The Best Thing about Heaven will be…

Have you ever thought about this question:  What will be the best thing about heaven?  I think if you asked a number of people, I would probably get a wide variety of answers.  For some, the best thing about heaven will be that it is eternal, everlasting, forever.  And that will be amazing.  It is hard to grasp being there a million years and still having just begun.

For others, the best thing about heaven will be the promise of perfection.  Heaven will be place without tears, without pain, without disease, without sin and most of all, without death.  For those of us on earth who suffer with pain, or heartache, or the loss of loved ones, that is an amazing promise to hold on to.

Still others will tell you that the best thing about heaven will be the gigantic family reunion.  Seeing their spouse or their children, their parents, grandparents or good friends again will be, for them, the thing they anticipate about heaven the most.  I look forward to that to – not only for a chance to get to know my grandparents better (most of them died when I was young), but also to meet the generations before them, in whose spiritual legacy I follow, and who I never did get to know.

All those things are good things.  To those things, some might add walking the streets of gold, or seeing creation restored completely, or gazing in wonder at all the beauty of the New Jerusalem.  But are these things – as amazing as they will be – the best thing about heaven?

Let me suggest to you that the Scripture points us to something else.  The best thing about heaven will be Jesus.  The best thing about heaven will be being face to face with the One who loves us, died for our sake and rose so that we might have heavenly life.  The best thing will be living eternally with the One who made it possible for us to dwell with our God.  The apostle Paul believed knowing and seeing Jesus was the best thing he could imagine.  He was willing to suffer the loss of all things for the hope of seeing Christ. (Phil. 3:8)  His desire was to depart from this world in order to see Christ, which was better by far. (Phil. 1:23)  The apostle John is the similar.  You can almost hear the awe in his words as his anticipates the day when Jesus will be revealed, we will be glorified, and we will be able to see Him as He is, face to face. (1 John 3:2)

The best thing about heaven will be Jesus.  So, if that is true, let me ask you another question.  If Jesus will be the best thing about your eternity, why is He not the best thing about your life right now?  If you are like me, you have a lot of “bests.”  If we are not careful, our life can revolve around our collection of “bests.”  The best CD I own.  The best book I read.  The best game I have ever played.  The best vacation I have taken.  The best job I ever had.  The best place I ever lived.  The best food I have ever eaten.  The best car I have ever owned.  The best.  The best.  The best.  And again, while those things are great, and God wants us to enjoy the blessings He has given us and the creation He has set us in, compared to Jesus, our collection of “bests” are pretty sad, very temporary, and ultimately unsatisfactory.  Jesus will be the best thing about your eternal life.  Why not make sure He is the best thing in your life right now.

Book Review - Good Faith: Being a Christian when Society things Your'e Irrelevant and Extreme

Extreme is a word that used to be reserved for people who would fly planes into the World Trade Center or strap a bomb onto themselves and detonate it in a bus full of school children.  Those people are extremists, aren’t they?  Would it surprise you that a growing number of people in our society have lumped faithful Christians in that category as well?  In increasing measure, biblical Christianity, especially as it runs counter-cultural to the direction of society, is being labeled as extreme.

            

In addition, more and more people are convinced that Christianity is also irrelevant.  While they might believe that spirituality could be comforting, spirituality based on a 2000 year old book is considered to be completely out of touch.  They have no inkling how Christianity matters or that it could matter to them.  Thus, Christians and their faith are irrelevant.

            

How do we respond to those cultural trends?  To seek to answer that question, authors Gabe Lyons and David Kinnamon have written Good Faith: Being a Christian when Society Thinks You’re Irrelevant and Extreme.  While staying true to Scriptural teaching, Lyon and Kinnamon seek to help believers navigate the trick waters of being a faithful Christian in a hostile society, while continuing to seek and take advantage of opportunities to impact that same society for good.

            

The authors begin by spending the opening chapters analyzing today’s cultural attitudes and perceptions regarding faith, especially the Christian faith.  The picture is rather depressing.  But their goal is not to depress the reader, but to issue a wake-up call.  This is not your grandmother’s world, or even your parent’s world anymore.  Their goal is to call believers to what they label as “good faith.”  Good faith Christians seek to hold true to Scripture, but also seek impact and engage the world through love and compassion.  Good faith Christians seek to be people who, rather than being defined only by what they are against, are also defined by what they are for.  Good faith boils down to three essential ingredients:  love for God and others, belief in biblical orthodoxy and translating our love and belief into everyday life.

            

With those key ingredients, Lyons and Kinnamon direct the reader toward some of the hot button issues of the day.  Politics.  Marriage.  Sexuality.  Religious Freedom.  These are the issues where Christians are increasingly taking a stand.  And these are the issues where believers are increasingly being labelled irrelevant and extreme.  As they journey through these issues, the authors continually prompt the reader to think about how a good faith Christian could and should respond.  Their own responses are not exhaustive – this is not a how-to book to cover every situation.  And they are very clear that different Christians will have very different, biblically-educated responses to these issues.  But all in all, this is a valuable tool for Christians to have to think through and ponder how we can love, believe and live in the midst of a society that is increasingly negative toward faithful belief.

The authors end the book by focusing an even more direct gaze on the challenges of the church and Christian faith.  The chapter on societal trends in faith is especially good, pointing out why the Christian faith itself seems to be in decline.  They encourage churches to be both inwardly focused on growth and discipleship, as well as outwardly focused on being ambassadors of Christ to the world. 

The book concludes with this thought:  “We believe our faith community today faces an emerging social context that demands we learn to be Christian in a new way, described best as being ‘faithful in exile.’” (pg. 254)  Drawing lessons from the book of Daniel, the authors leave the reader with a challenge.  God is still sovereign.  He is still purposeful.  And the Christian church may face some sort of exile in today’s society.  But exile for God’s people was ultimately a good thing.  It was an opportunity for purification and reorientation toward God.  And it can be the same for us, as we look at new ways to love, believe and live out our faith in Jesus Christ in today’s world.

Are you Bored with Jesus? God isn’t!

As a pastor, I try to regularly talk about Jesus.  I talk about his love.  I talk about his death for our sakes.  I talk about his resurrection.  I talk about the grace and peace and forgiveness and new life Christians have in him and through him.  Over the past few months, I have found myself becoming increasingly captivated and in awe of Jesus.  And yet, sometimes I wonder whether my excitement for Jesus is making a difference.

Why do I say that?  Because it seems like there are Christians all over who are increasingly bored with Jesus.  Now, before you speak up and say, “Jeff, I am not bored with Jesus,” think about it for a minute.  When I suggest that some Christians are increasingly bored with Jesus, what I am getting at is that we are generally much more captivated by the things of this world than we are captivated by Jesus.

After all, ask yourself the question – what gets you most excited?  Going to church to worship Jesus with Jesus’ followers?  Spending time in prayer and meditation with your Savior?  Contemplating the wonders of the gospel Jesus came to offer us?  I am guessing for most of us, those things don’t even make the top ten things we get most excited about.

I suspect the list of things we get most excited about would include shopping or golf or hunting or fishing or cars or sex or a good meal or a vacation trip or any number of things that are not Jesus.

Now let me put this all in perspective.  Last week, during our vacation in Yellowstone, I began to read Michael Reeves’ book, Rejoicing in Christ.  In the first chapter, as he is discussing Jesus and how his identity changes the gospel, he noted that Jesus is infinitely precious to God the Father.  He states, “If there is nothing more precious to the Father than him, there cannot be any blessing higher than him or anything better than him.”  (pg. 21)  That makes you think, doesn’t it?  And then, a few sentences later, “Jesus has satisfied the mind and heart of the infinite God for all eternity.  Our boredom is simple blindness.  If the Father can be infinitely and eternally satisfied in him, then he must be overwhelmingly all-sufficient for us.  In every situation, for eternity.”  (pg. 21)

Jesus has satisfied the mind and heart of God for eternity.  Can you imagine that?  In my weakness and worldliness, I have a hard time wrapping my brain around that.  Like most of us, I am constantly dissatisfied with something.  And not satisfied nearly enough with Jesus.

Are you bored with Jesus?  Are other things infinitely more satisfying to you than him?  I challenge you to spend time each day contemplating the wonders of his power, his grace, his eternal nature, his love and his gospel, and you will find yourself increasingly captivated by Jesus and less and less satisfied by the world.

Book Review - Gospel Treason by Brad Bigney

As many of you know, I love a good book.  There are times when I read a book for enjoyment and escape.  Other times I read to expand my knowledge.  Yet there are other books that are good because they touch my heart and change my way of thinking about God and life.  The best of these books are books I wish every believer would read.  They are so biblical, so wise and yet so challenging, that it would be impossible for a believer who read them with an open heart to close the book unaltered.  Gospel Treason:  Betraying the Gospel with Hidden Idols by Brad Bigney is just such a book.  Thoroughly biblical, incredibly wise and powerfully challenging, I wish every believer would read and take to heart the truths in this book.

When I picked up this book, I was not familiar with Brad Bigney.  I have to thank Blake Shaw, who was watching over the Grace Bible Church (Bozeman, MT) resource room for putting me onto this book.  I had read books about idols recently – Gods at War by Kyle Idleman and Idols of the Heart by Elyse Fitzpatrick – and I wondered, “Do I want to read another book on this topic?”  But the title of Bigney’s book grabbed me – idolatry really is gospel treason.  Worshipping our idols – and we all have them – is like committing treason against the God who saved us and denying the power of the gospel message.  As Bigney defines it, an idol is anything or anyone that captures our hearts, minds and affections more than God.

Gospel Treason breaks down into three main sections.  The first few chapters are prescriptive.  They ask what the problem is.  Bigney encourages us to examine our hearts and our motives in light of the gospel.  He seeks to help us see, with copious examples from Scripture, that the idols of our heart are the source of many, if not all the sin problems in our life.  They stand hidden behind the conflicts and the frustrations and the discouragements that plague us.  Idols taint our relationships and even change our very identity, twisting how we see ourselves.  That happens because we have hearts that are deceitful, ever in the process of drifting away from the gospel and the message of our Savior.  The first step to freedom is recognizing that idols exist in every heart and to begin to shine the light of God’s word into our hearts to reveal them.

Bigney then moves on to discussing the solution.  The solution to our idol problem is found in examining our hearts in light of God’s Word and the gospel.  Our idols are there because we put them there.  Our sinful hearts cultivate them.  We nurture them.  We protect them.  And, as weird as it sounds, we are often blind to their true nature.  For example, we may live in continual frustration in our relationships.  We may blame others for that.  We may even understand, to some extent, that we need to be more patient or more gracious.  But the idol in our heart my well be pride or selfishness or a desire to control others, and until that is revealed, we cannot get to the real heart of our relationship problems.  So Bigney challenges the reader to examine the ways idols reveal themselves.  We need to follow the trail of how we use our time, we were set our affections or how we spend our money.  All those things can reveal the true gods in our heart.  We need to ask ourselves – what areas of our life are chaotic?  Idols will always eventually cause chaos and conflict.    We need to open our eyes to the places and areas where are heart is tempted to drift from the place of trusting God.  And we need to examine where our hearts are most vulnerable.  Idols will always show up under the pressure of difficult circumstances.  Fighting idols is about inviting God’s Spirit, through God’s Word, to do the difficult process of self-examination, revealing the true motives behind our actions, and repenting and turning from them in God’s power.  We need to let God do what God desires to do – redeem us from the inside out.

Finally Bigney closes the book with some excellent, practical chapters on day to day life.  He lays out three vital habits that are necessary cures for our wandering, idolatrous heart.  And then he ends the book with a powerful vision of what life will be like when we expose and begin to gain victory over the idols that rule our hearts.

Gospel Treason is a book that will cause you to re-examine your life, your relationships, your desires, your habits, your chaos and most importantly, your heart.  I am sure that if more believers read books like this, and took the gospel truths in them to heart, the churches they belong to and fellowship in would be truly changed.

God is not like the Government

Today I was preparing for my meeting with my associate Chuck.  We have been reading The Gospel for Real Life by the recently deceased author Jerry Bridges.  In chapter 4, entitled “Justice Satisfied,” I came across this statement:  Most people “ …think that God will somehow relax His inflexible justice and pardon all of us by mere sovereign prerogative.”  (p. 43) 

I had to agree with that statement – I do think most people genuinely think God is going to sovereignly give them a pass.  Perhaps it is because they are convinced that their sin is not as bad as someone else’s sin.  Perhaps it is because their good deeds clearly outweigh their bad deeds.  Or perhaps they just think God, being a good God and a loving God, could clearly not judge someone like them who has tried so hard.

Regardless of the reason, many people are convinced that God will somehow, in some way, put aside his holiness and his justice, leaving them unsatisfied, and offer pardon to the vast majority of human beings.  They are convinced that God is able and willing to go against his character and offer forgiveness and heaven to those who are guilty.

So, I got to thinking – why do people think that way?  Well, some do not understand that God’s justice is inflexible – everyone will get exactly what they deserve.  Others do not understand the dichotomy between holiness and sin – our sin is a serious offense to God’s holy character.  And some believe that because of the examples we see in our society.

You see, government has often taken the role of god in our lives.  But God is not like the government.  What do I mean?  Think back a few years.  In 2008, after years of risky investments and phony dealings, the bottom fell out of the mortgage market and the economy as a whole.  Banks and other large corporations, threatened to go under.  And convinced that it was for the ultimate good of the economy, the government bailed out investment firms and insurance companies and auto makers.  They government did not allow them to pay for their years of bad, irresponsible choices.  They offered them forgiveness of a sort despite their deeds.

The same kind of thing could be said of homeowners that bought what they could not afford.  Suddenly upside down in the payments, owing more than their house is worth, some of them were also bailed out by a government that did not allow them to face the just consequences of their own behavior.  I believe the same thing will happen in a few years to the whole student loan industry.  The cries are already beginning to be heard for loan forgiveness on behalf of students.  The day will come, in the midst of a crisis, when the government will somehow, in some way, erase the debts these students have accrued.

Now some of you may be reading this and thinking – wow, Jeff is sure a grouch today.  That is not what I want to communicate.  Rather, I want us to recognize that the government’s actions – necessary or not, whether you agree or not – are not parallel to God’s actions with regard to justice.  God does not and will not forgive sins without justice being satisfied.  He will not “bail out” anyone.  His mercy toward a sinner cannot somehow “trump” his justice. (No Trump pun intended…)  Rather his justice must be satisfied.  God will not act like the government acts on the last day.

Thankfully, this is where Jesus comes in.  As our representative, Jesus died on the cross, bearing the full brunt of God’s justice.  We do not have to pay the price for our sin – Jesus already paid it in full.  Jesus assumed our liability for not perfectly obeying God’s law and he paid that liability to the utmost.  In Jesus, God cancelled “the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.  This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.” (Col. 2:14)  When we accept and trust Jesus’ provision for our sins, God’s justice toward us is satisfied and his mercy is enabled.

And so, the Christian does not fear judgment day.  Our lack of fear is not because of some phony, false belief that God is just going willy-nilly to offer grace to everyone.  Rather, our lack of fear comes from the fact that we are assured that the price for our sin is paid, justice has been satisfied and what we will receive at Christ’s judgment seat is the abundant mercy of God.  Praise the Lord – God is not like the government!

Do You Have a Worship Disorder?

Do you have a worship disorder?  Let me answer that question for you – yes you do.  So do I.  Every human who has ever walked the planet (apart from Jesus Christ) has a worship disorder.  We regularly find ourselves in awe of the wrong things.

 

Paul David Tripp, in his book Awe:  Why it Matters for Everything we Think, Say and Do, suggests that every one of us fights a war of awe in our hearts.  Every day we experience a battle over who or what will rule and control our hearts.  You see, God created all of us with an awe capacity.  We were designed to worship.  We gravitate to the things we find awe in.  It is awe that stimulates our greatest joys and our deepest sorrows.  And the world around us is awe-some – God created an awesome world for us to live in.  He intended us to be amazed on a daily basis.

The problem, of course, is that all too often the awe that directs our hearts is directed at and limited to the things of this created world.  This world captures our hearts, and we struggle to look past this world to the truly awe-inspiring Creator that stands behind it and over it.  Sin causes us to be spiritual amnesiacs, men and women who can look at the awesomeness of the created world and completely miss the creator God.

The reason this problem is serious is that misplaced awe keeps us perennially dissatisfied.  Why do I say that?  Because when we find the source of our awe in this world, somehow, in some way, that same source of awe will disappoint us.  Simply put, when we replace God with anything from the created world, at some point in our lives we will have to recognize that the particular created thing we love makes a poor god, an inadequate god, and ultimately a powerless god.  That is true for everything we find ourselves in awe of. 

Think about it how that might play out in your own life.  For example, sin is great at replacing our worship of God with worship of self.  If we replace awe of God with awe of self, what might that look like?  If we are in awe of ourselves, our own self-rule replaces submission to God.  Our insatiable demands for more will displace gratitude to God.  Self-reliance takes the place of faith.  A horizontal envy can become our primary emotion rather than a God-directed, God-given joy.  We embark on a continual quest for personal control rather than resting in God’s sovereignty.  What a miserable picture.  I don’t want to hang out with anyone that looks like that, and I surely don’t want to look like that myself.  When we live in awe of self, we quickly come to understand how limited that life is.  For example, while the idea of controlling our lives sounds great, how long will be it until we come face to face with something that is too big or too frightening or too powerful for us to control?  In those situations, we discover that are awe of self is awe aimed in the wrong direction.

So how do we find help?  Only grace can give us back our awe of God again.  You see, sin causes us to want for ourselves what God alone has.  We tend put ourselves in the center of the story.  As a result, not only do we become rebels against God, we become a danger to ourselves and others, and we are ultimately powerless to help ourselves.  The solution for our problem must come from outside of ourselves.

That is why Jesus came.  His sacrifice directs our attention off of ourselves, and onto the God who is holy and just and loving and all-powerful.  Jesus sacrifice reminds us that we have a sin problem we could never solve ourselves.  Jesus draws us to place our trust in what He accomplished for us – a gift of salvation we do not deserve and never could earn.  Through Jesus, we can get back our awe, so that we are enabled to see and remember the captivating majesty of the God who created us.  Only when we fix our eyes on God, only when we are captivated by the truths of the gospel of salvation, only when we recognize that He is God and we are not, only then can we begin to solve our worship disorder.

Best Books I read this year - Ministry and Faith

I had the privilege of reading many good ministry and faith books this year.  While I will highlight 8 of the best below, I probably could have easily had 12 books in that list.  These books have encouraged me and challenged me in many ways in my life and ministry.

Here are the best books I read this year (in no particular order), followed by the rest:

Holiness by Grace:  Delighting in the Joy that is our Strength by Bryan Chapell.  I read this book with my associate Chuck.  Chapell does a great joy exploring how God's command to holiness intersects with God's grace poured out into our life in Jesus.  A challenging and encouraging book.

What does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality by Kevin DeYoung.  Homosexuality and the Bible is a very controversial topic nowadays.  Christians have many divergent views on the topic.  Kevin DeYoung carefully goes through every mention of homosexuality in the Bible, giving the reader a balanced and sane interpretation.  He also provides answers to many of the arguments Christians hear from both believers and non-believers about why homosexuality should be accepted by Christians.  Written in a very gentle, understanding tone, it is worth a read to get a solid biblical perspective on this challenging topic.

The Enemy Within:  Straight Talk about the Power and Defeat of Sin by Kris Lundgaard.  This was a tough book to read.  It is difficult to be reminded how relentless our sin nature is in opposing the things of God in our life.  Lundgaard lays bare a tough truth - that each of us have an enemy within that will oppose every step we take toward obedience and holiness.  Thankfully Lundgaard does not leave us with just bad news, but gives good, theological teaching on countering the influence of the sin nature in our lives.

Closing the Window:  Steps to Living Porn Free by Tim Chester.  This fall I began teaching a men's Sunday School class on purity, especially in response to the plague of pornography that many men struggle with.  As a result, I read a number of books on the subject over the summer.  Chester's book was the best of them.  Theologically wise and spiritually challenging, my only disappointment with the book was that the long chapters did not set themselves up well for a Sunday School class.

Finally Free:  Fighting for Purity with the Power of Grace by Heath Lambert.  Finally Free was the second best book I read on purity this summer.  Lambert starts with a great chapter on grace, and then gives a series of practical chapters on ways we can battle for purity in light of the grace of God poured out into our lives.  I recommend Chester and then Lambert for anyone struggling with purity issues in their life.

Gospel-Powered Humility by William Farley.  Bill Farley gave a seminar for men in Missoula this fall, so I sought out some of his books, even though I could not attend the seminar.  Gospel-Powered Humility is a wonderful exploration of how the gospel, accurately understood and preached, should counter our sinful pride and produce a God-honoring humility in our lives.

Extravagant Grace:  God's Glory Displayed in our Weakness by Barbara R. Duguid.  Extravagant Grace was easily the best book I read this year.  It was also easily the toughest book I read this year.  Duguid's book is full of straight talk about grace and sin.  Unmistakably honest, she lays bare her own struggles and victories, consistently reminding the reader that God's grace is indeed extravagant and transformational.

Outrageous Mercy:  Rediscovering the Radical Nature of the Cross by William P. Farley.  I just finished this book the other day.  Outrageous Mercy is a wonderful exploration of the many ways the cross bridges the gap between a holy God and sinful men and how its truths apply to every area of the Christian's life.

2nd Tier Books, very good but just short of great:

The Legacy of Sovereign Joy by John Piper

On the Grace of God by Justin S. Holcomb

Your Jesus is Too Safe:  Outgrowing a Drive-Thru, Feel-Good Savior by Jared Wilson

The Irresistible Church: 12 Traits of a Church Heaven Applauds by Wayne Cordeiro

Cries from the Cross: A Journey into the Heart of Jesus by Erwin Lutzer

Hide or Seek:  When Men Get Real with God about Sex by John Freeman

Expositional Preaching:  How We Speak God’s Word Today by David Helm

The Peacemaking Pastor:  A Biblical guide to Resolving Church Conflict by Alfred Poirier

Jesus on Trial:  A Lawyer Affirms the Truth of the Gospel by David Limbaugh

They Smell Like Sheep, vol. 2 by Lynn Anderson

Burning Hearts:  Preaching to the Affections by Josh Moody and Robin Weekes

The Storytelling God:  Seeing the Glory of Jesus in His Parables by Jared Wilson

Trusting God, Even when Life Hurts by Jerry Bridges

Renaissance:  The Power of the Gospel However Dark the Times by Os Guinness

8:28 – Unlocking God’s Promise by Bryan Hughes

What is Biblical Theology?  A Guide to the Bible’s Story, Symbolism and Patterns by James M. Hamilton Jr

Church History in Plain Language, 4th edition, by Bruce L. Shelley

You and Me Forever: Marriage in Light of Eternity by Francis and Lisa Chan

The Grace of God by Andy Stanley

3rd Tier books, good but mildly disappointing:

Finding Hope in the Last Words of Jesus by Greg Laurie 

The Seven Last Words from the Cross by Fleming Rutledge

Wired For Intimacy:  How Pornography Hijacks the Male Brain by William K. Struthers

4th Tier - very disappointing:

Cross-Shattered Christ:  Meditations on the Seven Last Words by Stanley Hauerwas