Have you ever prayed for a miracle? Did it happen? If not, how did you respond?

We love hearing stories of answered prayers. Craig Keener recounts hundreds of miracles, both ancient and modern, in his two-volume work Miracles. Faith grows between the covers of such books. On the other hand, a two-volume work recounting all the instances God didn’t answer prayers wouldn’t exactly fly off the shelves. We tend to ignore unanswered prayers, not preserve them in our memories. Even if our house is firmly built on the rock of Christ, unanswered prayers can still shake the foundation.

Yet, just as every Christian must be prepared to give a defense for the hope within them (1 Peter 3:15), every Christian must also be prepared to give a defense when hope seems lost. Two verses in the New Testament show us why we need God to say no to our prayers at times.

1. Unanswered Prayers Give Us Something Better

Paul writes in Philippians 4:6–7, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Paul assumes Christians will walk through anxiety-inducing trials, and when they do, he encourages them to pour out their hearts to God in prayer. Yet, he doesn’t guarantee that God will give them what they want. In fact, in all of Paul’s prayers for the churches throughout his letters, he rarely prays for their circumstances to change. Instead, he guarantees that God will give them something better: peace that transcends understanding.

Most people would think that different circumstances or greater understanding would alleviate their suffering. To be fair, that makes sense. If the fear of the unknown or a particular circumstance is causing distress, the obvious solution is to attain more understanding of the unknown or to change the circumstance. But God’s ways are not our ways. Instead, God gives us a silver bullet of contentment in any and all situations (Phil. 4:11–13). His choice not to change our circumstances forces us to look to Christ for our peace rather than our circumstances and ultimately that is a deeper rest than this world can give.

To put it poetically:

I bow my head and worries cease
Your Spirit speaks unspoken peace
The prince of earth must run and hide
The King of Heaven now presides

When the Lord of Hosts sees one of his soldiers in danger on the battlefield of life, he doesn’t always call off the attack, but he never fails to cover him in the shadow of his wings that the blows may not pierce his peace.

2. Unanswered Prayers Show the World Our Hope

In 1 Peter 1:6–7 we get a theology of suffering. Peter writes, “though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

Peter explains that Christians will endure trials to reveal their faith as genuine and to bring glory to Christ. But how do trials bring more glory to Christ? They do so by solidifying our faith in Jesus and working faith in others that Jesus would be praised rather than rejected on the day he returns. Watching a Christian praise God in suffering reveals God to be more than a genie in a bottle or a superstition. It shows that he alone can satisfy and is worthy of our trust and worship.

Years ago, a doctor was caring for an older woman with a painful and untreatable disease. The woman suffered terribly every day with no medical solution in sight, yet, despite this woman’s trial, her faith in God never wavered. She prayed for healing of course, but when answers never came, her hope remained. The doctor was dumbfounded by her buoyancy in such a storm, and asked her how she could have such hope. The woman explained it was because of her faith in Jesus. Then she asked him point-blank, “Doctor, what do you believe?” He didn’t know what to say. He was so struck by this woman’s hope—and so disturbed by his lack of answers—that he began reading about Christianity and eventually became a Christian.

Christian, your biggest witness might not be how God powerfully answers your prayers, but how you powerfully display the peace of God when he doesn’t.

God hears our prayers and he is mighty to save, but he doesn’t always choose to do so. Hopefully, the next time your prayer goes unanswered, you can bear the trial with joy rather than confusion.

We live in an age of no judgment. Expressive individualism is king, which Jaquelle Crowe defined this way:

This is the follow-your-heart, believe-in-yourself, chase-your-dreams, Disney-Hallmark-MTV gospel…You are the creator of your identity. You are free—even obligated—to be whomever or whatever makes you feel good, no matter what anyone says.^[1]

This isn’t exactly an invitation for honest feedback. In our age, the greatest offense we could show someone is limiting their self-expression, which means any form of criticism may not only offend someone, it could jeopardize the friendship. Yet, we need friends who will speak honestly to us when we’ve gone astray and have endangered ourselves spiritually, emotionally, or even physically.

Actress Gwyneth Paltrow made a fascinating observation about fame:

Fame is such a weird and distorting thing. I’ve thought a lot about it, and my theory is that you kind of stop growing at the age you are when you become famous. Because what happens is, people start removing all your obstacles, and if you have no obstacles you don’t know who you are. You don’t have real perspective on the problems that face you in life, how to surmount them, and what kind of character you have.^[2]

A culture that prohibits criticism has the effect of making everyone famous. People are not confronted with the problems in their life, the problems in their heart, the problems in their relationships, and as Ms. Paltrow says, they “stop growing.”

But one of the biggest problems about cutting ourselves off from criticism, is that it exposes us to dangerous blind spots.

In 1955, Psychologists Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham developed a framework they named the Johari Window. It reveals what can be known about a person. The top left quadrant is what everyone knows about us, things like our job, our physical appearance, our marital status, etc. The bottom left quadrant is what we know about ourselves but keep hidden from others. The top right quadrant is what others know about us but we don’t, like how we are experienced by others, how talented or untalented we are to others in certain areas. The bottom right quadrant is what no one knows about us–not even us (God knows it all).

Notice then that no matter how well you think you know yourself, you only have access to 50% of the information about who you are! Know thyself? How can we without friends who will speak the truth in love? It is difficult, and it takes wisdom and godliness, but we must be that honest friend who is willing to share hard truth.

Loving correction is a gift we cannot live without. AI will tell us what we want to hear to keep us on the platform, affirming us even in the face of blatant wickedness, and some friends will do the same. But for Christians we feel sure of better things (Heb. 6:9). Be a friend and seek out friends who will be honest with you, that you might not stagnate in faith and life but flourish through the path of loving correction.

^[1] Jaquelle Crowe, “How Youth Like Me Learn Expressive Individualism,” Christian Living, The Gospel Coalition, January 4, 2017, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/how-youth-like-me-learn-expressive-individualism/.

^[2] James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales, eds., Live from New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live (Back Bay Books, 2015). 520.

Trusting God in the midst of suffering is one of the hardest things we are called to do as Christians (Job, Psalm 73, John 9:1-3). Yet, it’s something every Christian will walk through. As the saying goes, you are either in a storm or you are sailing into one. But we must not grow frustrated with God. As C.H. Spurgeon said, “even when we can’t trace his hand we can trust his heart.” So, how can we grow in trusting his heart?

By looking at a golf course.

One of the greatest mysteries in the game of golf is how the most historic and lauded golf course in the world came to be. Believed to be shaped predominately by the forces of nature, people have been playing golf at St. Andrews since the 15^thcentury with relatively minor tweaks coming hundreds of years later from the likes of Old Tom Morris and others.^[1] The question is how could a golf course that has garnered unequaled praise from the greatest names in golf have come about without an architect? Essentially, the greatest golf course in history–at least from a course design standpoint–happened by accident. Or did it?

The GOAT?

One thing we do know is that the world’s greatest golfers have often travelled through the same progression of thought concerning that most ancient, mysterious, and magisterial piece of land on the Scottish coastline, known simply as The Old Course. Apathy and frustration typically yield to awe and reverence. For example, at the 1921 British Open hosted at St. Andrews, a young–and at the time majorless–Bobby Jones fumed over the absurdly simple and frustrating layout of the course.

The Old Course punched back, imprisoning Jones in a suffocating pot bunker for several rage-inducing hacks causing him to tear up his score card and walk off the course in shame.^[2] Jones returned six years later to win the British Open at St. Andrews in 1927. In his acceptance speech he gushed, “I had rather win a championship at St. Andrews than anything else that could happen to me…If I never win anything again, I am satisfied.”^[3]

What could turn rage to respect; ridicule to reverence? For Jones, it was a deepened awareness of the seemingly endless strategic possibilities, hidden dangers, and ingenious intricacies of the golf course he had come to regard as the greatest in the world.

Appreciation for the Old Course isn’t restricted to the royal and ancient of the game. Recently, Rory McIlroy shared that his valuation of the home of golf wasn’t great early on in his career, but the more times he played the course his appreciation for it grew so that now he calls it his favorite course. The big cat himself, Tiger Woods, admitted that St. Andrews is his top pick and the emotion he showed during the walk up the 18th in 2021 at the British Open revealed that only the hallowed grounds of the Old Course could subdue his ferocious roar.

It’s also significant that the greatest names in course design have declared St. Andrews to be without equal. Alistair Mackenzie, designer of Cypress Point, Augusta National, and many other stalwarts of the game, heralded St. Andrews as unparalleled and unsurpassable.^[4] The canonized Donald Ross, and King Midas himself, Tom Doak, spent time caddying at St. Andrews to train their eye for design at golf’s most hallowed grounds.

What about St. Andrews could warrant such unparalleled praise?

The natural beauty and the history certainly play a part, but the real riches of the Old Course lay in its genius design. The placement of the hazards, the undulations of the fairways and greens, and the shape of the holes make the course a mental challenge like no other. Each hole challenges the golfer to constantly use their mind and creativity in a battle of wit.

Alister Mackenzie concluded, “I doubt if even in a hundred years’ time a course will be made which has such interesting strategic problems and which creates such enduring and increasing pleasurable excitement and varied shots.”^[5] People have played the Old Course for decades only to discover new ways to play a hole or a subtle slope that has major strategic implications. There is simply no course like it.

Intelligent Course Design

The million-dollar question is, where did this ancient masterpiece come from? What mastermind has emerged to take credit for such an immaculate golf course? Here is the baffling answer: no one knows.

Alister Mackenzie agrees with the general consensus that the course was formed by nature.^[6] Wind and rain formed undulations, collected sand into bunkers, and evened out the plateaus which became the greens. Eventually someone who had perhaps never seen a golf course planted the holes on plateaus where they could be easily seen. Centuries later, the greens are smoother and the routing of some holes are slightly different, but the hazards have essentially remained in the same place and the slopes cast the same shadows as when Henry VIII was on the throne.

Yet, the crown for the creator of this magnum opus has yet to be placed on anyone’s head. Are we to believe that the blueprints of Augusta and Pine Valley reveal a signature, while the matchless cathedral of golf has none? Is St. Andrews the result of blind chance or a perfect gift from above? Is it shaped by nature or an intelligent course designer whose ways are not our ways?

Since I believe in the sovereignty of God, I believe he does nothing by accident. Though all gifts ultimately come from his hand, we can say without exaggeration that St. Andrews is a course designed by God. All beauty, even the Old Course, is meant to point us back to our Creator (Ps 19:1-5).

Trusting God’s Heart in Our Suffering

But perhaps St. Andrews teaches us more about life than it does about golf. If there is an experience that all people can relate to it is the anger toward difficult and seemingly purposeless circumstances in our life. The view from most tee boxes at the Old Course reveals a seemingly bland, uninteresting view, but a closer look reveals riches untold.

Could this be the lesson St. Andrews has for all who have the privilege of signing its tee sheet? Could the whisper of wisdom from the ancient Swilcan Bridge be that though our circumstances look purposeless, uninteresting, dark, there could be meaning and purpose behind it all from the hand of a mysterious architect (Rom. 8:28)?

There is a story of a man who climbed a great mountain and was rewarded with an unspeakable view. When he returned from his journey he was asked to describe what he saw. The man responded, “Oh I couldn’t possibly do that. I could write a poem about it, I could dance and sing of it, but I couldn’t describe it.” Maybe a description isn’t what St. Andrews deserves but rather a poem that speaks of one who works in mysterious ways:

Deep in unsearchable mines
Of never-failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs
And works His sovereign will

^[1] “The Old Course, St Andrews,” Rules History (blog), accessed March 6, 2025, http://www.ruleshistory.com/oldcourse.html.

^[2] Mark Frost, The Grand Slam: Bobby Jones, America, and the Story of Golf (New York: Hyperion, 2004). 147.

^[3] Frost. 294.

^[4] Alister Mackenzie, The Spirit of St. Andrews (Chelsea, Mich.: Sleeping Bear Press, 1995). 142.

^[5] Mackenzie. 6.

^[

If you don’t pray in tongues God hears you, but it’s like you are using dial up, while I’m on high-speed internet. At least that’s what my friend was told in college.

Agree to disagree. But such comments aren’t unique. History is littered with examples of Christians denigrating the faith of fellow believers over secondary and tertiary issues.

This continues today as the faithfulness of many Christians is questioned over the issue of politics. Due to increasing hostility from the left, many Christians have argued that the only path to biblical fidelity is to openly endorse the Republican party. Pastors especially have been called on to use their authority to exhort their congregations to vote Republican, burying in the past the notion of Christian liberty in politics.

Young people especially have been drawn to this conservative movement, throwing their hands up at the aggressive and irrational ideologies of the left and holding their arms out to leaders who are willing to state the truth publicly and unapologetically. This is evidenced by the popularity of conservative truth-speakers like Charlie Kirk among Gen Z men.

We should rejoice that young people are attracted to biblical views on key cultural issues. Yet, dangers linger. Tying the church to a political party can damage the faith of young people and threaten their evangelistic witness. To avoid this, we must be open to an issues approach. This is not a commitment to winsome cultural capitulation–or at least it shouldn’t be–but involves being openly critical, when necessary, of both political parties while continually pointing to Scripture as our ultimate moral guide.

Jesus himself modeled this approach, condemning the Pharisees despite the evil of the Romans, rejecting all religious parties who were opposing him rather than choosing sides, and making clear that he came to establish a heavenly kingdom through the church–not an earthly one through the state.

This doesn’t mean all political options are morally equivalent. We are culpable for our vote and any evil it perpetuates. It does mean a commitment to Scripture over a party platform, to building God’s kingdom over a political movement, and to Christ over any political candidate.

If we politicize Christianity it will have consequences–real, lasting, damaging consequences. Let’s look at seven of them.

Seven Negative Consequences of a Politicized Christianity

1. A Political Christianity Gives People Less than What They Need

In 18^th century England, many political policies were enacted to mitigate the wave of depravity engulfing the nation, but it was the preaching of the gospel–primarily through George Whitefield–that transformed the culture.^[1] The cross alone can change a soul forever. And as the people go, so goes the culture.

As important as abortion, gender, and race are it would be a tragedy for people to mistake conservative ideals for the gospel. This is ideological legalism, the false belief that if our worldview aligns with the Bible then we’re saved. Our need of a savior will be minimized, the gospel will be obscured, and people will not be transformed.

2. A Political Christianity Threatens our Evangelistic Witness

Paul writes, “I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might win some” (1 Cor. 9:22). Paul wanted to remove any unnecessary obstacles to the gospel. That is why he had Timothy circumcised to reach the Jews (Acts 16:3) even though Paul didn’t think circumcision was necessary. If anyone was offended, Paul wanted it to be because of the gospel or Scripture.

Many people today are open to hearing about Christ but may be averse to the Republican or Democratic parties and their leaders. The gospel and the Bible are offensive enough, let’s not add our own controversies.

To be clear, we must speak out on moral issues. Cogent arguments should be made for the sanctity of life, biblical sexuality, and the harmfulness of CRT.

Some argue we shouldn’t talk about these issues because it’s not the gospel. After all, as some argue, non-Christian don’t care about what the Bible says anyway. But most won’t follow that logic to the end. If a non-Christian tells us they want to murder their boss, should we say, “Well, you aren’t a Christian, so I doubt you’d care what the Bible has to say about murder”?

I hope not! I hope we would plead with them since the Bible says that sin will destroy their life, hurt others, and distance them from God.

We must not shrink back from God’s truth. In fact, some might even be drawn to Christianity because of our firm articulation of moral reality amidst a sea of irrationality, but we must not encumber the gospel with politics. The cross alone can save and transform.

3. A Political Christianity Undermines the Gospel

When believers equate Republicanism with true faith they undermine the gospel by requiring what God does not for salvation. Paul belabored this point in Galatians. He condemned the Judaizers for questioning the salvation of Gentiles who weren’t circumcised.

Believe it or not, there are Christians who exhibit fruits of the Spirit, who love expositional preaching, and who are complementarian, who also vote Democrat because of immorality they see on the right. Requiring political affiliation for faith creates a false shibboleth, an unbiblical requirement for salvation which questions the faith of people who are in every respect sincere believers. Instead, we must question our questions about the faith of others–especially when those questions center around non-gospel issues. They are morally culpable for their vote (more on that shortly), but if they denounce the evil on the left while tactically voting left, they are still Christians.

4. A Political Christianity Harms the Conscience of Faithful Christians

If the church is linked with Republicanism then Christians genuinely concerned for immigrants or appalled at the sexual immorality and racism of Donald Trump might be accused of fraternizing with the enemy rather than following their conscience. If their zeal continues they might be told they are flirting with apostacy. This forces a choice: ignore their convictions to appear in line with fellow Christian conservatives or embrace liberalism. Neither are good options. Ignoring our convictions can lead to searing our conscience and embracing liberalism can destroy our faith.

Thaddeus Williams writes this about the dangers of liberalism: “Christians with great intentions welcome socialist ideas into the gates of their faith, only to have their Christians worldview–their doctrines of Scripture, sin, and salvation–plundered from the inside out.”^[2] I agree, and working with college students has only reinforced the dangers of liberalism. But I wonder if some embrace liberalism not because they are drawn to it but because they feel pushed there by Christians unwilling to see the Republican party with a critical eye. An issues approach might draw some to the church but also keep genuine Christians in it.

5. A Political Christianity Violates Christian Liberty

Some attempt to disprove an issues approach via reductio ad absurdum, by pointing to an extreme to show that there are situations where it would be ridiculous for the church to stay politically neutral.

Enter the Nazis.

Surely churches in Germany were required to oppose the Nazis, right?

Some certainly did, but more often they opposed specific evils of the Nazi party. As Robert Benne points out, many churches in Germany supported the Barmen Declaration which condemned Nazi interference with church doctrines and polity, and decried Nazi discrimination according to Scripture. Pope Pius XII denounced the Nazis treatment of the Jews. A Lutheran Bishop in Norway defied Nazi commands, forbidding pastors to announce Nazi Jewish policies in churches.^[3]

Individual Christians resisted in a number of ways. As Benne writes,

Some Christians participated in underground resistance. A small group plotted an attack on Hitler’s life. A number of German politicians–such as Carl Gördeler, Mayor of Leipzig–participated in political resistance to the Nazi regime. Some wrote enough attacks on Nazi policies that they were expelled. Others were muzzled and put under house arrest. Yet others privately disagreed but were silent in the public sphere. Some fled.^[4]

Others joined the Nazi party to subvert it from within. Yet, as Benne writes, “One can no doubt locate authentic Christians among all these options.”

All Christians must oppose evil, but Scripture doesn’t outline exactly how. If the German churches condemned anyone not flying the flag of resistance they would have unbiblically limited the ways the church was mobilized to fight evil. That truth still stands. The church is universal but one approach to fight evil is not.

However, all votes are not morally equivalent. It would have been unwise for the average Christian to show support for the Nazi party–even if they denounced the specific evils of the party–since their support would complicitly perpetuate those evils. The same is true for a Christian voting Democrat today. Because of abortion, any person who votes for that party is complicit in the genocide of the unborn. The preservation of life is a top tier issue in God’s Word.

Though abortion and gender are not the only moral issues represented on the ballot, it should weigh on our conscience as we evaluate the ethics of our vote. Permissible does not mean prudent. Biblical ambiguity on voting carves out a cleft in the rock of Christian liberty, but that doesn’t mean it’s wise to camp there.

6. A Political Christianity Promotes Political Idolatry

Politicizing Christianity encourages people to place their hope in political parties and movements rather than God. If churches emphasize conservatism over Christ so will their congregants. In that case political messianism obscures the beauty of the true Messiah.

Worship God and he’ll shape your politics, worship politics and it will shape your god. Christ’s church exists to glorify him, not Republicans. As Mark Dever has said, “We should worship and pray so ardently in our churches that people get bored who only pretend to know Christ.”

7. A Political Christianity Perpetuates a Movement Mentality

When some argue Christians should have no enemies on the right they flirt with danger. Suggesting that Christians minimize or ignore the flaws of Republican leaders perpetuates a movement mentality, an environment where egregious sin is ignored and abusers can continue in power–to the great detriment of others. This also can wound the conscience of many Christians suppressing the conviction of the Holy Spirit to expose evil. Instead, Christians are called to expose sin regardless of which side of the political aisle it’s on.

Conclusion

When Ambrose was Bishop of Milan the Roman emperor Theodosius attended his church. During that time, Theodosius hastily ordered the killing of 7,000 Thessalonian rioters–a decision he immediately regretted but couldn’t take back.

The following Sunday Ambrose physically barred Theodosius from entering the church, demanding that he walk through the streets of Milan repenting to the people. Theodosius acquiesced. When he was finally able to return to church, Ambrose made him kneel and beg for God’s forgiveness before the congregation.^[5]

Why did Ambrose do this? Because he believed that “The Church belongs to God, therefore it cannot be assigned to Caesar. The emperor is within the Church, not above it.”^[6]

I am confident Ambrose praised God for saving Theodosius, for making him emperor, and for influencing the world through him–but Ambrose never bowed at the altar of Theodosius or the Roman Empire. He bowed to Christ alone. If he was seduced by the power of the emperor he wouldn’t have rebuked him in this needed way.

Christ established a heavenly kingdom to do earthly good, not an earthly kingdom to do heavenly good. Faith can–and should–influence politics. But we must prioritize faith over politics for our faith to affect politics.

Young people are searching but mere conservatism and political movements won’t do. They need Christ and his Word. Where our country or political parties will be in 200 years I don’t know–I know the church will be standing. We can affirm and celebrate aspects of the Republican party and its leaders, but we can’t equate the church with Republicanism because Scripture is the only inerrant party platform and Christ is the only perfect leader.

Herald his name and preach his Word. If we do, young people won’t merely vote, they will be transformed.

^[1] Arnold Dallimore, George Whitefield, vol. 1 (Banner of Truth, 1970). 29-31.

^[2] Thaddeus J. Williams, Confronting Injustice without Compromising Truth: 12 Questions Christians Should Ask About Social Justice (Zondervan Academic, 2020). 192.

^[3] Robert Benne, Good and Bad Ways to Think About Religion and Politics (Eerdmans, 2010). 96.

^[4] Benne, Good and Bad Ways to Think About Religion and Politics. 97.

^[5] Nick Needham, 2,000 Years of Christ’s Power Vol. 1: The Age of the Early Church Fathers, Revised edition edition (Christian Focus, 2016). 187-88.

^[

What do people do with unsolicited advice?

That was the rhetorical question my counseling professor asked my seminary class. The rhetorical answer was clear: nothing.

Too often that describes evangelistic encounters between Christians and non-Christians. We believe everyone needs the gospel. So why do many gospel conversations drive people away like nails on a chalkboard instead of drawing them in like a melody their hearts have always longed to sing?

Perhaps our evangelism is missing something. Scripture illuminates the way to share the gospel, but maybe we’ve missed the way and need to be guided back by…Theo Von?

Common Ground

This is not an endorsement of Theo Von. His content often contains foul language and inappropriate themes–some of which are controversial.

However, like many things, there are redeeming qualities. I’ve been sent clips of Theo Von’s podcast, and listened to one of his interviews in preparation for a series of talks. I instantly saw the secret to his success. Yes, he’s funny–comedians often are–but I think what draws celebrities to his show is his way of relating to his guests. He’s humble, self-deprecating, vulnerable, transparent.

He admits he’s more nervous than Mark Zuckerberg.

He opens up to Donald Trump about his past struggles with substance abuse.

He insists he’s worse at working crowds than Ben Affleck.

This puts others at ease. Knowing they don’t have to impress him, they freely admit their weaknesses to him.

Here is where Christians can learn.

Christians often don’t want to admit their failures, so they strain to maintain a perfect image to outsiders, thinking that revealing a single chink in their shiny armor of righteousness will cause the gospel to fall into disrepute in the eyes of others. But Christ came to save sinners! People who are sick want to hear from others who were healed, not from those who look as if they’ve always been healthy.

Paul modeled this remarkably well. He told the Corinthians he was the least of the apostles (1 Cor. 15:9). He told the Ephesians he was the least of all the saints (Eph. 3:8). He told Timothy he was the chief of sinners (1 Tim. 1:15)! As Paul progressed in Christ, he became more humble, not less; more aware of his need of mercy, not more self-confident. This should be the posture of every Christian as they share the gospel with others.

Here is our common ground with unbelievers: we are all sinners.

Often we approach evangelistic conversations with mindset “You need to be saved.” That is true. But even more true is “I have been saved, and so can you.” We are called to be Christ’s witnesses in Acts 1:8–people who simply testify to the power of God in our life and the supremacy of his grace over our sin.

Common Savior

Next time you share the good news with someone start with how Christ overcame your own failures. If you do, you might be surprised to find others leaning in. Sin, failure, and guilt are universal human conditions, a remora that clings to us on our earthly journey.

In his essay The Strange Persistence of Guilt, Wilfred McClay argues that despite post-modern culture telling people they should do whatever they feel is right, people cannot rid themselves of guilt. In fact, the judgment and moralizing online today could make a Pharisee blush.

Not even post-truth culture has erased shame. We might be surprised how many people today resonate with the old Third Eye Blind song lyric: “Everyone is so self-righteous. Where have you sinners gone?”

People don’t want fake saviors, they want sinners who point to our common savior, the only one who can forgive sins–they need tears, they need light, they need God! This might actually be the strongest apologetic for the gospel.

In her book Out of the Saltshaker, Becky Pippert recounts when her friend became a Christian and Becky was startled to find out why. Her friend said to her,

All my life I used to think, “How arrogant for someone to call himself a Christian, to think he’s that good.” But then I got to know you–and Becky, you are far from perfect, yet you call yourself a Christian. So my first shock was to discover you “blow it” like I do. But the biggest shock was that you admitted it, where I couldn’t. Suddenly I saw that being a Christian didn’t mean never failing, but admitting when you’ve failed. I wanted to keep Christ in a box and let you be religious during Bible studies, but the more you let me inside your life, the more impossible it became to keep the lid on Christianity. Even your admission of weaknesses drove me to him!¹

If we’re real with people maybe they’ll be less impressed with us and more drawn to our Savior.

Our transparence will let people touch God. If that happens, people might actually seek our advice for a change.

In Philippians 2, Paul writes these convicting words: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.” This command is not only counter-cultural but opposes a deeply engrained desire in our sinful nature to idolize the praise and attention of others. Not a few Christians struggle with obsessing over what others think of them. The idolatry of man’s praise violates verses like the one just quoted from Philippians, but most fundamentally it breaks the first commandment to have no other gods before the Lord.

Not only is idolizing the praise of man sinful, it’s dangerous. John 12:43 tells us that many religious leaders continued to oppose Jesus despite seeing him do miracles because “they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.” The worship of man’s approval can and will lead us to very destructive places for our faith and life. Living for the praise of man has driven many people to unhealth for fear of losing that most precious and conditional commodity: the approval of others. This should cause us to long for the freedom of self-forgetfulness exemplified well in the life of George Whitefield.

Whitefield had such a fruitful preaching ministry that one man said there had never been such popularity in the life of so young a person, either in the church or out of it. Understandably, Whitefield feared what such popularity could do to his soul. As he recounts in his own words:

The tide of popularity began to run very high. In a short time I could no longer walk on foot as usual, but was constrained to go in a coach from place to place, to avoid the hosannas of the multitude. They grew quite extravagant in their applause, and had it not been for my compassionate High Priest, popularity would have destroyed me. I used to plead with Him to take me by the hand and lead me unhurt through this fiery furnace. He heard my request and gave me to see the vanity of all commendations but His own.^[1]

Whitefield’s prayer should be our own, that his clear vision of the vanity of the praise of man would also be our own. Isaiah 43 helps us expel the allure of the praise of man by showing us three ways God’s love is superior to the praise of others, and if we internalize these truths we will loosen our heart’s grip on the idol of what others think of us.

Who God Is

The first thing we must notice in this passage is who is speaking. In verse 1, we read these significant words, “But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel.”

God wants his people to know who is speaking. He announces himself to remind them of who it is that loves them and commands them. The words he’s about to speak should be received with great weight because of who utters them.

Words are weighed more or less depending on who is speaking them. When my wife encourages me it means a great deal because of the amount of respect I have for her and how well she knows me. We also give more weight to words spoken by people we deeply admire. Conversely, we often discount words of praise or criticism based on our lack of admiration of that person.

When it comes to weighing a person’s words based on who they are, how could anyone compete with the Lord God? His personal character? Flawless. His knowledge? Infinite. His accomplishments? Every good and perfect gift is from him (James 1:17).

It’s nice to receive an encouraging word from a loved one or a superior, but it is idiocy to value their words over the God who created us and all things. God knows all of our sin, and yet he still loves us. No other source of loving affirmation can compare to him.

What God Says to Us

The dopamine hit we get from a word of praise usually revolves around an exceptional performance of ours. “Hey, Bill! Great job on that presentation!” “Sarah, I can’t believe you did so well on that exam!” “Greg, how are you so good at every sport?!” We feed off these words of affirmation like piranha devouring their prey. But these words are often superficial and conditionally based. They are praising one small part of who we are, which is why people often distort their whole lives to revolve around that one area of their life that receives praise no matter how peripheral it is. But these superficial scraps from the table cannot satisfy us in a way that gives us confidence and emotional security. We need something deeper. We need what only God can give us; we long for those substantive words of affirmation that only come from the lips of our Maker. In contrast to superficial words of affirmation, listen to God’s loving words to his children in Isaiah 43:1-7:

I have redeemed you

You are mine

I will be with you

You are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you

I give men in return for you

Have you ever had someone heap loving words of praise on you that were anywhere near this significant? Has anyone ever approached you after a great athletic performance and dripping with sweat exclaimed, “What a performance! You are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you!” What is even more significant about these words is they are not connected to our obedience. We didn’t do anything to be precious in his eyes which means we can’t do anything to lose that preciousness and love. Imagine what such loving, affirming, valuing, and unchangeable words could do in our life. Think of the quiet confidence, peace, and emotional security we would have if we looked to God’s words instead of the conditional and superficial praise of others.

What God Did for Us

I am standing in a driveway playing basketball with some high school students when one of them said something that I’ll never forget. In an effort to use my words to build people up, I had developed the habit of telling every high school guy I spoke with that they were “the man.” So, standing in the driveway I greet this student and say my standard line: “You’re the man!” With a smile he replies, “But you just told him that he was the man. So, am I the man, or is he?” I learned that night that words of praise, as well-meaning as they might be, ring hollow when they aren’t truthful or backed up by actions.

Loving words that are not backed up by loving actions will yield little comfort. For example, your boss praises you for doing an amazing job on a project but then entrusts the next big assignment to a coworker. Your friend tells you that you are their favorite person to hang out with but doesn’t invite you to a get-together which includes a number of your friends.

When God speaks loving words of affirmation, he backs it up. After showering his children with words of love and inspiring their confidence that he will never abandon them, he then tells them the extent he will go to in order to love then. He says in verse 3-4,

For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
I give Egypt as your ransom,
Cush and Seba in exchange for you.
Because you are precious in my eyes,
and honored, and I love you,
I give men in return for you,
peoples in exchange for your life.

God doesn’t write checks with his words that he won’t cash with his actions. He says, “You are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, and if you don’t believe me, look at what I am willing to do. I will give men in return for you and peoples in exchange for your life!” He reminds the Israelites–who were not exactly a model of faithfulness to him–that he will trade the life of others for their life. And that’s exactly what God did.

Made for More

Lastly, God’s words to us point us to him. In verse 6-7 the Lord says, “bring my sons from afar, and my daughters from the ends of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.” God made us to be satisfied in his love, but he also made us to live for his glory. The more we ponder his character, his power, his holiness, is knowledge, his radiance, and of course his mercy and grace the more we will become obsessed with him and making much of him. We were made to be loved, but we were also made to worship. We find the love we long for in God and when we do we also find in him the ultimate object worth worshipping. True joy and self-forgetfulness is found in living for God’s glory rather than our own. Our redemption

We are commanded in 1 Timothy 2:2 to pray for those in authority over us, and this is for good reason. Government leaders are established by God to be his instrument (Rom. 13:1-7). They enact order and are a blessing even when imperfect. A quick visit to a country with no functioning government will show that imperfect government leaders are better than anarchy.

However, government leaders and political movements are limited. Politics are important but they are not ultimate and will not bring about the change that a nation truly needs. That is why Christians should pray for government leaders and vote wisely, and even seek to change legislation, but above all they should pray for God to bless the preaching of his Word. What will transform people and a nation is not ultimately the right political candidate, but the gospel going forward throughout the world and increasing and bearing fruit (Col. 1:5-6).

There is historical evidence for the argument that the gospel, not political movements do the most good for nations.

In late 17^th century England, conditions were grave morally and societally. The gin epidemic was so bad that one in six houses became a gin shop. Christianity was rapidly being replaced with Deism, Arianism, and atheism to the point that even Queen Caroline received a priest to pray with her at her death to merely avoid the public finding out she was atheist. Prostitution was rampant, the criminal justice system was broken so severely that the death penalty was meted out even for someone unintentionally using a counterfeit bill. Conditions in prisons were horrible, and poverty had reached staggering proportions.

In response to this, many helpful movements were started such as the establishment of hospitals, publicizing the conditions of prisons, legislation against the sale of gin, and even wide spread publishing of Christian resources. However, in the words of Arnold Dallimore, “Despite these many commendable endeavors, there was no noticeable improvement in the moral and religious state of the nation.”

If all these encouraging movements couldn’t bring about the needed change then what could? History shows it wasn’t political movements but the powerful preaching of the gospel that truly changed the nation. England was awakened by the thundering voice of God through the clear and passionate preaching of the gospel which rang out from George Whitefield and others.

What was the effect of this preaching on society? Dallimore says it well:

A religious revival burst forth…which changed in a few years the whole temper of English society. The Church was restored to life and activity. Religion carried to the hearts of the people a fresh spirit of moral zeal, while it purified our literature and our manners. A new philanthropy reformed our prisons, infused clemency and wisdom into our penal laws, abolished the slave trade, and gave the first impulse to popular education.

In short, those who prioritize the gospel do the most social good. It wasn’t a godly emperor that changed and defeated the Roman empire, it was Christianity boldly proclaimed and lived out by men and women of every socio-economic class. This is because man’s greatest problem isn’t outside of him, but within him, and the gospel alone through the working of the Holy Spirit can effect change in that sphere. Paul says in Colossians 2:23 that the false teaching of asceticism has “no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.” The same could be said of political ideologies.

People don’t ultimately need a political movement. Those things have little value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. What does have that power? The gospel. Paul points the Colossians to Christ: “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.” We need a vision of Christ seated on his throne with scars on his hands from accomplishing our redemption.

So, pray for America and this election that God would give us godly leaders that would govern in a way that is pleasing to him. Government leaders matter. The election of Hitler in Germany led to the death of millions. Godly leaders help restrain evil, but only God can abolish it and replace it with righteousness.

If in your heart or in conversation with others a political candidate’s name has been more often on your lips than the name of Christ, then confess that to the Lord and renew your vigor in proclaiming the gospel which alone can change hearts and the heart of a nation. He is our perfect king, he is wise beyond our understanding, his throne is eternal and his term lasts from everlasting to everlasting.

We’re commanded to pray for government leaders, but we’re commanded to preach the gospel. So, let us imitate the 17^thcentury pastor Robert Leighton who said to those who were pressuring him to preach politics: “You preach the times; I’ll preach eternity.”

When I was in high school there was a time I asked a friend to pray for me. I don’t remember what the struggle was, but I do remember my friend’s response. He told me with very clear conviction that I should pray silently because Satan can’t know my thoughts.

Is that true? What can demons do? What exactly is Satan capable of and what should Christians do to guard against demonic attack? These are good questions, all of which Scripture speaks to.

Satan’s Limitations

Before looking at what Satan is capable of, it’s helpful to understand what he’s not able to do.

Satan is not omniscient, omnipresent, or omnipotent.

Demons and Satan do not know the future. This is seen in the gospels, where Satan is clearly confused about how to tempt Jesus. After Peter rebukes Jesus in Mark 8 by telling him he shouldn’t go to the cross, Jesus makes it clear that Peter is being used as an instrument of Satan to tempt him not to go to the cross. Yet, later Satan enters into Judas’ heart (Mark 14:10-11) to tempt him to betray Jesus that he might die. It’s clear that Satan doesn’t know the future, but is trying to thwart Jesus as he understands things.

Satan and demons do not know all things, including the future. They cannot be all places or know our thoughts and minds. But that doesn’t mean Satan is powerless.

Satan’s Abilities

Satan and demons are certainly limited in what they can do, but they are still able to do many things.

Geopolitical Influence

Satan is capable of building up empires and giving great authority to evil leaders. Revelation 13:2-3 says, “And the beast that I saw was like a leopard…And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority.”

There is certainly debate about who or what exactly the beast is. But whether the beast represents a person or an empire, its authority and power is given to it by the dragon who clearly is Satan. In 2 Corinthians 4:4, Paul refers to Satan as the god of this world, and as the god of this world we has power to stir up certain leaders or empires to do his bidding.

Physical Affliction

Satan is also able to afflict people physically. There is the woman stricken with the spirit of infirmity in Luke 13:11, the man’s son afflicted with a demon which “often cast him into fire and into water to destroy him” (Mark 9:22), and the man in Matthew 9:33 who was mute because of a demon.

However, Scripture distinguishes between normal sicknesses and demonic activity. In Matthew 4:33 we read, “So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, epileptics, and paralytics, and he healed them.”

By declaring demon oppression a separate category from other sickness, it’s clear that the gospel writers did not simply see all sickness as demonic activity. But it also makes clear that in certain instances demonic power is behind the illness.

Possession

When people think of demonic influence in the New Testament demon possession perhaps comes to mind. There are numerous occasions where people are seemingly controlled by demons. The most famous of these instances is in Mark 5 where Jesus meets a man with an unclean spirit. This man lived naked among the caves because no one could restrain him. He cried out, it would seem involuntarily, “What have you to do with me Jesus, Son of the Most High God?” When Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit he asked the man, “What is your name?” The man responded, “My name is legion, for we are many.”

This man, like others, was overpowered by a demon as Jesus said was possible in Matthew 12:43. As stated before, Scripture differentiates between demonic activity and normal sickness, therefore every instance of mental illness or sickness isn’t the result of demon possession or demonic activity, but it is possible.

However, Scripture is clear that genuine believers in Christ cannot be overpowered by demons. In Romans 6:14, Christians are promised that sin will not have dominion over us. Also, since Christians are indwelt with the Holy Spirit, they cannot be simultaneously indwelt and controlled by demons. That seems to be the point Jesus is making in Matthew 12:43 when he argues that if a house is swept and empty after a demon leaves then the demon will simply return. The conclusion is that we cannot simply be cleaned up and left empty but must be filled with the Holy Spirit.

But Christians can suffer various kinds of demonic attack. Paul was sent a messenger of Satan to torment him because of his great revelations (2 Cor. 12:7). Though Christians may not suffer demonic possession, they must always be on guard against demonic attack, which leads to the last of Satan’s abilities.

Power to Influence Our Thoughts

Was my friend right to say that Satan can’t know our thoughts? It’s complicated. We know that Satan does not know all things, including our thoughts or hearts. God alone is omniscient.

Yet, Scripture is clear that Satan can influence our thoughts and hearts.

Consider these verses:

2 Cor. 4:4, “In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

John 13:2: “During supper the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him.”

Acts 5:3, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land?”

1 Chron 21:1, “Then Satan stood against Israel and incited David to number Israel.”

Satan cannot know our thoughts, and he cannot control believers, but it’s clear he can influence our thoughts and actions. Yet, how this happens is quite a mystery. In any case, people are always culpable. It appears that Satan more so works within people’s own sinful desires rather than planting sinful desires in their hearts. John Piper comments on this using Judas as a prime example:

it doesn’t mean for Judas, and it doesn’t mean for us — that the intention and the desire did not arise out of Judas’s own sinful nature. He’s described in John 12:6 as a thief who is taking money out of the disciples’ money bag. It says he’s a person who had no heart for the poor, which means he was also a liar, which also means he was greedy. So we can infer pretty certainly from this that Jesus was not the kind of Messiah Judas wanted to follow. He had other things going on in his mind and heart. All Satan had to do was intensify and direct Judas’s own sinfulness. That’s true with us as well. There’s no clear fine line between the thoughts that Satan puts and the thoughts that we come up with, or the desires that Satan puts and the desires that we come up with.

When Satan beckons us to sin with deceptive thoughts or desires, our own sinful nature kicks in and makes those beckonings more attractive.

Satan and demons can incite us to sin, which is why we must not give him an opportunity (Eph. 4:27). That leads us to our last point.

What Do We Do?

Walk in the Truth

As Piper points out in the same post as the quote above, we must walk in the truth. Truth is the opposite of what Satan wants and so if we are to resist the Father of Lies, we must be children of the light and hold fast to the truth of God’s Word. When Satan sought to tempt Jesus to sin, Jesus put on a masterclass of how to fight lies with the truth of God’s Word. We must also be equipped with God’s Word so that we don’t twist it or ignore it as Satan tried to get Jesus to do.

Focus on Fighting Sin

Wayne Grudem points out that there isn’t an emphasis in the New Testament on resisting demonic activity. Rather, the focus is fighting personal sin. Grudem writes, “When the church is guilty of dissension, Paul doesn’t say to rebuke a spirit of dissension but to agree with one another.” We must fight for holiness and resist sin regardless of who put the sinful thought or desire there.

Rest in Christ

Though we must beware of the dangers we face as Christians from the rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers over this present darkness in the world (Eph. 6:12), we also shouldn’t tremble because we know that greater is he who is in us than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4). Demons do nothing God doesn’t allow them to do (Rev. 20:1-3; Mark 9:23). They tremble in his presence and rightly so because he triumphs over them and humiliates the powers and authorities of this world (Col. 2:15).

Conclusion

C.S. Lewis wrote in The Screwtape Letters, “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves (the devils) are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.”

Satan and demons are real and have real power to attack us and fan the flame of our own sinful desires. We must be aware of that and take up the armor of God. Yet, we should be more confident in God’s power to save and protect us from all the powers of hell.

God’s all-powerful protection of us against demonic forces is summed up well in the hymn How Firm a Foundation:

“The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose,
I will not, I will not desert to its foes;
that soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no, never, no, never forsake.”

Some have denigrated belief in God by calling it a God of the gaps. They argue that in ancient history people needed God to explain natural phenomenon like earthquakes, rain, snow, and thunderstorms, because they didn’t understand how the natural world functioned. Now–the argument goes–we understand the scientific forces behind these natural phenomena and so we no longer need God to explain the gaps in our knowledge of the world.

So, do we still need God to explain the world around us? Can we say that God causes the sun to rise when in fact astronomy has revealed that it’s simply the orbit of the earth around the sun? Can we say God causes earthquakes when geologically it is the shifting of tectonic plates? I believe we can, and the reason is found in Colossians 1.

Colossians 1:15-20 is a glorious passage on the supremacy of Christ. In verses 16-17, Paul writes, “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities all things were created by him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”

Creator

First, this passage makes clear that Christ created all things.

We could say that a scientific explanation of a natural phenomenon is the secondary cause, but God is the primary cause. God is the one who put every law of nature in place and who sustains them every second. God is a God of order and so he doesn’t delight in a universe where things are happening randomly or inconsistently. Because of that and because it simply pleased him, he made the universe to function under certain laws. Natural events happen predictably according to these laws such as gravity, pressure systems, and the earth’s orbit. Yet, behind it all is a God who brilliantly and thoughtfully put it all in place.

If I want to send someone a gift I might take it to them myself or I might have it delivered by someone else. But in both cases I could still say I gave them the gift. It’s the same with God and his creation. He is the ultimate cause of all natural phenomena because he put every law of nature in place.

Some of these laws of nature are extremely fine-tuned. For example, physicists claim that if gravity was off by one part in 10⁴⁰ then life would be impossible on earth. To illustrate this, imagine a radio dial with ten thousand billion, billion, billion, billion stations. If the force of gravity was off by one single station then life would be unsustainable. And this is just one example of the remarkable fine-tuning of our universe.^[1]

The best explanation of such fine-tuning is that an all-powerful God created it exactly that way. But what keeps the world functioning so perfectly? God did not simply create the world and then disappear as deism teaches. According to Colossians, Christ continues to sustain all things and hold all things together.

Sustainer

The second law of thermodynamics states that the entropy (disorder) of the world is always increasing. That is, things in the world will always tend to go from order to disorder without outside intervention. Robin Collins illustrates this by pointing to how a child’s room after being cleaned tends to get more and more messy unless cleaned again by the child or parent.^[2] Not only was the universe miraculously fine-tuned initially, it has continued that way, and this is quite remarkable given the second law of thermodynamics. The most obvious solution is that Christ has not only created all things but continues to hold them all together.

Gravity continues at the perfect force because of Christ’s sustaining power, the orbit of all planets continue in perfect synchronization because Christ is upholding the universe.

This is not only the case with the fine-tuned orderliness of the universe, but also with apparent chaos in the universe.

In 1917 Albert Einstein published a paper on what would become quantum mechanics. One of the things in this theory that troubled Einstein his entire life was the randomness with which atoms and photons behave. According to his experiments, when a photon was emitted from an atom there was no way to determine when it would happen exactly or which direction it would go. It seemed to Einstein like chance. This was horrifying to Einstein because he thought it destroyed the principle of causality, the idea that we know with certainty that A will cause B, in the natural world. This led him to say famously, “God doesn’t play dice.”

Werner Heisenberg was a Nobel prize winning German physicist and he was also a devout Christian. He wrote this to Einstein about the troubling nature of seemingly random atomic leaps, “We can console ourselves that the good Lord God would know the position of the particles, and thus He could let the causality principle continue to have validity.”

In other words, nothing is actually random, but perfectly guided and controlled by God who through Christ sustains and upholds all things, making our universe dependable. The consistency of the natural world doesn’t depend solely on laws of nature, but on something much greater: the power of Christ.

Christ holds all things together even at the subatomic level. Things may seem random to us but they are all held together by him and point to him.

So is God a God of the gaps? No, he is God of the universe, and the more we discover about the universe the more we should be amazed at his creative and sustaining power. As Heisenberg said, “The first gulp from the glass of natural sciences [might] turn you into an atheist, but at the bottom of the glass God is waiting for you.”

In September of 2004 a film premiered in Germany called The Downfall and it immediately sparked controversy. The film focused on Hitler’s last days living in a bunker below Berlin. It was controversial because it not only portrayed Hitler as a madman, but as a human. The film attempted to show the charming side of Hitler’s personality and therefore garnered sympathy for him which made many uncomfortable. In America, the movie The Joker created a similar stir by trying to humanize the famed Batman villain and potentially turn audiences’ disdain of his diabolical evil into frustration with his circumstances.

This trend in cinema followed a cultural trend in which blame for people’s actions are more shifted to circumstances.

The Problem

Beverly Tatum tried to dispel what she described as the “myth of a just world.”^[1] In the world of race, Tatum argued that many white people struggle to accept the idea of white privilege because they like to think they’ve earned all the good things they have. If we deny that the world is just or that there’s any thread of a meritocracy left in society then we will accept that those who are successful in society are so because of injustice rather than their hard work and good deeds. Similarly, those who are considered poor or even evil are that way because of injustice.

It’s certainly true that all people should be humble about their success. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:7, “What do you have that you have not received from God? If then you have received it why do you boast as if you have not received it?” God gives different gifts and opportunities to different people. We must make the most of our opportunities while giving ultimate credit to God. There are also times when injustice greatly effects people. In fact, we find that in Scripture. For example, Proverbs 13:23 says, “The fallow ground of the poor would yield much fruit but injustice sweeps it away.”

But if we accept Tatum’s argument that the world is not just at all, we will completely undermine any sense of personal responsibility. This is exactly the step Ibram X. Kendi takes in his book How to Be an Anti-Racist. Kendi writes, “One either believes problems are rooted in groups of people, as a racist, or locates the roots of problems in power and policies, as an anti-racist.”^[2]

Following the logic of Kendi’s thought: if you identify any wrongdoing in a person or a group of people you are a racist. In other words, finding fault with an individual isn’t just wrong, it’s immoral.

The Cost

It might sound compassionate to never blame the poor or lawbreakers for their actions, but it’s not. It actually robs them of an essential part of their human dignity. Michelle Alexander in her book The New Jim Crow about criminal justice elaborates on the challenging circumstance that lead to many incarcerations. But then she writes this:

None of this is to suggest that those who break the law bear no responsibility for their conduct or exist merely as “products of their environment.” To deny the individual agency of those caught up in the system–their capacity to overcome seemingly impossible odds–would be to deny an essential element of their humanity. We, as human beings, are not simply organisms or animals responding to stimuli. We have a higher self, a capacity for transcendence.

Yet our ability to exercise free will and transcend the most extraordinary obstacles do not make the conditions of our life irrelevant.^[3]

If we denigrate personal responsibility we rob people of their humanity. We make them less than human by making only excuses for them. And it isn’t only relevant in the issue of race.

G.K. Chesterton writes in his book Orthodoxy that many socialists in his day located the problem with man in his environment. In other words, the physical conditions of the poor necessarily make them mentally and morally degraded. The problem with this is that it doesn’t give us reason to hold the poor in high regard, but instead it actually justifies the belief that the people born into the greatest privilege and best conditions are the only ones qualified to lead. As Chesterton writes, “If the man with the bad bedroom cannot give a good vote, then the first and swiftest deduction is that he shall have no vote.”^[4] These socialist in seeking to have compassion on the poor and exonerate them from all moral responsibility actually end up arguing for an aristocracy.

Chesterton points out that Christianity from the beginning maintained that the real danger was not in man’s environment, but in man. Of course, this doesn’t mean circumstances are irrelevant. Sometimes there is injustice that needs to change in a person’s circumstance. Yet, blaming circumstances alone infantilizes people and degrades them ultimately. We must hold people in high enough regard to hold them accountable for their actions.

As Christians we must call evil what it is. We must hold people accountable, but we must also hold out hope for all. No one is above the law, but neither are they beyond God’s grace. Yet we must recognize our wrongdoing and repent of it. God welcomes sinners, but only sinners who know they are sinners. If you don’t think you’re sick you’re not showing up to the hospital, and if you don’t think you’re a sinner you’re not showing up to the cross.

The Better Way

So, what does a proper approach to evildoers look like?

During World War II, Corie and Betsy ten Boom were imprisoned by the Nazi’s for hiding Jews in their home. They ended up in a concentration camp where Betsie died of sickness. The way these sisters responded in the midst of one of history’s darkest evils was remarkable. Betsie and Corie prayed for the guards and even showed compassion for them since they saw how sad their estate was to be filled with such hate. They abhorred and were even overwhelmed by the wickedness they were seeing, but also sought to share the gospel with as many as they could including the guards. As Corie boldly told one Lieutenant about the light of Christ who takes away our darkness he pulled his hat down to cover his face and softly said, “What can you know about my darkness?”

We’re headed toward a world with no villains or heroes because personal responsibility is being undermined. Holding individuals accountable is scorned as too harsh, misguided and even morally unthinkable. Yet, to not hold people accountable robs them of their humanity, loosens the restraints on evildoing, and potentially leaves innocent people more vulnerable. Evil is real and people must be held accountable for their actions. We will all give an account to God one day not for our circumstances but for how we acted in our circumstances. There are villains whether we acknowledge them or not. And the sad truth is, in God’s sight, we are all villains because we’ve all sinned. But thankfully we serve a God who died for his enemies. That promise is true for every person no matter their record.

^[1] Beverly Daniels Tatum, Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together In The Cafeteria?: And Other Conversations About Race, Revised edition (New York: Basic Books, 2003). 9.

^[2] Ibram X. Kendi, How to Be an Antiracist (New York: One World, 2019). 9.

^[3] Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (New York: The New Press, 2011). 176.

^[

In Mark 12:28-31 one of the experts in the law, also known as scribes, asked Jesus what he thought was the most important command. Jesus responded,

“The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Jesus’ response is a quotation of two different Old Testament verses. The first half is Deuteronomy 6:4-5, which speaks of loving God with all our heart. The second command he quotes from Leviticus 19:18.

Ordering God’s Word Rightly

The order of Jesus’ answer is vital. Some try to equate the two commandments as essentially the same. Others skip the first one altogether. I remember hearing a talk at a Christian event where the leader of the organization said, “Jesus told us that the most important command is to love others.” I hoped my eyebrows weren’t the only ones raised in the room. That simply isn’t what Jesus said. In fact, that’s humanism. It’s attaching primary importance to humans rather than any divine or supernatural being.

Contrary to the humanistic misinterpretation of Christ’s words, Jesus’ whole response is incredibly God-centered. He starts with the doctrine that there’s one Lord of all and then teaches that the most important command is to love God more than anything or anyone. In fact, even loving others is a way of loving God, because when we obey God by loving others we show we love God (John 14:21). Additionally, Jesus says that if we care for the downtrodden then we’ve actually done those acts of kindness to Jesus himself (Matt. 25:35).

Jesus’ response clearly places love for God above loving others. Yet, his response also couldn’t be mistaken for mysticism, the belief that we are absorbed into God and therefore life on earth and interactions with others are meaningless. God tells us to love others because those people matter to God. People are made in his image and he wants us to love and value them like he does.

What’s at Stake

We must love others, but the order is paramount. If we don’t obey the first commandment we can’t obey the second as we should. 1 John 4:19 says, “We love because he first loved us.” Love for God must precede love for others. When we realize we are loved by God we will love him in return and that love overflows to others. When we love God most we love others best.

At the heart of true Christianity is love for God. If people are adhering to Christianity merely because they think it’s a helpful worldview or helps them love others then as soon as Christianity seems outdated or another system comes along that they think does the job better then they will jump ship. This is because they never truly loved God. They don’t say with Peter, “Lord to who else will we go?” But when we love Christ, and treasure him first, we will never be tempted to leave, and we will love people best. It’s easy to deconstruct a framework. It’s harder to deconstruct a longing and love for God and desire for others to know him.

We must take seriously the priorities Jesus set forth for us. We must love God first and foremost; with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Then powered by his love for us let us strive to love others with a sacrificial love that only the love of God can supply.

In the last decade there has been a noticeable increase in the amount of people or organizations being cancelled. Whether it’s over race, religion, gender, politics, or climate change, everyone in America steps more lightly today in any public comments because we know we are one little comment away from ostracization.

Cancel culture has some positive virtues, but it also has some deadly flaws. Let’s first look at the positive.

A Sense of Justice

A culture of licentiousness and antinomianism has obvious problems. A complete disregard of what is right or wrong leads to wide-spread abuse, corruption, greed, and murder. Therefore, a sense of morality and justice is a gift from God. When we hear stories of unimaginable evil it should anger us to some degree. This is a result of being made in the image of God. We’ve been given a conscience (1 Cor. 13, Rom. 14) and God has written his law on our hearts (Rom. 2:15). Of course, lip service to justice doesn’t mean we truly care in our hearts about righteous living. Also, being passionate about justice doesn’t mean we are zealous for God’s definition of justice. Our consciences can go awry and must be calibrated to Scripture. Yet, the sense of justice that drives cancel culture in its best form is a good thing. It restrains evil and glorifies God.

A Desire for a Righteous Society

A desire for an upright community is also admirable. Time would fail us to list all the places in the Old Testament where God commands his people to purge the evil from their midst. God is holy and therefore requires his people to be holy (Lev. 20:26). When evil is tolerated it inevitably infects the rest of the community. This was the motivation behind punishments for sin in the Old Testament (Deut. 24:7) and Jesus’ command to beware of the false teaching of the Pharisees which he compared to a little leaven that threatened to leaven the whole loaf (Mark 8:15; Gal. 5:9).

Cancel culture emanates from that part of us that rightly wants to purge evil from our communities to save ourselves and those we love from its corrupting effect. It’s this redeemable quality of cancel culture that should cause many to see the value of healthy church discipline in Christian churches. I say healthy, because there are many examples of poor church discipline. Some churches have exercised church discipline in a very legalistic, unscriptural, and capricious manner, removing people from church membership for matters of conscience or without patiently seeking to restore them in the pattern of Matthew 18 through loving and gracious pastoral care. But when done well many see the value of a community purged of wicked behavior, especially unrepentant wicked behavior.

So, there are redeeming qualities of cancel culture. Yet, there are some very important ways it drastically misses the mark.

Disassociation Rather than Restoration

One of the ways cancel culture misses the mark is that it’s more motivated by disassociation than restoring or rehabilitating a wrongdoer. Individuals are often cancelled or blacklisted because they become a liability, an untouchable, a pariah of society, which no one is willing to touch out of concern for their own careers or social standing.

In contrast, when Scripture speaks of disassociating from someone it is for their good or a necessary step to escape deadly spiritual consequences. Christians are commanded to remove a person as a member of a church who continues in unrepentant sin (Matt. 18:17; 1 Cor. 5:2) but the motive isn’t the preservation of our own social status. Instead, the motive is the glory of God and to love (1 Tim. 1:5) and restore that person (Gal. 6:1; James 5:19-20) by using the last resort available to the church to urge them to forsake their sin before it’s too late. Secondly, when Christians are encouraged to avoid certain false teachers (Eph. 5:7), it isn’t for the sake of their career, but to save their own souls from being misled spiritually.

Being misled also reveals a second way cancel culture misses the mark.

Guided by the Wrong Moral Standard

Every moral standard besides the Bible will eventually lead us astray. Yet, much of cancel culture is built on the irrational and unstable foundation of some other moral standard, if indeed they can be called a standard at all given how easily they change.

In contrast, Christians’ highest authority is the Bible. It is seen as the very inspired Word of God and should be given ultimate allegiance. Everyone is going to presuppose some authority. For rationalists, it’s our own ability to reason; for empiricists it’s sense perception and experience; for postmodernists it’s our hearts; for Muslims it’s the Quran.

Yet, only the Bible make sense of the world around us. Descartes’ rationalism leads to pure subjectivism and Hume’s empiricism leads to skepticism, and both lead to irrationalism because if there isn’t an eternal God then there is no basis of truth and reason. Yet, God made our minds to correspond to reality and provide the basis for logical arguments, which is why we feel compelled by them. The cry to follow our hearts from postmodernists doesn’t explain why we feel love, passion, and shame in the first place. It also leads to slavery to our own constantly shifting desires. Finally, Islam, as C.S. Lewis writes is really just a heretical version of Christianity.^[1] Yet, the inadequate teaching on the unchangeableness of Allah leads to irrationalism since an unchanging God is paramount to the upholding of truth.

To be sure, when arguing for first things it’s unavoidably circular, but when each worldview is evaluated on its own terms only Christianity explains the world adequately. All other worldviews collapse on themselves in irrationality. Further, there is simply no other book like the Bible. Its historical and literary credentials are unmatched, its wisdom unparalleled, and its cultural influence unprecedented.

Absence of Grace

The last area where cancel culture egregiously misses the mark is its complete lack of grace. Once someone missteps or reveals a controversial opinion, they are cancelled indefinitely with little recourse for restoration. This is a result of a secular culture that is extremely moral yet lacks any concept of the atonement. Alan Jacobs writes about our moralistic secular culture: “When a society rejects the Christian account of who we are, it doesn’t become less moralistic but far more so, because it retains an inchoate sense of justice but has no means of offering and receiving forgiveness.”^[2]

In a moralistic society with no atonement, it doesn’t matter what apology you give or how long ago something happened, your worst actions or words define you.

Jean Paul Sartre wrote a play called No Exit about three people who end up in a waiting room in hell together. At first they lie about why they are in hell, but eventually it’s revealed what they’ve done. Each of them grow to hate the others for what the other person did in life and for the way the others chide them for their own sin, but none of them have eyelids and they’re already dead so murder or suicide is impossible, leaving them hopelessly and inescapably face-to-face with their sin and the disdain of others. One of the characters, Garcin, is revealed to be a coward who deserted his countrymen in war. In what could be called the climax of the play, one of the characters, Inez, who exposed Garcin’s true colors, says to him, “You are your life and nothing else.”^[3]

Every person on earth has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and one day they will appear before God, the perfect and holy judge who sees all things. On that day we will see our mistakes clearer than ever, but praise God we don’t have to be defined by them. For those who don’t accept Christ their sin will define them. Judas is called simply “The Betrayer” in Mark 14:44 for his infamous act of treachery. For those who aren’t in Christ their sin will become their identity; it will define and consume them. But those who trust in Christ are given a different name: child, beloved, redeemed, and heir with Christ. Contrary to Garcin in Sartre’s play, by God’s grace we can be something different than our life. We can be forgiven, justified, and transformed through the cross.

Insisting on justice without forgiveness leads to merciless treatment of violators. But then people suddenly wake up to the nightmare that we are all perpetrators and have burned down the only shelter from the storm of our guilt. Therefore, as Christians we must conform our sense of justice to Scripture and guard our hearts from motives that are at odds with God’s intentions. Perhaps most importantly, we must remind ourselves and others of grace. We must continually urge others to take shelter in the Rock of Ages to find forgiveness for themselves and to find power to forgive others.

^[1] C.S. Lewis, De Futilitate in Christian Reflections, ed. Walter Hooper (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1994). 71. v

^[2] Tim Keller, “The Fading of Forgiveness,” Comment Magazine, September 16, 2021, https://comment.org/the-fading-of-forgiveness/.

^[3] Jean-Paul Sartre, No Exit and Three Other Plays (New

The prayer of a righteous man has great power as it is working.

James 5:16

This verse in James might make it sound like the more righteous a person is the more God hears their prayers. Maybe you’ve heard people use this verse in that way, quoting it while boasting that a really godly person is praying for a pressing need. But is that what this verse teaches?

James says the prayer of the righteous man has great power as it is working. On the surface this seems to teach that the more righteous a person is the more powerful their prayers are. But the following phrase in verse 17 seems to contradict this. James points to Elijah as an example, and his wording is significant. What we might expect is something like, “Elijah was exceedingly righteous, and look at how God answered his prayers! So be righteous like Elijah and God will answer your prayers.” But that’s not what James argues. Instead, he writes, “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours…”

James seems to use this phrase “a righteous man” not to describe our sanctification status, but our justification status. Our sanctification is an ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, renewing us in the whole person after the image of Christ. It’s a process and some are further along than others. However, our justification refers to the standing we have before God as a result of the cross. When we place our trust in Christ our sins are forgiven and we are clothed with the perfect righteousness of Christ. The Father said to Jesus at his baptism, “This is my son; with him I am well pleased.” The good news of the gospel is that through faith he says that to Christians as well because they have been united to Christ and clothed in his righteousness.

Further, the Greek word for “it is working” in verse 16 suggests that what is powerful, isn’t the righteous man, but the prayer. James is arguing that when it is God’s will to heal, then the prayer of a regular Christian for healing is very effective.

We learn from this verse that God doesn’t only work miraculously through super saints and people of great faith. He works through the prayers of regular Christians.

There is a story of two girls who were on a walk gathering wood to heat their home. On the way home the older sister collapsed from cholera and couldn’t walk. The younger 5-year-old sister couldn’t carry her and so they decided they would pray for God to rescue them. Then they sat on the sidewalk and waited for God to work. Down the street they saw a man come out of his factory and look up the street, then go back in his store. He did the same thing a second time. Then the third time he came out wearing his hat and started walking toward the girls. He saw them and picked up the sister and carried her home. Once he dropped them off at their home safely he told his side of the story. He said he was working on paychecks for his employees in his factory when all the sudden his vision went dark. He couldn’t see and he felt an odd sensation that someone outside wanted to see him. He went outside but didn’t see anyone. He went back inside but he still couldn’t see. He went outside again but didn’t see anyone. Finally, he went back inside but couldn’t see and could no longer grip his pen, so he put on his hat and went for a walk. It was then he saw the girls.

God answers the prayers of regular Christians like us. Were these little girls super saints? No. Prayer works because God is powerful, not because we are. Jesus said if we have faith as small as a mustard seed we can ask for a mountain to be thrown into the sea (Mark 11:23). An hour on our knees in prayer is more powerful than 10 on our feet. Therefore, let’s go to him often and earnestly in prayer since we cannot do anything apart from him.

John Piper opened his message at Together for the Gospel in 2012 by saying that he was amazed he was still a Christian. What he meant was that sin is so deceptive and powerful to destroy that apart from God’s grace he’s sure he wouldn’t persevere as a Christian. That’s why it’s helpful for us as Christians to be aware of how sin works, so that we will pray more fervently and fight with more zeal and tact.

The majority of the book of Hosea is expounding on Israel’s egregious unfaithfulness. And we learn a lot about the nature of sin from this book.

Here are 12 characteristics of sin that we learn from Israel’s unfaithfulness in the book of Hosea.

1. It’s Ungrateful

She did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil…which they used for Baal.

Hosea 2:8

The Israelites used God’s blessing to worship false idols.

Cornelius Van Til once said that even the atheist who curses God does so using breath God gives him. God sustains his life and fills his lungs with breath, and he uses it to curse God.

When we sin, we demonstrate ungratefulness for all the blessings God gives us. He’s given us life, breath, gifts, relationships, and when we use those things to disobey God we show profound ungratefulness toward him.

2. It’s Personal

She ran after her lovers but me she forgot.

Hosea 2:13

This describes all of us because at the root of sin is idolatry in our hearts. We love something more than God so we disobey God.

In his book Freedom of the Will, Jonathan Edwards argued that we always act on our strongest desire at that moment. To put it simply, we pretty much do what we want. There’s never been a sin against God we could say was a mistake. All of them have been from our heart, pre-meditated, intentional decisions because we wanted sin more than God in our heart. Sin is never unintentional. It’s always personal and so it’s highly offensive to God.

3. It’s Repeated

And the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods

Hosea 3:1

Hosea is commanded to go “again” to buy back Gomer for 15 shekels after she left him to go back to prositution.

That’s exactly the point of Hosea. Israel has wandered from God and run after false gods again and again and again and again and again. Hosea’s wife is unfaithful to him again and again and again.

Doesn’t that describe our sin? We know the gospel and yet we fall. We know God’s promises yet we choose sin. We’re all repeated offenders.

4. It’s Insatiable

They are greedy for iniquity.

Hosea 4:7

Ephesians 4:19 says, “They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.” They are calloused to sin with a continual lust for more.

Apart from God’s Spirit we would dive headlong in sin as much as our circumstances would allow. We would never be satisfied because sin is never satisfied. If we give ourselves to it, we will be carried away by its unending lust for more. Sin is the grave that is never satisfied.

5. It Always Leads to Complete Corruption

It is said of Israel, “Those who make human sacrifices kiss calves!”

Hosea 13:2

The Israelite’s sin is so depraved that surrounding Gentile nations mock them for sacrificing their children yet worshipping calves.

Sin never plateaus. It doesn’t settle into a nice moderate rebellion against God. It doesn’t eventually make its way back to God and righteousness. It always progresses toward complete corruption unless stopped or restrained by God. Sin by its nature is rebellion against God. How could it not continue in that direction?

6. It Leads to a Seared Conscience

Their deeds will not permit them to return to the Lord.

Hosea 5:4

They can no longer be convicted because they’ve ignored their conscience for so long. Their heart has grown callous and it no longer feels. This is extremely dangerous.

At Yosemite National Park there is a trail that leads to a waterfall. The trail runs across a bridge over a raging river, but over to the side there is an area that has relatively calm water so you would think that it would be fine to jump in there and cool off. However, there is a sign that warns people not to get in the water at all. The poster tells the story of two young boys who jumped in the calm area to cool off. They took just a couple steps too far and were swept away in the river. Neither of them survived.

This passage and others serve the same purpose as that poster, warning us to not wade into the water of ignoring our conscience. It can kill us spiritually.

7. It Hides Itself in Religious Activity

For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”

Hosea 6:6

Who cares how many religious events we attend if our hearts are far from God. I think there may be many people on judgment day who will say, “But I went to church every week, and listened to Christian music, and voted against abortion.” But God will say, “I never knew you.” Every Christian should do those things, but every person who does those things isn’t necessarily a Christian. Sin can hide itself in religious activity so that we think, “Oh we’re good!” But our hearts must seek God. We must love him personally as well as corporately.

8. It Seeks to Minimize Itself

They do not consider that I remember all their evil.

Hosea 7:2

We want to hide from our sin. We want to convince ourselves and others that sin actually isn’t a big deal; that there isn’t a God who sees our sin and will hold us accountable. We try to convince ourselves it’s actually not that bad. We look for every possible excuse or example that would justify it. But we can’t hide from God. One day he will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will even disclose the purposes and intent of our hearts (1 Cor. 4:5).

9. It Misdirects Our Hearts

They do not cry to me from the heart, but they wail upon their beds; for grain and wine they gash themselves.

Hosea 7:14

The Israelites only wanted the grain and wine. Like the crowds with Jesus they only came to get their fill and ended up weeping over the wrong issue. They didn’t really want God. Sin misdirects our hearts to the blessings God can give us rather than delighting in God himself.

Do we love a lot of the benefits of God or do we love him? Of course, we should go to God in humble dependence for everything we need, but do our hearts also long for him? Is God himself our peace (Eph. 2:14) or just the one we hope to get things from?

10. It Seeks Protection in False Gods

Israel hired lovers…allies in other nations.

Hosea 8:9-10

Because they trusted in nations God threatens to abandon them. Similarly, sin can lead us to find our hope in things other than God. This doesn’t mean we should never save money, get a job, or seek medical attention. But where does our ultimate hope lie? Again, getting advice, working hard, and studying, are not sinful things, but they can become sinful if we attribute to them our ultimate trust and praise. At the end of the day, our attitude must be, “I’m going to be okay because I have God.” And when we experience success we must always give the glory to God from whom all blessings flow.

11. It Blinds us to the Truth of God’s Word

If I were to write my law by the ten thousands they would regard it as a strange thing.

Hosea 8:12

The Israelites were so calibrated to the world they saw God’s Word as strange. Sin blinds us to the truth of God’s Word so that Scripture seems strange and weird to us. But as Christians we should be weird in the eyes of the world, and the world should be weird to us to a degree.

Of course, we must make sure it’s what is in God’s Word that makes us weird, not us. But God’s Word shouldn’t be strange to us because we should be calibrated to it rather than the world.

12. It Will Always End in Destruction

Israel will be defeated. They will say to the mountains “Cover us,” and to the hills “fall on us!”

Hosea 10:8

Jesus quotes this verse in Luke 23:30 to describe the final judgment at his return.

There is no escaping the destruction that comes from sin. It’s not as if we have a small chance of surviving. There is no chance of survival. There is 100% chance of destruction for sin. Siding with sin is complete and utter foolishness, and hatred toward God. So we should flee from it in every single instance. As John Owen said, “Be killing sin or it will be killing you.”

Conclusion

We will be serious about our sin to the degree we understand its devastating consequences. First, how it alienates us from God relationally, and secondly the destructive consequences in this life.

But praise God that we have assurance that God will have mercy if we repent.

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.” Lamentation 3:19-22

Our sin is serious, but God’s mercy is greater. As Richard Sibbes wrote, “There is more mercy in Christ than there is sin in us.”

We’ve all regretted speaking too much or too quickly. We’ve all felt annoyance at someone else speaking too much and dominating a conversation. We’ve all been frustrated with someone giving advice before they’ve really understood us, or using 100 words when only 10 were needed.

What does the Bible say about these situations and frustrations? Does Scripture speak on speaking?

What Does Scripture Say?

As it turns out, the Bible says a good deal on words.

Excessive Speech is a Mark of Fools

Ecclesiastes 5:2

Be not rash with your words nor be hasty to utter a word before God. For God is in heaven and you are on earth therefore let your words be few. For a dream comes with much business and a fool’s voice with many words.

Proverbs 10:19 – When words are many transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.

Proverbs 18:2 – A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion.

We tend to think wise people are known by their insights or their ability to wax eloquently on a variety of topics. What is interesting about these verses is that it identifies a wise man not by what he says but by what he doesn’t say. It demonstrates self-control, humility, and wisdom to restrain our words. When the wise do speak they are concise and economical with their words.

Hasty Speech is a Mark of Fools

Proverbs 29:20 – Do you see a man who is hasty with his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

Prov 18:13 – If one gives an answer before he hears it is his folly and shame.

James 1:19 – Let each of you be slow to speak, quick to listen, slow to anger.

Related to excessive speech is hastiness of speech. The fool is associated with butting in, not fully listening before they speak.

When I was in college I attended an event where a pastor spoke on the topic of sexuality. The guys and girls split up to ask questions, the guys were with a pastor and the girls were with several older women. One guy rose his hand and asked if it was okay to do something that was clearly prohibited in Scripture. Everyone in the room knew the answer to this question was no, but I’ll never forget the way the pastor responded. He asked several clarifying questions to make sure he understood the question exactly. Finally, he said, “Well in that case, absolutely not.” It was a great example of not giving an answer before you hear.

We are bound to speak foolishly or hurtfully when we are hasty with our words.

What Being Wise With Our Words Doesn’t Mean

Some may read these verses and in an effort to be slow to speak may go to another extreme. So, for clarity’s sake let’s discuss what being wise with our words is not.

Being wise and restrained with our words does not mean we don’t help carry a conversation with someone. Some people can be a bit too good at restraining their words conversationally. They give brief answers to questions and don’t ask any of their own. This leaves their conversation partner in an exhausting and intimidating position. These folks haven’t said anything foolish or spoken excessively, but they also haven’t loved and cared for others with their words. They can easily come across cold, indifferent, stoic, or pretentious. The above verses don’t seem to hold up silence for silence’s sake. Excessive and hasty speech isn’t to be replaced with silence but listening. It’s not silence so that people can look on how wise and restrained we are, it’s silence so that we can respond most helpfully or so that we can ask questions and put the spotlight on others in love.

That brings us to the sin beneath excessive and hasty speech.

Why Do We Talk Too Much?

Probably the most common reason we speak too hastily or excessively is because of pride and insecurity.

You think you have the best things to say and that a conversation and the people in it won’t survive without all of your comments. You want people to think highly of you and you don’t want to miss an opportunity by not sharing some thought or insight so the floodgates pour out. It also reveals a lack of self-control on our part.

Instead, we should think humbly about our own ideas in an effort to obey Proverbs 3:7, “Be not wise in your own eyes.” I think of a pastor who was asked why he didn’t weigh into political matters very often. His sarcastic response demonstrated much humility: “Somehow the world continues to survive without my comments on these issues.”

C.S. Lewis said this about humility:

Do not imagine that if you meet a really humble man he will be what most people call ‘humble’ nowadays: he will not be a sort of greasy, smarmy person, who is always telling you that, of course, he is nobody. Probably, all you will think about him is that he seemed a cheerful, intelligent chap who took a real interest in what you said to him.^[1]

Speaking excessively, too often, and hastily is a version of taking the highest place at the banquet. Jesus said not to assume the place of honor lest you are asked to move lower and are humiliated. When we talk the most we assume we have the best things to say. The same could be said for habitually speaking first or last, since opening a discussion and having the last word is typically considered an honor. Regularly assuming the place of opening or closing a discussion or prayer time demonstrates a slight hubris, rather than humbly speaking somewhere in the middle.

The Blessings of Limiting our Speech

When we are slow to speak we love others. If we take the lowest place of listening rather than speaking, we honor and love others. We also might be blessed by their thoughts.

When we do speak, we should try to speak less hastily. If we do this our words will carry more weight when we do speak. Everyone appreciates people who can communicate well but efficiently and economically. Without coming across cold these wise people don’t use 12 words when 6 will do. When it comes to words, often the enemy of great is good. There will always be some reason to share more rather than less, but that doesn’t mean it’s best. More words wear down your hearers and what you do say is less impactful.

If we’re wondering where to look for the perfect example of using our words wisely, we needn’t look any further than Jesus. He asked questions even when he knew the answer so that he might love his hearers better. He never spoke a wasted word, and only wisdom poured out of his mouth. But even more impressive is when he was silent.

Christ was oppressed and afflicted yet he opened not his mouth (Isa. 53:7). The night before Christ was crucified he could have confounded all of the high priests and religious leaders, he’d done it many times before. He could have marveled Pilate with his wisdom so that he was acquitted. He didn’t speak so he would be taken to the cross for us.

Because Jesus restrained from speaking to die for us, we can die to our pride and restrain from speaking when appropriate. When we understand how Christ silently took our place, we’ll be not only willing but happy to let others speak and to restrain ourselves in order to love others and lift them up. And when we do speak it will be more of a blessing.

^[1] C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, UK ed. edition (London

Art Needs God

Toward the end of his life Charles Darwin confessed that he had lost nearly all enjoyment in poetry, music, and scenery. Earlier in his life he loved poetry, but he writes in his autobiography,

I have tried lately to read Shakespeare, and found it so intolerably dull that it nauseated me. I have also almost lost my taste for pictures or music…I retain some taste for fine scenery, but it does not cause me the exquisite delight which it formerly did.^[1]

Similarly, David Hume was so depressed about his skepticism about any real authority or rationality that he resorted to diverting his mind with conversation and backgammon with friends because he couldn’t bear to contemplate life according to his worldview. Yet, when he returned to the subject he found the topic he despaired. ^[2] Apparently, ignorance was bliss for Hume, but it was short lived.

This won’t be surprising to many. Naturalism naturally kills enjoyment of art, beauty, and music. According to a materialistic worldview, what is scenery, really? Just random atoms colliding being viewed and interpreted by random atoms in my brain. The irresistible logic of it all is meaninglessness.

C.S. Lewis had this to say on naturalism’s devaluing effect on art and beauty:

The universe is a universe of nonsense, but since you are here, grab what you can. Unfortunately, however, there is, on these terms, so very little left to grab — only the coarsest sensual pleasures. You can’t, except in the lowest animal sense, be in love with a girl if you know (and keep on remembering) that all the beauties both of her person and of her character are a momentary and accidental pattern produced by the collision of atoms, and that your own response to them is only a sort of psychic phosphorescence arising from the behaviour of your genes. You can’t go on getting any very serious pleasure from music if you know and remember that its air of significance is a pure illusion, that you like it only because your nervous system is irrationally conditioned to like it. You may still, in the lowest sense, have a “good time”; but just in so far as it becomes very good, just in so far as it ever threatens to push you on from cold sensuality into real warmth and enthusiasm and joy, so far you will be forced to feel the hopeless disharmony between your own emotions and the universe in which you really live.^[3]

It seems the only way to enjoy beauty without God is happy inconsistency or willful ignorance.

But if, on the other hand, we are made by an eternal, loving, Trinitarian God and we’ve been shaped in his image, then it gives meaning and purpose to our life and fills scenery and poetry with beauty. We have souls that will live forever, we’ve been given a rational mind to comprehend truth, eyes to take in beauty, a good and loving God makes sense of our conscious state and gives it meaning. We know that the beauty we see and sense is real because it comes to us from a God who loves us and made a beautiful world for us to enjoy because of that love. God is the enduring and constant force that binds the subjective and the objective together in a reality that allows for science. Albert Einstein even believed this to be necessary and true.^[4] It’s the reason, deep-down we long to thank someone for a stunning sunset, or stirring melody.

Art Points to God

Further, the reason we enjoy art, scenery, and music is because we are made in God’s image, and all of those things point to God. Jonathan Edwards argued that the reason we enjoy beauty in this life is because it is on some level an analogy to God.^[4] So, the reason we enjoy a beautiful sunset over the mountains is because it reminds us, even subconsciously, of the beauty of God. The reason we are pleased when justice is served is because it’s an analogy to God’s justice. The reason we love harmonies in music is because it’s an analogy of the unity yet diversity in the Trinity. We are endowed with this intrinsic knowledge of God at birth. Paul explains in Romans 1:18 that all men know, but suppress the truth of God in their hearts. He continues in Romans 1:19-20:

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.

The truth of God, and knowledge of his invisible attributes and divine nature have been clearly shown to us in the things that have been made. Naturally, because of sin, we suppress this truth, but like a balloon being held under water, it cannot stay submerged. Beauty ultimately proclaims God’s glory. So does art. So does music. So does justice.

This is why when you talk to artists or nature lovers, if they aren’t Christians, they often espouse some form of spirituality. Even subconsciously people know that the enjoyment they get out of creation connects them in some mysterious way to something greater than the physical matter that makes up this creation. As Edwards writes, “All beauty found in this world is just the diffused beams of God’s beauty and glory.”^[5] Apart from God we can’t truly enjoy beauty, but with God we enjoy it most richly. Christianity is indispensable for not only enjoying beauty and art, but creating it.

Art and beauty need God, but we also need God.

We Need More than Art

Art is a blessing, but as the late Dutch theologian Herman Bavinck argues, art can only deal with the ideal.^[6] It can’t enter into the here and now with us like faith can. A piece of artwork, a song, or a movie can’t ultimately comfort us in life and death, wipe away our tears, or atone for our sins. As Bavinck argues, though art can lift us above reality it cannot change reality like God can. It can cause us to ponder the realms of glory but it cannot induct us into it. Pleasure in beauty and art is felt most palpably when it stems from true ideas. The eternal, unchangeable God of all creation is the essence and source of all truth and beauty, and therefore faith is indispensable to art.

But not only does art need God, we need God. In fact, our story with God is the pinnacle of beauty.

God, the most beautiful one, whom all the beauty on earth points to, entered into our sin. He left pure beauty in heaven to enter into our ugliness and die a cursed death on the cross that we deserved. After three days he rose from the grave conquering sin and death and promises to give eternal life to all who trust in him, and take them to be with him in glory (John 3:16; 14:2-3).

J.R.R Tolkien argues that the truth of God and his resurrection is imprinted on our hearts, which is why deep down we all love happy endings and feel they are true to reality.^[7] Tim Keller points out that only in the last 50 years have happy endings become artistically distasteful.^[8] People believe that because life is messy and unhappy, movies should be too in order to have artistic credibility. This is the effect of the spread of a materialistic worldview. Creative works gain popularity when they resonate with the worldview of its consumers. But deep down we know the truth of God’s invisible attributes, his divine nature, and his redemption. We suppress it, and yet we want it. It’s not true because we want it; we want it because it’s true.

God needs nothing, but art needs God to be enjoyable; scenery needs God to be beautiful; music needs God to be pleasurable; artists need God to be creative, and we need God to enjoy art and beauty, as well as the most beautiful thing of all – our redemption and reconciliation with him forever.

^[1] Francis Darwin, ed., The Autobiography of Charles Darwin, (New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1885) quoted in Os Guinness, ed., The Journey: Our Quest for Faith and Meaning (Colorado Springs, Colo.: Navpress Publishing Group, 2001). 152.

^[2] John M. Frame, A History of Western Philosophy and Theology (Phillipsburg, New Jersey: P & R Publishing, 2015). 203-04.

^[3] C. S. Lewis, Present Concerns, 1st edition (Harvest Books, 2002). 76.

^[4] Herman Bavinck, Christian Worldview (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 2019). 38-41

^[5] The Nature of True Virtue in Jonathan Edwards, Works of Jonathan Edwards. 2 Volume Set (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1979). 27-30.

^[6] Edwards. 14.

^[7] Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, ed. John Bolt, trans. John Vriend, 4 vols. (Grand Rapids, Mich: Baker Academic, 2004). I:267.

^[8] On Fairy-Stories in J. R. R. Tolkien, Tree and Leaf (London: HarperCollins, 2001). 68-70.

^[9] Timothy Keller, King’s Cross: The Story of the World in the Life of Jesus (New York: Dutton, 2011). 226.

“You know I like my chicken fried, a cold beer on a Friday night, a pair of jeans that fit just right, and the radio up.”

Zac Brown Band

Many country music songs paint a picture of a simple life. Not extravagant wealth or fame or success. It represents the worldview of a significant population of America that doesn’t reject God, in fact honors him and encourages going to church. But here’s the catch: God is often portrayed as just a small piece of life. He’s not everything, he’s just a piece of the pie that leads to true happiness. Overall, happiness is seen as living the simple life, having good friends who are loyal to you, a spouse you love, chill Friday nights, a beer with friends, and going to church on Sunday. It highlights the simple pleasures and thrills in life: that first kiss or watching the game with friends.

To be sure there’s much to commend about this. The worldview in general is more wholesome than crude. It doesn’t encourage radical love for Christ or godliness, but it’s also doesn’t oppose Scripture in many cases. It commends a life of moderation, which is a biblical idea.

But there are several reasons why this nominal version of Christianity is detrimental to us spiritually.

It Robs Us of True Happiness

By encouraging moderation in all things, including God, it dulls people’s appetite for more of him.

Paul was content in all situations, but the one area he wasn’t content was in his hunger for God. The country music gospel teaches moderation in all things including our faith.

It’s also a lifestyle that most can afford. You don’t need extravagant wealth, popularity, good looks, or success to have the simple, quiet life. But this worldview sells us short of what we were truly meant for.

We were meant to be Christian hedonists which John Piper defines this way: God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. We were meant for happiness–true happiness that can only be found in God. It’s clear that the apostle Paul down to his last breath wanted more of God. Nothing could compare to knowing him and so he was willing to lose everything for even a tiny bit more of God (Php. 3:7-9). That doesn’t mean we scorn all earthly pleasures (Col. 2:20-22), but we should recognize that those earthly pleasures are nothing compared to Christ.

The psalmist had the same mindset:

“Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

Psalm 73:25-26

There’s no such longing for God in the country music gospel. It doesn’t advocate for religious pluralism but it does present a dangerous kind of Christian pluralism. It says, “By all means, honor God and go to church and read your Bible,” but in truth it presents real joy and pleasure as being found in having God, family, friends, a little bit of money, and sports.” But this ultimately gives people less of Christ, and leads them to trust in things other than Christ alone.

J.I. Packer wrote, “a half truth masquerading as a whole truth becomes a complete untruth.” It’s the same with Christian pluralism. A little Christ masquerading as all you need of Christ becomes no Christ.

For people who tend to put all their identity in one basket, real life examples of the emptiness of those things are powerful. When Tom Brady said on 60 Minutes that three Superbowl rings wasn’t enough to satisfy him it resonated with many people because they’re either chasing the things of this world, or they’ve achieved what they longed for and found out it wasn’t enough. They need to hear that God alone can satisfy them no matter how much they lean on him (John 4:13).

The simple life worldview doesn’t lead people to realize the emptiness of the things of this world as easily because it diversifies investment in worldly happiness. It makes people not too dependent on any one thing. If you lose friends, you still have family or a cold beer after a hard day’s work. But a cold beer can’t save our souls and it cannot satisfy us like God’s steadfast love can (Ps. 90:14; 63:3).

It Lies To Us About Sin

This worldview also causes us to forget how desperately we need a savior because of our sin. It paints a picture that God is good, life is good, and people are mostly good. In reality, we are desperately sick and have sinned against our perfect, loving, and holy God and deserve eternal separation from him because of the heinousness of our sin. But in love he laid down his life for us. The offended party became the accused. Has a cold beer ever done that for us? Has a nice cool breeze on a Friday night ever worn a crown of thorns for us? The simple pleasures in life are great, and are gifts from God, but we don’t need pleasures, we need a savior. However, when we trust in him fully we find that at his right hand are pleasures forevermore (Ps. 16:11). We were meant to drink deeply of God and his love for us. Nothing is as good.

So listen to country music, work hard, enjoy a relaxing Friday night after a hard week, spend time with friends. But remember that all these things are a gift from our creator and remember that none of them can satisfy us like he can.

Why do you spend your money on that which is not bread and your labor on that which does not satisfy. Listen diligently to me and eat what is good and delight yourself in the richest of fair.

Isaiah 55:2

I spent eight wonderful years on staff with a parachurch ministry where I learned incredibly valuable lessons and skills, but I also learned what parachurch ministries are not. Though there are many wonderful Christian ministries that accomplish great things in the way of Christian fellowship and outreach it’s important to understand the reasons why all Christians should be a part of a church.

What Does Scripture Say?

The only institution Jesus died to established and promises to preserve is the church (Matt. 16:18). Jesus died for his church and promises to present her as blameless (Eph. 5:25), a promise he does not make about any other Christian organization. There are multiple passages that mention the specific number of disciples added to the church (Acts 2:41, 47; 5:14; 6:1), and there are also Scriptural references to a local church reaching a vote by majority (2 Cor. 2:6), which implies church membership however formal or informal. It’s clear that Scripture teaches that not only should Christians attend church, but should be added to that church’s number by pursuing membership and being actively involved.

Local or Universal Church?

Some might ask, “If all Christians are members of the universal church why must we join a local church?” The universal church is made up of all believers in the world and throughout history. However, that is distinct from the local or visible church which is made up of individual congregations. Though every true Christian is a member of the universal church, God established the local church to be the conduit of Christian discipleship and evangelism for all believers. You could say we prove that we are in the universal church by making an effort to be a part of the visible church.

Parachurch is my church

Many Christians have been greatly encouraged in their faith by the believers they serve with in a parachurch setting. Some might read passages like Acts 2:42: “they devoted themselves to the Apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers,” and think that it accurately describes their campus ministry fellowship. However, it’s important to realize that no Christian organizations, except the church, existed during the time period of the New Testament. For that reason, any passages describing Christian community were describing the local church and to understand them as describing a parachurch ministry is anachronistic. To be clear, parachurch ministries are a wonderful blessing and very useful, they just were never meant to replace the local church.

Some go as far as to say that the parachurch is the church because parachurch ministries didn’t exist in the New Testament or they may feel parachurch organizations fulfill all the responsibilities of the local church. In, response to the first argument, the fact that parachurch ministries didn’t exist in the early church or the New Testament isn’t proof that they are the church, but rather that they are distinct from local churches and came later.

In response to the argument that the parachurch fulfills all the responsibilities of the church, it’s important to realize all the key distinctives of a local church. A church isn’t catered toward a specific people group as many parachurch ministries are. A church practices preaching the whole counsel of God’s Word. The church practices the Lord’s Supper and Baptism, which are the two ordinances of the church. The church practices church membership and church discipline. The church elects elders and deacons, and encourages all its members to give cheerfully in support of the ministry. The church also consolidates its resources to support the ministry, care for the poor and support local and global missions. I know of no parachurch ministry that does or is seeking to do all these things, nor should they. Therefore, if any parachurch claims to be a church they are at best a very unhealthy and dysfunctional church.

This is why parachurch ministries could be compared to being on a soccer team, while a church is more like being a part of a family. On a soccer team you have a group of people who are similarly gifted, gathering for a specific purpose. But a family is much broader, deeper, and lasts for life.

It’s a Blessing

We shouldn’t only join a church because it’s biblical. It’s also a blessing!

Preaching

Some of the most gifted communicators I have ever known have been on staff with parachurch ministries. However, much of the teaching in parachurch settings is highly contextualized to the very specific mission or group of people involved. The preaching at a church and other related teaching moments (Sunday school, Bible study, etc.) are more biblically comprehensive and aimed more generally at biblical and spiritual instruction. For example, I’ve never heard of a parachurch ministry teaching expositionally through the whole Bible, but this kind of teaching is vital for Christian growth.

Elders

Hebrews 13:17 says, “Obey your leaders and submit to them” (Heb. 13:17). We can (and should) have many spiritual leaders and mentors in our lives, but Scripture seems clear that those who are qualified and called as elders in the church should be the ones primarily charged to love and care for believers and also given appropriate spiritual and theological authority. The parachurch leaders I know are deeply invested in the spiritual welfare of their volunteers and staff, but every parachurch has a specific mission and the leaders have a responsibility to grow and further that mission. Pastors on the other hand serve the sole purpose of praying and caring for each church member spiritually regardless of where and how they are serving.

Fellowship that is multi-generational

Many parachurch ministries can surround us with other Christians who are like-minded or are in a similar stage of life as us. This is a huge blessing, however, there is also great blessing in multi-generational fellowship. It’s great to know believers who have followed Christ longer than you’ve been alive. They’ve lost friends, they’ve had ups and downs, and yet have faithfully followed Christ through it all. Singing “In Christ Alone” with these saints adds richness to those lyrics and to our spiritual life. Also, being around those younger than us can provide great opportunities to pour into others.

The church helps believers serve Christ most effectively

Parachurch ministries can be a great source of spiritual growth for a season. However, when a person makes a parachurch ministry their primary source of community, sometimes they try to stick around for the fellowship long after passion for the mission is gone. But, when a person’s primary source of fellowship is a church it allows them the freedom to explore the endless avenues to serve Christ in ways that God has uniquely gifted them while maintaining a consistent home base of spiritual teaching and fellowship.

Good habit for the rest of your life

Parachurch and campus ministries are a tremendous blessing, but the church will be the main source of spiritual growth for a believer’s entire life. Therefore, it’s good for Christians to form the habit of being a meaningful member at a church early on, even in their college years. This will prove spiritually vital in transitioning into life after college.

Parachurch ministries are a blessing but Christians need the church and the church needs them. Every believer needs to build up a local congregation by using their gifts and playing their role (Eph. 4:6). In turn, they will be greatly blessed by the church.

He had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.

Isaiah 53:2

Jesus Christ, the all-impressive one was made unimpressive; the majestic one was stripped of majesty. If we were to see a group photo of Jesus and the disciples we likely would not be able to pick out Jesus. What incredible humility.

This is the opposite of us. We tend to flaunt our strengths. We put our very best out there for people to see, and social media is a great example of that. What a juxtaposition between us and Christ. We who should be humble inflate our egos, while Christ who should have been worshipped veiled his glory.

And he did all this so that as Hebrews 2:14 says, Jesus might be made like his brothers in every respect. According to Hebrews, Jesus had to take on flesh and blood to save us who share in flesh and blood. If Jesus didn’t become one of us he could not have lived a perfect life in our place and he couldn’t have been a sufficient scapegoat and sacrifice for our sins. He also took on flesh so that he would be a high priest who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses (Heb. 4:15).

For us he was humbled. To rescue us in love he veiled his glory, suffered, bled, and died. All for us.

Yet, his glory did not stay veiled. His beauty and majesty shone forth on the mount of transfiguration, and when he rose from the dead and ascended to heaven he resumed his heavenly glory which he has known for all eternity. Isaiah says, “He had no form or majesty...” He does now. As J.L. Reynolds pointed out, God has established Christ’s throne and reign through the divinely orchestrated coronation ceremony of the cross. The soldiers placed a crown of thorns on him to mock him, but they were installing him as king. The high priest asked him if he was the Son of God to accuse him but they were swearing him in. The soldiers lifted him up on a cross to kill him, but they were establishing his throne. And of the increase of his government and reign and glory there will be no end.

The heart of Christmas is that Jesus, the Son of God was humbled so we could be with him. 1 Peter 3:18 tells us the purpose of the gospel: “For Christ died for sin, once for all; the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.” As much as the incarnation and the cross illuminates God’s glory for us, he didn’t need the help. He was perfectly glorious and content without man’s appreciation for his majesty. The ultimate purpose of the cross was to bring us to God, and he’s done it in the most marvelous manner.

Now, having received this gift, we get to imitate Christ’s humility. As Phil Ryken has pointed out, our ministry as Christians follows the pattern of humiliation and exaltation just like Christ’s ministry. We humble ourselves by sacrificing our time, resources, self-interest, and even pride in order to love others.

Mark Dever reveals how ministry involves humbling ourselves in a very convicting paragraph from his book The Gospel and Personal Evangelism:

We are called to love others. We share the gospel because we love people. And we don’t share the gospel because we don’t love people. Instead, we wrongly fear them. We don’t want to cause awkwardness. We want their respect, and after all, we figure, if we try to share the gospel with them, we’ll look foolish! And so we are quiet. We protect our pride at the cost of their souls. In the name of not wanting to look weird, we are content to be complicit in their being lost. As one friend said, “I don’t want to be the stereotypical Christian on a plane.”

Sharing the gospel with others, discipling others, and serving others means humbling ourselves; it means sacrifice. But this shows Christ to be worth treasuring! JC Ryle wrote, “There is a common, worldly, kind of Christianity in this day, which many have, and think they have enough–a cheap Christianity which offends nobody, and requires no sacrifice–which costs nothing, and is worth nothing.”

When we humble ourselves and suffer in order to tell others the gospel or obey God, we reveal Jesus to be the pearl of great price that he is. People will see our sacrifice and wonder what is so great about Jesus that we would go through all that for him.

But Jesus isn’t just the reason we should humble ourselves. He also gives us the power to humble ourselves.

When we see Jesus veiling his glory for us we will be filled up with his love that no sacrifice will seem too great. Jesus was humiliated for us. As one hymn puts it, “He fights for breath, he fights for me, loosing sinners from the claims of hell.” See Jesus fighting for breath for your sake. See him laying his glory aside to take on flesh, wrapping a towel around himself as a servant so he can wash your sins away. “Mild he lay his glory by, born that man no more may die.” This is our great God, and he has loved us more wonderfully than we could have imagined. The more we realize this the more we will gladly lose everything for the sake of others and to bring God glory.

As 2 Corinthians 8:9 says, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor so that you by his poverty might become rich.” We are rich because of Christ’s poverty. Not even the Biltmore is big enough to fit all the gifts that are ours in Christ. And because he’s made us rich we can humble ourselves to make others rich.

When it comes to the incarnation, it’s simply hard to fathom the depths that God was willing to condescend in coming to earth and being born in a barn next to animals.

The humility of Christ in taking on flesh should cause us to marvel. The glorious Son of God who has dwelled in unapproachable light for all eternity took on flesh and had no form or majesty that we should look at him.

And yet what exactly does the incarnation mean and what does it not mean? Let’s look at the essential doctrines of sound Christology.

Truly God

First, Jesus was God. He was not a created being. He also wasn’t subordinate to the Father, but was himself God.

The early heresy that denied that Jesus was God was Arianism named after the theologian who popularized it, Arius. But if Jesus isn’t God then he’s not truly our Redeemer or worthy of our worship.

This teaching was condemned as heresy at the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, which produced the Nicene Creed.

We believe in one God, the Father almighty, Maker of heaven and earth,
and of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only-begotten,
begotten of the Father before all ages.
Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten not made,
of one essence with the Father by whom all things were made;
who for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven,
and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary
and became man.

The Council of Nicaea didn’t rely on theological preference, logic, or philosophy but Scripture.

Passages they looked to were Philippians 2:1-11, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped but made himself nothing…” Also, John 1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God….And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” There’s also Jesus’ “I Am” statements, and Colossians 1, “He is the image of the invisible God…for by him all things were created…through him and for him.” Jesus also accepted worship as only God could do and did not deny it when the chief priests asked him if he was the Son of God (Matt. 26:64).

But he was also truly man.

Truly Man

Some agreed that Jesus was truly God, but denied that he was truly man. Among those who believed and taught this was Apollinarius. Apollinarianism espoused that Jesus only seemed to have a human body and mind but was actually just divine. Apollinarius thought that the human mind was the source of sin, so if Jesus had a human mind he would be corrupted. He also thought that if Christ was God and man he would be split into two people.

The Council of Constantinople in 381 AD condemned this as heresy. Gregory of Nazianzus famously said, “What has not been taken up has not been healed.” In other words, if Jesus didn’t truly become man like us then he couldn’t have saved us or lived a righteous life in our place since he wasn’t actually man.

A passage of Scripture that teaches the humanity of Christ would be Hebrews 2:14-17:

“Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. There he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.”

John 1:14 teaches this as well when it speaks of Jesus taking on flesh. Of course, we see evidence of this in the gospels like Jesus napping in the boat during the storm in Mark 4.

So, Jesus was truly God, and truly man.

One Person

Then along came Nestorius who agreed, “Yes, Jesus is truly God and truly man.” But he then said Christ was two people. Nestorianism tended to speak about Jesus as a man with whom the divine Son had united himself.

The church objected to this doctrine by teaching that Christ wasn’t divided; he was one person. Scripture doesn’t reveal a divided Jesus. The disciples don’t speak to the divine Jesus at times and the human Jesus at others.

The single personhood of Jesus was articulated in the Council of Ephesus in 431 AD.

Two Natures

Then came Eutyches. Eutyches said, “Yes, Christ is one person, not two,” but then he taught that Christ’s human nature and his divine nature were bound up in such a close fusion that the human nature was swallowed up in the divine nature. In other words, his deity had absorbed his humanity and transformed it into divinity.

Well, this would oppose passages like Hebrews 2, that he was made like his brothers in every respect. Also, Philippians 2 that he was made in human likeness.

Against this the Council of Chalcedon 451 AD condemned Eutychianism, stressing that Jesus was truly God, truly man, two distinct natures, but one person, without confusion, without separation, the two natures in no way being abolished by the union.

This is why Scripture can both say that Jesus was eternal (John 1), and knows all things (John 1:48 – I saw you under the fig tree; Matt. 12:25 – he perceived people’s thoughts; John 16:30 – He didn’t correct Peter when he said that Jesus knew all things; Col. 1 – In him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell). Yet, at the same time Scripture tells us that Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men (Luke 2:52), that he took a nap cause he was tired, and that he didn’t know the day or the hour of his second coming (Matt. 24:36). We know that Jesus is speaking here of his human nature, not his eternal, divine, and omniscient nature.

Yet, Jesus is not two different people, but has two distinct natures in one person.

Fred Sander’s diagram helpfully visualizes a sound Christology.

Jesus is truly God, truly Man, one person, two distinct natures.

Now this understandably racks our brains to understand. But there’s something crucial we must understand. When we talk about the mystery of the incarnation, or anything in our faith that is challenging for us to understand, what we do not mean is that the incarnation or anything in Scripture is illogical or contradictory, but we believe it anyway. That’s not what faith is.

Faith in Christ is recognizing that there are certain things that are challenging for us to understand or reconcile, yet in humility we submit to God’s Word, trusting that God’s wisdom is greater than ours. We see seeming mysteries or challenging passages and yet we can say, “But I know that my Redeemer lives.” When we stumble over the mystery of the incarnation or seeming contradictions in Scripture the problem does not lay with God but rather in our feebleness to grasp the depths of God’s knowledge or wisdom. There’s nothing illogical in God, only in our understanding of logic. It’s not that the incarnation is divinely impossible, but that our feeble minds fail to grasp how it’s possible.

I don’t think it can be said better than how J.I. Packer puts it. It’s worth quoting him at length:

The question, therefore, that we must ask ourselves when faced with these puzzles is not, is it reasonable to imagine that this is so? But, is it reasonable to accept God’s assurance that this is so? Is it reasonable to take God’s word and believe that He has spoken the truth, even though I cannot fully comprehend what he has said? The question carries its own answer. We should not abandon faith in anything God has taught us merely because we cannot solve all the problems which it raises. Our own intellectual competence is not the test and measure of divine truth. It is not for us to stop believing because we lack understanding, but to believe in order that we may understand.^[1]

In other words, we humbly give highest allegiance to God’s wisdom, not our own ability to reason or rationalize. We grasp at comprehending all of God and when we’ve exhausted our knowledge we say with the psalmist, “O LORD, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me” (Ps. 131:1).

Lest, we walk away from this with merely an exercise in the esoteric, we must consider the glory of the incarnation, not just its mysteries. Jesus, the all-powerful one, emptied himself and came to serve rather than be served. None of us could imagine humility like this. Jesus created the world. By him all things were made (Col. 1:16) yet he entered his own creation so humbly. He wrote himself into his own story in order to rescue us.

We rightly focus on the cross as Jesus’ loving sacrifice for us. But we must also see his sacrificial love for us in the incarnation.

John Donne wrote this about the humiliation of the incarnation:

He found a Golgotha, where he was crucified, even in Bethlehem, where he was born; for to his tenderness then the straws were almost as sharp as the thorns after, and the manger as uneasy at first as the cross at last. His birth and his death were but one continual act, and his Christmas Day and his Good Friday are but the evening and the morning of one and the same day.^[2]

Unto us is born a Savior who is Christ the Lord. He was born to die, that we might live. He was humbled so we could be lifted up. He was emptied so we could be filled. The incarnation might be mysterious, but it’s even more loving and glorious.

^[1] J. I. Packer, “Fundamentalism” and the Word of God (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1958). 109.

^[2] John Donne, “Christmas Day, 1626,” in Sermons of John Donne, ed. Evelyn M. Simpson and George R. Potter (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1962), 7:279. As quoted in Nancy Guthrie, ed., Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus: Experiencing the Peace and Promise of Christmas (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 2008). 20.