Overcoming Discouragement in Ministry

Once a month, I have the great privilege of meeting with a number of extremely wise and godly ministers alongside of whom I minister in the PCA. We either discuss a topic or share with one another certain things that are going on in life or ministry. Recently, we shared with one another the ways in which we have learned to deal with discouragement in ministry. Here are a few takeaways from our time together:

1. We must remember that we need to be sanctified

Just as we often say that marriage helps us recognize our need for sanctification in areas that we might not otherwise see, so too in pastoral ministry. When the hardships and trials come, we must remember that we need to be sanctified in certain areas of our lives that we might not see, were the trials and challenges not there. For instance, pastors might not realize sinful anger that remains in their hearts until some unjust action takes place in the church and that anger begins to well up within. Pastors may not recognize their need to listen better or communicate better until some issue arises that helps them see their own sinful deficiencies. God may have placed this trial or challenge in your ministry to sanctify you as a pastor.
 We must remember that we need to grow in wisdom. Just as we need sanctification, pastors need wisdom. A faithful pastor will want to grow as a wise shepherd of the flock. Solomon asked the Lord for wisdom above everything else because he wanted to pastor God’s people with great skill (1 Kings 3:6-9). I have, many times, gone to older and wiser men for counsel as I face trials and challenges in ministry; and, I hope that, to some degree, I am growing in wisdom as I press through one challenge and head into another. The experience gleaned from both successes and failures often brings with it a greater measure of wisdom. We learn this from the book of Ecclesiastes. There were things that Solomon learned from the experiences of life. Often the trials and challenges of ministry serve as the vehicle by which God grows ministers in wisdom.

2. We must remember that we are insufficient for ministry

The Apostle Paul repeatedly told the members of the church in Corinth that ministers are insufficient, in and of themselves, for ministry (2 Cor. 2:16; 3:5: 12:9). This was necessary because there were certain “super apostles” who cast aspersions on the Apostle Paul were boasting as if they were sufficient. When trials and challenges come, ministers feel their own insufficiency. In the midst of challenges with congregants, ministers remember that they cannot change the hearts of the people to whom God has sent them to shepherd. In many cases, the only course of action in a particular trial is go to the throne of grace and plead with the Lord to bring whatever we are facing to a felicitous end.
4. We must remember our calling to ministry. When Timothy began to retreat from ministry, or act in fear, the Apostle Paul charged him to remember his ordination to ministry. In fact, he did it twice. In 1 Timothy 1:6, he wrote, “This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare;” and in 2 Tim. 1:18 he told Timothy, “For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.” Remembering that God has set us apart to pastor His people helps fan the flame of our zeal for ministry. This is essential for ministers to remember when the discouragements come in ministry. Knowing that God has called you into ministry enables you to keep going when things get tough.

3. We must remember that the particular church to which we have been called needs us to be faithful pastors

It has become almost cliche for ministers in Reformed churches to say things like, “Don’t think that God needs you for ministry. He can replace you with anyone He wants.” While this is absolutely true, it is just as right to say, “While God does not need you for ministry, the church to which you have been called does!” The Apostle Paul told the church in Philippi, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account” (Phil. 1:22-24). This is one of the keys to contentment in ministry in whatever church in which you serve. Pastors must remember, when they faced ministry challenges, that the Lord has called them–and not another–to minister in just the right church, in just the right town at just the right time.
6. We must remember that we have been called to suffer. There is a solidarity that pastors have with the Lord Jesus, the Apostles and other faithful ministers who have suffered before them. The Apostles strengthened the members of the early church with the following words: “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). We should not be surprised when trials and challenges come because God has promised that we will suffer. In one of his most astonishing statement, the Apostle Paul, told the church in Colosse, “I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church” (Col. 1:24). In 2 Corinthians 1:6-7, Paul wrote, “If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.”
7. We must remember that we are in ministry to bring glory to Christ. The ultimate encouragement to help ministers press through the discouragements they experience when they face trials and challenges is that we were created, redeemed and called into ministry in order to bring glory to Christ http://buff.ly/1X7M2Mq The cry of the ministers heart must ever be, “He must increase, I must decrease.” The ministries to which we have been called by God are not for our own glory. So often the discouragements that ministers feel are on account of a wrong view of ministry. A wise pastor once told me, “Too often, we think that we will be happy if we can get people to do what is right rather than simply being happy that we are doing what is right in order to bring glory to God. We do so while we recognize that only Jesus can bring about change in the lives of the members of the church or peace in whatever trial or challenge that we face.” We exist to bring glory to God through exalting the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Rev. Nicholas T. Batzig is the organizing pastor of New Covenant Presbyterian Church in Richmond Hill, Ga. Nick grew up on St. Simons Island, Ga. In 2001 he moved to Greenville, SC where he met his wife Anna, and attended Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. He writes regularly at Feeding on Christ and other online publications. Follow him on Twitter: @Nick_Batzig

Originally published at Feeding on Christ. Used with permission.

Holding Hands to the End ... and How Everything Sad Will Come Untrue

Being a pastor is a hard job, but I think it can also be the best job. As a pastor, I have had the privilege of being invited into the most sacred, intimate moments of people’s lives. When a baby is born, I get to be there. When a man and woman recite their wedding vows, I get to officiate in front of their closest family members and friends. When someone is dying—a man, woman, or child—I get to be there also. While each intimate event has its special features, the one that speaks to me most about God, humanity, and the meaning of everything, is the one that includes a deathbed. I am welcomed to the deathbed because of my role—to shepherd, comfort, pray and speak words of life to people in their final days. But these dear ones rarely see that almost always, I am the one who ends up being pastored, comforted, and instructed the most about God, humanity, and the meaning of everything, by them.

Close to Home

As I write this, I am aware of the clock. In four hours, I will accompany my parents to Vanderbilt Medical Center, where my mother will be examined by some of the best doctors in the world. As of late, Mom has struggled with a later-in-life condition that serves as a cruel reminder of human mortality. As I watch her struggle, I am filled with sadness and anger, two emotions that are familiar to Jesus. Tears about Mom’s situation remind me of the tears Jesus cried over the loss of his friend Lazarus. Anger about her illness reminds me of how Jesus got angry at death—that unwelcome, invasive guest in the garden of God that eventually gets us all (John 11:28-37).

As I watch my parents suffer together, I am deeply moved. All the temporal things that we in the modern west tend to build our lives upon—the accumulation of wealth, material things, health, popularity, status, career success and the like—these things fade into the background to a place of lesser gravity and significance. In their stead comes an awareness of the things that really matter; things like love, conversation, laughter, eye contact, holding hands to the very end, the treasuring of every moment, and tear ducts—the release valve that our weeping God created to help us exhale our grief. Tears are our stake in the ground, our tender yet tenacious protest against things like death, mourning, sorrow and pain—things that we know intuitively are not supposed to be.

I am also deeply moved by my Dad, whom I have always known as a person of stubborn strength. But his strength has taken on a new form these days, one that reveals something truly heroic in the man who, up until recently, I have never seen cry. Dad’s tender tears over Mom are giving me a fresh glimpse into the nature of God. God, in whose image Dad has been created, is a God who weeps over things gone wrong in his world. He is a tender God who takes no pleasure in sorrow, suffering or death. He is a God who comes alongside and assures us that he is there, and that we are never alone. Moreover, he is a God who suffered a voluntary death-blow, to save us from death’s ultimate and final sting and to assure us that he knows and has tasted death and sorrow firsthand. As we face our mortality, we now know that the immortal God did also. As we grieve the decline of those we love most deeply, we now know that God did also. God buried a Son, after all.

These days, Dad is giving me a glimpse of this God, and a front row seat to observe what a real man looks like. Dad’s tears are not a sign of weakness, but strength. The vulnerability of tears, and the admission of mortality that accompany those tears, is a sign of true greatness.

Dad never leaves Mom’s side these days. He is fully present with her, and he is fully present for her. His response to a struggling bride is to tell corny jokes that make her laugh. He holds her hand…a lot. He helps her with her hair and speaks tenderly, so tenderly, to her. These days, I catch myself looking at my Dad and thinking, “This is the kind of man, the kind of husband, the kind of lover, that I want to be.”

His valiant tears, even more than his strength and successes, make me want to be a better man.

The Pastor I Want at My Deathbed

Pastor David Filson, who serves on our team at Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville and is known by many as “Pastor David,” is a remarkable human being. He is remarkabe because of how he comes alongside people in their transition from this world into the next.

David does not avoid or run away from sorrow, grieving and death. Instead, he moves toward these unwelcome enemies of ours. He is always a first responder when people are in their most vulnerable moments. It is here that David shines. It is here that we get to see David at his best. Because no one is more aware than David of the power that Jesus gives us to stare death in the face and say boldly, “You have no power over us. You have lost your sting. In the end, you will lose. In the end, you will be swallowed up, O death, by the One who conquered and defied you with an empty tomb.”

This is why David and I have made a deal that I will go first, because I want him to be the one singing hymns and reading Psalms over my deathbed. I want him to be the one, after I breathe my last breath, who looks into the eyes of my wife and children and reminds them that death loses in the end, that resurrection is coming, and that we will all be eternally reunited together with Jesus and each other. I want him to be the one to preach hope eternal at my funeral. Because no one preaches a funeral like David Filson does.

How did David become the death-defying man that he is? The clear answer, as I see it, is that David has himself faced death many times. After a long battle with Alzheimer’s, his father was welcomed into the presence of Jesus. After being temporarily defeated by cancer, his mother, too, was transitioned to paradise. And then, as if to add insult to injury, the Filsons lost their dog. In these kinds of moments, David weeps a flood of tears. But through the tears he reminds his own soul that for the Christian, tears never get the final word. Like no one else I have known, David immerses himself in the Scriptural truths—the written-in-blood guarantees that death, mourning, crying and pain have no ultimate power over the story line for God’s children. Death and sorrow are merely a middle chapter, a chapter that will resolve fully and finally when Jesus comes to make his blessings flow, far as the curse is found.

In the struggle against death, real hope cannot be found outside of Jesus. To face death without the risen Jesus in our corner, without the faith that alone enables us to grieve with hope, seems unimaginable. But for those who do trust in Jesus, for those whose lives are forever “hidden with Christ in God,” there is an unshakable hope that will never perish, spoil, or fade away.

Christ has died; Christ has risen; Christ will come again.

The risen Christ has told us, “These things are trustworthy and true.” These things are so because he is the resurrection and the life, and those who believe in him, even though they die, yet shall they live…and everyone who believes in him shall never perish (Revelation 21:1-7; John 11:25-26).

Dying and Being Sad with Other-Worldly Strength

I have had the privilege, many times over, of walking closely with Christians in their final days. One such person was Billy.

Billy was 35 years old when he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. For a few short months, I watched this loving husband and father of two wither away from the evil that had taken residence inside his lungs. When Billy was close to the end, I went to his home for a pastoral visit, but he ended up pastoring me instead. “Scott, let’s talk about you this time,” he said. “How are you? How can I serve you? How can I be praying for you?”

There we sat, a dying man offering hope-filled prayers of love and life for his able-bodied pastor.

Soon after this, Billy died before my eyes. I still remember that sacred moment like it was yesterday. Friends and family, including his wife Shannon, surrounded his bed and sang him into glory with hymns like Great is Thy Faithfulness and It Is Well With My Soul. This was their not-so-subtle way of defying death, and stirring the imagination with reminders of what is true, even truer than the wreckage before their eyes. They were preaching the gospel to their own souls, reminding themselves and each other that there is a weight of glory that awaits them all—a weight that is so wonderful and certain that even the worst affliction will, in the end, seem light and momentary by comparison (2 Corinthians 4:7-18).

After Billy gave his final exhale, I retreated to the waiting room. Here, I would sit and wait for Shannon to emerge. I anticipated all of the appropriate responses from this youthful widow—tears, anger, questioning God, stress and sorrow about pending funeral logistics and raising two children alone. The emotional roller-coaster would come to her eventually. But in that brief moment, Shannon became to me a sign from heaven, an other-worldly creature, perhaps an angel of sorts. The first words she spoke as a grieving widow and single mother were, “Scott, how are you doing? Billy was your friend. How can I  pray for you?”

As I walked to my car that day, I couldn’t help but think how unworthy I was to know people like Billy and Shannon.

There are also others. I could tell you about John, whose body literally wasted away from ALS in two short years, but who never grew cynical. Even on the hardest days, John was the most poised, prayerful and hopeful person in the room. Jesus and God’s promises of a new body and everlasting life, not his awful affliction, were John’s ultimate reality.

I could also tell you about Steven and Mary Beth, who several years ago held a funeral for their young Maria—a horror that no parent should ever have to experience. Through their deepest sadness, these wounded warrior-heroes went on national television, along with their courageous children, to tell the whole world that death will not win. Because Jesus has risen and defeated death, there is a final chapter yet to be written in Maria’s story—the chapter in which, as Steven has said in a song written in Maria’s honor, “Beauty will rise! Beauty will rise! We will dance upon the ruins; we will see it with our own eyes!” Also in Maria’s honor, Steven and Mary Beth opened Maria’s House of Hope, a place of refuge for Chinese orphans with special needs. Many of these children, like their Maria, will be adopted into permanent families through Show Hope, the non-profit that they founded.

I could also tell you about David and Nancy, who lost not one child, but two. Their Gabriel and Hope both died in infancy due to a rare congenital disease. Years later, the tears are still there and the grief is still real. And like Steven and Mary Beth, David and Nancy are stewarding their tears in a way that brings hope to others. Each year they sponsor and lead a conference that brings comfort and hope to parents who, like them, have lost a child. Additionally, Nancy, a prolific author, has written several books that help thousands of people process their pain beneath the shelter of God’s sovereign mercy and love.

Greatness Through Sorrow

As I consider these and others who have shown faith, courage, other-centeredness, and even joy in the face of sorrow and death, I have noticed a common theme that describes all of them:

They are all people who have, for years, leaned heavily on the Bible.

If you poke Pastor David with a fork, he will bleed Old and New Testament. When I asked Billy and John how they could live with such other-centeredness and other-worldly joy in their darkest hour, both said that they had read Scripture almost daily for years, and Scripture’s promises had prepared them for the hardest days. David and Nancy, Steven and Mary Beth, and many others would agree: Their refuge in the valley of the shadow of death is nothing more—and certainly nothing less—than God’s Bible promises about the future of everything, including promises like this one:

Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away…Behold, I am making all things new (Revelation 21:1-5).

In a strange way, I think those who lean heavily on the Bible are like the Olympic lifter who shows up at the gym every day for his workout. The unseen, daily, faithful routine—the crunches, squats, bench and shoulder presses, the bicep curls—these are his preparation for the day of heavy lifting when it finally comes. On that day, with all of his might, he lifts. He sweats, grunts and groans with all of creation. At moments, he doubts he will be able to find the strength to press through. But in the end, he overcomes. In the end, he wins the gold.

For a Christian, the daily workout is one of mind and heartInstead of treadmills, iron plates and weight benches, her equipment consists of a receptive heart, a belief that God is sovereign, wise, and good, and a well-worn Bible. Her final piece of equipment is the doubter’s prayer, the weighty prayer that must be “lifted” whenever she is tempted to follow her doubts and fears above what God has promised: “Lord, I believe! Help my unbelief!” (Isaiah 55:8-9; Mark 9:23-25)

God’s promise is truly breathtaking, and is best summed up by CS Lewis, who said that for believers in Jesus, heaven will work backwards and turn even agony into glory. Or, as Lewis’ close friend JRR Tolkein hinted, in the next world, everything sad is going to come untrue.

One person who knew this future reality well, and who believed it all the way down to her bones, was Kara Tippetts—wife of Colorado pastor Jason Tippetts and mother of four—who died of breast cancer in her late thirties. Kara, knowing that her own death was immanent, wrote these words toward the end, an end which was also—if these promises of God are true—a glorious new beginning:

My little body has grown tired of battle, and treatment is no longer helping. But what I see, what I know, what I have is Jesus. He has still given me breath, and with it I pray I would live well and fade well. By degrees doing both, living and dying, as I have moments left to live. I get to draw my people close, kiss them and tenderly speak love over their lives. I get to pray into eternity my hopes and fears…I get to laugh and cry and wonder over Heaven. I do not feel like I have the courage for this journey, but I have Jesus—and He will provide. He has given me so much to be grateful for, and that gratitude, that wondering over His love, will cover us all. And it will carry us—carry us in ways we cannot comprehend.

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Scott Sauls is senior pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tennessee, and author of Jesus Outside the Lines: A Way Forward for Those Who are Tired of Taking Sides. You can connect with Scott at scottsauls.com or on Twitter at @scottsauls.

Originally published at scottsauls.com.

The Strange Silence

After the SCOTUS decision on same-sex marriage, evangelicals responded in droves through social media, sermons, and press releases. Our compulsion to respond is not surprising given core theological convictions about the institution of marriage. What is surprising is that evangelicals, with the exception of the ERLC headed by Russell Moore, have mostly remained silent in response to an onslaught of racial incidents: police brutality towards black young men, chants of lynching African-Americans by white fraternity members, and the killing of nine black Christians at a church in Charleston. Should we not speak? Why the strange silence when it comes to the scourge of racism? One thing’s for sure—it’s not for lack of something to say. Racism is rooted in sin and injustice—things about which the Bible has a lot to say. According to the Washington Post, recent polling on racial issues shows that approximately half of white Americans do not perceive any unfair treatment of blacks by police, employers, doctors, restaurants, or schools. This perception is especially the case for white evangelicals who tend to embrace an individualistic view of racism. In Divided By Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America, Michael Emerson and Christian Smith show that, because of core theological convictions, white evangelicals are prone to spiritualize and individualize social ills—racism is reduced to personal racial prejudice and individual acts of discrimination. Given that understanding, the “race problem” really is quite minimal. As one evangelical pastor observes, “I don’t think there’s that much division. ... If we didn’t give it so much attention, I think it would die of its own accord” (Divided By Faith 83). The strange silence of evangelicals may stem from denial. If racism doesn’t exist, there is no reason to respond.

But our emphasis on individualism leaves us with an inadequate, truncated view of racism. Although much in the Bible points to the influence of social structures on individuals, evangelicals have historically had difficulty seeing racism as being anything other than an individual problem. Indeed, many white evangelicals would see any effort to define racism systemically as a sinful attempt to shift blame away from depraved individuals to “the system.” We are right to emphasize individual accountability and salvation—individuals must personally trust in Jesus Christ for salvation. But, in the wake of a barrage of racial incidents, it’s time for evangelicals to acknowledge that racism cannot ultimately be eliminated only through individual experiences of repentance and salvation.

First, evangelicals need to accept the reality that racism is both personal and systemic. According to the apostle Paul, sin expresses itself in the created order through “authorities” and “powers,” “spiritual forces of evil” which pervade all aspects of existence; these powers rebel against God and influence human existence toward evil through social, economic, cultural and political systems, practices and institutions that dominate, oppress and exploit (Eph. 6:12).  These powers affect all of us in both personal and systemic ways.

Racism is one of these “authorities” and “powers.” It is a structural evil—something that exists apart from the conscious willing of specific individuals, but nevertheless exercises controlling influence on how groups of people think and act. Racial bias in the United States may thus be seen in both personal attitudes and actions and structural patterns and practices. Most school administrators would deny being racist; black children, however, are three times more likely to be suspended or expelled from school by those same administrators than white children. Most employers would deny being racist; black college graduates, however, are twice as likely as white graduates to struggle to find a job. The New Testament is clear: Satan, “the prince of the power of the air” (Eph. 2:2), wants to exercise dominion over us. The adversary will attack on a personal level through attitudes of racial superiority and intentional acts of discrimination and he will attack on a structural level through patterns of oppression and practices of discrimination and exploitation. To respond to racism, the church must do more than preach an individualistic call to repentance and salvation. We must also engage the “authorities” and “powers.”

Perhaps the most disturbing reason evangelicals have been silent is that we have been seduced and enslaved by these “authorities” and “powers.” First, in our laissez-faire, consumer culture where churches market for members like Madison Avenue and congregants shop for a church like buying a car, pastors remain silent about systemic racism for fear of losing members or their job. Indeed, popular pastors and larger churches may be least likely to speak and act prophetically on racial issues because they have more to lose in the community by challenging the status quo (Divided By Faith, 166).

Second, enslavement to the powers can also be seen in the thousands of segregated churches dotting the American landscape. Not much has changed in the fifty years since Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. observed that is was “appalling that the most segregated hour of Christian America is eleven o’clock on Sunday morning.” According to one recent study, 86% of churches in the United States are still segregated—one racial group comprises at least 80% of the congregation.  While integration is the standard in society, segregation is the standard in churches.

Segregated churches initially developed as a consequence of slavery and Jim Crow laws. Today, predispositions toward homogeneity foster continued segregation. The reality is, however, that segregated churches lose their ability to influence culture toward racial reconciliation: pronouncements to “do as I say, not as I do” always fall on deaf ears. Segregated churches must remain silent because they rightly risk being labeled as “hypocrites.”

Third, segregated churches also promote prejudice and reinforce stereotypes, which further demonstrates enslavement to the powers. Christena Cleveland, in “The Myth of Harmless Homogeneity,” observes that decades of research indicates that segregation and prejudice have a bi-directional relationship:

“Prejudice tends to contribute to division between groups and division between groups tends to contribute to prejudice. ... What begins as seemingly harmless homogeneity often snowballs into distrust, inaccurate perceptions of other cultural groups in the Church, prejudice and hostility.”

Recent Lifeway Research polling bears that out, finding that 71 % of evangelicals say their church is racially diverse enough. Making sense of the data, Ed Stetzer, Executive Director of Lifeway Research, notes that “most churchgoers are content with the ethnic status quo in their churches.” Enslavement to the powers keeps segregated churches silent, maintaining the status quo of racial fragmentation in our society.

Evangelicals must repent of our silence and find our voice. To find our voice, we must be intentional about integrating evangelical churches. Segregated churches witness to division, fear and prejudice; integrated churches witness to the “manifold wisdom of God” which Paul describes in Ephesians. Churches are called by God to display the “multi-colored” wisdom of God to the “authorities” and “powers” (Eph. 3:10). The Greek word typically translated “manifold” could be translated “multicolored” as it was used to describe Joseph’s “coat of many colors” in the Greek Old Testament. The apostle Paul envisions churches as multi-racial communities bearing witness to the power of the Spirit to transcend divisive human patterns of homogeneous grouping.

We must also encourage evangelicals to form diverse friendships. Such friendships can help alter our individualistic understandings and make us more open to structural understandings related to racism. If white evangelicals become less racially isolated, we might look at racism differently and become more amenable to multidimensional solutions.

Ultimately, integrated churches and cross-race friendships help us get our theology right.The true environment for doing theology is not an ivory tower, but concrete relationships with real people who differ from us, whose life experiences differ from ours, who read the Bible through a different set of lenses. Many white evangelicals view racial incidents through the lens of individualism while many black evangelicals view those same incidents through the lens of structuralism. Both rightly claim biblical authority for their perspective. Scripture warrants both individual and structural views of racism and other sins. It is not an either/or but a both/and. Solutions to racism that call only for individual change are as naïve as solutions that call only for structural change. As long as we remain segregated and isolated, our theology will inevitably be one-sided and incomplete.

The issue of racism reminds us that our discipleship must be corporate as well as individual. As part of the eternal plan of God, churches are to be signs and instruments of the Kingdom of God—“counter-communities” holding out and embodying an alternative vision of what it means to live in community. An integrated church in a segregated society can be a powerful witness to the transformative power of the cross, which destroys all “dividing wall[s] of hostility” (Eph. 2:14-16). Together we are the Body of Christ, the one new humanity in which, having been “baptized into Christ” and “clothed” with Christ, there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for [we] are all one in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:15; Col. 3:27, 28).

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Greg Brooks (@gregkbrooks) has served churches in Florida and Kentucky, most recently as the Executive Pastor at Frist Baptist Church at The Villages. A graduate of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (M.Div., Ph.D), he has also taught various theology and ethics classes as an Adjunct Professor. He and his wife, Fran, live in Florida and are the proud parents of three grown children. 

The Unquenchable Longing for the Infinite God

I was young when I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior. I loved the image of God that my church instilled in me.  He was my good and loving Heavenly Father who sent his son to die for me.  That was enough for me to trust him for eternity. However, that trust was a commitment far deeper than my younger self could understand. It’s not that my declaration was dishonest; it’s that it was naive. It took me nearly 20 years to realize it, but what I knew of God was not enough. I had to be humbled and broken to realize that I needed more. That realization was the beginning of a search for “more” that I needed that still drives me to this day.

The Reason Behind My Wandering Heart

When I reflect on this period as a young adult, what fascinates me about my story is the vast deficiency in my understanding of God, and yet, the extraordinary longing that existed in my heart to understand. With me exists an unquenchable curiosity that would have me stand, mouth agape under metaphorical waterfalls of knowledge only to step out from under the flow and find myself longing for more.

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.”— Ecclesiastes 3:11

I have learned that my unquenchable curiosity is not me being an annoying child asking her father question after question just for attention. Far from it. This unquenchable curiosity is a gift from God calling me into a deeper devotion to him. This eternal well within me that seems to never fill completely is God whispering to me that there is more to be learned, more to be seen, and more to be experienced in him.

I read book after book and listen to preachers from all over the world in pursuit of enough water to fill this well, and while knowledge was gained, it was never enough. These men and women, though intelligent and passionate in their writing and speaking, were all just like me; finite beings looking at and chasing after an infinite God. These realizations lead me to seek satisfaction of my unquenchable curiosity from the only infinite source.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”— Isaiah 55: 8-9

God is above us. His thoughts are above our own. What better source for knowledge than the Creator of knowledge?

Learning How to Humble Ourselves

When the veil was torn and we received communion with God, we also were granted access to God’s throne. This means that we now have the ability to approach God with our request and our inquiries.

We have all asked God “Why me?” But this prayer has always irked me. It’s a way of telling God that we know better than he does. But we don’t. We are not enough to fill our own curiosity. I know myself intimately and I am not enough to quench my thirst. In order to quench that thirst, we must recognize that we are not enough and that we are not the point. We must humble ourselves before the Lord and lift his name high as we confess and proclaim that we are not sufficient.

So my prayers are now like King Solomon’s, who shared my curiosity. I ask for knowledge.

Praying for God’s Wisdom

“Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, or as His counselor has taught Him? With whom did He take counsel, and who instructed Him, and taught Him in the path of justice? Who taught Him knowledge, and showed Him the way of understanding?”— Isaiah 40:13-14

Prayer is an act of humility, but asking for wisdom even more so. This act acknowledges that I do not have the answers. That I need help. If we are honest, this is difficult for most of us.  We live in a world where you never have to say, “I don’t know.” Most of us carry in our pockets a phone that gives us instant access to more knowledge than some of the greatest minds in recorded history could have imagined. We have been trained to be self-sufficient in our search for wisdom but true wisdom can’t be found on Google. Wisdom is only found when we are willing to bow before God as the ignorant creatures we are and beg him to reveal snapshots of his infiniteness.

Although it takes courage to enter that prayer, it reaps the greatest reward—that is the exchange of our wondering with God’s wisdom. Prayer has the power to fill our minds with instruction, with understanding, and with counsel. He created all things and holds all things together by the power of his word. But just like my young self understood, he is also my good and loving Father and when I ask him for wisdom, he is faithful to give it. When I stand before God’s throne with my unquenchable curiosity, he smiles at me, undaunted by my constant requests.He gives me wisdom and tells me, “There’s plenty more where that came from.” He quenches my thirst every day and in the morning is ready with more.

He never gets tired with us, and as we learn to listen to him and hear what he is speaking to us, our souls could never get tired with him. He welcomes and even encourages our curiosity; it is the longing he placed within us all that draws us into his throne room, into the only true fount of knowledge.

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Chelsea Vaughn (@chelsea725) 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.

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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. So far in our series:

• Theology Proper: The Antidote to Insatiable Desire by Whitney Woollard
• The Grace and Mercy of God by Chelsea Vaughn
• The Ever-present God by Jeremy Writebol

3 Lessons on Holiness from John Owen

In the West, we’re increasingly appreciative of authenticity. Being yourself, regardless of your good or bad qualities, is applauded while pretending to be something else or acting disingenuous will invoke public shaming. Advertisers have picked up on this and use it to their advantage. One example is the Domino’s Pizza ads from a few years ago where they used negative reviews to their advantage to launch a massive rebranding campaign. The general public praised their humble acknowledgement of negative feedback. When it comes to the Church, I’m thankful the culture around us continues to challenge our authenticity (here’s to hoping the market for corny “Christian” product lines will dwindle to extinction). We should all be intolerant of insincere expressions of Christianity.I hope this environment, both inside and outside the Church, will contribute to a revival of what John Owen called “gospel holiness.”

1. Gospel Holiness Opposes Legal Holiness

What comes to mind when you hear the word “holiness”? Like most words, it’s picked up baggage: some good and some bad. To differentiate “gospel holiness” from the ordinary use of the word, J.I. Packer tells us:

“‘Gospel holiness’ is no doubt an unfamiliar phrase to some. It was Puritan shorthand for authentic Christian living, springing from love and gratitude to God, in contrast with the spurious ‘legal holiness’ that consisted merely of forms, routines and outward appearances, maintained from self-regarding motives.”[1]

Holiness, according to the Puritans, comes in two forms: “Gospel holiness” which springs from an inward devotion to God and the counterfeit “legal holiness” which is primarily an outward act. But to be sure, the difference is difficult to spot at a glance. Both result in similar actions but stem from entirely different motivations. The legal being attempts to look holy outwardly and the gospel is cultivated as an outward expression of the inward reality of our ever-increasing union with Christ. Or as John Owen puts it, “What, then, is holiness? Holiness is nothing but the implanting, writing and living out the gospel in our souls.”[2]

Jesus himself speaks of the difficulty in discerning the two when he mentions “that day” when many will not enter the kingdom of heaven despite prophesying, casting out demons, and doing many mighty works in his name. The reason they will not enter? Jesus “never knew them” (Matt. 7:21-23). This is sobering and should challenge us to examine our relationship with Jesus (after all, it’s the relationship that distinguishes the two). Are we living a life of “gospel holiness” where holy living is the result of dwelling on the good news we have in Christ? Or are we merely trying to convince others (and maybe even ourselves) of our superior spirituality?

2. Gospel Holiness Is A Result Of The Indwelling Holy Spirit

When Jesus told his disciples that he would give them his peace (Jn. 14:27), it was directly tied to the comforting presence of the Holy Spirit. That same Holy Spirit that dwells inside us and brings us peace is the same Holy Spirit that is working in us to sanctify us and make us more like Christ (Phil. 2:13). This transformation to be more like Christ by the work of the indwelling Holy Spirit is what sanctification is and what the Puritans meant when they spoke of gospel holiness. Oddly enough the same John Owen who famously remarked on Romans 8:13 that we must be killing sin or it will be killing us, knew that the key to unlocking this verse is the place of the Holy Spirit in that battle. The same God that fought for Israel and put the Egyptians to death at the Red Sea (Ex. 14:14) fights for us (and through us) to put to death our crimson sins (again see Rom. 8:13).

The war cry of discipleship is to put to death our god-replacements (i.e., sin) with the true God. Legalistic attempts at holiness conflict with this because they put our effort front and center and leave God on the sidelines like a cosmic cheerleader cheering for our victory. Our flesh tempts us to make ourselves the heroes of the story by achieving holiness on our own accord, but the Holy Spirit inside us prompts us to rest in the victorious defeat of sin at the cross. By focusing on what Christ has done for us in the gospel and his gift of righteousness we are no longer enslaved to our own fickle attempts at holiness. While the gospel frees us from the pressure of having to be our own savior it denies us none of the benefits that rightfully belong to the victor. Christ absorbs all our sin at the cross and transfers all the recompense due for his perfection and glory to his imperfect bride: the Church.

Too often we slide into the error of believing holiness is achieved by aiming at a destination when it was actually achieved for us by a declaration (see 2 Cor. 5:21 for starters). Gospel holiness means resting in the identity Christ has procured for us and clinging to him amidst temptations to do otherwise. The world, the flesh, and the devil oppose gospel holiness, but Jesus (who overcame these three enemies) said: “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace (John 16:33)”. Owen sums it up nicely: “Sanctification is a fruit of that peace with God which he has made and prepared for us by Jesus Christ. . . . So God, as the author of our peace, is also the author of our holiness.”

3. Gospel Holiness Is Just One More Expression Of God’s Grace

Ed Marcelle[3] has often stated that if we see how big and ugly our sin is our need for the cross only increases. Put succinctly: only a big cross will pay for our big sins. God’s grace has achieved the payment for our sin in the death of Christ as our substitute. When the old nature creeps up and wants to do war with the new man—the man in Christ—the same grace that bought us at the cross can bring us back to the cross. The same gospel that saves us sanctifies us. Owen states: “The one who sanctifies us is God. As God gave us our beings, so he gives us our holiness. It is not by nature but by grace that we are made holy.”

There is the temptation to view the gospel as the starting point of Christian discipleship and look at sanctification as a process that happens subsequently and independent of it. But Owen’s insights into the Scriptures show us a different sanctifying grace. A gospel holiness which makes no distinction between saving grace and sanctifying grace. It’s all a gift of God, as he states: “Holiness, then, is a glorious work of the Holy Spirit.” Or as Paul put it before Owen:

Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh (Gal. 3:2-2)?

[i] Packer, J.I., Knowing God, p. 249

[ii] This and all following John Owen quotes can be found at this helpful primer on Gospel holiness: http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/onsite/holyspirit_owen.html

[iii] Ed has also contributed to GCD and pastors Terra Nova Church in Troy, NY.

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Sean Nolan (B.S. and M.A., Summit University) is the Family Life Pastor at Christ Fellowship Church in Fallston, MD. Prior to that he served at a church plant in Troy, NY for seven years and taught Hermeneutics to ninth and tenth graders. He is married to Hannah and is father to Knox and Hazel. He occasionally blogs at Hardcore Grace.

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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
• 4 Lessons for Making Disciples from Jan Hus

Four-Dimensional Confessionalism

If you study church history, before long you will find yourself knee-deep in councils, creeds, and confessions of faith. Together, these have safeguarded the church in times of theological weakness and pulled her to biblical safety during times of turmoil. But as we enter into a new era of secularism, mere confessionalism will not be enough. I’m not only talking about historic confessions of faith, which are good and helpful theological tools; I’m talking about any claims we make about God and his grace, how those claims are applied, and how we should live in light of them. No longer will verbalizing our beliefs be enough. We need a confessionalism that the world can touch—one that takes the church’s declaration of the gospel in word and allows it to live in the streets of a longing world in deed.We need a confessionalism that demonstrates the urgency and seriousness of the message we have been given. We need a confessionalism that will not be drowned when the tides begin to turn. What we need is a four-dimensional confessionalism. We pursue these from Hebrews 10:23—“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.” 

1. Confession—“Let us hold fast the confession . . . ”

This might sound obvious. You can’t spell confessionalism without confession. But simply mapping what we believe is not enough. Anybody can be confessional. In fact, everybody is confessional, even if they don’t realize it. Everybody confesses something about God. Romans 1 makes clear that the knowledge of God “is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.” It says, “Although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him.” It tells us, “They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator.” Everybody is confessional.

Paul’s words are a solemn reminder: confessions don’t require truth. That is, being confessional is not a promise that what we are holding to is the gospel of Jesus Christ. My pastor puts it this way: everybody is a theologian—the question is whether or not you are a good one.

The recent decline in mainline Protestantism reveals where one-dimensional confessionalism keeps us. We long for the meat of Scripture, but are only given the faint taste of milk. Our stomachs growl for something weightier and worthwhile. If we want to recover the riches of the gospel in our confessionalism, our churches must not leave slack in the truth we confess. We must recover the Scriptural foundations of our confessions and force our theology to find its “yes,” in the person of Jesus Christ. He is the treasure of truth. Confessionalism finds its value in the truth it confesses. If our confessions are not accurately declaring the truth of the gospel, our confessions lack authority. Moreover, if our confessions are not accurately declaring the whole truth of the gospel, they are worthless. If the gospel isn’t the end of our confessions, they will burn out in the blink of an eye. 

2. Hope—“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope…”

Somewhere along the way, we decided that confessionalism must be locked up in the classroom and cut off from emotion. May this not be the case! I have nailed down a functioning definition of confessionalism: convictions verbalized. This kind of confessionalism reflects not only our mind’s knowledge, but also our heart’s emotion. In our confessions, we put into words what we feel the deepest. Friends, if our confessions are truly convictions verbalized, they must be wedded to our emotions. The two are inseparable. Together, they ease us down the aisle towards Christ who is the church’s true Husband (Rev. 21:2).

If we only needed to repeat some special mantra to be disciples, we could get away with a hopeless confessionalism. But the gospel requires much more. It must be proclaimed! And our proclamation must be in tune with our attitude. The gospel must be trumpeted from the highest halls and the lowest basements! We must speak as though it is our last breath. The gospel cuts the tops off mountains and raises the lowest valleys! There is no grander proclamation than the good news of Christ.

The gospel requires hope and we rejoice in the hope it brings! We rejoice knowing that redemption was accomplished on the cross. We rejoice knowing that we are united with Christ in his resurrection from the dead. We rejoice knowing that King Jesus is ruling high in the heavens over all things, sustaining them with the word of his unconquerable power. We rejoice knowing that one day we will be adorned as a bride, being brought near not just spiritually, but physically! Oh, the hope that lies at the heart of the gospel! In this life we are faced with suffering, but we do not lose heart! Since we will share in the first resurrection, we will never taste of the second death (Rev. 20:6). We have this hope, both sure and steadfast: our union with Christ. The gospel redirects our hope from the things of this world and shines a light on the One who has gone before us. Do not be steeped in only stiff-collared creed-reciting; instead, join with the thousands of believers who have proclaimed that the gospel does not merely fix us but makes us all-new, all-whole, all-alive. 

3. Unwavering Steadfastness—“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering…”

When we have gospel truth and hope-filled emotion in our holster, we have nothing to lose. We have God on our side. The Sovereign can and will sustain us as we stand on his Word. We must hold the line.

This kind of steadfastness is not something we wait for, looking around open-handed and unsure until the Spirit gives it to us. Steadfastness is more than a spiritual gift and far more than remembering the ways that others have been steadfast. It is a conscious decision, a mindset, a refusal to teeter when it comes to God’s truth and our convictions. In 1 Corinthians 15:58, Paul instructs each of us to be steadfast since our labor for the Lord is not in vain. And while our labors find their center on the glory of God, they work together for our good! James says,

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (1:2–4).

When we are tried, we become steadfast; when we are steadfast, we become “perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” Though the glory of God and the advancement of the gospel are why God preserves us through trials, we can be assured of this truth: both our perfection and completion are being built out of our steadfastness. Our steadfastness is like the mud that makes the bricks of our eternity.

2 Corinthians 4:17–18 echoes this theme:

“For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”

Steadfastness during trials is like refining fire. When we do not waver during what feels like Hell on earth, heavenly glory is being prepared for us in eternity. Press on. Fight the good fight. Do not lose heart. Remain steadfast for this is good and pleasing to the Lord and you have been instructed to do it. And when it feels as if you cannot press on, look to Jesus! Know that you are preserved by his hold on you. You rely not on your steadfastness, but on his faithfulness. As you seek steadfastness, remember: no one can lay a foundation other than the one laid in Christ Jesus. Man’s foundation will someday fall apart, but his foundation is eternal. In the surety of our hope, we resist wavering. 

Restful Submission—“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.”

The other three dimensions hinge on this fourth dimension. If we miss this, we risk missing the boat in its entirety. Let it sink in: the One who promises to remold the world and resurrect our bodies is faithful. He is true to his word. His promises are not empty. Realizing this kind of truth is a paradigm shift; it emboldens us. The blood that trickles down the cross of Christ is evidence of his faithfulness. He is both the Guarantor and the Guarantee. Who could deliver a surer promise than the Promise himself?

Even better: he has, “put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee” (2 Cor. 1:22). He has made us a people, though we once were not a people. These realities are the seeds of obedience. We can be faithful in obedience because Christ has been faithful in deliverance.

John Flavel, in his wonderful collection of sermons titled The Fountain of Life, preached on the Kingship of Christ in the souls of the redeemed:

Here is much strictness, but no bondage; for the law is not only written in Christ’s statute-book, the Bible, but copied out by his spirit upon the hearts of his subjects, in correspondent principles; which makes obedience a pleasure, and self-denial easy. Christ’s yoke is lined with love, so that it never galls the necks of his people.

Obedience is the pulse of the new man. The law is “copied out by his spirit” upon our hearts. As those born again, we obey as part of our primary nature. If we withhold our obedience while offering up confessionalism, then the words we say don’t matter.

The author of Hebrews gives us a prescription for obedience in verses 24-25: “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” Our obedience begins in and is nurtured by the local church. When we assemble together, we are pushed to godliness and encouraged into holiness. The church gears us up for the day when we will be clothed in glory to dwell with him in eternity. If obedience is our pulse, the local church is our pacemaker, forcing the rhythm to match that of the Spirit.

Confession links to affection. What we confess with our mouths must be believed in our hearts. We cannot serve two masters. Give your affections to Jesus. They were created for him, and he will put them to their best use. Laboring for him will not return void. In the words of C. H. Spurgeon, “True rest to the mind of the child of God is rest on the wing, rest in motion, rest in service, not rest with the yoke off, but with the yoke on.” Come, rest in Christ, as we hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering. Do not settle for one-dimensional confessionalism. Let us love not in word but in deed and in truth, for a faith without works is dead (1 Jn. 3:18; Jas. 2:17). God desires something tangible, a confessionalism that is four-dimensional. Rest not with the yoke off, but with the yoke on. The gospel demands us, for this is our spiritual worship.

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Cody Glen Barnhart (@codygbarnhart) lives in Kansas City, Missouri, and is a student at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has written for the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, Canon & Culture, For the Church, and is a contributor at servantsofgrace. You can read his blog at counterculturing.com.

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The Ever-Present God

Location: Where Did Place Come From?

Where are you right now? Take a moment and look around . . .

As I write, I am sitting in a café on Bitting Avenue. I can smell the aroma of roasted coffee. I can hear the patrons of the shop discuss their lives, what they will see on TV this evening, the rise and fall of the economy, and who will win the Super Bowl. I feel the warmth of a heater turn on as it is an unusually cold day. Light streams in from the front windows and illuminates the orange walls to bring a warm, homey ambiance to the room. Latin American guitars and beats fill my ears as the music from the café stereo plays. The apple-carrot coffee cake I am eating has a sweet, buttery flavor to it. The padded chair where I am sitting keeps me comfortable but awake. Right now, I am in a place. There are specific and unique events happening in this space that are not occurring simultaneously anywhere else in the universe. This place is special. This place is one of a kind. This place is the only place where I can be in the world right now.

This is not true of God. The Bible tells us that God fills heaven and earth (Jer. 23:24). It says that the highest heaven is not large enough to contain God (1 Kgs. 8:27). Nor is there a single place in the entire universe where a human can go and God not be present (Ps. 139:7–10). The word "omnipresent" sums up this spatial reality of God. He is present everywhere, all the time, in every way. He is not limited by anything and is fully present wherever he is, which is everywhere. Maybe we should venture down the path of comparison. We’ll start with God. He is immense and infinite. He alone can be spatially present everywhere all the time. You and I, on the other hand, can’t even exist in two places at once. This comparison can be helpful to put us in our place. But we need more than just a reminder of how ant-like we are. We need to see the importance of our limitation and the uniqueness of our specific place. We need to see that we are inferior to God in our inability to be everywhere present. And yet the places we inhabit, and specifically our presence in those places, has deep importance. Maybe we do need to be put in our place. What if being "put in our place" isn’t about being humbled to insignificance but elevating our vision to see the dignity in the places we inhabit; to see that our presence is valuable and deeply important. We need to talk about God’s space and place.

The Creation of Place

As I sit here at the café, I am privy to some special things: color, taste, smell, feeling. I can see two musicians meeting with a local artist to discuss album cover designs. Various cars drive by in front of me. Occasionally, I see a biker, although the winter cold prevents this from happening too frequently. This is a very unique place. It is a very creative place.

Who made it? Why was it made? If we ignore the Biblical story, we don’t have great, cosmic answers for these questions. But if we look at the opening pages of Scripture, we have a fascinating drama unfolding before us. The first words of divinely inspired writing from the pen of Moses declare that in the beginning, God made the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:1). Location is created. All of a sudden there is the creation of "place." Place alone, however, is boring. We have heaven and earth. Two categories, two ideas, but not really specific realities. The story continues to unfold. God doesn’t just make categories; he creates places. The earth is filled with vegetation, inhabitants, colors, creatures, textures, liquids, solids, atmospheres, environments—places. The specific place called the Garden of Eden is unique. There are places within the Garden. A river flows through the Garden. The middle of the Garden has specific and diverse vegetation. Four rivers diverge from the main river on the outskirts of the garden. They flow to places with specific names and specific features. Some of those places have gold, some have precious gems. Each distinct. Each unique. Each a special place.

God, who cannot be limited by place, creates multiple locations. He makes places. Each of them are as unique and varied as he is. All of them created good. All of them beautiful. All of them reflecting and imaging his creativity and his diversity. Why does he make these distinct places? He makes them for himself. He creates all the diversity of place and location, with all its varied colors and dimensions, to display his varied and multi-colored glories. The song at the end of the Scripture story sings praise to God because he has "created all things and by [his] will they existed and were created" (Revelation 4:11). The everywhere-present God makes places because he can’t help himself. Place is an overflow of his creative glory. Worship is our response.

Does Place Matter?

Why does all this matter? Since showing up at this specific café, I have noticed the flow of traffic in and out of the store. The aromas that exist in this room now are especially different than the ones that were here a few hours ago. The sounds are new, different, exciting. The musicians are playing their guitars and harmonicas now. It is a new and different place than the one that existed an hour ago. This place is unique and one-of-a-kind again.

Place or location is created by God for his glory. That means that everywhere we go, every location we inhabit, every neighborhood where we dwell is made for God. It shows us a multi-faceted and creative God, a God who is so unique and innovative that one specific location alone could not reflect his glory well. Each place sings the glories of God. Each location tells of his wonders. Each address displays his majesty. Does place matter? On every level, it inherently must.

The way the glory of God is seen at the Grand Canyon is different than the way his glory is seen on Bitting Avenue. The majesty of God takes on a different view in Mumbai, India than it does in London, England. The worship of God sounds different in the jungles of Ecuador than it does in the high rises of New York City. Yet each place is made by his will and for his glory. Each place has a specific role to play in declaring the glory of God, and no one place holds a monopoly on the display of that glory.

This isn’t to say, in some sort of pantheistic way, that God is in everything or that we each have to find our own way of expressing him wherever we are. Just as a diamond will refract light differently in different places, so God’s glory is seen differently in different places. Some places reveal it better than others. We cannot dismiss the broken and dark places of this world. They do not reflect the glory of God well. It is difficult to see the mercy and justice of God in the slums of Rio or the prisons of Iran. Not every place seems like it is God’s place. This is why there must be restoration. If every place is made by God, for God, then the broken places that do not reflect God’s glory must be restored. It’s for this reason that every place matters.

If all things are created for his glory and if all places should uniquely reflect the varied glories of God, then we are called to see our places (including our workplace) as places of worship. Our specific place becomes uniquely important to our lives because it is from this place, and this place alone, that we can magnify God and bring glory to him. I look at my friendly café and I wonder: “How is God’s presence displayed here? How is this place reflecting his glory? Where do I see his fingerprints of majesty? Does the coffee, the conversation, the art, and the atmosphere reflect anything of God’s nature and glory?”

Take a moment and look around (once again) at the place you are inhabiting as you read this sentence. How does this place glorify and magnify God? How does it reflect his multi-faceted nature? What do you see?

God has created this very place where I am writing. He has created the very place where you are reading. He has created it by his will. He has created it for his glory. Now, you might challenge that statement because you know some architect drew up the design for this building and a contractor came in and had carpenters, builders, electricians, and plumbers actually make this place. But under God’s authority, using the agency of humanity, he created and holds all things together (Col. 1:15). Place matters because God made it matter. You might feel indifferent to this place right now because it isn’t where you want to be or because it is somehow broken and in disrepair. This place might be a comfortable, quiet place for you right now. It might be a place that doesn’t belong to you; you are a visitor in it for only a season. Whatever the situation, because God has made it and made it for his glory, you are suddenly in God’s place.

The Transforming Perspective

For way too long, Christians have considered church buildings as "The House of the Lord." We’d show up at specific places and feel that God was, in some way or another, more present there than anywhere else in the universe. Christians have called them “sacred spaces.” We’d return to our homes and workplaces from Monday to Saturday and believe that the "secular" places were the outskirts of the presence of God. Sure, we knew he was there at our homes or jobs, but not in the same way he was "there" when we went to the church building. God was there; we are here.

Funny, God doesn’t think like that. He’s everywhere. He’s in your house. He’s in your car. He’s at your job. He’s present at your local coffee shop. He exists in the slums, ghettos, high-rises, and cathedrals of this world. There is no place where he is not. That means the place you are right now is God’s place. This ought to be a transforming perspective for us. Where is God? Here. Now. Specifically. Uniquely. The very place you inhabit is God’s place. He is here, right now. The Psalmist wonders, “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?” (Ps. 139:7). Jeremiah the prophet asks if a man can hide himself from God (Jer. 23:24)? The answer again and and again is “no!” There is no where we can escape from God’s presence. He is everywhere. He is here.

I wonder what it would be like if we had this perspective more often. How would it change the way we see our neighborhoods? How would we live differently in God’s place? How would we work? How would we play? How would we worship? What would we do with the broken places within God’s place? What would we say to the broken people in God’s place?

We should begin asking ourselves these questions. Our perspective concerning our homes, workplaces, gyms, restaurants, parks, office buildings, theaters, and everywhere in between should be that this is God’s place and God is here. When I see those places this way, I am changed. I want this place to be a reflection of God’s beauty, creativity, majesty, righteousness, mercy, loveliness, and hope.

This place is for God. This place belongs to God. This little ramshackle café on Bitting Avenue is God’s place. The room, the building, the place where you are right now is God’s place too. Seeing place this way moves mountains.

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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. 

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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. So far in our series:

• Theology Proper: The Antidote to Insatiable Desire by Whitney Woollard
• The Grace and Mercy of God by Chelsea Vaughn

On Mission In New Places

Where I grew up, I remember people telling me about a guy in town who served in the Vietnam War. They explained that he was in some sort of Special Forces unit where he was dropped in the jungle by himself for his missions. As you might expect, he was described as the tough guy who could pretty much do anything. Missionaries have wound up in unfamiliar places as well – think about one of the most well-known, Operation Auca with the Elliots, Saints, McCullys, and Youderains. We have all heard stories about people who were thrown into foreign places and cultures and expected to adapt in order to fulfill their mission—whether missionary or military. What we may not realize is that many of us find ourselves in similar scenarios, though under less extreme circumstances. This could be a new workplace, a new community, a new church, a new family, a new group of friends, or a new school. However, just being in a new place does not fully put us in a similar scenario, like the guy in the example above, we must have a mission in this new place. What is our mission? Well for the Christian, it is a commission given by our Lord,

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20

With this commission in view, we could say that as Christians, there is no place the Lord could send us where his mission does not stand. Therefore, if the mission always stands, then the lack of Great Commission following that we find in our lives must be our fault, not the one who gave the mission. Where do we most often find this failure in following the Great Commission in our lives? Isn’t it often when we find ourselves in new places? Isn’t it also in places where we have not yet figured out that the gospel has bearing? So it could be in places that are new to us or in places that are new to our understanding of the gospel’s impact on them. So where do we start?

Find and Get to Know the People

Since the mission given us by our Lord is about people, it is helpful to know where the people are.For a new school or workplace that isn’t terribly difficult, because we’re thrust in the midst of a bunch of people every single day. For a new community or church it may take a bit more time in finding people particularly because in these types of scenarios we don’t spend as much time with people in these places as we might elsewhere. Much of this is about opening our eyes to the people who are in front of us. Paul exemplifies this for us in Acts 16. After he was forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia, he winds up in Philippi after the Macedonian man appeared to him in a vision.

“And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together.” Acts 16:13

Paul went looking for people. Plain and simple.

Once we have found people, the process of getting to know people takes time. Languages need to be learned, or instead getting to know how the people talk. Knowing how people talk around us will help us to know what they find important, what they believe, and what they value. Paul does this in Athens to a degree, as he shows familiarity with their poets, “as even some of your own poets have said,” (Acts 17:28b). This brings out an important element of learning the language of a people, which is to learn about the entertainment they enjoy and the various forms of the arts with which they engage. This can often bring about some of the most personal connections with people. Ultimately, this is about getting to know the culture and that is exactly what Paul did. If you have worked for a large company, they will likely spend a great deal of time trying to talk about and build their culture. They want their culture to flow down to the people and become a part of the company’s DNA. Every place has its own distinct culture and we can better know the people when we learn the culture.

God brought my wife and I to a new church about twenty-five minutes from our house nearly two years ago. Though that distance doesn’t seem that far, it is a different town, school district, and county. Lots of things make this new place quite different from our old stomping ground, which is only a short drive away. Everything I learned about what used to be home in terms of demographics, needs, understanding of and openness to the gospel, and just basic values is not applicable to this new place. Through understanding these differences, we can learn more about the people with whom we have been placed.

Get to Know the Story

So we have found the people, we have gotten to know the language, and even gotten to know some of the surroundings of this new place. What’s next? While in Athens, before mentioning their poets, Paul says,

“Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.” – Acts 17:22b-23b

Paul makes more than simple observations about what he sees, but he uses those observations to develop a story. The story he develops is the story of Athens or rather what is really going in Athens beneath all the people, culture, and supposed knowledge. Of course, if we know the rest of what Paul says after verse 23, we know that he is building towards something.

Every place has a story residing underneath all that is going on; a story that people are living according to. Michael Horton, in the introduction to his book, The Christian Faith: A Systematic Theology for Pilgrims on the Way, says,

“The inextricable connection of faith and practice in terms of drama, doctrine, doxology, and discipleship has evident corollaries in every philosophy, religion, and culture. The drama determines the big questions as well as the answers” (15).

What Horton says here speaks to what we are grappling with in terms of the stories behind the people we encounter in these new places. As Horton says, the drama (story) determines all the big questions that people are asking and what the answers to those questions are. In Athens, Paul knew an underlying story was being told through what the people of Athens said, did, and thought. These stories pointed to what the Athenians believed about the world. When we understand the stories people who we find ourselves among in these new places believe, we are then ready to take the final step in obedience to our Lord’s commission.

Apply THE STORY

Paul shows us that in Athens he is not merely a sociological commentator. In other words, he does not walk around Athens and just make comments and conclusions about what he sees. Instead, he knows that to understand the people, the culture, and the story that lies beneath both, he can find the access point through which he can give the gospel story powerfully and effectively. Paul says,

“The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.” – Acts 17:24-25

Paul goes on even afterward to point for point respond to the story that the Athenians had been living with the true story of the gospel. Horton says,

“The Christian faith is a counterdrama to all of the meganarratives and metanarratives of this passing age – ancient, medieval, modern, and postmodern. It speaks of the triune God who existed eternally before creation and of ourselves as characters in his unfolding plot” (19).

In other words, the true story of the gospel speaks into and sits sovereignly over any other story about reality, truth, and how the world supposedly is. The gospel deems contradicting realities untrue as it points to the ultimate truth, which is embodied perfectly in a person, namely Jesus Christ.

Through this engagement with the stories, we are pointing to the story that points to Jesus. However, we will have a harder time applying the story of the gospel to our culture if we don’t first know it. We don’t have a definitive amount of time that Paul was in Athens in Acts 17; however, he was there long enough to observe and know the culture and the people. Paul was always living with his mission at the forefront of everything he did. Wherever Paul wound up, either by his own planning or the Lord’s direction, it was always the place that God wanted him. If we could talk to Paul now, he wouldn’t attribute his single-minded focus for this mission to his apostleship or being a missionary, but to his call to be a disciple of Christ who made more disciples.

Conclusion

Let us consider the places that God has put us as purposeful, strategic appointments from our Lord. Whether we have just arrived at our place or have been there for quite a while, let us ask God to help us open our eyes. We would do well to follow the pattern of the apostle Paul—getting to know people, getting to know their story, and applying the story of the gospel. No corner of creation is considered mundane or hidden from the King. Our families, workplaces, schools, communities, churches, lunch tables, favorite breakfast places, waiting rooms, and every other nook and cranny of our lives are places that God has put us for his glory. The guy in the Special Forces from my neighborhood wasn’t dropped in the jungle so he could build himself a hut to cozy up and watch Netflix. He got to work fulfilling his mission the minute he touched down. May we do the same.

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Nick Abraham (DMin student at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) lives in Navarre, OH with his wife and daughter. He serves as an Associate Pastor at Alpine Bible Church in Sugarcreek, OH. He is a contributor to Make, Mature, Multiply: Becoming Fully-Formed Disciples of Jesus and blogs at Like Living Stones.

Growing in Our Love for Christ Together

“Save us, O Lord our God,

and gather us from among the nations,

that we may give thanks to your holy name

and glory in your praise.”

— Psalm 106:47

Missional communities exist to grow in love for God.Missional communities are groups of people that learn to follow Jesus. These communities consist of  disciples, meaning people are being renewed by the gospel through  abiding in Christ. Missional communities are environments to pursue knowing God and the power of his resurrection with others and for others.

“Love the Lord your God”

“And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” — Mark 12:28-31

This is the golden rule or greatest commandment: to love. This is what we were created for and this is the cornerstone of all Christian and Jewish ethics. As Paul writes, "If I don’t have love, I have nothing.” (1 Cor. 13:1-3).

Love is the only complete reaction to the gospel and expression of the gospel. It was love that motivated God to save us (Jn. 3:16) and love that motivated God’s rich mercy towards us (Eph. 2:4). It is love that we receive in the gospel and it is love that we give because of the gospel. As God pours his love out to his people, the only natural response is holistic love and devotion for him. This is the worship our hearts, minds, souls, and bodies were created to give. God is the one we were meant to direct that love towards.

God demands our affections because he is the only one sufficient to receive them. We are commanded to shift our entire being from love of self to love of God. The gospel requires we relinquish all other idols and masters and give ourselves to Jesus as the one true God.

Growing in Our Love Through Listening

The beginning of Jesus’ answer is not “Love God” but “Hear! The Lord Your God is One.” This timeless command starts with a proper orientation of who God is and of listening to who he is.

A missional community pursues growth in its love for God first by beholding God with wonder, awe, reverence, and need. A missional community focuses on hearing and remembering who God is. The beginning of loving God is a desperate attempt to wade through doubts to discover God himself.

Reading the Scriptures Together

A community will not grow in love for God if it refuses to open, read, and ingest the Word of God. It cannot be a footnote or a side-bar. A community that has any ambition to be more than a dinner club, must come humbly to the Bible as the necessary source of understanding who God is. We grow in our devotion to God by putting ourselves under what he has already spoken and revealed.

The Scriptures carry divine authority. Unlike anything that can be said or spoken, the Bible carries weight. The Spirit works through Scripture like lightening through steel to electrify our faith. It is fundamental to forging conviction and worship.

Ways to Begin Reading the Bible as a Community

• Read one of the Gospels together, asking questions about what is challenging and appealing about Jesus. Who is he and what is he doing? How are people responding to him? How do we respond to him?
• Read through a letter in the New Testament asking four simple questions: Who is God? What is he saying about himself, his work, and his people? What passage do we need to meditate on, remember, and believe.
• Memorize a Psalm together.
• Have a shared reading plan.
• Get into small groups of two’s or three’s to do more study and in-depth discussion on the Scriptures.
• Follow the Christian Calendar (Advent, Lent, Easter, Pentecost, etc.) using the themes and Scriptures as a guide.
• Follow a simple curriculum. NT Wright’s  “For Everyone” series and John Stott’s guides are excellent.

Praying Together

Paul Miller writes: “Prayer is a moment of incarnation – God with us.” But it doesn’t feel that way. Communal prayer is awkward. We don’t know what to do, and we don’t know what to say. We don’t know how honest to be. Furthermore, our prayers are not about God or his presence with us but about us. We typically pray with ourselves and our current felt needs as the focal point. We do this because we are the focal point! To grow in our love for God our prayers must center on God. Our gaze has to move from ourselves to the one who holds all things together. This is the only way to begin a praying life.  Then, when we bring our concerns to God, we are able to acknowledge his presence in the details of our lives and his power to love us in them.

Take a quick survey of Paul’s prayers and you will find overwhelming evidence that Paul doesn’t pray for sick grandparents, stress free trips to the super-market, acceptance into good colleges, or even good jobs. Paul was praying for increased love, greater understanding of God’s love for us, power, thanksgiving for belief, changed hearts, power to defeat sin, joy, peace, and prophecy—among other things. Paul was praying in light of the gospel and for the gospel to advance in and through the church. These are inspiring prayers and they are unifying prayers because Paul’s gaze was not toward the earth but toward heaven. Paul was praying for heaven to break into our everyday struggles, not for the struggles.

Ways to Begin Praying as a Community

• “Pray the Bible”—Read a passage of scripture together, lead people to pray different phrases in their own words or respond to the passage in prayer.
• Lectio Divina (Divine Reading)—an ancient Benedictine prayer format using the Bible. Calls for the group to reflect and meditate on the passage, respond in prayer, then rest in silence.

Tips for Praying in Community

• Have everyone pray short prayers (the sermon-prayer is no fun).
• Have everyone pray in their own voice (no spiritual whispers, please).
• Allow for silence (It’s okay if no one is talking. God is present).
• When people bring up their struggles and concerns about life, regardless of the degree, ask if you can pray for that as a group and do it together. Offer the details of life to God. Pray for God’s grace, love, and mercy to be known in the trial.

Growing in Our Love for God Through Confession

Confession is the act of “saying the same thing as God” or naming reality. We grow in our love for God by being honest about who we are and how we live. We lower the facade and tell the truth: “We are not a peaceful community,” “I don’t like serving the poor,” or “I don’t believe God is concerned or cares for me.”

This is how we bring our true selves before God. In fact, Jesus was not too welcoming to the self-righteous and the hiding. Jesus says that he came for the sick in need of a doctor. The only pre-requisite for joining Jesus’ entourage was to be honest with who you were: a human tainted by sin. Jesus ate with sinners. Jesus forgave sinners.

Ironically, Christian communities have become hiding places for sinners to pretend they don’t need Christ. But we cannot grow in our love for God (with all our hearts, minds, strength), until we tell the truth about our hearts, minds, and strength. This is the beginning of transformation.

Confession is not just about speaking about how bad we or our circumstances are, but about speaking to God about how good God is in our circumstances. Confession is also about saying the truth about God—who he is and what he has done.

King David was the confession expert. He offered God his true feelings of fear, anger, resentment, disappointment, and doubt to God while simultaneously speaking of God’s great works, kindness, and power. Our language of God as a “Rock” and “Refuge” comes directly from David’s confessions and songs. God was his Rock because David confessed his life was on shaking soil and in need saving and God was the only one who could save him. God was David’s refuge because David confessed he couldn’t find rest anywhere else in the world—despite his trying. The Psalms show us how to worship God in “spirit and in truth” (Jn. 4:24).

Ways to Practice Confession as a Missional Community

Read a Psalm of confession together (Psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, and 130) and guide your community through each stanza or verse. For example, in Psalm 6.

• Part 1 (vs. 1-3): What causes restlessness in you? What troubles you?
• Part 2 (vs 4-5): What deliverance/salvation do you need from God?
• Part 3 (vs. 6-7): What grieves you? What makes your soul tired?
• Part 4 (vs.8-10): Repeat these verses out loud.  God has heard, God hears. God hears our request. God accepts our prayers; he longs to hear them. How has God conquered the enemy and put them to shame? How has God defeated sin? How have you experienced his steadfast love?

Growing in Our Love Through Repentance and Faith

When you consider who God is and who you really are, you will be confronted by your sin and God’s forgiveness. As you press into his glorious grace and taste his kindness, you will hear the call of Jesus in Mark 1:14-15. When Jesus preached the gospel he demanded a response—repent and believe:

“Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’”

When Jesus said “repent” he was saying to turn away not only from sin, but to turn from the lies that sin deceives us with, and to turn towards something truer and better, to turn to Jesus and his true promises. You cannot separate repentance from faith. To repent is reorient your faith. To have faith in Jesus requires a drastic change of direction.

You trust Jesus’ incarnation, his kingdom, and his purposes. As a disciple, you exchange your agenda for his. You let go of your imaginary kingdom for his tangible reign. N.T. Wright describes repentance and belief this way in The Challenge of Jesus, “[Jesus] was telling his hearers to give up their agendas and to trust him for his way of being Israel, his way of bringing the kingdom, his kingdom-agenda.”

Take the deceptive promise of pride, for example. Pride says: “Find and cherish compliments and then you will be confident.” But the gospel says, “Instead of trusting in compliments for confidence, believe that your sufficiency comes from God in Christ.” 2 Corinthians 3:4-6:

“Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us competent.” 

The gospel says: “Your confidence comes, not from your sufficiency, but from God who has made you sufficient in Jesus.” Faith in the person of Jesus, who he is and what he has accomplished for us, is true saving, changing faith.

Ways to Grow in Repentance and Faith Together 

• As a community, have regular times to reflect together. Ask: Where have we we, as a group, put our trust in things that are not Jesus? Where are we experiencing God’s kindness? Do you think we are drawing nearer to God or running away from God?
• Another way to have this communal discussion is to ask questions along the lines of motive for obedience: Are we doing it as a performance (religion)? Are we doing it to follow the rules or model (legalism)? Are we becoming obedience because we see God’ love more clearly (sanctification)?

The Mission Is to Be Reconciled to God

You might associate missional community with local involvement, justice, and neighborhood evangelism. You’re likely attracted to books like this because you want to live out the cause of Christ in a tangible way. However, you are God’s mission. Christ came to save you, and for you to be reconciled to God. This is the substance of living the gospel.

Many leaders and missional communities forget they are supposed to enjoy God, know his love, and grow in loving him. We forget that we are God’s mission and on God’s mission. You and your community were created to live the gospel in unity with God. To taste the grace of God through repentance and faith. To worship God through confession. To know the depth of God’s love by listening to God.

“Mission is an acted out doxology. That is its deepest secret. Its purpose is that God may be glorified.” — Lesslie Newbigin

Never forget that one of the primary goals of your missional community is to increasingly grow towards Christ.

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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.

Adapted from Sent Together: How the Gospel Sends Leaders to Start Missional Communities

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Enjoy this excerpt from Brad Watson’s Sent Together: How the Gospel Sends Leaders to Start Missional Communities. Order your paperback today! Or use 1-click to purchase your digital copy from Amazon!

The Grace and Mercy of God

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. So far in our series:

• Theology Proper: The Antidote to Insatiable Desire by Whitney Woollard

— Holy Moments

My eyes filled with tears as I watched her eagerly wait my response. My pride flared up the a cobra ready to strike. I didn’t have a response. I was short out of words. Wisdom had not yet ventured to this depth.

A few weeks before this incident, I sat with a girl I disciple as she wept over the merciful nature of God. The realization that she had been Jonah this past year, running as far away from obedience as she could, washed over her. I prayed with her as she confessed her broken heart of disobedience and neglect. In a moment birthed out of sinfulness, I looked at her and saw such grace. It was a holy moment, as I witnessed the gospel more alive than I have ever seen it.

The reality, though, was the tears in my eyes revealed my own heart. What she didn’t know was that her words penetrated the defenses I had built before the Lord. I rejected his whispering voice and continued my pattern of self- sufficiency. This girl who I was trusted to pour into was acting as a conduit of conviction and grace for me. Isn’t that the nature of discipleship? As we pour into others, they often pour back into us—even if they don’t knowingly do so. In an act of unknowing honesty, I took in this beautiful moment and articulated what only the Holy Spirit could. I divulged wisdom on repentance and humility, while in secret the Spirit applied it to my own heart.

I believe the Holy Spirit acts on our behalf and I trust he spoke what she needed to hear. However, I could have shared this holy moment with her, humbly approaching the throne of grace together, rather than only ushering her there as she needed. It’s natural to discern what should be shared in discipleship, but I think there’s a choice we get to make too. This choice asks if we will lay down our defenses to share from a place of wisdom and repentance.

“Now it’s time to change your ways! Turn to face God so he can wipe away your sins, pour out showers of blessing to refresh you, and send you the Messiah he prepared for you, namely, Jesus.”— Acts 3:19 (MSG)

The need for humility in discipleship

Some of the most memorable times in my life are when people I respect cry out for God. These times remind me how powerful and almighty he truly is. It’s a grace of discipleship that we don’t get everyday. It is a refreshing representation that we all need Jesus, and that his holiness beckons repentance from even the most respectable person. There is no level or limit to the insurmountable grace that God gives. The sad thing is that we often stifle it for a selfish façade of having everything together. That is what I did. I chose to conceal my face from God and suppress my need for grace in this moment. In response to this girl, I would return with a disposition of humility. My heart would reconcile to hers as I shared with her my own prideful disobedience. Her humility declared the gospel as worthy, but I’m not sure my response rendered the same. Instead, I would repeat those words that the Lord prompted me to share, but I’d conclude by saying with a smile, “I need him too.”

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus”— Philippians 2:3-4

The fruit of gospel freedom

“Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.”— Matthew 3:8

God is holy, so when we regard him as such our lives are transformed. His eternal nature is higher than our limited understanding, which creates a genuine sense of awe and wonder. We can’t behold his glory completely, but he choses to share it with us anyway. This is humbling and leads us to the foot of the cross. It’s in this place that we are able to better understand our deficiency, our need for a Savior, and his grace filled sacrifice. This intimate exchange of grace is repentance. This act brings forth humility, gratitude, and most important, abundant life. It’s what I saw happen within in the girl I disciple and it’s what I choose to walk in from here on out. I want to make disciples with every intention to share the grace and mercy of God; not only from past experiences, but current battles as well.

Thy mercy is more than a match for my heart, Which wonders to feel its own hardness depart; Dissolved by Thy goodness, I fall to the ground, And weep to the praise of the mercy I’’ve found.

Great Father of mercies, Thy goodness I own, And the covenant love of Thy crucified Son; All praise to the Spirit, Whose whisper divine Seals mercy, and pardon, and righteousness mine. All praise to the Spirit, Whose whisper divine Seals mercy, and pardon, and righteousness mine.

—John Stocker, “Thy Mercy, My God”

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Chelsea Vaughn (@chelsea725) 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.

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.