(From “A Stained-Glass Window“.) Originally published in the Western Baptist College Student Manual for the 2004-2005 academic year.

I don’t remember his name, nor can I recall much about his appearance. I call him “Arthur”, and while he wasn’t in my life for more than one or two minutes, he was one of the most influential people God has brought into my life.

For as many days as the Lord allows me to continue living, I will not forget the words that I can still hear Arthur telling me. As he injected the IV needle he complimented my veins, a comment from medical professionals to which I’ve become accustomed, and we talked for a while as he was preparing the instruments for my procedure. He asked my name, where I was going to school, and what I wanted to do with my life. It was at that moment that he stopped what he was doing and told me one of the most profound and influential things anyone has ever said to me:

“Steve, don’t you dare lose God in your studies.”

He continued, telling me that he was so disgusted by the number of people who graduate from Christian schools, entering the full-time ministry or not, and yet they do not know God! His words shook me with an unexpected tremor. I have no memory from any of the events which followed, for it was not long before I was unconscious from the anesthesia, yet even now his words hang – firmly fixed – to the walls of my mind. As the week went on I began to think about what he had told me and warned about.

“Steve, don’t you dare lose God in your studies.”

Did I know God? I knew a lot about Him, about His attributes and what He has done both in the Bible and in my life, but did I know Him? God is a person; He is our personal Creator. It is through His hands that the very matter by which we are formed does not instantly unravel, it is through His hands that the earth does not spin out of control and self-detonate into space, and it is through His hands that the nails were driven, sending Him to a death which redeemed us from an eternity of solitude and suffering. Did I love Him? Did I pray to Him from my heart, read His Word with purpose and intention, and did I actually know Him?

Our relationship with God is more than books or words on a page; it must be real. It is easy to lose the reality of the relationship when we hear about Him in chapel, read about Him for class, hear His Word in church, and sing to Him almost every day of the week. It is so natural to let it all become academia, a macrocosm of knowledge, and forget the Person behind the pages. God gave me a wonderful gift that day in the hospital; the words of Arthur. To this day those words ring in my ears every time I forget about the reality of knowing God and knowing Him personally.

One better not dare to forget God while studying and learning Him.

Don’t study about Him or about His Word. Get to know Him.

(From “A Stained-Glass Window“.)

This is the manuscript from a sermon I wrote for my homiletics class. It’s based off of Colossians 3:12-17. There was a lot more I wanted to do with it, but it’s limited to 30 minutes so I kept it simple. It’s entitled “A Lifesong of Thankfulness”.

During my current stage of life, being an unmarried bachelor for now, I don’t really cook. From time to time over the past few years I’ve tried baking and cooking things. I learned that there are certain things that work when baking – various ingredients that one can add to the mix – and they really help the recipe to do the job. One time I was having some difficulties with an omelet I was cooking. It was much flatter than I wanted it to be, so I decided I’d add something that had been of great assistance in some of my baking experience. That ingredient was baking soda. I figured adding this ingredient would give my eggs some extra volume and fluffiness. Never, ever, ever try this. I’ve never tasted eggs which such unique flavoring and texture, nor will I again.

So what was the problem? I’d moved from baking bread-based delicacies in the oven to cooking raw chicken embryos on a skillet – this was a major categorical shift. There’s a huge difference between baking in an oven and cooking on a stove. There’s also a big difference between bread products and eggs. When I moved from baking to frying on a skillet, it became necessary to take on a new approach. It required different tools, different recipes and ingredients, different techniques and tactics. The omelet suffered because of my failure to understand this difference. It looked fine, though it didn’t fluff up like I wanted it to. It tasted somewhat like a pancake, but not just any pancake – it was a rubbery and bouncy pancake.

If we are Christians, we’ve crossed over into new territory. We have a new life in Christ. Paul, writing to the Colossian believers, commanded them to live differently because of this same new life. Just like me moving from baking in the oven to cooking on the stove, the Colossians were to live in a completely new way than they had before. Before they were thankless, prideful and self-absorbed. Now things had to be different.

We all have some sense of entitlement. Because humanity is often so naturally self-absorbed it also naturally focuses upon self and to what oneself is entitled. This breeds thanklessness, pride, and many other traits of the old self – the sin nature. As Christians, we’ve been redeemed from the power and penalty of sin. We’ve been given a new identity. A categorical shift has taken place. We’ve been moved from the dominion of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love – yet sometimes we carry over the practices and mentalities of the old into the new, and it changes our appearance. Anybody who gets a “taste” of us might know immediately that something isn’t adding up when we fail to live out the calling of this new life we’ve been given. While the old self is thankless, prideful and self-absorbed, our new life requires a thankful, upward focus on Christ that is demonstrated in our thankful new behavior towards others.

This afternoon we’ll find ourselves in Colossians chapter three, verses twelve through seventeen. Please go ahead and open your Bibles to this text of Scripture. Before we jump into this section it will prove helpful to understand Paul’s line of thought and the context upon which the legs of this portion of the letter stands.

Starting from the beginning of this letter, Paul has expressed thankfulness for the Colossians’ faith and love springing from their hope in the Gospel. He has prayed that they would walk worthy of God and please Him by continually growing by His strength. In that discussion he emphasized both his thankfulness to God and his joy. He then explained that all things have been created by, through, and for Jesus Christ. It is through this same power and person of Christ – being God himself – that the Colossians had been redeemed, forgiven of sin, and reconciled to God. He explains that these truths are the Gospel of which he has become a minister. Paul has described his ministry as one that desires to make plain the mystery that all are now equal in Christ, that the ground is level at the cross, and how it was his desire to see Christians encouraged, knit together in love, thankful, and understanding. Paul gave three warnings concerning the false teachings the Colossian church faced and in summation he exhorts them explaining that Christ’s person and work are more than sufficient and they have no need to cling to the elementary principles of the world.

That’s when we come to chapter three. Because of the sufficiency of Christ and his magnificent work on the believer’s behalf, one’s life – as one now walks on this earth – is to be different. Paul describes how the believer, having died with Christ and raised in his resurrection, is to set his mind on “things above”, not on temporal things of the earth. The believer’s new identity should bring a new focus and change the direction in which our lives are aimed. Just like me in the kitchen, this shift to a new identity comes with a new recipe book, fresh ingredients, and new instructions. It requires different tools and a different technique – a different way of doing things – of living.

Paul explains how we are still “works in progress”, and so we must continually work out our salvation as we put to death our old ways – sin. Our bodies and lives can be tools of righteousness or instruments caught in the vices of sin. After listing the vices of the old way of life, before Christ, Paul then addresses the Colossians as God’s chosen ones and gives them a sampling of what the new life should look like as we actively put on the new practices of our new self. Colossians three verse twelve and following state this:

So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.

This afternoon as we take a look into this portion of Paul’s letter, I want us to understand that as we live out this new life in Christ, having put on the new self being renewed in Christ’s image, we must demonstrate our thankful heart in how we treat other people. We must show our thankfulness to God in everything we do with and for one another. Paul prescribed three ways that this should be worked out as we consider our relationships with other Christians. We must be thankful as we interact with other members, as we teach and admonish each other in music, and as we do everything else, seeking to do so in the name of Jesus.

So first, as Christians we must show thankfulness by the way we treat other believers. Being holy and beloved, there is a calling to put on new characteristics such as compassion and humility, forgiving one another. Paul identifies them as “God’s chosen ones”. In verse twelve he says, “So (or therefore) as those who have been chosen by God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentles and patience.” He first points out that God took the initiative in creating their new identity and graciously bringing them to Him. They are “holy”, being set apart, and “beloved”, not only by God but by Paul as well. As I mentioned just a bit ago, Paul calls the Colossians to put off the ways of the old self. As part of their new identity they are to put on the new self and all that comes with it. He tells them to put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, courtesy, and patience. He further calls them to forgive one another in verse thirteen. The culmination of these characteristics is discovered in verse fourteen, wherein he commands, “Beyond (or above) all these thing put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.” Above and beyond anything else Paul commands them to put on and show love, the perfect bond of unity. This is what bonds the community together. Paul does not tell them this because they have not loved or because they don’t know what love is. When we look at his opening statements he explains how thankful he is for them because of what he’s heard about them. He’s heard about their love for all of the saints and their “love in the Spirit.” Now he is reminding them to continue in that love, to not let that love grow stale. Love is so important. Love is the “perfect bond of unity” that holds the rest of it together.

Most houses today have some form of lap siding, and because of the price of cedar there’s a couple substitute that most builders use. They are both a kind of a composite board. The first is referred to as “LP” siding. When this product made, manufacturers take wood fibers and compress them together into the form of a siding board. Builders and homeowners swiftly learned that this product had a multitude of problems. Within just a few seasons it would start to become compromised. I’ve been a professional painter for most of my life and I worked in management for Sherwin-Williams for several years – during that time I have seen all of those problems over and over again. I’ve seen the bottom edges of the board fan out like a deck of cards. I’ve seen mushrooms growing out of those same spots. I’ve seen all sorts of related problems, and sanding, priming and slapping paint on surface of these things does not solve the problem. LP siding is weak not just because of all of the individual fibers, but because nothing really bonds them together. If given the chance, cold and wet weather will immediately start separating the fibers, pulling apart and breaking down the integrity of the board since there’s no bond of unity to hold them all together. More recently a newer second product started replacing LP siding in the market.

The second product is called hardiplank. This stuff is made of the same fiber materials as LP siding but its intermixed with a form of cement. They take lots and lots of the same loose wood fibers and cram them together very tightly with some cement intermixed throughout. It’s really tough stuff, and very heavy. It still needs to be painted, but regardless of protective coatings, the bonding agents that tie the fibers together seem to hold through even the toughest weather conditions. This product is much more effective than the LP product, again not due to its fibers but due to the bond of unity in the cement.
That’s kind of how love works. We are all individual members of one composite body and through our identity with this body we are one. To maintain our harmony we must relate to each other with the characteristics of this new life, and the perfect bond of unity is like the cement in the hardiplank – that perfect bond of unity. Love: It holds us all together. But none of these things will happen if we’re not thankful for one another. Paul told the Colossians that they need to be thankful as they let the peace of Christ rule in their hearts. He reminds them that they have been called into one body, and because they are all part of one body they must be a peace with each other. The same goes for us as well. The peace that comes from knowing Christ should characterize our relationships with other people.

Understanding our unity, we must be thankful to God for the privilege of being part of this body as we exercise these characteristics of the new self. Without this thankfulness, no peace, love, forgiveness or humility will ever take place.

So what does this thankfulness look like? This thankfulness expresses itself in thanks for the unity we have in being part of one body. When I was down in Oregon for my college studies and the year thereafter at Western Seminary, I was never able to plug into a local church for ministry or even fellowship. I found that now, being part of a church family, I find that this thankfulness is quite overwhelming as I recognize the community of believers I belong to. God has called all of us into a relationship not only with Him but also with each other. Part of how this thankfulness is shown is by how we treat those with whom He has made us one body. Do we show compassion, humility, gentleness, kindness and forgiveness to one another? When someone wrongs you, how long does it take you to go to that person and forgive him? Do you go to other people first and complain? Do you consider the needs of other people, laying down your own imagined importance for the sake of someone else in need? Do you “weep with those who weep”, showing compassion for the pain and struggles of others? This can be as simple as letting someone know that you’ve been praying for them or as involved as becoming a really good friend to them, being with them during their times of distress and actually “being there”, not just saying that you’ll “be there” for them.

Not only must we be thankful in the way we treat each other in our day to day dealings with other believers, but we must also be thankful as we teach and admonish each other in song. That leads to the second way in which we can express our thankfulness for each other.

As Christians, we must show thankfulness as we teach and admonish one another through music. Let’s look at verse sixteen again. Paul says this: “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” We must let the word of Christ dwell in us richly. Teaching and admonishing each other will accomplish this mission. Paul’s command is to teach and admonish one another in all wisdom. Paul unpacks an instrumental tool for their mutual teaching and admonishment: Music. Yes, there is a direct imperative to use music and singing not only for encouragement or praise but also teaching doctrine and the word about Christ, the Gospel and more. One of the major ways this idea of teaching and admonishing one another is carried out is through music.

This must be done with all wisdom. For many people, music in our church services has just become another perfunctory ritual. It’s just “something we do”. It’s often seen as filler and the average individual is more concerned with the style and the instrumentality rather than the creed, theology and meaning behind the words they let slip between their lips. We can sometimes fall into the rhythm (pun intended) of seeing as just music.

Paul tells the Colossians that they must let the “word of Christ” dwell in them richly. The “word of Christ” is most likely the word about Christ and the message about him. As the word of Christ dwells in us richly it should do several things. It should convey our fundamental faith about God and pass it on. It should foster fruits of the faith. It should filter all aspects of life – family, jobs, relationships, politics – through our faith in Christ. It should cause us to seek to grow spiritually. It should nurture faith in community.

For many now, worship through music becomes a time when God is supposed to meet our needs, rather than a time in which we admonish and teach one another and give glory to God. When it fails to do what we want it to do for us, we say “We got nothing out of it,” and I ask, what then is the point? This response of “getting nothing” seems to be the response of a selfish and thankless heart, not a selfless attitude seeking to serve others and singing in one’s heart to God. As we sing to each other we are to sing in our hearts to God – we are to do so with thankfulness. This worship through music and this aspect of church community is to be done with thankfulness. This is the second admonition to be thankful within as many verses. The emphasis becomes clear that a changed life, changed by the power of the Gospel of Christ, is a thankful life.

How do we show thankfulness in this context? What exactly does that look like? Out of all the times and places one could hear groans on any given morning, the most likely may be our church auditoriums before the church service begins when people glance at their bulletins and handouts to see what songs are on the schedule. It’s really easy to get fed up when we have to sing the same songs over and over again, or when we don’t like the style in which a song is played or the instruments that accompany it. It’s easy to get frustrated by the tempo, or the dress of the praise team, or many different related issues surrounding the idea of music in our church services. I find that I, myself, sometimes fall into this category. At our church I’m the primary guitarist and I play just about any time there’s a Sunday morning or evening worship service. There are songs that I enjoy playing and there are songs that I do not. There are songs that are boring and repetitive to me as a guitarist. I find that I usually fail to focus on the most important aspect of the music, namely the lyrics. If songs are to be used to teach and admonish one another, then truly the lyrics are of great importance and I need to remember that what I do as I strum the strings is only an accompaniment to the teaching and admonition the words are meant to bring. Am I thankful for the privilege to teach and admonish through music? Am I letting the word about Christ, the Gospel, dwell in me and dwell in my richly during these times? Can I honestly say that as I play my guitar that I am strumming thankfully to help others worship God, and that I am strumming the song in my heart to God as well, being thankful to serve Him? What about you? Can you honestly say that you are thankful as you participate in worship through music, whatever capacity you may fulfill as we teach and admonish one another in song? I challenge you this: Regardless of how you feel about the music at your church, thank the people who are involved in it. This might mean thanking the electric guitarist for his commitment to play every Sunday, even if you’re opposed to the style. Telling him that you appreciate his effort to do his part in teaching and admonishing others will go a long way and will help us to become “knit together in love.” Here’s another idea: Smile. Nothing will be more dampening to the spirits of the praise team members or song leader than staring back at a bunch of frowning faces more befitting a funeral march than a call to praise. Be conscientious of how you present yourself and your attitude in the presence of others. Remember that your thankfulness ought first be found in your thankfulness to God, not to people. Be thankful to God for the privilege of being part of the body of Christ. Be thankful that you have the freedom to worship Him, to do so with others, and to have to opportunity to worship freely and openly without persecution. Your thankfulness, or lack thereof, will be reflected in how you interact with others around you. Be thankful for the opportunity to worship corporately and to teach and admonish other believers, and show your thankfulness by your words to others involved.

So according to Paul, we must not only be thankful in our dealings with one another through music or other circumstances, but we must be thankful in all things because of whom we serve. The third way we must show our thankfulness for one another is this:
As Christians, we must show thankfulness in everything that we do, seeing that we ought to do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to come to a point where we measure our conduct and ask ourselves if in whatever we do or say we can do so in the name of Jesus. In verse seventeen Paul says this: “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.” No matter what one is doing, everything ought to be done in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, from serving in the church to drinking orange juice. This ought to bring us to question every thought and action in our life. “Is what I am doing or thinking something that I can attach the name of Jesus to?” There’s a fairly popular song by Casting Crowns called “Lifesong”. We sing it from time to time in our church and some of the lyrics go like this:

Empty hands held high- such small sacrifice. If not joined with my life, I sing in vain tonight. May the words I say and the things I do make my lifesong sing – bring a smile to you. Let my lifesong sing to You….I want to sign your name to the end of this day knowing that my heart was true. Let my lifesong sing to You.

The lyrics essentially state the following: If we say that we love God and are willing to make sacrifices to live for Him, yet our actions don’t back it up, our words are worthless. We should live every day as if it’s a blank document, and as we fill it out by the way we live that day – how we speak, how we treat people, and what we think – we should ask ourselves if we’d be willing to sign Jesus’ name at the bottom as if He approves of the way we’ve lived that day.

At the same time, we are to do everything thankfully, giving thanks to God through (or on account of, because of) Jesus Christ. When we do anything we must thank God through Jesus Christ. As Christians, we have the privilege of being able to say “no” to sin. We have the ability, thanks to God, to walk lives that are pleasing to Him. Therefore in all that we do, we should be thanking God for the pleasure and privilege we have to walk in newness of life, free from the power and penalty of sin.

The final verse in this section of Paul’s argument reinforces the emphasis of what he’s already stressed. Everything we do, including our treatment of other believers and the teaching and admonishment we give through music, is to be done thankfully and in the name of Jesus. If you are a Christian, a believer and follower of Christ, a categorical shift has taken place in your life. Your life has been changed tremendously. With that change should come a change in action and attitude. Thankless pride is characteristic of the old self, among many vices we are called to mortify and put off, and it has no place in the Christian life. Thankfulness ought to characterize everything that we do. Just ask and consider your own actions – are you known for you thankfulness or thanklessness? Paul’s emphasis is more than intentionally obvious – The call to the Christian life is a call to thankful living. To be thankful means to show that thankfulness; true thankfulness is born out in action. Over the course of this week, think about someone who is teaching and admonishing you through the musical worship at your church, or another Christian you know who could use some compassion, and speak with them or write them a note thanking them for their participation in the body of Christ. Let them know you appreciate them – even do something for them. Don’t let it stop with words, for as Christians, we must show our thankfulness to God in everything we do through the way do all things with, alongside, and for one another.

(From “A Stained-Glass Window“.)

This is the manuscript from my sermon last Sunday morning, though there’s going to be a ton of variance between this text and the actual sermon itself since this was just a guide. So here it is. Someday I might refine it and make its prose a little more poetical and smoother. This is anything but perfect, and please keep in mind it was written to be spoken, not read. I didn’t have the time to make it reader-friendly, but please do enjoy. It’s entitled “Our Ultimate Partner in Prayer”, from Romans 8:26-28ff.

About a year ago, Robbie Parks, Pastor Vince and I were down in Portland on a Saturday for a conference. It was lunchtime and we headed out into the city to find something to eat. The conference was at a seminary I had attended for a year, so Pastor asked me if I knew of a good place nearby where we could get lunch. I laughed and said, “When I was down here, I was so poor that on school days all I ate was Top Ramen for lunch and Top Ramen for dinner, and even that was too much for my budget.” I can laugh about it now, but that was actually true at the time. It was a rough time, particularly financially. I was working three jobs: I had a job with Sherwin-Williams, a job at the Corban College library, and I was also tutoring some Corban students in biblical Greek, and still ended up in the red every month by a huge margin. Finances were not working – church involvement was not working – just about nothing was working down there.

That was a rough situation. Nothing worked out well for me when I lived down there and was going to graduate school. I had a hard time knowing what to say to God and what to pray for when I approached God in prayer. I felt that He had led me there to study for ministry and to work on my masters degree, but nothing was working. At the same time I wanted to move home, but that would mean leaving my education. Eventually God opened a door for me to move back here and then more recently He’s opened more and more doors for me to get more involved in ministry, start my education again at Northwest Baptist Seminary, and even work here at the church now. The situation and circumstances I faced during that year of extreme struggle proved to be extremely effective in building character, helping me develop some good habits, and overall preparation for facing the challenges I have now and will face in the future.

When I was down in Portland, I found myself overwhelmed and frustrated and emotionally battered, not knowing how to pray or what God’s will was for my life. We all face different seasons of life or sudden circumstances where we find ourselves speechless in prayer, looking up and whispering, “Help me, Lord!” Whether the struggle or frustration be the result of busyness, financial problems, health issues, shattered relationships, or whatever else, we can often become worrisome, distraught, or just feeling ache, and pain and groans. When we approach God in prayer we often don’t know where to begin because our hearts are so heavy and our minds so supersaturated with worry, fear, anger, anxiety, or perhaps the guilt of our sin.

These are the times of life when we may feel alone, hopeless, and helpless as we approach God in prayer, feeling speechless, not knowing how to pray or what to say. What I want us all to understand and take home from the God’s Word this morning is this: The Holy Spirit is praying for us, shouldering our burdens in prayer, even when we don’t know how we should pray or what to say.

If you have your Bible with you or want to use one in the pew in front of you, go ahead and open up to the book of Romans. This morning we’ll be in Paul’s letter to the Romans and in the eight chapter of this letter. Through the letter so far, Paul has spent a great deal of ink and space discussing the accountability that every single person has to God. Everyone is accountable for his or her own sin and without excuse. But in chapter five he describes how God demonstrated His love towards us in an action in that Christ died for us while we were still sinners. God took the initiative, and so over the course of the next couple chapters Paul describes Christ’s work has set us, as believers, free from the penalty and power of sin, free from bondage to the law, and we’ve been secure in the eternal life He has given us. At this point in chapter eight, among some other topics Paul discusses the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer.
This morning we’ll find ourselves near the end of the eighth chapter of Romans. Please follow along with me as I read aloud our text for this morning, starting in verse twenty-six.

In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the heart knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

As I mentioned, I want us to understand that the Holy Spirit is praying for us, shouldering our burdens in prayer, even when we don’t know how we should pray or what to say. There are several aspects of this truth that I want to highlight. The first is this:
The Holy Spirit counsels and partners with us in prayer even when we don’t know how we ought to pray. Let’s take a look at verse twenty-six again. Paul says, “In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”

There are several questions we could ask here. What is our weakness? How does the Spirit help us in that weakness and what does it mean that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us? And it says that the Spirit helps us “in the same way”, and we must ask, “in the same way” as what?
So, what is our weakness? Paul clearly states that the Spirit helps us in our weakness and directly thereafter state what that weakness is: We do not know how to pray as we should. Sometimes we find ourselves in situations where we don’t know what to say or how we ought to pray. Therein lies the weakness we often experience; we often do not know what to pray or how to pray, especially when we face frustration, pain, heartache, suffering, and just the feeling of being completely overwhelmed in heart and thoughts.

And so Paul teaches here that we have a weakness and this weakness is that we do not know how to pray as we should. But what would lead him to say start talking about times in which we don’t know how to pray or what to say? We only read verses twenty-six through twenty-eight – let’s back up a little bit to verse eighteen.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.

Here in these verses Paul describes how our suffering during this time, during our life here on earth, is not worthy of comparison to the wonderful glory of being in the presence of God some day. He then describes how we, and all of creation, eagerly groan for the end result of our redemption – when we are freed from the presence of sin and are in the presence of God and all His glory. Until then, we live on this earth in these bodies and we pray to God as we suffer in various ways, but we do so in weakness, sometimes not knowing how to pray.

In our weakness, the Holy Spirit helps us and prays with groanings too deep for words. He helps us, but the word “help” as it is rendered in most English translations is a little inadequate. The word Paul uses is a huge word, a very descriptive word, and it would signify someone coming alongside another person to take part of a heavy load and help him bear it. When we find ourselves in various kinds of suffering, frustration or pain, or even if we don’t, the Holy Spirit counsels and partners with us in our prayers and helps us carry the load. He helps shoulder our burdens in prayer by praying for us in a way that we cannot.

Paul states this in verse that the Holy Spirit helps us by “interceding” for us. It would be appropriate to ask, “What exactly does it mean to intercede?” He intercedes – stepping in between God and us – and prays on our behalf. He pleads our case. He comes alongside us and helps us to shoulder the burdens on our hearts and minds by pleading our case to God.
Jumping back down to verse twenty-six, Paul says the following: “In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” I think we need to take a quick look at “in the same way” and these “groanings”. This is not the first time we’ll see “groanings” mentioned in this chapter, and in fact it’s the third time. It’s used in verses twenty-two, twenty-three and also here in verse twenty-six.

…the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body…the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

It seems to me that this groaning is not a grumbling or a worrying or some unclear communication from the Holy Spirit – He can communicate with God the Father perfectly. I’ll put it this way: A real burden-bearer groans with you. Perhaps an illustration will help.
My senior year of college my roommate broke his leg, snapped both his tibia and fibula right about the ankle. I was with him for some of his doctor visits, and I remember when we went to have his leg cast they didn’t get the bone completely straight, so right after the cast was set they had to cut a wedge out of the cast and then reset the bone by reangling the lower half of the cast. The drugs weren’t working. There was lots of screaming. I was there with him to help him through it, and though I wasn’t the one in pain, I was groaning, too. This is not a perfect picture of what is happening, but try to think of it that way.

A few years ago I experienced a time in my life where there was a substantial amount of groaning. I suddenly got very sick, and while they found the initial cause the symptoms didn’t go away even after I was treated. When I got home for the summer I saw my doctor and a couple specialists. I had CT scans, an endoscopy, blood tests, x-rays, and other tests. They prescribed me medications. Yet none of this testing or treatment did anything. After about a year the symptoms got better, but I still live with it and sometimes it’s worth than other times. During that whole time of testing and procedures with the various doctors, I found difficulty in praying about the matter. I didn’t know what to pray for when I prayed to God. I asked for endurance and patience, and I definitely prayed for healing, but I didn’t know what I should say or ask. Honestly, there was a part of me that wanted it to be cancer or anything serious – just something – so that we could label it, diagnose it, and treat it. I got sick of hearing after every test, “Everything looks normal,” because I wasn’t normal and I hurt. During that time period there was dozens of times I fell to my knees, nearly speechless, looking up and praying, “Help me, God,” because I did not know how to pray or what to say given the matter. Thank God for the fact that the Holy Spirit was with me, groaning along with me, and praying in a way I could not.

So not only does the Holy Spirit pray for us in groanings too deep for words in times when we feel weak and speechless, but He does so knowing us completely and intimately.
The Holy Spirit prays for us having searched and known our hearts and minds. In verse twenty-six we saw that the Holy Spirit prays for us in our weakness in that we are inadequate, not knowing what or how to pray at times; verse twenty-seven reveals to us – on the other hand – at least one reason the Holy Spirit is so adequately equipped to pray for us. Paul says this: “…and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”

The Holy Spirit prays for us having searched and known our hearts and minds. God is sovereign and knows all things and He has control over the various circumstances within which we find ourselves. It is truly amazing and comforting to come to grips with the truth that God knows absolutely everything about everything. Not only is he completely and exhaustively familiar with the sun, moon, stars and cosmos, not only is he fully knowledgeable in microscopic organisms, protons, atoms and quarks, but He also knows everything about you and about me. It’s an incredible thought – It’s breathtaking, really. When we consider these things our thoughts may be similar to David’s in Psalm 139. You don’t need to turn there – I’ll just read the first few lines of his song. He opens this song with these words:

O LORD, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up – you understand my thoughts from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down, and are intimately acquainted with all my ways. Even before there is a word on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it all. You have enclosed me behind and before, and laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me – it is too high, I cannot attain to it!

David would go on to reflect on the splendor of God’s creative power and knowledge, describing how God knew David even while and before he was being formed within his mother’s womb. God knew. Being sovereign and knowing us completely makes the Holy Spirit far better equipped to pray on our behalf when – for one reason or another – we don’t know how to pray. When we suffer, when we’re in pain, when we’re frustrated, but also at every other time, God knows what’s going on. He’s not surprised by what’s happened. We have a God who knows and holds the future, and when we reach times of desperation, He is there and He knows the situation as well as what’s going on in our hearts and minds. So when we can’t even begin to put words to the torment in our minds, we have one who helps us in our weakness! When we don’t know how to pray, the Holy Spirit is there, praying for us with groanings too deep for words! When we find ourselves speechless, He is speaking to God for us because He knows our hearts and minds even better than we ourselves do and He prays for us – with a great goal in mind!

The Spirit prays for us in our desperate hours of weakness and He does so knowing the ache of our hearts and minds, but what about the aim and direction of His prayer? To what end does He pray?

The Holy Spirit prays for God’s will to be done in our lives. Paul, in verse twenty-six, describes the Spirit’s action in praying for us in our weakness of not knowing what to pray or how to pray during certain times of life. In the next verse he went on to discuss the Spirit’s knowledge of our heart and mind, the very inward parts of us that no one knows better than us, yet God – the Holy Spirit – knows us deep down in our core, even more than we ourselves know it. The latter half of verse twenty-seven and verses twenty-eight describe what the Holy Spirit prays for God to do in our lives when He prays on our behalf. Please look with me at the end of verse twenty-seven leading into verse twenty eight:

…He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that God causes all things to work for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.

The Holy Spirit prays for God’s will to be done in our lives – He prays “according to the will of God.” God’s will is that all things would work together for our good. What’s important here is that we understand what is meant by “good”. Many times and far too often this verse is lassoed and wrangled out of context to mean something completely foreign to Paul’s intention.
What does he mean that God will work “all things together for good?” Does he mean that the concluding phrase at the end of each story in the pages of our lives will read, “And they lived happily ever after,” or does he mean something else? Does he mean that a good resolution will always come about and that in the end we’ll all be happier, healthier, wiser, richer, and more content? That we’ll be more “well off” than before the situation ever took place? Does he mean that God has promised to give us good health and great wealth so long as we trust in Him and that God will work all of our painful life experiences together, so that in the end, life is peachy? No. What is this “good” that Paul says God will bring about as a result of what He allows us to face in this life? If we let Paul speak the Word of God plainly by reading his flow of thought, we have a clear answer.

God uses circumstances and situations of life to mold and shape us for good, that is, to look more like his son, Jesus Christ. We love to quote verse twenty-eight: “And we know that God causes all things to work for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.” What about verses twenty-nine and thirty? What’s Paul getting at? Look at verses twenty-eight and following:

And we know that God causes all things to work for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.

Being Christians, God has foreknown us and adopted us and brought us into His family, having rescued us from darkness and death. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ God has given us new life – the Christian life – and since we have been called and predestined into this new life we have also been predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son. What does that mean? It doesn’t mean that over time we’ll look more like Him physically, but it does mean that the calling of the Christian life to is live like Christ lived by thinking how Christ thought, and we do so by allowing Scripture and the Holy Spirit to work on our hearts and renew our minds. Eventually, either by death or Christ’s return, we’ll see Him face to face and we will be glorified and receive new glorified bodies. While we have been saved from the penalty of sin and are being saved from its power, we will ultimately be saved from the presence of sin as well. One day we will be changed as we encounter the living God in person and ultimately become glorified and ultimately conformed to the image of His Son, Jesus.
Until that day the circumstances we face can play a big role in causing us to mature and experience spiritual growth. Every once in a while I catch myself wishing that certain things had never happened in my life or that I hadn’t made certain dumb choices, yet at the same time I probably wouldn’t have learned what I learned nor grown in the way I have if God hadn’t used those circumstances to change and mold me. Do you know what I mean? You regret or wish yet at the same time you really don’t. God uses such circumstances in a way we could have never expected – for good! He uses them to change and grow us in many ways. We can be confident that the Holy Spirit is praying that God would do this in our lives, that God would take all of the various situations in our lives to draw us to Him, to build character and endurance, to allow the fruits of the Spirit to become developed in our hearts so that we will more and more ever increasingly begin to think and also therefore act like God’s Son, Jesus Christ.

Sometimes when we first encounter a situation in our lives we do so wondering how in the world God might work through it for “good”.

Many years ago when I was in my last year of high school. We were having a youth activity here in the building. Towards the end of the event I got a call on my cell phone, so I answered it as I walked up the stairs to the foyer out behind you. It was my dad, and he was calling to let me know that…it was over. He called to tell me that he was leaving and that he and my mom were separating. It was a short call. I remember hanging up and walking through those two wooden doors out front, crouching down on one of the rocks by the sidewalk, hugging my knees and looking up at the sky. It was dark, and I prayed. But I didn’t know what to pray. I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t want to go home, I didn’t want to be there. I didn’t want to be alone, yet I didn’t want to be with or see anybody either. That was one of those, “Help, God,” moments. Actually, that was one of those “Help me, God” years. Some say divorce is easier for the kids when they’re older, but it’s not true. Did God work all those things together in that situation for good? If by good we mean that everything turned out “peachy” and that all lived their lives “happily ever after”, that’s not what happened. Resolution was not the case. But God did work all things together for good, just not the good we might often think about. The good that He works is the good end of us becoming more like Christ, and I can tell you that all those involved experienced a lot of sharpening as a result, a lot of growth, and a lot of good came from the pain. I know I grew through it. I know I would not be the man I am today were it not for God working good through situations in my life such as that and crafting character through such pain.

I’ve heard of a man who has put it this way and I agree wholeheartedly: “God does not waste pain.” He doesn’t! He will use these instances in our lives to mold and shape us to make us more like Christ. The call of the Christian is to walk worthy and, as John says in His first letter, the one who has fellowship with God needs to walk – to live – in the same way that Jesus walked. God knows we won’t be perfect on this side of glory, but He does expect us to be growing. So the Spirit’s prayers on our behalf are prayers that God would work out all things in our life for our good to make us more like His Son. This should be of great encouragement to us in our times of weakness when we fall speechless to God in prayer, not knowing how we ought to pray.

In conclusion I would have us remember that the Holy Spirit’s partnership in our prayers ought to comfort and encourage us. Even when we don’t know where to begin, the Holy Spirit knows our heart, thoughts and mind and can pray in ways we can’t begin to verbalize and He does so more than adequately because He knows our hearts and minds. He prays with the end goal in mind that God will use all of the circumstances that hurt, overwhelm and frustrate us to mold and shape us to be more like Christ.

The goal is sanctification. This ought to bring comfort and encouragement to us because God is using each of the seemingly horrible and awful circumstances of our lives to bring about good, refining us more and more into the image of Christ, causing us to grow and be more like Him. In the end, when the sky rolls back like a scroll we will ultimately be like Him and we will see Him as He is. In view of our eternal life in the presence of God’s glory to come, our temporary suffering becomes unworthy of comparison. This should bring us joy!

Following this discussion of how the Holy Spirit prays for God’s will to be done in our lives and how God will ultimately glorify all those who belong to Him, Paul continues to talk about this new life that we have as a result of God’s action. Earlier in the letter Paul discussed how God demonstrated His love for us through the death of Christ. Christ’s loving sacrifice, death, burial and resurrection are what paved the way for our salvation. This paved the way not only in the beginning when we became Christians, and not just this time during life on earth as we are continuing to grow, but also ultimately as we reach heaven and glory. The way is paved, the way is sealed, and the love of Christ is guarantees that. Paul closes this section of thought with these words in verses thirty-five and following:

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? … But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord!

One day we will be like Him, one day we will rejoice in the presence of God’s glory, but until then we groan, and all creation groans as we wait in great unashamed hope for that day. Until that day, God has promised to mold and make us, and along the way we will encounter trials, temptations, frustrations, pain, but also joy, happiness, contentment – the whole spectrum. And through all of these things, the love of Christ remains. Our relationship with God and salvation are secure and firmly established. And when we pray, God is there listening to us, but not to us alone.

The Holy Spirit counsels and partners with us in prayer even when we don’t know how we ought to pray. He prays for us having searched and known our hearts and minds, praying for God’s will to be done in our lives and that all of these situations that frustrate and hurt us will be used by God to mold and shape us to be more like Christ.

We can take comfort in the fact that the Holy Spirit, who knows us completely, prays with and for us in all our prayers, especially in our most desperate hours when we don’t know how to pray to God or what to even say. Maybe you’re here and hurting – really struggling because of something at home or something at school, or work, or regarding your relationships or anything else, and you don’t know what to do. Perhaps you pray but don’t really know what to say or how to approach God with the burdens of your heart and mind. Take comfort knowing that the Holy Spirit groans along with you as He helps shoulder those burdens – He prays in a way that we oftentimes can’t, and He prays that God would work through your particular situation in a tremendous way, to bring glory to God and to make you more like His Son.

Why not take the time to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to help you? And I would encourage you to talk to another believer, to let them know what’s going on in your heart so that they might pray for you as well. When we attempt to pray apart from the Spirit’s power and equipping, and when we attempt to spend time devoted to God’s Word, when we attempt to do anything spiritual in this new life we have in Christ, by definition we can’t neglect the Spirit’s working! We must trust, rely and expect His empowering, His partnership and guidance or we will be entering a barren and fruitless activity, a wilderness of boredom, and a despairing endeavor. Don’t forget the Spirit and how He can help and guide you. Let’s pray.

(From “A Stained-Glass Window“.)

Yesterday’s chapel at Northwest Baptist Seminary was pretty incredible and probably one of the most convicting and challenging chapel messages I’ve heard in a long time. Dr. Leroy Goertzen spoke in regards to discipleship and some of our misconceptions about the concept and ministry of discipleship in the local church. If you’ve got some spare time or some time on the computer where you can listen and work at the same time, I’d challenge you to listen to the message. It’s around 30-35 minutes long, I’m not certain, but it’s well worth the time.

You can listen to the message by clicking HERE.

-in HIS strength,
Stephen

(From “A Stained-Glass Window“.)

If you’re one of those people who are thinking that I have no viable excuses to explain my failure in updating this blog, you are correct in asserting such accusations. In all honesty there are no viable excuses. Truth be told, I have found more than a bountiful number of other tasks which have tarried my return, hence making posts more than a little past due. I humbly request that you accept my apologies, that is, if anybody even checks this any more. If not, I completely understand. Once again you will henceforth witness another attempt, from yours truly, to establish a regularly updated blog of “wondrous varieties” as I post personal updates, theological considerations, or just about anything else.

Perhaps in a couple days I will post another post and get to it again. How’s that for some horribly trite tautonymy?

-in HIS strength,
Stephen

First, I’d just like to say that I don’t actually post these as “facebook” posts. If you’re reading this on Facebook it’s because I have my posts automatically mirrored from my real blog on wordpress, “A Stained-Glass Window“.

This paragraph is my preface; please don’t skip it! I learned long ago that in order to fully understand both the content and purpose behind what someone writes, one must read the author’s preface. What I’m about to write may very well be one of the most important things that I ever write. Probably all that will stand near or next to it in importance is my wedding vows, but then again, I could be wrong. Please understand that what you’re about to read is not meant to be a thorough and exhaustive theological treatise on soteriology, hamartiology or anything like that. Likewise, please take into account that I am not writing an apologetic defense of Scripture or the Gospel or the death and resurrection of Christ, nor am I attempting to do anything close to the sort. I’m been thinking about some things over the past couple days; this post is an attempt to put pen to paper, or keypad to pixels in this case, and explain some of the things that I’ve been thinking about. Organization may be lacking (or perhaps not, knowing me) but I hope good things come from it. I hope that you will be encouraged as you read this and that it will spur you on to know how wide, long, deep and high is the love of Christ and how inexhaustible the mercy of God truly is. In writing this I thank two people: I thank my pastor, Vince, because if it were not for God using this man’s compassion in a teen’s most desperate hour, I may not be alive today, and if I was I would not be walking with Christ. Secondly, I thank my girlfriend Amanda who has always prayed for me and has especially been fervent in doing so as my thoughts have been occupied by these things. One more warning: This is going to be a little long. Grab some hot chocolate or coffee, recline, and join me!

So where to start? I suppose questions first started to percolate in my mind a couple nights ago. I was standing in the bathroom, hovering over the sink, and as I briskly rubbed my hands together and allowed the water to rinse the suds from my fingers a thought came to mind. I don’t think I could really point to words; as tried and true as my memory tends to be, there are no words that I remember thinking. All I can think of is this word: Conviction. Out of nowhere it’s like someone hit me in the head with a proverbial brick. For some reason at that very moment I found myself disgusted with sin – with my sin. I’m not referring to any one sin or some heinous sin in particular, but just the plain and simple fact that I – a human made in God’s image but marred in fallen nature – mess up and sin. I count it a good thing that conviction comes. God’s Holy Spirit often works within us in this manner by revealing to us ways in which we need to evaluate our actions and thoughts and come to grips with the fact that we often live wrongfully.

I think the average Christian fails to grasp truthfully the nature of sin. We often see sin as “missing the mark” or failing to meet some standard. There is certainly truth to this; oftentimes our Greek scholars will tell us that the word “sin” derives from was also used of archers in biblical times when they failed to hit the target. When we sin we miss the mark, that mark being righteous living, and we can usually point to some sort of biblical principle, rule, or standard that we’ve violated. While this is true it is also inadequate. Let’s go back to the Garden for a minute.

The first few chapters of Genesis show us the beginning of what we might call “history”. In chapter one we see a brief synopsis of God’s creative act as He brings all things into existence with but a word, and in six days He brings – from nothing – all things into being. All of these things, from the sun and stars to plants and animals, He calls “good”. After stepping back, so to speak, and viewing the totality of His creative works, He “saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good.” In the second chapter we see another account of God’s creative acts but this time with an emphasis on humankind. We see their creation, the liberties given to them, and the one restriction: “From the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat.”

Chapter three describes what we often entitle “the fall of man”. We all know the story and have heard a thousand times how Satan tempted Eve, twisted the words of God, and how both Adam and Eve disobeyed God. We often label this sin as pride, the chief head from which pretty much all other sin flows. After Adam’s disobedient act, he and his wife hide in the Garden. My guess is that they know that they ultimately cannot hide from their Creator, but they hide anyways being ashamed. “They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.” I wonder what that sounded like! They hear this and hide, and after a discussion we see the judgment laid out for their disobedient act. But I think at this point, while we’ve gotten most of it right, we fail to capture the most important element!

Let’s rewind for a second. We don’t know how long Adam and Eve lived in the Garden before this fall takes place. It could be a year, five years, or two thousand years; the narrative just doesn’t tell us and we can’t mistake narrative distance in the text for an actual time distance. I imagine that regardless of how much time and how many years we’re talking about, that time was amazing! Imagine walking with God in that Garden, your Creator, and how amazing it would be to speak with him, talking about the Garden He created and about so many wondrous unspeakable things. Imagine having such an awesome, visible and uninhibited relationship with the God, Lord, and King of the Ages.

Now let’s fast forward again. We’re not just talking about a disobedient act. Picture the person you love more than any other person hurting you, not out of ignorance but intentionally. Imagine that pain; you’re not hurting because they broke a rule but because they’ve hurt you! What we’re talking about in this Genesis account is not simply the breaking of a code or disobeying a rule; we’re talking about a shattered relationship. God and humankind, once in perfect relational harmony, are now in complete disconnect. Imagine the heart of God in the face of this defiance!

Sin, while missing the mark, is more about throwing God’s words into His face. Death is separation; when the body dies it is separated from one’s soul and that is physical death. The problem humankind faces is that it is separated from God, and separation from God is spiritual death. Fortunately there’s this amazing thing called the Gospel, which I’ll get to in a bit.

So there I am in my bathroom and conviction comes upon me. I became sick to my stomach with sin, not because I sometimes fail to meet God’s standards but because my failure to do so throws a wrench in my relationship with Him. I think it’s hard to argue against the fact that sin in the Christian’s life will stunt growth and cause problems not only in our human relationships but also in our relationship with our God Himself. John would tell his readers that we can know, or have assurance, that we have come to know God and are in fellowship with Him if we obey Him. To obey Him means to love Him. If we say that we have this fellowship and good-standing relationship with Him and yet walk in darkness, we are self-deceived. Conviction of sin is good; it’s part of the Holy Spirit’s role in our lives as we work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. The Christian walk is a process; we are made holy in our standing before God instantly, but becoming holy in conduct and character is a process – most certainly – as we put off the characteristics of the old self and begin to identify with the new self, being made in the image of its Creator as we become sanctified through our relationship with Him.

Unfortunately, I think Satan took this instance of conviction and totally warped it into something not among God’s purposes. He brought guilt, and with it, doubt.

One of the things that totally separates the Christian faith from all the religions of the world is the concept of grace. We don’t have to do anything. Doing good, rather than bad, will not get us any closer to heaven. It will not buy us in. It will not get us through the gate. And that’s the beauty of this grace. The endless mercy of God is something to ever be thankful for. We could never meet a standard where our good and bad deeds are weighed in scale against each other because we could never do enough good! Paul would tell the Ephesian believers that by grace they were saved through faith, and not by themselves – it is a gift from God! And it is not by works – nobody can boast! The same is true for Christians today; it is by the grace of God, through faith in Jesus Christ! Through Him we have been made alive, our old self having been crucified in his death and our new life having been raised with Him!

The beauty of the Gospel is that the work has been done by, through and in Christ. But like all of the religions throughout the world, we sometimes go crawling back to the idea that our works save us. I think this is partially what my mind got distracted by. When I became disgusted with my sin I became disgusted with myself and began to think of myself as falling short of the mark and not worthy of the mercy and grace of God. Truth be told, there is no merit within us that deserves the grace and mercy of God. However, for a moment I began to doubt this thing called salvation because I didn’t feel like I was truly living the new life to its fullest and doing “good”.

What is good? Does God systematically categorize certain actions or truths as being good or bad in an arbitrary fashion? It seems to me that good is good not because God calls it good but because it is consistent with who He is. Good is good because it flows out of His character; evil is evil because it does comes from the world, from Satan, and from our sin nature.

I cannot expect to live a perfect life this side of heaven, but I believe Satan used this moment of conviction to bring me down, and for a moment I let his lies sink in and permeate my thoughts. It is true that we are not deserving of God’s grace and His endless mercy, but it is also true that we will not be perfect and flawless even in this new life characterized by His grace and mercy. He does, however, expect us to continue growing and seeking the things that are above where Christ is seated. The following passages have been very helpful to me as my mind wonders if I believe what I say I believe.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, {being} more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:3-9 NASB)

Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you. (1 Peter 5:6-10 NASB)

This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us. (1 John 3:19-24 NIV)

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. (1 Timothy 1:12-17 NAB)

When I look at the mountains and the grass of the fields, and when I consider the great things around me from the stars in the sky and the irreducible complexities of things such as the human eye or a mouse scurrying through foliage, I can’t help but ascribe these things to the glory of God. I can see His handiwork in everything that I see and cannot doubt the existence of God. When I think about Jesus and his disciple I also believe. His disciples, who would become the leaders and evangelists of His church and later die for his name’s sake, would not die for a lie. Who gains from having an empty tomb and a stolen body? Not the Romans, and certainly not the Pharisees or Jewish religious leaders, and certainly not disciples considering their ultimate persecution and death. Apologetics has much to teach us concerning the historical and plain logical viability of our Gospel accounts. I believe in Christ and I believe in God and the absolute and complete inerrancy of His revelation to us in His Word. I think the concept that I have struggled with is in regards to my living, my way of life. I struggle understanding if I really believe what I say I believe, and if I do, why don’t I live more like it? I found myself scared of hell and ashamed.

In partial answer to my question, I think I’m living the life God would have me live more than I ever have before. Am I perfect? Not at all! Otherwise this would all be academic. My life is as messy as the next guy’s. So why do I find myself shrinking in guilt and shame when I consider my sin? Because, at least for a moment, I believed a lie. God does call me to live a holy life and walk worthy of the calling with which I’ve been called, as He calls you as well, but in my new life with Christ that sin will not condemn me to hell nor will it make me any less saved than I am now. It may disrupt growth or cause a stinking stagnancy, but my hope in heaven need not be destroyed. My hope is sure and a certain thing. The writer of Hebrews would put it this way:

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible. By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks. By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; AND HE WAS NOT FOUND BECAUSE GOD TOOK HIM UP; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God. And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. (Hebrews 11:1-6)

All of the people he would subsequently message had their hope fixed on God, recognizing that they were citizens of a “city not made with hands” or a “city that is yet to come”. This is the byline that you’ll see at the top of my website.

Praise be to God for his endless mercy and for the fact that nothing that I do will remove me from His firm grasp! I am thankful for my faith, as small as it feels at times! I am thankful that God showed us love even when we were His enemies and that Christ’s death and resurrection and God’s graciousness are more than enough to give me firm conviction that my hope is secure in Him, my Rock!

This song is by Matt Boswell, has been of great comfort to me today as I’ve listened to it. I highly recommend it, as well as the whole album called “Vintage”. It’s available on iTunes. Much the album’s lyrics captures many of the truths and ideas that I’ve written tonight and it was very encouraging to me. This is his song, “The Endless Mercy of God.”

Verse 1:
The endless mercy of God will ever
Be my ground secure
God unchanging will be my rock
Whom eternity assures

Chorus:
The endless mercy of our God, The endless mercy of our God
Forevermore shall endure, the endless mercy of our God

Verse 2:
The endless mercy of God displayed
Upon the cross so vile
The wrath of God there satisfied
And man be reconciled

Verse 3:
The endless mercy of God
The Holy Spirit hath he sealed
And written there in ink that ne’er shall
Fade nor be concealed

And so I hope that as I think upon these things and come to grasp what it means to be a Christian that I’ll take times when I am convicted and understand them for what they are, not a guilty sentence of condemnation but a chance to change my ways and become more like Christ. If “Christian” means “Christ-like”, then to be a Christian is to be ever-changing as we become more and more like Him. I think at this point I’m more discontent than anything, not discontent in the sense of unhappiness with what I have but in the sense of my walk. I’m frustrated that I have not grown as much as I feel I should have at this point and that I’ve wasted many hours and days not really living for him.

The Apostle John says that we can have assurance that we have relationship with God and that we are in fellowship with Him (notice the distinction between the two) by three things: Our love for other people, what we believe and say about Jesus, and our righteousness (or lack thereof). This doesn’t mean we aren’t Christians if we struggle to love other people or make mistakes and sin (because we all do!) but rather we can have more and more visible assurance by looking at our lives and seeing these fruits in our life!

I thank God for His Word and my prayer is that I will not doubt, but rather instead understand God’s amazing grace and the calling to which I have been called! May my faith be firmly established, rooted in Him, and ever growing in the knowledge of Christ! And may I put feet to what I believe; may it change me! And may it change you as well! Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts. I would appreciate your prayers and please let me know how I can pray for you (but you may want to just talk to me about that or email it to me; don’t put it in the comments! )

-in HIS strength,
Stephen
Ezra 7:10

Some people in my life have bugged me recently, or perhaps repeatedly over a multi-month span, concerning the fact that I never really update this blog. I know, I know, and I’ll readily admit to the rather sad lull within which this blog has found itself. Part of the problem, to be sure, is that so many things are going on in my life that it would be overwhelming not only to write about it all but for anybody to actually want to read it. With this in mind, I’ve decided to start blogging again and to start off with a series of updates. Each update will revolve around a particular topic in my life that bears updating people about. Let’s see what we can do about this blog, and perhaps with a little elbow grease and a few sprinkles of words, we’ll be able to raise this blog from the ashes.

Without doubt, the most exciting and interesting aspect of my life that has changed (particularly for the better) is the one that people want to hear about the most. That one…is my girlfriend!

Amanda and I have been dating since August 23rd, which means that as of Saturday we’ll have been dating for 16 weeks, or 112 days. These past months have been the happiest of my life! Amanda and I live 189.34 miles apart from each other. While it’s difficult (understatement of the week) at times to be far apart like this, I know without a doubt that God is not wasting that hurt or pain and that in many ways we’ll be better for it in the long run. It gives us lots of chances to work on our communication, and I know it certainly makes me appreciate the times that I do get to spend with her every couple weeks or so.

For much of my life I’ve often wondered if I’d be so fortunate and blessed to experience true love and a happiness so indescribable. I’m excited to announce to you that I now have!

It’s been great getting to know her and her family – She’s been such a great blessing, encouragement and joy in my life and I find it really hard to picture my life without her, and I don’t want to!

So if we live so many miles apart, how on earth did we even get to know each other? I have three main people to thank, though others were involved: God, Beth, and Henriqueta. If it hadn’t been for God working through these two individuals, whether they knew it or not, I don’t know if our paths would’ve ever crossed. Someone once asked me over a year ago if I’d ever consider dating Amanda and my response was, “Yes, I think I would,” but would continue to explain that given the distance and the fact that we knew of each other but didn’t talk or know each other…it just couldn’t happen. Thanks to God using mutual friends, we started communicating and made the commitment to make it work despite the obstacle of us living down the street from each other…that street being Interstate 5.

I look forward to the future, treasure the here and now, and cling to the sweet memories especially while we’re apart. And I share this with you, oh readers, because I want the world to know how truly special and precious this beautiful soul whom I love truly is.

I probably sound a little romantic, or a lot, but I’m okay with that. Take care till next time… and part two.

-in HIS strength,
Stephen

Wow, I was just reading this last post and I realized how long it’s been and how much has CHANGED since I last posted. I’ll have to write a post sometime… but with two seminary midterms coming up within the next seven days I can’t promise anything till they’re over. Soon, though.

Where does one begin? I suppose that question finds itself as an inherent ingredient in the struggle of blogging when one finds himself rarely flipping open the dusty and moth-eaten pages most commonly referred to as the “blogging dashboard”. Were I to open it and perhaps put “pen to paper” at least a teaspoon more frequently, I’d probably know exactly where to begin. Unfortunately, for my sake and perhaps yours, dear readers, there is an unfathomable quantity, an uncontainable herd of ideas and thoughts, which roam freely in my mind. This post will pose an attempt, and perhaps nothing more, at putting some of those thoughts out there.

Yet a mere six and a half shifts remain before I, Stephen, will no longer be a humble and obedient servant of the monster which is world-renowned as Sherwin-Williams. I, for one, look forward to that final shift as a young boy waits for Christmas. This young boy has cut narrow strips out of green and red construction paper, linked them together as a chain, and cuts one link for every day until Christmas Eve and its dusk draw over the horizon like a velvet curtain. This young boy lies awake that night, eyes widened and thoughts racing, thinking of nothing but the sugar and cookies and toys that await him when the slug-paced clock finally reaches its appointed time and Christmas morn’ wakes with him. I, like that young boy, become quite restless as my days at Sherwin Williams close. Like the final act of a dramatic play, the curtains will close and I will give my bow. Be that bow to applause or tomatoes, I pray for the former, but I am indeed excited. This act, like several other untimely ones, will leave the store in a bit of disarray, seeing that we’re already replacing one employee and I, myself, will be replaced with a fresh crop known as an “MTP”, or a manager trainee. This person may have eight or nine weeks of paint store experience. I feel sorry for the dread that comes in the wake of my fellow worker and my absences.

Immediately following my last shift I will find myself in a doctors office, bent back, and taking a sharp needle straight into the shoulder. While I must admit that I look forward to this with great anticipation, it’s hardly like looking forward to Christmas morn’ as a young lad. It’s more like being a young lad who’s constipated and looks forward to a time when he will experience both great pain and great relief, all in one fell swoop. It turns out the pain and pressure in my shoulder is the direct result of my work, and be that the case, it will never go away while I continue in that work. This injection is to collapse a bursa sac which Uncle Sherwin has given me as a thank you present for all of the gallons and buckets I’ve slung for him over the years. Mucho gusto. It had long been planned to leave Sherwin-Williams, regardless of shoulder incident, but this timing was not my plan. Due to this accelerated departure, I had to do everything physically possible to have everything physically checked out. Possibly.

The dentist. I love my dentist, but I hate the dentist. I don’t hate him, just the metaphorical position and pain that comes in the thought of “the dentist”. My teeth don’t like me; no matter what I do, the acidic spores of tartaric monstrosities seem to pick off the young and weak from the pack. This time the dentist found two of their attacks, two cavities…and a tooth needing a crown. That hurt. Surprisingly, for the first time in many moons, he was actually able to numb me… twelve injections of three types later. This week I’ll go in for the permanent crown, and then I’ll say goodbye to the dentist for a few more months. I hadn’t gone in about three years, but regardless of my frequency to his office… well… let’s just say I know the drill there.

As I stated, I was already planning on leaving the company of which we do not speak yet my decision was accelerated because my hand, or rather my arm, was forced in the matter. I have always felt the call to full-time ministry. There is not another job, leisurely activity, position, or desire that overwhelms, excites, or stirs my heart as much as when I serve God by showing love for the body of Christ and other people by using the gifts God has given to me. Serving Christ is all I want to do! I need training. And unfortunately, because of the professionalization of ministry, I need a degree. Eventually it seemed to me that Northwest Baptist Seminary was not possible because Sherwin-Williams was in the way; looks like that’s not a problem now, and while my decision was already made anyhow, this shoulder issue has more than confirmed that I am, indeed, doing the right thing. Seminary should take me a good three or more years. How am I financing that? I’ve got some ideas, but honestly, not a clue.

This last quarter I took a class to get my feet wet. The professor told us from the get-go that it was his goal, in part, to make us fall in love with the Gospels again. I know I can say, on my behalf, that his goal was accomplished. I’ve really come to appreciate the authors of the Gospels, how they arranged and included different stories about Jesus in order to bring to light something awesome, personal, and theological to each of their audiences. In order to convince each of their audiences of something cool about Jesus, they chose stories that would speak to that light and teach them those principles not only that their opinions on the matter might change but that the might grow in relationship with that same Jesus. I could say a ton more, and perhaps I will at another time, but I’ll leave it at this: That class totally revitalized my passion, understanding, and desire to know Christ and to know him through the Gospels.

I recently finished reading a book that I found to be quite interesting and stimulating. Alright, so actually I found it super convicting, especially as a self-proclaimed logical bullet-pointing right-brained organizational neat-freak. The book is called “Searching for God Knows What”, by Donald Miller. I highly recommend it, while I don’t agree 100% with everything within, I still found it to be very encouraging and edifying. It actually gave me a few gut punches and left-hooks to the kidneys as I read it. These are some of his major emphases: 1) We tend to turn our relationship with God, and sometimes other people, into a formulaic approach. Rather than viewing our relationship with him as being just that – a relationship – we treat him like a cause-and-effect formula by which input-output is measured by what we do. 2) We systematize the Bible, breaking down into all kinds of lists, charts, and formulas when we should be paying more attention to the poetry, the “blood and pain of the narrative”, the depth of the emotion with which God communicates these truths. 3) Like a group of survivors in a lifeboat, we each try to show and explain to each other why we’re worthy enough to not get thrown off the lifeboat. We seem to love comparing ourselves to one another, usually for the sake of gaining affirmation from others in the lifeboat. 4) The point that hit me over and over again throughout the book can be summed up in a quote from early on in the book. Donald says, or rather asks, “What if the motive behind our theology was relational?”

This question hits me harder than just about any proposition he makes. Why do I do what I do? Do I study God’s Word and theologize because I think it’s cool or awesome? Do I teach these things because I want to show my worth, and thus gain affirmation from those around me? Do I simply do it for fun? There’s lots of things I could just do for fun. Why do I want to learn more about God? What is my motive? If my motive is relationship, to grow in the knowledge of Christ, than there’s more to it than just “learning stuff”. If my motive is relational, the entire way in which I view Scripture, and hence theology and life, will be totally different! Instead of cobwebs, charts, and factual propositions I will find, and hence share, the glorious thing that it is to say, “I know Christ!” May the motive behind my theology, and my entire approach to this great and glorious creator we call God, and his son Jesus Christ, be motivated by my desire not to fill myself with the affirmations of others but with love and a desire to know Him!

That’s probably enough for now; seeing that I have no official academic responsibilities over the course of the next couple months, I’ll be reading a lot and pretty much have about as much of an excuse to not blog as a rat has to not get fat in a cheese factory.

That being said, I bid you adieu, and look forward to many happy bloggings to come. Cheers.

-in HIS strength,
Stephen
Ezra 7:10

Yes, I know. I’ve pretty much not posted anything ever for quite a while. Bad me. I know. I’ll post again soon, but for now, here’s a quick update for me.

-Work is going okay. I had my review today and now my boss and I are at an understanding concerning my future with the company, although I don’t think he realizes quite how soon my future with the company could become past tense.
-I started seminary a couple weeks ago! I’m taking a course called “Interpretation and Exposition of New Testament Narrative Literature.” It’s a class that teaches us how to approach the Gospels and Acts from a literary perspective, understanding them in their context as ancient Near-Eastern literature, and how to thereby study and preach them. It’s cool.
-I’ve almost reached my first target weight! My goal was to reach it only by running and working out my upper body. Then on to the second goal.
-Please pray for me concerning a couple things. There are a lot of uncertainties concerning my future financially speaking as I prepare to head into full-time seminary. Work is the biggest question; how am I going to finance stuff? Yikes. I’ll be painting with my dad in the summers, but other than that, it’s all up in the air.
-Oh yes, and please pray for me concerning my right shoulder. For years it’s made a funny pop when I twist it. Over the past two years a slight pain has developed when that happens. Over the past three weeks, it pops and grinds quite often and during more varied motions, and it hurts. It often aches now. I’ve always foreseen a shoulder surgery in my future because of this, and unfortunately I’m thinking – if it’s even necessary – it might have to happen sooner than I want. So if you see me randomly grab or rub my shoulder, that is why.
-All in all things are awesome. I need to stop procrastinating. I find it really hard to focus and just study, be it for school or for a sermon or lesson I’m preparing. I’ve become really unacademic over the past couple years and I need to get over that.
-I’m going to sleep. I’ll post soon.