Text: Psalm 80 | Listen to Message “God, where are you? Are you paying attention? Do you even care?” “How long, O Lord? When are you ever going to do something about this pain?” “God, why are you doing this to me? It’s not fair.” “God, I know you’re not a bully, but it sure feels like it today.” These statements are all examples of lament. A lament is weeping with words. It’s an expression to God of grief, fear, doubt, even anger. It’s a complaint, a howl, a cry, a protest. A lament typically uses questions or accusations to imply […]
How Do I Do Justice & Mercy
Text: Psalm 146; Luke 4:16-21 | Listen to Message Apparently there’s some kind of debate in the church over whether or not Christians ought to be involved in social justice. One side seems to be saying the mission of the church is to proclaim the gospel – and engaging in ministries of justice is a distraction (or even disobedience). The other side seems to be saying that justice ministries are an integral part of what it means to show the love of Christ to our neighbors. The first group is usually conservative, suburban, and/or affluent; the latter group is often liberal, […]
How Do I Relate to Culture?
Text: Matthew 5:13-16; 1 Corinthians 1:22-25 | Listen to Message It’s the most oft-repeated summary of a Christian’s relationship with culture: “We are to be in the world but not of it.” On its face, this simple statement implies some level of engagement balanced with some level of separation (or Christian distinctiveness). So far so good. But in countless everyday activities extrapolated out over many years, that one basic principle has been applied many different – even mutually exclusive – ways by good and godly people. Rather than claiming to know who’s right and who’s wrong, we prefer to recognize the […]
Text: Genesis 1:28; Ephesians 6:5-9 | Listen to Message It’s a common problem experienced by countless Christians: there’s a massive disconnect between our faith and work. We have no idea what the Sunday sacred has to do with the Monday-through-Friday secular grind. We’ve compartmentalized our Christianity to a few nights and weekends, and we live with spiritual amnesia the 40, 50, or 60 hours a week we’re on the job. “I’m just an electrician, just an attorney, just a student, just an accountant, just a teacher, just an architect, just a nurse practitioner, just an engineer, just an artist,” we tell […]
How Do I Know God’s Will?
Text: Romans 12:2 | Listen to Message “I just didn’t have peace about it.” “I felt like God was telling me to.” “Things got hard, so it was pretty clear to me God was closing that door.” “I put out a fleece and God seemed to be saying ‘no.’” “I thought it was the right call and I found a pastor who agreed with me.” Christians sure do have some bizarre ways of determining God’s will, don’t we? We follow our feelings, as if our emotions are infallible guides to our best life now. We claim “God said” this or that […]
How Do I Serve My Church?
Text: Philippians 2:1-11 | Listen to Message It’s the stat that’s been recirculated at seminaries and pastors’ conferences probably since the days of Peter, James, and John: 10% of the people in your churches will do all of the serving, and the other 90% will do nothing. True enough. Some people will never serve the local church, no matter what. Their idea of “church” is occasionally showing up to “get fed.” They’re consumers of religious programs, events, and experiences, but not servants of Jesus Christ. But I believe there’s a whole group of believers who want to serve in some meaningful […]
A Counseling Case Study
Text: 1 Thessalonians 5:14 | Listen to Message Here’s a case study to give an example of what Gospel-driven counseling might look like in action. I’m choosing the topic of shame because, as I’ve written here and here, I think it’s the #1 thing destroying Christian community right now. Though my case study refers to an endemic problem in modern culture – including the modern Church culture – this is not a reference to any actual persons or events. You’ve noticed that your friends, Steve and Steph, have not been showing up to church lately. Their absence is conspicuous […]
Recommended Reading: Everyday Church, by Tim Chester & Steve Timmis Counsel from The Cross, by Elyse Fitzpatrick & Dennis Johnson Hearing Jesus Speak into Your Sorrow, by Nancy Guthrie How People Change, by Timothy Lane Instruments in The Redeemer’s Hands, by Paul David Tripp Side by Side, by Ed Welch Recommended Apps & Websites: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/?s=counseling A collection of Gospel-centered blog posts on counseling in the Church https://www.ccef.org/ Homepage of the Christian Counseling & Education Foundation https://biblicalcounseling. com Homepage of the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (formerly NANC) Home Homepage of the Biblical Counseling Coalition
How Do I Counsel A Friend?
Text: 1 Thessalonians 5:14 | Listen to Message If you’re living in community, there will be plenty of opportunities to observe both sin and suffering in the lives of others. You may even think to yourself, “Someone should do something to help this person! But who?” It’s so easy to excuse ourselves from the responsibility to counsel a friend because, after all, we have plenty of our own issues to deal with. “Shouldn’t I fix my own problems first before attempting to help others with theirs?” While these are understandable concerns, the New Testament assumes that ordinary and broken believers will […]
How Do I Do Community?
Text: Ephesians 2:11-22 | Listen to Message Dietrich Bonhoeffer wisely cautioned, “The person who loves their dream of community will destroy community, but the person who loves those around them will create community” (Life Together). It’s one thing to love the idea of community in the abstract; it’s another thing to enjoy real community with real people who have real problems. Theoretical community is easy; but real community always involves things like risk, patience, misunderstandings, sacrifice, hurt, repentance, forgiveness, and grace. In the midst of our selfishly individualistic culture, a diverse community of selfless, grace-saturated love would be a very attractive […]
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