Five to Live By

Linking you to the top 5 Christian blog posts of the week—posts that provide robust, rich, and relevant insights for living. 

The School of Hard Knocks

How does God “educate” us? In many ways, including the proverbial “school of hard knocks.” My friend, David Murray, calls it “Wilderness University.” He talks about what Steve Jobs learned in that school and what he learned. A very interesting read: Wilderness University. 

Are You Competent to Counsel?

Professor Phil Monroe lists 7 Characteristics of a Competent Counselor. Read his list and ponder what yours would be. Each of us would also do well to ponder how we measure up to Phil’s list.

Credibility in Suffering

John Knight writes about how God Uses My Pastor’s Hurts to Help Me. He shares how Pastor John Piper’s candor about his own suffering makes Pastor Piper credible when he ministers to others who suffer. Are we credible ministers to those who suffer?

Ministry-Based Marketing and Building a Platform

Michael Hyatt is the “guru” of Christian social media and building a ministry platform. I like to call it “ministry-based marketing” where we give away ministry for free and if others follow, that’s an added blessing. In his post My Social Media Tools, Hyatt outlines how to simplify our use of social media. Now that’s something we all could use: a simple, time-saving, workable plan.

5 Reason Why We Must Still Do Good

If we believe in the Gospel of grace—salvation by grace through faith and not by works, then, after we are saved, why continued to do good? Pastor Kevin DeYoung outlines five reasons Why Then We Must Still Do Good. 

Join the Conversation

Which post impacted you the most? Why? What blog posts have you enjoyed this week that you want to share with others?

Tags: David Murray, Five to Live By, John Piper, Kevin DeYoung, Michael Hyatt, Phil Monroe

Five to Live By

Linking you to the top 5 Christian blog posts of the week—posts that provide robust, rich, and relevant insights for living.

Want to Be a Good Friend?

Kevin DeYoung is in the midst of a blog mini-series on friendship. In part 3, The Gift of Friendship, Kevin explores how not to be a good friend.

Want to Rest in God?

Jen Smidt at The Resurgence reminds us that God Is Faithful.

Want to Vanquish Bitterness?

Paul Tautges helps us to deal with bitterness in A Bitter Root. A Rotten Fruit. 

Want to Make a Difference?

Ed Welch from CCEF shares a very personal post about his quest to be extra ordinary, and his biblical decision to be “ordinary.” Read his reflections in Ordinary Is the New Cool.

Want to Counsel Biblically?

Brad Hambrick explores the words and terms we use in counseling one another. Read his throughs in Can or Should We Identify Idols? 

Join the Conversation

Which post impacted you the most? Why? What blog posts have you enjoyed this week that you want to share with others?

Tags: 5 to Live By, Brad Hambrick, CCEF, Ed Welch, Paul Tautges

How to Disagree in an Agreeable Way 

Pastors Tullian Tchividjian and Kevin DeYoung have been engaged in a passionate and gracious series of blog posts about the vital issue of growth in grace. For example, here’s Kevin’s latest post: Holiness Is Indicative and Imperative. And here’s Tullian’s latest post on this issue: An Open Letter to Mr. Grace-Loving Antinomian.

In the coming days, I plan to post my thoughts on growth in grace. However, today I want to focus on how Kevin and Tullian have related to one another…and contrast that with how some people, Christian bloggers in particular, at times relate to other bloggers.

See and Say the Strengths in Others

I read some blog posts, by Christians no less, where the blogger slices and dices another blogger mercilessly. They fail to indicate any strengths in the blogger they are criticizing. They act as if they are 100% right and the other blogger is 100% wrong. And they do it all in the supposed name of “speaking the truth in love.”

On the other hand, Tullian and Kevin showed great respect for one another. They saw and stated numerous places where they strengths in each other’s arguments. In doing so, they remind me of my friend David Powlison. In the book Psychology and Christianity: Five Views, I marvel at how David always starts with affirmation. He hunts to find and focus on areas of strengths even in views that overall he may disagree with.

Express Disagreement Respectfully and Fairly

You never heard Tullian or Kevin speak of the other person as “my distractor.” They never conveyed the arrogant, one-sided attitude that, “I’m speaking the truth in love, but the other person is simply being critical.”

No, the “us against them” mentality was nowhere to be seen. In fact, the whole “againstness” perspective was non-existent. Now, they are both passionate about the issue of the Gospel and sanctification. And, while there is much they agree upon, they have some significant differences in their emphasis. Still, they never used any pejoratives. They do not see the “other” as the “enemy.”

Learn from One Another

It was also clear that Tullian and Kevin were stretching each other, learning from one another. They were and are experiencing the iron-sharpens-iron process. They are better pastors and counselors and people because of their interactions.

Some Christian bloggers are like, “Go ahead and disagree, and I’ll show you where you are wrong!” That attitude is difficult to fathom. We all have so much to learn from others—even from those we disagree with.

Represent One Another Accurately

Again, Kevin, Tullian, and David (Powlison) are prime examples of accurately representing others. David, in the Five Views book, refuses to quote people out of context. He always allows others to use their definition of terms rather than defining their terms for them.

Part of this accurate representation, especially in a blog post, includes realizing that…it’s just a blog post! By that, I’m not demeaning blogging. Nor am I saying that just because it’s a blog you can be sub-standard in your writing.

Rather, I’m saying, “It’s not a book!” It’s 500 words or 1,000 words. That’s about two or three pages in a chapter, not a 252 page book. When someone writes a blog post, they are not trying to say everything they could possibly say about a topic. They are trying to provide a snippet of their views. It’s more like a newspaper article than an encyclopedia. It is only fair to take into consideration other posts they have written, other resources they make available, rather than railing on someone for not providing every possible scriptural quote and every possible biblical defense in one 500-word post.

Join the Conversation

What other biblical principles would you add related to blogging and disagreeing in an agreeable way?

Tags: David Powlison, Kevin DeYoung, Sanctification, Tullian Tchividjian

Five to Live By

Linking you to the top 5 Christian blog posts of the week—posts that provide robust, rich, and relevant insights for living.

Want to Change Lives?

Mike Emlet of CCEF talks about The Number One Mistake People Make Using Scripture to Give Advice.

Want to Grow in Grace? (A Two-for-One)

Two of my favorite bloggers, Kevin DeYoung and Tullian Tchividjian have been blogging about Christian living. To learn about growing in grace, read Kevin’s response (with links to the previous posts) in Gospel-Driven Effort. And, just in time for posting, another response by Kevin: Is Sanctification by Grace Alone?

In a related post, the question is raised, “What role should discipline have in our Christian lives?” Learn the answer from Lina AbuJamra who is the Women’s Ministry Director at Harvest Bible Chapel and a Pediatric Emergency Physician. Read her post Only the Discipline Survive.

Want to Learn the Remedy to Life’s Problems? (Another Two-for-One)

Al Mohler addresses the only cure for what ails us in Theology, Therapy, Twitter, and the Scandal of the Gospel.

Also read Pastor Thabiti Anyabwile as he shares about the antidote to the ensnaring, soul-destroying vice of lust in Lust and Chastity.

Want to Blog?

Have you wondered about starting a blog? There’s no one better to learn from than Tim Challies, one of the premier Christian bloggers. Learn from his blogging wisdom in How to Start a Blog.

Want to Learn about Church Government? (Another Two-for-One)

There have been a number of solid responses to a post by James MacDonald against congregational government. To read the rest of the story, see Fred Moritz’s Response to James MacDonald.

Also read the 9Marks response Like He Uses Everything Else.

Join the Conversation

Which post impacted you the most? Why? What blog posts have you enjoyed this week that you want to share with others?

Tags: 9Marks, Al Mohler, Kevin DeYoung, Lina AbuJamra, Mike Emlet, Thabiti Anyabwile, Tim Challies, Tullian Tchividjian

How Do We Grow in Grace? 

In Soul Physicians, I allot a good deal of space (8 chapters) to sanctification—how do we grow in grace. I address the relationship between our complete salvation (justification, reconciliation, regeneration, and redemption) and our ongoing sanctification.

Many writers today are describing this connection as Gospel indicatives (who we are in Christ through our salvation) and Gospel imperatives (how we live out our newness in Christ). Two pastors who I have great respect for have been blogging about this topic this week: Kevin DeYoung and Tullian Tchividjian. Their conversations and interactions are the proverbial “can’t miss.”

Make Every Effort

Read Kevin’s initial post Make Every Effort. Here’s how Kevin summarizes this first blog post:

“Justification is wholly dependent on faith apart from works of the law. But sanctification–born of faith, dependent on faith, powered by faith–requires moral exertion. ‘Mortify and vivify’ is how the theologians used to put it. When it comes to growth in godliness, trusting does not put an end to trying.”

Work Hard! But in Which Direction?

The next day, Pastor Tullian responded with some gracious push-back. Read his thoughts in Work Hard! But in Which Direction? The following sentence captures the essence of Tullian’s blog post.

“Remembering, revisiting, and rediscovering the reality of our justification every day is the hard work we’re called to do if we’re going to grow.”

Gospel-Driven Effort

Yesterday, Pastor Kevin responded to Pastor Tullian’s response. Read his gracious push-back to the push-back in Gospel-Driven Effort. Kevin summarizes his thinking as follows:

“I agree sanctification requires the fight of faith to believe this scandalous good news of the gospel of justification. I disagree that this is the only kind of effort required in sanctification.

Growing in godliness is a fight of faith—a fight to believe the truth about our justification, our adoption, a fight to believe all that God says about us by virtue of our union with Christ. But growing in godliness is more than trusting; it is also trusting enough to obey. The New Testament gives us commands, and these commands involve more than remembering, revisiting, and rediscovering the reality of our justification. We must also put on, put off, put to death, strive, and make every effort.”

The Rest of the Story

By the time you read this post, there will likely be more posts to follow—not only on Kevin and Tullian’s blogs, but elsewhere in the Christian blogosphere. This is a huge issue for everyone committed to Gospel-Centered ministry: what is the relationship between our salvation in Christ (the Gospel indicative) and our sanctification in Christ (the Gospel imperative)?

Join the Conversation

How do you answer the question: “What is the relationship between our salvation in Christ (the Gospel indicative) and our sanctification in Christ (the Gospel imperative)?

Tags: Gospel Imperative, Gospel Indicative, Growth in Grace, Kevin DeYoung, Sanctification, Tullian Tchividjian

Your Résumé from God

Yesterday in Christ’s Calling to the Church, I blogged the first part of my response to Kevin DeYoung’s post about The Most Urgent Need in the Church. In my post, I outlined from Ephesians 4:11-12 the résumé of the pastor-teacher.

Today, I share the résumé of the people of God from Ephesians 4:12-16. The following summary of our calling from God is taken from my upcoming book Equipping Counselors for Your Church.

The Résumé of the People of God

Sadly, in far too many churches, the people of God are second-class citizens when it comes to the work of the ministry. If a “lay” person makes a hospital visit, that’s okay, but we want to know, “Where’s my pastor!” Christ’s vision is so different. Pastors and teachers serve the people so God’s people can serve the congregation and community. Far too many “lay” people are recruited to fill a position and to fill a need—make the coffee, cover the nursery during the service—but not to fulfill a calling.

Paul’s phrase “works of service” elevates the ministry of God’s people. “Works” has a sense of divine calling and meaningful purpose. We could translate it as vocation and mission. The Bible uses it to describe God’s creative work. God the Creator commissions us for creative, zealous, purposeful work—work that glorifies Him as we serve one another.

Paul’s word for “service” highlights personal service rather than serving for wages, serving as a slave, and serving publicly. It involves love in action through sacrificial ministry modeled after Christ’s sacrifice. Christ calls His people to creative, purposeful, meaningful, sacrificial, personal ministry to one another in His name. In the context of Ephesians 4:11-16, that work is nothing less than making disciple-makers through the personal ministry of the Word.

The Member Ministry Mindset Shift That Changes Everything: Every Member a Disciple-Maker

When leaders and members fulfill their purposes together the Body of Christ builds itself up in two specific, cohesive ways: doctrinal unity and spiritual maturity (Ephesians 4:12-13). When a congregation knows the truth not just academically, but personally, then their love abounds in knowledge and depth of insight (Philippians 1:9-11).

We often miss the vital real-life, how-to application of every-member disciple-making that Paul embeds in this text. How does the church come to unity and maturity? Exactly what are pastors equipping people to do? Specifically how do members do the work of the ministry?

Paul answers: By “speaking the truth in love” we grow up in Christ (Ephesians 4:15). Every word in this passage funnels toward this remarkable phrase “speaking the truth in love.” Christ’s grand plan for His Church is for every member to be a disciple-maker by speaking and living Gospel truth to one another in love.

Paul selects an unusual Greek word which we often translate as “speaking the truth.” Actually, we should translate it both as speaking and living the truth. We might even coin the phrase “truthing.”

Paul likely had in mind Psalm 15 where the Psalmist asks, “Who may dwell in your sanctuary?” He answers: “He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart” (Psalm 15:2). Who can serve in God’s sanctuary, the church—the one who embodies the truth in relationships.

The word for “truthing” that Paul uses means transparent, truthfulness, genuine, authentic, reliable, sincere. It describes the person who ministers from a heart of integrity and Christ-like, grace-oriented love. It pictures the person whose relational style is transparent and trustworthy.

The tense and context indicates that the Body of Christ should continually, actively, and collectively be embodying truth in love as it walks together in intimate, vulnerable connection. In one word, Paul combines content, character, and competence shared in community!

While the word means more than speaking, it does not mean less than speaking. While it means more than sheer factual content, it does not mean less than the Gospel fully applied. Paul uses the identical word in Galatians 4:16. There he is clearly speaking of preaching, teaching, and communicating the truth of the Gospel of Christ’s grace (salvation) applied to daily growth in Christ (progressive sanctification).

Combine Galatians 4:16 with Ephesians 4:16, both in context, and we find an amazing description of Gospel-centered biblical counseling—of the personal ministry of the Word. Speaking the truth involves:

Communicating Gospel truth about grace-focused sanctification in word, thought, and action through one-another relationships that have integrity, genuineness, authenticity, transparency, and reliability, done in love to promote the unity and maturity of the Body of Christ for the ultimate purpose of displaying the glory of Christ’s grace. 

The normal agenda and priority of every Christian is to make disciple-makers. Christ’s training strategy for disciple-making involves pastors and teachers equipping every member to embody the truth in love through the personal ministry of the Word—biblical counseling.

What happens when leaders focus their calling on equipping God’s people to make disciple-makers through the personal ministry of the Word by speaking and living the truth in love? Paul shows us in Ephesians 4:16. The Body in robust health grows and builds itself up in love as each part does its work.

Join the Conversation

How well is your church fulfilling Christ’s calling for pastors and for the Body of Christ?

Tags: 4E Ministry Training Strategy, Biblical Counseling, Equipping Counselors for Your Church, Pastoral Ministry