Author: David Ashworth

On February 5th, Grace Baldridge released an album called “Preacher’s Kid.”  It is hardly Christian at all, yet it topped the iTunes Christian Music Charts.  Some Christians were outraged, others shocked, but most were surprised.

There was a lyric in her song “Bethlehem” that broke my heart, to be honest:

“Oh the mission trips are scams they do more harm than good
We’ve got fame-hungry pastors making bank in Hollywood
and more confused than I’ve been”

It was at this moment that maybe I understood her:  I don’t believe this woman ever experienced the real Gospel.  Maybe she heard the words, but I’m not sure she ever saw the Gospel from those in her life. The reason why the Gospel is centered around belief is that as much as it is taught, it is more so demonstrated. 

She heard the Gospel, but the end result was confusion.  This was not my experience. The Gospel I received changed my life.  It pointed me in a new direction and gave me clarity.  Life didn’t get easier.  It got harder, but my direction and purpose were clearer than ever.

Maybe that’s the problem for those trying to understand.  Whether we know it or not, we’ve done a number on Christianity.  A famous quote by Richard Halverson goes as follows:

“In the beginning, the church was a fellowship of men and women centering on the living Christ. Then the church moved to Greece where it became a philosophy. Then it moved to Rome where it became an institution. Next, it moved to Europe, where it became a culture. And, finally, it moved to America where it became an enterprise.”

Some in and around the Christian music industry are shocked at what’s happening, but somehow, we have moved from sharing the Gospel to peddling the Gospel and the world has taken notice.  

Maybe what is missing is genuine authenticity.  Maybe rather than selling our books and songs and messages, maybe it’s time for a generation of believers to share the truth.  Maybe the gimmicks that we thought would get people to the church building aren’t working anymore.  Maybe they should have never worked but rather than demonstrating Christianity, we manufactured it.  

Church, I beg you.  The Gospel should be freely given.  It is high time that our lives change so drastically because of the presence of God that our methods look different and our hearts look transformed.  They may not like the message, but at least make sure it looks like the message changed us.  Maybe when Jesus cast out the money changers in the temple, He was thinking of us.  I pray the enterprise of Christianity falls.  With that temptation out of the way, maybe we can really start living for Jesus again.

Our children’s rooms are usually a wreck.

In fact, if FEMA were called, I’m quite sure it would be declared a major disaster area.

They do try to clean them, but of course, it’s never to the level of clean I prefer. I’ve told them they would feel better about themselves if they were more organized and took the time to keep their rooms tidy. To them, it’s just another crazy mom-ism used to “trick” them into keeping their rooms clean.

Recently, I started noticing a change in my daughter. One day she decided to deep clean her room (likely because she was tired of listening to me fuss about it). Once she finished cleaning, and after my thorough white-glove inspection, I was so impressed with the difference. I praised her for the great job she did. I was truly proud of her, but in the back of my mind and based on the past, I reluctantly expected this would be short-lived.

I was wrong. 

She kept it clean. Not only that, but her attitude changed, and she felt so much better.

The more I thought about her messy room, the more it reminded me of how we hold onto the mess in our own lives. We become so busy or lazy or just not care at all.  We will find any excuse in the world to not deep clean our own lives. We continue to let the mess pile up to the point that we become overwhelmed. 

I’ve lived in my mess for so many years it felt impossible to become clean again. Fed up and at the end of my rope, I had to try something new. 

Psalm 55:22 tells us to cast our burdens to the Lord and he will sustain us.

1 Peter 5:6-7 said if we humble ourselves and cast our anxieties on Him, He will lift us up.

What wonderful news!  He is there with us in our mess if we call on Him, and this is the first step to a REAL deep clean.

However, when I slack at reading my Bible or praying, the mess starts to pile up. Sometimes the pile is so overwhelming, I just want to give up.  I must become clean each day by turning to Jesus. 

Because of the grace of God, we do not have to face this mess alone.  He is always there to help. His love never ceases, and His mercies are limitless (Lamentations 3:22). 

Just as my daughter initially deep cleaned her room, she continues to maintain it. She had to make this a habit.  Before, she would get fed up, dwell in her mess, and start feeling like a complete failure again.  Instead, let’s ask God every day to create in us a clean heart (Psalm 51:10). Scripture tells us we must be born again and be made new (John3:3) (2 Corinthians 5:17). This is only possible because of the love and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. 

I encourage you not to dwell in your mess any longer. Let’s not stay in the bondage of our sin. Trust in the Lord that He has made a new way for us. He leads us through the harsh wilderness and brings us out of desolation (Isaiah 43:19-19).

He has redeemed us, renewed us, and made us a new creation.

Let’s go clean our rooms.  You will realize that you feel better being in a relationship with Christ. You will feel clean.

Have you ever seen someone’s biography on their social media profile that lists out their attributes point by point?

In most cases, this short list is trying to convey that person’s identity.

For example, mine might say, “Christ Follower. Husband. Father. Software Developer.”

And now that I’ve shown you what I believe my identity is, it can be incredibly easy to pretend that I have an amazing relationship with Jesus, that I have the world’s most perfect family, that I’m a super dad, and that I wrote the standard for creating amazing software.

But of course, nothing is ever as it seems on the outside.

As the rapper Andy Mineo says, and I paraphrase, “We throw up pictures of the party, but not the one throwing up at the end.”

Basically, we display our best selves to the world but leave out all of the ugly struggles.

And honestly, it’s a struggle to not be consumed by what the world says I should be when the world is always watching and waiting for me to fail.

More recently, I’ve seen friends and family members become consumed by their identity through their ethnicity, race, gender, or political party.

There is a war between whose identity is acceptable by the world.

But it’s not supposed to be this way.

As Christians, we are called to place our identity in Jesus Christ.

Genesis 1:27 tells us that we are made in the image of God.

Then why is it so difficult to let go of our worldly identity?

The truth is we all want to be known, seen, heard, and valued.

The world tells us that if we conform to their standards, then we will find all the happiness we need.

By creating our own identity using the world’s standards, we feel like we are important. We feel like we belong and have value.

John 15:19 tells us that the world will only love us if we conform to their ways.

Romans 12:2 warns us to not be conformed by the world.

1 Peter 1:16 calls us to be holy, which literally means to be set apart from what the world is telling us to do or be.

Here is the issue: our human nature.

There is a part of us that understands we need to place our identity in Jesus Christ, but the other part of us craves love and acceptance by the world.

The Bible is clear that we are to be in the world, but not of the world. And when we become consumed by our worldly identity, we are headed in the wrong direction.

So, the question for you is this: what direction are you heading in?

There has been a lot of buzz lately around someone being the first to do something.

If you haven’t been living under a rock, we’ve recently inaugurated our first woman Vice President, first woman Secretary of Treasury, and first black Secretary of Defense.

More personally, though, when my daughter was born two years ago, she was my first child and the first grandbaby for my in-laws. It was a joyous occasion. And we will never forget that she was the first.

As I reflect on “firsts,” I am reminded of how Jesus was the first (and only) to do many things.

Jesus was the first to live a sinless life.

Jesus was the first to die for our sins.

Jesus was the first to satisfy the wrath of God.

Jesus was the first true messiah.

Jesus was the first and the last. Period.

And at the end of the day, all of our worldly achievements pale in comparison.

When this world has passed away, what we’ve gained won’t matter at all.

Colossians 3:1-4 calls Christians to focus on heaven and not on the things of this world.

Matthew 6:20 tells us to invest in our heavenly reward and not our earthly possessions where “moth and rust destroy.”

James 4:14 delivers a sobering message by reminding us that our life is “a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.”

Achievement is not a bad thing. But the Bible is clear that we should not put our emphasis on earthly things.

My challenge for you is to take inventory of your life and identify areas that you have made more important than your relationship with Jesus.

Before graduating high school, the youth pastor warned us that it would become easier to abandon the church and God altogether.

At the time, I dismissed the notion. But in the back of my mind, I knew it was a very real threat.

As I entered college life, I quickly realized something was different.

I had more freedom.

That’s when I heard one of the most dangerous phrases:

“You don’t need to go to church to have church.”

And I bought into it.

The facts were in front of me. I could pray, read my Bible, and watch sermons online from home.

It could finally say “no” to going to church altogether.

But as many people learned in 2020, it is incredibly dangerous to live life in isolation. It can be easy to eat junk, forget basic hygiene, and avoid people altogether. And slowly by surely, a relationship with God can go out the window.

That’s exactly what happened to me.

What I had missed was that the church was there to fulfill a basic need: community.

I needed people who would challenge me in my faith and surround me with love, wisdom, friendship.

Here’s what the Bible says about the importance of church:

• Hebrews 10:24-25 tells us that we should, “consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.“
• Matthew 18:20 says, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.“
• 1 Corinthians 12:12-22 affirms, “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.“
• James 5:16 commands us to, “confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.“
• Proverbs 27:17 informs us that, “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.“

I believe there will always be times during our faith journey where we question the need for church. But the Bible is very clear that we are not to do life alone. We need a community of Christians who can love, guide, and challenge us. Community is never perfect, but it is absolutely worth the investment.

Often known as the Great Commission the final orders that Jesus gives to His disciples in Matthew 28:19-20 say, “ 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” These final instructions are not just for those original 12 disciples but contain instructions to all those that follow Christ and a promise that is made to those who follow Christ.

What does it mean to be a disciple of Christ? In Luke 9:23-34, Jesus says, “23 …., “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” Literally to come after Christ is to become His disciple and follow His instructions and examples. Paul writes in Romans 10, “14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?[c] And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” To be a disciple we must deny our selfish desires and we must proclaim the good news of Christ to all we are able.

We are not alone. This is Jesus’ promise in the “Great Commission,” that He is always with us even until the end. We go forth to share the love of Jesus with the power of the Holy Spirit to lead us and guide us. We don’t just stop with being a disciple and sharing the love of Jesus, we also make disciples of others. This doesn’t mean a quick prayer somewhere and then we send the person off to let God do His work. We are the hands and feet of God and He uses us to accomplish His will in all things. As disciples, we create disciples of others by building relationships and continuing to share what we have learned and what God has revealed to us.  I love the outlook of Kings Castle ministries in El Salvador. They send teams out every week to ministers to 10’s of thousands of kids every year in partnership with the local churches. Then the following year they resend teams right back to that same area again. The local church keeps contact and works to grow the harvest during the year and every year teams are sent back again to help plant more seeds. 

Jesus said in Matthew 9, “37 … “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” He has called you and saved you, now what will you do for Him? This is our purpose while we are here on earth, “to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.” (Westminster Shorter Catechism Question 1) This is something we should want to shout from the rooftops to all that will hear!

As those who profess to be followers of Christ how do we live our lives? What do we show to those around us? Are we truly reflecting the love and grace that Christ has shown us or are we proclaiming Christ with our mouth while our actions speak to the contrary?

Paul wrote in his second letter to the Corinthians, “17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17) To be in Christ we must die to our flesh and we must become a new creation in Christ. When Nicodemus came to Jesus by night this concept was puzzling. He asked Jesus in John 3:4, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born? 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” 

This is how we are to be a new creation. It is not a 2nd earthly birth of the flesh but a birth of the Spirit, as God’s spirit comes to walk and live with us. It is important to understand what it says in Titus 3:5, “5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,” There is nothing we can do in and of ourselves to become this new creation. It is only accomplished by the power of the Holy Spirit. What does it look like to be a new creation?

Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 7:17, “7 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.” If we are a new creation in Christ, then people will be able to see the fruit of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives. This doesn’t mean we won’t have times that we stumble or that we fall flat and fail miserably but even Proverbs says in Proverbs 24:16, “16 for the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.” I can guarantee you that we will all fall and fail at some point but as someone that is a new creation in Christ and that is covered with the righteousness of Christ we don’t stay on the ground in the muddy pit of failure but we rise up and we continue pushing forward to demonstrate the fruits of the spirit given to us in Galatians 5:22-23, “22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” 

Let us be known by the fruits of God’s Spirit at work and evident in our lives.

Where is your peace found? Where is your joy found? What do you seek after to find your fulfillment in life? Fulfillment is “the meeting of a requirement or condition” according to Websters. As we walk through life, we seek fulfillment in many aspects but there is only one that can meet our searching with the answers to our questions. 

 When Adam sinned against God back at the beginning of time a chasm was created between God and man. This distance from God would create an emptiness in every life that man would seek to fulfill. This emptiness is sought to be filled by alcohol for some, by drugs for others, by achieving success in their career, by having a successful “picture perfect” family, by trying to be a “good” person, by pornography, or adultery, or by many other things that we turn into idols and place before God. We seek after the American dream of health, wealth, and happiness, yet we still feel empty and lost. We still feel alone and often afraid. The world reaches for and grabs everything they can find to attempt to fill this void but ignore the only God that can give them that fulfillment.

We feel this way because we are trying to replace the eternal with the temporal and fill the emptiness that was left by man’s separation from God with things that will fade and that mean nothing. The only way to find true fulfillment is through the love and saving grace of Jesus Christ. We must fully surrender our lives and all that we have to Him and only then can we find fulfillment. In John 14:6 Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Jesus places us back in a direct relationship with God the Father. Through Him, that chasm is no longer there, and we are restored. We are called to not attempt to achieve temporal goods or success in this world but, 19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-21) To find fulfillment and to fill the emptiness we feel is only achievable by laying our heart at the feet of Jesus and allowing Him to have control of every aspect of our life. Jesus tells us in Matthew 16:25, “25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” We must be willing to lose all we have and like Job says God gives and God takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord. This is our distinction between worldly fulfillment and Godly fulfillment. The temporal v the eternal.

If we want to be fulfilled, and reach our highest potential, then we must lay aside anything that separated us from Christ and we must lose our personal wants of our flesh, and our personal desires for our lives, and seek after His perfect will for us. Only by doing this will we find our true lives and find fulfillment. It is in Christ and Him alone that we must trust!

There is an old saying that people love to share any time someone is going through anything rough in their lives, “God will never give you more than you can bear.” This statement is completely false and is not found anywhere in the Bible, but it is a twisting of Paul’s statement in 1 Corinthians 10:13, “13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

This scripture shows us that God will allow us to be tempted but he will always provide a way of escape and we will not be tempted beyond what can be resisted. Instead, we are told throughout scripture many times that we will experience trials as a follower of Christ. Jesus tells us in Matthew 10:22, “22 and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” And in John 15:18-19, “18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”

We are told we will be hated by the world, but we should rejoice in this because they hated Christ. Those that preach that God just wants you to be happy, and that God wants to make you rich, are teaching a perverted gospel that has nothing to do with Jesus or His followers. This false gospel is worldly and even occultic influences creeping their way into the Church. This is how the truth of the Gospel of Christ is perverted into a false gospel of the American dream that is leading people to hell. Jesus warned about them in Matthew 7:15, “15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” Throughout the New Testament and in other historical texts we read and learn about how the disciples were persecuted for the sake of Christ, and how Christians throughout history have been tortured and killed for the name of Christ. 

What the world doesn’t understand, is that we are not a part of this world. Our home is in an everlasting kingdom ruled by the sovereign God of all creation. Anything that is done to us while on this earth is simply temporal. We must look past the temporal and to the eternal that Christ has promised. 

In Romans 12:2 Paul says, “2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Again, in James 1:2-4 we are instructed to, “2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” We will be tested, and we will experience many trials in this life, but it is all temporary and produces lives that look to eternity, steadfast, and lacking in nothing. By being tested we will know what God finds good.

Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

I want to talk about the second fruit of the spirit…JOY.  So many times, we get this confused with happiness but the reference in this passage is much deeper than mere happiness.  It is rooted in God and He is the source, it not about our circumstances.

Because joy comes from God, it is more stable than worldly happiness, which is merely emotional and lasts only for a time. 

George Campbell Morgan wrote that “Joy is love’s consciousness.” Which makes sense that joy precedes love in the fruits of the Spirit in this passage.

One commentary states that on the spiritual level, joy refers to the extreme happiness with which the believer contemplates salvation and the bliss of the afterlife. Unexpected benefits from God are expressed in terms of common experiences. The psalms express the joyous mood of believers as they encounter God. 

• Believers rejoice because God has surrounded them with His steadfast love (Psalm 32:11) 
• and brought them to salvation (Psalm 40:16). 
• David rejoices that God has delivered him from the hand of his enemies (Psalm 63:11). 
• Joy is a response to God’s word (Psalm 119:14) 
• and His reward to believers (Isaiah 65:14) 
• and their strength (Nehemiah 8:10). 

Again, these passages reveal that joy is a response to God and not an emotion to our situation. Love is a choice, so is Joy.  We can choose Joy over our struggles.  

How is it possible to remain joyful all the time? Paul gives us the key: “Rejoice in the Lord always” (Philippians 4:4). 

The key to the Christian’s joy is its source, which is the Lord. If Christ is in me and I am in Him, that relationship is not a sometimes experience. The Christian is always in the Lord and the Lord is always in the Christian, and that is always a reason for joy. Even if the Christian cannot rejoice in his circumstances, if he finds himself passing through pain, sorrow, or grief, he still can rejoice in Christ. We rejoice in the Lord, and since He never leaves us or forsakes us, we can rejoice always.

So how are you choosing joy in your life?  What source are you looking to for joy?  Is it God, your circumstances, your status, a relationship?  It is a tough question to answer, but one worth asking daily and asking God to direct you to joy.