Pride of Cowardice

Pondering John Piper's remarks about pride--how it not only takes the form of boasting but also cowardice.  So helpful as a word of challenge to all who follow Jesus, and especially to all who are leaders.

Finding Fault to the Left and to the Right

Plenty of fault to go around for the political "rot" of these times--as Rod Dreher points out.

The Sad Situation of 'Fifty Shades of Grey'

The release of "Fifty Shades of Grey" in theaters the day before Valentine's Day sends a disturbing message about love.

Of course, I don't expect non-believing, Christ-defying writers and movie makers and advertisers to avoid promoting sexual exploitation--if there's a profit to be made, the sad mixture of free enterprise and sexual chaos in our day is going to result in grim effects like "Fifty Shades."  Not surprised.

But sad, and grieved.

And yet always looking to Christ with hope.  Followers of Jesus, let's PRAY that our ingenious Lord would accomplish all kinds of good and God-honoring things in his round-about ways through this sorrowful situation (Genesis 50:20).

Here are a few thoughtful comments about "Fifty Shades":

• Owen Strachan:  "50 Shades of Grey speaks to where things are headed in our culture. We should not expect that postmodernism will protect women. It will do no such thing. We should not expect that it will ennoble men and call them to self-sacrificial responsibility. It will do no such thing. We should not expect that postmodernism will bless children and strengthen the family. It will do no such thing."
• Tim Challies and Helen Thorne:  "As 50 Shades of Grey hits the screens, let’s love God well by honoring him wholeheartedly with our eyes, ears, hearts and minds. Let’s love our brothers and sisters well by encouraging them with truth rather than lies. Let’s love our unbelieving neighbors by showing them how beautiful and alluring purity looks. And let’s love ourselves by committing ourselves wholeheartedly to living in light of the immense love that has been lavished on us. “See what a great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1)."
• Marshall Segal:  "The message that sex is selfish, manipulative, and even playfully violent will abuse and violate you. It might feel like a fun and harmless fantasy, but it’s not so subtly redefining the power and beauty of sex, creating spiritual blockages in your heart that will eventually kill you, and impairing your ability to enjoy real and lasting pleasure."
• Kevin DeYoung:  "There is nothing gray about whether a follower of Christ should see 50 Shades of Grey. This is a black and white issue. Don’t go. Don’t watch it. Don’t read it. Don’t rent it."

On Singleness

A good word that gets to the heart of the matter when it comes to following Jesus as a single person.

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"Faith Is..."

I love this vivid word-picture of Christian faith given by nineteenth century pastor J. C. Ryle—it shows both the active nature of trust in Jesus, yet faith is rightly portrayed not as our work but dependence on the all-sufficient work of Christ: 

Saving faith is the hand of the soul.  The sinner is like a drowning man at the point of sinking.  He sees the Lord Jesus Christ holding out help to him.  He grasps it and is saved.  This is faith (Hebrews 6:18). 

Saving faith is the eye of the soul.  The sinner is like the Israelite bitten by the fiery serpent in the wilderness, and at the point of death.  The Lord Jesus Christ is offered to him as the brazen serpent, set up for his cure.  He looks and is healed.  This is faith (John 3:14-15). 

Saving faith is the mouth of the soul. The sinner is starving for want of food, and sick of a sore disease.  The Lord Jesus Christ is set before him as the bread of life, and the universal medicine. He receives it, and is made well and strong. This is faith (John 6:35). 

Saving faith is the foot of the soul. The sinner is pursued by a deadly enemy, and is in fear of being overtaken.  The Lord Jesus Christ is put be­fore him as a strong tower, a hiding place, and a refuge.  He runs into it and is safe. This is faith (Proverbs 18:10).

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Mez McConnell's Story

Mez McConnell's Testimony from 20 Schemes on Vimeo.

Cross Confusion

Adrian Warnock summarizes Brian McLaren's musings about the cross in which McLaren eventually concludes that he doesn't know why Jesus had to die.  The departure from a biblical doctrine of the atonement is breathtaking.  See also this overview of the atonement debate provided by Warnock.
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Doing "Church Stuff"

A story of grace in a series of videos from Renovation Church on "Making beautiful what is broken."  The love of Jesus Christ is sufficient to cover even our hypocrisy.

Jesus Loves Whores & Hypocrites - Michael Wang from Renovation Church on Vimeo.
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Sin's Devastation

Jim Elliff's list of 35 reasons not to sin piles on the sobering biblical truth of how sin brings misery and ruin upon ourselves and others--not to mention bringing dishonor to the Lord.

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Fumbling the Ball

Al Mohler has some thoughtful analysis of Tim Tebow's recent decision to withdraw from a speaking commitment at First Baptist Church of Dallas.
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Lottery Madness

Not only is playing the lottery fraught with problems (spiritual and otherwise--see, e.g., the DG post today).  But just imagine what a mess it would make of your life to win $640,000,000.00.  I have to think, at the end of the day, that that big check would leave a person wondering who his/her friends really were.  And leave one asking, "What's real in these relationships of mine?"  "Who am I to the people around me?"  "What am I in their eyes?"

Such an odd and sad craze in our day.
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Anniversary of Roe v. Wade

Thirty-nine years ago this week the Supreme Court, in its landmark Roe v. Wade decision, swept away virtually all state laws restricting abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy.  Since that time, there have been some fifty million little ones who've lost their lives here in the USA.


The scale of abortion woes is even greater in some other parts of the world, due in no small part to the particularly heinous practice of sex-selection abortion.  Consider the 200 million missing girls.


Note the free download offered by Desiring God, Exposing the Dark Work of Abortion.
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Penn State Scandal

The Pennsylvania State University Board of Directors took bold action yesterday, firing it's legendary football coach, Joe Paterno. Reactions are all over the place today, and there may be more firings and fallout from the whole sad saga.

I appreciate Al Mohler's challenge to Christian leaders: bottom line, any knowledge of or suspicion of abuse must be reported to law enforcement without delay.

It was not enough that Paterno, after hearing of a former assistant coach's abusive contact with a child, followed university protocol and notified the athletic director about the matter. He is gone from Penn State today because he did not also notify police.

Here's a link to Mohler's article.

See also my letter on this story to the church where I serve: click here.

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Christian friendships

St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life (trans. John K. Ryan; Image Books, 1972), p. 183:

"As to sins, we must neither occasion them nor tolerate them in our friends. It is either a weak or a sinful friendship that watches our friend perish without helping him, that sees him die of an abscess and does not dare to save his life by opening it with the lance of correction. Genuine, living friendship cannot continue in the midst of sin."

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"It is finished!"

The resurrection is God’s exclamation point that at the end of his Son’s death sentence. It says, “Enough.”

On the cross, as Jesus breathed his last, he uttered, “It is finished.” So too, the resurrection was the Heavenly Father looking upon his Son’s suffering to bear the guilt of sinners and saying, “It is finished.” Divine justice had been satisfied.

If Jesus were still in the grave, we might claim he’d died in our place, but we could never be sure that our guilt had been fully cleared—that the punishment had matched the crime and was sufficient to meet the right and holy demands of the All-Glorious Lord.

In fact, if Jesus were still in the grave, we’d have to conclude that his entire salvation project was a flop, because a dead Jesus is a Jesus who goes on suf­fer­ing the punishment for our sin. And until that punishment is fully meted out, our guilt is not resolved: the damning burden remains on our desperate shoulders. But…

“[Jesus] was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification” (Romans 4:25). In other words, while Jesus died as our substitute—as a sin-bearing sacrifice for us—it’s only with his resur­rection that our “justification” is fully achieved. The resurrection is pivotal!

“If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins” (1 Cor 15:17): no resurrection means no rescue from the catastrophic consequences of unforgiven sin.

Further, God would be unjust to declare us “not guilty” if his Son were still in the tomb. But the Bible is emphatic to say God certainly is both just and the justifier of all who have faith in Jesus (Rom 3:26).

Easter is God’s remedy for our sin and its guilt. By nature our hearts and habits are spring-loaded to honor ourselves; we’re prone to make much of “me” and then connive ways to enlist God in the service of our own self-exaltation. The mercy of Easter is that the Lord didn’t just leave us to wallow in our shame. Instead, he sent a Savior to pay sin’s penalty for us—for all who place their trust in Jesus.

So the big question on Easter is about faith: are you trusting Jesus to clear your guilt, rule your heart, and love you forever? If you’re still worshipping the god of self, I urge you: run to the Risen Lord today!

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Channel Surfing

I remember ages ago when, to change the TV channel, you had to actually get up and go turn the knob. That’s right, get off the couch and walk all the way over to “the tube” to check the choices—all four of them: CBS, NBC, ABC, and Public Television. No FOX, CNN, ESPN; no plethora of cable selections. And no remote control for surfing through the options.

The remote is powerful: so many choices to make—and with such little effort. Enough options to keep one from ever really pay­ing attention to anything! With the greatest of ease we zoom past this game, that reality show, this ad, that sit-com, this info­mercial, that forecast, and on and on, world without end. Our culture expects to be able to choose between limitless options with minimal effort.

And that hurts churches. When you gather with your church family, please leave your remote control mindset at home! I realize this is more easily said than done. Our preference reflexes kick in a thousand times a day—and at lightning speed: Car ad? Switch it. Traffic report? Switch it. Country music? Switch it (sorry country fans). Empire carpet commercial? Switch it fast. And so, when it comes to church, we quickly switch off any awkward conversations or stern messages or non-preferred songs or less-than-fashionable neighbors in the pew, etc.

But God’s vision of church—of his people’s sweet shared life in worship, nurture and outreach—is profoundly insensitive to our preference reflexes and comfort zones. Church life is not intended to meet one’s every whim and wish; in fact, many of our wishes need to be dragged into the light and destroyed. Church is a fellowship of Christ-followers that loves you enough not to let you have your way, not to let you live in an endless, suffocating pursuit of your own likes and tastes.

Church is for the weak (2 Cor 12:7-10) and sick (Luke 5:31-32)—can you admit that that’s you? It’s about dying to sin together (Luke 9:23-24; Rom 8:13) and putting others first instead of me (Phil 2:3-4). And the truth is, following the self-forgetting Son of God is actually the path to true joy.

So brace yourself to say NO to those impatient channel-switching reflexes, and open your heart to life within the beautiful counter-culture of Jesus, the church!

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Ever Forming, Never Formed

For many years I've been working on a book about spiritual formation and the ongoing battle with sin. A book about how the Bible calls us to be holy but also states that we remain sinners. A book about being content in Christ yet not complacent with sin. And a book about this paradox of authentic Christian growth: the more you advance in faith and spiritual maturity, the more conscious you become of the odious presence of sin in your life. The book is called Spiritual Formation: Ever Forming, Never Formed, and it releases on Nov. 10.

I'll be grateful to receive feedback on this work that readers may wish to offer (peterknelson@gmail.com)!

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Imprecatory Psalms

In Psalm 69:22-28 David cries out to God in a prayer of “imprecation.” That means cursing or condemning: his appeal is that destruction would be brought upon those who are God’s and his enemies. “Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; let them not be enrolled among the righteous” (69:28 ESV).

What do we do with such fierce verses? Are there people who, as enemies of God, should be the target of such prayers today? Here are three key Christian responses to the imprecatory Psalms:

Recognize that you deserve God’s righteous wrath. You and I are only spared justice and welcomed into God’s friendship by sheer mercy. We’ve sinned and snubbed God’s honor—regardless of whether our sins are glaring or more socially acceptable. Take no comfort in the idea that you’re “not that bad.” Fair compensation for our sin would be spiritual and eternal death (Rom 6:23).

Follow the biblical line of thought to that destination where the longing for justice points. That is, listen to your heart as it cries out for enemies of God and of his people to get what they deserve, and then see how he deals with that injustice. How does the Scripture story unfold so as to provide resolution for the guilty sinners? Answer: the cross. We’re “justified” (i.e., declared not guilty) through the death of Christ in our place (e.g., 2 Cor 5:21; Rom 3:24; 5:8). And this justification, this pardon for violations of God’s just and holy standards, is realized in any given person’s life not on the basis of deserving but as a gift, a gift to all who believe in Jesus—who entrust their lives forever into his care.

Then redirect your righteous rage against God’s enemies who insult and abuse and even murder Christians, and release it at the cross. That is, transfer your soul fury into prayer that injustices committed will be dealt with—fully and finally—in the way God has established in his New Covenant, the final chapter in his grand plot of conflict resolution. Refuse to cultivate hatred for enemies, but instead obey Jesus: “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you” (Luke 6:27-28 ESV). In fact, if we harbor hate in our hearts, we’re saying that the cross was not sufficient to satisfy a just God! Don’t go there. Be content with his good plan for meting out justice in this world, and pray for the Lord’s life-changing hand to bring more and more sinners into his justifying grace.

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Letters from Jesus

The letters to the seven churches of Asia Minor (Rev. 2-3) contain brief, urgent words of the risen Jesus sent from heaven via the Holy Spirit to John the Apostle, the recipient of that grand vision we call “Revelation.” John’s job was to take down the message and get it to the churches.

Now in case you think Jesus’ words to a particular church (e.g., at Thyatira, Smyrna, or Sardis) were meant for them alone, look closely at how each of the letters ends: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” That’s plural “churches”: each church was supposed to see what Jesus said to the others; we’re expected to be reading (or hearing) each other’s mail this way!

Let me touch on a few words of Christ’s fierce love for his church (and don’t forget 3:19, “those whom I love I rebuke and disci­pline”):

• The believers at Ephesus are steady, patient, and discerning, and they have the good sense to reject false teachers (2:2). “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love” (2:4). Are you firm on God’s truth while your zeal for his honor fades?

• Smyrna faces persecution and poverty, yet ultimately they’re “rich” (2:9). Smug Laodicea, however, sees itself as wealthy and self-sufficient, while in the deepest sense they’re spiritually destitute (3:17). This contrast makes one think: is it treasure in heaven or on earth that excites you?

• Smyrna is about to face yet more suffering, but Christ lovingly assures them that they don’t need to fear: even if they end up in prison or are put to death, it all leads to receiving a crown of life—eternal joy beyond the reach of death (2:10-11). Does the threat of danger strike terror in your heart, or do you rest in the rock solid assurance that God works ALL things for your good?

• Sardis does good deeds and they appear to be “alive” as a church. But Jesus isn’t fooled by appearances; in fact, these “believers” are dead (3:1). So is Christ’s letter to them a coroner’s report: no hope for Sardis? No. He urges them to repent: there’s still time; they can still give up their play-acting, come to Jesus, and live!

• Truth is at stake in several cases: false apostles threaten (2:2); the “teaching of Balaam” (2:14) and the “teaching of the Nicolaitans” (2:15) are adopted by some, for which they must repent (2:16); a “Jezebel” figure is tolerated and her teaching is followed, so Jesus warns that this must stop (2:20); others who reject her teaching are commended (2:24); those who falsely claim Jewish identity are rebuked (2:9; 3:9); believers who “have kept my word and have not denied my name” are blessed by Jesus (3:8). Truth matters! Don’t let anyone tell you “doctrine” isn’t important and actions are what count—that’s an unnecessary and foolish either-or.

• Christ watches how these believers live—their “works” are fully known to him, no secrets (2:2, 5, 19; 3:1, 8, 15). Of course, we’re not saved by deeds, but our actions provide a window onto our hearts. So again, don’t fall for a silly either-or (e.g., like thinking actions don’t matter but beliefs do). What are our deeds saying (or not saying) here at GBC: is our faith obvious in how we live?

• Let’s come back to that prosperous congregation: Laodicea (3:14-22) has fallen into luke­warm religion—neither hot nor cold, neither for Jesus nor against him. They have a mild faith—mediocre, middle-of-the-road, tame, safe, beige, boring. When coming face to face with Majesty, one thing the sane cannot do is yawn: who yawns while riding the Maid of the Mist up beneath Niagara Falls? But Laodicea yawns. Why? They feel self-satisfied; wealth deludes them into thinking they “need nothing” (3:17). Jesus confronts this insanity: truth is, they’re “wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.” He says this not to condemn, but lovingly to confront sin and beckon these spiritually destitute souls to repent and receive life. What is the temperature of your faith today?

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Prayer Is Hard

Prayer is difficult! Sound strange to say that? How hard is it just to talk to God—to tell him your concerns? You don’t have to yell or speak some fancy language or have lots of merit points to talk to God: just pray, talk (out loud, silently—or even “talk” with your posture, with your eyes, from the heart). Prayer is simple.

Okay, true enough. But acquiring and preserving the inclination to pray is hard. The longing and readiness to make time to be still before the Lord are easily destroyed. Why is this? There are several reasons.

First, Satan never opposes Christ-followers more than when we pray. After all, we’re no threat to his evil schemes on our own—that would be laughable, we’re like a fly to his bulldozer. But when we call out to the Almighty, Satan cringes. So if you mean to pray, be assured that Satan will come against you fully armed! Prayer is hard because prayer is war.

Second, prayer is hard because we’re proud. We want to be applauded as bright, successful achievers who can say, “I came, I saw, I conquered.” But prayer is that place where you fall flat on your face and see with painful clarity that your work is not what counts: “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). “What do you have that you did not receive?” (1 Cor 4:7).

Third, prayer is hard because we’re pragmatic. This outlook asks, “What works?”: we act, plan, organize; we live to check off the “to do” list. Pragmatists love visible, tangible, temporal effects—like numbers, dollars, bricks and mortar. But this fixation on human action and earthly results pushes soul-probing prayer down the list of priorities to a place where it shrivels up.

Fourth, distraction also ruins prayer—multi-tasking, busy-ness, frenzied lifestyles, the inability to quiet down and sit still. Our culture values maximum juggling of activities (email – work – text – shop – errands – study – clean – write – call…). Juggling is “in,” and yet how much can you really concentrate on each ball that’s in the air? But God says “Be still” (Ps 46:10). Jesus says, “Come and rest” (Mt 11:28-30). Are we willing to go against the current of a busy culture?

Fifth, we also find it hard to pray, of course, if we’re harboring sin in our hearts. Any time known sin is allowed to linger or (worse yet) is nurtured in our twisted hearts, we effectively put a lid on our own prayers. For example, God commands husbands to treat their wives with loving consideration “in order that your prayers may not be hindered” (1 Peter 3:7): sin torpedoes prayer. Failing to fight sin is an attitude—whether we admit this or not—that says we don’t take God seriously and we don’t really care to speak with him in prayer.

So, watch out for these spiritual land mines—they’re deadly!

But having said that, take heart: God invites and commands us to pray (Matt 7:7; 1 Thess 4:17), and he’ll help us. Remember, greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world (1 John 4:4). Draw near to him, and he’ll draw near to you (Jas 4:8). The Lord is at work among his people “to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Phil 2:13). And he’s able to do far more than we ask or imagine for the sake of our spiritual progress and his greater glory (Eph 3:20-21)!

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