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As the most influential book in human history, the Bible consists of 66 books written in 3 languages by 40 authors over 2,000 years. Yet, each book of the Bible fits together to tell one ongoing epic story. Understanding the big picture context, allows us to become a part of its world, learning to participate in God’s story of making all things new. Creation: In the Beginning (Genesis 1-2) The story of the Bible starts with God, the author of all reality. From the dark chaos of the uncreated world, he made order and beauty. As his ultimate accomplishment, God created both man and woman in his own image and commissioned them to rule the new world, placing them in a garden where they were in perfect relationship with him and each other. The Fall: Right Redefined (Genesis 3-11) But, humanity faced a choice. They could partner with God and find freedom by trusting in his knowledge of good and evil. Or, they could seize power and define good and evil on their own. God warned that the latter choice would kill them. But the enemy, disguised as a dark mysterious creature, promised them the power and freedom to rule the world on their own terms. Unfortunately, humanity chose to define good and evil on their own and were exiled from the garden. Israel: God’s Chosen People (Genesis 12 – Malachi) Chaos and darkness enter and the story takes an important turn. God makes a promise with a man and a woman, Abraham and Sarah, that a new people would come with a chance to make the right choice. But Abraham’s family, the people of Israel, gave in to that same temptation to define good and evil on their own terms. The pattern and consequences of sin are found all throughout creation: violence, deception, death and a relational sever between God and humans. But not all hope is lost. God promised that the Israelites would be his people and made a covenant with them. As long as they were faithful to that covenant, God would bless them. But generation after generation, the people continually turned from God. The prophets warned that this unfaithfulness would lead to extreme punishment. And, it did. Even then, hope was not lost. God promised to send a new leader to cover for their failures and to transform the people’s hearts and minds so that they could make the right choice. The Old Testament ends with these promises unfulfilled. Jesus: The True Hope (Matthew – John) The Biblical story continues into the New Testament. A man from the line of Israel’s kings, Jesus of Nazareth, is introduced. He confronts the dark mysterious evil that humanity had given into and resists its power. Then he announces that God arrived to rule the world through him. In this kingdom that Jesus announced, he explains how God defines good and evil. Real power is serving others. People who love the poor and love their enemies are the kinds of people who will rule the world. Jesus goes on to claim that he is God in human form, come to rescue us from the consequences of our sin. Through his death and resurrection, his sacrificial love broke the power of evil. Humans now have the choice to leave behind the chains of sin and death by following the way of Jesus. In the story, those who choose this way become part of God’s family. They return to the freedom of trusting God’s knowledge of good and evil as they partner with him to care for creation. The Church: Spreading the Good News (Acts – Jude) The Jesus Movement quickly spread throughout the world, forming new communities of people who followed the way of Jesus. But living out this new way in a world still bound by sin and death proved difficult. The movement’s leaders, called apostles, wrote letters to comfort and challenge these communities to stay faithful even in the midst of difficult times. They are called to hope for the day when Jesus will come and change everything. Future Hope: All Things Made New (Revelation) The Bible ends by pointing to the future day when Jesus returns to set all things right. Evil will be eradicated, heaven and earth united, and humanity will once again rule the world in the love and power of God. This is the story of the Bible. Drawn from The NIV Telos Bible.

Myth #1: Jesus commands his followers to fast. Jesus assumes his followers will fast, and even promises we will fast, but neither he nor his apostles strictly command fasting. While many biblical texts mention fasting, the two most important come just chapters apart in Matthew’s Gospel. The first is Matthew 6:16–18, which comes in sequence with Jesus’s teachings on generosity and prayer. Fasting is as basic to Christianity as asking from God and giving to others. The key here is that Jesus doesn’t say “if you fast,” but “when you fast.” Second is Matthew 9:14–15, which might be the most important scripture on Christian fasting: Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.” (Matt. 9:14–15) When Jesus, our bridegroom, was here on earth among his disciples, it was a time for the discipline of feasting. But now that he is “taken away” from his disciples, “they will fast.” Not “they might, if they ever get around to it,” but “they will.” Which is confirmed by the pattern of fasting that emerged right away in the early church (Acts 9:9; 13:2; 14:23). So, he doesn’t say that we must. But he says we will. In that sense, fasting is not an obligation, but it is an opportunity—and one too powerful to miss. Myth #2: Fasting must be kept private. Some Christians might assume that fasting must always be kept secret because of Jesus’s memorable warning in the Sermon on the Mount: “when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret” (Matt. 6:17–18). Here, Jesus warns us about fasting to “be seen by others.” After all, this falls with his instruction on not “practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them” (Matt. 6:1). And surely, when we do fast, our fast should be Godward, not for the eyes and ears of others. That’s the caution. However, Jesus is not here attempting to speak about any and every kind of fast. The Scriptures include many forms of fasting: personal and communal, public and private, congregational and national, regular and occasional, partial and absolute. Past generations knew of communal fasts far better than we do—which may provide a fresh opportunity today for churches and ministry teams. Also, when we do fast privately and individually, we would do well to think about how our missing a meal (or meals) might affect others we normally eat with. If you have regular lunches with colleagues or dinners with family or roommates, assess how your abstaining will affect them and let them know ahead of time instead of just being a no-show or springing it on them in the moment that you will not be eating. Love for others when we fast is not the same as fasting “to be seen.” Myth #3: Fasting relates only to food. Fasting typically means going without food (temporarily) for a spiritual purpose. That’s the normal meaning. However, fasting is not limited to abstaining from food. It can be expanded to include temporarily abstaining from other goods, albeit with spiritual goals. Fasting from food may not be for everyone. Some health conditions keep even the most devout from the traditional course. As Martyn Lloyd-Jones said, “Fasting should really be made to include abstinence from anything which is legitimate in and of itself for the sake of some special spiritual purpose.” If the better part of wisdom for you, in your health condition, is not to go without food, consider fasting from television, smartphone, social media, or some other regular practice that would bend your heart toward greater enjoyment of Jesus. Paul even talks about married couples fasting from sex “for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer” (1 Cor. 7:5). Myth #4: Fasting secures God’s blessing. Isaiah 58:3–5 sounds an important warning about what fasting is not and how it can go wrong. In Isaiah’s day, the nation was in steep decline, and the people’s hearts were divided. For many, their devotion to God had become a shell, an outward show. They fasted to manipulate God rather than to express a humble heart. And God did not honor it. Isaiah says that they ask God, “Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?” (Isa. 58:3). God answers, Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure. . . . Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high. Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? (Isa. 58:3–5) In other words, your fasting is just a show in a day to serve your cravings, not the sincere expression of ongoing humble hearts. Fasting’s external actions alone, apart from humility, are in vain. God will not be moved by such efforts. He sees the heart—as he did in Jesus’s day when Pharisees sought to turn fasting into self-exaltation (Matt. 6:16–18). The same still happens today. Myth #5: Fasting doesn’t really do anything. Finally, on the opposite side of presuming God’s blessing, some might assume that fasting doesn’t really “do anything.” If fasting can’t twist God’s arm to secure his favor, then is it just another empty wish? True, fasting does not force God’s hand. But it does seek his face, and it is a God-appointed means of his grace that can be a real channel of blessing and benefit to the humble soul. What makes fasting such a gift is its ability, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to focus our feelings and their expression toward God in prayer. Fasting walks arm in arm with prayer. That burn in your gut, that rolling fire in your belly demanding that you feed it more food, signals game time for fasting as a means of grace. Only as we voluntarily embrace the pain of an empty stomach do we see how much we’ve allowed our belly to be our god (Phil. 3:19). And in that gnawing ache of growing hunger is the engine of fasting, generating the reminder to bend our longings for food Godward and inspire intensified longings for Jesus. Fasting, says John Piper, is the physical exclamation point at the end of the sentence, “This much, O God, I want you!” "What makes fasting such a gift is its ability, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to focus our feelings and their expression toward God in prayer." David Mathis is the author of Habits of Grace: Enjoying Jesus through the Spiritual Disciplines.

An Urgent Need What is the most urgent need of the church today? Better leadership? Better training? Healthier giving? Orthodoxy? Moral integrity? Each of these are undoubtedly needs, but underneath them all lies something even more vital: gospel integrity. In Luke 12, when thousands had gathered together to hear Jesus, he began to say to his disciples first, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy” (Luke 12:1). That might have been unsurprising had he been warning the people as a whole, but he said it to his disciples first, to those who had already left all and followed him. Clearly, hypocrisy—a lack of integrity in both head and heart—was a danger even for them. Matthew records Jesus saying to his disciples, “Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees” (Matt. 16:6). Seeing this, J. C. Ryle commented that Christ “foresaw that the two great plagues of His Church upon earth would always be the doctrine of the Pharisees and the doctrine of the Sadducees.” So it is not that Pharisaism was the only threat to the church that Jesus foresaw, but it was perhaps the primary one. Pharisaism, after all, is the sort of heartless formal religion that marks the first subtle step in the spiritual decline of a church before it ever slides into outright apostasy. It is the perpetual internal menace we can overlook as we dissect and bemoan the failure of others. The Hidden Cancer It is usually easy to spot brazen sins (such as murder, adultery, and theft), but hypocrisy by its very nature is a pretense, making it hard to detect. Hypocrisy does not want to be identified for what it is. It poses and deceives to avoid discovery. “The hypocrite is very often an exceedingly neat imitation of the Christian,” said Charles Spurgeon. “To the common observer he is so good a counterfeit that he entirely escapes suspicion.” Like leaven or yeast in dough, hypocrisy is transformative in its power but almost completely imperceptible. Like unmarked, whitewashed tombs, hypocrites may be full of dead people’s bones, but outwardly they appear beautiful (Matt. 23:27). It is all too easy, therefore, to laugh at the idea that Pharisaism might be an ongoing problem for the church. Nobody today is a self-avowed, card-carrying Pharisee, after all. We keep the word as verbal mud only to be thrown at others. Even then, we hardly mean it, for “the Pharisee” strikes us as a cartoon villain. To call someone a Pharisee sounds rather harsh and cruel. But the leaven of the Pharisees is a clear and present danger for disciples, according to Jesus. Cloaked by impressive performance and words that profess the gospel of grace, it can lurk in the hearts of the most ardent “gospel-centered” folk as much as those who can clearly articulate justification by faith alone or maintain a confession of faith. Yet while hypocrisy may be a hidden and quiet problem, it is not a slight one. An outright hypocrite is “a child of hell” (Matt. 23:15), and Dante showed great perception when he placed hypocrites in the eighth circle of hell in his Inferno. For hypocrisy, as we shall see, is a denial of the gospel, a sin that for all its subtlety is more essentially hellish than the sins of the flesh the hypocrite so swiftly condemns. As C. S. Lewis wrote, The sins of the flesh are bad, but they are the least bad of all sins. All the worst pleasures are purely spiritual: the pleasure of putting other people in the wrong, of bossing and patronising and spoiling sport, and back-biting; the pleasures of power, of hatred. For there are two things inside me, competing with the human self which I must try to become. They are the Animal self, and the Diabolical self. The Diabolical self is the worse of the two. That is why a cold, self-righteous prig who goes regularly to church may be far nearer to hell than a prostitute. But, of course, it is better to be neither. Poor, Misunderstood Pharisees? But is all this being unfair to the historical Pharisees of Jesus’s day? Throughout most of the history of the church, the Pharisees have been taken as the very definition of hypocrisy, as legalists who sought to earn their righteousness rather than receive it from God. Over the last half century, however, a number of scholars have sought to amend this idea, and so restore the reputation of the Pharisees. Old Testament religion, they have rightly pointed out, was not a religion of works righteousness, but a religion of grace. As such, they have argued, it is unfair to paint the Pharisees as believers in a religion of works. However, while it is quite true that all the Old Testament Scriptures taught the same message of God’s grace as the New Testament, it does not follow that all the Israelites (or in this case, the Pharisees) believed in or lived in that grace. Indeed, a constant refrain of the prophets was that the people were not listening to what God was saying. They may have been circumcising their flesh, but they were not circumcising their hearts (Deut. 10:16, 30:6; Jer. 4:4, 9:26). In practice, they were trusting in themselves and not the Lord. While, then, we need not say that every single Pharisee in Jesus’s day was an outright hypocrite, we need not be surprised at his insistence that there was an anti-gospel hypocrisy that was typical of the Pharisees. They did justify and exalt themselves among men (Luke 16:15), trusting in themselves that they were righteous (Luke 18:9). Paul writes that as a Pharisee himself, he had had “confidence in the flesh . . . having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law” instead of “the righteousness from God that depends on faith” (Phil. 3:4, 9). In that confession, we see a man who clearly accepted Jesus’s condemnation of the Pharisees as children of the devil (John 8:44). For what Saul the Pharisee needed was a new heart and a new righteousness. A Problem with the Gospel It is easy to brush off Pharisaism as the foible of the zealous, a merely temperamental weakness. A pharisaical or hypocritical spirit leaves such an obvious moral trail—from pride to people pleasing, tribalism, empire building, and lovelessness—that it is easy to diagnose it simply as a moral problem. Yet what the Pharisees show us is that Pharisaism is not just the crankiness that comes with a hardening of the spiritual arteries. First and foremost, it is a theological issue. The Pharisees were as they were and acted as they did because they denied the gospel. Their mercilessness, love of applause, and trust in themselves all flowed from a refusal to listen to Scripture, a refusal to receive a righteousness not their own, and a refusal to see their need for a new heart. Their character was a manifestation of their theology. The theological roots of sickness in the church (being roots) often remain unseen. So it was in the years running up to the Reformation. In the late Middle Ages, many saw a need for church reform. Monastic orders set about reforming themselves, and even the Papacy went through some attempts at reform. Everyone recognized that there were rotten apples and dead branches that needed pruning. Yet for most, the solution was quite simple and quite superficial: give the church a good moral scrub. Clear up the abuses, wash away the bad behavior, and all would be well. What made Martin Luther so different was his appreciation of the depth of the problem. A truly transformative reformation and renewal of the church, he saw, required dealing with the theological causes of the trouble. Likewise today: the moral deficiencies and spiritual dryness that Christians bemoan have roots. Our need is not just for moral integrity but gospel integrity. It might sound like I am about to make a call for orthodoxy. I am not. Not quite. Orthodox belief is vitally important, but it is not exactly the same as gospel integrity. For it is quite possible to have dead orthodoxy, or an orthodoxy that is only skin-deep: to affirm the truth on paper but deny it in the heart and in practice. Integrity, on the other hand, requires that the truths we formally confess are embraced such that they affect and change us. Integrity is found where the head and the heart are aligned. Sinclair Ferguson writes of hypocrisy’s twin, legalism: Legalism is . . . not merely a matter of the intellect. Clearly, it is that for how we think determines how we live. But we are not abstract intellects. And legalism is also related to the heart and the affections—how we feel about God. . . . Within this matrix legalism at root is the manifestation of a restricted heart disposition toward God, viewing him through a lens of negative law that obscures the broader context of the Father’s character of holy love. Just so, the leaven of the Pharisees was a matter of both the intellect and the affections. They were intensely proud of their orthodoxy, but despite all their study, they failed to see either the depth of their need or the liberality of God’s kindness. They professed a God of grace but were blind to the true meaning of grace. Seeing God as only conditionally loving, they did not perceive the sheer loveliness and benevolence of God. Thus, they did not heartily love him but sought to serve him with a joyless duty. Copying the god they thought they saw in Scripture, they then treated others with merciless harshness and self-concerned lovelessness. It is quite possible to maintain a facade of orthodoxy but without integrity. We can profess the language of grace but deny its nature by a prickly, severe manner or disdain for the weak. And the fact that the gospel of grace can be denied in such subtle ways only emphasizes what an elusive problem we are dealing with. John Calvin wrote that some believe there is nothing amiss “unless there is open and admitted reproach or contempt of [God’s] Word.” But to think like that, he argued, betrays not only a hollow and bogus faith but a blindness to the nature of our sin. “The human heart,” he noted, “has so many crannies where vanity hides, so many holes where falsehood lurks, is so decked out with deceiving hypocrisy, that it often dupes itself.” Being a matter of both head and heart, the leaven of the Pharisees cannot be cured with a mere call to orthodoxy. Christian integrity involves more than knowledge: what Calvin called a deeply rooted “persuasion of God’s fatherly love.” Yet Pharisaism was—and remains—a primarily theological issue. More than the head is involved, but not less. Treating the Sickness In the Gospels, Jesus spelled out three basic theological mistakes the Pharisees made: Their approach to Scripture Their understanding of salvation Their disregard of regeneration That is, they were mistaken in their understanding of the three essential r’s of the gospel: revelation, redemption, and regeneration. These are: The Father’s revelation in the Bible The Son’s redemption in the gospel The Spirit’s regeneration of our hearts As Luther saw, true reformation of the church takes more than a moral bath. It requires the gospel. Without the gospel, our attempts at reform will be superficial. As the Puritan Richard Baxter put it, Alas! can we think that the reformation is wrought, when we cast out a few ceremonies, and changed some vestures, and gestures, and forms? Oh no, sirs! it is the converting and saving of souls that is our business. That is the chiefest part of reformation. Without that reformation of hearts and lives through the gospel itself, we may find, as Jonathan Edwards found in Northampton, that the people are a “sober, and orderly, and good sort of people” and yet that they remain “dry bones.” In the tradition of Luther, the Puritans, and Edwards, this is a call for reformation. Orthodox belief is vitally important, but it is not exactly the same as gospel integrity. This article is adapted from Evangelical Pharisees: The Gospel as Cure for the Church’s Hypocrisy by Michael Reeves.

Persevere in Faith Closely connected to end-time gatherings for the sake of encouraging each other not to grow cold in love, but to persevere in faith, is the summons to end-time praying. For example, Peter writes: The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. (1 Pet. 4:7–8, my translation) The word therefore shows the connection between the second coming and prayer. “The end of all things is at hand; therefore pray!” Be self-controlled and sober (in spirit and body) for the sake of not growing lax in the urgency of prayer. Why would Peter think prayer is so urgent as the end draws near? This is what he had heard Jesus say: Watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. . . . But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man. (Luke 21:34, 36) The last days will present Christians with such challenges to our faith that we will need extraordinary strength to escape their destructive effects. “The one who endures to the end will be saved” (Matt. 24:13). Both end-time church attendance and end-time prayer are designed by God to supply his people with the power to persevere through the extraordinary threats of the last days. “Understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty” (2 Tim. 3:1). Peter and Jesus unite to tell us: stay sober for the sake of prayer in order to make it through these difficulties. “Your Kingdom Come” One of the prayers the Lord Jesus taught us to pray is, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10). There are layers of meaning in this request, just as there are layers of meaning in the coming of the kingdom. The kingdom comes progressively as the saving reign of Christ is established in the hearts of more and more people (Rom. 5:21; 14:17; 1 Cor. 4:20; Col. 1:13). But the ultimate fulfillment of “Your kingdom come” is the establishment of Christ’s kingdom in the new heavens and the new earth (1 Cor. 15:24; 2 Tim. 4:1). I infer, therefore, that our prayers for the kingdom to come are prayers that God would not only establish his reign in our own hearts ever more fully, but would also advance his saving work in evangelism and world missions, and that he would bring history to a climax in the coming of Jesus. Hence our end-time prayers include the prayer for “the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matt. 9:38), and that he wrap up history absolutely and come: “Our Lord, come!” (μαράνα θά, maranatha, 1 Cor. 16:22). “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:20). Hasten the Day: Finish the Mission Whether we are praying for the progressive advance of world evangelization or for the coming of the Lord Jesus on the clouds, we are in fact praying for God to act so as to bring history to its consummation. Jesus says in Matthew 24:14, “This gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” I argue that this verse means that the Great Commission will be obeyed to the end of this present age, and when it is completed, Christ will return. Therefore, Matthew 24:14 teaches us that every advance of the gospel is both encouragement that the Lord is nearing, and incentive to “hasten” his coming (2 Pet. 3:12) by giving great energy to world evangelization. I find these words of George Ladd compelling as he presses home the implications of Matthew 24:14 for how we should live until Jesus comes: Here is the motive of our mission: the final victory awaits the completion of our task. “And then the end will come.” There is no other verse in the Word of God which says, “And then the end will come.” When is Christ coming again? When the Church has finished its task. When will This Age end? When the world has been evangelized. “What will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?” (Matt. 24:3). “This gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations; and then, AND THEN, the end will come.” When? Then; when the Church has fulfilled its divinely appointed mission. But what about the ambiguity of the completion of the task of world missions? Yes, we know that God’s will is that Christ has “ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Rev. 5:9). But what are these various groupings? Ladd responds that this ambiguity is not a hindrance to the urgency of the task: Someone else will say, “How are we to know when the mission is completed? How close are we to the accomplishment of the task? . . . How close are we to the end? Does this not lead to datesetting?” I answer, I do not know. God alone knows the definition of terms. I cannot precisely define who “all the nations” are. Only God knows exactly the meaning of “evangelize.” He alone, who has told us that this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a testimony unto all the nations, will know when that objective has been accomplished. But I do not need to know. I know only one thing: Christ has not yet returned; therefore the task is not yet done. When it is done, Christ will come. Our responsibility is not to insist on defining the terms of our task; our responsibility is to complete it. So long as Christ does not return, our work is undone. Let us get busy and complete our mission. If we love the Lord’s appearing, we will love the advance of his mission toward completion. We will take heart from his promise that the gospel will be preached to all nations, that is, all the people groups (“tribe, language, people, nation”), and we will embrace his command to “make disciples of all nations” (Matt. 28:19). We will seek to share the urgency and clarity of Ladd’s exhortation: “So long as Christ does not return, our work is undone. Let us get busy and complete our mission.” If we love the Lord’s appearing, we will love the advance of his mission toward completion. This article is adapted fromCome, Lord Jesus: Meditations on the Second Coming of Christby John Piper.

Holiness is woven through the Bible’s storyline. And the Bible fundamentally equates holiness with God. What Is Holiness? “Holiness” is commonly defined as being separate or set apart. God is holy in that he is set apart from everything that is not God, and God’s people must be holy by being set apart from sin. Holiness, according to this definition, is separateness that entails moral purity. Beyond that, how do we describe the essence of holiness and distinguish different senses in which people and things can be holy? And while only God is holy, there is also a sense in which others can be holy. God Is Holy “Holy” in its most focused usage is an adjective uniquely associated with God, such as in the Bible verse, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty” (Isaiah 6:3; Revelation 4:8). Surely this loses something if rendered “Separate, separate, separate” or “Moral, moral, moral.” Saying “God is holy” is like saying “God is uniquely God” or “God alone is God.” In this context, the word “holy” becomes almost an adjective for God. That God swears by his holiness (Psalm 89:35; Amos 4:2) is like saying that he swears “by himself.” God is supremely and exclusively God. He has no rivals. As uniquely excellent, he is his own category – “There is no one holy like the Lord; there is no one besides you” (1 Samuel 2:2). The Bible calls God “the Holy One” over 50 times and calls the Spirit of God “the Holy Spirit” over 90 times. People and Objects Are Holy in Relation to God While God alone is innately holy,and His name is holy, the use of the word “holy” stretches out in widening circles to apply to people and things. If human beings or things are holy, they are holy only derivatively – not because they are divine or moral but because God restricts them for his special use. Everything belongs to God, but in a narrower sense some things and people belong exclusively to God in a special way. For example, heaven – God’s dwelling place – is holy (Deuteronomy 26:15). God also refers to angels as his “holy ones” (Psalm 89:5 – 7) and “the holy angels” (Mark 8:38). Israel Was Responsible to Be Holy God commanded Israel, “You are to be my holy people” and “You are to be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own” (Exodus 22:31; Leviticus 20:26). Israel was responsible to regard God as holy by obeying his commands regarding rituals and morality. They were to keep God’s Sabbaths holy and the priests were to “distinguish between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean” (Leviticus 10:10). But because Israel continually profaned their holy God who judges unholy people, God graciously met the need of sinful humans with a holy Savior. Holiness Embodied and Accomplished: Jesus Who can stand in the presence of the Lord, this holy God? Only one can stand on his own merits: Jesus. He is holy and true (Revelation 3:7; 6:10). Jesus is the one whom the Father set apart as his very own (John 10:36). The angel Gabriel announced to Mary, “The holy one to be born will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35) and an unclean demon recognized Jesus as “the Holy One of God” (Luke 4:34). Jesus made unclean people clean by touching them, and he never became unclean because he is inherently holy. Peter called Jesus “the Holy One of God” (John 6:69), “the Holy and Righteous One” (Acts 3:14), and God’s “holy servant” (Acts 4:27,30). Jesus Makes People Holy Jesus is both the Holy One and the one who makes people holy (Hebrews 2:11). He is our righteousness, holiness and redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30). His perfect life and sacrificial death satisfied God’s holy wrath against sinners: We have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all (Hebrews 10:10). To serve in God’s presence, Old Testament priests were made holy by a consecration ritual involving atonement, purification, and eating a special meal. These same elements also underlie the Passover ritual, by which God consecrated Israel as a holy nation. This pattern continues in the New Testament. Jesus brings about a new exodus that consecrates believers as holy. God is uniquely present with the church, composed of both Jewish and Gentile Christians, because it is a holy temple in the Lord (1 Corinthians 3:17). God has chosen Christians to be a holy priesthood, a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and God’s special possession (1 Peter 2:5,9). Christians Are Holy When the Bible refers to Christians as “holy” or “sanctified,” it usually refers to definitive or positional sanctification,not progressive sanctification. In this sense, every Christian is a saint; every Christian is holy; every Christian is sanctified. For example, Paul addresses the church at Corinth as “those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people” (1 Corinthians 1:2). They were already “sanctified” even though they were failing to be holy in several areas. Christians are Responsible to Be Holy God commands Christians, “Just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy’ ” (1 Peter 1:15 – 16, quoting Leviticus 11:44 – 45). Christians must worship God by offering their “bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God” (Romans 12:1). Since Christians belong exclusively to God, they must reflect God’s moral character with holy and godly lives. “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable . . . For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life” (1 Thessalonians 4:3 – 4,7). Holiness Consummated: Glory Paul prayed, “May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones” (1 Thessalonians 3:13). A day is coming when Christians will fully become what they already are positionally. The Old Testament anticipates the time when all of God’s people “will be called the Holy People, the Redeemed of the Lord” (Isaiah 62:12). Before God created the world, he chose his people in Christ to be holy and blameless in his sight. (Ephesians 1:4). With pure hearts, God’s people will worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness (1 Chronicles 16:29) like never before, joining the heavenly hosts who never stop saying: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,” who was, and is, and is to come. (Revelation 4:8). Drawn from an article by Andrew David Naselli from the NIV Biblical Theology Bible.

An Expectation of the Lord Coming “Soon” If an infallible spokesman for Jesus Christ does not know when the Lord is going to return (as Jesus said would be the case, Matt. 24:36), what would that spokesman mean by saying it will be “soon” (Rev. 22:20), or “at hand” (1 Pet. 4:7), or “at the door” (James 5:9)? I think it misses the point of Matthew 24:36 to say Jesus didn’t know “the day and hour” but that he did know the month or the year. The point of Jesus’s ignorance of the time is to remove the possibility of calculating how long we dare be indifferent to his coming. Not knowing “the day or the hour” is a graphic way of saying that neither he nor we can predict the time. So the question remains, What would it mean, then, for an infallible spokesman (an apostle!) of the Lord Jesus, who cannot predict the time, to say that Jesus is coming soon, or that Jesus is at the door, or that Jesus is at hand, or that Jesus will come after a little while? What do the New Testament writers mean by their predictions of Jesus’s nearness? In what sense do they mean he is near? In answer to those questions, I’m going to offer three phrases that I believe are rooted in biblical texts and then give a brief explanation of each: potentially near, holistically near, and divinely near. Potentially Near First, the apostles mean Jesus is potentially near. That is, he is near in the sense that any presumption of his delay on our part would be folly. It is as if the apostles should say, “You know that we cannot predict the time of the Lord’s coming, because the Lord himself did not know the time (Matt. 24:36), and he told us, ‘It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority’ (Acts 1:7). Therefore, you know that when we say ‘soon’ we are not doing what we cannot do. We are not predicting what we cannot predict. Rather, we are telling you that it is potentially soon, meaning that the replacement of hope for this soon-ness with presumption of delay will unfit you for his coming and lead to destruction.” By presumption I mean the unwarranted assumption that his coming is so distant that I am not in danger of his coming while I neglect my vigilance to walk uprightly. This presumption fails to reckon with the fact that lack of vigilance now may lead to utter obliviousness for the rest of your life so that the so-called distant coming finds you utterly unprepared. I draw this meaning of “soon” from Jesus’s illustration of the second coming in Matthew 24:45–51: Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that wicked servant says to himself, “My master is delayed,” and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. The warning is this: never presume upon the Master’s delay. That is, never presume that neglecting spiritual wakefulness will not be met with the surprise of his appearing. Always hope for his soon arrival and act in the light of it. Saying that Jesus’s coming is near when you do not know when he is coming means that he is potentially near, and all presumption otherwise is dangerous. Holistically Near Second, the apostles mean Jesus is holistically near. That is, as part of a whole, unified vision of the end time, he is near because, considered as a whole, the “end,” the “last days,” are already present. Taken as a whole, the end has begun. When we say that Jesus and the apostles did not know when the second coming would take place, we are saying that the future God granted them to see was like successive mountain ranges that appear as a single range. This telescoped range of mountain ridges, appearing as one, is what I mean by a whole, unified vision of the end time. My family has spent time at a home in Tennessee that has a front porch facing northeast. On a crystal-clear evening, we can see at least seven distinct mountain ranges from that porch. But on a hazy evening, they look like one mountain range. I have used George Ladd’s phrase prophetic perspective to describe this way of seeing the future. It sees the distant reality and the nearer reality as one. I’m using the phrase holistically near, rather than prophetically near, because I think it might trigger in our memory more clearly the idea of the second coming being part of a telescoped or foreshortened vision of a history of events seen as a whole. The “last days” began with the first coming of the Messiah. “He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God” (1 Pet. 1:20–21). “In these last days he has spoken to us by his Son” (Heb. 1:2). “He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Heb. 9:26; cf. 1 Cor. 10:11). This implies that the vision of the entire period between the incarnation and the second coming is one great mountain range with many hills and peaks that were indistinct to the apostles. They were granted to know a good many details, but very little about the overall timeframe. They saw the end largely as one reality, and they speak of it holistically as near because, as a whole, it is near. That near whole includes the parousia—the coming of Jesus. Therefore, it too is near—near as part of the whole that has already begun. Divinely Near Third, the apostles mean Jesus is divinely near. That is, from the divine perspective, the time between Jesus’s first and second coming is very short. The apostle Peter introduces this meaning of near in his response to scoffers who already in his day mocked the fact that so much time had passed without the Lord’s return. He says: [Know] this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” (2 Pet. 3:3–4) After reminding the scoffers that history is not as static as they think (in view of creation and flood and final judgment, 2 Pet. 3:5–7), he then introduces the foundation of what I am calling divinely near: But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 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. (2 Pet. 3:8–9) Verse 9 is addressed to our attitude and our vocabulary: don’t call God’s purposeful delay “slowness.” Call it “patience.” Don’t scoff at God’s timing as if his promise of coming soon were a myth (2 Pet. 1:16). Instead, give thanks that his promise of mercy and patience is being perfectly worked out. To support his admonition about our attitude and vocabulary, Peter introduces the concept of divinely near: “With the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” To get the full force of the point, a scoffer might calculate: Supposing that Peter wrote this letter thirty years after the ascension of Jesus to heaven, those thirty years would be 3 percent of a thousand years. Since a thousand years is “as one day,” that would mean that .72 hours (.03 x 24 hours in a day) has passed since Jesus departed. Forty-five minutes is not a long delay. Or, from the standpoint of the twenty-first century, two days is not a long delay. In essence, Peter is introducing the mystery of God’s relation to time. The Bible is not a primer on Einstein’s relativity theory. It does not delve into the scientific relationship between space and time. However, Paul says provocatively that “God decreed [a hidden wisdom] before the ages for our glory” (1 Cor. 2:7; cf. 2 Tim. 1:9; Titus 1:2). In other words, in some sense God existed before “the ages,” that is, before time. Peter is suggesting to us that this mysterious relationship between God and time should make us slow to scoff at the timing of his prophecies. If Jesus and the apostles say the coming of Christ is “near” or “at hand” or “at the gates” or “soon,” when they confessedly do not know when he is coming, we should reckon with the fact that the divine perspective is part of what gives meaning to their words. Jesus is divinely near. His Appearing Is Near in at Least Three Senses I conclude, therefore, that if we take into account the pointers Jesus and the apostles give us, we will not fault them for speaking of the Lord’s coming as near or soon or at hand. We will take into account the agreed-upon premise that none of them knew when Jesus would return. With that pointer in view, we will take heed to Jesus’s warning against every presumption of delay as a dangerous attitude (Matt. 24:48; par. Luke 12:45), and conclude that the second coming is potentially near. We will take heed to the prophetic perspective of the Old and New Testaments that sees the “last days” (including Christ’s first and second coming) as a unified whole that has already begun, and we will conclude that Jesus is holistically near. And we will take seriously Peter’s reminder that with God a thousand years is as a day, and we will conclude that Jesus is divinely near. Always hope for his soon arrival and act in the light of it. This article is adapted from Come, Lord Jesus: Meditations on the Second Coming of Christby John Piper.

What about Prayer? An East Indian evangelist described his first experience at an American prayer meeting. He was visiting a megachurch known, even in India, for the pastor’s outstanding preaching. He was thrilled when the pastor invited the three thousand Sunday worshipers to the midweek prayer meeting. The pastor even shared that something was “heavy on his heart” for prayer. The evangelist couldn’t wait. In India, the prayer meeting was the heartbeat of the church, where you stormed the heavens, often far into the night. The designated prayer chapel seated only five hundred, so he arrived early to get a seat. But at the designated 7:00 p.m. start time, he was alone. At 7:15, puzzled and still alone, he wondered if he had the wrong location, so he went outside to check the name. Yes, it was the same chapel the pastor mentioned on Sunday. Finally, at 7:30 a few people straggled in, chatting about sports and weather until the leader arrived at 7:45. The leader shared a short devotional with the seven attendees, prayed briefly, and closed the meeting. The evangelist was stunned. No worship. No crying out to God for help. No senior pastor. What was heavy on the pastor’s heart? What about prayer for the sick, for the lost? No one in this story thought that corporate prayer is important: not the senior pastor (he didn’t show up), the congregation (only seven came), or the prayer leader (he was forty-five minutes late and only had one brief prayer). Prayer was a mere window dressing. If you doubt something, you don’t think it works, so you don’t use it. No one here thought prayer works. Unbelief is as practical as faith. The State of Prayer in the Church When we descend from the formal prayer meeting down to the smaller parts of a Jesus community and into our families and friendships, we encounter the same corporate prayerlessness that the evangelist experienced. Christians are praying, but they are doing it by themselves. According to a recent Barna study, 94 percent of American adults who have prayed at least once in the last three months do so by themselves. Barna’s researcher writes: Prayer is by far the most common spiritual practice among Americans. . . . [But] people pray mostly alone—it is a solitary activity defined primarily by the immediate needs and concerns of the individual. Corporate prayer and corporate needs are less compelling drivers in people’s prayer lives. . . . But what would it look like to begin to broaden the scope of those prayer lives? To consider the power of corporate prayer—when more than one are gathered in God’s name? The American church is functionally prayerless when it comes to corporate prayer. Of course, a remnant does the hidden work of prayer, but in most churches corporate prayer doesn’t function in any meaningful way. How big is that remnant? In our prayer seminars, we ask several confidential questions about a participant’s prayer life. In hundreds of seminars, we’ve found that about 15 percent of Christians in a typical church have a rich prayer life. So when someone says, “I’ll keep you in my prayers,” 85 percent of the time it is just words. This isn’t a pastor problem; it’s a follower-of-Jesus problem. The prayer meeting, which used to function at the heart of a praying church, is all but dead. Wednesday night prayer meeting used to be the core meeting, where the most dedicated, spiritual people attended; now for many, the prayer meeting itself is a distant memory. At a recent A Praying Church seminar, I asked participants what they don’t like about prayer meetings. One young man nailed it: “It’s boring.” Someone else added, “It’s depressing.” But the most poignant comment was “I don’t know where I’d go to attend a prayer meeting.” I asked the pastor of a three-thousand-attendee church if he knew of any prayer meetings in his church. He said, without a hint of concern, “No, I’m not aware of any.” How Secularism Killed the Prayer Meeting Which brings us to the unique challenges of praying together in much of our modern world. We are a busy, and often wealthy, people. We didn’t reach our career goals and attain the comforts we enjoy by sitting around, and yet praying together feels like we are sitting around. We can be so intent on building and producing that we don’t pause to reflect on what we are building. Behind our busyness and wealth is a philosophy called secularism, which doesn’t just deny God’s existence but denies the existence of any spiritual world. This is strange, because every culture in the history of humanity has openly acknowledged the spiritual world. You ignored God or “the gods” at your own peril. Given this history, it would be normal for every news program to open with a prayer of thanksgiving. We don’t, of course, because secularism defines normal for us. Talking openly about God or to God feels odd. It’s no coincidence that the prayer meeting has declined simultaneously with the rise of secularism, which sees the spiritual world as mere illusion, true for you, but not true for everyone else. That comes from the eighteenth-century Enlightenment. Immanuel Kant, the Enlightenment’s leading thinker (and regular church goer!) called prayer a “superstitious delusion” that God has no need to hear and that therefore accomplishes nothing. Kant’s god is distant, nonpersonal. Ignoring God is a far more effective than denying his existence. If you ignore him, he disappears. Secularism remained confined largely to our universities and our elites until the rise of mass media (radio, TV, etc.) in the mid-twentieth century. Endlessly portraying a world without God and without meaning, it created a new normal. Modern agnostics are not just unsure of God’s existence; they no longer care. God is a nonissue. As one young man who’d walked away from his faith said to me, “What difference does it make?” A Distant God When we relegate prayer to the world of feelings, prayer becomes mere therapy. If it is simply the world of feelings, then praying together feels awkward. When you talk with someone about sports, typically your conversation feels fluid—you share a common interest, language, and knowledge. You enjoy watching football and rooting for your favorite team. You both know that sports exist. But what if everyone in your life who sounded smart and powerful, and everyone you saw on TV, told you that sports are fake, that no one is really playing, and the games you see in person are just elaborate dramas? After you’d heard this nonstop, year after year, it would get into your blood. When we combine a prayerless church with a prayerless culture, it creates a “feelings world” where God feels exalted but distant. Then when hardship comes, God feels impotent and uncaring. This is especially true if you’ve prayed about something difficult and the heavens have been like brass. Eventually, you don’t feel anything about God. He’s merely peripheral. Because our flat, two-dimensional world rules out prayer at the outset, spontaneously praying with friends at mealtime or on the phone feels odd. We’ve lost the fluidity of prayer that you see in children, where in one breath they are talking to you and in the next breath they say, “Thank you, God, for no bad dreams.” We’ll hear sermons on prayer, listen to a pastoral prayer, and begin meetings with prayer, but prayer seldom happens naturally in conversation. It just feels too religious. That’s one reason why it’s a delight to fellowship with Africans or Asians, who are largely unaffected by the eighteenth-century Enlightenment. For example, for years Ugandan churches have had monthly all-night prayer meetings. They are keenly aware of the spiritual world, so prayer flows easily. A Peculiar Danger I went to dinner with a young pastor and his wife after one of our prayer seminars for pastors. As a homeschooling mom with three kids, this wife shared with me how she did life through prayer. Then she leaned over and asked her husband, with a puzzled expression on her face, “Isn’t that how you do church?” He shook his head. She was so surprised, she asked him again. “No,” he said. “We pray at the beginning of meetings, but it tends to be official and lack depth.” The megachurch pastor who announced the prayer meeting as if it were a high value but didn’t show up didn’t just devalue the prayer meeting. He sent a mixed message to the congregation. His words said one thing, but his actions another. Jesus calls that hypocrisy. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus singles out prayer as a “hot spot” for hypocrisy (Matt. 6:5–6). There is nothing worse for a Jesus community than looking Spiritual on the outside but being hollow on the inside. Hypocrisy in leaders creates cynicism in followers. After I’ve reflected with a group of pastors on their struggles to have a consistent life of prayer, I’ll ask, “How good are you at public praying?” They usually say, “Pretty good.” I query again, “So, what does it do to your heart to be outwardly good at prayer but inwardly bad?” They groan, because they are good men. Of course, this applies to all of us. Any time we cultivate an outer appearance of maturity but mask inward weakness, we corrupt our soul. That weakens our best gift we offer to others—a soul that walks with God. If you doubt something, you don’t think it works, so you don’t use it. This article is adapted from A Praying Church: Becoming a People of Hope in a Discouraging World by Paul E. Miller.

Guard Your Steps Several years ago, Carolyn was coming into church on a rainy Sunday morning. She had on heels, a nice dress, and a coat. In a flash—for that’s how these things happen—she found herself face down on the wet sidewalk. A young man pushing a stroller nearby saw her fall and rushed to her aid, anxious that she might have hurt herself. Carolyn laughingly assured him that she was fine, and he offered his arm to help her up. Pulling together her umbrella, her purse, and her dignity, Carolyn walked the few remaining steps into church very carefully. Here in Ecclesiastes 5, Solomon tells us to walk carefully into church: “Guard your steps when you go to the house of God” (Eccles. 5:1). It isn’t high heels or slippery sidewalks Solomon is concerned about; he is warning us to watch our words and our hearts on our way into church. Do not rush into the church service, he exhorts us. While we are to work industriously, we must come to church cautiously. That’s because, when we come to the house of God—in Solomon’s day, the temple, and in our time, the church—we are coming into the presence of God. Learning to Tread Carefully Imagine that you were given an audience with the [royalty]. You would no doubt arrive early—in fact, that’s one of many rules of protocol. You would walk carefully toward the queen, being sure to have practiced your curtsy. And you would never turn your back on her on your way out. These guidelines and more you would carefully follow. Contrast that with the way we often casually cruise into God’s presence each week. Maybe you got up late, and instead of a shower, you pulled your hair into a messy bun. During church your mind wanders to conversations you hope to have during fellowship time (I wonder how her vacation went?) or to what you are going to have for lunch (Deli sandwich or a fresh salad?). Maybe you rush out as soon as church is over to watch a sporting event or take an afternoon nap. Solomon knows the slapdash way we are tempted to go to the house of God, the place where we have been called together to worship. Here he warns us to proceed with the utmost caution. You are coming into the presence of the Holy One. Guard your steps, or else you may slip. Be very careful when you come into God’s glorious presence. “Guard your steps” is Solomon’s way of picturing the fact that we need to guard the way or the manner in which we come to worship (Eccles. 5:1). In short, he says, we should be quick to listen and slow to speak in the presence of God. First, he says: we must be quick to listen to God: “To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil” (Eccles. 5:1). To point out what is “better” is Solomon’s favorite way of telling us how to truly live. Here he tells us that it is way better to listen in church than to be fools. You see, when we come to church, we draw near to God himself. It is true that we come to sing praises to God too, but even more importantly, we come to listen to God’s word preached. We come to listen to the words that God himself has “breathed out” (2 Tim. 3:16). His words are not hevel like our words; Scripture contains the sure, eternal, authoritative, and unchanging words of God. And on Sunday mornings, God has appointed the preacher as his spokesman to deliver his words to his people. Solomon, “the Preacher,” urges us to listen up. Listening, of the biblical kind, requires preparation and application. We prepare for all kinds of things the night before to get the children off to school or to get to work on time or to get a jump-start on a big house project. How much more should we prepare to draw near and listen to God? The young people in Puritan pastor Richard Baxter’s church apparently spent three hours together on Saturday evening, just to prepare their hearts for Sunday morning! Your preparation need not take three hours, but consider: How can you prepare your heart and your home for church? Preparation begins with prayer. Pray that God would help you to draw near to him, to listen to his word, to hear his voice, and to receive grace to obey. Prayerfully review the past week: Is there any unconfessed sin in your heart, or any person with whom you need to be reconciled? Consider needs and requests for the week to come. When your heart is prepared to draw near to God, your thoughts will wander less and focus more on God’s word. And if your church publishes the sermon text ahead of time, read and familiarize yourself with the passage. Practical preparation also aids your ability to listen well during church. Making plans the night before to get to church on time (or even a few minutes early) means you won’t be so flustered and distracted when church starts. You will be on the edge of your seat, eager to listen to God. But listening doesn’t end with the preacher’s closing prayer. Proper listening in Scripture does not occur until we obey what we hear. And so, instead of rushing out of church and into your week, take some time on Sunday afternoon or Monday morning to review the sermon and ask the Lord: What is one way I can listen by obeying this week? Check Your (Sinful) Attitude at the Door Next, Solomon piles up the imperatives about taming the tongue in church. Not only should we be quick to listen, we should be slow to speak: Be not rash with your mouth. (Eccles. 5:2) Nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God. (Eccles. 5:2) Therefore let your words be few. (Eccles. 5:2) When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it. (Eccles. 5:4) Let not your mouth lead you into sin. (Eccles. 5:6) Scripture is replete with warnings about the tongue, but here Solomon tells us to be especially careful when it comes to the worship of God.To guard our “steps” (Eccles. 5:1) before we enter church means that we must guard our hearts (Prov. 4:23) and also guard our mouths (Prov. 21:23). We must not enter church having allowed sinful attitudes to enter our hearts, such as bitterness toward a fellow church member or selfish ambition for attention from others. We must not set foot in the church building without first setting a guard over our mouths from speaking words of pride, anger, criticism, or slander. Think about the “words of [your] mouth and the meditation of [your] heart” at church last week (Ps. 19:14). Were they pleasing to God? How quickly did you drift from a focus on God to what so-and-so was wearing? How many of your words before and after church were hastily spoken and from an unruly heart? How free did you feel to criticize your pastor’s sermon or complain about church leadership? Sadly, instead of being slow to speak, we are all more likely to be quick to speak, quick to complain, and quick to judge even (and sometimes especially) in church. We are quick to speak (with authority) about what we think God is (or is not) doing. Quick to express an opinion about what another mom should or shouldn’t do with her children. Quick to question and complain. Quick to criticize. We may dismiss hasty words and thoughts as harmless, but Solomon says they can be dangerous; so guard your steps by guarding your speech when you go to church. You are coming into the presence of the Holy One. Guard your steps, or else you may slip. Carolyn Mahaney and Nicole Mahaney Whitacre are the authors of True Life: Practical Wisdom from the Book of Ecclesiastes.

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. – 1 Corinthians 13:1-8 Reading this familiar passage may make you remember a time when a preacher shared it during a marriage ceremony. But relegating this passage to love between a husband and wife does it a disservice. The love Paul speaks of is much greater and much deeper than romantic love—it represents the kind of love God has for his children. If we look at the life of Jesus and superimpose it over this passage, we see that Jesus personified every word. He was patient and kind. He didn’t envy. He emptied himself, humbling himself to the point of death on a cross. He didn’t follow his own desires, but instead followed the will of the Father, pouring himself out for all humankind. From the cross, Jesus bled forgiveness, even for the people crucifying him. He not only told the truth; he is the truth. As we look at how he shepherded his disciples, we see his love, protection, trust, hope, and perseverance. Put love into action Want to truly understand love? Look at Jesus. And then remember this: he loves you with an incredible love. Your response? Do the same with the people in your life. Think about your friends and family. Who demonstrates this passage well? What traits of love does he or she personify? How does that encourage you? Prayer Lord, thank you for showing me what love looks like as you walked the earth. With gratitude for your love for me, I want to show people that kind of sacrificial love. I can’t do it on my own, so please help me. Amen. Drawn from the NIV Radiant Virtues Bible.

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you. – Psalm 32:8 There is no language he will not speak. Which leads us to a delightful question. What language is he speaking to you? I’m not referring to an idiom or dialect but to the day-to-day drama of your life. God does speak, you know. He speaks to us in whatever language we will understand. There are times he speaks the “language of abundance.” Is your tummy full? Are your bills paid? Got a little jingle in your pocket? Don’t be so proud of what you have that you miss what you need to hear. Could it be you have much so you can give much? “God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8). Is God talking in the “language of abundance”? Or are you hearing the “vernacular of want”? We’d rather he spoke the language of abundance, but he doesn’t always. Are you hearing the “language of need”? Or how about the “language of affliction”? Talk about an idiom we avoid. But you and I both know how clearly God speaks in hospital hallways and sickbeds. We know what David meant with the words, “He makes me lie down” (Psalm 23:2, emphasis added). Nothing seems to turn our ears toward heaven like a frail body. God speaks all languages—including yours. Has he not said, “I will instruct you . . . in the way you should go” (Psalm 32:8)? Are we not urged to “accept instruction from his mouth” (Job 22:22)? What language is God speaking to you? And aren’t you glad he is speaking? Aren’t you grateful that he cares enough to talk? Isn’t it good to know that “the Lord confides in those who fear him” (Psalm 25:14)? Question: What language is God using to speak to you? What specific steps can you take in response? By Max Lucado from the NIV Lucado Encouraging Word Bible.

The “Back” of God God is present throughout the events of the exodus. But theophanies represent events of intensive presence that underline the principle that he is always present with his people and that he is faithful to his word and his covenant. After the incident with the golden calf (Exodus 32), Israel’s future appears to be in doubt. Moses requests that God show him his glory (Ex. 33:12–18). In this more intensive meeting, described in Exodus 34:5–28, The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” (Ex. 34:5–7) As is usual with theophany, the visual phenomena reinforce the significance of God’s speech. The divine appearance reveals the character of God, and so does the heart of God’s speech. God “proclaimed the name of the Lord” (v. 5). Before the theophany takes place, God also indicates its limitation: And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” And the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.” (Ex. 33:19–23) What Did Moses Actually See? So what exactly did Moses see? Did he see a man-like appearance? Or is the language about “my back” a metaphor to indicate the less than-full nature of the revelation? Mystery remains. Did Moses see the back of a human figure or a vision like Ezekiel 1 or a bright cloud? Whatever the details, Moses saw a theophany of God, and yet one that was less than the fullest possible exposure to the presence of God. The allusion to human-like features builds on the fact that man was made in the image of God. And of course, along with all theophanies, this one also foreshadows the appearance of God in Christ, who is the permanent and climactic theophany. In him, and through his atonement, we can see God’s face and not die (John 14:9; Rev. 22:4). After this climactic experience with God, Moses’s face shone: When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. (Ex. 34:29–30) An appearance of God may include brightness. The striking thing about Moses is that now the brightness of God’s appearance is reflected in Moses himself, who has seen God. This radiance from Moses anticipates the climax in Christ. Christ is “the radiance of the glory of God” (Heb. 1:3). In a manner similar to Moses’s reflection of the glory of God, Christians who have communion with Christ are transformed so as to reflect the glory of Christ: And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. (2 Cor. 3:18) Theophanies represent events of intensive presence that underline the principle that he is always present with his people and that he is faithful to his word and his covenant. This article is adapted from Theophany: A Biblical Theology of God’s Appearing by Vern Poythress.

This is perhaps the most important question that you could ever ask. When we look at the Bible, we see that God describes Himself as Love (Exodus 34:6-7; see below). He is not just loving; He is the full embodiment, or the perfect standard, of love. Without God, we have no real reference of what love truly is. Our capacity to either receive or display love is directly and divinely tethered to who He is. This article serves one purpose: For you to catch even just a glimpse of the love of God. Here are two simple, yet profound realities that you need to know about God’s love. First, His love is personal God is not impersonal. He is not like the absent parent who occasionally checks in on you. He is not like the distant lawmaker who wants to control and oppress you. Honestly, He is better, kinder, and infinitely more gracious than anyone you’ve ever met – no analogy or simile to any human would ever do Him justice. With one glance of His eyes, your heart would melt into a molten mass of liquid love. With one word, your soul would be put to rest, knowing that you’re fully secure. With one embrace, you would forget every heartbreak, every bully, every hurtful word ever spoken about you – you would know that you are His, and He is yours. Now, let’s look at just a few examples of how personal God’s love is straight from His word, the Bible – His love letter to you. “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.” Exodus 34:6-7 (NIV) “The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.” Jeremiah 31:3 (NIV) “I have loved you,” says the Lord…” Malachi 1:2 (NIV) “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” John 15:12 (NIV) Yes, God loves the whole world, but He does so by loving you! He knows your name. He called out to you when you were in your mother’s womb. He celebrated when you took your first steps. God wants you to know that it was His love for you that sent Jesus to the cross. His love covers every sin that you’ve ever committed, and every sin you ever will. When you come to understand that for yourself, your gratitude can overwhelm your desire to sin. God loves you personally. Second, His love is unconditional This means that there is no condition you need to meet to be loved by Him. God doesn’t say, “I’ll love you if…”. Instead, He says, “even if you…I’ll still love you.” And if there’s no condition you need to meet to be loved by God, that means there is nothing you can ever do to lose His love. Let’s draw this home a little more: God loves men AND women God loves young AND old people God loves people of every race! Every skin color. God loves people who love him AND people who don’t Understand this: God loving you has never been about what you did or who you are; it’s about who He is. Honestly, we don’t deserve His love; we have all sinned and fallen short of God’s perfect standard. But the GOOD NEWS is this: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 (NIV) God’s love is baffling. God’s love is wild. God’s love is holy. God’s love is pure. God’s love is beyond any human description. Today, fix your attention on what God is speaking to you through His love letter, the Bible. Let His love wash over you. Rest in Him, knowing that He personally and unconditionally loves you. By Chase McCartney, Social Media Marketing Coordinator for Biblica.