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Missions is on my mind.

A lot. 

Not just because I am a Pastor, although this surely does drive me to pray over and ponder missions more often than I might otherwise. But, primarily, missions stays on my mind because I am a Christian. To be a Christian is to desire to have the very heart of God for this world. And God’s heart is a missionary heart, if ever there was one. John 3:16 says so. 

But I need to go further. I am not just a Christian frequently thinking about missions. I am a Christian in America thinking about missions. Or, said another way, I am an American Christian seeking to live on mission with Christin this world, and seeking to lead Corydon Baptist Church to do likewise. And I think being an American Christian makes this missionary pondering particularly potent and filled with hopeful potential.  

Saying I am an American Christian seems to make many Christians nervous these days. Even among conservative evangelicals, with all the debates about Christian Nationalism, saying anything that might link governments or States or politics to missions is becoming increasingly taboo. And this bothers me. No. That’s not strong enough. It disturbs me.

I have had two interesting conversations in recent weeks. One with a young Christian college student wrestling with whether Christians should be involved much at all in politics. And another with a missionary who lived in China for two decades, seeking to train indigenous pastors and churches there to send out missionaries to the world. 

Let me begin with the missionary who lived in China. I really enjoyed hearing from this brother. His work with his missions agency has changed pretty dramatically now, as he was forced out of China, more or less. Many missionaries from the West have been forced out of China in recent years, as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) continues its crackdown on “foreign” influence, especially Christian influence. The CCP is also renewing its persecution of Christians and Churches within China, as well. Communism as a system of government has always hated Jesus and His Church and His Gospel. And we ought to take very careful note of it, dear American believers. 

This missionary relayed that, by and large, the Chinese Church has not been at all successful in sending missionaries to the world. He said that the vast majority of missionaries launched out of Chinese churches return in a year or less, with the devasting label “failure.” In an honor / shame culture, this often means that the missionary is not even welcomed back into his sending church. The “failed” missionary often lives out the rest of his or her life in depressed seclusion. Hearing this testimony, was alarming to me. Clearly, as the missionary said, big changes are needed in the discipleship culture of Chinese evangelical churches. One’s “national” culture, be it honor / shame or western individualism can never be permitted to hold such dominant sway over Christians. We have One King, and One Book. And His Kingdom Culture must come to trump all else in our hearts, lives, and churches. 

That said, I could sense a palpable awkwardness when I tried to broach the subject of how the CCP might bear some responsibility for the non-missions mindset of Chinese Churches. The missionary said the failure is more the Church’s fault than the government. He mentioned how monolithic and ethno-centric the Chinese Christians and their churches are. And while that’s no doubt true, I wondered how the Church in China got so monolithic and ethno-centric? Why can’t the Chinese believers excel at crossing cultures with the gospel? Why can they not freely engage the world with the message of Christ in public, bold, missional ways? Why might they think the Chinese way is the best way and that outside influences are to be shunned? All these things are intentionally baked into the Chinese cake by the CCP! This is exactly the mind-set that China saturates children with from Day Care to College, from cradle to grave. This is what the CCP monitors with its “social scoring system,” bolstered by surveillance videos of the citizens’ every waking moment. It's little wonder, `rank`ly, that the Chinese churches are not missionary-sending launch pads. Not only is it frowned upon by the CCP, but it’s built into the warp and woof of daily existence. This is a sad reality, when we consider that more Christians reside in China than anywhere else in the world. While I am not excusing any sin in any churches, whether in China or Indiana, I am saying we could not reasonably expect the Church of China to be a missionary force in this world. How could they?  

What Marxist or Communist Country has ever been a gospel missionary force in this world? Name one. In all of human history. What totalitarian dictatorship has exported the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the nations? Can we not see a connection? 

A Pastor friend of mind rightly reminded me recently that God did not need America to advance the gospel widely in the first 300-400 years of Church history. Amen. God does not need America. Jesus will build His Church, with or without us in the western world. 

But I think some conservative Christians in America are really missing some important points, or failing to make some critical connections between State and Missions. Two in particular.

First, God is a God of means. God most often does His work via normal human means. One of which is government, which He has ordained to be His servants (Rom 13:1-5). Now, the fact that Jesus has saved so many millions of Chinese people even in spite of the persecution and oppression of the CCP, is a testament to His sovereign grace and power! Truly, no one or nothing can stop our God! But again, we must examine human history, and ask, “What kinds of government has God typically used to evangelize the world and to carry out the Great Commission?”

Answer: Democratic-type governments and free-market-style economies. 

The Roman Empire was unique in its day. Indeed, much of our American system was modeled after it. How was the gospel so easily advanced throughout the Empire? And, how was it exported to other parts of the world out of the Roman Empire? Well, Roman citizens were afforded freedoms unknown up to that point in time. World-wide economic trade flourished in much of the Roman Empire. Roads and systems of mobility were developed. And, though persecution arose from time to time, by-and-large a measure of religious freedom existed (certainly true after Emperor Constantine). And God used those governmental and economic systems to ignite a gospel missions wildfire. And, praise God, Europe was never the same! And neither was the New World we now call the United States of America.  

While the Apostle Paul would have no doubt tried his best to evangelize as far and wide as possible, regardless of the governmental system he found himself in, we can easily imagine how his missionary zeal might have faired inside the walls of Communist China or under the Russian Czars. Whether we like it or not, the reality is these things matter. There is a connection between State and Missions. 

Second, God has blessed America. I am not impugning the patriotism of any missionaries or pastors or Christians in the US. But I just mean to call us all to ponder anew what God has done, and continues to do as it pertains to the Great Commission, through our Nation. It’s all of His grace and to His glory! But do we think our Gospel Light to the world will keep shining if the slow, steady encroach of Marxism and communism continue unabated in our educational and governmental institutions?

History says no. 

I, for one, want an America that continues to prosper, not for nice cars and picket fences. But for the sake of those all over the world who still have never heard His name. I know Jesus does not need America. But, I want Jesus to keep using our Nation to export His glory until it fills the earth as the waters cover the sea (Hab 2:14). I want my children and grandchildren to have the freedom to give and go to all the world. That’s why governments and politics matter. Only one Kingdom is ultimate and eternal. But this in no way means other kingdoms are inconsequential. 

Join me this year in fighting for America. On our knees. And in our homes. Workplaces. Schools. Businesses. Legislatures. Courtrooms. And Churches. Let’s be a part of bringing about, by God’s great grace, the Red Wave America truly needs – the blood of Jesus washing sinners clean as they repent and trust in Him, and then transforming those sinners into missionaries. 

So, preach Christ! Freely! Boldly! Privately! Publicly! Locally! Globally! Freely!

While you still can. 

For, unless God extends His mercy and revives our Nation, it appears to me our lampstand might be removed. Let’s not ignore the valuable connection between State and Missions. Let’s engage in both spheres as we have opportunity. And in America, for now, we are still the Land of Opportunity. When it comes to politics and religion, it’s not either/or. It’s both/and. Especially for us as blessed Americans.    

“To whom much is given, much shall be required” (Luke 12:48).

“Do not slander one another, brothers” (James 4:11).

What is it about us human beings that we simply cannot seem to resist talking about other people? 

And no. I do not mean saying commendatory or praiseworthy things about others. If we’re all honest, we speak far too often about others in ways that are more gossipy and less commendatory. We just can’t seem to keep from throwing in that one little barb, or that negative innuendo, or that tiny bit of speculation. How much of our conversations with friends or co-workers or peers or neighbors really consists of talking about others in ways that, like it or not, may well fit the category of slander or gossip?

Slander according to Bible scholar Gordan Keddie is “every statement that is made with the purpose of belittling someone, or besmirching his or her reputation, and encompasses everything from out-and-out lies to veiled innuendos, and even includes true statements when these are told only to hurt the person about whom they are made.” 

I like Keddie’s definition because, unlike many other definitions, he includes the possibility that even true statements may well be slanderous. It’s the underlying intent, you see. And therein lies the trap for us. None of us is very good at objectively examining our inner motives. And we’re even worse at admitting when something we said to someone about someone else may well have hurt or potentially injured the person’s reputation, regardless of our intentions. Add to this the doctrine of human depravity, which reminds us that even as Christians, remnants of our old sinful man remain, meaning we’re a mixture of pure and impure at any given moment (Gal 5:16-17). Put simply, our motives in this life are never really sinless and perfectly pure. And deep down, we know it.

Gossip is defined by the online Merriam-Webster dictionary as “someone who habitually reveals personal or sensational facts about others” or “a rumor or report of an intimate nature.” The Cambridge online dictionary states it this way: “conversation or reports about other people’s private lives that might be unkind, disapproving, or untrue.” Here again, we see in these definitions a blend of true or untrue statements, a requirement to check our heart motives, and we learn that gossip typically involves something of a private nature.         

“No human being can tame the tongue” (James 3:8).

Here’s God’s answer. To confess that we, in and of ourselves, do not rule our tongues, but rather are ruled by them! And to know that as Jesus taught, our words always reveal our hearts (Matt 12:34). 

So, the first step or priority in the Christian’s battle against the temptation to slander or gossip is to acknowledge one’s deep-seated propensity to slander or gossip, to acknowledge our need of God’s Holy Spirit and to rely upon fellow believers in this never-ending war against our fleshly desires and nature.

We far too often treat these sins and temptations in isolation, due to our raging American individualism. That is, we just do not truly grasp how much we need the other members of the local church body to keep us on the straight and narrow here. But Jesus describes His people as those who are constantly, by God’s sanctifying grace, removing beams from their own eyes in order to help remove specks in the eyes of others (Matt 7:1-6; Luke 6:39-42). 

That view of my personal, individual sin being far more grotesque than the sin I have noticed in my brother or sister’s life, surely would go far in my battle against slander and gossip! It would incline me to much more eagerly confess my own sins to a brother in my life than to take it upon myself to confess someone else’s sins to him.  

This matter does indeed get sticky and tricky inside a local church, doesn’t it? Especially so inside a church that takes sin seriously, and where members do obey God’s command to “confess your sins to one another” (James 5:16, see my previous post on confession). In healthy churches, relationships develop that pull us close to one another in ways that demand deeper transparency, and in ways that really do make us holy as we pursue Christ together. In so many ways, sanctification is a community project (Gal 6:1-2; Heb 3:12-13; Heb 12:12-17; James 5:19). 

And herein lies my point: It’s hard enough already for pastors and members to do gospel life together with one another inside a local church in ways that ensure biblical confession of sin and sanctification is happening; so, don’t violate the trust of your local church by talking about church members in ways that may well be slanderous or gossipy. 

If, due to a close relationship inside your church, you are privy to certain sin struggles of others, hold those very tightly. Be a person of integrity. Keep your friend’s confidence. “A whisperer separates close friends” (Prov 16:28). Only in extreme circumstances where someone is in danger of some kind or where laws are being broken, or where a pattern of sin is being followed without repentance, should you even consider bringing another church member into the circle of confidence. 

Even in the matter of a public confession in a local church, we should consider that matter part of the overall discipline of a healthy church. Sharing what was confessed outside the membership of our local church effectively usurps the authority of the local church in matters of both formative and corrective discipline. As a pastor, I can tell you I have often been alarmed at how quickly another local pastor catches wind of an internal church disciplinary matter within the flock I shepherd. That can only mean one thing – someone in our church took it upon himself or herself to share outside the church family, something that was clearly a private matter intended to be dealt with inside the local congregation. 

This appears to be precisely Paul’s concern in public lawsuits among the Corinthian Christians (1 Cor 6). In the previous chapter, Paul exhorted the Church of Corinth to deal swiftly with a sin among a member of a particularly heinous and public nature (1 Cor 5). He does not expect the Church at Philippi to enact the corrective discipline upon the member, and he does not even name the individual who committed the sin. He well could have (as he often names false teachers). But he did not and he needed not to do so. The matter was internal to the local Church at Corinth. The members there already knew enough details that they should have been acting in loving, corrective discipline. And the whole notion of internal church discipline then seems to lead Paul to begin rebuking the Corinthian Christians for taking church affairs into the public square, in this case by lawsuits in secular courts. He excoriates them for not understanding that “the saints will judge the world” and for showing themselves “incompetent to try trivial cases” and for not being “wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers” (1 Cor 6:1-8).

Now, I realize we might have very close relationships with other Christians who are members of other churches, or who once were members of our local fellowship. The transitory nature of our lifestyles in 21st century America all but ensure it. But I think even still, we should always exercise great caution in what we say and how we say it when we are telling others something about our fellow church member(s).  Each local church only has disciplinary and discipleship authority over its own members (Heb 13:17). Once a private sin matter has escaped the bounds of a local congregation, pastors and flock have no ability or authority, then, to try and correct any gossip, slander, mis-conceptions, mis-representations, etc. So, I continue to argue for a robust, holistic, local-church-centered view of the matter of slander and gossip. If we inside our local church cannot trust one another with our private wounds, struggles and sins, then we cannot really say we are in a healthy New Testament Church. I have no doubt that breaches of confidence do indeed hurt a church’s overall health, especially in matters of helping one another rightly war against sin and practice biblical forgiveness. Nobody wants to confess sin to a bunch of gossips.  

Here are a few practical tips for pursuing a biblical ethic in our conversations:

• Don’t try to divorce what you say about a fellow church member or what you share about him or her from your overall doctrine of the Church. Truth is, our speech always either hurts or helps both the church member and the church body as a whole (Eph 4:25-32). 
• Avoid “prayer request” gossip or slander. God already knows it all. Asking another believer inside or outside the church to pray with us over a matter is fine. But how we do it and what we say also matters greatly. Keep it basic and as generic as possible. The notion that God only answers specific prayers is hokey and unbiblical (Matt 6:7-13). 
• Refuse to post anything online about a church member or friend that is not edifying and commendatory. Let’s face it, the proliferation of social media has exacerbated slander and gossip, even within Christian circles, exponentially. Helping one another deal with sin is and should be an in-person, face-to-face business (Matt 18:15). The one exception to this might be a public post that contains theological heresy that requires correction. But even then, it seems preferable to try to take it up with the person privately first. 
• Ask people permission to share about their situation or struggle. This would solve so much of our problem! Not sure if something should be shared? Then go straight to the source and ask. If you do not have permission, then do not share it. 
• Follow the Golden Rule (Matt 7:12; Luke 6:31). Loving our neighbors as we do ourselves, as an expression of our all-consuming love for God, really resolves all slander and gossip. 
• Ask yourself good questions before speaking or posting. Is this information really mine to share? Would I want someone to say this about me, or share in this way if I were the one who could lose standing or reputation? Why am I really compelled to share this detail?
• Consider what your words will convey to those outside the church regarding the quality of health inside the church. Will saying or sharing this information extol the virtues and wisdom of Christ in my local church? Or will it possibly denigrate or diminish the reputation of Christ as it resides in and comes through my local church? 
• If you have possibly slandered or gossiped, go ask everyone directly impacted for forgiveness. If you entertained slander or gossip, ask everyone directly impacted for forgiveness. (And yes, this is also a way to rebuke the one who spoke the slander originally.)   
• If you hear a brother or sister starting to share something that seems to be headed in a potentially slanderous or gossipy direction, gently ask that he or she exercise caution. Truth is, nobody would slander or gossip if we all refused to listen to it!
• Ask: Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary? [I have heard this from so many sources that I do not know where to give credit at this point.] 
• If I have more information than someone else, before I share it, I should plumb the depths of my heart before God to ensure that it is actually necessary for someone else to also know the level of detail that I do. If I am convinced it is necessary, why? What Scripture has convinced me of the necessity? What counsel have I sought in this matter? Prov 11:13-14.   

The potential divisiveness of slander and gossip within a local church ought to give us all great pause to stop and pray and think before we speak (Prov 6:19; Titus 3:10-11). May God help us all and grow us all in His grace, especially so in the bridling of our tongues. For His glory in the Church! 

“Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed” (James 5:16).

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

We’ve all been there. Cringing as we hear someone in church sharing a testimony that just gets way too specific about one’s pre-conversion past, or even one’s so-called “backsliding.” It sounds dangerously close to glorifying the sin. At best we might be thinking TMI (to use textese, a language I do not actually speak). At worst, we are covering our children’s ears and praying our teens do not get any wild ideas about how awesome it would be to have that same testimony. 

Trust me young people, one sin is enough to send you to hell apart from the salvation of Christ; you need not heap up God’s wrath against you. “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test” (Matt 4:7).

But I digress.

The point is, how should a Christian confess sin? To whom should I confess? Is there ever a proper time for a public confession and/or testimony? How specific should my confession be?

To be clear, I want to say on the front end that I do not think that all of these questions have explicitly clear answers in the Bible.  Some do, but not all. That said, I do think the Bible has enough principles to help us apply God’s wisdom to each of these questions.

To “confess” means literally “to say the same.” It is to admit or to come into agreement. So, when a person initially comes under the convicting power of the Holy Spirit and “confesses,” he or she is agreeing with God that he or she is a sinner justly condemned and that his or her only hope of forgiveness and a right standing with God is the righteous life, the atoning death, and the powerful resurrection of Jesus Christ. Once that sinner by God’s regenerating grace makes that confession unto salvation (Rom 10:9-10), he or she is then transformed into a life-long confessor, repenter and believer. That is to say, the Holy Spirit of God by His indwelling presence continually convicts of sin, exposes the wicked remnants of the old man, grants ongoing repentance and faith in Christ thereby evermore steadily and surely conforming the believer to the image of Christ. This is called the Doctrine of Progressive Sanctification. [See Ch. 13 of the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith.]

So, with that doctrinal backdrop laid, let’s try to give some answers to the initial questions.

1. How should a Christian confess sin? Regularly. Contritely. Prayerfully. Reverently. In the fear of God. In devotion to obeying God’s Word. With love for Christ. Some of the more powerful examples in Scripture are: Job 40:3-5; 42:1-6; Isaiah 6; Daniel 9; Nehemiah 1; 9; Psalms 32; 51; Luke 7:36-50; 15:11-32.
2. To whom should I confess? First and foremost, always to God. Sin is ultimately always and, in a strict legal sense, only against God. For He alone is the Lawgiver and Judge. “Against You and You only have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight” (Psalm 51:4). But the New Testament also calls upon us to confess our sins to one another (James 5:16 is the classic text). The commands to forgive one another assume that within a local church, members are confessing sin, seeking and giving forgiveness (Eph 4:32; Col 3:12-14). Jesus also assumed His people will be confessing sins that offended others and will be seeking forgiveness and granting forgiveness (Matt 5:23-24; 18:15-18; Luke 11:4; 17:3-4). So, confess to God. And confess to other believers.
3. Is there ever a proper time for a public confession? But these confessions should only be done in close coordination and in submission to your local pastoral leadership (Heb 13:17). The pastors / elders bear responsibility to oversee the flock’s public gatherings. You should discuss with a pastor or church leader, in advance, any notion or promptings you have to confess a sin or share a testimony of God’s faithfulness to rescue and preserve His people by His great grace. Public confessions can be powerful when done well. But they can also be disastrously painful when done poorly. Because of their potential to only compound and/or multiply the hurt, I personally think public confessions should be rare. An explicit exception to this appears to be the case of a pastor / elder who has persisted in sin (see 1 Tim 5:19-21). This makes sense, as the long-term sin of a pastor doubtlessly impacts the entire local church body in some ways, since he stands to preach and teach the Word authoritatively week after week. God takes the shepherding of His redeemed people deadly serious (Ezek 34). There is a reason that the pre-eminent character qualification for an elder is to be “above reproach” (1 Tim 3:2; Titus 1:6-7).

Another instance where a public confession might be wise is in the case of a very public sin. If a church member commits a sin in a flagrant, public way, the Scripture seems to expect very swift and public action to be taken by the church (1 Cor 5). God forbid we allow the Name of Jesus to be diminished or demeaned among us, or that we give God’s enemies occasion to mock (2 Sam 12:14).                                                                                                                                                      

4. How specific should my confession be? To God, He already knows it all so you might as well come clean (Ps 19:12-14; 139:23-24). It is good for your soul to bring all your cares to God, reminding yourself of how depraved you are, how in need of His grace you are, and how amazing is the love and blood of Jesus which wipes our sin away. But when we are confessing our sins to one another, I think it wise to consider a few principles:

• Has my sin directly impacted a person? Then my confession should be addressed in specific ways to that wound. If I used harsh words with my wife, then I should name those words as sin against God and her, and do so to her in person, and humbly ask her forgiveness.
• Has my sin more indirectly impacted a person or persons? Then I should be more cautious, more general with my confession. Did my child hear my harsh words to my wife (and her mother)? Then I should specifically confess to my child, too. But if my child did not actually hear the words, but has noticed a coldness between her Daddy and Mommy all day, then after I specifically confess to my wife in private, I should also explain generically to my child that I was not kind to Mommy and have asked her forgiveness and am now asking the child to forgive me as well. No need to repeat to the child verbatim what I said to my wife if the child didn’t hear it to begin with. That only causes unnecessary hurt, you see.
• To the extent that my sin has harmed a relationship, to that extent I should consider confessing. Put another way, the closeness and kind of relationship often determines how specifically I confess.
• In public confessions, confession of root sins is best. In other words, sins like pride, selfishness, deceit / lying, greed, are really at the root of all sin. These root sins give rise to all sorts of other sins, which most likely are not known to a broader audience. Thus, confessing with specificity in larger crowds typically only adds unnecessary hurt. But getting to the heart or root of the matter before a larger audience should be enough. Enough to require the humility of the confessor, and enough to garner the forgiveness of the potentially hurt. Those within that crowd that are closer in relationship to us, we should then prayerfully consider making more explicit confessions to privately.

To be sure, the flesh in us always wants the juicy details. But we must ask ourselves, “Why?” If we have not been personally hurt in some obvious relational way, then what would compel us to insist upon more details? We will turn our attention to that matter in a future post.

To wrap up this much-too-long blog entry, however, I challenge you to search the Scriptures for an explicit, or graphically specific public confession of sin. I dare say you will not find anything resembling so much of what too often passes as “a powerful testimony” in churches today. That ought to help shape and fashion our view on the matter of confession. Close relationships in the church inevitably ought to involve us in deeper transparency. But I am afraid we too often try to take that portrait of close biblical friendship and plaster it over the top of our public gatherings.

“But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among the saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place” (Eph 5:3-4).

“For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 3:13).

On March 12, 2022, our Lord and Savior called one of His servants home to heaven. That servant was Joe Nichols. A devoted husband to Leola (March 17th would have been their 57th anniversary).  A strong Dad, Papaw, and Great-Granddaddy. A servant in Corydon Baptist Church and the Southeast Indiana region for many decades. To say Joe had a servant’s heart is to vastly understate it. 

For many years, Joe was the only Deacon in Corydon Baptist Church. He served alongside the former Pastor, Tommy Hullette, during some very difficult years for the church. He and Tommy leaned hard upon Christ and one another to sustain a genuine gospel ministry in the face of much opposition. 

By the time I arrived as the Preaching Pastor in January 2012, Brother Joe was the Chairman of a more robust deacon ministry. But Joe’s love and support for me was just as tenacious. Joe didn’t always agree with every decision I made. He did not shy away from telling me so, at least a few times over the last 10 years, and I appreciated all the many times we agreed, and the few times we didn’t. But so long as I was faithfully and rightly dividing the Word of God, and was seeking to shepherd and lead the flock of God in a way that honored Christ, he stood shoulder-to-shoulder with me. He was a true friend (Prov. 18:24).

Joe was on the Search Committee that called me to Corydon Baptist Church. I remember him asking me, “What is your leadership style?” I barked, “Aggressive.” Joe was a former Army Sergeant, and I think I saw a twinkle in his eye upon hearing my straight-forward answer.  [Many will be glad to know, however, that God’s sanctifying grace has softened me some over the years. Both physical and spiritual age have made me less aggressive, I think, although I still believe that Jesus and His Church deserve our full energy, devotion, intensity, trust and effort. Or, maybe God is just teaching me which hills to die on, and which to leave to the younger warriors. But I digress.]  

Perhaps my fondest memory of Joe was during the first Members’ Meeting after I became Pastor. I was not leading the meeting. Rather, I had another elder lead it so I could just listen and learn how these meetings were conducted. Joe stood up and said, “This church is not giving anything to missions and that ain’t right!” Typical Joe. Direct. Biblical. Right on target.  

His courage that day led the church to begin giving a small percentage of the tithes and offerings received to missions. And at the time, the church really couldn’t even pay me much. But it was a sacrifice I was joyful to see the church body make. God has given me a heart for missions, especially in areas where Christians are persecuted. So, I was happy to find a kindred spirit already among the church family. What God did through one man’s consecrated courage that day is nothing short of astonishing.

For the last several years, our church family has been blessed of God to be able to give $40,000 + to missions and missionaries each year. Our church is in the top 25 in our denomination in the state of Indiana for Cooperative Program giving (as of 2021). We have a ministry to train pastors (and women) in a country that is always in the top 5 worst countries for persecution against Christians. We directly support missions in Cameroon, Indonesia, Philippines, Nicaragua, Kenya, Louisville, and right here at home. One of our member families just moved to Colorado to plant a church in Las Animas, a town that is shrouded in drug abuse, depression and darkness. Our membership has never exceeded 130 in the decade of my pastorate.  But our God is BIG. It is to His glory alone!

I do not often publish the ways in which God is using this church body in missions around the world. I just do not want even an ounce of glory or credit to go to anyone other than the Lord God Almighty who sent His Son to be the Savior of the World (John 4:42). My boasting is in the Lord (1 Cor 1:31). He has done and is doing great things among us for the sake of Jesus’ name. It’s all of grace! 

But, as I mourn the loss of Brother Joe, whose absence will be deeply felt in our church for a long time, and as I celebrate Joe’s legacy of faithful service to Christ, I do want to encourage us all to never underestimate what God can and will do through one consecrated, courageous Christian. The woman at the well took a faith gulp of Living Water some 2000 years ago, and a village came to Christ (John 4). 

Joe stood up at a small church meeting 10 years ago, and challenged us to step out in faith. For the love of God and for the sake of lost souls near and far. For the glory of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

And look what God did! Look at what God is doing! Anticipate what God will do! And ask the Lord to raise up more consecrated, courageous Christians among us, and among our sister churches. 

“I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor” (John 4:38).

I recently read this blog post by Dr. Chuck Lawless:

http://chucklawless.com/2021/03/10-questions-to-ask-in-preparation-for-worship-this-weekend/

While I certainly cannot improve upon the 10 Questions given to us by Dr. Lawless, I want to come at it from a slightly different angle.  Tom Ascol of Founders Ministries has often said that Christians should find a healthy New Testament Church then build their lives around it.  I heartily concur. 

The concept of building one’s life around a healthy covenantal family of Christ-followers was not a radical concept 100-150 years ago in our nation.  Frontier churches were often literally situated smack-dab in the middle of a settlement or village.  The lay out of the town reflected the actual priorities of the citizens.  We can opine the multiple cultural and economic factors that have been the driving force behind our centering our lives today on anything and everything but the church.  But truth is, we, the church, are ourselves at fault. 

We often tacitly or explicitly gave permission for church members to build their lives around other things, by

• Neglecting to rebuke workaholism among men.
• Encouraging women to seek full-time careers that removed them from the home.
• Turning over the full-time education and child-rearing task to the State.
• Dropping the concept of church membership / covenant altogether.
• Lowering expectations upon those attending worship gatherings, and dismissing any notion of genuine accountability or responsibility to one another as a Church Family.
• Engaging in our culture’s sports and entertainment idolatry, to the point that we thought it a good idea to employ such things to “attract” people to our assemblies.
• Baptizing young children at the first sign that they profess faith, and now the growing trend in the SBC is “spontaneous baptisms” of adults (I will address this perhaps in a future post, but for now will simply say I take those texts in Acts to be descriptive, not prescriptive).
• Turning the Lord’s Supper into a “free-for-all” quaint little tea party.
• Allowing rampant church-hopping driven by a consumerist view of church, without even any attempts between churches to call church-hoppers to account.
• Reducing the church’s discipleship and evangelism schedule to one morning per week so as to not infringe upon people’s “busy lives.”

You might think of other egregious errors to add to my list.  But here at Corydon Baptist Church, we are determined by God’s grace to keep rowing upstream against the white-water rapids threatening to sweep the local church to the periphery (if not into the rearview mirror) of our lives.  Why? 

Because the Church, founded upon Christ, living under the Headship of Christ, preaching the Lordship of Christ and pursuing Christlikeness in every facet of life is God’s Great Eternal Plan A to bring Himself glory!  God has no Plan B. 

So, this weekend and in weeks ahead you can get with God’s Program by intentionally centering yourselves and your households up on Christ and His Church.  Here are a few practical ways to do so:

• Pray and lead your family to pray for your pastors, for Bible teachers, for servants in various ministries, for newcomers and lost people, for your own hearing of the Word, for God-centeredness in your worship gathering, for missions and missionaries.
• Serve and lead your family to serve in various capacities on Sundays and Wednesdays and in other ways available in your local church. Brainstorm with your family about ways you can all arrive at a church gathering or ministry with a servant’s heart, preferring others and considering others better than yourselves. 
• Look around during the church gathering to locate those who might need help, or a prayer, or an encouraging word, or someone to sit with them. The elderly, widows, single moms, single young adults, troubled teens, families with many children, guests, and those with physical challenges all come to mind.
• Prepare for hearing the Word. Read the passage to be preached in your home the evening before the assembly.  Pray over it with your family.  Ask God to convict, challenge and change you by the Spirit’s application of the Word. 
• Talk about the sermon and Bible lessons you heard during the church’s gathering. Talk about what God taught you, how God convicted you, how God encouraged you, what commitment you made to God.  Ask questions of one another to increase your grasp of the Word. In small groups. Over coffee during the week. At PTO meetings. In the stands at soccer practice.  Use the preached Word as a springboard for evangelistic and sanctifying conversations. 
• Plan for the next time you will gather with your church family or minister with them. Create excitement in your family so that they anticipate more regular times with their church.
• Invite a church member, a guest in a gathering, or an unchurched neighbor or friend, to join you for a meal or activity, at least once a month. Relational evangelism and discipleship must take root in us, if we are ever to recover God’s Center. 
• Say no to lesser things. O God help us learn to say no!  The myriad activities our society now offers us, even on Sundays, is dizzying.  Dear Christian, ask God for courage to reclaim the Lord’s Day for His all-consuming glory in your life.  For it is certain, if your Sundays are mostly secular, there is little hope for your Mondays. 

“So that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to His eternal purpose that He has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Ephesians 3:10-11). 

What would the heavenly rulers know of the wisdom of God through the church by observing your day-to-day life?

“Behold I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20).

This has always been one of the most disturbing verses in the Bible to me.  It disturbs me for three main reasons.  

One, it’s very hard to interpret.  Is Jesus addressing lost people or saved people who are imbibing too deeply of the world?  Is this an invitation to salvation for the self-deceived in the Church, or an invitation to restored fellowship?  I don’t intend to comment further in this blog.  Just laying out the difficulty.  

Two, in context, these words point to the reality that a local church can become so enamored with the values of this world (primarily pride and prosperity), that it becomes useless in the kingdom of Christ and is completely rejected by Christ.  “I will spit you [the Church at Laodicea) out of My mouth” (v. 16).

Three, as if those two realities are not disturbing enough, consider now that the Lord Jesus Christ is outside the church!  He’s been locked out, as it were.  Excommunicated. An unwelcome and uninvited guest . . . in the church that presumably still calls Him Lord?  

The word “outsider” is a typical description of those who are lost without Christ.  They are living in sin, rejecting the Lordship of Jesus, severed from God’s saving grace (Mark 4:11; 1 Corinthians 5:9-13; Colossians 4:5).  To be “outside” the Kingdom, outside the Church, outside of saving grace, is one of the saddest descriptions in the Bible of our sinful, lost, depraved and helpless condition before a Holy God.  Those who die in their sins apart from repentance and faith in Jesus Christ are cast into “the outer darkness, in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 25:30).  

Is the shock of Revelation 3:20 coming into clearer focus?  

Jesus Christ, the Lord of Creation and the Lord of the Church, is standing OUTSIDE a church!  Requesting ever so politely to gain entrance.  This church is genuinely lukewarm. Useless. Unsalty salt.  

And that is the condition of a scary number of local churches and entire denominations in North America.  If the “pandemic” has exposed anything about the Church of America at large, it has flayed her as a cowering, State-worshiping, comfort-loving, prosperous in the ways of the world, lukewarm people who have kicked Jesus out.

We need look no further for evidence of my proposition than to Pastor James Coates of Grace Life Church, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.  Brother Coates sits in a jail cell. For what crime?  For having the audacity to hold a worship assembly above the government-mandated threshold of 15% capacity.  His young wife is now left at home with their young children, forced to visit their Dad, a Preacher of Righteousness, behind bars.    

And how have other churches and pastors responded?

Well, praise God some have responded with prayers for his release. Prayers that God would give His elect justice speedily (Luke 18:1-8).  Love. Support. Admiration. Count me among those.  I urge every believer in Christ our Lord to click below and listen to his Feb. 14th sermon, and the podcast with his wife conducted by Founders Ministries.  James and Erin Coates, speak for me!  I say “Amen” as loudly as I can.  O, may God use their witness and biblical fidelity and love for Christ to stir the lukewarm waters of so many churches across our land.  Knowing he would be arrested, Pastor Coates chose to preach a sermon to the government from Romans 13:1-4.  And his church keeps meeting.  Another pastor preached last Sunday.  Please, take time to visit these sites and if you are so led, you can give on their church webpage to support his legal defense team.  If we do not all hang together here Church, then we will all hang separately.  Read the statement on their homepage, too.  Even if you do not agree with everything their statement says, surely you can appreciate their bold stance and desire to please Jesus as Lord?                  

https://gracelife.ca/sermons/directing-government/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tl-bwbnLLt0&feature=emb_title 

https://gracelife.ca/give/ 

#FreeJamesCoates    

Sadly, many churches and pastors have not responded positively or with prayer, love and support.  Instead, they have castigated Brother James for not bowing the knee to the Canadian Crown.  And in so doing, they are demonstrating that they and their churches reside in Laodicea.  

And nothing could be sadder.

Because in Laodicea, Jesus is locked outside the church.  

Imagine churches in America telling persecuted believes in Iran that they should just stop meeting and stop preaching because their government says so.  How can so many professing Christians in North America be so blind to the evils now being foisted upon us by Big Brother?  

Well, there’s surely no danger of Laodicean churches ever being persecuted or imprisoned.  Bow down to the State’s golden image, and all will be well with you . . . at least for now.  At least in this life.  But I read somewhere that followers of King Jesus are not of this world.  Not living for this life. Looking for a better city. Pilgrims passing through. Who fear not death, nor hell, nor the devil, nor disease, nor hardships, nor imprisonment, nor governments.  

Why?  Because Jesus is Lord.  Only. Jesus. Is. Lord.

“For the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever” (Revelation 11:15).  

The Church of America had better learn to suffer.  We had better prepare for Babylon to arise and make war against the saints.  We had better run to Christ for courage to stand. We had better, those of us who cling tenaciously to the inerrant, absolutely authoritative Word of God, remember the chains of our Brother James Coates (Colossians 4:18).  For soon enough we shall be chained with him.  

O Lord, teach us once again to pray, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” 

We are changed.  All of us.  Changed. 

You might think I am referring to the miracle of the new birth in Christ Jesus.  And indeed, every Christian has been and is being and shall be changed!  But I am actually referring to the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had upon us.  It has changed us.  Some more than others.  But changed we are, every single one of us.  In some ways, for good or ill, we will not emerge from this the same.

Will we ever be the same?  Well, I for one, hope so.  I pray the Lord allows us to put this thing behind us eventually and get back to loving Him and one another and our world with a humble, bold heart.

But friends, we must understand that God’s work of sanctification does not progress at the same pace for each and every one of us.  In our church family, we have some who are farther down the road to Christlikeness.  They have walked with Jesus longer.  They are quicker to confess and repent.  They are matured by the grace of God and able to endure more testing.  And in our church family we have those who are young in the faith, and those who are young in age (being raised up in the faith but not yet born again).  They are sometimes more fervent in their evangelism and excited about the new love they have in Christ and His people.  Though they have little life experience, and are not deeply rooted in the gospel faith, and have not studied the Bible rigorously for decades, they still matter greatly to the life of this congregation.  They may have been saved out of a life of alcoholism or drug addictions or abuse.  They may have been raised in a legalistic church or family, or a libertine church or family.  In other words, they bring some baggage.  But we all do, right?  Thus, we must “bear with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph 4:2-3).

COVID-19 has potential to either divide us, or unite us.  Plain and simple.  How we treat one another and view one another, and how we even disagree with one another, over the course of the next few months, will either be a tool of the enemy to divide and destroy us, or an instrument of righteousness to make us all more like our Lord and Savior.  Surely, we all want the latter!  We want to stand united in Christ.

Romans 14 can be very useful to us in this endeavor.  I commend your in-depth study and meditation on this Chapter in weeks ahead.  Let me lay out the basic argument Paul makes in sequence:

1. In matters not explicitly commanded nor forbidden by Scripture, allow for freedom of conscience in Christ, and do not treat others judgmentally in these matters nor question their motives (vv. 1-12).
2. Prioritize the sanctification of others and value their growth in Christ and peace in the church more than your Christian freedom (vv. 13-19).
3. Do not hinder or hurt someone’s walk with Jesus in non-essential matters of opinions or preferences, and be willing to sacrifice your own preferences for the sake of others’ sanctification (vv. 20-21).
4. If you argue someone over to your point of view, but in their hearts they are not fully convinced, you may well be sinning or causing them to sin, as all Christian behavior, speech and thoughts are to flow from faith, not fear or peer pressure or superior logic (vv. 22-23; see also 1 Cor 8:7-13).

Quick Application: Rather than try to force or expect everyone to agree with us on wearing masks and social distancing, we are better to simply learn each person’s preferences and then respect them, adjusting our behavior with that person accordingly.  What we must not allow is a hard and fast split in our church into the “mask-wearers” v. “bare faces” or “hand-shakers” v. “smile and wavers.”  This would foster a spirit of judgmentalism that would please our enemy and grieve our Lord.

Our enemy wants us to think this is all so brand new.  But the Word of God says, "There is nothing new under the sun" (Eccl 1:9).  The Church throughout its history has dealt with disasters, tragedies, pandemics, conspiracy theories, and myriad issues about which faithful followers of Christ can and may disagree.  When persecution strikes, some pastors and believers flee.  Some stay.  Both may well be found faithful.  When plagues come, some pastors and believers risk their lives to serve the sick at their bedsides.  Others think it best to leave that task to medical professionals.  Both may well be found faithful.  Some believers vaccinate.  Some do not.  Both may well be found faithful.  Some believers home school.  Others do not.  Both may well be found faithful.

Let us not be ignorant of our enemy's schemes (2 Cor 2:11).