Winning by Losing
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by Jon Buck
Need Wisdom?
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by Jon Buck
“But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.” ~ James 1:5-6
In seasons of difficulty, we often find ourselves struggling to determine the best way to act. We’ve all been there—a trial comes into our lives, and we don’t know how to respond. We might spend countless hours trying to determine what to do.
Hours of Google searching.
Reading endless articles.
Asking countless advisors.
We might even pray in our moments of desperation.
None of these things are wrong, of course. It’s wise to have counsel. It’s good to seek wisdom. It’s wise to research and understand a subject. And of course, it’s important and wise to pray.
But we can be left struggling and frustrated by a lack of clarity. Sometimes we even find ourselves blaming God for not ‘showing us’ what we need to know.
Ask
James makes a stunning statement. He says that if you’re in this situation and you lack wisdom, ask God. He will absolutely give you wisdom, and will give it generously! God’s desire is to give you His wisdom, so that you can live for His glory.
What’s more, James says that God gives without reproach. He doesn’t scoff at your lack of wisdom. He doesn’t condemn you because you don’t know what’s best. In fact, quite the opposite! He has sovereignly placed you in this situation SO THAT you seek Him and His wisdom!
And so, James concludes, the God who has placed you here, and has a generous and kind heart, will give you the wisdom you need.
Believe
However, James says that the request must be made in faith, rather than in doubt. Doubt is like a windstorm over the ocean. It tosses us all over the place.
Doubt tells us that God isn’t good, or that God isn’t generous, or that God simply won’t give us the wisdom we need. When we doubt in this way, we are not trusting Him, and we won’t walk in the Spirit or have His wisdom that we need.
But when we believe that He gives wisdom, we can confidently know that we have it, at that moment. Now - that doesn’t necessarily answer the questions we have. But it changes the way we’re thinking.
Instead of desperately seeking answers, we are confident that God will provide the answers we need. We can research, read, and seek counsel knowing that God has our best in mind, and will deliver on the wisdom we need!
So - ask God for the wisdom you need. Believe He loves you and will answer. Then pursue answers, trusting in His sovereign care!
Obeying Government (?) - Part 4
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by Jason Park
How do our civil liberties affect the command to not meet?
The Bill of Rights and certain amendments (13th, 14th, 15th, 19th, 26th), in particular, form the core of our cherished liberties, our rights as citizens of this country. They provide freedom of speech and religion. They ensure due process and equal protection under the law. Our codified liberties give us the security that makes us love living in America. We’re grateful to God for allowing us to live here.
So distinctly American is this love for our liberties that when anything seems to impinge on our freedom, we can feel that our “inalienable rights” are being encroached upon. And that sense of being violated can accelerate quickly into grumbling and anger.
Our rights
Our rights are ours by virtue of the laws of the land. They are not inherently inalienable. Truthfully, the only right we have is the right to be punished for our sins against God. Anything beyond that is a gift of His grace.
The Bible highlights the inherent dignity of man because we’re all created in God’s image. But the Bible doesn’t declare that “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” or the rights and freedoms guaranteed in our constitution are ours just because we’re human beings. We should enjoy those rights as Americans, but we should remember they are not guaranteed by the Bible.
Our responsibility
What if they shut down my business or work for months on end? I’ve worked hard to build up my business, to provide for my family, and to help others. These are all genuine concerns. Yet, whatever trespasses there may be against our liberties or genuine hardships created by this lockdown, the biblical parameters of our submission to the government remain.
But that’s not fair; that’s not just. Perhaps. But the real question isn’t about justice. The real question is about our faith – what do we actually believe about God’s sovereignty? Do we believe God is in this current pandemic or not and that He is ruling over our government? Do we believe we have to take it upon ourselves to fight for our rights?
Paul asserted his Roman citizenship to gain a fair hearing, but he did this while being under arrest for over 2 years. And after that, he was still under house arrest. That doesn’t seem fair. Yet, Paul never gave in to undermining the authorities, let alone to complaining! So as long as he could be a Christian, he obeyed everything.
Now, many people have lost their jobs or are unable to work. Many are waiting for unemployment and stimulus checks. As their burden of providing for family intensifies, we should pray for them and graciously care for them as we have opportunity. But our love for each other is not helped by grumbling about or disobeying government. No one is blessed by our need to assert our rights. As the stirrings of protest arise in us, we should prayerfully examine our hearts to see what our underlying desires are.
Conclusion
In this season, let’s look at Paul’s example of exercising his rights with all patience and honor. And let’s also look at Christ’s example – He lost all His rights as He was wrongfully tried and crucified for sinners like us. If anyone had the “right” to demand justice, it was He.
We can use our rights legally. But let’s be sure our testimony is more about righteousness than rights.
Obeying Government (?) - Part 3
/by Jon Buck
We continue examining our obedience to government, particularly during this season of pandemic. So far, we’ve seen that we are called to obey government in all things, with the only exception to the rule being when government calls us to deny Christ or disobey God directly.
In today’s post we discuss the question regarding the widespread fear and panic coming from the COVID-19 outbreak, and whether our perceptions of the danger of the situation should change our submission to government.
The question is important, not only in this situation with COVID-19, but with countless other issues relating to government.
Who decides?
At its core, the question is one of authority. Can our perceptions and opinions of how the government should manage our country influence our willingness to obey the government?
The answer, from every text dealing with government in the Bible, is a strong ‘no’.
None of the statements regarding obedience to governing authorities come with caveats. Paul does not tell us to obey governing authorities, but only if we agree with them. Peter does not tell us to submit ourselves to every human institution, but only those that get it right.
Instead, the Bible loudly calls us to submit, whether we agree with decisions or not.
Consider Nero
Think, for a moment, about the cultural and political contexts these men wrote. Certainly there were a great many policy decisions made by Nero that the apostles would have disagreed with.
However, as Jason pointed out last time, there is not a single word in the New Testament about these social issues. There is never a statement by any of the apostles dealing with political intrigue. Not a single word.
Coronavirus, or no coronavirus…that isn’t the question
The issue facing Christians these days is no different than the New Testament church. The question is not whether the coronavirus is real or overblown. The question is not whether the lockdown is a good decision or a poor one.
The question facing Christians is quite simple—will we obey the governing authorities or no? And in doing so, will we obey God or no?
Questions about the virus, about situational ethics, about political maneuvering are not wrong to ask. We are blessed to live in a country where we have freedom to ask and debate these things!
But while we ask these questions, we must remember that our allegiance to God mandates our submission to His choice in authorities, whether our opinion is considered or not.
Obeying Government (?) - Part 2
/by Jason Park
In today’s post, we’re covering two interrelated questions: Is there ever a time when we would disobey that order (not to meet)? How long should we obey that order?
1. Is there ever a time when we should disobey that order?
The New Testament is very clear on the believer’s submission to the government (1 Pet 2:13-14). 1 Pet 2:15 says that this is God’s will, and our submission, even to evil rulers, “may silence the ignorance of foolish men.”
Furthermore, the believer is called to pray “for kings and all who are in authority” so that their rule might allow us to “lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity” (1 Tim 2:2). Paul goes on to say in v. 3 that such prayers and our godliness are “good and acceptable” in God’s sight because God can use those to draw people to the knowledge of the gospel (1 Tim 2:4).
Now, there were a hundred social injustices that the apostles could have railed against, even peaceably. But you cannot find one instance in the New Testament of unlawful rebellion against the authorities…aside from one exception. That lone exception is when the authorities forbade believers from worshiping Christ and preaching the gospel. In fact, the early church was willing to die for sticking to this one exception.
In Acts 4:20, after being arrested and warned by Jewish authorities not to preach the gospel, Peter and John reply, “…we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.” In Acts 5, the apostles are again jailed, but upon being released by an angel, they enter the Temple and preach the gospel. When the authorities remind them of their strict orders, the apostles answer, “We must obey God rather than men” (v. 29).
So, when we take 1 Pet 2:13-14 and Acts 5:29, we arrive at this biblical principle: We must submit to the government in everything, unless submission would require that we deny Jesus Christ. If the government orders that we recant our faith, then we obey God at all costs. But if the government doesn’t do that, we must humbly and gladly submit to all its laws because we are submitting ultimately to God who has put those authorities in place and has ordained our particular circumstances, down to the minutest detail.
2. How long should we obey that order?
The apostle Paul was in various stages of arrest and transfer to different Roman authorities for over two years as he awaited their judgment (cf. Acts 24:27). He stayed within the confines of the Roman law as a Roman citizen (Acts 23:25-29). He didn’t fight back; he didn’t seek to usurp the civil authority. In prison, he wrote letters, he preached the gospel, even to those of Caesar’s household (Phil 4:22), and he waited on God to open doors for him to resume his normal life and ministry. His “normal” was radically altered during seasons of persecution, but he learned the secret of contentment (not complaint!) through Christ as He strengthened him.
So, to entertain the “how long” and “what if” questions related to the lockdown will prove frustrating and fruitless. Those questions can’t be answered; they are not meant to be. They are meant to be turned into prayers and cast onto sovereign God who cares for us. In fact, those questions detract us from faith and from the fruitfulness that God would have for us right now in the limitations that we’re facing.
Remember, God knows how long this will last. He’s ordained this pandemic. He maintains the church through it all, not us. And He will extract maximum glory and good from this season.
So, we submit to this order…gladly, prayerfully, and righteously, so that when someone asks us why we live the way we do, we tell them about our hope in Christ (1 Pet 3:15).
Obeying Government (?) - Part 1
/by Jon Buck
We are in strange times as a church. We have been asked to not meet physically in order to stop the spread of a global pandemic.
At the same time, the Lord commands us to NOT forsake the assembling of ourselves together (Heb. 10:24-25).
This leaves us in a state of moral question, which has a host of potentially important questions.
These questions, to my thinking, are as follows:
Should we obey the order to not meet?
Is there ever a time when we would disobey that order, and how long should we obey?
What if we think the virus scare is overblown?
How do our civil liberties affect the command to not meet?
In order to cover these questions, there will be a number of posts.
1. Should we obey?
The first question is perhaps the simplest to answer. Should we obey the command to not meet for a short time for the sake of public health. The answer, very simply, is yes.
“Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.” ~ Romans 13:1
"Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right.” ~ 1 Peter 2:13
We are called by God to obey the authorities because they have been established by God. He has put Donald Trump, Gavin Newsom, local mayors, and all their advisors in power.
We may or may not appreciate the political views these men and women hold, but we are called to obey them.
But they’re bad!
We may not agree with all the views these political leaders hold. We may think they’re responding to the crisis incorrectly. We may feel that our civil rights are being violated.
Paul and Peter understood all those feelings. After all, they were under the authority of Emperor Nero—not a paragon of human virtue by all accounts.
And yet they called Christians to obey laws that may even be unjust.
Why? To be weak? NO! Instead, to trust that God was in sovereign control. The same God that loves us and sent His Son to die for our sins has installed our governing authorities. We must trust His wisdom above our own, and submit ourselves to those who are over us.
Devotional on Handling Conflict Part 1 - Offense
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By Jon Buck
FBC Family Interview 4
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Arthur and Biblia
A Peaceful Walk
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by Jon Buck
“He who walks in integrity walks securely, but he who perverts his way will be found out.”
~ Proverbs 10:9
What are the key ingredients to a peaceful life? We might be tempted to think having money, or comforts, or relational peace, or good health will provide peace for us.
And while none of those things is wrong, they don’t always provide peace.
Have you ever taken the time to check your motives for things that you do? We can fool ourselves, but when our motives are wrong, eventually we’ll be ‘found out’.
Security
Solomon offers us a simple plan for peace and security. In the verse above, Solomon suggests that the one who walks in integrity will have security.
That word for security is the Hebrew word that means safety, rest, and confidence. It means to have rest in your spirit—a peaceful heart.
Solomon’s prescription for this is to walk in integrity. This word means innocent or complete. With this word, Solomon is calling for a completely pure heart—a heart without second motives, or unspoken manipulations or plans.
Too satisfied
So what is the prescription for a life of peace, security and confidence? Solomon calls us to a life of complete transparency and honesty and openness without false motives or manipulation.
The root of manipulations and falsehoods is a desire for something. Whether that is control, or possession, or selfish desires, we manipulate because we long for something we don’t have.
But a genuine heart that walks in integrity is already satisfied. Such a heart has no longings, and therefore will not manipulate to gain.
A heart that is wholly satisfied in Jesus and in His love will have no need to manipulate. Such a heart will be careful to guard itself from falsehood, quick to keep pure motives, and quick to confess when motives are wrong.
The key ingredient to a peaceful life is integrity, and the key to integrity is satisfaction in Christ.
Hope, Faith, and Love…
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by Jason Park
“Hope is a thing with feathers,” Emily Dickinson once wrote in one of her poems. I’m positive she wasn’t thinking of our living hope in Christ, but she does make some insightful statements about hope that apply, only apply, to Christian hope. She writes that no storm or “chillest land” can extinguish hope; in fact, it never asks for anything.
Those of us who have hope in Christ know this is true. Our hope is a living one because Christ has been raised from the dead. It’s not anchored to anything in this world. The anchor of our hope is Christ, and He is seated at the right hand of the Father. And where He is, we will be one day. And what He has (glory and the kingdom), we will have one day. This is solid hope…a firm foundation…nothing, not death or hell, not all our sins, can ever unmoor us from this hope. It is as sure as Christ Himself.
Col 1:4-5 tell us that when our hope is in Christ, we trust in Christ more. We rest on His unchanging grace more. We rely on His righteousness and power more. Christ only asks that we see the hopeless “hopes” of this world and fall on Him for help. When we know our future is secure, through all sufferings of life, even the worst, our hope bolsters greater faith in Christ.
In addition to greater faith, this “hope laid up for you in heaven” found only in the gospel bolsters our love “for all the saints.” When we don’t have to have this world, when we’re freed from the tyranny of earthly comforts and securities, when we don’t fear not having enough or missing out on something, our hearts are freed up to love others. To genuinely sacrifice for others. To give, and in giving, not worry about our own receiving.
So, consider the riches of salvation, both now and future. God is reserving His glories for you, the glories that Christ procured with His blood. So, hope in heaven. And you will know the joy of investing in something greater than this world as your hope amplifies your faith in Christ and deepens your love for one another.
Easter Every Day
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by Jon Buck
“Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” ~ 1 Cor. 5:8-9
As we come out of the Easter season, I find my heart wishing it had just began. And especially in light of the quarantine, things seem a little anticlimactic. But God wants us to live in the glories of Easter all the time!
In the first letter to the Corinthians, Paul was seeking to deal with many of the problems and sin issues that the church was facing.
In particular, they had allowed sin to continue uncorrected by a member of the church. For this reason, Paul calls them to send that person out of the church for the sake of his repentance.
However, in the midst of this section, Paul explains that purity in the church is the result of the purity that has already been provided by Christ.
Christ Our Passover
Paul’s statement about the church’s purity is related to the sacrifice of Christ. The church is pure (‘unleavened by sin’) because Christ has been sacrificed for us. All our sins have been ‘passed over’ once and for all.
For that reason, we may celebrate the feast - that is, the feast of Passover, our Good Friday - every day. In fact, Paul’s command is to celebrate that your sins have been passed over each day! For Christians, Easter is a daily joyful occurrence.
But how?
The great question is, “HOW is this true?” Every day doesn’t seem much like Easter during quarantine when even Easter doesn’t seem like Easter.
So how are we to celebrate this daily? The answer is to believe what Paul wrote. Christ HAS been sacrificed for us! When we believe that, as Paul was when he wrote it, then we can celebrate what He has done.
And the result of that faith will be putting away sins like malice and wickedness, and walking in sincerity and truth.
Only by believing what Jesus has done, and what it means for us, will we have the joy and power that God intends Easter to bring!
Devotional on Luke 22:66-71: Deity of Christ, Part 5
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By Jon Buck
One…whether you feel it or not
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by Jason Park
We are far away from each other these days, aren’t we? The online experience of church has eerily become the norm. And yet, where and how we meet does not define us as believers nor as a church.
Because, in Christ, we are never truly “far off” from each other. In Christ, we who were far off from God and His promises, were brought near to Him by Christ’s blood (Eph 2:13). And we were all brought near together, members of each other under one Head, Jesus Christ.
And in Christ, we are “one body to God through the cross” (Eph 2:16). We are all “fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household.” We are, regardless of physical interaction, “growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built up together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit” (Eph 2:21-22).
Even from afar, we have “the unity of the Spirit” because by the work of Christ we are “one body” with “one Spirit,” “called in one hope of your calling”; we have “one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all” (Eph 4:4-6). All these “one” statements are true because the gospel is true…regardless of either the quantity or quality of our meetings. The physical reality of meeting together (or not) does not in any way change the eternal, rock-solid reality of our oneness in Christ and His gospel.
We can still encourage and exhort each other in a variety of ways. We’re learning what it really means to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, aren’t we? So, don’t let the lack of physical fellowship detract you from the greater reality of heart-fellowship. Do you love one another? Then great! God’s love is perfected in you, and you are more “one” in His love (1 Jn 4:12).
Remember, God is always working, regardless of how much or how little you meet, or even how well or how poorly your meeting goes. The key in the equation of sanctification is never us; it’s God alone. It’s His truth that sanctifies (Jn 17:17). It’s His Spirit who transforms us (2 Cor 3:18). He is always at work both to will and to work in each believer for His good pleasure (Phil 2:13).
Let that free us from discouragement and frustration to love one another in ways that we might not be used to, but which are in God’s eyes are just as valid as the “normal” ways.
And in the same vein as yesterday’s blog from Jon ~ God used letters (and the prayers represented in them) without physical meetings to transform souls…might He not be able to do the same today?
Devotional on Matthew 26:6-12: Deity of Christ, Part 4
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By Jon Buck
Pastoring, Pandemics, Proclamation, and Prayer
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by Jon Buck
"The wonderful thing about praying is that you leave a world of not being able to do something, and enter God’s realm where everything is possible. He specializes in the impossible. Nothing is too great for His almighty power. Nothing is too small for His love."
~ Corrie Ten Boom
Today’s blog is very personal for me. I’ve found these past weeks to be quite humbling as a pastor. And anytime I find myself humbled, the obvious question to ask is, “What pride is God helping me deal with?”
Pastoral pride
The answer in my heart is pastoral pride. I’m not necessarily proud of my speaking ability, or proud of any particular gift.
Instead, the stripe of pride that God is revealing to me is my belief that He needs me to do something special to help or grow His children.
I have a yearning to meet with people, help them, cause them to grow, etc. This isn’t wrong, of course—Paul often expressed his desire to be with the various churches he cared for.
The pride, however, comes when I find that I am anxious or frustrated when I am unable to be with God’s people and care for them personally.
Pandemics and prison
Paul was no stranger to being unable to visit the people he loved. He spent years in a Roman prison, during which time he penned some of the most impactful letters of the New Testament (Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, often called the ‘Prison Epistles’). He also wrote 2 Timothy from jail as well. Paul was no stranger to lockdown!
Paul knew what it was like to send a message, but be unable to meet with or care for the recipients of that message.
However, rather than fear, Paul expressed his faith that God would care for these churches. He also expressed his prayers for them.
When Paul found himself unable to minister in person, he knew the Gospel was ‘not bound’ (2 Tim 2), but was doing its work.
My problem - my pride - is that I believe I need to sit with a person for them to grow. I’ve convinced myself that my physical presence is an integral part of the equation for spiritual life and growth.
But of course this isn’t true. God’s hand is not so short that He cannot move and grow His people, even when I find myself spatially separated from them. He works.
Proclamation and Prayer
The pandemic has helped uncovered a subtle belief in my heart that ministry isn’t quite as simple as the apostles taught.
Rather than simply the ministry of the ‘word and prayer’ (Acts 6:4), I’ve inserted myself into the as a critical variable in the equation. In God’s sovereign plan, this is not possible. But that doesn’t mean it’s bad—it just reminds me that He is in control.
So in God’s grace, this pandemic reminds me that I am what I always was—an instrument in God’s hands to proclaim the Word (Paul wrote letters, we live-stream, but the difference is only in time of delivery), and to pray for God’s people. His sovereign plans for His children will be fulfilled in His time and His ways, whether I’m there or not.
It is God who works and grows, and He doesn’t need me at a Starbucks meeting to do that great work, if He doesn’t want to do that. What a blessed reminder that we pastors are no less useful and no more useful than we ever have been.
We pray and teach. God works. Pandemics are no match for His great work.
Devotional on Matthew 23:37-39: Deity of Christ, Part 3
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By Jon Buck
Slow and Steady
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by Jason Park
Think of spiritual growth like gardening. Paul did. God makes the soil, He controls the weather, He ordains all the varying circumstances of the garden. Plus, He gives us the seeds. And all we do is scatter the seeds and water them. Then we wait and watch to see what grows (1 Cor 3:6).
Will anything grow? How fast will it grow? How much will grow? What will grow?
We wait and watch because “neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth” (1 Cor 3:7). Only God is anything. The rest of us are mere instruments in God’s hand to do the work of gardening. But the internal growth, the sanctification – that is God’s handiwork alone.
Consider how we grow in grace. We take up the means of grace: Bible, prayer, and fellowship. But generally speaking, growth by those means doesn’t happen overnight. Growth, whether in a garden or in our heart, takes time. But we can falsely believe that doing something more – like reading, praying, or serving – will automatically produce growth in an area of weakness. Have you ever noticed the day after you come back from a spiritual high, you get into a fight, you get restless, you get discontent, or you grumble? That happens because the spiritual high is not the norm, and when we compare our norm to that, it’s easy to get frustrated.
True growth happens incrementally and internally by God’s grace. When we use Bible reading or service or some other good thing as the formula to produce instantaneous and fail-proof growth, we are in danger of deceiving ourselves and despairing (in sorrow and anger) when that growth doesn’t happen the way we thought it would. But take heart, growth is assured. It is the fruit of God the Spirit after all (Gal 5:22-23). He will produce His fruit in us unfailingly. But fruit takes time, and so, its growth is imperceptible to the naked eye. But after a while, it’ll be there, having budded and blossomed. The means of grace are great! But don’t trust in them; use them as means to trust in the God of grace. Use them as means to see and savor the beauty of Christ. Let them feed Christ into your soul, and over time, without noticing it, you will have grown. Because when you use God’s means of grace that way, you will see more than ever before your sin against His holiness and Christ’s all-surpassing love and power for you. Then, your heart will be melted with love for Him and others. Did I do that? Well, I read my Bible; I prayed. But apart from Christ, would my Bible reading and praying have done anything inside me? No! God does it through my act of reading and praying. So, let’s be grateful for that, because then we know the growth is both real and really going to happen.
Devotional on Matthew 21:23-27: Deity of Christ, Part 2
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By Jon Buck