Mother's Day Absentees

{ A Tribute to Mom—Nell Lynch }

My mother was absent this Mother’s Day. 

Mother’s Day was the first in 42 years that I didn’t have my mother present with us. I am no victim in that. There are many, many more people who have never had a mother around for any Mother’s Day. There are many people with mother’s who, even though present, were not really qualified as good mothers. Some people have mothers who are abusive in different ways. So, my life has been filled with grace to have the mother I had for the past 42 years. 

Thankfully, God graced my life with a mother who taught me many things about life, about Him, and about raising my own family. 

My mom was not perfect. She came from a tough background where she had to leave school after 8th grade to go to work in a chair factory to help her own mother and brother to have enough to live. She always had an insecurity attached to not completing high school. But she learned early how to work hard in order to provide and support your family. 

In those days, many people married before turning eighteen, as was the case with my mom. She actually married at fifteen and had three little girls by the age of nineteen. I don’t even know how people did that! But they loved those three little girls (my sisters if you’re not following closely). 

She and my dad had some problems early on in their twenties as many people do when you’re trying to parent three babies when you’re still trying to figure out life as well. They had their fair share of problems and difficulties. But they made it through together and I came as a surprise twelve years after the last daughter was born. 

Mom and dad were both extremely hard workers. I remember being in high school and like most teens, always wanting to sleep in, but mom was usually up around 4:30 am starting chores or housework or laundry or something. She loved going in to work early so she could be off early. 

She spent the last part of her life working at Wal-mart for over 26 years. She was so proud of her years of service at Wal-mart. She took pride in her work and her departments. She was asked to move into management a few times, but considered her time with family more significant than the extra money it would have meant. She loved her co-workers and had so much fun with so many of them over those years. They were a huge part of her life. She probably wasn’t the easiest person to work around if you were lazy or slow. She had high expectations for hard work. I remember coming home after working with coach Rogers mowing and weed-eating all day long—and when she saw me drive up she would try to catch me to help her do some grueling work in our own yard. 

       I learned later that serving alongside her in any capacity was one of the ways she felt most loved and appreciated. It didn’t matter whether it was yardwork, housework, laundry, cooking, baking, flower beds, or whatever—if you would join her in the work it made her so happy. That’s just the way she was wired. 

The last fifteen years, after my dad passed away, there were times of loneliness, grieving, and some normal light depressed times to be expected after losing a spouse. 

But for the last eight years, mom had been staying about two nights and three days each week with us since the boys were born. This really gave her something significant to look forward to and  something to keep her busy. It was a great help to us in many ways also. 

We’ve had many people tell Jamie that they can’t imagine having their mother-in-law in their house even one entire day each month—much less three days a week! But Jamie and my mom had a good relationship to where that was possible. I am truly thankful for a wife who shared her home, kitchen, living room, and life with my mom—which again is not the easiest thing to do! And I’m truly thankful that mom was respectful enough of our family that she wasn’t too pushy and was always concerned about interfering with our family and our lifestyle of having lots of people over. She was never a burden. 

       She was always trying to help take stuff off of our plate at the house. She would take one or two boys home with her over the weekend or take them to the lake camping for a few days. She was continuously doing laundry for us and helping with the dishes. She would even pull dishes out of the dishwasher to wash them by hand (that’s the craziness I lived in!). 

She would take the boys shopping or take them out for ice cream. She loved reading to the boys at night. Around the dinner table we usually either talk about some lesson they’ve learned about themselves or about God or we would play little games to interact with each other. Mom loved our “highs & lows” game where each person had to tell their high from the day and their low of the day. She loved hearing the laughable stories that would come out in those highs and lows. She would also always use it as a time to point out that her high had to do with doing something with one of them. Their faces would light up when she mentioned them in her high for the day. 

Her favorite things were to have them at her house or to have them with her camping at the lake. She would spend hours letting them work with her in the garden when she could have had an easier and faster experience without having them involved. But she enjoyed spending the time with them and wanted to teach them to work hard no matter what they did. 

Many people told us that those little boys kept her going these last few years. Even after she was diagnosed, she immediately wanted to move in with us permanently to be around them and to start the process of treatments. Even in these last few months, we would wake to find her with one, two, or even three boys in bed with her. 

       The truth is that mom would wake early in the mornings and spend those next minutes, as she put it, “with my God and my coffee.” She said that God was what had sustained her in the months and years after my dad passed away. She had been brought low and learned there was only One who could handle her difficulties and fears. 

She stated many times over the last few years that she still got her strength from her time with God in those mornings. I think that may have played out most clearly in the way she handled the news and ongoing months after being diagnosed with cancer. 

I thought she was going to be overwhelmed emotionally. I thought she was going to have many fears or concerns. But she never did. She was solid from the first time the Doctor mentioned cancer, through the treatments, and on through those last weeks and days. 

This was mom's last trip to the lake with us just before Spring.
It was a beautiful day and she felt great. She sat and watched
the boys play in her favorite setting on this side of heaven. 

You see, there is something deeply mysterious about God’s presence in prayer and in His word. It’s easy to read the words of Psalm 23 on a card at a funeral—but God’s intent was not merely to comfort the ones reading that Psalm at a loved ones funeral—but there is an actual reality and experience of this truth as a person goes through that valley under the close proximity of the shadow of death. It means that He is present in a way that solidifies the heart and emotions. He allows His truths to become more than head knowledge—but an experiential aspect. He truly guards our hearts. God actually is engaging with a person’s heart, mind, and soul. He is not giving merely mental assents to think about—He is actually present, through the power of the Holy Spirit, in a deeply mysterious way. 

In the last months with mom, I went to Psalm 34 a couple of times with her. There are some beautiful realities in these truths. 

So, although my mom was absent this Mother’s Day, we can praise the God who created her and redeemed her, for He was not absent from her death. And His death provided the hope and reality that she will rise again with a new, imperishable body that is incorruptible by sin and disease. His absence from the grave promises the hope of never being absent again from Him for all of eternity. This new blood-bought identity will see face to face the glory of the One who was present behind the scenes in her last days. 

Just a few minutes after she passed, as her body was still warm, as her body lay there on the bed with five of us gathered around her, I wanted to turn my own heart to something beyond the sting and reality of a dead mother laying before us. I placed my iPhone on her pillow and we listened to this song, “Before the Throne of God Above.” Then we went into a time of prayer in response to the song. 

Shane Barnard & Shane Everett (with Bethany Dillon-Barnard)
"Before the Throne of God Above"

One of the most beautiful areas of the song point to the reality that because of Jesus’ substitutionary death in our place, our sinful, guilty souls are “counted free” because God, who is just, looked on Jesus’ death and righteousness and pardoned us. 

That is powerful as you are standing in front of a dead loved one. 

“Because the sinless Savior died,

My sinful soul is counted free;

For God the just is satisfied

To look on Him and pardon me

To look on Him and pardon me

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Praise the One,

Risen Son of God!”

This Jesus changes everything! That is most extravagantly and breathtakingly satisfying looking at the lifeless body of your mother. 

So, as the song says, “Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Praise THE ONE, RISEN SON OF GOD!”

If not for this One Person, Jesus, death would be devastating. But this Jesus changes everything. 

Because of His sacrificial death on the cross—my moms sins and guilt were placed on Him to appease the wrath of God for her sake. Even though her sins millennia and her ability to remove them impossible.

Because of His perfect, holy life—His holiness and righteousness have been imputed to my mom. Even though she deserves it not. 

Because of His resurrection—she will be raised with a new imperishable body and mind free from sin and its effects that will last forever. 

CONCLUSION

Psalm 116:15

“Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints.” 

This was a verse that I come across as I was preparing some words for my dad’s funeral back in 1999. It was one of the most comforting Scriptures I had found. 

Think about the depth of those words. God, the One who created every atom and molecule that has ever existed—even creations we cannot fathom on this side of eternity—He considers it precious or valuable to Himself when one of His followers passes this life. 

We have a difficult time with death. We miss seeing people, spending time with them, and enjoying their presence. But death is not the end. 

Sadly, we’ve come to the place as a culture to avoid talking or thinking about God—but then at the end—once a person has passed on—it is always said, “Well, they’re in a better place now.”

As stated above, death is not the end. 

But how do we watch people’s lives who angrily, bitterly, hatefully, and rebelliously refuse to reconcile with God all through their life—and then after they’ve passed simply say, “Well, we know they are in a better place now?” That is much, much more a false comfort for the thoughts of those of us still living and not yet dead. 

Let me be clear. It is NOT “a much better place” if one has not been reconciled to God by surrendering their life to Christ crying out for His grace, mercy, and forgiveness accomplished by His death on the cross. 

See Hebrews 9:27, “It is destined for man to die once, and after that to face judgment.” 

Those who have refused God’s gospel and not having been reconciled are eternally in a place of such horror that words are insufficient to describe. 

So, there is a place of eternal torment and indescribable, unending pain for those who pass away still carrying the guilt of all their sins. They are, by nature and attitude and volition, separated by God and awaiting His wrath. That is why Jesus is so supremely and indescribably captivating—because He came to take the guilt of those sins, to take the wrath of God for those sins, even though He was perfect, holy, and innocent. 

Death is not the end. And for these people, is NOT “a better place to be.” 

On the other hand, for those who have seen what Jesus accomplished and considered it the greatest act in the universe, death is not the end for them either. 

Death is simply a necessary part of a fallen world. But the hope is in the resurrection. Our “best life” is after death. For those purchased by the blood of Christ, redeemed and reconciled to God in His grace and mercy, beyond death is the greatest place to be. 

It is to be face to face with the Author, Creator, Redeemer, and ultimately Glorifier of one’s soul. 

So death is not the end for any of us. Some believe it would be wonderful if after death those who hated and mocked God were just allowed to cease to exist. Many people have a tough time understanding how a loving God could allow some of His created beings to be placed in eternal separation from Him. That perspective forgets that His ways are not our ways. His intelligence and wisdom are not ours. That perspective also has no idea of the magnitude of difference between utter holiness and utter depravity. We have no way of seeing the beauty and glory of God’s highest holiness and righteousness in contrast with our daily list of sins. They are an affront to God. 

We tend to view it as a slight mistake or accident, as compared to someone accidentally brushing by with a mere bump of the shoulder. “Why such a big deal?” So what that I’ve made some small mistakes. But it is no small thing. It is an unfathomable distance from God’s holiness to the depth of our sinfulness. When you add the fact that there is nothing we could possibly do on our own effort to change this or reconcile us—it is overwhelming. 

Yet, while we were still currently opposed to Him and pursuing sin instead of Him—Christ died in our place. The innocent for the condemned guilty. 

Death is coming. It is no respecter of persons, positions, careers, success, age, ability, intelligence, accolades, or anything. Death is real. But death is not the end. 

For my mom, there is eternal beauty in this truth, ““Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints.” 

Death, from God’s perspective, of one of His own, is precious. 

Life is a quick vapor. Are you prepared to face God still carrying your own sins rejecting the salvation offered by God through His Son?

Are you living your life captivated by the Son of God? 

Note: I've had several texts from people fighting cancer who read this blog. 
I would strongly suggest an article by John Piper titled, "Don't Waste Your Cancer." 
It is a solid Biblical, Christ-exalting perspective on God's sovereignty over us in the middle of these types of battles. It may bring in a new perspective for some people on suffering and God's sovereignty. I went through it with my mom. I especially appreciate #5 "You will waste your cancer if you think that “beating” cancer means staying alive rather than cherishing Christ."

My mom didn't "beat" cancer. But in cherishing Christ we find someone worth treasuring more than life itself. Christ defeated sin and death with His death and resurrection. Therefore cancer and sin do not prevail.

Sankie P. Lynch
Pastor of Discipleship & Young Families
www.nbchurch.info
www.nbfamilies.info
sankie@nbchurch.info

God's Surprising 1st Love

{ Part of this blog is from a paper I wrote for seminary covering a book Brothers, We Are Not Professionals. }

What object occupies the first spot in God's heart? 

What is it that God loves more than anything in the universe? 

Answer: Himself

God's first love and most treasured object is Himself. God treasures His own glory higher than anything. God loves His own glory more than all things combined in the universe. 

That may surprise you. 

In fact, if we're honest, that may sound very prideful and ego-centric. 

You may be asking, "Is it ok for God to love Himself and treasure Himself more than He loves me?" Or "Why does God get to worship Himself when we are told not to worship ourselves?" 

For God to love any other object more than He loves Himself would be idolatry. The fact that that surprises some people actually reveals how much we have moved ourselves (mankind) into the center of God's affections. 

In the last fifteen years of pastoring, one of the most prominent goals in everything I have done, whether preaching, teaching, discipling guys, trainings, or even our events, is to present a high and exalted view of God. 

I was influenced most significantly with this purpose and idea from both John Piper and A.W. Tozer. I cut my teeth in “Christian Hedonism” with both The Pleasures of God and Desiring God by Piper. They were two of the first books I was given when I surrendered my life to Christ. Tozer’s The Pursuit of God also challenged me to see how cultural Christianity in America had allowed such a low and ignoble view of God to permeate our churches. The second chapter (in Piper’s style) is a snippet of the idea that God loves His own glory and therefore we should live for His glory in all we do. Again, this, for me, is an emphasis on proclaiming a high and exalted view of God instead of a high and exalted view of man. 

Yes, God loves man, but we should be amazed and shocked that God loves us when we rightly understand His elevated holiness and complete “otherly” qualities when in comparison to us in our lowly state of depravity. 

One of my favorite parts in Brothers, We Are Not Professionals is “the Holy Spirit is to burn in me what He has been burning with for all eternity: God’s love for God,” (6). This rightly corrects my thinking that I’m a spec in the ultimate plan and purposes of God. Yes, God loves me and values me immeasurably, (e.g. death of His holy Son-that much!) despite my sin and corruption, but God’s first and highest priority is His own glory. As Piper shares, it would be idolatrous of God to love or treasure anything other than or more than Himself. 

God’s view of God must be insatiable. I need to ask the Holy Spirit for more of His own desire for God’s name to be hallowed and lifted up. I need to ask the Holy Spirit for more of His own love and pleasure in the Trinity to be forwarded to me. The Great Commandment (Matt. 22) is shaped by God’s own discretion, desires, and values. Another sentence that I believe is worthy of using as a filter through which we think is Piper’s question and answer:

 “Why is it important to be stunned by the God-centeredness of God? Because many people are willing to be God-centered as long as they feel that God is man-centered. It is a subtle danger.” 

Wow. That has implications from our theology all the way down to our practical outworkings of ministries. We must be careful of allowing our own minds, as well as those we shepherd, to love God as long as they believe God has us on a pedestal. This is clearly the motivating factor behind the prosperity gospel. It is interesting to see what happens to people’s view of God when their life comes unraveled. If, for long periods of time, I have ingested the idea that God’s sole purpose in existence is to provide me and my family with health, wealth, riches, material possessions, and comfort, then what happens when cancer puts a wrinkle in that? What happens when events hit my life that are completely opposite of those things? 

Therefore, we must think hard and long on whether we are leading our own hearts or our people to have a love with God that is based on His own man-centeredness. That could filter the way we pray. That could filter the way we plan and strategize. That could filter the way we plant churches. That could filter the way we spend millions of dollars and hours on reaching unreached people groups. So, God’s love for His own glory has the potential to shift paradigms for everything we do. 

Sankie P. Lynch

www.nbchurch.info

www.nbfamilies.info

sankie@nbchurch.info

John Piper Brothers, We Are Not Professionals

AN INCOMPARABLE WEIGHTY AND STRATEGIC TIME

JOHN 17

I just finished speaking at a Perspectives Class a couple of weeks ago. Perspectives is a class focusing on God’s global mandate throughout the Bible to take the gospel of Christ to all the nations. (I believe Perspectives is a must for every Christian—find one near you!)

The lesson I taught was Lesson #4: God’s Mandate to the Nations. I wanted to share a section out of what I taught that night. I attempted to bring out what the Bible reveals about Jesus’ heart as He was facing the cross. John 17 

A.W. Tozer once wrote that “the most important thoughts that a man thinks are his thoughts when he thinks about God.” 

He was speaking to the reality that our view of God, whether high and exalted, or low and common, impacts every perspective in our lives. 

—If we could get one of the most intimate glimpses of a person—any person—it might be their heart crying out to God as they know they are facing death. —With this one Person, distinct and set apart from all other men—What would His heart cry be in this most secret and intimate time alone with His Father as He is facing death? 

—Jesus has lived among HIs disciples for over three years now. They have walked with Him daily. They have heard hundreds of hours of His teachings and lessons. 

—They have seen Jesus responding to His harshest critics. They have seen Jesus responding to God-fearing peoples. They have seen Jesus responding to the marginalized and outcast of society. 

—They have seen Him turn water into wine at a wedding party. They have seen Him walk on water. They have seen Him heal people with sicknesses, deformities, demons, and leprosy. They have seen Him raise people from the dead. 

—And now we come to the end. Jesus knows His time has come that God’s will for His life come to the part where He will be betrayed and captured and crucified. 

**At the end of such a powerful story and powerful life—What would be the weighty matter on Jesus’ mind as He knows what will happen in the next few days? 

**With all that His mind could be going through—What is it His mind is fixed and focused on? 

The Answer: His disciples. 

At such a crucial and incomparable weighty and strategic time—Jesus’ heart is fixed on His glory and the Father’s glory being displayed through these lowly men’s lives as they were captivated in Christ. 

John 17:1  “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son may glorify You.”

Jesus is well aware of the dreaded cross He is about to face. He has discussed His upcoming betrayal and death several times at this point with His disciples. None of them fully grasping the weight of it. 

Yet, facing that hour, He says, “Glorify Your Son.” That is an insanely ridiculous statement if not uttered through the very Son of God. It is not “glorifying” for any father to crush their innocent son to death for the guilt of others. Yet Jesus equates His future sufferings and death as a means to glorify not only Himself—but His Father as well—“that Your Son may glorify You.” 

John 17:3  “Now this is eternal life; that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.”

Many a preacher and person have described eternal life in completely different ideas. Many people think the highest goal of eternal life is being re-united with former loved ones. Others need juvenile accounts to assure them that heaven is going to be fitting enough for them. 

Jesus has a clear view of eternal life: It is knowing God the Father and the Son He has sent…period. Those who understand this God do so because they have understood the Son and the Son being sent for one purpose. That purpose was to seek and save the lost and reconcile God and man even though man’s sin had separated each one of us an eternal placement apart (2 Cor. 5:21). 

The purpose of Jesus coming was as a propitiation to purchase salvation(1 John 2:2; 1 John 4:10)—His innocence taking on the wrath of God for our guilt of sin. Those who understand that deeply view heaven along with Jesus as the immeasurable privilege of savoring time with this Godhead “face to face” for all eternity (1 Cor. 13:12). 

Therefore, in Jesus’ summation, the greatest treasure of heaven is not the scenery nor people nor loss of pain nor even absence of sin. The high and exalted glorious treasure and pleasure of heaven is God Himself. Nothing else. Not “God…and.” Not “God…plus.” Clarity. Immeasurable intrinsic weighty glory. God Himself is the reward. 

So Jesus starts out this beautiful prayer asking for God’s glory to be displayed and with a clarity on what true eternal life is. 

John 17:4 “I have brought You glory on the earth by finishing the work You gave Me to do.”

Notice Jesus is not speaking or referring to His work of atonement on the cross. Later on, in Jesus last words, Jesus says, “It is finished,”(John 19:30) and then dies. At that point, the “finished” work is justification. At that point on the cross, Jesus clarifies a different completed work. The completed work of justification (salvation) bought by Jesus’ death was a one time event. Jesus’ cross “work” is the most intensively astounding event that has happened in all of eternity. God, the perfect, holy One, died. 

Holy God died for wretched, filthy, murdering, lying, molesting, raping, gossiping, thieving, jealous, arrogant, proud, self-righteous, drunken, sexually immoral, debased, religious and non-religious man. That is the result of Jesus “finished” work on the cross. 

But back in our text, John 17:4, Jesus stresses another work He has “finished” for the glory of God. It is pouring His life and teachings and attitude and treatment of others into the hearts of His closest followers. John 17 reveals Jesus’ elevated and brilliant plan of investing in a few that is still spreading to this day. 

In the next 22 verses, Jesus refers specifically to His closest disciples over 45 times. That’s right. Over 45 times. Some people have thought this prayer was focused on the world and all those who would ever be reached by the gospel. But Jesus even clarifies twice, “I am not praying for the world” (17:9) but instead is praying specifically for His disciples, and later distinguishes by praying “for those who will believe in Me through their message,” (17:20). 

Three years earlier, Jesus had chosen these twelve men to be His closest companions. He had called them to “be with Him.” Jesus calls them to follow Him and become “fishers of men” (Mark 1:17).  

Later, after His crucifixion and resurrection, as He is about to ascend to heaven, Jesus tells them that they are to “be My witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). 

Essentially, Jesus is letting them know that their lives are now going to be all about Him. And this fits since His earlier estimation of that which entails eternal life is the reward of God Himself. Therefore, if eternal life is all about God, life on this planet would be all about God as well. 

Jesus’ focus and heart is revealed in His prayer. He has revealed by spending the greatest majority of His time, teaching, and life as pouring into men—not organizing events for people to gather around. Jesus envisioned a movement and force that “the gates of hell could not prevail against” (Matt. 16:18). The “gates” Jesus spoke of were not on the offensive. In Jesus’ mind, His Kingdom would be on the offensive taking back captives that are held in darkness behind the “gates.” 

Jesus didn’t expect those behind the gates to come out on their own or even desire to without a clear gospel message that would free them. He expected His Kingdom to advance the gospel by making disciples just like He had commanded (Matt. 28:18-20) and just as He Himself had exampled. 

It cannot be put any more clearly. What could Jesus possibly have done to get us to see that making disciples—investing in a few people—with gospel intentionality with our eyes looking upon all of lostness as an area of mission. It was supposed to be communities on mission instead of thinking the mission is creating community. True community will develop, but in process of continuing to make disciples of all peoples. We don’t stop once we’ve developed a little bit of community—whether that a few hundred or a few thousand. 

Jesus’ life revealed that making disciples was His plan for extending the gospel message to all peoples. 

Jesus’ prayer in John 17 (and others) reveals His heart’s desire to see His message internalized in captivated followers who would live for one holy passion in all peoples. 

Jesus’ command in Matthew 28 and Acts 1:8 reveals His command on high from the Father, empowered by the Spirit, to make disciples of all peoples and nations. 

So, how are we doing at this clear task?

How much of our time is spent in the busy-ness of Christianeze?

Are you making disciple by investing in a few?

Maybe these help us answer the question, Am i really captivated in Christ and what He has done? 

Let us examine our hearts and lives to see where we betray and live in disobedience to this mandate. Let us repent and pray for the Holy Spirit to stir us. Let us say no to the good things to be able to say yes to investing in a few. 

Sankie P. Lynch

www.nbchurch.info

www.nbfamilies.info

sankie@nbchurch.info

DOES GOD HATE YOU…OR LOVE YOU? (Week 2 of a 2 Week Series)

In my last blog, in this two-part series, I wrote about a tendency in some people/churches to focus only on our sinful depravity (click here for that blog). This leads some people to have a difficult time believing God does truly love them. They wander through life with a worm theology thinking God, at best, tolerates them, but really can’t stand them. 

This week, we’re going to look at the other end of that pendulum. 

These are churches that are afraid to confront you with the reality of your sin. There is a mindset out there that people only want to hear encouraging, uplifting stories that build them up so they can face the upcoming week. And sadly (tragically) many people believe that is actually the goal of the church. Unlike the people discussed last week, these people have no problem believing God loves them. They believe the whole Bible is written about mankind—not God. They place “man/woman” at the center of the universe instead of a high and exalted view of God. 

These churches are in a dangerous place also. Their only emphasis is “God loves you.” And that sounds ok. But it should utterly shock us that God loves us if we understand the complete gospel message. God does love us, but it is through amazing grace that He loves us because of each individual person’s onslaught of daily rebellion and sin against this Holy God. We need to be shocked, daily, that God loves us—which then turns into deeper awe and amazement and wonder and humility and praise and worship and honor and glory to Him. 

If you’re in a church that never mentions your depravity or your sinfulness—there are several factors that may have led to that. I will go into two of those of the most dangerous factors (there are more—but I’m just hitting two). 

1) Your leaders have bought into the secular (non-Biblical) “self-esteem” and “self-empowerment” philosophy that has been growing in popularity for the last two decades in pop-psychology. The culture of American Christianity saw people’s desire  for this and started selling it in the church. It has grown large churches and sells millions and millions of dollars in books. Let’s examine this a little more closely. 

—The idea has spread that since so many people are depressed and have had such difficult circumstances that we need to rescue them by reminding them of their high value in order to increase their self-esteem. Once their self-esteem jumps to it’s rightly elevated position, these people will be “cured.” 

—What I am not saying: I am NOT saying that people with different forms of depression just need to pray and it will all go away. Depression/anxiety usually is a complex mixture of factors. Nor am I saying that people are wrong for facing depression due to either physiological or circumstantial issues. I’m not trying to speak towards the depression at all. I’m trying to speak towards what our “answer” is for so many people dealing with these type of issues. 

—Problem: People’s low self-esteem is not our main problem. Sin is our main problem. And in saying that, I’m not saying that every person who has depression is living in unrepentant sin and this is their result. I’m saying that our answer is not to build up self-esteem, but to restore people to a gospel-driven identity. 

—Jesus didn’t come to restore self-esteem. He came to “seek and save that which was lost.”

Look at the Man we want to follow:

Isaiah 53:3 “He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”

—Notice "we esteemed Him not." Jesus wasn't esteemed by people. Almighty God in the flesh was lowered in people's estimation and value of Him. It seems like part of God’s design for Jesus was not a focus on self-esteem, but humility. And if a person has humility and understands their identity in relation to God Himself—they will have a healthy self-esteem as a by-product. 

—What if we restore ten million people’s self-esteem and yet leave them without a Savior or seeing their need for a Savior. We’ve only given them a misguided, but possibly happier trip through life and an eternal hell after this life. 

—There are some cases where people have been abused (emotionally, physically, verbally, etc) so much in their own personal value estimation that they need to have a different perspective. But what is the Biblical perspective we want them to have? Is it merely to boost self-esteem and self-empowerment? And yes, because of the circumstances many people have endured, they do need to believe that they are not determined agents of ruin with no hope in the future. But again, what is the Biblical view of themselves we would like to see re-formed? 

—We want people to have “gospel identities.” Meaning this:(follow closely) even though I have a heart that constantly disguises it’s motives and desires (Jeremiah 17:9) that is more corrupt and rebellious against God’s holiness than I can imagine—what Jesus did in my place on the cross both removes my sins (past, present, future), but also gives me hope for graduated change and transformation internally at the heart level as I continue to fix my eyes on Him (2 Cor. 3:18; 2 Cor. 5:17,21) and ask the Holy Spirit to work in me (Matt. 6:33; Luke 11:5-13).  So, my perspective/thinking is not focused on me being the change agent nor me being the focal point—but instead the living, reigning Jesus Christ changing my thoughts/feelings through the Holy Spirit and Christ being exalted in my eyes and heart through that process. I respond, by faith, to shift my thinking to my new identity supplied by Christ (justification & sanctification). My identity is wrapped up in what Christ has done for me, in me, to me, and through me for His glory. 

And even if I have been so abused and dejected and suffered through so much anguish that I think I’m a horrible person with nothing to offer—instead of having great pride about myself (which is actually one of our greatest sinful areas) I can have humility in identifying more with Christ as the tortured, abused, rejected, hurt, despised, and ultimately abandoned One. And again, with my identity wrapped up in what He accomplished and still looking to Him as my only hope for change—I am able to forgive my abusers and circumstance to trust in Him. 

So, the first danger is buying into the self-esteem fixation instead of gospel identities supplied by what Christ has already accomplished. 

2) Your leaders are afraid to offend you or hurt you. Everyone has heard something close to “I don’t want to go to a church that makes me feel bad about myself. I want to feel better about myself when I leave.” Like I said, something close to that. 

But let’s examine that thinking and philosophy that drives and directs many churches. 

—It has been clearly spoken of in videos and other media outlets that some leaders are afraid that speaking of sin—specifically, calling out sin in people’s lives, will drive those people away from the church. Therefore, since people do not want to hear about their hearts’ true condition, we will cater to that by instead telling people all of their good qualities. 

—Some leaders have gone as far as to say that they purposefully refuse to bring up sin in the pulpit because people do not like to hear that or feel bad about themselves. But what is it that Jesus agonized over on the cross? People’s sins. 

What was it that every living person could not free themselves from or remove from themselves? Personal sin. 

—To proclaim God’s word to people requires us to highlight the good nature of God’s holiness and righteousness. God’s word is also very clear requiring us to speak to each other about our sin and to seek God’s forgiveness because it is an affront and injustice on His holy character. Now, if we stopped there and only told people how miserably they have sinned and how horrible they are for doing that it could lead back to the problem we discussed last week. But if we go on through the Bible to see that all of the OT and NT in the Bible were pointing to Christ and His cross. The cross was always ultimate before the foundation of the world. Therefore, people who are saddened, broken in spirit, and humbled by the reality of their sin against such a great and holy God—their natural response would be to treasure Jesus and what He has done. They go from sorrowful to rejoicing—from being brought low to being lifted high in thought and feeling because of the truth of Christ. None of that is possible if we do not see the reality of God’s high and holy standard contrasted with the wickedness of our hearts. 

—Teaching from God’s word, therefore is not something that ONLY makes me feel bad about myself or my sin. It should do that however. But it should also lift my head up to the beauty of Jesus and what He has done. 

—Some people feel like they have sinned so much that there is no way God could forgive them. They feel like God’s grace is for “better” people. People who haven’t blown it as bad as they have. The truth is that no matter how bad we’ve blown it—no matter the depth or degree of our sin—Christ’s death on the cross is sufficient. 

So, the second danger is being in a place where your sin is not confronted. Remember, it is sheer grace to have sin confronted and done away with!

That truth and reality should humble us in spirit and at the same time restore our hearts in worship to this worthy King! 

Sankie P. Lynch

www.nbchurch.info

www.nbfamilies.info

sankie@nbchurch.info