Tyler Shores evangelism

Thoughts on Sharing Christ with Your Child

I have served in children’s ministry for the past six years and am the father of two children under six years old. As a result of both of these blessings I have developed some thoughts on how to best share the hope of Christ with kids. I hope you find these thoughts helpful as you pursue making disciples in your home and ministry.

Be clear about what the Gospel is (and is not).

When we talk about evangelism or sharing Christ we are talking about sharing the Gospel. The Gospel is a specific set of truths connected to the person and redemptive work of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul reminds his readers of the Gospel which “saves” (v.1). In verses three and four he identifies that the Gospel is the good news that ‘Christ died for our sins’ (v.3; ESV), that Christ ‘was buried’ (v.4), and that Christ was ‘raised on the third day’ (v.4). These three truths describe the Gospel in its most simplified form.

The Gospel is not a catch all term for telling your child about God in a generic way. The Gospel is the good news that God the Father sent His Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for our sins and that Jesus defeated death and rose from the grave three days after being buried.

Be clear about how to respond to the Gospel.

When Paul says that the Gospel “saves” (1 Corinthians 15:1) it implies that God wants people to be saved by it. Further, when Paul says, “Christ died for our sins” (1 Corinthians 15:1) he connects the work of Christ to our sinful state. Your kid’s response to the Gospel arises from their perception of needing to be saved.  Unless they first see themselves as sinners in need of saving they will never see the Gospel as necessary.

The Gospel does not exist so that our kids can be empowered and inspired to be better people and as a result earn God’s favor. The free offer of the Gospel is if anyone believes in Jesus and His completed work he/she will be saved and inherit eternal life (John 3:16). Our hearts are naturally sin bent to want to believe that God’s love is something that can be harnessed and controlled by good works, but it isn’t. This wrong thinking often even creeps into spiritual conversations we have with our kids when we are talking about salvation.

Help kids think conceptually about the Gospel.

The truth of the Gospel is so simple that children can believe it but it is not so simple that it doesn’t need explaining. The concepts native to the message of the Gospel can be difficult for kids to understand. Concepts like sin, consequences, forgiveness, and faith are essential concepts that must be explained for the Gospel to make any sense to the hearer. This is especially true for children. Sometimes we as adults take for granted that we didn’t always understand what these words and concepts mean. Each of us as ministers of the Gospel must walk slowly our children as they learn the truths of the Gospel and the truths the Gospel is built upon.

For example, faith can be incredibly difficult for a child to understand. One effective way I have found to explain the meaning of faith is by using the illustration of a chair. If I say I have faith in a chair I mean that I trust the chair do what it was designed to do. The way my faith in that chair is demonstrated is that I actually sit and rest on it. Likewise, we are called to have faith in the completed work of Jesus. We put faith in Jesus by trusting that He accomplished for us on the cross what He said He accomplished. When I rest in Jesus no longer am I trying to earn my way to Heaven.

Closing Thoughts

Be patient with your child. Learning the Gospel takes time. Remember that believing the Gospel is a supernatural work of the Spirit (John 3:7-8; 1 John 5:1). You cannot cause or coerce your child to believe in the Gospel. We plant and water that Gospel seed but we recognize that God alone can produce growth (1 Corinthians 3:7).

Be patient with yourself. Not every spiritual conversation with your child has to explain the Gospel in its entirety. You are going to have incomplete conversations with your child that leave you feeling inadequate and ill-equipped. You are not alone. Your job is to be a faithful witness to the truth of Gospel so that your child may hear the Gospel (Romans 10:14-15). Don’t give up. Keep pressing forward by being a good student of the Gospel yourself and looking for opportunities to have Gospel pointed conversations. By God’s grace He uses imperfect parents with imperfect presentations of the Gospel to bring children to saving faith in Christ.

Credits

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (all Scripture). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

Photo by Vanessa Bucceri on Unsplash

Kyle Gangel prayer

3 Convictions for a Consistent Prayer Life

Prayer is an area that nearly every Christian has room for greater consistency and discipline. That is actually the easy part to admit. It is more difficult to acknowledge that our lack of prayer flows from wrong thinking about God and ourselves. Our natural bent is towards unbelief and self-sufficiency. These tendencies often keep us from praying.

As we peer into the Word of God we find help for our prayerlessness in the opening pages of 1 Samuel. The book begins with a woman weeping in Shiloh. Her name is Hannah, and she teaches us much about prayer. A close inspection of Hannah’s story points us ultimately to God’s faithfulness and demonstrates that his character fuels our prayers. If Hannah were our instructor in the school of prayer, I believe she would give us 3 necessary convictions for a consistent prayer life.

1. Recognize Your Dependence

One conviction we must develop is a deep recognition of our dependence on God and his grace. We will never consistently pray without a settled understanding that we, as sinful creatures, need the Lord. I once heard a preacher say that a Christian’s prayerlessness is his/her declaration of independence from God. When we fail to pray regularly, we are demonstrating a reliance on self that is antithetical to the Scriptures. So, instead of pretending like we have it all together, we begin by admitting that we are actually quite needy.

We see this demonstrated in the life of Hannah. Upon first meeting her, we learn that she is absolutely devastated by her inability to conceive a child. On top of that, her husband makes his best case for “the boneheaded move of the year award” when he asks her, “…why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?” (1 Samuel 1:8 ESV). [A word of wisdom to husbands reading this, if you come across your wife crying, the answer is never to remind her how blessed she is to have you in her life]. Worst than the dumb question, Hannah’s husband has taken another wife, Peninnah, who has been able to bear children. Peninnah is relentless in her mocking and bullying of Hannah (see 1 Samuel 1:6-7).

All of this culminates in Hannah being broken. Her circumstances, family, and friends have all failed to provide hope. She is in such anguish that she has stopped eating. In her pain, she understands that there is only one place she can run. And run she does, straight to the throne of grace.

2. Believe God Cares

It is not enough to know we need God, we must believe that he cares. We need to know that our cries are heard by a tender and loving Father. God, by sheer grace, invites us to pour out our fears, our failings, our desires, and our griefs to him. It doesn’t make him nervous or embarrassed. He delights in hearing from his children.

Hannah is found at the Temple “pouring out her soul out before the Lord” because she believes that God is the type of God that cares for his children (1 Samuel 1:15). Dale Ralph Davis makes the connection between her desperate prayer and her belief that God cares, “[Hannah] addresses Yahweh of hosts, cosmic ruler, sovereign of every and all power, and assumes that the broken heart of a relatively obscure woman in the hill country of Ephraim matters to him.”

Hannah is so eccentric in her prayer that the priest on duty assumes that she is drunk (1 Samuel 1:14). While the priest is guessing about Hannah’s state of mind, the Lord of the universe has leaned in to hear her plea.

3. Trust God’s Sovereignty

God not only cares, but he is also sovereign, meaning he can and will bring about that which he wills. He is powerful enough to answer any request. He can save the person you’ve nearly given up praying for. He can deliver your child from the deepest bondage to sin. He can restore broken relationships. He can comfort in the deepest affliction.

We see Hannah’s trust in God’s sovereignty in the way she addresses him. She calls him “Lord (Yahweh) of Hosts,” a title signifying his rule over the entire universe. He is the sovereign Lord who commands all the armies of heaven. There is seemingly no doubt in Hannah’s mind that the one who “closed her womb’ (1:5) is the one powerful enough to reverse her fortunes. Hannah’s trust in the sovereignty of God doesn’t lead her to a “ho-hum why should I pray if God is sovereign?” sort of attitude. Instead, it was her understanding of the sovereignty of God that drove her to pray.

Conclusion

No schedule, no app, no amount of alarms can create in us a desire to pray. After all, Hannah didn’t run to the Lord because she realized she hadn’t done her daily quiet time. She came out of a clear understanding that she needed him to act, a firm belief that he cared to listen, and a settled trust that he was powerful enough to deliver her. Likewise, let us rest in these truths and find in ourselves a growing desire to pour our souls out before the Lord.

Credits

Photo by Hamish Clark on Unsplash

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Proverbs 9:10 and all other Scripture). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

Dale Ralph Davis, I Samuel: Looking on the Heart (Christian Focus: Ross-Shire, Scotland, 1988) 18.
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Tyler Shores Life in Christ

Why God Creates “Bad” Days For You

“Bad” days are relative to each person’s experience but we all have them. Sometimes our bad days are things like car problems or allergy issues, but then other times our bad days involve more difficult news. Our tendency is to think if we just had (fill in the blank) then we could avoid bad days, but this is not the case. Even Solomon had bad days despite his immense wealth and wisdom. While Solomon’s unparalleled resources were unable to protect him, his theology accounted for bad days so that he could process them in a God-honoring way. In Ecclesiastes 7:14 Solomon’s theology for understanding bad days is spelled out, “In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him.” (ESV). Solomon’s words are significant because he addresses “bad” days (‘days of adversity’) and in the process he gives us insight into both their source and purpose.

Where do bad days come from?

The book of Job shows us that even when Satan is the immediate culprit behind our difficult days that God, at the very least, has to sign off on what happens (Job 1:12). This is a hard truth to chew on and stomach. It is easier for our brains to process God being the cause of all pleasant things and the Devil being the cause of all difficult things in our lives. We like these nice and tidy categories but in God’s economy things are not this simple.

While bad days may be the immediate result of our choices or even Satan’s meddling, nothing happens outside the providential and inscrutable hand of God (Proverbs 16:33). At the very least God could have stopped or prevented the events and situations which result in what we deem a “bad day” but for reasons we cannot understand, He didn’t. So, during days of ‘adversity’ we strive to remember that “God has made the one as well as the other,” meaning that we remember God’s good and wise hands design and bring into existence what we often call “bad days.”

Why does God create (or at least allow) bad days?

God being the creator of bad days does not make God some kind of ant-bully arbitrarily dispensing pain to helpless beings. Romans 8:28 speaks to God’s good and providential plan in all things (“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good”). We know that God is using all events, even bad days, for our good which is Christ-likeness. What isn’t immediately clear is how God uses bad days to mold us into being the people He desires us to be. As we continue to read the words of Solomon we see that he speaks to this issue with specificity.

When Solomon says, “so that man may not find out anything that will be after him” (7:14) he is speaking to the specific purpose as to why God brings hard days into our paths. The translation from Hebrew to English comes across a bit weird but the phrase means, God does not want people to know or predict their future.

God knows that as imperfect, sinful humans we are relentlessly self-reliant. If we can leave God out of the equation, we will. We like to be able to predict and even control what tomorrow holds based on what we do (or don’t do) today. The logic is, “If I did _______ today, then I can expect ________ tomorrow.” The problem with this kind of thinking is that it keeps God on the fringes of our lives because it is an attempt to work around needing God’s grace and mercy. Thankfully, God is too kind to let us go on this way. We need the presence and grace of God every day and God knows how to force the issue so that we don’t begin to think otherwise.

In Closing

What we read in Ecclesiastes 7:14 does not make “bad” days any more enjoyable. The grace of Solomon’s words is that for those of us who are God’s people (true followers of Christ), our bad days gain perspective. No “bad” day is wasted in God’s providential care.
Even on our worst days God is not distant and unconcerned. We don’t get to know all the ways that God is using difficult days to accomplish His purposes but it is clear that He is using them to continually make us reliant on Him.

Credits

Photo by Casey Horner on Unsplash

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (all Scripture). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

Kyle Gangel The Fear of the Lord, Wisdom

Fear God, Find Wisdom

I went through an odd music phase in high school where I really began to enjoy oldies music. This probably had a lot to do with the fact that my waterproof shower radio only picked up one station and it happened to be the local oldies broadcast. One song that often played was Everybody Plays the Fool by the Main Ingredient. What the title suggests is true, there are no exceptions, we all play the fool sometimes. But, nobody really desires to be the fool.

Instead, we all want to be wise. After all, Proverbs reminds us that wisdom is more valuable than silver or gold (Prov. 3:14). Those who find wisdom are considered blessed (Prov. 3:13). The wise “will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man” (Prov. 3:4). Needless to say, wisdom is to be valued and sought after with perseverance. If we are to pursue wisdom–true wisdom, the type of wisdom that is priceless–we must understand that wisdom begins with fearing God. Solomon, the wise king of Israel, wrote, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Prov. 9:10). If we desire to be wise, we must first consider what it means to fear God.

What Does it Mean to Fear God?

In C. S. Lewis’s beloved novel The Lion, The Witch and Wardrobe four children stumble into the fantastical world of Narnia. They find themselves at Mr. and Mrs. Beavers home being instructed about the Christ-figure Aslan. When the children discover that Aslan is a lion, they naturally have some questions about whether it is safe to meet him. Mr. Beaver responds, “Safe? … Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”


The fear of the Lord is a holy reverence for God flowing from a right understanding of God resulting in submission to God.


In Narnia, Aslan reigns as both the sovereign Lord as well as the good and gracious king. He is neither a domesticated house cat nor a violent ruler. Peter, the oldest of the four children, responds appropriately to the unsafe, yet good Aslan. He says, “I’m longing to see him. Even if I do feel frightened when it comes to the point.” Like Peter, a proper understanding of God leads us to a sense of fear and, at the same time, a longing to know him. In affirming both the complete holiness of God and the goodness of God we can begin to understand what it means for us to fear God.

The fear of the Lord is a holy reverence for God flowing from a right understanding of God resulting in submission to God. Often when we consider fear we think only of being terrified. However, to fear God is less horror and more reverence. It is something that goes beyond mere respect for God but stops short of sheer terror. Therefore, to fear God is to revere him or to stand in awe of him.

This reverence develops as we properly understand God as he has revealed himself in Scripture. For instance, in Ecclesiastes 3:14 fearing God is directly linked to his sovereign power, “I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him.” Further, After pointing out God’s transcendence, holiness, and righteousness, Ecclesiastes 5:7 concludes, “God is the one you must fear.” When we understand our state as sinful creatures before a holy God, the proper response is fear, reverence, or awe. How then does a proper fear of God lead us into greater wisdom?

How is Fearing God Connected to Wisdom?

In the Bible, wisdom is a moral category as opposed to an intellectual one. Wisdom is living life God’s way in God’s world for God’s glory. Wisdom grants a person the ability to navigate the tumultuous waters of life in a way that pleases God. The fool, on the other hand, lives as if God does not exist (Psalm 14:1). He is described not as an intellectual dummy, but as the one who disregards his creator.

With this understanding of wisdom, it is easy to see why the fear of the Lord is the foundation of all wisdom. There is no true wisdom apart from a proper attitude and relationship to God. God is the source of true wisdom. Therefore, a deep reverence for God leads us to want to please him in all the various aspects of life including the way we spend our money, how we treat others, the words we use, how we handle lust, our responses to suffering, and a thousand other moments.

There is such things as false wisdom (Isaiah 5:21), earthly wisdom (James 3:15), and worldly thinking that parades itself as wisdom (Colossians 2:23). However, true wisdom–the skill to know God’s agenda and the motivation to live it out–begins only with a proper reverence for God. This is the very foundation in which wisdom is built. In essence, we will never walk in biblical wisdom until we cherish the God of all wisdom.

In Closing

We all want wisdom, but the path is often painful. Wisdom comes from humbling ourselves before God. To quote C. S. Lewis once more, “In God you come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself. Unless you know God as that–you do not know God at all. As long as you are proud, you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.”

Do you revere God? Have you experienced the freedom of humbling yourself before him? If not, begin by looking to the cross of Christ. The wise King, Jesus Christ, died a brutal death to rescue you from the treason of living life like he doesn’t matter. The one who is immeasurably beyond you, humbled himself to rescue you. Turn to him and find mercy, fear him and find wisdom.

Credits

Photo by Jonathan Bowers on Unsplash

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Proverbs 9:10 and all other Scripture). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

C. S. Lewis, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (New York: Collier Brooks, 1972) 75-76.

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York: Macmillan, 1958) 56.

Tyler Shores anxiety

God Created the Stars For Anxious Hearts

No one really knows how many stars are in the Universe. Even using the best instruments available it is not clear how many stars are in the Milky Way galaxy (our galaxy). Some experts in this field have estimated there may be as many as 2 trillion galaxies with each galaxy containing an average of 100 million stars. Even a conservative estimate would yield more stars than we can fathom.

One question Christ-followers should consider is why did a good and purposeful God create so many stars if we are incapable of seeing all of them or even understanding their multitude?

A Seemingly Infinite Galaxy declares God’s Infinite Glory

One limitation of this question is that it assumes God created the stars exclusively for us. However, this is not the case. Psalm 19:1 teaches that, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (ESV). Simply put, God created stars to declare His glory. There are an incomprehensible amount of stars because His glory is incomprehensible.

The Universe and all of its contents are like a choir declaring God’s glory and the audience is every human being, angelic being, and even God himself. When we gaze into the sky God invites our hearts to join the chorus of the heavens in order to exalt who He is. It is only right that an infinite God with infinite glory deemed it necessary to sing His glory with a seemingly infinite universe. While it is true that God created the stars for His glory a more nuanced look at God’s purpose in creating the stars reveals God’s pastoral care for our anxious hearts.

God’s Word Speaks to those who are Overcome with Anxious Thoughts

In my experience those who struggle with anxious thoughts are often tempted to believe harmful lies which feed back into and compound feelings of anxiety. For instance, anxious hearts tend to believe that they are alone (“No one knows what it’s like to be in my head.”) and also they tend to feel a heightened sense of responsibility to control the future and how things turn out. These examples are anecdotal and anyone who deals with anxiety would be quick to point out that they are not an exhaustive description of what it means and feels like to battle anxiety. That being said, it is helpful to consider how God’s Word speaks to these commonly shared experiences.

In Luke 12 Jesus calls our attention to the Father’s intimate knowledge and care for ravens (v.24) and lilies (v.27). In this instance Jesus speaks to the Father’s awareness and care of relatively lesser created things as a way of soothing anxious hearts. Jesus’ logic is that if the Father knows and takes care of these simple and relatively insignificant things then certainly He will care for us, the crown jewel of His Creation (Psalm 8:3-4). This is good news for those of us struggling with anxious thoughts because it means that we are not alone and also that we do not have to feel the weight of controlling the future. There is One who knows our worries and cares for us and the outcome of our situation beyond what we could ever imagine.

The Soothing Work of God’s Universe

It’s not just knowledge of God’s intricate care for birds and flowers which soothes anxious hearts. A look at what God tells us about those seemingly innumerable stars cast throughout the depths of the Universe is also soothing to our anxious hearts.

In Psalm 147:4 we read a telling statement about the stars, “He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names” (ESV). The seemingly infinite number of stars are included in God’s intimate knowledge. He alone knows their exact number and even more than that He has them named.

Not only is God intimately aware of the stars, He is also present and in control of them. We see this in Isaiah 40:26 which says, “Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might and because he is strong in power, not one is missing” (ESV). If God is intimately aware and in control of what is going on with flaming balls of gas billions of light years away then certainly He knows and is control of your situation in ways you just cannot fathom. God’s Word is helping us feel the weight of this reality so we can see that God created the stars both for His glory and for our good.

In Closing

I am not suggesting that all it takes to cure and overcome anxious thoughts is a good long look at the stars. Anxiety is complex and the conversation of getting help should involve a multitude of counselors including medical professionals and pastors. That being said, God’s Word provides hope and help for those struggling with anxious feelings and thoughts. One of the ways God provides this hope and help for those struggling with anxious thoughts is by instructing followers of Christ how to interact with the world around us.

While it is important to see that God created the stars for His glory it also important to not miss the truth that one of the ways the God gets glory is when His Saints have their hearts instructed by His Word on how to interact with a created thing like stars and are soothed as a result. When we hear the birds outside chirp, see our neighbors beautifully maintained flower gardens, and pause to gaze into star filled skies we should be comforted. God knows and is in control of these things but is much more concerned for those in Christ.

Credits

Photo by Denis Degioanni on Unsplash

How Many Stars Are In The Universe? By Elizabeth Howell on Space.com (accessed 7 April, 2019).

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (all Scripture). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

Kyle Gangel anger

Help! I’m Irritable Today

What is it that irritates you to no end? Someone using all the hot water in the morning? The WiFi going out? Your favorite team blowing a late-game lead? Traffic? Screaming kids? The opportunities to grow irritable in a day seem endless.

I am often surprised how little it takes to grow frustrated with my circumstances or people around me. In my irritability, there is a major disparity between the size of my problem and the extent of my reaction. I often wonder if I would respond more God-pleasing to a real tragedy in my life than I do when I step on a toy left out by my kids. I’m sure I’m not alone. For many of us, there is a fit of anger lurking just beneath the surface, ready to leap out at the slightest inconvenience. Before we have time to stop and think, we’ve expressed our displeasure with biting words, a darting glare, a disgruntled sigh, or shutting down. We wonder, why am I in such a bad mood? Where is this coming from?

I’ve Had My Coffee and I’m Still Irritated

We’ve all seen and laughed at the coffee jokes on social media:

“Don’t talk to me until I’ve had my coffee.”

“My favorite coworker is the coffee pot.”

“How to approach me before I’ve had coffee: Don’t!”

When it comes to irritability, coffee helps, but it is not the solution. These and other memes like them are lighthearted attempts to pin our irritability on something external to us. Unfortunately, the source of our irritability is more personal. The Bible reminds us that this behavior flows from within us. Solomon made this point in saying, “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life” (Proverbs 4:23 ESV). The hard truth is that we grow irritable when our circumstances and the people around us don’t fall in line with our expectations or desires (James 4:1-2). The people in our lives that God has given us to love become obstacles in the way of getting what we want. When we don’t get our way we lash out with a quick verbal barrage, punish with the silent treatment, seclude ourselves from others, or pout. Our irritability may look different on the outside for each individual, but the root is the same–we wanted something and didn’t get it.

It is necessary to admit that our irritability is an internal sin problem, not an external people problem. This admission is an important step towards change. When we know the source of our problem, we can find real solutions. For instance, my oldest son Brennan once shut his brother’s left hand in the sliding glass door. Harrison began screaming in pain as his hand was still stuck. Brennan, aware that something was wrong, began fervently looking his brother over to figure out what was causing the distress. Brennan looked over every square inch of Harrison except the hand that was stuck. Since Brennan couldn’t identify the real source of the problem, his solutions were inadequate. The same is true with our growth in Christ. If we identify irritability as a problem outside of us, we will work to change our circumstances, or worse, we will demand that people conform themselves to our agenda. Knowing the true problem leads to real solutions, and to that we now turn.

Where to begin

Remember the hope of the gospel. Irritability is necessarily self-centered. Thankfully, In Christ, we are free from living for self and empowered to live like him—patient, kind, meek, etc (1 Corinthians 5:15). Because of Christ, we can please God even amidst difficult circumstances or people. For more on this, consider a previous post from Tyler about our freedom from sin’s power.

Ask good questions. Seek to discern what exactly you are wanting when you are irritated. As G.I. Joe would say, “knowing is half the battle.” Asking simple questions like, “what is it that I’m desiring right now?” Or “what is the one thing that would change my mood right now if I could snap my fingers and get it?” The answer for me is usually comfort. I want to live a life of uninterrupted ease. When that gets compromised–I have 3 young boys; it gets compromised–I can grow irritable. For others it could be an over-desire for respect, love, attention, success, safety, order, etc. that leads to irritability.

Turn away. Knowing the heart motive behind your irritability allows you to repent more specifically to God and others. Saying, “Forgive me for desiring comfort so much that I became frustrated when you needed my help” is more helpful than simply apologizing. It acknowledges the real sin and keeps you from blaming others or the pressures you were facing.

Put on thankfulness. It is hard to be thankful and moody at the same time. When the Apostle Paul wanted to urge the Colossian believers to “bear with one another” he mentions thankfulness 3 times (see Colossians 3:12-17). Even if everything has fallen apart around you, you can be thankful for Christ, his gospel, The Spirit’s sanctifying work in you, the Father’s care and concern for you, among many other blessings we have in Christ.

In Closing

In the recently released documentary Free Solo, Alex Honnold climbs 3,000 feet straight up the granite rock face of Yosemite’s El Capitan. He does this all without the safety of ropes and anchors. In other words, one slip, one mistake and he plummets to his death. Naturally, many have asked him about controlling his fear while hanging from a cliff thousands of feet above the valley floor. He said that his goal is not to push the fear out, but to expand his comfort zone. For him, focusing on removing fear is ineffective. Instead, he pours himself into preparation, practice, and planning to a point that he is comfortable with the most dangerous situations. Focusing on removing fear, creates more fear.

Similarly, focusing on the circumstances and people surrounding our irritability just exacerbates the problem. We can’t fight our irritability by merely focusing on our irritability. Instead, we ought to focus on Christ, his work for us and in us, all the blessings he has given to us, and we might just find that our irritability cannot thrive next to joy in Christ.

Credits

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Proverbs 4:23 and all other Scripture). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

Photo by Andre Hunter on Unsplash

Tyler Shores Battling Sin, union with Christ

United to Christ and Free from Sin, but Still Sinning?

If you are reading this it is likely because your experience with sin doesn’t make sense to you. This is the case for many of us. We read passages like Romans 6:18 (“and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.”) and we are confused. We wonder how it is that we, who Christ has set free from sin, still have such strong urges to keep on sinning. Shouldn’t it be easy for those who have freedom from sin to stop sinning? The answer is, no, and Paul’s letter to the Romans, chapter 6, makes sense of our struggle.

Sin is a master

Paul speaks of sin as if it is a king or a master who cruelly reigns over people. He uses the words “dominion” (v. 9, 14) and “reign” (v. 12) to talk about sin’s power over people and likewise the words “slaves” (v. 20) and “enslaved” (v. 6) to talk about people’s experience living under the reign of sin.

We are born under sin’s enslavement and sin totally dominates us (v. 14). Being enslaved to sin does not mean that we are as sinful as we could be but it does mean that prior to personal salvation sin taints even our good and moral behavior. This imagery is important to consider if we want to understand why it is those of us who are free from sin still sin.

In Christ we have a new Master

The two most significant words in the New Testament are: in Christ.  Being in Christ is more than just letters added after our names signaling our credentials (i.e. MD, PhD, MA, MDiv), it is a transformation of who we once were. These words speak of the identity we take on at our personal salvation.

God miraculously brings us into Christ when we place our faith in Christ. When God brings us into Christ it marks a spiritual union with Christ. When Paul says we have been “baptized into Christ” (v.3) he means that we have been spiritually “united with Christ” (v.5). The result of this spiritual union is that we are made new creatures and old things pass away (2 Corinthians 5:17). To use the language of Romans 6:18 we have become “slaves of righteousness.” Before being in Christ our master was sin but in Christ we have a new master and that master is Jesus. No longer does sin totally dominate us. We now have the choice to not sin.

Why do we still struggle with sin?

For those of us in Christ we have a new master reigning over us and the claim of our old master, sin, has been broken. But why do we still desire to sin and participate in sin? The answer is that our old master, sin, is in a fight till the bitter end. We still feel the presence of sin long after its rule and reign has concluded because sin refuses to acknowledge defeat.

Even though you are in Christ (if you have placed your faith in Christ) sin is continuing to compete for the throne of your heart. Sin still gives orders for you to follow and is in a massive marketing campaign trying to convince you to submit yourself again to its cruel reign. Often times its commands, pleas, and promises are unfortunately successful and we sin.

My six year old daughter loves to play with putty. It molds and takes shape as she desires and commands. The thing about putty is that long after my daughter releases her grip it maintains the markings and impressions of her hands. The reign of sin is like this. Although sin’s powerful grip has been broken, we feel its impression, contours, and indents long after the fact.

Romans 6 and Juneteenth

Trip Barefield (Trip Lee) preached a sermon at Capitol Hill Baptist Church titled The Living Dead where he likens Paul’s message in Romans chapter 6 to something known as Juneteenth (do yourself a favor and go listen to his sermon). He explains that in January 1863 Abraham Lincoln brought into effect the Emancipation Proclamation formally ending slavery but that, sadly, the news of this freedom did not initially reach slaves in Texas. It was not until almost two and a half years later that slaves in Texas became aware of the status of freedom they already had. This day was June 19th, 1865 and became known as Juneteenth.

Paul is writing to believers set free from sin. Romans chapter 6 serves as an announcement of that Good News. What Paul knows is that in order for us to “consider [ourselves] dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” we must be reminded of who we are in Christ and what we are to be in Christ.

In Closing

As we look back again at the phrase in v. 18, “have become slaves of righteousness”, there are two observations I want to make in closing. First, becoming a slave of righteousness is an identity bestowed upon us immediately at our conversion. At the moment we place our faith in Christ we are “freed (lit. ‘justified’) from sin” (v. 7) and we have a new master reigning over us. Second, becoming a slave of righteousness is something we grow into throughout our lives in Christ. This becoming a slave of righteousness is a progressive work of God (Philippians 2:12-13) as you refuse to let sin “reign in your mortal body” and instead you “present” yourself as an instrument of righteousness to God (v. 13).

May God be gracious to us as we “so now present [our] members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification” (v. 19).

Credits

Photo by Filip Zrnzević on Unsplash

The sermon titled The Living Dead by Trip Barefield can be found here.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (all Scripture). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

Kyle Gangel Life in Christ

5 Common Reasons for Quitting Church and Why We Should Reject Them

The following list is not a scientific poll. it is anecdotal. It is experiential. These are the most common reasons I’ve heard for why once faithful attendees no longer participate in church. These reasons are, however, unconvincing in the end. After all, if active involvement in a theologically robust, God-glorifying, people-loving church is God’s will for every believer, then there really are no good reasons to quit going to church. There may be good cause to move to another church, but quitting church altogether is never God’s desire for anyone. With that said, what are some of the most common reasons given for giving up on the church?

1) “There are hypocrites in church.”

Yes, there are hypocrites in every church. And it is certainly easy to grow weary of those who say one thing and do another. It is also easy to forget that we are often just as guilty of hypocrisy. There are many ways that we fail to even live up to our own expectations of ourselves, much less God’s will for us. Thankfully, God’s love for us is not based on our ability to do what we know is best in every moment. In fact, God saves those who are willing to admit that they are often hypocrites and acknowledge they are in need of God’s grace. So, to those decrying all the hypocrites inside the church, God’s invitation is that there is always room for one more.

2) “I’ve been hurt by someone at church.”

The church is a family and like most families, there will be hurt along the way. For many, it is ordinary relational difficulty that produces a root of bitterness; that root grows into resentment and eventually results in total avoidance. God’s Word anticipates this kind of division and calls us to protect unity (Ephesians 4:3), forgive those who hurt us (Colossians 3:13), and restore broken relationships (Matthew 5:24).

For others, the hurt is more severe such as abuse or assault. These greivous sins ought not to be taken lightly and are not taken so by God. However, God’s plan for upholding those who have been terribly sinned against includes the church (1 Thessalonians 5:14), not fleeing from the church. This is not to say that one must remain in the same church in which they were abused/assaulted, in many cases they should not.

3) “I can’t find a church that meets all my needs”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer warned against the danger of desiring a church that is a perfect fit, “He who loves his dream of a community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter, even though his personal intentions may be ever so honest and earnest and sacrificial. God hates visionary dreaming; it makes the dreamer proud and pretentious. He enters the community of Christians with his demands, sets up his own law, and judges the brethren and God himself accordingly.”

It feels good to believe that we are so spiritual that no church can attain our standards, but Bonhoeffer reminds us that this attitude flows from pride. He provokes the question, “Is it truly our super-spirituality which leads us to believe no church is good enough for us? Or, is that the best excuse we can find to stop gathering with the church while easing our consciences?”

4) “I don’t need the church.”

Many assume the church is nothing more than a spiritual pep rally to get us through the week ahead. It is unsurprising then that so many see the church as unimportant or unnecessary. After all, we have our Bibles and we have Jesus, so who needs the church? The obvious problem is that this directly contradicts the teaching of Scripture. God actually designed us in such a way that we need one another. We need teaching, accountability, encouragement, love, prayer, fellowship, singing, etc. and gathering regularly in church is God’s plan for providing these opportunities for us (Ephesians 4:1-16).

5) “I’m too busy to go to church.”

In a sermon series concerning the church, Dr. David Martyn Lloyd-Jones admonished those whom he called “trippers”–those who regularly found better things to do than gather with the church. He told his congregation, “Unless you feel that something is being offered and given to you here [at church] which no other institution can offer or equal, well then, in the name of Heaven, go out into the country or to the seaside. The church of Christ is a church of believers, an association of people banded together by a common belief and a common love. You don’t believe? Well, above all, don’t pretend that you do, go to the country and the seaside. All I ask of you is, be consistent. When someone dies in your family, do not come to ask the church in which you do not believe to come bury him. Go to the seaside for consolation…”

Why is Martyn Lloyd-Jones so strong with his words? Because he understood the importance of the church in the life of the believer. He knew that the church is a group of believers “banded together.” He believed that one of the evidences of genuine faith in Christ is a love for God, a love for God’s Word, and a love for God’s people.

We tend to make time for what we consider important. For Martyn Lloyd-Jones, few things were more important than gathering with other Christians and sitting under the preaching of God’s Word.

Does God Really Desire Faithfulness in Church?

The temptation to give up on the church is not a new one. The original recipients of the letter written to the Hebrews were tempted to stop gathering with the church out of fear—fear of persecution and fear of social contempt. The personal safety and reputation of these churchgoers were on the line. To these beleaguered Christians, the author writes, “… let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some…” (Hebrews 10:24-25 ESV). In other words, God’s agenda for you will never involve giving up on regularly gathering in a local church.

Credits

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Hebrews 10:24-25 and all other Scripture). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Life Together, trans. John W. Doberstein (San Francisco: Harper, 1954), 27.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones quoted in Iaian Murray. The Life of D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: 1899-1981 (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2013).

Photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash

Tyler Shores Image of God, Life in Christ

The Image of God and Your Social Media Engagement

Remember the good ole’ days when your social media timelines were filled with balanced, useful, and encouraging words from all your friends and family? Yeah, me neither! I find myself commonly thinking two thoughts as I scroll social media: (1) What were you thinking when you posted this?, and (2) What was I thinking when I posted this?

I don’t want to be overly optimistic but there is hope for social media. If we are going to notice any real change on our timelines it has to start with each one of us having some theological awareness. Specifically, what I am arguing for is that we discipline ourselves to filter our social media habits through the theological truth known as the image of God.

What does it mean to be created in the image of God?

When we talk about the image of God we are talking about how God’s likeness is imprinted in us as created beings (Genesis 1:26). Human beings stand alone as beings created in the image of God (Psalm 8). No other being, whether it be an animal or angelic being, is created in the image of God. That being said, to be created in the image of God means that we are like God, not that we are God.

In a 2016 ERLC post titled ‘What does it mean to be made in God’s Image?’ David Closson convincingly argues that the image of God in man boils down to both who man is and what man does. First, when we think of the image of God in man as who man is we are talking about our capacities. Specifically, we have in mind our intellectual, emotional, and relational capacities. These are all things that are possessed by us because they are true of God, whose image we are created in. Second, being created in the image of God has to do with what we do. God not only gives us certain capacities He has designed us to use those capacities for His glory. Kyle Gangel summarized this aspect well in his post ‘My Worth and My Unworthiness’ when he says that God “commands each person to reflect his image by obeying his Word. […] We were created in the likeness of God, so that we might represent him as living, breathing pictures (images) of him.”

As a result of mankind’s fall into sin (Genesis 3) the image of God has been negatively impacted. We still retain the image of God in some sense (James 3:9) but imperfectly so. Rather than use our God given likeness to love God and serve God, we use our image bearing qualities to love and serve self. God transforms us through the Spirit to be more like Christ to restore image of God in us because Christ is the perfect image of God (Colossians 1:15-16).  

How does the image of God impact the “big” things?

Being theologically aware that we are created in the image of God impacts how we see and interact with the world around us. For instance, as Christians we are quick to point out that the basis for racial equality and protection for the unborn is that all people are created in God’s image. Because we are made in the image of God every human life has intrinsic value, dignity, and worth. If being created in the image of God impacts how we see and do everything, its relevance cannot be isolated to just these particular big issues. We have to allow this theology to work its way through all dark areas of our lives and bring us into the light.

How does the image of God impact the “small” things?

One area we often fail to see the relevance of the image of God is how it changes our engagement on social media. The people we disagree with, or struggle to get along with, deserve to be treated with dignity and respect on the basis that they are created in the image of God. Our posts, comments, likes, shares, and retweets must be theologically aware of the reality we are engaging with (and about) those who have intrinsic worth.

To mock or ridicule someone through clever memes based on their looks, voice, demeanor, intellect, or personality is to belittle and attack the image of God. Furthermore, to capitalize on a person’s misuse of the image of God by mocking them in their sin is equally unhelpful. At the very least this type of interaction fails to communicate the grace and mercy of the cross. Unfortunately, how funny something is often takes precedence over whether or not it meets any other criteria before being shared. As image bearers we can choose to function better than this.

James actually makes a connection between our talk and the image of God in James 3:9, “With [our tongues] we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.” (ESV, see below). We think our words are a relatively small thing but God has a much different view. Sometimes the things we think are small and insignificant are actually vitally important to God. Our words, memes, and likes are all part of how we communicate and they make up a sizable part of our lives. Our talk matters to God because people matter to God.

Closing Thoughts

God hasn’t called us to police others on social media but he has called speak the truth in love and to help our brothers and sisters in Christ do the same. Here are a couple of questions to consider as we engage on social media:

  1. Does what I’m about to say, like, or share in any way degrade or belittle someone created in the image of God?
  2. Does what I’m about to say, like, or share in any way monopolize on someone else’s failings in order to make a point?

Credits

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (all Scripture). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

Photo by ROBIN WORRALL on Unsplash

Kyle Gangel gospel

What Goes Around Comes Around, Sort of

“I have a question,” 47-year-old Susan forced out through the tears. “Is the suffering I’m experiencing now, God’s punishment for making bad decisions when I was a teenager? Like karma?”

For Susan, her view of God and how he works in this world left her defeated and hopeless. Defeated because she couldn’t go back and change her past. Hopeless because she couldn’t escape the judgment she is now experiencing. Her future was accursed and there was nothing anyone could do about it. Susan believed something we are all tempted to believe, that God operates solely on the basis of cause and effect, tit for tat, reward and punishment.

One thought was instantly clear as I considered how to best comfort this hurting lady, “the gospel is superior to karma!” But how?

What Do We Mean When We Talk About Karma?

We’ve all heard people joke about karma or have joked about it ourselves. For instance, a friend makes fun of you for tripping over the curb only to trip over the same curb a few minutes later. You might jokingly respond, “That’s what you get! It’s karma.” Most of the time we are talking about karma not in reference to its Hindu roots but as a kind of cosmic cause and effect. If you are bad today, bad things will happen to you in the future. Alternatively, if you are good today, blessings are in store.

Thankfully, God’s grace (receiving God’s kindness we don’t deserve) and mercy (not receiving God’s judgement we do deserve) move him to act in surprising ways toward us. Specifically, He acted in sending Jesus to die an excruciating death as the wrath-bearing sacrifice in our place. As a result of the gospel, we can experience hope despite our sin and we can find meaning in our suffering.

Hope Despite Sin

One thing our popular understanding of karma gets right is that sin is serious. The selfish and sinful activities we persist in are not ignored. Sin has definite consequences. However, with karma there is no solution for sin, so the only hope is to do better and be better next time. Stop sinning, start living righteously and maybe we will experience some reward. For those who recognize our continual shortcomings, this doesn’t feel much like hope.

In the gospel we also see sin taken seriously. In fact, sin is such a grave offense it cost Jesus his very life. The hope of the gospel, then, is not that sin is no big deal and is taken lightly by God. Rather, the good news is that “He does not deal with us according to our sin, nor repay us according to our iniquities” (Psalm 103:10). Grace is the opposite of karma. At the cross, we see that God the Father dealt with God the Son “according to our iniquities,” so that he might deal with us like sons and daughters. Jesus got what was coming to us, so that we might get what was coming to him.

The gospel offers real hope by offering a solution for sin without diminishing the reality and gravity of sin. At the cross we see that this hope doesn’t rest in our ability to create our own good fortune, but is found in the Rescuer, Jesus Christ.

Purpose in Suffering

If our view of God is little more than Christianized karma, we will inevitably view suffering as meaningless punishment for past offenses. We are not alone in wanting to make a straight line connection between our suffering and our sin. Job’s friends were less than helpful in insisting that his difficulty was the direct result of his wrongdoing. The disciples, as well, looked upon a man born blind and wondered aloud, “who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:2 ESV). Certainly, suffering can be the direct result of sin (See Numbers 12; 2 Samuel 12). However, the disciples were so confident that this was the only explanation that they did not ask if this man’s blindness was the result of sin, they asked whose sin caused the blindness.

In response to the simplistic assumption of the disciples, Jesus responds, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him” (John 9:3 ESV). Jesus asserts that there is a deeper purpose for this man’s suffering. He is not actually paying the price for his sin or that of his parents. There is more to his circumstances than karma. Instead, his suffering is meant to be a demonstration of the glory of God.

A truly Christian understanding of suffering makes room for multiple purposes for our trials. We see in the gospel that God takes the most undeserved suffering–the sinless Son of God tortured to death–and brings about the ultimate good. Through the cross, God displays his glory in unparalleled fashion in accomplishing our salvation. What might have looked like meaningless suffering from the outside was God’s good plan to demonstrate his grace and mercy to an undeserving world.

We may never know all that God is up to in our suffering. I suppose Joseph wasn’t pondering what it would be like to be one of the most powerful persons in the world while he was being sold into slavery or falsely accused and imprisoned (Genesis 35-50). We may not have all the answers, however, we can rely on two truths to encourage us: 1) God is using trials in our lives as a means to glorify himself by making us like Jesus (Rom. 8:28-29). 2) God is with us and for us, even when our circumstances would suggest otherwise (Rom. 8:35-39).

No suffering is enjoyable, but suffering without purpose is unbearable. The gospel teaches us that God is active in our suffering by making us more like Jesus. Furthermore, God is likely up to more than making us like Jesus. Similar to Joseph’s story, we can trust that God is working in a thousand ways that we may not discern for some time. Finding real meaning in our suffering can flood our hearts with hope even in the darkest moments.

In Closing

The gospel does not mean we can continue sinning and escape any consequences for our disobedience. God will not be mocked (Galatians 6:7). It does mean that God is not sitting in heaven arbitrarily dishing out punishment for sins we committed decades ago. It does mean that there is the hope of real forgiveness because real justice was poured out on Jesus at Calvary. It does mean that God uses suffering to bring about his good agenda of displaying his glory through making us like Christ. The gospel is greater than karma because it provides hope for our sin and meaning in our suffering.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (John 9:2-3 and all other Scripture). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

Photo by Greg Jeanneau on Unsplash