Trinity Evangel Church

There is a part of me that wants to take three or four sermons to get through this text. The Golden Rule in verse 31 is worth a couple by itself. Who knows when we'll be back to look directly at these imperatives? Who knows how many disciples of Jesus today understand what following Jesus requires?

This section of Jesus' sermon requires love. Love is the key word. Love is commanded, and love is illustrated by other behaviors that show what love looks like in real time. The Golden Rule itself is a rule of love. Love, as Jesus teaches, is something the Woe-to-yous won't do.

But the Woe-to-yous are here.

Love shapes the outline to the heart of the sermon. The blessed show love to haters (verses 27-31) and the blessed love unlike the haters (verses 32-36).

But one more comment that is from Jesus at the start of verse 27: But I say to you who hear. This is both an insight and an invite. Not everyone wants to hear this, not everyone can. It was true for the audience that day with Jesus Himself, and don't think it's any less true in these days, even among those who say that they know Jesus. But this is how His disciples love.

Everything in this paragraph connects to love. Only verse 27 has the word love, but the next paragraph assumes that love is still the point. The point is: love your haters.

Love your enemies. Most of the original listeners knew the law that required them to love their neighbors (Leviticus 19:18). That was the kind of difficult that might make you committed to forget it. Loving an enemy? That was impossible to agree with.

A couple of questions that get answered by the next few verses. What is love? And who are your enemies?

Here's a working definition: love is active affection; a care that seeks good for another. Love isn't just a feeling in your heart (“be warmed and filled”), it shows itself. And also, love isn't heartless, as if going through the motions can be called love (“take your stupid cup of cold water”). We've heard preachers say that agape is Christian love, and that's convenient, and wrong; sinners agape one another in verse 32. That said, agape love is not convenient, and often must be shown to those who treat us wrong.

Enemies are haters; the word enemies could be translated as “the hateful,” and the ones hating is a different word with the same strong aversion. Haters hate on a spectrum of intensity and in a variety of ways. Before we see some of that, get the category established. If you would obey Jesus, you must be able to identify and name your enemies. How will you love them if you don't see them?

Jesus gives three follow-up commands as in a string, and then four concrete examples. It explains love and enemies.

Do good to those who hate you, so love is doing good and the enemies are the haters. Bless those who curse you, so love includes desiring favor on enemies who desire the opposite of favor for you, who want your harm. Pray for those who abuse you, who do you harm. Prayer is a private response before God not men, which is a way to do good and bless them. A bad attitude will make it impossible to obey this word.

Verses 29-30 are illustrations, different ways to show love to haters.

These are love languages that very few speak. They are so impractical and unjust that there must be a wink or a footnote or a key to interpret them so that they aren't so ridiculous.

We can say that these are not executive or judicial or military policies. They are not replacements for justice, they assume the willing acceptance of injustice, at least at times. Kings and judges and soldiers and police officers should uphold the law. A homeowner can forgive the neighbor kid who broke his window and pay for the glass himself. That doesn’t mean the city should stop prosecuting vandals. So we are not redefining what is right, Jesus is saying that there is more than one way to do right.

It also goes to show how powerful this life of love is, because we live downstream of some 2000 years of disciples who have taught and tried to embody this love, so that now our pagan neighbors know how to exhort us to live up to our own Master's commands.

And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them (verse 31). Or the LSB: "treat others the same way you want them to treat you."

We know it as the “Golden Rule.” The English phrase began circulating in 1604 in Britain, first used in print by Charles Gibbon in a tract about fair taxation.

What Jesus said wasn't entirely new, but it was emphatic. It sits here in the context of difficult love, and love that does better than just not retaliating.

We can't love our enemies if we can't identify them. Who hates, curses, or slanders you right now? What is one good thing you can do for them this week? Have you prayed by name for the person who wronged you, for their good and not just for your vindication (verse 28)?

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil by love ("with good," Romans 12:21).

If you would aim for Big Whoop Love (BWL), then build on Base Line Love (BLL). Husbands, love your wives. Fathers, love your children. Church, love one another. Christians, love your neighbors. Exercise love. Keep increasing the weight of your love lifts. May your love astound more and more.

[M]ay the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. (1 Thessalonians 3:12–13 ESV)

This is the most well-known sermon of all time. It's a sermon from Jesus.

Jesus preached this sermon so that we could be like those whose house is built on rock no matter what happens (Luke 6:48). He preached so that we would not get caught building on sand to our everlasting ruin (Luke 6:49), ruin for ourselves, ruin all around us. He preached so that we could be blessed not wretched.

Luke 6:17-19 sets up the sermon context. Jesus spent an entire night in prayer on a mountain, the next morning He came down the mountain from prayer and chose 12 men among the larger group of disciples to be His apostles, and now, apparently later in that same day, a crowd has gathered to hear him and to be healed of their diseases (verse 18). People had come from all around, not just from Jerusalem and Judea but from Tyre and Sidon, pagan places. This means that the audience likely included Jews and some Gentiles, as well as the healthy and the sick and spiritually attacked.

That perhaps explains some of why Luke's sermon notes are different than Matthew's sermon notes and what they both highlight. It also explains a little bit about why Luke's audience, even for his book, was a Gentile. So this sermon, as Luke gives it, is on behalf of even people like us, people who come from pagan backgrounds, not just those who were from among Israel.

Luke calls it a level place (verse 17), and that sounds different than what we have called this sermon our entire lives, which is the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew said "he went up on the mountain" (Matthew 5:1). It's just as likely that Matthew and Luke are describing the same place from different angles; it’s the same sermon. Luke sees it as Jesus speaking to people on a plain. Matthew sees it as Jesus going up on the mountain to stand in a higher spot for the sake of being seen by the people.

But Matthew's sermon notes make for three chapters (Matthew 5-7). Luke only has it from verse 20 to the end of this chapter. Matthew's version also brings out a lot more connection to the Mosaic law; the rest of Matthew 5, after the beatitudes and the salt and the light, is a focus on the comparison between "you have read in the law, but I say to you." Luke's notes also start with beatitudes, but add woes, and have nothing directly to say about the law. There's also a lot that's similar, including starting with beatitudes and ending with building on the rock or on the sand.

Jesus was regularly teaching, and He could have used similar but different points to different groups, just like a politician would give the same basic speech to a bunch of different groups. I actually think even for the differences, it's more likely that Luke just pulls out some of the sermon notes that he thinks would be most beneficial to give certainty for those who have been taught the things about Jesus (Luke 1:4). There's nothing that contradicts between Matthew's sermon notes and Luke's sermon notes. Either way, Luke says that people wanted to hear Jesus' teaching.

The sermon has three parts, like any good preacher would have: verses 20-26 is a pronouncement on two types of persons, the blessed and those who are getting woes; verses 27-36 are instructions for how Christ’s disciples love even their enemies, and that will distinguish them, they'll be known as Christ's disciples by how they love; and verses 37-49 are analogies for how Christ’s disciples live together in community.

Here’s the point for today: on account of the Son of Man, the needy are blessed and reviled like the prophets, and the comfortable are warned like the false prophets. The blessed get the last laugh.

The sermon is mostly for His disciples: he lifted up his eyes on his disciples (verse 20). This is not just the disciples that He called to be apostles, because He chose them out of a larger group of disciples, though clearly the twelve would have been there. The message is about following Him, for those who want to hear what He has to say, but also perspective that His apostles would need when doing their own ministry. As we will see by the end of the sermon, the ones who have their house built on rock are those who don't just hear, but also do.

Jesus begins with the blessed, or if you're super spiritual, the bless-eds. Matthew has eight blesseds (or nine, depending on how you count), Luke has four, and their order is different. Luke also has four woes to correspond with each blessed, and Matthew doesn't mention the woes. Matthew also narrows the blesseds; reading Luke may sound more economic/social only, though the context gets us over the same target; it's more than just economic surface level considerations about what's in their bank account. Luke also goes for the throat using the second person (compared to third person in Matthew).

The first three of the four blesseds are a progression. If you're poor, what is probably the next biggest problem? You're hungry. And if you're poor and hungry, you might be sad about it. But the fourth one is completely different, because then you're getting reviled, criticized by other people because you're living in the name of the Son of Man. The first three each get their own sentence, they each get their own blessed, so the separate emphasis is in Jesus' preaching.

Last thing before looking at each one. We call these the beatitudes, and maybe even your Bible has the heading over top of it, because the Latin word for blessed/happy is beatus, and -tudo is a suffix that turns an adjective into an abstract noun (if alt-i-tūdō is high > height and fort-i-tūdō is strong > strength then beātitūdō is happy > happiness; (Cicero coined and used beātitūdō as early as 45 BC.) He was using it to describe what the gods had, the favored gods.

The Greek word is makarios, and it's not just a Bible word. Pagans used it about men that were favored by the gods, given good things, well-off. The opposite is a combination of lamentable and miserable and pitiable. This is an identity of those who have a favored-from-God sort of happiness that they know, even though other people wouldn't say that they do, just looking at their life situation.

The poor are the Have-nots. The difference between the haves and the have-nots works for us especially in our modern Marxist sort of worldview that a lot of people have. A lot of the world divides people into just these two categories: rich or poor. Lazarus was poor (Luke 16:20-22); he had nothing, he was a beggar outside the gate. So was the widow with only two mites (Luke 21:2-3). Jesus came to preach good news to the poor (Luke 4:18).

Matthew famously has "poor in spirit," and that immediately makes you think spiritual rather than any kind of physical or temporal issue, but Jesus is addressing the ones who know they are needy, who know that they don't have what is necessary. It’s not just limited resources, it’s that they are vulnerable and helpless and they get it. They know that they're not exactly sure where the next meal is coming from. They know that the bills are a little bit too much. They know that they are in trouble and that they can't do it all on their own. They’re beggars.

But they are blessed, at least because yours is the kingdom of God. They're blessed now. Their current status is blessed because of their coming inheritance, not just that they will be blessed when they get the kingdom of God.

Related, the hungry are the ones without food. Poor people don’t eat like rich people, not in this economy, and not in the first century either.

Matthew has "hunger and thirst for righteousness," and Luke leaves that qualifier out, but Jesus is addressing the ones who know want. They are blessed, a current status, at least because you shall be satisfied. They are looking to the One outside of themselves who will give them food and provide for them at the right time.

Those who weep are grieving because of their lack. Jesus said when you're fasting, not eating on purpose, you're supposed to look happy. But most of the time they don't make commercials for giving money to people who are homeless and need food who are already looking super joyful. When you are desperate, needing to beg just for basic needs, there is a heaviness, a burden, a grieving and weeping that comes along because of that lack.

They are blessed because they will have the last laugh. When you're at a loss looking at the stack of bills on the kitchen table, or standing at the graveside of a lost loved one, if you're not depending on yourself, you're not forgotten. Those who are weeping now, they will laugh.

This fourth group is sort of the umbrella over all four; the poor, the hungry, and the sad are all related to this fourth category. The first three blesseds are all pretty short, but this one gets two whole verses. The ESV even has an exclamation point after verse 22.

This fourth blessed has four bad parts: 1) hated, 2) excluded, 3) reviled/insulted, and 4) slandered as evil. Whether they lost personal friends, business partnerships, or general reputation, it went from bad to worse on account of the Son of Man. And in that status, they are blessed.

Verse 23 has the first command, at least as Luke records it: Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets. Woohoo not boohoo. They are required to celebrate, to rejoice that they've got a bad reputation for Jesus' sake.

The apostles had to clarify this, because there's more than one way to get a bad reputation. One way is to earn it: to actually be a jerk, to be your own problem, to make wrong choices, to be unrighteous, to be a well-known public sinner. That kind of bad reputation, multiple times throughout the New Testament, we're told is worthless and obviously wrong for a Christian. But as Christians we are told to expect that other people won't like that we're blessed, and then even rejoice that other people are mad about it.

This is used against Christians today, where we're told if anybody has any kind of bad thought about us, we're probably the ones doing it wrong. If it's just fleshly obnoxiousness, that is not good. But if it is because we've got to do what we've got to do because of the name of the Son of Man, we don't really care what you take away or what you say about us, because we're going to trust Jesus to take care of our name and to give us the kingdom and to bless us in a more full sense when it's time.

Jump for joy! When was the last time you did that? When you come home from the office where a coworker was slandering you because you were standing up for something that was right, maybe, Dad, you should take a little hop before you sit down, and then tell the story to your table in a way that is not martyr-y. Go ahead and celebrate it in Jesus' name if it's genuinely for the sake of the Son of Man. Jesus commands it.

The rejoicing is now, not later. Rejoicing now because of reward later, yes, but it's not reward first and then rejoicing. Misthology (from the Greek word misthos = rewards). We believe that God exists and that He rewards those who seek Him, and He rewards those who stand up in the name of the Son of Man, no matter how much other people speak poorly about them.

This is like an umbrella that covers the group. The poor, the hungry, and the sad are the same persons. Verse 22 likely explains the first three: their loss is on account of the Son of Man. Even if we are not poor, hungry, and sad the same way, we can actually be slandered and scorned for the son of man the same way.

The blessed are not called prophets, but they are likened to prophets. The prophets of old, giving a true message, got treated by being reviled and hated and slandered against. Their blessed status is a prophetic witness against the ones who only have the world, only what is visible. There are blessings now with more to come.

The four woes correspond to the four blesseds. You could put them in pairs: the poor and the rich, the hungry and the satisfied, and so forth. Woe translates the Greek ouai, but is not as fun in Latin (vae). Woe-atitidues could be the contrast to beatitudes. They are woe-sayings, woe-oracles.

These are not woahs as in, hold up or that’s cool, but woes as in, watch out. You are in trouble. This is not good. It's a funeral cry over people who are still alive.

The rich are the Haves, and the problem for the haves is that they have all that they're going to get. So they have their consolation. It’s the same word for the consolation Simeon waited for (2:25), the consolation of Israel, and found in Jesus. The rich are not looking for anything else. They don't need Him, they think they don't need anything. They’ve “cashed in” (Garland), taken all the payment they’re going to get. This is it. Woe to them.

So they are full. They have all the money or all the resources they think they need. They don’t wonder where their next meal is coming from, they're not concerned about depending on God, but on the way to being hungry as a judgment later. It’s like they’re animals being fattened for another end, the slaughter, but it sure does taste good now.

Those who have this kind of laugh are the “boastful, self-satisfied, condescending” (Bock). You see this kind of laughing in the Old Testament, especially from Israel's enemies; think Lamentations 1, where the enemies of Israel are laughing at how ruined Jerusalem is. A time is coming when those who gloat will mourn and weep. They gloat in press conferences. They gloat on their social media channels. There will be a great reversal.

And all people speak well of these guys. They are the popular as opposed to the hated, the honored, the ones that get celebrated, the ones that have parties and awards given to them. And they are like false prophets.

They are “men of the world whose portion is in this life” (Psalm 17:14). This is it for them. If all you want is what you can get right here, then you can have it. And woe to those who have it who will not then seek the blessings that come from the Son of Man.

The difference is "on account of the Son of Man." Are you hearing His teaching? Are you accepting Jesus' categories about who are blessed and who are under woes? Are you hearing His teaching and willing to give your life in His name, no matter what the temporal cost? Are you willing to do His Word? Those who hear it and don't do it are building their house on sand, and the floods and rains will come, and their house will be washed away. Those who hear and do are like those who have built their house on a foundation of rock.

Do you want Him and His blessings most? When God gives blessings, there are temporal ways to see that, but they are not limited to temporal ways, and they're not limited just to this life either. Do you turn your lacking, not into complaining, but to prayerful longing for the reward that Jesus offers? Wanting God's blessing is part of the blessing. If you do not want it, if you do not think you need it, you are in a bad spot.

Jesus Himself confronts the Laodiceans who did not realize that they were poor, blind, miserable, and naked (Revelation 3). And what is the presenting symptom of the church in Laodicea? They were lukewarm. They thought they had what they needed.

This is why it is harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God because he thinks he has everything already (Luke 18:24-25). It is a dangerous spot to be in, to feel like you have your consolation and your comfort in full right now. The context in which we hear Jesus' sermon is different from the first century, and we are more concerned about daily latte than our daily bread. We are more concerned about having days' worth of things stored up for us than about looking to Jesus for what we need today. We think we are pitiable if the Wi-Fi is slow. We can be full and not know we're starving.

It is possible to have a ruining kind of consolation. The way to make sure that it doesn't become a ruining consolation is to be thankful. Gratitude fixes a lot. But if you find that you have a bunch and what that is provoking is more a sense of entitlement, not a sense of looking to the Son of Man, then woe may actually be the better description than blessed.

Those who want God's blessing are blessed and are not done being blessed. Stated another way, the blessed live in tension. This is the thing that our world, and in particular our Christian culture, does not like. We hate tension; we like one or the other, but not tension. And this is where we are called to be.

Hungering and thirsting means lack, and it is also a sign of life. Hunger and thirst just doesn't feel good, and yet it is the place of blessedness, and it has the forward-looking nature to being satisfied. As soon as you are satisfied with the food on your table and the money in your bank account and the retirement setup, then you have gotten your consolation too narrowly. There is more to come. We love the blessings now, and there is a prophetic witness the blessed are giving to those who think that this is all they are going to get, but the blessed know that there is more blessing to come if they're getting it from the Son of Man.

Why likened to prophets? Perhaps some for the sake of the apostles to whom Jesus gave a unique calling. The apostles were right there listening, and He was trying to give them not just an understanding for themselves, but a message that they could take to others. But it must be true for all disciples. Want to be like your teacher (Luke 6:40)? Then as you are trained you will have prophetic beatitudes.

The false prophets were satisfied with what they could get; they could fill their bellies, and that was good. So it's not just a poor and rich division, it's a division between faithful prophet or false prophet. Team Blessed vs Team Woe; Team Speak-the-truth vs Team Hate-the-truth-speakers. And the blessed are those who are not depending on themselves, but on the Son of Man.

Jeremiah puts the cursed and the blessed right next to each other. Whether or not Jesus had this connection in mind, it certainly helps explain what Jesus was getting at, the difference between the blessed and those who are under the woes.

Thus says the LORD:

Woe to those who trust in themselves. Blessed are those who trust in the Son of Man for their entire lives.

Where are you laughing now in a way that would be embarrassing at the judgment? Beloved, this is a great truth, an eternal truth: the blessed will have the last laugh, and the longest laugh. That blessing will never end. That blessedness, that fullness, that satisfaction in the Son of Man is promised to those who hear what He says and do it.

You may not be a prophet or a son of a prophet, but as a disciple of Jesus, your life is a prophetic witness in the world. Let your blessed identity SHINE. Let your want for more blessings from the Lord be FAITHFUL and SALTY. Live like you know that you will have the last laugh.

The LORD bless you and keep you;

We are in the middle of our annual affirmation month for church officers. The process isn't spelled out in Scripture, but it is informed by numerous biblical principles. The Bible does speak directly about the offices themselves, with responsibilities and requirements. Those who hold the offices have a lot to answer for.

Over the years we've considered the work of elders frequently though we've never had a message on deacons. This message will be a combo effort, with a particular emphasis on the rewards promised to men who are faithful in their role.

Here's the point: Paul opens and closes his instructions in 1 Timothy 6:1-13 with the same word, good. The work of elders and deacons is hard work, but God calls it good work, and He rewards it.

We are a two-office church. There are a number of functions that leaders in a local church must do, but we think there are only two formal titles. Most agree with one of those offices being that of the deacons. And then overseer/bishop, and elder/presbyter, and pastor/shepherd are all ways to describe the work of the one other office.

Some distinguish teaching elders from ruling elders, but all elders rule and teach; some labor at teaching more (1 Timothy 5:17). Titles such as “senior,” "executive,” or "lead" pastor have been brought in from the business world, unhelpfully, and the pattern is that churches have a plurality of elders.

We get instruction about both elders and deacons in 1 Timothy 3:1-13. These officers are important for "the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of truth" (1 Timothy 3:15).

What elders and deacons do is barely described in 1 Timothy 3. Timothy must have known the verbs, and Paul's letter emphasized the virtues.

That said, Acts 6 provides a pattern for deacons and makes a clear division between two groups. Elders aren't apostles, but elders carry on the apostles' teaching. Acknowledging the importance of distributing food, the apostles said, "It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables" (verse 2). They had the disciples help pick out men for the apostles to appoint, while "we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word" (verse 4).

There are responsibilities for liturgy and responsibilities for living. There are needs, soul and body. Deacons were servants of mercy in physical, tangible means, and elders were servants of truth and gospel and renewed minds. Elders preach the Word, lead in baptisms and communion, and oversee church discipline. So pastors equip saints for the work of ministry (Ephesians 4:11-12), and that builds up the church. Deacons are elder-helpers in that they free up elders to do more than administrative tasks.

Elders have the responsibility to “[keep] watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you" (Hebrews 13:17). Even if you never hold an office, this passage is still relevant for you. You get to decide whether your leaders keep watch with joy or with groaning.

Paul exhorted the elders in Ephesus: “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. (Acts 20:28 LSB). It's a big responsibility.

It's good to be reminded that the requirements are about a man's character visible in conduct, not ultimately about his personal charisma or persuasive rhetoric or even the number of followers. This applies to both elders and deacons.

Elders (1 Timothy 3:1-7) should want to do the work (verse 11); they must work willingly not under compulsion (1 Peter 5:2). They do not live without sin, but they do not sin by habit. They are faithful to their (one) wife, they are not addicted to wine or fighting, they manage their kids and households. They are not to be brand-new Christians, and they should have a good reputation with outsiders, as much as depends on them. The only giftedness issue is "able to teach," though that is tucked into the middle of the list.

Deacons likewise have need for a certain and visible character (1 Timothy 3:8-13). They should not be liars, drunkards, or idolaters for the dollar. They must not be mere philanthropists, they are Christians, holding the mystery of the faith (verse 9). And Paul tells us what that mystery is a few verses later: Christ Himself, "manifested in the flesh" (verse 16). Deacons hold on to Christ. They must be committed to their (one) wife, and their wife must be trustworthy.

It is also required of deacons that they be tested first, and then affirmed with the title of deacon (verse 10). They should be given assignments, they should be observed in the work, and passing the test is proven character. Every rain jacket looks waterproof on the store rack, but you find out on a November afternoon in Marysville. How long is the period of testing? We've put it as a year. Who grades? We think the whole flock, similar to the "full number of the disciples" (Acts 6:2), with the final appointment by the elders.

God wants faithfulness. Fruitfulness is multi-faceted, and higher numbers aren’t proof of God's blessing unless it is attended with increased godliness. It's not only how many parking spots are filled, but how much progress and joy in the faith.

Working with sinners is a pain in the heart. It would be a thousand times easier - at the front end - to have no love, so no expectations, so no need to confront or discipline, and carry no "daily pressure" of "anxiety for all the churches" (2 Corinthians 11:28).

There are heartbreaks. There are gnarly situations, ugly relationships, and if you minister long enough in one place you will see generational consequences of sin. We carry the treasure of the gospel in clay pots, we are used up and worn out (2 Corinthians 4:7). The world often sees church leaders as "the scum of the world, the refuse of all things" (1 Corinthians 4:13).

But the glory of light shines against darkness. The glory of love is demonstrated toward the sinner. The glory of endurance cannot be denied when it bears up under the load to the end. The switchbacks up Mount Pilchuck are miserable. And nobody at the lookout wishes they’d stayed in the car.

This word is trustworthy: Being an elder is the kind of office a man should aspire to. It's the kind of work worth desiring. Aspire and desire because it is good work, a noble task (1 Timothy 3:1). This good is seen and admired, so praiseworthy. It’s not just useful, it’s honorable.

For deacons, "those who serve well as deacons gain a good (“high” LSB) standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 3:13).

Paul opens and closes this list with the same word: good (καλός). It’s a good work in verse 1; there is a good standing in verse 13. Between the two is the character that makes it good. And that goodness is rewarded in three ways.

It is rewarding work.

There is a crisis in the modern church, as in, not enough men in training to replace the men retiring. Even at TEC, it might seem that we shoot ourselves in the pastoral foot as we emphasize that full-time vocational ministry is not, in itself, more pleasing to God. We know that not many should be teachers, it has higher difficulty and accountability (James 3:1), and the burdens do not quit.

That said, I pray almost every day that God would bless our elders, that He would give us wisdom and nerve and jealousability, so that we would be found faithful and so that we could "entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also" (2 Timothy 2:2). We want more pastors.

We also desire more deacons. On a practical level, it would be strategic to have a deacon in each of our small groups. On a testimony level, it would be strategic to have deacons with enough wisdom and love and time to consider how our church could serve our city.

This is affirmation month, and you are part of the testing process (verse 10). Pray for your leaders. Give thanks when you have reason to do so. You can make it more of an advantage for yourself to make yourself less a cause of groaning for your leaders. And you can aspire for more reward for yourself by prayerfully pursuing the work of an elder or deacon.

"Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh" (1 Timothy 3:16). Christ Jesus obtained the flock with His own blood, and every elder and deacon serves until the chief Shepherd appears.

We carry the treasure of the gospel in clay pots to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. Pray that grace would extend to more and more people. Proclaim that Jesus is Lord, trust that He will open blind eyes. Look to the reward. Do not lose heart.

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Luke 6:12-16 is a short paragraph. It might not initially seem that exciting; it’s mostly just names. Of course draft day is just a guy at a podium reading names off of cards. But fans watch because those names may decide the joys or pains of the next ten years.

This is a defining moment in Jesus' ministry. For that matter it is a defining moment in church history, and actually world history. This is a day of defining and commissioning. This is — at least for those with eyes to see — the way that God in flesh chose to multiply His message and ministry among men.

Jesus chose men "who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word" (Luke 1:2) so that we "may have certainty" (Luke 1:4). They were elected to a unique office, to follow Jesus and to be "with Him" (Mark 3:14), then to preach and disciple and turn the world upside down. He chose His witnesses so that we could be sure and so that the found would be faithful.

In these days full of travel and teaching and healing as well as increasing antagonism, He went out to the mountain to pray.

Before Jesus faced the temptations from Satan He was fasting and praying (Luke 3:21). Before Jesus faced the irritation of the religious leaders He was praying (Luke 5:16). Now before He selects men to be His representatives, He is praying. All night he continued in prayer to God.

The Son did not act independently of His Father. The selection of these men was not willy-nilly. It follows a pattern especially in that Luke observes that Jesus prayed before significant moves. He is alone with God in prayer.

Do you pray? Do you spend time with God? Do you seek His guidance? God has not made us to never sleep. He gives His beloved sleep (Psalm 127:2). And also there are things prayer can do that sleep cannot. There are burdens that are worth staying awake to get our heavenly Father's help. We make individual requests but we also see our lives in His hands. Do you think you can follow Jesus without praying? Does the Lord have an all-nighter coming up in your schedule?

There are a few things we can put together from verse 13. It is after Jesus prayed. It also shows us that there were more followers than this; these twelve are a chosen subset of followers. Those followers were called disciples.

Why don't we use the word "disciple" very often? A 2015 survey found that only 18% of church members preferred “discipleship” as a way of talking about spiritual growth.

A disciple is a student, a learner attached to a teacher, and then following the teaching. It’s like an apprentice learning the trade day by day from his master. These disciples hear Jesus’ teaching like students and submit to Jesus’ authority like servants. They are getting an education with the expectation that they will faithfully embody and pass the baton to other faithful followers.

We’re about to hear: “A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher” (Luke 6:40).

The number twelve is a group name found more times in the New Testament (including 1 Corinthians 15:5). Of course it makes us think of Jacob’s sons, but these twelve are not the representatives of a new Israel, even though they are in contrast to Israel’s religious leaders. The twelve disciples will judge the twelve tribes (Luke 22:30), and in the Jerusalem that comes down from heaven, twelve gates are named for the tribes and twelve foundation stones for the apostles (Revelation 21:12, 14). The twelve disciple-apostles are at the center of Israel's faithful remnant, but not its replacement.

Jesus chose them and Jesus named them apostles. An apostle became a specific thing with specific requirements later on (see Acts 1:21-22). Here it is used at least to refer to those disciples who would be unique representatives. They are the primary target, even of the public sermon that a great multitude heard. In verse 20 Jesus “lifted up His eyes on His disciples.”

There are four lists of the twelve in the New Testament. They have some similarities, but no two are formatted exactly the same. Peter always comes first; Judas comes last (except in Acts 1:13 where Judas isn’t named since he was dead by that point). We know nothing about many of these men except their names. This is quite interesting since they are not even all of the disciples and we don't even get inspired records for each of the twelve.

We met Simon when his mother-in-law was sick (Luke 4:38). We saw him again at the lake when they caught a great catch of fish (Luke 5:3). Andrew was Peter's brother and co-fisherman (Mark 1:16). James and John were brothers and partners with Peter and Andrew in the boat (Luke 5:10).

Philip and Bartholomew are next. Bartholomew is likely also known as Nathaniel, as referenced in John 1:45; John never mentions Bartholomew and the other gospels never mention Nathaniel. Matthew seems to be the same tax collector as Levi that Jesus called from his tax booth. Thomas is famous for his doubting (John 20:24-29). James the son of Alphaeus is distinguished by not being James the brother of John. Simon who is called the Zealot is different than Simon Peter.

Two Judases get their own verse at the end: one, the son of James, and the other Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor. Jesus prayed all night and then called Judas by name and welcomed him. But Jesus knew (John 6:70).

“a fisherman, a tax collector, a political revolutionary, a skeptical man who later wanted clear proof of Jesus’ resurrection, and even a future traitor” (Bock)

None of these men were religious elites, but they were elect. None of them are from a priestly background. None of them are scribes. They are, as has been observed, twelve ordinary men. There was no draft board. Nobody scouted these men. Jesus chose them. God took on flesh and chose fishermen to build the church upon. And the apostles’ names will be written on the foundations of the eternal city (Revelation 21:14).

Why is this paragraph here in Luke's account? In terms of the timeline of Jesus's ministry, there is some reason for putting a list of disciples after a time of Jesus's ministry when He could actually gather some men.

But it seems strategic as a bridge. The followers of Jesus become apostles who will represent Him, standing in contrast to the scribes and Pharisees, who were filled with fury over Jesus. The disciple-apostles also hear Jesus's teaching and become responsible to embody it and to pass it on. Their office was one of a kind; no one today is an eyewitness. But the pattern isn’t: every disciple is called to be with Jesus and to bring someone along.

Preaching is the air war; disciple-making is the ground war. Our state makes teenagers log fifty hours behind the wheel with an adult in the passenger seat. Time in the classroom sets a foundation, but that’s not really where you learn to drive.

Mark's account and list of the apostles include a phrase that Jesus called them to be “with Him” (Mark 3:14). Who are you bringing with you? We sometimes use the phrase "life on life." Whose life is your life touching? Name just one person who is one step behind you in the faith, and invite them into your life of following Jesus. This was the Master’s plan of evangelism: to focus on the few to reach the many.

It's been said that we are always teaching. It's not IF, it's WHAT. Even the most isolated believer is an example to others, just not a good one. Why not use your inescapable impact for good? The gospel is good! The obedience of faith brings God glory! Be strong in the Lord!

Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith—to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen. (Romans 16:25–27 ESV)

There are worse things than physical handicaps, deformities, and pain. Those are bad. It is frustrating to have daily limitations on activities and difficulties doing what is normal for most people. Depending on the problem, there can also be social stigma, isolation, and even judgment by others.

In Luke 6:6-11 Jesus addressed a man with a “withered hand” that was useless, perhaps ugly. And this man did not have the biggest problem in the room. The scribes and Pharisees had the worse deformity. Their souls were withered.

We’ve been following Luke’s series of so-called controversy stories. This will be the fifth and final controversy in this part of the book during the early days of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus is revealing His identity and authority, making disciples and enemies. The disciples are listed in the following passage, the enemies are filled with fury at the end of this paragraph.

This event combines the kind of healing that only God could do (which we saw with the leper and paralytic man in chapter 5), and the kind of “work” on the Sabbath that provoked the rule keepers (which we saw first in chapter 6). Jesus goes out of His way to “do good” that is not received well.

Here’s the point: The Lord of the Sabbath restores withered hands and exposes withered hearts. There is a kind of virtue that withers the soul, and seeing good works makes them more accountable.

The religious powers wanted Jesus to mess up. They were interested in getting Him to do a thing that they could condemn. The key motivation is so that they might find a reason to accuse him (verse 7).

For some time Jesus has been traveling around Galilee with a growing number of followers, though not all of them were excited about His work. Perhaps a delegation has been sent from Jerusalem to investigate. Now at least some of them are trying to instigate. They want to trap Jesus breaking the law.

Jesus was following His practice of teaching in a synagogue, and the Sabbath services enabled this group setting. In the synagogue was a man...whose right hand was withered. What were the symptoms and what was the cause? We’re told neither, but we can reasonably assume that it was visibly deformed and practically useless. If most people are right-handed, then the condition of this man’s dominant hand made everything more difficult.

The word translated watched “means to spy on or watch out of the corner of one’s eye, which adds a sinister note” (Bock). Maybe the Pharisees made sure to get this handicapped guy in front of Jesus, or maybe his presence was convenient as a pretext, a reason to accuse Jesus.

And don’t miss the assumption: The scribes and Pharisees assumed Jesus would use His healing powers to heal the man. How dare He! They believed that He had the power, but they did want Jesus to use His (divine) power at the wrong time. No one actually seems to see the man, except for Jesus.

From the Pharisees’ perspective, the sick could wait a day. The crippled, where were they going to go anyway?

The Mosaic Law prohibited all work on the Sabbath, though later rabbinic writings allowed for life-saving effort on the Sabbath. Even the Pharisees’ codes allowed for midwives to be called to help deliver a baby. But a withered hand could wait another day. They wanted a miracle in order to “accuse” him of breaking the Sabbath, a violation punishable by death (Exodus 31:14-15).

In the previous paragraph, when Jesus and His disciples were in the grain field, we had to wonder whether or not Jesus had everyone eat because the Pharisees were watching. Here we know that Jesus knows. He knew that they were watching, that they wanted to trap Him. He knew that their souls were withered. So He brought the man to center stage, so to speak.

”Come and stand here.”

Did Jesus finish His teaching first? Did He get through all the points He planned to deliver? Did He stop in the middle of a parable or a great OT exposition that now we’ll never know?

We do know that He knew their thoughts. With full awareness Jesus gets everyone’s attention for another point.

Before tending to the withered hand Jesus makes it a teachable moment. Really, it may be more accurately called an accountability moment. They asked Him about what was lawful (Luke 6:2), now He asks them.

He asks a question that should have been a wake-up call to the accusers. The question reflected their priorities like a mirror. The answer was obvious, unless your heart was withered.

“I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?” (Luke 6:9)

The first level applies to the healing of the man, the second level applies to the hate toward Jesus.

Healing the physical handicap was good. While the man wasn’t bleeding out, the inability to use his dominant hand likely kept him from making much of a living. If it had been from an injury, even an injury on the job, what could he do now? Restoring the hand meant restoring his vocation.

The word save in verse 9 is the same word Luke uses in Luke 19:10, where the Son of Man came to seek and save. Healing this man’s hand isn’t the same as giving him eternal life, but it is a picture of the Son of Man’s work even if not the whole of it. The man went home able to hold his head up, and maybe his kid's hand.

Jesus leaves no doubt. He made sure to look around at all of them, and then He said, ”Stretch out your hand.” The man did, and he was healed. Which, would be hard to accuse Jesus of "working" when all He did was say a word.

There is no indication that their hearts softened, no movement toward self-awareness. They preferred the broken man stay broken so that they could keep their .

The scribes and Pharisees were more mad now than they were at the beginning. Jesus had done what they wanted, but in a way that mocked their hard hearts. This is their answer to Jesus' question: on the Sabbath, they chose to destroy.

They were filled with fury. The key word is ἀνοίας (anoias) so “without understanding,” senseless or even senseless rage. It was irrational, so “filled with madness” (KJV). They lost their minds. They were not only not happy about the healing, they were hot. So they began planning what they could do to Jesus. They were wanting to do harm, to destroy Jesus’ life.

They thought their position was virtuous. But it was mindless virtue.

They didn’t have the guts yet to do more to stop Jesus. It would be a few more years before they could get enough momentum to murder Him. But the fury was early.

By way of application, a few layers.

First, virtue has killed many men (and women). Not true virtue, but self-sure virtue. Why would you repent from what you think is your virtue? You might second-guess a choice made out of weakness, but you double down on choices out of your perceived strengths.

This week, you could ask someone who knows you well: Where do I dig in deepest when I'm sure I'm right?

The “virtuous” used God’s law to attack God Himself in the flesh. The virtuous were blinded and burdened and obsessed by commitment to (bogus) righteousness.

Second, when others are irritated by the good we do, we usually take that as a total failure. But it is successfully increasing their accountability before God. When they oppose, and we don’t freak out, it's a sign of their destruction (Philippians 1:28). That still doesn't make it fun. Jesus looked around them with anger and was grieved at their hardness of heart (Mark 3:5). That said, their accountability was greater for what they had seen.

Third, as is Luke’s purpose in writing all of this record, Jesus is more than an inspirational figure, good teacher, nice guy. He knows thoughts. He sees withered hearts as well as withered hands.

Maybe you're broken like the man with the withered hand, or maybe you're watching out of the corner of your eye just to see who will mess up. The need is the same for both: come stand with Jesus.

You are the LIGHT of the world. Keep your conduct excellent, even if it gets you slandered as intolerant, judgmental, foolish or worse. Let them see your GOOD WORKS. Pray that God would let them see Him through you. Bless God when He uses you to make them more accountable to Him.

If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord, come! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. (1 Corinthians 16:22–23 ESV)

In order of testimonies:

The disciples kept finding themselves in trouble just because they were with Jesus. Jesus called Levi, Levi threw a feast and the disciples went with Jesus. The Pharisees were mad that they weren't fasting. Now Jesus is continuing His ministry, the disciples are going with Him and they eat some take-out grain on the way. The Pharisees are mad that they are breaking the Sabbath.

Who knows how many ways you might get in trouble just following Jesus?

There's no indication that Jesus told them ahead of time that He was going to poke the Pharisees. “Hey, guys, watch this." But every time, Jesus answers directly, clearly, and provocatively. This is another so-called controversy story, and the last line provides even more about Jesus' unique claims of authority.

We are going through Luke's account because it builds our confidence. Luke wrote so that we'd be certain of the truth about Jesus. Jesus came that our sins might be forgiven, but with that, He came to define how we organize our weeks.

There are two Sabbath stories in a row, the last two controversy stories in this part of the book. In the next paragraph, 6:6-11, Jesus heals a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath, and here in 6:1-5 the Pharisees caught the disciples snacking in a field on the Sabbath. Jesus answered by comparing Himself to David and claiming to own the day God called His own.

The key word in this paragraph is Sabbath. The word itself means seven or seventh. We call the seventh day of the week Saturday, Israel called it Sabbath day. The Jewish day started at sundown, so Sabbath was what we'd consider Friday evening through Saturday evening.

On the first seventh day God rested from all His work (Genesis 2:2). When a nation came out of Egypt, and the Lord gave Moses the stone tablets of the law, keeping the seventh day became a commandment that the Lord required of Israel (Exodus 20:8-11). They were prohibited from doing any ordinary work on the Sabbath. Even as they wandered in the wilderness, the Lord gave them twice as much manna on the sixth day so that they did not need to gather, to work, on the seventh.

In order to keep the Sabbath "holy" (Exodus 20:8), some Jews set up a fence, so to speak, around the property to keep anyone from getting into the house. The fence kept getting moved farther out, and built higher. The Pharisees in particular seemed to care more about the fence than about what was in the house. The Mishnah later recorded 39 Nots for the Sabbath day (tying a knot, untying a knot, etc.). The disciples managed to break three or four of the 39 with one handful.

That said, the Sabbath was given by Yahweh to set His people Israel apart from the other nations. There is a sabbath principle which follows from the creation order, but the Sabbath proper was an issue of Israel's national identity. Every Jew should have held convictions about keeping the Sabbath day holy, so the Pharisees were not wrong to have conviction. There were arguments from within Israel that Israel's failure to observe the Sabbath brought God's judgment on them through Roman occupation.

Is the behavior of Jesus and His disciples an example of the compromise?

They were plucking and rubbing the grain (Luke alone mentions the rubbing). Exodus 34:21 forbids farm work; Deuteronomy 23:25 allows a hungry man to take a handful by hand; the Pharisees stretched the first over the second. That's their fence.

To the Pharisees, it was a slippery slope, and they concluded that Jesus and His disciples were doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath. That they asked it in the form of a question doesn't mean it isn't an accusation.

Jesus and His disciples were traveling between ministry things. What were the Pharisees doing out in the field? Where did they get their Sabbath police badges? The whole thing rubbed these rule-keepers the wrong way.

Jesus answers, but assumes some knowledge on their part and expects that they can follow an argument. The answer is not straightforward, but it is substantial.

He assumes that they know the Bible. Have you not read...? Jesus starts a lot of His questions this way.

He reminds them of the story from 1 Samuel 21:1-6. At that point Saul was king, Saul was angry with David, and David had just run away. News had not yet gotten out that he was a fugitive, and so when David and his men stopped in Nob, it was a surprise, but there was no hint that David was in trouble.

David spoke with the priest, Ahimelech. David said he was on a special mission from the king (which was a lie, but not the point here) and that his men were hungry. He asked for food, and the only food available was the bread of the Presence, the "showbread." The law said it was not lawful for any but the priests to eat (Leviticus 24:9). Ahimelech ended up giving the bread to David anyway because the Lord’s anointed said he was on a mission.

(To make another connection, Doeg the Edomite was there in Nob that day, and became a tattle-tale to Saul. Saul ordered that Ahimelech and other priests of Nob, 85 in all, be murdered for aiding David, which Doeg did. This is behind David's Psalm 52, "the righteous shall see and fear, and shall laugh" (verse 6), a response to a massacre.)

Jesus could have defended and won His case that His disciples weren’t breaking the law. But Jesus makes a bigger claim. He argues through the story of David that there were some situations where the need of the Lord’s anointed outweighed the rule. If it was acceptable for David and his men to eat holy bread, then the Son of David (Luke 1:32) is even greater and He and His men can eat on the holy day.

The final word is a big word. The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.

Comparing Luke with the other gospel writers, Mark has the most detailed account, and he included more of what Jesus said. Namely, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). The day was a gift, not a burden.

Luke leaves that part out. The relationship between the Sabbath and man is not the main point. The focus is on the relationship between the Sabbath and the Son of Man.

Jesus referred to Himself as the Son of Man who had the authority to forgive sin which He proved by causing the paralyzed man to walk (Luke 5:24). Here He announces His authority over the Sabbath law. These are startling claims.

Whose day is it (Exodus 20:10; 31:13)? So what is Jesus claiming? God calls it "My Sabbaths," so claiming lordship over it is claiming to be the LORD. It's the same logic as the scribes' "who can forgive sins but God alone?" (5:21).

Jesus is the better David. Jesus is the better rest/sabbath. Jesus is the better law; the law was a shadow and He is the substance. The rule-keepers were guarding the fence while the Owner of the house was in their midst.

Why does this matter to you?

Laugh when you’re in trouble for following Jesus. The disciples can’t get a break. Last week they were feasting not fasting, now they’re eating wrong again. It wasn’t even a hot meal, it was just raw grain. They were just following Jesus. Being in trouble with Jesus is better than approval from those who don’t love the Son of Man.

The righteous shall see, and fear, and laugh at those who won’t make God their refuge. Read Psalm 52 this week.

Love the house more than the fence. This story shows the “old wineskins” (their rules) that couldn’t hold the new wine (Jesus’ presence). The rule-keepers wanted to protect a holy day, they missed the joy of being with the Holy One. There’s another Sabbath story in the next paragraph which rubs the Pharisees wrong again.

The point isn't that fences are bad; wise fences are good. The Pharisaical error is treating the fence as the house, and grumbling at other disciples over it. We can miss the point in similar ways.

Let Jesus define your week. We gather on the first day not because we need a fence but because the Lord of the Sabbath rose. We assemble, w rest, we feast, because Jesus is better.

David’s mission was better than the special bread, and Jesus’ mission and ministry were better than the special day. The Lord of the day is better than any one day.

If Jesus is not Lord, then believing it is pitiable not profitable. If Jesus is Lord, then it is RIGHT to confess whether or not it “helps.” And since it is TRUE, hold onto that truth with all your mind and might no matter what. This is GOOD and PLEASING in the sight of God.

May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 15:5–6 ESV)

“Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.” (Psalm 127:3-5)

This well-known passage has often been used to emphasize God wants married couples to welcome children as a blessing and a reward from Him. This is true, but there is another image we don’t want to miss. Children are like arrows.

A quiver full of arrows looks impressive but arrows are not meant for show. An arrow has a purpose. It must be shaped, it must be aimed, and eventually it must be released.

The Psalmist speaks of the benefit to having lots of these arrows when a man meets his enemies at the gate.

One of my objectives for his session is to talk about preparing your children for adulthood like well-aimed arrows. The other objective is to discuss briefly some things to consider when, for various reasons, your adult child still loves under your roof.

We have roughly eighteen years in which our children are under our direct care. Those years aren't merely something to enjoy - and they certainly aren't something to waste. They are years in which you are shaping the arrow, aiming the arrow, and preparing it for the day when it leaves the quiver.

This past week an article popped up in my news feed which suggests the need for parents to do better at equipping children.

The title of the article was “Number of Single Men in U.S. Reaches Record High” and was written by Dan Hart of the Washington Stand.

Some of the findings Hart reported were:

In the article, Hart interviewed David Closson, director of the Center for Biblical Worldview at Family Research Council. He quotes Closson as saying, “At the deepest level, the rise in single men reflects a culture that has rejected God’s design for marriage, sex, and family,” he told The Washington Stand. “Scripture presents marriage as a good gift from God and calls men to mature into sacrificial responsibility, becoming the kind of husbands who love, provide for, and lead their families faithfully. Our culture has increasingly detached sex from covenant, delayed adulthood, and taught men to prioritize autonomy over obligation, all of which work against marriage.”

Closson goes on to say, “The most important thing churches can do is recover a robust biblical vision of manhood and marriage and intentionally disciple young men toward holiness, courage, work, self-denial, and readiness for family life. Churches should not idolize marriage, but they should once again speak clearly about it as a normative and deeply good calling for most Christians.”

There was a bit of good news in the article. Between 2022 and 2023 only 28% of 18–29-year-old men said religion was very important to them, but that number rose to 42% between 2024 and 2025.

What is particularly interesting about this increase is that this is the first time in 25 years men self-reported a greater interest in religion than women did.

Other researchers have noted that young men are increasingly shifting more conservative and pursuing religion. This trend has not happened yet with women in the same age group.

Lord willing, this will lead to good things for our culture in the decades to come.

Statistics aside, clearly there is much work to be done in preparing the arrows in our quivers.

How would you describe a child who has been well prepared for life? When your average evangelical parent says, “We raised good kids”, what do they mean?

For fun, I put that question to ChatGPT and asked it to summarize how a typical evangelical would answer that question based on any parental surveys it could find.

These desired parental outcomes are not bad, but the devil is in the details of what you mean by those stated goals. I once had a mom, an avowed atheist, tell me she really wanted her two young kids to grow up to be good people – as they ran around in their matching Pride outfits. I was tempted to ask her how she defined good.

The Greek word παιδεία (paideia), translated “discipline,” is much broader than punishment or correction. In the Greco-Roman world, paideia referred to the whole process of educating and forming a person—shaping character, values, habits, knowledge, conduct, and ultimately the kind of person he or she becomes.

So, from a Christian perspective, you could define it as: The paideia of the Lord is the process of forming a person’s mind, character, affections, habits, and way of life that reflects a complete surrender to the Lordship of Christ in everything.

Based on this we can say that “Good kids” are children who have been intentionally formed by their parents to know, love, trust, and obey God; whose character, affections, habits, and understanding have been shaped by a Christian vision of what is true, good, and beautiful; and who are being prepared to live faithfully and fruitfully in the world God has given them.

Compare that to the culturally “Good kid” who is polite, stays out of trouble, works hard, gets an education, has a career, and becomes self-supporting.

Frankly, if most kids grew up to meet the culturally accepted definition of good kids, we’d be in much better shape than we are as a nation, but Christian parents shouldn’t be content with this minimum standard for their children.

Whereas, modern culture emphasizes parenting goals such as building self-esteem, finding yourself, and learning independence, training in the paideia of the Lord emphasizes taking on covenantal responsibility, vocational training, stewardship, discipline, growing in wisdom and taking dominion.

What I mean by covenantal responsibility is teaching a child that we are not related to others like BBs in a bag, to borrow a Doug Wilson analogy. BBs in a bag are only related by being in the same bag. There is no implied responsibility.

Covenant relationship, on the other hand, means I have obligations and responsibilities that come with those relationships. We are always in covenant relationships – family, church, marriage – to name a few, and those relationships carry responsibilities that will naturally affect the personal choices one makes.

Training your child in the paideia of the Lord has a certain pattern to it that begins with instruction and arrives at the child’s eventual independence as they reach maturity.

This pattern of training has a general flow of:

While each season has an emphasis, none of those emphases are one-and-done. They continue to deepen as a skill and build upon one another. Bear in mind that this is simply a tool based on biblical truths to help you in your parenting approach.

The danger in these kinds of seminars is to turn shared principles into rigid formulas that go beyond biblical prescription. Your job as parents is to consider what is being shared, see if it squares with Scripture, and then apply it to you parenting under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

I can say that this matches closely with how Gail and I approached our parenting with our four children. Today they all have solid walks with the Lord and together are raising our 15 grandchildren using the same basic principles. In 2 years the first of our grandchildren will be turning 18 and we’ll see how well these principles flow into the fourth generation.

The thing I want to keep stressing is that training in the paideia of the Lord is very purposeful. If you aren’t actively thinking through your child’s development and considering their progress, you aren’t training them, you are just hoping for the best.

With that said, let’s begin with the core of this training and that is instruction.

“Hear, my son, your father’s instruction, and forsake not your mother’s teaching, for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck. (Proverbs 1:8-9)

At the foundation of training your child lies instruction and the core of that is teaching them the Word of God and seeing it meaningfully lived out in the home.

Research shows that children are most likely to carry their faith into adulthood when they grow up in a home where that faith is observable in the parents, central to family life, discussed regularly, governs the dynamics of the home, and meaningful fellowship exists between parents and children.

Some of the practical evidence of this are:

As you work on building this kind of home life you should also be developing fundamental character traits such as honesty, kindness, selflessness, happiness and the ability to discern what is true, good, and beautiful.

This happens as you pay careful attention to their habits, attitudes, and choices. Don’t be afraid to enforce filters or limits on their choices when they are making bad ones but use the opportunity to talk through why they are bad choices. If you do this well in the younger years, there will be much less to deal with as they get older.

The point here is to not be lax in your training responsibility. Parent can get lax and let a lot of things slide because they are tired or nor paying attention. This requires wisdom so that you don’t go to the extremes of neglect or being over-bearing in your vigilance and nit-picking at everything. Aim for overall direction in their development rather than constant perfection.

The early years are a very fun and physically exhausting time of parenting. It is also a time that, when used wisely, will make the parenting years ahead much more enjoyable.

Two things you want to firmly establish during these early years in your child are trust and obedience.

If you were to drill down to Man’s root problems stemming from the Fall it really comes down to a lack of trust in what God has said and a failure to obey him. That is why I say that good theology starts with trust and obey and it’s a good place to start training our children.

You goal is to get your child to be characterized as obedient. The kind of obedience you are after must come from a willing heart and not merely from a desire to avoid discipline. Some here have used the acronym THIQ to define what obedience looks like. THIQ stands for total, happy, immediate, and quick. The child does what was asked completely, with a happy heart, and without delay.

If you find yourself having to repeat commands or your child frequently forgets or throws an attitude, then it is not obedience even if they eventually do what you want.

We required our kids to always respond with “Yes mom, or yes dad” when we asked them to do something. That eliminated the question if they heard us and helped us detect if they had any attitudes that needed addressing.

This is a time to also help them develop trust. Ultimately, you want them to have trust in God’s goodness and love for them. This will largely start with you and then naturally transfer to Him as they grow in their understanding of who He is and see your love for Him on display.

Other things you should be cultivating at his time are common courtesies, kindness to others, consideration for others around them, picking up after themselves, not being picky eaters, and not requiring constant attention.

As your child grows it’s time to start teaching them about taking on greater responsibility. This will mostly entail schooling and work in the form of chores.

Most kids will tend to view these negatively and something to be avoided if possible. How you talk about your own responsibilities will greatly affect their outlook.

Do you talk about work in a negative way or as something we are called to by God to do and are thankful for? If we live for the weekend, so will our kids.

Cultivate a love for learning. Use delight directed studies and reward incentives to help motivate them to learn. Expect best effort. A “C” with hard work is more praiseworthy than an “A” if the child is coasting.

This is a time for the child to be maturing in self-control and self-discipline. Watch out for minimal or sloppy efforts. Jobs should be done with good attitudes and energy. Require personal spaces to be orderly and cared for. Leaving clothes and toys laying around should not be allowed.

Kids at this age are full of energy and need to be taught how to express it in appropriate ways. Indiscriminate screaming, rough-housing, or “bouncing of the walls” should not be allowed. There is a difference between letting kids be kids and letting kids go wild. Teach the child to consider others around them as they play or make noise.

These rules are laying the foundation for the kind of self-discipline and control they will need later in life. A cute child without proper restraint will often become an obnoxious person later in life.

This is also a great time to be teaching the child how to serve others. This can be simple things like holding doors open, giving up seats to older persons, doing simple chores for elderly neighbors, letting others go first, giving a smile and simple hello to older persons, or looking for ways to be helpful without having to be asked.

Many of these skills are things parents need to open their children’s eyes to. Don’t expect them to just naturally gravitate to these opportunities.

When your child does exhibit one of these traits without being told to, make sure to recognize it and reinforce the behavior with praise so that it becomes a habit.

One way to train for these skills is to prepare your child ahead of time as you head to an activity. Another way is to spend some time quietly observing you child in different situations and see how they behave. An example is observing them around this church campus during free time.

This next season of life is when the child begins to make a major turn towards maturing into adulthood.

By now, they should have mastered submitting to authority, exhibiting self-control and self-discipline, and have a good attitude about owning their responsibilities. If you see them lacking in any of these, now is the time to deal with it.

This is a time to begin giving them greater responsibilities around the home. They should be gaining basic home skills: cleaning, laundry, meal preparation, basic maintenance.

Give them assignments in these areas and see how they perform. By now they should be able to have assigned duties that don’t require your constant supervision or reminders.

Look for projects or responsibilities you know might stretch them a bit beyond their ability to see how they handle themselves. You are looking to see how they handle challenges and pressure. Do they give up too easily? Are they too timid to try something unfamiliar. Are they overconfident and put themselves or others at risk through carelessness?

Encourage participation in team activities where they learn how to work together. This might be sports or clubs.

Teach them how to handle money: saving, investing, giving. They may start having their first meaningful wage-earning jobs.

$10,000 invested by age 18 at a 10% annual return with $100/month added until age 65 will yield $1,980,000.

Other skills to master during this time are time management as well as eating, sleeping, and exercising habits.

This is the season some have called the “Terrible Teen” years. Don’t you buy it. If you have been faithful in the early years, these can be some of the best parenting years.

By now, you are beginning to see what you child will be like as an adult. They are beginning to show greater independence and naturally want more freedom from parental control.

Something we instilled in our kids as they were growing up was that greater freedom required them to show greater responsibility. They couldn’t choose to live like a child and expect us to treat them like and adult.

Hopefully, you have been a good student as a parent and have gained a sense of how your child is gifted. By now, they should be exploring vocational options with your guidance.

There are many ways for them to explore their options. The internet has exploded with online courses and videos that can help them discover what they are interested in.

Having them shadow people you know for a day is also a great way to explore interests. Informal, or low paying, internships is another way. You’d be surprised at how many skilled men and women there are who would be willing to spend time with an eager an interested child.

Church, school, and clubs give them opportunities to practice leadership and service skills.

You may have to give them a little parental push to get them to explore some of these options. Do not give them the option of doing nothing and frittering away all their free time just hanging with friends or hiding in their rooms.

This continues to be a time of testing where you can let them attempt things you think they might fail at. Failure is a great teacher, just be sure to exercise wisdom in what you allow them to try so that any risk is a managed risk.

The goal is to not let the child get to the end of this season without having been prepared for or developed any idea of what they are called to do with their life.

They don’t have to have it all figured out but to reach adulthood and have no idea and no readiness for anything is tragic.

Congratulations! Your child has made it to the magical age of 18. This is the age they are legally emancipated and considered and adult in our culture.

This doesn’t mean they have necessarily moved out and established their own household.

Based on US Census data the percentage of 18–24-year-olds living in their parents’ home has gone from about 43% in 1960 to 56% in 2022.

The reasons for that include more students went to college, housing is less affordable, more student debt and financial instability, career path less is certain, and later marriages, economic/social benefits to parent and child.

As you can see, there are lots of reasons a young adult may remain in their parent’s home. Clearly, the challenges to establishing one’s own household have increased in the past several decades.

That’s challenge Christian families are beginning to address.

The fact that more young adults are living with their parents is not the issue. The issue is if parents have been faithful to prepare the arrows in their quiver for release when the time comes. Clearly, that is a concern in our broader culture today, but may it not be true of us and our children.

With the few minutes I have left, let me address the second goal I had for this session and that is to talk about those cases where your adult children are still living at home.

My comments aren’t intended for those cases where parents and children have chosen to live multi-generationally. That could be its own seminar topic. I’m thinking more about the case where the living arrangement is more out of necessity for a time.

The main principle in these cases is this: an adult child living with his parents must be respected by the parents to live as an independent adult and the adult child must live according to God-given adult responsibilities (working, helping with the household, church involvement, etc.) and not just freeloading.

It is not ok for the parent to act like the parent of a teenager. It is not ok for the child to treat this season as elongated teenage years.

It is ok for the parent to expect normal Christian ethics under their roof (i.e. no illicit drugs/porn etc.). It is not ok to manage the adult child’s life.

Parents can protect the character of their household even as they relinquish trying to control of their child’s preferences and choices.

The adult child should be making meaningful contributions to the household in accordance with taking on adult responsibilities.

Parents should not subsidize financial irresponsibility (i.e., the adult child spends money recklessly on luxuries and doesn’t have money for food or other living expenses).

Having an adult child live under the parents’ roof can be a wonderful benefit and blessing if everyone understands the above-mentioned boundaries of authority and responsibility.

God gives parents roughly eighteen years to disciple, train, educate, discipline, and progressively grow children in responsibility so that they are prepared to live faithfully before God as adults.

If we have fed them, done their laundry, cleaned their room, got them off to school, solved every conflict, called every teacher, paid every bill, rescued them from every consequence, and entertained them every free moment—and then at eighteen announce, “You're an adult now”—we have confused readiness with age rather than preparation.

Our task is not to guard our children so that nothing difficult ever happens to them. Our task is to shape them faithfully so that, when the time comes to release them, they are prepared to fly toward the purposes for which God made them.

Let me leave you with a simple acronym you can use to remind yourself of what effective parenting looks like. The acronym in REAAC and it stands for RELATIONSHIP, EXAMPLE, ATTENTION, ACTION, and CONSISTENCY.

If you have real and meaningful relationship with your child, and your example is godly and free from hypocrisy, and if you are paying attention to where your child is doing well and not so well, and you take action to praise and correct, and you do this consistently over the course of 18 years, then you have done well in preparing the arrows God has given you.

“Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD… Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth.” (Psalm 127:4)

As has been said, nothing goes without saying.

Where no oxen are, the crib is clean:

I am for digital oxen, and, kids who aren’t afraid of and know how to drive digital oxen. But I am against letting crap pile up in the barn.

I like electricity, and books. I am not a doomer about more advanced tech (or a Boomer), including about AI. I am against doomscrolling.

Here are the headings we’re about to consider: Good Vibes, Real Dangers, Basic Principles, Best Practices, Recommended Tools, Periodic Questions.

Technology is amazing, and life-saving, and a multiplier of imagination for good. It also magnifies all sorts of temptations and breeds all sorts of lusts and sins. We are raising kids who will raise kids, so we want to raise them to:

It’s been said that you can’t outrun your diet, so also you can’t out-quiet-time your timeline. As bad company corrupts good morals, so bad Instagram/TikTok/Twitter corrupts our commitment to live on unseen things (2 Corinthians 4:18). You used to have to go to 7-11 for your kid to see the kind of trash available in your pocket.

A lot of the following list applies to messaging services (texting, WhatsApp, SnapChat, etc), to social media, some to games, and with broad connection to every advertisement that hits us. Watch out for tech that brings and promotes:

Apple devices with Child accounts. Content and purchase restrictions, contacts/messaging approval. Communication Safety, built-in to iOS 27, is also expanding beyond nudity detection. The feature can now block detected gore or violent content in shared images and videos, while displaying a warning.

FindMy (Life360). What a blessing, and don’t let it become a burden of anxiety, or a new livestream for you to waste your time.

A “dumb” phone. Light Phone.

Common Sense Media, reviews and age guidance for apps, games, movies. IMDB Parent’s Guide. VidAngel filtering service, as well as ClearPlay. Put a password on your TV.

Canopy (canopy.us) claims that it is the only app that filters explicit content on any website or AI chatbot, without blocking the internet. Real-Time Filtering & Porn Blocking. Though, who knows what exactly it's protected you from because if it's working, you wouldn't know.

We want the Lord’s blessing, we are working to drawe one waye regarding raising our kids, and that includes tech/device expectations. We do not see a bunch of kids on their phones after church, or at school, and that is a blessing.

This tech for our kids is still largely a privilege, not a right. Take it away, bear the inconvenience.

All of it requires attention (Proverbs 27:23) and wisdom through the fear of the Lord.

A tune-up works as a metaphor for any kind of systems check. Look at some of the basics, get some reminders, add some oil to keep the engine from seizing or tighten the lug nuts to keep the wheels from falling off. And though we're not going to take the whole engine apart, nothing goes without saying.

Paul told children to obey their parents and then he specifically told fathers, “do not provoke your children to anger but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). What is the goal of fatherly discipline and instruction? Good morals? Bible knowledge? Kinda, sorta. The goal is to raise children to be worshipers of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Success in bringing up our kids in the nurture and admonition of the Lord will look like them as worshipers worshiping. Doing their chores, being nice to their siblings, staying out of jail, not watching porn, these are all good. But the ultimate is knowing and loving God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength.

That means we should include them in worship, lead and show them how to worship, explain along the way why we worship and why we worship the way that we do, and worship with them as younger brothers and sisters in the Lord.

The Lord calls all creatures to worship Him, even the inanimate ones (like the sun, moon, shining stars, and highest heavens, Psalm 148:3-4), so certainly He expects worship from all the living ones, even if they are immature.

We get all kinds of good from our Father in heaven and, in this respect, we are all dependents in worship. As His children, He gives the good of His presence. He gives the good of loving correction and discipline and restoration. He gives the good of truth and guidance. He gives the good of food and welcome at His table. He gives the good of joy and then even the good of assigning us jobs.

Did you hear our liturgy in there? Call, Confession, Consecration, Communion, and Commission. In all these things the Father is giving us Himself. He is present with His family. He encourages His kids.

As a father shows compassion to his children,

What an amazing and encouraging truth. He knows our frame. Keep that in mind.

Psalm 103 is about blessing the Lord. Note a few things about this.

Note a number of situations in which needy people need to bless the Lord.

Come to get the Lord’s favor! We are blessed by the Lord when we bless Him and bless His name. We do not come just to know more about the Bible, but to know God and to be in God's presence together. You can't actually get the same thing at home by yourself, or out on a run listening to a sermon, as profitable as it may be.

Call your kids to pay attention to the Lord. You pay attention to their frame, and raise them to pay attention and bless the Lord. In Nehemiah, “all those who could understand what they heard” stood for hours (from “early morning until midday,” see Nehemiah 8:2-3). This isn’t to say that we must stand for the whole service, but are you waiting for them to figure it out on their own or bringing them along?

Do your kids forget? Are they tired? Have they sinned? Do they struggle with feeling insignificant? Come and bless the Lord!

“Kids can’t understand everything that’s happening or being said and sung.” So, for real: do you understand everything that’s happening here? God is the only one who can claim that, and He calls all of us to praise Him anyway. Kids can do that at their level, like you do at yours. If it’s okay that we need to keep growing, then it’s okay that our kids do, too, just 20 steps behind us.

If you recognize a blessing they are missing out on, you tell them and help them get it. You be the pastor, teach, correct, train by the Word (2 Timothy 3:16). You be the exegetical theologian. You be the spiritual hero. “Dad, what did the bearded guy mean?” “Oh dad, you’re the best. I wish you could be the preacher.”

Here are some suggested helps, though without verses (“I, not the Lord” cf. 1 Cor. 7:12), for your trial and error and iteration, that attend to their frame as worshipers while you help frame them as worshipers.

When you got married and you thought about reproduction, did you realize that reproduction is not only a moment of intimacy but a life of sharing yourself? As Christians, we know we are made to be worshippers, and the One who calls us to worship Him calls us to raise worshippers of Him.

If that’s not how you think about it when your head pops off the pillow in every Sunday morning, sure. So start now. Ask your Father in heaven for help. He knows your frame. You’re one of His kids. He’s brought you to appreciate and be filled from worship. How did that happen? Have you shared that or shown that to your kids?

Do you want the Lord’s blessing on your family? Then prioritize worship as a family.

God is developing worshippers of all shapes and sizes and ages. Our Father in heaven knows His children and calls them to praise Him. Bless the Lord, O you His children!

Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, turn the world upside down by filling your home with worshipers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Bless the Lord in all places of His dominion. Bless the Lord, and start everything you do by seeking His blessing on you and through you.

Let your work be shown to your servants,