Kevin DeYoung's Blog, page 85

Your Best Valentine’s Day Later

One of the best things you can do this Valentine’s Day is to stop right now, take two minutes and read this touching description of Charles Hodge with his fifty-one year-old dying wife Sarah.

The next death that visited Hodge was infinitely dearer to him. On Christmas Day 1849, just four months after her return to Princeton with her daughter and grandchild, Sarah “softly & sweetly fell asleep in Jesus.” She most probably fell victim to uterine cancer.

Sarah’s health had begun to deteriorate soon after her return, and by December her condition was such that Hodge had lost all hope of recovery. In her final weeks, he personally nursed Sarah, spending countless hours simply lying next to her. During these times, he held her hand, and conversed with her when she had the strength. The depth of their love remained so intense that Hodge later commented that “to the last she was like a girl in love.” During her final weeks, Sarah asked Hodge to tell her in detail “how much you love me,” and they spent time recounting the high points of their life together.

Hodge’s last hours with his wife were particularly poignant. As her life ebbed away, Sarah looked at her children gathered around her bed and quietly murmured “I give them to God.” Hodge then asked her if she had thought him a devoted husband to which she replied as “she sweetly passed her hand over” his face: “There never was such another.” (Charles Hodge, 258)

Married couples, if you imagine that your final moments together will be like this, rejoice and again I say rejoice. Let the thought of such bittersweet sorrow put your present troubles and conflicts in perspective. But if this scene feels like an impossible dream, what must you change now so you and your spouse can die like this later?

Following Up on Forgiveness

This past Sunday I preached on forgiveness at URC. One of my themes was the controversial assertion that forgiveness, as a two-way relational commitment, is conditional. That is to say, while we must always work to overcome bitterness in our hearts, true forgiveness can only happen when there is true repentance. Judging by the many conservations I’ve had since the sermon, it seems the message was freeing to some and disconcerting to others. That probably means I wasn’t as crisp or as clear as I needed to be.

So let me follow up here with a few notes:

First, an old post summarizing what I was trying to say on Sunday.
Second, an older post where I ask Chris Brauns some questions about his excellent book Unpacking Forgiveness .
Third, a couple closing clarifications.

*******

Many Christians, influenced by Lewis Smedes and a lot of pop psychology, have a therapeutic understanding of forgiveness. They think of forgiveness as a unilateral, internal effort to get our emotions under control. But if we start with a biblical notion of God’s forgiveness, we see that such a view falls short.

The offer of forgiveness is unconditional (for God, and it should be for us), but forgiveness itself is conditioned upon repentance. We must always be open–and even, in God’s grace, become eager–to extend forgiveness, but we (like God) can only forgive the truly penitent. No bitterness either way. No revenge. But forgiveness, and the reconciliation that should follow, is a commitment to those who repent.

Chris Brauns explains:

This book has argued that forgiveness should be defined as a commitment by the offended to pardon graciously the repentant from moral liability and to be reconciled to that person, although not all consequences are necessarily eliminated.

In contrast to this definition, forgiveness would be alternatively defined according to a therapeutic approach. In the therapeutic line of thinking, forgiveness is a private matter that means shutting down anger, bitterness, and resentment. In other words, Christians should always forgive automatically. Because therapeutic forgiveness is based on feelings, it posits that people may even find it necessary to forgive God.

Ultimately, the question for the reader must be this: which definition do you think is more biblical? This is not a theoretical question that can be avoided. Life is relationships. In a fallen world, relationships get damaged and broken. What we believe about forgiveness will determine whether or not we can move forward for God’s glory and our own joy. (Unpacking Forgiveness, 72-73).

Overcoming anger and resentment is important, but forgiveness is something more, something different, something that involves two parties instead of one.

*******

One of the thorniest, most practical problems any pastor or Christian will deal with is forgiveness. Every Christians knows forgiveness is a good thing, but what does it mean? How do we do it? Is it always necessary no matter the circumstances?

For answers to these questions (and many others) I highly recommend Chris Brauns’ book Unpacking Forgiveness: Biblical Answers for Complex Questions and Deep Wounds. Chris is a pastor in western Illinois, and, I discovered, used to be just down the road from my current church. He was kind enough to answer some of my questions for a blog interview.

1. Tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from? Do you have a family? Where are you serving now? Why does your book reference the Lansing State Journal?

Originally I am from the cultural center of Keosauqua in the GSOI (Great State of Iowa)–though, I’m very disappointed about last week’s court decision about marriage.

I pastor a church in a small town (Stillman Valley, IL). My wife, Jamie and I have four children (ages 15, 13, 11, 6). You can read more about me than you want to know here.

As for the Lansing State Journal, I was the senior pastor at Grand Ledge Baptist for 6 years which is just west of Lansing, MI. I collected a lot of forgiveness illustrations during that time and they ended up in the book.

My sermon illustrations are not the only thing we took from Lansing. Our dog still has a Michigan State collar, and my wife picked MSU to win it all in March Madness. Go Spartans.

2. Your book “Unpacking Forgiveness: Biblical Answers for Complex Questions and Deep Wounds” is very good. Thank you for it. How did you get interested in the topic of forgiveness?

As a pastor, I repeatedly encountered situations where people in my church needed to work through forgiveness issues and were not following biblical teaching. I began to study and preach about forgiveness because there was such a need in my church.

Once I began to really study forgiveness, I discovered that a lot of what was written was not biblical. So, it was that combination, the need of people in my church, combined with unbiblical teaching.

3. What are some of the common misconceptions about forgiveness?

Many people do not understand what a serious matter it is to be unwilling to forgive those who ask for forgiveness. If someone reading this is unwilling or unable to forgive they should read and meditate on Matthew 18:21-35.

I think another misconception is that we can unpack forgiveness on our own. All Christians must be part of a local church. The need for a church home is even more pronounced when working through a deep wound. The church is God’s plan for this stage in redemptive history. As much as Noah and his family needed to be on the ark, we need to be truly connected to a local church if we are going to unpack forgiveness. If someone feels themselves drowning where a forgiveness issue is concerned, the first question they should ask is, “Am I really connected to a Christ-centered, Bible preaching local church?”

The most common misconception is that of “therapeutic forgiveness,” which we get to in the next question.

4. You talk a lot about therapeutic notion of forgiveness. What is this and why is it so dangerous?

“Therapeutic forgiveness” insists that forgiveness is at its core a feeling. Our culture has picked up on this in a big way. When most people say that they forgive, they mean that it is a private matter in which he or she is not going to feel bitter.

Borrowing a line from Boston’s, “Don’t Look Back,” album. I argue that forgiveness is, “More Than a Feeling.” Biblical forgiveness is something that happens between two parties. When God forgives us, our relationship with Him is restored. That is why Calvin said that the whole of the Gospel is contained under the headings of repentance and forgiveness of sins (Institutes 3.3.19).

Once people make forgiveness therapeutic, you have all sorts of non-biblical things happening. For instance, some say it is legitimate to forgive God. This is a heretical idea because God has never done anything which requires forgiveness. But, “therapeutic” forgiveness needs to forgive God so bitterness is no longer felt.

Therapeutic forgiveness also diminishes the necessity of two parties working out there differences. If forgiveness is simply how I feel, there is no need to worry about the relationship.

The tragedy of therapeutic forgiveness is that in making individual feelings the center of everything, I think it ultimately leads to bitterness and the wrong feelings.

5. Probably the most provocative aspect of your book is the repeated assertion that forgiveness is conditional. What do you mean by this? What don’t you mean?

Start with the most basic biblical principle about forgiveness. We are to forgive others as God forgives us (Eph 4:32). The Bible clearly teaches that God does not forgive everyone.

That being the case, Christians are always required to have an attitude of forgiveness. Just as the Lord prayed on the Cross that his murderers would be forgiven, so we should pray for those who persecute us.

However, forgiveness doesn’t happen until the other party is repentant. When Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them,” he wasn’t granting absolution. Unless those who crucified Him repented and accepted God’s grace, then they weren’t forgiven.

6. As you’ve talked about this topic in different places, how do people respond to the message? Have you changed your mind on any aspect of the book? Have certain areas been reinforced even more strongly?

The fun part of preaching and teaching on forgiveness is that people are always interested. In a fallen world, everyone is unpacking forgiveness one way or another. And, there are always plenty of case studies to consider.

I haven’t changed what I believe the Bible teaches. The messages have been reinforced. I see more than ever that people need to carefully think about how justice fits with their beliefs about forgiveness.

If I was going to add to the book, I think I would put in a section about holding to forgiveness ideals in a fallen world. The reality is that many forgiveness wounds will never heal completely this side of eternity. I did include one chapter about what Christians should do when they can’t agree. But, there needs to be more said about that.

*******

I’ve heard two main questions from people who weren’t quite sure whether they agreed with Sunday’s sermon.

1. People have asked, “Well, what about ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do’? It seems like Jesus is offering unconditional forgiveness those who have conspired to crucify him.” But notice, Jesus is offering a prayer, much like Stephen does in Acts 7. Jesus doesn’t pronounce absolution on the sins of the people (be it the disciples, the Jews, or the Romans). He is simply asking God the Father to be merciful to his enemies. There can be no doubt that the men and women in this crowd needed to repent in order to be forgiven and saved (Acts 2:37-38).

2. On an emotional level, the idea of conditional forgiveness doesn’t sound right. It sounds like we can be bitter toward those who hurt us. It sounds like we should hold on to our pain. It sounds like we shouldn’t release our offenses to God unless our offender comes to us and repents. These would be the wrong inferences to draw from the biblical teaching on forgiveness. We should always love our enemies. We should always fight against bitterness. We should cast all our cares on the Lord. We should learn to trust God’s providence. We should be eager to forgive those who hurt us and be reconciled to them. We might call all this an attitude of forgiveness or a willingness to forgive. But if our forgiveness mirrors God’s forgiveness, it is something that can be granted–and must be granted–only when there is repentance. It is a relational transaction that establishes a commitment to release our debtor from all he or she owes us. When someone sins against us and we are never given the opportunity to hear “I’m sorry,” we do not have the opportunity to grant forgiveness, but we will foreswear personal vendettas and bitterness by leaving room for God’s wrath (on the cross or in hell) and by trusting ourselves to the one who judges justly.

Book Briefs

J. Merrick and Stephen M. Garrett, eds., Five Views on Biblical Inerrancy (Zondervan 2013) – A frustrating book, as these multiple view books tend to be. The most interesting exchanges were those among those who have the highest views of Scripture: Mohler, Bird, and Vanhoozer. How these three handle the text is likely very similar on most texts. The difference is that whereas Bird and Vanhoozer want to guard against the danger of an ill-informed or under-nuanced view of inspiration, Mohler wants to guard against a downgrade in the doctrine of Scripture itself.

 

Daniel R. Hyde, In Defense of the Descent: A Response to Contemporary Critics (Reformation Heritage Books 2010) – Should we really keep saying “descended into hell” when reciting the Apostles’ Creed? Wayne Grudem and others argue no. Danny Hyde gives us a number of good reasons for yes. Please read this book before dumping the descent from your confession of faith.

 

 

David F. Wells, God In the Whirlwind: How the Holy-love of God Reorients Our World (Crossway 2014) – My blurb: Part biblical theology, part systematic theology, and part cultural reconnaissance, this is a powerful work that my generation–really any generation–cannot afford to ignore. After years of pointing out the shallowness of evangelicalism, this is Well’s masterful summary of what should be our depth, our ballast, our center.”

 

Dante Chinni and James Gimpel, Our Patchwork Nation: The Surprising Truth about the “Real” America (Gotham Books 2011) – Of course the subtitle over-promises. This is not a mind-blowing book. But it is interesting. Despite the limitations of their method (which, as they realize, only goes so far as the county level), the authors do offer a more compelling analysis than simple Red State-Blue State metrics allow. You will enjoy reading about the 12 community types, finding where your town lies, and then saying “Yeah, but.”

 

Sean Michael Lucas, Robert Lewis Dabney (P&R Publishing 2005) – Dabney is a polarizing figure: either the great hero of Reformed theology and traditional society or the racist defender of slavery fiercely loyal to the Confederacy. Lucas does a superb job navigating these choppy waters. What you end up with is a scholarly, yet readable account of a serious Christian with serious flaws. Both friends and foes of Dabney should find reason to rethink their easy conclusions from this biography.

 

Yuval Levin, The Great Debate: Edmund Burke, Thomas Paine, and the Birth of Right and Left (Basic Books 2014) – Akin to Thomas Sowell’s Conflict of Visions, Levin shows how issues like justice, nature, history, order, and reason can be understood very differently. Although himself a man of the right, this is not a partisan book. Levin’s analysis is evenhanded and judicious. In fact, one of the startling conclusions is how Burke and Paine would upset some scruples of their own “side.” If you are at all interested in our political debates, or find your opponents helplessly dim-witted, read this book.

 

[image error]P.G. Wodehouse, Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit (Arrow Books 2008 [1954]) – A sheer delight. To wit: “All this nonsense you have been talking, trying to reconcile me and D’Arcy. Not that I don’t admire you for it. I think it’s rather wonderful of you. But then everybody says that, though you have a brain like a peahen, you’re the soul of kindness and generosity.” To which Bertie muses: “Well, I was handicapped here by the fact that, never having met a peahen, I was unable to estimate the quality of these fowls’ intelligence, but she had spoken as if they were a bit short of the grey matter, and I was about to ask her who the hell she meant by ‘everybody’, when she resumed.”

The Story That Writes Itself

Here’s a Mad Lib that should save sports journalists a lot of time in the years ahead.

Today (Sam, Jim, Jordan, Jason, Alexei, Miguel, Pat) became the first athlete to announce that he is gay in the world of professional (football, baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer, curling, badminton).

While the response of the other players in the league remains to be seen, what is not in doubt is the tremendous (courage, bravery, fortitude, sense of self) it took to make this stunning admission. According to (experts, ESPN the Magazine, award-winning columnists, the scientific community), most of the league is expected to take the news in stride.

Of course, if (Jackie Robinson, Nelson Mandela, Ghandi, Abraham Lincoln, Rocky Balboa) has taught us anything, it is that (hate, prejudice, bigotry, religious extremism) does not go quietly into the night. Sad as it may seem, we can expect that some from (red states, rural areas, the Deep South, Utah, Awana Clubs) will darken this bright day with their (homophobia, rigid views, antiquated traditionalism, fear of the Other, Carman CDs).

As we ask ourselves the question “Why should this even be newsworthy in today’s world?” we pledge to you (around the clock coverage of this epoch-making event, cover stories in all the major weeklies, a special documentary this Friday on “Coloring Outside the Lines,” a shocking expose on Tim Tebow’s former Bible study leader).

Now is the time to see how far we have really come as (a nation of liberty, a special civilization, a welcoming society, a people worthy of our permanent seat on the UN Security Council). I for one believe (the future is now, the past is in the past, there is no gift like the present). If you cannot celebrate (marriage equality, the power of love, being true to yourself), then don’t be surprised one day if you wake to find yourself (on the wrong side of history, alone in a prison of hate, shunned by all polite society, wishing you were never born). But on this day, we stand with our brother in letting it be known in every locker room in every gym in every county in this great country: (all you need is love, we can work it out, come together, let it be).

You get the gist.

This post is not really about homosexuality. Of course, that’s the subtext: Michael Sam, a football standout at Mizzou and future NFL draft pick, came out of the closet over the weekend. I’m glad he was treated well by his coach and teammates. I hope he is treated with respect by future players, fans, and general managers. I’m not writing to bash a recent college student, as much as I disagree with his sexual choices (assuming he is a practicing gay man). I disagree with the sexual choices most professional athletes make.

The problem is that our ascendant moral logic amounts to an imposition: affirm me or else. It used to be that tolerance meant granting to your intellectual, political, or religious opponents the right to be wrong (as you see the wrong). Now tolerance means the freedom, if not the obligation, to utterly shame those you deem intolerant. Ours is a supremely moralistic age. I would call it puritanical, except I don’t want to insult the Puritans.

I heard Colin Cowherd (whom I often enjoy) say he was going to try not to be sarcastic in talking about those who don’t support gay rights, but it would be really hard. I heard him talk about how Sam would be accepted in the NFL because unlike in baseball, the players had been to college and have been educated to overcome such prejudices. Besides there aren’t as many Hispanics, who can be very religious. Sure, some players from the rural South would still hate on Sam, he opined, but the vast majority would not. Whenever the “first gay athlete” story breaks it becomes an excuse to strengthen a dozen prejudices in the interest of purportedly breaking through another. The narrative is nice and tidy because it’s already been written. Rinse, blather, repeat. All that’s left is for 72 hours of self-congratulatory punditry and the presumption that no thinking person can reach any other conclusion than that the celebration of sexual expression in virtually any permutation is the crowning achievement of all enlightened peoples.

There is no conversation any longer, just condescension. No acceptance of diverse viewpoints, just personal obliteration for anyone who dares to question Oceania’s Ministry of Truth. The talking heads and the purveyor’s of cultural correctness don’t feel the need to make arguments anymore. They don’t feel the need to listen either. After all, who can refute a sneer?

No need to prove your dogma when stigma will do.

Monday Morning Humor

It ought to concern you if your church’s approach to sanctification looks anything like this:

P.S. I know nothing about this film or the other clips advertised. I’m not recommending all or any of the above.

HT: Steve McCoy

Holy Laughter

You would be hard-pressed to find evidence in Scripture of God laughing with us, but you could find a number of instances where he is laughing at us–not at our honest sufferings, but at our puny little rebellions.

This reminds me of several years ago when Christianity Today ran an article on the New Atheists, and in the subsequent issue there was a letter to the editor from a famous Christian philosopher. I was curious to see how this extremely intelligent person would respond to the philosophical arguments marshaled against God and his existence. The gist of the response was simply to quote from Psalm 2:

He who sits in the heavens laughs;

the Lord holds them in derision.

Then he will speak to them in his wrath,

and terrify them in his fury, saying,

“As for me, I have set my King

on Zion, my holy hill.”

I will tell of the decree:

The Lord said to me, “You are my Son;

today I have begotten you.

Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,

and the ends of the earth your possession.

Our Lord is not scared. Our God is not surprised. He is not scattered-brained and he will not be silenced.

It is easy to look at what is going on in the world—wars and rumors of war, increasing hostility to biblical norms, persecution of Christians around the world, volatile elections, nuclear proliferation, terrorism, mass shootings—and to wonder what does God think of this? Doesn’t he care? Is he still on the throne? Doesn’t God see what is going on down here?

God sees, and God knows. He has a plan, and his ways will not be overturned.

“The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord. He directs it like a watercourse where he pleases.” (Proverbs 21:1)

Just like a child at the sea, marking a path for his sandcastle moat as the tide comes is, that’s how easily the Lord can deal with the kings, with the presidents, with the senators, with the MPs, with all the big wigs of this world. He will not always allow for this treason. He will not always seem silent. It is his great patience to restrain his fury that we might repent, and his great mercy to restrain what could be far great wickedness in these days. Who knows in how many countless ways the God of heaven is now sparing us from the worst of human beings here on earth? Frustrating our meager little Babel plans, just waiting for the time when he will look down and say, “Enough. They’ve hit the boundary line of providence. Scatter them. Disperse them.”

Our Lord is the God of the nations, and he is a God who can easily frustrate the plans of the nations—even yours, even mine.

He who sits in the heavens laughs.

Do You Feel Tension in the Christian Life?

Guest Blogger: Jason Helopoulos

The Christian life can feel schizophrenic. It isn’t hard to recognize that there are numerous tensions filling the Christian life. Some find this exhilarating. However, many of us find that these tensions are a cause of discouragement, despair, hopelessness, and depression. We look at our lives and they are not what we want them to be. We see that:

We are set free from sin yet continue to yield to it (Rom. 6:2; Rom. 7:19)
We are saints yet sinners (1 Cor. 1:2; 1 John 1:8)
We have peace yet are to strive for peace (Eph. 2:14; Col. 3:15)
We have been saved yet are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling (Eph. 2:8; Phil. 2:12)
We are beautiful yet wretched (Song of Sol. 4:1; Rom. 7:24)
We have been given rest yet are to labor to enter that rest (Matt. 11:28; Heb. 4:11)
We are forgiven yet continue to need to confess sin (Col. 3:13; 1 John 1:9)
We know the love of Christ yet this love surpasses our knowledge (Ps. 89:1; Eph. 3:19)
We have died to sin yet must continue to flee from it (Rom. 6:2; 1 Cor. 6:18)
We are new yet we are not what we shall be (John 3:3; 1 John 3:2)
We have seen Him yet have not seen him (Eph. 1:18; 1 Pet. 1:8)
We have all knowledge yet are to increase in knowing Him (1 John 2:20; 2 Pet. 3:18)
We are a new creation yet battle the old self (2 Cor. 5:17; Rom. 6:6)
We have joy yet we are commanded to rejoice (Gal. 5:22; Phil. 4:4)
We have been set free yet are slaves (Rom. 6:18; Rom. 6:22)
We are fallen creatures and yet sons of God (Rom. 3:12; Gal. 4:6)

These tensions are real. However, this isn’t because Christianity is schizophrenic. These are good and necessary tensions; and they shouldn’t lead to discouragement, despair, hopelessness, or depression. If you are experiencing these tensions of the Christian life, there is a reason: you are a pilgrim on the way. In fact, you are only a sojourner in this land with eyes that have been set upon the “celestial city.” As Christians, we are caught in the in-between.  As has become a common refrain (and Jesus alludes to in His high priestly prayer), “We are in this world, but not of this world.” We have one foot on earth and one firmly anchored in heaven.

When we begin to fully understand that we are but pilgrims in this world, these tensions become avenues of sweetness rather than despair. Ultimately, they point us to what we shall be some day.

As 1 John 3:2 says, “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see Him as He is.” On that day all the tensions in our lives will finally cease. The sinner will fully be transformed into a saint, our peace will be complete, our love will be perfected, sin will no longer be at hand, and our faith shall be sight. And how do we know that this day will be a reality? Surely, some of the greatest signs are the tensions we experience in the present. We are enjoying an appetizer of the benefits of eternity now. The eschaton has broken in.

The positive side of these tensions are a bright neon flashing promise that this future day shall come. Rather than lead us to despair, these tensions should lead us to hope. Come quickly Lord Jesus.

How Many Motivations Are There for Godliness?

Is there just one proper gospel-centered rationale for holiness? Should we, in speaking about sanctification, avoid threats and warnings and coming judgment and focus simply on our acceptance in Christ? How many motivations does the Bible have for godliness?

I see at least twenty. In the three chapters of 2 Peter alone.

1.    We pursue holiness so that we might become partakers of the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4).

2.    We make every effort to grow in godliness because God has already set us free from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire (2 Pet. 1:4).

3.    We grow in grace so we will not be ineffective and unfruitful  in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 1:8).

4.    We pursue Christlike character so we will not be blind, having forgotten that we were cleansed from our former sins (2 Pet. 1:9).

5.    We work hard at holiness in order to make our calling and election sure, so that we will not fall (2 Pet. 1:10).

6.    We practice these godly qualities so there will be richly provided for us an entrance into the eternal kingdom (2 Pet. 1:11).

7.    We pursue godliness because Jesus is coming back again in great power, and we know this to be true because of the glory revealed on the Mount of Transfiguration and because of the prophecy of Scripture (2 Pet. 1:16-21).

8.    We walk in obedience to Christ because those who wander into sensuality are condemned and will be destroyed (2 Pet. 2:3).

9.    We are serious about holiness because we believe God knows how to judge the wicked and save the righteous (2 Pet. 2:4-10).

10.    We turn from ungodliness because those who revel in sin are ugly blots and blemishes, irrational animals, unsteady souls, and accursed children (2 Pet. 2:10-16).

11.    We pursue holiness because sin never delivers on its promises (2 Pet. 2:17).

12.    We pursue holiness because those who live in their sin again are like those returning to slavery, returning to mire, and returning to vomit (2 Pet. 2:19-21).

13.    We must remember to be holy because in the last days scoffers will come following their own sinful desires (2 Pet. 3:3).

14.    We make every effort to be godly because the world will not always continue as it does now; the heavens and the earth are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly (2 Pet. 3:4-7).

15.    We must take Christlikeness seriously right now because we do not know when the Lord will return (2 Pet. 3:10).

16.    We pursue holiness because all our works will be exposed on the last day (2 Pet. 3:10).

17.    We pursue holiness because whatever we live for in this life will be burned up and dissolved (2 Pet. 3:11).

18.    We strive to walk in obedience and repentance because in so doing we may hasten the coming of the day of God (2 Pet. 3:12).

19.    We living in righteousness now because we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness will dwell forever (2 Pet. 3:13).

20.    We pursue godliness so that Christ might be glorified both now and to the day of eternity (2 Pet. 3:18).

Monday Morning Humor

Simple Evangelism in the Church

Guest Blogger: Jason Helopoulos

Jesus said, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). Loving one another in the body of Christ has many benefits. Two that regularly come to mind are the glory it gives to God and the way it affects the church. However, one of the primary benefits of loving one another is what it declares before a watching world. One of our most potent instruments we have for effective evangelism is Christians loving each other well.  I am “living” proof.

As a freshman college student and self-declared atheist, I attended a campus Christian fellowship to fulfill a promise to a Christian friend. I only had the intention to go once. It was merely duty and upholding my word, nothing more. I went begrudgingly, but I went. My life was never the same.

I walked into a room full of Christians and was struck by what I observed. Here was a diverse group. They were from every walk of life. I remember scanning the room and labeling people in my mind, “There is a jock, over there is a geek, and walking in the door is a boy scout.” But what struck me was that they were together. They weren’t just together in the same room, they were together in every sense of the word. They were actually talking with each other and genuinely seemed happy to be together. There didn’t seem to be division. Even in my atheist mind, I knew what I was seeing: they loved one another.

I had no categories for this, so I kept returning to find out why they had love like this for one another. Over the course of a few months I found the answer, or more accurately stated, the answer found me.

One of the best evangelism programs you can start at your church is to pursue loving one another well. At some point they will have to hear the gospel proclaimed from your lips or the pulpit, but that “strange love” will set the table before them. People will know that you are His disciples, because it is a shocking love. It has a gravitational attraction, because it is a love that is foreign to this world. A love that the inquirer, if seeking an answer, will find comes from heaven.