Live as though You Cannot Die – Keelan Cook

We live in an anxious age. If you don’t believe me, check out this book, or this article, or this article that even discusses a rise in anxiety before the pandemic, or this research. And if you don’t trust any of those sources, here’s Fox News saying the same thing. Without a doubt, all of this anxiety affects the way we live. People seem more cautious than ever, more sensitive to risks, more concerned about consequences. Of course, caution is not always a bad thing. People should not be needlessly reckless. Jesus warns against building houses and going to war without counting the cost (Luke 14:28-32). However, if you place those verses into their context, Jesus follows them by saying, “In the same way, therefore, every one of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33). Jesus is not urging caution that leads to inaction. He’s not telling his audience to avoid risks because they are risky. Quite the opposite. He’s warning that discipleship is costly, that it requires sacrifice, giving up everything and assuming the risks that come with such a bold decision. In an anxious age, how does one live with this kind of boldness? Like so many facets of the Christian life, the answer to that question lies in the gospel itself. We see a glimpse of why this is true in Paul’s letter to the Roman church. In chapter 6, Paul recounts a central truth of the gospel: those who are crucified with Christ are also raised with him to a new life. Successful life and ministry today requires the mindset of a resurrected life. Christ calls us to live as those who have died and now cannot die. Paul begins in chapter 6 by asking a question that takes us right to the purpose of redemption itself. Did Christ die on the cross so that we could get a free pass to do whatever we wanted? Was me being able to act however I wish, really worth the King of Glory bearing the weight of the world’s sins? Paul’s answer is as clear as his question: Absolutely not! The gospel is not about us. It is, in many ways, for us, but it is not about us. Redemption was accomplished by Christ on the cross as part of God’s plan to receive ultimate glory from his creation. What man wrecked with sin, God redeems through power. The first Adam filled the world with rebels, but God through Christ, the second Adam, creates a new people. He fills the world with worshipers and with ministers. The invitation given at the cross is not an invitation to selfishness. It is the invitation to be part of this new people God is creating, to become a citizen of another kingdom. It is not a call to fulfill your old desires. It is a call to have entirely new ones. Paul unpacks his answer by explaining the nature of redemption applied to the human soul. His explanation comes in two parts: the truths of redemption applied and the terms of redemption applied. The Truths of Redemption Applied The first foundational truth is: this: Redemption is applied through union with Christ. There are two key phrases I want us to notice in these few verses. In verse 3, Paul claims that our baptism is actually a baptism into Christ. And in verse 5, he declares that we are united with Christ. But what does that mean? Salvation does not just remove your guilt and shame. It does not just remove your eternal punishment. You are not just saved out of bad stuff; you are saved into something. Those of us who have crossed the line of faith are baptized into Christ, we are united to him. It is a mystical truth I could not explain if I tried, but that makes it no less true. For those of us in Christ, what happens to Christ happens to us. A Chinese pastor and author by the name of Watchman Nee speaks of an illustration he used while traveling through the Chinese interior. Nee writes, I remember once I took up a small book and put a piece of paper into it, and I said to those very simple ones, ‘Now look carefully. I take a piece of paper. It has an identity of its own, quite separate from this book. Having no special purpose for it at the moment I put it into the book. Now I do something with the book. I post it to Shanghai. I do not post the paper, but the paper has been put into the book. Then where is the paper? Can the book go to Shanghai and the paper remain here? Can the paper have a separate destiny from the book? No! Where the book goes the paper goes. If I drop the book in the river the paper goes too, and if I quickly take it out again I recover the paper also. Whatever experience the book goes through the paper goes through with it, for it is in the book.’1 This, Nee responds, is what it means to be in Christ. His fate is your fate. What happens to Christ also happens to you. Redemption is applied through union with Christ. A second truth flows from the first: Union in Christ means the call to be a Christian is the call to come and die. We too are crucified and the old man is gone (v 4a, 6-7). Passing through the waters of baptism is proclaiming that you join Christ in his crucifixion. Baptism represents burial. For new life to happen, a death must first occur. Consider for a minute what that means. I know my old self, and he was not a good man. The old man was a liar. The old man was in bondage. The old self was a slave to his desires. In this passage, Paul unmasks sin for what it really is, a slave master that holds us in bondage. The old man was buried with Christ. Christian in a mystical sense, being a Christian means that you have died. Your old self has been killed. It was on that cross with Christ. Robert Mounce says it this way, “Christ’s death for sin becomes our death to sin.”2 Does this mean that we are now sinless? It can’t mean that because of what Paul says a few verses later. It does mean our trajectory in life has changed. Union with Christ is the call to come and die. Finally, if we died with Christ, we will also live with him. Paul writes, “…just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of his resurrection” (v. 4b-5). We too will be resurrected. Christ’s resurrection was unique in all history. His was not the first resurrection recorded in the gospels. Others had been resurrected too. But Lazarus was resurrected only to die again. Christ did not and will not die again (v 9). He is the first fruits of a new resurrection, one that creates eternal life. Christ was the first to experience this new resurrection, but he will not be the last. Remember, union with Christ means what happens to Christ happens to us. We have not yet experienced this resurrection, but we can be certain it awaits us. We can be sure, because Christ has experienced it and we share his fate. Redemption is applied through union with Christ. Union in Christ is a call to come and die. If we died with Christ, we will also live with him. The Terms of Redemption Applied If being in Christ means our old self was crucified with him, and we live a new life, then these are terms of that new life: Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires. And do not offer any parts of it to sin as weapons for unrighteousness. But as those who are alive from the dead, offer yourselves to God, and all the parts of yourselves to God as weapons for righteousness. For sin will not rule over you, because you are not under the law but under grace (v. 12-14). Since you have been united with Christ in his death and resurrection, do not be a weapon of the world but a weapon of God’s kingdom. Once the gospel is applied, we live as those who can never die. That sounds crazy, doesn’t it? But it’s true. My body can fail me, but I am now alive in a way that cannot be taken from me. In Christ, I will live forever. If this is true, we can walk in the kind of boldness possessed by those who live forever. We can radically obey God no matter the perceived consequences. We can cross oceans with the gospel. We can stare persecution in the face. We can give up everything we have and spend ourselves entirely on the Great Commission. Because when redemption is truly applied there is no room for fear. Christ’s fate is our fate. Christ’s future is our future. The Word tells us we are destined to rule alongside him in a new heavens and earth. When we cross the line of faith, and we are obedient in this baptism that Paul describes, we are buried in Christ’s death and raised to walk in a new life. Baptism is a proclamation of war against the enemy. From death to life. Becoming a weapon of righteousness. In an anxious age, the gospel provides the antidote to fear and worry. The gospel steels the soul, and strengthens the legs. Far from being those who shrink back at risk, we face the wind and press into the battle. Watchman Nee, The Normal Christian Life. (Wheaton: Tyndale Momentum, 1987), 30. ↩ Robert H. Mounce, Romans, vol. 27 of The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1995), 149. ↩

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Does your church still have an apostolic passion? – Keelan Cook

Is it just me, or does it seem like church leaders are always trying to get their congregation excited about something? Sometimes it is a new sermon series, or a new initiative. Often, it is a building project or a new ministry the church plans to start or support. Regardless, I’m willing to wager, there is always something your church leadership wants you to get jazzed about. If you’re one of those leaders, I get it. I’ve spent a number of years as a pastor myself, and there is something good about trying to get your congregation excited about what your church is doing. In fact, passion is in some ways the fuel for missions. But, it may be worth stepping back and examining the kinds of passion we are attempting to instill. In my opinion, there is one very important passion I see frequently in the pages of Scripture but rarely in the life of congregations today. Too few churches today are marked by an apostolic passion. In Romans 15, Paul outlines one of his primary passions in ministry. It is this profoundly biblical desire that I’m calling an apostolic passion. Paul writes, My brothers and sisters, I myself am convinced about you that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another. Nevertheless, I have written to remind you more boldly on some points because of the grace given me by God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, serving as a priest of the gospel of God. My purpose is that the Gentiles may be an acceptable offering, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Therefore I have reason to boast in Christ Jesus regarding what pertains to God. For I would not dare say anything except what Christ has accomplished through me by word and deed for the obedience of the Gentiles, by the power of miraculous signs and wonders, and by the power of God’s Spirit. As a result, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum. My aim is to preach the gospel where Christ has not been named, so that I will not build on someone else’s foundation, but, as it is written, “Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.” (Rom 15:14-21, CSB) Paul’s passion was to preach the gospel where Christ has not been named. That is the apostolic passion. What is an apostolic passion? A couple of things should stick out to us in Paul’s explanation of his apostolic ministry here. First, notice he provides his readers with a very clear purpose statement. Paul’s purpose in ministry: that the Gentiles may be an acceptable offering, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. For clarity’s sake, let me call attention to that word Gentiles. We do no textual harm translating it nations in this passage. It’s the same Greek word we see in the Great Commission. He is also very clear that this purpose can only be the result of proclaiming the gospel. That’s evangelism, folks, and Paul spells it out for us here; the purpose of his ministry is presenting an offering of people from the nations and he knows the means of doing so is evangelism. What I want to point out here is Paul’s passion for accomplishing his gospel ministry where Christ has not been named. When was the last time we really called our churches to get jazzed about that? How many churches are marked by a passion to intentionally fulfill their gospel ministry (especially that of evangelism) precisely where others are not? Of course, to some extent we press that passion toward our international missions efforts. We speak of the unreached people groups overseas, and we send short term teams and even long term missionaries to those people. That is great work; it is vital work, and every church should have a missions vision with a global horizon. That said, if we’re not careful we mark off Paul’s desire for doing ministry where Christ is not named as an “over there” thing and do not realize apostolic passion may have something to say about our church’s local mission here. Let’s regain the apostolic passion in local church ministry. Imagine with me for a minute, a city of local churches that intentionally attempt to work where others are not. A group of churches seeking out those specific locations, those specific social circles, where there is little gospel presence. What could this do for the local missions in that city? First off, it takes talking to other churches. Churches in the same city would need at least enough relationship to know what others were actually doing. Churches being involved in one another’s ministry could have potential. Eventually, this might even start to erode some of that competitive spirit between local churches. No longer are two churches incorrectly fearing the other may slice into their membership. Instead, they concern themselves with those who are not going to anyone’s church. In fact, they begin to avoid activity that might draw people from another church and tell people who are church hopping to go back to their home church. Together, these churches begin looking for the holes. This would require churches to realize the importance of local cooperation. Next, it requires a willingness to do things differently. For an apostolic passion in local ministry to flourish, churches would have to change their success metrics. Bigger may not be better. More of the same may not be the best strategy. Certainly, it would require sending our best to the areas in our city where we are not. J.D. Greear, in his book Gaining by Losing, writes, “Jesus’ measure of the church is not seating capacity, but sending capacity.” It would take doing ministry differently. In Houston, we have hundreds of different cultural and ethnic groups spread out over one of the largest metro areas in the United States. Doing ministry in the same cultural ways we have always done it will only continue reaching the people that are just like us, and usually those people are transfers from another church. An apostolic passion, however, thinks first of those people not like us. It turns first to those without the gospel. It looks for the groups of people or neighborhoods in a given city that have no gospel presence. We have whole language groups, thousands of people, in Houston with no gospel-preaching church in their language. An apostolic passion sees this as more of a priority than growing weekly attendance at our own, English-speaking church. Even among those who speak English, an apostolic passion would suggest making sure our efforts were turned toward those who are not already Christians. Finally, it can only be done by relying on others who are better than us. Apostolic ministry requires humility. It recognizes that no single church can reach a city. It accepts that certain groups of people in the city will require a cultural understanding or skill set that our congregation may not possess. Houston is home to some of the biggest megachurches in America, many of them good, gospel-centered churches. When it comes to an apostolic passion, however, even these churches will have things they need to learn from the small, immigrant churches throughout our city. The largest and the smallest, the richest and the poorest, congregations of many languages and cultures, with a passion to preach the gospel where Christ is not currently named, that’s the potential of an apostolic passion. What does your church celebrate? Take a minute to ask yourself. You’re currently trying to get your church excited about something. What if the thing your church was most passionate about was sending and speaking wherever Christ is not named?

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Identifying to Send: Examine These Three Areas of a Person’s Life – Keelan Cook

In our current season of ministry, it would be tempting to remove our focus from the core missionary task of sending laborers into the harvest. It should go without saying, during a time of social distancing the means through which we fulfill the Great Commission and the proclamation of the gospel with those yet to accept it must look different. However, we cannot stop the crucial work of examining those within our own congregations to one day be launched out as church planters, replanters, and missionaries. I’m a sucker for alliteration. It’s one of the ways you can tell I’m Baptist. There’s just something that warms a preacher’s heart when he can cram his points into terms that all begin with the same letter without doing too much damage to their meaning. Today, I want to introduce you to the Three Cs of Sending. Sending language is becoming common parlance in church circles nowadays. Like “missional” before it, most churches know that it’s good to be a “sending church.” Unfortunately, the term is often stretched to mean something that may not actually be real sending. If we’re not careful, we’re just using a rhetoric of multiplication. Real multiplicative sending is not merely supporting, but requires a church to first look inside of its own congregation for those they would send. Real sending means sending your own. Becoming a real sending church begins long before you commission your first members to be missionaries, church planters, or replanters. In order to send, you must first identify those among you that you would equip to go. But if the sending process begins with identification, then that raises an obvious question: What are we looking for in potential sent-out ones? Enter the Three Cs: character, calling, and competency. When looking inside your church for those you would send out, these three categories are both biblical and indispensable for assessing those you would send. Character Character is far and away the most important quality to consider in identifying sent-out ones. Ironically, it’s often the least considered when looking for potential church planters or missionaries. We often first evaluate someone by how they perform a certain way, such as being a good public speaker or having a dynamic personality. This may be well-meaning, but it puts the cart before the horse in identification. A person’s godliness is much more important than their ability to gather a crowd. In I Timothy, Paul makes this point clear. Paul provides Timothy with instructions for identifying new pastors from within the house churches in Ephesus. His list of qualifications is very telling—it’s almost completely character-based. Paul provides a whole list of qualities to look for in a ministry leader, and only one quality relates to a competency: that he is able to teach. When identifying potential sent-out ones, we must follow Paul’s guidance. Character comes first. Before even considering someone, know about their spiritual formation. Do they truly know and love God? Do they abide in Christ? Are they disciplined in the habits of grace such as Bible study, prayer, and biblical community? Do they possess the fruits of the Spirit, the virtues of the Christian life? Finally, do they already obey the command to make disciples? Calling Calling is where we Baptists start to get mystic. I don’t want to discount some divine communication here, but we need to understand that there’s more to it than that. In fact, I believe there is a good deal of confusion that surrounds this idea today. All Christians are called to the mission of the church. Full stop. Everyone is called to participate in the Great Commission. Everyone is called to make new disciples. Everyone is called to share the gospel. Everyone is called to serve Christ by serving their church. But some people are called to be sent out for their church to other gospel ministry in the form of planting a new church, replanting or revitalizing an existing church that needs help, or by serving as a missionary in another place. When we are talking about a church identifying potential sent-out ones, it’s this more specific calling that we are trying to see. To be frank, if your church is doing its job in discipling its people then there should be people with this sent-out calling. Perhaps the reason you can’t find them is because you’re not being intentional about instilling this purpose in your church. In short, when trying to discern calling, there are two things to consider: if an individual feels called and if the church affirms this calling. First, does the person desire to do the task? That may sound too simple, but Paul tells us that the one who aspires to be an elder desires a good thing (1 Tim. 3:1). However, a mere desire is an inadequate understanding of calling.  In addition to this desire, does the greater church body also see a potential calling in this person? Calling is not some hyper-individualistic process. Do others in the church who are spiritually mature and know this person well affirm with them this desire? Competency Competency is last on this list for a reason. I’m convinced we tend to make more out of this category than the Bible does. In our Western ways of business acumen and efficiency as virtue, we tend to outsize some list of talents in identifying people for ministry and overlook the more foundational issues of character and calling. We must learn to once more rely on the Holy Spirit to accomplish the work of the ministry through us. Too often, I am afraid our approach makes too much out of our finite skills and not enough out of the almighty power of Spirit to accomplish his purposes. With that caveat in place, I do not think we can completely ignore competencies. Though there is much less discussion of competencies in the Bible, it does mention them at times. What is more, competencies are a helpful way to determine a particular sending pathway. Often, people feel called to be sent but are less certain of how they should be sent. Sometimes, people possess skills that lend toward one pathway instead of another. While any pathway will include the fundamentals of gospel ministry, there are truly different competencies required to be an international missionary or a church planter or a replanter. Finally, identifying competencies is more about someone’s potential to develop them than their current possession of them. In essence, we are asking if this person has what it takes to develop the skills necessary to do the task to which they’re called. This takes being a learner, and it takes being a worker. Real, multiplicative sending rests on the back of identification in the local church. My prayer is that more church leaders would see the potential in their own pews, calling their members to consider whether they may be the next one to go for the sake of the Great Commission. Further Reading

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The Extras Are Tired

People are getting more sick of influencers, even as the job becomes more important.

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The Art of the Personal Testimony – Keelan Cook

I recently stumbled across an article at The Gospel Coalition that caught my attention. The article, titled “The Increasing Value of Christian Testimonies”, resonated. In fact, I make similar claims in my Christian missions courses at the seminary where I teach. The personal testimony is becoming more important. Perhaps it is fair to say it never stopped being important, but shifts in the majority culture and worldview around most Western Christians reveal its real significance to gospel ministry. Yet, while I am a proponent of teaching people about the importance of their testimony, we must carve out a better understanding of the whole enterprise. There is also a good deal of confusion surrounding the personal testimony and its relationship to evangelism and discipleship. If it is so important, where does it fit? Let’s look at a few important points concerning the role of the personal testimony in gospel ministry. Your personal testimony is not evangelism. First, a testimony is not the same thing as evangelism. Now, you may share your testimony as part of a larger conversation that is an evangelistic encounter. Or, you can structure your testimony in such a way that it includes evangelism. However, the sheer act of telling your story about how Christ has saved you is not automatically evangelism. Frankly, telling people about your life is not the same as telling them the gospel. It’s pretty common to hear well-meaning calls to evangelism in churches that equate telling someone your story with the evangelistic act of proclaiming the gospel. In most instances, it is better to consider your personal testimony as a pre-evangelistic tool that sets the stage for the gospel. And here is why… Evangelism is about the person and work of Christ. Evangelism is the act of proclaiming the gospel to someone who has not heard or accepted it, and the gospel is not about you. The gospel is the good news of Christ’s birth, life, death, and resurrection. For a conversation to be evangelistic, it must include the basic tenets of the gospel message. In Acts 4, Peter testified, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). And Jesus, of course, declared, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:5). Evangelism centers on Jesus, not on us. Paul grants us a look into his understanding of evangelism when he refers to it as the ministry of reconciliation. The center of evangelism is the person and work of Jesus. Paul writes, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation…” (2 Corinthians 5:17a). The purpose of evangelism is the reconciliation of man to God. Paul continues, “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf, ‘Be reconciled to God’” (2 Corinthians 5:20). Finally, the aim of evangelism is to persuade the hearer this good news is true. Do not miss Paul’s language here. He says that we, as ambassadors, plead on Christ’s behalf. That’s desperate language. It is persuasive language. It is not enough to merely tell people what we think or believe, which is certainly the temptation in a “you do you” world. Paul presses us a step further to plead with our hearers to accept this life-changing news. Plead does not mean manipulate, of course. Paul is not telling us to trick people into accepting the gospel. He’s not telling us to cajole people with our superior rhetoric. He’s not telling us to use shady emotional tactics to merely elicit some emotional response. He’s telling us to plead. We plead when we understand the importance of our call. We plead when we feel the weight of urgency that surrounds our call. We plead when we care enough about our hearer’s fate that we are not content to let some halfhearted presentation or vague affirmation suffice. This is one reason our testimony is so important as we engage in gospel ministry. Your testimony is not the gospel message, but it is a clear demonstration of the gospel’s power. Your testimony is one story of the gospel applied. Your testimony demonstrates the gospel’s power because it is one example of the gospel applied. Paul introduces the epistle to the Romans with these words: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith” (Romans 1:16-17). That truth has everything to do with your testimony. As a Christian, one brought from death to life, your story reveals the righteousness of God. Why? Because the righteous live by faith. If you are authentically walking in the power of the Holy Spirit and abiding in Christ, then your testimony reveals one instance of the gospel transforming a soul through its power. It’s not the gospel message, but it is one example of the gospel at work. That is powerful. That is God’s design: to make His disciples into living examples of His power to save. Luke makes this clear in his account of the earliest days of the church. He writes, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). That word witness, and the word testimony, they’re related to one another. Witnesses provide a testimony. Most often, I think we’re used to the words witness and testimony in a legal setting today. Witnesses take the stand in a courtroom so they can share what they have seen or experienced to be true. What they share is called their testimony. What is true in the legal courtroom is true in the courtroom of life for the Christian. We are called to the stand as witnesses, so that we can give a testimony of what we have seen and experienced to be true in the gospel. Conclusion It’s common nowadays to hear people parrot that misattributed quote, “Preach the gospel, and if necessary use words.”1 Not only is the quote historical fiction, it’s also logically nonsensical. The gospel is news, an explicit message, and it requires intentional communication. No amount of good living or being nice rises to the standard of biblical evangelism. However, a righteous life lived by faith is evidence of the gospel at work. Knowing how to speak to others about the power of the gospel in your own life, your personal testimony, is an important tool for the disciple as they obey the Great Commission. When we properly place our testimony into our work as ambassadors, it creates a clear and powerful way to demonstrate the validity of our claims about the gospel. The gospel is the very center of evangelism, but our testimonies play a crucial supporting role as we testify to the good news of Jesus with those who have not heard or accepted. This quote is often attributed to Francis of Assisi, though he did not say it and very likely disagreed with the idea based on his actual writings and own life. ↩

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Love the Church that Is – Keelan Cook

In a job like mine, you hear stories about the church. A student serving in their first church explains to me the conflict threatening to split his church. Of course, none of this was disclosed during the search and candidate process. A consultant with a state convention explains a toxic and competitive relationship that developed between two nearby churches in a small town. A missionary explains the thorny issues of a newly forming church with a small congregation of people all trying to walk away from Islam but still mired in sins and blind spots from their former worldview. Yet another missionary shares frustrations and feelings of bitterness toward their sending church. When they left, the church seemed so excited, but now no one responds to the emails. Have they been forgotten? I could go on, but you get the point. It is easy to love the church that ought to be. The church presented to us in the Scriptures, at least the ideal, is breathtaking. It’s a community of redeemed sinners, covenanted together in love through the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. This church truly loves one another (Jn. 13:34), they serve one another (Gal. 5:13), they bear one another’s burdens (Gal. 6:2), they edify one another (1 Thess. 5:11), they admonish one another with song (Col. 3:16), they forgive one another (Col. 3:13), and they exhort one another daily (Heb. 3:13). This is the church that ought to be. It is committed to the Word, bold in its witness, and pure in its doctrine. It loves its community, it cares for the least of these, and models purity to a watching world. In seminary, our students spend their entire degree learning what the church that ought to be looks like. They fall in love with this church, and rightly so, because she is beautiful. Some decide to pastor this church, others desire to plant this church here or among the unreached around the world. There’s only one problem: this church that ought to be is a mirage. To be clear, it is the right mirage. The church that ought to be is the aspiration and goal of the church. Yet, it is a mirage nonetheless. Here is my point: when we love the church that ought to be instead of the one that is, we fall in love with ideals and aspirations— we do not fall in love with people. And if we are not careful, we fix our gaze on the ideal church and overlook the one we are given to serve. The church that is is not the church that ought to be. In the time between the times, as we wait on our King to finally and fully bring His church to its complete and perfect purity, we are left only with the church that is. The church that is can also be found in Scripture. The church in Corinth was known for its internal divisions (1 Cor. 1:11-12). It also had a problem with sexual immorality so bad it wasn’t tolerated even among the worst unbelievers (1 Cor. 5:1-2). Oh, and they were also suing each other (1 Cor. 6:1-6). Lest we assume the Corinthians were just the bad apples, recall the heresy that plagued the Galatian church (Gal. 1:6-7) and the biting conflict that resulted (Gal. 5:15). There was personal rivalry occurring in Philippi (4:2), more heresy in Colossae (Col. 2:18-23), and busybodies in Thessalonica (2 Thess. 3:11-12). Do not forget the seven churches in Revelation. Collectively, Christ reprimands these churches for apathy, compromise, tolerating evil, being lukewarm, and even spiritual death. Each church seems to have its particular vice. Pastor, you don’t get to shepherd the church that ought to be, you pastor the church that is. Missionary, you don’t plant the church that ought to be, you plant the one that is. If we are not careful, we overlook or sideline the church that is because it is not the one that ought to be. Perhaps we get bitter and only want to attend or serve in the church that ought to be. We fool ourselves by searching for the perfect church with which to covenant or to pastor. On the mission field, we want to wait until the church that is becomes the church that ought to be before we let it stand on its own. This is the mirage. That hallway only gets longer the further you run down it. We must also realize that Paul writes to churches in the New Testament as churches, congregations that have stood up in the midst of their problems and sin. In fact, Paul’s counsel to these churches provides the proper attitude. Paul loves the church that is, not the church that ought to be. Yet, his love for the church that is calls it to be what it ought. He knows the church he serves, and he loves that church; he lets that church stand even though it is not all it should be. Then he instructs, counsels, and corrects toward the biblical ideal of church. As my children grow, I’m learning the importance of granting permission to fail, of giving them chances to perform on their own. I do not want to be a helicopter parent because I realize that my children learn how to do the hard thing by having to do the hard thing. Yet, when they fail, I cannot become embittered, frustrated, or distant as though they let me down. Likewise, we strive to help the church that is become the church that ought to be, knowing that it does not arrive until Christ’s return.

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Make Your Maps but Hold Them Loosely – Keelan Cook

Recently, I attended a meeting with some key leaders from a number of global Baptist missions agencies. It was an encouraging week of meetings where we heard reports from many of the agencies. They discussed their strategy, the various locations in the world where they have missionaries, and the progress of their work. There was much to celebrate. I was encouraged by the spirit of cooperation in the room. Global Baptist leaders from conventions and networks around the world gathered together to cooperate across language and cultural barriers to get the gospel to the nations. It filled me with joy to see those leaders working together. A large part of the meeting was dedicated to rethinking many of the categories we use to engage in gospel ministry globally. We discussed people group lists, various regions and boundaries for strategy, and how best to draw out areas of focus. These groups are committed to partnering together and to rethinking the way they’ve analyzed their work and drawn out the maps of ministry. This process was intense. I left with some thoughts brewing in my head. Over the course of the meeting, as each group presented their findings, a couple of themes emerged for me. At times, the data and maps created an immediate level of clarity in the work. Sometimes, a presenter would begin to explain an area of concentration and you could see how the data was informing a strategic need. However, more than once, a presenter noted another outcome. Sometimes, these maps and regions and lists had done more to obscure work or limit work than enable it. As different groups discussed their process of reassessing these areas of focus, they began to see how their thinking in previous years had been limited by the boundaries they had drawn. They developed a self-imposed cage. It was interesting to see how the same process of trying to define areas of service, fields for ministry, could either bring clarity or confusion. Data can free us for ministry, or it can create artificial limits on what we believe to be possible. I am convinced this is not just a matter of accurate information. I imagine this is also a matter of the heart. When engaging in this kind of research, I believe we must remind ourselves of the purpose for the data in the first place. This is as true for local churches seeking to better understand their community as it is for multi-national missions agencies working together to categorize all the peoples of the world for the global spread of the gospel. So, let me remind us all of a couple of points we need to keep in mind when reviewing data on the harvest. Put Data in Its Proper Place Let me start here. Our maps help us discover opportunities, they do not determine outcomes. Viewed incorrectly, we serve our maps and our lists instead of our God. We must always put our data in its rightful place: a handmaiden to the mission. There are a couple of tendencies we must avoid. First, it’s often possible for us to fall into the trap of making the collection of the data the end in itself. We feel we are done, and the task is fulfilled, once we have developed our data, our regions, our maps, our newfound understanding of the field. Yet, this is not the real work of gospel ministry. It is an important aspect of the task. Jesus raises the question in the Scriptures, “For which of you, wanting to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it” (Luke 14:28)? The work is not finished at counting the cost. Another, perhaps more subtle, tendency comes when we allow the map to set the horizon for what is possible. Once this happens, it does more than discovery, it begins to determine what we believe can be accomplished. We base our expectations on a tool designed to facilitate the work, and we “teach to the test.” Use Data to Reveal, not Conceal Illustrating data means making decisions. It requires limits. A road map would not be very useful to you if its designer chose to show you every possible datapoint. The road would quickly become obscured by all the unimportant data. So it is with ministry maps, and people lists. Our community data can reveal or it can conceal. We must ensure that our maps communicate the opportunities. A repeated refrain at our meeting came from those who realized that, over time, their ministry regions had actually inhibited their ability to see connections through which gospel spread could be facilitated. Lines were drawn and became boundaries that concealed what was possible. We must revisit our maps regularly and ask some hard questions. How have things changed since the lines were established? What new connections may be present? We must be critical with our data, and we likely need to do it in the open. Share your maps with others and get a second opinion. Local church leaders, invite your association, church network, state convention, other church leaders into the conversation. Learn to use a cooperative playbook with others. I can almost assure you that you will all benefit from it. The Spread of the Gospel can Defy Your Borders We do our best to reasonably understand how and where the gospel spreads. At their best, our maps and our lists show us something we did not see before, and we are able to move into new territory. Yet, let us not be so smug as to suggest the gospel can only go where we determine. When the gospel goes beyond where we predicted, sticking to our maps is shortsighted at best and sinful at worst. The goal must be Spirit-led discernment. We create maps for discernment, for clarity, for eyes to see the field in front of us. This is good and right. We make plans, because it is right to make plans. Maps do not limit the Spirit. Throughout the book of Acts, we experience the triumph of the gospel through the power of the Holy Spirit. Repeatedly, Luke pauses his narrative briefly to provide his readers with a status update, “… And the word of God continued to increase” (Acts 6:7). These summary statements track the growth the gospel across boundaries, regions, lands, and peoples. By the end, Luke confidently claims the gospel prevailed mightily (Acts 19:20). Luke records for us Paul’s missionary journeys. Paul and his team of missionaries make plans, they devise strategy, and they likely have their maps. Paul’s own writings detail his plans. In his magnum opus, the missionary support letter to the Roman church, Paul outlines his plans to use Rome as a staging ground for missionary expansion even further west now that his work from Jerusalem to Illyricum is complete (Romans 15:20-29). We do not know, at least from the Scriptures, if these plans ever came to fruition. In Luke’s writing, he clearly explains that the Spirit will defy the best laid plans of the missionary. They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia; they had been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. When they came to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. Passing by Mysia they went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision in which a Macedonian man was standing and pleading with him, “Cross over to Macedonia and help us! ” After he had seen the vision, we immediately made efforts to set out for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them (Acts 16:6-10, CSB). Paul and his team desired to go to Bithnyia, but the Spirit did not allow it. The Holy Spirit had other plans. The Holy Spirit opened a door into Macedonia that was closed on their map. Without being overly prescriptive, Luke and Paul’s testimony in the Scripture demonstrate ministry leaders making plans, devising routes, laying out their maps of strategic need and opportunities for engagement. Plans are good. Data is a great help in ministry. Make your map. Let’s allow the Lord of the Harvest the freedom to change those plans and redraw our boundaries of what is possible. After all, it is the Spirit who can open wide doors of effective ministry (1 Corinthians 16:8–9).

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On Knowing the Enemy – Keelan Cook

Have we forgotten the devil? The great Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones wrote about this very issue: I am certain that one of the main causes of the ill state of the Church today is the fact that the devil is being forgotten. All is attributed to us; we have all become so psychological in our attitude and thinking. We are ignorant of this great objective fact, that being, the existence of the devil, the adversary, the accuser, and his “fiery darts”.1 I’m inclined to agree with his assertion. The last couple of months, I’ve been reflecting on Ephesians 6. According to Paul, we are presently fighting an invisible battle. It is one which requires a level of spiritual readiness in wartime. I am not certain the root cause of this spiritual amnesia concerning our foe. Perhaps we are too sophisticated now to believe in such superstitious things. Nevertheless, Paul is correct; the devil is real. This is a personal devil. I do not mean personal in the sense of your very own devil or a private devil that belongs just to you. He is personal in the sense that he has a personality. He is a real person. This devil is not an anthropomorphism for feelings, emotions, or psychology. The devil is not some metaphor for karma or coincidence or conflict. Though, he may very likely use any of the above in his schemes against you. He is the accuser of the brethren, the liar, a roaring lion who prowls about seeking whom he may devour. He’s also not alone. In verse 12 of this chapter, Paul claims we fight “against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens.” Demonic forces sound old fashioned. It feels a bit superstitious. Yet, we must not allow our modern biases to soften this text. The devil is real, and he commands a host of enemies intent to destroy. And, Paul does more than out the enemy’s identity here in this passage. He provides crucial intel for our battle. We are keyed in to the devil’s schemes in order to stand against him and his forces waging war on Christ’s church. Paul is clear: our enemy is not flesh and blood, but he is active and powerful, and he is a master of misdirection. Your enemy is not flesh and blood Your enemy is not flesh and blood. Paul could not be more clear about this in verse 12. So, the Bible tells us we are not fighting against people. Why? Because the struggle is not this-wordly. If our struggle was social, Paul would have us put on social armor. If our struggle was intellectual, he would have us put on enlightenment armor. If our struggle was political, he would have us put on political armor. If our struggle was physical, he would have us put on physical armor. In this passage, Paul calls us to none of those things. He calls us to take up the spiritual armor of God against a personal enemy and his legion of forces. People are not the enemy. Society at large is not the enemy. Other political parties, or the people in them, are not the enemy. It is so easy to get this mixed up today. Scott Pace, our provost at Southeastern, asks the question: “Are you more bothered by lost people or burdened for them?” Especially in a world that is antagonistic to the people of God, we can treat lost people as our enemy instead of seeing them as they really are: hostages of the enemy, enslaved and blinded by their sin. When we see them as they truly are, and we realize who the real enemy is, we discover we are on a rescue mission. God wants to set those captives free, just like He’s done for you and me. But, Your Enemy is Active and He is Powerful Your enemy is not flesh and blood, but your enemy is active, and he is powerful. We can be so trained in on the wrong enemy today that we stay mired in conflict over all kinds of things. We bury down in the trenches for some kind of culture war. Firing our shots at the wrong targets. All the while, the real enemy has us in his sights off to the side, and he’s picking us off. Week after week, we sit silent not sharing the gospel message with friends, coworkers, family, neighbors, acquaintances, or the person in the grocery store. The enemy is picking us off. We cannot go a week without reading another article about someone in ministry leadership, or hearing another story of someone in one of our churches who committed moral failure. The enemy is picking us off. He’s destroying our churches. He’s destroying our families. He’s destroying our lives. He’s destroying our witness and our ability to testify to the gospel of Christ. He’s doing it from the inside. He is active and he is powerful. And he’s prowling around seeking to destroy us, and we’ve got our eyes on his decoy. Paul declares here in Ephesians 6, we must know the enemy. And, He is a Master of Misdirection Our enemy schemes. This enemy is quite skilled at misdirection. The smoke screen comes in many forms, two of which I’ll mention here. First, this enemy is easy to underestimate. Underestimating your enemy is dangerous. On the sports field, that leads to an upset. Teams get too confident, and they don’t prepare. They rest in their own ability, they are unconcerned about learning the other team’s plays. On the battlefield, underestimating your enemy is one way to get yourself killed. We are tempted that we do not need our full complement of arms. But there are few worse ideas than bringing a knife to a gun fight. In Acts 19 we see one example of some itinerant Jewish exorcists (I didn’t know that was a job until I read it in Acts) who make the mistake of battling demons without fully understanding the power needed to do so. They leave that encounter running away, physically beaten up, and not wearing any pants. You can go look it up. It actually happened in Ephesus, the same place Paul is writing this letter to. Perhaps his audience remembered the incident. If underestimating your enemy is dangerous, misidentifying your enemy is worse. When you misidentify your enemy, you aim at targets that are not your enemy and leave yourself defenseless to your real enemy. It is a very dangerous place to be. This is likely our more common mistake today. We must realize demons will use whatever tactics go unnoticed. Causing us to feel as though demonic forces are an outmoded superstition, a relic that no longer applies, is a convenient way to go unnoticed. The issue may not be that they are no longer active, but that we have lost our eyes to see. As Lloyd-Jones notes, a crucial tactic of evil spiritual forces would be to cause us to forget the devil and to think our enemy was other people instead of the demonic forces themselves. In our invisible battle with this dangerous enemy and his dark, spiritual forces, Paul gives his reader great comfort. We are given God’s very own armor so that we may stand. In order to stand, we cannot take our eyes off the enemy. We must remember who we are fighting at all times. Martyn Lloyd Jones, The Christian Warfare, An Exposition of Ephesians 6:10–13 (Banner of Truth, 1976), 292. ↩

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How to React When Someone Confesses Their Sin to You – Keelan Cook

Recently, I wrote about why I think it’s important to confess our sins to fellow believers. In that piece, I only considered one side of that paradigm: that of the confessor. But there is a second piece that is equally important: What is an appropriate response when someone confesses their sin to us? We have all kinds of natural reactions to sin—whether it’s our own or someone else’s. But often we have stronger reactions to the sin of others than our own. When someone we love sins, we likely feel a whole host of emotions: anger, hurt, grief, outrage, frustration, betrayal…to name a few. When we ourselves sin, we may feel all of those things but we also may be quicker to expect grace from others than we are willing to give when someone confesses their sin to us. Let’s rethink that paradigm. Consider this quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Life Together: Anybody who has once been horrified by the dreadfulness of his own sin that nailed Jesus to the Cross will no longer be horrified by even the rankest sins of a brother. Looking at the Cross of Jesus, he knows the human heart. He knows how utterly lost it is in sin and weakness, how it goes astray in the ways of sin, and he also knows that it is accepted in grace and mercy. Only the brother under the Cross can hear a confession. (118) While it’s never fun or easy to hear about how someone we love has sinned, the church needs to be a safe place for us to confess our sins. We should be able to come to the church for help and accountability—not judgment and condemnation. When we react badly to someone else’s sin, we risk pushing away a person who was genuinely seeking help. They may seek help outside the church or they may simply fall back into their sin, thinking it wasn’t worth the shame of confessing to someone who reacted badly. By providing a safe place for confession, we are not saying we won’t do anything about the sin being confessed. There are sins that need further action: whether it’s ongoing counseling, taking intense measures for accountability, or, in severe cases, church discipline or even involving local authorities. Not all who confess their sin will respond well to this kind of correction. In this article, I’m operating under the assumption that the one confessing is doing so because they desire accountability and correction. We should be grieved but not shocked. We should never be happy to learn of others’ failures, but we shouldn’t be shocked by them either. The Bible is clear about our sinful nature. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). In fact, go ahead and go read the whole book of Romans. It’s pretty clear on the effects of sin and what sin causes people to do. We all know people who we would never expect to sin grievously. While we may assent to a general knowledge of their sin (i.e. we know they’re sinners because the Bible tells us they are), practically we don’t expect them to ever do anything “bad.” But, we should all know by now that no one is above sin. No one is free of its effects. Grief, on the other hand, is a natural response. We grieve for and with the person who sinned. We grieve over what they did and how it has hurt others around them. We don’t berate them, and we don’t celebrate their shortcomings. We grieve because sin is powerful and devastating. We should forgive, as we have been forgiven. I personally have had to learn some hard lessons about forgiveness, so I understand the anger and bitterness that crop up when a person has betrayed us. We feel a person doesn’t deserve our forgiveness when they sin against us. But forgiveness, though it may not always be our first or most natural reaction, may also be the most logical of reactions to sin. We forgive because the Bible tells us to. Start by reading Matthew 5:23-24, 18:21-22; Ephesians 4:32; Colossians 3:13; and Hebrews 12:14. These verses encourage us to have peace with one another, which requires forgiveness for wrongdoing. The Bible tells us of a greater story of forgiveness—that of Christ on the cross. We have sinned grievously against a righteous and holy God. There is nothing anyone can do to us that will top how we sin against the Lord every day. But God graciously and freely forgives us and he empowers us to forgive others for their sins against us. So, we forgive because Scriptures tells us to, but we also forgive because we have been forgiven so much. Forgiving others is difficult at times, but through prayer and the Holy Spirit, the Lord helps us to forgive. Ask him for that help. We should rejoice, for God is making all things new. It seems like an odd way to react, but we can rejoice because we know that for the believer, sin does not have the final say. We worship a God who restores all things, and a God who uses people despite their failings. The Bible is full of stories like this: Moses—a murderer and coward; the Israelites—pursued other idols and did evil in the eyes of the Lord; David—adulterer and murderer; Peter—betrayer; Paul—persecutor of Christians; and so many more. But God made and continues to make His name known among the nations through His imperfect people. Christ’s death and resurrection is our hope that our sin is paid for and one day, sin will be no more. So, when others sin, we point them to this hope and remind them that sin no longer reigns over them. We are free from sin’s power and one day, all things will be made new. We should reflect on the implications of others’ sins. When someone confesses to us, we don’t need to make it all about ourselves. But I think there is some benefit to reflecting on the implications of another’s sin on our own life. We are all capable of committing horrible sins. We cannot look at the person sinning and think, “I would never do that.” Those thoughts are full of pride, and Proverbs 16:18 tells us that pride comes before a fall. The truth is, we are all vulnerable to sin and we could easily be the next person that falls. When we hear of another’s sin, we, like the English Reformer John Bradford, can say, “There but for the grace of God go I.” Further Reading

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Handle with Care: Christian Conflict on Social Media – Keelan Cook

This article is the second in a two-part series on Christ’s command in Matthew 7:1-5. In this artile, we provide a specific application of this command. This first article provides necessary background and proper interpretation for the passage. You can read it here: Link to the first Article. I grow weary of social media. I understand the irony of that statement, seeing as how you most likely found this article through Facebook or Twitter. Nevertheless, there is no such thing as a neutral medium, and social media is no exception to that rule. Media changes us, and much like smoking or any number of vices, I fear uncritical social media use may have unintended consequences only discovered after the fact. Furthermore, as Cal Newport convincingly demonstrates in his book Digital Minimalism, the companies that produce our favorite apps are not unaware of the emotional and psychological impact of their products. They build them to intentionally manipulate our emotions, so that we will engage with even more energy. Joy or anger, it does not matter if it will cause us to spend more time in our newsfeed. But for a Christian, it most certainly matters. In part one of this two-part series, I touched on the frequent use and abuse of Matthew 7:1, “Do not judge, so that you won’t be judged.” This simple command of Christ is found in the Sermon on the Mount and when understood in its proper context, goes right to the heart of our interactions on social media, especially with other Christians. I would encourage you to first read that article, as it provides the basis for what follows. Now, let’s revisit the passage in full: Do not judge, so that you won’t be judged. For you will be judged by the same standard with which you judge others, and you will be measured by the same measure you use. Why do you look at the splinter in your brother’s eye but don’t notice the beam of wood in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the splinter out of your eye,’ and look, there’s a beam of wood in your own eye? Hypocrite! First take the beam of wood out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the splinter out of your brother’s eye. (Matthew 7:1-5) Far from telling us not to confront others in conflict, this passage tells us we should engage in hard conversations with other Christians about potential shortcomings or sin issues. However, it is very clear that hypocritical judgment has no place in conflict between two Christians. This passage calls us first toward introspection and second toward interpersonal action, in that order. It does not absolve us from either, but it does tell us there is a priority placed on dealing strongly with our own sin first. It is a challenge toward humility and away from hypocrisy. It is a call to love your fellow brother of sister through correction, not to overlook issues that will hurt them. It is also a call to do so from a position of humility, caring about the wellbeing of others. Correction among Christians is not an opportunity to score points against an opposing view, or heaven forbid, attempt to make yourself look holy or right in distinction to someone else. Enter Christian Twitter™. Honestly, it’s not just Twitter; Facebook is at least as bad. If you follow a good bit of Christian social media, I imagine your newsfeed looks similar to mine: a long string of inspirational Bible verses, photos of precisely placed coffee mugs and journals, book recommendations from Crossway or B&H, requests to join a church for their online service during the pandemic, and the daily explosion of hateful vitriol and name calling on the Christian conflict du jour. So, how do Christ’s words in Matthew 7:1-5 stack up to our current culture of Twitter spats and name calling among various evangelical factions? It has a lot to say. First, let’s stop the nitpicking… especially in public. Few things are tackier than a petty word fight in public, and yet, it seems we are often itching to hop in the ring in Christian social media circles today. Several years ago, I wrote an article (also based in the Sermon on the Mount) about how Christians deal with non-Christians on social media in our present “Age of Outrage” as Stetzer calls it. Since then, things appear to have only gotten worse, and now so much of that vitriol is directed at each other instead of the outside world. Different quarters of evangelicalism make it a hobby to blow holes in each other in front of an audience. Do not hear what I am not saying. It is painfully obvious that we have some deep issues to discuss. I am not suggesting we just overlook those conversations. To the contrary, I think it is crucial that we develop some processes of hard dialogue surrounded by Christian charity. And, I’m not saying we keep our mouths shut about important things, especially doctrinal matters, in the name of some anemic understanding of unity. I am saying the medium matters. Ironically enough, it is possible to say the right thing the wrong way, and in doing so, make it the wrong thing to say. Second, we need to work on that beam. Unfortunately, even as I write those words, I fear the temptation is to recall all the instances where others have spoken the wrong way instead of first considering how I have misspoken. If your knee-jerk reaction to Jesus’ statement about the beam is to begin thinking of other people’s tweets as examples of unchristian behavior, then you’re not hearing what Jesus is saying. What’s the beam in my eye? That’s the question Jesus first tells us to address here. It is too easy for us to hear this kind of command and agree but never practice it. If you leave this vague in your own life, you never actually do it. Faithfulness to Christ’s words here means we each need to do some deep introspection. Yes, we need introspection specifically concerning our relationship with internet megaphones and all of our platform-building tools. I think it’s easy for those of us without thousands upon thousands of followers to give ourselves a pass in how we speak and consume media, but we must carefully consider both what we say and what we read and share on social media. Do we drive up engagement of hateful statements by making sure we’re snacking on the controversial junk food, even if we don’t provide our own hateful hot take? We think our words are perhaps small enough to be insignificant, and then we uncritically consume the vitriol of others. In my heart and in your heart, we need to first answer the question of motive. What is my goal in posting that critique? What am I doing to myself and others by reading or spreading this stuff? Too often, I fear the motivation is not winning a brother or sister. Instead, so much of this public conflict and criticism appears designed to further entrench divides. Instead of love for the one we’re engaging, the motive appears to be gaining the admiration of those who already agree. This is not removing a speck, it is building a personal platform among one’s own crowd. It is taking shots at the people who are perceived as shared enemies to prove one’s position as an insider of a given tribe. This form of social media interaction says, “I’m with you!” by slapping someone who is not. May our motive never be ensuring we are seen publicly on the “right side” of an issue by those whose admiration we seek. Jesus had sharp words about that kind of righteousness. Finally, we help our brother or sister with the speck. We love to jump to this step, and we can quickly classify our Twitter rants and Facebook slams as helping others through correction. But hear this, you are not truly doing this last step in the spirit of Jesus’ words until you have worked on the first two. Jesus is not telling us to overlook the issues of others in our church family or among the family of God more broadly. He is not telling us to “be soft on the issues.” He did the opposite. We remove the beam so we can help a brother or sister with their speck. But how do we do this well? I’m inclined to suggest it’s not over the internet. It is far harder, and far more humbling, to speak directly with people in a loving and non-platforming-building way. Authentically personal moments become the soil in which loving correction and dialogue can occur. Do you have the kind of relationships with others in your local church, in your denomination, even across those network lines that allow for that kind of dialogue? Do you have real relationships, that allow you to speak into people’s lives in a loving way? If not, perhaps your first step in loving correction is building those kind of bridges. Those are the kind of relationships that will allow us to serve one another, even in the hard things. Further Reading

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The Invisible Battle: Living as Citizens in a Kingdom at War – Keelan Cook

Our world is not as it seems. We go through our days, worrying about the present circumstances, one eye on our social feed and the day’s news cycle. Inevitably, there is another political controversy. Someone of notoriety that you’ve vaguely heard of before is now in the middle of scandal, self-inflicted or otherwise. The economy is worse, or better, it’s hard to tell depending on who is speaking. And in the middle of it all, your real concern is figuring out how to get all of your emails answered, the kids off to school or practice, the leaves raked, and that rotten spot on your deck railing fixed. Our thoughts of this world consume our days. In the middle of this mundane madness, Paul’s words interrupt our train of thought. This world is not as it seems. As the capstone of his letter to the Ephesian believers, Paul draws their attention past what the human eye can see. Paul wants to sober his readers’ thoughts and steel their nerves. Underneath the surface of it all, behind the veil of this physical world, a war is happening. It’s not a distant war, either. This is not some conflict between two far away groups with no immediate bearing on our lives. This war is happening right around us, and whether we like it or not, it involves us. Life is War In Ephesians 1, we are introduced to a sovereign God who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing. He has given us an inheritance. In chapter 2, we who were dead have been made alive. We discover that God has created a people from no people; he builds his church. In chapter 3, we see the purpose of that church. The manifold wisdom of God is made known through the church. The mystery, hidden for ages, is now revealed, and unbelievably, God does so through his church. More specifically, through little churches all over the world, God’s cosmic plan is revealed. In chapters 4 and 5, Paul then challenges those of us who are members of God’s church to walk in a manner worthy of the gospel. Christ-followers, together as the church, are how God makes known the good news of the gospel. Then, of course, that means we must live a certain way. After all of this, we find ourselves in chapter 6. Paul concludes his challenge to the Ephesian Christians with a warning and it’s an abrupt transition. It’s supposed to be abrupt, because it’s an announcement of war. His words take a sharp turn in verse 10. Here, Paul calls attention to the opposition. The reality is harsher than one imagines, worse than one can see. Paul lands at this grim reality, as though all he has said before in this letter is preparing us for this realization. You were bought, made alive, drawn near, and collected into a people. You were made a citizen of a new kingdom, but it is a kingdom presently at war. And you, as a citizen, have been drafted into the battle. From now on, or until Christ returns, we find ourselves members of a kingdom at war. God’s kingdom is inaugurated, begun in Christ’s death and resurrection, but the battles still rage on until he returns to put all things under his feet. This is where we find ourselves, in the time between the times, with a God-given mission in the midst of a war. In Ephesians, Paul leans in to give us life-saving advice. For those of us who find ourselves on a battlefield we did not know existed, in the fog of war, Paul gives us the secret to making it through this battle in one piece. It’s a posture we should take as we live out our days in service to the Great Commission. Stand Against the Devil Paul informs the church in Ephesus that there is only one appropriate missional posture as we fight this battle. It is so simple it should stop us in our tracks: stand. The only way to approach this present age is to stand in this present darkness. If you want a little more, Paul summarizes this whole idea in verse 13: “For this reason take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand” (Eph 6:13). Paul’s point is so clear it is almost impossible to miss. This emphasis is even more obvious by looking at the original Greek text. Back then, if a writer wanted to emphasize an idea, he would repeat the same word multiple times. For example, if something was more than big, he would say it was “big big.” Paul does that in this passage. Not once, not twice, not even three times. Four separate times in this one passage, Paul repeats the warning, the exhortation, the challenge: stand. Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens. For this reason take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist [withstand] in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand. Stand, therefore… Four times. Paul is practically screaming this command to that little church in Ephesus. Why? Because they are at war, and Paul loves them too much to see them mowed down by the enemy. Paul’s warning matters as much today as it did for those first Christians who received it in Ephesus. Rest assured, this enemy is still about his work of accusing the brethren and seeking whom he may devour. Paul’s words help us to do exactly what he told the Ephesian church to do: stand. He tells us what to expect. Anticipate the Schemes Our enemy schemes. Peter agrees with Paul’s sentiment in one of his letters in the New Testament. He writes, “Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour” (1 Peter 5:8). The image given by both biblical writers is a personal, active enemy who looks for opportunity. He schemes. The devil plans and strategizes. He looks for people, personally, to devour. As Stott noted above, he preys on the weak. Schemes disguise intent, and that is how the devil works. Klyne Snodgrass spoke of it this way, Evil rarely looks evil until it accomplishes its goal; it gains entrance by appearing attractive, desirable, and perfectly legitimate. It is a baited and camouflaged trap.1 How true this is of temptation. Sin is indeed a baited and camouflaged trap. By these schemes, the devil destroys his prey. He brings down the Christian. The consequences of this can be disastrous. Consider the casualties racking up today. Week after week, we hear the story of another moral failure in ministry leadership. I fear the day quickly approaches when these reports do little to stir our emotions simply because of their frequency. We find this destruction no less prevalent when we leave the rarified air of headlines and celebrity Christians. This is the fabric of all of our churches. Consider in your church, among the churches in your town and city, the number of marriages that are presently eroding. Consider the disastrous stories of affairs and addictions. Pause to consider the churches being torn apart by division over matters of culture and society. Evil rarely looks evil until it accomplishes its goal. The devil schemes, and then he destroys. In order to stand, we must anticipate his schemes and prepare for his attacks. Resist the Winds Of course, the alternative to standing is falling. Paul does not provide a third option in this passage. We stand or we fall. There is no middle ground where we somehow opt out of the attacks of the enemy. We cannot choose the sidelines, watching others navigate the war. The war is fought in our heart, and the moment one thinks they can merely avoid it, they have likely already fallen. John Stott, said it this way, Wobbly Christians who have no firm foothold in Christ are an easy prey for the devil. And Christians who shake like reeds and rushes cannot resist the wind when the principalities and powers begin to blow.2 And the winds do blow. Wobbly Christians cannot stand and those who cannot stand get eaten. This sounds like drastic language. You may be tempted to see Paul’s words and classify this as an overstatement, to assume the use of hyperbole to motivate his audience. Paul may be using figurative language when he describes this war, but there is no hyperbole in his words. The Christian faces an enemy more sinister than he can comprehend, and more deadly than he can fathom. There is only one way we stand against the schemes of the devil. There is only one way we hold up against the winds and powers of the enemy. It’s by acknowledging our weakness and standing firm in God’s power. Kent Hughes says it this way, “We must imitate Gideon’s going from 32,000 warriors to 10,000 to 300 armed only with trumpets and lanterns (Judges 7). This divestment of natural strength enabled the putting on of God’s power—and a mighty victory!”3 God’s power comes when we lay down our own arms and put on His. The victory belongs to the Lord. Klyne Snodgrass, Ephesians, NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, Mich: Zondervan, 1996). ↩ John Stott, The Message of Ephesians (Downers Grove, IL, London: IVP Academic, 2020). ↩ R. Kent Hughes, Ephesians: The Mystery of the Body of Christ, Preaching the Word (Wheaton: Crossway, 2013). ↩

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Counter-Cultural is Still Cultural – Keelan Cook

For the last several months, I have watched a new church building being built on the road to my house. Recently, the builders installed the church’s new sign, and I was a bit surprised. Perhaps the better word for my reaction was underwhelmed. In an age of screens and flashing lights, this sign included none of those things. Furthermore, it was simply white. The only color on the sign came from a very simple purple cross reminiscent of a Wingdings character. The script is plain and black. It is a boring sign. In fact, it’s a purposefully boring sign. It’s clear from the aesthetic of the church, its specific denominational background, and the overall “vibe” that this boring sign is actually making a rather loud statement. In all of its drab simplicity, it screams that this church will not appeal to the culture. Regardless of your particular persuasion concerning the finer points of church sign design (I personally do like a simple design), the posture this church appears to adopt is what captured my attention. Simply put, this church is not alone in taking a public stance as “plain on purpose” and refusing to appeal to the culture. In certain quarters of conservative evangelicalism (where I happily find myself), I sense a growing movement of those who seek an intentionally counter-culture posture. In these churches, there is a growing desire to eschew anything that might be seen as seeker sensitive or like that church is appealing (acquiescing?) to the broader culture in any way. The Appeal of Being Unattractive At its best, there is something genuinely noble about this perspective. It is often a purist vision that the Word, the gospel, and the ordinances should be the only things attractive to those outside the community of faith. When well-intentioned, this is a desire to avoid the bait-and-switch of the seeker sensitive movement. If anything is made to look trendy or likeable, the concern is that people become attached to some form of cultural enticement, rather than the genuine beauty of the gospel. This is a laudable ambition. At its worst, the fear of flashy becomes glorying in being unattractive. A certain pride develops around being tough, against-the-grain Christians who’ve not been softened by the siren song of culture. It revels in the refusal of modern elements and sticks the nose up at anything contemporary. This approach is somehow seen as historic and connecting to the grand tradition of the church. To the extreme, the view uses the barriers to those outside the fold as proof. Churches can make it hard for others to come and to listen. When people do come, it becomes the evidence that they are surely there for the right reason. The Illusion of Being Culture-Free To be fair, there is a lot of truth in wanting the gospel to be central. This should be the genuine ambition of every true church. Furthermore, I am sure most of us surely recognize some of the gross abuses of a church growth movement that was big on entertainment and light on Bible. Personally, I’m a sucker for a good high church liturgy. I can get down with a good responsive reading. Despite the best intentions, any understanding of church practice that believes not appealing to pop cultural cues somehow places them outside of culture misunderstands culture at its fundamental level. It is a fundamental mistake to assume being plain means you are not appealing to culture. Ironically, not appealing to one kind of culture only means appealing to a different one. There is no such animal as a culture-less version of church. This does not exist in North America, and it does not exist on the international mission field. When people push back on indigenous church ideas as unscriptural, they simply miss that every expression is a cultural manifestation of Christ’s body. It is impossible to do church in a way that doesn’t appeal to some kind of culture. When it comes to church formation, almost every decision made is a cultural decision at some level. The architectural style and how a church structures its meeting space is a cultural decision. The songs sung and the instruments used are cultural decisions. The language spoken, the liturgy used, and even how long the service goes are cultural decisions. In fact, choosing to omit any of the above is also a cultural decision. Not appealing to “the culture” often just means appealing to your own preferences. The Question We Should Be Asking Instead of claiming we don’t appeal to culture, we need to ask a better question: “What culture do we have in mind?” Truly, we do not want to give up the gospel, and we don’t want people coming to be entertained, coddled, coaxed, or sold something. Yet, assuming you are appealing to no culture creates an unhealthy blindspot. The church that believes they appeal to no culture becomes uncritical toward their own culture. An uncritical eye on one’s own, preferred cultural manifestation is a dangerous place to be. By thinking they are acultural, they bring in cultural artifacts from their own tradition, which are much less likely to be critically tested against Scripture. It doesn’t have to be this way. When a church recognizes this truth, it can frame itself as a cultural manifestation of the gospel in a given community. This allows the church to ask which practices are God-glorifying and biblically faithful in their context. It provides a pathway to being concerned not about trendiness or seeker-sensitivity but how they are making the gospel understandable to the world around them. Finally, it gives the church the critical eye to not only judge the worldview of those outside their door but also their own worldview.

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Let

This article has been a long time coming. If you are a long-time follower of my writing (and I mean long time), you may recall an article I wrote back in 2015 titled, “A Word of Caution Concerning ‘Relationship Evangelism’.” In that article, I wrote about the widespread popularity of “relationship evangelism” among Christians as a better means of sharing the gospel with others. At the time, I expressed concerns with how this style of evangelism often plays out in the real world, while ultimately arguing it is an important tool for the tool belt. Since the other article raised the concerns, this article raises the question: how do we do relationship evangelism well? Of course, a full answer to that question requires a book, like this one. There is much more than can be said here. Nevertheless, it’s time we get serious about relationship evangelism. And that was my primary concern in the last article. Too often, the things we label as relationship evangelism are reactive instead of proactive. We know building relationships takes time, and it is easy to hide a lack of intentionality in that truth. We tell ourselves we are waiting until the right moment in the growth of a relationship, but in reality we may just be procrastinating. I fear much that we call relationship evangelism is heavy on building relationships and light on actually evangelizing. Perhaps we hope the other person will approach us about it. So, how do we get serious about relationship evangelism? Here are four ideas that shift our posture from reactivity to proactivity and from procrastination to proclamation. Out yourself as a Christian from the very beginning. I mentioned this in the last article. It is really tempting to let a new relationship develop for a long time before we ever admit to being a Christian. Regardless of what you think counts as relationship evangelism, this isn’t it. The longer you wait to let them know about your identity in Christ, the harder it usually becomes to make a turn toward the gospel in normal conversation. If your aim truly is to share the gospel, you need to let people know you are a Christian as soon as possible in a new relationship. In fact, make it happen in the first meeting if can. Of course, I’m not suggesting you lay out the plan of salvation after you shake their hand. I’m merely suggesting intentional relationship evangelism is built upon your identity in Christ, so your new friend needs to know that. This could be as simple as bringing up where you go to church in the middle of an introductory conversation. For my students at the seminary, you have this one laid out on a platter. Simply let them know you’re a student preparing for Christian ministry. For some reason, I feel students often want to keep that fact reserved for a special occasion. That’s exactly backwards. In relationship evangelism, lean into that identity. Map your relational network. A second, crucial aspect of intentional relational evangelism is actually know which relationships you have in need of the gospel. I’m reasonably certain the majority of Christians I know have never listed out their lost friends on a sheet of paper. Each of us have lists of relationships across a spectrum of social circles. In each one is another set of relationships. You have extended family; that’s a circle. You have neighbors; that’s a circle. You have colleagues; that’s a circle. If you have children, the parents of their schoolmates are a circle. You get the picture. Listing the various circles in which you live, work, and play is a healthy exercise. The average person can usually think of five or six circles (family, neighborhood, work, hobbies, children, etc.). On a sheet of paper, create headings for each of these circles, and begin listing the relationships that exist in them. Place an asterisk by the ones you know are Christians. When you see all the names without an asterisk, you’re looking at all the people who need you to share the gospel with them. Before long, you may see a network of people emerge, all of them in need of the gospel and all of them already in a relationship with you. But we’re not done. You see those names with an asterisk? They are your partners in gospel proclamation. How can you include them in sharing with the other people in that circle? How can you follow their relationships into other networks? This is being proactive about relationship evangelism. Track progress toward gospel acceptance. Keeping track of your progress toward gospel proclamation and its acceptance is another important aspect of proactive relationship evangelism. Simply put, know how far down the path your friends are to hearing the gospel and then accepting the gospel. Can you ensure that every friend who hears will accept the gospel? No. However, you can be faithful to share with them and gauge their receptivity over time. There are many different ways both to track progress and openness. Consider keeping an evangelism log. That may sound silly, but it’s one of the most significant tools I’ve seen at demonstrating how much (or little) we are actually obedient to evangelism with those who have not heard or accepted. In fact, evangelism logs are often a prerequisite requirement in assessment for serving with international missions agencies. Concerning the openness of those in your relational network, another simple concept is to assign one of three “lights” that vary based on their receptivity to the gospel: red, yellow, or green. As you can imagine, a red light is someone who is explicitly opposed to hearing about the gospel from you again. Yellow lights have not shut down your conversations, and green lights demonstrate an openness to hearing more. Get to the gospel! Finally, it’s not evangelism unless you get to the gospel. The three ideas above make it easier to turn toward the gospel with those in your relational network, but unless you take this last step, it will most likely never happen. This may sound counterintuitive, but it’s not a bad idea to learn and practice some specific methods for sharing the gospel. Ironically enough, Christians often favor whatever they’ve defined as relational evangelism because it is “organic” and not based on presentations. I understand the desire for your explanation of the gospel to not feel canned. I agree with that desire. But if you are not comfortable sharing it in a clear way, the odds of you doing so in a relationship are slim. After all the work is put into a relationship for the sake of evangelism, you still have to know how to do the evangelism part. First, make sure your relationships know you are a Christian. Next, know your network of relationships. Then, make sure you know where they are in their openness. Finally, get to the gospel! May God be glorified in your obedience.

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The Great Commission Post-Retirement – Keelan Cook

A couple of months ago, I made the mistake of posting an off-handed comment on Facebook. The next thing I knew, I was in meetings with some folk from our state convention in North Carolina talking missions strategy about that off-handed comment. Here is the gist of it: North Carolina is getting older and more diverse, and that matters for the Great Commission. And the more I’ve looked into this demography shift, the more I realize it really matters for the sake of the Great Commission. Shifting Demographics North Carolina is a rapidly growing state. If you’re local to the state, that’s likely no surprise to you, but for the uninitiated, it’s one of the faster growing regions in the United States. Estimates from Carolina Demography project a population over 12 million by 2035. That’s a far cry from where the state was a couple of decades ago. Of course, North Carolina is home to several trendy areas for young professionals. Charlotte and Raleigh are both epicenters for job creation right now. So, it’s a common assumption by many that our growth is fueled by college-age or young professionals streaming into the area hoping for their big break. And that is happening, but it’s not actually the biggest contributor to population growth in these metros, especially the Raleigh metro that I call home. So, what is our biggest demographic of incoming residents? Retirement age adults. Yep, you read that right. Look at some graphs with me. The light blue bars are the percentage population in NC in 2011 by age group. The dark blue bars are 2021. Notice that all categories are going down, except the last two. The percentage of the population that is over 65 has increased, while all other categories have declined in overall share. The next graph makes the point even more explicit. The above graph demonstrates which age groups have grown in North Carolina over the past decade. See those last two age groups. That is massive increase. In fact, this last graph shows us the reality of the situation. Take a look at the map above. You’d be tempted to misread this data by assuming the dark blue counties are the ones seeing growth in the post-retirement age group. However, any county shaded blue experienced a growth of at least five percent in that age range. That’s every single county. Every county in North Carolina saw a marked increase in people over the age of 65. What about those dark blue counties? Those saw an increase of up to fifty percent. That’s insane population shifts. The aging of our population in North Carolina is actually a broader trend across the United States. It’s not just happening in North Carolina, but it’s especially happening in North Carolina. Let me explain why. There are two primary drivers of a age shift in population like this. This first is the most obvious, and what is happening across the United States. People are living longer, and young people are having less children. That means more people stick around at the top end of the age groups and less people wind up in the bottom side of the age groups. That ages a population over time. However, North Carolina is experiencing growth for another reason: inmigration. While all areas are seeing the aging shift mentioned above, some areas are also magnets for people moving from other areas. This has long been the case for North Carolina’s metro areas. However, the assumption is that this immigration is a bunch of young professionals looking for that big career move. But our largest population swell is coming not from young professionals moving into hipster neighborhoods in downtown (or suburban facsimilies of these). Instead, it’s retirement-age families moving down from the Northeastern United States, not quite to Florida. Raleigh proves the case. In July of this year, Axios reported that the Triangle is one of the country’s hottest spots for retirees since the pandemic. The article highlights the unprecedented growth in post-retirement population in the Raleigh metro (+18.3%), but notes that this trend is occurring in several major metros across the country like Austin (+17.3) and Houston (+15.3%). Below is a graph from that Axios article about retirement-age inmigration to Raleigh. That is explosive growth in the 65+ population. And you can see it, too. Right next to my neighborhood is a new subdivision with at least 250 homes. Ironically enough, it is an age-gated community. You cannot move into the neighborhood unless you are over 55. The Great Commission in an Aging Community Now, if you’re a pastor, ministry leader, or someone just interested in the Great Commission, that bit of news means something for local church ministry and missions. So many of our efforts in church planting and ministry outreach generally are aimed at young families. Everyone knows the secret to a successful church plant is a rocking kids ministry, right? Well, what happens when the average age of your new neighbors in that recent subdivision is closer to 65 than 25? I’ve been thinking about this ever since I saw that Axios article, and there are at least two shifts we need to make concerning the Great Commission in an aging community. Reframe Assumptions Concerning an Aging Population Ministering to a retirement-age population does not only mean taking care of people who can no longer take care of themselves. Many do face increasing challenges, both physically and financially, as they reach retirement-age. This creates both a responsibility and opportunity the church can meet. However, a growing number of people over the age of 65 are in decent health and have some financial means. Many of them are considering a “second career,” or what it means to have 10-15 years left in front of them to fill. Retirement is a natural chapter change in life, but it doesn’t mean a change to convalescence for many. Ironically enough, this may mean an increasing number of people aging out of the workforce are at the same spot, at least in some ways, as those exiting college and getting ready to enter the workforce. They have a new chapter in front of them, and they are looking for ways to use that time. If that’s true, it means we need to adjust our aim in a lot of our missional efforts. Reframe Missional Engagement to Consider Those at Retirement Age Most churches think of missional engagement as something we do among younger population segments, but we must consider retirement-age segments as a target for mobilization and engagement. Concerning mobilization, there is a chance your church has some folk closing in on retirement who are wondering what they will do after that last day at work. Why not shepherd them to steward that time well? What would it look like to mobilize these people for a “second career” in gospel ministry? That may not be a full time job, or a paid staff position at a church, but it could be. It could even mean taking an assignment with the International Mission Board in their Masters Program, which is designed specifically for people over the age of 55. In a recent article, John Piper said it this way, … the Bible has no conception of what Americans typically think of as retirement — that is, working for forty or fifty years and then playing for fifteen or twenty years: fishing, golfing, shuffleboard, pickleball, yard work, travel, hobbies, bucket lists, as if heaven was supposed to begin at 65 rather than death. We need to capture this moment in the lives of our more seasoned saints. There are so many opportunities for local missional engagement. Who ever thinks to ask a retiring couple to be a part of that new church plant across town? What if these people became our best tools in church renewal work by being key workers in a replant or revitalization? And I’ve already mentioned the potential for global sending. Instead of buying that RV and hopping tourist parks along the Eastern seaboard, what if we challenged our retiring families to pack up their bags and head to the nations? But, mobilizing post-retirement church members is only half of the equation. They also need to be the object of outreach and gospel ministry. If your church is in an area where this demographic trend is taking place, then you need to consider that engaging your community likely means more than targeting young families. Has your staff ever asked the question of how they will engage retired newcomers to their community? If not, it may be time to start.

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