Guest Post: How Is Your Church "Progressing?"

Around our place we have been bouncing around some thoughts about the self-named Progressive Church.  Wikipedia has a brief entry by that name which may be of benefit if you are not  familiar with the term.

Based on about forty years of observation, and a little background in ancient languages, ecclesiology and philosophy, I conclude the following.  Many of the teachings of the Progressive Church are not progressive at all,  but rather a movement back into the ancient heresies of gnosticism, antinomianism and universalism.  I know that's a mouthful.  Said another way, these guys are teaching some of the same stuff Paul, John, Peter and Jude had to fight against in the first generation of the Church's life.  But Progressive sounds so cool, doesn't it?  Reminds me of the Progressive Insurance Company and I wonder if they are actually innovative in any meaningful way.  Either one.

I'm serious about there being some glaring problems with the Progressive Church.  Let's make a baseball metaphor.

Let's "progressively" change some rules of the game.  Forget all those buzzkill rules about being "out" all the time.  We don't want those defensive positions around the field.  Oh, those guys can still stand out there, but it would be cooler if they would just clap a lot and yell things at the batter, like, "I affirm you, Dude."    And the pitcher should no longer be throwing so hard;  in fact, underhand delivery would be preferable.  We want every batter to hit a homer!  Hey, it's my game, so I'm going to name it Radical Love Baseball. If you love the game of baseball,  if you see the beauty in it just the way it is, messing with the rules would scandalize you.  The new rules above might be good for five-year-olds, but for die hard lovers of the game, such changes would be heartbreaking.

Now I do love baseball, but not in the way I love the Church.  And when I see the Devil fooling with it, I feel like I must scream a little.  Just reading a Psalm yesterday where the writer said something like, "God's people are all screwing up, and there are no prophets, so now what are we going to do?"  The Psalmist didn't say exactly that, but I'll bet my offering is better than the Message on that verse.  God, raise up some prophets!!

I use the baseball metaphor to underscore that what the Progressive Church is about goes beyond what is touted.  They seek to change some basic teachings of the Bible.  Someone should be blogging every day, exposing their false teaching with the Light of God's Word.  I promise to find you some links. . .somewhere out there a bright, straight-up, Truth-loving scholar, preferably with a double PhD in Koine Greek and Church History, may be blogging on this and I don't know about it.

I'll ask you one question, then quit for today.  In your church, do you hear clear teaching about holiness, the destiny of the lost, the abortion plague, sexual boundaries, the end times?  Really.  We all need to be involved with a group of Believers who challenge one another to obedience to the Whole Counsel of God.

Wait.  I have to throw this in.  In the Wikipedia article mentioned above, the author made a list of perhaps thirty or so people they described as notable Progressive Christians.  First name on the list is Barack Obama.  Now that is. . .  it's just. . .  I mean, lots of people (like Madonna, for example) assume he is a Muslim.

How Do You Want To Be Known?

Hello friends. It's always my aim to blog on Mondays. And some weeks lend themselves to quiet contemplation and easy ordering of thoughts, so that, come Monday, I can sit down at my laptop, and  perfectly lucid ideas come streaming from my mind, through my nimble fingertips, and onto this page.

This, I'm afraid, was not one of those weeks.

It has been a crazy week. My life has been a whirlwind of activity and my head a whirlwind of thought. I've been challenged on some ideas and convicted on others and I have made some pretty difficult decisions in my constant pursuit of learning what it means to acknowledge Christ's lordship and bring honor and glory to God with my heart, mind, and body. And while I started this blog with the intent of weekly tackling big and difficult ideas, I'm afraid I'm not so awesome as to weekly have something big and difficult to share. Not every week allows me to indulge in my scholarly pursuits, I'm afraid.

But just because the ideas in my head aren't big or difficult doesn't mean that they aren't important. As I further open myself to Christ's lordship in my life, the further I am convicted in so many areas, many of which I have never even considered or thought important. This week, the Spirit has left this little niggling question in my mind, and I haven't been able to help but meditate on it of most of this week.

How do you want to be known?

For most of my life I have been a person who has gone with the who-cares-what-people-think mantra. I've always been a bit of a square peg, and people generally find me to be uncomfortably outside the box. And when this is who you are, you either conform, spend your life filled with self-doubt, or grow a thick skin. I eschewed the first and adopted a perhaps not-so-healthy combination of the latter two, and led my life in the constant pursuit of trying to define who I am. And I've put on and taken off many meaningless hats in that pursuit: hardcore, emo, greaser, tattooed and pierced freak, party girl, the girl with the (insert ridiculous color here) hair, smoker, drinker, alcoholic, recovering alcoholic ..the list continues. The list of trying to define myself outside of the Body of Christ. None of it mattered.

I've grown and changed a lot in the last 6 years. Heck, I've grown and changed a lot in the last 6 months. But there is one ideal from my purposeless and fruitlessly rebellious youth that remains: I am adamantly against conformity or letting people, culture, or tradition define me. Now this doesn't mean that I still don't enjoy being held in high esteem by my peers, or being otherwise respected or admired. But I don't allow the esteem or opinions of my peers, or the paradigms or traditions of cultures or groups to define who I am, what I believe, or how I behave (Colossians 2:8). I am always open to wise counsel (Proverbs 19:20-21), and if you disagree with me, I will always listen, we can weigh it against scripture and hash it out (1 Corinthians 11:19).

But the long and short of it is this: I have a living and active Scripture (Hebrews 4:12) and an indwelling Spirit (John 16:13). Those are my most powerful weapons on this treacherous battlefield, and one will never contradict the other; as long as I faithfully devote myself to both, I can confidently and fearlessly follow the path set before me (Palm 119:105).  I rely on truth from no man, instead I take all preaching, teaching, and instruction and weigh it against what the Scripture and the Spirit have revealed. If the concepts are particularly tough, I take my questions to another Believer who is older and wiser and firmly grounded in Biblical truth, and he or she will crack open a Bible and walk me through it. But in the end, Christ convicts my heart; I will stand before Jesus to give account for myself, and I will be answerable to no one but Him (Romans 14:10-12). And I doubt He will say, "why didn't you try harder to fit in? You made people uncomfortable with your constant challenging and questioning and square-peggishness."

Now of course, there are more issues here that need to and will be addressed at some point: the pursuit of Christ is not meant to be an individual pursuit, but rather a corporate one, we are supposed to be subject to each other as one body under Christ's headship. But in the end, when I stand before Jesus, and He asks, "Why didn't you do what I commanded?" I don't think He'll accept "Well nobody else in my church/small group/community/etc was doing it" as an answer.

So back to the original question: how am I known? To those that like me (or at least respect me), I am the bold one, the one not afraid to question authority or challenge brothers and sisters to a deeper understanding of their faith, who has strong opinions that I'm not afraid to share, and a pretty decent head for Biblical knowledge. To those who don't like me, I am the constant thorn, the dissenter, the strife-bringer. ............

But how do I want to be known? As that girl who is so crazy in love with Jesus, so entirely sold out to His lordship, that she would do ANYTHING, say ANYTHING, throw off, forfeit, give-up, lose ANYTHING, EVERYTHING, and ANYONE in the pursuit of His honor and glory. That's  who I want to be. That's how I want to be known.

How do you want to be known?

Set Apart: Legalism v Holiness

"Legalism" seems to be the newest Emerging Church catchphrase. I hear it constantly, but it's always a bit obscure and ill-defined. What, exactly, is legalism? I myself have this word flung at me occasionally, because, being a hardcore Bible girl, I often /suggest/ to people that as followers of Jesus, there's a fairly specific code of conduct laid out for us in Scripture. That is, there are rules. There are things we are supposed to do and things we are not supposed to do. This idea used to be accompanied by the Duh Factor, but lately I'm finding that it's met by gasps of dismay and random, angry, Bible proof-texting.  So let's take a look at these two ideas, holiness and legalism, and see if we can't lend some clarity to this divisive issue.

Legalism is no simple concept, and pages could be written exploring and defining it. But simply put, legalism is the belief that what we do affects our redemption. You've perhaps heard it called "works-based faith," and it's an insidious, dangerous, anti-Biblical, and entirely wrong-headed doctrine still espoused by misled and misinformed people all over the world. Anybody who has any any decent teaching or done even a little studying will know that it is grace and faith alone that save us (Ephesians 2:8-10, Galatians 2:16), and we are not justified, or reconciled, to our God through works (Romans 3:20).

SO ....to clarify ...this is NOT what I'm saying when I exhort you to holiness and obedience. I am NOT telling you that you cannot know Jesus or be reconciled to God unless you live a certain way or follow certain rules. We all sin and fall short (Romans 3:23), this is Bible 101, and neither you nor I could ever obey well enough or live rightly enough to earn our own redemption. So again, that is not what I'm saying. I hope that's clear.

So what am I saying? I'm saying that just because we cannot earn our own salvation does not give us license to live however we want. The Person who did earn our salvation is owed a little more than that. When you come to know Christ, EVERYTHING changes, and I mean EVERYTHING. He transforms you from the inside out and makes you into a new creature (2 Corinthians 5:17). And yes, that transformation comes with expectations. It's a free gift, redemption, but just because your Savior has granted you liberty to live as you please does not mean that He has given you license. So let's go through a few Bible verses and see what God-breathed Scriptures tells us about all this.

John 14:15: “If you love me, keep my commands." -Well that's pretty self-explanatory. We're all comfortable with the idea of loving Jesus, we all want to do that more, and more effectively. So what are His commands? And remember, all scripture if God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16), so the words do not have to come directly out of the mouth of walking-talking Jesus to be considered His commands. 


Galatians 5:19-21: "The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;  idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions  and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God." -Also fairly self-explanatory. Amongst other things, here Paul is saying that if you're having sex with someone you're not married to, or getting drunk, or throwing temper tantrums and punching walls,  (things happening every day in your average local church), there's a problem. A big one. But why is there a problem?

1 John 2:3-6:  "We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person.  But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him:  Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did." -Now THIS is a fully loaded verse! Explicit and convicting. 

Romans 12:1-2: "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is — His good, pleasing, and perfect will." -Live like Jesus, it doesn't matter one bit what society thinks or what's culturally relevant or acceptable. So everyone you know is sleeping with their boyfriends and girlfriends, hitting the bar every weekend, and outspokenly supporting marriage equality and a woman's right to choose?  They tell you that if you take a moral stance on any of these things, you're judgmental? hate-filled? You don't really understand Christ's message of radical love? (now there's one we'll definitely have to address, and soon). Who cares?! Don't listen to all those babbling voice, those are some of the very patterns of this world to which we've been explicitly commanded not to conform! 

Romans 8:9: "You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ." -Again, obvious. If you belong to Christ, you won't live like the world anymore.

Romans 6:1-2: "What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?  By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?" -Sin is clearly defined all over the New Testament, you don't need me to link a dozen more verses to help define it. And this verse is saying that once we are saved, we cannot possibly keep living in sin! We technically have the right to, but we won't want to! Because knowing Jesus changes us! It changes our hearts, our desires, and our actions.



You have been sanctified by the blood of the Living Savior (1 Corinthians 6:11), and you have been set apart from the rest of the world for a holy purpose. You have been called to let go of the seductive or comfortable things things of this world (1 John 2:15), and to live holy lives that honor God (1 Peter 1:15-16). People should be able to SEE a difference in the way you live; it should be apparent. And that doesn't just mean that you should just be nicer to the bus driver, or more patient with your kids, tithe a little more or smile more or be friendlier to strangers. The way you actually live, the things you choose to do or not do, support or condemn, should be radically different from the rest of the world's. There should be no mistaking who you are and what you're about. Or Who has lordship over your life. 

A hundred years ago, Charles Spurgeon said: "An unholy church! It is of no use to the world and of no esteem among men. Oh, it is an abomination, hell's laughter, heaven's abhorrence. And the larger the church, the more influential, the worse nuisance does it become when it becomes unholy. The worst evils which have ever come upon the world have been brought upon her by an unholy church."

What stark and terrifying words! Yet still this seems to be the path the church as a whole is travelling. Not only does there seem to be a church-wide move away from a call for holiness and obedience, there seems to be less and less of a conviction that such things are even real or necessary!  I hear a lot about love and grace (doctrines of paramount importance, of course!!), but nothing of holiness, sanctity, or obedience. I hear a lot about not judging (a complex idea that warrants much study and examination), and nothing about repentance.  

Do you know what Jesus' main message was while he was here one earth? You've heard that it was nothing but love, and for sure, Jesus preached love. But do you know what His overall theme was? It was repent (Matthew 4:17). Repentance, simply put, is recognizing you are sinful, wanting to stop sinning, and then actively turning from sin. It's a call to action. But how can we follow Jesus' number one command, to turn from sin, if we're unwilling to draw clear lines between right and wrong, acceptable and unacceptable, pleasing and grieving? How can we heed the call for holiness without first admitting that holiness is real?

This is a huge and complex subject. I struggled even in writing this, because the ideas are so big and there are so many different concepts in here that could each be studied for a lifetime. As always, I exhort you to two things: 1, please click on all the hyperlinks and read the verses for yourselves. And read the verses that come before and after. Heck, read the whole passages.  I'm doing my best to relay as much truth as I understand, but real truth can only be found in the Word of God. And 2, if what I'm saying doesn't sound right, if it wasn't what you were taught, what you've learned, what your local church is teaching you, call me out right here on this blog. If you think I'm wrong, don't just dismiss me as wrong and move on. Let's hash it out, that's how truth is uncovered and God's will is revealed (1 Corinthians 11:19).

Before I go,  "Bible Answerman" Hank Hanagraaf has a helpful mnemonic on the subject of holiness that I found both informative and succinct, so I thought I would share:

"The concept of holiness is central to Scripture. Today, however, the Christian church produces truckloads of materials designed to make men healthy and happy rather than holy.

The principles for holy living can be internalized by using the acronym "H-O-L-I-N-E-S-S."

H = Holy Spirit:
The Holy Spirit is the agent of holiness. He is not called "holy" simply because He is God, but rather because He works to produce holiness in the life of the believer.

O = Old Testament:
In the Old Testament, God set apart a people not because they were holy, but in order to make them holy. The Israelites were set apart in a Holy Land (Canaan), set apart through Circumcision, and set apart by the Commandments. Holiness means to be set apart for the service of God rather than for the service of self.

L = Legalism:
Legalism does not equal holiness! In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus introduces the possibility of living solely for God and not for outward appearances based on the traditions of men.

I = Internal Holiness:
While man looks at externalities, God is concerned with our deepest internal motivations. He is not as concerned with what we do as He is with why we do what we do.

N = New Testament:
If the Old Testament symbol of holiness is found in the commandments, the New Testament symbol for holiness is found in the Cross. The difference between law and grace is the difference between religion and relationship!

E = Eschatology:
The eschatology of holiness will ultimately be realized in eternity when positional holiness gives way to practical holiness. On that glorious day we will behold Him "face to face."

S = Sanctification:
As Christ died that we might be justified, so we are justified in order that we may be sanctified, or made holy. Sanctification involves being conformed daily to Christ rather than transformed by our culture.

S = Suffering:
Suffering is an integral part of biblical holiness. Spurgeon once wrote that he was "certain that he had never gown in grace one-half so much anywhere as upon the bed of pain." We are "heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified in Him" (Romans 8:17)."

Food For Thought

Okay, blog friends, I'm afraid this week has not lent itself to successful blogging. We've had some annoying health problems (nothing too serious, but serious enough to create a severely out-of-sorts toddler and mama). All of my resources have gone to keeping my family sane (relatively speaking), and I don't have enough left to give you an effective, well-thought-out blogpost you need, so instead of doing you the disservice of posting a half-assed article, I'm going to give you a few ideas/concepts to mull over and meditate on over the next few dayS while I collect my thoughts and sanity.

Did you know, brothers and sisters, that you are sanctified?  That you have been set apart by your Creator and Savior for a special and holy purpose?  You've probably heard that idea a time or two, but do you know what it means? Have you ever heard any teaching or spent any time thinking about and studying what that concept might really look like in your day-to-day life?

How about legalism? I'd be willing to bet you've heard that word thrown around in your church 10x more than "sanctified" or "set apart," it seems to be quite the catchphrase in the emerging church of late.  But what does it really mean? What does legalism look like in a real world context and why is it so often confused with Christ's call for holiness (1 Peter1:14-16)?

These ideas have been bouncing around in my head all week, so now let them bounce around in yours for a few days, and we'll really get down and dirty with the hard stuff on Monday, when hopefully some sense of normalcy has returned to my life. 

Guest Post: Where Are We and How Did We Get Here?

This blog is aimed at followers of Jesus.  I'm not talking about all who say they are Christ-followers.  It is curiously acceptable, even cool in our debauched, decidedly pagan, American culture to be "spiritual" and call oneself a follower of Jesus (What presidential candidate does not hope to gain popularity by claiming Christianity?)  Jesus classified hearers as sheep or goats.  Paul as saved or lost.  John as belonging to God or the evil one.  Now we mortals cannot see into people's souls to identify one from the other.  But the real life challenges of relating to people require that we make a discernment about others' relationship (or lack of) to God.  And our Lord calls on us to do just that, because we are to love people differently, depending on which category they are in.  You who are born again, reconciled to God, justified in God's sight, I'm writing to you.  

And I have a challenge for you.  Name the two or three best Bible students in your church group.  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Yeah, I know.   The best you will find in most American churches these days is someone who uses a story out of the Bible now and again to support an argument they are making, or to persuade you to get on board with their cause.  We are literate, but ignorant of the Word of God.  The situation is shameful.  How did we get to this place?  We got here by traditionalizing the pagan notion that religious leaders are a finer breed of people, and letting leaders proceed with their career agendas,  without holding their feet to the fire of God's Truth.   We got here by accepting the assumption that studying and knowing the Bible is a professional's job.  So here we are.  Outlandish behaviors (stuff Paul said should NEVER happen in the Family of God)  can proceed and we shrug.  Church leaders can make strange, spiritually ambiguous presentations among us; we wonder what that is about, but we shrug.  If some courageous soul does raise his voice to suggest we look at what the Word of God says about something, he is labeled "divisive" and subtly marginalized.  So the study of the Bible to know God and His ways better, and  for discernment, is discouraged.  Honestly admit with me that among your American Christian acquaintances the Bible is generally viewed as a devotional book, something you read a little bit of occasionally to make you feel better about yourself and the world.


Of the number of people who read these words, almost all will just shrug.  But if these words strike a chord in your heart, I have another challenge for you.  Get into the Bible;  it wasn't written and kept all these years for the reading of a special caste of clergymen.  It was written in the language of everyday people, for them to understand for themselves.  And for you.  Ask God to speak to you as you read His Word.   Ask your Lord to connect you to others with the same thirst.  Please note what I am NOT suggesting.  I'm not suggesting you find out what the emergent, pop-christian, hip, 2013 writers are selling, and start a book club.  (I was mortified recently upon hearing a young pastor name a best-selling Christian book, and pronounce  it  the most influential writing in his life.  I read the same book;  the writer really had NOTHING TO SAY!  But that kind of nothing is sadly and obviously what most American Christians want to hear, and it sells.)


Come along as we seek a better understanding of God, His ways, the big picture, and what He is really calling us to.

Testing the Spirits: Biblical v. Pastoral Authority

Matt (husband): "When you were younger, did anyone ever tell you that you had a problem with authority?"
Me: "Umm ...no, I don't think so."
Matt: "Huh. You'd think they would've."

Yeah. It's a bit of a joke around here that I have a problem with authority. This is a complicated idea for me, for sure; I definitely have a prideful streak in me that bristles when someone tries to exert any sort of control in my life, ie: I don't really like to be told what to do. But, even when you remove the pride issue, I am just not the type of person who falls into line because someone walks into my life and claims they have authority to tell me to.  Blame it on homeschooling, I wasn't programmed with the sit-down, shut-up, raise-your-hand, wait-your-turn, never-question-authority mentality that many of my public-schooled peers were subjected to for all of their formative years. My father taught me to question everything. Everything I was told, everything I was taught, everything society accepted, and everything I myself believed. He told me there is a reason behind everything that every human being thinks, does or says, and I have the responsibility to hold it all up to the Light and examine it. So, when a person enters my life and seeks to exercise authority, I'm probably not going to immediately fall into line. I'm probably going to question that person's right to wield said authority. And this is doubly true for people who claim spiritual authority and leadership inside the Church.

I've been in the church my entire life, and I have a pretty good handle on how it all works; the basic hierarchical structure, the pastor v. laity paradigm, etc., and, in the future, on a day when my brain is feeling excitingly clear and I feel like biting off more than I can chew, we'll get in depth on some of those ideas. But today, I want to present you with an idea that you might find surprising, shocking, or even unthinkable. Ready?

The pulpit is not a magical mystery machine that miraculously transforms someone into a spiritual authority figure. And just because the guy standing behind it graduated from Bible college or seminary and got hired by other guys in your church to preach, does not make him the final spiritual or Biblical authority in your life.

Translation: just because the pastor said it from the pulpit doesn't make it true.

Hear me:

He's just a guy, like every other guy in the church, and he can be wrong. All your leaders can.

He can misinterpret, misread, misunderstand, and be misled. All your leaders can.

Nor is it his job to impart to you everything you need to know about following Jesus. He's just a teacher, hopefully one of many in your life, and it's your job to listen to his teaching, and then crack open the Bible and study it for yourself. Like the Berean Jews, who heard Paul's teaching and compared it to the Scriptures every day (Acts 17:11). And this was commendable behavior! They weren't being contentious or rebellious, they were merely testing the Spirits (1 John 4:1) to make sure that the teaching they were receiving from Paul lined up with the Scriptures, because the Bible is and always has been the final authority against which everything, all preaching, teaching, and claims of "personal revelation," must be weighed. Period (2 Timothy 3:16). And this is something we are ALL responsible to do. Somewhere along the way we have given up on personal responsibility in favor of this passive (lazy?) role in our own spiritual walk. Because studying the Bible is hard work, there are a  lot of complicated ideas in there! And why bother to study them for yourself when your church has hired a guy to stand up there and just explain it all to you, right?

It is your responsibility to weigh all preaching and teaching against Biblical principles (1 Thess. 5:21-22).  So if you hear teaching, and you take that teaching to the Bible and find that it comes up lacking,  even if it came from the pulpit, or straight from the pastor's lips, you have the right, the responsibility, to stand up and say, "That's not right." We've been raised for generations, nay centuries, to quietly obey the clergy-types and never dream of questioning their authority in any way. Well guess what? This is an entirely anti-Biblical idea. We are all subject to one another (Ephesians 5:21), we are to teach and admonish each other (Col. 3:16), and nowhere in the Bible does this exclude leaders, teachers, or pastors. 

Below is a very short article by The Bible Answerman Hank Hanegraaf. If you're struggling to come to grips with some of the ideas I just shared, here's a boatload of Bible to back them up and maybe clarify them a little better. I would seriously encourage you to take the time to click on each link and examine the Word of God for yourself, because gees, don't take my word for it, I'm just one more supremely fallible human trying to figure it all out, just like everyone else. And Mr. Hanagraaf was kind enough to gather up most of the verses on this tough subject and put them altogether for us, which makes the study of it so much easier.

And, as always, please, I encourage you to argue with, refute, or expound upon the ideas I share in my blog. I'm here to learn, too:


"Q: Should the believing community judge the teachings of its leaders?

A: Not only is it permissible, it is our responsibility to do so. Nobody's teachings are above sound judgment — especially influential leaders. Biblical authority and accountability go hand-in-hand (Luke 12:48). The greater the responsibility one holds, the greater the accountability one has before God and His people (James 3:1).
In the Old Testament, the Israelites were instructed to practice good judgment by inquiring, probing, and thoroughly investigating a teaching or practice (Deut. 13). In the New Testament, the apostle Paul commands the Thessalonians to test all things (1 Thess. 5:21-22) and commends the Bereans for testing his teachings in the light of Scripture (Acts 17:11). Instead of rebuking them, he lauds their character as noble. While our Lord Himself cautioned followers not to judge self-righteously (Matt. 7:1-5), He also counseled them to judge rightly (John 7:24, cf. Matt. 7:15-20).
Furthermore, this responsibility to make right judgments extends to public exposure and correction of false teachings and practices within the church (see Matt. 23; Gal. 2:11-21; 2 Tim. 2:17-18).
Christians are frequently uncomfortable with such judgments. They assume that since they are often painful they are also destructive. However, as apologists Bob and Gretchen Passantino explain, "The 'pain' of biblically conducted confrontation produces individual growth (1 Tim. 4:16), encourages others to Christian maturity (1 Tim. 5:19-20), promotes church strength (Eph. 4:15), and preserves the church's reputation in the world (1 Peter 2:12; [cf. 2 Peter 2:1-2])."

My name is Libby and I'm an alcoholic.

I didn't think we'd get so intimate so fast, but anyone who knows me knows that I tend to jump into everything I do with both feet. Why would this be any different?

I was a pastor's kid for most of my formative years, which, for me, means I spent my first 20+ years playing the pastor's kid game. There were lots of eyes on my, which meant that I had an image to upkeep and a lot of rules to follow. I never resented this role I had to play, it was just the way things were, and I was quite adept at playing, without even knowing that my head was engaged in a pursuit that my heart cared very little for. I went to a Christian college and met and married a nice Christian boy.  Once married and out of college, I pretty much gave up any pretense of holiness or obedience. Understand that I never doubted that Jesus was the way, the truth, and the life, that He was my living savior, who died and lives again. I just ..got tired of following rules, I guess. Obedience, when not accompanied by a sincere desire for holiness and a fuller relationship with your Creator, is just plain miserable.

But the real problem, I found, was that I liked to drink. A lot. And often. Being a nice Christian kid my whole life, I hadn't really had the opportunity for much drunkenness, but once out on my own, I found I had a serious affinity and a boundless appetite for alcohol. I could drink anyone under the table, and while my friends were moaning and clutching their heads and bellies the next morning, declaring how they would never do THAT again, I was thinking about what pansies they were, and how lame it was that I needed to try and wait til at least 5 pm to start drinking again.

For a few years, it was just partying. And by 'just," I don't mean that it was no big deal, because disobedience is always a big deal. I mean that it wasn't apparent that I had a "problem" in the beginning. I just looked like your average 20-something young woman, sewing her wild oats and having a good time. But after a couple for years, it became very apparent, at least to me, that I had a very, very big problem. Partying on the weekends gradually turned into several nights a week, and then every single day. Every single day I drank until I threw up and passed out. By the time my husband caught on, I was mired in my alcoholism, drowning so completely that I could not possibly see a way out. I spent most of my time suffocated by a crushing depression that could only be alleviated by drunken oblivion. There was a gaping hole in my soul, and only way I could fill it was by pouring alcohol into it. Or so I told myself. And my husband when he would confront me.

Now, I've been a believer ever since I can remember; there's no time in my life when I don't remember knowing that Jesus loves me. But when I made up my mind to give up on even the tenuous connection I had to following Jesus, it threw open the door for the disease of alcoholism to take complete control of my life. And even though I knew ..my heart and soul KNEW ..that Jesus would fill that hole; if only I would turn to Him and ask it; if only I would surrender, repent, fall on my face in submission, He would fill me completely. But my heart was hard, and above all full of fear. If I surrendered to Jesus completely, He would ask me to let go of my only comfort, my only solace, the only thing that made living bearable. He would say, "Let it all go and follow Me."

I wasn't willing. I convinced myself that I couldn't live without alcohol, and so I spent the better part of a decade stuck in an unbelievably painful, demoralizing,  and dangerous spiral of shame, misery, and self-destruction, willfully destroying my body and soul, and almost every relationship in my life.

I honestly can't tell you what changed. There were hundreds of days when I woke up determined that I was done drinking, what made that one day any different? I really feel like it was the day that God said, "ok honey, I've been patient enough, we are done with this now." That was the day that He chose to convict my heart of my sin. Within a week He had almost entirely replaced my crippling need (physical addiction coupled with mental obsession) for alcohol with an all-consuming desire to know Him more. Every recovering alcoholic has their own experience, but mine, by the grace and mercy of Jesus, was complete deliverance. I never "slipped," (got drunk once), "went out," (resumed previous drinking behavior for a period of time), or was even really seriously tempted to take another drink. Now, there's a lot more to being an alcoholic than just drinking too much, and the mental, emotional, and behavioral aspects of my disease still take constant vigilance. But By His grace, He still makes the idea of taking a drink entirely unthinkable to me.  I celebrated 6 years of sobriety on October 5th.

So why do I share this most vulnerable, shameful, painful part of my past with anyone willing to take the time to read a little blog post? For a couple of reasons, really. First, because I am so hardcore Bible, because I take the teachings of Paul and Peter and John very seriously (ALL of them, not just the nice parts about peace and kindness), because I very keenly feel the call to speak out about the need for obedience and holiness in His Church, I am often considered legalistic, or unloving, or judgmental, or self-righteous. And you know what? I'm certainly guilty of all of those on many occasions. But I want people to know that I know; maybe better than most, I know what it is to be a hideous, broken, shame-filled failure. I have no high horse, I have failed at following my Jesus more bitterly than I can tell, and so I don't spend all my time sitting in the pew and looking around for wicked sinners to correct. I just want to help people understand that, when we see fellow believers stuck in sin, they need us. Not to just hold their hands and "love" them! They need us to help them get free! It is not out of a need judge people or to force them to obey, it's out of deep desire to see His followers truly transformed into new creatures.

And second, because my life is a testament to the fact that JESUS CHANGES PEOPLE'S HEARTS, and I wanted to give you a little insight into who I am, and how my relationship with Jesus changed my heart and my life. So you can decide if I seem like the kind of person you might like to go on this Christ-seeking journey with.

 There is pure joy and ultimate freedom in submitting to the leadership of Jesus and in living in obedience to Him. I spent almost 30 years fighting it, and when I was through fighting, the transformation was almost instantaneous. He changed my very heart, and when my heart changed, so did my behavior. He made me into a new creature that very day, and He continues to shape me and mold me ..as long as my heart remains willing to be molded. I remember this one day, not long after I got sober. My dad and I were working together, building a little rock wall along the edge of his property, and I confided in him that, since I had stopped "self-medicating" with alcohol (often chemical addictions are covers for other underlying issues), I kept having these experiences of kind of mind-boggling bliss that just came out of nowhere, and I was afraid that I might be bipolar, as we have history of it in my family. He looked at me and chuckled, and said, "Libby, what you're experiencing is joy." Joy! For the first time in my life, while finally living in compete submission to the will of God, I was experiencing joy! How amazing!

I feel like this post has been a little disjointed, I know I touched on so many ideas today (exhortation, accountability, submission, love, community, willingness, holiness, obedience, transformation).  You'll have to bear with me as I get my blog-groove on, I've never done this before :) But these are all ideas that, I feel, are of paramount importance in truly experiencing the fullness of Jesus Christ in our lives, and I hope to better study, examine and flesh them out in later blog posts. I hope you'll keep walking with me on this journey to a better understanding of what it mean to truly follow Jesus.




Said AW Tozer:

"The act of accepting Christ, if it is a true act, has an instant effect upon our entire moral life, and it changes the man from being a bad man to being a good man. God will not, by some trick of grace, take evil, foul minded, self-righteous and vile people into His heaven. When He saves a man, He saved him from sin. If he is not saved from sin, he is not saved at all! There is no act of grace and no trick of mercy and no justification that can take an unholy man into the presence of God or an evil man into God's holy heaven. He came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. He came not to call people who thought they were righteous but people who knew they were sinful. When He calls us to Himself and saves us, He saves us out of our past and out of our own iniquity; and by a threefold act of justification, regeneration and sanctification, He makes people fit for heaven.

It is an erroneous idea that justification is an imparted robe of righteousness put over a dirty, filthy fellow who terribly needs a bath and is filled with cooties and the accumulation of the dirt of a lifetime, who stands boldly in God Almighty's holy heaven, among seraphim and cherubim and arch Angels and the spirit of just men made perfect, and blithely and flippantly says, "I belong in hell. I am a filthy man but what are you going to do about it? I have on me the robe of Christ's righteousness and that is enough."

God saves only sinners, and He saves only sinners who know they are sinners. He saves only sinners who admit they are sinners; but He saves sinners and turns them from being sinners to being good men and full of the Holy Spirit. When we teach anything else we are teaching heresy".