Category: Discipleship

Evangelism Shouldn’t Be Hard: It’s Just Telling People Good News

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Evangelism Shouldn't Be Hard

Evangelism.
The mere word seems to send otherwise mature Christians running for the hills.
Potluck. “You know I’m in.”
Worship. “I hope we sing 10,000 Reasons again.”
But, “evangelism?”
“Uh, I’ve got something else going on.”

What is it about this word?

“Evangelism” is a Christianese word, but it shouldn’t be scary. When the New Testament was written, the word simply meant “the declaration of good news.” It was mainly associated with news about the king. The birth of a prince was good news. The coronation of a new king was good news. A king’s victory in battle was good news.

In our Christian context, evangelism is merely telling people the good news that the King was born. The good news that He died on behalf of messed up people like you and me. The good news that He rose again and is going to restore all things to their original, good design.

Telling good news isn’t a special skill. People don’t get degrees in “Delivering Good News.” Little kids, with no training whatsoever, are some of the best at telling good news: “Dad, dad, dad! You won’t believe it: I found a quarter!” “That’s great.” “No, it gets better: I bought, wait for it, a gumball with it!”

Somewhere along the line, we shifted things though. Evangelism went from being simply sharing Good News, to formulas, memorized outlines, and asking terrifyingly awkward questions. Moreover, it went from being something natural, like a kid excited about finding a quarter, to something you had to have specialized training for, a unique calling for.

Somewhere in the course of Christian history, evangelism moved from being the joy of every disciple to being the responsibility of a few specialists.

Reset

We need to reset the dial, regain the joy of every Christ-follower being engaged in telling the good news about the King.

To do that, we need to be reminded why it’s Good News in the first place. Jesus himself gives us a sketch of the Good News in John 3:16:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Such a familiar verse, but one whose message has been lost in our evangelism-averse era of the faith. However, if we can regain an understanding of evangelism as simply telling good news…well, there is all sorts of good news here for us to share!

1. God’s unearned love is good news

The fact that God loves the world is a massive dose of good news. It’s especially good when you consider what Jesus means by “the world.” When he says that God loves the world, he’s not saying that God loves the penguins, and God loves the pandas, and God loves the butterflies. When he says that God loves the world, he’s talking about you and me. He’s talking about humanity, sinful humanity.

God created everything and has the right of creation to outline laws for his domain. He says, “here’s the way you ought to live. Here’s this good world that I’ve created.” And we throw it back in his face and say, “no thanks. We’re going to do it on our own.” We rebelled, and we continue to rebel.

We’re not worthy of God’s love.

And this verse tells us God loves us anyway.

He loves people who reject him. He loves the world, the broken, sin-ridden, filthily-foul, curse-riddled mess that we call humanity. He’s not waiting for us to love him: he loves us and invites us to encounter his love.

So, God’s love is good news, not because we love him and then he loves us, but because we hated him and he still loved us.

2. God’s gift of his Son is good news

People throw out the statement, “God is love” all the time. And, based on the context, many people never try to define that love. It’s like, to them, God is this big, amorphous blob of love, just oozing out everywhere with rainbows and cotton candy.

However, God’s love is clearly defined in Scripture. God loves in a very particular and a very costly way. It’s all right here in John 3:16: “For God SO loved the world that he gave his only Son…”

So.

We tend to interpret that “so” as meaning “God loved the world so much” as if Jesus was merely emphasizing the size of God’s love. Nope.

It means, “in this way.” God loved the world. How do you know? He gave his only Son.

God did something very specific to demonstrate the nature of his love because we needed at least two things to recognize his love: we needed to know who God really is and we needed someone to solve our sin problem.

Jesus reveals the true nature of God by being God. His birth, teaching, life, death, and resurrection show us God’s character and attributes more clearly than was ever revealed before.

That’s an act of love because we were created to know God and be known by him. When we rebelled against him, we lost that knowledge and humanity has been stumbling around in the dark, desperately creating gods in our own image, hoping to find the relational satisfaction we were created to enjoy but always coming up empty.

And when the scales fall from our eyes, and we see Jesus, our hearts leap and shout: “Here is the one who made me, who loves me, who calls me! Now I understand!”

But if all Jesus did was reveal God to us, our hearts would cease their exulting as our minds caught up: “But he’s so perfect, so right, so true and I’m so flawed, so evil, so false: I’m unable to relate to him because my rebellion has dug a chasm between us.”

So.

So, God didn’t just send Jesus to reveal himself: he sent Jesus to heal us. Jesus shows God’s perfection and then dies for our imperfection. The punishment that our sin deserved, death, Jesus takes into himself on the cross. He dies in our place. And because the punishment for our sin is accomplished, the guilt of our rebellion is done away with. That chasm is bridged, and all who will may walk across, back to fellowship with their Creator.

That’s good news.

3. God’s grace is good news.

So how do we walk across the bridge? Because it’s not enough for us to know who God is, that there’s something in us that’s broken, that has to be fixed. Somehow, it actually has to get fixed.

It gets fixed by us believing in Jesus. Jesus himself said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” It’s only by believing that Jesus is who he said he was and confessing him to be the Lord he is, that we can be saved.

Not, “work as hard as you can and hope that I’ll make up the difference.”

Not, “do x number of good deeds, pray y number of times, and never wet the bed, and I’ll let you off the hook.”

None of that. Believe.

You can’t earn God’s love, you can’t earn the solution to your sin, you can’t earn anything from God. Earning suggest owing and God owes his creation nothing. However, he offers everything to those who believe.

“It’s too easy,” we think. “Surely there’s something we have to do. Surely there’s something we have to contribute.”

Jesus says, “no, no, believe in me.”

That is God’s grace. God’s grace says you can’t earn it, you don’t deserve it, and yet God offers it anyway. This is why Paul tells us that the gospel is foolishness to the Greeks, a stumbling block to the Jews. We want the good news of God’s forgiveness to require something of us, up front. We want it to require us to be smart, to work hard, to earn it somehow.

However, we can’t, we don’t, we won’t. It’s grace through faith, a simple act of faithful obedience, not to a list of rules, but to the call of our Lord: “believe in me.”

That’s good news.

4. God’s offer of eternal life is good news.

Too many people, including the one writing this post, are tempted to think that this life is where we need to find our satisfaction, happiness, and joy.

And every single one of us is going to die disappointed unless we change our minds on that subject. Because the fact of the matter is that this life is too full of brokenness, too full of heartache, too full of disease and death and sadness to ever be what we need it to be.

Whether you have $2,000,000 in the bank or you don’t have two pennies in your pocket, you’re going to face hardship in this life. Money’s not going to solve the problem.

Whether you’ve got a spouse who loves you and completes you and is your soulmate, or you’re stuck in a marriage and think that getting out is the answer, or you want to be married and you can’t seem to find anybody, a relationship is not going to give you the life that you expect.

Money won’t. Relationships won’t. Stuff won’t. Fame won’t. Power won’t. None of it is going to outweigh the difficulty that inevitably comes by continuing to breathe. Humans live in a world that is marked by sin. We experience the effects of both our sin and the sin of the people around us. We deal with hard times day by day by day, and if this life is meant to be our fulfillment, we got a raw deal.

Jesus says, “Here’s the deal: you don’t have to believe in me. You don’t have to take the love that God offers. You can seek fulfillment in this life, and you may come close, but you’re not going to find it because, in the end, you’re going to perish.

But then he says, “Wait. Those who do believe in me will be given eternal life.” And not life like it is now: life like God intended things to be, forever. No more pain, no more cancer, no more dying, no more rape, no more starvation, no more brokenness.

That’s good news.

Tell The Good News

Evangelism is just telling people, “Hey, good news: this world isn’t all there is. It’s broken, I’m broken, you’re broken. But God wants to fix the world, and me, and you. So he sent his Son. Want to learn more about him with me?”

That’s not so hard. Evangelism, in the traditional, churchy sense might be hard, but telling good news: that’s easy.

So, let’s do it. Let’s start telling people the Good News.

John 3:16 is a pretty good place to start.

5 Tools For Fighting Sin & 50 Ways To Use Them

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Fighting Sin

Admit it: you’re a sinner.

So am I. In fact, the Bible says that we’re all sinners.

That’s why we need Jesus. Because we can’t seem to get out of our own way when it comes to sin. We’re like the dog in Proverbs, repeatedly sticking our noses back into the putrid results of our half-digested attempts at finding nourishment in the garbage heap of our desires.

We need Jesus to beat sin for us, to show us that true nourishment comes from God, to clean up our mess so we quit going back to the same old stuff.

And he does that. But he asks us to put some effort in as well.

Contrary to the assumptions of some, becoming a Christian won’t automatically get rid of sin in your life. In fact, it makes you even more aware of your sin so that you begin to feel its effects even more keenly than before.

Becoming a Christian, however, does give you access to God’s power and God’s tools for fighting sin. The Bible doesn’t promise an easy road; it encourages us to join the battle, to fight against the all-too-pervasive presence of sin in our lives.

Here are some of the tools it reveals that Christians can use to overcome sin:

Read The Bible

At the risk of stating the obvious, you’ll never know what tools Home Depot offers if you don’t browse the website or walk into the store. Same with the Bible for Christians: if you don’t go to the Word of God, you won’t find the Wisdom of God for your fight against sin. More than that, the Bible itself IS one of the tools that God gives us. Look at what Psalm 119:9 says:

How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your Word.

The Bible, God’s Word, is like a sword put in the hands of a traveler: it’s protection for the journey! And, make no mistake, the Christian life is a journey. If you’re on it, you better be guarding yourself, using the Word to dispatch any creeping sin that confronts you.

Here are some key starting passages to read as you fight sin:

  1. Read Genesis 2-3
  2. Read Proverbs
  3. Read Psalm 1
  4. Read Psalms 38
  5. Read 2 Samuel 11-12
  6. Read Hebrews 6, 10
  7. Read Matthew 5-7
  8. Read Romans 5-6
  9. Read 1 John 1-2
  10. Read Revelation 20-22

Pray

One of the biggest mistakes I make in my Christian life is thinking that I can handle things on my own.

Not a chance. I fail every time.

I need God’s strength if I’m going to fight sin. Like Jesus’ disciples on the night he was betrayed, I need to pay attention to his words:

Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Matthew 26:41

So often, we Christians have spirits that are willing to fight sin, but we are weighed down by our fleshly desires. Jesus says don’t try to fight on your own strength: depend on God by admitting your weakness in prayer. We “watch” out for those things that tempt us to sin and “pray” for God’s intervention when we seHere are some ideas of what to pray for:

  1. Pray For Grace
  2. Pray For Strength
  3. Pray For Humility
  4. Pray For Peace
  5. Pray For Focus
  6. Pray For Others
  7. Pray For Wisdom
  8. Pray For Love
  9. Pray For Truth
  10. Pray For Joy

Meditate on Jesus

“Meditate” is one of those words that can have a wide range of possible meanings depending on someone’s background. When I use the word here, I am defining it as, “thinking deeply, clearly, and intently about something and its implications for one’s life”.

That’s a mouthful but, to put it another way, as Christians we are to focus our attention on Jesus and form our life’s off of his. Hebrews 3:1 urges us to,

…consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, who was faithful to him who appointed him…

Consider Jesus and the implications of his life for your own:

  1. Meditate On Jesus’ Deity
  2. Meditate On Jesus’ Birth
  3. Meditate On Jesus’ Promises
  4. Meditate On Jesus’ Teaching
  5. Meditate On Jesus’ Temptation
  6. Meditate On Jesus’ Miracles
  7. Meditate On Jesus’ Trial
  8. Meditate On Jesus’ Death
  9. Meditate On Jesus’ Resurrection
  10. Meditate On Jesus’ Return

Get Accountability

Reading your Bible, praying, and meditating on Jesus are good, individual disciplines. But the Christian life isn’t designed to just be “Jesus, me, and a cup of tea”.

It’s meant to be lived out alongside other people who are following Jesus too.

That’s why there are so many “one another” commands in the New Testament: “love one another,” “serve one another,” and “forgive one another”. These all point to the fact that we’re expected to be accountable to other believers for how we are living as Christians, both in doing good works and in avoiding sin.

For that matter, even non-Christians can help us because we want to avoid sin that would make them think less of Jesus.

Generally speaking, other people provide accountability that helps us overcome sin.

  1. Get Accountability With A Church
  2. Get Accountability With A Pastor
  3. Get Accountability With A Small Group
  4. Get Accountability With A Christian Friend
  5. Get Accountability With A Non-Christian Friend
  6. Get Accountability With A Calendar
  7. Get Accountability With An App
  8. Get Accountability With A Dumb Phone
  9. Get Accountability With A Journal
  10. Get Accountability With A Budget

Serve

I think I missed this one earlier in my Christian life, but as I grow I am beginning to see that one of the best antidotes to sinning is serving. When I am serving others, I don’t have time to think about how to serve my sinful nature. When I’m focused on the needs of others, I don’t have the attention to devote to my own sinful desires.

That’s the goal of the gospel: that we would learn to love God and love others and deny ourselves.

Paul addresses this reality in Galatians 5:13:

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

Jesus Christ has freed us from our sin, not so that we can continue in it, but so that we can serve others. Here are some practical ways to serve that will help you get the focus off yourself:

  1. Serve In A Local Church
  2. Serve Your Neighbor
  3. Serve Your Family
  4. Serve Your Coworkers
  5. Serve Your Friends
  6. Serve Dinner At A Local Shelter
  7. Serve In Children’s Programs
  8. Serve On A Mission Trip
  9. Serve In A Prison Ministry
  10. Serve As A Hospital Volunteer

Your Choice

Overcoming sin is hard, but if God has redeemed you through his Son, Jesus Christ, he’s given you tools to help.

It’s up to you to pick them up and start using them.

Image by Radosław Kulupa from Pixabay

Eschatology And Evangelism: Closer Than You Think

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Ok, your first thought at seeing that title might be, “what is eschatology?” Basically, it’s just a fancy Christian word for “the study of the end times.”

And, confession time, for most of my Christian life, I hated eschatology.

As a pastor, I feel bad for saying that.

Maybe I should rather say that I hated the omphaloskeptic approach to eschatology that pervaded my introduction to the subject.

But I don’t hate it anymore. Something changed when I, you know, actually read what the Bible had to say on the subject.

What Caused The Change?

I discovered that eschatology is not a matter of chart-making, headline-chasing, or navel-gazing. Instead, eschatology is firmly entwined with THE task of the church: make disciples.

My previous frustration with the subject was grounded in a certainty that the “man on the island” couldn’t care less about the second time Jesus came when he had never heard about the first time.

Eschatology seemed altogether too isolated and ivory-tower for it to make any difference in my life. I proudly declared myself a pan-millennialist (someone who believes everything will pan out in the end without me having to figure it all out) and moved on with my life.

But time spent in the Word of God made me see that the end of all things is intimately connected with the proclamation of the King of all things. There are three passages of Scripture that flipped the light switch for me.

2 Peter 3:9

“The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

I had always read this verse isolated from its context. I thought it was a philosophical statement of the Lord’s patient mercy towards unbelievers. I never realized that it was an eschatological statement of his patient mercy towards believers.

But it is.

Note the object of his patience: “you.” Peter is not writing his letter to unbelievers. He is writing to the church, to believers, to those who are waiting for God to fulfill his promises.

Not only that, but the context moves this statement from being a nice thought about the nature of God to what it really is: a challenging thought about the nature of God as seen in the coming eschatological reality.

“But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.” 2 Peter 3:8-10

The statement is clearly set in an eschatological context! The impact is this: the Lord is delaying the dissolution of all things because he is patiently waiting for his people to spread the good news that perishing is not the only option given to humanity: we can choose repentance and eternal life because of God’s mercy to us in Christ Jesus!

God is merciful to those who are under his condemnation and he’s patient with those of us who have had 2000 years to make sure everyone heard about that good news but who haven’t taken it seriously enough to finish the task.

This text began to spark in my mind a sense that eschatology wasn’t as divorced from the evangelistic task as I had imagined.

But God wasn’t done opening my eyes yet.

Matthew 24:14

“And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”

If Peter connected the dots between eschatology and evangelism for me, Jesus picked up the line and smacked me in the forehead with it.

Matthew 24-25 speak to the coming of Jesus and the events of the eschaton. I knew that. But what I didn’t realize was the Jesus connected the eschaton to the Great Commission. I was used to quoting that “no man knows the hour” regarding the Second Coming, but I was blithely unaware that we had at least a hint at a prerequisite for that event.

Go back and read it again: Jesus says that the end won’t come until the gospel has been proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations. Then read Matthew 28:18-20: Jesus’ last command to the church is to fulfill his prophecy of the gospel being proclaimed everywhere.

Now, I don’t claim full knowledge of where all the gospel has been preached and, yes, I know that many claim that Colossians 1:23 says it has (it doesn’t necessarily say that), but I do know this: Jesus isn’t back yet. And as long as there’s a chance that the reason he hasn’t returned is that the Lord is patient with his church who are slow to preach the gospel in all the world, eschatology is firmly connected to the evangelistic mandate. In other words, if we want Jesus to come back, we should be evangelizing and making disciples.

All this was warming me up to eschatology as immediately applicable and important, but it wasn’t personal yet. That came in the next passage.

Daniel 12:2-3

“And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.”

Daniel is talking about the end of all things. And I was struck this last week by this passage’s connection of evangelistic effort with eschatological joy. When the dead are raised from the dust it is those who are wise and who have “turned many to righteousness” who shine most brilliantly.

There is a call wrapped up in the Bible’s language of the end times for me to get serious about obeying the Great Commission, both from a conditional and a personal standpoint. We shy away from teaching and thinking this way, perhaps for honorable reasons, but the Bible is clear: our experience of personal reward at in the Kingdom of Christ will be tied to our faithfulness in making disciples.

If I want to truly experience the joy of the eschatological New Heavens and New Earth, I need to be evangelizing now.

That’s the most natural understanding of Daniel, Matthew, and Peter and the witness of the rest of the Bible from Genesis-Revelation. Eschatology doesn’t operate in a vacuum. It is wrapped up with God’s purpose for his people: the proclamation of the Good News that God reigns.

So, don’t divorce eschatology and evangelism. Don’t waste time on fruitless speculation about current events cross-referenced with obscure (and out-of-context) verses supposedly prophesying them. Instead, seek to personally connect the people around you to the life-changing gospel.

And keep doing that until Jesus comes back.

Image by DeSa81 from Pixabay

Checking Up On Your New Year’s Resolutions

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How are those New Year’s resolutions going?

If you’re like most people, they didn’t last long. Most people fail in their resolutions.

So, don’t feel too bad. After all, you can save paper by just making the same resolutions next year!

My dad shared a quote with me recently that I think he found on Facebook. “My New Year’s resolution was to lose 10 lbs and I’m doing great! Only 15 pounds to go!”

The Resolution Struggle

It seems that we struggle with making our lives match our resolutions. We’re just not very good resolvers.

Or maybe the problem lies with kind of resolutions we’re resolving. So many of our resolutions look good on paper, but when we try to put them into real life, they fail. Real life has a tendency to be a resolution-dissolver.

And, if you’re a Christian, that’s a problem. A resolution is a commitment. Jesus says honoring your commitments is important. So, if your resolutions keep failing, you’ve got to choose between two options: 1) Quit making resolutions, or, 2) make life-proof resolutions.

Life-Proof Resolutions

Kicking the resolution habit may be tempting, but I think that the second option is better for the Christian life: start making life-proof resolutions.

What I mean by “life-proof resolutions” are resolutions that can withstand all that life throws at you. Resolutions that have enough flexibility built in to sway with life’s ebbs and flows.

There’s a phrase that is used three times in the New Testament that can serve as the foundation for life-proof resolutions. It’s found in three different passages of Scripture. The phrase is “whatever you do.”

And each of these “whatever you do” passages adds a unique command (or resolution) on top of the foundational statement.

However you’re doing on your resolutions this year, consider making the following your life-proof resolutions (you don’t even have to wait for New Year’s Eve):

Resolution #1: Whatever you do, do it for God’s glory.

1 Corinthians 10:31-33

We have a tendency to make our resolutions about ourselves. Then, when life proves to not be about ourselves, our resolutions fail. A life-proof resolution recognizes our insufficiency by saying, “whatever I do, I’m going to seek to glorify God.” Then if you have to kind of take a step back, if life gets in the way, you are still on track: “whatever I do I’m going to glorify God.” Paul, who wrote this passage basically outlines a “how-to” on glorifying God after urging us to do whatever we do for the glory of God:

  1. Seek peace with those who think they know God, but don’t
  2. Seek peace with those who don’t think they need God, but do
  3. Seek peace with those in the church
  4. Seek to please others, not yourself
  5. Seek to save many

Sounds pretty straightforward. And those are things we can do no matter what happens in life.

Resolution #2: Whatever you do, do it in Jesus’ name.

Colossians 3:17

“In Jesus’ name” is not a magic formula. “In Jesus’ name” means doing everything under his authority. There’s an idea of ambassadorship here. An ambassador is somebody who’s commissioned to represent another person or a group to another group or person. As Christians, when we commit to doing whatever we do in Jesus’ name, we’re representing Jesus as his ambassadors. So how does that work? Simple:

  1. Do what Jesus would do if he were you.
  2. Don’t do what Jesus wouldn’t do if he were you.

It’s not as common anymore, but when I was growing up, W.W.J.D. was everywhere in the Christian sub-culture. And, for all its clichéd status, it’s really a good way to think about your life: What Would Jesus Do?

Then do it. See? It’s life-proof.

Resolution #3: Whatever you do, give it everything you’ve got.

Colossians 3:23

A life-proof resolution is not a workless resolution. Just because I’m encouraging you to build some flexibility into your resolutions doesn’t mean this is going to be easy. Trying to glorify God and represent Jesus is going to be difficult. And if you’re in it for the praise of others who see you, you’re on the wrong track. “Whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord.” I paraphrased it with “give it everything you’ve got.”

I was in 4-H growing up and they had a great pledge we said at every meeting. “I pledge my head to clearer thinking, my heart to greater loyalty, my hands to larger service, and my health to better living, for my club, my community, my country and my world.” The pledge was based on the 4 H’s: Head, Heart, Hands, Health. Get it…4-H (clever, I know). But the idea is that the 4-Her is committing their whole self to the work.

I think that idea of committing the whole self aligns perfectly with the Christian life under Christ and for God. So a modified 4-H pledge works really well under this resolution: “I pledge my head to clearer thinking about Christ, my heart to greater loyalty to Christ, my hands to larger service for Christ, and my health to better living in Christ, for my church, my community, my country and my world.”

Commitment

So, again I ask: how are your resolutions going?

And, may I suggest that no matter the state of your resolutions thus far, commit to life-proof resolutions by seeking to glorify God, representing Jesus well, and giving everything you’ve got for those tasks.

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New Years Fireworks Resolutions
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Two Paths To Success (And Why Accountability Makes All The Difference)

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I want to tell you about the two paths to success. But, first, let me make a wild guess: you made one or more New Year’s resolutions.

You may have made them intentionally, writing them down, framing them, and hanging them where you’d see them every day.

Perhaps you’re not that serious. You just cobbled a couple ideas together before the New Year’s Eve party because you knew someone would ask.

Or, maybe, it was almost unconscious. Maybe you’re not one of “those people.” But even you couldn’t help thinking, “this year, I’ll…”

The New Year is a tantalizing opportunity for self-improvement and most of us can’t resist at least one or two stray thoughts in that direction.

But, wherever you fall on the resolution spectrum, I’ve got some bad news: you’ll probably fail. At least 8 out of 10 will, anyways.

Flip The Percentage

You read that right: approximately 80% of New Year’s resolutions fail.

And, because we humans are a notoriously proud species, I’d imagine that there are many resolutions and consequent failures that don’t get reported.

Those are long odds when it comes to your personal goals and achievements.

But what if you could flip that percentage? What if 80% or more of your resolutions could come to fruition?

That’d be a slightly more encouraging statistic, wouldn’t it?

And it’s possible. Maybe even a little low. Thomas Oppong writes that by taking one simple step, your odds of reaching your goal can increase by up to 95%.

So, what’s the one thing to do to help your resolution not end up on the wrong side of the statistical graveyard?

Don’t try to do it alone: invite someone to hold you accountable for results.

That’s it. Get somebody to check on your progress and your odds of success increase by approximately 175% (no, that math doesn’t work in real life, but you get the idea).

What Works For Resolutions Works For Life

It’s not just New Year’s resolutions. Most people want to succeed year-round.

So let’s broaden the point out a bit: the secret to success is to not seek it alone. Instead, get some accountability.

Unfortunately for most of us, the common narrative on success hamstrings us before we even start. Our fairy tales, our independence-obsessed culture, and our heroes whisper that success is the product of gritted teeth and gumption. The collective assumption is that the path to success is a lonely one, reserved for particularly special individuals.

The lone wolf, striving against all the forces of nature and against all odds.

The great man, shouldering great burdens that would crush anyone else.

In this view, what separates the successful individual from the failing one is intrinsic motivation. Success is ultimately self-centered, finding both its beginning and end in the individual. There is no need for others, really no consideration of them except as objects of usefulness to or beneficiaries of your success.

In this view, the path to success is simply a matter of getting up enough intestinal fortitude to get yourself where you want to be.

Trouble is, that won’t work for everyone. If New Year’s resolutions are any indication, it might work for about 20% of the population. But I’m guessing the actual number is much lower.

And that’s why accountability is such good news: it’s an alternative to our cultural assumptions. There’s a second path to success.

The Second Path To Success Is Just The First Path With Company

This second path requires every bit as much effort, but it’s much more likely to succeed. Accountability is no substitute for hard work. But not being alone on the journey makes it much easier to reach the destination.

Humanity has always known this, we just seem to always forget it. In the Book of Ecclesiastes, written hundreds of years before Jesus Christ’s birth flipped the calendar from B.C. to A.D., we read this:

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!

Accountability is not weakness and it’s not the admission of an inability to take the individual path to success. It’s also not shirking hard work. With or without someone, you can’t succeed unless you put in the time and effort required for the goal. Accountability simply the wisest way to use your hard work. It’s optimizing your life by opening it up to another’s input, criticism, and assistance.

When you invite someone to hold you accountable for success, you’re radically improving your chances of actually reaching it.

And it gets even better.

Success-Stacking

A major problem with the self-centered path to success is that it is just so…self-centered. Sure, you might (20% chance) get ahead. But that doesn’t help the person next to, behind, or in front of you.

But we’re naturally selfish creatures. So, really, who cares if you help anyone else as long as you get where you were trying to go?

Let’s look at it another way, then. I’ve already told you that both paths require the same work. But, if you do it right, the path of accountability gives twice the return on investment. Because when you invite someone else to help you reach your goals, you can simultaneously help them reach theirs.

And that doubled success is a good deal. If you could double the return on every investment, why wouldn’t you?

But the results of accountability can be so much greater than that. Because doubled success can lead to success-stacking.

Let me show you:

When you both succeed at your goals by working together, you’re both incentivized to tackle your next goals together. And the next ones and the ones after that. Seeing the results that come from holding one another accountable, you both start moving quicker, reaching higher, hitting goals and setting new ones.

That’s success-stacking: continually piling successes on top of one another.

You might be able to beat the odds traveling the individual path to success once, twice, maybe three times. But you’ll never get to a place of stacking success after success together unless you’re traveling with someone else in an accountability relationship that benefits both of you.

So, How Do You Get On (And Stay On) The Right Path?

Because the cultural bias towards solo self-improvement is so strong, it’d be helpful to have a roadmap for the path of accountability. After all, if you’re heading to Seattle, WA you don’t want to follow a GPS giving you directions to Key West, FL.

Here are simple, turn-by-turn directions for walking the path of accountability to success:

1. Directed Discontentment: “I’m not satisfied with where I am because I want to be over there.”

2. Engage Someone Else: “You’re not satisfied with where you are and want to be over there.”

3. Mutual Agreement: “Let’s help one another achieve our goals.”

4. Move Intentionally: “Here’s how we’re going to do it.”

5. Real Consequences: “Here’s what happens if we don’t.”

6. Evaluate Continually: “Here’s how we’re doing so far.”

7. Celebrate Success: “We made it!”

8. Stack Successes: “Here’s what we do next.”

That’s it, in a nutshell. You identify where you want to be, engage someone else who’s trying to get somewhere, and hold each other accountable until you make it. Then you do it again.

And that simple path boosts your chance of success exponentially.

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Two Paths To Success
By Carsten Tolkmit from Kiel, Germany (crossroads) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

Waiting For God’s Man

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“It doesn’t take long for everything to go wrong.”

You could be forgiven if that is your initial thought when reading the Bible and starting in Genesis. It is a thousand-page book and everything is broken by page three.

It was off to such a good start, too. Genesis 1: God creates everything and everything is “very good.” Genesis 2: Mankind is given the tremendous privilege of filling the earth with more of God’s goodness and love. Genesis 3: Mankind listens to one of the beasts they are supposed to be reigning over and rebel against God, breaking everything for everyone.

It’s a tragedy and not a very long one.

The Promise Given

Or, it would be a tragedy if not for a promise that God makes in the midst of speaking his judgment against the snake, the woman, and the man.

In Genesis 3:15, a verse it is tempting to merely glance over as we read, we see a ray of hope for the future:

“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” (ESV)

It’s tempting to read that and interpret it as a vague antagonism between women and snakes, and between humans and snakes. Except for the last clause: “he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” That is a singular, masculine pronoun.

And that is important. God is making a promise that one day, a man will come along who will gain victory over the serpent. To be sure, the serpent would get his blow in and bruise the man’s heel. But the man will bruise the serpent’s head.

The implication is that the man will suffer, but that it will not prove ultimately fatal. The blow to the snake’s head, however, will lead to his demise.

Hope!

See? We may merely glance at the statement, but it is pretty important: God is giving humanity hope! When Adam and Eve heard this promise, they understood that while the serpent’s deception had led them to lose everything, God’s promise would one day restore everything.

As they were clothed by God in animal skins, they understood that God was going to make a way for their lives to be redeemed.

As they were driven from the Garden of Eden, they understood that God would someday grant them safe passage back into his presence.

They understood these things because of God’s promise in Genesis 3:15.

Looking For God’s Man

How do we know? Because of what follows. In Genesis 4, we’re introduced to Adam and Eve’s sons, Cain and Abel. Cain is born first and Eve’s reaction is telling: “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.” (ESV)

Why did it matter that she had gotten a man? Did Eve, a woman, believe that a man was inherently better than a woman? Maybe, though God had created both man and woman in his image. Did she merely rejoice because a man would be more useful in the labor of daily sustenance? Maybe, but not necessarily as women can be just as resilient in providing for their families.

It is far more likely that Eve was remembering God’s promise of a coming male offspring who would break the curse of sin by triumphing over the deceptive serpent, Satan.

But Cain wasn’t the promised one. Nor was Abel. We know that because of what happens next.

We see them worshipping God by each giving an offering to him. Abel’s offering to God is in line with what God had revealed in Genesis 3 by killing animals and clothing Adam and Eve: a blood sacrifice. Cain’s offering is the fruit of his labor in the fields: vegetation.

Both worshipping God. Both making an offering. But God accepts Abel’s offering and not Cain’s. There may not have been anything wrong with Cain’s offering, but we quickly see that there was something wrong with his heart.

Because when God rejects Cain’s offering, it reveals jealousy and rage that drive Cain to kill Abel. God deals with Cain, but we need to see his mother’s response to understand, again, how Adam and Eve understood God’s promise. Genesis 4:25 records Eve’s reaction to the birth of her third son, Seth: “God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.” (ESV)

Eve was still looking for the promised “offspring.” She trusted God and knew that Abel couldn’t be the promised one because he was now dead, unable to strike the blow to the serpent. And she knew that Cain, though he was still alive, couldn’t do it either: he had sullied his hands with the blood of his brother and was no longer worthy to spill the blood of the snake. The promised one would have to be pure, unstained by the lies of the serpent and rebellion against God.

But she had another son, by God’s hand, so she had hope.

But Seth wasn’t the promised one. Nor was his son Enosh. Nor was his grandson Kenan.

But mankind kept looking for the fulfillment of God’s promise. That’s what the genealogies in the Old Testament are there for: to help God’s people, those who trusted his promise, in their search for the promised one.

Generation after generation, name after name, there was hope for humanity because God had made a promise. And God always keeps his promises

Some stand out from others. A descendant of Seth, named Lamech, thought he had the promised one identified. He said about his son, in Genesis 5:29, “Out of the ground that the Lord has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands.” (ESV)

That son was Noah. Noah was important and God used Noah to preserve the human race through the judgment of the flood, but Noah wasn’t the promised one. His deliverance of humanity from sin didn’t last: he himself fell into drunkenness after the flood.

The promised one would be like Noah in that he would provide sanctuary for all who would take refuge within his protection, but he would have to be better than Noah.

So, the search for the promised one continued. It zoomed in on the land of Ur, on a man named Abram. God called Abram to leave and to move to Canaan. God promised to bless the whole world through Abram and renamed him Abraham. But Abraham, for all his obedience, struggled with letting God’s promises come about in God’s way: he continually manipulated the situation to try and bring about the promise on his own. So, Abraham wasn’t the promised one, merely one through whom the promised one would come.

The promised one would be like Abraham in that he would do whatever the Lord told him to do, but he would have to be better than Abraham.

At least the scope of the search was narrowing: the promised one would be Abraham’s descendant.

But it turned out not to be Abraham’s son or his grandson.

Years down the line, however, Abraham’s descendants found themselves slaves in the land of Egypt. And God called one of them, Moses, to lead them out of slavery and out of Egypt and back to the land of Canaan. But Moses had a problem with his temper: he killed an Egyptian and disobeyed God in leading the people towards Canaan. He wasn’t the promised one.

The promised one would be like Moses in that he would lead God’s people out of captivity, but he would have to be better than Moses.

God’s people make it into God’s promised land, but the promised offspring doesn’t appear. The people get into a cycle of ignoring God, falling into the hands of their enemies, repenting and being rescued by a judge raised up by God to save them, only to ignore God again as soon as they were safe. Each of these judges had potential to be the promised one in the eyes of the people. One, Shamgar, killed 600 enemies with no weapon but a wooden ox goad. But his victory didn’t last and God had to raise up another judge after him. So, Shamgar wasn’t the promised one.

The promised one would be like Shamgar in that he too would use an instrument of wood to conquer his enemies, but he would have to be better than Shamgar.

Eventually, God’s people grew tired of the never-ending cycle with the judges. They asked God to give them a king. God warned them that they wouldn’t like it, but they insisted. The first king, Saul, didn’t work out very well, but the second king was promising. His name was David and the Bible tells us that he was “a man after God’s own heart.” Surely, he was the promised one. Unfortunately, he wasn’t. David failed to keep himself pure, committing adultery with a friend’s wife and then arranging to have that friend killed. David wasn’t the promised one.

The promised one would be like David in that he would truly be a man after God’s own heart, but he would have to be better than David.

And on and on. God’s people, those still clinging to his promise of the coming one who would be God’s man, grew weary of watching, weary of waiting. A hundred years was a long time to wait, but thousands were passing. Every time a potential promised one appeared, he failed.

A Man Was Required But A Man Wasn’t Enough

It was becoming clear: no one was good enough. The best and the brightest of humanity had tried and failed. If God’s promise was going to be kept, God was going to have to do something remarkably different than what people had seen before.

One group of God’s people realized this quite clearly. The Sons of Korah were servants of God and helped to write some of the Psalms that we find in the Bible. These were worship songs, sung by God’s people as they praised and trusted him. In Psalm 49, the Sons of Korah realize something very important: the promised one couldn’t just be a man. In verses 7-9 of that Psalm, they write, “Truly no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life, for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice, that he should live on forever and never see the pit.” (ESV)

The Sons of Korah looked at this dismal record of failed promised ones and recognized something vital: a mere man wasn’t going to be enough to fulfill the promise. In order to ransom humanity from their enslavement to evil, the promised one would have to be someone who wasn’t under the curse, who wasn’t bound by the lies of the Father of Lies, Satan, that old serpent.

But in order to fulfill God’s promise, the promised one still had to be the woman’s offspring. In other words, he couldn’t be merely human, but he had to nonetheless still be human.

The Sons of Korah suggest a solution, whether they recognized it or not, in verse 15 of Psalm 49: “But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me.” (ESV)

They recognized that a mere man could not ransom another man, but they rightly discerned that God could, and would, be able to ransom them.

God’s Not Surprised

God knew that too. All the “failures” that happened along the way weren’t God’s: he allowed the hope to build and his people to look expectantly at each new candidate. People may have been surprised by the failures, but God wasn’t. God wasn’t crossing his fingers as David’s eyeing Bathsheba, thinking, “Man, I hope he doesn’t do it!” God wasn’t biting his fingernails as Moses is standing in front of the people at the rock, whispering, “Please, oh please, don’t hit the rock!” Their failures aren’t God’s failures. God knew that they weren’t the promised one, he knew they weren’t good enough. But he was preparing us for the one who would be. He was preparing us for the GodMan.

See, God’s promise could be fulfilled only if the promised man was also God.

The Promise Fulfilled

Many missed it, but that’s exactly what eventually happened.

After thousands of years of delayed hope, of waiting and watching kings and prophets and judges, of praying for the promised one, God sent his promised one.

He was a man, born to a young peasant girl named Mary. His birth was just the same as every other human’s: messy. His first breath was like every other human’s: a prelude to a newborn’s squall. He grew. He learned. He got hungry and he ate. He got thirsty and he drank. He got tired and he slept. He was human, an offspring of the woman.

He was also God. In the beginning, he was with God and he was God. Before Abraham was, he is. He is the creator and sustainer of all things. He is the first and the last, the Alpha and Omega. He receives worship as God and does not correct the worshippers. He is God, able to ransom us from sin and death.

God’s man is the GodMan.

Jesus Christ is the only name given among men by which we may be saved because he is the only offspring of the woman who is also the one who created the woman.

Jesus Christ is 100% God and 100% man in order to finally fulfill the promise of God and reconcile mankind to himself.

Jesus Christ was the only one who could fulfill Genesis 3:15. He was wounded by the serpent, dying on the cross. But he struck the serpent’s head by rising through the power of his divine perfection.

Jesus Christ opened a way for humanity to return to the presence of God, not by setting a good example for us, but by bringing the presence of God to us and taking the punishment we deserved.

Time and time again, we fail. But the GodMan, Jesus Christ, invites us to put our trust in him, in his incarnation, in his life, death, burial, and resurrection.

Will you trust him? Will you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead?

Because that’s the only way that you can see God’s promise fulfilled in your life. That’s the only way that you can be redeemed from sin and death: trust in God’s Promised One.

Put simply: trust in God.

Incarnation God Man Jesus Christ

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Getting Jesus Right: The Key To Everything

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I want to tell you a story of a man who was crucified.

He was crucified some time in the first century A.D. He was probably in his late twenty’s when he died. He was most likely a convicted political agitator: he was somebody Rome saw as a threat and so they crucified him for it.

Crucifixion

For those of us who live in the 21st century, I guess that’s just an interesting historical fact. But I want you to understand what crucifixion was and what it meant back then. By the first century A.D. Rome had perfected crucifixion as a means of political punishment. It was a means of public humiliation meant to deter anyone who might dare to contradict the Roman system.

To perform a crucifixion, Roman soldiers would take nails and they would drive them, not through the palm of the hand as is frequently depicted, but through the wrist. There’s a very good reason for this: the weight of a man’s body cannot be held by just the flesh and tendons in a man’s hand. The weight requires a bone structure to support it on the nail. The executioners would pound spikes through the condemned’s wrist and into a horizontal beam. They would lift that beam, with the criminal nailed to it, and set it on top of a vertical post set in the ground. Then they would nail the victim’s feet, through the ankles, to that post. And then they would wait.

For hours.

Although in excruciating pain because of the nails through their wrists and through their feet, a crucifixion victim usually didn’t die quickly. That’s because it wasn’t blood loss or shock from the nails that usually killed them but the excruciatingly slow process of gradual suffocation. With their arms stretched out by the nails, the condemned couldn’t take full breaths without pulling up on the nails or pushing up with their feet. Each breath required amplifying the pain they were in. Over the course of a day, the physical, mental, and emotional effort required to make the movement would take its toll and eventually they wouldn’t be able to muster a breath at all.

It was a horrible, vicious, cruel manner of death.

Yehohanan

But back to my story. What’s interesting about the guy I started telling you about is they actually found his bones in an ossuary in his family tomb. His name was Yehohanan. When they opened his ossuary, they found his heel bone still had a Roman spike through it.

It’s the only such bone found out of the thousands of crucifixions we know that Rome performed. But I’d be willing to guess that you still hadn’t heard the story or Yehohanan’s name before this.

Yeshua

There was another guy crucified in the first century as well. They’ve never found his bones, but I bet you know his name: Jesus.

Have you ever asked why that is? Why, of the thousands crucified, is Jesus’ name still known and revered throughout the world while so many others have been forgotten? There’s something about Jesus.

For one thing, Jesus is central to Christianity. As Christianity has endured, Jesus’ name has endured. But beyond the merely religious consideration, there’s the fact of who Jesus is: the Son of God, the Resurrected King, the Mighty Savior. We remember Jesus because he is not dead: he is alive.

Getting Jesus Right

But simply remembering Jesus isn’t enough.

We need to get Jesus right.

And in order to get Jesus right, it’s essential that we turn to the Word of God. And, thankfully, in 2 John, we’re given five marks to help us see whether or not we’re getting Jesus right.

If I am getting Jesus right then…

1. I am fully committed to truth of who Christ is (2 John 4)

The first way I can know I’ve got Jesus right is if I’m fully committed to the truth of who he actually is. For example, in John’s day, people were saying that Jesus couldn’t be human because he was God. So they said he only appeared to be human. But that contradicts the truth of the Word. The Bible is clear that Jesus was actually human, actual flesh and blood. If the Bible says Jesus is human, I’ve got to believe that regardless of how I feel about it.

But the flip side of that coin is when people say that Jesus is human, he’s just not God. They take this approach because it’s hard to deal with Jesus as God in our modern era. But Scripture is just as clear that Jesus is God as it is that he is human. Jesus himself claims the divine name in John’s Gospel. Others testify to his divinity throughout the pages of the New Testament. The record is clear.

And it goes beyond questions of his nature. I need to land inside the biblical lines on his atonement, his kingdom, his purpose for his followers, etc. Getting Jesus right isn’t a choose-your-own-adventure story. Either I am fully committed to understanding the truth of who he is or I’m settling for a false Jesus I’ve manufactured according to my own whims, traditions, or feelings.

Ask: Is my faith resting on my feelings or on the truth of who Jesus is, as revealed in the Bible?

2. I have a deep, practical love for fellow believers (2 John 5)

Getting Jesus right also results in a very real and a very deep practical love for my fellow believers. John considers this essential. John understands, and wants me to understand, that if I truly understand Jesus’ nature and the nature of his work, I will be free to quit living my life as a means advancing myself. I don’t have to do good things for my neighbor; I get to do good things for my neighbor. When I see a brother or sister in need I can meet that need and I don’t have to advertise it. Because of who Jesus is, I no longer have to pretend like I can impress God.

Instead, I am able to focus on others. Life in the truth of Christ means I am no longer living life for me. I am free to live to serve others, just like Christ demonstrated in his own life. I cannot have the truth of who Christ is without the love that it brings for those around me.

Ask: is my faith producing self-centeredness or is it producing selfless service for others?

3. I find joy in obedience (2 John 6)

Another key to helping me determine whether I have Jesus right or not is to determine why I obey God. John says that obeying God is the natural outworking of the truth of who Christ is and loving those around me. So, do I obey him because I desperately want to be seen as being righteous? Or do I obey because I love Jesus? If I get Jesus wrong, it will be very difficult for me to obey him for the pure joy of it. No one but the biblical Jesus is sufficient to inspire me to go the extra mile, turn the other cheek, and seek holiness.

Because that’s what obedience should spring from: a deep love for Jesus. When I understand that Jesus is all I need and all that God needs from me, I no longer have to obey out of fear. Instead, getting Jesus right means that I can obey God from the sheer joy of knowing his love in Christ. I can’t add to my salvation, I can’t improve on Jesus’ record. Obedience becomes not my best attempt to forge a ticket to heaven but the all-expenses-paid trip I get to go on. I no longer have to wear obedience as clothes to impress those around me but as my most comfortable pair of pajamas to luxuriate in. If I find joy in obedience not for what it does for me but for the joy it brings God, I can know that I am getting Jesus right.

Ask: Do I obey God because I need to look righteous or do I obey God because I love Jesus?

4. I live in Christ’s teaching (2 John 9)

One thing that getting Jesus right doesn’t mean is being about to pass an essay exam on the hypostatic union of Jesus. Following Jesus can’t be reduced to a theology seminar. That being said, however, there are certain things that God reveals in Christ that I need to learn, I need to know, and I need to believe. Call it the basics, call it catechism, call it whatever, I’ll call it what John calls it: the teaching of Christ. Jesus taught us things. He was called “Teacher.” There is an intellectual element to faith.

However, it is important that I not insist on going beyond the teaching of Christ. It is possible to get bored with the gospel and to go beyond it, to look for more teaching, more revelation, a new prophet to speak to me. But Scripture’s clear: Jesus is God’s ultimate revelation (Hebrews 1:1-2). It is possible to go beyond the teaching of Christ by demanding a continual supply of new truth and not being content with what God has revealed.

This happens in individuals, in churches, in entire religions: they are not content with Christ’s teaching but must add to it to fulfill their own desire. But I need to be content. I need to recognize that while the gospel is as simple as “I’m a sinner, Christ died in my place, now I can have peace with God,” it is also remarkably deep. There are so many implications of the gospel that I could spend 200 lifetimes considering them and never exhaust the variety. I should be content with the gospel because it is enough for me to chew on forever.

Literally forever.

Ask: Am I demanding more revelation from God or am I content with Christ?

5. I have true fellowship with God (2 John 9)

The final mark of getting Jesus right is probably the hardest one to evaluate. I want to be right. I want to assume that I am on the right path. But I can deceive myself. If I get Jesus right, I have true fellowship or communion with God. But I can fake that relationship with God. I can fool myself and I can fool others.

But I can’t fool God.

I can have an incredible prayer life, read my Bible every day, go to church three times a week – I can look really good for others and in my own eyes.

But if I don’t get Jesus right, it won’t matter in the end.

There is only one way to fellowship with God: confess the real Jesus as Lord and believe in my heart God raised him from the dead. If my “fellowship” with him is based on any other confession, hope, or idea, I will lose everything when it matters the most.

Ask: Am I in fellowship with God and heading towards him or will I lose everything in the end?

Conclusion

In the end, the ultimate question, then, is, “am I getting Jesus right?” That’s the question for me and it’s the question for you.

Here’s my challenge to you: don’t take my word for it.

Go read the Gospel of John. Read 2 John. Read the New Testament. Read the Word of God.

And seek Christ. Seek to get him right, not based on what I say, not based on what anybody else says, but based on who he has revealed himself to be in the Bible.

Seek Christ because everything hinges on getting Jesus right.

Relationships Can Change The World: The Letter To Philemon

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What does the Gospel of Jesus Christ have to say about your relationships with other people?

That’s an important question, but don’t answer it just yet.

Answer this one first:

Is the Gospel of Jesus Christ primarily about going to heaven when you die, or is it about having every aspect of your life, both now and forever, transformed?

If you’re a Christian, how you answer that question will significantly influence how you live. More specifically, your answer will require you to evaluate decisions, finances, ethics, etc. by completely different criteria.

Why It Matters

If the Gospel is simply about getting to heaven when you die, then this life is of secondary importance. So long as you check the boxes marked “heaven” on your final destination ticket you’re free to live however you want or at least, however, your culture pressures you into living.

If, however, the Gospel is about much more than that, indeed is about transforming everything about you, then its implications for the here and now are massive. Instead of filtering every decision through a “me” or a “culture” filter, you have to filter it through a “Jesus” filter. This means that you give Jesus shot-calling power in your finances, ethics, etc.

It especially affects your relationships.

So, back to the original question: What does the Gospel of Jesus Christ have to say about your relationships with other people?

Put succinctly: everything.

An Example From Scripture

We see this comprehensive impact of the Gospel on relationships very clearly in the New Testament book of Philemon.

Whereas most of the letters in the New Testament are written from a leader to a congregation, Philemon is different: it is primarily written by a Christian leader to another Christian leader. Not only that, but it’s from a friend to a friend. Paul is the author and Philemon is the leader of a house church. It’s a very personal letter.

Paul most likely wrote the letter from Rome while sitting in prison. And Philemon was likely a well-to-do leader of a house church in one of the towns that Paul had visited on his missionary journeys.

He was also a slave owner.

That’s a shock to our 21st-century sensibilities, so we need to understand what slavery was like in first-century Rome before we can understand this letter’s impact on how we understand relationships under the Gospel. In first-century Rome, there were so many slaves that they outnumbered the Roman citizens. It was not uncommon for a wealthy Roman citizen to own upwards of ten thousand slaves.

And then gospel gets introduced into this mix. And, frankly, the message spread very quickly amongst the slave community. The hope and grace and joy in the message of the Gospel gave new meaning and purpose to the lives of those who found themselves in bondage.

But the Gospel also began to reach those who owned slaves. And this was a new thing. Slavery was so common in that day it was just kind of the air they breathed, the water people were swimming in. People took it as a fact and never really examined it.

But one commentator on the book of Philemon said no other writing was more instrumental in the downfall of slavery than it was. Why? Because Paul says that just because something is culturally assumed it is not necessarily going to stand in light of the gospel.

Why does all this talk of slavery matter? Because Paul is writing to Philemon about an escaped slave, Onesimus. That may not mean a whole lot to us modern readers, but in Rome, where slaves outnumbered the citizens, there was a constant fear of a slave revolt. Consequently, the punishment for any slave who disobeyed their master or who ran away from their master was very serious. The master could, at their discretion, beat a runaway slave. They could imprison them. They could even kill them. As a matter of fact, one of the means of death that was available to the Roman citizen who owned a runaway was crucifixion.

So, when Paul writes to Philemon about Onesimus, he knows the seriousness of the matter.

He writes knowing Philemon’s rights as a slave owner.

But, he also writes knowing that the Gospel has the power to transcend the law and transform relationships.

He knows that because he has experienced it.

Paul is a fascinating character study. When we first meet Paul, he is persecuting the new Christian faith. He was really focused on his Jewish heritage, he saw this new church that was starting, and he said, “absolutely not.” He began to persecute the church: he was there when Stephen, the first Christian martyr, was stoned. Paul threw believers into prison. He even got permission from the religious leaders to take the show on the road and begin threatening the church in Damascus.

But something changes. He has an encounter with the risen Christ.

Now you talk about an unlikely convert: that’s Paul! But he is changed: he goes from being a persecutor to being a preacher to being a prisoner for Christ.

When Paul writes Philemon, he starts by referring to himself as “a prisoner for Christ.” As I understand it, he’s giving testimony to the extreme power of the gospel to transform your life and your relationships. He was antagonistic to Christ and now all of a sudden he’s willing to suffer for Christ.

His relationship with Christ changed and that made a huge difference in his relationships with others. Paul was a pretty intense dude. Paul did not have any problems telling you what he thought.

Except in Philemon, he seems to hold back. Paul had the authority, as an apostle and the one who brought the Gospel to Philemon, to tell Philemon what to do but he softens it.

I would argue it’s the gospel that softens Paul’s words. Paul experienced the love of Christ in his own life and it drove him to demonstrate that love to others. He tells Philemon, “I’d rather appeal to you.” Why?

Love doesn’t demand and command: it encourages and transforms.

The gospel that transformed Paul was not something that Paul came to unwillingly: once Jesus showed up and Paul experienced the love of Christ he began to apply that to his life. There’s a transformation that takes place in Paul’s ministry.

The way Paul relates to people has been transformed by the power of the Gospel.

Paul’s not the only one who’s been changed by the gospel. Philemon has been changed as well. One thing we know about Philemon is that he is a rich guy. Anyone who had a house big enough for a church to meet in and who owns slaves is in the one percent: he’s the upper crust in society. People of his station were not supposed to be concerned about opening their homes up to what was likely a congregation of lower class people.

And yet the gospel has transformed him.

Jesus says it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven. Good thing God works miracles. Because Philemon, the rich guy, is a Christian. He’s somebody who’s been transformed. He’s in the Kingdom of Heaven. Why? Because the Gospel transformed his relationship with his wealth. The Gospel took what had probably been the primary concern for him and makes it secondary to the cause of promoting the Gospel.

Philemon’s relationship with Paul is affected by the Gospel. Because of the Gospel, Paul knows that Philemon is someone he can trust. Philemon will listen to the Holy Spirit, he’s a trustworthy kind of guy now because the Gospels transformed him.

But there’s also a relationship that still needs to be transformed by the Gospel. There’s a blind spot in Philemon’s life. His relationship with his slave, Onesimus. Paul wants Philemon to see the implications of the Gospel in this area: Onesimus can no longer be a slave if he’s a brother in Christ.

This is where, if I was Paul Harvey, I’d pause and you’d just have to wait for the rest of the story.

I’m not Paul Harvey, but you still have to wait.

First, there’s a third character we need to look at: Onesimus. A slave who most likely stole from his master the resources by which he was able to escape. He ran away to Rome to hide from his master in the crowds there. And then he meets Paul. And Paul introduces him to Jesus.

Onesimus, who was willing to risk death to flee slavery, meets Jesus. And what does he do? He begins serving Paul. He begins to willingly do the thing he was willing to die to avoid. The Gospel transformed Onesimus’ relationship with service. This is a guy who said, “I don’t want my life to be defined by serving someone.” Now, after the Gospel, he is submitting to Christ and he’s serving Paul. It’s interesting that there’s a little play on words going on here: Onesimus means “useful.” Paul tells Philemon that Onesimus was formerly useless as a slave, but now he’s useful.

Paul is not saying he’s useful because now he’s just a good obedient little slave. No, he’s saying he’s useful because he’s been transformed by the gospel. Onesimus has changed from wanting what he wants to get out of life to wanting what Jesus wants. His relationship with his very life has been transformed by Jesus coming in.

Note that Paul is not turning Onesimus over to the authorities and having them haul him back. Most likely, Paul is putting this letter in Onesimus’ hand and he is freely and willingly going back to Philemon. The master that he probably stole from. The master that he could not wait to get away from. And he’s going back.

That’s transformation. That’s what the Gospel does in our relationships.

How?

How does the Gospel transform us like that?

The Gospel gives us a call, not to self-advancement, not a call to self-improvement, not a call for me to be the best me possible, but for me to be like Jesus. The Gospel transforms us not by giving us a list of things to do but by first and foremost having us see Jesus.

Jesus is all that matters. Jesus is the only one whose vision for your life matters. What you want to be, what you want to do, what you want to become in yourself are entirely and utterly insignificant in the grand scheme of God’s plan for the universe. God’s goal for creation is not that it would revolve around you but that Jesus Christ would be all in all.

But how does that happen?

Jesus becomes a slave.

Is that not the most counter-cultural counter-intuitive way of doing things you’ve ever heard?

If we want to get ahead, we imagine that we’ve got to promote ourselves. Jesus example says, “No.”

Jesus is God. He didn’t have to give up the privileges that he had as God eternal and come to earth as a human being. He didn’t have to do that but he did.

Because the fundamental truth of the Gospel is this: a life lived for yourself is a life that is not worth living. A life lived for others is a life that will endure forever.

Jesus comes and he dies on a cross not because it was good for Jesus, but because Jesus wasn’t worried about Jesus: he was worried about his Father, he was worried about us. That’s why Jesus came and Jesus died and that sacrifice opens up the hope for us to be transformed and for us to be redeemed. If we will submit to Christ, the Bible says we will be saved. If we confess Him as Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead we will be saved.

And being saved doesn’t just mean getting to go to heaven when you die. Being saved means that one day you’re going to look like Jesus. Getting saved means God starts remaking you, beginning the process of transforming you from a wretched rebel to a son or daughter who looks like Jesus.

Part of that process will necessarily involve transforming your relationships.

The gospel transformed Paul from a persecutor to somebody who was willing to be a prisoner. It changed his relationships with those called Christians and with the Christ they took their name from.

The gospel transformed Philemon from “that rich guy” to somebody known for being generous, loyal, and a disciple-maker. It changed his relationship with his stuff and how he used it.

The gospel transformed Onesimus from a runaway slave to a faithful fellow worker. It changed his relationships with those around him from what he could get to what he could give.

That’s radical. It is change that everyone can see. It is a testimony to the power of the gospel.

So, how is the gospel changing your relationships?

Because here’s my fear: that we, as Christians, are so tempted to make our relationships about us that we miss the life-transforming power of the gospel in them. When we approach relationships saying, “what am I going to get out of this, what’s in it for me?” then we miss the heart of Jesus in the gospel.

Not only that, but the world misses a chance to see real, practical evidence for the truth and power of the gospel.

The gospel is not inert. It isn’t just a good story. It’s not about morality.

It’s about transformation.

You don’t know the ripples that will spread out in the lives of those who see the gospel transforming relationships.

And now for the…rest of the story.

We don’t get it from the New Testament, but there’s something very interesting that happened in the story of Philemon and Onesimus after Paul’s letter. A guy named Ignatius of Antioch writes years later about the Bishop of Ephesus. His name? Onesimus.

Now, it’s possible that there was another Onesimus, but the fact he is also referred to as the Slave Bishop seems to indicate that it’s the same guy. And, as we trace the story through various authors, we get the idea that Philemon took Paul’s hint and set Onesimus free. Then, Onesimus went back to Paul and serves with him. He serves the wider church faithfully and eventually becomes the bishop of Ephesus.

Some scholars also think Onesimus is the one who assembled Paul’s writings. That’s important. There wasn’t a printing press, so preserving the letters would have to be an intentional act. It seems Onesimus may have been the guy doing it. So, why do we have a New Testament that includes Paul’s letters? Ultimately, it’s the inspiration of the Holy Spirit but he could have been working specifically through transformed relationships.

That’s pretty cool.

So, based on the example of Paul, Philemon, and Onesimus, begin to think intentionally about how you can demonstrate the gospel through them. Start today by changing the way you think about relationships.

Don’t ask: “What do I deserve?” Ask: “How can I serve?”

Don’t ask: “What’s the least I can do?” Ask: “What will show the most love?”

Don’t ask: “What do I want to do?” Ask: “What would Jesus do?”

When you change your approach to relationships, they are transformed. When relationships are transformed, its evidence for the truth of the gospel. Then, when evidence for the gospel is seen, the gospel spreads. And when the gospel spreads, the world is changed.

How are your relationships looking in light of the gospel? Because they have the power to change the world.

What Is The Gospel?

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“Gospel” is simply a word that means “good news” but many people use it as shorthand for the central message of Christianity. Usually then, “gospel” refers to the good news about Christ and his Kingdom.

So what’s the good news about Christ and his Kingdom?

To understand that good news, we have to understand its place in the larger history of the world. Everything we need to know about that context and the good news itself is revealed in the Bible.

God Is The Creator

The opening statement of the Bible tells us that: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Just a few paragraphs later, we read that God declares everything he created to be very good or perfect. He created mankind to be like him (very good, creative, intelligent, etc) and essentially gave them stewardship over what he had made.

God Is The King

Stewards serve under a king. Mankind is the steward; God is the King. As King, he is the lawgiver. Because he is good, the law was good. And it was simple: don’t eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Mankind Rebelled Against Their King

Mankind disobeyed God’s command. They rejected God’s authority over them.

As a result, sin entered the world. Sin is anything that we do that rejects God’s authority as King. More than that, sin causes all sorts of problems for us and those around us. Death entered the world, hunger, bitterness, anger, jealousy, murder, and every other sin spread out as mankind continued to reject God.

God’s Promise

But God promised he was going to fix it. He began speaking to various people, prophets who would share his message with those around them. It wasn’t always clear to the people what God was up to, but he was preparing the world for his sin solution. As he spoke throughout the centuries, he revealed to the people of Israel that he would send a Chosen One (Messiah in Hebrew or Christ in Greek) who would conquer sin and death and make the world “very good” again.

God Keeps His Promise

Then, he quit speaking to anyone for about 400 years. It seemed like God had forgotten his promise. It seemed like he had given up on mankind.

But after that silence, he appeared to a young, engaged couple, Mary and Joseph, and told them that, before they were married, Mary would have a child who would be the Son of God.

Sure enough, Mary did have a son, and they named him Jesus.

Jesus

He was human, but he was also the Promised Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God. He showed and told people the truth about God and about the Kingdom of God. Jesus preached the good news about that Kingdom’s arrival through him and told people to believe in him and his message and to love God, love others, and tell others about the Kingdom. He gathered a group of followers who believed in his message.

Mankind Rebels Again

But most of mankind didn’t like Jesus’ reminding them that God was King. So they killed him. They actually had inside help: one of Jesus’ followers betrayed him. Jesus’ message of God’s authority and man’s responsibility simply wasn’t popular with rebels.

They thought killing him would be the end of it.

Not The End

But Jesus didn’t stay dead.

Instead, he rose from the grave and appeared to his followers, who were all convinced that he was really alive again. He was human and thus could die, but he revealed that he was also God and therefore had the power over life and death.

Jesus Inaugurates His Kingdom

Jesus told his followers that by his dying and rising, sin and death had been conquered for all who would believe in the good news of his message and the truth of his resurrection. He reminded them that even though he was going to leave the earth, his Kingdom would continue through the lives of those who submitted to him as King together. He called this gathering of those who believed his message “the church.” After telling them to make sure the gospel, the good news of the Kingdom, was told throughout the whole world, Jesus ascended into heaven. But, before he left, he told them that help was on its way.

The Holy Spirit

Jesus’ followers had a big task: represent the Kingdom of God to everyone on earth. Jesus knew that they weren’t able to do this on their own. So he sent the Spirit of God to live in and through his followers. “Spirit” doesn’t mean an impersonal force: this is God himself. He works in many different ways. By making people aware of their rebellion against God, he helps them submit again. He empowers people to follow Jesus. He shows the reality of the Kingdom in different ways. And he gives comfort to those who believe in the Kingdom as they wait for Jesus to return.

Jesus Will Complete His Kingdom

Jesus returned to heaven with the Kingdom of God established in the lives of those who believe in him by the power of the Holy Spirit. But he also promised to come back one day, after the gospel had been spread to every tribe, tongue, and nation, to finally eradicate sin and death and rebellion and fully establish his Kingdom in a new heaven and new earth.

The Gospel.

I am curious: do you believe it?

Once Saved, Always Saved?

Posted in Church Life, Discipleship
A common phrase in Christian circles is “once saved, always saved.” Many hold it, many reject it, but a lot of people have questions about it. Here are a few brief thoughts I recently shared with someone who asked me about it:
The Bible speaks clearly to the nature of salvation:
1) It’s a work of God (Ephesians 2:1-10, John 6:44, Romans 8:28-30, etc)
2) It’s not based on any works that we might do (Ephesians 2:1-10, Titus 3:5, etc.)
3) Jesus will not lose any of those the Father gives him to save (John 6:39, John 10:28)
Based on these passages, and others like them, I would argue that salvation is not dependent on us, but on Jesus who does not fail. Therefore, since it is not dependent on us, we cannot lose it. And Jesus won’t lose it for us.

Once saved, always saved.

That being said, however, Scripture is equally clear that it is possible to lose what we never truly possessed:
1) We can taste and see the goodness of God in salvation without actually experiencing it for ourselves (Hebrews 6:4-6)
2) We can delude ourselves into thinking we are saved when we are not (Matthew 7:21-23)
3) We can claim salvation but never be changed by it and thus prove to never have been saved (1 John 2:3-4)
Based on these passages, and others like them, I would argue that not everyone who claims to be saved is saved. Therefore, “once saved, always saved” has to be understood to implicitly mean “once truly saved, always saved.”
Though much more could be said here, I’ll keep it brief: Once saved, always saved is an easily remembered phrase and, so long as it is spoken with the understanding of all the biblical context taken together, it is true. However, it has frequently been used to imply that so long as someone “walked an aisle and prayed a prayer” they are saved. But that’s not what the Bible says salvation is. The Bible says salvation is found in submitting to Jesus as Lord, holding the enduring belief that he is who he claimed to be, being convinced that God raised him from the dead, and finding your joy in obeying him.

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