Randy Alcorn's Blog, page 150

Kevin DeYoung on Why Jesus Was Hated and Put to Death

I’ve shared before my appreciation for pastor and writer Kevin DeYoung’s blog, as well as for his books, including The Hole in Our Holiness, What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality?, and his children’s book The Biggest Story.

With Good Friday and Easter upon us, Kevin recently posted an answer to the question, “Why did they hate Jesus?” It’s common to hear people focus solely on the compassion and love of Jesus, and neglect the other parts of His character, including His holiness and wrath, sovereignty and lordship. Jesus was indeed a friend of sinners, but He was crucified for much more than that. The gentle, compassionate Jesus is also the Jesus who drove the merchant-thieves from the Temple and spoke condemnation against self-righteous religious leaders. Were Jesus as meek and mild and utterly tolerant as many think, He never would have been crucified. But His less popular qualities so outraged people that they nailed Him to a cross.

In particular what bothered the religious leaders was His bold claims about His identity, which they considered to be blasphemy:  He asserted Himself as God’s only Son, one with the Father, having come down from Heaven and destined to rule the universe as King, thus making Himself equal with God.

Here’s what Kevin has to say:

Why Did They Hate Jesus?

It is sometimes said that Jesus was killed on account of His inclusion and tolerance, that the Jews hated him for hanging out with sinners and tax collectors. This is the sort of sentiment which has a bit of truth to it, but only a tiny bit. No doubt, Jesus upset many of the Jewish leaders because he extended fellowship and mercy beyond their constricted boundaries. But it is misleading to suggest that Jesus was hated for simply being too doggone loving, as if his inspiring tolerance were the cause of his enemies’ implacable intolerance.

Take Mark’s Gospel, for example (because it’s the one Gospel I’ve preached all the way through). By my reckoning, Jesus is opposed once for eating with sinners (2:16), once for upsetting stereotypes about him in his hometown (6:3), a few times for violating Jewish scruples about the law (2:24; 3:6; 7:5); and several times for “blaspheming” or for claiming too much authority for himself (2:7; 3:22; 11:27-28; 14:53-64; 15:29-32, 39). As Mark’s Gospel unfolds, we see the Jewish leaders increasingly hostile toward Jesus. Although the fear of the crowds stays their hand for awhile, they still try to trap Jesus and plot his destruction (8:11; 11:18; 12:12; 12:13; 14:1: 15:3, 11). There is a lot the Jewish leaders don’t like about Jesus, but their most intense, murderous fury is directed toward him because he believes “I am [the Christ, the Son of the Blessed], and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven” (14:62).

The four Gospels, as we might expect, emphasize different aspects of the Jewish opposition. Luke, for instance, makes more of Jesus’ identification with the society’s cast-offs as an issue for the Jewish leaders, while John makes more of Jesus’ unique status as God’s equal. But the basic outline is consistent in all four accounts. As Jesus’s reputation as a healer and miracle worker spreads, the crowds come to him in larger and larger numbers, prompting the elites to despise him more and more.  As a general rule, Jesus was popular with the masses (the exception being in his hometown of Nazareth), and as his popularity increased with the crowds, so did the opposition from the Jewish leaders.

The Jewish leaders disliked, and eventually grew to hate, Jesus for many reasons. Mark 15:3 says the chief priests “accused him of many things.” They were angry with him for upsetting their traditions and some of their scruples about the law. They looked down on him for eating with sinners and associating with those deemed unclean or unworthy. But most of all, they hated Jesus because he claimed to be from God, and as time went on, dared to make himself equal to God.

That’s why they hated him; that’s why the crowds turn on him; that’s why Jesus was put to death. The Jewish leaders could not recognize Christ’s divine authority and identity. Jealousy was no doubt part of it (Matt. 27:18). But deeper than that, they simply did not have the eyes to see or the faith to believe that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God. That’s why in all four gospels, when the opposition against him reaches its climax, Jesus is not charged with being too welcoming to outsiders, but with being a false king, a false prophet, and a false Messiah (Matt. 26:57-68; Mark 14:53-65; Luke 22:66-71; and less clearly in John 18:9-24). They killed Jesus because they thought he was a blasphemer.

In the end, it was the implicit and explicit claims Jesus made to authority, Messiahship, and God-ness, not his expansive love, that ultimately did him in. This is not an excuse for our own hard-heartedness or a reason to distance ourselves from today’s “sinners and tax collectors.” We need Jesus’s example to set us straight. But we must put to rest the half-truth (more like a one-eighth truth, really) that Jesus was killed for being too inclusive and too nice. The Jewish leaders may have objected to Jesus’s far-reaching compassion, but they wanted him dead because he thought himself the Christ, the Son of the living God. If Jesus simply loved people too much he might have been ridiculed by some. But without his claims to deity, authority, and the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, he likely would not have been executed.

So as we approach another Holy Week, let’s certainly talk about the compassion and love of Jesus (how could we not!). But if we don’t talk about his unique identity as the Son of God, we have not explained the reason for his death, and we have not given people reason enough to worship.

I highly recommend to you Kevin DeYoung’s excellent blog, one of my favorites: “DeYoung, Restless and Reformed.” 

photo credit: Jacob Meyer via Unsplash

Does Punctuation Really Matter?

In 2014, I was laboring over the galley stages of my book on sovereignty and free will, called hand in Hand. (The small h in the title is deliberate, as is the capital—our little hand, God’s infinitely big Hand. And while capitalization isn’t exactly punctuation, it can be very significant.) Even at the final stages of the book, after looking at it dozens of times, and other people finding things I hadn’t, I was still finding errors, some of them very small, such as commas that misled or a lack of a comma—a reminder that punctuation really does matter.

For instance, sometimes we have exactly the same words, but the punctuation makes a radical difference in meaning. For instance, consider the sentence “Let's eat, Grandma!” The same words with a single change in punctuation are, “Let's eat Grandma!” (Which may be an actual line in a Stephen King book.)

Here’s another example from online:

An English professor wrote the words: "A woman without her man is nothing" on the chalkboard and asked his students to punctuate it correctly.

All of the males in the class wrote: "A woman, without her man, is nothing."

All the females in the class wrote: "A woman: without her, man is nothing."

Punctuation is powerful!

I saw this somewhere, but after looking online I’m still not sure who to attribute it to. Here are two identical letters written by a woman named Gloria to a man named John. The words in each are identical. Only the punctuation differs.

Letter one:

Dear John,

I want a man who knows what love is all about. You are generous, kind, thoughtful. People who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior.

You have ruined me for other men. I yearn for you. I have no feelings whatsoever
when we’re apart. I can be forever happy—will you let me be yours? 

Gloria

Letter two, identical except for punctuation:

Dear John,

I want a man who knows what love is. All about you are generous, kind, thoughtful people who are not like you. Admit to being useless and inferior.

You have ruined me. For other men, I yearn. For you, I have no feelings whatsoever. When we’re apart, I can be forever happy. Will you let me be?

Yours,
Gloria

Still, punctuation isn’t exactly life-changing stuff, is it? There’s a story, presumably apocryphal, that demonstrates how it could be.

A prisoner was about to be executed. He stood with a noose around his neck, on a platform that would soon be dropped. Suddenly the telegraph operator ran across the yard yelling, “Wait! I just received a telegram from the governor!” Breathlessly, he read it: “Pardon. Impossible to be executed immediately.’”

They removed the noose and walked the man away. Then the telegraph operator came running out again. “Wait!” he cried, “I got the punctuation wrong. It says ‘Pardon impossible. To be executed immediately.’”

Well, punctuation usually doesn’t matter that much, but it does matter.

photo credit: Damian Zeleski via Unsplash

Six False Expectations That Diminish Our Happiness

Most people intuitively know that our expectations profoundly affect our life experiences. Yet even as believers, we simultaneously expect too much and too little. We need to discover what we should expect less of and what merits higher expectations. That involves lowering our expectations concerning all the advantages we think life should bring us while raising our expectations concerning Christ and what He is daily accomplishing in us.

Here are six false expectations—those that are not grounded in Scripture and undermine our happiness:

1. God’s Love for Us Should Look Just Like What We Want

God has promised us His undying love, but we often imagine how we’d do things differently for those we loved if we were all powerful. We’d surely keep anything bad from ever happening to them, right? That may be our understanding of love, but it’s not God’s.

If we ignore countless passages that promise us persecution and suffering while focusing on those that promise us God’s blessing, we lose sight of His promise to discipline us, build our character, and increase our Christlikeness through suffering.

We ought to expect with the highest confidence only what God has clearly, fundamentally, and absolutely promised. And if our gratitude is lessened with such an understanding, the problem is our expectations, not God’s promises. If we expect God to make our lives easy, our expectations are unbiblical.

2. We Won’t Be Persecuted for Our Faith

Jesus said, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first” (John 15:18, NIV). Peter said we should be firm in our faith, “knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world” (1 Peter 5:9).

In spite of multiple promises of suffering throughout Scripture, many Christians seem shocked or outraged when they have to face these trials. Americans have been slow to accept the extent to which Bible-believing Christ-followers have become socially unacceptable. Though we should work to hold on to our religious liberties, it’s likely they’ll continue to erode. But cheer up! Opposition is nothing new for God’s people, and historically the church’s greatest advances have come at the lowest ebb of its popularity.

The Christian faith may never return to its central public role in our culture, but Christ’s gospel is bigger than every obstacle. Sometimes a less popular church becomes a more faithful, dynamic, and joyful church. Any church whose happiness hinges on its popularity will either compromise its integrity or surrender its happiness—in either case failing to show the world the true and joyful gospel of Jesus.

3. Jesus Must Return in Our Lifetime

“Stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. . . . Be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Matthew 24:42, 44).

Christ will surely return, just as He promised (see Luke 21:27). Since the beginning of church history, many believers have thought Christ would return in their lifetimes. So far, everyone who has died in the past two thousand years has been wrong in that expectation.

In recent years, I’ve often heard believers say, “Christ has to return within the next few years.” No, He doesn’t. He may, but He may not return for decades or centuries. That’s entirely up to Him. Meanwhile, it’s up to us to continue living for Him.

4. Life Will Go Smoothly and We’ll Always Have Health and Wealth

M. Scott Peck opens The Road Less Traveled, “Life is difficult. . . . Once we truly know that life is difficult—once we truly understand and accept it—then life is no longer difficult.” Well, it’s less difficult, anyway!

Paul said, “We brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content” (1 Timothy 6:7-8). Food and clothing may seem like low expectations. By the standards of the health-and-wealth gospel, these expectations are dismally low, but they’re accompanied by dramatically high expectations of God, who gives us riches in Heaven. After all, He’s the source of our joy!

Has God promised to make us healthy and wealthy? No, not in this life—only in the resurrected life on the New Earth.

5. Life Will Be Fair and People Will Treat Us Kindly and Thoughtfully

Jesus said, “If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? . . . But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great” (Luke 6:34-35).

All Bible passages about forgiveness involve lowering our expectations of people and not insisting they live up to our standards, or demanding perfection we don’t measure up to ourselves. God’s grace should calm us and cheer us.

If my saying, “Cheer up” seems naive, someone else—Jesus—said it first: “I have told you this, so that you might have peace in your hearts because of me. While you are in the world, you will have to suffer. But cheer up! I have defeated the world” (John 16:33, CEV).

6. Churches Owe Us Better Treatment than We’ve Received

I am sadly aware that churches have contributed to much unhappiness. But when our expectations of church people, and especially pastors, are inordinately high, we become deeply disappointed, thinking that Christians should know better and have no business being imperfect (often not realizing how imperfect we ourselves are and that the problem with church people is often that they are too much like us).

Scripture tells us we shouldn’t be “neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some,” but should gather together, “encouraging one another” (Hebrews 10:25). When we back away from the local church, we often engage in spiritual isolation that’s likely to not only distance us from God’s work but also sour us and our children to the great good churches are doing.

We need to fix our eyes on Jesus, raise our expectations of our personal need to obey Him by being part of and serving the church, and lower our expectations of others so we’ll be more understanding and forgiving. Sometimes we need to find another church that teaches God’s Word and centers on Jesus. He sees all the flaws in the church, but He hasn’t given up on His bride, and He won’t (see Matthew 16:18). Neither should we.

Excerpted from Happiness.

Photo credit: Christian Spies via Unsplash

Watching Our Words on Social Media

The power of the words we speak and write is far greater than we realize. Proverbs 18:21 tells us that “Life and death is in the power of the tongue.” In fact, usually our written words assume more permanence and reach further and wider than our spoken ones.

Yet as I’ve observed Christians interacting on the internet, including through social media, I'm concerned that many of us are failing to use our words in a way that is honoring to Christ. We’re neglecting to remember that these powerful tools many of us are using—whether in blogs, as comments on blogs, on Facebook or Twitter, or as responses to them—can serve either God or Satan, good or evil.

God holds us accountable for every word we say, including the careless ones we share over the internet. Jesus said, “But I tell you that men will have to give account on the Day of Judgment for every careless word they have spoken” (Matthew 12:36). This means we better think carefully before we hit post or reply.

Words as Weapons

Jackie Hill Perry writes, “It is not wise or healthy to disassociate what you say on social media from who you are. It seems as if many, including Christians, feel the freedom to be critical, divisive, harsh, and flat out wicked with speech via social media as if it is not AS damaging. Don’t be fooled, you will be judged just as much for what you said with your mouth as you will with what you’ve typed with your hands.”

I’ve seen Bible-believing, Christ-centered people post thoughts on a blog or on social media only to receive a string of hypercritical responses from people who wield Scripture verses like pickaxes, swiftly condemning the slightest hint of a viewpoint they consider suspicious. Others quickly join the fray, and soon it appears that no one has bothered to read what the blogger actually said. Responders assume the worst, not giving the benefit of the doubt and engaging in shotgun-style character assassination. (If I were an unbeliever reading such responses, I certainly wouldn’t be drawn to the Christian faith!)

I wonder why it’s not immediately recognized by those engaging in such behavior that what they’re doing is utterly contrary to the faith they profess and the Bible they believe. How is it that perpetual disdain, suspicion, unkindness, and hostility are seen as taking the spiritual high ground? We dishonor our God and each other when we accuse and delight in our brothers’ and sisters’ alleged errors.

A Call for Wisdom

The ancient book of Proverbs has much to say about our words. These biblical principles apply every bit as much to our written words as our spoken ones. Proverbs 12:18 says, “Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.” “A man of knowledge uses words with restraint, and a man of understanding is even-tempered” (Proverbs 17:27). “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger” (Proverbs 15:1).

Paul David Tripp writes, “…you have never spoken a neutral word in your life. Your words have direction to them. If your words are moving in the life direction, they will be words of encouragement, hope, love, peace, unity, instruction, wisdom, and correction. But if your words are moving in a death direction, they will be words of anger, malice, slander, jealousy, gossip, division, contempt, racism, violence, judgment, and condemnation.”

Truth and Grace

James 2:13 says, “Judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!” Where is the mercy among evangelical Christians? Personally, I’ve seen a lot of it. But I’ve also seen a lot of unmerciful condemnation of the sort that Jesus repeatedly denounced.

Yes, we can and will disagree in the Christian community, but we should speak the truth in love: “Speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ” (Ephesians 4:15-16). God calls us “to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men” (Titus 3:2).

While we should desire that truth not be compromised, we should also remember that Jesus often condemned the Pharisees, those whose doctrine was closest to His own. Why? For their lack of grace. Our Jesus came “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). He calls for us to be full of both.

Psalm 133:1 says, “How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!” What are we doing to cultivate this kind of unity? Sometimes we must disagree with our brothers. But are we going out of our way to assume the best rather than the worst? Are we laboring to share our opinions in a spirit of love and grace? “Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification” (Romans 14:19).

A Higher Calling

Paul reminds us to “Let all that you do be done in love” (1 Corinthians 16:14). Wouldn’t it be wonderful for those of us who are already each other’s brothers and sisters to learn how to believe the best of each other? And to speak the truth to each other in love? And to be like Jesus toward each other: full of grace and truth? (One thing is certain: a world torn apart by criticism, suspicion, and hostility will never be won to Christ by a church riddled with the same.)

Galatians 6:10 is an apt reminder for our interactions on social media: “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.” On social media, in our conversations, and everywhere in between, may we seek to do good to our brothers and sisters in Christ through our words, always remembering our accountability to the Lord Jesus.

photo credit: William Iven via Unsplash

Jerry Bridges and Gary Smalley: Very Different Personalities Go Home to the Same King

Two brothers, Jerry Bridges and Gary Smalley, went to Jesus last Sunday, March 6. I knew and loved them both. Their personalities were—and I assume still are—radically different. But both loved and served their King, and now do so more than ever.

Jerry and Gary, in unique but complementary ways, left a heritage of faith many of us have benefited from.

Jerry taught so many of us how to keep on trusting God in the pursuit of holiness through decades of faithful ministry amid cancer and loss. His most well-known book may be The Pursuit of Holiness, but one of my favorites of his, which I recently endorsed in its re-release, is The Joy of Fearing God. Timeless books of biblical theology made practical. They will never get old.

Two of Gary’s more popular books are The Blessing and If Only He Knew. Gary, with his effusive personality, was a far more public figure, appearing on Oprah and countless other programs, including an infomercial with Dick Clark, while Jerry, serious and soft-spoken, made his appearances in more theologically-based conferences, such as Desiring God and The Gospel Coalition.  Talks with Gary often got me laughing; talks with Jerry always got me thinking. And don’t we all need to both laugh and think more?

Nanci and I loved getting to know Jerry and his wife Jane at the 2007 Desiring God Conference, where we both spoke. I had met and talked with Jerry years before, but that was the first time I’d had extended conversations with him over meals, and experienced the quality of his life up close. 

I quoted what Jerry wrote in Is God Really in Control? in my book If God Is Good:

If God is truly sovereign, if He truly loves you, and the teaching of Scripture is correct, then God will never allow any action against you that is not in accord with His ultimate purpose to work for your good. If the evil done against you is fresh and haunting, then I know my words may seem terribly calloused. But I say them because I believe they are true. Scripture teaches them, and one day we will all believe them, when we are with Him.

Both Jerry and Gary served Jesus in their own inimitable ways. While I’m saddened at their parting, I rejoice that they are with Him now, thinking and laughing better than ever. I believe among the words spoken by our Savior to these brothers a few days ago were, “Well done, my good and faithful servant. Come and share your Master’s happiness” (Matthew 25:23).

I look forward to thinking and laughing with these brothers again, in the presence of our Savior and King.

Randy Alcorn

You might also like to read:

A warm tribute to Gary Smalley by Jim Daly, president of Focus on the Family.

A wonderful tribute to Jerry Bridges by Tim Challies.

A great Tony Reinke interview with Jerry Bridges.

Using Romans 1 to Test Other Worldviews

I’ve written before about the astounding number of college students who are abandoning their faith in Christ. It’s vital that parents and church leaders understand some of the major reasons behind this trend and know what they can do now to help their children prepare for the challenges ahead.

This post from Nancy Pearcey on the Desiring God blog provides a great way for Christian young people (and all of us) to answer other worldviews they’ll encounter on college campuses and beyond:

One Strategy to Rule Them All: How to Answer Skeptics from Romans 1

In high school, Dylan was a natural leader, voted Most Valuable Player on his football team. Everyone expected him to succeed. But when he went to college, Dylan’s Christian convictions were assailed by doubts in virtually every class.

In his science classes, Darwinian naturalism was an unquestioned assumption. In English class, a postmodern attitude treated all truth claims as disguised power plays. In psychology, the prevailing theories — from Freud’s psychoanalysis to Skinner’s behaviorism — treated Christianity as a symptom of mental pathology.

Dylan’s church had taught the basic gospel message, but it had not equipped him to meet the challenges of the university classroom. Deeply shaken, he dropped out of college and began to rethink whether Christianity was even true. Dylan eventually found his way to L’Abri, the ministry of Francis Schaeffer in Switzerland. There he finally met Christians who could teach him to “destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God” (2 Corinthians 10:5).

How can the church be more effective in equipping young people to keep the faith when they leave home?

Read the rest.

photo by Ryan Tauss via Unsplash

An Idea for Churches, Families and Individuals: Let’s Celebrate the International Day of Happiness!

It’s likely not marked on your calendar, and you’ve probably never heard of it—but Sunday, March 20 is the International Day of Happiness. (And no, it wasn’t invented by Hallmark!)

The day was started in 2012 when all 193 United Nations member states adopted a resolution calling for happiness to be given greater priority. Not only is happiness a worldwide concept, but the English word happiness is one of the most familiar and desirable ones on the planet. The synonyms for happiness in any language are on the short-list of the most popular and appealing terms.

As I researched my book Happiness, I first heard of this, and began to wonder: what would it look like if evangelical churches led the way in annually participating in the International Day of Happiness, by celebrating the good news of happiness that Isaiah 52:7 talks about?

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”

Both the NASB and the ESV, two of the most literal translations, render the Hebrew here as “good news of happiness.” The immediate context of Isaiah 52-53 is messianic, and this good news of happiness is exactly the same “good news of great joy” the angel spoke of to the shepherds after the birth of Jesus (Luke 2:10).

What an opportunity the International Day of Happiness could be to tell each other and the world about the happiness of God and the happiness Christ came to bring to all the nations! Wouldn’t it be refreshing for Christians to make positive remarks about happiness and direct people toward the happy God they desperately need to know? (I’m not talking about contrived happiness as a pretense or strategy for church growth, but the genuine happiness that naturally flows from God and the gospel.)

I think such celebrations would make a powerful statement that we value true God-honoring and Christ-exalting happiness, and so does God, who went to great lengths to secure our eternal happiness in Him.

And imagine the potential for changing the popular image of the church. How much different it would be if people looked less at the church as a group of always critical, always complaining, always feeling persecuted bunch of curmudgeons!

Instead of backing away from happiness or trying to correct those who love the word happiness (which almost everyone does, except some inside the church), we should embrace it, realizing that Jesus is inseparable from true and ultimate happiness.

If only today’s church could grasp what God’s people have always known and, instead of fighting happiness, embrace it as a partner in preaching the good news of great joy.

Paul expressed his astonishment that the Galatian Christians were “turning to a different gospel—not that there is another one” (Galatians 1:6-7). The phrasing is significant—he was saying they distorted the gospel and it was therefore no longer the gospel at all. Their gospel was human centered and burdensome and misery making, not Christ centered and freedom giving and happy making. A gospel not dominated start to finish with the grace of Jesus is an unhappy gospel. And there’s no such thing, since gospel means “good news.”

The Pharisees twisted biblical truth to make their own system of rules and regulations. They were quick to criticize and condemn, and looked like they’d been sucking lemons all day. They were the Bible-believing conservatives of their day, but they drained the joy out of belief in God, and failed to live in the celebratory mood of the great feasts and parties that are spoken of throughout the Old Testament. They condemned Jesus as a drunk and a glutton because He went to parties that were fun and entertaining.

Do we really wish to distance the gospel and church from happiness? If we succeed, we’ll inevitably distance them from both our children and the world, for everyone will go right on wanting happiness. Christians shouldn’t abandon happiness—we should embrace happiness, the true happiness Scripture freely offers through God’s persistent and everlasting love:

But let all who take refuge in you rejoice;
    let them ever sing for joy,
and spread your protection over them,
    that those who love your name may exult in you.
For you bless the righteous, O Lord;
    you cover him with favor as with a shield. (Psalm 5:11-12, emphasis added)

So, what might celebrating the International Day of Happiness look like in your church? Perhaps it would mean putting on a party or a carnival, and inviting the local community. Think of the refreshment that weary, burdened, guilt-ridden people would enjoy if your church put on a celebration of biblical proportions, with great food and drink and music and laughter and fun, just to say, “We love you, Lord Jesus, and we love this community, and we’re here to celebrate the gift of happiness that comes from you!”

Such a celebration could provide the opportunity to share the truth that as sinners in rebellion against the happy God who made us, we’re separated from happiness because we’re separated from its source. But the staggeringly good news is that by trusting Christ’s redemptive work for us, we can enter into a relationship with God. In doing so, we can enter into what we long for: the happiness found only in God.

Since March 20 is right around the corner, if your church isn’t able to pull together a formal celebration this year, you can put it on the calendar for 2017 and start to make plans now. And as individuals, we certainly can open our homes through hospitality and our lives through service on March 20, in order to share Christ’s love and happiness with those in our neighborhoods and communities. (Incidentally, this year March 20 is also Palm Sunday.)

And while we’re at it, what about celebrating October 4, “Saint Francis of Assisi Day,” with churches inviting the community to celebrate animals in a way that’s God honoring? Don’t let PETA and others with a naturalistic worldview put an exclusive claim on valuing animals. God values them and so should we! People love their pets, and churches could open their grounds and invite people to bring their pets (okay, maybe you could start with dogs then figure out the logistics for cats, rabbits, gerbils, and reptiles in future years).

This could be a fun, joyful and powerful outreach to people who otherwise would never connect with a church. Surely, regardless of our varying political persuasions, Christians should agree that the God who created the world and placed it under our management expects us to show gratitude and respect for the animals He entrusted to our care in Genesis 1-2.

Wouldn’t it be great if children growing up in Christian homes looked forward to additional God-centered holidays—ones they could invite their unbelieving friends to join? Wouldn’t it be fitting if church was known as the place that celebrates more than the world, rather than less? Worship, camaraderie, and unity would be hallmarks of such events. But one of the greatest payoffs would be reestablishing followers of Jesus as people of profound happiness who are quick to celebrate the greatness, goodness, love, grace, and happiness of our God.

God’s people ought to say, “Let us eat, drink, and be merry to celebrate the time when we’ll eat, drink, and be merry in a world without suffering and without end!”

Were we to do more of this kind of celebrating, and do it better, surely fewer of our children, and the next generation, would fall for the enemy’s deadly lie—that the gospel of Jesus doesn’t offer happiness and that people must go elsewhere to find it.

I love what theologian Robert Hotchkins wrote: “Christians ought to be celebrating constantly. We ought to be preoccupied with parties, banquets, feasts, and merriment. We ought to give ourselves over to celebrations of joy because we have been liberated from the fear of life and the fear of death. We ought to attract people to the church quite literally by the sheer pleasure there is in being a Christian.”[i]

May the righteous be glad and rejoice before God; may they be happy and joyful. (Psalm 68:3, NIV)

[i] Robert Hotchkins, as quoted in Philip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations: From Sorrow to Hope (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001), 271.

Cupcakes photo credit: Sheelah Brennan  / Dog photo credit: Nomao Saeki, both via Unsplash

How God Can Use Even a Simple Booklet

Someone on Facebook shared this picture with me a few months back of a young reader checking out my Heaven booklet. (If you read it right side up, it might have even more impact!)

I’ve been greatly encouraged by the responses to this little 60-page booklet, which contains a sampling of the questions and answers found in my Heaven book. Heaven has reached one million copies sold, and this small, affordable booklet has sold over 1,200,000. I never would have guessed it of either!

We’ve heard from many readers about how they’re using the booklets evangelistically. An EPM reader sent this story from a physician friend:

We make the Heaven booklet available to all of our patients who might wish to take one. A lady just told me that her father had come with her to her office visit about 6 months ago. While he was waiting in the office, he picked up one of the booklets and read it cover to cover. He reportedly was a scientist and somewhat agnostic. Because he saw these booklets in a "smart doctor's office" he read the booklet and over the next couple of months, had some other interactions with questions. He died in December, but two weeks before his death he accepted the Lord. His daughter was in the office in tears today thankful for that booklet.

Another reader wrote, “The booklet versions of Heaven and If God Is Good have become standard usage for me when engaging in grief counseling with both those who are dying and those who have lost a loved one. While I occasionally give the full versions away, the mini ones are so convenient—people who are grieving are intrigued by their titles and appreciate the shorter read during all of the busyness that dealing with a death can bring.”

One of the most distinctive aspects of how the Heaven booklet has been used is its wide distribution at memorial services. Some churches, including my own, make it available at every memorial service. Sometimes it’s handed out at the door; sometimes it’s placed on the seats or pews. When the person’s death was tragic and troubling, my booklet If God Is Good: Why Do We Hurt? is used. Unbelievers and believers alike struggle with the problem of evil and suffering. As I do in the Heaven booklet, in If God Is Good, I share the good news of salvation in Christ.

Last year, a new beautiful little book called God’s Promise of Happiness was released, which is a simplified and differently presented version of the big Happiness book. It’s designed for believers who want an introduction to the topic, but don’t have the time or inclination to engage the larger work. God’s Promise of Happiness is also written for unbelievers who are interested in the subject and will be drawn to the Gospel as “good news of happiness” (Isaiah 52:7, ESV). I believe its pocket size and the question and answer format will make it a helpful tool in sharing the Gospel of Christ. In that sense, it’s sort of the happiness equivalent of my Heaven booklet.

Many people, including myself, regularly give away booklets. It doesn’t take much effort, and when it does, it’s more than worth it. I leave them with servers at restaurants (always with a tip that's 20% or more), give them to people on planes, and have them on me for checkers at stores. In some cases, we won’t be in a position to follow up and may not see the person again in this life. But consider that one day, in the presence of Christ, you may have a person who read the booklet and came to faith in Christ, or were strengthened in their faith, say to you, “Thank you for giving me that booklet—God used it powerfully in my life!”

What a privilege!

 

All of the single copies of Randy Alcorn’s booklets (God’s Promise of Happiness, Heaven Booklet: Biblical Answers to Common Questions, and If God Is Good: Why Do We Hurt?) are on sale from EPM for $1 each, plus shipping and handling. (Save up to 50% off retail prices.) Sale ends Tuesday, March 8 at 4 P.M. PT.

Managers of Creation

In Genesis 1 and 2, we see that in giving management of creation to Adam and Eve, God appointed human beings to rule the earth. All people would be their descendants, taking up their management responsibilities in turn:

“Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth’” (Genesis 1:26-28, NKJV).

God’s intention for humans was that we would occupy the whole Earth and reign over it, to God’s glory. This reigning, expanding, culture-enriching purpose of God for mankind on Earth was never revoked or abandoned. It has only been interrupted and twisted by the Fall. But neither Satan nor sin is able to thwart God’s purposes. Christ’s redemptive work will ultimately restore, enhance, and expand God’s original plan.

I share more in this video (kindly animated by the staff at Clarion Creative):

Heaven ExplainED: Managers of Creation from Randy Alcorn on Vimeo.

Photo credit: NASA via Unsplash

Ten Suggestions to Help You Relax Through Sleep

A godly Bible teacher was asked what helped him most to walk in the Spirit. Of course, he studied God’s Word and met with the Lord daily. But his surprising reply to the question was this: “Getting eight hours of sleep each night.”

Sleep does indeed have a profound effect on every aspect of our being—physical, mental, emotional, and even spiritual. Sleep is the body’s most basic and extensive attempt at relaxation and renewal. Stress often causes a lack of good sleep. Ironically, a lack of good sleep will inevitably cause stress.

It’s easy to stay up late tonight, but tomorrow we, and those around us, will pay the price in the form of fatigue and irritability. Often the key to the quality with which we experience today is what we did last night and how late we did it. Put two or three busy nights with six hours of sleep together and we’re deep in debt, trying to spend energy we don’t have.

It’s a simple matter of mathematics. If I need eight hours of sleep and I must get up at 6:30 in the morning, then I need to be asleep at 10:30. Not heading for bed at 10:30, but asleep at 10:30, which probably means I should try to be in bed by 10:00.

But for many, Insomnia can be maddening. Here are a number of suggestions that Nanci and I and others have found helpful—perhaps you will, too.

1. Get a good mattress. We will spend one-third of our lives in bed. Isn’t it worth having a good one? Especially since the quality of that one-third will dramatically affect the other two-thirds. Many of us sleep better in a larger bed.

2. Watch the room temperature and the ventilation. Too hot or too cold means sleeplessness or restless sleep. Adding or subtracting covers or adjusting an electric blanket may be enough to make the difference.

Some people need fresh air to sleep, so they crack the window even in winter. Try it. If the air is too dry for you, get a humidifier.

3. Minimize distractions. Do street lights and traffic noise disturb you? Perhaps you can move into a bedroom at another end of the house. Try blackout shades to keep out light. I regularly sleep with earplugs, and have a sleeping mask beside the bed to cover my eyes in early morning.

4. Relax before you get into bed. Many poor sleepers instinctively tighten up when they get into bed, ready for the big fight for sleep, which they invariably lose. Instead of trying to relax once in bed, relax before you get there. Take a walk—get some fresh air. Take a warm bath to reduce your tension. Drink warm milk—it contains a natural tranquilizer.

5. Avoid chemical stimulants before going to bed. Avoid caffeine within five hours and chocolate or sugar of any kind within three hours of retiring.

6. Eat an early dinner, moderately sized. If you eat a large dinner or a late dinner or a big snack at 8 p.m., your body is still trying to digest it when you go to bed. You can’t give your body a chore to do, then expect it to sleep at the same time! On the other hand, if you eat like a bird you may be unable to sleep because of hunger pangs.

7. Avoid working on problems and reading or watching distressing things late at night. Don’t try to balance your checkbook or do anything that requires deep thought late at night; it just causes frustration and leads to sleeplessness.

A few years ago I was at the beach by myself for ten days of writing. Each night I slept soundly and woke up refreshed—except one night when I was fitful and restless, and woke up exhausted. That one night was the only one I had watched the eleven o’clock news.

The best cure for insomnia may be to avoid the late news. It invariably features murders, hijackings, kidnappings, wars, and natural disasters. Just thinking of these things will tighten you up. The same is true of watching violent or tense movies, or reading about distressing events in the newspaper just before going to bed. Your last dominant thoughts before the lights go out set the mood for your night’s sleep. If you want good sleep, make sure you close the day with good thoughts, such as words from Scripture.

8. Develop a bedtime ritual. We are creatures of habit. If we can associate sleep with a certain routine, then going through the routine can help induce sleep. A bedtime ritual might involve a warm bath, a cup of warm milk, soft music, or light reading. Some people read till they begin to nod off then turn off the light and go right to sleep.

9. If you just can’t get an idea or problem off your mind, get up and do something about it. Sometimes we really need to get something off our minds. Keep paper and pen (and perhaps a little light) by your bed to jot down anything you might need to think about tomorrow, but don’t need to do tonight.

10. Learn when to nap and when not to. There are two kinds of fatigue. Hypertonic fatigue is the nervous stress-induced fatigue in which you are tired but unable to relax. Hypotonic fatigue results from hard physical labor. The muscles are relaxed and the mind drifts quickly into sleep. If you experience hypertonic fatigue during the day, the best cure is exercise, not a nap. If you take a nap, it might not refresh you, but even if it does it will usually make it more difficult for you to sleep at night. (Sometimes this creates a vicious cycle in which you nap in the afternoon because you can’t sleep at night, but can’t sleep at night because you napped in the afternoon.)

If you’re fatigued, and especially if you have a big evening ahead of you, by all means, nap if you can. For most people, a short nap of no more than 20 minutes works best.

In his article “Three Reasons to Get Some Sleep,” Jonathan Parnell writes, “Just like oxygen and food, we need sleep to work right. It won’t look the same for everyone, and some are in situations where their care for others inhibits a solid snooze, but know for sure that we need sleep. It was God’s idea.”

Parts of this blog were excerpted from Help for Women Under Stress.

Photo credit: Cheryl Winn-Boujnida via Unsplash