Telling the Old Story in a World that Craves the New

The world jumps over itself for what’s edgy, new, and creative. Yet for believers, we have an old and unchanging story to tell. ­­ The tension between innovation and tradition is not a new conversation in the life of the church. Whether it’s an emerging social media platform, the latest music, or the next trend, cultural shifts so swiftly we often find ourselves grasping to hang on.

The church, in contrast, is always looking back to “contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3), and we gladly rally around the old, unchanging story of a gentle Messiah who was crushed for our sin and raised to life three days later.

Unfortunately, with the ebb and flow of a rapidly changing culture, we might be pressured to come to the Bible with the same expectations.

We may start to wonder if we are equipped to face the challenges of our day—even when we know Scripture is unchangeably and immovably true—as if it’s outmoded or archaic. We come to a quiet time and search for undiscovered angles, to the point of blurring the meaning. We might even start doubting that Scripture really can speak to us today.

When we start to wonder if the Bible’s not enough in light of the particular struggles of our cultural moment, here are some important truths to keep in mind.

THE BOOK IS FROM HIM AND FOR US

When we constantly feel the need for something new or exciting to come from interacting with Scripture, we have forgotten the most important thing about it—its author. Feeling like we must find something novel or exhilarating each time we come to the Bible will send us scavenging for truth while missing the Giver of truth.

It’s as if we think our own intuitive creativity and knowledge surpasses the God who ordered the stars in the heavens and fashioned the wings of a butterfly. Paul asks, “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” (Rom. 11:34). Even Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, warned that we could not fathom the work of God (Eccl. 11:5). The truth is, we could never know the God who created the world if he had revealed himself to us through his Word and his Son (Heb. 1:1-2, John 1:1).

Because our God is faithful, we can trust that his revelation is all we need to hear pertaining to godliness and life (2 Pet. 1:3). We can rest to know that God has revealed his plan for the fullness of time by speaking to his people through his Word (Heb. 1:1-2; Eph. 1:9-10).

Each word of our Bible reveals the character of the God who created us. We must come to it humbly, allowing his word to tell us what questions matter, and wait as God shows us the unchanging truthfulness of his Word. No doubt he will speak to us in ways we had not noticed before. He desires to speak to us! But some areas we are left with real questions to ponder and wonder, humbly before God.

There is much we will not know, but we can be encouraged to know that each word is given or withheld with purpose (Rev. 22:18). Th book is from him and for us. Let’s remember that the purposeful words of scripture depict the truth, plans, and purposes of its Author. These truths are binding on all peoples across all times and places (Eph. 1:7-10, cf. Acts 17:30-31). 

THE MESSAGE NEVER CHANGES, BUT THE WAY WE COMMUNICATE IT HAS TO

The Bible has been poured over, commented on, and debated for over 2,000 years. When we talk about the Bible, we’re not saying anything new. And if we are, we’re in trouble!

We desire to stand, so we are tempted to go to the Bible looking for something no one else has found. Instead of seeing our repetition of an old text as a limitation or as unoriginal, we can see it as an encouragement and confidence, being faithful to the truth handed down “once for all . . . to the saints” (Jude 3).

We can look back at well-known church fathers and theologians, missionaries and martyrs, pastors and leaders, and see how the same God and the same truths grounded and spurred them on to a life of faithfulness to the truth. The church has always been finding ways to communicate old (but good!) news to new audiences. The message is unchanging, but the way we communicate that message is always changing.

We stand surrounded by a “great a cloud of witnesses” to the same truth, the same story, and the same God (Heb. 12:1-2). We should be encouraged by the example of generations before us, how they read Scripture, and how Scripture’s unchanging truth still speaks specifically to our cultural moment.

Let’s dig deep into the Bible, but not to search for ways to make it shine more attention on ourselves. Rather, let’s see how we can retell the same old story in a brand new day, all to his glory.

GOD NEVER CHANGES, WE DO

Finally, while it’s true that God’s word does not change—we do. And we do so constantly! R.C. Sproul has stated that if anything defines human existence, it's change.

And our impermanent selves are what we bring to the Word each day. We come to the text with different knowledge, different circumstances, and different places in sanctification. Yet we also come to God’s Word with his Holy Spirit, who is constantly working in our hearts through each changing situation. He is removing blind spots, giving insight, and revealing the truth. This is why we can read the same passages repeatedly but still see new truths.

We don’t need to do mental gymnastics to get some sort of profound new insight. Instead, we can rest in the Spirit’s work to grow our hearts closer to him (Phil. 1:6). We can press on to know the Lord, and rest in knowing that when we do, God will respond and reveal himself through his Word (Hos. 6:3).

THE STORY THAT NEVER GETS OLD

We don’t need to feel inadequate because our story never changes—it is our lifeline. It’s the solid hope to cling to for a world drowning in ever-changing uncertainty. So let’s enter our Bible studies and conversations with humility and confidence in the truths that have lasted from the beginning of time, and will continue to last for all eternity.

The unchanging God, the Ancient of Days, has revealed himself to an unstable and shifting people. Through his Spirit, he has chosen to make inconsistent people more and more like their consistently faithful God. And that story (John 1:1) never gets old.

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Brianna Lambert is a wife and mom to three, making their home in the cornfields of Indiana. She loves using writing to work out the truths God is teaching her each day. She has contributed to various online publications such as Morning by Morning and Fathom magazine. You can find more of her writing paired with her husband’s photography at lookingtotheharvest.com.

3 Principles for Passing on the Gospel

Their stricken faces said it all. The men and women of the U.S. Olympic 400-meter relay teams were disqualified and in disbelief. The U.S. had owned the 400 relay in years past. Now, in 2008, the teams hadn’t even qualified.

In just a thirty-minute span, both teams’ hopes were dashed at the fumbling of the third and final baton handoff. When you’re running a relay, the handoff is critical. Runners take extra care to ensure a smooth handoff because when they drop the baton, they don’t finish the race.

RELAY THE TRUTH

Christians have an even more important handoff to make: passing the gospel on to the next generation. Paul, arguably the most skilled believer aside from Christ to ever hand off the gospel, once instructed his young protégé Timothy in how to pass it on well, saying, “What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also” (2 Tim. 2:2).

Paul is challenging Timothy to pass on what he has heard to faithful men and women who also are able to pass it on. What has Timothy heard from Paul? The gospel. The truth of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.

By this time in their relationship, Timothy would have seen Paul testify to this gospel hundreds of times. He also would have seen Paul pass it on hundreds of times. Paul understood the gospel does the next generation no good if it never receives it. The gospel is like a relay race; we’re either fumbling the handoff or ensuring it’s passed on with care.

In 2 Timothy 2:2, Paul summarizes his most critical advice for passing on the gospel in three principles.

1. BE A PUBLIC WITNESS

Paul’s first principle for passing on the gospel is that a believer’s faith is not a private matter. Christians are called to be a public witness for the Christ they profess. We see this in Paul’s mention that Timothy has heard the gospel from him “in the presence of many witnesses.”

Paul was not known for being quiet about Jesus. His beatings, imprisonments, and ridicule all testify that Jesus invaded all of Paul’s life, not just his private time. Paul didn’t keep his faith to himself. If he had, he wouldn’t have been killed for it.

Surely Timothy noticed Paul’s public witness. He was the recipient of at least two letters from an imprisoned Paul (1 and 2 Timothy). While the consequences of Paul’s public professions surely made a mark on the young Timothy, Paul’s faithful example of announcing the good news to anyone who would listen would have also left a mark.

And this is true of followers of Christ today. If you intend to pass on your faith to your children, your friends, or your neighbors, you must learn to be a public witness to the gospel. If you compartmentalize your faith out of Monday through Saturday, so will those you teach. The gospel is not a personal issue, it’s an all-of-life issue.

Passionate believers are easy to spot no matter when you’re around them. Their love for Jesus is not a secret to their friends, family, and coworkers. Their gospel is not stuck between the pages of their Bible but overflows into their everyday lives. Like Paul, their faith is so explosive that they can easily point to examples of publicly sharing about who Jesus is and what he has done.

What we pass on is what will live on. Paul passed on the gospel he received, he encouraged others to do the same, and he led by example. Are you doing the same?

2. INVEST IN PEOPLE ON PURPOSE

Paul’s second principle for passing on the gospel is to make passing it on an intentional part of life. His relationship with Timothy wasn’t an accident. It was the result of having eyes to see and ears to hear those who were hungry for godliness.

Nor was their relationship the only mentoring relationship Paul was a part of. The letters to Titus and the various churches make that clear.

Paul intentionally identified and invested in future leaders. He set aside time and energy and resources to build into their lives and show them how to follow Jesus. He saw passing on the gospel as a critical part of his calling.

Are you taking seriously the call to pass on what you have learned? Do you learn and read with a pen in hand so you can pass it on to someone else, or do you receive information in one ear and lose it out the other? Have you identified a younger man or woman you can invest in? Are you showing them how to follow Jesus?

If not, it might be because you have no idea where to start. This brings us to Paul’s third principle.

3. INVEST IN THE RIGHT PEOPLE

His third principle for passing on the gospel is that we are to invest in the right people. We are to pass on the gospel to other faithful men or women who will be able to teach others.

When it comes to investing in someone, Paul tells us to identify a man or woman who has proven themselves to be faithful, and who will be able to teach others. Notice the tenses used.

When it comes to identifying someone who’s faithful, we are to look to their current resume for examples of their faithfulness to Jesus. We should be able to point to times where they’ve displayed faith, courage, wisdom, etc., in the name of and for the sake of Jesus. We should be looking for people who have been and are now faithful to Jesus.

Being able to teach others is a forward-looking goal. Paul said to entrust the gospel to other faithful men and women, “who will be able to teach others also.” That means they aren’t necessarily able to do so now.

Let’s simplify this. Paul is saying we should pass on the gospel by intentionally investing in other men and women who are faithful to Christ and who will be able to teach others to do the same one day. That means we invest in those who display a vibrant, active faith in Jesus, and we do the hard work of teaching them so they can turn around and teach others one day.

“The gospel came to you so that it could pass through you,” says pastor and author Robby Gallaty.

You received the gospel, yes, but part of the reason you received it is that it’s headed to someone else—and you’re the intended vehicle. If you’re not investing in people who will turn around and invest in someone else, your efforts to pass on the gospel will be stunted.

We can never truly know who will pass it on and who won’t, of course. But if you’ve invested in someone for any amount of time, it quickly becomes evident who is taking seriously the call to pass on the gospel and who isn’t. Give your time to those who are hungry for the gospel and who demonstrate faithfulness to live it out.

Each Christian is called to run a race of being faithful to Christ. That race is always a relay that requires a handoff. So be a public witness. Invest in people on purpose. And invest in the right people.

Don’t fumble the handoff. Ensure the gospel is passed on to the next generation and finish your race well.

Grayson Pope (M.A., Christian Studies) is a husband and father of three, and the Managing Web Editor at GCD. He serves as a writer and editor with Prison Fellowship. For more of Grayson’s writing, check out his website or follow him on Twitter.

Jesus Can Redeem Your Parenting (Yes, Even Yours)

You can’t make your children Christians, but you can make it easy to love Jesus in your home. You can seek to make your home ring with gospel joy. You can endeavor to make your family not only a family of Christians but a Christian family—sold out for Christ and his cause. God has more for us than the hum-drum life of work, rest, and entertainment. He has more for your children than extra-curricular activities, college scholarships, and good jobs. He has the storehouses of grace and glory for your family.

Our problem is, as C.S. Lewis famously said, “we are far too easily pleased.” We settle for mud pies when a holiday at sea is ours for the taking.

As Christians and as parents, we should not settle for the goal of simply raising obedient Church-goers. Rather we should strive to meet a higher standard of parenting – one that invites our children to lives of sacrificial obedience to Christ.

DO NOT PROVOKE

In Ephesians 6:4, God calls parents to disciple their children: “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”

Though Paul uses the word “fathers” here, this command applies to both fathers and mothers.

In Paul’s day, the children were under the father’s complete control. He could have them killed or sold into slavery. No law stood in his way. It’s easy to see in that kind of culture how a child would be provoked to anger. Who wouldn’t be provoked living in an unjust home?

But Christ came to bring justice. He came to set things right.

That’s why Paul begins with a negative command, “Do not provoke your children to anger.”

Though we may not live as first-century Christians did, this is still a frightening statement because it is saying that there is a possibility for a parent to create in their children a settled anger and resentment that could last for a very long time.

Of course there will be times when a child gets angry. Who doesn’t get angry? But there’s a difference between intermittent anger and deep, abiding anger as a result of your upbringing.

How does that happen?

On the one hand, parents can be too hard. They can give unnecessary commands, be too heavy-handed, or just down-right mean. They can be easily frustrated and lash out at small wrongdoings. They don’t care about discipling and training the child. They just want the child to fall in line.

King Saul was like that. In 1 Samuel 20, Saul noticed David wasn’t at dinner as he should have been. He asked his son Jonathan where David was. Now, Jonathan knew Saul was mad at David, wanting to kill him, so he helped David avoid the dinner. Jonathan was doing the right thing, but Saul didn’t care. He wanted him to fall in line. Saul said to his son, “You son of a perverse, rebellious woman.” Saul went on to command David be brought before him so he could be killed. When Jonathan asked what David had done, Saul thrust his spear at him. So Jonathan rose from the table in fierce anger. And rightly so.

That’s a parent who is too hard and too mean. But it’s also possible for a parent to be too soft. For example, in Genesis 37, we see the failures of Jacob as a father. What was Jacob’s failure? He was too soft on his son Joseph. He favored him above the others, and it led to the anger of his other sons. Eventually, they sold Joseph into slavery.

The point is, it’s easy to provoke our children to anger. We don’t have to be evil like King Saul. We can be a kind father like Jacob and do just as much damage.

When we fail to treat our children as a stewardship from the Lord and instead view them as servants for our agenda or necessities for our emotional state, we provoke either them or our other children to anger.

A STEWARDSHIP FROM GOD

A Christian parent doesn’t see their children as either an annoyance or an emotional crutch. Rather they understand their children to be a stewardship from the Lord, for his sake, and seek to bring up their kids in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

That last phrase is so important. Most parents will raise their children with discipline and instruction. But a Christian parent notices those last three words, “of the Lord.”

It’s not our discipline and instruction that matters. It’s Christ’s. It’s our duty to help our children to follow Jesus—not to follow us.

This means parents must be aware of the rhythms of their family life. How is your week structured? How much of a priority is Jesus in your family life? Is church a checklist item on Sunday morning or is it an anticipation on Saturday night? Is youth group dependent on the children’s sports practice or it is the reason you have to call the coach to explain their absence?

Your rhythms of family life will either prove or disprove the reality of God.

If you never pray or read the Bible in front of or with your kids, if you never talk about Jesus in any regular, open way, if you never invite others into your home for the sake of the gospel, if you never serve Jesus together as a family, if you never ask your kids about who they think Jesus is, if you’re just thankful you’re a Christian and going to heaven but your Christianity hasn’t made an impact on the way you raise your kids, then you haven’t yet realized the glory your family is missing with Christ.

It’s all too easy to just let life come at us, but a Christian parent loves God by helping their children follow Jesus. A Christian parent is active, treating their children as a stewardship from the Lord. Like Jesus, a Christian parent pursues.

You can’t save your children, but you can point them to the Savior. You can make the Savior real in your home.

JESUS REDEEMS OUR PARENTING

Some parents need to consider the command of Ephesians 6:4 with a new openness. Some haven’t parented according to their calling. So what’s the path forward?

Here’s a question that redefines everything in the Christian life, including parenting. It’s a question I’ve brought to bear in my own life in several areas recently.

Do I believe that Jesus is a Redeemer?

I respect him as King—one who watches over me. I listen to him as Prophet—one who speaks with power. But do I trust him as Redeemer—one who makes all things new?

When we trust him that way, we stop quenching the Spirit, and he starts working in our lives. Jesus can change the story of your family and my family, starting today. And he’s asking us, “Will you let me?”

That Jesus is a Redeemer means no parent, no matter their failures, is too far from his grace when it comes to discipling their children. You may think, “But our family is a mess.”

But aren’t we all?

By God’s grace, our path forward is as simple as turning to God. All you must do is say to Christ, “I’m your mess.” And he’ll come in and clean it up. That’s what a redeemer does: turns messes into miracles. And as your children see you turn to the Redeemer, they’ll learn what it means to follow Jesus. They’ll see that he’s a real Savior, and they’ll taste the grace he gives as your family begins to draw life from his mercy.

No one is the perfect parent, but if we’re waiting for perfection or nothing, we’ll get nothing every time.

Let’s trust Christ and say yes to the next right thing.

The triune God is at work in our lives to bring redemption. And in the Trinity, we have the Son who loves and honors the Father perfectly, the Father who never provokes to anger and knows how to discipline and instruct, and the Spirit who sustains it all.

The whole God is invested in the whole you. Our part is simply to trust him and not limit what he can do in us and in our families. 

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David McLemore is the Director of Teaching Ministries at Refuge Church in Franklin, Tennessee. He also works for a large healthcare corporation where he manages an application development department. He is married to Sarah, and they have three sons. Read more of David’s writing on his blog, Things of the Sort.

5 Ways to Speak Life

I love to play golf. More than the game itself, I enjoy being out on the course, the fresh air, the exercise, and the conversation with friends. As kind of a duffer, one of the privileges I often enjoy on the course is the “mulligan,” a “do-over” used in informal games of golf when the score doesn’t matter and everyone is playing for fun. Each player is allowed one mulligan per round. I often take two or three.

In those common instances when I botch the first shot off the tee or slice the ball into a water hazard, I simply tee up the second ball and start over. The bad shot goes unnoticed and forgotten, failing to make its way onto the score sheet, and normal play resumes. The beauty of the mulligan is that it leaves no trace that something bad ever happened.

MULLIGAN DREAMS

Unfortunately, life doesn’t always play out like a round of golf. Most of us can think of times when we wish we had a do-over: a career mulligan; a marriage mulligan; a money mulligan. Sometimes these are simple regrets—“I wish I had stuck with piano lessons.” Others are more serious—“I wish I had gone to college,” or “I wish I’d been nicer to my parents.” A few are life-altering—“I wish I hadn’t rushed into marriage,” or “I wish I had called a cab instead of trying to drive.”

But some of our greatest and most common mulligan-dreams are centered around our words, which seem to escape from our mouths before they can be caught. These naked words are powerful realities, affecting far more than just our ears, even shaping our and minds and hearts. Hurtful and callous remarks, venomous and destructive critique, thoughtless and angry comments. Words like these have no return address.

The tongue can speak either life or death, and through it, we bring either healing or destruction into the world. The scriptures are serious about the power of our words, warning us to carefully and vigorously guard what comes out of our mouths (see Prov. 10:19, 13:3, 17:27-28, 18:21, 21:23, to name a few). Our use of words could well be the most crucial issue for our discipleship, and the most poignant indicator of our spiritual state. As Jesus said, “It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person” (Matt. 15:11), “for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matt. 12:34).

PRACTICE SPEAKING LIFE

In golf, the best way to avoid the mulligan is through practice. The same is true with our mouths: we must intentionally practice not only being “slow to speak” (Jas. 1:19) but also speaking life-giving words. And there are certain types of speech that, when frequently practiced, naturally train both our mouths and our hearts to produce life instead of death. Here are five ways to speak life instead of death.

Praise

In order for words to bring life, they must be aligned with reality. Charles Wesley, the famous 18th-century hymn writer, bemoaned his limited physical capacity for praise: “O for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer’s praise!” For the believer enamored with Jesus, a solitary tongue just isn’t enough. Even a thousand is too few to render God his due.

The greatest task for which human words can be employed is the heartfelt rendering of affectionate praise to God. Praise is not simply truth-speaking; it’s the passionate expression of a heart fully taken by its subject. Words of praise give life by shaping our hearts, minds, and mouths with truth of the highest order. We should devote time every day to using our God-created tongues to sing and speak words of adoration and worship to the Author of our salvation.

Gratitude

Paul commanded his readers to “give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thess. 5:18). Words of thanks are an important part of life-giving speech and can be directed to both God and others. Gratitude trains us to see that life itself is a gift, and for this reason, we are all recipients of constant grace.

Practice saying out loud those things you’re grateful for. Tell God you’re thankful for his Son who endured the cross on your behalf. Tell a friend how grateful you are for what God is showing you in this season of life. Giving thanks in all circumstances starts with giving thanks in one circumstance—and you can start today.

Prayer

Like praise and thanksgiving—two forms of prayer—prayer gains its beauty, character, and dignity from the One to whom it is addressed. As conversation with God, prayer begins with an open ear and is, by nature, responsive. Theologian Eugene Peterson calls prayer “answering speech,” noting that God always gets the first word—through his Word—making prayer a verbal response to divine initiative.

Our prayer life—our speech-life with God—should guide, direct, and shape our speech-life with others. As we think about how to speak to others in God-honoring, Spirit-directed ways, a good starting place is to speak about the other person to God and allow God to speak to us about them. In essence, we are praying for others, but we are also enabling our prayer life to shape our conversational and relational life with others. As you do so, you may be surprised by how much prayer shapes your thoughts, moods, and conversations.

Confession

Confession is truth-telling. It is, like scientifically precise language, meant to be an accurate description of the world (in this case, your own soul) as it really is—or at least as you experience it to be. Words of confession help us find where we really are in the world. Confessions are compass-like words that recalibrate our souls to the reality of our own brokenness and the astonishing grace of the gospel.

We are afforded no mulligans in our speech. Instead, we are given the much better gift of confession and the forgiveness that accompanies it. Go to the Father and confess the sins of your mouth, and taste the forgiveness that’s sweeter than any do-over.

Encouragement

Who doesn’t like to be encouraged? Encouragement is a generous use of speech that freely bestows affirmation, solace, peace, comfort, thanksgiving, praise, and appreciation to others. It costs very little, yet breathes an immense amount of life into the weary and beaten down souls around us.

Encourage someone today—a neighbor, a family member, a friend, a co-worker, a stranger, an enemy. Use your words to speak peace into their life. Make it your goal for everyone you talk with to leave feeling better than when they came to you.

CONCLUSION

Jesus was clear that our words matter. “I tell you,” he said, “on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matt. 12:36-37).

We don’t get any do-overs with our speech, but we do have access to forgiveness and grace when we misspeak. Perhaps more than anything, we have the ability to counteract thoughtless, careless, violent, and destructive speech with words that build up, care for, love, and give life.

Let’s be people whose words are a wellspring of life in a world filled with words that too often produce death.

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Mike Phay serves as Lead Pastor at FBC Prineville (Oregon) and as a Staff Writer at Gospel-Centered Discipleship. He has been married to Keri for over 20 years, and they have five amazing kids. You can follow him on Twitter (@mikephay) or check out his blog.

The Barrier of Endless Distraction

The person I’m most uncomfortable being alone with is myself. And that’s okay, because I’ve become very good at avoiding myself. For example, if I get stuck alone on an elevator, and I start to feel that anxiety, the dread of having to examine my life—even for a minute—I just take out my phone, and poof! it’s gone. Or if I sense that I need to have a heart-to-heart talk with myself about sin or doubt or fear, all of a sudden I remember that it’s my night to do the dishes—and I can’t do the dishes without listening to a podcast. Self-avoidance is probably my most advanced skill set. I’ve developed it over the years in response to the burden of being alone, which can bring up so many unsettling truths. Of course, I have plenty of help from the rest of society. I’m always being encouraged to read something, to do something, to watch something, or to buy something new. It’s an unspoken but mutually agreed upon truth for modern people that being alone with our thoughts is disturbing.

A friend once described a similar feeling of existential dread to me. He said it would hit him only when he woke up in the morning. Sometimes he’d feel like killing himself. It wasn’t something he shared with friends. But he’d get this sick feeling—like there’s no point to any of it—every morning. He said he needed something more to get him up in the morning. My friend could stave off this sense of hopelessness all day, except for those few moments right after he woke up. Lying in bed, he could feel the pressure of being alive constrict his breath. But once he got moving, drank his coffee, watched the news, and went to work, he was okay. He got swept up into the movement of the day, as most of us do.

The beauty of using my iPhone as my alarm clock is that when I reach over to turn it off I’m only a few more taps away from the rest of the world. Before I’m even fully awake I’ve checked my Twitter and Facebook notifications and my email and returned to Twitter to check my feed for breaking news. Before I’ve said “good morning” to my wife and children, I’ve entered a contentious argument on Twitter about Islamic terrorism and shared a video of Russell Westbrook dunking in the previous night’s NBA game.

While making my coffee and breakfast I begin working through social media conversations that require more detailed responses so that by the time I sit down to eat, I can set down my phone too. Years ago I would use my early morning grouchiness as an excuse to play on my computer rather than talk with my wife and kids, but now our family tries to stay faithful to a strict no-phones-at-the-table policy. We have drawn important boundaries for the encroachment of technology into our lives to preserve our family and attention spans, but that does not mean we’ve managed to save time for reflection. Instead, I tend to use this time to go over what I have to teach in my first class, or my wife and I make a list of goals for the day. It is a time of rest from screens and technology, but not from preoccupation.

As I drive the kids to school, we listen and sing along to “Reflektor” by Arcade Fire. On my walk back to the car after dropping them off, I check my email and make a few more comments in the Twitter debate I began before breakfast. In the car again, I listen to an NBA fan podcast; it relaxes me a bit as the anxiety of the coming work day continues to creep up on me. Sufficient to the workday are the anxieties and frustrations thereof. And so, when I need a coffee or bathroom break, I’ll use my phone to skim an article or like a few posts. The distraction is a much-needed relief from the stress of work, but it also is a distraction. I still can’t hear myself think. And most of the time I really don’t want to. When I feel some guilt about spending so much time being unfocused, I tell myself it’s for my own good. I deserve this break. I need this break. But there’s no break from distraction.

While at work, I try not to think about social media and the news, but I really don’t need additional distractions to keep my mind busy. The modern work environment is just as frenetic and unfocused as our leisure time. A constant stream of emails breaks my focus and shifts my train of thought between multiple projects. To do any seriously challenging task, I often have to get up and take a walk to absorb myself in the problem without the immediacy of technology to throw me off.

Back at home, I’m tasked with watching the kids. They are old enough to play on their own, so I find myself standing around, waiting for one of them to tattle or get hurt or need water for the fifth time. If I planned ahead, I might read a book, but usually I use the time to check Twitter and Facebook or read a short online article. But it’s not always technology that distracts me; sometimes, while the kids are briefly playing well together, I’ll do some housecleaning or pay bills. Whatever the method, I’m always leaning forward to the next job, the next comment, the next goal.

I watch Netflix while I wash dishes. I follow NBA scores while I grade. I panic for a moment when I begin to go upstairs to get something. I turn around and find my phone to keep me company during the two-minute trip. When it’s late enough, I collapse, reading a book or playing an iOS game. I’m never alone and it’s never quiet.

As a Christian, the spiritual disciplines of reading the Bible and praying offer me a chance to reflect, but it’s too easy to turn these times into to-do list chores as well. Using my Bible app, I get caught up in the Greek meaning of a word and the contextual notes and never really meditate on the Word itself. It is an exercise, not an encounter with the sacred, divine Word of God. A moleskin prayer journal might help me remember God’s faithfulness, but it also might mediate my prayer time through a self-conscious pride in being devout. There’s no space in our modern lives that can’t be filled up with entertainment, socializing, recording, or commentary.

This has always been the human condition. The world has always moved without us and before us and after us, and we quickly learn how to swim with the current. We make sense of our swimming by observing our fellow swimmers and hearing their stories. We conceive of these narratives based on the stories we’ve heard elsewhere: from our communities, the media, advertisements, or traditions.

But for the twenty-first-century person in an affluent country like the United States, the momentum of life that so often discourages us from stopping to take our bearings is magnified dramatically by the constant hum of portable electronic entertainment, personalized for our interests and desires and delivered over high-speed wireless internet. It’s not just that this technology allows us to stay “plugged in” all the time, it’s that it gives us the sense that we are tapped into something greater than ourselves. The narratives of meaning that have always filled our lives with justification and wonder are multiplied endlessly and immediately for us in songs, TV shows, online communities, games, and the news.

This is the electronic buzz of the twenty-first century. And it is suffocating.

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Taken from Disruptive Witness by Alan Noble. Copyright (c) 2018 by Alan Noble. Published by InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL. www.ivpress.com

Alan Noble (Ph.D., Baylor University) is assistant professor of English at Oklahoma Baptist University and cofounder and editor in chief of Christ and Pop Culture. He has written for The Atlantic, Vox, BuzzFeed, The Gospel Coalition, Christianity Today, and First Things. He is also an advisor for the AND Campaign.

Good News for Parents Feeling Guilty About Technology

My three-year-old sat in her kid-sized chair, feverishly swiping and tapping on the phone while her siblings ran laps around the house and shouted their favorite tunes. Only it wasn’t a phone she was playing with—it was a Hot Wheels car. We had long since decided against handing phones over to toddlers. In the absence of the real thing, our daughter did what all kids do and used her imagination. She flipped the car over and was pretending the flat bottom was a screen.

After realizing what was going on, I asked her why she would rather sit on the chair pretending to scroll through a phone than run and play with her siblings. Without looking up, she answered, “It’s what all the big girls do.”

My heart broke in that moment. It broke because she was right.

WHAT THE BIG GIRLS DO

My little girl had noticed a pattern, the same one you see when you look around the mall. What are all the big girls doing? When you go to the park, what are all the parents doing?

The average U.S. adult spends five hours per day on their mobile devices. As parents, our hands and schedules are probably full enough that we’re not spending five hours on our phones, but how much time do we spend double-tapping and scrolling? Not long ago, the answer for me was far too much.

A couple of years ago, my husband and I were convicted of our use of technology. We took a hard look at how we used our devices and read about what happens when we’re always connected. We started making changes. It wasn’t easy. We struggled to put our convictions into words and explain to family members why we didn’t want them showing our kids how to play games on their phones.

TECH-WISE COMMITMENTS

Then Andy Crouch wrote The Tech-Wise Family, which helped us articulate our thoughts and hearts. Crouch’s book features ten tech-wise commitments, many of which we’ve adopted and made our own. In our home today (with four children six and under), we’re committed to:

• Leaving our phones out of sight and out of reach so we can focus on who God has in front of us
• Minimizing the number of toys with buttons available throughout the house so our children develop the capacity of imaginative play
• Reading aloud and talking during car rides (even hours-long road trips), so we can learn how to be around each other and engage more of our senses
• Allowing kids to watch TV only rarely (about once a month), and only with the whole family so the screen becomes a novel, shared experience

I still use Instagram to stay in touch with my friends (and see pics of their kiddos!). I’m grateful for podcasts to listen to while I’m cleaning or exercising. But I can say that, by the grace of God, I’m not dependent on my devices. That’s less because of behavioral modifications, though, and more because of what the Lord has shown us through our tech woes.

OUR REFUGE IN THIS DIGITAL WORLD

My daughter’s comment—"It’s what all the big girls do”—revealed that while we can seek to create a tech-wise home, we can’t fully shield our children from a tech-saturated world; a world with screens on our wrists, in our pockets, and in our living rooms and bedrooms.

Throughout Scripture, God calls his people to stay faithful regardless of what the world worships. Jesus did just that when he came to Earth. He was in the world, but not of it. He dined with sinners, yet remained free of sin. And he calls us to do the same.

But it’s so easy to get lost in questions like What boundaries do we set? How much screen time should my kids have? How old should kids be before they play video games?

When I get lost in these questions, I forget that sin and distraction entered the world thousands of years ago in a garden—not with the invention of the iPhone. Sin separated us from our Creator and sin will condemn us when we stand before him on the day of judgment.

But God loves us too much to let that be the end of the story. God longs to see our relationship with him redeemed. Psalm 34:22 tells us, “The Lord redeems the life of his servants, none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned” (emphasis mine).

When we take refuge in God, he promises redemption, not condemnation. But taking refuge in the Lord requires trust. And from day one, that’s just what God has been after.

Christian parents can do many really good things without ever trusting God. In the early years, we can make kids eat their carrots before their chocolate. We can put boundaries around technology (as my family has).

But if we fail to daily submit our children, and our role as parents, to the Lord, then we miss the point. Our parental efforts at behavior modification are good, but they aren’t primarily what God’s after.

He’s after our heart. And our hearts reveal what our motives truly are, and those determine our actions. If we want to address technology in our homes, we have to start with our hearts.

THE HEART OF THE MATTER

The next time you’re evaluating tech use in your home, ask why you’re really checking your phone or turning the TV on. Get to the heart of the matter. Are you justifying handing your phone to your child because you simply long for a break? Or the next time you go to check Instagram, ask what you’re hoping to find—affirmation, satisfaction, relief?

Then consider getting your kids involved in the heart check too! Or at least begin the conversation. You may find what we did, that our child was mimicking what she saw around her because she longs to be “big.” Or you may ask a thirteen-year-old and realize his or her worth and identity is wrongly wrapped up in their online presence.

Together your family can reflect on if the heart of your tech use is in line with the world or the Lord.

And if you’re like me and my family, you’ll probably be overwhelmed with the need to repent—of placing hope in getting something accomplished and using technology to “babysit” because it's easy (and free.) Or repent of placing trust in what others think of me and Instagram likes give me instant “love”. When God reveals the true desires of my heart, and how out of line they are with his heart, my sin feels overwhelming.

But that’s why the gospel is such good news! Because in Christ, I am redeemed by his work, not my family's tech habits. He doesn’t love me more when I stand strong in our tech-wise commitments, and he doesn’t love me less when I hand a screaming child a phone because I don’t know what else to do.

Regardless of what “all the big girls are doing,” I will continue to pray for my heart and my children’s hearts. I will continue to beg God for the grace to trust him more. That might mean our family is more up-to-date with board book stories than Instagram stories, but we’re learning to be okay with that.

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Maggie Pope is the CEO of a small nonprofit that invests heavily in the lives of a handful of young children. Since the staff is small, she also serves part-time as the janitor, teacher, bread-baker, and driver. Okay, she’s a mom. She lives in North Carolina with her husband and four children.

The Saints: Ordinary Means for Extraordinary Ends

I went to a funeral today. It was for the man who taught me the Lord’s prayer. Mr. Taylor graduated to heaven at the age of ninety-six. He spent more than thirty-five years—over one-third of his life—teaching Sunday School.

When I was nine years old, my mom started taking us to church. She would drop me off in the church basement for class with the other children. They all came from intact Dutch families. Mine was neither intact nor Dutch.

A sticker chart hung on the wall, just inside the classroom door. Mr. Taylor would greet me there with a hug every Sunday, turn to the sticker chart and say, “Well, Jennie, are you ready to tell me what you’ve learned?” And I would rehearse my progress in the Lord’s prayer from Matthew 6:9-13.

He listened with pride twinkling in his eyes. Each sticker earned was progress towards a Sunday School prize. After our Bible recitation, he taught us a Bible story. Mr. Taylor was the first to introduce me to Abraham, Joseph, Moses, the disciples, and Paul.

Every year, on my birthday, Mr. Taylor would call me. Upon answering, he did not say hello but dove right in, “Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Jennie, happy birthday to you!” Then, “Have a great day today. Goodbye!” He called all the kids—and many adults—in our church every year. He was the kind of person that made sure to call you on your birthday.

And that’s all I really knew of Mr. Taylor until his funeral.

Long Obedience over Coffee and Bagels

In the memorial service, I learned that Mr. Taylor didn’t become a Christian until his 40s or 50s. As a believer, he had coffee and a bagel with our pastor every week. And every week, they’d talk about the Bible. Mr. Taylor loved the Bible. He read it, memorized it, cherished it.

Not only did Mr. Taylor have a deep faith, but he was faithful. The pastor reminisced how he never missed a Sunday. Though his wife never accompanied him to church, he was always, always there. Though he was in poor health—even when I first met him thirty years ago—he never missed a week. Though his hearing failed, he had to walk with a cane, and his strength was clearly waning—he was faithful in his obedience to God.

I agree with the eulogy—Mr. Taylor heard, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” (Matt. 25:23) when he met Jesus. He is a striking example of a long obedience in the same direction. He never grew weary of doing good (Gal. 6:9).

Ordinary Faithfulness

What a normal guy, I thought throughout the service. He was a World War II veteran, a dad, a husband. He was simply faithful—to God and to his church—and the Lord ministered to others through him.

What if we—as ordinary Christ-followers—followed in his footsteps? What if we, who are normal and unexceptional, simply pursued faithfulness? Here are some ways we might apply the fruit of Mr. Taylor’s life to our own.

Your theology doesn’t need to be fully developed to serve the church

The pastor performing the memorial service chuckled that Mr. Taylor would often get fixated on a doctrinal issue and have a hard time conforming his ideas to the truth. Though he was late to the faith, he gave himself over to the body of Christ. Despite being a work in progress, he readily invested in kids. The pastor and elders allowed Mr. Taylor to serve the church in a capacity that he could steward well. He had a passion for teaching children and the church supplied the tools and curriculum for him to do that. Neither the church leadership nor Mr. Taylor insisted on him having everything figured out before he served the body. Theology matters, but it need not be perfected before you can serve.

Give yourself over to discipleship

Knowing he was indeed a work in progress, Mr. Taylor committed himself to be shaped by the Word of God, the people of God, and the Spirit of God. The pastor said he especially loved the Beatitudes and Psalm 23 and committed them to memory. He would wake up at night and read his Bible or pray for people in the church. He never skipped his weekly bagel and coffee with the pastor. Though he was old enough to be the pastor’s father, he submitted himself to his pastor’s spiritual leadership. He was ready and available to engage in discipleship, even with someone substantially younger than him. Giving yourself over to discipleship has no universal age or experience requirement.

Fix your eyes on Jesus

Mr. Taylor was a sweet example of a man who pressed on toward the goal to win the prize for which God had called him heavenward in Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:14). The pastor’s eulogy implied that he had a regrettable past. And I saw with my own childhood eyes that though he had a wife whom he adored, she did not accompany him to church. His difficult past and present circumstances did not prevent him from pursuing Christ daily and worshiping with others weekly. Neither should we allow our past or present situations to rob our affections for Jesus.

Be a bridge for newcomers

As a child of divorce and a home where Christ was not honored in my early years, crossing the threshold of a church felt strange to me. I had a dad at home that questioned Christianity and mocked religion in general. Those repeating the Lord’s prayer with me in Sunday School had dads in suits and moms with Bibles under the arms. Yet Mr. Taylor always greeted me with a hug and eager anticipation to hear my progress in memorizing Scripture. I was different, but he didn’t treat me like I was different. A smile and a greeting to newcomers goes a lot farther than you might think.

Small acts of kindness leave a great impact

We all chuckled when the pastor reminisced about how Mr. Taylor called almost everyone in the church on our birthdays and serenaded us over the phone. He gave us each the same small gift—a phone call that showed he knew us, remembered us, and celebrated us. When I looked around the sanctuary and saw a hundred bobbing heads, it was clear that this small act shaped the culture of the entire church. Christ-like kindness may feel small but can have a sweeping effect.

Spiritually parent others

My Sunday School leader was the spiritual father of hundreds. I know many of those in Sunday School with me are now missionaries and ministers, teachers and police officers, engineers and salesmen, moms and dads. We each carry with us the memory and imprint of a man who didn’t rest until we each had Matthew 6:9-13 memorized. Mr. Taylor’s thirty-five-year investment in children’s Sunday School bear’s a rich legacy: there are hundreds of us who know the model prayer of our Savior because of the faithful plodding of our Sunday School teacher.

Ordinary Means for Extraordinary Ends

Our good and gracious God redeems, inhabits, and glorifies himself through normal people, just like Mr. Taylor. The Apostle Paul said, “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us” (1 Cor. 4:7-9). Mr. Taylor’s kindness and habits and love of the Bible and the God who wrote it revealed Christ to me, the hope of glory (Col.1:27). The simple, unsophisticated ministry of this very normal man, led me to know and love Jesus.

Mr. Taylor didn’t have formal Biblical training or a Christian pedigree. He didn’t have a fancy church or a state-of-the-art kids’ ministry. He had a sticker chart, a flannel graph, a patient and persevering personality, and a warmth towards children. Mostly, he had a desire that we know the Lord! He was God’s very ordinary means for extraordinary ends: making us kids alive together with Christ (Eph. 2:5).

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Jen Oshman is a wife and mom to four daughters and has served as a missionary for 17 years on three continents. She currently resides in Colorado where she and her husband serve with Pioneers International, and she encourages her church-planting husband at Redemption Parker. Her passion is leading women to a deeper faith and fostering a biblical worldview. She writes at www.jenoshman.com.

Retelling the Ascension Story

Three days after Jesus was buried, he rose from the grave and appeared to his disciples. Over the course of the next forty days, the resurrected Jesus, with his nail-pierced hands and spear-split side, spent time in the company of his friends—teaching them, encouraging them, and preparing them for a mission to take the story of his resurrection to the furthest reaches of the globe. On one of those occasions, as Jesus was eating with his friends, he told them to wait for the gift the Father had promised—the Holy Spirit Jesus had told them about. The Holy Spirit would come and comfort them and lead them forward. They were to remain in Jerusalem until this happened.

JUST WAIT HERE

It could not have been easy for the disciples to sit with their risen Lord. For as much joy and hope as Jesus’ resurrection brought them, they had been present at his death. They had witnessed the brutal execution of this man they loved, followed, and gave their lives to serving. They saw his beaten and bloody form hang from the cross as he breathed his last. After he died, they were hollowed out with grief.

Along with their grief was the guilt. The trauma of the crucifixion had revealed weaknesses in each one of them. They watched their loyalty to Jesus collapse under the weight of the chief priests’ resolve to put an end to what he had started. Not one of them had shown the strength they believed they possessed when Jesus was taken into custody. Each one denied knowing him in his greatest hour of need.

On top of the grief and the guilt was the fact that the world as they knew it had changed. When the resurrected Jesus appeared to his disciples, it was to remind them of their call to be his witnesses in the world. But after the resurrection, they hardly knew what that world was anymore.

They were fragile and unsettled, but they could not escape the reality that Jesus had in fact risen. And they knew they were somehow tied up in it. How could they not be? In a world where everyone dies, one man’s resurrection becomes instantly relevant to all. His resurrection was part of their story.

The disciples used that time to ask questions of Jesus. They wanted to understand what would happen next. Would he deal with the religious leaders who opposed him? Would he overthrow Rome? Would he restore the kingdom of Israel to her former glory? And if so, when? Would they be part of it?

THE COMING POWER

Jesus told them the Father was establishing his kingdom, but the particulars of this business were not theirs to know. Such knowledge belonged to God alone. What he could tell them, however, was that the Holy Spirit would come on each one of them in a matter of days, and when he did, they would be filled with power.

In that power, they would be his witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. This Great Commission, the disciples came to understand, was very much about the kingdom of God. Their mission, though they struggled to grasp it, was in some way the work of building the kingdom of God. The Holy Spirit and the kingdom of God—the two main subjects Jesus discussed after his resurrection—were inseparably linked, meaning the disciples’ call to bear witness to Christ carried eternal significance.

Forty days after the resurrection the disciples were on the Mount of Olives and Jesus was with them. He told them they would be his witnesses, and after he said this, he began to rise up into the sky right before their eyes. Up he went, until a cloud hid him from their sight. The disciples stood in silence as they watched him go. In that moment the world became an even greater mystery than the one the resurrection demanded they embrace.

Jesus did not need to visibly ascend. What the disciples witnessed was not for Jesus’ benefit but for theirs. He did it so they would know he was actually gone. They would not see him the next day. He would not attend to them in the same way he had these past forty days. They were not to wait for him. Now they were to wait for the Holy Spirit.

As the disciples stood, looking up and watching their friend vanish, two angelic beings dressed in white appeared. The luminous apparitions said, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing here looking into the sky? This same Jesus who has now been taken up will come again. He will descend in the same way you saw him ascend into heaven. He is coming back.”

But as far as the disciples were concerned, the time for standing around and looking up to heaven had passed. They needed to let Jesus go and step into the mission he had given them. What was happening in the sky was not their chief concern. What was happening on earth was.

The disciples responded by obeying Jesus’ command to wait. They left the Mount of Olives and went back into Jerusalem and gathered many of Jesus’ followers together in the upper room where they were staying.

USING THE TIME

More than 120 people were gathered in all. There were the eleven disciples: Simon Peter, James and John (the sons of Zebedee), Peter’s brother Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew the tax collector, Simon the zealot, Alphaeus’s son James, and James’s son Judas. With them were the women who had discovered the empty tomb, Jesus’ mother, Mary, Jesus’ brothers, and many more whose lives had been changed by Jesus.

For ten days they waited, but it was not a passive waiting. They used the time. They joined together to pray. They prepared for the work that lay ahead. This was an act of obedience to their slain and risen Lord. In their waiting they trusted him, even though their understanding of what lay ahead was less than clear.

Jesus never told them how long they would have to wait for the Holy Spirit to come—just that he would arrive in a little while. After all that had transpired in Jerusalem in recent weeks, remaining there was as much an act of courage as it was an act of faith. This was the city where Jesus had been arrested, beaten, crucified, and buried. This was the place where Judas had betrayed Jesus for a pocket full of silver and where Peter had denied knowing Jesus for fear of a child’s accusation. This was the city that seemed bent on erasing any trace of the movement Jesus started.

There were more appealing places to wait and families many of them could have gone home to. Each had the option to return to their homes in places like Galilee, Nazareth, and Cana. They could have gone back to their old jobs—fishing, collecting taxes, carpentry, prostitution. They could have even gone back to their old religions—Judaism or Roman paganism. But those who gathered in the upper room didn’t. They chose to obey Christ, and they waited. And they used their time.

THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE KING

Each person gathered in that upper room over the course of those days had been changed in some way through their relationship with Jesus. The cast of characters would have included people like Mary Magdalene, who had once been possessed by demons, and Nicodemus, the Pharisee who helped cover the cost of Jesus’ burial. Perhaps the synagogue ruler from Capernaum, Jairus, was there with his daughter Talitha, whom Jesus had raised from the dead, and perhaps they were huddled together in friendship with Lazarus, whom Jesus had also raised from the dead. Former lepers, newly sighted blind people, and once-paralyzed beggars would have been milling about in the crowd too.

As it has always been with the people of God, their desire to obey Christ was strengthened by the bond of their fellowship with one another. God had made them to need one another—to be known, loved, and supported. This was the power and influence of Jesus in each of their lives. He had loved and served them in such a way that they had come to need one another. The usual dividing lines of the day—wealth, nationality, reputation—were already beginning to blur. These were people who had come to accept that they were all weak and that Jesus had been strong for them. They were all poor and Jesus had been generous with them. They were all outsiders and Jesus had given them a place with him. These truths drew them toward one another.

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Taken from The Mission of the Body of Christ (Retelling the Story Series) by Russ Ramsey. Copyright (c) 2018 by Russ Ramsey. Published by InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL. www.ivpress.com.

Russ Ramsey and his wife and four children make their home in Nashville, Tennessee. He is the author of Struck, Behold the Lamb of God, and was awarded the 2016 Christian Book Award from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association for his book Behold the King of Glory. Russ grew up in the fields of Indiana and studied at Taylor University and Covenant Theological Seminary (MDiv, ThM). He is a pastor at Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tennessee, and his writing has appeared at The Rabbit Room, The Gospel Coalition, The Blazing Center, and To Write Love on Her Arms.

What is Discipleship and How Do We Do It?

Discipleship. It’s a word we throw around in the church, and it’s a word that’s not explicitly used in the Bible. We do find the word “disciple” in Scripture—a noun that means learner, pupil, or follower. Jesus uses this word to describe his followers—those who learn from him, walk closely with him, and obey his teachings.

We also find the phrase “make disciples”—a verb phrase that is found in the Great Commission where Christ’s disciples (and all his followers from that moment on) were told to preach the gospel, baptize new believers, and teach them to observe the commands of God.

But what is discipleship?

INVITATION TO A PROCESS

Christ charges his followers to go and make disciples, “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:16-20). This “teaching” includes the sharing of nuggets of wisdom with a believer that you may only encounter once.

But this command is also an invitation to more. It is an invitation to a lifelong process of teaching, also known as discipleship.

Discipleship, as we define it today, can look many different ways, but it must include this aspect of teaching one another to observe the commands of the Lord. This doesn’t have to happen in a coffee shop and it doesn’t have to involve a hard and fast structure or a deep curriculum. It doesn’t have to be conducted by a pastor or minister.

Rather, as believers, we are charged to teach and disciple one another by inviting one another into our lives, sharing what we know to be true about the Lord, and encouraging one another to walk in obedience to God’s commands.

Discipleship is not an activity reserved for the pastors and staff of your church. In fact, the primary way the church body will mature and multiply is through the commitment of every single church member to disciple those behind them.

BIBLICAL UNDERSTANDING

Hebrews does an excellent job of summing up what discipleship is:

“Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” –Heb. 3:12-13

This word exhort literally means to call to one’s side, to comfort, to instruct, to encourage, to request help, to strengthen. The author of Hebrews hints at the ever-present temptation for believers to be “hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” Jeremiah teaches that “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick” (Jer. 17:9).

As believers, we are all desperately in need of the strength and exhortation that other believers can provide. We are all desperately in need of discipleship.

Inherent in this instructing, teaching, and exhorting is a level of vulnerability and humility that is key to discipleship. In order to be encouraged and admonished, you must be known by someone at a level that allows them to call out your sin and challenge you to deeper obedience.

This is what we are called to as believers, as disciples, as “Christians engaging in discipleship.”

We are called to know one another in a way that we are able to instruct and strengthen one another.

No Christian is exempt from this and no Christian is unequipped for this.

The life of a believer is a life in community with the church. And if you have been redeemed by the Lord, if you have been brought from death to life, if you have any knowledge of the Lord, then you have a story that can encourage, exhort, and strengthen a fellow believer or nonbeliever.

Every Christian is capable of discipleship and called to discipleship.

THE STRUCTURE

Countless models, structures, books, and curricula have been created in order to lay out a process of how to “do discipleship.” There are seemingly infinite resources on what it looks like to mature a believer in the faith. This poses a benefit and a challenge to those seeking to engage in discipleship.

Oftentimes, a believer seeking to disciple another believer is overwhelmed simply by the sheer amount of material and opinions regarding this topic. They feel the pressure to pick the right curriculum, to have the right material to teach, or to understand a complicated discipleship structure and process.

While it is true that discipleship is an intense and important process, believers need to give themselves permission to step out from under this pressure because, believe it or not, discipleship can be simple.

While the method and structure of discipleship may vary, there are a few vital factors to consider: intimacy, commitment, vulnerability, and prayer.

From my experience, discipleship is most effective with a very small group (2-4 is ideal for fostering intimate connections) of same-sex believers, who are committed to meeting regularly and who desire to be vulnerable with the difficult and ugly parts of their lives. These groups must be bathed with prayer and members must be committed to relying on the Word of God, not their opinions or desires, to guide and direct them.

Books and discipleship structures can be helpful, but for those seeking a simple process, these four elements provide a great place to start.

THE CHALLENGE

One of the lines I hear most often from young men and women in the church is, “I would love to be discipled, I just don’t know anyone who would want to disciple me.”

Funny enough, I often hear wise and experienced men and women in the church say, “I would love to disciple someone, I just don’t know anyone who would want to be discipled by me.”

Church members, you’re looking for each other!

If you are a young believer who is seeking this type of relationship, I encourage you to ask a more spiritually mature man or woman in the church to begin meeting with you. I guarantee you that person will be honored and excited about the opportunity to pour into your life.

If you are an older man or woman who has wisdom and a life of experience walking with God, I encourage you to find a younger believer to meet with. I guarantee you they will be thankful for the opportunity to learn from you.

As believers, we must bravely pursue discipleship relationships if we desire to grow into mature followers of Jesus.

THE CAVEAT

While there are likely many incredible men and women in your church who can disciple you, be careful to never let the role of a spiritual mentor come before the Holy Spirit’s role of discipleship in your life.

It is the Spirit who gives life and indwells every believer. It is he who applies Christ’s benefits to us and it is by his power and instruction that we grow in our faith.

There will be a time where you are awake at 2:00 a.m. in a crisis of faith or a time of deep confusion (if this hasn’t happened to you yet, just wait, it will), and before you reach for your phone to call that wonderful spiritual mentor in your life for advice, I challenge you to first reach for your Bible and dig into the Word of God for the truth that is there. I challenge you to spend time in prayer and to seek guidance and comfort first from the Lord.

If you don’t have someone in your life right now who can pour wisdom into you, press into the truth that is found in the Bible and be encouraged by the living Word of God.

It is crucial that, as believers, we all learn how to feed ourselves from the Word and to go first to the Lord for wisdom and guidance and comfort. And then we can bravely seek exhortation and wisdom from the trustworthy disciples in our lives.

DISCIPLESHIP FOR THE GLORY OF GOD

So what is discipleship and how do we do it?

Discipleship is a lifelong process of growing in knowledge of and obedience to Jesus Christ.

As Christians engaging in discipleship, this means we humbly teach, strengthen, and exhort one another to know and follow Jesus more closely. This means we bravely pursue relationships centered on intimacy, commitment, vulnerability, and prayer, all the while relying on the power of the Spirit and the Word of God to mature and mold us.

We do all of this for the purpose of more deeply knowing God and magnifying his glory among all people.

Lauren Bowerman has been privileged to call many cities, states, countries, and continents home. Her transient life has cultivated in her a deep love for diverse cultures and people. As a writer and a pastor’s wife, she is passionate about encouraging God’s people through writing on her blog (www.lauren-bowerman.com) and through discipleship.

A Recipe for Gospel-Centered Prayer

I’m a serial people-fixer. As a pastor, husband, and father, I want to see the people I love grow in their faith, make wiser decisions, and feel closer to Jesus.

I listen to people, give suggestions, recommend books, point out errors in thinking, and help them strategize. If they just get what I’m saying and take my advice, I tell myself, then everything will be fine.

Every now and then, someone takes my advice and things get better. But other times, whether someone takes the advice or not, their life just stays the same—or sometimes gets worse.

You probably experience the same thing with people in your church or family. You feel like you listen to the same problems over and over again, and give what seems like wise counsel—but week after week, nothing changes.

When people aren’t “fixed,” I get annoyed with God or the people I’m trying to help because I followed what I thought was the right formula and it just didn’t work.

Over the last couple of years, God has been showing me why I get so frustrated, and why my attempts to fix people keep failing. It’s because I can’t change people.

WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU CAN’T CHANGE PEOPLE

I can’t make someone love God more. I can’t make someone love their spouse more. I can’t even make myself do those things. That power belongs to God and God alone.

So what can we do for the people we love? Pray for them.

I know—you already know that. You understand prayer is important and it’s something we should do for those we love. But are you doing it? Are you actually praying for the people in your church or community by name? Actually begging God to change them?

For a long time, I wasn’t.

It wasn’t because I didn’t care. It was because I didn’t really know how.

Maybe that’s where you are. You love the people in your life and genuinely want them to change. You’d like to pray for them, but every time you do it seems like you’re bringing up the same minor details about their lives and asking God to make them a little bit happier.

That’s what it used to feel like to me. But one day God, in His grace, brought me to the book of Ephesians and showed me what it looks like to pray for the people I love.

PAUL’S RECIPE FOR GOSPEL-CENTERED PRAYER

In the first chapter of Ephesians, Paul wrote what has become for me and many others a model prayer for those we love—people we want to see changed by the power of the gospel. I’ve come to think of it as a recipe for gospel-centered prayer. Here it is:

For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe ...” (Eph. 1:15-19a)

Paul wanted the Ephesian believers to taste the fullness of a relationship with Christ. If an abundant life with Christ is the meal Paul hopes they’ll experience, his prayer is that their eyes would be enlightened to three different flavors of that meal: hope, riches, and greatness.

STEP 1: START WITH HOPE

The first ingredient in gospel-centered prayer is that the people we want to see transformed would know the hope to which they are called in Christ. That hope is eternal life in heaven and restoration here on earth. God didn’t just save us from something; he also saved us for something.

Many times, believers come to faith in Christ because they want to secure their eternity in heaven. That’s a very real concern. But at times Christians overplay the eternal aspect of salvation, leaving believers content to coast into eternity without ever realizing the fullness of life in Christ today. We should pray for ourselves and our fellow believers to see that God has redeemed our future and our present.

If people get that they will not only spend eternity with Jesus but that they can actually experience life with him today, they will live differently. The greatest acts in the history of our faith have been carried out by men and women whose hope was fixed on Jesus. If you want to see someone’s life transformed, pray for God to open their eyes to the hope to which they’ve already been called.

STEP 2: ADD THE FULL AMOUNT OF RICHES

Now it’s time to add the second ingredient: “the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints.” The first few times I read this I totally missed whose inheritance Paul was talking about. I assumed it was referring to the believers’ inheritance, but I was misreading the pronouns. Paul prayed that the believers would know the riches of God’s glorious inheritance in the saints.

What can God possibly inherit? The hardest people to buy gifts for are those who have enough money to buy everything they want. What do you get the guy that already has everything? Here’s the crazy answer: you and me—the “saints.”

We are God’s glorious inheritance. That means God expectantly waits for the day when he inherits you and the rest of his adopted sons and daughters.

I work from home now, but I used to work in an office most of the week. My wife once told me our three children would sometimes stare out the window, eagerly anticipating the moment when I pulled in the driveway. They were longing for the moment when they could rush to the back door, throw their arms around me, and welcome me home.

Did you know that God feels that way about you?

Knowing God is giddy to spend eternity with you changes how you live and think. Pray for the people you love to truly know that love God has for them.

STEP 3: STIR IN THE IMMEASURABLE GREATNESS OF GOD’S POWER

The final ingredient in Paul’s gospel-centered prayer is “the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe.” So many of us, myself included, feel so insignificant and powerless to do anything remarkable for God. We want to make a difference with our lives, but don’t see anything special about our skills or talents. That couldn’t be more wrong.

Right after Paul prays for his friends’ eyes to be opened to the immeasurable greatness of God’s power, he reminds them this power is the same power God “worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places” (Eph. 1:20).

Think about that. The power God gives to each believer is the same power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him at the right hand of God.

Do you believe that same power is in you? Do the people in your church or your life think that power is in them? If you lived like that were true, how would it change your heart? How would it change the world?

Pray for those you love to realize the power of the Spirit of God. Pray they would live in the Spirit instead of just reading about him.

CONCLUSION

The three flavors of a life lived fully with Christ are the hope to which we have been called, the riches of God’s inheritance in his people, and the greatness of God’s power for those who believe.

The Holy Spirit who inspired Paul’s words knows tasting a relationship with Jesus is the only way people will ever give their lives to a relationship with Jesus. We won’t experience that relationship without a heart transformation. And we can’t experience a transformed heart without tasting the only thing which has the power to transform it.

Grayson Pope (M.A., Christian Studies) is a husband and father of three, and the Managing Web Editor at Gospel-Centered Discipleship. He serves as a writer and editor with Prison Fellowship. For more of Grayson’s writing check out his website, or follow him on Twitter.

8 Things to Remember When Teaching Kids Theology

Theology, done well, must inevitably result in doxology, and we shouldn’t be satisfied with less just because we’re teaching children. As they grow in theological understanding, we should pray that the children around us are an example of what it means to thank, praise, and worship of the living God. Here are eight things to remember when teaching kids theology.

1. TEACHING THEOLOGY TO KIDS IS TEACHING SCRIPTURE

The charge to raise children in the knowledge and love of God is clearly given in the Bible (Deut. 6:6-7; Ps. 78:1-8), and teaching theology is one of the ways to fulfill that charge. The most pressing concern for those entrusted with the discipleship of children should be the faithful communication and application of God’s Word. The discipline of theology is simply the systematic correlation of biblical truths about God and all other things in relation to him. If children are learning these truths from infancy, it is able to make them wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus (2 Tim. 3:15). So teaching kids theology always means teaching them the Bible.

2. TEACHING THEOLOGY TO KIDS HELPS THEM READ THE BIBLE BETTER

When children read the Bible, they bring their thought systems, assumptions, presuppositions, and proclivities to the text; they read Scripture through the lens of whatever theology they’ve imbibed. By teaching kids theology, we are making those things explicit, subjecting them to scrutiny, and making sure that the system they bring to any biblical passage is biblically informed. Knowing theology helps kids read their Bibles better.

3. TEACHING THEOLOGY TO KIDS IS A LIFE-ORIENTING GIFT

From the moment children are born, they are seeking to make sense of the world around them. As they develop, they begin to create a matrix of meaning related to life, which eventually forms a framework through which they interact with and assess every experience. By teaching children theology from a young age, we nurture the formation of a biblical worldview and guide them towards living a life orientated to God and motivated by his salvific mission in the world.

4. TEACHING THEOLOGY TO KIDS REQUIRES HARD WORK AND DETERMINATION

There’s no doubt that it can be hard to teach theology well to children. The greatest resistance to teaching theology to children arises because the children complain that they find it dull and boring. This complaint relates entirely to the methodology used to teach the children rather than to the content–we must never lead children to believe that ‘the glorious deeds of the Lord’ are boring because of bad teaching.

Significant effort must be given to teaching theology in a way that makes it accessible and interesting to all children. It takes hard work and determination to communicate abstract biblical truths in a concrete way, but it can be done. It takes thoughtfulness and creativity to illustrate theological points in a way children will understand, but it can be done. The theology we teach arises out of the drama of the biblical narrative, which means that our theology is not just abstract formulations but is rather inseparable from the concrete story of God’s ways in the world.

5. TEACHING THEOLOGY TO KIDS MEANS THAT APPLICATION IS IMPORTANT

Children are always asking the question ‘so what?’ What does this mean for me, my life, or my family? The ‘so what’ factor is an important one to remember when teaching children theology. They long to know what difference all that they’ve learned makes to their lives, and so all theology must be applied well in order for children to assimilate biblical truth it into their worldview.

We want children to have a robust, functional theology, rather than an academic, heady theology. This requires some understanding of the lives of the children entrusted to the care of the family and church. Take time to learn their joys and their sorrows, their peers and their parents, their play and their rest. Figure out what they are listening to and what is informing their understanding, and consider how theology interacts with or challenges those voices. We must be able to answer the ‘so what’ question every time we teach theology to children.

6. TEACHING THEOLOGY TO KIDS HELPS THEM STAND FIRM IN LIFE

Children today are surrounded by a myriad of belief systems, and as they encounter and engage with these systems they often sadly incorporate unbiblical beliefs into their worldview. One of the ways to enable children to stand firm is to ground them in a rich theological understanding of the Christian faith. Paul longs to prevent people from being tossed to and fro by “every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes” (Eph. 4:14). By raising children to be theologically robust, we are ensuring their future stability and are protecting them from being tossed about by false doctrines. We are also instilling in them a great confidence in the Christian faith, which will allow them to stand firm in the midst of a complex and confusing world.

7. TEACHING THEOLOGY TO KIDS IS FORMATIVE FOR THEIR CHARACTER AND FOUNDATIONAL FOR THEIR ACTIONS

Teaching kids theology from the earliest age shapes their character and will as they discover the nature of God and seek to develop godly characteristics. By understanding God’s purposes for his world, his method, and his mission, the will is orientated to serving God and living for his glory. As well as informing the character development of children, theology also informs how they live in the world. How kids live should directly correlate to what they believe, and so theology becomes foundational for their actions as well.

8. TEACHING THEOLOGY TO KIDS IS ABOUT THE HEART AS WELL AS THE HEAD

There is a danger that teaching kids theology can lead to an abundance of head knowledge related to Christian things but result in little heart change. Of course, it is always right to instruct children in the things of God, because by not doing so we allow them to be informed by something other than Scripture. However, we must strive to allow theology to warm and thrill children's hearts as well as inform their minds.

WIN A FREE COPY OF THE NEW CITY CATECHISM CURRICULUM

Our friends at Crossway are offering two giveaway copies of The New City Catechism Curriculum! The New City Catechism Curriculum expands the questions and answers of The New City Catechism into fifty-two engaging and informative lessons, helping children ages 8–11 better understand the truth of God’s Word and how it connects to their lives.

The giveaway opens on July 19 at 10:00 p.m. EST closes Sunday, July 22 at 11:59 p.m. EST. Winners will be contacted via email by Saturday, July 28, 2018. Enter below for your chance to win.

[GIVEAWAY] The New City Catechism Curriculum Kit

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This post is by Melanie Lacy, editor of The New City Catechism Curriculum. The following article first appeared on Crossway.org; used with permission.

Melanie Lacy (@lacymel) is the executive director of Growing Young Disciples and the director of theology for children's and youth ministry training at Oak Hill College, London.

From Abandoned Resolutions to Spirit-Empowered Goals

We are nearly halfway through 2018. How are you doing with the goals you set in January? Unfortunately, many of the resolutions made during the New Year are abandoned within just a few months. The gyms that were bursting at the seams in January are now nearly vacant. Fast food chains saw a dip in sales in mid-Winter, only to be back with a vengeance in early Spring. Why does this happen? Why do people continue to make resolutions only to drop them completely months or even days later?

Perhaps part of the problem lies in our microwave mentality that expects change to happen overnight or our desire to “pull ourselves up by our bootstraps” and meet our goals through our own strength.

We often see the goals we have as mountains we must traverse through sheer will-power and determination, but what if we have it all wrong?

What if practically keeping our goals is not like scaling a mountain, which requires large steps and allows us to see immediate progress?

What if reaching our goals is a much slower, deliberate process, requiring many small actions over time, like the slow accumulation of the tiny grains of sand that comprise a large sand dune?

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE SMALL

We can easily become intimidated and discouraged by trying to tackle a large goal all at once.

The truth we often miss is that in order to accomplish anything, we must take small daily steps towards our goals. These small daily habits, even if they only take up fifteen minutes of our day, build upon previous actions, until our goal is finally realized.

We see this principle throughout scripture, where we see how seemingly infinitesimal things can grow into something magnificently large.

Jesus often pointed the disciples' attention to the mustard seed and how modestly small it was. He spoke of how our faith, though as small as a mustard seed, could move mountains.

He explained the exponential growth of the kingdom of God by comparing it to the tiniest seed that grows into a colossal tree.

He spoke of yeast and how the smallest bit could spread throughout an entire piece of dough, leavening it completely.

So it is with anything we try to accomplish to the glory of God. The small steps we take each day, by the power and grace of God, can grow into something bigger than we could ever fathom.

RIGHT MOTIVATION IS KEY

Many times, we fail to accomplish our goals because the motivations behind those goals are wrong. If your motivations for reaching a goal are weak or superficial, then the entire thing will collapse or blow away in the wind.

For example, you may have a goal to work out more, but do you want to do this for vanity's sake or for the purpose of being healthy and strong? You may desire to serve in your church, but do you desire to do this so that you will be perceived a certain way or because you are seeking to bring glory to God?

Failure is imminent if we base our life goals on worldly ambitions, rather than what is important in light of eternity.

Jesus in Matthew 6:33 shows us where our priorities should lie, "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."

We need to ask ourselves, “Are our goals self-centered or are they Christ-centered? At the end of the day are they glorifying to God? In reaching these goals, are we loving others better?”

If not, we must ask God to shape our goals and to give us right desires. Self-centered goals are short-lived goals. They are superficial and empty. The motivations behind our biggest goals must be Christ-centered, otherwise, they will ultimately fade away

PERSISTENCE IS ESSENTIAL

Sand dunes are formed in a harsh and ever-changing environment, with shifting sands and fearsome winds. Our lives can sometimes seem to mirror the chaos of a dune being formed in the desert. As soon as we lay down a base of sand, some of it blows away, and it can feel like every step we take forward takes us ten steps back.

Horrendous storms can come into our lives in the form of the loss of a job, the breakdown of a relationship, or a chronic illness. These storms can seem to blow away all we have worked for.

The truth is everyone faces setbacks. It is those who persist despite the discouragement who will see the fruit of their labor, even if it is years down the road.

We can often reason that if only we were in another season of life, reaching our goals would be easier. The truth is that every season of life is challenging in its own way and conditions will never be perfect for our goals to take shape.

When we make it a goal to make disciples, do we give up when the person we are meeting with flakes out on us, or do we persist? Do we pursue that person as Christ has pursued us?

When we want to make it a goal of being in the Word daily, do we give up when we take on a career that requires a lot of our time? Or do we carve out the time we need with our Savior, even if it means sacrificing sleep?

When loving our spouse well becomes difficult or inconvenient, do we persevere in love, or do we retreat to what is comfortable?

We must learn to persist even in the midst of discouragement and inconvenience if we want to see the fruit of our labor.

THE STRENGTH THAT GOD SUPPLIES

With all of the storms and difficulties of life, it can seem impossible to find the strength to persist. How do we do this?

Ultimately, the ability and strength to work towards our goals come from God.

Peter writes in 1 Peter 4:10-11, "as each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen."

Our ultimate goal should be to glorify God. We are merely stewards of the gifts, talents, relationships, and resources God has given us and we must use them with the wisdom and strength he alone can supply.

We must depend on God's strength as ours will ultimately fail.

The prophet Isaiah echoes this truth, "Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint," (Is. 40:28-31).

We can be sure that whatever we attempt for the glory of God, he will supply the strength we need. He is a never-ending well of power to those who realize their weakness to do anything in their own power (John 15:5).

Let us lean on the strength he gives as we steward the time and gifts he has given us. The world will tell us that we need more will-power, more self-control, more determination.

The truth is we need more Jesus.

He will be our strength in weakness. He will give us the right desires and dreams that we couldn't have dreamt ourselves. His ways are not our ways, and his thoughts are higher than our thoughts (Is. 55:8-9).

Here are some questions to ask yourself as you finish out the second half of 2018:

• What are your goals?
• Are your motivations behind your goals self-centered or Christ-centered?
• Are there some goals you have given up on that you need to pick back up again?
• Are you persisting in these goals in your own strength or by the strength that God liberally supplies?

No matter where you are in this journey, may you be encouraged to run this race well, to throw off anything that is hindering you, and to fix your eyes on Jesus, who is the author and finisher of your faith (Heb. 12:1-3).

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Delilah Pugsley is a wife, friend, sister, daughter and a Christ-follower serving in a church plant in Mid-Missouri. She writes on her blog https://www.graceinreallife.com, and you can reach her at delilahpugsley@gmail.com.

Break Free from Bite-Sized Bible Study

In a well-intentioned effort to motivate daily Bible reading, the church has attempted to make the Bible more accessible. Apps and devotionals aim to make the Bible easier to consume and digest. Sermons are preached at the microscope level. Bible reading plans help us achieve a reading goal in desirable time frames. “Verse of the Day” notifications push morsels of the Word our way. While there is certainly value in these efforts, we cannot deny the problem they also create, namely, that our Bibles have become bite-sized. I’m afraid we have grown content with that measly portion and have lost our wonder at the whole feast. We’re so caught up in the paragraphs that we are falling out of love with the Story.

Has your bite-sized Bible grown your love for God’s Word? Has it led to more consistent and meaningful Bible reading? Maybe it has for you. But what I’ve found in my own life and in conversations with many of my Christian friends is that it has hardly improved anything. The attainability of only having one chapter to read tomorrow morning isn’t motivating us to feast on the Word.

There has to be another approach that makes for a more worthwhile time in the Word and makes us want to get out of bed to read about it. I believe the Story, treated as a story, is the key. Reading large portions of Scripture in one sitting is right and necessary and will increase the breadth and depth of our knowledge of God.

THE LIMIT OF BUSY-NESS

The notion of reading large swaths of Scripture as opposed to more “bite-sized” pieces may scare you. After all, there are only twenty-four hours in our days; eight of those are spent asleep; another eight or more are spent at work. Most of us probably already feel the lack of margin in our lives—it’s all we can do to fit in a five-minute devotional.

Please understand, I am not oblivious to your busy-ness. I am learning what it means to be busy as each week passes. In the past few months, I have watched both my family and my job expand. Adding a baby and new pastoral responsibilities to my plate have me wondering if they make bigger plates! When the baby will not stop crying and the meetings and deadlines begin to pile up, Scripture reading is not naturally at the forefront of my mind. I sympathize with you feeling like you’re trying to manage life with whatever Bible you can fit in whenever it seems to happen.

With that said, I do believe it would be wise to get a little more honest about how busy we are—and perhaps even better, if busy is best. Our Ace of Spades for getting out of anything is that we’re too busy. But the fascinating truth about time is that everyone has the same amount of it—24 hours—each day. There are solutions to recover healthy time in God’s Word in the face of our busy-ness problem if we are willing to face them.

TAKING THE LIMITS OFF OF SCRIPTURE

The fewer constraints and limitations we place on the Word, the better we will understand because we begin to read it the way it was intended to be read. How, in a practical sense, can we begin to reduce the limits we impose on Scripture?

First, at a macro level, we need to know the Story of Scripture as opposed to a few plot points. We must feast continually, not snack here and there. When we begin to see Scripture less as a hodgepodge of spiritual insights and more as an ordered revelation from God, we’ll realize that we need to know the Story.

We should then think about how exactly we read the Word. We are tempted, from the get-go, to start with one verse, one paragraph, one chapter. Why not read, however, until we feel there is a natural literary break? Why not, for example, read the whole book of Hebrews? It only takes about 45 minutes.¹ Go even further: What if you read the entire book of Hebrews 45 minutes each day, five times in one week? Don’t you believe your understanding of the whole book of Hebrews would be much improved? But if you committed to a chapter a day, it would take you two full weeks to get through it just once.

A special note for those that preach: we should help our congregation approach the Bible with this emphasis on widening our reading. Expository preaching is wonderful and important. The “microscopic” view of the text is necessary. But microscopes don’t help us see in the same way telescopes do. We need both views of Scripture; one that examines and investigates and determines, and another that searches and finds and marvels. Preach large portions of Scripture. Better yet, let Scripture preach in your stead. Help your congregation see how a passage connects the dots somewhere. Help them see that this small passage fits into a much larger Story.

Finally, we must confront our busy-ness. The first step forward here is to realize that we are not as busy as we think. Many of us can fix our “too busy” problem immediately if, for example, we would simply wake up thirty minutes earlier, spend thirty fewer minutes on social media, or listen to Scripture for thirty minutes of our commute to or from work. The second nudge would be to consider if we are indeed too busy, and what needs to be removed from our plate in order to make room for meaningful time spent in the Word. This may require small, subtle changes, like better time management or better planning. It also may require radical changes, like finding a job that better serves your spiritual disciplines. After all, what does it profit a man to gain the whole world but forfeit his soul?

INEFFICIENT TO GOD’S GLORY

Overall, our Bible reading habits are most in need of the freedom to be inefficient, untidy, drawn out, even wasteful. In a culture that demands we treat everything as Martha would, Jesus asks us to have the heart of Mary, choosing “the good portion” for our day (Lk. 10:38-42).

We truly cannot live this Christian life with any zeal, any hope, or any confidence if we will not feast at Christ’s table. It may mean we don’t get as much checked off of our to-do list as we had hoped. It may mean the Bible reading plan needs to be put on pause. But no matter the cost, we know it’s worth it because the Scriptures “are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:15).

May you break free from your snackable Bible and gorge yourself on God’s Word. And may Christ dwell in us richly, freely, and without limitation.

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1 - Check out Andy Naselli’s blog post, “Three Tips for Better Bible Reading,” which includes a helpful chart of Bible Reading Times for each book of the Bible: https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/three-tips-for-better-bible-reading

Zach Barnhart currently serves as Student Pastor of Northlake Church in Lago Vista, TX. He holds a Bachelor of Science from Middle Tennessee State University and is currently studying at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, seeking a Master of Theological Studies degree. He is married to his wife, Hannah. You can follow Zach on Twitter @zachbarnhart or check out his personal blog, Cultivated.

Unquenchable Love and Unconquerable Hope

In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtain­ing the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (1 Pet. 1:6–9)

The year 2016 marked the centennial anniver­sary of America’s National Park Service. In celebra­tion of the anniversary, a particular issue of National Geographic contained some amazing photos of several parks—as only National Geographic can capture. Now, I pride myself on having a Jed Bartlet-like appreciation for the national parks, so when I looked at these photos, I was captivated. They were unlike anything I had seen. In a single image, you could see both day and night, shadow and light, sun and moon. The photographer, for hours at time, took thousands of pictures, and with the aid of technology, “com­pressed the best parts into a single photograph.” The result is a massive and sweeping image comprised of thousands of smaller photos.[1] Yet, the more I looked, the less certain I was that I liked it. For these photos are attempts at seeing what is not meant to be seen— a full day all at once. The scenery was beautiful, yet odd. It was unnatural. Frankly, it wasn’t real.

When we face trials for which we don’t know the outcome or don’t understand the purpose, and strug­gle with wanting to know all the answers at once, it is like we are wanting to see a full photo of the end and the beginning, in one frame. But were we to see such, I think we would be disappointed. It likely wouldn’t make sense, for it is neither real nor what God intends. God, in his kindness and wisdom and mercy, uses trials and hidden things to draw us closer to himself, and even when we can’t understand the outcome or the purpose, joy is revealed in the process.

After Peter reminded his exiled readers that they have a living hope in a God who has saved them and will strengthen and sustain them to the end, he turns to address their trials and suffering.[2]

THE END OF SUFFERING

When enduring the onslaughts of a cynical age, we’ve seen how looking in to find Christ Jesus, our living hope, cannot only sustain until the end of time, but also provide strength for the present. Peter rightly acknowledges that this kind of reliance will lead to joy, much like the supportive James 1:2 that instructs believers to “count it all joy” in the face of trials. With the end still in view, Peter also reminds that these tri­als are only “for a little while” (1 Pet. 1:6). This is not Peter’s attempt to minimize them or belittle the pain and challenges they produce, but to offer another bol­ster of hope that even the longest of trials will, in fact, end. Trials and sufferings are a part of a post-Genesis 3 world. They were not what God intended when he created the world. Whether the result of sin, physical malady, or material loss, trials and sufferings do not escape the believer in Christ (John 16:33) and, indeed, can serve as painful instruments of the evil one.

As we behold and experience the trials that are a shared burden in this world, believers often under­standably question why God allows such to happen. Even though God, in his faithfulness and wisdom, may never allow his children to have the full under­standing of why he permits suffering, Peter’s words here give a great deal of insight and help. Trials, of all kinds, test our faith in crucible-like ways—ways that will show the greatness and goodness of God and result in our greater praise to him. This is, in part, because he endures the trials with us. The living hope we have of Christ himself within us is even better than the appearance of an additional man alongside Daniel’s three friends in the fiery furnace (Dan. 3:25). Through Christ, in every trial we have a shield of faith “with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one (Eph. 6:16). When we are tempted, God is faithful and “will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but . . . will also provide the way of escape” (1 Cor. 10:13).

Often the way to rejoicing is the way of weakness through suffering, and a powerful New Testament portrait of this is the life of the apostle Paul revealed in 2 Corinthians. As J. I. Packer explains in is marvel­ous book Weakness Is the Way, the testimony Paul gives shows

"pain and exhaustion, with ridicule and con­tempt, all to the nth degree; a tortured state that would drive any ordinary person to long for death, when it would all be over. But, says Paul, Christ’s messengers are sus­tained, energized, and empowered, despite these external weakening factors, by a pro­cess of daily renewal within."[3]

Paul begins 2 Corinthians declaring that “we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead” (2 Cor. 1:9). From this reliance comes “good courage” (2 Cor. 5:6) and the ultimate lesson that God’s “power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9).

Packer writes Weakness Is the Way from personal experience. He has lived a life of “physical and cogni­tive weakness” due to a head injury as a child. Yet, Packer’s early learning to rely on divine strength has sustained him. Writing in his eighth decade, after recovering from hip replacement surgery, he shares of his growing “acquaintance with Satan’s skill in gener­ating gloom and discouragement.” Yet, in these years, he reveals, “[m]y appreciation of 2 Corinthians has also grown as I have brooded on the fact that Paul had been there before me. . . . The whole letter is an awe­some display of unquenchable love and unconquerable hope.”[4] By looking in at Christ Jesus, both Paul and Packer show us the way to the fountain of our hope. 

LOVING WITHOUT SEEING

Much like C. S. Lewis’s Orual, Peter’s readers never saw Jesus in the flesh. Yet, despite their exile, trials, and sufferings, they loved him and believed in him. Peter’s commendation of them comes from a man who knew something about faith without seeing. Peter was there when Jesus, in response to Thomas needing to see to believe, said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29). Of course, Peter also knew much about love for Jesus, as part of his early discipleship involved his restoration by Jesus asking him three times about his love (John 21:15–17).

Therefore, when Peter writes of this faith and love resulting in an inexpressible joy (1 Pet. 1:8), he writes of what he knows. When he was with Jesus before the crucifixion, Peter saw him with his eyes, but did not fully love him. Only after the Resurrection, did Peter truly see Jesus with love and joy—and then once Jesus ascended to heaven, Peter continued to love him even without seeing him—to an inexpressible extent.

While the believer’s joy may not find adequate words for expression, we can get a glimpse of why by the idea that it is filled with glory. In 2 Corinthians 3, Paul recounts the time Moses came down from the mountain and—his face being filled with glory to such a degree that the Israelites could not look at him—wore a veil (Exod. 34:29–33). Yet Paul says that the Spirit has “even more glory” (v. 8), and believers in Christ are able to “[behold] the glory of the Lord” (v. 18) and will one day see Jesus face to face.

Jesus Christ remained Peter’s fountain of hope, even though Jesus was no longer on earth. Thus, Peter relays how much more it is true and possible for other believers to love Jesus without seeing him.

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[1] Patricia Edmonds, “Photography That Layers Time,” National Geographic 229:1 (Jan. 2016): 144.

[2] A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament, 6:75.

[3] J. I. Packer, Weakness Is the Way (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2013), 99–101.

[4] J. I. Packer, Weakness Is the Way (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2013), 99–101.

Excerpted with permission from Mere Hope: Life in an Age of Cynicism by Jason G. Duesing. Copyright 2018, B&H Publishing Group.

Jason G. Duesing serves in academic leadership at Midwestern Seminary and is the author of Seven Summits in Church History, and editor and contributing author of First Freedom: The Beginning and End of Religious Liberty, Adoniram Judson: A Bicentennial Appreciation of the Pioneer American Missionary, and other works. He is married to Kalee and together they have two sons of Adam and two daughters of Eve.

4 Ways Every Member Can Strengthen Their Local Church

Every church member is like an individual Jenga block. Each block is vital to the stability of the structure. If just one block is out of place, the whole thing becomes unstable. But when each block is in its appropriate position, the structure is stable.

Individual church members need strengthening and encouragement in various seasons, and the church as a whole is no different. God has ordained that the local church's flourishing would not be left solely in the hands of the pastors, elders, and deacons. Her growth and strengthening happens through the godly leadership God has set into place and through the many members that make it up.

Here are four ways any church member can strengthen their local church.

1. BE GENEROUS

Members of a local church should be committed to making God’s people a priority in their lives. Acts 4:32-35 tells us that men and women in the early church gave their possessions to other Christians in need. This text is not justifying socialism, as some claim, but describing a principle of generosity: God has been generous in saving us through the sacrifice of Christ, so the church is generous in sacrificing all it has.

We are called to be generous with our wallets, but we are also called to be generous with our lives. We are all tempted to be stingy with something—our time, finances, emotional energy, resources, etc. The goal for every church’s generosity is given in Acts 4:34, which says that none of the believers in their midst was in need. The context of Acts 4:32-35 is monetary needs, but the principle of generosity expands beyond money and into people’s emotional, physical, and relational needs, among other things. Are everyone’s needs being met in your church right now?

We are not just called to be good but to do good, especially to those in the household of faith (Gal. 6:10). We can strengthen our local churches and do good by giving not just our stuff, but ourselves. We all have something we can give God’s people. Give what you have. Be a listening ear during times of grieving. Share wise words or advice in decision-making seasons, or tears during a tragedy. Sometimes the most generous gift you can give is your time. One way to be generous with our time is to share it with younger believers.

2. DISCIPLE SPIRITUALLY YOUNG CHRISTIANS

I work with college students. They want to be invited into older men’s and women’s lives so they can learn what it looks like to walk with the Lord in different seasons. But few of them are ever invited to an older person’s life. I say this not to condemn those who haven’t extended an invitation to a younger person, but to press the need for intentional, intergenerational discipleship in our local churches.

Paul describes how he and his companions lived among the church in Thessalonica by saying they shared with the church “not only the gospel of God but also own selves” (1 Thess. 2:8). Paul and his friends verbally taught them the truth of the gospel, but they also lived among the church and displayed these truths as they shared life with them. This took time, energy, and intentionality.

I am the woman I am today because of women who generously shared their lives with me throughout college and adulthood. They taught me Scripture. We studied God’s Word together and prayed. Other times, they shared their lives and I observed the daily ins and outs of what it looked like for a young mom and wife to love her family, share Christ with her neighbors, and know Jesus deeply.

Scripture makes it clear that we need one another. In the Garden of Eden, and still today, it has never been good for mankind to be alone (Gen. 2:18). Is there a young man or woman you can invite into your life? Is there an older man or woman you would love to learn from? Reach out to them today.

3. SERVE IN YOUR GIFTINGS

Christians are united in Christ and therefore to one another. We are under the same Spirit, the same Lord, and the same God that produces varying gifts in each of us (1 Cor. 12:4-6). The church is to be dependent on Christ, the head, and interdependent on one another, the body. The body should function with a sense of unity (togetherness among our distinct gifts) and not uniformity (complete homogeny in our gifts).

A manifestation of the Spirit is given to each person in the church to be used for the edification of God’s people (1 Cor. 12:7). This means every believer in the local church is necessary for her flourishing. A congregation cannot be made up of only teachers or only encouragers. We need men and women that are wise, exhorters, discerning, and helpers to shave healthy churches.

God has given you certain gifts of his Spirit so you can help strengthen your local church. It’s difficult to use your gifts if you don’t know what they are, though. If you don’t know your gifts, learn by serving widely in your church. Get involved in different ministries and opportunities and ask yourself: What do I enjoy? What have others affirmed I am good at? Where do I feel a burden to help or serve?

When you learn your gifts, be generous with them. As you serve God’s people you will see that Christ’s bride, like yourself, is in the process of being conformed to her Maker’s image.

4. BE PART OF THE CHANGE

The body of Christ is made up of imperfect individuals being renewed into the image of Jesus each day. It’s safe to assume your church has weaknesses, and it is all too easy to sit on the sidelines and point out everything wrong with our churches. Even if you’re right, you should be careful how you talk about Christ’s bride (and anyone’s bride for that matter).

You can strengthen your local church by being a part of the change and growth that needs to happen. If you see an aspect of your church that needs strengthening, assume you may be part of the solution.

As the early church grew rapidly, the widows were being overlooked in the daily bread distribution. The Apostles commissioned seven people to fulfill this ministry for the good of God’s people. As a result, Acts 6:7 says the Word of God continued to spread and more were added to their number. This is a beautiful example of church members fixing their own problems.

Just as every Jenga block is vital to the tower, every local church member is pivotal to the church’s growth. As members, we can seek to help strengthen our churches by generously using our gifts, discipling young Christians and being a part of the solution to problems we see.

The strengthening of the local church, and by extension the global church, happens through the members that make it up. We each play a role in helping to prepare Christ’s bride to meet her Maker. Let us do so with generous hearts and willing hands that seek to do good to those in the household of faith.

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SharDavia “Shar” Walker lives in Atlanta, GA with her husband Paul. She serves on staff with Campus Outreach, an interdenominational college ministry, and enjoys sharing her faith and discipling college women to be Christian leaders. Shar is a writer and a speaker and is currently pursuing an M.A. in Christian Studies at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

The Difference Between Selfish and Holy Ambition

We live in a me-first culture. We want to be the best. Our flesh is hungry to worship itself, and that appetite is satisfied through a hardy diet of selfish ambition. So we form our identity through our accomplishments. We work hard in our careers, our education, our lifestyles—and even our churches—to guarantee success.

Ambition is the desire for success. It requires determination and effort. Ambition drives our work ethic.

The desire to see something succeed is good, but sin taints our desires. Instead of desiring God’s success, we strive for our own. We want our names to be great. We want our works to be famous. We’re willing to settle for our name in lights when we could be offering The Light to others.

Selfish ambition is not new to our culture. Five hundred years before Christ, God sent the prophet Haggai to speak to his people about their sinful ambition. They were consumed with building lavish houses but were indifferent to God’s house lying in ruins after it was ransacked by the Babylonians.

We would be wise to heed Haggai’s message today. God wants his people to have a holy ambition. But how do we make sure our ambitions are holy and not selfish? In the words of Haggai, we must consider our ways.

CONSIDER YOUR WAYS AND REPENT

You don’t really have to try hard to have selfish ambitions. Our flesh naturally seeks its own glory. However, God’s Word makes no allowances for seeking our own glory. Philippians 2:3 says, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition.” Selfish gain is antithetical to the gospel. This biblical command is clear and absolute: do nothing. There are no allowances for when we can pursue something out of selfish ambition. None.

It's easy to deceive ourselves into thinking we’re living for God’s glory until our glory is threatened. We labor to build our own kingdoms at the expense of his. God spoke through Haggai to accuse the people of doing just that. He wanted his people to rebuild his temple. His complaint was that his house lay in ruins while they busied themselves with their own houses (Hag. 1:9).

How did the people respond? In repentance. They turned from their sin and both obeyed and feared the Lord (Hag. 1:12). This is our proper response today. We must repent when God confronts our own pursuits of glory. Immediately laying down our selfish ambition for godlier aspirations.

CONSIDER YOUR WAYS AND PRAY

God performed a work of spectacular grace for the former exiles in Haggai’s day. “The Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. And they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God” (Hag. 1:14).

God stirred the hearts of his people to obey his command to rebuild the temple. We serve the heart-stirring God. Are you concerned that you can’t obey, can’t repent, or can’t have a holy ambition? The best advice I could extend to you is simply to know your God. He turns the hearts of kings (Ezra 6:22). He will stir your heart. Ask him.

God uses prayer as a means to stir our affections. We must pray and ask our father to perform in our hearts what we cannot do on our own. We must pray for a holy ambition. We ask him to stir our hearts towards him, his kingdom, and his glory. In asking him to do so, we shift our attention from ourselves, our castles in the sand, and our own glory. He did it in Haggai’s day. May he work the same miracle in our hearts.

CONSIDER YOUR WAYS AND WORK

Though God stirred the hearts of the people to pray, they were by no means passive. The people had work to do. God commanded them through Haggai, “Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified” (Hag. 1:8). God provided tasks for the people to accomplish and for him to be glorified through. God is motivated by his glory, and he wants his people to be, too. In order to see his glory revealed in all the earth, we must have a holy ambition.

God doesn’t give the people a job to do and then leave them to do it alone. Haggai spoke these encouraging words to them, “Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts” (Hag. 2:4). Our God is Immanuel. He is with us just like he was with the Israelites. He is with us when we work.

God’s presence no longer demands a physical temple. We, the church, are his temple (1 Cor. 3:16-17). We have kingdom-building work to do, as well. Ephesians 4:12 teaches that we are equipped for building up the body of Christ. We build. God provides the gifts. We walk in them. We strive forward. God gets the glory. We do the work, confident in his abilities and in his presence.

CONSIDER YOUR WAYS AND BE BLESSED

The people in Haggai’s day were not perfect. And yet, God was determined to bless them. In grace, God confronted them with their sin. In mercy, he forgave them. In power, he stirred up their hearts to obey his command and rebuild his temple. In love, he assured them of his presence. And he promised to bless them (Hag. 2:19).

Receive the blessing of your God. Receive his gifts of mercy, grace, power, and love. Receive the gift of his assured presence in your own work. His word promises that the doers of his word will be blessed in their doing (Jas. 1:25).

Have a holy ambition to be doers of the word (Jas. 1:22). God is about his own glory. So if we are ambitious to do his work, he will glorify himself by doing his word. Work hard for others to see the glory of the Lord. Desire God’s church to be successful, and be blessed as you labor alongside his people with him. Be blessed in your holy ambition.

CHURCH, CONSIDER YOUR WAYS

The book of Haggai is only two chapters, but he pleaded with the Israelites to consider their ways several times. He wanted them to think about what they were doing. He wanted them to consider how their actions of building their own kingdoms—while neglecting the Lord’s—impacted their relationship with their covenant God.

Perhaps, the word to the Israelites is also a word to us: consider your ways. Are you busying yourself with your own success? Do you desire God’s kingdom to advance on earth? Is your ambition primarily selfish or holy? Consider your ways.

God desires his people to join him in building his kingdom. We easily get distracted by building our own. Don’t waste your ambition. Repent of your selfishness. Pray for God to transform your ambition. Work hard with your God to see his kingdom advance. Be blessed in the work. This is how we recover a holy ambition.

We are by nature glory seekers. But whose glory are we seeking? I humbly propose that we aim our success at the fame of God’s name on the earth; that we be a people not committed to our own success, but the success of our great God’s renown being known and treasured across the planet. He transforms our ambitions for his glory and for the good of his church.

Are we—like the Israelites—preoccupied with our own selfish prerogatives or are we engaging in the rebuilding of his temple by building up the church? May we leverage all our careers, our gifts, our goals, our dreams, and our very lives for his glory. May we be a people with a holy ambition.

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Christy Britton is a wife and homeschool mom of four biological sons. She is an orphan advocate for 127 Worldwide. She and her husband are covenant members at Imago Dei Church in Raleigh, NC. She loves reading, discipleship, Cajun food, spending time in Africa, hospitality, and LSU football. She writes for several blogs, including her own, www.beneedywell.com.

A World Made Beautiful

It was only mid-June but already the grass crunched under my feet like potato chips. We were just at the beginning of the great drought of 1988–89 in the US, one of America’s worst. The ugliness of the earth was matched by the ugliness of my dead-end, drug-infested street. We were also at the height of the crack-cocaine epidemic in Detroit, and my community was as scorched by violence and drugs as the extra crunchy grass and trees in my front yard. My world was far from beautiful. The burned-out houses on our block were constantly accessorized by drug addicts and drunks. The stink of toxic fumes from the nearby waste disposal plant hung in the dense, hot air along with the rattling speakers of rap music blaring from cars passing by. Beauty was far from my mind. People living in places like mine are far more concerned about things like food, safety, and shelter. Death was a way of life.

I had just graduated high school and my graduating class was missing several who were a part of the twenty-one homicides in my immediate neighborhood. Death from gunshot, death from drugs, death from disease, and death from suicide—beauty was nowhere to be found. That is why I was caught off guard by my mother’s request. “York,” she hollered authoritatively, “you are going to have to take care of the hedges in the front yard this summer.” We had lived in the house for three years, and I had never even taken notice of the bushes in the front yard. My mother was recovering from surgery, so I was tasked with caring for the bushes. This small task in a place of death and ugliness, however, was one of the first ways I began to suspect that there was something more, a story about everything.

Surprisingly, caring for these bushes also launched a lifelong love for natural beauty, which I’ve cultivated into a talent for landscaping and gardening. This has become a core part of who I am today, but at the time I don’t think I had ever stopped to take note of a tree, a bush, or a flower in all my life.

A row of seven bushes about five feet tall separated our house from the invading urban squalor. For some reason, this hedge did more than separate our house from the neighbors; it seemed to actually do something. It kept ugliness from creeping over onto our property. When I began to take care of the bushes, I wouldn’t have called them beautiful. They too were crispy from the drought and filled with weeds. I began by weeding, trimming, and excessively watering. I then covered the ground around them with stones, which I later learned would help with erosion and water retention. I began to take small joy in seeing new shoots and leaves, watching the bushes become vibrant under my care. My teen friends laughed at me as I spent hours each week nurturing bushes for my mom. It didn’t take long before this raggedy row became lush and green and strikingly full of life against a backdrop of ugly sounds, sights, and smells. My friends laughed a little less over the summer as they saw how my care made a small difference in making something green in one of the worst droughts in American history.

Though our house was ugly and the surrounding area was terribly ugly, this simple, beautiful row of vibrant bushes stood as a barrier, a marker against the drug addicts, drug pushers, trash dumpers, homeless, sleepy drunks, and others. Our house had a modicum of respect because there was something living there, something green, something beautiful.

What Beauty Is and What Beauty Does

Beauty is an elusive term, one often thought to be merely subjective. Standards of beauty have changed from era to era, from peoples to peoples. An element of personal taste goes into labeling something beautiful, but there is also a fixed element. An oversimplified, standard definition of beauty is: the right proportion and alignment of attributes in something or someone that brings deep emotional and/or mental pleasure to the beholder. Sounds pretty sterile, doesn’t it?

When we are in the presence of beauty, our experience of it is far from sterile; it is transcendent. Google the term and you will get some combination of the elements of this sterile definition. But something is missing in this basic definition. Beauty is much more than a proper alignment of attributes. It goes beyond providing mere mental and emotional pleasure. Beauty actually does something. Beauty is functional. Because of this, beauty is the font that God uses to write the story of everything. God’s beauty actually accomplishes something, as I learned during a time of ugliness and drought with those green bushes. The beauty of the bushes didn’t just look good; their beauty offered a tangible protection against the ugliness surrounding us.

Part of the reason a concrete definition of beauty is hard to articulate is that beauty is one of those firefly ideas—it belongs to another realm. You know that you are in the presence of beauty, even in a basic simple expression like my bushes, by what beauty accomplishes both in us and in the world around us. Beauty can captivate us at a soul level. Beauty ushers in a “holy hush” most commonly experienced as eerie silence. Beauty is most striking when it stands against the backdrop of the ordinary and ugly. My simple row of bushes would never have stood out as beautiful if it weren’t for the drought-ravaged lawn on which it stood. A normal, ordinary day became a magical wonder of beauty at dusk in that field of fireflies in part because of the ugliness of the home, dilapidated barn, and field of mud and corn.

We see this all the time. A sudden change in weather patterns can create an elemental display of natural beauty in a snowstorm, fog rolling across a still lake, or a thunderstorm flashing with bright light. Watch a person stare into a sunset, lose themselves as snow swirls about them, or forget the world around them as they gaze into a fireplace. Beauty beckons us into a half-conscious state where we are joyfully unconcerned with concern.

Think about when you have experienced something beautiful. How did it make you feel? Think about when you created something beautiful, perhaps a piece of art or a row of flowers or a table full of food. Whether we are experiencing or creating beauty, it beckons us. It calls to us. Open Instagram and scroll through the newsfeed of your friends. Do you find yourself a little lost on the more artistic shots, the shots of snow on mountain peaks, the shots of the beautiful smiles of your friends’ children? Part of what makes our consumption of social media so addictive is not just the people in our feed but how they are often immersed in a vibrant world and radiating life. Social media for most people is not just about friendship; it is about the beauty of the world and the beauty of people. My phone has become for me a window into other worlds, often as powerful and inescapable as a fire in the fireplace or watching the sun dip low into Lake Michigan.

Regardless of whether we find beauty in the palm of our hand or in the natural world around us, we are subject to its power because of where beauty comes from. Beauty is a sneak peek through a portal into another time and place. It’s an artifact of another world. Certainly, fireflies dancing against the backdrop of a summer meadow at dusk is a beautiful sight, but watch the people watching it and you’ll see the power of beauty. Beauty enraptures us, holds us spellbound, and causes a reverent hush. But beauty does more than this. Beauty elicits within us a set of transcendent reactions. The word transcendent means that which is beyond our physical, visible experience. Transcendent reactions to beauty include hope, joy, longing, passion, and love. Beauty expands the interior of our hearts and minds and allows us to experience transcendence. Beauty actually accomplishes something. It opens a door within our souls to experience God’s story of everything.

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Taken from Do Something Beautiful: The Story of Everything and How to Find Your Place in It by R. York Moore (©2018). Published by Moody Publishers. Used by permission.

R. YORK MOORE is a speaker, revivalist, and abolitionist. He serves as National Evangelist for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship USA. York became a Christian from atheism while studying philosophy at the University of Michigan. He also has an MA in Global Leadership from Fuller Seminary. York is the author of several books and he lives in the Detroit area with his wife and three kids. For more information, visit www.tellthestory.net and follow him on social media channels @yorkmoore.

4 Ways to Become A Role Player in Your Church

Anyone who plays or follows sports knows that it takes an entire team to win. Winning teams usually have star players and role players. A team is usually built around one or more stars, relied on to carry the squad. Role players have lesser-known yet still significant roles. They don’t receive all the credit, take all the blame or provide the most influence.

But each role player is vital to the overall success of a team. If they fail to execute their responsibilities, it makes everyone’s job harder. We often don’t realize that role players strengthen the team dynamic, not the stars. Stars have a significant impact, but without an excellent supporting cast willing to follow, sacrifice, and carry out necessary tasks for the benefit of the team, that team will either remain stagnant or eventually crumble into a rebuilding state.

Sports fans also know there’s no greater competitive experience than when your team is firing on all cylinders because everyone is doing their job.  If you watched the recent demolition in the 2018 NBA Finals as the Golden State Warriors swept the Cleveland Cavaliers, you understand this illustration very well, but I digress.

A HEALTHY CHURCH

It’s no different in the church. While some may lead out front, and others help make it possible, everyone is necessary. There’s no better feeling than when your church is in sync and everyone is doing their part to make disciples.  A church like this is healthy.

“Healthy" doesn't refer to numerical growth, increased staff positions, the number of ministries, even the longevity of a church.  All those things are good and can be the fruit of faithful service, but they are not God-promised signs of success.

God's path to success for his church is based more on subtraction than addition.  The words of Christ teach us that to gain we must lose; and to live, we must die (Matthew 16:24-26).

This means our churches should forsake worldly passions and pursue Christ.  A healthy church progressively reflects the character of God through a constant dying to self so his name may be magnified.

Every church should desire to be healthy in this manner.  Mark Dever draws a picture of a healthy church; “I like the word healthy because it communicates the idea of a body that’s living and growing as it should.  It may have its share of problems. It’s not been perfected yet. But it’s on the way. It’s doing what it should do because God’s Word is guiding it.”

So even if it’s unpopular, uncomfortable or tedious, continue in steadfast pursuit of what Scripture calls us to in Ephesians 4:11-16, which is to equip the saints, and build up the body of Christ, until we all attain unity in faith and knowledge of the Son of God. Now the question is, “Isn’t building up the church the pastor’s job?”  Yes, but the job isn’t theirs alone. Every member is called to take part in building up their particular body. Members are meant to serve in ways that supplement the pastor’s role and make his work a joy and not burdensome.

Here are four ways to become a good role player in your church.

1. DEVELOP A PRAYING SPIRIT 

We should pray for church leaders and members, always interceding on their behalf.  Paul urges the church in Ephesians 6:18 to at all times make prayers and petitions for all the saints.  Often, our default reaction is to criticize or complain about what goes on in the church, regardless of it is right or wrong, big or small.  I’ve struggled with this more often than I can say.

However, I was convicted by the words of Puritan preacher John Bunyan, who said, “You can do more than pray after you have prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed.” Words, thoughts, and works will all be in vain if we don’t first seek the Lord for wisdom.

How much do our critical spirits or excessive complaints build up the church? If we reprogram ourselves to pray instead of criticizing, I believe our attitudes toward the object of our critique will change.  Excessive grumbling and objection only lead to quarrels and factions.

Remember what James 4:1-3 says: “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.”

We must be gracious and patient with leaders and other believers. We're in this walk of sanctification together. Pray with your brothers and sisters. Pray for your leaders. Let’s guard our hearts against selfish motives, discouraging words, and critical attitudes by striving to pray for one another instead of preying on one another.

2. PARTICIPATE IN CYCLES OF DISCIPLESHIP

Members should disciple one another, walking alongside each other, teaching and showing each other how to walk faithfully with the Lord. Titus 2:2-8 speaks of older men teaching younger men, and older women teaching younger women. The mature need to invest in the less mature.  The Christian life is a life of discipleship, from every angle.

I was oblivious to the concept of discipleship during my younger days in the church. No one ever approached me about reading the Bible together or going through a Christian book. The shallow depth of my Christian relationships was reached between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Sundays.

I had a tough and lonely walk for some years. But years down the road, the Lord placed some godly men in my life willing to teach me how to be a godly man.  And it was from that experience that I learned what true discipleship is.

It’s imperative that members do their part by intentionally seeking out others known for their wisdom and maturity, asking him or her to spend some time discipling them. Or seek out a younger, less mature Christian, maybe someone on the fence about membership, and similarly engage them.

Studying the Bible together is a great starting point, but as the relationship builds, begin to step it up a notch and ask tough questions regarding personal holiness, practice confession and repentance, and pray for each other.  These practices will eventually lead to mutual Christian accountability (Proverbs 27:17) and a stronger walk with the Lord.  As each Christian is built up, so is their church.

3. PRACTICE EVANGELISM

In many churches, stagnant growth is often a mystery or a blemish. Despite faithful preaching of the Word and a pastor living above reproach, some churches remain stuck or are on the decline. The causes can’t always be determined, but one diagnosis often is lack of evangelism by members. The sermon is not, and should not be, the only means of evangelism going on.  Every member should be involved in personal evangelism. Scripture mandates that every Christian be equipped for the work of the ministry (Eph. 4:12). Pastors are responsible to equip the saints. If they do the training, members are responsible for receiving that training and putting it into practice.

4. CELEBRATE EACH OTHER

Individually and collectively, public adoration for the faithful living and gospel witness of members should regularly happen. Our churches should thank God for members showing hospitality in their homes, doing mission work, sharing the gospel at their jobs or with their neighbors, serving in children's ministry, and starting ministries or small groups.

Don't be afraid to publicly affirm, with wisdom, the Christian maturity that particular members are displaying, for the blessing they have been to the body.  2 Thessalonians 1:3-4 says, "We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing.”

Cultivating the practice of celebrating the work of God in the lives of members will help us think more of others than ourselves and give glory to God.

PLAY YOUR ROLE

Church members who pray, disciple, evangelize and celebrate are blessings to their bodies and pastors. There are other ways to faithfully serve your local church, but for those unsure where to begin, let these four areas be your starting blocks to becoming an excellent role player.  This will help strengthen your church and make for a great team win for the Kingdom of God.

No matter what your role is, if you play it well, you will help build up your church until it reaches its full potential.

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Joseph Dicks was born and raised in Lexington, Kentucky, and is a master of divinity student at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is also an assistant campus missionary with the Kentucky Baptist Convention. He is married to Melanie, and is a member of Mosaic Church Lexington. Follow Joseph on Twitter.

Why Counter-Formation is at the Heart of Discipleship

“My job is to understand how people behave. Once I understand that, I can change how they behave.” This is what my friend told me over dinner recently. He works high up at one of the most prestigious ad agencies in the U.S. You watch the commercials they make, you buy the products they advertise—it’s your behavior that he changes.

This conversation with my friend reveals one of the most important, and most forgotten, truths of modern American life: everyone is trying to form you. Nothing is neutral.

It’s easy to be discipled by America. All you have to do is nothing.

THE POWER OF NORMAL

One of the fundamental lessons of discipleship is that the important things in life are caught, not taught.

I remember very few of the things my dad said to me, but I have become like him anyway. By being present in my life, my dad became normal to me, and that is the most powerful thing he did. Fortunately for me, he was a great dad, and I’m glad I became like him.

If you want to know what or who is discipling you, look at your life and ask what’s normal. The normal things are the most powerful things. The problem is, the normal things are also the hardest things to notice.

Take, for example, your habit of looking at screens. You’re skimming this article right now, trying to decide if you want to read the rest of it or click on something else.

If you’re like me, the habit of spending large parts of the day constantly scanning screens for something to peak our attention is totally normal. That’s probably not surprising. What is surprising is how we’re unknowingly being formed by our screens.

How is it that Facebook, FOX News, Google, and Twitter are all free, and yet they make so much money? It’s because we are the product, and our attention is sold to people like my friend. On the other side of the screen, there’s an army of people spending exorbitant amounts of money studying how to capture your attention and sell it to advertisers, who in turn make loads of money because of their expert ability to change the way you think and behave. We wonder why we can’t stop checking headlines or looking at social media—it’s helpful to realize that it’s not exactly a fair fight.

The real problem is not the calculated campaign for our attention, but that it is so normal we don’t see it. We are discipled by our screens simply by doing nothing. The results are well documented. The fruits of the spirit are peace, patience, goodness, and self-control. The fruits of the screen are loneliness, anxiousness, group-think, and consumerism.

The invisible power of screens and marketing is a great modern example of the power of invisible formation, but it is only the tip of the iceberg.

The point is to realize that if we care about discipleship, we need to think very carefully about the water we swim in and ask whether those currents are making us more like Jesus or not.

I would argue that we cannot make that assessment without a set of carefully chosen, counter-formational habits; the kind of habits that help us see the water and create a new normal.

The Common Rule is just such a set of habits.

HABITS OF DISCIPLESHIP

The Common Rule is a set of four daily and weekly habits designed to form us in the love of God and neighbor. There are all kinds of habits, but many of them focus on screens.

Take, for example, The Common Rule habit of Scripture before phone. I love my smartphone. (In fact, I wrote this article on my phone in the back of a car on a trip home.) Phones enable amazing things. But ever since I got my phone, it started invading my mornings.

I’m a corporate lawyer, and for a long season of life the first thing I did every morning was check my work email in bed. My eyes would peel open and I would scan through what people wanted me to do today.

The formational consequences were powerful. My phone became a liturgy of legalism. The gospel tells me I’m loved in spite of what I can or can’t accomplish. But in starting my day in work emails, I wasn’t simply asking my phone what I needed to do that day. I was asking my phone what I needed to do to justify my existence that day.

In the end, I needed the counter-formational habit of Scripture before phone.

Sometimes people think that cultivating such a habit is legalistic, as if you have to do such a thing to be holy. For me, however, cultivating this habit and others like it was what I needed to fight my natural bent towards letting the world disciple me in legalism. Whether it’s social media or news headlines, much of what we read first thing in the morning is designed to stoke anger or envy—to make us think the world is about us.

In order to pursue being formed in gospel freedom, I needed a new habit. By doing nothing, I began the day in legalism.

It took some practice to form the habit of Scripture before phone, but I found that beginning my day in the story of God’s love calmed my anxiety and prepared me to work out of love for clients and coworkers, instead of working to earn myself love. Soon I found it also cleared a blank space in my mornings, where now—by habit—I leave the phone upstairs and read, sit quietly, or drink coffee slowly.

CULTIVATING GOSPEL HABITS

Some of The Common Rule habits focus on friendship, some focus on rest, others focus on work or screens. In different ways, all of these habits are meant to help develop a new normal, so that our habits make us more like Jesus instead of less.

The reason my marketing friend was telling me about his work was that he was trying out a habit from The Common Rule of pausing for kneeling prayer in the middle of his workday.

In a brief midday prayer on the floor of an empty conference room, he was reflecting on the significance of his industry and how he could work to make it a better—not a worse—place. He was inviting God to shape his work instead of inviting his work to shape his view of God.

He was creating a new normal, a powerful new habit of mind. He was cultivating a gospel habit.

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Justin Whitmel Earley lives in Richmond, VA with his wife, Lauren, and his three (soon to be four!) sons Whit, Asher, and Coulter. He is a corporate lawyer and a writer of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction, The Common Rule - Habits of Purpose for an Age of Distraction is his first book-length project and is coming out with InterVarsity Press in early 2019. Read more at www.thecommonrule.org.

Pastoring Your Home On Purpose

Many pastors fail at being the pastor of their family. We may be ashamed to admit it, but often when we pontificate from the pulpit about how parents shouldn’t outsource the discipleship of their children to the church, we aren’t even discipling our own children. Before you feel a heavy hand of condemnation, let me remind you that no man wakes up one day and instantly becomes the pastor of his home. It takes years of experience—and many awkward face-plants—to grow into that role. From my limited experience as a father and husband, here are a few simple habits that will get you on the trajectory to being a healthy “pastor-dad.”

PRAY FOR AND WITH YOUR FAMILY

It should be the most natural thing for a man to pray for his family, but it isn’t. It takes intentionality. My wife is a praying woman, and her prayer life pushes me to have a healthier prayer life of my own. It is now part of my daily routine to pray for Rebekah and my boys. If you develop the habit of privately praying for your family, then publicly praying for them will come naturally. Your family needs to hear you pray for them. Your children need to hear their father praying for their salvation.

TURN OFF THE TV, PUT DOWN THE PHONE, AND ENGAGE

I’ve gone through periods when I struggled to come home from the office and simply be pastor-dad, not Pastor Dayton. Our culture calls us to take pride in maintaining a slammed schedule, but our culture also celebrates and encourages a million other things that starve our spiritual vitality and destroy our families. Don’t come home from a long day and shut down. When you are with your family, turn off the TV unless you are watching it together. You also don’t need to be checking sports scores or your email on your phone. I know it’s hard, since many of us have rewired our brains to “need” to check our phones every few minutes. But it can wait.

TALK ABOUT JESUS WITH YOUR FAMILY 

What you talk about most often is what your kids think is most important to Dad. If you can’t remember the last time you had a meaningful exchange with your family about the person and work of Jesus, then your kids have no idea that Jesus matters to you. You don’t have to drop theology bombs on their little minds. Just talk to them about Jesus.

READ SCRIPTURE WITH YOUR KIDS EVERY NIGHT

There is no easier way to make sure you talk about Jesus than to read the book that’s by Jesus and about Jesus. There are a number of great resources for families, and most of them can be used in increments of ten or fifteen minutes. For instance, if you have small children you can use resources such as The Gospel Project Bible or The Jesus Storybook Bible. Reading a chapter or two takes no time at all.

The next day, come home from the office and ask your kids what they remember about the previous night’s family devotion. Ask them how they applied the gospel truth from last night during their day. Tell them how you applied that truth to your heart and life. It’s simple; it just takes intentionality.

PRACTICE DISCIPLINE THAT REVEALS THE GOSPEL

The vast majority of parenting advice from our culture is horrible. Why? Our nation has become post-Christian and is quickly moving toward being anti-Christian. Even for many who believe in God, the default worldview has become something akin to what sociologists Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton have called “moralistic therapeutic deism.”[1] “Moralistic” means someone thinks God just wants them to be a good person; “therapeutic” means they think God wants them to be happy (according to their own definition of happiness); and “deism” is a way of saying God isn’t personally involved in their life.

You do not want to tell your kids that Jesus matters and then parent them through a filter that encourages moralism. That duality is how you create little religious hearts that try to earn God’s favor by being good. This may be the most difficult aspect of being a father and a pastor. We face all kinds of real and perceived pressure to have children who behave properly, who obey, who do not become the stereotype of the wild and crazy pastor’s kids. Our default wiring, with its natural inclination toward religion, will cause us to apply this pressure when disciplining our children, and in doing so will turn them into legalists.

If you believe the gospel, you will not be shocked by your child’s sinfulness. You do not need to lament that your eighteen-month-old is a viper in a diaper the first time he disobeys, but you should remember that Scripture says we are sinners by nature. When we respond to our children’s sin with shock, we communicate to them: “Do better, try harder, make yourself righteous.” Our goal as fathers must not be mere behavior modification. Our aim is to see our children repent and believe the gospel. Therefore, do not respond to their sin in a way that simply calls for a change in behavior; respond in a way that calls for heartfelt repentance.

The moments when we discipline our children are of incredible value for pointing them to Jesus. I’ve found that asking my oldest son a few pointed questions keeps me calm and helps draw his attention to the Perfect Father in Heaven. I ask my son, “Who am I?” He says, “Daddy.” That’s right! “Do I love you, son?” He replies, “Yes!” I then tell him, “Because I love you, just as you are, please obey me.” Sometimes it makes a huge difference. Many times, he doesn’t get it. However, I’m trying to lay gospel groundwork, and that doesn’t happen overnight.

PASTOR YOUR HOME ON PURPOSE

None of this is hard. It just requires intentionality, yet we are often far too passive. This passivity is hurting your family. Begin implementing these basics habits now!

As you pursue being the pastor of your home, you will fail. It’s OK! We all fail, but we cannot allow failure to become defeat. The stakes are too high and your family is far too valuable.

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[1] This term is from their book Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005).

Content taken from Lies Pastors Believe: Seven Ways to Elevate Yourself, Subvert the Gospel, and Undermine the Church by Dayton Hartman, ©2017. Used by permission of Lexham Press, Bellingham, Washington, LexhamPress.com.

Dayton Hartman holds a Ph.D. in Church and Dogma History from North-West University (Potchefstroom) and an MA from Liberty University. He serves as Lead Pastor of Redeemer Church in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. Additionally, he is an Adjunct Professor at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (Wake Forest, NC) and Columbia International University (Columbia, SC). Learn more at his website.