Christ Church

Authentic Ministry #3

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INTRODUCTION

There will never come a time in your Christian life where the Spirit will invite you to coast. You are not going to grow to an age where it will be unnecessary to trust God. There will always be something that you need to trust God for. We never grow out of our need to believe in the God who raises the dead.

THE TEXT

“For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life: But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us; Ye also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf” (2 Cor. 1:8–11).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Authentic ministry is in constant need of resurrection power. Paul alludes to some kind of monumental trouble that his band had encountered in Asia. Some interpreters think that this is referring to the riot in Ephesus (Acts 19:23-20:1), but Paul’s description of his internal emotions here does not seem to match with that episode. He describes himself here as despairing “even of life” (v. 8). It is best to apply this description to some unidentified disaster of Paul’s life. The reason Paul was given this sentence of death “within himself” was so that he might learn a lesson, that lesson being a “resurrection lesson” (v. 9). This was so that they would not trust in themselves, but rather in God who raises the dead. This is the God who delivered, who does deliver, and will deliver again (v. 10). This is the lesson.

What God does in the past is to be taken by us as a pattern. And the final thought here is that there is a biblical basis for getting a lot of people to pray for something. The Corinthians helped Paul through their prayers—the gift of deliverance was bestowed through the prayers of many, meaning that there would also be gratitude from the many (v. 11).

THE AFFLICTION PATTERN

An essential part of God’s plan—for establishing His church, fulfilling the Great Commission, and extending His kingdom throughout the world—has to be understood as the suffering of church planters, missionaries, and pastors. As they imitate Christ, it turns out that they imitate Him in His sufferings. This is why He has things go wrong. When things “go wrong,” you should know you are on the right track.

This requires great wisdom, because there is a kind of “going wrong” that should be a signal to knock off whatever it is you are doing. The sluggard is supposed to consider his lazy ways, and amend them (Prov. 6:6-10) The prudent man watches his step (Prov. 14:15), as well he should.

So how can we tell that we are suffering because we on the right track? The reason for all the anti-aircraft fire is that you are over the target. The answer is that you are to know the options because you know the Scriptures, and you then walk by faith. Afflictions can be God’s stop sign, and they can also be His blinking yellow. Walk in wisdom. Walk in faith.

AS INVITED

A skeptic is going to say that “just because something happened in the past doesn’t mean it will happen again.” And what are we to make of the variations in the promises of God? He says that He will not allow the wicked to succeed in killing the righteous (Ps. 37:32-33), and yet what about Dietrich Bonhoeffer? In the same psalm, God promises provision during famine (Ps. 37:19). Has no believer ever died of starvation?

We should appeal to Hebrews 11:32-39. Look at the stark transition in the middle of v. 35. Some received their dead back to life. Others were tortured. Some conquered, others were conquered, and all did so in faith. The promises of God are not theorems from Euclid, where triangles will never not have three sides. The promises are rock in God’s quarry, and as I build my house, I need to choose which rocks I bring out with intelligence and faith. Read your Bibles and, having read your Bibles, read the story you are in. Do this honestly—take your thumb off the scales. If your thumb is on the scales, you are not building a scriptural house. Rather, you are just daydreaming and weaving Bible verses into it.

That said, He delivered us in the past. He will deliver us in the immediate future. And He will certainly deliver us in the ultimate future.

WITH UPTURNED FACES

The apostle Paul was not at all shy about requesting prayer. This is not because he did not believe in the sovereignty of God—it was because he did believe in the sovereignty of God. Prayer and answered prayers is one of the central tools that God uses us to teach us that everything proceeds from Him.

Paul requested prayer for his continued boldness (Eph. 6:19). He requested prayer for his deliverance (Phil 1:19). He prayed that a door for effective ministry would open (Col. 4:3). He requested prayer for the Word of the Lord to speed on and be honored (2 Thess 3:1). Paul requests many prayers from many saints, and he does this a lot.

We get more details about how this is to work in v. 11 here. The Corinthians saints were helping Paul through prayer for Paul. When the gift of answered prayer was bestowed on Paul and his company, it was by means of the prayers of many faces (prosopon). Think of many faces, uplifted to Heaven on Paul’s behalf, and so when God answers their pleading, those same faces may look toward God in deep gratitude.

Prayer and its answers are a conversation. Prayer is relationship. Moreover it is a covenanted relationship, bound together in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the more the merrier. You are here worshiping God in the name of Jesus Christ, and God loves seeing your faces.

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Authentic Ministry #2

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INTRODUCTION

As the people of God, we are partakers of Christ’s sufferings. Because of this, we are partakers of one another’s sufferings. And because of that, we are partakers in one another’s comforts. But in order to receive the comfort that we ought to receive, the apostle’s doctrine here requires some unpacking.

THE TEXT

“Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation” (2 Cor. 1:3–7).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

This is a passage that is saturated in comfort. Paul begins by blessing God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (v. 3). By way of apposition, this God is called the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort (v. 3). As the God of all comfort, the Father comforts Paul and his company so that they might be able to pass on that comfort to those who are in any kind of trouble (v. 4). The comfort that is passed on is explicitly identified as the comfort that was received (v. 4). It is the same comfort. Paul then says that as the sufferings of Christ abound, so also his consolations abound (v. 5). Paul then presents a very interesting line of thought. If the apostolic band is afflicted, it is for the Corinthians’ “consolation and salvation.” If the apostolic band is comforted, that too is for the Corinthians’ “consolation and salvation” (v. 6). This can work because the afflictions and the comforts are the same for Paul and for the Corinthians (v. 6). Paul’s hope concerning the Corinthians was therefore steadfast, because as they were partakers of the suffering, they would also be partakers of the consolation (v. 7).

THE RABBINICAL BLESSING

In the first century, the first of the nineteen synagogue blessings began this way: “Blessed art thou, O Lord our God and God of our fathers, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob . . .” He is also called the Father of mercies. What Paul is doing is taking those words and recasting them in order to rejoice in God as the God of all comfort. This recast synagogue blessing also appears elsewhere (Eph. 1:3; 1 Pet 1:3). Remember that Paul is dealing with some Judaizing adversaries here, and so he is showing Christ as the fulfillment of the Old Testament, not a continuation of it.

Simeon and Anna both were waiting for the consolation of Israel (Luke 2:25). The Messiah Christ was the promised comfort of Israel (Is. 40-66). This sets the stage for the comfort that Paul is talking about. It is an explicitly Christiancomfort.

PRESENCE OF COMFORT

This short passage accounts for about one third of all the New Testament references to comfort. The word is used here in both noun and verb forms, and it is a peculiar kind of gospel comfort. We are servants of the suffering servant, after all, and a servant is not greater than his master (John 13:16; 15:20). A few verses earlier (John 15:18), John says that if the world hates us, we should know that it hated Christ first.

In the verses immediately following in this chapter, Paul records his gratitude at being delivered from a deadly peril in Asia (2 Cor. 1:8-11), which we will get to soon enough. But he was also greatly encouraged by the good news that Titus had brought back from Corinth (2 Cor. 7:6-7). The revolt at Corinth had been quelled, and Paul was comforted in that as well.

AUTHENTIC MINISTRY

The charge against Paul is that he must not be a genuine apostle. How could he be? If he had been a genuine apostle, he wouldn’t be getting into so much trouble, would he? And certainly, by any reasonable measurement, the apostle Paul appeared to be genuinely snake bit. He lived on the lip of perpetual death—“For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh” (2 Cor. 4:11, NKJV).

This was a ministry that was constantly on hairpin turns at high speeds on two wheels. That’s right. Authentic ministry careening down Rattlesnake Grade. What had Paul endured? He goes into it in depth later in this epistle (2 Cor. 11:23-30).  Flogged five times. Beaten with rods three times. Stoned. Shipwrecked. Hungry and thirsty, cold and naked. Jail time in various places. Should we put all this in the glossy prospectus that we send out to prospective donors? If you were on a pastoral search committee, what would you do with an application like this? If you were looking for a spokesman for your church, is this the man you would send out to the cameras?

THAT OLD DEVIL RESPECTABILITY

If we are biblical Christians, we should always want to maintain in our own ministries the same tensions that were in evidence in biblical ministries. On the one hand, we are told that an elder must have a good reputation with outsiders (1 Tim. 3:7). But then Jesus tells us that there is a kind of honor and respect that is a stumbling block. “How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?” (John 5:44).

The apostle Paul told the Galatians that he wished that the false advocates of circumcision would go whole hog and cut the whole thing off (Gal. 5:12). But in the very next verse, he urges them “by love [to] serve one another” (Gal. 5:13-15).

And he told the Philippians that he wanted them to have their love abound more and more in knowledge and in all judgment (Phil. 1:9). This was shortly before he called the false teachers he was dealing with evil workers and dogs (Phil. 3:3).

We are servants of a crucified Messiah. This did not happen because Jesus got along so well with the established authorities. And if we accompany Him in the pathway of His sufferings, as we are called to do, we are invited to partake of all the comforts that the God of all comfort might offer.

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Authentic Ministry #1

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INTRODUCTION

Lord willing, we are going to work our way through Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, the letter we commonly call 2 Corinthians. We call it this because we only have two letters that Paul wrote to them, although there was likely another one.

THE TEXT

“Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints which are in all Achaia: Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 1:1–2).

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Achaia, mentioned here is our text, is what we would call southern Greece. Northern Greece was known then as Macedonia. Corinth was built on the Isthmus of Corinth, where the Peloponnese was connected to the mainland. Cenchrea (Rom. 16:1; Acts 18:18) was the harbor that serviced Corinth on the eastern side of the isthmus, and another harbor (Lechaeumon) serviced it from the west.

The Corinth of classical Greece had been destroyed by the Romans in 146 B.C. and was left desolate for about a century. The Romans rebuilt it in 44 B.C. and wound up making it their capital of Greece. The city was influential and also sexually corrupt and decadent.

When Paul first came to Corinth (around A.D. 49-50), the city was around 80 years old, and had a population of about 80,000 people. The city was a nouveau-riche boom town, populated by merchants and other hustlers. The Corinthians were wealthy, and their wealth was seen in trade, in sports, and in entertainment. For example, the theater in that city held 18,000 people. Aphrodite was the goddess of the city, and at one time there were five temples in the area dedicated to her. According to Strabo, the earlier Greek temple to Aphrodite was staffed with a thousand sacred prostitutes, which may also have been the case with the new temple in the Roman era.

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

And so to plant a church in Corinth was to plant a church in a key strategic location. This was an important city, and that meant that a church there was going to be an important church. This letter is going to be a robust defense of Paul’s authentic ministry, which had been challenged by spurious apostles. This is why Paul begins by saying that his letter is from Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ “by the will of God” (v. 1). The letter was also from Timothy, Paul’s co-laborer. It was addressed to the church of God in Corinth, not to mention all the saints throughout all of Achaia (v. 1). The next verse is the standard salutation—grace and peace from the Father and the Son. You have heard me indicate before that I believe the Spirit is not mentioned by name because He is the grace and peace.

DRAMA IN CORINTH

When Paul had first come to Corinth, he ministered there for about a year-and-a-half. Working together with Timothy and Silas, not to mention Aquila and Priscilla, the initial planting of this church was quite successful. You can read about this period in Acts 18:1-17. After Paul left, he went to Ephesus, then to Jerusalem, after which he returned to Ephesus. After a period of about three years, he wrote 1 Corinthians. This works out because 1 Corinthians was his first letter to them. Paul sent Timothy to Corinth for a visit (1 Cor. 16:1-11).

Timothy discovered that Paul’s enemies had been at work in Corinth, and had orchestrated a revolt against the apostle. Paul then determined to visit Corinth just briefly in order to address everything. That visit was a disaster, what Paul called his “painful visit” (2 Cor. 2:1). All kinds of stories were circulating about Paul, and many Corinthian Christians had rejected him as a result, and had gone after a “different gospel” (2 Cor. 11:4). Paul returned to Ephesus, wiped out, and sent Titus to Corinth with what he called his “severe” letter (2 Cor. 2:4-5). This missing letter is the original 2 Corinthians, while our 2 Corinthians is 3 Corinthians. Still with me? That missing letter called for the Corinthians to repent, and glory to God, most of them actually did. The bulk of the church came back to Paul’s side, although there was still significant clean up that had to take place. That is what is being addressed in this epistle, as Paul is making preparations to come to them for his third visit (2 Cor. 12:14; 13:1). 2 Corinthians is cleaning up after the major battle.

AUTHENTIC MINISTRY

In this letter we find Paul’s most extensive defense of his apostolic ministry. He hatedtalking about himself, but he loved the gospel so much that if a defense of gospel ministry required it, he was willing even to do that. Paul tells the Corinthians in this letter that he had been flogged by the Jews five times (2 Cor. 11:24). The Mishnah tells us that the whip had three leather strands, and 13 strokes would be applied to the chest, 13 to one shoulder, and 13 to the other. This happened to Paul five times. That is 585 welts for the kingdom.

Why is Paul emphasizing this kind of thing? Had he given up on trying to impress the Corinthians? Wasn’t their problem with him the fact that Paul was so weak in his bodily presence with them (2 Cor. 10:10)? Yes, it was, but as Paul undertook to teach them the true meaning of authentic ministry, the authentic meaning of real ministry, part of that lesson included learning how God loves to showcase His power in the midst of weakness.

“And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Cor. 12:9).

“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life in you” (2 Cor. 4:7–12).

So take heart, Christian. In Christ, faithful weakness is our superpower.

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New Birth & New Creation

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INTRODUCTION

The theme of creation and new creation is a significant one in Scripture, but sometimes we may forget where God has determined to begin that new work. The new birth is not merely a significant improvement of who we are. It is a new creation; it is heaven breaking into this world. And this is what makes the Christian Church tick. This is what makes Moscow tick. This is the center of who we are and what we’re about.

THE TEXT

“For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create… I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; not more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress…” (Is. 65:17).

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband… He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Rev. 21:1-4)

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2 Cor. 5:17).

HEAVEN IS FOR REAL

Because of where I want to focus this message, it is important to nail a couple of things down first. None of what follows should be taken to downplay or lessen the physical return of Christ, the glory of heaven, or the new heavens and new earth in the slightest. For Christians to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord in heaven, and it is far better to be with the Lord than to be here (2 Cor. 5:8). At the resurrection, when we are clothed once more in new, immortal bodies, all things will be finally and completely made right (1 Cor. 15:15:53-55). The glory of heaven will be immense and completely perfect. We will see God face to face, and we will be like Him, without any sin or suffering (Rev. 22:3-5, 1 Jn. 3:2). This is our hope and joy.

HEAVEN ON EARTH

Nevertheless, Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” We pray that heaven would come down to earth. And Scripture says that the new heavens and new earth are coming down out of heaven like a bride coming down the aisle to her husband, like a city full of light and jewels (Rev. 21:1-2ff). Furthermore, the Bible teaches that by the gift of the Spirit, God has come to dwell with us already: “By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us His Spirit” (1 Jn. 4:13). Finally, we are able to behold the glory of the Lord even now, so that we are being transformed from one degree of glory to another, becoming more and more like Him in this life (2 Cor. 3:18). What is that like?

HEAVEN NOW

The temptation – growing up in a Christian family/church/school is to take this for granted, to underplay the radical nature of the new birth. The great blessing of living in a covenant community is the momentum and gravity generally pulling in the direction of holiness and faithfulness. But that is also the context in which it can become perilously easy to float, to go with the flow, which is not the same thing at all as being made new. The text says, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). To be “in Christ” is to be made completely new. The old has passed away, the new has come. Another way to make this point is to recognize that the language of “new creation” is the language of heaven.

What is heaven? It is the presence of Christ – God with us. It is the presence of His perfection, His holiness, His joy, such that we know Him and the power of His resurrection (cf. Phil. 3:10). Heaven is the full possession of unending, indestructible, abundant life. And what does Jesus say? “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die” (Jn. 11:25-26). Our text from Isaiah 65 goes on to describe life in this world, foretelling days in which people live extraordinarily long lives and children are born for blessing and not cursing (Is. 65:20-23). In other words, that new heavens and new earth begin here, in a Jerusalem of rejoicing, where there is no weeping or crying (Is. 65:18-19). For those who are new creations in Christ, the old is passed away. Christ is with us and everything is fine. He is wiping away every tear even now.

CONCLUSION

The same Creator God who commanded light to shine out of the darkness in the beginning is still in the business of creating new worlds in human hearts, through the knowledge of the glory of God in Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4:6). We have this treasure in the earthen vessels of fallen bodies and souls (2 Cor. 4:7). But this is the point: we have this treasure. The New Birth is a New Creation of a new and perfect world inside every believer.

Do not settle for a decent conservative Christian life. Do not settle for reasonable. Do no settle for mediocre. Christ does not make mutant mistakes. Christ died to make people new creations. Christ rose in order to give the treasure of everlasting life – heaven now. He came to give abundant life, to make us more than conquerors. We do live in a veil of tears, but if you are in Christ, you live in that veil of tears with Christ. Christ is with you and in you. And if Christ is in you, the fullness of heaven is already in you and your tears disappear almost as quickly as they appear. Do you have that treasure? Do you know that joy? It is impossible for you to get this for yourself, but it is something that God delights to do. Call on Him now. Turn to Him now.

This is what makes us tick: Jesus. 2000 years ago He was crucified on a Roman cross between two thieves. And when He was beaten, whipped, and nailed to that cross, our sins were laid upon Him. And now we bear them no more. The old is passed away, behold the new has come. Because Christ is here. He is with us. He is our heaven, and He holds us tight.

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State of the Church 2021

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INTRODUCTION

In these annual “state of the church” messages, we sometimes address our local circumstances here in Christ Church. At other times the message has addressed our national condition. This year, it is (I believe) necessary to do both as the situations are unusually intertwined.

We are living in a time of great uncertainty and turmoil, and in such times, men turn naturally to their gods. In the case of many Americans, jack-secularists, they have resorted to long-neglected temples, only to find that their gods have toppled over like Dagon. They are therefore governed by fear and anger, both right and left. We are not in their position, and so whatever we do, we must not copy or imitate them.

THE TEXT

“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:3–5).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Although we have been born again, although we are new creatures in Christ, and although we are citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem, we still nevertheless have physical bodies that we walk around in. We remain embodied beings. But though we walk around in the flesh, we do not conduct our warfare that way. We wage war, but we do not wage war according to the flesh (v. 3). Paul says that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but what he contrasts this with is revelatory. His first comparison is not carnal over against spiritual, but rather carnal over against mighty (v. 4). Carnal weapons are not strong enough to do what is going to be done, which is to cast down imaginations and every lofty, proud thing, and bringing every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (v. 5). In order for them to topple statues of generals from a century or two ago, all they need are some cables and a winch. In order to topple principalities and powers, you need something more.

So what Paul has in mind here is not the kind of echo chamber rhetoric that you see on partisan political web sites. “Watch so-and-so drop a bomb on old what’s-his-face. Click here to watch Sen. Taxit own the libs!” He is not talking about casting down devilish imaginations in his head. He is talking about bringing the intellectual world to heel, bringing them to an actual obedience to the Lord Jesus.

PREPARING FOR ONE KIND OF CONFLICT

In the year 2020, Americans bought a record-high 17 million guns. This was on top of all the guns already owned, which is somewhere between 350 and 400 million. For every one hundred Americans, there are about 120 guns. And if you go out there in order to buy some 9mm ammo, good luck. The shelves for 9mm ammo look like the shelves for milk in a socialist country.

Now I only bring this up to note two things. The first is to point to the level of uncertainty in the general population. They should be ripe for hearing a sure word—a word of traction in slippery times. We should make a point of speaking that word.

The second reason is to use it for an illustration—simply to point out that unfortunately the sons of this world are more shrewd than the children of light (Luke 16:8). The worldlings look at their resources, and they make a point to stock up. They at least know they are supposed to do something. But many Christians don’t look at their resources, don’t anticipate the costs of spiritual warfare, and they don’t stock up.

A CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW AMMO BOX

If you are concerned about the state of our nation, you ought to be. If that concern has affected you to the point of wanting to prepare yourself in order to protect your family spiritually, then you are thinking wisely. So what can you do? What kind of spiritual 9MM ammo can you stockpile? What should you concentrate on? We don’t know what is going to happen, but I do know that if you start laying up these things, you will be better prepared for whatever comes, regardless of what comes.

  • Worship—“Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve [worship] God acceptably with reverence and godly fear” (Heb. 12:28). This is the central thing.
  • Honesty about sin—“He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: But whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy” (Prov. 28:13). If you are not right with God, you will have real troubles in any real troubles.
  • Marriage—“Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun” (Eccl. 9:9). In other words, love your wife with holy abandon.
  • Music—“But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel” (Ps. 22:3). And the psalms are the arsenal and hymnal of God.
  • Hospitality/community—“Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality” (Rom. 12:12–13). Notice how the fact of tribulation does not negate the need for hospitality.
  • Christian Education—“And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4). This is a critical component of what we are up to.
  • Debt-free—“The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender” (Prov. 22:7; cf. Rom. 13:8). Your central encumbrance should be the encumbrance of love.
  • Joviality, cheerfulness, laughter—“Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Neh. 8:10). Our weapons are not carnal, but being joyful, are mighty.
  • Family dinners/sabbath—“And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up” (Deut. 6:7). Church is where your instruction is packed. The family table is where it is unpacked.
  • Study/read—“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15). First, read the Word. Second, read a book.
  • Work—“Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is” (1 Cor. 3:13). In context, this is talking about the work of ministry, but it is a principle that all the people are to imitate.
  • Stories—“Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.” (Joel 1:3). Joel is talking about a cautionary tale, but there are great, inspirational tales as well. All the stories.

And you know there is more than this. But there is certainly not less. And the first item—worship of the Father, in the name of Christ, in the power of the Spirit—is the box that will hold all these bullets together.

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