Jon Bloom's Blog, page 28

Judge Not, That You May Judge Well

Christians are not to judge other Christians. And Christians are to judge other Christians. That’s what the Bible teaches. In fact, the apostle Paul says both things in the same letter just a few paragraphs apart.

Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God. (1 Corinthians 4:5)

Don’t judge other Christians.

For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? (1 Corinthians 5:12)

Judge other Christians.

Is Paul contradicting himself? No. Paul is simply instructing us that there are things we must not judge and things we must judge.

What We Must Not Judge

We must not judge “the hidden . . . purposes of the heart” of other Christians based on their decisions, actions, perspectives, words, or personality that concern us if those things themselves are not explicitly sinful (1 Corinthians 4:5). We must not assume sin if we suspect sin, given how biased our suspicions can be.

When Paul wrote, “do not pronounce judgment before the time,” he was referring to a debate among Corinthian Christians over whether Paul, Apollos, or Peter (Cephas) was the most authoritative apostle (1 Corinthians 1:11–12; 3:3–4). Why were they quarrelling over such a thing? We don’t know. All we know is 1) the Corinthians had personal knowledge of and experience with these apostles, and 2) how we tend to judge leaders based on our observations and experiences.

Like different leaders we know, Paul, Apollos, and Peter had different personalities. They likely had different rhetorical and pedagogical styles, theological emphases, and may have exercised or emphasized different spiritual gifts.

We know Paul was a “planter” and Apollos was a “waterer” (1 Corinthians 3:6–8). Perhaps some simply much preferred Apollos or Peter to Paul. Perhaps some misunderstood something Paul said or did and took offense. Perhaps the “super-apostles” (2 Corinthians 11:5) had slandered Paul, but not Apollos or Peter. Whatever the factors were, certain Corinthian Christians judged Paul uncharitably, calling his ministry and character (his “hidden . . . purposes of the heart”) into question (1 Corinthians 4:3).

We can understand this because we’ve all done this. We know how fast we can move from misunderstanding or disagreement to concern, then to suspicion, and then to judgment. If we think we perceive smoke, we can too quickly assume there’s a fire.

In such cases, we must remember Jesus’s words, “Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment” (John 7:24).

What We Must Judge

Christians must judge the explicitly sinful behavior of a professing Christian.

Jesus said a “tree is known by its fruit” (Matthew 12:33). When do the hidden sinful purposes of the heart reveal themselves? In a person’s explicitly sinful behavior. That’s why Paul didn’t even have to be present to pass judgment on a man who engaged in sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 5:3). And he explicitly instructed the Corinthian Christians to pass judgment on him too (1 Corinthians 5:12–13).

When we sin, our Christian brothers and sisters have an obligation to judge us. They must not condemn us, but they must, out of love, call us to repent. Such judgment is a grace, an expression of God’s kindness (Romans 2:4), and we only compound our sin if we take offense. If our sin is very serious and our church determines that we must be disciplined according to Matthew 18:15–17, we must keep in mind that the purpose is to pursue our redemption not damnation (1 Corinthians 5:4–5).

Be Slow to Judge

When blatant sin is confirmed, Christians must lovingly judge Christians. But in most situations, we must be very slow to judge, exercising great care and restraint. Our sinful flesh has a hair-trigger to judge others. We must have a healthy suspicion of our own pride, and keep Jesus’s words ringing in our ears: “Judge not, that you be not judged” (Matthew 7:1).

This is especially important because many situations we face are not as clear-cut as the two Corinthian examples above. Often the line between judging hidden heart purposes and calling out sin looks ambiguous. And when it is, it is best to be slow to judge.

Do Not Be an Electoral Judge

This is very relevant to Christians in America right now. We are enduring a confusing, factious, degrading, and discouraging presidential election. And most of us recognize what’s at stake. We see ominous writing on the wall, telling of further and faster erosion of our nation’s moral foundation and fundamental liberties. We want to do our civic duty. But sincere Christians strongly disagree over the best course of electoral action.

Many of us believe our duty is to vote for the candidates who, though personally compromised, still might represent the best chance to shore up and perhaps rebuild what’s eroded. Many of us believe our duty is to speak prophetically to an increasingly corrupt government and culture by voting for candidates whose policies and personal integrity do not compromise our Christian witness. Adding to the ambiguity, many in the former category believe our Christian witness is compromised if we take the latter’s course, and many in the latter category believe the foundations will erode further if we take the former’s course.

The difficult choices and their long-term consequences are binding on Christian consciences in different ways. The discussions and debates over which course is best are necessary to clarify issues so we can vote with clear consciences. But with the sense of urgency combining with the ambiguities, the situation is ripe for sinful judgment.

Where sin is explicit, in the major party candidates (since both profess a Christian faith) and in one another, let us judge with bold, loving clarity.

But let us not judge other Christians’ hidden purposes of the heart as sinful if they disagree with us over the best course of electoral action. We may discuss and persuade, but we may not judge. Jesus will judge. It is for him alone to bring to light what is now hidden and to commend or rebuke (1 Corinthians 4:5). Let us “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, [bear] with one another in love” (Ephesians 4:2).

Lay Aside the Weight of Lust

Lust is an ancient and universal human sinful appetite. The more we feed it, the more ravenous and perversely diverse it becomes. And the more socially acceptable perverse diversity becomes, the more sexual immorality steals, kills, and destroys human lives.

No wonder lust is one of Satan’s choice temptation weapons. Few sins wield as much power to blind unbelievers and seduce Christians, and then immobilize them with shame. So, at all costs, we fight and flee it lest it make us a prisoner of war (1 Corinthians 6:18; 1 Peter 2:11).

A few centuries ago, the English word lust described a fairly wide range of human desires, both good and evil. Today, lust is typically shorthand for “sexually immoral desires.” But still, lust covers a lot of ground, because there is a wide range of “sexually immoral desires.” These desires, and the behaviors they produce, if not vigilantly resisted, have been a devastating part of the human experience since the forbidden fruit was eaten in Eden.

But the driving force behind lust is frequently misunderstood. The human sexual drive, while strong, is not the dominant power in lust. Sin is the dominant power. Various kinds of sin seize or infect the sexual drive in order to gratify selfishness through sexuality.

This is why lust can be so difficult to fight. Our sexual drive can be infected by many different kinds of sinful desire viruses, resulting in multiple variants of lust disease. What helps us fight lust one day might not help the next, because a different virus is infecting the sexual drive.

Viruses Leading to Lust

One common virus is coveting. Our rebellious sinful nature finds forbidden things attractive and covets them (Romans 7:7–8). Since sin infects our sexual drive, it is no surprise that we are tempted to lust after forbidden sex. This was Amnon’s lust for his half-sister, Tamar (2 Samuel 13). The fact that he despised her after he sated his lust reveals that his desire was fueled by coveting Tamar as a sexually forbidden object, not by real love for Tamar the person (2 Samuel 13:15).

Another virus is self-indulgence. Self-indulgence can manifest in any corrupted human appetite. In fact, self-indulgence can be contagious. I have found if I sinfully indulge in one area, like overeating or entertainment or laziness, I am more vulnerable to sexual temptation. Certain emotional states also may trigger a desire to indulge lust (among other things), like the euphoria of success, boredom, self-pity, discouragement, anger, and more.

A host of other sin-viruses can infect us and become manifest through the sexual drive. Lust can be fueled by a desire to wield self-exalting dominance or manipulative power over another. It can be fueled by discontent. It can be fueled by the fear of death, manifested in a sexualized desire to recapture youth or be sexually desired by youth.

And more than one virus frequently powers our lust. For example, when David lusted after Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11), his sexual drive was infected with selfish indulgence, coveting someone forbidden, and possibly numerous other sin-viruses.

Lust also can be hard to fight because the fog of arousal often obscures the sins that are fueling it. But the more we recognize the sin-triggers, the better we can cut lust’s fuel supply and blow away its fog.

The Most Powerful Way to Fight Lust

Crucial to fighting lust is identifying triggers and choking the fuel supply. Accountability partners and software safeguards can be great helps. But these are defensive measures and only half the battle — and not the most powerful half.

The most powerful and successful way to fight the desire fire of lust is with the desire fire of faith in what God promises to us. Faith in God’s promises prepares us for offensive action. Faith shields us from enemy blows while God’s promises hack down spiritual enemies like broadsword (Ephesians 6:16–17).

When faith in God’s word swells in our hearts, lust is no match for it. You know what I mean. When you have been most filled with hope and trust and delight in God, what kind of grip did lust have on you? Hardly any. You didn’t want to defile your mind and heart with anything impure.

We are not naïve. We know we will not always surge with lust-dousing faith. So we need to put strong defenses in place. We must understand the nature of lust so we are not ignorant of Satan’s designs (2 Corinthians 2:11). But the only way we will not gratify lustful desires of the flesh is to walk by the Spirit — cultivating love for and trust in what the Spirit of God says in the word of God (Galatians 5:16).

Lay Aside the Weight of Lust

The cross of Christ guarantees that every moment of confession and repentance is a cleansing moment (1 John 1:9) and that “there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). Last year’s or yesterday’s or this morning’s lust need not linger or flagellate us with shame.

But our birthright as children of God is far more than the removal of condemnation. It is freedom (John 8:32; Romans 8:21; Galatians 5:1). That’s why Satan tries to enslave us with lust: to steal our spiritual freedom and joy. For when indulged, lust weighs down our souls, quenches our faith, and shuts our mouths. It robs our desire to worship God, witness for Jesus, intercede for kingdom needs, encourage others, give generously, reach unreached peoples, or engage in spiritual warfare. It makes prisoners out of freemen.

So let’s lay down this sin-weight, this demonic ball and chain (Hebrews 12:1). Let’s press to see lust for what it truly is, and more importantly Christ for who he is. Let’s fight for lust-crushing faith and to be filled with the Spirit. For “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17).

Lord, Whatever It Takes, Discipline Me

When I was a child, I asked my dad for a lot of things. But I never asked for discipline. Unfortunately, “I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child” (1 Corinthians 13:11). That meant, by and large, corrective and conditioning disciplines were to be avoided.

I enjoyed an orderly house, tended yard, prepared meals, clean clothes, and a loving, respectful, peaceful atmosphere in my boyhood home. But I didn’t naturally enjoy the disciplines required to achieve these things. I often sought to evade them. I also enjoyed the idea of performing well in school, sports, and music, but didn’t naturally enjoy many of the exercises required to develop my skills. I shirked them too often.

If my external authorities — my parents, teachers, and coaches — hadn’t wisely and lovingly imposed upon me unpleasant and often undesired disciplines, I never would have realized many of the benefits they brought me. And I would have realized even more benefits had I been mature and wise enough to appreciate and welcome their discipline more and avoid it less. I did not see, or did not believe, the long-term gain of short-term pain.

Maturity Welcomes Discipline

But “when I became a man, I gave up childish ways” of thinking about such discipline (1 Corinthians 13:11). Well, that’s an overstatement. However, I have learned to value the benefit of submitting to discipline far more than I did as a child and to welcome it — especially the discipline of the Lord.

Around age 20, I became keenly aware I was helpless to achieve the kinds of transformation I needed in my character and affections on my own. Even my efforts at self-discipline, while needed, still could not bridge the gap between what the Scripture described and my experience. So I began earnestly asking my heavenly Father to discipline me, whatever it took.

God lovingly answered with a convergence of events I never could have orchestrated or even imagined, resulting in a prolonged season of very difficult and painful spiritual wrestling. Not only did God work me over in areas I knew needed change, but he also addressed areas I wasn’t even aware of. Most wonderful of all, God met me in personal and powerful ways as he deepened and strengthened my faith. Afterward, I saw clearly how the benefits outweighed the painful struggles.

This experience has encouraged me in subsequent years to repeatedly pray, and at times fast, for my Father’s discipline when I’ve needed breakthroughs. And he has lovingly and faithfully answered. Some of his discipline has been more severe than that first one, and some less. But regardless, I have never regretted those prayers, nor have I stopped praying them. For through them, God has pressed my love for him to depths and heights I otherwise never would have known.

I’ve learned that asking God to discipline me is a Christian Hedonist’s prayer; it’s asking him for a greater capacity to enjoy him.

The Lord Disciplines the One He Loves

This is the whole point of Hebrews 12:3–11, the clearest explanation in the Bible of the profound good we receive when God disciplines us.

We often don’t recognize God’s discipline when it sets in, even if we’ve prayed for it. That’s because it usually looks different than we expect. Therefore, we cry out to God in our distress and disorientation. And God answers,

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” (Hebrews 12:5–6)

In other words, “Don’t be afraid. This is from me, and it’s because I love you.” We often respond, “But Father, this is too hard! Please stop!” And God replies,

It is for discipline that you have to endure. [I am] is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, [you] have had earthly fathers who disciplined [you] and [you] respected them. Shall [you] not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined [you] for a short time as it seemed best to them, but [I] discipline [you] for [your] good, that [you] may share [my] holiness. (Hebrews 12:7–10)

In other words, “I love you too much to stop the good coming to you through this discipline.” We might respond, “I want your good, Father, but I don’t think I can endure this! It’s too painful!” To which God says with kind, wise, loving firmness,

For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:11)

In other words, “Trust me. My grace will be sufficient for you in this pain and afterward you will never regret the painful training” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

The Lord disciplines the one he loves. That means there are dimensions of God’s love we can only know through his discipline. And there are dimensions of peace and godly fruitfulness we will only know through his wise, rigorous training, a program individually tailored by him for us.

Whatever It Takes, Lord!

That’s why a Christian Hedonist prayerfully welcomes and even pursues the Father’s discipline. It is a sign of spiritual maturity, desiring real treasure more than passing pleasure (Hebrews 11:25–26).

If we wish to avoid our Father’s discipline, and don’t ask him for it for fear that he just might answer, we are thinking and reasoning like spiritual children. We are, in effect, saying “no thanks” to God’s offer of mind-blowing, soul-enriching, faith-strengthening, joy-increasing good — the inexpressible joy of sharing God’s holiness and all the benefits it brings. We decline the gain of being strengthened to comprehend the love of God that surpasses knowledge because it costs us short-term pain (Ephesians 3:18–19).

Lay Aside the Weight of Flattery

A loving person always speaks the truth because love rejoices in the truth (1 Corinthians 13:6; John 14:6). Love never speaks in the deceptive dialect of the devil (John 8:44). And a loving person always speaks the truth graciously (Ephesians 4:29).

Gracious truth, though, is not always soothing truth. Sometimes grace comes to us in the form of a reproof or rebuke (2 Timothy 4:2). Wise people understand this. That’s why, even when they are on the receiving end of a stinging gracious truth, they say things like, “Whoever rebukes a man will afterward find more favor than he who flatters with his tongue” (Proverbs 28:23).

Flattery is contrasted with a rebuke because flattery is a form of lying. And it’s a particularly insidious form, because in the moment it is spoken, flattery sounds so much like encouragement. Yet there’s a heaven-and-hell difference between the two. Encouragement is truth spoken from a loving motive to increase faith and hope in the hearer. Flattery is a lie, masquerading as encouragement, from a selfish motive to manipulate the hearer in order to achieve the flatterer’s covert purpose.

Love never flatters others, and wisdom never desires to be flattered. But sin is neither loving nor wise, which means we, who live with indwelling sin, are tempted to manipulate others with flattery — as well as to enjoy being flattered. We must be on our guard against this foot-entangling sin.

Beware of Using Flattery

God tells us “a man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet” (Proverbs 29:5). That’s what makes it evil. Whether or not flattering words have truth in them, their purpose is deception.

A biblical example of this is when some opponents tried to spread a net under Jesus’s feet:

“Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone’s opinion. For you are not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?” But, knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why put me to the test?” (Mark 12:14–15)

These men are poster children for Psalm 5:9: “There is no truth in their mouth; their inmost self is destruction; their throat is an open grave; they flatter with their tongue.”

It did not matter that their flattering words about Jesus contained truth. Truth still was not in their mouths because 1) they did not believe the true words and 2) their flattery was merely a smokescreen for their attempt to destroy Jesus’s public credibility and influence. They were speaking the language of their father, the devil (John 8:44), who also uses true words in lying ways.

Now, this is an obvious example of manipulative flattery. But we all know that flattery can be much more subtle and slippery. We learn early to use flattery to grease the wheels of attempts to make ourselves look good or discredit, perhaps destroy, another’s reputation or influence. It is a seductive temptation because the short-term reward can appear appealing. But because it’s a lie, it will eventually wreak destruction.

We must remember that any time we hide a manipulative motive inside a Trojan horse of encouraging sounding words, we employ a demonic strategy and lay a snare for our neighbor’s feet. We exchange the truth for a lie and in doing so betray the Truth.

Beware of Being Flattered

But we are not only tempted to be manipulative flatterers; we also are pathetically vulnerable to being manipulated by flattery. This is due to the gargantuan pride in our sinful nature.

Our sin nature wants to be flattered because it loves to be admired. Sometimes it doesn’t even matter if we know the flattery is disingenuous, as long as it enhances our image in the eyes of others or simply gives us a buzz from the fact that someone thinks us important enough to flatter.

This, in fact, is the snare of much sexual sin. The real seductive power in much sexual lust is high-octane pride mixing with the sexual drive, fueling the intoxicating experience of being desired, even if it’s just fantasy. Flattery is what the adulterous in Proverbs 7 used to snare the young man and lead him away “as an ox goes to the slaughter” (Proverbs 7:21–22). The adulteress seduced him, but the man was “lured and enticed by his own desire” (James 1:14).

This is the way flattery works on us. It seduces us, but only because our pride finds it enticing. And if we take the bait, it wreaks destruction.

Rejoice in the Truth

Love never flatters others, and wisdom never desires to be flattered. This is why the psalmist wrote, “Blessed is the man . . . in whose spirit there is no deceit” (Psalm 32:2). This is what Jesus saw and commended in Nathanael: “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” (John 1:47).

Let’s examine ourselves for the deceit of flattery. Is there any relationship, or perhaps relational habit in our lives, where we employ manipulative flattery to grease the wheels of our own advancement or another’s discredit? Are there areas where we are allowing ourselves to be seduced by flattery because our pride finds it enticing?

If so, repent today, confessing it to God and, as the Spirit leads, whomever else we should.

Flattery is a demonic, foot-ensnaring sin-encumbrance not only for us but for others. We must lay it aside to run our race faithfully with Jesus and help others do the same. Let us press more and more to be “Israelites indeed,” disciples of Jesus, the Truth, who rejoice in his truth and resolve to only speak what gives grace to our hearers (Ephesians 4:29).

Listen More, Speak Less

Our God is a speaking God. The Bible tells us that the universe was created by the word of God (Hebrews 11:3), and that he holds it together by the word of his power (Hebrews 1:3). That means everything we see is a word of God, and many things we don’t see, like every angel and demon, every galaxy and quark in existence. One could rightly say God speaks a lot.

With that in mind, have you ever noticed how small the Bible is?

The inspired, authoritative, infallible accumulated written record of the specific words God wanted us to read and remember over the course of 3,500–4,000 years — the definitive book to gather in and guide his people — is tiny. Its sixty-six “books” are brief, some only a few pages long. At a little over 750,000 words, most English versions of the Bible have less than two thousand pages.

Why Didn’t He Say More?

To help put that number in perspective, here are rough estimates for several popular books or authors:

William Shakespeare: 960,000
Harry Potter: 1,084,170
John Piper’s forthcoming collected works: 3,000,000
Karl Barth: 6,000,000 published words
The Bible: Only 750,000

Numbers like these simply make us pause and wonder over God’s written word economy.

Our wonder increases when we think that during the most important moment in human history, when the Word himself became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14), we only have a relative handful of recorded words that he actually spoke. Unlike us, Jesus seems to have been a man of few, potent human words. Why did he choose the words he did? Why didn’t he say more?

Of the likely thousands of answers to those questions, what we know is that Jesus limited himself to speaking only what the Father gave him to speak (John 8:28). There was more he could have said (John 16:12), but he guarded his mouth, speaking carefully and prayerfully only what gave grace to his hearers (Ephesians 4:29), or delivered the needed rebuke and reproof (2 Timothy 4:2). And he intends for us to learn from him (Matthew 11:29).

Living in a Whirl of Words

Since the fall of man, the human tongue has always been “a restless evil,” “a world of unrighteousness,” setting whole forests of humanity on fire (James 3:5–8). The proverbial author said, “When words are many, transgression is not lacking” (Proverbs 10:19). And the post-Eden world has been a whirlwind of words.

But never before have so many been able to say so much in so many ways. Satan, the “prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2), has filled the airwaves, cyber-waves, print-waves, brainwaves, and every other wave of human communication with lying words. He is the father of lies (John 8:44), and wields power over the world (1 John 5:19). He is working to exponentially increase words, and in doing so, to increase the snares of human transgression. The tornado of words is now a raging Category 5 hurricane.

But the hurricane has an eye. It is the Spirit of God speaking through the word of God. The few, powerful, nourishing words of God are still waters and green pastures of refreshment; they are Gibraltar-like rocks of refuge from the whirling wicked words careening across the world in which we live. The few words of the Word have eternal life in them (John 6:68), in a world overwhelmed with tongues of death (Proverbs 18:21).

Seek the hurricane’s eye. Seek the rock of refuge. The storm of words never lets up. Therefore, like anything else, we get used to it. We acclimate to the howling wind of words. Strangely, the hush of the eye can feel strange. The quiet of the refuge can be unnerving. If that’s true for us, we need the stillness more than we realize.

Let Your Words Be Few

But we also need to speak less. When speaking to God, perhaps we need to take more seriously these few words of counsel:

Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. (Ecclesiastes 5:2)

And when speaking to others, perhaps we must take more seriously the concise commands to be “slow to speak” (James 1:19) and to “let no corrupting talk come out of [our] mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear” (Ephesians 4:29).

Christians are “Christ-ones.” We are being conformed to Christ’s image (Romans 8:29). “As he is so also are we in the world” (1 John 4:17). If Jesus limited himself to speaking only what the Father gave him to speak, if he spoke carefully and prayerfully, if he could have said more at times but held back, what does that mean for us?

It means, in comparison to the volume of words flooding the world, we should let our words be graciously few.

Lay Aside the Weight of Too Many Words

Too many words inevitably result in sin (Proverbs 10:19). Wordly sin just compounds the closely clinging weights of relational conflict, concealed lies, broken trust, a violated conscience, and knowledge of a grieved Holy Spirit. And too much time in the satanic whirlwind of worldly words also takes its toll, weighing down our spirits.

Let us lay aside these sins and weights by:

Confessing the sins of our lips to God (1 John 1:9), and to appropriate others (James 5:16),
Making this our prayer: “Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips!” (Psalm 141:3),
Letting our words be appropriately few to God (Ecclesiastes 5:2) and to others (James 1:19),
And daily taking refuge from the hurricane of words in the eye of the word of God.

Our God is a speaking God. He is not silent. The Word is speaking into existence you and everything else that exists. And the Word’s few spoken human words have more power in them than five hundred trillion words of men, angels, and demons. That’s why the Father says to us of his Son, “listen to him” (Matthew 17:5). We would do well to listen more and speak less — and when we do speak, to only speak what he gives us to say.

Lord, Help Me Know Right from Wrong

Discernment is sorely needed today. It always is. But more of us are keenly aware of the need right now. Playing out on the biggest political stage in the world, the election of the American President, is an exercise in leadership and moral discernment for the American electorate unlike any in living memory. In some ways, it’s unprecedented.

There are Christians I deeply respect taking opposing positions. Discernment is leading some to support one major party candidate and some the other, and some a third party candidate, and some a write-in candidate, and some to leave the presidential option ballot blank, voting only on congressional and local candidates. I have my own plan, based on what I discern to be the best path (at least for now). That may change between now and November 8, depending on the possibility of new information or new options.

In personal conversations I make my case, but I also try to listen well. There is nothing simple about this election, and the moral and policy issues at stake are serious and sobering. I throw no stones at my brothers and sisters whose discernment is different than mine. I understand most of the rationales I hear from spiritually mature and discerning friends and family, even if my discernment is leading differently.

As the election nears, I hope most Christians — and not just American Christians, considering the global fallout of U.S. economic and foreign policy decisions — find themselves pleading in their prayers, “Lord, give us (or give them) discernment!”

How Does God Give Us Discernment?

We all want to be discerning people. We want to walk wisely in a world of deception that makes fools of even the most brilliant. But how do we become skilled in discernment? The writer of Hebrews tells us:

But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5:14)

Our discernment is trained through the rigorous exercise of constant practice.

Do you know what that means? It means that God puts us in difficult situations every day, and forces us to confront complexities that press us to the limits (and beyond) of our wisdom and understanding. We get thrown curve balls. At times it feels like we are in a maze, or in a room of funhouse mirrors, where everything we see is distorted. We feel confused, sometimes at the end of ourselves, because the issues involved are weighty and important — experiences not unlike this presidential election.

First Century Christians

The Christians who originally received the letter to the Hebrews lived in a world hostile to the gospel. Everything they had been taught and believed was under attack and they were confused.

False teachers claimed that Jesus was an angelic being rather than very God of very God, the Creator of the universe (Hebrews 1–2).
Others questioned whether Jesus truly was a greater prophet than Moses (3:1–6).
Some were tempted to give up, disillusioned by continual opposition and persecution, and needed reminding that the Hebrews of Moses’s day had forfeited the Promised Land by giving up (3:7–4:13).
Some were losing confidence in the new covenant Jesus had inaugurated, and were tempted to return to the old covenant (4:14–10:18).
Some had lost sight of the fact that God had always only been pleased when his people followed him by faith (10:19–12:2).
Most of them needed reminding that the adversity they endured was the merciful discipline of a loving heavenly Father to help them persevere till they inherited an imperishable promised kingdom (12:3–29).

And they needed reminding that spiritual maturity is gained through the constant practice of discernment.

Something Bigger Than Elections

We need to be reminded, too, because we too are in a spiritual war and under constant assault. God is calling us to spiritual maturity through our difficult, confusing, sometimes exasperating individual, family, and church situations (as well as our national ones). We are not to begrudge them. There is more mercy in them than we see, for they force us by constant practice to ransack the written word of God, get it in our hearts (Psalm 119:11), and grow in prayerfulness (1 Thessalonians 5:17) and in discernment.

There are far bigger things at stake in our becoming discerning people than the coming election. The United States, and every other nation, is just a drop in the bucket in the eyes of God (Isaiah 40:15). God’s primary concern is his holy nation, the church of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:9).

The main thing happening around the world is not in news headlines, but what is happening in and through the church. What history is all about is the coming of Christ, his work of redemption, the spread of his gospel, and the ingathering of all his people from all the peoples into his church (Matthew 24:14; 28:19–20) — something the gates of hell will not withstand, much less human governments (Matthew 16:18). The more discerning we are, the greater benefit we bring to the church of God.

That means there is great mercy for us and others, for our local churches and the global church, in God doing whatever it takes to make us more spiritually mature and discerning men and women. The fruit of our suffering and wrestling is never only for us, but also for the good of our brothers and sisters.

Whatever It Takes!

God has many purposes in the American presidential election. He is so powerful, so brilliant, and so complex in his providential weaving of history that it may be entirely possible for discerning Christians to vote differently in good conscience and yet all be serving the mysterious layers of God’s perfect will.

God knows how to tear down the proud (Proverbs 15:25), humiliate the devil and his angels (Colossians 2:15), and keep his saints walking by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). And he often orchestrates events in such a way that no one fully sees his stunning victory coming, until it bursts upon us like a thief in the night. God will reveal to us all someday how all the raging of the nations served to do what his hand and his plan had predestined to take place (Acts 4:25–28).

Let us not try and trace all the threads of his glorious providential tapestry. Instead, let us pursue spiritual maturity by making this our prayer:

Whatever it takes, Lord, increase my ability to discern good from evil through the rigorous exercise of constant practice.

Lay Aside the Weight of Thanklessness

“Heavenly Father, please let me know your will. I really need to know what you want me to do about . . .”

This is my will for you: “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

“Thank you, Lord, for this reminder. I really do need to be more thankful — but getting back to my request, I’m not sure what you want me to do about . . .”

I want you to “give thanks in all circumstances.”

“I know, Lord, I know. That’s important and I can see where I have neglected that. But thankfulness is sort of a constant need, isn’t it? I mean, everyone needs be more thankful, right? Seriously, this is urgent, and I don’t have clarity from you. I need your direction. What do you want me to do?”

I am being serious and specific. I want you to “give thanks in all circumstances,” and right now, in this particular circumstance.

[Speechless exasperation]

Until you learn to “give thanks in all circumstances,” much of my will for you will be veiled. I have guiding and providing graces you can’t see now because of your ingratitude. Be faithful to obey my revealed will for you, and I will be faithful to guide (Psalm 32:8) and provide (Philippians 4:19) for you.

Remember to Say “Thank You”

The spiritual cost to us of being thankless is much higher than we might think. Thanklessness is not merely the absence of verbalizing a “thank you.” It is a symptom of spiritual dullness, of spiritual poverty. Because it is taking for granted and not appreciating grace being shown to us.

Parents know what this looks like. Children, being born self-centered sinners, naturally take for granted all the blood, sweat, tears, and dollars their parents invest in them. So parents are frequently reminding their children to give thanks.

“Remember to thank your mother for making dinner.”

“Thank your grandparents for that nice birthday gift.”

“Have you finished your graduation ‘thank you’ cards, yet?”

Why do parents do this? For most, it isn’t merely to get their children to perform a social courtesy. What they want is for their children to see grace and feel thankful. They know instinctively that seeing grace and feeling thankful is a sign of a spiritually healthy person, and of course they want their child to be spiritually healthy. And they instinctively know there is something wrong, something unhealthy about a person who doesn’t express gratitude for a grace they have received.

God Reminds Us to Say “Thank You”

In parents like these, we see an image of God’s heart for us. God does not command and exhort us to thank him because he loves to hear the “magic words” or watch us perform a mere divine courtesy. He’s after our spiritual health and prosperity. He does not want us to be spiritually sick and poor. He tells us that thanklessness is a sign of unbelief (Romans 1:21). But thankfulness is a sign of faith, evidence that we really see his grace and feel its effects. That’s what he wants for us.

And that’s why God so often commands and exhorts us through the biblical writers to give thanks to him. Think of the Psalms; these kinds of statements are sprinkled all through them:

“I will give thanks to the Lord” (Psalm 7:17; 9:1; 30:12, and many more).
“Give thanks to the Lord” (Psalm 105:1; 106:1; 107:1; 118:1 and many more).
“Enter his gates with thanksgiving” (Psalm 100:4).

“Surely the righteous shall give thanks to your name” (Psalm 140:13).

And think of how Paul weaves references of thanks to God all through his letters:

“I give thanks to my God always for you” (1 Corinthians 1:4).
“I do not cease to give thanks for you” (Ephesians 1:16).
“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you” (Philippians 1:3).
“We ought always to give thanks to God” (2 Thessalonians 1:3).
And of course, “give thanks [to God] in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

These are not the commands and exhortations of a vain deity. They are the loving prescription of the Great Physician; they are the loving reminders of our caring Father. Just like a parent helps a child to cultivate thankfulness through frequent reminders, God intends his frequent reminders for us to give thanks to him to help us experience the profoundly healthy and deep joy of seeing grace and feeling grateful.

And like all of God’s greatest blessings, he has made our thankfulness something that gives him glory and gives us joy! He gets the glory of being the grace-Giver, and we get the joy of being grace-receivers and the gratitude-feelers.

Lay Aside the Weight of Thanklessness

In view of other things in our lives that feel like urgent priorities, we might not think that “[giving] thanks in all circumstances” ranks high enough. We might be tempted to think that thankfulness is sort of like a luxury option in the car of the Christian faith — it’s a nice feature, but we can drive fine without it. That’s a huge mistake. Thankfulness is not a luxury option; it’s part of our car’s engine. The car of faith doesn’t work right without it.

Therefore, it is altogether possible that God’s answer to our prayers for guidance and provision might actually be, “give thanks in all circumstances.” That may not be our greatest felt need, but it may be our greatest real need right now. And if so, God’s perhaps frustrating answer is a great, healing mercy to us.

Thanklessness is a spiritually unhealthy weight that slows many of us down in the race of faith, more than we might know (Hebrews 12:1). God has more guiding and providing graces for us that we will discover if we lay it aside and run with thankful joy.

How do we do this? We simply begin by obeying God’s simple, health-giving command: “give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

Lay Aside the Fear of Man

Why do we fear others’ disapproval so much? We all experience this fear, and most of us don’t want to admit how serious its tyranny can be.

The Bible calls this the “fear of man,” and it can weave a web of ambiguity around issues that are biblically clear. The fear of man can immobilize us when we should take action, and gag us into silence when we should speak. It feels powerful, but its power is deceptive.

That’s why the Bible tells us, “The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe” (Proverbs 29:25). The Hebrew word here for “snare” refers to traps hunters used to catch animals or birds. Snares are dangerous. If we get caught, we must do whatever it takes to free ourselves.

God has the power to free us and he wants us living in the safe freedom of trusting him. But he frees us not by removing our fear of disapproval, but transferring it to the right place. And typically, he frees us by helping us face our false fears so that they lose their power over us.

God’s Design in the Fear of Disapproval

It’s important we understand why our desire for approval and fear of disapproval is so strong.

Due to our sin, weaknesses, and perhaps traumatic past experiences, we might assume these things are merely consequences of the fall. But at the core, they’re not. God actually designed us to be motivated by these emotionally powerful forces, for they uniquely reveal what we love.

Each of us instinctively knows, as creatures, that who we are and what we’re worth are not things we define for ourselves. We didn’t create ourselves. We didn’t choose our DNA, intellectual and physical powers, families, cultures, early education, time periods, or most other major influences. We are not autonomous but contingent creatures.

And each of us also instinctively knows our existence fits into a larger purpose or story and, despite postmodernism’s attempts to convince us otherwise, it is impossible for us to create our own ultimate meaning. Deep down, we know such self-created meaning is absurd.

So, we cannot help but derive our identity, value, and meaning from external sources. Moreover, we instinctively seek them from external personal sources; we know deep down they are bestowed on us by a Person.

The person(s) to whom we ascribe most authority — to define who we are, what we’re worth, what we should do, and how we should do it — is the person(s) we fear the most, because it is the person(s) whose approval we want most.

God designed us this way, for it reveals who and what our heart loves. This fear comes right from the place where our heart’s treasure is stored (Matthew 6:21). It is a fear of losing or not obtaining something we really desire, which is why it wields such power over us.

You Obey the One You Fear

When we feel this fear, it can stir up emotional fog and psychological complexity. But we cut through to the heart of things if we remember a simple biblical truth: we obey the one we fear.

The person(s) whose reward of approval we desire most — whose curse of disapproval we most fear to receive — is the person(s) we will obey, our functional god. That’s why the Bible so often commands us to “fear the Lord.” Here are two examples:

“And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good?” (Deuteronomy 10:12–13)

“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew 10:28)

Both Moses and Jesus command us to love God supremely (Deuteronomy 6:5; Matthew 22:37), and both of them command us to fear God supremely. They’re not mutually exclusive commands; they’re two sides of the same coin.

They’re commanding us to seek the massive eternal reward of God’s approval more than puny man’s fleeting approval, and to fear the terrible eternal curse of God’s disapproval more than puny man’s fleeting disapproval. They’re commanding us to direct our love and fear to the right God.

Lay Aside the Fear of Man

The fear of man is a snare because man is a false god, but the fear of the Lord is safe because he really is God (Proverbs 29:25). The fear of man is a closely clinging sin that entangles our legs in the race of faith and we must lay it aside (Hebrews 12:1). How?

Confess your fear of man. As soon as you recognize fear of man, confess it as sin to God and repent. If possible, confess it to faithful friends who will help you fight it.
Question your fear of man. What exactly are you afraid of and why? Do you really have good reason to fear, especially in light of Matthew 10:28? Articulating your fear often exposes it as the pathetic thing it is.
Courageously confront your fear of man. “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). Obedience calls for courage. Courage is not the absence of the emotion of fear, but the resolve to obey despite what we feel. Exercise your trust in God by stepping out in obedience. “Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:6).

Trusting God is safe; fearing man is not (Proverbs 29:25). God usually teaches us this through the hard lesson of obeying in spite of feeling afraid. For then we learn to trust God’s promises more than our perceptions and reach the place where “we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?’” (Hebrews 13:6).

Lord, Help Me Feel My Need for You

One of the most merciful gifts God can give us is a deep, keen awareness of our dependence on him for everything.

Living the Christian life relies on our full dependence upon the grace of God we receive through Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit. Jesus said it this way:

“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

Every professing Christian agrees we must abide in Christ. But our agreement is only important to the degree we feel it to be true. The less we feel our need for Christ, the less we will abide in him.

If We Don’t Feel Hungry, We Won’t Eat

I say “feel” because in English this gets closer to the kind of knowledge of our need for Jesus he means us to have. It’s not merely cerebral but experiential knowledge, like knowing we need food.

But it’s one thing to know we need nutrients for our body when we haven’t eaten in 24 hours; it’s another thing to know we need nutrients for our body after we’ve just washed down a bag of potato chips with a 32 oz. soda. We’re not likely to eat food we really need after sating our appetite with junk. If we don’t feel hungry, we won’t eat, especially the kind of food we most need.

The same thing is true of spiritual nutrition. If we don’t feel hunger for God because we’ve been eating spiritual junk, we are not likely to want to eat the food we need most — the food from the Vine.

If We Don’t Abide, We Won’t Survive

When Jesus issued his command that we abide in him, he wasn’t giving us a lofty ideal to shoot for, like an inspirational poster phrase. Nor did he mean it as an option for more serious Christians who want the “deeper life.” He meant we would only survive if we abide. Like physical nutrition, good spiritual nutrition is a matter of life or death. That’s why Jesus went on to say in the next verse,

“If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.” (John 15:6)

These are serious words. Jesus was just hours away from crucifixion. Everything was about to change radically for his disciples. Jesus was going to die, then rise again, then leave them and ascend to the Father, and then send his Holy Spirit to help them carry on his mission (John 16:4–15). They had learned to depend on him for everything. Now they would have to learn to depend on him for everything without him being physically present.

Their very survival would depend on abiding in him (John 15:4), and by that he meant living (remembering, believing, loving, and banking everything on) his words more than their natural perceptions (John 15:7), just as they had believed in him when he was physically with them. They would have to walk by faith and not by sight in ways that would look foolish and weak to the world (2 Corinthians 5:7; 1 Corinthians 1:18–25). If they didn’t, they would dry up and die.

This is no less true for us. Abiding in Christ our Vine is the only way we can spiritually survive.

How God Increases Our Dependence

Now, if our survival depends on our abiding, and we are only likely to abide in Christ when we feel our need for him — feel hungry for the food only he can provide — then what we really need is a deep, keen awareness of our dependence on him for everything. We must plead with the Vine and the Vinedresser (John 15:1) to do whatever it takes to help us cling to the Vine and prove our connection by the fruit we bear (John 15:3–4).

But when God answers this prayer, what should we expect our increased sense of dependence on him to feel like? What dependence always feels like: weakness and self-helplessness.

Dependence never feels like self-sufficient strength, just like hunger never feels like the self-satisfied acedia after gorging on soda and chips. Increased abiding is the direct result of our increased felt need to abide. The branch most likely to abide in the Vine is the branch that feels its own powerlessness and fears the death that separation would bring.

If we understand this, we will understand what Paul meant when he said, “For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10). God used these things to push Paul to depend on the grace of Christ instead of himself, and so Paul learned to be grateful for them.

And these are the things our Vinedresser-Father uses to prune off fruitless things and increase our dependency on the Vine-Son (John 15:2). And though at first they don’t feel like great mercies, they are. Because the difference between a branch that abides in the Vine and grows strong and fruitful and a branch that doesn’t is the degree to which a branch knows (believes and feels) that apart from the Vine it can do nothing (John 15:5).

Whatever It Takes, Lord

For every one of us only clings to — abides in — what we really believe gives us life. And that Vine is the one we go to most often for what we find most life-giving. For us, that Vine must be Christ. Abiding in him is a matter of life and death. Therefore, let’s make this our prayer:

Whatever it takes, Lord, increase my awareness of my dependence on you in everything so that I will continually abide in you by faith.

Do Not Go Beyond What Is Written

We have the New Testament largely because of the theological diseases that infected and afflicted the first-generation churches. The apostles wrote to clarify and remind early believers of things they had been taught, and to correct false doctrines that were springing up.

All of church history resembles the New Testament: remarkable outpourings of the Holy Spirit, gospel advances, churches planted, outbreaks of persecution and martyrdoms, doctrinal distortions and leadership abuses and all manner of sin causing churches to be, as the old hymn says, “by schisms rent asunder, by heresies distressed,” followed by Holy Spirit-empowered revival and reformation movements.

Best to Know Your Bible

To have knowledge of church history is good — really good. It helps us keep perspective. It helps us keep from being too euphoric and triumphalist in revival, too depressed and defeatist in tribulation, and too enamored of The Next Big Thing, the new method, strategy, or movement that promises to be The Answer. Church history helps us remember, “Is there a thing of which it is said, ‘See, this is new’? It has been already in the ages before us” (Ecclesiastes 1:10).

But it’s best to know our Bibles very well. The only proven antidote to the doctrinal and moral diseases that have always afflicted the churches of God is “holding fast to the word of life” (Philippians 2:16) and “not . . . go[ing] beyond what is written” (1 Corinthians 4:6). Church history serves to confirm this is true.

The Church-Preserving Power

Andrew Fuller (1754–1815) is a helpful example of one who honored the Bible’s voice above all others.

For most of Fuller’s adult life, he pastored a small Baptist church in the town of Kettering in central England. Most Christians today haven’t heard of Fuller. Those who have heard of him know him mainly for his role in founding the Baptist Missionary Society with William Carey, “the morning star of modern missions.” Fuller was one of Carey’s most faithful “rope holders” during Carey’s missionary and Bible-translation labors in India.

But God used Fuller not only as an early missions strategist and statesman, but also to stem the plague of false teaching that was killing Calvinistic Baptist churches in his day.

Disease Remedied by God’s Word

One deadly disease was so-called High Calvinism (what we could call “hyper-Calvinism”), which distorted the doctrine of the sovereignty of God in election. It taught there is no need to use means (preaching, writing, urging, pleading) to convert unbelievers, since those means are only effective after regeneration. This disease made churches impotent and sterile. In one forty-year period, Fuller’s Baptist denomination shrunk from 220 to 150 churches.

Another disease was called Sandemanianism (after a Scottish theologian named Robert Sandeman), which distorted of the doctrine of justification by faith alone. Sandeman, in trying to keep faith from becoming just another work to merit salvation, asserted that faith must only be the bare intellectual notion of who Jesus is and the significance of his work, given by God to a person’s mind apart from their will or affections. So true faith, according to Sandeman, could coexist with ungodliness in a person, since God “justifies the ungodly” (Romans 4:5).

It’s not hard to imagine the spiritual deterioration in churches when a “Christian” no longer needs to demonstrate any evidence, in behavior and heart, of saving faith.

Andrew Fuller believed and loved the Reformed doctrines of election and justification. But more than that, he knew his Bible well. He knew what God says about using means to reach unbelievers (Romans 10:14–15), and what God says about the evidence of saving faith (James 2:14–20). Because he knew the Bible so well, he could see where the High Calvinists and Sandemanians were going beyond what is written and thus building with cheap materials and destroying the temple of God’s people (1 Corinthians 3:12–17).

So Fuller gave himself relentlessly to treating sick churches, and inoculating healthy churches, with what the Bible actually teaches. His work, while unwavering, was not unwearying. Fuller frequently felt overwhelmed by the demands, adversity, and grief he endured.

While he pastored a church, contended for the faith, and helped advance the Great Commission, he saw eight of his eleven children and a wife die young. Nevertheless, through his faithful efforts, God used Fuller to help stem the plagues that afflicted many churches.

Read History — and Steep Yourself in Your Bible

Andrew Fuller is worth knowing. Read John Piper’s wonderful new short biography about Fuller (it’s only 56 pages), or if you prefer listening, John gave an excellent biographical message on Fuller’s life a few years back.

But Fuller would be the first to say that the best thing you can do for yourself, your family, your church, your neighbors, the persecuted church, and the cause of world missions is to be steeped in your Bible.

The only way we can “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” is to be “filled with the knowledge of [God’s] will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding” (Colossians 1:9–10).

The only way we will be able to withstand satanic deception and sin’s temptation is letting “the word of Christ dwell in [us] richly (Colossians 3:16).

The only way we will stand approved in “the day of Christ” will be if we “[hold] fast to the word of life” (Philippians 2:16).

We must submit to “the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27) and not allow the limits of our own understanding to place unbiblical limits on the “breadth and length and height and depth, and . . . the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge” (Ephesians 3:18–19). Plead with God for the strength to comprehend what is beyond our human ability to grasp (Ephesians 3:18).

And resolve not to go beyond what is written (1 Corinthians 4:6).

“Andrew Fuller’s impact on history, by the time Jesus returns, very well may be far greater and different than it is today.” –John Piper

Download a full PDF of John Piper’s new Andrew Fuller: Holy Faith, Worthy Gospel, World Mission, or listen to his 2007 pastors-conference biographical address “Holy Faith, Worthy Gospel, World Vision: Andrew Fuller’s Broadsides Against Sandemanianism, Hyper-Calvinism, and Global Unbelief.”