My Two Favorite Words In The Bible:

In Ephesians 2:1-10, Paul explains salvation. Verses 1-6 tell us what happens when God saves: he brings us from death to life. Verse 7 tells us why God saves: so that in the coming ages God could show us the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. And verses 8-10 tell us how God saves.

At the heart of this passage is one of the Bible's classic texts on Christian salvation. "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.”

To understand Christianity, you must understand two big words in Ephesians 2:8: grace and faith.

What is grace? Grace is unmerited favor. Grace is God’s kind disposition toward sinful people who can't get their act together, who can’t obey, and who can't find their way to him. Grace is God’s consistent provision for his people, who can’t provide for themselves. Grace is God’s activity of good to those whose activity is bad. Grace is not grading on a curve—bumping a letter grade to a student who tried really hard. Grace is giving an A to a student who rarely showed up, who never passed a test, who never got any question right. Grace is being good to the undeserving. It’s not adding sprinkles to a wonderful cupcake. It’s making a cupcake from a stone. Grace is an outpouring of good when only wrath is deserved.

And grace runs throughout the Bible. When Adam and Eve sinned, God said he would crush the serpent’s head by the seed of the woman—the woman who had just caused the fall of creation. Immediately after, what does God do? He clothes Adam and Eve, covering their newfound nakedness. That’s God’s grace. It's as big as crushing Satan’s head and as small as a pair of pants. It's God’s kindness and care bringing life where death reigns. Grace is Jesus saving the undeserving. Grace is what we’re saved by.

So, what about that other word, faith? If grace is the basis of salvation, faith is the instrument of salvation. Faith is what lays hold of grace. It’s the hand that reaches out and grabs. It’s the proof that grace has come. It’s both trusting God will crush Satan’s head and the action of putting on the pants God provides.

The book of Hebrews defines faith as “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” So faith is forward-looking. Our future hope creates present faith. Faith is not a leap in the dark, where we don’t know what’s on the other side, so we just hope it’ll turn out okay. That’s not biblical faith. Biblical faith looks at the world and sees God’s hand all over. Faith understands that though God is invisible, his promises are certain, because we’ve seen then in Jesus Christ. R.C. Sproul says, “The idea is this: I don’t know what tomorrow is going to bring, but I know that God knows what tomorrow is going to bring. So if God promises that tomorrow will bring something, and if I trust God for tomorrow, I have faith in something I have not yet seen.”

Faith is the rock-solid surety of God’s promises based on God’s character. It’s looking to God and trusting that his grace is sufficient to save because it always has been. It’s believing that God has never once failed one man or woman who has trusted him and he’s not going to start with me.

Now, look at the last phrase of verse 8, “And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” Here’s what Paul is saying, and it’s what the entire New Testament says, the totality of our salvation—by grace through faith—is God’s gift. The primary mover in your relationship to God is God. Nothing inside us compels God to save us. God saves us because God wants to save us.

Here’s how this is good news. If your salvation was up to you, you would never have it. You can’t muster up enough faith apart from God’s grace to believe. You can’t receive grace without God giving it. Grace, by definition, is unmerited favor. How can dead people merit anything? Before God’s activating grace, we were like the dry bones of the valley in Ezekiel 37. We need the Spirit to blow through and give us life.

Some people will say it’s up to us to choose God. But Ephesians 2:1-3 says we can’t choose God and we won’t choose God—not on our own. Ephesians 2:4-7 says God must make us alive to him first. God must do something in us before we can make any move toward him. Before God acts in our heart, we don’t want him. We are led by the Devil and by our own sinful passions. To want God, we need to be alive to God. That’s what God’s grace does. It grants life so that we can have faith. When the Holy Spirit gives us a new nature, we then naturally do what our new nature wants: we come, we believe, we repent, and we trust God.

God’s grace comes before faith, not the other way around. God must grant the gift of faith by grace. Jesus said in John 6:44, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” A few verses later, Jesus says, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all.” This whole passage is written to show us this truth: we are completely unable to bring about our own salvation. We are totally dependent on God to do it all. We are like Lazarus in the tomb. We need Jesus to call to us, “Come out!”

This truth gives us the ground of all assurance before God. Do you see that? Do you ever wonder if your faith is strong enough to save you? Do you wonder if there’s a point at which God is just going to write you off? There’s sin in your life you haven’t beat. There’s a past you can’t get over or there’s a future that seems too uncertain. Here’s what Jesus says about that, from John 6:37, “Whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” That verse and John 6:44, about the Father drawing you to Jesus, go hand in hand. It’s both. You come, but you come because God draws you. And when you come to Jesus, you come to safety. The totality of your salvation is found in God.

You don’t need to worry about the amount of faith you think you need. The amount of your faith is not the key; the object of your faith is. When you come to Jesus you’re placing your faith in him. You’re placing your life in his hands. You don’t have to worry if your faith is strong enough to save you, you just have to worry if Jesus is strong enough to save you! And Jesus is very strong. He can hold you up when you can’t hold yourself up. He knows what you need before you need it. The faith that endures is the faith placed in Jesus for safe-keeping. Jesus won’t cast you out. He can’t. He was cast out foryou. How could you lose him now? If you’re in Christ, you are as secure as Christ is. And where is Christ now? He’s seated at the right hand of the throne of God. What greater assurance do you need?

Your sin can’t kick you out of God’s love because your righteousness never put you in it. God saves by grace through faith. It’s a gift. All you must do is receive it.

Tough Question: What Should We Wear To Church:

Growing up, probably 80% of men wore a coat and tie to our church, and 90% of women wore dresses. By the time I was in high school, 40% of men wore a coat and tie, and 50% of women wore dresses to church — the majority of both genders being middle-aged and elderly. Everyone else dressed “business casual.” Jeans were rare. Tee shirts even rarer. Shorts were never seen outside the nursery, even in mid-July.

Today, in most churches, no man wears a suit or sport coat unless it’s a special occasion. And ties are seen less than coats. I’d say less than 5% of women wear dresses on Sunday. Shorts, tee shirts, and sandals are commonly worn in warmer weather. My son wonders why he has to “dress up” for church if I tell him to change into better jeans and a nicer tee shirt.

In the denomination I belong to, very few pastors I know of preach in a coat or tie on a typical Sunday. Pastors, worship team members, and other platform participants dress pretty much like everyone else minus the shorts, tee shirts, and sandals.

These changes in what people wear to church reflect the wider cultural changes over the past fifty years regarding clothing. The whole of American culture has dressed down. This has produced largely generational debates over appropriate church attire. Those who favor more formal dress suspect casual clothes reflect a disrespectful, irreverent attitude toward God. Those who favor casual dress feel it reflects a more authentic approach to God. Does either have a biblical case?

Does God tell us what we should wear to church?

The debate over formal versus casual church clothing is a shrinking one for at least two reasons: 1. the pro-formal party is shrinking, and 2. the pro-formal remnant is now so outnumbered it hardly seems worth the effort to argue.

Most folks who lament the casual trend came of age in an era where public dress in general was more formal. They, like most people in every era, simply assumed their own cultural norms. It just wasn’t “right” to wear casual clothes in certain places, especially in church.

So, as the cultural clothing norms changed, and people — typically younger people — started wearing casual clothes to those places, including church, it felt “wrong.” It felt like a form of disrespect, even rebellion, toward the older generations. In church, it felt like disrespect, even rebellion, toward God.

But is this true? Certainly, on the microlevel of sinful individuals, plenty of rebellion toward elders and God took place, just as it has in all generations. The pro-formal crowd had their own generational expressions of rebellion. But from a biblical standpoint, there is no compelling exegetical case to be made that more formal dress is de facto more respectful toward God than casual dress. Church clothing is a preference formed by culture and tradition.

More Authentic?

On the other hand, many of those who embrace the trend toward more casual have come of age during the dressing-down decades, and they are just as vulnerable to assuming the cultural norms that have shaped them. It feels “fine” to wear jeans and a tee shirt to church, perhaps the same ones worn on Saturday. But why does it feel okay?

As I mentioned before, “authenticity” is the most popular answer. We are coming to God as we are, putting on no airs or masks with him.

It sounds good, but I don’t really buy it. Wearing casual clothes is no more de facto spiritually authentic than formal clothes are de facto spiritually respectful. We might not be at all authentic standing before God in our jeans. We may choose casual clothes primarily to fit in socially, or to attract attention to ourselves, or to nurture a “cool” image. In other words, we may wear casual clothes to church and worship God with our lips, while our hearts are far from him (Isaiah 29:13).

Perhaps casual clothes can help us approach God more authentically in ways formal clothes don’t. Perhaps formal clothes can help us express respect and reverence toward God in ways casual clothes don’t. I have significant doubts about both.

What God Wants Us to Wear

God does not explicitly endorse either formal or casual clothes in corporate worship. He doesn’t even enter the debate. In fact, outside of ritual Levitical laws that no longer apply in the new covenant, God says virtually nothing regarding how we should dress when we come together to worship him.

It’s not that clothing doesn’t matter to God. Clothing matters a great deal to God — just not in the same ways or for the same reasons it typically matters to us. God refuses to decide the formal-casual debate, but he does explicitly tell us what he wants us to wear to church:

Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (1 Peter 5:5)

What are we supposed to wear? Humility.

All clothing — formal, casual, work, sport, beachwear, sleepwear, underwear, headwear, every other kind of wear — can be a source of great pride. There isn’t a clothing item or style that we can’t turn into an expression of self-centered, self-exalting self-worship.

But if we clothe ourselves with humility, if we “count others more significant than [ourselves],” and “look not only to [our] own interests, but also to the interests of others,” then no matter how we dress, we will honor and reflect Christ (Philippians 2:3–4).

The Clothes Inside Us

God doesn’t specify what external clothes honor him most, because he cares what our hearts wear. What’s inside of us either honors him or dishonors him — either approaches him with authenticity or with inauthenticity. If our hearts are wearing humility, no matter what we wear, we will dress in loving ways. If our hearts are wearing pride, formal clothes will always be disrespectful and casual clothes will always be inauthentic.

If our hearts are wearing humility, what will matter to us is whether God is glorified and others are loved. But if our hearts are wearing pride, we will disregard God’s glory and others’ spiritual health in favor of our personal preferences and freedoms.

And, in the end, if our hearts are wearing humility, we will think of our clothes as little as possible when we draw near to God together in worship.

Don't Reap To The Edge of Your Field:

I’m not a farmer.

I’ve wondered at times how I might read the Bible differently if I was. Much of the Bible was written from an agrarian sense of perspective. We read about fields, crops, and harvests in its pages. Jesus told stories about farmers and made spiritual points using imagery from the field. I would imagine that working on the land might change and even deepen the way I read the Bible.

Still, even though I’m not a farmer, the principles that seem to relate only to the farming society of Israel are applicable in the 21st century, one driven by technology and business. Take, for example, the seemingly arcane and very agricultural command in Leviticus 19:

“When you reap the harvest of your land, you are not to reap to the very edge of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not strip your vineyard bare or gather its fallen grapes. Leave them for the poor and the resident alien; I am the Lord your God” (Lev. 19:9-10).

God did not want His people reaping to the edge. He wanted them to have some margin at the end of their rows. Now, before we disregard this verse as something inapplicable to us, consider why the Lord would make this command. It wasn’t just about preserving His own people. He didn’t tell them to create this kind of margin because doing so is personally healthy and psychologically balanced. He gave the command for the sake of other people who might wander into those fields.

God is so concerned about the poor and the foreigners that He built in a means into the regular life of His people in order to provide food for them. He made sure that the people didn’t harvest all the way to the edges of the field. Some days the people might not come; other days they would. Regardless, the edges of the field were “just in case.”

Just in case there is someone traveling who needs food.
Just in case you have the chance to share with someone who is in need.
Just in case someone else needs to feed their family.
Just in case the leftovers can be useful after all for something other than giving you more.

When we see those “just in case” reasons, we start to see why this principle is so important for us. It’s because we are people who constantly “reap” to the edges of our lives. We feel the way Bilbo Baggins felt in The Fellowship of the Ring: “I feel thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread.” How true. We look around at our lives and find ourselves having very little margin. We find ourselves, despite our best intentions, spread thinly in our money, our time, and our emotions.

To use the language of Leviticus, we tend to reap to the edge of our fields. We use all of everything we have – all our money. All our time. All our energy. All our everything – and sometimes more.

As a result, we don’t have anything left “just in case.” We don’t have time for a conversation in the middle of the day because our schedule is already too packed. We don’t have time to get to know our neighbors because our evenings are swarming with activities. We don’t have any money to contribute to the mission trip because every dollar is accounted for.

We live in a margin-less world. Everything from our time to our money is pretty much spoken for. We are reaping to the end of the fields. In fact, we are going back over the fields of our lives a second and third time, looking for any spare cent or second that has not been accounted for.

This isn’t how we were meant to live. It’s certainly not how we should live if we expect the Lord to bring gospel-oriented opportunities into our lives. Living in a margin-less way is, at the root, a lack of faith in God’s character. Think about it from the perspective of the farmer: What might cause a farmer to reap everything, even the edges, instead of obeying this command of margin?

At some level, it’s fear. Fear that there wouldn’t be enough. Fear of missing some profit. Fear that at some point in the season, the family would be in need. The way you combat that fear is with faith. You believe that God is generous - that God will provide and that God will give us enough. That’s how you leave the edges unreaped.

We can leave the edges of our lives unreaped because we are confident in the generous provision of God. We are also confident that God is busy preparing good works for us to talk in – and that we can walk in them if we leave some room at the edges of our lives “just in case.”

Good things can happen when we live with a sense of “just in case.” We know this is true because during some dark days of Israel, days of great idolatry, there was still a man who took seriously the law of God and didn’t reap to the edges. Because he didn’t, a young widow named Ruth was able to glean the wheat from the edges in order to provide food for her and her mother-in-law, Naomi. Boaz, the owner of the field, ended up marrying the gleaner Ruth, and a few generations later comes Jesus Christ.

Great things can happen when you don’t reap to the edges of your life. Amazing things can occur when you live with a “just in case” mentality.

The Great Dragon Slayer:

There once was a great dragon, red like blood. He was a terrible serpent, ancient beyond human memory. His power and cunning were beyond human reckoning, and he was evil beyond all depraved human imagination.

And the dragon was real. He did not inhabit the realms of fairy-tale or nightmare — their horrors were but his shadows cast in legends. No, the dragon inhabited the real world of men, though imperceptible to their eyes and ears — unless, of course, being perceived served his wicked purposes.

And the dragon abhorred man. He hated them out of his virulent, bitter hatred for the High King who had created man. For, you see, the dragon too was a creature, having been fashioned by the King in ages long past, though not as a dragon, but as a magnificent prince.

A Prince Endragoned

Once upon a time, this prince was numbered among the great ones; he was a god in the holy council of the High King over all gods. But deep in the labyrinthian channels of this prince’s heart, pride began to run like a toxic sap, poisoning his loves and his thoughts. The greater he became in his own eyes, the more his true greatness diminished.

Self-deceived, the prince strove for greater glory than he possessed. He desired glory not bestowed by the King’s grace, but glory all his own, self-achieved and self-ascribed. In the deeps of his heart, he exchanged the glory of the High King for a false image of himself he had come to love. And in doing so, he exchanged the truth for a lie, and worshiped his creaturely self rather than the Creator King, making himself a rival of the King.

Therefore, the prince was cast down from his exalted place in the council of the great, and hurled out of the King’s presence. He fell like lightning to the earth. There the King gave the treacherous prince up to the wicked passions of his heart, and he, who was once numbered among the gods, became the most dreadful of dragons. A time was then fixed by the King for the dragon’s final judgment.

A Vile Ambition

So, when this dragon saw that the High King had fashioned mankind in his own image, that he made them gods as he had once been, and had given them to rule over the earth, he was enraged. He burned with bitter hatred and longed to shatter these images of the One he hated most.

Then a wicked plan took shape in his brilliant, futile mind, which pleased his darkened heart. If he could entice the man-gods to turn against the King as he had done, they too would share his terrible fate; they too would be cast from the King’s presence; they too would become objects of the King’s just and terrible wrath. And the Sovereign’s sentence upon them would be irrevocable, just like the sentence upon him.

But even more desirable, the dragon would enjoy one great triumph: he would succeed in stealing the King’s glory by defacing the King’s image, woven into the very flesh and bone of these feeble gods. And before his dreaded day of judgment, he would remake these fallen gods into lesser dragons — images of himself — which he would enslave to wreak wanton destruction in the world the King had made.

Let the High King destroy him with omnipotence! He would leave an unfading scar upon the Everlasting Father: the eternal perishing of the King’s prized people. It could not fail to diminish the King’s joy!

A Terrible Triumph

So, into the peopled garden crept the crafty, condemned serpent. He presented himself to the image bearers as a bearer of enlightenment. He promised them the fruit of godly wisdom if they would but set aside the King’s sole prohibition and simply think for themselves — for were they not also gods? Surely, possessing the King’s wisdom and knowledge would increase their glory, for they would be even more like the High King than they yet were.

As they pondered the dragon’s cunning lies, pride began to seep into the heart channels of the image bearers. They believed the dragon’s dark light. They simply thought for themselves — only to discover too late how great was this light’s darkness. In horror, they soon realized the serpentine promise yielded foolishness, not wisdom; death, not life; alienation from the King, not greater likeness to the King. In rejecting the King’s command, they had rejected the King’s rule. They had become the King’s enemies. Theirs was treason of the highest order. And for such a crime, against such a King, there was only one just sentence: destruction.

The dragon exulted as the deeply grieved King cast his broken images out of the blessed garden of his favor, into a world now cursed, one the dragon could now rule. He savored each sentence of judgment pronounced upon the fallen gods, and relished the endragoning that must surely await them.

But as the High King issued his just decrees, the dragon heard an ominous promise: the great serpent’s head would one day be crushed under a human foot. These words made him writhe in fury, and he resolved to keep a wary watch, that he might destroy the foot before the blow could fall.

But unknown to the dragon, mysterious decrees had been uttered by the High King in the secret counsel of his will ages before the dragon existed, conceived in wisdom unimaginable to a dragonly mind.

Enter the Dragon Slayer

Weary years passed as the cursed earth and its depraved inhabitants languished in bondage to corruption. And then, in the fullness of the King’s time, the ancient, mysterious decrees began to unfold. In an unexpected place and an unexpected way, into the world stepped the Dragon Slayer.

Despite the dragon’s vigilance, the Slayer appeared at first undetected. The snake had not foreseen such a mystifying entrance. When he awoke to his danger, he recognized in terror his long-expected foe was the very Son of the High King.

But what strangeness was this? The Mighty One, born in the likeness of feeble man? To what end? And as a defenseless child in the care of a peasant? Quickly he sought to devour him and his fearful foot. But the Slayer eluded the primeval assassin and waited for the appointed Day with an unnerving quietness.

The Slayer Is Slayed

Finally, the Day drew near. But as it did, the dragon grew only more perplexed by his Adversary.

At times he displayed a dreadful power. The dragon expected this. Yet the Slayer proved the meekest and humblest of all mankind. And he gave himself no advantage. He made his home in a despised village in a reviled region. He sought no education, pursued no influential profession. He chose the weak and foolish as his followers — even a treacherous man as his close confidant. But the strong and wise he humiliated, and their envy and suspicion was infected with poisonous resentment. And thus, he was rejected by those wielding power, becoming a threat they wished to eliminate. Even when his survival depended upon the approval of the great crowds he drew with mighty miracles, he drove them away with hard words.

All this made the wily lizard wary. Such absurdity! This Slayer appeared more bent on being crushed than on crushing the serpent. Well, if such was the Slayer’s wish, the serpent would grant it with relish.

Then all at once, the dark stars aligned: the lethal leaders, the traitorous confidant, the disillusioned people, the faithless friends, the immoral tetrarch, and the pragmatic prefect. All aligned against the Dragon Slayer and with terrible, brutal swiftness, the deadly dragon struck. And the great Son of the High King lay slain in the bloody bed that he had made.

The great red dragon exulted more than before. He had achieved far beyond his wildest hopes. Not only had he disfigured the image bearers — he had slain the Dragon Slayer! It had been so easy, like a wolf upon a lamb. The crusher lay in defeated death, his foot sorely bruised. The serpent lived triumphant, head unscathed and unbent. When he faced the High King’s omnipotent wrath, he would do so with his prodigious pride intact.

The Dragon’s Nightmare Morning

Then came the morning of the dragon’s nightmare, the morning the Son of the High King arose from his bed of blood and stood, indestructible, unassailable, upon strong feet, scarred but without bruise.

The great serpent looked upon the risen Slayer, bewildered. Then the terrible truth dawned upon the ancient liar with blinding brightness. He had not crushed the Crusher; he had slain the Lamb of God! He had not seen it! How had he not seen it? How had he not seen an altar of sacrifice in the Roman cross?

An altar! An altar is for the expiation of sins! Whose sins? Not the unblemished Son’s, but the fallen gods of mankind! An altar is for the propitiation of wrath! Whose wrath? The High King’s!

No! No! It could not be! Could it? Had the great Judge become guilty so man could be forgiven? Had the Holy become unholy that unholy man may become holy? And of course, the curse of death could not remain upon the sinless willingly sacrificed. What a fool he’d been! But who would have thought such a thing? Just wrath he knew. But such loving mercy he did not. And lavished upon such undeserved creatures!

The realization was excruciating. The Son of the High King had not come to bring upon his head the final blow . . . yet. The truth was far worse: the Son had come to destroy all that the dragon had worked for so long. And oh! he had indeed left an unfading scar upon the Everlasting Father, but not the scar he planned — man’s destruction. It was the scar of man’s redemption!

Waves of horror washed over him as he watched all his hopes collapse around him like a castle of cards in the wind. What he thought so wise proved foolish; what he thought so foolish was proved wise beyond comprehension. Whatever glory the dragon thought he had grasped in his terrible claws, the Son had just snatched away.

The human Son of the High King had indeed bruised his head, not with power, but with shame. The dragon’s great foolishness was now on open display for the entire host of the High King to see. And every fallen human the King would redeem and restore through the Son’s sacrifice of unsurpassed love would be another blow of shame upon his wicked head — and another ray of the King’s glory. Another surge of the King’s joy.

This was the worst possible sentence upon a being of such diabolical pride: the dragon would die a billion deaths of shame before the Dragon Slayer finally destroyed him. And with the great wrath of unfathomable humiliation, the dragon loosed a terrible roar.

Christmas Is For Everyone:

We are by now accustomed to hearing about how Christmas is difficult for many people. The story of Scrooge and his—ehem—problems with this season is no longer anecdotal. It is now par for the course. Maybe it always has been. Maybe the joy of the season has always been a thorn in the side of those who can scarcely imagine joy.

Not too long ago, I heard from someone about how difficult Christmas would be because of some heartbreak in their family. There was utter hopelessness and devastation. Christmas would be impossible to enjoy because of the freshness of this pain. It's been a story very hard to forget.

I get it. I mean, it makes sense on the level of Christmas being a time in which there is a lot of heavily concentrated family time. The holidays can be tense in even the best of circumstances. Maneuvering through the landmines of various personalities can be hard even if there is no cancer, divorce or empty seat at the table. What makes it the most wonderful time of the year is also what makes it the most brutal time of the year. My own family has not been immune to this phenomenon.

But allow me to push back against this idea a little. Gently. I think we have it all backwards. We have it sunk deep into our collective cultural consciousness that Christmas is for the happy people. You know, those with idyllic family situations enjoyed around stocking-strewn hearth dreams. Christmas is for healthy people who laugh easily and at all the right times, right? The successful and the beautiful, who live in suburban bliss, can easily enjoy the holidays. They have not gotten lost on the way because of the GPS they got last year. They are beaming after watching a Christmas classic curled up on the couch as a family in front of their ginormous flat-screen. We live and act as if this is who should be enjoying Christmas.

But this is backwards. Christmas—the great story of the incarnation of the Rescuer—is for everyone, especially those who need a rescue. Jesus was born as a baby to know the pain and sympathize with our weaknesses. Jesus was made to be like us so that in his resurrection we can be made like him; free from the fear of death and the pain of loss. Jesus' first recorded worshipers were not of the beautiful class. They were poor, ugly shepherds, beat down by life and labor. They had been looked down on over many a nose.

Jesus came for those who look in the mirror and see ugliness. Jesus came for daughters whose fathers never told them they were beautiful. Christmas is for those who go to “wing night” alone. Christmas is for those whose lives have been wrecked by cancer, and the thought of another Christmas seems like an impossible dream. Christmas is for those who would be nothing but lonely if not for social media. Christmas is for those whose marriages have careened against the retaining wall and are threatening to flip over the edge. Christmas is for the son whose father keeps giving him hunting gear when he wants art materials. Christmas is for smokers who cannot quit even in the face of a death sentence. Christmas is for prostitutes, adulterers, and porn stars who long for love in every wrong place. Christmas is for college students who are sitting in the midst of the family and already cannot wait to get out for another drink. Christmas is for those who traffic in failed dreams. Christmas is for those who have squandered the family name and fortune—they want “home” but cannot imagine a gracious reception. Christmas is for parents watching their children's marriage fall into disarray. Christmas is really about the gospel of grace for sinners. Because of all that Christ has done on the cross, the manger becomes the most hopeful place in a universe darkened with hopelessness. In the irony of all ironies, Christmas is for those who will find it the hardest to enjoy. It really is for those who hate it most.

12 Reasons Why Membership Matters:

1) It’s biblical. Jesus established the local church and all the apostles did their ministry through it. The Christian life in the New Testament is church life. Christians today should expect and desire the same.

2) The church is its members. To be “a church” in the New Testament is to be one of its members (read through Acts). And you want to be part of the church because that’s who Jesus came to rescue and reconcile to himself.

3) It’s a pre-requisite for the Lord’s Supper. The Lord’s Supper is a meal for the gathered church, that is, for members (see 1 Cor. 11:20, 33). And you want to take the Lord’s Supper. It’s the team “jersey” which makes the church team visible to the nations.

4) It’s how to officially represent Jesus. Membership is the church’s affirmation that you are a citizen of Christ’s kingdom and therefore a card-carrying Jesus Representative before the nations. And you want to be an official Jesus Representative. Closely related to this . . .

5) It’s how to declare one’s highest allegiance. Your membership on the team, which becomes visible when you wear the “jersey,” is a public testimony that your highest allegiance belongs to Jesus. Trials and persecution may come, but your only words are, “I am with Jesus.”

6) It’s how to embody and experience biblical images. It’s within the accountability structures of the local church that Christians live out or embody what it means to be the “body of Christ,” the “temple of the Spirit,” the “family of God,” and so on for all the biblical metaphors (see 1 Cor. 12). And you want to experience the interconnectivity of his body, the spiritual fullness of his temple, and the safety and intimacy and shared identity of his family.

7) It’s how to serve other Christians. Membership helps you to know which Christians on planet Earth you are specifically responsible to love, serve, warn, and encourage. It enables you to fulfill your biblical responsibilities to Christ’s body (for example, see Eph. 4:11-16; 25-32).

8) It’s how to follow Christian leaders. Membership helps you to know which Christian leaders on planet Earth you are called to obey and follow. Again, it allows you to fulfill your biblical responsibility to them (see Heb. 13:7; 17).

9) It helps Christian leaders lead. Membership lets Christian leaders know which Christians on Planet Earth they will “give an account” for (Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 5:2).

10) It enables church discipline. It gives you the biblically prescribed place to participate in the work of church discipline responsibly, wisely, and lovingly (1 Cor. 5).

11) It gives structure to the Christian life. It places an individual Christian’s claim to “obey” and “follow” Jesus into a real-life setting where authority is actually exercised over us (see John 14:15; 1 John 2:19; 4:20-21).

12) It builds a witness and invites the nations. Membership puts the alternative rule of Christ on display for the watching universe (see Matt. 5:13; John 13:34-35; Eph. 3:10; 1 Peter 2:9-12). The very boundaries which are drawn around the membership of a church yields a society of people which invites the nations to something better.

Tough Question: Why Should I Join A Local Church?

Tough Question: Why Should I Join A Local Church?

Every Christian should join a church because Scripture requires it. Granted, there is no direct command in Scripture that says, “Every Christian must join a local church,” but two factors in Scripture indicate that every Christian should be a member of a local church.

Jesus established the church to be a public, earthly institution that would mark out, affirm, and oversee those who profess to believe in him (Matt. 16:18-19, 18:15-20). Jesus established the church to publicly declare those who belong to him in order to give the world a display of the good news about himself (John 17:21, 23; see also Eph. 3:10). Jesus wants the world to know who belongs to him and who doesn’t. And how is the world to know who belongs to him and who doesn’t? They are to see which people publicly identify themselves with his people in the visible, public institution he established for this very purpose. They’re to look at the members of his church. And if some people claim to be part of the universal church even though they belong to no local church, they reject Jesus’ plan for them and his church. Jesus intends for his people to be marked out as a visible, public group, which means joining together in local churches.

Scripture repeatedly commands Christians to submit to their leaders (Heb. 13:17; 1 Thess. 5:12-13). The only way to do that is by publicly committing to be members of their flock, and saying in effect, “I commit to listening to your teaching, following your direction, and to submitting to your leadership.” There’s no way to obey the scriptural commands to submit to your leaders if you never actually submit to them by joining a local church.

In conclusion, every Christian should join a church because Scripture requires it. Local church membership is how the world knows who represents Jesus and His Kingdom.

Letters From Lottie Moon:

Every December FBC Stanleyville along with 1,000's of other Southern Baptist Churches raise money for international missions by giving to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. Our children on Wednesday night learning about the missionary who the offering is named after: Lottie Moon. After learning about Lottie Moon they wrote letters to the church as if they were Lottie Moon encouraging the church to send money to international missions. Here are their letters:

Dear Church,

Did you know that over 3 billion people have never heard the word of God or even heard the word God. I would like to take a trip over to China and tell the Word of God. I am asking you with a heavy heart if you will please donate money to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. There are so many people in this world that don't have a church or a person to ask about God. Any amount will help. This money will be loved by so many people. Thank you. 

Love Lottie Moon

Dear Church,

Please send money people are dying and going to Hell. I need money to buy Bibles and build churches. I also need money to buy food.

Love Lottie Moon

Dear Church,

Please send money so I can tell people about Jesus. There is no such thing as Jesus here people don't even know the word Jesus. I am the only person to teach people about Jesus. We need money to build churches and tell people about Jesus.

Love Lottie Moon

Dear Church, 

I am in a country that does not believe in Jesus and some of them don't even know Jesus and they will go to Hell. You do not want that to happen. Do you? Please send money. I need money to buy food for the poor and build churches and buy Bible. Please.

Love Lottie Moon.

Please give to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering this December. 100% of the funds goes to support international missions and missionaries.

Why Should I Attend Church:

It’s Saturday night. If you don’t usually attend a church service on the weekend, you may be thinking, Why even bother going to church this Sunday? I don’t know or like any of those people. What would I get out of spending two hours sitting in a pew? Wouldn’t I be better off watching the game with friends, helping someone in need, or advocating for a cause?

While connecting with people, helping those in need, fighting injustice, and resting are all necessary things, we should not prioritize them above God himself. God alone is preeminent (Colossians 1:18). These activities should flow from life-giving connection with Christ and his people. When we make good things central we give them God’s position, and they become idols.

Five Reasons to Go to Church on Sunday

Our view of Jesus and his church is often filtered through historical, political, and pop-culture lenses. Many see the church as producing cookie-cutter people who follow dominant power structures rather than as a living organism with discipleship and merciful influence in our surrounding communities.

But why should you go? Here are five reasons for gathering with believers this weekend.

1. To remind each other who and whose we are.

In a world offering a multiplicity of viewpoints, there is one place that people can find truth (John 8:26). The church is a lighthouse in an ethical fog (Matthew 5:14–16).

Who helps you find your bearings when you’re unsure how to navigate an increasingly complex world? Are you bumbling your way through life, or do you have a steady compass and anchor for your soul (Hebrews 6:19)? We gather with other saints for discipleship, and then are scattered as salt and light in the world as missionaries where we dwell (Matthew 5:13–16; 28:18–20).

2. To remind us that temporal trials we face will have a joyful end.

One of the most impactful funerals I’ve attended was to support a friend whose mother passed suddenly. The pastor preached from Ecclesiastes 7:1–2 (NASB):

A good name is better than a good ointment,
And the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth.
It is better to go to a house of mourning
Than to go to a house of feasting,
Because that is the end of every man,
And the living takes it to heart.

In those somber moments of reflection on God’s word, we were reminded of our own fragility: we will all die, and it could be sooner than we expect. Yet, in that sweet, grace-filled meditation, we were also encouraged to live purposefully and with integrity, considering ultimate reality. We are not to live our best life now, as proclaimed by the prosperity gospel, but we live soberly and prudently to maximize our brief time on earth (Psalm 90:12; Ephesians 5:16).

For Christians, our best life is yet to come (Psalm 16:11).

3. To encourage growth and fight stagnation.

I am blind to my own blindness, and I need the perspective of others who are further along the road to Christlikeness than I am. We are prone to minimize our own faults and focus on others’ (Matthew 7:3–5). Close-knit community lovingly urges us toward maturity (Ephesians 4:13–24; John 8:31–32).

4. To spend time with family.

The church isn’t primarily a building or a set of programs or strategies. It’s a family, with spiritual fathers and sons (1 Corinthians 4:14–17; Titus 2:1–2, 6–8; 1 Timothy 1:1–2), mothers and daughters (Titus 2:3–5). It’s a body (1 Corinthians 12; Ephesians 4) whose neediest members find help (Acts 2:42–47; Acts 6:1–6; 1 Timothy 5:9–16), whose generous ones cheerfully contribute (2 Corinthians 8; Philippians 4:10, 15–18). In this family, each member’s participation and gifts are essential for the whole body to thrive (Romans 12:4–8; Ephesians 4:11–16).

5. To remind us of our living hope.

It’s true, some churches have fallen captive to living for the status quo rather than living for the one who undergirds and intertwines himself in human history (Psalm 90:1; John 1:14). This is not the way of the healthy church, however. A church family that is pressing into Jesus’s mission is forced to trust God for his presence, power, and provision (Matthew 28:18–20). The church gathers as a reminder that we can only experience fruitful mission when we are tethered to and drawing sustenance from the true vine (John 15). His word is our daily bread.

There are a million good things you and I could do that would hinder us from locking arms with God’s people. If you’re on the fence: Will you set an alarm with a purpose to join in worshiping God with a local church this weekend? I promise you that as many reasons as you might have not to go, there are even more reasons to trust God, commit, and go every week.

A Shocking Plea:

It’s one of the most arresting scenes in the history of literature. It’s filled with instruction and intrigue. But it doesn’t stop with my mind; it also gets after my heart and my will. Every time I read it I am humbled and compelled to change.

“And Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.'” (Luke 23:34a)

Jesus here is on the cross. He is being executed because of the false charges levied by the jealous, blood-thirsty religious leaders. The Roman authorities, keen to make gains in political capital, obliged to accommodate this public execution. All the while Jesus maintains the highest dignity and love for others. He prays for his enemies, asking his Father to forgive them.

Think about this for a minute. When we peer into this scene, our natural reaction is not one of forgiveness. Instead, like Peter, we want to fight back and bring judgment (John 18:10). But even more, when we try to emulate Jesus, as his followers, we must admit this is quite difficult. It is not easy to forgive, but especially when people are mistreating you. When I sense that I’ve been wronged, I tend to feel the most justified in being ugly with people. This feels like the time for self-vindicating judgment, not self-sacrificing forgiveness.

This again is where Jesus is so different from us but also so attractive to us. Here on the cross through these surprising words, he reveals God’s enduring patience, mercy, and grace toward his enemies. Even amid the most heated and intense opposition, Jesus shows his heart of mercy and pleads for forgiveness.

When we remember the truth of our identity, then we are greatly helped in this pursuit. Prior to conversion to Christ, we were in fact enemies of God (Rom. 5:10). And, we were not dormant in this hostility toward God, but actively opposing his rule (Col. 1:21). We belittled his glory and turned creation in upon ourselves (Rom. 1:18, 24-25; Titus 3:3). But, it was precisely here when “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). We were unlovely and unloving. But God was gracious. He forgives his enemies. He forgives us.

When I read of what Christ did upon the cross—his surprising prayers for those who wanted him dead—I am arrested. It confounds my mind. How could a man live and love like this? But it also gets in and invades my heart, that is, what I love. Because the cross tells me who I am and what God has done for me. And this is the portal into life. We can only begin to demonstrate this type of Christlike living when we wrestle with the implications of Christ’s death. By the grace of God, we can grow to be people who are willing to forgive others even in the most heated times because we worship a Savior who does this very thing. Jesus is the model and motivation for our forgiveness.

What A Friend We Have In Jesus:

You were made for friendship with God. God does not just want us to know about him; he wants us to know him — and to experience his friendship. Jonathan Edwards urges us to “Let it be [our] first love to enter into an everlasting friendship with Christ that never shall be broken” (WJE Online Vol. 44). The gospel calls us to trust Jesus as our Savior, submit to him as our King, and value him as our Treasure. It also calls us to enjoy him as our friend.

But do you view him this way? What does it mean for him to be our truest friend, and how do we experience his friendship?

He Gladly Calls Us Friends

Jesus gathered his disciples one last time, on the night before his death, to prepare them for the next day and beyond. In the midst of this sacred evening he said, “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15). To be called Jesus’s servant is an immeasurable privilege. Yet Jesus confers a greater honor. He brings us even closer. He calls us friends.

Two pieces of evidence show his sincerity. First, he opened his heart with transparency. While a master doesn’t tell his servant what he’s doing, Jesus revealed his Father’s will to us. And he would send his Spirit to ensure that all future disciples would hear these words (John 14:26; 16:12–15).

Second, the cross proves his friendship. He said, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). He wanted his disciples to see the cross and think: I understand now: He substituted himself for me under God’s wrath, and he did it because he views me as his treasured friend. He wants us to view the cross as an affection-filled sacrifice for friends.

Friendship is in the deepest heart of Christ and it’s at the very center of the gospel.

He Is Not Our King or Our Friend

Yet for some, friendship with Jesus seems to diminish his glory. I’ve often heard the sentiment, “Jesus is not our friend; he’s our King.” But we don’t have to choose, because both are true — Jesus is our exalted king and he is our truest friend. This doesn’t minimize his glory; it magnifies it — because it displays the immeasurable riches of his grace (Ephesians 1:6–7). Only grace explains the sovereign King welcoming sinners as his friends.

But does relating to Jesus as a friend diminish his authority in our lives? Not at all, because when he calls us friends, he still remains our King. He said, “You are my friends if you do what I command you” (John 15:14). Jesus tells us to obey him; we never tell him to obey us. And our obedience doesn’t earn, but rather, proves, our friendship with him.

Jonathan’s friendship with David in 1 Samuel gives us a clear parallel. We rightly think of them as exemplifying friendship. But their story specifically pictures how we can be friends with the Christ, the messianic King. Jonathan was the friend of David, yet David was Israel’s anointed king. And when David called on Jonathan to demonstrate faithfulness, he responded, “Whatever you say, I will do for you” (1 Samuel 20:4). As David points forward to Jesus as the King, Jonathan points forward to all who follow Christ as friends.

We need to avoid two errors: One error is flippantly calling Jesus a “chum,” “buddy,” or “pal”— as though friendship is trivial. On the other hand, we could so emphasize Jesus’s kingship that we neglect his companionship. We could so emphasize his authority that we don’t enjoy his affection. But Jesus offers himself to us as both our cosmic ruler and our closest friend.

Cultivating Friendship with Christ

How do we cultivate this relationship?

First, let’s expand our vision of him. Consider how he is the greatest friend to great sinners. He draws near in our suffering, and he remains committed even in our stumbling. He lets us all the way in, and loves us to the very end. He doesn’t just justify us and then nudge us aside; he welcomes us into his deepest heart.

He knows us better than we know ourselves, and he loves us more deeply than anyone else ever could. We are closer to his heart than anyone has ever been to ours. As Jonathan Edwards wrote, “Whatsoever there is, or can be, that is desirable to be in a friend, is in Christ, and that to the highest degree that can be desired” (Works, 19:588).

Second, cultivate friendship through communion. Relationships thrive with conversation. As we read, receive, and remember God’s word, we hear him address us as friends. And then we pray — we thank him, we confess our sins to him, and we share our burdens with him. We do this throughout the day, not reporting as servants, but relating as friends.

Finally, let’s prove our friendship through obedience. How much would change if we knew that the one who loves us so deeply is with us so constantly? Is not his companionship itself one of the greatest deterrents to sin? If our great friend died for our sins, how can we treat them so lightly? When Jesus says, “You are my friends if you do what I command you,” let’s respond, like Jonathan, “Whatever you say, I will do for you.”

Jesus chose us as friends, he died for us as friends, he caused us to trust him as our friend, and he will remain our friend for the endless ages to come. What a friend we have — moment by moment, now and forever — in Jesus.

CREW Goals for 2019:

Dear Parents,

As we begin 2019. I want to reiterate three words which will help guide CREW Student Ministry in 2019

Gospel + safety + time. 

It’s what everyone needs.

A lot of gospel + a lot of safety + a lot of time.

Gospel: good news for bad people through the finished work of Christ on the cross and the endless power of the Holy Spirit.  Multiple exposures.  Constant immersion.  Wave upon wave of grace and truth, according to the Bible.

Safety: a non-accusing environment.  No embarrassing anyone.  No manipulation.  No oppression.  No condescension.  But respect and sympathy and understanding, where sinners can confess and unburden their souls.  A church environment where no one seeking the Lord has anything to fear.

Time: no pressure.  Not even self-imposed pressure.  No deadlines on growth.  Urgency, but not hurry, because no one changes quickly.  A lot of space for complicated people to rethink their lives at a deep level.  God is patient.

This is what CREW Student Ministry must be: gentle environments of gospel + safety + time.  It’s where students are finally free to grow.

The Gospel According to Christmas Carols:

It’s that time of year. Turn on the radio, take a trip to the mall, or simply stroll down the aisles of the local grocery store, and you’re likely to hear songs about Jesus’ birth playing in the background.

We call them “Christmas carols,” but they are really Christian hymns celebrating the incarnation of our Lord and Savior. For a few weeks each December, these profound songs of worship become a ubiquitous part of the holiday atmosphere. Our society’s pervasive interest in them provides us with a unique opportunity to share the gospel. It is the perfect time to explain the meaning of these songs to those who don’t know Christ.

Today’s post is just one example of how the content of Christmas carols can be used to share the good news of the gospel.  Whether you follow a format like this or not, be sure to make the most of this Christmas season—sharing the truth of God’s grace with unbelieving friends and family.

The carols that we sing each year do such a magnificent job of underscoring who Jesus is and why He came. It makes me sad, really, when I hear secular musicians singing Christmas carols; the irony strikes me about how these musicians, who make no claim to believe in Jesus, sing these beautiful songs about His birth. Yet, the reality is that they have no idea what they are singing about.

Perhaps you are in a similar place, familiar with the tunes of the great Christmas carols because you’ve heard them every winter season. But you’ve never stopped to consider their lyrics. Let’s consider some of these great songs and the profound truths they proclaim.

O HOLY NIGHT
In O Holy Night, we are reminded that the world was “in sin and error pining,”  wasting away until our dear Savior “appeared and the soul felt [the] worth” of His salvation.

GOD REST YE MERRY GENTLEMEN
In God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, tidings of comfort and joy come from knowing that “Jesus Christ our Savior” was born “to save us all from Satan’s power, when we were gone astray.”

Human beings, guilty of disobedience and rebellion against God, are enslaved to sin. They face God’s wrath against them. The Bible says that “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,” and that “the wages of sin is death” including eternal separation from God. But, “God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him, shall not perish but have everlasting life.”

HARK THE HERALD ANGELS SING
In Hark the Herald Angels Sing, we learn that only through “the newborn King” can “God and sinners [be] reconciled.” We are also reminded that Jesus, being God, took on human flesh. “Christ, by highest heaven adored; Christ the everlasting Lord; . . . Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, Hail the incarnate Deity.”

These words echo the words of the Apostle Paul who wrote that “there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men,” the Lord Jesus Christ. “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself”—providing a way of salvation for those who deserve nothing more than God’s condemnation.

AWAY IN A MANGER | O LITTLE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM | GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN
There are many Christmas carols, of course, that speak of Christ’s birth: Away in a Manger, O Little Town of Bethlehem, Go Tell It on the Mountain, and others emphasize the very heart of Christmas – the birth of the Messiah.

But Jesus did not stay a baby in the manger. The reason we celebrate His birth is (1) because of who He is – the Son of God – and (2) because of what He came to do – to save His people from their sins.

Because God is holy, He must punish sin. If sin is to be forgiven, it must be covered by an adequate sacrifice. The carols we sing at Christmas remind us that Jesus Christ was born to be that perfect sacrifice. In other words, He came to die.

WHAT CHILD IS THIS?
The words of What Child Is This? underscore this truth beautifully. In the second verse, we find these lyrics: “Nails, spear shall pierce Him through, the Cross be borne for me [and] for you.” When Christ died on the Cross, He paid the penalty for sin for all those who would believe in Him.

Quoting Paul again, in his letter to the Colossians, we read this about those who have trusted Jesus Christ. “When you were dead in your transgressions and [sins], [God] made you alive together with [Christ], having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us . . . ; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”

THE FIRST NOEL
The last verse of The First Noel reiterates this point: “Then let us all with one accord, sing praises to our heavenly Lord, [who] hath made heaven and earth of nought, And with His blood mankind hath bought.”

The very God who created the world out of nothing, is the same God who makes salvation, forgiveness, and eternal life possible through Jesus Christ.

Of course, Jesus Christ did not stay in the tomb; He rose again on the third day, demonstrating that He had truly defeated sin and death. Forty days after His resurrection, He ascended to heaven where He now sits at His Father’s right hand. By paying sin’s penalty and defeating its power, Christ alone makes salvation available to all who believe in Him as their Lord and Savior.

SILENT NIGHT
The fact that sinful men and women can experience peace with God (and subsequently peace on earth) when they really deserve death is the essence of grace. That’s why the author of Silent Night could pen these words, “Radiant beams from Thy holy face, with the dawn of redeeming grace.”

Redeeming grace is why Jesus came. It is why He died; so that through Him, sinful men and women might be reconciled and restored to God. The message of Christmas brings sinners to a crossroads, where they must deal with the Person of Jesus Christ. Will you embrace Him as Lord and Savior? Or will you dismiss His claim on your life and reject the salvation He offers?

He is the only way of salvation. As the apostle Peter proclaimed about Jesus: “There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”

JOY TO THE WORLD
The well-known carol Joy to the World exhorts its listeners with these words: “Let earth receive her King; let every heart prepare Him room,” meaning that each person is called to embrace Jesus Christ, as both Savior and King.

O COME LET US ADORE HIM | ANGELS WE HAVE HEARD ON HIGH
The very title of O Come Let Us Adore Him underscores the worshipful attitude that characterizes all those who truly trust in Him. And Angels We Have Heard on High exhorts one and all to “come, adore on bended knee, Christ, the Lord, the new-born King.” The Word of God calls every person to embrace the Lord Jesus Christ – believing in Him, trusting in His sacrifice, and submitting to His authority in life.

OUR RESPONSE

So what will you do with Jesus Christ this Christmas season? Will you ignore Him? Will you dismiss Him? Will you sing the songs of Christmas without thinking about the very words you are singing?

Or will you submit to Him for who He truly is—no longer a little baby born in a stable in Bethlehem—but the risen and exalted Son of God who died for sin and rose again and now sits at the right hand of His Father in heaven. He Himself said, “I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

If you have not come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, having never been reconciled to God, let me extend to you the Bible’s invitation to embrace the true gift of Christmas. It is the gift God gave to the world — namely, His Son.

The Lord Jesus promises forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life to all who will come to Him: “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.” (John 6:37). The gospel of John reiterates that promise, “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” (John 3:36).

The Apostle Paul summed up the good news of salvation with these words: “if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9).

Jesus Is The Answer:

“Jesus is the answer” is a popular slogan. Missing is the question. Jesus is the answer to what? What are people trying to convey when they claim that Jesus is the answer?

Jesus is the answer to our broken relationship with God. When God created Adam and Eve, they enjoyed perfect fellowship with Him. But Adam sinned by disobeying God, thereby bringing death into the world (Genesis 3:8–19; Romans 5:12; 6:23; 1 Corinthians 15:21–22). A significant part of that death is spiritual death. Humanity’s relationship with God is broken. God provided a covering for Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:21) and promised a Redeemer who would defeat Satan and reconcile God and man (Genesis 3:15). The Old Testament narrative gradually reveals God’s plan to save people. The New Testament shows us that Jesus is the promised Redeemer. Jesus atoned for our sin and restores the possibility of relationship with God.

Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6 ). Jesus is the answer—the only answer—to our broken relationship with God. Apart from Him there is no salvation (Acts 4:12; 1 Timothy 2:5–6). The biblical term for God’s act of making peace with sinful humanity is reconciliation (see 2 Corinthians 5:18). Romans 5:10 reminds us that, in Christ, God’s enemies were made His friends and given life: “If, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!”

Jesus is the answer to the problem of our estrangement from God. It is Jesus who makes it possible for our sins to be forgiven and for us to be children of God (John 1:12–13). It is Jesus who mends our relationship with God so that we can fellowship with Him during our lifetimes as well as eventually live with Him for eternity.

Jesus is the answer to our guilty consciences. Even after we are saved, we still sin and experience the temporal consequences of sin. Sin keeps us from fellowshipping with God fully. But we have God’s promise: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Jesus is the One who “washes our feet” of daily impurities, even after we have been “fully bathed” (see John 13:10). Jesus is the reason we can receive forgiveness and be purified. He is the answer to our sin problem both now and for eternity.

Jesus is the answer to our broken relationships with each other. When Adam and Eve sinned, not only did they break their relationship with God, but they also damaged their relationship with each other (see Genesis 3:12, 16). Humans have been struggling in relationship to one another ever since (see Genesis 4:8). This relational breakdown manifests in various ways, including the walls we erect between races. In the New Testament era, there was a major division between Gentiles and Jews. Jesus is the answer to all types of disharmony: “For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups [Jew and Gentile] one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility. . . . His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you [Gentiles] who were far away and peace to those [Jews] who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit” (Ephesians 2:14–18; cf. Galatians 3:26–29).

Jesus instructed His followers to love one another humbly and sacrificially (John 13:34–35). Jesus prayed for unity among His followers (John 17), a unity embraced by the early church (Acts 8 and 10). Because we have received forgiveness in Jesus, we can forgive others. Jesus is the answer for our relational turmoil.

Jesus is the answer to a meaningless existence. The writer of Ecclesiastes bewails the meaninglessness of worldly pursuits apart from God. When we are spiritually dead, life is ultimately empty. Nothing in this world will fully satisfy the deepest longings of our hearts (see Psalm 73:25). But, in Jesus, we have purpose. He said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). The Christian life is a fruitful life. We are invited to be part of God’s work in the world, tasked with sharing the gospel and making disciples (Matthew 28:18–20). We can do nothing apart from Jesus, but in Him we bear much fruit (John 15:5).

Jesus is the answer to our worries and doubts. Life involves hardship, and with hardship come worries, fears, and doubts. Jesus told His followers, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Jesus reminded us of God’s love and care (Matthew 6:24–33). Jesus also gave us the Holy Spirit to live with us forever (John 14:15–21; 16:7–15). Jesus is the reason we are not alone. Jesus is the answer to our fears and heartaches. He is able to sympathize with us because He has lived a human life in this broken world (Hebrews 4:15–16). Jesus gives us peace and equips us to endure, and even rejoice in, the hardships of this life (James 1:2–5).

Jesus is the answer to the problems of the world. Experience tells us that the world is broken and in need of repair—sometimes its brokenness is rather obvious. Jesus is the answer. He has a plan to fix this broken world: “The government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this” (Isaiah 9:6–7). World peace has proved an elusive goal in our war-torn world, but one day Jesus will set all things right, and the Prince of Peace will rule in true justice, ushering in a time of blessing and bounty the world has never seen (Isaiah 11). Revelation 21 predicts a new heaven and new earth: “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Revelation 21:3–5).

A day is coming when the world’s problems will be solved; everything will be made new, and peace will reign. This is because of Jesus. We eagerly await His return, trusting that “the Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

No matter what our individual needs, Jesus is the answer for our lives today, and He promises a better future to come.

My "Hot" Take On John Chau:

Yesterday, I read the news of missionary John Chau’s death. He was killed last week by the very people he was trying to reach with the gospel. He knew the risks, and he went anyway. There are several items from Chau’s letters and journal that have pierced me to the soul, perhaps this one most of all:

“God, I don’t want to die. WHO WILL TAKE MY PLACE IF I DO?”

There is a common thread that runs through the voice of the martyrs going all the way back to Jesus. Here is a small sample. See if you can detect the common element.

“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” –Jesus, Luke 23:34

“Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” –Stephen, Acts 7:60

“Father, forgive him and any of the people on this island who try to kill me…” –John Chau, journal entry from last week

Chau prayed for his persecutors just as countless other Christians have done going all the way back to Jesus.

Sadly, there are many people who are expressing hostility in social media because Chau dared to try and reach these people for Christ. While mission strategy is open for debate and reconsideration, the impetus for reaching the world for Christ is not. Much of the hostility I’ve read is not about strategy but about the mission itself. For that reason, much of the hostility is unfounded and seems to be coming from a place of animus.

It is a myopic, parochial take to denigrate Christian missions as “colonialism” or “white man’s” religion. The mission of the church predates “whiteness” and anything American by over 1,500 years. The mandate to reach every nation goes all the way back to Jesus himself:

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

Our mission is ancient. From the very beginning, the mission has been risky and often in defiance of civil authorities. When the authorities told the apostles to stop preaching in Jesus’ name, Peter says: “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29), and the apostles kept on preaching.

People in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra tried to kill Paul after he preached the gospel in those cities. Paul’s response? He went back and preached in each one of those cities again! And he said, “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22).

When Paul became fearful for his life while preaching in Corinth, Jesus himself had to address Paul directly to get him to stay and face the opposition: “Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent… for I have many people in this city” (Acts 18:9-10).

Taking the gospel to distant, dangerous places is not “white colonialism.” It is the ancient faith. It is obedience to the world’s true and reigning king, Jesus of Nazareth. And it is the essence of love, both for God and for neighbor.

And as long as the King tarries, this work will continue. And the gates of hell will not prevail against it (Matt. 16:18). And the knowledge of the glory of the Lord will one day cover this earth like the waters cover the sea (Isaiah 11:9).

I don’t know much at all about John Chau. I’m am just learning about him, as is the rest of the world. Perhaps more details will emerge that will change our evaluation of Chau’s work. What I’ve read so far has the smell of heaven about it. We’ll see.

8 Signs Your Christianity Is Too Comfortable:

In many parts of the world today, it can be easy to live a comfortable life as a Christian. Certainly where I live—in Winston Salem, North Carolina—this is the case. But is that a good thing?

I’d like to suggest that the Christian faith is inherently uncomfortable. To be a disciple of Jesus is to deny oneself (Matt. 16:24), to take up a cross (Luke 14:27), to be subject to persecution (John 15:20; 2 Tim. 3:12), to give up the creature comforts of home (Luke 9:58), to forsake the priority of family (Luke 9:59–62; 14:26), to be willing to give up all material possessions (Matt. 19:21; Luke 14:33), to be crucified with Christ (Gal. 2:20). And this is just the beginning.

C. S. Lewis once said, “I didn’t go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity.”

But comfort-seeking is our default mode in a consumerist society, so we often find ourselves in “comfortable Christianity” without even knowing it. What are some indicators that our Christianity has become too cozy, more like a pleasant bottle of port than the uncomfortable, sharpening faith the New Testament envisions?

Here are eight signs that your Christianity might be too comfortable:

1. There’s absolutely no friction between your Christianity and your partisan politics.

If you’re all-in with one political party and never feel any tension whatsoever with your Christian faith, it probably means your faith is too comfortable. Whether you’re a lifelong Democrat or a diehard Republican, a robust Christian faith should create dissonance with politics at various points.

A faith that aligns perfectly with one political party is suspiciously convenient and lacks prophetic witness.

A faith that aligns perfectly with one political party is suspiciously convenient and lacks prophetic witness.

2. There are no paradoxes, tensions, or unresolved questions.

If you never ponder or wrestle with the mind-boggling tenets of Christian theology (e.g., the Trinity, the incarnation, God’s sovereignty coexisting with human action, the Holy Spirit’s presence, to name just a few), your faith is probably too comfortable.

A healthy, uncomfortable faith constantly rocks you, prods you, and blows your mind. It’s a faith that leaves you restless to want to know more, not satisfied you’ve grasped all there is to grasp about God.

3. Your friends and coworkers are surprised to learn you’re a churchgoing Christian.

A sure sign your faith is too comfortable is if nothing in your life sets you apart as a Jesus follower, to the point that even those who know you well can’t tell you’re a Christian.

A comfortable Christian is one who easily blends in, looking and talking and acting just like his or her lost neighbors.

4. You never think about or even remember the Sunday sermon on Monday.

If Sunday sermons at your church are so forgettable (or you’re so disengaged) that you rarely recall them after you leave church, your Christianity is probably too comfortable.

Biblical preaching shouldn’t leave us apathetic or unchallenged. The Word of God is “living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb. 4:12).

5. No one at your church ever annoys you.

If you go to church with people who are always easy to talk to, always fun to be around, and always closely aligned with your opinions, tastes, and preferences, your Christianity is too comfortable.

One of the glorious things about the gospel is that it creates a new community out of disparate types of people who, in many cases, wouldn’t otherwise choose to spend time together.

6. You never feel challenged, only affirmed.

If your Christian faith never confronts your idols and challenges your sinful habits—but only ever affirms you as you are—this is a sure sign of a too-comfortable faith.

Healthy faith doesn’t just celebrate you as you are, but relentlessly molds and refines you into the likeness of Christ.

7. You’ve never had to have a ‘truth-in-love’ conversation with a fellow Christian.

It’s always more comfortable to just “live and let live” when there’s an offense or sin that needs to be called out. It’s more comfortable to just shrug when we see others in our community making unhealthy decisions.

But this isn’t true Christian love.

Love isn’t opposed to truth, and if your faith doesn’t include the capacity to speak hard truths in love, it’s too comfortable.

8. No one in your church could comment on any area of growth they’ve seen in you.

To believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ is to believe in change. Though not always linear, the Christian life should be marked by growth, forward momentum, and change for the better.

If you’re a Christian who’s grown so little that no one in your church could identify any area of improvement, your faith is too comfortable.

—

Why is it important that we avoid falling into comfortable Christianity? Because comfortable Christianity is far from the costly, inconvenient, idol-crushing, cross-shaped path for disciples of Jesus. Comfortable Christianity has little prophetic to say to a comfortable, consumerist world. Comfortable Christianity has little urgency in mission and little aptitude for growth.

Uncomfortable Christianity, however, leads to life and transformation. It leads us to rely on God and not on ourselves; to serve rather than be served; to live lives marked by sacrifice. It leads us to do hard things, to embrace hard truths, to do life with hard people for the sake and glory of the One who did the hardest thing. It may be uncomfortable, but it will be worth it. On the other side of discomfort is delight in Christ.

What The Bible Says About Itself:

What God says about his word is a deep, complex, and staggering thing. And each book of the written word testifies to the wonder of his revelation. I decided to take a look, book by book, selecting a representative passage from each to highlight many of the things God's word says about God's words.

The word of God is . . .

Effectual

Genesis 1:3 - And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

Personal

Exodus 6:2 - God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the Lord.”

Authoritative

Leviticus 20:22 - You shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my rules and do them, that the land where I am bringing you to live may not vomit you out.

Exclusive

Numbers 15:31 - Because he has despised the word of the Lord and has broken his commandment, that person shall be utterly cut off; his iniquity shall be on him.

Necessary

Deuteronomy 8:3 - And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

Rewarding

Joshua 1:8 - This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

Singable(!)

Judges 5:11 - To the sound of musicians at the watering places,
    there they repeat the righteous triumphs of the Lord,
    the righteous triumphs of his villagers in Israel.

Redemptive

Ruth 4:14-15 - Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without a redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel! He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.”

Decisive

1 Samuel 15:23 - Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
    he has also rejected you from being king.

Infallible

2 Samuel 22:31 - This God—his way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.

Reliable

1 Kings 17:24 - And the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.”

Convicting

2 Kings 22:11 - When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes.

Enduring

1 Chronicles 16:12,15 - Remember the wondrous works that he has done,
    his miracles and the judgments he uttered . . . Remember his covenant forever,
    the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations.

Preeminent

2 Chronicles 18:4 - And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “Inquire first for the word of the Lord.”

Practical

Ezra 7:10 - For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.

Proclamational

Nehemiah 8:2-3 - So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month. And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law.

Peculiar

Esther 3:8 - Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom. Their laws are different from those of every other people, and they do not keep the king's laws, so that it is not to the king's profit to tolerate them.”

Miraculous

Job 37:5 - God thunders wondrously with his voice; he does great things that we cannot comprehend.

Illuminating
Psalm 119:105 - Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

True

Proverbs 30:5 - Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.

Wise

Ecclesiastes 12:11 - The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd.

Loving

Song of Solomon 2:10 - My beloved speaks and says to me: “Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.”

Eternal

Isaiah 40:8 - The grass withers, the flower fades,
    but the word of our God will stand forever.

Powerful

Jeremiah 23:29 - Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?

Sure

Lamentations 2:17 - The Lord has done what he purposed; he has carried out his word, which he commanded long ago.

Reviving

Ezekiel 37:4 - Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.”

Prophetic

Daniel 9:9-10 - . . . For we have rebelled against him and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.

Disruptive

Hosea 4:1 - Hear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel,
    for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land

Empowering

Joel 2:11 - The Lord utters his voice
    before his army,
for his camp is exceedingly great;
    he who executes his word is powerful . . .

Nourishing

Amos 8:11 - “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord God, “when I will send a famine on the land— not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.”

Stirring

Obadiah 1 - We have heard a report from the Lord,
    and a messenger has been sent among the nations:
“Rise up! Let us rise against her for battle!”

Commissioning

Jonah 3:3a - So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord.

Universal

Micah 4:2 - And many nations shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

Timely

Nahum 1:15 - Behold, upon the mountains, the feet of him
    who brings good news,
    who publishes peace!

Glorifying

Habakkuk 2:14 - For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

Just

Zephaniah 2:5 - Woe to you inhabitants of the seacoast, you nation of the Cherethites! The word of the Lord is against you, O Canaan, land of the Philistines; and I will destroy you until no inhabitant is left.

Relational

Haggai 1:13 - Then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, spoke to the people with the Lord's message, “I am with you, declares the Lord.”

Chastening

Zechariah 7:12 - They made their hearts diamond-hard lest they should hear the law and the words that the Lord of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets.

Fearful

Malachi 2:4-5 - So shall you know that I have sent this command to you, that my covenant with Levi may stand, says the Lord of hosts. My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name.

Perpetual

Matthew 5:18 - For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.

Clarifying

Mark 12:24 - Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God?”

Blessed

Luke 11:28 - “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

Christocentric

John 5:39 - You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me

Living

Acts 12:24 - But the word of God increased and multiplied.

Encouraging

Romans 15:4 - For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

Consistent

1 Corinthians 15:3-4 - For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures

Perfect

2 Corinthians 4:2 - But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word . . .

Promising

Galatians 3:8 - And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.”

Penetrating

Ephesians 6:17 - [A]nd take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God . . .

Secure

Philippians 2:16 - [Hold] fast to the word of life . . .

Enriching

Colossians 3:16 - Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God

Inspired

1 Thessalonians 2:13 - And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.

Honorable

2 Thessalonians 3:1 - Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you . . .

Sanctifying

1 Timothy 4:4-5 - For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.

Sufficient

2 Timothy 3:16-17 - All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Trustworthy

Titus 1:9 - He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.

Liberating

Philemon 23-25 - Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you, and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

Discerning

Hebrews 4:12 - For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Doable

James 1:22 - But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

Gracious

1 Peter 1:25 - “But the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

Spiritual

2 Peter 1:20-21 - No prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Joyful

1 John 1:4 - And we are writing these things so that [y]our joy may be complete.

Uniting

2 John 5 - And now I ask you, dear lady—not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another.

Verified

3 John 12b - We also add our testimony, and you know that our testimony is true.

Marshaling

Jude 3 - Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

Complete

Revelation 22:18-19 - I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.