worship was to get what you needed, when you needed it. It was entirely centered on the person seeking — not the one being sought.

Idolatry numbs: Ancient idolatry took the place of fervent spirituality. It stimulated vain religious hullabaloo. It anesthetized individuals because what kept you good with the gods was not relational but sacrificial. Bring your gods a scapegoat for your sin and you were exonerated.

Idolatry indulges: Find a divinity that meets your needs and bow down to it. Or better, find a few idols that meets your specific desires and worship them. The glut of deities available created a smorgasbord approach to spirituality. And why not? One God over all? Hogwash, they would say. Find whatever works for you.

Idolatry reassures: Worshiping an invisible deity was not comforting. A god you could see — now that was the ticket. Tangible divinities make more sense, don’t they? Surely, the gods would want us to see them instead of placing our faith in the unseen.

Idolatry impresses: With an invisible deity, it was almost impossible to astonish your fellow man with your sacrifices. An unseen God who looks at the heart — above all else — has no usefulness in vain, repetitious activities. But bring a costly sacrifice to a lifeless idol? It was a sight to behold. And the bigger the sacrifice, the bigger the show.

It’s easy to see what the central “thing” is in idolatry. It’s not the wooden or golden deity esteemed. It’s actually us. It’s the individual. Our personage is principal when we chase after blessing. We are the “blesser” and the blessed—we fashion divinity for our own sake.

The Fatal Attraction

So what’s the big deal? The raw truth about replacement gods is that they don’t deliver. The illusion of interim happiness is just that—a mirage. Therein we find the treadmill we all run on.

We run from one promising oasis to another only to find its promise evaporates before our eyes. But we are so desperate to belong, to be loved, to feel significant, to feel secure, the never-ending hunt overtakes us. Before we know it, we are knee-deep in our own despondency scanning the horizon for something new that allures. Something novel that will once-and-for-all deliver the goods.

In its truest sense, idolatry is a fatal attraction. It’s not that it literally kills us in an instant (although, I guess it could in some instances). It is more a slow slink backwards within the soul. It’s the actuality of the question the Avett Brothers sing about: “Are we growing backwards with time?” We are. And it’s more than “growing” backwards—we are “dying” backwards. It’s a dawdling succession of little deaths, decision by decision, day after day.

Pastor and author Greg Dutcher says it this way:

Idolatry . . . is not a showboat. It does its best to work in subtle ways. Like a puma lying low in the gentle grass, taut muscles held in place like a coiled spring, sin waits in the “safest” of places. . . it waits patiently for a chance to creep in unaware.

That is why it’s a fatal attraction. We are typically naive to its creep. And at the right time, it pounces on our insecurity. It ambushes our anxiety. It attacks our uneasiness.

The good news is that there is a new way to be human. We can reverse our worship and find what is behind the delusion of our self-made gods. But first, we need a deep diagnosis. It’s one thing to understand the category of idolatry. It’s another to isolate what deity (or deities) you bow down to.

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Brad Andrews is a husband of one, a father of seven, and an advocate for grace. He serves as pastor for preaching, vision, and missional leadership at Mercyview in Tulsa, OK. He blogs at graceuntamed.com and his articles can also be found on Gospel-Centered Discipleship and Grace For Sinners. He served as a religion columnist for the former Urban Tulsa Weekly and was also one of the ten framers of The Missional Manifesto, alongside Tim Keller, Ed Stetzer, Alan Hirsch, Eric Mason, J.D. Greear, Dan Kimball, Linda Berquist, Craig Ott, and Philip Nation.

4 Convictions for Boldness from John Knox

Editor: In our Family History Series we are seeking to understand how Christians of the past have pursued making disciples. We want to connect the church’s current efforts to make, mature, and multiply disciples to its historical roots as well as encourage the church to learn from her rich past. So far in our series:

• 4 Simple Ways Fred Elliot Discipled His Children
• 4 Lessons from St. Patrick for Making Disciples the Irish Way
• 3 Counter-Cultural Lessons from Elisabeth Elliot
• 2 Principles for Living Free from J. R. R. Tolkien

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John Knox was born in Haddington, c. 1514, though admittedly there is some debate on the exact date. We do know that Knox was born into a poorer family with not a lot of resources. Upon completion (another point of historical contention) of University in 1536, Knox was ordained as a priest. By 1543 he was converted to Christ after a couple of years working as a tutor and notary. While not much is known regarding the context of his conversion, so began the journey of the man who would thunder the gospel in a dark Scotland.

As a pastor, I am intrigued by the life of John Knox and taken back by the trials he persevered through. For example, in 1546, the French took the castle at St. Andrews and the aftermath led to Knox’s enslavement for 19 months. Yet Knox persevered. Eventually he went back to England to preach the gospel during one of the more difficult times of English history.

While history is undoubtedly under the control of the sovereignty of God, Knox would contend with both the religious establishment (fighting against Anglican formalism in worship and Roman Catholicism) as well as the civil establishment. The latter contention would escalate when in 1553, Mary Tudor (“Blood Mary”) would rise to power after King Edward VI died. Knox lived in a time of political uncertainty—something we can learn from indeed.

As God would have it, Knox fled to Geneva in 1554 where he developed a friendship with John Calvin. Knox would visit Geneva several times, but in 1559 returned to Scotland to pastor at St. Giles, Edinburgh. From there Knox wrote, taught, preached, and fought for the gospel, eventually dying in 1572. You can find his grave underneath a parking lot at St. Giles Church today.

 1. Power of Prayer

It is said that Mary, Queen of the Scots, feared the prayers of John Knox more than the assembled armies of Europe. Though weak in stature, the Reformer was a man broken before the Lord. He was a humble man who trusted not in himself but in the greatness of God. Prayer is a sure and steady sign that reads, “God is really great and powerful, I am not.” Knox was this type of man.

From his rough childhood, run-ins with various Cardinals and Bishops, to his time in captivity and on the run—Knox knew that in the midst of all these circumstances that he had to commit himself to the Lord. And what better way is there to do so than through communion with him in prayer? A humbled soul is a prayerful soul.

Perhaps one of the most telling aspects of Knox’s prayer life was his ability to pray in defense of the gospel and pray for his enemies. A prayer for Queen Mary is worth noting,

Behold our troubles and apparent destruction, and stay the sword of the thy vengeance before it devour us. Place above us, O Lord, for thy great mercies’ sake, such a head, with such rulers and magistrates, as fear thy name, and will the glory of Christ Jesus to spread. Take not from us the light of thy Evangel, and suffer no papistry to prevail in this realm. Illuminate the heart of our sovereign lady, Queen Mary, with pregnant gifts of thy Holy Ghost, and inflame the hearts of her counsel with thy true fear and love.[1]

The prayers of John Knox were answered no different than our prayers today. In some circumstances, the Lord grants our requests according to his sovereign will. In other cases, the prayer is not answered. Either way, our God is the Lord and he knows what is best.

The power of prayer lies not within the sinner but the Savior. Getting this order right for discipleship is crucial. The disciple of Jesus is to be a man committed solely to the glory of God through a prayer life marked by a humble posture and persevering spirit. Such was the great Scottish Reformer.

2. Necessity of Conviction

John Knox was man with conviction running through his veins. Much like the Apostle Paul who “[proclaimed] the kingdom of God and [taught] about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance,”[2] Knox believed in both the grace and severity of God. His prayers, preaching, writing, and actions all aligned in a such a way as to demonstrate the reality that conviction is necessary if reformation is desired.

Perhaps one of my favorite pictures in history is a painting of John Knox preaching before Queen Mary and her council that was drafted in such a way as to demonstrate the conviction that poured through the life of Knox. Towering in the pulpit above the crowd, Knox thundered the gospel to the magistrates present. As D. Martin Lloyd-Jones has pointed out, Knox was a man with “astounding energy,” “shrewdness,” and “courage.”[3] His ability to discern, press on, and courageously preach the gospel was rooted in his conviction that Jesus Christ is Lord, and that his crown rights must be acknowledged by all nations, especially his beloved Scotland.

Knox saw compromise and darkness in his homeland. It was in poor condition and immersed in moral decadence. What is someone to do in a situation like this? Have conviction. The world could use more conviction. For disciples of Jesus, conviction is a prerequisite, which is why Paul told Titus that an elder “must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it” (Titus 1:9). Disciples who make disciples must be men and women who are committed to standing on the truth of God’s Word convicted to the deepest parts of our souls that Christ is King and that his gospel is sufficient. Nothing short of all-out commitment to raising the banner of Christ crucified will suffice.

 3. Priority of Preaching

At one point in Knox’s young life, he didn’t want to preach. In fact, when he was confronted about this issue, it is said that he left the room in tears, buckling under the weight of the task. For Knox, preaching was an incredibly large task, not because the preacher was anything special, but because the message was so precious.

During Knox’s young life, preaching wasn’t the focus in the Roman Catholic Church. After his conversion, his chaplaincy at St. Andrews proved an opportunity for him to teach. Knox feared the pulpit, but not because the message wasn’t powerful to transform, or because he could never do it—no, the fear was the weight of its importance. It was of utmost importance which meant it must be done soberly.

His zeal for the gospel led to his power in the pulpit. Like a man wielding a sword in battle, so was Knox in the pulpit with the Bible. He didn’t shy away from cutting through the stone hearts of people with the truth of the sinfulness of man and the holiness of God and offering those same sinners hope in the gospel. Christ was the focus of his preaching because Christ was the focus of his life.

“When Knox stepped into the pulpit to preach the Word of God, he opened with a half hour of calm exposition of the text before him. Thereafter, he became more vigorous.”[4] The Bible was a priority for Knox because the gospel was the priority of the church. It was this prioritizing of the gospel that fueled the fire that came from Knox. That fire led to the Spirit of God working in the lives of many people.

As disciples, we must commit ourselves to preaching. Like Knox, we must see it as the priority because God uses the foolishness of ourselves and the cross as the means by which He saves sinners. Knox’s example here is worth our consideration. Do we truly value preaching? Are we humble in our approach to this daunting task? Do we really believe that the preaching of God’s word is enough?

 4. Need for Perseverance

We are in desperate need of perseverance. Some say desperate times call for desperate measures—we might say desperate times call for faithful measures. Without perseverance, which is a repeated theme throughout Scripture, discipleship falls flat.

The life of John Knox briefly outlined above demonstrates quite clearly that 1) Most of us haven’t walked through the things he did, and 2) We have no excuse for choosing to abandon the mission of God. Knox trusted in the sovereignty of God believing that God writes the story of history and he does so with us as his characters. He had a big God and big theology to boot. No doubt there were times of deep sorrow for the great Reformer—indeed there are plenty of times of sorrow for each of us!—but let us learn this last thing from Knox: Perseverance is water we drink during the times of seemingly unending fiery trials.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” –Hebrews 12:1-2

Jesus endured for us so we in turn endure because of and for him. He gives strength. He gives wisdom. He gives conviction. He gives courage. He gives righteousness. Christ gives hope. Oh how prone we are to wander! God, grant your servants an unending supply of perseverance!

Follow Knox As He Follows Christ

Knox is a man worth emulating. While no stranger to controversy, Knox was committed to the kingdom of God first and foremost. Like today’s culture, Scotland was a religious wasteland. Everyone did whatever was right in his own eyes. Knox reformed Scotland because the gospel light was dim. Though several hundreds years from our context, we can learn a lot from Knox. Knox had a sense of urgency—to make the gospel known everywhere. That, after all, is the heart of a disciple.

We don’t look to John Knox because he was great in and of himself. We don’t look to John Knox, we look to Jesus Christ, the King who John Knox served. We learn from this humble servant of history how to follow someone who is following Christ (1 Cor. 11:1). May the Church in America never lose hope, but instead cling so dearly to the gospel of King Jesus that John Knox so fervently clung to.

[1] John Knox, The Select Practical Writings of John Knox (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2011), 25.

[2] Acts 28:31, emphasis mine.

[3] See: D. M. Lloyd-Jones and Iain H. Murray, John Knox and the Reformation (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2011).

[4] Douglas Bond, The Mighty Weakness of John Knox (Sanford: Reformation Trust Publishing, 2011), 55.

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Rev. Jason M. Garwood (M.Div., Th.D.) serves as Lead Pastor of Colwood Church in Caro, MI and author of Be Holy and The Fight for Joy. Jason and his wife Mary have three children, Elijah, Avery and Nathan. He blogs at www.jasongarwood.com. Connect with him on Twitter: @jasongarwood.

Do We Worship Words or The Word?

The Bible is an undisputed masterpiece of literature. The authors weave a grand narrative and an intricate plot of love, redemption, and reclamation that has baffling depth. For example, we see how a lamb’s blood spread on a doorpost in Egypt foreshadows Christ’s blood spilled out to declare sinners justified and free from judgment. Or, how a promise to King David around 1,000 B.C. would be fulfilled on a joyous Sunday morning with a resurrected Messiah who now reigns eternally. Or how the Psalmist speaks of the Messiah’s pierced hands and feet, long before the crucifixion happened, perfectly describing what would take place at Golgotha. Technically, we can look at the genius writing style of Isaiah or Luke or Paul and see their use of irony, poetry, logic, and numerous other literary devices, which demonstrate a mastery of language, intertwining and mingling with the themes, imagery, and storyline from writers who preceded them by hundreds of years to develop a fully unified narrative of redemption history. We can see all these things working in conjunction in an unparalleled fashion and see that the complexity and simplicity and beauty of Scripture surpasses any piece of literature the world has ever known. However, we can see and wonder at all these things—yet completely miss the point.

A High View of the Word

In many traditions that hold to a high view of Scripture and its authority such as my own, we are even more susceptible to miss the point. We easily fall into the trap of worshipping the Bible’s stories and authority, but forget who the Bible points us toward. Often, we think of the Bible as the ultimate foundation of our faith; however, when we do so we fashion the Bible into an idol. Tim Keller undresses our tendency to idolatry when he says, “[Idolatry] means turning a good thing into an ultimate thing.” We’re not alone in this tendency. Even Israel turned good things—the temple, tradition, and the law—and made them ultimate—what they worshipped, rather than the God all those things were intended to point them towards. None of these things, the Bible included, is the ultimate foundation of our Christian faith.Jesus, the Son of God and God himself, is the ultimate foundation and the cornerstone of our faith. When he is pushed aside, even for good things like the Bible, we miss the point and become idolaters. When we worship words instead of the Word we have completely lost the meaning of the Bible.

Most importantly, Jesus Christ deserves every ounce of our devotion and worship. We cannot serve two masters—either Jesus receives all our worship or we slip into idolatry. The Bible is our important, but it cannot usurp from Jesus Christ the role of Master of our lives. Certainly, the Bible is our way of knowing and seeking Christ, but it is a means to an end, not the end himself. Let me give you an example: Have you ever wondered what heaven will be like? Of course you have, we all do! Now, when thinking about heaven have you ever thought to yourself that you cannot wait to be there so you can read your Bible for eternity? I know that I haven’t, not once! In Christ’s Kingdom Jesus will be physically with us, the Word of God living and breathing, and we will dwell in his presence, basking in his glory. We seek the Kingdom of Heaven because it is where his presence is. If we remove the King from the Kingdom and are left with only the Scriptures, what would be the point? To have the best reading for an infinite amount of time?

The Purpose of the Scriptures

In John 5, Jesus deals with this same issue of identifying the purpose of Scripture. He tells his audience, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me.” Again, as he covertly walked with the disciples on the road to Emmaus, he taught them “beginning at Moses” concerning himself. Why? Because we can read the Scriptures and still not have any idea who Jesus is. To know Scripture but to not know Jesus is a failure.

Jesus is trying to get his audience to understand that the Scriptures point to a person. Someone who lived and walked this earth and felt human emotions and hunger and pain. Someone who shed tears over a dead friend and was amazed at the faith of a soldier despised by Jews. Someone who healed the sick and raised the dead and comforted the oppressed and hurting. Someone named Jesus Christ who desires that all who come humbly to the words of Scripture to know him! He is the ultimate foundation and cornerstone of our faith and the thread that holds the grand narrative together. He is the very reason for Scripture’s inspiration to mankind! So, when the Bible’s stories and wisdom come before Jesus we sell ourselves drastically short of what God intends for us. When this happens, we practice idolatry and, instead of being about Jesus, Scripture becomes a how-to or self-help book. God desires to be known and went to immeasurable lengths for us to know him, and not just to have general ideas, but also to know him personally and intimately. If we are not careful, the Bible can even hurt this relationship.

Life in Christ

If the Bible does not point us to the life that is found in Christ then it is simply empty words on a page. If it does not cause us to confess that Jesus is Lord then it is merely scribbled ink. If it does not point to the Word of God, Jesus Christ, then you may as well place your Bible in the fiction section of your bookshelf and move on to the next thing in your reading list. If it is not God’s word revealing the Word then it is merely idle words.  However, since we have a Bible pointing to the life that is found in Christ, that leads sinners to confess Jesus is Lord, and declares that the Word of God has been made flesh and died and rose from the dead, we have reason to treasure it and cling to it as it steers us towards our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We have hope that all the promises God makes in Scripture are “Yes, in Christ!” He is the Living Word, he has fulfilled Scripture in His life, and he shall be forever exalted. Therefore, we worship him and him alone.

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Mark Hampton is currently pursuing a Master of Divinity degree from Duke Divinity School with a focus in theology and history. He also works as a Graduate Assistant in the America Reads and Counts program at Duke University reaching the schools in Durham, North Carolina to promote education. Outside of school and work he likes to read, cycle, and travel. You can follow him on twitter here: @ma rkismoving