Colin S. Smith's Blog, page 47

What is the Christian Faith?

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence. (2 Peter 1:3) 

Peter is making an extraordinary claim in the verse above: In Jesus Christ you will find everything that you need for life! 

Whom is he writing to? Who receives this great blessing? In 2 Peter, Peter says right at the beginning that he is writing to those people who have “a faith as precious as ours” (v.1).   

This immediately raises the question: What kind of faith is that? Because it is only to those who have this kind of faith that the promise is given: You have everything you need for life. 

Christian Faith is Faith in Jesus Christ 

Notice three things that Peter affirms in 2 Peter 1: 

1. Jesus is God 

Our God … Jesus Christ. (v.1) 

If someone says: “Jesus is never referred to as “God” in the Bible,” show them 2 Peter, or John’s gospel where Thomas falls before the risen Lord Jesus and says, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28). 

2. Jesus is Savior 

Our God and Savior Jesus Christ. (v.1) 

The world teaches you to have confidence in yourself. The Bible teaches you to have confidence in Jesus. 

I know that I will mess up in many ways through my life, but I am quite sure that Jesus Christ will not mess up on his work, which is to save me and on the last day present me before the Father without fault and with great joy.

3. Jesus is Lord  

The knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. (v.2)  

Christian faith is confidence in Jesus Christ. It is confidence in his ability to bring you through every circumstance of life. I know that I will face many trials and many temptations and many circumstances of life that are too great for me. But I know that they are not too great for him. He is Lord over the darkest temptations and the strongest devils. 

He is Savior, Lord, and God. Jesus is with me and he is for me. Christian faith is confidence in Jesus Christ. That’s why we want him to be at the center of everything we do in worship. That’s why he’s at the center of the Bible.

Christian Faith is Apostolic 

We often speak about personal faith. That’s good, because you have to believe for yourself; nobody else can believe for you. But Christian faith is more than personal; it is apostolic. 

To be a Christian means that you share the same faith as the apostles. We often ask people, “Do you have a personal faith?” It might be better to ask, “Do you have an apostolic faith? Do you share the faith of the Apostles? Do you believe what they believed?” 

What matters is not that you have “a faith” (as if you had to make up your own), but that you hold to “the faith” (the apostolic faith), the faith that was “once for all entrusted to the saints” (Jude v.3).  

The apostolic faith is the only one worth having! For the promises of the gospel belong to the people who share the same faith as the Apostles. 

Christian Faith is God’s Gift and His command 

…to those… who have received a faith as precious as ours. (2 Peter 1:1). 

You received this faith. You did not generate it. The apostle Paul said the same thing in different words in Ephesians 2:8. 

Faith is also a command that we obey: Jesus said, “Have faith in God” (Mark 11:22). That’s a command! “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved” (Acts 16:31). That’s a command; God calls us to do this. Faith is God’s gift and his command. 

Have you ever thought about how strange it is when a preacher says to an unbeliever: “Put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ”? How can an unbeliever put his or her faith in Jesus? If you are an unbeliever, then by definition you do not believe. And if you do not believe, then you don’t have any faith to put in Jesus!

So how can anyone ever be saved? The disciples asked that question once, and Jesus said “With man it is impossible but … all things are possible with God” (Mark 10:27). God is able to create faith where it does not exist.  

It is a strange tension that faith is both a gift and a command. When Augustine understood this he said to God, “Command what you will, only give what you command!” 

If you are not yet a Christian, this is a great place to begin. You can come to God today as Augustine did. You can say: “You command me to have faith, and I don’t have it. So give me what I do not possess. Make me what I am not.” Jesus said:  

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. (Matthew 7:7) 

Christian Faith Comes through Jesus’ Own Glory and Goodness 

Our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. (v.3) 

What would make an unbelieving person want to follow Jesus today?  

The first reason is his goodness—the sheer excellence of his life, the abundance of his grace and kindness. The second reason is his glory—the total impact of all that he is. That’s how Jesus draws people—he calls us through his own glory and goodness. 

Think about how this relates to evangelism. If we want to see people follow Christ, we should make much of his glory and his goodness. Make him the focus of your Sunday school class, or small group. Keep him central when you share the gospel.  

Remember that the gospel is not about you and your faith. It is about Jesus and his glory. 

[This article was adapted from Pastor Colin’s sermon, “Everything You Need for Life.”]



Photo Credit: Unsplash

Key Connections: Studying, Pray for others, and more

Here are five of my favorite quotes from recent Christian articles, including the caring nature of when you study the Bible, pray for others, and more!

Three Marks of Every Man and Woman of God (Colin Smith, Unlocking the Bible)

Whatever you are facing in your life right now, here’s what you need to know. You are God’s man, God’s woman, bought by the precious blood of Christ, called to the blessing of life under the rule of God: The King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who alone is immortal, who lives in unapproachable light, to whom be glory and might forever.

How You Walk Matters for Eternity (Zach Kendrick, Servants of Grace)

Right living corresponds to right believing (Eph 4:18-19). When a person’s mind is not set on the things of God, it leads to a hardness of heart (unbelief). In turn, when a person is not trusting in the gospel of Christ and has become callous to the things of God, it leads to a life alienated from God (v.18). When a person’s heart is calloused to God in unbelief, they are more vulnerable to sin in three ways: sensuality, greed, and impurity.

Praying For You: Three Staggering Words That Change Everything (Stephen Altrogge, the blazing center)

When we pray for someone, we are asking the God of the universe to take action. He is the one who has all power, who rules over all things, who causes nations to rise and fall, who controls the seasons, and keeps the planets in order.

Dear Graduate, Get Wisdom and Be Wise (André Ballard, Unlocking the Bible)

We must be intentional about our lives. We need to think about where we are going before we end up there. Satan and the spiritual forces of darkness can only make suggestions and whisper in our ears those activities which displease the Lord.

But did you know that those who belong to God have a choice? We can think rightly about where we go and what we do.  

Study the Bible for the Sake of Others (Kelly Minter, LifeWay Voices)

We must be studying God’s Word diligently, learning from good teachers about His whole counsel, so that when we do have opportunities with those seeking to understand, we can engage them with the whole story instead of leaving them with a presentation.

Your Life Is Your Mission Field

Whoever despises his neighbor is a sinner, but blessed is he who is generous to the poor. (Proverbs 14:21) 

I know a guy who sold his business and went to be a missionary in Asia. While many young men were seeking success (whatever that means), he found it and left it to share the gospel in a foreign land. 

I know a guy who left a successful career in the family business to be a missionary in America. While many young men were seeking to make a name for themselves, he submitted his life to the Lord to live on mission. 

I know a guy who drew a circle around the business world and stayed within it. While many around him were climbing over people to get promotions and bonuses, he spent his time serving and loving within the context of his company. 

Do you see it?

Each of these are missionary callings. We are obsessed with the idea that a mission field must be in a foreign land, but we forget that Jesus calls each of us to be missionaries right where we are. Jesus tells his disciples that hungry souls are abundantly available everywhere, and the laborers are few (Matthew 9:37).  

We all are called to serve our Lord Jesus Christ. Some are called to the other side of the world, and some are called to work the ground of their home town. 

Home Town Missionary



So, what does this look like? 
 
1. Pay attention to your neighbors 

Now don’t get creepy—no snooping or prying. Just pay attention to the people around you. Listen to them, talk to them. Ask God what he might be doing in them.

2. Know God’s Word

I don’t mean that you have to be a scholar; you don’t. But understand the narrative of the gospel of Jesus Christ — that is, that we are all sinners in need of grace and Jesus came to offer that grace through his life, death, and resurrection.  

If you see people through this grid, you will see clearly and compassionately. People are messy and annoying — that is, we are messy and annoying. We all need the grace of God. Be a student of that grace and share your portion with the people God has placed around you.

3. Remember your depravity

It’s easier to bear with people when you understand God has shown you great mercy. The cross says we’re all guilty. It was an extreme act for Jesus to die on the cross. For God to willingly lay his life down. And it’s our fault. And it’s to our benefit. To love your neighbors well, you must recall how you’ve been loved in spite of your sin. 

4. Slow down

Love is not hurried. Love is patient. If we want to share God’s mercy with other people, we’re going to have to take our foot off the gas to spend moments with them. The pace in which we live is too fast sometimes, and we can choose to be intentional or we can choose to let ourselves be swept up in the fog of busyness.  

Stop. Pause. Listen to people.

God Put You Where He Wants You 

God does not work by accident. He is intricately intentional with how he guides our lives. The people around you — the ones you love and the ones you loathe — are his image-bearers and they all need the grace of Christ.  

And you know what, you need it too. 

You cannot give that which you don’t have, so don’t go grab your Bible and start running all over the place to tell people the good news which hasn’t become real to you. 

Address your sin directly. Repent. Receive grace. Not once, like a transaction — but daily, as in constant worship. If you are washed in the blood of Jesus Christ over and over again you will drip with it.  

As you receive the grace of Christ so you will want to serve him. Serve him by working as a laborer for the gospel. Maybe you were called to Burma, and maybe you were called to your block.  

Look around you, consider what God might be doing, and ask him what’s next. 

Photo Credit: Unsplash 

The World’s Greatest Spectacle

Into the spectacle-loving world, with all of its spectacle makers and spectacle-making industries, came the grandest Spectacle ever devised in the mind of God and brought about in world history—the cross of Christ. It is the hinge of history where all time collides, where all human spectacles meet one unsurpassed, cosmic, divine spectacle.

The goal of crucifixion was nothing short of the “elimination of victims from consideration as members of the human race,” a “ritualized extermination” of offenders unfit to live.[1] It was role play, says one theologian—“the mocking and jeering that accompanied crucifixion were not only allowed, they were part of the spectacle and were programmed into it.”[2]

As the Gospel of Luke tells us: “the crowds . . . had assembled for this spectacle” (23:48). Scripture foreshadowed that Christ would see the masses “stare and gloat over me” (Psalm 22:17). This theatrical enactment of sadism inside the human heart drew a large crowd. And they saw a show! A man mocked, scorned, beaten, bloodied, and raised up on a tree. But they also saw creation shudder. The earth winced. The temple curtain split top to bottom. The noonday sun was eclipsed for three hours. Tombs broke open. The dead bodies of many Christians were raised to life.

The death of Jesus Christ was not just another crucifixion spectacle; it was the pinnacle of all crucifixion spectacles. For the Romans, “every cross was a mocking throne for rebels,” but the cross of Christ “was a parodic coronation and enthronement.”[3] The cross of Christ was the greatest spectacle in cosmic history for what it ironically subverted. There on the hill of Calvary, Christ “disarmed the powers and authorities,” and in his victory, “he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Colossians 2:15, NIV). To die on a tree was to die under the curse of God. But by hanging on a tree, Christ became a curse for us.[4]

From this moment on, God intended all human gaze to center on this climactic moment. It is as if God says to us: “This is my beloved Son, crucified for you, a Spectacle to capture your heart forever!”

Or, as Augustine said in the age of Roman spectacles, “Do not think, brethren, that our Lord God has dismissed us without spectacles.” No, for there is nothing greater in the world to see than this: “the lion vanquished by the blood of the Lamb.”[5] By divine design, Christians are pro-spectacle, and we give our entire lives to this great Spectacle, now historically past and presently invisible.

By faith, this ultimate Spectacle is now the life I live. The supreme spectacle of the cross brings a cosmic collision with the spectacles of this world. And we’re in the middle. I have now been crucified to the world, and the world has been crucified to me.[6] Our response to the ultimate spectacle of the cross of Christ defines us.

Depending on how you see it, the cross is one of two
spectacles—the mocking of a faux king, or the coronation of the true King of
the universe. The cross was either a tragic misunderstanding and a ruthless
murder of an innocent man, or it was a preplanned spectacle orchestrated by God
to display to the world a beauty unsurpassed.

The spectacle of Christ is driven home in conversion when I look back on my life and see that my sins stabbed holes in the bloodied body of Christ. He who loves me, I have pierced.[7] To unfallen eyes—and to redeemed eyes— the cross was a spectacle that this world has never, and will never, rival in weight or significance or glory.

So it is wholly appropriate for theologian John Murray to brand the cross of Jesus Christ as “the most solemn spectacle in all history, a spectacle unparalleled, unique, unrepeated, and unrepeatable.”[8]

Like the venomous snake cast in bronze and raised up as a healing spectacle to cure thousands of poisoned bodies, Christ’s broken body was raised up on a Roman cross as a healing spectacle to revive millions of sinful souls.[9]

Christ risen up at Calvary marked the pinnacle spectacle for which all other spectacles in world history will never reach, the preeminent spectacle of divine life and divine love, freely offered to the gawking world.

The axis of the cross marks the turning point for God’s plan for this universe.[10] The cross points in four directions as the spectacle that brings together heaven, earth, all nations to his left, and every nation to his right. Rejected by earth, forsaken by heaven, this cross-beam held the Savior’s arms open wide. Here divine wrath and divine mercy collided.

Even more expressive than the global flood, the cross of Christ was a public display of God’s righteous anger toward billions of sins, once passed over, and now judged in the full manifestation of his wrath in visible human history.[11]

In light of this supreme spectacle, Charles Spurgeon rhetorically asked: “Was there ever such a picture as that which God drew with the pencil of eternal love, dipped into the color of Almighty wrath on Calvary’s summit?”[12] Answer: no.

This wrath-bearing burden of Christ, invisible to the naked eye, is the truest Spectacle within the Spectacle, a climactic moment in triune history when the full cup of God’s wrath was handed to the precious Son to drink down to the dregs.[13]

He who knew no sin, became sin, became our sin, and embodied the full ungodliness of our iniquities.[14]

The spectacle of Christ’s body was pinned up before the scoffing eyes of unholy men on the ground and pinned up as the propitiating, wrath-absorbing Spectacle before the forsaking eyes of a holy God.[15]

“When I survey the wondrous cross, what do I see?” asked Martyn Lloyd-Jones. “I see a spectacle that the world has never seen before, and will never see again. . . . The cross, with all its mighty paradoxes, is a spectacle that makes anything that you can think of in history, or anything that you can imagine, simply pale into insignificance.”[16]

And this: “We are living in an age that is very fond of spectacles, in the sense of some remarkable happenings and events, some great show. And the Christian glories in the cross as a spectacle, because the more he looks at the cross the more he sees the glory of God being revealed to him. It displays to him the glory of the triune God, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. He sees all that shining down upon him.”[17]

Content taken from Competing Spectacles by Tony Reinke, ©2019. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, Il 60187, www.crossway.org.

Photo Credit: Unsplash

[1] Martin
Hengel, Crucifixion (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1977), 51–63.

[2] Fleming
Rutledge, The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus Christ (Grand
Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2015), 91–92.

[3] Peter J. Leithart, Defending Constantine: The Twilight of an Empire and the Dawn of Christendom (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2010), 24.

[4] Deut. 21:22–23; Gal. 3:13–14.

[5] Augustine of Hippo, “Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel according to St. John,” in St. Augustin: Homilies on the Gospel of John, Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Soliloquies, ed. Philip Schaff, trans. John Gibb and James Innes, vol. 7, A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, First Series (New York: Christian Literature Co., 1888), 50.

[6] Gal. 2:20; 6:14.

[7] See David Clarkson, The Works of David Clarkson (Edinburgh: James Nichol, 1864), 1:108.

[8] John Murray, Redemption Accomplished and Applied (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2015), 76.

[9] Num. 21:4–9; John 3:14–15.

[10] Eph. 1:10.

[11] Rom. 3:23–26.

[12] C. H. Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, vol. 10 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1864), 359–60.

[13] Isa. 51:17, 22; Jer. 25:15–16; Rev. 14:9–10; 16:19 in connection to Matt. 20:22–23; 26:39; Mark 10:38; 14:36; Luke 22:42; John 18:11.

[14] 2 Cor. 5:21.

[15] P. T. Forsyth, Positive Preaching and Modern Mind (New York: A. C. Armstrong, 1907), 318–19.

[16] D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Cross: God’s Way of Salvation (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1986), 60, 64.

[17] Ibid., 56.

Dear Graduates, Get Wisdom and Be Wise

So, you’ve done it, graduates! You’ve completed what could possibly be one of the most challenging and important seasons of your life. You are about to enter a new environment and a set of new opportunities. It will be exciting but it will also bring great challenges.  

During this season of academic achievement and graduation celebrations, I only have two exhortations. My encouragement for you, graduates, is to get wisdom and be wise. 

A Lack of Wisdom

Years ago, a man who worked for the United States Navy placed what he thought was a routine order for supplies. As he typed the necessary code, one number was mistakenly entered. As a result, two heat shields, whose primary use is for space shuttles, were delivered to a medical clinic. That was not supposed to happen. 

In my estimation, the man who placed the order was not the biggest problem. No, we all make mistakes. But what’s so hard to understand is there was a team of people whose responsibility was to ensure all military organizations made proper purchases.  And, it’s unfathomable to think that someone believed a medical clinic actually needed or could use heat shields meant to protect a space shuttle. 

The true issue here was a deficiency of applied knowledge. Put another way, the problem was a lack in wisdom.   

Godly Living 

When those two heat shields were sent to the medical clinic, there was a space shuttle that needed them but did not have them. That shuttle would then have been unsafe and unprepared for travel outside of the earth’s atmosphere.

In the same way, graduates, you need the acquisition and application of wisdom to help protect you from the dangers you will face in this world.   

But what exactly is wisdom and how do we obtain it? Here is a working definition of wisdom to help us begin:

Wisdom is insight that glorifies God and it contains both knowledge and practices required for godly living 

Don’t we all want to live godly lives? Don’t we all want to do what is pleasing in the Lord’s sight?

If you answered yes to that question, then the first exhortation you need, the first heat shield, for living a godly life is to get wisdom. 

Getting Wisdom 

Hear, O sons, a father’s instruction, 
    and be attentive, that you may gain insight, 
for I give you good precepts; 
    do not forsake my teaching. (Proverbs 4:1-2) 

How do you acquire wisdom? To be clear, getting wisdom is not a one-stop achievement, but it is a lifelong journey. Wisdom is something to build upon each and every season of our lives. The writer of Proverbs gives us several practical ways to get wisdom.

First and foremost, you must acquire it from the Word of the Lord (Proverbs 4:4). I encourage you to take time to personally read the Scriptures every day of your life. 

Second, you obtain good doctrine from the local church. The church is God’s designated place for his people to get connected through the Christ-centered preaching and teaching of God’s word.  

Third, I encourage you to engage in consistent fellowship with godly men and women. We can all read the Scriptures on our own and come up with different interpretations. Therefore, we must look to godly men and women who will help direct us in the ways of the Lord.

Fourth, you could enroll in academic institutions which stretch your thinking and help you to solidify your personal convictions. The acquisition of knowledge is an element of gaining wisdom.   

After you have acquired wisdom, the natural progression towards godly living is to be wise.  

Being Wise 

God desires that you apply the wisdom you have gained, for it is the motivation which compels what we think and what we do. Here are some ways to apply the wisdom that has been acquired.

First, we must remember the teaching we have received (Proverbs 4:4, 11, 21). This theme has been repeated in Scripture over 140 times. Therefore, it must be important.  

Second, we must not be foolish. Don’t be foolish and lose sleep because you are doing evil or causing someone else to fall (Proverbs 4:16). Don’t be foolish by being wicked or violent (Proverbs 4:17). And, don’t be foolish by stumbling around in the darkness (Proverbs 4:19). 

Third, we must work hard to keep our hearts from failing during the challenges of life (Proverbs 4:23).

Fourth, we must not speak lies (Proverbs 4:24). People who tell lies will be lied to in return.  

Finally, fifth, we must be intentional about our lives. We need to think about where we are going before we end up there. Satan and the spiritual forces of darkness can only make suggestions and whisper in our ears those activities which displease the Lord.

But did you know that those who belong to God have a choice? We can think rightly about where we go and what we do.  

What’s the Benefit? 

Will wisdom actually do something for those who acquire it? O dear friends and graduates, the answer to that question is an astounding yes. Look at these five promises found in Proverbs four:

Wisdom will keep you, if you don’t forsake her; she will guard you, if you love her (Proverbs 4:6) Wisdom will promote you, if you prize her highly; she will honor you, if you embrace her (Proverbs 4:8) And, wisdom will prolong your life, if you receive her teaching (Proverbs 4:10) She will place on your head a beautiful crown (Proverbs 4:9), and She will give you good footing while on your journey (Proverbs 4:12)

So, grab a hold of wisdom and never let go, for she is your life (Proverbs 4:13).

The final location and ultimate destination of wisdom is found in the gospel message of Jesus Christ. Because of Jesus’s work on the cross, we can now have a healthy relationship with the One who gives wisdom generously.

O graduates, those of you who put your trust in the Lord Jesus can be fully assured that the gospel is the power of God leading to salvation (1 Corinthians 1:18). 

Don’t you know the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisest man ever recorded in history? Don’t you know the weakness of God is stronger than any bodybuilder to win a competition?  

So it is in Christ Jesus, he is the gospel, he is the good news that we preach because he is the One who has brought us the wisdom of God. And Jesus has done much more.

He has brought us righteousness and redemption and sanctification and one day he will bring us glorification. For as it is written, “He who boasts, let him boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:30-31) 

So, I urge you, graduates, to embrace these two heat shields. Do not look to the wisdom of the world. Instead, look to the wisdom of God as revealed through his Word which gives hope to those who believe. You see, like the two heat shields, the gospel will rescue us from death and destruction.

Photo Credit: Unsplash

Three Marks of Every Man And Woman of God

In a previous article, I wrote that without Christ you were a lost and helpless and hopeless sinner. But now in Christ you are a new creation. God’s Spirit lives in you! 

You are God’s man, God’s woman. Be who you are. 

In this article, I want to give you three distinguishing marks of every man and woman of God. These were God’s words through Paul to Timothy, and so they apply to us today.

Three Distinguishing Marks of Every Man and Woman of God 



1. You have made a confession. 

Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. (1 Timothy 6:11-12)

Paul is pointing to a specific time, remembered by many people, when Timothy confessed faith in Jesus Christ. It seems most likely that this would have been his baptism. 

Since the day of Pentecost, Christian believers have confessed faith in Jesus through baptism, which is a sign and seal of our union with Christ. Scripture says: 

If you confess with your mouth ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9) 

From the earliest times people made this confession at baptism: “Jesus is Lord.” Timothy had made this confession, and a large crowd of people had heard it. 

A Christian is a person who has reached a conclusion about Jesus Christ. Christians are in process about many things. We are in the process over holiness, repentance, spiritual growth, overcoming temptation, and prayer. 

But we are not in process over who Jesus is. We stand with Peter when he said to Jesus, “You are the Christ” (Matthew 16:16). We stand with Thomas when he bowed before Jesus and said, “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28). And, we stand with the whole church in every place and every age, confessing that “Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:11).

If you are God’s man or God’s woman, you don’t start each day wondering who you are, why you are here, or who you belong to. You are Christ’s, united with him in his death and resurrection. You have made a confession. 

Have you made this confession? If you have, remember who you are: God’s man, God’s woman.  

2. You have embraced a calling. 

In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus… I charge you to keep this command without spot or blame… (1 Timothy 6:13-14) 

The command that Paul is referring to seems to be in verses 11 and 12: “There is character to pursue, a battle to fight, and a life to gain… But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.” 

a. Character to pursue 

John Stott says that: “Endurance is patience in difficult circumstances. Gentleness is patience with difficult people.” [4] 

b. A battle to fight 

Fight the good fight of the faith (1 TImothy 6:12). 

The world will always reject Christ, and those who proclaim that “Christ is Lord” will always be in conflict with the unbelieving world. 

c. A life to gain 

Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses… (1 Timothy 6:12) 

Notice the language—pursue, fight, take hold. The Christian life will be a struggle. Calvin says that: 

Self indulgence springs from [the Christian’s] desire to serve Christ… as if it were a mere leisure activity. Christ calls [his servants]… to wage a war.[5] 

Where do you find the energy for this struggle? Sometimes it is hard to keep going—too many disappointments, too many unanswered prayers, too many failures. You feel run down and you get weary in the struggle. 

How do you find the strength to sustain the rigors and the demands of this Christian life? When Paul gives Timothy this charge, he says “in the sight of God, who gives life to everything” (v13). 

God will give you the energy you need for this. He gives you life. He sustains your life. And, he will give you strength for each day. Pursue your calling in the sight of the God who gives life. He will quicken you by His Spirit. As your days are, so shall your strength be. 

3. You anticipate Christ’s coming. 

Keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ… (1 Timothy 6:14) 

One day we are going to see Jesus Christ. He will appear. God will bring that day about “in his own time” (1 Timothy 6:15, NIV). The day will come when your faith will be turned to sight. This is an amazing promise. 

Then Paul reminds us that “God… lives in unapproachable light” (1 Timothy 6:16). God is not hidden in unapproachable darkness, but in unapproachable light. We are not alienated from God because He is obscured in darkness, but because he is inaccessible in light. 

Our problem is not that we can’t find God. It is that we couldn’t come near him if we did! All through the Bible, we find that man at his best is unable to stand in the presence of God: 

When Isaiah, the holiest man of his time, saw God’s glory fill the temple, he cried “Woe to me… I am ruined” (Isaiah 6:5). When John the Apostle saw the glory of the risen Christ, he “fell at his feet as though dead…” (Revelation 1:17). 

If the best of men in the Old and New Testaments are on their faces in the presence of God, how do you think it will be for us when the Son of God comes in his glory and all his holy angels with him? 

Thomas Blinney explains how we can abide in Christ’s presence when he comes:  

There is a way for man to rise  
To that sublime abode: 
An offering and a sacrifice, 
A Holy Spirit’s energies, 
An Advocate with God: 

He points to: 

An offering: The Son of God loved us and gave Himself for us A sacrifice: Christ bore our sins in His body on the tree The Holy Spirit: uniting us with Christ through the bond of faith The risen Christ: advocating for us in the presence of the Father 



Who We Are  

This is the life that we share together in the church: We share the same confession of Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord. We share the same calling to pursue a holy life, to fight the good fight of faith, and to lay hold of the eternal life to which we have been called. We live in the same anticipation of Christ’s appearing and our entry into the glory of His presence 

Whatever you are facing in your life right now, here’s what you need to know. You are God’s man, God’s woman, bought by the precious blood of Christ, called to the blessing of life under the rule of God: The King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who alone is immortal, who lives in unapproachable light, to whom be glory and might forever. Amen. 

[This article was adapted from Pastor Colin’s sermon, Gospel Hope, in his series 10 Distinctives of a Gospel Centered Church] 



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Five Key Connections: Ministry, Paul, and more

Here are five of my favorite quotes from recent Christian articles, including a quote on ministry, an article on Paul, and more!

One Man Against A City (John MacArthur, Grace to You)

Athens stirred Paul’s emotions. The phrase “his spirit was being provoked within him” employs a Greek word,  paroxunō (“provoked”), which speaks of intense agitation. Our word paroxysm comes from this root. Paul was saddened, grieved, indignant, and outraged at the widespread idolatry he saw. He knew these people were giving stone idols glory, which rightfully belongs to God alone.

Paul could not maintain his silence in the face of such an affront to the one true God. Provoked to his godly core, he was about to unleash an amazing evangelistic sermon to his unbelieving audience.

The Work of Ministry (Laura Lundgren, Servants of Grace)

In our little church, “the work of ministry” looks like making coffee, clicking powerpoints, opening doors, and greeting strangers and friends alike. It looks like planning crafts and arranging snacks. It looks like wiping noses and playing with blocks. It looks like preaching and singing and praying for one another.

Be Who You Are in Jesus Christ (Colin Smith, Unlocking the Bible)

How could that be true of people who are indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God? God does not tread us down by branding us according to our nature. He lifts us up by calling us to be who we are in Christ. 

How Do We Know If We Have The Spirit?(Casey Lewis, For the Church)

We can be sure we have a heavenly home because the all-sovereign promising keeping God has “prepared us for this very thing” (2 Cor 5:5a). Having prepared us for it, we can be sure God will bring us to our heavenly home. God’s track record is flawless, and His ability to accomplish His purposes is unquestionable. 

20 Quotes from Don Carson on Gospel Centrality (Matt Smethurst and Don Carson, TGC)

In all our sinning, God is invariably the most offended party. That is why we must have his forgiveness, or we have nothing.

Graduate, Put on The Robes You Could Never Earn

It’s graduation time! Students all over the world put on the graduation robes they worked so hard to earn. This accomplishment may have required a lot of external, physical work—sprinting to class, carrying heavy books, straining your eyes to read one more page. But the external robes mainly indicate an internal change.

Your mind is stronger than it was before. You
carry more knowledge and more critical thinking skills than you had when you
started. It is this internal change that qualifies you to put on the external robes.
The Hogwartsian robes do not make you smarter—the change comes first and the
robes second.

The Christian life, praise God!, is the opposite.
Salvation comes from Jesus’s accomplishment—not ours. And, the Bible says we
can put on the robes he earned. In
doing so, we are transformed into his likeness. Here are three words that the
Bible uses to describe how we can receive the transformation Christ’s work offers
us.

1.) Consider

For the death [Jesus] died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. (Romans 6:10-12)

The first thing we do as Christians is a mental, spiritual act. Puritan writer and preacher William Perkins often discussed the importance of persuading oneself of the saving promise of Jesus Christ, and Paul is saying the same thing here. We must consider ourselves “dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

You might say, “But there is still sin in my life!
I want to forsake it, but I cannot seem to get rid of it.” Romans 6:10-12 is for
you, friend: Accept Christ, and consider
yourself free from sin.

We are called to consider ourselves dead to sin because it is true if we are in the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ died, “once for all,” and if we do not consider sin dead, then it will “reign in [our] mortal bod[ies].”

2.) Put On

“…put them all away: anger, wrath, malice… seeing that you have put off the old self… and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator… put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience…” (Colossians 3:8-10, 12)

Christ’s perfect sacrifice brought forth a special kind of robe—a new self. If we are in Christ we can put this robe on. We “clothe” (NIV) ourselves with this new self. And the amazing thing about this robe, unlike a graduation robe, is that the robe changes us!  

Paul says here that the new self is “being
renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.” In other words, put on
this robe that Christ’s work accomplished, and it will put you on the track of
holiness. If we put on this new self, we are set in motion aimed at the image
of our creator.

What I’m trying to show is this: Our being
renewed happens as we dress up like the image of our creator as we see it
in Scripture. All of this happens solely because of God’s grace.

Putting on the new self may direct attention toward you. Others around you might say, “Why are you acting like that? That’s not you.” But you can say, “It is not who I was, but in Christ it is who I am becoming.”

3.) Imitate

In a world that says “Be
yourself! Find yourself!” the New Testament calls for a different, more
edifying way to live. We are called to a life of imitation as part of
our sanctification.

The New Testament has much to say on the importance of imitation. Paul encourages Christians to imitate him (1 Corinthians 4:16) because he was imitating Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1). Paul highlights his readers’ imitation of the Lord and the Apostles (1 Thessalonians 1:6) as well as their imitation of other godly churches (1 Thessalonians 2:14). The author of Hebrews, too, encourages Christians to not be sluggish, but to imitate “those who through faith and patience inherit the promises” (Hebrews 6:12).

And, of course, we are to be imitators of God. Jesus himself alludes to imitation in Matthew 5:48, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (see also 1 Peter 1:16; Leviticus 11:44).

Different from what the world’s
appeal to individualism, Jesus says how you live your life is not only up to
who you think you are but who the Bible says God is.

The Creator God’s attributes are
imperatives to his creation.

We are not God, but we are
commanded to live like God: “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved
children” (Ephesians 5:1). The word imitate is so important here,
because the action it describes is an act of repetition, of doubling, by a
person who knows perfectly well that they are not the original.

When we imitate God, we do not suppose we are God. How could we? In imitating God we learn of our own sin. And besides, Jesus, who was God, in his unmatched humility, “did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped” (Philippians 2:6).

Jesus knew that it was right for God the Son to submit to the will of the Father. And we know we are the creation, not the Creator.

Don’t be Conformed, But be Transformed

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind… (Romans 12:1-2)

As we all think about the nature of graduation, let us marvel at Christ’s accomplishment than is applied to us. We did not do the work—Christ did. But let’s receive the blessing by considering ourselves dead to sin and alive in Christ, putting on the new self, and imitating our Lord.

Due to his grace, we are being made more like
Christ every day. This was not our choice, God put us on this track. What we
can choose now is this: to act like the world and conform to it, or to imitate
Christ, putting on the robes we could never earn which will transform us into a
holy people.

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Attending Church Led Me to Read the Bible

As I wrote before, being involved in a church community opens us up to receive some great gifts from the Lord. And while it is true that reading the Bible led me to attend church, so it is also true that attending church fueled my desire to read the Bible.  

Making Scripture-reading a regular part of your day will increase your faith in Jesus Christ, and, as a result, increase your joy at church.  

If you find that your only encounter with the Bible happens on one day of the week, I would encourage you to plan out time each day to examine the Scriptures and to prepare for community.

Examine the Scriptures 

For they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. (Acts 17:11, NIV) 

Acts 17 shows us a group of believers who would hear Paul preach to them, and then they would (“every day”) want to see it for themselves. 

This might sound at first like they are being rude, stubborn, or antagonistic but the opposite is true. This verse does not say, “For they received the message with great caution” and then wanted to see if what Paul said was true.  

Nor does it say: “For they received the message with great skepticism” or, “with great frustration.” That would be a very different scenario! 

I have been there before. I have heard some teaching from the Bible that made me angry—I was offended by God’s truth. Frustration motivated my search into the Bible, and I found the verses that seemed to agree with me and ignored others that clearly did not.  

But this is not what the verse says about Paul’s audience here. It says they “received the message with great eagerness.” It was their eagerness that led them to see God’s Truth for themselves in the Scriptures.  

You might say: “Doesn’t this communicate a lack of trust in one’s pastor? Why should I examine the Scriptures if the leader of my church already did? They are the one with the experience, the degree, and the calling!”

Find the Original Source 

I was an English major in college and then I went on to get a master’s degree in the same subject. Long story short—I wrote a lot of papers! 

These papers required I research and then appropriately give credit to various sources. A tricky situation would arise every now and again: I’d found an article (B) quoting a passage from a previous article (A).

If I used that passage and then credited article B, I would be in error—that’s not where it really came from. It’s just where I found it.  

Instead, I had to go find where the quote really came from. Who said it first? Who deserves credit for this? Going back to the original allowed me to see the original context, why the quote was first said, and learn more information surrounding it. I wanted more information—not out of disrespect for the copy, but out of respect for the original! 

When it comes to biblical truth, don’t mistake the messenger with the message. Don’t mistake the second-hand source with the original. Receive the word with eagerness from your pastor on Sunday, and then go to the Scriptures to see it for yourself! 

Prepare for Community 

Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. (1 Peter 3:8) 

There are three parts to this verse that I want to highlight: 

1. Unity of Mind 

Finally, all of you, have unity of mind…  

I previously discussed how through church God offers us the gift of unity. How does this unity come about? It has everything to do with what we submit to.  

If we find our identity through submitting foremost to leaders, who come and go, rise and fall, retire and transition, then our church unity is at great risk. Paul calls out this behavior in the Corinthian church:  

For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human? (1 Corinthians 3:4) 

What then can we follow to bring us the unity God offers us in the church? The answer is his word! 

When we take the time each day to submit to the word of God, then we will find great unity at church with others who do the same. For the Scriptures will never lose their truthfulness!

I want to point out, also, how 1 Peter 3:8 says believers have unity of mind. If we don’t submit ourselves to God’s word throughout our week, and trust only our own thoughts, then there will be great disunity of mind in the church.  

Human leaders, as great as they can be, are not perfect. They grow, develop, err. No teaching from man is perfect and without error—only God’s word is that. Only God’s Word can accomplish unity of mind for a church. 

2. A Tender Heart  

…sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart… 

We must have great affection for one another. This is hard for me! I know my heart. Naturally, I only care about myself. I want people to care about how my week went, but I have little to no desire to hear about someone else’s.  

So, during the week leading up to church, I need to work on my heart so that I can offer others the sympathy, brotherly love, and tender heart they should expect from me as a Christian brother. I desperately need quiet time with the Lord, in prayer and in his word, to soften my heart.

3. A Humble Mind  

…and a humble mind. 

When I think of humility, I think of two phrases. The first is when a person says, “I’ll admit it. I’m having trouble understanding ____. Can you help me understand?” 

Church is a great place to ask questions—to our leaders, to one another—but how will you know what to ask if you have not been reading? Read the Bible throughout the week and come prepared to ask questions about it at church. 

The second evidence of humility is when a person says, “I know something. I have something to offer. And I do not want to keep it to myself.”  

We often mistake humility for self-depreciation. We think humility means we have nothing to offer others—that we are valueless. But that is not how the Bible talks about us! The Bible says we have great value—stemming from our identity in Jesus Christ.  

Humility then is recognizing we have something to offer and putting ourselves out there with it for others to evaluate. If you read your Bible daily, you surely will have something to share about our Lord Jesus Christ to others at church.  

Wanting More of Christ 

When we read the Bible, we are led to attend church. And when we attend church, we are led to read the Bible. What I’m really saying here is this: Discovering some of Christ leads us to want more of him!  

Don’t limit Christ to one small part of your week. Pursue him all week long, and let him overflow your soul! 

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Three Life Lessons Learned from Elisabeth Elliot

I met Elisabeth Elliot during my sophomore year at Wheaton College. She had a glow about her, and she walked with grace and sophistication. The warmth in her eyes made you want to lean into her words. Those eyes were welcoming even with years of heartache, sacrifice, and service. 

She was married to Jim Elliot, who was killed during one of their mission trips in Ecuador. Jim’s death was a catalyst for Elisabeth’s ministry that would inspire and ignite even more world missions to continue to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

She came to speak at chapel at Wheaton. And, as part of the chapel committee, I was able to spend time with her that day.

Elisabeth Elliot’s life was one that displayed one of the greatest acts of forgiveness. Two years after her husband was brutally murdered, she went to live with the tribe that had speared her husband.

She, along with Rachel Saint, studied the tribe’s language and learned their culture. They demonstrated complete forgiveness to the men who had murdered their loved ones two years prior. This so moved the Waodani that they gave these women the opportunity to share the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Many quotes can be found all over the internet that demonstrate her love for God and her heart for others. Three quotes stand out as a summation of what she believed as a Christian woman:

God defines sin. 

We must quit bending the Word to suit our situation. It is we who must be bent to that Word, our necks that must bow under the yoke. 

If I shot an arrow and then paint the target around the arrow, I could hit it every time. So often, that is what we do with sin. We try to define what sin is ourselves, instead of using the word to define it for us. We sin and then paint the outlines of what is acceptable and not acceptable and thereby sinning but rationalizing it away so we are in the clear.

2 Kings describes King Hoshea. He did what “was evil in the Lord’s sight, yet not as the kings of Israel who were before him. (2 Kings 17:2). It’s like Hoshea thought: “As long as I’m not as bad as the guy before me, I’m okay.”

Elisabeth’s quote reminds us that we need to change according to the Word, we need godliness, in order to be righteous. For as Pastor Colin Smith states: “Righteousness is built on the foundation of godliness.” 

Elisabeth sought godliness by reading God’s Word, forgiving those who harmed her loved ones, and living a life to point always to Jesus.  

God defines the roles as Christian women. 

The fact that I am a woman does not make me a different kind of Christian, but the fact that I am a Christian makes me a different kind of woman.

The quote from Elisabeth shows that her defining feature is not her gender but her relationship with Jesus. Because of this relationship, she became set apart. 

Elisabeth was definitely not one to sit at home and “be protected.” She went to the very men who killed her husband. She knew the One who has no rival—Jesus Christ—who saved us from our sins. 

Elisabeth said, “We are women, and my plea is, ‘Let me be a woman, holy through and through, asking for nothing but what God wants to give me, receiving with both hands and with all my heart whatever that is.” 

Whether we are man or woman, Elisabeth reminded us we are called out of darkness into his light: 

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light (2 Peter 2:9). 

During that time we spent together, I asked her why she never changed her last name of Elliot since she had recently been remarried. She said she wanted that connection of the name. And the connection to what happened to her first husband. She wanted this so that she could continually tell the story of God’s grace in her life. 

This story demonstrated being called out of the darkness. For her, it wasn’t about a name, a battle to win, or a gender role to fit into for her. It was always about Jesus.

God defines our mission. 

I have one desire now—to live a life of reckless abandon for the Lord, putting all my energy and strength into it.  

We each have one life. At least here on earth. And in answering the insincere question from the lawyer as to what the greatest commandment was, Jesus shared a sincere and powerful answer as to how we can live for him: 

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:38-39).

Because of Jesus’s sacrifice, now can live a life of abandon for Jesus and for the glory of God. With this life, we can join him in the work he’s already doing on earth. We do it with everything we have.

Whatever you do, work at it with your whole being, for the Lord and not for men, because you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as your reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. (Colossians 3:23-24) 

We want to be a people who welcome all people, a people who live with such fierce grace that people want to lean in and hear the story of what Christ did.

We want to forgive when it seems impossible, to fight sin when it seems never-ending, and to love with a power that comes from Jesus who first loved us.

Elisabeth Elliot had that as her story–as her legacy. She was more than a grace-giving, completely forgiving hero, she had Jesus as her hero. I am blessed to have met her and thankful for the story of the saving gift of grace she told and lived.

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