Fisher of Men

When I first started hearing about the ministry of Steven Furtick, I thought someone was describing a character from Doug Wilson’s novel Evangellyfish. Here is the quintessential rock-star pastor replete with narcissistic reflection and a following that will jump when he snaps his fingers or when he bites his lip under the glow of stage lights (see here and here). It seems Furtick is not too unlike Wilson’s fictional character, Johnny Quinn: And at one point in the church’s history there might have been a handful of people disturbed by this kind of thing in the church, but they had all died and gone to heaven quite a number of years before. Frankly, none of these people cared about it now, apparently having better things to think about. But Johnny still agonized over su...

God is perfect; he lacks nothing. God is holy; he is set apart and wholly separate from sin. As with many of God’s attributes, he desires to communicate perfection and holiness to his creation. So he did. Lucifer, an angel of God’s, did not get enough of God’s perfection and holiness. He wanted it all. He rebelled against God and lost all of what God gave him. He became God’s nemesis – renamed Satan. Ever since, Satan wishes for holiness’s ruin. He elicited the fall of Adam and Eve, depriving them of holiness. He continues on his rampage against holiness. He wants our help; he wants co-conspirators. And humanity is altogether too quick to comply, but that’s our nature. God’s enemy employs five methods to ruin holiness: relativism, tolerance, contextualization, liberty and legalism. Relativ...

Apart from an active faith in God’s sovereignty and grace, it’s easy to throw up our hands and adopt a “What’s the use?” mentality. If it’s going to be so hard to make really significant improvements, what does it matter if things deteriorate a little further? This sort of faithless attitude could apply to the “house” that is our life, or the “house” that’s the regular environment in which we live and work. We could all come up with lots of good reasons to remain passive. The problems seem too numerous, and many seem too large. You see yourself as one little person, in one little place, at one little moment in time, and it just doesn’t seem logical that you could make any difference at all. To be specific, let me propose three arguments that we all tend to make at one time or another that ...

Few people have anything approaching an articulate philosophy—at least as epitomized by the great philosophers. Even fewer, I suspect, have a carefully constructed theology. But everyone has a worldview. Whenever any of us thinks about anything—from a casual thought (Where did I leave my watch?) to a profound question (Who am I?)—we are operating within such a framework. In fact, it is only the assumption of a worldview—however basic or simple—that allows us to think at all.  What, then, is this thing called a worldview that is so important to all of us? I’ve never even heard of one. How could I have one? That may well be the response of many people. One is reminded of M. Jourdain in Jean Baptiste Molière’s The Bourgeois Gentleman, who suddenly discovered he...

“Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7) That’s Peter’s direct and simple instruction to a church of “pilgrims” or “sojourners” scattered throughout the world, suffering persecution for righteousness’ sake. “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” The Action Cast all your anxiety. Anxiety is not meant to be held onto. It’s not a treasure or a keep-sake. Anxiety is not a bosom friend or a comfort toy. Anxiety is an enemy. It’s an enemy to a sober mind. It’s an enemy to peace. It’s an enemy to faith. Anxiety chews at the roots of the plant of faith and life until, having eaten away the root system completely, it leaves us like stalks stuffed into fertile soil but with no way of gathering nourishment and nutrients. Dishonest Christians pretend the...

It should be the thing that greets your mind and fills your heart as you wake each morning. It should be your final thought as you settle in for a night of sleep. It should define how you face your day, and it should shape your self-reflections. It should be the thing that directs how you respond to others. It should be at the forefront of your thoughts in times of trouble or disappointment. It should alter how you think about finances, possessions, decisions, relationships, and everything else. It should be a central theme of your existence. It’s so huge, so gorgeous, and so glorious that once it gets hold of you, you’ll never be the same again. You don’t need to be an expert at riddles for this one. I‘m talking about grace. If you’re God’s child, grace is the stunning core reality ...

It’s Valentine’s season again. Strange, how in our popular culture the word “love” can be used in such a trivial way, but then also be used to refer to the deepest of relationships. “I love my wife!” “I love hamburgers!” “I love my husband!” “I love the movie Nacho Libre!” No wonder it’s so easy for us to miss the type of love God calls us to express toward, not just our favorite people, but toward all people. Let’s face it. Real love is rare.  So radical is the love that God commands us to have for others, it includes loving our enemies and persecutors (Matthew 5: 43-48) and loving without expectation of receiving love in return (Luke 6: 27-36). But the most challenging call to love is the great commandment love God with all of our heart and love our ...

Mike understood bonds—government bonds, corporate bonds, municiples and the rest. The team that wrote the bond trading software, however, didn’t have a clue. It was Mike’s job to teach the coders about the bond business and he hated it. One day, just before a presentation, Mike said wearily, “Jim, I really don’t believe it’s God’s will for me to be teaching Bonds 101 to a bunch of coders.” Not really thinking, I responded, “It is today.” You could see the light bulb go on. “You’re right,” he exclaimed smiling, “Today this is God’s will.” Then he got up and, with a bounce in his step, headed into the conference room to teach. He also found another job as soon as he could, but he embraced God’s will for that day: teaching Bonds 101. I thought about Mike during my prayers Monday morning befor...

It is impossible to live in a fallen world populated with fallen people in yet unconverted flesh and not hurt others or be hurt by them, and as believers we can do one of two things in response–either isolate in our own self protective, “fantasy” kingdoms (withdrawing, avoiding honesty and vulnerability, being paralyzed with a fear of rejection, controlling with anger) or live in the reality of God’s kingdom (loving others with a prodigal, “expect nothing in return” love) and experience His protection. We choose the latter by submitting to the following mandates of our King. When we hurt others. “Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering and go; first be ...

The couple stood in my office, discouraged and downcast. They were struggling in their relationship. They were new believers, newly married. The woman had a child from a previous relationship. They had very little money. They had conflicts. Communication problems. Very little income. They didn’t know how they were going to make it. They were frustrated at each other and had little hope. I wonder what they thought when I urged them, “Don’t give up! Don’t quit! Keep seeking Jesus. Keep reading his word and praying and following him. If you do, I guarantee you Jesus will help you and change you. You may not see drastic changes from day to day, but I promise you that 5 years from now you will say to me you can’t believe how much Jesus has changed you. They looked at me incredulously. “Here’s w...

The Super Bowl is the largest sports event and the most-watched program on U.S. TV every year. Not exactly news, I know, but what might shock you is that other large sporting events like the Olympics and the World Cup are increasingly becoming magnets for sex trafficking and child prostitution. The 2010 Super Bowl saw an estimated 10,000 sex workers brought in to Miami, while the 2011 event resulted in 133 prostitution-related arrests in Dallas. In the past, attempted crackdowns by law enforcement have misfired by treating prostitutes as criminals to be locked up rather than victims to be rescued, but awareness efforts have been working, and government agencies have begun to pay more attention to the problem. As Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller explained, “The...

I did it again and again when our children resisted our instruction and correction. I did it again and again when they debated a command or questioned our plans. I did it again and again when they opposed our authority and quested for self-rule. I did it again and again for two good reasons. To begin with, my wife and I had brought children into this world who thought they didn’t need us! Each of them at some point fell into believing they were far more knowledgeable and capable than they really were. They all assumed that their intentions were noble and their plans were sound. They all thought they were capable of determining what was best, even when they lacked important information and experience. They simply felt they were in possession of a better way. But there was a second reason I ...