I like to think of the line between Spiritual Formation and Spiritual Transformation as a perforated piece of paper; they really are a piece of the same large sheet. Yet the fragile line between the two, if broken, will turn them into two separate things entirely.

Spiritual Formation is wildly popular in the church today. There has been a growing interest in books like Richard Foster's "Celebration of Discipline" or Dallas Willard's "Spiritual Disciplines". I think that the interest in spiritual practices is largely helpful and mostly good. For too long the church has neglected the fact that biblical faith necessitates movement. Free grace has become cheap grace.

It should not be so.

In response to this easy believeism, the emphases has begun to be placed on taking action and doing more things. Practice of virtue and exercising individual will have started to reign supreme in the pulpits of our churches and the hearts of our fellow believers. I'm thankful for this emphases in so much as it has encouraged me to take obedience to Jesus very seriously by squashing my laziness and encouraging zealousness.

However, if we are not careful to keep the perforated line between Formation and Transformation in tact, we may soon tear ourselves away from the power of the cross and the glory of Christ.

The Stone and the Clay

Formation
Often times, spiritual formation can be likened to giving a sculptor a lump of clay and a small, ugly stone and telling them that they can do whatever they want with the stone and the clay, but they can't discard either one. In order to hide the ugly stone, the sculptor will always choose to mold the clay around the stone. The clay can be molded by the sculptor with their hands using water and shaping tools and physical exertion. But no matter what the sculptor does with the clay, the stone inside will always be stone. The clay may look good and even be pleasing to the sculptor after enough refining and molding.

Spiritual formation without the cross of Christ turns US into both the sculptor and the clay and fails to do anything about the stone. Discipline and exertion and pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps will help the clay to form and change, but it will not do away with the stone inside.

In a way, this spiritual formation is not unlike the self-help movement of our day. Tips and tricks and tools are touted as the way to truly accomplish change.

Transformation
Spiritual transformation, in using this analogy of the stone and the clay, is the removal of the stone altogether. It's replacing a heart of stone with a heart of flesh. In spiritual formation, the sculptor cannot get rid of the stone no matter what he does. But in spiritual transformation, God is the sculptor and he can do with the stone whatever he pleases.

As fallen human beings, we are in need of a transformation. We are in opposition to God with no desire to please or obey him. This is the bad news of the consequence of sin. The good news of the Gospel, however, is that God has made a way, through the cross of Christ, to pay the price for our sin and transform us into the image of his Son.

The Love of God

Never More Loved
The fact that our spiritual transformation is based on God's justifying grace alone teaches us that God's love for us is not based on our behavior (good or bad). In his love, he has made us right with himself (justified us) and we are never more justified as we mature in the faith. Think of a marriage, for example: if you've been married for 5 years, you're no more married this year than you were in year one. 

Consider the words of Titus 5 3-7 and what it says about our permanent place in Christ because of his righteousness:

For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Always More Lovable
While we are never more or less justified after that glorious moment of conversion, we must understand that we can be more or less pleasing to God after the moment of conversion. We are saved for good works (Eph. 2:10) and ought to be insistent on workout out our faith. Verse 8 of Titus 5 says,

"The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people."

Our working to discipline ourselves in pursuit of holiness is because of our love for our Father and our desire to please him. It is not to initiate our relationship to him as Father, it is to grow in our love for him as adopted children.

Glory to God

Our spiritual formation has one goal: pleasing God through bringing him glory. The foundation of our spiritual transformation in Christ is what allows a weak humanity to be formed and shaped into a pleasing, living sacrifice. 

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Ro 12:1-2)

I love to read. And I love talking about what I'm reading. Since my wife gets an earful every time I have a book in my hand, I thought I'd write my thoughts down and start sharing them here. My wife can still listen to my oral drafts before I put them online. 

Here is a list of books I've read (or am currently reading) over the last year or so. I hope to do reviews frequently and consistently. If there's one you're particularly interested in hearing about, let me know in the comments or via text, email, twitter, facebook, post card, phone call, instagram or out loud the next time you see me in person.

• 50 People Every Christian Should Know*
• Big Truths for Young Hearts*
• Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy*
• The Christian Faith*
• Church Planter
• The Cross Centered Life
• Cost of Discipleship
• Disciplines of A Godly Family
• Disciplines of A Godly Man
• The Divine Conspiracy
• Earthen Vessels
• Erasing Hell
• Generous Justice
• Give Them Grace*
• Gospel Powered Parenting
• Grandpa's Box*
• Heresy
• Holiness
• The Holy Spirit
• Love Wins
• The Meaning of Marriage*
• Sex Isn't the Problem, Lust Is
• Shepherding A Child's Heart
• Slave
• Slaves of Christ
• Studies in the Sermon on the Mount*
• Think
• What is the Gospel?

*denotes I am still reading/finishing these titles

Hopefully I can make sound progress on writing reviews for these (if I haven't already). 

My birthday is less than a month away. And every year I age, I inevitably end up spending some time thinking about the changes that come with it. The older you get, the more responsibility you have. There are bills and your marriage and raising kids and trying to excel in an increasingly challenging job.

I sometimes think to myself, "it would be so great to be a kid again!"

I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels that way. And from time to time, we do certain things to feel like a kid again. We play games and abandon commitments and suppress the age of our maturity and trade it in for good-feeling fun.

There's nothing necessarily wrong with this at times. It's important and healthy to have fun and be loose and enjoy life like a kid. But eventually we must remember we are also adults.

The Christian life is also like the process of maturing from childhood to adulthood.

Faith Like A Child
Jesus said in Luke 18:17, "Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it." It doesn't take much, on our part, to enter into the kingdom of God, does it? In the same way a small child doesn't need a college degree or to make six figures to before they are accepted by their father, so do we as believers need nothing more than to believe and confess.

But in the same way a child grows, so ought we as Christians.

The Kids Table
Too many seasoned, long-believing Christians are still sitting at the kids table of the Christian faith. They enjoy the pure milk of the Word of God, but refuse to move on to solid food. Eating solid food means using a fork and knife, chewing with your mouth closed and executing proper manners. And it seems hard.

The writer of Hebrews, however, admonishes God's people for refusing to grow up:

"For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child." (He. 5:12-13)

Growing Up
The very next verse of this passage in Hebrews says, "But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil."

Discernment comes from walking in the Spirit and studying His Word. You would be surprised how many PASTORS don't consistently spend time studying God's Word and applying the difficult truths to their own heart. It takes hard work and careful thinking and the confession of sin. These are the disciplined components of sitting at the grown-up table.

Let me be clear: I am not saying every believer needs to have the ability to perfectly discern good and evil with skilled use of God's Word. That is NOT what saves you. God's love for you is not dependent on your maturity in him. However, your joy may be.

The way I see this immaturity played out the most is when Christians refuse to fight an actual fight of faith by shunning hard teaching and difficult theology. It is often masked in intellectualism and tenderheartedness, but the reality is that many christians are just avoiding the things that make them uncomfortable.

News Flash: The Gospel should make you uncomfortable. It runs completely against our natural, sinful, desire to be the center of God's universe. God is the center of God's universe. This is not a shallow concept and it is not something any of us have mastered.

But in my life, the more I grow to understand that all God does is ultimately for the praise of his glorious grace (Eph. 1), the more I find staggering joy welling up in my heart and spilling over onto those around me.

Water Wing Christians
A Christian who refuses to mature in their faith is like a child playing in the kiddie pool. You put the floaties on their arms and they can splash around and stay relatively safe.

But as long as they stay in the kiddie pool, they will know nothing of the vast ocean of the knowledge and joy of the God of the universe.

Too many of us are like grown men playing in the kiddie pool. Oh, we know about the ocean. We've seen pictures and heard people talk about it. But we don't want to go there because, to be honest, it's a little bit scary swimming in the ocean.

What a devastating thing to only know about the ocean and never experience it in person.

Grown Children
It's important for mature Christians to continue to exercise child-like faith. It is critical to be nourished by the pure milk of God's sweet Word. Adults don't stop drinking milk.

We do need, however, to constantly grow in the knowledge and grace of our Father so we can enjoy all that he has for us at the grown up table. We will feast with him in heaven for eternity. I guarantee He'll have more for us to enjoy than just milk.

I had the honor of writing a guest blog post for a friend, Daniel Fick. I met Daniel in Michigan at one of my best friend's wedding almost two years ago now. While I don't know him as well as I might if we lived in the same state, his blog alone demonstrates his awesomeness.He also has a tattoo that I envy in a godly way and hope to someday emulate if my wife and I can agree.

You should read his blog regularly: Post Tenebras Lux

You can follow him on Twitter as well: @danieljfick

Thanks, Daniel for inviting me to write. Hope to have you on this blog in the near future as well!

As we look at church history over the last 30 or 40 years, we can see some trends and movements that had a significant impact on preaching. Before we can understand what good preaching looks like, we need to understand why good preaching went bad.

I grew up in church and I’ve had the opportunity to attend multiple churches over the last 15 years or so, observing a wide range of preaching styles and emphases. In an effort to understand where we’ve been, I’ve drawn some conclusions about the impact a few specific trends have had on the pulpit:

The Seeker-Sensitive Movement

50 years ago, the Church had become hyper-focused on fundamental topics such as hell and sin. And in fear of becoming “revolutionary” (1960’s) or “psychedelic” (1970’s), the church hunkered down and kept to ourselves, shunning cultural change and all those who identified with it. We despised those who abandoned church for Affirmative Action and LSD.  

The hyper focus within the walls of the church caused many churches to start shrinking and the predominant philosophy became, “We can grow our church again by being more seeker-friendly.” But in an effort to reach the lost, many “seeker-friendly” pastors have swung the pendulum so far in the opposite direction that the focus has become those outside the church rather than those within. As a result, preaching has been shortened, relativized and tweaked to meet the culture in their context and win people over with smooth speech and eloquent wisdom worthy of the seekers being preached to. The cross had nearly vanished.

Preaching had become consumeristic.

One popular seeker-sensitive pastor said, “Unchurched people today are the ultimate consumers. We may not like it, but for every sermon we preach, they're asking, ‘Am I interested in that subject or not?’ If they aren't, it doesn't matter how effective our delivery is; their minds will check out.”
Bill Hybels, et al., Mastering Contemporary Preaching (Portland: Multnomah, 1989)

The fallout of such a mentality has trained the church to value those who are most gifted at communication or who most dynamically bring a message. Don’t misunderstand; there is a significant place for giftedness and developing your ability to preach. However, this must be secondary to the content of the sermon, namely the very Word of God.

Post- Modernism

Post-Modernism has resulted in a decreasing confidence in truth. It has caused preachers to shy away from affirming anything in Scripture to be absolute. Seeker-sensitive pastors have gone from being careful about preaching the message of cross (since it is offensive to those who are perishing) to being afraid of preaching anything as absolute truth.

The result is preaching that subjectively pats the hearers on the head, encouraging them to do what they deem best and to interpret scripture however they see fit. Absolute imperatives are seen as arrogant. However, pandering to people’s wishes and personal ideas is actually a false humility and it is dangerous for the flock.

Some made an effort to try and add some bible verses to the post-modern mindset, turning to our final trend: Spiritual Formation.

Spiritual Formation

“Spiritual Formation” is the idea that practice of various spiritual disciplines (e.g. fasting, prayer, meditation, imagination, etc.), are the key to really growing closer to God. If we can just be disciplined enough to act like Jesus acted in the gospels, we will achieve salvation and happiness, ultimately realizing the kingdom of God on earth. Some of the most influential individuals in this area of spiritual formation include Richard Foster and Dallas Willard. These men have become extremely popular in the American pulpit along with others like Henri Nouwen (a Catholic Priest) and Soren Kierkegaard, known as “the Father of Existentialism”. Kierkegaard was described as believing, “The individual is subject to an enormous burden of responsibility, for upon h/er existential choices hangs h/er eternal salvation or damnation” (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kierkegaard/).

There is a necessary place for spiritual discipline and godly exertion. The problem is that much of what is written on the subject by those listed above is often unsupported by Scripture. In fact, their attempt to support these ideas with Scripture is rarely made and when it is, the passages cited are often grossly taken out of context.

Instead of being rooted in Scripture, spiritual formation stems from ancient mysticism, existentialism and Roman Catholicism. When these practices or disciplines are preached as more valuable than (or separate from) the Word of God, then they become a means to an end of self-righteousness and idolatry.

Martin Luther’s words in 1626 still ring so true:

All manner of religion, where people serve God without his Word and command, is simply idolatry, and the more holy and spiritual such a religion seems, the more hurtful and venomous it is; for it leads people away from the faith of Christ, and makes them rely and depend upon their own strength, works, and righteousness.” (Tabletalk, 1626 AD) 

The result of the popularity of spiritual formation is that the preaching of the Gospel of grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone is being subtly replaced with the preaching of a gospel of aestheticism and good works.

(I'm working on a guest blog post for a friend about what good Biblical Preaching looks like and will provide that link next week. In the meantime, I would love to hear your comments!)

I love Christmas. I always have. For many people, however, the holidays can be a time of deep pain and struggle. The world kind of pretends like everything is great around this time of year, but the truth is the same challenges and sufferings of September carry on through New Year's day.

As a kid, and to some degree now, my favorite part about Christmas is the anticipation. My wife and I share in this with our own children now as we hope and dream and expect together.

Then Christmas day comes and it's everything we hoped it would be. Then the day after Christmas comes and it's only so-so.

In the same way our celebration of Christmas should be a recognition of God sending his Son to his people, my reflection on this feeling of anticipation (and the subsequent letdown) should be a reminder of the hope we have that God will bring his people to his Son.

There will be no letdown.

Our anticipation of what really matters, namely our final blissful reunion with our Savior, is what we ought to spend our time focusing on and reflecting on. This is not only for the holidays, but for our very life. Consider Hebrews 10:23-25:

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

The post-Christmas letdown ought to be an opportunity for us to remind ourselves, and one another, to hold fast to the confession of our hope. We indeed enjoy the blessing of salvation here on earth, but it is nothing compared to the glory we will enjoy forever in heaven with Jesus.

We will not suffer. We will not struggle. We will not shed tears of sorrow or pain.

We will not be let down.

Christians love to talk about the real meaning of Christmas this time of year. We love gifts and lights and decorations and family. We also like to make Jesus birthday cakes and put up nativity scenes. 

These are all good things. But they aren't the ultimate thing. The real meaning of Christmas is more than just an anti-Santa message of a baby being born in humble circumstances. 

God Among Us
John tells us that Jesus has always existed (Jn. 1:1; Also Col. 1:15-20, 2:9). He wasn't created that night in the stable, but instead took on human form to his already eternal divine nature (Jn. 1:14). In what is undoubtedly John's most famous verse, we understand the most simple explanation of why Jesus came: 

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him might have eternal life." 

We must not let the familiarity with this story and verse merely fall down and melt like California snow. We need to roll around in it and make snow angels and throw snowballs at each other and taste every flake of the greatness of this concept; God came to earth! 

He didn't have to. He could have stayed where He was and still been Perfect and Just and Loving and Holy. But he did. He loves the world so much that he came to earth and took on human form. 

God's Example
We shouldn't miss the fact that Jesus' earthly presence is something for us to cling to. We have a model. An example. A friend. A relative. 

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
(Hebrews 4:14-16 ESV)

Remembering the birth of Jesus is to remember that we have a very tangible, real example of what God is like and what it is like to walk with God. This too is glorious news. 

God's Love
We like to talk a lot about the love of God. But God's love for us is not entirely wrapped up in his earthly ministry and example. Lots of people think Jesus was a good example of moral living and human love. But there's more.

God shows his love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Rom. 5:8).  

We must never leave Jesus in the manger until Easter. When we celebrate his birth, we need to carry that celebration forward to understand what his birth represents in the scope of redemptive history. 

In the same way the mechanics and the logistics of what happened physically to Jesus on the cross are sancitifed and sacred and important, so are the mechanics of the manger and the angels and the wisemen. And just as the reason for the cross is more important than the mechanics of that day, we have to remember the reason our Savior came in the first place. 

The Christmas Story
This last Friday night before our older kids went to bed, I read them the story of Jesus' birth to remind them about the real reason we celebrate Christmas once a year. The following night, the kids were begging me to read them Elf On The Shelf. I was reluctant but thought I'd use it as an opportunity to see if they're learning anything from what we read in the Bible together. I told them we could read Elf On The Shelf if they could tell me the Christmas story in their own words. 

Here's how that conversation went:

Dad: What is Christmas really all about?
Owen (age 6): Jesus' birthday
Dad: Can you guys tell me the story about what happened? 
Ella (age 4): An Angel came to Mary and told her she was going to have a baby. Joseph didn't believe her so an Angel came to Joseph and said Mary was telling the truth and that Joseph had a choice to make to leave or to take Mary for his wife. And he decided to take her as his wife.
Dad: And then what happened?
Owen: Jesus was born.
Dad: And was he born in a fancy hospital with doctors and medicine and comfort?
Owen: No.
Ella: He was born in a manger
Owen: With animals there
Dad: That's right. Then what happened?
Owen: People came to see him and give him presents.
Dad: Then what happened?
Ella: He got swallowed by a whale.

Dad: (laugh hard. correct course. be thankful that she was at least pulling a BIBLE story out of her head)

Dad: OK, so why was Jesus born? 
Owen: To die on the cross.
Dad: And why did he do that?
Owen: To die for our sins.
Dad: And why did he do that?
Ella & Owen: Because he loves us. 

The historical Jesus was loving. The eternal Jesus is love. The Jesus we celebrate December 25th is the eternal and historical Jesus who loved us so much that he showed us how to live and he died for us to enjoy him forever.

I've been reading the biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas and it's outstanding. One phrase I read this morning resonated with me and I think it's worth sharing.

Bonhoeffer believed that "communicating what he knew theologically - whether to indifferent businessmen, teenagers, or younger children - was as important as the theology itself."

I place a high premium on knowing God (Theology). If He is to be the object of our worship and our affections and our allegience and our satisfaction, then we ought to know him.

But sometimes too great an emphasis is placed on knowing lots of facts without knowing the very Person these facts inform you of. We all can agree there are scholars and thinkers who know a lot about Jesus and his word but don't for one second confess him as Lord.

While knowledge is not ultimate per se, your knowledge of God is critical. At least it should be. One of the ways we can increase the value of what we know to be true about God is to work out our ability to communicate these truths.

There are many reasons I love teaching and writing, but one of the greatest joys to my soul is working hard to articulate what my heart and mind are after in terms of God and his will for my life. There is great value in being able to communicate what we're feeling and what we're thinking so that it will benefit those around us.

The good news of the grace and love and reconciliation of Jesus Christ is already "good". It's only "news" if you can share it with others.

"but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect" - 1 Pet. 3:15

Communicating what we know theologically is as important as the theology itself.

Introduction
God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. He is holy and good and glorious. Likewise, the Christian life is full of joy and peace and blessing, even amidst struggle and suffering and persecution. The Christian is characterized by joy and ought to be.

Sin is not a joyous subject.

Sin is not something we enjoy dwelling on. We are well aware of our past and our sinful struggles and thinking about these things can bring an unsettled feeling to our hearts and souls. But the shining points of the Gospel of Grace will only be as bright as the darkness of the backdrop they are set against.

If we use the analogy of the stars in our sky, we know that during the daytime, the stars still shine just as brightly as they do at night. But it is not until the black sky seeps in that we begin to see the brilliance and abundance of the stars suspended in the universe. So this subject is not warm. It is not fuzzy. It is not exciting. It is necessary and it will ultimately help us see and understand the glory of the good news of God's grace.

Created Good
We must first acknowledge that God created man in his image and considered his creation of man and woman to be "very good" (Gen. 1). This means that man possesses qualities that are "like" God in many ways. He has created us with the ability to reason and create and love and enjoy. In these ways we are more valuable to God than the animals and other creation in nature.

The Fall
Our rightness with God in our goodness did not last long, however. In Genesis 3 we see that man ignored God's Word, believed a lie and sought to take matters into his own hand. Explicitly disobeying a direct command of their Creator, Adam and Eve selfishly defied the very One who gave them life.

The implications were staggering.

The Condemnation
We need to recall that the wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23). Just as God promised Adam and Eve that should they disobey him they would surely die, he fulfilled that promise in that they eventually did die. We see this in the very historical account of Adam and eve. While Adam lives a long physical life (930 years. See Gen. 5:5), he and his wife are put outside the garden into a world of spiritual death (Gen. 3:24).

We also see in Romans 5 a description of the fact that we are all under condemnation because of the sin of Adam, the head of our human race. Verse 12 says, “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.”

Paul goes on to say in this section of Scripture things such as,

“death reigned from Adam to Moses…”

“many died through one man’s trespass…”

“the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation…”

“because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man…”

“as one trespass led to condemnation for all men…”

“by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners…”

“as sin reigned in death…”

These verses are intentionally chopped in half because we are sometimes too quick to look at the righteousness and forgiveness we have in Christ without really contemplating what it is we need saving from. More on this later.

Sinner In Action
It is not too difficult to get anyone, Believer or otherwise, to acknowledge that they have committed sins. While it’s unlikely someone reading this would think they may be exempt from sinning, we know that the Bible is clear that all have indeed sinned (Rom. 3:23; Ecc. 7:20; 1 Jn. 1:8).

The reason it is important to acknowledge this is that we must take personal responsibility. As a human race, we are all under the condemnation that God put on Adam because we are “in Adam” as Romans 5 so clearly articulates. But before we say to ourselves that this is unfair, we have to acknowledge that we have all sinned and thereby confirmed our condemnation.

We have personally and individually offended a holy God who has vehement wrath and anger toward sin. Even if you had committed one single sin against God, however inconsequential in human terms, you have offended an infinitely holy God. James 2:10 says, “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.”

This is a sobering thought.

Sinner By Nature
I can remember particular moments in my Christian walk where I moved from realizing I was a person who has committed sins to realizing I was a sinner in my very nature. We all tend to think that we are basically good and have done bad things. In reality, if we are going to believe what the Bible says, we are basically bad and manage (by God’s grace) to do good things.

Consider these verses:

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. (Ps. 51:5)

The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies. (Ps. 58:3)

The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (Gen. 6:5)

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. (Eph. 2:1-3)

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? (Jer. 17:9)

For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person. (Mark 7:21-23)

For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Rom. 8:7-8)

We must acknowledge that in our unsaved condition, we are naturally opposed to God. It is not just that we have done bad things but that we are by nature children of wrath (Rom. 1:18ff).

Hopelessly Incapable
What we’ve seen the Bible has to say about our sin is very bad news. We are cut-off. Under condemnation. God’s wrath is set against us. Bad news indeed.

But it gets worse.

Not only are we separated from God by an infinite chasm created by our own, willful sin, we are hopelessly unable to come to God on our own. We are so far-gone in our sin that even a desire to know and pursue God is missing. We have become enslaved to sin. A slave is unable to free themselves, right? Look at the various ways the Word describes this inability:

Inability to cleanse ourselves from sin

Who can say, “I have made my heart pure; I am clean from my sin”? (Prov. 20:9)

Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one. (Job 14:4)

Inability to come to Jesus

No one can come to me [Jesus] unless the Father who sent me draws him. (Jn. 6:44)

And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” (Jn. 6:65)

*also Eph. 2:1-3 above

Inability to believe

Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said,

            “He has blinded their eyes

                        and hardened their heart,

            lest they see with their eyes,

                        and understand with their heart, and turn,

                        and I would heal them.”

            Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him. (Jn. 12:39-41)

Inability to understand the truth

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Cor. 2:14)

We are slaves to sin

Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.” (Jn. 8:34)

For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. (Titus 3:3)

Bright Hope
When we peer into Scripture, the darkness of our sin and the depth of our inability is plainly seen. I would be willing to bet that if we are honest and let the Spirit truly search our hearts, we would be in full agreement with what God’s Word has to say about us, to our shame and our sadness. I know that what God’s Word says about my sin is true. I see myself in these descriptions.

But the hope of God’s grace and forgiveness and unmerited righteousness shines so brightly against the dark backdrop of inability. Some of my posts in the near future will focus on the various ways God’s grace obliterates the darkness and I am so excited to go there in the coming weeks.

For now, read the rest of the passage in Romans 5 that we saw earlier and praise God for his gracious gift of the righteousness of Christ:

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.

                But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

                Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

(Romans 5:12-21 ESV)

If you are in Christ, there is now no condemnation.

Awkward. The Thanksgiving meal, which many people work so hard to prepare, is ready to eat. The game on t.v. is put on pause and the kids are hushed and told they need to come join the rest of the family. It's that time. Time to pray. 

And it's awkward. 

It's awkward because there may very well be people standing in a circle or around the table, holding hands, who very infrequently actually bow their heads to thank God for anything. Granted, you may be blessed with a very large, strong Christian family that takes this moment very seriously and you should praise God for such a tremendous gift! But not everyone, ineed most people are not in this situation.  

If you're the Christian in the group or your perceived to be the "super-christian" in the group, you may very well be asked to lead everyone in prayer. Your family may even go around the room and share something they're thankful for. 

The list of thanks are sometimes trivial and sometimes not. Little Johnny may thank God for good food and that Christmas is right around the corner. Others may thank God for good health or for family or for their jobs. These are all good things to be thankful for and we ought to always be thanking the Lord for them. 

But they are the gravy of Thanksgiving, not the glory of Thanksgiving. 

We can bring weight and glory and significance to our prayer or discussions on Thanksgiving by thanking God for the greatest blessing we can conceive of. God has rescued us from our slavery to sin. While we were sinners, he loved us. Despite our resistance of him, he has overcome that resistance and granted us faith in Christ. 

Consider Romans 6:17-19

Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?
But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

What if we redeem the awkwardness of the Thanksgiving prayers by thanking God for the cross? Thank him for his rescuing of us. Thank him for overcoming our sin and our desparation. 

We will only pray and think this way if we really and truly understand the depth of the gift God has given us. 

Are you more thankful for God's salvation or for God's blessings? Are you more thankful for the gifts of Jesus or for Jesus himself?

Thanks be to God for loving us in such a rescuing way. 

One God

The Bible teaches that God is one. From Genesis 1, where we are told there is "God" and not a multiplicity of gods to Deuteronomy 6:4 which says, "Hear, O Isreal: The Lord our God, the Lord is one." Paul writes to Timothy, "To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen." (1 Tim. 1:17) God's one-ness in Scripture is inescapable.

Three Persons

While Scripture is clear that there is only one God, it is also clear that there is a multiplicity that exists within Him. In Genesis alone, we see God referring to himself as "us" (1:26; 3:22; 11:7). To better understand what the New Testament says about the Trinity, it is helpful to look at each Person of the Trinity and see how they are each distinctly identified as God.

One particular note that is important before we look at each individual Person of the Trinity is that these three Persons are each simultaneously God. We do not believe that God has existed in three "manifestations" and this is critical to our faith. The Bible teaches that while the Father, the Son and the Spirit are all equally God, they serve in different capacities when it comes to salvation. Let's look at that more specifically.

God the Father
When we think of God the Father, we see God as the great Planner and Maker of the universe and all that is in it. We might say that the Father is the one who ultimately receives our highest praise. Jesus throughout his ministry on earth said that he was here to glorify the Father. Paul says in Ephesians 1:2,3 "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord JEsus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

John says in verse 14 of chapter 1, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." Jesus also tells us to pray to the Father in Matthew 6. We can see the distinction of God as Father all over Scripture. He is Provider and Sustainer and Author.

In reading these verses, it is impossible to isolate the Father from the Son. Indeed a Father without a Son is not a Father at all.

God the Son
There are 3 great passages that teach us Jesus Christ is fully God. The easiest one to connect to a passage we've already looked at (Genesis 1:1) is Colossians 1:15-17, which says, "[Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities -- all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together." We can see from this passage that Christ has always existed and that he is powerfully holding all things together. While God the Father created the earth, he created it "through" and "for" the Son. 

John 1 is another masterful explanation of the Deity of Christ. Verse 1 is similar to the Colossians passage and reads, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made." While these passages show that the Son has always existed, verse 14 says, "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth."

Taking it one step further, in verse 32 of chapter 1, John says, "I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him." Cross-referencing that with Luke 3:22, we know that this "Word" was indeed Jesus.

Perhaps the most moving passage about Jesus' equality with God the Father is in John chapter 5. Jesus healed a man by the pool on the Sabbath day and forgave him his sins. The Jewish leaders persecuted him for this and verse 17 and 18 gives us Jesus' response along with the reason why this was so important, "But Jesus answered them, 'My Father is working until now, and I am working.' This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God."

God the Spirit
There are many passages in Scripture that describe the Spirit as God (and vice versa). One such passage is in 2 Corinthians 3:17, which says, "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." Or in Acts 5 where Ananias and Sapphira lie about how much money they sold their property for. Peter says in verse 3, "But Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit?" and then in verse 5, "You have not lied to men but to God."

In terms of the role of the Holy Spirit, we can peer into Jesus' conversation with his disciples in John 14-16. Jesus is preparing these followers of his for the sorrow and persecution that is about to come upon them. He will soon be going to the cross and leaving their presence after 3 years of walking so closely together on earth. The disciples do not fully understand, but after Jesus' eventual ascension into heaven, it all finally sinks in.

Jesus' encouragement to his disciples in this discourse is a promise. A promise of a Helper that will be sent after Jesus leaves that will comfort them in their pursuit of following out Christ's kingdom mission. Read John 14-16 to see Jesus' encouragement to his followers with the promise of the Holy Spirit.

Why The Trinity Matters

The concept of God being one God in three persons is something we will not be able to fully wrap our minds around. But as mentioned above, the understanding of and the reliance upon this critical doctrine is necessary to godly living and faithful fruitfulness.

Redemption happens because God the Father is planning and purposing it for us. He has adopted us as Sons and has shown us a profound love that only a Father can give. He is the Almighty and the Alpha and Omega. He has accomplished our redemption through the Son. Jesus was sent by the Father to dawn human flesh and walk among us. He lived a full and perfect life so that we might see his example and be clothed in his righteousness. The Son's work was done to glorify the Father and he is now interceding for us with the Father on our behalf. We can approach his throne with confidence knowing he has been tempted just as we have, being fully man and practically relatable. But God did not leave us alone after the resurrection. At the moment of salvation he has filled us with his Spirit. This means that when we are lonely or defeated or discouraged, we have the living God of the universe inside of us, willing and working for his good pleasure.

There is no greater promise or encouragement in all of Scripture than the glorious doctrine of the Trinity.

When I was growing up I heard the saying, "every time you point your finger at someone, you have three fingers pointing right back at you." It was something my dad always said and he probably heard it from Rick Warren or another pastor. I get it and in one sense I understand it's helpfulness.

But Christians ought to do more finger-pointing.

Most of us have been told that to point the finger is to be judgmental and to be critical. The phrase just mentoined above is aiming to squash our arrogance and our pride in reminding us that we are not better than someone else who is in their sin. This is true. However, we need to be careful not to let this mentality of tolerant, non-judgmentalism creep so far into our thinking that we fail to point the finger when it needs to be pointed.

Before you point the proverbial finger at me for being harsh and cold, let me explain what kind of finger-pointing I'm talking about.

Point To The Bible
Too many Christians know little to nothing about their Bibles. They know bible stories. They know bible sayings, but they don't know what the Word of God actually says about their particular situation. When a fellow believer (or unbeliever for that matter) comes to you for counsel or with a question or with a hurt, you should be able and confident to point them to the Bible for the answer. Pop-psychology and leadership quotes, while clever, are not powerful, life-transforming truth.

1 Timothy 3:14-16 says,

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God 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.

And Romans 15:4 says,

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

If you don't believe the Bible is sufficient for every circumstance of life, you don't believe the Bible. And if you don't know the Bible, it is difficult to endure with hope. We must be able to point to a place in the Bible and show one another what God's Word says.

Point To The Sin
We must love one another, right? We must be patient with one another and we must be forgiving of one another. We must encourage and exhort and rejoice alongside those who are in the community of believers.

But we must also hold one another accountable and call one another out when we see sin present in the life of a fellow believer.

Let me be clear that we are not to be judgmental toward those outside the church. We are, however, called to judge those inside the church.

1 Corinthians 5:12 says,

For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside.

Harsh words, right? But if you read the context of that entire passage, Paul is exhorting the church in Corinth to address unrepentant sin that is creeping in among the church body. God wants to keep his church pure and addressing sin is what the cross is all about. He accomplishes this through believers who have enough humble, selfless love for one another to point out an areas in need of repentance and admonishing.

Point To The Cross
To point out someone's sin and lack of faithfulness to God's Word and then leave them there is unloving and unhelpful. I believe it's grevious to the Spirit of God and damages souls in the process.

What we must do is point people to the cross.

The only hope we have is the cross of Christ. Without it we are dead and hopeless. Without it we will rely on our own will and our own self-doing to accomplish victory over sin and triumph over suffering.

The most loving thing you can do for someone is to point out the love of God toward them in Christ Jesus. Your tips and tricks and hugs and tears are not useless, but they are also not ultimate. Help one another see grace. Help one another see mercy. Help one another see confidence and comfort and hope in the person and work of our Savior. After all, Jesus is called "Savior" for a reason.

I think you'll find that loving one another by pointing your finger at the Word of God and the cross of Christ  will multiply the blessing you experience in your own life in each of these things.

Maybe there really are three fingers pointing back at you.

I'm not one of those people who would hold a sign on the street corner saying, "God hates gays" or "Homosexuals are going straight to hell" or any other type of bashing statement. I'm also not one of those people who wants to try to make up for that kind of awful behavior by winking at sin and using Jesus' name to justify it. When you wink at sin you don't get a very good look at it. And a poor view of our sinfulness will keep us from seeing God. 

Before you misunderstand me, this article is not about the sinfulness of homosexuality. It's actually about the sinfulness of all of mankind and, hopefully, it's primarily about the glory of a holy God who came to save sinners. 

I will confess that what I've written below is not something I do perfectly. I don't view everyone the way I should all the time. And by "everyone" I mean my wife, my kids, my employees, my friends. I mean those of a different race or political stance. And I mean those who struggle with homosexuality. I am by no means perfect. But I have found that the only way I can find victory in these dark corners of my heart is by the glorious message of the Gospel of Grace. 

Mistaken Identity

Discussing homosexuality can get tricky because it often speaks to the very way some individuals define themselves. Making blanket statements about "homosexuality" is usually unhelpful and can often lead to greater confusion and deeper frustration. Because of this, I'd like to clarify some terms that I'll use here and quickly address where I think the Bible says they fall in the "sin" or "not sin" category:

Same Sex Attraction (SSA):
You often hear those struggling with homosexuality say, "I was born this way" or "I can't help it" or "I would never have chosen this." These statements have some very real feelings behind them. I believe that an individual can experience attraction to someone of the same sex. This may be a mild attraction or may be a one-time attraction to one specific person of the same sex. This person typically would ask questions like, "am I gay?" They typically have a predominant attraction, however, to the opposite sex.

Sin or Not Sin?: Same sex attraction is not in itself a sin. It is, however, the result of sin, namely the fall of mankind in Genesis 3. Romans 1:18ff describes God's wrath toward sinners (all of us) as his "giving over" of us to our desires and then receiving the due penalty of our idolatry. I believe disease and war and anxiety and fear and unholy anger are all a result of the fall. I would put same sex attraction in this same category. When someone says, "I can't help these feelings" they may very well be telling the truth and we need to have the grace to understand that sexual perversion of any kind is a result of the fall. 

Same Sex Orientation (SSO):
Someone with same sex orientation is someone who is predominantly attracted to the same sex. Rather than attraction to one individual, this person struggles with constant temptation toward and attraction to those who are of the same sex. 

Sin or Not Sin?: I believe this falls in the same category as SSA. Some individuals are predominantly attracted to the same sex and have no real explanation as to why. I believe biology and environment and circumstance can all contribute to this. But I also believe those can all contribute to other sinful tendencies we have. I can pick up the temptation to worry from my mom. It may be genetic and it may be the way I was raised. But don't miss the point that I am responsible for what I do with those temptations.

Homosexual Identity:
The last term I use in this article is to mean someone who has adopted a homosexual identity. They do not just struggle with temptations and desires, but have fully adopted this identity as their own. There are varying degrees of course, but this person would see their struggles as what defines them and they are acting on their attractions and temptations.

Sin or Not Sin?: Sin. We must be clear about this. The person who has adopted a homosexual lifestyle and is acting upon their homosexual desires is in sin. Romans 1:24 and 1 Corinthians 6:9 are the clearest parts of scripture I can see to explain this. We must be gracious and we must be loving, but we must call sin, "sin" if we are going to place ourselves under the authority of the Word of God. 

Much more can be said about this and I would encourage you to dig deeper. I have done much deeper digging myself and would be glad to talk more over a cup of coffee.  

NOTE: *I am pulling much of what is above from a very helpful lecture by Sam Williams and SEBTS. 

Equal Rights / Equal Worthlessness

We all are broken in our sin. This includes those who have heterosexual attractions as well as those who have homosexual attractions. The bible is clear that one type of desire is natural (heterosexual desire) and that the other (homosexual desire) is not (Romans 1:24-29). 

Our brokenness is not something we have chosen but is a result of the fall (Rom. 1:18-32). And the passions we have are ours with which to decide whether we will use them for holiness or for sin. This is true for me and my heterosexual desires as well as those who struggle with same sex passions.

If we look at 1 Corinthians 6:9,10, we see that homosexuality is but one identified sin in a long list:

"Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God."

Whether you are homosexual or heterosexual, you can find yourself in that list. 

So it is clear that anyone who commits one of these sins will not see the kingdom of God. That's significant.

To make it clearer, we can go back to Romans 3 and get a sense for how God sees all of humanity:

“None is righteous, no, not one;

no one understands;

no one seeks for God.

All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;

no one does good,

not even one.” (v. 10-12)

and

"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," (v. 23)

We must get this. All of mankind are considered worthless in their sin. None of us do good. Not one of us is righteous. When I gave this article its title, THIS is what I meant; Jesus will send all sinners to hell apart from his mercy, both heterosexual and homosexual. 

The Gospel For The Homosexual

There is good news for the person struggling with same sex attraction, however. Not only for the person struggling with same-sex attraction but who has adopted a homosexual lifestyle and is passionately pursuing those unnatural desires. The individual who has never confessed their sin and their desperate need of a Savior has the loving invitation of a God who so greatly loved them that he sent his only Son to take on the penalty of God's wrath against their sin. The sin of homosexuality is not what put Jesus on the cross; it was the unrighteousness of exchanging the glory of God for a lie. 

Furthermore, Jesus does not only save the sinner from the penalty of their sin, but grants eternal life at the moment of salvation and is continually working to redeem each individual person. This does not necessarily mean God will remove all same-sex attractions and desires from the person, although he may. What it does mean is that a new identity has been found in the righteousness of Jesus Christ and that the purity God calls us all to is now possible because of the saving work of the cross and the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. 

Without faith it is impossible to please him. But God, in his mercy, has granted the believer faith to the praise of his glorious grace. He accepts all of us where we are and then works in us to move us from there, toward christlikeness. 

The Gospel For The Heterosexual/Homosexual Interaction

As we said earlier, many so-called christians have committed shameless acts of abuse and condescension against those who struggle with same sex attraction. Physical and emotional abuse is well known and all-too-well understood by those who have been on the receiving end. Many of us, however, are not in this category. We don't outwardly abuse or mistreat. But I'll bet there are still dark corners of our heart that "look down" on those who struggle in this complicated way. 

To pass condescending judgment on an individual for their sin is to profoundly misunderstand the gospel. 

The friend, relative, neighbor, pastor of those who struggle with same sex attraction needs to understand their own unworthiness before God and understand that their own desperate need of a savior is no greater than anyone else's. 

Gripping this understanding so tightly with both hands is what will help us see others around us the way Jesus sees them. Jesus sees us all as either in need of a Savior or as his child, clothed in his righteousness. And he sees us in one of these two ways regardless of our good or bad deeds, struggles, temptations and desires.

If you are a heterosexual person who interacts with someone who has same-sex desires and attractions, or with someone who is passionately pursuing the gay lifestyle, you must fall on your face before the cross and remember your own unworthiness. Refocusing on our sinful condition before a holy God will reset our attitude and hearts toward everyone around us. 

The Gospel is the power to save and keep on saving. We all need it all the time.

Such Were Some Of You

Earlier we saw in 1 Cor. 6 the long list of sins which keep us from God. It's a rather devastating indictment, isn't it? But we must not read verses 9 and 10 without reading verse 11, which says, "And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God."

What a glorious truth!

I see myself in that list of sins and condemnations. It doesn't take very long at all. But I also see myself in the category of verse 11, thanks be to God.

I have been washed. I have been sanctified. I have been justified by the glorious name of Jesus Christ and by His Spirit!

Don't miss the point... God is so holy and just that he condemns every sinner in their natural state. Every last one. But God is also so loving that he has made a way for us to be saved from our sin and be covered in righteousness. Romans 3:24 (we always need to keep reading, don't we?) says, "And are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation (a covering) by his blood, to be received by faith. 

Why would God do this? It was to show his righteousness here and now so that he might be both just against sin AND the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. 

Now What?

Some may read this and say to themselves, "that's all well and good, but I still have these desires. I still have these temptations. What do I do??" 

I've identified a few key promises from Romans 8 to take into this battle against same sex attraction that our brothers and sisters wage daily. They are also for those of us who struggle with any type of temptation or addiction. I cannot recommend highly enough to you to memorize all of Romans 8. Write these words on your heart and on your minds. Here are some promises we find in this tremendous passage of Scripture:

1. Promise of Forgiveness: Romans 8:1 says, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." This does not mean that your sin is justified, as so many believers are fond of saying in their attempt to fix the unrighteous bullying of the past. This means that YOU are justified and your sin is nailed to the cross. Jesus takes the wrath of God for your homosexual behavior and lusts and actions and he absorbs it on the cross. You are forgiven.

2. Promise of Support: Romans 8:34 says, "Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died -- more than that, who was raised -- who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us." Not only is Jesus in heaven pleading our case before the Father, but he has also sent the Spirit to fill our hearts and give us victory over struggle, temptation and sin. We must die to ourselves daily. We must fight the fight of faith. We have a Savior who promises a light burden because he is bearing our anxieties with us. (See also Heb 4:14-16; 12:1-29; 1 Tim. 6:12; 1 Pet. 5:7; Rom. 5:1-11)

3. Promise of Hope: Romans 8:38-39 says, "For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."  God's saving power is so strong and is so independent of us that we can firmly trust that it will sustain us into glory. God may not remove your same sex attraction. But he will never leave you, nor forsake you. Nothing, including your failures and shortcomings, can separate you from the love of God if you are in Christ Jesus. 

There will be no same sex attraction or orientation in the resurrection. In Christ we are a new creation. Furthermore, we can cling to the promise of 2 Peter 3:13, which says, "But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells." Unrighteousness will be obliterated in glory and we will reign with Christ in glory for eternity. 

Conclusion

The Gospel is the power to save. It's the power to save us from our own personal sin, from the sinful nature we are born into and from our sinful condescension toward our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Whether we're dealing with homosexual desires specifically or dealing with how we should treat those who do struggle, we all must hold the cross up high and glory in the saving grace of a patient, loving, holy God.

The bible frequently refers to people as sheep. Psalm 95:7 says, "For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand." Jesus says in Luke 15, "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?"

For many of us, this is an image of endearment and sweetness. We picture Jesus lovingly coddling a little lamb, protecting it and caring for it.

However, we would do well to remember that we are likened to sheep because we are helpless and dumb and incapable. That's not a self-image that comes naturally to us. Even to those of us within the walls of the church.

Consumerist Mentality

Many people in the congregations of our local churches have a consumerist mentality. I don't mean this in a "what's in it for me?" kind of way, but rather in the sense that we are deciding what we will and won't take from a local congregation and it's God-ordained leadership (should that exist). We like church until it (or the Gospel) rubs us the wrong way, then we look elsewhere.

Too many leaders in today's churches are softly whispering sweet nothings into the ears of their people with the hope that they will come back next week and maybe serve somewhere so proving they're maturing as a christian. There is an occasional prodding or personal challenge, but nothing too personal or too forceful or too specific.

When leaders do preach revealed truth and get deep into the lives of their people, the sheep want to leave. We don't like to be sheep at that point. We would rather be an employee or a volunteer with a choice to ignore or leave.

This mentality is not only contrary to scripture, but it is detrimental to the soul.

Shepherd the Flock

Pastors are called to "shepherd the flock of God" according to 1 Peter 5:2. And it doesn't take a seminary degree to pickup what this means. It means that a pastor needs to feed the sheep through the preaching of the Word. They need to guard the flock from false teaching like Paul with the Galatians. They need to model the heart of Paul for the Ephesian church in his loving, tearful admonishment.

They are to guard and watch over the souls of the sheep entrusted to their care. 

Bad Sheep

Some pastors try to shepherd well. They try to fight hard for truth and discern carefully against error. They try to get into the lives of their people and lovingly care for their walk with the Savior. But some of us are bad sheep who won't let them.

It's a tragedy when a large church does not have enough biblically qualified, called and affirmed shepherds (elders, pastors, etc.) to really watch over the souls of their entire congregation. Churches that fail to do this implicitly teach their people that they are consuming a product. They can participate in the product, but they are ultimately free to choose or reject what the church is offering them.

But it's not always the sole fault of the leadership.

Some churches don't have the background or experience or whatever else to create a structure of plural shepherds who can lead the flock. They're trying. Their hearts are right. But they aren't quite there. It is important in this case for a sheep (that's all of us by the way) to seek out a Shepherd. Get around a godly man or woman who will give you permission to watch their lives closely. Then ask them questions and try to emmulate what you see them doing. In turn, give them permission to ask you direct questions that require authentic answers, however hard they are.

Chief Shepherd

Pastors and Elders are indeed shepherds in a very real way. But they are under-shepherds. The Chief Shepherd or ultimate Shepherd is Jesus Christ.

This is most clearly articulated in John 10. Jesus describes himself as the "Good Shepherd" by whom the sheep enter rest. He calls his sheep and they know his voice. He is the way by which the sheep enter the fold and have abundant life.

The ultimate picture of love is that Christ, as the good Shepherd, has layed down his life for the sheep. Any shepherd in any local church ought to lay down his life for the sake of the sheep so that they might enter and enjoy the rest that the Good Shepherd has made possible.

We must be sheep who seek the Good Shepherd. The way God has set it up (according to the Bible) is for under-shepherds, who are pastors and elders in a local church, to watch over the souls of those in the fold.

Hopefully you are a sheep and not a goat. If you are a sheep, you need to find a local church where a shepherd will carefully and intentionally care for your heart, your holiness and your pursuit of christlikeness.

God Concealed

It is important to understand the finite nature of man and the infinite nature of God because it helps us understand that God can never be fully known. David says in the Psalms when describing God that his greatness is unsearchable (Ps. 145:3); his understanding is beyond measure (Ps. 147:5). He famously says in Psalm 139:6, "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it."

We must be cautious to avoid the assumption that we can somehow figure God out. His ways are higher, greater, more magnificent and infinitely beyond our ability to comprehend.

God Revealed

It is also important that while we do not presume to be able to know everything about God, we do not swing the pendulum too far in the other direction and say that God is entirely unknowable. Colossians 1 says that we ought to be "increasing in the knowledge of God" (v. 10). Just because we cannot know God exhaustively, it does not mean that we cannot know things about him that are true. God, in his mercy, has revealed much about himself. It is helpful if we humbly seek how we might know our Creator more fully because we are able to derive joy and wisdom and love from the things we come know, which he has chosen to reveal.

How has God revealed himself? There are three main categories:

In Creation
If you've ever stood on the coastline or lay under the stars or hear the raging sounds of a storm, you get a sense that there is something out there greater than you. No one had to teach us that. No one had to explain. Every human being ever created knows that God exists. And we are sure of this because of Romans 1:

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. (v. 19, 20)

When we open our eyes to the world around us, we are actually peering in to the evidence the Creator of the universe has left for us. We can study the vastness of the oceans and know God and remember that they are held in the hollow of his hand (Is. 40:12). We can stare into the incomprehensible galaxy and acknowledge that God throws them back like a curtain (Is. 40:22).

In Scripture
Creation alone, impressive as it is, is not enough. If we return to the Romans 1 passage we saw earlier, we can see that we have suppressed the truth (v.18) and though we have seen God in nature, we have not honored him as God. We have in fact become futile in our thinking and because of our sin, our foolish hearts have been darkened (v.21). Unlike humans in the Old Testament era, we do not tend to hear an audible voice of God, giving us direct revelation about himself, his commands, and his desires for us.

But we do have his word. We have the bible.

2 Timothy 3:16 says that all scripture is God-breathed. This means that while it was certainly written by human authors, it was written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. We hold in our hands God's very word to us. While we plan on addressing this in more detail in a later volume, we can be confident that God has preserved his written word for us over thousands of years. It's because of this unusual and glorious revelation that we can know God more fully.

In Christ
The most relatable revelation of God is the person of Jesus Christ. He is God among us. God took on human form and came down to the earth to live and die and rise again for us. We're best served by John 1 as we seek to understand just exactly who Jesus is. John 1:1-5 says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." Verse 14 says, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." And verse 18: "No one has seen God; the only God [Son], who is at the Father's side, he has made him known."

We know further from verse 32 and Luke 3:21 that John is talking about Jesus in this passage. A historical man whom we have history of that we can look to and see God.

Discussion Questions

1. God is infinitely higher than us and therefore we will never fully know him. Not even after we reach heaven. What kinds of thoughts/feelings does this concept invoke in you? Do you rejoice in the fact that we will never fully know God or find it frustrating?

2. Because we know God, we can have a relationship with him. How is your relationship with God similar to the relationship you have with others (e.g. your wife or a best friend or a relative)? How is it different?

3. Do you agree with Romans 1 that says we (as a human race) have suppressed the truth in our sin? Do you see evidences of that in today's culture? What about in your own life/heart?

4. MEMORY VERSE: Why should we glory or revel or boast in the fact that we understand and know God instead of boasting in our own might or riches?

Additional Content:

Memory Verse: Jeremiah 9:23-24

 Weekly Bible Reading: John

 Journal Topic: God revealed in Creation

 Supplemental Reading: A.W. Tozer - Knowledge of the Holy

 Further Study: Mt. 11:27; 1 Cor. 1:21, 2:14; 2 Cor. 4:3,4; Jn. 1:18; Is. 55:9; Ps. 139; Col. 1:10;