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Saved from My Righteousness
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A Radical Conversion
If Jesus retold the Parable of the Pharisee and Tax Collector, who would be the characters today? The Pharisee could be a student at the classical Christian school or a successful business man or a very industrious housewife––the defining trait is someone who trusts in their own righteousness. The apostle Paul fit the description of parable’s Pharisee and he had quite a bit that he could put his trust in––his parents, his history, his education, his career success, his spiritual zeal. Paul summed up all of this as “my own righteousness” (Phil. 3:9).Then Paul had a radical conversion, but not the kind of conversion we often think of. Paul was saved from his own righteousness. In Philippians 3, Paul tells about the great discovery that he can and must abandon all his self-righteousness because he gained that which is so much more excellent and valuable in Christ Jesus––who saves him from his self-righteousness.
Beware of Confidence in the Flesh (Phil. 1:1-3)
Paul sets the context of the whole discussion in Philippians 3:1, “Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe.” What will prevent Christians rejoicing in the Lord? The very real danger of your righteousness. And so in verse 2 Paul warns, “Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation!” Paul is warning about Judaizers––Jewish Christians who accepted Jesus as the Christ but then required that the way to follow Christ was to obey the Jewish ceremonial law. Judaizers would say, “Alright Gentiles, if you want to be a Christian, then you must become a Jew and keep all the Jewish Law. And first up, circumcision.” They make salvation dependent on Christ plus some of your work. Christ pluscircumcision. Christ plusthe Law. Christ plusthis work of the flesh. But this is anti-gospel, a perversion of the gospel. Salvation is Christ plus nothing. (Gal. 2:16).
Confidence in the Flesh (vs. 4-6)
Paul knows all about having confidence in the flesh. Paul’s been there, done, that, and got the “confidence in the flesh” tee-shirt. And so he goes on a confidence in the flesh rant in verses 4-6, “We have no confidence in the flesh, thoughI also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so…” Paul had an armful of accomplishments and accolades and privileges he could hold up and show off. Paul is like the older brother in the Parable of the Prodigal Son or, alternatively titled, “The Parable of the Self-Righteous Son––who didn’t enjoy any of his dad’s gifts and his brothers celebration because his arms were so full of his own self-righteousness, and he had a bad attitude.”
Lose Everything to Gain Christ (vs. 7-11)
What does Paul do with all of this confidence in the flesh? Verse 7, “But what things were gain for me, these things I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ” (vs. 7-8). All the gain that he had––benefits of his birth, privileges from his parents, his promising career as a Pharisee––he counts them as loss. Why? Because he has found something so much more extremely valuable––the supremacy, the excellency of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. In comparison to Christ and his perfect righteousness, everything once prized and privileged seems a cheap imitation. It like realizing you prized soccer trophy from the U-6 season is not real gold but spray painted plastic––worthless.
But for Paul, these old confidences are not merely shown be be worthless compared to Christ, they are now revoltingto him. He scoops up all his old confidence, walks outside and throws them in hedog-do garbage can. Paul came to understand that his self-righteousness has no profit and zero ability to actually make him righteous before God. So his aim is “That I may knowHim and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, if by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead” (vs. 10-11)
Joy of Losing All Self-Righteousness
What does this passage mean for us? How do we apply it? Consider who you are if Jesus told a parable. Are you the self-righteous Pharisee? Are you the tax collector who really was sinful? The sullen older brother? Or the rebellious younger brother? All of these have different stories but the same need––Christ and his righteousness. Paul has discovered the great joy of losing all his attempts at self-righteousness because he has gained Christ. This is really good news. Your response should be what Paul told us to do at the beginning––Rejoice in the Lord. There’s really relief and joy in discovering you can lose and must lose all self-righteousness––because Jesus is your righteousness.
But what is the alternative? Rejoice in yourself. From my experience, there’s not much joy in self-righteousness. If anything, self-righteousness is a cruel master. Either you will be arrogant or you will despair. Arrogant like the Pharisee who prayed aloud “thank God that I’m so much better than all of these other sinners.” Or you despair under such a crushing burden of righteousness that you can never achieve.
So what should you do if you are the Pharisee or the older brother? Humble yourself like that tax collector and pray “God, have mercy on me a sinner.” Return to your Father like the young son. And rejoice that Jesus is your righteousness.
Change and Spiritual Growth in Biblical Counseling
Text
“For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. (Lk 6:43-45)
Introduction
When we talk about counseling, we’re talking about change. Sometimes it involves change of mind, sometimes it involves change of behavior, and sometimes it involves both at the same time. But change is only good if you know what you are changing from and what you are changing to.
Created for Glory
The Bible is clear that God does what he does for his glory. It is all about him. If he were a person, this would be the most arrogant thing a person could say. But God is not a man, he is God. Everything that happens, creation, animals, plants, men, life, death, and anything else you can think of exists and continues to exist for God’s glory. The Bible tells us that even sin happens for God’s glory (Rom. 9:8-24). What this means is that we also were created for God’s glory.
What brings God glory? One definition I’ve heard that has always helped in my understanding is that glory means fame. When we make God famous he is glorified. We bring him glory by making him famous. We make him famous by living according to his word, talking about him, walking with him, becoming like him, and by pleasing him in all that we do, think, feel, and say. Everything brings God glory.
Our goal, therefore, is to get on board with God’s program and do everything in our power to bring him glory. To do this we need to constantly re-think every thought, action, emotion, and impulse we have ever had and bring it under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. As the Westminster Shorter Catechism says, we glorify God and enjoy him forever.
First Things First
With this in mind we need to take a moment to discuss what we mean by spiritual. Usually we contrast spiritual with worldly and what we mean by that is ethereal versus material. Sometimes we mean other world versus what we can see feel and smell around us. We separate God and the things of God from ourselves and the things related to humanity. This is a very vertical distinction. I would like to consider another way. Spiritualshould be contrasted with worldly or natural (1 Cor. 2:12-14), but what we should mean by this is that obedient as opposed to rebellious. In other words, the Bible says that we live and move and have our being in Jesus Christ (Acts 17:28). It also says that in him all things hold together (Col. 1:17). This means that the distinction between spiritual and worldly is a horizontal difference, not a vertical one. We are being spiritual if we are bringing honor and glory to God. We are being worldly if we are being rebellious against God and his son.
Spiritual Growth
Understanding spiritual in these terms changes whatever we thought spiritual growth was all about. If we thought it meant more spiritual, or more in touch with the other world, more ethereal or something sort of spacy and distant, we had it wrong. If we mean more in tune with the Spirit’s leading, in other words more obedient and in touch with the things of God and the ways of God and the thoughts of God and those ramifications for life and the kingdom, then we are on the right track.
Spiritual growth only happens as we act on our Biblical beliefs. If we submit ourselves to the Lordship of Jesus we grow in grace and the knowledge of the Son of God (2 Pet. 3:18). The Spirit of God works in us to change us into the likeness of Christ. If we are in rebellion against him, we are not growing spiritually at all. Spiritual growth means we are becoming more like Jesus. It does not mean we are more spiritual in the sense the pagans mean it.
As This Relates to Counseling
What this means for Biblical Counselors is that our goal, to make every man mature in Christ, is real spiritual work. We are coming along side others to help them learn to walk with God more consistently, more effectively, more like Jesus, and to bring others along with them. God gave ministers to the church to train the people to do the works of service (Eph. 4:10). He commanded all of us to make disciples of every nation (Mt. 28:19). A disciple is someone who follows Jesus and learns to be like him. Our goal as Biblical Counselors is to help others become disciples of Jesus and to help disciples be more like Jesus. In the process God will be working in them to change their hearts and minds to be more like Christ. And thus bring glory to God.
Two Directions at Once
Biblical change happens as we recognize those areas of our lives that are not being offered up to Jesus Christ as something that brings him glory. We want glory for ourselves and so we clutch and grab. We steal, envy, lust, grumble, complain, and are angry because we can’t have what God has not given us, or because we cannot capitalize on what God has given us. This is sin. But sin has a blinding effect on us. It causes us to not be able to see what it is we are doing. God has an answer, however. God sends the Holy Spirit to us to reveal our hearts to us and he sends fellow Christians to us to help us see our shortcomings, failures and rebellion. He points out our sin to us. This is the first task of the Biblical Counselor; to help the counselee see and understand his heart the way God sees and understands his heart.
Once a person realizes that the problems he is having in life are directly related to the fact that he has erected idols in his heart to distract him from submitting to God, and he realizes that he wants to get rid of those idols, he needs to confess his rebellion and let God forgive and cleanse him from his sin. Remember, we began this lecture with glory, but idols steal God’s glory. So, he hates them with a holy passion and so should we.
But wait, there’s more. In addition to confessing his sin, the counselee needs to endeavor to replace living the wrong way with living the right way. We call this change, repentance, a changing of the mind (of heart) from doing it wrong to doing it right.
This is the other half of Biblical counseling; to help people learn to live the right way with God and fellow men. Christians are constantly repenting; turning away from sin and to God. Christians turn from doing it our way, to doing it God’s way. We are going two directions at once, away and toward.
Progressive Sanctification
On one hand this talk has been all about glory and change. On the other hand, in a very sneaky way, what I’ve been talking about has been what theologians call progressive sanctification. Sanctification means to be made holy. The Bible tells us that in Christ, God has made us holy (Heb 10:10). We are holy because of what Jesus did for us on the Cross. Another way of saying holy is to say, “sanctified,” “set apart,” “elect,” “sacred,” or even “special.” In this sense, we have been made holy. We are already holy. But the Bible tells us that while we are already holy, we are also being made holy (Heb 10:14). We are living out our holiness. In a sense we are proving, by our lives, what God has already declared (Jn 14:15).
What this looks like is us doing things; obeying, loving, acting, etc. It might, at times look like we are trying to earn our holiness, but if we are trying to earn it, we’ve got it all wrong. Christians live out what God has declared because God declared it and it is true. But as we live out what God has given to us, God works in us to make us like Christ (Eph 4:11-16). And so, we have not only been declared to be holy, we are also becoming holy. We call this process progressive sanctification.
The Truth That Sets You Free
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Introduction
The world is fundamentally divided between the truth and all lies. Jesus is the Truth, and He speaks the truth of God, and those who are born of God love the truth and hear His voice. But those who are not born of God cannot hear the word of God because they are sons of the devil, who is a liar, and the father of lies. So when we come to considering the importance of telling the truth, repenting of our lies, and learning to hate all lies, we are talking about nothing less than fundamental loyalties, allegiances, and eternal destinies.
The Text
31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; 32 and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. 33 They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? 34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. 35 And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. 36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. 37 I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you. 38 I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father. 39 They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham. 40 But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. 41 Ye do the deeds of your father.
Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, evenGod. 42 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. 43 Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. 44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. 45 And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. 46 Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? 47 He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God (John 8:31-47).
A Summary of the Text
It’s striking that John says that Jesus spoke these hard words to those Jews “who believed in Him” (Jn. 8:31), but Jesus ends up by saying that some of them don’t believe in Him (Jn. 8:45). I take this to mean that there were both believers and unbelievers in the crowd. This doesn’t mean that all of the Jews who believed in Him were offended by His words or that the Jews who believed in Him were actually unbelievers and sons of the devil. But it does mean that Jesus was not seeker-sensitive. It also means that the hard truth is good for those who believe, especially when it is aimed directly at their pride. The hard truth is also good because it divides believers and unbelievers. Jesus, master preacher, immediately finds their pride hideout, which is apparently (and deeply ironically) related to the notion of freedom(Jn. 8:31-32). The Jews lie to Jesus, insisting that they have never been in bondage to anyone, which is a whopper if there ever was one (Jn. 8:33). Imagine some of the kids standing there getting shushed for asking about Passover. Jesus is undeterred and insists that all who sin are fundamentally enslaved, and only He can set men free (Jn. 8:34-36).
Their pride in their Jewishness, their lineage from Abraham, is all wrong since they want to kill Jesus, something Abraham would not have done (Jn. 8:37-40). Jesus says they are doing the works of their father alright, but he isn’t Abraham or God, because they don’t understand Him (Jn. 8:41-43). Children recognize the voice of their father in utero, and therefore, if the words of Jesus are nonsense to them, the devil is their father (Jn. 8:44). Some of the Jews are already plotting to kill Jesus, and this is hardly surprising since lies and murder go together. Lies are verbal murder and originate from the father of lies and murder (Jn. 8:44). Jesus insists that those who do not believe Him, fundamentally refuse because they hate the truth (Jn. 8:45). He makes the same point by inviting someone to testify that He is lying, but since no one will, He points out that the only other option is believing in Him (Jn. 8:46). Jesus concludes that it is all very simple: those who are of God love the truth of His word, and those who do not love the truth of His word are not of God (Jn. 8:47).
The Ninth Commandment
Because God created the heavens and earth by speaking (Gen. 1:3) and upholds all things by the word of His power (Heb. 1:3), lying is always an attempt to unmake the world as it actually is, which is an act of pride and insolence and war (cf. Ps. 120). “A lying tongue hates those who are crushed by it, and a flattering mouth works ruin” (Prov. 26:28). Telling the truth is required by the ninth commandment, which specifically forbids bearing false witness against your neighbor (Ex. 20:16). But this is not merely a prohibition against actively lying under oath in court. This also requires active rejoicing in the truth and a hatred of all lies (1 Cor. 13:6, Ps. 119:163). This necessitates the active protection of your neighbor’s good name. This is a simple application of the golden rule: whatever you would have others do to you, do to them (Eph. 4:25, Mt. 7:12).
Truth Inflation
The problem with lies is the problem with all inflation. It devalues the currency, which effectively steals from others. Rather than letting your “yes” be “yes” and your “no” a “no,” lies and deception tend to drive language to extremes of oaths, profanities, and obscenities to try to make up for all the “fake news” (Mt. 5:36-37). This includes the lies and deception of trying to hide sin, excuse making, vain boasting, and flattery, either falsely praising what is not praiseworthy (complimenting an immodest dress or haircut) or else pretending all is well when it obviously isn’t (sipping tea while the house is on fire). Like fiscal inflation, lying tends to breed more lying. Most lies come in fire-sale deals of packs of 10 or 12. You had to lie to yourself the first time to justify the lie you told to someone else. Then you had to lie to yourself again when you didn’t immediately confess the truth. Meanwhile, you were lying to God the entire time, who sees and knows all things (Job 34:21, Acts 5:3). But since you’ve attempted to remake the world according to your own arrogant wisdom, everything else in the world must be (eventually) shifted to fit your version, multiplying lies exponentially. Maybe it started as lying about the five dollars missing from the counter or what you did with your friends last night, but now you have to explain where you got that five dollars and what you did with your friends last night. And be sure: your sin will always find you out (Num. 32:23), and with it will come great trouble (Josh. 7).
A Warning
It’s always a bit dicey preaching on something like this because there are certain tender consciences that are pricked at the thought of lying, and suddenly they wonder if they need to confess that one time when they said it was 3:15, but the second hand wasn’t quite all the way to the 12 and so it was actually 3:14. And then there are the folks who think everything is like rounding and approximating because they have no real regard for the truth. So here’s the rule of thumb directly from Jesus: do unto others what you have them do to you. Unless the difference between 3:14 and 3:15 was an intentional attempt to make yourself look better or give yourself some kind of advantage, you probably need to stop agonizing over it. Do not be cheated of the reward of a clean conscience by a false humility (Col. 2:18). Bearing false witness against yourselfis still bearing false witness. Some of you need to stop telling thoselies. But if you have a habit of rounding and spinning everything to your advantage and to others’ disadvantage, you are a liar, and those lies are murderous acts of hatred against God and your neighbor. And liars will be cast into Hell with the rest of the wicked (Rev. 21:8).
Conclusion: The Freedom of Confession
Since lies are fundamentally at war with God and His reality, it is a terrible existence to live with unconfessed lies. It is like a sickness that will not go away, like a weight around your neck, like a thirst you cannot quench, like a deep pit in your stomach (Ps. 32:2-4). And this is God’s hand heavy upon you. But God laid His hand heavy upon Jesus on the cross in order that you might confess your sins and be rid of them forever. This is the truth that sets all men free. But in order to be set free, you must admit that you have been enslaved to your sins. Do you want God’s hand heavy upon you or upon Christ? What will it be? And you cannot get this freedom piecemeal or by partial confession. It’s all or nothing, Christ or nothing. But when you come clean, when you confess, when you come to Christ in all honesty, there is complete forgiveness and freedom. God becomes your hiding place, and He surrounds you with His songs of deliverance (Ps. 32:5-7).
The Shape of Trinitarian Community
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Introduction
The Trinity is the source and archetype of true Christian community: “truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ” (1 Jn. 1:3). We have been made alive together, and the resulting community is a glorious part of the riches of His grace (Eph. 2:5-6). But we want our fellowship to be shaped by the Bible and not whatever we (or our culture) assumes it to be.
The Text
But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.10 And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more;11 And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;12 That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing (1 Thess. 4:9-12).
A Summary of the Text
Paul says that the Thessalonians have “brotherly love” down really well because they were taught by God Himself (1 Thess. 4:9). Apparently, Thessalonica had become something of a center of Christian community, as they had become examples in Macedonia, Achaia, and “in every place” (1 Thess. 1:6-8). They had also been granted the ability to share that brotherly love with many outside their immediate community, “toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia” (1 Thess. 4:10). Paul urges them to increase more and more while pursuing quiet lives, minding their own business, and working with their own hands, just as the apostles had commanded them (1 Thess. 4:11). He says that they need to remember this for the sake of their witness to those who are outside the Church and so no one will be in need (1 Thess. 4:12).
Quiet Lives
For many of you with vans full of kids, you wonder what Paul could have possibly meant by a “quiet” life, but I don’t think Paul is talking about word count or decibel levels so much as he is talking about joy count and peace levels (cf. Ps. 131:2). The same word is used by Peter to exhort Christian wives to cultivate a “gentle and quiet spirit” (1 Pet. 3:4). In the context of marriage, fellowship grows as each spouse draws closer to Christ. The point here is that the goal of all Christian community is winning others closer to Christ not to ourselves or our own agendas. This is Christian love. If someone else comes closer to Christ they will have necessarily come closer to others who are also in Christ, but that is a secondary blessing and not the primary goal. So a quiet spirit and a quiet life are characterized by a recognition of the presence and agenda of God and restingin Him and His plans for our community life. The verb form of the same word (quiet) is used to describe keeping Sabbath in one place (Lk. 23:56). A quiet life is a life driven by Christian Sabbath, which is why we rest on first day of the week. The finished work of Christ grounds all of our labors: we work because God has already accepted our works (Eccl. 9:7), and so we work for Christ, not as man-pleasers (Col. 3:23-24). A quiet life insists that true community is only in and through Christ. A quiet life leaves space and time for Christ to be the center.
Elsewhere, Paul instructs Timothy that the churches should pray for civil magistrates, “that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life” (1 Tim. 2:2-4). And notice that Paul once again connects this to all men being saved and coming to a knowledge of the truth. “Better is a dry morsel with quietness, than a house full of feasting with strife” (Prov. 17:1). A fair bit of striving is rooted in an idolatry of community, demanding of people or a graven-ideal what they were never designed by God to give. “Better a handful with quietness than both hands full, together with toil and grasping for the wind” (Eccl. 4:6). We want our community to be marked by a quiet and confident exuberance in Christ, not a toiling and grasping after the wind of human intimacy (1 Cor. 13:12).
Mind Your Own Business
For some reason, this particular exhortation doesn’t make it into most of the Christian community books, but it really should be in one of the early chapters: mind your own business. This doesn’t sound very hospitable, friendly, or evangelistic. But Paul explicitly says that we must mind our own business in order that we may walk in an orderly, decent way towards those who don’t know Jesus (1 Thess. 4:11). Proverbs says something similar: “Seldom set foot in your neighbor’s house, lest he become weary of you and hate you” (Prov. 25:17, cf. Prov. 27:14). “Also do not take to heart everything people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you. For many times, also, your own heart has known that even you have cursed others” (Eccl. 7:21-22, cf. Prov. 19:11). Minding your own business is not a charge to be rude or self-centered or thoughtless, but it is a charge to focus on the things God has given you to do and not add your own gas to your neighbor’s grease fire (Prov. 26:17). Also, be aware that what sometimes passes for “community” is actually a form of laziness. It’s sometimes easier to be worried about other people’s problems than facing your own, easier to reach out to people you don’t know, and meanwhile God has put people in your own home for you to love, feed, serve, help, and bless: “if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” (1 Tim. 5:8). Hospitality and friendship should be an overflow of the fellowship you have in Christ. Be diligent in loving your people so that there is no lack in your home or anywhere else (1 Thess. 4:12). And none of this justifies being a bad neighbor or shutting your heart to a brother in need when you have the means to help (1 Jn. 3:17).
Work With Your Own Hands
Reading between the lines, the Thessalonians were so good at “brotherly love,” they attracted freeloaders and busybodies. Paul reminds the Thessalonians earlier in this letter of his example of labor and toil: “laboring night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you” (1 Thess. 2:9). By the time Paul wrote his second letter to the Thessalonians, he needed to be even more explicit: “For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: if anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies” (2 Thess. 3:10). Paul says Christians should not keep company with people like that (2 Thess. 3:14). Likewise, Paul warns Timothy that young widows left to themselves, often learn to be idle, going about house to house, becoming gossips and busybodies (1 Tim. 5:13) – and no doubt some did so in the name of “building Christian community.” Didn’t the early Christians in Acts have all things in common, breaking bread from house to house (Acts 2:46)? Yes, they did, but that was a temporary stopgap addressing the unexpected Pentecost vacation extensions for many out of town guests and many residents were also preparing to leave Jerusalem, and the apostles really had their hands full with the attendant difficulties and Facebook didn’t even exist yet. But the standing gospel command is clear: “Now those who are [busybodies] we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that they work in quietness and eat their own bread” (2 Thess. 3:12, cf. Eph. 4:28).
Conclusion
Jesus is the bread of life for the life of the world, and you are not, and neither is any other person in this world. Christ ministers His life to the world as “every part does its share” (Eph. 4:16). This means fixing your eyes on Jesus, the source of all Christian community and resting in Him, eating your bread with joy and drinking your wine with a merry heart because God has already accepted your works. This means minding the business God has assigned to you: building your house, loving your wife, serving your husband, encouraging and training your kids, being a blessing to your roommates, practicing hospitality, and looking for ways to serve and encourage others to do the same. This is brotherly love, and this is the shape of Christian community.
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