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God put [Christ] forward as a propitiation by
his blood, to be received by faith. This was to
show God’s righteousness, because in his divine
forbearance he had passed over former sins.

Romans 3:25

In this is love, not that we have loved God but
that he loved us and sent his Son to be the
propitiation for our sins.

I John 4:10

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law
by becoming a curse for us.

Galatians 3:13

If God were not just, there would be no demand for his Son to suffer and die. And if God were not loving, there would be no willingness for his Son to suffer and die. But God is just and loving. Therefore his love is willing to meet the demands of his justice.

His law demanded, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:5). But we have all loved other things more. This is what sin is—dishonoring God by preferring other things over him, and acting on those preferences. Therefore, the Bible says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). We glorify what we enjoy most. And it isn’t God. Therefore sin is not small, because it is not against a small Sovereign. The seriousness of an insult rises with the dignity of the one insulted. The Creator of the universe is infinitely worthy of respect and admiration and loyalty. Therefore, failure to love him is not trivial—it is treason. It defames God and destroys human happiness. Since God is just, he does not sweep these crimes under the rug of the universe. He feels a holy wrath against them. They deserve to be punished, and he has made this clear: “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). “The soul who sins shall die.” (Ezekiel 18:4).

There is a holy curse hanging over all sin. Not to punish would be unjust. The demeaning of God would be upheld. A lie would reign at the core of reality. Therefore, God says, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” (Galatians 3:10; Deuteronomy 27:26).

But the love of God does not rest with the curse that hangs over all sinful humanity. He is not content to show wrath, no matter how holy it is. Therefore he sends his own Son to absorb his wrath and bear the curse for all who trust him. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.” (Galatians 3:13).

This is the meaning of the word “propitiation” in the texts quoted on page 10. It refers to the removal of God’s wrath by providing a substitute. The substitute is provided by God himself. The substitute, Jesus Christ, does not just cancel the wrath; he absorbs it and diverts it from us to himself. God’s wrath is just, and it was spent, not withdrawn. Let us not trifle with God or trivialize his love. We will never stand in awe of being loved by God until we reckon with the seriousness of our sin and the justice of his wrath against us. But when, by grace, we waken to our unworthiness, then we may look at the suffering and death of Christ and say, “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the [wrath-absorbing] propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10).

Just so you know, I did not write this article. But God is really teaching me this right now…

It was 2000. Or was it 1999? Not sure. My wife and I had been married for three years. Katelynn was two; Kylee was on the way. We lived in a little one bedroom apartment about ten minutes from campus. I was living my dream as I started the four year ThM program at Dallas Seminary (DTS). Kristie was ready to get in and get out, tolerating the time spent away from home in Oklahoma.

It was early on in Dr. Mark Young’s missions class that the epiphany came to me. It was from the Lord, I was sure. My passion for theology, truth, and changing the world were rising every day. Dreams were big, but they were about to get a lot bigger. Mark had been talking about the importance of missions (of course…it was a missions class). Contextualization, culture, redemptive analogies, and the like were all being discussed every day. Our passions were on the rise as Mark told his stories about his time in Poland. He could hardly hold back the tears and neither could we.

The next week he brought up a map. He showed us the break down of the world in relation to the Great Commission. “You are here.” You know how maps are. We were in Dallas. He showed us from there where all DTS grads were serving. I think that they were marked with a pin. There was a high concentration of pins around the Dallas area showing that many DTS grads stayed close. There was also a high concentration of grads in a fifty states. They were everywhere. Oklahoma, California, Nebraska, Washington, New York, Illinois, New Mexico, and every place else in the United States. When we looked beyond the United States, their was no famine for the need of pins. There were only a few, comparatively speaking, in other countries. Mark began to explain how 95% of the graduates from DTS stayed in the United States, while only 5% served abroad. However, as he explained, 95% of the need was in other countries that did not have the Gospel, theological training, or churches. It was alarming and Mark’s passion for missions made the alarm that much louder.

Well I heard the call that day loud and clear. I knew what I was called to do. I was not sure before, but the Lord’s voice was coming through like a megaphone. I was supposed to go overseas. I was supposed to be a missionary!

When I got home, Kristie attempted to probe for the passion and the source of my excitement. I held back some naively thinking it was going to be a surprise. I wanted to walk her through all I had learned and let the excitement build in her as it had in me. I told her everything we had been learning doing my best to work without the pins. I explained to her how much of a famine for the Gospel existed in other parts of the world. Then, when the time was just right, I gave her the “good” news: “We are going to be missionaries!!!”

Let’s just say that the rehearsal in my mind did not mirror the actual events. I thought that Kristie would be excited. I thought that her heart would break for those less fortunate people. I thought that she would hear the Lord’s voice as clearly as I did. But such was not the case. She began to cry . . . and these were not the type of tear I wanted.

I struggled with this quite a bit. We discussed, argued, and strong armed each other for some time. It became a very difficult spiritual battle for me. Kristie made it clear that she was not going to go to another country. Her thoughts were on the children and the well being of the family. Her thoughts were on the community that she knew and loved. She would either stay in Dallas or go back to Oklahoma City. Those were the only two options. It was the very antinomy of our lessons on missions. To me, she was quenching the great commission. She was quenching God himself!

Thus began quite a struggle. Was I a follower of the Lord or follower of my wife? That was the question as I began to see it. In fact, I began to think that if Kristie would not go with me, I would go alone. After all, which is the greater good: staying married or saving souls? Or better, which is the greater evil: divorce or not following God’s call?

Then one day in class Mark had his wife Priscilla come and give her testimony of her life out on the mission field. I admired her so much. She was the perfect wife. She understood the priority of the call of the Lord. It broke my heart that my wife was not like her.

That night I decided to resort to some drastic measures. I decided to have an intervention. This was not a drug or alcohol intervention, but a spiritual one and my wife was the subject. This has to work, I thought to myself. I began to discuss these things with my wife once again and, as usual, things were not going to well. It was then that I pulled out my ace in the hole—the trump card. I called Mark Young at home. “Mark, this is Michael Patton from your missions class” I said. “Hello Michael, what can I do for you?” I then proceeded to explain how effective his course had been on me. I told him that I had been called into missions, but there was a hang-up that I thought he could help with. I told him the situation with Kristie and asked if he could talk to her. (Oh yeah…this was going to be good.)

However, the phone never met my wife’s ears that night. Mark immediately put me on hold. After a minute or two so a woman’s voice came on the phone. I was Priscilla. Oh, good strategy, I thought to myself. Let’s let the wives discuss this together. However, Priscilla did not want to talk to Kristie. She wanted to talk to me. And it was not in a nice voice. She proceeded to . . . ahem . . . terrify me tell me how it really was and what I was going to do. For the next five minutes I listened to this wonderful woman as I shrank to the size of a peanut. She did not hold back either.

What was here message? In essence it was this: “Michael, God is not going to call you into something that he does not also call your wife into.” You can add about a hundred exclamation points after that and you will catch my drift. I would not even be surprised if there was not a curse word thrown in here or there. I can’t remember. “If God sovereignly calls you into something, do you think he is going to forget about your wife?” she continued. “If she is against it, it is not his will. Period!”

Well, so much for that idea.

That conversation changed me. It changed my marriage. I will never forget it and never be able to express how much of an effect Priscilla’s boldness had on me that night. She helped to re-prioritize this passionate and selfish maverick. She helped me to know that my first priority in ministry is to my wife and family. In a very real sense, Priscilla saved my marriage from my passion for ministry.

Paul tells Timothy, “But 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” (1Tim. 5:8). I lost sight of that. I was very immature. My idea that the greatest good was spreading the Gospel and the only way to do that was to go where I felt I was being called. I was almost ready to lose my testimony in order to testify for Christ.

Sense then I have seen this situation more times than I can count. It is usually always the same: a zealous husband who has become embittered against his wife because she will not follow him in his zealousness. One good friend just got a divorce because his wife did not want to become a missionary. He thought it was the Lord’s will and he believed her unwillingness was keeping him from a “greater good.” Now, after the divorce, his immaturity has disqualified him from taking that step even by himself. Another friend is becoming embittered toward his wife because her focus is elsewhere. Their marriage is suffering. I could tell many more stories, but I don’t want to betray anyone’s confidence.

Friends (and especially young zealous husbands or soon to be husbands), don’t make the mistake of having your passion for ministry end your marriage. You first ministry is your marriage. If you don’t get that, you are not qualified for ministry. In the spirit of Priscilla: Do you not think that God is powerful enough to call you both into ministry or do you think he only has enough power to call one of you? If so, then he is not a God worth your time anyway. In short, if God does not call your wife, he is not calling you. Period

Thanks Priscilla.

The nature and depth of human pride are illuminated by comparing boasting with self-pity. Both are manifestations of pride. Boasting is the response of pride to success. Self-pity is the response of pride to suffering. Boasting says, ‘I deserve admiration because I have achieved so much.’ Self-pity says, ‘I desire admiration because I have sacrificed so much.’ Boasting is the voice of pride in the heart of the strong. Self-pity is the voice of pride in the heart of the weak. Boasting sounds self-sufficient. Self-pity sounds self-sacrificing. The reason self-pity does not look like pride is that it appears to be needy. But the need arises from a wounded ego, and the desire of the self-pitying is not really for others to see them as helpless, but as heroes. The need self-pity feeds does not come from a sense of unworthiness, but from a sense of unrecognized worthiness. It is the response of unapplauded pride.

– John Piper

Take a moment to savor the blessing of justification that is yours in Jesus Christ. Being justified by faith, we have peace with God (Romans 5:1).

Justified is a legal word. Rather like “sentenced” or “condemned,” it describes a verdict. When God justifies, He declares or pronounces a person to be righteous. When He condemns, He pronounces a person guilty.

Justification and condemnation are about declaring, or recognizing something that is already true. When justice prevails, an innocent man will be acquitted and a guilty man will be sentenced.

Being acquitted does not make a man innocent; it is the man’s innocence that leads to him being acquitted. Being sentenced does not make a man a criminal, it is the man’s crime that leads to him being sentenced.

As a matter of simple justice, we should expect God to condemn sinners and justify the righteous. But here is something truly amazing: God justifies sinners.
Try to let that massive contradiction sink into your mind. God justifies sinners! How can God do that?

God presented Jesus as a propitiation for our sins (Romans 3:25). That means that when Jesus died, all the anger and hostility that God rightly has towards sin, wickedness, and evil was poured out on Him. God’s judgment was like a cup poured out, and Jesus drank all of it. At the cross Christ absorbed the judgment of God that was due to us because of our sin.

Faith unites you to Christ, and when you are “in Christ” God counts all your sin as His, and all His righteousness as yours. He bore your condemnation, and you are justified in Him. Through the cross, God demonstrated His justice so as to be just and, at the same time, the One who justifies those who have faith in Jesus (Roman 3:26).

If God only justified godly people, how could we have any hope? But God justifies sinners. Through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we are forgiven and declared righteous by faith in His blood.

Thomas Chalmers used to say, “What would I do if God did not justify the ungodly?” Thank God for that amazing grace that is yours in Christ today.

I want to first start out by saying that this is not an attack in any way on any of my Christian brothers or sisters, but rather a post that I hope will shed light on an attitude and practice within much of the church today that, from what I see in Scripture, is contrary to how Jesus and the early church lived, as they strove to obey Jesus’ command to “go and make disciples of all nations,” and to live out the gospel, by loving others and sharing the message of truth, the gospel of our salvation. So, though it may offend some, my intention and purpose in writing this is to speak the truth in love, and so I cannot be silent.

The other day, someone asked me…

“Hey Spencer, you’re not going to share the gospel and be all preachy when we’re over there, are you?”

That question got me REALLY angry, and I’m going to explain why in just a few. But first, before I go into reasons from Scripture on why God doesn’t want Christians to have this attitude, I’m going to assume a couple of things.

Someone who asks this question has either been taught wrongly, or does not understand Jesus’ call to lose our lives for His sake and the gospel. Or, they’ve been taught that someone can somehow know how they can be saved, just by looking at the life of a Christian, which again is what many Christians wrongly believe. Or, they simply don’t want to offend anyone by speaking the name of Jesus, and would rather not be put in an awkward position where they might suffer some persecution, or reviling, or some other insult a result of sharing the gospel. Or they probably think that someone like me who speaks the truth plainly without watering it down is not doing it like Jesus would, or is not the most loving way to do it, or that in order to share the gospel, you need to have a strong relationship with the person. It may not be one of these reasons as to why they were trying to get me to not share the gospel with this single mom, but nonetheless, whatever the reason, it’s against what Jesus is calling His followers to do.

I could just leave it like it was, and never address the issue, but how would I be loving them in not telling them how God calls us to glorify Him in sharing the gospel, and speaking the name of Jesus, no matter what the cost? And so I’m determined to lay out the truth on this issue, so that a person’s decision to not share the gospel will not be based on ignorance, but a blatant disregard for Jesus’ call on His followers. I’m speaking the truth in love to anyone that wants to know how Jesus shows us how to live as His followers in the Scriptures…

Lie #1: “I don’t need to share the gospel with anyone… they can just look at my life and see Jesus in me.” (I’m going to be really sarcastic here…)

Right… so someone is going to magically figure out that they are a sinner from birth, separated from God and currently under His wrath and condemnation, and that Jesus came to reconcile them to God by bearing all our sins in His body on the cross, thereby satisfying the righteous judgment of God, and that they can be saved from the coming judgment and wrath of God through faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection? Hmmm… not so sure the apostles or the early church would have lived the way they did with that kind of attitude. I don’t think their lives would be in constant jeopardy with being so silent in the face of opposition from those around them who denied that truth. And yet, they continued to speak to those who opposed them most. To show that someone must hear the message of truth to believe and be saved, here’s Paul reasoning with the Romans in Romans 10:14-17…

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? [3] And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

So, it’s obvious from this passage that Paul is explaining that no one can come to saving faith in Jesus apart from someone going and telling them about Jesus, who He is and what He did for them, proclaiming the word of Christ. Someone has to hear the word of Christ, and then God causes them to be born again through faith in Jesus, believing the message of what God has done for them through Jesus. If you don’t share it, they can’t hear it, and they won’t be saved.

Lie #2: “I believe in Friendship Evangelism, which is a much more non-offensive approach to sharing the gospel. After all, this is how Jesus did it.”

This excuse is given by many Christians, who were either taught that this is how God wants them to go about sharing the gospel, or who simply don’t want to be at odds with any person that might oppose the gospel God is calling us to preach to people. Nowhere in Scripture will you find such an approach to sharing the gospel, and this excuse is usually given by those who do not want to be put in an awkward situation. Should we be building relationships with people in hopes that they will come to believe the gospel? Yes! But if you are more concerned about saving your relationship rather than the salvation of their soul, you are not ready to follow Jesus. Listen to what Jesus says concerning the cost of following Him and our relationships with others…

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

So clearly, there is a cost to following Jesus, which may result in a division in the relationship with people we love. Why? Well, I seriously doubt that Jesus says this be because a follower of Jesus never spoke the name of Jesus to a stranger, or remained silent in sharing the gospel with those that they loved. On the contrary, it is because of speaking the name of Jesus, and telling people the truth about Jesus and the judgment to come, and how they are separated from God and under His wrath, that family members, strangers, friends, and coworkers will malign, insult, and persecute you. A sinner is naturally rebellious towards God and does not want to come into the light, just like I used to be before God saved me through faith in Jesus. They don’t want to hear the truth, that they will be held accountable for their actions on the day of judgment, or that there is a God that they have to answer to, or that there’s only one way to God, etc. (I could go on and on with reasons I’ve heard on why they dislike Jesus). These are all things that sinners need to hear and understand, and only by the Holy Spirit will anyone come to a true understanding of who they are before God, and who God is for them in Jesus Christ. But how will they hear and believe if no one will tell them these things for fear of __________.

There is a point that needs to be said here…

There is a great lie in the church today that many Christians have believed, and it is that you must not be truly loving someone if you tell them something that is true that they don’t want to hear. I cannot TELL you how much this hurts God’s heart. Let me give you an illustration that I hope will convince you that telling someone the truth (no matter how they respond to it) is the most loving thing you can do.

You go to the doctor one day for your annual checkup, and you’re just about finished with the appointment. Before you leave, the doctor tells you that he found a bump, and that they will need to do a blood test to find out if it’s cancerous. After a couple of days, the results come back and the doctor calls you to let you know that the bump is in fact cancerous, and that it’s malignant. He tells you that it’s an aggressive form of cancer, which statistics show that more than 80% of the people who get it die within a year of contracting it.

Now, let’s say you are that patient. Even though you are extremely sad about hearing that you have cancer, and that there’s a good chance you’ll die shortly from it, wouldn’t you be also extremely grateful and thankful that the doctor told you that they found it in your body? Though you might be angry at first, wouldn’t you be glad that the doctor told you the truth about your condition, instead of hiding it from you, or just simply telling you that the bump wasn’t that big of a deal? Though you didn’t feel that anything was wrong or cancerous in your body, you would be grateful for the doctor telling you about it because now, hopefully, something can medically be done to remove the cancer.

Now put yourself in the doctor’s position. You know that this cancer is very aggressive, and that telling your patient about it might not be well received. But because you love and care for your patient, you tell them. For you to do otherwise would be the most unloving thing you could ever do as a doctor. If that’s true for a doctor, how much more is it true for those of us who have come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. God has saved us from eternal punishment, and given us eternal life through faith in Jesus. If that’s true, then we should be telling as many people as we can about the cancer that every human being has, which WILL result in eternal punishment, no matter how they respond to the news. For us to have the greatest gift that God could ever give us, and for us to be rescued from God’s righteous judgment like we have been through faith in Jesus by God’s grace, the worst thing we could ever do is to treat this gift as though we should only share it with those who want to hear and are open to hearing it, or to resort to the “friendship evangelism” excuse, which limits people to only sharing it with those they’ve built a long-term relationship with… If we did, we would be like the doctor who knows the deadly cancer that their patient has, but refuses to tell them, or is too afraid to tell them for fear of how they might react to the truth of what’s infected their body. Is this how Jesus lived? Contrary to what many Christians in the American church today believe or want to believe, Jesus lived to love and serve others, but part of his loving others was constantly sharing truths with people who often would malign and want to kill him because of that truth, because he said things like, “unless you repent, you too will perish,” or things like, “you brood of vipers.” Behind those seemingly harsh words is a love that compelled him to speak the truth, and not water it down. He spoke the truth plainly because He knew what was in store for them, and for Him to not warn them would be completely sinful. And so it is with us, which is why Jesus will be ashamed to speak our names before God the Father if we are unwilling to speak His name before men.

So what’s the solution, and what should our attitude and practice be as Christians. Or the better question is, what was the attitude and practice of Jesus?

1. Suffering is a sign that you are living a godly life, and that you belong to God.
How do I know this? Scripture tells us plainly.

“Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted…”

That’s right. If you’re following Jesus the way that He has called us to live, you will be persecuted. Why? Because you won’t be simply living your life, going to work, just waiting for God to bring someone along your path maybe once a year that you can share the gospel with. No, if we are following Jesus, we will be persecuted because we will be preaching and reaching the lost with the gospel, including those who oppose us and who wish to harm us as a result of the message that we preach and the name that we bear, not fearing men who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul.

Here’s another example of God’s calling on our lives as Christians who are following Jesus…

“Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.”

and again…

“Only let your manner of life be worthy [8] of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, 28 and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. 29 For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, 30 engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.”

More to Come Later… Feel free to comment and correct me if Scripture says differently than what I’ve posted here…

Brett Favre does the best commercials. I love them. I especially like the one that came out just after the new NFL season began. Brett Favre was trying to decide on a television to purchase. Right when he finally makes up his mind and expresses it with certainty saying, “I’ll take this one”, he changes it saying, “I don’t know…” Why do I like it?” He is putting on display his indecisive personality which, in popular NFL culture, is very frustrating. He always waffles. He can never decide whether he is staying in the NFL or retiring. What he does in these commercials is make fun of himself. He knows the culture is frustrated with his waffling. But instead of getting defensive, giving reasons for his waffling, and trying to saving face, he gets transparent. He let’s people know that he is just like them. He can’t make up his mind. What courage it must take to become so three dimensional.

During my Principles of Biblical Teaching course, I tell my students to be careful not to always set themselves up as the hero. When giving an illustration on how a certain principle should be carried out, sparingly use personal stories where you are the one who triumphs. In fact, I tell them, more often than not, when you are illustrating failure, use yourself if you can. This not only adds dimension to your character, it also lets people know you are real. Don’t be like the old preacher who told his congregation, “I am going to preach today on humility, and might I say that it is the best sermon I have ever read.”

One of the Christian’s most beloved passages in all the Bible is Romans 7:14-25. This is where Paul lets his failures shine through. Listen to this:

“For we know that the Law is spiritual; but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. 15 For that which I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. 16 But if I do the very thing I do not wish to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that it is good. 17 So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which indwells me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the wishing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. 19 For the good that I wish, I do not do; but I practice the very evil that I do not wish. 20 But if I am doing the very thing I do not wish, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. 21 I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wishes to do good. 22 For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, 23 but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.”

(Rom 7:14-25)

What a wonderfully transparent passage! Why do we love it so? We love it precisely because we can so identify with it. “Hey Paul, I am a wretch too! Thanks for identifying with me.”

The entire Bible is filled with the successes and failures of so many. The Bible is transparent about the human condition. Why do we feel such a burden to dress ourselves up so nicely and hide our sin? Adam ate the apple. Noah got drunk. Abraham gave his wife to a national leader for self preservation. Lot found fellowship with debauchery and loved it. David took another man’s wife and killed him to hide his sin. Peter denied that he even knew Christ. John fell down and worshiped an angel. Transparency at its best.

Reasons why we are scared of transparency:

Fear of rejection: “Its all about me. If I let others know about this or that struggle, what will they think about me. They will reject me and all that I say.”

But it is not about you. It is about God. We already know you have issues. Your issues have issue. You are a sinner just like us. We are not going to reject you for exposing what we already really know. In fact, you will gain our respect and have our ear more so than if you were not transparent. We don’t really trust people who don’t show some cracks here and there.

It might sterilize my message. “I will turn into a hypocrite. If I let people know about this problem, then I won’t be able to preach, teach, or encourage its opposite with conviction.”

This evidences a very misguided philosophy of preaching. When you preach, you are first preaching God’s word, not yours. Of course you are struggling with these issues. Of course this passage is speaking to you. If you are not willing to apply the message to your own life and let it convict you, then you are a hypocrite. But you are not one if you struggle with sin.

I don’t struggle with sin that much. “I don’t really think that I am that bad. In fact, I am a pretty good chap. I have never committed adultery. I have never murdered. I don’t curse. I even eat right for goodness sake. Therefore, I have every right to preach and teach others to avoid sin.”

You are in denial. You have yet to come to realize how sinful you really are. You have not grasped how deep sin really is. Normally, this comes from the more legalistic type who have a veneer of righteousness, following by the letter of the law. This type of person needs to be broken. Until you can say “Have mercy on me, the sinner,” I don’t think you are qualified to preach the word of God.

Transparency makes light of sin. “Wearing your failure on your sleeve only encourages people to follow in the same failure. ‘Well, so-and-so struggles with this sin; therefore, it must not be that bad.’ That is the reaction you will get. Sin is too serious to be flippant about. Give people this excuse and how will we be able to curb their sin?”

You know what? Sometimes this can be the case. The problem is that people with this attitude are the ones who don’t like Paul’s transparency. In fact, for this very reason, many want to say that Paul, in Romans 7, is speaking of his former state of sin, before he was a follower of Christ. In my opinion, that torches the passage and Paul’s argument. Paul is being transparent. He is telling us that he often does the very thing he hates. The solutions is in chapter 8, but that is not what this post is about. Your job is not to manipulate the truth, putting on a veneer of righteousness, in order to keep people from sinning. That is the job of the Holy Spirit.

Transparency need not make light of sin either. So long as you are revealing your struggle with the sin, not a complacency toward it, you will encourage people to enter into the same struggle.

Where transparency goes sour:

Fake transparency. I have seen fake transparency. It is not pretty. Its not pretty at all. In these situations, all people want to do is identify with others. Therefore, they not only use themselves as the bad illustration all the time, but they overdress it. They act like they are mad at God so that their audience feels better. They pretend to struggle with something that they really don’t struggle with. They act ignorant about a subject that they are very familiar with. They attempt to identify with issues that they really don’t identify with. It comes across as sloppy and weak. This is not what transparency is all about.

Overdone transparency. Sometimes, people get a taste of the reward of transparency, and then go overboard. There is a balance here. Wisdom, discernment, and tact are all very important. There are certain things you reveal in private and certain things you reveal in public. Don’t throw-up all over people just for the sake of identity. Pray about what to reveal. Despite the spirit of this post, some things are better left unsaid in many contexts.

Crass transparency. Refine what you say. Be delicate. Be somewhat timid in the way you reveal yourself. Be sensitive to the audience. There is a local preacher near me that does not follow this principle at all. He talks about sex, covering details that are better left unsaid. This is not transparency, but a tactless attempt to be current with the insensitivity of the world concerning certain things.

Don’t forget that we do need heroes. We need those people out there who have triumphed. We need illustrations of success just as much as failure. I don’t advocate always hiding your strengths. Sometimes I have seen people who seek so much to identify with others, that they shroud their strengths. Being transparent does not mean that you have to look like a dope in everything. People will look up to you for both your strengths and your weaknesses. People will see your strengths eventually. You don’t have to put them on display, but you don’t need to shroud them in shame either.

Be real. That is all I am saying. Transparency is something that God has already displayed in the Scriptures. He did not hide human failure. There is no reason for us to either. Be transparent, but do so with great wisdom. Take the cue from Brett Favre and let us not take ourselves too serioiusly here. Be real.

From the blog Parchment and Pen. Written by C. Michael Patton.

We are saddened and troubled to report that Connie Hilton has experienced another life changing tragedy.

On Sunday afternoon, Connie was stopped at a red light near Tyler with her 5 year old grandson, Liam, when a 17 year old driver hit her from behind going about 55 MPH. Connie and Liam had to be cut out of the car. Connie sustained multiple broken bones and compound fractures to her left leg, left arm, sternum, and other areas. She had surgery last night, and will have more surgeries this week since the injuries are very significant. Doctors say that Connie will be OK, but in for a long surgery and rehabilitation period.

Liam was unconscious when taken to the hospital. He was put on life support and he had no brain activity whatsoever last night. Liam passed away at 4 AM this morning. He is the son of Connie’s son Rob and his wife Dana. I met Rob and Dana about 7 years ago when they were BTL volunteers at Hutchins State Jail in Dallas. Rob was the victim speaker that day. I was there and he talked about all the effects of his Mom’s 1991 victimization on him and the family. He made such a beautiful and powerful presentation that exemplified a son’s love for his Mother.

Connie has been involved with BTL from the very start. She first traveled to Houston in 1999 to learn the process and then volunteered in projects in Huntsville before coming on staff in January, 2002, to coordinate the Northeast Texas region for BTL. She has spoken at numerous prisons. Many of our past and present volunteers have met her and all have read her story in Chapter 3 of the Restoring Peace book we use in our curriculum.

Please pray for Connie and her family in this time of deep sorrow and need for healing. The hospital address is below, and I am sure she would appreciate a card from her fellow BTL volunteers.

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The reliability of the biblical documents can be demonstrated using 3 lines of evidence: the bibliographic test, the internal test, and the external test.

The Bibliographic Test

This test examines the transmission of the text of the Old and New Testaments from the original autographs to the present day. The three aspects of this test are the quantity, quality and the time span of the manuscripts.

1. The quantity of manuscripts
In the case of the Old Testament, there are a small number of Hebrew manuscripts, because the Jewish scribes ceremonially buried imperfect and worn manuscripts. Many ancient manuscripts were also lost or destroyed during Israel’s turbulent history. Also, the Old Testament text was standardized by the Masoretic Jews by the 6th century A.D., and all manuscripts that deviated from the Masoretic text were evidently eliminated. But the existing Hebrew manuscripts are supplemented by the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Septuagint (a 3rd century B.C. Greek translation of the Old Testament), the Samaritan Pentateuch, and the Targums (ancient paraphrases of the Old Testament), as well as the Talmud (teachings and commentaries related to the Hebrew Scriptures).

The quantity of the New Testament manuscripts is unparalleled in ancient literature. There are over 5,000 Greek manuscripts, about 8,000 Latin manuscripts, and another 1,000 manuscripts in other languages (Syriac, Coptic, etc.) In addition to this extraordinary number, we have tens of thousands of citations of New Testament passages by the early church fathers. In contrast, the typical number of existing manuscript copies for any of the works of the Greek and Latin authors, such as Plato, Aristotle, Caesar, or Tacitus, ranges from 1-20.

2. The quality of the manuscripts
Because of the great reverance the Jewish scribes held toward the Scriptures, they exercised extreme care in making new copies of the Hebrew Bible. The entire scribal process was specified in meticulous detail to minimize the possibility of even the slightest error. The number of letters, words, and lines were counted, and the middle letters of the Pentateuch and the Old Testament were determined. If a single mistake was discovered, the entire manuscript was destroyed.

As a result of this extreme care, the quality of the manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible surpasses all other ancient manuscripts. The 1947 discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls provided a significant check on this, because these Hebrew scrolls antedate the earliest Masoretic Old Testament manuscripts by about 1,000 years. But in spite of this time span, the number of variant readings between the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Masoretic Text is quite small, and most of these are variations of spelling and style.

While the quality of the Old Testament manuscripts is excellent, that of the New Testament is very good–considerably better than the manuscript quality of other ancient documents. Because of the thousands of New Testament manuscripts, there are many variant readings, but these variants are actually used by scholars to reconstruct the original readings by determining which variant best explains the other in any given passage. Some of these variant readings crept into the manuscripts because of visual errors in copying or because of auditory errors when a group of scribes copied manuscripts that were read aloud. Other errors resulted from faulty writing, memory, and judgment, and still others from well-meaning scribes who thought they were correcting the text. Nevertheless, only a small number of these differences affect the sense of the passages, and only a fraction of these have any real consequences. Furthermore, no variant readings are significant enough to call into question any of the doctrines of the New Testament. The New Testament can be regarded as 99.5% pure, and the correct readings for the remaining 0.5% can often be ascertained with a fair degree of probability by the practice of textual criticism.

3. The time span of manuscripts.
Apart from some fragments, the earliest Masoretic manuscript of the Old Testament is dated at A.D. 895. This is due to the systematic destruction of worn manuscripts by the Masoretic scribes. However, the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls dating from 200 B.C. to A.D. 68 drastically reduced the time span from the writing of the Old Testament books to our earliest copies of them.

The time span of the New Testament manuscripts is exceptional. The manuscripts written on papyrus came from the 2nd and 3rd centuries A.D. The John Rylands Fragment (P52) of the Gospel of John is dated at A.D. 117-38, only a few decades after the Gospel was written. The Bodmer Papyri are dated from A.D. 175-225, and the Chester Beatty Papyri dated from about A.D. 250. The time span for most of the New Testament is less than 200 years (and some books are within 100 years) from the date of authorship to the date of our earliest manuscripts. This can be sharply contrasted with the average gap of over 1,000 years between the composition and the earliest copy of the writings of other ancient authors.

To summarize the bibliographic test, the Old and New Testaments enjoy far greater manuscript attestation in terms of quantity, quality, and time span than any other ancient documents. It is especially interesting to make specific comparisons between the New Testament and other writings.

The internal test. The second test of the reliability of the biblical documents asks,

What claims does the Bible make about itself?

This may appear to be circular reasoning. It sounds like we are using the testimony of the Bible to prove that the Bible is true. But we are really examining the truth claims of the various authors of the Bible and allowing them to speak for themselves. (Remember that the Bible is not one book but many books woven together.) This provides significant evidence that must not be ignored…

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All of this comes from Kenneth Boa’s book “I’m Glad You Asked”.

After Rehoboam’s rule was established and solidified, he and all Israel rejected the law of the Lord.

Big mistake on Israel’s part. Why? Because God is most concerned about his glory above all else. When His people aren’t concerned with living for the glory of God, and instead, are unfaithful to the God who loves them, He allows them to suffer. Read the next verse….

“Because they were unfaithful to the Lord, in King Rehoboam’s fifth year, King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem.”

Yep, you read that right… God caused the King Shishak of Egypt to attack Jerusalem because of the unfaithfulness and disobedience of His own people, Israel. Does a loving God do that? Yep. You’ll see why in a sec.

So what does God decide to do?

God doesn’t just forget about His own people. God acts. He loves His people. God sends his message through the prophet Shemaiah to King Rehoboam. He loves them enough to tell them what they’ve done, and why God is allowing this to happen to them. Here’s what God tells him through His prophet…

“This is what the Lord says: ‘You have rejected me, so I have rejected you and will hand you over to Shishak.’”

What do the leaders of Israel and King Rehoboam decide to do?

The leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, ‘The Lord is just.‘”

So, they listened to God’s message about their sinful behavior. But they didn’t just listen…they confessed. Confession literally means “to agree with.” They agreed with the message, and spoke the truth concerning God… that He is just.

What’s interesting is that God did not say anything else. There was no promise that He would save them from His righteous judgment yet. He simply told them what He was going to do as a result of their unfaithfulness and disobedience to Him. So did they only agree with what God said? Would that be enough to stay God’s just hand against them? Or did they do more?…

When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, he gave this message to Shemaiah (his prophet): “They have humbled themselves, so I will not destroy them. I will deliver them soon. My anger will not be unleashed against Jerusalem through Shishak.

So, in the people’s acknowledgment of God’s rightful justice for their disobedience, they humbled themselves before God. It hit home and they understood that they were wrong.

Hmm… I wonder what that says about our unwillingness to agree with God and confess when He comes to us pointing out our disobedience and unfaithfulness to Him…

It was because they humbled themselves before God that it pleased God to spare them and not destroy them at the hands of King Shishak.

God relented from destroying His people, but His mercy doesn’t stop at simply sparing them from destruction. He wants to teach His people a lesson. He loves His people. Out of anger? No… out of His loving discipline, and for the sake of His name, so that they might come to appreciate God’s rule over them as their God instead of the rule of the surrounding nations.

Yet they will become his subjects, so they can experience how serving me differs from serving the surrounding nations.

God is so gracious. He could have easily and rightfully judged His people and carried out His initial plan to destroy His people (though not completely) at the hands of King Shishok. But He is patient. He uses His people’s unfaithfulness to teach them a very important lesson. He doesn’t just completely rescue His people from all consequences or affliction that comes with disobeying God. Would they (or we) really come to know God’s patience or His love for us as deeply if He did?

A couple of things…

1. God’s kindness led them (and leads us today) to repentance.

God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance.

If not for God in His kindness leading them to humble themselves before Him, He would have utterly destroyed them, and would have been completely just and righteous in doing so. Same thing for us… God has said that hell is deserved and is coming for us because God is righteous in His judgment of us; but God has put to death His own Son so that we can be reconciled to Him through faith in Jesus. God’s news of the death and resurrection of His Son for the world brings an opportunity for us to repent and believe so that we can be saved from the coming wrath of God for all who disobey the gospel.

2. God’s kindness demonstrates His sovereign patience.

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

God waited because He is kind. If God was impatient, He would have immediately destroyed His people. But God is patient towards all people, not wanting for any to perish. Why? Because He loves us. In fact, it even says in the Psalms that “His mercy is over all His works.”, and also “The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness.”

3. God won’t always rescue us from the consequences of our sin, but will use the consequences of our sin to discipline us and bring us closer to Him.

Even though God demonstrated His grace and mercy in not destroying His people, He did allow for Jerusalem to be ransacked by a surrounding nation. Look what God did allow to happen to them…

King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem and took away the treasures of the Lord’s temple and of the royal palace: he took everything, including the gold shields that Solomon had made.

God is also patient towards His often disobedient and unfaithful people, so that they might suffer for a little while (even at the hands of our enemy the devil), so that God’s discipline (and us not despising, but embracing His loving discipline) might bring us to repentance and to a greater appreciation of the greatness of God’s rightful place in our life, as Lord and God, so that we don’t continue in the wrong behavior that God condemns.

And He does this, just as He does everything that happens in this world, for His great glory.