Christian Standard | March/April 2023

The Gift I Need the Most

It was October 21, 1999, my 40th birthday. That’s the birthday when many people start thinking they’re heading over the hill and begin contemplating their own mortality. Well, I was definitely contemplating mortality . . . just not my own. That was the day we buried my father.

We headed to the same spot where we had buried my mom five years earlier. The family had picked out an oak casket for my dad, and it was heavy for the pallbearers. I was officiating and walking in front of the casket when I saw my brother buckle a bit from the weight. I’m thankful they put handles on the ends so that I could reach back and help carry the load the rest of the way to the burial plot.

I thought of all the years Dad had carried the burden for me and the rest of our family. He bore it with grace, and I never heard him complain about it. With both of our parents gone, I remember telling my brother that

now we were orphans. It was true that Dad was gone from us, but what he left us with remains priceless to me. I had received protection, provision, financial investment, emotional investment, spiritual investment, teaching, training, grace, mercy, and, most of all, love.

By that time, I was a father too—in fact, a father of four—and I was doing my best to instill in my children what my father had provided for me. I was starting to understand that being a father is much more than just a biological reality . . . it is a responsibility. It’s no accident the word response is in the word responsibility. That response to responsibility continues to live on in me and my kids 23 years since my father went to his heavenly reward.

When the prophet described the coming Messiah in Isaiah 9, he used several metaphors: “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, . . . Prince of Peace.” He described him as someone who will bear the weight of government on

his shoulders . . . but there is no metaphor more personal in Isaiah’s description than “Everlasting Father.”

The night before Jesus died for our sins, he brought those 700-year-old words to life by using a single phrase: “I will not leave you as orphans” (John 14:18). He was referring to the role of a father to his disciples— and not just a father, but an Everlasting Father. He was not going to let a petty thing like death at the hands of mere mortals separate him from us! That sentiment is reflected in Hebrews 13:6: “So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?’” What my earthly father could not do, my Everlasting Father did do! God being an Everlasting Father to me is the gift I need.

I am so thankful that I was blessed to have an incredible earthly father and I will forever be thankful that he chose to fall in love and marry my mother, the best decision he ever made.

He gave me his name, his traits, his care, his love, and his inheritance. He gave me a family to be a part of and helped me feel chosen and special. None of that was by accident. We are all chosen and special—that’s a truth that flies in the face of a world that never stops repeating the lie that we are the product of circumstance and coincidence.

In the process of human creation, a woman provides only a single product with her DNA, but the man provides between 250 and 400 million variations of his DNA, and yet, only one of those became who you are today. You were special and chosen before you were born, nearly one in 500 million! And while many may have

a negative or no relationship with an earthly father— or may even have some deep-seated anger or hurt on account of him—our Heavenly Father presents a much different reality.

You are his creation! You were designed in Heaven to be his child. You were fearfully and wonderfully made! He gave you his name, traits, care, love, and his inheritance. He gave you a family to be a part of here on earth. But unlike our earthly fathers, he will not leave us as orphans. He will be our Father beyond the veil of this life and into eternity!

I was completely vulnerable when I was born. “Needing” was all I knew, but God provided people to fill those needs for me in ways that I could not comprehend. I was powerless! To come to Jesus is to realize you are powerless and vulnerable—only knowing you need something that you can’t provide for yourself. This is why Jesus says the only way to come to him is as a little child; that’s when we recognize who he really is. He is the Gift I need the most! 

Jerry Harris is publisher of Christian Standard Media and teaching pastor at The Crossing, a multisite church located in three states across the Midwest.

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Where Grace Can Be Found

One of my favorite classes in seminary was Doctrine of Grace, taught by Jack Cottrell. It was an introduction for me in my relatively newfound faith to the nature of God, the essence of salvation, and the call of the Christian life. Thirty-five years later, I’m still learning about grace. I see it everywhere, as God’s Spirit opens my eyes and heart to it.

It’s found, for example, in Paul’s instructions to husbands on how to love their wives “just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25). Paul then described this church as “a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless” (v. 27). Now remember that these were the same folks Paul described in Romans 3 as under the power of sin, not one of whom is righteous or seeks God or does good, all of whom have turned away . . . and all of whom have sinned and fall short of God’s glory.

On our own, we are powerless to make ourselves holy or blameless or radiant. Paul makes it clear that Jesus

alone makes us holy, and he presents us to himself as a radiant church (Ephesians 5:26-27). This is grace.

I’ve witnessed grace in the wife who unconditionally loves her husband who is in prison for his scandalous and reprehensible acts. While he is receiving the punishment from the justice system that he deserves, his wife treats him in ways he does not deserve . . . and she asks others to extend that same grace to him.

I’ve seen grace exemplified in several men I know who care for their wives who now live with Alzheimer’s or other forms of memory loss. They love and give and care with no expectations (or perhaps not even the possibility) of anything in return. They live out their vows and love their wives for better or for worse, in sickness and in health. This also is grace.

The cross itself is an illustration of grace. It reaches both vertically (from God to us) and horizontally (from us to one another). Jesus’ death on the cross is the greatest act of grace ever displayed to humans. Jesus took the

punishment he did not deserve, but that we do deserve, so that we would receive from God what Jesus did deserve and what we do not.

Grace is not only a New Testament concept or development, however. Grace is and always has been at the very heart of God’s nature. On Mount Sinai, God described himself to Moses as “the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness” (Exodus 34:6, emphasis added), a description repeated by David (in Psalm 86:15), Nehemiah (9:17), and even Jonah (4:2).

As Marty Solomon points out so well in his article, God’s grace goes all the way back to the beginning. And his grace as part of his character has been given to each of us. It is part of the Imago Dei—he created us in his own image (Genesis 1:27)—so we by nature are beings of grace . . . when we live in God and God in us.

Yes, grace can be found in many places, but primarily it should be found in us as Christ’s followers.

We are to reflect God’s nature of grace in every arena in which we live . . . in our marriages and families, in our workplaces and neighborhoods, in elders’ meetings, team meetings, and board meetings, with friends and with enemies. We extend grace in every situation, even in the worst of circumstances—when people hurt us and hate us, when we are deserted and discriminated against, when we are picked on and persecuted. We are people of grace, and we choose to respond with grace.

God’s grace for us truly is amazing. And when we treat others with that same kind of grace, it should amaze them as well. The grace they see in our lives might surprise them, it may stun them, and it may make no sense to them. Living grace-filled lives sets us apart from the world around us like little else does. If all of us exhibit this kind of grace wherever we go, it will change the world.

In 2023, we are focusing on big, broad, biblical themes that have been core principles of our movement over the past two-plus centuries: truth, grace, unity, faith, hope, and love. In this issue, you’ll read articles about the complementary themes of grace and the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.

We combed through the archives of Christian Standard and The Lookout for “classics” on these themes. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I have! But we also wanted to hear from some of today’s leaders. We continue to learn new things about God and his grace and how we are to live it out today.

Please don’t miss the articles by Will Archer and Bobby Harrington in this issue. They provide us, I believe, with a way of extending grace as an entire movement. We also provide a tribute to Ben Merold, who died in November 2022. Ben was an example of God’s grace, and, as Doyle Roth said, Ben “believed God’s grace transforms people and gives second chances.”

Finally, we have provided a special section of meditations, written by former editor Mark A. Taylor, for you to use the week leading up to Easter. I hope these help grow your faith and encourage you to live out the grace of Jesus. 

@michaelc.mack

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Reprioritize God’s Word!

By Megan Rawlings

Question: What is black and white and re(a)d all over?

Answer: Not the Bible. This may seem like a trivial schoolyard joke, but I wanted to get your attention.

The American Bible Society (ABS) reported alarming statistics in its 2022 State of the Bible survey. Based on their findings, I fear Christians are moving away from the Bible in the hopes of finding something that makes them feel better. I have seen an influx of “do what’s best for you,” “what you put out into the world will come back to you,” and other wellintentioned pieces of advice emphatically opposing what Scripture teaches. How do we follow Scripture if we are not reading and engaging with it?

The Problem

The 2022 State of the Bible survey states,

We noticed an unprecedented drop in the percentage of Bible Users in the United States. In every study since 2018, Bible Users have accounted for between 47 and 49 percent of American adults; however, the 2022 data showed a 10 percent decrease from the same time in 2021. That means nearly 26 million Americans reduced or stopped their interaction with S cripture in the past year. Our concern deepened when we looked at the Scripture engagement numbers for the United States. One in five Americans left the Scripture Engaged category in the past year (−21 percent or 14.7 million adults), and two in five left the Movable Middle (−44 percent or 28.7 million adults). Only the Bible Disengaged category grew, and at an alarming rate, up by 38 percent (45.2 million adults) in a single year.

The drop in Bible engagement and users was so large that it seemed there might be a flaw in the study. Upon further reading, I found that the researchers had the same concern. They reevaluated their studies, questions, and material to find that the numbers we re not lying. This significant dip was real, and we should not be surprised. ABS attributes this dip to events such as the COVID-19 Omicron variant, political polarization, and others that happened in the country during this time.

Why This Matters

But I have my own idea as to what might be a major contributing factor. Could the drop in Bible Users be from the lack of understanding of whose Word it is? If

we looked at Scripture for what it is, the Word of God, and noted that the Creator of everything is speaking to us through the words written on these pages, would we not take the material more seriously?

We have no idea whom we are worshipping or serving if we will not take the time to read what he has told us about himself. The Bible is not a self-help book that we should run to when we feel empty or in need. It is material designed for us to study and “hide in our hearts so that we will not sin against God” (see Psalm 119:11). The crux of it all is, “How can we know God if we don’t listen to him?”

What We Can Do About It

In the words of the great poet and philosopher Bob Dylan, “The times they are a-changin’.” I realize this. Life gets away from us. We overcommit, our schedules fill up, and things that seem important at this moment will trump our long-term agendas every time. That is the problem. Reading Scripture is too frequently on the back burner of our metaphorical stove. If we read a handful of Scripture verses b efore bedtime, we think we are doing fine. If you have paid attention to nothing else in this article, please take note of this (and I am writing to myself too): If we do not have time to read and study the Bible, then we must reprioritize our commitments, our t ime, and our lives.

I do not want you to think that reading the Bible is the only way to be a “good” Christian, nor do I want it to seem like I’m lecturing you. I am not. I am just trying to raise awareness of the impact this trend away from the study of Scripture could have on future generations and on the future of the church. It will likely be devastating. Pray now. Pray daily. Read your Bible. 

“ if we do not have time to read and study the bible, then we must reprioritize our commitments, our time, and our lives.

president of planned giving with The Solomon Foundation. She is the founder and CEO of The Bold Movement. She is an extrovert, pastor’s wife, and lover of the Scriptures.

e 2:effective elders

Grace Is Amazing

By James Estep

The famous hymn starts, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.” Penned in 1772 by John Newton, the message of “Amazing Grace” resounds into the 21st century. The tune as originally written is a favorite of many believers. In 2007 Christian musician Chris Tomlin updated the words to say, “my chains are gone, I’ve been set free” . . . but the message remained the same. Grace is amazing!

My home church for a while described itself as “An Amazing Grace Place,” which represented them well. But why is grace so amazing? Paul explained why in Ephesians 2:1-10.

‘YOU WERE DEAD’ (EPHESIANS 2:1-3)

Grace is amazing because of whom it is for. Paul spent three verses describing the spiritual status of humanity without Christ. It is not a complimentary portrait, but rather one that makes us “by nature children of wrath” (2:3; all Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, 1995) . . . worldly, disobedient, lustful, desiring of the flesh. Not to be insensitive, but dead things don’t do a whole lot, except decay.

AMC’s The Walking Dead was filmed only a few miles from the congregation I served in Georgia, so it was common to see zombies walking the streets of Senoia or having lunch between scenes. Paul’s portrait of our spiritual status in Ephesians 2 is that of spiritual zombies, animated corpses who don’t realize they are dead inside.

We cannot save ourselves; we are dead, incapable of doing anything. Therefore, grace is amazing, because it saved us “even when we were dead in our transgressions” (Ephesians 2:5).

When I go into a bookstore and see the “religion” section, it is usually near the “self-help” section. Our salvation is not self-help; nor does it require a motivational speaker or life coach—our salvation is out of our reach, unattainable by anyone. We must realize we are surrounded by lost people, and that we at one time “formerly walked according to the course of this world,” no better than them (Ephesians 2:2).

‘GOD . . . MADE US ALIVE . . . WITH CHRIST’ (EPHESIANS 2:4-9)

Grace is amazing because of what it does. We were spiritually dead . . . but now we are alive! We were objects of God’s wrath, but now we are raised up and seated with Christ. How? It is not by faith, not by works, not by anything we did or can do. It is “by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8).

The late Dr. Jack Cottrell relayed a statement made by a student: “Grace is favor bestowed when wrath is owed.” This means we are not saved by our résumé or our titles or our bank account. We are not saved by all the times we volunteered for VBS, served at church camp, or attended elders’ meetings. We are not saved “as a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:9). That is mercy compounded by grace. God is “rich in mercy,” meaning he does not give us wrath, which we deserve; no, he bestows grace, his undeserved favor, on us. But why does God make us alive in Christ?

‘WE ARE . . . CREATED IN CHRIST JESUS FOR GOOD WORKS’ (EPHESIANS 2:10)

Grace is amazing because of why it was done. We are not saved by good works but for good works. We are made alive again to serve God. Paul also wrote, “While we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith” (Galatians 6:10). Because we are freed from sin, we should do good!

Grace not only transforms us, but it also transforms the world through us as we do the good works God wants us to do. We live out the grace we have experienced in how we relate to one another. As God’s people, we minister to all who are in need, even to those the world has discarded or marginalized. We do so because we were all dead in our sins; we can all be made alive through Christ, and we are then all created in Christ Jesus to serve!

What does it mean to be a grace-filled church? A grace-filled leader? We need to bear in mind the grace we have received as we lead others to Christ, as we build community in the church, as we witness for Christ to the lost in our community, and let grace permeate our lives, relationships, and our commitments. As C.S. Lewis wrote, “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” That is the message of grace, the motivation for our ministry, and the hope we have for eternity. Grace is amazing! 

“

Grace not only transforms us, but it also transforms the world through us as we do the good works god wants us to do.

about the author

Jim Estep is the founding dean of Lincoln Christian Institute, a part of Lincoln Christian University in Illinois. He also is event director with e2: effective elders.

How Do We Talk About Grace with a Generation That Feels No Guilt?

By Tyler McKenzie

As generations of young people emerge who are more different than ever imagined, how should our presentation of God’s grace change? Millennials (those born 1981–96) are assuming leadership. Gen Z (born 1997–2012) is entering the workforce. The youngest of those from Generation Alpha (about 2013–25) are upon the age of accountability. They are the new mission field.

From Guilt to Shame

One of my hypotheses is that evangelists of the future will shift from presenting grace through a guilt framework to a shame framework. Guilt is, “I did something bad.” Shame is, “I am bad.” While guilt is about behavior, shame is fundamentally an identity problem, and identity is all the rage. The best book I’ve read on shame is Shame & Grace by Lewis B. Smedes. He was a renowned ethicist and theologian at Fuller Theological Seminary. He described shame like this:

Shame is a very heavy feeling. It is a feeling that we do not measure up and maybe never will. . . . It comes when no one else is looking at you but yourself and what you see is a phony, a coward, a bore, a failure, a person whose nose is too big and whose legs are too bony, or a mother who is incompetent at mothering. . . . Shame prone people discount their positives, magnify their flaws, judge themselves by undefined ideals, translate criticism of what they do into judgment of who they are, and read their own shame into other people’s minds.

This sounds all too familiar. I hear it often in conversations with young people in my community.

Did you ever wonder why everyone is getting T-shirts printed with “You are enough” on them? It’s the shame epidemic. People don’t experience guilt like they once did. It is a society that doesn’t acknowledge personal sinfulness. This makes preaching today different than when my dad was preaching 30 years ago. The appeal then was weighted heavily on personal responsibility. It was more punitive. The preacher would point to a shared regard for Christian law: “You see how we have all transgressed this command? That’s sin. We fall short of the standard, but Jesus has justified us.” I would suggest that this approach isn’t as effective anymore. Most young people are wrestling with shame, not guilt.

The Two Ways Shame Processes Sin

When young adults experience the inevitable effects of sin in life, their reflex isn’t to assume, “I did something wrong.” They process sin in two antithetical ways. The

first is to take it way too personal. Did you screw up a romantic relationship? Did you get fired? Does your body look bad? Is the money you make corrupting you? Are you neglecting family for work? Did your application get rejected? Are you being bullied? Whatever it is that has gone wrong, it’s because you aren’t good enough. You were told all your life that people can achieve whatever they set their mind to, but for some reason you can’t. You were told how loved everyone is, but no one seems to notice you. You look at the highlight-reel lives of everyone on social media, but clearly you are doing something wrong.

The other way to process sin is to totally depersonalize it . . . to blame your brokenness on institutional trauma, an unhealthy childhood, oppressive societal norms, or toxic religion. For what it’s worth, these are all very real. However, the pendulum has swung too far. This has become a totalizing narrative that has diminished personal sin and replaced it with the helpless-victim mindset. Once I see myself as a helpless victim of uncontrollable forces in society, I no longer need to take responsibility for my own sin.

“ if justification reckons with guilt and behavior, regeneration reckons with shame and identity.

This is why penal substitution atonement theories have fallen out of favor. It’s why the critical theories getting traction these days accentuate systemic and institutional oppression. It’s why there is such a frenzy for justice work from secular people. People work for justice to tamp down their shame and signal their goodness. Feminist Elizabeth Nolan Brown cites psychological research showing much of the outrage and energy around justice “is often a function of self-interest, wielded to assuage feelings of personal culpability for societal harms or reinforce one’s own status as a Very Good Person” (from “Moral Outrage Is Self-Serving,” reason.com, March 1, 2017).

In a 2015 article at ChristianityToday.com, Andy Crouch argued that people are forming their morals, not based on a coherent assessment of what is right or wrong, but rather based on inclusion and exclusion.

“What will get me included?” “What will get me excluded?” “What will get me celebrated?” “What will get me canceled?” These are the questions driving our moral convictions today. The rub here is obvious. Christian morality does not prioritize inclusion but assumes exclusion. We are left with tribal wars over who is more shameful. “If you want to fit in with our tribe, you must accept our beliefs and speech patterns, and you must heap shame on our shared enemies! The very shame you hoped to escape by joining us, you must weaponize against those people!”

To escape shame, you must weaponize it against others? What a disintegrating, soul-sucking, hypocritical way of life. No wonder my generation is struggling. Statistically, young people are more anxious and depressed than previous generations. They are lonelier, more antisocial, and more despairing. They are extending adolescence further. They are more untrusting. They are more confused about purpose and identity. And they have this low-boil-seething-rage against all the institutions that failed them.

From Justification to Regeneration and Sanctification

The solution, I think, could be to platform what we have long relegated when preaching grace. The solution to guilt (“I did something bad”) is justification. Our evangelism appeals have long been weighted toward this. However, the solution to shame (“I am bad”) is the second part of grace’s double cure—regeneration and sanctification. As I see it, most churches relegate regeneration and sanctification to the stuff we talk about after converts move into “discipleship.” This should change.

If justification reckons with guilt and behavior, regeneration reckons with shame and identity. When you are regenerated, you emerge from the waters of baptism with a new identity: dead to sin, alive to God in Christ, risen to walk in newness of life. Sin no longer exercises dominion over you! The identity transformation that happens is one that is received by grace, not achieved through effort. This is a relief for those convinced they are failures. Ponder this: We believe that people can experience an instantaneous, metaphysical, inner change to the very essence of their soul (regeneration) that cures the sickness of sin and launches a lifelong process of healing (sanctification).

Sanctification is critical to this evangelistic appeal as well because it casts a vision of the horizon of human possibility. When we look at the saints before us, we see how years of faithfulness can transform someone into a person of love.

This is why I beg the young people in our church to ditch the worship of celebrities for the admiration of saints. We let celebrities set our horizons for everything from the inconsequential (like fashion and lingo) to the meaningful (like morality, politics, sexuality, and money). What a tragedy when we have heroes like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Corrie Ten Boom, Festo Kivengere, Dorothy Day, Desmond Tutu, Pandita Ramabai, and Mother Teresa to admire.

So, I wonder what this looks like in practice. That’s where you come in. What does it look like for us to create environments, sermons, curriculums, and strategies that highlight this? I’m interested in your thoughts. 

about the author

Tyler McKenzie serves as lead pastor at Northeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky.

horizons

A Life of Cross-Cultural Relationships

By Laura McKillip Wood

As a child in the 1950s and ’60s, Harry Douglass sat in the pew at Mountain View Church of Christ in Phoenix every Sunday morning and Sunday night. He loved church, and he loved listening to his pastor, Don Mitchel, passionately preach interesting sermons. What he really loved, though, was listening to visiting missionaries who stopped in for Sunday night services. They showed slides of the people they worked with and told stories about their lives in faraway places. They not only told of their work but of the need for more people to follow their examples and share the gospel with those who had never heard about Jesus. By age 10, Harry had accepted Jesus as his Savior, and by 12, he decided God was telling him to be a missionary.

Looking back at his childhood, Harry sees how this decision to work cross-culturally made sense. His parents worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (now the Department of Indigenous Services). They lived in Window Rock, Arizona, the capital of the Navajo Reservation, the largest Native American reservation in the United States, when he was born. They later moved to San Carlos Apache Reservation, also in Arizona, where they lived among the Apache people.

Growing up, Harry’s friends were Native American children and children of other government workers. He loved the remote, country feel of the reservation—the nearest city, Globe, was a 20-mile, gravel-road drive from his home. More than that, he loved the other children he played with, and he grew to love and appreciate Native American cultures. From early childhood, Harry learned that not everyone lives the same in the United States, and he learned to respect the differences among people.

Ministry in Different Contexts

Following his call to ministry, Harry graduated from high school and attended San Jose Bible College, now William Jessup University, in California. He was excited about the possibilities God would open for him, and he was not disappointed. During college, Harry met Lew Cass, a missionary to Brazil. Lew’s testimony eventually led Harry and his wife, De, to take their children, Fred and Bernadine, to Brasilia. They lived for many years in Brazil and even had their third child, Helene, there. When their children were grown, De and Harry joined Team Expansion’s work in Argentina. In 1992, they decided to join OLE, Oregon Latin-American Evangelism, and continue working closely with Team Expansion. Since then, the Douglasses have worked in Hispanic church plants in the Northwest United States and Mexico.

“ seeing orphans given a future and then becoming successful in life is a huge blessing.

While working with Hispanic people among new churches in the U.S., Harry and De met some Cuban refugees who had escaped the communist island nation; they arrived on boats in the Southern United States. A friend in Oregon had stopped to help some Cubans who were stranded with car trouble. The friend introduced the Cubans to Harry and De, who began studying the Bible with them in their apartment. This small group became a big group, which met for worship in the Douglass home. They eventually established a Cuban congregation, where Harry and De served for almost 20 years. Not only did the Cuban refugee community hear about the gospel through this work, but God opened doors for Harry to make 52 trips to Cuba for discipleship training, evangelism, Bible studies, and practical ministry. Harry and his fellow Team Expansion workers, Eric and Chris Barry, began using Disciple Making Movement (DMM) methods. DMM focuses on organically multiplying disciples in communities. They have led training in this form of outreach in the eastern part of the island twice and hope to continue.

Challenges

COVID-19 has presented many ministry challenges in Cuba, including a lack of medicine, equipment, and facilities.

“Many Cubans have died for lack of care,” Harry reports.

Additionally, it was illegal to congregate in the past year and a half, though house churches continued to minister in small groups throughout the COVID crisis.

“Now that they can meet in larger groups again,” Harry explains, “their faithful ministry to the ill and to those who lacked medicine and adequate food in difficult times has resulted in many more coming to Christ.”

At one recent celebration, 213 people gathered for worship, fellowship, and food, and 15 people were baptized.

Among Harry’s most rewarding blessings has been seeing new leaders rise up in the Cuban Christian community. Even though missionaries couldn’t be physically present for two years during the worst of the pandemic, the people continued teaching, serving, and baptizing new believers. Now they are working on their own and are capable of continuing without outside leadership. They are “faithfully being his servants and a shining light to the communities and government leaders of those communities,” Harry says.

Beto, one of the men in the DMM training class Harry and his fellow workers started, moved to the eastern part of Cuba to begin disciple-making there. He soon was working with two groups, one in the country and one in the town.

“After some months, Armando [Harry’s fellow worker] and I were able to spend time with these people,” he says. “And after some time of preaching and teaching, 23 new followers of Christ were baptized. The next week, 67 were immersed into him one afternoon.” Beto continues to disciple those who made decisions to follow Christ.

The Future

Harry plans to return to Cuba with Eric Barry and Saul, a Venezuelan coworker, for DMM training in the western side of the island, outside of Havana. Harry’s longterm goal is that Cuban Christians would really commit to DMM principles to help more people learn about Jesus and develop relationships with him.

“O ur God continues to work in all kinds of circumstances, through all kinds of faithful disciples of Jesus,” Harry says. 

/laura.wood2

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@woodlaura30

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Laura McKillip Wood, former missionary to Ukraine, now serves as bereavement coordinator and palliative care chaplain at Children's Hospital and Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska. She and her husband, Andrew, have three teenagers.

about the author

Good + Grace = Great (Marriages)

By Rudy and Osharye Hagood

There is something wonderful about a perfect gift. When God created vegetation, day and night, wild animals, crawling things, he declared each of those things to be “good.” Yet God outdid himself when he gave us a spouse. God even got an “amen” from Adam, who said, “Now this is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh” (Genesis 2:23). In his own image, male and female, God created them, giving them dominion (care and management of, concern for, and rule over the earth), and God declared it “very good.”

Husbands and wives are a charis from God. Charis is the Greek word for grace, and it means “gift” or "freely given.” Spouses are good gifts, given that God’s grace may abound from one to the other; a husband and wife are greater together than they are individually. God gives us what’s good, and we are called to give grace to our gift (our spouse), as grace was given to us.

Good + Grace = Great (that is, Very Good Marriages).

God’s heart for us is to excel, not merely exist, in our marriages. But all our marriages, like our lives, are unavoidably tainted by the evil one, and we all detour away from the “very good.”

So, what do we mere “humans being ” (see our January/February 2023 article, “Marriage Beings a nd Humans Being”) do in response to these detours and distractions? It’s simple: Let us return to G od’s pattern. Take what God has made that is good (our marriage), add his grace, and watch God make it great.

Practice Daily Grace

While creating man, God declared for the first time that something wasn’t good. (“It is not good for the man to be alone”—Genesis 2:18.) So, God gave grace to good and made it great. God freely gave man the gift of companionship. We are charis from God for one another.

Anything God creates is good, and then (when) he adds grace, it becomes great. This is God’s divine pattern.

Marriage was good when we received it, but the fall changed that. We need grace to return to the image of God to care for it, to be concerned about it, to lead it, and to protect it.

Here are some simple, yet serious, ways to practice daily grace:

• L augh, talk, and pray.

• Remember who you are and whose you are.

• Humble yourself before the Lord.

• Serve your spouse.

• Remember that both you and your spouse are image bearers.

• L ook not only to your interests but to your spouse’s interests.

• Seek to understand your spouse.

• B e kind, merciful, and forgiving.

• Seek to learn something new about your spouse.

• Seek to be known by your spouse.

Add Grace to What Is Good

When we were engaged, we thought the lumps in our throats and the goosebumps we felt were a sign of God’s grace. Well, it turns out that goosebumps and good gifts (grace) are not the same thing.

We may have had goosebumps when we said, “I do,” but we had no inkling of what God’s grace would do in our marriage. A seed is good, but it can’t be great until we add soil and water. In the same way, a marriage is good, but unless we add grace and mercy, it cannot be great.

If you are like us, you and your spouse had no idea how many times the two of you would get in the way of very good. So, our advice is to add grace. Paul said, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32).

Put Effort into Grace

Couples need to keep it simple by returning to God’s pattern. Take what God has made that is good (your marriage), add grace, and watch God make it great, which means a very good marriage. (That’s precisely what God intended in the beginning.)

And while we encourage you to keep it simple, we are not so naive as to think grace is always easy. And to avoid any misunderstandings, grace can involve effort but it isn’t something that can be “earned.” Grace, love, forgiveness, and mercy all have effort and action embedded in them. The effort required by grace might simply be to listen, but it can feel like the weight of a mountain. Jesus provided us grace by using his effort to get to the cross. God took the only One who is good (Jesus), added grace (the cross), to bless us with salvation ( great).

Good + Grace = Great. As we have all received grace, let us all give grace to our spouses. 

about the authors

Rudy and Osharye Hagood have seven children and nine grandchildren so far. Osharye is a women’s minister who is also certified as both a life coach and a health coach. Rudy is a college professor with a background in social work. They love being married and love to bless both married and engaged couples.

@rudy.hagood

@rudy_hagood_

“ The effort required by grace might simply be to listen, but it can feel like the weight of a mountain.

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The Resurrection and the Afterlife: What Do We Believe?

By Kent E. Fillinger

I n Bible college, I encountered this simple but powerful two-question outline to discuss the resurrection of Jesus: What proves the resurrection? And what does the resurrection prove?

I don’t have the space to unpack the answers to these questions, but I do want to explore what people believe about the resurrection of Jesus to help you consider the array of beliefs you might encounter in your church (and with your family) this Easter. I also want to examine current beliefs regarding the afterlife—heaven, hell, and reincarnation.

Views on the Resurrection

The 2020 Lifeway Research State of Theology study discovered that half of Americans (52 percent) agree Jesus was a great teacher, but not God. Slightly more than half (55 percent) believed Jesus is the first and greatest being created by God, which runs contrary to the historical Christian belief that Jesus is eternal as God the Son.

While many reject his deity, most Americans say Jesus physically rose from the dead. Two-thirds (66 percent) believe the biblical accounts of Jesus’ bodily resurrection are completely accurate. One-in-five U.S. adults (20 percent) don’t believe in the resurrection, while 14 percent are unsure of their belief on this matter.

These percentages have remained consistent for years. A 2005 Harris Poll found that 66 percent of Americans believed in the resurrection while 17 percent each either “did not believe” or were “not sure.”

Likewise, a 2013 Rasmussen Report national telephone survey found that 64 percent of American adults believed Jesus rose from the dead, while 19 percent rejected the resurrection and 17 percent were not sure.

The 2020 State of Theology report found that younger adults are less likely to believe in the resurrection, with 59 percent of 18- to 34-year-olds saying they don’t believe the biblical accounts of Jesus’ bodily resurrection.

Worship attendance habits impacted people’s beliefs regarding the resurrection. The Lifeway study found that 29 percent of people “who do not attend religious services at least monthly” do not believe in the resurrection, while only 8 percent of people who do attend religious services express the same lack of belief.

Adults who attend church services at least once or twice a month are more likely to say they believe in the resurrection (89 percent). Even among those who don’t attend as frequently if at all, however, almost half (48 percent) agreed Jesus’ bodily resurrection happened just as the Bible describes it.

These statistics may change how we think about apologetics and evangelism. Rebecca McLaughlin, the author of Confronting Christianity: 12 Hard Questions for the World’s Largest Religion, told Lifeway Research in 2021, Traditionally, one big focus of apologetics has been arguments for the bodily resurrection of Jesus. But the 66 percent of Americans who say they believe this don’t need those arguments. Instead, they need to understand what difference it makes that Jesus rose from the dead. We need to show them that it makes all the difference in the world, and that if Jesus is risen, He is also Lord.

The Afterlife—Heaven, Hell, and Reincarnation

Jesus talked on multiple occasions about both heaven and hell, and he painted a picture of what each place entailed.

It might not surprise you that more Americans believe in heaven than in hell. Almost three-fourths of U.S. adults (73 percent) say they believe in heaven compared with only 62 percent who believe in hell. Evangelical Christians are the most likely of any religious group to believe in both heaven and hell (96 percent and 91 percent, respectively) according to a 2021 Pew Research study.

Twenty-six percent of agnostics and 3 percent of atheists said they believe in heaven, but only 14 percent of agnostics and 1 percent of atheists believe in hell.

Older adults are more likely than younger adults to believe in heaven and hell. For example, 81 percent of adults ages 50-64 believe in heaven compared with only 63 percent of those ages 18-29.

Sixty-one percent of U.S. adults believe in both heaven and hell, but just over a quarter of all adults (26 percent) said they do not believe in heaven or hell, including 7 percent who say they do believe in some kind of afterlife and 17 percent who do not believe in any afterlife at all.

Among the 7 percent of U.S. adults who say they do not believe in heaven or hell but believe in some kind of afterlife, 21 percent said they believe in an afterlife where one’s spirit, consciousness, or energy lives on after their physical body has passed away, or in a continued existence in an alternate dimension or reality.

An additional 17 percent who don’t believe in heaven or hell but do believe in some kind of afterlife expressed a belief in reincarnation or becoming enlightened after death. Overall, one-third (33 percent) of all U.S. adults believe in reincarnation—the idea that people will be reborn again and again in this world. Even 16 percent of Evangelical Christians said they believed in reincarnation.

The percentage of adults who believe in reincarnation has grown over time. In 1976, only 9 percent of adults said they believed in reincarnation. This percentage grew to 25 percent by 1998 and to 27 percent by 2003.

Just as with heaven and hell, women are more likely than men to believe in reincarnation (38 percent vs. 27 percent). Likewise, younger adults (ages 18-29) are more likely to believe in reincarnation than adults ages 65 and older (40 percent vs. 23 percent).

The top three beliefs American adults have about heaven are that deceased people are free from suffering (69 percent), are reunited with loved ones who died previously (65 percent), and can meet God (62 percent). Thirty-nine percent of all U.S. adults said that someone can go to heaven and not believe in God. One-in-five evangelical Christians (21 percent) said the same.

Fifty-three percent of U.S. adults believe that people in hell both “experience psychological suffering” and “become aware of the suffering they created in the world.” Almost half believe that those in hell “experience physical suffering” (51 percent) and are “cut off from a relationship with God” (49 percent). 

/3strandsconsulting

3strandsconsulting.com

about the author

Kent E. Fillinger serves as president of 3:STRANDS Consulting, Indianapolis, Indiana, and regional vice president (Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan) with Christian Financial Resources.

preach

The Listener’s Role in Preaching

By Chris Philbeck

Recently I’ve been walking through a season of life filled with disappointment. At one point my attitude got so bad I decided I needed to listen to a great sermon on how to overcome disappointment. I’ve always loved to listen to great preaching; I try to carve out time for that each week.

I found a sermon from Dr. David Jeremiah called, “Joseph: Overcoming Disappointment.” I got out a notepad and a pen, clicked the link on my computer, and the first thing I heard him say was, “God takes our setbacks and turns them into comebacks. He takes our disappointments and turns them into his appointments. He takes our misfortunes and turns them into a ministry.”

I immediately clicked off the link and didn’t listen to another word. I know that sounds bad, so let me explain.

My attitude was in such a bad place that I couldn’t bring myself to listen to a sermon about how God “takes our setbacks and turns them into comebacks,” even though I believe it to be true. Not only that, but I love the story of Joseph—he has been my favorite Old Testament character from the time I was a boy and learned about him in Sunday school. But on this day as I began listening to Dr. Jeremiah’s sermon, my attitude wasn’t in the right place to receive that message.

Instead, I turned my attention to a different Jeremiah— one whom I thought I could relate to more easily. Of course, I’m talking about the biblical Jeremiah, the “weeping prophet.” And I found the message I needed to hear in Jeremiah 20:1-13, as he suffered through the disappointment of being beaten and placed in jail simply for being obedient to his call . . . for being a man of God bearing the message of God. His words in verses 7-13 (written under the heading, “Jeremiah’s Complaint”) gave me the perspective I needed in my time of disappointment.

Attitudes and Audience appetites

Reflecting on that experience reminded me that the impact of a sermon is often more dependent on the attitude of the listener than on the skill of the preacher. We all know there are exceptions to that because we’ve all heard bad sermons. But you would be hard pressed to find a better preacher today than David Jeremiah, and I’m sure if I went back and listened to his message on overcoming disappointment from the life of Joseph, I would be incredibly blessed. But in that moment, when I first clicked on the link, the problem was me.

A complaint preachers often hear about their sermons is, “I’m not being fed.” Those words are usually spoken by people who don’t think the preachers’ sermons are

deep enough, strong enough, interesting enough, or, especially in the modern church world, entertaining enough to hold their attention and meet their spiritual needs. But I can’t help but believe this is just another result of a wrong attitude that causes people to see the mission of the church as satisfying the appetite of the audience.

Back in 2014, Group Productions released When God Left the Building, a documentary that focused on the decline of the American church. In it, an elder mistakenly describes the church’s mission like this: “I believe [the mission of the church is] to keep the membership up, keep it fortified, keep everyone feeling good about being there, keep people desiring to come there and want to be there.”

Cruise Ship or Battleship?

What’s the result, or fallout, from that mindset? Christian writer Josh Daffern gave a great answer in an online article called, “If You’re Not ‘Being Fed’ at Your Church, Maybe You’re Approaching Church Wrong.” He wrote,

The way many of us approach church is like a cruise ship. When you walk on board a cruise ship, you expect to be entertained, you expect good food and good service, you expect leisure. If you don’t get that, if the service is bad, if the entertainment is not entertaining enough, you go find another cruise ship.

When that’s the attitude of the people we serve, it’s just a matter of time before consumerism takes over and they begin shopping for a new church. And consumerism of this sort isn’t just present in shallow and immature Christians. It can be present in the lives of people who are deeply faithful, as well, because the bottom line for both is this: “My satisfaction is what matters most.”

In his article, Daffern said that rather than approaching church like a cruise ship, a better approach is to see the church as a battleship. He wrote,

When you walk on board, the expectation isn’t to sit but to serve. You realize you’re part of a greater mission, and your mindset is to find a way to contribute however you can. If you complain on a battleship, it’s not because the food is bad or because there’s no entertainment. A valid complaint on a battleship would be that there’s no meaningful way for you to serve.

Every preacher needs to be a lifelong learner when it comes to the high and holy calling of preaching. We need to work hard to be the most effective communicator we can be. But no matter how well studied, well written, and well delivered a sermon may be, the attitude of the listener will always be crucial in whether or not it speaks to their heart. I’m going to think about that as I try to listen again to David Jeremiah’s sermon, “Joseph: Overcoming Disappointment.” 

about the author

Chris Philbeck serves as senior pastor of Mount Pleasant Christian Church in Greenwood, Indiana. He has been in ministry since 1980 and has had the privilege of planting a new church, leading a turnaround church, and now leading a megachurch. Chris is passionate about biblical preaching, effective leadership, and developing new and better ways for the local church to make an impact in the community and the world.

/PastorCPhilbeck

@cphilbeck

@pastorphilbeck

“

Every preacher needs to be a lifelong learner when it comes to the high and holy calling of preaching.

WhatIsGrace?

By Mark E. Moore

QUESTION: WHAT DO WE HAVE TO DO TO BE SAVED?

Every religion has its own answer to this question. Some encourage sacrifice; others, service; others, rituals of purification or meditation. What all (but one) have in common is some human effort to achieve favor with God. This may include knocking on doors with pamphlets, giving away wealth, self-flagellation, or confession and restitution. The common thread, however, is human effort to reach God’s height.

Grace Is God’s Salvation

Christianity alone moves in the opposite direction. Rather than us climbing upward, Christianity asserts that God moved downward. Salvation is not accomplished through human effort but offered through God’s sacrifice. Logically, this is the only way to be sure of salvation. After all, how can a human reach God?

Of all the New Testament authors, Paul was clearest on this point. Let’s listen to a few excerpts from his most notable treatise on grace, the letter to the Romans:

“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (3:23-24; all Scripture quotations are from the English Standard Version).

“Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (5:1-2).

“Sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace” (6:14).

“If it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace” (11:6).

With this brief flyover, we clearly see the core of Christianity: we’re saved by God’s grace, not our own effort.

Though Paul is the dominant voice for grace, he’s no outlier. Peter said the same thing. During a debate with some Jewish Christians who attempted to impose circumcision as a prerequisite for conversion, Peter concluded his argument with these words: “We believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will” (Acts 15:11). Jesus’ brother, James, officiated the debate and concurred with Peter, stating that grace was the official stance of the church (verses 13-19).

“

Sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.”

(Romans 6:14)

Grace Is a Social System

The clearest statement of salvation by grace through faith comes from Paul’s little letter to the Ephesians. It’s one of those banner statements of the Bible:

By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:8-10).

While this description of salvation is the clearest on record, it also introduces a paradox. We’re saved by grace through faith, yet this passage tells us that we’re created for good works. So, the question is this: What’s the relationship between grace, faith, and works? In other words, if we’re saved by grace, why are we expected to perform good works?

The simplest answer is that works are the consequence of our salvation, not the cause. What we accomplish for Christ is a by-product of our salvation, not the foundation of it.

There’s a social setting for this description of salvation that paints a picture of the relationship between faith, grace, and works. In the economy of the ancient world, about 2 percent of the population controlled virtually all the goods and services. They were called patrons These patrons hired employees (or slaves) in their homes, such as doctors, lawyers, teachers, and artists. These servants were called brokers, and they made up approximately 5 percent of the population. Meanwhile, those employed outside the home—day laborers, farmers, craftsmen, etc.—were called clients. This group made up the majority of the population (about threequarters). This left the bottom 15 percent as “expendables” who served in the lowest occupations—miners,

prostitutes, ditchdiggers—and who had very short life spans.

These patrons, brokers, and clients had clearly defined social roles and responsibilities. The patron’s job was to provide the resources needed for his clients to survive, such as a job, home, land, medical care, and legal protection. The total of the gifts a patron provided was called “grace.”

The broker’s task was to expand the patron’s influence. Brokers were evangelists responsible for acquiring more clients. But why would patrons want more clients if they constantly had to give them gifts? Wasn’t it an economic liability to provide for clients? It certainly was. However, in the ancient world, wealth wasn’t the most coveted commodity; honor was. The more clients a patron provided for, the more honored the patron was in the community.

The clients, on the other hand, had one primary purpose: to honor their patron. Their only job was to make him famous. If he was running for political office, they ran behind him, promoting his campaign. If he was harvesting a field, they would go work in the field. If he was addressing a crowd, they gathered to sing his praise. So, while the patron would never mention his gifts again, the client was to never fail to mention every gift the patron gave as often as possible.

The Greeks used the word faith, perhaps better translated as “fidelity,” to describe this loyalty the clients offered their patron.

So, Paul’s statement, “By grace you have been saved through faith [fidelity]” (Ephesians 2:8) was a description of Jesus as the patron and us as his clients. Simply put, our role as Christians is to do whatever we can to make Jesus famous.

Our

service is an act of grace.

Grace Is Our Service

Our efforts to make Jesus famous extend God’s grace to other potential clients. Our service is thus an act of grace. That’s why our spiritual gifts are called grace: “Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them” (Romans 12:6). Peter said virtually the same thing: “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace” (1 Peter 4:10). Paul described his own ministry as an act of grace: “You have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you. . . . Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of his power” (Ephesians 3:2, 7).

One more thing. Grace is not merely our service to others. It’s the very character of our lives that inevitably results in gracious acts toward others.

Here’s how it works: God gives us grace so that we become grace-filled persons performing gracious acts toward others. Grace becomes our nature. It’s not achieved through works but received through Jesus (2 Corinthians 12:9; 1 Peter 1:13).

Grace thus carries the connotation of “favor” or “blessing.” Grace is what one person gives to another whom she accepts as a friend. In this way God has made us his friends and clients by bestowing on us his benefits (John 1:16-17; Acts 11:23; 15:40; 1 Corinthians 1:4; 2 Corinthians 8:1-2; 9:8; Ephesians 1:6-7; 2 Thessalonians 1:12; James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5, 10). This grace indicates that we have a right relationship with God. As such, it’s synonymous with “membership in the church” through a relationship with Jesus (Acts 13:43; Romans 5:2; 6:14-15; 1 Corinthians 15:10; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Galatians 5:4; 2 Thessalonians 2:16; 1 Timothy 1:14; 2 Peter 3:18). To this extent, grace has more to do with God’s election than our effort (Romans 11:5-6; Galatians 1:15; Ephesians 4:7; 2 Timothy 1:9).

Grace Is a Greeting

There’s a peculiarity in the New Testament that’s easy to overlook. Grace became a Christian greeting so common that it begins and ends all the letters in the New Testament (with rare exceptions). Here’s a typical rendition: “Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” This combination of grace and peace is fascinating as a sociological artifact. You see, before grace became a theological term, a similar form of this word was used as a common greeting among the Romans and Greeks. In every public square of the Roman Empire, one could hear noble gentlemen greeting one another with this word. It was a wish of health and blessing, like our phrase “Have a nice day.” Peace, on the other hand, was common fare among the Jews. It’s a translation of the Hebrew word shalom. This rich word was a wish for health, wholeness, peace, and blessing. It was a theologically laden term heard in every synagogue.

The church of Jesus Christ combined the common greetings of these Jewish and Greco-Roman worlds precisely because they were two worlds united in Jesus. Furthermore, the full theological weight of both terms was brought to bear in the most common greeting of Christians.

There’s a lesson here. Grace is so central to who we are as Christians that we incorporate it into our everyday speech. As followers of Jesus, we use common language in uncommon ways to make the extraordinary act of God’s grace available to every person in our circle of influence. Grace as a greeting is a potent example of how Jesus can become an integral part of our everyday world. Language for Christians is sanctified for evangelism. We control words, opening the possibility of infusing every conversation with meaning that can alter eternity. 

Excerpted from Core 52: A Fifteen-Minute Daily Guide to Build Your Bible IQ in a Year by Mark E. Moore. Copyright © 2019 by Mark E. Moore. Published by WaterBrook, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Used with permission.

Mark E. Moore is an acclaimed author and teaching pastor at Christ’s Church of the Valley in Phoenix, Arizona. He previously spent two decades as a New Testament professor at Ozark Christian College. Mark is the author of the bestseller Core 52: A Fifteen-Minute Guide to Build Your Bible IQ in a Year, Quest 52: A Fifteen-Minute-a-Day Yearlong Pursuit of Jesus, and co-author of the new children’s book Core 52 Family Edition with his daughter Megan Howerton. Whether by helping people make sense of Christianity or teaching students to understand the Bible, Mark’s life passion is to make Jesus famous.

The Grace-Filled God of the Entire Bible

By Marty Solomon

The idea that the God of the Old Covenant is a God of law, while the New Covenant shows us a God of grace, is a common concept that often undergirds our reading of the Bible. This is likely made worse by the idea that the Hebrew Scriptures depict a God who is full of wrath. Even if we reject this idea on principle, it seems to have affected so much of how we read the Bible.

I think most of us, whatever our opinion of the Old Testament God vs. New Testament God, would affirm the idea that God doesn’t change, and agree that his character is consistent throughout the entire catalogue of his revelation to his people (Psalm 55:19; Hebrews 13:8; James 1:17).

The good news is that when a person continues to grow in their ability to engage the Hebrew Scriptures on the terms of its own Jewish context, they find a consistent, gospel-centric message.

This is discoverable by taking a stroll through the history of creation narratives (scholars like John Walton do a great job at showing how the Hebrew narrative subverts the dominant cultural assumptions of their day) or by looking at the deeply unique attributes in the story of the Flood and Noah’s relationship with this very unusual God (Sandra Richter’s The Epic of Eden can be invaluable here) and the covenants they are used to. It becomes very evident that the Torah is trying to communicate one big idea (among many): This God is different from the gods you’re used to.

What sets this God apart? His grace. He is a God of compassion and mercy, a God who is willing to enter into relationship with his creation and meet them where they are.

The Old Testament Exhibits God’s Grace

God impresses this upon his first partners by showing Abram’s family that he is a God who makes the promise and fulfills the blood path (Genesis 15), provides the sacrifice to meet the need of the faithful (Genesis 22), and takes our forgiveness and builds a better future (Genesis 50).

Outside of a few stories of judgment (the Flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, the plagues of the Exodus), God continues to meet his people where they are and patiently guides them through what seems like an endless story of mistakes and failures. There might be some practical limits to this principle, but God’s work of grace is the undeniable mark of his story—and, as he intends, his people.

One may start to think the reason we jump to conclusions about an ancient God with a short temper is because we are reading ancient, primitive, and barbaric stories. It requires us to understand historical context and nuance to see the gracious actions of God for what they are.

It’s possible our own presupposed theology causes us to read these assumptions into the story.

Take God’s great personal introduction to Moses in Exodus 33. Moses demands to see God; he’s struggling and fishing for encouragement. He wants to see God. God explains the problem with Moses’ request, but he agrees to let Moses see where he just was. Before any of this takes place, however, God sees fit to explain something to Moses. God wants to talk to Moses’

ears, not just his eyes. In the next chapter, God says this:

And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation” (Exodus 34:6-7).

One question almost every Christian reader wants to know is this: What does it mean that God will punish children to the third and fourth generation?

That’s interesting, because it requires us to completely disregard the obvious hyperbole employed in God’s statement. God has just insisted that he would maintain love to thousands (in other passages where God invokes this idea, the Hebrew states a thousand generations; some translations insist that is implied here as well), but punish four generations.

A thousand to four. That’s a pretty gracious disparity.

But we also walk right over five phrases that directly reference God’s grace. “Compassionate . . . gracious . . . slow to anger, abounding in love . . . and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.” Why do these not capture our attention? Six phrases that speak to God’s grace and one hyperbolic literary device that speaks to punishment (at a 1,000to-4 ratio, mind you), and we’re contemplating the theology behind that last phrase?

I think our Augustinian biases are showing.

Jesus Embodied God’s Grace

God has always been a God of grace. He introduced himself as a God of grace in Genesis. He acted out of grace in Exodus. He outlined his grace in Leviticus. He asked his people to respect his grace in Numbers. He commanded them to remember his grace in Deuteronomy.

In fact, Jesus insisted this has always been the truth behind the Torah. In the Sermon on the

Mount, Jesus claimed to be interpreting God’s Torah according to its original intent, as God handed it to Moses. “You’ve heard it said, . . . but I say unto you”— Jesus settled whatever disputes existed between Torah and its application.

And just when we thought maybe Jesus was here to start something new, he insisted that, in fact, he was restoring something that was always supposed to be. Jesus said,

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:17-20).

Jesus seemed adamant that he wasn’t upending the Torah in their Jewish context—he was restoring it. So, whatever we believe about Jesus and his character, we have to project it on our understanding of God.

One of my favorite quotes for Christology comes from Brian Zahnd:

God is like Jesus.

God has always been like Jesus. There has never been a time when God was not like Jesus.

We haven’t always known what God is like— But now we do.

The writer of Hebrews claimed Jesus was “the exact representation of his being” (1:3) and insisted that Jesus was the greatest and clearest revelation of God’s work in the world.

Simply put, if Jesus is grace, then God is grace.

And if God doesn’t change, then this must have always been true. No matter what we were taught and trained to see. No matter if it works with our slick presentations and explanations of theology.

God has always been a God of grace.

We Must Continue to Better Understand and Apply God’s Grace

In my recent book, Asking Better Questions of the Bible: A Guide for the Wounded, Wary & Longing for More (NavPress, February 2023), I say this:

For my entire career in teaching the Bible, I have been surrounded by people who carry themselves in a way that says they have done it—they have “mastered” the Bible.

Apparently they’ve gotten enough education, hung out with enough of the right people, signed the right creed, preached enough sermons, prayed enough prayers— whatever it was—and they’ve gotten it. Whew! Finally!

Sometimes it’s not individuals, but movements, institutions, faith traditions, and other groups of people. Such tribal identities are highly effective in their ability to empower us and give us security, internal or otherwise.

They are also highly effective in their ability to deceive and give us a false sense of security.

But no matter what drives this belief, or the reasoning that’s behind it, or the genesis of its existence, the idea seems completely backward.

We don’t master the Text. Ever.

But if there’s any truth to these convictions about the inspiration of the Text and the power of the God of the Bible, then this is true:

God is trying to master us.

And one of the ways He is doing this—in the gracious, graceful, compassionate, loving, wooing way that He does—is through this mysterious, deeper-than-any-waters, sacred Text that we call the Bible.

The apostle John said in the closing verse of his Gospel, “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written” (John 21:25).

Amen and amen, Rabbi John. I know this scares us because I know it scares me—to consider all the things I do not know, let alone the things I do know and do not yet understand.

But I believe in the power of God to write a better story than the one my dogmatic theology has written. I believe in the power of asking good questions, and I believe that if I keep asking better and better questions, that journey will open me up to becoming the kind of person God wants me to be.

I suppose one of my greatest passions is that we remain honest and vigilant about our assumptions and where they come from. Because the fact is that for all the Protestant chest-thumping we do about “grace” and where it comes from, we seem to have pulled all of its teeth and given it theological dentures.

The grace of God has always been one of the most difficult things for God’s people to truly understand and apply. God’s grace, as seen in Jesus, upset the religious authorities every time they saw it (and it still does today, for anyone keeping score). God’s grace was one of the things the early church committed themselves to demonstrating to the world— over and over again.

And no matter how well we packaged it and explained it during the Reformation, no matter how beautiful our classical theology is and how flawlessly the systems work, no matter how well defined the concept is in lexicons, no matter how much it is pontificated about in pulpits . . .

The fact of the matter is this grace is far from a new idea.

It’s as old as “In the beginning . . .” 

martysolomon.com @coveredinhisdust /marty.solomon.3 @martysolomon @marty_solomon

Marty Solomon serves as president of Impact Campus Ministries. Among other endeavors, he is a host of the BEMA Podcast, a walk-through of the context of the Bible and the Text itself, as well as surrounding history.

Grace is far from a new idea. It 's as old as In the beginning . . .

UNITES US GRACE

MY JOURNEY IN THE INTERNATIONAL CHURCHES OF CHRIST AND BEYOND

BY WILL ARCHER

T hirty-five years ago, when I began to learn about God’s grace, it changed everything! Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and the truth of his Resurrection galvanized my conviction to be a Christian. This decision profoundly reoriented everything about my life. You see, I was raised as a Sunni Muslim. At 8, I joined my father on a pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina.

One of my most vivid memories is of thousands of people circumnavigating the Kaaba in prayer. You may ask yourself what this has to do with Jesus and the gospel. For me, it has everything to do with those things! This early life experience offers me a vivid picture of our global community. Over the last 40 years or so, I have witnessed many circumnavigations. We often talk or walk around the issues without really addressing them. When we do, our approaches often avoid problems or engender more division. Jesus never danced around the real issues. He went right to the heart of the difficulties and embodied the heart of God every time.

We live in a world that needs Jesus. When I met Jesus in the Scriptures, I found the way, the truth, and the life we all are called to live. His answer reveals that grace unites us. Just hours before going to the cross to save us, Jesus’ prayer illuminated and illustrated his response to our divided world.

He said,

My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me (John 17:20-23).

These words ignite a fire within my bones. Jesus did not die for us to go to church. He died, was buried, and resurrected for us to be the church. In his prayer, he outlined that our unity and love would be our testimony to the world. As I reflect on Jesus’ words, I am reminded of Lincoln’s words in his annual message to Congress on December 1, 1862:

The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise—with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew.

What was true then is true now. The dogmas of the quiet past are genuinely inadequate for the stormy present. We have had enough powerless professions of faith; we need the practiced faith Jesus embodied and called us to become. That faith is possible only through the gospel. For it is a faith that is by grace. It illuminates our sinfulness and powerlessness while paradoxically unleashing a powerful love that unites us. It breaks down all the dividing walls of hostility and concretizes a community of saved sinners and sinners being saved.

This grace led me to be a part of our Restoration Movement over 30 years ago. This same grace galvanized my conviction about the urgent need for greater unity in our Restoration churches today.

A CHANGE OF DIRECTION

In 1993, I was baptized in the New York City Church of Christ, one of the pillar churches in the International Churches of Christ. I am profoundly grateful for the love I have received by being a part of our family of churches. I have seen our churches at their best, and I have also seen the ugly, broken humanity within our churches. This has taught me the importance of grace. Grace teaches us not to deify or demonize but to accept and respect our shared humanity. Please note that I am sharing only my own convictions.

(See "Who Are the International Churches of Christ?" starting on page 50.)

Like so many other Restoration churches within our broader fellowship, our ICOC churches have a rich diversity of experiences and perspectives. That being said, the ICOC has significantly changed over the years, especially over the past 20 years.

In 2003, our churches collectively disbanded our once-strict global hierarchy. In 2007, the ICOC adopted a global commitment to become a cooperative family of churches. Over the past two decades, we have intentionally sought to celebrate all God, in his grace, has done with us and through us . . . while simultaneously addressing the dysfunction and damaging effects of our church on many. We are a church of messed-up people, and we have made many mistakes and sinned in many ways.

To those who have had negative experiences with our churches in the past, let me join a choir of believers in extending our deepest apologies. We don’t have everything all worked out in every church. We don’t have everything worked out in any church. We are, however, more united by the grace that unites us. It is my prayer that this grace will lead to greater and greater unity.

AT THE CROSSROADS

One of the most prolific examples of this for our congregation, the Potomac Valley Church, came through our introduction to The Solomon Foundation. Our brother and fellow minister Daryl Reed spoke to me on several occasions about the Independent Christian Churches. I was always intrigued by what he shared, but what I learned from him finally resonated in September 2020.

Our congregation did not have a church building. It was clear that coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, rentals would be increasingly difficult. So, I reached out to Daryl, and he introduced me to The Solomon Foundation. From my first conversation with Russell Johnson to my subsequent conversations with Doug Crozier, I have been blown away by TSF. They began by helping us to acquire our main campus in Prince William, Virginia. Over time, it became increasingly clear that we were forging a meaningful strategic partnership and sincere friendship. This has revolutionized my faith and that of our congregation.

Our relationship has opened a new vista of relationships with brothers and sisters from Independent Christian Churches, the Churches of Christ, and other streams of the Restoration church family. Since the fall of 2020, the Spirit has been forging our unity. It has been nothing short of exhilarating.

As I reflect on my prayer for the future of faith in the Restoration Movement, I think of Jesus’ prayer. We are charged to answer the clarion call in John 17 and to meet the occasion with new zeal, as Lincoln advised.

The forces of ill will have long fanned the fires of division. I pray that we have the courage of our convictions as we stand at the crossroads in the 21st century. As God told the prophet, “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls” (Jeremiah 6:16).

WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH POWERLESS PROFESSIONS OF FAITH; WE NEED THE PRACTICED FAITH JESUS EMBODIED AND CALLED US TO BECOME.

THE WAY FORWARD

We know Jesus is the way—the only way forward. Like our brothers and sisters in the first century, we come from diverse cultures and communities. That diversity is to be celebrated, and through Jesus, we can forge unity in our diversity through grace. In a bitterly divided world, we are uniquely positioned to demonstrate the power of God by practicing, and not simply professing, our love. We can do what those who do not follow Jesus cannot do. We can move well beyond tolerance to love. We can because, as C.S. Lewis said, “To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.”

We can forge unity across racial, ethnic, and generational lines because we can forgive. We can reconcile. We can do these things because Jesus showed us how and gave us the power to do so through his Spirit. In short, we unequivocally believe that we need to follow Jesus and make every effort toward unity with the fierce urgency of now. We seek to do this in the Potomac Valley Church, where I am honored to serve as pastor.

Our congregation is one of 700-plus churches in the International Church of Christ. We have embraced what we describe as a “Cruciform” approach. We engage our community with the posture of the cross. We extend our arms to those on the ideological right as much as we do those on the left. The Bible is our singular standard, and we are committed not to compromise our convictions. However, we recognize that our posture needed to better represent Jesus. To that end, we seek to serve everyone and to be a “church for all people.”

We intentionally engage with Republican and Democratic political leaders. We engage with

law enforcement and communities that have historical challenges with law enforcement. We resolutely take the fight straight to the gates of hell for our communities. However, we are committed not to fight as the world does but with weapons of righteousness on the left and the right. We fight with love, service, humility, and repentance.

The members of Potomac Valley Church will tell you we share almost weekly that “we are messed up people bringing the message—a cruciform message.” As a result, we have seen more miracles than we can document. One such miracle was last Easter, as God brought more than a thousand people to church. But the miracle was not the size of the crowd, but the composition. That Sunday, over two dozen Republican and Democratic elected officials and their families worshipped together and ate together at a common table. We celebrated the resurrection of community as Jesus brought unity to our divided Northern Virginia community that day.

It should be noted that our church is only 20 miles from Washington, D.C. Yet, despite the division that surrounds us, we are united. We are racially, generationally, and politically diverse, but grace unites us. This love embodied has been our testimony to our community. As for my family and our church, our arms are wide open to see how the Spirit leads us. We pray that God will use us all to do even greater things together.

May it be said that grace unites us in the Restoration Movement. 

Will Archer serves as lead pastor of Potomac Valley Church, one church on two campuses in Northern Virginia.

MAY IT BE SAID THAT GRACE UNITES US IN THE RESTORATION MOVEMENT.

INTERNATIONAL CHURCHES OF CHRIST?

BY BOBBY HARRINGTON

I like to think of the historical roots of Christian Churches and the Restoration Movement through the lens of three fellowships that emerged from the time of Thomas and Alexander Campbell and Barton W. Stone in the early 1800s: to our left are the Disciples of Christ and to the right are the a cappella Churches of Christ.

In reality, the picture is not that clean.

The RENEW.org Network was launched five years ago as a renewal movement within the Restoration Movement. At RENEW.org, we seek to provide clarity in our postmodern time by articulating the best of Restoration Movement theology focused on disciple-making. Because of that clarity and our common roots, many from a fourth branch of the Restoration Movement known as the International Churches of Christ are moving to work with those of us within Christian Churches/Churches of Christ.

Here is a quick guide to understanding the International Churches of Christ (ICOC).

WHERE DID THE INTERNATIONAL CHURCHES OF CHRIST COME FROM?

The ICOC started in the early 1980s as a group of leaders and churches began to pull away from the a cappella Churches of Christ over evangelism, obedience, racism, and discipleship. By the early 1990s the split was complete, and they had become a separate fellowship. Their original dominant leader was Kip McKean, and through his influence they received widespread criticism for cultic practices, sectarian theology, and abuse.

Many came to know of these churches as the Boston Movement because that was McKean’s home base and their center of leadership until McKean moved to Los Angeles. By 2001 the fellowship of churches rejected McKean’s leadership and started reorganization efforts. Since that time, many of the churches have gravitated toward Christian Churches. But the majority are still isolated within their own distinct fellowship.

WHERE ARE THEIR CHURCHES?

The ICOC have a bigger impact around the world than in North America, but they also have some strong pockets within North America. They made great strides at establishing churches in every major city in the world until the early 2000s when they lost steam because of concerns over their abusive practices and sectarian theology. They are seeking to address these concerns in many quarters and now have over 700 churches in 155 nations around the world.

WHAT ARE THEIR STRENGTHS?

I have spent a lot of time with ICOC leaders over the years and I have been able to carefully process their strengths and weakness. In 2017 I was invited to a meeting with some leaders from the ICOC to share my observations. Most of the leaders present at that meeting in Florida and at a subsequent meeting in Los Angeles in 2018 valued and agreed with my assessment, so I will share that summary below in the hope of helping more of us move forward together. My summary of the strengths of the ICOC:

1. A commitment to the lordship of Jesus and the necessity of repentance

2. A commitment to the lordship of Jesus through obedience to Scripture

3. A commitment to discipleship as the core mission of the church

4. A commitment to the ministry of all believers

5. A commitment to racial integration

6. T he eternal stakes of fulfilling or not fulfilling the Great Commission

7. T he uniform practice of a simple, effective, and reproducible model of studies that ground everyone in the same theology

8. T he empowerment of women to use their gifts within the moderate bounds of male leadership

WHAT HAVE BEEN THEIR WEAKNESSES?

It is tricky to describe the weakness of other people or a fellowship of churches. I acknowledge the logs in my own eyes, personally, and within our fellowship of churches (Matthew 7:1-5). Also, when I made my presentation of the weaknesses described below, I was gentler and more nuanced than I can be in this short article. And I must emphasize that the leadership of the churches within the International Churches of Christ are working to improve and modify what I describe. Here is a summary of the weaknesses of the ICOC:

1. A weak or distorted theology of grace (they taught they were the only true church)

2. A n inadequate theology of the indwelling Holy Spirit (they did not acknowledge this as the sign of salvation as in Romans 8:9)

3. Advocating that only disciples could be baptized, based on a faulty exegesis of Matthew 28:18-20

4. Too many control and intimidation tactics previously used

5. A weak theological and scholarly rootedness

6. T he tendency for many people who converted within these churches to become lukewarm and passive when they did not have the external pressure of their accountability system

7. A v ulnerability to become progressive or turn back to legalism because of the pressures of our postmodern world

8. A n inclination to be overly restrictive and to lack fellowship with leaders and churches outside their orbit

1. Build Relationships: Proximity builds trust; distance breeds mistrust. We have the same historical and theological family to build upon in our relationships.

2. P rovide Theological Clarity: RENEW.org’s theological clarity can provide the kind of theological foundation that ICOC people need—and help them avoid drifting toward either progressivism or back to legalism. Most leaders from the ICOC find quick affinity with RENEW.org’s leadership faith statement (beliefs representing the best of Christian Churches/Churches of Christ)—and it gives them security to see our strong commitment to Scripture, baptism, repentance, faithfulness, etc.

3. Emphasize Disciple-Making: We share a common commitment to disciple-making as the core mission of the church—it is their core ministry focus.

4. Emphasize Racial Diversity: They can help us with racial diversity, which is one of their unique attributes. We desperately need that within Christian Churches/Churches of Christ.

5. Emphasize Women in Ministry: Those of us who uphold the theological priority of male elders and lead ministers/pastors can benefit from the path of women in ministry in the ICOC.

6. Plant Churches with Them: One thing that has held back the ICOC has been their approach to having one church (only) in each city. That idea is breaking down and there is great promise in planting churches together with Christian Churches.

WHY SHOULD WE EMBRACE LEADERS AND PEOPLE FROM WITHIN INTERNATIONAL CHURCHES OF CHRIST?

They need us, and we need them. We can help them, and they can help us.

In the last five years I have spent significant time with many leaders in this movement seeking to draw them into the RENEW.org Network and the influence of Christian Churches. Here are seven strategic moves:

7. Find Ways to Collaborate: We can help each other through collaboration in ways that will bind us better to each other and help us all to be more resilient as we move into the future.

I am a big believer in the future of Restoration Movement ideals. I believe that the best home of future disciple-making movements can be within the Restoration Movement. Let’s seek to work with whomever shares these ideals with us! 

Bobby Harrington serves as lead pastor at Harpeth Christian Church, Franklin, Tennessee, and the point leader for Discipleship.org and RENEW.org.

Compiled by Justin Horey

In many parts of the United States and Canada, Easter Sunday draws more people to worship services than any other day. The number of people who will hear the message, and the importance of the message itself, are difficult to overestimate. Easter is one of our greatest annual evangelistic opportunities.

For two millennia, Christian preachers have shared the gospel message and the hope of the resurrection on Easter Sunday. This year is no different. In fact, with churches fully reopened and so many more of them livestreaming their services, 2023 may provide the largest audience yet for preachers delivering Easter sermons.

This year, as we approached the season leading up to Easter, Christian Standard asked church leaders from around the country one question as they prepared to preach:

What do you most want to communicate to your congregation about Jesus’ resurrection in your 2023 Easter message?

The preachers’ answers revealed their steadfast commitment to the biblical, historical account of the resurrection— along with a passion for cultural relevance and clear communication. We hope these thoughts encourage and inspire you, whether you will preach to thousands or share your faith and hope with a single friend or family member this Easter.

Ben Cachiaras Mountain Christian Church (Joppa, Maryland)

A mixture of faithful disciples, cultural Christians, and cautiously curious but earnest inquirers gather on Easter. I tremble with holy fear and excitement at the responsibility to shock people with the startling relevance of the resurrection of Christ. Most don’t get it . . . at all. But if I can persuade even one to see it’s a historical event that connects to real life today, it’s a win.

I’m with Paul: If it didn’t happen, we’re a bunch of fools, all dressed up with no place to go . . . we have no hope and should stop playing religious games. But if the resurrection did happen . . . well, it changes everything. I want people to see they are not fools for believing God raised Jesus from the dead—because it’s the ending to the story we all want to believe if we dared to believe it could be true.

Easter isn’t just about Jesus’ resurrection, but

This Easter, I want our family at Eagle Christian Church to really know Jesus Christ. I will be preaching from Philippians 3:10-11, where Paul said his primary goal was to know Christ and the power of his resurrection that he may share in Christ’s sufferings. Grammatically, Paul used the infinitive “to know,” stressing a personal, experiential knowledge of Jesus Christ. He didn’t just want to “know about” Jesus, he wanted to truly “know Jesus.”

We might be tempted to ask, “But didn’t Paul already know Jesus? He met him on the road to Damascus; he had many visions; he wrote a great portion of the New Testament. Paul knew as much about Jesus as anyone.” Yes! But to really “know Jesus” is a lifelong pursuit. Knowledge of Jesus Christ is inexhaustible. We must pursue our relationship with Jesus more deeply every day.

I hope to lead ECC in the essentials of Christian living, which means to truly know Christ and to share in the fellowship of his sufferings. Again, Paul knew about suffering for Christ, but he also wanted to continue to die to self in order to live for Jesus. The crux of Paul’s argument seems to be that we cannot truly know the victory of the resurrection without first applying the crucifixion.

My prayer this Resurrection Sunday is that we can be changed by the power of Jesus Christ; that we can die to our old self and be formed into the image of Jesus Christ, who gave his life for us and was raised again. I want, along with my church family, to experience true resurrected life and really know Jesus Christ.

This year, my Easter message will be part one of a two-part message. In the past we have often used Easter to launch a new series that would be of interest to our target audience in the hopes folks would return for the next three or four weeks. This year we are going to propose that the “Empty Tomb Is the Key to a Full Life” during those two weeks.

Most people seek a meaningful life, connection with others, and connection with something beyond themselves. In our pluralistic, post-Christian community, not many choose Jesus as their Savior or Lord. We want our friends to consider letting Jesus be their guide or wise sage this Easter, and along the way we will help them encounter and embrace him as the one who saves them. In January and February, we preached on relational evangelism, and we will be praying for our friends and neighbors to join us during the Easter celebrations!

Chris Reed Christ 's Church of Flagstaff (Flagstaff, Arizona)

Dr. Steven A. Crane Eagle Christian Church (Eagle, Idaho)

Easter isn’t just about Jesus’ resurrection, but our resurrection, too.

What I most want to communicate about the resurrection of Jesus this Easter is that he made the choice to step down from Heaven and become fully human, live among his creation, and die by their hands so that we could live in relationship with him. He made that choice to be in relationship with us. If the creator of all things made that choice, then why wouldn' t we choose to follow him with our life in totality?

When I was in college, I remember David Roadcup saying that the most important question to ask about each sermon is, “What is the most important message God wants to deliver to these people this week?”

We are living in a confused moment in history because people don’t know how to answer life’s most important questions: Who am I? What is moral? What is loving? How do I deal with guilt? What gives my life meaning? What happens when I die?

The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ offer sufficient answers to life’s most important questions.

Brett Andrews New Life Christian Church (Chantilly, Virginia)

DeWayne Reeves Casting Christian Church (Farmington, Arkansas)

Easter means there is “Hope for Everyone.” Hope is that confident expectation that God is willing and able to accomplish everything he has promised to do. The reality of the resurrection means my past can be forgiven, my present can have purpose, and my future is secure.

Our faith in Jesus is not about theology, it’s about history! Easter is a celebration of a miraculous, historic event that happened in a specific place at a specific time. It has been corroborated by eyewitnesses and others who were both followers of Jesus and voices of the secular culture. The resurrection really happened! Consequently, because he conquered death out of love for us, there is no problem his love cannot help solve, no conflict his love cannot overcome, no trial his love cannot support us through, and nobody his love cannot save. Easter is for everyone!

What do you want to communicate to your congregation this Easter? Join the conversation on social media or at ChristianStandard.com. 

Cam Huxford Compassion Christian Church (Savannah, Georgia)

Mike Hickerson Mission Church (Ventura, California)

Justin Horey is a writer, musician, and the founder of Livingstone Marketing. He lives in Southern California.

Why the Resurrection Matters

By Steve Wyatt

His name was Cleopas—and he felt hopeless. So did his friend.

T hese two friends had gone to Jerusalem to join up with Israel’s latest, greatest world-changer—another prophet, this time from Nazareth, who was rumored to be the one who would forever end Rome’s tyrannical reign.

But instead?

A lthough they had left hopeful, they were returning hopeless. Have you ever been there . . . hopeless?

• Yes, these guys were believers.

• Yes, they had grown to deeply love Jesus.

• Yes, they had dropped everything to follow him.

Here’s the problem: Jesus was trapped behind a huge stone, and these dreamers were left to question everything that they, just hours before, had passionately believed. So, as they plodded back to an old life they thought was gone forever, they “talked and discussed these things” (Luke 24:15).

What things? Only that the source of all their hopes and dreams had been nailed to a tree and now was dead. Yeah . . . that thing. No wonder they felt “downcast” (v. 17).

These Two Were Down

Have you been there?

I have. This word downcast is way more ugly than g rim or sad—even discouraged pales by comparison. See, downcast gives you the coordinates on someone’s heart right from the get-go. Downright miserable. Down in the mouth. Weighed down. Downhearted. Down and out. Down in the dumps. They all say it well—but downcast says it best.

Just days before, these disciples had walked to Jerusalem, fully convinced Jesus was the Christ. They’d waved palm branches and cried, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” (Luke 19:38). Because f inally Israel had a leader who offered more than cumbersome rules and high-minded platitudes. Finally a true man from God had come to set them free.

E xcept now these same two were walking f rom Jerusalem. Their hopes were dashed; their spirits, downcast. And as they walked, they talked “about everything that had happened” (24:14), including such troubling things as these:

• “Why did everybody turn on him?”

• “Why didn’t he start the revolution we thought he would start?”

• But most of all, they wondered, “Now what do we do?”

Jesus was their last best hope. So, save the psychobabble. Forget your well-rehearsed pep talk. These guys were down with no prospects for ever getting back up.

W hat they needed was a hope infusion. And that’s what God gave them, right in the middle of their hopeless hike back home. “Jesus himself came up and walked along with them” (v. 15).

They didn’t know it was him, because his identity was concealed. But, true to form, Jesus came alongside the crushed in spirit. And as he spent time with them, he gave them hope. The kind of hope that completely transformed their hearts, redeemed their perspectives, and restored to them their very lives.

How did he do that?

I’m glad you asked.

Jesus Took to the Streets

The first thing Jesus did was to meet them where they were—and then he lovingly lifted his downcast friends. Jesus showed up because that’s what every deeply crushed disciple needs.

What these two followers were feeling was more than just the blahs. It was not apathy or some ill-defined listlessness. This was a bone-chilling numbness! Perhaps they were convinced nothing was ever going to change. And the pain might never end.

Trust me, these two were far from weak. They’d left everything to follow Jesus. But the dream was dead. Those feet that once walked on water had been pierced. Those hands that hugged lepers were stiff and cold. And that voice which spoke such hope-infusing words? Silenced.

T hat’s why Jesus, knowing that they had no clue how to get to him, went to them.

“What are you discussing?” the sudden stranger asked Cleopas and friend (Luke 24:17).

They looked at him like, Seriously? Have you been under a rock or something? The same thing everybody’s talking about—Jesus!

“We had hoped that he was the one . . .” (v. 21).

And that was the problem. These two had been hoping in the same way you and I typically hope:

“I had hoped that the PET scan would come back clean.”

“I had hoped this relationship would last.”

“I had hoped my dream would come true.”

But only k ind of hoping isn’t really hope! It’s barely wishing on a star. It’s a golly-gee-whillikers, I’d-likeit-to-happen-but-it-probably-won’t-happen kind of whine!

It’s not at all the kind of hope the Bible says is “an anchor for the soul” (Hebrews 6:19). True hope is a confident assurance that God is able and an abiding certainty that nothing can come my way that God and I together cannot handle.

But that’s not these guys. They’d bought into a dream that wasn’t God’s dream. They wanted Jesus to free Israel by kicking out the Romans. They wanted Pilate out and Jesus in. Instead? Pilate was large and in charge; but Jesus was dead.

Jesus Took Them to Scripture

So, this stranger climbed down into that depressive pit and here’s what he did as he spent time with the friends: he quoted Scripture proving that not even Jesus’ death could spell the end of hope!

He took them all the way back to the “beginning” and “explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself” (Luke 24:27). I’ve been to some great Bible studies, but can you imagine Jesus explaining phrases like “a lamb to the slaughter” (Isaiah 53:7) or “thirty pieces of silver” (Zechariah 11:13) or even “disfigured beyond that of any human being” (Isaiah 52:14)?

But then he also must’ve taught them that it was foretold that God “will not abandon me to the realm of the dead” (Psalm 16:10). Which meant, clearly, that he would have to first go to a grave.

Now we don’t know exactly what Jesus taught them— but my point is this: Jesus brought them hope by taking

them to Scripture. He offered them the truth of God’s Word—and it both lifted their spirits and infused them with fresh hope.

Finally, they arrived at their village and their hearts were so encouraged that they “urged him strongly, ‘Stay with us’” (Luke 24:28-29).

So, he did. Except he didn’t just saunter in. Jesus came roaring in!

Jesus Took Over

Jesus was the guest, right?

But he took the bread, gave thanks, and then gave their bread to them (Luke 24:30)!

Jesus taking over is exactly what happens whenever anybody makes a connection with Jesus. When you invite Jesus into your life, he’s not going to be satisfied with just being a submissive houseguest. He won’t sit in the corner and await further instructions. He will take over!

T he Bible says that as he passed the bread, “their eyes were opened and they recognized him” (v. 31).

Maybe that’s when it happened because that’s when Jesus chose to reveal himself. Maybe as he passed the bread they noticed the fresh wounds in his hands. Or maybe their hearts were ablaze . . . again (v. 32).

However it happened, their hope had been rekindled and their hearts set on fire. So, what did these two downcast disciples do?

T hey got up, that’s what they did. Suddenly, they went from downcast to upbeat! Uplifted! Up and at ’em!

T hey “got up” (v. 33) and “returned . . . to Jerusalem.”

A ll because the resurrected Jesus went to where they were, he offered convincing biblical truth that spoke powerfully to their hearts, and then he took over.

Hope had arrived—in the person of Jesus. And e verything (not just some things, not even most things— but e very thing) had radically and forever changed.

A nd what he did for them he can do for you. He wants to—and he will if you let him—change absolutely everything about your downcast story. 

This article originally appeared in The Lookout, April 20, 2014. Steve Wyatt serves as founding pastor at The Crossroads Church in North Phoenix, Arizona.

An Example Worth Following

A Tribute to Ben Merold

By Doyle Roth

Ben Merold, 96, a beloved minister in Christian churches and churches of Christ for almost three-quarters of a century, died November 16, 2022.

Ben Merold lived his life fully committed to Jesus. He served God by serving many churches over his ministry career and touching the lives of millions of people. Ben truly was a man of God.

Don Sanders, leadership development pastor at Harvester Christian Church and director of The Merold Institute, said this about Ben when he introduced him at a graduation ceremony not long ago:

Ben is a church consultant, a fantastic preacher, an encourager of ministers, a friend to those in need, a mentor, a World War II veteran, an avid Cardinal baseball fan, a farmer, and a pilot. He runs a bed and breakfast with Pat in their home. He is a theologian, a historian, and a friend to countless people.

Ben Merold is like a rock star. He’s a trendsetter, an influencer, a social commentator. He has urban legends surrounding him, he commands a room, he’s sought after, and he certainly has stage presence! I’m pretty sure Chuck Norris has a Ben Merold poster in his room!

It was an incredible honor to serve alongside Ben for more than 31 years at Harvester Christian Church. He was my mentor, spiritual father, and dear friend. When I think of Ben, the words of Paul come to mind: “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). This verse may not be true of all people, but it describes Ben accurately. As I and others followed him, we learned to follow Jesus more completely.

In following Ben . . .

We learned how to pray. His prayers were simple, sincere, and genuine. He didn’t use flowery words to impress others. He was a humble man talking to his God. We often met early on Sunday mornings, and he would ask God to send the Holy Spirit to touch lives and do something unexpected that morning. After praying, Ben was ready for God to answer. Ben was a man of prayer.

We learned the power of the Word of God. Ben often quoted Matthew 6:33: “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Ben believed God’s Word was written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and that same Spirit is active in it today. He read his Bible daily. He

believed in the truth of doctrine and was constantly seeking the truth of God for all areas of life. Ben prepared his messages and preached believing that people would respond to God’s Word. And when he preached, people did respond. Ben believed God’s Word still has power.

We learned how to be generous. Ben was the most generous person I have ever met. He was often buying lunch, giving generous tips at restaurants, leaving a note with money for housekeeping in his hotel room, and giving to people in need. He was personally benevolent and led the church to increase in meeting the needs of people in the church and community. He believed a Christian’s generosity is a demonstration of the loving heart of God. God’s love was evident through Ben’s generosity.

We appreciated marriage. Ben and Pat’s marriage of 73 years served as an example to many people. Though Ben led a busy schedule traveling to churches for years, their marriage was strong. Their love and respect for each other was unwavering. Ben demonstrated sincere love and appreciation for Pat. They kept joy and laughter in their relationship.

Ben shared that in the houses they lived in, he would drive a large nail into the door going from the garage into the house. When arriving home, he would pause, pray, and make a mental note of taking any stress or problems from the day and hanging it on the nail before going into the house. When he was home, he was a husband, a friend, and a dad. When he would leave for work the next morning, he could “pick up” whatever was hanging there. He said it seldom was as big as he remembered it being the night before. Ben loved Pat and honored her.

We learned about being a leader. As a teenager, Ben lied about his age and began serving as a Marine in World War II. Those were impactful years, and as a young man he became a leader in battle. After the war, he gave his life to Jesus and was baptized. He went to Bible college and was passionate about leading people to Jesus. He led the churches he served to be passionate about evangelism and to not settle for just meeting together. He was a leader of pastors. His “church growth” videos are classics, and the truth within them are still effective. Ben didn’t walk into a room and demand to be followed. He was committed to God and never lost focus of the mission. People followed his passion for kingdom work. Ben was a leader of leaders.

We learned to take risks. Ben was not afraid to take risks for the kingdom. He built a great church in Sullivan, Indiana, and then moved to a small church in California. After God used him to build Eastside Christian Church into a large and thriving church, he moved to St. Charles, Missouri, just before his 65th birthday. He set high goals for Harvester Christian Church. The goals were beyond our reach and could only be achieved if we had God’s help. He led us to pray and work hard, and we met every goal he set. He hired committed staff who did not always have great résumés, but he gave opportunities to serve, and great things happened.

Ben continually looked for new opportunities to serve needs in the community. He was not afraid to address church-culture issues. Ben would often say there should be something in every service he does not like, because if a service were built around his preferred style, others would not like it. Years ago, he pushed ahead on adding guitars and drums into our worship style. In his later years, I know he did not like the volume or the new style of songs in our church, but he was there every Sunday, and he took great delight in pointing out how many young people were coming.

He loved seeing all ages in worship; he knew how critical it is to change our methods to reach young people for Jesus while never changing the main principles of the gospel. Ben was able to keep a balance and not lose the focus of evangelism. He did not live in the past or make worship about himself. Ben had a strong faith and was not afraid to take risks for the kingdom.

We saw godly wisdom. At times in ministry, I would tell Ben, “We have some big problems.” But church issues didn’t seem to overwhelm him. He might get frustrated, but he believed God was working and good would come. He often would remind us of this Scripture:

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).

Ben was resolutely forward thinking. He believed Jesus was returning soon and our work as believers is urgent. With eternity just ahead, he would not get sidetracked by negativity or complaining. He loved children, students, and adults of all ages. Every person was important to God and to Ben. Ben was a man of great wisdom.

We understood grace. He believed God’s grace is for every person, no matter their past. Ben believed God’s grace transforms people and gives second chances. He lived it and preached it everywhere he went. He was not afraid of the messiness of people’s lives. Ben was a forgiving man. I never saw him hold a grudge. He forgave and moved on. Ben was a person of grace.

We never stop serving. Ben did not believe in “retirement” from kingdom work. There is always someone who needs encouragement or the truth of God’s Word. He continued to lead a Bible study at 95. When we spoke, he would invariably ask, “Doyle, do you have anything I can do to help you?” He loved serving and sharing the Good News of Jesus wherever he was. Ben was still on staff part time at the time of his death at age 96. Quitting was a word Ben did not understand. Ben never stopped serving in kingdom work.

At the funeral of his good friend Wayne Smith, Ben said, “It is hard to imagine a world without Wayne Smith.” I feel that way now. It is hard to imagine our world without Ben Merold. Ben’s impact in lives across the nation is immeasurable. His legacy will continue in the hearts of his children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, his many friends, and the countless people he touched through ministry over the years. Ben has received his crown of righteousness. Until we see Jesus face-to-face, we must continue to follow Ben’s example of sustaining the wonder of the journey and discovering new methods and opportunities to lead people to Jesus.

The apostle Paul’s words ring true for Ben Merold: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing” (2 Timothy 4:7-9). 

Doyle Roth is mobilization pastor at Harvester Christian Church in St. Charles, Missouri, where he has served for 34 years.

FROM THE CHRISTIAN STANDARD ARCHIVES

CHRONICLES OF GRACE

Since 1866, Christian Standard has been “devoted to the restoration of New Testament Christianity, its doctrine, its ordinances, and its fruits.” One of the New Testament’s core doctrines, of course, is grace. It’s an attribute of Jesus, and it is Jesus’ fingerprint on his church. Our editorial team searched through over 155 years of our archives to see what has been written about this important topic. We excerpted from articles by six editors and essayists that explore the various viewpoints on grace over the years.

ISAAC ERRETT, 1869 AND 1887

THE SINNER’S PARTICIPATION IN GOD’S GRACE

One of the earliest substantial references to grace came from founding editor Isaac Errett in the June 19, 1869, issue. He was responding to a reader’s letter about grace and law. Errett summarized the difference between the letter writer’s view and Christian Standard’s position (as stated by its editor): “[The letter writer] makes salvation an absolute, unconditional gift, in the acceptance of which the sinner is entirely passive, while we teach that salvation is conditional—the conditions being conditions of grace and not the law—and that in accepting it the sinner is active and not passive.” Later in the article, Errett continued,

Here then is “active participation” on the part of the sinner. Does this destroy the grace of God? If a man, standing on the bank of a river, were to throw a rope to a drowning man, would the fact of the drowning man’s seizing it and holding on to it impair or destroy the work of grace performed by his saviour? If a man rushes through a burning building to save a fellow-being from destruction in the flames, does the fact that the perishing man grasps his hand that he may drag him out of his peril destroy the grace offered by his deliverer? Does the perishing man earn or merit salvation by

this co-operation with his saviour? . . .

We have such profound convictions of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and of man’s inevitable ruin if left to himself, that with us the mission of Jesus and His death for sin was a necessity. We could not be saved without it. All our hope of acceptance with God rests on it. Faith has no merit; repentance has no merit; obedience has no merit; they are simply channels through which the unmerited grace of God flows to us. The death of Jesus as a sin-offering makes it possible to vindicate the justice of God in the exercise of mercy to the guilty; and He can constitute them righteous, in Christ Jesus, in view of their faith in Him and acceptance of His sacrifice. But we do not believe that the death of Christ absolutely saves any except the irresponsible, such as infants, idiots, etc. It brings salvation within our reach. It makes it accessible. Now we must hear, and believe, and obey, or perish forever. As the sun shines in vain to him who shuts his eyes or burrows in the ground, so Christ has died in vain as to those who will not

accept His offered mercy and obey His voice.

Over the following two decades, Errett wrote occasionally about grace, usually defending the position set forth in his 1869 editorial and responding to letters from readers.

In the February 26, 1887, edition, Errett responded to a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon on Ephesians 2:8-9. Errett said that much of what Spurgeon was teaching was true and important, but he forcefully disagreed with Spurgeon’s contention in his sermon that, “The man believes, but that belief is only one result among many of the implantation of divine life within the man’s soul by God himself.” Errett’s response was filled with obvious sarcasm:

There it is—a special miracle of grace implanting divine life in the soul before the sinner believes the gospel!—that he may believe it! Begotten to a new life first by God himself, that he may be begotten afterward to a new life by the gospel! Such a conception has no place in nature or grace. . . . The doctrine of renewal apart from the reception of the lifegiving word of truth has no place in the sacred record; and it is high time that it was laid aside and forgotten forever.

JAMES ALEXANDER LORD, 1908

THE CHALLENGE OF GRACE

James Alexander Lord was editor from 1892 to 1909. In his editorial of December 26, 1908, he dealt with what he called “The Challenge of Grace.” He said,

The notion that the grace of God in Christ indicates some sort of indulgence for sin was not confined to the apostolic day when certain [people] held that they might continue in sin that grace might abound, but has descended to the present time. The obscurities of the modern revival theology, or rather soteriology, and the deception of self-indulgence in men, conspire to create a doctrine of grace which has no support in the word of God. . . .

The favor of God demands that we shall control ourselves, do right toward our fellow men, and serve God in all things.

Peter says, “According as each hath received a gift, ministering it among yourselves, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” Grace is not merely a gift: it is a holy stewardship. We are told to stand fast in the grace of God, and are admonished not to receive the grace of God in vain. . . .

When men deliberately trade on the goodness of God and sin with the thought that some

day they will dispose of all their iniquity by drawing on the divine indulgence, they are trifling with holy things and imperiling their souls’ eternal salvation. ln all sacred history there is no blessing for any man who tampers with the grace of God. The rich young man who refused the test of Jesus went away sorrowing, and the “convenient season” of the terrified Felix never came. The soul is lost that trifles with the grace of God. . . .

What Is needed first of all to correct the prevailing and fatal error about the significance of the grace of God is the preaching of the full gospel, so that when men come to confess Christ and are baptized, they will not forget, in the joy of forgiveness of past sins, that they are committed to the holy calling of obtaining eternal life. If the consequences of backsliding and apostasy were brought to the attention of the people, some who now respond to the gospel invitation might hesitate, but those who did accept Christ would be more certain to hold out faithful until the end. . . .

It is the solemn duty of the preacher and elders to see that [the people are] rightly taught.

JAMES VAN BUREN, 1948

THE FRUIT OF GOD ' S GRACE IN OUR LIVES

James G. Van Buren began writing for Christian Standard in 1945 and was still writing when I worked for Standard Publishing in the early 1990s. His final “Epistle from Thistle” was published in the Christian Standard issue that announced his death in 1997. His article, simply titled “Grace,” appeared January 10, 1948:

There is no truth more prominent in the New Testament than that God is a God of grace. The words, “grace” or “graciousness” are used about 129 times in that volume. The word karis, translated “grace,” means loving favor, kindness, or compassion. . . .

The coming of Jesus into the world as the Saviour of men was the supreme demonstration of the grace of God. God showed his compassionate love for us in that He gave His Son as our Redeemer. No longer do we think of the rigorous austerity of a stern taskmaster when we think of God—we think instead of a love warm with winsomeness, and red

with sacrificial devotion. Thus, through our response to God’s grace in Jesus Christ, and our incorporation of His attitude and strategy into our own personalities, we become “saved by grace,” and through grace have “everlasting consolation and good hope.”

Our redemption from perversity of heart and pride of life comes through God’s infinite kindness toward us in the giving of His Son. We know of His love and understand His compassion, because of the tremendous drama of redemption which sweeps from the miraculously filled manger of Bethlehem to the miraculously emptied tomb in Jerusalem. “For by grace are we saved through faith.”

Now this grace of God which is given us in the gift of Christ finds its natural fruition in the development of an attitude of grace and mercy on our part. When God has shown such kindness to us, who are we to

be harsh, stern, and oppressive in our relations with our fellows? How are we, then, to develop in our lives a greater degree of grace and compassion in our relation to others? How can the sense of God’s grace become such a reality to us that it finds an echo throughout all the varied melody of our lives?

The New Testament does not leave us in ignorance as to the means by which the grace of God becomes effectively articulated in our lives.

Van Buren concluded with three strategies, which I’ll summarize here:

1. We develop grace as we love Jesus sincerely. (See Ephesians 6:24.) “One can not be like Jesus,” said Van Buren, “and not show grace and kindness to others.”

2. We develop grace through believing prayer. (See Hebrews 4:16.)

3. We develop grace through humility. (See James 4:6.)

GENE ROGERS, 1966

WHAT 'S MAN ' S PART IN GOD ' S GRACE?

A question many of our writers have considered over the years is this: What is man’s part in salvation by grace? In our October 29, 1966, issue, Gene Rogers, who ministered to the Normandie Avenue Christian Church in Gardena, California, answered that question— agreeing in large part with Isaac Errett nearly a century earlier—in “The Gospel of Grace”:

The human element is never included beyond the essential adjustment of man to the work of God. Human responsibility is always expressed in terms which suggest that man is the recipient of the benefits of the work of God.

His is to “receive,” to “believe,” to “have faith,” to “be

reconciled to God,” to “turn to God.” His is to receive the free gift (Romans 6:23). “We see now that a man is justified before God by the fact of his faith in God’s appointed Savior and not by what he has managed to achieve under the Law” (Romans 3:28; Phillips).

Man’s repentance or confession or baptism or any other such act is but a faith response to God’s grace. And without that grace any one of these responses would be meaningless. Without grace there would be nothing to believe, nothing to turn to, no one to confess, and no one to be baptized into.

JUST TO KNOW THAT, EVEN THOUGH I AM A SINNER, I NEED NOT BE LOST.

SAM E. STONE, 1980

A GRACE THAT WILL LEAD ME HOME

Sam Stone served as editor from 1978 to 2003. He not only had a firm understanding of biblical grace, but he also lived with grace throughout his life. He was a model of grace for many. In our February 24, 1980, issue, he wrote the following:

When I was younger, “grace” was just a word to me. “The unmerited favor of God,” someone had defined it. Now I realize that it is so much more. Today “Amazing Grace” is one of my favorite songs.

Amazing grace! how sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found, Was blind, but now I see.

Grace appeared when Jesus came (John 1:14, 16, 17). Through Him, God expressed His loving concern to an undeserving world. While we were sinners—hopeless, lost, nowhere to turn—our Lord made salvation possible. “The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,” explained Paul (Titus 2:11).

God’s love demands a proper response from all who will accept it. His grace teaches us that “denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world” (Titus 2:12).

We would not even have known our sinful state had grace not revealed it. Certainly we could not have atoned for our wrongs. Only the Lord’s provision of an acceptable sacrifice made possible our hope for Heaven.

’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, And grace my fears relieved; How precious did that grace appear

The hour I first believed!

Just to know that, even though I am a sinner, I need not be lost. What a thrill! What joy! This is “that blessed hope” (Titus 1:13) that is assured by Christ’s triumph over death.

“Grace” isn’t just a theological term. It means that I can make it to Heaven. Because of grace, my sins are forgiven. Jesus is my Savior. Though I had no hope of doing enough good deeds to purchase a ticket into glory, my Lord offered himself as a sacrifice for me. Now I don’t have to pay the price I owe for my sins— eternal separation from God. Jesus died for me.

I accepted His offer of salvation through faith. I obeyed the divine command to “repent, and be baptized.” On Christ’s authority I know that I then received “the remission of sins, and . . . the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:38). My salvation is the gift of

God. It came by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8). Moreover, His grace sustains me each day.

Thro’ many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come;

’Tis grace hath bro’t me safe thus far

And grace will lead me home.

No earthly confidence is like that. I may falter. I may fall. But God doesn’t desert me. He watches over me like a shepherd; He cares for me like a father. When I can’t do it on my own strength, I have only to lean on His everlasting arms. He will never fail.

Do you see why I am thrilled that “Amazing Grace” has been chosen as the theme for the 1980 North American Christian Convention? What better word to summarize the good news of the New Testament than “grace”?

If, as our critics say, in the restoration movement we have not emphasized this Biblical doctrine sufficiently, the 1980 NACC will give opportunity for us to correct that oversight. We cannot help praising the God of all grace when we sing,

When we’ve been there ten thousand years, Bright shining as the sun, We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise Than when we first begun.

Ben Merold, a beloved minister in Christian churches and churches of Christ for almost three-quarters of a century as well as a regular Christian Standard writer, died November 16, 2022. In a tribute to Ben in this issue (p. 64), Doyle Roth said, “He believed God’s grace was for every person, no matter their past. He believed that God’s grace transforms people and gives second chances. He lived it and preached it everywhere he went. He was not afraid of the messiness of people’s lives. . . . Ben was a person of grace.” More than 35 years ago, Merold wrote a Reflections column in Christian Standard titled “Reflecting on Grace”:

As I reflect back over my years as a gospel preacher, I find myself thinking more and more about the doctrine of grace. I can’t remember hearing many sermons on the subject and, as I recall, only one or two teachers in my Bible college days really emphasized this great Biblical teaching. I’m sure that all my teachers believed in salvation by grace, but other doctrines seemed to come first. As a result, I preached very little about the grace of God in my early days as a minister. I believe in grace, but I was guilty of preaching as if salvation is by works. In my opinion, there is still a lot of that kind of preaching going around.

I am certain we can never have revival in our brotherhood until we focus on God’s grace in our preaching and teaching. Furthermore, I believe it is almost impossible to convict people of sin apart from an awareness of grace. The combination of con-

viction and grace leads to repentance.

Let me hasten to say that I realize that the subject of grace has often been perverted. It has been preached apart from repentance and obedience until the gospel has become a sort of “do nothing” idea in the minds of some. However, this becomes an even stronger reason for preaching grace. We must put the doctrine in its proper perspective.

Grace and salvation—If there were some ways of looking into the minds of our church members, I believe we would find t hat most of them view God as a big bookkeeper. They have the idea that when they do something good, God marks it down in a “credit” column and if they do something bad, He puts that in the “debit” column. Then at the judgment, God adds up the two columns and subtracts the smaller number from the larger.

If there is something left over on the side of “credit” we go to Heaven—if the larger number comes out on the side of “debit” we will be condemned to Hell. Now we know this is not the Biblical view of salvation, but it is the view so many people have. This view is held by many church members as well as by so many in the world.

Where does grace fit into the whole idea of salvation? We often say that the word “grace” means “unmerited favor.” It is something God offers to us that

we do not deserve. The Bible reveals that we are all sinners. We have varying degrees of sin, but we have all sinned. As a result of sin, we have the same need. That need is grace, and grace is offered to the world through Jesus Christ our Savior. He came to redeem us and when we receive Him as Savior, we receive God’s grace. We are therefore redeemed by accepting what God offers us.

This is one of the reasons why salvation is such a humbling experience. We come to the place where we realize that we cannot earn right standing with God and that this right standing can be received only as a gift. This destroys the pride that comes as a result of self-righteousness. We realize that we have become God’s children through His unmerited favor. It is by grace we are saved (Ephesians 2:8, 9).

Grace and the plan of salvation—I believe in the so-called plan of salvation. I believe that God’s basic plan is that salvation is found in a Savior and t hat Jesus is that Savior. But I also believe the New Testament shows a simple pattern for accepting this Savior. I believe we can show that those who claimed salvation through the death and the resurrection of Christ became believers in Christ, repented of their old way of life by turning to Christ, confessed their faith, and were baptized into Christ. I believe this plan is made evident in the book of Acts. . . .

We must always remind people that salvation is by grace through faith. . . .

This is why I say that the preaching of grace is necessary for conviction and repentance. There will be no complete dependence on Christ as Savior and no change of lifestyle until people understand their lost condition before God. I do not see how people can realize this and respond in faith without an understanding of grace. So the doctrine of grace shows people that they are lost and how God provides for their salvation. In other words, why would people turn to Christ in complete faith for salvation if they did not have the conviction that they were lost? It is grace that makes them see both their need and God’s plan to meet that need.

So we must be careful to preach and teach the basic plan of salvation, which is grace through faith. This must be followed with Scriptural teaching that leads the convicted person to respond with that faith in Christ.

Grace comes first! We have to understand the doctrine of grace before we can make a faith response.

Grace and the assurance of salvation—I maintain that a large percentage of the members of our restoration movement churches are lacking the assurance of salvation. They

have what many refer to as “hope-so salvation.” They are not sure their citizenship is in Heaven. They have doubts concerning the new birth. They may say their faith is in Jesus and His cross and they may defend the pattern of the New Testament conversion, but they still do not have assurance that they are a child of God.

As long as this condition exists in the lives of Christians, they will find it almost impossible to have a testimony that will win others to Christ. They will be lacking in the experience of real stewardship and will probably become frustrated with attempts to live a surrendered life.

I firmly believe this condition will continue to be the norm in the lives of many church members until they understand the Bible doctrine of grace. It is only with this understanding that the soul will be able to comprehend that the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. In other words, an understanding of grace teaches us that the grace of God that saves us is also the same grace that sustains us.

Many are in a twilight understanding of grace. They may see that they are saved by grace, but they do not apply the doctrine beyond the initial act of receiving Christ. As a result, they claim salvation by grace and then try to live

by law. In this respect we may not be too far behind the Galatians of the New Testament.

Here is a person who has honestly believed in Jesus as the Christ and who has turned away from sin to follow the Word of God in confession of faith and Christian baptism. Yet when I approach this person and ask him if he is a child of God, he will often answer something like this: “I hope so—I’m doing the best I can.”

Such a person seems to be unaware of the grace of God that sustains us in Christ. Often when we explain this, the person will respond by saying, “I see it now. When I believed and repented and made my confession of faith and was baptized, I entered into grace.”

How true! And with the discovery of this simple truth comes the blessedness of assurance.

So the theologians can argue about eternal security and apostasy, but all of the arguments become rather meaningless to those of us who have assurance because of our relationship with Jesus the Savior.

Let us proclaim the message of grace. Let us preach this good news in every pulpit and teach it in every Bible class. Let us thank God for this wonderful plan of salvation and let us urge people to accept God’s best—to be in Christ. For to be in Christ is to be in grace. 

AT THE FOOT OF THE CROSS

MEDITATIONS FOR THE WEEK BEFORE EASTER

BY MARK A. TAYLOR

This special section is designed to help you prepare your mind and heart for the six days preceding Resurrection Sunday, what some people call the “Holy Week” of Easter or the “Passion Week” of Jesus. These were written by Mark A. Taylor, former editor and publisher of Christian Standard, and were originally used as a devotional for the members of the church where he serves. We hope these draw you closer to Jesus and the cross and help you to grow in your faith and in the grace of our Lord Jesus.

DAY 1 SIMON OF CYRENE

BURDENED WITH CHRIST'S LOAD MARK 15:16-22

My wife and I concluded two or three decades ago we would no longer ask friends to help us move. We decided this for two reasons.

(1) Most of our fellow boomers had become too weak of back and unsteady of limb to be heaving sofa beds onto U-Hauls. And, (2) most certainly, so had we. Unwilling to ask favors we wouldn’t return, we paid professionals to haul the heavy stuff the last time we changed houses.

I’ve been thinking about load bearing as I’ve anticipated this week before Easter. Time and again I’m reminded of the huge weight Christ took off my shoulders when he died to bear the punishment for my sins.

“He himself bore our sins’ in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; ‘by his wounds you have been healed’” (1 Peter 2:24).

But Christ carried our weight only after someone else carried his. A man named Simon, from Cyrene, a city in faraway Africa, had likely come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover feast. He happened to be there along the path where Jesus struggled to carry his own cross on the way to his execution. Every ounce of Christ’s energy and strength had been beaten out of him by the Roman soldiers who had already flogged him almost to death. And, as Jesus stumbled under his load, the soldiers collared

RESPOND:

Simon and made him carry the wooden beam the rest of the way to Calvary.

As ugly and difficult as Simon’s task was, and even though he surely would rather have avoided it, perhaps it was the first step in his own redemption. The Gospel writer makes a point of naming Simon’s sons. And at least one commentator, William Barclay, suggests that one of them, Rufus, is the man singled out by Paul in Romans 16:13 as one “chosen in the Lord.” Barclay also connects this Simon in Mark’s Gospel with “Simeon called Niger,” included in Acts 13:1 among the Christians in Antioch who sent out Paul and Barnabas on their missionary journey.

Is it possible that in carrying Christ’s load, Simon came face-to-face with the burden Christ bore for him and for all of us? It’s a beautiful thought. And it leads us to wonder what each one of us might discover by serving Christ today. Could it be that submitting to the weight of the work Jesus has for us might show us the possibilities and purpose he has for our life?

Often this will involve loads heavier than a bedroom set or dining room furniture. Physical weight can wear you down, but even more crushing are emotional loads. Helping another carry his grief, unload his guilt, or take up a new responsibility demands a strength that can grow with age. For many, spiritual muscles develop even as the body’s biceps weaken.

1. W ho among your family and friends is struggling with emotional pain or problems that threaten to overwhelm them? Ask God to help you lighten their load.

2. W hat struggles threaten to weigh you down? Ask God to lead you to someone who can share your burden with you.

3. W hat can you do to develop stronger spiritual muscles, even as your physical body may be aging?

DAY 2 TWO CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST

HARDENED AND DESPERATE

LUKE 23:32-43

Some prayers are peaceful and quiet. Thank you, Lord, for this food.

Some prayers are passionate and persistent. Oh, Lord, help me find a job.

All of us have prayed prayers like those. But at least once in almost every believer’s life, prayer moves from devotion to desperation. Oh, Lord, save my child . . . forgive me . . . help!

The two robbers crucified with Christ were at the kind of crossroad that produces desperation. But in fact, they weren’t at a crossroad at all—they were at the end of the road. No more breaking the law, enjoying ill-gotten gains, planning the next steal. They’d been caught and convicted, and all that remained was the horrible punishment. It’s intriguing to see the opposite ways they reacted to their hopelessness.

The first man was vile and coarse. He likely had been that way all along. His question to Jesus, according to Luke, was an insult: “OK, if you’re the God you say you are, do something about this pain and these crosses! Save yourself—and us!”

We can guess the man was not thinking about eternity. He wasn’t repenting of his life on the wrong side of the law. He had no intent to become an upstanding citizen if Jesus would somehow help him escape Golgotha. He viewed Jesus as little more than a miracle maker who could get him out of his jam.

The other thief thought about himself, too, of course.

RESPOND:

But he knew Jesus was different. “This man has done nothing wrong,” he said. He didn’t ask for a miracle. But sensing that his death would not be the end, he asked Jesus simply to remember him.

Any one of us might react to God as one of these two did.

We might plead with God to save us from our own bad choices, but there’s no salvation in that. Only when a person surrenders to the fact of his own sinfulness is he ready to approach the Savior. When he looks at his own hopeless situation and simply acknowledges that Jesus is the only solution, he finds the way out only Jesus can provide.

The hardest part for the second criminal was not enduring his execution but admitting his own guilt. “We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve,” he said. He sought not a temporary solution or a quick fix, but simply the peace that can come from confessing the truth, no matter how ugly, before the Lord.

The thieves remind us of how all humankind responds to God. Some are so hardened by their selfwill that they can’t take their eyes off themselves long enough to see his saving hand. Others lift their gaze from their past of self-justification and find in Jesus the peace that all life without him is lacking.

One beautiful thought this story makes clear: it’s never too late to choose Jesus. Sometimes desperation can lead to something very good, indeed.

1. W hat is the greatest difficulty you’re facing right now? Write it down, and then ask yourself, “How have my own bad choices gotten me here?” Spend some time in today’s prayers confessing your sins to God.

2. A sk yourself how you view Jesus—as the God who can make your life comfortable? Or as the Lord who will give you peace if you’ll simply surrender to him? What’s one step you can make away from the first view and toward the latter?

DAY 3 ROMAN SOLDIERS

MISSING GOD

MATTHEW 27:27-31; JOHN 19:23-24

Being a soldier can be boring. Especially when you’re far from home, in a dry, dirty, dusty place. The duty is even more distasteful when the assignment is to keep order among a stubborn people who resent you and all you stand for.

And so, when a strange peasant called a king is assigned to your watch, who could blame you for having a little fun? Nothing about him looks like royalty, that’s for sure. So, you find some thorns and make him a crown. Your buddy has a robe he took from some unlucky Jew. It makes the perfect costume.

“Hail king of the Jews,” you sneer, with all the other guys. First you bow before him, in mock honor, and then you spit in his face. You hand him a staff, and then you take it from him and slap it against his head. He doesn’t look like any king you’ve seen before. He doesn’t even fight back or try to defend himself.

Plodding through life in middle-class suburbia can be a drag, too. Kids and cars and bills and budgets. Endless hours at Little League games and soccer tournaments. Money-driven bosses and quarterly reports for a corporation that, no matter how much it pays, takes in return some things you’ll never get back.

And so, when someone offers some distraction from the grind, who can blame you for a little dalliance? When you’ve become convinced that this life is all there is, you might as well make merry, right? You’ve heard Christians talk about sacrifice and service, but that doesn’t look like the real life you see among society’s most successful.

And so, you mock those rule-keeping, platitudespouting churchgoers. Occasionally you see in their faces something other than judgment, but their looks of sad concern only make you despise them more and become even more determined to live life your own way.

God? Sin? Punishment? You’ve broken more than one of their rules, and nothing bad has happened to you yet.

The cycle has repeated itself since the early days of creation. Men mock God and misuse his blessings. They stand face-to-face with all the evidence for his reality. But bored with life and running fast after fun, they spit in the face of his goodness and his patience. And they never see what he’s ready to accomplish in their lives, even though he is right beside them.

RESPOND:

1. T hink of a time in your life when you ignored God. How long did it take for you to see the error of flaunting your selfishness in his face?

2. T hank God for the circumstances and people who have brought you back to him, perhaps time and again.

3. A sk God to help you see his activity in your life this week, and this very day.

4. Make a list of situations where you need his presence and his answers. Ask God to show you his will. Consider how you can make sure you don’t miss him in your life right now.

DAY 4 MARY, THE MOTHER OF JESUS

OVERWHELMED BY GRIEF

JOHN 19:25-27

What do you see when you picture Mary, the mother of Jesus, standing before him at his cross?

If you’re like me, the images that come to mind originated in a movie or maybe a religious painting. The fact is that Scripture doesn’t tell us what Mary said or how she acted as she watched her beloved Son die.

But the actions and reactions portrayed in films are easy to believe. I’m remembering a weeping woman, devastated by her Son’s suffering, defeated by the injustice of it all and helpless to do anything to change it.

If Mary wailed at his prolonged pain, if she wrung her hands and screamed “why” to God, we understand. For we have faced what isn’t fair. We have grieved at separation or death or disappointment. And out loud in a crowd, or alone in the shadows of the night, we have pleaded with God for an explanation.

I remember once when I had a physical symptom I couldn’t explain. I felt it and thought about it for several days after I made the doctor’s appointment before I could see him. I remember being at the mall or in a crowded elevator during those days, looking at the people around me, and thinking, These people aren’t sick. They’re not dying. Why is this happening to me? And why don’t any of them notice or care?

RESPOND:

Not exactly rational, I know. But that little “crisis” (the doctor told me to take some aspirin and the pain would go away) gave me a shred of insight into the grief and confusion some others may face when life gives them a punch in the gut.

I was talking with a friend about her job. It had seemed like a dream opportunity, but now she was frustrated to tears because of her boss’s unreasonable demands and unpredictable demeanor. “Maybe you’ll be able to look back on this someday and see how the preparation you received for this position equipped you perfectly for what you’ll be doing then,” I said.

I know it doesn’t always work out that way. But when we’re in the middle of a mess, sometimes it helps to take a deep breath and admit that God may do something wonderful with it tomorrow or next year.

Mary could not fathom what was in store for her. She could not imagine that the anguish of Calvary would give way to the exuberance of the resurrection.

We cannot see how God will somehow allow our distress to turn to joy. But when we are overwhelmed by grief, he bids us quietly look to him and whisper the words, “I will trust you.”

1. W hat is the biggest crisis you have faced in your personal life? Can you see how God has used it for good (Romans 8:28) for you or for others? If so, thank him for that. If not, tell him you’re looking forward to the time when you’ll see how he’s made something beautiful from your loss.

2. W hat problem is pressing you now? Allow yourself to imagine how God could use it to bless someone else or make your situation better. Talk with God about that.

3. W ho among your family or friends is facing severe grief or disappointment? Pray for God to give them a sense of his presence with them now and an awareness of his care amid their predicament.

DAY 5 CHIEF PRIESTS AND TEACHERS OF THE LAW

BLINDED BY SELF

MATTHEW 27:32-44

Maybe you’ve experienced being close to something you couldn’t see. Maybe your current spouse was nothing more than a good friend till you finally realized he or she was the one you wanted to live with forever.

Maybe you didn’t appreciate the potential—or the problem!—in a son or daughter until a good friend or trusted teacher pointed it out to you.

Maybe you saw later in life that your true passion was for a pursuit far different than your current job or your college major. But your friends could have told you all along you’d been walking a path that doesn’t fit you.

Stories like these usually have happy endings. But when God himself is right beside you and you can’t even see him, that’s a problem.

This was precisely the error made by several people in the crucifixion story. Pilate didn’t want to crucify Jesus, but he didn’t understand that Jesus was God standing before him. Although one of the robbers crucified with Jesus saw something special in him, he didn’t recognize that Jesus was the creator of the universe. And it’s certain the soldiers didn’t know they mocked and executed the very one who had given them life.

The same is true for the chief priests and teachers of the law, but in this is a surprise and a warning.

The surprise? That the most religious men—the most learned, those best-acquainted with the Scriptures— didn’t understand that Jesus was the Messiah the prophets had foretold.

RESPOND:

Their heads were full, but their hearts were hardened. And by what? By themselves. They were sure they had God and his will all figured out. They were certain they deserved the deference and honor that came with their position. They had reduced obedience to rituals and traditions that convinced them they were in the right.

Humble hearts would have heard Jesus’ call to radical obedience. Eyes focused on God instead of self would have seen that God’s kingdom is “not about me,” not at all about me. Listening ears would have heard the truth in Jesus’ preaching. Godly mouths would have uttered words of repentance.

But Jesus spoke with an authority the religious leaders didn’t acknowledge, and he backed up his claims with miracles they didn’t believe. “We’ve given our whole lives to studying and teaching God’s Word,” they seemed to say, “and who is this Nazarene to challenge our view of things?” Their deriding insults were their attempt to lift themselves up by tearing him down.

And in that attitude is our warning. Bible study is great, and most of us need to do more of it. Church attendance is important, and some of us are too casual about it. Righteous living is more than nice; it’s necessary, and all of us have ways to improve.

But if we focus on our efforts to know God instead of on God himself, we may miss his will and ignore his presence. We won’t see him if we’re consumed by concentrating on ourselves.

And that would be the most tragic mistake any Christian could make.

1. How has God made his presence clear to you this year—or ever?

2. How have you reacted when you’ve clearly seen that God’s will contradicts your own notion of right living?

3. A sk God to help you see him and know him so well that your own reputation or preferences will not get in the way of following him.

DAY 6

THE CENTURION STRUCK BY THE TRUTH

MATTHEW 27:45-54

If you’ve ever talked about Jesus with someone who was not a Christian, perhaps you did so with confidence, or maybe you were afraid. If confident, it was because you know the message is true and that truth has changed your life. If afraid, maybe it was because you feared your friend would reject you along with your words.

Perhaps such fear is well founded. Even those who encountered Jesus himself in the flesh did not always believe in him. We’ve seen that in the stories we’ve remembered this week.

The soldiers gambling for his clothes seemed unchanged by him; to them he was just another Jewish criminal. The chief priests and teachers saw his death as proof that their disdain for him was well founded. And at least one of the men executed beside him continued to curse Jesus until he died.

But today’s story is different. Today we read of another soldier, but not just any soldier. This man, the centurion, was commander of all the soldiers who performed and presided over the crucifixion. And just after Jesus died, the centurion and some with him exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God.”

Perhaps they said this because they saw the miracles that accompanied the death of Jesus. The tightly woven, impenetrable veil of the temple tore in two. (And now we know that symbolized the access to God all can have because of the death of Christ.) And, accompanied by an earthquake, “The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life” (v. 52). (Their empty graves remind us that Jesus promises new life to all who make him Lord; his own resurrection, not long after the events in this chapter, guarantees this.)

RESPOND:

This pagan Roman soldier couldn’t have grasped any of the meaning behind the miracles. But he knew supernatural events when he saw them. And that’s not all. Likely, the centurion had been watching Jesus throughout his ordeal at Calvary. He had seen him die with dignity, without curses, without pleas for rescue or help. Maybe he had even heard Jesus ask God to forgive his executioners, or cry out as he died, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:45).

The centurion knew this was a different death of a special man. Were his words a statement of faith as we understand statements of faith? Maybe not. It’s doubtful this Roman knew enough to completely understand who Jesus was. But with his words he took a step like the one that leads many to faith today. He could not ignore or forget Jesus, and that was a good enough beginning.

One commentator repeats a tradition that this centurion later became a Christian and even died a Christian martyr. It’s a beautiful story we hope is true.

But meanwhile, as we consider again the awful death and the remarkable resurrection of Jesus, the centurion’s words remind us of what we celebrate at Easter and always.

Jesus was more than a martyr; his death accomplished what no other death has done. “Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many” (Hebrews 9:28).

Jesus is more than a hero, for no other hero has given his life only to take it up again.

And so, something like the centurion, we are struck by the truth that turned Jerusalem upside down and changes our lives as well. And with joy we echo his words today: “Surely this Jesus is the Son of God.”

1. W hen did you first say and believe the centurion’s words? Thank God for the evidences and emotions that led you to say them.

2. W ho among your family and friends may be struggling to believe? Pray for him or her. Ask God to show you how you can offer testimony that will lead them to faith.

LIVING BY GRACE IN A CHALLENGING WORLD

BY DOUG CROZIER

In his 2012 book titled Grace, Max Lucado wrote, “Grace is God’s best idea. His decision to ravage a people by love, to rescue passionately, and to restore justly—what rivals it? Of all his wondrous works, grace, in my estimation, is the magnum opus.”

Our challenge as Christians in today’s world and culture is to live and breathe and exhibit God’s grace. We will do so by following the roadmap God gave us in the Old and New Testaments. The Bible is the inerrant Word of God!

In my work with The Solomon Foundation, borrowers have a “grace period,” typically from the due date on their monthly payment to the date the payment is delinquent. As the lender, we give our borrowers grace by allowing them some extra time to make the payment, after which a fee is charged. So, we are extending grace. In the world of church financing, we also extend grace in many other areas to both our borrowing churches and our investors.

WHAT IS GRACE?

When we receive God’s grace, we receive something we don’t deserve and can never repay. Since God owns everything we have, he allows us grace in how we manage or steward our assets. All the great things we have come from God. And the greatest thing we receive from his grace is our salvation.

Paul told the Ephesian elders, “But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24, English Standard Version).

There is accountability in being a Christian. When we become a believer, we must repent. The term repent derives from the Roman military; it meant to turn and go the opposite way. Like the Roman soldier who was instructed to turn around, we as Christians must turn from sin and dedicate ourselves to changing our lives and following the path of Christ.

OUR FIRST CORE VALUE IS TO HONOR GOD.

HOW DO WE LIVE BY GRACE?

Many people become Christians but do not follow a Christlike lifestyle. Yes, we will fail; yes, we will regress. But through his grace, God forgives us! Being in relationship with God allows us to stay away from bad things. Living by God’s grace allows us to be more confident as Christians.

There are several cornerstones of grace:

PRAYER: “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people” (Ephesians 1:18).

Prayer directs our attention to God in a two-way spiritual relationship. It allows us to talk to God and it allows God to talk to us. Prayer brings us in communication with God and other believers.

STUDYING THE SCRIPTURES: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16).

We need to read and study the Bible because it is our instruction manual—God’s words to us. Our instruction manual answers the simplest to the most complex questions. It reveals who we are and whom we are to become. It answers so many why, what, and where questions. What is the purpose of my life? Where do I come from? What does a successful marriage look like? So many of our questions are answered in Scripture.

TAKING THE LORD’S SUPPER EVERY SUNDAY: Paul provided us with the background and important instructions for the Lord’s Supper:

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner

will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves (1 Corinthians 11:23-29).

Communion is a key part of our weekly worship experience. I partake of the Lord’s Supper many weekends at my home church—Southeast Christian Church in Parker, Colorado—or else I take Communion at one of the Christian churches I am visiting that week. A common thread in our churches is that Communion is a weekly event!

FASTING: “Then all the Israelites, the whole army, went up to Bethel, and there they sat weeping before the Lord. They fasted that day until evening and presented burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to the Lord” (Judges 20:26).

Fasting is taught and practiced throughout Scripture. This key spiritual discipline is a process of bonding with God.

FELLOWSHIP WITH ONE ANOTHER: Paul said, “You were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:9, New King James Version).

Christian fellowship encompasses both a vertical relationship with God and a horizontal relationship with other believers. Relationships are important to me, and they include family and friends inside and outside ministry. One of my goals is to be able to lay my head on my pillow at night knowing all my relationships are solid. This isn’t easy, but it’s a goal I set 40 years ago.

At The Solomon Foundation our first core value is to honor God. We preach this to our staff, investors, and borrowers—we consider them all to be ministry partners. We do this because we are plowing the fields together to advance the kingdom!

As Christians we need to follow the Word and exhibit God’s grace so we can improve our daily lives and positively impact our relationships with others. 

Doug Crozier serves as chief executive officer of The Solomon Foundation in Parker, Colorado.

THE LOOKOUT

OUR FREE WEEKLY BIBLE STUDY MATERIAL IS AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY THROUGH CHRISTIANSTANDARD.COM AND OUR “+LOOKOUT STUDY” NEWSLETTER.

To access our weekly lesson material, simply visit ChristianStandard.com in your web browser and select +The Lookout in the main menu.

There you will find the most recent

• Study by Mark Scott (longtime Christian college professor)

• Application by David Faust (veteran Christian educator and minister)

• Discovery questions by Michael C. Mack (editor and experienced curriculum writer)

A new block of related lessons begins every month, so your group can jump in at any time during the year.

Many small-group leaders and participants prefer to receive our lessons via newsletter, which we send out monthly at least 10 days in advance. The newsletter provides a link to a download of the next month’s lesson material all in one easy-to-print pdf. (Send an email including the title “The Lookout Study” to cs@christianstandardmedia.com to be added to our mailing list.)

You have our permission to print as many copies as you need for your group or class, or you can forward the link or share the pdf via email with your friends.

A final thought: Our Discovery questions are designed to foster conversation and “discovery” of biblical truth among groups and individuals with much Bible knowledge or no Bible background. Try it out! It’s free!

MINOR PROPHETS (AMOS, HOSEA, MICAH)

I’VE BEEN UNFAITHFUL

Unfaithfulness is a painful word. It is painful for the wounded party, for sure, but it is also painful for the one who wounded. Recognizing one’s unfaithfulness just might be the first step toward grace. The earlier of the Minor Prophets—Amos, Hosea, and Micah—will help us understand that. These eighth-century BCE Minor Prophets cried out against Israel’s (and Judah’s) unfaithfulness. God’s punishment for his people’s unfaithfulness would come from Assyria and Babylon. Students will learn the progression of returning to God by seeking God’s forgiveness and mercy, getting help for one’s brokenness, and getting back on the trail of righteousness.

GOSPEL OF MARK

EVERYONE’S INVITED

Reading the Gospel of Mark is like preparing for the arrival of company. The fast-moving Messiah of Mark’s Gospel was getting his house (kingdom) ready for a wide assortment of guests. Jesus wanted everyone in his kingdom—the ordinary, the nations, sinners, the hurting, and even you. Students will want to give Jesus their RSVP.

A ‘COLLECTOR’S ITEM’

Victor Knowles, president, Peace on Earth Ministries, Joplin, Missouri I received the January/February 2023 Christian Standard this morning. Even though I am only up to page 39, it is very encouraging to see the topic, “What Is Truth?” being “rightly divided” (literally “cutting it straight”) by your writers. Jerry Harris and Mike Mack “set the table,” as it were, with their columns. The articles by Ken Idleman, Kent Fillinger, Billy Strother, and Mark Moore really put strong, spiritual meat on the table. I liked what E. V. Hill's grandmother told him: “When it comes to the Bible, don't adjust it; trust it!” This issue promises to be a “collector’s item” and makes me glad to be a part of a movement that still raises the standard in doctrine and ordinances (to borrow somewhat from Christian Standard’s motto).

T HE INVITATION

Patty Boswell I appreciated “The Gospel and the Invitation” [by Jerry Harris, p. 2, November/December 2022]. I’ve seen the power of the Holy Spirit draw men to a decision as the preacher confirms the urgency of accepting Christ and being baptized into him. This is a much-needed article.

Bruce I was also saved by the hearing of an invitational prayer after sermons many times over and over. It finally touched my heart enough that the Holy Spirit convicted me to want to know more and to be saved. I agree 100 percent that we have lost a great opportunity in church services nowadays.

Sarah Lewis An essential message wrapped in a lovely story [“Close the Sale! The Eternal Power of the Triedand-True Public Invitation,” by Daniel Schantz, p. 56, November/December 2022].

Tami Beaverson Great writing as always. Keep these thought-provoking pieces coming.

WHAT NOW?

Jim D. I agree completely [Bold, “Roe v. Wade Overturned . . . What Now for the Church?” by Tina Wilson, p. 8, November/December 2022]. There will be a cost of time and finances for the church and individuals that needs to be made to prove to the world that this is God’s will.

Kimberly Silver Waycaster Very well-written article and thanks for your boldness! We all gotta love like Jesus!!! The lost and hurting need us more than ever!

COMMUNION

Harold Haker, elder, Woodland Hills Church of Christ, Pleasant Hill, Iowa I read “Communion: The Crown Jewel of Worship” [by Victor Knowles, p. 38, November/December 2022] and thought, Wow, what an amazing article! . . . This article is so good that I believe our congregation needs to hear it spoken from the pulpit on a Sunday morning as a Communion Meditation.

P REACH

Roger Carr Tina, thanks for bringing this moving testimony of a man willing to endure such hardships to us [“You Must Preach the Gospel,” by Tina Wilson, p. 78, November/December 2022]. It is so encouraging to hear of how God continues to work in amazing ways through those who so love him and trust in him.

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