Church Was Great! Let's Not Talk About It
From Colin Marshall:
We've just heard the Word read and proclaimed, sung the praises of our great God, and petitioned him for mercy in our time of need. And then we spend our time afterward talking about last night's movie, the game, the hobby, the state of the nation, or whatever. Anything but the great truths of the gospel we've just heard and by which we're saved. Why do we do this?
"Drive-thru church" doesn't help. We have six other commitments on Sunday, so we aim to get through church as efficiently as possible on the way to the next thing. Some of us have just never thought about having conversations about the sermon (apart from pestering the preacher about something). Others know it's crazy to talk about everything but God, yet they still feel uncomfortable striking up "spiritual" conversations. We've never been in a context where this is normal. Sometimes, perhaps too often, we leave the service with no sense of engaging with God by Word and Spirit, and so we have nothing to say to anyone.
For still more, the underlying problem is our consumer view of church---an unsurprising consequences of "what's in it for me" contemporary Western culture. "Church is put on for me by the professionals and their teams," we assume. With this mindset, engaging in spiritually encouraging conversations certainly won't be on the agenda.
Ironically, those with a serving mindset---the antithesis of consumerism---can also find it difficult to get into "God talk" at church. The busyness of serving can keep us from stopping to encourage others and can let us feel we've done enough by helping to organize things.
Why We Meet
But why should we use our conversations at church to encourage one another in the faith? Because that is the reason why we meet.
But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. (Heb. 3:13)
And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Heb. 10:24-25)
The church gathers God's people to hear his Word, respond in obedience, and use our gifts and abilities to strengthen one another in the faith. All believers are involved in building Christ's church. Therefore, we shouldn't see ourselves merely as part of an organization called "St. Hubert's Church," but as servants of God's people, eager to meet the needs of others even if it means stepping out of our comfort zone.
Not the Only Ones
I love our heritage of expository preaching delivered by godly, studious, articulate pastors. But somehow we've inadvertently communicated that they're the only ones (plus a few others on the stage, perhaps) who do the work of encouraging and building. If that's your assumption, read the New Testament (e.g., 1 Cor. 12-14; 1 Pet. 2) again with an eye toward how the whole body builds itself up, with each part doing its work by speaking gospel truth in love (Eph. 4:15-16).
Perhaps some of you are thinking, I may not talk much about God and what we've learned in the sermon, but I do show love in lots of other ways, through caring for people in need and asking how to pray. But encouraging someone isn't only putting our arms around them and urging them to press on. What gives courage is the truth of the gospel. We see a clear example of this in 1 Thessalonians 4:18: 'Therefore encourage each other with these words." In context, "these words" that encourage are the words of the gospel (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17).
Here's my question for you: Do you come to church expecting God to use you to minister to others, to encourage them in faith, hope, and love through the Word? Are you asking him to provide such opportunities?
What to Ask
So how do we start these encouraging conversations after church? Asking "What did you get out of the sermon?" might work, but often you'll get a blank look or worse. Here are a few suggestions:
- Pray during the service that God would lead your conversations, and pray for specific people around you.
- Listen to what God is saying to you through the sermon (or songs, creeds, and so on) and formulate a comment or question to start a conversation. This past week at our church, the sermon was on what it means to praise the Lord, from Psalms 146-150. Since I was thinking about this article (and, I hope, for more godly reasons), I picked out two things to try as conversation-starters after church.
- With another couple we somehow got into a conversation about their blended family, and I reminded them of God's favor towards the alien, orphans, and widows (Ps. 146). Since the husband is not yet a believer, I was deliberately talking about God's character. I have no idea what effect it had on him.
- Even if the conversations don't always get off the ground, your enthusiasm for learning the Bible and knowing God will be contagious. And non-Christians will see that church isn't dull and boring but fascinating and life-shattering.
- These intentional conversations after church will sometimes lead to prayer for one another. Why not stop for a moment and give thanks or petition God for some need?
- Another way to deepen our fellowship is to ask each other how we came to salvation in Christ. Sometimes we've been in church with people for years without ever learning their story. The other day at church I asked a guy named Phil how he became a Christian, and we discovered God had worked in us in very similar ways as young men. The door is now open to building a friendship with this brother. What a joy!
Family, Not an Audience
The benefits of working at these encouraging conversations go way beyond the few minutes after church. Our gatherings are enriched, and our partnership with one another in the gospel is enhanced. We know each other as God's family, not as anonymous audience members at a performance.
Moreover, I'm convinced we don't "gossip the gospel" with our unbelieving neighbors and friends at least in part because we've never learned to talk about God and our Christian life, even with other Christians. How will we engage unbelievers about God's grace in Christ if we don't talk with our brothers and sisters about these great truths—especially after listening to a sermon together?
If your church gathering doesn't include coffee and refreshments after the service, let me encourage you to consider doing so. You'll set the pattern of staying afterward to minister to others, and, after a while, it will be quite normal.
Too costly? Going deeper in Christian friendship and stirring up one another to love and good deeds? I don't see much cost there.
Do We Idolize the Bible?
A good word from Tim Challies:
More than once I have been accused of being a bibliolater, a person who idolizes the Bible, who has excessive reverence for the letter of the Bible. I’m sure many other Christians have been accused of this as well. In my experience, this charge tends to be leveled against those who affirm the infallibility or inerrancy of Scripture; it may also be leveled against those who affirm the sufficiency of Scripture. People who level such a charge are objecting to what they see as a woodenness of faith and practice that stems from an understanding of Scripture they deem too literal.
I am quite sure that I do not idolize the Bible and I am quite sure it is far more difficult to do than the accusers may think. Let me tell you how I think about this charge.
We, as sinful human beings, have lost the right and the ability to have unmediated access to God. Before they fell into sin, Adam and Eve had the privilege of walking and talking with God. They had direct, face-to-face access to the Creator. This is a privilege we eagerly anticipate reclaiming when the Lord returns, but in the meantime, polluted as we are by sin, we have severed that direct communication. We now rely on communication from God that is mediated by Scripture. John Stott once said, “God has clothed His thoughts in words, and there is no way to know Him except by knowing the Scriptures. … We can’t even read each other’s minds, much less what is in the mind of God.” God’s Word tells us that we can only know God as he actually, truly is, through that same Word.
The Bible is the Word of God. John Frame, in Salvation Belongs To The Lord, defines the word of God as “God’s powerful, authoritative self-expression.” God’s word is powerful in that it does more than merely communicate, but also creates and controls. Frame says, “the word is the very presence of God among us, the place where God dwells. So you cannot separate the word of God from God himself.”
Did you catch that? You cannot separate the word of God from God himself. The word reveals God. Frame goes on to show that the speech of God has divine attributes. It is righteous, faithful, wonderful, holy, eternal, omnipotent and perfect. Because these are attributes of God they are also attributes of his Word. He shows also that the word of God is an object of worship, quoting Psalm 56:4 where David writes, “In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?” The Psalmist repeats this in verse ten, saying ‘In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise…’ This is remarkable, for only God is the object of religious praise. To worship something other than God is idolatrous. Since David worships the word here, we cannot escape the conclusion the word is divine.”
In the familiar verse that opens the gospel of John we read, “In the beginning was the Word, and Word was with God, and the Word was God.” This verse identifies God’s speech, his self-expression, with God himself. “The Word that ‘was God’ in verse 1 was not only Jesus, as verse 14 clearly indicates (‘And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us’), but also the speech of God commanding the light to come out of darkness in Genesis 1:3.” Spurgeon says it well (in reference to 2 Timothy 3:16: “The Word of God, namely, this Revelation of Himself in Holy Scripture, is all it is here described to be, because Jesus, the Incarnate Word of God, is in it. He does, as it were, incarnate Himself as the Divine Truth in this visible and manifest Revelation. And thus it becomes living and powerful, dividing and discerning.”
There is an inescapable unity between God and the Word. The Word is where God is and God is where the Word is. God’s Word is the presence of God among us. What is the implication of this? We’ll turn one final time to John Frame. “God’s word, wherever we find it, including Scripture, is an object worthy of reverence. I’m not advocating bibliolatry, which is worship of a material object with paper, ink, and so on. The paper and ink are creatures, not God, and we shouldn’t bow down to them. But the message of the Bible, what it says, is divine, and we should receive it with praise and worship.”
When we read the Bible or come under the teaching of the Bible, we are hearing from God himself. We do not worship pen and ink—this would be to lower the Bible, not elevate it—but we do treat Scripture with reverence, regarding it as the very presence, power and authority of God. Really, it is difficult to imagine how we could have too-high a view of Scripture. It is much more likely that our regard for Scripture is too low, too human, too safe.
A Big Finger?
This advertisement is currently on the DC buses. Actually, it's probably a pretty good depiction of how so many see God. As some faceless, yet very angry person, tucked away in a cloud with a huge finger pointing down at all the while telling us what we can and can’t do.
Here’s what might surprise you. I (Joey) agree with the advertisement....If that’s the picture of God – I’m too old for that and I don't want to teach my kids about it. Who wants some angry, faceless person following them around looking at their behavior telling them what they can and can’t do.
We don’t need some faceless person in the sky to do that for us. We have religion* here on earth to do that for us.
But is this an accurate picture of the God of the Bible? I don't think so.
The God of Bible, does not just follow people around with a big finger pronouncing judgement. He comes to earth in the person of Christ Jesus to offer salvation. That’s a far cry from a faceless angry finger pointing from the sky. It’s the beautiful picture of God in the flesh, an actual face being beat and bloodied, to graciously save the very ones who were putting him to death and point them to life.
God does not condemningly point from his prestigious throne in heaven. He graciously redeems by the bloody cross of Christ on earth.
*I use the word religion to refer to any system that attempts to earn God's favor by keeping a certain set of rules.
13 Weeks Through the Pentateuch
This coming Sunday we begin a sermon series called "The Story of the Word" where we will walk through the first five books of the Bible in 13 weeks.
These first five books of the Bible - Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy - are variously known as the Law, the Torah (Hebrew for law or instruction), and the Pentateuch. The word "Pentateuch" comes from the Greek words penta (five) and teuchos(scroll or book).
These books showcase God's sovereign, merciful, holy, just, faithful character and reveal him as Creator, Redeemer, Sanctifier, and Sustainer. The Pentateuch lays down and begins to develop the foundational and central themes to the entire Bible. As many have said, the rest of the Bible is a 'commentary' on these first five books. So in order to fully understand and truly appreciate the story found in Scripture and in our world, we have to begin to grasp what God was up to from the very beginning.
To help you read the Pentateuch in these 13 weeks, we have put together a reading plan. Download it and follow along as we see what God has been up to since the beginning...
Lent is About Jesus
From TheGospelCoalition:
Lent strikes many Protestants as the exclusive domain of Roman Catholics, but this season can serve any Christian as a unique time of preparation and repentance as we anticipate the death and resurrection of Jesus. On the Christian calendar, Lent (from Latin, meaning "fortieth") is the 40 days beginning on Ash Wednesday and leading up to Easter Sunday. (Sundays aren't counted, but generally set aside as days of renewal and celebration—"mini-Easters" of sorts.) Whatever you might think about popular practices, "Lent is first and foremost about the gospel making its way deeper into our lives," Kendal Haug and Will Walker observe.
Compiled by Haug and Walker, Journey to the Cross is a free devotional guide for the season of Lent. Each week focuses on a different theme (e.g., repentance, humility, suffering, lament, sacrifice, death), and each day follows a distinct pattern: Call to Worship, Confession, Contemplation, and Closing Prayer. "Lent is about Jesus," the authors contend, and with each element "our aim is to reflect meaningfully on his journey to the cross, so that we might take up our cross and follow him."
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Remember, "practicing" Lent does nothing in of itself to make you more righteous before God. All of your righteousness is seated before God during the 40 days of Lent whether you "practice" Lent or not. Whether you choose to spend specific devotions during the 40 days of Lent or not, we should always be looking for ways to cultivate a deeper understanding of and delight in the gospel. Maybe one of the ways you to that this year, is by "practicing" Lent.
Don't Lose Heart Because Your Suffering Ends with "But Not"
“We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.”
Here Paul says he’s afflicted, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down. These are not just general abstract categories for Paul, but reflect real hurt and hardship in his life. Chapter 11 catalogues Paul’s experience: imprisoned, beat near death, stoned, shipwrecked, hungry and thirsty, often without food.
Paul knew affliction. Paul knew what it was like to be so burdened that he was perplexed and confused. Paul had scars on his body that told stories of persecution and being struck down. And where’s his attention? On the “but not.” Paul’s perspective is shaped by “But Not!”
Fresh in Paul’s mind was the death of Jesus. Think about it:
- In his death Jesus was afflicted and crushed for our sin - like a Lamb led to slaughter.
- In his death Jesus was perplexed and driven to despair – crying out in the garden, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death…Father if there’s any other way take this cup from me.”
- In his death Jesus was persecuted and forsaken – crying out from the cross, “My God, my God, why have your forsaken me?”
- In his death Jesus was struck down and destroyed willfully giving up his life.[1]
If that’s all there were to the story, we too would be crushed, despairing, forsaken and destroyed. But there’s good news, the story does not end there.
Jesus died. Three days later he came bursting forth from the tomb and brought the hope of “but not” with him. The resurrection is the Divine stamp of “but not” offering hope to all those who trust in Christ. Jesus was crushed, but not you. Jesus was driven to despair, but not you. Jesus was forsaken, but not you.
Jesus was not abandoned to the grave; he rose again showing the surpassing power of God. This same resurrection power sustained Paul, and it can sustain you as you face trial, tribulation, suffering and sorrow. The resurrection of Jesus shifts the emphasis from suffering to the sustaining power of God in suffering.
This is the beauty of the gospel – it ushers the “but not” into the midst of our suffering and sorrow. The gospel brings “but not” to your life. Every person actively trusting in Christ alone has God’s divine “But Not” to anchor their soul amidst life’s most severe storms.
[1] Crushed: Isaiah 53:5; Driven to Despair: Mark 14:34-36; Forsaken: Mark 15:34; Destroyed: John 10:18