One of the hardest questions to wrestle with in our faith journeys is the question of evil and suffering. Why does God allow the things he does? Why doesn’t he stop wars, famines, or hurricanes? Why does he allow abuse and broken relationships? Why doesn’t he stop evil corporations or governments?

These questions aren’t new to us. They are all over Scripture. It is the question that is the center of the book of Habakkuk.

As we make our way to the end of chapter 2, God answers Habakkuk with “5 woes” to the Babylonians. These “woes” show that while God used Babylon to punish Judah, he would hold them accountable for their evil actions. But as you read through the woes, we can also see the evil in our day and age. And if we are honest, we can see the evil in our own hearts as God names each one.

Woe #1: The Woe of Money and Greed (2:6 – 8). 

Money and greed are an enormous part of evil. We see this all around us and throughout Scripture. 

Paul told Timothy in the NT that “the love of money was the root of all evil.” Money isn’t evil in and of itself, but how we view and use money can be. 

God is talking about the way the Babylonians handle money, and when money is used for evil and suffering. 

Underneath this woe about money and greed is really pride. A lot of pain and suffering comes from pride. People cheat because they think they deserve something. We hurt people with our words out of pride. We feel hurt or not good enough, so we put people down so we feel better. We are greedy; people are so greedy that we hurt others. People are oppressed, used, abused, left, and cast aside when they don’t serve a purpose.

The question we need to ask ourselves is, Where does money and greed show up as evil in your life?

Where does money and greed show up as evil in your life?
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We can talk about politics and corporations and compare them to Babylon and the evil of Habakkuk’s day pretty easily. But what about us? Are we causing any evil with our money, greed, and pride?

Woe #2: The Woe of Dishonesty and Self-Serving Behavior (2:9 – 11).

Another way to see this woe is as unjust gain.

This might seem obvious, but when we gain by lying, by not telling the whole truth, we gain by being self-serving. 

The superpowers of Habakkuk’s day did this, and so do they today, and so do we. 

This is when we want to take care of our family, to provide, but in our desire, we end up hurting people, using people, and doing wrong. This can also be when we gain money dishonestly. Like this past Thursday and Friday, when you “worked” while watching March Madness!

Underneath our actions in this area is often an “I deserve this.”

This can also be when good motives turn bad. 

This happens to all of us. 

Maybe you’ve experienced hurt because of a parent who couldn’t stop working. They said it was because they wanted to give you things, but it was their pride.

Maybe it was a spouse who couldn’t set boundaries.

This is the thinking that if you make enough money, you can keep pain and hurt from your life. Or, if you can make enough money, you will be somebody, important enough, you can make someone jealous, or get a parent to notice you.

The question we need to ask ourselves is, Are we taking any shortcuts in life? Are we being honest in all areas and all relationships?

Are we taking any shortcuts in life? Are we being honest in all areas and all relationships?
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Woe #3: The Woe of Violence (2:12 – 14). 

God denounces the splendor of the Babylonian empire because it was built on blood, corruption, and they did it all in an effort to gain their own glory.

God is calling out the people who build empires and legacies on the backs of others. That can be the wealthy over the poor, this can be about race or gender. 

But it can also be closer to home. 

How many of us have built our lives, our glory, our little empire on the tears of someone who asked us to slow down? To pay more attention? To care about something else more? How many of us have seen someone try to build their life on the hurt and tears of others?

We also have to be aware of how desensitized we have become to the violence of our world. 

Am I helping to keep violence alive, or am I working to end it?
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This doesn’t mean we turn away and pretend it isn’t happening. 

But now, because we can play Grand Theft Auto and steal a car, play a first-person shooter game, and then watch bombs explode live on TikTok, we are desensitized to the cry of violence and oppression. 

There are now whole social media accounts that are just videos of people dying or getting hurt. 

And we have to ask, “Am I helping to keep violence alive, or am I working to end it?”

Woe #4: The Woe of Hurting Others (2:15 – 17). 

This is exploitation. Degrading those around us. 

This is the person who takes joy in others’ pain. The one who laughs at others’ tears. The one who is callous to the pain of those closest to them. 

The Babylonians would get someone drunk, get them naked, and take advantage of them, degrading and disrespecting them.

This can also be when we watch someone be degraded, ridiculed, and made fun of, and do nothing. This can happen at work or school when someone is bullied, harassed, or made fun of, and we do nothing. 

This can happen when we watch porn and see someone being degraded and humiliated. 

And we tell ourselves that we do it not because we want them to be hurt but because we don’t want to join them.

For some, watching others in pain is enjoyable. 

Here is a question: Do your actions or inactions exploit anyone in any way?

Do your actions or inactions exploit anyone in any way?
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Woe #5: The Woe of Idolatry (2:18 – 20). 

An idol is not a statue you bow down to. An idol is anything you look to, anything you place your trust in to do what only God can do.

It is looking to someone to approve of you instead of God. 

It is looking to your kids, spouse, parent, or teacher for affirmation instead of to God.

It is trying to rest in your control instead of trusting in God’s control and power.

It is seeking to find pleasure and identity in sex and relationships instead of Jesus.

It is whatever you would lose that would make your life not worth living. 

That thing, that person, that dream or hope is something you have placed above Jesus. 

What idol does your life revolve around instead of Jesus?

What idol does your life revolve around instead of Jesus?
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To help you figure out what idols are lurking in your heart, click here to work through a series of questions. 

God tells Habakkuk in verse 20: But the Lord is in his holy temple; let the whole earth be silent in his presence.

God says, I see all of these things. I hear the cry of the oppressed. I see the tears of the broken. 

But I also see the evil that the Chaldeans do. He also sees the evil that we do. 

Verse 20 is crucial to this book and to the question of where God is when life hurts and why God allows suffering and evil in the world.

After saying, “I see all that the Chaldeans do. I see their sin. I see how they exploit people, harm them, and abuse them. I see it all. Justice is coming. Because I sit on my throne in my temple.”

The word temple is the same Hebrew word that the Old Testament prophet Isaiah used to describe God as a judge and the day of judgment, when everyone will stand before God and give an account of their lives.

Tim Keller, in his book Walking with God Through Pain and Suffering, said,

The biblical doctrine of judgment day, far from being a gloomy idea, enables us to live with both hope and grace. That all wrongs will be redressed. If we are not sure that there will be a final judgment, then when we are wronged, we will feel an almost irresistible compulsion to take up the sword and smite the wrongdoers. But if we know that no one will get away with anything, and that all wrongs will ultimately be redressed, then we can live in peace. Judgment day tells us that we don’t know exactly what people deserve, nor have the right to mete out punishment when we are sinners ourselves.

The post How the Justice of God Answers Pain and Suffering appeared first on JoshuaReich.org.

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One theme has continued to emerge repeatedly in our series on 1 John, and that is, we can know where we stand with God. 

In chapter 5, he says 4 times in 3 verses: “we know, we know, we know…” (1 John 5:18 – 20). The primary purpose of 1 John is to help us live in the reality that we can know where we stand with God, we can be sure that we are in Christ, and we can be assured that we are safe and loved by the Father. 

What John does throughout the letter is not only show us what that life looks like as it relates to our relationship with God, ourselves, and others, but he also writes about what battles we will face in experiencing and living in that life and love. 

At the very end of the letter, he says: Guard yourselves from idols. 

One translation says: Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.

At first glance, this is an unusual way to conclude the letter. Idols? After all the talk of light and dark, eternity, love, etc., he chooses idols to end with. And end abruptly. 

Yet, the idols of our hearts are sneaky and keep us from the life God has for us. 

What is an idol? Tim Keller has been helpful to me in this area. He says, “Idols are often good things that we make great. An idol is anything we look to for what only Jesus can give us.”

Idols are often good things that we make great. An idol is anything we look to for what only Jesus can give us. -Tim Keller
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I’m not sure where I first heard this list of questions, but they were questions to help you discern the idols of your heart (I shared more detail about these in my sermon on this passage): 

9 questions to help you discern your idols of the heart.
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• What do you worry about?
• What do you use to comfort yourself when life gets tough or things don’t go your way?
• What, if you lost it, would make you think life wasn’t worth living?
• What do you daydream about?
• What makes you feel the most self-worth? 
• Early on, what would you like people to know about you? What do you lead with in conversations?
• What prayer, unanswered, would seriously make you consider walking away from God?
• What do you really want and expect out of life?
• What is your hope for the future? What will complete you?

9 questions to figure out what is holding you back in your relationship with Jesus.
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One aspect that is often overlooked is the origin of these idols. 

According to Adam Young in his book, Make Sense of Your Story: Why Engaging Your Past with Kindness Changes Everything, says, “When your heart is wounded – when something breaks inside of you – you begin living in a way that promises to relieve the wound and assures you that you will never be hurt in that particular way again. And this way of living enslaves you. You become captive to it.” He goes on to discuss how there is a connection between our hurt, our heart being broken, and the idols we pursue. 

Our idols are found in the soil of our pain. -Adam Young
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Let me share something from my life that might help you apply this. 

When I meet someone, I want them to know as quickly as possible that I am working on my doctorate. Why? I want them to be aware of my qualifications. I want them to know that I can do certain things. In fact, when I am in rooms with other pastors, I often struggle to believe that I belong there, that I don’t have what it takes. 

This struggle dates back to middle school and high school because I wasn’t a great student, and I had a guidance counselor who told me he didn’t think I was college material. At the time, he wasn’t wrong, but that stung, and that scar still runs deep. I have often struggled to believe that I am enough in Jesus and that I don’t need letters behind my name to be “someone” in his eyes. 

My guess is, you can find your idol in the soil of your pain. 

The power of your early childhood on who you become as an adult.
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You might look to money for security because you grew up with so little. Maybe you want someone to approve of you or love you because the people who were supposed to love you didn’t. Perhaps you have prayed and prayed for something that hasn’t happened, and that thing has become your salvation.

We don’t always see it. 

That’s why idols are so sneaky. 

That’s why John says to “guard ourselves.” To pick up our shields and swords and guard ourselves. To be alert (1 Peter 5:8). 

The post Idols, Our Stories and Our Longings for Love and Acceptance appeared first on JoshuaReich.org.

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At some point in your relationships, you will be hurt. Someone will say something that marks you; it might be a small thing or something that changes your relationship(s) forever. You might be the one who says something. Maybe you have already experienced this and wondered, How do I trust again? How do I forgive that person and move forward?

Our ability to forgive someone and move forward has an enormous impact on our ability to live in and experience the good life that God has for us. 

How do you forgive that person and move forward?
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When forgiveness comes up, we immediately jump to what is next. It is natural. But there is an interesting phrase that Jesus uses in Matthew 18 when he talks about forgiveness and reconciliation. 

In verse 15, Jesus says, “If your brother sins against you.”

A question Jesus wants us to ask that we often skip over is: Did they sin against me or just annoy me?
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So, before confronting or bringing someone with us, we need to step back and ask, “Did this person sin against me?” Or did they do something I didn’t like?

The reality is that they may have sinned against you, and you need to confront this issue. They may also have done something you didn’t like. The reason I start here is that we often get hung up on and ruminate on things we should let go of more quickly. 

Once you have clarity on whether it is something for you to wrestle with and let go of, or if it is indeed something you need to confront someone about or navigate the steps of forgiveness, you can move forward. 

Forgiveness is tough. In a sermon, giving forgiveness sounds so easy and clean. Yet, in real life, it is complicated and messy. Often, we forgive as much as we believe we are forgiven. Whenever we withhold forgiveness, we deny the power of the cross. Whenever we say, “I can’t forgive that person,” or “I can’t let go of that situation”, we deny the power of the cross. We deny the power of what God redeemed us to do.

How to Forgive, Let Go & Deal with Hurt in Relationships.
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Before walking through giving forgiveness, let’s look at what forgiveness is not, because many of us have the wrong idea about forgiveness. 

5 things forgiveness is not.
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Forgiveness is not the same thing as forgetting. Forgive and forget is not a reality. We will always remember. It is a part of our story and past. We will not forget the room, the smell, the face, the words. 

Forgiveness does not always mean reconciling or trusting. Just because you forgive someone does not mean you have a relationship with them moving forward. Wisdom might require you to have boundaries. You can forgive them and release them, but the wisdom may tell you not to trust them. You can also reconcile with them and not trust them to the same degree you once did. 

Forgiveness does not mean excusing what happened. This goes with forgetting, but forgiveness does not mean you are ignoring it or saying it’s no big deal. 

Forgiveness is not simple or easy. When the other person pushes you to forgive, they underestimate the impact of their words and actions. Forgiveness is complex and challenging. 

Forgiveness does not depend on the other person. You can forgive someone who hasn’t asked for forgiveness. They don’t need to apologize for you to forgive and let them go. Stop letting them take up real estate in your heart and mind.

5 myths about forgiveness.
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Forgiveness involves letting go, canceling what is owed to you, and relinquishing the control the offender has over you. It is giving up revenge; as we see in Romans 12:19, it leaves it in God’s hands.

As you walk through this door and grant forgiveness, here are a few things to keep in mind:

3 things to remember when you forgive.
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Forgiving someone does not mean pretending it didn’t happen. Forgiving does not mean forgetting, as the old saying goes. Those scars still exist. They are still there. Forgiving means acknowledging it happened and the pain associated with it. It is facing the hurt.

Giving forgiveness carries a cost. There is a cost to forgiveness. The cost of forgiveness is always on the person granting forgiveness. This is why forgiveness is so hard. C.S. Lewis said, “Forgiveness is a beautiful word until you have something to forgive.”

Forgiveness is possible because Jesus bore your sin and the cost of forgiveness. When we look at the cross, we see how Jesus bore our sins, knowing we would fail repeatedly. Yet, he forgave us. The power of this moment is what enables us to forgive the way Jesus did.

How to forgive, let go of your hurt, and move forward in relationships.
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One of the strongest and clearest messages throughout the Bible is God’s love for us. We are reminded that God doesn’t forget us (even though many of us feel forgotten); that God is close to us (even though He often feels far away); and that not only has He created us in His image, but He knows us, and that doesn’t scare Him away (although we always fear that the moment someone truly understands us, they’ll bolt.)

And yet, many of us still struggle to believe God loves us.

We believe that God loves the world and that, through Jesus, God will redeem and restore it; however, we struggle to live as if this is true. 

So we run, hide, put up fronts, wear masks, beat ourselves up for past mistakes, try to earn God’s love, and try to prove ourselves worthy of God’s love. All the while, God’s love sits there.

If you’re like me, you can relate to this.

The problem for many of us is that we read verses about God’s love for the world and us (John 3:16), that Jesus loves us (John 15:9), that God predestined us in love (Ephesians 1:4 – 5), that God sings over us (Zephaniah 3:17), that God loved us first (1 John 4:19), that God draws us to Himself (John 6:44). We read the apostle Paul saying over 160 times that as a follower of Jesus, we are “in Christ”, and yet we live every day as if God is disappointed in us, indifferent towards us, mildly happy with us or “likes” us.

We’ll say, “I know God has forgiven me, but I can’t forgive myself.” Or, “God loves me, but I can’t love myself.”

When we say those things, we have made love and forgiveness something it is not. We have based that on our definitions and life.

Over the last two years, if there is one message that God has put on my heart for me to learn, it is this: His gracious, unrelenting, never-stopping love for me.

I keep returning to Luke 15 and the stories that Jesus told: a shepherd who goes after a lost lamb, a woman who searches for a coin, and a father who runs out to meet his son, who doesn’t deserve grace, let alone a party. Through this passage, God has softened my heart, enabling me to understand and feel His love.

Some of us (at least I did) balked a little at this because it seemed too emotional, making God too close and personal, and we feared it would diminish His transcendence and power. He’s God, Creator of the universe. Yes, and He’s also a personal God who created you in His image and sent His Son to die in your place so He could rescue you and so you could know His great love for you.

Here’s my challenge to you. Spend as much time as you need, months or years. Dive into Luke 15, Ephesians 1, and the passages listed above and ask God, “Show me Your love for me; help me to understand and feel Your love for me.”

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I recently wrapped up a sermon series on John 13 to 17, the upper room discourse. It takes place on the night that Jesus is betrayed by one of his followers and arrested, and is less than 24 hours from his crucifixion. Reading through these passages in that light takes on newer and more profound meanings for people who have heard these verses.

Jesus is preparing himself for what lies ahead and trying as hard as possible to prepare the disciples, especially because they do not realize what is about to happen. You see this in their questions and interactions with Jesus. The number of times that they ask him, “What are you talking about?” We don’t understand what you were talking about. They also have side conversations about Jesus’s comments about returning to the Father and not knowing what he’s talking about (John 16).

As I reflected on the series and the conversations that I had with people in my church, I thought I would share five things that stood out to me:

Jesus was serious about love.  John 13:35 is quoted quite a bit in churches. In it, Jesus says that the world will know who his disciples are by how they love one another. While this is a well-known verse, very few Christians actually live out it.

If you don’t believe that, ask yourself: Does the world find the church and their love for each other inviting or repelling?

It is interesting to read through the gospels how many conversations Jesus had with people about loving their neighbor and who their neighbor was. Throughout history, Christians have tried to figure out how to avoid loving their neighbor or the person at their church who is challenging to love. And yet Jesus sits with his disciples, including Judas, and tells them to love one another.

This verse is even more powerful because it follows Jesus washing all of the disciples’ feet. He serves them in a way that in that culture would’ve been seen as very humiliating and then tells them this is what love looks like. So, the question we have to ask is, am I serving the people around me in a way like Jesus did in John 13?

What if Jesus was serious when he told us to love one another and that by this everyone would know that we are his disciples.
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It’s okay if you don’t know what God is doing.  Many followers of Jesus believe they should always know what God is up to or calling them to do. We tend to beat ourselves up if we don’t understand something in the Bible or struggle to believe something about God or have questions or doubts about God. However, one of the interesting things throughout the upper room discourse is how confused the disciples were by what Jesus kept saying. They asked him question after question and even had side conversations with each other about what Jesus was talking about and how they had no idea what he was talking about.

Do you see this most clearly in John 16 when they look at each other and ask what he is saying? I wonder what that interaction was like. Did they say it quietly so that Jesus didn’t hear them? But Jesus does hear them and asks them questions about it. However, I think the tone in which we read Jesus’s voice is critical. Often, we can read Jesus’s tone and ask the disciples questions in a very angry or disappointed tone. But I think the tone that Jesus has when he asks them do you not understand? It is one of love and compassion.

Five things I learned from preaching through the upper room discourse.
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Jesus knew unity mattered and would be difficult. In John 17, we see the longest recorded prayer in scripture. It is what is known as Jesus’s high priestly prayer, and in it, Jesus prays for three things: our security in the Father, our sanctification in the Spirit, and our unity. 

In John 17, Jesus prays for three things: our security in the Father, our sanctification in the Spirit, and our unity.
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But I found it most interesting that of all the things that Jesus could have prayed for his disciples, he prayed that they would have unity. This tells us that unity is incredibly important to Jesus, but he also knew that it would be challenging for us to live out, which is why he prayed for it.

But then he says why we should have unity because it will tell the world that the Father sent Jesus and that the Father loves them. So unity is not just some pie-in-the-sky idea that Jesus had but essential to the mission of God being fulfilled here on earth.

We barely scratch the surface of the Holy Spirit’s power. One of the most difficult things for people to wrap their minds around was for the disciples when Jesus told them it would be better for him to leave so that the spirit could come to live in each of his disciples.

Along with us, he tells his disciples that they will do greater things than he has because of the power of the Spirit living in them.

There’s a lot of debate about what this means and what Jesus intended for the disciples to know. The one thing that seems clear is that most Christians barely scratch the surface of the power of the Holy Spirit and what that means as we live our daily lives with the Holy Spirit living in us.

Eternity is real, and it is our home. John 14 is often a passage used when you preach at a funeral, but it is more than that. When Jesus’s disciples begin to understand that Jesus is leaving and have questions about it, the comfort that Jesus gives them is telling them that he is going to the Father, and when he goes to the Father, he will prepare a place for them. So, he tells them about eternity in difficulty, hardship, anxiety, and fear. This tells us that eternity is real and that if we look towards eternity, we will begin to see how that answers our worries and anxieties.

5 things Jesus told his disciples right before he was arrested and crucified.
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One of the things I love to do each year in my own life and a small group I lead is to ask everyone this simple question: If you were to look more like Jesus a year from now, what would that mean? What changes would you make? How would you know if you became that person?

Many people miss what God has for them because they lack a vision for their spiritual growth. 

Many of us miss what God has for us because we don’t have a vision for our spiritual growth.
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But make no mistake, God has a vision for who we are becoming. 

In John 15, Jesus tells his disciples what some of that looks like: to abide in Him. 

To abide means to dwell, remain, make your home in, to be held and kept.

To abide in Jesus means to dwell, remain, make your home in, to be held and kept.
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A simple heart-check question is, “What or who am I abiding in?” We are all abiding in something or someone. We all look to something or someone to keep us and hold us. We look for love and security from someone or something. We are making our home somewhere. That might be in our career, political party, relationship, kids’ sports, or lives. But we are all abiding in something or someone. 

The question is, are we abiding in the right thing?

I have often struggled to know what it means to abide. Abiding sounds passive, but it isn’t. 

When we think of the Christian life, we usually focus on the commands to go, do, make, etc. 

And those are all over Scripture. 

But John 15 also says that part of the Christian life is abiding, dwelling, remaining, being held and kept. 

For that to happen, we must choose it. 

In many ways, abiding is letting God love me. 

In many ways, abiding is letting God love me.
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How do we do that?

One, we must choose it. We must actively believe and trust that God loves us. We must believe that we can make a home in God and that he will hold us and keep us. 

If this is hard, ask God to help you. Ask him to show you that you are loved and that he is keeping you. 

3 truths from John 15.
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Two, dwell with him. 

Jesus tells his disciples in verse 3 that this happens through the word. 

Third, submit to the pruning that the Father brings into our lives. 

We don’t know the fruit we need to grow in as well as the Father. 

3 ways to let God love you.
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What do we do with the delays of life? The moment when we ask God to move, and it doesn’t seem like He’s doing anything or at the very least, He is moving at a very slow pace. The moments when we ask for healing that doesn’t come, for restoration that doesn’t happen, for the mending of a broken heart that seems to break more.

Believing in God’s goodness and love is the hardest in these places.

That happens in John 11 as Jesus gets word that his friend Lazarus is sick. But instead of rushing back to Lazarus to help or to heal him, Jesus stays where he is for two more days (John 11:6). 

If you know how John 11 ends, we can shrug at this verse. But imagine this for a moment. You are Lazarus or his family, and Jesus doesn’t rush to you. Jesus stays where He is. 

This is the moment many of us have experienced. When you prayed for healing that hasn’t happened, for a relationship to be healed and mended that is still broken, for a child to be born or healed, for an addiction to be broken, and it seems like nothing is happening. 

John 11, though, shows us 3 important things about God’s delays:

How to handle the slowness of God.
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They are inevitable. God’s timing is not our timing. The reason God’s delays are inevitable is no matter what God does in our lives; it will almost always feel like a delay to us because we want it now. 

They do not contradict his love. While Jesus stayed two days longer, he showed his love for everyone. He showed his care, not just for Lazarus and his family, as we’ll see, but also for everyone in front of him. 

His delays are not final. He will come in his own time and his way. It will be later than we’d like, but from God’s divine perspective, it will be the right time.

3 things we know about the “delays” of God.
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When Jesus arrives he tells them in verse 23: “Your brother will rise again,” Jesus told her. Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live. Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” “Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who comes into the world.”

You can’t have a resurrection without a death.

You can’t have a resurrection without a death.
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Life cannot come without death, without change. 

This means as God changes us, frees us from sin, death must come in areas of our life. Life does not come without what seems like a loss.

And we know this: sometimes healing only comes after a death.

Sometimes healing only comes after a death.
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Sometimes, we must walk through the valley of death to find life. 

Sometimes, a relationship must end for us to find new life. 

Sometimes, we must hit the end of ourselves, rock bottom, to find life. 

How to hold on to faith when life gets hard.
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There’s been a resurgence in the last decade around the gospel.

This is a good thing.

This has helped churches have a more robust view of the gospel. We see the gospel as more than just how one is made right with God, how one is changed, and how one goes to heaven. We are seeing the gospel for Christians and how the power of the gospel changes us into who God has called us to be.

This is positive.

It has also created a new thing to complain about and judge others.

Now, preachers are gospel-centered preachers. If you want to sell a book, throw the word gospel into it. Parenting, preaching, church planting, maybe even writing a book called the gospel. 

People on Twitter complain about writers and preachers who aren’t gospel-centered. Maybe, if you are a pastor, someone told you, “I’m leaving your church because you aren’t gospel-centered enough.”

When I’ve heard this, it often means, “You don’t preach the gospel the way I think the gospel should be preached.” In other words, “I think the gospel has specific components and need to be said in a certain order (i.e., the Romans road), and if you don’t say them in that order, you haven’t preached the gospel.” Or, sometimes, they want to hear the name of Jesus several times.

When I entered ministry twenty years ago, the debate was around deep and shallow preaching. People say, “I’m leaving your church because you aren’t deep enough.” The gospel-centered discussion is this generation’s deep preaching complaint in some ways.

So, if you are a pastor and get someone who comes up to you after a sermon or sends an email telling you that you aren’t gospel-centered, even though someone started following Jesus in that same sermon, what do you do?

Ask them what it means to be gospel-centered. While there are some agreed-upon components, each person has a different definition of what it means to be gospel-centered. As I said, this is about being Christ-focused or centered; for others, it is about giving a clear presentation of the gospel to follow Jesus; for some, it is about saying the name of Jesus. For others, it is about finding Jesus on every page of Scripture. For others, compare what you say to their favorite gospel-centered preacher and see if you use the exact words as Tim Keller or John Piper.

One of the best ways to learn from them and help them understand your perspective is to ask them what they think is gospel-centered. Sadly, most people who make this complaint cannot articulate it. For them, it comes down to a feeling or a sense they get from your preaching. It is essential to understand what you are talking about when you say “gospel-centered.”

At that point, you can have a conversation when terms are defined.

Lovingly tell them the gospel from your perspective. As you move forward, explain the gospel from your perspective to them. All over the New Testament, there is evidence of Peter and Paul communicating the gospel differently, depending on their audience. This is important for a pastor to keep in mind.

It is also essential to understand if someone is preaching at a conference or a church when they talk about the gospel. This is important. Many messages people point to for gospel focus happen at a conference with many pastors or Christians in a room. This differs from a week-in, week-out worship service at your local church.

The goal of preaching, from my perspective, is not a theological class. This is the goal of some conferences and can become the measuring stick for people in your church. So, it is vital to be clear when someone asks what your purpose of preaching is. Start here if you don’t have a clear answer as a pastor or a church.

Understand the fears and desires that come from someone in this conversation. When people bring up gospel-centeredness, it comes from fear and a desire to not water down Scripture.

The longer I’m in ministry, the more I see that when someone brings any complaint or question to me about anything, it is often from fear or concern. That’s a good thing.

In the end, gospel-centered preaching should always push people to a decision. It should show someone, whether they are a follower of Jesus or not, who they are apart from Jesus, their default sinful nature, and how their only hope for life, freedom, and peace is found in the power of the gospel. It should also show us God’s ultimate hope for the redemption of all things. It should show the defeat of evil and the enemy. The gospel is robust, not small.

Know that you emphasize a part of the gospel. The reality for every Christian and preacher is that we all emphasize a part of the gospel. For some, the focus is on the cross. For others, the focus is on the resurrection. For some, it is about law and obedience. Each preacher and Christian has a part of the gospel they emphasize over another part. This comes from your story, personality, church background, and other factors.

It is essential to know this and be aware of the blind spots it can create.

Recently, I spoke with someone about this topic and asked him: What is the church’s mission?

What is the mission of the church?
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This is an essential question in all of this. It is easy to get into a mud-slinging debate about the gospel with someone and even think someone is beneath you as you look at them and their preaching.

The church’s mission, what you think the church exists for, determines much of what you do in a worship service, groups, and preaching.

It also determines how you communicate the gospel you preach each week. Throughout the book of Acts, Peter and Paul and the apostles contextualized the gospel based on the city and setting they were in. Same gospel, just different aspects of it depending on where they were. This is essential work as a pastor but can be easily misunderstood.

And, without realizing it, you can have different opinions on the church’s mission and what you are trying to accomplish in your Sunday morning gatherings.

Don’t stop preaching the way God has called you to preach. Be clear, passionate, and focused, and be the pastor God has called you to be. 

How preaching connects to the mission of the church.
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One of the things that many people struggle with at various points in their spiritual journey is wondering where they stand with God. This can look like working to feel and know God’s love, wondering if there is something you have done or left undone that is affecting your relationship with God, or even asking, “Can you or have you lost your salvation?” These struggles are real and can be debilitating. 

I remember in college feeling the constant struggle of wondering where I stood with God. I asked if this sin or that sin did me in. Looking back, I realize now that I didn’t have a clear picture of God’s grace and mercy and the power of sin. But that doesn’t make the questions any less painful in the moment. 

Thankfully, Jesus tells us some important things related to salvation and being able to have certainty about where we stand with God. 

In Luke 6 and Matthew 7, after giving what is known as The sermon on the mount, Jesus answers this question. Now, the context is critical. The sermon on the mount is where Jesus lays out what life is like in the kingdom of God, where Jesus is King, and we follow after him. He talks about what is truly blessed in the kingdom of God, which is different than the world around us. He talks about money, sexuality, judgment, and so much more. But all of that is in the context of following Jesus as Lord, Savior, and King. 

The first question a follower of Jesus must answer is, “Is Jesus my Savior, Lord, and King?”

Is Jesus your Savior, Lord, and King?
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Jesus asks in Luke 6: “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and don’t do the things I say?” What is Jesus referring to when he says, what I say? I think he is referring to what He has just said in the sermon on the mount. Jesus says a disciple listens to the words of God and acts on them, does them. They don’t push it aside, think it was for someone else, or it doesn’t apply to them. 

A follower of Jesus is one who hears the words of God and does it.
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So, the first question we need to ask ourselves is, “Do I read my Bible and do what it says?” While this seems straightforward, it is easy to get out of it. 

• Think back over your recent times in God’s word. Has there been something you read that you didn’t think applied to you?
• Has there been a moment when you felt like the Holy Spirit was moving you to do something, say something, or not do something, and you brushed it off?
• Take a moment to confess that and bring that to our God of grace. 

Then, to help us apply this on a deeper level. Jesus tells a story about two men who build houses and get hit by a storm. One of the men built his house deep into the rock and had a solid foundation, and his house stood. This man, Jesus said, “Listened and acted on the words of God.” The second man built a house on the sand that collapsed when the storm came. This person heard the words of God but did nothing with them. 

A storm reveals our faith better than anything else.
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Take a moment and pull out a journal or a piece of paper:

• Think back on a recent storm you walked through. It could be health, relational, at work, or at home. Write out what happened. 
• What did you learn about yourself from that storm? What did you learn about God from that storm?
• Would you say that your faith was built on Jesus and stood the storm, or did it collapse?

Jesus tells us that one of the ways we see our faith is how it responds in a storm. 

A storm has a way of revealing where we stand and what is happening in us. It shows how quickly we turn to God or how easily we try to manage our way through a storm. 

A storm reveals where we stand and what is happening in us.
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When you think about God, do you think of God’s love for you or God’s disappointment in you?

Do you think of God’s love for you or God’s disappointment in you?
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Stop and think about it for a moment.

If you’re like most people and me, you don’t have to think very long to decide the answer; it’s God’s disappointment, his anger.

I’m becoming more and more convinced that Christians would live differently, our culture and churches would be different if we understood God’s love for us.

We read passages like Romans 8 and how nothing can separate us from the love of God and shrug. Then when we sin, we feel far from God and wonder why we don’t feel close.

We read how God sings over us in delight in Zephaniah but aren’t sure what that means or even how that would feel.

I had a conversation with a friend recently who gave me some pushback on my preaching. He told me that I spent too much time talking about God’s love and not enough time talking about God’s wrath. In his words, the gospel is what we have been saved from and what we are saved to, and I spent the majority of my time in a sermon on what God has saved us to.

The reality for many (especially in the reformed tribe) is to focus solely on God’s wrath and make little mention of his love. The Bible doesn’t say God is wrath. It says “God is love.”

The Bible doesn’t say God is wrath. It says “God is love.”
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I want to return to the question at the top. Is there a verse in the Bible that says God is disappointed in you?

Most people live like there is, but there isn’t.

Now, the Bible has plenty to say about life apart from God, sinful desires, giving into temptations and not letting go of past hurts. The Bible has plenty to say about shame, regret and other sins and negative emotions.

But it doesn’t say that God is disappointed in you.

Make no mistake, if you think God is disappointed in you, that will drastically impact your life.

If God’s love or God’s wrath is prominent in your mind, that determines so much of your life.

If God’s love or God’s wrath is prominent in your mind, that determines so much of your life.
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Back to my friend.

The reality is that I do spend more time on God’s love for us and what we have been saved to.

For a couple of reasons:

1. Jesus spent a lot of time on that. Many times, Jesus would talk with someone and end by saying, “Go and sin no more.” That is future-oriented.

How to be a future-focused preacher.
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2. The Bible is full of hope, and that’s what people walk into a church looking for. Every Sunday people walk into a church looking for hope and help. They may not say that, but that is what brought them there. The beautiful thing about this is that is precisely what the Bible has for us.

The Bible is full of hope, and that’s what people walk into a church looking for.
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Now, to be clear before I get emails. When the text calls for it, talking about God’s wrath is something we do at our church (we spent almost a whole year in Romans once). It is in the Bible.

I’ve learned though that regardless of whether or not you have a church background, believing in God’s wrath is not difficult. Believing in His love is.

The 1 Thing Most Christians Miss (and It’s Big)
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