Colin S. Smith's Blog, page 3

Learning the Art of Contentment…and Discontentment

However much you have, there are others who have more. However little you have, there are others who have less. All of us have more than some other people. All of us have less than some other people.

However much or little God has trusted to you, there will be seasons of life when you have less and seasons of life when you have more. Let’s stand in both positions today and hear what God says to us when we have more and when we have less.
When You Have Less: Learn the Art of Contentment

Godliness with contentment is great gain. (1 Timothy 6:6)

Contentment is finding joy in what God has given to you. The opposite of contentment is greed. Contentment is a Christian grace that grows over time. It does not come quickly, easily, or naturally. Paul says “I have learned to be content” (Philippians 4:12).

How did he learn it? He tells us “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content” (Philippians 4:12).

God used the experience of loss to produce the good fruit of contentment in Paul’s life. Have you discovered the secret of being content?

Jeremiah Burroughs described contentment as “a rare jewel.”[1] How can you find joy in what God gives you, especially when it is less than you had before? Burroughs has great wisdom on how to obtain this jewel:

A Christian comes to contentment, not so much by way of addition as by way of subtraction…Contentment does not come by adding to what you have, but by subtracting from what you desire. The world says that you will find contentment when your possessions rise to meet the level of your desires… The Christian has another way to contentment, that is, he can bring his desires down to his possessions.[2]

So why is godliness with contentment “great gain”? Paul gives four reasons in 1 Timothy 6:

You cannot keep what you gain in this world (v7).
If you set your heart on money, you expose yourself to powerful temptations that ruin many people (v9).
You may wander from the faith (v10).
You will experience great sorrow because of all of the above (v10).

When you have less, learn the art of contentment. Learn to enjoy what God has given more than you grieve what He has taken away. Practice the art of godly contentment and you will find that it is great gain.
When You Have More: Learn the Art of Discontentment

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. (1 Timothy 6:17)

When God gives you more, you need to develop a holy discontent with the things of this world. The more God gives you, the more important this becomes. The world is discontent with less and says, “You will find contentment with more.” God says, “Learn to be content with less, and learn to be discontent with more.”

When you have more, learn to be disturbed about the fact that you will leave this world and you cannot take what you have with you (Luke 12:13-21). Learn the art of discontent. As God gives you more, ask how you can use it.

John Calvin has a marvelous picture of this that my wife, Karen, and I resonate with because we know it from experience. If we truly believe that heaven is our home, we will be like those who emigrate to another country. They send their goods ahead of them so that they may enjoy them for a longer time.

Believers ought to see to it that after they have learned that this life will soon vanish like a dream, they transfer the things they want truly to enjoy to a place where they will have life unceasing.

We ought, then, to imitate what people do who determine to migrate to another place, where they have chosen a lasting abode. They send before them all their resources, and do not grieve over lacking them for a time, for they deem themselves the happier the more goods they have where they will be for a long time.

…If we believe heaven is our country, it is better to transmit our possessions [there] than to keep them here, where upon our sudden migration, they would be lost to us.[3]

How do we cultivate discontentment and change what we love?

Thomas Chalmers says,

You have to set before people another object of affection more worthy of the hearts attachment, so that the heart shall be prevailed upon…to exchange an old affection for a new one.

That is exactly what God does for us in the gospel.

In the gospel, God holds out infinite love and eternal life. This new affection is birthed at the cross. Dying, He bears in himself all the guilt and shame that keep us away from God. Rising, He ascends to heaven to prepare a place for us there.

Love Christ more and you will love money less. When you have less you will find yourself saying, “I am learning to be content. Christ is more to me than all the world.” When you have more you will say, “How can I use what I have to serve Christ? Because Christ is more to me than all the world.”

 

This article has been adapted from the sermon series called The Art of Contentment.




[1] Jeremiah Burroughs, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment.
[2] Ibid., p. 45.
[3] John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, book 3, chapter 18, section 6.

The Father Who Eliminates Shame

It was a rainy Saturday afternoon. I sent my college roommates to the dining hall without me because I wanted the dorm room to myself while I made a certain phone call. I dialed the number, heard the familiar voice. Then in a matter of moments, I severed a relationship that had been pulling me away from God for quite some time. I hung up the phone and had a good cry.
When God Seems Distant
It was obvious that God was working on my heart. I felt miserable about my sin, and I had a fresh desire to please Him. But God seemed so distant. I tried reading my Bible, but it said nothing to me. I tried praying, but my prayers seemed to bounce off the ceiling. So now I was trying this—the severing-a-relationship-thing. Though I knew it was the right choice, it didn’t change how alone and melancholy I felt. As I sat on my bed wondering what to do next, the phone rang. It was the campus pastor. He wondered if I could come down and receive a package being delivered to the back door of my dorm. Curious, I ran down to the lobby just in time to see a car pull up. A man got out and ran toward me in the rain. Squinting, I gasped and opened the door. “Daddy?” I exclaimed as he gathered me into a hug.

My parents lived in Michigan, which is twelve hours from Liberty University in Virginia. So my dad didn’t just “happen to be in the neighborhood.” He had dropped everything to fly down and see me. I think he sensed this was a pivotal time in my faith journey.
Exposed
A few weeks prior, when I was home on break, God had torn the lid off of some of my sin. I felt so exposed and ashamed. I had said to my mom, “Don’t tell Dad till after I’m back at school.” I didn’t want to think about him knowing. I wanted to pretend that he didn’t.

But my dad did know. And he flew all the way to Virginia to tell me that he still loved me.

“Mom bought you a new dress,” he said, handing me a package. “Go put it on, and I’ll take you out for a nice dinner.”

That night, after dinner, I sat in the car with my dad. He read some verses to me from Revelation 2 about the people from the church in Ephesus who had “lost their first love” for Jesus. Boy, did that describe me!

As a child I had been so passionate about Jesus—telling whomever would listen about sin and hell and how Jesus wanted to save us from it. As a middle schooler, I was involved in every single program our church had to offer. Yet somewhere along the line, I had drifted away. I had lost my first love for Jesus, just like the church described in Revelation 2.

My dad showed me the instructions given to the church of Ephesus: “Remember therefore, from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first” (Revelation 2:5). He said that these instructions were for me, too. I needed to remember where I had fallen from. I needed to begin doing the things I did when I was first in love with Jesus. This was the way to repent! I shouldn’t wait for emotions or swelling love to guide my actions. The emotions would trail behind my behavior.
A Loving Father
That weekend was a turning point for me. I had taken a big step of obedience to God with that phone call, and then the phone rang again. God was responding with a message of love and acceptance, not shame and condemnation. His messenger was my dad, who represented Him so well!

I don’t know what your dad is like. I’ve lived long enough to realize how fortunate I am to have a dad like mine, but I know not every father is like him. Yet even if your dad was the type to neglect, abuse, or abandon, you have a Father who wants to make up for his lack.

God, the perfect Father, says:

“I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you” (Jeremiah 31:3).

How has God faithfully shown His love? It started with a journey that cost Him far more than a weekend and airfare.

God loved you enough to send His Son as messenger from heaven to earth—not to condemn you for your sin, but to save you from it (John 3:16–17).
Jesus demonstrated God’s love in this way: while you were still a sinner, Christ died for you (Romans 5:8).
Jesus bore your shame—despising it with every step toward the cross—all because He wanted to win for you a new dress to wear, a new, white, pure dress made of His own righteousness (Isaiah 61:10).
And now, in response to His love, God invites you to behave like a bride, getting ready for her Bridegroom (Revelation 19:7).
Has God seen your sin? Yes, every bit of it. You might not want to think about that. You might want to pretend He doesn’t know. But the truth is that every hidden thing is laid open and exposed before your Father in heaven (Hebrews 4:13).

So how is a good daughter to respond? Should she cower and hide and self-loathe? Never! Your Father invites you to conviction and sorrow over your sin, but not shame. Never shame. God is the one who has done everything to eliminate your shame! It’s His enemy who hurls condemnation (Romans 8:1).
A Pursuing Father
God is the type of Father who never wants His daughter to doubt His love. He pursues you. He travels the distance between you. He assures you. He says that nothing can separate you from His love (Romans 8:38–39).

As you approach Father’s Day this year, why not spend some time with the Father who has loved you with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3)? Repent of your sin, and draw near to Him. Remind yourself of the ways His pursuing love has shaped your story.

Does God seem distant to you? Do you feel ashamed over exposed sin? Are you pretending that God can’t see your sin? Your Father loves you with an everlasting, faithful love. What truth about your Father will you embrace today?

The Psalms: A Tool for Cultivating Godly Emotions

In a recent Wall Street Journal article, therapists shared their favorite coping strategies for anxiety.[1] They include normal recommendations like sleep and exercise, and surprising ones like looking at memes of pets, jumping off of cliffs on vacation, breathing slowly to classical music, and spending time with tomato plants.

I see nothing wrong with these surprising remedies to anxiety (and think we can thank God for them as signs of common grace). But as I read the article, I couldn't help but be thankful for the gift of prayer. In prayer, the God of the universe invites us into His presence to experience peace beyond all understanding (Philippians 4:6–7). When troubling emotions come, our first place to turn is not to the tomato plants, but to our heavenly Father.

And yet, my emotional problems aren't just with the troubling ones. I've recognized how a lack of certain emotions poses a problem. A lackadaisical attitude toward sin, evil in the world, or the glories of God fall short of God's desire for me. He created us as emotional creatures to love what He loves and hate what He hates.

As I've processed intense troubling emotions and my sinful apathy, I've found one part of Scripture particularly helpful: the Psalms.
The Psalms and Emotion
The Psalms not only help us know what we can say in prayer (often one of our biggest struggles), they help us know what to feel. They are, as Calvin wrote, "an anatomy of the soul" and share all shades of human emotion from deepest despair to exuberant praise. We find saints processing the good and bad of life in a godly way. Reading and praying the Psalms takes us into their emotional world, how they wrestled with God and eventually found hope.

Consider these two ways the Psalms can help us:
1. When Emotions Are Out of Control: Channel Your Emotions in a Biblical Way.
Sometimes our emotions feel like a runaway train. We may feel justified in having intense emotions but can't stop their momentum from crossing the line into sin.

These days, nothing boils the blood quite like politics. A politician's foolish word or wicked action can light a fire in me, and when unchecked, can quickly grow and spread to other areas of my life. Psalm 2 tells me how to channel my anger toward godly ends. Yes, the nations and their kings will rage against the Lord and His Christ (verses 1–2), but God doesn't wring His hands in defeat—He laughs (verse 4). He has chosen His King, the Lord Jesus Christ, to judge and rule all of creation and to dash the nations and their kings to pieces like a potter's vessel (verse 9). The Psalm doesn't stop there. I see our God warn rulers and invite them to honor His Son in repentance (verses 10–12). He wants to save our world's foolish leaders who shake their fists at Him in rebellion. This leads me to worship and to pray that wicked politicians would take refuge in Christ (verse 12).[2]

Without embracing God's perspective in Psalm 2, my worldly perspective on politics leaves me stuck in a cesspool of anger, tempted to mouth off in public or online. With Psalm 2 guiding me, I take my anger at politics and go to my knees in Christ-centered hope for rebellious politicians and worship the one true King over them all.
2. When Your Emotions Are Lacking: Expand Your Emotional Range.
"Meh" is neither the proper response for sin exposed in our lives nor remembering the good news of who Jesus is and what He has done.

Psalm 32 has helped me experience the right mix of positive and negative emotions as I think about my sin. David doesn't preach a cheap grace but remembers the groan-inducing experience of unconfessed sin. His "bones wasted away" (verse 3) and strength had "dried up as by the heat of summer" (verse 5). As David's words spur my own prayers, the soul-crushing, Spirit-quenching weight of my sin begins to taste more bitter, and my desire grows to root out other sin in my life.

As my hatred for sin deepens, Psalm 32 also deepens my love for Christ. "Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered!" (verse 1). Yes, my sin is as ugly as death, but I am blessed because Jesus is willing and able to put it all away when we turn to Him. What a glorious thing it is for sinners to worship God for the blessing of forgiveness!
Getting Started
Every Christian should regularly cycle through the Psalms for prayer and devotion. As I work through the book, I ask myself for what situation(s) might I use this Psalm in the future? and scribble my answers in the margins of my journaling Bible. A few times through the Psalms later, I now have a go-to list of favorites to use for prayer in a variety of situations.

Here are a few recommendations:

Anxiety & Fear: 27, 42–43, 46, 55, 61, 62
Comfort & Strength: 16, 23, 116, 119
Confession & Repentance: 32, 38, 51, 130
Deliverance & Protection: 6, 34, 40, 91, 121, 140
Guidance: 25
Justice: 7, 82, 89, 140
Praise: 8, 19, 33, 104, 139, 148
Trust & Fear of God: 27, 112, 115
When the Wicked Prosper: 2, 10, 37, 49, 73

Hearts that Beat with His
Reading and praying the Psalms is emotional training, a godly course-correct to our wayward (or absent) emotions. It's preventative medicine for when a crisis comes our way.

Yes, praying the Psalms poses a challenge for 21st century readers as we wrestle with their meaning and message. But I'm convinced we will be rewarded for our labors, and in the end they will help our hearts to beat with God's, filling us with eternal hope in Him as we navigate the troubled waters of this world.

Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Psalm 62:8

 



 

[1] The article "Therapists Get Anxious, Too. Here’s What They Do." by Andrea Peterson. Accessed online at https://www.wsj.com/articles/therapis....
[2] As I wrote in When Prayer Is a Struggle , "I fully expect to see many of today’s earthly rulers in heaven, worshipping the King of Kings with joyful and repentant hearts (see Ps. 2:10–12). After all, why would God command us to pray for the salvation of kings and authorities if He didn’t plan to save some?"

Mini-Theology of Fatherhood in Ephesians 6

In November 1919, Frans Kafka wrote a letter to his father, Hermann, explaining why he feared him. This letter concludes by comparing their father-child relationship to the fight of “vermin, which . . . suck your blood in order to sustain their own life.” Perhaps you have first-hand experience of such parasitic combat.

In contrast, Ephesians 6:1–4 offers a vision of the sort of redeemed and symbiotic father-child relationship made possible by the gospel. As a new dad myself, I’ve been swept up by this Christ-centered portrayal of dads, and from this passage I glean a mini theology of fatherhood.

Simply, Paul calls on a dad to maintain embodied, purposeful involvement in the lives of his children, for the glory of God.
Dad’s Involvement
Ephesians 5:22–6:9 is the household code section of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. Some argue Paul wrote this section primarily to help churches express their faith in a culturally acceptable way (to aid evangelistic efforts), but this subordinates Paul’s moral imperatives to cultural expression and ignores Paul’s stark contrast between Christians (“children of light,” 5:8) and the surrounding culture (“children of wrath,” 2:3; cf. 5:7–8). In other words, Paul encourages Christians to be Christlike, not only in ways that culture is comfortable with but also in ways that challenge—or offend—culture.

A better explanation is that this code details how God’s people everywhere can enjoy transformed relationships as Christ-redeemed children of light amid a world of disobedience. This order, these roles, are universal principles that provide essential pillars for gospel-aligned communities.

Some may be surprised, then, by Ephesians 6:4, which addresses dad (not mom) as the point person for child rearing. The message here is that kids need both parents—mom and dad. In addressing the husband, Paul’s command can be applied to the wife as well. But it would be silly to speculate that in pointing to dad Paul only means to talk to mom. Dad is given the command, and it’s his responsibility as head to determine how to best fulfill it.

So the first tenet of this mini theology is that dad must be involved. But what should this involvement look like?
Embodied
Ephesians 6:1–4 shows us that a biblical father is an embodied father. One way to see this comes from the Greek. The word for “bring . . . up” (ektrepho; Eph. 6:4) can be translated “nourish.” This word implies physicality; it’s the same word used for how a man “nourishes” (5:29) his own body (and thus how a husband nourishes his wife).

Part of what I mean by “embodied” is simply that a dad ought to be as physically present with his kids as possible. Paul’s quotation from the Ten Commandments (6:2–3) reminds us of the Deuteronomic father figure who teaches God’s law to his children continually, as occasions arise: “When you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise” (Deut. 6:7). The picture here is of a man who is physically present with his family throughout the various activities of the day—sitting, walking, lying, and rising.

The lesson: the more time you spend with your kids, the more activities (however normal) you do together, the more opportunities you’ll have to teach and nourish them in creative, practical ways.

I once saw a man with his two sons. These boys were trying to snatch candy out of a vending machine by sticking their arms through the bottom slot. To my surprise, the dad turned to them and told stories of how he used to steal items from vending machines, explaining in detail how it could be done. He followed this confession by saying he wished he had not done so—for it was unkind to others and disobedient to God’s Word—and by encouraging his boys to live in a caring and faithful way.

This lesson would never have happened unless the man was there at the vending machine, physically present with his sons.
Purposeful
More than simply being reactive to occasional teaching opportunities, Paul calls on fathers to be proactive in raising kids in the “discipline and instruction of the Lord.” Don’t merely wait for opportunities; establish a rhythm of family discipleship in your household.

For a dad to be an effective disciple maker, he must be a faithful disciple himself. So dad, study God’s Word, strengthen your prayer life, serve at church, and continue to walk with God in faith. Be purposeful in your own spiritual life with the intent of modeling that life for your kids. 

Be purposeful too in joy. Go out of your way to encourage your kids by showing them your favor, your love, and your pride in them. Rash and angry behavior will “provoke your children to anger” (Eph. 6:4), and so will a cold demeanor. Kafka experienced this neglect, writing, “Not every child has the endurance and fearlessness to go on searching until he comes to the kindness that lies beneath the surface.”

Dad, don’t hide your kindness beneath a cold exterior. Be purposeful in joy.
God Glorifying
The final and most important tenet of biblical fatherhood, as seen in Ephesians 6:1–4, is that this is all for the glory of God.

Biblical fatherhood is a faithful witness to God the Father. God the Father is involved in our ongoing maturation (John 15:1–2; Rom. 8:28), and therefore fathers glorify the Father as they imitate this behavior.

Biblical fatherhood also edifies Jesus’s bride—the church. First Timothy 3:4–5 shows that good dads make for good church leaders. Our culture looks for leaders with academic prestige, successful careers, and enticing charismas, but Paul asserts the church needs men who love their children and are great at nurturing them in the Lord (see Titus 1:6).

Dads, find joy and full life in being involved in an embodied, purposeful way in the lives of your children—all for the glory of God.

This article originally ran on The Gospel Coalition.

10 Things to Remember about God’s Providence in Our Lives

What follows is an excerpt from You Can Trust God to Write Your Story: Embracing the Mysteries of Providence by Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth and Robert Wolgemuth. Get a copy this month for a gift of any mount.



[caption id="attachment_143179" align="alignright" width="318"] Get your copy of You Can Trust God to Write Your Story this month for a gift of any amount.[/caption]

God is writing a Story—the Story of redemption. It is grander and greater than anything we can imagine. Here are some important things we need to remind ourselves often about His Story and how it relates to the story He is writing in and through each of our lives:

Our individual stories are part of a much bigger Story. At times, we will experience heartache, loss, disappointment, and unfulfilled longings. But He is weaving all of that into a Story that will have us lost in wonder and worship when we get to the end.
Ultimately, this Story is not about us, but about Him. We are but players in His Story. We are not the stars. He is!
Perspective makes all the difference. God sees the beginning and the end and everything in between; we only see this present moment. In storytelling language, His is an omniscient point of view, whereas ours is limited to what we can perceive from our earthly vantage point. He has a wide-angle lens and sees the whole mural He is painting in all of history. We see only the little speck of time and space we occupy at this moment.
God works in unexpected, unexplainable ways to accomplish His purposes. We should not expect Him to write our story the way we would write it.
God sovereignly and purposefully ordains and orchestrates the circumstances of our lives. There is no such thing as happenstance or accident. Nothing catches Him off guard. There is no plot twist in your story or ours of which He is unaware or that He can't overcome.
What we see now is not the whole story. If we could see what God sees and know what He knows, our hearts would be at peace.
We can trust Him to write the story of those we love. That doesn't mean we shouldn't help or support them. But we don't want to rescue them from circumstances that may be a chapter of the story He is writing in their lives.
The challenges we face may be a part of God writing someone else's story. God wants to use our story to be a means of His grace and intervention in the lives of others—even those who may have "wrecked" our story.
Those who trust in Him will never be disappointed. Not every chapter in this life has a "happy" ending. But every true child of God will live "happily ever after." We can be sure of that.
You can trust God to write your story… and you can be sure that in the end, He will right your story!

God’s Secret Work of Election

If God had waited for me to seek after Him, He would still be waiting. No one seeks God (Romans 3:11). No one! Not even you. By nature we run from God. If we seek Him, it is only because He has taken the initiative to seek us. I came to Christ because His grace first came to me.

Abraham was not seeking God. He was an idolater (Joshua 24:2). God swept into Abraham’s life uninvited and promised, not only to bless him, but to bless people from every nation on earth through him (Genesis 12:3).

God always makes the first move, and He planned your salvation long before you were born. God chose us in Christ before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love, He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ in accordance with His pleasure and will (Ephesians 1:3-5).

Think about this: You were on God’s horizon before the creation of the world. Before creating the moon and stars, God had you in mind and, in His unfathomable love, He decided to redeem you in Jesus Christ. I am so grateful that God exercised His free will in deciding to save me. I hope you are, too.

Some people are nervous of this doctrine and wonder how anyone could know if they are elect. The answer comes in a simple question: Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and trust Him as your Savior? Then you can be sure He has predestined you. Behind your believing in Christ lies God’s secret work of opening your heart and mind. Your faith and your repentance are the fruits of His beautiful work of grace in your soul. Use this mystery to deepen your gratitude and your worship today.

Some folks worry that believing in election might hinder prayer and evangelism. In my experience, nothing could be further from the truth. Think of someone you know who is deeply resistant to the gospel. They are not seeking after God and have no interest in spiritual things. What hope can you have for their salvation?

If God waited for them to move towards Him, you would have no hope at all. But if it is really true that God is free to swoop into a person’s life uninvited, then you can ask Him to do this in the life of your unbelieving friend or loved one. Tell the Lord that He does not need to be invited into human lives. Ask Him to send His Spirit and save. Then share the gospel with confidence. God saves through the gospel!

 



 

Take the free course Watch Your Doctrine to learn crucial doctrines for life and ministry. Watch a clip from Watch Your Doctrine on motivation for prayer and evangelism:

 

Bible Q & A: Does God Still Exhibit His Wrath as a Consequence of Sin?

Question: Does God still exhibit His wrath toward people when they sin? 

Answer: According to the Bible, the answer is “Yes.”  Now a fair response would be to say, “Ok, how? What does that look like?” The best description I know of in the New Testament comes from Romans 1…

 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. (Romans 1:18)

Romans 1:18 tells us that God’s wrath is “revealed from heaven” against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. God’s wrath is being revealed now. Yes, but how? We find three answers later in Romans 1:

 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves… (1:24)

 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. (1:26)

 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. (1:28)

If I can summarize what the apostle Paul is saying here, “God’s wrath is being revealed from heaven, and it is being shown, not by restraining evil, but rather by giving people over to evil.” That’s what Paul says in Romans 1. Now, of course, the danger is to see evil behind every rock, and assume everything bad that happens is an expression of God’s wrath.

As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.” (John 9:1-3)

 You can hear the assumption in the disciples’ question: “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Something bad happened. A man was born blind. Whose fault is it? Jesus dispels this myth. Not everything bad that happens is a direct result of someone’s sin.

What we have here is a framework for understanding the world. God’s wrath is being revealed, by giving people over to evil. But not every bad thing that happens is a direct result of evil. Trying to discern what is going on in a particular instance is not always easy, and sometimes impossible to know. Sometimes we just don’t know. We should not claim to know more than we do.

The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever. (Deuteronomy 29:29)

 The Bible says that God is love (1 John 4:8). That is His nature. But the Bible never says that God is wrath. God’s wrath is a response to evil. His wrath is provoked by evil. If sin never entered into the world, God would never have an occasion to display His wrath. God is always loving, but only wrathful as a response to evil.

This sounds like bad news, because we are all tainted by sin. But the good news is that one day God has promised to judge and destroy all evil. God’s wrath is an expression of His love, because without it, evil would have free reign to destroy the people God loves. God will not let that happen. He has set a day when He will make all things right in regard to sin and evil.

In the meantime, before the Day of the Lord, God has done something wonderful.

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32)

We have been looking at how God shows His wrath in the world today by giving people up to their sins. But here we are told that God gave His own Son up for us! What does that mean?

Jesus had no sins of His own. So, why would God give Him up? The apostle Paul says God gave up His Son for us all. He is talking about what Jesus accomplished on the cross. God poured out His wrath on Jesus, as our substitute, for our sins. Jesus became the lightning rod for our sins. All God’s wrath against your sins were poured out on Him. So, when you put your faith in Jesus, there is no more wrath left for you. This is good news for you and for everyone you know.

Why We Must Get the Gospel Right

Truth and accuracy is the first and most important tenet of the five tenets of journalism. It is the cardinal principle, and for good reason. There’s the obvious ethical matter related to the very definition of journalism itself. Journalism is the profession that discovers and distributes the facts about events and people. Reporters report on realities. They explain what happened as best they can understand it. Without truth and accuracy, journalism isn’t really journalism. It’s propaganda.

In addition, there’s the business aspect of it. Truth and accuracy is foundational, not just to journalism, but to the long-term success of any commercial enterprise. In the case of the news, correspondents who report inaccurate stories lose credibility for themselves and their companies. If it happens too often, those types of correspondents are fired and the companies that tolerate them eventually shut down.

The Apostle Paul shared the value of truth and accuracy that modern day journalists have today. He was particularly concerned about that when it came to gospel reporting. That’s why he warned the ancient church in Galatia so strongly about anyone who preached a false gospel. Look what he wrote in a letter to them:

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:8–9)

This is a very strong warning, as strong as it gets. The Apostle Paul thought that people who preached a false gospel deserved much worse than getting fired from their job or shutting down their news agency. They deserved to be accursed. What does that mean?

When we use some form of the word “curse,” we often simply mean that we want something bad to happen to that person like, “Curse them!” That’s the most common way it is used, but Paul clearly had something more theologically significant in mind. It warrants a bit of explanation.

Later in this same letter to the Galatian church, Paul described all Christians as the opposite of accursed. He referred to them as blessed. All Christians are blessed, not cursed, according to Paul, because Jesus became a curse for us on the cross to redeem us from the curse caused by sin. We were cursed, but we put our faith in Jesus and thus became blessed. That’s part of the good news about Him.

Given that context, it seems clear that Paul thought people who preach a false gospel should be considered as still under the curse of sin. In other words, by preaching a different good news they proved that they were not Christians. True Christians preach the gospel delivered once for all from Jesus to the church through the Apostles, which I have articulated in Always Good News (and the free course Grasp the Gospel ) under the headlines Lord, Sin, Savior, and Faith.

People who preach a different gospel aren’t Christians because their gospel has no means by which to remove the curse caused by sin. Jesus is the only Savior of sinners. Salvation from curse unto blessing is found in no one else. There’s no other name under heaven by which people can be saved. Thus, people who change the gospel to something contrary to it, remain cursed.

Further, there was a sense that Paul wanted the church in Galatia to avoid these false preachers. The leaders of the church should keep them out of the church and consider them as not part of the church. The Greek root word of accursed is anathema. Throughout church history, to be anathema has meant that you were excommunicated from the fellowship of the church. The origin of that meaning and practice is Paul’s letter to the Galatians. That’s an additional aspect of what he meant by “let him be accursed.”

And the final implication is that those who preach a false gospel are in danger of hell. Though some readers, pastors and scholars have attempted to avoid the gravity of the language in these verses, I don’t see any way around understanding it as Paul pronouncing eternal condemnation on people who continue to get the gospel wrong. “Let him be accursed” is another way to say that what he is doing warrants damnation by God Himself.

According to Paul, that “gospel” reporter doesn’t merely need to be fired. That “good news” agency doesn’t simply need to be shut down. If they keep up that practice for the rest of their lives, they deserve everlasting punishment from God Himself.

Why would Paul use such strong language? Why such a severe statement? Well, it makes perfect sense when you think about. Proclaiming the good news about Jesus is a joyful matter, but it is also a gravely serious one that requires truth and accuracy. It is more than a matter of life and death to whoever hears it. It is a matter of eternal life and endless death.

If a gospel messenger got it wrong and thus led people astray about the most important news in human history, the Apostle Paul thought that preacher should suffer the same consequences that their error wrought on others. Since getting the gospel of Jesus right is ultimately a matter of heaven or hell for those who hear it, preaching the gospel with truth and accuracy ought to be a matter of heaven or hell for those who preach it.

It is important to understand, though, that Paul does not seem to be referring to a Christian who is talking about Jesus in everyday conversation and makes an unintentional mistake out of humble ignorance. He did not mean, “Christian, if you make even the slightest mistake in your conversations about Jesus, may you be eternally condemned.” No, that’s not what he meant.

Rather, he was referring to people who purposely perverted and twisted the gospel. Paul wrote this letter to the Galatians because preachers and teachers from a theological school, a seminary of sorts, were doing just that. They visited Galatia and tried to convince the Galatian churches that their gospel was the right one and that the gospel the Apostles handed down to the Galatians from Jesus Himself was wrong. This was systematic, well thought out, intentional, false teaching.

Even so, the force of the language remains. It’s jarring and uncomfortable to read, “Let him be accursed.” It should be taken seriously by everyone, gravely so. The obvious application for us is that we must get the gospel right. If you are pastor like me, you have to tell the truth when you proclaim the good news. If you aren’t a pastor, it’s still important for you to be accurate. You as an individual and we as the church have to be clear about this message. There is no more important priority on planet earth.

How God Awakens the Conscience

Joseph was the dearly loved son of his father, Jacob. His brothers hated him for this, so they threw him in a pit, sold him to traders who took him to Egypt, and told their father he was eaten by a fierce animal (Genesis 37). But God blessed Joseph and raised him up so that he became the governor at the right hand of Pharaoh, with authority over the whole land of Egypt.

Now Joseph had lived a godly life, but the brothers had lived ungodly lives. These brothers were men whose word could not be trusted. They were prone to violence. They were sexually out of control. They were capable of lying, even to the father who loved them, in order to cover up their own sin.

How can a person who has betrayed trust, lied, broken promises, and deceived even their own loved ones come to share in the blessing of God?

Hope begins for these brothers, and hope begins for us, when God awakens the conscience, and God does that in this story in four ways.
1. By disturbing peace
God often breaks into our lives through unexpected events that are completely beyond our control. This happened to the brothers through a famine: “The famine was severe over all the earth” (Genesis 41:57).  God often does this to get our attention. The brothers found themselves in need, and this had not happened to them before.

Maybe there are ways in which God is breaking into your life by disturbing your peace. Things seemed to be going along well, and then something unexpected and quite beyond your control happened. Some trouble comes to your family, you are moved from your job, a secret is revealed, there is an issue with your health…everything is changed! Life cannot go on as it did before. Through this event, God has disturbed your peace.
2. By arousing memory
When Jacob learned that there was grain for sale in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why do you look at one another?” (Genesis 42:1).

Jacob says the word ‘Egypt!’ and the brothers are all looking at each other thinking, “That’s where we sent Joseph! Now the old man, who thinks Joseph is dead, is sending us there!” ‘Egypt’ was the word they never spoke in their home. I wouldn’t be surprised if it had been 20 years since that word had been spoken in their home.

Then, when they arrive in Egypt, the brothers are thrown into prison. Now memory is really aroused. “For no good reason, we threw our brother in a pit, and now, for no good reason, we have been thrown into prison.” So in Genesis 42:21, “They said to one another, ‘In truth we are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us and we did not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us.’”

It’s all coming back to them now! God brought their past actions to mind, and their own sins are real, alive, fresh, and present. Conscience is awakened. They see what God sees and know what God knows. “Reuben answered them, ‘Did I not tell you not to sin against the boy? But you did not listen. So now there comes a reckoning for his blood’” (Genesis 42:22).
3. By speaking harshly
“Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he treated them like strangers and spoke roughly to them” (Genesis 42:7). Joseph’s harshness so impressed itself on them that when they returned home, they said, “The man, the lord of the land, spoke roughly to us and took us to be spies” (Genesis 42:30).

Let me try and explain where you might experience something similar: You come to church, and what you hear is not comfortable. It brings to mind things you would rather forget. The Word of God is disturbing to you.

Yet, Paul explains in Romans 7, “The law is… good” (7:12). It is through God’s law that we discover our own sin. When we see what God requires of us, we see that we are nowhere near what He calls us to be, not even at our best. If you feel convicted of sin today, thank God for it. To be at peace when your sins are not dealt with is the worst of all positions!

When God speaks to you harshly - which is what conviction of sins feels like - it is actually the greatest kindness.
4. By showing kindness
Joseph spoke harshly to the brothers, but he could not restrain his own love for them. He is overcome by emotion and has to leave, “He turned away from them and wept” (Genesis 42:24).

Then Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, and to replace every man's money in his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey (Genesis 42:25). This is a sheer act of kindness. The Bible says that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance (Romans 2:4).

The fascinating thing here is that the brothers don’t know what do to with this act of kindness. They don’t understand what has happened and they completely misinterpret it. One of the brothers finds the money in his bag and he says, “‘My money has been put back; here it is in the mouth of my sack!’ At this their hearts failed them, and they turned trembling to one another, saying, ‘What is this that God has done to us?’” (Genesis 42:28).

This is the first time in the entire story that the great grandchildren of Abraham mention the name of God! At last these men who have lied and broken trust, and have long forgotten their past sins, have some awareness of God. Right now they think He is against them. They don’t yet know the gracious purpose He has for their lives, but at least they are awakened!
Has Anything Like This Ever Happened to You?
I meet a lot of people who tell me that they have always been Christians. Well, have you ever been awakened and convicted of your own sin? Because that’s the first mark of being a Christian. Of course, this happens in different ways, at different times, and with different degrees of intensity in different people, so how would you know if this has happened to you?

When you are awakened, you will come to the clear conclusion that you are a sinner. You will say, “I have already sinned enough in my life to fully deserve the eternal condemnation of God.” That’s the first thing that happens when you become a Christian.

Have you come to this conclusion about yourself? When you do, the pride, the swagger, the self-righteousness and the pretense will all be gone. You will feel that you are a person whose only hope is in Jesus Christ. And hope will have begun for you.

 

This article has been adapted from the sermon Awakened and Convicted in the series on the life of Joseph called Snapshots in a Godly Life.

The Word One to One: Helping You and Your Church Share God’s Word

Richard Borgonon had been a Christian for 36 years.

He enjoyed sharing the message of Jesus by giving away books to non-Christian friends, extending invitations to events, and starting spiritual conversations. But one day, the way he saw evangelism changed forever.

Richard had introduced an unbelieving friend to Dr. John Lennox, a Christian apologist and Oxford professor. The unbelieving friend peppered Lennox with questions about the faith, but did not have the framework to understand or engage with Dr. Lennox’s biblical answers. Borgonon suggested opening the first chapter of John's gospel together.

"I watched my friend's intellectual questions die in four verses flat," reflects Borgonon. "He had never seen it before, and he had understood it. That changed me on the spot."

That experience led to the creation of The Word One to One, the Gospel of John verse by verse, presented alongside helpful notes which act as a framework for your conversation. This provides a perfect tool for introducing people to Jesus by simply reading God's Word together and discussing what it says. Using this resource with an unbeliever means you don't need to be a great evangelist or reader of the Bible to become a "loving page turner."
A Helpful Approach
The Word One to One is a powerful resource for at least three reasons:

The Theological Angle: God speaks through His Word, and when we open His Word with others, He speaks to us. This cuts out the distractions, misunderstandings, arguments, and rabbit trails that many spiritual conversations have. As Dr. John Lennox explains,

Throughout my lifetime, I’ve become utterly convinced that as a Christian, speaking the Christian message into the world, my only offensive weapon is the Word of God. And the Lord Jesus made it very clear, ‘apart from me you can do nothing’ (John 15:5). And I believe, therefore, He has given us the Word of God as the sword of the Spirit, and we need to use it!

The Cultural Angle: According to a recent Talking Jesus survey, one in three non-Christians in the UK who had a conversation with a practicing Christian about their faith wanted to know more about Jesus. Opening the Bible together and discussing it not only introduces readers to Jesus, it levels the playing field for evangelistic conversations. There is no "guru" or "teacher", but a "guide" and a "guest" that together hear the claims of Christ and examine the evidence.

The relational element of The Word One to One resource is an added strength: Bible reading happens in the context of a safe relationship where asking questions and contemplating faith is encouraged. Le Fras Strydom, the CEO of The Word One to One, comments, "The vast majority of people who look at episode 1 of The Word One to One (the glorious John 1:1-18) want to see what happens next! Don’t underestimate how much our non-Christian friends will enjoy the experience once they get into it."

The Practical Angle: Many believers would confess the lack of confidence they have in evangelism. "I don't know how to get started" or "I don't know what to say" are common refrains. The Word One to One cuts through these challenges and instills confidence. Les Fras Strydom remarks on the wide use of the resource, "We’ve seen teenagers and 90-year-olds use it, and everyone in between. City professionals, retirees, empty-nester moms, students, migrants seeking community – so many different people have found it helpful in sharing the gospel with those they know."





The Word One to One ministry is passionate about equipping Bible sharers for evangelism. All a believer needs to use The Word One to One is a relationship with an unbeliever and enough courage to extend the invitation to read a chapter together.

"Most unbelievers don’t believe in Christ on day one," shared Le Fras Strydom, "but so many are compelled to keep reading, and many end up saying, 'Why has no one ever shown me this before!' It’s good to have off-the-cuff conversations about Jesus, but nothing beats helping our friends get into the Scriptures to get a full view of the glorious Lord Jesus for themselves."

When asked for common responses to using The Word One to One, Le Fras said the overwhelming response from first-time Bible sharers is joy: "Brother and sisters feel liberated by the fact that they don’t need to have all the answers, or the most persuasive testimony, but can simply offer to have a look with their friends and trust God’s Word to do the work. A dear 70-something year old sister from California recently commented, 'This is what I should have been doing all my life.'"
How to Get Started
We at Open the Bible want to help you open the Bible with others, and for that reason we are grateful for The Word One to One.

Visit theword121.com to find out where to buy the books, download the app or access the notes as pdfs to share online. You will also find training resources and other ideas for mobilizing your church in evangelism.