Stay Alert this New Year

“Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come.” -Mark 13:33

It is that time again as we celebrate our New Year in the Gregorian Calendar. We discard the old calendar, flipping from December 2024 toward the fresh 2025. It is difficult for me to grasp that we are 24 years into the 21^st Century! With this out with the old and in with the new season, it is wise for the Christian to turn to ancient words that never wither or fade in beauty (Isaiah40:8).

I need regular reminders from our Lord to stay alert, keep my guard up, and stay awake. Here, we see Jesus’ prophecy of the upcoming Roman invasion into Jerusalem to destroy the city’s many fine buildings and, of course, the temple. Jesus’ prophecy came true, yet the haunting words of judgment were but shadows of the final judgment at our Lord’s return.

As the drumbeat of time plays the same tune as centuries past, it is easy for us to be soothed to sleep by the lullaby of daily routines and earthly concerns. It is easy in the flesh to simply coast through life, go day to day, shuffle through work, take the kids to events, pay monthly bills, keep up with favorite shows, movies, sports teams all while Christ and His church take a distant secondary concern.

Some may say their New Year’s resolution is to return to church. Unfortunately, such a commitment with strong words does not last. As a YMCA member, I can tell you January is filled, but February returns to an introvert’s dream. Like the apostles at Gethsemane, sleep overtakes those with commitments made only verbally instead of staying alert in prayer.

What does this have to do with staying alert for the return of Jesus? 2025 is one year closer to the climax of human history: the return of Christ. Does your life reflect a posture of worship of the returning Lord with awareness, alertness, on guard? For the time is drawing near, as our Lord says, “the end is not yet” (Matthew 24:6). In the meantime, wars. Famines. Broken relationships. False Christs. Tribulation. Betrayal from loved ones. Lawlessness increases. And the love of many will grow cold (Matthew 24:12). This Jesus warned us of in contrast to those who endure to the end.

A loveless heart is the condition of “many”. This includes those once passionately professing Christianity. Those once good friends. Even those claiming Christianity with hidden evils compromising their theology. Those gaining trust of others only to slide others into their own compromise. Piece by piece, like a New Year’s resolution, slowly compromise turns to daily concerns and the very thought of Jesus, worship, and church life become numb if not completely dead. Or, church is something to infest with a love grown cold.

John even warns us in I John 3 not to be like Cain the murderer. Of course, taken with the Sermon on the Mount, this is speaking of a cold heart that does not love the church, but harbors hatred in the heart (Matthew 5:22). “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers” (I John3:14).

So, we must take this command to love one another as one of combat with internal sin and commitment to true love, steadfast love, we have received from God. So we must be strong in our watchfulness with one another. To “act like men” is connected to doing all things in love (I Corinthians 16:13-14). Watch one another and keep one another awake with a warm love for Jesus, His Word, and His church. To guard ourselves from lawlessness, which is saying we become our own gods making our own laws in a land where “everyone is doing what is right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25).

Jesus is Lord, and He is good. Reader, I implore you to make this resolution: to draw near to the Lord and love Him increasingly. Draw near to Him humbly. Taste and see the Lord is good. Become active in the life of the local church to be watched over and to keep your love for Jesus and His church warm. All while we await that glorious day of His return.

Let us not be like the unwise bridesmaids sleeping without oil (Matthew 25:1-13). If we sleep, let us regularly be awakened by the Lord like the apostles at Gethsemane. To regularly gather with the church, to hear the Word of God faithfully taught and preached, as another day then another year draws us closer to Jesus’ return that “you know neither the day nor the hour” (Matthew25:13). Let us, then, faithfully remain watchful together.

Heavenly Father, we confess we become drowsy. We slumber. The world which gives us trouble regularly has a numbing effect, deadening our resolutions no matter how strongly we felt or worded them at the beginning. Our endurance is only possible by Your mighty hand. Lord, strengthen our hearts to love warmly with brotherly love, letting love be genuine, with hearts eager for our Lord’s return. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

 

A New Year's Habit

“Let us not forsake meeting together, as some have made a habit, but let us encourage one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” –Hebrews 10:25

The time of changing our calendars is upon us, and it is customary to make goals or resolutions for the New Year. What is your goal? Is your desire to lose weight, to make the habit of going to the gym, make the habit reading more and less screen time, to learn a new skill? Is your habit, from the desire of your heart, to go to church?

The Book of Hebrews deals with the human problem of making it a habit to skip church. Higher priorities can be stressed in our lives, placing Christ’s command to gather and be a living part of the local church community as secondary. We could be busy like Martha with things that seem so important, looking down at Mary who surrendered the busyness for the good portion of learning at Jesus’ feet (Luke 10:38-42).

This verse warns not to forsake the gathering, which means to abandon the church gathered. We can make a habit of it, and before long we see the merciful benefits of gathering at church as simply not as important as other things. We lose out on being encouraged in the faith and encouraging others. And the great warning is, we find ourselves ill-prepared for the approaching Day of the Lord.

First, there is the old habit of pride. To think I can get along just fine in life without the encouragement of Christ in His church gathered. I don’t need His church just as I don’t need Him. Besides, like Martha, we can say, “there is too much to do in the kitchen.” It isn’t that things which make us busy isn’t important, but that gathering for church to hear God’s Word, to be encouraged, and to encourage others is the “one thing” that is necessary (Luke 10:42).

Second, we can fall prey to the temptation that we are not needed in the church anyways. I can easily let my social anxieties or feelings to be an indicator of whether or not something is worth me being there. However, as a pastor, I cannot count on two hands how many saints I have held hands with as they slowly slipped into death, or what our Savior calls, “only sleeping” (Matthew 9:24). I don’t say much, but I know my mere presence with them in a heart of care for them was the type of fellowship in the bond of peace the Spirit makes us willing and eager to be there for.

We are, as Spirit-filled Christians, commanded to be eager to maintain the bond of peace the Spirit blesses the church gatherings in. Our eagerness fails in our rebellion to this command, seeking out worldly busyness in exchange for that blessed bond of peace in the gathering. To disobey our Lord in a grace habit of gathering in church regularly is a desire to divide that bond of peace.

As a dad and pastor, I want to encourage you to make the habit this year to make church gatherings a priority. I know many distractions come, many pressures pull, but like Mary, I pray your heart sees the good portion of being gathered to worship Christ. For you and your family’s sake. Believe it or not, the church needs to hear babies cry and see parents with their children, even in their struggles. And you need them.

Our Lord did not make worship gatherings to be a place of personal preference, but of worship. Yet, He intends to bless us. He made church gatherings to be a place to encourage our faith and to encourage others in our pursuit to love one another. All this to prepare each other for that eternal Day of the church gathered with Christ forever.

When we get to that eternal Day, all the earth’s busyness and accolades will vanish in the preeminent glory of the presence of Christ. On that Day, we will not look back on our life wishing ourselves too busy for church, wishing to spend more time at work than with family, regretting any moment in church over earthly busyness. No, we will see why Mary chose the good portion of being with Jesus rather than busyness. Beloved, make church attendance a primary habit this year for your benefit and the benefit of others.

Heavenly Father, stir in us a desire for a habit to go to church. Give us wisdom to pursue others in need of encouragement; give us humility to seek encouragement from others in church. Prepare us for the Day of the Lord in our church gatherings in our longing for that eternal Day. How we long for that Day. How long, O Lord? Come quickly, Lord Jesus. Amen.

Expository Preaching

 “All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

–II Timothy 3:16-17

 Following the voice of the Good Shepherd requires an extraordinary humility. I need God’s breathed out Scripture because I am an ignorant fool who needs to be taught, rebuked, corrected, and trained to be righteous. Oh, what grace is there for a weak fool like me in the deep instruction of the Bible! All of my faults and sins, my weaknesses and temptations, my needs to be further conformed to the image of the Son are confronted by God’s Word to my humble and ready ears.

This why I am committed to expository preaching. That is, the entire point of every sermon is the text of Scripture itself which is relayed to the life of the Christian and the local church. In Alistair Begg’s fine booklet Preachingfor God’s Glory he contends, “We are on the wrong track if we think expository preaching merely as a preaching style chosen from a list (topical, devotional, evangelistic, textual, apologetic, prophetic, expository). As John Stott says, ‘All true Christian preaching is expository preaching.’”

 I know topical preaching and topical Bible studies are the more popular in our culture. One may think, “well, that’s just what I prefer.” I understand it is what you prefer, but is that truly wise? We are tempted to raise our children in more exciting settings as if Scripture taught deeply passage by passage is not enough to keep my children in the faith when they get older. I understand it is what your children prefer, but is that truly wise?

 Glance at a list of sermons on a topical preacher’s website or Sunday School’s curriculum and you will find massive gaps. Why do they skip large portions of Exodus or the Gospel of Matthew, for example? Then ask yourself, what riches in these large passages am I and my family missing which we need to be taught, rebuked, corrected, and trained to be righteous with?

Topical preaching feeds truths in portions, but misses the deep riches of entire swaths of God’s Word and reduces difficult texts as simply marginal or lessons for moral living. The “types and shadows” which lead human history to Christ’s kingship making all things new are oblivious in the ears of the preacher who simply wants to discuss steps to improve marriages or various other subjects. These steps and subjects are indeed in Scripture, but to handle the Word of God as simply a collection of topics to help rather than deeply understanding the whole counsel of God in reference to Christ will miss the “fire in our hearts” as the men on the road to Emmaus experienced. 

If you are a preacher or teacher of God’s Word, remember we are held to a higher account for how we handle God’s Word in the face of God’s people. We are to lead them deeper into the text, not use the text to move them away from it. I encourage everyone willing to take the time to read this article to attend a church devoted to the exposition of Scripture. You may visit us at Allison Avenue, watch our livestream, or download our sermons. It is here in the deep study and understanding of God’s Word we hear the voice of our Good Shepherd and follow Him. And this is good news: such preaching and teaching of God’s Word will equip you and your family “for every good work” as God’s craftsmanship for God’s glory.

 Heavenly Father, prepare my heart to receive Your Word as a skillful farmer plows, plants, and waters. Grant me patience to hear Your wise instruction to bear in me much fruit. If it pleases You, reveal Yourself to me through the rich treasures of Scripture which points to Christ and burns like fire in my heart. For Your glory’s sake I ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

The Craftsmanship of God

 

“We are His craftsmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” -Ephesians 2:10

Do you produce good works to the praise of God? Look at the world’s applause. From charity to words the world finds profound, applause goes to people, community organizations, and movements. People form non-profit organizations for causes and good works which are championed to fix some wrong in the world and driven by applause.

The church of Jesus Christ is radically different. First, notice Christians are God’s craftsmanship rather than works of our own creation or identity. We were dead in our trespasses against God, producing evil works. God made us alive together in Christ Jesus. God’s hands gathered the church for His eternal purpose as opposed to someone organizing a group for earthly purposes.

The Christian individually and the church as a whole are God’s craftsmanship created in Christ Jesus. The power of our repentance from evil and toward God is found being in Christ Jesus. Paul told the Roman church that Christians are more than conquerors of tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, and sword by being in Christ bonded in God’s love for us which nothing can separate us from (Romans 8:31-39). This is God’s grace of salvation in Christ Jesus, a free gift of God received by faith alone (Ephesians 2:8-9).

What did God create us in Christ Jesus for? Good works. The world is driven by the applause of the world. The church is driven by the joy of God. “The joy of the Lord is our strength” (Nehemiah 8:10). By God creating us into new creatures by His craftsmanship, we are in Christ and His complete joy is in us (John15:11). We produce the fruit of the Spirit of joy in the face of sadness and suffering!

Not FROM works, but FOR works. These are the works of God, creating new creations from old, bringing the dead into newness of life in Christ Jesus, in His death, burial, and resurrection. The church performs good works of love, serving our neighbors in our newly transformed minds, hearts, and bodies. Luther famously said, “God does not need our good works, but our neighbor does.”

What kind of works? Jesus said at the final judgment when he returns, he will reward people for feeding him when he was hungry, giving him drink when he was thirsty, clothing him when he was naked, visiting him when he was in prison, welcoming him when he was a stranger. The righteous will ask when we saw Jesus in these ways? Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me” (Matthew 25:40).

The world wants to produce these fruits to some extent, but only for applause that you are a good person, or your non-profit organization is a good group of people. The church produces good works in Christ Jesus for the eternal praise of God for we are His craftsmanship.

Do not produce fruit in hopes of applause that you are a good person. Produce the works for you created by God beforehand that you may walk in them. To the praise of God alone whom you serve in your treatment of the church and your neighbor.

Heavenly Father, all our minds, hearts, and labors are in Your mighty hands. Mold us by Your excellent craftsmanship into good works. Forgive us where we have been like the priest who passed the beaten man and craft us into the Good Samaritan. Produce good works of joy in the face of suffering and selfless service in this perishing, self-serving, boastful world to the praise of Your glorious name. In Jesus we pray for such mercies. Amen.

Unity by Divine Supply

 

“…with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love…” -Ephesians 4:2

I have been meditating Psalm 27, praying to be made useful as an instrument in the Lord’s hands in the surroundings He has sovereignly placed me. It seems people have been increasingly angry and anxious recently. Factor in COVID-19 and a presidential election year, the problems in the human hearts around me have simply escalated.

As followers of Jesus, we are called to meet the problems of the human hearts head on with the good news of Jesus Christ. We work and toil in this very same angry and anxious world, which affects us far more than we truly realize. We grow wearing in doing good. Our humility, gentleness, patience, and forbearance have limits in the flesh.

We need to hear of Christ’s mercies. We need reminding of Christ’s mercies. We need to receive Christ’s mercies. We each have need of Christ’s mercies in His beloved church to handle us with humility, gentleness, patience, and bearing with us in love from a heart eager to maintain unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Christ’s given peace.

These characteristics do not come naturally; rather, they must be supernaturally given. Do not fall into the temptation that these attributes well up from sheer willpower or misused to accuse others in the church of falling short of our expectations. Christ who loves His bride gifts us with a heart to gently bear in love those in fellowship weakened and wounded by an increasingly angry and anxious world. Within the safety of fellowship, free to confess where we have failed obedience, pray for strength to persevere, and encourage one another to be Christ-like in view of an evil, dark world.

Our love and care for one another will not and cannot depend simply on our love for one another, but upon our love for Christ. I can only be humbly gentle, forbearing with patience with the supply I receive from Christ. Jesus said, “I will build My church.” The church’s membership and giftings are from Christ lovingly fulfilling this promise.

Church unity, as a consequence, is more than mere tolerance of each other. Rather, we share a united effort to battle ungodly desires in our hearts and strive together to conform to Christ, being a light in a dark world, fighting together for one another’s repentance and joy in spiritual healthiness.

We need a place, a people, safe to enter in with our troubled hearts to be reminded of Christ’s mercies. You and your neighbor are in need of Christ’s mercies in His church. Church family, let us prioritize one another’s spiritual health by obeying Ephesians 4:2 and invite others into such fellowship with His good news. All to the glory of our gracious, merciful God.

Heavenly Father, how I am in constant need of Your mercies. My restless heart is affected by an angry, anxious world. I am in need of Your peace. Those I love in this church family are in need of Your peace. Grant me Your peace that surpasses understanding that I may be humble, gently patient, to bear the burdens of Your church in Your holy and steadfast love. In Jesus’ name. Amen.