Word & Power

Loved this post by Jared Wilson at The Gospel-Driven Church based on 1 Thessalonians 1: 5  ":... our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power ..."

The "but also" is an and, not an or.

The gospel is a word, a message, an item of news about something that happened. It comes in word. It comes as more than word, but certainly not less.

The gospel comes in word and takes hold of some in power, by the grace of God through the power of the Spirit.

The Church historically has fallen for equal and opposite errors in regard to the gospel and its power.

Some know the gospel is word but don’t think it’s power, so we try hard to manipulate people to make decisions. Thus additional verses of "Just As I Am," emotional pleas for raised hands, impulse-tugging scare tactics. We believe someone's decision for Christ hinges on our effectiveness in the invitation.

Some know the gospel is power and so become stingy with the gospel as word, so they abdicate responsibility to share the word. They figure since election is true, God will take care of saving people apart from mission.

Both overreactions are wrong; both ignore Scripture and even disobey it. The gospel comes in word and power. Let’s be faithful in our role and trust God to be faithful in his.

Better Than...

From Justin Taylor quoting John Piper - Having God Is Better than Money, Sex, Power, or Popularity

"We need to ponder the superiority of God as our great reward over all that the world has to offer.

If we don’t, we will love the world like everyone else and live like every one else.

So take the things that drive the world and ponder how much better and more abiding God is: take money or sex or power or popularity. Think about these things.

First think about them in relation to death. Death will take away every one of them: money, sex, power, and popularity. If that is what you live for, you won’t get much, and what you get, you lose. But God’s treasure is “abiding.” It lasts. It goes beyond death.

It’s better than money because God owns all the money and he is our Father. “All things are yours, and you are Christ’s and Christ is God’s” (1 Corinthians 3:22-23).

It’s better than sex. Jesus never had sexual relations, and he was the most full and complete human that ever will exist. Sex is a shadow, an image, of a greater reality—of a relationship and pleasure that will make sex seem like a yawn.

The reward of God is better than power. There is no greater human power than to be a child of the Almighty God. “Do you not know that we shall judge angels” (1 Corinthians 6:3)?

It’s better than popularity. Fame is a pipe dream if you are only known by human nobodies. But if the greatest beings know you, that is a popularity of another kind. The greatest popularity is to be known by God (1 Corinthians 8:3; Galatians 4:9). And when it comes to angels: “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation” (Hebrews 1:14)?

And so it goes on and on. Everything the world has to offer, God is better and more abiding. There is no comparison. God wins—every time.

The question is: will we have him? Will we wake up from the trance of this stupefying world and see and believe and rejoice and love? And suffer?

The Simple Power

Here is an amazing quote:

It is widely repeated that a Korean pastor once visited the United States and remarked at the end of his stay, "It's amazing what you people can do without the Holy Spirit."....

....What is profoundly stupid is the sheer amount of innovation, creativity, energy, ambition, and astounding levels of human wherewithal that go into crafting the most amazing worship experiences Americans have ever seen inside churches where the gospel isn't preached. I can say this because there's only one thing we hold that the New Testament calls "power," and that's the gospel.

From Jared Wilson at The Gospel-Driven Church: The Awesomeness-Driven Church:

The Last Resort

Is prayer our last resort - or our first step?  I'm afraid I have too often made it the last, rather than the first resort.  Therefore,  I love (and am challenged by) this passage from Stephen Altrogge at The Blazing Center:

"Have you ever said the phrase, “All I can do is pray,”? I’ve said it. And I think it’s one of the stupidest sentences to ever leave my mouth.

Think about it for a minute. When I say, “All I can do is pray,” this is what I’m really saying:

• All I can do is ask the omnipotent, almighty God, who holds the universe in His hands to work on my behalf.

• All I can do is ask for grace from the God who gave up His son for me and adopted me into His family.

• All I can do is stop trying to run the world and ask God to do something.

• I can run most of my life on my own, but when it comes to this situation, all I can do is pray.

• I’ve run out of things that I can do, and now I guess I’ll resort to asking God for his help.

• For a while I had this situation under control, but now I’ve got to ask God to lend a hand.

What a ridiculous statement. It shows my lack of dependence on God, my lack of faith in His power, my lack of trust in Him, and a serious overestimation of my own competence. Prayer is like my spiritual fire extinguisher, only to be used in times of emergency, when things get really bad.

In reality, prayer should be the first thing I do. Rather than trying to wade my way through a tough circumstance, I should immediately confess my dependence on God.

Prayer shouldn’t be my last resort, it should be my first resort. Not because my prayers are particularly mighty, but because God is on my side, and He is particularly mighty."