Randy Alcorn's Blog, page 150

We Need to Laugh at Ourselves (Try Checking out the Babylon Bee)

Over the years, I’ve observed some Christians who are perpetually somber, never laughing or poking fun at themselves, rarely celebrating, and quick to frown when they see someone having fun. They believe that happiness is ungodliness, and that having fun is a sin. It’s not!

Though his portrait shows a somber expression, German Reformer Martin Luther (1483–1546) said, “It is pleasing to the dear God whenever thou rejoicest or laughest from the bottom of thy heart.”[i]

As believers, we need to laugh a great deal more and a great deal less: more at ourselves and the incongruities of life, and less at immorality and mockery of what pleases God.

Laughter, for the right reasons, is scriptural. Psalm 126:2 says, “Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy.” By God’s grace, even in times of difficulty, I’ve laughed hard, and I believe I’ve truly sensed Jesus’ laughter joining mine. As long as no one gets hurt by them, I end up laughing at my stupid mistakes regularly, which allows me to find happiness in what otherwise could become frustration or embarrassment.

I don’t laugh at my sin; I do laugh at my limitations and mistakes, often whispering to myself, “You’re an idiot.” (It’s not self-hatred; it’s being entertained by my innocent and…okay, sometimes dumb, blunders.) Laughing at ourselves can please God, relieve stress, and reflect humility—after all, proud people can’t laugh at themselves and are outraged when others laugh at them.

Consider the example of one of my heroes, British pastor Charles Spurgeon. Dr. Larry Michael writes:

Many evangelicals know well the stern side of C. H. Spurgeon and his serious pursuit of the holy life. Indeed, his stands for righteous causes, and countering doctrinal error are often recounted. But many readers may not know that he was a man with a great sense of humor. Spurgeon knew the value of laughter and mirth. He virtually took to heart the word in Proverbs 17:22: “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.”

Spurgeon laughed as often as he could. He laughed at the ironies of life, he laughed at comical incidents, he laughed at the amusing elements of nature. He sometimes laughed at his critics. He loved to share wholesome jokes with his friends and colleagues in ministry. He was known to tell humorous stories from the pulpit. William Williams, a fellow pastor who kept company with Spurgeon, was a near and dear friend in the latter years of Spurgeon's life. He wrote:

What a bubbling fountain of humour Mr. Spurgeon had! I laughed more, I verily believe, when in his company than during all the rest of my life besides. He had the most fascinating gift of laughter . . . and he had also the greatest ability for making all who heard him laugh with him. When someone blamed him for saying humourous things in his sermons, he said, “He would not blame me if he only knew how many of them I keep back.” 

Spurgeon considered humor such an integral part of his ministry that a whole chapter in his autobiography is devoted to it. Humor permeates his sermons and writings, often woven into the fabric of his messages. It's one reason among many why he is still so readable today. 

When I was a young believer, in the 1970s, I used to read The Wittenberg Door (often with my old buddy Larry Gadbaugh). It was a magazine which featured satirical articles on evangelical Christians, mostly—though not always—good-natured. The Door was, in my opinion, sometimes overcritical of evangelicals it disliked and undercritical of evangelicals it liked. Still, even when I was among those it considered naïve or off-base, I found myself laughing hard, and that laughter was therapeutic. The Babylon Bee, in case you haven’t heard of it, is doing that now, in the form of short satirical news releases. Here are some that Nanci and I have enjoyed. Hope they make you laugh, and maybe learn something in the process. :)

‘What Has God Ever Done For Me?’ Asks Man Breathing Air

LYNNWOOD, WA—Sources confirmed Tuesday that local freethinker Jared Olson called into question the “absurd” idea that God had ever done anything for him, all while inhaling oxygen and exhaling carbon dioxide in a complex process well beyond his mind’s capability of understanding in its entirety.

Associate Pastor Demoted To Church Plant After Rocky Relief Outing

KANSAS CITY, MO—Kansas City First Christian Church teaching pastor Sammy Tilson announced Sunday that associate pastor Dave Cromwell would be demoted to their church plant in Omaha following a brutal relief sermon appearance.

Local High Schooler Pretty Sure Sixth Camp Rededication Did the Trick

HOMEWOOD, AL—Upon returning from his Spring retreat with Grace Life Baptist’s youth group, high-school senior Frank Middleton reported that despite the last five failed attempts, this time around he is pretty sure his rededication to Christ is really going to stick.

Stephen Curry Clearly Just A Christian Ripoff Of Michael Jordan

OAKLAND, CA—Shaking his head in disgust while huffing audibly, local man Jack Berlinski reported Thursday that Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors is clearly just a Christian ripoff of Michael Jordan, the secular professional basketball player who is widely considered the greatest of all time.

Author Models Humility By Retweeting Only 75% Of Compliments

DALLAS, TX—Pastor and best-selling author of It’s All About Jesus, Larry Richards, is known for practicing online the humility he preaches in the pulpit by retweeting only 75% of all compliments he receives on Twitter about himself or his books.

Mountain Climber Recovering After Decision To Let Go And Let God

MARIPOSA, CA—Seasoned mountain climber Randall Jespers tumbled hundreds of feet down the El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park Sunday after reportedly deciding to “let go and let God.”

Pastor Admits ‘Doing Life Together’ Just An Excuse To Do Whatever

KENOSHA, WI—Pastor Doug Gosport, 53, admitted that his recent forays into “doing life together” with people in his church and community were really just an excuse to do whatever he felt like doing, sources confirmed Monday.

After 12 Years Of Quarterly Church Attendance, Parents Shocked By Daughter’s Lack Of Faith (This one has a strong and sad message.)

Fullerton, CA—Local father Trevor Michelson, 48, and his wife Kerri, 45, are reeling after discovering that after 12 years of steadily taking their daughter Janie to church every Sunday they didn’t have a more pressing sporting commitment—which was at least once every three months—she no longer demonstrates the strong quarterly commitment to the faith they raised her with, now that she is college-aged.

John Piper Gently Informs David Platt That Everyone Knows About ‘Secret Church’

LOUISVILLE, KY—Directing him to a private, dimly-lit room so any emotional reaction would be shielded from the throngs of attendees with cameras, John Piper reportedly sat David Platt down backstage at the Together for the Gospel conference Wednesday in order to gently inform him that everyone knows about ‘Secret Church.’

Landscaper Accidentally Trims Church’s Hedge Of Protection

KANSAS CITY, MO—The leadership team at Blue Valley Baptist Church confirmed Thursday that an employee working for Westside Landscaping inadvertently trimmed the hedge of protection church prayer-warriors had painstakingly prayed around the property, potentially exposing the church and its members to demonic attacks.

Paul Bunyan Tops List Of Favorite Puritans

VENTURA, CA—Evangelicals have spoken, and it turns out their favorite Puritan is none other than Paul Bunyan. In a recent survey of self-identified Evangelical Christians aged 30-55 performed by The Barna Group, the 300-foot-tall lumberjack of American folklore beat out other Puritans like former presidential candidate John Edwards, actor-director Robert Redford, and hip-hop artist/reality TV star John Flavel Flav by a wide margin.

Rob Bell: ‘I Believe Things About Things’

HOLLYWOOD, CA—In a bold declaration, Rob Bell has announced to the world that he firmly believes something about something.

Heaven Department Of Tourism Advises 2017 Round-Trip Tickets Selling Out Fast

HEAVEN—If you want to hitch a ride to the celestial kingdom and back, you’d better get your tickets as soon as possible. The Heaven Department of Tourism announced Friday that 2016 round-trip packages to the pearly gates have been sold out for months, and reservations for 2017 are selling out “very quickly.”

Trump Sees Poll Numbers Plummet As Yosemite Sam Enters GOP Race (A bit dated now, but we thought this was hilarious.)

U.S.—After weeks of speculation Yosemite Sam has finally thrown his 11-gallon hat into the ring. Although four states have already cast their ballots, the fiery prospector believes there is still plenty of time to make a strong run at the Republican nomination.

The Power Of Positive Declarations: Joel Osteen Can Now Fly

HOUSTON, TX—Joel Osteen, celebrity senior pastor of Lakewood Church, has been proclaiming the life-changing power of regular, vocal, positive declarations and self-affirmations for years, and for just as long has pointed to his own life and accomplishments as irrefutable evidence of their efficacy.

Gridlock Reached As Two Men Both Certain God Told Them To Date Same Girl

NEW YORK, NY—Stressing the precariousness of the situation, inside sources confirmed Monday that a gridlock has been reached in the social lives of David Gall, 23, and Mark Cormier, 26, as both men are absolutely, 100% certain that God has personally instructed them to date local 22-year-old Stephanie Fair.

Youth Pastor Forgets What His Hebrew Tattoo Means

SEATTLE, WA—Local youth pastor Bryce LoPresti blew a perfect chance to give a reason for the hope within him Tuesday when his neighbor finally inquired what his tattoo means.

Joel Osteen Ordered To Acquire Butcher’s License Due To Exegetical Methods

HOUSTON, TX—The Texas Department of State Health Services has issued an order to Joel Osteen, bestselling author and pastor of Lakewood Church, to acquire a butcher’s license in order to continue handling Scripture.

Dove Awards Announce Realistic New Categories

NASHVILLE, TN—In an announcement of sweeping changes, the GMA Dove Awards confirmed Thursday that the 2016 ceremony would feature all-new categories organizers are calling “more realistic.”

[i] Martin Luther, as quoted in Tal D. Bonham, Humor, God’s Gift (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1988), 245.

Photo credit: Josh Felise via Unsplash

The Happiness Found in God’s Word: Part 3 of a 3-Session Conference

Augustine said, “By hearing Thee I am happy; because of Thy voice I am happy.”[i] There’s no place we can go to hear God speak authoritatively, to hear His voice with complete confidence, other than the Bible itself.

When we’re right with God, we’re delighted with His words, because they’re an extension of Himself—His majesty, His beauty, and His happiness.

“The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul. . . . The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart” (Psalm 19:7-8, NASB). As we listen to, meditate on, and respond to God’s Word, our souls are restored from sin and unhappiness to righteousness and happiness.

As a new believer in Christ, I couldn’t get enough of God’s Word. At night I sometimes fell asleep with my face on an open Bible. Other times I would listen to Scripture on cassette tapes (remember those?). As I drifted off to sleep, my last waking memories were of God’s words.

When Jeremiah said that God’s Word “became to me a joy and the delight of my heart” (Jeremiah 15:16), he was suggesting that Scripture has a cumulative effect that increases over time. Happily, by God’s grace, I can attest to this.

As I shared in my earlier blogs this week, I recently spoke on happiness at my home church, Good Shepherd Community Church, in a three-session conference. (Check out session one and session two if you missed them. The sessions can stand alone, but I think you’ll get the most out of each if you watch them consecutively.) Today’s blog features session three, “The Happiness Found in God’s Word.” Pastor Alan Hlavka and I spent the last 15 minutes of the session focusing on the happiness-related words found in the Bible’s original languages, but before that we addressed several more questions:

What do you do when you’re not a naturally happy person?
How do I have happiness when I worry so much, especially in today’s troubled world?
How does the subject of Heaven have to do with our happiness?
Are emotions bad?
Do our holiness and our happiness go hand in hand, or are they at odds with each other?

Watch the full session below, or you can download the audio.

From Eternal Perspective Ministries:

Get an additional 20% off our already-discounted prices on all of Randy Alcorn’s books and products in our online store when you use the code SPRINGSALE during check out.

For example, Randy’s book Happiness is $10.39 with the code (58% off the $24.99 retail price, regular EPM price $12.99).

Browse all of Randy’s happiness-related books and products.

Code expires Tuesday, April 26 at 11:59 p.m. PT.

[i] Philip Schaff, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 7, “Augustine: Homilies on the Gospel of John” (Tractate #25).

Photo credit: Aaron Burden via Unsplash

The Happiness of God: Part 2 of a 3-Session Conference

Since we’ll inevitably seek what we believe will bring us happiness, what subject is more important than the source of happiness? Just as we’ll live a wealth-centered life if we believe wealth brings happiness, so we’ll live a God-centered life if we believe God will bring us happiness. No one shops for milk at an auto parts store or seeks happiness from a cranky God.

As much as I believe in the holiness of God, I also believe highlighting God’s happiness is a legitimate and effective way to share the gospel with unbelievers or to help Christians regain a foothold in their faith.

Some imagine that following Christ boils down to, “Just say no to happiness!” Christian homes and churches need to counteract that misconception with a biblical doctrine of happiness, built upon the happiness of God.

In his classic book The Knowledge of the Holy, which influenced me profoundly as a new believer, A. W. Tozer wrote, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. . . . No religion has ever been greater than its idea of God. . . . The most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like.”[i]

It’s narcissistic to think of God only in terms of how loving, angry, forgiving, just, or patient He is in relation to us. We’re but creatures, latecomers, and incredibly small. He’s the Creator, without beginning and end, continuously vibrant and energetic. His identity and character don’t depend on us. He had a life before we met Him, and had we never met Him, He would have retained His identity. So the question isn’t merely whether God is happy with us but whether God, in Himself, is happy.

Jonathan Edwards said, “It is of infinite importance . . . to know what kind of being God is. For he is . . . the only fountain of our happiness.”[ii] Edwards knew that just as an unloving God couldn’t bring us love, an unhappy God couldn’t be our source of happiness.

As I mentioned in my last post, I recently spoke on happiness at my home church, Good Shepherd Community Church, in a three-session conference. (Check out session one if you missed it. The sessions can stand alone, but you’ll get the most out of each one if you watch them consecutively.) Today’s blog features session two, titled “The Happiness of God, and Happiness and Idolatry.” Pastor Alan Hlavka asked me another series of questions, including:

Is God happy, and why does the answer to that question matter?
Jesus was called a Man of Sorrows. Does that mean He wasn’t happy?
Is there a relationship between happiness and idolatry?
The secular world talks about being happy by helping others and being more grateful. What does the Bible say about this?

Watch the full session below, or you can download the audio.

From Eternal Perspective Ministries:

Get an additional 20% off our already-discounted prices on all of Randy Alcorn’s books and products in our online store when you use the code SPRINGSALE during check out.

For example, Randy’s book Happiness is $10.39 with the code (58% off the $24.99 retail price, regular EPM price $12.99).

Browse all of Randy’s happiness-related books and products.

Code expires Tuesday, April 26 at 11:59 p.m. PT.

[i] A. W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy (New York: HarperCollins, 1961), 1.

[ii] Jonathan Edwards, “The Importance and Advantage of a Thorough Knowledge of Divine Truth,” Select Sermons.

Photo credit: Christian Bruno via Unsplash

Hardwired for Happiness: Part 1 of a 3-Session Conference

Based on the books I’ve read, the sermons I’ve heard, and the conversations I’ve had, I’m convinced that many Christians believe our desire for happiness was birthed in humanity’s fall.

But what if our desire for happiness comes from God? What if He wired His image bearers for happiness before sin entered the world? How might this perspective change our approach to life, parenting, church, ministry, business, sports, and entertainment?

Augustine asked rhetorically, “Is not a happy life the thing that all desire, and is there any one who altogether desires it not?” Then he added a critical question: “But where did they acquire the knowledge of it, that they so desire it? Where have they seen it, that they so love it?”[i]

Not only has God written His law on our hearts (see Romans 2:15); He’s written a love of happiness on our hearts.

Blaise Pascal, who said that “all men seek happiness,” wrote these words in his collection of thoughts on theology:

What else does this longing and helplessness proclaim, but that there was once in each person a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? We try to fill this in vain with everything around us, seeking in things that are not there the help we cannot find in those that are there. Yet none can change things, because this infinite abyss can only be filled with something that is infinite and unchanging—in other words, by God himself. God alone is our true good.[ii]

In other words, the Fall didn’t generate the human longing for happiness—it derailed and misdirected it.

Recently I spoke on the topic of happiness at my home church, Good Shepherd Community Church, in a three-session conference. I’ll be sharing one full session in each of my blog posts this week.

My hope is that individuals, pastors, and small groups would consider utilizing these videos for study and discussion, as they contain a large amount of Scripture related to happiness. (My PowerPoint slides are included in the video.)

Pastor Alan Hlavka asked me a series of thoughtful questions, which I responded to in the first session, titled “Hardwired for Happiness, and Happiness vs. Joy.” The questions included:

Does God expect us to be happy?
We live in a broken world. Is it insensitive to say that we should be happy and that God wants us to be happy?
In modern Christianity we tend to have a fear of talking about happiness. What’s the downside of avoiding addressing happiness?
Does Scripture show there’s a difference between happiness and joy?

If you’ve never studied what Scripture says about happiness, or even if you think that happiness isn’t something believers should focus on, I encourage you to take the time to listen to or watch these sessions, and consider what God’s Word has to say.

Watch the full first session below, or if you’d like you can download the audio.

From Eternal Perspective Ministries:

Get an additional 20% off our already-discounted prices on all of Randy Alcorn’s books and products in our online store when you use the code SPRINGSALE during check out.

For example, Randy’s book Happiness is $10.39 with the code (58% off the $24.99 retail price, regular EPM price $12.99).

Browse all of Randy’s happiness-related books and products.

Code expires Tuesday, April 26 at 11:59 p.m. PT.

[i] Augustine, “We Should Not Seek for God and the Happy Life Unless We Had Known It,” The Confessions of St. Augustine, trans. J. G. Pilkington.

[ii] Pascal, Pensées, number 425.

Photo credit: Brandon Couch via Unsplash

God’s Kingdom . . . and Ours

In Daniel 7:13-14 we’re given a prophetic revelation of four earthly kingdoms, beginning with Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon, that will one day be forever replaced by a fifth kingdom. As the four pagan kingdoms are on Earth, the contextual implication is that the fifth kingdom—God’s eternal Kingdom—will also be on Earth.

Daniel said of the four earthly kingdoms, “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me were the four winds of heaven churning up the great sea. Four great beasts, each different from the others, came up out of the sea” (Daniel 7:2). These nations might appear to rise to power arbitrarily, but their emergence is orchestrated by Heaven, and their ruling authority is granted by God for they are “given authority to rule” (v. 6), and later “their dominion was taken away” (v. 12, ESV).

In contrast to the tenuous and temporary rule of the nations, we’re told that the Messiah’s dominion—in context, a kingdom on Earth—will be “everlasting” and “will not pass away” and “will never be destroyed” (v. 14).

Notice the continuity between the ultimate earthly kingdom of the Messiah and the previous earthly kingdoms of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome, from which eventually comes the kingdom of the Antichrist. The kingdom with the everlasting dominion is not a dominion over a different realm but over the same realm—Earth. In speaking of these kingdoms, God is not comparing apples (Earth) with oranges (a spirit realm), but apples with apples. Christ will not merely destroy the earth where fallen kings once ruled. Rather, He will rule over the same Earth, transformed and new.

At Daniel’s request, an angel provides an interpretation of his vision: “The four great beasts are four kingdoms that will rise from the earth” (v. 17). Then the angel makes an extraordinary statement: “But the saints of the Most High will receive the kingdom and will possess it forever—yes, for ever and ever” (v. 18). This statement makes clear both the kingdom’s location (Earth) and its duration (eternal).

Some theologians reduce Daniel 7 to a promise that God’s saints will reign with Christ during the Millennium. But the text couldn’t be clearer—it says “for ever and ever,” not a thousand years. Many other passages also affirm an earthly reign that will last forever (e.g., Joshua 14:9; 2 Samuel7:16; Isaiah 34:17; 60:21; Jeremiah17:25; Micah 4:7; Revelation 22:5). The angel Gabriel told Mary that Christ “will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end” (Luke1:33). Regardless of whether one believes in a literal Millennium, passages such as the ones cited here shouldn’t be understood as millennial references. They refer instead to an everlasting Kingdom.

But where is that eternal Kingdom located? If the other four kingdoms, spanning centuries, rose “from the earth,” and if the Antichrist will rule on the earth, where will God’s Kingdom be in order to replace those kingdoms? On the earth.

Under God’s covenant with Israel, the people never looked for the Messiah to reign in Heaven. That would be nothing new, because God already reigns in Heaven. Establishing God’s Kingdom was never about an immaterial spirit realm. It always concerned the one place in the universe made for mankind, the one place where God’s reign has been disputed: Earth.

It’s a common but serious mistake to spiritualize the eternal Kingdom of God. Many people imagine that God will replace the earthly kings and their kingdoms with a transcendent sovereignty over the spiritual realm of Heaven. But that is very different than what Daniel is telling us.

God has never abandoned His original plan that righteous human beings will inhabit and rule the earth. That’s not merely an argument from silence. Daniel 7:18 explicitly reveals that “the saints of the Most High will receive the kingdom and will possess it forever.” What is “the kingdom”? Earth.

Earth is unique. It’s the one planet—perhaps among billions—where God chose to act out the unfolding drama of redemption and reveal the wonders of His grace. It’s on the New Earth, the capital planet of the new universe, that He will establish an eternal Kingdom.

Daniel 7:21-22 says that an earthly ruler “was waging war against the saints and defeating them, until the Ancient of Days came and pronounced judgment in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came when they possessed the kingdom” (emphasis added).

The same earthly kingdoms ruled by ungodly human beings will ultimately be ruled by godly human beings. Christ’s promise wasn’t figurative—the meek really will inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5). And they will rule what they inherit.

The Kingdom Transfer

Daniel 7:25 tells us that the saints will be handed over to the earth’s kingdoms, which will persecute them for a season. But then a stunning reversal will occur. “Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be handed over to the saints, the people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him” (v. 27).

What is the “greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven” that will be “handed over to the saints”? I believe it includes all that makes the nations great. That would include, among other things, their cultural, artistic, athletic, scientific, and intellectual achievements. All of these will not be lost or destroyed but “handed over to the saints” as they rule God’s eternal Kingdom on the New Earth. We will become the stewards, the managers of the world’s wealth and accomplishments.

Consider the marvels of this revelation. God’s children who suffered under ungodly earthly kings will forever take their place as earthly kings. The great cultural accomplishments of ungodly nations will be handed over to God’s people to manage and (I assume) develop and expand.

The very Earth to which Satan once laid claim will be stripped from his grasp and given over to those whom he hates and seeks to destroy—God’s saints. Notice it doesn’t say that the earth’s kingdoms will be destroyed, but that they will be “handed over” to the saints, placed under their just rule. All the wrongs done on Earth by tyrants will be a thing of the past. No more persecution and injustice. The Earth that was first put under mankind’s dominion and was twisted by the Fall will be redeemed, restored, and put under the righteous rule of a redeemed and restored mankind.

If the Bible made no other reference to believers ruling over an earthly kingdom, the emphatic message of Daniel 7 would suffice: The saints of God will rule the earth forever.

Many people believe that if God rules the universe, there’s no room for other rulers. But this can’t be true, because we’re told that “all rulers will worship and obey him” (v. 27). Isaiah 60 and Revelation 21:24 tell us there will still be nations on the New Earth, and they will still have rulers. But they will be righteous rulers, subordinate to Christ. People of every national and ethnic group (“tribe and language and people and nation”) will worship the Lamb (Revelation 5:9). Some will rule over cities; others will rule over nations. Christ will be King of all, but He will be “King of kings” (Revelation 19:16), meaning that His people will rule the new earth under Him.

Photo credit: Alexandre Perotto via Unsplash

Bruce Ware on Christ Emptying Himself

Philippians 2:5-8 says:

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant,being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

What does Scripture mean by saying that Christ “did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped”? And what does it mean for Christ to empty Himself?

My friend Bruce Ware is a professor of Christian Theology at Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. Below is an excerpt from Bruce’s excellent book The Man Christ Jesus where he discusses this passage:

Christ being fully God, possessing the very nature of God and being fully equal to God in every respect, did not thereby insist on holding onto all the privileges and benefits of his position of equality with God (the Father) and thereby refuse to accept coming as a man. He did not clutch or grasp his place of equality with the Father and all that this brought to him in such a way that he would refuse the condescension and humiliation of the servant role he was being called to accept. …Christ’s not “grasping” equality with God cannot rightly be taken to mean that Christ gave up being God or became in any way less than fully God when he took on also a fully human nature. No, rather, he did not grasp or clutch onto the privileged position, rights, and prerogatives that his full equality with God, his Father, afforded him, in order to fulfill his calling to become fully a man who would be, amazingly, servant of all.

…Paul is not saying that Christ emptied something from himself or poured something out of himself, as if in so doing he became less fully God than he was before (which, as we have seen, is impossible). Rather, he emptied himself; he poured out himself. That is, all of who Christ is as eternal God, all that he is as the one who is in the form of God and is equal with God, is poured out. Christ, then, as God remains fully God. He loses nothing of his divine nature, and no divine qualities are removed from him as he pours himself out.

May we follow Christ’s model of humility and “have this same mind among yourselves.”

Photo credit: Charles Thompson via Freeimages

Having a Pilgrim Mentality about Money and Possessions

The more holdings we have on earth, the more likely we are to forget that we’re citizens of another world, not this one, and that our inheritance lies there, not here. The Levites had no earthly inheritance, because God himself was their inheritance (Deuteronomy 18:1-2). Christians have been told that we are “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God” (1 Peter 2:9). The priests had no earthly inheritance, and neither do we of the new covenant priesthood. We are both princes and priests. We are “heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17), but ours is “an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:4).

Pilgrims are unattached. They are travelers, not settlers, who are acutely aware that excessive things will distract and burden them. Material things are valuable to pilgrims, but only as they facilitate their mission. If you were traveling through a country on foot or on a bicycle, what would your attitude be toward possessions? You wouldn’t hate them or think them evil—but you would choose them strategically. Unnecessary things would slow your journey or even force you to stop.

Many of us are called to stay in one place and we naturally become “settlers” in one sense, living in houses, building barns, owning furniture, tools, crops, and businesses. There’s nothing wrong with this. But we must cultivate the pilgrim mentality of detachment, the traveler’s utilitarian philosophy concerning things. We need to be able to live in a house without owning it, or own a house without being owned by it. If God so directs us, as he has many of his disciples, we need to be able to leave behind a farm or a business or a house without going back.

The slaves in early America understood the pilgrim mentality. Without possessions, without rights, they lived for another world, a better one. This central theme permeated their spirituals. They sang, “I am a poor wayfarin’ stranger, a travelin’ far away from home,” and “Soon I will be done with the troubles of the world, I’m goin’ home to live with God.” They sang, “Swing low, sweet chariot, comin’ fo’ to carry me home.” They knew that home wasn’t this present earth, but Heaven, ultimately on the New Earth.

Wealth entrenches us in the present world. Financial commitments and debts can be like spikes chained to our legs and driven into the ground, making us unresponsive to God’s call to serve him elsewhere. God may never call me to move on from my home or business or country. But I must be in a position to say yes if he does. If not, I might wonder all my life if he may have had other plans for me—plans I didn’t hear or respond to because I was so tied to where I was.

There are many roadblocks to giving: unbelief, insecurity, pride, idolatry, desire for power and control. The raging current of our culture—and often our churches—makes it hard to swim upstream. It’s considered normal to keep far more than we give.

I’m convinced that the greatest deterrent to our giving is this: the illusion that earth, as it is now, is our home. Where we choose to store our treasures depends largely on where we think our home is. Those who think of earth as their real home will naturally want to pile up treasures here. Those who think of Heaven as their real home will naturally want to pile up treasures there. It all comes down to the question, “Where’s your home?” To the Christian, God gives a clear answer. The only question is whether we’ll live as if that answer is true.

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David Mathis on Your Single Most Important Habit

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 good (though less-than-perfect) work churches are doing.

In this article from Desiring God, David Mathis draws a compelling connection between being part of the local church and developing healthy spiritual habits in life. I truly believe the key to spirituality is the development of little habits, such as Bible reading and memorization and prayer, and certainly that includes the habit of being part of a church.

I’m well aware that many who love Jesus have become weary of churches and have lost faith that local churches and their pastors can be faithful to Christ.  After several bad experiences they have given up on the church. But Jesus doesn’t give up on us, and I suggest that it’s not for us to give up on the church that is just like us—imperfect. 

So if you’ve walked away from churches, maybe it’s time to walk back, perhaps to a new church or an old one, and enter with the question, “Lord, what can I do to serve this church and help its people love you more and experience the wonders of your grace? And in the process, I will trust you to work in my heart.”

In putting one foot in front of the other, week after week, day after day, we become the kind of person who grows and endures in our faith in Jesus rather than someone whose devotion withers and dies. May we all develop the holy habit of corporate worship:

The final frontier of biological research is still the enigmatic human brain. And at the cutting edge of recent study has been this phenomenon we call “habits.” One important finding has been what researchers and popularizers call “keystone habits” — simple, but catalytic new routines that inspire other fresh patterns of behavior.

Take, for example, the habit of drinking more water daily. A little intentionality here might lead to making better food choices, and may even help inspire exercise. For some, quitting smoking is a keystone habit that starts a domino effect of good lifestyle changes. For others, simply forming the habit of putting on running shoes in the morning leads to walking for exercise, then light jogging, and eventually to becoming a full-fledged regular runner.

Find the right keystone, and you could unleash a string of good habits in your life.

Keystone for Christians?

While I cannot commend one keystone habit that will make the difference for every believer, I do want to speak up on behalf of one weekly habit that is utterly essential to any healthy, life-giving, joy-producing Christian walk: corporate worship. And it is all too often neglected, or taken very lightly, in our day of disembodiment and in our proclivity for being noncommittal. In fact, I do not think it is too strong to call corporate worship the single most important habit of the Christian life.

Read the rest.

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A Deeper Trust in Our Good God’s Purposes

I wrote my book If God Is Good with the understanding that for many people, no question looms larger than this central question: If God is good... why all this evil and suffering? If God loves us, how can he justify allowing (or sending) the sometimes overwhelming difficulties we face?

I never presumed that the book would work magic or make anyone’s problems disappear. But my prayer, then and now, is that readers will not only find help for themselves, but also life-changing insights to share with others—believers and unbelievers, family and friends, neighbors and co-workers—in their time of greatest need.

It’s been very encouraging to hear from readers who’ve been drawn to a deeper trust and faith in Christ and His purposes. One reader wrote,

After reading If God Is Good, all I can say is thank you. Thank you for not writing a book full of 'pat answers', or one that 'let's God off the hook'. The book was honest and well balanced. I have suffered from major chronic physical pain since I was a teenager. I have multiple medical issues and cannot even remember the last time I was totally pain free. Although I have not come to the point to be grateful for all my pain, I am learning to trust God and see a purpose for all my pain.

Recently EPM received this note:

I want to thank you for writing If God Is Good. I've been in a wheelchair since 2000. I've read and heard so many things that I was jaded and didn't want to hear any more. I appreciate your diligent use of Scripture. …You restored my hope in God and His goodness, showing me that I still have purpose. I felt like I was set on a shelf and that Heaven was brass. I don't feel that way now.

My response was this: Thank you, brother, for seeking to please our King and for trusting Him for His wisdom in your life. I look forward to running together on God's New Earth in bodies that will allow us to run as never before!

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Teach Your Children about the Happy God

I talked with a young woman who viewed the Christian life as one of utter dullness. She knew that following Christ was the right thing to do, but she was certain it would mean sacrificing her happiness.

Where did this young woman, who was raised in a fine Christian family and church, acquire such an unbiblical notion? What are we doing—what are we missing—that leaves many of our children and our churches laboring under such false impressions? Why do we think it would be unspiritual for the Christian life to be centered on what God calls the good news of happiness (Isaiah 52:7)?

Celebration and gladness of heart have characterized the church, including the suffering church, throughout history. Scripturally, the culture of God’s people is one of joy, happiness, gratitude, eating and drinking, singing and dancing, and making music. It’s not the people who know God who have reason to be miserable—it’s those who don’t.

Unfortunately, children who grow up seeing church as a morose, hypercritical place will turn their backs on it in their quest for happiness. Those who have found happiness in the church, and ultimately in Christ, will usually stay or return.

If we want our children and grandchildren and future generations to seek God as the answer to their deepest longings, we must teach them the foundational truth that He is by nature happy. They need to see that the God who brings them the Good News really can (and longs to) “change their sadness into happiness” (Jeremiah 31:13, NCV).

When we understand that the God of the Bible is both happy and powerful enough to overcome our greatest grief and suffering and to give us cause for eternal happiness, Satan’s arguments against trusting God will lose their power.

Sadly, few churches teach that God is happy—or wants us to be happy. We are unintentionally silencing the biblical revelation of one part of God’s nature, at great loss to the church, families, and individuals.

I believe it’s vital that we not leave our children and future generations of Christians to figure out for themselves that God is happy. Most never will. How can they, unless their families and churches teach them and demonstrate God-centered happiness in their own lives? We need to tell them that sin, suffering, shame, and unhappiness are temporary conditions for God’s people. We’ll once and for all be righteous, healthy, shame free, and happy. Once we’re in His presence, we’ll never again experience the anger, judgment, and discipline of God we see in Scripture (all of which are appropriate and important, but even now do not nullify His happiness or love).

What if our children and grandchildren learned from childhood that to know God is to know happiness—and to not know Him is misery that propels us to search for happiness where it can’t be found?

What if, without having to explore the world’s sin, as Augustine did, they could understand his prayer after his conversion: “There is a joy that is not given to those who do not love you, but only to those who love you for your own sake. You, yourself, are their joy”?[i]  What if they understood Augustine’s words, “They who think there is another, pursue some other and not the true joy”?[ii]

What if our children saw in our families and churches a breadth of Christ-centered, ultimately optimistic happiness and were taught that this happiness originates in God, not the world? How might it fulfill these words: “That the generation to come might know, even the children yet to be born, that they may arise and tell them to their children, that they should put their confidence in God” (Psalm 78:6-7, NASB)?

Imagine if our churches were known for being communities of Jesus-centered happiness, overflowing with the sheer gladness of what it means to live out the good news of great joy! And what if when our families left church and went to school, work, restaurants, and musical and dramatic performances, they didn’t feel they were walking away from God but toward the same happy God they’ve been worshiping?

Envision how contagious the doctrine of God’s happiness could be if taught and grasped and lived out. What if we really believed the gospel doesn’t just offer us and our children and our communities and our world what we need but offers us what, in the depths of our hearts, we want?

What if when suffering came, we faced it with an underlying faith that erupted into genuine gladness and thanksgiving? What if instead of looking away or being paralyzed by the needs of this world, we—with humility and gladness—reached out to intervene for the hungry, the sick, the unborn, the racially profiled, and the persecuted? Wouldn’t our children be less likely to leave the Christian faith, push away church as a bad memory, and pursue the world’s inferior happiness substitutes that will ultimately destroy them? I’m not talking about contrived happiness as a pretense or a strategy for church growth, but the genuine happiness that naturally flows from God and the gospel.

Jonathan Edwards said, “It is of infinite importance . . . to know what kind of being God is. For he is . . . the only fountain of our happiness.”[iii] Sadly, some imagine that following Christ boils down to, “Just say no to happiness!” My hope and prayer is that we can counteract that misconception in our families and churches with a biblical doctrine of happiness, built upon the happiness of God. May we teach them that “In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11).

[i] Augustine, Augustine’s Confessions (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), 52.

[ii] Augustine, The Confessions of Saint Augustine (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1900), 255.

[iii] Jonathan Edwards, “The Importance and Advantage of a Thorough Knowledge of Divine Truth,” Select Sermons.

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