Gospel-Centered Resources from Midwestern Seminary
We asked Dean Inserra, “How can a church know it’s on the right track? What are some signs of faithfulness?”
Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
On this episode of the FTC Podcast, Midwestern Seminary professors Jared Wilson and Patrick Schreiner discuss an exciting new resource for helping individual Christians and whole churches better grasp the meaning and depth of the New Testament Scriptures.
We live in an ego-centric society, which has saturated our churches and our faith. We have been programmed to think about ourselves. Most patterns in our lives are somehow tied to serving, “me and my needs,” “my family,” or “my country.” Think about how much of our giving is tied to that which benefits me? Would we tithe as much if it were not tax-deductible? Would we give more to a building program (from which our kids will benefit) or a poverty program in Indonesia (which benefits me in no way)?
Along this ego-centric thought, I often hear people say, “God wants good for me.” “Okay, sure, absolutely. I can agree.” Here’s the rub. What is “good”? That’s where I believe we differ. I don’t believe God’s perspective of “good” is the same as ours. God’s “good” does not necessitate health here on earth. God’s “good” does not necessitate a lack of birth defects, financial blessing, intelligence, godly spouse, etc. While we may be blessed to experience some of these things, God’s “goodness” does not necessitate it.
God’s “good” is not specific to the individual as much as it is tied to that which benefits the corporate body. God’s “good” is about conforming us to the image of Christ. That is our greatest good. Our greatest good is that which most glorifies God and promotes worship of his holy name among the nations. God’s greatest good for us, is leveraging our lives for the purpose of redemption. Yes, that is right, leveraging our lives. We are the servants, he is the master. Sometimes “good” is nailing you to the cross for the good of others in God’s redemptive kingdom plan.
God’s “good” is not centered around me or you, it is centered around his kingdom work and the means by which we can be most usefully in promoting the establishment of that kingdom. Certainly, 1 Peter 3:17 hints at that, “For it is better to suffer for doing good if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.” There are times that God’s will is for us to suffer for righteousness’ sake so that we can be used for the good of his glory and his kingdom. But, what about that famous passage that is often quoted, Genesis 50:20, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today”? Within that context, we must remember that God did not hesitate to orphan Joseph, at least for a season, sell him into slavery, have him falsely accused, and have him imprisoned in order to help redeem God’s people.
In other words, God is focused on you, yes, but he does so within the grand scope of his redemptive plan for his people. It is about you, as you are a part of a greater body, and God’s securing of that body, even if that means bruising a toe to save the leg. Believer in Jesus, may God deliver us from our “me-centered” lives and help us see that he is orchestrating a tapestry of redemption, and it is our privileged to be used in any way he sees fit. If that means being faithful in a bad marriage as a witness to my spouse, my children, and the world, so be it. If that means risking it all to tell my family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers that Jesus loves them, so be it. If that means selling my home and moving to the mission field, so be it. If that means that I buy an Accord instead of a Lexis, or for most of us, I buy a used car instead of a new car, so that I can give the difference to those in need, so be it. If it means being a faithful witness while cancer ravishes my child’s body, so be it. If it means forgiving the drunk driver who killed my spouse in the car accident, so be it. If it means being faithful in the midst of great financial blessing as my stock portfolio goes through the roof, so be it.
In the end, my life is not my own. It belongs to the King. May we get our minds off of ourselves and our possessions and our families alone and surrender ourselves to God more fully. May we surrender our immediate comfort and happiness and pursue holiness saying, “God, use me as you see fit for your glory and the promotion of your kingdom among the nations.”
How do you view your life? Have you ever thought about that question? What determines what you do or don’t do? Why do you say yes to some things and no to others? What is your filter for determining what fills your calendar?
It seems like for many of us, we live our lives functionally as though we were in a board meeting of a corporation. We are the CEO and we are leading the meeting. Then we have all of the aspects of our lives in seats around the table as we guide and direct their participation in our day-to-day lives.
Your career gets a seat. How much you work. Where you live. Whether or not you take that promotion. Moving for that better job. Your career gets a seat at the table.
Your family gets a seat. Spending time as a father or mother or sister or nephew building relationships. Doing things around the house that that role requires. Going on vacation or prioritizing holidays or blocking off time to spend with one another. Your family gets a seat at the table.
Kids activities get a seat. Going to dance classes. Picking up muddy kids from baseball practice. Buying tickets for the theatre production. Learning the 100 million different softball chants at the latest tournament. Watching the eagle scout ceremony. And all of the driving and dropping off that these activities require. Kids activities get a seat at the table.
Recreation gets a seat. Maybe it’s movies or sports. Maybe it’s camping or eating out. Maybe you like being on the lake or going to Disney. We all have things we just enjoy doing and bring a sense of renewal to our lives in the midst of so much hurry. Recreation gets a seat at the table.
Digital media gets a seat. TV. Smartphones. Radio. Games. The average American spends 2 hours and 24 minutes per day on social media alone. In total media according to a recent ABC News report, the average American spends a staggering 11 hours and 54 minutes per day connected to some form of media (TV, phones, radio, or games). While that number is slightly inflated because you do some of that simultaneously, the conclusion is still clear. Digital media gets a prominent seat at our table.
Sleep gets a seat. You will sleep roughly 1/3 of your life. That’s how awesome you are. Your body is unable to function unless it completely shuts down for a significant portion of your life. Sleep gets a seat at the table.
And then Jesus gets a seat. If we are honest we wish it was a more prominent seat but it’s a seat nonetheless. We try to make it to church when we can. Recent studies suggest that even committed Christians make it to church on average twice a month. 26 times a year. We also know we should read our bibles more and be more consistent in prayer. We feel the desire to be more faithful in evangelism or care for those that are hurting. Life just gets crazy. We want Jesus here, but we will need it to be something fast, something immediate because we are in a hurry. And it will have to be something casual because we can’t commit to anything substantial or time-consuming. We just have too much going on. But we still want to work and make sure that Jesus gets a seat at our table.
And as we make decisions in our lives, we hear each of these board members give their case for why they should have a bigger slice of our week. Your career is telling you that you need to work more hours otherwise you’ll get passed up for that promotion. Plus he reminds you of the sense of worth he gives you. But recreation chimes in that you cannot just be all work and no play, that will make you a very dull boy. But then your family seat interrupts and says you can’t just work and hunt and watch college football and neglect your responsibilities as a husband and a father. Jesus doesn’t seem to have much of a say in so many of our decisions but we do love him and want to make sure we can place him into the spaces and margins we do have in our lives. You hear the debate at your table. You consider the value of each. And then you make the decision as CEO of your life. You shape your life, figure out the crazy and busy schedules, and direct the trajectory of your future.
Is that what your life looks like? Is that what your life should look like? Have other Christians had this same struggle of business, trying to find a place for Jesus to fit, or is this a 21-century struggle with all the smartphones and interstates and constant connectivity?
Eugene Peterson wrote his classic book just over 40 years ago in 1980 called A Long Obedience in the Same Direction. As he describes his context in 1980 before cell phones, social media, or Netflix, it sounds like they had the same issue. Listen to what he describes:
“I don’t know what it has been like for pastors in other cultures and previous centuries, but I am quite sure that for a pastor in Western culture in the latter part of the twentieth century the aspect of world that makes the work of leading Christians in the way of faith most difficult is what Gore Vidal has analyzed as “today’s passion for the immediate and the casual.” Everyone is in a hurry. The persons whom I lead in worship, among whom I counsel, visit, pray, preach, and teach, want short cuts. They want me to help them fill out the form that will get them instant credit. They are impatient for results. They have adopted the lifestyle of a tourist and only want the high points.”
That was written 41 years ago. Friends, don’t believe the lie that your life is uniquely busy and that you just don’t have the time. This is one of Satan’s lies to our society. He gets us in such a hurry that we feel like we don’t have the time to seriously follow Jesus. Kids activities, digital media, family. Go go go. Do do do. Each of these things are good, none of them are wrong. We should be giving our attention to these good things.
But here is the question I want to ask you: Has Satan turned your attention to so many good things, that you have unknowingly ignored the best thing? Have you relegated Jesus to a seat at your table and come to him just when it’s convenient for you?
Friends, what does your relationship with Jesus look like? Is it expected to be immediate and casual? Does he simply fill in the cracks of your busy schedule? Is he then the first to go when things just get too busy?
So what is your response when you hear Jesus speak up in that boardroom? Do you pull back saying you don’t have the time to give to his Great Commission right now or any calendar openings for his Great Commandment? Do you expect your discipleship to be immediate? Do you expect following Jesus to be casual?
Jesus tells us something far different.
You see there was a great crowd that Luke says in his gospel is traveling with Jesus in Luke 14. And Jesus turns and says, unprompted, “Hey heads up, unless you hate your mom and dad, wife and kids, brothers and sisters, and even your own life, yeah you can’t be my disciple. If you’re not willing to pick up your cross daily and follow me, really follow me, then you can’t be my disciple. Before someone builds a tower, they count the cost to see if they have enough to build it. Before a king goes to war, he counts his troops to see if he can defeat his enemy. So if you don’t renounce all of your possessions, you can’t be my disciple.”
Now we are in a culture where people say we can’t expect more than nominal attendance on Sundays and maybe some of the really committed ones could join a community group once a week and read their Bibles. But Jesus says that the baseline for following him is being willing to leave your family and sell everything you have and pick up a cross every day and follow him. That’s not a discipleship PhD; that’s Christianity 101.
“Are you saying that I have to literally hate my family and sell everything I have to follow Jesus?” No, Jesus isn’t giving a prescription here. But I do believe he is describing the heart of following him. You don’t have to leave your family and sell everything you’ve got, but you need to be willing to. He needs to be more valuable to you than anything else in your life. Jesus isn’t prescribing the actions of your hands, but describing the posture of your hearts. What is his place in your life?
Luke gives a helpful description of this great crowd in Luke 14, did you hear how he described it? Listen again to verse 25: “Now great crowds were traveling with him.” Friends, there is a subtle and yet massive difference between traveling with Jesus and following Jesus. One is a tourist; the other is a disciple. One is interested in what Jesus is doing as long as it doesn’t interfere too much with what you want in your own life. The other says, “No, my life is not my own anymore. I’ve been bought with a price, and I’m now following this man.”
Once you decide to truly follow him and view him not just as the Savior of your life, but also as the Lord of your life, then your relationship with him changes. No longer can he simply be confined to a single chair in your boardroom as you direct the proceedings of the meeting and the direction of your life. He takes over as the president, CEO, and chairman of the board, directing and influencing every other seat at the table. He now shapes what our careers look like. He determines what TV shows we watch and how much of it we watch. He dictates our involvement in recreation and our kid’s activities. He doesn’t have a seat at your table, he now stands at the head and speaks into every seat of our lives. Far from being immediate, we realize this is a lifelong commitment. Far from being casual, we understand he is calling us to be devoted.
Does he just have a seat at your table or he is running your life?
Are you traveling with Jesus or are you following him?
Are you a tourist or are you a disciple?
Dr. Jason Allen, president of Midwestern Seminary and Spurgeon College, recently answered a few questions about his latest publication, Letters to My Students Volume 2: On Pastoring. The volume has a particular emphasis on those preparing for ministry or in the early years of service and touches on matters of both doctrine and practice. The volume is available now from B&H Publishing.
FTC: Why did you write this book? What inspired you to write it?
JKA: From my earliest days of processing my call to ministry, Charles Spurgeon’s Lectures to My Students proved not only insightful but transformative. Spurgeon’s classic work spoke to me then, and it still speaks to me today. Similarly, I’ve found myself over the years fielding countless questions from seminary students, local church pastors and all those engaged in ministry service. Therefore, I took a similar approach as Spurgeon did and sought to address real-world, practical questions about local church ministry service in this series, and for this volume in particular, questions and issues related to pastoral ministry.
For whom did you write this book?
Though the book is entitled On Pastoring, anyone engaged in local church service will benefit from reading it. Within this book, I engage a host of local church issues. These are issues that those in pastoral leadership, including elders and other staff members, will have to engage. But there are also topics that many involved lay persons will also encounter. Thus, all who are engaged in the work of the local church may well benefit from reading this book.
Can you explain a bit about how you were influenced by Charles Spurgeon’s Lectures to My Students?
Though I grew up in a conservative, Bible-believing Southern Baptist church, the call to ministry was altogether mysterious to me. Thus, as I began to sense God’s call to ministry during my college years, I found myself confused about what that call would mean and how to know for sure if God had indeed set me apart for his service.
A ministry friend pointed me to 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and to Charles Spurgeon’s Lectures to My Students. Both were tremendously helpful to me at that point in my life. Regarding Lectures to My Students, Spurgeon famously reflects that the first sign of a call to ministry is “an intense, all-absorbing desire for the work.” Spurgeon’s words, coupled with those of the apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 3, were liberating for me. They brought added assurance that God indeed had set me apart for ministry, and that he had placed the desire for ministerial service within me.
What do you think the Bible sets forth as the essential calling of a pastor?
The essential calling of the pastor is to shepherd the flock of God. In fact, it is what the word “pastor” means. At the very heart of that calling is the task to feed the sheep the Word of God. Not to strain the Biblical metaphor, but the work of the pastor is to feed the sheep, lead the sheep and protect the sheep. It is a glorious work God has called us to do, and all who have been set apart by God for this work must undertake it with intentionality and vigor.
Is there any important biblical element of being a pastor that is often overlooked in the 21st century?
Two issues come to mind. First, is the matter of preaching itself. Through technological innovations, we have many ways to supplement our Bible intake. But nothing should displace the simple preaching of the Word of God on the Lord’s Day and the commitment of God’s people to gather and receive it. No podcast, YouTube channel or other means of media distribution can displace the in-person gathering of God’s people to receive the Word preached.
Secondarily, I’m also concerned that the life-on-life shepherding work is often overlooked in the local church. Due to social media, we often publicly exude closeness with one another without ever being close to one another. The COVID-19 pandemic has been a stark reminder that ministry is intended to be in person, engaging spiritual realities and needs, bearing one another’s burdens and engaging in a healthy, wholesome, covenant community known as the local church.
How does this book continue the conversation you started in volume 1 of “Letters to My Students”?
Letters to My Students Volume 1: On Preaching dealt with the primary responsibility the pastor undertakes—preaching. For every local church minister, the preaching and teaching of the Word of God must be priority number one. Period.
Yet so much more happens during the week outside of the pulpit. That’s where faithful pastors are called to stand in the gap for their people day in and day out. Indeed, the complexities of our times, the rapidly shifting culture that we inhabit and the multifaceted challenges confronting local churches means that pastors better be well-equipped, deeply devoted and joyously realistic about what is before them.
The needs of the local church—and those who comprise it—are great. Pastors must be up to that challenge. I hope this book will help them toward these noble ends.
How does this book prepare and equip seminary students and future pastors?
Letters to My Students: On Pastoring has a particular emphasis on those preparing for ministry or in the early years of service. It touches on matters of both doctrine and practice. Within this book, we’ll go from how to officiate a wedding to how to practice church discipline. We explore why meaningful church membership matters and how to ensure it. We talk about matters relating to personnel, life planning, outreach and protecting and strengthening the family that God has given you. There are a lot of good books on pastoral ministry, but I think this book makes a unique contribution based upon the breadth of topics covered and the accessibility with which they are covered.
What do you hope readers will take away from this book?
I hope readers leave this book with a greater love for the local church, more romantic about the call to serve it and better equipped for a lifetime of faithful ministry service.
He was reading his Bible and I struck up a conversation with him. We talked about the gospel and then I asked him, “What church do you belong to?” He answered, “I attend different churches all over but I’m not a member of any of them. I’m into Jesus, that’s all that matters.” I find his response fairly common.
I asked him, “Do you think someone who is passionate for Jesus should be passionate for what Jesus is passionate about?” He quickly responded, “Absolutely! That’s all that matters!”
Jesus purchased the church with his own blood (Acts 20:28).
Jesus’s church is the fullness of him (Eph. 1:23).
Jesus called the church his bride (Eph. 5:23, Rev. 19:7).
Jesus says to persecute the church is to persecute him (Acts 9:4).
Jesus said he will build his church (Matt. 16:18).
Jesus said the gates of Hades will not prevail against his church (Matt 16:18).
Jesus says he loves the church and will sanctify the church (Eph. 5:25-26).
Jesus cherishes the church (Eph. 5:29).
Jesus is the head of the church (Col 1:18).
Jesus says the church is his body (Rom. 12:4), his flock (1 Pet. 5:2-3), and his family (Eph. 2:19).
Jesus is passionate for his church. Jesus doesn’t simply love the idea of a church and identify with the church in the abstract. Jesus loves, identifies with, and shed his precious blood for actual local expressions of his church. And we are to love, identify with, and sacrifice for the local church as well. Local bodies, in particular places, with people and problems. It is striking that much of the New Testament was written to particular churches facing a myriad of problems.
Has there ever been a church with as many problems as Corinth was facing? Nevertheless, Paul writes, “To the Church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours” (1 Cor. 1:2). He writes to the believers at Corinth, “as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 1:7b-8).
Jesus calls those who follow him to do so by loving and being an accountable member of a local expression of his church. By church membership, the believer identifies with Jesus publicly. It is in the local church that the believer participates in baptism and the Lord’s Supper—signs of Christ’s kingdom. Paul writes that the many members form one body of Christ in local churches (1 Cor. 12:12-27). It is those bodies, that constitute the public witness of Christ in the world. A single person can offer a private and individual witness but only as faithful members of his church can we provide a recognized public and corporate witness.
By the Holy Spirit’s power, a local church represents the active presence of Christ’s kingdom in the world. It is organically interrelated, interdependently connected, and functions in harmony as one body. People are “added” to the body and they “join” the body, which represents “the whole church” (Acts 2:41, Acts 5:13, 1 Cor. 14:23). The church provides members accountability in order to love and nurture them and to preserve the witness of the church. Thus, a church must sometimes practice church discipline by removing members from the body (Matt 18:15-20, 1 Cor. 5:1-13). You must formally know who is a member of a local church to be able to remove someone from the church. A local church is the baptized, spirit-filled, visible body of Christ.
By church membership, the believer joins the blood-bought community of Jesus (Acts 20:26-28). Your physical body is not a casual, random collection of unrelated or loosely related parts. Other images for the church make the same point. A flock is not a random group of sheep (1 Pet. 5:2) and a household has identified members (Eph. 2:19-20). Likewise, the body has identifiable members and so does the local church (Rom. 12:5, 1 Cor. 12:27). In the body of Christ there are no inferior (1 Cor. 12:14-20) or superior members (1 Cor. 12:21-27), because “God arranged the members in the body, each one of them as he chose” (1 Cor. 12:18).
The cruciform community of Jesus does not reckon the world according to the world’s wisdom based on outer distinctions. By determining to know nothing among anyone “except Jesus Christ and him crucified,” the church is clearly defined community of Jesus built on grace alone. Any notion of inferiority or superiority among the members of the church mocks the grace of God. The diverse gospel community is empowered to,
Love one another (John 13:34, 1 John 4:7, 11).
Honor one another (Rom. 12:10).
Live in harmony with one another (Rom. 12:16).
Accept one another (Rom. 15:7).
Instruct one another (Rom. 15:14).
Comfort one another (2 Cor. 13:11).
Serve one another (Gal 5:13).
Forgive one another (Col. 3:13).
Encourage one another (1 Thess. 4:18, 5:11).
Pray for one another (James 5:16).
Show hospitality to one another (1 Pet. 4:9)
Greet one another (1 Pet. 5:14).
By church membership, the believer participates in the mission of Jesus. The purpose of the diversified unity of local churches is gospel mission. Just as a football team who only had players from 150 to 175 pounds or exclusively had players between 300 to 350 pounds would be ineffective because it would lack diversity needed for the sake of its mission. The local churches unified diversity is essential to effectively engage in spiritual war for the sake of its gospel mission. The Spirit-given gifts to members of the church are to be used “for the common good” (1 Cor. 12:7). The local church makes the most provocative political, cultural statement of all, “Jesus is Lord” (1 Cor. 12:3). The church’s mission, no matter its locale, is to “make disciples of all nations” (Matt. 28:16-20).
Church membership is not some arbitrary, man-made custom. It is a gift from the risen and ascended Christ to his people. Charles Haddon Spurgeon said,
Now, I know there are some who say, “Well, I hope I have given myself to the Lord, but I do not intend to give myself to any church, because——” Now, why not? “Because I can be a Christian without it.” Now, are you quite clear about that? You can be as good a Christian by disobedience to your Lord’s commands as by being obedient? Well, suppose everybody else did the same, suppose all Christians in the world said, “I shall not join the Church.” Why there would be no visible Church, there would be no ordinances. That would be a very bad thing, and yet, one doing it—what is right for one is right for all—why should not all of us do it? Then you believe that if you were to do an act which has a tendency to destroy the visible Church of God, you would be as good a Christian as if you did your best to build up that Church? I do not believe it, sir! nor do you either. You have not any such a belief; it is only a trumpery excuse for something else. There is a brick—a very good one. What is the brick made for? To help to build a house with. It is of no use for that brick to tell you that it is just as good a brick while it is kicking about on the ground as it would be in the house. It is a good-for-nothing brick; until it is built into the wall, it is no good. So you rolling-stone Christians, I do not believe that you are answering your purpose; you are living contrary to the life which Christ would have you live, and you are much to blame for the injury you do (Joining the Church. In The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons vol. 60, London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1914: 295-296).
Do you love the church? Not the idea of the church. Not some abstract thought about the church. But rather, the local church, the one with people and problems but in the midst of it all there’s public witness to Jesus as the blood-bought community of Christ’s kingdom, and the focal point of his mission in the world to the end of the age.
Editor’s Note: This originally published at Prince on Preaching
We asked Jonathan Leeman, “What is the one thing the next generation of pastors needs to know?”
Surrounded by the Colorado mountains, Lauryn Maloney-Gepfert is teaching people how to walk. Or rather, I should say, she is teaching people how to walk….again. The physician’s assistant developed a program called Neuroplastic Functional Training (NFT) and the results are nothing short of miraculous. People with debilitating injuries were beating insurmountable odds. Patients whose prognosis was lifelong paralysis, who were told that, at best, they might be able to feed themselves, were now fully functioning, walking, even getting up from the ground unassisted.
They relearned how to walk through Maloney-Gepfert’s whole person approach. She found that recovery was indeed possible, but it had to include all aspects of a person’s being. He method focuses on physical movement (the body), neuroplasticity (the brain), and one more element – the mind.
She explained that patients begin the healing with mental barriers that impede their recovery. These barriers inhibit the brain from changing and, as a result, keep the body from moving. Someone who hears she will never walk again and accepts that message inhibits her brain from relearning how to function.
Maloney-Gepfert discovered that what we believe about ourselves affects how our brain neurologically functions, which quite literally affects how we live. Our minds consciously choose what messages it accepts about ourselves, which changes ours brains, which changes how we live. In other words, a vital factor to whether a paralyzed patient will ever walk again is what she believes. Before she can go from immobile to fully functioning, she has to believe that she will walk again.
As I heard these miraculous stories, I thought of how much this applies to spiritual change. Our minds choose what we will believe, which changes how we think, and changes how we live.
Scripture tells us to be transformed not by making lists and resolutions, but by the renewing of our minds (Rom 12:1-2). Ephesians 4:23 tells us to be renewed in the spirit, or the attitude, of our minds.
This isn’t some kind of humanistic, “if I can see it I can be it” spirituality. It’s not pumping yourself up with a pep-talk. It’s total surrender, wholehearted dependence on what God has told us about who He is and who we are in Him.
Throughout Romans 6, the Apostle Paul wants us to know who we are as believers in union with Christ. We have been crucified with Christ. We are dead to sin. We have been raised to walk with newness of life. This is who we truly are.
Paul is telling us who we are in Christ to tell us who we must believe we are. We are to “reckon yourselves dead to sin….and not present our members as instruments of unrighteousness.” Why does he say that? If Christ made us free from sin, why do we have to “reckon ourselves dead to sin”?
Because what we believe changes what we do. Our Christian lives grow the same way they began – faith in God’s promises. Colossians 2:6 says that we must walk in Him as we received Him – by faith! We never “graduate” from faith. And we know that the “righteous will live by faith,” and “without faith it’s impossible to please God.”
We all have barriers to belief that keep us paralyzed, messages we have believed about God and ourselves that keep us from changing. We have to replace with new beliefs. We have to choose what we will believe.
So how do we do that? By abiding in the Word of God. By reading, studying, thinking on, and talking about the truths of Scripture and choosing to believe what the Lord – whose name is Faithful and True – has said.
Maybe you made some resolutions this year. Maybe this is the year you want to really change. Before you launch out to change what you do, take an inventory of what you believe. Changing what we do starts with changing what we believe. Because what you believe will change what you do.
Do you believe God loves you, that He will cause everything to work together for your good if you love Him and are called according to His purpose? When you do, it will change how you live.
Do you believe you are forgiven and free from sin, have every spiritual blessing in Christ, and predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ? When you do, it will change how you live.
Do you believe the Lord Jesus is sovereign over our lives and our world despite what we see, and that He is coming back? When you do, it will change how you live.
We don’t have to be paralyzed by our patterns. We can be renewed in the spirit of our minds the Word of God, and walk in our new identity (Gal 5:16). Let’s not stop at resolutions just to change what we do. Let’s change how we think and choose to believe what God has said. When we do, it will change how we live.
Editor’s Note: This originally published at Biblical Woman
1. Describing others with demeaning epithets is arrogant and unbecoming. Let’s run as far from it as we possibly can. Calling a person “stupid,” or “an idiot,” for instance, tells us more about our character than theirs.
2. Making uninvited humorous comments about physical characteristics of others is childish at best, but also rude and condescending. It often shows disrespect for God as Creator. Even in jest, it should be cut out of our speech repertoire. It would help to take a look in the mirror first.
3. Reacting immediately to hearsay and unsubstantiated “news,” rather than seeking out the facts is dangerous and demonstrates how much we love to be first with the bad news and last with the good. It’s rejoicing in the downfall of others. Is immediate reaction the way we wish others to treat us? Delay your judgment. You may well be wrong in your assessment.
4. Wearing the judge’s robe the first thing in the morning as if to say we are the all-knowing one shows a superior view of ourselves that no one really appreciates. Christians do evaluate in order to avoid evil and wrong associations and to lead others, but only after carefully understanding the facts. The ultimate judge is God, and he hasn’t assigned that job to you or me, except in special cases (1 Cor 6). “‘Vengeance is mine,’ says the Lord . . .”
5. Catching a person in a word rather than seeking to know what he or she truly means reveals an impatience and determined bias against those we accuse. We want them to look bad. We should be among those who do not assume but discuss to know the heart and intentions.
6. Rejoicing over the calamity of others is calloused and truly reprehensible. It’s the opposite of love. Such news should typically make us sad rather than happy, even if the Lord has wisely administered it for the good of all.
Christian friends, we must be careful to watch our heart and our words. Have we adopted the spirit of the age? Most of the time our family and social media friends can get along without our condescending viewpoint. Is all our careless ranting displaying the glory and beauty of Christ? Surely it is time to change.
Remember, if we “live by the sword, we’ll die by the sword.” The spirit and unloving way we give it out to others will be returned in kind.
As one pastor wisely stated, “Be careful who you pass on the way up, because you’ll pass the same person on the way down.”
I’ve often been stopped by this thought: We have a God in Heaven who has full knowledge of who we are-—our thoughts, motives, hidden sins, biases, and sometimes untutored and distorted values.
Will you work on your words and attitude along with me?
“With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be” . . .
“But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; and then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.” (James 3:9-10; 17)
Editor’s Note: This originally published at Christian Communicators Worldwide
