Colin S. Smith's Blog, page 82

10 Bible Reading Habits I’ve Learned from My Pastor

…hold fast to the word I preached to you… (1 Corinthians 15:2b)

A good sermon exhorts us to grapple with God’s Word preached, hold fast to its truth, and do what it commands. A preacher who places himself under Holy Scripture will present his teaching in a way the congregation can follow, to understand the text they hold on their laps.

10 Bible Reading Habits I’ve Learned from My Pastor’s Sermons

I have found my senior pastor to be exceptionally faithful in this regard. In recently reflecting on 15 years of sitting under his teaching, I’ve seen how his Word-based preaching has significantly impacted my personal Bible reading.

Here are 10 habits I have picked up from my pastor’s weekly sermons:

1. Slow down!

I’ve read the Beatitudes many times and thought I had mined all their treasures—until our church did a 17-week series on only 10 verses. My pastor’s high view of Scripture has challenged me to expect more from each verse and to slow down when I read my Bible.    

2. Use Scripture to explain Scripture.

When seeking to understand the meaning of a word or verse, I’ve seen how important it is to interpret Scripture in light of itself. For example, I understood the word “blasphemy” to mean insulting or showing contempt for God. But my pastor used Mark 2:7 to explain Matthew 26:65, which defines “blasphemy” as claiming to be God. This makes the charge against Jesus before the priests all the more meaningful since Jesus was put to death for claiming to be God, the one crime for which Jesus could be rightfully convicted.   

3. Expect glimpses of Christ outside the Gospels.

I likely would never have seen all the ways Joseph pointed further to Jesus Christ if it hadn’t been shown to me, but as I repeatedly saw this on Sunday mornings I started finding Christ throughout Scripture on my own. I found Jesus in the promised son who would deliver God’s people (Judges 13:3) and in the psalmist longing for a pledge of good (Psalm 119:122), among many other examples. As Pastor Colin has said, “The whole Bible is one story. It begins in a garden, ends in a city, and all the way through points us to Jesus Christ.”

4. Details are often more significant than we realize.

I’ve learned to ask questions of details that may seem insignificant in a passage. For example, why are we told that Jesus heals an official’s son in John 4? My pastor brought to our attention the many parallels to Pharaoh’s son who died in Exodus 12. He explained how this small, but significant, detail pointed to why grace is better than law, and why Jesus is better than Moses. Any time a verse gives specific details like the number of baskets in Mark 6 or repeats a phrase like “here I am” in Genesis 22, I want to look closely because I know the Spirit has preserved the text this way for a reason.

5. We have more in common with the original recipients than we think.

Our God is unchanging (James 1:18), and the truth in his Word is relevant to all people in every century, but sometimes it can be hard to place ourselves with the original recipients. My pastor’s imaginative reconstruction of the original context of Acts has helped me relate to the early church. For example, I can feel how difficult it might have been for the church in Antioch to give up their best leaders so the gospel would spread. They obediently sacrificed two of their greatest assets for the good of the whole church. I’ve also seen how the political climate described in 1 Peter was not unlike today where Christianity is increasingly unwelcome.  

6. Never skip over difficult or boring passages.

I vividly remember the Sunday our church opened its first new campus. Our pastor preached on 2 Peter 2, an account of the destruction that awaits the wicked. He started out by saying it was not a text he would’ve selected for the occasion, but because we believe in the importance of the whole of Scripture, he wasn’t going to change it because it was Grand Opening Sunday. I’ve found myself reminded of that day when my mood tempts me to jump around my Bible instead of working systematically through a book. I’m convinced it’s good to receive the whole counsel of God.  

7. Use the New Testament to explain the Old (and vice versa).

Our God never changes, so we can expect consistency in both Testaments. For example, this Christmas we considered the star in Matthew 2. My pastor pointed out that there is another instance in the Old Testament where God guided his people with a wonder from the sky—the pillar of cloud and fire from Exodus 14. The significance of the star announcing Jesus takes on greater meaning when placed beside the Old Testament manifestation of God’s presence with his people.     

8. Outside sources can be “helpful.”

Every time my pastor quotes an outside source, he uses the term “helpful.” In fact, I don’t recall him using any other word to describe the quotations he shares! I found it fascinating that he doesn’t use words like “clarifying,” “illuminating,” “explanatory,” “authoritative,” or others. He purposefully uses the word “helpful,” as in “to give aid.”

This word choice has affected how I view outside sources. Often, we can be tempted to quickly adopt the opinions of notorious scholars, giving them equal or more weight than Scripture. But these voices are merely human. The Word of God, illuminated by the Holy Spirit, is the only trustworthy means of hearing the voice of God. We are blessed to have access to many helpful books and writings for interpreting difficult passages or proposing another way to view something—but they are not to be seen as absolute authority.

Sometimes we need help, but by the Holy Spirit, every believer in the gospel of Jesus is perfectly equipped to hear the Lord speak to them in his Word. We should keep the words of men in their proper place.

9. Theology should aid Bible reading, not the other way around.

I have grown to appreciate how my pastor introduces an important doctrine to help us understand how a Bible passage fits the big picture of the Bible story. But he rarely starts with the doctrine itself. In this, I have gained confidence that reading my Bible is the best possible way to grow in doctrine and theology, which are aids to understanding the biblical text and the God who inspired it, not the other way around.

10. The Bible is an unending source of wisdom and pleasure for the Church.  

It’s a joy to watch my pastor preach. His love of God’s word is abundantly clear. Seeing the joy he finds through time spent in Scripture spurs on my own private devotional reading. I want to tap into the source of wisdom and pleasure that he continues to lead our church to each week.

[Photo Credit: Unsplash]

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Key Connections (January 26, 2018)

Should You Fear Business? (Tessa Thompson, Revive Our Hearts)

A godly life is one that is zealous for good works—not frazzled but focused; not distracted but devoted; not idle but intentional; not chaotic but consistent. Christ Himself was a perfect example of a godly life devoted to good works. If you read through the gospels, you will see a man who “went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil” (Acts 10:38). In short, He lived a busy life—and yet it was a busyness that was entirely holy, selfless, fruitful, and glorifying to God.

One Broken Man Who Made Me Whole Again (Eden Parker, godismysalvation.wordpress.com )

I’m not my own. I wasn’t bought with “perishable things” but with “the precious blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:18). He, Jesus, left his throne in heaven, set his glory aside, and suffered a bloody gory death he did not deserve so that I might live for something more than me—so that I might live for the only Something that really matters—Jesus Christ.

Disabled by Design (Daniel Ritchie, Desiring God)

God takes great care to fashion every person who has ever lived. He makes no mistakes. He does not let a single detail escape his watchful eye. He has knit together every person into the tapestry we see today (Psalm 139:13). Just because someone is born with a mental or physical disability does not mean God missed a stitch.

Repent and Believe (Cameron Buettel, Grace to You)

And just as vital as knowing the facts of the gospel, God’s people need to thoroughly understand the response to the gospel that His Word demands. Confusion on this detail—as much as any other point of gospel truth—is a significant hindrance to the church’s evangelistic efforts today.

Five Leadership Lessons from the Mountain (Ryan Higginbottom, Unlocking the Bible)

Godly leadership is of vital importance, and all of God’s people need to pray for, recognize, and encourage such leadership…The Savior who Moses foreshadowed is sufficient for leaders and followers alike. He always offers forgiveness, cleansing, and strength for those who come to him in faith.

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Where Can I Go With My Shame?

Video Transcript:

Where can I go with my shame? That is the question. The answer does not lie in a new story of loving yourself. The answer lies in the great story of the Son of God who loved you and gave himself for you. There is a love outside of yourself. The Son welcomes you, receives you, holds you, and he will never let you go—irrespective of the cost, even if it means laying down his life for you.

Jesus Christ came into the world so that your life could be part of a better story, so that the worst thing that happened to you would not become the defining thing in your life, so that there could be a seventh chapter for Tamar and for you—a new and better story of hope.

Jesus is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. He lives, so that in him you may be able to despise your shame and rise above it. He lives so that no shame will have the last word in your life.

Think of Tamar with the ashes in her hair. She put them on her head to convey her sense of shame: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor… To give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes” (Isaiah 61:1, 3).

The headdress is a sign of dignity and honor. Christ can take the ashes of your shame and crown you with his steadfast love (Psalm 103:4), and he will pour that into your soul, so that over time, it will become a means of healing.

Picture Tamar in her royal robe. She tore it because she no longer felt worthy to wear it. But Christ clothes his people in a new robe of righteousness.

In the book of Revelation, we get scene seven—a great company of redeemed people. They are clothed in white robes, and they are not crying out in agony, they are shouting in triumph: “Salvation belongs to our God… and to the Lamb” (Revelation 7:10).

Scene seven in Tamar’s story is that right now she is part of that great company. Christ came into the world so that the outrage of Amnon’s sin should not have the last word in Tamar’s life. He came into the world so that neither your sins nor the sins committed against you would be the defining story of your life. He came so that your life could be part of a great story of Christ’s marvelous redemption.

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Is It Possible for Christians to Idolize the Bible?

A few years ago, I read the following in an article by an author who self-identifies as an evangelical: “While the Bible is an important and authoritative guide for Christian faith and practice, it isn’t the foundation or center of our faith—Jesus is…Studying Scripture is valuable, but nowhere near as valuable as cultivating a day to day relationship with the God incarnate.”

This author has a number of views that make him a bit of an outlier in the evangelical movement as it’s been traditionally defined. However, I’m finding that his view of Scripture is increasingly common. More and more I hear sentiments within the church like:

“Many Christians are putting too much emphasis on the Bible instead of Christ and the Holy Spirit.”
“The Trinity is not Father, Son, and Holy Scripture.”
“Beware of making the Bible an idol.”

Hence the question: Is it possible for Christians to idolize the Bible?

The Importance of the Question

We should not dismiss this question too quickly. It seems to me that those who express the above sentiments have had a bad experience with a church or with Christians when it comes to the Bible. They’ve encountered numerous Christians who, though they know the Bible inside and out, seem “puffed up” by their knowledge, having little love for Christ or for others. The worry is that putting so much focus on the Bible will only replicate these experiences.

Scripture says that some knowledge “puffs up” (1 Corinthians 8:1), but that other knowledge is intimately interwoven with love (Philippians 1:9).  So, we must test ourselves:

Is my study of the Scriptures bearing the fruit of the Spirit, or is it bearing the fruit of arrogance?

The Bible has been misused widely in its history, so certainly we must be wary of misusing it ourselves, turning it into a vehicle for pride over how much we know, rather than being rightly challenged by it to humble, loving service of God and others.

Prioritizing the Bible is prioritizing God’s voice to us, and thus God himself.
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Further, Christ rebukes the Pharisees in John 5:39-40 for knowing the Scriptures inside and out, yet not receiving and believing in him as the Christ. So again we must test ourselves:

Is my study of the Scriptures merely the accumulation of knowledge, like studying a textbook, or is it helping me follow Christ as my Lord and love him as my Savior? 

In other words, we must understand that it’s possible to know the Scriptures yet ignore Jesus. We must also admit that many Christians have had interactions with believers or churches who treat the Bible just like the Pharisees did.

We must not be surprised by the question, but challenged and helped by it.

The Inaccuracy of the Question

Yet, as important and challenging as the question is, it’s rooted in an inaccurate understanding of Scripture. Consider the primary descriptions of Scripture from the Bible itself:

“All Scripture is breathed out by God…” (2 Timothy 3:16).
“For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21).

Add to this that one of the favored names of Jesus Christ is “The Word,” and you have a Trinitarian testimony that the Bible is not divorced from the Godhead, but is the tangible work of the Trinity in perfect harmony speaking to us.

If the Bible is the voice of God, that means that you can hear from God!
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Simply put, the Bible is the voice of God. The Father breathes out the Word. The Son is the Word incarnate. The Holy Spirit carried along the biblical authors so they would speak “from God.” The Bible is the voice of God, not just the red letters, but the whole Bible. As such, the question, “Is it possible for Christians to idolize the Bible?” is inaccurate, because it forces us to drive a false wedge between God and his voice. Prioritizing God’s voice is prioritizing God, and thus prioritizing his voice cannot be thought of as idolatry.

Please know, I get it. The Scriptures and Jesus Christ are different entities. The Bible and the Spirit are unique from one another. But that doesn’t mean we can or should treat them as such, divorcing them from one another.

An Illustration of the Question

Consider your best friend. How, precisely, are you in relationship with him or her? You may work together and have shared hobbies, but primarily, you know your friend through his words. Your conversations and every verbal interaction are essential to your friendship.

Sure, there is much about him that isn’t verbal—his character, talents, personality—but even then, most of what you know about his character, talents, and personality is known to you because of what he has said to you over the years.

You wouldn’t try to separate your friend from his words. They are distinct entities, yes. But they go hand-in-hand.

The Importance of the Question, Revisited

So we return to the question, “Is it possible to idolize the Bible?” The answer is a resounding, “No.” Prioritizing the Bible is far from idolatry. Prioritizing the Bible is prioritizing God’s voice to us, and thus God himself.

You can misuse the Bible, as we’ve earlier described. But if the Bible describes itself accurately, it is the voice of God speaking to us.

To know the Bible is to know God: his voice, his character, his attributes, his kingdom, his plan to save us!

This is where I’d like to ask the author quoted earlier: How can you and I “cultivate a day to day relationship with God incarnate” apart from the Scriptures? How can we separate Christ and his voice to such an extent that we can set one against the other or claim that listening to his voice can become an idol? If the Bible is how Jesus speaks to us, how can we grow in relationship with Christ without emphasizing listening to him through his very Word?

This is where I find the question and the sentiments described at the beginning rather dangerous. At best, these sentiments warn us of misuse, as we’ve seen. But at worst, they provide us with a massive reason to distance ourselves from the Scriptures, thus distancing us from the voice of God speaking into our lives.

The Encouragement in the Question

The Bible cannot be emphasized enough in our lives, in our small groups, in our churches, for it is how we hear the very voice of God speaking to us! To cultivate a day-to-day relationship with God incarnate, we must listen to his voice. How bizarre would it be to worry that you over-prioritized your best friends words? If you long to know your best friend, you will listen to their words.

Don’t miss the encouraging truth in the midst of this discussion: If the Bible is the voice of God, that means that you can hear from God!

So friend, let’s heed the important challenge that comes with this question, “Is it possible to make the Bible an idol?”  Let’s be Christians who grow in love and faith through the Scriptures. But let’s not be confused: God has spoken to us through the Scriptures, so if we would truly know him and love him, we must make listening to him a passionate priority in our lives.

[Photo Credit: Unsplash]

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Crockpot Churches in a Microwave Culture

Have you ever wanted things to happen faster than they are occurring? Wouldn’t it be great to have a “microwave-accessible” process to speed up relationships, savings accounts, and personal growth?

Sometimes I dream of such a reality. But in those moments, I can be misled. I wrongly believe that completing a task or fast internal growth will somehow solve the anxiety in my heart. This belief carries over into my ministry life as well.

I am knee deep, maybe even neck deep, in the work of revitalization at my church. God is trying to move a great core of people forward for the gospel while building a church that will outlive the current bodies who make up its congregation. Change is inevitable, but navigating how to move forward has been the big challenge. I would prefer the microwave solution—30 seconds and BOOM!—ready-to-eat, life-and-church change.

A Slow, Steady Gospel-Heat

What I’m finding is that God has our church in a crockpot, not a microwave. There’s a slow, steady heat developing around the gospel, and it’s taking more time than I would like. I see a similar idea worked out in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians: He calls it “the building up of the body of Christ.”

And [God] gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ… (Ephesians 4:11-13, emphasis mine)

God has gifted believers with different roles and gifts, assembling those believers into a church, and the church exists to equip the saints for the work of ministry. The aim of the church would be to “grow up in every way into him who the head, into Christ…and see itself built up in love” (v. 16).

“Growing up” and “being built up” take time for the individual and the church. There are no microwave solutions for these. A slow, steady heat is needed over time to see progress.

Making Progress in Your Local Church

How can you help Ephesians 4 work itself out in your local church? I see three primary ways this text can help us all.

1.  Identify the gifts and roles God has given you in Christ.

God has uniquely made you. He didn’t want someone else, or he wouldn’t have made you. He knows “you are more flawed and sinful than you dare to believe” (Tim Keller), but he loves you, and he sent the greatest gift in his son to prove this.

When you see Jesus for who he is and what he has done for you, faith and repentance are Spirit-led responses. When you respond by faith in Jesus, the Bible says the Spirit gives you spiritual gifts. Understanding those gifts will be crucial for your growth and ministry in your local church.

There are a number of tools that are readily accessible to help you discover what your gifts may be. Make sure those tools are biblically-based and reflect the gifts you see in Scripture:

Do you have the gift of teaching? Use that gift to help clarify God’s Word for the hearer and proclaim it with Spirit-led power.
What about the gift of mercy? Show compassion and heartfelt attention to those who are hurting.
Christians with the gift of giving can focus freely on stewarding their time, talents, and financial treasures to carry on the work and worship of God.

Meet with a pastor or work through proven tools when trying to discern your gifts. These processes always work out better in community because they are reinforced by others. To understand your gifts, you must first have an internal compulsion. That compulsion must then be met with external confirmation in God’s Word and from other people. Finally, God will open doors for you to use that gift to build up the body of Christ.

How our bodies grew physically didn’t happen overnight, and growing up in Christ won’t either.
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“Building up” means to bring something closer to completion or fullness. Think of an construction project that gets completed when the workers build up that which was missing—similarly, the church is a work in progress. God uses his people to build up one another and build up the work of the church. We need every Christian operating out of their gifts for the glory of God or the church will lack necessary growth. It’s a beautiful picture to watch God put his purposes into action through his people sacrificing and loving one another.

2. Remember that maturity is more of a process than a destination.

Maturity develops in us and in our churches over time as God uses our circumstances and relationships. It’s through those vehicles, and our successes and failures, that maturity grows. Finishing is not the goal for Christians; finishing like Christ is. How our bodies grew physically didn’t happen overnight, and growing up in Christ won’t either. So we’re patient with what God is doing and with his timeframe.

If the church is a work in process, then we need to know “building up” will take time:

The small group without true vulnerability during the meeting time will not be transformed overnight.
The women who constantly battle gossip and slander need other women with the gifts of prophecy and encouragement to push them forward in speaking the truth to one another. This will take time.
The children in your Sunday School are not always going to be well-behaved, or provide feedback when you ask. But they will eventually remember the teacher who used leadership to guide them and exhortation to correct them.

Be patient; maturity in Christ is a process. Remember Job, whose patience over time moved him from being a man who had everything and had heard of God with the hearing of his ear, to a man who knew God face to face, even after losing so much.

3. Christ is the means to change.

The text calls Christ our head. That means he is in charge of his people. He delegates the gifts. He providentially channels our experiences. And his heartbeat is to work through it all in love through the presence of his Holy Spirit.  

When you trust Christ, you give him everything. You turn over your mind, your will, your body, your emotions—all of it. You trust him to know what he’s doing. You humble yourself to let him work out those things in the right way at the right time.

God Will Finish What He Started

The gospel is multi-faceted. Yes, it’s good news of salvation to those who believe. But it doesn’t end there…

The message that Christ died, was buried, and rose again for sinners like you and me brings a continual hope. Hope that we don’t have to stay trapped in the old ways of our former life. Hope that we can, in Christ, break free from addictions and coping mechanisms. Hope for change. We are struggling, messed up, inconsistent, ungodly, and habitual sinners. Yet Paul reminds us “that God shows his love for us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

This process cannot be nuked for 30-seconds. There is no spiritual setting to get the “complete, mature, and finished you” in two-minutes. God intends to work in you and in your local church like a master chef intends to use a crockpot—slowly, but surely. It will take your whole life, until you reach eternity, for God to complete the work in you he started.

Isn’t it “good news” that he promises to do so?

[Photo Credit: Lightstock]

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Five Leadership Lessons from the Mountain

When we think of the Israelites wandering through the desert, we often picture God leading them by cloud and fire (Exodus 13:21). But God also appointed human leaders to govern, judge, and guide his people into the promised land.

God famously called to a man named Moses from a burning bush in Exodus chapter three. He summoned Moses to go to Pharaoh and lead the Israelites out of Egypt, where they were enslaved (Exodus 3:10). When Moses protested that he wasn’t skilled in speech, God promised that Aaron, Moses’s brother, would go with him and speak to the people (Exodus 4:10–17).

These brothers led the Israelites away from Pharaoh and out of slavery, through the Red Sea, and eventually to Mount Sinai, as God commanded. Here, Moses climbed up to meet with God and left Aaron in charge of the camp below (Exodus 24:12–14). After just 40 days, Moses returned to a camp in chaos.

Open Idolatry

In Exodus 32, we see a failure of leadership, and the contrast between Aaron and Moses is stark.

While Moses was at the top of Mount Sinai with God, the people at the base camp grew restless. They demanded that Aaron make them “gods who shall go before us” (Exodus 32:1).

Aaron seemed eager to comply. He melted their jewelry into a golden calf. The people were enthralled; they threw Moses to the side and forgot the God who delivered them from Egypt (Exodus 32:1, 4; see also Psalm 106:19–23). They attributed God’s mighty saving acts to the idol.

When the people wanted to worship the calf, Aaron built an altar and proclaimed a feast day (Exodus 32:4–5). Aaron knew better; yet he even used God’s covenant name “YHWH” (v. 5) in his feast day proclamation.

Meanwhile, God told Moses of the rebellion (Exodus 32:7–8). God wanted to destroy the people, but Moses interceded and pleaded for mercy, which God granted (Exodus 32:9–14).

Moses then went down to the camp, and he was super upset. As he charges into camp and confronts the people, the contrasts between the brothers jump off the page.

Five Characteristics of Godly Leaders

Let’s observe the major differences between Aaron and Moses.

1. Godly leaders know God and are concerned for his glory.

When God told Moses about the people’s sin, Moses immediately took to prayer (Exodus 32:11–14). He reminded God that wiping out the nation would violate his purpose in delivering them (v. 11), expose him to slander from the Egyptians (v. 12), and stall his promises to Abraham (v. 13). Killing all the Israelites would contradict God’s purpose to glorify himself through his people.

Meanwhile, despite seeing God’s miraculous work up close, Aaron built an altar for the idol. “They exchanged the glory of God for the image of an ox that eats grass” (Psalm 106:20). Had Aaron been jealous for God’s glory, he would have rebuked every attempt at false worship.

2. Godly leaders don’t tolerate sin; they work to eradicate it.

When Moses came into the Israelite camp, his “anger burned hot” (Exodus 32:19). He broke the tablets and destroyed the calf. “He took the calf that they had made and burned it with fire and ground it to powder and scattered it on the water and made the people of Israel drink it” (Exodus 32:20).

Moses knew the evil of the idol. He saw the temptation it offered and eliminated every trace of it.

Aaron, on the other hand, formed the idol and made no attempt to point the people back to God.

3. Godly leaders fear the Lord.

Aaron caved to the people’s request, perhaps fearing they would harm him (see Exodus 32:1–2).

On the other hand, Moses took action against popular opinion. He destroyed the calf in quick order, and then addressed the people’s behavior. He sent the Levites through the camp with their swords drawn. “And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And that day about three thousand men of the people fell” (Exodus 32:28).

While Moses feared God and honored him as holy, Aaron feared the people.

4. Godly leaders take responsibility for their flock.

Aaron was quick to make excuses when Moses confronted him. “You know the people, that they are set on evil” (Exodus 32:22). You can hear the contempt in Aaron’s words. He saw the people’s flaws and eagerly blamed them, rather than take responsibility for the sin he advanced.

But Moses worked for the people’s forgiveness. He didn’t minimize their sin, but sought the Lord on their behalf. He took on their burden as his own. “Perhaps I can make atonement for your sin” (Exodus 32:30).

5. Godly leaders are sacrificial.

Moses wasn’t perfect. But the contrasts in this chapter culminate in a breathtaking example of sacrificial leadership.

When Moses spoke to the Lord about the people’s sin, he begged for their forgiveness. But he knew that sin had a cost, and his love for his people produced a shocking request:

So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Alas, this people has sinned a great sin. They have made for themselves gods of gold. But now, if you will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.” (Exodus 32:31–32)

While Aaron condemned the people to save himself, Moses was willing to be condemned to save his people. And in this request, Moses points to the Messiah.

At the cross, Jesus our great High Priest also appeared before God and confessed his people’s “great sin” (Hebrews 3:1-3). Like Moses, Jesus stood as a leader and mediator, knowing that a sacrifice was needed for the people to be saved.

And while God refused Moses’s proposal (Exodus 32:33–34), he planned and accepted Jesus’s offer of himself (Isaiah 53:10).

Learning from These Lessons

Godly leadership is of vital importance, and all of God’s people need to pray for, recognize, and encourage such leadership.

The contrast between Moses and Aaron is particularly arresting for those in or aspiring to leadership positions in the church. We would all benefit from considering these reflection questions that flow out of Exodus 32.

Where have you made allowance for sin in your life? Are there idols you need to grind into powder?
In what ways have you blamed others? Take note of your temptations toward gossip and resentment.
Have you been concerned for your people’s holiness? Have you compromised God’s standards to satisfy your people?
How is God calling you to sacrifice for your people? Are there unpopular steps you must take to help your people glorify their Savior?

If you find these questions convicting, don’t lose heart. The Savior who Moses foreshadowed is sufficient for leaders and followers alike. He always offers forgiveness, cleansing, and strength for those who come to him in faith.

[Photo Credit: Unsplash]

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Key Connections (January 19, 2018)

Lord, Revive My First Love (Jon Bloom, Desiring God)

Pleasures never lie. We can fool ourselves and others in many ways, but pleasure is the whistle-blower of the heart, because pleasure is the measure of our treasure. We know that what we truly treasure is what we truly love because Jesus said, “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). So it’s “not what we dutifully will but what we passionately want [that] reveals our excellence or evil” (The Pleasures of God, 4).

3 Reasons You Shouldn’t Say ‘Reading the Bible is Easy’ (Trevin Wax, The Gospel Coalition)

We believe that God is the ultimate author of this Book. Once we see this book as the revelation of God’s character and his saving acts, we are no longer studying in order to merely figure out the text’s meaning; we are reading in order to better know and love our Creator. As John Piper has said, God will not simply be analyzed; he will be adored.

Disciple Making (Stephen Johnson, Summit Church)

The charge to make disciples wasn’t a new idea for those close to Jesus. In fact, when he picked the very first disciples, he stated that outcome clearly: “Follow me, and I will make your fishers of men,” (Matthew 4:19). Notice, though, that Jesus’ call starts with an invitation to personal discipleship. That’s important. In order to make disciples, you must first be a disciple. Do you love to follow Jesus? Are you a student of God’s Word? Do you long to worship him? Are you filled with gratitude because of his love for you? Does that gratitude drive you to obey his commands?

Putting the Evangel in Evangelicalism (Eric Davis, The Cripplegate)

Salvation comes through being called. Embracing the evangel is also extremely passive. You cannot be convinced, you have to be called. God has to do all the work by acting on your dead, lifeless, rebellious soul. No one ever had difficulty understanding that, only accepting it.

The Easiest Sin to Justify (Tim Challies, Challies.com)

There’s more to this process of sanctification. Even before we put sin to death, we discover an increased awareness of what our sin is, what it does to us, and how it affects others. We stop making excuses for our sin and confront it as the evil it truly is. But not always and not all the way. From observation and hard experience I think there is one sin more than any other that we tend to continue to justify. It’s the sin of unrighteous anger.

Counting on Mercy in Suffering (Lianna Davis, Unlocking the Bible)

In my times of illness and grief, I am not troubled by the mysterious providences of God. For my suffering here, no matter how severe, could never graduate me from being utterly, moment-by-moment requiring of God’s mercy. To not be presently consumed by his wrath is evidence I look upon often—and do not fathom. And this is mercy Christ suffered for me to joyously receive.

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The Power of God’s Word That Brings Change

Video Transcript:

Notice that God restores through his own Word: “The Lord sent Nathan to David…” (2 Samuel 12:1). God takes the initiative. He is not waiting for David to make the first move. How does he break into David’s life? He sends a prophet, who speaks the Word of God.

You have the same thing in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve are hiding in the trees: “the Lord God called to the man and said to him, ‘Where are you?’” (Genesis 3:9). If God had not spoken, they would never have come out of hiding.

The Power of God’s Word that Brings Change

Nathan said to David, “You are the man…” David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” (2 Samuel 12:7, 13)

Nathan tells David a story. Commentators often say that Nathan told a parable, but Nathan did not say to David: “Hey, I’ve got a story to tell you.”

The king was the chief justice in the land, so it was David’s job to pass judgment on various crimes. Nathan presents his story as a case that needs the king’s verdict, and David is glad to hear the case.

Nathan tells the story of a great injustice. There were two men in a certain city: one rich, the other poor. The rich man had many flocks and herds. The poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. This lamb ate the poor man’s food, drank from his cup, and lay in his arms. The poor man loves the little ewe lamb that is his.

A traveler arrived at the house of the rich man. The rich man welcomed the traveler and wanted to put on a feast. But he did not want to use one of his own flock, so he steals the poor man’s lamb and prepares it for his feast.

David hears this case, and he is absolutely furious: “Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, ‘As the LORD lives, the man who has done this deserves to die, and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity’” (2 Samuel 12:5-6).

That was more than the law demanded. The law called for a fourfold restoration for theft of an animal (Exodus 22:1), but not the death penalty. If you are ever tempted to think that God’s judgments are harsh, remember that the judgments of sinners are typically harsher by far.

Then Nathan said to David “You are the man.” What a moment! “David, this is a picture of what you’ve done. Don’t you see that?” A few verses later David says, “I have sinned against the Lord.” After more than nine months of silence, David confesses his sin to the Lord.

This confession was the beginning of repentance in David’s life, expressed in Psalm 51. Saul said, “I have sinned,” but he continued to defy the Lord (1 Samuel 15:24). It’s possible to admit that you were wrong, and just carry on. Judas said, “I have sinned,” and he despaired of being forgiven (Matthew 27:4). It’s possible to admit your guilt, and then give in to despair. Neither one of these leads to change. David said, “I have sinned,” and he repented and was restored.

The Word of God broke through in David’s life when nothing else could. Time did not bring him to repentance. Conscience did not get him there either. Misery did not bring repentance either. But the Word of God broke through in his life when nothing else could.

Never underestimate the power of God’s Word to change a person’s life, to change your life. “My word… shall not return to me empty, but it… shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11). God’s Word can bring change in your life when nothing else can or will.

[This sermon clip is taken from Pastor Colin’s sermon “Repentance” in the series, The Life of David]

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Change of Plan: To Change Every Day

With January 1st behind us, we’re still thinking about our New Year resolutions. People bought shiny new planners hoping that this will finally be the year they are punctual and organized. Vows were made never to touch “x” product again, whether it be chocolate, coffee, cigarettes, or the like. Daily Bible reading plans have begun.

However, each year sadly follows the same pattern. Those planners become dusty and shoved to the back of the desk drawer. “X” product gets picked up again. The Bible reading plan keeps getting put off.

We wait expectantly for January 1st, holding off change, assuming that when we wake up that morning we’re sprinkled with magic abilities to change. Sadly, many of us have discovered that there is nothing special about January 1st.

But there is something special about you, if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus. You have the Holy Spirit living inside you, who gives you the ability to change daily (Romans 8:1-17).

Christians, we don’t need to wait for a new year in order to grow in our obedience to God. Instead of getting stuck in New Year Resolutions this year, let’s seek to change daily.

But first we must recognize why we need to change daily, how to change, and finally how to persevere in daily change.

Why We Need to Change Daily
First, God calls us to change.

Romans chapter three reminds us that every human on earth is a sinner (Romans 3:10, 23). We don’t simply make mistakes. We sin against the Holy God each day. We selfishly seek to steal his glory for ourselves, we harm other people made in his image, and we rebel against his law seeking to go our own way. And we don’t do this on occasion. We do this constantly. We’re not good people who occasionally misstep; we’re evil at heart (Jeremiah 17:9, Genesis 8:21, Psalm 51:5).

Thanks be to God that he didn’t leave us in this sin-stuck state:

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8)

This is the glorious exchange: On the cross, Christ took the wrath we deserved and gave us his righteousness. Those who confess with their mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in their heart that God raised them from the dead, they are saved from condemnation for sin and are counted righteous in Christ before God (Romans 10:9-10).

Romans 8:29-30 reminds us that God has chosen us for the purpose of changing us into the likeness of Jesus, with the goal of one day glorifying us. This is his eternal plan: saving sin-filled man to fill them with the Holy Spirit, to conform them to Christ, and bring glory to his name.

Second, God commands us to change.

This doesn’t mean that we are now perfect as believers. We still sin, because we are still living in our flesh. But when we were saved God gave his Spirit, who enables us to live a life pleasing to God, and the desire to do so (Romans 8:1-11). We’re no longer slaves to sin but to righteousness.

After all Christ has done for us, we desire to live a life that brings glory to him! Although we continue to sin, our lives should be characterized with repentance and turning to obedience.

Change comes with both obedient action and dependence on the Holy Spirit (Philippians 2:12-13).
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Not only that, but as believers, we’re called to take careful watch of how we walk. We are commanded to be obedient to God’s law as his children.

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. (Ephesians 5:15-17)

We need to carefully watch how we live, striving to be obedient daily, rather than putting off our obedience until a special day of the year.

How to Cultivate Daily Change
God’s Spirit Works in You.

Change comes with both obedient action and dependence on the Holy Spirit (Philippians 2:12-13). When we read God’s Word, he applies it to our hearts and convicts us of what sins we need to repent of. He promises to change our attitudes and renew our hearts with the Holy Spirit so that we desire to do what is righteous (Ezekiel 36:26-27).

Strive to obey in faith.

Ephesians 4:20-24 (ESV) outlines a pattern of change for us to follow:

But that is not the way you learned Christ! — assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.

First, we put off sin, our old self.

For the person who lies, Paul writes that they must put off falsehood (v. 25). In this action, there must be a clear repenting of and putting away sin.

We need to confess how we have sinned against God and then fight against repeating such sin.

Second, we are to be renewed in our minds.

There needs to be a godly motive for putting off sin—a heart change—otherwise you are simply modifying your behaviors like a Pharisee.

For the person who lies, Paul says they need to realize that they are members of the body of Christ (v. 25), and that their lies will harm the entire body.

Thirdly, we are to put on godliness in place of our old self.

For the liar, this is simply telling the truth (v. 25).

What active obedience can you put in place of your sin? Could you replace complaining with thanksgiving? Or anger with kindness? Irritability with patience?

How to Persevere: Remembering Grace for the Daily Battle

We will not always succeed in the daily battle, but instead, will give way to sin. This is the point where the world usually gives up on their New Year resolutions.

But for you, a truly born-again soul, you have God’s grace and his Spirit. When you sin, God not only forgives you, but also gives you the grace to continue striving for change.

His grace doesn’t simply come at salvation, but continues for your entire race of the faith. Don’t lose heart, but let us proclaim with Paul, “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Corinthians 12:9 ESV).

Let’s strive to be obedient to God every day, giving glory to Christ, all the while resting in the power of the Holy Spirit.

[Photo Credit: Unsplash]

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