Category: Hear From the President

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Some Christians are in the habit of using strange-sounding phrases like, “The Lord spoke to me,” “my prayer language,” “God gave me a word of knowledge,” “the Lord put a burden on my heart,” and “God gave me the anointing.” I’m not saying such phrases are wrong, nor is it my intent to mock them, but I do want to point out that the use of such Christian “in-speak” tends to detract from biblically accurate communication. In this letter I want to focus on the use (and misuse) of the phrase, the anointing.

In Scripture, the word anoint typically is used to refer to a way of confirming a special work that God is doing in or through a particular person. People are anointed for healing, in preparation for burial, and when being consecrated (commissioned) as a king, priest or prophet. When a priest or prophet would anoint someone to commission them for leadership, a transfer of authority (and thus power) to the one being anointed is sometimes noted. But it’s important to note that the one performing the anointing was not in control of that power—the anointing was not the equivalent of a dying king passing their rule on to a successor. Rather, the person who was anointing the king, priest or prophet was setting them aside in a public way to confirm that God truly had called that person into a particular leadership responsibility. For example, when the prophet Samuel anointed David, he was commissioning him as king, not transferring the Holy Spirit to David.

In Psalm 139:7-12, David shows that God is present everywhere (he is omnipresent). This means that the Spirit is not some sort of force under our control that we can transfer from one person to another through anointing. Moreover, Scripture shows that the Holy Spirit is not a “force” but a “person”—he speaks (Acts 13:2), is grieved (Ephesians 4:30), and has a will (1 Corinthians 12:11). By remembering that the Spirit is an omnipresent, divine person, we guard against false teaching, including the misuse of the word anointing.

Sadly, the word anointing is frequently misused. On the one hand it’s misused in referring to subjective experiences like “pins and needles” feelings. On the other hand, it’s misused to refer to a transfer of power (“receiving the Spirit”) akin to being given another helping of mashed potatoes! This wrong-headed thinking concludes that the Spirit is not present until hands are laid on a person, or that a person cannot have the Holy Spirit abiding in them until some action is completed apart from believing in the Son. These conclusions are badly mistaken—God does not fragment himself! Moreover, God’s being and doing is not conditioned (dependent on), nor determined by, for example, the use of our hands in a prayer. We can’t claim to be “alive in Christ,” and that he resides in us, then turn around and claim he is somehow not in us. The apostle John put it this way: “He whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for he gives the Spirit without measure” (John 3:34 NASB).

It may surprise some folks to learn that anointing does not involve a tangible transfer of power as if anointing is like plugging a television into an electrical wall outlet. The Spirit’s power is not a commodity to be purchased, traded, exchanged or accessed like a physical form of power. Moreover, there is no such thing as the receiving of a single, double, or triple portion of the Spirit as though receiving him is like scooping extra servings of food onto a dinner plate. The Bible never has Jesus or any of his apostles teaching that we can receive such an “extra portion.” What we do find in Scripture is a sorcerer named Simon being rebuked by the apostle Peter for trying to buy a portion of the Spirit’s power (Acts 8:9-24).

At this point, some might be wondering about the story of Elisha in 2 Kings 2, and the account of Pentecost in Acts 2. Let’s take Elisha’s story first. You’ll recall that the Jordan River was parted for Elijah and Elisha’s benefit:

When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?” “Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,” Elisha replied. “You have asked a difficult thing,” Elijah said, “yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours—otherwise, it will not.” (2 Kings 2:9-10)

Elisha’s request was made in accordance with the legal terminology of Deuteronomy 21:17, which specifies that the firstborn was to receive pî šnayim (“a double share”) of his patrimony. So Elisha was not asking for a double portion of Elijah’s anointing, but for a double portion of his spirit, meaning to be heir to Elijah’s office and gifts. Here is a case of misreading what is actually said in Scripture through an overly literal interpretation. If someone says “you’re pulling my leg,” you know what it means—you haven’t literally grabbed his leg.

In Acts 2, Luke tells us what happened on the day of Pentecost following Jesus’ ascension. There is no reference in that account to people receiving a “portion” of the Holy Spirit. Nor does Luke tell us that there was a transfer of power from one person to another. Rather, he notes that God audibly and visibly set apart those who were there through the outpouring of the Spirit. The word anoint is not even used in that account, though we may legitimately view it that way since the anointing came directly from God. As Luke notes, everyone heard Peter’s sermon in their own language. The skeptics accused the participants of being drunk (in our day, a few attempt to interpret this as being “drunk in the spirit,” but the text does not support any such idea). Peter set them straight:

These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.” (Acts 2:15-18)

As Peter noted, this event was a fulfillment of prophecy. Jesus had instructed his disciples to wait in Jerusalem and they were blessed in doing so. It was the birth of the New Testament church.

Ultimately, the one who is supremely the anointed one is Jesus himself. His title, Messiah, is derived from the Hebrew word for anointed, and means “the anointed one.” “Christ” is the same title in Greek, derived from the word for anointee. In Scripture, Jesus Christ is portrayed as fulfilling in a full and final way the three anointed offices of prophet, priest and king. While in the Old Testament only special persons were anointed for God’s service, in the New Testament all believers receive the anointing by the Holy One (1 John. 2:20). God fulfills his plan for us by adopting us as his children by the work of Jesus in the Holy Spirit. That’s a true anointing—our sharing in Jesus’ own anointing, by the Spirit, who he sends to us in the name of the Father.

In the name of the Father, Son and Spirit,
Joseph Tkach

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Genesis is perhaps the most debated book in the Bible, largely because its purpose and nature are often misunderstood. Fundamentalists and evolutionists alike claim that Genesis conflicts with science. But Genesis makes no attempt to address many of the questions that are the concern of modern, evolutionary science. The purpose of the creation narratives in Genesis (there are two, as I explain below) is not scientific but theological (with philosophical and religious implications). The creation narratives reveal who the creator God is, what kind of relationship he has with his creation, and his ultimate purpose for his creation. Science has other concerns.

Evolutionary creation?

The creation narratives of Genesis do not give detailed descriptions of the mechanisms involved that explain exactly how creation came about or unfolded. The descriptions are not “scientific” (as we would say today) in that way. But that does not mean they are inaccurate about what they do explain. Unfortunately, many of the scientists in the ongoing debate make claims that are largely philosophical rather than strictly scientific. Scientist Richard Dawkins (one of the so-called new atheists), a vocal contributor to the debate, is a prime example. His arguments, rather than being about material aspects of creation ascertained by the scientific method, are philosophical claims involving speculative logical inferences about God, religion and evil made from selected scientific information. That being said, a right understanding of Genesis does not rule out the possibility that God has (at least in part) used evolutionary processes to advance his creative purposes.

The creation narratives in Genesis leave room for theistic evolution (others prefer the term evolutionary creation), by which God oversees evolutionary processes in bringing about his purposes for creation. God’s oversight of and intervention in his creation comes, ultimately, in and through Jesus Christ. Since Genesis and the rest of Scripture do not specify the means God used (and continues to use) in creating, we are free to adopt the best scientific theories available that do not contradict the theological claims of biblical revelation.

Why the Genesis creation narratives?

Because the purpose of the Genesis creation narratives is fundamentally theological, they rule out the claims of atheism, polytheism, deism and dualism. In fact, the Genesis creation narratives likely were written to address those who had heard of and possibly believed in the creation myths taught by the polytheistic religions of Babylonia, Akkadia and Egypt. Evidence for this is seen in the many similarities between the Genesis creation accounts and the Babylonian creation myth known as Enûma Eliš. One of those similarities is that both begin with a watery chaos.

Unfortunately, some skeptics go too far in what they make of these similarities, claiming that the author of Genesis merely changed the Babylonian creation myth to make it about the God of Israel. But in making that claim they fail to account for the crucial differences between the biblical and the polytheistic creation narratives. Genesis gives us a theological explanation of who God is quite different than that of the pagan myths. Whereas Genesis tells the story of the creation of humanity by the one God of Israel, Enûma Eliš tells the story of creation through many gods, who in turn give birth to several other gods who grow up to be quite a rowdy bunch (much like humans!).

Concerning the differences between the Genesis creation narratives and the Babylonian creation myth, Victor Hurowitz (in Is the Creation Story Babylonian?), wrote that it is “patently untenable” to speculate that the biblical authors simply took Enûma Eliš and “applied it to YHWH.” [1] As Hurowitz and others have noted, the character and purpose of the one creator God presented in Genesis is entirely different from the gods of the polytheistic creation myths. Consequently the depiction in Genesis of God’s relationship with humans is entirely different than the relationship between the gods and humans depicted in the pagan myths.

Reading Genesis rightly

Adding to the complexity of understanding Genesis is that it contains two creation narratives in its first few chapters. Current debates about Genesis often overlook this, along with three other facts: 1) the creation narratives are small parts of the larger whole of Genesis, 2) the focus of Genesis is not creation but the nation of Israel, 3) Genesis is part of the Pentateuch and the entire Bible, giving it a much larger context than is typically acknowledged.

It’s also important to note that Genesis must be read through ancient eyes rather than modern ones. These different “lenses” assume different things and ask different questions. Reading with ancient eyes requires that we become aware of our modern perspectives that mainly want to know how things work and how to use things for our purposes. Modern “scientific” explanations insist that we don’t need to know anything about any agent involved in creation, but only the mechanisms of the natural world. It also insists that there is no need to know the ultimate purposes of those things that exist—only how to use them for our own ends. In our modern era, these philosophical assumptions determine what constitutes scientific explanation, thus reducing the search for knowledge by asking essentially technological questions.

Reading Genesis rightly also requires that we understand what the original audience expected from stories such as the creation narratives. Ancient readers would not have looked to Genesis to learn how creation works at the natural, material and causal levels. Instead, they would have wanted to know about the agent(s) responsible for creation and its ultimate purpose or destiny.

Rather than trying to make Genesis answer modern, very constricted scientific questions it was not designed to address, we should ask, What questions was Genesis actually designed to answer? Genesis reveals theological truths about the agency behind creation and its purpose. It does this in fairly straightforward ways that do not require logical inferences and speculations about what is written.

For example, no passage of Scripture directly states the age of the universe. Trying to determine the date of creation from the Bible requires interpolating from what the biblical authors say about other things. But such interpolations (logical inferences) do not lead to truth. That is why the church, when it began to debate the improper question of the age of the universe, was unable to come to agreement. Those who contributed to the debate offered only unprovable theories based on unprovable assumptions, generated by logical inferences using biblical information provided for very different purposes! An example is the work of Bishop James Ussher who claimed to have calculated the exact date of creation based on inferences from biblical genealogies.

Another key issue in reading Genesis rightly is being able to identify the literary genre of the text. Tremper Longman III, professor of biblical studies at Westmont College, makes that point in his book, How to Read Genesis: “No reading of the book [of Genesis] can proceed without making a genre identification. Most people do it without reflection, a dangerous procedure since an error in this area results in fundamental misunderstanding of the book’s message” (p. 23).

Ultimately, the only way to rightly read Genesis is to read it through the “lens” of Jesus Christ—carefully accounting for his life, death, resurrection and ascension. In his Gospel, Luke tells us that, “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, [Jesus] explained to [his followers] what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself” (Luke 24:27). Jesus then said to them, “‘This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms” (Luke 24:44). Luke then tells us that Jesus “opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures” (Luke 24:45). It is Jesus—who he is and what he has done—that informs our understanding of Genesis as well as the rest of the Old Testament (and, indeed, the whole of Scripture).

The importance of seeing the whole picture

In Genesis: the Movie, Episcopal priest and scholar Robert Farrar Capon explains the book’s title and purpose:

[My purpose is to] help people stop reading the Bible as if it were a manual of instruction in religion or spirituality or morality or anything else and to start watching it as a film, presented to you by the Holy Spirit, who is the movie director. When you watch a movie, you don’t stop 10 minutes into the film and try to decide what it means. You cannot fairly say anything about the movie until you have seen the whole movie and hold it in your mind as an entirety—as a whole piece. And that is what needs to be done with the Bible. It has to be seen as one thing. So I’d like people to see biblical inspiration, not as a matter of word-by-word inspiration, but as scenes in the movie the way the director wants to show it to you, that is, scene-by-scene.

I think Capon is on to something here. If we don’t see the whole picture of the Bible, it’s easy to derive inaccurate meanings from passages that we are pulling out of the context of that one “movie.” It’s when we see what the Holy Spirit as the movie director is doing that we pick up the clues woven into the text. Capon’s book helps us understand not only the purpose of the book of Genesis, but how the whole of Scripture is integrated around the core of God’s ultimate plan of redemption in Jesus Christ.

Reading Genesis in the light of Jesus

I’m glad to say that my dear friend John McKenna (pictured at right) is writing a book that will offer important incarnational, Trinitarian perspective on Genesis. It will explain that Moses, the author of Genesis, was the great prophet who lived at the beginning of Israel’s history. It will note parallels between Moses and Jesus, referencing, for example, Deuteronomy 18:15 (KJV): “The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken.” Recognizing Moses as a prophet significantly impacts how we read Genesis.

John will also explain that the first eleven chapters of Genesis are “primordial prophecy” with the first chapter relating to the cosmos as first created or developed, and the second through the eleventh chapters relating to the earliest ages of history. John will explain that the remainder of Genesis is “ancestral prophecy”—telling the story of inheritance.

Please join me in encouraging Dr. McKenna to finish this important book, and also join me in reading Genesis from the perspective of who Jesus is and what his plan is for all humanity. After all, as Paul says in Colossians 1:15-20, everything was created through the Son, for the Son, and to be inherited by the Son of God. In the Old Testament, we see God’s faithfulness displayed in what he was doing to prepare the world for the Incarnation of the Son of God, leading to the redemption of all humanity in and through Jesus. It is in this light that Genesis is rightly read.

Rejoicing in the goodness of our Creator who is our Redeemer,
Joseph Tkach

PS: To read more on this topic, we recommend Three Views on Creation and Evolution, and Four Views on the Historical Adam. The latter book has a helpful chapter by Denis Lamaroux on evolutionary creation. Also click here for a related Surprising God post by Gary Deddo.

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[1] Quoted from Exploring Genesis: The Bible’s Ancient Traditions in Context, a free e-book from the Biblical Archaeology Society. Here is an extended quote from Hurowitz’s chapter in that book:

As recent scholarship is making clear, simplistic comparison between Enûma Eliš and the biblical tradition—as if the Bible were directly dependent on Enûma Eliš and it alone—is patently untenable.… In light of all this and more, it is impossible to accept today in a simplistic manner the claims… that the biblical authors took the Babylonian Story of Creation, that is Enûma Eliš, and simply applied it to YHWH, God of Israel. The specific parallels are fewer than originally thought and even the best ones are not entirely certain. (pp. 11-12)

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

We’ve just completed the fourth of seven 2016 US regional conferences with the theme, Renewal: building on the foundation of Jesus. Jesus said he would build his church (Matthew 16:18), and he continues to do just that. Though some say Christianity is declining and dying, the opposite is true. According to a recent Pew Research Center study, the world’s Christian population is projected to grow from 2.2 billion in 2010 to 2.9 billion by 2050, meaning that nearly one in three people on earth will be Christian by mid-century. What excites me is that some of that growth will occur within our fellowship, Grace Communion International.

The wide spectrum of Christianity has three main branches: Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant. The Protestant branch, of which we are part, has multiple denominations, with some self-identifying as evangelicals. When asked, I explain that GCI is part of the evangelical community. Some ask what it means to be evangelical. Let me explain.

The term evangelical comes from the Greek word euangelion, which is used in the New Testament to refer to the good news (gospel). Evangelicals focus on proclaiming the good news about the salvation brought to sinners by Jesus Christ. An emphasis on the person and work of Jesus is thus essential, as is an emphasis on the importance of the Bible. Evangelicals are a vibrant, diverse group devoted to sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. Evangelical believers are found in many denominations and churches, bringing together Reformed, Holiness, Anabaptist, Pentecostal, Charismatic, and other traditions.

When I say GCI is evangelical, I mean that in a theological sense. This is important to note because the term evangelical is often used in a sociological sense to refer to a large and diverse social-political grouping. Journalists often use the term in describing groups at the fringe of evangelicalism.

As most of you know, GCI became a member denomination of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) in 1997. I currently serve on its Board of Directors. The NAE was founded in 1942 and has grown to include more than 40 denominations, as well as universities, para-church ministries, publishers and independent churches. Knowing that the definition of evangelical has been confused (even misused), the NAE initiated a study in partnership with Lifeway Research to refine the definition of what it means to be evangelical. The result determined that an evangelical is identified by strong agreement with the following four statements:

• The Bible is the highest authority for what I believe.
• It is very important for me personally to encourage non-Christians to trust Jesus Christ as their Savior.
• Jesus Christ’s death on the cross is the only sacrifice that could remove the penalty of my sin.
• Only those who trust in Jesus Christ alone as their Savior receive God’s free gift of eternal salvation.

Though some who are part of the current Trinitarian renewal movement might word these statements somewhat differently, it should be noted that both Karl Barth and T.F. Torrance were happy to use the word “evangelical” in its theological sense.

In 1997, Don Argue, NAE president at the time, announced WCG’s (now GCI’s) acceptance into membership with this statement: “We see the dramatic changes that have occurred among our friends as God’s continuing efforts to bring renewal and revival for His glory.” This was a moment of qualitative growth for GCI and our growth (qualitative and quantitative) has continued.

In 2007 GCI had about 36,000 members worldwide (most in the US). Today we have nearly that many outside the US alone. While we have been staying even in numbers in the West (USA, Canada, Australia and UK), we have been on a growth spurt in Asia and Africa. In the West, though we have gained members and planted new churches, that growth has been offset by the number of people who have died or discontinued attending for a number of reasons, including relocating to areas where there are no GCI congregations.

In previous Weekly Update letters I’ve highlighted GCI’s rapid growth in Mozambique. Many of you have joined me in celebrating what the Holy Spirit is doing there. We are also celebrating wonderful growth in Togo and Tanzania where dozens of churches are joining us and new churches are being planted (click here to read a report from Kalengule Kaoma). There are other developments in the works that I hope to be able to share with you soon. By God’s grace, GCI is moving forward!

Please keep Kalengule and his family in prayer. He travels to some hard-to-get-to places. Also pray for our other mission developers as they continue to follow where the Spirit leads in spreading the good news in far-flung parts of the world. Living and sharing the gospel is our motto and mission, and that is what being evangelical is all about.

Celebrating what God is doing in and through us,
Joseph Tkach

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Next Sunday (May 22), many Christians will observe Trinity Sunday in celebration of God’s triune nature. Knowing God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit is cause for great joy and thanksgiving!

As I think about God, I’m struck by his great mercy, seen clearly in Jesus’ prayer from the cross: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). Though Jesus’ prayer included the religious leaders who betrayed him, the crowd that shouted “crucify him,” and the soldiers who nailed him to the cross and cast lots for his clothing, there was much more involved. Jesus’ prayer revealed the very heart and mind of the Trinity to forgive all humanity with our broken relationships, distorted identities, depravity and sin.

Included in Jesus’ prayer were all people of all times and in all places. By assuming human nature through the incarnation, thus joining himself to all humanity, the eternal Son of God, in the person of Jesus, became the second (final) Adam (Romans 5:17-19). As Jesus spoke his brief prayer on the cross, his life-blood was poured out for the pardon of all people. At the moment he expelled his final breath, the veil that separated the Holy of Holies (with its mercy seat) from the forecourt of the temple, tore from top to bottom. It was as if the Father, coming from eternity, tore through the curtain of time and space to embrace his returning prodigal children in reconciliation.

My finite brain struggles to understand our great and merciful God—to “comprehend the incomprehensible, know the unknowable, and fathom the unfathomable” (as a professor of mine once said). God transcends time and space (he exists simultaneously both inside and outside time), yet he invites us to be with him in his eternity. Though he is spirit—without physical attributes and invisible to our mortal eyes (Romans 1:20, Colossians 1:15, 1 Timothy 1:17, John 1:18)—God is intimately involved with us through his incarnate Son and by his Spirit.

To help us relate to him despite the fact that we are unable to comprehend his invisible attributes, Scripture uses anthropomorphisms that speak of God as having eyes (1 Kings 8:29), ears (Psalm 34:15), hands (Hebrews 1:10), mighty arms (Psalm 89:10), a face (Numbers 6:24-26) and feet (Psalm 8:6). These anthropomorphisms convey truths about God’s attributes: his omnipotence (being all-powerful, he is able to do whatever he wills in harmony with his good and perfect nature and character), his omnipresence (being everywhere present, there is nowhere he is not), and his omniscience (knowing all things immediately, simultaneously, exhaustively and truly, there is nothing he does not know).

Though God in his transcendent glory is beyond human comprehension, he is not a prisoner of that transcendence—he knows how to reveal himself to us, and has done so brilliantly in Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God. In and through Jesus, who is the full and final revelation of God, we know God as Triune, thus recognizing God as living and dynamic in his eternal internal relationships (as Father, Son and Spirit); and in his external relationships (with his creation). In and through Jesus we come to know the loving and merciful God who was willing to become as we are so that we may become like he is (as famously stated by Athanasius).

This truth about God, seen in Jesus, was preserved for us by the apostles in the New Testament. Relying on their testimony, early church teachers and leaders (men like Athanasius, Basil and Gregory of Nyssa, and Gregory Nazianzus) identified errors being taught concerning God’s nature. What they held to be true was summarized in written form in the early church creeds, which maintained 1) the unity (oneness) of the being of God; 2) the eternal existence and internal relations of the three Persons of God; and 3) the total equality of the three Persons in divine nature, authority and attributes. All three “dimensions” must be affirmed as simultaneously true in order to remain faithful in our witness to who God has revealed himself to be. If the unity or oneness is denied, we fall into the error of trithesim. If the eternity and divine relations of any of the three Persons is denied, we fall into modalism (the teaching that God is only one Person who then appears in three different “modes”). If one of the Persons is regarded as less divine or more divine than the others, we land in subordinationism.

A form of subordinationism was taught by Arius, a leader in the church in Alexandria, Egypt. He taught that God created a special angelic-like created being called Jesus, who God sent to redeem us. It became obvious that sending a creature instead of coming himself to save us speaks of a God who was unwilling or unable to be involved personally with his creation (Arius asserted that God was unable to be incarnate because his being was very different from created beings). This false teaching does not align with Scripture, which declares: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14); “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:19); “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form” (Colossians 2:9 and see Hebrews 1:1-6).

Athanasius, an early champion of the Trinitarian faith, understood the revelation of Scripture. Knowing Jesus’ teaching and Paul’s writings, he opposed Arius’ error by teaching that only God himself can redeem humanity because a created being does not have that ability. Athanasius focused on Jesus’ declaration (recorded in John’s Gospel) concerning his oneness with the Father, and that he only did what he saw the Father doing. Athanasius concluded that God had to be involved in everything Jesus was and did. He reasoned that in Jesus, the Son of God (remaining fully who he was) became completely human so that we could be fully redeemed—only God himself is capable of truly redeeming humanity and reconciling us to God as his beloved children. So God himself—the whole Triune God—is our Savior (1 Timothy 1:1, 2:3, 4:10; Titus 1:3-4, 2:10, 13, 3:4; 2 Peter 1:1; Jude 25). God did not send someone else to do the job for him—it was a job that only he could do.

The doctrine of the Trinity celebrates not only who God is, but also what the triune God has done, is doing and will do. I like the illustration that God is doing major surgery on humanity. God is a heart surgeon who operates without material scalpels, syringes and machines. God is performing heart transplants without a medical team—changing our hearts and even giving us new hearts that are perfect toward him. God is giving us a share in Jesus’ own sanctified human heart. Notice God’s promise:

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. (Ezekiel 36:26-27)

God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—is truly great and great in mercy. Knowing this leads us to give special emphasis to celebrating the Trinity as we gather for worship on Trinity Sunday.

Celebrating the Trinity this week and always,
Joseph Tkach

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The beginning of life has always amazed me. The fact that God designed life to start from something as small as an egg cell (ovum), united in the womb with an even smaller sperm cell (spermatozoon), is remarkable to say the least. At the moment of that union, known as conception, cells begin to multiply and a human life begins to take shape. Based on recent research, some scientists now refer to the moment of conception as the spark of life.

The term spark of life has been used over the years to convey several meanings. In her book Spark of Life: Electricity in the Human Body, Frances Ashcroft notes how electricity drives all we think, feel and do by moving through the ion channels in the membranes of the cells in our body. Because of this phenomenon, doctors are able to use an EKG to measure the electrical activity of our heart. This phenomenon explains how we discern a particular substance (like a chili pepper) as being hot. It also explains how a blood-sucking vampire bat detects the body heat of its prey (like the heat coming from your big toe as it protrudes outside the protective mosquito netting!).

Conception: the spark of life

Recent research concerning the spark of life comports with what Christians have believed for centuries—life begins at conception. Formal teaching of this belief goes back at least as far as the fourth-century writings of Basil the Great (one of the first and best theologians of the Trinity).

Though it is common to refer metaphorically to the “fireworks” that accompany conception, researchers at Northwestern University in Chicago recently have shown that another kind of fireworks occurs when the egg and sperm unite, forming a zygote. As shown in the artist’s illustration above and the amazing video below, at the moment of conception a flash of light occurs as a zap of energy is released around the newly fertilized egg. Though scientists had seen this phenomenon in other animals, the Northwestern researchers were the first to see it in humans. The flash occurs when the sperm cell enters the egg, triggering an increase in calcium, which then releases zinc from the egg. As the zinc shoots out, it binds to small molecules that emit fluorescence. In a press release, one of the researchers shared her excitement in this discovery: “To see the zinc radiate out in a burst from each human egg was breathtaking.”

video on YouTube at http://youtu.be/u-ZpXOQsYQI

Light and life

I love this discovery because it serves as yet another parable in nature pointing to God, the unseen Source of the light and life of the world. From antiquity there has been a recognition that there is a relationship in the natural world between light and life. This association was used by the biblical writers to point to the deeper and unseen reality of the gracious relationship between God and his creation. The nature and quality of this relationship was fully and finally revealed in the incarnate Word of God, Jesus Christ, beginning with his conception in the womb of Mary by the Holy Spirit as she received and freely submitted to the invisible Word spoken to her by the angel of God. You will recall Mary’s response: “Behold, the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word” (Luke 1:38 KJV).

The apostle John wrote this about Jesus: “In him was life; and that life was the light of all mankind” (John 1:4). In John’s Gospel, “light” is used 16 times to describe the work of Christ. Jesus is not merely a light, or another light among many. Rather, he is the only Light and the true Light (John 1:9). In claiming to be the Light of the World, Jesus was clearly declaring himself to be the Messiah. Since one of the names of the expected Messiah was light (Isaiah 60:19-22), there could be no question about his self-identification.

Knowing who Jesus is should, perhaps, make the discovery of the phenomenon of the flashing spark of light at conception a bit less surprising. Jesus is the life-giver and it is as though he gives an approving wink at each moment of conception. And since Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith, he will finish what he starts in each of us as we return a loving response to him, growing up in him and receiving from him a share in God’s own kind of life, that is, eternal life.

The theme of light goes all through the Scriptures and is even used to describe God’s throne in the book of Revelation:

After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne. Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. (Revelation 4:1-5)

Yes, life does begin with fireworks. But God apparently has more fireworks in store for us as we celebrate life in the Trinity for all eternity. I look forward to seeing the fireworks display!

Rejoicing in the spark of life,
Joseph Tkach

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I see motherhood as one of God’s greatest creations. I was reminded of that recently when pondering what to send my mother and mother-in-law for Mother’s Day. I thought back to how my Mom would often remark how blessed she was to be a mother to me and my two sisters. She said giving birth to us gave her another level of appreciation for God, which I didn’t fully understand until I witnessed the birth of my own children. I recall marveling how Tammy went so quickly from the pain of childbirth to the awe of holding our son and daughter. Over the years I have continued to be awed by a mother’s love, which I confess differs in some ways from my love and the love I experienced from my father.

Given the depth and power of a mother’s love, it’s no surprise to me that the apostle Paul would use motherhood to illustrate important points about God’s covenant with humanity:

For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. (Galatians 4:22-26 ESV)

As you know, Abraham (Abram) had two sons by two wives. His son Isaac was born of his wife Sarah (Sarai), a free woman, and his son Ishmael was born of his wife Hagar, a slave woman. According to ancient law and custom, the status of the mother affected the status of her son. But there is another significant factor about these two births. Ishmael was born the ordinary way, requiring no miracle and no promise of God, but Isaac was born as the result of both a miracle and a promise.

As Paul explains, these details tell us something significant about God and his purposes for all humanity. Since Sarah was beyond childbearing age, God miraculously intervened to fulfill his promise in bringing life out of her barren womb. As a result, Isaac was born, and thus Abraham, Isaac and Jacob became patriarchs of the nation of Israel. It’s important to note that all three had wives who were barren, necessitating God’s miraculous intervention for this lineage to occur—a lineage that led, ultimately, to the incarnation of the eternal Son of God. Note T.F. Torrance’s comment:

The supreme instrument of God for the salvation of the world is Israel, and out of the womb of Israel, Jesus, the Jew from Nazareth—yet he was no mere instrument in the hands of God, but very God himself, come in person in the form of a servant, to work out from within our limitations and recalcitrance, and to bring to its triumphant completion, the redemption of mankind, and our restoration to fellowship with the very life of God himself.

We see Jesus prefigured in the story of Isaac. Isaac’s birth was of supernatural intervention, while Jesus’ birth was of supernatural origin. Isaac was offered up as a potential sacrifice, while Jesus was the actual (and willing) sacrifice of atonement that reconciled humanity to God. There also is a parallel between Isaac and us. Isaac was born of God’s promise and supernatural act, while we have been given new (supernatural) birth of the Spirit, being made to share in Jesus’ own sonship (John 3:3, 5). We, therefore, should not live as children of bondage, as if our relationship to God was mediated by a written, external law. Rather, through the mediation of God’s Son incarnate, Jesus Christ, and by his Spirit, we have been adopted into God’s family and have an eternal inheritance and hope.

In Galatians 4, Paul puts the old and new covenants in perspective. He points out that the old covenant had its origin at Mount Sinai and those under its legal arrangement (the Law of Moses) were slaves, not members of the family, and thus had no promise of receiving an inheritance. Just as Hagar brought forth a slave son, so too did the Law. In contrast, the new covenant reached back to God’s original covenant promise to be Israel’s God and for them to be his people, and through them bless all the families of the earth. This fulfillment was God’s covenant of grace. As Sarah brought forth a free son born into the family, so too does grace. Grace brings about the adoption of children. These children really belong to God. As part of God’s family, they have an eternal inheritance through their connection by grace with the eternal Son of God.

Paul makes another contrast in Galatians 4: Hagar stood for “the present” (first-century) city of Jerusalem—a city enslaved to Rome and in slavery to the Law—both offering no hope of citizenship or inheritance. But Sarah stood for “the Jerusalem above,” the mother of all the children of grace who belong to God and who have an inheritance. And that inheritance is far more than just a certain city. Our heavenly city, which one day will come to earth (Revelation 21:2), is “the city of the living God” (Hebrews 12:22). This heavenly Jerusalem is our home—it’s where we have our true citizenship. As noted in Galatians 4:26 (ESV), “The Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.” We are free to live as children of the Father because we are joined to the Son by the Spirit.

I thank God for Sarah, Rebecca and Leah—the three matriarchs of Israel who began the lineage that would lead to Jesus. Though these women were far from perfect, God used them, along with Jesus’ mother Mary, to bring forth the incarnation of the Son of God who, by the Spirit, makes us sons and daughters of God. This Mother’s Day, let’s praise our covenant-making God for his good gift of motherhood, thanking him for all mothers, including our own mothers, mothers-in-law, and wives. Motherhood truly is a sign of God’s natural and supernatural, life-giving goodness.

Thanking God for motherhood,
Joseph Tkach

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Controversy arose following the Super Bowl this year when the losing quarterback stormed out of a post-game press conference. Though some defended him as an ordinarily humble person, others accused him of being immature and arrogant. That got me thinking about humility, so I googled the word and found several definitions. Common to all was the idea that humility means having a modest or low estimate of one’s importance or rank. As Christians, we understand that being humble means refusing to put others down in order to elevate oneself. It means being thankful for the gifts and talents God has given us, and even more thankful for what God has given others (Philippians 2:3 ESV). That being said, humility should not be equated with tearing oneself down, or with low self-worth.

As a gift of the Spirit, humility is an attitude of the heart that reflects the reality that we belong to and have our being in Christ. Our life in and with him is not about self-actualization through acquiring better personal skills and competencies. In humility we remember that all good gifts are from God and the goal of those gifts is always love. Therefore, in humility, we love all people as the beloved children of God they are, understanding that they too struggle to live out who God created them to be. With that humble mindset, how can we possibly think of ourselves as superior to others?

As we go through life we will observe limitations and vulnerabilities in others—some will be highly visible; others more hidden. Hopefully, seeing our own limitations and vulnerabilities, we will understand that only God is in a position to judge. Only he knows the struggles others face; only he knows how far they’ve come and how fully they have responded to him. We realize that we see only what is right in front of us, not what has been, what is, and what will yet be.

Humility comes from honestly looking at ourselves with eyes wide-open, seeing that we, like everyone else, are persons on a journey who have not yet arrived. God is not finished with any of us—we are not yet fully ourselves, for our true selves are “hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). Self-generated attempts at perfection typically are wrong-headed, self-righteous strivings. In contrast, humility concerning our limitations leads to glad affirmation that any good we do is because of what Christ has done for us and what the Spirit is working out in us.

Arrogance, pride and vanity: the antithesis of humility

C.S. Lewis noted that when we are in the presence of God and his goodness, all arrogance, pride and vanity vanish and the result is “to forget about yourself altogether.” According to Lewis, a truly humble person “will not be thinking about humility—he will not be thinking about himself at all” (Mere Christianity, “The Great Sin”). Arrogance, pride and vanity are about comparing oneself to others in order to measure and prove one’s superiority. Vain people think about themselves a great deal. Carly Simon sang about such people in the hit song, “You’re So Vain,” which proclaimed to one (or perhaps more) of her less-than-humble boyfriends: “You probably think this song is about you!”

With some notable exceptions, the Pharisees thought about themselves a lot, granting themselves special status and privileges while self-righteously criticizing and condemning others. Sadly, there is a bit of Pharisaism in a lot of Christianity. But those who are humble see others through the compassionate eyes of God. Isn’t that what Jesus did in his encounters with the woman at the well, the woman with the issue of blood, and the blind man? Because of Jesus’ attitude toward these “outcasts,” the arrogant, self-righteous Pharisees plotted to have Jesus killed.

The humility of the triune God

Occasionally you’ll hear some people proclaim that God is not humble—that being God, he justifiably seeks after his own glory. But the truth is just the opposite. In the communion of the Trinity each of the divine persons seeks the other’s glory, not their own. Jesus, who is God among us, said, “I do not accept glory from human beings” (John 5:41); and, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me” (John 8:54). My point is this: God, revealed to us in Christ, is the ultimate picture of humility. God’s humility is so huge that he took humanity into himself in the person of Christ. In his divine freedom, God was pleased, for our sake, to have all his fullness dwell in Jesus, and through his death on the cross, reconcile to himself all things in heaven and earth (Colossians 1:19-20). Note how Paul extols the immensity of God’s humility seen in Jesus:

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:4-8 ESV)

Our participation

The eternal Son of God demonstrated the humility of God by becoming human and enduring on our behalf the most painful and shameful form of death. Paul then goes on to describe how followers of Jesus are to respond:

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling…. (Philippians 2:12 ESV)

Paul is not teaching salvation by works. He is noting that we respond to the free gift of salvation by living out the humility of Christ in all our relationships. Salvation is not about us or our accomplishments. It’s about realizing that all we have and all we are is because of God’s love for us. He gave us gifts for building relationships, gifts that enable us to participate in the work he is doing; gifts that enable us to serve, affirm others and love others. What Paul is telling us is that because we are saved, we are enabled to participate in working out the implications of our salvation by diligently using the gifts we have been given to help others see what their Savior has done for them. This call to participation in what God is doing becomes clear as Paul continues his thought:

…for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
(Philippians 2:13 ESV)

We cannot make ourselves more like God—only he can do that, and he does so by changing our desires and actions, by getting us to be more outward-focused and less inward-focused. CAD Director, Greg Williams, addressed this in a recent letter of his in Equipper: “God does not force us to enjoy the gift of salvation and to share the good news with others, but he enables us.”

The incomprehensible greatness of God is seen in the humility of the Trinity. The Trinity is humility in action as seen in these statements from Scripture: “The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand”—the Son has come “not to do my will but the will of him who sent me”—the Spirit “will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears.” Humility is central to the divine nature of the Trinity, and Christ has invited us to participate in that nature as we are in communion with him. Along those lines, note this from the apostle Peter:

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. (2 Peter 1:3-4)

Here participate translates the Greek word koinōnos, which indicates fellowship, communion, sharing, partaking of, and partnering. As we participate in God’s divine nature, Christ’s own humility is being worked out in us. Peter challenges us to take full advantage of this gift. So, let’s do just that—let us put on the humble mind of Christ, esteeming others better than ourselves. That mind is the image of God that we want to share with others, for that humility points to God’s own glorious character.

Participating with you in Christ’s own humility,
Joseph Tkach

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

You’ve probably seen movies and TV shows where the local preacher’s role in the community is more like a sheriff than a pastor. That was the case in the movie Footloose. Amidst snappy tunes and the near-acrobatic dancing of the high school’s senior class, the local preacher, being dead-set against dancing, seemed to have a lock on being the town’s moral policeman. Though eventually he relented (even buying his daughter a corsage for the graduation dance), the point was made—in our world, clergy are often viewed as sheriffs, not shepherds.

Moral police or loving shepherds?

In times past, pastors often did function as moral police. Thankfully, those days are largely gone, except (regrettably) in cults that seek to control their members. That being said, I’m well aware that when the frustrations of being a pastor mount up (and they do!), we pastors can feel like the ones pictured in the cartoons below. If we’re not careful, we can momentarily forget that our calling is to participate with Jesus, the great Shepherd, in his ministry that extends to his sheep the transforming love and grace of God.

In the late 1980s, my father Joseph W. Tkach led a conference with the theme, We are shepherds, not sheriffs. He pointed out that pastors are called to be “helpers of their joy” rather than “contributors to their hurts.” He urged our pastors to focus on affirming and encouraging rather than on confronting and rebuking. I extend my heartfelt thanks to all our pastors for helping us make that important transition.

Don’t give in to the pressure

It certainly is a challenging time to be a pastor. Multiple pressures conspire to discourage if not overwhelm the faith of our members. Those pressures include worldviews hostile to the gospel, including the increasingly strident atheistic minority that rails against anything resembling Christianity. Then there is the desire of media to placate minority viewpoints in order to be politically correct. This frequently leads to media blitzkriegs against traditional moral values.

Some pastors react to these pressures by crying out with indignation about the sins of the nation. Sometimes they cry out about the sins of the members in an effort to get their people “back on track.” But indignant approaches like these are not what God has called us to as pastors. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer reminded the pastors-in-training at his underground seminary during the days of Hitler, the church already has an accuser—his name is Satan. Another one is not needed!

Helping people change

Certainly we need to be aware of the impact societal trends have on the hearts and minds of our members. We need to realize that they can become discouraged and question their faith and calling. We also need to understand that people slip and make bad decisions that lead them into sin. But this is when people need encouragement, not hurtful exhortation. I ask all our pastors and ministry leaders to continually remind our members of who Christ is and of who they are in Christ. It is in this knowledge of their true identity in Christ that they will find comfort and the desire to change the way they think (repentance), experiencing greater fervency in their communion with God.

As church leaders affirm, encourage and otherwise build up their members, they participate in what Jesus, by the Spirit, is doing to speak the truth in love, including offering needed correction, and also showing how they may use their spiritual gifts and other Christ-like qualities in God’s service. When we join Christ in that work, we are helping people grow as vital members of his body, the church.

How do affirmation and encouragement help people grow? Largely by providing a positive, nurturing environment in which people thrive spiritually. This is the relational, disciple-making method of Jesus—an approach vital for us at a time when many of our pastors are nearing retirement. We need to help men and women develop spiritually, thus enabling them to hear and obey God’s call to Christ’s service. Because we need many new pastors and ministry leaders to help us on our continuing journey of renewal, I call on all pastors and ministry leaders to make identifying and developing new leaders a high priority. Please keep your eyes wide-open for men and women whose hearts are inclined toward being pastors who are shepherds, not sheriffs.

Barnabas’ example

When I’m asked to define the model New Testament pastor, I often mention Barnabas. According to the book of Acts, though his birth name was Joseph, the apostles nicknamed him Barnabas, which means “son of encouragement” (Acts 4:36). There are multiple examples in Acts of Barnabas reaching out to encourage people who others withdrew from. Barnabas was one of the first disciples to accept Paul (the persecutor of Christians!) as a genuine follower of Jesus (Acts 9:26-27). Later, Barnabas brought encouragement to the gentile converts in Antioch who were being shunned by some Christians because they were not strictly conforming to the Law of Moses. Instead of withdrawing, Barnabas “saw what the grace of God had done” and “encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts” (Acts 11:23).

Paul, who was mentored by Barnabas, wrote this concerning joining Jesus in being an encourager in the lives of others:

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 15:4-6 ESV)

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. (Philippians 4:8 ESV)

God’s priority

Based on the Bible’s creation accounts, I think we can say that giving affirmation is central to the way God infuses his creation with abundant life. On each day of creation week in Genesis, God declared the goodness of a certain aspect of his creation. The beautiful, poetic language used in these verses powerfully reminds us that we serve a God who gives high priority to offering encouragement and affirmation. When we join him in that, we participate in his life-giving ministry—a ministry that began at creation and continues today in and through his church.

Thank you sisters and brothers for your dedication to sharing actively in what Jesus is doing, by the Spirit, to extend the Father’s transforming love and grace to his beloved children. Thank you for being shepherds, not sheriffs.

Loving serving as a shepherd with you,
Joseph Tkach

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In one of his earliest movies, John Wayne tells another cowboy, “I don’t like branding—it hurts in the wrong place!” That comment made me chuckle, though it also got me thinking about how churches can hurt the gospel through an inappropriate use of marketing techniques like product branding. It happened in our history—seeking a marketing “hook,” our founder branded us the one true church. This approach compromised biblical truth as the gospel was redefined in order to promote the brand.

Sharing with Jesus in advancing his gospel

Our calling as Christians is not to market a brand, but to join Jesus in what he is doing by the Spirit, through the church, to advance his gospel in the world. Jesus’ gospel addresses several things: how forgiveness and reconciliation have been accomplished by Jesus’ atonement; how the Spirit transforms us (and what the transformed life looks like); the nature of our vocation as followers of Jesus sent on mission with him into the world; and the ultimate hope we have of sharing forever in the communion that Jesus has with the Father and the Spirit.

There are some (though limited) ways in which marketing (including branding) can help us accomplish the gospel work to which Jesus has called us. For example, we can productively use logos, websites, social media, bulletins, newsletters, signs, mailers and other communication tools to help us spread Jesus’ message, inviting people to respond in faith. But such tools must serve, not diminish our calling to be light and salt in our communities. So I’m not against marketing, rightly used, but I do want to offer a word of caution, along with some perspective.

A word of caution

According to George Barna (in A Step by Step Guide to Church Marketing), marketing is “a broad term that encompasses all the activities that lead up to an exchange of equally valued goods between consenting parties.” Barna further defines marketing by saying that activities such as advertising, public relations, strategic planning, audience research, product distributions, fund raising, product pricing, developing a vision statement and customer service are all elements of marketing. He then says: “When these elements are combined in a transaction in which the parties involved exchange items of equivalent worth, the marketing act has been consummated.” Let that idea of exchanging items of equivalent worth sink in for a moment.

Several years ago, several of our pastors read a book by the pastor of a Southern California mega-church. It promised, in essence, that if you will market your church in a particular manner, you cannot fail because everyone will be excited about what you are offering them and their community. Some of our pastors tried the recommended marketing techniques, but became discouraged when their congregations did not grow.

But should we be marketing the gospel (and our churches) the way Walmart markets t-shirts, or Sears markets tools—or even the way particular denominations and congregations use marketing to bring about numerical growth? I think we all would agree that we must not “peddle” the gospel as though it was a consumer good to be exchanged for something of seemingly equivalent value. That sort of marketing is not what Jesus had in mind in commissioning us to take his gospel to the world in order to make disciples of all people-groups.

As the apostle Paul noted, rather than being seen as attractive (like a desired consumer product), the gospel often is viewed as repulsive or foolish by those who, living according to the flesh, have a decidedly secular mindset (see 1 Corinthians 1:18-23). As those who follow Jesus, “We do not set our minds on what the flesh wants, but…on what the Spirit desires” (Romans 8:4-5). We’re certainly not perfect in that, but as we walk in step with the Spirit, our minds and actions are conformed to God’s will (and thus his work). Given these understandings, it’s no surprise Paul repudiated certain “fleshly” (secular) techniques for advancing the work of the gospel:

Having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. (2 Corinthians 4:1-2 ESV)

Paul refused to use techniques that, though they might advance his ministry in the short-term, would ultimately compromise the message of the gospel. The only kind of “success” he wanted in life and ministry was that which comes from faithfulness to Christ and his gospel.

Some of the gospel-compromising, marketing-driven approaches being used by some churches in our day go like this: “Come to our church and your problems will be solved, you will achieve health and wealth, you will be richly blessed.” The blessings being promised typically have to do with power, success, and getting what you want. The bait-and-switch occurs when those who come are told about the conditions they must meet to get the blessings—things like having a certain level of faith, or joining a small group, tithing one’s income, actively serving in a ministry of the church, or spending a specific amount of time in prayer and Bible study. While some of these are helpful for growing as followers of Jesus, none are ways to get God to be favorable towards us—to obtain what we want in exchange for something God wants or needs from us.

False advertising and deceptive marketing

Attracting people to a church or a ministry by telling them how they can contract with God to get whatever they want is false advertising and deceptive marketing. It is nothing but paganism in a modern wrapper. Christ did not die to meet our selfish consumer needs. He did not come to guarantee us health and wealth. Instead, he came to bring us into a gracious relationship with the Father, Son and Spirit and the peace, joy and hope that is the fruit of that relationship. In and through that relationship, we are empowered to love and serve others with God’s kind of costly, transforming love. That kind of love will, at times, be offensive to some (perhaps many), but it will always direct others to the very Source of that saving, redeeming and transforming love.

Should we market the gospel as an exchange of equally valued items between consenting parties? Certainly not! The gospel is, by grace, freely given to all. And all we can do is receive this gift with empty, up-turned hands—thankfully receiving the blessing of belonging to God. That relationship of grace and love is lived out in a life of grateful worship—a response that, itself, is enabled by the Holy Spirit, who opens our eyes and sets aside our pride and rebellious demand for independence from God to live for his glory.

A glorious exchange

With those thoughts in mind, I do want to point out that in the life we have in and with Christ, through the Spirit, there is an exchange of sorts, indeed a glorious exchange. Note Paul’s comment:

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20 KJV)

We give Jesus our life of sin and he gives us his life of righteousness. When we give away our lives, we find his life at work in us. When we surrender our lives to Christ we find real purpose for our lives so that we no longer live for ourselves but to advance the reputation of God our Creator and Redeemer. That exchange is not a marketing technique—it’s grace. We get the whole God, Father, Son and Spirit, and he gets all of us: body and soul. We get the righteous character of Christ, and he takes away our sins, totally forgiving us. This is certainly not an exchange of equally valued goods!

If anyone believes in Christ, he or she is a new creation—a child of God. The Holy Spirit gives us this new life—the life of God living in us. And as that new creation, the Spirit gracefully transforms us to share more and more in Christ’s perfect love for God and for others. When our lives are placed in Christ, then we share in his life, in both his joy and in his long-suffering love. We share in his sufferings, in his death, in his righteousness, as well as in his resurrection, ascension and eventual glorification. As God’s children we are co-heirs with Christ who share in his perfect relationship with the Father. In that relationship we benefit from all that Christ has done for us to become God’s beloved children, united with him—forever in glory!

Celebrating the glorious exchange,
Joseph Tkach

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Do you agree that the media seems to be reaching new lows of obnoxiousness? Reality TV shows, sitcoms, news programs (online, TV and radio), social media and political debates (see my letter last week)—they all seem to be growing increasingly annoying. And then there are the unscrupulous preachers promoting the prosperity gospel with false promises of health and wealth. In talking with a person who embraces this false gospel, I asked why the movement’s name-it-claim-it prayers have not brought an end to the world’s various crises: ISIS, Ebola, economic woes, etc. They replied that I was being annoying with my question. Well, I admit to being annoying at times, but my question was sincere.

Jesus, not prosperity, is the gospel

One of the times I truly am annoying (or so my wife Tammy says) is when I’m sick. Thankfully (for both Tammy and me) I rarely am. Part of the reason, no doubt, is that Tammy prays for my health. Prayer does have a positive effect, but the prosperity gospel falsely promises that if your faith is strong enough you’ll never get sick. It also falsely proclaims that if you are sick (or otherwise suffering), it is because your faith is lacking. Such ideas are a perversion of faith and of the true gospel of Jesus Christ.

A friend of mine told me about a tragedy that happened when he was quite young. He lost two sisters in an automobile accident. Imagine how his father felt when told by an advocate of the prosperity gospel that the two girls died because of his lack of faith! Such mean-spirited and wrong-headed thinking ignores the reality of Jesus Christ and his grace. Jesus is the gospel—he is the truth that sets us free. In contrast, the prosperity gospel sets up a contractual relationship with God that, through our actions, seeks to condition God to bless us. It also promotes the lies that the aim of life here and now is to avoid suffering, and that God’s intention is to maximize our pleasure.

With Jesus in suffering

Throughout the New Testament, God calls his people to share with Jesus in both his joy and suffering. The suffering we’re talking about here is not the kind that results from foolish mistakes and poor choices, or from being a victim of circumstances, or from a lack of faith. The suffering Jesus experienced and which we are called to face in this fallen world is a matter of the heart. Yes, Jesus suffered physically as attested by the Scriptures, but the voluntary suffering he endured was largely the result of his compassionate love for people. Notice a few Scriptures that show his costly compassion:

• When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. (Matthew 9:36)
• “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.” (Matthew 23:37)
• “Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
• When he approached Jerusalem, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes.” (Luke 19:41-42 NASB)
• Jesus wept [following the death of his friend Lazarus]. (John 11:35)

Sharing in Jesus’ compassionate love for people often brings suffering, a suffering that sometimes is intense. To avoid all such suffering would mean avoiding loving others with Christ’s love. Such an aim would turn us into self-centered pleasure-seekers. And that is just what much of secular society brazenly promotes: Indulge yourself—you deserve it! The prosperity gospel adds to this unfortunate idea a mechanism falsely labeled faith—seeking to condition God into helping us achieve our hedonistic desires. The tragic, false teaching that we can avoid all suffering by rebuking it in Jesus’ name flies in the face of what the author of Hebrews says about the heroes of faith (Hebrews 11:37-38): These men and women were stoned, sawn asunder and killed by the sword. They went about in animal skins—destitute, afflicted and mistreated. And Hebrews declares not that they lacked faith, but that they were believers with great faith—people the world is not worthy of. Despite suffering greatly, they remained in word and deed faithful witnesses to God and his faithfulness.

Following in Jesus’ steps

Jesus, on the night prior to his greatest suffering (prolonged torture followed by crucifixion), said this to his disciples: “I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you” (John 13:15 ESV). Taking Jesus at his word, one of those disciples, Peter, later wrote this: “To this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps” (1 Peter 2:21 ESV). But what does it mean to follow in Jesus’ steps? We must be careful here—Peter’s admonition is often too narrowly applied, leaving out, for instance, following Jesus in suffering (which Peter specifically mentions). On the other hand, the admonition is often too broadly applied. We are not called to mimic every aspect of Jesus’ life. Since we are not first-century Palestinian Jews (as was Jesus), we need not not wear sandals, robes and phylacteries in order to follow Jesus. Also (as the context of Peter’s admonition indicates) we understand that Jesus, as the Son of God, was and is unique. The wind, waves, demons, illness, bread and fish all obeyed his command as he performed stunning miracles that testified to his identity as the promised Messiah. Though we are his followers, he doesn’t normally give us that ability.

Yes, Peter does call on us to follow Jesus in suffering. In 1 Peter 2:18-25, he explained to a group of Christians who were slaves how, as followers of Jesus, they were to respond to the unjust treatment they were receiving. In doing so, Peter holds up Jesus as their example. He makes his point by quoting from the suffering servant passage in Isaiah 53 (see 1 Peter 2:22, 24, 25). Being sent by the love of God for the redemption of the world meant that Jesus would suffer wrongfully. He was innocent and remained innocent in his response to unjust suffering. He did not retaliate with threats and violence. As Isaiah says, “No deceit [guile] was found in his mouth.”

Suffering for the sake of loving others

Jesus suffered greatly, but he certainly did not lack faith. Quite the opposite. Out of compassion he came to earth—the Son of God become human. Out of faith in God and compassion for those he came to save, Jesus endured unjust suffering and refused to inflict suffering even on those who cruelly and unjustly tortured him. Such was his love and his faith. When we follow Jesus in suffering for the sake of loving others, we find a measure of relief and comfort knowing that doing so is an essential part of our calling. Note these two verses:

• Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. (Psalm 34:19 ESV)
• Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. (2 Timothy 3:12)

When we see others suffering, we are filled with compassion toward them. When our love and God’s grace are rejected, we are grieved. Though such love is costly in that it brings on our suffering, we do not run from it—we do not cease to love others as God loves them. To suffer in order to love is to be a faithful witnesses to Christ. In that way, we follow his example—we walk in his steps.

With Jesus in joy

As we walk in step with Jesus, we will be participating with him in compassionately loving all people. Doing so will often mean sharing in his suffering. However—and this is a paradox—it also will often mean sharing in his joy—his joy that all humanity, in him, is redeemed, forgiven and included in his transforming love and life. Thus to follow Jesus is to actively and deliberately share in both Jesus’ suffering and joy. That is the nature of the Spirit-led, gospel-shaped life. We must not fall for a false gospel that promises all joy and no suffering. Sharing in both is part of our calling and essential to our fellowship and communion with our compassionate Lord and Savior.

Suffering but joyful too,
Joseph Tkach