A Humble Clergy

By: Dr. Jimmy Young

Pastors need to avoid the Pastoral Epistles. Those are the Pauline letters to some guys who were laboring alongside him in the gospel ministry. You would think that those books would be uniquely helpful to pastors, and they are. But my advice is… avoid them.

Why? That can only be asked by someone who hasn’t read them. In II Timothy alone, there are so many injunctions that expose our pastoral failures. Things like: “pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace (2:22)”; “…always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry (4:5).”

Of the eight injunctions in those two verses, all eight of them slay me. My point, I think, is this: all of us so-called clergy types have very little to be high-minded about. So, in the face of those and other reminders, the need of the hour is a humble clergy. Anything other than that borders on the irrational.

Why Christians Should Be the Hardest Workers Around

By: Brent Wilkins

Work, and the ability to do so, is a gift from God. Ecclesiastes 9:10 tells us that “whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.” Obviously that includes work. We are to work with all our might out of gratitude to God, for his glory and for our own good. Our hard work can also be a witness to those around us. It communicates something not only about who we are but whose we are.

If you’ve been around me for very long, you know that I am a Nebraska Husker football fan, so please oblige me and forgive the illustration. Husker running backs coach Ron Brown has twenty-seven former pupils who have gone on to pro football careers. However, Brown does more than prepare them for the next level of play… his passion is sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ and preparing young men for life. Brown has a number of Christian athletes, one of them being running back Rex Burkhead. Last week a reporter asked Brown about Burkhead and what makes him the ideal role model for the other players. Here was Brown’s answer:

Rex is a great Christian kid, and there are a lot of Christian kids who are brought up to think that a good Christian football player needs to be a good sport that doesn't use bad language, gets to bed on time and doesn't drink or smoke… but the reality of it is Jesus has called us to glorify Him out on the field. I really believe the Christian athlete ought to be the toughest, most intense, most relentless player on the field - the one who doesn't give up, is the most courageous player and the hardest working guy out there.

I don’t know about you, but that motivates me. As a Christian we should be the hardest working guy/gal out there. Our hard work does not result in justification or salvation, but as God enables us, it can bring glory to his name and be a witness to the world around us.

Lessons in Prayer from Romania

By: Johnny Coggin

Ever wondered what you could learn about prayer from Christians in Romania? Me either, till today. But I'm glad I read this article, and hope it will encourage you and give you fresh (international!) perspective on the importance of prayer.

What Romanian Believer's Taught Me About Prayer

Text Message

By: Chris Leuck

I received this text message from a dear friend this morning. It has been deeply encouraging to me and I hope it will be the same for you:

“This morning, as I think about the Holy Scriptures and my ineptness… my lack of knowledge, my overall pitiful status, and just how insignificant I am in the whole scheme of things… it’s a real pity party. THEN, Christ shows up and reveals the Gospel to me again as though I had never heard it before. I mean, I’m on my knees in tears and I can’t even shout out “I love you, Jesus” without choking up… a 51 year old man sobbing like a baby. I began to see again the absolute power of the Gospel. He shows me that He is my wisdom… I don’t have to prove anything. I don’t have to accomplish anything. I am free of all worldly perspective and expectations. I am free in Christ. He is my love, my desire, my significance, and my motivation. This IS the power of the Gospel. Let’s pray that the Gospel is at the heart of everything we say, think, and do. I seem to forget that so often.”

So do I.

Dealing with Injustice

By: Dr. Jimmy Young

One of the harder things to stomach, for all of us, is being the victim of injustice. We clamor for justice with statements like, “That’s not fair,” or “That is so wrong.” The fact is, our cry for justice is a dangerous thing, because what we really want is mercy for us, and justice for “them.” Don’t ever ask for justice; you may just get it.

That longing for justice is a fundamental proof of God’s existence, because if there is no God, justice will never be done. But one principle often overlooked in this pursuit of justice is found in I Corinthians 6:7. Paul, dealing with Christians suing other Christians, simply asks, “Why not rather be defrauded (wronged)?” It is often better to suffer wrong than it is to fight for justice.

Oh, how principles like these take a bite out of my flesh. And, very likely, that was God’s intent in authoring my “unjust” circumstance. I've still got a long ways to go. Boy, do I need a Savior.

The Gospel and Worship

By: Johnny Coggin

Worship is very frequently a legalistic activity (e.g. "You are right with God if you go to church for worship," and, conversely, "You aren't if you don't"). Oh sure, you don't think you're a legalist. I don't generally believe I am either. But I can almost guarantee that we both fall into this kind of false thinking from time to time, if not every single week when gathering with the local church to worship God.

Do you ever have a subtle sense that God is pleased with you because you were just worshiping so deeply? Or that he is disappointed with you because your heart "wasn't in it" during worship, or perhaps because you were distracted with a wandering mind, lustful thoughts, or judgmental attitudes? I know I feel this way sometimes! And it's utterly unbiblical.

The problem here is a failure to remember and apply the gospel. Yes, even in worship. Heck, especially in worship! Genuine worship must be rooted in the gospel.

Here are a few quotes from a recent article in TableTalk called "The Gospel and Worship." I strongly encourage you to take a moment to read the entire article.

"The gospel takes the natural, worldly view that worship is a person justifying himself by reaching up to God and corrects it with the truth that worship is a person responding to the God who has reached down through the gospel of Jesus Christ."

"God made our hearts, and He made them to find their greatest joy and satisfaction in Himself... worship begins with an understanding of the gospel."

"We also need the gospel during worship in part because of the sins we commit in worship. We may sing, speak, or pray thoughtlessly or hypocritically in various moments of worship. The application of the gospel to our minds and hearts in worship encourages us that our sins during worship are forgiven and that the Lord receives us even though our worship is imperfect."

"The gospel reminds us that our worship, although flawed, is acceptable — not because of what we do or how well we do it, but because of what Christ did for us. He made worshipers out of rebels, and because our worship comes to the Father in Jesus’ name, He sanctifies our worship to make it pleasing to the Father."

Read the full article here.

Are You Prepared?

By: Erin Pearce

Andy and I are in a stage where we just love life. We feel so overwhelmingly blessed right now in this year and a half of marriage we have experienced. We often wonder aloud to each other, “I wonder what the Lord has in store for us?” We know the Lord has a plan for us, but oftentimes we don’t think about God’s plan being a route that tests our faith to produce steadfastness and patience, as well as many other marks of a Christian. We are trying more to talk about how we want to learn to glorify God in every situation. We know that things will come to test us, but we want to be prepared.

I’m reading a book called The Sovereignty of God by A.W. Pink, and this is what he says about two different ways to view life.

"Here is the fundamental difference between the man of faith and the man of unbelief. The unbeliever is 'of the world,' judges everything by worldly standards, views life from the standpoint of time and sense, and weighs everything in the balances of his own carnal making. But the man of faith brings in God, looks at everything from His standpoint, estimates values by spiritual standards, and views life in the light of eternity. Doing this, he receives whatever comes as from the hand of God. Doing this, his heart is calm in the midst of the storm. Doing this, he rejoices in hope of the glory of God."

Andy and I long to be like this man of faith. Being calm in the midst of the storm would be quite unnatural, but possible with the Holy Spirit. I guess you never really know if you are prepared for trials, but don’t you think it would be a good thing to try to prepare for that?

Daniel 11:32b - “...but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action.”

5 Ways to Make God Known at Your Job

By: Johnny Coggin

I realize that my vocation happens to be in the ministry of a church, so this may seem absurd to say. But I (like you I'm sure) struggle at times with questions like, "Is what I'm doing at work really God's will?" or "Does any of this have any real, lasting significance?" Or even, "Is God glorified and made known through my efforts?" You may feel the same things from time to time, even if the busy pace of life keeps those thoughts brief and easily rushed away.

I read the following from John Piper's blog at Desiring God yesterday, and felt like his 5 brief points gave me something to "hang my hat on" in this area. See if they help you find significance in the "small" things of your work, whether it's in a corporate office or raising kids at home.

I have in mind at least five things—five ways to make God known through your secular job and all of them are important. When one of them is missing, the witness to the truth of Christ suffers.

1. The excellence of the products or services you render in your job shows the excellence and greatness of God.

2. The standards of integrity you follow at your job show the integrity and holiness of God.

3. The love you show to people in your job shows the love of God.

4. The stewardship of the money you make from your job shows the value of God compared to other things.

5. The verbal testimony you give to the reality of Christ shows the doorway to all these things in your life and their possibility in the lives of others.

Think About These Things

By: Jim Umlauf

I hesitate to cite Amy Winehouse because there are some explicit lyrics in her songs that most readers of a church blog would certainly not approve of. What grants a little license, I think, is the obvious irony of her best known song, “Rehab.”

What happened to her is a lesson to us. Independent wealth meant she had no financial concerns. Rock star status meant no moral boundaries. Everyone she kept close to her in life said, “yes.” In essence, she got anything she wanted whenever she wanted it, and that’s a recipe for disaster. It really got me thinking: Are we, as fallen image bearers of our Creator, trying, due to sin, to ultimately destroy ourselves? When one overeats, it’s not mounds of carrots and baby spinach. It’s stuff that’s particularly bad for the human body in bulk.

As Christians, we have spiritual life where there was none before. We are a new creation, with a new hope and a new eternal home. We have the righteousness of Christ imputed to our account. In other words, when God looks at our moral “bank account,” he sees ZERO PERCENT of our sin and mangled attempts at morality, and ONE HUNDRED PERCENT of the righteousness of his Son. Those realities eternally safe in the living Christ, there’s still a part of us on this side of heaven that grapples with sin. So how are we to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? How are we to walk in the light as he is in the light? How are we to run the race, keep in step with the Holy Spirit, seek first the Kingdom of God, and renew our minds?

The place to go is where God reveals himself—in his word. The same Holy Spirit who penned it is the same Holy Spirit who breathes life, summons souls, and illumines truth.

Will you join me over the next week to commit to memory my favorite Scripture song, Philippians 4.8? It's number three on the CD, and can also be played below. We’ll sing it together a week from Sunday. Here’s the verse itself:

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, thing about these things.

Be Sure to Eat the Right Corn

By: Dr. Jimmy Young

Just got back from Iowa. Ever been there? When you’re flying in, all you can see for miles around is field after field of corn. While there, I learned that there are 3 kinds of corn. There is seed corn; there is feed corn; there is sweet corn. Only one of those is worth eating by us humans. But it all looks like corn.

Truth is like that in a way. Jeremiah, one of my heroes, points that out a lot in his book. One place, which is repeated elsewhere, is chapter 8, verse 11: “They have healed the daughter of my people lightly, saying, 'Peace, Peace' when there is no peace.” Who did that? Verse 10 tells us: the prophets and priests.

The professional clergy of Jeremiah’s day was telling people all was well, when all wasn’t well. If given a choice, who wouldn’t want to bring the peace message? But if isn’t true, then the end result is ruin.

Guys, there are lot of truth claims out there, and they all have a ring of truth to them. They all look like corn, but much of it will hurt you if you eat it. There is only one edible corn, one sweet corn, and it is found coming right from God’s mouth. Some of it stings. Some of it warms. But once you swallow it, it will be sweet to the belly. If you eat that other stuff, you’re gonna end up sick… real sick.

Calvin & The True Christian Life

By: Chris Leuck

Excerpts from the “Golden Booklet of the True Christian Life” by John Calvin:

“It is fitting for the faithful Christian to rise up to the level where Christ calls every disciple to 'take up his cross'... all whom the Lord has received into the society of His saints ought to prepare themselves for a life that is hard, difficult, laborious, and full of countless griefs. It is the will of their heavenly Father to try them in this manner that He may test them. He began with Christ, and He pursues this manner with all His children.”

“For Saint Paul tells us that if we ‘know the fellowship of His sufferings’ we shall also understand the ‘power of His resurrection’; and that while we are ‘participating in His death,’ we are also being prepared for sharing His glorious resurrection… the more we are afflicted by adversities, the more surely our fellowship with Christ is confirmed. By this fellowship, the adversities themselves not only become blessings to us, but they are aids to greatly promote our happiness and salvation.”

“The apostle also explains that it was necessary for Christ to ‘learn obedience by the things which we suffered.’ Why then should we free ourselves from that condition to which Christ, our Chief, had to submit, especially since His submission was on our behalf?”

“Indeed, we cannot show any other obedience to Him than the one He has given to us in Christ; but He is pleased in this manner to exhibit and to test the graces which He has conferred on His saints, that they may not remain hidden and become useless.”

Sound crazy?

More simply put: Hey Christian! You can expect that life will be quite difficult, marred by suffering. It is your heavenly Father’s will to try you in this way, to test you. (Do not think about this “test” like the way a child “tests” his parents, but the way a scientist “tests” his hypothesis). Through suffering, God is “testing” His deposit in you, so that it may not remain hidden. He is testing His deposit in you so that it might be revealed and perfected… that you might be conformed into Christ’s image! As you fellowship with Christ in His sufferings, you will further understand the power of the resurrection… while you “participate in His death,” you are being prepared for sharing His resurrection. God does not test you to torment you… your suffering becomes an aid to your happiness and to the completion of His work in you.