The Renewal of the Body: When Shame and Weakness Give Way to Glory and Power

By / Oct 6

Have you ever planted anything?

You break the ground. You open a hole in the earth. You fill the emptiness, laying seed to rest. It decomposes. It transforms. Death yields to new birth. And then a life that’s strikingly different — and yet the same — rises from the dirt.

It happens all the time. It’s a resurrection cycle God has planted in creation.

Our bodies long for it.

The Corinthians struggled to believe in it.

In response to some in the congregation who denied the bodily resurrection of the saints, Paul argues that the resurrection of Jesus has been proclaimed as central to the gospel from the beginning (1 Cor. 15:1–12). And we cannot separate his resurrection from the people who belong to him. He’s like the point of an arrow launched into the future; it will pull the tail forward with it.

The Corinthians could stomach the resurrection of Jesus but couldn’t choke down their own resurrection. Better that all the nasty things they’ve done in the body not show up with them in the afterlife. It’s an understandable reaction.

But Paul tells them they cannot separate their resurrection from Christ’s without doing damage to the faith. They cannot split this atom without disaster.

Granting the resurrection of believers, some questions remain. Paul anticipates an objection: “But someone will ask, ‘How are the dead raised? What kind of body will they have when they come?’” (1 Corinthians 15:35, CSB).

How does it work? Explain to me exactly how this is possible. 

Naturalistic skepticism is not new.

While we might have questions about how scattered molecules are assembled again in the resurrection, believers living in first-century Greco-Roman culture had moral concerns. Is this the body that we’ll have forever? The one we’ve stained with sin? The one subject to sickness?

The Corinthians had trouble imagining how the resurrection of the body is possible — or even desirable. They suffered from a poor imagination.

We might as well. The American church has not always been clear on what awaits us. We’ve sung hymns that give the impression that our destiny is more floaty than earthy. But the Christian hope is not just to “fly away” from the body and set it aside forever. We are promised the renewal of the body.

Awareness of this renewal ought to impact how we feel about our bodies today, and what we anticipate for eternity.

Paul uses the metaphor of sowing and reaping to sanctify our imagination:

“So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.” (1 Corinthians 15:42–43, ESV)

These are rich words. Consider them. Imagine with me.

From perishable to imperishable

We are sown in corruption. That’s the condition that touches a fallen creation. Everything corrupts. Everything grows stale and rotten. Everything disassembles into entropy. When you grasp it, it’s gone.

Good things move away from us. What we love breaks in our hands. We are broken.

This is what it means to be perishable.

Do you feel vulnerable? Overwhelmed? Frail? You are. Your spiritual great grandfather gave you his DNA.

Our bodies have an expiration date. Everything we are one day falls apart into dust. A cursed ground claims us again as dirt.

But what is planted corruptible comes out of the earth incorruptible. In the resurrection, we will never again be subject to injury or disease. The coronavirus cannot claim us. The human heart will never need to be shocked back into rhythm. A cancer cell will never again form in a body. It won’t hurt anymore.

Nothing will be lost. You’ll never feel like life has left you behind, like what you love has retreated from you. It will just be an indestructible joy — forever.

Anticipate imperishability.

From shame to glory

The body is sown in dishonor —it is subject to shame and shameful treatment.

Ever since Genesis 3, our bodies have been a source of shame. We hide. We don’t want our nakedness seen. We need to cover, to self-protect. We feel exposed — like someone could hurt us, or worse: see how we have hurt others.

We sense the label of what we have done, and the things that have been done to us. And we feel it in our bodies.

The trauma specialist Bessel van der Kolk describes this as “the body keeps the score.” Those who have struggled with PTSD know this.

If you’ve experienced a bad accident or suffered abuse, your body registers that awareness. It feels like you always carry it around with you. Certain settings and sounds trigger your senses and heighten your heart rate. Your body resonates with the tremors of the world around you. Telling you that it’s a dangerous place. In some cases announcing, “You should be ashamed.”

Jesus carried our shame. He bore our abuse. He shrouded his glory, veiling it — until the morning the light cut through the tomb.

And Paul says you will be glorious!

We will be, for the first time, what we were made to be. Comfortable in our skin. Content as image-bearers. A display of the delight of God in all he has made. Fit for eternity.

C.S. Lewis said that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to today may one day be a creature, which if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship. This is what it means to be glorified.

From weakness to power

We are sown in weakness. We’re subject to infirmities and deformities. We lack the ability to do anything lasting. We’re described in the Bible as wasting away.

It is sobering when the weakness becomes visible.

My wife’s grandfather held the title of being the strongest man in his state. He died, weak in body and mind.

My own Pa Pa was always an image of power to me. He seemed omni-capable. Always in charge. In fact, he tended to make the people around him nervous. After he lost my grandmother and the Alzheimer’s began to set in, he shrank physically. We watched an illness stealing away all the capacities that were once so impressive.

For some, all it took was one bad fall to take your parents away from you. All that they had done, all that their life had meant, all the moments of strength they had shown — and one little stumbling sealed the end. It’s oppressively stupid. That’s when the weakness has its way.

During this pandemic, bodies have been intubated and dependent on ventilators to survive. Some have died alone in a hospital, weak, away from the people who loved them and knew all they’d accomplished.

For Christ’s people, it won’t always be this way! We will be raised in power. We will be the product of omnipotence.

How will this transform us and the ones we love? A son formed with an additional chromosome; an adopted daughter who was addicted to drugs in the womb and whose brain is still jumbled by the effects — what will they be when the weaknesses are gone? When the unopposed power of the Creator is in full force?

What will it look like when our weakness of will, our incompetencies, our laziness, give way to power?

That’s the resurrection.



2021 For the Church Conference Recap

By / Oct 5

With a focus on establishing and maintaining healthy local churches, Midwestern Seminary hosted its seventh annual For the Church National Conference in Kansas City on Sept. 27-28.

The event returned to the Daniel Lee Chapel on the campus of Midwestern Seminary, one year after the 2020 conference was held exclusively online due to the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This year’s keynote speakers H.B. Charles Jr., Juan Sanchez, Robby Gallaty, Jason Allen, and Jared Wilson, preached impassioned messages revolving around the conference’s theme of “Until Every Church Healthy,” while Jimmy McNeal and Austin Stone Worship led attendees in corporate worship.

“We consider it a significant stewardship to host the For the Church Conference each year, and we were particularly delighted to be back in person on our campus for this year’s gathering,” Midwestern Seminary President Jason Allen said.

“Every opportunity we have to encourage pastors and ministry leaders is significant, yet this annual gathering held each September is altogether unique. We are grateful for the chance to invest in and encourage ministry leaders through corporate worship, the teaching of God’s Word, and through rich fellowship with brothers and sisters from across the nation.”

Note: To view full messages from each session, follow the appropriate links.

Biblical Preaching and Church Health

Allen led the conference’s first session, answering the question, “Why is expositional preaching important for church health?” Allen preached the message from 2 Timothy 3:1-4:5.

Biblical preaching, according to Allen, is not only important for church health; it is essential. From the text in 2 Timothy, Allen highlighted three points related to the importance of biblical preaching for cultivating and maintaining healthy churches: (1) the church needs biblical preaching, (2) Scripture asserts the need for biblical preaching, and (3) a faithful ministry requires biblical preaching.

Leadership and Church Health

Juan Sanchez, senior pastor of High Pointe Baptist Church in Austin, Texas, delivered the conference’s second message. Sanchez was tasked with answering the question, “Why is leadership important for church health?”

Gleaning from his years of ministry experience, Sanchez based his conference message on Ephesians 1:7-23 and 1 Timothy 3. Sanchez framed the message’s content with answers to two additional questions: “What is the eternal plan of God?” and “What is the place of the church in God’s eternal plan?” Leadership for church health, according to Sanchez, is grounded in the answers to these two questions.

Membership and Church Health

Continuing the theme of “Until Every Church Healthy” on Tuesday morning, the conference’s next speaker, H.B. Charles Jr., pastor-teacher at Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Fl., reflected on the importance of biblical church membership for church health.

Preaching from 1 Peter 2:9-10, Charles reminded the audience of what the church is and what it is not according to Scripture. Fundamentally, Charles asserted, the church is a redeemed community that belongs to God.

“The church, if it is to be healthy, cannot be based on individual taste and opinions and preferences,” Charles said. “The church is not a collection of individuals. It’s a community of people. What kind of people? He says we are a people for his own possession.”

Discipleship and Church Health

Robby Gallaty, senior pastor at Long Hollow Baptist Church in Hendersonville, Tenn., addressed conference attendees on the topic, “Discipleship and Church Health.”

The main emphasis of his message from Mark 1:16-20 was to communicate a biblical depiction of true discipleship. From the text, Gallaty established three points related to the process of discipleship in the lives of believers: (1) true disciples are called by Christ, (2) true disciples are formed by Christ, and (3) a healthy disciple is focused on others.

Gospel-Centrality and Church Health

In the conference’s final session, Jared Wilson, assistant professor of Pastoral Ministry at Spurgeon College and Author-in-Residence at Midwestern Seminary, preached from Colossians 3 on keeping the gospel at the center of the church’s focus.

“Because the gospel is the beating heart of Christianity, to say that keeping the gospel central is important for church health is like saying keeping your heart in your chest is important for bodily health,” Wilson said.

Pre-Conference and Workshops

On Monday morning, the FTC Women’s Pre-Conference featured speaker and teacher Nicole Lino, author Abigail Dodds, and Karen Allen, founder of Midwestern Women’s Institute and wife of Midwestern Seminary President Jason Allen. The ladies’ event focused on the theme: The Body of Christ.

On Tuesday afternoon, multiple workshops and breakout sessions were held for conference attendees. The sessions were led by pastors and ministry leaders from among the broader SBC community. Speakers and sessions included:

  • Jeff Dodge, teaching pastor at Veritas Church (Iowa City, Iowa), on “Multiplication”
  • A panel discussion with Nicole Lino, Karen Allen, Christy Allen, and Faith McDonald
  • Brian Davis, pastor at Risen Christ Fellowship (Philadelphia), on “Theological Foundations”
  • Noah Oldham, lead pastor at August Gate Church (St. Louis), on “Faithful Preaching”
  • Dean Inserra, lead pastor at City Church (Tallahassee, Fla.), on “Evangelism”
  • Jonathan Leeman, elder at Cheverly Baptist Church (Washington D.C.) and editorial director for 9Marks, on “Public Theology”
  • Charles Smith, senior vice-president of institutional relations and professor of Christian Leadership at Midwestern Seminary, on “Missional Leadership”

The 2022 For the Church National Conference will take place in Kansas City on Sept. 26-27. More information and registration information is forthcoming.



Celebrating the Beauty of Complementarity in Corporate Worship

By / Sep 28

Allow me to highlight a way that our church seeks to celebrate the beauty of gender complementarity during our corporate worship gatherings.

A couple of years ago, as I was reading through the Scriptures, I was struck by 1 Corinthians 11:2-16, where the Corinthians are given the instruction: “but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven” (v.5). As tempting as it is, let me invite you to not get bogged down by the curious element of head coverings in this passage (a topic I’m looking forward to wrestling with when we eventually decide to preach through this controversial book!). Instead, I invite you to zoom in on the thing that struck me a couple of years ago. Namely, the fact that Paul just seems to take for granted that women in the congregation were praying and prophesying publicly. It’s as if he’s saying, “Of course, you know that when you assemble together, the women will be praying and prophesying as well. When they do, make sure that they do it like this.”

Given how self-evident it seems to Paul that women will be routinely praying in the gathered assembly, the persistent absence of sisters praying in our worship gatherings was conspicuous. This was a convicting absence for me, as a pastor. So, I began to think to myself, “Where in our congregation would it be appropriate for that to happen?” At our church, we follow a consistent pattern every week: a biblical call to worship, two songs of praise, a corporate biblical confession, a corporate prayer of confession, a private prayer of confession, a biblical/pastoral assurance of pardon, a song of thanksgiving, the public reading of Scripture for the sermon, the pastoral prayer, the sermon, the communion prayer, communion, a final song of thanksgiving, and the benediction.

The only three times of formal, corporate prayer in our liturgy are (a) the corporate prayer of confession, (b) the pastoral prayer before the sermon, and (c) pastoral prayer before communion. The most natural place to have women lead the congregation in corporate prayer from time to time is obviously the corporate confession. So, I concluded that, at the very least during the weeks that our sisters are leading the worship service entirely, they should also be leading out corporate prayer of confession. I brought the issue to my fellow elders, and they agreed wholeheartedly.

However, that does not mean that the entire liturgy will ever be led by our sisters. Why? For a couple of reasons.

Firstly, when we think about the assurance of pardon and the benediction, both of these elements are saturated with a deeply pastoral flavor that seems to brush up against the activities of “teaching” and “exercising authority” over men, which Paul expressly prohibits for women (1 Timothy 2:12). In other words, as a pastor, I want to protect the able sisters in our congregation from (even inadvertently) disobeying God’s Word. But secondly, and related to the first reason, I think we’d be missing a splendid opportunity to showcase, and revel in, the beauty of gender complementarity if we had our sisters lead out in the entire liturgy. For in doing so, we would either have to invite our sisters to engage in these “pastoral-like” activities, or we would have to make these activities “less-pastoral-like” so as to accommodate the sisters leading. In both of those scenarios, we would be missing out on the beauty of female prayer and worship, and male leadership. Which is precisely what Paul roots his prohibition regarding female teaching within (1 Timothy 2:13-14).

You see, Paul is not arbitrarily saying, “Here’s the one thing that women shouldn’t be doing, but regarding everything else, all bets are off.” Were that the case, we would have to consider this prohibition virtually arbitrary; as if men and women are totally interchangeable, and male leadership in the church in this one activity (i.e., teaching) came down to a coinflip. But Paul’s mindset is far more holistic than this. He roots this instruction all the way back to the garden, arguing that this kind of female leadership in the church isn’t fitting, not just because it goes against the grain of cultural customs, but because it goes against the grain of nature. God made men and women differently, to harmonize with one another and complement one another. Male headship in the home, and male leadership in the church is not an arbitrary structural requirement placed on an otherwise amorphous cosmos—as if everything were malleable, and the relationship between the genders are completely up for grabs outside of those two explicit areas. No, male headship in the home and male leadership in the church is reflective of the structured cosmos that God has placed us all within. There is a grain to the universe, and the instructions God’s Word gives to men and women goes with the grain.

Think about it like a symphony. If it is true that all of creation sings out with praises to God (cf., Psalm 19:1-6), we should be thinking, “Where do I come in? Where do I go loud? Where do I quiet down? When do I sing melody, and when do I sing harmony? Etc. etc.” When God gives men and women unique instructions in Scripture, he isn’t just making arbitrary requirements. He’s giving us instructions on the good life. He’s saying, “You’re not a tuba, you’re a flute; I’ve made you to do trills, so do that right… here,” or “You’re not a cello, you’re a pair of symbols. Don’t just play willy nilly; you need to crash as loud and hard as you can right… here!”

This is, in my estimation, the answer to many of the debates regarding “complementarianism” in the western church today. Too often, people get hung up on the particulars. On the one hand, you have people getting hung up on the particulars in such a way that everything becomes a slippery slope. Don’t start doing this, because if you do it won’t be long before you cross this boundary. Always keep the boundary in mind! On the other hand, you have people getting hung up on the particulars in such a way that the particulars become mere fences. As long as we don’t cross that line, everything else is fair game. We’re nowhere near the boundary and we’re not on a slippery slope, so it doesn’t really matter what responsibilities are taken up by men and women!

I think a much better way forward is to see the particulars as reflections of the world that God has made, and indications for the good life. Our Triune God is not capricious or half-baked in his instructions. If he’s instructed for men to be on one trajectory, and for women to be on another complementary one, it’s because he’s made us to function that way, and structuring our lives along those lines will actually lead to our joy.

We can, obviously, find reasons to object. We don’t like the idea that we were made to function in a particular way. We want for things to be more up in the air, arbitrary, and amorphous. We want a cosmos that isn’t structured or hierarchical, but is rather malleable for us to structure as we see fit. But the reality is, whatever we come up with is nowhere near as beautiful as the cathedral God intends to build with the very different material of men and women. To stick with the metaphor (which isn’t all that far off from 1 Corinthians 11:2-16, by the way), if men are stone foundations, built to handle weight and deal with wear and tear, and if women are stained glass windows, equipped to beautify and adorn the structure as a whole (or, made to be a “glory” per 1 Corinthians 11:7), it won’t benefit anyone by putting the stained glass window as the foundation or the stone in the windows.

To bring the issue back to our corporate worship gatherings, we have a beautiful opportunity to revel in the complementarity of godly men and women when we worship, especially on those weeks where our sisters lead in some areas while qualified men continue to lead in others. It is more beautiful, not less, when the voice of a godly sister in Christ articulates our corporate prayer of confession, and it is then complemented by the strong godly voice of a brother in Christ, speaking on behalf of Christ the pastorally tinctured assurance of pardon.

All that to say, I invite you to notice the complementary loveliness of your services as often as you can. When you hear the conspicuous presence of the feminine, revel in it. Praise God for it. Imagine how colorless and lifeless our expression of worship would be without it. And when you hear it complemented with masculine leadership, do the same. As we say in the Emmaus Kids Catechism:

Q: Are boys and girls the same?

A: No, they are different.

Q: Why is this a good thing?

A: Because God’s not boring, and their differences are good!

 



Principles for Giving and Receiving Encouragement to the Preacher

By / Sep 23

How much do you think your preaching influences your people? We know the biblical answer. Preaching is God’s ordained means of communicating the truths of scripture and the gospel to His people and the world. But on a personal level, how much do you think your preaching is influential?

Most pastors will never stand before hundreds of people and preach. Still fewer will ever receive an invitation to preach at some conference. In fact, in my small part of the world, most pastors around me are bi-vocational with very little to no training in preaching. Yet, they labor every week in preaching to their same small flock – some for several decades.

It can be easy for a pastor to feel a disconnect between what he knows to be true and what he experiences. He knows that God’s Word is enough and that God uses it to accomplish all His purposes (Is. 55:11). He knows that it is living and active (Heb. 4:12), and that it is never a waste of time to share it. And yet, he rarely ever sees the fruit of his labors. Preaching is one of the rare tasks in which you don’t really know the effect of your efforts.

Furthermore, most pastors don’t go searching for the fruit of their preaching. There is a sense of pursuing flattery or praise from man to ask how your sermon may have set in a person’s heart. Simultaneously, the pastor wants to, and sometimes needs to know if his people are listening, if they are listening well, and if they are benefitting from his efforts. There is an aspect of good shepherding in discerning ways in which your sermons benefit your people without seeking to be puffed up by such information.

Additionally, pastors want to know how they can improve. They want to keep laboring. They want to get better. And they want to be encouraged that they have not and are not running or laboring in vain. I think this is why Paul tells the struggling Galatians, “Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches (Gal. 6:6).”

“Good things” in this verse might refer to several things. But I think it at least means to encourage the pastor in the labors of his preaching. Preachers will preach better sermons when they know that their preaching has an effect upon those to whom they regularly preach. In other words, right encouragement to the preacher has direct benefits for the preaching ministry of the church.

Let me highlight a few ways to receive encouragement in preaching and then highlight a few ways to give encouragement to preachers.

Receiving Encouragement as a Preacher:

  1. Remember you are just an instrument. In other words, God does all the work and His Word effects change. You are merely the mouthpiece. Don’t let encouragement go to your head.
  2. Respond to encouragement with exaltation of Christ. When people encourage you after a sermon make sure to give the credit to God verbally. I try to say something like, “Praise God! If it was good it is because of Him!”, or “It was a good passage wasn’t it?” This helps keep the listeners eyes on Christ and it helps keep your mind on Christ! Gratitude to God is giving credit to God and that is what preachers must do.
  3. Be humble and receptive. Don’t deter encouragement from your flock in regards to your preaching. They are doing a very good thing when they boast on God’s work through your sermon. Take the encouragement, thank God for it, and then keep working. Humility is not self-debasement. Humility is dependence on and giving credit to God. It would be a good practice to get alone and thank God profusely for using you when your people encourage you for a sermon.
  4. Don’t get discouraged at the lack of encouragement. Some churches are not naturally encouraging. This may be because of past struggles with previous pastors. But don’t let their lack of encouragement translate to discouragement in your ministry. After all, we don’t labor for the praise of man, we labor for the glory to God. Stay faithful to God even if you never hear an encouraging word from your people.
  5. Not every sermon will warrant encouragement. Sometimes pastors have to say very difficult and hard things. When this is done it can be hard for people to encourage or be thankful. In other words, conviction is tough and it can be hard to say thank you when God has just raked your soul over the coals! Every sermon should be preached with your best effort, but not every sermon will be fertile ground for immediate feedback.

So much more could be said. Bottom line: encouragement can be so helpful, nourishing, and refreshing, but the goal is faithfulness to and the pleasing of Christ!

What about the listener? How do we give encouragement to pastors without puffing them up? Here are a few thoughts:

  1. Recognize their labors go much further back than just Sunday morning. My people are very good at saying things like, “Thank you for your work this week.” Or “Thank you for laboring for that message this week.” That is a simple acknowledgment that they know I work more than just behind the pulpit and it yields more opportunities!
  2. Give credit to God and not to the preacher. I helped one church member express his gratitude for my sermons by telling him to say, “The Holy Spirit really worked in me today.” That means so much more to me than anything else!
  3. Be careful of the backhanded compliment or the partial compliment. Preachers know that not everyone agrees with their sermon. And they know that no one agrees with every detail in their sermon. You don’t have to remind them of this. It is one thing if they are unbiblical. It is another thing if you disagree with minor points. More good can be done in the long term with simple encouragement and not with encouragement coupled with “….but I disagreed with…”
  4. Small things are big deals. Let’s be honest, not every pastor is a great preacher. Most of the time pastors know they are not great preachers. But instead of telling them that they aren’t good preachers encourage them in the small victories. This will help spur them on to growth in preaching. Have encouraging chats with them about preaching, preaching styles, language, structure, scripture, etc. This produces long-term health in the pulpit and not burn out or burden. Pastors pour their souls out on Sundays. Don’t wound them with unnecessary complaints about non-scriptural, non-gospel matters.
  5. Sincerity matters. Flattery for the sake of flattery is frustrating to a pastor. But sincere small encouragement can fuel a preacher’s soul and efforts for months. Avoid flattery by being specific in your encouragement. Then notice your pastor step into the pulpit with more energy, passion, commitment, and dedication.
  6. Encouragement does not mean lack of accountability. Pastors are fallen men. We have many flaws. We face the pressures of our flaws effecting the whole church. We know we don’t have perfect theology and we wince when we miss speak. So, we must be held accountable. Encouragement is a form of accountability. It is encouragement to do what is good and avoid what is bad. And encouragement doesn’t mean pastors shouldn’t be confronted if they say something unscriptural – especially developing a pattern of unbiblical thought. If you need to confront, do so with gentleness, patience, and clarity.

Preaching is a two-way street. It is not just a man talking to a group of people. It is also a group of people listening to and responding to the labors of the man. Encouragement is one of the great and necessary parts of this exchange.



Ten Truths About a Liar

By / Sep 21

Is Satan capable of inception? Does he whisper temptations in our ear? Is Satan’s authority, power, and relationship to unbelievers the same or different from Christians? These are all valid and, frankly, somewhat haunting questions. I am not left emotionally unmoved by the many destroyed marriages and ministries around me Satan has devoured. I trust your experience is comparable. It is vital that you and I rightly discern and evaluate Satan. He is not to be trifled with nor buffooned, but in Christ, his back was utterly broken on Calvary’s hill. Therefore, it is important we establish a few implications that help us to discern the person and activity of Satan:

1.) Satan is not omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, nor eternal.

There was a time when Satan was not. In contrast, there was never a ‘time’ when the Son of God was not (i.e., The Son is eternal). Satan is created and contingent just as humans are (Col 1:16-17). In Job 1:6, the Lord asked Satan, “Where have you come from?” to which he responded, “From roaming through the earth.” He is physically positioned in the universe. He is not omnipresent and thus is unlikely to be personally tempting individual Christians. In Matthew 4 and Job 1-2, he fails to know the future and his potency is shown to be limited by God.

2.) Satan exercises his otherworldly dominion by way of a hierarchical, geographical, and militaristic strategy.

In Matthew 4, Satan legitimately offers Jesus the kingdoms of the world. These kingdoms seem to have a geographical and governmental nature. This offer is textually grounded in Deuteronomy 32 and Psalm 82. But through the cross, Jesus took back the authority forfeited in Adam (Col 2:14-15). Therefore, in Matthew 28:18, Jesus states that all authority has been given to Him. In John 12:31 we’re told Satan is the “ruler of this world,” which rings of realm and region. Then, there is that peculiar reference to the “prince of the kingdom of Persia” in Daniel 10:13, 20. This dark prince opposes the angel Gabriel and the angelic prince Michael. It’s hierarchical. Experientially, this rings true. The nature of spiritual warfare varies depending on the continent and culture (North America, Asia, Africa, etc.). Satan leads a hierarchy of demons (Mt 12:24), a divergent and highly capable army, which implies he is leading an otherworldly ‘outfit’ that personally tempts persons (Col 2:15, 1 Pt 5:8-9) depending on the sinful sensibilities of a given culture.

3.) Satan can manipulate matter, weather systems, and bacterial life.

We see in Job 1 that Satan is able to manipulate matter and weather patterns and, in Job 2:8, he infects Job with a skin disease. His purpose is to afflict Job, and for our machinations, we note he is capable of feats not afforded to humans.

4.) Satan can influence and sway legal proceedings and governmental structures.

In Revelation 2:10, Jesus states that Satan is in the process of influencing Smyrna’s legal proceedings by throwing a collection of Christians into prison. Likewise, in Job 1:17, he manipulates the Chaldeans, encouraging them to steal Job’s livestock. Though we are not told how he exerts his influence, we surmise he is the agent of these activities.

5.) Satan aggressively seeks to trap individual Christians.

1 Timothy 3:7 says he seeks to trap elders. He is spoken of as a federal head type of figure. His minions study individuals and then seek to tempt and twist them in accordance with particularized patterns of sin. They cater and concoct a seemingly irresistible elixir of poison just for you. Television, social media, fast food, biology, age, and gender are all thrown into the recipe.

6.) Satan is more skilled at deception than any other created being. 

John 8:44 says his nature is to lie. If his mouth is moving, he is lying. He is the original liar and, therefore, the father of lies. Every lie was and is birthed in him. However, deception is all he has in his arsenal against Christians. As Colossians 2:15 teaches, this side of Calvary, Satan can accuse, but he knows—and his rebel realm know—that he has been reduced to utter fragility at the cross.

7.) Satan is able to kill Christians.

He is able to kill you physically (Job 1-2), but not eternally (Rom 8). In Job 2, when Satan goes a second time to the LORDin the divine courtroom, he asks permission to kill Job, but God denies his request. I take that to mean Satan could have killed him, but God would not allow it. Everything Satan does comes crashing down on his own head, eventually crushing his skull (Gn 3:15) unto the glory of the Son of God and for the Christian’s good.

8.) Satan is the Lord’s lackey for the Christian’s holiness.

In 2 Corinthians 12:7, Paul says his thorn is “a messenger of Satan,” and yet the Lord kindly uses the thorn (against Paul’s will!) to produce sanctification and spiritual power in Paul’s ministry. How kind of the Lord to give Paul his thorn! Satan plays the pawn in God’s economy, and the thorn stays against Paul’s will. Thus, Satan is ever regulated by Romans 8 and, therefore, is providentially powerless to wound Christians in any resurrected or eternal sense. Neither Satan nor death, neither “angels nor rulers … nor powers … will be able to separate us from the love of God” (Rm 8:38).

9.) Satan will be thrown into hell in the end.

Satan can and surely has read Matthew 25:41, which states he will ultimately be thrown into hell. That is what I mean by “Satan is so smart he’s stupid.” This is his end, yet he rages against all “born of God” (1 Jn 3:9). He lies. He accuses the brethren (Rv 12:10). But he cannot succeed in bringing a guilty sentence upon the Christian anymore (Col 2:14).

10.) Satan is resistible.

James 4:7 says, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” He will flee from you, Christian. Resist him. If Christians resist temptation, hold firm the promise of resurrection, and do not give in, do not accept the enemy’s lies, and do not give into his accusations—Satan will eventually depart. He is limited. He is finite. He will eventually move on to easier prey.

Conclusion

In the final analysis, we are not told precisely how or why Satan does certain things, but when we analyze the pertinent texts and take into account all of the data, we see what he does and what he is capable of. The Christian, then, is broken over the plight of the unregenerate, properly sobered, and bolstered that Jesus so decisively routed Satan at Calvary.

Editor’s Note: This post originally appeared at the blog for Credo Magazine and is used with permission.



Attending FTC 21? Here’s What To Do While You’re Here…

By / Sep 20

One week from today, 1,000+ pastors, ministers, and missionaries from across the country will gather for our annual For The Church Conference.

We know you’ll probably have some free time, so we want to offer you our best suggestions for barbeque, food, coffee, and things to do while you’re in our wonderful city.

BBQ

– Q39 (Midtown)

– Joe’s Kansas City (State Line)

– Jack Stacks (Country Club Plaza)

– Gates (3 locations)

– Hawg Jaw Que (North Kansas City)

– Arthur Bryant’s (Near 18th & Vine)

– Slap’s BBQ (Kansas City, KS)

– Pigwich (River Market)

Food

– KC Taco Company (located in the River Market with excellent tacos)

– Summit Grill (just up the road from campus with great American food)

– Brown & Loe (high-quality comfort food)

– Il Lazzerone (Neopolitan style pizza in the River Market)

– Frank’s Italian (Parkville’s best Italian restaurant)

– LuLu’s Noodles (Thai food great for lunch or dinner in the Crossroads)

– Queen Sweets & Bakery (Middle Eastern cuisine in the Northland)

– Happy Gillis (a quaint restaurant serving local breakfast and lunch in Columbus Park)

– The Westside Local (great range of American style food in the Westside district)

– Piropos (this Argentinian restaurant is located in Briarcliff, a neighborhood close to campus)

– Bella Napoli (Italian food with a great porch located in Brookside)

– Taco Republic (street tacos with indoor and outdoor seating at the state line)

– Jerusalem Cafe (located in Westport, this Middle Eastern food is sure to satisfy)

– BRGR (classic burgers located in the Power & Light District)

– Nara Sushi (the Crossroad’s best sushi)

– Longboards (the Pacific coast comes to the Midwest in this Northland wrap restaurant)

– Vietnam Cafe (great Vietnamese food near the River Market)

– Wings Cafe (located close to campus, this place will serve you the best wings in the Northland)

– Betty Rae’s Ice Cream (you can find this in the River Market, this makes a great late-night treat)

– KC Soda Company (every flavor of soda you can imagine in the River Market district)

– The Distrikt Biskuit House (amazing breakfast sandwiches and biscuits located near Kauffman Stadium)

Coffee

– The Tomlinson Cafe

– Post Coffee (Located in North Kansas City)

– Oddly Correct (one of the best roasters in town – excellent coffee in Midtown)

– Messenger Coffee (three-story building including a rooftop view of the city)

– Monarch Coffee (great espresso and aesthetic in Midtown)

– PT’s Coffee (located in the Crossroads Art District, a top-tier roaster in the metro)

– Second Best Coffee (South Kansas City’s humblest shop with nitro coffee)

– Vested Coffee (two locations in the Garment District and Beacon Hill)

– Goat Hill Coffee (smooth espresso in the Westside)

– Splitlog Coffee Co. (all-around good coffee with a location in Pendleton Heights and Strawberry Hill)

Things to Do

– Nelson Atkins Museum

– WW1 Museum

– Chicken N’ Pickle

– Prospero’s Book Store

– Union Station

– The Green Lady Lounge

– Country Club Plaza

– The Kansas City Public Library: Central Library

– City Market

– Loose Park

– Made in KC Stores

– The Blue Room

– American Jazz Museum

– Negro Leagues Baseball Museum



Three Good Things About Difficult Bible Passages

By / Sep 16

I recently heard a pastor with decades of experience remark that the passage in Mark 7:24-30 is one of the most difficult in the Bible.[1] “It isn’t right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs,” Jesus said.[2] How does one defend this apparent ethnocentrism directed at a marginalized mother who is desperate to find a cure for her child?

Confronting difficult passages is, well, difficult. And the Mark 7 passage is but one of many that we or people in our congregations may struggle with. However, as I’ve taught and preached in my home church, I have discovered this very difficulty can help illuminate the Bible and our relationship to it.

When preaching to myself or to others, I often return to these three good things about difficult Bible passages:

We learn about veracity of the Bible. In other words, a difficult passage about the life of Jesus (or of any other Biblical “hero”) reinforces the historicity of the documents, because this is exactly the kind of thing writers of hagiography or fiction would avoid.[3]

We learn about our church’s relationship to the Bible. A church leadership that routinely walks paragraph-by-paragraph through a biblical book demonstrates a posture of humility and submission to the Bible’s authority. In other words, verse-by-verse progression provides a practical demonstration of a church doing its best to simply take God at his word. It’s the difference between asking, “What does the Bible say?” and, “How can I make the Bible say what I want to say?”[4]

We learn about our own biases. It’s important to recognize that when it comes to the Bible, “difficult” almost always means, “contrary to the norms, presuppositions, or expectations of my own culture.” No single culture or people group finds all of the Bible’s teaching attractive – not even the cultures recorded in the Bible itself! The fact that the very passage you find “so difficult” is one millions of others find “so obvious” (and vice versa) is both humbling and heartening.

This means that as students and teachers of the Bible, we don’t dodge Mark 7:24-30. We read it. We meditate on it. We discover we needn’t defend Jesus at all, at least not in the way we originally feared: compelled to “explain away” or “spin” his words with present-day categories that have nothing to do with his original intent. Instead, we discover the sum total of Jesus’ action with the woman in Mark 7 is like his action with us: offering bread (himself) that was never earned or deserved in the first place.

So before gritting your teeth or quickly scanning to the next chapter heading, remember there are (at least!) three very good things about encountering difficult passages in the Bible.

[1] John Stott, who makes this point when preaching from the same text.

[2] Mark 7:27b, CSB

[3] Stott

[4] This doesn’t mean, of course, that topical studies are never beneficial.



My Darkest Night; Hopefully Not Yours

By / Sep 15

At 3:30 a.m., I awoke to a black room, so dark that my eyes could not see even one inch away, much less to the other side. The simple room in a Romanian home in Brasov had one of those metal external shades that are lowered over the window, capable of completely deleting light. I was in the darkest place I had been in perhaps for years. And, since it was night and I was alone in the house, I thought.

“Outer darkness.” I’ve been troubled by those words before­­ — not blindness in this world where others may help, but “outer,” away from all others, forever. I do not understand why hell is described as both “outer darkness” and a place of fire, for where there is fire there is light. Perhaps these are only feeble descriptors meant to approximate the reality, the best that words can do. Perhaps the darkness of “outer darkness” and the fire of “the lake of fire” cannot perfectly convey the emptiness and pain of that future place, but are only signposts to something worse. The signpost isn’t the city itself. What if the worst we can think about hell would one day seem pleasant by comparison to the one experiencing it? What if the true hell can only be experienced, and not described?

What does a man think about in outer darkness? Could he think of, say, a day at the beach with his family? Impossible. For if he were to think of a day at the beach with his family he would immediately moan in agony for he will never see his family nor a day at the beach again, ever. If a man has no hope, nor any prospect of arriving at a place where the slightest wisp of hope could blow like a gentle breeze over him, how could he ever be happy again? Every joy is an eternal pain — a reminder of what will never be.

But then, a man has sins to think about. He will remember what brought him to this place. But he used to take pleasure in his sins—his fierce ambition, his sexual fantasies, his love for things. His eyes were always looking about for satisfaction. He longed for what he did not fully understand. When he lusted, he imagined that he enjoyed it for the moment, and others pretended they enjoyed these things as well, so he searched for more. Even then came sorrows, the smell of hell to come, but enough pleasure was there to do it again and again and again, all his life. He could not turn it off. His life was the sum of his lusts. He never fully arrived at them, but he tried and hoped for the satisfaction that would never come. Even now in this dark place, he tries to lust again, for he remembers that he once had some slight pleasure in it, but his attempts are ruined, knowing that no pleasure can be in this place, forever. And, God being forever just, he will fuel his own agony by yet more sin.

He ponders his regrets. There is an eternity to dwell on them. Though he cannot wish to be better, he laments that he was a fool to bring himself to this place. He hates God who would damn him for so little, for only being a man. “Every man has lusts,” he would scream. “I hate God. I hate him. I hate him.” He gnashes his teeth. It is unfair to make me a man like all other men and then damn me for it, he surmises. He reflects on what could have been “if only.” On the one side, he will say, “If only I had come to Christ.” But the next moment he will say, “But I hate Christ and would never come to him. I fear him but will never love him. I bow to him, but I despise him. I refuse to love him who punishes me so.” And so it goes for one long, eternal night.

It would be a mercy of God to take a man’s mind away in hell, but that surely is the agony of hell. Mercy was for another time, now so long ago. A man must live with himself, without the dignities of feigned kindness and pretended beauty. His mind is the most tortured part of him, regardless of what pains he is afflicted within the body. Surely this is what is meant by the words, “his worm will not die.” Crawling in and out of his mind is the alarming awareness that he is who he is forever and that he cannot change and therefore cannot have any hope or any relief or any joy or any love ever again. He will always wish to hate, and he can never again wish to love, though he will long for such a desire, and then will hate himself for longing for it because his hatred of God is so great.

I felt my way along the wall to the window and raised the metal blind a few inches so that light from the street lamp would again come into the room. I didn’t want to sleep without it. I closed my eyes while saying to myself, “I will renew my trust in Christ who delivers me from such a place by satisfying such a terrible justice that a holy God must require. I will love the Savior even more who provides such a way of escape. And, I will do whatever I must for those who have not yet been pardoned. And, I will be kind to those who will never repent, for these few years on earth bring to them the last mercies they will ever know.”

Editor’s Note: This originally published at Christian Communicators Worldwide.



Minutes and Seconds Compose Holiness

By / Sep 14

For nearly ten years now I have kept a prayer journal. My prayers are not organized like some people’s. Rather, my prayers are very disorganized. Only the dates at the top right corner of each page give me any context to previous prayers. It is in large part due to my general disorganization that I tend to write out my prayers. Writing forces thoughts into shapes.

Toward the beginning of each year, I often flip through my prayers from the past and reflect on the Spirit’s ever sanctifying work on my soul. This year, as I was doing so, I noticed a troubling trend. I found repeated phrases such as, “God, keep me from ever,” “God, grant me grace again for,” or “God, I am still struggling to…”. I would repeatedly pray in these generalized terms. I would ask God to resolve an issue and then move on only to find the issue was still an issue in the next prayer. As I read these prayers, my mind would fill in the blank journal lines that separated each prayer. In those undated, wordless spaces between entries, I knew my various struggles with sin and self still grew and thrived.

I remember from a young age my father constantly telling me, “Be diligent in the little things.” This was often from me neglecting to do my homework. I already had learned the information; I could ace the paper and the exams, and end up with a decent grade. Why should I bother with the busy work? That’s how I lived, and it was also reflected in my prayer life.

I believe in grace. I believe that right now and forever I am clothed in the righteousness of Christ. I believe that when God looks at me, he sees Jesus. I also know that, despite my belief, I still sin. I get weary. I get weighed down. Far too often, I feel the Spirit convicting me of sin and self-centeredness followed by his gentle goading towards holiness.

A major problem with my prayers, as I have said, was that I often prayed in generalizations. I prayed that God would forever free me from depression or a particular sin. I would then continue to go about my life expecting God do His work. I was expecting, but not depending. Hence the blank spaces in my journal, and hence the same heart-broken prayer to follow a few days later when sin and depression returned. While I know the big picture (being that I am eternally in Christ), I forget that right now I exist in time which is made up of moments. It is in these moments that I am called to reflect the character of Christ.

It is minutes and seconds that compose holiness.

I think it is important that Jesus taught us to pray for our daily bread (Matthew 6:11). I believe this sets the tone for the rest of the Lord’s prayer (Matthew 6:9-13). At the start of the prayer, Jesus prays in general for God’s eternal glorification, the advancement of God’s Kingdom, and the execution of God’s will on earth (Matthew 6:9-10). However, I believe when Jesus asks for daily bread, he is calling for his people to a daily dependence on God for their daily needs. God’s people are to daily ask for provision; daily ask forgiveness of sin; daily ask protection from temptation and the evil one. Jesus is teaching his people to daily depend on God for their needs which primarily include their holiness. Jesus is calling his people to do their daily homework of grace, not just pass the exam of conversion.

I no longer only pray in generalizations; that God would deliver me from this or that forever, or that God would forever meet whatever present need is on my mind. I do still hope in many instances that God’s sanctifying work would be permanent. And, I do think that there are many general things Christians should still pray for. However, when it comes to my personal holiness, I no longer pray that God would make me forever holy. I already know that I will fail, and that is why I need Christ. Now, I just pray that God would make me holy for today, and that is enough because forever includes today.



The Servanthood of the Believer

By / Sep 8

Love gives without expecting in return. This can be challenging because it does not come naturally to us. We are not naturally selfless. We are, by nature: selfish, self-driven, self-obsessed, self-promoting, and self-prioritized human beings that could stand a good and hearty lesson on love and selflessness. Followers of Christ are to be imitators of Him, who is the most servant-hearted of all. God, in His authoritative Word, has much to say to the Christian about being servant-hearted.

While walking the road going up to Jerusalem, Jesus tells the twelve disciples about the sufferings to come. As they spoke with him, Jesus tells them what a servant is not. He uses the rulers of the Gentiles as an example, saying that they lord their power over the Gentiles. Jesus continues,

“But it is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:43-45 NASB)

Being a servant is being proactive in loving others well. It is not merely speaking of the desire to love and serve but to live out what Jesus commands of us. Jesus says,

“This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:12-13 NASB)

To love without expecting in return applies to every aspect of our lives: work, school, marriage, family, friends, church, etc. The joy in loving and serving is blessing the receiver. Loving others becomes tainted when our intention is rooted in self-motivation, manipulation, pridefulness or expected reciprocation. In other words, if Jesus Christ is not our example and motivation for why we love and serve others, then our intentions are rooted in self. We cannot simultaneously live for ourselves and live for Jesus. Living for Jesus means that our lives declare His lordship. One of the ways this is expressed is how we love and serve those around us. Jesus tells his disciples,

“If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” (Matthew 16:24-25 NASB)

Here are four characteristics of a servant-hearted Christian:

  1. They are unwavered in their dependence on the Lord.

Do you pray diligently for the Holy Spirit to make you more servant-hearted?

Do you believe God can help you be more like Jesus in His selflessness?

In what areas of your life is the Lord prompting you to be more servant-hearted?

We must first be a servant of Christ Jesus. How can we biblically serve others if we aren’t serving the One who teaches us how to?

“But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”(Romans 8:11-14 NASB)

“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.” (Galatians 5:16-17 NASB)

  1. They selflessly serve.

Are you serving with joy and willingness?

Do you feel your needs are more important than the needs of others?

Are you disappointed when something you’ve done for someone isn’t reciprocated?

“Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.” (Philippians 2:3-7 NASB)                 

  1. They generously serve.

Do you allow ill feelings to drive your willingness to serve another person?

Do you find yourself feeling inconvenienced by the needs of others?

In what ways has God provided opportunities for you to serve another person?

“So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.” (Colossians 3:12-14 NASB)

  1. They authentically serve.

Are you genuine in the ways you serve those around you?

Do you find yourself serving others to make a good impression?

In what ways do you show others that you love and care for them?

Are you reliable in your commitments?

“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.” (Colossians 3:15-17 NASB)

“Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.” (Colossians 3:23-24 NASB)