A blog by Adam W. Christman

Tag: Church

  • Spiritual Disciplines: Gathering for Worship

    “Some Christians try to go to heaven alone, in solitude. But believers are not compared to bears or lions or other animals that wander alone. Those who belong to Christ are sheep in this respect, that they love to get together. Sheep go in flocks, and so do God’s people.” -Charles Spurgeon

    In this week’s post, I want us to continue to look at the spiritual disciplines by looking at the subject of worship. In previous weeks, I defined the spiritual disciplines as the same as a good faith attempt to follow Jesus. More specifically, I said that it is “following Jesus in the overall style of life he chose for himself.”1 Jesus chose a life of attending corporate (i.e., gathered) worship services in order to focus on and respond to God. Can Christians learn something about going to church from Jesus? That’s a great question! Thank you for asking. The answer is both “yes” and “no.” I want to dispel some mistaken conceptions with the “no” side of the answer, and, in the brief length of a blog post, I want to show you just some of the riches of what the Bible has to say on the “yes” side of the answer. We will start with the shorter list of those two, but before that, let’s briefly define worship.

    I think Donald S. Whitney defines worship well in his book Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. He writes, “Worship often includes words and actions, but it goes beyond them to the focus of the mind and heart. Worship is the God-centered focus and response of the soul; it is being preoccupied with God. So no matter what you are saying or singing or doing at any moment, you are worshiping God only when He is the center of your attention. But whenever you do focus on the infinite worth of God, you will respond in worship as surely as the moon reflects the sun.”2 Worship is certainly much, much more than singing songs to God. Worship can be changing your baby’s diaper. It can be a moment of reflection and prayer before you step into your place of work. It can be the washing of the dishes at the end of a long day. Worship can be more than singing and reading God’s Word and responding to what God’s Word tells you in a sermon, but it is certainly not less than that.

    Christians cannot learn about going to church from Jesus if by that you consider church to be a kind of service industry that tunes up the tires and engines of your spiritual vehicle. Churches are not interchangeable entities that simply perform the same functions at higher or lower levels of efficiency. Allow me an analogy here. In my neighborhood, we have two Jack in the Box locations. (Very spiritual example, I know.) One Jack in the Box has a perfectly fine track record with me and my family. We get what we pay for. The staff there are professional and timely. The other Jack in the Box has a staff member who has engaged, on multiple occasions, in short-changing our order, demanding we pay him after the fact for things we spoke aloud in our order, and has openly rudely criticized us (“you should have said you wanted that when you first made your order”). I’m not perfect, but I’m also not petty enough to get into it with that manager any more. I simply don’t want to do business at that location any more, so I don’t. I get the exact same products, but I also get them accurately and without undue criticism. It is a worldly—or, really, a biblically ignorant—way of thinking to consider a church to function like any other business. It is worldly to think the church needs to fit everything I want out of a church. It needs to have a great preacher, great music, a beautiful place to meet, hot coffee when I show up to service, and it better only have smiling faces of people who have no problems. And if those people do have problems, well, they better have nothing to do with me. But church is not a fast food place or an auto shop. Church is family. Church is a gathering of God’s people. The gathering of God’s people is meant to glorify God, not you. The gathering of God’s people is to make God known, to encourage one another, to serve as a hospital for the broken, not as a beautiful museum for the saints. If we think church is an American corporation we can simply change for another at our whim or convenience, then no, we can learn nothing about this from the life of Jesus.

    “When a Christian shuns fellowship with other Christians, the devil smiles. When he stops studying the Bible, the devil laughs. When he stops praying, the devil shouts for joy.” -Corrie Ten Boom

    Jesus does, however, show us life in the gathered community of God’s people. Jesus participated in the weekly gathering of corporate worship. Luke 4 records Jesus’ rejection in Nazareth, but the context of that rejection occurs around Jesus reading and expounding on the scroll of Isaiah. For our purposes, the most relevant verse is 16, which says, “He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. As usual, he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read” (emphasis added). A more literal translation using the Greek word order3 would read, “… He entered according to the custom of his on the day of the Sabbath…” The phrase “as usual” (or, “according to his custom”) translates κατὰ (according to) τὸ (the) εἰωθὸς (custom) αὐτῷ (his).4 I highlight the Greek phrasing here in order to show that the phrase “as usual” or “according to his custom” is not an addition by a modern translator or editor. The Gospels tell us Jesus’ habit was to attend the weekly worship service at his local synagogue. Psalm 95:6 says, “Come, let’s worship and bow down;
    let’s kneel before the Lord our Maker.” Picture what that looked like when Jesus obeyed that directive in the synagogue in Nazareth and when he was in the temple in Jerusalem. God expects us to worship. Jesus did just that.

    If the Bible reports that the perfectly holy, perfectly loving God the Son attended the weekly gathering of God’s people, then the Bible has something to say to mankind in all periods of history, but especially to us in the age of so-called online church or the myopic practices of individualistic Christianity.

    “The single most important activity of your life is to worship God. You were made for this—to offer your whole life, in all its parts, as a hymn of praise to the Lord.” -Sinclair Ferguson

    Jesus’ participation in the weekly worship service of God’s people shows that it is a necessity, not mere tradition or cultural preference. Notice that Jesus spends a lot of time with his disciples and that the disciples spend a lot of time with one another. These decisions are not accidents or coincidences. These gatherings, these times of worship,5 are part of the design. Jesus sang hymns with his disciples at the conclusion of their Passover observance, aka the Last Supper, before they went out to the Garden of Gethsemane in Matt. 26:30. Jesus read the Isaiah scroll and expounded on it in Luke 4, as referenced above. But he also would have stayed silent and listened as others did so when it was their turn.

    “Be united with other Christians. A wall with loose bricks is not good. The bricks must be cemented together.” -Corrie Ten Boom

    We know Jesus focused on and responded to God in a variety of moments, but I want to encourage you not to miss the night leading up to Jesus’ betrayal by Judas. All four Gospels record that moment at various lengths. Luke 22:42 records an incredible moment in Jesus’ worship through prayer that night. In it, Jesus prays, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me—nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” Truly, this response to God is the best response to God. May it be true of you and I that we respond to him in that same way every day.

    “To gather with God’s people in united adoration of the Father is as necessary to the Christian life as prayer.” -Martin Luther

    Christians today can follow Jesus’ example in the spiritual disciplines by engaging in daily private worship and public worship at least once a week. (Your church may have more than one opportunity to worship together.) Make no mistake: you must have both regular private and public worship in order to best follow Jesus. He deserves our best, but you know what? You deserve your best, too. Engage in daily private times of reading the Bible and praying. Maybe play a worship song on your phone that you can sing along to. But don’t stay isolated! Make sure you at least attend your local church’s worship service in person every week, unless you are limited by illness or mobility. You need it. May we not be indifferent to the regular, disciplined worship of God! May it be true of us what Hebrews 12:28 says, “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe” (ESV).

    I want to close with a quote from A.W. Tozer. He said, “If you will not worship God seven days a week, you do not worship Him on one day a week.”6

    1. Link to the original post giving an overall introduction to spiritual disciplines here: https://adamwchristman.com/2025/08/19/an-introduction-to-spiritual-disciplines/ ↩︎
    2. Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2014), 106. ↩︎
    3. Readers should be aware that Greek word order does not function the same as in English. Greek grammar communicates the function of the various words through their forms, rather than through their arrangement in the sentence. Word order in Greek, therefore, is not limited to “subject-verb-object,” as in English. Rather, it is flexible enough to allow for options that will create emphasis on what the writer wishes to emphasize. So, while I am providing here a word order-based literal translation, that does not make it a better translation than the CSB version quoted previously. It is done here for the sake of understanding. ↩︎
    4. Please forgive how the Greek letters look. I did my best! WordPress isn’t a perfect platform. ↩︎
    5. John chapters 7 and 8 show Jesus spending time at the Feast of Booths in Jerusalem, which would have included times of corporate worship. ↩︎
    6. John Blanchard, ed., More Gathered Gold: A Treasury of Quotations for Christians (Welwyn, England: Evangelical Press, 1986), 344. ↩︎

  • Spiritual Disciplines: Service to Others

    “WANTED: Gifted volunteers for difficult service in the local expression of the kingdom of God. Motivation to serve should be obedience to God, gratitude, gladness, forgiveness, humility, and love. Service will rarely be glorious. Volunteers must be faithful in spite of long hours, little or no visible results, and possibly no recognition—except from God for all eternity.” -Donald S. Whitney

    The biblical witness regarding salvation is very simple. Believe in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God. By believing, you will have life in his name (John 20:13). We are saved by grace through faith, not through works, so that nobody can boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). That is, we are saved from the consequences of our sin, which is death (Romans 6:23). We are saved by grace, or in other words, by God’s free gift (also Romans 6:23). That grace is delivered to us through faith (Eph. 2:8-9; Rom. 10:4, 9-10).

    Many theologians and pastors have remarked that, in all the religions of the world, there are truly only two concepts for how people are saved from sin. One concept is the Christian concept, expressed to us clearly in the Scriptures, that we are saved through faith in Christ. The other concept is that people are saved by works. Some things can be true at the same time. When people ask who you are, you can tell them your name, but it is also accurate to tell them what you do for a living, or who you are in relation to your family. But a theology of salvation (soteriology) does not work like that. Only one can be true, and not the other.

    Why do I bring this up? Today we’re talking about service and I want to be sure to communicate that Christians serve BECAUSE we are saved from sin, NOT IN ORDER TO BE saved from sin. Christians do not trust in our own works to save us or make our presence in the future state palatable to a perfectly holy God. No. We trust in the work of Christ, whose work was to die on the cross and then to rise to resurrected life on the third day. A preacher I know recently preached a series of sermons called “SAVED TO SERVE.” I think that sums it up very well.

    Let’s talk about how we can learn about the spiritual discipline of service from the life of Jesus, starting with that most important part of it.

    Jesus’ purpose on this earth was to live a perfect life, die for us, and rise again. That is service! It is service on behalf of all who will believe. There are some elements to notice about this act of service from Jesus.

    1. This act of service cost Jesus personally. Notice, he did not send someone else. God himself died on the cross for our sins, not a man, angel, or animal.
    2. This act of service was for the benefit of others. You may rightfully point out that all service is for the benefit of others. But among sinful man, motives, means, and results can be debated endlessly. Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, however, concludes debates. He lives again on the other side of death. There can be no argument in the face of the King of Kings. His service was to the benefit of all who will believe. Our faith in him would mean nothing if he did not die and rise again (1 Corinthians 15).
    3. This act of service was motivated out of Jesus’ love and joy. Jesus’ twin motivations of love and joy for us is clearly seen in the Scriptures. Romans 5:8, “But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Love was on display on the cross in the bloodied form of that Jewish rabbi. But look also to Hebrews 12:2b as it comments on Jesus’ motivation. “For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Reuniting us to himself gives Jesus joy just like the joy of the angels that Jesus himself described in Luke 15, verses 7 and 10. How could it be any less than that?
    4. This act of service was conducted not only out of righteous motivations, but also righteous means. Please don’t misunderstand me. The persecutions of the religious leaders, bloodthirsty crowds, and dangerously apathetic Romans were not righteous. What we see in Jesus’ sacrificial act of service on the cross is a man who did not sin at any point along the way. He was pierced because of our acts of rebellion against God (Is. 53:5), not his own. And when he suffered the betrayal, trials, and crucifixion, “he was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth” (Is. 53:7). The eyewitness Simon Peter, son of Jonah, declares in 1 Peter 2:22-24 about Jesus, “He did not commit sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth; when he was insulted, he did not insult in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten but entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree; so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”

    So much could be said about the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, but the above paragraphs should suffice for our study on the spiritual disciplines. Let’s turn to the second clearest picture of Jesus and service with help from the Gospel of John.

    A look at John 13 allows us to move the camera from Jesus’ death and resurrection to the night just before Jesus’ betrayal by Judas. It’s been another long day, a day of walking and dust and sweat. Preparations had been made to borrow the upper room of somebody’s home. They were planning and expecting to observe the Passover. But there was no servant there to get them ready. These men needed to be ceremonially clean in order to engage in the observation of Passover! Even so, there was nobody to kneel down with a towel and basin of water in order to wash and dry their feet. This kind of job was a dirty job. It would have featured on one of Mike Rowe’s TV shows if they had existed back then. It was unenviable, time consuming, perhaps humiliating to wash the grime and potentially animal feces off the feet of whoever was coming to dinner. The washing of feet is a job for a servant.

    Jesus, the King of Creation, who has the Name Above All Names, the One who knew he would die in less than 24 hours, knelt, took up the towel, and did it himself. He washed the feet of the twelve disciples and, presumably, his own. Judas, then, the famous traitor who would hand Jesus over for thirty pieces of silver, was among this number. Can you imagine washing the feet of someone who betrayed you? Jesus did that. He did it before the betrayal, yes, but he did it knowing that the betrayal was coming. And don’t forget Peter’s betrayal! Peter would hang back from Jesus’ side as his master was brought before the kangaroo court we see in the Gospels. When pressed by the people nearby whether he was one of Jesus’ disciples, he cussed and insisted he did not know the man! Jesus knew Peter’s betrayal was coming and Jesus washed his feet anyway.

    In the context of another prophetic pronouncement of his coming betrayal and crucifixion, Jesus famously declared in Mark 10:45, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matthew’s account of that same moment reflects these words on Christians and service. Matt. 20:25-28, “Whoever would be great among you must be your servant . . . even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve.”

    “That’s all well and good for Jesus,” you might be thinking, “but that has nothing to do with me.” My friend, if that is what you think, you are mistaken. We are to follow Jesus, just as the first disciples were called to do (Matt. 4:19).

    John 13:14-15 record these words from Jesus, “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.” Some of you reading this may come from a congregation or a denomination that regularly holds foot washing services on an annual or more frequent basis. For those who are unfamiliar, some churches hold a service where they plan and then conduct a time where those in attendance have the opportunity to wash the feet of another person in attendance. It is a humbling experience. My point is not to argue that your church should have a service like this. The point is to show that Jesus’ life is characterized by personal service done on behalf of others and so ours should be characterized by the same.

    “In the Discipline of service there is also great liberty. Service enables us to say ‘no!’ to the worlds’ games of promotion and authority. It abolishes our need (and desire) for a ‘pecking order.’” -Richard Foster

    If Jesus’ acts of service were personal, ours need to be personal, as well. We live in a digital age. We live in the age of drive thru food, coffee shops, banks, and more. We live in a world that we have shaped in our own image.1 We have curated online church with music from this church, preaching from that church, inspirational videos from our favorite Christian influencers, and we call that the Christian life. Meanwhile, we lay back and are spiritually gluttonous. We feed and feed and feed on only the morsels we choose, neglecting those dynamics of the Christian life we prefer to avoid. We prefer not to put up with the bad smells of the bodies of other people. We prefer not to deal with their (in our opinion) bad driving or bad parking. We prefer not to use a public restroom. We prefer not to walk down the street, or drive a few minutes, or catch a bus in order to attend a worship service. “Online church” is not what God had in mind. We are embodied souls!2 We need to spend time in spaces with one another in times of singing, reading, praying, and, yes, service to others. We need to do it ourselves. We cannot outsource service to somebody else. We have to use our own hands to lift the fallen. We have to use our own feet to go to the outcast. We have to use our own voices to encourage the downcast. We have to use our own backs to bear the burdens of one another.

    If Jesus’ acts of service were for the benefit of others, ours need to be for the benefit of others, too. On social media, there is almost no content worth reading or viewing. Among all the fluff of wasted time are videos of people who feed the homeless or helping a family experiencing poverty. There are so many of those videos that now there are parody videos mocking them! We do not serve in order to be seen. Matthew 6:2, “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. Otherwise, you have no reward with your Father in heaven.” You may notice the Scripture address there and remember that it comes from the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus also said this in the same sermon, “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven” (Mt. 5:16). We best serve when we do it in ways that causes people see the good works, not us, and give glory to the Father, not to us.

    We best serve when we do it in ways that causes people see the good works, not us, and give glory to the Father, not to us.

    If Jesus’ acts of service were motivated from love and joy for others, so ours need to be, as well. Do you remember the Greatest Commandments? They come into play with regards to everything we do, including our acts of service. Love God, love people (Luke 10:27-28). Love—real love, not the cheap, uncommitted, convenient kind of appreciation that so commonly passes for lovenowadays—and joy go together. Read your Bible, pray, and develop your love for God and others. Don’t hold back from service simply because you think you don’t love people enough, though! Sometimes, it is through our acts of service that we mature in our love for God and others. Charles Spurgeon preached a sermon titled Some Marks of God’s People. In it, he stated, “He who serves God, out of love to him, is the one who really and truly serves him. The Lord of love, the great King eternal, immortal, invisible, needs no slaves to grace his throne. He wants those to do his bidding who serve him with delight and pleasure.”

    If Jesus’ acts of service were conducted by righteous means, then we need to do the same. Service must be done with a joyful, loving motivation, but also a joyful, loving means. Imagine a children’s ministry volunteer serving joyful preschool kids with a scowl on his face. (Depending on your church experiences, it might not be too hard to imagine!) Such things should not be. We conduct our acts of service with love, not lashes. Sometimes, we can serve in such a way that we never voice negative words, but our posture, demeanor, facial expression, and other elements communicate a bad attitude anyway. It is not the way of Jesus. James 1:20, “for human anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness.” I am not telling you to force yourself to “feel like serving.” Nor am I saying to “only serve when you feel like it”. (You will soon come to a place where you NEVER feel like it, which is not the way of Jesus.) What I mean is, develop self-control, that flavor of the Fruit of the Spirit. Let God be in charge, and in submission to him take control of your face, body language, and any other element that communicates to people so that you can serve in such a way that they are blessed rather than more burdened.

    I want to close with some bite-size thoughts on practical service and even one of its benefits, followed by one more quote.

    Service does not care whether the task is large or small. Service is content to serve in hidden ways, not in the spotlight. Service is free not to calculate every result. Service is happy to minister to all, great or small, poor or rich, etc. Service ministers simply and faithfully, regardless of mood or feelings.3 Service is a pattern of life, not limited to one or two instances. Service builds community.

    “Therefore, the spiritual authority of Jesus is an authority not found in a position or a title, but in a towel,” Richard Foster.

    1. I would argue that this has resulted in a world twisted out of God’s own design, but that’s another subject. ↩︎
    2. Another subject worthy of its own series of posts. ↩︎
    3. I know I already made this point, but it is so important! ↩︎

  • On the Need for Discipleship, Part 1

    There are no Christians who are not disciples. To be a Christian means to be a disciple.

    “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” — Matthew 28:19-20 (CSB; emphasis added)

    A disciple is a follower of Jesus Christ who is in the active, intentional process of learning to think, feel, and act like a Christian. (Reminder: the term “Christian” means “follower of Christ”.)

    What we’re talking about in this post is that we have basic needs with regards to discipleship. This is big picture stuff to introduce to you our needs as Christians. We need to pay the cost of discipleship daily. We also need to live in light of the reality of our connection!

    We need to follow Jesus as His disciples. He calls us to do exactly that. And it really does meaning something!

    Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a pastor up through World War II. In his act of Christian rebellion against the Third Reich in Nazi Germany, he was arrested by the authorities and ultimately martyred by the Nazis. He wrote this lengthy quote in The Cost of Discipleship:

    “Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble; it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.

    Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: ‘you were bought at a price,’ and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.”

    Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: ‘you were bought at a price,’ and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us.

    The apostle Peter received two calls from Jesus to follow him. His first call was at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, to give up his vocation and travel (which required departing from his family for long periods of time). That call is not cheap or easy.

    Peter was called a second time after Jesus’ resurrection, on the morning that Jesus fed the disciples fish. John 21 records that morning’s events. In that account, Jesus cooked the fish the disciples had caught, He restored Peter, and concluded His remarks in John 21:22 with “follow me.” Peter’s obedience to the call would result in giving all, again. Jesus said this in John 21:18-19, “‘Truly I tell you, when you were younger, you would tie your belt and walk wherever you wanted. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will tie you and carry you where you don’t want to go.’ He said this to indicate by what kind of death Peter would glorify God. After saying this, he told him, ‘Follow me‘” (emphasis added). Peter’s call would result in his death.1

    Jesus’ whole-life call is not limited to Peter, but extends to all believers! Mark 8:34-38,

    Calling the crowd along with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me and the gospel will save it. For what does it benefit someone to gain the whole world and yet lose his life? What can anyone give in exchange for his life? For whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

    “Take up your cross” is a BIG call. Trusting Jesus is nothing as limited as a Sunday morning worship time, nor is it as simple and easy as registering for a political party. It is a call for all His followers to give all of themselves to all of Who He is and what He does. Jesus calls you to give 100% of yourself to Him; your time, your talents, your treasure.

    It is a call for all His followers to give all of themselves to all of Who He is and what He does.

    Mark Dever, pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington DC said, “Christians are people who have real faith in Christ, and who show it by resting their hopes, fears, and lives entirely upon him.”

    Dever also remarks:

    “The Christian life is the discipled life and the discipling life. Yes, Christianity involves taking the road less traveled and hearing a different drummer. But not in the way that Frost and Thoreau meant. Christianity is not for loners or individualists. It is for a people traveling together down the narrow path that leads to life. You must follow and you must lead. You must be loved and you must love. And we love others best by helping them to follow Jesus down the pathway of life. … Christianity is personal, yes, always!—but not private. You need to be involved in the lives of others, and you need them in yours. God is the only one who doesn’t need to be taught!” (Emphasis added.)

    God’s plan for your involvement in the lives of others, and for others’ lives to be involved in yours, is the local church. If you are a Christian, you need to be in a local gathering of the body of Christ, aka the church. (I don’t necessarily mean a brick-and-mortar church building, though those are certainly helpful resources we can use to bless and benefit our faith community and our geographical communities, too.)

    Hebrews 10:24-25, “And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works, not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching” (emphasis added). Notice the phrasing of continuous action? “Not neglecting.” In other words, “let us continually choose to gather together” for encouragement and provoking one another to greater heights of love and broader impacts of good works.

    Let’s back up to Genesis 2:18 for a moment. That verse says, “Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper corresponding to him.’” While this verse is primarily about marriage, it also points to a truth found all over Scripture and science: human beings are communal creatures. We weren’t meant to live life isolated in our bedrooms or living rooms, relegated to doomscrolling or watching endless screens of Netflix shows or movies. We also weren’t meant to live for ourselves, perhaps doing many activities and “to heck with everybody else”! We were meant for real connection to one another in our basic humanity (Gen 2:18). As Christians, our bonds to one another in Christ give more and eternal reasons to be connected one to another.

    Some biblical pictures of who Christians are will help us think about discipleship.

    -Co-workers with God. 1 Cor 3:9, “For we are God’s coworkers. You are God’s field, God’s building.” He has brought us into the work of His Kingdom!

    -Stewards. 2 Tim 2:2, “What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” I’m reminded of the Parable of the Talents from Matthew 25. We have been given something to use in God’s mission to seek and to save the lost. I won’t go over the spiritual gifts of 1 Corinthians 12, et al, here. But they aren’t simply skills we have developed or deserve praise for. God gives us everything we have and we steward all of it to His glory and for His mission.

    -Soldiers. 2 Tim 2:3-4, “Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in the concerns of civilian life; he seeks to please the commanding officer.” There is a cost. But there is also a great goal of seeing men & women saved, and the finish line is being in Jesus’ presence for eternity. Soldiers look out for fellow soldiers.

    -Athletes. 2 Tim 2:5, “Also, if anyone competes as an athlete, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.” Athletes train, strive, and agonize over mastery of their focused area. An athlete aims for excellence. The best athletes experience and utilize humility, learning, and repetition. Ultimately, the athlete does all that so he can put himself out there and give his best, leaving it all out on the field, holding nothing back.

    -Farmers. 2 Tim 2:6, “The hardworking farmer ought to be the first to get a share of the crops.” Farmers are patient workers who rely on God to give the growth. We do the work of plowing, planting, watering, cultivating, pruning, and ultimately harvesting. The best farmers, the happiest farmers, the most productive farmers all have something in common. They work together!

    –Body. Rom 12:4-5. 1 Cor 12:12f. With Christ as the head (Eph 1:22-23), we–His body–follow. We share a common and unbreakable bond through salvation and through the Holy Spirit.

    In today’s post, we covered the need and the reality of connection, as well as the cost of following Jesus. In next week’s post, we will get into influence and discipleship more specifically.

    1. Church history tells us Peter’s martyrdom was in Rome, hung on a cross. He requested of his executioners that they hang his cross upside-down since he was unworthy to die as Jesus died. This account of the specific detail regarding an upside-down cross is from a questionable source, but multiple early writers attest to Peter’s martyrdom, including his martyrdom in Rome “with a passion like that of the Lord” (Tertullian). See Clement of Rome’s Letter to the Corinthians, Dionysius of Corinth’s writings, Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History. ↩︎
  • A Visual Primer Bibliography on Church Discipline

    A Visual Primer Bibliography on Church Discipline

    The following is a list, in no particular order, of 12 helpful books that discuss church discipline or elements of it. This list is for layperson and minister alike, with some focusing primarily on the theoretical/biblical study of the issue, while others focus primarily on the practical, and some include a helpful dose of both.

    If you can only read one of these books, read Ken Sande’s “The Peacemaker.” If you can read two of them, add Jonathan Leeman’s “Church Discipline” (it’s very short; it’s more of a handbook). If you can read more than that, but don’t know where to go next, hit me up in the comments and we can talk about which one might be best for you and your needs.

    Several of these are available in Spanish, as well.

  • Ash Wednesday

    Today is a special day for my friends in the high church traditions – it is Ash Wednesday.

    As a Southern Baptist, I do not observe this day like my friends who are of a ‘high church’ tradition. I can appreciate it in certain ways, however. If you are like me, in that you do not want to observe this day exactly like Catholics, etc., but you are curious about what you might appreciate about Ash Wednesday, please read on.

    When you start something, when you create that moment of initiation, is it not a special moment? When I was a child and our family would go on a road trip, before we started the car, my grandfather or my mother would pray, asking for protection on the road. The point of the road trip was to visit Yosemite, or the Sequoias. It was not about sitting in the car and praying before leaving for a trip. But that first moment was still special. That prayer was a way to tell me, “The trip begins now.”

    Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, the 40 day period leading up to Easter Sunday (or Resurrection Sunday, for those who want to separate from the secular culture’s use of rabbits combined with eggs, etc). Lent is a time of fasting and self-denial. I know many Baptists who practice a form of Lent, where they abstain from, say, Dr. Peppers for those 40 days. Or junk food. Or processed sugar. Usually, I hear Baptists ‘observing’ Lent by dieting, though I have also heard of denying oneself of this or that frivolous activity, though I also have Catholic friends who observe it similarly.[1]

    Is this the point of Lent and Ash Wednesday? To trim one’s waistline? To go “crunchy?”[2]

    In the high church tradition, Psalm 51 is typically the text for the Ash Wednesday sermon. I quote it here before continuing. It is only 19 verses long. It won’t take that long to read.

     51 To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

    1     Have mercy on me, O God,

    according to your steadfast love;

           according to your abundant mercy

    blot out my transgressions.

    2     Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,

    and cleanse me from my sin!

    3     For I know my transgressions,

    and my sin is ever before me.

    4     Against you, you only, have I sinned

    and done what is evil in your sight,

           so that you may be justified in your words

    and blameless in your judgment.

    5     Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,

    and in sin did my mother conceive me.

    6     Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,

    and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

    7     Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

    wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

    8     Let me hear joy and gladness;

    let the bones that you have broken rejoice.

    9     Hide your face from my sins,

    and blot out all my iniquities.

    10    Create in me a clean heart, O God,

    and renew a right spirit within me.

    11    Cast me not away from your presence,

    and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

    12    Restore to me the joy of your salvation,

    and uphold me with a willing spirit.

    13    Then I will teach transgressors your ways,

    and sinners will return to you.

    14    Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,

    O God of my salvation,

    and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.

    15    O Lord, open my lips,

    and my mouth will declare your praise.

    16    For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;

    you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.

    17    The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;

    a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

    18    Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;

    build up the walls of Jerusalem;

    19    then will you delight in right sacrifices,

    in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;

    then bulls will be offered on your altar. [3]

     

    Ash Wednesday is the first day of a season where we reflect on human mortality and repent of our sins. Are those qualities that Baptists can appreciate? Can we participate in those activities without converting to Catholicism or leaving our denomination?

    I have heard it said that Catholics focus too much on the sadness of the death of Christ. When that is true, then Ash Wednesday would certainly be a part of it for those Catholics who focus on the death of Christ to the exclusion of the resurrection of Christ (to one extent or another). I quote here another passage from the Scriptures that, I think, should help us all to understand the value of Ash Wednesday a little bit more. Isaiah 61:1-3:

    61 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,

    because the Lord has anointed me

           to bring good news to the poor;

    he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

           to proclaim liberty to the captives,

    and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

    2     to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,

    and the day of vengeance of our God;

    to comfort all who mourn;

    3     to grant to those who mourn in Zion—

    to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,

           the oil of gladness instead of mourning,

    the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;

           that they may be called oaks of righteousness,

    the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.[4]

     

    In 40 days, He will replace our ashes for beauty, our mourning for the oil of gladness, our faint spirit for the garment of praise. In 40 days, we will remember again that Jesus brought and brings good news to the poor, that he bound up and binds up the brokenhearted, that he has proclaimed liberty to the captives, and opened the prison to those who are bound. We rightly reflect on our mortality and sinful inadequacy when we recognize it as a precursor to the work of Christ, who died for us all.

    This season is one where winter is ending as spring begins. Death is mingled with life. On Good Friday, we will reflect on the Creator of life who demonstrated who he is by dying on a cross. On Resurrection Sunday, we will reflect on the defeat of death at the moment of Christ’s resurrection. But, for now, we speak to ourselves and each other of our mortality, and we speak to Christ about repentance, because he has spoken to us through his life, ministry, death on the cross, and resurrection from death.

    “This is the time of tension between dying and birth

    The place of solitude where three dreams cross

    Between blue rocks

    But when the voices shaken from the yew-tree drift away

    Let the other yew be shaken and reply.”

                -from T.S. Eliot, “Ash Wednesday”

    [1] This does not refer to the common practice of eating fish on Fridays during the Lenten season. This practice came about because red meat was expensive, so the practice of spending so much money during this season was discouraged. Fish is a much cheaper meat, so clergy pointed their parishioners to it as a replacement during Lent. One thing led to another, and now we have big posters for the Filet-O-Fish leading up to Easter.

    [2] I’ve only become “hip” to this term recently, under my wife’s tutelage.

    [3] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Ps 51:title–19.

    [4] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Is 61:1–3.

  • For Your Consideration: Elevation Church and a Cheap Trick (no, not the band)

    I would like to introduce what will be a regular feature of my blog: For Your Consideration. Each ‘FYC’ post will be a link to a piece by somebody else that I think is worth your time. It will include at least one paragraph by me, summarizing and responding to the article, poll, study, essay, etc., then it will include the link at the bottom for you to follow up, read, and be able to think about on your own.

    The first entry For Your Consideration is about a Southern Baptist church in Charlotte, North Carolina that calls itself “Elevation Church.” In the article, local journalist Stuart Watson investigates Elevation’s published strategy for increasing church membership titled “Spontaneous Baptism How-To Guide.”

    Let the title sink in for a minute.

    If you haven’t punched a hole through your computer or phone yet for that oxymoron, please read on. In the guide, emotionally manipulative tactics are detailed in how to get more baptisms through what is, essentially, a mixture of peer pressure, crowd mentality, and Disney-level marketing. That’s right. You are supposed to plant actors in the crowd who will come up to get baptized first, taking the longest and most highly visible path to get there. This little bit of theater, combined, no doubt, with emotionally manipulative song selection and the lure of a willing speaker (“pastor” just doesn’t seem the right word to use for someone utilizing these tactics) will bring about the desired results of getting a bunch of people wet so you can pad numbers.

    Speculation aside, one thing is clear. This is a misunderstanding of the doctrine of the church. Church is not a building padded to the rafters with people you got wet. The church is the Bride of Christ, filled with people who intentionally follow Jesus because he has made a change in their lives, saving them from their sins by his death on the cross. This is what I believe as a Christian and a member of the Southern Baptist Convention. I am ashamed that a church in my denomination is manipulating the people of the Charlotte, N.C. area.

    For your consideration, “How Elevation Church, Pastor Furtick produce ‘spontaneous baptisms’” by Stuart Watson.