Editor’s Note: Click here to access Part 1 of this article, published on October 29, 2024.

3. We look to Jesus because he looked ahead to the joy set before him.

For Jesus, the end was always in mind. He didn’t set his eyes like a flint merely to Calvary — no, all along he had his eyes fixed to what was beyond Calvary, beyond the cross. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:21 He who knew no sin became sin. Jesus didn’t just interact with sinners, go play in the sandbox for a few minutes, and get his hands a little messy. He became sin. He wore our shame. Anyone who has ever been scandalously caught, embarrassingly exposed, or sexually abused can identify with this concept of despising the shame. Sin that causes shame is disgraceful. It’s dirty-ing. That’s why most people who are raped feel the unprovoked urge to shower — they need cleansing. Jesus despised the shame of sin and sinners — how? By looking ahead at the joy set before him.

What was that joy? Some would say, “Being resurrected and back in fellowship with the Father.” Maybe. Others would argue, “The joy set before Jesus was going back to Heaven glorified.”

Doubtful. I think the joy that was set before Jesus, beyond the cross, was a pure and spotless Bride who would be arrayed in glory and grace! A people who once were not a people, brought near through his blood! Sinners who had been saved from the wrath of God, set free from their sin, no longer fearing death or judgment!

What was the joy set before Jesus? You, and me. A restored creation, a restored fellowship, a true union of Christ with his people. That’s what gave him hupomone (endurance) with every lash, every accusation, every agonizing breath. In our own race, we too get to enter into the joy of our Master, into a resurrection joy that no one can take from us.

Paul told the Ephesian elders that “none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy.” If our eyes are fixed on our failures, our pain, our despair, we will falter. We (like Peter) will find ourselves enamored with the wind and waves and find our feet slipping. We will one day be with our Lord, and no light or momentary trouble will compare in weight to the glory of that joyful bliss. So, we look to Jesus, who all along had the end in mind.

4. We look to Jesus because he’s now seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Where’s Jesus now? He’s not hanging on the cross; he’s seated in glory. We, like the Hebrew Christians in the first century, might be going through trouble, but it isn’t the last chapter!

Ephesians 2 actually says those who are in Christ are already seated with him in the heavenly realms. We are already there! Romans 8 describes our salvation, and it almost seems like Paul is describing our glorification as “past tense,” as already happened!

Even today, Jesus is seated at the right hand of the throne of God, making intercession for us. Cross exchanged for crown. Have you forgotten, weary Christian, that that Day is coming? There are days when the Celestial City looks imminent, and other days when the finish line seems like it will never come. But we look to Jesus.

Verse 3 tells us why: “so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.”

This was a particularly encouraging word for the struggling Hebrew Christians who received this letter in the first century, but this verse isn’t just for them. Does fainthearted or weary describe your race as of late? You may even be wondering how you’re going to even finish this race?

You’re heavy laden, you’re weary, you’re discouraged, or you may even be in the darkest place of your spiritual life yet.

May I encourage you with something the Lord has shown me in the past year? In the last 12 months, I’ve had some of the toughest, if not darkest, moments of my entire life. Yet, even in the chasm of agony, the Lord has proven himself faithful. There were times I was tempted to drop out of the race, or say “Lord, I can’t go on,” but the Lord proved he is indeed near to the brokenhearted.

The Summer Games of 1992 in Barcelona had all the highlights we expect from the Olympics, with the skill and stamina of the human body on full display. However, it was that year’s 400-meter race that held one of Olympic history’s most shocking moments. Derek Redmond, the lightning-fast Brit who had won the 4×400 meter relay in the European and World Championships that year, was the favorite to win the 400-meter individual race. The men lined up, the gun sounded, and Redmond shot off from the starting line, quickly finding himself in the obvious lead. Rounding the turn into the backstretch, Redmond suddenly felt a sharp pain shoot up the back of his leg, causing him to fall face first onto the track. What happened next was nothing short of unpredictable and astonishing.

The pain Derek felt was his right hamstring tearing. As medical attendants began approaching, Redmond fought to his feet. “It was animal instinct,” he would say later. He tried to keep running, but could only resort to hopping, in a crazed attempt to finish his race. When he reached the final stretch, suddenly a large man in a T-shirt erupted down from the stands, hurling aside a security guard as he ran to Redmond, embracing him. Who was this determined fan? It was none other than Jim Redmond, Derek’s father. He told his weeping son, “You don’t have to finish the race,” to which Derek replied, “Yes, I do, Dad.”

With compassion, Jim looked at him and said, “Well, then, son, we’re going to finish this race together.” That’s exactly what they did. (You can Google this. It was captured on video, and it’s emotional and powerful!) Fighting off security men, Derek’s head sometimes deep into his father’s shoulder, they slowly approached the finish line all the way to the end. The crowd watched — first perplexed — then, rising to their feet, they began to cheer, with some weeping. Derek didn’t walk away with the gold medal, but he walked away with an incredible memory of a father who, when he saw his son in pain, left his seat in the stands to help him finish the race.

That’s what our God has done for us. He didn’t yell from the stands for us to “get to work” or “do better; try harder”! That’s not the Gospel. He stepped down, and picked up broken, weary sinners, and completed the work he promised to begin. Since we’re surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let’s also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let’s run with endurance the race that’s set before us, looking to Jesus.

Beloved, he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ. So, keep running. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. One day, your eyes will meet his face to face, and you and I will hear those words, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Master.” Even so, come Lord Jesus.

The Bible often likens our Christian life to running a race, and it’s a great metaphor for a few reasons. First, running, like the Christian life, is grueling! Running our race as Christians may be simple, but it’s not easy. The race metaphor is also helpful because it’s step by step. It’s moving somewhere. It’s progressive. Something’s wrong if our Christian life looks like running endlessly on a treadmill in some random garage, living the same year thirty times over and over.

Thankfully, we’re going somewhere! We’re being sanctified, we’re (hopefully) gaining ground, moving toward Christlikeness, becoming more like Jesus — and there’s a finish line! Also, Paul loved to use this race metaphor to remind us we’re not running someone else’s race. What a good reminder — I don’t need to be someone else — I can run my race. The race metaphor is so instructive for those starting their life pursuing Jesus and seeking to live wholeheartedly for him.

Which brings us to Hebrews chapter 12. The book of Hebrews addresses Jewish believers (hence the name, Hebrews) who were likely facing persecution and social pressure to abandon their faith in Jesus and return to the comfort of their traditional Jewish religious practices. In many ways, Hebrews reads like a sermon, which in my opinion was most likely an actual sermon preached by Paul and written down/recorded by Barnabas. (But if you disagree, I won’t die on that hill — please don’t @me!)

If Hebrews was a sermon, it would be a sermon all about the supremacy of Christ, how Jesus is greater, Jesus is better:

• He’s better than a written word of prophecy or the angels (ch 1).
• Jesus is better than man’s dominion over creation (ch. 2).
• Jesus is better than Moses or Joshua (ch. 3-4).
• Jesus is better than the high priests (ch. 5), the old covenant (ch.8), the tabernacle or sacrifices (ch. 9-10).
• He’s better than any of our heroes of the faith, because he’s the pioneer and perfecter of faith itself, bringing to completion what they all longed for and pointed toward (ch. 11).

Then we come to chapter 12 verse 1, which gives us a “therefore.” Therefore, in light of all of these truths, these proofs of how Jesus is superior to the promises and types of the Old Testament, the practical application is for us as believers to look to Jesus, to Christ alone. Look at verses 1-4:

1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founderand perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and isseated at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. 4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

Notice that even though there’s a great cloud of witnesses cheering us on, we’re not looking at them. There may be a finish line, but we’re not looking at that. According to verse 2, where are we looking? To Jesus!

There are four reasons that the Hebrews (and all believers) should look to Jesus as we run our race of faith:

1. We look to Jesus because he’s the founder and perfecter of our faith.

The Greek word “founder” in verse 2 could very well be translated the trailblazer, the pioneer, or the forerunner. Jesus is the founder, but he’s also the perfecter. He not only inaugurated (past-tense), but he also will complete (future tense) our faith — not just in a universal sense (i.e., that our faith as Christians is in Jesus) but also in a personal sense. Philippians 1:6 says he who began a good work in us will complete it!

Think about those in the hall of faith, just one chapter prior. Abraham’s faith, filled with lapses of lying and Hagar, is now perfected. Samson’s faith, marred by sinfulness and selfishness and childish riddles and bad haircuts, is now perfected. David’s faith, strong in his youth but marred by scandal in his later years, is now perfected. Let’s not even get started with Jacob, Gideon, Solomon, or Jesus’ disciples!

We look not to ourselves to run this race but to the One who founded and will perfect it in us. So many Christians act like Jesus’ three final words from the cross were not “It Has Finished,” but instead, “It Has Started.” In other words, they live as though Jesus merely kicked off the Christian faith with his substitutionary death — but now the real work, the deepwork, the behind-the-scenes grit and grind are up to us!

Isn’t it an incredible encouragement that the One who has the power to rise again and promises to come again is the same One who promises to also be with us to the very end of the age? That same resurrected King Jesus is the One perfecting your faith.

Growing up, I was a tall kid, so my mom and dad felt that should translate to being good at basketball. Haha, the joke was on them — I was terrible! But as I stood in the driveway taking shot after shot, which (let’s be honest) was brick after brick, my mom would say those three annoying words no kid wants to hear: “Practice makes perfect!” Not in the Christian life!

Practice doesn’t make perfect — Jesus makes perfect! Your final glorification isn’t dependent upon you. Isn’t that wildly wonderful, good news? Jesus began it, and Jesus will complete it. So we look to Jesus because he’s both the origin as well as the outcome of our faith.

2. We look to Jesus because he endured the cross.

Did you notice a few variants of the word “endure” throughout verses 1-3? Look again:

1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.

The root Greek word we translate here as “endured” or “endurance” is hupomone (ὑπομονή). It means “to remain under” — but not in the sense where the believer is just muscling through turmoil by lying down to be willingly trampled. No, hupomone is a patient endurance that meets adversity head-on and overcomes obstacles with hope and joy. It’s neither unprepared nor surprised by trials, but rather expects them. David Guzik says, “A runner must be stressed to gain endurance. Sailors must go to sea. Soldiers go to battle. For the Christian, tribulation is just part of our Christian life.”

What exactly did Jesus endure, compared to what we must endure? Let’s not forget, or only talk about this around Easter: Jesus endured the cross — a Roman crucifixion — which was so devastatingly brutal that the word excruciating was itself derived from the word crucify. What Jesus endured included the entire hour described in John’s Gospel as soon as Jesus left the upper room. In the garden, in agony, as Jesus prayed for the Father’s will to be done, his facial sweat glands began rupturing blood, a medical condition known as hematohidrosis which is caused by intense stress. Jesus endured the betraying kiss of a close friend who sold him out, then watched his dearest friends abandon him as he was arrested by the temple guard. Jesus then endured false accusations, beatings, having his beard plucked out, being struck in the face, being stripped naked, being subjected to 39 lashings by leather whips most likely embedded with bone and glass, causing his back, legs, stomach, upper chest, and face to become disfigured.

As he was mocked by Herod, and later by Roman executioners, Jesus was clothed in purple robes and then stripped of them again, after his blood would have congealed and stuck to the fabric. Jesus endured a crown of spiked thorns which would have been pummeled into the soft tissue of his skull, and Jesus then endured being nailed to the exposed cross timbers of a tree, where over the course of many hours he would have bled out and eventually asphyxiated. Jesus’ cause of death was a ruptured pericardium after six hours of enduring brutal torture and execution.

The philosopher Seneca asked, “Would any human being willingly choose to be fastened to that cursed tree, especially after the beating that left him deathly weak, deformed, swelling with vicious welts on shoulders and chest, and struggling to draw every last, agonizing breath? Anyone facing such a death would plead to die rather than mount the cross.”

As if all of that physical torture wasn’t enough, it was the fearsome wrath of God that Jesus faced spiritually, as it was poured out upon him to its very dregs. We know the hymn:

It was my sin that held him there / Until it was accomplished!
His dying breath has brought me life / I know that it isfinished!

This is what Jesus endured. This is what he ‘hupomone-d’, what he “remained under.” But notice verse 3 also says, Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. So Jesus not only endured the cross, but he also endured such hostility from sinners. It wasn’t enough that Jesus went willingly to such a horrific death, but it was all for hostile sinners! He endured hostility from the religious leaders who were jealous and wanted him killed. He endured hostility from his own people, who wagged their heads at him as they passed by Golgotha. He endured hostility from the Romans, who mocked him as King, yet also witnessed his death as truly the Son of God. He endured hostility from a punk teenager named Pilgrim, who, in his stupidity, kept rejecting the God who graciously allowed him to be raised in a Christian home and was obstinate in his teenage rebellion.

That’s what Jesus endured. What are we to endure? Does anything compare with what Jesus endured? Forgive my indifference when our prayer requests are that we are getting impatient in traffic! Verse 1 tells us what we endure: the race set before us. We lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely. We look to Jesus who endured so that we may not grow weary or fainthearted. The writer of Hebrews reminds us in verse 4 that it hasn’t gotten too extreme yet in our race: “In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.” Is that true? You may have had to endure some insane tribulation (and I don’t in any way intend to make light of that), but you haven’t shed your blood yet, have you? Then keep running! Keep looking to Jesus! He’s the One who endured the cross. So we look to him, especially when we face hostility from sinners.

We discovered a tiny little lemon tree when we first moved into our Huntington Beach, California home. It produced lemons year-round regardless of how I cared for it. They weren’t your average lemons, either. They were the coveted Meyer lemons, more sweet than sour. I couldn’t keep up with all the fruit this tree would regularly pop out. I’d often pile all the lemons into a cardboard box, write “free lemons” in Sharpie on the side, and plop it on the curb for the neighbors to share in our bounty. I was amazed that no matter how much I ignored this tree (which was quite often), it would continue to produce fruit. Eventually, I ran into a problem with this prolific tree. I found it was infested with snails who were getting to the fruit much faster than I could. It was time to take action.

Surrounding the bottom of the tree with salt, I hoped to get rid of the snails without putting my dog at risk by using snail bait. Eventually, the snails left. But then I noticed many branches that looked a bit like petrified wood. I’d never claimed to have a green thumb, but after a quick Google search, I learned I should get rid of all the dead wood I could find. Now, I rarely attack a job using the proper tools, usually just grabbing what I can find and getting to work. I entered the garage, knowing I didn’t have the ideal trimmers. Instead, I grabbed a saw with a handle and went to work on my sad little lemon tree.

The work was so satisfying that I kept checking each branch and removing the dead wood. Once I was finished removing all the useless branches, I stood back to admire my work and thought, “Well, I may have gone a little too far.” My tree looked like a kid who’d tried to cut their own hair. Off-center, haphazard, and close to bald. I figured I’d probably killed the poor thing.

If you have a green thumb (unlike me), you already know where this story is going. Not only did my lemon tree survive, but it came back more fruitful than I’d ever seen before. The tree thrived because all the dead parts had been removed. As a result, all its energy could be directed toward growing new leaves—and, most importantly—producing new blossoms that would become fruit. Without the intense pruning I gave it, the tree wouldn’t have been able to create such an abundance of good fruit the following season.

This is how God works in our lives. Sometimes, we may look like my lemon tree: barren. We can feel as if God has stripped absolutely everything away, leaving us dead inside.

But, when my tree was pruned to the nth degree, it was far from dead. Beyond what my human eyes could see, the tree was repositioning and adapting. It focused on the essential things, such as deeper roots, which would support all the new fruit. When you’ve been pruned so much that you feel dead, you can know that growth is happening under the surface beyond what you can see. God’s drawing you to put down deep roots with Him, to seek after Him for the nourishment you need to grow. And He’s growing you in humility, so when that beautiful fruit comes, there will be no pride in yourself because you’ll recognize that growth as a work only God could do.

We simply surrender and allow God to do His holy work of pruning. He’s the one who brings the increase. Through every season, we’re growing. We must trust God’s careful pruning and rely on His nourishment to make us more fruitful than we could imagine.

“He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and He prunes the branches that do bear fruit
so they will produce even more.”
John 15:2 NLT

Editor’s Note: The above is an excerpt from God Isn’t Hiding: Volume One — The Spaces and Places I’ve Found Him, available at shannonquintana.com or your favorite bookseller.

Today, the 10th of October, is World Mental Health Day.

A recent international study found the following:

“One out of every two people in the world will develop a mental health disorder in their lifetime…”
(Harvard.edu)

One out of every two means that as you read and I write, either you or I will experience mental health problems in our lifetimes (and, very possibly, both of us).

When people are physically ill, we cook for them, we pray for them, and we might even offer to go over to their home and clean. When a family has a baby and needs the support of a community, we make schedules to visit, take meals, and offer childcare for any older siblings. But, when there is a problem that begins in the mind, many do not know what to do. This is even true, sadly, within the church. Why is it, when our Bibles have so much to offer in terms of caring for others in a vast and varied range of situations, that this kind of struggle can find us lacking?

Here are some important things to remember:

The brain can get ill just like any other organ in the body; read Brains Get Sick Too by Rebecca Slack, PhD.

I recently learned the following:

“Just as diabetes has to do with a body’s failure to regulate blood sugar, mood disorders result from the brain’s failure to regulate the chemicals that control mood. Specifically, nerve cells in the brain communicate with each other by releasing chemicals called neurotransmitters. Norepinephrine and serotonin are the two neurotransmitters involved in depression. When there is an ample supply of these neurotransmitters available to stimulate other nerve cells, one typically feels “normal.” You can still have your regular ups and downs, but you aren’t fighting the illness of depression. But in clinical depression, fewer of these neurotransmitters are released because the first nerve cell reabsorbs them before they’ve adequately stimulated other nerve cells.”

Illness is illness, in whatever part of the body it is found. Neither visible or invisible illness were part of God’s plan for humanity and their presence reflects the fallen world we live in (Genesis 2.9, Revelation 22.1-4). Our frail and fallible bodies will one day be raised to newness of life and be without sickness of any kind (1 Corinthians 15.51-55) but until then, things will go wrong.

Mental (and physical) health problems are not rooted in sin.

Challenge this false assumption with John 9.1-3:

“Now as Jesus was passing by, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who committed the sin that caused him to be born blind, this man or his parents?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but he was born blind so that the acts of God may be revealed through what happens to him.”

I love what Edwin Blum wrote about those verses:

“The disciples faced a theological problem. Believing that sin directly caused all suffering, how could a person be born with a handicap?… [John 9.1-3) does not contradict the universal sinfulness of man (cf. Rom. 3:9-20, 23). Instead Jesus meant that this man’s blindness was not caused by some specific sin. Instead the problem existed so that … God could display His glory in the midst of seeming tragedy.”
(emphasis added)

It is ok to ask for help.

Physical struggles that need medical intervention are not looked down upon, neither is your mental health.

It is self-evident that when we are sick, we need a doctor to make us well (Jeremiah 8.22, Luke 5.31). Sometimes that doctor prescribes a cautious and minimal treatment plan, other times that doctor will offer a more definite intervention. We trust their judgement and never look down upon someone who leaves the hospital with medication.

We would never, ever think to chastise or criticise someone seeking an oncologist if they have cancer or someone visiting an orthopaedic surgeon if they have a broken leg. As we have said, the brain can malfunction just like any other organ, so, logically, there is no stigma attached to seeking treatment. Sometimes that will be cautious, sometimes more definite. Both are ok, and the fear of criticism for seeking help should not stop you doing so.

You are not alone.

There is likely someone in your life who knows exactly what you are going through.

“… within the Christian community, where openness and grace should flow the richest and deepest, where the masks are meant to come off and safety offered to all, owning depression [and other mental health struggles] is virtually taboo. There is an unwritten rule that people of faith should not be depressed. The prevailing idea is that the Christian faith is to be a faith of joy, making depression a sin, which means there is no excuse for a depressed spirit. As a result, depressed people have been riddled with guilt, have hidden in shame, and have been afraid to surface in order to get the help they need.”
(Church and Culture)

It might shock you to hear that giants of yesteryear — such as the great reformer and hymn writer Martin Luther, the prince of preachers and ever quotable Charles Spurgeon, and one of the best known missionaries of the nineteenth century Hudson Taylor — all suffered with what we would call depression today. We would never, ever think of criticising these men, their faith, or their impact on modern Christianity. It was, perhaps, even more courageous for them to admit difficulty in a time when, generally, difficulties were not admitted. We would never say that they were not a ‘strong enough believer’ because they struggled with issues that were not as visible as a broken leg or a cancerous growth.

All of that to say, there are people all around us who have experiential knowledge of what we are dealing with and would, I am sure, love to help you. Many of us, however, are not mind readers and do not want to seem like a nosey-Nigel by being overly full of questions, so if you would appreciate help, confide in someone you trust.

Beyond heroes of the faith and those in our lives now, the Psalmist records in Psalm 42:

“Why are you depressed, O my soul?
Why are you upset?
Wait for God!
For I will again give thanks
to my God for his saving intervention.
I am depressed,
so I will pray to you while in the region of the upper Jordan,
from Hermon, from Mount Mizar.”
(vv.5-6)

Depression, mental health struggles, openly talked about in the Bible?!

In his struggles, the Psalmist is met with, literally, overwhelming grace. God does not look down on those who come to Him with problems, and yes, that includes those that find their origin in our minds, thoughts, or emotions:

“One deep stream calls out to another at the sound of your waterfalls;
all your billows and waves overwhelm me.
By day the LORD decrees his loyal love,
and by night he gives me a song,
a prayer to the God of my life.”
(vv.7-8)

The Psalmist has taken his struggle to God (v.6) and has found grace, love, and care (vv.7-8). On this reception and provision, F.B. Meyer wrote the following:

“…whatever the depths of our sorrow, desire, or necessity, there are correspondences in God from which full supplies may be obtained.”

Conclusion

Stated as simply as possible: If this is how God treats those who come to Him with struggles that begin in our minds, thoughts, or emotions, should we not do all we can to do the same?

From this day forward, when someone we know takes the courageous step to voice their struggles, let us all treat them with the same grace with which the Lord so freely gives us (cf. Ephesians 4.32, 1 John 4.19).

Further Reading

The American Bible Society, Healing The Wounds Of Trauma: How The Church Can Help.
Bessel Van Der Kolk, M.D., The Body Keeps The Score.
Gaby Galvin, “The U.S. Suicide Rate Has Soared Since 1999,” U.S. News and World Report, April 8, 2020, read online.
Brianna Abbott, “U.S. Suicide Rates Rose in 2021 After Two Years of Decline,” The Wall Street Journal, September 30, 2022, read online.
Charles Swindoll, Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life.
Dwight L. Carlson, “Exposing the Myth that Christians Should Not Have Emotional Problems,” Christianity Today, February 9, 1998, read online.
Samuel H. Chao, “Remarkable or Little-Known Facts About Hudson Taylor and Missions to China,” Christian History15, no. 4.
Larry Crabb, Connecting: Healing Ourselves and Our Relationships.
https://hms.harvard.edu/news/half-worlds-population-will-experience-mental-health-disorder?_ga=2.240407427.1432749876.1728282009-550650552.1728282009#:~:text=Massive%20burden%20of%20disease,by%20the%20age%20of%2075.
https://theconversation.com/how-neuroscience-can-teach-children-about-mental-health-31713
https://www.churchandculture.org/blog/2022/10/10/suicide-and-the-church

When Paul addresses the crowd gathered at the Areopagus in Acts 17, he opens his appeal with a reference to a local altar to the unknown God and quotes their poets in his appeal for Christianity. His speech is undergirded by two critical assumptions: all can see signs of God’s existence, and Christians should recognize and utilize cultural opportunities to proclaim the gospel.

This cultural appeal can sometimes make Christians uncomfortable because they are concerned about the false, which mingles with the truth. But Paul assumes the world’s ignorance: Their limited knowledge is a starting place, incomplete and incorrect, but enough to warrant hearing what Paul has to say. We should be listening to when artists get it right: when they see that God has not left himself without a witness (Acts 14:17).

So what are our culture’s poets saying? I want to cite just one recent example. William Shatner, primarily known for his role as Captain Kirk in the original Star Trek, has also engaged in spoken word poetry for decades. This spring, in collaboration with musician Ben Folds and the National Symphony Orchestra, Shatner performed “The Meaning,” chronicling his experience shooting a recent nature documentary in the context of his lifelong wrestling with the meaning of life. As the poem progresses, after being dissatisfied with science and mysticism, he has an epiphany to which Paul (and we) should add our amen. It’s worth listening to his performance, as the delivery is some of the best of his career, but here are the concluding stanzas.

I was searching for the meaning
A proof of greater plans
Some elevated vision
Beyond the reach of man

Searching for the meaning
Before it was too late
To save myself or anyone
From cruel or random fate

On the final morning
I still had found no peace
So I packed up my belongings
To head back down the crease

But by a twist of fate
It landed in my hand
Falling off my backpack
Some simple grains of sand

It struck me dumb with wonder
Like sun after the rain
I saw the entire universe
In each and every grain

Yes each grain was a diamond
Unique, precious, and rare
And countless years and miracles
Conspired to bring them there

The wholeness of the planet
Like a flash it came
We all were grains of sand
All different, yet the same

Yes every human soul
Every atom that persists
Bound up in the journey
The journey to exist

There was no separation
There were no prison walls
The meaning of the meaning
Lived inside it all

I didn’t need a mantra
Or set of magic prayers
I just needed open eyes
To notice what was there

Holy are the mountains
Holy is the sand
Holy are the human beings
Trying to understand

Holy are the whispers
Holy are the screams
Holy are the nightmares
Holy are the dreams

Holy is the seedcake
Holy is the rot
Holy are the written words
Holy those forgot

Holy is the order
Holy is the mess
Holy are the modest ones
Holy the undressed

Holy is the garbage
Holy is the gold
Holy are the infants
Holy are the old

Holy is the poverty
Holy is the wealth
Holy are the unions
Holy is the self

Holy are the unions
Holy is the self

Holy are the unions
Holy is the self

William Shatner may not know the Holy One who created and sustains our world (he often identifies as spiritual but not religious), but he sees the holy fingerprints across every atom of the universe. We could critique his semi-pantheistic conclusions, but his use of the word holy provides an opportunity for dialogue: maybe that sacredness has a reason for being, maybe they display the invisible attributes of the Creator God (Rom 1:20). We know what Paul would do. He would proclaim to Shatner and our world, “What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you” ( Acts 17:23).

“Thick skin, soft heart.“

A good friend who pastors a church in a very different context and culture said this to me recently. In full he said,
“How are we [as Christians] supposed to keep a thick skin to pushback and criticism but also maintain a soft heart towards others?“

For those who claim Christ as Lord and Saviour this is a real and ongoing struggle.

So, how do we not wilt and fall away in the face of negativity but persistently pursue the best for other people?

First, we need to acknowledge our human limitations. You’re just a person, and I’m just a person. This means that we have limits. We have a limit to how thick our skin can be and how much criticism can be ignored and risen above. Words hurt (Proverbs 12.18). Words said in anger or upset, actions taken with a critical spirit, take a second to say or do and often far, far longer to forget.

We also have a limit to the compassion we can show. You’re just a person, and I’m just a person. We’re fallen, we’re fallible, and we’re not a source of inexhaustible compassion: Compare Jeremiah 17.9 with 2 Corinthians 1.3 and see that we’re not Him.

I recently read of compassion fatigue. Simply, if you’re constantly pouring out for others and bearing their burdens with little or no regard for yourself, this will catch up with you and you then become the person in need. Dr. Charles Figley writes on the destructive nature of this state and says that it …

“… refers to the emotional and physical exhaustion that can affect helping … over time. It has been associated with a gradual desensitization to [people’s] stories … [and ultimately] a decrease in quality care …”

So, how do we avoid falling away at every criticism and burning out through compassion? There’s inherent tension between the call to care and carry burdens but not carry to the inevitable negative emotions and interactions that fallen and fallible people bring. In both scenarios, the solution, I believe, is the same:

We take both to Jesus.

Perhaps it sounds too simple. Perhaps it is. The care we offer people should flow from who God is, revealed in the person of Jesus:

“Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles so that we may be able to comfort those experiencing any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow toward us, so also our comfort through Christ overflows to you.”
(2 Corinthians 1.3-5)

“…if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort provided by love, any fellowship in the Spirit, any affection or mercy, complete my joy and be of the same mind, by having the same love, being united in spirit, and having one purpose.”
(Philippians 2.1-2)

The compassion and the care we offer others, the soft heart, flow from who God is and what He has done for us in the person and work of Jesus. We care for others with the care we receive, not that which we manufacture ourselves. Your ultimate goal in caring for others is to take them to Jesus, not to be their Saviour. Compassion fatigue is much quicker to come when we try to take on ourselves those burdens that only He can carry.

The same is true for the criticisms:

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me.”
(John 15.18-21)

Criticism for the Christian is, sadly, par for the course. In the same discourse, Jesus goes on to say that He will send an Advocate, a Helper, who will guide us through these kinds of situations (John 16.1-11). The ability to not let the weight of negativity crush you is a Spirit-given gift.

Jesus knows, experientially, what you’re working through when the criticisms and disappointments have pierced your skin and threaten to harden your heart and has provided all you need to maintain a thick skin yet a soft heart. Take them to Him in prayer. Read His Word and see His actions and reactions. The key to having thick skin and a soft heart, simply, is to root yourself in Jesus.

This summer, I was blessed to attend the Refresh Europe Conference. Over the years, it’s changed, with more time given to friendships and teaching aimed at renewal. As a person in full-time ministry, I enjoy these times more and more, as well as the encouragement they give my family. They’re a reminder of rest and grace.

On one of the days, I was lazing through the library and found an older copy of a book that was such a game changer for me: Why Grace Changes Everything. Looking at it brought back many warm memories of a simpler time in my ministry and walk with the Lord. With chapters like “The Door is Never Closed,” “No Favorites in the Kingdom,” or “Won’t They Go Wild,” I realize how much I need to remember. With time, we know that though people and situations are complex, this can leave us worn and tired until we rest on an everlasting Gospel of Grace. I’d like to remember a few of the foundational tenets of the Gospel, inspired by Galatians 1:3-5.

There’s no better place to begin than Paul’s usual greeting, Grace and Peace — the heart of the Gospel. We know this is a standard greeting, and digging into the origin of the words in their historical context brings out a rich study, but I don’t want to take it too far. This is also the heart of everything we hope to see happen in our lives. We want to know God’s unlimited and unmerited favor in every aspect of our lives. I want to experience more of that holistic life-encompassing peace meant by the Hebrew word Shalom. The Galatians had forgotten that grace is not something to be earned. Even though expectations flow from grace as understood in Romans 12:1, a reasonable worship of a life submitted to the Savior—there’s a fine line between thanking and earning. We can live in thankfulness as we seek to live in a way we know pleases God. For example, I can preach to my congregation with a heart of thankfulness as I show through a text how excellent Jesus is. Or, I can seek to earn or impress the people I preach to as if I were trying to earn their approval, as if they were my boss or some distant family member. This is the opposite of grace, leaving the pastor and congregation empty.

God’s grace isn’t like that; it’s more of a rich, eternal banquet of all that’s good. His heart was shown in the Father sending the Son, the only One who truly deserves His approval, and substituting Him for us in His sinless perfection. This brings us deep peace that doesn’t fear being found out for who we really are because we are now God’s son or daughter. All anyone could hope to have earned is already accomplished in Jesus. This requires resting, accepting, and trusting. Nor does this grace lend itself to criticism, thinking it’s all too good to be true. It’s like the cooling effects of a pool or lake on a scorching summer’s day that brings the body temperature down to more liveable levels. The body of water is greater than the person who needs cooling and welcomes all who will come. This is God’s heart toward us; Paul shares it with his readership, us, even 2000 years later. Grace and Peace to each one of you!

Next, we turn to our only hope — Redemption through Jesus. When I think about this summer living in Paris, we began with surprise parliamentary elections, something the government is still trying to recover from as I write these words. We’re still trying to navigate the special Olympic Inflation and the Open Paganism Controversy that the entire world was privileged to watch on TV. In all this uncertainty, people seem to be looking out for themselves. It’s a natural part of a society that often debates truth, knowledge, and justice. For example, every year in France, high school-aged students (Lycéens) take a nationwide Baccalaureate test to continue their university education. Part of it is a four-hour philosophy test. This year’s questions were: Can science satisfy our need for truth? Or Does the State owe (us) anything? Through these questions, we can read into what people are struggling with, and it seems there might not be a lot of hope.

The Galatians looked to the law to make them right in God’s sight because false teachers were seeking to use their adhesion to their teaching for their glory. I imagine it like head-counting, as if to say the guys with the most clout and prestige had the most followers or congregations. This goes back to trying to earn a special place of prominence, like Pastor Chuck’s chapter on being “God’s Favorite.” In Jesus, we have everything opposite. He gave Himself, the only innocent One, to buy back with what was precious (Himself), what was lost to the dishonor and shame of our sin. Martin Luther said, “The Gospel is a doctrine that condemns all sorts of human righteousness and preaches the sole righteousness of Christ. To those who accept this, it brings peace of conscience and all good things, yet the world hates and persecutes it bitterly.”^[1] If we step back, it seems almost too strange to be true. Why be hateful to the one who has made such a personal investment to save us? Jesus isn’t the distanced investor who analyzes and calmly decides where to act. He has already accomplished all that was ever necessary. Yes, this age we live in is still evil, but we have hope that it’s alive and can never be taken away from us; Jesus redeemed us, and He gave His life to secure it!

Lastly, at the risk of sounding too much like a line from Star Wars, I want to remember what brings perfect balance, unity, and renewal — giving glory to God. Here’s the danger of an “everyone looking out for themselves, fighting to prove their merit in the world” society: it makes people into their idols through covetousness. Dallas Willard puts it this way: “To allow lust (or strong desires) to govern our lives is to exalt our will over God’s. That is why Paul called covetousness “idolatry” (Ephesians 5:5; Colossians 3:5). We are the idols, in that case, prepared to sacrifice the well-being and possessions of others to ourselves.”^[2] When one person’s glory interferes with another, a struggle must ensue, or someone must back down. In this way, glory-seekers are, by nature, absolute monarchs, which is why glory-seeking allows only one winner. What happens when the only one who deserves to win isn’t present? What happens when an underserving, ambitious person succeeds? Our world is teeming with such tragic tales.

Here’s a better story that gives a weary soul life and proper rest. Jesus is worthy of glory, but He didn’t choose to seek it. He decided to pursue His Father’s glory and lose all. His glory was His cross. Therefore, His life brings glory to the Father, who in turn gives glory to the Son. He made His name so great that every knee would bow. One day we’ll see it. Then, when all glory goes to the right place, genuine balance returns because the struggle for glory is over. In as much as it’s possible today, giving glory to God opens the door to authentic renewal. It’s a celebration of grace and to borrow a favorite author’s title—that’s what changes everything.

References

^[1] Luther, Martin. Galatians. Crossway. Kindle Edition. p. 21.
^[2] Willard, Dallas. Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ – 20th Anniversary Edition. The Navigators. Kindle Edition. pp. 219-220.

One of the key components of a Christian church is worship. Visit any church in your town this Sunday morning and you’ll experience some form of worship ministry during the service. The worship leader will get up, you’ll have the songs displayed in a hymnal or on a projector, and everyone will be encouraged to sing along. Usually, worship is the very first thing we do at church. It sets the stage for the whole Sunday morning gathering. You can remove a lot of things in a church service, like different programs and practices, but you can’t do without worship. Worship is important.

If you’ve had the opportunity to visit other congregations or have been a part of different churches, then you know that there’s a lot of variation in the body of Christ when it comes to worship. Churches worship God in different ways. Some use an organ or piano and focus on congregational singing of hymns. Others enjoy contemporary music styles with a full band and an immersive experience. I’ve even been to a church that had a country western band and played cowboy worship songs. Not really my cup of tea, but hey, there’s lots of variety, and there’s something for everyone. Even within our own Calvary Chapel family of churches, you’ll get different expressions of worship based on where you attend. There’s freedom to follow the leading of the Spirit, and we enjoy that freedom.

Now, I know that some of you are probably thinking, “Yes, but ‘worship’ isn’t just singing songs. Worship is a way of life.” First of all, good observation, wise one. And yes! I agree with you. But today we’re talking about the worship part of the church service (the song singing and music playing), not the big-picture idea of worship in the Bible. Nevertheless, here’s a short definition of worship and the heart behind the musical worship we have in church:

What Is Worship?

The dictionary defines worship as “The feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity: ‘the worship of God.’”^[1] It comes from “worth-ship,” to ascribe worth to someone or something.

Jesus said that true worshippers worship in Spirit and in truth.^[2]
In Romans chapter twelve, we find a great summary of spiritual worship:

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”^[3]

So worship is really a response to God’s greatness, as we, in Spirit and truth, offer our lives to him sacrificially.

Now that that’s settled, let’s get back to the topic of worship ministry in our church services. How should we worship the Lord together, and what are some practical things we can learn about worship ministry?

Music That Ministers

I grew up in the Church of Christ. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the denomination, the Church of Christ doesn’t use musical instruments during worship. In fact, it’s not called “worship”; it’s called “singing.” Thankfully, the church I grew up in had a lot of good people in a loving congregation. In that church I learned the stories of the Bible, and I learned about Jesus, but I also learned that using instruments in the singing was a big no-no.

As I got older and visited heathen churches that used instruments, I discovered that music actually makes singing better. The Bible has lots of examples of musical instruments in worship. In fact, Psalm 150 alone mentions eight different types of instruments. The Scripture commands us to “Sing His praises with the harp and the trumpet.” It calls us to “make a joyful symphony to the Lord.”^[4] I’m not drumming all of this up just to make a point. I really don’t want to string you along or toot my own horn, but I believe that Instruments play an important role in the worship service of the Church.

I remember when I was a very godly Bible college student, I had a gift to critique worship services. I could methodically identify everything that was wrong with them. One thing that I found offensive was when musicians would play instrumental solos in the middle of the song. I thought it was so carnal^[5] because, in my opinion, they were doing it to draw attention to themselves. Then I met Marcello. Marcello was the new electric guitar player at our Bible college and a very gifted musician. He didn’t say much, and I didn’t really know him that well, but when he’d play, my heart was lifted to heaven. I felt like Elijah in 2 Kings, “‘Bring me a musician.’ Then it happened, when the musician played, that the hand of the LORD came upon him.”^[6] My view of instruments changed, and I realized that a quality guitar solo or violin piece added to a worship song can enhance worship and not hinder it.

Spirit and Truth

One of Calvary Chapel’s core distinctives is “striking the balance.” We don’t overemphasize spiritual gifts, but we also don’t deny the work of the Spirit. Pentecostals say we’re too much like Baptists, and Baptists say we’re too Pentecostal. I say we have a good balance. Balance should apply to worship too. There has to be a balance in our worship song selection that includes both Spirit and truth. We want to experience the power of the Holy Spirit in our times of worship, but we also want to make sure we’re singing the truth about God from His Word. We tend to miss the mark on one side or the other. We either have a Spirit-filled worship service with songs that are not as doctrinally sound as they should be, or we have a bunch of theological songs and no spiritual anointing. We need both.

As a pastor, I’m often asked why we sing certain songs and not others. I reply that it’s usually because the song is either biblically inaccurate or it doesn’t communicate our heart of worship. On the other hand, we’ve been criticized by some for singing worship songs by Hillsong, Bethel, and Elevation Worship, to name a few. I know that with any ministry or church, you have the good and the bad. Even though I don’t necessarily agree with all the theology of these ministries, I do appreciate the songwriting gifts of their writers and have seen them inspire many to worship. I personally believe that it’s enough to judge individual songs for doctrinal content and spiritual anointing, and if they check out, to incorporate them into the service. If the song is good and biblical, then we sing it! My view is that it’s a case-by-case basis for song selection. Ultimately, we follow the principle of “Spirit and truth” and seek to strike the balance.

Team Too Loud vs. Team Too Quiet

There’s a law—like the law of gravity—that’s called the law of commenting on the volume of worship. This affects everyone from the long-term ministry leader to the new congregant. There’s an invisible force that compels them to say something. Having been a pastor for 20+ years, this is the number one complaint/comment I get. And it’s from both sides.

“Excuse me, pastor?”

“Yes, how can I help you?”

“I just want to say that the music is so loud and I’m afraid I will get hearing damage if I stay one more moment.”

Then, at the same service, a few minutes later…

“Excuse me, pastor?”

“Yes, how can I help you?

“Is there any way to turn the volume up? I’m having a hard time worshipping; the volume is so low it sounds like background music.”

Without going into too much detail, what we’re experiencing in our worship services with the too-loud-crowd and too-quiet-crow are two different preferences of worship style. It has nothing to do with one being better than the other but rather with how people like to worship. Those who like lower volumes favor hearing themselves and others sing. They’d like the music to support the singing rather than being immersed in the music. On the other hand, those who like a bigger band and louder volume would rather be enveloped in worship. They choose to feel the moment and share in the same immersive experience with others.^[7]

I personally lean toward a more immersive worship experience. I like to sing at the top of my lungs and not worry about everyone turning around and looking at me. But I also appreciate times of refrain and corporate singing. I love hearing the congregation sing together. Good worship leaders can have a nice mix of both, but usually, a church will specialize in one or another.

Chasing The Feeling

We recently had a young family leave our church because of the worship. In a new church plant, you’ll always have people come and go, but it’s always hard when people you love leave. Before they left, they had a meeting with one of the elders and explained their reason. They said that the worship wasn’t Spirit-filled enough. Even though they loved the teaching, and had made many friends and connections in the church, they were afraid that they were going to “dry up” spiritually due to the worship.

This came as a shock to us because God has blessed the church with several incredibly gifted and seasoned worship leaders. Yes, our worship style is simple, but I feel the presence of God every Sunday as people sing to the Lord and lift their hands in heartfelt praise.

After digging a little deeper, we discovered that this couple had a background with churches and ministries that focused more on Spiritual experience and feelings than on biblical teaching and discipleship. Ministries like these will often look to the emotional expression of the congregation during meetings as a benchmark for health rather than internal biblical transformation over time. If people aren’t intensely worshipping, with visible demonstrations of the Spirit (intense emotional expression, every person’s hands raised, prophetic words, spontaneous utterances, etc.), then that means that the service is lacking in Spiritual power.

Don’t get me wrong; I love a great worship experience as much as the next guy. I’m a big fan of worship nights and big loud worship events, but I also realize that our personal experience isn’t the end goal of what we’re doing here. Sadly, many Christians are chasing the feeling rather than using the feeling to focus on Christ. It’s a classic case of looking to the gift (emotional experience in worship) rather than the giver (Jesus, the object of worship). They get caught up in the next big thing, going from one intense worship experience to another, and forget the value and maturity of being still and waiting on the Lord.

Sometimes, God wants us to be quiet and let all the noise drift away. “In the secret in the quiet place / In the stillness You are there.”^[8]

The Heart of Worship

Ultimately, what matters most is not the different components of worship, or how loud or quiet the music is. It’s not really important if you like to sing hymns or prefer contemporary classics (You may even like that cowboy worship). At the end of the day, the real question is, did you worship with your whole heart? Did you have a connection with God? Even if you did not feel a rush of emotion, did you offer a sacrifice of praise to Him?^[9] Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart. He’s looking for a heart of worship.

“I’ll bring You more than a song
For a song in itself
Is not what You have required
You search much deeper within
Through the ways things appear
You’re looking into my heart
I’m comin’ back to the heart of worship
And it’s all about You
It’s all about You, Jesus”^[10]

Footnotes

^[1] Oxford Languages, Google Dictionary. https://languages.oup.com/google-dictionary-en/
^[2] See John 4:23
^[3] Romans 12:1 (ESV)
^[4] See Psalm 98:4-6 (NLT)
^[5] “Carnal” is a term we used to use in Bible college to refer to someone who was not spiritual, someone who was “in the flesh.”
^[6] 2 Kings 3:15
^[7] There is a great article on this by a worship leader named Dan Wilt. Find it at https://www.danwilt.com/is-it-too-loud-worship-accompaniment-vs-worship-immersion-culture/
^[8] Lyrics from Andy Park’’s “In the Secret”
^[9] See Hebrews 13:15
^[10] Lyrics from Matt Redman’s “The Heart Of Worship”

“I’m calling on the God of Moses, the One who opened up the ocean. I need you now to do the same thing for me” were the words being sung by hundreds of fellow worshippers around me.

Standing in the third row, I clutched my hands together on my chest because they felt too heavy to lift. The lump in my throat wouldn’t allow me to sing without cracking. Closing my eyes, hot tears ran to the corner of my eyes before rolling down my cheeks. As more tears continued to flow, I moved my hands over my mouth to quiet the impending sobs. As if the bright yellow shirt I’d chosen to wear that day wasn’t bright enough, I felt as though my heart was on display for all to see. I remembered the story of Hannah in 1 Samuel 1, who was in such anguish as she cried out to God in silent prayer that Eli, the priest, assumed she was drunk. The miracle she prayed for was different than mine, but the sorrow was the same. I knew God was able, but I wondered if He was willing. Like Hannah, I was hoping and hurting at the same time.

This is the tension of hope. I believe God is powerful. I love Him, I know Him, I trust Him. I‘ve watched Him come through again and again. I feel the hope welling up in my heart when I ask Jesus to open up the proverbial ocean, knowing He can. Yet, at the same time, I’m faced with the fear that He may again answer with a “Yes, I will, but not yet.”

The weight of this delayed deliverance is heavy. As I stood wanting to worship Jesus with hands held high that Sunday morning, my sorrow kept my hands close to my chest. A sort of sign language cry to God asking why such a precious and wholesome request couldn’t yet be met. I lack the long-suffering that’s necessary to endure. I’ve seen Him deliver in miraculous ways in the past, but I also remember the time frame and the cost. And sometimes, I just don’t have what it takes to accept the delay in God’s answer.

I want to borrow from a teaching my friend gave me titled “P.C.H.” and taken from Romans 5. Living in Huntington Beach, California, the initials P.C.H. are part of our daily vocabulary, and they’re short for Pacific Coast Highway. Aptly named, this long highway stretches the entire Pacific coast from California in the south all the way up to Washington in the north. While these initials were easy for us to remember, they really weren’t about this road. Let’s read the verses to get a glimpse at the real meaning.

“We also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.”

Do you get it? The initials P.C.H. stand for perseverance, character, and hope. These three things run on a continuum; we must develop one to get to the next, eventually landing us back at hope. It’s pretty handy that the initials match up with a highway because we can look at them as pit stops along the way. But instead of this road running north to south, it runs in a continuous loop throughout our lives. Hard times will come, and we need to develop a strategy to arrive back at hope each time. So, let’s go on a quick drive down P.C.H.

Stop One: Perseverance

We all hit a rough time eventually. We can’t just throw up our hands and quit. If we believe God means what He says, that He will be with us through trials (Deuteronomy 31:6), and He will make them work out for our good (Romans 8:28), then we can trust Him enough to choose to keep moving forward. This act of developing perseverance is rarely a sprint, more like a trudge through mud wearing the wrong shoes. The walk forward will always feel like too much, and that’s by design. We were created to lean on God for strength. Our human efforts will always be lacking, and therefore, we’ll always need to ask God to fill in the cracks where we just don’t have what it takes in our human will and strength.

Stop Two: Character

After walking through the mud of perseverance, our character is built. Resilience and strength develop in ways they wouldn’t have without the trial. Where we would’ve thrown in the towel and given up before, God has given us the capacity to keep moving forward. The mud feels less restricting than before, and the weight of the trial feels lighter. We begin to realize we may just make it out alive after all.

Stop Three: Hope

The last stop on our continuum is hope. Do you see how we had to make the previous two stops first? Without perseverance and character, we’d still be in the middle of a mud pit, sinking deeper each moment as we surrender the pull of despair. Once we hit hope, we begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We can see with our own eyes that God really is going to come through. What started as an obedience to persevere has become something tangible. Hope restored is a beautiful thing, as you feel the weight completely lifted because your hope can’t be squashed by your circumstances. Your God gave you perseverance and character, and that same God is overwhelming you with great hope.

Perhaps you’re reading this and thinking a drive down P.C.H. sounds great, but it hurts too much to hope right now. I understand that pain well, my friend. We’ve all felt a deep desire to hope for something, but we’re too scared of what the timing and the cost will be, so the hurt can keep us from making it to hope. What I’ve learned through many trials is that hope hurts sometimes. We can take our drive down P.C.H. with tears in our eyes, hurting and hoping at the very same time. Those are some precious, delicate moments, and I don’t believe Jesus looks upon them lightly. He isn’t standing at step three, checking His watch, just waiting for you to get through the first two stops so He can give you hope already. He sits, stands, walks, and drives right alongside you every single mile. He alone is the one who can hold your hurt and fill you with hope simultaneously.

Let’s go back to the beginning real quick. As I stood with my hands tightly clasped over my heart, longing for Jesus to bring me hope when all I felt was hurt, He met me. Surrounded by hundreds of other voices singing loudly, with hands lifted victoriously, Jesus stepped right up to me. He didn’t judge me for not lifting my hands high. Rather, He wrapped His loving hands around mine and reminded me that He was with me. And in whatever longing you have right now, wherever you’re asking God to show up, I want to remind you that He is. There’s no speed limit on the P.C.H. we talked about; it doesn’t matter how fast you go. What matters is who you go with, and He is never, ever going to leave you hopeless, my friend.

“We also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” —Romans 5:3-5 NKJV

There is a scene from Jane Austen’s novel Sense and Sensibility, portrayed in the 1995 classic movie, that perfectly captures the hypocrisy of two females regarding their artful words. As they decorate their hats in the sunny parlor, chatting about possible suiters and marriage futures, young Miss Lucy Steele garners enough courage to confess, “It is a very great secret. I’ve told nobody in the world for fear of discovery.”

Mrs. Fanny Dashwood, dressed to the nines, speaks gently to reassure her young friend: “I am the soul of discretion.”

“If I dared tell…” Lucy nervously responds.

“I can assure you that I am as silent as the grave,” Mrs. Dashwood solemnly promises with a shrewd half-smile.

Lucy slowly leans over and whispers in Mrs. Dashwood’s ears, “It’s your younger brother, Edward, I’ve been secretly engaged to these last five years….”

With feathers flying about, the next moment suddenly becomes a complete frenzy when with flailing arms the two women shriek at one another. Mrs. Dashwood pinches Lucy’s nose and forces her off the premises, driving the trusting young woman away.

I believe we all think we are the “soul of discretion.” Would any of us actually admit to another person we are conversing with, “You know, I’m taking note of every word you say so I can tell others of all your weaknesses, character flaws, past mistakes, and present struggles?”

“A gossip betrays a confidence, but a trustworthy person keeps a secret,” states Proverbs 11:13.

The two keywords above are “confidence” and “secret.” The writer is clearly saying that something shared confidentially should be kept a secret by the hearer. This means no one else is privy to this information. If that hearer shares it with just one other person without their permission, you are “betraying” the confidence and sharing what was meant to be kept a secret. The Scripture is clear: We are not to share others’ secrets but only our own as they relate to us. We never see Jesus in the Gospel writings revealing the secrets of others who confided in Him. Instead, He is honest with His disciples and confronts His enemies face to face. Jesus always loved His own and will love us to the uttermost.

James, who has the most scathing passages on the harm caused by the gossip in his third chapter, lays out a profound principle in the last chapter of his letter: “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” Notice how he never says, “Confess other’s sins to one another….” Perish the thought! On the contrary, we are to confess our very own sins that we are responsible for to another person and pray for each other. Why? So we can be healed and freed from our sins. It is a beautiful thing when you are sharing your weaknesses and struggles with diverse temptations, and the listener is emboldened to share their own. There is one thing we sinners all have in common, and that is wrestling with our own sinful, selfish natures (Romans 7).

But, we sinners have a big problem. We LOVE to share other’s secrets and struggles. Why? Because it distracts us from our own and feeds our pride. In addition, we love to stir up drama, passively and aggressively. We actually crave it like we crave our favorite foods. Proverbs 18:8 says, “The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels; they go down into the innermost parts.” The gossip offers tasty treats to the hearer. Still, they never preface what they say with this reality: “These words of mine will have a detrimental effect on the good name of the person I am talking about, and your good opinion will ever be tainted, like an infected wound.” There will always be gossips around us, but we must take responsibility to turn a deaf ear. Proverbs 17:4 declares, “Wrongdoers eagerly listen to gossip; liars pay close attention to slander.” The sin lies with the listener as well as the slanderer, and we all know who fans it into flame. “[Our tongue] can set our whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself,” James warns.

Proverbs 16:28 wisely states, “A contrary person spreads strife, and a gossip separates close friends.” This lays out the end objective of the talebearer: dividing people from each other. The Bible calls this being divisive, and Paul laid out stern warnings to stay away from them. It is always up to the hearer of gossip to recognize it and immediately turn away. That is how we protect our hearts from believing distrustful words. Jesus said that evil slander comes from our hearts (Matthew 15:19). Jesus gave us His example of a Good Shepherd who gathers His sheep together, not scattering them apart like the wolf. When we hear a juicy tidbit and are tempted to attend to divisive words, we must immediately turn to God in repentance and ask Him for wisdom. Sometimes, the simplest statements can quench the spiteful words. For example, “I know this person of whom you speak, and this doesn’t sound like them at all!” Or, “Are you planning to talk with them about it?”

I remember many years ago arriving at a retreat for church leaders. One of the pastor’s wives came to my room to pay me a “welcome visit,” and she quickly steered the conversation to another pastor’s wife, a mutual friend of ours. But instead of enriching words, she went on to share how she could not believe how many men this woman had slept with before she was saved and married. So dismayed, I excused myself from the conversation and closed my door. I wagged my head in disbelief and wondered, “What was that all about?” I realized that we cannot always figure out what others’ motives are, but we can hear their words for what they are and shun them. I really liked this pastor’s wife but realized that I was leery of trusting her in the future.

A few years ago, I went through months of training to become a chaplain in the workplace. One section of our curriculum involved keeping the confidences of the employees that we were serving. It was excellent instruction and has guided me through many interactions with employers and their staff. Basically, we are never allowed to share a confidence unless it is regarding direct physical harm to another or illegal behavior against the company where they are employed. Imagine how difficult it is to hear the gossip of disgruntled employees, some of whom are stirring up a possible mutiny, and not be able to share with their boss. Yet we made an agreement at the outset never to share confidences.

Many years ago, I was at the deathbed of a woman facing her last days. She shared with me a deep, terrible incident of abuse she had gone through as a young girl. After she revealed her burden that had been buried for decades, she made me promise that I’d never tell her grown daughter. I have never uncovered her secret, though I knew her daughter would better understand her mother’s life if she had this information. Honoring someone’s last wishes is a great gift we can give the sick and dying. And the honorable one.

Sadly, many family members allow gossip to flourish within their homes. The wife tells her husband the “latest” on the person of interest, and he reveals personal tidbits, adding kindling to the flames. Maybe it is the wayward uncle, alcoholic cousin, or annoying in-law. Why should the mother’s low opinion of her brother interfere with her child’s opinion of him? Otherwise, we are hindering any relationship between them and their uncle in the future. This is simply wrong. We should keep our negative opinions of others to ourselves and thus not thwart the forming of relationships within the extended family circles.

I could not count the number of talks I have had with women, reinforcing the need to keep the confidence of other women who confide in them, even from their husbands. Unless, of course, they are directly told to share with their husbands. However, most women do not want their privacy shared with other men. And we must seek their permission before we ever repeat struggles confided to our hearts alone. This is especially important when children are present.

In ministry life, we are all called to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice. Sometimes, those tears we see are accompanied by a lot of pain, faults, and past regrets. Sometimes, our struggles are shared in confidence in the hope of finding an understanding heart that can relate. It is incumbent upon us to protect these fragile hearts with our listening ears and a love that covers a multitude of sins. Never uncover what the blood of Christ has covered. Paul’s words to the Thessalonians seem apropos here: “Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another… But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more and make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, attend to your own business, and work with your hands, just as we commanded you….” A quiet life means a quiet heart and a quiet mouth.

I believe part of the problem with keeping someone’s confidence to ourselves is that this burden of knowledge is so heavy on our hearts, and thus difficult to bear. At times, what we listen to is completely overwhelming. We immediately want to unload it on someone else to lighten our load. Yet I have discovered that if we persevere without violating confidentiality, the burden becomes much lighter after many days. The Lord invites us to share with Him so we can honor the confider. “Cast your burdens upon the LORD and He will take care of you,” He says in Psalm 55:22

It is a dark world out there because of the ceaseless malevolent words being instigated by hearts of darkness. Christ has a different path. He leads the way with gentleness and truth so we can be lights that can shine bright in this gloom. Thank the Lord He has shed His blood to cover our sin and guilt of gossiping, offering the gift of forgiveness. The Holy Spirit will give us the power of silence when needed and guide us to peaceful pathways and words that will bring grace to our hearers.

There’s been much written and discussed in the past few months about antisemitism. On the day I sat down to write this, in the news, there was yet another horrific example played out in a criminal act against a young person in a local school in our area. When we consider how long this has been happening, we want to cry out with Psalm 69, “More in number than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause (4)…You who seek God, let your hearts revive. For the Lord hears the needy and does not despise his own people who are prisoners (32b-33).”

Much of what I’ve read in articles recently has been positive in bringing awareness to an age-old evil that still plagues our world. That said, I’ve noticed that lines can get blurred between the State of Israel and Jewish people in some of the more heated debates. I support the State of Israel, and I pray continuously for this current conflict to end and for all the hostages to be returned. Lately, I’ve seen much done or said to Jewish people that are in no way connected to the State. With that in mind, I’d like to talk about antisemitism and use a definition from the Jerusalem Declaration of Antisemitism, which denounces “discrimination, prejudice, hostility, or violence against Jews as Jews (or Jewish institutions as Jewish).”^[1] To illustrate, I’d like to share a story from January 5, 1895, when two Jewish men, whose lives changed history, crossed paths but didn’t meet.^[2]

Austrian journalist Theodor Herzl was a correspondent for Neue Freie Presse in Paris. On that January day, he covered a breaking story of a certain army captain, Alfred Dreyfus, who was convicted of espionage, selling his country’s secrets to France’s enemies. Although Dreyfus maintained his innocence, he was publicly disgraced, defrocked, and exiled. Later, another investigation proved his innocence, and he was brought into the public eye in 1898 by Emile Zola, who wrote an open letter to the government in the newspaper Aurore called “J’accuse” (I accuse).^[3] Eventually, Alfred Dreyfus was reinstated to his position, and all charges brought against him were dropped.

What troubled Theodor Herzl so profoundly wasn’t just the lack of solid proof or the hasty conclusions of the judicial system. It was the onlookers at Dreyfus’s defamation chanting “Death to Jews.” It became clear to him that this wasn’t really about national security. To understand how deeply this moved Herzl, we must remember that for Europeans then, France was the defender of the Rights of Man, guaranteeing freedom from such abuses. And yet, Herzl saw that, once again, the dark forces of antisemitism were pushing the Jewish people out. This event inspired him to begin his life’s work, earning him the name of the father of Zionism.^[4] As in the case of the Dreyfus affair, antisemitism was alive and well before there was a State of Israel. To quote the Jerusalem Declaration of Antisemitism and its 210 scholars, “Criticizing or opposing Zionism as a form of nationalism…Evidence-based criticism of Israel as a state”^[5] is not considered antisemitic. What drove Herzl to find a solution for Jewish people in the ancient land was.

Sadly, as early as Gregory 1st in 600AD,^[6] Christendom was responsible for the persecution of Jewish people. Crusades, forced conversions, inquisitions, pogroms, and ghettos…not to mention marginalization and stereotypes, have circulated throughout our history. Thankfully, there’s been repentance by the Christian community. Vatican II saw the evils of its past conduct and sought reform.^[7] Protestants, in many different ways, also sought to repair the damage done and build a new path forward. One of the ways has been the support for Israel. Still, I fear that there’s been a transference in the collective evangelical non-Jewish mind of the State of Israel and its legal right to existence to our Jewish next-door neighbor who has lived with Jewish jokes and stereotypes his whole life. To take it the next step, I wonder sometimes if our insistence to the right of Israel’s existence as an end times cure in the present for antisemitism, might not in some cases be an indirect or perceived pushing away of the suffering person next to us. What I mean is, if our message to a suffering person is to encourage them to move to a foreign country or to proclaim our support for that same foreign country, have we comforted them as individuals made in the image of God?

I’m reminded of a few critical conversations I’ve had with our friends at Jews for Jesus. The first one is Joshua Turnil, the director of the Paris branch, and the other is Jacques Guggenheim, a Jewish believer, pastor, writer, and artist who, as a child, escaped the Holocaust. Joshua has often said that withholding the gospel from a Jewish person is the worst form of antisemitism. It cuts them off from knowing Jesus. Over the years, I’ve seen his point lived out through well-meaning Christians encouraging Jewish people to make “Aliyah” (immigrate to Israel) and never get around to sharing Jesus. My second example is Jacques Guggenheim, who was taken as a child to Switzerland to live with a Christian family during the war. Although traumatized, what melted his heart was how that family shared their lives, meals, Bible reading, and prayers through their love for Jesus.

In the examples of Joshua^[8] and Jacques, I see a way forward anchored in the gospel. Rather than looking for a solution that includes sending people away, we might consider opening up and sharing our lives with them here and now. If the underlying problem is antisemitism, we, who the gospel has transformed, are well-positioned to show love. We remember how Jesus was discriminated against, shamed, and abused to take away our guilt. He, therefore, can enter into the lives of hurting people through the transformed lives of those of us who are so privileged to be His agents of comfort. If we live like this, we’ll have a place to share our hope. I wonder if this might not be a more powerful arm against antisemitism and other forms of racism. This is especially true in these last days, as we look forward to the day when we’ll all come to the New Jerusalem, where the Lamb is its Temple, and live in the harmony we know we were truly meant to experience.^[9]

Footnotes

^[1] https://jerusalemdeclaration.org/
^[2] https://www.crif.org/fr/actualites/crifalfred-dreyfus-lantisemitisme-de-laffaire-dreyfus-un-point-decisif-pour-le-projet-sioniste-de-theodor-herzl
^[3] https://www.retronews.fr/justice/echo-de-presse/2018/01/10/lisez-le-jaccuse-de-zola
^[4] https://www.cjh.org/lapidus/Herzl.html
^[5] https://jerusalemdeclaration.org/
^[6] https://www.ushmm.org/research/about-the-mandel-center/initiatives/ethics-religion-holocaust/articles-and-resources/christian-persecution-of-jews-over-the-centuries/christian-persecution-of-jews-over-the-centuries
^[7] http://www.christianunity.va/content/unitacristiani/en/commissione-per-i-rapporti-religiosi-con-l-ebraismo/commissione-per-i-rapporti-religiosi-con-l-ebraismo-crre/documenti-della-commissione/en.html
^[8] Joshua just shared an excellent article from Jews for Jesus if anyone is interested in reading more: https://www.jewsforjesus.org.au/articles/christians-your-jewish-friends-are-not-okay
^[9] Revelation 21-22

After writing to Titus — his former travel and ministry partner (Galatians 2.1-3) — about his current task in the church, Paul begins to instruct his young charge on the conduct and character he is to insist upon in Crete (a place notorious for slack standards). Paul gets more specific on his command to Titus to teach what accords with sound doctrine (2.1) when he speaks specifically about the men under Titus’ charge:

“Older men are to be temperate, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in endurance.”
Titus 2.2

Titus was most likely younger than these older men, and it takes a great deal of humility, dignity and self-control to be pastored and led by someone younger in years than you. The fact that Paul needs to tell Titus how the older men ought to behave shows us that this kind of behaviour does not always come naturally with age. Neither is this gender specific:

“Older women likewise are to exhibit behaviour fitting for those who are holy, not slandering, not slaves to excessive drinking, but teaching what is good.”
Titus 2.3

There is often a misconception that once an older person stops work, they to move on to the next stage of their life and either become immersed in hobbies or just simply live out their days quietly and without much fuss. But, here, Titus is told to teach the Cretans the exact opposite: no, your older men and older women are to be examples in character and conduct. Do not let them slide off into the sunset and excuse any of their “personality quirks.” They must enter this phase of their lives and not “let go”. Rather, they ought to be the living embodiment of those who have years of experience to share, dispensers of tales about trials that have been overcome, and fonts of wise words that come from walking with the Lord for so long.

Being temperate, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in endurance are all great qualities that we want the older men in our lives to be displaying. Likewise for the older women and their list of aspirational attributes. But, why? Why is this so important? Let us keep reading:

“In this way they will train the younger women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be self-controlled, pure, fulfilling their duties at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the message of God may not be discredited.”
Titus 2.4-5

Why do we need people we can look to and mimic? God through Paul says that it is so that the message of God may not be discredited. Our witness to the world is so important that we are urged to have those in our lives who have been there, seen it, and done it to make sure we are not tarnishing it.

There are a few things that come from this passage, then. Perhaps it is the exhortation to have a multi-generational church family that genuinely interacts with one another on a personal level (we cannot learn from a generation that are not present, nor influence those not there). Maybe it is that both men and women have an equally important yet complementary role in discipleship. There are individual implications and there are church-wide connotations, but, more than that, mentorship (and the character it develops) is needed so that the message of God may not be discredited.

Without mentorship from those further along life’s path, we are making it up as we go along, hoping not to mess up the message of God to others by our conduct. Friends, we need not live like this. God wants more for you than to make it up as you go along.

If you are new to the faith, find someone who has been sound in [their] faith for longer than you and talk to them. Imitate them as they imitate Christ. Soak up every ounce of accumulated wisdom and every single lived experience of Jesus that they are willing to share. And, by the same token, if you are in your 40s, 50s, 60s, or even older, look around and see who you can come alongside and mentor. Actively find those in your church to whom you can exhibit behaviour fitting for those who are holy, see those around you to whom you can pass on some of your decades of experience. Help them to live a life worthy of the the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

May we all see and show, with words and ways, what it means to live a life in which the message of God may not be discredited.

One of the joys of parenthood is taking your kids to the park. I’ve always enjoyed watching children interact with each other and those they don’t know. There’s so much of human nature that can be learned, not to mention cultural differences. Now that my kids are mostly grown, those park days seem a ways off in the rearview mirror, this is until recently: my wife and I were met by a young boy hearing us speak English, and he looked us straight in the eyes and mimicked English-speaking gibberish sounds. Then, he smiled and trotted off to play with his friends. I was impressed by his ability to imitate what he heard, but it also got me thinking about the difference between mimicking and imitating.

In 1 Corinthians 11:1, Paul wrote, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” He was speaking about his ethical life within the church, having liberty and restraining himself for the benefit of others. He also talked about his spiritual life, as he refused idols but fought the good fight to bring blessing and order to the church. Imitating Paul was not a call to mimic him, which is more of an unconscious act, but to imitate, meaning thoughtful observation put into action with intentionality.

The difference between mimicking and imitating can seem thin. Mimicking is often used negatively, like kids mimicking another’s annoying habits by grossly exaggerating them to get a laugh. Imitating, at least the way Paul uses it, can mean copying or emulating, but reflection and action are at the heart of these words.

When it comes to imitating, we must know what to emulate. Mimicking, however, is a little more natural. The Corinthians mimicked or reflected their culture by dividing into factions, eating meat sacrificed to idols, or allowing disorder in the worship service. Even if Paul needed to correct some in ministry leading the disorders, chances are it wasn’t premeditated. They probably never considered the problems in such depth before Paul wrote to them. This is the power of the Word of God; it can take us out of our culture to see our behavior from His perspective. This allows transformation if we couple this with belief put into action.

My apologetics professor introduced us to a Christian philosopher who speaks about what he called the “mimetic desire”: René Girard. Girard developed his ideas in the U.S. after leaving France in the late 1950s. He spoke of how people grow and learn from birth through imitating others. This is vital to the sociability of children, who grow up to be like their parents and those around them who influenced them. As adults, the desire to belong is to conform to a culture, movement, or family that moves along seamlessly. There’s then built within our hearts, a need to fit in. This is a way of describing the “mimetic desire,” but what seems so natural that it goes unnoticed also has some downsides, notably in crises.^[1]

Within the framework of fitting in, there inevitably comes a moment when natural flow doesn’t work. Soon, the crisis moment is amplified by conflict, and emotions intensify. That’s when, through the “mimetic desire,” we try to look for culprits or scapegoats. The one not following could be easily confused with the deeper problem. We find someone annoying enough, someone who blew it, or simply someone who is out of step with the rest … They become the focus of the problem, marginalized and eliminated. One of Girard’s examples is Marie Antoinette, a foreigner who was singled out to alleviate the malaise of the French Revolution. She wasn’t a criminal and wasn’t exceptionally evil or any more immoral than anyone else. Still, her foreign accent and Austrian royal customs came to embody all that was wrong with the nation in the eyes of the starving people.^[2]

This is the danger of the “mimetic desire.” We aren’t imitating but herding or being herded against people created in the image of God. Once we find the person, movement, or group that seems to be causing our problems, we can isolate them and make them pay for the whole. When it’s done, we can be lulled into breathing easily again because we believe we’ve purged the situation. But what if the person, in their diversity, was a gift to help us see outside our cultural bias?

Girard’s ideas aren’t to be confused with crime and punishment. As a Christian, he’d put that in an altogether different category. This concerns society and culture. If we don’t allow differing voices, we can create a monotone culture of people who look, think, act, and speak alike. This is mimetism, which can undermine the Spirit’s natural way of adding diversity to the Church.

Mimicking and scapegoating will never purge the problem, even if it may release tension in a crisis moment. The problem always comes back — maybe not in the same form. Perhaps a problem was solved, but lasting relief is not possible on this side of Heaven. The problem is still humanity — it is within us — we are sinners!

When we see this mimicking happening in a group, and especially one that’s morphing into a type of prejudice-fueled scapegoating, we should be aware. One of the first things that helps us see it in others is that we are deeply entrenched in our own group. It’s the Marie Antoinette reaction. This is the time to stop. If we operate only within the bounds of our said group, we will only reason within their sphere of logic. Then, we can only cry out the slogans of our tribe, which, though they make perfect sense to us, will only be met with the slogans from the opposing group. There is only one escape—the gospel. I’m challenged by Frank Thielman’s statement, “Our efforts to limit the outreach of the gospel and the fellowship of believers to people like us and people with whom we are comfortable may show we do not actually understand the gospel.”^[3] This is a terrible reality because it goes against our natural mimetic desire to want to fit in and be surrounded by familiar people.

This is where the beauty of the gospel can come to our rescue. We don’t need to look for a scapegoat; we have the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world^[4] to purge the source of crisis. Jesus became sin so that we become righteous for God.^[5] Thus, he is the victor because he defeated the problem. The gospel helps us overcome the difficulties of mimetic desire. Because Jesus was singled out as the outsider, though as Creator, He is the ultimate insider, He takes our scapegoating tendencies and transforms them through His being the sacrificial Lamb. No more scapegoats are needed because a Lamb paid the price! In this way, we can imitate Paul thoughtfully and actively, just as Paul imitated Christ, whose letters, through the power of God, still draw us out of our cultural bias to see the One who has made everything right.

Footnotes

^[1] Joe Carter wrote this helpful article in 2012, explaining the “mimetic desire” using Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” series: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/why-batman-doesnt-know-jesus/
^[2] René Girard, Le Bouc Émmissaire. Éditeur Bernard Grasset. Paris, 33-34.
^[3] Frank Thielman, Galatians. ESV Expository Commentary. (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2018), 597.
^[4] John 1:29
^[5] 2 Corinthians 5:21

Editor’s Note: Click here to access a free download of the first chapter of 1 Peter: The Grace of Exile by Nate Holdridge. The following is from the back cover:

In a world where the true church finds itself increasingly on the margins, it’s easy to feel discouraged.

But what if this life on the margins is a gift?

In The Grace of Exile, we embark on a journey through 1 Peter, a letter written to exiles, and discover that the life of a religious minority, though filled with hardships, is infused with God’s true grace.

As we navigate the challenges of living in a post-Christian world, this study offers a fresh perspective on what it means to be a faithful follower of Christ. We’ll learn to rejoice in what we have in Christ, even when the world rejects us, and explore biblical strategies for building up our gospel communities.

Whether serving on a university campus, working in a corporate environment, or engaging online, The Grace of Exile will equip you with the wisdom needed to navigate your setting as a follower of Christ.

You’ll be comforted by the life Peter describes, knowing that you don’t have to fight, flee, or conform.

Instead, you’ll discover the exciting possibilities of life on the margins—grace is there! As Peter declares, “I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it” (1 Peter 5:12).

Join us as we shift from maintenance to mission, from settling to sojourning, and from accepted to alien, learning to stand firm in the grace of exile.

Editor’s Note: This is the third article in a series on rest for our souls. Click here to read the first article, “Jesus Offers a Greater Rest,” and here to read the second article, “Five Obstacles to Christ’s Rest.” Also, Bruce Zachary will lead a workshop on Intentional Relational Leadership at the CGN International Conference on June 23-26 in Costa Mesa, California.

Life in this world can be very discouraging, but today we find a hope that will be sure, steadfast, and provide encouragement and comfort for your soul! Your greatest need is rest for your soul. The night that I received Jesus, I experienced rest for my soul for the first time. Being reconciled to God, and receiving spiritual life, produced an awareness of wholeness, indescribable peace, and contentment.

The essence of a person is their soul. In effect, you are a soul with a body, rather than a body with a soul. We may be keenly aware of when our bodies are exhausted, our emotions are frayed, or our minds are spinning and we can’t continue with the weight. Nevertheless, most of us don’t tend to contemplate that the primary issue may be a restless soul. We are a restless people, with restless souls.

In two earlier articles, I sought to demonstrate why Christ’s rest (rest for our souls) is greater than any other rest that can be imagined — and some of the obstacles to experiencing Christ’s rest. Here, I hope to reveal how you can experience Christ’s rest. Again, we revisit Hebrews 3 to glean lessons from a familiar friend.

1. Hear His Voice (7, 15)

Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you will hear His voice …” (Ps. 95:7-11). Twice, we see this phrase repeated (7, 15). It’s a quote from the 95th Psalm, written about 1,000 years before Hebrews. So, just as Jewish Christians in the first century were being urged to hear His voice, Christians in the twenty-first century are being urged by the Holy Spirit to hear His voice. Jesus’ sheep hear His voice, He knows them, and they follow Him (Jn. 10:27).

Many of us have little margin for reflection and contemplation, personal Bible learning, and prayer. We tend to be uncomfortable with quiet. We are busy consuming content and perhaps creating it, but we aren’t very good at being still and knowing that He is God, and knowing God.

2. Examine Your Heart Today (7, 13, 15)

Three times in this passage, we see “Today.” So often, we approach life with the attitude of, “one day” (e.g., One day I’m going to get healthy. One day I’m going to start going to the gym. One day I’m going to stop “X.” One day I’m going to start “Y.”) Your greatest desire is to be whole (i.e., complete, content, shalom). When your heart is tender to God, and when your heart is characterized by gratitude, devotion, and love for Jesus more than anyone or anything, you’ll discover what you’re looking for — a soul at rest with your Creator.

So, take a moment to pause, slow down, and do a simple heart exam. On the one hand, consider five objects of your affection besides Jesus. One finger at a time, name them. Consider parents, spouse, children, friends, school, career, calling, recreation, pleasure, wealth … Then ask yourself, “Do people who know me well think that I love Jesus more than these?”

3. Trust Jesus (Believe) (12, 19)

In contrast to the problem of an unbelieving heart, the remedy is believing or trusting Jesus. Faith is hearing God speak and responding with attitudes of obedience and actions of dependence upon Him. Understand that God is sovereign and has everything under control as proven by fulfilled prophecy. Know that God is good, as proven by Jesus going to the cross and giving His life, just as the prophets foretold. He was resurrected on the third day, just as foretold, and chose to trust Him even when circumstances were difficult or confusing.

Christ’s rest for your soul is directly proportion to your level of trust. As you grow in your knowledge of Jesus and your experience with Him increases, so will rest for your soul. The night I received Jesus, I experienced rest for my soul for the first time. Being reconciled to God, and receiving spiritual life, produced an awareness of wholeness, indescribable peace, and contentment. It was a foretaste, but it would be years before I’d experience rest for my soul as a general condition.

4. Know His Ways (10) and Know Him (Matt. 11:28-30)

An indictment against those who didn’t enter God’s rest was that they always go astray in their heart, and they have not known My ways (10). The remedy prescribed by Jesus is to yield to Him, learn of Him, and learn from Him, and you’ll find rest for your soul. The Sabbath isn’t only to cease from the burden of work but to create rhythms for communion with God, contemplation of Him, recalibration of perspective, and worship. We need these rhythms for rest.

The hope of life with God in this life and the life to come is available for us to lay hold of. This hope we have as an anchor for the soul (Heb. 6:18-19). This hope is sure and steadfast and a refuge for the soul. As you grow in Christ that hope and rest for the soul becomes a greater reality. This is the beauty of a mature follower of Jesus!

5. Exhort One Another Daily (13)

Exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Here, the emphasis relates to the believers’ relationship with other believers or a community of faith. The Christian life is experienced in communion with God and community with others. The community encourages, edifies, and urges one another to grow in Christ. Those without meaningful community often feel stuck in the wilderness: they are no longer in Egypt, but they haven’t entered the Promised Land and experienced Christ’s rest for their soul as their condition. Today, Jesus invites you to cross the Jordan River, trust Him, and enter His rest.

We need one another because life in this world can be very discouraging. I feel pretty confident in saying that each of us will think of someone, as God’s Spirit guides us, who needs to be encouraged with the truth that there’s rest available for their soul. And I can’t speak for y’all, but I know that I need people in my life to encourage me about this hope.

So, today we find a hope that will be sure, steadfast, and provide encouragement and comfort for your soul! Your greatest need is rest for your soul. So, let’s experience Christ’s rest.