Our Sufferings...

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. (Romans 8.18 ESV)

When life is hard, sometimes it seems unbearable and unprofitable to even step out of bed in the morning.  Work is a chore.  The house is a mess.  It can be so discouraging.  Is life even worth living?  

Another perspective: Life truly is hard.  It is difficult to wake up thousands of miles from my wife and children.  I hope to have a day without being beaten.  Maybe I will get food that is fresh.  Will I get a letter from family or friends? A visit from a lawyer?  I know my captors will demand I deny Christ.  I cannot do that. Christ is my life.  I am bruised and may never fully recover from my injuries.  Will I even live to see the outside of this prison?  Will I ever see my home again?  Will I ever hold my children or kiss my wife again?  This life is difficult.  

Both instances show the struggles of a Christian life.  For us in our current freedom in the United States, the first is more relatable.  Our sufferings come within the bounds of religious freedom.  Our sufferings of persecution are normally within the legal realm or weathering disparaging comments.  

The second instance is how I imagine Pastor Saeed Abedini feels being locked up in Iran's infamous Evin Prison.  His offense? Being an active Christian.

Picture from a WND article

The above Scripture may well mean more to Pastor Saeed Abedini than it does to us.  However, no matter how bad it gets for Christians here in the U.S.A. (or how relatively good we have it), nor how bad it is for men like Pastor Abedini, our sufferings pale in comparison to the wonders God has in store for His children.  

When we get frustrated with the daily grind, we can rejoice that this place is not our home.  If we belong to Jesus, our reward (paid for by Jesus, not us) is great.  Such a great gift comes from an unfathomingly* great God.  His blessing will out-shine the darkness of even our worst sufferings.

Pete Garbacki is a minister with Time for Truth Ministries and Mission.Brasil. Follow him on Twitter @mission_brasil or FaceBook at http://www.facebook.com/pete.garbacki.

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*Apparently, according to spellcheck, this is a word I made up.  However, I am sticking to it, because it should be a word.

Evangelical or Evan-jellyfish?

"Evangelical." We all use the word. We rarely define it. 

The Greek New Testament term, from which our modern word derives, means an announcement of good news. A herald's joyful cry.

In NT usage, it refers specifically to what we call the Gospel--the euangellion--the good news of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

When Martin Luther broke away from the Roman Church in the Reformation, he initially intended his followers to be called "Evangelicals." He meant to identify those who believed in grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

Unfortunately, the term did not stick, and his movement became known as the Lutheran movement.

Today, however, the term has lost all formal resemblance to either NT or Reformation usage. It has become a "wax nose," able to be shaped and reshaped as one pleases. For some, it is a voting block of conservatives (most often associated with the Republican Party).

For others, it means non-denominational Christianity,  i.e. generic doctrine divorced from the specificity of credal and confessional Christianity.

J.C. Ryle (1816-1900) gave one of the best warnings I have heard regarding this kind of doctrinally vague Christianity. He said, generic doctrine...

"...is an epidemic which is just now doing great harm, and especially among young people. . . . It produces what I must venture to call . . . a 'jelly-fish' Christianity . . . a Christianity without bone, or muscle, or power. . . . Alas! It is a type of much of the religion of this day, of which the leading principle is, 'no dogma, no distinct tenets, no positive doctrine.'

We have hundreds of 'jellyfish' clergyman, who seem not to have a single bone in their body of divinity. They have no definite opinions . . . they are so afraid of 'extreme views' that they have no views of all.

We have thousands of 'jellyfish' sermons preached every year, sermons without an edge, or a point, or corner, smooth as billiard balls, awakening no sinner, and edifying no saint. . . .
And worst of all, we have myriads of 'jellyfish' worshipers—respectable Church-gone people, who have no distinct and definite views about any point in theology. They cannot discern things that differ, any more than colorblind people can distinguish colors. . . . They are 'tossed to and fro, like children, by every wind of doctrine'; . . . ever ready for new things, because they have no firm grasp on the old."(1)

If by "evangelical" you mean the strand of believer who holds fast despite the cost to the great and ancient doctrines of the NT: atonement, justification, repentance etc, count me as one.

But if by "evangelical" you mean a generic, feel good, self-improvement, entertainment-based form of Christianity, then just call me Reformed.


Matthew Everhard is the Senior Pastor of Faith Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Brooksville, Florida.


(1)  From an excellent sermon on the life of J.C. Ryle by John Piper. http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/biographies/the-frank-and-manly-mr-ryle-the-value-of-a-masculine-ministry

Good Tree, Bad Trees, and the Profession of the Gospel

The Westminster Confession of Faith, in Chapter XVI, states “…good works, done in obedience to God’s commandments, are the fruits and evidences of a true and lively faith: and by them believers manifest their thankfulness, strengthen their assurance, edify their brethren, adorn the profession of the gospel, stop the mouths of the adversaries, and glorify God, whose workmanship they are, created in Christ Jesus thereunto…

In my experience, Christians tend to have a hard time fitting good works into their lives and theology. Most protestant, evangelical believers understand that salvation, if it is anything, is ”not by works” but it is “the grace of God”. Thankfully, I think that’s clear, but does that mean we are off the hook from all charitable acts? Yes!  I mean, No? … Well…  In fact… I think that entire way of thinking is off. Let me take my schizo pills and explain…

When Jesus talks about good works, he uses an analogy that I think is very helpful and very simple. He says, “a bad tree cannot bear good fruit, and a good tree cannot bear bad fruit”. Get it? If a tree has been made good (saved, born-again, redeemed, regenerated), then it will necessarily produce good fruit. It cannot NOT bear good fruit. In like manner, a bad tree (someone who remains in his/her sin) cannot bear good fruit.

By the way, there is an important distinction that should be made here. When we talk about good fruit, we are not talking about the plastic kind that sits in a bowl on your kitchen table. In other words, real fruit (the kind Jesus is talking about), is not just good deeds, charitable giving, and service to the poor… but it’s ALL of those things SO THAT God may be glorified.

Any other motivation falls short. Any other motivation is like rotten or plastic fruit that may look nice on the outside, but on the inside it is incapable of being consumed and therefore incapable of glorifying God.

Atheists give money to the homeless in Haiti. Buddhists feed the hungry.
What makes you and I different from an agnostic philanthropist? The glory of God. We do good works, we feed the hungry, we care for orphans and widows, and we are generally good citizens… why?  To earn God’s favor? No, He already loves us perfectly. Because we love people? Yes, but it can’t stop there. If our motivation is because we love people, then we have made people, not God, our object of ultimate worth and that is called idolatry. No, we do all of these things because God is the singular treasure of our lives and whatever makes Him happy makes us happy.

Only good trees enjoy producing this kind of fruit. Fruit without joy is religion.

How do our genuine good works “adorn the profession of the gospel”? They adorn the gospel, because when people see us doing as Jesus did, they get it. They know we are truly His people by the way that we love one another and by the way we love the unlovable. To quote one of my favorite professors, Dr. Steve Brown, it makes us “smell like Jesus”. If they cannot smell Jesus on us, then there’s a good probability that they will not listen to us when we admonish them to repent and believe the gospel. Why should they, honestly? The world is full of religious hypocrites as far as the eye can see. I know, I am one. But, is it possible that the reason why our message is not heard by our culture is because on one hand they hear, “Jesus is Lord and Savior”, but on the other hand, they really know we love football, politics, and tradition much, much more?

Ok, that’s the problem, but what’s the answer? Jesus, of course. He’s always the answer. Be a good Sunday School student and just say “Jesus”, and 9 times out of 10 you’ll be right on the money. What can we do to produce good fruit and therefore adorn the profession of our gospel witness? Jesus said, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit” (John 15:1-2), and again He said, “apart from me you can do nothing”. I take that to mean that branches that do not bear fruit (bad trees or false converts) will eventually fall away. However, those whom God has chosen to redeem and regenerate WILL bear more and more fruit if we keep our eyes on Jesus. It’s not about us, it’s all about Jesus! Legitimate fruit will adorn the profession of our gospel, and our churches will become full of fruit-bearers who will influence a community that desperately needs to hear the gospel from people who live it daily.

Are you doing your good works to adorn the gospel and glorify God?

If not… it’s time for a root-check.

Matt Johnson is an instrumental part of the Providence Church plant in Spring Hill Florida, and a deacon at Faith Evangelical Presbyterian Church. Matt works in the new product development department of Accuform Signs. Reprinted with permission from www.providencespringhill.org. 

Christianity: "Everywhere Spoken Against"

When the Apostle Paul finally made it to the city of Rome in Acts 28:14, it probably wasn't what he had imagined. He came in the chains of a prisoner.

At Rome, Paul and Luke found a small enclave of Christians. But it was the Jews, to whom Paul always brought the Gospel first, who had an unusual report: "We have received no letters from Judea about you, and none of the brothers coming here has reported or spoken any evil about you. But we desire to hear from you what your views are, for with regard to this sect [i.e. Christianity] we know that everywhere it is spoken against" (Acts 28:21-22, emphasis added).

Why is this true? Why is Christianity "everywhere spoken against"? How is it possible that a message consisting of  (1) a loving God (2) who sent His son to die for our sins (3) and forgives us by grace, while (4) giving us His Holy Spirit to live lives of love, joy, peace, patience, and kindness--can be the subject of such sustained, organized, and vitriolic resistance?

At least three factors explain this ubiquitous resistance to the Gospel.

First we remember that the Gospel is an attack, a direct assault really, against the spiritual forces of evil. Every sinner that is freed from sin by the Gospel is a slave freed from the clutches of the enemy. As it happens, most masters don't let their slaves go easily. Satan kicks and screams against every one of his captives who are loosed.

Secondly, remember the very nature of the Gospel itself. The Gospel is only good news when the "bad news" is first heeded. The "bad news" of course is that we are totally depraved sinners, hopeless to save ourselves outside of the grace of Christ (cf. Romans 3:10-18). As it turns out, many people don't like to be told that they are sinners! The Gospel itself begins with the offense of declaring the truth about our own human nature.

Finally, our lives of committed obedience are also offensive. Sure, we cannot live perfect this side of Heaven, even in the redemptive grace of Christ. Our opponents are quick to remind us of our many failures. But the very fact that we even pursue holiness is a stick-poke in the eye to those who have no such motive as grace. Our desire to live as holy persons, pursuing the life of our Master, will always be an offense to those still captive to sin.

As long as these three factors are still true--and they will be until Christ returns--we can expect that "everywhere Christianity will be spoken against."

Matthew Everhard is the Senior Pastor of Faith Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Brooksville, Florida.