Gospel Centered Discipleship

The Embodied WordThe foundation for Christian life and mission stays the same in every era: Jesus Christ, the eternal Word of the Father, embodied in living human flesh. John unfolds this central mystery of the Christian faith in the elegant prologue to his gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). This one sentence links the Old Testament with the New. What God started at the beginning of creation he continues in Jesus. By the sheer power of God’s word, all creation sprang into existence. His word was there from the start. In fact, so closely linked was God with his creative word, that this word actually was God the Son, existing eternally and present from the dawn of creation. But then millennia later, in the fullness of time, God sent forth his Son to be born in human flesh (Gal 4:4). In Jesus, the creative word who is God from all eternity took on human flesh to dwell on planet earth (John 1:14). John the beloved disciple was among those privileged to walk and talk with Jesus, to touch him and listen to him, and to visually witness all that he said and did. “We have seen his glory,” John wrote, “glory as of the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). What he heard and saw and touched concerning this embodied Word of life he proclaimed through his apostolic letter (1 John 1:1–3).The Written WordBut John lived a long time ago and very far away. How can we today access what he heard, saw, and handled concerning Jesus, the embodied Word of the Father? We have that Word in writing. “We were with him on the holy mountain,” Peter wrote (2 Pet 1:18). The apostles wrote down what Jesus did and said, guided by the Holy Spirit. The Bible is not some collection of obscure ancient texts to be deconstructed and tweaked to fit current cultural trends and ideologies. Paul pointed Timothy to the Bible as a sure and certain foundation of truth and life in Jesus: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Tim 3:16). The Inspired Word Buy Book The heart and center of the life of Christ’s church in the New Testament is the person and work of the Holy Spirit. That remains true for us today. The written word of God is the sword of the Spirit (Eph 6:17) and the sole source and norm of all Christian teaching. It is “breathed out by God” (2 Tim 3:16). The Bible is God’s inspired word—God-breathed by God’s own Spirit. The word of God gives the Spirit of God. Scripture is not merely truthful and accurate in all that it says but filled with the power and presence of the Holy Spirit to bring people to faith and keep them in the faith once delivered to the saints (Jude 1:3). Peter witnessed this firsthand as he evangelized Cornelius and his extended gentile household: “While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word” (Acts 10:44). The Bible is not just a collection of human words about God, but God’s word in human language, as Peter himself declared: “For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet 1:21). Although reason, experience, and tradition have a role in the life and mission of the church, they must be subordinate to the word. God’s word always takes priority. The Bible is the written word of the living Word of God the Father. This word calls us to share it, to be people of mission. People in every cultural context—especially one as deeply inhumane as ours—need that word in order to live. The church must uphold the word in all its truth and splendor, proclaiming law and gospel to one and all. Our contemporaries are starving to death spiritually. The devil, world, and sinful flesh relentlessly threaten them with death and destruction. They desperately need the nutrients God provides in his holy word. The Nourishing WordJesus famously fended off the devil’s first temptation in the wilderness with the bold assertion that the word of God provides essential nourishment by quoting from the Old Testament: “Man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Deut 8:3).Christ Jesus came down from heaven to bring life into the world. As the embodied Word of the living Father, he is not only alive himself but gives life to all who believe in him in this dying world. Everything Jesus did and taught pulses with divine life. “I am the living bread that came down from heaven,” he told his disciples. “If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh” (John 6:51).The Bible is not some spiritual charm or just another ancient text that needs reshaping to fit the moral and cultural climate of our time. The word of God is still alive and active. It throbs with the vitality of Jesus himself, who is the Word of God embodied in human flesh. His words bring his divine life to our dying world in every age throughout history, including our own.The Performative Word Many view the primary life and work of the church in terms of education and promotion. Emotional worship events are designed to tug at the heart, while sermons assure people that God loves them and outline foundational biblical principles for Christian living. Has the church wittingly or unwittingly moved away from a culture of the word? Have we moved away from the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayers to something simply reflecting general secular culture?To be sure, quality teaching remains critical, but faithful preaching is the heart of the matter. People need Jesus. And Jesus is present in his word (Matt 18:20). The word brings all of Jesus with all the gifts he earned by his life, death, and resurrection: forgiveness, life, and salvation for penitent sinners. God’s word speaks realities, not mere spiritual or emotional concepts. Worship, therefore, is far more than just an emotional high. It’s the experience of the life-giving presence of the living God among his people by the word proclaimed and the sacraments administered in Jesus’s name and stead. The word of God always does what it says; it frees people from spiritual bondage and enlivens them with the life that is in Christ Jesus. Can we trust it to do what it promises? Content taken from The Culture of God's Word by Harold L. Senkbeil and Lucas V. Woodford ©2026. Used by permission of Baker Publishing Group.

It seems that every few years there’s a new best-selling Christian book that creatively fits the latest news headlines into Scripture, specifically the book of Revelation. These authors find hints and clues throughout Scripture that fit together in a way that tells us that Christ is coming at a specified time. Although none of these books have proven true, we can’t stop buying them thinking the next one might be real.Does God intend for us to spend so much time and energy trying to guess the Second Coming? Would knowing such things be edifying and beneficial, or merely a distraction to our spiritual growth and our mission?Not For You To KnowAfter Jesus’s resurrection, he gathered with his disciples before his ascension. “They asked him, ‘Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?’ He replied to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth’” (Acts 1:6–8).We can understand the disciples’ curiosity about God’s plan because we also wonder when Christ will return. However, rather than satisfying their curiosity, Jesus redirects them to keep focused on the mission. I wonder if he would tell us the same thing: “It’s not for you to know the times or seasons, but receive the power of the Holy Spirit and be my witnesses to the ends of the earth.”Could it be that some believers are so distracted trying to figure out when Christ will return that they have lost sight of actually following his teachings? After all, Jesus told us “concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only” (Matt. 24:36). It seems the repeated teaching of Scripture focuses on growing closer to Christ every day and fulfilling our mission to glorify him and share him with others, yet many itching ears want to hear something more sensational.Be PreparedSomeone may argue that Jesus told us to be prepared: “Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming” (Matt. 24:42). So, if we are to “stay awake,” shouldn’t we be on the lookout for signs of his coming?We certainly need to stay awake and be prepared, but this doesn’t imply trying to guess when he might return. Being prepared means walking closely with the Lord each day, using each minute and talent for his glory and the good of our neighbor. If we are spending all our time and energy treating the Bible like a book of hidden clues that connect to the latest news cycle, then perhaps we miss the main message of Scripture and aren’t really obeying.After warning the disciples to stay awake in Matthew 24, he provides parables to illustrate this in the following chapter. The wise virgins stayed ready, but the foolish virgins weren’t prepared and had to go buy more oil and thus missed the bridegroom’s coming. The point is to stay ready, not to predict his coming and then get ready right before. Always stay ready. Don’t just cram for the test the night before or only floss the day of your dentist appointment. In the parable of the talents, the servant who, out of fear, buried his talents is referred to as a “wicked and slothful servant” (Matt. 25:26). God has given us a set amount of time, specific gifts and talents, as well as unique opportunities to share the gospel and make disciples. If we are overly focused on speculation about when Christ will return, and that’s what those around us primarily hear from us, then the gospel can easily take the sideline to the main message.Loss Of CredibilityTrying to predict the return of Christ, which the Bible says we can’t know, not only can distract us from our mission, but it can even cause our message to lose credibility.Imagine a friend owes you money. At the beginning of the month, they promise to pay you back and because they sound convincing, you believe them. But the month comes and goes, and they don’t pay you back. You ask them about it the next month, and they try to convince you that THIS will be the month they pay you back . . . but again the month goes by, and they don’t pay you back. After a while, you won’t believe them anymore. They’ve said repeatedly that it will be this month, but repeatedly that’s proven to be false.If every year a new “Christian” book comes out predicting the end of the world, how many false alarms will people hear before they start to tune out everything we say?When someone tells you three things and you find out one of those things is verifiably false, you will be apt to assume the other things are false as well.If our message to the world is that Christ is coming back to judge all, there’s hope in Christ if we repent and trust in him, and he’s coming back next September, then what happens when he doesn’t come back next September? What we have said is demonstrably false. Those who have heard our message will likely question the other two points as well.Focus On What We KnowWe don’t know when Christ will return. Rather than spending our time and energy trying to figure it out, let’s focus on what Jesus tells us to focus on. Rather than trying to tell the world WHEN Christ will return, let’s focus on the truth that we know . . . he IS coming! Let’s spend our days growing closer to him, building up our churches, evangelizing the lost, and getting the gospel to the nations. Our mission is to make disciples.Whether Christ comes back this year or 3,000 years from now, it doesn’t change our message. Whether he comes back tomorrow or next year, our goal should be to live each day that he gives us for his glory. Don’t be distracted by things we can’t know!

“This was all a part of God’s plan.” I believe this is one of the most well-intended but totally unhelpful notions offered up to the grieving, especially those with invisible grief. Many don’t realize what they’re actually saying when these words come rolling off the tongue. We don’t stop to consider that brokenness was never God’s desire. That when God created in Genesis 1, He actually said it was “good.” If God needs to bring about bad, in order to accomplish good, there are fundamental issues with the perfect character of God, not to mention our ability to trust Him. So, do we have a cruel God who is bringing pain and grief in order to accomplish His plans, or could it be that we have a broken and cruel world that has gone completely sideways? The answer to the question above will dramatically shape the way we live with, and think about, both our relationship with God and our grief. Stay with me for a minute while we go back to the beginning in Genesis 1, God creates everything and He declares without hesitation that it is good. What we see, at least for a span of time, is creation living in perfect harmony, exactly as intended. No violence, no pain, no offense, absolutely no brokenness whatsoever. God walking with humanity and humanity walking with God, as the creator intended (Gen. 3:8). All is well, and then the serpent appears. As we talked about briefly before, Satan in the form of the serpent, is able to plant a seed of doubt in Eve’s mind. “Did God actually say?” (Gen. 3:1). As Eve processes, Satan offers his own conclusion: “You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of [the tree] your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:4-5). As Adam and Eve both eat of the fruit, everything changes. “Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew they were naked” (Gen. 3:7). What once was perfect and good is no more. A life for humanity in perfect communion with God, full of ease and endless joy, now marred by sin that brings pain, sorrow, and doubts into the equation. The effects were immediate and widespread. The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.” And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” (Gen. 3:14-19) God has never been cruel to humanity, quite the opposite. We have been cruel to the creator; we reached for what wasn’t ours. Like a bratty child discontent with their meal, we pounded our fork on the table and yelled, “We want more!” We are fully responsible. Humanity ushered in the pain, the brokenness, and, in turn, the grief that would follow. Why would God allow this? God didn’t prevent it because to do so would be to force submission in the relationship, and there is no love in that. No, God is not cruel in His allowance of a broken world, filled with broken hopes, broken dreams, broken good desires, but He is absolutely grieved by it. Not a single tear cried, a single knee skinned, or a single love lost was ever a part of His plan, but in His unmatched, long-suffering, perfect love, all is not lost. Wrapped up in the consequences of sin is a promise that will allow goodness and purpose like a bright beam of light to break through the darkness. Did you see it? I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. (Gen. 3:15) Buy Book As soon as things go sideways, God makes it clear that He has a plan to put everything back in order. It won’t come through a bolt of lightning, a reset of humanity, or a divine re-ordering of creation, it will come through this unnamed “He.” Who is this He that will crush the head of Satan, putting death to death once and for all? Jesus. In God’s sovereignty, although pain, suffering, and sorrow were never in the plan, He already had a perfect way to bring His kids back home. Cruel God or cruel world? In the words of one of my favorite folk singers Stephen Wilson Jr., “God is good, life is twisted.”1 We ushered in a cruel, broken world, but thank goodness we have a good God who wasn’t caught off guard. A God who is able and willing to bring purpose to even our deepest and most draw-out pain.I’d be lying if I said I knew all of the reasons for your grief or how God is using or will use it for good. I don’t; no one does. We don’t have all of the answers and although it’s painstakingly difficult, we need to become okay with that. Spurgeon’s words remind me of this, “God is too good to be unkind, and He is too wise to be mistaken. And when we cannot trace His hand, we must trust His heart.”4 I believe there are some foundational purposes that God can bring out of whatever storm we face. I believe this because it is always God’s desire to see us grow to be more like Jesus. Here are a few of those, although this list is not exhaustive: To grow us in maturity To build perseverance To grow us in holiness To help us uniquely encourage and support others To wean us off self-reliance To strengthen our assurance in Christ To glorify God as we persevere Could it be that, as my close friend Justin Holcomb shared with me, “God is so sovereign and creative that He can bend brokenness into a tool of blessing?” We see this time after time throughout the Bible. We see this with healing after healing. We see this as Jesus casts out demons. We see this with the infertility of Abraham and Sarah, and Zechariah and Elizabeth. We see this through Moses’ speech impediment, through Mephibosheth’s inability to walk, through the Apostle Paul’s thorn in the flesh that never leaves him. We see this with Joseph and the evil of his brothers; we are reminded of both a broken, cruel world, but also an unthwarted God. Joseph said to his brothers, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today” (Gen. 50:20). Time and time again, God doesn’t work around the pain and brokenness, but through it. This excerpt is from Invisible Grief: An Honest Conversation on the Pain and Loss of Unrealized Hopes, Dreams, and Good Desires by author Drew Hensley, published by Christian Focus.