DEAR FRIENDS,
I have started smoking. I have really wanted to get into this business for a while and now here I am with a smoker that I received for my birthday. Now, my relationship with BBQ can go to new heights. There are many aspects of smoking meat that are exciting and cool, but one aspect that I didn’t realize is the length of time it takes. The average time for brisket is about 16 hours which means waking up in the middle of the night to wrap the brisket and help preserve moisture in the meat. While tiring and time-consuming, the process is incredibly fun and delicious.
There is no instant smoked meat. Just like there are no instant mature Christians. The process by which a believer grows in maturity is time-consuming and takes work. Our culture of instant gratification wants everything to happen on our timetable, but that is often not the case. Like everything else, the process of having our minds renewed is a process.
Scripture reminds us in First Peter 1:13-15, “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation.” Peter in this passage is reminding the people of the goal of sanctification (holiness) and the process of sanctification. Our sanctification cannot and will not happen overnight.
It starts with “girding up the loins of our mind.” Peter uses this phrase to indicate the personal discipline to control our thinking and prepare it for effective use in understanding the experiences of life. Since it is through Biblical truth that we can properly filter all of life, it is essential then that we be disciplined in our intake and study of Scripture (1 Tim. 3:15). This process of gaining Biblical truth is an everyday process that grows as we continue forward in Christ. Our maturity grows as our deep understanding of His Word grows.
Peter also mentions that we should “be sober.” This phrase carries with it the idea of self-control in all areas and circumstances of life. In other words, understand who you are in Christ and strive to live within that identity. This word sober communicates the idea of being settled, not easily shaken or distracted. This step is only achievable when the first step is taken. Without the Spirit and biblical truth as our guide, you and I are at the mercy of our flesh and lack all sobriety towards our desires.
Lastly, the believer who is seeking maturity consistently recognizes and focuses on the grace of God as the means for all spiritual growth. The grace of God must be the foundational aspect of our daily life. We must be humble in our great need for it, humble in our reliance on Christ for it, and humble in the blessings and fruit it produces in our lives. The robust flavor of smoke in brisket is made possible through the wood pellets creating the smoke. No pellets, no smoke. Likewise, no grace in our lives leaves us with no spiritual foundation for the Spirit to work in our lives.
Sincerely,
Pastor Derek Whitman
You Weirdo
DEAR FRIENDS,
Growing up I was often told that “the gospel light attracts strange bugs.” This statement was often backed up with the verse in 1 Peter 2:9 stating that God’s people are a “peculiar people.” As a child, you can imagine the thought process…"Am I supposed to be weird if I am to be God’s child?" What does it truly mean to be a peculiar person? As I entered into Bible college I quickly recognized that peculiar didn’t mean weird or odd as much as it meant to be separate... or at least that is what I was told. I recall a very agitated preacher in college chapel specifically stating that “Christians are going to look odd and peculiar because they are not of this world. Christians that are not worldly are peculiar because they just do not fit in!” While those thoughts are true to a certain extent from other New Testament passages, that specific phrase “peculiar people” found in 1 Peter 2 speaks to something far more meaningful than a worldly or not-so-worldly Christian.
In John 10:14 Jesus would state, “I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.” The eternal truth of God’s wonderful and complete salvation is a theologically rich study to undertake. The phrase for “peculiar people” comes from the Greek phrase eis peripoiēsis. The King James translators took that phrase and translated it into what we read in the Scriptures today. However, a brief outline of the Biblical usage of eis peripoiēsis indicates a different more complete meaning of what our twenty-first-century minds immediately attract to. This phrase according to Strong’s definition indicates an acquisition by extension, preservation or obtaining, a purchased and distinct possession. While peculiar can be an acceptable word to use in the context of 1 Peter 2:9 and the proper definitional understanding of eighteenth-century English (check your 1828 Merriam Webster), we must be careful to not immediately jump to conclusions on a word that may indeed mean something different than even our understanding. Your 1828 Webster’s Dictionary would give this predominant definition of peculiar: “appropriate; belonging to a person and to him only.”
Think about 1 Peter 2:9 and the phrase “peculiar people” in the light of the definition above. You and I are God’s “appropriate” people, “belonging to a person [God] and him only.” God purchased and acquired for a price a special possession. Everyone is His, by creation, but we as his followers are uniquely His because He paid the price to redeem us from the bondage of sin and death! God would reiterate that his people are his “purchased possession” in Acts 20:28 when admonished pastors to “to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.” Paul told the Corinthians, “what? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s (1 Cor. 6:19-20). Titus would say that Jesus, “gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people [purchased possession], zealous of good works.”
Faith Baptist — be encouraged! God has allowed us to be his possession through his marvelous grace and gave us His Son to purchase our salvation. We are Christ’s eternally and so we are called to live accordingly. What a glorious privilege that we share in knowing Jesus!
Sincerely,
Pastor Jordan Kosinski
But does the Bible actually say that?
One of the blessings of watching my daughters move from children to young ladies the past few years has been the conversations we are having. The conversations are at random times and about seemingly random matters but about that which their brains are trying to sort out.
As a parent, it is enjoyable (though sometimes taxing or inconvenient) to help them grow in the melding of faith and life.
Often, the conversations revolve around what the Bible says and why we make the decisions we make. This can be difficult because there is trust (of the parents) involved and there are mixed messages around them from any number of sources. Amanda and I do not desire the sloppy, lazy way out of, "I SAID SO"...though it is very appealing at times.
So, we embark on a journey for each conversation to bring our daughters from what the Bible does say to application in ways it may not explicitly demand.
A simple, somewhat trivial example- friends in the community, school, or church have seen movie "X". They ask if they can see movie "X" and we explain why we are not desirous (at this point of their lives) for them to take in that content. As parents, we want to be careful about saying the Bible forbids it if it does not or casting a cloud of ungodliness over their friends/parents for allowing it.
This is a good moment for Bible teaching, shaping their conscience/Christian liberty choices, growing their trust in their parents' wisdom, and learning to love others you may not agree with.
PAUSE..read this next part slowly. Often, the attitude we have towards the unsaved in our community, the issues we have or experience at church, and the trouble we may experience at home is often tied to this subject in some capacity.
We fall into one of two ugly ditches; we either do NOT know what the Bible explicitly teaches about a matter because we are not reading it/hearing it taught regularly OR we mistake application of the Bible (or our subjective experiences) as absolute truth.
This leads to dogmatism where there should be humility, disunity where there should be harmony, and carnality where there should be spirituality.
It hinders the unsaved from coming to Christ through our active witness to them verbally and by their observation of active grace in our lives.
It hurts Christ's churches as people become "experts" in matters they do not fully understand or have studied, elevate matters the Bible has not due to the former or due to subjectivism through life experience, or refuse to trust any leadership they have a slight disagreement with (whether in personality or choice).
It harms the eternal souls we are living within our houses by crafting an environment that claims to be "biblical" but offers little in the way of answers...unshockingly, such an environment seems to be fostering the rise of the "NONES" in America (consider 1/5 Ohioans identify as such).
Friends, it is a good thing that our God is not the constant lawyer of every moment looking to throw the book at us for not handling each situation in a strict, precise, uniform application throughout the sea of humanity. He allows us to grow in truth, yield to grace, and learn to love others using our Christian liberty for their salvation or sanctification.
What He declares unmoveable, unchangeable, and needed, may we also without apology!
What He allows us to liberty within, guided by implicit principles, may we do so humility!
I can already tell you, Amanda and I have wrestled with the beginnings of this part of the parenting journey and have likely already failed in some way (whether cognizant of it or not) BUT it is a journey worth taking so that our daughters may grow to love the Bible for what it says and understand the beauty of walking in grace throughout their day encountering matters it does not explicitly address.
Pastor Paul