How To Pick The Right Side In Any Church Split

Several months ago, a church that I was a member of went through a really nasty split. I can think of worse circumstances that a church could go through, but this split still wasn't pretty. As a result of that split, a group broke away to form a new church, and a group remained behind to continue on with the already existing church. I remained with the group that stayed behind, honestly believing that this was where God wanted me to be.

Over the course of these past few months, what began as a disturbing church split has grown into something altogether different. As people chose "sides" and decided where they would find fellowship and worship God, loyalties seemed to set in, to such a great extent that I was actually warned on a few occasions to not talk to certain people from the other side. And, I have to admit, I fell into this mindset myself. What began as a desire to minister in the place I honestly felt God telling me to be turned into a deep-seated loyalty within my own heart toward my church and our "party". This mindset became so powerful in my own life that it caused me to disregard growing evidence that I was becoming aware of that the group that broke away from us in the first place might have actually been justified in doing so. I was convinced that our side was right, and when any information to the contrary came to my attention, I overlooked it, assuming that there must be a good explanation to explain it away.

Thankfully, as time passed, I really began attempting to seek God's will in this matter and get the best information I could about what actually happened in the split. To my amazement, I discovered that there were a lot of things that I simply wasn't aware of, things that would have changed my initial decision to remain at my church in the first place. I recognize now that I really fell into a "party" mindset where I was taking sides, and I bought into this mentality so much that it began to color the way I viewed other brothers and sisters in Christ.

And if we think about it, it shouldn't really surprise us that as humans (even regenerate ones!) we have a tendency to take sides and picture reality as "us versus them".  Actually, Joshua 5:13-15 gives us an excellent illustration of this mindset:

When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?” And the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

As Joshua and the Israelites were preparing to take Jericho, they were confronted by a strange man.  Realizing that he was a warrior, Joshua asked the obvious question: are you on our side, or on theirs? Instead of giving the answer he expected, though, the commander of the army of the Lord gave a surprising answer: he wasn't on either side. 

You see, when God comes into the midst of a situation, He doesn't come to take sides; He comes to take over.  Our temptation is to try to paint the situation as though God is on our side (what Christian group ever realistically believed that God was against them?), but if we try to say this, we are making exactly the same mistake Joshua made. I think what we can learn from this story is that we need to spend less time asking if God is on our side, and spend more time making sure we are on God's side.

So how does this apply to church splits? I think what we can learn from Joshua 5 is that when we are in a confrontational situation with divided parties, the only way we can choose the right side is to make sure we are on God's side. My mistake was that I ended up choosing a human side, and largely left God's side out of the equation. Now to be clear, we often will find ourselves in situations where necessity will force us to come out on one side or the other; the truth of Joshua 5 teaches us, however, that our primary responsibility in those kinds of situations is to make sure we pursue the path that upholds justice, righteousness, and truth more than any other. 

Oh God, I pray that you would give your people the grace today to look beyond human parties, divisions, and sects, and to look to your guidance and your wisdom alone. I confess that I am so prone to taking sides with other men too quickly, and I don't honestly look to you and what is pleasing to you as often as I should. Let your Spirit be with your people today to cause us to see what is pleasing to you, to desire to do it, and to live out this life of the New Covenant in a way that will bring a smile to your face. I pray these things in Christ's name, amen.

So How Do We Realistically Give Thanks In All Things?

Each year around Thanksgiving, I hear people mentioning 1 Thessalonians 5:18 to describe the kind of attitude that we should have not only on Thanksgiving, but also on every other day of the year: "Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." This definitely is an important verse to remember not just at this time of year, but in every other season of the year as well. But if you have actually tried to follow this verse, you might have found that it's not really as easy as you initially thought.

What I mean is this: some seasons of your life are going to be better than others. During the good times, it's really not too hard to be thankful; but when things aren't going your way, being thankful is easier said than done. Especially during those "dark" seasons, I have noticed that we try to encourage one another with a number of different verses, but primarily with Romans 8:28. "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." And I am convinced that this verse really does hold the secret to how we can be thankful in all circumstances. But the verse isn't quite as straightforward as you might think at first.

So what does Romans 8:28 teach us about how to be thankful in all circumstances? I'd like to share with you an essay I came across a few years ago by Dr. Vernon C. Grounds on Romans 8:28. Dr. Grounds deals with this passage simply and accurately, and he brings out its' meaning in a way that I have seen few others be able to do. I sincerely hope that as you consider what Romans 8:28 has to teach us about being thankful this Thanksgiving, you will allow God to expand your perspective of what He is doing for you, you will gain a more balanced view of the good and bad seasons of your life, and you will experience a spirit of thankfulness that extends beyond just Thanksgiving, but also into the weeks and months to come.

DO ALL THINGS REALLY WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD?

Dr. Vernon C. Grounds, President
Conservative Baptist Theological Seminary
Denver, Colorado 80210

On February 15, 1947, D. Glenn Chambers of New York boarded the powerful DC-4 of the Avianca Airlines en route to Quito, Ecuador, in order to begin his ministry with the "Voice of the Andes." But he never arrived! Not far from Bogotá, rising 14,000 feet toward the sky, is the towering peak, "El Tablazo;" Chambers' plane crashed headlong into that peak and dropped, a flaming wreck, into a ravine far below.

The last letter he wrote was addressed to his mother. At a Miami airport he picked up a piece of advertising on the flyleaf of which was the single word, why! Around that word he scribbled a hasty and final note. So when his mother received it, having previously learned of his death, staring up into her face was that question, why.

And whenever stark tragedy breaks into life, all of us instinctively wonder "Why?" Why does God permit such experiences? Why does God allow us to suffer? Why does a loving and almighty God tolerate evil in His universe? Why?

When stark tragedy breaks into his life, the man without Jesus Christ may respond in one of several fashions. Cynicism may be his response; he may unwittingly follow the advice of Job's wife, "Curse God and die." Or stoicism may be his response: "Grin and bear it, and if you can't grin, then grit your teeth and bear it anyhow." Or Epicureanism may be his response: "Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow ...!"

But when tragedy breaks into his life, the Christian, instead of responding with cynicism or stoicism or Epicureanism, falls back upon Romans 8:28, attempting to make that text a soft pillow for his heart: "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." And yet, if we are going to be ruthlessly candid, the Christian does not always find that Paul's radiant certainty proves a soft pillow for his heart. Often, on the contrary, it turns out to be a hard problem for his head, because of two facts.

In the first place, the text is much too sweeping. It is too unqualified; it is too glibly inclusive. Do "all things" indeed work together for good? Who can possibly believe that? The accident which imprisons a young man in a wheel chair as an incurable cripple; the emotional breakdown which puts the mother of a large family out of her mind; the agonizing frustration which causes an idealist to degenerate into an embittered skeptic, mocking and denying God; the death which leaves an unhealed scar upon a heart — are these things good?

Some things may indeed work together for good, but how can any person of even limited discernment conclude that all events without exception turn out for our highest welfare?

In the second place, this text is much too dogmatic. Paul states with unshadowed certainty: "We know all things work together for good." He does not say that this is our faith; he does not say that this is our pious hope; he does not say that this is a proposition which we are unable to prove but which we embrace with a trust that appears to defy logic and reason. Paul's affirmation, we have uncomfortably felt, is overly confident. It smacks of a naive optimism for which no solid evidence can be adduced.

Thus, the text seems too sweeping and too dogmatic. Yet implicit in it are four truths which, when once grasped, transform Paul's assertion from a hard problem into a soft pillow.

NOT A COSMIC FREAK

Notice, first, that the apostle declares: "All things work together for good." He does not declare that every event, every episode, and every experience of life achieves good by luck or chance or accident. He does not declare that by some cosmic freak or by the mere random whirling of senseless matter, good is eventually produced. Paul declares that all things work together for good. And, consequently, he teaches here the same truth which he teaches in Ephesians 1:11: "God worketh all things after the counsel of his own will."

Why does everything, even heartbreaking tragedy, turn out for good? The answer is simple. God is at work in the whole process! And by His infinite wisdom, power, and love, God is making all things work together for good.

Visit a huge, sprawling plant where automobiles are manufactured. Watch the bewildering mass of raw material -- metals, wood, fabrics, glass, and what not -- as it pours into the factory. Then, without entering the doors of that mammoth structure, walk around to the ramp where the finished product, a sleek and shining mechanism, rolls out, ready for shipment to every corner of the world. Can you possibly believe that just by luck or chance or accident all that mass of raw material assembles itself into an automobile? Of course not!

But when you realize that extraordinary skill and power have been brought to bear upon that raw material, you can understand why the finished product is so beautiful and efficient.

Similarly, who can believe that all the mass of our raw experience — sickness, disappointment, broken bodies, blasted hopes, blighting sins — just by luck or chance or accident achieves good? Introduce God into the picture, however, a God of infinite wisdom, power, and love, and it is possible for even the most searching mind to believe that everything works together for good. And it works together for good because God is at work. He is making all things work together for good, bringing to bear upon the raw stuff of our experience all of His limitless resources.

Confessedly, there may be aspects of existence which will baffle us until we see our Lord face to face. But still, embryonically, we have a solution to this tantalizing mystery. Our cosmos, we realize, is not a self-existing chaos of atoms which swirl about senselessly. Undergirding our universe is the everlasting purpose of a person who is perfect in wisdom, love, and power, and who uses the vast process of nature and history for the fulfillment of His gracious purpose, a purpose which is supremely good.

A few years ago, the Rev. James Patton, pastor of the Carmel Avenue Baptist Church of Detroit, left home early one Sunday morning in order to pick up children for Bible school in the church bus. The man who ordinarily served as driver had found it impossible to do the job that day, and so the pastor himself volunteered. And tragedy struck. The bus was demolished by a train which killed Patton and several other people. Meanwhile, his wife was waiting at home for him to return.

Who can imagine the shock and horror which overwhelmed her when she learned of her husband's death? Among the many condolences which she received was this telegram which brought immense comfort to her heart: "God is too kind to do anything cruel, and too wise ever to make a mistake."

Yes, introduce God into the context of life's worst tragedies, the God whose love has been supremely revealed at Calvary, and it is possible to believe Paul's triumphant assertion. A God like that can be trusted to make all things work together for good. 

INGREDIENTS MIXED TOGETHER

Notice, secondly, the truth implicit in another fragment of this text. Paul writes: "All things work together for good." Together! Do not overlook that seemingly unimportant word. In point of fact, it embodies a profoundly significant thought. Our experiences, when you take them in isolation, are frequently very bad; yet when you take our experiences as a whole, they are radiantly good.

The ingredients which constitute a three-layer chocolate cake are not good when you taste them in isolation. A mouthful of flour is not especially savory. A spoonful of spices is not in the least delicious. Shortening as shortening is none too palatable. But let a skillful cook mix them together, and the result is superbly good! And thus it is with our lives.

Very strikingly the experience of Joseph illustrates this principle. Jacob's expressive and unwisely partial love for the son of his old age was bad. The priggish conceit of young Joseph was bad. The understandable hatred of his brethren was bad. Their conspiracy to kill him was bad. The sale of Joseph into Midianite slavery was bad. The lie told to Jacob was bad. The heartbreak of the bereaved father was bad. The temptation which befell Joseph in Egypt was bad. His imprisonment, though an innocent man, was bad. And thus the components of his experience, taken singly, were unquestionably bad. Yet what was the outcome of all those evil things?

As Joseph finally faced his brethren, having by his God-bestowed foresight preserved them and the whole nation of Egypt from starvation, he could testify: "As for you, ye thought evil against me but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive” (Gen. 50:20). Yes, indeed! Where men intend evil, God intends good, and in His love and wisdom and power He makes human wrath to praise Him, and out of the black components of our experience He brings a shining result. All things work together for good.

Notice, in the third place, just what Paul says in our text. "All things work together for good." But the good as we ordinarily conceive it may be entirely different from the good about which the apostle speaks. 

WHAT IS GOOD?

We tend to interpret good in terms of animal comfort. If we are exempt from disease, that we consider good. If our bodies are never stabbed by pain, that we consider good. If we always have money in our pockets and a reserve at the bank, that we consider good. If we live in modern homes and enjoy the latest luxuries, that we consider good. If we can dress well, take long vacations at the seashore, and in general exist like the smug bourgeois against whom Karl Marx poured out his scorn, that we consider good. Unfortunately, we find ourselves victimized by a materialistic civilization, and, despite our Christian faith, we subtly equate comfort and goodness.

In the same fashion we tend to equate success with goodness. If we are always out in the front, a winner in our highly competitive society, that we consider good. If we own more gadgets than our neighbors, that we consider good. If politically or ecclesiastically we exercise a considerable influence, that we consider good. If we are men and women of prestige, that we consider good.

Or, yet again, we tend to equate pleasure with goodness. Or we tend to equate good with power. Or we tend to equate good with the fulfillment of our fondest dreams, and some of those dreams may indeed be extremely lofty. And such equations are, of course, a million miles removed from Paul's basic teaching. And because all of these are false equations, we have trouble with Romans 8:28. Our failure to grasp Paul's concept of the good changes what ought to be a soft pillow for our hearts into a hard problem for our heads.

You see, according to the New Testament, goodness is not to be interpreted in terms of comfort, or success or pleasure or power or even the fulfillment of our fondest and most praiseworthy ambitions. Goodness is nothing whatever like that. Goodness, as Romans 8:29 brings out, is Christ-likeness, and therefore the goal which God has in view for us is conformity unto the image of His own dear Son.

Perhaps this concept of goodness strikes us as being somewhat novel, and consequently it may prove helpful for us to read the entire twelfth chapter of Hebrews. The theme of that passage is God's fatherly chastisement. Why does He discipline us, and do it often so painfully? Why does He allow not only minor vexations but also major catastrophes in our lives? He does it — this is the apostle's amazing and illuminating answer — because He loves us. He longs that we shall be like Himself as He has been revealed in Jesus Christ. He hurts us for our eternal profit in order that "we might be partakers of his holiness." He does it all not for our comfort nor for our pleasure nor for any such reason. He does it all for our good, striving to conform us unto the image of His Son.

God is holy love, and therefore in holy love He sometimes uses the lash, and He uses the lash to make us leash our hearts unto Himself in faith. And He uses the lash, moreover, in order that for all eternity we ourselves may bear the likeness of His holy love.

Hence, buoyant health, good as it seems to us, may be a hindrance to the only true and abiding good. And, accordingly, God may send lingering sickness and even a shattered body for our good.

Success in business, good as it seems to us, may be a hindrance to the only true and abiding good. And, accordingly, God may drive us into bankruptcy and failure for our good.

Pleasure, good as it seems to us, may be a hindrance to the only true and abiding good. And, accordingly, God may compel us to live out our days under circumstances which are tedious, annoying, and distressing; and He does it for our good.

Power, good as it seems to us, may be a hindrance to the only true and abiding good. And, accordingly, God may keep us in some insignificant position, and He does it for our good.

The fulfillment of our lofty ambitions, good as that seems to us, may be a hindrance to the only true and abiding good. And, accordingly, God may cause all our dreams to break like bubbles, and He does it for our good.

Some day, however, if not in this life then in the life to come, we will realize that like children we were really grasping after bubbles in our pursuit of what we regarded as good. And we will see from the perspective of eternity that behind the apparent harshness and cruelty of God was the logic of an unsentimental love, a love that is not a mere flabby amiability, a love that is akin to the love of a wise human father who is willing to discipline his children for their good. Yes, when at last we bear perfectly the likeness of Jesus, we will confess that the logic of divine love was infinitely above and beyond our human logic. To be like Jesus, we will understand eventually, is the only true and abiding good. 

THE RESTRICTIVE PHRASE

Notice, finally, one other fact implicit in this text. Paul's confident assertion is not so unqualified and inclusive as at a first glance it may strike us. It embraces only those "who love God" and are "the called according to his purpose." Thus, before any of us attempts to appropriate this shining guarantee, he must be utterly sure that he comes within the category Paul lays down.

And how can we determine whether or not we are embraced within this blessed category? Very simply! Have we as yet in simplest trust accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior, acting upon the gracious invitation, "Whosoever will may come"? Have we as yet looked to Calvary and beheld there the convincing demonstration of divine love? If we have done this, then the promise applies to ourselves — but not otherwise!

Perhaps you have been embittered by some of your experiences. Perhaps you have hardened yourself against Jesus Christ, perhaps you have resolved to live in icy defiance, refusing to obey His pleading. I would beseech you to lift your eyes to Calvary, where on a bloody cross your Creator in agony and brokenhearted-ness perished for your sins and mine.

A Listening Ear: The Best Remedy For A Grieving Heart

Those of you who know me well will know that the past six months of my life have been interesting, to say the least. There have been unexpected changes and surprises in pretty much every area of my life, and for a while it left me dazed, confused, and not knowing exactly where to go. During this time, I spent a lot of time seeking counsel and advice from several other believers in the midst of my hurt and confusion, and I got just as many different responses as I had counselors. Thankfully, I am confident that I am finally coming out of this tough season and heading in a better direction. At the same time, I have been stopping to reflect a little bit on all the different counsel and advice that I received.

After what I have experienced from the past six months, I can confidently say that I have learned that a listening ear is the best remedy for a grieving heart. I can't tell you how many times I have shared what I am dealing with in conversation with others and I have quickly received a Bible verse to read or a piece of advice in response. When I went to look up the Bible verse, I found that it was usually taken out of context and that it wasn't really addressing my problems. When I considered the advice, I recognized that the advice might be wise in some circumstances, but not in others. To put it bluntly, when I shared my grief and frustration with many people, their responses showed me that they just didn't understand what I was going through, or at least that they can't identify with where I am at right now. And because of this, time and time again I found myself receiving more comfort and help from those people who were just willing to sit and listen to me ramble than from those who wanted to give me advice or correction too quickly.

This probably shouldn't surprise us, either. Actually, we see an example of how helping someone with a grieving and frustrated heart works in the book of Job. After Job went through all of the tragedies that Satan inflicted him with to test him, Job was pretty much at the end of his rope. In the midst of his brokenness, despair, and grief, Job's three friends did something incredibly insightful: they came to him, they mourned with him, and they remained silent for seven days (Job 2:11-13). They knew that there was no insight they could offer, no word they could speak, and no gift they could give that would console his heart. This is a good example of how to help people with a grieving heart, and we should follow it. Unfortunately, the book of Job also gives us a picture of how not to help someone grieve. After their wise actions toward Job in 2:11-13, the three friends went on to give Job their "wise" counsel, which actually just served to make his unbearable loss even worse.

And aren't we so much like Job's friends? The theology of Job's friends really wasn't that bad; it followed what we learn about wisdom and the way life generally works from the book of Proverbs. The problem wasn't so much their theology; the problem was that their theology didn't really apply to Job's situation or address what he was going through. In fact, not a single character in the story (besides God and Satan) knew the "why" behind Job's suffering; it would have been far better for Job's friends just to remain silent and say nothing. And unfortunately I have experienced this personally, too: when I have shared with people the struggles and trials that I have been experiencing, they quickly try to give me a theology lesson on the sovereignty of God and His goodness in all things. Yes, I agree that God is sovereign, and He is certainly working all things according to His purpose, but this isn't always the best thing to say when something is hurting. Some situations, even though they are part of God's bigger purpose, just simply suck; we don't need to try to extricate God from guilt in the situation-we just need to listen and be there.

With all this being said, I do need to backtrack a little bit. There is definitely a time for sharing Scripture with someone in need, and a time for offering advice. But what I am saying is that we can't use our offering of Scripture and our quick counsel as a substitute for simply being present (not just physically, but also emotionally and mentally) in a person's time of need. I know I am guilty of offering Scripture and my own "wisdom" far too quickly, and what I have experienced over the past half year has shown me the mistake in this approach. What I am realizing is that I need to be much quicker to listen and much slower to speak. What do you suppose might happen if we only offered someone our opinion or counsel when they asked for it or when we were directly prompted by the Holy Spirit to give it? I suspect that we would find people moving through the stages of grieving much more quickly, and that they would come out on the other side being even stronger as a result.

Chuck Swindoll touched on this same topic in his book "Three Steps Forward, Two Steps Back". Quoting Joe Bayley, Swindoll wrote:

Don't try to 'prove' anything to a survivor. An arm about the shoulder, a firm grip of the hand, a kiss: these are the proofs grief needs, not logical reasoning. I was sitting, torn by grief. Someone came and talked to me of God's dealings, of why it happened, of hope beyond the grave. He talked constantly, he said things I knew were true.

I was unmoved, except to wish he'd go away. He finally did.

Another came and sat beside me. He didn't talk. He didn't ask leading questions. He just sat beside me for an hour or more, listened when I said something, answered briefly, prayed simply, left.

I was moved. I was comforted. I hated to see him go.

May God give us all the grace to be quick to listen, to be slow to speak, and to be the friend who sticks closer than a brother to others when we find them in their time of need.

The Biblical Pattern of Worship

The Biblical Pattern of Worship

I think the main reason we find it so difficult to worship God with a pure and devoted heart is because our worship doesn't follow the biblical pattern for worship. In the Bible, worship is always the response of the people of God to something that God has done on their behalf. For example:

• God delivered His people out of the land of Egypt, and then thoroughly defeated Pharoah's army by drowning them in the Red Sea. What was the people's response? "Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to Yahweh, saying, 'I will sing to Yahweh, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea'" (Exodus 15:1). 
• God brought the Israelites out of their captivity in Babylon (a "second exodus") and showed them His favor by restoring them to the land. What was the people's response? "When Yahweh restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, 'Yahweh has done great things for them.' Yahweh has done great things for us; we are glad" (Psalm 126:1-3).
• God judged the nations of the earth to vindicate His people and execute His vengeance in John's vision in Revelation (a vision which is closely and intentionally structured to include the same themes as the Exodus, by the way). What was the response of the twenty-four elders in heaven? "We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign. The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and the saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth" (Revelation 11:17-18). 

So are you seeing the pattern here? In the Bible, worship is always an intentional response to something God has first done. 
 
This might seem pretty straightforward, but I don't believe that the way worship is done in most evangelical churches today follows this pattern at all. Instead of being a response to God's mighty acts, worship is pretty much just another program or activity of the church that we do each week because we feel God expects it from us. It isn't really done in response to anything at all, and if you asked the average church-goer why they were worshiping God any particular Sunday, you would probably get a blank stare.
 
If we followed the biblical pattern for worship, then, what would look different? I would suggest that it might be worth our time to move the sermon to the front of the worship service, and have worship through singing come afterward. This would be following the biblical pattern: we fix our hearts and minds to focus on what God has done on our behalf, and then we respond in worship. This wouldn't be a fool-proof way of making sure that everyone's heart was in the right place, but it would least make it so the reason for worshiping God is front and center in each person's mind. Whether your church follows this pattern or not is up to them, but I think the principle of worship being a heartfelt, enthusiastic response to God's works on our behalf should at least come into play when we are planning out our worship services.
 
How Can You Make Your Worship More Biblical?
 
Even if you don't go to a church that's willing to totally switch things up and move the sermon to the front of the service, don't fear! There are still several things that you can do to let this biblical pattern of worship revolutionize your life. Here are just a few:

1. Before you go to church each week, choose one of God's attributes to focus on in your Bible reading, prayers, and on your way to church in the car. If you do this, even though your church might not be too intentional about how the worship service is done, you will already have some particular thing in mind that you are choosing to worship God for that day. Just watch: your singing won't just be routine and boring, but it will be a response to what you have been learning about God throughout the week.
2. Memorize some of the "great" passages in the Bible that really emphasize who God is and what He has done. Any time our worship becomes shriveled up, dry, and boring, it is almost always because our view of God has become too small. For me, the passage I go to time and time again when I'm finding it tough to worship God is Isaiah 40:10-31. Try seriously and humbly reading through this passage a few times and then tell me that you are having a tough time wanting to worship God!
3. Try sitting in the back of the sanctuary during your time of worship through singing so that you won't be distracted by thoughts of what people will think of you. For me, the thoughts of what people might think go two ways: on the one hand, I fear being too expressive because that might cause people to think I'm weird (if you've read this blog for long enough you should have no doubt that I am!); on the other hand, I sometimes fear being expressive because I'm afraid I might be doing it to be seen by men rather than by God. When I'm sitting in the back of the sanctuary, most of these fears go away, and I can do all of the stuff that I feel God leading me to do! Think beyond raising your hands here, too: think kneeling on the ground, dancing, laying face-down on the floor, etc.

I'm sure that you might have other ideas that you can add to this list, but this is just to get you started. The important point to remember is that biblical worship is always a response to something that God has done. If our worship doesn't begin as an intentional response to what God has done, then there is very little chance that we will have the right attitude in worship at all.

The Supremacy of Christ and the Gospel in a Postmodern World

I just came across a message that Tim Keller delivered in 2006 at the Desiring God National Conference. His message was called "The Supremacy of Christ and the Gospel in a Postmodern World". I had a chance to visit Tim Keller's church and hear him preach when I was in New York last September, and I've got to say that this is a man who absolutely practices what he preaches. More than this, he is a man who has a heart for the city, because he sees in the city a place filled with lost people whom God dearly loves, cares for, and desires to see saved. If you have a chance, I would strongly encourage you to listen to Tim Keller's message here.

Better Than Life

My Testimony

I've had a bunch of people ask me over the past few days how exactly it was that I came to Christ, and so I have been finding myself sharing my testimony time after time recently. As I was doing this, I realized that I have never given a full account on this blog of how I came to know Christ. So I decided that it is about time to do just that.

As many of you know, my dad is a pastor, so I have lived in a Christian home since the time I was born. There are a lot of advantages to having a parent in full-time ministry, but also a number of disadvantages. For me, the advantages were growing up listening to excellent biblical teaching and preaching, seeing lives of increasing Christ-likeness in my parents, and being around people at church who loved me and wanted to see God's best for me. But there were also disadvantages: people placed higher expectations on my brother and I than on other kids at church, we were forced to fit a certain mold of what people thought a pastor's son should look like, and we never felt like we quite fit in with the other kids at church. So from a very young age, I learned how to say and do all the right things so that people thought I was a Christian without having experienced any transformation on the inside.

On top of this, I made a "decision" for Christ when I was about six years old. This happened at a summer vacation Bible school program when the youth counselors were asking if anyone wanted to give their life to Jesus. I didn't really want to give my life to Jesus (I didn't even know what this meant!), but the other kids were doing it, and heaven sounded nice, so I went ahead and did it anyway. The youth counselors told me after I said a prayer that they led me in that I was a Christian, and that I could be sure that I would go to heaven when I died. Even with them telling me this, I didn't feel any change on the inside, and there was certainly no difference on the outside.

So I continued in this lifestyle of conforming to what I thought people at church wanted to see on the outside but being rebellious on the inside for several years. There were a lot of "smaller" sins that I commited during those years, but nothing that most people would consider grievous. When I hit about the age of 15 and entered high school, however, all of that changed. At that point, I no longer cared about conforming to what anyone else wanted me to do, and all the rebellion and hard-heartedness that was on the inside began to work its way out. No one could have seen this change coming, but as I entered my freshman year in high school, a serious and very bad series of changes occured in my life.

To start with, I got involved in a relationship with a girl from school that proved to be very toxic for both of us. The relationship never became sexual, but it was filled with raging hormones, disregard for the opinions of others, and a lot of secrecy. This toxic relationship led to a lot of other things: open rebellion against my parents, a web of telling lies to pretty much everyone I cared about, skipping a lot of school, falling grades, and damaged relationships with almost all my friends. By the grace of God, my parents finally discovered the full extent of what I was doing and intervened. They basically grounded me from anything not related to school, told me that I had to break up with this girlfriend, and kept a very close eye on everything that I did. I knew that I couldn't get away with much more, but my heart still wasn't ready to submit.

After I broke off the relationship with this girl, that was honestly the lowest point in my life. Even though I had been the one to end it, I didn't want to. In fact, that was the one and only time in my life that I have actually contemplated suicide, because I just couldn't see any hope or joy in living without her. Thankfully I didn't do anything foolish in harming myself, but I still spent several weeks struggling in my own heart. I knew I had to make a choice: I could either get bitter at my parents and allow their intervention to turn into hatred in my heart, or I could submit.

As weeks passed and I continued to be grounded, I was pretty much at rock-bottom. And it was finally there, at that place of absolute discouragement, hopelessness, and despair that God began to work in my heart. He allowed me to see that the place where I was at was exactly where I will always end up when I choose to ignore Him and try to live life on my own. Through that, He showed me that my heart was wicked, corrupt, and beyond my ability to cure. And I realized that the only way I could move forward and restore all the damage that I had caused was through surrendering my life to Christ. So it was finally at that point, during the summer of 2000 when I was 15 years old, that I first repented and trusted in Christ for salvation.

When I made that decision to trust in Christ, things began to change pretty quickly. Within a matter of days, God began to place in me an insatiable desire to read His word and pray. I had never honestly sat down and read the Bible on my own before that time, but as I began to read the Bible (starting in Genesis) I just couldn't get enough! Since I was still grounded, I had plenty of time on my hands, too, so I started reading large portions of the Bible for two or three hours a day. He also gave me a new desire to be a blessing to other people rather than a burden. I never really liked Christians before this point, but with the changes that God made in my heart, I actually enjoyed being around my brothers and sisters in Christ, and I wanted to do good to them and show them God's love. Within a matter of months, a number of big changes were obvious in my life, and lots of people were noticing the difference.

At that same time (about 2 or 3 months after I received Christ) God directed me to join a vibrant youth group at a church near my own. It was part of a small community church that wouldn't really catch your eye, but it had a dynamic youth pastor who loved God with all his heart and preached His word unlike anyone else I'd ever heard. Through that group, I got tied in to a small group Bible study lead by a young guy who had come out of a Calvary Chapel Bible college. In that group, our leader took a group of six or seven of us young guys verse by verse through the book of Romans, and opened up God's word to us in a way I had never experienced! His passion and enthusiasm for God's word were contagious, and through that experience I realized that I wanted to spend my time doing the same thing that this youth leader had done for me in teaching me how to study God's word for myself. That first year after I received Christ was incredibly transformative for me, and it propelled me onto the path that I am still going down to this day.

After that first year, life started to go by more quickly. I keep pressing in to learn God's word better, to grow as a disciple of Christ, and to discern God's will for my life. While I had never opened God's word to read it on my own before I was 15, I spent my last three years in high school literally devouring it whenever I could. By the time I graduated from high school, I honestly had read through the Bible at least 12 times (mostly in English, but one time also in Spanish). Other people recognized my desire to study God's word and teach it to others, and so they directed me to go to Multnomah Bible College, a calling which God clearly confirmed.

Since the time that I made the decision to go to Multnomah, God has done a lot of work in my heart and life. I have spent the last six years working very hard to learn God's word better, and I don't regret spending a single one of those years the way I have. These years have been challenging, stretching, and at times frustrating, but God has worked through them all to make me the man I am today. I am genuinely thankful for the path that God has led me down, and although I probably would not have chosen it if presented with the option beforehand, I would not change one bit of it when looking at my past in hindsight.

So where am I going from here? That's a great question! I can honestly say that the thing I am most passionate about in life is to teach God's word to others so that they can read it for themselves and grow spiritually in the process. I have had many opportunities to do this in the past, I have seen God bless my efforts, and I have had people much older and wiser than me affirm that I do have this gift. I don't exactly know where God will use this gift. My heart beats for the local church, and I want to spend myself in the work of strengthing and building up whichever local congregation God might place me in during any particular season of my life. Beyond this, I can't say much. What I can say for sure, though, is that God is not finished working in me yet, and that if the future proves to be anything like the past, I am in for a very interesting journey! 

Thank you, Father, that you have taken someone like me-someone who rejected you, rebelled against your laws, and slandered your name-and chosen to make me your son! Your grace is much greater than I can imagine, and your mercy much greater than I could ever see. Let your Spirit continue His work within me, and let me never be content until your perfect work of making me more like Jesus is accomplished. Amen!

What Does God Want To Cleanse From The Temple Of Your Life?

I was getting counsel from an older friend of mine who has been a mentor to me for the past three or four years yesterday, and he shared with me an insight he received recently into Scripture that absolutely astounded me. In John 2:13-22, we read: 

The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

This passage of Scripture is pretty straightforward-Jesus went into the temple in Jerusalem, drove out those who were polluting the place that was supposed to be dedicated to worshiping God, and that was that. My mentor showed me, however, that there is something deeper going on here that we don't immediately notice.

In the Old Testament and into the time of Jesus, the tabernacle and then the temple was the one place beyond all others that was to be set apart as holy for the worship of the one true God. There were regulations and requirements for how worship and sacrifice was to be carried out in and around the temple, and people could not just simply approach God however they might wish to. Because of this, when worldliness began to enter into the temple (here in the form of commerce), Jesus was filled with a holy anger and was moved to violently clear all the impurities from that place.

With the death of Jesus, however, things changed. When Christ died, the veil separating the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies was torn in two, and through this God made it clear to everyone that He no longer dwells in any sense in buildings made by human hands. Does this mean that God no longer has a dwelling place, then? Not at all! As a matter of fact, the Bible now teaches that God has at least two places where He dwells as He did in the temple. So we read in 1 Corinthians 3:16-17:

Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.

God's temple here seems to refer to the church as a corporate body (think your local church). In some sense, when a group of believers commits to meeting together on a regular basis, they now become the temple of the living God. But later on in 1 Corinthians, we also get a different picture in 6:19-20:

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Unlike 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, the temple of God spoken of in 6:19-20 is not the local church, it is actually you as a saved individual!

So given the fact, then, that God now dwells in you as a person and your church as a congregation of believers, let's think back to John 2:13-22. Jesus was filled with a sense of holy anger when the temple of God (the building) was polluted, and He went to radical measures to clean it up. Now that we are God's temple, is there any pollution in us that God wants to clear out of the way?

Here's how my mentor actually asked this question: "What does God's Son want to clear from the temple of your life?" And ever since he asked me that question, it has burned in my heart and caused me to do a lot of thinking... So let me ask you: what does God's Son want to clear from the temple of your life?