Category: Blog

Where does the Christian gain his confidence?  Pastor Toussaint Adams, pastor of Watson Memorial Baptist Church in Louisville, KY, addresses this question in his sermon “Christ, our Confidence” from Philippians 3:2-11 at Boyce College Chapel.  Boyce Chapel is held three times each semester in Heritage Hall on the campus of Southern Seminary and Boyce College.

Recently I joined a CrossFit gym. I’m sure you’ve probably seen those crazy people running around in garage-looking gyms throwing around barbells and rowing like mad men. I’m one of them now.

Beyond the intense throbbing my body has felt in the post workout, I’ve been struck by something quite unexpected after joining these crazy people.

I’ve seen real, deep, community at CrossFit gyms.

Now before you strike me down, you have to understand that it’s all there. The welcome at the door. The encouragement to grow and develop yourself. The deep care and concern for one another. Friends inviting other friends into their homes and lives. The sharing of the message of CrossFit with the world.

Others have noticed, too, including Harvard Divinity School. In a recent panel discussion with a co-founder of the fitness phenomenon, they couldn’t help compare CrossFit’s community to that of the local church.

In a discussion at Harvard Divinity School on Thursday night, Greg Glassman, the co-founder of CrossFit, spoke of the intangible, mental, and social benefits that he says his fitness company delivers to customers.

Moderators at Thursday’s event likened the communal environment at CrossFit to the type of community that Americans have historically received from church. They asked Glassman to address the similarities between his fitness company and these religious communities.

According to Glassman, people often begin CrossFit simply to join a group that will motivate them to work out; ultimately, many find something much deeper and transformative.

“The fitness is the glue that holds everyone together,” Glassman said, “but there’s something even more cohesive, even a stronger glue than the fitness.”

I was shaken by both this description and my own personal experience.

What really makes the community at my local church any different from the community at my local gym? Or for that matter how does the community in my local church contrast differ from the local high school football team, the LGBT community, or my extended family? Many groups offer deep community in the world. 

So what makes supernatural community?

Thankfully we have the wise words of the Apostle Paul to remind us exactly what supernatural community looks like.

“For through [Christ]we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God” (Ephesians 2:18-19).

We are people coming together that have absolutely nothing in common.  In fact, the people of God ought to be strangers and enemies — but God has brought us together through the one thing we have in common – Christ. 

The local church is a community that is known for a diversity of people from all parts of society who otherwise would never come together — black and white, Republican and Democrat, rich and poor. And even more than that, the gospel is a stronger glue than sharing similar passions. The cross killed the hostility that once separated us and has brought us together to go deep into the richness of the gospel (Ephesians 2:15).

Jamie Dunlop reminds us in his excellent book The Compelling Community that “Supernatural depth and breadth of community make the glory of an invisible God to be visible…this is the ultimate purpose statement for community in churches today.”

That supernatural community is a direct result of understanding the gospel–our sin and God’s grace given us through the cross. That simple truth causes a deep love and affection between fellow sinners who otherwise might have little in common.

Unfortunately, too many local churches offer CrossFit-level community.This community is not bad, but it’s not a gospel community. It’s not a supernatural community.

Our aspiration is for a community that shows the power of God and the power of the gospel.

Here a few ways to continue the walk towards clear community:

1. Ask if your community is one that gathers because of the gospel or because of shared interests.
2. Read The Compelling Community by Jamie Dunlop and Mark Dever.
3. Check out “How to Get Real, Honest Community,” an article on The Gospel Coalition’s website.
4. Pray that God would allow his people to understand more deeply what true, supernatural community is and that they would not lose sight of the truth of the gospel as the core of real community.

Tim Sweetman (’12) is an entrepreneur by day and a writer by night. He graduated with a degree in Biblical Counseling from Boyce College and resides in the Washington, D.C. metro with his wife Emily (’12) and his daughters, Grace and Adelyn.

I love reading biographies. There is something about reading another person’s story that often causes you to understand your own thinking in a way that you have never perceived before. Last summer I read an autobiography of a man who was struggling with a particular moral decision. It was a gripping book and I found myself wanting to cry as I read parts of his story. There was one part in particular that sent shivers down my spine. It was when the author decided to go against Scripture, and go with his ‘feelings’ concerning the moral decision he was facing. He said he just had such a peace about it and ‘knew’ that God must have given him that peace. In the book, his moral decision led him into further sin and will eventually lead to death if he does not repent. I was sobered, because if I am very honest with myself, I have seen the same temptation to follow my own feelings in determining right and wrong.

Whenever something other than God’s Word becomes the foundation upon which we build reality, we depart from reality. This kind of moral confusion is the air that our culture breathes. Even Christians are in danger of being swayed by it. But the church must rely on the solid ground of the Word of God.

The Heart that Deceives

Most who are alive today have heard the mantras, ‘follow your heart’; ‘let the desires of your heart lead you’; ‘look to yourself for wisdom and believe in yourself’. These mantras all tell us that what feels right is right. This is how the world determines morality. The world believes that meaning and right action are found within a person’s own heart. If you dig deep enough, you’re going to find it. But Jeremiah 17:9 shows us that the exact opposite is true. It says that the heart is deceitful above all things. It is not to be trusted.

The Word that Guides

If mankind is filled with corruption and confusion, we must look outside of ourselves to find truth. We must look to God’s personal communication to mankind, the Holy Scriptures. Christians must be men and women of the Word. We must drink deeply of the commands and statutes of our God as he has clearly revealed them to us in Scripture. God and his commands are where true wisdom and guidance for life is found. Psalm 119 lays this out in a compelling manner,

 

9 How can a young man keep his way pure?

By guarding it according to your word.

10  With my whole heart I seek you;

let me not wander from your commandments!

11  I have stored up your word in my heart,

that I might not sin against you.

12  Blessed are you, O Lord;

teach me your statutes!

13  With my lips I declare

all the rules of your mouth.

14  In the way of your testimonies I delight

as much as in all riches.

15  I will meditate on your precepts

and fix my eyes on your ways.

16  I will delight in your statutes;

I will not forget your word.

 

The psalmist gives a beautiful picture and helpful instruction on what it looks like to run after wisdom and obedience to God:

• We must guard our ways according to God’s Word. Examine your life in accordance to Scripture. Do you seek to repent of sinful thinking and actions and instead obey his commands?
• We must seek God with our whole heart so that we might not wander away from his commands. Wandering in disobedience is very difficult if you are busy keeping your eyes on Jesus and his finished work on the cross.
• We must store up God’s Word in our hearts by reading and memorizing Scripture on a daily basis so that we might not sin but instead obey God’s commands and remember his faithfulness.
• We must declare God’s rules and testimonies to other believers and to the whole world. It is fitting for us to speak truth to one another in the church, and also to all men and women so that they might repent and believe and also see Jesus as Lord.
• We must delight in God’s Word so that we may never forget it. It is very hard to forget something if you are continually drawing joy and delight in it.
• We must meditate on his precepts and fix our eyes on his ways. We do this by thinking deeply when we read Scripture and fighting against our wandering and easily distracted minds.

In matters of morality, believers need to be exercise discernment with precision. The way we do this is by not asking ‘how do I feel about this’ or ‘how does the world perceive these issues’ but ‘what does Scripture have to say about this’. Feelings and opinions sway and change with time, but the Word of our God stands forever (Isa 40:8).

Amber Komatsu graduated from Boyce College in 2013 with a B.S. in Christian Ministry and an emphasis in Biblical Counseling. She has worked as the Membership Services Coordinator at the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (ACBC) since 2013.  Amber and her husband Trevor reside in Louisville, KY and are members at Immanuel Baptist Church.

 

 

 

 

 

One of the things I enjoy most about living in the Louisville area is the change of seasons, and particularly the fall season that we are in now.

I was born in Pennsylvania, but my family moved to South Florida when I was 9 years old and I forgot a lot about the weather up north.  In South Florida, however, I knew first hand that we never experienced a “White Christmas.”  And, I used to kid that we experienced “Fall” on October 17th, when a palm frond would fall off the tree out front!

My wife Jan and I moved up to this area in August of the year I started as a student at Southern Seminary.  As the fall approached, it didn’t take long for images I had not thought about in years to come back.  Cooler weather, trees turning colors, leaves falling–I was in complete awe of this aspect of the beauty of God’s creation.

I remember thinking one day about these changes and relating them to the Christian life.  Three comparisons came to mind.

First, I remember thinking that the one factor that made the fall so beautiful was not the things that stayed the same but rather the things that changed.  All summer we had green leaves; now, they were changing into one beautiful color after another.  Our eyes were not drawn to the green leaves but rather to the leaves that had changed.  I realized that in the Christian life this is true as well.  What is it that lets people know God is at work in us?  It is not the things that stay the same but rather the things that change.  Now, many of us don’t like changes, and especially when those changes hurt.  Yet, as God uses the beauty of leaves that change color to indicate His power at work in nature, so also He uses the beauty of changed lives to indicate the same thing in us.

Second, all leaves don’t change color at the same time.  That is something I had forgotten.  One part of a tree will start to change and it is only over a period of time that the rest of the tree will follow.  This pattern reminds me of God’s promise to us that we will not experience more change at one time than we can bear.  Aren’t you glad that God doesn’t fix everything in our lives that needs changing all at once?  The changes occur gradually and in a way that we can handle.

And third, fall, of course, is followed by winter and then by the spring.  I often think of the starkness and barrenness of winter in terms of “death,” as the trees appear so lifeless.  But, the new life of spring reminds me of “resurrection,” as these trees seemingly come back to life again.  Obviously, nature cannot experience resurrection without death.  And neither can we.  Those places in our lives where the old habits and ways of life are dying will one day be resurrected in a way that will thrill us and bless others.

You know, all around us God gives us reminders of just how awesome and powerful He is.  Few times of the year illustrate this more than the fall.  As we enjoy the beauty of God’s nature in this season, let us remember also that what God is doing in nature He also wants to do in us.  He wants to produce life out of death and do it in such a way that people, through seeing what is happening in us, will be drawn to Him.

Dr. Dave DeKlavon is the Associate Dean for Academic Administration and Associate Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Boyce College.

In an age where the cultural norm is to follow your heart and where feelings trump faith, how are Christians supposed to keep believing truth that we are so often tempted to disbelieve? Here are five ways that Christians can keep themselves staying the course on the narrow path which leads to eternal life:

1. Keep with repentance. This was the crux of Jesus’ message; he called all people to repent of their sins and to trust in him for eternal life (Matthew 3:7-12; Mark 1:14-15). If we want to be people who persevere, we must be people who repent of our sins and look to Jesus for grace to change. In continuing to repent of our sin, not only are we being obedient to God’s word, we are also reminded of our weakness and the greatness of Christ our Savior.

2. Cultivate faith. Hebrews 11 says that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen,” and “without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (Hebrews 11:1, 6). Faith is a necessary component which we must possess in our lives, yet if it is something that we cannot touch or see, how should we cultivate it?

Believers grow in faith by spending time with the Lord alone in his Word and in prayer, as well as being with brothers and sisters at church. By reading God’s Word, we learn about who God is, we learn about ourselves, and we learn what He has done for us. The message of our sinfulness and Jesus’ complete salvation saturates the entire Bible and is something that we need to hear if we are going to keep with repentance and follow Jesus. Praying to God reminds us of our dependence upon Him and our need to bring our burdens and cares to Jesus who cares for us (1 Peter 5:7). Spending time with other saints provides necessary encouragement for our hearts when we feel weary, and it gives us the opportunity to see how the Lord has worked and is working out his salvation in the lives of others as well as in our own. All these things build up our faith.

3. Hold fast to God’s promises. God has perfectly fought for his children in the past and will continue to do the same until we are brought home to heaven. Do you believe this? Remember when God protected the Israelites from the Egyptians by drowning them in the Red Sea? Or when He sustained Noah’s family during the worldwide flood? Furthermore, He has promised to send the Holy Spirit and complete the works which began in us (John 14:16, Philippians 1:6). He has promised to justify, sanctify and glorify those whom he has called (Romans 8). God is faithful and cannot lie; His promises will come to pass.

4. Be known. Being known in a church does not simply mean being recognized by most of the congregation. Being known means that your brothers and sisters in Christ know the deep struggles and sins of your life. Is there a mature man or women (not just a peer) in your church who knows all the dirt about you? By opening yourself up to someone like this in your church, you will be putting sin into the light and not giving it an additional opportunity to fester and grow in the dark corners of your heart (James 5:16). This confession is painful, but it is worth it.

5. Serve and have friends in the church. By serving the church, you will get to know more people and build relationships. You can additionally do this by joining a small group. By making friends and serving the church you will build a community in which it should be challenging to leave. Close brothers and sisters in Christ will be absolutely necessary to your faith and perseverance when you are going through trials; they will act as a safety net for your spiritual life when you are tempted or when you fall into sin. Spiritual guidance from mentors and friends is not just for the spiritually young or weak but also for the mature and wise.

Overall, perseverance is hard work. But there is reward in pursing the Lord and living a grace-empowered life which honors him. God gives grace to his weary saints. Persevere in persevering; what you find at the end will not be disappointing.

 

Ethan Holsteen is a graduate of the biblical counseling program at Boyce College. He now works as a teacher for adults with Down Syndrome at the Down Syndrome of Louisville.

Do you want to grow in your understanding and appreciation of God’s bountiful love? Then meditate on his wrath. Now before you punch your roommate in the throat (metaphorically speaking), just think with me for a moment about this: God’s grace and love are not received apart from the exercise of his holy wrath. The storyline of Scripture shows us this.

Genesis begins with God’s “very good” creation, but that creation sought to become like God, and thus de-god God, and as a result God in his holiness had to judge and punish sin (and sinners). And judge sinners he did. All received God’s just judgment and wrath: Cain (Gen 4), wicked mankind in a great flood (Gen 6-9), rebellious Korah and his cohorts (Num 16), King Saul (1 Sam 15), King David (2 Sam 11), King Solomon (1 Kings 11), and idolatrous Israel (2 Kings 17, 25).

So much for love, huh? What about all that ‘God’s mercy and love’ talk? Well, God’s wrath against sin paved the way for his triumph in mercy (Gen 3:15). Indeed it’s through the loving act of the Father sending his beloved, willing Son—who joyfully went to the cross—to die in the place of sinners and bear the wrath that they (we!) deserve that God’s mercy and love (and wrath) are most fully displayed (Rom 3:21-26). In fact, it’s at the cross where God’s love and wrath meet. It’s only through God’s wrath poured out on the righteous One that the wicked ones can receive God’s love. Indeed the wrath of God enhances our appreciation of God’s bountiful love.

So how should we respond? First, worship God for his holy wrath displayed in judging our sin. Second, be wrathful as God is wrathful (kill your own sin!). Third, like Jesus, weep for those under God’s wrath and compassionately and courageously proclaim the forgiveness-bringing, life-giving gospel (Matt 23:37-39). Finally, long for the day when we will be made perfect in love and will never fear God’s wrath (1 John 4:18).

There are many today who minimize or detest the notion of God’s wrath, but not those who have been delivered from it (1 Thess 1:10). Praise God for his wrath. Praise God for his mercy.

 

Dr. Oren Martin serves as Assistant Professor of Christian Theology at Boyce College and Southern Seminary. He serves as a pastor at Clifton Baptist Church and has recently published Bound for the Promised Land: The Land Promise in God’s Redemptive Plan (IVP, 2015) and “The Land Promise in Biblical and Systematic Theology” in Progressive Covenantalism (B&H, 2015).