“Who am I?” “Never mind who you are. You’re right; you’re a nobody. But you are called. I will be with you. And the sign of your success will not be a gold watch and a plaque and a place in Superduper Church Magazine’s 100 Most Awesomest Churches and Pastors with Mad Leadership Skills, but worship of me.”

We don’t know the kind of shared suffering Peter is referencing, though. I wonder how much humility could be afforded the Western church if we acquainted ourselves more with the suffering of the church in the two-thirds world. Suddenly Monday morning pop-ins don’t seem like such a big a deal. Let us stand with our brothers who are being slaughtered

We proclaim not helpful hints but eternal visions. We can’t do this if we are making the Bible’s words serve our words. Biblical preaching trusts that the Bible can be set loose to work its power. Brothers, isn’t it wonderful that we are set free from the tyranny of our good ideas to the power of the Bible’s good news?

There’s room to breathe in this reality. And room to obey with heads held high, straightened backs, soft hearts, and thick skins. It is for freedom we’ve been set free. When Paul gives the pastoral admonition to Timothy to “flee” sins and “pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness” (1 Tim. 6:11), he is picturing a cont

Every week people file into our church services aching for eternity. In our zeal to provide something they may find comfortable and useful and inoffensive, are we offending the God who wishes to offend us in awe of his glory? Are we dismissing our brother Jesus, whose formula for victory includes crucifixion?

But, “If you do obey, you will go to heaven” is just as legalistic, even if you’ve lowered the bar of heaven to a successful family, workplace, sex life, or whatever else. “Do these things and thereby reap these rewards” is in essence legalistic. But, again, many of us didn’t realize that, because we thought of legalists as frowning fundamentalists

Some seek to measure how they are growing creatively or in the subjective realm of “excellence.” When we make these our benchmarks, we start doing stupider and stupider things, as anyone who’s seen the promotional videos from the church that hosted a fart-themed sermon series can attest. One pastor sleeps on the roof of his church with his wife to

Some very sincere, honest, intelligent people who have been believers for a long time say that the gospel-centered stuff is all very nice but they know the gospel already, and what they really need to know is what the Bible says about getting out of debt or surviving the workplace. Sounds totally reasonable, no? Law-drivenness almost always does, a

And this is from a pastor’s blog (I kid you not): It’s the elite, the excellers, the achievers, the succeeders, and those who raise their game to a level of “must” who end up with the money, power, and satisfaction. It will cause you tension, aggravation, and sleepless nights. It will wear you out and push you down the road. But that’s what you wer