Christmas on Sunday? Oh no!

As a pastor, I've heard many opinions about holding services on Christmas. They differ widely.  If you haven't noticed, Christmas falls on a Sunday this year.  Various authors, pastors, and speakers are weighing in.  Many different ideas are being put forward on both sides of this arguments.  Unfortunately, some of these arguments are written from a position of superiority, criticizing other churches for their decision (on both sides of this argument), or simply personal preference.   How should we think about this problem?  Before getting into that, here are some things to think about as you evaluate the various opinions. 

1.  The 'We should celebrate as a family' argument.  I've heard that because it's Christmas, it should be a church celebration.  Interesting that we don't usually hear this argument when Christmas falls on a Tuesday.  In that case, church services remain on Sunday and Christmas is celebrated on Tuesday, or any other day other than Sunday.  In addition, how come we don't read about churches gathering on Thanksgiving night, so church families can celebrate as a family? 

2.  The 'Church services are an important part of Christian worship and shouldn't be canceled' argument.  This argument should also apply to vacations and camping weekends, too.  If someone is going to say we shouldn't cancel a worship service because Christmas falls on a Sunday, he or she should also say, we shouldn't miss a single worship service because our vacation falls on a Sunday.  But then, the conversation should probably move to something about how the perfect church attendance award does not earn you a spot in heaven.  

3.  The 'Staff and volunteers need to be able to celebrate with their family' argument. This one pleads for the volunteers and staff who come in early and stay late to put the service on.  Others have a day off (like almost everybody) so why not this group?  It is often made by those who have family, especially little kids.  It's also made by pastors who don't have enough available volunteers to help put on a service with those with families not attending.  If this is the case, those who do want services on Christmas should offer to help so the burden is lighter on those who typically serve.   

4.  The 'School or community center isn't open' argument. This would have been my problem last year.  We used to rent space in a county community center.  Holding services would have meant a couple county employees would have had to work.  That is, if the center would have rented us space on Christmas day.  Let's not be too hard on mobile churches that have to deal with this issue. 

5. The 'It's an outreach' argument.  Okay, what?  If we're wondering if our church members are going to attend on Christmas, what are the chances unchurched, non-believers are going to attend on Christmas day?   It may be a good outreach in your area; I don't know.  Give it a try and see how it goes.

6. The 'Families should know how to do worship in their home' argument.  This argument should cause us to wonder if the families in our churches have been taught to do this, and if they do at any other times.  This is probably a good conversation 52 weeks a year, not just when there's a difficult scheduling day.  In any case, technology does help much more now than ever before. 

7.  The 'I just want my church do be more holy or set apart than the community' argument.  I wonder what the motivation is behind some of these arguments?  Especially if people argue for their church to hold services and then they don't show up.  I also wonder if it's about being 'set apart' like the Pharisees repeatedly argue with Jesus in Mark 2.  And what should we think when we read, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.  So the son of Man is lord even over the Sabbath" when the Sabbath happens to fall on Christmas?  

8. The 'Christmas shouldn't be about gifts' argument.  This one is basically argues that we shouldn't be about stuff, and instead be about worshiping God.  That's really true, but we should extend this argument into the rest of the year too.  If this truly is the argument, people should tithe more because stuff is less important than ministry.  People should work less so they have time to worship more.  Working on Sunday?  Well maybe stuff is too important to you?  If this is indeed the argument.  Maybe we shouldn't give gifts at baptisms and forget about pastor appreciation gifts.  Let's just worship more.  And if we're not about anything corporate, we probably shouldn't be about any thing else that has a corporate inclination or anything associated with money either.  Let's apply this argument to every other other holidays or the Super Bowl, or presidential debates, or March Madness, or any other thing that we celebrate corporately and spend money on.  Or we could relax a hair and celebrate the one who gave the best gift of all by by generously giving gifts to others. 

With all of this in mind, as well as the many other arguments on this topic, you can probably see that this is as much like worship style or Bible translation.  It's going to be different for every church and arguments on both sides are not necessarily unbiblical.  It seems like a matter of preference.  And it's possible that whether you have a service on Christmas or not, the sky is probably not going to fall.  Therefore, I suggest in the spirit of Christmas, we simply allow this to be a matter for each church to determine for themselves, just as families around the nation are making decisions about how they will celebrate Christmas. Whether you attend a service or not, I pray you have a wonderful, Christ-centered Christmas.   

Leviticus 24:10-23 and the Code of Hammurabi

At the church where I pastor, we are working our way through the book of Leviticus.  It's no easy task, I assure you.  Most of the time, the book shocks our sense of reality, justice, and feelings about God.  Yet as we look, it's usually what we think we see that's the problem.  But as we dig in, reason through the text, and work at it, we find what's actually there are we are amazed.

Take  Leviticus 24:10-23 for example. 

It would seem that two men got into a fight and one of them "blasphemed the Name and cursed" (verse 11).  The people brought the man to Moses and they wanted to see what the will of the Lord should be for his man.  

God said, "Bring out of the came the one who cursed, and let all who heard him lay their hands on his head, and let the congregation stone him" (verse 14).  This is serious business.  However, God dictated, "whoever curses his God shall bear his sin.  Whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death.  All the congregation shall stone him.  The sojourner as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death" (Leviticus 24:16).    

Oh man, this seems really harsh.  Is God an unfair, harsh God?  Does this punishment fit the crime?  

God goes on to talk about a fairness code.  He sets a maximum amount of punishment allowed for the crime and it should fit.  Scholars call this principle lex talionis.  We often call it an "eye for an eye" which God mentions too.  I don't think and eye for an eye was specifically about eyes but about this principle.  

And most law students and historians will quickly notice a similarity between Leviticus 24:17-23 and the Code of Hammurabi.  

Hammurabi was the 6th King of Babylon.  And while he wasn't the first king to set out laws for the people, he is one of the most famous early law-makers because his code was inscribed on stone (which means we can still read it today).  His goal was to set some level of fairness in criminal matters, issues of divorce, contracts, and other legal matters.  He wrote 282 laws called the Code of Hammurabi.  

What does the Code of Hammurabi have to do with Leviticus 24:17-23?  

The 196th code mentions matters of an eye for and eye.  Code 200 is a tooth for a tooth. And 197 is a broken bone for a broken bone.  (You can read all 282 codes here.)  A good argument can be made that Leviticus was written before the Code of Hammurabi, but that's not the point.  The two agree.

The point is that God is a fair God.  God's code and man's code have much in common on this one. 

The point is that the punishment should fit the crime.  God has set the lex talionis and it's the same one set by a king of the same time period.  

The point is blaspheming God, that is, using God's name as a curse word is very serious.  Deadly serious.  This kind of disrespect is so serious that the punishment is death.  

Now, it's not the act of using someone's name as a curse word that's the problem.  If you were to use my name as a curse word, not only would you not die, you might get a laugh or two.  The reason this is so serious is because of the magnitude of the name being cursed.  That is why the punishment fits the crime here.  That is why God is fair.  That is why this is not as harsh as we might initially think.  Because God is that magnificent.  God is that powerful.  God is such that he demands that much fear, reverence, and respect. 

Any Given Sunday

It can be difficult to really know what's going on across the nation when the loudest voices rise to the top.  The evening news features the stories that elicit the most negative emotion.  Social media is usually like the stuff swirling around a tornado-- loud, dark, and something that causes sane people to stay out of.  Popular media, art, and entertainment seem to avoid emulating what is in favor of what could never be.  So how does anyone know what's happening across the nation? 

As Christians, we sometimes wonder if the Bible is fading into dust.  Are people still preaching God's Word?  What's going on in Wisconsin?  How about Kentucky?  Oregon?  Is anyone still seeking God?  Do we, as a nation, cherish God's inerrant revelation?  Or are we alone?

In an effort to provide encouragement in our divided and difficult times, an organization called Unlocking the Bible selected a single Sunday and went looking for gospel preaching in all 50 states of the United States.  As it turns out, God's Word is indeed being preached across the nation.  

I am honored that they found and selected a sermon I preached to represent Utah.  Redeeming Life Church, where I pastor, is a church that loves Jesus.  They desperately seek to know God through is Word and his people.   I'm blessed to have the opportunity to pastor this church and preach God's Word there.  If you're reading this, I hope you watch the above video and I'd like to invite you to be our guest at Redeeming Life Church.  We meet for prayer and communion at 10am and a worship service at 11am.  2070 N. Redwood Road, Salt Lake City, Utah 84116.  See you Sunday! 

You can listen to the entire sermon from September 18, 2016 here.  It's the first sermon from our Leviticus series. 

What, No Worship Leader Today?

I'm a pastor of a little church.  We're a newer church.   A young church.  A church plant.  We are blessed to have any person with musical ability, but we are short on skilled worship leader types.  So we are thankful for the ones we have. 

But I knew our Sunday morning worship service would be a little difficult with all our faithfully serving men up at a men's retreat.  However, I didn't anticipate what could have happened when I woke up Sunday morning.  We planned to do what we always do on Sunday and see others would fill in as God called upon them. It wouldn't be the normal team, but it would still be great.  

And then I received a text message at 7:30am, Sunday morning.  The worship leader and her son were really sick.  No worship leader? Nope, they were all up at the retreat.  Hours away.  Okay.  Anybody else available to sing?  No, not as a leader. What were we going to do? 

A year ago, I probably would have freaked out.  But not this time.  The truth is, church is not our order or worship.  Our church is not a welcome, three songs, and so-on.  No church should be.  Our Sunday morning is not about dong stuff and doing it right.  It's about being the Church.  Sadly however, many people have turned Church into an event.  It's a service.  A thing you go to an enjoy or not enjoy.  A moment in time from which to consume or give.  

So when it was the time when we normally stand up and sing worship songs, I stood before our church and shared this short message.  I preached a sermon later, but I think God wanted us to think about the question, "What is the Church?"

It's one thing to talk about being the Church, it's another when you don't have a worship leader.  I know many churches that would rather cancel services than be the Church. 

If you'd like to listen to that seven-minute message in place of our songs, you can listen on the player below or you can listen here.  Following this message, we listened to Emily and David play and we prayed and meditated on the Lord.  

And guess what?  Church was still there because we are the Church.  We gathered.  We prayed.  We opened our Bibles and heard from the Lord.  We praised our King. We remembered that the Church is a family and it was good.  Nothing blew up.  Nobody died.  And it we worshiped Jesus. 

God used our morning without a worship leader to remind us of who we are.  And we celebrated that. 

"To See What They Saw"

I was blessed to preach at Forest Hills Baptist Church in Nashville, Tennessee.  They are a partner church to the church that I pastor, Redeeming Life Church.  They are a wonderful partner, and for them, I am extremely thankful.  I am also humbled that Pastor Sam Boyd would let me step before his congregation and preach on Acts 17.   If you're interested, you can watch the sermon here. 

*In addition, there is much in this sermon that was influenced by giants upon who's shoulders I stand.  For this sermon, Dave Earley pressed many of these same ideas on me, and I am in his debt.

More Churches Need Graveyards

It's unfortunate that we don't build churches connected to graveyards anymore.  What a profound reminder of the reality of the gospel.  Pastors are in the business of death and life.  But more so, I think a graveyard might be a helpful reminder for pastors like me.  

After cleaning up the lifeless paper coffee cups, collecting all the left behind items, and locking  up two hours after the worship service concluded, "nice to see you again, pastor" echoing from the community of tombstones puts things back into the right perspective.  It changes the conversation on the lonely walk to the car.  Start and stop dates carved in old stone has a powerful ability to  cause a pastor to consider his personal vital signs of health as he's getting ready for another emergency counseling session with a couple that probably won't change but "really need to talk with the pastor."  And every time I might ask, "what's the point?", encouragement to keep going would whisper in from the outside yard. 

A graveyard really puts things into perspective.  Paint colors don't mean much when there's a graveyard on the other side of the wall that needs painted.  Those five extra minutes the pastor robbed when he preached long might be forgiven as families rush past a graveyard trying to beat the Methodists to Cracker Barrel.  The topics like salvation and hell may be more meaningful in the shadow of death.  And nobody can say death is a punishment for sin is just metaphorical when tombstones lean over to get a better view into the windows. 

The other thing we miss when we worship in a warehouse instead of a graveyard is the reality that many great saints have gone before us.  The cloud of witnesses is a large cloud; and when there's a graveyard outside the front door, we can see that some of that cloud lived and died in our communities.  We stand on their shoulders.  If we are church planters, we are not likely the first.  Someone had to plant that 75-year-old church.  That should force us to be grateful.  No wonder Christians forget how to be humble!  It should be no mystery why we believe we are the best and most special Christians in our community.  Some of us could stand to have an ol' timer walk us over to a grave marker and say, "This guy here gave a lot of prayer, money, and time to set a foundation with the hope that you'd be a believer today.  Maybe his out dated methods, songs, and flannel board deserve a little respect?" Having a graveyard outside might change the way a lot of Christians act and think. 

I pastor a church that just finished converting a warehouse office into a worship space.  We lease it and there's no graveyard outside.  We don't even have a steeple or a prayer garden.  No stained-glass.  Nope.  None of that.  Just a bunch hip stuff wrapped in brick and commercial steel.  But I don't need the steeple or the stained glass.  Those things are really nice but they might be a relic of the past.  However, I sure would love having a graveyard right out side.  I think that would dramatically change the way I care for God's people.  And I have to imagine it might help the church take the gospel a little more seriously each and every time they walk past that graveyard on their way to church services.     

Defending our Idols

Maybe I'm getting old, but I don't remember everybody hating everybody else.  When I was younger there were people who got hot, but I don't recall people being so nasty.  Spend any time on the social media outlets and you will find people angry about something.  They hate what they don't think is right and hate the people who disagree with them.  And then a few minutes later, they hate the people who don't necessarily disagree but don't completely agree with every point. A few more minutes and they hate everybody and everything. . . except themselves and their own thoughts.  

Sometimes this hate is hidden behind a cloak of complaint.  There's always something wrong.  There's always an injustice.  There's always an enemy of some kind.  There's always a need to vent publicly and then say, "it's just venting" when people call it out.  

Just this week I saw an Olympian use her platform to make a statement against the police in the US.  Then others complained about her statements.  Still others argued against the complainers.  I also saw a string of people complaining about the coverage of women in the Olympics.  Of course I've seen way too many people arguing politics.  Name calling.  Gun rights. Abortion rights (if there truly is such a thing). Problems with education.  Problems with cable companies.  Problems with people.  Problem with systems.  Problems with problems.  (Even now I'm pointing out a problem.  I'd like to think I'm different, but I'm not.) 

Why do we have such a problem?  Why do we hate anything that's against our ideas.  Why is anything that is no "me" so intolerable?  

I would like to offer than we are defending our idols.  People seem to get the hottest when what is most important object of our worship is in jeopardy.  I'm not saying that gun rights or who can use which bathroom or any particular candidate is what's important.  These things are not the idols.  Not politics.  Not guns.  Not sexual behavior.  If we cut through it all, what we'll find is our actual idol.  The one we whore ourselves to.  And just what or who is our idol?  Ourselves.  Yup.  The god of "me." 

We argue and complain because like the people in the time of the book of Judges, we are doing what we think is right in our own eyes.  And it's not what we are doing that's important to us, but that we get to sit in the place that says what is right, what is worthy of praise, and what all others should bow down and worship.  Most the people I know (and sometimes even myself) want people to worship the god we worship--ourselves. 

Is this why people get so bent out of shape when they drive?  Is it what motivates our actions on Facebook?  Is this what's behind it all?  Even as I'm writing this for my website, I have to question if I want people to value this post in such a way as to value me as a false god?  I hope not, but it's possible.  I'm sinful like the rest of creation.  

Interestingly, Romans chapter 1 deals with the ramifications of self-worship.  It's bad.   People exchange truth for a lie and trade in God for a false god.  Then Romans 1:28-32 points the finger at us today, saying, 

"And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not be done.  They were filed with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice.  They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness.  They are gossips, slanders, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.  Though they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them."  

That sounds about right.  What's the answer to this problem?  

The Bible speaks of mortifying sin.  Killing it.  There's lots of talk of repenting from this evil way and turning to Jesus. And then there's the picture we see in Gideon.  In Judges (that book where everybody was doing what they defined as right), Gideon is called to destroy the false idols in his father's house.  You can read about it in Judges 6.  When the town woke to find their idols tore down, they were mad. Really man.  But in the end, the false gods were left to defend themselves.  Nothing happened because the false gods are no gods at all.  

I wonder if this is what we are doing.  As we simultaneously identify ourselves as god and then worship the false god of "me," we take up a defensive position.  We are actually trying to defend our position as our own idol as others try to do the same by cutting us down.  Is this what we see on Facebook?  Twitter?  So the answer might be that it's time to stop defending and start killing.  It's time to tear down the false idol of self. It's time to worship the one, true God.     

I suspect when we do this, we'll find the peace and joy the god of self seems to withhold.  We'll find the power for real transformation into the image of Jesus that the god of self is powerless to deliver.  And in the end, we'll find life, real life in Christ's name.  Because there is no other name and no other God able  to giving us life and life to the fullest. 

The Myth of the Non-Christian by Luke Cawley

Cawley, Luke.  The Myth of the Non-Christian: Engaging Atheists, Nominal Christians and the Spiritual But Not Religious.  Downers Grove, Ill: InterVarsity Press, 2016. 

I was thrilled when InterVarsity Press sent me a review copy of Luke Cawley's book, The Myth of the Non-Christian: Engaging Atheists, Nominal Christians and the Spiritual But Not Religious.  The title alone is intriguing.  And I was fairly pleased with the arguments and resources with the pages of this work. 

Crawley, the director and co-founder of Chrysolis, is a contextual apologists who seem to desire a shift in the conversation of present-day apologetics.  He argues that, "learning to engage with the three groups of this book will aid you in your conversations and interactions with a significant percentage of people around you" (25).  In addition, his aim is that his readers will "learn to be contextual apologists" (25).   The three groups--which Crawley argues are the three largest groups of US people who are not followers of Jesus--are atheists, nominal Christians (that is, those who are part of the social structure of the Christian faith but not actually believers), and the spiritual by non-religious.  

Many of his points in the beginning chapters are made through stories and examples.  On the upside, this helps bring life to his argument and keeps the book interesting.  The down side however, is that the stories require a lot of assumptions that Crawley depends upon.  Not every college campus is the same.  Different areas get into spiritual conversations more freely than others.  Some cultures in the US (like Utah) are highly influenced by non-Christian belief structures that will influence all of these groups differently than the examples offered. But the stories are still helpful and keep the book engaging.  

The second half of the book is more like a resource book.  It deals with the major questions and objections to Christianity and how to engage in each of these three areas.  This is where the book holds its value.  These chapters become much less story driven and for more instructional.  They are though provoking and provide some helpful framework in which the reader can contextualize his or her own apologetic.  For these chapters alone, anyone seeking to engage the lost in these groups should probably read this book. 

Unfortunately, Crawley spend a lot of time arguing against calling the people in this group non-Christians.  He contends that nobody calls themselves a non-Christian so we should not use the term.  This is non-sense.  People don't call themselves "lost" or "lost sheep" either, but Jesus doesn't hesitate to call them that when he said he came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10).  Of course calling someone a non-Christian might be identifying them differently then they self-identify, but it's not an untrue statement, nor is it going to be offensive (unless the person believes he or she is a Christian).  And at the same time, it will also help draw important distinctions that may need to be drawn.  For example, members of the LDS faith (Mormons) deeply desire that I call them Christians, but by identifying them as non-Christians, important biblical distinctions can be made.  It's not bad to refer to people who are not Christian as a non-Christian, although this is a minor point and not very relevant to the rest of Crawley's book. 

Apart from my minor issues, I found this book both thought provoking and helpful.  I do recommend this book to anyone who desires to engage lost people with the gospel (which should be every Christian).  I have no material connection to this book, but I'll still encourage you to purchase it here. 

* Looking for a good book to read, check out this list. 

The Journey Toward Spiritual Maturity

For a week now, I’ve been staring at a discipleship chart by LeRoy Eims. It comes from his book, The Lost Art of Disciple Making.  I can’t stop thinking about it because I find it so helpful in the area of discipleship, ministry multiplication, and leadership development.  I'm working on two questions

Question 1: 
What are the steps to take a person from an unbeliever all the way into Christian maturity, where this same person can be trusted to lead, shepherd, and care for the Bride of Christ?

Question 2:
How can we determine where a person is on this growth journey toward Christian maturity.

Every time I take my kids to the doctor, ‘the chart’ comes out.  This chart is tracking their growth process from birth to adulthood.  LeRoy Eims’ chart is very similar.   Using his concept, I've placed some major and minor steps into a chart of my own. Here’s my own adaptation of the spiritual growth process on a simple Spiritual Maturity Chart. 

1.  Hear and accept the gospel (Immature Believer)
a.  Read your Bible daily
b.  Pray daily, and more even often
c.  Share the gospel with others regularly
d.  Do not forsake fellowship with other believers
e.  Worship God in a variety of other ways
f.   Sabbath
g.  Tithe
h.  Start defeating personal sin behaviors
i.   Start growing in godly character, being transformed into Christ’s image
j.   Start growing in wisdom, demonstrated by making wise decisions
k.  Be a good steward of your, time, talent, and treasure
l.   Grow in the kind of hope that others will question you about
m.  Live in the joy of Christ
n.  Learn how do deeply study the Word of God on our own and do so often
o.  Learn humility
p.  Love your neighbors

Result of Step 1: A Disciple (Maturation is Ready to Begin)

2.  Growth into Christian Maturity
a.  Lead others to Christ (God willing) 
b.  Teach others all that Christ commanded
c.  Disciple your wife and children towards Jesus
d.  Meet and disciple others in a one-on-one setting
e.  Use your time, talent, and treasure for Kingdom advancement
f.   Serve others within the Church
g.  Serve others outside the Church
h.  Serve the local church as a whole
h.  Care well for your spiritual leaders
j.   Become a steady person within the local church family
k.  Be a trustworthy regular at the gatherings of the fellowship
l.   Sacrificially give your time, talent, and treasure above your tithe
m. Pray for your leaders and others in the church body often, if not daily
n.  Do the jobs nobody wants to do (like Jesus washing the disciple’s feet)
o.  Persevere over the long haul
p.  Become dependable
q.  Encourage your brothers and sisters in Christ often 

Result of Step 2: A Servant (The Making of a Maturing Christian)

3.  Growth into Ministry Leadership (For Called and Maturing Christians)
I haven't put steps here yet because growing as a leader is going to be different for each person based on calling an leadership duties.  This may mean it’s time for formal training like Bible College or Seminary (most students go too early and long before they are called or maturing through Step 2.)  It may mean working alongside other leaders.  Or it could be something else.  However, this process should be reserved for those Christians who have grown as disciples and live as mature servants.  When a person has grown well in Step 3, he or she should be capable of reproducing believers in Steps 1 and 2 as well as in Step 3.  

Result of Step 3: Leader 

Too often, I try to move young men and women into leadership positions long before there has been growth through Step 1 and Step 2.  The results are often less than desired.  

Look at the growth chart above and get honest with yourself.  Where are you?  How are you doing?  Can you honestly say you are doing all those sub-steps within Step 1?  If not, that’s where you need to place your time and attention.  You need to grow out of infancy in Christ and start making your way toward maturity.  

If you are doing Step 1 well, how are you doing with Step 2?  Are you the man or woman the rest of your local church sees as a sacrificial servant for the church, or are you that person that’s still fulfilling your own needs from week to week?  What areas need work in your spiritual growth journey?  What do you need to do as you make your way toward Christian adulthood?  

When my kids finally meet all the thresholds on the doctor’s chart, they will still have needs to meet on my chart.  My boys will not honestly be allowed to call themselves men until they’ve moved out on their own and pay for their own car payment, insurance, phone, etc.  They are not given certain family responsibilities until they have achieved the faithful smaller responsibilities.  The same it true within our local church families.  

I was not in a place to lead until I learned to lead myself.  I was not in a place lead until I learned to serve rather than be served.  I’m still learning a great deal in Step 3 because I feel like I am only just now entering Step 3. At times I’m still struggling with things in Step 1 and 2.   I went to seminary way too early because I had not yet learned to serve wellNor had I learned humility (and I’m still working on that one too).  I wasn’t a faithful worker yet.  At times, I’m not a good steward of my time and talent.  These days persevering feels a little tougher.  But many spiritual, godly, men examined my life (through ordination and various church planter assessments) and felt I was ready to begin my journey into Step 3.  They are still examining my life and still looking at how I am doing in Steps 1 and 2 and I will remain in a growth process until the day I die.   

We need leaders in the Church.  Most local churches are hurting for godly leaders.  I know the church I pastor is!  Are you growing toward that place? 

If you were assessed in your spiritual journey, would the wisest, most mature believers you know (and even those you don’t, but instead watch on Youtube and listen to via podcasts) determine you have grown past the infancy stages of the Christian walk?  How would you rate on the various steps presented here?

Awakenings and Revivals

A co-laborer in ministry, Brett Ricley, and I were praying for our city and discussing lostness and how things might change in our community.  As we continued to pray, we both started coming to some ideas about revival and awakening.  Then, around this same time, I picked up the next magazine in my old stack of Christian History Magazine and it happened to be about revivals and awakenings. Within days, Brett's Church history professor asked the class to read a series of articles from an on-line archive of the same magazine, even the same volume and issue.  So we decided that God might be trying to teach us something.  

As we explored the idea of revival and awakening in our city and well beyond our community, we decided that it was an interesting topic for Salty Believer Unscripted.  We brought Jared Jenkins into our conversation, and then God brought Vance Pitman and Nik Ripken into the conversation for some great interviews.  Over the weeks of the series, we discussed definitions, Scripture, the Great Awakenings in the US, the way God is moving in the rest of the world, and much more.  

If you did not listen to the series, I still want to encourage you to listen to our series, "Revivals and Awakenings."  

Revivals and Awakenings
-- Part 1: Introduction audio      
-- Part 2: Our 'Personal Revivals' audio 
-- Part 3: The First Great Awakening audio
-- Part 4: Lessons From the First Great Awakening audio 
-- Part 5: The Second Great Awakening audio
-- Part 6: Lessons From the Second Great Awakening audio
-- Part 7: Awakening in the West (with Vance Pitman) audio   
-- Part 8: The Third Great Awakening audio    
-- Part 9: The Other Awakenings?  audio
-- Part 10: Awakenings Around the World (with Nik Ripken) audio 

** Subscribe to the Salty Believer Unscripted Podcasts:
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Bible Study Essentials

According to John 10, a disciple of Jesus hears and knows the voice of the Lord and follows that voice.   But how do we learn to hear and know the voice of the Lord?  We certainly don't want to obey a false prophet or false voice, or even our own voice mistaken for something of greater authority.  What are we to do? 

One of the best ways is to read and study what God has already said (the Bible).  There's a right and a wrong way to study the Bible.  In fact, there are lots of wrong ways to apply the Bible to our lives and they typically come from an incorrect study process.  However, chances are good that if you learn to read and study the Bible well, you will start hearing from the Lord better.  The more and more you practice studying the Bible the right way, the more familiar God's voice will become.  And the more you obey what God says in your reading and study, the more natural you will find it.  

So what's the right way to study the Bible?

Without getting too bogged down with this question, I'd like to propose a very simple way to start reading and studying your Bible.  You can do it on your own or in a group.  You should do it every day.  It can take 10 minutes or hours.  It even makes for a simple way to lead a group.   

Asked to lead a devotional, preach a sermon,give a talk, or teach on a text?  This method words well for teaching the Bible too.  It is often the format I use for my sermons.  

To start, select a small section of the Word. This is often called a percipi.  You can also do this with a chapter or even an entire book, but I recommend starting with small sections.  Read the text. Pray about it.  Ask the Holy Spirit to open your eyes.  Ask him to show you something from God's Word today.   

"What do you see?"  What do you find interesting.  Was there repeated words or ideas? What was it saying when it was written?  Start listing observations.  These are the facts and things you notice.  This is not application time to resist the urge to start applying these observations to your life. Just sit in the text.  Be a detective and see what's there.  There could be hundreds of observations.  

Next, ask the question, "What does it mean, today?"  I like to ask, "What is the timeless principle?"  What does this say to all people, of all time, in all places on the earth.  Boil it down to a sentence.  If you can't boil it down, keep working on it.  Also, if it doesn't apply to all time and all cultures, you might not have it worked down to the timeless principle yet.  This is a truth statement from God for all people so work at it until it is timeless.  It should also be anchored to your observations.  If you've got a statement that's no longer anchored to your observations from the text, you might not have a timeless truth from that text yet.      

Finally, take that timeless principle and ask, how do I apply this to my life in tangible ways. Or how does this principle speak to my church?  What is God's Word (from that timeless truth statement) speaking into my life, my family, and even my world today, in my reality?  

These three questions, if worked in this order, will often yield some remarkable insight into what God is saying.  To help, I've listed the three questions below with some additional clarifying and helping questions.  The additional questions should help get you answers for that primary questions.  Pick a portion of Scripture and give it a try.  Then try it with another text, and another. Try it again tomorrow and the next day.  With more practice you will have a greater chance of recognizing God's voice.  When you hear that voice, follow it.  Because disciples know the Lord's voice and follow him.    

Bible Study Essentials

1.  Observation
What do you see? 
- What do you find interesting or curious?
- Are terms, places, or ideas emphasized or repeated?  
- Are there people, things, or statements alike or different?
- What is true to life?  
- Is there anything that seems out of place? 
- What are the key turning points in the story? 

2.  Interpretation
What does it mean? 
- What are the timeless principles? 
- What truths can be stated that apply to all people, of all time, and all places? 
- How can things that applied only to the past culture speak to today's cultures? 
- What else does the Bible say about this timeless truth? 

3.  Application
What and I going to to with this truth? 
- How do the timeless principles speak into my life? 
- How should this timeless truth alter my behaviors and thoughts? 
- Is there an example for me to follow? 
- Is there a promise to claim? 
- Is there a prayer to repeat? 
- Is there a condition to meet? 
- Is there a verse to memorize? 
- Am I willing to apply the timeless truth today? 

Study on and be transformed by God's Word!

Baptists at Greek Orthodox Easter?

"Are we doing this to be like the disciples who feel asleep while Jesus was praying?  Why on earth is it so late at night?" one of the guys asked.  Another one expressed concerns over theology.  Still another guy was concerned that we'd be too tired for Sunday services the next morning.  (We probably should have listen to his concerns because he was right).  And still another guys was concerned about the dress code.  Despite all the concerns, I drug a group of baptist disciples to the Antiochian Greek Easter Service. 

Why on earth would I go to an Greek Orthodox Easter service?  Even more curious is why I might bring others with me. 

To get the heart of this question, I should probably share that Jared Jenkins and I attended an Antiochian Greek Easter service a couple years prior.  (We go to the Antiocian service because most of the 3-hour service is in English.)  That was my first experience with this service.  While there are some troubling differences with my theology and theirs, I found it interesting.  And despite that it starts at midnight and you stand the entire time, I found it worshipful. 

We recorded an on-location episode of Salty Believer Unscripted during that visit.  You can listen to that recording here. 

So now that I'm in the process of training up future pastors and leaders to go plant churches, I decided it would be a good idea to take them to the Greek Orthodox service.  Generally speaking, they are all Baptist.  And without a doubt, they are all Evangelical Protestants of the western tradition.  What was I thinking?

I was thinking it would be a good opportunity to see something different.  This service is different and it gave us a great deal to talk about.  I also thought it might be helpful to get out of our normal context. . . which this most certainly achieved that goal. 

So Jared and I invited Brett Ricley and some others.  Once again, we recorded our experience for Salt Believer Unscripted.  I would like to encourage you to listen to our on-location recording here.   

If you are not subscribed to Salty Believer Unscripted, I would also like to encourage you to find it with the app you use to enjoy podcasts.  In addition, you can find all our episodes on our Salty Believer Unscripted resources page. 

Subscribe to the Salty Believer Unscripted Podcasts:
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Christians Aren't Born Mature

I was struck when reading a popular author on the topic of discipleship and the Christian walk.  He spends page after page lambasting the 'sinner's prayer' and pastors who encourage lost people to respond to an alter call at a church service.  He is excessively hard on people who have invited Jesus into their lives without counting the cost and he really struggles with those who lack an understanding of who Jesus is if they don't understand Jesus like the author thinks he does.  His argument hinges on the masses of people who profess to be Christians but have no evidence of following Jesus years later.  And his solution is to toss out all those things that might not meet his standard of mature Christendom.  

The problem however, is that this author is not necessarily wrong.  Christ does call his followers to die to self.  He does encourage us to count the cost of following him.  Jesus did tell a rich man to give up everything to follow Jesus.  It is true that the disciples physically gave up their lives, and indeed there are people around the world being persecuted for following Jesus in radical ways.   Jesus did say there will be those who did things in the name of Jesus but Jesus will says, "I never knew you."

On the other hand, there are other authors that write about how easy it is to become a Christian.  How being a Christian is a free gift and that demands an immediate response to Jesus.  They seem to push away from any difficult walls that others try to put up.  And there are entire churches who see arguments like the first author's above and lose their minds in rage and anger.  They argue, as the Bible says, that all who profess faith in Jesus and call him Lord are saved.  You can't lose your salvation and you don't have to earn it with works.  They see things like selling all that you have and following Jesus as something Jesus only 'suggested' to one guy, once in the Bible.  Are these arguments wrong?  No, is some truth behind the second argument too.  The Bible, after all, does indeed say all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. But how can both arguments be true? 

Which is it?  Say a prayer to Jesus for your salvation or count the cost and get all your thinking and your attitude right before Jesus will consider you his true follower?  Are you only a true Christian after you know the Wesminster Confession and understand all the doctrines?  Or are you a Christian because you said the sinner's prayer?  Or is it that you're a real believer after you've been utterly broken under the magnitude of all your sin?  Is there a need to respond by raising your hand or walking to the front of a church service?  Might it be that after hearing the gospel, even if you've never read Leviticus and pondered all its points you can respond and be counted among those who call themselves Christian?  Are you to understand the dynamics of the Trinity before you cry out to Jesus for salvation?  Is there nothing in between? 

I've come to see that it's both.  We have created a false dichotomy that the Bible does not.  It's not one or the other, it's both.  The Christian walk is both easy an yet it is a death to self.  It is birth with a simple prayer and a life of continual growth and discipleship.  The problem comes when we think its only one or the other. Even worse is when we blast the other side as wrong and toss out important truths of the Word of God.   

Imagine a child who is just old enough to start speaking single-syllable words.  Is this the time we start reading the King James Bible to them?  Maybe. Maybe not.  But should we get angry when this little child struggles to pay attention?  Is it wise to get upset when the child doesn't start memorizing verses from the King James translation?  Might it be okay to show this little one a simple picture Bible? Is there a point when "Jesus loves me, this I know" is enough?   

As the child starts to learn more about Jesus and begins to learn how to read, would it be a good time to graduate the little one to a Bible like the Jesus Storybook Bible?  I think so.  (Although I once had a KJV only guy argue that in no way should this Bible be consider a Bible because it's not the complete and total inspired work of God; and in no way should it ever be given to a child because it is an incomplete Bible.)  Again, is there another step in which the youth could be graduated up to another Bible.  Maybe a translation like the NiRV that's intended for a 2nd grade reading level?  How about a student study Bible next, maybe with a more mature translation?  Then at some point, the student study Bible might be replaced with a more mature study Bible.  The child might be encouraged to start reading popular-level reading books and devotionals as he or she continues to mature and grow in Christ.  And even still, could there be a graduation to some of the classic theologians?  I hope so.  Devotional commentaries next?  Then technical commentaries?  Learning original languages may come at some point (or not).  It could go on and on like this when it comes to selecting a Bible for our children.    

Might it also be the same for believers in other parts of the Christian journey?  

As English speaker and readers, we wouldn't expect a toddler to start with a Hebrew or Greek Bible, or even a KJV or ESV.  But neither would we expect that child to keep using the Jesus Storybook Bible as his or her only Bible well into adulthood.  But we are doing these same thing in discipleship when we expect too much of a new believer or too little of one who has walked with Jesus for some time.  Might it be that the Christian journey is a in fact a journey and the first few steps might not be as large as the steps that follows the first?  

How we look at discipleship is a 'both/and.'  There is an easy entry but no room to remain there.  That's only the first step.  There is a difficult journey through the duration of a lifetime, but that is why we have the Holy Spirit with us. Some steps are easy, some are extremely difficult.  Is this not what we see in the lives of first disciples?  Think about their first year, or two, or three.  But then notice what happens through the book of Acts as they grow into maturity in Christ.  Oh how much more they grew into amazing examples all the way to the end!  The same balance is true for every disciple.  It's about a journey of continual growth.  It's a journey that requires a a thin walk between rest and death.  But it is a journey non-the-less.  

Signs of Spiritual Life

Have you ever seen a dead body?  Maybe you have attended a funeral with and open casket.  If we are honest, does the person lying in the casket really look alive?  Is there any chance you could think that person is just sleeping and will suddenly sit up?  Have you ever seen a dead body before a mortician has dressed up the person for the purpose of a funeral?    

If you were to come across a body, lying on the ground, and you suspected the person might be dead, what signs would you look for to confirm your thoughts?  You could check if he or she was breathing.  Or check a pulse.  Or look for movement.  Maybe you would shake the person and say, "Are you okay, are you okay?" 

I remember times when my children were little and would sleep through the night for the first time.  I was so used to getting up that I would wake up in the night and start growing concerned that my baby hadn't woken up.  I would peek in and look for movement.  Was there a little chest rising up and falling down?  Any movement?  Any noise?  Was my baby alive?  If you're a parent, maybe you can relate.  

In the medical profession, a pulse rate, temperature, respiration rate, blood pressure, eye movement, and reflexes are but many ways a person can be determined to be alive.  And specific measurements can even provide information about just how alive a person might be.  

But what about spiritual life?  Are there life signs?

There are a few different life signs. One is fruit.  Luke 6:43-45 and Matthew 12:33-37 both record a discussion from Jesus about the fruit that comes from good trees as well as the fruit that comes from bad trees.  It is as if the fruit is a sign of the life of the tree.   In Luke 13:6-9 Jesus tells a parable of a fruit tree that doesn't bear fruit at all.  Can it even be called a fruit tree?  And in the end, a fruit tree that doesn't bear fruit should be cut down to make room for a fruit tree that's actually a fruit tree.   When John the Baptist was preaching in preparation for Jesus' coming, he said "Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees.  Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire" (Matthew 3:10 and Luke 3:9, ESV).   And Jesus says in John 15:1-6 says, 

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.  Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.  Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.  Abide in me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.  I am the vine; you are the branches.  Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.  If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch that withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned" (John 15:1-6, ESV).  

The biblical imagery of life and fruit is telling.  A Christian life should have some indication of real life and the bearing of future life just as fruit is seed-filled fruit and food.  Bearing fruit is one of many spiritual life signs the Bible speaks of.  Is your life bearing spiritual fruit?

I could spend post after post addressing not the signs themselves; but more importantly, a saved, blood-bought believer should show signs of new life in Christ.  There should probably be some kind of evidence, right? Some sign.  Something.  

James 2:14-26 deals specifically with the significance of the vital life signs of the Christian life.    It is not special work, or even work in Jesus' name, that brings about salvation.  This kind of work, as described in Matthew 7:21-23, will only lead Jesus to say, "I never knew you."  Furthermore, a dead person can't bring about signs of true life.  He or she must be made alive first.   

Instead, these life signs are an evidence of a life transformation from death to life.  They are like the pulse, temperature, reflexes, and rising chest. They also show and support true belief in one who God has raised to spiritual life.

 If Abraham only said he believed God's words but then refused to go up the hill to sacrifice his son in faith, it would be questionable if he really believed God.  The same is true of Rahab.  James says, "You believe that God is one; you do well.  Even the demons believe--and shudder!" (James 2:19)  This is a statement about a profession that lacks the life signs.  A demon can profess a belief but live a fruitless existence in rejection and opposition to God.  The same is true of people.  They will say, "Oh, I believe in God and stuff," but their lives lack any evidence of said belief.  Are their empty words enough to overcome their dead souls?  True faith and belief should probably be evidence at some point in our actions.  We are not called to simply believe cognitively in word only, but in our deeds too.

James vs. Paul?

James 2:14-26 is a really tough text.  Actually, it’s really not except for how we want to balance things Paul has said with the things James has said.  There area few ways we can approach this.  

1.  The first way we can look at this is to say either Paul or James is wrong.  Martin Luther took this approach, suggesting that James was a lesser book in the Canon or Scripture, or maybe didn’t even belong in the Bible.  This is really not a good approach.  If I were to take this approach, every book that contains a verse about sin I want to commit would be removed from the Bible.  Leaving me with about two books.  This is what people often what to do with Old Testament books; that is, they reduce them to a lesser authoritative position.  Others will elevate the quotes from Jesus’ earthy ministry above the rest of the biblical books, forgetting that Jesus is indeed the Word. I do not recommend this approach and would encourage you to avoid this false dichotomy. 

2.  The next approach is to get loose with the words or historical facts.  “Well, one person really means this and the other person really means that.”  I’ve been guilty of this at times (especially with this section of James.)  This is how society will try to change the meaning of homosexuality, among other things in the Bible.  Or if the words aren’t toyed with, sometimes the historical reality is changed.  This is how we get some far-fetched story about a gate called the Needle Gate that was short and narrow.  As this urban legend goes, people would have to unload their camels to get through the needle gate. Archaeologists have never found the needle gate.  In addition, Jesus was making an impossible point about something that couldn’t happen at all, not something that was simply an inconvenience.  I think we need to be careful not to do this with words like Faith, Works, Justification, and Salvation as Paul and James discuss them.  Let’s be honest with the words and context (although this doesn’t mean there may be some difference.  It just means, let’s be honest.) 

3.  Or we can approach this as it is.  James and Paul are in agreement, as they were both inspired by the same Holy Spirit.  Any confusion on this matter is likely found on our part. But how can this be?  I’ll see if I can get to the heart of the confusion.

First, let’s look at the Scriptures that seem to be in disagreement.  

James 2:24.  “You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.”

James 2:26. “For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.”

(Paul) Romans 3:28. “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart fro works of the law.”

(Paul) Romans 4:2-5.  “For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but now before God.  For what does the Scripture say?  ”Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness."  Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.  And to the one who does not work by trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,"

(Paul) Ephesians 2:8-9.  “For by grace you have been saved through faith.  And this is not your own doing; it is a gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

There is an apparent conflict, isn’t there?  Is there?  Are you sure?  We make the same trouble with our language too (especially if we hold a reformed theological view of salvation.)  Let me see if I can show you.  

How often do we say, “There’s nothing you can do to earn your salvation?”  (This would be a correct statement.)  But then we tell the person who said the ’sinner’s prayer’ and never, ever, not even once, did another thing regarding God or demonstrated a changed life, “that’s not enough.”  (This would also likely be a correct statement.)  The person would say, but if I have to do more, aren’t I doing some kind of work?  From an outside perspective, we have contradicted ourselves.  Or have we?    

The difficulty with the Paul vs. James contradiction is that we often start from Paul’s viewpoint.  We read Paul and think we understand what Paul is saying.  (Peter warns us that Paul can be hard to understand in 2 Peter 3:16.) Then we try to read James into our understanding of Paul’s position.   I would like to suggest that we instead try starting from James' position (which is much easier to grasp) and see if our understanding can be read back into Paul’s position.  

What is James’ position?  That the believer should demonstrate some kind of changed life that would likely demonstrate belief and faith. He’s arguing against cheap grace and easy-believism.  Is that so much of a stretch?  After all, didn’t Jesus often talk about baring fruit?  Your remember?  "You will recognize them by their fruit. . . " (Matthew 7 and Luke 8). ‘The ax is already at the root of the tree that doesn’t bare fruit. . . (Matthew 3).  Or what about that fig tree that didn’t have any fruit (Mark 11).  But Jesus (or James or Paul for that matter) is not saying you have to produce fruit in order to be saved.  Instead, it should be expected that a justified, saved, person of faith produces fruit. They go together as part of the definition. 

James is a simple writer, so it helps to get a grasp of faith and salvation from this position.  Now read James’ position and definition into Paul’s argument?  

If we understand that Paul has the same justified, saved person who produces fruit in mind when he talks about salvation, it becomes clear.  Still, he’s not saying we have to do work to earn salvation, but he does seem to believe that the believer does stuff as a result of his or her regeneration.  This is how Paul can get away with all those imperative statements he makes about how a believer should live.  And look again at one of the above verses with this in mind and in the proper context

“For by grace you have been saved through faith.  And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."  (Paul, Ephesians 2:8-10, emphasis added.)    

I hope this helps clarify the apparent controversy.  

And what should we take away from this?  There is a great question in the application section of the Serendipity Study Bible on this text.  It reads, 

“If you were arrested for being a Christian, what evidence would be used to prove the point?”  

Does your life reflect Jesus in such a way that you might be accused to live as a Christian?  Or will people say, “He talks a good game but he doesn’t walk the walk.”  

The Reformed View of Salvation and our Role in Evangelism

If you've read the "This I Believe" page on this site, it shouldn't be a surprise that I hold a reformed view in my soteriology (the study of salvation).  While I don't believe a Christian is required to hold this view and the church I pastor doesn’t require that one hold this view of the order of salvation or the mechanics of how God does such a thing, I thought it might be helpful if I share my view.  It does tend to come out from time to time in my writing, teaching, and preaching ministries.  I also don't spend much time thinking or arguing about this because that is really unhelpful in the advancement of the Kingdom.      

To start, what is “order of salvation”?  

Looking at the order of salvation helps us understand our view of the mechanics of salvation.  Much of the debate (but not all) has to do with how we order these mechanics, that is, how we think it happens.  It’s important to remember that how ever we think it happens, the most important thing is that it does indeed happen.  In addition, this view does not remove man's responsibility to repent and turn to God nor does it say God has no control in the matter.  God is totally sovereign. The Bible shows us that all of these parts are involved in the process in some way or another, but the differences re found in the order they happen.  Here’s the reformed view of the order of salvation as Wayne Grudem orders it in his book, Systematic Theology: 

1. Election (God’s choice of people to be saved)
2. The gospel call (proclaiming the message of the gospel)
3. Regeneration (being born again)
4. Conversion (faith and repentance)
5. Justification (right legal standing)
6. Adoption (membership into God’s family)
7. Sanctification (the process of growing into right living)
8. Perseverance (Remaining a Christian)
9. Death (leaving this stage of life and being with the Lord)
10. Glorification (receiving a resurrection body)

A couple things probably need to be said about this list.  First, this list is probably an oversimplification.  Second, many of these things happen simultaneously. Third, perseverance does not suggest that you can lose your salvation (because that’s not biblical) but that being a Christian all the way to the end proves your were indeed a true Christian. And finally, the in the big picture, the order is a man-made list to try to understand what is happening from the biblical information.  This is God’s business to sort out.  

What does this mean in light of how other religions look at salvation.  Well, this question has to do with what we must do to be saved.  Is it that we must do all the right stuff and then God will determine we are good enough for salvation?  No.  God’s Word says we can’t earn our salvation.  In fact, if left on our own, we would all reject God.  But God ‘elects’ or intercedes to save some in order to show his glory, and he determined who they would before he created the world. . . which was way before any of us existed.  The bottom line: you can’t do good works to save yourself any more than you can sit cross-legged on a folding chair and then lift yourself and the chair off the ground.

But does this mean the he selected others to be damned? No.  Man's sin nature and our personal sin is why we are damned.  God selected to save some.  Yet many will say that's unfair, and they'd be right.  The fair thing to do would let each and every person face the consequences of sin, which is death.  But God send his son, Jesus Christ, so that all who would believe would have salvation.  That's not far, but it's amazing grace--an undeserved gift.   On the other hand, some think God should save everybody, but that would be inconsistent with his justice.  

What is our role and what is God’s role in evangelism and making disciples? Why bother sharing the gospel if God already determined who would be given a regenerate heart and turn to him? 

Here’s how that works.

A proclamation is made to the entire world to turn to God.  Nobody is exempt from responding.  As ambassadors of God, our job is to present that universal proclamation to the entire world.  God's Word says that people need to hear the gospel in order to be able to respond to it.  Now, some will answer “yes” to that call if God has changed them.  After God has regenerated them, giving them a new heart, they will be able to convert (but not before).  But that part is not up to us.  Our part is to proclaim the universal call to the entire world. We also have a part in walking with our brothers and sisters in the process of sanctification and perseverance.  That’s a solid part of discipleship.  God does these parts through his people, which was made possible through Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection as well as the Holy Spirit.  It's very cool that we get to be a part in the process through evangelism, which it is why evangelism grows us and brings us joy.  Joy?  Yes!  It is exciting to see people into into the new life of Jesus Christ.  

So while I believe it is up to God who will turn to him and be born again, it is up to me to continually make the call to repent and believe.  That’s what God asks us to do.  Some will be saved and some won’t, but that’s not my role. In addition, part of that universal call is that there is no work that man can do to save himself.  It is only by God’s design, will, and power that man can be saved, by faith and grace alone, because of Jesus Christ.  

Life as a Polygamist (An Interview with the Dutsons)

Photo of 50 of the estimated 70-80 wives of Warren Jeff, August 2011. 

On March 15, 2016, a mission team from First Baptist Church of Cushing gathered in a private home to listen to Enoch and Jennie Dutson discuss what is was like growing up in a polygamist home.  Jennie's grandpa was the former FLDS prophet.  

I recorded the interview for Salty Believer Unscripted.  It's a 3-part series.  If you'd like to listen, you can do so by following the links below. 

Life as a Polygamist  (An Interview with the Dutsons)
-- Part 1 audio
-- Part 2 audio
-- Part 3 audio

Apostles' Creed (Life Guide Bible Study) by Alister McGrath

McGrath, Alister. Apostle's Creed (Life Guide Bible Series) Dower's Grove, Ill: IVP Connect, 2016.

 Alister McGrath's study of the Apostle's Creed is simple, which is what makes it perfect for newer believers or those who have never studied the biblical basis for the Creed. (IVP actually calls each chapter a separate study, so this thin little booklet is actually identified as 6 studies.)  This little study guide is meant to accompany his book, I Believe although the study guide does well to stand alone.   

In the study guide, McGrath divides the Creed into 6 sections and then looks at the Scripture that supports each section. He also includes an introduction to the Creed that includes 3 reasons why it's important, a brief history, and a road map for personal or group study. Each chapter includes discussion questions and prayer prompts. In the back, there's a guide for group leaders that includes lesson plans and additional discussion prompts.

Apostle's Creed is a Life Guide Bible Study from IVP Connect. IVP sent it to me to consider for review.  When it arrived, I had my doubts.  I thought it might end up being cheeky, but the information (although short) was good.  The questions were open-ended and drove me into deeper thinking.  This is my first Life Guide Bible Studies study guide, but I really enjoyed it as a personal study.   As a pastor, I can also see how this could make a great study for small groups (or even a teaching or preaching series if you do topical studies).

I highly recommend this study guide for group or personal study.  I'm considering picking up additional studies from Life Guide the next time I lead a small group at Redeeming Life Church. This series from IVP has hundreds of studies in biblical books as well as hundreds more on various topics (although they are each their own chapters, so probably dozens of multi-chapter books).

You can purchase this book on Amazon.com by following this link. 

The Long Train of Clauses

Have you ever noticed the length of some of the sentences in the Epistles? Some of them are packed with commas and clauses.  What's going on?  Is there an easy way to make it clear? 

To get our head around this, lets look at the benediction of Hebrews 13:20-21. Take a moment and open your Bible to Hebrews 13:20-12.  Read it a couple times. It will take less than a minute. 

What's the main point?  Among all those clauses we might be tempted to gravitate to our favorite parts.  Our pet theology and doctrines might not make it easy for us to see anything else. Some may love that it says God is the God of peace.  Some might like that Jesus is Lord and he's the great Shepherd of the sheep. Or maybe you're all about the blood of the eternal covenant and that all glory belongs to Jesus.  Or maybe you like that this benediction is to Jesus (which is kind of rare) and that the author is praying that you might be equipped to do God's will.  It might make you smile that doing God's will is pleasing to God.  But what is the main point of this little unit of thought?  

The epistles tend to get really packed with thoughts and most of the sentences end up crashing together in such a way that we might miss the main point.  Diagramming or mapping the paragraph helps.  If you can, diagramming in the original language might make it even clearer.  But you don't often need to go that far to get to the main point.  

Phrase diagramming is a tool that helps you map out the clauses.  And once you map them out, you get a better idea what each phrase and word is modifying.  After doing some phrase diagramming, you can walk through Hebrews 13:20-21 and get a better idea of what the author is getting at. 

What is the main point?  If I boiled all the modifying clauses off, what would I have left? 

"May the God of Peace equip you to do his will. Amen."

Now, what if I started adding the modifiers back into the thought.  To do this, the thought still has to remain complete.

Here's what's next.  

"May the God of Peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus equip you with everything good that you may to do his will. Amen."

As we can see, the God of Peace brought Jesus back from the dead.  We also see that what God equips us with do do his will is good, not bad, and by saying 'everything' we get the idea that it's complete. 

But now it's going to get a little more tricky.  Is the next clause modifying the original statement or the newest clause?  (Paul loves to continue modifying the modifiers! It's not so tough in Hebrews.) There is where lines and maps might help, but we can probably see it in this paragraph without lines and a map.  

 "May the God of Peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good that you may to do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight. Amen."

The 'great Shepherd of the sheep' is not pointing to the God of Peace but to Jesus, who is mentioned in the previous modifying clause.  It's a way of bringing even more clarity or praise.  The 'working in us that which is pleasing in his sight' clause is a description of how we will do God's will --Jesus or the God of Peace working in and through us.  

"May the God of Peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may to do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ. Amen."

The next clause, 'by the blood of the eternal covenant,' gives us a means.  How and maybe even a little why.  This clause points back to a great deal previously discussed in the book as a reminder, but it also is clarifying what is being said and connects it to the next part of the idea.  This is the final modifying clause before we move into the next part of the main idea (which you saw in the first pass above).  Interestingly, the modifying clause in the second part of the statement, 'through Jesus Christ,' is also an explanation of means.  This clause tells us how we are about do do God's will and why it is pleasing to God--because it is through Christ. 

Now the final modifier. 

"May the God of Peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may to do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen."

This last clause is a form of worship that brings the benediction into a form of a prayer and worship of Jesus and it is attached to the mention of Jesus in the previous modifying clause.  It's saying, this entire paragraph prayer is meant to glorify God forever.  

Now, I'll ask again. . . what is the main point?  Go back up to the first pass.

"May the God of Peace equip you to do his will. Amen."

This is an important prayer and statement.  As you start to ask questions such as who's will, why, how, and so-on, the modifying clauses help to provide you with more answers. However, those answers all must work within the confines of God equipping you to do his will. 

I hope you found this helpful.  And I pray that the God of Peace equips you to do his will!  

A Lesson from Hudson Taylor

A friend of mine is a church planting catalyst.  He helps other pastor-planters get churches stared where there are very few, or none.  He's a missionary who helps other missionaries.  When I first met him, he drove a sporty car, talked up a football team from another area, and looked like he could easily fit in on a college campus, which isn't surprising since this PhD guy worked on a campus for many years prior to taking this new role in Utah.   He moved into a rapidly growing area of the Salt Lake valley that had little Christian presence, if any.  This city didn't have a single Christian church.  So he helped a church get off the ground there.  

I recently met my friend for coffee.  I hadn't seen him in person in a while, so you might imagine my surprise when he pulled up in a pickup truck (with a brush guard).  He was wearing (boots of the cattle rancher variety) and a cowboy hat.  When I asked him about it, he told me he realized there was an entire segment of people in his community that nobody was reaching for the gospel.  Sure, there was that church he helped get started, but they have a specific style and flavor that might not appeal to another large group in his area--the blue collar cowboy.  My friend decided he would give up the lifestyle of his preference and adopt a lifestyle that might better help him connect with these folks.  And when he can connect, he might have more opportunities to share the gospel.  And when he has more opportunities to share the gospel, he might have more opportunities to make disciples and gather them into a church -- a cowboy church!

Now, it's not as if my friend has adopted a fake persona.  I honestly always thought this side of him was buried down deep within him.  And it turns out, it was.  He grew up in the South and has had an interest in the things of this lifestyle--guns and hunting, trucks and adventure for years.  As he looked around his community, he came to realize that God had already given him the keys to this mission field years before he arrived.  They were like that one weird key on the key ring that you forget what it fits.  You keep it because you're just not sure.  Then one day, you stand in front of a locked door and remember.  

When I think about my friend, I can't help but think of Hudson Taylor, a missionary to China.   The following is adapted from the Editor's of Christian History Magazine's 131 Christians Everyone Should Know (Holman Reference, 2000), pages 251-253:

    In September 1853, Hudson Taylor, a gaunt and wild-eyed 21-year-old missionary headed to a country that was just coming into the Christian West’s consciousness.  (Only a few dozen missionaries were stationed there.)  Almost immediately after he arrived, Taylor made a radical decision (at least for Protestant missionaries of the day) to dress in Chinese cloths and wear the same hairstyle as Chinese men.  His fellow missionaries were either incredulous or critical.  Taylor didn’t care.  He had a heart to see inland China impacted by the gospel and was in deep despair for the millions of Chinese who were dying without the hope of the gospel.   

     Taylor, seeing a serious need to expand the mission efforts, to China started the China Inland Mission (CIM).  CIM missionaries had no guaranteed salaries nor could they appeal for funds—they simply would have to trust God to supply their needs.  Furthermore, missionaries would adopt the dress of the locals and then press the gospel into inland China.  Westerners highly criticized Taylor’s decisions. 

     In 1876, the 52 CIM missionaries made up one fifth of all the missionaries in China.  In 1881 Taylor prayed for another 70 missionaries.  By 1884 72 more were added to their ranks.  In late 1886 he prayed that God would provide another 100 missionaries within the next year.  In November of 1889, Taylor announced that CIM had approved another 102 candidates for service. 

     Taylor’s faithful service inspired thousands to forsake the comforts of the West to bring the gospel message to China.  CIM still serves in China today, although it is now called Overseas Missionary Fellowship (International).   

There's a joke about American church planters.  They all wear flannel shirts and hip shoes.  They have an obsession for coffee and often look different than their community.  They have a twisted lust for large beards.  I don't think Hudson Taylor would approve, unless the planter was in a heavily saturated hipster community.  Of course a Christian should stand out, but not because of insignificant cultural matters, trends, and fads.  Dress and style should not define the missionary church planter.  His definition should come from the One who transcends all this nonsense.  He should stand out because he is marked by the King of Kings, and he must live accordingly.