The Gospel Coalition

  “In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you..” 1 Cor. 11:17-18

 (Jesus) is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. Col. 1:18  

     Dear Lord Jesus, forgive us. Forgive us for how poorly we love as your people. Forgive us for contradicting grace and sabotaging kindness. There couldn’t be a more painful and humbling indictment from heaven, than to hear you say to us, “your meetings do more harm than good.” Forgive us for our niggling pettiness and gossipy petulance. Forgive us for turning wine back into water, or worse, into vinegar.

Forgive us for being preoccupied with the fly-weight issues of our agendas than the weightier matters of your law—justice, mercy and faithfulness (Matt. 23:23). Forgive us for being better at guarding the status quo, than preserving the unity of the Spirit (Eph. 4:3). Forgive us for being more paranoid about the budget than preoccupied with your beauty. Forgive us when our planning meetings outnumber our praying gatherings ten to one. Forgive us when we have more heated conversations than fresh conversions.

Forgive us that we ever joined these two words together, “my” and “church”. The church is your Bride to love, not our clay to mold. We can make an idol of anything, including your church.

Forgive us for giving non-believers way too many excuses not to take you and the gospel seriously. Forgive us for fulfilling more stereotypes than hearts. Forgive us for making your church more like an ingrown club than a welcoming community; more like a walled city of protection, rather than a magnetic city of mercy; more like a museum for old memories than an incubator for new stories.

Forgive us for being better at manipulation than ministry; more known for self-righteousness than gospel-heartedness; for being more concerned with being a church of “first buzz” rather than being alive with “first love.” Forgive us for being more sad when we think about people transferring to other churches, than when we think about people going into a Christ-less eternity.

Lord Jesus, it’s a good thing that one Day you WILL have the supremacy in all things (Col. 1:18), including in your church. You are not only the head, but the heart of your Bride. Send your Spirit and do a great grace-work, in this day. Humble us. Break us. Melt us. Mold us. Fill us. Use us. The time has come for us to have done with lesser things and smaller dreams. Forgive us… forgive me. So very Amen we pray, in your holy and loving name.

     Sometime later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the believers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.” Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the believers to the grace of the Lord. Acts 15:36-40

Most loving Lord Jesus, I start this day grateful that there are many examples of broken relationships and Christians loving poorly included in the Scriptures. I’m not glad life in the Body of Christ gets quite messy and painful. But I am thankful these stories weren’t edited out, for they give us perspective and hope. The Bible is brutally honest about our weaknesses and failures, as your followers. We need you all the time, all the time.

In particular, I’m thankful today for this story of two good friends, Paul and Barnabas, having “such a sharp disagreement that they parted company.” Lord, I’ve been in that situation, and right now I’m watching “sharp disagreements” divide good friends, old marriages and a few churches. Being “diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:1-6) doesn’t seem to be as high of a priority as being determined to win. Have mercy, Jesus, have mercy and reveal your might. May the gospel trump divisiveness and pettiness.

Jesus, the good news is you’ve come to destroy hostilities; to tear down walls of division; to make peace and be our peace. You reconcile enemies to God and to one another, so I am confident you are faithfully at work in these tense and complicated situations. But my confidence doesn’t mask my weariness. How long, O Lord? How long before the Day when we no longer misrepresent you to our watching world? How long before the Day of no more bitterness or brokenness?

It took time plus grace for Paul and Barnabas to get back together. I don’t know what “time plus grace” will look like in each of these painful stories. To the extent you would have me get involved, help me listen from the heart and offer a non-anxious presence. Help me pray in the Spirit, reason from the Scriptures, and love by the gospel. Help me to wait upon you, Lord, and not just weigh my options.

Enable me to engage with different sides without taking sides—to stay present in the chaos without giving in to the pulls. Keep my heart from becoming more cynical and my words from only sounding critical. Show up Jesus, show up big, show up soon. No one is better at sticky-situation loving than you, so I abandon myself to you with my fears, my confusion, my anger and my very real hope of your showing up. So very Amen I pray, in your powerful and reconciling name.

Fools show their annoyance at once, but the prudent overlook an insult. Prov. 12:16

A person’s wisdom yields patience; it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense. Prov. 19:11

Dear Lord Jesus, these Scriptures confront my lousy attitude and convict me today. Far from overlooking offenses, I’m having a hard time not rehearsing them. It’s like I just had laser surgery and I can see other people’s stuff with 20-10 precision. I’m annoyed, irritated and wound up tight. I have been for several weeks. Please gentle and soften my edgy and crusty heart, by your grace and for your glory.

I can offer explanations, but I won’t make excuses. I just come to you as the knotted mess that I am, grateful that you, Jesus, are the consummate “over-looker.” It’s not that you don’t take my annoying ways seriously, because you do; but you never deal with me according to my sins or reward me according to my iniquity. You are filled with mercy, compassion and patience. You convict me without condemning me. You humble me without humiliating me. You don’t just tell me what to do, you give me yourself. What would I do without you Jesus?

This side of glorification, I don’t really expect to be annoyance, irritation and touchiness-free. But certainly the gospel is big enough to help me show my annoyance less quickly, less often, and less harmfully; and certainly the gospel is powerful enough to help me repent quicker when I do act foolishly—taking irritants and offenses way too seriously.

I repent of keeping a record of annoying things done around me or to me. I repent of repeating these things to others. I repent of not repenting.

Lord Jesus, please help me be far more aware of when I’m the irritant in someone’s day, week or month. Convict me when my sense of humor reveals a lack of kindness; when my poor manners show a lack of love; when my words and body language tear down more than they build up. Help me give other people fewer reasons to pray this very prayer I offer today. So very Amen I pray, in your powerful and holy name.

Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation. Selah Psalm 68:19

Lord Jesus, there’s no Savior as compassionate, kind-hearted, engaged and “daily” as you. How will we ever be able to give you the thanks and praise of which you are so worthy? As this day begins I feel like I’m carrying seventeen backpacks of weariness and worries. My shoulders are not broad enough; my heart is not big enough; my wisdom is not deep enough. O merciful and mighty Jesus, as I fall down before you, I upload these needs to you.

Jesus, it’s only because you bore the burden of the law’s demands and judgment for me; it’s only because you say to me, “Cast all your care upon me, for I care for you” (1 Pet. 5:7); it’s only because you call to me, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28) that I will neither deny my needs nor ignore the burdens of others. Only you know why there’s such an avalanche of broken stories converging on my doorstep at this time. Where else can I go but to you?

Help me not be afraid of the emotional messiness that certain burdens bring. Help me know how to rely on your presence more than I rely on my words. I want to be aware of my limits, for sure, but I want to be even more aware of your limitless mercy, grace, power, and peace.

For the faithful friend facing an unexpected triple by-pass heart surgery today; for more stories of divorce papers being served and family ties being severed; for the couple whose two-year wait to welcome their adoptive child just ended childlessly, again; for Christian friends who are acting like children vying for the last cookie; for the young woman whose eating disorder continues to consume her mind and body; for missionaries running out of money and mercy; for two churches I love in which gossip is presently more powerful than the gospel; for those who keep this reoccurring theme always before me, “This is too much, I cannot and will not go on”…

Jesus, I bring all of these stories and friends to your throne of grace, and I will seek to fulfill “the law of Christ”—the law of love, the way of the gospel—as you give me strength, wisdom, and grace. Come back soon, please Lord, make all things right and all things new. Please Lord, come back soon. So very Amen I pray, in your persistent and sufficient name I pray.

     For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. Rom. 8:5-9

Heavenly Father, this portion of your Word lands on my heart today like refreshing dew from heaven, like living water in a dry desert, like a fountain of grace for manifold weakness. It’s a gift to know our need. It’s a greater gift to realize everything you do for us through the ministries of the Holy Spirit.

Just as assuredly as Jesus stood outside of Lazarus’s tomb and said, “Come forth,” so you sent the Holy Spirit to preach the gospel to my heart and I came out of the tomb of my sin and death, raised to newness of life in Jesus. How I praise you for your sovereign goodness and power. Unless you had breathed new life into my dead spirit, I would’ve never, could’ve never believed the gospel.

Indeed, you baptized me with the Holy Spirit, making me a member of your family and Christ’s bride. You sealed me for eternity by the Spirit, marking me as your very own possession. Your Spirit is the firstfruits and guarantee of the full inheritance of the salvation that Jesus earned for us.

Now the Spirit lives as a permanent resident in my heart—to constantly preach the gospel to my heart, convict me of my sin, make me like Jesus, and tell me over and over again that I’m your beloved child. What a generous and loving God you are, Abba, Father!

Though it doesn’t always seem this way to me, according to your Word, I’m controlled by the Holy Spirit, for the dominion of sin in my life has been broken. And you’ve given me every Spirit gift I need to live as a functioning member of the Body of Christ, and a caring servant in your kingdom. Forgive me for whining about what I don’t have. You’ve enriched me beyond my wildest dreams through the work of the Spirit.

Blessed Father, make my theology my doxology—my confession my possession.  I don’t just want to “right” about the Holy Spirit; I want to be filled with the Spirit, keep in step with the Spirit, know the joy of the Spirit, bear the fruit of the Spirit, experience more of the power of the Spirit!  Right now, by faith, I set my mind on what the Spirit desires. Bring much glory to yourself and freedom to my soul. So very Amen I pray, in Jesus’ beautiful and bountiful name.

     Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Mark 2:3-5

Dear Lord Jesus, today I woke up thinking about various people and friends who live with broken health and chronic illnesses—those with mental and emotional issues in particular. Because you are such a wonderful, merciful Savior, I come boldly to your throne of grace. Like the friends who brought their paralyzed friend to you on a pallet, I come bringing you both the sufferers and the caregivers, confident of your great compassion.

Jesus, I cry out to you for those whose memories are fading and ability to reason is being skewed; for those whose emotions are being held hostage by different thieves. I pray for those who suffer with various degrees of melancholia and depression; for friends trying to figure out how hard providences and your promises fit together; for friends sidetracked and stuck in the journey of grieving losses and betrayals in a healthy way.

I pray for those whose days are marked by angry despair or the sadness of hopelessness; for those whose war with self-contempt makes death look like a good choice. Have mercy on them, Lord, have mercy. You know the names, stories and the details. Jesus, it’s this kind of suffering that makes me wish for miracles on demand.

Help those of us who walk with the broken, and grant physicians and caregivers wisdom. I wish it was a lot easier to discern what’s physiological, psychological, demonic, or just the absence of the gospel. Give us what we need to love and to serve these broken ones well. May we love to your glory.

When we’re fearful and confused, when we are fed up and used up, give us all the wisdom, compassion, and faith to love well. Help us trust you for supernatural intervention and grace for supernatural long-term caring. Write the stories that will maximize your glory.

How we long for the Day when every effect of sin, expression of brokenness and result of the fall will be eradicated forever. Jesus, please hasten the Day of spiritual, physical, mental, and emotional wholeness. Your death has secured our life—eternal life. So very Amen we pray with gratitude, in your holy and healing name.

     We speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts. You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed—God is our witness. We were not looking for praise from people, not from you or anyone else. 1 Thess. 2:4-6

Heavenly Father, it’s not just apostles who need freedom from living for the approval of people; it’s all of us—it’s me. There no part of our lives more impacted by the destructive and disintegrating presence of sin than our relationships. We can’t serve people well if our need for affirmation or fear of rejection is greater than our love for you. I need your help in this matter all the time, including today. My anticipation is strong because your faithfulness is great.

As I look at my relational brokenness and sin, I can see how “people pleasing” plays out in two directions. On one hand, there are people to whom I attach my umbilical cord (metaphorically speaking) and look to them for life. Their praise is like an elixir of joy, sometimes more so than the gospel; and their disappointment or rejection can taste like a potion of self-contempt, causing me to withdraw, retaliate or medicate. Nobody deserves that much power over our hearts.

On the other hand, there are people whose umbilical cords I grab and plug into me, assuming the role of life giver. I take too much responsibility for them—spiritually, emotionally and otherwise. But you haven’t called us to be the 4^th member of the Trinity in anybody’s life. I grieve both of these patterns, Father.

Because the gospel is true, I can freely confess these things. Because the gospel is powerful, I have hope for change. Because the gospel is entrusted to me, I take this matter very seriously.

Lord Jesus, I don’t want to live as an “approval suck.” I want to love others as you love me—and as you love them. Teach me how to encourage without flattering others. Show me how to give feedback lovingly and receive it non-defensively. It’s because of your life of perfect obedience that I can be free from living as a poser, pretender, and performer. It’s because of your death for us on the cross that I can live with the absolute assurance of God’s everlasting approval and his constant kindness.

Holy Spirit, keep “gossiping the gospel” to my heart. Keep bearing witness with my spirit that I’m a beloved child of Abba, Father. Keep giving me the power to repent of all forms of living for the approval of people, a life-sucking snare indeed. So very Amen I pray, in Jesus’ life-giving and liberating name.

     I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. 1 Cor. 9:23-27

Dear Jesus, how I praise you for showing me the difference between doing all things for the sake of the gospel, and doing all things just to ease my guilt and fuel my pride. The difference is enormous.

For too long I believed that by my doing I could intensify your loving; that by my obedience I could earn more of your blessings; that by my good works I could deserve less hard things in life. The recovering performer and residual legalist in me still defaults to that foolish way of thinking, so I praise you for the ongoing teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit. I praise you for showing me more about living in line with the truth of the gospel (Gal. 2:14). I praise you for all the freedoms you have won for us, including the freedom to obey you from our hearts.

Thank you for setting us free from a wage-earning view of salvation and obedience. We run for a crown; we don’t work for a paycheck, and, ultimately, every crown will be laid at your feet, Jesus, for you have earned our salvation for us; you deserve every crown. It’s what you have already done for us that enables us to serve you as a beloved Bride, not a fearful slave. Though our obedience demonstrates our love for you (John 14:15), it merits absolutely nothing—zilch, nada, zero.

Thank you for setting us free from beating ourselves up out of shame, or bloating ourselves up out of pride. We now train ourselves for godliness, not acceptance. As we bring our appetites and bodies in submission to the gospel (1Tim. 4:7-8), you free us for fruitful discipleship. Forgive us when we are more disciplined out of vanity than out of a commitment to grow as your disciples.

Thank you for setting us free running aimlessly and beating the air. We now live in a story of redemption and restoration. All of history is bound up with your commitment to redeem your people from the nations and to make all things new. We praise you for rescuing us from little narratives of self-fulfillment for a life of kingdom advancement. We praise you for the promise of enough grace for the whole race.

Jesus, you won the ultimate prize for us by your life of perfect obedience—even obedience to death upon the cross (Phil. 2:1-11). Only this gospel—this good news qualifies us to “share in the inheritance of the saints in light” (Col. 1:12). We do not fear losing our salvation, but do let us grieve the ways we misrepresent you and “fritter away” this one short life you’ve given us. Show us how to do all things for the sake of the gospel, by the grace and truth of the gospel, for the ultimate goal of the gospel—your glory. So very Amen we pray, in your holy and loving name.

     Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Gal. 6:1-2

Heavenly Father, we come to your throne of grace today grateful for our salvation, yet groaning for friends in various struggles and entanglements. Grant us grace and wisdom to serve them well. None of us naturally enjoys confrontation, and we all decry self-righteous fixers who show up in our lives. But these words of Paul paint a different picture and present a different spirit for loving in messy stories.

Give us fire and kindness. If a friend loves in all seasons, that certainly must involve the seasons when we get entangled in sin. Sin brings death. We tend to forget this—death. If we saw a friend drinking poison, we wouldn’t hesitate to do something. If we saw a friend stepping close to a pit of rattlesnakes, we’d warn them. Help us hate sin enough and love our friends enough to risk getting involved. Better to risk our awkwardness and their defensiveness than to watch another life or marriage simply go down.

Give us discernment and persistence. It’s not about a rush to judgment but about a journey to restoration. Help us listen well before launching prematurely. Restoration, not rebuke, must be our primary goal. Some entanglements take a long time to get disentangled; some chains have bigger links than others; some delusions are more powerful than others. Father, we need the power of the Holy Spirit and the love of Jesus.

Give us humility and hope. The best speck removers are those who are aware of the log in their own eyes. None of us is beyond the need of grace, and none of us is beyond the reach of grace. Keep us gentle and keep us expectant. Jesus is the great Restorer, not us. This is the law of Christ we are fulfilling; his yoke we are bearing; his story that’s being written. Fill us with hope. Fill us with the hope of the gospel.

Father, as those in various local churches, help us be more welcoming of sinners; pursuant of “runners”; faithful in discipline; expectant of repentance and celebrant in restoration. Make the gospel unavoidable in our communities. Make Jesus famous in our midst. So very Amen we pray, in his holy and loving name.

     You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? Rom. 2:1-4

Heavenly Father, much more than greater discipline and much more than increased knowledge, I need your Spirit’s work in my heart. This is just one more Scripture reminding me of how much I need the gospel. The call to love others as Jesus loves me keeps driving me to you for more grace and for the power of the gospel. I readily acknowledge that I cannot change myself.

Meditating on this passage has convicted me about being way too selective in my love for broken people. I’m a selective lover. I’m not an equal opportunity dispenser of your compassion. It’s not difficult for me to shower the riches of your kindness, tolerance, and patience on people whose sins and struggles are like mine. But I’m self-righteous and judgmental toward people who deal with brokenness and temptations different than mine. Though understandable, it’s not excusable. Have mercy on me, for the extending of your mercy through me. No one has appointed me to be judge and jury. I’m not the boss or king of anybody. Forgive me when I take up a scorecard of criticism rather than a towel of servanthood.

Thank you for being such a kind and patient God. May your non-stop kindness lead me repent of my sin more quickly and more deeply. When I leak passive-aggressive anger, it’s no more pleasing to you than those who are more direct and loud in expressing their frustrations and disappointments. My self-righteous arrogance is just as offensive to you as the cynicism of the most secular journalist. My work-a-holism and busyness are just as much of a drug as the alcohol and pornography of others. My heterosexual lust is just as broken as who struggle with homosexual temptations and entanglements. Father, these are just a few things that come to mind. I know there’s more.

Lord Jesus, you willingly took the judgment I deserve on the cross—the fullness of God’s righteous wrath. And now you love me with the fullness of compassion, acceptance, and delight. The greatest non sequitur in life is when I show contempt for the riches of God’s kindness, tolerance, and patience. I am a mere human, greatly beloved, but merely a man utterly dependent upon your mercy and grace. Deepen my repentance and deepen my compassion for fellow broken sinners. So very Amen I pray, in your righteous and loving name.