When the Going Gets Tough

One pastor has called our generation a group of “emotionally fragile quitters.” The first time I heard that I was like, “That’s mean—I’m not gonna listen to you anymore.” Seriously though, I didn’t like hearing that. It's a harsh indictment of the generation to which I belong. But the sad thing is I think I agree with him. When the going gets tough, we definitely get going...to find something easier.

I’m talking about challenges at work, at school, at home—even at church. Ask yourself, when you face something difficult in those areas, how do you respond? Do you immediately begin to think of ways to avoid conflict, or deflect responsibility, or just run away from the problem completely?

That question has been right in front of me for the better part of two years now, as I’m facing trials unlike any others that I have seen. I am constantly faced with a decision to make: do I stay, or do I go? Staying sounds hard. It’s hard already, and things aren’t changing so, yeah, staying sounds hard. And going sounds easy! Things are hard. Go find something easy. Done. Where do I sign? But that just doesn’t seem like the answer to me.

I think we should strive to press on in trials rather than run from them because, to paraphrase Charles Simeon, our worship of God and our conformity to Christ grow best in the soil of affliction.

When life is all butterflies and rainbows, we are tempted to think that our strength is sufficient and God is not needed. But any follower of Christ knows how long that fairy tale will last. Trials come and it is then that those of us who think we are strong get tossed around like a rag doll in a dryer. But that is exactly the state in which we are capable of praising God the most! Because, in our weakness, any overcoming which takes place in our lives must be credited to him.

“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.” 1 Corinthians 15:10

And no offense to butterflies and rainbows, but who grows at all when life is butterflies and rainbows?! God is gracious to give us times of peace and quiet, free from hardship. But he is more gracious to give us times of adversity because they are an opportunity for us to become like Christ. Jesus Christ suffered for us, dying on the cross for our sins. And God has provided suffering, not for us to pay him back, for we could never do that; but rather for us to be like Jesus by trusting in God to sustain us.

“For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.” 1 Peter 2:21

If you are reading this, then you are a human being. And if you are a human being, then you experience hardship. And if you experience hardship, then you have a decision to make: run away and find something easier; or press on and trust in God, even though it’s really hard.

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God help me to trust in you today. All my mind wants to do right now is figure out how to make life easier by running away from difficulty—in my ministry; in my marriage; in my blogging! As much as I want to run away, I don’t want to miss an opportunity to praise you and mature in my faith. Be lifted up in my suffering; be magnified by the grace you give that works in me; and be glorified by the endurance you are producing in me through these trials I face.

Studying. Doing. Teaching.

Last Wednesday night I was pleasantly surprised to have a conversation with an old friend right after our student ministry gathering. He has served in a different student ministry for the last 4-5 years, but had decided to take this year off. He told me he had slid into a habit of studying God’s word, and trying to teach it to students, but wasn’t living it himself.

He pointed to a verse that had helped open his eyes to see this problem. Ezra 7:10, “For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of God, and to do it, and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.” My friend said the order was crucial for him to see—studying. doing. teaching. He explained to me that he had unintentionally removed the middle step, and it was taking a toll. His relationships at home were suffering, and more importantly, his relationship with God was suffering. How could he teach others to do what he was not doing himself? So he was taking a difficult but necessary step back in an effort to repair and restore those relationships.

I was reminded of a quote from one of my favorite dead guys (and I have a lot of favorite dead guys). John Owen once said, “A man preacheth that sermon only well unto others which preacheth itself in his own soul.  And he that doth not feed on and thrive in the digestion of the food which he provides for others will scarce make it savoury unto them; yea, he knows not but the food he hath provided may be poison, unless he have really tasted of it himself.  If the word do not dwell with power in us, it will not pass with power from us.”

If a man desires to teach or preach God’s word to others, he must first taste of it himself. And once he has tasted it (studying) and thrived in it (doing) he is able to help others savor it as well (teaching).

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God, help me to taste and see that your word is sweet to my soul! Give me a deeper longing to feed on the food of the Scriptures and thrive in it. May I be a student of your word, and a doer of your word, before I ever attempt to be a teacher of your word.

Experiences can be Deceiving

For those of you know me, you know that I have a silly side and I’m not afraid to use it. It’s not uncommon for Sarah to roll her eyes and lament her marriage to a five year old. Feeling like a child in my marriage every once in awhile is fun and Sarah and I get to laugh together at my expense.

Unfortunately, it is also not uncommon for me to feel like a child in ministry, and it’s not because I am being silly and there is nothing fun about it. I began full time work in student ministry over a year ago, but it still feels like I just started yesterday. I am often overwhelmed by the weight of ministering to students with God’s word, managing relationships in the church, and balancing ministry and family life simultaneously. But I have noticed that certain things get easier as I get more experience doing them. So I often think that all I need is more experience to make me more mature and therefore more competent in ministry.

That way of thinking is gently rebuked by this paragraph from Paul Tripp:

“There is a critical difference between street-level wisdom gained from experience and spiritual maturity. You may know what's going to happen next, but you may not deal well with these circumstances because you lack maturity. If all we needed for maturity was experience, we'd know a lot more mature people, and Jesus would not have needed to come. Experience will teach you some things, but it has no power to make you holy. Sadly, when you let experience deceive you, you quit being committed to change, because you don't think it's needed.”

Experience can be a very good teacher. It has the power to teach me some things in the work of the ministry. But I need to remember that it has no power to make me holy.

God help me not to be deceived by experience. Don’t let me be snared by the trap of maturity based on my experience. Give me a desire to grow in holiness and therefore a desire to be committed to change for the rest of my life. Let experience be my teacher; let it not be the basis of my spiritual maturity. May it ever be that even as I grow in experience, the mark of my spiritual maturity would be to think of myself exactly as I ought—a man condemned apart from grace; but by grace, set free to change no matter how much experience I may obtain.

James 5:16, "Confession+Prayer=Power"

On the second night of our Chattanooga trip, Cameron led us in a devo using James 5:16. Cameron and Noah Burnett had been leading a few other students through a study of the book of James before we left. So they were familiar with some of the context of the book. Cameron explained that James wrote to Christians in house churches in the city of Jerusalem (in Acts 8, Luke tells how these house churches had been formed). He wrote to remind the Christians how to live authentically for Christ.

Here in verse 16, James instructed his readers to "confess their sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed." The words "and" and "that" are important. They are the words that become the "plus" sign and "equals" sign below.

Confession + Prayer = Healing

Then James goes on to tell his readers that "the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working."

Righteousness + Prayer = Power

Cameron explained that confession of sin leads to righteousness, so he condensed the equation to this:

Confession + Prayer = Power

Here's the picture: imagine your best friend slandered your name at school for three straight weeks. Then they get home one day, and call you to ask for your help with homework. You don't answer your phone because you're hurt that they would say those things about you. But they keep calling, over and over, leaving messages wondering why you won't help them like the best friend you claim to be. Hellohhh! They have wronged you. It's not that you don't want to help them. Or even that you're not their friend anymore. They just need to come to their senses and apologize for hurting you by slandering your name at school. They need to repair the rupture in your friendship.

It's the same with God. We have a union, or relationship, with God through Jesus Christ. And our prayers flow from our heart to God along that union. But when we sin against God, that sin stands as a barrier between us and God, hindering our prayers from even reaching him. The psalmist says, "If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened" (Psalm 66:18). God may not always grant what you have asked, but if you have unconfessed sin you can be sure that he is not even listening.

Have you been asking God for something for a little while, but he doesn't seem to be listening? Perhaps it is something that he does not wish for you to have, knowing that it would not be best for you right now. But maybe it's like the psalmist said, he really isn't listening. Maybe you have some unconfessed sin in your life, and it's hindering your prayers from even reaching God. Take some time to ask God to reveal that sin in your heart by his Holy Spirit, and then go find a trusted friend and confess that sin to them and to God. I can't promise that he will give you what you're asking. But I can promise that he will be listening, and having the ear of God is truly a wonderful mercy, even if we never receive the mercy asked for.

Ephesians 4:1-6, "Put on Gospel Glasses"

The second day of our trip was Saturday, March 31st. We woke up and Kay lead us in our morning devo before we had breakfast (FYI that's a great practice to get into, Bible before breakfast). She was teaching out of Ephesians 4:1-6, and she explained that Paul wrote this letter to the Ephesians while he was in prison for proclaiming Christ. And while he was in prison, he was urging them to be humble, and patient with one another, and to maintain unity in the Spirit. Even though there were many things that were different among them, the thing they had in common was by far the most important: they had all been saved by the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Kay briefly took us back through the first three chapters of Ephesians where Paul reminded the Ephesians of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Then in chapter 4, he tells them that they should see each other through the "lenses" of that gospel he had just reminded them of. If they saw each other that way, Paul said, they would have unity in Christ. Kay said it's no different for us. When we put on gospel glasses, we will see that all believers have unity in Christ through the gospel.

Visit any middle school or high school anywhere in the country and you will see a cultural phenomenon called, "cliques." These are groups of 2 or more people who gather together because they have something in common that others don't. So the jocks gather over here and the skaters over there; the brainy kids on one side, and the band kids on the other. You all know what I'm talking about. The problem is that we bring this same mentality to church. We get around other believers at church and before long, cliques are forming just like at school.

Paul said this should not be so. Even though we're all different (and that's a good thing by the way), we all share one very important thing in common: we have been saved by the gospel of Jesus Christ. So we need to put our gospel glasses on. Before we do that, we just see a bunch of people who are different from us. But after we put on gospel glasses, we will see a bunch of people who share unity in Christ with us through the gospel. You will find that there is nothing better to have in common with someone else than unity in Christ!

So what does that look like for you? Do you have a tendency to hang around other people who are just like you, even at church? Do you avoid getting to know someone if they seem different than you? What if they are a believer? What if you both share a love for Jesus Christ because of what he has done for you? Is that not a good enough foundation on which to build a lifelong friendship? You will never know if you only see others through worldly lenses. Put on your gospel glasses, and connect with others through the most important bond you can share with anyone—unity in Christ through the gospel.

1 John 2:14, "Have the Right Weapon"

Our first night on the Chattanooga Mission Trip was Friday, March 30th, 2012. Cameron started things off by explaining exactly what I said in yesterday's post—that each of the devo's would have one main point that could be easily grasped, like catching a baseball. And then he threw an actual baseball to each of the students and told them that they would be writing a "baseball takeaway" from each devo on their baseball. At the end of the trip they would have something they could hold in their hands by which to remember the trip. We were ready for baseball takeaway #1!

Cameron asked the students to turn to 1 John 2:14. He explained that John, the apostle, was writing to churches probably all across Asia Minor. In this particular verse, he is addressing the young men in those churches. He says that he is writing to them because they are strong, and the word of God abides in them, and they have overcome the evil one. Cameron told the us that the young men overcame the evil one because they had God's word abiding in them.

What does that mean, "God's word abiding in them"? It means they had memorized Scripture! God's word had taken up residence in their minds and hearts. And this was the weapon they had used to overcome the enemy. Cameron told us that just as those young men needed the right weapon to overcome the enemy, so do we. We need to have the right weapon to overcome the enemy.

So what does that look like in your life, right now? I know that you are battling with the enemy. He prowls like a roaring lion, seeking to devour you. He brings temptation all day long just waiting for you to give in. Money. Sex. Power. Food. Reputation. He's coming after you and dangling those things in front of you. He wants you to make those things your god.

God's word is the only weapon that you can use to effectively fight the enemy. For me, memorizing Scripture is like putting the Bible like a sword in the sheath of my heart. It allows me to pull out the right weapon at any moment when the enemy is on the prowl around me. It allows me to fight him with a force he cannot resist.

What are you fighting him with?! He is infinitely stronger than you, and he will do everything in his power to get you to sin! Stop walking around this devil-ruled world without a sword in your hand! Turn off your t.v., turn off your iPod, and start memorizing Scripture! You're gonna need it when the enemy comes to devour you. Don't wait til he's right in front of you to decide that it's time to get the right weapon! The time to get that weapon is now.

So start with this verse, 1 John 2:14. Look it up and say it to yourself until you can say it without looking at your Bible. And keep saying it to yourself every time you think about it. Today. Tomorrow. The rest of this month. Remember, you must have the right weapon if you are going to defeat the enemy. Let's be a group of Christ followers who carry massive, razor sharp, two-edged swords, slicing the enemy to pieces whenever he foolishly comes prowling our way.

Eight Days of Baseball Takeaways

Before the Chattanooga Mission Trip I told our student leaders, Cam and Kay, that their devo's needed to have one main point that could be easily grasped. Kinda like throwing someone a baseball—they can catch it in their hand. But if there isn't a clear main point it's like throwing someone a fistful of sand—they can't catch it in their hand. They'll just get a bunch of sand in their eyes and be mad at you. 

Well Cameron heard this and decided to take it a step further. He and Kay gave each of our students a baseball, and had them write down one "baseball takeaway" after each devo. So starting tomorrow I'm going to review them here on my blog in a series called, "Eight Days of Baseball Takeaways." Enjoy!

Good observation takes practice

A week ago we began a new series with the same name as this blog, "Teaching Sheep to Fish." We're learning how to study God's word together using 3 basic steps: observation, interpretation, and application.

Review:
Before even opening God's word, we talked about the importance of approaching with humility and asking God to open our "spiritual eyes" to see the truth in his word.

Then as we begin to observe passages in Scripture we can use the 5 w's: who, what, where, when, and why. These 5 questions will help us greatly in gathering information which we will then use to interpret the meaning. That last question (why) is usually the toughest. Remember, just like the other questions, it is only used to gather information from the passage you are studying. The tendency for us is to try to bring other texts of the Bible into answering this question. It's actually much simpler than that. Let me give you an example.

Here's the passage we studied yesterday:
           
         "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." Acts 1:8

If we ask, "Who?" we will find that Jesus is speaking to his apostles. Then if we ask, "What is happening in this passage?" we see two things: (1) the apostles will receive power, and (2) the apostles will become Jesus' witnesses. Then, we want to ask, "Why will they receive power and become Jesus' witnesses?" The answer within the passage is clear: the power (or ability) to become witnesses is because the Holy Spirit will come upon them.

This is very important. The power to be a witness for Jesus Christ is not something the apostles had within them that simply needed to be awakened by the Holy Spirit. No, the power to be a witness for Jesus came from outside them, as the Holy Spirit's power became theirs when he was given to them by the Father.

I know this seems like a lot of work, but my hope is that you will stick with it because once it starts to click you will begin to see so much of God's word that you never knew was there!

Many of you asked me to make the 5 w's form available to you for you to use when you are studying, you can find it by clicking here.

Feel free to use this form anytime to study a passage in the Bible. Remember, good observation takes practice. Take 15 minutes this week and try it out on Joshua 1:8.