Don’t Try to Impress God
Another way we try to impress God is through busyness. I am more and more convinced that there are lots of people out there, even in the church (and maybe especially in the church!) who think that they will either get into heaven by busyness, or will get a substantially greater reward of another kind by being busy. Busyness is not inherently bad, but which kind of busyness are we espousing and for what reason?
Caught in the Spotlight: Christian Leaders Who Mishandle Sexual Abuse Disclosures
Victims are marginalized when leaders demand that they not share their stories in the manner in which they have decided, publicly or privately. This tactic is deceptively clever because it attempts to paint a bold survivor as an insensitive perpetrator in a disgusting attempt to shame the survivor into turning off the spotlight and putting the institution back into controlling the narrative. Leaders who really care about abuse survivors shouldn’t be attempting to control or silence them. Instead, perhaps they should be focusing their efforts on providing those other struggling survivors with qualified and experienced assistance.
When the Devil Points a Gun at You
These are important moments. People rarely focus on their death. And though the temptation is often to fear, fear that the next person I talk to could hate Christianity, we cannot stay silent. We must keep pressing and shining the light of the Gospel on this lost world. God is in the business of bringing light out of darkness, but he uses our lips to do that. We must be like the disciples who although wounded and hurting, went away from the beating thankful that they had been considered worthy to suffer for Christ’s sake and went on preaching even more boldly. When the Devil points a gun at you he desperately wants you to cower away and hide, but it wont happen. God uses these moments to make true believers more bold.
Ministering to Pedophiles
A pedophile who refuses to do these things is not repentant and should be put out of the church immediately. The pastor must also make it clear that any ministry the pedophile receives shall not come at the expense of his victims. Just as salvation comes first to the Jew, then to the gentile (Romans 1:16), the victims receive their ministry first. A pastor should never sit on the pedophile’s side of the courtroom while there are victims from his community on the other side. A repentant pedophile would understand this position and encourage the pastor to hold it.
I Hate the Fall
Dear friend, we all should hate sin and evil. We should hate the Fall. But even as we hate it, we have hope. God has answered the problem of evil by crushing his own Son. And one day, the Son will return to restore this world and make all things new. On that day, the word “hate” will cease to exist from our vocabulary altogether.
Handling Contentions in the Church
Never simply give in to contentious or complaining congregants for the sake of peace. One of the biggest mistakes that pastors make is to give in to the demands of discontent or contentious congregants simply to keep them happy. By doing so, they inadvertently empower sinful congregants. If pastors give in on one thing for which sinfully discontent congregants contend, be assured that there will be another and another and yet another.
Sharing God’s Goodness
My time in South Sudan has been incredible, with each day breaking my heart and then rebuilding it through the passion and hope of the refugees. I thank God every day for bringing me here and for daily using me to bless the refugees in this camp. Since arriving, I’ve worked with our warehouse and commodity teams to f
Religious or not, many Americans see a creator’s hand
(RNS) A new survey, which asked no questions about evolution, looks at the origin of the universe and human morality in Christian terms.
How not to evangelise in the workplace
The disconnect between the church and the office has perhaps never been so great, but former Silicon Valley exec Katherine Leary Alsdorf says we should be careful about how we evangelise in the workplace.
Feeling in despair? 10 Bible verses to remind you there is always hope with God
Hope is part of what makes us human. Hope keeps us living.
Owners of Sweet Cakes Bakery Explain Why They Are Fighting Order To Pay Lesbian Couple: ‘We Don’t Want To Set A Precedent’
Melissa and Aaron Klein, owners of the embattled Sweetcakes by Melissa bakery, are continuing to fight a $135,000 judgement imposed by Oregon officials over their refusal to make a lesbian wedding cake.
Why Did God Give Me This Feeling?by Paula Hendricks “I have feelings for a guy friend. Feelings that I’ve asked God to take away from me several times, but for whatever reason, He has not. Why did God give me feelings I didn’t ask for?” |
To the Heart Searching for Comfortby Samantha Nieves When the enemy wants to paralyze us with our emotions, the Word reminds us of the truth. And this is the soul-watering truth we need: God is our Comforter. |
When God Calls You to Something “Small”by Erin Davis It’s awesome when our faith propels us to make giant leaps, but sometimes the harder steps to take are the small ones. I’m a lot less willing to do little things for God. |
3 Verses on Beauty Every Girl Needs to Knowby Bethany Baird The next time the girl in the mirror forgets how beautiful she is, recite these three power-packed verses. |
Reparative Therapy, Southern Baptists & Moving the Goalposts
In the World But Not of the World
The Bible is clear that the world as we know it is headed for chaos. Wars, economic upheaval and the persecution of believers for the sake of Jesus Christ are happening with greater frequency, and will culminate with the return of Jesus Christ who will rule righteously forever. It is so tempting to pray that […]
You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way
Deuteronomy 12:2–7 reveals important principles regarding the way God desires to be worshiped and, specifically, the relationship between the biblical way to worship and the ways of the pagans.
You shall surely destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. You shall tear down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and burn their Asherim with fire. You shall chop down the carved images of their gods and destroy their name out of that place. You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way.
But you shall seek the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation there. There you shall go, and there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, your vow offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock. And there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your households, in all that you undertake, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.
Notice that God commanded that the people destroy the places where pagans worshiper, including their altars, their pillars, their images, and even the names of the places. This is clearly more than simply insisting that they worship Yahweh rather than false gods; this is also stark evidence that God rejects worship that imitates pagan worship in any way. Everything in pagan culture contains meaning, and those elements that are imbibed with pagan meaning must be rejected for use in worship. One might ask why they had to destroy, for example, the altars and pillars; wouldn’t these be useful even for the worship of the true God?
Yet God commanded that they be destroyed. He summarized his desires with the words, “You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way.” Instead, they were to listen to his instructions and find a place of his choosing for their worship and follow his commands.
Finding Noah’s Ark
Find all info on this documentary here.
Will Americans Perish from Lack of Prophetic Knowledge? – Bill Salus
“My people perish from lack of knowledge.” (Hosea 4:6)
Throughout history, nations and empires have been judged and destroyed for transgressing biblically defined moral and spiritual boundaries! Boundaries such as:
No Escaping Sharia – Muslim vs. Christian Refugees
One would think that having escaped from almost certain death and persecution, all refugees fleeing to Western nations and capitals would finally be safe. Not so: according to recent reports, refugees are routinely lumped together in shelters and camps, irrespective of their religious affiliations and faiths. Not surprisingly the Christian refugee minority is finding increasing persecution from the Muslim majority, just like back home………….. Click here for full story
Limitless?
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Click Here to Download this episode
Program segments:
00:11:10 Jennifer Eivaz – Bringing Heaven to Earth
00:23:31 Jason Delgado – Limitless
00:49:19 – David Crank – Burning Bridges
01:11:22 – Sermon Review: The Believers Battle by Robert Morris
10 Things Every Christian Should Know About Their LGBT Neighbors
The church, in its 2,000-year+ history, has never been here before. What do we do with gay, lesbian and trangender folks who come to our churches? What about all the talk to be “welcoming and affirming”? The coming generations will be looking to us as to how we responded to this emerging challenge. It is something we can’t ignore or just wish would go away.
So what to do?
Here are 10 truths all Christians must keep in mind as we interact with these neighbors. The overarching truth that we must always keep in mind, especially for Christians, is this: They are really no different than you or me. Beyond this foundation, we must both practice and teach our congregations these 10 things.
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1. We are all loved by God.
Christ didn’t hang on the cross for “these” people and not for “those” people. He didn’t do so for some more than others—or for those who really need it. We all really need it, and His love for all is why He died for all. No exceptions.
Your LGBT neighbor is no less worthy of God’s love than you are.
2. We are all stricken by a terminal illness.
Sin has devastated each one of us and to equal degrees, separating each of us in our rebellion eternally from God beyond any of our reach. No exceptions. It is not the case that some of us are more separated than others because of our particular struggles and sins.
3. We are all in need of repentance.
Christ’s death and resurrection is the only means of bridging the hellish gap that exists between us and God. It’s not our nationality, our family name, our socio-economic status, our sexual orientation, what church we attend or even our own righteousness that is able to bridge it.
It is only by repenting over our own sin and casting ourselves upon the abundant and limitless grace of Christ that we can be brought back into right relationship with God. This is needed by all and available to all, regardless of sexual preference.
4. Winking at anyone’s sin is not loving.
God takes all of our sin seriously. If not, there would have been no need for Him to sacrifice His own Son on that horrid cross. Therefore, looking the other way at our own sin and the sin of those who come to us in search of salvation is unloving.
Ignoring someone’s sin or treating it as acceptable actually keeps the remedy for their terminal illness from them. This is true of each of us. We are called to extend grace, but not at the expense of truth—the truth that all sin is an offense to God requiring our honest repentance. Is this not the center of the Gospel? Our gay and lesbian neighbors deserve its hope and transformation as well.
As a lesbian friend told me, “If you guys give me a pass on my sin, I must do the same for you. If that’s how it’s gonna be, why bother with your Christianity?” Indeed.
The post 10 Things Every Christian Should Know About Their LGBT Neighbors appeared first on ChurchLeaders.com.
Bethel Redding youth leader says Jesus asked him for forgiveness!
John Lanagan of My Word Like Fire gives us the details:
Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints. (Jude 1:3)
One more in a long train wreck of false claims and teachings from Bethel Redding. This youth leader states that in a vision Jesus picked him up, began to weep, and asked his forgiveness.
If you can’t find a passage in the Bible where Christ asks us to forgive Him, it is because it is not in the Bible.
What about the people who heard the youth leader claim this from the pulpit? Who will help them? Other Bethel leaders?
Not likely.
How to Respond Well to Harsh Criticism
Several years ago, I had just finished leading worship for a big event that had taken a huge amount of my emotional and physical energy, the better part of six months to plan and execute, and a significant amount of ministry capital, when a letter arrived in my mailbox (an actual letter, in my actual mailbox) addressed to (you guessed it …) me.
As any humble worship leader would do, I hoped that this letter would contain high praise for my incomparable musical and spiritual prowess, list specific ways I was awesome, tell me particularly impressive things I had done and possibly contain a financial blessing (i.e. “cash”).
I opened it up, ready to receive the flattering praise of an adoring fan congregation member, and instead read the following (I’ll summarize for time’s sake):
1. That was the worst thing ever.
2. You are the worst worship leader ever.
3. You have ruined everything.
4. Did I mention you are the worst worship leader ever?
5. Grace and peace to you from God our Father.
Let’s just say it wasn’t the glowing letter I was hoping for.
I immediately wrote this person a response that said:
1. That was actually the best thing ever.
2. I’m actually the best worship leader ever.
3. You’re an idiot.
4. Did I mention that I’m the best worship leader ever?
5. May God’s richest blessings be showered upon you.
Then I felt better. And then I crumpled that letter up and threw it away. Then shredded it. Then threw it away again. Then I wiped the servers. Even though the letter was handwritten. It’s never a big deal to wipe servers, apparently, as we all know.
The post How to Respond Well to Harsh Criticism appeared first on ChurchLeaders.com.
6 Wrong Reasons to Check Your Phone in the Morning
Our phones now go wherever we go—which is everywhere. And that means most of us sleep with our phones. In the bedroom, our phone wakes us up, tracks our sleep patterns and makes us available in the event of an emergency.
All these benefits are wonderful. The problem comes when our phone is within arm’s reach and we grab it out of habit to check email and social media in our half-conscious state of sleep inertia—before our groggy eyes can even fully open.
In our survey of 8,000 readers of desiringGod.org, over half of you (54 percent) admit to checking your smartphone within minutes of waking up on a typical morning.
Then we asked whether you are more likely to check email and social media before or after your spiritual disciplines on a typical morning, 73 percent of you said before. Here’s the breakdown by age and gender.
We don’t need charts to know we are quick to Facebook and slow to God, and this impulse is a problem if John Piper is right when he says, “I feel like I have to get saved every morning. I wake up and the devil is sitting on my face.”
That’s a startling way to talk about the daily challenge of the Christian life.
Put another way, whatever we focus our hearts on first in the morning will shape our entire day.
So why are we so quick to check email and social media in the morning, and so slow to spend intentional time with God in his word and prayer? And can we find a better way forward in the pages of Scripture?
I asked John Piper. What follows is an edited and abbreviated transcript of what he said (which will be part of an Ask Pastor John episode next month).
Why are we so prone to click on our phones before we do almost anything else? I thought of six possible reasons, which came out of analyzing my heart and temptations.
It seems to me that all of these six things are rooted in sin rather than in the desire to serve others and savor God. And I put it like that because I do think the Great Commandment sets the agenda for our mornings and our midday and our evening.
We are to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength when we wake up in the morning. And we are to prepare ourselves to love our neighbor as ourselves (Matthew 22:37–40).
Very few of us wake up with our whole soul spring-loaded to love God and love people. This disposition takes some refocusing—to put it mildly—by means of the word of God and prayer.
So here are my six guesses for why so many of us are drawn almost addictively to consult with our phones when we wake up in the morning. The first three I call candy motives. The second three I call avoidance motives.
Reason 1: Novelty Candy
We simply love to hear what is new in the world and new among our friends. What happened since we last glanced at the world? Most of us like to be the first one to know something, and then we don’t have to assume the humble posture of being told something that smart and savvy and on-the-ball people already know.
Then maybe we can assume the role of being the informer, rather than the poor benighted people that need to be informed about what happened and if they were smart enough they would have been on their social media earlier.
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Praying for a Breakthrough
A breakthrough is a military concept. When one army is able to weaken its enemy’s forces to the point of collapse, a breakthrough occurs allowing that army to invade and take its enemy’s territory.
But in war, a breakthrough only really matters if it occurs at a strategic location. And the evidence that a location is strategic is almost always revealed by the amount of enemy forces amassed to protect it. An enemy led by skilled generals plans to ferociously protect what it prizes highly.
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This means that an invading army can expect its attempt to achieve a breakthrough to be met by a barrier of fierce enemy opposition. Increasingly intense fighting always precedes strategic breakthroughs. Strategic ground is not yielded easily.
Our Breakthroughs Are Opposed by Powerful Forces
This is as true for spiritual warfare as it is for terrestrial warfare. In the spiritual realm, as opposed to the terrestrial, the church is an invading force. Though we can easily slip into a defensive, circle-the-wagons mindset, Jesus clearly intends for us to be aggressors, not merely defenders. The Great Commission is to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). In a world that “lies in the power of the evil one” (1 John 5:19), that’s militant language. Our mission: to liberate those the devil has taken captive to do his will (2 Timothy 2:26).
But we must keep in mind that strategic ground is not yielded easily. Whether we’re battling for breakthroughs against our own stubborn sin or the unbelief of a loved one or breakthroughs in the missional advance of our local church, reaching unreached peoples, rescuing persecuted believers, orphans, sex slaves or the unborn, we are up against “spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). We don’t know exactly what that means except that these forces are very strong.
Daniel’s Example
Daniel 10:12–14 gives us a brief glimpse of what’s happening. Daniel had been praying and partially fasting for 21 days to gain greater insight into the revelations he had received (Daniel 10:3) when an angelic being finally showed up with an answer to his prayers. This messenger said that he had been trying to get to Daniel for those 21 days, but had been detained by “the prince of the kingdom of Persia.” The chief angel Michael had to come and free him.
This experience of Daniel is an example to us. It’s not a formula that can simply be boiled down to pray and fast for 21 days and Michael will come help you overcome cosmic forces. But it is an example of what is taking place outside of our sight. God does not want us to know more about the angelic realm than what he has revealed in Scripture, otherwise Scripture would have revealed more. But he clearly wants us to know that there is more going on than we see so that we will pray to him and fast until he gives us an answer.
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Joys of the Local Church
It’s easy to be drained of joy these days. All you have to do is exist.
But for God’s people, there is joy that is to be regularly had. One of the preeminent places for that is in a biblical local church. None of us would dare say that any local church is thoroughly utopian. Even so, it is a place where joys are to be uniquely experienced.
Here are a few joys we get to experience by immersing ourselves in God’s kind of a local church:
- The joy of knowing that the head of the organization is the greatest Person in the universe, the Lord Jesus Christ.
As impressive as many organizations, nations, and empires have been, none of them can lay claim to Christ as their Sovereign Head (Eph. 1:22).
- The joy of being in the one institution which Christ promised to build and bless.
No matter the discouragements we experience in the church, Christ is always actively building and blessing her as he sees fit (Matt. 16:18).
- The joy of doing what God wants me to do.
When I immerse myself into a biblical local church, I can be comforted that I am in the will of God (Heb. 13:17).
- The joy of being a part of something that is way bigger than me.
No organization has, or ever will have, the human-heaven-time expanse like the true church of Christ (Matt. 16:18, Eph. 3:10). Chronologically, she is the longest existing organization, having been planned in eternity past and continuing into eternity future (Eph. 1:4-5). Sociologically, she is the most diverse organization, made up of every tribe, language, people, and nation (Rev. 5:9).
- The joy of understanding how obvious it is that God’s power is behind the church.
By design, the church is composed of the not-mighty (1 Cor. 1:26-31). Yet very powerful things continue to happen through us, mere broken, weak sinners. A power superior to man’s is obviously at work.
- The joy of not being able to ruin the church.
Since the church’s existence did not originate with, nor depend upon (1 Cor. 3:7), me, I can’t do anything to destroy it (Matt. 16:18).
- The joy of being protected from ruining myself.
In God’s kind of a local church, there is the comfort of knowing that his loving prescription will be carried out on me should I toss myself into sin (Matt. 18:15-17, Heb. 3:12-14).
- The joy of having safeguards against hell.
Similar to the previous point, the local church has been delegated unique and unequaled care to expose the unregenerate church-goer to their deception and to the power of the saving gospel (Matt. 18:15-17, 1 Tim. 4:16, 1 Pet. 5:2-3).
- The joy of hearing from God, not man, regarding all things needed for life and godliness.
Since the church is delegated with preaching God’s word, I can be comforted knowing that I am regularly receiving his direction and input from the local men charged with the task (2 Tim. 4:2).
- The joy of plunging into the depths of the Bible together.
As the “pillar and support of truth” (1 Tim. 3:15), the local church is charged with upholding and proclaiming biblical doctrine. Consequently, much of life together involves the pleasure of feasting on doctrinal truth (1 Tim. 4:13-16).
- The joy of being under men in leadership whom God wants to be there.
In a biblical local church, the men on the leadership team are qualified to be there by the grace of God, through the Holy Spirit’s work in their lives (1 Tim. 3:1-7, Titus 1:6-9, 1 Pet. 5:2-3).
- The joy of regularly gathering unto our Head, Christ.
Christ is such a big deal, that we get to weekly assemble to both celebrate and grow in him (Heb. 10:24-25).
- The joy of knowing that I will be held accountable to live with biblical integrity.
The local church is charged with loving one another enough to nudge each other so that our profession in Christ matches our practice in life (Gal. 6:1-3, 1 Pet. 5:2-3).
- The joy of being around people who understand that I am a sinner with remaining sin.
Fellow sinners saved by grace in the church are neither surprised nor taken back when I am not perfect (Matt. 5:3, Col. 3:12-15).
- The joy of knowing that I can safely and honestly confess my sin to others in the local church.
Every true member of the church knows, and is humbled by, the Spirit-empowered knowledge that we are sinful to the core (Matt. 5:3-4, 6). Knowing that, we can come to each other to experience God’s grace of honest confession with one another.
- The joy of experiencing progressive conformity into Christ’s likeness when we know it is otherwise impossible.
Part of what it means that Christ is blessing the church is that he is transforming all her true members into his image (Rom. 8:29, Phil. 2:12-13).
- The joy of being with a people who share Christ’s sincere interest in your well-being.
Though the church always needs to grow in love this side of heaven, nevertheless, there is God’s kind of love experienced from her members that is otherwise unexperiencable (1 John 3:14).
The joy of expending investing ourselves in something that will last forever.
Though we can struggle to remember it at times, even the smallest investments of our time, money, resources, skills, and giftedness in and for Christ’s Bride matter for all eternity (Matt. 6:20, 25:14-21, 1 Cor. 3:14, 2 Cor. 5:10).
- The joy of having a people who bring God’s kind of care to me in suffering.
Because Christ indwells her, and he sympathizes with our weaknesses, it is no surprise to experience facets of his comfort in our most difficult times (Rom. 12:15, 2 Cor. 1:3-4, Heb. 2:18, 4:15).
- The joy of being around a people striving for excellence in life, yet not for self-aggrandizement, but for Christ’s pleasure.
Both by the power of the Holy Spirit in us, and the example of church members around us, we are moved to do all things for God’s glory (1 Cor. 10:31).
- The joy of seeing God’s supernatural power on display.
In God’s kind of a church, the miraculous is visible all around us; things that only God’s power can accomplish (Phil. 2:12-13). For example, the miracle of salvation; the new-birthed soul who hated Christ, yet now loves, honors, and proclaims him. The miracle of transformed lives in sanctification. The miracle of true humility in a soul. The miracle of sacrificial service for Christ and one another. The miracle of men being raised up into leadership from the ashes of brokenness. The miracle of souls suffering, finishing, and dying well.
- The joy of the diversity created and used for unity.
In just about any local church, there is significant diversity; an assortment of skills, temperaments, backgrounds, giftedness, and more. It’s a joy to watch the Holy Spirit use all of these to exalt the one Lord, Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 12:7, 20).
- The joy of knowing that the disappointments in the church’s members will be perfected in God’s timing.
It’s amazing to think that Christ would build his Bride from the stock of humanity. That amazement plays out in real discouragement we sometimes experience in light of each other’s remaining imperfection. But soon, his Bride will shine in her garments of pure holiness (Eph. 5:27, Phil. 1:6, Rev. 19:7-8).
- The joy of knowing that opposition will do nothing to hinder the existence and propagation of the church.
Because her builder is the Sovereign King of the universe, not even earthly kings pose a threat to the extinction of the church (Matt. 16:18).
- The joy of knowing of knowing what is to come.
One day, our churches will join with all of God’s churches in heaven to celebrate Christ in an unimaginably wonderful existence for all eternity (John 17:24, Rev. 22:3-5).
By God’s grace and design, the local church is a place where there is real joy. And though we will not always experience these joys to the fullness of our liking, for the most part, these are present for the blessing of the redeemed in God’s local churches.
Porn and Worship: A Look At Emotionalism In The Church
Remember the “worship wars” of the Eighties-and-Nineties? Churches were split over whether they should start a “contemporary service” or perhaps jump into the deep end and “go contemporary” altogether. People got mad . . . like, mad. Christians turned on each other over whether we should keep singing “Sweet Beulah Land” with the organ or start awkwardly clapping along with an acoustic guitar while sort of half-knee-bouncing our way through some “Songs from the Loft.”
I was one of the few to spend time in both trenches in this particular skirmish. Full disclosure: in college, I was in a Christian rock band called “Dead Ostrich.” Yes, I know it’s a stupid name. No, I didn’t choose it. It meant something about rejecting ignorance and apathy or . . . something. Anyway, we had a song that touched on the worship wars. The lyrics included these gems:
There you sit with your hands in your pockets
Afraid to show a little emotion.
Your friends may not approve
Your family may not approve
Your preacher might not approve[1]
But I guess it’s up to you
REFRAIN
You really make me sick
You’re such a typical Baptist
Aside: we gave a copy of our CD to Rob Bell (yes, that Rob Bell) and sat in his living room while he explained that, while he really liked the song “Typical Baptist,” we shouldn’t play it at our concerts if we were trying to reach the lost for Christ. Life is weird.
Anyway.
A few short years later, as the nineties and the worship wars wound down, I—hip-deep in cage-stage Calvinism—did a one-eighty on the topic. My reason for abandoning my college angst in favor of a premature middle age grumpiness was again rooted in emotions. Having embraced a full-on Sola Scriptura stance as well as affirming the total depravity of man, I just didn’t trust them anymore. Extreme emotions threatened to get between God’s Word and me and gum up the works. Better to stick with dusty, albeit doctrinally sound, songs that would engage my mind but little else.
In the ensuing 15-20 years, my personal pendulum has, of course, swung back from the extreme position once again. I found myself having what could be described as “emotional experiences” while worshiping God, and being almost embarrassed about it. With more study, discipleship, and maturity, I’ve come to embrace emotional worship (along with those dusty hymns), while still being on guard against some of the aspects of emotionalism that caused Calvin and Luther to scowl beneath those weird aviator-slash-scholar caps they always wore. (Note to self: get one of those caps.)
Allow me then to offer four reasons to be a little leery of emotionalism in worship and one big reason not to be.
First, emotions can be deceptive. The seat of the emotions in the Bible is alternately the bowels and the heart, and neither are to be trusted intrinsically. The heart of man is deceitful above all else and desperately wicked, after all, and who can know it? (Jer 17:9). In a world where emotions have replaced the written Scriptures as the conduit for God’s will (“God has totally released me from keeping this particular commandment. I can just feeeeel it.”), we do well to be on guard against exalting our feelings to a position equal to God’s word.
And when you add music to the mix, it’s like our emotions are on steroids. Was it St. Francis de Sales or Third Eye Blind who said, “I believe . . . the four right chords can make me cry?” That’s true in the church more than anywhere else. Pelagianism was roundly condemned at two councils and one synod, and yet it hung around for a long time afterwards, largely because there were catchy songs that taught the error floating around in the Christian communities. We see the same thing in many of today’s uberemotional worship songs, many of which are just sort of shallow and many of which are downright heretical (and a few of which are actually solid). But good theology or bad, if they make the singer feel good, they’re unlikely to be rejected.
Secondly, when emotionalism is given undue emphasis, the emotions involved are often contrived. I’ve attended churches where it is clear that people are trying to outdo one another with how passionately “into” the worship they are. Are they all faking it? Doubtful. But when we create the expectation that authentic, sold-out believers in Jesus will necessarily be showing their deep emotions through waving hands, pained expressions, and the like, we leave many with the unfortunate decision between forcing it/faking it and admitting they’re just not that into Him.[2] But maybe they’re just not wired that way.
If lifting your hands helps you worship, do it! But remember, the Church existed for nearly two thousand years without the modern manifestations of hand-raising (see Tim Hawkins for a primer). And if you don’t do it, it doesn’t mean you’re “holding back” or “not giving in to the Spirit.” Likewise, if you are moved to tears in worship, praise the Lord. But God doesn’t command tears every time you praise him and he doesn’t want your fake tears. When we play that game, I imagine we look a little something like this to the Almighty:
This brings me to my third point: emotions are often used to manipulate in the Church. I’ve been affiliated with a particular church camp for decades: first as a camper, then a counselor, then (for the past seventeen years) as camp pastor one week each year. I love the place, but that whole time, I’ve been increasingly uncomfortable with the prevailing expectation that Thursday night will be a time of moving the junior highers to tears in a high-pressure walk-the-aisle Finneyfest. Now, I’m all for using the Law to convict and then offering the Gospel as the remedy, but it’s neither fair nor biblical to wait until a group of already emotional (see: crazy hormones) adolescents are super sleep-deprived and kind of sad that the week is winding down and then telling emotional stories until the waterworks get going.
I just saw a Kevin DeYoung quote on Twitter that said, “Pastors, do you believe the Word of God will accomplish the work of God? If you don’t, you will resort to gimmicks.” Exactly. And an easy gimmick to employ is the raspy-voice, tinkly piano, vans-will-wait emotional blackmail of the mid-twentieth century, which can still be found in certain settings. Or its successor, the quick-cut video clip that raws-up our emotions so the speaker can come in for the kill amid low lights before the hearer has had a chance to count the cost.
And just as our hearts can use emotions to deceive us within, false teachers can use them to deceive and manipulate people from without, to affect behavior, whether motivating them to give money to a particular cause or to simply fall in with the expectations of the group at large in whatever way. Mormon missionaries have been using this tactic for years: “Do you feel a burning in your bosom while reading the Book of Mormon? That’s totally God!”
Fourth, emotionalism in worship has led to some wonky and embarrassing phenomena in the church: barking like dogs, “Holy Spirit glue,” convulsions, and the like—the sort of stuff that makes John MacArthur even madder than usual. Luther designated such groups “enthusiasts,” meaning not that they were really into model trains or baseball cards, but that they were convinced they were being sort of possessed by God, who was making them do all sorts of bizarre stuff. While probably not a valid reason to throw the baby out the window, there’s been some seriously funky bathwater along these lines. And we are right to lament the negative witness some of the madder manifestations have been to non-believers.
However, even putting aside the logical fallacy of “poisoning the well,” we should remember that Christians have always been mocked as bizarre, refusing to indulge in the world’s carnal pleasures, gathering to eat their God’s flesh and drink his blood, etc. The world will say what the world will say. We don’t want to put any unnecessary stumbling blocks between a sinner and the cross, but fear of freaking out the world cannot be our yardstick for faith and practice.
So now let me unload the one big reason not to let those four cautions turn us into the “Frozen Chosen” or some insufferably elitist ivory-tower Christians: while all four of these concerns have to do with in some sense falsifying emotions (or emotions trying to falsify us), we must not let falsehood determine Truth.
All sin involves taking something good that God gave us and twisting it back toward ourselves. Gluttony, sloth, fornication—all are sinful excesses and abuses of God’s good gifts, but they do not cause us to reject food, rest, or sex. At least, they shouldn’t. This is elementary stuff, of course, but for a long time I failed to make the correlation with worship.
Here’s what I mean. Pornography doesn’t change our view of sex, but confirms our view of fallen humanity. It takes something that should be beautiful—a desire for connection and intimacy that God has placed in us, something we’re supposed to feel and experience—and gives people a fakey, cheap, plastic, lead-paint-covered substitute, by taking a short cut. Can you imagine a married couple discussing sex and concluding, “We can’t do that! We can’t take that crass ‘sex act’ from pornography and sully the sanctity of marriage with it?” I’ve met some Christians who are almost Gnostic enough to go down that road, but it would be both unbiblical and Lloyd-Christmas levels of stupid to do so. As Christians, we must not let the cheap knockoff set the standard instead of the true gift.
Just as porn doesn’t change our view of sex, emotional abuses, artificiality, and manipulations shouldn’t change our view of emotional experience. Yes, someone can use the four right chords to make you feel ecstatic or melancholy, whether at a praise and worship event or a Mumford & Sons concert. It’s not hard to produce a cheap shortcut to give you a momentary emotional high—a sense of fleeting satisfaction that will fade with the sound of the music, but just as the marriage bed is the right place (the ordained place!) to feel sexual gratification, worshipping God is the ultimate place to feel emotional gratification. God wants us to glorify Him and enjoy Him forever.
The cynic in me still gets a little suspicious when the emotions start to well up during worship, and that’s kind of sad. I feel a sense of, Wait, is someone manipulating me? Is this me turning worship into something about ME, not GOD? Am I letting my guard down so my mind won’t be fully engaged?
And I suppose those thoughts are valid enough, but even if it feels similar to the knock-off, remember this is the real thing. Oreos are similar to Hydrox (or, rather, vice versa), but they’re not Hydrox. They’re heavenly. And so is worship. We were made to have a connection with our Creator that involves our minds, hearts, wills, our whole person—including our emotions. And while chasing after warm fuzzies gets worship backwards, we should not be alarmed or concerned when we feel Christ present with us. We should be thankful. Sure, chasing the thrilling “experience” in worship is unbiblical, but so is fearing it.
__
[1] You’re correct to assume that these three lines get higher and shriller as they go.
[2] I know worship and fasting are two very different things, but I think we can learn a little something from Matt 6:16-18 here—namely, if we’re consciously twisting and stretching out our facial expressions while worshiping, because we’re conscious of being seen by our fellow humans and aware of what they will think . . . well, we’ve already received any reward or benefit on earth and this whole worship thing isn’t even making it to Heaven.
The Most Important Verse in the Bible
When I was in seminary, one of my professors said that Romans 4:5 was, in his estimation, the most important verse in the whole Bible. That’s a bold claim, but I’m inclined to agree with him. Because if you get Romans 4:5, you get the gospel. But if you don’t grasp what Paul is saying, chances are you’ve wrapped Christian language around a system of works. It all hinges on one word: credited.
“To the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness.”
Romans 4:5
The Greek word for “credited” is logizomai. We translate it “credited,” “counted,” or (for the old school among us) “reckoned.” It’s an accounting term, and literally means that we treat something as existing, even though it technically doesn’t. It’s a little confusing, so it’s probably best to first show what “credited” doesn’t mean.
1. “Credited” doesn’t mean that faith MAKES people righteous.
Paul is talking about Abraham in Romans 4, and all you have to do is look at Abraham’s life to see that his faith didn’t automatically make him a righteous man. Even after his moment of faith, he would be plagued with all kinds of inconsistency and compromise. He doubted God’s word and slept with his servant (instead of his wife) to try to produce an heir. And on at least two occasions, he abandoned his wife to powerful kings to do with her whatever they pleased. By God’s grace, those kings never did take advantage of her…but Abraham is still a dirt bag for creating the opportunity.
All of this happens after Abraham’s declaration of faith in Genesis 15:6. So Abraham’s faith being credited to him as righteousness doesn’t mean he starts acting righteously.
2. “Credited” doesn’t mean that faith IS righteousness.
Some people treat faith as the chief of all virtues, the one thing that matters to God. For these folks, as long as you have faith, nothing else really matters. Sure, God wants us to pursue justice, to give generously, to be kind, and to tell the truth…but what he really wants to see us do is exercise faith. Faith, in this view, becomes the gold standard of obedience.
But think about it: if we’re ranking virtues, which one should be on top? Not faith. As Paul said, the chief of all virtues is love. In fact, he said that faith without love was literally worthless (1 Cor 13). Jesus, too, summarized the entirety of the law by saying, “Love the Lord your God.”
Faith is important—crucially, centrally, eternally important. But let’s not make the mistake of assuming that faith is some impressive work that God just likes better than the other virtues.
So what does “credited” mean?
3. “Credited” means that God COUNTS our faith as righteousness, even though it is not.
Both of the previous views are essentially some form of works. Either faith produces righteousness or faith is righteousness—but either way, we think God will be pleased with us because we’re doing good things. He won’t.
Righteousness isn’t something we achieve. It’s something we receive. It’s a gift that God gives us on the basis of faith, and not something we earn.
The best analogy I’ve heard for this is the wild card. When you’re playing a card game, you can decide to treat a certain card (Deuces, Jokers, etc.) as wild, meaning that whenever that card comes up, it counts as something else. You credit it with the value of an 8 or a King or whatever.
Don’t be deceived, though. Our faith in Christ isn’t an arbitrary rubric that God simply “made up” as the way of salvation. There’s a logic to it, because true faith is a declaration of our bankruptcy. It’s us saying to God, “I have to trust you because I know I have nothing else to offer.” When we see faith like this, we realize that faith isn’t exactly a virtue; it’s actually a declaration that we have no virtue.
When we trust in Jesus’ finished work for our salvation, God counts that as righteousness. It’s not an inherently righteous act. But God looks at it and says, “Now I can credit you with Christ’s righteousness. Now that you come to me with empty hands, I can finally fill them.” God doesn’t look at our lives and see the number of prayers we’ve prayed, the amount of money we’ve given, or the depth of our devotion to him. When we exercise faith, God sees Jesus’ perfect record.
This is the gift righteousness of God, the endless wonder that separates the gospel from every other path of salvation. Other religions say, “Do this and you’ll earn your way to heaven.” But only the gospel says, “It’s already done. Come broken, come sinful, come empty … and receive life eternal.”
For more, be sure to listen to the entire message here.
Take a Test on the Trinity
How well do you know the doctrine of the Trinity? In his little book Delighting in the Trinity, Michael Reeves calls the Trinity “the governing center of all Christian belief” and “the cockpit of all Christian thinking.” In other words, it is not an irrelevant or secondary doctrine, but one that is of primary importance.
How well do you know this central doctrine? Together with Rebecca Stark, I have put together a little quiz that will allow you to test yourself. Here are 33 statements related to the Trinity. Simply answer true or false to each one and see your score at the end.
(Can’t see the quiz? Click here: Thirty-three on the three-in-one.)
Sources
The information for this quiz was largely drawn from:
- The Athanasian creed
- The Forgotten Trinity by James White
- Salvation Belongs to the Lord by John Frame
- Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem
A La Carte (October 7)
There are a few excellent Kindle deals today, including Answering Your Kids’ Toughest Questions by Elyse Fitzpatrick ($1.99); Roman Catholic Theology by Gregg Allison ($4.99); Run to Win the Prize by Thomas Schreiner ($2.99); The Underestimated Gospel edited by Jonathan Leeman ($0.99). New from GLH Publishing is The Precious Things of God by Octavius Winslow ($0.99).
How Do I Know That God Loves Me?
“How do we know God loves us, and what does His love look like? How we answer these questions, and we all hold answers to those questions whether we are aware of them or not, is what determines our view of God and the health of our faith.”
Five Questions about Sanctification and Good Works
This promises to be a good series from Kevin DeYoung. Over the course of 5 days he will answer 5 questions about sanctification and good works. It’s not the easiest reading, but worth pushing yourself, I think. (Also, here is part two.)
‘Captive’ and the Christian Film Industry
This article may be a bit too harsh toward Christian movies, but I think the main point is valid. “No non-Christian is going to see one of these films and think ‘hey, I should follow Jesus now.’ They will watch them and either laugh, or nod off.” God’s Not Dead was an especially bad offender.
This Day in 1873. Extraordinary missionary Lottie Moon arrives in China. She once said, “If I had a thousand lives, I would give them all for the women of China.” *
New Planned Parenthood Video
This is beyond horrifying. “New undercover video footage released by the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) shows a Planned Parenthood abortionist describing how she tears away preborn babies’ ‘lower extremities’ in an effort to get at their torsos.”
Why Annihilationism is Wrong
Gavin Ortlund: “The traditional doctrine of hell is currently undergoing significant challenges from both within and without the church. Many question the reality of hell outright, while many others opt toward annihiliationism—the belief that the damned won’t suffer eternally but will instead have their consciousness extinguished at some point.”
The Preacher and His Technology
David Murray talks about the preacher and his technology. In the bottom part of the article he discusses how he uses various technologies in his sermon preparation.
The Daily Discovery (October 7, 2015)
ARTICLES I LIKE FROM AROUND THE WEB:
(Click title to go to full article)
Joys of the Local Church – “It’s easy to be drained of joy these days. All you have to do is exist. But for God’s people, there is joy that is to be regularly had. One of the preeminent places for that is in a biblical local church. None of us would dare say that any local church is thoroughly utopian. Even so, it is a place where joys are to be uniquely experienced.”
Take a Test on the Trinity – “How well do you know the doctrine of the Trinity? In his little book Delighting in the Trinity, Michael Reeves calls the Trinity ‘the governing center of all Christian belief’ and ‘the cockpit of all Christian thinking.’ In other words, it is not an irrelevant or secondary doctrine, but one that is of primary importance.”
2 Motivations for Pursuing Holiness – “Peter gives us two truths worth remembering as motivations for our pursuit of holiness. First, we must remember from what we have been ransomed. The Bible says we have been ransomed ‘from the futile ways inherited from [our] forefathers’ (1 Peter 1:18). Life apart from a right relationship with God is futile. ‘Vanity of vanities,’ the Bible calls it (Eccl. 1:2). No matter how religious, lavish, or popular your life before Christ was, it was empty. How empty? The Apostle Paul called it skubalon (‘rubbish, dung, sewage’)…”
Five Questions About Sanctification and Good Works: Can We Fulfill the Law Absolutely in this Life? – “Throughout this week I will be walking through the five questions Francis Turretin tackles in his chapter on ‘Sanctification and Good Works’ (Seventeenth Topic). Here are the five questions, slightly modified for ease of understanding…”
The Dead Cannot See – “John’s Gospel introduces us to a man named Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a Pharisee—an expert in the Scriptures—and a ruler of the Jews. He was also a respectable and important religious leader (see John 3:1). Nicodemus saw Jesus perform signs in Jerusalem. He may have been present when Jesus drove the merchants and animals from the temple with a whip (see John 2:14–15). And so he came to Jesus by night and said, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him’ (John 3:2). Jesus’s teaching about new birth and the kingdom of God explodes Nicodemus’s human categories and exposes that this esteemed scholar is in the dark concerning the true ways of God. Nicodemus asks, ‘How can these things be?’ Jesus challenges him, ‘Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?’ (John 3:9–10)”
SERMON:
David Platt – Baptism: More than Just a Symbol
VIDEOS:
John MacArthur talks about Duck Dynasty.
God Sent 2 Bears to Maul 42 Boys?
“All death can do to the believer is deliver him to Jesus. It brings us into the eternal presence of our Savior.” – John MacArthur
Featured Blogs
- Yet Another Reason to Believe Our Finite Universe Points to the Existence of God
- Don’t Brag About Your Faith. Live it!
- Hey Everybody, Let’s Take a Stand Against Animal Cruelty!
- Worship Without Words
- Could the Next Billy Graham be Drunk Right Now?
- Why the Information in Our DNA Points to the Existence of God
Christian Headlines Daily – Wednesday, October 7, 2015
http://www.christianheadlines.com/
Top Headlines
ISIS Extremists Brutally Torture and Crucify Christian Boy and Others
Dyslexia-friendly Bible Released
Despite Rising Violence, Christians Lead Global Prayer Initiative Near Temple Mount
Gospel for Asia Stripped of Membership in ECFA
Three Christians Arrested in India and Accused of Converting Locals
South Carolina: Torrential Rains Leave 12 Dead, Hundreds of Homes Flooded
Islamic Indoctrination Taking Place in Georgia Schools
Arkansas School Pushes Back against Attempt to Ban Prayer
Michigan Pastor Accused of Conspiring against Homosexuals in Uganda, Russia
Oklahoma Republican Party Offers to House Banned Ten Commandments Monument
Opinion
When Tragedy Strikes, Partisan Politicking Offers Cold Comfort
Do You Treat Your Faith Like a Hobby?
Oregon Shooting Hero Making Headlines
Roseburg Killings: How Should Christians Respond?
The War on Loneliness: a Different Look at Addiction
READING: Mark 2
TEXTS AND APPLICATION: I’m sick. You’re sick. Every person in the world is sick. Every person who has ever lived, with the exception of Jesus, has been sick. And, anyone yet to be born will be sick. All of us need a doctor.
By “sick,” I mean, of course, “sinful.” All of us are sinners in need of redemption. We cannot work our way back to pleasing God. We cannot design our own plan to fix this problem. We cannot read enough books, do enough Google searches, or talk to enough people to overcome our sin illness. Sick people can’t heal themselves.
That’s why it’s so important that Jesus came to us. We were sick, and He was wiling to be the cure:
Mark 2:17 He told them, “Those who are well don’t need a doctor, but the sick do need one. I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
What’s challenging to me is the fact that the God we sinned against is the God who took the initiative to fix our problem. The “doctor” who made the house call to Levi’s house in Mark 2 will take our sin disease upon Himself in Mark 15 so we might become well. He will heal us by His death.
I suspect that many of us have forgotten just how sick we were without Jesus. Consequently, we take for granted the miracle of God’s plan to redeem us: Jesus Christ, the Son of God, eats with sinners. More importantly, He died for sinners.
And that’s the simple, straightforward, life-changing gospel. Let’s not take it for granted today.
ACTION STEPS: Think about inviting several unchurched friends to your home for dinner in the next few weeks. Love them, and seek a way to begin telling them the story of Jesus.
PRAYER: “God, I’m guilty of forgetting how lost I was. I need your help to remind me of my spiritual lostness so I can once again appreciate your grace and tell others about you.”
Our Time is Short
What is The Gospel?
God made everything out of nothing, including you and me. His main purpose in creation was to bring him pleasure.
The chief way in which we as humanity do this is through loving, obeying, and enjoying him perfectly.
Instead of this, we have sinned against our loving Creator and acted in high-handed rebellion.
God has vowed that he will righteously and lovingly judge sinners with eternal death.
But God, being merciful, loving, gracious, and just, sent his own son, Jesus Christ, in the likeness of man to live as a man; fulfilling his perfect requirements in the place of sinners; loving, obeying, and enjoying him perfectly.
And further, his son bore the eternal judgment of God upon the cross of Calvary, as he satisfied the eternal anger of God, standing in the place of sinners. God treated Jesus as a sinner, though he was perfectly sinless, that he might declare sinners as perfect.
This glorious transaction occurs as the sinner puts their faith (dependence, trust) in the Lord Jesus Christ as their substitute. God then charges Christ’s perfection to the sinner, and no longer views him as an enemy but instead an adopted son covered in the perfect righteousness of his son.
God furnished proof that this sacrifice was accepted by raising Jesus from the dead.
God will judge the world in righteousness and all of those who are not covered in the righteousness of Christ, depending on him for forgiveness, will be forced to stand on their own to bear the eternal anger of God.
Therefore, all must turn from sin and receive Christ Jesus as Lord.
Ready to start your new life with God?
Who do you think that I am?
With that brief question Jesus Christ confronted His followers with the most important issue they would ever face. He had spent much time with them and made some bold claims about His identity and authority. Now the time had come for them either to believe or deny His teachings.
Who do you say Jesus is? Your response to Him will determine not only your values and lifestyle, but your eternal destiny as well.
Consider what the Bible says about Him: Read more
Resource Links
CanIKnowGod.com is a website inspired by LifesGreatestQuestion.com, with new content, images, audio and video that will help you understand more about who God is and how to know Him. The site is mobile responsive and has an infinite scroll which makes for a very user-friendly experience. After you indicate a decision on CanIKnowGod.com, you are directed to a page that details what it means to have a new and transformed life through Jesus Christ. There’s even a Facebook page for daily updates, encouragement and scripture sharing.
Look to Jesus
Have you ever felt a little lost and wished there was a quick-start guide to your relationship with God? This is it!
30 Day Next Steps
John Beckett, a leading Christian businessman, has written a series to read over 30 days for new believers.
New Believers Guide
The New Believer’s Guide is a series of articles designed to show you how to walk in the new life Christ has given you— a life of faith and freedom.
Jesus Booklet
Jesus is the Savior of the world. Discover who Jesus is today in this series.
About Christianity
Know Jesus Christ and your life will be transformed
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(Alternative News, Apologetics, Current Events, Commentary, Opinion, Theology, Discernment Blog, Devotionals, Christian Internet Evangelism & Missions Activist).
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