Wednesday, September 30, 2015
God: The Creator
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.-Genesis 1:1
1) God exists. The essential first step in pleasing God is recognizing His existence.
2) God existed before there was a universe and will exist after the universe perishes.
3) God is the main character in the Bible. He is the subject of the first verb in the Bible (in fact, He is the subject of more verbs than any other character in the Bible) and performs a wider variety of activities that any other being in the Bible.
4) As Creator, God has done what no human being could ever do; in its active verb bara, meaning ‘to create,’ never has a human subject. Thus bara signifies a work that is uniquely God’s.
5) God is mysterious; though the Hebrew word for God is plural, the verb form of which ‘God’ is the subject is singular. This is perhaps a subtle allusion to God’s Trinitarian nature: He is divine persons in one divine essence.
6) God is the Creator of heaven and earth. He doesn’t just modify pre-existing matter but calls matter into being out of nothing.
7) God is not dependent on the universe, but the universe is totally dependent on God.
Sunday, September 27, 2015
Bad Dad:
I fail miserably as a father. I lose my temper at my daughter. I've been known to yell and I think there is a plastic golf putter which no longer is straight because in my anger I slammed it down. I not only lose my temper but the other day in the mall I forgot to buckle my daughter's stroller and she about face planted in the middle of the mall reaching for a pretzel. At times I pay more attention to my phone than I do my own kid in fact one day I was paying attention to my phone (in my defense it was probably something very important like a funny Youtube video or something) and while I was paying attention to my phone Piper was attempting to climb off the couch and she fell off smacking her head on the flood. I don't think there was a bruise ;) Just kidding I know there wasn't, I checked because I didn't want Julia to see and yell at me.
I'm a bad dad because I use her cuteness in pictures to get more likes and followers. To be honest I used her picture for this blog because I knew it would get more visits and clicks if I used her picture instead of my own. I feed her things I'm not suppose to at youth events i.e. Doritos, Krispy Kreme doughnuts, Dairy-O hot dogs/ice cream and I think she has even had a very small amount of Pumpkin Spice latte from Starbucks. My daughter is addicted to Taylor Swift and One Republic. It's so bad that a children's song will come on in a store and she will not move but if T. Swift comes in she throws her hands up and begins to dance. I'm a bad dad.
I am a bad dad. I admit it but you know what? The other day Piper and I were sneaking out of the house to get ice cream (listening to our girl T. Swift) and while I was driving I caught a glimpse of her in the rear view mirror looking out the window and I was overcome with love for her. I'm not talking about simple love but an overwhelming since of love for her which wells up from the depth of my soul. A love which desires to give her the moon if she asked. A love which will cause me to do anything to provide for her and spend time with her. I love her and there's nothing she can do or will do to change that. I realize that times will be tough but I know that my love for her will only deepen and increase as she ages. I may get mad at times and yell but at the end of the day I love her. Every little annoying piece of her (admit it you find your kid annoying at times as well).
I realize I'm not perfect and have made and will continue to make a lot of mistakes but in the end I love her and I think, just maybe, love and expressing that love in words and actions is all I need to be a good dad.
The Soul's Final Feast
One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.-Psalm 27:4
God is not unresponsive to the contrite longing of the soul. He comes and lifts the load of sin and fills our heart with gladness and gratitude. "You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!" (Psalm 30:11-12).
But our joy does not just rise from the backward glance in gratitude. It also rises from the forward glance in hope: "why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God" (Psalm 42:5-6).
"I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope" (Psalm 130:5).
In the end, the heart longs not for any of God's good gifts, but for God himself. To see him and know him and be in his presence is the soul's final feast. Beyond this there is no quest. Words fail. We call it pleasure, joy, delight. But these are weak pointers to the unspeakable experience:
"One thing have I asked of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple" (Psalm 27:4).
"In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore" (Psalm 16:11).
"Delight yourself in the Lord (Psalm 37:4).
Saturday, September 26, 2015
Mercy for the New Year:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.-Lamentations 3:22-23
I love New Years! The excitement of beginning afresh washes over me every year and I look forward to the clock striking midnight and starting a new year. As Christians we don't have to wait for a new year to start over with God; His mercies are new every day.
God's mercies are new every morning because each day only has enough mercy in it for that day.
This is why we tend to despair when we think that we may have to bear tomorrow's load on today's resources. God wants us to know. We won't. Today's mercies are for today's troubles. Tomorrow's mercies are for tomorrow's troubles.
Sometimes we wonder if we will have the mercy to stand in terrible testing. Yes, we will. Peter says, "If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you" (1 Peter 4:14). When the reviling comes the Spirit of glory comes. It happened for Stephen as he was being stoned. It will happen for you. When the Spirit and the glory are needed they will come.
The manna in the wilderness was given one day at a time. There was no storing up. That is the way we must depend on God's mercy. You do not receive today the strength to bear tomorrow's burdens. You are given mercies today for today's troubles.
Tomorrow the mercies will be new. "God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord (1 Corinthians 1:9).
I don't know what awaits us in 2016 but I do know that God's mercies will be new and fresh. I know that the same God who sustained us in 2015 will sustain us in 2016 and that is why I look forward with eager anticipation to a brand new year.
Live Confident in God's Power:
The immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe...-Ephesians 1:19
The omnipotence of God means eternal, unshakable refuge in the everlasting glory of God no matter what happens on this earth. And that confidence is the power of radical obedience to the call of God.
Is there anything more freeing, more thrilling, or more strengthening than the truth that God Almighty is your refuge-all day, every day in all the ordinary and extraordinary experiences of life?
If we believed this, if we really let this truth of God's omnipotence get hold of us, what a difference it would make in our personal lives and in our ministries! How humble and powerful we would become for the saving purposes of God!
The omnipotence of God means refuge for the people of God. And when you really believe that your refuge is the omnipotence of God Almighty, there is a joy and a freedom and a power that spills over in a life of radical obedience to Jesus Christ.
The omnipotence of God means reverence, recompense, and refuge for his covenant people.
I invite you to accept the terms of His covenant of grace: turn from sin and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, and the omnipotence of God Almighty will be the reverence of your soul, the recompense of your enemies, and the refuge of your life-forever.
The Proverbs 31 Man:
You have heard of the Proverbs 31 woman but have you
ever heard of the Proverbs 31 man? Let me describe him to you.
A husband of noble character: who can find one? He is
worth more than winning the Publisher’s Clearinghouse Sweepstakes or the
lottery.
His wife has full confidence in him and she lacks
nothing of importance.
He brings her good, not harm, all the days of her
life.
He works hard to provide for his family. Getting up
early he helps get the children ready for school, then dashes off to work.
With his shoulder to the grindstone he works with
energy and vigor, as one who is working for you.”
He promptly comes home from work and immediately
pitches in with the chores, helping the children with their homework, or with
making dinner if he can cook! While hot dogs and baked beans are his specialty,
he doesn’t fear the microwave, remembering nothing metal should be in there. He
does this with such ease that all are amazed and in awe.
When his wife prepares a meal he always eats with
gusto, and when finished, he never forgets to smile and tell her how great the
meal was. Of course, he is always the first to volunteer to do the dishes or at
least to volunteer the children to complete the task!
All in all, he is a joy to have in the kitchen.
As a father, there is no equal on the face of the
earth. No matter how exhausted from work or chores, he always takes time for
his children.
Whether it’s making funny faces at the baby, tickling
the small child, wrestling with the kids, watching football with his sons, or
making pained and disbelieving expressions at his teenagers, he is always there
for them.
He is a whiz at math, science, spelling, geography,
Spanish, and any other subject his children are studying at school.
And if he should be totally ignorant of the subject at
hand, he skillfully hides his ignorance by sending the child to their mother.
He can fix any problem, from a scraped knee to loose
bicycle chains, from interpreting rules for a kickball game to refereeing
sparring matches between his kids.
More importantly, he is also the spiritual leader in
the family. He loves Jesus, and he always takes the family to church. He shows
his children, by his example, what it means to be a man of to pray for God.
He teaches his children how to pray and the importance
of knowing and loving the Lord Jesus. He often rises early to pray for his wife
and children, and he reads from his Bible at night before sleeping.
He disciplines his children with loving firmness,
never by yelling or with humiliating words. He is always more interested in
teaching a lesson than in simply punishing
During the day he meditates on God’s Word and on how
to live it. He shows Christ in all his dealing with others and is considered a
valuable employee to his bosses. His co-workers respect his hard work, his
integrity, and his kindness.
He always shows his wife the utmost respect, even
opening the door for her. He is always quick with a word of encouragement, and
is constantly telling her how beautiful she is, even when she isn’t wearing any
make-up.
A day seldom passes that he doesn’t tell her of his
love for her. Praise for her is always on his lips.
Anniversaries and birthdays are never forgotten and
gifts and flowers are often given, “just because.”
He even makes superhuman efforts to be nice when her
family is visiting.
He is full of compassion for the pain of others and
willingly helps those in need. Whether it’s changing a stranger’s flat tire,
helping with a friend’s home improvement project, or feeing the poor at the
local soup kitchen, he is the first to volunteer.
He is not afraid to shed a tear with a friend in pain
or to be rowdy in laughter at another’s joke.
He loves life and lives it with passion.
His children, while not always calling him “blessed,”
have no doubts about his great love for them. His wife also calls him many
things, among them, “the best man there is,” and she thanks God for him.
Many men do great things but he surpasses them all.
There is no man better than this man, except Jesus.
Flattery is deceptive and good looks, like hair, is
fleeting, but a man who fears the Lord is to be praised. Give him the reward he
has earned, and let his deeds bring him praise. His Lord is pleased, his wife loves
him, and his children are proud of him. He is a blessed man indeed.*
*Dr. Danny Akin, Commentary on Songs of Solomon. Pages
159-161.
Our Greatest Gift: The Word of God
He said to them, “Take to heart all the words by which I am warning you today, that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law. For it is no empty word for you, but your very life, and by this word you shall live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”-Deuteronomy 32:46-47
Even our physical life depends on God’s Word, because by His Word we were created (Psalm 33:6; Hebrews 11:3) and “He upholds the universe by the word of His power” (Hebrews 1:3).
Our spiritual life begins by the Word of God: “Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth” (James 1:18). “You have been born again… through the living and abiding word of God” (1 Peter 1:23).
Not only do we begin to live by God’s Word, bu we also go on living by God’s Word: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4; Deuteronomy 8:3).
Our physical life is created and upheld by the Word of God, and our spiritual life is quickened and sustained by the Word of God. How many stories could be gathered to bear witness to the life-giving power of the Word of God!
Indeed, the Bible is “no empty word for you”-it is your life! The foundation of all joy is life. Nothing is more fundamental than sheer existence-our creation and our preservation.
All this is owing to the Word of God’s power. By that same power, he has spoken in Scripture for the creation and sustenance of our spiritual life. Therefore, the Bible is no empty word, but is your very life-the kindling of your joy!
Through God's Eyes:
You Are Valuable
I am the Creator and you are my creation. I breathed into your nostrils the breath of life (Genesis 2:7). I created you in my own image (Genesis 1:27). My eyes saw your unformed substance (Psalm 139:16). I knit you together in your mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13). I know the number of hairs on your head, and before a word is on your tongue I know it (Matthew 10:30; Psalm 139:4). You are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14).You are more valuable than many sparrows (Matthew 10:31). I have given you dominion over all sheep and oxen and all beasts of the field and birds of the heavens and fish of the sea (Psalm 8:6–8; Genesis 1:26, 28). I have crowned you with glory and honor as the pinnacle and final act of the six days of creation (Psalm 8:5; Genesis 1:26).
However, from the very beginning, you exchanged the truth about me for a lie. You worshiped and served created things rather than me, the Creator (Romans 1:25). You have sinned and fallen short of my glory (Romans 3:23). Just as I said to Adam and Eve, the penalty for your sin is death (Romans 6:23; Genesis 2:17). And in your sin, you were spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1). You were children of wrath, living as enemies to me (Ephesians 2:3; Romans 5:10). You turned aside from me. You became corrupt. There is none who does good, not even one (Psalm 14:2–3). What you deserve is my righteous judgment (Psalm 7:11–12).
And yet, in my great love, I gave my unique Son, that all those who believe in him will not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16). While you were still sinners, Christ died for you. While you were still hostile toward me, you were reconciled to me by the death of my Son (Romans 5:8, 10). Sin doesn’t have the last word. Grace does (Romans 5:20).
Now everyone who calls on the name of Jesus will be saved (Romans 10:13). You who have believed are born again (1 Peter 1:3). I have adopted you (Ephesians 1:5). You are children of God, heirs of God (1 John 3:2; Romans 8:16–17). You are no longer orphans. You belong to me (John 14:18; 1 Corinthians 6:19). And I love you as a perfect Father (1 John 3:1; Luke 15:20–24).
You Are New
In my eyes, you are a brand new creation. The old has passed away; the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17). Sin is no longer your master, for you died to sin and are now alive to me (Romans 6:11; Ephesians 2:4).You are finally free from the slavery of sin and death. There is now no condemnation for you (Romans 8:1–2). All your sins are forgiven (1 John 1:9). All your unrighteousness has been cleansed by the blood of Jesus (1 John 1:7, 9). You are now righteous in my sight with the very righteousness of my perfect Son (Romans 4:5).
You’ve been saved by grace (Ephesians 2:8). You’ve been justified by faith (Romans 5:1). You are utterly secure in me; nothing will be able to separate you from my love in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:39). No one is able to snatch you out of my hand (John 10:29). And I will never leave you nor forsake you (Hebrews 13:5).
You Have My Spirit
You not only have a new Father, but also a new family of brothers and sisters (Luke 8:21). You are now part of the people of God (1 Peter 2:9). And together the life you now live is by faith in my Son (Galatians 2:20).Look to Jesus. Keep your eyes on him. He is the author and perfecter of your faith (Hebrews 12:2). Christ is in you by my Spirit, and you are in Christ (John 15:5;Colossians 1:27). Stay close to Jesus. Abide in him (John 15:4). For your life is found in him (John 14:6; Colossians 3:3–4). To live is Christ and to die is gain (Philippians 1:21).
Don’t live by your own power or understanding. No, live by my Spirit within you (Zechariah 4:6; Proverbs 3:5). Remember, I have given you the Holy Spirit to be with you and in you (Romans 5:5; John 14:17). The Spirit will guide you into all truth, help you to obey me, and empower you to do my work (John 16:7, 13; Acts 1:8; Galatians 5:16).
You Will Be Transformed
As you seek me and see more of my glory, I am transforming you into the image of my Son (2 Corinthians 3:18; Exodus 33:18). One day you will be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet sound (1 Corinthians 15:52). When Jesus appears, you will be like him, because you shall see him as he is (1 John 3:2; Romans 8:29).You will be delivered from your body of death through Jesus Christ, and your dwelling place will be with me (Romans 7:24–25; John 14:3). And I will wipe away every tear from your eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore (Revelation 21:3–4).
You will drink from the spring of the water of life without payment, and I myself will make for you a feast of rich food and well-aged wine (Revelation 21:6; Isaiah 25:6). You will enter my rest, inherit the kingdom I’ve prepared for you, and step into fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore (Hebrews 4:9–11; Matthew 25:34;Psalm 16:11).
But most of all, you will see my face and be with me where I am (Revelation 22:4;John 14:3).
You Represent Me
Therefore, walk in a manner worthy of your calling (Ephesians 4:1). You are no longer darkness, but light in my Son. Walk as children of light (Ephesians 5:8). You are the light of the world, a city set on a hill (Matthew 5:14). I have called you (2 Peter 1:3). I have chosen you (Revelation 17:14). You are now a saint, a servant, a steward, and a soldier (Romans 1:7; Acts 26:16; 1 Peter 4:10; 2 Timothy 2:3). You are a witness and a worker (Acts 1:8; Ephesians 2:10). Through Jesus you are victorious (1 Corinthians 15:57). You have a glorious future (Romans 8:18). You are a citizen of heaven (Philippians 3:20). You are an ambassador for my Son (2 Corinthians 5:20).Seven Ways to Bless Your Wife:
A husband can be a blessing to his wife by loving her as Christ loved the church and giving specific gifts of love:
1. Be a spiritual leader. Be a man of courage, conviction, commitment, compassion, and character. Take the initiative in cultivating a spiritual environment for the family. Become a capable and competent student of God’s Word and live out before all a life founded on the Word of God. Lead your wife in becoming a woman of God, and take the lead in training the children in the things of the Lord.
2. Give her personal affirmation and appreciation. Praise her for personal attributes and qualities. Praise her virtues as a wife, mother, and homemaker. Openly comment her, in the presence of others, as a marvelous mate, friend and companion. Help her feel that, to you, no one is more important in this world.
3. Show personal affection (romance). Shower her with timely and generous displays of affection. Tell her how much you care for her with a steady flow of words, cards, flowers, gifts, and common courtesies. Remember, affection is the environment in which sexual union is enjoyed more fully and a wonderful marriage is developed.
4. Initiate intimate conversation. Talk with her at the feeling level (heart to heart). Listen to her thoughts about the events of her day with sensititivity, interest and concern. Conversations with her convery a desire to understand her not to change her.
5. Always be honest and open. Look into her eyes and, in love, always tell the truth. Explain your plans and actions clearly and completely because you are responsible for her. Lead her to trust you and feel secure.
6. Provide home support and stability. Take hold of the responsibility to house, feed, and clothe the family. Provide and protect, and do not feel sorry for yourself when things get tough. Look for concrete ways to improve home life. Raise the marriage and family to a safer and more fulfilling level. Remember, the husband/father is the security hub of the family.
7. Demonstrate family commitment. After the Lord Jesus, put your wife and family first. Commit time and energy to the spiritual, moral, and intellectual development of the children. For example, pray with them (especially at night by the bedside), read to them, engage in sports with them, and take them on other outings. Do not play the fool’s game of working long hours, trying to get ahead, while your children and spouse languish in neglect.
Five Ways to Bless Your Husband:
Five Ways to Bless Your Husband
A wife can be a blessing to her husband by honoring him as the church honors Christ and giving him specific gifts of love:1. Give him admiration and respect. As his wife, work to understand and appreciate his value and achievements. Remind him of his capabilities and gifts. Help him maintain his walk with God and also his self-confidence. Be proud of your husband, not out of duty, but as an expression of sincere admiration for the man you love and with whom you have chosen to share life with.
2. Provide sexual fulfillment. Become an excellent sexual partner to him. Study your own response to recognize and understand what brings out the best in you; then communicate this information to your husband, and together learn to have a sexual relationship that you both find repeatedly satisfying and enjoyable.
3. Cultivate home support. Create a home that offers him an atmosphere of peace and quiet and refuge. Manage the home and the care of the children. The home should be a place of rest and rejuvenation. Remember, the wife/mother is the emotional hub of the family.
4. Strive to be an attractive wife. Pursue inner and outer beauty in that order. Cultivate a Christlike spirit in your inner self. Keep yourself physically fit with diet and exercise, wear your hair, makeup, and clothes in a way that your husband finds attractive and tasteful. Let your husband be pleased and proud of you in public, but also in private.
5. Become his best friend. Develop mutual interests with your husband. Discover those activities your husband enjoys the most and seek to become proficient in them. If you learn to enjoy them, join him in them. If you do not enjoy them, encourage him to consider others that you can enjoy together. Become your husband’s best friend so that he repeatedly associates you with the activities he enjoys most.
Three Truths about the Love of Christ:
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?-Romans 8:35
Notice three things in Romans 8:35.
1. Christ is loving us now.
A wife might say of her deceased husband: Nothing will separate me from his love. She might mean that the memory of his love will be sweet and powerful all her life. But that is not what Paul means here.
In Romans 8:34 it says plainly, “Christ Jesus is the one who died-more than that, was raised-who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.” The reason Paul can say that nothing will separate us from the love of Christ is because Christ is aliv and is still loving us now.
He is at the right hand of God and is therefore ruling for us. And he is interceding for us, which means that he is seeing to it that his finished work of redemption does in fact save us hour by hour and bring us safe to eternal joy. His love is not a memory. It is a moment-by-moment action by the omnipotent, living Son of God, to bring us to everlasting joy.
2. This love of Christ is effective in protecting us from separation, and therefore is not a universal love for all, but a particular love for his people-those who, according to Romans 8:28, love God and are called according to his purpose.
This is the love of Ephesians 5:25, “Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her.” It is Christ’s love for the church, his bride. Christ has a love for all, and he has a special, saving, preserving love for his bride. You know you are part of that bride if you trust Christ. Anyone-no exceptions- anyone who trusts Christ can say, I am part of his bride, his church, his called and chosen ones, the ones who verse 35 says are kept and protected forever no matter what.
3. This omnipotent, effective, protecting love does not spare us from calamities in this life, but brings us safe to everlasting joy with God.
Death will happen to us, but it will not separate us. So when Paul says in verse 35 that the “sword” will not separate us from the love of Christ, he means: even if we are killed we are not separated from the love of Christ.
So the sum of the matter in verse 35 is this: Jesus Christ is mightily loving his people with omnipotent, moment-by-moment love that does not always rescue us from calamity but preserves us for everlasting joy in his presence even through suffering and death.
An Open Letter to Teenagers About Sex:
Dear Teenagers,
I am twenty eight years
old, and I have worked with young people for the last ten years, as a youth
pastor, teacher, and mentor. I have been married for five years and have one
child and another on the way. From my fellow married adults, who have garnered
some wisdom from life experience and who care about your welfare, allow me to
let you in on a little secret: you’re being lied to about sex. You live in a
world that is selling a giant, heaping load of bull when it comes to sexuality.
The first lie goes
something like this: sex is the greatest thing on the planet! Sex will change
your life. Sex will heal you. Sex will fix your problems with self-esteem. Your
problems with loneliness will disappear when you have sex.
Pop icon Hozier
articulates this lie very well. He equates sex to a worship experience in his
song, “Take Me to Church,” where he says he, “worships in the bedroom.” He
essentially says sex constitutes the ultimate experience on earth.
I can remember when I was
a teenager, asking my newlywed older friend, “How’s sex?” He said, “Nice.”
Nice? That’s all? I was
outraged.
After five years of
marriage, I can say that sex is a really great blessing to enjoy with your
spouse, but it will not fix any of your problems. It’s an awesome thing, no
doubt. However, if you have sex one night, your insecurities, anxieties, and
loneliness will be there to greet you when you step out of bed the next
morning. Only God himself can fix your problems by his grace, in relationship
with Him and through meaningful relationships with others.
The second lie you will
be told both implicitly and directly: sexual repression is unhealthy and will
harm you. This idea flows from the idea that sex is a natural appetite, like
your need for food, water, and air. If repressed, psychological and physical
damage will occur. Therefore, you must find regular outlets for sexual
activity, exploration, and expression.
Sadly, a great deal of
pseudo-science undergirds this lie. I am not a psychologist and have not read
the entire corpus of clinical studies on sexual repression. However, from the research I have done, I
struggled to find a study that linked depression, anxiety, or suicide to a lack
of sexual activity. Meanwhile, Dr.
Miriam Grossman’s book, Unprotected, examines the mental health damage done to
college students through sexual promiscuity. Grossman calls out colleges for
failing to educate students on the potential problems that “sexually-liberated”
behavior brings.
In one section of the
book, Grossman berates the destructive encouragement, delivered by a Columbia
University publication, for students to pursue sexual exploration:
I want to understand how
in the face of national pandemics of herpes and HPV these health “experts” can
advise a high school senior who already had three boyfriends to continue to
experiment and explore her sexuality, claiming that doing so will “only add to
her future well-being and peace of mind.” Exactly what study, I’d like to know,
demonstrated that. And to the freshman who is wondering whether to loser her
virginity to a boy she’s know only three weeks, “Alice” says: three days, three
weeks, three months, three years? There’s no right time to have your first
intercourse.
Lastly, you are being
told the lie that sex is something that you deserve to have on your terms. You
are the master of your body. You are the master of your life. Therefore, you
make the rules, and you set the standards.
Nothing sells this more
insidiously than pornography. Porn says, “You want sexual pleasure? Pull it up
on your phone, and within minutes an attractive person has undressed for you.
You can have this however you like it.” Porn tells the lie that sex is all
about you and your wants. Other people are objects in this arena.
Porn is an obvious liar,
but many people and media will communicate something along these lines in a
subtler manner. The message will be that you can have sex now or later. You can
do it as a teenager or wait until marriage. What’s important is that you are
the one calling the shots and being true to yourself, because it’s your life
and your choice.
Here’s the problem: you
don’t just belong to yourself. You belong to God. You belong to those around
you. You belong to society. That means that your actions have consequences that
extend far beyond your own life. When you operate selfishly in this area,
people get hurt, including you.
Let me close this letter
up by telling you some things that are true: God gave you sex as a gift because
he likes you. He gave it to you because he is on your side. Mankind did not
invent sex: God did. As the designer, He established universal standards of
best practice (like “don’t have sex outside of marriage” and “walk away from
porn”) that apply to everyone. Because God designed sex, you should listen to
Him. Because He deeply cares for you, then you should trust Him. When He says
wait until marriage, it’s not to be a buzz-kill or a jerk: it’s because he’s a
really good (perfect, in fact) parent.
Let me tell you one more
truth: you are going to make mistakes – big ones – when it comes to sexuality.
We all do. Whether it’s a regrettable decision, an embarrassing urge, a porn
addiction, or crossing the same line you swore you never would over and over
again. It’s going to happen. There is one person who will not judge you when
you fall: Jesus.
Finally, if nothing else,
hear this comforting truth:
My dear children, I write
this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an
advocate with the Father – Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. And He Himself is
the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the
whole world. (1 John 2: 1-2)
Reaching, Teaching, Releasing
T Welch
Jesus Is Better Than Santa Claus:
The salvation of sinners through the death and resurrection of Jesus is the goal of Christmas.
Jesus came at Christmas to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10).
Jesus came at Christmas to save sinners (1 Timothy 1:15).
Jesus came at Christmas to give his life a ransom for many (Mark 10:45).
Jesus came at Christmas not to call the righteous, but sinners (Matthew 9:13).
Jesus came at Christmas to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8).
Jesus came at Christmas that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death (Hebrews 2:14).
So the birth of the Son of God, the very God, very man, is simply stunning and glorious and infinitely serious, an overflow of the happy news. The angel called it “good news of great joy” — great joy, not small joy, not a little bit of joy, but great joy (Luke 2:10).
It is mindboggling to me that any Christian would even contemplate such a trade, that we would divert attention away from the incarnation of the God of the universe into this world to save us and our children. . . . Not only is Santa Claus not true — and Jesus is very truth himself — but compared to Jesus, Santa is simply pitiful, and our kids should be helped to see this.
Santa Claus offers only earthly things, nothing lasting, nothing eternal. Jesus offers eternal joy with the world thrown in — the fire engine is thrown in (1 Corinthians 3:21–23).
Santa Claus offers his ephemeral goodies only on the condition of good works: “He knows when you are sleeping, he knows when you’re awake, he knows when you have been bad or good, so be good for goodness’ sake.” That is a pure works religion. And Jesus offers himself all the gifts freely, by grace, for faith.
Santa Claus is make-believe. Jesus is more real than the roof on your house.
Santa Claus only shows up once a year. Jesus promises, “I will be with you always” (Matthew 28:20). You say to your kid every night: “He is standing by your bed. He is with you when you get up in the morning. He is with you when you go to school today. If mommy and daddy die, he will be right there with you.” Santa doesn’t hold a candle to this flame, Jesus.
Santa Claus cannot solve our worst problem. Jesus did solve our worst problem, our sin and our alienation from God. Santa Claus can put some icing on the cake of the good life, but he cannot take a shattered life and rebuild it with hope forever. And our kids need to know that about Christmas.
Santa Claus is not relevant in many cultures of the world. Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords over all the peoples of the world.
Santa Claus will be forgotten some day and Jesus “is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).
So there is no contest here. I cannot see why a parent, if they know and love Jesus, if they have found Jesus to be the greatest treasure in the world, why they would bring Jesus out of the celebration and Santa into the celebration at all — I mean, he is just irrelevant. He has nothing to do with it. He is zero.
So my counsel is to give all your efforts to making your children as happy as they can possibly be with every kind of surprise that is rooted in the true meaning of Christmas. Let your decorations point to Jesus. Let your food point to Jesus. Let your games point to Jesus. Let your singing point to Jesus. Out-rejoice the world, out-give the world, out-decorate the world, and let it all point to Jesus.
If being Jesus-focused is a killjoy for your Christmas, you don’t know him well.
God's Sovereignty and Our Neighbors:
The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth: and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. (Acts 17:24–26)
So there’s a God who made the world and everything in it—including my neighbors, my relatives, and my work colleagues. He made everything and everyone. And he doesn’t need us; we need him. Not only that, but he has marked out how long we will each live, and decided where we will each live.
God Put Them There
Now hold onto your seat as we think about what this means. Your neighbor lives down the street because God put him there. Your colleague sits at the desk next to you because God sat her there.
A family recently moved onto our street. They’re Muslims. Why have they moved? They think it’s for work, and because there’s a mosque nearby. In reality, however, their Maker has placed them there. Why? Look at the next verse:
God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. (Acts 17:27)
What’s going on in history is that God is reaching out to people so that they’ll reach out for him. The reason your neighbor lives where she does is so that she’ll be reached with the gospel. Why did God want a Christian—you—to be in your particular workplace? So you can bless your boss and workers by working hard and honestly? Of course and amen. But first and foremost, he put you there so others might hear the good news.
No Accident
It’s no accident you know the people you do. It’s no accident they’re in your path. They need Jesus. You know him. God wants them to hear the gospel.
And that transforms how I view my life. It makes it exhilarating. If I’m sitting on a plane and there’s someone next to me, God has put them there. He’s not far from them, because I know him and am sitting next to them. That transforms whether I’ll bother to try to start a conversation with them. It’ll transform what I aim to talk about. And it’ll transform how I pray for my days ahead; I’ll be praying for energy and love to make the most of every divine appointment God has already written into my schedule.
We need to believe God is in charge of which desk we sit at. We need to believe God has put particular persons around us because he wants them to hear about his Son.
We need to grasp God’s sovereignty—and align our days with his mission.
10 Things Yahweh Means:
God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.”-Exodus 3:15
So every time we hear the word Yahweh, or every time you see LORD in the English Bible, you should think: this is a proper name (like Peter of John) built out of the word for “I am” and reminding us each time that God absolutely is.
There are at least 10 things the name Yahweh, “I AM”, says about God:
1) He never had a beginning. Every child asks, “Who made God?” And every wise parent says, “Nobody made God. God simply is. And always was. No beginning.”
2) God will never end. If he did not come into being he cannot go out of being, because he is being.
3) God is absolute reality. There is no reality before him. There is no reality outside of him unless he wills it and makes it. He is all that was eternally. No space, no universe, no emptiness. Only God.
4) God is utterly independent. He depends on nothing to bring him into being or support him or counsel him or make him what he is.
5) Everything that is not God depends totally on God. The entire universe is utterly secondary. It came into being by God and stays in being moment by moment on God’s decision to keep it in being.
6) All the universe is by comparison to God as nothing. Contingent, dependent reality is to absolute, independent reality as a shadow to substance. As an echo to a thunderclap. All that we are amazed by in the world and in the galaxies, is, compared to God, as nothing.
7) God is constant. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He cannot be improved. He is not becoming anything. He is who He is.
8) God is the absolute standard of truth and goodness and beauty. There is no law-book to which he looks to know what is right. No almanac to establish facts. No guild to determine what is excellent or beautiful. He himself is the standard of what is right, what is true, what is beautiful.
9) God does whatever he pleases and it is always right and always beautiful and always in accord with truth. All reality that is outside of him he created and designed and governs as the absolute reality. So he is utterly free from any constraints that don’t originate from the counsel of his own will.
10) God is the most important and most valuable reality and person in the universe. He is more worthy of interest and attention and admiration and enjoyment than all other realities, including the entire universe.
10 Things People Should Know About SBC:
Author: Russel Moore
Sometimes people assume when they see Westboro Baptist Church with its hateful signs, picketing, and protesting that this church is one of ours. It isn’t. As a matter of fact, Westboro pickets us, too, most years. They reject what we believe is the core of our belief — that the gospel is offered to all persons — and instead they believe that God delights in condemnation and damnation.
We are a missionary people, who want to see everyone — including people who hate us — reconciled to God through the gospel. That’s why, when I have reason to write about the group, I usually do so with the Westboro Baptist (sic) Church (sic). If I lived in a place called “Westboro,” I would probably add a third sic.
Southern Baptists — like all orthodox Christians — believe in a coming Day of Judgment. Like Jesus and John the Baptist, we warn people of the eternal consequences of their spiritual decisions. But some think that Southern Baptists think the judgment of God is reserved for people who don’t believe or behave like we do. That’s far from true.
One of the first things we learn as children is that “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). That includes us, and when we speak of “sinners,” we are speaking about all human beings (except for One notable exception).
We share our faith with our neighbors and send missionaries all over the world because we believe that God has made a way for sinful humanity to be reconciled to God. We believe Jesus took on our humanity, died under the curse we incurred with our sin, was raised from the dead, and stands now as our High Priest before the throne of God.
Our lives are hidden in Christ, so that his cross is our cross, his life is our life. We are forgiven of sin, but this is not just some sort of amnesty for the afterlife. In Christ, God has adopted us as his children, and we are named “joint heirs” with Jesus so that his future is our future — and it is more than we could even imagine right now.
This sort of peace with God is offered to anyone, no matter who that person is or what he or she has done, on the condition of repentance from sin and faith in Christ. When we’re not as joyful as we ought to be, it’s because we need to be reminded of how good it is to be those who were lost and are now found.
This commitment to the gospel is why Southern Baptists, through their International Mission Board, support 4,734 international missionaries around the world and why the North American Mission Board supports 5,611 missionaries, not to mention 3,600 Southern Baptist chaplains who serve in the U.S. military.
It’s why when there’s a disaster — whether it’s Hurricane Sandy or the Nepal earthquake or a famine in Africa — Southern Baptists are among the first in and the last out to minister to those affected.
We don’t baptize babies because we believe that people come into the Body of Christ not by physical birth but by a new birth that takes place when one is joined to Christ in repentance and faith. Baptism, for us, is a sign of our identification with Jesus in death, burial, and resurrection.
That has implications for how we admit members to our churches — only those who profess personal faith in Christ and who follow him in baptism and in how we hold one another accountable in our churches to live lives that reflect the lordship of Christ.
Many think Baptists are always fighting, and there’s some truth to that. We were birthed, after all, in dissent from established churches and we’ve lived through all sorts of controversies, so there’s a fighting side to us.
That said, Southern Baptists are unified around a common theology. We believe, for instance, that the Bible is completely true and is the Word of God. Our theological consensus is found in our Baptist Faith and Message statement.
There are lots of other secondary issues where Baptists happily agree to disagree. We all believe in the Second Coming of Jesus, but we don’t all see eye-to-eye on the timing of the Rapture, and so forth. We all believe in both the sovereignty of God and in the responsibility of human beings, but we don’t all agree on how those two fit together.
We gladly join together across such differences to affirm primary doctrines together and to work together through our funding mechanism (we call it the “Cooperative Program”) to send missionaries, plant churches, and train future leaders.
The name “Southern Baptist Convention” can confuse people who assume that this means we are limited to the states below the Mason-Dixon line. That was true at our founding, but isn’t true at all now. There are Southern Baptist churches in all 50 states. That’s why you might be surprised to meet a Southern Baptist from Portland, Oregon or Portland, Maine who doesn’t say y’all or like sweet tea.
Our geographical diversity had led us several times to consider changing our name, but we decided against it because the name “Southern Baptist” has “brand identification” in American life, distinguishing us from some other groups.
Think of it the way you would an airline. Southwest doesn’t just take you to Arizona or New Mexico, and Delta doesn’t just take you to Louisiana or Mississippi. The name tells you about a history, and doesn’t describe boundaries.
When I say that we are all sinners, I don’t just mean that all of us individually have a past. Sin expresses itself through structures and systems, too — and the SBC is not exempt from that.
The SBC was founded over the issue of human slavery — precisely over the question of whether slaveholders would be appointed as missionaries. It’s not just that the SBC was on the wrong side of the issue on that, we were on the wrong side of the Bible, on the wrong side of the gospel, on the wrong side of Jesus.
Some brave Christians — some Southern Baptist, many not — prevailed by showing that white supremacy is directly contradictory to what Southern Baptists profess to believe, that all persons are made in the image of God and that the gospel reconciles us to God and with one another.
Though positive steps have happened, it’s not good enough for many of us, since we believe the church is designed to be a preview of the coming kingdom of God, a kingdom that is made up of those from every tribe, tongue, nation, and language. Most of the Body of Christ, on earth as well is in heaven, isn’t white and has never spoken English.
We celebrate our growing diversity, including seminary programs intentionally training the next generation of ethnic minority leadership, even as we note that we have far yet to go. With every year that passes, we have more and more salsa at our church potlucks, and we like it that way.
Baptists began as a persecuted people, hunted from our homes in England and later colonial America because of our convictions. Many of our heroes were in prison for preaching the gospel.
The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is there because of the persistent agitation of those such as Virginia Baptist preacher John Leland, who demanded full religious liberty for everyone — believers and unbelievers.
Because of what we believe about the gospel, we don’t think a state-coerced faith is a genuine faith. And because we believe that each person must give an account, personally, before the Judgment Seat of Christ, we don’t support any king, dictator, legislature, or bureaucrat inhibiting anyone’s free exercise of religion. Jesus taught us to render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s — and the conscience doesn’t belong to Caesar.
Some churches and denominations have decisions made at the top — by bishops or other leaders — and these decisions filter down to the churches. Our decisions go the other way. We think every church — no matter where or what its size — is governed by Jesus through his Word and by his gifts and is free from dictation by any other church or by some religious bureaucracy.
This commitment to what we call “the autonomy of the local church” shows up even in our annual meeting. Any “messenger” — someone sent from our churches — can make any motion or come to a microphone and say anything. This leads to unpredictability because our meetings aren’t scripted and choreographed in some “headquarters.”
That’s why the SBC was able to turn around from its direction toward theological liberalism in the 1970s and 1980s toward orthodox, evangelical conviction. The people had the final say.
1. Westboro Baptist Church isn’t one of us.
Sometimes people assume when they see Westboro Baptist Church with its hateful signs, picketing, and protesting that this church is one of ours. It isn’t. As a matter of fact, Westboro pickets us, too, most years. They reject what we believe is the core of our belief — that the gospel is offered to all persons — and instead they believe that God delights in condemnation and damnation.
We are a missionary people, who want to see everyone — including people who hate us — reconciled to God through the gospel. That’s why, when I have reason to write about the group, I usually do so with the Westboro Baptist (sic) Church (sic). If I lived in a place called “Westboro,” I would probably add a third sic.
2. We emphasize hellfire and brimstone, but probably not how you think.
Southern Baptists — like all orthodox Christians — believe in a coming Day of Judgment. Like Jesus and John the Baptist, we warn people of the eternal consequences of their spiritual decisions. But some think that Southern Baptists think the judgment of God is reserved for people who don’t believe or behave like we do. That’s far from true.
One of the first things we learn as children is that “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). That includes us, and when we speak of “sinners,” we are speaking about all human beings (except for One notable exception).
3. We are defined by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is good news.
We share our faith with our neighbors and send missionaries all over the world because we believe that God has made a way for sinful humanity to be reconciled to God. We believe Jesus took on our humanity, died under the curse we incurred with our sin, was raised from the dead, and stands now as our High Priest before the throne of God.
Our lives are hidden in Christ, so that his cross is our cross, his life is our life. We are forgiven of sin, but this is not just some sort of amnesty for the afterlife. In Christ, God has adopted us as his children, and we are named “joint heirs” with Jesus so that his future is our future — and it is more than we could even imagine right now.
This sort of peace with God is offered to anyone, no matter who that person is or what he or she has done, on the condition of repentance from sin and faith in Christ. When we’re not as joyful as we ought to be, it’s because we need to be reminded of how good it is to be those who were lost and are now found.
This commitment to the gospel is why Southern Baptists, through their International Mission Board, support 4,734 international missionaries around the world and why the North American Mission Board supports 5,611 missionaries, not to mention 3,600 Southern Baptist chaplains who serve in the U.S. military.
It’s why when there’s a disaster — whether it’s Hurricane Sandy or the Nepal earthquake or a famine in Africa — Southern Baptists are among the first in and the last out to minister to those affected.
4. Southern Baptists are committed to a believers’ church.
We don’t baptize babies because we believe that people come into the Body of Christ not by physical birth but by a new birth that takes place when one is joined to Christ in repentance and faith. Baptism, for us, is a sign of our identification with Jesus in death, burial, and resurrection.
That has implications for how we admit members to our churches — only those who profess personal faith in Christ and who follow him in baptism and in how we hold one another accountable in our churches to live lives that reflect the lordship of Christ.
5. We don’t agree on everything, but we’re more united than you might think.
Many think Baptists are always fighting, and there’s some truth to that. We were birthed, after all, in dissent from established churches and we’ve lived through all sorts of controversies, so there’s a fighting side to us.
That said, Southern Baptists are unified around a common theology. We believe, for instance, that the Bible is completely true and is the Word of God. Our theological consensus is found in our Baptist Faith and Message statement.
There are lots of other secondary issues where Baptists happily agree to disagree. We all believe in the Second Coming of Jesus, but we don’t all see eye-to-eye on the timing of the Rapture, and so forth. We all believe in both the sovereignty of God and in the responsibility of human beings, but we don’t all agree on how those two fit together.
We gladly join together across such differences to affirm primary doctrines together and to work together through our funding mechanism (we call it the “Cooperative Program”) to send missionaries, plant churches, and train future leaders.
6. Lots of us aren’t “Southern.”
Our geographical diversity had led us several times to consider changing our name, but we decided against it because the name “Southern Baptist” has “brand identification” in American life, distinguishing us from some other groups.
Think of it the way you would an airline. Southwest doesn’t just take you to Arizona or New Mexico, and Delta doesn’t just take you to Louisiana or Mississippi. The name tells you about a history, and doesn’t describe boundaries.
7. There are some things in our past we’re ashamed of.
When I say that we are all sinners, I don’t just mean that all of us individually have a past. Sin expresses itself through structures and systems, too — and the SBC is not exempt from that.
The SBC was founded over the issue of human slavery — precisely over the question of whether slaveholders would be appointed as missionaries. It’s not just that the SBC was on the wrong side of the issue on that, we were on the wrong side of the Bible, on the wrong side of the gospel, on the wrong side of Jesus.
Some brave Christians — some Southern Baptist, many not — prevailed by showing that white supremacy is directly contradictory to what Southern Baptists profess to believe, that all persons are made in the image of God and that the gospel reconciles us to God and with one another.
8. We’re more ethnically diverse than you might think.
Among the fastest growing demographics in the Southern Baptist life are African-American, Hispanic, and Asian-American congregations. The most vibrant of our churches often include many languages and ethnic groups.Though positive steps have happened, it’s not good enough for many of us, since we believe the church is designed to be a preview of the coming kingdom of God, a kingdom that is made up of those from every tribe, tongue, nation, and language. Most of the Body of Christ, on earth as well is in heaven, isn’t white and has never spoken English.
We celebrate our growing diversity, including seminary programs intentionally training the next generation of ethnic minority leadership, even as we note that we have far yet to go. With every year that passes, we have more and more salsa at our church potlucks, and we like it that way.
9. We believe in religious liberty for everyone, not just ourselves.
Baptists began as a persecuted people, hunted from our homes in England and later colonial America because of our convictions. Many of our heroes were in prison for preaching the gospel.
The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is there because of the persistent agitation of those such as Virginia Baptist preacher John Leland, who demanded full religious liberty for everyone — believers and unbelievers.
Because of what we believe about the gospel, we don’t think a state-coerced faith is a genuine faith. And because we believe that each person must give an account, personally, before the Judgment Seat of Christ, we don’t support any king, dictator, legislature, or bureaucrat inhibiting anyone’s free exercise of religion. Jesus taught us to render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s — and the conscience doesn’t belong to Caesar.
10. Authority goes to autonomous churches governed by Christ, not a hierarchy.
Some churches and denominations have decisions made at the top — by bishops or other leaders — and these decisions filter down to the churches. Our decisions go the other way. We think every church — no matter where or what its size — is governed by Jesus through his Word and by his gifts and is free from dictation by any other church or by some religious bureaucracy.
This commitment to what we call “the autonomy of the local church” shows up even in our annual meeting. Any “messenger” — someone sent from our churches — can make any motion or come to a microphone and say anything. This leads to unpredictability because our meetings aren’t scripted and choreographed in some “headquarters.”
That’s why the SBC was able to turn around from its direction toward theological liberalism in the 1970s and 1980s toward orthodox, evangelical conviction. The people had the final say.
When Leaders Fail:
The stories are as sad as any, and tragically too common. An effective, fruitful leader in the faith falls into some moral failure, disqualifying himself from leadership and devastating those who had followed him.
Reactions will range from confusion to disbelief to fury. Some will wonder how sin could capture the heart of someone God has used so powerfully in the church. Some will look for all the dirty details, secretly glad to see another gifted leader go down. Some will withdraw and rebel in disgust and anger, not willing to trust or submit to leadership in the church again.
Whatever else we feel and learn in the wake of the fall, we should see that the consequences of sin in leaders seep into the church, leading people astray — away from God and against him.
All Are Swallowed Up
The immorality of leaders has been a reality among God’s people for as long as God has had a people. The temptations for leaders are as real as they are for the rest of us, but the consequences are more severe. When a leader falls, all are punished.
Not punished for the pastor’s sin, but by his sin. It’s fair, then, to say they are punished because of his sin.
We see this reality, for instance, when God wields Assyria against Israel’s wickedness. God punished the nation, “for those who guide this people have been leading them astray, and those who are guided by them are swallowed up” (Isaiah 9:16). When Israel wandered, they were being led by the decisions and declarations of leaders, men who sacrificed the good of the people for their own personal benefit (Isaiah 10:2). They were more concerned about their reputation, their success, and their profit than they were for the safety, faith, and holiness of the men and women God had put under their care. And so the flock was “swallowed up,” swept up into the resistance and rebellion, into the pain and destruction of God’s hatred against sin.
Afflicter of the Fatherless, Punisher of Widows
“Therefore the Lord does not rejoice over their young men, and has no compassion on their fatherless and widows” (Isaiah 9:17). The influence of these leaders was so corrupt, so pervasive, that God removed his mercy and compassion even from the most fragile and vulnerable. God abandoned even the wives without husbands and the children without fathers.
“Leaders, keep the faces, the souls, and the eternities of your followers before you as you face temptation.”
That should take our breath away. God had said, “You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child” (Exodus 22:22). David had cried to God, “To you the helpless commits himself; you have been the helper of the fatherless” (Psalm 10:14). He is the “father of the fatherless and protector of widows” (Psalm 68:5). Yet Isaiah writes that this God, in the wake of corrupt leadership, “has no compassion on their fatherless and widows” (Isaiah 9:17). That is the consequence of sin in a community, especially when a leader falls, dragging his trusting followers down with him.
People are not punished for their pastor’s sin. But when a leader — a preacher, a teacher, a writer, a coach, a parent, a role model — lives and leads under the sway of unrepentant sin, inevitably some followers will follow him into sin. In Isaiah’s day, God withheld compassion from the widows, “for everyone is godless and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly” (Isaiah 9:17). The people were not punished for the pastor’s evil, but for their own. And how did they find their way into wickedness and away from God? “Those who guide this people have been leading them astray” (Isaiah 9:16).
Before the Fall
First, a word to leaders. Faithfulness, holiness, and purity are priorities and necessities for all believers in Jesus Christ, but especially for you. Whether you are a leader in your church, your small group, or your family, when you allow sin to live in you, it will infect those who respect, admire, and imitate you. You cannot quarantine yourself in your iniquity while you’re pouring yourself into others through sermons or counsel or influence. It’s like trying to filter the coffee back out of the water after it’s been brewed.
“Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers” (1 Timothy 4:16). Personally and in community — in specific, intimate, honest relationships with other men — persist in your pursuit of Christlikeness. Keep the faces, the souls, and the eternities of your followers before you as you face temptations to look, to indulge, to cheat, to sleep with someone else, to be lazy, to lie, to sin.
And finally, a word to followers: Treasure faithfulness, holiness, and purity in leadership. Pray for your pastor’s purity. Commend a leader’s character when you see it. Don’t take it for granted. Cultivate it among aspiring leaders — future pastors, elders, fathers, and mothers. Celebrate every kind of grace God gives — the grace that saves wretched, helpless sinners and the grace that slowly but surely makes them pure and whole again.
The qualifications for church leadership (1 Timothy 3:1–7; Titus 1:5–9) are not a scorecard for comparing pastors — not a way for filling out the back of a spiritual baseball card. The qualifications are the character-focused fences built by God to protect his precious sons and daughters. Qualifications do not nullify the gospel of grace. They commend grace wherever it grows, and they guard grace at work throughout the church.
When calling leaders, consider carefully if this man’s teaching and life declare and demonstrate the power, beauty, and purity of God — not perfectly, but tangibly and consistently.
The collapse of a leader’s ministry does not signal the collapse of Christ’s church. No, not even hell can prevail against her (Matthew 16:18). Heaven is not thrown into crisis with a scandal, however shocking or hard the fall. It is a sad and sober moment, though, for us to assess ourselves — our resolute dependence on God for the grace to live worthy of God (Philippians 2:12–13) — and to pray for the protection of his children in churches everywhere.
Article Originally Found on The Gospel Coalition after the Ashely Madison Scandal
Glorify by Giving Thanks:
It is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.- 2 Corinthians 4:15
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition (besides pumpkin pie) is going around the table and having everyone express thanks for God's goodness throughout the year. I love hearing how God has blessed people over the course of the year and find it worshipful to hear others express their thanks.
Gratitude is joy toward God for His grace. But by it's very nature, gratitude glorifies the giver. It acknowledges its own need and the beneficence of the giver.
Just like I humble myself and exalt the cook in the home when I say "Thank you," to her, so I humble myself and exalt God when I feel gratitude to him. The difference, of course, is that I really am infinitely in debt to God for his grace, and everything he does for me is free and undeserved.
But the point is that gratitude glorifies the giver. It glorifies God. And this is Paul's final goal in all his labors: for the sake of the church-yes; but, above and beyond that, for the glory of God.
The wonderful thing about the gospel is that the response it requires from us for God's glory is also the response which we feel to be most natural and joyful, namely, gratitude for grace. God's glory and our gladness are not in competition.
A life that gives glory to God for his grace and a life of deepest gladness are always the same life. And what makes them one is gratitude. This Thanksgiving season, please, stop and express thanks to one another and to God. After expressing thanks enjoy your turkey and pumpkin pie.
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