Longing for My Real Home

After two years of focused theological study I realized my soul needed a good story. It’s not that I don’t love reading theology, but during this season I wanted something different to stir my heart. I knew any old story wouldn’t work; no, it was time for a fairy tale.What better fairy tale than C.S. Lewis’ classic masterpiece The Chronicles of Narnia to awaken my heart? As a child, I never read The Chronicles of Narnia. As a matter of fact, I never read fairy tales. Much like Lucy Barfield, Lewis’ granddaughter, I had outgrown fairy tales all too quickly. Thus, his words to Lucy in his dedication were all too timely, “But some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.” That day had finally come for me. Little did I know how deeply I would be impressed by this fairy tale and the truths it directed me towards.

In The Chronicles of Narnia, I quickly discovered a world so magical and captivating that adequately explaining the impression it had upon me is difficult. It’s like a delicious secret only to be savored by those who have taken the journey through Lewis’ fairy tale, by those who have stared Aslan in the eyes. I could give excerpt after excerpt that resonated with my soul, but seven articles couldn’t contain them all. Perhaps the words found within those excerpts should be reserved for persons brave enough to take their own journey into Narnia.

Instead I will present two overarching reasons why this series of books left a profound impression upon me and why I am convinced that every person—young and old—should read The Chronicles of Narnia to drive them towards maturity as a disciple.

The Depiction of Aslan Directs Your Heart Towards Christ

The way in which Lewis portrays Aslan is glorious! He first appears on the scene as the One who sings Narnia into existence. The reader discovers he is a Lion, but no ordinary lion. His mane is like gold, his eyes radiant energy, his voice causes the ground to shake and tremble. He is resplendent and terrifying and wonderful all at once! Children can know him intimately and yet he is mysterious beyond the magician’s knowledge. He is always at work, but he never does the same thing twice. He can defeat his enemies with a single paw, but walks willingly to his own death. The reader understands that when you come face to face with Aslan you forget about everything else.

Magical Lions don’t exist. Yet, there is a true story about a real Lion that this one points us to. Lewis draws so heavily from the biblical depiction of Jesus when forming Aslan’s character, I could not help but think of Jesus as I read about the Great Lion. The parallels are striking. Every time Aslan appears on the page and does what only Aslan can do, your heart is directed toward the true Lion, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, who has done what only he can do (Rev. 5:1-14).

My affections were stirred afresh for Jesus in wonderful, childlike ways during my time in Narnia. I was reminded that I serve a King who isn’t safe, who isn’t tame, but is good beyond comprehension. It brought to remembrance my own story of encountering the Lion for the first time and all of the adventures that have ensued since. It softened my heart towards Jesus and his perfect work on my behalf. Essentially, I found that reading about Aslan presented me with wonderful opportunities to meditate upon Christ.

The Depiction of Narnia Directs Your Heart Towards the Eternal

From the creation of Narnia in book one until the revealing of the “real Narnia” in book seven I was enamored with this land. Narnia—the land Aslan sang into existence, the land where children rule as kings and queens, and the land that houses talking beasts. Oh Narnia! How I loved your hospitable beavers and friendly fauns. How I longed to partake of a hot meal by Mrs. Beaver or witness a sunset laced with colors seen only in Narnia.

Something about Narnia in all seven books points you towards the eternal. It causes you to long for something transcendent, something more. Yet, in book seven, when the old Narnia gives way to the real Narnia, the words of the Unicorn are piercing, “I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now.”

As I read those words, I felt hot tears fill my eyes which splashed onto the page. The unicorns words resonated with my own longing for my true home. I, like so many of you, know what it’s like to feel out of place while searching for satisfaction in a fallen world. I know what it’s like to long for my real country, my real home.

These words reminded me that one day I’ll close my eyes for a final time and open them to discover that I have finally come home, finally arrived at the land I have looked for all my life. So often we are afraid of death, terrified of eternity, and anxious about the unknown, but we must remember that our future land is not unknown. It’s home! It’s the land we’ve longed for all along! Thus, this fairy tale directs us forward towards the true reality we will one day experience in Jesus’ consummated kingdom.

Lasting Impressions

Narnia made a lasting impression on me at a mature level, but that doesn’t mean it’s reserved for adults. If you are a parent, I encourage you to read this series to your children at the appropriate age and use it as a springboard to talk about Jesus and eternity. It gives children a framework in which they can think about Christ and the new heaven and earth in a way that is real and concrete to them. Even if they don’t understand all of the implications Lewis is making, the idea of this glorious Lion living in a perfect land will stay with them until one day (just like Lucy and me) they will return to savor the parallels more fully. May you and your family grow in your love for Jesus and his eternal kingdom as you read The Chronicles of Narnia together!

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Whitney Woollard is passionate about equipping others to read and study God’s Word well resulting maturing affection for Christ and his glorious gospel message. She holds a Bachelors of Science in Biblical Studies from Moody Bible Institute and a Masters of Arts in Biblical and Theological Studies from Western Seminary. Whitney and her husband Neal currently live in Portland, OR where they call Hinson Baptist Church home. Visit her writing homepage whitneywoollard.com.

Paying it Forward

Once we start to realize that discipleship is an everyday, all-of-life process for our own lives, we’re halfway to understanding God’s call. The other half of that call is seen most clearly in the great commission, where God calls his people—all his people—to “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” (Matt. 28:19-20). Part of our own discipleship is “paying it forward”: seeing God not only work in us, for our own discipleship, but also seeing him work through us, for others’ discipleship. In fact, the Apostle Paul tells us that a primary way we grow into maturity in Christ is through “speaking the truth in love” to and with each other (Eph 4:16). God didn’t design discipleship to primarily happen alone. All-of-life discipleship—learning to follow, trust, and obey Jesus in the everyday stuff of life, and training others to do the same—requires submitting to and obeying God’s Word in three key environments: life on life, life in community, and life on mission.

LIFE ON LIFE

God’s means of your growth, redemption, and restoration is others in your life who are committed to bringing your brokenness out into the open and bringing the gospel of Jesus to bear on it. The layers with which we’ve covered ourselves have to be pulled back, and we can’t do that kind of work alone. We have to get close. We have to be seen and known. This is what we call life-on-life discipleship—life that is lived up close so that we are visible and accessible to one another, so that others can gently peel back the layers and join us in our restoration.

Jesus lived life with his disciples. He was close enough to really know them. He observed what they believed by watching how they lived. He became closely acquainted with their brokenness so that he could see their wrong thinking, wrong believing, and wrong acting. They were exposed. And as they were exposed, Jesus helped them to be restored.

LIFE IN COMMUNITY

If you look at the life and ministry of Jesus, and subsequently the ministry of the apostle Paul, you certainly would not come to the conclusion that one-on-one discipleship is best. Jesus discipled his followers while they experienced life together in community. We know they “got it” because the story of how they continued to live tells us they were devoted to one another in the day-to-day stuff of everyday life. Jesus’s way of discipleship cannot happen in one-on-one meetings alone.

The church is Jesus’s body. It has many parts, but it is one body, so it takes many of us committed to each other’s development to help us each become more like Jesus ... We all need many people who love Jesus around us to do this. Every person in Christ’s body is meant to work this way. You are meant to play a part in equipping and encouraging others. God intends for all of us to actively engage in disciple-making in light of our unique design so that we both do the work and equip others to do it.

LIFE ON MISSION

Jesus didn’t say, “Show up to class and I will train you.” Nor did he say, “Attend synagogue and that will be sufficient.” No, he called the disciples to join him on the mission (“Follow me”), and while they were on the mission with him, he trained them to be disciple-makers (“I will make you fishers of men”).

In other words, Jesus taught them the basics of making disciples while they were on the mission of making disciples. They could observe everything Jesus said and did. They could see how he rebuked the religious leaders who tried to make it harder for people to come to God. They were able to watch his compassion and care of people being ruined by sin. They couldn’t overlook his willingness to heal and help the broken. And the power he exerted over demons was clearly on display. They listened, watched, and learned in the everyday stuff of life. After a while, he invited them to share in some of the work he was doing. Sure, they messed up, a lot, but he was there to help, to correct, to clean up—to train them—while they were on his mission. They were in a disciple-making residency with Jesus.

After the disciples had spent time watching, learning, and practicing under Jesus’s watchful eye, he sent them out to begin to practice what he had taught them. He did not send them out alone; they went together. Then they returned and reported to Jesus what they had experienced. All did not go perfectly. So he trained them in the areas of their weaknesses and failures. He did this kind of ongoing training with them for more than three years. As a result, when he finally ascended to heaven, they had been prepared to fulfill the mission. The best training for mission happens while on mission.

MISSIONAL COMMUNITIES

The necessity of these three environments is the basis for what are commonly called “missional communities”: the Christian life—and the gospel identities and rhythms we’ll start to consider next week—cannot be lived alone, nor can it be carried out as one person among several dozen or a few thousand, which is the context of many American church gatherings. Instead, the best venue for living as disciples of Jesus happens in the context of a few other disciples, mutually committed to growing each other’s lives and faith, pursuing God’s mission together.

Missional communities are not programs of a church; missional communities are the Church.In other words, the way God intends his people to live and thrive as disciples of Jesus is in the context of a community, growing in the gospel and on mission together. It’s in this type of community that life on life, life in community, and life on mission discipleship most easily happen.

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Jeff Vanderstelt is the visionary leader of the Soma Family of Churches and the lead teaching pastor of Doxa Church in Bellevue, Washington. Vanderstelt is the author of Saturate: Being Disciples of Jesus in the Everyday Stuff of Life. He and Jayne, his wife of 22 years, have three children; Haylee, Caleb and Maggie. 

Ben Connelly started and now co-pastors The City Church, part of the Acts 29 network and Soma Family of Churches. He is the co-author of A Field Guide for Everyday Mission (Moody Publishers) and also leads church planting for the Soma Family in North America. Connelly, his wife Jess and their kiddos Charlotte, Maggie and Travis live in Fort Worth, TX.

Jeff Vanderstelt and Ben Connelly. Saturate Field Guide: Principles & Practices For Being Disciples of Jesus in the Everyday Stuff of Life. Saturate, ©2016. Used by permission.

The New Commandment and the Community It Creates

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” — John 13:34-35

In John 13-17, the Apostle paints the most beautiful picture of a missional community meal. Jesus serves and cleans his disciples feet to show that they are his friends and not his servants. He prays for his disciples and the impact they will make on the world. The whole occasion is filled with God’s love for this random band of brothers and the world they are sent to love.

In this passage, Jesus offers the clearest picture of a community centered on him. I wish every missional community meal in my home was like this. The disciples were together because Christ had interrupted their lives. The benchmark for acceptance into this community was allowing Jesus to wash and serve each of them. They were free to ask questions and to err; however, they were graciously turned towards God, his love, and his purpose in this world.

The command Jesus gives in this moment must not be ignored: love one-another.Each of them loved Jesus and were loved by Jesus. But that night there were questions hanging in the air: Would that love for and from Jesus change the way they loved each other? Would they become a unified family in Christ? Or, would they settle for isolated expressions of faith? These same commands and questions hang over our communities. So ask yourself, Will the love that each of you have received from Christ spill over into love for one-another?

Jesus doesn’t allow for an ambiguous definition of love. He makes clear what it means to love one-another: “There is not greater love than this, than to give one’s life for a friend” (Jn. 15:13). We must love one-another with the same kind of love God demonstrated to us: one rooted in sacrificial service. Jesus makes clear this is the only way to be his disciple. “This is how everyone will know you are my disciples” (Jn. 13:35). The mark of being a follower of Jesus isn’t prayer, meditation, knowledge, or musical tastes, rather it’s love for one-another.

Jesus is emphatic with this implication of the gospel. Anyone who receives the love of God will love their fellow disciple. He repeats the command over and over through the evening. We love God and love one another because Christ loved us.

Missional Communities must actively grow in their love for one-another. A missional community is a family more than it is a team. We live the gospel by loving one-another. This is biblical community.

Learning to Enter Community

In our culture, we call a group of people who care for one-another a community. Broken families, codependent relationships, and an epidemic of loneliness have created a ravenous hunger for community in this generation. This is what we long for in and outside of the church. Community has become something we consume to meet our needs, not an act of loving others.

Our desire and attempts at filling our needs through community has clouded our understanding of what community is. To understand what true community is we must clear the deck of all the things community isn’t, or rather, the way we attempt to consume community.

Missional Community Isn’t:

• A Social Club—centered on your relational and social needs.
• A Counseling Group—centered on your emotional needs.
• A Social Service Group—centered on your need to change the world.
• A Neighborhood Association—centered on your neighborhood.
• An Affinity Group—centered on your stage of life and preferences.
• An Event or Meeting—centered on a convenient time-slot.

To enter into true community, our desire to use community to meet our needs must be surrendered. Community cannot meet the needs you are seeking to gain from it. Turn those desires to God instead of community. Dietrich Bonhoeffer clarifies this well, “Christian brotherhood is not an ideal which we must realize; it is rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate.”

Growing in Our Love as Family

The dominate metaphor for Christian community throughout the New Testament is family. God is father: We are adopted by him through Christ, we are brothers and sisters, we are heirs, and we have received every spiritual blessing. From Abraham onward, God’s purposes of blessing and salvation are worked out through a family. From Jesus’ death and resurrection onward, the Church becomes a diverse family belonging to a community that belongs to God. The family of God is characterized by the Father, who is loving, compassionate, gracious, merciful, patient, and just. Those who have been adopted into salvation are no longer orphans because of sin, but belong because of God’s love.

It is from this place of experience and knowledge of divine love that anyone is able to love others within community. We receive grace, so that we can extend grace to our brothers in Christ. It is from knowing God’s patience and mercy, that we live patiently and mercifully with our family. Christian community is authentic, generous, and caring because God is truth, grace, and love.

This sort of family is not an ideal we must realize, but a reality we participate in because of God’s work through us in Christ. Instead of finding our motivation in our own prescribed needs and desires, we cling to loving one other because we have received God’s love. Christian community is one of consistent and mutual extension of grace, truth, faith, hope, and love not for the sake of receiving it but from the joy of giving.

Growing in Love by Giving Yourself

Within this familial community, each of the “one another commands” makes sense:

• Comfort one another (2 Cor. 13:11)
• Agree with one another (2 Cor. 13:11)
• Live in peace with one another (2 Cor. 13:11)
• Greet one another (2 Cor. 13:11)
• Bear one another’s burdens—which in context refers to confronting sin and being burdened for the sinful brother (Gal. 6:2)
• Bear with one another (Eph. 4:2)
• Encourage one another (1 Thess. 5:11)
• Build one another up (1 Thess. 5:11)
• Do not grumble against one another (James 5:9)
• Do not speak evil against one another (James 4:11)

Through these “one-another’s” we become family in experience. These command are the process and action toward an authentic life of community where people care for one another. They are also commands that say unequivocally that community is a place of giving of your self.

Being a member of God’s family requires death to self. You must die. Community is costly. As the Apostle Paul write in Colossians 3:9, put off the old self:

Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. — Colossians 3:9-11

Paul is telling us exactly the way toward familial community: become new through God and be formed in the image of God. Now, all of this sounds very utopian and pleasant. Who wouldn’t want to be “fixed” and experience a caring and authentic community where your burdens are carried, you are not alone, and you are known? We all would, but a community like this is costly. It requires a death to you. It requires leaving your identity—what you do, what you have, where you came from.

In the place of this dying self, you must cling to the new self which is being formed by God in his own image. They way toward an authentic community is God recreating us. In Christ, we are not known by our culture, ethnicity, status, or resources. Those labels do not fit within a missional community, because we are all defined by Christ. He is recreating every aspect of our hearts.

Paul, then, describes the cost and fruit of this new identity in Christ:

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.  And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. — Colossians 3:12-17

We exchange our self-interest, self-definition, and approval seeking lives for one where we know we are approved of and chosen by God. The new life is one in community where we live with pure and loved hearts. Now we clothe our lives with kindness and humility! This is how we bear with one another, how we forgive one another: by being made new by God, by receiving new hearts of compassion.

Paul then points to a key pillar of community: forgiveness. We must not hold grudges, judge others, snicker behind others’ backs, hold their problems over them, or force them to earn our acceptance through right living. No, we don’t get to do any of those things and we shouldn’t want to. Instead we must forgive.

How can we forgive? We have been forgiven. Or, in other words, we received compassion from God who did not snicker at us or make us earn his approval. With a first hand knowledge of this kind of acceptance, welcome, and forgiveness, we must extend it to others. This will stretch us.

The pattern of life in this world is to use others’ mistakes, errors, and missteps against them and for ourselves. Our sins define us and their sins define them. However, in Christ, we are defined by the love God poured out on us to forgive us our sins. We are defined by that love. This love rules in community. This love overcomes burdens. This truth brings peace amidst all kinds of suffering. This grace produces thankful hearts. This is the love of Jesus. Paul says that this love rules community (1 Cor. 13).

You could sum up all of the one-another commands in the New Testament into this one: love one another. But what kind of love? The greatest kind of love: sacrificial. The love exemplified by Jesus on the cross, where he gave his entire self. On the cross, we see the love that is required within his community. We see on the cross the commandment lived out. Jesus doesn’t ask us to live out an ideal for our sake, or require us to do something he does not do. Jesus calls us to be conformed into the image of the Creator. To be like Jesus is to love like he loved and to extend that love to the ones he chose to love. This is why we love one another. What are the implications of letting this love rule our hearts as we live alongside others?

• We don’t give from the margins.
• We don’t give from convenience.
• We don’t give from comfort.
• We don’t give our left-overs.
• We don’t give from insecurity.

Rather we . . .

• We give ourselves with joy.
• We give ourselves with generosity.
• We give ourselves with truth.
• We give ourselves with humility.
• We give ourselves with forgiveness.
• We give ourselves with confidence, not allowing our community to live in sin, worship idols, and disregard Jesus as savior.
• We give because God gave Christ.
• We love because Christ loved us.

This is the type of familial community our souls actually crave. This is the only expectation big enough for lasting community.

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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.

The Antithesis of Anxiety

We sold our home today. We signed the papers, handed over the keys, and completed the seven month process which felt all-consuming. Each stage seemed overwhelming—from the painting and redecorating at the beginning, to the actual packing/loading/moving/unpacking at the end (and all the “Hurry up and hide the toys, we have a showing!” in between). But dependence grows beautifully in the soil of overwhelmed.

During moments on this journey, fatigue and stress felt more real than anything else. Too many mornings immediately ushered in our mental to-do list. I hated the gnawing, low rumblings of anxiety just as much as I hated the snapping tone I heard come from my lips. At times the weight of all I felt responsible to accomplish was crushing.

“Do not be anxious about anything …”

I believed a lie. The circumstances were difficult, yes, but they were not what made my chest tight and my heart heavy. What did was believing the lie that I was responsible to affect change, to make sure that things went as planned, and to hold it all together. In the moments when I took my eyes off of Jesus and only noticed the waves, I was believing that I needed to make the water still again. It was pure, modern-day, totally-understandable-in-the-eyes-of-our-culture idolatry. Deep in my heart I was not trusting God really was who he says he is or that he would really do what he has promised.And in response to this blatant treason, my Savior King never left me. He never pointed a condemning finger or cast me away for my sin. The Spirit convicted and lovingly drew me back.

“…but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

Apart from God’s grace I would not desire to pray, nor have the ability to access the blessings which prayer was designed to give. In my own strength, even on my most disciplined day, I could not drum up the righteousness to grant me access to the Holy, All-Powerful, Righteous Creator of the universe! He alone, out of the overflow of his own goodness and love, pursued me and granted me that access by the shed blood of his perfect Son, Jesus. He is very well acquainted with my broken condition and knows every moment of idolatry—past, present, and future. Yet He bids me, “Come.” He tells me to bring my anxiety and fear to him, as minuscule as they are in comparison to his greatness. And this Omnipotent God, who holds the stars and planets in place, bends to minister to me, a housewife in Ohio, who is disobeying him and robbing him of the glory he’s due. He draws me into his presence.

As I lie on my cluttered bed, tears flowing along with repentance, the Holy Spirit does what only he can. He exposes the lies, interposes the Truth, washes, comforts, and redeems. His commands are always for our joy, so when we’re told to be thankful instead of anxious, it is not another item to add to our to-do list. Rather, the Lord knows that anxiety cannot remain when we remember the greatest reason of all to be thankful: We get him! When we are in Christ Jesus, the reality of our right-standing before God, our temporary time here on earth, and our future, eternal home with him is the truest reality. The tasks don't disappear, but instead of believing that the outcome is dependent on my own works, I trust and rest in God. Resting in God’s economy is not the absence of our work, it is a heart-state that recognizes his ultimate authority and our position before him.

“And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Peace.

The perfect antithesis of anxiety. Just as my idolatry-produced-anxiety robs God of glory in my life, his perfect peace graciously given frees me to rightly enjoy him, thereby more rightly reflecting him to others. John Piper’s assertion that “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him” is confirmed right in the midst of a partially-packed box and piles of laundry. I talk to my kids more like Jesus when I am filled with his peace. I work on the to-do list with joy and grace when I remember that God is ruling and reigning and that he loves me. When my heart and mind are guarded against anxiety in Christ Jesus, I am freed to rest in the truth that he not only saves me, but he also keeps me, all for the praise of his glorious grace!

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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!

5 Portraits of Gospel-Centered Counseling

Previously we asked, “How Does God Use His Word in Our Lives?” We pondered together what is most important in biblical counseling. Is the ministry of the Word primary and loving relationships are secondary? Or, is the relationship central and you need to wait to share truth until you’ve established a trusting relationship? We saw that God calls us to give both Scripture and soul, truth and love. We also noted that 1 Thessalonians 2 provides 5 portraits of a truth-and-love biblical counselor. Here we want to dig into those.

Portrait # 1: The Love of a Defending Brother

Portrait 1 paints the picture of the love of a defending brother. Paul uses the Greek word for “brother” twenty-one times in 1 and 2 Thessalonians. He starts his first letter to the believers in Thessalonica by letting them know that he always thanks God for them “for we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you” (1 Thess. 1:4). Paul is saying they are siblings in God’s family by grace. Imagine hearing from the great apostle Paul that you are family; you are equals—equally loved by God’s grace.

Paul’s use of the word “brothers” is not limited to a family context, but also extends to a military context in the sense of a band of brothers who have one another’s backs. Paul says it like this in 1 Thessalonians 2:1-2:

You know, brothers, that our visit to you was not a failure. We had previously suffered and been insulted in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in spite of strong opposition.

The word “opposition” means agonizing and struggling together. It was used of teammates training together and of soldiers fighting together in warfare.

Though persecuted, Paul courageously shares Scripture and soul because he cares. Paul’s brotherly relationship is not devoid of truth; it is richly focused on Christ’s gospel of grace.

Portrait # 2: The Love of a Cherishing Mother

In the first portrait, Paul says to his counselee, “I’ve got your back fam!” In this second portrait, Paul speaks as a mother who says, “I long for you with a nourishing and cherishing affection.” We read of Paul’s motherly love in 1 Thessalonians 2:7: “But we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children.”

Paul’s describes his gentle relational ministry like a nursing mother, literally picturing the tender nourishing of breast-feeding. The word “caring” highlights cherishing, keeping warm, and tenderly comforting.

John Calvin portrays the scene beautifully:

A mother nursing her children manifests a certain rare and wonderful affection, inasmuch as she spares no labor and trouble, shuns no anxiety, is worn out by no labor, and even with cheerfulness of spirit gives herself to her child.

In 1 Thessalonians 2:9, we learn the nature of the nourishment Paul shares. “While we preached the gospel of God to you.” Paul’s motherly love is not simply touchy-feely love devoid of truth. It is passionate love filled with the meat of God’s Word applied to people’s lives.

Paul continues his theme of motherly affection in 1 Thessalonians 2:8. “We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.”

I call this a ministry sandwich because Paul sandwiches loving them so much and being dear to us around sharing Scripture and soul. The phrase “we loved you so much” means to long for, to affectionately desire, and to yearn after tenderly. “Delighted” means to joyfully serve out of pleasure and not out of a sense of duty or obligation. “Impart” emphasizes sharing generously and personally.

Speaking about 1 Thessalonians 2:8, Milton Vincent, author of A Gospel Primer for Christians, describes well who we are, how we relate, and what we share:

We are significant players in each other’s gospel narrative, and it is in relationship with one another that we experience the fullness of God in Christ…. The greatest gift I can give to my fellow-Christian is the gospel itself.

Portrait # 3: The Love of a Shepherding Father

Paul’s third portrait of the biblical counselor communicates, “I love you as a father guiding you individually and uniquely.” We see this beginning in 1 Thessalonians 2:11, “For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children.”

The Greek word highlights the individual, focused attention that Paul gives each person he ministers to—each of you, his own children. Leon Morris notes that this is not just general group concern, but individual pastoral care. To Paul, no one was simply a number, or an item on a “to do” list.

Paul further describes his fatherly focused attention with these words, “as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting, and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory” (1 Thess. 2:10b-11).

Paul’s ministry is not a one-size-fits-all ministry.

• To those in need of hope, Paul offers encouraging care—coming alongside to help and to en-courage (i.e., to implant courage into).
• To those struggling with loss, Paul offers comforting care—consoling the grieving and fainthearted, and sharing in their sorrows.
• To those in need of insight and direction, Paul provides guidance by urging them—discussing application of truth to the specifics of their lives.

Paul offers person-specific, situation-specific, and need-specific counsel (see also Ephesians 4:29; 1 Thessalonians 5:14; and Romans 12:15).

Portrait # 4: The Love of a Longing Child/Orphan

Paul now turns his portraits upside down. Previously he has described his relationships as a brother to a sibling, a mother to her infant children, and a father to his individual children. He now contrasts and communicates the love of an orphaned child bereaved of his parents. “But brothers, when we were torn away from you for a short time (in person, not in thought), out of intense longing we made every effort to see you” (1 Thess. 2:17).

“Torn away” is a phrase used of a child bereft from a parent. Chrysostom, a Church Father, depicts the word powerfully,

He sought for a word that might fitly indicate his mental anguish. Though standing in relation of a father to them all, he yet utters the language of orphan children that have permanently lost their parent.

It reminds us of Paul’s description of his leave-taking with the Ephesian elders.

When he said this, he knelt down with all of them and prayed. They all wept as they embraced him and kissed him. What grieved them most was his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship. After we had torn ourselves away from them, we put out to sea and sailed straight to Cos. – Acts 20:36-21:1

And what was the content of Paul’s relational ministry to the Ephesian believers? It was gospel truth for daily sanctification.

You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and house to house. … However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace. Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again…. For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. … Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears. Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. – Acts 20:20, 24-25, 27, 31-32

When torn away, here’s how Paul responded. “Out of intense longing we made every effort to see you” (1 Thess. 2:17b). We could translate it like this, “We experienced such non-stop, eager desire to reconnect with you that we endeavored exceedingly to see you!”

Let’s be honest. There are some counselees whose struggles are so difficult and whose way of relating so troublesome that at times we think, “Couldn’t someone else counsel this person?” In those moments, we need to pray for the Spirit to empower us with the type of love and longing that Paul writes about in 1 Thessalonians 2:17.

Portrait # 5: The Loving Respect of a Proud Mentor

Paul’s final portrait of the personal ministry of the Word comes in a military context. He writes in 1 Thessalonians 2:18, “For we wanted to come to you—certainly I, Paul, did, again and again—but Satan stopped us.” “Stopped us” literally means a cut in the road—an obstacle placed in the road by a military opponent to impeded or slow the advance of oncoming troops.

Paul continues this military context in 2:19: “For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes?” Paul now paints the image of the conquering king or general. Typically that general would gladly, and not-so-humbly, claim all the accolades for himself. Instead Paul turns to the “lowly private” and says, “You earned the victors crown. The glory wreath! You are a spiritual warrior. Well done!”

Sometimes we so focused on confronting the sins of our counselees that we forget that they are, by God’s grace, saints—victorious in Christ. And we forget to celebrate their victories.

As if to put an exclamation point on his respect for them, Paul concludes, “Indeed, you are our glory and joy.” Paul loves them and is proud of them. He publicly honors them for their esteemed service. They are spiritual champions in Christ.

Truth for Life and Ministry

Could the people we minister to say the following of us?

•  “I experienced you as a beloved brother embracing me as a fellow, equal member of God’s forever family by grace.”
•  “I experienced our relationship as a band of brothers and as a teammate who fights for me and agonizes on my behalf as you relate Christ’s grace to my life.”
•  “I experienced you as a nursing mother nourishing me with gospel truth through tender, cherishing love.”
•  “I experienced you as an affectionate, generous mother giving me Scripture and your very own soul because I am dearly loved by you.”
•  “I experienced you as a father focused on me with individual pastoral attention”
•  “I experienced you as a wise and caring father, shepherding me with exactly the biblical wisdom I uniquely needed at that specific moment.”
•  “I experienced you as longing for me so much that when we are apart you grieved like an orphan.”
•  “I experienced you as desperately longing for deep connection with me as a child longs for connection with a parent.”
•  “I experienced you as a mentor so proud of who I am in Christ that you give me a spiritual medal of honor.”
•  “I experienced you as a mentor so proud of who I am in Christ that I am your pride and joy.”

—

Dr. Robert W. Kellemen: Bob is the Vice President for Institutional Development and Chair of the Biblical Counseling Department at Crossroads Bible College, the Founder and CEO of RPM Ministries, and served for five years as the founding Executive Director of the Biblical Counseling Coalition. For seventeen years Bob served as the founding Chairman of and Professor in the MA in Christian Counseling and Discipleship department at Capital Bible Seminary. Bob pastored for 15 years and has trained pastors and counselors for three decades. Bob earned his BA in Pastoral Ministry from Baptist Bible College (PA), his Th.M. in Theology and Biblical Counseling from Grace Theological Seminary, and his Ph.D. in Counselor Education from Kent State University. Bob and his wife, Shirley, have been married for thirty-five years; they have two adult children, Josh and Marie, one daughter-in-law, Andi, and three granddaughters: Naomi, Penelope, and Phoebe. Dr. Kellemen is the author of thirteen books including Gospel-Centered Counseling and Gospel Conversations.

10¢ Moments; $10 Conversations

Small talk is one of my least favorite things ever. Most introverts like myself say they don’t like small talk because it forces them to step out of their shell and talk to people. They want to do as little talking as possible, especially about nominal matters like the weather. That’s part of the reason I don’t enjoy it, but there’s another reason. I find it difficult and even frustrating. Small talk, at its core, is a way for us to talk without asking or listening. Take this popular scenario for example. Chris walks into church and see Bill. Bill says, “Hey, Chris! How’s it going?” Chris, without hesitating, rattles off a, “Fine, how are you, Bill?” Bill wastes no time in replying that he is “fine” as well and asks how Chris’ wife is. “She’s doing well,” Chris responds and he returns the question to Bill. “The wife is good.” Chris and Bill do this tennis match of shallow interrogation for a few minutes, covering wife, kids, job, and remarkably, like we’re back in the Garden of Eden, it’s all good!

Have you been in this kind of exchange this week? I have. There is a “fine” syndrome we all fall into when small talk arises. Why do we do this? In Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands, Paul Tripp, counselor and pastor, addresses why he thinks we, especially as Christians, get “trapped in the casual.” He cites many reasons—busyness, feeling alone in struggles, and being blinded by our sin. But the biggest reason according to Tripp is that we get trapped because no one asks.

Tripp suggests that if we were more intentional in engaging others, we would find that everything is not fine. While it’s easy for Chris to say everything is great to Bill, he’d love to be encouraged by Bill to not lose heart at his job, or to be encouraged in his strained and depleting relationship with his wife and kids. In short, people fall into pits because we don’t take the time to ask if they need rescuing before its too late.

Fixing this will not be an easy, but we must, so that our conversations are more edifying than shop talk about a sports team. To borrow another concept from Tripp, we oftentimes have “10-cent moments,” short encounters with those around us and we must be a people who learn how to have “10-dollar conversations” in these short moments. How can we make our conversations with others more valuable?

Realizing Our Ministry

As Christians, we are called to people with names, faces, and souls. In the workplace, many of us are often crunching numbers, working with inanimate products, or using machinery. But this is not the case in personal ministry and discipleship. We are in the business of caring for souls. C.S. Lewis gets to the heart of the weightiness of caring for people:

There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously - no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption.^[1]

We should aspire to have valuable conversations because we deal with valuable people.Eternal souls, extraordinary beings created in God’s image. As we walk into a conversation, this must be our mindset. It’s crucial to disciple people well.

Asking Carefully

As Tripp showed us earlier, one of the biggest reasons we get “trapped in the casual” is because no one makes the effort to truly ask how we are and what’s really going on. We don’t want to be imposing, asking what we don’t need to know, but people are likely willing to open up to us if we give them the green light to through careful question asking. One simple way to do this is to ask the person responding with fine “Are you really?” Few expect this question and it also conveys a genuine desire to know how they truly are.

Careful question asking in disciple-making can take many forms. Maybe we ask for people to define their terms. A “huge fight” may mean something different to you than to them. Ask people how they responded when they share conflicts and situations with you. Ask them, most importantly, why they responded that particular way. These kinds of probing questions get to the heart of people and are where are gospel opportunities arise. This is where we get to discover what’s resonating in the hearts of those who need our encouragement and wisdom. 

Listening Intentionally

We can know who people are and ask careful questions, but if we do not take the time to listen with intentionality, we have likely missed our chance to disciple people well. We cannot disciple people well if we do not know how we need to disciple them and our chance to find out the “how” is found in listening well. “There’s a lot of difference between listening and hearing,” as G.K. Chesterton reminds us, and as Jesus models for us in Scripture.

Jesus, the one man who did not need to listen because he knew everything, made time to listen to so many people, even people against him like the Pharisees. He had every right and ability to build his ministry on giving answers, but he spent most of his time asking questions. Jesus took time to listen to the woman at the well, the woman who touched his garment, and the men on the road to Emmaus. And how much more time did he spend listening intentionally to his disciples? Not only was Jesus a great listener; he was a master at making “10-dollar conversations" out of every "10-cent moment" he found himself in.

How can we do the same? The next time you find yourself with a Bill or a Chris in a “10-cent moment,” try something different than small talk. Try going deeper. Remember the weightiness of people. Remember how much good you could do someone by asking careful questions and listening with intentionality. It could be the most powerful disciple-making tool in your belt.

^[1] C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory (HarperOne, 2001), pp. 45-46.

—

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

Living as the New Covenant Temple

Temple language and activity saturate the New Testament, following in the footsteps of the Old Testament. Somewhat surprisingly, much of this temple imagery is not primarily concerned with Herod’s stunning Second Temple makeover, but rather, with the New Covenant Temple (NCT hereafter) that Jesus was building. NCT imagery was important for the New Testament authors and their community, and therefore, such imagery should also be enriching for the Church today.

NEW COVENANT TEMPLE IMAGERY

According to the New Testament’s NCT imagery, Jesus is the NCT (John 2:21), the cornerstone (Matt. 21:42, Eph. 2:20), and the high priest (Heb. 4:14, 10:21). The curtain is Jesus’ flesh (Heb. 10:20). Jesus is the atonement (1 Jn. 2:2, Rom. 3:25).

The foundation for this new temple is made up of the apostles and the prophets (Eph. 2:20, Rev. 21:14). The pillars are James, Cephas, John, and the one who conquers (Gal. 2:9, Rev. 3:12). The saints are the living stones being indwelt and built together by the Spirit (1 Pet. 2:5, Eph. 2:22). The saints are also the priests (1 Pet. 2:5, 9). The lives of the saints are daily sacrifices (Rom. 12:1).

Holy living, sacrificial giving, and the prayers of the saints are the daily incense (2 Cor. 2:14-16, Philip. 4:18, Rev. 5:8). The Holy of Holies is heaven (Heb. 4:14, 8:1). The Holy Place is the Church on earth (1 Cor. 3:16-17, 2 Cor. 6:16, Eph. 2:22). Ministry is care for (or cultivtion of) the saints, and expanding the reach of the earthly Holy Place (Acts 14:27, 1 Cor. 16:9, Rev. 3:8).

Therefore, the Holy of Holies in heaven and the Holy Place on earth are one temple, but YHWH’s people are still awaiting the final “summarization” in Christ (Eph. 1:10). The NCT is already a present reality, and it is the true temple, but it has not yet reached its full consummation (Rev. 21-22).

JESUS OR THE CHURCH?

But is Jesus still the NCT or is it the Church or is it both? As observed above, the language used for the NCT is remarkably consistent, but a few issues do exist: namely, distinguishing between the NCT imagery used for the body of Jesus, the Universal Church, and the local church.

When Jesus walked upon the earth, the Gospel of John viewed Him as the locus of the presence of God on earth (John 1:14, 18). Therefore, Jesus was the true temple, and He transcended the Second Temple and all other temples. The Spirit was at work in the formation of the Old Covenant Temple, and the Spirit brought about the formation of Jesus as the temple (Matt. 1:18, Rom. 8:11).

After Jesus’ ascension, the Spirit was sent to build the NCT that Jesus founded on earth: the Lord’s community, which is the Universal Church. The Universal Church is made up of local churches, which are being joined together as the one NCT by the Spirit (Eph. 2:21-22).

As high priest, Jesus offered final atonement for His people through His death outside the city (Heb. 13:12, Lev. 16). Jesus now continues to span the gap between heaven and earth by constantly mediating for His followers and by allowing their prayers to be pleasing incense before the Father (Rev. 5:8). Jesus is a perfect high priest, and His people will never be guilty of sin because of Him (Lev. 4:3-12, Eph. 3:12).

Jesus’ continual presence in the heavenly Holy of Holies assures His people of their covenant status: which has always been a cause for great joy and trembling (Lev. 9:23-24). Also, as Josephus pointed out, the materials of the garments for the high priest were similar to the materials used to build the tabernacle. In other words, by representing Israel to YHWH and by representing YHWH to Israel, the fully clothed high priest becomes a microcosm of the tabernacle/temple.

Therefore, in one sense, Jesus is still the NCT, and one can only be part of the NCT by being in Jesus through the new creation of the Spirit. In another sense, Jesus is the high priest within the NCT, which is made up of the heavenly Holy of Holies and the earthly Holy Place, and He mediates between God the Father and His people. To put it another way, Jesus is a high priest who never takes off His high priestly garments. Through the Holy Spirit, the saints will one day be the high priests and the completed temple where God’s presence rests (Rev. 22:3-4, Exod. 28:36-38).

ALREADY AND NOT YET

The already/not yet temple that Jesus founded will one day be consummated as a fulfilled and improved Eden. In the end, through the Spirit’s power and the return of the true king, the current Holy Place will be unveiled as the newly created Holy of Holies (Rev. 21:16). The Book of Revelation seems to present this process in the following way: as the saints of the earthly, “already” Holy Place die, they are assimilated into the “not yet” Holy of Holies that is being prepared in a heavenly bridal dressing room until the king returns.

When He returns in His glory, then the Bride (the Church) will be revealed from heaven for the final consummation of the kingdom of God and the NCT. When YHWH fully indwells the New Jerusalem—the newly created Holy of Holies, the primary dwelling of His presence—then His people will be able to fully enjoy YHWH’s glory. They will serve in His presence as Christ Jesus, the current high priest, perpetually does. YHWH’s people will be both temple and high priest.

The foundation has been laid, the building has begun, and its completion is imminent, but the king has yet to bring the work to fruition. In the meantime, the Church-under-construction is the official place of God’s presence on earth.

A MORAL EXHORTATION FOR HOLY LIVING

In the “already,” New Testament authors employ NCT imagery to admonish their readers to live wholly consecrated lives to YHWH. As the Holy Place of the NCT, the Church is the locus of God’s presence on earth under the New Covenant, and one’s actions have extra weight when they are performed in the temple. Through the presence and work of the Holy Spirit, the Church’s character should mirror YHWH’s.

Following are two key passages that connect NCT language and holy living.

In 1 Pet. 2:1-12, Peter sandwiches his moral exhortations around obvious NCT language. Jesus is the “living stone,” and those who believe on him become as “living stones” being built into a spiritual house and a holy priesthood (1 Pet. 2:5). Peter then clarifies the building plan for these living stones by quoting from Isa. 28:16, Ps. 118:22, and Isa. 8:14 in succession: they are not just being built up as any other house, they are being built up as the NCT. Their priesthood is not only holy (2:5), but also royal (2:9), therefore, they must keep away from passions of the flesh.

In 2 Cor. 6:14-7:1, Paul begins by listing several dichotomies for why members of the Corinthian church should not be unequally yoked with unbelievers (6:14-16a). His closing dichotomy is between the temple of God and idols. Since the holy and living God dwells in the Church, the members of the Church should take every precaution in order to be holy. God’s presence is a great promise, but his presence should also create a healthy fear among his people (2 Cor. 7:1). The Church is the official place on earth where YHWH is worshipped, and all other temples, religions, and gods are treason. Therefore, individual believers should be characterized by their consecration to YHWH.

ESCHATOLOGICAL HOPE FOR SACRIFICIAL LIVING

The NCT’s “not yet” aspects help to provide the hope needed by YHWH’s people in order to live as sacrifices in two ways: (1) expanding the sacred space of the earthly Holy Place (evangelism), and (2) caring for the NCT on earth (building up other saints, i.e. sanctification).

The Holy Spirit not only binds the Church together as the NCT’s Holy Place, but also empowers the Church to continue Christ Jesus’ mission to reconcile creation through sacrificial love (2 Cor. 5:16-6:13).In other words, YHWH’s reconciled sacred space is expanded through the Spirit-empowered sacrifice of his people. YHWH’s priests are to serve by being living sacrifices (Rom. 12:1).

Similar to Hezekiah in 2 Chr. 29:3-19, YHWH opens doors (temple doors) to potential sacred space, and he bids his priests to enter and to serve, trusting that he will provide what they need in difficult circumstances (Rev. 3:8). Those who conquer, by the empowerment of the Spirit, will be made pillars in the temple of God and will have the name of the New Jerusalem and Jesus written on them (Rev. 3:12).

The hope of being part of the future consummation of the NCT should drive the Church to sacrifice for those in need as the Lord leads. The Church as the NCT on earth has a mission to reclaim creation as sacred space for YHWH, but – at the same time, as the NCT on earth—the Church must also allocate appropriate energies inwardly as well.

Not only is the Church part of the expansion of the NCT’s Holy Place through sacrificial living, but also, the Spirit uses the members of the Church to build itself up (1 Cor. 14:12). The Church should continually care for its members, for in doing so, the Church is actually caring for the hallmark of Jesus’ kingdom: YHWH’s NCT. Until the king returns, the Church should be more dedicated to the NCT than the faithful Davidic kings of the past were to the OCT because she knows that in caring for herself, she is a partaking in YHWH’s work and mission on earth. YHWH will bring it to completion (Philip. 1:6).

All in all, the Church should emphasize both (1) holiness for its members in order to be a pure and spotless Bride, and (2) sacrificial living to expand and care for the NCT on earth. The Spirit is once again making a new creation as the dwelling place of God—through the Church—as the NCT is being expanded and built up. The final consummation is coming, and the NCT eagerly awaits its rest in the undisputed coronation of Christ.

CONCLUSION

The New Testament authors employed NCT imagery throughout the New Testament in order to morally exhort the Church to holiness and to provide eschatological hope for sacrificial living. The New Testament authors believed that this language was especially effective because it accurately described the current inaugurated eschatology of God’s kingdom, and how humanity was being reconciled to its creator.

The Church’s privilege of being the NCT has many theological implications: it is the official place to worship YHWH, the sign to all of YHWH’s enemies that they stand no chance (Eph. 3:10), and the community where humanity is beginning to realize its goal. The NCT and the kingdom of God are both “already but not yet,” which will not be fully consummated until Christ Jesus returns.

Come Lord Jesus!

—

Timothy Rucker earned a Th.M. degree from Western Seminary. He currently lives in the Tampa Bay Area with his family, where he worships with and serves the congregation of Keene Terrace Baptist Church

Cross-posted from Western Seminary's Transformed blog as part of a partnership. Adapted from Living as the New Covenant Temple - Part 1 & Part 2

A Guide for Discipling Believers One-on-One

You know John. God did a great work in John’s life after graduation from high school. He had been a typically rebellious teenager who had heard the gospel but was not truly converted. But God, in His kindness, reclaimed John’s prodigal life and brought Him to a point of repentance and faith in his college years. He immediately connected with a group of Christians from the local church adjacent to his home and poured himself into its ministry. His life was marked by an insatiable hunger for the Word, a longing for relationships with other Christians, a humble desire to serve, and a genuine pursuit of a life that honored God.

Before long John found himself overseeing a group of middle-school boys and assuming increasing levels of leadership within the church. While John was honored to be asked to lead, he knew that there was a problem.

He had never been discipled.

Sure, he attended the church service each week, went to the classes offered by the church, and occasionally listened to his favorite preacher via podcast. However, no one assumed spiritual responsibility for him or walked with him through a process of understanding and applying the gospel to his life. Even worse, he was now being asked to make disciples without having been discipled himself.

John felt trapped. He knew that he was ill-equipped for the task. It was exposing all sorts of sin in his heart and he knew that he lacked the maturity and training necessary to lead well. Not only that, but the stress of leadership in the church was having a negative impact on his family. On most days, he masked this insecurity behind sheer, white-knuckled will power. He worked hard and pretended that he knew what he was doing. But he didn’t. And he, his family, and the church were suffering as a result.

The church felt trapped, too. The pastor was busy and the never-ending needs of the church always seemed to crowd out meaningful time to train John. And what’s worse, he really didn’t have a good plan for discipling guys like John anyway. He had never been discipled either. So, on a good week he might share a meal with John and ask how he was doing or give him a book that had proved valuable in his own ministry. What else could he do? The only other option was to send him off to seminary and run the risk of never seeing him again. Young leaders were too rare and too valuable to the church to make this choice.

Our churches are filled with people like John. They love Jesus and the church, and they are looking to the church for discipleship. They are not all college aged men. Some are teenage girls, some business professionals, and some elderly church members. They need the church to create a intentional plan to take new converts and disciple them towards maturity and leadership in the church. This task is not optional for the church. Paul reminded Timothy that his task was to take “the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others (2 Tim 2:2).” Churches have a responsibility to create a culture of disciple-making and multiplication.

The church desperately needs an intentional plan for taking new believers, discipling them to maturity, and entrusting them with intentional leadership within God’s church.

If the task of discipleship is neglected the results are predictable. The developing disciples will have to do the following things on their own:

• Understand the gospel message and how it shapes their own spiritual formation;
• Apply the gospel to their lives and the lives of others through intentional disciple-making;
• Develop the fruit of the Spirit and the character of a leader in the church;
• Learn how to practice key spiritual disciplines and grow in the grace and knowledge of God;
• Make key life decisions, such as a spouse or a career;
• Join a healthy church and become a meaningful member;
• Discern their own gifting and calling;
• Find a leadership role that fits that gifting and calling;
• Learn how to care for fallen and broken people.

This is a weighty task that cannot be accomplished through simply shuffling people off to a new class in hopes that they will grow. More often than not the potential disciple will end up frustrated, burned-out, and stagnant in their own spiritual formation, because they are being asked to do in isolation what is meant to be done in the community of the church.

Churches who lack a strategy for disciple-making and leadership development will also have to do the following in isolation:

• See a host of their members fall away due to sin or neglect that results from a lack of maturity;
• Lament the lack of trained and skilled leaders for the ministries that God has entrusted to the church; such as, small group leaders, Sunday School teachers, or future staff members;
• Depend on classes and programs to do the arduous work of disciple-making;
• See new believers come to faith in Christ and yet lack any strategy for nurturing them to maturity;
• Fail to equip the church to do their most important task – make disciples;
• Place people in leadership roles that may exceed their maturity;
• Determine a good fit for staff positions in the church based on a resume alone;
• Depend on seminaries or parachurch agencies to train its leaders in the hopes that this feeder system will consistently produce enough leaders for the church’s needs;
• Remove leaders whose calling, character, or competence do not match the leadership needs to which they are called.

The result is wasted potential, immature church attendees, poorly led churches, and thousands of unreached men, women, and children littering our nation. The surpassing riches of God’s grace in the gospel, and the vast lostness of the world, compel the church to reproduce theologically robust, missionally active, and Spirit-led disciples (Eph 2:6-10). The development and deployment of future disciples in the church and for the church is vital for the church to thrive in the coming generation. This is a stewardship that we must not neglect.

Churches can train leaders—but most need tools to aid them in this task. Aspire is written in an effort to not only motivate churches to engage in this vital work but also to provide them with the basic framework for developing disciples and leaders in their context. There is no such thing as a plug-and-play model. What works for us in Greenville, SC may not work exactly the same way in an urban context on the West coast. Aspire can, however, provide a vital tool to mobilize the church to implement a pathway for discipleship that uses the tools provided here and yet supplements and applies these ideas with additional resources that are needed in their context.

—

Matt Rogers is the pastor of The Church at Cherrydale in Greenville, South Carolina. He and his wife, Sarah, have three daughters, Corrie, Avery, and Willa and a son, Hudson. Matt holds a Master of Arts in counseling from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary as well as a Master of Divinity and a PhD  from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Matt writes and speaks for throughout the United States on discipleship, church planting, and missions. Find Matt online at www.mattrogers.bio or follow him on Twitter @mattrogers_

Adapted with permission from Aspire: Part One: Transformed by the Gospel. Receive a discount on orders of 10 or more here. Aspire is a 15-week study, written in two parts, designed to be used to disciple believers in the local church. Each week's study combines rich theological content and clear practical application in a journal-based format. Ideal for one-on-one discipleship relationships, Aspire guides believers toward life-long transformation.

The Righteousness Ladder

Most Christians, at some point in life, will stop and wonder whether or not they believe enough or have faith strong enough. What brings this doubt?

• Life just hurts. Have you been in a place when you could swear there was a steady beeping sound just before a load of grief or stress was dumped on your head? During these times, we are prone to wonder where we had fallen short of God's expectations, searching high and low for to uncover the area of life that still is not sufficiently yielded.
• I have sinned. We have relationships that need constant attention, but inevitably we come short of what is required of us, or we cross a line that should never be crossed. Someone is wronged at our hand. When the fault comes to light, confession and repentance are needed to bring that relationship back into working order. In order to inhibit or prevent another occurrence, we put in place preventive maintenance measures.
• I want to please God. There are times when we want God to work in and through us, so that the change might be palpable. We yearn for those things that just feel right—or as right as they can be in this world—and show to us that we can be satisfied with the results. We determine that this a good time to get more serious and to be “holy in all your conduct” (1 Pt. 1:15).

In each of these three scenarios, we resolve to double down on our efforts to close the distance between ourselves and the Lord through a regimen of spiritual disciplines (Bible study, prayer, and good works). We seek, through sheer determination, to work our way into God's good graces. There is one problem: that approach does not work. The work has already been completed. What do I mean?

People get into their heads that they can be made right before God by doing the right things in the right way and some have enough foresight to recognize that all this effort may be really hard work. Actually, it is impossible—and that is a good thing. We tend to perform these in order to show our stuff or to gain approval. Either way the object of attention is me. I am the focal point, and I will get the credit with God for all this effort. The issue is that our righteousness cannot be worked out in that way. Our righteousness was never to be attained by works, but by faith.

We like a challenge to prove ourselves, and some will accept the extreme to prove something can be done. Paul wrote to the church in Rome about the effort:

For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. But the righteousness based on faith says, Do not say in your heart, “Who will ascend into heaven?” (that is, to bring Christ down) or “Who will descend into the abyss?” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim). – Romans 10:5-8

All of us want to work our way up the righteousness ladder: “If only I could do this,” or “If only I could do that.” We will go to almost any extent, even to go on some great trek to find Jesus, so He can do something for me. Paul says that none of this is necessary. God cannot be found through a mighty undertaking to find Christ, because He accomplished the undertaking for us. Jesus cannot be brought up from the grave to do something: having been given as the only acceptable sacrifice for our sin, He was raised for our justification (Rom 4:25). Neither can He be brought down from heaven: He is ascended, ever making intercession (Isa 53:12; Heb 7:25).

Jesus has died, risen, and ascended to the right hand of the majesty on high (Heb 1:3). Because He has finished the necessary work, our part is just to believe and confess it. No amount of effort can earn what has already been earned by the Lord Jesus.

“Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” —1 John 10:9-11

One might think, “This is all fine and good for the one who has never believed before, but I've been a Christian for some time now. How does this apply to me and wanting to grow in Christ?” The answer is the same: You cannot gain ground in your righteousness by your works.

The spiritual disciplines mentioned earlier are not our measuring stick of progress. Neither are they our path to attain more of Christ. Scripture, prayer, and good works are all gifts of God. Scripture reveals the Lord of heaven and earth, Creator of all things, and His work of redemption to purchase for Himself a people. Prayer is given that we might communicate rightly with the Lord of glory. Good works are given so that we might walk in them, and that those who see will give glory to God. When we take these and turn them into a tool to gain more of Christ, we turn the gifts into works and tell the Lord that we will finish what was left undone for our growth.

The good news is that Christ died for our sins—all sin past, present, and future—was buried, and rose again according to the Scriptures (1 Cor 15:3-4). He appeared before God on our behalf only once to put away sin by Himself (Heb 9:24-26). Because of this we are lavished with wondrous benefits (Eph 1:3-14). Let's rest in all that and not try to add to it.

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Steve Bricker is from Cedar Rapids, IA, where he shares his life with his wife of 35 years, Sandi. A software developer by training, he has a M.A. in Theological Studies from Faith Evangelical Seminary, Tacoma, WA. His main interests are Biblical Theology and Church History. He is active at Maranatha Bible Church through leading Bible studies and small groups and serving on the deacon board. In addition, Steve writes at What Accords with Sound Doctrine.

How Does God Use His Word in Our Lives?

Trudy and Tony were referred to you from another church. You’ve never met them before today. They’ve come to you after already having seen a divorce attorney. Trudy tells you that she is “100% motivated to be in counseling” and “desperately wanting to see our marriage saved.” Tony is meeting with you because he feels it’s his obligation to “make one more attempt to save this marriage.” What do Trudy and Tony need from you first? Do they need truth—scriptural insight about sacrificial love applied to their marital relationship? Or, do they need love—to connect with you and to build a relationship with you so that they are ready to hear truth from you?

Which is most important in biblical counseling? Is the ministry of the Word primary and loving relationships secondary? Or, is the relationship central and you need to wait to share truth until you’ve established a trusting relationship?

Are these even the right questions? Does Scripture divide truth from relationship in ministry? Does the Bible rank truth and love? Wouldn’t that be somewhat like asking, “Which counselor is least effective, the one who ignores the greatest commandment to love God and others, or the one who ignores commands to counsel from the Word?”

The Bible never pits truth against love. It never lays them out on a gradation or ranking system.The Bible presents equal couplets: truth/love, Scripture/soul, Bible/relationship, and truth/grace.   

Just the UPS Delivery Man?

And yet we’re forced to ponder these questions about truth and love every time we minister to others. I was forced to ponder the issue again recently when I listened to an excellent closing session at a biblical counseling conference. The message was biblical, relevant, and powerful. The wise, godly speaker wrapped the entire message around the theme that the power in our ministry comes solely from the power inherent in God’s Word.

His concluding illustration put an exclamation point on his theme as he shared about the Christmas present he purchased for his daughter. The gift arrived two days before Christmas, delivered by the UPS guy. The speaker’s daughter, hearing the UPS truck pull into the driveway, bolted to the door to meet the delivery man. She snatched the package from his hands and raced to place it under the tree, not the least bit focused on the UPS delivery guy. The speaker concluded with the phrase, “We’re just the UPS delivery guy. The real gift, the great present is the Word that we deliver. We’re just the UPS delivery guy!”

I joined the crowd in “Amening!” I loved the illustration. I got the theme—the power is in the Word of God!

More Than Just the UPS Delivery Guy

But later that evening, I started asking myself: Is that the complete biblical picture? Don’t we always say that God calls us to speak the truth in love (Eph. 4:15), to make our love abound in knowledge and depth of insight (Phil. 1:9-11), and to share not only the gospel but our very own souls (1 Thess. 2:8)? Does the Bible really teach that only the message matters, or does it teach that the messenger’s character and relationship to the hearer also matter greatly?

Once these questions started whirring through my mind, I couldn’t sleep. Thinking about sharing Scripture and our soul, I turned to 1 Thessalonians 2. As I read those twenty verses, five biblical portraits of the biblical counselor emerged from the pages. I saw then what I share with you now:

Biblical counseling involves gospel conversations where we engage in soul-to-soul relationships as brothers, mothers, fathers, children, and mentors who relate Christ’s gospel story to our friends’ daily stories.

God calls us to love well and wisely. That’s why, in biblical counseling, we must weave together in our ministries what is always united in God’s Word—truth and love, which is comprehensive biblical wisdom and compassionate Christlike care. Biblical counseling is not either/or: either be a brilliant but uncaring soul physician, or be a loving but unwise spiritual friend. God calls us to be wise and loving biblical counselors.

We are more than just the UPS delivery guy. According to 1 Thessalonians 2, God calls us to share his Word with the love of a brother, mother, father, child, and mentor. This is vital to our ministries today, just as it was vital to Paul’s ministry in Thessalonica. Based upon 1 Thessalonians 2:2-3, 5-6, commentator Leon Morris notes that:

It is clear from the epistle that Paul had been accused of insincerity. His enemies said that he was more concerned to make money out of his converts than to present true teaching. The accusation would be made easier in virtue of the well-known fact that itinerant preachers concerned only to feather their own nests were common in those days. Paul was being represented as nothing more than another of this class of preaching vagrants.

Morris goes on to explain that in Paul’s day:

Holy men of all creeds and countries, popular philosophers, magicians, astrologers, crack-pots, and cranks; the sincere and the spurious, the righteous and the rogue, swindlers and saints, jostled and clamored for the attention of the credulous and the skeptical.

The Message and the Messenger

That’s why the unity of Scripture and soul and truth and relationship was so vital to Paul. In writing to the Thessalonians, Paul is saying, “You doubt my credentials? Then be a good Berean who examines the message and the messenger—what I say, who I am, and how I relate to you.” It’s the identical message that Paul sends to every young minister anywhere. If you want to validate your ministry, then “watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers” (1 Tim. 4:16, emphasis mine).

Paul writes 1 Thessalonians 2 to affirm his ministry as from God and to affirm the nature of all ministry from God by modeling the sharing of Scripture and soul, by embodying truth in love. It is God’s plan to use his Word powerfully when we share it truthfully and lovingly—like a brother, mother, father, child, and mentor.

The Rest of the Story: Ministering to Trudy and Tony 

What Trudy and Tony need from you is truth and love. They need scriptural insight about sacrificial love applied to their relationship in the context of a family relationship where you share Scripture and your soul as a brother, mother, father, child, and mentor.

What does that mean? What does that look like? In my next two posts for Gospel-Centered Discipleship, we’ll explore in greater detail Paul’s practical teaching from 1 Thessalonians about 5 Portraits of Gospel-Centered Counseling.

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Dr. Robert W. Kellemen: Bob is the Vice President for Institutional Development and Chair of the Biblical Counseling Department at Crossroads Bible College, the Founder and CEO of RPM Ministries, and served for five years as the founding Executive Director of the Biblical Counseling Coalition. For seventeen years Bob served as the founding Chairman of and Professor in the MA in Christian Counseling and Discipleship department at Capital Bible Seminary. Bob pastored for 15 years and has trained pastors and counselors for three decades. Bob earned his BA in Pastoral Ministry from Baptist Bible College (PA), his Th.M. in Theology and Biblical Counseling from Grace Theological Seminary, and his Ph.D. in Counselor Education from Kent State University. Bob and his wife, Shirley, have been married for thirty-five years; they have two adult children, Josh and Marie, one daughter-in-law, Andi, and three granddaughters: Naomi, Penelope, and Phoebe. Dr. Kellemen is the author of thirteen books including Gospel-Centered Counseling and Gospel Conversations.

It is Finished

After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. – John 19:28-30

In 1862, French poet, playwright, and novelist Victor Hugo released his magnum opus Les Miserables, considered one of the greatest novels of the nineteenth century. In 1998, Hugo’s masterpiece found its cinematic zenith in the Bille August-directed film by the same name. In both works, one scene stands out above the rest.

At the beginning of the narrative, we meet ex-convict Jean Valjean who has just been released from a nineteen year prison sentence for stealing a loaf of bread. Trying to get on his feet, Valjean attempts to find a place to live but no one would take him in except for one—Bishop Myriel.

It doesn’t take long for Valjean’s old temptation to rear its ugly head. When everyone is asleep one night, Valjean goes to the cupboard and pilfers some of the bishop's silver. He makes a run for it but is eventually caught red-handed. The police bring him before the bishop.

Valjean stands before the bishop, being held by the police. Bishop Myriel looks at the police and proclaims something extraordinary. He says that he gave the silver to Valjean as a gift. If that wasn't enough, the bishop goes over to the mantelpiece, takes two silver candlesticks, and says that actually more silver had been forgotten by Valjean. He places the candlesticks in Valjean’s hands. The police have no choice but to let Valjean go free. But the story doesn’t end there.

After the authorities leave, the bishop looks at Valjean and says this to him, “Now, go in peace. By the way, my friend, when you come again, you needn't come through the garden. You can always come and go by the front door. It is only closed with a latch, day or night.”

The bishop not only gives him mercy by forgetting the original crime and letting him keep the silver he stole, he gives him more mercy by giving him more silver. And then, he gives him even more mercy by giving him the best gift of all: his trust. The bishop does something so radically counter-intuitive to us. Something that feels so unnatural to us. He gives him unconditional grace.

Quid Pro Quo

We live in a society based on conditions. When you look at the world around us, everything in our culture demands a trade of some kind. “You do this for me; I’ll do this for you.” “You scratch my back; I’ll scratch yours.” But unconditional grace? We just can’t seem to wrap our feeble minds around that. It doesn’t’ make any sense to us. We are so acclimated to a culture of quid pro quo that we believe everything must have a catch.

We impose this idea upon God as well. We think that in order for God to truly extend his mercy to us, we must give him back something in return. We feel like we owe him something. So we resort to a spiritual checklists because they feel much safer. We like conditions because they keep us in “control.” If we can complete our spiritual “to do” list, it gives us the illusion that things are good between God and us because we have played a part in it. Gerhard Forde, a Lutheran theologian, can help here:

The gospel … is such a shocker … because it is an absolutely unconditional promise. It is not an “if-then” kind of statement, but a “because-therefore” pronouncement: because Jesus died and rose, your sins are forgiven and you are righteous in the sight of god! It bursts in upon our little world all shut up and barricaded behind our accustomed conditional thinking as some strange comet from goodness-knows-where.

God’s grace isn’t conditional. It’s unreserved. It’s not a back-and-forth, two-way love. God’s grace always moves in one direction. And that is why it disturbs us. Forde continues:

How can it be entirely unconditional? Isn’t it terribly dangerous? How can anyone say flat out, “you are righteous for Jesus’ sake?” Is there not some price to be paid, something (however minuscule) to be done? After all, there can’t be such thing as a free lunch, can there?

That’s exactly what we do with God’s grace. We put conditions on it. We take a “yes grace but …” position. We think there is something that must be done on our end. There can’t just be free grace for the taking, can there?

The Beauty of Grace

The last words that Jesus spoke before he gave up his spirit on the cross were three words we need to massage into our hearts. “It is finished.” Grace announces that Jesus met all of God’s conditions on our behalf so that God’s mercy towards us could be unreserved. That’s the beauty of grace. It requires no work on our part. The work of redemption is complete in Jesus. In Christ, we are completely accepted. We are completely loved. In full. The work is done. It is finished.

This rightly rages against our insatiable need to work for our salvation. When we look to the cross and see the Savior of the world proclaim that the work is finished, it disorients us because we are a “conditional” people. Work, not rest, is our modus operandi. But that is exactly why Jesus breathed out those three words. God knew we would need to hear over and over, “Your effort is not needed. It is finished,” because to rest feels like a waste of time.

But deep gospel rest is exactly what we can find in the finished work of Jesus. Our hearts can truly engage with the words from Hebrews, “So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his” (Heb. 4:9-10). Entering spiritual rest means that we are resting in Christ’s finished work on our behalf—not our work or our reputation or our accomplishments. It means we are swapping effort for rest. It’s at the heart of what Jesus achieved on Calvary’s cross.

As we hear again the crucified Jesus’ final words this Holy Week, hope is uncovered. We are saved solely by grace through Christ’s work. In Jesus, we can be forgiven. We can be made clean. We don’t earn it. We simply receive grace because that’s the only way grace is received. Grace isn’t grace unless it’s unconditional. It looks as if there is such a thing as a free lunch after all.

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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 leadership at Mercyview in Tulsa, OK. He blogs at graceuntamed.com and his articles can also be found on Gospel-Centered Discipleship, For the Church, 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.

Today you will be with me in Paradise

One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” – Luke 23:39-43

On the cross, Jesus reveals a huge truth when he invites the criminal hanging next to him into Paradise.“And [the thief] said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ And [Jesus] said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise’” (v. 43). This man didn’t know religious jargon, but his confession is raw and authentic. He speaks in defense of Jesus, saying that he is innocent of the punishment he and the other criminal deserve. Yet, Jesus still hangs in the same place they do. This confession is a beautiful presentation of the gospel. Spoken by a man unworthy of the inheritance of Christ. His offense had to be among the worst if his punishment was death on a cross. The severe contrast of the two criminals is nothing but a posture of heart and the grace of God. Their reputation, infliction, and condemnation is the same, but Christ changed one man’s eternity.

Have you ever prayed for terrorists? Do you know drug addicts? Have you watched cyclic homelessness? What about pimps and prostitutes? A subtle lie has infected evangelicalism. It’s that someone can be too far gone to be saved. I realized this when I had a friend pray for a family member of mine. I sat in awe as she passionately pleaded for God’s mercy to be lavished upon my loved one. Her faith invigorated my own, even though at the time my hope for my family member’s salvation was extinguished. Honestly, I had stopped praying for them altogether. The infection of this lie dulls our hearts and minds. We choose to reside in the welfare of apathy rather than the dangerousness of compassion. The root is nothing more than hope deferred and rotted.

I grew up hearing that sin can’t be ranked because God sees it all as rebellion. It seemed simple. But a murderer can not simply be equated with a liar. It doesn’t seem natural, right, or moral to equate all injustice. However, no matter our sin when God considers those who believe in Jesus, the Father see us as the blameless Jesus. That truth that defeats the lie. If everyone who believes is seen in Christ, then we should boldly pray for the worst sinners. Because if they believe, they too will be justified by the blood of Jesus and seen as righteous in him. There is no boundary of too far and no unforgivable sin. We are blameless because of the Son before the Father. This justification is our victory and invites us into the very presence of God. We bear no weight of sin. Victory is ours and it’s for all. We can pray for the biggest sinner hoping to hear, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

Nothing Outweighs Grace

Christ resurrects hope when we least expect it, when we least deserve it, and even when we seem to be out of time. Every story of the gospel’s work in the life of a sinner may not be told through a lifetime. It may be told in a short few minutes, or even seconds. The thief on the cross is delivered within moments of his death. He confessed with his mouth and believed in his heart (Rom 10:9). Therefore, he was justified and saved. But Jesus etched his story forever in the Gospels. This man may have wasted away his life. He may have killed and stolen and abused people. At the end of the day, he was rescued from the captivity of his sin. And in the last seconds of their lives, Jesus resurrected hope for this hope and so for all sinners. If God can save this man, then none of us are beyond hope. This man may not have had a lifetime to share the Good News of Christ, but his testimony lives.

When my friend prayed for the salvation and sanctification of my family member, it felt as though she showed me an empty well within my heart, but as she prayed, she began pouring water into the well until it was overflowing. Her prayer filled me with a hope that I had lost, but even more, she led me to the throne so that I could pray myself. God rescues us when we admit our insufficiency, just like the criminal hanging next to Jesus. “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” (Rom. 15:13). The simple part of salvation is that we don’t do it. God alone through Christ alone uses the Holy Spirit alone to change the hearts of people. No sin outweighs the grace of God. My advice is this, don’t be afraid to ask for prayer. Even more, ask someone to pray over you and let the hope in their voice and the power of the Spirit remind you of the truth. Also, if you know someone who is lost or hurting, approach them and offer a prayer. The timing of God is not accidental, but absolutely providential. Trust and believe that Christ’s gift of salvation can be offered to anyone.

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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.

Father, Forgive Them

Under the scorching heat of the desert, Jesus uttered the first words past his dry, cracked, and bleeding lips, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Lk. 23:34). That must have puzzled those standing at the foot of the cross. His body had writhed in agony after being beaten throughout the night, only to be nailed to a rugged, splintered, and wooden cross the next morning. What Father could have stood idly by while his perfect and innocent Son was being crucified alongside criminals? Who is this Son, who cries out to such a Father? Who is this Man who in the midst of being crucified pleads for the forgiveness of his torturers? His cry from the cross is as much a conviction as it is a comfort.

The Conviction

There is no indemnity for us from the crimes committed against Jesus at the cross. We are all complicit. Scripture says that we have all sinned and that our sins must be punished. It is our hands driving in the nails and our fingers pressing down the thorns into his brow. We have unjustly tried, convicted and sentenced him to death. We are spitting upon, mocking and reviling him. When he’d made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem days ago, we cheered, “Hail! Hail!” (Lk.19:37-38) Today we shout, “Nail! Nail!” Humanity proved its total depravity at that cross. Filled with self-righteous bloodlust, we were thrilled to kill the man who had healed our sick, raised our dead, fed our multitudes, and forgave our sins. Yet he pled for our forgiveness. “Father, forgive them” (Lk. 23:34).

But Jesus does not only die by our hands, he also died for us. “He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed,” (Is. 53:5). Jesus was not the only victim on that cross. Those who put faith in him become victims because his death was vicarious. He died instead of us. He wasn’t just taking our punches at the cross; he was also taking our sins and bearing the punishment due us. As we murdered him, we witnessed our desperate need of his sacrifice. We didn’t know that we were crying out for blood at that cross because we needed it for our salvation—“for they know not what they do” (Lk. 23:34).

The Comfort

Death, hell, and the devil all surrounded the Lord Jesus Christ at the cross. The powers of darkness reveled as, “He breathed his last,” (Lk. 23:46b). They had won. Humanity and all of creation would forever remain under their dominion.

But Jesus was not only victim, but willing sacrifice—working out the eternal plan of the Trinity (Eph 1:1-10). The first word he’d cried out was, “Father” (v. 34) and he had said earlier, “My Father is working until now, and I [too] am working” (Jn. 5:17). Jesus was triumphing through the cross the whole time! It looked like the devil was winning, but God was working. “He stripped all the spiritual tyrants in the universe of their sham authority at the Cross and marched them naked through the streets,” (Col. 2:15, MSG). What a fool's parade God made of death, hell, and the grave at Calvary. If they had only known, they wouldn’t have showed up for work that day!

The wickedness of man had peaked at the cross—“but where sin abounded, grace abounded all the more” (Rom. 5:20). We bristle against this sharp rebuke, “This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men” (Acts 2:23). The wickedness of lawless men paved a path of redemption for those who would repent and believe this scandalous gospel. Paul describes this truth as “a secret and hidden wisdom of God” that if the rulers of his age had understood it “they would not have crucified the Lord of glory,” (1 Cor. 2:7-8). We didn’t know that we were killing God and that through our wickedness God had planned to secure our redemption! But God offers comfort at the cross! Jesus proclaimed a cure as surely as he pronounced conviction.

The Collide

Conviction and comfort both collide in joy as I marvel at Christ’s words. Psalm 85:10 says, “Steadfast love and faithfulness meet; righteousness and peace kiss each other.”

We didn’t know that God had set the scene for the most cosmic kiss of the ages: justice and mercy! The force of this kiss shook the gates of hell and rang all of heaven’s bells. Angels longed to look into these things. How could God the Father be completely just to his own character while completely merciful towards rebellious sinners? He did it by the same means the devil used Judas to betray Jesus, the Son—with a kiss (Mk. 14:44).

The righteous requirement of death for our sins by God was met by the merciful provision of God’s own Son as a sacrifice in our place. Justice and mercy kissed at Calvary. Our ignorance of our sinfulness was no excuse. But our ignorance of God’s plan was our rescue! Who would have ever have imagined such a harmonious union? They converged to adorn God’s divine wisdom for rebels who “know not what they do” (Lk. 23:34). “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,” (Lk. 23:34). But you knew, O God. You knew.

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

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Kileeo Rashad is based in Philadelphia, PA, where he serves his local church in many capacities; speaker, preacher, deacon, and hospitality director. He is currently working on a debut writing project which will address breaking silence on sexual brokenness within the church. Kileeo is also the founder of Restoring the Breaches, a ministry that aims to help churches and individuals facilitate gospel-centered conversations around sexuality.

Into Your Hands I Commit My Spirit

 “Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.” – Luke 23:46

“Do you trust me?” As my children were first being introduced to the pleasure of swimming it took some effort to get them to jump from the ledge into my arms. Standing there ready to receive them as they shook in fear at jumping into the unknown watery world I would ask, “Do you trust me?” In the same way I had to confront my own fears as I waded through the darkness of my own life in 2014. In the midst of a soul-crushing employer, the devastation of my wife’s health, and the overwhelming anguish of my mother’s battle with Ebola, I had to look passages like Romans 8:28 straight in the eye and listen to the voice of God asking me, “do you trust me?”

In the storyline of the Bible, this question pierces to the heart. Will you trust God? In some ways, this question is the very essence of true discipleship. Jesus calls each of us to turn from our former lives of death and sin and turn to a life of following him. That is predicated on this very question: do you trust God? And while the question may be something we want to answer quickly, we should consider Jesus’ life so that we answer it wisely.

Adam and Eve didn’t trust God, so they took and ate the fruit. Abraham failed to trust God and trusted his own cleverness to produce the offspring God was promising. Rebecca and Jacob didn’t trust God’s plan and stole the birthright and blessing of his older brother Esau. Moses didn’t trust God and struck the rock failing to enter the promised land. The Israelites after the Exodus didn’t trust God as they listened to the spies’ report and determined God couldn’t handle a few tall men. Israel continued a pattern of mistrust through the entire time of Judges and instead did everything that was right in their own eyes. David, in stubborn weakness, failed to trust God’s provision for him and seized what was not his then murdered to cover his tracks. His son Solomon failed to trust God’s gift of wisdom and instead lusted after the gods of the nations. The kingdom fell and the track record continues on to this day in all of us: We all fail to trust God.

Yet for Jesus the question of trust was raised before the foundation of the world. Did he trust the Father in his “definite plan and foreknowledge” to send the Son as a human (Acts 2:23)? Did he trust the Father as he submitted himself to baptism? As he was sent to the wilderness in temptation? As he endured hostility from his family and neighbors? As he was criticized by the religious leaders? As he was attacked by demon-possessed accusers? As he was denied by a close friend? As he was betrayed for thirty silver peices by someone in his inner circle? As he was handed over to an unjust court? As he was passed over for a crooked murderer? As he was beaten by a foreign army? As he laughed at by his own people? As he was abandoned by his followers? As he was humiliated to carry the instrument of his death? As he was mocked and jeered at by the entire world? And as his Father turned his back on him and Jesus took the sins of his people? The contrast with the other characters in Scripture couldn’t be clearer.

In every way, we are living failures. We don’t trust God or his word. He had laid out the promises, the covenant, the goal, and the glory for us. And we continually, like our fathers and mothers before us, fail to trust God. Perhaps it the hardships that we must endure that keep us away from embracing the promises. Perhaps its the seduction of this world that beckons us away from the goodness of God. It’s quite possible we’re too ambitious or too lazy to trust God and prefer our own way.

Yet as Jesus hung on the cross he says, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” At his death, he demonstrates the heart of true discipleship. He with his last breath could have said, “NO! Enough!” and vindicated his name in his own power and for his own glory. He could have cursed all humanity with his last words and obliterated the entire race. But as he hung without strength and without hope of rescue coming, with no better tomorrow in view, and feeling his communion with the Father break, he portrayed perfect trust in the Father for all of us to see and hear. He trusted God in the midst of his suffering and with his last breath.

When we consider what it means to be a disciple, we must ask: Do we trust God? In the midst of the loss of family for the sake of his name, do we trust God? In the heartbreak of a cancer diagnosis, do we trust God? When we’re unjustly accused and mistreated, do we trust God? When we lose it all because the economy tanks and jobs are gone, do we trust God? When the seduction of the world calls and offers us an easier path, do we trust God? When the pleasures of this world are put before us and beckons us to give into temptation, do we trust God? When the dark night of our soul brings us to depression and anxiety, do we trust God? In every high place, in every difficult choice, and in every valley of despair, do I trust God? Our maturation into the image of Jesus Christ rests on the answer to this question.

Jesus trusted God through his entire life. Through every action and thought, Jesus looked to his Father and trusted him. And at the end, as death’s curtain fell over his eyes, he gazed up to his Father and answered fully and finally “I TRUST YOU!”

So the question stands for us. Do we trust him enough to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and go and follow him? He trusted his Father and was rewarded (Heb 12:1-2). If so, then everything about us will change. We will turn and look to his good, perfect, and pleasing ways and follow him to every pleasant pasture and through every valley of the shadow of death. We will say with the Psalmist “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not lack anything.”

As Jesus hung on the cross and cried out with his last breath “Father, I entrust myself to you,” he purchased for us the power to cry out with our every breath, “Jesus, I entrust myself to you.”

As disciples we must answer this question and follow Jesus in answering that we entrust ourselves to the Father.

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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.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

For centuries Psalm 22:1-2 has shaped the grief and bewilderment God’s people have felt in their darkest hour. The Psalmist expresses anguish only known to the innocent sufferer who feels abandoned by everyone including God:

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest.

I’ve choked out these words during seasons of suffering. Having battled chronic health difficulties and episodes of clinical depression, I know what it’s like to feel God-forsaken, what it’s like to cry out by day but not hear an answer or by night and find no rest for my anxious soul. The sense of desolation that accompanies depression is terrifying. It feels like you’ve been plunged into a black abyss. You can’t help but wonder if God is displeased with you, if your suffering is a sign of his judgment.

That kind of suffering crushes, confuses, and leads to overwhelming feelings of abandonment, even by God. These feelings are genuine and should not be minimized. But the question that I’ve had to resolve in the face of such suffering is: Does God ever truly abandon those who are in Christ? Will God ever abandon me?

The Cry of Dereliction

We’re not the only ones who have cried out the words of Psalm 22 in our agony. We find these very words on the lips of Jesus as he, the innocent sufferer par excellence, prepares to die for the sins of the world. Understanding Jesus’ cry of abandonment is the key to dealing with our feelings of abandonment.

Matthew 27:45-47 (also Mark 15:33-34) says:

Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Matthew describes a thick, unnatural darkness covering the land for three hours. In Scripture, darkness is a visible sign of God’s judgment and displeasure. It’s symbolic of separation from the very One who is light. This same “felt” darkness covered Egypt in Exodus 10:21-22 as a means of God judging the Egyptians separating them from Israel. So the darkness that fell upon Jesus should be understood as something more than a purely natural phenomenon; it’s a sign of God’s judgment and displeasure.

Jesus certainly understands the darkness this way. He suffers beneath the weight of it for three hours and around the ninth hour (3 PM) he emerges out of the darkness and breaks the silence, crying out in anguished desolation, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Psalm 22:1 pours forth from the sinless Son of God as he faces abandonment from everyone, including his Father.

Did God Really Abandon Jesus?

Jesus’ cry of dereliction is difficult to understand. Was Jesus truly God-forsaken or did he merely feel God-forsaken? Some understand his cry of dereliction to be a cry of loneliness. Others see it as a cry of triumph (e.g., the end of this psalm ends on triumphant note). But we must take Jesus’ cry at face value—as a genuine cry of abandonment. R.T. France notes, “The words Jesus chose to utter are those of unqualified desolation, and Matthew and Mark give no hint that he did not mean exactly what he said.”[1]

This Scripture expresses the depth and horror of what Jesus was suffering. In that moment, Jesus was plunged into outer darkness away from the Father’s presence to bear the sins of the world. France again says, “In giving his life as a ransom for many for the forgiveness of sins he must, for the moment, be separated from his Father.”[2] Having experienced unbroken communion with the Father from eternity past, Jesus now enveloped in darkness felt the full weight of separation from God that our sin demanded and for the first time he was truly alone, utterly God-forsaken.

As we digest this difficult truth, remember two things. First, this was not divine child abuse/divine child neglect. The Father and the Son willingly chose to carry out this plan of redemption and both the Father and the Son were in agony during Jesus’ crucifixion. To obtain our salvation the Father painstakingly separated himself from the Son but only temporarily. Second, the unity of the Trinity was not broken. The Father, Son, and Spirit exist eternally in perfect, unbroken fellowship. We aren’t privy to the details of the “psychology of the Son of God” in this moment.[3] We affirm that Jesus experienced a real abandonment by the Father while simultaneously affirming the unity of the Triune God.

Will God Ever Abandon Us?

So will God ever truly abandon those who are in Christ? If Jesus’ cry of dereliction was the result of temporary abandonment by the Father, does that mean we could be abandoned by the Father also? When we crumble to the floor and cry out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” does this express our feelings or represent our reality

The good news we celebrate during Easter (and always!) is that God will never abandon those who are in Christ.Jesus’ cry of dereliction helps us understand this—he was abandoned momentarily so that we can live with assurance eternally. The innocent sufferer was God-forsaken so that we would never be. That’s startling.

Even when we suffer innocently, we are still sinful. And it is this sin that separates us from God. On our best day, we don’t love God with everything we are, treasure him as our greatest good, or love our brothers as ourselves. Thus, we deserve to be plunged into outer darkness and separated from the presence of God. God could justly desert us and leave us to die in our sins.

Yet, Jesus on his worst day loved God with everything he was and treasured him as the greatest good and loved his brothers as himself. Jesus then chose to be separated from the Father that we might be reunited to God through him. Jesus was forsaken by God so that we might be forgiven. Nothing can change that! Not your circumstances. Not your suffering. And not your sin.

This is the good news I preach to myself again and again in my pain and depression. Were it not for the light of the gospel, the darkness would crush me. But Jesus was crushed on my behalf, so I have hope. I constantly remind myself, “There is always hope in Jesus!”

Suffering saint, I want you to know that there is always hope in Jesus. Whatever you are walking through this Easter season, remember that God will not abandon you because you are in Christ. It may feel like you have been abandoned. The darkness may feel as though it’s going to crush you. But the unshakeable truth that you stand on in the midst of your suffering is that Jesus was temporarily abandoned on your behalf, so you will never be truly abandoned.

[1] France, R.T. The Gospel of Matthew. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2007. Print. [2] ibid. [3] ibid.

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Whitney Woollard is passionate about equipping others to read and study God’s Word well resulting maturing affection for Christ and his glorious gospel message. She holds a Bachelors of Science in Biblical Studies from Moody Bible Institute and a Masters of Arts in Biblical and Theological Studies from Western Seminary. Whitney and her husband Neal currently live in Portland, OR where they call Hinson Baptist Church home. Visit her writing homepage whitneywoollard.com.

How We Read the Bible Matters

• I don’t really enjoy reading the Bible.
• I don’t get what a book written thousands of years ago has to do with my life today.
• I’m not really a reader.
• Did you know that people get drunk and have sex in the Bible?!
• I don’t understand what I’m reading.
• Did you know in the Bible there are these two people who were naked in the forest, eating fruit?
• I read the Bible everyday…Jesus Calling is my favorite.

These are all comments people have shared with me in regards to reading the Bible. One of them was from an 80-year-old grandmother, the other from a fourth grade student (bet you can’t guess which one).

So what is it about this book that is so complicated? Is it really that difficult to understand? Is it really relevant for today? What is going on with all the sex, drunkenness, murder, and naked people?

I didn’t grow up in the church, so my experience with the Bible was limited until I was about 20 years old. I just thought it was a list of rules to live by or some ancient book that told the story of the “two naked people in the forest, eating fruit.”

For many of us, perhaps we have learned that the Bible should only be opened on special occasions. Or that you should only turn to it when you want to feel good. Better yet, maybe you could just rip a verse out of context and make it mean what you what it to mean (hello, Jeremiah 29:11, anyone?).

It wasn’t until the Lord opened my heart to seek out truth that I discovered the life found on the pages of Scripture. And that’s when the paradigm shift happened: I learned that it’s not just if you read your Bible, but how you read it that will change everything. I learned a lie and three truths about the Bible that helped me understand who God is and what his plan is for us.

Let’s start with the lie.

Lie: The Bible is all about me

While the Bible is certainly for you, it is not all about you. It’s about God.

When we read the Bible, it’s to know and love God more. It isn’t to pull a verse out of context to apply like a Band-Aid; it isn’t to find a verse to thump those “in sin”; and it isn’t just to fill your head with more knowledge. It should produce a deeper understanding of God, a greater love for him, and lead us into worship.

Part of the reason I’m not a fan of many devotionals is they take you all over the place, pulling a verse here and there out of context, and slapping someone else’s meaning or application on it rather than reading an entire book of the Bible in its context.

Reading the Bible in a way just to “get something for me” is like only eating dessert at every meal. We all want it and it tastes delicious, but you can live off dessert. In the same way, if we only read for application, our diet of God’s Word won’t be sufficient. We need to observe what is happening and discover the meaning of the text to properly apply it.  This means we let Scripture interpret Scripture, or as my seminary professor would say, “We let the clear interpret the cloudy.” We look to other passages to help determine the meaning of the text we’re studying and allow the Holy Spirit to illuminate the Truth of God’s word. Understanding the literal, historical, and grammatical context will help reveal the correct interpretation of a passage, discovering what it first meant “back then” before we can understand how to apply it to our lives today. We also interpret correctly when studying within community or the context of the local church, under the leadership of elders and encouragement of other believers.

What a paradigm shift from what is sold to us in Christian bookstores: “Read this devotional for five steps to a better life!” That kind of me-focused-faith distorts what God’s Word is really for: to tell the redemption story of God’s people through the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Truth: The Bible is meant to be studied

One of the best ways to help grow in the Word is to pick one book or section of Scripture and study it. Sit in the passage for a while, reread it, come back to it, look up words, and become familiar with it. Like a letter written to a loved one, you read it from beginning to end. So it is with books of the Bible.

Reading a book in its entirety changes how you understand it and, therefore, deepens your understanding of God and his redemptive plan. When we read, we read to observe (What do we see?), interpret (What does it mean?), and only then apply (How should it change me?).

When I began to study the Bible inductively (observation-interpretation-application), when I began to look for what it teaches me about God and how I fit into his greater story, the Bible came to life. Actually, it became my life. I enjoy reading the Bible, I see its relevance for my life and the world today, it increases my understanding of God, and it helps me know why all those people were getting drunk, having sex, and committing murder—to help me see that I am just like those people, a sinner in desperate need of a Rescuer.

Truth: The Bible has many applications, but only one meaning

While there are many translations of the Bible and many applications, Scripture has one meaning. Our job is to discover that meaning. We should never ask, “What does this verse mean to me?” but rather, “What does this verse mean?” Our job as readers and students of the Bible is to uncover the original meaning of the text, which reveals how it is relevant and applies to us today. Biblical truth can apply to us in many ways, but it only has one meaning.

Truth: The Bible is all about Jesus

The Bible is a collection of books and stories that point to a greater hero: Jesus. The Bible has 66 books, written over a time span of 1,500 years, by 40 different authors, in three different languages, on three different continents, about one message: God’s rescue mission for his people through the person and work of Jesus Christ. The Bible is a story meant to be read that points to One who makes the unrighteous, righteous; the unclean, clean; the outcast, redeemed; the sinner, a saint.

This paradigm shift helped me to understand the Bible and, therefore, to better love and understand God and live in obedience to him. What has anchored me in times of pain and suffering has not been a verse I ripped out of context to chant when I’m anxious or afraid, but studying God’s Word in a deeper way. It’s knowing his character through understanding the big picture of Scripture from beginning to end that helps me (and all of us) endure suffering.

How we read the Bible matters—reading it will change your life and shift your paradigm completely.

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Melissa Danisi serves at The Well Community Church in Fresno, CA and has been married for nine years. She spends her days encouraging and equipping women by teaching God’s Word and shepherding women. Her greatest passion is to see women walk in the freedom of the gospel and grow in their love of Jesus through the study of Scripture. She has written several bible studies and also enjoys one-to-one mentoring or small group discipleship. She is a graduate of Western Seminary, pursuing a M.A. in Ministry and Leadership with an emphasis in pastoral care to women. You can find her writing gospel-centered articles at selftalkthegospel.com, her church's blog , and her personal blog melissadanisi.com.

Adapted with permission from Unlocking the Bible 

I Thirst

At the cross-roads of history, Jesus hung nailed to a cross. The loss of blood from the beating alone would have killed most men, but this was no ordinary man. This was the Son of God and his death was ordained in covenant with his Father. The crowds gathered around the Place of the Skull to see their King lifted high. Above our Lord was a sign that read, “King of the Jews.” Pilate unknowingly proclaimed the greatest truth to a watching world. The Messiah was raised up like the bronze serpent in the wilderness and though it did not look like it Jesus was being prepared to sit on the Father’s heavenly throne. The Gospel of John records the scene,

Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved [John] standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill Scripture), “I thirst.” A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. – John 19:25-30 (italics mine)

SUBVERSIVE PARALLELS

“I thirst” subverts. For instance, the man who said, “I thirst,” is the same man who said to the Samaritan woman, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirst again. The water that I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (Jn. 4:13-14). How can the same man who offered living water to the Samaritan now be dehydrated? Jesus offered the “gift of God” (v. 10, “living water”), which quenches all thirst to sinners, but he hung on the cross thirsty.

Jesus quenched the thirst of weary souls by thirsting himself. When Hebrews points out that we do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize with sinners, part of the sympathy is tasting our spiritual drought. In order to provide spiritual relief, Jesus Christ thirsted. The Bread of Life took on our affliction of spiritual dehydration so that in him, we might hunger and thirst for righteousness—and find it.

After Jesus says that he thirsts, a soldier dips a sponge on a hyssop branch and into a jar of sour wine and gives it to Jesus. Sour wine is the cheap stuff, the dollar-store watered down wine that doesn’t taste great. Jesus drank the sour wine while serving the best wine to sinners (Jn. 2:1-12). He thirsts for the thirsty and drinks sour wine for us providing the best wine in return. What a Savior he is!

INEXAUSTIBLE GRACE

Jesus didn’t fancy himself a man of luxury. We don’t have a Savior who was too preoccupied with himself to care much for the people around him. Jesus was a man of sorrows acquainted with grief. To be acquainted means to taste and see. Jesus wasn’t flashy or a show off. He understood what it was like to be an ordinary man because he was man. God-in-flesh dwelt among thirsty sinners, so he understood human plight. All of the Kingdom talk had pointed to the cross—the moment of Christ’s substitutionary suffering.

As I hear Jesus say that he thirst, I wonder: Has the fountain of living water run dry? Has the good wine run out forever? Has the Messiah’s message of triumph that resonated with Israel for three short years been squelched? Have the powers and principalities won the war? The cross subverts the disciples’ expectations, which caused their confusion. This is why they couldn’t piece it together. Their Teacher had run out of words, had no more commands, and could not console them any longer. Their Savior could not be saved from the wrath of God.

In order for the unending supply of God’s grace to burst forth from heaven, Jesus had to come to the place of desperation, death, sorrow, and thirst—a place common to man. John notes that there is still one more piece of ancient Scripture left for Jesus to fulfill. In Psalm 69:21, Scripture says, “They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.”

If the true and better wine was to be given and the abundant living water was to flow, Jesus needed to thirst. The Messiah needed to get to the place where all men find themselves. For God’s inexhaustible grace to flow like the Niagara falls, Jesus had to endure the most bitter of trials. Every moment on the cross mattered.

As you prepare your hearts for Resurrection Sunday, remember the infinite depth Christ was plunged to rescue you. Never forget the exhaustion he endured so that you could never thirst. As we approach Easter, remind yourself that Jesus’ thirsting then dying wasn’t his final scene, he was buried, rose again, and now sits on the throne of heaven. Although no words in the English could describe the immensity of what Christ accomplished on the cross, the two words “I thirst” remind us in tangible, earthy ways what he endured for us.

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

Tasting What’s Good

When spring rolled around, color splashed on our front lawn. Snapdragons, impatience, and geraniums, all in their black plastic containers, were waiting to colonize our garden. My mother issued the invitation to join her in beautifying our lawn. But first, we had to pull the weeds. We kneeled down and dug into East Texas clay to pull up what threatened growth. Only then would our plants be safe. Only then would their beauty last. We are created to bloom in holiness and love. But to do so, we have to kneel down and pull the weeds.

Pulling Evil

Saint Peter puts it this way, “So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander” (1 Pt 2:1). To “put away” means disrobe or change clothes. He’s telling Christians to take off malice like a dirty garment and throw it to the ground. But what is malice? In verse 16, the same word is translated “evil.” We rarely think of ourselves as possessing evil. It’s usually something “out there,” like ISIS or serial killers, but as David Brooks notes, the moral realist is humble enough to acknowledge inner evil. In the words of philosopher Immanuel Kant, we’re all made from “crooked timber.”

If we are to straighten out, if we’re to bloom in holiness and love, we have to admit our evil. But it’s not enough to admit inner evil; we have to see the evil and come face to face with it, before we can pull it out. One weed we rarely consider is envy. Envy opposes love by hoping for others downfall, instead of desiring their best. Envy seeks personal advance over the joy of others. Instead of being happy for someone’s new home or car, we silently discredit them, telling ourselves that we deserve a bigger house or nicer car.

Envy isn’t restricted to materialism; it trespasses all territory. We envy good things. People who struggle to conceive may begin to despise other parents instead of taking joy in their children. Singles without a spouse may grate against the joy of married couples instead of taking pleasure in it. And married couples can envy the freedom of singles.

Envy gets tinier. It desires, not the house, but the ability to decorate the house. Not the car, but the features of the car. Not the children, but judges how poorly or how well the children behave, while secretly praising or condemning the self. Not the married or single but their companionship or freedom. Envy destroys community by creating invisible walls of distrust, hatred, and meanness.

Don’t Struggle with Sin

What are we to do? Pull the weeds! Peter says that we must get them out! All of them. All malice, all envy, and all slander. “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul” (1 Pt. 2:11). He tightens the language. It’s not enough to put evil off; we must abstain from it. Abstain means to create distance by getting away. Modern Christians aren’t known for putting distance between themselves and sin. We use the language of “struggles,” so it’s popular to say, “I’m really struggling X” (drinking too much, lusting, or envying), but what that often means is “I’m putting this sin on, I’m close to it, and I really kind of like it. I know I shouldn’t, so I’m going to confess that I’m struggling with sin.” Peter says, “Run, your passions are waging war against your soul!”

Recently, a drug deal went down close to my kids’ school. A shot was fired. An armed criminal fled to the school campus. Two things happened: The school went into immediate lock down and a couple courageous men tackled the perpetrator. When evil comes knocking, we don’t “struggle” with evil. We fight or we flee! It’s not enough to admit evil, or even see evil; we have to flee evil. As John Owen famously said, “Be killing sin, lest it be killing you.” This is not an exaggeration. Think about how envy plays out. Envy leads to debt, divorce, divided relationships, and distance from Christ. For the love of God, pull the weeds.

Babies or Engines?

That’s the dirty work, but growing together also includes lovely work: absorbing what makes us grow. “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good” (2:2-3). In order to grow into our new selves, we have to long. The word is hyper-desire. In true religion, desires are not evil and God is not a killjoy. He insists on our joy by insisting our desires go in the right direction.

Babies long for milk and engines run on gas, but the modern dilemma is that we don’t know the baby from the engine. We don’t know what to run on. So we try a little of everything: career, friends, diets, exercise, breweries, books, films, music, but it all comes up short. In Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, Anna is a person with all the wealth, all the comforts, all the power she could ever dream. She’s even enjoyed an illicit affair but confesses: “I don’t know myself; I only know my appetites.”

Do we only know our appetites? What are we running on? Social connection, productivity, fun? A text, a tweet, a status—compelled by envy we scramble to stay up with a culture that is in overdrive. Where should our desires turn? We have to know who we are—a newborn infant, a new creation, born again to a living hope through the resurrection—only then can we direct our appetites to a place of satisfaction.

When Peter says we’re like babies, he’s not speaking down to us. He’s trying to show us that we live by craving milk. Pure spiritual milk grows us. Pure means a hundred proof. What’s in it? Spiritual milk. Now this word “spiritual” is a little tricky. It’s not the typical word for spiritual (used later). In fact, the word has more in common with reason. It’s the word logikos, from which we get logos or logic. So how do we grow? Well it depends how we read this word.

Some will say, the way we grow is to think better, to have the right beliefs, and to read our Bible. They take a more rational approach. Others say, no it’s more mystical than that, which may be why its translated spiritual. What we need to grow is an experience in prayer, worship, and blessing. And so we’ve got the Bible people and the Prayer people, the rational and the spiritual. The people who take theology classes and the people who join the prayer team. So who’s right?

Tasting What’s Good

Neither or both, kinda. It’s not the person who reads or the person who prays, but the person who tastes. Peter says, “Long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good” (2:2-3). The spiritual milk that causes us to grow requires tasting the goodness of the Lord. How can we taste the milk of God’s presence? Consider three things.

1. Tasting takes time

First, we have to take time. When I used to wash windows with my grandfather in the summers, we would take a break and have lunch together. Famished, I would inhale my food. Poppa would say to me, “Johnny, did you taste it?” He knew something I didn’t. He knew how to taste, how to linger, how to enjoy, not just God’s gifts but God’s presence. We can read the Bible and miss his presence; we can pray and not taste his goodness. Are we tasting or just reading or just praying? Tasting takes time and meditation. “On your law I meditate day and night” (Ps. 1:2). How do we do it? We take a piece of truth and mull it over, sit with it, chew on it, and converse with God about it. Ask him for understanding: what it means, how to experience it, how it applies (rejoice, repent, obey), and for desire and ability to respond. This takes time, but not a ton of it. We have to chew slowly and, when we do, we taste the goodness of the Lord.

2. Ask for Hunger

Second, we have to be hungry. If we’re not hungry, we have to figure out why. Hunger begins by taking the position of a baby—crying out (not assuming) for God to satisfy us. “Satisfy me in the morning with your lovingkindness, O Lord” (Ps. 90:14). Ask for hunger. We may need to confess misdirected appetites, which have dulled us to the goodness of God. On Monday, I woke up and checked my phone. I saw a message that sent my heart and mind reeling. I stood in the shower and worked it over and over. And when I sat down to commune with God, it was very hard to meditate, to taste him because I was hungry for something else, resolution. I’ve resolved to not make checking my phone my first act of devotion.

3. Find Silence

Third, we have to find a place of silence. German theologian Josef Pieper said, “Only the one who is silent can hear.” To taste God, we have to turn off all other appetites. Tune out the things that clamor for our attention: phones, screens, sleep, work, play. We have to find a place of silence—in a corner, outside, by the bed, early/late, on a walk, wherever we can be still and know he is God.

A hundred proof spiritual milk comes, not through Bible study (rational), not through prayer (mystical), but when they overlap and we taste the goodness of the Lord (personal). Are we cultivating a garden where people pull the weeds and taste what’s good? If we do, we’ll blossom in holiness and love. Let’s pull the weeds, taste what’s good, and bend towards the light.

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

The Secret Ingredient

Social media and news headlines bombard us with the truth that we already know: we live in a fallen world. While the culture at large resists using the label “sin” to describe all that is broke around us, the concept is unavoidable. Sin is a reality in this age, as it is in every age. But Jesus Christ entered real time and space to offer a foretaste of a future age that will no longer be tainted by the presence of sin. John writes the following of that entrance: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (Jn. 1:14).

Grace and Truth

Jesus embodied truth. He did not claim to know the truth, or the way to the truth, but to actually be the truth (Jn. 14:6). And he tells us the truth about ourselves.

After instructing his disciples how to pray by modeling what is now called the Lord’s Prayer, he says the following:

If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Lk. 11:13, emphasis mine)

We can almost become numb to the sting of the words. He doesn’t offer the issue up for debate but matter of factly tells those in his presence they are evil. To be sure even an evil person does some things that aren’t bad—like buy his son an xBox—but that doesn’t make him good in the eyes of God. He reminds his audience of their inherent sinfulness in matter of fact style.

Another encounter highlights Jesus’ radical commitment to the truth: his interaction with the woman at the well. The dialogue recorded by John (4:1-30) contains some seemingly stinging remarks by Jesus. He brings up her colorful love life (vv. 17-18), her improper worship (v. 22), and even confesses to her that he is the Messiah (v. 26).

Yet, even while broaching taboo topics even for today, Jesus never does so flippantly. While being full of truth, he is also full of grace. Jesus did not come to condemn the world, but to save it (Jn. 3:17). As such, while never compromising truth, his demeanor was always full of compassion. We see this in his contribution to the “trial” of the woman caught in adultery (Jn. 8:1-11). While he was the only one fit to condemn her, he instead sends her on her way with the single charge to repent of her sins (Jn. 8:11). We see his grace at the restoration of Peter who had denied him three times (Jn. 21:15-19). Even those who abandon Jesus are welcomed back to the fold in Jesus’ economy of grace.

While we as humans oscillate imperfectly between these two characteristics—and often even view them in opposition to one another—Jesus displayed them perfectly at all times in his life. Grace and truth are not mutually exclusive, despite our failings to get the recipe right. However, Jesus’ embodiment of these characteristics has one more important quality that we do well to take note of. Jesus was present among them.

His Presence

It’s possible to exhibit the qualities of grace and truth in our human attempts to follow Jesus and yet still be ineffective in our ministry. This possibility exists when we neglect a meaningful presence with those we are ministering to. Presence is the platform from which grace and truth are to be proclaimed.

Jesus’ presence changes everything about his mission. As the creator of the world he is the author of truth. From a distance, he could call out from the heavens commands for obedience and consequences for disobedience, yet he gets his hands dirty. A king doesn't need to "earn" a platform with his subjects to issue a decree. Yet, Jesus, as king of the universe, chooses to enter into loving relationship with his subjects when he speaks truth into their lives. While no platform has to be “earned” for the one in authority to dictate decrees, Jesus condescends to enter into relationship with us. Our God is a good God and a relational one. In him we see the wisdom of Solomon who wrote: “Faithful are the wounds of a friend” (Pr. 27:6).

How stinging Jesus’ wounds must have been for the woman at the well, for Peter when hearing he would deny Jesus, and for the disciples being told they were evil. Yet, Jesus was not malicious when speaking these truths. He loved them enough to share with them who they really were. He revealed the things that enslaved them, as painful as they were and gave them himself. He called them to follow him, the only master who would liberate them and truly fulfill them, and he would be faithful to go to the cross for them.

God’s primary motive for dwelling among us in the person of Jesus Christ was to save us from sin and its consequences. The means of rescuing us that were chosen by the all-powerful creator were personal in nature. He dwelt among us. He is calling us to dwell among sinners as well.

The Formula for His Bride

God bought his church with his own blood (Acts 20:28). It was no small sacrifice on his part. His bride does well to follow him in this incarnational and costly ministry.Visit a few churches to see the various ways Christians get the trifecta of presence, grace, and truth wrong. If we put only two of the three into practice a lopsided church body emerges.

Take truth and grace divorced from presence and a bombastic fundamentalism emerges. In this formula the gospel is proclaimed, but only to those who already believe it. The surrounding culture is rejected wholesale instead of being engaged with discerningly. If an outsider were to stumble into this kind of church service, she’d be a fish out of water as the church attempts to “contextualize” the gospel to look more Leave it to Beaver than Modern Family. This brand of Christianity is content with a holy huddle inside a church as bomb shelter. Its members only occasionally emerge to throw “grace” grenades at unsuspecting strangers before quickly ducking back into safety. The approach to discipleship of those outside the walls is essentially the equivalent of evangelical “stranger danger” and as such less than effective.

On the other end of the spectrum, some have embraced a model of ministry in which grace and presence are married while being devoid of truth. This marriage seems appealing on the surface as there is little within it to offend the surrounding culture. However, as many of the mainline protestant denominations have found, this is no surefire way to growth. When the truth and offense (1 Pt. 2:8) of the gospel are removed in an attempt to “love” everyone the church has little to offer those outside of its walls. In fact, it becomes indistinguishable from the culture at large and has nothing to offer it that the culture can’t already provide itself (and usually at a better quality level).

Jesus calls his bride to a better way. He said the gates of Hell would not withstand his church (Mt. 16:18). Our call is not to remain stationary and hope the lost world will come to us, but to charge into the dark with the light of Christ. While it is not the easiest way, it is the way he embodied. Again, Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (Jn. 14:6).

He didn’t claim to know the way, but to be the way. His way was marked by grace and truth and fueled by his presence. He went where sinners were.

Are you a part of his bride, the Church? Do you desire to obey his commission to make disciples? Do you, being evil, know how to give your children good gifts? Pray to your heavenly Father who is perfect that his Holy Spirit would spur you on to walk in his ways. Pray God would give you the gifts of presence, grace, and truth that you would gain a platform of presence in the lives of unbelievers and would be used to make disciples among them, that you would be bold in speaking truth to them and that they would mature, and that God’s grace would be displayed through you and be multiplied.

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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 blogs at Hardcore Grace and the recently started Family Life Pastor.

Leading Like the Good Shepherd

The stream of Christian social media outlets teemed with the news of the comeback of this former mega-pastor. For a time, he had been the brightest star in modern evangelicalism. He’d led a rock-star crusade through culture by preaching solid biblical truth and bringing out followers in droves. With prophetic precision, his preaching made what God said way-back-when so relevant for right now. In my eyes, the man was a prophet! I adored him. I looked up to him the way teenagers look up to the posters of their favorite celebrities on their bedroom walls. I was younger then and had not yet stood like Jesus. “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Mt. 9:36). I hadn’t yet experienced the wreckage of a church when its shepherd is struck by accusations, slander, and gossip and the flock is scattered in confusion and uncertainty. I hadn’t yet been one of those sheep so distracted by the pandemonium in the fold, that I blindly wandered off until I was alone, defenseless, and in the company of a ravenous wolf. I had not yet suffered the pain of a church split or the moral failure of a spiritual leader. Until then, I did not know that a good shepherd dies for the cause when the Father has made the sheep the cause.

JESUS IS THE GOOD SHEPHERD

In the Gospel of John, Jesus boldly demonstrates his power (e.g., the seven “I AM” statements) and uses everyday images to to explain spiritual truths about his identity. My favorite everyday image used by Jesus is, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” (Jn. 10:11). He is speaking to the Pharisees. They should have easily understood his analogy. First, Israel was a Bedouin people, nomadic people of the desert, usually sheepherders; Second, the Pharisees were the current shepherds of Israel, responsible for leading the people into true worship and observance of Yahweh. But they’re not being very good ones.

Their shepherding is characterized by showing off in the synagogues and in the streets with charming eloquence in their preaching, memorizing and quoting the Law by rote, and lording their public demonstrations of piety over those under their care for admiration and accolades. Jesus goes straight for the jugular by showing them that the validation of their ministry is not in the praise they get from men but by the sacrifice they are compelled to make by God, for men.

Jesus is that kind of shepherd. He prophetically throws down the Calvary card on the table and says, “Boom! You’re taking, but I’m giving. You’re fleecing, but I’m feeding. You’re skating, but I’m staying.” Jesus makes the pinnacle proof of his ministry as a shepherd, not that he lived well off the sheep, but that he died willingly for the sheep. The good shepherd has the Father’s best intention at heart for the sheep and will give his life to secure it. “Just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep” (10:15). The small word “for” (Gk. huper, “in behalf of” or “instead of”) contrasts Jesus with these other cast members in regards to the way they shepherd the sheep. Jesus, the good shepherd, guards, guides, protects, and preserves God’s flock by dying “in behalf of” and “instead of” the sheep to give them abundant life. Leading well, for this shepherd, looks like dying (1 Pt. 5:1-4).

CONSIDER THE CAST

The good shepherd does not leave his sheep or under-shepherds ignorant. One shepherd wrote to his mentee, “Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers,” (1 Tim. 4:16). Good shepherds can fall into these categories below, by neglecting that charge from the Apostle Paul. A good shepherd must persist in this: he must believe and continually return to the gospel that saved him. A good shepherd always acknowledges need of the gospel for himself. This rebuke to the Pharisees warns the sheep what to beware. Let’s consider that cast:

• Thieves (10:1,8): Both the thief and robber refuse to enter by the door, both abuse, use, misuse the sheep, but the thief is more covert, steals by fraud and in secret, operates by unethical means, with a motive to kill and destroy.
• Robbers (10:1,8): Robbers differ slightly by immorally depriving one of his possession openly and by violence. They can also boldly be on a self-righteous, renegade campaign, or under the guise of a false crusade.
• Wolf (10:12): Wild, hungry, cruel, rapacious, ravenous, destructive and greedy. Will upset the whole flock in order to murder by isolation. One agenda, to satisfy hunger. One agenda, to satisfy hunger.
• Strangers (10:5): Ones who have no intimacy with the sheep and doesn’t even know their names, but will attempt to call them out and summon them as their own.
• Hireling: He is the most dangerous character of all. Get this scene in your mind and it is most certainly not PG-13. A wolf descends upon the flock from a distance. Jesus said the hireling “sees the wolf coming.” (10:12), but does he pray, plan, rally the troops, or load his weapons? Jesus says, “[he] leaves the sheep … because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep” (10:12b,14). The wolf tears into the sheep—bleating and bleeding, carnage and chaos. The hireling watches from a secure vantage point. Though he is responsible for the rampage, he has calculated the cost and the sheep aren’t worth it. The wolf then turns on him with glowering, steel eyes and a mouth rimmed red with blood, unmasking his location. In fear, the hireling thinks, “There could be others out there!” So “He flees” (10:14). He sacrifices the sheep for his own safety.

The hireling says, “bye!”

The sheep says, “baa-aah!”

The wolf says, “dinner!”

But Jesus said, “You’ve got to go through me.”

THE GOOD SHEPHERD’S EXAMPLE

There was no price too high and no length too far. Jesus set an example of what to expect from the ministry of shepherding and of the minister as shepherd. It’s big, up front and in bold: Are you prepared to die?

We live in a culture of sore losers. Church leadership is being populated by hired hands; people who would quit to save face before falling on the sword of their own failure and assuming responsibility. We want the honor from God of presiding over his people—but not the responsibility of protecting them at all costs. I’ve heard it said that we have ministers today, who love the crowds, but hate the people. That’s the hireling. He loves the benefit of their following, their likes on his statuses, and the adoration in their eyes-but he doesn’t even know their names and wouldn’t die for these people.

There is a difference between a leader falling and a leader taking the fall. I am terribly afraid that there’s a spirit at work in the Church which is seducing us into celebrating failure so much so that our leaders are excused from accountability and lauded for a so-called resiliency, expressed by packing up and moving on to another ministry. And the sheep are left holding the bag of confusion, bewilderment, loss, mistrust and abandonment. To see fatherlessness and abdication of responsibility in the world is expected. But not in God’s church! We are fathering a generation of pastors, leaders, and laypersons who cannot do hard things, be accountable, submit to spiritual authority, suffer well, or hold a long onto obedience.

But what if the legacy of some of our greatest leaders is to be their repentance? I believe that God positions great leaders to make great impact—even when they fail. Hello, King David! Rosaria Champagne Butterfield says, “Repentance is the only no shame solution to a renewed Christian conscience, because it only proves the obvious: God was right all along.” How about we prove that and model that to a generation. Wouldn’t that give glory to God! Look at what Joshua says to Achan when he urges him to confess and stop the plague of judgment against the nation of Israel, “My son, give glory to the LORD God of Israel and give praise to Him. And tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me.” (Josh 7:19).

Confession is not only good for the individual soul, but also for the corporate body. When leaders repent, we discern for ourselves whether we are hirelings or good shepherds. Our sheep are able to discern whether they are being sacrificed on the altar of the hireling’s lust or preserved by the sacrifice of the shepherd. We also inspire repentance in our congregations instead of inciting a culture of disobedience. I’ve sat in the midst of sheep who were in emotional turmoil and shepherds, so blinded by their own sin and the sins they believed others had perpetrated against them and I’ve thought: This whole storm could be over if this person just died; died to their want to justify themselves, died to their want to be right, died to their want to have control and died to their lack of trusting in God’s sovereignty and goodness as the true Lord of their circumstances.

Especially, since that’s what Jesus told us we were signing up for.

THE GREAT REWARD

Because of Jesus’ example, we should be encouraged as shepherds. The writer of Hebrews says, “Consider Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2). If we follow Jesus’ lead as the good shepherd, we are promised great reward! “And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory” (1 Pt. 5:4). Jesus “will provide a crown of glory to those who serve in his own pattern of selfless leadership for his flock. Herein lies the [your] power to obey: looking back to Jesus’ sacrifice that justifies us and looking forward to Jesus’ return that will glorify us.”

Oh, brother shepherd, Peter was not a perfect shepherd, but God made him a good one. Now he is “a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed,” (1 Pt. 5:1b). And he is calling you to come up where he and Jesus are. But you must shepherd well by fixing your eyes on Jesus as he fixed his eyes on his future glory. No cross, no crown. Christ is glad to share his glory with those who share his cross. Let God take the opposition of death and turn it into an opportunity to manifest his glory in you and you will share the great reward of the good Shepherd forever. “Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you” (5:6).

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Kileeo Rashad is based in Philadelphia, PA, where he serves his local church in many capacities; speaker, preacher, deacon, and hospitality director. He is currently working on a debut writing project which will address breaking silence on sexual brokenness within the church. Kileeo is also the founder of Restoring the Breaches, a ministry that aims to help churches and individuals facilitate gospel-centered conversations around sexuality.