Pete Campbell 4/10/23 Pete Campbell 4/10/23

You cannot break the Ten Commandments—they will break you

By Pete Campbell

Most are familiar with Cecil B. DeMille's 1956 version of The Ten Commandments, starring Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner. But few have probably seen DeMille's first take on this Biblical story. It is wholly unique compared to all the various takes on the Exodus that Hollywood has produced over the years.

The early 1920's was ripe with salacious scandals coming out of L.A. as this new form of entertainment was only getting its legs. Rampant drug use, promiscuous relationships, and even shocking headlines of movie stars committing murder both captivated and horrified the public. The influence of these picture shows and the people creating them were seen to be eroding the very foundations of the Judeo-Christian values that were held dear. Even more to the point the Box Office was suffering. Hollywood was in crisis, and they needed to appeal to the taste of their consumers.

In 1923 there were many films released with Biblical themes, but the one that stood out from the crowd was DeMille's The Ten Commandments starring Richard Dix, Rod La Rocque, and Leatrice Joy. To this day, this silent film has a special place in the hearts of film historians, as DeMille took over a large section of the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes in California and built full scale sets for the scenes in Egypt. It was larger than anything that had been done up to that point and single handedly created the “epic” film genre.

DeMille attempted to speak directly to the issues of the day. From the opening slide that reads:

The film is two fold. The first quarter of the movie tells a very abbreviated version of the story of Moses and his leading the Hebrews out of Egypt. The menacing Pharaoh played by Charles de Rochefort, is terrifying in a way that only a silent film can truly express. His grief at the loss of his son and his anger
and desire for revenge is palpable. Moses, played by Theodore Roberts, is stern and unmovable in his portrayal. His task is clear; God has sent him to free his people.
One thing that stands out more than anything is that the viewer would need to be somewhat familiar with the Biblical story to truly follow what's going on. But DeMille is wanting to get to Sinai as fast as possible, because that is the point of this film. The Ten Commandments. “They are not just laws – they are the LAW.”

While Moses is on the mountain, of course, the Hebrews become tired of waiting and the Golden Calf is made. Moses returns carrying the tablets and in anger throws them down. The scene erupts and dissolves away, and we find ourselves in the kitchen of the home of Mrs. McTavish and her two adult sons. She is reading the Bible to them.

John and Danny are the McTavish brothers. John is the good son who wants to follow the Word, and Danny is drawn to the things of this world. Though this film was made a hundred years ago, it is shockingly familiar to someone watching in 2023. The characters are real; the passive aggressive overbearing mother who wants nothing more than her sons to follow Christ, but by her own actions pushes Danny away. “Mother you carry that Cross but you use it as a whip.”

The two boys fall in love with the same woman, Mary Leigh, which son she chooses affects the fate of what is to come. “We'll break all ten of your old Commandments, and we'll finish rich and powerful – with the world at our feet. You'll keep your Ten Commandments and finish just where you are – a poor carpenter.” With that Danny leaves his Mother and Brother behind.
The film takes a dark turn as we see, Danny lives his life recklessly and without any morals, breaking all of God's Commandments and reaps the consequences. But, as he will find out you cannot break the Ten Commandments—they will break you

If you would like to explore Cecil B. DeMille's 1923 classic you can view it online.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uU9qeFFQ90

For the collector a DVD copy can be found here.
https://www.amazon.com/Ten-Commandments-1923-Anniversary-presents/dp/B07VBH68VF/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=the+ten+commandments+1923+dvd&qid=1680815372&sprefix=The+Ten+Commandments+1923%2Caps%2C181&sr=8-2

To watch DeMille's 1956 remake with Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner
https://www.amazon.com/Ten-Commandments-Blu-ray-James-Coburn/dp/B071WRLQNH/ref=tmm_blu_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1680829248&sr=8-2

Steve DeWitt 1/2/23 Steve DeWitt 1/2/23

Overcome Sexual Temptation with Beauty

By Steve DeWitt

Click the picture to listen to Part 1 of the two part message by Pastor Steve.

As a pastor and author, I have done a number of radio interviews over the years, but one in particular caught me off guard.

I had written a book on the beauty of God — in creation, in Christ, in worship, in everything. After it came out, I did several interviews about the book. One was live on a radio station in Los Angeles. I was ready. I had done these before. I had my notes in front of me. The radio host introduced me and said, “This pastor in Indiana is going to help us all deal with sexual temptation! Friend, what do you have to tell us?”

I stammered. What? I was prepared to talk about the beauty of God, not sexual temptation. I mumbled some answers as best as I could remember from a recent sermon on temptation, and was glad when the interview was over.

As caught off guard as I was in the moment, though, are these two subjects mutually exclusive? Is the beauty of God, which is all around us at all times, really a separate conversation from sexual purity? Or is God’s beauty actually an overlooked weapon in our struggle against temptation? It is — and the weapon is often hiding in plain sight.

What Is God’s Beauty?

We are so accustomed to associating beauty with the physical world that defining the beauty of God can feel impossible.

God’s beauty is the sum of all his perfections. It brings together the balance, symmetry, and infinity of the triune Godhead. As his every attribute is perfect, when taken together as a divine whole, he is resplendent in all his beauty — like a flower is beautiful, but a bouquet is more beautiful as each flower contributes to the total loveliness. God’s character is the effulgent radiance and fullness of divine perfection.

We come closer to the meaning of beauty with the glory of God. God’s glory is first his infinite worth. This worth is appraised by the Father, Son, and Spirit in and with infinite delight in each other. What does self-assessed divine joy look like? The Bible calls the visible expression of infinite worth “glory.” God’s glory is the light of divine delight. It is the brilliant, emanating expression of God’s infinite delight in being God.

“Sex is meant to be deeply theological and doxological. When it is, it’s better.”

God’s beauty is the theological description of this aesthetic reality. It summarizes God as the most worthy and desirable allurement of all. He alone ultimately satisfies the longings of our heart, body, and soul. The weight of his glory and the perfection of his being charm and enchant humans who were made to desire him with such completeness that the Bible calls it worship.

Lust for Ugly

Romans 1 explains that humans were made to worship God in his beauty. Tragically, sin has twisted our hearts and perverted our worship. We are tempted to seek divine satisfaction in non-divine realities — even realities designed by God to remind us of him. Creation’s beauty and aesthetic pleasures are meant to take us upstream to the source, with honor and thanksgiving (Romans 1:21).

Sexual desire fits this worship paradigm. It is a powerful allurement and pleasure — so powerful that it is certainly the most historically deified human experience. However, when separated from its purpose — to lead us to enjoy God more through it — the allurements entice us toward fulfillment outside God’s will: pornography (nakedness without covenant), masturbation (sexual fulfillment without a spouse), fornication (intercourse without covenant), adultery (covenant-breaking sexuality), and many other sexual expressions.

So, is it possible to weaponize God’s beauty in our battle with sexual sin?

Stoke a Revulsion to Ugly

In the above examples, our sinful flesh generates strong desires for illicit sexual fulfillment. In each case, what our flesh craves is not sexually beautiful in God’s eyes. To God, sex outside the marital bed is ugly. In salvation, God regenerates holy desires in us, if only in part. Our new heart has a capacity to desire what pleases God, including God’s created purposes for human sexuality.

One biblical way to fight sexual temptation is to internally stoke a strong revulsion to where this temptation would lead. Proverbs in particular urges us during temptation to see the pain and sorrow that acting on this desire would create.

The lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil, but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol. (Proverbs 5:3–5)
He who commits adultery lacks sense; he who does it destroys himself. (Proverbs 6:32)

Almost every pastor knows the weeping sorrow of a spouse who has sexually sinned. The shock and pain on the face of the wife or husband who was sinned against should be captured and put on interstate billboards next to titillating adult-entertainment advertisements.

Pornography Undermines Pleasure

When the consequences of sexual sin bear their bitter fruit, the liaison that created the pain is no longer seen as desirable or beautiful. It is seen for what it is and what it was, despite the moments of pleasure: ethically ugly and consequentially hideous.

Our church’s counseling ministry regularly deals with husbands whose past pornographic lifestyle is psychologically impeding their present ability to sexually perform. In a great irony, pornography often creates erectile dysfunction. The pornographic experience that promises sexual fulfillment hinders the very fulfillment sex intends. Click by click, men are sexually castrating and emasculating themselves.

No matter how beautiful, when seen from the perspective of God’s beauty and beautiful design, these digital Bathshebas are Jezebels. In the end, sexual temptation gives the opposite of what it promises — hunger and longing, not gratification. Rather than immersing ourselves in beauty, we are bonded to the ugly, the degrading, the hollowing and emptying. Training ourselves to perceive the ugly in seductive beauty is a strong help.

Christian Sex Is the Best Sex

In a famous sermon titled “The Expulsive Power of a New Affection,” Thomas Chalmers captures the essence of this truth:

The best way of casting out an impure affection is to admit a pure one; and by the love of what is good, to expel the love of what is evil.

“Holy desire for God’s pleasure helps extinguish the unholy desire of sexual temptation.”

When God’s Spirit opens our eyes to the glory of God in the face of Jesus, we perceive a deeper and greater beauty. In the terms of Romans 1, we can worship by giving God honor and thanksgiving through holy sexual fulfillment. This doesn’t mean that after marital intimacy we must sing the “Hallelujah” chorus. But we don’t practice atheistic sex either. Sex is meant to be deeply theological and doxological. When it is, it’s better. Christians should have the best sex lives because all pleasures God created are intended to consummate in worship.

When sex consummates in worship, it brings spiritual meaning to the physical experience. It places sex in its proper place in God’s story and universe. As Hebrews exhorts us, “Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous” (Hebrews 13:4).

I didn’t get married until I was 44. Celibacy also honors the marriage bed. It protects sex by reserving sex, which reflects a truly high view of sex and of God. As a man who has been there, I can say that sexual purity within God’s will is its own act of worship, and we should celebrate the high calling single Christians have.

Lust Limits Pleasure and Intimacy

When I was a pastoral intern, our senior pastor required me to read a past article in Leadership Journal magazine. It was written anonymously by a pastor and conference speaker whose life was engulfed in sexual lust. Though he vividly describes how the quicksand of sexual lust overwhelmed him, he writes the article after having achieved substantial freedom. What got him out of the quicksand? He read Francois Mauriac’s “What I believe.”

Mauriac argues that the beatitude “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8) highlights the condition for a higher love, a possession superior to all possessions: God himself. The anonymous author writes,

The thought hit me like a bell rung in a dark, silent hall. So far none of the scary negative arguments against lust had succeeded in keeping me from it. But here was a description of what I was missing by continuing to harbor lust. I was limiting my own intimacy with God. The love he offers is so transcendent and possessing that it requires our faculties to be purified and cleansed before we can experience or can possibly contain all of it. Could he, in fact, substitute another thirst and another hunger for the one I had never filled? Would living water somehow quench lust? That was the gamble of faith.

After years of a dulled conscience and a numb spirit to God, the desire to sense God’s pleasure and purity again shook him. It turned him toward something his soul sensed was better.

Too often we try to deal with sexual temptation with mere denial. While there is an element of abstention in the pursuit of holiness, denial of a lesser pleasure for the sake of a greater pleasure is the Christian’s best weapon. When captured by sexual desire outside God’s will, proactively consider how great purity of conscience truly is. Bring to mind the damning consequences of acting on the desire. Overcome impurity with the beauty of God’s purity and his pleasure in ours. Holy desire for God’s pleasure helps extinguish the unholy desire of sexual temptation.

Sex is about worship, and successfully overcoming sexual temptation requires an eye for supreme, divine, sublime beauty.

Originally Published August 21, 2021 at Desiring God: https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/overcome-sexual-temptation-with-beauty

Steve DeWitt is senior pastor of Bethel Church in Northwest Indiana, Founder and Teaching Pastor for the media/radio ministry The Journey, and a Council member of The Gospel Coalition. He is also the author of Eyes Wide Open: Enjoying God in Everything. He and his wife, Jennifer, have two girls.

Steve DeWitt 2/7/22 Steve DeWitt 2/7/22

Killing Sin by the Spirit

By Steve DeWitt

“For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” (Romans 8:13 ESV)

The key phrase here is, “put to death the deeds of the body.” The Greek word for put to death is used 11 times in the New Testament, 9 for actually killing people.[1] One example is Stephen, the first martyr, who was put to death. Same word. This is not a nice word. This is a bloody word. A word of execution. It simply means, kill it. Legalism says, stop it. Romans says, kill it. This requires a posture toward sin that is much more like an assassin. Ruthless. Cold, hard hatred of sin.

Jesus said the same when he said, “if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off.” (Matthew 5:30) It is not physical dismemberment, but a spiritual dismemberment that sees sin as leading to death. It is an abuse of grace that makes us OK with sin thinking, I’m going to heaven anyway. That is an incredibly dangerous posture toward sin and calls into question if we truly understand Jesus shedding his blood for that sin.

We should think of sin like cancer patients think of their cancer. The fighter-types hate cancer. What if you talked with someone after a bout of cancer and they said,

I miss my cancer. Oh, I remember when I had lots of cancer. Such freedom I felt. Those were the days. Wow, the cancer parties were incredible! Many of my entertainment choices celebrate cancer. I remember driving for my chemo treatments—those were great days. If only I could have another chemo day. Cancer made me so happy.

When you talk with cancer patients, they’ll tell you the only way to beat cancer is to declare war on your cancer. When you see a bald woman wearing a wig, or a scarf on her head, respect her; she went to war. You must kill those cancer cells. How many of them? All of them. You hate it. You are willing to deal ruthlessly with it. Change your diet. Change your lifestyle. Stop your smoking. Whatever. You will shoot chemicals and radiation in your body to kill cancer. The courage in those cancer wards comes from people who don’t want to die, they want to live!

Romans 8:13 says, hate your sin. Hate it. See it as creating death in you. Don’t coddle it. Don’t ignore it. Go to war with your sin. You can’t defeat cancer by loving cancer and you can’t overcome sin and temptation by loving your sin. There is an old word that describes going to war and killing sin. Mortify it. When you see that word, it means, kill zone. DEFCON 1. Going nuclear. Annihilation. Is this the posture of your heart toward your sin?

© 2022 by Steve DeWitt. You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that: (1) you credit the author, (2) any modifications are clearly marked, (3) you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction, (4) you include The Journey (theJourney.fm) or Bethel Church (www.bethelweb.org) website address on the copied resource.

Steve DeWitt 11/9/21 Steve DeWitt 11/9/21

Multiply Thyself

By Steve DeWitt

Timothy’s mother was Jewish, his father was a Greek. Immediately, Timothy looks like an unlikely candidate for someone to multiply into. First, his parents’ marriage was outside Old Testament law. In that day, to minister the gospel to Jews meant that you had to be in basic compliance with Old Testament law. Timothy had not been circumcised and the fact that he had a Greek father was common knowledge. Further, he was the son of a woman who married a Gentile.

By Steve DeWitt

““Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.” (Acts 16:1-3 ESV)

It would have been easy for Paul to say, Too much baggage. I’ll pass and look for someone more perfect. He didn’t – for the same reason that Samuel had to pass on all David’s brothers and learn that God looks at the heart. Paul was a multiplier and multipliers can see past the exterior to the heart. How did Paul multiply himself in Timothy?

Instruction

Paul taught Timothy. As they walked and travelled, he taught him. There’s no better example of this than the letters we call 1 and 2 Timothy. They are filled with practical pastoral exhortations. Do this. Don’t do that. Remember this. Don’t forget that. There was no doubt who the teacher was and who the student was.

By the way, this says a lot about Timothy. To be a Timothy you have to have a learner’s spirit and he did this with a man whose weaknesses he knew all too well by living with him. Yet, Timothy was a learner. An apprentice. Multiplication requires teachers with a willingness to share and students with a willingness to learn.

This is an interesting concept, but I don’t know what my part is in this. Every one of us ought to be a multiplier. Think of all the opportunities you have. Men, if you are a husband, talk to other men who are about to become husbands. Help them understand all the blessings of welcoming a woman into their life. I’m all ears right now. Or how about teaching the younger men about what it means to be a man? Is that needed in our culture today? How are young men going to learn to be masculine, spiritual men? As J.C. Ryle says in his book, Thoughts to Young Men, “Young men become mature men by standing next to them.”

And ladies, the same goes for you. Older women should be teaching the younger women. That’s another biblical principle. There’s a Barnabas kind of spirit in a church that is healthy where I am willingly looking for opportunities and people to bless. It’s not like “Hey, I’m Paul, you want to be my Timothy?” Don’t do that. Just be yourself and build relationships with people where you can possibly invest in them.

Opportunities

As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily. (Acts 16:4ff.)

I wouldn’t make too much of a pronoun but notice that it says, they delivered to them the decisions. No doubt Paul took the lead. But “they” hints at this point. Timothy was given opportunities to do ministry. How do Timothys become Pauls? By watching and learning and having opportunities to serve under the watchful eye of the multiplier. Can you hear Paul and Timothy debriefing? Timothy says, “How did you think I conducted myself in Lystra?” (learner’s spirit) Paul says, “Well, I think….”

A huge part of multiplying ourselves is giving others opportunity. Clearly, there was a period of time where they served together. They ministered together in Galatia, Mysia, Troas, Phillippi and Berea. (Acts 16-17) Then they get to Athens and here’s a key moment: Paul sends Timothy on his own to Thessalonica. Now Timothy was flying solo on a project. Later they were together again, but Timothy continues to take on more responsibility. Later he would be in Corinth and Ephesus and he was sent into Macedonia. You don’t need to know the geography; what do you hear? Paul brought him along with increased opportunity and responsibility.

Affirmation

My true child in the faith. (1 Timothy 1:2)
My beloved child. (2 Timothy 1:2)
I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. (2 Timothy 1:3)

Timothy knew that in Paul he had someone who was totally for him. The language here may make some of us men a little uncomfortable. I think this is the most important part of multiplication and one we have to get right. There is a reason the Son of Encouragement, Barnabas, goes down as one of the great multipliers. Encouragement and personal affirmation of love is what ultimately does the multiplying. We all know this. When we think of the people who have made the most positive difference in our lives, not one of them failed to encourage us and make it clear that they believed in us.

Healthy churches multiply themselves and healthy Christians do as well. God has called all of us to make disciples, to multiply what we have received from Christ through the gospel by the Spirit into others. This will happen as we identify our Timothys, instruct them, give them opportunities, and affirm to them that we love them.

© 2021 by Steve DeWitt. You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that: (1) you credit the author, (2) any modifications are clearly marked, (3) you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction, (4) you include The Journey (theJourney.fm) or Bethel Church (www.bethelweb.org) website address on the copied resource.

Steve DeWitt 11/9/21 Steve DeWitt 11/9/21

The Spirit Empowers us for Gospel Witness

By Steve DeWitt

Jesus’ disciples were filled with the Spirit at Pentecost. (Acts 2:4) Peter was filled with the Spirit in his response to the Jewish leaders. (Acts 4:8) In Acts 4:31, after prayer, the disciples were filled with the Spirit and emboldened in their witness, “And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.” And Paul was filled with the Spirit prior to speaking against Sergius. (Acts 13:9)

By Steve DeWitt

Jesus’ disciples were filled with the Spirit at Pentecost. (Acts 2:4)

Peter was filled with the Spirit in his response to the Jewish leaders. (Acts 4:8) In Acts 4:31, after prayer, the disciples were filled with the Spirit and emboldened in their witness, “And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.” And Paul was filled with the Spirit prior to speaking against Sergius. (Acts 13:9)

In each case, it describes empowerment by the Spirit as the “filling of the Spirit.” This is an often misunderstood term because it sounds like we are getting more of the Spirit somehow, like we are a jar and he is “filling” it.

The idea of the Greek word is completeness (πληρου̂σθε). “To be full with nothing left; to have something entirely.” “Fill” would seem to indicate that when we are filled that we have more of the Holy Spirit than when we are not filled. Or that we can be half full or three quarters full. The Holy Spirit is not a liquid; he is a person. Filling doesn’t mean that he gives us more of himself or that we have more of the Spirit. If we are a Christian, we have all of the Spirit. He indwells us at the moment of our regeneration. The issue with filling is not how much of him do we have, but how much of us does he have?

How can we be “filled” so that we can be empowered? As we surrender our natural fears of men and their opinions to God’s will, our will becomes increasingly aligned with God’s will and the Spirit enables us to speak or love in ways that our natural selves could not do. It is supernatural in the sense that the Spirit is enabling and blessing the service of a sinner. His presence in us means that power is always available. The more we seek God’s purposes to be accomplished and the more his mission values shape our desires, the more control the Spirit exerts in us and the more control he exerts, the more power and blessing he produces.

“The Christian’s life in all its aspects – intellectual and ethical, devotion and relational, upsurging in worship and outgoing in witness is supernatural; only the Spirit can initiate and sustain it. So apart from him, not only will there be no lively believers and no lively congregations, there will be no believers and no congregations at all.” (JI Packer)

Presence and power. His presence in us means his power through us; filling is not a one-time thing but rather an ongoing pursuit. I try and pray regularly for the Holy Spirit to fill me. I want that and I need that. I have his presence. I need his power. All Christians do.

Steve DeWitt 9/26/21 Steve DeWitt 9/26/21

Is Grace Permission to Sin?

By Steve DeWitt

There is a word used to describe people who take the position that the Christian has no responsibility to obedience yet remains under the grace of God.

Antinomian = Anti (No) Nomos (Law)

Nobody thinks they are antinomian. There are no antinomian societies. Nobody introduces themselves as an antinomian: Hi, I’m Bob, I’m an antinomian. Everybody presents themselves as champions of grace. Their books have grace in the name. They sing Amazing Grace with gusto. The issue is whether obedience or sanctification are necessary byproducts of genuine saving faith….

By Steve DeWitt

1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
Romans 6:1-2

This is my summary of the question, “are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?” (Romans 6:1) Paul is not making this question up. It was either the active approach of Christians in the early church or the charge against Paul for preaching salvation by grace through faith. Probably both.

There is a word used to describe people who take the position that the Christian has no responsibility to obedience yet remains under the grace of God.

Antinomian = Anti (No) Nomos (Law)

A few years ago, we did a series on The Ten Commandments. We talked about the role of the law of God in the life of the believer. We said it is a muzzle, a mirror, and a map. God’s law restrains sin in this world through conscience, like a muzzle. It is a mirror that shows our sin. It is a map to guide us in how to live in a manner pleasing to God.

It is this third role, primarily, that antinomians dismiss. What’s the need and what’s the point? Is grace grace or not? Paul couldn’t say it any stronger than he did. See his response.

“By no means!” (Romans 6:2) Paul uses this phrase 14 times in his letters and it is reserved for his strongest outrage.[1] Its sense is, never, never, never! I remember professors in seminary talking about this little phrase with amazement at how strong it is. Paul wants to make it clear that God’s grace is NOT permission to sin. He follows with the question, “How can we who died to sin still live in it?” (Romans 6:2)

The “we” refers to Christians. We died to sin. What’s that? How exactly did we die to sin? And aren’t we all nervous reading that knowing that, we continue to sin? How can I die to something that seems to still be present in my life?

We Died to Our Sin When Jesus Died for Our Sin

Think with me brothers and sisters. When Jesus died on the cross, he died as a substitute. For who? Us. What exactly did Jesus die for? He died for the moral guilt of our sin and paid the moral price for our redemption. All of this relates to sin and our moral and spiritual failure to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Our falling short of God’s glory. Romans 3:23. Our rebellion against God.

Most Christians say, I get it. He died for my sin. But what many people don’t get is that when Christ died for our sin we died to our sin. We died to sin as our master. We died to sin as the leading power and purpose of our life. Now Paul’s question makes sense: how can we who died to King Sin go on living with King Sin as our master? “It is not the literal impossibility of sin in believers which Paul is declaring, but the moral incongruity of it.” (John Stott)[2]

I often get the question, so what’s it like being married? By this they think that because I was a bachelor for so long that getting married was a big change. Indeed, it was. What if I said, nothing’s really changed? I sleep and get up when I want. I golf when I want. I’m away from home whenever I want. I spend my time and money in whatever way I want. I watch the TV shows I want when I want. So, nothing’s really changed.

And they’re going to respond, Did you really get married or just pretend to? Because I was at the wedding and I thought you actually did get married, but it sure doesn’t look like you did. Friends, sin is a kingdom. Sin is a Darth Lord. Sin is a Caesar to whom sinners bow. If Christ is our Savior, then can we live as if Darth Sin is our Lord?

Me genetoi. Never! Never! Never!

[1] Colin G. Kruse, Paul’s Letter to the Romans, p. 259.

[2] John Stott, The Message of Romans: God’s Good News for the World, p. 169.

Steve DeWitt 5/11/20 Steve DeWitt 5/11/20

The Key to Spiritual Gifts: Use Them!

By Steve DeWitt

Christian, hear this, you have at least one Spirit-granted, God-empowered gifting. God’s gifts are God’s call, which means he has a purpose for every one of us. This means every member of the church is critically important and the diversity of gifts tells us that no one person is too important. Pastor Steve, then what should I do?

“Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them.” (Romans 12:6, emphasis added)

By Steve DeWitt

“For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.” (Romans 12:3–8 ESV)

The Purpose of Spiritual Gifts is Blessing and Serving Others in the Church

“To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” (1 Corinthians 12:7)

“To equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:12)

1 Corinthians 13 reminds us that incredible spiritual giftedness without love means nothing. Even if I have oratory equal to the ability of angels or if I cast out demons or move mountains, if I don’t have agape love as a quality in my character, I gain nothing. Love is the quintessential Christian quality. So, don’t be too impressed by spiritual gifts you see in others; that gift was given to them by the Holy Spirit. Be impressed by love, joy, and peace and strive to make this part of your life as well.

Here is an incredible truth:

Every Christian has a Spiritual Gift or Several Spiritual Gifts

You may be thinking, I must have been at the end of the line and God ran out of gifts because I don’t think I have one. Not only do you have one, you likely have several. When you think about it, it’s incredibly exciting. God is actively empowering his people to fulfill his mission and giving us the enablements we need.

So Christian, hear this, you have at least one Spirit-granted, God-empowered gifting. God’s gifts are God’s call, which means he has a purpose for every one of us. This means every member of the church is critically important and the diversity of gifts tells us that no one person is too important. Pastor Steve, then what should I do?

“Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them.” (Romans 12:6, emphasis added)

The emphasis in Scripture is surprisingly not on how to discover your spiritual gift, but on the necessity of using your spiritual gift. Why would that be?

In days gone by, discovering your spiritual gift was a bigger deal in local churches. There were spiritual gift surveys and lots of emphasis on finding your spiritual gift. Yet, the Bible gives no guidelines on how to do so. It just urges us to use them.

I take from this that discovering your spiritual gift is a lot like many things in life—you figure it out as you go. Author Kevin DeYoung summarizes this with his book title, Just Do Something!As we do something, as we serve, as we try this and that, there will be some categories we are drawn to. Areas where our service seems effective. Other church members will notice and tell you, that was great! Wow, you’re really good at that!

Do something. Get the wagon moving and let God steer it. As God blesses, take that as the yellow brick road. It likely will bless you in doing it, but don’t take your personal enjoyment of it as a key indicator. I’ve had too many church members strangely enjoy things they are not good at. Spiritual gifts bless, equip, and sustain others.

One final word here because some of you may feel motivated but still unsure of a direction to serve. This might give you some indication of your gifting. Here we are in this extraordinary time of quarantine. What about the community life of our church are you missing the most? I can’t wait to get back to _____________. What you are missing might be your gifting.

What are you doing the most these days? Think in spiritual categories. Eating Cheetos is not a spiritual gift. What has emerged in you through all this? How are you serving others? For some it’s words and speech. You are calling people. Praying with people. Writing notes of encouragement. Blogging. You are serving with words. Others, you haven’t called and prayed with anyone, but you’ve organized meals down the whole block. You’ve mowed the old lady’s lawn next door and came home with a smile on your face. In times of crisis, our giftings can shine through.

As you serve, your gifts will become evident. If you wait to do anything until you know how God has gifted you, you will wait a long, long time.

© 2020 by Steve DeWitt. You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that: (1) you credit the author, (2) any modifications are clearly marked, (3) you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction, (4) you include the Journey (theJourney.fm) or Bethel Church (www.bethelweb.org) website address on the copied resource.

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Bethel NWI 5/8/20 Bethel NWI 5/8/20

Seeing God Best

Written by: Joy Kats

When we are able to do things by our own strength, we often don’t look to God for help. Our weaknesses are what drive us to the strength of Christ. I was recently challenged to consider this phrase: “When life is at its worst, God is at His best.” And that is not untrue…but God is ALWAYS at His best, no matter what life looks like for us. Sometimes it takes life being at its worst for us to see God best.

And let’s face it, these last several weeks have been among the worst in our lifetime throughout the world. None of us has ever known anything like what is happening right now. But in all the chaos, in all the changes, in all the social-distancing we continue to have to do, God has never distanced Himself from us…

Written by: Joy Kats

Meet Jacob. Jacob is the younger son of Isaac. He is the grandson of Abraham. And although he is known as one of the Old Testament patriarchs of faith, Jacob spent much of his life grasping for God’s blessing: he deceived and schemed for it, he worked for it, he dreamed for it, he wrestled for it.[1] And then in Genesis 35, Jacob finally rests in the blessing of God. In verse 3 he says to his family - “Let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.”

Jacob’s life has been marked by deceit and struggle, and yet, in this moment he not only acknowledges that the God of his fathers is indeed his God; but he also realizes that his God has been with him every step, and he finally surrenders to Him. He sees that despite all of his struggles and personal failures, God’s word will go forward. His purposes will succeed. In Jacob’s life we see that blessing does not mean a lack of struggle or sorrow. We see that sometimes full surrender to God requires the “divine dislocation of whatever it is that makes us strong,”[2] so that Christ’s strength can shine through our weaknesses.

Are any of you feeling dislocated right now?

He remains the God who answers us in our days of distress, and continues to be with us in every moment. Distancing, disease, and even death can never thwart the perfect plan, authority, or sovereignty of God. They didn’t in Jacob’s day and they don’t right now. God’s word will go forward. His purposes will succeed. His promises will be fulfilled.

We are several weeks into this crazy season, and really have no idea how long this will last. But consider this: “To be truly blessed by God is not to emerge from the struggles of life unscathed, but to emerge from them having been pressed more deeply into God, to have become more desperate for God, to have become convinced that having your identity flow from his victory in your life is worth more than walking away from the struggle with your health and position and lifestyle perfectly intact.”[3]

To experience the blessing of God does not mean we are exempt or immune from the things of the world. Your health might very well be affected by this virus; your job might have already been affected; all of our lifestyles have certainly been affected. COVID-19 is still running rampant, fear still assails, and uncertainty still abounds. For some it seems nothing is still intact…so do we get angry at God for allowing all this? Or do we find ourselves more desperate for him, inquiring of Him, trusting Him to work in the middle of this mess, trusting Him to use this to make us more like Jesus?

Several years ago, my husband and I endured a really hard year. One of my hardest years to date. Marc suffered a knee injury at work, needed surgery and then physical therapy, and was off work almost a full year. And during that same time, God called me away from my ministry staff position. With three young kids, Christian school tuition, and a mortgage to pay, I did much wrestling with God during that time. At one point we had a total of $11 to our name and I wondered how in the world we were going to make it. I spent much time crying out in distress! I was forced to trust God like never before…because He was my only hope.

And He came through for us. We never went without a meal; never missed a mortgage payment. I learned what it meant to be a servant as I cared for my husband. My marriage grew and my faith grew immensel0y during that time. I will never forget those struggles. And I will never forgot the God who was with me through every part of it. But it pains me to admit that once Marc and I were both back to work and our income was once again steady and sufficient, we quickly fell back into old patterns of self-reliance. Yes, I was thankful. But I was no longer desperate for God the way I had been. And while I would never want to go back to that time, I am so thankful for it. And I do want my heart to be in a place of complete surrender and utter dependence on Jesus no matter what is happening in life.

I share this because I see the same kinds of things happening now in this worldwide crisis. We are desperate for assurance and security. We are fearful because we have absolutely no control over what is happening. It’s just too big for us. We cry out to God to help, to protect, to provide, to heal, and to just make it stop. Our weaknesses make us aware of our desperate need for God. And I pray that our eyes are opened to see the goodness and blessing of God even in the struggle, even in the midst of all this COVID chaos. But more than that, I pray that once this is over, once life goes back to whatever normal is going to look like, that we will not fall back into old patterns. That we will continue to want God the way we do right now. I pray that we will cling to Him, recognizing that our relationship with Him is not simply useful in desperate situations, but crucial for all of life.

Jacob could not actually see the face of his adversary as he wrestled in the dark. But God has given to us “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6)

So let US arise, friends…and make an altar to our God - the God who answers us in these days of distress and is with each of us wherever we go, and who remains with us every moment we are issued to stay at home. And when we emerge from this current crisis, may we not hope to arise unscathed; may it be our goal to arise looking a whole lot more like Jesus.

[1] Nancy Guthrie, The Promised One (Wheaton: Crossway, 2011) 212.

[2] Sinclair Ferguson’s sermon “All Night Wrestling” Oct.21, 2007 First Presbyterian Church, Colombia, SC

[3] Guthrie, The Promised One, 224.

About Joy Kats - I am most importantly a disciple who loves Jesus with all my heart. I am married to my high school sweetheart and a mom of three. I work with the Women’s Ministry and Celebrate Recovery ministry teams at my church. I have a deep passion for writing, teaching and sharing life with others. It is my desire to encourage and challenge others in their faith journeys as together we continue to be transformed more and more into the image of Christ.

You can read more of Joy’s writing on her blog site, Zoe, Grace & Joy.

Steve DeWitt 3/16/20 Steve DeWitt 3/16/20

Steve DeWitt: Responding to COVID-19

Dear Friends

Written by: Steve DeWitt

Dear Friends

I am writing to you in these tumultuous times. The coronavirus is dominating the news, the stock market, the government, and our community. Over the past two weeks, this has been largely a debate about whether the virus was going to hit the US or not, and if so, how severe. While this continues to be debated, what isn’t debatable is that it is here, and now it is a question of severity of impact.
Now, perhaps more than ever, we must press into our faith and the unchanging promises of God. Nothing, and I repeat, nothing has changed! God is still on his throne. The gospel is God’s promise of eternal salvation for all who believe in his Son. All God’s promises are as true and alive now as they have ever been.
What is different is that the world around us is shaking. Here is our opportunity to show an unshakeable faith in our unshakeable God. In Hebrews 6:18-19 we read:
“We who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul.” (Hebrews 6:18b–19a ESV)
The image of an anchor firmly secured to a rock is to steady us in the storms of life. Anchors aren’t tested in calm seas but in stormy seas. What an assurance it is that we are held fast in eternal promises made by an unchanging God to us.
So, my dear friends, steady as she goes. God’s got this. These may be the best days of ministry we have ever had. I hope so.

All My Love,

Pastor Steve