The "Sex Positive" Movement (Walt Mueller)

This article is very helpful to understand what’s going on. You might be shocked at what’s happening in culture but we need to know about this. Here is an excerpt:

Psychologist David Yarian, a proponent of the sex-positive movement, says, “Fundamentally, I think sex positivity is about looking at sex through the lens of natural playfulness and curiosity that has no strict agenda, judgment, or pressure.” Another proponent, sex therapist Vanessa Marin, says, “Being sex-positive means you get to declare, ‘This is my body. This is my life. These are my desires.”

With sex-positivity being taught both implicitly and explicitly as foundational in today’s school-based comprehensive sex education, the beliefs our kids hold are being shaped in ways that will yield behavioral evidence, now and for the rest of their lives, that they personally choose sex-positive. And with pop culture reinforcing the sex-positive message, along with elevating the self to a position of final authority on all matters of life, the message is convincing and clear. Sadly, the sex-positive movement sees traditional biblical sexuality as sex-negative.

The movement holds that “sex-negativity has been a yoke upon civilization for nearly ten thousand years, hoisted upon us by dominator/patriarchal culture as a system of control and exploitation.” But nothing could be further from the truth. The Christian knows that true human freedom and flourishing come when we live into and under the authority of God, choosing to see sex and gender as good gifts from a God who offers a resounding and celebratory “YES!” to sex and gender as He established them at creation. The reality is that God is completely “sex-positive”!

For the full article, click here.

Should My Child Have A Phone?

It’s that time of the year again where many parents are asking whether their child should have a phone or not. It needs to be clear that this question falls in the realm of Romans 14 and Christian freedom. My job is not to make your decision. My job is to help you think through certain questions and facts to help you come to your own decision.

I have my own personal opinions but, let’s be honest, I’m sure that by the time I have teenagers that my opinions might change. Also, who knows what the newest technology will be in 15 years? The point of this is to help you think about what a phone does, how necessary is a phone for you child, and what can be accessed through a phone. I will offer some wisdom based on what I have seen other parents do well in and what I have seen that doesn’t work very well. In all this, I am speaking from experience of looking at our own students from close up for 5 years, from looking at another church’s students for 2 years (the church I was at before coming to POPC), and from hearing countless accounts from other youth workers across the country. This is also taking into account the rising stats in youth culture from books such as Jean Twenge’s seminal work iGen. For another helpful article by Jean Twenge, check out “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?”

The question is not: Are phones bad or good? We also shouldn’t be going to the extreme and never letting them get acquainted with a cell phone. Sooner or later, they will and they need to know how to rule over it (Gen. 1:28). It’s not about saying no to everything in the world. It’s about showing them how to tame the things in the world through a gospel-centered worldview. If we are going to help prepare our kids for college, where they will have complete access to everything, then we need to think wisely about how we prepare them for the use of technology.

Ask Yourself…

1. Is this the right time for my particular child?
   Don’t look at what other kids are doing. Think about your particular child in their particular situation. Your child will certainly give you the “but so-and-so has a phone” speech. Matter of fact, they will most certainly hound you with that speech. You need to hold strong and ask if this is the right time for your child (not what others are doing). You need to ask if this is the right time for this particular child of yours. Are they ready?

2. What kind of phone should they start out with?
   Learning to use a phone is like learning how to build and maintain a fire. It wouldn’t be wise to hand your child a can of gasoline when they’re first learning how to build a fire. Sin is worse than a physical fire and it burns much worse. Kids are getting burned by sin coming by the use of cell phones constantly. It might be wise to start them out slow. Make them earn your trust. Maybe start them out with a “dumb phone”. Maybe start them out with an iPod that can text on Wifi. Figure out what works for you and your family. Plus, it might not be most wise to break the bank buying the latest smartphone. What kind of precedent with that show your child? Speaking from experience, I have seen many students (at several different churches, including ours) fall into grievous sin because their first phone was a smartphone that had no restrictions on it. These kids are not those who grow up in godless homes. They are the kids who have godly parents and care about their children. All kids are totally depraved. Anyone is capable of any sin, including those in godly homes. It is very sad to see students who have hardened their hearts and draw away from the church because of the sin that they indulge in via their cell phones.

3. What restrictions should they have on their phone?
   One night at a session meeting, I was giving a presentation on youth culture to the elders. One elder asked me about phones and what restrictions worked. Another elder then asked, “Should my child have a dumb phone at first?” I decided to answer by giving a visual example.
   In front of the whole session, I opened up my phone for them all to see. I showed them that I didn’t have any Web Browser on my phone. I didn’t have Safari, Google Chrome, or even Covenant Eyes. I didn’t even have access to the App Store to download one of those apps. There is not a single app on my phone that will take you to a Web Browser. So, it seemed.
   I opened up a harmless app—the Premier League Soccer app. I scrolled to the bottom of the app where there was a hyperlink to Twitter. Once again, I don’t have Twitter on my phone. I don’t even have a Twitter account anymore. Regardless, when I clicked the link, a window opened up within the app that gave me access to Twitter. From there, I could search any profile I wanted and even get to Google so that I could search all that I wanted. There is no web blocker that could keep a history of what I look at. There was nothing stopping me from getting there. And the kids know how to do this.
   Here is the thing: You can do this on many apps. The kids know how to do this too. So, why do I tell you this? I tell you this to remind you that restrictions are important. Do not neglect restrictions. But, restrictions can’t keep everything out. Kids are so smart with how to work around an app to get to the Internet. As a youth staff, we are constantly hearing about how kids can get around the latest restrictions.
   This is what you need to keep in mind. Merely having restrictions on your child’s phone won’t change their heart. You need to pray that the gospel changes their heart. It’s not enough merely to put up restrictions and never check their phone. You need to be asking them questions and taking up their phone to look at what’s going on. Don’t give them any warning about it. Their conscience is going to be the ultimate restriction. If their conscience isn’t bound by the gospel then they will find a way to get to what their sinful heart wants.

   By the way, don’t forget that they know their friends who don’t have restrictions and they can see things off their phone too.

4. Should I let them have their phone in their room at night?
   Based on what we’ve seen and when kids typically look at pornography, send or receive nude pictures, or send scandalous messages, I would say that it’s not wise to let your child keep their phone in their room at night by themselves. You know your child but make sure you don’t forget that temptation is very powerful and can attack any child. It only takes one image to cause someone to lust. It only takes one suggestive picture, video, or song to send them down a trail hunting for my teasing images that lead to sin.
   Nowadays, students don’t have to ask for nude pictures. In many cases, they just appear in your inbox. It’s crazy, but this is happening and it’s happening with people you least expect it from.
   My advice would be that you take your child’s phone up at night. It not only protects them from temptation but it also helps them rest. I cannot tell you the last student I have come across who tells me that they consistently get 8 hours of sleep at night (which is the minimum of sleep they should be getting at their age). More often, students are getting only 4-6 hours of sleep. Matter of fact, it’s seen as a bragging right to other students if you only sleep 2-4 hours a night! It makes you look like people always want to talk with you or that you work really hard. Taking up your child’s phone at night will help them sleep. Sleep will help them battle against anxiety and despair.
   For many different reasons, take their phone up at night and put it in a place where they can’t just come out of their room to get it. That’s my advice. Whether you do it or not is up to you and we are not to judge. My advice is to think wisely about how to help your child most.

Conclusion

It’s helpful to ask what other parents are doing. It would be good to ask many parents what they’re doing. Don’t try to copy and paste what someone else is doing into your family but think about how those good practices might be applied to where your family is and what they’re going through. Some will be more strict and some will be more relaxed. Be careful when you make judgments. Wrestle with every view, including mine, and figure out if it works for your family or not. The biggest thing is to be thoughtful with your child’s eternal soul. It is not to be taken lightly.

If you have any suggestions or insights, send them my way. I would love to continue the conversation with you. If you think I’m wrong, then please come sharpen me as someone who is trying to help parents out with their children. We need to continue to learn from y’all! We would welcome your feedback on ways in which you think you have done it well and not so well as it comes to technology.

But, remember this: There is grace for failures. All of us are going to fail in this realm. We are not immune to this. You need to remember that even if you failed there is grace and redemption for you. You have to remember this or your failures will bury you with guilt and shame. There is forgiveness, cleansing, and new life in Christ. Run to Him!

Luke 1:1-4 (A Devotional Commentary)

Intro

No one is like Jesus. The man that lived 2,000 years ago has everything to do with us today. God deserves to be praised by the whole host of angels and the elect for all eternity merely for the fact that He preserved for us the Gospel according to Luke. Here, we see Jesus the Son of God who came for sinners and sufferers. No, Luke is not the only Gospel account but there are those distinct flavors that Luke gives us that leave us in a holy awe. Luke loves to set forth a Jesus who comes for the poor, broken, outcast, and sinner. He loves to highlight biblical-theological themes such as the Sabbath, the Gentiles, and the Holy Spirit. Beale & Gladd, in The Story Retold, say that the purpose of Luke is to show that Jesus is “the Spirit-anointed king, [who] overthrows Satan and his minions that enslave Israel and the nations in bondage of sin” (Beale & Gladd p. 100).

In this devotional commentary, I have decided not to comment on every word or phrase but simply those that seem to stand out and contribute to the main point of the text. The goal is that you might be able to take this and use it for your own devotions. I have tried to provide some exegetical insights but in such a way that is edifying. In other words, I’m trying to ask the question, “Why does it matter that this word is written in this way?” After the commentary, I have written an application section that you can use to apply to your own life.

Commentary

• (v1) Luke writes with certainty that the things of Jesus happened. It’s almost as if he takes it for granted that they’re historical. There is no sense of questioning whether these things happened or not. It’s a matter of what they mean and what they mean for the world. This word for “have been accomplished” is a perfect passive participle meaning that what has definitely happened in the past has everything to do with us today. In other words, the things of Jesus that happened thirty years prior still have massive consequences for Luke, his audience, and even us today. It’s like he’s saying, “Buckle up because everything that I am about to tell you about what was accomplished back then has everything to do with you right now.”

• (v2) The fact that Luke mentions that there were eyewitness accounts strengthens what he is trying to say. There is no doubt that these things happened. It’s not a matter of if they happened but rather how will we respond to them? Luke lived in an eyewitness world. That was their main source of documenting historical events. It was a reliable way of telling the truth. These eyewitness accounts were not to be hidden so that no one could back up what Luke was saying. They were to be sought out, as Luke himself sought them out, in order for everyone to see that this really is true. Remember, as Joshua Foer talks about in Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything, that the art of memory recall was essentially a virtuous trait back then. It was something people highly valued. “A strong memory was seen as the greatest virtue since it represented the internalization of a universe of external knowledge…Indeed, the single most common theme in the lives of the saints—besides their superhuman goodness—is their often extraordinary memories” (Foer p. 96). In other words, if you had a good memory of true events then you were a very important person.

• (v2) These “ministers” are more so “servants” of the word. They serve the truth to us like faithful butlers in the master’s house. 

• (v3) “It seemed good to me also” → This seems to piggyback off of the fact that there were others who “served” the word. Luke is wanting to serve as well. He is not doing this for selfish gain or political power. Indeed, this would most likely only endanger his life. When he says “it seemed good”, he means really that “it seemed best”. What could possibly be better than writing down an account of the most important person who ever lived on this earth? Even more so, what could be better than to write a Gospel account of the only Savior for wretched sinners? It’s so good that we could look over and over and over at Luke’s Gospel account and never get bored. 

• (v3) Also, notice this. Luke says that he has followed all things closely for some time. What does he mean? The BDAG lexicon says this word has been used in phrases such as: “to pay careful attention to something in a segment of time, to follow a thing, to follow a course of events, to take note of”; “one well acquainted with the affairs from the very beginning”; “I bring my charges as one who has accurate knowledge and has followed everything”; “personal acquaintance as opposed to information secured second-hand”. Isn’t that beautiful? Luke is saying that he is not making this stuff up. This word is a perfect, active, participle which conveys to us, once again, that these are past events that have everything to do with us in the future. This Gospel account is not just a history book in which people may approach it with a “take it or leave it” mentality. You are confronted with its truth. You are compelled to make a decision. You are face to face with the ultimate reality of all things. How awesome must this Jesus be?

• (v4) Why is Luke writing to Theophilus? He wants him to have “an orderly account...that you may have certainty”. Theophilus seems to have heard some of this already but Luke is giving him more certainty that it’s true. Luke thinks it’s worth all his hard work to compile this account so that Theophilus might have a thorough understanding of Jesus. Luke wants him to grow in his knowledge of Jesus. Isn’t that eternal life (Jn. 17:3)? Our problem is not that we know too much. Our problem is that we know too little about Jesus. We need to grow in our knowledge of Jesus!

Application

Isn’t this where spiritual warfare from the dark lord can come in? He can tell us that the works of Jesus back then don’t apply to us today. He can say, “That was just for them back then. You’re a different case. You can’t trust what you see in this gospel account.” Doesn’t the world tell us the same thing?

Doesn’t the world say, “How can you know that’s true? You can’t trust that Bible. Our Enlightenment gurus have already shown us that the Bible isn’t accurate.”

Isn’t this also what the flesh tells us? We throw our own doubts and unbelief in the mix as well. “Jesus may have forgiven that woman in Luke 7:36-50 but I don’t know if He will forgive me. I know Jesus told the parable of the Father running after His sinful children in Luke 15 but I don’t know if that applies to me today. I’ve done too much. I’ve used my last straw.”

Don’t you see how important these verses are for us? These things have everything to do with us today. They don’t wait for us in heaven. They apply to this life and this realm. It applies in this world with these people. In other words, by faith, you can claim these. Even more so, by faith, you must claim these! They are yours in Christ! The dark lord knows they are yours and that’s why he wants to keep you thinking that “maybe, just maybe” they don’t apply to you. 

How Should Christians Approach Sports?

After preaching this past Sunday night, I received several questions that had more to do with the particulars. There is a reason why I tried to stay away from particulars. My goal in the sermon was to ask one question: Do you have an idol of sports? The entire goal was to put us before the Law of God (specifically, the first commandment) and to see how we need Christ.

I don’t think it’s helpful to give personal opinions in a cloudy area in a sermon but I do think it’s helpful in other platforms. After all, as Haddon Robinson says, “More heresy is preached in application than in Bible exegesis." That language is pretty strong and I might disagree with some of what he says, but I do understand his point. We need to be careful about how we apply the Bible whenever we preach, “Thus says the LORD.”

This is a more appropriate follow up for some of those particulars. The following are my personal opinions on some of the more popular questions I have been asked over the many years of playing sports.

1. What about the Sabbath and sports?
   There are tons and tons of questions that fit under that principle. What about professional sports? What about travel sports? What about youth sports on Sunday? That is a totally different blog. All I will say is this. There are many good solid Reformed theologians who take different views of the Sabbath. You will have to embrace your view as well. But, to be sure, do not adopt your view based on what is most convenient for you. What does the Bible say? If the Bible says that, embrace it and apply it to sports.
   The overall rule: If sports are consistently taking you away from worship and the life of the church then you need to rethink the way you approach sports.
   To be sure, we need to be careful when we make hard and fast rules. For instance, think about your view of the Sabbath and how it pertains to professional athletes and coaches. Professional sports do not determine the doctrine but the doctrine should determine the Christian’s approach to sports but make sure you think graciously and wisely about that. But, also think about this: How does that same view apply to our military when they are deployed and away from church for many months?
   Be careful about making this about certain rules and merely getting in line with the rules. Make it about the heart of the Sabbath.

2. Can I spend money on trainers to help my child improve?
   Yes! Matter of fact, send them to me! (Shameless plug.) I love training athletes. I am constantly trying to train guys and girls. Why? Because I know that’s an opportunity to help them in sports and to apply the gospel to sports.
   I have had many conversations with athletes about their gospel identity while I am training them hard. Plus, I love to have an excuse to yell really loud. If you want to be entertained, come watch me train Wide Receivers.
   In all seriousness, yes, you can spend money on trainers. It is not an ungodly thing to do. The question is: Why? Why are you wanting to do this? Is it because you have to have a child who is successful in sports? Is it because your child has to live in light of your athletic prowess? Why do you want to do this? Is this training taking them away from church?
   Also, how much money are you spending? Is it hindering your tithing? Is it hindering your responsibility to pay bills and support your family?
   Yes, it is totally fine to pay for training but just be wise. Search your heart and your child’s heart for the why question. Matter of fact, that’s really how I will answer a lot of these questions.

3. Can my child play football or an extreme sport?
   Depends. What condition is your child’s body in? How old are they? What extreme sport is it? This is not a moral or ethical decision but rather a situation-by-situation decision. I played football. My son most likely will play football. Will I force him? No. Will he want to? Maybe. Is he allowed to be a defensive back? Absolutely not! (I say that facetiously. If you know me, you’ll understand my love for “Wideouts”.)
   Think about how big and how fragile your child is before they enter that sport. For my parents, I waited until 6th grade. I broke my collar bone that year. That’s why I hated to play defense. But seriously, I had an injury in an injury-prone game. Was I ready to play football then? I think so. Should I have waited? Maybe? Who knows? Each parent must come to their different conviction. This is not a moral issue. This is a wisdom issue.

4. What does it look like to be competitive and work hard as a Christian?
   There is a grand difference between hard work and idolizing. As Mark Brown so wisely said to me yesterday, “You can just smell it when it’s there.” I think he’s right. It’s not always the easiest to tell to the naked eye but when someone is idolizing sports, it just seems to stand out.
   Athletes should work hard in sports. We dishonor God and don’t love our teammates when we slack off. But, there is a difference between being competitive and hard-working versus idolizing sports. You need to search your own heart. You need the gospel continually before you. Here are some probing questions: If sports were taken away from you, would you be really sad or would you be full-on depressed? What makes you most anxious in life? Is it how you perform? What gives you your identity? Is it Christ or your performance?

5. What if sports is your job? How does that affect time, thoughts, and money?
   We need to be careful whenever we make hard and fast rules about how much time and thoughts we put into sports. Does this apply to coaches or athletes when it’s their job? The real question is: Can you stop thinking about sports and think about the gospel? Can you bring the gospel into your working world? Are you preoccupied more with your performance than you are with the Person and Work of Christ for you? Is corporate worship still prioritized?
   If sports is your job, you should be thinking a lot about sports! It’s honoring to God that you do so. But, like any other job, if it grabs your affections more than anything else then you’re idolizing it. Is God really God to you? Or, is sports? That’s the heart question. What really controls your life? Who do you really answer to?

6. How do I know when sports is becoming an idol?
   I’ve been answering this in each one. I think there are many indicator lights to answer this. Once again, Mark Brown was spot on when he said to me, “Who do we answer to?” That’s the question. In the end, who do we answer to? Do we rest in our sports performance or in Christ? Do we give ultimate allegiance to Christ or to sports? Who do we obey? Who do we follow? What is our confidence in? When sports is said and done, can you really give it up? Do you live in the past? Are you inseparable from your identity on the court?

7. What if my child is on a team that is filled with very ungodly people?

   Awesome! What an opportunity! Now, be careful though. Make sure you keep talking to your child. Watch their heart. They still need a godly community. But, what an opportunity! Show them how to live out and speak the gospel to their teammates. Often times, teammates are very vulnerable in the locker room. There are so many opportunities to give someone gospel hope whenever things don’t go right for another athlete. This shouldn’t be their primary community but must be an important one. Take advantage of this! Your child shouldn’t get to the end of a season without their teammates knowing they’re a Christian. That doesn’t mean they’re obnoxious about it. Rather, we need to be winsome. We need to speak the truth in love.

8. Is it wrong to play multiple sports?
   No. Playing multiple sports is great! They can learn so many different things playing multiple sports. The real questions are: Are the multiple sports keeping them from the church? Why are you playing multiple sports? Is it for self-glory?
   Is it wrong to play multiple sports? No. But, make sure to keep a gauge on your child’s heart. Is this teaching them that sports are the most important thing in life? This differs from child to child. Also, maybe playing multiple sports is actually hurting your family. Maybe it’s not the most practical thing. Maybe for other families, it’s very practical. There are some kids who should be playing sports all year because it’s not very good for them to stay idle.

9. Is it wrong to be an avid supporter of a sports team?

   Absolutely not! I love Tulane, Troy, Manchester City, and the New England Patriots. The question is: Is your identity in these teams? Here are some questions you can ask yourself: Do I get inordinately angry when my team fails? Am I treating the players and coaches as real people in need of Jesus or are they animals playing a sport for my slavish delight? Is my week more determined by the schedule of my favorite sports team or by the covenant community? Does my love for a sports team cause me to hate supporters of other teams? Am I spending too much money in support of this team?
   Supporting teams is a great thing! Matter of fact, I think it’s a common grace that should teach us about supporting our local church through the highs and lows.

At the end of the day, who is Lord of your life? What is the gospel? Is it that Jesus Christ lived, died, and rose from the dead? Or is it sports?

If The Bible Is The Word Of God, What Should We Do With It?

This is a star without a speck; a sun without a blot; a light without darkness; a moon without its impaleness; a glory without a dimness. O Bible! it cannot be said of any other book, that it is perfect and pure; but of thee we can declare all wisdom is gathered up in thee, without a particle of folly.

-Charles Spurgeon

The Bible is amazing. I, myself, wish I knew this more. The Bible is the inspired, inerrant, authoritative Word of God. It is sufficient, relevant, and applicable to all of life. The fact that is has withstood thousands of years of the most intense persecution and only multiplies gives forth its supernatural character. Someone is behind the preservation of it.

But, what is our attitude towards it? In an age of increasing biblical illiteracy among solid evangelical churches, what is our relationship with the Bible? If the Bible is God’s Word, what should we do with it?

1. Read It!
   It is stunning how many Christians profess that the Bible is God’s Word and yet how few of us know it! If the Bible is God’s Word then we must read it. There is no other application more important than this. At the most basic level, what does every Christian do? They read the Bible. The Bible is how we grow in faith. The Bible is how we come to know God.
   Christians in centuries past who didn’t have access to Bibles were dying that people would read it to them. Men and women died to have the Bible accurately translated into their native tongue. They would commit it to memory if they didn’t have 24/7 access to it. They would study it zealously. But, in the 21st Century, it’s hard enough for us to get off Instagram and Facebook merely to open up the Bible.
   There is no book that contains the beauties and wonders that the Bible contains. No book has the rich spiritual gold that the Bible has. The Bible does not contain the Word of God; the Bible is the Word of God. Read it!
   What other book tells us so much of Jesus? What other book is so pure of the gospel? Other men and women merely write books about the Bible. The books that light our hearts on fire most are books that explain the Bible best.
   Let me give you an explanation of what one of my seminary professors recently told us. What’s the difference between man and dust? The breath of God. God made man from the dust and breathed life into him (Gen. 2:7). The breath of God causes something inanimate to become dynamically animate. The breath of God brings life, purpose, identity, and joy. It brings a relationship with God.
   Now, what is the difference between the Bible and other books? The breath of God. 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God.” Robert Mounce says, “Scripture is ‘God-breathed.’ The word occurs nowhere else in the Bible. It means that Scripture is the product of God’s creative breath. As God formed man from the dust of the ground and “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life” so that “man became a living being” (Gen. 2:7) so it is that God’s breath has turned lifeless words on paper into a living utterance. Had God not breathed life into the words of the prophets they would have been no more than the words of men. As it is when we read the prophets we find ourselves confronted with God Himself who speaks to us directly through what was written by chosen men of old.”
   There are no devotional books, no Christian living books, no doctrinal books, and no commentaries that replace the Bible. Authors are only worth their gold if they explain what The Author has said. We are living in an age where anything that remotely smells of pseudo-Christianity is adopted as something inspired. There is a reason why John Kwasny is teaching a Sunday School class on “Bad Books” because it is so rampant even in the best churches.
   Nothing matches the Word of God. If it is God’s Word, read it!

2. Meditate On It
   That which is most sweet to us stays on our minds. Those experiences that are so meaningful to us are the stories we tell most. If the Bible is the Word of God, we must spend time meditating on it. The Bible is a rich dish of food. It’s not something you shovel into your mouth so that you can get it over with. The Bible is something that should be savored. You should try to point out all the different flavors to it. It’s when you meditate on the Bible that you turn to your neighbor and say, “You’ve got to try this!”
   If the Bible is God’s Word, one of the most important things we can do in life is find times (whatever works for you) to slow down and limit distractions so that we can meditate on God’s Word. Practically, what does this look like? One thing that has often helped people is to take a portion of the Bible and write down 20-30 thoughts on that one portion. Many times, when you get to about 10-15 it gets much harder. This requires you to meditate even more on the truth.
   Ask these questions of the Bible: What is the Bible trying to say? How is the Bible saying it? Why did the author want to say that truth to those people back then? How does that apply to us today? How is the text leading me to the Person and Work of Jesus?

3. Give It To Others
   If the Bible is God’s Word, give it to other people. Don’t let them just assume what the Bible says. If they have questions, show them what to read. If the Bible is no ordinary book, if the Bible is God’s Word, if the Bible is heavenly dynamite then give it to someone for them to read. Read it with them. Let the Bible speak for itself!
   There are countless of conversions that happen merely because someone has to read the Bible for themselves. Matter of fact, no one is ever converted without the truth of Scripture. Don’t you see this? If everyone is converted by the Bible (in one way or another) then give them a Bible!
   To be sure, not every is converted when they read. It’s not in the mere physical and mental act of reading that converts them. It’s when the Holy Spirit takes the living and active Word of God and causes a spiritually dead person to come alive to the truth is when conversion happens. Dead people read the living Bible and come alive by the infinite power of the eternal Holy Spirit.
   What is one of the best evangelistic activities you can do? Offer to read the Bible with an unbeliever. We worry too much about making sure we know all the answers to apologetics, worldview, and ethics. We want to make sure we can answer questions in a scientifically true way. We are so easily distracted. Knowing apologetics, worldview, and ethics is very important but let the Bible speak. Apologetics never converts someone. Worldview never converts someone. Ethics never convert someone. The Gospel is the power of God for salvation. The Bible tells us of this gospel.

6 Reasons Why We Need A Reformation In The Sports World

Few things are as untamed by Christians as sports. Few areas of life have the gospel unapplied to it like sports. We are desperate for thoughtful Christians to reform their approach to sports. Without wasting any more time, here are 6 reasons why:

1. Prosperity Gospel
   Much of the “Christianity” and “gospel” that is presented in the sports world is of a genie-like God (more like “god”) who wants nothing more than for you and your team to be successful. He wants you to stay safe and uninjured. He wants you to win every game and always be a good sport. And, of course, He likes your team more than He likes the other team—but, we’re still going to be nice to them.
   I’ve been around it, heard it, and still witness it. From parents to team chaplains, from players to coaches, this is rampant in the sports world. It’s amazing how evangelicals so quickly adopt a sports version of the health, wealth, and prosperity gospel as soon as they step onto the field.

   When is the last time you’ve heard a pregame prayer when someone prayed: Father, do whatever it takes tonight to cause us to be less self-reliant and more dependent on you. Do whatever it takes to make an eternal impact on our souls. If we win, if we play well, don’t let it take away our love for Christ. If we lose, if we don’t play well, expose our idols and cause us to love each other even when we lose.
   Often times, not all the time, far more work is done for eternity when someone gets hurt, plays bad, or gets benched. One of the most dangerous things for someone’s heart is if they always succeed, only win, and are nothing but beloved by the fans.
   For high school sports, it’s often the parents (and even Christian parents sometimes) who can be the worst. God is always good when their children are doing well. Yes and amen when God gives us victory! But, when we lose, God isn’t talked about. If He is, it’s often in a pseudo-Christian way of thinking that God wants us to suffer a little loss first before He puts our team and career back on top. We don’t like a God who allows us to lose every game.

2. Identity Issues
   I have seen teammates who put their identity in sports react in different ways whenever sports fails them. First, they go off the deep end into alcohol, pain killers, sex, or other drugs. Second, they dig even deeper demanding that sports satisfy them. They cannot stand to think of life without sports or without succeeding in sports. Third, they fall into despair and anxiety quicker than the dew evaporates in a New Orleans summer. Fourth, they are bitter towards teammates and slander them in front of others. Fifth, they have no clue who they are whenever sports are done.
   Countless athletes and coaches put their identity in their performance (only another form of works-righteousness). I have been there numerous times too. One of the best things that God can ever do to an athlete is to strip them of their athletic identity so that they must cling to Christ. When is the last time you’ve seen a Christian coach encourage one of his players who has been struggling on the field and yet simultaneously is growing in shifting his or her identity from sports to Christ?
   When I was at Tulane, I went through a “chiseling” season in my identity. I went from being the number one receiver the year before to immediately being the number seven receiver under a new head coach. My performance was my idol. I was my performance on the field. I idolized sports. Then, God broke me.
   Why did this happen? Ultimately, because God loved me so much that He sent His Son to die for me, and therefore He would also send the Spirit to purge sin out of me. At one point, my prosperity gospel believing coach looked at me and said, “You’re not a Christian! I’m a Christian.”
   Safe to say, I was losing everything of a self-made identity in that season. Jesus loved me so much that He stripped it away so that I would have to learn to look away from myself and onto Him. I have seen so many other solid Christian men go through these seasons as well. Are we going to encourage this?

3. Horrendous Pre-Game Sermons
   I was beyond blessed to sit under a BCM Pastor, Corey Olivier (who was also our team chaplain at Tulane), for four years. Corey preached the gospel. And when I say Corey preached the gospel, I mean it. I also had the great opportunity to spend four months with Jack Easterby, team chaplain of the New England Patriots, in 2014. That man also preached the gospel. Week-in and week-out, these men showed us Jesus. But, here is the truth: Not everyone does this.
   I have been around other team chaplains, seen clips of, and heard from other people about the vast majority of what’s preached in sports circles. It’s an offense to God. To put it bluntly, it’s turning the gospel into a whoring mechanism after sports glory. That’s strong but that’s how bad it is.
   There are men who prostitute God’s Word for their own agenda to get “amens”, head nods, and retweets. Athletes LOVE it whenever they can take something in Scripture as a guarantee that they will win or have a successful career. These “sermons” are some of the most man-centered things I have ever heard. There have been men who twist Scripture to say what it clearly doesn’t say in order to pump up the team they preach to.
   Praise God for men like Corey and Jack! We need more of them. We need men who are saturated with the biblical gospel who proclaim a true gospel and make gospel-centered applications. We need more men who will proclaim a God who is so infinite that all of our sports must be centered around Him.

4. Horrendous Pre-Game Prayers

   When I was in High School, I was playing travel basketball for a couple of years. We had a phenomenal basketball coach. But, before each game, he did something that unfortunately is done all too often. He would lead us in the Lord’s Prayer and immediately after begin to curse and take God’s name in vain to pump us up.
   I have been in so many circles where people use the Lord’s Prayer as if it’s a cult-like chant rather than a somber and holy moment to speak to our loving and Holy Father. There are many in the sports world who quote the Lord’s Prayer as if it’s some magic incantation that will guarantee them Samson-like strength to defeat their opposition.
   Because God isn’t seen as God, many pray to a god who might manipulate the game in their favor for their glory. It’s quite the scene to see adamant unbelievers who want nothing to do with Jesus pray the prayer that He Himself modeled for us before every game. Even Christian athletes themselves use that prayer as if it’s a magic potion. These prayers are far more about us and far less about Christ.

5. Missing the Point
   Sports exist for the glory of Christ. The joy of playing sports should trace us back to a greater joy of knowing Jesus. The lessons we learn in sports are lessons that we should use for growing in the Christian life. The trials we go through and the perseverance we learn in sports should be training for persevering in Christ.
   Everything about sports is meant for us to grow in Christ. If we’re not growing in Christ while playing sports then we’re not doing sports rightly. Coaches aren’t taking advantage of what they should take advantage of. Athletes are not applying the lessons to their walk with Jesus the way they should. We’re missing the whole point of sports if there is no Christ in sports.

6. Missing Church
   I wonder how much our church attendance might go up this Fall. I wonder how many college students might actually wake up on Sunday morning. I wonder how many parents won’t have to travel to sports tournaments weekend after weekend this year. It’s amazing how we are so determined to never miss a game or be late to practice but we’re fine showing up late to church or just catching up on a podcast later. It’s amazing how zealous parents are for their child to make the baseball or cheerleading team but could care less if they go to youth group or Sunday school (it’s clearly too much to ask for Sunday evening worship). How will we ever teach our kids what it means to be a Christian if we only teach them over and over that church is optional?

   ***Parents, are you more concerned with your child’s growth in sports than you are in their growth in Christ? You can tell by how much time, money, and passion that you put in sports compared to what you put in the Christian life.***

   It’s amazing how many of us are more influenced during the week by what happens on Saturdays in the Fall than by what we hear proclaimed from God’s Word on Sunday.

   Scenario: It’s Tuesday afternoon. The coffee is wearing off. You’re almost done with a second workday in the week. Do you find yourself remembering the score of the game on Saturday? Could you summarize the game to a co-worker who didn’t see it? Can you remember the stats of how many yards your team’s quarterback threw for? Let’s try another test. Can you remember what text was the preacher preached from this past Sunday (a more recent event)? Could you summarize the sermon to a co-worker whose curious about Christianity? Can you remember what the preacher said about how that text changes the way you live on this Tuesday afternoon?
   It’s not only about physically missing church. It’s about spiritually missing church. You sat in the pews going through the motions because you’re preoccupied with reminiscing last night’s game and what it means for you and your team this week. We love to spend more time talking about church at sports than talking about Christ at church.
   And here is the thing: I am part of this problem.
   

I love sports. We should love sports. We should care deeply about sports. But, sports is not God. Every game matters. Every loss, win, injury, touchdown, timeout, roars from the crowd, boos from the fans, and joy experienced from an upset win matters. God is sovereign over every single detail of everything in the sports world. But, He is sovereign over it for His glory. He is jealous for His glory, not ours. In other words, if we’re not taking advantage of the entirety of sports for our glorifying God and knowing God’s love for us then we’re idolizing sports. We’re not using it for what it’s meant for.

How many are led away from Christ in the name of a “Christ” who cares more about their sports career or their team winning than he does with them knowing Him!

Lord Jesus, come quickly!

The Invitation of Jesus

The Story of Invitation

God is a God of invitations. Virtually every book of the Bible could be summarized with one command in response to who He is: “Come to God.” The contents of each book either are saying it, implying it, or wanting you to come to the conclusion in light of what was written.

To be sure, when I say invitation, I don’t mean that God is a “take it or leave it” type of God. His invitation is a kingly command. It comes with the highest of authorities. It contains the most wondrous of destinations. It has the utmost aroma of love to it. To reject this invitation is a death sentence. It is an offense to His glory, to His reward, to His grace, to His love, and to Him. Rejecting God’s invitation is rejecting God. It is the epitome of foolishness and wickedness. To accept this invitation is life in the highest sense.

God created with an overflowing invitation for man to have a relationship with Him. He was the One who initiated that relationship. Even immediately after Adam and Eve sinned, God quickly invited them to come to Him for covering. As we trace the story of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, we see that it is God inviting sinners over and over to come to have fellowship with Him even as He draws near to them.

Think of the story of Moses. God initiates the invitation. He sees His people in captivity and bondage and He sends Moses to “invite” them out into the wilderness to live with Him. The story of Joshua is similar. We see a people who don’t have a home. God is still passionate about His invitation for them to come and dwell with Him not merely in a land but in a relationship.

The story of Judges and Ruth shows what inevitably happens to us when we reject such an invitation. Nevertheless, this didn’t take away God’s heart for His people. The story of David, Solomon, and the history of Israel and Judah reveals the same message. God is inviting His people into a covenant relationship with Him. Even when He removes His people from the land there is still a covenant promise in Jeremiah 31 that God has not forsaken His people. Ezra and Nehemiah, Zechariah and Malachi were all calling the people to return to God. It’s an invitation!

Then, it “seemed” as if God didn’t care. Silence filled the prophetic office. The covenant appeared to be nullified. Silence vibrated through the spiritual air. Was God finally tired of inviting His people?

The Inviting God in the Flesh

Here is where we meet Matthew 11:28. Remember who Jesus is. Jesus is the God of the Old Testament in the flesh. He is not a different God. How serious was God about inviting His people into a relationship with Him? He was so serious that the Son took on flesh and was born of the virgin Mary into poverty. In other words, He invited Himself into our world.

He went from the throne to homelessness. He went from a crown of glory to a crown of thorns. He went from unapproachable glory to being spit upon while carrying His cross. In other words, He invited Himself into our world.

It’s this Jesus in Matthew 11:28 who sounds exactly like Isaiah 55:1 when He says, “Come.”

Why does a President, Governor, or Mayor invite someone to a meal or a meeting? Most of the time, it is to get business done or for their own public appearance. The invitation goes to someone who is important or to someone who can further their cause or power. Even if one of these men or women invites someone they don’t agree with, it is still for their political purpose and pursuit of peace.

When is the last time you heard or saw someone in one of these offices pull up in their limousine to a downtown gas station and invite a homeless man to come to eat an extravagant meal? When is the last time you saw someone in one of these offices go to the lowest of the low or the societal reject and ask to be their friend? If this happens once or twice, you might read some heart-warming news stories. If this happens consistently, you will probably begin to be suspicious or get worried about the competency of the person in power.

But, this is exactly what Jesus does. From the moment He started His public ministry, He was constantly inviting poor sinners to come to Him. He was tenaciously tender in His invitations to the worst of the worst. “Come” must have been one of Jesus’ favorite words.

Authoritative and Gracious

The marvelous feature of this invitation is that out of his overwhelming authority (v. 27) Jesus encourages the burdened to come to him because he is “gentle and humble in heart.”

D.A. Carson

Matthew intends to paint the picture of a Jesus who is the King of Kings and also someone who is the most approachable Person in the history of humanity. He wants to show you someone of such unrivaled authority and yet unimaginable grace. It’s this Jesus who we see go from preaching the Sermon on the Mount that leaves people astonished at his authority (7:28-29) to coming down the mountain to touch an unclean leper.

Matter of fact, the leper cautiously comes and kneels down before Jesus and takes a gamble to see if Jesus would be willing to heal him. Jesus meets this man at the location of his unbelief. “Lord, if you will (or, we could make it more clear: “if you are willing”), you can make me clean.” Jesus responds with, “I am willing; be clean.”

Jesus is pulsating with passion for poor sinners. If all you knew was the Old Testament, and you knew it well, then you would immediately identify this Jesus as being someone similar to that same God. Indeed, the Holy Spirit awakens us to show us that He is the same God.

Isn’t this what we see in Isaiah 55:1? “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” The same God of Isaiah is the same God here!

Jesus vs Others

Other religions say, “Go and do.” Jesus says, “Stop doing and come.” Other worldviews say, “Do good and then come.” Jesus says, “You are not good and will never be good. Therefore, come to me for I am good.” Even Christians who forget the heart of Jesus fall back into the default works-righteousness mode. They tell themselves, “I must keep up a performance so that Jesus will still accept me.” Jesus says, “You have failed more times than you even know. That’s why you must not stay away from me any longer and come to me.”

When you play the game of Monopoly, there is a “community chest” card you can draw that says, “GO TO JAIL. Go directly to jail. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200.” Jesus is saying something similar. “Come to me. Come directly to me. Do not try to deal with your sins on your own. Do not try to beat yourself up enough over your sin before coming to me. Do not try to go and do enough good deeds before coming to me. Come directly to me. Waste no time in this. Do not linger. Do not hesitate. Do not worry about my response. Come to me.”

You know you’re growing in the Christian life the quicker you run to Jesus when you’re convicted of your sin, when you’re ashamed of your mistakes, and when you’re exhausted from trying to be good enough. Go to Jesus.

He is not saying, “Just come to this worldview.” Or, “just approve these doctrines.” Or, “just be apart of this community.” Or, “just pick up some of this grace.” He is saying, “Come to me.” The destination is Him! In Him, you will find all you need. If you miss Him, you miss everything. Everything outside of Jesus is counterfeit. Jesus is the real thing.

What Makes A Christian A Christian

The reason someone is a Christian is that they have Christ. Romans 5 tells us that our fundamental problem is that we were enemies with God. We were cut off. We were estranged. We were irreconciled.

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us… For if while were were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life.

Romans 5:6-8, 10

So weak that we could never make it to God. So ungodly that we didn’t even want God. Such sinners that we can’t be in His presence. Such enemies that the very thought of Him made us boil in anger.

This is when Jesus died for us.

But, you also see what happened because Jesus died for us, right? It’s because of Jesus’ death that He bridged the gap. This isn’t a bridge where we are able to come to God on our own power but a bridge where God comes to us! He is so eager to invite us to Him that He comes all the way to us to grab our hands to bring us home with Him.

In high school, one of the most interesting sights was during football and basketball games at half time. The home cheerleaders would almost always run across the field or court, grab the hands of the other cheerleaders and bring them over to their side to have a short time of fellowship with them. This is a picture of the invitation of God to us. He desires to be with us. He desires to bring us to Him. He won’t live without us.

This is the Jesus of Matthew 11:28. Jesus must have been overflowing with love when He said, “Come to me.” It was His most natural invitation.

The Heart of Jesus for You

This is Jesus’ heart for you. It’s an inviting heart, not a stingy heart. He doesn’t give you a spiritual stiff arm but extends His arms as wide as they were extended on the Cross. He is pleading for you to wait no longer. There are no steps before coming to Jesus. The first and only step is to come to Him! This He enables you to do.

If Jesus is truly good, if Jesus is truly wise, if Jesus is truly loving, then if He invites you to Himself He is saying that He is where you find all you need. Jesus would be sinning if He invited you anywhere else. Jesus would be the biggest fool if He told you to go to someone or something else. Jesus would be the most hateful being in all creation if He persuaded you to go to some other destination than Himself. Jesus is who you need.

Spiritual Warfare: Forgetting Our Identity and Standing in Christ

Discerning the dark lord’s tactics

The moment we remind ourselves of our identity in Christ, especially that of our righteous standing, the dark lord swoops in to say, “No you’re not.” It isn’t always that blunt. His responses can be:

• “You have to first live a holy life.”

• “Well...not quite yet. You need to do just a tad more and then you’re good.”

• “You should doubt that because of what you did in the past.”

• “You still haven’t repented or confessed enough of this sin.”

• “You forgot about this sin in your life. You need to deal with that first before you can truly embrace this identity and standing.”

• “You’re only semi-holy. Other people are truly holy. You’re on a lower level and that level isn’t sufficient.”

• “Don’t you see all your mess? Are you telling me that Jesus just decided to forget about that? You think you can really call yourself holy?”

• “If other people knew what I know about you then you would never be able to call yourself holy.”

• “You say that it only matters what Jesus says but, let’s be honest, it really matters that the super-spiritually mature people declare you holy. And, if you are not like them then I don’t know how you’ll ever be holy.”

He is skillfully subtle. You must remember that everything the dark lord does is filled with some level of truth. He never comes to you flying the flag of hell so that you clearly know it’s him. He wants to sound like the Holy Spirit. He wants to sound like Scripture. He wants to sound like your conscience that is in line with the truth.

When Jesus was tempted, why was it so difficult for Him? The dark lord was skillfully subtle. He is a professional pretender and provoker. He knows what he is doing. When you forget that, you’ll be overwhelmed. He approached Jesus the same way. He used the truth, not outright obvious lies. He sought to go after Jesus’ affections, desires, and wants. He wasn’t trying to knock down the front door. He tried to sneak through the back door quietly and friendly.

This is how the dark lord uses truth to attack you:

• He uses a truth out of context.

• He applies truth to an extreme.

• He uses a half-truth.

Notice that he is always using truth. He manipulates truth. This is what he does with us whenever we try to embrace our righteous standing in Christ. He uses beautiful truths about confession, pursuing holiness, and repentance and he just ever so slightly tweaks them. 

He often does this by taking a common Christian cliche and makes it sound so right but applies it so wrongly. Did you notice above how he whispers these lies? He is using the truth about confession, holiness, and repentance but in extreme ways, out of context ways, or half-truth ways.

He wants to do anything he can to keep you from saying, “Yes! This is who I am in Christ.” He wants to get you to default into a works-righteousness mindset. He loves to put the Ten Commandments before “I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” (Ex. 20:2).

He says that you’re not doing enough. You are not enough. You haven’t dealt with this sin sufficiently. If you don’t deal with the sin to the fullest extent then you’re quenching the Spirit. Oh, you don’t want to quench the Spirit. That’s a big time sin! He is the Holy Spirit. You better be holy like Him or He might leave you. You have to make sure you deal with your past perfectly or else that righteous standing should be called into question. Did you just remember some way in which you just sinned recently? Did you just remember that one horrible sin from the past? Well, if you want to be able to say, “I am righteous before God” then you better go and make sure you deal with it to its fullest extent first.

The ways in which he attacks here are endless. He aligns his army to attack us here more than anywhere else. He knows that if we embrace Christ then he must retreat. He wants to keep us thinking that we have to earn Him. He wants to get us to go back to trying to be good enough. He wants to keep us focused on doing enough before resting in Jesus.

How to fight by faith

Why does the dark lord want to keep you from embracing your righteous standing before God? Because if you knew who you were in Christ, if you really knew, then you would assault his kingdom with more force than 10,000 angels. When we know who we are in Christ, we experience joy and not shame. Joy, as Martyn Lloyd-Jones often said, is what the world needs to see in Christians. 

The dark lord wants to keep you in shame as you see your sin. If he can keep you in shame and keep you focused more on your sin than Jesus than he knows you’ll be timid to walk in faith. He knows you’ll be scared to be bold He knows you’ll be too ashamed to share your faith. He knows that if he can keep you focused on your sin then you’ll stay in the Slough of Despond (or spiritual depression as Martyn Lloyd-Jones called it) rather than moving closer to Jesus. Knowing your identity in Christ, your righteous standing before God is what casts away the cold darkness of shame.

How do we fight? We fight with God’s Word. This is why the doctrines of inspiration, inerrancy, and sufficiency are so crucial to the Christian faith. Is the Bible God’s Word? If it is, that is our reality. Our feelings aren’t our reality. Our conscience isn’t always our reality. Our personality tests aren’t our reality. God’s Word is our reality. God makes an authoritative statement about who we are in Christ. This is not sometimes true and sometimes false. It is always true. We need Scripture to rework our thoughts and to readjust our feelings. 

This is actually what the Psalms do. The Psalms are not a book merely about learning how to express our emotions to God. Rather, the Psalms are about expressing to God what we really feel and then learning to realign our feelings, affections, emotions with God’s truth. It is a collection of the Christian’s experience of living a life of faith in a fallen world par excellence. 

If you notice in Psalms 32 and 51, the two most popular psalms about confession of sin, they both move so quickly from conviction and confession to the reality of who they are by God’s grace. They do not stay in this phase of trying to beat themselves up. They do not say, “I cannot embrace God’s grace until I deal with this sin to its fullest extent. I cannot experience God’s grace until I make things totally right. I cannot draw near to God unless I first handle this on my own.” They move towards God’s grace and their righteous standing.

Must we deal with our sins? Yes. But, the subtle danger is to think that we must do that before embracing God’s grace. It’s only when we embrace God’s grace that we are enabled to deal with sin. God’s grace is not merely for forgiveness but for our ability to walk in His ways. Anything that keeps us from coming to God is a form of works-righteousness. 

I was once told that “we will never find closure if we merely seek justice; We will only find closure if we rest in grace.” Is this hyper-grace? Is this antinomianism? No. Grace is not opposed to justice. Grace comes through justice. But, if we seek to only rely on justice then we will never be able to rest.

Why is this? If we only seek to justly deal with our sins then we will never find an ending. We are so deeply depraved, so deeply shattered, so littered and polluted with sin that we will never come to the bottom of it. If we have the mindset that we cannot rest in grace until we deal with our sins in totality then we aren’t actually acting in obedience and in faith. We’re disobeying God because we’re not running to Jesus.

Typically, the people who are afraid of being antinomian are usually those who are struggling with legalism. Those who are afraid of being legalistic are usually those who are struggling with antinomianism. Every person has a default leaning and all of us go through seasons where we struggle with each one. As Sinclair Feguson’s book The Whole Christ says, the only way to fix this problem is to embrace the whole Christ. You don’t fix legalism by embracing more antinomianism. You don’t fix antinomianism by embracing more legalism. You embrace Christ!

We have made so many mistakes. We have sinned so much. If you think that you have to go back and deal with every instance of sin then you will never rest. Every memory will cripple you with shame. Every reminder will overwhelm you with guilt. It is not quenching the Spirit to rest in grace and embrace forgiveness in Christ. It is obedience. 

As Chase Maxey, Executive Director and Counselor with BCTM Ministries, once asked me, “Who told you that you were so much stronger than the Holy Spirit?” The dark lord tempts us to think we’re quenching the Spirit at times by taking that truth from 1 Thessalonians out of context, to its extreme, or making it a half-truth.

To be sure, the dark lord can use even this truth to keep us from our holy duties before God. He can take this out of its own context or take it to its extreme or half-truth. This does not mean we ignore our sins. This does not mean we don’t repent or confess. As Paul says in Romans 6:1-2, “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means!” It means that if we have the mindset that we have to turn over every stone and make everything right in our lives then we are no longer resting in Christ’s atonement but we are trying to atone for ourselves.

It is obedience to rest in grace. It is obedience to stop trying to fix and start resting. When God wants you to deal with something in your life, He will give you the opportunity and the power to do so. Look how patient He was towards Jonah. Look how He took His time to work in Jonah’s heart. He will do it with you too. What you must do is rest in your righteous standing. You must hold onto this righteousness in Christ. You must let that determine your reality.

Every time we repent of something, at some point we must stop confessing and saying “sorry”. If we think we must continue to confess our past over and over then we aren’t trusting that God is faith and just to forgive and cleanse us (1 Jn. 1:9). Jesus never said, “Go and fix your past.” Rather, He often said in one way or another, “Go and sin no more” (Mk. 5:34; Lk. 7:50; 17:19; 18:13-14; 18:42; Jn. 5:14; 8:11). He knows that fixing our past isn’t the answer. He knows we can’t re-live or re-write our pasts. He knows we must move forward living differently.

We seek holiness because we are holy. We seek to progressively grow in holiness because we are already positionally holy (Rom. 1:7; Eph. 1:1; 5:3; Col. 1:2,12; 3:12; Heb. 2:11; Jude 3; Rev. 13:7). We don’t receive the position of holiness because we worked hard to become holy. God graciously brought us into the definitive position and that compels us to go and live in light of who we are.

We fight by getting the gospel logic straight in our heads. We fight by embracing God’s grace. We fight by dismantling the attacks of the dark lord and his minions. We fight by resting in Christ.

The Reason Why Your Personal Ministry Is Pivotal For The People

Matthew gave an incredible view of Jesus’ own ministry. He shows us the preaching ministry of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. He shows us the teaching ministry of Jesus in such places as Matthew 21-22 where Jesus speaks about the Temple, his authority, and different parables. He shows us the healing ministry of Jesus in chapters 8-9 where Jesus heals ten times in only two chapters. What we see is that Jesus’ ministry is one of preaching, teaching, and healing.

Jesus’ Ministry Through The Disciples

In Matthew 10:1-15 (particularly in verses 1 and 7), we see Jesus send the disciples out on mission. They were to go about to minister to the people as well. But, whose ministry would this be? Was it their own ministry? No. The ministry is not theirs but rather it is Jesus’ ministry through them.

When Jesus sends them, he sends them out to proclaim the same gospel and to heal the same broken people. Jesus sends us out to do His ministry as well. No, this is not only ministry work for paid church staff or really committed volunteers. All Christians are sent out to do ministry (Mt. 28:16-20; Eph. 4:12). If you are a Christian, you have a ministry. But, here is the thing. It’s not your ministry. It’s Jesus’ ministry through you.

The reason Jesus gives you the gifts that He gives you and the reason Jesus has you living in the place where you are living is that He seeks to minister to the people around you. It’s His ministry, not yours. He desires to reach those people much more than you ever will. Do you have the gift of teaching? Do you have the gift of service? Do you have the gift of compassion? What gifts do you have? He wants to use your gifts, the gifts He has given you, to bring those people to Him.

The Ministry of Jesus Through You

You might be thinking, “I don’t have any supernatural gifts but only natural gifts.” You need to remember that these gifts have been given to you by God our Creator. We are to do all things for the glory of God and the mission of Christ. Are you a doctor? Are you a lawyer? Are you a stay at home parent? Are you great at administration? Are you passionate about hosting others at your home? Do you have finances that you can wisely give to the ministries that need your help? What are your gifts?

These gifts are for the ministry of Jesus. It is not your ministry; it’s Jesus’ ministry through you! This means that you can have complete confidence that where you are and who surrounds you that Jesus is there and He is at work. You can have the boldness to go out into your work, neighborhood, school, and community because you know you have been equipped by the Holy Spirit. You can get excited because no one is more passionate about the ministry than God Himself! Your ministry is not yours. It’s Jesus’ ministry.

The Church Needs YOU

That’s what makes your personal ministry pivotal for the people. Jesus has equipped you with the gifts He wants you to have so that He can minister in that way through you. Here is why that’s encouraging. No gift is small or insignificant. The world may say that there are more important gifts than others but that’s not true. As Francis Schaeffer says, “There are no small people.”

In our celebrity culture, we are lead astray by thinking that only the “up-front” gifts are what builds the church. God loves working in the small and humble gifts. He loves working in the ordinary day-to-day acts. He does more in the “small acts of kindness and love” than some do with their more public gifts. We need people like Martha who find their primary calling in serving others. Not everyone is called to speak, write, and lead. Everyone is called to something. Jesus doesn’t need celebrities. He uses you.

What if you having people over for a nice dinner and godly conversation is one of the ways in which God builds His kingdom through you? What if Jesus wants to minister to others through you by your giving a Christian book to someone? What if Jesus desires to change someone’s life simply through your godly character and counsel as a school teacher? Don’t underestimate Him.

How might this encourage you? How does this make you bold? How does this motivate you to use your gifts? Ministry is not about us. It’s about Him. It’s about Jesus showing His glory through the gifts He has given us. Jesus wants to minister through you. That’s the reason why ministry, the ministry of Jesus through you, is pivotal for the people.

What Jesus' Earthly Father Teaches Us About "Cancel Culture"

No one is safe. No one can hide their past forever. If you have messed up, everyone will eventually know about it. Whatever you do you better make sure you don’t get on anyone’s bad side so that they don’t dig up your dirt. That’s what our world is telling us right now.

I remember seeing a comment on social media after Alabama Wide Receiver Henry Ruggs ran a stunningly fast 40 yard dash (4.27 seconds!!!). Ruggs had dominated at the NFL Combine to establish himself as a sure top pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. When the news of Ruggs’ time was released, there was one person who posted on social media (very sarcastically I would add) a statement like this:

Well, now it’s time to go back through his entire Twitter history to see what dirt we can pull up on him so that we can make him look like he has questionable character.

This is “Cancel Culture” and this guy nailed it with that summary. Cancel Culture is unraveling society right now. It is highly destructive. In actuality, it is really just a power play by others to get what they want by hanging people’s faults over their heads. This is what Cancel Culture does:

• If someone disagrees with you just go and dig up their dirt and show it to the world.

• If someone has done something wrong make sure you show them no mercy.

• If someone has messed up in the past make sure they live in fear that you might blackmail them.

• If someone has sinned in a way that isn’t socially acceptable make sure they go to the bottom of our society and never influence anyone ever.

• No matter if someone has changed and confessed, destroy them for the one instance they slipped up.

What Happens In Response To A Cancel Culture

It’s no wonder then that iGen is the generation with the most anxiety and depression that we have seen in a long time. It’s no wonder that shame is the most crippling and debilitating sensation in our culture today. It’s no wonder that millions live in fear of “being found out” or being misrepresented. Youth are living in a mental hell every day hoping that their shameful past might not revisit them.

We are at a point in history where we are pulling out our spiritual mircoscopes to find the specks in others eyes and proclaiming them to be unforgivable sins. We are throwing out the proverbial baby with the bath water. If our culture had a self-given name it might be the name from Hosea 1:6 “No Mercy”. It’s not the name of us not receiving mercy from God but rather the name we bestow on ourselves as we relate to each other.

If a forefather was an ardent follower of Christ and yet still had slaves (even if he did treat them well for the most part in that system), we must refuse to let him teach us anything today. If a politician messed up sexually in the past then we must “out” him and tear down his entire life (even if he has confessed and sought forgiveness). If a coach, teacher, pastor, businessman, doctor, writer, celebrity, or whoever has done anything, said anything, or failed to support something then we must start an outrage to ruin their lives. It doesn’t matter what good things they have done. It doesn’t matter what benefits they have brought to our society. If they are not perfect in our eyes then we must shatter them into thousands of irrepairable pieces. Oh, and let’s make sure we get their friends and families and anyone who associates with them as well. We demand perfect. Even in the Church, we demand that our forefathers and foremothers in the faith be more perfect than Jesus Himself (as if that is possible!) or else we will seek to destroy anything they stand for.

It’s not unbelievers alone who do this. Plenty of Christians do this. We do this with politics, sports, denominations, and friendships. We post on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram in hopes that we might add to the destruction of another. Do we realize that God Almighty will judge us for everything we post, repost, and like on social media? His judgment will be even more strict than our culture.

Safe No More

No one is safe. No one is secure. The Internet is your worst enemy. If you messed up in college, you better watch out. If you said something racially insensitive, sexually discriminating, or politically incorrect then you’re essential done for in this society. It doesn’t matter if you’re genuinely sorry. It doesn’t matter if it was 45 years ago. It doesn’t matter if you have repented and changed. It doesn’t matter if the other person has forgiven you. Once you’ve sinned in this country, you’re damned for eternity. Get ready to experience social hell.

If we had a choice, we would create our own pits of despair and round all those people up so that we don’t have to live amongst them or be influenced by them. We would punish them. We would shame them. We would make them look out into our world with jealousy. We would want them to never bring their disease into our culture ever again. Oh wait, that’s what we’re already doing on social media.

No wonder there is a lot of suicide today.

This is what Cancel Culture feels like. Once again, if we’re not careful, we’ll shame ourselves into our very own self-destruction. No one can stand for long under this. This is where an evolutionary worldview has brought us. We should have evolved by now. We should be better. We should be past this. This is 2020 people!

No one wants to remember the fact that we are sinners living in a sinful world. Matter of fact, the only sin is to say that there is such thing as sin.

What Does 1st Century Jerusalem Have To Do With 21st Century America?

What does the Bible have to do with this? Everything.

I heard something phenomenal the other day from RTS professor Miles Van Pelt (I mean, who hasn’t heard something phenomenal from him?). He said something that rocked my world.

You’ll never find closure if you only seek justice. You’ll only find closure if you rest in grace.

If I had a Twitter still, I would tweet that. It’s almost worth it to create a Twitter and just tweet that one thing right now. Did you read that? He said, “You’ll never find closure if you only seek justice. You’ll only find closure if you rest in grace.”

Right now, our culture has gotten rid of all grace and mercy. There is only justice and wrath.

Listen. Justice is crucial. Let’s make no mistake about that. Justice is central to a society and it’s central to Christianity. Justice is an attribute of God. God would not be God if He were not just. But, justice is not the only thing we receive. Justice is not the only attribute of God. Grace is what we receive. Grace is what we need.

Can I just say something? What our country needs most is the grace of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are fools if we think our country is Christian. We are fools if we think our churches know enough of the gospel (let alone our country). What our churches and country needs most is the grace of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We don’t need less gospel; we need more gospel.

So, where do we see this grace in the Bible that might apply to the Cancel Culture?

Jesus’ Earthly Father

In Matthew 1:19, we find something absolutely stunning. I’ve read over this portion of Scripture hundreds of times. I’ve never seen what I just saw. Thanks to Roy Ciampa in Devotions on the Greek New Testament: 52 Reflections to Inspire & Instruct, I saw the light in a dark world.

And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.

Matthew 1:19

This verse is not necessarily a verse you tell your kids to memorize. It’s not the verse you might post as your “Verse of the Day” post. It’s not the verse you would get framed or put on your Christmas cards. It’s probably not the choice text for you if you had to teach a Bible study. Let me tell you something. There is more light in this one verse than there is in 10,000 Suns. Let me show you.

Joseph thought Mary had broken their engagement by sinning sexually. We now know that she obviously didn’t and Joseph would soon realize that too. But, there was a point when he looked at her pregnant belly and was heart broken that she had an affair. After all, virgin births are not a natural event! It required a miracle for the Son of God to come into this world! If she was pregnant and he wasn’t the one who slept with her then it must’ve been another man.

Joseph was torn over this. He was heart broken, ashamed, anxious, and in despair. Some of you might know this pain. But, here is the thing about Joseph. He was a just man (lit. “being righteous”). So, what would a righteous man (who obviously cares deeply about justice) do in the face of someone committing great sin against him?

To be sure, I am not saying that Mary wasn’t a virgin. I am not saying that Mary slept with someone else. We are only looking at this through the experience of Joseph before he received word from the angel (v20-25) that Mary was going to be the virgin who would fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14.

Responding To Sin With Righteous Compassion

How would righteous Joseph respond in the face of such heinous sin? I know what our culture would do. Our culture would put on a shame show. They would parade her sin and guilt on Twitter, Instagram, Tik Tok, and Facebook. Late night talk show hosts would include her in their jokes. She would turn into a “meme” of shame. Some Christians would unfortunately wag their heads at her as if she weren’t a Christian at all. “If she was really a Christian then she would’ve never put herself in that situation.”

If Mary lived in the U.S. today and eventually decided to run for a political office, her childhood friends who didn’t agree with her political views would find her medical records and show them off to the world like she is the worst human walking since Adolf Hitler.

How was righteous Joseph going to respond? Well, we can see more clearly how he might when we look at the next phrase. Joseph was righteous and unwilling to put her to shame. Joseph didn’t have two opposing qualities in himself that were fighting over what to do in this situation. There wasn’t the “good angel and bad angel” or the “righteous angel and the compassionate angel” on either shoulder whispering to him what he should do. “Should I do what would be culturally acceptable during these times and make it publicly known to the proper Jewish and Romans authorities? Should I write her off and start a campaign to have her removed from the Temple? Should I expose what she has done to everyone I know so that all might shame her with me? Or, should I have mercy on her? Should I keep it quiet? Should I not divulge that information?”

Joseph was not playing the either/or game. Actually, what this text is saying is that because Joseph was righteous he was also unwilling to put her to shame. It’s not about whether to show justice or compassion but rather to show justice and compassion.

To say it another way, Joseph shows his righteousness as he shows compassion for her.

The present participle (“being a just man”) indicates not that he had been righteous but (now) thought of acting unrighteously in this instance, but rather he was righteous even as he decided on his plan of action.

-Roy Ciampa

***With my emphasis to make the wording a little more clear.***

What is Ciampa saying? He is saying that the Bible is saying that because Joseph was righteous he was also compassionate. And look at the context. Joseph thought that Mary had sinned greatly! And what did this righteous man decide to do in the face of great sin? He decided not to put her to shame but rather to show her compassion.

The Gospel of Justice and Grace

My friends, this is the gospel. This is what Jesus does to us. In the face of such horrendous sin and betrayal against the King of Glory, He came to earth and died in our place out of compassion. Jesus didn’t “cancel” us. He came to us. He had compassion on us.

The gospel of Matthew seeks to transform our understanding of the true nature of righteousness in light of its redefinition by Jesus and by Matthew’s telling of his story. In this gospel it becomes clear that for Jesus (and Matthew), mercy and compassion are not at odds with righteousness, but are crucial marks of righteousness, just as they are in the Old Testament. Jesus demands not the same righteousness as the scribes and Pharisees but a greater righteousness (5:20), one that will lead his disciples to show mercy to the least of his brothers (25:34-40). Jesus emphasized the theme of Hosea 6:6 [that] God prefers mercy over sacrifice (Matt. 9:13; 12:7), and he demonstrated what that preference looks like by befriending tax collectors and sinners. His sacrifice on the cross is about extending mercy to us sinners rather than leaving us to our own destruction.

-Roy Ciampa

This is what Joseph is doing. In the face of great sin, he is acting righteously! He is pressing into righteous living. He is living out what Jesus would live out. He is imaging God the Redeemer. That is why he decided to treat her with dignity, love, compassion, and grace. He cared about justice and grace and he realized that justice and grace are not rivals but best friends.

How This Could Change Our Culture

People are dying for hope. Everyone has sinned. Everyone has baggage. Everyone has said horrible things. Everyone has treated someone in unspeakable ways. No one is exempt. Was Paul not clear enough about this in Romans 3:10-12 when he said:

None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.

The people who do the most shaming tend to have a lot of shame. The people who point out the specks in others eyes tend to have logs in their own. We’re all truly depraved and soaked in sin. When we forget that we get into these spiritual shame shows so that we can make ourselves feel better.

Here is where the gospel comes in. The gospel says that we are worse than we could ever dare admit and yet more loved than we could ever imagine. This gospel is a gospel of grace and righteousness. Jesus didn’t sacrifice justice in order to give us grace. He gave us grace through justice. He went to the Cross to absorb the wrath we deserved for our sins so that we might receive grace and compassion. That is how we can have spiritual closure.

Repentant Sinners In Heaven

Our country, believers and unbelievers, are holding their breaths hoping that maybe they can just make it to the end of their lives without their worst mistakes being exposed. We mentally and emotionally murder others a thousand times over whenever we hold their sin over their heads. We destroy them time and time again whenever we don’t accept someone’s confession or genuine repentance. We sever all hopes of change whenever we fail to celebrate the work of change that the Holy Spirit has done in us.

Did we forget that former sinners will be in heaven? Jesus came for the sick sinners and not for the healthy self-righteous ones. There will be former racists and rapists in heaven. There will be former sexual abusers and drug abusers in heaven. There will be former slave traders in heaven. There will be former Nazis and Neo-Nazis in heaven. There will be former murderers, drunks, hookers, atheists, homosexuals, liars, cheaters, swindlers, and anarchists who will be in heaven. There are scores of people who once lived this way who have now found life and grace in Jesus Christ. He took their wrath. He dealt with their sin. Who in the world are we to shame them with what they repent from?

They are not only being sanctified right now but they will be so glorified that even those in heaven who were victims of their sinful lifestyle on earth will see so much beauty in them because of the work of the Holy Spirit within. The bond of joy and friendship between former enemies will be stronger than any friendship on this earth. This is what Jesus does to saved sinners.

We need Christians who proclaim this gospel. This country is DYING for hope. Don’t believe me? Just any youth you know who have been through or have had friends go through these social shame fests whenever they fail in the smallest way. Just go into our schools and ask middle and high schools students what their biggest fears are. Just read literature of youth culture and see the staggering stats and interviews that talk about this issue.

We can learn a lot from Joseph here. We need to learn a lot. Only grace can transform us. Only Jesus can make us new by the power of the Spirit.

What Paul Might Say To Christians About Wearing Masks

It is very disheartening to hear what people have been saying. It is very discouraging to see what people have posted. Have we lost sight of who we are as believers? Have we lost sight of what Scripture says? Have we lost sight of how Jesus treated others? Why does it seem like sheep are hurting other sheep so much in the church over this issue of wearing masks?

What Paul Says About Christian Freedom

Romans 14 is the fundamental chapter in the Bible about Christian freedom and winsome love towards fellow Christians even when (especially when!) they disagree with you. Paul was writing to a group of people who were divided over non-essential issues. He was writing to a group of people who were dividing over things that could tear the church apart if they were not careful.

How does this affect us today with mask-wearing? There are some who think that masks represent political views. There are some who think that masks represents your view towards science. Others think that masks is about asserting your right. So…what might Paul say about this issue if he was pastoring our churches today?

What follows is a word for word reprint of the ESV translation of Romans 14 but phrases such as “eating”, “observing days”, and “drinking” are replaced with “mask-wearing”.

As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions (such as whether to wear masks or not). One person believes he may not wear a mask, while the other person only wears the mask. Let not the one who does not wear masks despise the one who wears masks, and let not the one who wears masks pass judgment on the one who does not wear masks, for God has welcomed him. Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

One person esteems wearing masks as better than not wearing masks, while another esteems not wearing masks as legitimate. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who wears masks, wears it in honor of the Lord. The one who does not wear a mask, should go about it in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who wears masks, should wear it in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

Why do you pass judgment on your brother for wearing a mask? Or you, why do you despise your brother for not wearing a mask? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written,

“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
    and every tongue shall confess to God.”

So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.

Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that neither view is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. For if your brother is grieved by you not wearing a mask, you are no longer walking in love. By you not wearing a mask, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of wearing masks or not wearing masks but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.

Do not, for the sake of wearing or not wearing masks, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what how he views wearing masks. It is good to wear a mask so that your brother does not stumble. The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. But whoever has doubts is condemned if he does not wear a mask, because the not wearing a mask is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

Key Verses

Listen to these key verses again:

v1 “but not to quarrel over opinions”

v4 “Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another?”

v10 “Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother?”

v12 “So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.”

v13 “Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.”

v15 “For if your brother is grieved [by your view of masks] you are no longer walking in love.”

v19 “So let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.”

The Problem

How many of us have seen Christians assert their right to not wear a mask in such a way that it hurts other Christians? How many of us have heard others make comments about those who do not wear masks as if they may not be Christian at all? We are using our freedom to beat people over the head. We are using our convictions to shame others who don’t agree. Brothers and sisters, this should not be!

If we are not careful, we will see this build-up into strife and division. Where are the servants in the church? Where are those who want to use their Christian freedom to build others up? Where are those who won’t impose their beliefs on someone else? Where is the grace-hunting? Where is the encouragement? Where is Jesus being seen through us?

The Solution

The only way to come together as the body of Christ is to press further into the gospel. We don’t need less gospel; we need more gospel. We can’t assume the gospel or even just throw the word gospel around. We need the explicit gospel. We need to know that the Son of God humbled Himself to voluntarily take on human flesh to be thrown into the thick of temptation, sin, and sinful culture. We need to know that He remained sinless and perfectly loving and compassionate while pursuing utmost holiness. We need to know that He went to the rugged cross where He absorbed an eternity’s worth of hell for a countless yet definite number of people on their behalf. We need to know that He died a death’s death and when He died He put death to death. We need to know that He rose from the dead and crushed the head of the Serpent with His first step of resurrected life. We need to know that He ascended into Heaven where He reigns and rules with utmost love, sovereignty, compassion, power, justice, and grace. We need to know that we can be saved by grace through faith in Christ alone according to what the Scriptures alone declare to God’s glory. We need to know that He is coming again to judge the righteous and the wicked and that an eternity’s worth of hell or heaven awaits all people who have ever lived.

Do we really know this gospel? Or, do we just assume it? Are we ok with having a short and quick definition of the gospel or is it the very life we live by? Are we ok with hearing sermons that merely mention the word “gospel” or do we long to see the ins and outs of the “heavenly dynamite” (Rom. 1:16) that God has given to us? Is the gospel merely what we embrace to be converted or do we see that it is God’s plan for the entirety of our salvation and the main theme of an eternity’s worth of heaven? Do we just throw the word “gospel” around like it’s a filler word in our Christian sentences or do we cherish the thought of the fact that Jesus is now ours and we are His?

What Now?

Our rivalry over this issue shows that there is a gap between head and heart for the Church (not merely POPC). This is not something that non-PCA churches only need to think about. This is about us. This is about all who call themselves Christians and walk in our doors each week. This is about everyone who looks at what we post and hear what we say.

Brothers and sisters, we must be thoughtful with our posts on social media. We must be compassionate and gracious with our words towards each other. We must stop asserting our rights at the expense of loving another person.

You might ask:

• At what point do we assert our right?

• At what point do we stand for our viewpoint?

• At what point do we stop “giving in”?

• When will it ever end?

• What’s going to be the next burdensome step we’ll have to take?

• Isn’t this just a government issue?

There are thousands of ways to come to the conclusion of those questions but there is one question that weighs more.

The most important question is this: What do you think about Jesus?

That’s it.

To be clear, thoughtful Christians will have different opinions about this issue. And you know what? That’s fine if stays in the realm of a non-essential non-divisive conversation. We should have these conversations.

We will disagree with each other but that should never sever our love for each other.

That’s the most important question. Is Jesus so lovely to you that you would do anything to show Him to others? Where are the Hudson Taylors who wanted to love the people in China so much that he laid down his own “rights”. Where are the John Patons who went to minister to cannibals in the New Hebrides rather than forcing them to become Scottish just like him? Where are those who feel so strongly over a non-essential issue and yet (even if it bugs them internally) will take an act of love for those who might not feel the same?

Yes, there is a point where we must stand in our Christian freedom. Yes, there is a time when we should not let people determine how we live. But my friends, we are a long way from there. There are churches in China who are doing all that they can to merely meet together to worship without being arrested and we are over here arguing with each other about our view of mask wearing.

“But this is a bigger issue than just wearing masks. This is about [science, politics, the future of our country, the health of others, etc.].” There are holy men and women who take both sides to this. Let us not let this non-essential matter divide us. If wearing a mask is better for your more sensitive neighbor then wear a mask. If not wearing a mask (in a more private setting) around someone who is absolutely against wearing masks is more advantageous (and yes, you can keep yourself and others you come in contact with safe) then maybe it’s better to not wear a mask. Whatever we do, let’s do it out of intelligent love.

What we are really seeing right now is what our idols are.

***IF I CAN TAKE A BRIEF PAUSE. THIS IS WHY WE ARE DOING A SUNDAY NIGHT SERIES ON THE IDOLS OF THE HEART. WE NEED THE HOLY SPIRIT TO SHOW US OUR IDOLS SO THAT WE CAN GROW VERTICALLY AND HORIZONTALLY. FOR THE SERMONS, CLICK HERE.***

Who Needs To Respond?

It doesn’t matter if you’re more conservative or liberal politically. It doesn’t matter what your ethnicity is. It doesn’t matter if you’re rich or poor. It doesn’t matter if you’re in medicine or if you’re not. It doesn’t matter if you think this is a hoax or if this is the next Black Plague. What matters is this: What do you think about Jesus?

Paul rooted this doctrine of Christian freedom in the gospel. Jesus didn’t assert His right. He gave it up. He wanted to love us in the way we needed to be loved (be very careful with saying that your “not wearing a mask” stance is the way in which you are loving people in the way they need to be loved). The fundamental issue is showing Christlike love.

If we are not careful, we will see people grow bitter towards others because of what some post and say.

Dear Christian, what do you think about Jesus?

Spiritual Warfare: When Satan Tempts You That There Is Sin Left Undone

Discerning the dark lord’s tactics

The dark lord is relentless in his attacking the saints. He has you right where he wants you if you think that you’re not going to be attacked by him. One of the ways in which he moves under the radar and sneaks in the shadows of our conscience is by tempting us to think that there is sin left unrepented of or left unconfessed in our lives. 

He knows that the gospel compels us to repent and have faith (Mt. 4:17). He knows that Romans 6:1-2 says, “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” He knows that Psalm 32:1-3 says, “Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, who sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.” Let’s be clear: the dark lord knows more of the content of Scripture than we do and he seeks to use it against us.

The dark lord loves to take Scripture out of context or to its unbiblical extremes (see the temptation of Jesus in Matthew 4:1-11). He knows that we would not fret if he came to us with wildly contrasting temptations that clearly aren’t biblical. He likes to take that which is good and distort it. One of the ways in which he does so is by taking the command of our Lord to repent and uses it to torment us with the thought that we have some sin left unrepented of.

Now, to be sure, there really might be some sin left unrepented of. We need to discern what is conviction versus what is condemnation. Condemnation has no hope. Condemnation only points out the bad and never gives you grace. There is always work to do. There is never any rest, joy, and peace in Christ. You are always under the Law. You are always to be ashamed. The Holy Spirit is always pointing out where you have failed. This is not how our gracious Lord and His Spirit acts towards us. As the hymn writer says, “When Satan tempts me to despair and tells me of the guilt within, upward I look and see Him there who made an end to all my sin.”

The Extremes He Takes Us To

One of the extremes in which the dark lord does this is by hounding us with the thought that we have not repented enough. There is something in our past that we haven’t confessed. There is something that we have only halfway repented of. Or, there is some element of something that we have not confessed in its absolute fullness.

It sounds awfully close to the truth doesn’t it? Of course we must repent and live a life of constant repenting! Of course we must confess our sins and seek to hide nothing from the Lord (1 John 1:8-10)! He will take this good and life-giving truth and use it to condemn and drain the life out of us. He will take God-centered proclamations of the gospel and turn them into man-centered efforts to make ourselves clean. This, as Paul says to the Galatians, is not the gospel!

As long as he can convince you that you cannot rest in Christ until this particular sin is drained completely dry then he has you where he wants you. He will continue to hold the law over you time after time and keep showing you that there is more to do. He knows that the law never quits condemning sinners. There is always confession that falls short. There is always repentance, even in the best saints, that falls short. There has never been anyone anywhere who has ever fully and completely repented or confessed the depths of their sin. 

Take Martin Luther for example. He would confess his sins for hours upon hours a day because the law was ever before his face. The dark lord sought to convince him that there was more to do and that he couldn’t rest in the grace of Christ until he had dealt with it exhaustively.

He wants you to think that until you express absolutely every feeling, every emotion, every detail, and every instance of such sin that you are under God’s wrath. When he hounds a saint with this, he causes the saint to fret and worry about whether they have done enough. They can’t rest because if they do then they must be quenching the Spirit who must be giving them this thought.

How to fight by faith

You will forever have duties left undone if you think Jesus won’t accept you until you have dealt with everything fully and perfectly. The antidote is first and foremost to soak in the finality of the Cross. In John 19:30 Jesus cries, “It is finished.” This one Greek word, tetelestai, has a lifetime of meaning in it. Think about it. Jesus did not have to say this right before He died. Why would He exert this final portion of His physical, mental, emotional, and even spiritual energy to say this one word before dying? He did it to confirm to us of His work on our behalf. As they say, “Last words are lasting words.”

When Jesus says it is finished He means it. Robert Mounce says, 

“This one word summary of Jesus’ life and death is perhaps the single most important statement in all of Scripture. The word means ‘to complete,’ ‘to bring to perfection.’ Jesus had fully done the work God the Father sent him to do… But the tense of the verb, the ‘perfect’ tense, brings out even more of what Jesus was saying. The perfect describes an action that was fully completed and has consequences at the time of speaking… Because Jesus fully completed his task, the ongoing effects are that you and I are offered the free gift of salvation so that we can be with him forever.”

What does Mounce mean by this? He means that there is nothing left undone in the work of Jesus. There is nothing that we need to go and do first in order to be saved. There will never be enough confession. There will never be enough repentance. You will absolutely never feel as sorry and convicted as you should about your sin. You cannot rest in your work. You must rest and trust in the finality of the atonement of Christ for all your sin (past, present, and future). 

Knowing What The Truth Really Is

We must have a robust doctrine and understanding of repentance and confession so that when someone tells us something differently we can spot it out. There is the common story that you might have heard about how the FBI detects counterfeit currency. They spend so much time looking at the real thing that when they see the counterfeit they know it immediately. We too must spend much time looking at Christ and looking at the reality of what the Bible says about repentance and confession so that when the dark lord tempts us to go back into slavery we can detect it.

Paul dealt with something similar to this with the Galatians. He knew that any subtle change to the gospel made it no gospel at all. The addition of anything to Christ and the gospel made Him no Savior and the gospel no good news. There is nothing but faith in Christ that saves us. It is out of that faith that we overflow into repentance. Indeed, faith and repentance are two sides of the same coin. That is why Jesus would say “repent and believe” and not “repent and then believe”. The dark lord will draw too much of a division between repentance and faith. He wants you to think that you must repent enough before you can have saving faith and free forgiveness (which would not be free at all!). It is another form of works-righteousness.

What Does It Mean To Confess?

In 1 John, the apostle John is writing to people who have been infiltrated by false teachers. He seeks to show them what it means to be truly saved. It’s only true Christians that admit and confess their sin. Christians do not think they are without sin. They are to declare, acknowledge, and to say the same thing about their sin as God says about their sin. They are to confess their sin not merely for confession sake but to express their need for Jesus on their behalf. This is the ongoing lifestyle of the believer. It is not a one time thing. This tells us that there is always something to confess and repent of. We are deceiving ourselves and being deceived if we think we have confessed and dealt with everything.

Like a sound apologetic argument, we can actually use the dark lord’s attacks on us against him. He says that we must always be confessing our sins and we can agree. He says that there is sin left undone and we can agree. It’s the very fact that we can’t confess everything that we must rest in Christ on our behalf. It’s the very fact that we can’t repent of everything to the fullest extent that we must look to Jesus to find peace of mind.

Now, to be sure, we must not use this as a biblical excuse to not confess or to shirk our Christian duty before God. Trust me, the dark lord will use this also to deceive you. We must deal with sin but we also must know when we simply cannot do enough and we must lay down and rest at the Cross. 

The Holy Spirit knows our frame. He knows that this is a lifestyle that lasts a lifetime. He doesn’t put believers on a “doomsday” countdown clock which tells us that if we don’t deal with everything exhaustively then we are inevitably going to fall under God’s displeasure and harsh discipline.

How God Looks Out For Us

Think about how God speaks about this in the Old Testament. Leviticus 4 is a chapter that is all about sacrifices for sinners who sin unintentionally. There are those who may not even realize that their actions or thoughts were actually sin and yet God provides a sacrifice for them. Wouldn’t it be horrible if we were only forgiven for the sins we knew of? Calvin talks about these sacrifices as follows:

Moses does not refer to those transgressions into which we are ensnared, when we are led astray by the appearance of rectitude, so as to think ourselves without blame; but to those of which we take no heed, and whereby our minds are not pricked; or to those sudden falls, wherein the infirmity of the flesh so stifles the reason and the judgment as to blind the sinner.

And isn’t Christ the ultimate fulfillment of Leviticus 4? Isn’t He the true sacrifice? Isn’t He of so much more worth and value as a substitute on your behalf? Doesn’t He give you a positive righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21)? Oh, Christ is capable of covering all your sins! He is enough for you! He has ended the war. He has taken away your guilt and shame. He no longer points the finger at you but welcomes you with open arms.

Why does this matter to you in the midst of such a daunting and exhausting fight? Because God knows your frame. He knows that there is always sin that we leave undone. He knows there is a grand difference between our actively running away from Him (like Jonah) and our negligence, ignorance, or just flat out spiritual exhaustion. Our Lord knows that we can’t bear to see all of our sin all at once. He knows we can’t repent of everything at once. He knows that repentance itself is not our restitution or atonement. He knows that we cannot merely focus on the faults and the failures in our lives. Where would be the good news in that? Besides, we are built up in faith when we take our eyes off of ourselves and place them about the righteousness we have in Christ. 

The Path of the Gospel

This is where the dark lord attacks. He tries to do anything to take your eyes off of Christ. In Psalm 73, he almost had the psalmist forsake God and the covenant community by taking his eyes off Yahweh and placing them upon his circumstances and the world. It was when the psalmist returned to the temple that his sight of reality was restored. The same is true of us in our spiritual warfare. When we take our eyes long enough off God and place them upon us there is a temptation to do away with the gospel. Satan doesn’t want us to see the grace we have in Jesus. He doesn’t want us to realize that our sins are dealt with in Christ. He doesn’t want us to realize that Jesus is enough for us. He wants us to either do nothing with our sin or try to do everything with our sin. That is no salvation at all!

As always, the path of the gospel is a narrow path with ditches on either side. The dark lord lassos us from either side trying to pull us down into either extreme. He will either make us hound ourselves with condemnation until every aspect of the totality of our guilt is dealt with (as if that were somehow possible) or he will tempt us to ignore it all and continue to live as if we have no sin. Do not let the dark lord hire you to be his own co-accuser against you.

He will dress himself as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14) and make it sound as if he is the Holy Spirit. After all, he knows the Spirit will convict us concerning sin (Jn. 16:8). He wants to sound like the Spirit so that we fear the thought of saying “no” to the Spirit if we seek to stop and rest in Christ. He will tempt us to think that we are quenching the Spirit (1 Thess. 5:19; Eph. 4:30). But think about this, would Jesus invite us into a salvation of Sabbath rest (Mt. 11:28-30) and simultaneously say that we must always be on the sin-hunt in our lives? No, my friend. He wants you to rest. Trust Him. He will bring you to conviction in His timing and He will help you to confess and repent. You can rest in Him.

Spiritual Warfare: When Satan Wants Your To Re-Live Your Past

One of the most common ways in which the dark lord attacks sinners in Christ is by making them re-live their past mistakes. He does this by bringing up memories (which we will discuss how he does so later) and tempts them to be entrapped by these memories like a caged animal. His tactics are to bring up an event or memory in which the saint-sinner is reminded of some particular sin that they have committed or even that which has been committed against them.

In the case of those who have sinned, the dark lord will tempt you to re-live the event as if you are on trial. He recruits you to be his co-prosecutor against your own soul. He paints God in such a picture as if He is a ruthless judge who is not yet quite finished with you and your past. If you have done something wrong, he will plague you with some thoughts of:

1. No hope for grace

2. Guilt for presuming upon God’s forgiveness

3. Others finding out and wanting to publicly deal with you so as to shame you

4. God’s discipline hanging over your head to strike at you when you least expect it; this discipline doesn’t look like loving fatherly discipline (Heb. 12:7-11), it looks like condemnation.

5. That you have committed an unforgivable sin. It may not be the unforgivable sin but he will paint it in such a way that it seems like no man could recover a relationship with God after such an act.

6. Your past makes you unusable to God in the Great Commission

7. You should never feel at ease until you have paid your penalty

By re-living your past, the dark lord wants to keep you from forgetting what lies behind (Phil. 3:13-14). He wants to keep you from remembering what your current identity is in Christ (Rom. 6). He wants to keep you from living by faith (Gal. 2:20). He wants to keep you from rising up from the depths of despair to go out in the peace of knowing your faith has saved you (Lk. 7:50). 

What Re-Living the Past Does

He wants you to be trapped by the past. He wants you to dwell on your sin. Dwelling on sin causes you to skip out on seeing your Savior. He knows that the longer you dwell upon the glory of Jesus Christ that you will become more like Him (2 Cor. 3:18) and, therefore, more able to tear down his armies and thwart his tactics. You must remember that this is war! There is no neutral ground. There is never any “no man’s land”. As long as you are on this earth, the dark lord and his forces will seek you out. 

He will pull up a specific memory from your past and until you defeat him there he will continue to hound you with that thought. “Am I innocent? Did I really do that? If this went public, what would people think? Is God going to ‘get me back’ for this? Have I really dealt with this sin as I should?” But be sure, once you have fought off that one memory, he will bring up another.

When you realize that you have sinned (however greatly but especially in those times of great sin), the dark lord will show you more of your depravity than you have ever realized before. He will make you feel as if you are the epitome of sin. He will make you feel as if no one has a more evil, darkened, and hardened heart like you. You are an abnormal sinner. You are a hopeless sinner. You are a graceless sinner. 

He will tempt you to think that no other Christians have sinned this way in the past and even if they did they dealt with it far better than you have. Before they went to heaven (if they were going to get to heaven), they went back and fixed everything! The dark lord will tell you “You have depended too much on the free forgiveness of Jesus and haven’t quite turned over every stone to truly repent of this. What you need to do”, the dark lord wants you to think, “is to go back and split every hair to make sure you get the justice you deserve. Your repentance from such acts and thoughts are not enough. Your seeking others for help is not enough. No matter how small, you must announce it to the world so that they can put you on trial because the courtroom of Christ is only a heavenly reality. God will never set you free until you go through the earthly courtroom.”

When Satan Pinpoints the Memory

When you look back on such an event and you realize that you have not sinned in such a way, the dark lord will tempt you to think that your thoughts of the past aren’t accurate. He will try to take things out of context and blow them out of proportion. “You forgot about this part of it. You forgot how it hurt the other person greatly. You forgot how much it offended the glory of Christ.” He will make you ask plenty of “what if” questions. Here is the thing about this, no matter how many of those “what if” questions you answer accurately and honestly there will always be more “what if” questions to come. Often times, the dark lord will only use the knowledge that you have against you for the next “what if”. What is required here is to see that this is not of God. We must call this for what it is. This is a satanic attack!

When you look back on such an event and you realize that you have sinned greatly, he will pester you. He will pinpoint his full attack upon this one spot. It is the one crack in the armor that he will keep throwing his forces at. He is like a boxer who finds the one weak spot on his opponent and he will beat you into submission by hammering that one spot. He will darken your view of the cross. He will cause you to lose all sight of forgiveness. He will make your sin much bigger than your Savior. He will grip your thought life with such force it feels as if you can never escape. It will feel more real than the very moment in which you are living. Anything that reminds you of anything remotely similar to that memory will feel like spiritual PTSD. He will fire a thousand arrows at that area of your hurt conscience. If He cannot take away your salvation, He will certainly try to take away your experience of it.

How To Fight By Faith

When you read the Bible, especially when Jesus deals with such horrible sinners with such terrible pasts, do you see our Lord (the One who hates sin more than anyone!) treating people this way? Do you hear Him giving the command for His little lambs to turn over every stone in their past until all their sin is acknowledged to the full and dealt with on this earth? Do you hear Him say, “Fix this in your past first and then you may experience my grace”? Does He who is gentle and lowly in heart (Mt. 11:28-30) seem like the type of Savior who would hound such tender souls who are overloaded by the crushing yoke of their past? Would He really be the summun bonum (Latin for “the highest good”) if He tortured His saints with their past? Why would anyone want to go from living a life where they do everything to forget their past sins to go to a “savior” who would hound them for the rest of their lives on this earth with their past? Is this freedom? Is this love? Is this forgiveness?

We must not let the dark lord determine our Christology. We must remember the study that B.B. Warfield undertook when he sought to determine the emotion that was most attached to Christ in the Scriptures. “The emotion which we should naturally expect of finding most frequently attributed to that Jesus whose whole life was a mission of mercy, and whose ministry was so marked by deeds of beneficence that it was summed up in the memory of his followers as a going through the land ‘doing good’ (Acts. xi. 38), is no doubt ‘compassion.’ In point of fact, this is the emotion which is most frequently attributed to him.” 

Does this mean that Christ doesn’t deal with our past that needs to be dealt with? No. Does this mean that Christ doesn’t call us to repent of all sin? No. It means that when He deals with our past and when He calls us to repent that He is first and foremost compassionate when He goes about it. He is not harsh, rough, and domineering. He desires us to leave our past in the past so that we might live by faith in the present. He knows that the past can entrap us in a dungeon of despair (similar to what Christian in Pilgrim’s Progress was entrapped in). He wants to boost our faith. 

How Does Christ Treat Us?

Listen, when Christ convicts us, not condemns us, we will know it. It is of a much more pure way. See how He approach Peter after He had risen from the dead (Jn. 21:15-19). Notice how He approached all the disciples after they all betrayed Him (Jn. 20:19-29). If He really wants you to deal with something, He will enable you to deal with it. He will not rub your nose in it. He will show you the grace, love, mercy, and forgiveness that you have in Him the entire time. He has dealt with our sins. You must fight to remember that this involves all of your past. 

When Christ died on the cross and rose for your justification, He meant it. In other words, He did not neglect anything. He knows it all and it’s for the past event, that past event, that He died. He wants to forgive. He desires to cleanse you. 

Are there some things from our past that we must deal with if they are left undone? Yes, but when He deals with you it is much more pastoral than the dark lord. There are many times in which things are too far gone and He desires for us to move on. It would be an act of unbelief were we to tell Jesus, “Just wait right here for a second so that I can go back and do something. Then I will follow you.” 

He places your eyes upon Him more than your past. But, once He deals with our past, He does not make us keep re-hashing it. God is not “historical” with us in that He brings up our past time and time again. Matter of fact, He bids us time and time again to go on an live in light of our full forgiveness in Christ:

1. Luke 7:50 And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

2. Mark 5:34 "Daughter," said Jesus, "your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be free of your affliction."

3. Luke 17:19 And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”

4. Philippians 3:13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead

Biblical Reflection and Application

Was David supposed to re-live his memory of sleeping with Bathsheba and killing Uriah over and over even after he heard of God’s forgiveness from Nathan? Did Jesus come to Peter after He had risen from the dead and did He rub Peter’s nose in his denying Jesus three times? Was Paul to always dwell on the fact that he endorsed the stoning of Stephen? Was Jacob to keep thinking about the countless lies he told in the past? Was Sarah to remind Abraham over and over about the two times that he told others that she was his sister? Was Moses to be haunted by the Egyptian he killed or of his striking the rock? What kind of salvation would this be?

 We must remember that it is more of an act of faith and more honoring to our Lord when we forget what lies behind and press forward in faith. We need to realize that this is a great danger to our souls if we think we cannot rest in the blood of Christ but rather need to seek atonement another way. After all, when we seek to re-live our past we are hoping that we are either guiltless or we try to figure out how we can atone for our sins. Either way, that is avoiding the Cross.

Now, to be sure, there are some who can use these truths to their own sinister advantage to run away from their sin. They can use it as a “get out of jail free” card. Those souls must deal with the Lord and He will be sure to deal with them. But, these truths are for those who aren’t running away from Jesus. They want Him. They want to be free from their sins.

God Of Our Future

God promises us a future (Jer. 29:11). One piece of the fruit of the Spirit is peace, not torment (Gal. 5:22). The Christian is at peace with God (Rom. 5:1). Sin no longer has dominion over us (Rom. 6:14). There is no more condemnation for us in Christ (Rom. 8:1). The Spirit bears witness in us that we are children of God (Rom. 8:12-17). He doesn’t torture us with regret and shame from the past. For freedom Christ set us free; we must stand firm and never again take upon us the yoke of slavery (Gal. 5:1). 

Jesus always approaches people seeing their potential future in Him (Jn. 1:42, 47; Mt. 4:20). Even when He does remind someone of their past (such as the Samaritan woman in John 4), He always does so in order to quickly bring them to the source of grace. Do you really think sinners and tax collectors would flock to be with Him (Matt. 9:10; Luke 15:1) if He only reminded them time and time again of their constant failures and gave them no hope?

Jesus is far greater than we can ever imagine! Do not let those attacks from the dark lord change the reality of the heart of Christ (Mt. 11:28-30). Do not assume the worst or most harsh motives of Christ. The dark lord always tries to make himself look more gentle, loving, gracious, and approachable than Jesus. He wants to paint Jesus in rough colors. He wants you to say to yourself, “Why would I continue with Jesus if this is what life with Him is like?”

The Shortest But Most Encouraging Blog You'll Read This Week

God told Adam and Eve to get up and leave the land they were in to get out of the Garden of Eden. Years later (and 9 chapters later in Genesis 12), God tells someone else to get up and leave the land they were in. This time, it was a call for Abram to leave his life of idolatry and come to God.

Why does this matter?

Every time the minister gets up in public worship and reads the “Call to Worship”, he is preaching the gospel. Do not take the “Call to Worship” as if it is merely someone reading Scripture or just making an opening statement. You are graciously being called to return back to God! Jesus is calling you to bring the entirety of your life to Him. No matter where you are, no matter what you’ve done, no matter what you’ve gone through, you can come to God this Sunday!

Now, that right there will warm our hearts when we hear the “Call to Worship”!

Seeing Christ's Heart In Action

What's Jesus Like?

20 Quotes from Dane Ortlund's New Book "Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinner and Sufferers"

This book is awesome. This is incredible Christology with heart-warming devotion. This is a book that anyone can read. I can’t say enough about it.

Let me tell you, these 20 quotes were hard to choose. I’ve underlined over 50% of the book with many times writing “wow”, “good”, or “stunning” beside something underlined. I’ll let these 20 quotes say more than I can:

1. “Meek. Humble. Gentle. Jesus is not trigger-happy. Not harsh, reactionary, easily exasperated. He is the most understanding person in the universe. The posture most natural to him is not a pointed finger but open arms.” p.19

2. “The point in saying that Jesus is lowly is that he is accessible. For all his resplendent glory and dazzling holiness, his supreme uniqueness and otherness, no one in human history has ever been more approachable than Jesus Christ.” p.20

3. “If we are asked to say only one thing about who Jesus is, we would be honoring Jesus’s own teaching if our answer is, gentle and lowly.” p.21

4. “What helium does to a balloon, Jesus’s yoke does to his followers. We are buoyed along in life by his endless gentleness and supremely accessible loneliness. He doesn’t simply meet us at our place of need; he lives in our place of need. He never tires of sweeping us into his tender embrace. It is his very heart. It is what gets him out of bed in the morning.” p.23

5. “Time and again it is the morally disgusting, the socially reviled, the inexcusable and undeserving, who do not simply receive Christ’s mercy but to whom Christ most naturally gravitates.” p.27

6. “When we are speaking of Christ’s heart, we are not so much speaking of one attribute alongside others. We are asking who he most deeply is. What pours out of him most naturally?” p.29

7. “It is impossible for the affectionate heart of Christ to be overcelebrated, made too much of, exaggerated. It cannot be plumbed. But it is easily neglected, forgotten. We draw too little strength from it. We are not leaving behind the harsher side to Jesus as we speak of his very heart. Our sole aim is to follow the Bible’s own testimony as we tunnel in to who Jesus most surprisingly is.” p.29

8. “The same Christ who wept at the tomb of Lazarus weeps with us in our lonely despair. The same one who reached out and touched lepers puts his arm around us today when we feel misunderstood and sidelined. The Jesus who reached out and cleansed messy sinners reaches into our souls and answers our half-hearted plea for mercy with the mighty invincible cleansing of one who cannot bear to do otherwise.” p.32

9. “He does not get flustered and frustrated when we come to him for fresh forgiveness, for renewed pardon, with distress and need and emptiness. That’s the whole point. It’s what he came to heal. He went down into the horror of death and plunged out through the other side in order to provide a limitless supply of mercy and grace to his people.” p.37

10. “When you come to Christ for mercy and love and help in your anguish and perplexity and sinfulness, you are going with the flow of his own deepest wishes, not against them.” p.38

11. “Our difficulties draw out a depth of feeling in Christ beyond what we know.” p.49

12. “He doesn’t handle us roughly. He doesn’t scowl and scold. He doesn’t lash out, the way many of our parents did. And all this restraint on his part is not because he has a diluted view of our sinfulness. He knows our sinfulness far more deeply than we do. Indeed, we are aware of just the tip of the iceberg of our depravity, even in our most searching moments of self-knowledge. His restraint simply flows from his tender heart for his people.” p.54

13. “Jesus can no more bring himself to stiff-arm you than the loving father of a crying newborn can bring himself to stiff-arm his dear child. Jesus’s heart is drawn out to you. Nothing can chain his affections to heaven; his heart is too swollen with endearing love.” p.55

14. “Look to Christ. He deals gently with you. It’s the only way he knows how to be. He is the high priest to end all high priests. As long as you fix your attention on your sin, you will fail to see how you can be safe. But as long as you look to this high priest, you will fail to see how you can be in danger. Looking inside ourselves, we can anticipate only harshness from heaven. Looking out to Christ, we can anticipate only gentleness.” p.57

15. “Fallen, anxious sinners are limitless in their capacity to perceive reasons for Jesus to cast them out. We are factories of fresh resistances to Christ’s love. Even when we run out of tangible reasons to be cast out, such as specific sins or failures, we tend to retain a vague sense that, given enough time, Jesus will finally grow tired of us and hold us at arm’s length.” p.63

16. “We cannot present a reason for Christ to finally close off his heart to his own sheep. No such reason exists. Every human friend has a limit. If we offend enough, if a relationship gets damaged enough, if we betray enough times, we are cast out. The walls go up. With Christ, our sins and weaknesses are the very resumé items that qualify us to approach him. Nothing but coming to him is required—first at conversion and a thousand times thereafter until w are with him upon death.” p.64

17. “If you are part of Christ’s own body, your sins evoke his deepest heart, his compassion and pity. He takes ‘part with you’—that is, he’s on your side. He sides with you against your sin, not against you because of your sin. He hates sin. But he loves you. We understand this, says [Thomas] Goodwin, when we consider the hatred a father has against a terrible disease afflicting his child—the father hates the disease while loving the child. Indeed, at some level the presence of the disease draws out his to heart to his child all the more.” p.71

18. “The sins of those who belong to God open the floodgates of his heart of compassion for us. The dam breaks. It is not our loveliness that wins his love. It is our unloveliness.” p.75

19. “Christ’s heart is a steady reality flowing through time. It isn’t as if his heart throbbed for his people when he was on earth but has dissipated now that he is in heaven. It’s not that his heart was flowing forth in a burst of mercy that took him all the way to the cross but has now cooled down, settling back once more into kindly indifference. His heart is as drawn to his people now as ever it was in his incarnate state. And the present manifestation of his heart for his people is his constant interceding on their behalf.” p.79

20. “He rises up and defends your case, based on the merits of his own sufferings and death. Your salvation is not merely a matter of a saving formula, but of a saving person. When you sin, his strength of resolve rises all the higher. When his brothers and sisters fail and stumble, he advocates on their behalf because it is who he is. He cannot bear to leave us alone to fend for ourselves.” p.91

For the Amazon link to the book, click here.

Here are some of the endorsements on the back of the book:

“I have read no book that more carefully, thoroughly, and tenderly displays Christ’s heart.” Paul Tripp

"Written with pastoral gentleness and quiet beauty, it teases out what twenty biblical texts contribute to this portrait of the heart of Christ, all of it brought together to bring comfort, strength, and rest to believers." D.A. Carson

"Dane Ortlund masterfully handles a treasure trove of Puritan wisdom and deftly presents it to the Christian reader." Rosaria Butterfield

“My life has been transformed by the beautiful, staggering truths in this book. Dane Ortlund lifts our eyes to see Christ’s compassion-filled heart for sinners and sufferers, proving that Jesus is no reluctant savior but one who delights in showing his mercy. For any feeling bruised, weary, or empty, this is the balm for you.” Michael Reeves

“Dane Ortlund writes about what seems too good to be true―the Lord delights to show mercy to you and to me―so he works very carefully through key texts and enlists the help of saints past. I was persuaded, and I look forward to being persuaded again and again.” Ed Welch

“Dane Ortlund helps us rediscover the heart of Jesus that is the very heart of the gospel. This delightful book opens up the sheer immensity of Jesus’s tender love for us. As you immerse yourself in Christ’s very heart, you’ll find your own heart warmed at the fire of the love of God. Ortlund opens up a neglected theme among the Puritans (in bite-sized chunks that won’t overwhelm you), where you’ll discover their grasp of the beauty of Jesus’s love. Your soul needs this book. I highly recommend it.” Paul E. Miller

Interview with Shea Henry (Auburn Cheerleader)

Dane Ortlund Talks About His Book "Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers"

I have already given this book out to 6 people and have recommended just as many times to others. Few books have impacted me like this one. Here is the Together for the Gospel link where you can by it at a discount. The Amazon link for the book is here.

The Curious Case of the Mysterious Muzzler