Answers in August (Part One):

Eternal (In)Security

By Pastor Josh Wamble

This past Sunday, we started our annual Answers in August series.  This year we are studying the doctrine of Eternal Security or the perseverance of the saints.  We started this series off by talking about the view that it is possible for people to fall away from salvation.  You can watch that service here or listen to the audio here.  Below, I want to provide a short summary of what we talked about.

There are several Christian denominations and traditions who believe that those who have been genuinely saved and truly born again can still lose their salvation and go back to being lost under certain circumstances.  Most of these traditions trace their roots and history to Arminian or Wesleyan origins.  Some of them include:

Wesleyan—Methodists, Nazarenes

Restoration Movement—Churches of Christ, Some Christian Churches, Christian Churches (Disciples of Christ)

Charismatics—Assemblies of God, Pentecostals, United (Oneness) Pentecostals

Anabaptists—Mennonites, Amish

Others—Catholics, Some Lutherans

We talked about five reasons or arguments that are often given in favor of understanding the Bible this way.

 1.  Free-Will

One reason those who believe that true and genuine believers can ultimately fall away and be finally lost, believe that because of their understanding of free will.  They say the Bible teaches that people are created with freedom of choice and are able to make real decisions that have real consequences.  We see this very clearly in the lives of Adam and Eve.  God gave them a command in the garden with the real possibility of either obeying or disobeying.  They had a real choice, and (as we know) they chose to disobey.  We are currently living in a world where the consequences of that choice are felt every day.

Just like with Adam and Eve, God gives all people this freedom of choice.  The Bible is filled with commands from God and the history of people disobeying those commands.  These commands are not only found in the Old Testament, they are found in the New Testament as well.  People are given real freedom to obey or disobey and then held accountable for those choices.  God would not be just if He held people responsible for the decisions they make if there were not really free to make them.

They say that people do not lose this freedom when they are saved and born again.  All people still have freedom and the ability to make real choices.  We can trust that God will not go back on His promises to people.  He will not stop His work of salvation, but that does not mean that people are not free to reject His work in their lives even after they have initially accepted it.

2.  The Bible Warns People Against Falling Away from God’s Grace

A second reason that they believe this way is because the Bible itself warns people to be careful that they do not end up falling away.  It does this is several passages.  We considered a few of them on Sunday night.

In 1 Corinthians 10:12, Paul is reminding the believers in Corinth about times in the past when the people of Israel turned away from the Lord and suffered the consequences of their unfaithfulness.  He tells them that one of the reasons these events were recorded in the Old Testament is for our benefit.  He tells the Corinthians that they should learn from these examples and be careful that they don’t turn from God and fall away the way the Hebrews did.

In Hebrews 2:1, they are told that we must pay very close attention to the truth of the gospel that we have heard (and believed).  They are told that there is a danger of drifting away from these truths—especially in the context of false teachers whoa re teaching a different (false) gospel.  In the next chapter (Heb. 3:12-14), the writer tells the whole church to take care or be careful and keep a watch on one another.  He says that they are to help one another to remain faithful.  He refers to them here as “brothers” which implies that they are real believers and warns them not to “fall away from the living God.”

Finally, in Colossians 1:21-23, Paul encourages the church by reminding them of how God has saved them and reconciled them to Himself through the death of Jesus.  He tells them that God’s purpose is to make them “holy and blameless and above reproach.”  But then, He says that God will do this “if indeed you continue in the faith” and not shift away from “the hope of the gospel” that they heard.  So, it seems, that God has a plan for His people, but this plan will only be completed if His people do not turn away from him.  The implication is that if they do shift away from the gospel, then God will not complete His work of sanctifying them.

Why would God give these warnings to His people if there was not the real possibility of falling away?  If people cannot fall away from God’s grace and lose their salvation, these would just be empty threats, right?

3.  The Bible Encourages Believers to Continue in the Faith

The next reason people have for this belief is that in the Bible, God gives encouragement for people to continue believing and remain in the faith.  This is the opposite of the last reason.  God does both—He warns not to fall away, and He encourages to remain faithful.

In Hebrews 6, the writer is reminding his readers about Abraham and how he trusted God’s promises to give him a son.  In verses 11 and 12, he tells them to “show the same diligence.”  He tells them not to be sluggish or lazy in their trusting God.  He tells them to follow the positive examples of those who remained faithful to the end and inherited the promises.  Here it seems like the way to be sure that they will inherit the promises of salvation is to diligently remain faithful to the very end.

In 1 Corinthians 1:21-23, Paul gives a very similar encouragement using an example from his own life.  He tells the church that he, himself, exercises this same diligence.  He says that he disciplines his body and keeps it under control.  His reasoning is especially relevant here.  He says that he does so, “lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”  We can have assurance that Paul was a genuine and true believer, and if he was worried about being disqualified in the end and took pains to make sure that he wouldn’t be, we should take the same measures.

Again, why would God encourage people to make such efforts to make sure that they remain faithful unless the possibility of falling away was a real and dangerous one?

4.  The Bible Gives Examples of People Who Did in Fact Fall Away from God’s Grace

Not only does God give warnings against falling away and encourage His people to remain faithful, but in the bible, He also provides examples of people who seem to have actually fallen away from His grace and stopped believing.

In the beginning of Acts 5, we read about a married couple int eh early church—Ananias and Saphira.  In these days, the church in Jerusalem was facing heavy persecution, and the believers were helping one another often selling some of their possessions and donating the money to the church for the benefit of others.  Ananias and Saphira had sold some property they owned and donated the money to the church for this purpose.  The problem was that they lied about it.  They said that they donated everything when they really had kept some of the money back for themselves.  Again, the problem was not that they kept some of the money but that they lied to God about it.  When Peter confronted them about it separately, they both doubled down on the lie and refused to admit the truth.  Instantly, the Lord struck them down and they were killed.  Some believers point to this passage as an example of two people who had once believed but didn’t remain faithful.  To use the language of Hebrews 3, their evil unbelieving hearts led them to fall away.

Two other examples are found in Paul’s letters to Timothy.  In 1 Timothy 1:19-20, we read about Hymenaeus and Alexander.  Paul urges Timothy to “wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience.”  He tells him that Hymenaeus and Alexander had rejected these things and made shipwreck of their faith.  He says that there are several individuals that have done so but names Hymenaeus and Alexander as examples.  In his second letter to Timothy, he warns about Demas.  Paul was in prison when he wrote 2 Timothy and names several of his former companions and partners in ministry who have left him.  Some of them, Crescens and Titus, it seems have gone to other ministry assignments.  However, in 2 Timothy 4:2 Demas is said to have gone to Thessalonica because he has fallen “in love with this present world.”  This seems like a very clear-cut example of someone who was not only a believer but also a worker for the gospel and a coworker with Paul who has turned away from God and rejected His salvation.  This becomes even more clear when we take into consideration that James says, “friendship with the world is enmity with God” and that anyone who “wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

So, how can anyone say that it is impossible to fall away from grace and lose salvation when God, himself, gives examples of people who have done just that in His word?

5.  Personal Experience

A final reason people give for believing that salvation can be lost is their own personal experiences.  They point to people in their own lives—people they have known closely—who once seemed to be faithful genuine believers but are no longer walking with the Lord.  At one point in their lives, many of these people were leaders in their churches and served in various ministries but now want nothing to do with God or His church.  Many of them are actively denying the gospel and the truths of God’s word and outright opposing Him now.  Many people believe that such a drastic change can only be explained by what the Bible seems to so clearly say—they have fallen away from God’s grace and are not longer one of His children.

I don’t believe the Bible teaches this at all.  I believe this conclusion is a misunderstanding of God’s word in whole and these passages specifically.  However, we can learn from this perspective.  Often Baptists and others get a bad reputation for believing that believers are secure and cannot lose their salvation.  People take that to mean that we are saying sin doesn’t matter, and people can live however they want to as long as they have prayed a prayer or walked down an aisle or been baptized.  This could not be further from the truth.  Sin does matter.  How professing believers live does matter.  Praying a prayer or walking down an aisle or being baptized is not a license to sin or live without any boundaries.

The Bible does give warnings against falling away and urge people to continue on in the faith.  How we live does matter.  However, the Bible also says that God is faithful to save His people and that nothing and no one can prevent Him from accomplishing His purposes in His church.  If you are trusting in Christ, if you are hoping in the promises that God has made, you can have assurance that God, Himself, is holding on to you and will not allow you to fall away.

I look forward to the next two Sunday evenings as we study how both of these things can be true!

All Things for Good?

Romans 8:28

By Pastor Josh Wamble

The Sunday School class I teach has been studying Paul’s letter to the Romans for several months now.  This letter is full of rich truths about what God has done to save His people.  He tells his readers what God has done, but he spends much more time and goes into much more details explaining how he has provided salvation and how that salvation is consistent with God’s righteousness and goodness and how He has been working to this end since the beginning of time.  He refers to the Old Testament time and time again.  He reminds his readers of how God called Abraham and justified him by faith—the same way that the gospel saves us today.

In chapter 8, Paul begins explaining how one aspect of God’s saving work is to redeem His people and deliver them from the power and influence of sin.  He describes how the Holy Spirit works in the life of believers empowering them, confirming and affirming them, and even interceding for them when they don’t know what or how to pray for themselves.  In verse 16, he starts explaining how even though salvation is sure it doesn’t always seem like it or feel like it.  He tells them that salvation has been fully accomplished.  “It is finished.” just as Jesus said.  However, believers do not currently experience the full effects of this salvation.  Instead, Paul tells believers that they still suffer in this life.  He explains that this is necessary until the whole creation experiences the transforming effects of salvation but that the Holy Spirit helps in this suffering.  In verse, 28, Paul writes one of the best-known sentences in the Bible.

And we know that God causes all things work together for good to those who love God, 

to those who are called according to His purpose. (Rom. 8:28 NASB)

This verse has brought much comfort to believers throughout history.  In fact, many would claim this as their very favorite verse in the whole Bible.  However, it does raise a few questions.  I want to spend the space I have below to think through three aspects of this verse—two things it does not mean and one thing that it does mean.

1. It does not mean that all things work together for good for all people.

The promise that God makes here through Paul is that all things work together for good for those who love God—those we are called according to his purpose.  God has committed Himself to His people.  He works for their benefit, and He opposes those who oppose them.  The Bible is clear that there are people who will continue to rebel against God, refuse to worship Him, and resist his grace and mercy in Jesus Christ to the vey end.  While His patience is vast, it will not last forever.  Eventually, they will receive perfect justice.  On that day, they will bow before the Lord, but not willingly.  In the meantime, God does not work for their good.

2. It does not mean that all things are good.

The promise that God makes here through Paul is that all things work together for our good.  Until salvation is fully realized, believers continue to live in a fallen world where things are not the way they ought to be.  In Romans 8:22, Paul says that all of creation groans and longs for sin to be done away with and its effects to be completely reversed.  Until then, death still reigns, and we grieve over ones that we have lost and still love.  We fight against corruption and sometimes fall victim to it from those outside of us and even from within our own selves.  We strain against an unjust system and suffer unfair outcomes.  We deal with pains and sickness and bodies that are wasting away from disease and cancer and old age and injuries from hard labor.  We weep as we see those that we love suffering from these things as well.

3. It does not mean that all things work together for our good.

We weep and suffer and long and fight in this world, but we do so with hope knowing that the day is coming when all of those things will be brought to nothing—when God’s promises will be fulfilled, and all things will be made right.  And, in the meantime, we live now even in the midst of all this suffering trusting that God is good and that He can be trusted.  We do so trusting that He really is working all of this together for our good.

With this knowledge and this assurance, we can repeat some of Paul’s other words:

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared

with the glory that is to be revealed in us.  (Rom. 8:18 NASB)

Living Now in Light of the End:

2 Peter 3:14-18

By Pastor Josh Wamble

Peter spends the end of his second letter reminding his readers of the promise of the Lord’s return.  He tells them that they can be certain that this promise will be fulfilled even when things on earth don’t seem like it.  He tells them (and us) that we should live our lives here and now in light of the fact that He is coming again.  He gives them (and us) four specific instructions on how we should live while we are waiting on the Lord.

1. Be Diligent (2 Pet. 3:14)

He tells us to “be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish and at peace.”  In 3:10, Peter reminds his readers that Jesus will come back like a thief in the night.  We know that He will return, but we don’t know when that day or hour might be.  We should diligently strive to be found ready that day and hour does come.

2. Count the Lord’s Patience as Salvation (2 Pet. 3:15)

We should be waiting for the Lord’s return expectantly reminding ourselves that it could come at any moment, but not out of fear.  We should be longing for Him to come back and looking forward to that day when our hope of full salvation becomes reality.  Yet, we should also be patient trusting that the Lord’s timing is wiser than we might be able to understand.

One reason for this patience is our understanding that the Lord’s delay is not a purposeless delay.  Peter tells us that his patience is an opportunity for salvation.  I am thankful the Lord delayed his return until after 1997—that made all the difference in my life.  If he had come back before then, I would be experiencing his judgment right now instead of his grace and mercy!

As Peter says, we should count his patience even now as salvation.  We should be making the most use of the time and sharing the gospel with those around us who have not believed, praying for people to come to repentance and faith, praying for the Lord to call more people to Himself, and praying for Him to call more people as pastors and missionaries to work for the salvation of the world which is white for harvest.

3. Take Care (2 Pet. 3:17)

He also tells us to take care or be on guard—to be watchful and mindful because many lawless people are leading others astray.  We are aware of cults and false teachers and other unbelieving people around us actively working to lead people away from the truth of the gospel.  We should be on guard lest we should be led astray as well.

This is happening in a much more subtle way as well.  The very culture around us and the society we live in is constantly telling us how we should be living—what we should value and which sins we should be accepting and even celebrating and how we should be tolerant of various different views even when they are contradictory to the gospel and to one another.  The devil is very tricky in how he has orchestrated this.  We are bombarded with these messages persistently in the books that we read, the TV shows and movies we watch, the music we listen to, the news that we consume—almost everything around us is leading us away from the ways of God.  It’s in the air we breathe.  If we are not actively taking care and guarding what we think and how we think and what we value, we will passively be swept along.

4. Grow (2 Pet. 3:18)

As we await His return, we should work to be found pure and at peace knowing it is the Holy Spirit working in you but using the means He has provided—His word, prayer, His church.  We should be seeking the Holy Spirit and examining ourselves and rooting out sin in our lives—confessing it and repenting of it.  As we do so, as we continually grow in the grace of our Lord, Jesus, we will find it easier to be diligent and see God’s timing from His perspective and guard ourselves and each other from the dangers all around us.

Peter says all of this is to the glory of Jesus Christ.  As we live more and more with the perspective and outlook of God, as we more and more value the things he values and judge our own world rightly, as we more and more live in the image of our savior, as we are slowly and progressively transformed into who He would have us to be, the true value and worth and glory of Jesus is seen.

Let us long and pray for the Lord to return soon, let us also make the best use of the time that we have.  Working by the power of the Holy Spirit for our own holiness and for the good of those around us that they might also come to believe.

Bug Bites and Sin:

Immediate vs. Delayed Results

By Pastor Josh Wamble

A group from our church just returned from a week serving with Steve and Carol Thompson and the staff at Camp Chacauco in Patate, Ecuador.  There were over 170 kids who attended camp during the week.  Many of them were from Baptist churches that the Thompsons and their team have planted in the surrounding towns and areas over the years.  Others were from catholic churches in those areas.  It is a testament to the reputation the Thompsons have built over the last 37 years that these catholic families would send their kids to an evangelical camp.

We had a great week of serving together.  We washed 1800-2400 dishes each day!  We tried to sing songs in Spanish while doing the movements that went along with them.  We got to know and care about kids with whom we could barely communicate.  We worshipped, celebrated a baptism, and shared the Lord’s Supper in a joint worship service with three local churches.  We split up among four teams and led the kids in competitions and activities.  Some of our group even participated in a huge obstacle course involving racing up a mountain, crawling through mud, sliding down a muddy hill, and forming a human pyramid with kids standing on each other’s shoulders 4 or 5 levels high to reach prizes on top of a pole.

There really was only one negative from the week which was that many of us left with multiple bug bites on our legs, arms, hands, and other parts of our bodies.  Over the last week or so, I have caught myself scratching the bites, sometimes to the point of bleeding.  Of course, I know this is bad and only makes the situation worse in the long term, but in the short term it brings relief and makes them feel so good.  This situation has had me thinking about several passages in the proverbs that warn about the consequences of sin.

In Prov. 9:17-18 folly is personified, and she says to a man, “’Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.’  But he does not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.”  The temptations of sin are often like the temptation I have to scratch these bug bites.  Sin often promises immediate rewards.  Temptations come to us promising pleasure.  Sin presents itself as delightful.  We may find ourselves in a situation where lying seems like a way out of a bad situation.  We may be tempted to do whatever it takes to get what we want.  This is what John talks about in 1 John 2:16, “For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.”

Over and over, the Bible warns us of the fleeting pleasures of sin.  Scratching bug bites may provide immediate relief, but it leads to worse itching and sometimes even infections in the end.  Sin is the same way.  It may promise pleasure or a good result, and it may even provide some pleasure or solution for a short time.  But, as Prov. 9 says, it ultimately leads to death!

Salvation not only changes our position before God—guilty vs. not guilty, it also changes our natures and how we see the world around us.  May God help up to see sin and temptation for what it is.  Sin is deceitful, may we fight it in our own lives by looking beyond its immediate promises to the ultimate reality of what is being offered—death!

Hearing from God

By Pastor Josh Wamble

If you are like me, you sometimes wish you had lived during the days of the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob) or the days of the prophets (Moses, Ezekiel, Isaiah, etc.).  Wouldn’t it have been neat to have walked with Jesus as one of His disciples?  In John 21:25, John tells us that Jesus did and said lots of things that did not make it into the gospel accounts.  In fact, he says that if everything he did and said were to be written down, there would not be enough books in the world to contain it all.  Wouldn’t it have been great to have witnessed and heard all that Jesus said and did?

If you are like me, you may sometimes think that life at those times was more connected to God and that he was communicating to his people much more commonly than today.  I mean just look at some of the events of the Old Testament.  God walked with Adam and Eve.  He appeared to Noah and Abraham multiple times.  He led his people with a could of smoke and a pillar of fire.  He spoke to prophets like Moses and gave them messages directly to the people.

In the New Testament times, angels appeared to Mary and Joseph and Elizabeth and Zechariah.  Jesus did many wonders and miracles.  He spoke with very words of God authoritative and true.  The Holy Spirit appeared in such a clear way that He was seen physically in a dove or in tongues of fire.  He allowed people to preach and hear in their own languages so that the gospel message would spread quickly among the people and nations present at Pentecost.

We sometimes look back on these events from our vantage point with envy wishing we could have the same kinds of experiences with God that people of other generations had.  Thinking like this shows that we misunderstand how God has worked throughout history.  This misunderstanding goes in two directions.

First, we overestimate how often people heard the voice of God in the past.  We often collapse the OT history into a much shorter time frame than it actually happened in.  We think that God speaking was much more common than it actually was.  In the first chapters of 1 Samuel, we read about God calling Samuel toward the end of Eli’s life.  In 1 Sam. 3:1, it says “the word of the Lord was rare in those days.”  God wasn’t always speaking during the OT history.  In fact, there were years and decades that passed between the times that God spoke to different leaders and prophets in the Old Testament.  The period between the Old Testament and the New Testament lasted for about 400 years.  In those 400 years, God did not speak once!

Secondly, we underestimate how often people hear the voice of God today.  Samuel says that the word of the Lord was uncommon in his day.  Today, it is so common that it is often taken for granted.  Today God is continually speaking to his people from His word.  If we want to hear a word from the Lord, we just need to open our bibles and start reading.  We may be tempted to think that having a first-person encounter with God is better than reading a book that is hundreds of years old.  Peter didn’t think so.  He was one who walked with Jesus and sat at His feet as He was teaching.  In his 2^nd letter, he reminded his readers that he was there with Jesus.  He says that he saw the Lord Jesus in the fullness of his glory on the mount of transfiguration, and he heard the voice of God the Father announcing that this was his Son and that He was pleased in Him.  Peter says that he had this first-hand, eye-witness experience.  But, Peter says there is something better than his own experience—the prophetic word which is even more true or more fully confirmed.

The word of God recorded in the words of Scripture are better than personal experience with God for several reasons:

1. It is always there and always available. We can hear from God anytime we want to or need to.  All we have to do is pick up our Bible.
2. It remains the same. There is not a chance of misremembering what God actually said as with firsthand experiences.
3. We can read it and study it together, each hearing the same message from God.
4. We can trust that it is really God speaking. Satan can counterfeit experiences, or we can misunderstand our own experiences.  We can trust that what is written for us in His word is really the Words of God preserved for His people.

May we value the scriptures as God’s very word.  May we pay attention to them and treasure them just as we would if God were audibly speaking to us right now!  May we trust that the written scriptures are even better than an audible spoken word!  May we believe it to the point of putting it into practice in our lives!

Who’s Who in the Bible?

By Pastor Josh Wamble

I was so excited when I went to the mailbox one day during my sophomore or junior year of high school.  There was an official looking letter addressed to me from Who’s Who Among American High School Students.  I’m sure I thought I had really “made it.”  I was being recognized as one of the top high school students in the country—or so I assumed.  Later, I came to understand that this recognition was not very prestigious at all.  Most high school students receive these letters, and it was sort of a scam.  What this company was really interested in was getting me (or my parents) to pay to purchase a book with my name in it.

In the US, many are almost obsessed with making a name for themselves, receiving notoriety, and being recognized by those around them.  The bible gives us a more eternal perspective on our lives and our reputations and legacies.  James tells us that life is like a vapor.  It is here for a moment and then vanishes.  From the perspective of history, our lives only last a brief moment.  Hopefully we make an impact on those around us, and those who care about us will remember us when we are gone.  However, for most people, after a generation or two, we will be forgotten along with almost every other person who has ever existed.

I thought about this recently while reading some of Paul’s letters.  He mentions several individuals as he writes to the churches.  In Romans, he mentions Phoebe, Prisca and Aquila, Epaenetus, Mary, Andronicus, Junias, Ampliatus, Urbanus, Apelles, and many others.  In his letters to Corinth, he talks about Apollos, Stephanas, Fortunatus, Achaicus, and others.  He refences Epaphroditus in Philippians; Aristarchus, Epaphras, Luke, Nympha, Archippus, and Demas in Colossians; Artemas, Tychicus, Zenas the lawyer, and Apollos in Titus; Mark and others in Philemon; and Crescans, Alexander the coppersmith, Onesiphorus, Erastus, Trophimus, Eubulus, Pudens, Claudia, and others in 2 Timothy.  Some of these people are mentioned multiple times in multiple letters and some only once.  Some are called fellow workers.  One is said to have risked his neck to save Paul’s life.  Some are listed as people to be avoided and watched out for.  Demas is called a “fellow worker” in Colossians and Philemon but is said to have fallen in love with the world toward the end of Paul’s life in 2 Timothy.  Peter, John, and Jude mention people by name in their letters as well, and Acts is full of names of people we only read about once.

What got my attention when reading some of these names is that these are all people who were important to so many believers in the early church.  They were used in mighty ways by God during their lifetimes, but their memory has been almost entirely lost to the world.  Our lives are full of people like this.  I wish that you all could have known Walter Lockhart or Judge Homes, or Bob Barton or James and Marietta Watt or Bart Etheredge.  I wish that you all could meet Ray Van Neste or Marilyn Etheredge or Ray Van Neste or Susan Fisher or so many others—people who are gone now but the Lord used in major ways in my life.  There are former members and pastors that have left a mark on our church.  There are people who were here just a few years ago when I moved to Louisville and joined FBCF in 2005 but not now.  Many of you know them, but many of you have come to our church since they have passed away, and they are just names that you may or may not have even heard of.  In 50 or 60 short years there may not be anyone left who remembers them.

There is a specific passage at the end of Philippians that started me thinking this way.  In Phil 4:3, Paul says, “help these women, who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.”  Paul names these women earlier.  They are Euodia and Syntyche.  He names Clement as well.  But then he references the rest of his fellow workers.  We have no idea who he means.  He doesn’t even tell us their names, but he tells us that God knows their names.  And we can trust that God knows the work that they did for the kingdom as well!

Right now, all over the world there are pastors and missionaries and church members who are faithfully following the Lord and pouring out their lives for the sake of the Kingdom of Christ.  Most of them will never be famous.  They will serve for a short few years, and they will die their lives and even their names almost entirely lost to history, but God knows their names and their faithful labors.  Their preaching and teaching and leading and gospel conversations will not have been in vain.  The Lord is using their efforts and the Kingdom is expanding because of it.

God has used people like this in your life as well.  Take some time to remember them and how the Lord has used them to make you who you are and the impact they have had on your life as a believer.  Seek to live your life with this type of legacy in mind.  The world may not value or even remember your effort, but God sees, and He knows!

Should We Be Imitators?

By Pastor Josh Wamble

Some might say there is nothing worse than an imitator!  Often you hear siblings or other children arguing and fighting because they are copying each other.  In marketing campaigns, we are told that the original is always better.  We are urged to purchase the genuine product not a generic copy.  For a long time the Coke brand’s slogan was “It’s the Real thing.”  You may even remember the song they used—it became a gold record in the US selling more than 500,000 copies!  TV Shows like “Antiques Roadshow” and “Pawn Stars” are filled with people who end up so disappointed when they discover that the artwork or historical artifact is only a replica.  Artificial flavorings or imitation ingredients are never as good in food.

I was thinking about this phenomenon last week during our Wednesday morning men’s bible study.  In Phil. 3:17, Paul writes to the church, “Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.”  This is not the only time Paul speaks like this, either.  In 1 Cor., Paul writes, “I urge you, then, be imitators of me.”  Later in the same book (1 Cor. 11:1), he says the same thing, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.”

Paul puts himself in the center of a line of imitation, and it goes both ways.  He claims that he is looking backward and imitating Jesus.  He follows Him in every aspect of his life.  He also looks forward to those the Lord has allowed him to evangelize and teach and lead in the Christian life.  He tells them to look to him and imitate his life.  He says, “If you want to know what it looks like to live a life of faith and trust in the Lord, if you want to see what real belief and repentance looks like, just watch me.”  He doesn’t do this in a prideful or arrogant manner.  He knows that the Lord has worked and is working in his life.  He knows that God is using him for the benefit of the newer, less mature believers that he has an influence over.

He also knows that he is not the only one the Lord is using this way.  He tells the Philippian church not only to imitate him but also to “keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.”  I wonder if you have ever read these instructions before.  I wonder if you have ever spent much time thinking about them.  There are two questions that come to my mind when I think about these words of Paul’s and what they have to say about our church.

1.  Who are you imitating?

I pray that you are following the example the Lord has set for us in his word.  I hope that you are following the teaching and example left for us by the apostles.  The history of the church is filled with examples of faithful men and women who lived their lives as followers of the Lord.  Many of them suffered greatly for their faithfulness.  You can learn about them by reading Christian biographies, or you can find shorter articles online at sites like the ones here, here, or here.

But, I also hope that there are Christian people in your life now that you are looking up to.  Are there men and women in our church that are further along in their walk with God than you are?  Is there anyone in your life that you rely on to help you remain true to the gospel you have believed?  When you see faithfulness and humility and love and gentleness and patience and joy lived out in the lives of believers around you learn from them.  Follow their example as they follow the example of Christ.

2.  Who is imitating you?

On the other hand, are there people in your life who are newer to following Jesus than you are?  Are there younger men or women that you are helping to follow the Lord?  Do you have children?  Do you spend time with the children and young adults in our church?  Are you setting an example for them as you follow the Lord in faithfulness?

Do you watch the way that you talk and act and treat people and respond to stress or difficulties because you are conscious of people who are looking to you as an example?  When you are tempted to let your anger get out of control and lash out at others or be impatient with people around you or think and act in selfish ways or any number of other ways to sin, do you fight that temptation by remembering that other believers are watching you, and you don’t want to lead them astray?

Of course, none of us follow God perfectly, but you don’t have to be perfect.  You can also be an example in how you respond to your sin (as Paul and others are to us).  Are you quick to admit when you are wrong or have acted sinfully or do you dig your heels in and refuse to be humble in front of your family or your brothers and sisters in the faith?  Are you quick to repent of your sin and turn to the Lord for forgiveness?

Are you following the Lord’s example?

Are you looking to others in your church and other areas of your life to help you do so?

Are you actively recruiting newer believers that you can invest your life in helping to follow the Lord in faithfulness?

Four Ways to Let Your Pastors

Shepherd You with Joy

By Pastor Josh Wamble

Hebrews 13:17 says, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account.”  This is a very serious statement.  On judgment day, you will each have to give an accounting of your life before God.  If you are trusting in Jesus, you will not face condemnation on that day—you will plead the blood of Jesus over your sins and receive mercy and forgiveness.

On that same day, pastors will give an account of their own lives just like other believers.  However, they will also have to give an account for how they kept watch over the souls the Lord has entrusted to them.  Your pastors will have to give an account for their own life and an account for your life—how they led you to follow Christ, how they shepherded you by feeding you, protecting you, providing for you, guiding you toward Christ, and how you followed that leadership.

Above, I only quoted the first half of Hebrews 13:17.  The rest of the verse says, “Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.”  The relationship between pastors and their flock ought to be one of love, respect, honor, commitment, trust, affection, joy, and each of these characteristics should be mutual.  They should go both ways.  It is heartbreaking that far too often in far too many churches this is not the case.  When the Lord works this type of relationship between His church and her pastors, we should rejoice and give Him thanks.

We should also work toward making this joy present in our church.  Below, I want to suggest four ways that you can follow the instruction at the end of Hebrews 13:17—to “Let them do this with joy.”

1.  Regularly Pray for Them.

The Lord uses the prayers of His people to accomplish His purposes in the world and especially in His churches.  Pray that your pastors would remain faithful to God and His word.  Pray that we would rest in Jesus and His work for our salvation.  Pray that we would resist sin and temptation.  Pray that we would be quick to go to God in repentance when we do sin.  Pray that we would love the church fully.  Pray that we would work hard at studying and understanding God’s word.  Pray that we would preach and teach His word well and effectively and that God would use it in our church.  Pray that we would manage our time well and rest well.  Pray for your pastors’ families.  Pray for the salvation and faithfulness of your pastors’ children.

2.  Encourage Them

Just like all believers, pastors can get discouraged as well.  Sometimes we question the effectiveness of our sermons or teaching.  We question whether we are doing enough to take care of our people.  We worry about individuals in the church that we know are struggling.  Your pastors need encouragement.  There are many ways you can do that.

Don’t just pray for us, let us know that you are praying and what you are praying.  Tell us when the Lord is using His word in your life and when He is using our sermons and teachings to do that.  Be specific.  We always appreciate when someone says, “Good sermon.” but it is much more encouraging when you let us know something specific that you learned or a specific way God used the sermon or teaching to encourage you or convict you or call you to more faithful living.  You can do these things in person or through a simple card or text message.  You can also encourage your pastors by deliberately being a blessing to their wives or children.

3.  Be Present

One of the most troubling and concerning things for a pastor is when weeks go by, and we don’t see you.  All kinds of thoughts go through our minds.  We begin to wonder if we’ve done something to upset you or if you are disappointed in us or the church somehow.  We wonder if you are watching the sermons online.  We wonder if you are staying in God’s word and remaining close to Him.  We wonder if there’s something you need that we can do for you.  Something as simple as being present or letting us know why you are not goes a long way in helping us to pastor you, shepherd you, watch over your soul with joy.

4.  Follow Their Teaching

Probably the greatest joy your pastors get is to see you following the teachings of God’s word.  Of course, we don’t want you to follow blindly.  We rejoice when you study the word for yourselves and test what we tell you to make sure that it is from God.  We don’t want you just to know God’s word, we rejoice and worship God in thankfulness when we see you walking in His word, putting our sermons and teachings into practice.

In Philippians 2:1-5, Paul charges the church in Philippi with these words, “So, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.  Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.  Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.  Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.”

Brothers and sisters, make your pastors’ joy complete.  Let us watch over you “with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage for you” or for us.

Four Reasons You SHOULD Attend Church

By Pastor Josh Wamble

Last week we published a blog article called, “Four Reasons You Should NOT Attend Church.”  Of course, we are not advocating for anyone not to attend church.  Each of those four reasons were not really good reasons for not attending church.  They were actually bad reasons for attending church.

There are many reasons believers should prioritize regularly meeting together for worship.  In Acts, we see that the earliest believers routinely gathered to worship together on the first day of the week.  In Hebrews 10:25, the author tells us not to neglect meeting together as some believers have been doing.  This principle of the importance of God’s people regularly gathering together for corporate worship is seen in the Old Testament as well.  There are many good reasons that we should prioritize regularly gathering together for worship, and we want to highlight a few of them below.

1.  You Should Attend Church Because You Have Been Accepted by God—and Changed.

We don’t attend church to try to impress God or to be accepted by Him.  There is only one reason that God accepts us and is pleased with our worship, and that is on the basis of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection.  Gathering with God’s people is the result of God’s work in our lives not the cause of it!

If Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection has really had an impact on you, it will also transform you.  Paul says that believers are new creations in Christ Jesus.  He says that we’ve died to our past life dominated by sin and are now alive to a new life in Christ.

If this is true, then this new life we are living is characterized by new likes and loves—also new hatreds.  The sin that we once loved we now hate.  The things that once seemed so boring and tedious to us now fill us with joy.  Those who are truly God’s people, those who have truly been transformed by His grace, love gathering with the rest of His people.  That is one of the marks of a faithful believer—love for the brothers and sisters.

2.  You Should Attend Church to Encourage Other People.

One of the reasons for regularly gathering with other believers is to encourage them.  In Hebrews 10:24-25, we read, “²⁴ And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, ²⁵ not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”  Earlier, in Hebrews 3:12-14, we read, “¹² Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.  ¹³ But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.  ¹⁴ For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.”

The Christian life is a life of fighting.  We fight against sin and temptation.  We fight against evil and unrighteousness.  We fight against all the plans and efforts of the devil and his followers.  It is critically important for us to realize that we do not fight these battles alone.  Trying to be a Lone Ranger Christian is not healthy.  God created the church for a reason.  He puts his people in local churches for a reason.  We are to help one another and fight for and with one another.

We have a responsibility for each other.  You need to be at church for the sake of your own soul, but you also need to be at church for the sake of other church members’ souls.  We have covenanted together for this very purpose, and they are depending on you being there!

You can’t encourage your brothers and sisters if you are not regularly with them.  You can’t help them to fight against sin and temptation; you can’t exhort them; you can’t labor to make sure they are not hardened by the deceitfulness of sin; you can’t fight alongside them to hold fast and not fall away if you are not regularly with them.

I hope that you consider these things as you are deciding whether or not to attend church gatherings each week.  I hope that you are considering these things as you are gathering.  Do you ever think about how your singing loudly and fully and with a full heart helps to stir up your brothers and sisters?  Do you ever think about how you can steer your conversations to stir up your brothers and sisters?  Do you ever think about how your praying and serving and visiting and card writing, and giving, and the way you live help your brothers and sisters to remain faithful to Christ?  I hope that you do.  We are in this together.

3.  You Should Attend Church Because It Makes You More Faithful.

Everything we mentioned above about your responsibilities to your fellow church members works in reverse as well.  Just as you have a responsibility to encourage and stir up the other members of our church and help them to remain faithful to the Lord, Jesus, they have those same responsibilities toward you.  They will have an extremely difficult time fulfilling those responsibilities if you are not often around.

Regularly gathering with your church helps you to be more faithful in another way also.  The whole chapter on John 17, is an extended prayer that Jesus is praying for His followers—His disciples and those who will believe what they will preach—people like you and me.  In verse 17, He prays, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.”  Sanctification is the word the Bible uses to describe the process of growth in Christ—of progressively becoming more and more like Him.  Jesus prays that God will perform this work of grace in us, and He prays that God will do it using the truth—His word.

Of course, we can (and should) read and study God’s word on our own.  The Holy Spirit works in our hearts as individuals as we devote ourselves to His word, but He also works when we read and study the Bible together as a church.  In fact, God has designed it this way.  You need to be regularly hearing the word preached, and you need to be regularly involved in Bible study groups with other believers—Sunday School, men’s and women’s groups, other periodic studies that are offered at the church.  Studying the Bible with other people not only helps you to know it and understand it better but also helps you to apply it to your life better.  Often other people in these group Bible studies offer insights or ask questions that you may never have thought of on your own.

In addition to these things, you also need to gather regularly to pray with and for others and to give others the opportunity to pray with and for you.  We’ve been thinking about responsibilities that church members have for one another, and regularly praying for each other is a big one.  I hope that you make a habit of praying for other members of our church.  I hope that you regularly pray through the requests on our prayer lists, but also for different families in our church and, of course, for our church leaders.  The church directory can be a very helpful tool for this purpose.  There is great benefit in praying for one another in our private lives, but there is also great encouragement from hearing someone pray for you or to others when they hear you pray for them or a card sent telling others that you have been praying and what you have been praying for.  I hope that you make praying for the church and church members a priority in your life, and I hope that you make regularly gathering with your church to pray a priority as well.

4.  You Should Attend Church for What You Can Put Into It.

We all show up to different church gatherings hoping to get something out of it, and that is right and good.  However, you should also be thinking about what you can add to your church when we gather together.  God has given all of his people gifts—some are talents that we were created with or have learned through our life experiences, and others are spiritual gifts that the Holy Spirit has given to each of His people.  God has gathered each of us together in His church.  He has gathered this specific group of people—including you—together in this particular church so that the gifts He has given to each of us can be used to make the rest of us and our church better—more like Jesus.

If we are going to follow Jesus faithfully, kill sin in our lives, resist temptation, and serve the world around us the way God would have us to, we need each other—including you and your specific gifts!

Four Reasons You Should

NOT Attend Church

By Pastor Josh Wamble

There are many reasons believers should prioritize regularly meeting together for worship.  In Acts, we see that the earliest believers routinely gathered to worship together on the first day of the week.  In Hebrews 10:25, the author tells us not to neglect meeting together as some believers have been doing.  This principle of the importance of God’s people regularly gathering together for corporate worship is seen in the Old Testament as well.  There are many good reasons that we should prioritize regularly gathering together for worship; we will consider some of them on this blog next week.  Below, we want to consider at least four reasons why you should not gather for corporate worship.

1. You Shouldn’t Attend Church to Be Accepted by God.

If you think regularly attending church is a way to make yourself more acceptable to God, there is a bigger conversation that we need to have.  There is only one reason that God accepts us and is pleased with our worship, and that is on the basis of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection.

2. You Shouldn’t Attend Church to Impress People.

Even worse than regularly attending church as a way to make yourself more acceptable to God would be doing so to try and impress other people.  When deciding whether or not to attend corporate worship, other people should be considered, and we will think about how to rightly consider them here next week.  But, hopefully, you never make what other people will think of you the deciding factor of whether or not you will attend church.

3. You Shouldn’t Attend Church Because It Makes You Feel Good.

Often attending church does make us feel good.  We are encouraged to see one another.  Hearing one another sing the truths of the gospel reminds us of what the Lord has done for us and lifts us up.  Hearing the word preached and studying the Bible together can strengthen us as well.  These are all good things.  The Bible tells us to stir one another up and encourage one another as we meet together in worship.

However, depending on the passage of scripture that is being preached and your personally situation, leaving church feeling good might be a really bad response.  Sometimes, it might be best to leave feeling convicted or sad or motivated or any number of other emotions, and all of these emotions are good and appropriate at certain times.  You should not attend church services only to feel good.

4. You Shouldn’t Attend Church for What You Can Get Out of It (Only).

The word “only” here is really important.  You should definitely gain benefits from regularly attending corporate worship services and other activities at your church.  As mentioned above, you should be regularly encouraged, challenged, equipped for ministry, taught the Bible, and confronted with God’s love, mercy, grace, forgiveness, justice, holiness, righteousness, and etc.  You should get something out of regular church attendance.  However, that should not be the only reason you regularly attend.

In stead of being solely focused on yourself and what you get, you should also be focused on other people (your brothers and sisters in Christ) and how you can be a blessing to them—how you might encourage them, how you might stir them up to good works, how you might help them to stay faithful, how you might hold them accountable, how you might show love and forgiveness to them, how you might help them to understand the Bible, and etc.

Next week we will consider several reasons why we SHOULD regularly attend church.