Ask anyone who’s been a Christian for longer than two minutes what the Church is, and they’ll probably tell you, “It’s not the building; it’s the people.”

And yet, if you’re honest, what comes to mind when you think about “your church”?

If you’re like most Christians, it’s the Name (e.g., Watercrest Baptist), the Pastor (he preaches great sermons, doesn’t he?), the Sunday service (which you’re either eager or embarrassed to invite your friends to), the teaching, the theology, the programs, the building, the culture, the vibe. It’s these you’ve chosen to attend, to partner with, to identify with.

You might throw “people” in there because you know you’re supposed to, but the truth is, they’re a bit of an afterthought.

This is the difference between right doctrine and revelation. This is the difference between going to a church and having a church.

You may know, doctrinally, that the church is actually only the people, but when push comes to shove, is that how you think?

I tell you, if the people aren’t the very first thing that comes to mind when you think of “your church,” then you lack revelation.

And no, I don’t mean the general population. I don’t particularly care that “all the people at your church are so nice and friendly,” and that’s why you’ve chosen to go there. What I’m interested in is, who are the specific individuals whom God has called you to serve, to love, to lay down your life for?

Church leaders are often thinking about the general population (though just as often, they are thinking about their careers, their reputation, their ministry, the building, the organization, etc.), but the general population is not the people in the way that I mean.

When I say “the people”, I mean the real, living-and-breathing individuals whom you personally know, love, pursue, protect, and build up intentionally with your time, your energy, and your resources for the purpose of conforming them into Christ (and they you).

Tell me their names.

If you just thought to yourself, “I don’t have anyone like that” or “that doesn’t describe any of my relationships,” then frankly, you lack a church (in any meaningful sense, that is).

Go build it.

Ask the Lord to help you decide who to pursue.

Invite them into your home for dinner, for prayer, for Bible study.

Go grab a coffee or lunch.

Ask them about their spiritual life.

Tell them you want to build relationships with people to share your faith together, and to build each other up in Christ.

Pray for them, for their needs, for their sanctification.

It isn’t rocket science, folks! You don’t need a seminary degree or a pastoral license or a special call to ministry. You need the Spirit of Love, who indeed dwells within you (provided you belong to him).

You have been called to the service of the saints, and that calling isn’t met by door-greeting, event-planning, slide-preparing, donut-hole serving, daycaring, Sunday-school teaching, or anything of the like, however helpful those acts of service may be.

Go ahead and do those things if you feel led, but don’t be deceived. Your church is meant to be your family in a realer sense than any earthy family. And that doesn’t entail generic participation within a general population, but specific devotion to a limited number of people, the value of which measured by the amount of Christ’s sacrificial love that is shared between you.

Now then, if the Church is truly just the people, then we have to ask ourselves, why all this other stuff?

Is all this other activity teaching people to serve people—i.e., to build deep, Christ-centered, Spirit-led relationships, with love at the center? Or is it actually distracting them, teaching them to replace service to people with service to systems, programs, institutions, and the like (all under the false banner of “serving people” and “building the Church”)?

It shouldn’t surprise you that I believe the latter is the case, and the result is a Church that looks little to nothing like the organic Body of Christ.

Christians give their money to build new buildings. Meanwhile, God says that we are the Building, and Stephanie—a hard-working single mother—can’t pay her rent this month. The Smiths are in $100,000 of medical debt. Frank needs a working vehicle, and he can’t get a loan.

You tell me what’s a more important allocation of funds. Or actually, don’t tell me; show me. Where do your tithes go? Are you giving to specific people, or are you giving to “the church”?

Don’t run from it. Recognize that your actions reveal something about what you believe the Church is.

When you invite someone to your church, are you inviting them to the Sunday service or the programs, or are you inviting them to meet the people who will be there—the most important people in your life?

If you’ve ever feared your church falling apart, what exactly do you fear losing? The pastor you barely know? The services you’ve grown so accustomed to? Your job (if you’re in church leadership)? The security of having a clean-cut organization to identify with?

Or do you fear losing specific relationships with brothers and sisters in Christ? Do you fear seeing those named individuals walk away from Christ, or fall into bitterness toward one another?

When you think of your church, what does your heart long to nurture and preserve? (Again, to all the church leaders out there, the general population is not a satisfactory answer!)

I tell you:

• When a few people in front of you are an entirely sufficient and fulfilling expression of the Church…

• When you are not satisfied with any standard of “growth” that isn’t defined by their growing up into Christ…

• When you recognize that these named individuals are your ministry, your calling, your life’s purpose…

• When you’re anxious for their well-being and regularly on your knees in prayer for their sanctification…

You’ve then discovered what it means to have a church, and you see the sheer foolishness in everything else that tries to take its place.

So now what?

What then? If this is true, what shall we do about it?

That’s a BIG and IMPORTANT question, which I pray you will keep on asking.

It’s also why I’ve written this brand new book: Unless God Builds It: A Proposal to Radically Rethink the Church AND why I’m hosting a 10-week book study, available to paid subscribers only (start date: TBD).

Christians all around the world are longing for a deeper, more biblical expression of the Body of Christ, and God wants to equip them to build it—outside of the conventional systems that exist today.

If you’d like to be a part of a growing community of like-minded Christians, who aren’t satisfied with the status quo of the institutional church, sign up for my book study using the link below. I’m confident that it will be a transformative experience for everyone involved.

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TL;DR

I updated my subscription model on Substack to the following:

1. Free Tier: All of my writing (including my books) will continue to be free. Never behind a paywall because God’s word should be accessible to everyone.

2. Paid Tier ($5 / month): Gain access to monthly video hangouts, weekly book studies, and my DMs.

3. Love Tier ($240 / year): I’ll send you a signed copy of one of my books (given that you live in the US or CA).

Our first monthly video hangout will be in May, TBD.

Our first book study (going through Unless God Builds It) will start in the next few weeks. Sign up link below ⬇️

Subscribe now

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Last week, we talked about the importance of having full confidence in our salvation, and how the only way to have that is by performing a biblical “self-examination”—which does NOT entail works-righteousness, but the true (and radically simple) form of repentance/faith through which we were originally saved.

Today, I want to take a deeper look at the spiritual mechanism that makes the certainty of our salvation real, without also leading us to take it for granted.

Sometimes, when Christians disagree on big issues—like the issue of “once saved, always saved” vs. “you can lose your salvation”—it’s not because one side is right and the other side is wrong. It’s because both sides see something true and important, but neither side sees how the (seemingly contradictory) truths fit together.

Often, the Bible leaves us in this kind of predicament:

Are we not supposed to judge anyone (Matthew 7:1), or are we supposed to judge one another (1 Corinthians 4:5; 5:9-6:3)?

Are we saved by faith alone (Ephesians 2:8-9) or by works, as well (2 Corinthians 5:10; James 2:24)?

Are we in the flesh (Galatians 2:20), or are we not in the flesh (Romans 8:9)?

Have we died to sin (Romans 6:11), or are we still dying (Luke 9:23; 1 Corinthians 15:31; 2 Corinthians 4:10)?

There are many such examples as these, which I believe are God’s way of saying to us, “You’re never going to understand (let alone agree) if you don’t seek and rely on ME for understanding.”

It also invites us to humble ourselves before each other, considering heavily the fact that our brothers and sisters on the other side of the argument may actually be seeing something, too, at least in part.

When we do neither—i.e., when we don’t rely on God or submit to one another—we can argue until we’re blue in the face (as we have been for centuries on some of these issues), throwing around the scriptures that best defend our positions, but we will get nowhere.

God cares far more about our humility and our reliance on him than he does on giving us perfect understanding. And so, he’ll withhold it until we learn the lesson.

With that in mind, in our pursuit of having confidence in our salvation, I am going to submit to you an idea that I don’t think the natural mind can comprehend, let alone agree with or appreciate. But it validates BOTH the notion that we cannot lose our salvation and the notion that we can. In short, both are true at the same time, and neither diminishes the other.

If you’ve read what I’ve written in No Longer I about our union with Christ, you should at least have a framework for what I’m about to say. If not, you may find the following somewhat difficult to understand, in which case I encourage you to go read that entire book (I think you’ll like it ;))

One of the most puzzling verses in the New Testament.

Let’s take a look at one of the most puzzling verses in the NT—1 John 3:9:

No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning [literally he cannot sin] because he has been born of God. (ESV)

And also in 1 John 5:18:

We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning [literally does not sin]… (ESV)

The first thing I want to address in these verses is the language. The plainest translation of the Greek is “cannot sin” and “does not sin”; however, modern translators have read their own theology into this verse and decided that John couldn’t have possibly meant what it seems to say. Hence, the translation choice of “cannot keep on sinning” and “does not keep on sinning.”

We shouldn’t get too hung up on which of these is more accurate, though, because the glaringly obvious truth is that it doesn’t really matter. Every Christian, after being born of God, can and does indeed sin AND keep on sinning, which makes you scratch your head, wondering why John would have said this.

If this wasn’t Scripture, I’m pretty sure most Christians would call it heresy. But we’ve got to deal with the fact that it breaks our conventional theological mold.

On top of this is the fact that, within the same letter, John clearly reveals that he believes Christians are capable of sinning, hence: “if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1).

So then, what could John have possibly meant?

Nearly everyone I’ve heard try to explain this verse has concluded that what John really meant to say is something like “everyone who has been born of God starts sinning less” or “cannot continue sinning at the same rate they were before.” But if that’s what he wanted to say, why did choose language that most plainly sounds like “we cannot sin” and “we do not sin”? Would you ever choose that language based on your theology? Or (like I assume most Christians would do) would you actually be VERY careful to NEVER say it this way because you know that we all can and do still sin?

Seriously, if you wouldn’t say it in a way that sounded more like something you definitely don’t believe than something you do believe, then you shouldn’t expect that John would either. Shouldn’t we apply the same (or greater) level of intellectual integrity to our brother, John—whose words we deem the word of God—as we do ourselves? I think we should.

All that in mind, we must then conclude that John had a revelation that we don’t have—something that allowed him, with integrity, to move fluidly between two apparently contradictory theological positions: (1) We cannot sin. (2) We can sin.

Naturally, most people will hold the latter position because it is most obvious. However, while it’s true in one way, it’s not really the Truth. In fact, it’s only true outside of the Truth (i.e., the man Jesus Christ); therefore, it isn’t where the real power lies.

Moreover, if the only position you hold is that you can and do sin (or that you can and do keep on sinning—again, the distinction is irrelevant), then based on 1 John 3:9 and 5:18, you must conclude that you aren’t born of God.

Tell me, then—based on this criteria, who is born of God?!

No wonder this verse (and others like it: e.g., Romans 6:1-2) has caused so many Christians to doubt their salvation!

But it need not be so, and I’ll tell you why in a moment. And soon, you’ll see how all this relates to the “once saved, always saved” debate.

You must choose between putting on Christ or regarding yourself according to the flesh.

As I’ve argued extensively in my book, No Longer I, our union with Christ (that is, oneness in spirit with him), is the central mechanic of the gospel. It’s how every aspect of the good news (past, present, and future) gets applied to us right now. And in it, there is immense revelation that reveals the cohesion of the Scriptures.

You must understand, when we talk about “putting on Christ,” as Paul said we are to do (Romans 13:14), this doesn’t refer to merely trying your best to obey God today. It doesn’t really refer to anything besides prayerfully believing the good news that Christ is in you. Even more, that he defines you, that he is your life and your identity, apart from whom you have no life. That you are an extension of Christ himself (1 Corinthians 6:17; 12:12). This being joined to him occurred when we were baptized into Christ.

So again, how might we “put on Christ”? It is quite simple, but it requires faith in God regarding what he says about you.

Look in the mirror, and see Christ in you, as you, yourself as his incarnate presence on earth. If you can’t say (by faith), “It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me,” then you haven’t gotten it yet. That isn’t a state you work towards over time; it’s something that is given to you the moment you became his own.

Put on this truth, which God has revealed in his Holy Scriptures, and you’ll see that you cannot simultaneously say (1) “It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me,” and (2) “I can keep on sinning.” For Christ can neither sin nor keep on sinning.

Those two positions are mutually exclusive. We must choose between one of the two, or else we are double-minded. And whichever we believe will produce the matching fruit.

Christians will argue, “But I can sin!” And they’re not wrong. It’s a fact that we all still stumble in many ways, that we are all still capable of being deceived and falling into sin. However, the Truth (which is Christ, the Spirit of Christ, the mind of Christ, the Word of God) is that we are God’s righteous ones, and in him, we cannot sin. In truth, we cannot sin. And in Truth, we must abide.

If you try to understand this any other way than what I’ve prescribed, you will never get there, and it will always be a contradiction. The only way is first to put on Christ—such that you can say, “It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me”—and then derive every other statement of belief from that central point of focus. (This is Spiritual Thinking 101.)

If you do this, you’ll realize that here (that is, in Christ, believing the truth) you really cannot sin. But you’ll also realize that if you put off Christ, you can sin. (By “putting off” Christ, I don’t mean that you literally cast him out of yourself, but that you regard yourself according to the flesh and not according to Christ, effectively failing to put him on by faith and walking with an un-renewed mind.)

So there are two realities: (1) You cannot sin, and (2) you can sin. The first is true in Christ, in the Spirit; the second is true in the flesh. In which will you abide? With which will you identify? To which will you renew your mind?

Now, let us view our eternal security the same way.

Think about this for a second:

If it is “no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20), then how could I lose my salvation? Say that again, and really consider it.

If it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me, then how could I be cut off from the Lord? Seriously, think about it! Can Christ be cut off from the Father?!

If you “put on” Christ (which you may do by simply applying Paul’s statement in Galatians 2:20 to yourself)—with revelation, not just intellect—you will see that your righteousness, your future, your destiny, and your security are absolutely certain. You will see that you are never to doubt your salvation, but you are to have the same confidence as if you were Christ himself, for you are a member of him.

Put on Christ, and you’ll see, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you cannot not be saved. As sure as Christ is risen, as sure as Christ is righteous, as sure as Christ is one with the Father, so am I, and always will be!

What confidence! What security! How recklessly I trust my Lord, and how little I fear my enemy, who the Lord has put under my feet! To God be the glory for granting me this wondrous position and commanding me to “put it on.”

But by now, you should see that it works the other way, too. If I do not put on Christ, if I regard myself according to the flesh, if I do not repent and renew my mind, then any confidence I have regarding my salvation would be misplaced.

Just as the statement “I cannot keep sinning” makes no sense apart from the “No Longer I” reality, so the statement “I cannot lose my salvation” makes no sense apart from the “No Longer I” reality.

Apart from putting on Christ (that is, apart from repentance, in the way I wrote about it last week), our eternal security is devoid of the substance that makes it true.

This is amazing news for those are repentant, and it should strike fear and grief into those who are not, with the ultimately aim of leading them to repentance, that they may then rightly have assurance of their salvation.

So now, we see how the Scriptures make sense, how it is that we can (1) believe wholeheartedly that we cannot lose our salvation, while (2) taking very seriously the warnings to continue in the faith and not to fall away. The latter truth leads us to repentance, in which the former truth becomes (or remains) my reality.

There’s a lot more I could say on this topic, and I’m sure I could’ve said it much better. But I’ve hit my God-given time limit on writing this week’s article!

If you’ve found it helpful, please let me know. And especially if it left you with more questions, please let me know!

I want to build a community to talk about these kinds of things, and that starts with you.

Soon to come are bi-weekly/monthly community calls and a private community chat for paid subscribers, where we can talk about all things pertaining to the gospel, house church, the Holy Spirit, and all the good stuff. Not just theologizing, but living it out practically.

Let me know your thoughts on it below:

As always, much love.

Jake

I want every follower of Christ to have full confidence in their salvation, from beginning to end.

I myself have full confidence in my salvation, from beginning to end.

This means I don’t doubt that:

• I am saved (i.e., have the Holy Spirit, have become one with Christ)

• I am being saved (i.e., healed, transformed, delivered, sanctified, more and more each day by the grace of God)

• I will be saved to the uttermost (i.e., raised from the dead, perfected in glory, given immortality and a resurrected body, provided full adoption, inheritance, and entrance into his glorious kingdom, etc.).

There are many ways to say these things, but the point is, my hope is unwavering that God will not give up on me. He won’t let me go. His love will not fail me. Nothing can thwart his eternal purpose for my life.

But this confidence isn’t empty. It is based on something very important (not what most Christians think), something measurable, which we’ll get to shortly. And without that basis, it would be not only very difficult, but foolish, to have it. In this article, I hope to show you how simple, yet how profound, this really is.

As a quick sidenote, I’d like to plug my new book, Unless God Builds It: A Proposal to Radically Rethink the Church.

If you sense that there’s got to be a better way of building the Church, you’re not wrong! Grab yourself a copy and see how God intends for his people to function for maximum fruitfulness. Buy here: https://a.co/d/06qjjR2P

In the Christian journey, assurance of our salvation is extremely important. It is part of the essence of trusting in God, part of the gift he has given us, which comes with unshakeable peace and indescribable joy. It is also the cure to the fear of death, by which we were enslaved to sin (see Hebrews 2:15).

Hence the many scriptures which point to this reality, including a few below:

I am sure sure that [nothing] in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:37-39)

All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. (John 6:37)

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. (John 10:27-29)

In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee [or down payment] of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:13-14)

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6)

This is obviously an important truth that God wants his children to know and believe!

However, many Christians struggle to “put it on” because of the many other verses that warn of falling away, falling asleep, returning to sin, being cut off, etc. Christians rightly intuit that our confidence in God’s promise to carry us through to the end is not something to simply presume (or take for granted) without an adequate foundation. But what is that foundation?

Moreover, it obviously doesn’t apply to those who aren’t in Christ, so the first question we’re faced with is this:

How can we know for sure whether we are in Christ, or whether Christ is in us? (same thing)

I tell you, we could argue for the next four centuries about whether it’s “once saved, always saved” or “you can lose your salvation,” but that’s not exactly the issue at hand. The far more important thing we need to hammer out first is how someone can be confident that they’re in the saving grace of God RIGHT NOW.

As a pastor, this is what I’m most concerned with because from this position comes every other grace of the spiritual life. From this comes the ability to draw near to the throne of grace with confidence, with our hearts sprinkled clean of an evil conscience, to receive help in the time of need from his Spirit that dwells within us. Without this confidence, we cannot actually walk by the Spirit. Even if we technically have the Spirit, we will never walk by the Spirit unless we’re certain that we’re in him right now.

Thus, I want people to be equipped with the understanding they need to make a proper self-assessment, so that they’re not tossed to and fro by deception, thinking that they are saved when they are not, or that they aren’t saved when they truly are. The whole point of this article today is to help you “examine yourselves,” to make a biblical assessment of whether you are “in the faith.” From there, you may then have confidence in the other promises that follow, including your eternal security.

For those who would insist that we should never self-assess, allow me to offer a serious warning to you. The Apostle Paul told the members of the church in Corinth to do it (see the scripture below), so don’t you dare tell another person that they should avoid it, lest you be the reason that they never get grounded in the truth.

If the below words aren’t a part of your ministry and practice, then you’re missing something very important:

“Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” (2 Corinthians 13:5)

The reason so many Christians avoid this kind of self-examination is because they don’t know how to do it without falling back into some sort of works-righteousness. They examine their behaviors/actions/thought-life, and they inevitably see a certain degree of sin and immaturity, causing them to question whether they’re in the faith. Or they see “enough” good works/self-righteousness/maturity that they thereby conclude they must be saved. Both of these are wrong because of the criteria they use for the self-examination—that is, the ever-changing measurement of their own works, which will never be enough to save us.

Please hear me when I say that your aversion to works-righteousness is good! Let it keep you in the truth, continuing to rely on the righteousness of Christ and not your own.

But also, please understand that examining yourself as I’m proposing you do (and as Paul proposed they do) does not require you to abandon your righteousness that comes by faith. Rather, it calls you to abandon your faith that is devoid of repentance. More on that in a moment.

To avoid the works-righteousness dilemma, others will say, “Just stop looking at yourself, and look at what Christ has done!” We are now much closer to the truth of the matter, but it’s still a bit of a trap. If I quit looking at myself and only look at what Christ has done (i.e., his life, death, resurrection, etc.), then how can I properly examine myself? I cannot.

Also, if the basis of “passing the test” has only to do with Christ and nothing to do with self, then why wouldn’t we conclude that every person on earth has met the test, unbelievers included? Clearly, this is not what Paul meant.

Don’t get me wrong, the heart of a proper self-examination is indeed about what Christ has done, but more specifically, it’s about what he’s done inside of me.

Has he given me a new heart? Has he joined me to himself? Has he made me new and righteous as he is? Etc.

That’s what we need to know. And the answer to that question isn’t found in some arbitrary measurement of our works being “good enough” or “not good enough.”

If it were, then we could never say that a brand new believer (who has yet done zero works for the Lord) has a new heart.

But what we can say about every new believer (assuming their confession of faith is genuine) is that they are repentant. Having never performed a single work for the Lord, they can rightfully say, “I repent,” and God receives it as so, granting them forgiveness and the grace of new life. This definition of repentance never changes.

This should tell us all we need to know about repentance. It isn’t measured by prior actions or perfect future adherence (read that again if you need to), but by a sincere turning of your heart RIGHT NOW toward righteousness and away from sin, toward Christ-reliance and away from self-indulgence.

One point of clarification on repentance is that it has nothing to do with the desires of your flesh, but the desires of your heart (and we Christians must be careful not to confuse the two). You may very well be repentant from the heart—truly desiring deep down to do the will of God, in agreement with his word—while still feeling (in your flesh) desires and temptations for sin. The presence of these fleshly desires does not defile you nor make you unrepentant, or else we must conclude that Jesus was defiled and unrepentant (which he was not)! Therefore, for an accurate self-examination, you must not judge yourself according to the flesh, but only by the sincere intent of your heart, which is what God himself is looking at.

That’s it! That’s the examination! Are you intending from the heart to go on sinning? Or are you intending to do the will of your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ?

If the latter, then you’ve met the test! Rejoice with confidence that you are in the faith and Christ is in you, that he has cleansed you of all sin and unrighteousness, that you can stand before him without fear or shame with the very righteousness of Christ!

If it’s the former, then then you currently should not have confidence that you’ve “met the test.” However, this needn’t be the last word for you. You may simply turn toward Christ, fix your heart on obedience at all costs, and then know that you’ve met the test, are in the faith, and Christ is in you!

Here, I think it’s important to note that people don’t constantly vacillate back and forth between being in Christ and out of Christ. Christ isn’t leaving you every time you sin and then coming back into you every time you repent. If you’ve been a Christian, and you’ve fallen into sin (or even a long season of unrepentance), we should still grant you the benefit of the doubt, as Paul does, in saying, “Do you not know this, that Christ is in you?” That’s the starting point. However, if you do not repent, then your confidence in this reality will be (and ought to be) increasingly challenged/suspect. God did not intend for you to rejoice in his free gift of grace while happily and continually putting him to the test. He intended his mercy to always lead you to repentance; therefore, in a state of repentance alone can you truly rejoice in his free gift with a clean conscience.

And ultimately, more than anything, my point is that we should never encourage someone to have confidence in their salvation apart from a current state of repentance.

At the same time, while repentance will lead to bearing fruit over time, it isn’t something that can always be accurately measured by fruit. Rather, it’s the inward state of someone’s heart, which can be measured by their mere acknowledgement of wrongdoing and a willingness to come into agreement with the Truth, at which point they should have full confidence that Christ is in them.

But now, there is a deeper layer to our eternal security, a theological foundation that brings clarity and weight to God’s promises, even in the face of many warnings may seem to contradict his promises.

Next week, we’ll see how our union with Christ (which is one of the main topics of this newsletter) completely transforms our understanding of our eternal security and where it comes from. If you haven’t subscribed, make sure to do so, so you won’t miss it!

I wrote this article five years ago on a different platform, but every year during Holy Week, it seems to come back to me. Thinking it’s still a word that a lot of Christians need to hear.

March 2021:

I’ve had a word for the Church that has been stirring in me for a couple years now regarding the way that Christians view/celebrate Good Friday. Allow me to preface all this by saying that I, myself, do not think much of the church calendar, but I recognize that much of the Church does. As such, this post is neither an endorsement for Good Friday (or any other holy day/season), nor is it meant to be a criticism of it. However, I humbly offer what I believe is an important correction for many who do celebrate it.

For much of my Christian life, I understood Good Friday to be a time for remembering and mourning Jesus’ death (extra emphasis on mourning). It was characterized by deep, somber reflection on the gruesome way in which Jesus suffered. Every Christian is invited to either put themselves in Jesus’ shoes, to imagine the sheer pain and shame he must have experienced, or to take on the role of his beloved followers as they watched these events unfold in horror, despair, and confusion. As I understood it, the point of Good Friday was basically to feel as terrible as possible, with the hope that this would produce something positive in me, like repentance. Or otherwise, so that I might feel the full effect of Easter.

(Note: It is likely that plenty of Christians see a different purpose for Good Friday than that which I have described above, in which case, this article may not be useful to them. However, as a leader in the church, this was my general experience and understanding of Good Friday for a number of years. So I have to assume that it’ll be relevant to some.)

To examine whether or not this is the right approach to this holiday, I’d like to look at one Scripture, which I believe contains the message that God has put on my heart.

Do Not Weep For Jesus

And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus. And there followed him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him. But turning to them Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ (Luke 23:26–29, ESV)

Okay, did you catch it? Do you see how this scripture corrects the “Good Friday” mindset that I addressed above? Here’s my quick breakdown.

Jesus is in the middle of his death sentence. He’s already been beaten to a pulp, mocked, humiliated, and mutilated in a variety of ways. As far as we understand, by this point, he may have been physically unrecognizable. He had already suffered so much, but they knew that the worst was still to come.

So, here are some women who obviously loved him, gazing upon their Master, their Hope, their Leader, their Friend, in utter grief at the events unfolding in front of their eyes. In the midst of such a horrendous affair, it should be easy for us to understand their emotion. But according to Jesus, their feelings about it all are misguided. They shouldn’t be weeping for Jesus, but for themselves.

I propose that if we are going to thoughtfully put ourselves in the shoes of those who witnessed Jesus’ death, then we best listen to the words that Jesus spoke to them: “Do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.” This is the word that has been stirring in me for the Church regarding Good Friday, and I honestly believe it applies to any time that we look to the Cross. Do not weep for Jesus. To do so is to entirely miss the point. Instead, weep with Jesus.

Jesus does not want our sympathy.

He wants our eyes opened to the reason that he suffered.

His suffering was never meant to be a guilt trip but an invitation to see the world through his eyes. What on earth could ever compel someone to give their body and shed their blood so selflessly? Nothing but love. Love for those whom he came to save.

As Jesus went through this great trial, I believe that he had no time for self-reflection. The only way for him to willfully endure through such suffering, without calling on the Father to send for his rescue (see Matthew 26:53; 27:39-43), was to be totally, completely, compelled by love, which is selfless by nature.

Therefore, if we were to enter into the heart and mind of Christ on that day, I believe we would find ourselves thinking not of ourselves at all, but of the world ruled by darkness and in such great need of light. We would find our hearts filled with compassion for lost sheep. We would feel an unfathomable burden for freeing people from all forms of captivity and oppression. Though the flesh might be screaming in pain from the nail piercings, the mind of the spirit would be weeping for those who don’t know the Father.

If you think that the nails kept Jesus on the Cross, think again. Love is the reason that he didn’t come down. The only way we have any chance of understanding his suffering is to understand what he felt for this lost and broken world, seeing others (ourselves included) through his eyes of perfect love.

Peace in Christ (who is risen indeed!)

Jake

Now, before you go scoffing at his comment and making whatever assumptions you’re tempted to make, hold on for a second.

He wasn’t saying life’s been “just peachy” for twenty-five years. He wasn’t saying that everything has gone right or gone his way. He was saying, essentially, that his template for life holds no category for “bad” days because he lives with a clear, Kingdom-centered purpose, which no circumstance can take away from him.

I’ll share with you in a second what this looks like, but I can tell you firsthand that he is right. I’m not exactly keeping track of the years like he is. And I’m not claiming to be as spiritually mature as this man appears/claims to be. But I can tell you this: I don’t have bad days anymore, either.

I have hard days. (Heck, I have hard months/years.) I have days when it seems like I mostly fail. But I do not have bad days. And if you’ve been born of God, you don’t have them either. Here’s why.

Each day you wake up, you must ask yourself why.

What is today about? Why am I here today? What’s the goal of today, from God’s perspective? What will make today a “success”?

If we don’t give any thought to this, we’ll almost certainly operate with the wrong template, one that is merely natural and fleshly.

Some will wake up thinking that today is about getting a lot done, at work or around the house. As a result, if they aren’t as productive as they want to be, it’s a “bad” day.

Others will wake up hoping that the day goes smoothly—no hiccups, interruptions, or unnecessary difficulties. As a result, they will lose their peace when there are bumps along the road.

Still others will wake up with their minds fixed on pleasure and rest, especially so on Saturdays, birthdays, and vacation days. But if, for one reason or another, the ease (which these types of days promise) does not come, it is, once again, a “bad” day.

But all of these are wrong, of course. And we know this, how? Because, if you add up all the individual days of a person’s life, and you ask God whether his purpose for the person’s life was fulfilled, his measurement would include no trace of how much work they got done around the house, how many difficult situations they avoided, or how easy and pleasurable things were (nor how big of a business they built, nor how much knowledge they gained, nor how much wealth they acquired, nor whether they got married or how many kids/grandkids they had, etc.).

What will his measurement entail?

How much did the person shine? How much Christ did they reveal to the world around them? How much of God’s glory did they manifest?

That’s our purpose. That’s the reason God created us and keeps us on this earth, as opposed to beaming us into heaven right now. It’s that we would be conformed to the image of his Son, Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29), transformed from one degree of glory to the next (2 Corinthians 3:18), and make him known across the face of the earth, thereby reconciling the world to God and increasing the faith of many.

When this is your operating template—i.e., your definition of a “good” life—nothing can thwart the purposes of your day.

Something very important I hope you’ll come to terms with is the fact that your opportunity to be conformed to the image of Christ and reveal God to the world doesn’t increase when things are easier; it decreases. In other words, people see Christ in you far more clearly when the circumstances aren’t going your way than they do when your circumstances are wonderful.

As for revealing God’s love to the world (which, again, is the definition of a “good” life)… You may very well be loving your friends with the love of Christ, but they likely don’t see it as the love of Christ if they also love you and treat you as a friend. Jesus taught us that even those who are furthest from God love people that love them back, so if you want to be like God the Father, you must love your enemies, even those who persecute you (Matthew 5:46-48). What blows us away about the gospel isn’t the fact that God gave up his son for his friends, but for his enemies. That when Jesus was nailed to the cross, he cried, “Father, forgive them [i.e., my attackers], for they know not what they do.”

Thus, when others aren’t treating you kindly, don’t you see the opportunity right in front of you?! Don’t you see that this is the very moment you can reveal the love of God in a way that you could not reveal it before? With an eternal perspective, that’s a good day, an exciting day, a day you’ve been waiting for, a day that holds immense eternal purpose.

Furthermore, it’s not those who are wealthy, nor those whose circumstances are smooth and easy, who confound the world by their joy and peace. No, even if it is the peace of God that sustains you, others will not see it if it accords with your circumstances. Have peace, nonetheless, and do not be ashamed of being blessed. But more importantly, do not despise the day of calamity. “For the righteous… is not afraid of bad news; his heart is firm, trusting in the LORD” (Psalm 112:6-7). Whatever others would consider a “bad” day or a “bad” year is, for you, the first chance you have to prove to the world that there is something otherworldly in you, something worth desiring.

If your chief aim is to be changed—to effectively become Christ to the people in your life and to bring God the greatest amount of glory you can—then you don’t see suffering as a hindrance to your life but an aid. Not only is it an opportunity to reveal Christ, as we’ve discussed, but also to be further transformed (by which you’ll reveal him more, etc.). This is why we are to “count it all joy” when we face trials, “for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness… that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:4).

Do you desire, above all things, to be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing? Do you desire, above all things, to bear all the fruits of the Spirit? Do you desire, above all things, to know the love of God that surpasses knowledge and to make that love known to others? If so, then rejoice in suffering (Romans 5:3-5) because it is the way that God teaches you to rely on him, which is the only way you will ever reveal him.

“He delivers the afflicted by their affliction and opens their ear by adversity” (Job 36:15).

Suffering is the fire that purifies you (if you’ll be purified by it), the discipline that trains you (if you’ll be trained by it), the only way to get what you most deeply desire and to attain what you were made for. Even Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was made perfect through suffering (Hebrews 2:10). While we need not seek it, let us never despise it!

If you’re like me, from time to time, you catch yourself thinking about some dark, gruesome “worst case scenario” for your life.

Persecuted, beaten, raped, tortured, or all of the above happening to those I love. My mind tends to go the extreme: I’m completely alone, in a dark cell, for years and years, being tortured daily by the only sick individual who knows where I am. (I’m sure each person has their own type of nightmare; there’s no need to compare. Just giving you a peek into my mind.)

As messed up as the thought may be, the truth is this:

1. Extremes can be very insightful. Do you really see what I’m talking about regarding your purpose on the earth? Or do you find within you that there are exceptions to the rule once you get far enough away from “normal” or “acceptable” or “fair”? I tell you, the one reason—the only reason—that I don’t fear the worst-case scenario for my life is that no circumstance can take away my purpose on this earth, my ability to shine. If I have one captor—one person who sees my face all the rest of my days on earth—then I will love this person, bless this person, pray, believe, and hope for this person, that they might see my response to their cruelty and, through it, receive Christ. My life will be laid down for this person, and there is nothing and no one who can take this privilege from me.

2. There are people who’ve actually experienced this kind of suffering, so how would you counsel them to make the best of their situation? Where’s the redemption in it? Are they without the ability to live a good life in God’s eyes? Must they simply submit to Satan’s attempt to devour their life of meaning, waiting for the day the Lord finally takes them home, without any clue as to why God would leave them in that state for so long? I myself refuse to deprive any individual of the thing that grants meaning to their suffering—i.e., their ability to shine Christ through it.

We can now work our way backwards towards less extreme thought-experiments (or maybe more extreme in your eyes, not sure):

• The electrical grid goes out. The whole world goes dark. Life as we know it becomes like an apocalyptic movie. Will you go into self-protect mode? Will you go into hiding, get out your guns, pursue survival at all costs? Or are you prepared to suffer for the sake of the gospel, to show meekness in a time when no one else will, to demonstrate that you’re truly not afraid of death and there is greater hope worth living for?

• A beloved family member dies too soon. Will you turn and curse God, or give up faith in him altogether? Will you fall into depression, turning to old/new addictions to cope? Or will you humble yourself before God, remembering that no one is promised another breath? Will you bless God from your heart, and fix your eyes on things above? Will you take it as an opportunity to be present with other loved ones who are grieving, to be kind and gentle when they lash out?

• Your spouse cheats on you, leaves you, and blames you for everything. Will you curse them in return, or will you be a peacemaker? Will you quickly and bitterly move on, or will you faithfully wait for them, as Christ waited for you, in hopes that God reconciles your marriage, never holding any offense against them?

• You are born gay and will never get to be happily married if you follow God’s commands. Has God taken something from you, or has he given you a special calling? Will you live as if you’ve been deprived of one of the most desirable things in life (i.e., marriage and romantic passion), or will you see your unique circumstance as a means to the most desirable thing in life, a means to knowing and revealing Christ in a way that most people never will?

• You lose your entire net-worth in a very short span of time and end up owing the government money that never even touched your bank account. (holla atcha boy!) Will you laugh as you remember the fleetingness of riches, and will you rejoice that you’ve become all the wiser (and spiritually richer) through the trial? Or will you spend the rest of your life wondering why God could’ve let this happen to you?

• Your wife doesn’t sleep with you as often as you’d like. Or your husband isn’t the kind of husband you wish he was. Will you thank God for the trial that forces you always to depend on him, which holds the promise of your (and your spouse’s) sanctification? Or will you turn bitter and resentful—justifying, blaming, wishing, complaining?

Your car breaks down. Your kids are next-level whiny. You’re sick when it’s entirely too inconvenient. You don’t like your job.

Guys, when will we start seeing that these things are not hindrances to a good life, nor to a good day? They are the very context within which you may live a good life—one that actually means something, one that actually makes an impression on people, one that pleases and reveals God.

For those of us who love God and are called according to his purposes, God is working all things together for our good (Romans 8:28). All things—even terrible things, even our own failures—he is working together for our transformation, so there is nothing that can steal from today God’s ultimate purpose for your life.

Fight it and resist all you want, but it’s the truth that you cannot escape. When we finally accept our true calling as the thing that matters most, we will see there is no such thing as a “bad” day because the worse it gets, the greater potential it holds.

Oh, P.S.—My New Book is Out TODAY (50% OFF for a limited time)! 🚀

I couldn’t let release day pass without a quick celebration. After 11 months of working on it, Unless God Builds It: A Proposal to Radically Rethink the Church is finally live on Amazon. Link here: https://a.co/d/08pw70OP

In short, if you sense that there’s more for the Church to step into that our current ways of operating aren’t helping with, this book is for you.

Launch week is the most critical time for an author, so if you pick up a copy today—whether eBook or paperback—it helps the book get seen by more people. And I especially appreciate it if you’ll leave a review. (50% off til Friday, so get it cheap while you can!)

Love y’all, and have a great rest of your week.

In Christ,

Jake

Before you read any further, I encourage you to put yourself in my shoes, as if you had to answer that question for someone else, or even for a small crowd. What would you tell them if you were apparently a spiritual authority in the room? What do you believe is God’s wisdom worth sharing on this matter? What do you think would be worth saying that this kind of person wouldn’t already know—that is, a man who follows Christ, attends a Christian university, is inundated with theology, immersed in Christian culture, and already surrounded by spiritual leaders and teachers?

I felt it for a second . . . that oh crap moment of, “I don’t know how to answer this question (at least not in a way that would be very meaningful).” The first thought that came into my mind was to tell him that it depends on prayer. But let’s be honest. If I said, “It depends on prayer!” or “You just need keep making time for him in prayer!” do you think this would’ve helped the young man? I don’t. Beneath his question was clearly an admission that these sorts of answers had left him wanting, still struggling to attain the kind of relationship with God that he desires. They are cheap answers to expensive problems, and God isn’t cheap. His words have weight, and we shouldn’t settle with anything less.

And so, I had two options: I could frantically scan through the rolodex of knowledge in my brain to find the most “sufficient,” “profound,” or “doctrinally correct” answer, deceiving myself that the answer was born out genuine revelation rather than fear of looking incompetent in front of a crowd. Or, in humility, I could recognize that I didn’t have the answer on hand. I could present myself to the Lord and say, “God, I don’t see it; will you show me?,” then resign myself to waiting on the Lord for clarity, prepared to admit to the crowd (if necessary) that I don’t have a good answer for that today.

I chose the second path. Lord willing, I will always choose the second path, and you will, too.

I said to the young man, “Good question—give me a second to think about it.” And then, for an uncomfortable length of time, I went silent. I prayed inwardly that God would not just “give me an answer,” but give me understanding. For I cannot with integrity speak with presumed authority about things that I do not see, that I do not myself have true confidence in.

The threat (and reality) of awkwardness grew with every second that passed, but I stood in it—at any moment ready to pull the plug and admit I wasn’t sure how to respond, all the while trusting that God would give me something real.

In this story, he did give me something real. Not only did I get an answer that I believe will really help that man, but it’s been something that the Lord has been stirring in me ever since. And it’s become one of the main focal points of my ministry to those around me recently.

At this point, you’re probably wondering what I told him, but that isn’t the point if this article today. The point of this article is to demonstrate the way of the Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, which God wants us all to walk in and abide in. It’s to encourage you to be humbled by the questions that you probably have cheap answers to, but not weighty, personal revelations for. These only come from God, and he wants you to come get them from him, to wait on him for them, to trust that he’ll be your teacher and satisfy your soul’s longing to walk with true confidence and spiritual authority, not just with a bunch of “right answers.”

One more quick example…

I remember speaking with a man who had recently converted from Christianity to Islam. He asked me many good questions, one of which was this: Why couldn’t God just forgive us, without having to sacrifice his own Son? (Islam, of course, teaches that there is no need for the sacrificial atonement. God simply forgives and grants eternal life to those who “repent” by Islamic standards.)

It’s a reasonable question, I think. And one that I probably should’ve had the answer to. I’ve been to seminary. I’m a pastor. I’ve read many Christian books. I’ve even written a book… on the atonement! But despite all that, I knew in the moment that I didn’t see it. I knew, if I tried, that I could’ve done a quick search through my knowledge bank and come up with at least a halfway sufficient answer, but that’s what I’ve learned to resist. If I don’t currently see it, then I can’t talk about it as if I do.

This probably sounds a bit insane to some of you reading this, but I’m telling you, this way of living is absolutely crucial to the spiritual life, to knowing God, to gaining true understanding.

I told the man that I couldn’t answer his question that day, but that I’d pray about it and get back to him. In the shower a couple of days later, I was speaking to the Lord about it: “God, why did Jesus have to die? Why couldn’t you just forgive us? Will you show me?” And as I talked to him and waited on him, he began to show me what I once saw very clearly about the matter but had since forgotten. It was such a beautiful reminder, which built up my own faith, as well as enabled me to provide a sufficient answer to the man later (who gave up Islam but has not yet given his life to Christ).

The point is: Had I acted like I understood these things, depending merely on my intellect to “make sense” of them and explain them, I would’ve missed these wonderful opportunities to humble myself before God and gain something much more real.

Sometimes this means that even a gospel-teacher has to admit that he doesn’t understand the gospel. Sometimes it means you’ll have admit that you don’t understand (or even believe) things that you probably should. But if you couple that humility with faith that God will teach you, he really will! In fact, he gave you the Spirit for this very reason—to teach you all things (John 14:26), to lead you into all truth (John 16:13), and that you might understand the things freely given to you by God (1 Corinthians 2:12).

So many Christians settle with answers that merely satisfy the intellect but leave the soul deprived. These answers are not always wrong, but if they aren’t yours; if they are someone else’s; if you’re not describing something that you yourself genuinely see with the eyes of your heart, then they lack weight. They lack the power to change you or anyone else.

“God loves me.” If you’re a Christian, you know this is technically true. You know that it’s in the Bible. You may tell it to your children. But for some of you, it’s no more than someone else’s revelation that you’re trusting in, even if it’s the Apostle John’s, or Peter’s, or Paul’s. That’s a start, but until you can speak about it from your own vantage point, as something that you’ve seen and tasted and know is true, don’t put on airs, saying that it’s your revelation. Instead, let it humble you and cause you to wait on the Lord for what you cannot attain yourself.

The difference is this: I can tell you that my wife is five feet tall, with brunette hair, and amazing at baking sourdough bread. This isn’t something I have to rummage through my brain to remember. I don’t feel momentarily stumped when someone asks me what my wife’s hair color is. I have no need to try to remember what “so and so” told me about her. That knowledge is mine in the realest sense.

However, for those you who’ve never met my wife, if someone were to ask you what her hair color is, you would have to reference this article. I don’t care how many times you read it or how well you commit to your memory; until you meet her yourself, that’s my knowledge and not yours. Or, we might say that it’s your knowledge, but it isn’t your revelation. Either way, you get the idea.

Only God can give you revelation, which is true spiritual knowledge. God wants the kind of relationship with you that I have with my wife. When you recognize that you’re just memorizing, quoting, or regurgitating what other people have told you (even in Scripture), but you don’t actually see it yourself, he wants you to lean on him for that personal revelation, which only he can give.

As a final thought, let it be known that I am still waiting on the Lord for answers to questions that I’ve been asking for years. Our faith is tested in these periods of waiting—i.e., Will we continue believing that God will prove faithful to lead us and teach us, even though we haven’t seen him do it in this particular way yet? Resign yourself to trusting in/depending on Jesus no matter the cost, and you will be greatly rewarded, both in this life and the next.

Knowledge becomes revelation through prayer.

In Christ,

Jake

• Prayer: Communicating with God through private devotions and communal worship.

• Searching the Scriptures: Reading, studying, and/or meditating on God’s word. (Today, we might lump in all pursuit of knowledge via consumption of Christian media—i.e., books, podcasts, YouTube videos, blogs, etc.).

• Being Active in Your Church: Attending the Sunday service, tithing, participating in the sacraments, volunteering your time, going to classes or Bible studies.

• Fasting or Abstinence: Denying physical needs to focus on spiritual hunger and reliance on God.

• Christ-Centered Relationships: Spiritual conversation and accountability with other believers in small groups.

• Good Works: Tangible acts of service that express love for one’s neighbor.

They say:

If you’re stagnating in your spiritual life…

If you’re still struggling with the same sins…

If you’re not bearing the fruit you wish you were…

If you don’t feel as passionate about God as you once did or you know you should…

If you don’t feel God’s presence like you desire…

Then it must be because you’re not doing enough of these things. “You haven’t been doing your quiet times before work in the morning.” “You’ve been missing church too often and need to get back on track.” “If only you could figure out how to be motivated to get in the Bible more often.” “What you really need is a couple days of fasting to discipline yourself and reset your focus.”

I think most Christians have bought into this narrative because, like me for many years, it’s the only narrative they’ve ever heard. The spiritual life / relationship with God that you desire is on the other end of doing more. So all you need to do is figure out how to do more of the right things, eh?

Well isn’t that exactly the problem. How shall we get ourselves to do more of the right things? God knows, we’ve tried; or at least, we’ve tried to try. God knows, we want to; or at least, we want to want to. But the one thing we lack is the discipline to do the disciplines.

We’re told that if we do the disciplines, we’ll grow in love and self-control, but until we grow in love and self-control, we can’t get ourselves to do the disciplines. It’s like telling a small sapling that it can’t grow unless it first bears fruit. It’s a trap, to say the least.

But not only that; I will cut to the chase and tell you a secret. Even if you figure out how to do more—and some people do, especially the good religious type—it is never enough. The same way that more money promises happiness, so more disciplines promise the fruit of the Spirit. No matter how much you get, you always need just a little bit more.

I was one of these who did more of the spiritual stuff than just about anyone I knew. For seven years, this was my framework. I lived it, I studied it, I learned it, and I preached it. And it’s worth saying that it was a genuine pursuit, born out of love and a desire to know God and see his glory. But after many years of failure (and then, a renewed understanding of what the Bible has actually been telling us all along), I’ve concluded this:

More prayer, more Bible study, more works, more involvement in your church, and more accountable relationships do not hold the power that they promise.

These are all good things. They are all necessary, too.

But that power—the only power in all the cosmos that can conform you to the image of Christ—belongs to God, and it comes only in a package called grace.

I’ll spare you a lecture on grace for now. (Let’s just say, it’s more than forgiveness; it’s God’s active presence and power at work in your life to bring about his will.) But now that we’ve identified the name of what we’re after, we’re a step closer to understanding how to get it.

John Wesley called the spiritual disciplines the “means of grace,” which is another way of saying that we access the life-changing power of God through these kinds of spiritual activities.

It’s so close to the truth, it almost sounds blasphemous to say that it isn’t true!

But it isn’t!

I ask you a simple question: How does the Bible say that we access the grace of God?

Through [Christ] we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand . . . (Romans 5:2, my italics)

This is the verse that says it most clearly, in my opinion, but don’t we all know that the overarching message of the New Covenant is that we access the grace of God through faith?

So then, let’s re-analyze:

If you’re stagnating in your spiritual life…

If you’re still struggling with the same sins…

If you’re not bearing the fruit you wish you were…

If you don’t feel as passionate about God as you once did or you know you should…

If you don’t feel God’s presence like you desire…

Then it must be because you need more faith!

Now, that sounds a lot more like Scripture to me. The constant message is to trust God the Father, and trust his Son, Jesus Christ. All of salvation, from beginning to end, comes this way alone (see Romans 1:16-17).

How many times did Jesus rebuke his disciples for not praying enough? You could maybe argue once, in the Garden of Gethsemane. How many times did he rebuke them for not loving him enough? Never. How many times did he rebuke them for not having faith? A lot.

That is because trusting in God through Jesus Christ is The Way. It is the only true means of grace, that we might be transformed into his image.

The distinction may seem subtle, or perhaps even a little petty. But I’m telling you, it makes all the difference in the world. And here’s why.

If you think that the spiritual disciplines are how you access the life and the power of God, you’ll be stuck in system that was designed to trap you. Whether you’re doing them a lot or not doing them at all, you’ll never be doing them enough to attain what they promise. It’s like using a broken compass without knowing that it’s broken. You can spend your life going “North” and never get there.

However, if you understand that faith is how you access the life and power of God, your compass points to true North, and your efforts will take you in the right direction (as long as you understand that Christ himself is North, not your efforts.)

Look to Christ—the founder and perfecter of your faith (Hebrews 12:2)—right now. Keep looking to him. Talk to him. Listen to him. And believe what he tells you.

Welcome to prayer.

When you think that he speaks to you, ask him: “How do I know if this is your voice?”

Welcome to “searching the Scriptures” and “communing with the saints.”

I’m oversimplifying this a bit, but the point is that when you begin directing your efforts towards renewing your mind (see Romans 12:2) as opposed to just checking off the disciplines, practicing them become absolutely natural.

And let us recognize: The power is not in prayer; it’s in the prayer of faith. The power is not in reading Scripture; it’s in believing what you read. The power is not in gathering with the saints; it’s in the way your mind is renewed and your attention placed back on Christ when you gather. All the more reason to do these things because we know what we’re after.

When you come to God in prayer, at least part of the goal is to walk away from your time with him built up in your faith, trusting him with your day and your life, thinking the way he’s thinking, confident in your partnership with him, believing what he says to you, etc. If you do, then there’s a sense of, “I’ve done enough, and this has accomplished what it was supposed to,” as opposed to it never being enough. If you’re not walking away from your alone time with him this way, then one might say you haven’t learned to pray. But it would be more accurate to say that you haven’t learned to believe. And until you do, you could read a thousand books on how to pray, but the infant who believes will be further along on Day One than you.

(Let this not discourage you, but humble you. If you are humble—that is, happy to be a child—this should actually be very encouraging to you because it means that you need nothing more than the faith that God has given you to begin accessing his amazing grace right now. Be faithful with the little, and he will give you more. Faith is a muscle that grows when you exercise it.)

Same with reading your Bible. If you’re not putting it down with a clearer vision for your life, with a readiness to endure, with your loins girded up, with a greater focus on the King and his kingdom, then you’re missing the point. I hope this doesn’t come as a shock to you, but God doesn’t particularly care that you memorized a new verse or read the Bible in a year—as if those things, in and of themselves, are worth anything. Truly, the religious leaders of Jesus’s day knew the Scriptures better than anyone, and they were the farthest from God. What actually matters is that your reading causes you turn away from believing lies, to turn toward the Truth (who is the man, Jesus Christ), and to trust everything he says. That’s it.

This logic applies to every kind of spiritual discipline. Adopt the biblical framework for faith as the means to grace, and you’ll have a healthy and fruitful relationship with the spiritual disciplines (and more importantly, with God).

In all of this, I hope you can see that we should not be opposed to the spiritual disciplines. They’re utterly necessary, and yet, they are the wrong template—burdensome and powerless apart from faith.

Fix your eyes on Jesus. Devote yourself to the renewing of your mind by his Spirit within you. And you will be transformed.

I’ve written more on this topic in my book, No Longer I: The Life-Changing Power of Simply Believing the Truth. Here’s one of the main chapters if you’d like to do a deeper dive for free: https://newsletter.jacobhotchkiss.com/p/chapter-3

I am aware that this topic tends to create more questions than it answers, as do much of the things that I write about. On that note—now that I’m finished writing my soon-to-be-released Unless God Builds It—I’m gearing up to be more active on Substack and to start hosting either a bi-weekly or monthly community chat where subscribers can gather to work through these kinds of things together. More on that to come, but keep your eyes peeled.

Love you all, and I pray God blesses your life and your ministry as you put your faith in him.

In Christ,

Jake

Here’s the second (and last) part to the podcast episode I did with The 3rd Watch Podcast. Hope you enjoy.

(Heads up: There are two episodes from a month ago where they interviewed my house-church counterpart, Jonathan, about… wait for it… house churches. Definitely worth a listen!)

God bless you!

Happy Thanksgiving to those in the USA. I thought I’d take a moment to share some great reads to consider for your time off this holiday season, or as a Christmas gift for your loved ones. (The title for each book below includes a purchase link you can click.) At the end, I’ll offer you a bulk deal on No Longer I.

My top reads are:

1. The Rest of the Gospel: When the Partial Gospel Has Worn You Out - I came across this book about six months ago (though it’s over 20 years old) by meeting the author, David Gregory, who I’m now happy to call a friend. This book is, hands down, the best book on Identity in Christ and the inner spiritual life that I’ve ever read. If you’ve read No Longer I, then you’ll find this book has much of the same message (with all sorts of additional nuggets of wisdom) but written with someone else’s perspective and unique way of explaining things. I can’t recommend this enough. (Bonus Tip: Check out some of David’s other works at https://freewithgod.com/)

2. The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible - I read this book a few years ago and felt like the Lord brought me back to it again in 2025. It’s not a light read by any means, but it’s one of those that I think of as a “paradigm-shifter.” It’s the perfect example of the kind of scholarship that I believe in. There’s a reason it has over 6,000 reviews on Amazon.

2. The New Testament: A Translation - If you’re a sucker for hyper-literal Bible translations like I am, you should check this one out. Its front and back matter alone are worth the price. Nowadays, when I’m looking deeply into a New Testament passage, I find myself curious about how Hart has translated it because it’s often quite different from all the other Modern English translations I use, and often insightful. Be aware, Hart has been condemned as a heretic in a lot of mainstream academia, so his name comes with quite a stigma. All the more reason I like this translation (not as a replacement for, but as a supplement to) other translations, because it’s not influenced by the same ideas. Hart does believe in universal restoration, which, I believe, is most certainly false, but no more so than certain other harmful doctrines embraced by mainstream evangelicalism. As long as you read with a careful and open mind, while continuing to lean on the Holy Spirit, God will help you to filter out the bad and keep the good.

2. The Seedling - This is my most recently finished book, which is a short children’s story to read to your kids before bed. I wrote about the story/inspiration behind it a little while back, if you’d like to see for yourself what it’s all about. I am still just in awe of how great it turned out (mostly due to the hard work of my friend, Casey, the illustrator). I think it’d be a great gift for anyone with young children or grandchildren, and its message is certainly a conversation-starter on identity in Christ.

5. No Longer I: The Life Changing Power of Simply Believing the Truth - Last but not least, I’d be remiss not to mention my “flagship” guide to understanding the life-changing power of believing the gospel. I published this book just seven months ago and have sold almost 3,000 copies—praise God! The connections I’ve made through it and the feedback I’ve received about how it’s helping people across the world have been nothing short of amazing.
   
   If you’re interested in buying multiple of these for your friends, family members, small group, or church, I’m offering the following bulk deal for the next week only:
   
   Order Quantity - Price/Book
   10+ Books - $13 / Book
   50+ Books - $12 / Book
   100+ Books - $11 / Book
   250+ Books - $10 / Book
   
   To place an order, you can contact me by sending me a DM or replying to this post if you’re interested.

God bless you all!

JPH

Big breakthroughs on the book-writing front. Thank you so much for your prayers, and please keep ‘em comin’!!! I’m working hard to hit my November 30 deadline to finish the first draft of Unless God Builds It. Below is the second chapter and (possibly) the last one I’ll share before I share the whole thing with you. Excited for your feedback.

Hope everyone is having a great week. God bless you!

Equipping the Saints

The people of God have been trained to “consume church.” Like eager vacationers, they browse for the cruise line that’s just right for them — with the best shows, the right kind of food, activities they’ll enjoy, and (most importantly) not too costly — a nice getaway from the usual activities of life.

And can you blame them? We’ve built this ship. We provide the shows. We serve the food. We’ve created the ultimate consumer experience, and we advertise it as such: “Come hear an inspiring message and some good music every week — coffee, donut holes, and salvation on the house. Sign up for one of our classes or groups, and go deeper in your faith. Let us know if you want to serve, and we’ll plug you into one of our volunteer teams. We think it’d be good for you to do all of these things, but if you choose not to, no worries. You’re the customer, and we’re still here for you.”

Of course, some cruise ships attract more vacationers than others. With way more bells and whistles, they garner thousands, not just hundreds. Many of the smaller ships take pride that they’re not so big and fancy, that their guests enjoy a more intimate and down-to-earth experience. But for the most part, regardless of size, flavor, and flare, they’re all still using the same model as one another — a crew that creates an (hopefully life-changing) experience for its passengers, and passengers who engage at whatever limited capacity they’re comfortable with. A crew that has no real authority over the passengers, and passengers who hold the crew responsible for the experience they desire. A crew that needs to keep the passengers happy to keep this thing in business, and passengers who have no sense of ownership, who are ready to shop around for a better experience.

You may not agree with my assessment that most churches are operating this way. After all, the idea that immature Christians have a tendency towards passivity and consumerism isn’t a new concept but something that most leaders are aware of and are doing their best to counteract. In their preaching and teaching, they express the importance of going beyond mere Sunday attendance. They tell you how important it is that you use your gifts to help serve the body, to support the church’s mission with your tithes, to join some type of small group where you’ll form deeper relationships, and so forth. In a sense, their messaging is: “Stop being passengers, and join the crew! Help us build this thing!”

However, no matter how hard they try, no matter how many passengers eventually join the crew, it’s still a cruise ship — a fundamentally flawed system if we’re trying to build a church without consumerism.

But unlike a cruise ship — where passengers are served by a professional crew and can opt in or out of whatever they choose — a sailboat requires everyone on board to be the crew, actively participating in the journey at hand. On a sailboat, you don’t have an option. If you are going to be on this ship, you literally cannot avoid being treated like a crew member and trained in the ways of catching the wind. If you want a more leisurely experience, you must choose a different boat. By design, therefore, the sailboat has zero consumers.

I promise this is the last inch of the “cruise ship v. sailboat” analogy I will use. But it should again help us to see the difference between our design for the church and God’s design for the church. What I’m suggesting here is that God designed it to function in such a way that its members cannot avoid becoming effective servants for the Lord and playing a vital role in the shared mission. As long as they can avoid it, many will. In this chapter, we’ll discuss what is necessary to achieve that in the church. But first, I feel it’s necessary to cast some vision.

Your Purpose on Earth

In the Introduction, I stated that you are on this earth for one primary reason, and that is to build up the Body of Christ, of which you are a vital member. Notice, I did not say it’s the reason you exist but the reason you’re on this earth. The reason you exist, I would say, is to know and be known by God. But if that’s the case, then why not just die and go be with the Lord forever, which is far better (Philippians 1:23; 2 Corinthians 5:8)? The answer, as Paul says, is love — i.e., that you might continue with others for their “progress and joy in the faith” (Philippians 1:25).

Maybe you’ve heard that your purpose is to glorify God and enjoy him forever (a standard Christian answer about the meaning of life). I would say, yes — and you can only do either of these things by making the Body of Christ your main concern, to lay down your life for your brothers and sisters (John 15:11-13; Philippians 1:29; 1 John 1:4; 3:16).

Others may have told you that your purpose is to become like Christ, to be conformed to his image (Romans 8:29). I would say, yes — and to be like Christ is to devote one’s life on earth toward building up his Body (Matthew 20:26-28; Philippians 2:3-8; Ephesians 5:1-2; 5:25-27).

Still others might say that our purpose is to love God and love others, or to know God and make him known. I would say, yes — and to know God is to love God (1 John 4:8), to love God is to love your brother (1 John 4:20), and to love your brother is to make God known to your brother, that he might know God, love God, be built up into Christ, and thereby make God known to others just as you did to him.

So then, have you ever considered that the Body of Christ is your chief responsibility? That your whole life should be ordered around helping God’s people to grow and mature?

Among all the things I hope to impart to you (though only God can), there are few of greater significance than this revelation about your purpose on earth. For it is the fuel to the fire that God has put within you. It is the “why” behind everything in this life. It is the joy set before you. It is the mind of Christ, from which comes maximum clarity, all endurance, and every spiritual fruit. It is the vision you need to thrive and the vision we need to thrive together.

And yet, most Christians — apart from church leaders — don’t see it. They may see that they’re called to raise a godly family, work hard, go to church, and generally love people. They may see that they’re called to turn away from sin and walk in holiness, to shine the light of Christ wherever they are. They may even see that God has given them a role in their local church — so they tithe, join a small group, serve on a volunteer team, etc. But too few understand the ultimate responsibility (and privilege) they’ve been given in Christ, which is to directly contribute to the spiritual growth of God’s people, the building of God’s temple — a.k.a. discipleship.

No, this is not a job for a small percentage of individuals. Despite what you may have learned, building up the Body of Christ is not a unique or special purpose given to the pastors, the priests, the missionaries, and all the others who have “felt the call,” as they say. The ministry is not merely for those who are “in” ministry, nor is it a secondary purpose for those who are not. Rather, it is the sole reason that you and I are still here, as opposed to being with the Lord in heaven. We have work to do, and it’s all toward the same end.

Our Shared Calling

I find that there’s no better place to start in our thinking than at the end. If we don’t know the goal that we’re trying to reach, then our life (whether that be our separate, individual lives or the life of the church) will be either aimless or misguided. So, take a moment with me to reflect on God’s eternal plan for his creation. What did God have in mind when he made everything, including us? And how did he intend on executing that plan?

There are many ways we might describe the end that God is working towards, but my favorite — and probably the most concise — is this: “that he might fill all things” (Ephesians 4:10; cf. Ephesians 1:10; 1 Corinthians 15:28).

But what does this mean, really, that he will fill all things? In simple terms, I think of it this way: God (the Father) fills Christ; Christ fills us; and we “fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over [it]” (Genesis 1:28). Therefore, God “fills all things” through Christ through us. He exercises his perfect dominion over creation (think “kingdom/reign of God”) literally through us (because he dwells in us), and all of creation comes into his proper order through this immutable channel of submission and authority. Then, everything will accurately portray who he is.

This means: no disease, no mental illness, no hatred, no disagreement, no natural disasters, no addiction, no rape, no murder, no trauma, no injustice, no fear, no shame, no poverty, no sin, and no death. Instead, there will be only love, joy, peace, health, righteousness, life, and an abundance of every good thing.

Notice, though, what all of this hinges on — us. It depends on us being reconciled to God through Christ and being filled with his fullness, so that, by his power and presence within us, we would bring all of creation into order. Hence the following scripture:

“For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility… in hope that [it] will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” (Romans 8:19–21)

Therefore, regarding God’s eternal plan for his creation, we aren’t just in it along with a bunch of other stuff; we are the crux of it. We, joined with Christ and fully grown up into him, are the linchpin to this whole operation. The only way that creation is set free from its bondage to corruption is through our transformation, or maturation, into the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26-27; Ephesians 4:24). The way that God’s reign will be fully established on earth is through our perfection, by which we effectively become extensions of God in Christ, allowing God himself to interact with this realm through our physical presence in it.

It’s this end that the Bible refers to as our “calling,” like in the following verses:

“[F]orgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:14)

“… that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you…” (Ephesians 1:18)

“I… urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called…” (Ephesians 4:1)

“There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call…” (Ephesians 4:4)

“Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord… but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began…” (2 Timothy 1:8-9).

“To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him…” (2 Thessalonians 1:11-12)

“Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling…” (Hebrews 3:1)

“Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election…” (2 Peter 1:10)

The “calling” that these scriptures talk about is not unique to any one of us but something we all share in Christ. While we certainly have different gifts, vocations, appointments, and/or assignments, God gives us these to contribute to our shared calling. You may be on a journey to figure out what your gifts are, and perhaps it’s unclear what vocation you ought to pursue. But let there never be a doubt in your mind as to why you are on this earth. It is to build up the Body of Christ.

For example, you are not “called” to be a stay-at-home mom. You are called to build up the Body of Christ and appointed to work at home as a means to building up the Body of Christ. Or again, you are not “called” to build a business. You are called to help make disciples of Jesus Christ, and you’re appointed to your business as a means of making disciples. Try putting on this mindset with everything you do, and see how it begins to shape the way you relate to your job, your church, your family, etc. If you cannot figure out how to connect the dots from what you’re doing to what you’re called to do, from your appointment(s) to your calling, then pray for God to reveal this to you. It is profoundly important.

Once you accept this, you may discern that this appointment alone doesn’t quite meet the standards of your calling. And you’re right! That’s not because it’s flawed but because it isn’t the whole picture; it isn’t all that you’re appointed to. For, in addition to your vocation, you are appointed to relationships with other believers — i.e., the local church — whose spiritual (and, yes, material) needs you are partially responsible for. These people cannot reach their full potential in Christ without you and your love towards them. Their maturity depends on your maturity. And your relationship with them — as Christ with his disciples — has greater eternal potential than anything else you do.

Will it Pass Through the Fire?

Another way to look at it is this: The scriptures testify that a day will come — known as “the Day” — when Jesus Christ returns to judge the earth. On this Day, everything in heaven and earth will have to pass through the most intense and all-consuming fire that creation has ever known.

After the Flood, which God enacted to put an end to all flesh, God promised he would never again destroy all flesh via water (Genesis 9:11-16), but he always knew of a coming Day when he would destroy it by fire (2 Peter 3:6-13, Isaiah 66:15-16). When that Day comes, everything that can be burned up will be burned up. Everything that can be shaken will be shaken, “in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain” (Hebrews 12:27; cf. Isaiah 66:22).

Although we Christians will be saved if we hold firm in our faith ‘til the end, there is more for us to think about than merely making it through the fire. I find that the scripture below offers some wonderful insight in this regard:

“For we are God’s fellow workers. You are… God’s building. According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, previous stones [which the fire will not consume], wood, hay, straw [which the fire will consume]—each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.” (1 Corinthians 3:9-17)

Do you see here that only one thing will pass through the fire, and that is the church, God’s temple, Christ’s Body? It is only the people of God that will remain, who are the living stones being built up into a spiritual house for God (1 Peter 2:5; cf. Ephesians 2:21-22, Hebrews 3:1-6). And do you see, as a result of this, that anything you work towards, anything you build in this life, that does not directly contribute to the building up of the saints, is in vain and will perish? Though you yourself may be saved, if everything you did on earth is burned up, you will suffer great loss.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. As a living stone, yourself, as a member of Christ’s Body, if you learn to work properly, relying on the Spirit within you to love others, you will make the body grow (Ephesians 4:16), and you will have much to rejoice over on that Day when you get to see with your own eyes what you’ve been building this whole time.

And since we’re speaking about serving the church, it’s important that you understand what I mean. I am not talking about the buildings, the seminaries, the denominations, or the individual organizations that you’re a part of, which we commonly associate with the word “church.” Catholic, Lutheran, Eastern Orthodox, Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Charismatic, and all the rest (sorry if I missed you) — these are not the church. Schweitzer Church, Fellowship Bible Church, Hill City, High Street, James River, Hope, North Point, and Life 360 (all “churches” from my hometown in Springfield, MO, USA) — these, likewise, are not the church. The youth ministry, kids ministry, young adult ministry, small-group ministry, grief ministry, outreach ministry, prayer ministry, and all the others — these are not the church, either.

Do you know how I know this? Because they won’t pass through the fire. Therefore, if these are what you’re building, if these are what get you excited, if these are what you’re serving and hoping to grow and using as a measure for success — as opposed to the sanctification of people — then you are flat-out misguided. For all of these things only exist on earth. They are not eternal or spiritual realities, but temporal things that will one day cease to exist.

But the church — i.e., the people — will remain.

In similar fashion, you need to know that your marriage will not pass through the fire (Matthew 22:30). Your spouse will if they are in Christ, but your marriage will not. For all the saints will be married to one Husband, Christ. So be careful not to lose sight of what your marriage is about, which is to love your spouse as Christ, with the hopeful intention of helping to conform them into his image. Also, your earthly family will not pass through the fire (Matthew 10:21; 12:48-50). Your family members will if they are in Christ, but your family (according to the flesh) will not — i.e., there will be no Hotchkiss family in eternity. I tell my kids that they won’t actually be my kids in heaven; they’ll be my brothers and sisters, and we’ll have the same Father! So, just like my marriage, this is what my relationship with my family is all about — making Christ known to them, that they might know Christ.

You probably know this one, but your career, your business, and your wealth will not pass through the fire, either (Luke 12:16-21). So please don’t fall into that trap.

The point to all of this is that only people will pass through the fire, and only those in Christ, and only the part of them that is the eternal image and glory of Christ.

Therefore, if you want your life on earth to be aligned with your true purpose, then you must devote yourself in service — i.e., the ministry — to the saints. You must lay down your life for the transformation of souls (particularly those God has called you to serve), from one degree of glory to the next (2 Corinthians 3:18).

This doesn’t mean that everyone needs to become pastor or missionary. Those are specific kinds of appointments that only some are appointed to and gifted for (1 Timothy 2:7; 2 Timothy 1:11; 1 Corinthians 12:27-30). It also doesn’t mean that certain activities are inherently more spiritual than others. Virtually anything in life, if done by the Spirit, holds the potential to build up the body of Christ (if even just you).

It does mean, however, that to walk in a manner worthy of your calling (Ephesians 4:1), you must live your life with hyper-intentionality toward the spiritual growth of God’s people. To live out your purpose, you must mature in the ways of God so as to effectively help others mature in the ways of God. This is what it means to be equipped for the work of ministry (Ephesians 4:12), and it is not the unique role of a pastor but of every Christian.

My question to you, then, is this: Do you think the average Christian is equipped?

Evangelists, Empowered, or Equipped?

The following passage is commonly regarded as one of the most important scriptures about God’s design for the church:

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (Ephesians 4:11–16)

Here, we see that Paul has the same goal in mind that we’ve already discussed, which is for the body of Christ to become fully mature. We also see that the “work of the ministry” is not just for the church leaders but for all the saints. In fact, the explicit job description of the church leaders is not to do the ministry themselves but to equip the saints for the ministry, so that each member — working properly — would build up the Body.

But if I’ve not been clear up to this point about how this contrasts with the common understanding of what it means to equip the saints for ministry, then I will try to do so now. Throughout my years as a Christian, almost every idea of “equipping the saints” that I’ve encountered has revolved around one of two things: evangelism or empowerment.

Through the lens of evangelism, it’s the notion that in order to equip the saints, we need to teach people how to share their faith with unbelievers. Sometimes this is less direct, like shining the light of Christ in the workplace or reaching out to your neighbors. Other times, it’s more direct — like sharing your testimony, taking someone through a pithy presentation of the gospel you’ve memorized, or just straight-up Spirit-led street evangelism.

Without assuming these evangelistic activities are good or bad, helpful or unhelpful, let’s simply recognize what they are not. They are not the same thing as loving one another. They are not the same thing as serving the saints. Therefore, they should not be confused with “being equipped for ministry.” I have devoted an entire chapter to this concept for later, so I’ll just keep it at that for now.

As for “empowerment,” the general idea is that it’s the church leader’s job to foster an environment where anyone can serve in the way they feel led: Do you like children? We could really use your help in the kids’ Sunday school class. If you’re into music, we’ve got a spot in the praise band with your name on it (assuming you’re halfway decent). If you’re good with money, Joe’s getting tired of counting the dollars in the offering plate each week all by himself. And if there’s something we’re not thinking about that you’d like to start, let us know and we can discuss whether it fits our vision.

But after all this, the members we’ve “empowered” still aren’t making disciples of one another. They aren’t growing in their capacity to effectively conform each other into the image of Christ through love but relying on their pastors to handle the business of spiritual formation.

It stands to reason that people are only capable of equipping others with something that they themselves already have, right? A fisherman is able to equip an accountant to fish, not to do his taxes. A father equips his son to be a man, not necessarily to be an entrepreneur. A math teacher equips her student to do algebra, not to understand history.

I ask you, then, what is it that the “apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers” (from the scripture above) all have in common that makes them capable of equipping the saints for ministry? It is that they themselves are equipped with the word of God that builds up the church. They are capable ministers of the gospel — i.e., the truth that sets us free, the power of salvation from beginning to end. They are faithful stewards of the mystery by which people are transformed into the image of Christ. They have learned the ways of God and born the fruit of the Spirit to an extent where they can say to anyone, “Imitate my way of life and thinking (Philippians 3:15-17; 4:9; 1 Corinthians 11:1; Hebrews 13:7), and you, too, will bear fruit.”

Ministers of the word equip people to minister the word, not to start a non-profit. Disciple-makers equip people to make disciples, not to usher people to their seats. Shepherds equip people to take care of sheep, not to organize social events. Etc.

With this in mind, I reject the notion that training someone to operate the sound at the Sunday gathering, manage the slideshow, or serve coffee is equipping them for the “work of the ministry.” While every act of humble service is beautiful in God’s eyes, and may just as well be useful, we must stop conflating these things with being equipped for the work of the ministry because they can all be done without a single person growing up into Christ.

Equipping the saints isn’t getting people signed up for the hospitality team. It’s raising them in the Lord so that, having learned the ways of the Spirit and grown up in love, they are always hospitable to everyone. Equipping the saints isn’t plugging them into a prayer ministry; it’s teaching them to function organically in the ministry of prayer all the time. It isn’t just sending them overseas to build houses and pass out medicine. It’s making them effective ministers of the truth so that, wherever they are and whatever they’re doing, they’re prepared to meet spiritual needs, as well, to build up the invisible and eternal body of Christ.

Moreover, equipping the saints isn’t training them to facilitate a small-group discussion or lead a Sunday School class, which is often as far as we get. It’s training them, as the passage above says, to “speak the truth in love” to another, by which everyone is built up. They’re equipped when they’re bearing responsibility for the state of each other’s souls, when they correct and admonish one another, and when they exercise church discipline as Jesus taught. They’re equipped, not when they’ve read Boundaries by Cloud and Townshend, but when they’re walking closely enough with Christ to perceive the boundaries God has set for a relationship. They’re equipped when they no longer minister the wisdom of man but have learned to effectively minister the wisdom of God into each other’s lives. They’re equipped when they don’t rely on others to build community for them, but they pursue one another of their own accord and fight for one another’s transformation. They’re equipped when they no longer depend on their human leaders for direction and answers, but instead, they consult with their Chief Shepherd alongside one another. They’re equipped when they become a self-sustaining (or God-sustaining) church in their own right, making disciples of one another by the power and wisdom of the Holy Spirit that is always uniquely relevant to what God is doing in their midst, where growth is all but inevitable.

If you remove a pastor from a group of Christians and they continue to grow and thrive together, then the pastor has done his job — the saints are equipped.

Optional Relationship, Optional Discipleship

I want for every Christian to understand that we cannot achieve the goal of Christianity apart from relationship. Without Christ-centered, Spirit-led relationship, there is no discipleship, no equipping of the saints, and no fulfilling your purpose on earth.

To be honest, I don’t care a whole lot about what you’re doing for “Grace Community Church.” I care about what you’re doing for specific people in that church. Do they experience the love of Christ through you — not in passing while you greet them at the door, but in life as you live it with them? I don’t care so much about whether you’re actively evangelizing your neighborhood or coworkers. I care far more that you’re actively pursuing Christ-centered relationships with other saints, and that those relationships are effectively sanctifying both you and them. (God knows, if you aren’t, you don’t have much to offer the people you’re evangelizing, anyway, once they come into the fold.) I don’t care much that you attend your Bible study weekly. I care that your ministry to one another is mature, Spirit-led, and deeply transformative. I care that when you see one of your brothers and sisters sinning, you call them to repentance. I care that when they’re struggling with sin, trauma, or mental illness, you are equipped to lead them into the healing that only God provides. I care that when they don’t treat you like Christ, you continue being Christ to them, steadfast and immovable.

The truth is, I’ve never met a healthy Christian who didn’t have these kinds of relationships. In terms of spiritual growth, it is simply not optional, which I think is common knowledge among most pastors. Hence the effort to drive church members into home groups, life groups, cell groups, mentor-mentee relationships, and things of that nature. (Moving forward, I’ll just refer to all of these as “small groups.”)

The problem is, no matter how strongly a church exhorts its members to pursue these kinds of relationships, no matter how strong its small-group ministry is — in nearly every case I’ve seen, it is still optional. Which means that discipleship is optional. Learning to love God’s people is optional. Building up the Body of Christ is optional. Walking in a manner worthy of your calling is optional. Well, friends — please allow me to lovingly remind you that, as far as God is concerned, these are not optional!

I don’t know of any church or any spiritual leader who would teach that discipleship is optional. But the system that they’re a part of, which allows someone’s church experience to be devoid of formative relationships, quietly teaches that discipleship is optional, undermining their ministry. When I was the Pastor of Adult Discipleship at my former church, I frequently taught from the pulpit on the importance of Christian community. I spoke of it as an absolute necessity in the spiritual life, and I worked really hard to get people into small groups. However, large portions of the congregation apparently had no problem ignoring my admonition, and some of those who received it were still unable to find a group to join.

There was a point when God began to show me that my words lacked some integrity. I taught that these relationships were necessary, but the system that I implicitly endorsed was teaching that they were merely optional. To have full integrity in this matter, I either needed to stop teaching that Christ-centered relationship is necessary (which I would never do), or I needed to align the model with what I believed and start requiring every person in the community to join a small group (which I had neither the authority nor the slightest clue how to implement).

This was another strong conviction that led me to the house-church model. Discipleship should neither be optional for those who are inclined to avoid it, nor difficult to find for those inclined to seek it. And with the house-church model, relationship is baked into the church experience. Discipleship is not only easily accessible but virtually unavoidable.

At the very least, coming to one our gatherings requires that you go to someone’s house, meet people who will talk to you and ask you questions about yourself, and then sit in a circle for a couple of hours where you may be encouraged, prayed over, or asked your thoughts about something. Moreover, whatever you do or don’t do, whatever you say or don’t say, is seen by everyone and could be judged by anyone. There is no avoiding this reality within our church, so, if you want to avoid it, then you must avoid our church.

And that’s just the baseline. Beyond what I’ve just mentioned, we also strive to pursue each other outside of the weekly gathering, speak truth into each other’s lives, correct one another when we see sin/immaturity, challenge each other’s ideas, and work through our disagreements. This means that we argue. It can, at times, make life very uncomfortable. But we each share the responsibility (and the privilege) of helping one another be conformed into the image of Christ, which is worth far more to us than comfort and ease.

We still have much room to grow in all of these things, so I’m not implying that we’re perfect by any means. I’m simply saying that the process of spiritual growth cannot be avoided in a community that functions like this, and that’s exactly how it should be.

When people leave our house church for a more traditional church setting, it is often because they feel they “aren’t ready” for the level of relational intimacy that we have in our church. What I hear them really saying is, “I’m not ready for discipleship.” To which I would respond, “Then you’re not ready to follow Christ.” It would be one thing if they were leaving our people to go be close with another group of Christians — which I have no problem with — but that isn’t the case. They’re leaving people to go engage with programs. And each time this happens, I’m reminded of the painfully unfortunate reality that Christians everywhere — because they’re given the option — are opting out of discipleship, love, and service to the saints.

It’s Time to Take Ownership

There are two major implications that I hope for you take away from all of this — one for church leaders and one for every Christian.

For the church leaders, it’s time to stop pretending that your small-group ministry is cutting it. And it’s time to stop acting like there’s nothing you can do about those in your congregation who continue saying “no thanks” to discipleship like it’s questionable seafood on a cheap cruise line. Unless every single person in your congregation is having regular, close, Spirit-filled interaction with other believers, then you have not done your job. The pulpit isn’t enough, and you know it. The model itself is teaching them things that you aren’t teaching them, but you can change it — whether by modifying what you have or starting something new.

Part of leading/shepherding God’s people is holding them accountable to living in a manner worthy of their calling, which includes them being committed to spiritually edifying relationships with others in the church. It’s your job to create an environment where that is not only expected but required. There will be all sorts of excuses as to why a church can’t really require this, but they are all poor excuses. You can, and you must. It’s the weakest, most immature members who especially need you to stop treating them like customers and start treating them like the crew, apart from which you will be liable for their spiritual stagnancy.

If someone leaves my church to go to yours, I want to be confident that they will be immediately immersed in community — again, not that they can be if they look for it, but that they will be, even if they’re inclined to isolate. Until you can guarantee that, honestly, I fear them going to your church. And it shouldn’t be that way. There should be no concept of Christianity or “church” anywhere without face-to-face discipleship. Would you help me make that a reality?

And for every Christian — whatever kind of church you’re a part of, whatever role you have in it — it’s time to take ownership of others’ spiritual growth. It doesn’t matter how new you are to the faith. As a member of the Body, you serve an important function in the Body, and you’ll only find out what that is as you begin to love people and earnestly strive for their spiritual growth.

Start by praying for God to show you the specific Christians in your city whose spiritual growth you are specially responsible for (not that anyone is entirely responsible for someone else, but partially). Those people are called your church, and growing them up into Christ is your ministry. Learn how to serve them as Christ, how to pursue relationships with them as Christ, how to have spiritual conversations with them as Christ, how to pray and intercede for them as Christ, how to lay down your life for them as Christ, that they may experience his eternal life in full. Make this your aim, rely fully on God to achieve it, and it will be your greatest accomplishment and joy.

In the chapters that follow, I hope to equip you more fully for this task. What we’re talking about is building the eternal church, which is your ministry as much as it is mine.

Exciting news (at least for me, LOL)… I’ve just released my first children’s book (shoutout to Casey Dye, the illustrator, who I’ll talk more about in a minute)! But it isn’t just any children’s book; I want you to know a bit of the story behind it, as well as some future aspirations.

For starters, here’s the book, which you can buy on Amazon or Barnes & Noble. After you purchase it, PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW! There’s nothing I’d appreciate more than this.

A couple of years ago, on a random Sunday afternoon, I was struck with a bit of inspiration. In about 4 hours, with a bit of my wife’s help (per usual), I wrote the manuscript for The Seedling — 95% of which made it into the final version today. (I wish writing was always this easy!)

The book is about a seedling who doesn’t know what kind of plant he is because he isn’t bearing any fruit yet. On his quest to answer the question — What am I? — he explores things like his feelings and desires, but he ultimately finds that they’re unreliable sources of information. As long as he isn’t bearing fruit yet, to understand what he is, he has to understand (and trust) where he came from.

If you’re familiar with my writing at all — particularly No Longer I — then you should sense that this theme is inspired by the scriptures, which tell Christians what they are — i.e., saints, holy, righteous, loving, joyful, etc. — despite what they see and feel. And the only way to know this, particularly when we don’t see any spiritual fruit yet, is to trust God’s word that we’ve been born of God, that we are as he says we are!

This sense of one’s identity is absolutely crucial in the spiritual life.

How the Book Came Together

The night I wrote it, I shared it with a few friends, including one of our best, Casey Dye. She’d probably hate me sharing her picture (which I grabbed from LinkedIn), but she’d better get used to it if she keeps being this good at illustrating books. This is Casey ⬇️

Casey got her bachelor’s degree in Illustration. She’s always been eager and faithful to use her skills to bless people in the church. She made my album cover design when I put some of my songs on Spotify. She’s helped me and others with multiple book covers and interior artwork. She made an awesome Spiderman canvas that hangs on my 6-year-old son’s wall, and a portrait of my daughter that hangs in her room, too. And this is just some of what she’s done for me and my family!

I could go on and on about how giving and talented she is. But all of that is simply to say, it’s no surprise that when I sent her the manuscript for The Seedling, she immediately asked if she could illustrate it.

Well, as I said, that was probably about two years ago. Time flies, she’s a busy woman, and illustrating a book ain’t easy. But she did it. And hear me when I tell you, it’s absolutely beautiful — more than I ever hoped for.

Casey and I have learned a lot through the challenging process of bringing this book to completion. But one big takeaway is that we make a good team, and we want to do more.

Our Plans for the Future

What excites me most about The Seedling is its potential to open the parents’ eyes to their identity in Christ and unleash the power of the gospel in their lives. That’s honestly what it’s all about. At the end of the book, we included a “Note from the Author,” in which I explain the story’s meaning and pique their interest in learning more through scripture and No Longer I.

But even without understanding the deeper meaning behind it, I believe it’s still a stand-alone awesome read for the parent and the child. On my end, as the author, I strive for a cadence and rhyme that is enjoyable to read for the parent and engaging for the child. On the illustration side of things, it’s just downright aesthetically pleasing.

So, if there’s someone you know (with children or grandchildren) who doesn’t understand their identity in Christ, this could be a super passive-aggressive (but hopefully effective) way to introduce them to it! 😂

All joking aside, our goal is to make more children’s books with the same aim — to introduce Christian parents to profound and important spiritual truths through objectively great books they can read to their small children. Is that an official mission statement? No, but we’re working on it.

Our next two books — one of which is already underway — will also focus on identity in Christ, and the three together will form our “Identity Series” (which’ll be the perfect gift for your next baby shower). After those three books are complete, we plan to start playing around with some other life-changing spiritual truths and see where the Lord takes us.

I’m very grateful today that God helped us to complete this work. And I’m especially thankful to Casey, who brought the words of this book to life through many, many hours of hard work.

And to my readers/supporters, thank you always for your prayers that God empowers my work and uses it to advance the kingdom. God bless you.

In Christ,

Jake

A quick note: We are not just talking about receiving God’s forgiveness here. We are talking about moving forward in freedom. For anyone who has godly sorrow over their sin, I believe it will be a refreshing word.

The Vicious Cycle of Sin-Confession-Repentance

I would guess that you have been caught once or twice in the seemingly never-ending cycle of sin-confession-repentance-sin-confession-repentance. There is hardly anything more frustrating and discouraging than to sincerely turn away from a particular sin, determined to follow Christ, only to fall back into the same old patterns again and again and again. We know that repentance is necessary, yet for some reason, it doesn’t always appear to accomplish its ultimate goal — freedom. (At least that’s how it was for me for years until I learned about the finished work of Christ.)

What gives? Did we not repent enough? Did we not really mean it, even though it felt like sincere repentance at the time? Or is there just more that we need to do in addition to our repentance to attain the freedom we desire (i.e. prayer, Bible reading, accountability groups, etc.)?

Well, I hope to encourage you when I say that, in all likelihood, none of these are the root of the issue. The root of it, again, is the way you think of repentance. The only way to be free is to start thinking differently.

Repent means to change the way you think

Before we get into it, let’s address a very important thing. The literal meaning of repent (Greek: μετανοέω, metanoeo) is to “change’s one mind.” Sure, this could mean that you decide to pursue x instead of y, Christ instead of sin. That is a great first step. But if you’re reading this blog, then it’s quite likely that you have already made that step, and you do not need to keep making it. You have a repentant heart. Your will isn’t the issue anymore; your mind is.

If repentance, as you’ve always known it, has left you enslaved to your wicked ways, then you simply have not understood the meaning of true repentance. There are still other ways in which you must continue to “change your mind”. Or the expression I like better is to “change the way you think“. After all, you are “transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Romans 12:2, ESV).

What does the Word of God say about true repentance?

There is a particular passage of Scripture that I find very insightful in teaching us how to repent. In 2 Corinthians 7:8-13, the Apostle Paul is writing to the church about something they had done wrong, which he had already addressed in a previous letter (possibly in 1 Corinthians 5), and which they had now apparently repented from. In other words, they made an error, they were held accountable, and they were grieved into repentance (see 2 Corinthians 7:9).

So far, it may not seem like anything too interesting, but then he tells them how he views their repentance:

“At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter.” (2 Corinthians 7:11, ESV)

Pause for a moment and think about this remark. “You have proved yourselves innocent in the matter.” If you didn’t know the context, you might assume that, first, they were wrongly accused, and then, that they made a compelling argument for their innocence. But as we know, this isn’t the context. They weren’t wrongly accused; they actually committed the wrong that Paul said they did. And they didn’t form any defense for their innocence; they took ownership of their wrongdoing and genuinely repented.

So then how is it possible that they were innocent in the matter? Isn’t the fact that they repented from something in the first place the very proof that they were guilty of sinful behavior? Forgiven, sure. But innocent? Never! At least not by the world’s standards. And here is where we must change our thinking, for we are not to conform to this world (see Romans 12:2).

Repentance is proof of our innocence, not our guilt

Paul is not overlooking or diminishing the fact that they did, in fact, sin. What he is doing is giving them a proper perspective from which to go on living. He is showing them how he interprets these events, and, implicitly, how they should, too.

His main point? Their sin does not prove they are sinners. Their repentance proves they are saints. They are not merely forgiven, yet still guilty. They are forgiven and not guilty. Their repentance is actually the evidence of their heart’s true desires, which are holy because they are new creatures in Christ (see 2 Corinthians 5:17).

The only reason they sinned is that they were not living with a proper perspective of who they truly are in Christ. They were deceived. And the only reason Paul called them to repentance in the first place is so that they could see for themselves this wonderful truth that is inside of them (which he says in the very next verse, 2 Corinthians 7:12).

Therefore, repentance is not so much an admission of one’s guilt as it is proof of one’s innocence. We must continually confess/acknowledge our sins, of course. But if we have been born again, we must not identify with our sins. Instead, we must identify with Christ and his righteousness (see 1 John 3:7). This is a major distinction.

The good news is that we must only acknowledge our wickedness once

Most Christians view repentance as an inherent admission of guilt. To repent, we believe, requires us to come to terms with how awful and wicked we are. But the truth is, we only need to acknowledge our wickedness once -- when we give our lives to Jesus.

Then the moment that we believe and are baptized into him, we die and are born again. We do not only receive God’s forgiveness. we also receive his Holy Spirit. The old man dies; the new man is born. And Christ becomes our whole life and identity. This is the fuller meaning of God’s grace.

Thus, as we move forward, our repentance should look different. We should never acknowledge our wickedness again. You must “put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life... and... be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and... put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22-24, ESV).

To repent effectively, we must begin living from this New Testament perspective, as opposed to the Old Testament perspective. We must start thinking about ourselves differently, thanking God for who he has caused us to be through the Holy Spirit within us. This is how we “put on Christ”.

We are not unrepentant sinners but repentant saints. It is no longer accurate or helpful to call ourselves wicked, unrighteous, unholy, or guilty, even after we just sinned. For God’s word something else about us.

True repentance is believing truth over lies

In the moments after you’ve come to grips with your sin, you may feel an intense urge to think of yourself as guilty and unholy. And while this may seem like the obvious truth, it is actually the lie that will perpetuate your sinful behavior. It feels as if you are humbling yourself before God and renouncing the sin. But actually, you are pridefully believing something in direct contradiction to his Word. And consequently, you are keeping yourself enslaved to the sin which you have “renounced”.

In these moments, you are actually identifying with the flesh (which is not you), rather than the Holy Spirit (with whom you are one). You are failing to “consider yourselves dead to sin” (Romans 6:11, ESV) and to believe that “[i]t is no longer [you] who live, but Christ who lives in [you]” (Galatians 2:20, ESV). You are thinking of yourself wrongly -- as a sinner who chose to disobey, rather than a saint who is choosing to repent; the slave who defied their Master, rather than the child who shares their Father’s nature.

Make no mistake. You are not both of these people -- a little bit of one, a little bit of the other. The latter is you, the former is not. Thus, you are not constantly vacillating between good and bad, but between truth and lies about who you really are. These lies are what have caused you to continue sinning, so effective repentance entails fighting to believe Truth despite what you see and feel. This is called faith.

The questions you must answer after you’ve sinned

I have come to believe that one of the most opportunistic times to grow is the time immediately following sin when you are still carrying the weight that it has left on you, still troubled by the stain that remains on your conscience. (Please note, I am not saying that we should go and sin in order to create these moments. But I am saying that if/when they happen, we need to learn to take advantage of them.) The reason is that there is no other time that challenges your identity as these times do. Sin forces you to find your identity in the unseen reality as opposed to what you observe in your flesh.

Let’s say you’ve been wanting to overcome some particular sin, and you’ve had a period of relative success. You’re feeling good about it, thinking something is really changing in you. And then out of the blue, you receive a test that you didn’t expect (pop quiz), and you fail. You break your clean streak and end up doing it just like you used to. You feel awful, gross, disappointed, guilty.

This is the moment of truth. What will you believe? Or in other words, how will you repent (i.e. change your thinking)? The questions below are questions you will need to answer.

• Did you want to sin, or do you want to stop?

• Is the sinful desire your flesh’s desire, or is it your heart’s desire?

• What does the Holy Spirit within you say that you want?

• Did Jesus give you a pure heart, or did he leave a little bit of sin left in there?

• Is your mind good and your heart still needing to be renewed, or is your heart good and your mind still needing to be renewed?

• Who are you -- the one who sinned, or the one who is now putting on righteousness?

• Is Jesus your identity (see 1 Corinthians 6:17, Galatians 2:20, Colossians 3:11, etc.), or does your past define you?

Believing God about the answer to these questions is the battle you must fight. And if you conquer in faith, these struggles hold the boundless potential to ground you deeper in Christ and set you free from sin.

Learn how God sees you. Holy Spirit is not your accuser.

It may feel like everything in you testifies to the bleaker reality, but then you just haven’t heard the Spirit within you who is giving a better witness. Never forget that Satan is your accuser, not God. If you want to know what Holy Spirit is saying, then you need to know God’s word. Go to your bible, ground yourself in his Word, and you will find nothing but hope, encouragement, and righteousness.

And besides just the word of God, you need to talk to God about your sin, but what will you even say to him? Or perhaps the better question is, what will he say to you?

Is he harsh, or is he gentle (see Matthew 11:29)? Is he disappointed or encouraging? Does he keep a record of your wrongdoing (see 1 Corinthians 13:5), or has he already forgotten about your sin (see Hebrews 10:17)? Does he demand that you prove how sorry you are, or does he wish for you to step into his grace boldly (see Hebrews 4:16), heart “sprinkled clean from an evil conscience” (Hebrews 10:22)?

Come to God as he says he is, and you will find mercy and tenderness. But just as importantly, come to God as he says you are, and you will find freedom (see John 8:32).

Whether your sin is a distant memory or it still weighs heavily on your heart, the truth which you must believe remains the same. In Christ, you are as innocent as he is, all by faith in him.

I’ve been hard at work on my next book, Unless God Builds It: A Proposal to Radically Rethink the Church. It’s really starting to come together, and I greatly appreciate your prayers in that regard. This has been the most challenging writing project I can recall, but I’ve begun to discern that it’s some sort of spiritual warfare at play. However, the more I press into the Lord in prayer, the more I regain my conviction of how important I believe these concepts are.

Below is a chapter from the book that I would appreciate your feedback on. It is the foundation of the entire book (and, in a way, the spiritual life — as it pertains to resting from our works). It is the primary revelation that the Lord has used in my life to cause me to seek and believe for a better way of operating as the church, and it has led to innumerable blessings in my life.

The hardest part I found about writing this chapter was that I had so much to say and so many examples and testimonies to share. It honestly felt like this could have been an entire book on its own. Needless to say, I’m excited for you to read it.

I do recognize that most of my readers come from a traditional church setting, so I’m not unaware of how these things may be hard to hear/receive. I pray you can hear my heart, which I believe we share — that is, for the Bride of Christ to be fully mature. God is at work in all our midst, and if we’re humble to hear him, we won’t be offended by each other’s ideas, even if we ultimately end up disagreeing. This is my mindset — that each person is only responsible for being faithful to what they believe the Lord is stirring in them. We should fault no one for walking according to their convictions — even if their convictions are wrong — as long as they are humble and open to reason.

And lastly, if I didn’t respond to your feedback last time, my apologies. One or two of your emails went to spam, and then I accidentally deleted my spam folder. I’ll make sure not to do that again this time. Your feedback is genuinely very helpful.

God bless you all!

In case you haven't noticed, we spend a lot of time, effort, and money on building the church. You may or may not be involved in much of it, but take a moment to try to conceptualize and appreciate the magnitude of resources devoted to it throughout the course of a week, month, or year.

Think of everything it takes to make it "run" — kids and youth ministry, small groups and discipleship classes, food and childcare, conferences and retreats, outreach and social events, board meetings and leadership trainings, websites and marketing, constructing and maintaining buildings, local charity work and foreign missions, equipping volunteers and managing church staff, choirs and worship bands, sermon-writing and pastoral care, seminary training and denominational oversight, countless books being written (and read), podcasts and videos being recorded (and consumed), and so on. It's a lot.

To start, let's not assume that any of this is inherently bad but at least ask the question: Is it working? After all this activity, does the church look like the church that God promised to build? Are we, God's people, bearing fruit like the Bible says we ought to? Are our lives being radically conformed into the image of Christ? Are we walking in unity, holiness, and love toward one another? Is Christ and his gospel being powerfully manifested to the world through our lives? Etc.

The answer to these questions are, of course, not a simple yes or no. But if we can at least agree that this is the goal, then how is all our activity helping us to reach that goal? Is the output worth the input?

Whenever I start poking around like this, someone invariably feels the need to defend the church, arguing that God uses all of these things, that he is at work in every church, and that it's offensive to suggest any otherwise. Allow me to clarify, then, that I agree. Therefore, this is an unnecessary contention.

However, God's use of something doesn't justify our use of it. God uses all sorts of things — indeed, all things — to bring about good for his children (see Romans 8:28). This includes cancer, car accidents, and horrific sins, which he redeems for his purposes. Shall we then employ such methods ourselves, weaving them into the fabric of our church model on the sole basis that God uses them? Most certainly not. So, please — let us not be childish. We can recognize that God uses something — rejoicing and giving him glory — all the while being free to discern whether it deserves a place in our ministry, whether it is a part of his intended design for this house that we're helping him to build.

This is how I view the church today. I sincerely give thanks to God for all that he has done and continues to do through the Body of Christ everywhere. I myself have been greatly blessed by the people and ministries of the church that I left before starting a church in my home. However, I have my doubts that the traditional way of doing things is the best way to achieve our common goal. It's not that I don't see any fruit but that I believe the fruit is often in spite of all the hustle and bustle, and is the simple result of the fact that God is good and has poured his love into the hearts of many faithful servants — two things that will remain the same no matter how we proceed. If this is true, I argue that much of our activity and expenditure is actually in vain, or worse, counterproductive to our shared mission.

So then, can we have a family discussion without taking offense? Can we challenge each other's ideas and ways without questioning each other's hearts? I believe we can and we must.

Do We Really Need More of the Same?

This is where a lot of books would recite to you some church statistics — like rates of divorce, addiction, and mental illness among Christians. They would paint a grim picture of the state of Christianity today, highlighting the high percentage of leaders who experience burnout or suffer some moral failure, of missionaries'/pastors' kids who end up resenting God and turning away from the faith, of Christians who feel isolated or hurt by the church, and so forth. And then they'd say, "Don’t you see we have a problem? Something needs to change."

I don't disagree, necessarily, but something I've always found interesting about the data is the fact that I've never needed it. I appreciate that it confirms what I already knew (more-or-less) to be true. But just as I don't need numbers to prove that the sky is blue, nor do I need them to tell me that most Christians' experience of Christianity is at least somewhat (if not very much) disappointing compared to the biblical vision for Christianity. All you need to do is take a step outside, look up, and if you're not blind, you'll see it.

Forgive me for my crassness. I only say it this way because I want to appeal to something deeper within you than your intellect — that is, your spirit. I am appealing not to reason but to your spiritual intuition, which God has given to you via his Holy Spirit. If you feel that you need the statistics, then you can find them quite easily yourself, but I don't actually think you need them. And, I fear, if this is your compass, there will always be a way to justify whichever conclusion you prefer.

But if you know much at all about God's desire for us to walk in love, holiness, power, and unity, then you know what I'm talking about at some level. You feel it deep within you, for the Spirit testifies that what we're doing isn't working exactly like it's supposed to. If you're a Christian — looking to the Spirit of God within you, reading your Bible, and humbly observing the church as we know it — then I believe you will ultimately discover the same discomfort that I felt for years and the same earnestness I feel today for reform.

You may very well like your church and perceive that God is doing many good things through you and the people there. Again, I don't doubt this, but this could just as well be in spite of all your activity and not the result of it, which is the point I'm trying to convey.

More importantly, this isn't just about you being happy with what your church provides to you. It's about every single person who becomes a part of your Christian community being radically conformed into the image of Christ. That's the goal, and 2,000 years in, we're nowhere near reaching it.

Then what's the solution? Is it more teaching or more evangelism? Is it better sermons or better music? More employees or volunteers? Better marketing strategies? Better hospitality, better programs, or more outreach? Bigger buildings, renovated buildings, prettier buildings, simpler buildings? Is it more inspiration, more conferences, more training, more small groups? Do we need to plant more churches, learn new strategies, or start more ministries? Do we just need to get more people to do more of the same things?

I'm not convinced that we do, but most churches continue to operate as if these kinds of things will make the difference, just in greater measure or a slightly better variance. Again, none of these things are inherently wrong, but it's becoming increasingly evident that our reliance on them is delusional. If "more" was the solution, I think we'd have seen a visible difference by now — not just in your life or your church but in the church.

Therefore, however counterintuitive it may seem at first, I'd like to propose an alternative solution: We don't actually need to do more; we need to begin by doing less.

Kill the Engines and Catch the Wind

Most churches today function like a cruise ship. God gives us a destination, and then we fire up our manmade engines, ripping through the waves without regard for the wind. "We'll get there," we reason, "because God has told us to go there and has given us the means to do so." But days turn into months, months turn into years, and it's questionable whether or not we've arrived. Yet we continue to burn fuel and pay the crew, feeling like we're accomplishing something.

Don't get me wrong — God has, indeed, given us a destination and the means for getting there. However, the part we've missed is that the means for getting there are not the engines (which we can start at will) but the wind (which we cannot control). Thus, his design for the church is not to be a cruise ship but a sailboat, which has no other option than to wait for the wind to blow.

In this analogy, the "wind," of course, is the Holy Spirit, who blows wherever he wishes (John 3:8), and the "engines" are all the ways and wisdom that we employ apart from the Spirit because we don't like to wait. When I talk about "waiting," I'm talking about praying and believing that God will act. And if we really believe that he'll act, it keeps us still until he does.

Our propensity to rely on our own abilities to get somewhere can be seen in every area of the church. Our base assumption is typically that if we don't do something, it won't happen (and/or that if we do something, it will happen). This mindset breeds self-reliance and unrestful action. The truth is, however, that if God doesn't do something, it won't happen (and/or if God does something, it will happen). This mindset breeds God-reliance and rest. Hence the following scripture:

Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep [or while they sleep]. (Psalm 127:1–2)

With this in mind, try asking the following questions to yourself and/or your church:

If we don't have a church calendar that ensures we preach through the Bible in some certain order, do we trust that God will still teach us and lead us through the scriptures (better than if we do it our way)?

If we don't have a denomination or a statement of faith, do we trust that God will protect our doctrine and lead us into unity (the kind of unity we've never truly been able to achieve)?

If we don't have kids and youth ministries, do we trust that God will still take care of our children and instruct them in his ways (better than we know how to)?

If we don't have prayer and deliverance ministries, do we trust that God will cause prayer and deliverance to occur organically within our midst (and that it will be exceedingly powerful)?

If we don't create a small-group ministry, do we trust that the Spirit will lead people to form intimate relationships between the people in our church (that will bear greater long-term fruit and multiplication)?

If we don't have a hospitality team, do we trust the Spirit to demonstrate the gift of hospitality through various members of the Body (in a more meaningful way that if we try to make it happen)?

If we don't send anyone to seminary, do we trust that God will still equip people for ministry (and far more so than seminary would equip them)?

If we don't have any appointed elders/overseers/shepherds, and we don't immediately appoint any, do we trust that God will raise them up in our midst at the right time (and that they'll fully meet the biblical qualifications of eldership)?

If we aren't currently sending out people to preach the gospel or hit the mission field, and if we don't make an active effort to do so right now, do we trust that the Spirit will send and equip people in time (and that they'll evangelize with much greater effectiveness than if they went today in their own strength)?

If we don't have rules about who can speak and when they can speak in the our weekly gathering, or if we don't have a pre-scripted agenda for it, do we trust that God will keep it orderly and productive (and more so than it would be otherwise)?

If we don't consult with other books, do we trust that God will teach us and lead us into the truth (far deeper than if we rely on our own intellect)?

If we don't give that semi-annual tithing sermon, do we trust that God will still provide what we need?

If we do nothing but pray and wait on the Lord, do we believe that God will be faithful to build his church?

If everything we’ve built were to start falling apart in front of our eyes, do we trust that God will rebuild something that can never fall apart?

Let us make up our minds about it — God has promised to build his church, and we can trust him to do it! Jesus said to Peter, "[O]n this rock I will build my church…" (Matthew 16:18, my italics). The writer of Hebrews said, "For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God" (Hebrews 3:3). The apostle Peter said, "[Y]ou yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house" (1 Peter 2:5). The apostle Paul said, "In [Christ] you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit" (Ephesians 2:22).

When King David finally found a bit of rest from his enemies, the first thing he thought to do was build a temple for God. He told the prophet Nathan of his ambitions, and Nathan affirmed him (presumptuously). But that night, God said to David, "Would you build me a house to dwell in?... [T]he LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house… I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body [i.e., Christ], and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name…" (2 Samuel 7:5-13, my italics).

The Bible is clear on this fact. We are not the builders of God's house. He is. And while he definitely intends to use us for this task, the only way we become useful to him is by relying on him, by depending solely on his Spirit. Hence, Jesus says: "Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5).

We therefore must come to terms with the futility of our self-supplied efforts and our human wisdom, no matter how good our intentions are. In Psalm 20:7, David wrote: "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God." In the same way, we need to stop trusting in our "engines" — those things that make us feel productive and powerful — and start trusting in our God. As Moses told the Israelites who had their backs against the Red Sea, "The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent" (Exodus 14:14). Once we see this, we will strive for one thing — "to enter that rest" (Hebrews 4:10). We will finally be still and know that he is God (Psalm 46:10). From there, and there only, we will start to bear fruit.

It's here — in silence and rest, in abiding and waiting — where God alone gets the glory, where no one can say that they built it, and no one can deny that God built it. We could argue all day about whether or not the Lord is the one who built your ministry or my ministry — whether he's the one inspiring and empowering all the things we do — but there's only one way to be sure: Stop. Rest. Wait. The only way to prove that God himself has been watching over the city is to put it in his hands and get your sleep. If you arise from your rest to find the city destroyed, then you'll know that your labor was in vain, that the only thing keeping it together was your restlessness. But if you arise to find it holding together — and not only that, but flourishing — you'll have greater confidence than ever before that God is truly the one watching over it.

Only by living this way can we look back on our lives, look back at what we've built and claim truly, "God built it", for it is not humanly possible to keep watch over this size of a city or to build a house this spectacular, and to sleep the way we slept.

This is how God gets the glory.

It is not that we do it in our own strength and then dedicate it to God. It is not that we do it ourselves and then simply give credit to God, "humbly" ascribing it to him. It's not even that we ask God to help us, and then go about doing it. It's that based on what we've witnessed, there is no other sensible conclusion than that God has done it. It's that no human concept of what's possible would describe what we've built. It's that, in sheer appearance, as a matter of fact, an outsider must conclude that something they cannot explain has taken place.

That is how God gets the glory.

Man can build cathedrals, denominations, seminaries, and ministries of all kinds. Man can also write sermons, start podcasts, gain large followings, and organize their followers in various ways. If we're honest, there is nothing about these things that inherently declare the glory of God, for there is nothing about them that necessarily require the power of God.

But to desire the glory of God is to long for the impossible. It's to desire to build something that cannot be built without the power of God. It's to refuse to rely on one's own strength — not out of laziness or apathy but out of zeal, understanding that there is no other way. There is only one way to become a thriving church, and that is to wait on the Lord.

This does not necessitate that we remain still (outwardly) forever — only long enough to see God beginning to move us. It isn't that we should be against doing things — only doing things in vain. And the only way to know that our work is not in vain, the only way to be sure that God himself is the one empowering it, is to kill the engines, making rest our constant disposition. Then, if the ship begins moving while we're at rest, we will know it's not us but the Spirit of God.

Ishmael and Isaac

There is one Old Testament story that I think conveys this idea better than any other, and it's the story of Abraham's two sons — Ishmael and Isaac.

Abram (later renamed Abraham) — was seventy-five years old with no children when God promised to give him a son (see Genesis 12:1-3; 15:2-6). But ten years later, his wife, Sarai (later renamed Sarah), had still given him no children, and she herself was now seventy-five years old. Concluding that God had prevented her from bearing children, she instructed her husband to go into their servant, Hagar. From this action, he received his first son, Ishmael (see Genesis 16:1-16).

Ishmael, however, was not the son that God promised. And thirteen years after he was born, God visited Abraham again to tell him that the son of the promise would surely come through his wife, Sarah, who was now ninety years old (Genesis 17:16-21) and past menopause (Genesis 18:11).

Both Abraham and Sarah disbelieved at first, for obvious reasons (Genesis 17:17-18; 18:12-15). In natural terms, this was not possible. But then, that's exactly the point. God would leave no room for doubt that their son was God's doing, not man's doing. And so, by the power of God, Isaac was born (Genesis 21:1-7).

Now, as Paul says, "this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants" (Galatians 4:24). Hagar represents the old way of life — under the law, according to the flesh, where the fruit and promises of God are dependent on the strength and will of man. This way of life is defined by vain labor, anxious toil, and (as God designed it) is doomed to fail. Whatever it produces is not the real promise, but must be sent away like Ishmael was sent away (Genesis 21:10-14).

Sarah, on the other hand, represents the new way of life under grace, according to the Spirit, where the fruit and promises of God are dependent on the strength and will of God. This way of life is defined by fruitful labor, born out of faith and rest, and (as God designed it) is destined to succeed. Whatever it produces is the real promise and remains forever (Genesis 17:19).

Now, do you see how this applies to the church?

Let us view Abraham as the Christ figure, the one who carries the seed that will bless the whole world. As such, let us view Sarah as the church (i.e., us), for she is his bride. From our union, God promises miraculous fruit, multiplication, and blessing to the whole world. However, as time has gone by, as we have waited on the Lord to fulfill his promise, we have grown weary. We have stopped believing that the Lord will do it. But instead of admitting that we stopped believing, we changed the definition of what it means for God to "do it."

We have acted like Sarah, who said: "Go in to my servant… that I shall obtain children [in Hebrew: be built up] by her" (Genesis 16:2). Notice what she desires — that is, to "be built up". These words are prophetic, pointing toward the building up of the church. Therefore, just as she demands that Abraham build her up by going into her servant, Hagar, so we tell Christ to go into our ideas and our efforts, intending to be built up this way.

When it results in something merely resembling what God promised, we declare that we've received the promise. Just as Sarah could look at Ishmael and say, "See, God gave us a son, just as he promised to do," so we look at the church and say "See, God built this church, just as he promised to do." But the truth is, though God did bless Ishmael, Ishmael was never was the promise, and neither is much of what the church is producing today, despite that God still blesses it.

Preaching in Vain

Until now, I understand that this concept may seem a bit vague. Perhaps you are thinking: What exactly does he meaning by "waiting on the Lord"? What does it practically look like to do this, and how would it change the way we operate? This can be easily illustrated with a real-life example.

In the traditional church model, I had regular preaching responsibilities on Sunday mornings. Despite always seeking the Lord for his help with writing a message — meaning in prayer, usually for many hours — I would often find myself without any real inspiration. And yet, I had to preach anyway, for that was everyone's expectation. It's what I was hired to do, and it was not acceptable for a teaching pastor to come without a message on Sunday, let alone to make that a regular practice.

So, what did I do? If the wind wasn't blowing (i.e., if the Spirit wasn't giving me a message), I turned on my engines, using the abilities of my flesh to get the job done — whether that be my intellect, my Bible knowledge, my creativity, my work ethic, etc. Sometimes the Spirit was putting something on my heart, but it was only a 2-minute message, not a 30-minute message. In these instances, I still felt the need to conjure up more content (that the Spirit didn't give to me) in order to make the sermon a more acceptable length.

The scary but obvious truth is that it doesn't take the Holy Spirit to write a sermon. People without the Holy Spirit write speeches all the time, and they can be highly motivating, too. But only the Holy Spirit can build up the church so that it bears lasting spiritual fruit, and only the Holy Spirit knows what God's people need to hear on a given day. On a very practical level, then, what I wanted was the freedom to not preach when the Lord wasn't stirring me, even if that meant the church didn't get a sermon that day. What I needed was a system or structure that actually encouraged the practice of waiting on the Lord, not discouraged it. For this reason, I began to deeply question why we structure the church and its gatherings in such a way to put pastor's in this position.

You may think it is irrelevant that I wasn't feeling "stirred" sometimes and that I went about it this way. It was my job to do it, regardless of how I felt about it on a given day or week. But you see, that's where you've got it wrong, fundamentally. You're mistaken about the role of a spiritual leader and the way God intends to build his church.

A true spiritual leader isn't one who goes through the motions, who musters up his own strength and resorts to using his own knowledge whenever God doesn't provide him what he thinks the church needs. Even if he is trying to serve the church, a true spiritual leader knows that this doesn't actually serve the church but teaches the church a way that is not from God. A true spiritual leader does not eat the bread of anxious toil; he learns the way of bearing fruit while at rest. A true spiritual is one who demonstrates the Way — always resisting the ways of man and insisting on the ways of God. He proves through his life to those whom he leads that God is faithful to build his church even when we, individually, don't feel like we have anything to offer. Therefore, by his lived example — not merely through good sermons — the true spiritual leader teaches everyone around him to rest and believe and depend on God at all costs. In this way, and in no other way, both him and his followers bear fruit.

Now, compare what I've just described to the last five years of my life in the house church. From the outset, this was one of the things I was most excited to change. Never again would I live under the pressure of having to conjure something up that the Spirit wasn't providing to me. I became determined to practice total dependence on God, which meant that if I wasn't feeling empowered or inspired to speak, if I didn't believe that God was giving me anything to say, then I would not speak. If God put a scripture on my heart but gave me no teaching, then I was free to read the scripture to the congregation without giving a teaching. If God gave me a two minute mini-sermon, then I was free to teach for only two minutes, thereby always operating in a state of empowerment — never experiencing burnout, yet bearing fruit.

No longer was I required to spend hours upon hours putting a sermon together to meet others' expectations. I cannot tell you the last time I spent more than 30-60 minutes "preparing" for a teaching, and even then, I'm not usually writing anything down but simply having a conversation with God. There is no part of my job description that requires me to give a sermon each week. My job description is (unofficially) to rely on God and teach others to do the same.

Just to clarify, I'm obviously not opposed to the hard work of putting together spiritual teaching in a way that is didactic, comprehensive, cohesive, and ultimately helpful to the Body of Christ. Or else I wouldn't be writing this book (which I am, by no means, writing spontaneously). The question is, can a shepherd justify spending even one minute of his time writing a sermon (or doing anything) about something that God is not powerfully stirring within his heart. I don't think so. All effort that is not born of the Spirit and sustained in the Spirit is, by definition, anxious toil and vain labor.

At the end of the day, preaching and teaching effectively doesn't depend on going to seminary and taking an exegesis or hermeneutics class. It doesn't depend on being a naturally charismatic speaker. It doesn't depend on countless hours of preparation, planning, and study. It depends on learning the ways of God to rely on his Spirit, such that you always have exactly what you need. And here, it is safe. Here, one does not speak about something they don't actually know. One does not move beyond where God is moving within them. One does not become a play actor or a hypocrite, speaking on holy things with a seared conscience because they're not living up to the standard. Here, one can only operate in the grace that is being given to them for that day and time. And as one grows faithful in operating this way, the grace they've been given multiplies.

At Odds With the System

So far, I've only provided the one example about preaching, but this principle can be applied to just about everything. One memory that has stuck with me for years is what I experienced my first day on staff at a church.

I was hired, in part, because I was already doing quite a bit of ministry — leading small groups, discipling men individually, preaching occasionally, and things like that. All of these were things I felt the Lord empowering me to do outside the confines of my nine-to-five job. But during my first day on staff at the church, I remember sitting down in my office, opening my laptop, and feeling the new sensation of having to figure out how to fill my day with "ministry." Now, all of a sudden, my way of approaching ministry had to change. No longer could I do it strictly as the Lord was leading, but even if/when he wasn't leading, I still felt the pressure to fill my time with whatever type of activity justified my pay.

It's important to note that my superiors at the time (whom I still deeply love) are Spirit-filled believers who always encouraged me to spend time on the clock in prayer, and they regularly did it with me. It wasn't that there was a lack of effort to be a Spirit-led church. In fact, there was considerable effort put toward that end, and more than most churches, as far as I'm aware. However, in spite of the desire to be that kind of church, I personally found the unspoken pressure to "do" and "prove" and "move" too powerful to keep me (and all of us) from actually waiting on the Lord as long as was needed. I'm sure others may see it differently, and that's okay. But this is sincerely what I believe was the case.

If waiting on the Lord was our constant practice — i.e., to not do anything except pray until God moved us and gave us total agreement about how he was moving — how long would it take before we started seeing results? Could we risk the possibility that it would take much longer than expected? What would people think about how we were spending our time, if we didn't have any immediate and visible results? What would they think if no one on staff had a sermon to give for weeks or months, if the worship leaders didn't have any songs to sing, if the kids didn't have a Sunday school lesson? What would people think if we started killing the ministries that we realized we'd been doing in our own strength? What might be the ramifications of all this? People leaving? Losing tithes? Losing the building? Losing our jobs?

You get the idea. This system most Christians are operating within has them captured in a way that even the leaders have never fully comprehended. Only when you fully embrace the practice of waiting on the Lord can you begin to see how the system inherently works against this practice — for it demands that you move even when God isn't moving you. Those who are highly involved in their church, or very active in ministry — if they begin practicing waiting on the Lord, they will likely feel that they're swimming upstream.

This was, above everything, the main reason that I left the system. My deep sense of urgency to wait on the Lord put me at odds with its expectations and demands. I didn't know how to continue in it without tearing it all down, which I didn't have the heart or the authority to do. But I felt God calling me to go learn a different way and to see if that way was viable. Thankfully, it is.

When I started the house church, the first thing I set out to do was wait on the Lord. This means that for many weeks, I spent most of my days in prayer and intercession. I spent hours and hours each day sitting in the same light-blue sofa chair, seeking God for some type of movement that I couldn't deny was him. This culminated in the most powerful spiritual experience I've ever had (which I'll describe in a later chapter), and it dramatically changed the course of my ministry, equipping me in ways I didn't know that I needed to be equipped.

Since the inception of the house church, I've continued to function this way in all things. I could go on and on with examples of how waiting on the Lord has changed the way that I go about ministry (or, honestly, the way that I go about anything). But the point is that God has proven to me, time and again, that he moves when we wait, and the result is always better than if we move ourselves.

So then, what does this mean for you or your church? Well, as I said in the beginning, I'm not Holy Spirit. I can't tell you when God will move you or in what direction, but I can tell you for certain that God will move if you wait on him. I can't tell you how God will lead you to build the church — it may look different than me — but I can tell you that he will build the church if you wait on him. And the fruit you bear — which will be far greater — won't be because you toiled and labored and spent yourself for him, but to the contrary, because you rested from your works and trusted in him, ceasing to put any trust in the flesh.

Therefore, stop trusting in the ways and the wisdom of men. Regarding everything you do you, start asking, "Is God empowering this?" because if he isn't, then your labor is in vain. If you don't believe that he's empowering something, then quit it, kill it, cut it off, and trust with your whole heart that he will provide you the supernatural means to do something better.

Today, remember his promise that if you learn from him, you'll find rest for your souls (Matthew 11:39), all the while being exceedingly more fruitful than you ever could be otherwise. Let this be your compass, to know whether or not you've learned his way. Hold on to this promise as you hold on to Christ, for it is the life of God that he wants us all to know. It won't be without trial, but each trial is simply to teach us to "rely not on ourselves but on God" (2 Corinthians 1:9), who alone can build his church.

After further thought, I’ve realized that it's not strictly open meetings that I believe are the biblical instruction, which entail a specific type of format that our house churches practice. Rather, it seems to me that open participation is the biblical instruction regardless of the meeting format.

“Open participation,” the way that I mean it, entails:

1. A highly intentional effort to drive organic, Spirit-led engagement by all members, training them to steward their gifts in the gathering.

2. The practice of corporately weighing everything that is said and done in the gathering. (This doesn’t mean that everything actually gets weighed verbally, but that a culture is created where this can happen whenever it needs to happen, again, within the gathering.)

The way I presented my argument in the original post below could lead one to conclude that they have to choose between the biblical instruction for open participation and all their current practices. However, this is not exactly what I believe.

Open meetings and "traditional" church meetings are mutually exclusive — yes. But open participation can theoretically be practiced within a wide range of structures/liturgies. It’s up to each church to lean on the Holy Spirit to decide (1) how much predetermined structure they’d like to implement and (2) how to ensure that the biblical instruction of open participation is still being followed within each weekly gathering. The format can vary from one body to the next, and from one season to the next, as it does in our churches. The thing that cannot vary is the conviction to facilitate Spirit-led engagement from all members and the corporate weighing of prophecy (in the general sense, which includes all activity in the gathering).

There are also some readers who commented on how the historical evidence actually points to a developing liturgy and more formal leadership structure within a very short period of time in the early church (before the start of the second century). It appears that the radically open meetings we read about in 1 Corinthians 14 did not remain the norm for long. This is true.

Regarding early church history, I am working to clean up my arguments a bit there, too, so as not to suggest that open meetings were even what Paul's churches were practicing. We only know that they practiced open participation, though there's no evidence that they used the exact same format of open meetings that my house churches use.

However, my arguments in this post and in the coming book will continue to rest largely on the Bible over and against church history, not blind to it. While I'm trying not to get too much into church history in this book, I realize that I may need a bit more of it to clarify my position for certain readers.

Please continue praying for this venture, and thank you for your ongoing feedback. It’s extremely helpful!

Original Post: Hello Friends!

I’ve been working hard on my next book, Unless God Builds It: A Radical Proposal to Rethink the Church.

Below is the first fully formed chapter, which I invite you to read AND critique. I don’t plan to share all my chapters like this before it’s published, but I’m feeling led to ask for your feedback on this one. Whatever you feel may be helpful, please share in the comments below this post or in a private DM.

I appreciate all of you, and I thank you for your faithfulness to God and his church!

The morning of December 1, 2019, I paced my living room floor for a couple of hours, praying: God, show me what it looks like to build your church. I have no idea what I'm doing, but I believe that you know the way and will teach me.

I had just left the church I was working for as the Adult Discipleship Pastor, where I spent my final two months answering people's questions about this new "house church" thing I was gearing up to do: how I planned to support myself, how the church would grow, how I’d guard against false teaching, and what I’d do with the kids, etc. All these were questions with one straightforward answer: "I don't know, but I'm going to seek the Lord and find out!"

With that chapter of my life now behind me, this was finally Day 1 of seeking the Lord and finding out. As I prayed that morning, God's first move was to interrupt my prayer with a phone call.

On the other end of the line was a man named Jonathan, who had been leading a church in his home for about seven years. Someone had given me his information a few weeks earlier, and I left him a voicemail, which he was just now returning — not coincidentally — on the first day of my new adventure. He invited me over to his house on the spot, and, since I had literally nothing else going on, I went — eager to see what God had planned.

For three hours, we got to know each other — sharing our backgrounds, our hearts for God, our desires for the church, and our theological convictions. I remember thinking to myself (and commenting to my wife afterward), "I've never met anyone like this before." He seemed so Spirit-filled, despite not having attended a "normal" church in years. Go figure!

Part of Jonathan's story involved a couple of trips to India shortly after he was saved, where he learned about the spiritual life and ministry from a man who he felt was the closest thing to an apostle that he'd ever met. They spent some months backpacking together through remote villages and visiting various churches that this man had planted. One thing in particular that Jonathan picked up from him and brought back to the States was the way that he taught the churches to conduct their weekly gatherings. Jonathan had been operating his house church this way ever since, and he shared it with me that day.

I'm paraphrasing what Jonathan told me about their gatherings, but essentially, he said, "We all just sit in a circle, direct our eyes toward Jesus, and let him lead us wherever he wants. Nothing is pre-scripted. There is no official liturgy. There is sometimes a lot of silence. But this isn't a lack of structure or design; it is the intended structure and design, meant to train people to depend on Christ as opposed to the next item on the agenda — giving the Spirit of God full control of the gathering."

As you might imagine, this talk with Jonathan seemed like a divine appointment to me. I had never read a book about house churches. I had never been to a house church myself. And I had never met someone who had been to a house church, either. Again, I had little to no idea what I was doing, besides being committed to rely on God for everything. And here — on my first day of this new adventure, while praying for direction — God sent me someone with experience and practical wisdom that I could immediately apply to my first Sunday gathering. (He also sent me a friend in Jonathan, whom I've been doing this alongside ever since.)

Before this conversation, I hadn't decided how to structure our weekly gatherings, but I felt that they would probably look different than any kind of Sunday church service I had seen. I knew that meeting in homes didn't guarantee any improvement if we just did all the same things you would typically do in a church building. While there may be some benefits to meeting in a smaller setting, the place of meeting or the number of people in attendance was not going to be the one thing that changed everything. My basic conviction was that the "silver bullet" for the church always has been, and always will be, the Holy Spirit — a conviction that I still hold just as strongly today.

So, what Jonathan presented to me that day hit a chord in my spirit — a way of meeting that, above all things, emphasizes letting Jesus be the leader. What I didn't know then was that Jonathan's model wasn't a new invention, but a return to the biblical pattern I was about to discover in the word. This way of gathering — which I'll hereafter refer to as an "open meeting" due to its emphasis on open participation from all members — has become foundational to my understanding of equipping the church and making disciples. Having practiced it every week for almost six years now, I feel more strongly than ever that the church must return to it (yes, return to it), and I'll make my case for this throughout the rest of the chapter.

The Open Meeting

One of the first questions I typically get asked about house church is: "What do your Sunday services look like?" In one way, the answer is very simple. But in another way, the concept is so foreign to most people that it requires a lot of explaining.

Each week, our churches gather in someone's home (though any meeting place is fine). It's typically anywhere from five to twenty-five people, including children, but we know that just two or three people gathered in Jesus' name constitutes a church (Matthew 18:20). We enjoy some initial chatter as we wait for everyone to arrive, and we seat ourselves in a circle around the room.

At the start of the meeting, we all turn the eyes of our hearts to Jesus in prayer, asking and expecting him to lead the gathering. We allow space for silence all throughout our time together — not awkward silence (at least, it doesn't have to be) but intentional. For the most part, we've learned to be comfortable with the silence, though it wasn't easy at first and still isn't always easy for me. But it is important because it leaves room for the Holy Spirit to dictate what happens next.

As each person feels led to share something that God is stirring up in them, we encourage and expect one another to do so. Each of us does our best to share whatever gift from the Holy Spirit is at work in us that day. In the same way, we may perceive that the Spirit is not prompting us to say anything or is telling us to stay quiet, in which case, we do that just as faithfully.

So, for example, here's what a normal gathering in my home might look like.

I call everyone's attention to let them know that we're getting started. I open with prayer, welcoming the Lord the lead us, and only praying as I feel prompted by the Holy Spirit. As I sense that it's time for me to finish praying, I fall silent, leaving space for others to discern if the Spirit is prompting them to share.

Perhaps someone feels a desire to pray more. Believing the Spirit of God stirs these desires within them, they pray out loud so that we can all join them in agreement. A couple more people might pray, and then someone's prayer stirs someone else to start singing. If we know words, we all join in. After the song, there may be another, or we may sit in silence again, waiting on the Lord to move through someone else.

At this point, someone might share a revelation they received that week or a testimony of something God is doing in their life. That inspires more prayers of thanksgiving and worship. Maybe someone has a scripture on their heart, so they share it, and this causes someone else to share a verse that comes to mind.

As each of these things occur, we may start to see a theme arise and perceive what the Lord wants to teach us that morning.

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Often I will feel led to teach, but I am always waiting for the Spirit to give me clarity, and willing to remain silent if I am not confident that my teaching will build up the church that day. The question is not whether what I have to say is true, you see. The question is whether what I have to say is what God has to say that morning. If it isn't what God is saying to our church in that moment, then I want nothing to do with it in that moment. We're not in the business of tickling ears and puffing each other up with knowledge, but of ministering Christ, who is alive. So, what I'm always trying to discern by faith is whether or not Christ is wanting to say anything specifically through me, and it's what others are trying to discern in their giftings, as well. We'll talk more extensively about this discernment process later in the book.

Sometimes I sense that others in the gathering have gone full-on spectator mode and are idly waiting for me to speak, since I'm the "leader," and that's what they've been trained to do. Instead, they should be looking to their true Shepherd, Teacher, and Leader (who is Christ). When I sense this, I will try to avoid teaching with my mouth because I am trying to point them away from relying on me and toward Christ. Any God-appointed shepherd should understand that this is ultimately their role. I tell them, "If it doesn't look like I'm leading, that is my leading. If it doesn't look like I'm teaching, that is my teaching." Again, here, silence is important.

Besides me, others may end up teaching, also. It just depends on what we discern God is doing that day. And usually, teachings turn into open conversations that turn into prayer for one another and so forth.

Last, but certainly not least, we enjoy the Lord's Supper together every week. This is not out of obligation — we do not believe there is a law around this — but out of a genuine desire for it and faith that it benefits our souls. No matter what else occurs, the Lord's Supper ensures the gospel is always proclaimed.

In the church that I lead, this gathering normally lasts about two hours but will often go a little longer. One of the other churches regularly meets for over three hours long. (They're the more charismatic bunch.) The length isn't particularly relevant except that it's not predetermined. If God's still moving, we want to be sensitive enough to realize it and not end the meeting prematurely. But on the flip side, if God has done all he want to do in that setting, it doesn't make us any less holy to end a little earlier than usual.

What I've shared here is only an example of what a gathering could look like because, again, God is in control, and it's different every time. There's no prescribed structure to our gatherings, except that when we don't know what is next, we always turn our eyes to the Lord and wait on him.

In theory, there's no reason that an entire gathering couldn't be filled with one kind of activity. For example, what if God has one person on his mind who he wants to bless that day? So he stirs them to share their struggles at the beginning of the gathering, and we spend the rest of the time ministering to that person — speaking truth into their life, praying over them, etc. Is that a waste of a Sunday because we didn't have a sermon or a lesson of some kind? Or was the "sermon" actually in the various scriptures that were shared, expounded upon, and applied to this person's unique situation? Was the lesson in how the person was so humble to ask for help, or how someone corrected their thinking with such love and gentleness? If God was the one inspiring and empowering our ministry, then wasn't it actually what we all needed and desired more than anything?

You can apply this principle to any of the various activities that could happen in our gatherings, and it holds true: a meeting with only prayer and worship, a meeting with just scripture and discussion, etc. I'm not saying this happens often. I'm only making a point that God, at his sole discretion, gets to decide what we do. And if we believe that this is what God is doing in us, then why would we want anything else?

In this, we are learning that we don't have to force things like teaching, singing, scripture reading, etc. We don't need to create an agenda — in fact, we largely resist it — because if we just learn to be faithful with sharing the grace given to each of us, then all these things will happen naturally, and the church will be built up as God intends. The key, then, is that we all learn to be faithful stewards of the grace given to each of us. The key is that we learn the way of the Spirit. The key is discipleship.

The Origin of Ekklesia

Despite that the term "church" is still widely used for the church building, most of my readers have heard that this is a deviation from its original meaning. The physical building is not what the authors of the Bible, nor anyone for many centuries, were referring to when they used the term that we translate as "church." This term in Greek is ekklesia, and it refers to the people that make up the Body of Christ. Yet still, there's more to the meaning of this word that has been missed by most Christians — yes, even most church leaders.

Ekklesia suffers from a common linguistic phenomenon called the etymological fallacy ("etymology" having to do with the origin of words). Its definition in everyday usage is different than if you separate it into its parts and translate each of them literally based on their original meaning. A good example of this phenomenon in English is the word manufacture. Its root, from the Latin manu factum, literally means "made by hand." In actuality, the word has come to mean the exact opposite, referring to the large-scale production of goods by machinery in a factory. If a factory owner wrote about the latest "manufactured" products, someone reading that text thousands of years from now might be led to believe the owner was celebrating handmade goods, though that wasn't their intention at all.

A similar thing has happened with the term ekklesia. In all the books I read for seminary and pastoral training, I was told something like this: Ekklesia means literally "called out ones." It is derived from ek-kaleo, where ek means "out of" and kaleo means "to call." Therefore, the reason we are called the ekklesia is because we are a people who have been "called out" by God — from darkness into light, from sin into righteousness, from Satan's kingdom into God's kingdom, etc. The problem with this definition is that it entirely fails to convey the functional meaning of the term ekklesia — that is, how it was used, defined, and understood in the first century.

This term originated around the 5th Century B.C. in Athens, and it referred to a specific type of civic assembly, where a summoned body of eligible citizens (every male citizen over eighteen years old) would gather to openly discuss civil matters and democratically make decisions to govern their locality. It could also refer generally to those in the community who were able to participate in these meetings, not just the meetings themselves. These assemblies wouldn't be far from our modern concept of a town hall or neighborhood council meeting. In them, every member of the ekklesia shared the same speaking and voting rights — free to propose something of concern, to persuade others present, to question/challenge ideas being shared, etc. The ekklesia was, by definition, an open meeting and/or the people who had the legal right and responsibility to participate in it.

By the first century in the Greco-Roman world, this term had become a bit more flexible, so I want to be careful not to oversimplify how it was used in the days of the early church. However, it still commonly carried its original Athenian connotation that I outlined above, which emphasized not just any kind of assembly but essentially a civic assembly defined by open participation and democratic governance. This usage can be seen in Acts 19 — the only place in the New Testament where ekklesia does not refer to Christians or their meetings (vv. 32, 39, 41), which is why it isn't translated as "church" but "assembly." We also see this precedent at least a few times in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament), like in 1 Chronicles 13:1-4, 2 Chronicles 30:23, and Judges 20:1-7, where the ekklesia corporately weighs a matter.

None of this should be taken as conclusive evidence that God intended for his ekklesia (us) to have open meetings, and a more in-depth study would reveal that the term carries other (arguably more) significant implications than this. What little I have said here about ekklesia is nowhere near what the topic warrants. It is simply to highlight the remarkable connection between the most common term for the people of God and the format of the meetings which they happened to employ — a format that the church has deviated far from over the past seventeen hundred years. It is interesting, to say the least.

The Biblical Precedent for Open Meetings

Quite honestly, there is not a lot in the Bible that explicitly dictates what should occur in Christian gatherings. But if we carefully examine the scriptures on this topic, an important idea emerges — i.e., open participation — which I argue is not merely a good option but God's design so that Christ might be the functional head of each meeting. I use the word "functional" because we all agree that Christ is the head in truth. But the question is, how can we function so as to make Christ the head in practice. The role of headship belongs to no other person — not pastor, priest, or pope. For only the Head knows what the Body needs and how to coordinate each member for the greatest common good.

To start, let's take a look at two less obvious passages that hint at open participation in the gathering:

"And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ." (Ephesians 5:18-21)

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God." (Colossians 2:6)

While it is possible that Paul wrote these passages with a broader view of the Christian life in mind, there's evidence that he was thinking specifically about when they gathered.

The first sentence — "do not get drunk with wine… but be filled with the Spirit" — is almost certainly in reference to the Lord's Supper, which was a central feature of their gatherings. Getting drunk off the sacramental wine was unfortunately an issue Paul had dealt with before (1 Corinthians 11:21), hence the instruction here.

Also notice the "one another-s." They were to sing to one another. Intuitively, this activity doesn't fit quite as naturally into day-to-day life as it does into the gathering. They were to submit to one another — a possible reference to the practice of weighing/testing what people share in the gathering (1 Corinthians 14:29-32 and 1 Thessalonians 5:-21). And they were to teach and admonish one another. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, Paul viewed teaching as something that happened especially (though not exclusively) in the weekly gathering.

With this in mind, let us recognize the disparity between today's typical Sunday gathering and these New Testament instructions. In most churches, the pastor teaches, the worship leader sings, and the congregation submits.

But Paul says for all to do these to one another.

Next, the most obvious scripture that points us toward the practice of open participation is this:

"What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up." (1 Corinthians 14:26).

I cannot remember what I thought of this verse before I experienced an open meeting for myself, but I'm pretty sure that I never had any clue what Paul was talking about. I had no operating template for which these verses made sense. I'd never been a part of a gathering where each person was allowed, let alone expected, to share something of ministerial value. And any concept of it that I could imagine — with no plan, no outline, no agenda — would have seriously challenged my precious idea of "order." But here, we see that Paul is perfectly comfortable with it. His operating template for church meetings was that each person had something for edifying the others, and there was a way to do this "decently and in order" (1 Corinthians 14:40).

In the same chapter, there are two other verses which highlight the same idea:

"But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you [plural]." (1 Corinthians 14:24-25)

"For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged." (1 Corinthians 14:31)

It's worth noting, briefly, that to prophesy in this context may not be exactly what everyone today has in mind. In this section of scripture, Paul appears to use the term prophesy as a catch-all for any intelligible Spirit-empowered speaking — whether that be encouragement and consolation (v. 3), prayer or song (vv. 14-15, 26), teaching, revelation, interpretation of tongues, etc. (v. 26). He places all of these activities under the banner of "prophesying" and in juxtaposition to tongues, which are unintelligible. The promise that all believers will prophesy (Joel 2:28, Acts 2:17-18, cf. Numbers 11:29) is therefore fulfilled in myriad ways when we function like this.

As for Paul's instruction that women were to remain silent in the churches (1 Corinthians 14:33-35), I'll address that in a later chapter. For now, just note that, a few chapters earlier, he clearly permits women prophesying in the gathering (1 Corinthians 11:5). So we know that this particular instruction to be silent must pertain to something else.

With this in mind, it seems evident in the scriptures above that every member prophesying in the gathering was not only permissible but ideal. In the first verse, it is ideal for the potential conversion of any unbelievers in attendance. From an unbeliever's perspective, which experience do you think would be more convincing and impactful: (a) hearing God speak through one person or (b) hearing God speak through every person in the meeting who claims to believe in him? In the second verse, we see that everyone prophesying is to be desired so that all believers may learn and be encouraged. Which do you think is more likely to build up all of us with our variety of needs and differing levels of maturity: (a) the scriptures, teachings, and songs chosen by the same small team of people every week or (b) the scriptures, teachings, songs, and various other giftings that God is stirring in the hearts of every member present? I assure you, it is the latter, and Paul thought so, as well.

Yet still, some will argue that Paul didn't command open participation; he only said it's what they did. In other words, you might say that this passage is descriptive, not prescriptive, so it's no issue that most churches have strayed from this meeting template.

However, there are a couple of verses that challenge this notion, both of which are framed as a command. Here's one of them:

"Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said." (1 Corinthians 14:29)

Let me ask you to consider: Have you ever witnessed the public weighing of your pastor's sermon during the gathering — people freely sharing their thoughts, questions, concerns, and alternative viewpoints in front of everyone else? Have you ever disagreed with something the worship leader said or some lyrics in the song they chose, then felt the freedom to stand up and offer a correction? Can you even fathom such a thing occurring in your gathering? In most cases, the answer is no — in which case, this biblical instruction is not being followed.

Here's the second one:

"If a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent." (1 Corinthians 14:30)

The idea here is that if, while someone is speaking, God gives someone else a revelation that they feel would be beneficial to share with the church, then the person speaking should be quiet in order for the revelation to be shared. Again, imagine that, while listening to your pastor's sermon, God blows your mind with something you've never seen before, which you think may help others. According to this scripture, it's at that moment the Lord has revealed his intent to quit speaking through your pastor and start speaking through you. Do you and your church follow this practice? If not, what justification can be offered for overlooking this clear biblical instruction?

Admittedly, one could maintain the position that God doesn't command us to practice open meetings on the premise that these orders were given specifically for the context of open meetings, which most churches no longer practice. But then, I would ask again, why are churches no longer practicing open meetings?

At the end of the day, shouldn't we take the practices of the early church a little more seriously than this? Surely, it isn't just happenstance that they functioned this way but something that Paul implemented himself. As a church-planter myself, I know very well that one of the first challenges you face is figuring out what your weekly gatherings will look like. There is a considerable amount of thought given (and rightfully so) to how to make the most of your time together on Sunday. It would be foolish to assume the apostles didn't think through this, also. And it would be just as foolish to assume they came up with it on their own, receiving no instruction from God (in Spirit) or even Christ (in the flesh) on the issue. Paul obviously believed that he did, hence the following pronouncement at the end of this passage:

"Or was it from you that the word of God came? Or are you the only ones it has reached? If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord. If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized." (1 Corinthians 14:38)

Despite this, I still hesitate to say that the Lord commands all churches to practice open meetings. I'll leave that to the Spirit and your conscience, simply reminding you that "whatever does not proceed from faith is sin" (Romans 14:23). I do, however, lean heavily toward the conclusion that open meetings are the wisest model for every church's primary weekly gathering, and that this format was given by God to his apostles for our edification. At the very least — by definition — it is more biblical than today's common practice.

Other Formats — and Why Open Meetings Should Be the Default

What then? Are open meetings the only format Christians are free to use when they meet? No. There may be a host of reasons that we gather in a different format, sometimes with a more "structured" approach — a bible/book study, prayer meetings, large conferences that focus on teaching, etc. Even in the early church, believers gathered in the temple or the synagogue to hear the apostles teach and to pray (Acts 2:46; 3:1; 5:12). Though there was still likely some degree of public discourse and open participation, those meetings definitely had a different emphasis from their primary weekly gatherings in homes, which Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 11-14.

In our network of house churches, we see great value in periodically gathering all the churches together for teaching, prayer, and fellowship. Every six weeks, we meet in one larger building for this purpose (which a non-profit in town allows us to use for free). In these gatherings, there is a predetermined leader who teaches for (typically) a longer period of time, and there is a shared meal afterward. After the teaching, however, we still have an open floor, since it is very important to us that we give space for the Spirit to speak through anyone.

Additionally, we meet in a variety of ways throughout the week. We have men's and women's groups. There are prayer meetings and bible studies. Etc. Some may be more structured or planned than others. There is no rule to this, except that the Spirit would lead and empower all that we do, which is something we make every effort to discern.

As you can see, not everything that's of the Spirit has to be spontaneous. The Spirit uses leaders to facilitate. The Spirit can create an agenda. The Spirit can write a sermon days or weeks before it is given. The Spirit can inspire plans and structure and direction that all serve to build up the body of Christ. So please don't hear what I'm not saying.

The question is not whether the Spirit can do these things but whether he is doing these things. Thus, what I am challenging is the belief that the Spirit is the one who is leading and empowering churches to structure their primary weekly gatherings the way that they do, training their members to sit quietly, spectate, and passively rely on a predetermined structure as opposed to relying on the Holy Spirit to proactively share the grace within them.

Pastors express frustration in their church's consumeristic tendencies, all the while perpetuating a system that forces them to consume every Sunday (often the one time during the week that they are available to participate). Unless a person has some unique role in the gathering, their participation in it is more or less limited to singing what they're told to sing, praying what they're told to pray, responding to the sermon with the occasional "Amen!" (if they're so bold), and putting money in the offering plate. While their participation isn't without value, what little they are allowed to do is often severely limiting to what the Holy Spirit has put inside of them for the sake of others.

Our biggest concern, then, should be that these gatherings may not be fully Spirit-led, for in them, Christ is functionally confined to whatever and whomever is on the agenda that day, despite his clear intent to manifest through each person for the common good (1 Corinthians 12:7). Just as Abram listened to the voice of Sarai when she told him to go into Hagar (Genesis 16:2), so the Holy Spirit will listen to us when we tell him to go into our plans. He will use them the best he is able, but it will never yield the true promise. It will never yield the same supernatural result as him coming into us.

Put simply, the open meeting should be our default gathering format because, more than any other, it makes Christ the functional head. Other formats can have value, but they should remain secondary. Since the primary weekly gathering is usually the one time everyone sees as essential, it makes sense for that time to be an open meeting. This gathering is far too important — and its potential for discipleship far too great—not to structure it in a way that fosters full dependence on the Spirit from every member.

I can't give you a one-size-fits-all plan for how to begin. In many cases, moving toward open meetings may require drastic change, and that change should be approached with prayer, wisdom, and care. For me, the only path I could see was to step outside the institutional model entirely and start a house church. That may or may not be what God leads you to do. The point is to seek the One who has all wisdom and follow his lead.

Ultimately, it isn't very complicated: gather believers in a room, and let the Spirit lead. The only way to learn is by doing, and you'll soon discover both challenges and opportunities you’ve never faced before.

But to do this well — meaning, for it to be a long-term fruitful experience that builds the church — you'll need to learn the ways of the Spirit. This includes things like communal discernment, speaking the truth in love, ministering the gospel, exercising church discipline, mutual submission, appointing leaders, and more — all things we'll cover throughout this book, and apart from which it will not work. That is to say, the ways and the wisdom of the institutional church largely do not apply here.

You may also find, as we have, that smaller, more intimate settings — like a home — allow this format to flourish. The larger the gathering, the harder it becomes for true open participation to work well.

In the end, the goal is simple: to be open to whatever God may do and whomever He may use, so that every member functions as intended and the whole body is built up. This was the pattern of the first Christians in their house churches, and the biblical witness shows that God still desires it today. It’s time we return to this design for Christian gatherings.

It is true that “he is actually not far from each one of us, for ‘In him we live and move and have our being’” (Acts 17:27-28). Yet there is somehow a difference — there must be a difference — between that reality, which applies to everyone on earth, and the reality that applies only to believers, in whom he has chosen to reside.

For a long time, it has been essentially a dogma that God is omnipresent, but perhaps it is more accurate to say simply that he sees all things, watches over all people, is involved in every circumstance, etc., even though he may not be present.

In defense of his omnipresence, some may point to David, who said, “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?” (Psalm 139:7). However, David was a man anointed with the Holy Spirit, which actually supports my position, not theirs. Someone without the Holy Spirit did not have God’s presence with them.

Or they might quote God himself (through Jeremiah): “Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the LORD” (Jeremiah 23:24). But in the same verse, the context reveals the obvious point that God is making, which is that “man [cannot] hide himself in secret places so that [God] cannot see him” (my italics). Once again, God sees all things and isn’t far from anyone, but that doesn’t mean that he is present everywhere at all times.

I can see my children playing in the backyard through my kitchen window. I can even hear their chatter. I am not far from them, but I am also not present with them. I cannot pick them up if they fall down. I cannot help them move the heavy branch that is in their way. I cannot make them laugh. I cannot speak to them gently. I cannot show them how to kick the ball better. I cannot defend them from bullying neighbors. For all of these things, I would need to be present with them in the backyard.

In both the Old and New Testaments, God’s presence on earth is consistently portrayed as something confined to a specified location, such as the Garden of Eden, Mount Sinai, the Tabernacle, the Temple, and (after Pentecost) in every Christian. Hence, Cain was sent “away from the presence of the LORD” (Genesis 4:16, my italics). Hence, God instructed the Israelites to enter the promised land without him and then, through Moses’ intercession, changed his mind and went with them (see Exodus 33:1-17). Hence, “the glory of the LORD went out from [the temple]” in Ezekiel’s vision (Ezekiel 10:18). There are many such examples as this, which make it quite difficult to argue that he is everywhere at all times, unless you water down his presence to something that doesn’t actually mean present.

God’s presence was so powerful, so real, so specific, that when a man touched the Ark of the Covenant, where God was supposedly “seated”, the man died (see 2 Samuel 6:6-7). The Israelites were told that anyone who touched Mount Sinai, while God was on it, must be put to death (see Exodus 19:12). And, of course, the Most Holy Place — the innermost room of the Temple, where the Ark was kept — could be entered only once per year, only by the high priest, and only on very specific terms, lest anyone should die (see Leviticus 16:2).

That presence — that awful, glorious, all-consuming presence, which devours all that is unholy with a love as bright and pure as the sun — is most certainly not everywhere. Indeed, it is no longer anywhere on earth but inside the believer. Thus, we Christians are now the temple of God in a very real sense, which is the most profound change that has ever occurred in the history of the universe.

Think about it for a minute. You cannot grasp the absolute profundity of the gospel if you believe that God is everywhere. In that case, then what difference does it make that he is inside of you and me, as well? However, if he is only inside of you and me, then all of a sudden, we discover our purpose.

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• If you received a free copy from me, please mention that somewhere in your review. (Example: "I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.")

• Be honest and genuine — even a few sentences sharing what you liked or how it impacted you makes a HUGE difference!

• FYI, in my experience, reviews often take about 3 days to show up, but they can even take up to 14 days before they fully pass through Amazon’s audit process.

Your reviews seriously help more people find the book and spread this message of freedom and identity in Christ.

As a final note, remember that the book will always be available for free in the ‘No Longer I’ section of my Substack (jacobhotchkiss.substack.com).

Thank you for supporting this launch in whatever way you feel led. God bless you!

In Christ,

Jake

The title and the thrust of the book come from a scripture that God has used to shape my life and ministry — Psalm 127:1-2.

Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.

To the tune of this scripture, I believe there is much activity in the church that is, more or less, in vain — not only unfruitful but sometimes even counterproductive to the ends that we’re trying to achieve. In my book, I hope to expose where this may be the case, as well as to offer some very practical suggestions as to how the church can begin to rely on the Lord in all that we do. At the end of the day, I want to see a church that only God can build, not one that man is capable of building without God.

As many of you know, over 5 years ago, I left my vocational ministry as a pastor at a fairly large church to start a church in my home. It’s worth saying, as always, that I have nothing but love and respect for my former church, and that God used my time there as a congregant and a staff member to shape me in many ways. That being said, when I was there, my conviction began to grow that I was called to lead in a different way — to discover a way of operating as the Body of Christ that could serve as an example for others to follow and emulate.

Since starting the church in my home in 2019, my life and ministry have changed in so many ways for the better — more fruitful, more restful, more life-giving, more meaningful fellowship, more clarity and understanding, etc. It would be hard to overstate the impact that this decision has had on my life, and I am eager to share much of what the Lord has taught us during this time.

To be clear, the goal of the book isn’t to convince people to start a house church (although I won’t be shy about explaining the very practical reasons that I have chosen this way of doing things). The goal is, as the subtitle suggests, to invite Christians to radically rethink how we are to function as the Body of Christ, and then to equip them to exercise whatever convictions that may come out of it.

I am sharing all this with you to ask for your prayers as I begin working on the manuscript. I have great hope that God will use this book, just like No Longer I, to mightily bless the church, but it does not matter how “well” I write if God doesn’t give me the words to say, open the ears of the readers, and disseminate it himself. So, PLEASE PRAY WITH ME!

Lastly, as I complete sections of the book, I am toying with the idea of posting some of its excerpts here (in blog form) as a way of keeping you guys up to date on what I’m writing and thinking about. It’s also a great way, if you like what I’m writing, to share the content with others and help me get this important stuff into the hands of more people!

My ideal timeline for the book is to have the first draft complete by November 30 and to publish in March 2026. Now it’s in writing, so you can hold me to it!

Peace and blessings!

Jake