Are there some particular insights you’ve gained during the years that help you preach for life change?

Warren: There are 10 things that really form how I figure life can change. The first one is that all behavior is based on belief. If you ask why do I do what I do, it’s because I believe something behind the action. If somebody gets a divorce, it is because they have a belief behind that which is causing them to get a divorce: "I think I'll be happier divorced than I will not," or whatever. If you have sex outside of marriage it’s because you have a belief behind it.

The second thing, behind every sin is a lie of unbelieving. This has profound implications for preaching. When you sin, at that moment you think you are doing what is best for you. You think you are doing the right thing, but you have been deceived. When your kids do something dumb, at that moment they think what they are doing is smart, but it’s dumb. The Bible tells us Satan deceives us.

The third thing: Change always starts in the mind. This principle is taught all the way through the New Testament. Romans 12:2, “be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” The Bible teaches real clearly the way we think affects the way we feel, and the way we feel affects the way we act. Because change starts in the mind, and sin starts with a lie, and behavior starts with belief, number four: To help people change, you have to change their beliefs first. You don't work on their behavior; you work on their beliefs, because it always starts in their mind. That is why Jesus says you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.

Number five, trying to change people's behavior without changing their beliefs is a waste of time. The illustration I use is: It’s like a boat on auto pilot. I've got a boat; it is in a lake, on auto pilot, headed north. If I want it to head south, I want to do a 180 degree turn; I want to do a “repentance” on that boat. I have two options: I could physically grab the steering wheel of the boat and physically force it to turn around, but the whole time it is turning around, I am under tension because I am forcing it to go against its auto pilot. Pretty soon I get tired and I let go of the wheel (i.e., I go back to smoking; I go off of the diet; I stop doing whatever; I go back to my habitual ways of stress relief. So, the better way is to change the auto pilot. The way you change auto pilot is by changing the way they think. Now, that brings up repentance.

The sixth thing that I believe is that the biblical word for changing your mind is repentance, metanoia. When most people think of "repentance," they think of sandwich signs, turn or burn, or they think repentance means stopping all bad actions. That is not what repentance is. There is not a lexicon in the world that will tell you repentance means "stop your bad action." Repentance, metanoia, simply means changing your mind. We are in the mind-changing business; preaching is about mind changing. Society’s phrase for repentance, by the way, is “paradigm shift.” Repentance is the ultimate paradigm shift, where I go from darkness to light, from guilt to forgiveness, from no hope to hope, from no purpose to purpose, from living for myself to living for Christ. It’s the ultimate paradigm shift, and repentance is changing your mind at the deepest level of beliefs and values.

Number seven is you don't change people's minds; God's Word does. So we bring people into contact with God’s Word. I can't force people to change their mind. I like I Cor. 2:13; in the New Living version it says, “We speak words given to us by the Spirit using the Spirit’s word to  explain spiritual truth.” There is both a Word and a Spirit element in preaching, and often we leave out the spiritual element. A lot of preaching today has the Word element, but it doesn't have the Spirit element.

We talk about spiritual warfare. I don't think spiritual warfare is like demons. I think the Bible says spiritual warfare is tearing down mental strongholds. Our weapons have power —  pulling down every argument, every pretension — that passage in 2 Cor. 10. By the way, that’s why you're exhausted after preaching. If you are trying to pull down strongholds, you're in a mental and spiritual battle that is going to leave you exhausted. After I do five services every weekend, I’m a puddle — there’s nothing left!

Number eight, changing the way I act is the result, or fruit, of repentance. Changing the way I act is the fruit of repentance. Technically, repentance is not a behavioral change; it results in behavioral change. Repentance is what happens in your mind. So it doesn't mean forsaking your sin. That is why John the Baptist said, "Produce fruit in keeping with repentance." Why would you need to produce fruit? Because the fruit is the action. The fruit is the behavior. Paul said in Act 26:20, “I preach that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds.” OK, so deeds are not repentance, but is that going to change your mind?

I believe, number nine, that the deepest kind of preaching, bar none, is preaching for repentance. The deepest kind of preaching. Life application, on the contrary, instead of being shallow preaching, I believe is the deepest kind of preaching. Shallow preaching, to me, is doctrinal application or interpretation with no application —  biblical background with no application. For 21 years now, the secret of Saddleback is every week I get up and try to take the Word and apply it so it changes the way listeners think about life, about God, about the devil, about the future, about the past, about themselves, about their mission in life.

If you go through the New Testament you will find repentance is the central theme in the New Testament. When I teach a seminar, I read them all these verses: Matthew 3:2, John the Baptist, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near.” Jesus, “Jesus began to preach repentance" (Matthew 4:17). The disciples went out and preached that people should repent. Peter, “Repent and be baptized every one of you.” Paul, “Now He commands all men to repent everywhere.” John in Revelation, “Repent.” You just go through the New Testament.

To produce lasting emotional life change, you have to enlighten the mind, you have to engage the emotions, and you have to challenge the will. Those three things have to be present in life application of preaching. There is a knowing element, there is a feeling element, and there is a doing element. This takes a lot of just being sensitive to the people because sometimes they have to be comforted, and sometimes they’ve got to be challenged. I can often get that wrong, you know.

This is one of the big weaknesses in our preaching. I think one of the greatest weaknesses is people who are unwilling to humbly stand before people and challenge their will. A lot of guys are great at interpretation. They are pretty good at application, but they are not really willing to stand there and call for repentance. Now I preach on repentance on every single Sunday without using the word because the word is misused today; it is misunderstood. So I talk about changing your mind, and I talk about paradigm shifts. But really, every message comes down to two words: Will you? Will you change from this to this in the way you are thinking?

Our culture is falling apart. If you are not preaching repentance in your message, you’re not preaching. No matter what we cover, it has got to come back to change your mind, because your mind controls your life.

Years ago I read a book by Charlie Shedd called The Exciting Church: Where People Really Pray. I have forgotten everything in the book except the story of a young man who was newly elected to the board of the church where Charlie Shedd served as pastor. That young man asked a very simple question:

“What do you think Christ wants this church to be?”

From that question came a second one:

“What would happen in our congregation if every member was prayed for every single day by someone?”

Charlie Shedd said, “That night he stopped us in our tracks.” The rest of the book is the answer to that question.

And what a question. We all believe in prayer, don’t we? Even if we don’t pray very much, we still believe in prayer. So what would happen in our churches if every day every member was prayed for by someone?

What would it do to our worship?
What would it do to our preaching?
What would it do to our ministries?
What would it do to our evangelism?
What would it do to our relationships?

Our churches wouldn’t be the same if we made sure every person was prayed for every day by someone.

What if we started to pray like that?

So what would happen in your church if we prayed like that? Hold that thought and we’ll come back to it later. In the meantime we need to see what was on Paul’s mind in Ephesians 6. As he nears the end of his magnificent letter, he calls Christians to put on the whole armor of God so that we can fight and win the spiritual battles we face every day (vv. 10-17). Then without any break he says, “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests” (v. 18). In the School of Christian Living, this is Prayer 101. This is the “how to” not the “why” of prayer. There is nothing difficult to understand in what he writes.

It’s easy to see how this fits in the context. Prayer is our ultimate weapon in spiritual warfare. It is not part of the armor; it is that which makes the armor effective. In verse 18 Paul gives five fundamental facts about Christian prayer.

I. There are many ways to pray and they are all valid.

Paul says we should pray “with all kinds of prayers and requests.” We can analyze prayer from many angles.

We can talk about the content of prayer, such as adoration, thanksgiving, meditation, confession and petition.

We can talk about the posture of prayer, such as sitting, standing, hands uplifted, eyes open, eyes closed, walking, kneeling, and stretched out before the Lord.

We can talk about the associations of prayer, which means we can pray alone or in a small group or in a worship service or in a concert of prayer or over the Internet or over the phone or by email or in a handwritten letter.

We can talk about the style of prayer. It may be formal, informal, liturgical, written, recited, conversational, antiphonal, sentence prayers, “Thank you” prayers, “Lord, have mercy” prayers, short prayers, long prayers, prayers sung, prayers spoken, prayers written, prayers chanted, prayers offered spontaneously or prayers memorized.

We can talk about the places of prayer, such as in the morning, during your devotions, around the dinner table, in the car, on the phone, during a worship service, in the street, sitting in the pew, or at a ball game.

We can talk about the objects of prayer, such as confession and restoration, for physical or spiritual or emotional healing, for a financial need, for a broken relationship to be healed, for salvation, for spiritual growth, for the spread of the gospel, for a friend in need, for the leaders of our church, for the leaders of our nation, for our friends and, yes, for our enemies.

Prayer may be as varied as the needs of the heart. The true measure of prayer is not its form or content or style or location or length or beauty of expression. The real question is, Does it come from the heart? Is it sincere? Are we truly seeking the Lord? If so, then we may claim the promise of James 5:16 that the prayers of the righteous are powerful and effective.

Prayer may be as varied as the needs of the heart. 

There are myriad ways to pray. If we pray from the heart in Jesus’ name, then the Father is pleased and he inclines his heart to hear us when we call on him.

II. The best time to prayer is when you feel the need to pray.

That’s simple, isn’t it? Paul instructs us to pray “on all occasions.” The Greek word is kairos, which means a particular moment when we feel our need for God. It speaks of coming to a crossroads, a time of need, a sense of our own weakness, and crying out to the Lord in prayer.

Sometimes we approach prayer superstitiously, as if we should only pray about “big things.” We don’t want to bother God with the “small stuff.” How foolish we are. He’s God! It’s all “small stuff” to him. Or perhaps we should say it another way, because he cares so much for us, even our “small stuff” matters to him. I think of our own three sons who are now grown. Last Sunday was Mother’s Day. It happened that none of our boys live nearby so we didn’t see any of them. But on Monday I heard Marlene remark that Mother’s Day had been a good day because we heard from all our family. Josh and Leah and Mark and Vanessa called from Dallas. Nick called from Birmingham. I’m sitting here smiling as I write this because we got to talk to our family on Sunday. Nothing could be better than that. No gift could be better than hearing from them. But if we are so glad to hear from our children, how much more is our Heavenly Father glad to hear from us. When our kids are in trouble and need our help, we want them to call and let us know. It’s the same with the Lord. He waits to hear from his children. And because we are his children, he will never turn us away.

The Lord waits to hear from his children. And because we are his children, he will never turn us away. 

Many years ago when Marlene taught the little children in Sunday School, the lesson was about the truth that “God is always with us.” So she had the children draw a picture to illustrate that truth. One child drew a picture of a boy in bed, raindrops over the bed, and outside the window a sinister-looking creature. “Where is God with you?” Marlene asked. “He’s with me,” the boy replied, “when I’m in bed, in the dark, and it’s raining inside, and there’s a monster outside."

We’ve all had a few moments like that, when it’s raining inside and there’s a monster outside. The little boy is right. God is with us even then so go ahead and pray. God is near us when we need him most.

III. Effective prayer requires sensitivity to the Holy Spirit.

Paul says we are to pray “in the Spirit.” That means “under the influence of the Holy Spirit.” It helps me to think about it this way. Praying in the Spirit means following the Spirit’s guidance as to when to pray. Because prayer itself is the language of heaven, the impulse to pray comes from the Holy Spirit. He not only invites us to pray, he also incites us to pray. Sometimes you will think, “I should pray about that.” Don’t ever brush that thought away. Do it. Go ahead and pray right then. Sometimes people may say, “I wish we could pray about that.” Take that as a message from the Holy Spirit and go ahead and pray. These impulses to pray may come at any time . . .

When we are on the phone . . .
When we are talking with a friend . . .
When we are listening to the radio . . .
When we are sitting in church . . .
When we are taking a deposition . . .
When we are having a sleepless night . . .
When we are getting ready for surgery . . .

If you think about praying, go ahead and pray. You don’t have to pray out loud. You can pray to the Lord without speaking any words at all, and the Lord will hear you from heaven. When the Lord speaks to you and says, “Pray,” don’t say “No.” Go ahead and pray.

When the Lord speaks to you and says, “Pray,” don’t say “No.” Go ahead and pray.

And pray about the things the Lord lays on your heart. Don’t be ashamed or worried that you won’t say the right thing. The Holy Spirit knows your heart and intercedes for us with wordless groaning (Romans 8:26-27). He comes alongside to help us when we pray so that our feeble prayers rise with power and enter the courts of heaven to be carried to the Throne of Grace. As an old gospel song says, sometimes we just need to “have a little talk with Jesus.” That song along says, “When you feel a little prayer wheel turning.” It’s hard to explain exactly what that means, but I know what that’s like. You can be sure that the Lord is turning the “prayer wheel” in your heart and moving you to pray.

So let’s not make this mysterious. Whenever you feel an inner urge to pray, do it! We would all pray a lot more every day if we became sensitive to the impulse of the Spirit in our lives.

IV. If you want your prayers answered, stay awake and keep on praying.

 “Be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints” (v. 18). Eugene Peterson gives us this version: “Keep your eyes open. Keep each other’s spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out.” Paul uses a military term to get his point across. Consider a sentry guarding a base in Afghanistan, not far from a Taliban stronghold. Now compare that soldier with a security guard at the Kroger’s grocery store. Who will be more alert? It better be the sentry in Afghanistan. The one who believes he is on the front lines is going to be more alert. Our problem with prayer is that we think we’re a security guard at Kroger’s when in reality we’re like the sentry in Afghanistan. He has to stay alert because his buddies are depending on him. It’s life or death to them. We mess around in prayer because we think it doesn’t matter, when in reality we are sentries standing guard on the front lines of spiritual combat.

Whenever you feel an inner urge to pray, do it!

Have you ever noticed how easy it is to be distracted when you pray? Just as you bow your head, the phone rings, or your pager beeps, or some music distracts you, or you suddenly remember that you have to check the roast in the oven. A thousand things come crowding into your mind. Sometimes it seems as if the devil’s best work comes when we decide to pray. He unloads his full armory of distractions against us. Or perhaps you decide to spend an hour in prayer. So you get on your knees and begin to pray. You pray for yourself, the members of your family, all your friends, the leaders of your church, the missionaries you know, then all the missionaries in the world, then every country in the world. Finally you pray by name for every person in every country of the world (or so it seems). Then you look up and discover you’ve only been praying for five minutes!

Several years ago, during an “Ask Pastor Ray” night, one of the junior highers turned in the following question: “If God is up in heaven, why do we have to close our eyes and bow our heads when we pray?” Good question. We’ve all wondered about that from time to time. Here’s the answer: You don’t have to bow your head or close your eyes when you pray. We do that simply to keep out distractions. In the Old Testament men often prayed standing up, with outstretched arms, looking up to heaven, eyes wide open. I find that I do my best praying when I’m riding my bike-and I assure you that I keep my eyes open! Whatever helps you stay alert is the right way for you to pray.

We mess around in prayer because we think it doesn’t matter, when in reality we are sentries standing guard on the front lines of spiritual combat.

V. The Wider Our Circle of Concern, the Wider the Results.

Paul instructs us to pray “for all the saints.” This means we need to pull ourselves out of the rut of praying only for ourselves and our family. It’s perfectly legitimate to pray for those closest to you. But you have not exhausted the power of prayer if you stop there.

If you pray for your friends, that’s good.
If you pray for your church, that’s also good.
If you pray for missionaries you know and love, that’s even better.
If you pray for other churches in your area, that’s wonderful.
If you pray for God’s work in other countries, your heart is stretched to new horizons.

Think of your prayers in terms of concentric circles. Naturally you start with those closest to your heart and then move out from there. With every outward circle, you move away from yourself and closer to the heart of God. “For God so loved the world . . .”

How wide are your prayers?
How broad is your concern?

When you pray, pray for the people of God around the world. And pray for those yet to be reached with the gospel.

Dr. Lee Roberson called prayer “the Christian’s secret weapon, forged in the realms of glory.” It is no accident that prayer comes immediately after the listing of the “armor of God” in verses 14-17. As someone has said,

Prayer is the Christian’s secret weapon,
Forged in the realms of glory.
Satan trembles when he sees
The weakest saint upon his knees.

Some of us who know a little theology would do well to get an advanced degree in “kneeology.”

With that we can quickly sum up Paul’s personal prayer request in verses 19-20.

Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.

He asks for two things: clarity and courage:

• Clarity - that he might have the right words to say.
• Courage - that he might say the right words at the right time.

Have you ever considered that the ability to communicate truth clearly is a gift from God? It comes in answer to prayer. If a pastor is not preaching well, it may be because his people are not praying well.

Paul wrote from a Roman prison where he was chained to a guard 24 hours a day. He was literally an “ambassador in chains.” Here’s what blows me away. Though he was innocent of any crime, he doesn’t say, “Pray that I can get out of here” or “Ask God to reverse my sentence” or “Pray that they will cut me loose from these chains.” In short, he doesn’t ask that his circumstances might be changed because he understood that behind the mighty Roman Empire stood the Lord God himself.

God had called him to that prison. He had work to do there.

So he asked for prayer that he might be clear and courageous to do God’s work while he was in prison. Did he want to be set free? I’m sure he did, but that wasn’t uppermost in his mind. Whether in prison or out, he wanted only to proclaim Christ to those who did not know him.

Pray for clarity and for courage. He doesn’t pray to be released nor does he ask that his life might be spared. He doesn’t ask for a miracle. He only asked for this:

1. That when he opens his mouth he will have something to say, and
2. That he will have the courage to say it.

What a man. What an example for the rest of us.

Two Take-Home Truths

Let me summarize the teaching this way:

1. No one ever outgrows the need for prayer.

Most of us find it hard to say “Pray for me” because that seems like a sign of weakness. And it is! But that’s why we need prayer in the first place. If we were strong, we could do it all ourselves. Here is the real truth about you and me . . .

We aren’t that strong.
We aren’t that smart.
We aren’t that clever.
We aren’t that wise.
We aren’t that brave.

That’s why we need others to pray for us. No one is so strong that he is beyond the need of prayer. No one is so rich in blessings that he does not need someone to pray for him. As the old spiritual says, “It’s me, it’s me, O Lord, standing in the need of prayer.” Sometimes we do not ask for prayer because we are overly concerned about our image. Our pride keeps us silent even in desperate moments. We want to keep up the image that we are in control, that we can handle our problems, that we are self-sufficient. After all, if people hear us asking for prayer, what will they think?

If they love us, they will think we need some prayer, and they will pray for us.

Sometimes we do not ask for prayer because we are overly concerned about our image. 

Who is the greatest Christian of all time? I nominate the Apostle Paul. Who knew the gospel better? No one. Who preached it more fearlessly? No one. Yet he wanted the Ephesians to pray for him. Was Paul a failure? Not at all. He wrote a great part of the New Testament and opened Europe to the gospel. Yet he wasn’t afraid to admit his need. It is a mark of the right kind of humility when someone says, “Pray for me.”

2.   No one ever outgrows the need to pray for others.

Someone you know needs your prayers right now. In the army of the Lord, every soldier needs help. Someone needs hope, someone needs patience, someone needs courage, someone needs love, someone needs determination, someone needs insight, someone needs strength, and someone needs guidance.

Someone will be wounded unless you pray.
Someone will give up unless you pray.
Someone will be deceived unless you pray.
Someone will yield to temptation unless you pray.
Someone will make a foolish choice unless you pray.
Someone will grow faint unless you pray.
Someone will collapse under the load unless you pray.
Someone will go AWOL unless you pray.

There is always more than enough to pray about if only we would open our eyes and look around.

So let me return to the question I posed earlier. What would happen in our churches if everyone in the congregation was prayed for every day?  What would it do for our worship? Our outreach? Our relationships? Our faith? Our vision for the future? Our leadership?

There is always more than enough to pray about if only we would open our eyes and look around. If we all started praying for each other every day, we wouldn’t be the same, would we?

I wonder if it could ever happen. I’m not thinking about another organization or some big program or another meeting to attend or reports to fill out. Those things are well and good and have their place, but that’s not what is on my mind.

Remember that Jesus said . . . “My house shall be called a house of prayer.” Wouldn’t it be wonderful if that were true of your church? My church? Every church?

• Think of the word that would spread. “Those people really know how to pray.”
• Think of the love that would grow.
• Think of the lives that would change.
• Think of the miracles God would do.
• Think of the excitement on Sunday morning.

We would get up early and come to church eagerly, waiting to see what God was going to do. We would sing with new gusto and pray with new fervency and listen with new expectation. And who knows? Someone might just hang around and get saved.

Think of the impact around the world as we begin to pray for God’s work in Burundi, Pakistan, Laos, Gambia, Paraguay, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Hungary and Irian Jaya.

I think God has more for us than we have ever dreamed.

What if we really started to pray?

Some sermons answer questions. This one asks a question. Now it’s your turn to think about the answer.

Our Father, we know so little about prayer. We stagger and stumble and pray our two-bit prayers, and then we feel guilty. Make us willing to learn from you. We say with the disciples, “Lord, teach us to pray” so that we may receive all that you have for us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Any Other Gospel is Not the Gospel at All

T.M. Moore

“As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.” (Galatians 1:9)

I keep saying to myself that there has to be an explanation why so many millions of people claim to be born-again followers of Jesus Christ, attending nearly 250,000 churches—around 3,000 of those mega-churches—with a vibrant and growing Christian subculture of music, television, books and literature, education, Internet presence, and even their own Yellow Pages.

As I said, there has to be an explanation why, given all this, the morals and culture of America continue to decline away from the teaching of Scripture, the young are abandoning their Christian upbringing in growing numbers, and the public square continues devoid of any far-ranging, seriously taken Christian voice. There simply has to be an explanation for this.

And I think I have it. It harks back to a Chesterton comment back around the turn of the 20th century. It’s not that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been tried and is simply found wanting. It’s that the Gospel of Jesus Christ—the Gospel of the Kingdom—has not been tried.

The Gospel of the Kingdom

Jesus came preaching a particular message to the people of His generation. The gospel writers refer to it as “the Gospel of the Kingdom.” The Good News that Jesus announced had as its focus an objective reality that the New Testament refers to as the Kingdom of God (Matthew 4:23; 9:35). What is that?

The Kingdom of God is the divine rule that Jesus came to bring into the affairs of men. It is an administration of righteousness, peace, and joy which we may enter by the Holy Spirit, through the new birth which comes by grace through faith (Romans 14:17; John 3:1-16). The Kingdom of God centers on Jesus, who is its King, and His call to follow Him in a life of self-denying service to the glory of God (Mark 10:42-45).

To enter this Kingdom is to be born again to a life set apart for God, characterized by obedience to the Law of God (1 John 2:1-6). God gives His Kingdom to those who truly love Him, who renounce the desires, doodads, and deeds of the world and the flesh, and who invest their strength in becoming rich in faith (James 2:5).

The Kingdom of God is not just a reality to be acknowledged and confessed; it is a realm of power, real spiritual power, in which, increasingly, all things are made new and every aspect of a person’s life is reconciled to God, unto the praise of the glory of His grace (1 Corinthians 4:20; 2 Corinthians 5:17).

They who enter this Kingdom may be identified by their fervor in seeking to realize more of its presence and power (Matthew 6:33), their prayers for its coming on earth as in heaven (Matthew 6:10), their dutiful obedience to the holy and righteous and good Law of God (Ezekiel 36:26,27; Romans 7:12), and their faithfulness in living as witnesses to their risen and reigning Lord (Acts 1:8).

Where the Kingdom of God takes root in a person’s heart, transforming grace begins to exert real spiritual power to make all things new, and to turn a person’s world upright before the Lord.

It is altogether understandable, therefore, why the sum of Jesus’ preaching and teaching is often reported as consisting in the words, “The Kingdom of God is at hand; repent, therefore, and believe the Good News.”

Jesus announced that a new era had begun in human affairs, in which a new King was on the throne of heaven and earth, unfolding a new economy, according to a new agenda, demanding that all who would follow Him embrace a new priority, and offering a new hope to men—the hope of the glory of God.

The Good News in this astonishing announcement is that, by entering into the Kingdom of God, men can know liberation from sin—its power, effects, and condemnation. Thus free from the shackles of sin they experience the grace and truth of God with transforming effects in every area of life. They begin to bear new kinds of fruit through the work of the Spirit of God within them, fruit consistent with righteousness, peace, and joy. They experience power that makes all things new, enabling them to reconcile every area of their lives back to God for His pleasure and glory. And, by virtue of the ongoing, increasing realization of this Kingdom reality, they know assurance of everlasting life with God in a new heavens and a new earth.

Truly, the announcement concerning the Kingdom of God is Good News—Gospel! The Gospel of the Kingdom is the true Gospel. Anything other or less than this is another gospel, which, as Paul makes plain, is no gospel at all.

Another Gospel?

Liberal Christianity, most readers will agree, is not Christianity at all, or, at best, a corrupt version. As J. Gresham Machen argued so eloquently in the last century, liberal Christianity has many appealing features, and much to commend it. In many ways it is a quite fascinating and alluring religion. It even uses all the language of Christianity and holds Jesus in high esteem. But for all that, liberal Christianity just isn’t Christianity. Indeed, Machen argued, it’s not even close.

What about the gospel that is heard in so many churches today? The gospel that says, “Jesus died to forgive your sins and to bring you to heaven when you die”? Is that the Gospel? Rather, is that the whole Gospel? The Gospel of the Kingdom? While that statement is certainly true, it doesn’t sound as rich, full, comprehensive, and all-engaging as what we outlined earlier as the Gospel of the Kingdom. And it is not widely apparent that those who have embraced this message are evidencing the kind of whole-life transformation Jesus demonstrated and promised, or that those first turn-the-world-upside-down Christians experienced.

But is it not true that the Gospel says that Jesus died for our sins so that we could go to heaven? Yes it does. But that is not the same as saying that Jesus’ death to grant forgiveness and eternal life to all who believe is the whole Gospel. And if that’s not the whole Gospel, then can we say that it’s the Gospel at all? The proclamation that Jesus died for our sins so that we could be forgiven and have eternal life is not, in fact, what C. S. Lewis referred to as mere Christianity—Christianity at its most basic. Rather, I would say that this message that promises forgiveness and eternal life to all who merely profess belief in Jesus—this gospel which is roundly proclaimed in the vast majority of churches throughout the land—should be referred to as near Christianity.

It’s rather like saying that the Good News is that Jesus provided an example for us to follow. Is that true? Of course. But is it the Gospel? Hardly. Or it’s like saying the Good News means you have a reason to do good works on behalf of others. Is that true? Certainly. But is it the Gospel? Not at all.

The Good News that Jesus and the apostles proclaimed is a message so comprehensive, so altogether new and radical, that it requires deep-seated, heart-felt repentance, complete surrender to the risen Christ, and whole-hearted belief leading to obedience in every area of life. It is the message of the Kingdom of God. Anything other than the Gospel of the Kingdom is not the Gospel at all, but a form of near Christianity that holds out promises germane to the Kingdom, prescribes means related to the Kingdom, but holds back on making the full vision and demands of the Kingdom clear to those who would enjoy the conditions of blessedness.

Near Christianity, therefore, leaves little in the way of Kingdom evidence in the lives and churches of those who embrace it. It leaves what it promises, and what people who embrace it desire: a sense of forgiveness, and the peace of mind that accompanies that, and a tentative hope of going to heaven when we die. As for power to transform sinful lives into beacons of holiness, goodness, beauty, and truth—well, that’s something to affirm, but not necessarily something to seek.

The apostle Paul wrote to the Galatians, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel...” (Galatians 1:6). Did you catch that verb—deserting? It wasn’t that the Galatians denied that Jesus was Savior. Not at all. Or even that He was Lord. They simply chose to minimize the power of His saving grace by adding to the Gospel in certain ways and detracting from it in others. So, their professions of faith notwithstanding, Paul said that they were deserting the true Gospel, the Gospel of the Kingdom.

In our day he might say to the churches in America, “I am astonished that you who profess to believe in Jesus evidence so little of the reality of the Gospel of the Kingdom. What did you believe when you believed in Jesus? From what did you turn, and to what, when you repented? What do you hope for, if not to know God in His glory and be transformed to live out that glory in every detail of your life?” He might well conclude that our generation has settled for a form of near Christianity, not the Gospel of the Kingdom which he and all the apostles, following Jesus, proclaimed with such boldness, and at the risk of their lives.

Anything other than the Gospel of the Kingdom may be like Christianity, or near Christianity, but it is not the Good News of Jesus and Paul. Near Christianity is not the Christianity of Scripture and, therefore, is no Good News at all.

For Reflection

Have you received the Gospel of the Kingdom? To what evidence in your life might you point to convince someone that that is true?

 

 

Knowing God: Conditions and Consequences

T.M. Moore

. . . then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. (Proverbs 2:5)

In its simplest form, the promise of the Christian faith is the privilege and glory of knowing God. Jesus put it this way: “For this is life eternal, that they might know You, the one true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent” (John 17:3).

We need to understand this because, at present, there is a certain amount of confusion concerning what Christianity is all about. Just looking at the various expressions of Christianity in our own country, it would be easy to conclude that Christianity is primarily about conservative values and politics, or feeling really good about yourself, or finding the prosperity you desire and deserve, or holding people’s feet to the fire of a fairly narrow and narrow-minded moral code.

Of course, all Christians will insist that Christianity is about Jesus, the forgiveness of sins, and everlasting life, especially this last. But just what does that mean? Again, for many this simply means that they will be going to heaven when they die. In the meantime, they just have to hold on and do the best they can to keep from doing any really bad stuff, which, even if they do, they hope God will forgive them and not revoke their heavenly privileges.

In fact, I believe that Christians from all communions—however many different things they may disagree on—will affirm that gaining eternal life is the end game of the faith of Jesus. And certainly eternal life does involve a heavenly destination, but even that is subject to a variety of interpretations. Jesus said that eternal life is knowing God. If we want to realize the promise of the Christian faith, it will be found in this direction. Every true follower of Jesus will want what Jesus offers, the knowledge of God that is eternal life. But how is that knowledge gained? And how may we know when we possess it?

CONDITION FOR KNOWING GOD

In Proverbs 2, Solomon sets forth a concise catalog of what it means to know God and how we might expect that knowledge of God to find expression in our lives. Let’s consider first of all the conditions for knowing God as Solomon explains them.

Solomon insists that knowing God comes by receiving His Word (v. 1). If we are to know God, it will be on His terms, and only as much as He is willing to reveal about Himself. God reveals Himself in a variety of ways, each of which is an expression of His “Word,” or His “Reason” and “Meaning”—what the Greeks referred to as logos. This Word of God comes to us in three forms.

First, the Word of God is revealed in the things of creation (Psalm 19:1-4; Romans 1:18-20). It is the testimony of Scripture throughout that God makes known His being, character, and some things concerning His will in the works of creation, culture, and the human conscience. People can learn to “hear” the Word of God through creation, and the record of history indicates that, for many peoples, responding to the mysteries, wonders, and powers of the created world has been an impetus to religious expression. But as true a revelation of God as the things of creation are, listening for the Word of God there can be difficult, and can even lead us down wrong paths toward knowing God. Because of our sinfulness, we need more light than the creation can provide if we would know God truly.

Second, God reveals Himself through His Word in the Bible (2 Timothy 3:15-17; 2 Peter 1:19-21). In fact, we may only know what God is revealing about Himself through the creation by looking to see what He has to say about Himself through the Scriptures. The Scriptures are the lens through which we may discern the revelation of God in the created order. The more we read and study the Scripture, the more we learn about God and the better equipped we will be to discern His revelation in the creation.

But third, and most importantly, God reveals Himself to us through His Word in Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word and Son of God (John 1:1-14). In fact, Jesus is the theme of all Scripture (John 5:39). Wherever we read in Scripture, the Word of God written is pointing to the Word of God in Jesus. Thus also, in a very real sense, wherever we study in the world of creation, we should also be looking to discover something about the beauty, goodness, and truth of God as these are revealed in Jesus.

The knowledge of God is revealed in His Word. Jesus is the Rosetta Stone of revelation, the Focusing Light of God’s self-revelation. By looking to Jesus and receiving Him, we gain the key to understanding Scripture, the Great Light of revelation, and this, in turn, enables us to read the Lesser Light of creation in a way that advances the knowledge of God in us. The knowledge of God begins by receiving His Word.

Once we have determined to receive the Word of God, then we are ready to seek the knowledge of God in all these arenas of revelation. Solomon explains the conditions and qualifications whereby we may hope to benefit from having received the Word of God.

First, we must treasure the Law of God which we find revealed in His Word (v. 1). In order truly to know God as He reveals Himself in His Law, we must strive to attain the place the psalmist realized when he cried, “Oh how I love Your Law! It is my meditation all the day” (Psalm 119:97). This only makes sense. Jesus, the Word of God, loved the Law so much that He fulfilled it in exhaustive detail (Matthew 5:15-17). John insists that those who want to follow Jesus will seek to do the same (1 John 2:1-6). If we do not love the commandments of God, we will not be able to make progress in knowing Him.

Second, we must seek the wisdom that comes from the Word of God (v. 2). Wisdom is simply living in a way that reflects the good purposes of God. We don’t seek the Word just to hide it in our hearts or understand it with our minds. We seek the Word of God, and the knowledge of God to which the Word leads us, so that we might live in wisdom as God intends. To do this we will need to engage the Word with our minds (v. 2), embrace it in our hearts (v. 2), value it as our top priority in life (vv. 3, 4), and live in obedience to what it teaches.

This matter of seeking the knowledge of God—to understand, embrace, value, and obey it—through the various avenues of His Word must be an urgent and constant quest. Solomon says we need to cry and plead with God to give us the insight and understanding we seek (v. 3). We will not gain the knowledge of God if we regard it as anything other than the most important undertaking of our lives, every day of our lives. A merely casual approach to seeking the knowledge of God will not result in that objective. We must be urgent, determined, resolved, focused each day, and giving ourselves to the study of God’s Word in all its aspects and expressions.

It is possible for human beings to know God, and, thus, to gain eternal life. God Himself has spoken and shown us what the conditions are for knowing Him, and for growing in the knowledge of God every day of our lives (2 Peter 3:18). It is every human being’s highest purpose and calling to know God; thus it should be our highest priority to advance in the knowledge as fully as possible.

THE CONSEQUENCES OF KNOWING GOD

But can’t anybody claim that he knows God? Is it possible to identify those who truly know God—truly possess eternal life—as distinct from those who are simply mouthing some identity with the faith of Christ? Solomon thinks so. He holds out various consequences of knowing God that begin to be evident in the lives of those who do.

First, those who know the Lord fear the Lord (v. 5). They know Him to be all-holy and all-powerful, and themselves to be sinful and subject to His wrath. The fear of God issues in reverent worship. This, in turn, engenders love for Him, as those who fear Him come through worship to know what He has done through Jesus Christ to free them from His wrath and draw them into the knowledge of God. This fear of God does not subside in those who are thus delivered from His wrath; rather, it continues as a reminder of God’s holiness and a warning against departing the path of obedience. Thus it is that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.

Second, those who truly know God manifest certain defining attributes. These include confidence and hope (v. 7), a life of justice and righteousness (vv. 8, 9), the ability to discern good from evil and to choose the way of goodness (vv. 11-15), and living a life of increasing goodness, uprightness, and integrity (vv. 20-22). Those who know God fear and love Him. Love for God leads them to seek Him earnestly, that they might know Him better. Knowing Him leads to wisdom, which comes to expression in every area of their lives in the forms of hope, righteousness, justice, goodness, and uprightness. The knowledge of God which they possess thus works in them to transform them increasingly into the very image of the Word of God Himself.

While it is a simple thing to claim to know God, and even simpler to deceive oneself into believing that such is the case when it is not, there are certain marks by which we may be certain we have entered into the knowledge of God, and thus, are in possession of the gift of eternal life. As the Apostle Peter put it, it is the duty of all who claim to have eternal life—to know God—to give all diligence to add those virtues and attributes which are the fruit of that knowledge, thus proving their possession of it and ensuring entry into the Kingdom of those who know God (2 Peter 1:5-11).

At the end of his second epistle to the church in Corinth, the apostle Paul exhorted the congregation of those gathered to hear his letter to examine themselves, to determine whether or not they really were in possession of eternal life. It is possible to deceive ourselves in this matter of knowing God, of possessing eternal life. It is not sufficient merely to recall having prayed a prayer, or to have been baptized, or even to be faithful in attending or serving in one’s church. Doubtless most of those assembled in Corinth to hear Paul’s letter read fell into one or more of those categories.

But Paul, like Solomon, understood that knowing God—truly knowing Him—changes everything in a person’s life. If we are earnest, sincere, and diligent in seeking the knowledge of God through all the avenues by which His Word is speaking to us, we will find Him, indeed. And the results of that will be nothing short of transformational in every area of our lives. When we have truly come to know God through His Word, nothing remains the same; all things become new, and are being made new day by day through the indwelling Word who gives us eternal life and the knowledge of God. So let us examine ourselves. And let us by all means press on to know God, and to possess eternal life through His Word.

 

 

Periodically I’m asked the question whether I believe the Sunday morning sermon should be designed primarily to reach lost people or teach Christians. That question is not illegitimate considering the varying commitments in the contemporary church to being seeker sensitive, emergent, or missional.

It is interesting that the question would essentially center on what I believe rather than what is correct. Such is the influence of postmodern relativism upon the way even believers think or talk. Of course, it should not escape our attention that seeker sensitive or emergent emphases flow from said influence.

Not surprising then is the myriad of tips doled out with regard to the issue of preaching in the emerging church. The following example is representative. 1) Connect with People’s Feelings. 2) Be a Story Teller. 3) Be a Situation Learning Catalyst. 4) Participate. 5) Be Sacramental.

Two of the foundational tenets upon which life and indeed the church are built are the actuality that God is and the reality that God has spoken. Because God is and because He has spoken, it is His word that is authoritative for our lives. Tips of the above sort flow from a relativistic influence which flows from a loss of Scriptural authority with its concomitant commitment to the aforementioned verities: God is and God has spoken.

Thus, the answer to the question, “[Do you believe] the Sunday morning sermon should be designed primarily to reach lost people or teach Christians, as well as the answer to contemporary preaching tips is the same: God is and God has spoken. Because these things are true, the design of the sermon springs from the words God has spoken. We refer to those words as the text [of Scripture]. The thrust of the text will be the thrust of the sermon.

That does in fact mean that most of the time the primary emphasis in the local assembly has to do with the saints. And, biblically, the body gathers to worship and scatters to evangelize (or be missional). At the same time, we recognize that lost people will be in the service every Sunday. We must be mindful of that dynamic and preach the gospel each week as well.

The balance is this: in one sense, the whole of the bible is the gospel of Jesus Christ. If Christ is not the central theme of each sermon, then we are not preaching Christ nor are we engaging in Christian preaching. So, as the word of God itself is faithfully proclaimed, Christ will be held out as our only hope whether the hearers are saved or not; the gospel will be proclaimed throughout the message; and the word will be applied in accordance with the intention of the original authors. That’s the only way to be faithful to what truly is God’s word.

Faithfulness to God and to His word really is the issue for only God’s word has the power to change lives (Rom. 1:16f). A few preaching tips might be in order then, by way of reminder, in light of the lofty truths that God is and He has spoken.

First, be an expository preacher. Whether you are preaching on a topic or whether you are proceeding through a bible book verse by verse, as noted, the text drives the sermon. There should always be explanation, illustration, and application of the word of God to the people. Where it is necessary to provide argumentation, that is, support for an assertion, that element should be included as well.

Second, get into the habit of preaching through bible books. Such a practice will enable you to get the flow of the author in context so that God’s word might be systematically brought to bear upon the lives of the people. You may then break occasionally and preach timely topical sermons or series.

Third, make sure you are an effective bible teacher. A preacher is a herald of good news. But the news has content. Make it your goal to be described as a bible teacher who is not afraid to herald the good news of Christ in a passionate way. Make an unwavering commitment to sound exegesis in the study but don’t weary the people by being overly technical. There are times when a Greek word or phrase must be explained, for example, but avoid the practice of throwing Greek words at the congregation. Exegesis is the foundation of the message that will ultimately be delivered. What the people need is a message they can understand, identify with, and apply. They need to be intellectually challenged but not feel like they are in a seminary classroom. They need to know how this message affects their lives on Monday through Saturday.

Fourth strive for preaching that has broad appeal. You want your preaching typically to appeal to intellectuals and non-intellectuals alike at different places in the message as you consistently and constantly try to be aware of the entire audience. Don’t be afraid to address the young people with application relevant to them. But, rest assured, their parents are interested in what is being said at that point as well. You may address other groups in the same way.

Fifth, employ various elements of style in your preaching. God’s message to His people is a serious business. At the same time, don’t be afraid to use humor, for example, from time to time to make a point. Story telling is certainly appropriate as long as the story shines light on the truth of the text. The key is to bring light and heat; truth and spirit; teaching and passion. The goal is to reach the mind and the heart. These are not either/or propositions but both/and propositions.

Sixth, fulfill your responsibility as a communicator. Aristotle talked about the public speaker in terms of ethos or the speaker’s integrity, expertise, and knowledge; logos or the truth of the message and its rational supporting arguments; and pathos or making a passionate connection with the emotion or passion of the listener. In a biblical and sanctified way, that is what you must attempt to do each and every week. To use biblical terminology, your chief aim is to “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; convince, rebuke, and exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching (2 Tim. 4:2).

Preaching tips from the emerging church that do not focus on the words of God should not be surprising. The movement has been influenced by a postmodern relativism in the area of truth, a deconstruction in the realm of meaning, an overreaction to some lamentable flaws in the evangelical church, and a naturally resultant theological liberalism. Those committed to the authority of Scripture will take a different tack completely. While the above list is certainly not exhaustive, it is decidedly foundational, as it is grounded in the reality that God is and that God has spoken.

Do you ever wonder how to figure out what God wants you to do in those gray areas of life? Recently while reading through one of my favorite fast moving books of the Bible, namely Leviticus, I thought how confusing the Bible can be. I mean, what am I supposed to think when “don’t clip your sideburns too short” is right next to “don’t practice fortune-telling” (chapter 19)? Or what about “don’t get tattoos” right next to “don’t turn your daughter into a prostitute”?

See what I mean? Confusing. How can I know which rules and principles God wants me to live by, and which ones to throw out? And then there are the gray areas… all those situations in life that just don’t fall under any category exactly because of the unique circumstances. What do we do with those? For instance:

Living with an abusive spouse. Jesus only said that if an unbelieving spouse agrees to stay married, then stay with them (1 Corinthians 7:13), but that doesn’t cover abuse. Some people say that 1 Peter commends suffering for the sake of Christ and they consider being abused at home part of that suffering. Where is the glory for God in that kind of suffering as women are stripped of identity and purpose, and their children live with lifetime physical and emotional scars? Did God mean that we should willingly suffer persecution in our own households?

What about the mandates for husbands love their wives as Christ loved the church and for wives to submit to their husbands out of reverence for Christ? Are abusers somehow exempt? Can one side get off the hook and treat their spouse abusively while the other gives up everything—sometimes even their lives—to appease them?

Living with an addicted spouse. The rules are different in this kind of home. Many prominent “help” books advise the typically mistreated spouse to follow certain principles: love your mate unconditionally and selflessly in order to win them over, don’t pressure or nag them to change but focus on changing yourself, don’t place any expectations on them, give them space and they’ll come back to you. Well, that might work for your average love-grown-cold spouse, but when dealing with a substance abuser, none of those work. You can drive yourself crazy trying to apply all the methods, read all the books, and go through all the counseling, but in the end, everything you try has the same result: Nothing.

Should you stay in that kind of a household, accepting the addiction and all the behaviors that go along with it such as lying, overspending, abuse, sexual misconduct, neglect, blatant disrespect, and even sometimes financial ruin while watching your whole family become sick at at heart?

Lifestyle Choices. Tattoos, body piercing, social drinking, music and movie choices—all are areas that we try to make an unified determination of God’s will in the matter, never coming to an agreement and often times enforcing legalism. So how does one figure out for sure which ones to keep and which ones to chuck?

“Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments (Matthew 22:37-40).”

When dealing with gray areas, here is the very, very simple solution. In everything you do, ask yourself, “Is my decision in keeping with the greatest commandment? If I do this, am I able to love God with all my heart, or does it compromise or diminish my relationship with Him in any way?” And secondly, “Am I upholding my love for others?”

Love God. When well-meaning people give you advice, weigh it against this principle. “Is this thing other people want me to do (such as my church or Christian friends) overkill or irrelevant to my love relationship with God?” Or on the flip side, “Is this person influencing me away from my pure devotion to God or encouraging me to compromise my obedience?”

Consider abusive or addicted spouses. They can actually prevent you from following this command. Your mental and emotional state can become so preoccupied with surviving your home life that you’re not honoring or growing in Christ. As soon another person is allowed to dominate our focus and devotion, even with negative energy, that person has become an idol or spiritual adultery.

Love People. Will this decision hurt anyone? Will it pull them down in their faith or will it draw them to God? This can be tricky when holding it up to closely related addicts or abusers, because on the surface you might feel (and they might tell you) that if you set a boundary with them, you’re going to shatter their faith. Or you might feel if you enforce a consequence, they’ll feel unloved and won’t want to change. Often times, the truth is the opposite. By staying, you are making it easy for them to remain unchanged. Their lives are in a comfortable pattern, their addictions and behaviors have no consequences, and you’re sending the message that the world revolves around them. Why would they need God when you are fixing all their problems? So actually, maybe your choices have not truly loved that person the way they need to be loved.

Having said that, each situation is unique and should be handled accordingly. One person living with an addict may be thriving and still able to grow in their love relationship with God while another may be so mistreated, controlled, and beaten down; they can only think “survival.”

Motives. When you’ve held your decisions up to the two criteria, and you’re still not sure, a great gauge is to question your motives. For instance, say you want to get a tattoo, but you just can’t decide if it’s okay with God. The next question to ask then is, “Why do I want this tattoo?” Is it to draw attention to yourself? Is it to fit in with a certain youth ministry God has given you? No one but you can answer these kinds of questions, because only you truly know what is in your heart.

And now, as you begin to embrace the “law of love” and ditch the “love of law,” you’ll always carry around a simple standard to help you discern and understand just what Jesus would do in your situation.

Our Mission, Message and Method

John Barnett

 

Women energized by grace love their children. That is what Titus 2:4 says. Before we dive into this passage we need to ask why are we sacrificing time to study God's Word? The answer is that we desire to be a faithful part of Christ's church!

 

You see, today you and I are part of something big, something grand, something that dwarfs all our broken down cars, lost jobs, bad health, work pressures, social problems, or even personal loneliness…today through Jesus Christ, you and I are a part of what God has chosen as His priority in the Universe. We are in partnership with GOD. Think of that. You and I are equity holders in something that will never end, never fail, never decay--we are a vital part of Christ's church!

 

God’s plan to work in the world is through His church. Why not remind yourself of that by looking at three passages of Scripture with me today. In fact you may even want to pencil in these words on the pages of your Bibles.

 

The first word is MISSION.

 

Each of us in Christ's church has a mission that Paul summarized as “Pleasing God” (I Thessalonians 4:1) “Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God” (NKJV).

 

The second word is MESSAGE.

 

Our mission is accomplished by the proclamation of a message Paul summarized as “the Gospel of Grace” (Acts 20:24) “But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God (NKJV). This message of grace—that God did everything possible to be done and anyone can come to Him merely by faith seems impossible.

 

The third word is METHOD.

 

But the most amazing part is that God’s plan to do all this through us is by a method spelled out in Titus 2. Paul summarized this plan as men and women energized by God’s grace to live in a way that is otherwise impossible.

 

Let’s read Titus 2 backwards together.

 

Titus 2:15-1 (NKJV)

 

15 Speak these things, exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you.

14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.

13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,

12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age,

11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,

10 not pilfering, but showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things.

9 Exhort bondservants to be obedient to their own masters, to be well pleasing in all things, not answering back,

8 sound speech that cannot be condemned, that one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you.

7 in all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works; in doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility,

6 Likewise exhort the young men to be sober-minded,

5 to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.

4 that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children,

3 the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things—

2 that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience;

1 But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine:

 

If you want a summary of our lives as believers it would be: We were saved by God’s grace; we are kept by God’s grace; and we live in a way that pleases God and earns His rewards—energized by His grace.

 

God’s plan to work in the world is His church[1]. Christ's church may be described as a group of people, energized by grace, doing the impossible for the glory of God. A key insight into God’s plan to reach the world through Christ's church is in Titus chapter 2.

 

The verses of this chapter contain a call to First Century men and women energized by grace to live an extraordinary spiritual life in a very unspiritual culture.

 

When grace energizes us we want to deny ungodliness in any form we find it cropping up in our lives. When God’s grace energizes us we want to mortify lust in any form in our lives.

 

The Cretan church was saved, bought from the slave market of sin (redeemed), but still had clinging to their lives the garbage of their culture. They had generations of bad habits, false thinking, and warped lives.

 

What was the plan God had in mind to transform these very un-saintly people? The same plan He has for all of us today. Save them by His grace and sanctify them by His Word.

 

Counting the Cost of Discipleship

T.M. Moore

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”
Luke 14:26,27

They were having a friendly dinner—three evangelical ministers and their wives—when for some reason the subject of martyrdom came up. What would it be like, they wondered aloud, if they were actually called upon to give up their lives for the faith? Would they do it? Two of them agreed that, if only intellectually, they had settled that question in their minds from the beginning: Yes, they would die for Jesus if necessary. Whether they would live up to that commitment, only events would tell. But one of the ministers present declared that he wasn’t sure he was “there yet.” That is, he didn’t know if he would be willing to hold on to his belief in Jesus if the threat of death were on him. He’d have to wait and see. At any rate, no, he could not say unequivocally that he would lay down his life for Jesus, at least, not at that time.

Perhaps this pastor simply had not considered the question before. I feel reasonably certain that would be the case for many believers in America today. Counting the cost of discipleship is an avenue into church membership traveled by fewer and fewer people. In our “seeker friendly” church culture we don’t want to put any obstacles in the way of folks joining our community. We don’t require huge commitments. We tell people to come as they are; all their baggage and questions in tow. We hold out the hope of a fuller and happier life among friends who understand and care. We want them to ease their way into the church rather than make a full-blown, clear, and final break with their old way of life.

I wonder what Jesus would think of all this?

THE MOTIVE OF THE CROWDS

Have you ever noticed that Jesus often tried to discourage great crowds of people from following Him? In John 6, Jesus openly rebuked the crowds because He understood that the only thing they wanted from Him was to satisfy some purely selfish need. When He stiffed them, they tried to bait Him into doing their will by suggesting that if He really was God, He’d give them free bread, just like God did for their fathers in the wilderness. He replied that He was more than enough for them, and they turned away in droves. The twelve went on like they would continue with Him, but He challenged their motives as well (John 6:66-70).

In Luke 11, great crowds again began to gather around Jesus, looking for more of the kind of signs and wonders they’d heard He had been doing. He called them “an evil generation” who only came to Him for the spectacle (Luke 11:29). Again, in Luke 14, great crowds started to follow wherever He went, so He took a moment to challenge them to examine their motives in coming to Him. This time the crowds seemed to be looking at Jesus as a kind of “add-on” to their lives. They had their homes and families, and life for many of them must have been at least OK. Surely, though, this Galilean prophet would bring a little value-added to their lives? Instead, Jesus advised them that following Him meant forsaking everything and taking up the way of death to self and the world.

Then there were the crowds who hailed Jesus as He entered Jerusalem on that first glorious Palm Sunday. Every day, for the better part of a week, those crowds showed up at the temple to hear Jesus teach and watch as He lambasted the religious leaders. But Jesus knew those adoring masses didn’t really believe in Him (John 12:36,37). Those same people who shouted, “Hosanna!” at the top of their lungs on Sunday would, on Friday morning, be screaming, “Crucify Him!” No wonder He left town every night to be alone (Luke 21:37).

Jesus had little use for crowds. It would be difficult to label His demeanor toward them as “seeker friendly.” Yes, He healed many and cast out demons by the score. But He never trusted Himself to the crowds; He knew them all too well (John 2:23-25). Indeed, Jesus seems to have rebuked, offended, discouraged, and distrusted just about every crowd that ever gathered around Him.

Jesus wasn’t looking for crowds. He was looking for disciples. And to get disciples, He explained that any who wished to follow Him would need to count the cost.

EXCLUSIVE LOVE

Jesus held out two tests for any who hoped to become His disciples. The first we might refer to as the test of exclusive love. To follow Jesus one has to love Him exclusively, so much so, with such focus and intensity that all other loves one may entertain seem, by comparison with the love he bears for Jesus, rather to be a form of hate. He didn’t want there to be any mistake about this: father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters—the true disciple would have to love Jesus so much that nothing any of them would say or do would command more affection or attention. The true disciple must hate even his own life, not considering his own interests, hopes and dreams, vocations, and avocations as of any significance whatsoever compared with the supreme objective of loving Jesus Christ.

Where our love is lodged our time and energy tend to go. If we truly love Jesus, we will allow nothing to rob us of the time and energy we need to seek Him, be with Him, or obey Him. Jesus is always on the minds of those who love Him. Their first thought in every situation relates to how they may please and honor this One they love more than their own lives. Those who love Jesus talk about Him frequently. They are eager for others to know and love Him as they do. They have little time for frivolous or trivial occupations, for they understand that Jesus is engaged in more serious and eternal business.

The crowds that came to Jesus loved Jesus. They loved the free bread and fishes. They loved the signs and wonders. They love seeing their oppressive leaders get their comeupance. The loved the show, the spectacle, the camaraderie, the escape from the ordinary, the sense of being a movement—they loved it all, loved it all more even than they loved Jesus. He knew that, and He never failed to remind them that He wasn’t seeking self-serving crowds, but Christ-loving disciples.

THE WAY OF SACRIFICE

The second test Jesus held out to would-be followers was the test of sacrificial living. Jesus called His followers to be willing to die to themselves in order to serve the needs of others. Everyone in those days knew what a crucifixion was. They’d seen men carrying their crosses under the brutal Roman scourge to their deaths outside the city walls. It was to escape such oppression and the fears and injustices that accompanied it that people thronged to Jesus. Many of them must have thought that He was going to lead a revolt against Rome—get the Roman dogs off their backs so they could settle into a more normal way of life, without so many taxes and other burdens.

The crowds, in effect, hoped that Jesus would cause the Romans to live sacrificed lives so that they—the crowds—could get a little breathing space. They didn’t want to sacrifice themselves; they wanted others to sacrifice for them.

Jesus said the way of discipleship is the way of self-denial, putting the needs of others so much to the fore that, if necessary, one is willing to set aside his own concerns and give up everything that is precious to him in order to love his neighbor. In short, Jesus said, “So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33).

YOU GET WHAT YOU ASK FOR

In the American church today we have lots of crowds. Big crowds. Hand-clapping, big-smiling crowds. Praise-singing, hands-in-the-air, comin’-back-for-more crowds, week in and week out. What we don’t have are many disciples. If even our pastors are not ready to lay down their lives for the Gospel, what can we expect of those they lead? Bill Hybels’ recent admission that, for all their crowds and hype, the Willow Creek team hasn’t made many disciples, is just the first honest admission that the American Evangelical Church has no clothes—none that match the uniform of discipleship, at any rate.

The reason is clear: We’ve been seeking crowds, not disciples. We’ve considered every possible means of getting the most people into our buildings and keeping them there, and we’ve attracted people on the basis of mere self-interest, so that what we have are congregations ecstatic to belong to some place that, in the name of the Lord, takes their self-interest as seriously as they do.

I wonder what would happen if we ever began seeking disciples? Would the crowds turn on us with as much vehemence and vengeance as they did on Jesus?

Or might we be surprised to see some, perhaps many, step forward, like convicted Isaiahs, saying, “Here am I; send me”? My own sense is that church people are weary of status quo Christianity, whether that status quo is of the traditional church, dying on the vine, or the contemporary church that is merely contemporary and not much church. People want to be challenged to lay down their lives, to nurture passionate, exclusive love for Jesus through prayer and devotion to His Word. The world is all superficial and self-centered. Shouldn’t the church be something else? Something solid, profound, deeply mystical, altogether other-worldly, and devoted to loving God and neighbor no matter the cost?

Well, it would be interesting to see, wouldn’t it?

FOR REFLECTION

Do you know any “real disciples”—people who fit the criteria for discipleship Jesus held out to the crowds? Do you think those folks would be ready to die for Jesus? Would you?

Jesus realized the power of telling stories when He taught and communicated with others. Using illustrations is just as powerful today. We live in an entertainment driven culture, spending billions on movies, DVDs, theater, music, and other entertainment.

 

If our culture is willing to spend so much money to watch visual stories (i.e. movies, etc.), then shouldn't the church be investing in communicating this way?  As a pastor or group leader, sermon illustrations bring to life the truth you are seeking to communicate.

 

Why do we need videos in church?

 

Churches are a part of the culture we live in. Illustration videos play an important role in your church or group, providing not only an excellent visual tool to help communicate a life-changing message, but to provoke thought, inspiration, and understanding, with an approach that's entertaining.

 

Every church has its own unique qualities or "personality" if you will. Videos can be used to enhance this uniqueness, and can be used in a variety of different settings and groups to serve many different purposes. 

 

There are a multitude of topics ranging from marriage, Jesus' teachings, the Holy Spirit, stewardship to cults. Working with hundreds of churches every week, I see one of the most effective ways ministers use videos is to support a theme or provide an illustration. Karen Donovan and her husband, Pastor Joe, lead the people at West Bay Community Church, a new church with a small but growing congregation in Largo, Florida.

 

"We use videos to reach as many people as we can in every way we can," says Karen. "Some of them have incredible production values yet others may have a more homemade look. I use them both. Different situations require a different approach."

 

Pastor Rick Rocco of Frontline Christian Church, a new non-denominational church plant in Hamden, Connecticut explains, "I didn't realize that when I stumbled across that first downloadable short video, my entire ministry would change. I run two separate types of services, one family worship service on Sunday and one Emerging Church on Monday night...we use videos for both. My congregation is excited and is retaining more of the Word because of video tools."

 

Here are more examples: The video Rush, by Golden Lamb is a fast paced vignette documenting a businessman's busy schedule from dawn to dusk.  It poses the question; is the rush worth it? A parenting video called Fatherhood by Stewart Redwine takes a humorous look at how parents can make mountains out of molehills in their children's lives. And, in an artistic interpretation The Stations, Ghislaine Howard's paintings cause us to do more than wait. Her stark images will help your congregation enter into the reality and the horror of Christ's agony.

 

In addition to supporting sermon themes and illustrations, videos can be used to show a compelling testimony, add humor, or as a closer. 

 

"With the advent of video in mainstream church ministry, we have seen a dramatic increase in our sermon effectiveness as well as the tremendous impact that a carefully crafted video illustration or video vignette brings to the service setting," says Pastor Steve Mohr, who leads a post-modern church of 350 plus in the Assemblies of God denomination in rural Seattle. "We use [video] materials for a welcome/greeting transition; humorous interludes, as well as serious media to set up the message or to enhance a point of the message."

 

One area where we have seen explosive growth is in the use of videos for worship. In the video Galaxy, by Highway Video, the producers created compelling images of the universe with graphics and animation. Visual metaphors are used along with worship music to usher in an extraordinary worship experience.

 

Pastor Scott Keller of Skyline Community Church in O'Fallon, Illinois states, "[Videos] have provided our creative team with fresh ideas, such as using a video along with our own praise band to play live over the video. It looked like we had spent hours putting it together and it made a huge impact." 

 

There are numerous videos to support virtually every category topic. What touches an individual? It may be the music, the words on the screen, or the story itself. Whatever part of the service they are used, videos can enhance our experience with God, help drive home the message we are trying to communicate, and add impact and effectiveness to the church experience.

 

With the excellent media sources available today, I encourage you to go beyond the "normal" routine, and try adding a new video component to your service.  You may be surprised at the results.

"Why don't pastors preach from the Old Testament?"

The question came from the chairman of the pulpit committee of a large and growing church. In their search for a new pastor, they had interviewed the top tier of candidates, only to discover a disconcerting fact. "None of them preach from the Old Testament," the chairman said. "So far we have interviewed fifteen men and none of them preach from the Old Testament. Why is that?" he wondered.

I was a bit baffled by the question, and after considering it, I concluded that the fifteen men meant that they never preach an extended series from the Old Testament. It's hard for me to believe that a pastor would decide to skip over 75% of the Bible. Perhaps the sample was askew. I have no idea who the fifteen men were, or what age they were, or where they were trained. And I confess that I had never heard of a church asking a prospective candidate, "Do you preach from the Old Testament?"

But it does raise other questions. Is it true that evangelical pastors ignore the Old Testament in their preaching? If so, is this a recent trend? And more to the point, if it is true, why don't pastors preach from the Old Testament?

Here are the thoughts that came to me:

1. Many pastors feel more comfortable with Greek than with Hebrew.
2. Most biblical training focuses on New Testament interpretation.
3. For some there may be theological reasons why they don't preach from the Old Testament. Perhaps they view everything before Matthew as "preparation" (which in a sense it is) and therefore not worthy of extended attention from the pulpit (a sad mistake, in my opinion).
4. But my primary thought was that most seminaries specialize in teaching pastors how to preach the epistles. Our methods work best with Romans, Ephesians and the other Pauline epistles. We feel more comfortable with material that is presented logically and in a point-by-point fashion. Therefore our graduates gravitate more to Colossians than to Hosea.
5. The flip side is that we aren't so comfortable with the prophets--major or minor. Or with Job. What do you do with Job? Do you preach four or five sermons and move on? Ecclesiastes is a challenge. So is Song of Solomon in a different sense. Then you've got books like Leviticus, which most of us never touch. Or Deuteronomy, where we cherry-pick a passage here and there.
6. And how should we preach the great stories of the Bible? I personally have profited greatly from preaching through the lives of Abraham, Jacob, Samson, Elijah, the book of Daniel, and David’s early years. But I confess that preaching biblical narratives challenges and stretches the way many of us were taught in seminary.

I assume that the Christian pastor will spend the majority of his time preaching from the New Testament. That's understandable. But to ignore 75 percent of the Bible is to rob your congregation of the riches of God's Word.

In the end, I don't know if this is an aberration or an actual trend. If it's true that our pastors don't preach the Old Testament, it can't be a good thing.

Is it true that pastors today don’t preach from the Old Testament? If so, why?

 

As bad as I am at golf, one thing has helped me: Tips from the Tour.  These are little nuggets of assistance from someone who has excelled at the game on the professional level.  These guys from the PGA tour share a tip about a particular shot.  This tip does not try to revamp your whole game, but rather give you something you can easily understand and immediately put into practice in order to lower your score.  I have improved my game by following the “tips from the tour.”

CHRISTIAN LIFE TIPS

Wouldn’t be great to get a tip from a hero of the faith… a tip that you could easily understand and immediately put into practice?  John the Baptist the great prophet of God and forerunner of the Lord Jesus Christ said this,
“He must increase, and I must decrease” (John 3:30). 

For John, once Jesus came on the scene, he needed to move from center stage to behind the scenes.  Jesus and His ministry must increase… and John and his ministry of preparing the way for Christ must decrease.  Once the announcer introduces the main event, his job is done… and he needs to get off the stage.

HOW ABOUT FOR YOU?

The Christian life is ALL about Jesus increasing and you decreasing.  No one ever arrives in this life.  We all have room to grow… and growing in the Lord simply means that you are becoming more and more like Jesus Christ in two critical areas:

1. The Way You Act – Your actions and habits begin to change when you are yielding control of your life to Christ.  You begin to turn from sin and start walking in the path He has for you.  When I started to walk with Christ as a senior in high school, my life began to change in the areas of speech (I quit cussing and talking His name in vain), weekend activities (I quit drinking and partying), and habits (I started to spend time in prayer, Bible study and church activities).  My actions started to change.

2. The Way You React – This one is much more telling.  You and I can more easily control our actions (what we do and where we go)… but our reactions are a different story and truly reveal if He is increasing, and you are decreasing. 

Think of your life as if it were a tube of toothpaste.  When the pressure comes and life begins to put the squeeze on you, what comes out… you or Jesus?  Do you go ballistic when you are stressed and things do not go your way… or do you respond the way He would with grace and love and patience and kindness?  If your life is filled with Jesus, and He is truly increasing in you and taking over more and more territory in your heart and life, your reactions will be so different than they were before.  People notice your actions… but they seriously evaluate the reality of your relationship with Christ based on your reactions.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Begin today to ask the Lord to increase in you so that people would see Jesus and not you.  Spend time with Him so that His wisdom and His ways penetrate your daily thoughts and activities.  Remind yourself that the moment you gave your life to Jesus, you died (Col. 3:3).  A dead man has no rights and no agendas, and he controls nothing.    

Remember, my friend, the Lord wants to manifest through you the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Himself in every place you go (2 Cor. 2:14).  Let Him start that today in you!  People in your sphere of influence will take note, and Jesus will be glorified!

Love,

Jeff Schreve

Tempus fugit! Time flies. Where does it go? Why do we seem to have so little of it? Does it ever seem like we have enough to go around for our families and for the ministry to which God has called us? Why does it seem like we are jugglers, feverishly trying to keep all the balls in the air without dropping any of them to the ground?

  

One of the problems of ministry in the 90s is the increasing strain of time pressures that pull at us daily. In his very practical book, Margin, Dr. Richard Swenson highlights a major stressor of this generation which does not honor the Lord, namely, marginless living. Our schedules are maxed out, not at 100%, but at 120%!

 

As a skillful doctor diagnosing his patient’s illness, Swenson pinpoints the pain we experience for what it is, the result of overloaded lives. We make choices in work and relationships that leave no room for margin, which is that critical space needed between ourselves and our limits. If that is the case for Mr. and Mrs. Average American, what must be the normal situation for pastors who are constantly trying to achieve the delicate balance of prioritizing time for family and ministry?

 

In the divine scheme of relationships, the God of Heaven intended for the pastor’s first ministry to be his family, not the church. The pastor is a family man, as evidenced by the qualifications laid out in I Timothy 3 and Titus 1. His family either qualifies or disqualifies him from his calling to be one who models Truth to the Lord’s people. If being a pastor involved no more than telling people what to do, any gifted orator or expositor could handle that. However, the Lord of the Church expects pastors to “flesh out” the Truth in their family lives by being human analogues of Himself, the loving, nurturing Bridegroom.

 

How does a pastor make time for those whom he loves? The first crucial area of time should be for the pastor’s wife. As a special gift from the Lord, she is his partner in love, in parenting, and in ministry. I have a plaque in my study that reads: “The best thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.” Pastors’ wives endure unique stresses in the ministry, and they need to know that we cherish them. The Mosaic command for husbands to cheer up or bring happiness to their wives (Deuteronomy 24:5) can be carried out only as we spend time with them and as we demonstrate that we are committed to pleasing them. (See I Corinthians 7:33.)

 

As simple a matter as taking time to go for a walk with his wife can provide a pastor’s wife with the awareness that she is important to her husband amidst his pastoral duties. A pastor must be committed to the ongoing courtship of his wife by spending time on dates with her regularly and by setting aside time to talk. Since our bodies belong to our spouses, it’s important that we give our wives our ears and not just our mouths (I Corinthians 7:4). The pastor, as a family man, must be willing to listen to his wife when she shares concerns that he is becoming too busy with ministry responsibilities and not spending enough time at home.

 

The other crucial area for which a pastor must carve out time in his schedule involves his children. How many pastors’ kids have struggled with wondering where they are on Dad’s priority list! I know that mine have at times. In the same way, how many pastors have struggled with guilt, knowing they’re not spending time with their children because of ministry demands. As a father who has been blessed with nine children, I struggle with slicing the time “pie” in sufficient quantities to provide for our children.

Yet, we keep working at it. We’ve tried to create memories together from places we’ve been and things we’ve done, capturing those memories on film and video. We have worked at slowing down to enjoy the simple things by instilling in our children a love for God’s creation. Any of our children can call us with excitement to come look at a beautiful sunset or to notice a particular tree whose leaves are resplendent in fall colors.

 

An obvious, but sometimes neglected, priority is family devotions. Children need to see Dad taking time to read and explain instruction from God’s Word in order to instill core values into their lives. While another obvious “time together” activity is for Dad to take them with him on preaching trips, a pastor also needs to do leisure activities with his children. Whether it’s involvement in sports, a hobby, working in the yard, or a stimulating game of chess, a pastor’s kids need to know that Dad enjoys being a regular guy with his children.

 

The pastor must also be available for his children when they fail, when there’s a fracture in character. Just as he would leave the office to go to the side of his child who suffered a broken bone, he must also be willing to change plans to tend to a character fracture. That speaks volumes to the son or daughter in terms of Dad’s willingness to make time to minister specifically to his own family.

 

I pray that God helps me to stay focused on my calling as a family man. As pastors, we dare not find ourselves echoing the apologetic statement of Solomon’s bride, the Shulamite woman, who lamented, “they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept” (Song of Solomon 1:6).