A Sacred Silence: How Witholding Words Helped Me Heal

By / Mar 27

In the past, God used trials to refine both my soul and my art. Regardless of the darkness faced, processing with the Lord birthed poems and words. I often turned to the Psalms, with their patterns of lament, repentance, and praise. So, it shocked me when the pattern shattered, and Psalm 88:18’s final words permeated my every attempt at penning something private or public:

“You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me; my companions have become darkness.”

As a new believer, I was eager to write down every prayer and thought, hopeful for the future. I went through journals frequently, then enjoyed looking back over the entries to help me reflect on God’s sovereignty and grace. Now my favorite journal now contains entries from 2022, 2023, and 2024 because, despite my desire to fill its pages as I did in the past, the words eluded me.

At some point, watching people vanish from the polaroids within its pages and seeing color fade from the record of my world became too painful. What once felt like a safe place to meditate on the Lord and spend time in prayer suddenly felt unbearable–perhaps melancholy at best.

Trying to push through this in my personal journal was one thing, but wanting to keep producing content in the public sphere was another. At the time, I worked for a seminary, was in conversations about a doctoral degree, and served as an Associate Editor for FTC.co. The expectations I set for myself demanded I keep producing content, but it all sounded… flat.

Unfortunately, something in me was broken. And it did not take long to realize it was different from pain I had encountered before. For the first time, it was ineffable.

At first I was frustrated. Christians throughout history had gone through much harder things and yet glorified God through their writings. Could I not be one of them?

The answer was no; I could not. At least not at that point in my life. I soon discovered that though it still brought joy to serve as an editor or help others share stories of God’s grace, the writing goals I had upheld during the past decade of following Jesus were no longer possible. (Well, they were possible. They were just no longer healthy or helpful.)

So, despite the pain, I would continue to love Jesus. But I would do so in a season of silence.

As the days turned into months without my usual outpouring of written expressions, I discovered a richness in the unspoken dialogue between my soul and its Creator. The silence became the canvas on which God once again brought color to my world with strokes of truth, and I found solace in the simplicity of just being with Him.

This newfound, intentional spiritual discipline led to a realization that I had unintentionally made an idol out of communication. My good desire to cultivate community and encourage others had soured the moment I began prioritizing conversations with friends or processing through a publication above time in the Word. In the hushed moments with Scripture, God gifted a sacred silence that spoke volumes.

Instead of rushing to theologize every emotion and struggle, I started to relearn how to sit in the presence of the One who understands without words. This quiet communion with the Lord rested like a healing balm upon my weary soul. Not every healing requires a public proclamation, and sometimes the deepest work happens in secret places, away from the eyes and ears of the world.

So, here I am, a writer who found healing in not writing but in withholding. Ecclesiastes 3 tells us there is a time for everything, including “a time to keep quiet, and a time to speak” (v. 7). How sweet it is to stop striving and rest in God’s grace for each moment–whether our lips are parted to share truth with others or just to drink it in for ourselves. And though my journal still awaits fresh ink, I know there is a never-ending well of grace still flowing despite the dry pages.



Episode 256: What’s the Big Deal About the Resurrection?

By / Mar 27

On this episode of the FTC Podcast, Jared Wilson and Ross Ferguson talk about the ways some churches celebrate Easter that seem to have little to do with the resurrection of Jesus, how to re-embrace the power of the full message of the gospel, and why we sometimes drift into resurrection amnesia.



The End of Religious Liberty

By / Mar 25

Are we seeing the end of religious liberty?

For Christians in America, we see the complexities of cultural engagement. Articulating the truths of biblical Christianity regarding sexuality and gender alone, brings conflict or worse. So, it is good and right to be concerned and wonder if the end of religious liberty is near.

We also wonder and debate how best to respond. We watch and listen to conversations about Christian Nationalism. We consider an upcoming presidential election. All the while, we recognize our society is experiencing more and more what a recent book calls The Great Dechurching.[1]

Are we seeing the end of religious liberty?  Here, in the West, we wonder.

However, in the rest of the world, we are seeing it. Listen to these facts from the recent annual World Watch List Report[2] that lists the 50 Countries where it is hardest to follow Jesus. Last year:

  • Almost 5,000 Christians were killed for their faith
  • Nearly 15,000 churches were attacked or closed
  • More than 295,000 Christians were forcibly displaced from their homes because of their faith

The fact is that for those of us in the Western World who worry about the loss of religious liberty may never go to jail for our faith, but, right now our brothers and sisters are in jail in many countries around the world.

Are we seeing the end of religious liberty?  In the rest of the world, we are.

Religious Liberty as Something Bigger

Given this predicament, one might be tempted to despair. Even so, while the present trends are not good, we should work to prevent the erosion of religious liberty wherever possible. To help with that, I want to offer an adjustment in how we think about the end of religious liberty.

Rather than a single-focused lament about what this means for Christians, I find it a helpful corrective to think of religious liberty as something bigger than just the free exercise of religion in a country or in our country.

For the purpose of religious liberty, ultimately, is not about freedom for Christians. Absolutely it includes that, but it’s purpose, as a doctrine, is so much more.

So, instead of asking, “Is this the end of religious liberty?”, I want to ask, “What is religious liberty?” and then “What is the end of religious liberty?”

What is Religious Liberty?

First, here are a few brief statements to summarize a biblical understanding of what is religious liberty:

  1. Nowhere in the New Testament do we see anyone coercing faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus could have coerced faith, but did not.
  2. Nowhere in the New Testament do we see Christians executing or arresting those who deny faith in Jesus Christ. While on earth, Jesus could have exercised judgment in this way, but did not.
  3. Instead, we see our Lord Jesus, his apostles, and the early churches reasoning, instructing, calling to repentance, and inviting people to believe.
  4. In sum, in the New Testament, Christianity is a faith that does not coerce, but persuades.

This biblical understanding influenced a theological and culture-engaging distinctive for many believers throughout history, and especially the men and women who formed the Baptist Tradition. From the Reformation, to England, to early America, to the present world at large, Baptists have advocated for religious liberty along these two axioms:

  1. The defense of every citizen’s right to pursue what they believe or do not believe only exists when the Church operates independent of the State.

Baptists affirmed that the State should exist and Christians should relate accordingly, but not ultimately (Romans 13, 1 Timothy 2, Acts 5). Baptists understood, from experience, that when the State can determine the validity of or limit the practice of one religion in society, nothing prevents it from turning to another religion or all religions.

  1. The defense of this civil right ensures the proclamation the Gospel for all either to accept or reject freely, without coercion. Further, it prevents the State from using its power intended to ensure civil protection and safety for matters of the soul and Spirit.

Read this summarized so well in the Baptist Faith and Message: “A free church in a free state is the Christian ideal, and this implies the right of free and unhindered access to God on the part of all men, and the right to form and propagate opinions in the sphere of religion without interference by the civil power.”[3]

If this is religious liberty, when, then, will religious liberty come to an end?

When will Religious Liberty end?

The beautiful hymn in Philippians 2 tells of the humbling, sacrifice, and exaltation of Jesus Christ. And, it also tells us when religious liberty will end.

In Philippians 2, we see God has already exalted Christ Jesus and given him the name “Lord.” He has already handed all things over to him (see Matt 11:27), put all things under his feet (Eph 1:22), and given him all authority (Matt 28:18).

Yet, Paul also reveals that a future day is coming when the name of Jesus will go forth and all creatures will bow and confess him as Lord. At this time, which Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:24 calls “the end,” Jesus will finally destroy death and see the complete fulfillment of Psalm 8:6, when all things are put in subjection under his feet (1 Cor 15:23–28).

In Philippians 2:10, Paul references a statement from Isaiah that “every knee shall bow” to God the Father and ties his hymn to the larger and weightier biblical story.

In Isaiah 45, the prophet is crusading against idolatry by defending the uniqueness of the God of Israel. Thus, by ascribing this text to God the Son in Philippians the Bible not only affirms trinitarian equality, it shows that Jesus Christ is not a challenge to the monotheistic God of the Bible. The Father and Son are One. And this One God will one day be exalted once and for all. Until that day, we understand that Christ’s exaltation and the subjection of all to him are both already true and not yet complete.

Only on that day, the time of religious freedom will end. Everyone will bow and acknowledge the one true religion and one true God. The bowing especially conveys this acknowledgment, as the Bible regularly identifies this posture with concession that the one to whom one bows is superior. Further, this day of acknowledgment is universal but not universalism. No one will escape participation, whether repentant or not. Everyone will acknowledge that Jesus is King, whether out of joy or shame.

When we talk of religious liberty in the United States, we acknowledge its present fragility with words like threatened and with calls to “defend” it. And, as I said, to be sure, as long as we have religious liberty, it is worth defending.

However, should believers find their liberties removed or suppressed in the days ahead, we should also recognize that we will not really reach the end of religious liberty until Jesus returns.

Think of our brothers and sisters in North Korea or Yemen. How do they persevere? With no temporal hope for religious liberty, they must rely on an eternal and future hope. For those in Christ, the knowledge of the last day should provide hope that, no matter what trials come or earthly freedoms are diminished, God will make all things new. He will put all things under his feet and declare himself finally triumphant.

This eternal perspective should provide hope, but it should also serve as a sober warning, for the grace God shows by granting any form of religious liberty on earth is finite. At that time, when religious liberty ends, there will be no more hope for the lost.

If that is when religious liberty will see its ultimate end, how are Christians now to think about the purpose of religious liberty as something bigger?

What is “the end” of Religious Liberty?

In Philippians 2:11, Paul says that the universal submission of humanity to the lordship of Christ at the end of time takes place “to the glory of God the Father.”

This is “the end” goal, or bigger purpose, of religious liberty.

What do we mean when we see all things taking place to the glory of God? In part, it is the proclamation that:

  • The reigning King who made the heavens and the earth should receive honor and glory forever and ever (see 1 Tim 1:17).
  • To the one who put forward his Son as a propitiation so that God the Father might be just and the justifier of all those who fall short of the glory of God (Rom 3:21–26) belongs glory and dominion forever and ever (1 Pet 4:11).
  • The one who gave his Spirit as a Helper to teach, convict (John 14:26; 16:8), and send his children as witnesses to the nations (Acts 1:8), to him be glory in the church, throughout all generations, forever and ever (Eph 3:21).

When we can hold onto the glory of God as the reason why religious liberty is worth defending, we can adjust our thinking about what is religious liberty and why it matters. This adjustment allows us to step back and affirm:

  1. Our hope that one day Jesus will be exalted on earth even while suffering continues, whether to us or to our brothers and sisters around the world.
  2. True faith cannot be coerced. The best cultural environment for faith to take root is one where there is religious liberty for all religions.
  3. One day true religious liberty will end and all knees will bow, whether they want to or not.
  4. Until then, the good news that Jesus is Lord is shared, with reasoning and pleading, while there still is time.
  5. It is worth proclaiming Christ even at the risk of security, safety, and rights—all for the glory of God.

This is the end of religious liberty.

 

This article is adapted from Jason G. Duesing’s recent chapel message: “A Portrait of the End of religious liberty,” at Midwestern Seminary and Spurgeon College. You can watch the full message below: https://www.mbts.edu/2024/01/chapel-with-jason-duesing-january-24-2024/

[1] Jim Davis, Michael Graham, and Ryan P. Burge, The Great Dechurching: Who’s Leaving, Why Are They Going, and What Will It Take to Bring them Back? (Zondervan, 2023).

[2] Jayson Casper, “The 50 Countries Where It’s Hardest to Follow Jesus in 2024,” Christianity Today, January 17, 2024, https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2024/january/christian-persecution-2024-countries-open-doors-watch-list.html

[3] “Article XVII: Religious Liberty,” Baptist Faith and Message, https://bfm.sbc.net/bfm2000/#xvii



Introducing the Heart of Pastoring Podcast

By / Mar 21

Now available on the Midwestern Seminary podcast platform: The Heart of Pastoring, featuring hosts Jared Wilson and Ronnie Martin. Listen in week by week as Jared and Ronnie reflect on the biblical qualifications for ministry with spiritual insights, pastoral reflections, and personal stories. Season 1 is is releasing now wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.



Episode 6: Hospitable

By / Mar 21

Do you have to be an extrovert to meet this qualification for pastoral ministry? Does hospitality only refer to fellowship with other believers? In this episode, Jared and Ronnie talk about the postures and opportunities of true hospitality, a position of welcome and openness to outsiders, and showing love for neighbors in evangelistic conversations and more.



Pastoring is Tortoise Work: A Lesson for the Young and Aspiring

By / Mar 20

Talking with a fellow pastor I know and trust, I recently asked a question. “What’s one quality you believe is indispensable for an effective pastor?” After a moment’s thought, the answer came: patience.

If you aspire to pastoral ministry, you likely envision yourself preaching the Word and rightly administering the sacraments. Perhaps you also envision counseling sessions, praying with those who hurt, and leading the ministries of the church. All good things, no doubt. But have you taken time to consider the kind of patience these things actually require? Have you envisioned yourself learning the hard lesson of being patient and moving slowly? If you would rather not, then one of two things will eventually happen after you enter ministry: you will be crushed or you will change.

When I was in my twenties and aspiring to the pastorate, I gave little to no serious consideration to my need for patience. And on certain days, I find that I can still be this way. Pastors, like most people, struggle with impatience concerning life’s circumstantial ambiguities, those unresolved things we are chagrined to live with. Ministry is so filled with such ambiguities that a pastor must learn what do to with them. As much as I may not like it, pastoring is slow, steady work. It is “tortoise work,” not “hare work.”

Of course, a temptation every pastor faces is that of “making things happen.” According to Zack Eswine, our tendency is to do “large things in famous ways as fast and as efficiently as [we] can.” I’ve found that this very thing is widely incentivized, often marketed to me as the model of ministry success. After all, pastors who are thought to “make stuff happen” are the ones who get book deals and amass high follower counts on social media. Is this the kind of pastor I must be? Experience enough ministry setbacks, though, and that question answers itself. It doesn’t take long for the hoped-for glitz and glamor of pastoring to fade. And you’re left with the reality that much of your pastoral success is measured by something you didn’t expect: capacity for patience amidst the crises, criticisms, controversies, and conflicts that beset congregational life.

As a young man, aspiring to the noble task of pastoring, do you recognize your need to learn patience? Do you see in yourself a tendency to idolize immediacy? Are you frustrated when things don’t happen as quickly as you expect? Consider two observations, both drawn from events described in the book of 1 Samuel.

First observation: bad things almost always come from impatience. The text provides two examples. First, the people of Israel are impatient for a king (1 Samuel 8:4–6, 19–20). Because of their insistence upon being like other nations and the impatience which accompanies such insistence, Israel ends up with Saul, an epic monarchical failure.

Second, once king, Saul acts with haste. At one point, he is impatient for Samuel to arrive in Gilgal. Panicked and unable to wait any longer, he takes matters into his own hands, offering a sacrifice he was not authorized to make (1 Sam. 13:8-14). The divinely ordained expiration date of his kingship is now immanent. Impatience triggers the downfall.

Second observation: better things—the best things, even—tend to come with time. The ark of the covenant remains at Kiriath-jearim for twenty years, at which time the people of Israel are ripe for renewal under Samuel’s leadership (1 Sam. 7:1-4). The absence of the ark, a material emblem of Yahweh’s presence among Israel, becomes felt. They’d had their fill of what the Baals and Ashtaroth had to offer.

So the people began to lament and long for Yahweh’s presence. But to reach this point, it took time. Conditions for spiritual renewal almost always develop gradually. When a widespread return to God takes place, it is often preceded by years of preparation, an extended time of God working patiently in quiet, unseen places. Yahweh is not one to rush the achievement of His purposes. He is satisfied to play the long game.

Ecclesiastes 7:8b thus seems a fitly spoken word for us, whether we aspire to ministry or have already “arrived.” It says, “better is the patient in spirit than the proud in spirit.” The contrast here is striking. Pride is the antithesis of patience. This reveals what lurks beneath impatience—Israel’s, Saul’s, and ours.

Let’s be honest. Much too often “making things happen” is a fruit of nascent pride. The proud in spirit feel they must force a quick fix when faced with prolonged circumstantial ambiguity. They are compulsive and cannot trust God with what they do not understand about His timing. Too self-interested to wait, they attempt to supplant His unhurried work. However, God honors those who wait patiently upon Him. Humility accompanies the learning of this lesson. Ultimately, a pastor does not control his ministry circumstances. And our best efforts to eliminate their ambiguity may well make things worse.

To pastor effectively, then, learn to feel at home in the reality that your circumstances are a matter of divine purview. God makes things happen, and most of the time it is not ours to know the what and the when of his good providence; the secret things belong to Yahweh (Deut. 29:29). He will cause His purposes to prevail at a time of His sovereign choosing. He will bring resolution to life’s ambiguities in accordance with His wisdom. We must not only learn to accept this; we must learn to embrace it with a heart that is quiet and full of trust.

Mark these things well, all who aspire to such a noble task. God’s ways are not our ways. In His always- wise estimation, the best things come with time. Therefore, alongside your study of Scripture, theology, preaching, and ministry methods, befriend patience also. Though often underestimated, it will be your pastoral superpower. Slow and steady wins the race.



Episode 255: Raising Kids Who Love the Church

By / Mar 20

Some estimates put the adult church dropout rate for kids raised going to church within evangelicalism at 70%! How do we help our kids love the church? On this episode of the FTC Podcast, Jared Wilson and Ross Ferguson have a conversation about influencing our kids to grow up into adults who are committed to the family of God.



Episode 5: Sensible

By / Mar 14

When we say “pastor on Twitter,” what image first comes to your mind? It’s likely not an even-keeled, thoughtful, diserning personality. But social media isn’t the only platform for unstable pastors. In this new episode, Jared and Ronnie talk about the tendency for pastors to be swayed by cultural winds, congregational pressures, crazy headlines, and just their own rabbit trails and hobby-horses. When a pastor’s mind is constantly “held captive” by every thought — instead of the other way around — he loses his sense.



Episode 254: Being a Good Listener

By / Mar 13

On this episode of the FTC Podcast, Jared Wilson and Ross Ferguson discuss the art of listening. How can we make sure the people in our lives and churches feel heard? And why is that important? Included are some practical tips for becoming better listeners.



Episode 4: Self-Controlled

By / Mar 7

The biblical qualifications for ministry require that pastors be self-controlled, sober-minded, not a drunkard, etc. Jared and Ronnie have an insightful conversation in this episode about the various roots of some pastors’ lack of self-control, the importance of regulating one’s emotions, and how the pursuit of peace, stability, and gentleness is actually a pursuit of spiritual maturity and the fruit of sanctification.