From 1 Corinthians 3: Coworkers

“So, then, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.” (v. 7)

What does it mean to be God’s coworkers?

Well, for starters, it means recognizing your role as it relates to Him—and He (not you) is the Savior. No matter what you are called into (ministry, mission, day-in day-out faithfulness in your life) you cannot save those you would reach. Salvation always belongs to the Lord.

So how are His coworkers, then?

Our part in His Kingdom work is our faithfulness to His bigger picture. Your task is to speak, share, give, and invite as He opens opportunities to you—regardless of the outcome. You may be planting a seed. You may be watering among those who have already heard. You may even be there when the Holy Spirit beings life from their soil. But He is always the one who saves; you are, by grace, a co-laborer on the way.

Does that take the pressure off you? Yes. But does it take the responsibility away. No.

Go, then, and serve with joy in the field. God is there, too. Who knows how He will use your work alongside?

— Tyler

From 1 Corinthians 2: Overcomplicated

“I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” (v. 2)

Don’t overcomplicate the message.

We tend to do that. We tend to make all kinds of religious invitations. We urge our neighbors toward morality and generosity and general “good personhood.” We debate the finer points of polity and interpretation.

Maybe some of that is the fruit that grows as we mature under the message. But none of that IS the message!

So don’t overcomplicate it.

The message is just this: Christ crucified. Jesus, given for us. His cross, borne in our place.

The substitutionary, sacrificial, sufficient death of Jesus, the Son of God, is our testimony. His resurrection secures life for us, forever. Yet His crucifixion remains as the heart of the Gospel.

So it is that we proclaim His death until He comes again.

Don’t overcomplicate the message.

— Tyler

From 1 Corinthians 1: Unity

“Now I urge you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree in what you say, that there be no divisions among you, and that you be united with the same understanding and the same conviction.” (v. 10)

I gotta tell you:

I get real nervous about church membership.

It’s not that I am nervous about the concept: as a metaphor for how we belong to one another in Christ—how we fit together as a body under His “head”—church membership is perfectly biblically suitable.

What makes me nervous is the way a lot of churches go about it: “If you want to join our church today, just raise your hand and come on down….”

That right there is a recipe for disunity.

Disunity has nagged Jesus’ church from the beginning. We claim Christ as Lord, but we also follow subordinate teachers and teachings, hanging them as the banners under which we huddle. We factionalize and fracture—and we lose sight of the essentials in pursuit of the tertiary.

Churches, please lead would-be members toward unity is Christ. Teach and train them. Seek agreement under Jesus’ lordship—and, if mutual submission under Him isn’t for them, then welcome them as friends without affirming them as members.

Nothing less than our witness of Christ is at stake here.

— Tyler

From Acts 19: Another Kind of Evangelism

”In this way the word of the Lord spread and prevailed.” (v. 20)

How did the Word of the Lord spread in Ephesus way back when?

Certainly we look to Paul, to his faithful preaching in the synagogue and in the municipal center, because faith comes by hearing what is preached.

But that’s not the only testimony we’re told about in Acts 19.

We’re told that droves of people repented of the stuff of earth. They laid down their pagan practices. They sold their ungodly things—even if they were highly valuable. In response to the Word of God, the people shifted their values away from cultural norms and preoccupations, and they shifted them toward obedience to Christ.

Remember, then, that every time you opt out of what the world worships—every time you sell off their stuff to draw nearer to Christ—it’s a testimony.

Your repentance is part of the evangelism.

— Tyler

From 2 Thess. 3: Our Peace

“May the Lord of peace himself give you peace always in every way. The Lord be with all of you.” (v. 16)

I don’t know how your day has started.

I don’t know your stresses. I don’t know your pains. I don’t know your questions or your challenges or your fears.

I do, however, know my own.

And, if yours are like mine, then you have found yourself needing what I have needed, too.

Peace.

Thank God for His gospel promises! For He has told us: Jesus is our peace. He is the Lord of Peace. And He gives peace in every way!

That’s peace, even though you feel inadequate. That’s peace, even though you know your sin and shame and guilt. That’s peace, even though the pace of life sets these fleeting years ablaze. Because of the grace-gift of everlasting life, there is peace.

Today and tomorrow and every day, in every way, Jesus is our peace.

Rest in that.

— Tyler

From 2 Thess. 2: Firmly Held

”So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold to the traditions you were taught, whether by what we said or what we wrote.” (v. 15)

I am all for effective innovation in the church.

I am all for novel resources, nimble ministries, and new ways to engage our neighbors and the nations.

Jesus’ church, as He tarries, should be continually fresh.

But, however fresh those expressions may be, we ought to only ever freshly express those things that are enduring, unchanging, and immutably true.

This is why we are told to stand firm, to hold to what we have been taught, and to steward it in our own season. People are perishing—not because they are missing the innovative things the church is doing, but because they have missed the truth and failed to love it. The Word is our ground. The Gospel is our refuge. The Lord Himself is our home. So we hold Him and His revelation firmly—and we communicate those convictions in our communities as we do.

So stand firm. Hold to what you were taught. And, as you innovate in church, invite them home.

— Tyler

From 2 Thess. 1: Celebrate What’s Right

“We ought to thank God always for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, since your faith is flourishing and the love each one of you has for one another is increasing.” (v. 3)

I had a pastor who, for a season, led the church through a special emphasis.

Here was the headline: “Celebrate What’s Right.” I think it was a response to that (very churchy) tendency to complain. Whether folks were lamenting declines in attendance or giving, or if they were criticizing leaders, or if they were gossiping, this pastor hit PAUSE and redirected.

The church needed to learn to celebrate what was right!

Paul (inspired) gave us a good framework for that. When he wrote to his friends in Thessalonica, he told them why he was grateful for them, what he was celebrating about them: their faith was flourishing, they were increasing in love for one another, and they were persevering in their purpose, even when times were tough.

Flourishing faith. Increasing love. Perseverance.

If you want to be a church worth celebrating—if you want to be part of what makes the church that—then learn to celebrate these things. Do the devotional, relational, missional work. And don’t fall into the complaining trap!

Let’s live right, together, and let’s celebrate what’s right as we do it.

— Tyler

From 1 Thess. 5: The Operative Word

”Stay away from every kind of evil.” (v. 22)

The word is not “most.”

The word is not “only the worst kinds.”

The word is not “everything except what you think you can handle in your Christian freedom.”

The word is EVERY.

“Stay away from every kind of evil.”

If you’ve ever wondered how far you ought to run in repentance, how diligent you ought to be in purity, and how cautious you ought to be in the world, this sums it up: “Stay away from every kind of evil.” The extent to which you permit darkness in your moral life is the extent to which you have denied the day light He has shone on your life.

So stop permitting it! And stop playing around with it! Instead, put it away and turn around, in repentance.

That’s our only right response to every kind of evil.

— Tyler

From 1 Thess. 4: The Picture and the Frame

“Therefore encourage one another with these words.” (v. 18)

This chapter (1 Thessalonians 4) teems with practical instruction.

Continue in sanctification. Cherish sexual morality. Love one another, as brothers and sisters in Christ. Do your work, walk humbly, and choose contentment.

We’re told to do these things, and do them even more. It’s a practical picture.

But that practical picture is framed entirely by spiritual truth.

We have hope, because we have Jesus. Death is no more. He is coming. He will call us home. While there are all these things we ought to do now and do even more, our everlasting reality is that we will always be with Him, by His grace.

We are not merely encouraged toward obedience in the Word. We are encouraged toward confidence.

“Therefore, encourage one another with these words.”

— Tyler

From 1 Thess. 3: Check on Them

“For this reason, when I could no longer stand it, I also sent him to find out about your faith, fearing that the tempter had tempted you and that our labor might be for nothing.” (v. 5)

Think, for a moment, about that person you’ve lost track of.

Maybe you were church together for a season. Maybe you were a part of their earliest days in the faith. Maybe, for a time, you were friends in Christian community.

But now you’ve lost track. You haven’t seen them. However much you might miss them—and, you hope, they might miss you—you aren’t currently connected.

I encourage you in Paul’s example:

Check on them. Reach out. Don’t presume that all is well, that they remain firm in the faith, that they are yet overflowing with hope. Check on them!

My prayer is that we will be surprised by (and comforted by) the faithfulness we will find when we find them. But if we find them wandering, we ought to keep going to them and keep going for them, in prayer.

Paul didn’t know what he would hear when he finally reconnected with his friends at Thessalonica. And we don’t know what we’ll hear, either. Yet we can check on whoever they are wherever they are—and we can hope to find them faithful.

— Tyler

From 1 Thess. 2: A Sunday Prayer

“This is why we constantly thank God, because when you received the word of God that you heard from us, you welcomed it not as a human message, but as it truly is, the word of God, which also works effectively in you who believe.” (v. 13)

Here’s a good prayer, as you look ahead to Sunday:

Pray that Jesus’ church would be filled with people who will hear His Word…and receive it as just that. The Word of God.

Pray that, in our gatherings, there will be those who are ready to hear this Gospel.

Pray that their open hearts will become changed hearts, when they hear and believe.

Pray for a receptive church.

To God be the glory.

— Tyler

From 1 Thess. 1: Reputation

“We recall, in the presence of our God and Father, your work produced by faith, your labor motivated by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” (v. 3)

What kind of reputation do you hope to have? And how do you hope your church will be remembered?

Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, gives us a good track to run on. When he writes to his friends in Thessalonica—a church planted in the midst of both paganism and antagonism—his gratitude for then overflows. Why? Because everything they do, from their work to their worship, is rightly motivated. They work out their faith, they labor with love, and they worship in the light of their everlasting hope in Christ.

The church Paul celebrates isn’t merely a religious institution. They are genuinely transformed by their faith in Christ—and it shows!

So ask yourself (and your church) the question:

Is this our reputation, too?

If it isn’t—if your works are self-righteous and your labors are self-serving and your faith is self-comforting—then revisit the Gospel. Be remotivated by the pure gift of grace in Christ. And rebuild your religion, so that it is truly Christian.

— Tyler

From Acts 18: What’s the Worst that could Happen?

“The Lord said to Paul in a night vision, ‘Don’t be afraid, but keep on speaking and don’t be silent. For I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you to hurt you, because I have many people in this city.’” (vv. 9-10)

Are you familiar with the phrase, “What’s the worst that could happen?”

Typically, the fear of “the worst that could happen” isn’t enough to stop us. We tend to realize that there is no big “worst” to be afraid of.

All of that changes, however, when it comes to evangelism.

We can dream up all kinds of little “worsts” on the way to sharing the Gospel: They’ll be mad at me, I won’t be able to answer their questions, it’ll cause trouble in my relationships, I’ll be an inferior example of my faith and my church, and so on. We fear conflict and controversy. So we conclude, “There are some worsts that could happen!”

And we stop before we even start.

May we be encouraged by the Spirit’s words for Paul, as he ministered in Corinth. The man was assured that God was with him, that he would not fall while being faithful, and that he should go on preaching the Word. The Spirit spoke that into Paul, reminding him that there is no “worst” that God will permit, when God’s people prove obedient.

We are surrounded by allies, and we are everlastingly upheld by our Lord. So start—and keep on—speaking this truth.

What’s the worst that could happen?

— Tyler

From Acts 17: Upside Down

“These men…have turned the world upside down….” (vv. 6-7)

What is the message that turns the world upside down?

There is another King.

He isn’t a Caesar. He isn’t a ruthless politician. He isn’t a party figurehead full of empty promises.

He is Jesus: Savior, Worthy One, Sovereign.

When the Spirit drew you to Him, He turned your world upside down, didn’t He? You were freed from the cycle of mistrust and disappointment that every earthly king keeps you trapped in. Now your heart is free to worship rightly— in Spirit and in truth—because you have come to know the true King.

If that truth turned your world upside down, imagine what it will do for your neighbors, whose political signs and ever-evolving flags keep digging deeper holes in their hearts.

Will those who proclaim the King meet with cultural opposition? Certainly. But, even out of that culture, some will come to know life and light and hope, when they hear and believe. Their world will be flipped, too.

So let’s go, and let’s tell—and let’s trust the Spirit to draw them to the King, too.

— Tyler

From Galatians 6: Tired of It

“Let us not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up.” (v. 9)

Have you ever felt burned out in church?

It’s too many activities. Too many responsibilities. Too many offerings. There are so many things that are so strongly insisted—serve your church, love your neighbors, give and go with the Gospel—that it feels like too many things.

Let me be honest: Sometimes our weariness is the result of poor planning and frantic leadership. I’ll own that.

But that’s not the threat the Bible warns against.

The real threat, apparently, is that we will lose both vision and patience in the doing.

The Bible encourages us not to grow tired of doing good in these moments, and it does so while promising that the “why” will be known only later. Those who patiently trust that are the ones who press on.

That’s not an excuse for overdoing it. We are not called to unboundaried religious workaholism. But we are, in fact, called—to do Gospel good, to trust with patience, and to not give up.

Press on!

— Tyler

From Galatians 5: The Rubric

”If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.” (v. 25)

Do you remember writing term papers in school?

The grades weren’t just given out willy-nilly, were they? No, the teacher used a rubric, a breakdown of what would be scored and how. You knew what the assignment was, and you knew what everyone would be looking for when you did it.

Paul (inspired) tells the church in Galatia, “Keep in step with the Spirit.” Live by faith. Move in freedom. Serve with love. That’s the assignment.

But how will we know you are doing that? What’s the rubric?

The Bible calls it the Fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control. (You just sang the song in your head, didn’t you?)

These aren’t your to-do list. They’re the evidence that you’re doing the one big to-do. They’re the way we know you comprehended the assignment of faith and are walking with the Spirit. A vital Christian life will exhibit all of these things.

So examine your life. Look for what we’re all looking for. And check the marks.

Does your life reflect the Spirit’s rubric?

— Tyler

From Galatians 4: Wasted Efforts

“I am fearful for you, that perhaps my labor for you has been wasted.” (v. 11)

I don’t know who it is or who it was, but…

…someone somewhere told you the Good News of the Gospel.

Maybe they wrote that book or sang that song. Maybe they led that class or preached that message. Maybe they answered your questions and told their story and invested in you personally.

Someone somewhere introduced you to the love, freedom, and forgiveness that is only found in Christ, by grace through faith.

Which brings us to a question, in the light of Paul and the Galatians:

Are you living—are you believing and worshiping and testifying—in such a way that their ministry has not been in vain?

Or have you wasted their effort by continuing to live for self, for self-righteousness, and for half-gospels?

Before you wander into cliques and camps, and before you add religion to freedom, remember the truth you were told—and the one who loved you enough to tell it.

Don’t waste their efforts.

— Tyler

From Galatians 3: Old News

”My point is this: The law, which came 430 years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously established by God and thus cancel the promise.” (v. 17)

One of the best—and most overlooked—aspects of the Good News is this:

It’s really old.

As in, older than the two-thousand years since Christ, which you already accounted for.

The Good News of the Gospel—of God’s gracious election of a people to be His, by grace through faith—is actually old news.

This is why Paul, inspired by the Spirit, takes such care in remembering Abraham. Abraham wasn’t justified by the Law of Moses. That came centuries later—and it was given to boundary God’s people from the sins every person is prone to. Abraham was justified by his faith. He believed what God said.

And what God said was the Promise: He would grow a family, for His glory on the earth, and that family would bring light and hope to all the nations. Really, that family would bring Jesus into the world, and Jesus would redeem the elect once and finally.

God told that to Abraham—and to us!—hundreds of years before the New Testament happened. When we hear the Gospel and believe, we’re believing a Good News that is OLD news.

And the oldness of it reveals even better news: God’s gracious sovereignty has been unfolded for us from way back when, even before we knew it was grace.

— Tyler

From Galatians 2: A New Alive

“I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (v. 20)

Get the picture:

It’s an entirely different life now.

When Paul concludes, “I no longer live and yet I live,” he’s telling us that the life lived by grace through faith in Christ is something “other.” He might have lived for the Law; now he’s dead to it. He might have lived for religious rules; now he’s dead to them. He might have lived for elitism and favoritism; now he is dead to those things, too.

In Christ—and only in Christ—there is justification, freedom, and life. Such faith tears down every former way. Because He now lives in the believer, we are alive to community and invitation and proclamation, while remaining dead to legalism and its empty promise of justification.

That’s an entirely different life—compared to the old, and compared to basically every other religion.

Thanks be to God.

— Tyler

From Galatians 1: The Change

”They simply kept hearing, ‘He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith he once tried to destroy.’” (v. 23)

I know the antagonists are annoying, but always remember:

The change may yet come.

By His grace, the Lord calls even those who have remained determinedly against Him, when His light shines on their darkness. No one will see that coming. Yet, like Paul, they may yet know the Lord’s mercy through this Gospel.

So don’t lose heart, even when they act against you. Don’t stop praying for the Lord’s light to pierce them. And don’t count your enemies as if they are beyond salvation.

The change may yet come, in Christ and for His glory.

— Tyler