He was well along in years, and his wife had never borne him a child. In that time, in that place, childlessness was catastrophic, even shameful. For some reason, God had withheld His blessing from this godly couple, and their grief was deep and painful.

But today something made the old man sing, and he wasn’t singing the blues.

As he sings, Zechariah speaks as a representative of a people who had been held captive, a people who were tempted to give up hope. All he and his people had known – for centuries – was bad news:

-- their humiliation in the Babylonian exile

-- their return to find the Land of Promise in ruins

-- their role as a helpless pawn in the land wars of a succession of superpowers

-- and now their occupation by Rome, the latest of those superpowers

All this was enough to cause many to give up hope in Israel’s God. Yes, He had delivered their fathers from Egypt, but now He has grown distant and silent.

Surely Yahweh has forgotten His people.

Then Zechariah’s world is upended by the announcement that Israel’s God is once again on the move.

So he sings a song of praise to God, and he celebrates more than the miraculous birth of his son, John. Zechariah celebrates the fact that Israel’s God is fulfilling His promises to His people.

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,

For He visited and accomplished redemption for His people,

And raised up a horn of salvation for us

In the house of David His servant—

As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from of old—

Salvation from our enemies,

And from the hand of all who hate us,

To show mercy toward our fathers,

And to remember His holy covenant,

The oath which He swore to Abraham our father,

To grant us that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies,

Might serve Him without fear,

In holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High,

For you will go on before the Lord to make ready His ways,

To give to His people the knowledge of salvation

By the forgiveness of their sins,

Because of the tender mercy of our God,

With which the Sunrise from on high will visit us,

To shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death,

To direct our feet into the way of peace. (Luke 1:68-79, LSB)

Zechariah’s despair dissipates like fog, and not just because he now has a son. He knows that Yahweh has crashed into history – Israel’s history, his own history – and the story of his people has turned a corner.

But this cataclysmic upturning comes as no surprise to the old man.

Why?

He knew his Bible.

In his song Zechariah recalls promises that were two thousand years old, as ancient to him then as the time of Christ is for us now. The old man rejoices that Yahweh is remembering His ancient oaths so that now His people “might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all [their] days.”

And why has all this come to pass?

It is not just because God keeps His promises (although that also is good news). Zechariah sings that Yahweh has come to rescue His people because His great heart is full of tender mercy, “with which the Sunrise from on high will visit us, to shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death.”

One of the biggest differences I’ve noticed between being a teacher and being a pastor is that I am more aware of the deep heartaches of people. As a teacher, the troubles I encountered had to do with school life: a girl or a guy or a grade or a game. This might have been the stuff of monumental catastrophe for teens, but as an adult who had survived his teens, I could see that things weren’t as bad as my heartbroken adolescents supposed.

Not so with the pastorate. Marriages do crumble. People do suffer long-term, debilitating health problems. Loved ones die.

In other words, there are times when we find ourselves trusting God for a future we cannot envision.

There are times when we’re so low and so discouraged that we can’t even imagine what healing and restoration would look like.

Sometimes we are Zechariah. Our own circumstances are bleak, and if we pop our head up to look around, we see that our culture is disintegrating.

Not much to hope for, no matter how we look at it.

That is when we have no choice but to put our confidence in the tender mercies of our promise-keeping God. We persevere in trusting Him not because we are desperate but because He is faithful and good.

This Christmas season let’s be sustained not just by the warmth of nostalgia and sentiment but by the sure knowledge that the God we serve is wise and good and faithful.

Because we know His heart, we can know that God is good, even when life is not. 

Persevere, Paul Pyle Pastor of Discipleship

I love how CS Lewis sets the scene of Gabriel’s announcement to Mary. Lewis says that God’s great plan “narrows and narrows until at last it comes down to a little point, small as the point of a spear— a Jewish girl at her prayers.”  

Later, after she’s had time to ponder it all, Mary bursts into song at what she has learned about the goodness and power and faithfulness of Israel’s God. 

My soul magnifies the Lord, 

And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. 

For He has looked upon the humble state of His slave, 

For behold, from this time on, all generations will count me blessed. 

For the Mighty One has done great things for me, 

And holy is His name. 

And His mercy is upon generation after generation 

Toward those who fear Him. 

He has done a mighty deed with His arm; 

He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart. 

He has brought down rulers from their thrones, 

And has exalted those who were humble. 

He has filled the hungry with good things, 

And sent away the rich empty-handed. 

He has given help to Israel His servant, 

In remembrance of His mercy, 

As He spoke to our fathers, 

To Abraham and his seed forever. Luke 1:46-55 (LSB) 

In the moments leading up to Gabriel’s appearance, Mary had no idea that the time had arrived for God’s ancient promises to come true, nor that she was to play such a pivotal (and painful) role in the fulfillment of those promises. 

In the moments before Gabriel appeared and changed her world (and ours), all Mary knew is that Yahweh had made lavish promises to her people and that He had demonstrated His fearsome power in delivering His people from their bondage to Egypt. 

We are all Mary.  

In the darkness of our own culture, in the utter chaos of our world, we, like Mary, can know this much: God keeps His promises, and His timing is always impeccable. 

And we can know that when He calls us to play our role in His work, He will give us the grace and strength to say, with Mary, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it happen to me as you have said.” 

Persevere,

Paul Pyle

Pastor of Discipleship

Lest the title alarm you (“Paul has gone over to the prosperity gospel!”), let me open with an explanation.

I heard it said once that every heresy is an over-emphasis on one doctrinal truth. Concentrating on one singular truth and ignoring the rest of the testimony of Scripture produces a warped doctrine that is all the more dangerous because there is some truth in it.

The prosperity gospel is just one such heresy. It emphasizes one precious truth – the generosity of our gracious God. Meanwhile, this heresy ignores such vital truths as the value of suffering, the sovereign wisdom of God, the wickedness of the human heart, and the necessity of generosity.

The prosperity gospel is wrong about a lot, but they are right about one thing: our God is generous and gracious beyond all telling.

I am reading the Gospel of Luke in my personal Bible study.

I am in the middle of Luke’s “Sermon on the Plain” (his version of Jesus’ famous “Sermon on the Mount,” probably a sermon Jesus delivered several times, which is why it appears in two gospel accounts).

As I was reflecting on Luke 6:27-36, I remembered something I first encountered in a book on the Exodus, how the Hebrew slaves had to recalibrate their thinking once they were free. Now that they were under the gracious rule of Yahweh, they had to pivot from a mindset of scarcity – all they had known as a slave nation – to a mindset of abundance. They had to begin to learn how to think of themselves as Yahweh’s covenant people: remembering that He is faithful and that He will provide and protect His people – a mindset of abundance.

I think this text in Luke demonstrates what a “mindset of abundance” looks like in the way Jesus’ followers interact with others:

With a mindset of abundance, there is enough honor (especially significant in an honor-shame society): “But I say to you who hear, ‘Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either’” (Luke 6:27-29).

With a mindset of abundance, there are enough goods: “Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them” (v. 30-31).

With a mindset of abundance, there is enough good will: “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same” (v. 32-33).

With a mindset of abundance, there is enough money: “And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount” (v. 34).

With a mindset of abundance, there is enough mercy and grace: “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful” (v. 35-36).

This all made me wonder how often my anxiety springs from a mindset of scarcity. Anxiety in a believer is a kind of forgetfulness, really.

I sink into a mindset of scarcity because I forget who I am. When I am anxious, it is because I forget who I am in Christ, His beloved, chosen and sealed by His Spirit (Eph 1:3-14).

I sink into a mindset of scarcity because I forget how attentively God cares for His own. When I am anxious, it is because I forget that the same God who clothes the glorious flowers is watching over me (Matt 6:25-26).

I sink into a mindset of scarcity because I forget how generous God has already been with me. When I am anxious, it is because I forget one of Paul’s most penetrating rhetorical questions: “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Rom 8:32).

And when I am anxious in this way, I cannot afford to be generous, and I conceal the beauty and power of the Gospel from people around me.

This is surely one of the key aspects of my sanctification, one of the most important ways God is bending the trajectory of my life toward holiness: by making the mindset of abundance more and more natural for me.

I want the mindset of abundance to take up residence in my heart. And I want to operate out of that relaxed and generous mindset in my interactions with people around me.

Persevere, Paul Pyle Pastor of Discipleship

It was like running into a 350-pound lineman. Every ounce of momentum was halted in an instant when I heard the words… 

“You do not encourage me to love Christ.” 

At the time, the end of the school year was rapidly approaching. It had been a year that held seemingly fruitful and lifegiving ministry with my college guys, a year where I enjoyed the community of my local church and was committed to serving in a variety of areas. It had been a year where I saw the Lord enliven a passion in me for His Word and His Church in my seminary courses.

But when I was met with this indictment from my friend, it spoiled any sense of celebration. 

My mind began spinning as I reviewed each interaction with this friend over the past couple of months. As I tried assessing when I had failed to love him through both word and action, I became mindful of several occurrences. There were several moments where I slandered rather than spurred on and tore down rather than built up, moments when I complained without benevolence or joked at his expense. 

It became more and more difficult for me to think about his stinging words in the days that followed. A phrase like that does not fade quickly for someone who devoted time and energy to loving Christ and His people. Even more, his rebuke led me to evaluate how I stewarded other relationships. I was faced with the overwhelming reality: I would rather build myself up rather than those around me. My weapon of choice was my tongue. My target was those closest to me.

But the Lord used this season of my life powerfully.

A few weeks after the initial shock, I was able to sit with this friend. I won’t soon forget his display of patience and forgiveness during that breakfast, nor his timely and gracious encouragement to me.

I can still picture him pulling out this thin book and pushing it across his dining room table towards me. Picking it up as he spoke about its impact, I flipped through the first few pages and realized that it was written in archaic English. My immediate reaction, I confess, was to thank him and shelve it. However, it was the way he regarded this book, how it challenged him to cherish Christ as the True Vine.

That book showed him how abiding in Christ is where true joy is found and how it transforms all of life – as an individual, as a church member, and as someone in ministry. It was at that moment and the next few weeks of slowly reading through Andrew Murray’s Abide in Christ that the concept of what it meant to abide in Christ began to take root and affect my walk with the Lord.

This short book provoked me to meditate on the incredible reality of my union with Christ. I experienced a paradigm shift as I began to absorb the fact that I have been grafted into the true Vine (in whom I find everything I need to bear fruit). My words began to reflect that change when I considered that already I am cleansed because of the words Christ has spoken or that apart from Christ, I can do nothing. His invitation to abide became a delight. I began to see that the opportunity to bear fruit for the glory of the Father was a privilege. The immense joy and freedom that followed were unspeakable.

 And my mouth became the stage where I saw the most vivid transformation.

Day after day I rehearsed that I am loved by the Father as He loves the Son. I rehearsed the truth that I may ask whatever I wish because Christ’s words abide in me. It changed my perspective about the fruit I was seeing in my ministry. It released me from this pressure to build myself up through discipleship relationships. Slowly the Lord pruned me of my cutting, sharp language; my words were more about kingdom encouragement with fellow saints. All my relationships would be altered for good, especially those within my church.

Years of slow progress produced grounded, truth-filled, encouraging relationships, for which I am incredibly grateful to the Lord. After several years of marked growth, the Lord graciously bolstered what I had learned through another wonderful passage. Hebrews 3 speaks to the beautiful effect this may have amongst Christians in community. As believers, we are given one another, so that we may encourage each other to enter rest.

Brothers and sisters, that privilege is ours because we share in Christ.

Hebrews 3:12-14 says, “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.”

Not only does this text speak to the dynamic of Christian community, but consider also how the author makes much of Christ in this chapter. Too often the Christian life gets so bogged down with goals of avoiding sin, being better, or staying pure that it does not admire the beauty and joy of being in Christ, sharing in Him, and loving His people.

My meditation on Hebrews 3 developed into poetic pondering that helped enliven this passage for me and produce encouragement to all those I am committed to running alongside as we share in Christ. I hope to be known as someone who exhorts you to not grow calloused by sin, but also to enjoy the overwhelming privilege that it is to confidently share in Christ until the end.

For Moses, today was for him. 

   Today was also for the one holding the psalter’s pen. 

   How then is our first response not awe and gratitude 

   when we, the hearers of Hebrews, 

   realize that the call of today includes us too? 

To enter rest is good news. 

   We see it is for the few, 

   since there are those who withdrew 

   and heard the wrathful verdict: 

   God's rest is not in view. 

   But we find kind words our author issues: 

   Brothers and sisters, take care to not let that be you! 

   Fight to enter rest, 

   for an unbelieving heart may cause you to drift 

   into barrenness 

   rather than the place where the living God is. 

Being with God should always 

   be our desired resting place. 

   That being the case, 

   encourage each other every today 

   throughout all your days.

We are to be for each other's best interest, 

   which is to help one another avoid growing calloused 

   by sin's deceitfulness. 

Yet to elude is but a small piece. 

   We have the privilege to share in Christ, 

   bringing with it utmost joy and peace. 

   We keep holding fast to the confidence we had originally, 

   so once we hear His voice we will respond faithfully.

Persevere, Nick Boucher Youth Pastor

After last Sunday’s sermon on the people’s generous response to Moses’ appeal for materials for the Tabernacle (Exodus 35), two people came up to me after the service. One woman is new to PPC and wondered how to give online. I showed her the app, and she sat down on the couch to download it right away.

Another encounter was with an old friend who trotted out the familiar idea of stewardship of our “time, talent, and treasure.” But he added another “T,” the stewardship of the temple of our body. He made a shrewd observation: When we don’t steward our temple well, we end up spending a lot of time, talent, and treasure.

Good point. I was on the treadmill this morning.

My friend is right: most people think of stewardship in strictly financial terms, as if stewardship is just a money-management technique. For many people, stewardship looks like this: carefully managing my money so that I can give God His 10% share so that I still have enough to meet all my present and future wants and needs.

There are all kinds of problems with that way of looking at stewardship, not the least that it is so self-absorbed (count the first-person pronouns).

A better definition of biblical stewardship:

CREATIVELY INVESTING THE RESOURCES GOD HAS ENTRUSTED TO ME WITH KINGDOM PRIORITIES IN VIEW

This way of thinking about stewardship is sounder and more holistic.

Let me explain.

Why “creatively investing”?

Remember Jesus’ parable of the three stewards, three men who were entrusted with vast sums of money to manage while the boss was away, each according to his ability (Matt 25). Two of them were rewarded for their creativity: they found ways to grow the funds entrusted to them.

The third was condemned not because he was dishonest (he was, in fact, conscientious) but because he was “wicked and lazy.” His offense? Returning precisely what was entrusted to him, not a penny more, not a penny less. The man had no imagination, and he was roundly condemned for it.

Stewardship isn’t just a maintenance equation: the steward looks for ways to give the Owner a good return on His investment. And the greater the investment, the greater the expectation of return.

I remember when I had an epiphany about this parable. The focus of the story is the failure of the unimaginative manager. But as I thought about the story one day, I realized who I was in the parable: I’m the guy who has been given a great deal. I was raised in a stable Christian home, I got a good education, I have been given healthy in mind and body all my life. I am nothing if not well-positioned and well-resourced.

Some people spend their whole lives fighting their way uphill through the thorns during a thunderstorm. It is all they can do to keep moving and not give up. Others (like me), who have a much easier time of it, are rightly expected to carry a much heavier load. I am the man in the story who has been entrusted with much, so God has the right to expect a good return on His investment. 

What “resources”?

A narrow focus on finances is a distorted view of stewardship. Yes, I will give an account for how I’ve used my financial resources (which, by global standards, are enormous). But I will also give an account for how I use so many other resources:

·         my time (Psa 90:12)

·         my gifting (1 Pet 4:10-11)

·         my interactions with those outside the faith (Col 4:5-6)

·         the Gospel itself (1 Cor 4:1-3)

·         my social advantages (education, socioeconomic status)

·         the body God has given me (1 Cor 6:19-20)

None of these valuable resources are mine to use only as I please. God has entrusted all this to me to manage on His behalf.

What are the “Kingdom priorities” I want to keep in view?

If I read my Bible, it’s not difficult to discern the things that matter to God:

1. It is important that people come to faith and learn how to follow Him. Jesus said that making disciples is Job One for His Church.

2. It is also important to the God of the Bible that justice be done and that mercy be shown to the suffering.

These priorities – disciple-making, justice for the oppressed, mercy for the suffering – all matter tremendously to God, and the way I employ the resources at my disposal should reflect His priorities.

But in the end, this isn’t just about accountability and avoiding disapproval.

Stewardship is about recognizing that nothing in this life is worth as much as two words in the next life. Stewardship is about arranging my priorities so that I will someday hear from the lips of my Master, “Well done.”

Persevere, Paul Pyle Pastor of Discipleship

Imagine your kid sees a story on the news of illegal immigration and asks, “Dad, God calls us to love our neighbors as ourselves, so why don’t we want to allow people to come into our country if they want to or are going through a hard time? That is what I would want my neighbor to do if I were them.”

What would you say? How would you respond? In times like these it is helpful to remember that Scripture makes a crucial distinction between God’s sovereign purposes for human government and His commands for His Church. 

What is the purpose of the government? 

A good summary can be found in the Baptist Confession of Faith, in its description of the role of “civil magistrates” (government officials): “God, the supreme Lord and King of all the world, hath ordained civil magistrates, to be, under him, over the people, for his own glory, and the public good: and, to this end, hath armed them with the power of the sword, for the defense and encouragement of them that are good, and for the punishment of evildoers.”

This is a summary of what Scripture teaches (Rom 13:1-4, 1 Pet 2:13-14). The primary purpose of the government is the punishment of evil and the defense and encouragement of good citizenship.

What is the purpose of the Church?

The Church on the other hand exists to worship God, nurture the saints, and go in mission to the lost. In his book “The Church” Edmund Clowney argues that the means by which we accomplish this purpose is the Word & prayer, order, and mercy. 

What does this mean?

Understanding this distinction in purpose means that our votes ought to be principally rooted in the biblical purpose of government, but our citizenship ought to be principally rooted in the biblical purpose of the Church. In other words, a Christian can vote for the rule of law to be enforced, and yet be involved in ministry to those who have broken them.

Now this is an oversimplification, but it is almost as if God’s purpose for the government has a distinct legal feature: it reveals man’s error and gives the punishment he should receive. And God’s purpose for the Church has a distinct grace feature: it reveals Christ, who came to save those who do not deserve it. God has ordained both of these institutions.

What you think you are accomplishing with your vote reveals where you place your hope.

Consider this quote by C.S. Lewis in his famous work The Screwtape Letters, the fictional letters between an older demon and his apprentice nephew, Wormwood, training him how to tempt humans away from the Enemy (God):  “About the general connection between Christianity and politics… we do want, and want very much, to make men treat Christianity as a means; preferably, of course, as a means to their own advancement, but, failing that, as a means to anything – even to social justice. The thing to do is to get a man at first to value social justice as a thing which the Enemy demands, and then work him on to the stage at which he values Christianity because it may produce social justice…. Men or nations who think they can revive the Faith in order to make a good society might just as well think they can use the stairs of Heaven as a short cut to the nearest chemist’s shop.”

Our votes are not going to bring about another great awakening of the gospel in America. But, they will to some degree affect the upholding or dismantling of the principles by which God has ordained human government to function.  

May the Lord help us if we think our votes are God’s means of gospel renewal in America. At the same time, may the Lord help us if we think that voting does not matter. Voting is one way we can uphold and promote the biblical purpose of the government and thus another way we can seek to honor God. 

Shrewd and Innocent

This means we must be shrewd in our listening and following; we must not be led by charlatans who make demands of us in their attempt to use God for their own ends, even if they claim the Christian label. 

We must also be innocent as well; do not attempt to use God for your own political desires.

Christians may grieve or rejoice with election results, but we ought not fear. We do not fear because as the Apostle Paul said in Acts 17:24-27, “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us.”

So, teaching our children the differences between the Church and the Government is important. And through such teaching they will see –

-          Some good news: God instituted nations so that man would seek God.

-          Some bad news: Man does not seek God.

-          Some great news: Through Christ, God has sought after those who do not seek Him, now that is amazing grace.

Persevere, Joey Turner Pastor of Student Ministry

“We do not need to get good laws to restrain bad people. We need to get good people to restrain us from bad laws.”  ― G.K. Chesterton  

G.K. Chesterton was right, but he was assuming that people have a common basis to discern good and evil. In our culture, often on both sides of the aisle, we have reduced “good” and “bad” to matters of opinion. “Good” is allowing people to do what they feel to be true, and “bad” is stopping anyone from doing what they feel to be true.  

So what is the basis of our beliefs?  

Modern thinking promotes a belief system that says, absurdly, “It is not wrong for you to have your beliefs, but it is wrong for you to disagree with my beliefs.” While this way of thinking may make dinner conversations easier at Thanksgiving, it makes for moral anarchy the rest of the year.  

If my children’s ideas about good and bad governed my household and the basis of their beliefs were their personal feelings, reason, and popular support, our household would be in trouble. Can you imagine the uprising? Better snacks, no bedtimes.

Absolutes are a gift given to us by the Creator to discern good and evil. Decades ago, Francis Schaeffer could see that without some bedrock of moral absolutes, some other authority must prevail: “Here is a simple but profound truth: If there are no absolutes by which to judge society, the society is absolute.”

And so, we arrive at our present day. 

One we need not fear, at all. The confusion in our world as to what is good and what is bad is exemplified in the title of the amendment being proposed in the November election: The Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety.i  

On the surface, it reads as something everyone should want. Who could be against “protections for health and safety”? But because we live in a society where personal feelings and autonomy are reigning as the absolutes, the things that sound good can be bad and the things that sound bad may actually be good.  

Again, the question is not whether our beliefs are “inclusive” or “exclusive” the question is on what grounds do we base our beliefs.  

Using Issue 1 as an example, a Christian can say that it is bad. Why? Not because of our personal feelings, not because of popular support, and not because of political hopes, but because God has not remained silent or left us to ourselves to determine good from bad, and right from wrong.  

Admittedly, my beliefs are grounded in what Scripture teaches on the value of all human life (Psalm 139:14) and the purpose of human government (Romans 13). I base my beliefs in the Bible because of Jesus. Jesus, the one whom all serious historians believe existed, viewed the Bible as God’s Word. He viewed the Scriptures as historically accurate, authoritative, infallible, verbally inspired, and the source of spiritual truth. Jesus believed that what Scripture says, God says, and this is significant because Jesus rose from the dead and revealed Himself to many witnesses. (See 1 Cor. 15:3-7; Luke 24:38-48).

Christ Himself is the basis of our beliefs, not our feelings, but Jesus. We see in Christ someone who transcends our own reason and comprehension (Luke 24:45). Only by the grace of God are we able to discern good from bad, for God is the Creator of all.   

Therefore, if ground on which we base our beliefs, is Christ Himself, we stand on solid ground. We can say that things are good or bad regardless of opinion, feeling, or motive.

Most Christians already know and do not need to be told that this proposed amendment devalues life, truth, children in the womb, the body, the nuclear family, and the authority of parents. But they may not know that it allows for many other harmful things (see Hope Rising voting info webpage). If approved, the amendment proposed in Issue 1 would make for bad law.

Regardless, as Christians we ought also to examine ourselves during these times. Are we using the same ground our culture uses as the basis of other, seemingly less “bad” choices in our lives? Are we allowing our feelings, or other’s opinions, to be the basis for truth rather than God’s Word?   

And those who reject absolute truth should also examine themselves. On what grounds do they base their beliefs? Are they borrowing words like love, truth, good, and bad from Christianity that have no basis in an evolutionary worldview?  

God has given us solid ground.  

Throughout Scripture we see a God who has spoken and not remained silent. This is an incredible gift (Gen. 1; Matt. 3:17). He has not left us to be the arbiters of truth on all matters. We do not create truth. He is the truth.

What He has revealed is that man’s need is reconciliation with the One who is the Truth. Jesus, the Truth, came and suffered, that we may be forgiven of living a life believing our own truth. By faith in Christ, we are saved from our sins and given new life in Him who is the way, the truth, and the life. On this ground alone the Christian stands.  

Persevere, Joey Turner Pastor of Student Ministry

I want to speak to one of the most puzzling verses in the Bible: “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” John 15:7. Take that verse out of context, and it sounds like pure prosperity gospel nonsense. What are we to make of Jesus’ outlandish promise?

I sang those words as a child, a song I learned at a Bible camp: “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” When I was a child, I didn’t think much about the stupendous promise Jesus was making, but now, as an adult, I’m wondering…

Is this text a carte blanche promise that if we satisfy certain conditions, we can get whatever we want?

Yes, it is a promise. But it’s not as simple as the prosperity preachers would have it. The context and conditions make it more complicated.

These words of Jesus are part of the Upper Room discourse, words He spoke to His men the night before He died. When we yank those words out of context – when we treat them like calligraphy we might find at Hobby Lobby – we badly understand what Jesus was promising.

This promise from Jesus is an “if-then” statement with two clauses under “if.”

1. “If you abide in me…”

In the opening verses of John 15, Jesus uses the expression “abide in me” in His analogy of the vine and the branch. Just as the branch doesn’t occasionally visit the vine but is connected in dependent residence in the vine, in that same way Jesus wants us to take up permanent, intentional residence in Him. So everything He is saying here is to be taken in that context. As is always the case, Jesus has nothing to say to people who don’t care what He means and have no intention of obeying Him.

Many things look different from the inside than they do from the outside: falling in love or marriage or parenting, for example, or losing a loved one to death. Some experiences can be understood not by description but only by experience. So it is with this “abiding.” Jesus is speaking to people who understand what He is saying and want to do it.

So what does it mean to “abide” in Christ? Tens of thousands of gallons of ink have been used to explain the answer to that question. (Out of curiosity, I asked Google that question, and it came back with almost seven million hits.) Even though “abide” is a word we don’t use much, we know it well enough to know what it doesn’t mean. We know we don’t “abide” in a hotel or a vacation home; we “abide” in our houses, our own homes. There is a sense of settled permanence in “abiding.”

For me to “abide” in Christ is to assume a settled life posture of intimate dependence on Him – His resources for my needs, His affection for my heart, His nourishment for my soul.

The problem is my fickle heart: with me, there’s no such thing as a “settled life posture.” I wish I could say that a Christ-follower can make a once-for-all decision to abide in Christ and then rest there, secure and contented for the duration.

But that’s not how it works. Abiding in Christ isn’t an on-off switch, it’s more like a sliding scale. Although my standing before God is secure and settled in Christ, my abiding in Him is always subject to challenge and change.

Some days I’m abiding in Christ more than other days. Some days – when I am in a state of rebellion or despair – I’m not abiding in Christ at all. In other words, my quest to abide in Christ is not an item I can check off on a list: I will spend the rest of my earthly life learning how to abide in Christ, more and more fully, more and more consistently.

2. “…and my words abide in you”

The second condition in the “if-then” statement is almost as difficult. What does it mean to let the words of Christ “abide” in me? Surely, it means that I take His words to heart and think deeply about them, cherish them, marinate in them.

But here I have the same problem with my fickle heart: some days letting His words abide in me is easier, and some days – when I am distracted, discouraged, rebellious – I have very little interest in letting the words of Christ abide in me.

So I can see how Jesus could make such a lavish if-then promise.

He knows that there is a direct correlation between the state of my heart and the effectiveness of my prayers. When I am in that state of abiding in Jesus –deeply and constantly aware of my dependence on Him – and when His Word is filling and shaping my imagination, ambitions, and priorities, that’s when my prayers are not tainted by my selfishness, vanity, and anxiety. When I am in a state of abiding in Christ and His Word flourishing in me, my prayers will be wise and generous, not shallow and self-centered.

My prayers will align far more closely with His will, and I will see Him grant what I request. That’s when I discover what it means to delight myself in the Lord, and I see Him give me the desires of my heart (Psa 37:4).

This post picks up on a theme I first wrote about last spring in a series of posts: “Be Before Do,” April 27, 2023; “Deeper, My Love for Jesus,” May 4, 2023; “Why God Can’t Be My Co-pilot,” May 18, 2023; and “To Be Slow Like Mr. Shuff,” May 24, 2023.   

Persevere, Paul Pyle Pastor of Discipleship

Ironically, this post was first published January 24, 2020, just a few weeks before the global pandemic changed everything for everyone. During those dark and bewildering days, our fellowship experienced life as a fragmented body, when we were unable to gather for worship. I am so glad those days are over.

I used to love morning parking lot duty when I was a teacher. I enjoyed greeting the students as they came in, learning new names, cajoling and joking with them.

Most of them were in no mood for jokes, of course. It was morning, and they were trudging into the school building, where they would sit all day listening to teachers. Can’t blame them for being glum.

All the more reason, I thought, to brighten their day with a little banter. (I sometimes had to remind myself of the proverb: “Do not greet your neighbor too loudly in the morning or he will count it as a curse,” Prov 27:14.)

Fast-forward to my present role as a pastor.

Now I am standing in the door on a Sunday morning, greeting people as they come in.

But as I watch folks coming into the church building, I notice a significant difference. In my teacher days, those kids had to come to school whether they wanted to or not. Everything in our culture is arrayed to encourage and require students to attend school, to get an education. Their association is mandatory, not voluntary. That’s why they are trudging.

But these people streaming into church on Sunday morning are coming because they want to be here.

There are dozens of other things people could do with their Sunday mornings. They could sleep in. They could run errands. They could take a walk in the woods.

And it is true that a man can pray wherever he is, a woman can read her Bible at Starbucks, and it is a wonderful thing to enjoy the goodness of God in nature.

But one thing we can’t do alone – home in our beds, praying by ourselves, reading our Bible alone, walking in the woods – one thing we cannot possibly do alone is gather with the people of God.

The people who come into the building on Sunday morning have decided to forego all those other Sunday morning options and give those hours to gather with the people of God and celebrate the goodness of God.

People coming to church on Sunday morning are “voting with their feet.”

They will sing their worship, they will worship in prayer and in hearing God’s Word being taught and preached, and they will fellowship with one another.

But their first act of worship was getting out of bed, getting dressed, and coming to church. The act of coming into the building and gathering with God’s people is in itself an act of worship.

Sure, they’re still sinners. They all bring with them their anxieties and fears, their conflicts and sins, their heartaches and burdens.

That couple may have had a fight on the way to church and spoken sharply to one another.

But they come.

That woman might be vain and anxious about her appearance.

But she comes.

That man might be coming out of mixed motives: partly to worship God but mostly to keep peace at home.

But he comes.

That family with small children may be ten minutes late because their son couldn’t find his left shoe.

But they come.

That couple might be reeling from the devastating news they heard last week from their doctor or their daughter or their financial counselor.

But they come anyway.

They gather, and they worship together with the people of God.

Discipleship is never just about Jesus and me.

Jesus died to make us part of the family of God, to make brothers and sisters out of men and women who would otherwise be strangers.

These are the people we need to be with. Some would love to be with us but cannot, but for all of us who can come, we must not neglect the opportunity – and the duty – to “vote with our feet” in favor of being together.

We’ll see you Sunday!

In light of this topic, I want to recommend a new book, Sunday, by Paul David Tripp, a collection of 52 meditations designed to prepare hearts and families for Sunday worship. If there is sufficient interest, I will purchase copies of this title for our Discipleship Resource shelf.

Persevere, Paul Pyle Pastor of Discipleship

“Identity” is a hot topic these days. In areas as varied as ethnicity and politics and gender and voter registration, we are all talking about identity.

What do we mean by “identity”? I am a man, a pastor, a husband and dad and Pappaw. I’m a side-sleeper, a Beavercreek resident, a booklover, a native Texan, an introvert.

But those are just labels. They describe me, but they don’t really supply me with an identity; they don’t say much about my sense of self.

So who am I?

According to some, identity formation is vastly more complicated than it used to be. Human features that once were a given (my gender and sexual orientation) must now be chosen from a dazzling array of options.

But it’s not just the radical Left that gets this wrong. There are other identity formation devices that are so baked into our cultural expectations that we fall back on them without thinking about it. All of them promise to give me a solid sense of self, but they fail to live up to that promise.

·         I might try to define my essential self by my tribe and its causes (my nationality, my ethnicity, my ideological camp, along with all the causes that my group embraces).  

·         Or I might define myself by my accomplishments, reputation, and status (my education, my job title, my socioeconomic position).

·         Or I might look to my personal competence (I pay my bills on time, I’m a safe driver, I floss daily).  

There’s nothing wrong with any of these ways of understanding myself, but they’re flimsy. They don’t get much deeper than side-sleeper and booklover.

My problem is that neither my culture nor I can provide me with an identity.

Only the Creator can give us a deep and significant sense of self. He did this first by instilling in us His own image: we are made in the image of our Creator. That was our original identity.

But we all have defaced that image. As a result, all of us naturally identify with the first rebel; our deepest identity is “in Adam.”  

Fortunately, God didn’t leave us in that state. In Christ, God has given us a new identity, one that aligns us with God’s original purposes for our lives: that we would know Him and honor Him and enjoy Him forever.

In the opening paragraphs of his letter to the church in Ephesus, Paul lays out a stunning description of what we have in Christ.

In Adam, I was alienated from God; in Christ, I am chosen and made a citizen of His Kingdom. Thanks to Jesus, this former rebel has a standing in the community of the beloved (Eph 1:4-5).

In Adam, I was enslaved to sin; in Christ, I am redeemed from my captivity. The death and resurrection of Jesus set me free from the law of sin and death. Yes, I will still struggle with sin so long as I am in this body. But the final outcome of that struggle is not in question. Because I am in Christ, I know that He will prevail against sin in my heart and life (Eph 1:7).

In Adam, I had no part in God’s family; in Christ, I am adopted. I have a place at the table; I am welcome in God’s house (Eph 1:11).

In Adam, I was set adrift, left to my own devices, without hope and without God in the world; in Christ, I am sealed by the Spirit, resting in the assurance that He will bring to completion what He started. He has promised that He will finally bring me home (Eph 1:13).

Yes, I still live in this body, in this culture, and I still try to fulfill my roles. And I still sin and fail my Lord. But none of those things – not my aging body, not my broken culture, not how well I fulfill expectations, not even the indwelling presence of sin – none of those things define me anymore.

Christ in me is my permanent, my deepest identity. My life’s task – and the Spirit’s prime objective – is that my “in Christ” sense of self become more and more real to me as I learn to live out that identity more and more faithfully.

Persevere, Paul Pyle Pastor of Discipleship

“Because I said so!”

Every young child asks a million “why” questions.

Why?

Because they want to understand. They are figuring it all out.

Christian parents often hear, “Why do we go to church?”

I want my children to know that our weekly gathering as believers is primarily about the worship of God and secondarily the love of others.  

Many weekly gatherings of church bodies seem to focus on either believers or unbelievers as their primary target.

Question: Why do we gather weekly? Is it to be fed on God’s Word, or to seek and attract non-believers?

Answer: The weekly gathering of the saints is primarily for the corporate worship of God through the finished work of Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, and for ministry to one another. 

As a Christian parent, I believe that both the explicit regular teaching of this truth and the living it out are two of my primary responsibilities to my children. Why?

Going to church is biblical.

The Bible is the Word of God and therefore articulates reality for all of life: Life is about God, what He has done, what He is doing, and what He is going to do. Our pluralistic and relativistic age articulates a deceptive view of reality: Life is about me, what I have done, what I am doing, and what I get to do.

Every person was made to be God-centered; therefore, our weekly gathering as God’s people is to be centered on God. The world teaches me that every gathering and experience should be about me, but the Bible teaches us that church should be about God and others. 

Hebrews 10:24-25 invites us to “… consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (see also Acts 2:42, Col 3:16, 1 Tim. 4:13 and Psa 95:1-3).

Throughout Scripture we see an emphasis on God’s people praising Him for who He is, the need for us to receive His Word regularly, and the need for us to encourage and love one another, all in and through Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

Our children’s future commitment to the local church is in the Lord’s hands.

Many parents have taught their children why they go to church, they’ve lived like they believe what they’ve taught, and now they grieve that their adult children do not desire to commit to a local community of saints.

Our anxiety about all this might prompt us to find ways to make corporate worship more enticing for our children. As a result, most of our strategies for attracting people to church presuppose that the weekly gathering of the local body of Christ needs to be more about the people and their preferences. While these efforts might draw crowds and excitement, if the primary purpose for the gathering is to appease preferences or appeal to the desires of the people coming, man-centered efforts will not be God-centered. 

Six ways to shepherd your children in corporate worship

1.       Teach the purpose: As much as you can, teach your children that the weekly gathering is primarily about worshipping the triune God, and secondarily about loving others.

2.       Confess when you stop believing the purpose: When you start to think, “Man, I really did not get anything out of church this morning,” confess to your kids that you started to make worship about you and your preferences. We all do it. Don’t lead your family down a path that makes the weekly gathering self-centered.

3.       Disciple with the purpose in view: Use the purpose of the weekly gathering to guide your questions with your family. What about God did you enjoy most, or were you most thankful for this morning? Who were you able to bless or encourage this morning?

4.       Encourage with purpose: Use the purpose of the weekly gathering to encourage your kids: “Hey buddy, I saw you taking notes today, that is awesome that you are listening to the Lord.”

5.       Live the purpose: Do not allow the weekly gathering of believers to take a backseat to the family schedule. Make your family’s absence from weekly worship exceptional, not routine. 

6.       Enjoy the primary purpose: The pressure is off for you to “make” the weekly gathering appealing to your kids or anyone else. Praise God that we get a gathering each week that is not centered on man, but on the finished work of Jesus Christ! 

Behind the “why” question is a child wondering, “Is the weekly gathering worth my time?”

If the weekly gathering is primarily about the worship of God and the love of others, then the answer is an easy and emphatic, “Yes!”

Parents, we first must believe weekly worship is worth our time, not because of the product we consume, but because of the King we worship. 

Our weekly worship service is a response to the grace of God, a foretaste of the heavenly assembly where we will all ascribe glory to God in unison. In weekly worship we unite in our celebration of the finished work of Christ. We feast on God’s Word. We partake in Communion. We witness baptisms.

We go to church because God is worthy of our worship; we love Him because what He has done for us through Christ’s birth, life, death, and resurrection. The weekly corporate worship of God through the finished work of Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, is worth our lives, because Christ gave His life for us.

Persevere, Joey Turner Pastor of Student Ministries

A few weeks ago we explored the first of two distorted versions of discipleship: the idea that all we need to grow in Christ is the right intellectual content. When we reduce Christian discipleship to intellectual formation, we create an ugly caricature of what spiritual maturity looks like, mistaking mere knowledge for genuine spiritual growth.

This week we’ll look at another popular distortion of discipleship: my spiritual journey as the hero’s quest.

The hero’s quest is a popular motif in literature. We see it in stories as varied as The Odyssey, Pilgrim’s Progress, Huckleberry Finn, and Lord of the Rings. In a plot shaped by the hero’s quest, the hero is challenged to leave his familiar surroundings and go on a quest for some great cause (fame, redemption, rescue, justice, wisdom, etc.). In his journey he meets with resistance, is transformed in some way to overcome that resistance, and then returns home in triumph as a changed man or woman.

Many people view discipleship through the lens of the hero’s quest: we are each on our own solitary journey to God. The emphasis is on my own strengths and weaknesses, my own personal relationship with God… just “Jesus and me” on the lonely sojourn to the Promised Land.

We in the West are more easily deceived by this error than our brothers and sisters in Asian and traditional societies.

Why? Our individualistic approach to spiritual formation is baked-in; it is our cultural bias. This is part of James KA Smith’s “brains-on-a-stick” version of human personhood that I mentioned before: I interact with my environment as an independent entity. I need others only insofar as they help me meet my personal objectives.

It’s easy to see how this individualistic mindset does nothing to foster community. And because that mindset is so prevalent, our culture is experiencing a wide-spread abandonment of community institutions. This is especially alarming when we see the decline in church attendance and membership. While interest in spirituality is as high as ever, interest in spiritual community is on the wane. A whole generation has given itself to a “spiritual but not religious” mindset that caters to the notion of an individualistic quest.

Why don’t people want to belong to a fellowship of believers?

They don’t see the point. They know they can meet God in nature, they can read the Bible on their own, they can pray all by themselves, and if they want good teaching and preaching, the internet is a treasure-house of high-quality content.

In other words, people know they can pursue their spiritual goals as a solitary hero’s quest.

So what is the problem with seeing our spiritual sojourn as a hero’s quest? Like all dangerous ideas, this perspective is partly true. There is something individual and solitary about my experience with God: I am His unique creation, my discipleship pathway is unique, and I am solely accountable to God for my life. I live for Him as my Audience of One.

But in the hero’s quest mentality, we have the same problem as we have in a purely intellectual approach to faith: it reduces spiritual formation to a withered caricature. The hero’s quest vision of spiritual formation robs me and my spiritual family of something rich and deep that God has given to us in His Church.

When I was born again, I became part of a family, and I moved into a community of interdependence: I need what the family of God offers me, and the family of God needs me. 

Why “IADOM” Is All Wrong

When I was a teen, I was on a quiz team at church. Our coach noticed that several of the quizzers had figured out that a few smart team members could carry the team. These less talented quizzers were less engaged, less likely to contribute. After all, they didn’t think they had much to offer.

To counter that mindset, the coach printed out the five letters “IADOM” and mounted that sign in a prominent place where we would all see it every time we practiced and every time we competed. He wanted each of us to know that “It All Depends On Me.”

But while “IADOM” works in team sports, it doesn’t work in spiritual formation. While I have an active role to play in my spiritual formation, it doesn’t all depend on me. I am not a lone sojourner.

I am part of God’s family. And my brothers and sisters in Christ play an active and significant role in my spiritual growth.

I remember a pastor at another church telling us about a time in his life when he was so low and so discouraged that he couldn’t even pray for himself. He told us that’s when his friends came in and prayed for him; they didn’t just offer up intercessory prayers on his behalf, they stood in his place to offer prayers he was unable to offer for himself.

My spiritual journey is never solitary, and neither is yours.

We all travel – we trudge, we suffer, we triumph, we grow weary, we persevere – together.

No, I’m not alone on this journey, and it doesn’t all depend on me.

We depend on one another.

We need one another.  

Persevere, Paul Pyle Discipleship Pastor

a new book by Kevin DeYoung

I have recently come to realize that I probably won’t live long enough to read all the books I have now, much less the ones I continue to acquire. So I’ve made a decision: I don’t have time to read good books. From now on I want to read only great books.

Kevin DeYoung’s Impossible Christianity is one of those books. My wife and I read it recently, and it was hard to put down. 

When I read a book, I like to highlight important passages I want to remember. When I come across something really remarkable, I double highlight it by turning down the corner of the page.

Impossible Christianity is a great book, a six dog-ear book.

This, from the opening, lays out the problem:

Many Christians have resigned themselves to the fact—or at least it seems like a fact—that they will be failures as followers of Jesus. Forgiven, yes. Justified, yes. On their way to heaven, yes. But as disciples and Christians, nothing special…. We will do the best we can with our limited time, our limited ability, and our limited opportunities. And yet we will never have the requisite gifts to be truly successful…. We will never pray enough. We will never give enough. We will never share our faith enough. We will not renew our city. We will not repair all that ails our nation. We will not change the world.

He's speaking my language.

I suspect he’s speaking to many of my readers as well. And with that kind of start (and after that subtitle), I’m ready to hear what he has to say.

So many Christian books seem to be how-to explanations aimed at high achievers. Not this book:

Born again Christians are changed Christians. The change will be stumbling, imperfect, and full of temptation and struggle, but the change is nevertheless real, sincere, and discernible. This is not about pride. This is about believing that the amazing grace that saves a wretch like me is the same grace that leads me home.

DeYoung observes that part of the problem is our view of God.

Many Christians, me included, struggle to envision God as the Father who takes delight in us. We know quite rightly that our performance can never be enough to measure up, so it’s hard to imagine that God could actually be pleased with us. DeYoung deals with that perspective head on by distinguishing between two different ways God’s people relate to Him:

We have a tendency to so focus on God as Judge that we forget to relate to him as Father. Both ideas are important; one must not be used to flatten the other. The doctrine of justification is about God as our judge. We are guilty or innocent, condemned or declared righteous, on our way to heaven or on our way to hell. The relationship is binary: we are in, or we are out. Those are biblical categories.

But our relationship with God does not just exist in a courtroom; it exists in a family room…. As a father, God can be angry with his children, and he sometimes must discipline the children he loves. But as a father, God can (and does!) take delight in his children.

Where do I get the idea that it’s up to me to change the world?

In the age of the internet, where every day – every moment! – someone is urging us to be outraged about injustice, we need to hear the good news that we really aren’t responsible to change everything everywhere all at once:

It’s one thing for Christians to be told that they must repent of a specific sin (like racism or abortion), or even to be told that there is a particular unjust statute to be overturned (like Jim Crow or Roe v. Wade). It’s another thing to be told that we must repair the very fabric of society so as to eradicate sin or make it unthinkable. While specific Christians will be called to lead the way in specific areas of political or societal concern, it is unreasonable to demand that every Christian needs to say something or do something about everything.

And then, in what I think is the best sentence in the book:

There must be a way for followers of Jesus to hear, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant,’ apart from being political operatives, full-time bloggers, or community organizers.

Well said, Kevin.

And thank you.

As we offered last week, if I get a sufficient response, I will stock Impossible Christianity on the Discipleship Resource shelf.

Persevere, Paul Pyle  Pastor of Discipleship

I’ve been thinking lately about what it takes to grow in Christ. And I’ve been thinking that maybe we’ve been getting something wrong.

James KA Smith is quickly becoming one of my favorite writers. I’ve enjoyed delving into his thoughtful analysis of the intersection between American culture and Christian discipleship. One of his key ideas is that people are not just “brains on a stick.”

This “brains on a stick” version of human nature is why I thought for years that if you could change a man’s thinking, you could change the man altogether.

That rationale does make sense. Our view of reality dictates how we respond to life situations – whether or not we believe there is a God who is wise and good, whether or not we believe there is an objective difference between right and wrong – these and other basic worldview questions form the mental framework out of which we operate.

But I’m beginning to see a fatal flaw in that line of thinking:

We act as if we think that faith is all about ideas when it is also about stories, imagination, and desire.

I first wrote about this when I reviewed Smith’s book You Are What You Love (“Why It Matters That You Are What You Love,” August 10, 2022). When we assume that our intellectual life is the source of our spiritual formation, we end up with a cerebral sort of discipleship that emphasizes things of the mind but neglects other aspects of our personality. We are not merely thinking creatures, we are also – and maybe more importantly – imaginative creatures. We love to tell and hear stories.

This is why the “brains on a stick” approach to discipleship is so faulty. That model reduces human nature to a one-dimensional caricature, and it reduces our discipleship to a narrow stream aimed at the mind where God has provided an abundant river of resources aimed at the whole person.

I’m not saying that facts are unimportant. Facts are, in fact, essential. My point is that facts alone do not supply all we need for spiritual formation. Our souls must be fed alongside our minds.

Maybe that’s why so much of the Bible is composed of stories. Scripture crackles with narrative tension that arouses our imagination. Think of Jesus’ parables:

A man had two sons. The younger son went to his father one day and insulted him by asking for his share of the inheritance now…

A man on his way from Jerusalem was waylaid by bandits who robbed him, beat him, and left him for dead. Then came passers-by, who saw the man…

Or think of the historical narrative in Scripture:

David facing down the gargantuan Philistine bully…

Esther exposing Haman’s plot before the king…

The Gospel itself is historical. The story of Rabbi Jesus of Nazareth takes place in the same space-time continuum that we inhabit. But the Gospel is not just a set of historical facts. The story of Jesus is the cosmic turning point of a grand narrative that began as far back as the Garden of Eden, when God told our ruined parents that a descendant of our Mother, Eve, would crush the head of the serpent, Satan (Gen 3:16).

In other words, the Gospel is a spectacular story, the crucial turning point in a grand epic spanning all of human history, and we cannot reduce discipleship to a merely intellectual process without distorting it.

When we make our spiritual formation all about our minds, we not only twist God’s Truth into a nerdy caricature, we also make it possible to lie to ourselves by creating a checklist mentality about our spiritual growth: “I’ve mastered these doctrines, and I have this high level of biblical literacy, so I’m spiritually mature.” And in this way, we can keep God’s Spirit at arm’s length and hinder His sanctifying work in our lives. Exhibit A of this mindset: the scribes and Pharisees, experts in the Scripture but hard in their hearts.

In her book Teach Us to Want: Longing, Ambition and the Life of Faith, Jen Pollock argues that  humans are “desiring agents.” We are guided in life, she says, not just by what we believe but also – mainly – by what we love. “The business of following Christ,” says Pollock, “is about reorienting our loves and desires toward his kingdom. We need not just be convinced of Christ. We need to be captivated by him.”

God wants to change us utterly, not just intellectually.

He wants to capture not just our minds but also our hearts and passions. When we reduce spiritual formation to an intellectual process, we short-circuit development that should be holistic and all-encompassing and therefore exhilarating.

This affects how I read my Bible: Do I observe Scripture from a cool, detached perspective or do I dive into the text with my imagination open to experiencing all that God has for me? And it affects how I evangelize, how I describe the Gospel to an outsider: Do I present a series of bullet-points designed to persuade a customer to make a purchase or do I extend an invitation to a friend to join the glorious Kingdom of Jesus?

This has all been percolating in my mind over the past year. Look for more thoughts on this in the future.

In the meantime, if I get enough queries about Pollock’s book, I’ll put it on our Discipleship Resource shelf. We stocked Smith’s You Are What You Love and ran through those pretty quickly. I’ll also restock Smith if there’s enough interest. Let me know.

Next time we’ll consider another popular distortion of discipleship: Christianity as a hero’s quest.

Persevere, Paul Pyle Pastor of Discipleship

Over the past two weeks these posts have worked through Romans 12:1-2. This one will focus on Romans 12:3-8.

This week we are going to see that we are to have a mindset of humility amongst each other, not valuing anyone above another based upon attributes that we may like, prefer, or enjoy more than others. Not attempting to be like this world. Why? Because what we have, in this Christian new life, is a gift from God for a purpose, not a skill developed by us.

God saves us and gifts us that we might bless those around us, we must give our lives for the church and those around us.

In verse 1a Paul gives us the basis for his appeal, the mercies of God. In verses1b-2, his appeal is for  Christians to present their lives as living sacrifices. Verse 3 begins with his reasoning. Why? “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.” - Rom. 12:3-8

Be humble because we have all been given gifts in Christ. Be humble because all those gifts differ in many different ways. Paul is concerned with teaching the church in Rome humility and action. God gave the gifts to people so be humble. Also, God gave them to you, so use them! These gifts are God’s means of grace for building up his Church. 

In China they have implemented a social credit system. Bad driving and debt could get you downgraded in the social ranking system. Like private credit scores, a person's social score can move up and down depending on their behavior. A video was posted recently that showed a person getting a louder ring when they were contacted by someone with a lower credit score so everyone around you knows that you are being contacted by a person with a low social credit score. Social media, although in a free market in America is often times used the same way amongst people. People will ratio people online, dox them, or cancel them if they don’t like what they are saying. The world has always used shame, and with social media it only seems that fear of shame drives more and more of our world.

But, God has made a new people, for Himself, and these things ought not to be common with a group of people who have a new nature! Conformity to this world is to compare ourselves to others and to take pride in those we think we are better than. But, the Church, God’s people is a place of freedom from the worlds system. In Christ’ Church we are a people humble and free, not prideful and afraid. We are a people gifted to gift.

The people of God have all been gifted gifts in the Christian life, the greatest gift being Christ Himself. We are each gifted uniquely, and this is meant to humble us in relation to one another, not attempt to pay back the gifts, or compare the gifts, but to enjoy and use them. We must affirm the gifts we see in each other and glorify the Giver of the gifts. In light of God’s mercies, we must humbly give ourselves to one another. We must not be conformed to this world and its system of shame but be transformed by the renewing of our minds in this truth. Renewed in the reality that God has gifted us to use our gifts to bless those around us. We must live our lives for the Church and those around us and not for ourselves.

We have seen God’s mercies, we have seen our need for humility, and that God saves us and gifts us that we might bless those around us, we must give our lives for the church and those around us.

Without the mercies of God we walk through this life conforming to a worldly mindset that is set on ourselves, with our lives at the center. We will view our church family wrongly, and we miss out on the new mindset that can only come through Christ, one of humility, recipients of gift and willingly and joyfully sharing those gifts with one another. 

What mindset are you living with each day? What drives you when you come to church and interact with people, or think about what you will spend your time and money on? Paul shows that in Christ, God has given us a new mindset, one gifted to us through the mercy of Christ. Therefore, we must be humble and use our gifts to serve those around us.  

Persevere,                                                                                              Joey Turner                                                                                                                                 Pastor of Student Ministry

Recapitulation of last week’s Discipleship Weekly post: Because of the mercies of God in Christ we have a new mindset! Not a better mindset, not an improved mindset, a new mindset. God’s mercies bring transformation. Because of God’s mercies in Christ are transforming mercies, we must have a new mindset in this life. We have a new world view. We have a new way of seeing the world, and ourselves, everything. So, we need to become aware of this new mindset God has given us and live in it.

This week we are looking at Romans 12:1-2

What we see is that because it is God who gives us what we have, as recipients of God’s gifts we must associate with a posture of humility to those around us.

“Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:1b-2)

The end of verse 1 articulates the new mindset. We are to “present our bodies as living sacrifices.” Okay, what does that mean? Paul draws on the imagery here of the sacrifices of God’s people. God’s people had two different categories of sacrifices: mandatory and voluntary. The mandatory ones dealt with man’s sin in relation to God. They were atoning sacrifices for sin, intentional and unintentional. These have been fulfilled in Christ.

The voluntary sacrifices were burnt offerings to worship and express devotion and commitment. Then there were the grain/drink offerings that expressed thanksgiving, and the peace offerings that expressed thanksgiving and fellowship. All these sacrifices are fulfilled finally in Christ, but it is interesting to see Paul draw us back to the sacrifices of God to inform us of our new mindset in Christ.

But Paul does not call us to identify with the people making the sacrifices, but even with the animals being put to death. We are to present ourselves as living sacrifices to God. The member of the herd presents himself as a living sacrifice. The Christian life is both one of a priest and a sacrifice in one, for we find ourselves existing in the final priest and sacrifice, Jesus Christ.

The second verse goes on to command God’s people to not be conformed to this world, “but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Therefore, on the foundation of God’s mercies to us in Christ, we are to present our bodies as living sacrifices to God and not be conformed to this world. Just as God’s OT people were kept from conformity to the nations around them through the right worship of God, God’s New Covenant people will be kept from conformity to the world by the right worship of God. What is that right worship? Present yourselves as living sacrifices.

Paul articulates this mindset well in his letter to the Philippians. “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:5-8).

Renewal of our minds in these truths about who we truly are in Christ is what transforms, and a lack of renewal in these truths, or forgetting these truths, can easily lead to conformity to the world.

The other day my daughter and I saw a butterfly so big we thought it was a tiny bird. Consider the difference between a caterpillar and a butterfly. They are not the same. One comes before the other. One is considered ugly and the other beautiful. Paul is saying that the Christian needs renewal in their mind in the truth that we have been changed into a new creation, one who humbly and joyfully offers his life to God, because of the mercy He has shown us. Let us not run back to the old ways of living for ourselves, which is conformity to the world. We were never made to be sacrificed to or worshipped. We were made to worship.

Then we must renew our minds in this truth. We must not forsake gathering weekly to worship God and be renewed by His word with His people. And we are called to look for ways to encourage one another with the truth of God’s word.

God has given us what we have in Christ. We know that we did not deserve it, so that news humbles us and quickens us. We get to serve the Lord with these bodies that were otherwise destined for damnation. Instead of being enslaved to a life of world conformity our lives are to be lived to and for God. This mindset allows us to discern God’s will, a will that as we will see is focused loving God and loving others.

Persevere, Joey Turner Pastor of Student Ministry

In elementary school, Starter jackets were the thing that everyone wanted. The Starter jacket was a winter coat for each major NFL or NBA team. It had that team's colors and logo. Eastbay magazine sold Starter jackets for each NBA team along with basketball shoes, and I can remember combing those magazines circling my favorite shoes and jackets. My parents, busy investing their hard-earned money in private Christian education for their three kids, were more focused on whether I had a jacket.

My mom, not entertaining the ridiculous price of the Starter Jackets, but knowing I loved the Chicago Bulls, bought me a winter coat with the Chicago Bulls logo on it. I pretended to be grateful. It was a Bulls jacket, which was good, but it was not a Starter Bulls jacket. I remember I wanted to be like those guys with Starter jackets so much. I wanted to fit in. I wanted people to like me, and I thought I could get all of that from a winter coat.

I remember at recess one time people were being separated by the brand of their jackets and my best friend, who was also like the alpha male of the group, declared that my non-Starter jacket was a Starter jacket in his eyes, and because of that I got to hang out with the “Starter jacket” crowd.

This mindset I had as a kid is not much different than the one we can often have as teens or adults. We are tempted to want to fit in with the world around us, to view ourselves as better than those around us by comparison or conformity to what the world values. We feel like we must have a phone, a video game system, the right house, the right look, the right stuff. Further, we will not associate with certain people because we find them different, strange, uncomfortable.

We are still like the kids on the playground but in more sophisticated ways. Yet we find ourselves in a diverse setting, the church. We are a group of people from all types of backgrounds, socio-economic statuses, personalities, ethnicities, those who are new and unknown and those who have been here a while and have their group. And we still battle the temptation to live with the mindset that focuses on living to “fit in.”

Do we really want to be a church where we are living with this mindset?

No, we don’t.

In Romans 12:1-8 we are reminded that we have a new mindset in Christ because God’s mercies in Christ transform us; we must have a new mindset of service to the body of Christ. This week’s Discipleship Weekly is just going to home in on the first part of verse 1 of Romans 12.

Because God saved us by grace and mercy in Christ, we must have a new mindset.

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God,” – Romans 12:1a

His appeal is “by the mercies of God.” Paul has just spent the last eleven chapters describing God’s sovereign grace to sinners through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He appeals to these mercies as the source for the Christian to live with a new mindset.

Note that Paul’s appeal is not based on fear, punishment, or penalty, but God’s mercy. He is saying that we must have a new mindset because we are mercifully new.

The mercies of God are that man has been justified by grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Rom. 3:23-24). The mercies of God direct man to receive Christ’s atoning work by faith (Rom. 3:25). The mercies of God tell us that Christ died for us while we were still sinners (Rom. 5:8). The mercies of God save us from what our sin deserves and instead gives us eternal life in Christ (Rom. 6:23). Because of the salvation we have in Christ he works all things together for the good of those who are called by him for his purpose (Rom 8:38).

The lengths that God went to save us reveal not only His great love but also the bankruptcy of the mindset with which we were born. Paul’s appeal is not from a place of God’s judgment, but God’s mercies, His unfathomable grace.

You know that old pair of shorts you have that you love, but your wife and kids are embarrassed every time you wear them? Or that threadbare shirt from high school or college that reminds you of a time that is long gone. Every time you wear them, they develop more holes, and they are barely worth wearing for any intended purpose of covering the body. You don’t need a patch and thread; you need a new shirt! New clothes! What is so amazing is what Paul is appealing to, our merciful God. Our position before God has been eternally changed by His mercies.

As our hearts are so easily drawn to works, conformity, comfort, and effort, we need to listen and be drawn to the foundation of Paul’s appeal: God’s mercies.

Paul’s appeal to God’s mercies brings us all to the altar with the same position.

Unlike the different kinds of status in school and in the workplace, in the church we are not all on different levels of value; we are on the same level in God’s economy, all of us recipients of grace. Our joy for God’s mercies is our social status! We are tempted to want to fit in with the world around us, to view ourselves as better than those around us by comparison or conformity to what the world values.

But because God’s mercies in Christ are transforming mercies, we must have a new mindset in this life. We have a new world view. We have a new way of seeing the world, ourselves, everything.

So, we need to become aware of this new mindset God has given us especially in relation to each other.

Persevere, Joey Turner Pastor of Student Ministry

This post first appeared September 4, 2020. With the upcoming special election (Aug 8) and the high stakes ballot initiative in the November election, we thought this topic would be worth revisiting. Because of a radical prochoice ballot initiative slated for November, the elders are recommending a “yes” vote for Issue 1.

We define a “disciple” as “a Christ-follower who is constantly about the task of bringing every aspect of life into obedience to Christ.”

One aspect of life that thrusts itself upon us is how well we steward our opportunities as citizens.

There’s no quicker way to start a fight than to wade into the debate about the proper relationship between faith and politics. And the spectrum of opinions on this matter runs all the way from those who would insist that a faith perspective is entirely irrelevant to the political process (“leave your faith outside the voting booth”) to those who would argue that the role of the Church is to bring every human institution under the law of God (“theonomy” is the technical term for that view).

Most of us have no interest in either of those radical perspectives.

But there’s plenty to occupy (and divide) us in between those extremes, especially since our two-party system so often forces us to choose between two bad options. Because the systems of politics are operated by fallen men and women like us, it’s no surprise that politics can be messy and chaotic at best, and it’s no surprise how easily political strategies can bend toward manipulation, corruption, and oppression.

So what does it mean for a Christ-follower to bring the realm of his or her political involvement into obedience to Christ?

I think there are two over-lapping principles that apply:

1. The scope and method of our political involvement is a matter of personal conviction, not biblical mandate.

The question of how Christ-followers should use their political clout is not a matter of a direct biblical command; we simply don’t have chapter-and-verse guidance on how we ought to make choices in the voting booth.

Part of the problem is that Scripture was written not in the context of a participatory democracy but in the age of monarchies and empires. In the ancient Near East there was no political apparatus for the people to have their say in the appointing of leaders or the creation of laws, so we don’t find much biblical guidance about how we can steward our opportunities as citizens of a modern republic.

But it’s not just the silence of the Scriptures that comes into play here.

We also have the New Testament witness of Christ and apostles. Whatever we say about faith and politics must take into account how remarkably apolitical Christ and the apostles were.

Much of the opposition to Jesus in His day came from Jews who wanted a Messiah to turn the political world upside down, and He refused to do that. He was not opposed to paying the Temple tax, and He meekly submitted Himself to the atrocities of Roman justice, even though He could have called down angelic powers to deliver Him.

Jesus had little interest in overturning the oppressive Roman government. And His apostles followed suit, concentrating their efforts on church-planting and evangelism, even though they lived under the same brutal regime that had crucified their Master.

In fact, the apostles urged their people to comply as much as possible with civil authority (Rom 13:1-7; 1 Pet 2:13-17). The only time we see them resorting to civil disobedience was when they were specifically forbidden to do what Christ had commanded them to do, preach the Word (Acts 4:19-20; 5:29).

So absent a clear biblical mandate about how to participate in politics, we can see that questions about the scope and manner of our political involvement are largely a matter for the individual conscience of the believer.

This means that some Christ-followers will be called to throw themselves into the process professionally as political office-holders, others will take their quest for justice to the street in lawful protest, and most of us will do our duty by educating ourselves on the issues and voting according to our conscience. There is no one right way that we must all participate, and we must give one another room and grace to participate in the process as we see fit.

But this lack of biblical guidance doesn’t mean that participating in the political process is only an option for us because…

2. Political involvement is mandatory for Christ-followers.

Because we live in a nation where the people have a say in who governs us, Christ-followers have an obligation to participate in the process by which those leaders are chosen.

Here is where we do have clear guidance from God’s Word. Our Lord told us that the command to love our neighbor is second only to the command to love God. Of all people, Christ-followers ought to be the ones most consistently occupied with caring for the welfare of their neighbors. Unlike our brothers and sisters in the ancient Roman world, we actually can contribute politically to creating and maintaining the common good. And we have an obligation to use that power to help our neighbors.

Yes, politics can be ugly, and it is tempting to throw up our hands in despair and walk away from the turmoil. But staying out of politics isn’t an option if I love my neighbor and want what’s best for him and for my community. Out of love for my neighbor, I have the obligation to use the power of my vote to help make my community a better place for everyone.

And “everyone” includes everyone: people of color as well as the unborn as well as the immigrant who lives among us. I know, the two major parties have differing agendas here, but the Christian’s love for his neighbor compels him or her to wisely utilize the power of the vote.

Christians participating in politics out of neighbor-love are out of step with politics as we know it today.

Let’s face it, most political appeals are built on some clever combination of fear, outrage, and selfinterest. If we culled out all the political ads designed to appeal to our fear or anger or naked selfinterest, there wouldn’t be much political advertising left.

And those political appeals are precisely targeted. They know what we’re afraid of and what makes us angry, and they know how to appeal to our self-interest. I think we would be embarrassed if we knew how often and how successfully well-financed political campaigns influence the way we perceive the candidates and the issues.

Christians must participate in the political process, but not out of fear or outrage or mere self-interest. We have an obligation to wade into the messy business of politics out of love for our neighbors. It is not just in our best interests but also in the interests of the common good that we appoint wise leaders and advocate for just policies and laws.

This clarity about motives does nothing to simplify things, of course.

Even with the purest of motives, we are still often left with no really good options. Sometimes the best we can hope for is to hold our nose and choose the less objectionable of two bad choices.

But as ugly and distressing as politics can be, we simply don’t have the option of dropping out. We owe it to our neighbors to do what we can to see that good people are in power and good policies are in place.

If we are followers of Jesus, nothing about our lives falls outside the scope of His Lordship, including our political lives.

That is why each of us must examine our own hearts, examine the issues and the candidates, and engage in the political process as an act of love for our neighbors.

Persevere, Paul Pyle Pastor of Discipleship

“Razzle dazzle!” This is a phrase used by my church basketball coach in High School that meant, “do something fun with the ball” (e.g., a behind the back pass, or a no-look pass.)

“Kah-Kah” is a call I use with my kids to get their attention in public places. Though these expressions may mean nothing to you, they have meaning to me.

“May your greatest desire be to serve the Lord” another phrase from my memory, one my mother has said to me my whole life.

Repeated phrases stick with us, they form us, but only if we know what they mean.  

When it comes to some of Scripture’s repeated phrases a common one is “the fear of the Lord.” In Scripture the phrase “the fear of the Lord” is used over 300 times. Surely, God’s people were familiar with this phrase. Given its frequency we ought to contemplate what it means to “fear the Lord”so we can live it out and explain it well to our kids.  

Proverbs 1:7 states, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” 

But what is the fear of the Lord? Is it terror?

Dr. Mark Futato, Robert L. MacLellan Professor of Old Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary, describes the fear of the Lord as “Awe coupled with trust.” The more you know God, the more you stand in awe of him, and the more you trust him. The fear of the Lord is all encompassing; it involves our thoughts, our emotions, and our will.  

Consider the following translations of the passage in Exodus when God parted the Red Sea for His people to cross, and then closed the waters on the Egyptians as they followed the Israelites. Notice how the fear of God is coupled with trust in Him. 

ESV - Exodus 14:31 “Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.”

NLT – Exodus 14:31 “When the people of Israel saw the mighty power that the Lord had unleashed against the Egyptians, they were filled with awe before him. They put their faith in the Lord and in his servant Moses.” 

If you see a bad guy walking toward you, you turn the other way because you don’t trust a shady character. But the fear of the Lord drove the Israelites to trust (believe, put their faith in) God. The Israelites did not view God as a “bad” guy or fear him in ways that we fear “shady” characters, the fear of God is a type of awe that caused them to place their trust in God. 1 

Or consider these passages from the Psalms that show the effect the fear of the Lord has on us. When we place our trust in God and His promises (fear the Lord), we fear created things less.  

Psalm 112:7-8 “They do not fear bad news;
    they confidently trust the Lord to care for them. 
They are confident and fearless 
    and can face their foes triumphantly.”

Psalm 56:4 “I praise God for what he has promised. 
    I trust in God, so why should I be afraid? 
    What can mere mortals do to me?”

Not only will my fear of God keep me from fearing man, but it will also be the cause of others fearing God as well.  

Psalm 40:3 “He has given me a new song to sing, 
    a hymn of praise to our God. 
Many will see what he has done and be amazed. 
    They will put their trust in the Lord.“

The more you know God, the more you will be in awe of Him, and the more you are in awe of Him the more you will place your trust in Him. But the fear of the Lord is not just an emotional response; it is a gift of God to those who seek the Lord. Therefore, the fear of the Lord also involves our thoughts.  

Proverbs 2:5 states that those who seek wisdom from God in this life will find it and…  

“Then you will understand the fear of the Lord 

And find the knowledge of God.” (You gotta use your brain)  

In addition to our thoughts, the fear of the Lord also involves our will.  

Proverbs 3:7 “Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom. 
    Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil.”

To turn away from evil is to fear the Lord and be humble.  

Job 28:28 “And this is what he (God) says to all humanity: 
‘The fear of the Lord is true wisdom; 
    to forsake evil is real understanding.’” 

What does it mean to fear the Lord?  

To fear the Lord is to be in awe of Him and trust Him.   

To fear the Lord is to seek wisdom from God. 

To fear the Lord is to forsake and turn away from evil.  

Repeated phrases stick with us, they form us, given we understand what they mean. May we continue to grow in the fear of the Lord and teach the fear of the Lord to our kids.  

1 Rejoice and Tremble: the Surprising Good News of the Fear of the Lord by Michael Reeves 

Persevere, Joey Turner Pastor of Student Ministries

This post was first published May 31, 2019.

It was the first thing John proclaimed when he began his ministry of preparing the way for the coming of Jesus: “Repent!” And it is still true: when God’s Spirit first makes us aware of our broken and fallen condition, we come to realize that the only way forward is to turn around. Repentance is the necessary first step to enter the Kingdom of God.
 
But repentance is not just the first step in our spiritual journey; it is our constant companion along the way. Because we so consistently sin and fail, there is a constant need to repent, not only with God but also with one another. In fact, the healthiest relationships involve a lot of confessing and repenting and forgiving.
 
But not everything that looks like repentance is genuine repentance. We’ve all heard enough celebrity “apologies” to know that sometimes what is presented as repentance is sometimes only a cloying substitute; sometimes it’s nothing more than blame-shifting and excuse-making and comparison. For myself, I noticed that it’s easy to lie to myself, to tell myself that I am repenting when I’m only doing what is necessary to manage my guilt and mitigate the consequences of my actions.
 
What does genuine repentance look like?

I heard it said once that genuine repentance involves two steps: confessing and renouncing.
 
When we confess, we are calling our sin what it is and abandoning our well-rehearsed excuses. To confess wrongdoing to God or to someone I’ve offended, I must describe my actions and my character in unflinchingly realistic terms. I strip off the varnish of self-respect and own up not only to what I’ve done but also to the character defect behind it. I will speak of being impatient or self-absorbed or careless or arrogant; I will admit that I jumped to conclusions, that I didn’t listen carefully, that I wasn’t being honest.

The person I’ve offended (God or man) already knows these things about me. I am only acknowledging what we both know to be true. When I confess, I own up to my guilt without excuse.
 
It’s true that when we confess our sin to one another, restoration may not happen immediately. If our offense is deep or long-standing, it may take a long time to rebuild a broken relationship with a brother or sister.

But this is not true with God; He is eager to restore our broken fellowship when we come to Him in humility and repentance. Think of His glorious promise! “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). So long as we refuse to frankly acknowledge and admit our sin before God this is a promise that is out of our reach.
 
But if we think we’re finished with repentance when we confess, we deceive ourselves.

We have not actually repented until we renounce our sin. Jesus used the language of hyperbole to describe what it means to renounce our sin: “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell” (Matthew 5:29-30).

Notwithstanding history’s long, sad testimony of half-blinded and one-handed men who have taken him literally, Jesus wasn’t speaking of actually maiming ourselves. But he was telling us to be ruthless with our sin and with the opportunity to return to it. For me to renounce sin is to regard it with loathing, to put as much distance as possible between me and it. So long as I allow myself the luxury of flirting with temptation, I am not renouncing my sin.
 
Sure, there are easier ways to “repent.”

I can layer my confession with dignity-saving caveats. And I can keep temptation on speed-dial. But until I confess my sin (call my sin what it actually is) and renounce my sin (treat it with the hatred and contempt it deserves), my repentance is nothing more than window-dressing.
 
God give us the grace to recognize our sin and to repent: to acknowledge our sin in genuine confession and to renounce it decisively.    

Persevere Paul Pyle Pastor of Discipleship