gospel

Be Ready

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“If with heart and soul you’re doing good, do you think you can be stopped? Even if you suffer for it, you’re still better off. Don’t give the opposition a second thought. Through thick and thin, keep your hearts at attention, in adoration before Christ, your Master. Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you’re living the way you are, and always with the utmost courtesy. Keep a clear conscience before God so that when people throw mud at you, none of it will stick. They’ll end up realizing that they’re the ones who need a bath. It’s better to suffer for doing good, if that’s what God wants, than to be punished for doing bad. That’s what Christ did definitively: suffered because of others’ sins, the Righteous One for the unrighteous ones. He went through it all—was put to death and then made alive—to bring us to God (1 Peter 3:13-18).

That’s the key. Be ready. If you live a godly life (or even make the attempt in the Spirit of God to live a godly life) it will draw attention. I heard once that believers should live questionable lives, but not in the sense of believing one way and living another but in such a way that the way we speak and behave will draw questions as to why we’re different (in a good way, hopefully).

I also think we should be praying at every moment for opportunities to have gospel conversations, especially with the family and friends we love and hold dear. I know the famous quote attributed to Saint Francis says to preach the gospel at all times and use words if necessary. I think from the Great Commission, words are always necessary. We simply need wisdom and discernment as to the timing of when we’re supposed to speak up and tell our gospel story.

The more the world slips further away from God, the more we will stand out. The more those not of God will hate us and mistreat us and try to trip us up. But also the more people will see something about us that they don’t have — peace under pain , joy in the midst of sorrow, patience under suffering, hope that never fails. Then some will want to know about that hope that we have. Then we should be ready to give an answer.

I found something that every believer should pray called the Three Open Prayer: “1) Lord, open a door to share the gospel. 2) Lord, open the heart of the lost to receive the gospel. 3) Lord, open my mouth to share the gospel.”

Pray for Ramadan

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One thing I started this year that will hopefully become a tradition is praying for Muslims during this time of Ramadan, a holy time in Islam where Muslims are encouraged to fast during the day and immerse themselves in Qu’ran reading.

There is a very helpful prayer guide that the International Mission Board has created to encourage believers to pray for Muslims during this time. There is a daily prayer guide that gives specific prayer points for people groups and practices so that we can better pray for God to reach out to these Muslims.

The website is https://pray4digital.com/prayforramadan. You can sign up to pray at certain times during the day throughout Ramadan. I have committed to pray daily from 7:05 to 7:20 pm (though I confess I have yet to pray during my allotted time slot. I usually end up praying later in the evening).

I truly believe all great movements of God start with prayer. I also believe that we have not because we ask not, so I think we should all be praying for a multitude of Muslims to come to faith in Jesus during this time. After all, Jesus is prominent in the Qu’ran, so it’s natural that they could easily be inclined to want to know more about Him.

I’m fairly certain that God is present when two or more are gathered in His name, but I would love to see multitudes of believers who love their Muslim neighbors and friends enough to pray for them. Remember that the same Paul who wrote 1/3 of the New Testament was originally a terrorist against the faith until an encounter with Jesus made Him the biggest champion of Christianity. Anything is possible when it comes to God.

I hope and pray that you will join me in this endeavor in praying for God to move mightily in the Muslim world. Above all, I echo the cry of every believer when I say, “Come quickly, Lord Jesus!”

Cloud of Witnesses

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“Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2, CSB).

I had the honor of being invited to the premiere of a short film directed by a friend of mine at the Franklin Theater last night. It was mind-blowing to see the place packed out and to see everyone clapping and cheering when she came up to the microphone to introduce the film.

My favorite part was after the film when we all gave her a standing ovation that made her cry a bit. It was such a moment of celebration and joy that culminated a long process to get this short film from her mind to paper to the screen.

Then I remembered the verse in Hebrews that talks about the cloud of witnesses surrounding us. In my own sanctified imagination, I can see them — everyone we’ve ever known and loved — watching us from above and clapping and cheering for us when we finally cross that heavenly finish line.

I don’t know if my vision is entirely biblical, but I like to think that heaven is invested in our earthly race. We never run alone and there is not a moment when we’re not loved and supported and cheered on. I know for certain that we have an advocate in Jesus who prays for us and watches us and encourages us onward. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that all the saints who’ve gone before us have ringside seats to see God’s people living out the Great Commission.

I know that my church has a small cloud of witnesses that cheers us on as we reach out to our neighborhood, city, state, nation, and world. I imagine Ron, Matt, and Rick (and probably others I’ve forgotten to mention) cheering and clapping as we continue to take the gospel to wherever we live, work, and play.

One day, maybe we will be in that cloud of witnesses and get to be the ones who will clap and cheer for others as they finish their race and get to hear the longed for words of Jesus to them: “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Trusting in the Wrong Things

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“A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth; this has been exactly reversed. Nowadays the part of a man that a man does assert is exactly the part he ought not to assert – himself. The part he doubts is exactly the part he ought not to doubt – the Divine Reason” (G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy).

These days, the problem is always with THEM. It’s always someone else’s fault. In politics, the blame has gone to either Trump or Harris supporters, depending on which side of the aisle you sit. It has become very fashionable (and very easy) to point the finger from a high and lofty position with which to judge others.

Even in this, I have to point the finger at myself as well. I can’t tell you how many times I read a passage in my Bible and thought how this or that person needed to hear it. They’re the ones who need straightening out.

But then God gently reminds me that this word I’m reading is not for anyone else but me. The reason for my time in God’s Word isn’t so I can use it to point out other peoples’ flaws. If there’s any finger pointing, it’s me pointing back at me.

In this culture, it’s also popular to redefine truth and Christianity to fit into societal norms rather than transforming society by biblical truth. So many people and churches and even denominations have watered down the gospel to the point that it’s only a kind of feel good self-help doctrine where no one’s really lost and sin doesn’t really exist and everyone’s going to heaven and it really doesn’t matter how you live.

But the problem is that there’s no hope in that kind of gospel. There’s no deliverance or transformation or future. Jesus talked about the blind leading the blind, and that fits a lot of current theology. But Jesus came to set us free and not just make us better human beings but brand new creations. He came to die for us while we were yet sinners that we might truly become the sons and daughters of God.

The Bible talks about working out your salvation in trembling and fear. Maybe that looks like preaching the gospel to yourself and each other every single day. Maybe it looks like not trusting in your own understanding but in all your ways leaning on God’s revealed truth and on God Himself. Maybe it looks like not accepting everything that comes from a pulpit or position of authority but exercising discernment by checking everything against the Word of God to see that it matches.

Reframing Your Past, Present & Future

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I’ve never thought about gratitude like that before. I get that it changes the way you see your present and can shift how your future plays out, but to change your perspective on your past? That’s a game changer.

The old saying about grace is that it means that your past now serves a purpose instead of serving shame. Gratitude helps you to see how every part of your past, good and bad, has led you to the present moment. God was in all of it with you, taking those dark and painful moments to weave them in with the brighter colors.

Also, sometimes when you look at a famous painting too closely, it looks like a big chaotic mess. You can’t tell anything about it. But once you step back, it becomes clearer. The same applies for life — once you can step back after a few days or weeks or months, you can see more clearly what God was up to in that moment.

You don’t have to give thanks FOR those awful moments and tragedies. But you can give thanks IN them. Paul didn’t say give thanks FOR all circumstances but IN all circumstances, knowing God works all things together for good and there is a redemptive purpose for pain and loss.

I still think about that quote about muddy water becoming clear as it settles and is still. So do we. Everything becomes clear when we cease striving to make it make sense and can be still and know that God is God, to know that God is still in control and in charge.

And it all begins with gratitude.

A God We Can’t Exaggerate

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“Many Spirit-filled authors have exhausted the thesaurus in order to describe God with the glory He deserves. His perfect holiness, by definition, assures us that our words can’t contain Him. Isn’t it a comfort to worship a God we cannot exaggerate?” (Francis Chan)

There’s a beautiful old book by J. B. Phillips called Your God Is Too Small. I think that’s the case for anyone who has ever lived who tried to conceive the idea of God. We always fall short. We always make God way too small.

The problem with a lot of deconstruction is that we make ourselves the standard by which God and truth are measured. We are definitely too finite and small to be any kind of measuring stick to which God must conform (thanks to Frances Chan for that one as well). It’s putting ourselves above God, essentially saying that God would never [fill in the blank] because I would never [fill in the blank].

God not only above us, He is so far beyond us that our minds could never have fathomed God at all apart from God revealing Himself to us. That blows my mind. It also humbles me whenever I get to the place where I think I have God figured out.

We can’t possibly exaggerate God. How cool is that? The biggest, grandest, wildest picture we can dream up or draw or sing about or write about falls short of who God is by far. All we can do is sit at the brink and adore the depth, to borrow from Matthew Henry.

God is never too small. Only our conception of Him is. But God made Himself incarnate and came near and became a tiny infant. That’s my favorite part.

Homesick for God?

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“How many people have you made homesick for God?” (Oswald Chambers, Disciples Indeed)

That’s the key to evangelism, I think. It’s not constantly reminding people how sinful they are or ridiculing their worldview. I think in that approach we forget that we too were once sinful and had wrong beliefs about the universe.

What was it that won you over? What was it that made you want to know and love God? Was it really someone telling you what an awful person you were? Was it someone constantly berating your beliefs?

I think the key is to make people long for God to the point where they’re homesick for God. I think people seeing you loving God and living out of the overflow of God’s love for you will want to know God. People who see you loving others well the way God loved you well will crave that kind of love, even if they don’t have a name for it.

The way the early Church drew people was in how those believers loved each other. They loved lost people as well, but mainly it was in their love for each other that made people want to hear their gospel message.

If all you have is a well-defined set of doctrines and beliefs, no one cares. If all you have is a passion for making people as moral as you are, then no one wants to hear about it. But when you live transformed and let the life of Christ in you permeate everything you do, then people can’t help but see and be drawn to what they don’t have.

The key is to make people homesick for a home they’ve never known but want to go to more than anything or anywhere else. Make them homesick for God.

Come Out from Among Them

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“Therefore go out from their midst,
    and be separate from them, says the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:17,ESV).

I think the time is coming when true followers of Jesus will have to “come out from among them and be separate,” as the old King James puts it.

I think for some of us, it will mean leaving churches and denominations that no longer teach the Bible or the true gospel of Jesus. It might mean distancing yourself from a political party (or both of them) that no longer follows biblical morality.

I have to tread carefully here because I don’t want to be judgmental, but I think America has a lot of people who identify as Christians but a lot less who actually follow Jesus. Many are spiritual or religious but far fewer have been truly born again and are regenerate new creations.

The answer to the moral free fall the country is in is not to get “our” people elected or to get “our” platform made into law. It’s not even to get lost people to act right. It’s to get Christians back to believing and acting like Christians. It’s to get churches back to the whole gospel of Jesus and the whole Bible, teaching those old-fashioned concepts like hell, sin, atonement, and salvation.

We probably need to learn how to believe in the gospel again apart from the American Dream that we’ve woven into the redeeming narrative of the cross. We need to return to being the prophetic voice of God instead of vying for political power. We could do with a present day John the Baptist or two to tell people to repent because the Kingdom of God is coming.

We need to get back to the gospel that is for all people. Not a gospel of God loves you just as you are and wants you to stay that way, but God loves you too much to let you live in anything less than His absolute best for you. We also need to love the least of these like Jesus did, remembering when we serve one of these, we serve Jesus Himself.

We need a true revival not of showy emotions and signs and wonders but of confessing sin and repenting and turning from our way and following God’s way. We need to stop conforming with the world and letting it teach us theology and return to being transformed by the renewing of our minds by God’s word.

At this point, I think it will take a miraculous act of God to turn us around. You did it in the past, Lord. Do it again, God. Do it again.

Seek God First

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“We know God too little. In our prayers, we are concerned less with His Presence, than the thing on which our heart is set.  We think mostly of ourselves, our need, and our weakness, our desire and prayer. But we forget that in every prayer God must be First, must be ALL” (Andrew Murray).

I forget that sometimes. My prayer life can easily become a laundry list of wants or a kind of cosmic letter to Santa about what I want for Christmas. I can get so wrapped up in my requests that I forget that God is so much more than what He can give me.

I forget that God can’t give me anything apart from Himself (with much thanks to C. S. Lewis for that one). Besides, what I really desire can’t be found outside of God anyway. What I really in my deepest heart of hearts need is God.

If I in my prayer life seek God first, strive after God’s Kingdom (which is no more or less than God’s active rule and reign more than a location), then God said He would give me the rest. In pursuing God whole-heartedly and solely, I end up finding everything I need without even looking for it.

I read something that shook me a bit. If I got everything I ever prayed for, would the whole world be better off or would just my little world be better? Am I praying for my own wants and need or am I seeking God’s blessings for those around the world who have yet to hear the gospel? Am I praying for those in my sphere of influence who don’t yet know Jesus?

I think if I seek God that way, I won’t care about a lot of what I pray for now. I also believe that my own needs will be met and God will give me what I would have asked for had I known what He knows and seen what He sees.

Burdens

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I wonder how many of us are carrying secret burdens because we have this mentality of “I don’t want to be a burden to anyone else” and “I have to bear this alone.”

I do think that’s one of the negative consequences of this kind of Lone Ranger/ pull yourself up by your own bootstraps kind of individualized American Christianity. Not only is it okay to share your burdens, it’s actually commanded both bear one another’s burdens.

That means you occasionally take someone else’s burden. Also, that means that another sometimes takes your burden. It works both ways. Not only are you making your own life harder by bearing unnecessary burdens but you also deprive someone else of the joy of fulfilling God’s command in that way.

That’s the most tangible way we have of showing our love for each other. And oh, by the way, how we love each other is the greatest witness to the saving power of Christ and the gospel that we have. The early Church turned the known world upside down by how they loved each other. Also by how they loved their neighbors but mainly by their sacrificial love for each other.

My prayer is that churches become places where we can unburden and find rest, not a place where more burdens are added. Part of it starts with the Church but part of it starts with you and I being willing to share our burden and let it be known that we’re struggling instead of the pat answer of “I’m fine” whenever anyone asks how we’re doing.

I think when I let you share my burden and you share mine, we learn a little more of what it means when Jesus bore all our burdens to Calvary. We understand more of what it means about His yoke is easy to carry and His burden is light. And the world sees a love that it simply cannot resist.